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The coronavirus has brought the world unprecedented quarantine measures, border closures, air traffic closures, and restrictions on certain human rights as a result of which patient safety has become a major global health issue. Pursuant to international standards, there are inherent human rights that cannot be restricted under any circumstances. In the research, special attention is paid to the basic principles that must be adhered to when introducing temporary measures to restrict constitutional rights of human rights: the rule of law and the principle of proportionality The paper uses the following scientific methods of cognition: general dialectical method of cognition, systematization, problem-oriented, comparative-legal, special-legal, historical-legal, formal-legal analytical and scientific knowledge. On the basis of these, it can be deduced that as a result of scrutinizing this hitch, the article developed proposals in the field of protecting the rights of patients during a pandemic, as well as proposals for enriching the theoretical apparatus.
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Before the COVID‐19 pandemic, the world struggled to address growing educational inequalities and fulfil the commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities and changed how education functions, moving to online and hybrid methods. The challenges in global education highlighted and worsened by the pandemic make it necessary to re‐evaluate education systems and the policies in place to support access, quality and equal opportunity. This article focuses on analysing education policies at a national level. It tests a pilot policy analysis tool, the International Education Index (IEI), developed as a starting point to begin this reconsideration and create an accessible and comprehensive way to evaluate national education systems to inform decision‐making and policies in the new context. This research uses Ireland and Northern Ireland to test the IEI pilot tool. The IEI consists of 54 questions across nine indicators, including institutional frameworks, education strategies, digital skills and infrastructure, twenty‐first century skills, access to basic social services, adherence to international standards, legal frameworks, data gathering and availability and international partnerships. Countries can score 108 points to be categorised as having developed, emerging or nascent national education systems. Ireland scored 94 and Northern Ireland 81, indicating that they have developed national education systems.
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Acoustic comfort in classrooms has a great impact on the quality of education. In specific, its impact on teaching and learning experience has been widely studied and the results show that acoustic comfort is linked to learning attributes, e.g. enhancing productivity, memorizing and understanding of the taught material, mental welfare, and motivation. In this paper, we assess the acoustic comfort in hybrid classrooms, at the University of Sharjah, after classes have been reconfigured to comply with COVID-19 social distancing protocols. First, we measured the background noise and reverberation times for different types of classrooms used for teaching and learning. The results showed that most classrooms do not comply with international standards. For example, the background noise levels in the selected classrooms were found to range from 43.9-49.6 dB(A), which is higher than the recommended WHO limits. To evaluate the acoustic comfort from the perspective of the students, a survey was conducted to evaluate students' perception on acoustic conditions at the hybrid classrooms. The results showed that the majority of the students surveyed, 88%, felt that noise in classrooms affected their understanding of the material and communications with the instructor and peers. Noise sources were identified to originate from corridors, maintenance work, and construction sites within close proximity to the classrooms. Better designs are highly recommended to improve acoustic comfort to ensure an excellent student experience and the best learning environment. © 2022 Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. All rights reserved.
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Healthcare construction has an important role in shaping the image of a country. The Constitution of the Russian Federation defines the Russian Federation as a welfare state with a system of "occupational and human health protection measures.” In 2019, the human health protection was threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Timur Andrbaev, Construction Director at Moscow International Medical Cluster Foundation, "the pandemic will lead to a greater demand in healthcare construction expertise consistent with the international standards and allowing for rapid re-designing of facilities depending on the tasks and scope of work to be achieved.” The innovative approach to healthcare construction can lead a quality improvement of the life of population, as well as make life easier for patients in palliative care. Innovative healthcare development is led by Japan, America, Great Britain and Germany, followed by China and India with. Russia ranks among the least progressive countries as new health technologies appear in its facilities much less often. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The aim of the article is to conduct research on the issue of whether compulsory vaccination, enshrined in international and national legal acts, violates labour rights. The main research method was a comparison method, which helped to compare the experience of different countries in restricting labour rights in the context of compulsory vaccination against COVID-19. Moreover, the main characteristics of restrictions on labour rights during the COVID-19 period were highlighted using the method of system analysis. The evolution of compulsory vaccination was analysed using a historical-logical method. A formal legal method was applied to generalise, classify, and systematize research results, as well as to present these results. The current outbreak of COVID-19 has provoked trends in discriminatory behaviour in the workplace. Therefore, the restrictions on labour rights must comply with international human rights standards, which, however, largely reflect a position that does not support compulsory vaccination. © 2022, Nicolaus Copernicus University. All rights reserved.
