Partial Prohibition Research Articles

Countering extremist activities of religious associations: International experience of legal regulation

Everyone can freely profess any religion, i. e. to be a member of a religious association or to be an atheist. This is what practically all existing legal norms concerning freedom of conscience and faith say. However, restrictions on the spread of new religious movements, destructive cults and sects, individual religious rites and ceremonies, and extremist worldviews are regularly introduced by legislatures in different countries. Such legislative acts can be divided into two main categories in accordance with the logic of law enforcement practice: prohibitive and restrictive. Prohibitive laws provide for a direct ban on any actions, restrictive ones provide for a number of conditions under which the norm is used as a means of partial prohibition. Prohibitive and restrictive measures against religious extremists are considered as the activity of the State to ensure the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. This article analyzes the international experience of legal regulation of the activities of destructive religious associations — new religious movements, cults and sects, in particular, countering their extremist activities, and also examines the possibility of implementing the norms of international law in this area.

Demographics and clinical characteristics of alcohol-related admissions in a tertiary care hospital in Qatar: Does age matter?

Background: Alcohol consumption is a major cause of acute and chronic health conditions associated with comorbidities and traumatic injuries, despite its partial prohibition in some countries. Moreover, alcohol-related hospital admissions increase the burden on the healthcare system. More than 80% of the population in Qatar comprises expatriates. This study aimed to analyze the demographics and clinical characteristics of subjects with alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits/hospitalization with respect to different age groups in a single tertiary hospital in Qatar.Methods: It is a retrospective observational study of adult patients who visited the ED at Hamad General Hospital between January 2013 and March 2015 and were screened positive for alcohol use. Collected data included sociodemographic characteristics, blood alcohol concentration (BAC), pattern of admission, previous medical history, laboratory investigations, treatment, hospital course, and mortality. Data were compared with respect to the distribution of age groups such as < 25, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, and >55 years.Results: In total, 1506 consecutively admitted patients screened positive for alcohol use were included in the study; the majority of them were males (95.6%), non-Qatari nationals (71.1%), and aged 35–44 years (30.9%). The age groups 35–44 years and 45–54 years showed the highest median BAC ([0.24 interquartile range (IQR: 0.14–0.33)] and [0.24 (IQR: 0.13–0.33)], respectively) as compared to the other age groups (P = 0.001). The pattern of hospital admission, sociodemographic status, presence of comorbidities, laboratory investigations, and mortality showed specific age-related distribution. Particularly, young adults were more likely to have a previous ED visit due to trauma, whereas older patients’ previous hospital admissions were mostly related to various underlying comorbidities.Conclusion: This study highlighted the patterns of age and clinico-epidemiological status of patients with alcohol-attributable hospital admissions. Our study showed that alcohol consumption was higher among the working-age group. Further studies are needed to investigate changes in the alcohol consumption patterns that may help plan for allocation of health resources and prevention of alcohol-related problems.

The investigation of the state of Ukraine furniture industry development under current economic conditions

Furniture for a long time has been an integral component of human activity, recreation and everyday life. Its design, diversity and versatility along with the development of human civilization is increasingly becoming the object of further improvement. At present furniture production in Ukraine is the developing industry, gradually entering the European market in terms of quality and design. European furniture market is extremely attractive to operators and, therefore, has dynamics towards the competitor number increase. One of the factors of increasing the industry attractiveness is the support of amendments to the Law of Ukraine «On peculiarities of state regulation of business entities related to the sale and export of timber» by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in April 2015, which imposed temporary, gradual prohibition on the export of raw timber (forest logs) for 10 years. The corresponding partial prohibition entered into force on 11.01.2015, and complete prohibition (including pine wood) - from January 1, 2017. The consequences of this moratorium during the first five years of its operation, which is important in the context of politicization of this problem are analyzed in this paper. The dynamics and structure of the amount of enterprises in industry and the number of employees employed in them are investigated. The volume of furniture industry sales in general and the areas of their implementation (internal or external markets) are analyzed. The next stage is the analysis of the dynamics of the ratio of furniture products exports and imports in Ukraine and determination of the major exporters of such products. The final stage is the investigation of the dynamics of foreign direct investments in the enterprises capital share in this industry in order to identify its investment attractiveness. As a result, it is determined that the introduced moratorium has partial positive impact on the development of furniture industry in Ukraine. However, at present, the furniture industry is not attractive enough for new foreign investment. This is the consequence of significant amount of «shadow» production, which in its turn destabilizes the situation in the furniture market. Ukrainian manufacturers will be able to strengthen their position in domestic market and even abroad, if they solve the main problems in furniture production and eliminate all disincentives.

