Government Pronouncements Research Articles

Improving Legal Framework for Telemedicine between Physicians and Patients

This paper explores legal strategies for introducing telemedicine between physicians and patients. It thoroughly explored the definition and significance of telemedicine, scrutinized regulations pertaining to remote healthcare embedded in the Medical Service Act, and meticulously dissected proposed amendments to the Medical Service Act aimed at incorporating telemedicine between physician and patient. Specifically, it sheds light on the repercussions of the evolving medical landscape attributed to COVID-19 on the legal infrastructure of telemedicine. Focal points of discussion encompassed challenges in interpreting the Medical Service Act, regulatory frameworks for telemedicine platforms, and incremental legal enhancements. By drawing from recent government pronouncements on enhancement measures of pilot initiatives, this paper underscores the imperative for rigorous validation of safety and efficacy, presenting an exhaustive institutional analysis to foster the implementation of telemedicine.

Is constitutional democracy in India in crisis?

PurposeThis paper examines the decline of the largest working parliamentary democracy in India overtime, but accelerating since 2014 as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Center (as the federal government is commonly known).Design/methodology/approachIt is eclectic. Original constitution, along with commentaries, are studied. News outlets, government pronouncements, journal articles, and other media outlets — electronic and print — are also sourced.FindingsThe findings show how three important features in democracy — elections and their outcomes, control of information, and suppression of dissent are widely used to undermine constitutional democracy.Originality/valueDemocracy can be undermined without altering the Constitution itself. It also explains the irony of Modi’s popularity, given the undemocratic practices. As he may continue in office for some time to come, commanding a log-rolling majority, the need of the hour is a united, constructive and effective opposition to ensure a healthy working democracy.

Defining "Effective Control" for Northern Métis Communities

The “effective control” doctrine arose within the Powley decision two decades ago as an adaptation of the Aboriginal rights test from Van der Peet. Though the doctrine is a required component to asserting Métis rights, there is limited understanding of how and when “effective control” occurs. The Courts have yet to clearly define the doctrine, leading to varying applications within jurisprudence. In the absence of clear definitions, this article proposes three components to the doctrine: surveillance; regulation of Aboriginal uses of land and resources; and regulation of other aspects of Aboriginal lives. These components are applied to northern Alberta to understand what events and government actions are relevant in precipitating “effective control.” The conclusion drawn is that “effective control” potentially occurred much later than previously contemplated by legal decisionsand government pronouncements.

Railways as Japanese identity: Riding between confidence and inexperience

ABSTRACT Does railway technology represent Japanese national identity? This paper focuses on the narratives indicating railway technology as a form of Japanese national identity representation. Using Japanese government pronouncements and interviews given by people involved in the Japanese railway supply industry appearing in Japanese vernaculars, I show that railway technology constitutes an integral component of the contemporary Japanese identity narrative, which has been built up through a particular technopolitical regime. These narratives consistently refer to the purported safety, reliability, and punctuality of Japanese railways as one manifestation of the high-quality technological skills underpinning Japanese identity construction. However, the narratives also reveal an inherent irony, whereby the confident Japanese Self at once reveals a countervailing, inexperienced Japanese Self, in which the Japanese railway technopolitical regime realizes that its own domestic strength has resulted in a lack of international experience compared to its European, and increasingly Chinese, rivals. I conclude by suggesting that the Japanese railway identity follows a complex construct involving a confident Self in contradistinction to an inexperienced Self both reproduced in opposition to the European and Chinese Other.

Zimbabwean civil society survival in the post-coup environment: a political settlements analysis

The political environment in post-independence Zimbabwe has been very hostile for interest groups, particularly since 2000 when civil society actions and opposition political activity formidably challenged the power and dominance of the ZANU PF party. However, the 2017 ouster of Robert Mugabe gave rise to renewed hope for political change. Using the political settlements theoretical framework, and data obtained from interviews with Zimbabwean civil society leaders, studies of legal documents, and government pronouncements, we analyze the changes in the relationship between the state and civil society groups during President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime. We find that, while civil society faced restrictions during Mugabe's tenure, their existence is now under much more scrutiny under Mnangagwa’s militarized government. This is because authoritarian regimes are more likely to increase the suppression of citizen voices when faced with growing citizen engagement.

