Scaling law of COVID-19 cases and city size and its evolution over time

Urban scaling law quantifies the disproportional growth of urban indicators with urban population size, which is one of the simple rules behind the complex urban system. Infectious diseases are closely related to social interactions that intensify in large cities, resulting in a faster speed of transmission in large cities. However, how this scaling relationship varies in an evolving pandemic is rarely investigated and remains unclear. Here, taking the COVID- 19 epidemic in the United States as an example, we collected daily added cases and deaths from January 2020 to June 2022 in more than three thousand counties to explore the scaling law of COVID- 19 cases and city size and its evolution over time. Results show that COVID- 19 cases super- linearly scaled with population size, which means cases increased faster than population size from a small city to a large city, resulting in a higher morbidity rate of COVID- 19 in large cities. Temporally, the scaling exponent that reflects the scaling relationship stabilized at around 1.25 after a fast increase from less than one. The scaling exponent gradually decreased until it was close to one. In comparison, deaths caused by the epidemic did not show a super-linear scaling relationship with population size, which revealed that the fatality rate of COVID-19 in large cities was not higher than that in small or medium-sized cities. The scaling exponent of COVID- 19 deaths shared a similar trend with that of COVID- 19 cases but with a lag in time. We further estimated scaling exponents in each wave of the epidemic, respectively, which experienced the common evolution process of first rising, then stabilizing, and then decreasing. We also analyzed the evolution of scaling exponents over time from regional and provincial perspectives. The northeast, where New York State is located, had the highest scaling exponent, and the scaling exponent of COVID- 19 deaths was higher than that of COVID-19 cases, which indicates that large cities in this region were more prominently affected by the epidemic. This study reveals the size effect of infectious diseases based on the urban scaling law, and the evolution process of scaling exponents over time also promotes the understanding of the urban scaling law. The mechanism behind temporal variations of scaling exponents is worthy of further exploration. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.

social welfare advice and health among young people: a scoping review

Social determinants of mental and physical health that influence young peoples' trajectories into adulthood are often remediable through law. To address inequalities, including those exacerbated since the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to better understand young people's need for and uptake of advice for social welfare legal problems. This scoping review aimed to review available evidence and identify gaps to inform further research. To identify studies relevant to social welfare legal advice among young adults we conducted searches of eight bibliographic databases (compiled between January 1998 and June 2020), hand searches of included article reference lists and targeted grey literature searches. 35 peer reviewed and grey literature studies were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria including evaluations of interventions to promote access to advice, general population surveys, observational studies, and audits of charity data or targeted surveys. Evidence suggests considerable and inequitable need for social welfare legal advice among young adults with adverse consequences for health and wellbeing. Needs among higher risk groups are likely underestimated. Evidence for interventions to enhance access/uptake of advice is limited and methodologically weak. We identify several gaps in the literature to inform research and to enable systematic reviews around more specific questions to inform practice.

Taking on the Ethical Obligation of Technology Competency in the Academy: An Empirical Analysis of Practice-Based Technology Training Today

Today's lawyers must be technologically competent, per Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.1. Law schools and law firms were keenly aware of this expectation and summarily responded. While law firms offered more professional development opportunities, law schools began offering various courses focusing on technology skills. These courses have increased and evolved over time as the curriculum has changed with the technology. First, we present the evolution of ethical requirements surrounding legal technology competency and offer a description of the lawyering competency models most discussed today. We then review data about technology trends at the most innovative law firms and examine curricular offerings in technology or technology-related fields at American Bar Association-accredited law schools. Next, we offer a comparative analysis of multiple empirical studies to determine whether key areas of technology training were reflected in the legal education curriculum and were sufficient to meet ABA ethical expectations. Finally, we recommend solutions law schools may implement to increase technology instruction, services, and infrastructure to meet ethical standards. ABA-accredited schools should implement these recommendations in light of ABA Standard 301(a), the forecasted changes planned by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, and the new virtual practice landscape set by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Construction of Legal Basis Relevant to The State of Law in The Event of Pandemic Emergency: A Lesson from Indonesia