Federalism, partial prohibition, and cross-border sales: Evidence from recreational marijuana

Marijuana is partially prohibited: though banned federally, it is available to 1 in 4 U.S. adults under state statutes. We measure the size of the interstate trade generated by state-level differences in legal status with a natural experiment: Oregon allowed stores to sell marijuana for recreational use on October 1, 2015, next to Washington where stores had been selling recreational marijuana since July 2014. Using administrative data covering the universe of Washington's sales and a differences-in-discontinuities approach, we find retailers along the Oregon border experienced a 36% decline in sales immediately after Oregon's market opened. We investigate the home location of recent online reviewers of marijuana retailers and find similar cross-border patterns. By the end of Washington's 2018 fiscal year, our results imply that Washington had earned between $44 million and $75 million in tax revenue from cross-border shoppers. These cross-border incentives may create a “race to legalize.”

Mobile phone usage characteristics of children at school and parents approach

The use of mobile phones has gradually increased in recent years. Consequently, many negative effects on children and young people have been observed. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of mobile phone use by children, as well as determining the parents' opinions about this subject. The survey was a cross-sectional study and conducted prospectively between September 1, 2018, and December 1, 2018. A total of 1020 people participated in the present study (mean age 41.8±5.8). 92.8% of the children involved in the present study had mobile phones. The mean age, at which the mobile phone was purchased, was 12.1±2.5 years (min: 3, max: 18). The most common reason for the purchase of mobile phones was the parents’ desire of the parents to reach (71.5%). 92.8% of mobile phones were smartphones. 41.5% of those, who participated in the present study, agreed on the partial prohibition of mobile phones in schools. Parents, who had problems regarding the use of mobile phone, reported that mobile phones should be banned at a higher rate (p

The evolution of organ art through the lens of sacredness

This compendium article traces the entire evolutionary process: from the emergence (the very idea of the simultaneous sound of several whistles, flutes, horns and trumpets), through the formation and perfection of the trumpet church organ and the art of playing this most complex musical instrument – up to the period of the greatest peak of organ art in the Baroque era. The research focuses on the correlation of categories of the sacred and profane, which depends on the development of social relations and the influence of the Christian religion.All periods of church reformation, which in many forms influenced the development of organ art, were analyzed separately. This applies both to changes in the political and administrative system due to the decline of the Roman Empire and the establishment of the superpower of the Byzantine emperor – and the “Great Schism” (1054), which resulted in the split of Christianity into Catholicism and Orthodoxy.No less attention was paid to the reform movements in the Renaissance. In particular, the attitude of the Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican churches to organ art was analyzed, as well as the organ’s involvement in their church services.The research argues that the total or partial prohibition of instrumental music in temples by the reformist branches of the Christian religion had a direct effect on the weakening of the sacred essence of the church trumpet organ and strengthening its secular and profane role.This philosophical and aesthetic aspect of organ functioning was substantiated by a series of the most illustrative examples from the history of organ building and the gradual development of organ art in different countries of the European continent. The novelty of this work for Ukrainian musicology and the history of religious teachings in Ukraine is the synthetic nature of the study, which balances at the intersection of the sciences.Keywords: organ, sacredness, profane, religion, history

The Problem of Alcohol in Colonial India (c. 1907–1942)

This article traces the transformation of liquor and industrial alcohol into a commercial product in twentieth-century colonial India. Liquor (alcoholic beverages for human consumption) remained prominent in political discourse and in the public sphere in this period. Temperance activists, Gandhian nationalists and medical authorities critiqued government revenue extraction from consumable liquors and advocated either partial or total prohibition. On the other hand, industrial alcohol emerged as an unchallenged and untampered commodity while it became essential to Indian industrialization, a process that accelerated between the wars. This article moves beyond cultural explanations of transformation of commodities and instead focuses on the temporal and political lives of liquor and alcohol in colonial India.

Zakaz reklamy aptek i ich działalności – geneza wprowadzenia i ocena regulacji

The main purpose of this paper is to present the origin of the introduction of the prohibition of pharmacy advertising into the Polish legal system. The fi rst part discusses the reasons why the partial prohibition of pharmacy advertising, related to reimbursed drugs, was implemented in 2007. The paper then focuses on the absolute prohibition of the advertising of pharmacies and their operations introduced in 2012, which constitutes the strictest regulation of such kind in Europe. This will give the opportunity to critically examine both the law and its implementation. In conclusion, the current initiatives to abolish the regulation will be presented

Cannabis Liberalization and Adolescent Cannabis Use: A Cross-National Study in 38 Countries.