Legality of Explicit Racial Discrimination in the Distribution of Lifesaving COVID-19 Treatments

In 2021, the Federal Drug Administration released a statement advocating for race and ethnicity to be used in rationing lifesaving COVID-19 treatments. By January 2022, three states had implemented policies explicitly prioritizing treatments based on race, which resulted in multiple legal challenges. This Article analyzes the uphill battle such policies would face in an equal protection challenge. It also rebuts the attempt to analogize these policies to the legally acceptable practice of racial preferences in college admissions. Finally, nonlegal, pragmatic consequences are considered, such as how the policy risks disproportionately favoring the wealthy reduces trust in future government pronouncements regarding COVID-19, perpetuates harmful stereotypes about racial inferiority, breeds racial resentment, and causes unnecessary delays in treatment.
 The racially disparate outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic illuminate numerous background factors that disadvantage minority groups. However, the implementation of racial preferences in lifesaving treatments is not the answer. As demonstrated in this Article, such policies spectacularly fail judicial scrutiny. Furthermore, the nonlegal, pragmatic considerations establish that such a policy does far more harm than good. These considerations are of paramount importance not only for the current COVID-19 crisis but also for future pandemics and the rationing of other limited medical resources, such as organ transplants and intensive care unit beds.

Appalachia North: A Memoir

Appalachia North: A Memoir

Central Public Sector Enterprises in India: A Case of Policy and Perception Conundrum

The fact that there is a direct relationship between higher investment and higher economic growth is accepted by all. Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), in this respect, have been vehicles of large-scale investment in the country. A good many of these enterprises are listed on the stock exchanges. Their market capitalisation, however, recorded a significant fall in recent months despite these companies showing good performance on their ‘profit and loss’ accounts. The recent government pronouncements regarding CPSEs are observed to have adversely impacted the market sentiments and consequently their market capitalisation. The article argues that a White Paper on implementation of pending reforms as recommended by the Panel of Experts on Reforms in CPSEs, set up by the Planning Commission earlier, would go a long way in reversing the current trend of fall in market capitalisation of these enterprises.

Challenges in Nursing Education in the New Normal: Basis for Faculty Enhancement Program

Education s vital to every Filipino especially the delivery of quality education without compromising the health and safety of the students amidst COVID 19 pandemic. With the current global health crisis and government pronouncements prohibiting the conduct of face-to-face classes both in basic education (DepEd) and Higher education (CHED). Isabela State University has decided to roll out and launched its new approach, called telEducation. It has ramped up its efforts in fully implementing flexible remote learning for its students to ease its transition to what might become the new normal for educational institutions. This study utilized a descriptive survey method of investigation to secure adequate and reliable data. The researcher used this design to gather necessary data, assess and determine the challenges facing nursing education in the new normal by the nursing faculty of Isabela State University, College of Nursing. The questionnaires were floated through the use of google forms as a platform. The respondents who participated in this study were 15 nursing faculty comprises of 7 permanent as core faculty and 8 instructors under a contract of service. This study concluded that inadequate instructor training for new normal education; limited time for the preparation of modules, exams, and other related to instruction is due to the limited time of the university administrators or concern authorities to conduct since the summer class has already implemented. The said interventions made it more difficult to conduct due to the implementing community quarantines. Furthermore, there are numerous nursing-related experiences/activities but limited time for implementation; Students find it difficult to comprehend some activities due to the absence of physical contact of the instructor/s; faculty experiencing physical problems (eg. eye strain and frontal headache) due to long hours of exposure on computer monitor or gadgets are noted concerns in relation to the delivery of instructions.
 
 Keywords: nursing education; new normal; challenges

A Path to Resume Aesthetic Care: Executive Summary of Project AesCert Guidance Supplement-Practical Considerations for Aesthetic Medicine Professionals Supporting Clinic Preparedness in Response to the SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak.

A Path to Resume Aesthetic Care: Executive Summary of Project AesCert Guidance Supplement-Practical Considerations for Aesthetic Medicine Professionals Supporting Clinic Preparedness in Response to the SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak.