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Speed read Six African countries to get technology for manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines Only 12 per cent of the African population are fully vaccinated Countries should secure markets for the home-produced vaccines, experts say [KAMPALA] Six African countries are to receive technology that will enable them to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, in an effort to reduce reliance on producers outside the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced. The rollout is part of a global initiative aimed at helping low- and middle-income countries to access the technology for producing mRNA vaccines at scale and to international standards in order to stem the COVID-19 pandemic. “Diversifying mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity to low- and middle-income countries should be a global health priority,” said Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in response to the WHO announcement.
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BACKGROUND: New technologies offer opportunities to create a healthy, productive, and capable aging workforce. There is little research from an organizational perspective about how technology can help create a sustainable aging workforce. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to (1) explore how technological solutions in organizations can help create and maintain a healthy, productive, and capable aging workforce; and (2) provide recommendations and strategic guidance that benefit both the aging worker and the organization. METHODS: International standardization practices, ethical frameworks, collaborative research, and use cases are used to demonstrate how technological solutions can be translated into practice and formed the basis for the development of a set of recommendations to create and maintain a sustainable aging workforce. RESULTS: Organizations need to look at aging through different lenses to optimize an age-inclusive workforce rather than viewing it by chronological age alone. International standards in technology, human resources management, and aging societies can form part of the solution to improve aging workforces. Digitalization of workplaces, digital literacy, innovation, intergenerational collaboration, and knowledge management form important elements of the international standard on age-inclusive workforce. Using internationally agreed ethical frameworks that consider age bias when designing artificial intelligence-related products and services can help organizations in their approach. Age bias in artificial intelligence development in the workplace can be avoided through inclusive practices. No blockchain application was found yet to improve the aging workforce. Barriers to blockchain adoption include fear of layoffs, worker resistance and lack of blockchain competence, worldwide adoption, support, and funding. Integrating blockchain into the internet of things may allow for improved efficiencies, reduce cost, and resolve workforce capacity problems. Organizations could benefit from implementing or funding wearable technologies for their workers. Recent tools such as the Ageing@Work toolkit consisting of virtual user models and virtual workplace models allow for the adaptation of the work processes and the ergonomics of workplaces to the evolving needs of aging workers. Lastly, selected use cases that may contribute to sustaining an aging workforce are explored (eg, the Exposure-Documentation-System, wireless biomedical sensors, and digital voice notes). CONCLUSIONS: The synergy of international standardization and ethical framework tools with research can advance information and communication technology solutions in improving aging workforces. There appears to be a momentum that technological solutions to achieve an age-inclusive workforce will undoubtedly find a stronger place within the global context and is most likely to have increased acceptance of technological applications among aging workers as well as organizations and governments. International standardization, cross-country research, and learning from use cases play an important role to ensure practical, efficient, and ethical implementation of technological solutions to contribute to a sustainable aging workforce.
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[...]the time is appropriate for taking a fresh look at scientific production in Business Administration in this context, and RAE has just launched a special call on the pandemics impact on the production of knowledge in various areas of management;for more information, click here. [...]the proposal of suspending Qualis for the 2021-2024 quadrennium is also controversial, with the scientific production of Graduate Programs being assessed based on international standards (Coordination for the Evaluation of Higher Education Personnel - Capes, 2020). Challenges and opportunities" by Fernanda Lemos and the Book Recommendation, "Social technologies for the transformation of solid waste management and management systems" by Adalberto Mantovani Martiniano de Azevedo.
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The management of the global energy resources has stimulated the emergence of various agreements in favor of the environment. Among the most famous are the Conference of Parties (COP) and Route 2030, which aim to limit global warming to 1.5 °C by reducing the energy consumption and global emission levels. In order to comply with the international standards for energy consumption and pollutant emissions, the Brazilian government has been promoting the expansion of biofuels in the national energy matrix. Considering this scenario, the development of a novel internal combustion engine for the exclusive use of ethanol as a fuel, equipped with state-of-the-art technologies and employing modern design concepts, consists of an innovative and promising pathway for future Brazilian mobility, from both environmental and technological outlooks. In this sense, this work presents a method to determine the main engine dimensions as part of the initial process for a new ethanol prototype engine development. The Brazilian biofuel was selected due to its physicochemical properties, which allow the engine to achieve higher loads, and also due to its large availability as a renewable energy source in the country. Furthermore, a port water injection system was fitted to the engine in order to assist the combustion process by mitigating the knock tendency. The predicted overall engine performance was obtained by carrying out a GT-PowerTM 1D-CFD simulation, whose results pointed to a maximum torque of 279 Nm from 2000 to 4000 rpm and an indicated peak power of 135 kW at 5500 rpm. With a maximum water-to-fuel ratio of 19.2%, the engine was able to perform its entire full load curve at the MBT condition, a fact that makes the WI approach along with the ethanol fuel a very attractive solution. As a result of the specific design and optimization of each geometric parameter for this unique ethanol engine, a maximum indicated fuel conversion efficiency of 45.3% was achieved. Moreover, the engine was capable of achieving over 40% of the indicated fuel conversion efficiency in almost its entire full load curve.
