Major Provisions Research Articles

CONCEPTUALIZING DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY FOR STUDENTS IN EDUCATION

The primary aim of education is to bring all-round and harmonious development of individuals in different aspects of their life and enable them to attain their full potentialities for performing any productive tasks. Hence, every individual has the right to receive equal opportunities for quality education irrespective of their physical, socio-cultural, and economic backgrounds. However, in the recent decades, the roles accomplished by modern technologies in the domain of education with respect to delivery of instruction, learning activities, teaching strategies, process of evaluation etc. are very much crucial and noteworthy. Thus, it is important to understand the necessity of equal access towards advanced technologies of all students at different stages of education. Therefore, the present paper aims to explore the very notion and issues of digital accessibility, recognizes its major provisions and practices that are designed for all learners so that they may perceive and utilize those digital media effectively. Finally, the researchers of the paper try to address various benefits and challenges besides examining the educational implications of digital accessibility for ensuring adequate students’ engagement in learning. KEYWORDS: Digital Accessibility, Provisions and Practices for all learners, Benefits and Challenges, Educational Implications

Research on Legal Issues of Protection of Rights and Interests of Internet Consumers in China

This paper explores the current status and issues of China's laws regarding the protection of consumer rights in online transactions, aiming to analyze challenges in their implementation and propose reform recommendations. Firstly, it reviews China's existing legal framework, including major legislative provisions and judicial interpretations. Subsequently, through an analysis of ambiguities in legal application, challenges in regulatory enforcement, and barriers to consumer rights protection, it exposes the primary issues in current legal implementation. Finally, based on these findings, specific reform suggestions are proposed to clarify legal applicability, enhance regulatory efficiency, and improve mechanisms for consumer rights protection, aiming to enhance the effectiveness and fairness of consumer protection in China's online environment.

The delegation of discretionary power in international agreements: New comparative evidence from the association of Southeast Asian Nations

Abstract According to the transaction-costs perspective on delegation, decision-makers grant more discretion to implementers in relation to policies that are more complex and therefore require more specialist expertise to implement. Furthermore, decision-makers grant less delegation to implementers when those implementers have divergent preferences and are therefore more costly to monitor. The transaction-costs perspective has implications for the design of international agreements, such as those adopted by the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). While delegation in the EU has been the subject of systematic research, delegation in ASEAN has not. We argue that ASEAN offers a particularly hard test of the transaction-costs perspective, especially in relation to its propositions concerning implementers’ policy preferences. Notwithstanding the unique characteristics of ASEAN, the evidence provides strong support for the transaction-costs perspective both in terms of specialist expertise and implementers’ preferences. The new dataset we examine includes information on more than 8,500 major provisions within the 235 legal instruments adopted by ASEAN since 1967.

Taking the Pulse of Georgia Local Election Officials After Senate Bill 202

In the aftermath of Republicans’ stinging losses in 2020 and 2021, which contributed to relinquishing the presidency and U.S. Senate majority, respectively, Georgia’s GOP lawmakers passed comprehensive electoral reform in Senate Bill (SB) 202. In this Field Note, we outline SB 202’s major provisions, and then present results of a survey querying Georgia local election officials (LEOs) to assess how SB 202 affected administrative performance in the 2022 midterm elections. Unquestionably, SB 202’s raft of reforms greatly altered Georgia’s administrative apparatus, but it is anything but clear that these changes in the aggregate either improved or detracted from the system it replaced. Indeed, the most credible judgment rendered from LEOs, is that administrative performance is case-specific, and therefore highly contingent upon the reform of interest.