Government-Corroborated Conspiracies: Motivating Response to (and Belief in) a Coordinated Crime

ABSTRACTAccusations of conspiracy are nothing new in American politics, but examples in which the government—usually cast as a key player in conspiracy theories—goes on record to corroborate that a conspiracy occurred are rare. I leveraged an experiment that randomly exposes both college-student and general-public subject pools to information about the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassination report of a probable conspiracy in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I find that those exposed to government corroboration of a conspiracy (1) are more prone to anger in response to the government report; (2) engage in an increased search of available media information about the assassination; and (3) are more likely to agree with the conclusion of a conspiracy in Kennedy’s murder. Implications for additional research about government pronouncements on controversial issues and follow-on public reaction also are discussed.

Contesting Contested Multilateralism: Why the West Joined the Rest in Founding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Abstract This study examines why a large number of Western advanced economies joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2015 despite the bank’s purported challenge to the Western-centred international order in the area of multilateral development finance. Through a mixed-method examination involving elite interviews, analyses of government pronouncements and regressions, and by drawing on concepts from rational choice theory, international policy diffusion, and rational design of international institutions, this study finds that the AIIB’s success with regard to its large membership is due to China’s effective creation of a demand for the organization among Western advanced economies. We argue that policymakers in Western countries enjoyed ‘induced agency’, which China granted them in the process of creating the organization and deciding about its membership. First, Western advanced economies had agency because their involvement was needed to prevent the AIIB from becoming a homogenous small organization consisting of Asian debtor countries in favour of a global organization with a heterogeneous group of both debtor and creditor country members. The AIIB was thus set up to accommodate the specific economic and political goals of Western advanced economies. Secondly, Western advanced economies experienced agency in the process of deciding about their membership in the bank because China proactively courted them to join the AIIB. China moreover endorsed the spontaneous intensification of communications that ensued among Western advanced economies with regard to joining the AIIB. Both efforts ultimately resulted in diffusion among them of the decision to become members. Thirdly, the Western advanced economies were granted agency in the process of determining the AIIB’s organizational design, thus allowing them to converge the initially diverse visions for the institutional design of the bank and shift it from contesting the existing system of multilateral development banks to effectively integrating into it. Our study thus advances a theory of country-specific demand for membership in an international organization.

The Prospects of Kiswahili as a Medium of Instruction in the Tanzanian Education and Training Policy

Based on the research findings, Tanzania has been cognisant of the fact that students can learn better in a language they understand. The government has been issuing policies with the intent to make Kiswahili a medium of instruction at all levels of education but without implementation. The study was conducted using documentary review, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to examine government generated documents, namely the Cultural Policy of 1997, Education and Training Policy of 1995 and 2014 on the use of Kiswahili as medium of instruction (MoI). The focus was to examine the government generated documents on the intent to use Kiswahili as a medium of instruction and the implementation of this decision, to analyse stakeholders’ views on the appropriate medium of instruction, and to give a critical analysis as to why the proposal to make Kiswahili MoI in the Education and Training Policy could face some challenges in implementation. Previous policies, reports, the perceptions and views of education stakeholders were analysed. The findings indicate that there have been some initiatives to make Kiswahili a medium of instruction at all levels of education but such initiatives have been crippled by lack of a political will and misconceptions by some stakeholders who question the possibility for the learners to use Kiswahili as the MoI and still learn English, the language Tanzania needs for wider communication. The article concludes that although the proposed policy is suitable in Tanzania and actually long overdue, we are sceptical of its implementation. This is based on the previous state of affairs in which the government did not implement the proposed switch to Kiswahili as indicated in the reviewed policies and government pronouncements.

