Search

Europe is currently facing the potentially biggest energy crisis in history. There are many reasons for this, and the current geopolitical situation makes it clear that we are being forced to take immediate action to ensure sufficient energy supplies to consumers. Until recently, the European Union was dependent on Russian energy resources (mainly oil and gas). For many years, the EU countries had been shutting down their own production and importing much cheaper raw material from Russia. The threat of a blackout is becoming increasingly possible. European governments are preparing businesses and households for the energy crisis in various ways, but there is also a great deal of mobilization to accelerate the development of renewable energy sources (RES). The aim of this study was to identify the barriers and prospects for RES development in Poland in the current geopolitical conditions. The reasons for insufficient grid HC were analyzed. Additionally, the article aimed to assess the prospects for solar energy development in Poland. Wind power was discussed only in general terms because the development of wind farms is inhibited by the regulatory framework. Particular attention was paid to hosting capacity (HC) and the condition of the power infrastructure as the main determinants of RES development in Poland. Numerous documents developed by power companies and government agencies responsible for implementing and managing energy in Poland were analyzed. Special attention was paid to legal regulations and the need for legislative changes. As a country, Poland has one of the highest growth rates in photovoltaic (PV) installations. The forecasts for increasing HC, as a prerequisite for RES development in Poland, are not promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: An important dimension of care and case managers is to support geriatric patients in obtaining social services in medical, nursing, therapeutic and social fields. To this, they advise and represent their patients.Methods: The documentation of patient contacts with case managers of a network of physicians was evaluated. In particular, activities involving legal advice were analysed in detail, compared with the current legal situation in Germany and evaluated. In addition, qualitative expert interviews were conducted. The content and the legal requirements of legal services law were determined by applying legal interpretation methods (esp. wording, telos, systematics). The results of the evaluation of the documentation were compared with legal requirements.Results: Care and case management touches activities in some fields of action without having a legal basis in legal services law. This leads to the fact that these services may not be provided and to - uninsured and uninsurable - liability risks.Discussion: With the introduction of care and case management into standard care, both social law and the Legal Services Act must be adapted to enable the legally compliant use of care and case managers. Otherwise, certain services that are useful for the care of patients may not be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To allow for adequate and safe reprocessing of reusable medical devices, the device manufacturer should provide instructions for use (IFU). This should include instructions for cleaning, disinfection, packaging and (where sterility is required), a method of sterilization. These instructions should be clear and relevant in the regions where they are marketed. They must not be too vague, however if they are too detailed, reprocessing of the device may be effectively restricted if a very specific process step is not available. This article summarizes IFU requirements for every process step and shows the available options if there are issues with the IFUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has the goal of determining the judicial effects produced by the acts of a union organization created and operating without the fulfilment of its legal obligations. This research's approach is hermeneutical-documentary, given how it was performed using bibliographic inquiries, compilation of literature on fundamental law in union association and regulatory jurisprudence on the matter in accordance with the specific analytical needs of the research. As a main conclusion, the research states that the actions carried out by a union association that are contrary and overreach the legal terms established for them do not produce any judicial effect whatsoever, taking into account that the labour legislation is defined as a public order normativity and that disposition does not produce any affect or act that disown them without needing a judicial declaration for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the sale of private vehicles used in the automotive sector of the department of Quindío, the practice is to divide the transfer fees between the buyer and seller in equal parts; However, it is not certain whether said practice meets the requirements that the law requires to be considered a customary legal norm. Therefore, in the present investigation, the commercial practice of the division of the transfer costs of used private vehicles will be analyzed, to verify compliance with the requirements of uniformity, reiteration, validity, publicity and obligation, to determine if it can be subject to certification as a commercial custom by the Chamber of Commerce oAf rmenia and Quindío. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The INCOTERMS terms are described and updated by the International Chamber of Commerce to regulate and interpret the responsibilities of the subjects in the contracts for the sale of goods. Given the importance and recognition they have in the context of international trade, the purpose of this investigation is to verify whether the practice of the term EXW used in contracts for the international sale of goods entered into in Armenia is the INCOTERMS described by the International Chamber of Commerce. and if it can reach the category of commercial custom by meeting the requirements of uniformity, reiteration, validity, publicity and obligation to be certified by the Chamber of Commerce of Armenia and Quindío. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contracts for the supply of goods other than food entered into in the commerce sector of Armenia and Quindío, it is necessary that the terms for the execution of the contract are subordinate to the will of the parties, including the determination of the amount of the supply; However, in those cases where the amount was omitted, the rule corresponding to ordinary consumption or consumer needs is applied, except for commercial custom to the contrary. This research will analyze the commercial practice that allows determining the amount of the contract for the supply of goods other than food, to verify compliance with the requirements of uniformity, reiteration, validity, publicity and obligation, to be certified as commercial custom by the Chamber of Commerce of Armenia and Quindío. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the city of Armenia and Quindío, contracts for the supply of goods other than food are signed, which are regulated according to commercial law and the contractual will. Thus, the duration of the contract can be determined or indefinite, giving rise to the parties to terminate it in the agreed term, and if there is no term, it will be the one indicated by the commercial custom or the nature of the supply. This research will analyze the commercial practice of prior notice in the termination of the supply of goods other than food, to verify compliance with the requirements of uniformity, reiteration, validity, publicity and obligation, to be certified as commercial custom by the Chamber of Commerce of Armenia and Quindío. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to reflect on scientific experts' and executive stakeholders' opinions on how charitable organizations can participate in the health care system properly and cope with problems, challenges, strategies, and executive requirements at three major levels of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.Methods: A total number of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with scientific experts and executive stakeholders, selected for this qualitative study, based on an interview guide. Using the purposeful sampling method, we selected scientific experts with 5 years of experience in the health care system and executive stakeholders who had 5 years of experience in charitable activities. We applied a framework method for data analysis, and the main themes were extracted through MAXQDA software.Results: Our findings revealed that charitable organizations at the major levels of the health care system, i.e., prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, possessed the necessary capacities to provide services effectively. Nevertheless, charities encountered some problems, e.g., financial instability, non-recognition of donors' legal status, non-involvement in policy-making, inadequate cooperation from other agencies, absence of transparent programs and goals, together with weaknesses in advertising and attracting donations. It was noted that the government should take more operational steps towards supporting such organizations, e.g., by granting special facilities and exemptions, engaging charities in policy-making and training processes, and empowering them in terms of the production of resources. Charitable organizations are also recommended to establish external communications with other bodies such as municipalities, secretaries of state, governorate offices, welfare organizations, relief committees, and medical sciences universities.Conclusions: Charitable organizations have the potentials to provide health care services at prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation levels. Thus, it is of utmost importance to adopt strategies such as creating sustainable funding sources, training charity managers with a wide variety of scientific management techniques, and implementing their intellectual capacities in legislative and planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Overview on regulations regarding bottom ash utilisation in 22 European countries. • Diverse regulation of bottom ash utilisation in the EU. • Utilisation rates vary between 0% and 100% between investigated countries. • Critical discussion of limit values and comparison between countries. • Proposal of key-points for a uniform legislation at EU level. Almost 500 municipal solid waste incineration plants in the EU, Norway and Switzerland generate about 17.6 Mt/a of incinerator bottom ash (IBA). IBA contains minerals and metals. Metals are mostly separated and sold to the scrap market and minerals are either disposed of in landfills or utilised in the construction sector. Since there is no uniform regulation for IBA utilisation at EU level, countries developed own rules with varying requirements for utilisation. As a result from a cooperation network between European experts an up-to-date overview of documents regulating IBA utilisation is presented. Furthermore, this work highlights the different requirements that have to be considered. Overall, 51 different parameters for the total content and 36 different parameters for the emission by leaching are defined. An analysis of the defined parameter reveals that leaching parameters are significantly more to be considered compared to total content parameters. In order to assess the leaching behaviour nine different leaching tests, including batch tests, up-flow percolation tests and one diffusion test (monolithic materials) are in place. A further discussion of leaching parameters showed that certain countries took over limit values initially defined for landfills for inert waste and adopted them for IBA utilisation. The overall utilisation rate of IBA in construction works is approximately 54 wt%. It is revealed that the rate of utilisation