This paper aims to study the construction of an appropriate legal basis for a state of law in responding to the Covid-19 emergency. As a state of law, Indonesia has been making many regulations at both central and local government levels. The regulations vary, ranging from Government Regulations in Lieu of Law, Ministerial Regulations, Ministerial Decrees, and Joint Decrees of Ministerial Instructions, to the Regulations of Regional Heads, and these regulations have led to overlapping regulations. With normative-juridical methods, the prescriptive technique was used to further analyze the problem and find a new concept of the construction of an appropriate legal basis in responding to the Covid-19 emergency. The research results show that, juridically, the use of non-legal products such as Ministerial Instructions and Circular Letters issued by ministers during the Covid- 19 emergency in Indonesia has fulfilled the procedural aspects of law-making but not the substantive ones regarding the curbs restricting people's social activities. This research recommends that the construction of a legal basis intended to respond to a state of emergency should simultaneously meet both procedural and substantive aspects © 2022, University of Muhammadiyah Malang. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 and Courts: An Exploration of the Impacts of the Pandemic on Case Processing and Operations

The COVID-19 pandemic instantly changed the day-to-day practices of the criminal justice system. The court system, traditionally reliant on face-to-face interaction, had to quickly alter operations to decrease the virus' spread while remaining functional as an integral role in the criminal justice system. The current exploratory study examines the response strategies U.S. court systems implemented, impacts on case processing, case backlogs, and additional consequences endured due to the pandemic. Using responses from self-report surveys of court staff (e.g., judges, clerks), results indicated that courts prioritized the types of cases heard and implemented multiple mitigation strategies that were deemed effective, some of which may be sustainable post-pandemic. Despite an increase in virtual jury trials and hearings, many courts saw a surge in backlogged cases and complications in assembling juries. The overall findings may inform judiciary policy and practice concerning short and long-term pandemic outcomes on court processing and future pandemic preparedness.

The Concept of Humanitarian Intervention in the Context of Constitutional and Legal Policy of the State

Current events in the world have exposed new threats to humanity i. e. nuclear terrorism, artificial grain famine, new forms of ecocide, and biocide. All this significantly changes the priorities of international politics and the constitutional as well as the legal policy of nation-states, where natural disasters and the global COVID-19 pandemic have faded into insignificance, and the issue of re-sovereignization is gaining relevance. The article provides a thorough analysis of the essence of the concept of humanitarian intervention. The discussion is based on the analysis of the consequences of humanitarian intervention on the fate of nation-states and their citizens. The article aims to substantiate the harmfulness of the concept of humanitarian intervention for the sovereignty of nation-states and natural human rights. It is noted that state sovereignty does not contradict the nature of human rights. On the contrary, humanitarian intervention allows certain aggressive political actors to violate the sovereignty of the nation-state and harm a person's constitutional and natural rights, first of all, to peaceful coexistence, life, health, and human dignity. It is argued that modern international law needs to be modernized, which should redefine the concepts of "genocide", "ecocide", "biocide", etc. The concept of humanitarian intervention should be openly recognized as not meeting the expectations of the modern international community.

Self-Sovereign Identity for Consented and Content-Based Access to Medical Records Using Blockchain

Electronic health records (EHRs) and medical data are classified as personal data in every privacy law, meaning that any related service that includes processing such data must come with full security, confidentiality, privacy, and accountability. Solutions for health data management, as in storing it, sharing and processing it, are emerging quickly and were significantly boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic that created a need to move things online. EHRs make a crucial part of digital identity data, and the same digital identity trends - as in self-sovereign identity powered by decentralized ledger technologies like blockchain, are being researched or implemented in contexts managing digital interactions between health facilities, patients, and health professionals. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based solution enabling secure exchange of EHRs between different parties powered by a self-sovereign identity (SSI) wallet and decentralized identifiers. We also make use of a consortium IPFS network for off-chain storage and attribute-based encryption (ABE) to ensure data confidentiality and integrity. Through our solution, we grant users full control over their medical data and enable them to securely share it in total confidentiality over secure communication channels between user wallets using encryption. We also use DIDs for better user privacy and limit any possible correlations or identification by using pairwise DIDs. Overall, combining this set of technologies guarantees secure exchange of EHRs, secure storage, and management along with by-design features inherited from the technological stack. © 2023 Marie Tcholakian et al.