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Background: There is an urgent need for harmonization between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serology platforms and assays prior to defining appropriate correlates of protection and as well inform the development of new rapid diagnostic tests that can be used for serosurveillance as new variants of concern (VOC) emerge. We compared multiple SARS-CoV-2 serology reference materials to the WHO International Standard (WHO IS) to determine their utility as secondary standards, using an international network of laboratories with high-throughput quantitative serology assays. This enabled the comparison of quantitative results between multiple serology platforms. Methods: Between April and December 2020, 13 well-characterized and validated SARS-CoV-2 serology reference materials were recruited from six different providers to qualify as secondary standards to the WHO IS. All the samples were tested in parallel with the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) 20/136 and parallel-line assays were used to calculate the relevant potency and binding antibody units. Results: All the samples saw varying levels of concordance between diagnostic methods at specific antigen-antibody combinations. Seven of the 12 candidate materials had high concordance for the spike-immunoglobulin G (IgG) analyte [percent coefficient of variation (%CV) between 5 and 44%]. Conclusion: Despite some concordance between laboratories, qualification of secondary materials to the WHO IS using arbitrary international units or binding antibody units per milliliter (BAU/ml) does not provide any benefit to the reference materials overall, due to the lack of consistent agreeable international unit (IU) or BAU/ml conversions between laboratories. Secondary standards should be qualified to well-characterized reference materials, such as the WHO IS, using serology assays that are similar to the ones used for the original characterization of the WHO IS.
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Healthcare construction has an important role in shaping the image of a country. The Constitution of the Russian Federation defines the Russian Federation as a welfare state with a system of “occupational and human health protection measures.” In 2019, the human health protection was threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Timur Andrbaev, Construction Director at Moscow International Medical Cluster Foundation, “the pandemic will lead to a greater demand in healthcare construction expertise consistent with the international standards and allowing for rapid re-designing of facilities depending on the tasks and scope of work to be achieved.” The innovative approach to healthcare construction can lead a quality improvement of the life of population, as well as make life easier for patients in palliative care. Innovative healthcare development is led by Japan, America, Great Britain and Germany, followed by China and India with. Russia ranks among the least progressive countries as new health technologies appear in its facilities much less often. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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A key feature of modern legal relations in the healthcare sector is the widespread use of digital technologies. This study describes certain aspects of the legal regulation of the human right to virtual reality in the healthcare sector and the problems of law enforcement. The methodology of this work is based on an interdisciplinary approach using comparative legal, dialectical and systemic methods. The main objective of this article is to determine the forms and directions of the use of virtual reality in health care in the context of human rights. It is emphasized that the introduction of smart technologies, virtual reality in the healthcare sector is the main modern trend in the development of healthcare in order to improve the provision of healthcare services. The human right to use virtual reality in healthcare is to ensure the actions of virtual reality users within the framework of virtual information relations in the healthcare sector, which are governed by the relevant legal norms. The human right to use virtual reality in healthcare is a fourth generation of human rights. These rights include all rights that have arisen as a result of scientific progress, the development of morality, namely "somatic rights", as well as information rights. The use of virtual reality in the healthcare sector is possible in the following areas, namely: (1) medical training, (2) surgical modeling, (3) rehabilitation, (4) psychotherapy and psychology, (5) ophthalmology, (6) telemedicine, etc. It is stated that user safety, privacy, freedom of expression, ethics and copyright protection in the use of virtual reality in healthcare require legislative regulation, taking into account the European experience. The virtual space in the healthcare sector provides opportunities for the realization of human rights and freedoms regarding the preservation of their health, but can be used to carry out actions that contradict the norms of law and have illegal behavior. The latter requires an improvement in the regulatory framework when using the virtual space of the healthcare sector to protect the interests of the individual, society and the state using international standards.
