Constitutional Issues Research Articles

The Possibility of Establishing the Ombudsman of the Republic of Poland as a Body for the Protection of Whistleblowers Reporting Violations of European Union Law. Constitutional Issues

Abstract The purpose of this article is to analyze the constitutional considerations of the possibility of establishing the Ombudsman as a body to receive reports of violations of the law under the authority of Directive Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 23, 2019 on the protection of whistleblowers. The results of the research lead to the conclusion of the possible admissibility of such a solution, but with the need for appropriate system changes. However, the author recommends entrusting this competence to a newly created body.

The Law of Urgency in Choosing Leaders in The Qur'an According to Al-Mawardi

This article explains the mechanism for selecting government and state leaders according to Abu Hassan al-Mawardi's benefit theory. According to al-Mawardi, Islamic teachings require legal norms that are closely related to political and constitutional issues. Based on the interpretation of QS Ali Imran verse 59, al-Mawardi reconstructs the meaning of Ulil Amri as the political representation of the people in the state power system. According to him, Ulil Amri is a group of selected people from various circles, namely soldiers, ulama, scientists, and so on who have an important key in the political decision-making process. The interesting thing about al-Mawardi's thinking is that he emphasizes the political consensus side (ijma fi fiqh al-siyasi) in the process of making political decisions, one of which is used in choosing government and state leaders.

Hydrogel-Loaded Exosomes: A Promising Therapeutic Strategy for Musculoskeletal Disorders

Clinical treatment strategies for musculoskeletal disorders have been a hot research topic. Accumulating evidence suggests that hydrogels loaded with MSC-derived EVs show great potential in improving musculoskeletal injuries. The ideal hydrogels should be capable of promoting the development of new tissues and simulating the characteristics of target tissues, with the properties matching the cell-matrix constituents of autologous tissues. Although there have been numerous reports of hydrogels loaded with MSC-derived EVs for the repair of musculoskeletal injuries, such as intervertebral disc injury, tendinopathy, bone fractures, and cartilage injuries, there are still many hurdles to overcome before the clinical application of modified hydrogels. In this review, we focus on the advantages of the isolation technique of EVs in combination with different types of hydrogels. In this context, the efficacy of hydrogels loaded with MSC-derived EVs in different musculoskeletal injuries is discussed in detail to provide a reference for the future application of hydrogels loaded with MSC-derived EVs in the clinical treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.

Scaling up from everyday concerns to territorial politics and constitutional debate: deliberation among women in the Irish border area

ABSTRACT A gulf between constitutional and everyday perspectives is prevalent, and often overlain by gender divisions. To explore how this gulf can be bridged to allow for the inclusion of everyday concerns in constitutional discussion, we engaged with women in the Irish border area, a region where constitutional difference has striking effects in daily life. We held a series of small-scale deliberative cafés on cross-border health provision, which is linked to dysfunctions of regional governance and contentious constitutional issues. We asked if such open-ended deliberation allows everyday concerns to ‘scale out’ to wider territorial units and ‘scale up’ to the constitutional question. We found that the deliberative café, a radically inclusive method, facilitated a limited scaling up and out from everyday experience: participants collectively and credibly defined systemic dysfunctions on the regional level with policy implications for constitutional discussion. Although participants raised important political issues, they did not easily move from regional to constitutional discussion. We argue that this discursive disjuncture between regionalist policy and constitutional politics derives from a tension between wider regionalist state discourses (which determinedly avoid constitutional contention) and constitutional discourses (which lack a spatial dimension and assume one ‘ideal’ public rather than engage with many existing publics).

In vitro study design derived from an in vivo lifting task

AbstractBiomechanical properties of the spinal tissue constituents, especially in the intervertebral disc (IVD), contribute to disability and high costs. The IVD is considered to be one of the main etiologies of chronic low back pain. Changes in the biomechanical properties of the spine, especially in the IVD, are related to multiple factors such as type and duration of loading, recovery periods, osmosis, relaxation, and diffusion processes. To quantify spinal burden in vivo, various dose models have been developed in the context of ergonomics research. In our work both in vivo and in vitro studies were conducted to investigate the effects of loading and rest periods alteration on mechanical properties of the spine. A multibody simulation (MBS) was used to translate the collected motion data from the in vivo study into forces and moments as boundary conditions for the in vitro study. An in vitro spine test rig is used to apply axial compression forces and pure moment loading in flexion/extension direction to spinal segments according to the conditions that have been determined in the MBS. In this article, an approach is presented to coordinate the boundary conditions in vivo and in vitro in order to carry out a holistic investigation. In addition, it is shown why cyclic preconditioning seems to be a more suitable preparation of the samples compared to a constant one in this experimental context.