How Frauds in Times of Crisis Target People

While there are no new frauds, internet technology provides new opportunities for fraudsters by facilitating volumes of attacks that law enforcement then struggles to address. Moreover, since context can affect how potential victims respond to frauds, crisis context influences how fraudsters design frauds. This article assesses fraudsters' fraud design strategies during two external crisis events that impacted Australia: The Black Summer Bushfires that occurred from September 2019 to March 2020 and the onset and first year of the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred from January 2020 through January 2021. Targets, during these crises, were more likely to be vulnerable according to Steinmetz's model victim for social engineering framework. This study shows that, in both crises, fraudsters deployed the social engineering techniques of "authority” and "scarcity,” techniques that are more likely to be successful based solely on initial contact. Fraudsters designed their requests to be easily actioned and crafted their scams to reference very recent events as the external crisis events evolved. Thus, they targeted broad audiences with minimal personal involvement. Furthermore, this study shows that fraudsters, when disseminating their scams via social media outlets, attempted to build "social proof” to expand their potential victim pool to include the marks' social circles.

Children's Digital Privacy and the Case Against Parental Consent

Children's engagement with the internet has exploded. From education to social media, companies have offered products and services that-far from being mere distractions for children-have increasingly become necessities. These necessities are most keenly felt in the EdTech world. As companies in the United States rely on the verifiable parental consent required by the Children 's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to collect and use minors' data, reviewing boilerplate waivers of liability and consent forms for children's online activities has thus become part of parenting. This piece argues that under the common law tradition of protecting the best interests of the child, when it comes to protecting children's digital privacy, relying solely on parental consent is insufficient and ill-suited. This work compares parental consent forms for children's online activities to parental waivers for tort liability for physical injuries suffered by children. In the latter, courts have not reached a consensus on whether such contracts are enforceable or altogether void. However, most courts have struck down such waivers as against public policy in commercial settings. By relying on courts ' decisions regarding the role of parents in protecting the best interests of the child when faced with a child's physical injury, this piece argues that public policy should have to force to override parental consent as it pertains to the protection of a minor's digital privacy and their use of EdTech tools. It thus encourages lawmakers at the federal and state levels to move away from a parental consent apparatus and instead put forward new measures for the protection of children's digital privacy. It further illustrates that, despite COPPA, common law privacy torts are not fully preempted. Adopting the approach proposed in this work will also motivate companies to be more vigilant towards handling minors' data to avoid potential lawsuits. It will further encourage a market for competition between socially responsible companies that would prioritize children's privacy over an endless list of corporate interests.

The COVID-19 Pandemic in Cyprus: A Problematic Legal Regime, and the Potential of Rule of Law in Emergencies

In the first part of this chapter, we shall argue that the legal regime under which most of the COVID-19 measures were adopted in Cyprus is problematic both from the standpoint of the democratic principle and from the standpoint of the meta-principle of rule of law. In the second part, in the context of an analysis of the path that the Republic of Cyprus did not follow, i.e. a Proclamation of Emergency under Art. 183 of the Constitution, we shall see how a "compulsion of legality” (Dyzenhaus) was incorporated into the emergency doctrine upon which the operation of the constitutional order of Cyprus has been based since 1964. The doctrine of necessity in Cyprus illustrates the potential of the rule of law even in emergencies. The "compulsion of legality” which animates the Cypriot version of the doctrine of necessity affirms the importance of legislative action and of judicial review. At least on COVID-19 measures, this compulsion should orient courts away from constructions (such as the doctrine of "actes de gouvernement”) which insulate executive action from judicial scrutiny. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Newton's law of cooling with a low-cost thermoscope: physics in the time of covid-19