Compensation and Rehabilitation of Victims of Rape

Women are important segment of the society, be it family or the government or any other sector like medical, education, administration or legal etc. Women are playing increasingly important roles in every walk of public life. Despite playing such vital role in societal progress, the women are not getting the respect due to them. Even today, majority of the country is male dominated and women have to do every act according to men. Violence and discrimination against women is common place on world. One of the most heinous crimes against women- is the act of non-consensual coercive sexual intercourse with a woman. It violates, not only the body and conscience of the victim, but also disturbs the social order. A victim of rape suffers several problems like, social stigma in addition to psychological trauma. However till today there is no efficient law to provide a compensation or rehabilitation of victims of rape in India. Moreover there are several countries which provide a proper remedy to victims. Rape is the offence which occurred in every country instead of advanced or backward, the difference is only the ratio. In this paper I will discuss the women’s movement and major legislative provisions throughout the world towards compensation and rehabilitation of Rape Victims. As well as the Indian position in the particular offence.

Detailed seismic zoning of the East Kazakhstan region in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is currently drafting new construction regulations that comply with the major provisions of the Eurocodes. Such regulations are created on the basis of seismic zoning maps of various degrees of detail, developed by our Institute of Seismology using a new methodological approach for Kazakhstan. The article is about creating the first normative map of the Detailed Seismic Zoning on a probabilistic foundation for the Republic of Kazakhstan's East Kazakhstan region. We carried out the probabilistic assessment of seismic hazard using a methodology consistent with the main provisions of Eurocode 8 and updated compared with that used in developing maps of Kazakhstan's General Seismic Zoning and seismic microzoning of Almaty. The most thorough and current data accessible for the area under consideration were combined with contemporary analytical techniques. Updates have been done to not only the databases being used but also the way seismic sources were shown, including active faults now. On a scale of 1:1000000, precise seismic zoning maps of the East Kazakhstan region were created for two probabilities of exceedance: 10 % and 2 % in 50 years in terms of peak ground accelerations and macroseismic intensities. The obtained seismic hazard distribution is generally consistent with the General Seismic Zoning of Kazakhstan's previous findings. However, because active faults were included and a thoroughly revised catalog was used, there are more pronounced zones of increased danger along the fault in the western part of the region. In the west of the territory, acceleration values also increased due to a more accurate consideration of seismotectonic conditions. Zoning maps are the basis for developing new state building regulations of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Simulating the Impact of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act on State-Level CO2 Emissions: An Integrated Assessment Model Approach

Climate change mitigation measures are often projected to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide concentrations. Yet, it seems there is ample evidence suggesting that we have a limited understanding of the impacts of these measures and their combinations. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) enacted in the U.S. in 2022 contains significant provisions, such as the electric vehicle (EV) tax credits, to reduce CO2 emissions. However, the impact of such provisions is not fully understood across the U.S., particularly in the context of their interactions with other macroeconomic systems. In this paper, we employ an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM), the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), to estimate the future CO2 emissions in the U.S. GCAM is equipped to comprehensively characterize the interactions among different systems, e.g., energy, water, land use, and transportation. Thus, the use of GCAM-USA that has U.S. state-level resolution allows the projection of the impacts and consequences of major provisions in the IRA, i.e., EV tax credits and clean energy incentives. To compare the performance of these incentives and credits, a policy effectiveness index is used to evaluate the strength of the relationship between the achieved total CO2 emissions and the overarching emission reduction costs. Our results show that the EV tax credits as stipulated in the IRA can only marginally reduce carbon emissions across the U.S. In fact, it may lead to negative impacts in some states. However, simultaneously combining the incentives and tax credits improves performance and outcomes better than the sum of the individual effects of the policies. This demonstrates that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts in this decarbonization approach. Our findings provide insights for policymakers with a recommendation that combining EV tax credits with clean energy incentives magnifies the intended impact of emission reduction.