The Statutory Development for Criminal Responsibility based on International Trade Law of Aggressive Tax under Travaux Preparatoires: A Case Report of Joe Cinque

Purpose: Taxes are responsibilities of a company to comply with the goals of sustainable development. Corporate Code of Conduct must exercise tax compliance and avoid tax evasion as source of criminal liability. This paper aims to develop tax avoidance based on statutory interpretation concerning Hague Convention as its extrinsic material to extend the legal principle of travaux preparatoires. Hence, UNCITRAL legal modelling framework is utilized to make commercial transactions universal to trade law, for addressing legal gaps in marketing behavior of taxation system involving intellectual property of product design. Thus, this statutory interpretation intends to resolve issues for the lack of legal measures in protecting public safety resulting to increase in domestic violence proportional to massive terrorism serving as a question in deontology.
 Methodology: Tax aggressiveness is the obligation of the company to provide revenue distribution to public sector. Unlawful behavior on tax aggressiveness is known as tax evasion while tax avoidance is not a violation and serves as a loophole to the taxation system. UNCITRAL model law is a legal arbitration concept of making “commercial” expand to other comparable jurisdiction of international trade. Hague Convention drafted travaux preparatoires to conceptualize a legal framework of making the commercial transactions universal to other extended territories in terms of international trade law.
 Findings: Corporate Governance is a systematic design of stakeholders and their corporate social responsibility to advocate sustainable development. Therefore, in terms of tax avoidance, the strict liability of the company must be addressed with constitutional issues and commercial responsibilities of selling its product design with elemental performance of domestic violence under Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) of United Nations Convention. The statutory interpretation for tax avoidance serves as a developed measurement to allocate funds, from sources of criminal actions, since deviation of tax avoidance would result to illegal diversions as criminal offenses from tax avoidance, for promotion of public welfare and safety in public sector, as well as in police enforcement of constitutional right.
 Recommendation: Corporate social responsibility must be observed as fulfillment of business ethics’ goals of financial intelligence to sustainable development of Corporate Governance. Thus, it is suggested for advocacy of artificial intelligence adoption as authorless works for promoting intellectual property as a constitutional right.

An Inverse Modeling Approach to Estimate Three-Dimensional Aortic Valve Interstitial Cell Stress Fiber Force Levels.

Within the aortic valve (AV) leaflet exists a population of interstitial cells (AVICs) that maintain the constituent tissues by extracellular matrix (ECM) secretion, degradation, and remodeling. AVICs can transition from a quiescent, fibroblast-like phenotype to an activated, myofibroblast phenotype in response to growth or disease. AVIC dysfunction has been implicated in AV disease processes, yet our understanding of AVIC function remains quite limited. A major characteristic of the AVIC phenotype is its contractile state, driven by contractile forces generated by the underlying stress fibers (SF). However, direct assessment of the AVIC SF contractile state and structure within physiologically mimicking three-dimensional environments remains technically challenging, as the size of single SFs are below the resolution of light microscopy. Therefore, in the present study, we developed a three-dimensional (3D) computational approach of AVICs embedded in 3D hydrogels to estimate their SF local orientations and contractile forces. One challenge with this approach is that AVICs will remodel the hydrogel, so that the gel moduli will vary spatially. We thus utilized our previous approach (Khang et al. 2023, "Estimation of Aortic Valve Interstitial Cell-Induced 3D Remodeling of Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Hydrogel Environments Using an Inverse Finite Element Approach," Acta Biomater., 160, pp. 123-133) to define local hydrogel mechanical properties. The AVIC SF model incorporated known cytosol and nucleus mechanical behaviors, with the cell membrane assumed to be perfectly bonded to the surrounding hydrogel. The AVIC SFs were first modeled as locally unidirectional hyperelastic fibers with a contractile force component. An adjoint-based inverse modeling approach was developed to estimate local SF orientation and contractile force. Substantial heterogeneity in SF force and orientations were observed, with the greatest levels of SF alignment and contractile forces occurring in AVIC protrusions. The addition of a dispersed SF orientation to the modeling approach did not substantially alter these findings. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first fully 3D computational contractile cell models which can predict locally varying stress fiber orientation and contractile force levels.