AimsTo assess the associations between types of cannabis control policies at country level and prevalence of adolescent cannabis use.Setting, Participants and DesignMultilevel logistic regressions were performed on 172,894 adolescents 15 year of age who participated in the 2001/2002, 2005/2006, or 2009/2010 cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in 38 European and North American countries.MeasuresSelf-reported cannabis use status was classified into ever use in life time, use in past year, and regular use. Country-level cannabis control policies were categorized into a dichotomous measure (whether or not liberalized) as well as 4 detailed types (full prohibition, depenalization, decriminalization, and partial prohibition). Control variables included individual-level sociodemographic characteristics and country-level economic characteristics.FindingsConsiderable intra-class correlations (.15-.19) were found at country level. With respect to the dichotomized cannabis control policy, adolescents were more likely to ever use cannabis (odds ratio (OR) = 1.10, p = .001), use in past year (OR = 1.09, p = .007), and use regularly (OR = 1.26, p = .004). Although boys were substantially more likely to use cannabis, the correlation between cannabis liberalization and cannabis use was smaller in boys than in girls. With respect to detailed types of policies, depenalization was associated with higher odds of past-year use (OR = 1.14, p = .013) and regular use (OR = 1.23, p = .038), and partial prohibition was associated with higher odds of regular use (OR = 2.39, p = .016). The correlation between cannabis liberalization and regular use was only significant after the policy had been introduced for more than 5 years.ConclusionsCannabis liberalization with depenalization and partial prohibition policies was associated with higher levels of regular cannabis use among adolescents. The correlations were heterogeneous between genders and between short- and long-terms.

Male circumcision debate has made progress

Gillam's assessment that the debate on non-therapeutic circumcision of boys has ‘gone round in circles’1 is too pessimistic. It is true that the statements of the Australian Paediatric Association in 1971 and the College of Paediatrics in 1983 were unequivocal in their rejection of circumcision and advised doctors actively to discourage the practice, but they were only brief, unsupported statements of opinion. The current (2010) policy of the RACP may contain reservations, but it is a far more detailed document that surveys the medical literature and reaches the evidence-based conclusion that there is no medical basis for routine circumcision in Australia. This conclusion has been endorsed by subsequent reviews of the literature.2 Unlike the old statements, moreover, the current policy pays due attention to bioethical and human rights issues and observes that the value of the foreskin and the likely future wishes of the boy are factors to be taken into account. It is in these areas – bioethics and human rights – that developments have been most dramatic. Forty years ago, scarcely anybody questioned the ethics of NTC, but since the passage of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), there has been an upsurge of ethical analysis and the emergence of many contending viewpoints. Critics of circumcision stress the human rights of boys, draw parallels between circumcision and other forms of genital cutting (especially female genital mutilation)3 and question the propriety of doctors circumcising minors for cultural or religious reasons. Highlights since 2010 include a special issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics (July 2013), increased questioning of circumcision from Jewish4 and Muslim5 thinkers, and serious legal challenges to the practice. A report from the Tasmania Law Reform Institute (2012) concluded that the harms of non-therapeutic circumcision are great enough to warrant regulation and partial prohibition, while a senior British judge has stated that circumcision amounts to ‘significant harm’ and is more damaging than mild forms of FGM.6 On the other side of the fence, defenders of religious and culturally motivated circumcision stress tradition, parental rights and religious freedom. In view of these developments, it would seem that future debates about circumcision are likely to be less about the medical benefits than its ethical and legal status. As Gillam remarks, these arguments are sure to be with us for a long time yet.

Special Interest Groups, Public Policy and Social Welfare

In this paper, we examine the amount of goods provided by the government using common agency models. It has already been proved that the public policy is efficient in the truthful equilibrium. But, this efficiency reflects only welfare of the agent and the principals who make lobbying activities. Therefore, if there is some principal who does not make lobbying activity, the public policy can be inefficient from the viewpoint of the social welfare. In this paper, focusing on this point, we analyze public policy decision. Especially, we prove that the amount of goods provided by the government is greater than that in the efficient allocation if some group does not make lobbying activity. Moreover, we prove that the partial prohibition against lobby enlarges the government size in some cases. In addition, if the groups' valuation for the good increases, then the allocation becomes to be more inefficient, and if the marginal cost decreases, then the allocation also becomes to be more inefficient. Last, based on these results, an interpretation of the success and failure of Japanese industrial policy is presented.