An Overview of Criminal Provisions Responding to Hate Speech in Turkish Law

Abstract There are several reports and cases that demonstrate the clear increase of hate speech in Turkey through media and especially on social media against some national and religious minorities, asylum seekers, refugees, and LGBTQ. This was also reported by the European Commission which pointed out that there is no effective prosecution of incitement to hatred, including by the media. In addition hate speech is not clearly regulated, expressions that can be considered hate speech are interpreted sometimes through provisions that regulate the crime of defamation against a person or the crime of defamation against a part of people. Although tidy legislation which defines and regulates hate speech through media, the internet and, social media is not yet available in the Turkish Penal Code. Major provisions that can be associated with hate speech are available in the Turkish Penal Code in a scattered manner. There are also related regulations in the law governing internet broadcasting and the law governing radio and television broadcasting. Expressions that can be considered hate speech are, in some cases interpreted through provisions that regulate the crime of defamation against the person. The most important problem pertains to the fact that hate speech and hate crimes have not been prescribed under a single title in Turkish Law.

The European Commission's approach to extra-contractual liability and AI – An evaluation of the AI liability directive and the revised product liability directive

The European Commission published two proposals that aim to adapt (tort) liability rules to the digital age, the circular economy and the impact of the global value chain. The ‘AI Liability Directive’ contains rules on the disclosure of information and the alleviation of the burden of proof in relation to damage caused by AI systems. The ‘revised Product Liability Directive’ substantially modifies the current product liability regime by broadening the scope, integrating new circumstances to assess the product's defectiveness and introducing provisions regarding presumptions of defectiveness and causation. In this article, we evaluate how both proposals provide some answers to major technological developments – in particular AI – in view of the issues they raise as identified in the legal literature. To do so, we also provide a clear understanding of the major provisions in both proposals, supported by visuals. Although we welcome both proposals for several reasons outlined in the article, different unclarities and inconsistencies need to be resolved. These inter alia relate to the unclarity of terms, the position of claimants, the uncertain interaction with other supranational initiatives and the many interpretation issues with regard to the fault-based liability regime. A more fundamental objection relates to the choice of the revised Product Liability Directive to capture all liability issues with AI systems, which comes at the cost of losing the connection to ‘product’ as a grounding concept. Our findings can be used by policymakers in further adapting and refining both proposals to the digital reality.

Challenges and conflicts in the designation of Taiwan’s underwater cultural heritage protected areas

This study aims to analyze the legislative background and current practices relevant to the preservation of Taiwan’s underwater cultural heritage (UCH) and compare it to the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001 Convention) passed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Although Taiwan is not a contracting state, it actively enacted its own Underwater Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (UCHA) in 2015 and developed relevant sub-laws to establish a system for preserving its UCH, thereby demonstrating its determination to do so. Nevertheless, the UCHA has not been fully implemented and has room for improvement because of difficulties such as the lack of manpower, experience, and the complexity of the administrative jurisdiction of the various related agencies. This article introduces the major provisions of the UCHA, discusses recent UCH research conducted in Taiwan, and explores challenges concerning the delineation and management of UCH protection zones. The U.S. national system of marine protected areas (MPAs), including marine sanctuaries, has been used as a reference by Taiwan. Lessons learnt from the U.S. experience are summarized. Before concluding, the article proposes several strategies that Taiwan could follow to strengthen its future preservation of UCH.

Access and benefit-sharing in China: exploring the extent to which China fulfils the obligations of the Nagoya Protocol

This article critically examines the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) through China’s Draft Regulation (2017). The Draft Regulation is still in draft form, but it definitely breaks new ground by establishing the most comprehensive piece of legislation for access and benefit-sharing (ABS) in China. Nevertheless, what is surprising is the absence of rigorous analysis of this ground-breaking legislation. In an attempt to fill the literature gap, while referring to the major provisions of the Nagoya Protocol, this article seeks to investigate how far the Draft Regulation (2017) in China is meeting the requirements of the Nagoya Protocol, identify its normative gaps and figure out what needs to be done in giving full effect to the obligations of the Nagoya Protocol.