The necessity to teach experimental physics in the pandemic period motivated the development of practices in which students may take measurements with instruments constructed by themselves. In this article, we present an experimental practice to approach Newton's law of cooling with a thermoscope (the earliest device for detecting changes in temperature, forerunner of the thermometer) constructed with household materials. Although the use of a non-calibrated thermoscope, the instrument presented several advantages, visual appeal, ease of handling, ease of data acquisition and good reproducibility. The students can take data, plot graphs, and verify if the Newton's law of cooling holds on the tested circumstances.

Europa y Japón: socios con valores comunes en un mundo incierto

En un escenario internacional cada vez más incierto, en el que todavía no se ha dejado atrás la pandemia de Covid-19, a lo que se suma la necesidad de gestionar la ilegítima invasión rusa de Ucrania, así como unas relaciones entre Estados Unidos y China cada vez más tensas, Europa y Japón han reafirmado sus vínculos históricos, económicos y políticos con dos acuerdos de asociación, uno de carácter económico y otro estratégico, en vigor desde 2019. El continente asiático se ha convertido, además, en el principal eje geopolítico del mundo, y Japón quiere tener un papel relevante en el nuevo escenario al que ha respondido mediante su iniciativa del Free and Open Indo-Pacific, a la que Europa ha respondido con ciertas reservas. ¿Deben Europa y Japón seguir profundizando en su relación? ¿Cuáles son los ámbitos susceptibles de mejora? El marco adecuado debe ser, en nuestra opinión, el "orden internacional basado en normas" del que ambos actores son claros defensores, y los valores comunes de democracia, Estado de Derecho y protección de derechos fundamentales que los unen.Alternate :In an increasingly uncertain international environment, in which we are still trying to put the Covid-19 pandemic behind us while trying to manage the illegitimate Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the increasingly tense relations between the United States and China, Europe, and Japan have reaffirmed their historical, economic and political ties with two association agreements, one economic and the other strategic, in force since 2019. In addition, the Asian continent has become the geopolitical axis of the world, and Japan wants to play a relevant role through its Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) initiative, to which Europe has responded somewhat hesitantly. Should Europe and Japan continue to deepen their relationship? What are the areas for improvement? The appropriate framework, in our opinion, should be the "rules-based international order" of which the two actors are firm defenders, and the shared values of democracy, rule of law, and protection of fundamental rights that unite them.

COVID-19 and the family courts: key practitioner findings in children cases

In March 2020, stringent social distancing measures were introduced across England and Wales to reduce the spread of Covid-19. These measures have presented significant challenges for the family justice system. This article sets out the findings of interviews conducted with professionals in the North East of England who have represented or otherwise supported litigants in private and public children proceedings since social distancing measures were introduced. The findings reveal that whilst practitioners are broadly positive about their experiences of shorter non-contested hearings, they nonetheless have concerns about the effectiveness of remote/hybrid hearings in ensuring a fair and just process in lengthy and complex cases. In particular, the findings indicate that the move to remote hearings has exacerbated pre-existing barriers to justice for unrepresented and vulnerable litigants. The aims of this article are not to ‘name and shame' any particular court but to highlight evidence of good practice in the North East of England and provide scope for improving practitioners' and litigants' experiences within current restrictions.