Gambling in Britain: the application of restraint erosion theory

To provide an overview of gambling and problem gambling in Britain, including historical background, current regulations and the recognition, prevalence and treatment of problem gambling. A new theory, Gambling Restraint Erosion Theory (GRET), is used as a framework for understanding the history of gambling regulation in Britain in the 20th century and evidence about the prevalence of gambling and problem gambling, as well as public attitudes towards gambling, in Britain in the first decade of the 21st century. Restraints on gambling were progressively dismantled as regulation moved from partial prohibition, to tolerance, and then to liberalization by the turn of the millennium. British adult gambling prevalence surveys carried out in 1999/2000, 2006/07 and 2009/10 suggest that the British public is still relatively restrained in its engagement in gambling, and is still suspicious of gambling. There is evidence from the last of those surveys that engagement in some forms of gambling, and the prevalence of problem gambling, have risen, and that attitudes have become less negative towards gambling. Restraints which kept British gambling circumscribed, and the prevalence of problem gambling low, may be in the process of being eroded. Meanwhile, an effective public health response to problem gambling is constrained by lack of Department of Health interest and a failure to develop a research and treatment base independent of the gambling industry.

Bismuth-stabilizedc(2×6)reconstruction on a InSb(100) substrate: Violation of the electron counting model

By means of scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS), photoelectron spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations, we have studied the bismuth (Bi) adsorbate-stabilized InSb(100) substrate surface which shows a $c(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6)$ low-energy electron diffraction pattern [thus labeled $\text{Bi}/\text{InSb}(100)c(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6)$ surface] and which includes areas with metallic STS curves as well as areas with semiconducting STS curves. The first-principles phase diagram of the Bi/InSb(100) surface demonstrates the presence of the Bi-stabilized metallic $c(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6)$ reconstruction and semiconducting $(4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}3)$ reconstruction depending on the chemical potentials, in good agreement with STS results. The existence of the metallic $c(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6)$ phase, which does not obey the electron counting model, is attributed to the partial prohibition of the relaxation in the direction perpendicular to dimer rows in the competing reconstructions and the peculiar stability of the Bi-stabilized dimer rows. Based on (i) first-principles phase diagram, (ii) STS results, and (iii) comparison of the measured and calculated STM and photoemission data, we show that the measured $\text{Bi}/\text{InSb}(100)c(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6)$ surface includes metallic areas with the stable $c(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6)$ atomic structure and semiconducting areas with the stable $(4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}3)$ atomic structure.

Economic approaches to smoking

In order to assess regulator's legitimacy in discouraging people from smoking, economists model tobacco addiction. In this paper, we review the extent economic literature about tobacco consumption and tobacco addiction. Two main approaches are singled out. In the first section, we detail the main characteristics of the two main theoretical models : rational addiction on one hand, which stylises individual choosing now to give up their future liberty to choose whether or not to smoke; and health capital on the other hand, following which individuals trade off between current pleasure and life expectancy. Second section gives account of the empirical tests of these two theories, before a last section briefly discusses and concludes. We show that the health capital theory seems to pass the test better than the rational addiction model. It is important to discriminate between these two models, from a political economy point of view. Were rational addiction true, a constant and strong increase of taxes on tobacco would be the soundest policy to curb consumption. On the contrary, if smokers are trapped into addiction and can't stop without pain, then tax increase is imposing too much strain on them, for no result. An efficient policy would be to subsidise quitting programmes, or to help smokers reducing their consumption through partial prohibition (in public transports for instance).

Cost of Capital Under Local Constraint on Debt Financing:

A unique constraint on financing of direct foreign investment by MNCs IS a total or partial prohibition on debt financ- ing in many Islamic countries. This paper analyzes the implications of such a conslraint for an MNC's financing and investment deci- sions. The comparative investment levels under alternative financing instruments based on profit and loss sharing (PLS) contracts are examined considering the effects of market imperfections and secu- rity related differences with reference to the existing literature on capital structure. The analysis shows that when debt financing is constrained the cost of capital to a firm will be higher and the invest- ment levels lower.