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In order to effectively prevent the COVID-19 Pandemic, for the first time in the history of the Republic of North Macedonia by decision of the President of the Republic on March 18, 2020, a state of emergency was established, which in addition to intensified measures to protect public health, also implied the introduction of a special legal regime whose basic characteristics are: deviation from the constitutional principle of separation of powers and taking over by the Government of legislative powers and the opportunity to limit basic human rights and freedoms and to take intervention measures by the executive power in economics, education, labor relations, and other spheres of social life. In this regard, the declaration of a state of emergency has activated the constitutional authority of the Government to perform its legislative function. Unlike other constitutions that regulate in more detail the powers of the Government, parliamentary control, enactment of decrees with the force of law and other regulations, as well as the restriction of human rights in a state of emergency, the Constitution of North Macedonia does not contain special provisions on the government powers, except enacting decrees with the force of law. Due to such a constitutional gap, the question remains whether such regulations remain in the legal system even after the state of emergency ceases. The Constitution of North Macedonia only stipulates that the authorization of the Government to adopt decrees with the force of law lasts until the end of the state of emergency, which is decided by the Parliament, without considering the situation when the state of emergency is declared not by the decision of Parliament but by the decision of the President of the Republic. With this paper authors by explaining the principle of the Rule of Law as a generally accepted International and European standard in such situations, using: normative legal method, comparative legal method, intentional, systematic and objective interpretive methods, will focus on the specific analysis of the judicial control of decrees with the force of law by the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia, in terms of, to what extent the principle of proportionality was respected in the adoption of such decrees which derogated existing laws in order to protect the public health of citizens.
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Organized crime and corruption in the context of globalization pose a huge threat to the security of all countries without exception. Therefore, the common European and national crime prevention systems pay great attention to criminal activity economic sense deprivation. This is achieved through the application of confiscation of property and proceeds related to crime. For transitive legal systems development the reference points are the international standards and ECHR practice which are studied using dialectical, formal legal and comparative legal methods. The study showed that the international standards and ECHR practice make it possible to find a balance between public and private interests, ensure maximum seizure of proceeds and property related to crimes, and guarantee the protection of property rights as an essential human right. On the example of Ukraine the peculiarity of the confiscation regulation in countries with a transitive legal system is shown and the perspectives for domestic law improving in this aspect are outlined.
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With the diversification of learning needs, the enhancement of e-learning teaching materials has become more and more important for both authors and users. The expansion of opportunities for e-learning influenced by COVID-19 further strengthened this importance. Despite the existence of international standards such as SCORM, the distribution and utilization of e-learning teaching materials has not progressed as expected. Due to the heavy burdens on authors to create standards-compliant teaching materials, non-compliant teaching materials continue to be used individually only around authors. This problem also makes it difficult for users to obtain the required teaching materials. In this research, we have been working on the development of methods for generating a repository of teaching materials including latent ones that do not conform to the standard. To achieve this goal, we initially developed methods for automatically collecting e-learning materials from the Web. We also developed methods for diagnosing the standards-compliance status of teaching materials. For non-compliant teaching materials, we extract the lacking factors for compliance with the standards and accumulate them in the repository together with the outline and location of the teaching materials. This repository enables to provide the hints that supports the creation of compliant teaching materials by authors. This paper mainly describes the methods for diagnosing the standards-compliance situation of teaching materials. Finally, an experiment on the diagnosis of standards-compliance is described and the validity of our methods is discussed on the basis of the results. © 2021 IEEE.
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COVID-19 is a zoonosis, a disease transmitted by an animal to humans. The diffusion of the outbreak is therefore born of an unsuitable, insufficient, excessively permissive food safety system. Hence, the regulation of food safety plays a central role in the protection of health and has done so on a global scale. The overall regulation of food safety therefore requires an increase in the level of health protection, even at the expense of commercial prerogatives. For these purposes, four reform measures are suggested: to transform the Codex Alimentarius Commission into an organisation that adopts international standards with the sole purpose of protecting health;to apply the precautionary principle on a global scale and in international organisations;to strengthen the mandatory labelling tool;and to create a worldwide system of controls.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to economic, political and social crises and has also exposed a number of problems in the penitentiary systems of states. The article analyses both the negative and positive consequences of the spread of coronavirus in prisons and pre-trial detention facilities. Overcrowding in prisons remains the most important reason for the increased risk of infection within prisons, leading to violations of prisoners' rights. The paper examines the problems associated with health care and hygiene in prisons. Based on the experience of foreign countries, a comparative legal analysis is made of the range of restrictive measures taken by states due to the pandemic. For example, measures to release convicts in Germany, France and Iran are described;the minimisation of custodial sentences in the UK is noted. The issue of the violation of convicts' rights to receive visits from relatives and close friends, as well as lawyers and representatives of public organisations, is thoroughly investigated. In this connection, particular attention is paid to international instruments guaranteeing the protection of convicted persons against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The entire international community - international organisations such as the UN, WHO, PRI, Human Rights Watch and others - has engaged in addressing these problems. The way out of the crisis is seen in the use of non-custodial measures at all stages of criminal justice administration, including at the pre-trial and trial stages, as well as after sentencing. At the pre-trial stage, it is preferable to impose non-custodial measures and to replace pre-trial measures with alternatives, as appropriate;at the trial stage to impose non-custodial sentences;at the post-trial stage to choose one of the optimal solutions for a given state during an emergency situation: early release (unconditionally), conditional release, temporary release, replacement of the sentence with a milder non-custodial one, as well as amnesty Particular attention is paid to preventive measures taken by the Russian Federal Penal Correction Service and to proposals for improving the legislation and law enforcement activities of the authorities. Given the global trend towards a decrease in the use of imprisonment and an increase in the proportion of prisoners serving sentences without isolation from society, the author proposes reforms in the application of "community" sanctions and measures by creating or strengthening probation systems.