Identification of Desiccation Stress-Inducible Antioxidative and Antiglycative Ultraviolet-Absorbing Oxylipins, Saclipin A and Saclipin B, in an Edible Cyanobacterium Aphanothece sacrum.

Aphanothece sacrum, a freshwater cyanobacterium, is an edible cyanobacterial strain. We identified two compounds belonging to the oxylipin family that possess UV-absorbing abilities and accumulate in the dried sample of A. sacrum. The compounds, named saclipin A and saclipin B, exhibited strong UV-absorption properties with the absorption maxima at 316 and 319 nm, respectively, and the molar extinction coefficients of 26,454 and 30,555 M-1 cm-1, respectively. The chemical structures of saclipins A and B have been elucidated, revealing that they have an all-E and a 12Z isomeric relationship within the triene structure. The saclipins could be isomerized by photoirradiation, with the cis-form saclipin B proving to be more stable in methanol, ethanol, or acetonitrile. Under drought stress conditions, the accumulation of saclipins A and B in A. sacrum was found to be increased 20- and 10-fold, respectively. Purified saclipins from A. sacrum showed biocompatibility and valuable bioactivities. Specifically, saclipins exhibited radical scavenging activity, maintaining their activity even 40 min after the reaction began. Additionally, they demonstrated inhibitory activity against glycation of elastin and collagen, which are constituents of dermal tissue. Notably, saclipins showed higher activity than the well-known glycation inhibitor aminoguanidine against collagen glycation.

The Best Constitution for the Flourishing Lives: Aristotle’s Political Theory and Its Implications for Emancipatory Purposes

The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of the best constitution given Aristotle’s account of human flourishing articulated in the Nicomachean Ethics. There, Aristotle claims that monarchy is the supreme form of constitution. A similar claim is repeated in Politics. The paper argues that these claims sit uneasily with Aristotle’s teleological accounts of the polis, the citizen, and his discussion of the virtues of the citizen and the good man in Politics. Given Aristotle’s philosophical definition of the state as “an association of equals for the sake of the best possible life” and his notion that “the best is happiness, and that consists in excellence and its perfect actualization and its employment”, and Aristotle’s argument on the relationship between the good man and the good citizen, this paper concludes that the best constitution is politeia. Yet, simply to argue so is not enough if we are to rescue Aristotle from his inconsistencies and his claims on “natural inequalities”. Finally, a more radical interpretation of Aristotle is outlined, which rejects Aristotle’s separation between the oikos and the polis and argues that the verticality of the former is philosophically arbitrary and contradicts the revolutionary implications of Aristotle’s normative teleology.

Modeling of mechanosensitive remodeling processes in collagen fibers

AbstractA large number of biochemical processes such as enzymatic collagen degradation are involved in the remodeling of biological soft tissue constituents. Experiments have found that moderate strain may stabilize fibrillar collagen to enzymatic degradation. This strain stabilization is crucial for the homeostatic balance during the tissue remodeling process in healthy soft tissue. This article studies a material model applicable to the modeling of collagenous soft tissue. The ground substance properties are taken to be time‐independent, while the mechanical behavior of the fibers is modeled in terms of the Helmholtz free energy of the underlying protofibers along with a survival kernel that accounts for how the fiber density is dependent upon the deformation of the overall material. The examples illustrate the consequences of a compressively induced mechanical disruption to the homeostatic fiber remodeling, and they show the differences in the re‐approach to homeostasis when either the stress or strain remains constant.