Re-examination of shear design provisions for high-strength longitudinally reinforced concrete beams

The lack of information regarding the shear behaviour of high-strength longitudinally reinforced concrete beams without shear reinforcement (HRCBW) impedes design engineers from using the full yield strength of the material. In this work, current shear design provisions for HRCBW were re-examined based on the probability density function (PDF), confidence interval and confidence level. Based on the principal shear mechanism of beam and arch actions, a probabilistic shear capacity model for HRCBW was developed based on Bayesian theory and the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, taking into account both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties. Statistical characteristics (e.g. mean, standard deviation, distribution type) of the shear capacity of HRCBW were determined by the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and statistical analysis. The accuracy and applicability of three major shear design provisions for HRCBW (ACI 318-19, BS EN 1992-1-1:2004 and fib Model Code 2010) were re-examined based on the PDF, confidence interval and confidence level.

Improving Drug Therapy for Pediatric Patients: Unfinished History of Pediatric Drug Development.

Improving Drug Therapy for Pediatric Patients: Unfinished History of Pediatric Drug Development.

Labor Policy in Nigeria: Evolution, Trends and Implications for Industrial Relations

This theoretical paper examines how Nigerian governments (Military and Democratic) over the years, have intervened in industrial relations through the promulgation of various labor decrees/laws since the inception of trade unionism in Nigeria. Relying on secondary materials, the paper takes a look at the various labor policies/enactments, the philosophy behind their promulgation, and also the effects on the Nigerian industrial relations set-up. Focusing on the major provisions of the 2005 labor policy, and using the pluralist and conflict perspectives and trade unions in two vital sectors of the economy, (Education and Health) as case studies, the paper argues that the current labor policy is an attempt to destabilize and weaken trade unions and that the current pattern in Nigeria’s industrial relations can be seen in the context of systemic tension and contradiction, a situation which arises as a result of the survival strategists adopted by all stakeholders in the industrial relations context and system. The paper concludes that as a partner in the tripartite relationship, trade unions have important roles to play in the management of the economy, and the Nigerian government should adopt a sustainable tripartism that would benefit from the practice of an ideology of social engagement and open willingness for others to share in its responsibility.

Lost in Translation

Since 2010, international tax policymakers have proposed a variety of minimum taxes on excess returns, but every proposal has defined excess returns differently. This Article asks what excess returns are supposed to represent—and concludes that the answer is very different from what policymakers have suggested.
 The trend of targeting so-called excess returns started in 2010 with a one-page idea in the Obama Treasury’s proposed budget. Overthe next decade, this idea became the basis for one of the major international tax reform provisions in the 2017 U.S. tax reform and is now being considered as part of Pillar Two of the OECD’s current digital tax project. The idea in question is a minimum tax on foreign excess returns. Yet even though the general idea of a minimum tax on foreign excess returns has stayed the same across administrations and jurisdictions, the specifics of this idea have changed with every iteration, and the proponents of this idea have justified each version differently and defined its various elements differently.
 This Article tells the story of the many recent proposals for minimum taxes on foreign excess returns, starting with the Obama Treasury’s brief proposal and ending with the OECD’s two-pillar solution to the challenges of the digital economy. This Article highlights the common threads that link all of these rules, and it also shows how differently the drafters of each rule have understood the purpose and design of a minimum tax on foreign excess returns. This Article argues that, despite claims by the policymakers advocating for these minimum taxes, none of these taxes on excess returns is supported by the economic theory of excess returns. Instead, policymakers are using the term “excess returns” to mean different things in the context of different proposals, and they are masking the policy choices they are making by using a term that appears to have support in the economic literature.

Обеспечение кибербезопасности систем микропроцессорных и релейно-процессорных централизаций на сети ОАО «РЖД». Перспективы и практическое применение средств защиты

The article expounds major aspects of cyber protection provision for railway automation and remote control system series, the developments made by staff of Computer railway technology center of Emperor Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University. Major topical provisions in the sphere of development and designing of microprocessor interlocking distributed systems, including regulatory provision, are considered. Promising domestic informational safety remedies are presented and analysis of requirements on cyber safety for microprocessor and relay processor interlocking systems is made as well as practical realization of measure series on cyber safety level rise for railway automation and remote control systems is presented. A number of technical solutions in the field of cyber security in the implementation of distributed control systems in railway transport are considered using the example of microprocessor interlocking system MPC-MPK.