Responding to non-communicable diseases in Zambia: a policy analysis

BackgroundNon-communicable diseases (NCDs) are an emerging global health concern. Reports have shown that, in Zambia, NCDs are also an emerging problem and the government has begun initiating a policy response. The present study explores the policy response to NCDs by the Ministry of Health in Zambia using the policy triangle framework of Walt and Gilson.MethodsA qualitative approach was used for the study. Data collected through key informant interviews with stakeholders who were involved in the NCD health policy development process as well as review of key planning and policy documents were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsThe government’s policy response was as a result of international strategies from WHO, evidence of increasing disease burden from NCDs and pressure from interest groups. The government developed the NCD strategic plan based on the WHO Global Action Plan for NCDs 2013–2030. Development of the NCD strategic plan was driven by the government through the Ministry of Health, who set the agenda and adopted the final document. Stakeholders participated in the fine tuning of the draft document from the Ministry of Health. The policy development process was lengthy and this affected consistency in composition of the stakeholders and policy development momentum. Lack of representative research evidence for some prioritised NCDs and use of generic targets and indicators resulted in the NCD strategic plan being inadequate for the Zambian context. The interventions in the strategic plan also underutilised the potential of preventing NCDs through health education. Recent government pronouncements were also seen to be conflicting the risk factor reduction strategies outlined in the NCD strategic plan.ConclusionThe content of the NCD strategic plan inadequately covered all the major NCDs in Zambia. Although contextual factors like international strategies and commitments are crucial catalysts to policy development, there is need for domestication of international guidelines and frameworks to match the disease burden, resources and capacities in the local context if policy measures are to be comprehensive, relevant and measurable. Such domestication should be guided by representative local research evidence.

AMP Expenditure, Location Savings and Guarantee Fee Aspects of Transfer Pricing

This article examines the AMP expenditure, location savings and guarantee fee elements of the transfer pricing debate. In particular, the authors discuss the three components in the context of United States and Indian jurisprudence, various government pronouncements, recent BEPS developments and changes to the OECD transfer pricing guidelines.

The inversion of accountability

In this wide-ranging survey of recent UK government pronouncements, policies and new legislation relating particularly – but not limited – to ‘security’, migration and refugee issues, the author exposes a consistent pattern in which human rights concerns are being systematically downgraded. But, at the same time that government is systematically minimising its own accountability over possible abuses committed by its agents or in its name, it is ramping up the policing of the UK population in a catch-all programme that places duties of surveillance on individuals and professionals in almost every sector of society – from nursery nurses to private landlords, from lorry drivers to university lecturers. And, even while professionals from every sector are attempting to question the validity of the government’s current policy programme, particularly its so-called counter-radicalisation strategy, the right to freedom of expression among Third Sector organisations is being incrementally whittled away.

A New Morning Dawns for the Utopia

The emergence in Russian literature of a new hybrid genre, the “ambiutopia,” is analyzed and characterized in the context of recent dystopian fiction and the utopian rhetoric of recent government pronouncements.

INFORMATION AND THE DEMAND FOR CLEAN AIR

I. INTRODUCTION The idea that household location decisions are influenced by neighborhood characteristics is well established empirically. A number of studies have identified local air quality as a specific neighborhood-level determinant (Bayer. Keohane, and Timmins 2009;. Finney, Goetzke. and Yoon 2011; Kahn 2000; Zabel and Kiel 2000). The findings on air quality suggest that households are able to access and react to information on the environmental good in making location decisions. The average effects air quality has on location, however, may mask substantial variation in response to the amenity across households, many of which may not recognize the good at all. This paper examines the relationship between the household's sensitivity to local environmental quality and its exposure to information on the environment. Households may acquire information on the environment from multiple sources, including personal experience (e.g.. visual observation of smog), informal communication with neighbors, and government pronouncements. A large part of the primary data on air quality in the United States comes from air monitoring stations operated by state governments and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This study estimates the location determinants of a sample of households relocating within California, a state with long-established public information programs on environmental quality. In California, air quality .alerts have served as an important medium conveying information on environmental quality to state residents. The alerts. which normally include information on the possible health effects of poor air quality, occur primarily in urban areas, whose air pollution levels are normally higher than in nonurban areas. Exposure to the alerts could increase household sensitivity to the environment in making location decisions. This study finds evidence of this effect for the sample of California households. II. AIR QUALITY AND PUBLIC INFORMATION PROGRAMS The primary tool local governments use to relay information on the environment is the Air Quality Index (AQI), a measure developed by the EPA. The index ranges from 0 to 500, where under 100 is considered good-to-moderate air quality; 100 to 150 is determined by the EPA unhealthy at least for sensitive groups; and a score over 150 is considered generally unhealthy and comes with an EPA recommendation that those with respiratory .ailments avoid prolonged outdoor exposure and everyone else limit exposure. The EPA previously used the Pollution Standard Index (PSI), replacing it with the AQI in 2000. The two indices are closely related., the AQI modifies the standard used in the PSI for particulate matter and ozone, two of the five pollutants that make up the indices. Ground-level ozone, formed from a chemical reaction of pollutants in the lower atmosphere, is a significant environmental problem specifically in urban areas (1) Exposure to high ozone levels affects lung function; its immediate effects are more serious for those with respiratory diseases, such as asthma. California is one of the few states whose air quality standards are more stringent than federal standards under the Clean Air Act. The state grades the air of every county, determining yearly each county's compliance with state standards for various pollutants. The state's current ozone thresholds are an 8-h average of 0.070 parts per million (ppm), and a 1-h mean of 0.090 ppm; the EPA's current ozone standard is an 8-h average of 0.075 ppm. Yearly, the majority of counties fail state standards; the attainment counties in the state are mainly in nonurban areas. (2) Polluting facilities in non-attainment areas are subject to increased state regulation. The state assigns 35 local governments the task of controlling local air pollution. (3) The districts are the primary source of official state information on local environmental quality, including the dissemination of air quality alerts. …