An Evaluation on Operationalising the Way of Concrete Review in the Resolution of Constitutive Issues

Bireysel başvuruya konu olan yargı kararının dayandığı yasa hükmünü 1982 Anayasasına aykırı gören Anayasa Mahkemesi (AYM), bu durumu yapısal sorun olarak değerlendirmektedir. Söz konusu sorunun çözümü için AYM tarafından Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi’ne (TBMM) keyfiyet bildirilmekte; Anayasaya aykırı olduğu değerlendirilen yasa hükmünün değiştirilerek ya da yürürlükten kaldırılarak Anayasaya uygun hâle getirilmesi için çağrı yapılmaktadır. Çağrı kararlarının işlevselliği, bu kararlara yönelik gerekli teşri adımların etkin bir şekilde atılmamasından ötürü öğretide tartışılmaktadır. Bazı yazarlar tarafından çağrı kararlarının etkinliğini artırmak üzere çeşitli öneriler sunulmaktadır. Bazı yazarlar ise yapısal sorunların çözümünde çağrı kararlarından ziyade somut norm denetimi yolunun işlevsel kılınması gerektiğini ileri sürmektedir. Söz konusu yolun işlevsel kılınmasının mümkün olup olmadığı çalışmamızda değerlendirilmektedir. Türk anayasa yargısına ilişkin hükümler dairesinde AYM tarafından objektif somut norm denetimi yapılabilmektedir; ancak bireysel başvuruya ilişkin mevzuat ve bu mevzuatın tarihsel arka planı irdelendiğinde, AYM’nin bireysel başvurular kapsamında somut norm denetimi yolunu işlevsel kılma yetkisi bulunmadığı görülmektedir. Yine de belirtmek gerekir ki, hak ihlallerine sebebiyet veren yapısal sorunların giderilmesi noktasında devletin pozitif yükümlülüğü bulunmaktadır. Bireysel başvuruların incelenmesi esnasında somut norm denetiminin işlevsel kılınabilmesi de bahse konu yükümlülüğün yerine getirilmesinin bir gereği olarak değerlendirilebilir. Bu kapsamda, somut norm denetiminin sınırları anayasa değişikliği ile genişletilerek yapısal sorunların çözümünde AYM tarafından işlevsel kılınması sağlanabilir.

Paired Liver:Plasma PFAS Concentration Ratios from Adolescents in the Teen-LABS Study and Derivation of Empirical and Mass Balance Models to Predict and Explain Liver PFAS Accumulation.

Animal studies have pointed at the liver as a hotspot for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) accumulation and toxicity; however, these findings have not been replicated in human populations. We measured concentrations of seven PFAS in matched liver and plasma samples collected at the time of bariatric surgery from 64 adolescents in the Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen-LABS) study. Liver:plasma concentration ratios were perfectly explained (r2 > 0.99) in a multilinear regression (MLR) model based on toxicokinetic (TK) descriptors consisting of binding to tissue constituents and membrane permeabilities. Of the seven matched plasma and liver PFAS concentrations compared in this study, the liver:plasma concentration ratio of perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA) was considerably higher than the liver:plasma concentration ratio of other PFAS congeners. Comparing the MLR model with an equilibrium mass balance model (MBM) suggested that complex kinetic transport processes are driving the unexpectedly high liver:plasma concentration ratio of PFHpA. Intratissue MBM modeling pointed to membrane lipids as the tissue constituents that drive the liver accumulation of long-chain, hydrophobic PFAS, whereas albumin binding of hydrophobic PFAS dominated PFAS distribution in plasma. The liver:plasma concentration data set, empirical MLR model, and mechanistic MBM modeling allow the prediction of liver from plasma concentrations measured in human cohort studies. Our study demonstrates that combining biomonitoring data with mechanistic modeling can identify underlying mechanisms of internal distribution and specific target organ toxicity of PFAS in humans.

Multiphoton imaging of the monosachharide induced formation of fluorescent advanced glycation end products in tissues.