The Inflation Reduction Act Is a Foot in the Door for Containing Health Care Costs

This JAMA Forum discusses prior health care reform attempts and one of the major provisions, the power of the government to negotiate the prices of some drugs in Medicare, of the Inflation Reduction Act.

100. Disparities in elective spine surgery for Medicaid beneficiaries: a systematic review

<h3>BACKGROUND CONTEXT</h3> With Medicaid expansion being one of the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the number of patients under Medicaid is higher than ever. Nonetheless, Medicaid beneficiaries have been shown to be disadvantaged in health care access and outcomes, particularly within surgical specialties. Understanding and mitigating these inequities is critical for the ability of spine surgeons to provide better care for their patients. <h3>PURPOSE</h3> We sought to synthesize the literature investigating the disparities that Medicaid patients sustain with regard to two types of elective spine surgery: lumbar fusion (LF) and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). <h3>STUDY DESIGN/SETTING</h3> Systematic review. <h3>METHODS</h3> Our review was constructed in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and protocol. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases. We included studies comparing Medicaid beneficiaries to other payer categories with regard to rates of LF and ACDF, costs/reimbursement, and health outcomes. Two independent reviewers performed title and abstract screening followed by full-text review. In both cases, a third reviewer served as an arbiter in cases of disagreement. Additionally, references cited by included articles were also screened for inclusion. The two primary reviewers utilized the methodological index for non-randomized studies (MINORS) criteria to evaluate the quality of included studies. <h3>RESULTS</h3> A total of 573 articles were assessed. Twenty-five articles were included in the analysis. All articles were relatively recent with year of publication ranging from 2016 to 2021. MINORS scores ranged from 18 to 22, indicating moderate to good quality of all studies. We found that the overwhelming majority of research detected significant disadvantages associated with Medicaid insurance. Medicaid was strongly associated with decreased access to LF and ACDF, lower reimbursement rates, and worse health outcomes compared to other insurance types. These findings were replicated in large database studies, multicenter studies, and single institution studies. Worse health outcomes included prolonged length of stay, lower satisfaction and outcome scores, higher pain scores, and higher odds of readmission, emergency department visits, surgical site infections, prolonged opioid use and reintubation. <h3>CONCLUSIONS</h3> In adult patients undergoing elective spine surgery, Medicaid insurance is associated with wide disparities with regard to access to care and health outcomes. The decreased access to health care and the lower reimbursement rates we found highlight the reluctance of health care systems to increase Medicaid coverage. Additionally, the worse health outcomes indicate the need for efforts focused on identifying causes and interventions for disparities in this vulnerable population. With the increasing importance of spine surgery for the aging population, our findings warrant close examination of the roots of inequities in spine surgery to produce interventions that can ameliorate them. <h3>FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS</h3> This abstract does not discuss or include any applicable devices or drugs.

Congress Passes First Significant Gun Safety Bill in Decades

Congress Passes First Significant Gun Safety Bill in Decades

Ananlysis of Characteristics and Application Features of Erythema Lamps

The characteristics of LE15 erythema fluorescent lamps manufactured by A.N. Lodygin NIIIS (Light Sources Scientific and Research Institute) are presented. The radiation characteristics of erythema lamps were analysed due to changes in the effective values and magnitudes, presented in state standards. Also matters related to aspects of application of erythema lamps in irradiators and installations for tanning beds, beauty salons, and agricultural farms were analysed. Major provisions of the interstate standard GOST IEC60335–2–27–2014 were taken into consideration. Based on the results of the analysis, it was found necessity for the manufacturer of the erythema fluorescent lamps to provide more detailed information on their parameters (in particular, irradiance) in energy and effective magnitudes, while the manufacturer of the irradiators with tanning lamps shall provide an identification code containing a corresponding UV code. It was suggested to optimise the structures of the sources of mixed radiation for specific application conditions of UV radiation sources in agriculture and to develop recommendations for application of UV radiation in cattle and poultry breeding on the basis of the existing regulations.