PCCs, neo-liberal hegemony and democratic policing

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the recent introduction of directly elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales, and to consider to what extent this new innovation should be considered as a positive contribution to the achievement of democratic policing. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a range of key sources of academic literature on police accountability and the sociology of policing, as well as considering the content of government pronouncements and legislation. Findings – The central argument of the paper is that the introduction of PCCs needs to be examined within the context of the hegemony of neo-liberal logic in public services reform. It is argued that some enduring myths of policing, including the myth that the police impartially uphold an impartial law, lend themselves to the depoliticisation of policing which is necessary in order to facilitate neo-liberal colonisation of the service, which is inimical to democratic policing. Originality/value – The paper builds upon and contests some of the early critiques of the introduction of PCCs which have emerged and proposes a new direction for the development of critique in this area. It will be of interest to policing scholars as well as anyone concerned about the relationship between democracy and policing under current conditions of deep public service cuts and the colonisation of service provision by neo-liberal values.

UK Shale Gas Prospects – Preparing Bespoke Joint Operating Agreements and Gas Sales Agreements (Part I)

The rapid recent growth in the scale of shale gas exploitation in the United States has been revolutionary, with the capacity to transform the country from a gas importer to a gas exporter. Other countries with shale gas deposits have recognised the potential and have been investigating their own opportunities for exploration and exploitation. This is particularly so in the United Kingdom, where recent government pronouncements have propelled shale gas to the forefront of the energy agenda (but not without some societal debate and disagreement about the wisdom of doing so). This article has two parts, to be published in this and in the next issue of the Journal. The first part of this article examines how a conventional joint operating agreement (JOA) will need to be modified to reflect the nuances of an onshore shale gas project. The risk and the cost of developing a shale gas project could compel project developers to band together to share the burden, and the prospect of investing into such projects could also be attractive to non-operational investors. Thus, a joint venture could be created between the various interested parties, and the terms of the JOA will be critical. The second part of the article, which will be published in the first issue of 2014, examines how a conventional gas sales agreement (GSA) will need to be modified to reflect the nuances of an onshore shale gas project. The ecological credentials and energy efficiencies of natural gas as a feedstock for power generation, in comparison with combusting coal or fuel oil, are well known. Shale gas production is often earmarked as a feedstock for power generation, in preference to reliance on the vagaries of imported gas. The composition and production characteristics of shale gas will require a different means of contracting for the supply of gas for power generation, however, in comparison with conventional gas. Each of the JOA and the GSA must evolve from the offshore, conventional gas project world to which they typically relate in order to meet the requirements of an onshore shale gas project for two particular reasons:the essential operational characteristics of an onshore shale gas project will demand such an evolution if each of the JOA and the GSA is intended to be properly suited to the needs of the project; anda participant in a joint venture that has experience of shale gas development from a particular jurisdiction will expect to work within the terms of a bespoke JOA and GSA. Recognising that some project participants might be new to the business of shale gas development means that some education as to how the shale gas JOA and GSA each needs to be different could be essential.Of course, not every provision within each of the JOA and the GSA will need to be modified to apply to an onshore gas sales project, but some evolution will be needed.