We studied the in vitro rate of fluorescent advanced glycation end products (fAGEs) formation with multiphoton microscopy in different porcine tissues (aorta, cornea, kidney, dermis, and tendon). These tissues were treated with d-glucose, d-galactose, and d-fructose, three primary monosaccharides found in human diets. We found that the use of d-fructose resulted in the highest glycation rate, followed by d-galactose and then d-glucose. Moreover, compared to non-collagen tissue constituents such as elastic fibers and cells, the rate of tissue glycation was consistently higher in collagen, suggesting that collagen is a more sensitive target for fAGE formation. However, we also found that collagen in different tissues exhibits different rates of fAGE formation, with slower rates observed in tightly packed tissues such as cornea and tendon. Our study suggests that for fAGE to be developed into a long-term glycemic biomarker, loosely organized collagen tissues located in the proximity of vasculature may be the best targets.

Niekonstytucyjność tzw. aborcji eugenicznej (embriopatologicznej). Schemat argumentacji Trybunału Konstytucyjnego w sprawie K 1/20

The text aims at reconstructing the structure of the arguments of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal in the judgment of 22 October 2020, in which the so-called eugenic grounds for termination of pregnancy were held unconstitutional. The assumption of the presented considerations is the recognition that this judgment amounts to be a possible and natural development of jurisprudence regarding the disputed constitutional issue. The authors argue that the essential structural elements of the Tribunal’s reasoning (i.e. its two-stage nature consisting in examining the constitutional subjectivity of the nasciturus and carrying out the proportionality test) do not raise objections in the light of the method of resolving the constitutional problem adopted by the Constitutional Tribunal. In turn, the partial conclusions of these argumentation stages (i.e. recognition of the subjectivity of the nasciturus on the basis of Article 38 of the Constitution regulating the legal protection of life, as well as the recognition that the challenged regulation does not meet the proportionality test) are based on the existing doctrinal stipulations, and even more so on the existing jurisprudence of the Tribunal. The judgment is largely of an application nature in relation to the fundamental findings of the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling of 28 May 1997, but these findings are embedded in other constitutional categories: the life of a nasciturus is not only recognized as a “constitutional value” detached from the subject, but as a good an entity who entitled to the constitutional right to legal protection of life. In turn, the decisions of the ordinary legislator as to the intensity and type of this protection must meet the requirements of proportionality test, taking into account the constitutional importance of the right to legal protection of life and its close connection with the protection of human dignity.

스포츠 뇌 도핑(brain doping)과 인권

The use of tDCS (Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation), a non-invasive and painless brain stimulation technique, could be used in sports as a new form of brain doping. The World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits doping in competition, and brain doping has the potential to be used as a substitute or workaround for traditional doping methods. As brain doping technologies may provide performance enhancement in a similar way to doping athletes with banned substances or other devices, it is necessary to examine the normative implications of brain doping as an advanced technology. This article examines constitutional principles from the perspective of fundamental rights, such as the rule of law and fairness, and how they relate to human rights issues. In order to focus the discussion on the constitutional issue of anti-corruption, the article examines the public law issues of rule of law and fairness, and the human rights issues of equality, mental freedom, and the right to health, in the context of brain doping in athletes, and suggests implications for anti-doping policy. The implications of imposing restrictions on performance enhancement by intervening in the brain may be a matter of limiting an individual's right to self-determination as a form of self-determination in that it may restrict an individual's ability to improve their performance in a variety of ways of their own free will. In order for brain-doping devices to contribute to sporting fairness, it is important to ensure that access to brain-doping devices is equitable among individuals, while minimizing the adverse effects of using the technology and ensuring that athletes are safe from health risks. Guidelines are needed to ensure that devices that have the potential to undermine the fairness of sporting events through brain doping are included on the anti-doping rule's prohibited list and that athletes who use them are suspended from competition, and that underage athletes are not coerced into using brain-doping devices by coaches, managers et al. When tDCS used for brain doping is marketed as a wellness healthcare product, there is a need for consumer protection. Considering that doping may emerge in new ways in line with advances in science and technology, international cooperation and discussions should be carried out with the participation of civil society to ensure that technological advances do not jeopardize the safety of citizens and become a tool for corruption.

Whole-Mount Imaging of Adipose Tissue Macrophages.