Partial Prohibition of Non-Medical Drug Use: A Proposal

This article will examine partial prohibition of non-medically sanctioned use (“non-medical use”) of mind-altering drugs as a method of controlling and regulating non-medical use of these substances. Partial prohibition is a policy under which non-medical (1) simple possessions,1 and use, (2) importation, production and cultivation for personal use, and less certainly, (3) small gifts, and (4) even small sales, of mind-altering drugs would not be criminalized or prohibited.2 However, non-medical importation, production, and cultivation for the purpose of distribution; non-medical commercial distribution, and possibly all non-medical distribution; and operating a vehicle under the influence of a mind-altering drug, would be prohibited and criminalzied. Mind-altering drugs, as the term is used in this article, are the “controlled substances”:3 cocaine, amphetamines, and similar stimulants; barbiturates, non-barbiturate sedatives and hypnotics (for example, Quaalude), and minor tranquilizers such as Valium and Librium; strong hallucinogens such as LSD and PCP (“angel dust”); marihuana; and the opiate narcotics. It is the argument of this article that partial prohibition is a better method of control over most of “the controlled substances” than either the total prohibition of their non-medical distribution and use (prohibition of importation, production and cultivation regardless of their purposes, of distribution and of all possession) that prevails almost entirely today in this country, or than legalization of non-medical use of these drugs. Specifically, I view partial prohibition as the preferred method of control over all controlled substances other than marihuana ( i.e., heroin and other opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, and similar stimulants; barbiturates, non-barbiturate sedatives and hypnotics, and minor tranquilizers; and hallucinogens such as LSD and PCP). For marihuana, I see partial prohibition (which we are beginning to approach in “decriminalization” of possession and sometimes small gifts also) as better than total prohibition. But weighing the potential for harm of marihuana against the social costs of both total and partial prohibition, I submit that it would be preferable if marihuana were legalized or regulated.4 In addition, I propose that we institute carefully controlled experimental outpatient programs in which heroin addicts are lawfully maintained on heroin or injectable methadone.

Some social consequences of partial prohibition in Auckland, New Zealand.

Information was gathered from two hospitals, Police, and Traffic Departments in Auckland, New Zealand, for a 4-week period during which beer supplies were erratic or stopped and compared with 4 weeks during normal beer production. Reductions occurred in the mean weekly numbers of accident and emergency admissions at one hospital, in the number of Friday road traffic accidents and injuries reported by the Traffic Department, and in the weekly number of arrests for drunkenness and other alcohol-related offences made by the Police. A larger effect might have been expected in this country, where beer drinking has become an important part of the male lifestyle.

Criteria for partial or complete prohibition of utilization of water resources

Criteria for partial or complete prohibition of utilization of water resources

International Control of the Uses of Nuclear Energy

It has often been emphasized that the uses of nuclear energy call for new methods in regulating cooperation among states, methods more appropriate to its technological character. Einstein is often cited in this connection as having said that the dangers of destructive power of nuclear energy are so vast that 'a new way of thinking is necessary if we want to survive'.1 The British experts Webster, Salter and Franks (1948) made similar statements when, having discussed the problem of nuclear energy control and the development of international organizations, they stated that 'the new discovery is revolutionary. New methods are needed to deal with it'. And as a solution to the situation in which 'suspicion and fear will be so widespread that good political relations will be impossible', due to the uncontrolled possession of nuclear energy on the part of individual states, they proposed the establishment of a special organization for international control.2 Hence, the problem of nuclear energy control became the basic issue of a lengthy discussion which continued until the principle of international control gradually emerged and asserted itself in a clearer form in the light of practical experience. In effect, every subsequent proposal concerning cooperation in the nuclear field which is debated now, takes the need to establish international controls for granted, which was not the case during the early discussions held in 1946 in the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. It is well known that the Soviet Union at that time, in contrast to Western powers, failed to consider this control a vital element in the prohibition of nuclear weapons and only later accepted the idea of the creation of a special organization for armaments control, along with all the consequences related to onthe-spot inspection. This method of control has also been accepted in principle during the Geneva talks for the working out of a draft agreement concerning a nuclear test ban, although it could not have been expressed in the Moscow Agreement on the Partial Prohibition of Nuclear Tests. Since similar instances can be found in a number of bilateral and multilateral agreements on cooperation among states in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the international character of this control reflects one of the principal characteristics of the novelties which the existence of nuclear energy added to international law.3 Due to the unprecedently great dangers that might arise from the improper uses of nuclear energy, some countries, in the interest of international community, gave their consent to the idea of the application of international control on their own territory. This does not mean, however, that solutions adopted in this domain were uniform in all cases where the principle of international control was accepted. States approached the organization of this control in various situations, and from different standpoints. During this process several solutions were envisaged. To present them it is necessary to dwell first on those control systems that were adopted in the field of