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Digital health has become an increasingly essential component of a high-performing health system. Changes to health care delivery during COVID-19 highlighted the need to enable digital health and modernize health information systems. Canada needs a national approach to digital health to enable our health care system to operate effectively in the 21stcentury. The current siloed approach limits the ability of patients to benefit from digital health and of health institutions to integrate digital tools. A unified approach to digital health will enable Canada to offer a health care system commensurate with the expectations of all Canadians. This paper details five policy positions to promote this unified, digital health infrastructure in Canada. 1. Patient Data Access is Essential: Patients should own their own data. They must be given access to their data upon request in a computable format, without charge or delay. 2. Data Movement and Data Sharing is Imperative: Digital data sharing is both a key component of digital health and a crucial enabler of digital health, but it is currently poorly supported. Canada must develop a uniform data interoperability strategy aligned with international standards. 3. Digital Health is Care: The provision of digital health is now embedded in our health care delivery. Canada must formalize the inclusion of digital health as an essential element of our public health system. 4. Digital Health must be Inclusive: All Canadians are entitled to an equal opportunity to participate in digital health. 5. A Federal Approach is Critical: We need a national, collaborative approach to solve the innovation drag caused by our approaches to evaluation, procurement, and privacy/security. Our current siloed approach disadvantages the Canadian health care system, the Canadian population, and Canadian industry. We suggest tangible next steps that leverage data to improve care, promote digital health care for those who need it most, and help Canada become a world leader in digital health innovation that directly benefits Canadian residents and grows our digital health industry.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused significant devastation globally. Despite the development of several vaccines, with uncertainty around global uptake and vaccine efficacy, the need for effective therapeutic agents remains. Increased levels of cytokines including tumour necrosis factor are significant in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and associated with poor outcomes including ventilator requirement and mortality. Repurposing tumour necrosis factor blocker therapy used in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease seems promising, with early feasibility data showing a reduction in circulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and encouraging the evaluation of such interventions in preventing disease progression and clinical deterioration in patients with COVID-19. Here, we examine the biological activities of tumour necrosis factor inhibitors indicative of their potential in COVID-19 and briefly outline the randomised control trials assessing their benefit-risk profile in COVID-19 therapy.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Drug Treatment , Inflammation/drug therapy , SARS-CoV-2/drug effects , Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors/pharmacology , Animals , COVID-19/metabolism , Cytokines/metabolism , Humans , Inflammation/metabolismABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic is plaguing the world and representing the most significant stress test for many national healthcare systems and services, since their foundation. The supply-chain disruption and the unprecedented request for intensive care unit (ICU) beds have created in Europe conditions typical of low-resources settings. This generated a remarkable race to find solutions for the prevention, treatment and management of this disease which is involving a large amount of people. Every day, new Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solutions regarding personal protective equipment and medical devices populate social media feeds. Many companies (e.g., automotive or textile) are converting their traditional production to manufacture the most needed equipment (e.g., respirators, face shields, ventilators etc.). In this chaotic scenario, policy makers, international and national standards bodies, along with the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientific societies are making a joint effort to increase global awareness and knowledge about the importance of respecting the relevant requirements to guarantee appropriate quality and safety for patients and healthcare workers. Nonetheless, ordinary procedures for testing and certification are currently questioned and empowered with fast-track pathways in order to speed-up the deployment of new solutions for COVID-19. This paper shares critical reflections on the current regulatory framework for the certification of personal protective equipment. We hope that these reflections may help readers in navigating the framework of regulations, norms and international standards relevant for key personal protective equipment, sharing a subset of tests that should be deemed essential even in a period of crisis.