Coordination Failure, Pandemic Prevention, and Political Polarization in Global Perspective

The aftermath of the February 2022 public order emergency in Canada offers a timely opportunity to modernize the Emergencies Act and revisit the coordination imperative with the complexity of global emergencies squarely in mind. The failure to coordinate globally in the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak, despite a vast repository of knowledge of how to do so- set against the backdrop of increasingly polarized politics and geopolitics- transformed an avoidable public health emergency into multiple humanitarian, economic, social, and political crises. This short article highlights Commissioner Rouleau's focus on coordination failure throughout his report. It then situates the public order emergency in a global perspective, focusing on pandemic preparedness and the polarized political context that framed it. The essay is to stress the importance of viewing emergency powers holistically, and to advocate reading the Commissioner's recommendations not in isolation, but as a small and partial response to a wicked-or super wicked-problem of global proportions.

Green Revolution and Ecological Transition: Italy's Response to the Pandemic

As a consequence of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic, Italy and other member States of the European Union have suffered consider-able economic damage. To redress this situation, the European Commission authorized the return of a large amount of financial resources to European countries, in the form of loans and subsidies, as means for implementing the Next Generation EU, an ambitious program allowing member States to launch significant public spending policies. According to these initiatives, Italy ad-opted the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), which includes six primary missions to modernize the country. The second mission, called the green revolution and ecological transition, is one of the pillars of the EU Next Generation project and constitutes an essential guideline for the future development of the country.

"NEW NORMAL” FOR THE NEW JUDICIARY? INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN ROBINSON CRUSOE AND THE DIFFERENT LITIGANTS IN THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE DURING (AND AFTER) PANDEMIC

This paper searches to confront the main characters of the book Robinson Crusoé, by Daniel Defoe, and the users of the justice system, based on the dilemmas and impositions of the Pandemic of Covid-19, which plagues the whole world. The particularities of the characters Robinson Crusoé and Friday, in view of the need to constantly adapt to new ways of life, were the argument for contextualization, already felt, with the differences between the usual litigants and eventual litigants in the access to justice. The relationship between law and literature, in this case, sought to shed light on aspects related to the need to readjust different litigants for full access to justice, considering the impacts of Pandemic on jurisdictional activity. The scientific method used in the research was the inductive one, by the analysis of the particularities of the characters and the different litigants, as true premises, to determine the different ways of readjusting to the new realities for each one, and what is the impact of these differences on access to justice. So, it was possible to demonstrate that important differences persist between the different litigants in the new jurisdictional reality, urging the adoption of measures that reduce the disparity. © 2022, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. All rights reserved.

Confinement with No Rights. Perceptions of Inmates' Relatives Regarding Measures for COVID-19 Control Implemented in Mexican Prisons

Based on a participatory study design, this article describes how a group of family members of people deprived of liberty (PDL) experienced the COVID-19 control measures implemented in Mexico's prisons. We conducted 28 in-depth interviews and analyzed them using ATLAS.ti. We found that the measures implemented in Mexican prisons to avoid the spread of COVID-19 focused mainly on suspension of visitation and PDL confinement. The isolation imposed on PDL impacted their living conditions, making them more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 due to lack of access to essential services, food, and hygiene supplies. Visit restrictions and PDL isolation also impacted PDL relatives' health and socioeconomic conditions. Our findings indicate that the consequences of COVID-19 control actions in Mexican prisons differ according to the gender and jurisdiction of PDL. Women in federal prisons were more isolated, while those in local ones were more deprived of basic supplies. Imprisoned women's isolation has especially severe effects on the mental and physical health of their elderly parents and children. The results show how the measures adopted to control COVID-19 outbreaks in Mexican prisons have exacerbated the preexisting systemic violence experienced by PDL and their families and how they have failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these settings. These findings provide support for the health-informed penal reform of Mexican prisons.

Exploring Thailand's Probationary Practices Since COVID-19: Changes in Strategies with Regards to Probation Supervision

The COVID-19 pandemic had a critical impact on the Thai criminal justice system. The goal of this study is to explore policies and practices of Thailand's Department of Probation as it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study surveyed probation officers in Thailand (N = 534) from March to April 2021, focusing on probation practices and case management issues prior- and post- COVID-19. Data reveals that, overall, the frequency of officer-offender contacts remained steady even though the type of contact changed after COVID-19. In-person contact was replaced by remote contact strategies, specifically telephone calls, which increased significantly following the onset of the pandemic.