The adipose tissue comprises highly heterogeneous macrophage populations, which play critical roles in the regulation of adipose tissue function and dysfunction during health and disease. Whole-amount staining is a powerful technique for macrophage characterization within the 3D environment of the adipose tissue, enabling the visualization of different macrophage populations and their interaction with other cells within their in vivo niche. Due to the high-fat content and softness, freezing and sectioning of adipose tissue is difficult, and distortion of tissue morphology typically occurs, especially in the case of white adipose tissue. We describe here a whole-mount staining alternative for adipose tissue imaging that preserves all structures and allows high-resolution image acquisition. We address in a step-by-step manner how to perform immunofluorescence staining of different fat pads and how to optimally visualize cellular and acellular (extracellular matrix) constituents of the adipose tissue and its vasculature, as well as resident and infiltrating macrophage populations.

A constitution for the ocean? An agora on ocean governance

AbstractThis introduction briefly discusses the global constitutional issues raised by ocean governance and introduces the three pieces from our Agora contributors.

Reconstructing in vivo spatially offset Raman spectroscopy of human skin tissue using a GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo platform

As one type of spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS), inverse SORS is particularly suited to in vivo biomedical measurements due to its ring-shaped illumination scheme. To explain inhomogeneous Raman scattering during in vivo inverse SORS measurements, the light–tissue interactions when excitation and regenerated Raman photons propagate in skin tissue were studied using Monte Carlo simulation. An eight-layered skin model was first built based on the latest transmission parameters. Then, an open-source platform, Monte Carlo eXtreme (MCX), was adapted to study the distribution of 785 nm excitation photons inside the model with an inverse spatially shifted annular beam. The excitation photons were converted to emission photons by an inverse distribution method based on excitation flux with spatial offsets Δs of 1 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm and 5 mm. The intrinsic Raman spectra from separated skin layers were measured by continuous linear scanning to improve the simulation accuracy. The obtained results explain why the spectral detection depth gradually increases with increasing spatial offset, and address how the intrinsic Raman spectrum from deep skin layers is distorted by the reabsorption and scattering of the superficial tissue constituents. Meanwhile, it is demonstrated that the spectral contribution from subcutaneous fat will be improved when the offset increases to 5 mm, and the highest detection efficiency for dermal layer spectral detection could be achieved when Δs = 2 mm. Reasonably good matching between the calculated spectrum and the measured in vivo inverse SORS was achieved, thus demonstrating great utility of our modeling method and an approach to help understand the clinical measurements.

Brain tissue mechanics is governed by microscale relations of the tissue constituents

Local mechanical tissue properties are a critical regulator of cell function in the central nervous system (CNS) during development and disorder. However, we still don't fully understand how the mechanical properties of individual tissue constituents, such as cell nuclei or myelin, determine tissue mechanics. Here we developed a model predicting local tissue mechanics, which induces non-affine deformations of the tissue components. Using the mouse hippocampus and cerebellum as model systems, we show that considering individual tissue components alone, as identified by immunohistochemistry, is not sufficient to reproduce the local mechanical properties of CNS tissue. Our results suggest that brain tissue shows a universal response to applied forces that depends not only on the amount and stiffness of the individual tissue constituents but also on the way how they assemble. Our model may unify current incongruences between the mechanics of soft biological tissues and the underlying constituents and facilitate the design of better biomedical materials and engineered tissues. To this end, we provide a freely-available platform to predict local tissue elasticity upon providing immunohistochemistry images and stiffness values for the constituents of the tissue.

Asymmetry of tensile versus compressive elasticity and permeability contributes to the regulation of exchanges in collagen gels.

The Starling principle describes exchanges between blood and tissues based on the balance of hydrostatic and osmotic flows. However, the permeation properties of the main constituent of tissues, namely, collagen, in response to the stress exerted by blood pressure remain poorly characterized. Here, we develop an instrument to determine the elasticity and permeability of collagen gels under tensile and compressive stress based on measuring the temporal change in pressure in an air cavity sealed at the outlet of a collagen slab. Data analysis with an analytical model reveals a drop in the permeability and enhanced strain stiffening of native collagen gels under compression versus tension, both effects being essentially lost after chemical cross-linking. Furthermore, we report the control of the permeability of native collagen gels using sinusoidal fluid injection, an effect explained by the asymmetric response in tension and compression. We lastly suggest that blood-associated pulsations could contribute to exchanges within tissues.