does not necessarily depend on how well regulated IBA utilisation is, but rather seems to be a result of political commitment for IBA recycling and economically interesting circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of the research is determined by the entry into force of the FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard of Ukraine, part of which is the requirements for ensuring effective public relations. Accordingly, the study outlines the rights of interested stakeholders and affected stakeholders defined by the FSC national standard for the transparency and openness of the forest certification process. Achieving the aim has led to the use of analysis, synthesis and comparison methods to make reasonable conclusions about the rights of interested and affected stakeholders defined by the requirements of the FSC national standard, and about the mechanism of their practical implementation in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine. The research determined that the FSC standard requirements provide for both appropriate informing and engagement of interested and affected stakeholders in forest decision-making at the planning, implementation and monitoring of management activity. The FSC-defined rights of these stakeholders do not contradict the laws of Ukraine and in some cases impose additional voluntary obligations on FSC certificate holders. It has been found that forestry enterprises shall engage interested and affected stakeholders on the scope that their activities impact the rights of those stakeholders. That is, these stakeholders can require the exercise of their legal rights but cannot require the suspension or revocation of a permit to conduct management activities of the enterprise. Key areas of informing and engagement of interested and affected stakeholders, in accordance with the FSC national standard, related to avoiding negative social, environmental and economic impacts of management activities, supporting opportunities for local social and economic development, dispute resolution process, and assessment, maintenance and monitoring of High Conservation Values, protection sites which are of special cultural, ecological and other importance. It is justified that the FSC national standard does not specify the ways of informing or forms and means of the engagement of interested and affected stakeholders in forest decision-making but emphasizes their reasonability to achieve the goals. The perspective for further research is to justify mechanisms to increase public participation in forest certification processes and the most effective ways of informing and engaging them in forest decisionmaking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Written guidance can contribute to the development of effective SEA, delivering relevant information for those involved in policy, plan and programme making processes. Generally speaking, guidance should aim at setting best practice standards. However, to date, how guidance is impacting on SEA effectiveness and how it is best developed and maintained has not been explored to any great extent. As a consequence, it has remained unclear how a key ingredient of effective SEA, namely the support of an enabling context, should be approached. In this paper, we look at the perceived relevance of written guidance for the delivery of effective SEA, based on a two-stage survey with 26 practitioners (all with over 10 years of experience) from the UK and the Republic of Ireland, conducted between 2015 and 2017. Survey participants included representatives of the regulatory, consultancy and academic sectors. Our findings indicate that guidance can promote SEA effectiveness if it: (a) aims to go beyond basic legislative requirements; (b) is able to respond to the specific situation of application; (c) can establish a minimum standard for SEA; and (d) is able to stimulate the advancement of quality standards within a tiered approach to SEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock farming is challenged by environmental legislation, animal welfare legislation, food vs. feed competition and fundamental critics from NGOs. In order to make livestock farming in Germany sustainable, fundamental changes are required. However, livestock will have an important role for sustainable farming also in the future. In order to achieve this, food vs. feed competition must be considerably reduced and environmental impacts must be reduced, also by reducing the number of animals. This will require considerable efforts in research, but also reliable financial support for farmers investing in better husbandry systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-exhaust vehicle emissions are currently thought to be tyre wear, brake wear, clutch wear, road surface wear, corrosion of other vehicle components, corrosion of street furniture and crash barriers, and the resuspension of road dust. Among non-exhaust sources, brake wear can be a significant particulate matter (PM) contributor, particularly within areas with high traffic density and braking frequency. Regulations for brake pad performance are influenced by many bodies across the world, including the Particle Measurement Programme by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECEPMP). In order to continuously improve their products and ensure regulatory compliance, brake pad manufacturers conduct brake performance tests and they can be carried out on vehicles and on dynamometers. The main topic of this paper regards the potential impact of the emitted PM on the human health, depending on the mechanisms of formation and toxicity of the particles. On-going European projects dealing with this important problem will also be discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last 20 years Austrian prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) have significantly improved. The structure and organization of Austrian EMS comply with European standards but training requirements for prehospital