Analisis Hukum terhadap Limitasi Pelaksanaan Solat di Masjid Era COVID-19

Islam has taught and emphasised greatly on unity and solidarity among Muslims. This matter has become part of the agenda in various activities of Muslims;including in the matters of worship or ritual practices. The ultimate reason for performing prayers in the mosque, whether for Friday prayers or obligatory prayers, is to develop the unity of the ummah and revealing Islamic teachings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic phenomenon that has hit the world today requires that the implementation of prayers in mosques be studied and refined by putting in appropriate procedures and limitations to curb the spread of this epidemic. The inconsistency in terms of procedures between states in the implementation of Friday prayers and congregational prayers in mosques also invites disputes among the community. Thus, this paper will examine and analyse the procedures and limitations of the implementation from the aspect of Islamic law, based on current situation. This study uses a qualitative method through a content analysis approach and the primary source used is fatwa documents which related to the issues studied both at the national and state levels. In fact, these primary sources were analysed with a comparative approach. As a result, the findings of the study found that the differences in the setting of procedures and limitations issued by the state authorities regarding Friday prayers and congregational prayers in mosques are common and have specific justifications based on Islamic law. The only difference is in the matter of furu 'which is allowed in Islam. It is hoped that the analysis and details made through this paper will improve the negative perceptions of the public towards religious institutions in the country. In fact, hopefully this paper will be a benchmark for scholars in the field of Islamic studies to support and enhance the knowledge in the contemporary fiqh as well as to give a clear opinion for the questions and problems faced by Muslims nowadays. Ajaran Islam amat menitikberatkan soal kesatuan dan perpaduan dalam kalangan umat Islam. Perkara ini menjadi sebahagian agenda dalam pelbagai aktiviti umat Islam termasuklah dalam urusan ibadah atau amalan ritual. Tuntutan kepada pelaksanaan solat di masjid sama ada bagi solat Jumaat mahupun solat fardu adalah bertujuan untuk membina kesatuan umat dan menzahirkan syiar Islam. Namun, fenomena pandemik COVID-19 yang melanda dunia hari ini menuntut agar pelaksanaan solat di masjid dikaji dan diperhalusi dengan meletakkan prosedur dan limitasi sewajarnya bagi membendung penularan wabak ini. Ketidakseragaman dari sudut prosedur antara negeri dalam pelaksanaan solat Jumaat dan solat berjemaah di masjid juga mengundang pertikaian dalam kalangan masyarakat. Justeru, kertas kerja ini akan meneliti dan menganalisis terhadap prosedur dan limitasi pelaksanaannya dari aspek syarak berasaskan realiti semasa. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kualitatif melalui pendekatan analisis kandungan. Sumber primer yang digunakan adalah dokumen fatwa yang dikeluarkan berkaitan isu dikaji sama di peringkat kebangsaan mahupun negeri. Sumber primer ini dianalisis dengan pendekatan komparatif. Hasilnya, dapatan kajian mendapati perbezaan dalam penetapan prosedur dan limitasi yang dikeluarkan oleh pihak berkuasa negeri berhubung solat Jumaat dan solat berjemaah di masjid adalah berasas dan mempunyai sandaran serta justifikasi kukuh berpandukan hukum syarak. Perbezaan hanyalah dalam perkara furu' yang dibenarkan dalam Islam. Diharapkan, kupasan dan perincian yang dibuat melalui kertas kerja ini akan memperbaiki persepsi negatif masyarakat awam terhadap institusi keagamaan di negera ini. Malah, kertas kerja ini diharap menjadi batu asas untuk sarjana dalam bidang pengajian Islam memperkayakan khazanah fiqh kontemporari bagi merungkai persoalan dan permasalahan semasa yang dihadapi oleh umat Islam.