EMS physicians are insufficient when compared with other countries. Although some EMS systems follow the German or Swiss postgraduate training concepts, the legal requirements in Austria defining the scope of mandatory training for physicians in the prehospital setting are only minimal. Thus, besides board certification as a general practitioner or specialist of any discipline, the only formal requirement is a 1-week theoretical course comprising some manikin simulations. Experience in anesthesia or intensive care medicine is still not mandatory. The Austrian Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Care Medicine (ÖGARI) drafted a reform paper in 2009, which was adapted by the Austrian Chamber of Physicians, section of emergency medicine, and subsequently presented to the Austrian Ministry of Health. Due to the slowness of the legislation process, the relevant § 40 of the Austrian Physician 's Act is still unchanged. In the meantime, Austrian specialist training regulations were restructured in 2015 with significant consequences. Due to changes in the residency programs, board certification and subsequent full working permit becomes more difficult to obtain, thus further aggravating the shortage of emergency physicians in Austria. In order to counteract the threatening shortage of prehospital EMS physicians, the ÖGARI section of emergency medicine was requested by the Ministry of Health to develop a reasonable model for how physicians could be qualified and subsequently employed in EMS prior to full board certification. Presently, the Austrian Ministry of Health, the Chamber of Physicians and medical societies are in discussion on whether this approach might fit into the legal framework. This manuscript details the development and present status as well as key points of an ongoing discussion on how high-quality EMS care in Austria can be safeguarded in the future or could even make it impossible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global reports on illnesses and deaths related to food consumption continue to raise concern in most countries. This has led to diligent efforts to improve the manner in which food is handled. Hygienic handling of carcasses after slaughter is critical in preventing contamination and ensuring meat safety in both formal and informal meat trading sectors. However, in the informal sector, regulations as prescribed in the Meat Safety Act No. 40 of 2000, which have been set to protect consumer health, are not always adhered to. Although these regulations are put into practice in the formal sector, meat safety challenges associated with meat handling during distribution continue to raise concern. The distribution stage is the most critical period, during which the quality of meat can easily be compromised. Furthermore, meat inspection at the abattoir covers only visual assessment, without considering microbiological tests. Meeting food safety requirements set by government regulations remains a challenge to almost all food processors. This paper reviews the impact of post-slaughter handling on carcass quality and its implications for meat safety during the distribution stage in the formal and informal sectors in South Africa. It also details how meat handling in the informal meat trade exposes consumers to high health risks and recommends that governments create legislation that would be applicable to carcasses produced in the informal sector to align this sector with the regulations governing food production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confessions are out of court admissions of guilt which conform to certain rigidly defined requirements. A person who confesses to a crime acknowledges his liability and/or responsibility for the commission of crime. The distinction between confessions and other selfincriminating extra-curial statements have been brought out by the fact that confessions and admissions have received different treatment in the field of criminal procedure and evidence. Because of its importance and its potency in criminal evidence confessions are subject to more stringent prerequisites for admissibility than admissions. The only requirement for the admissibility of an admission is that it must be made voluntarily and must be true, however, before a confession will be admitted into evidence the general rule is that the prosecution must establish that the confession was made freely and voluntarily by the accused whilst in sound and sober senses and without having been unduly influenced thereto. It is therefore easier to render a confession inadmissible on the grounds of involuntariness or some other statutory disqualification than an admission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software systems are increasingly regulated. Software engineers therefore must determine which requirements have met or exceeded their legal obligations and which requirements have not. Requirements that have met or exceeded their legal obligations are legally implementation ready, whereas requirements that have not met or exceeded their legal obligations need further refinement. In this paper, we examine how software engineers make these determinations using a multi-case study with three cases. Each case involves assessment of requirements for an electronic health record system that must comply with the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and is measured against the evaluations of HIPAA compliance subject matter experts. Our first case examines how individual graduate-level software engineering students assess whether the requirements met or exceeded their HIPAA obligations. Our second case replicates the findings from our first case using a different set of participants. Our third case examines how graduate-level software engineering students assess requirements using the Wideband Delphi approach to deriving consensus in groups. Our findings suggest that the average graduate-level software engineering student is ill-prepared to write legally compliant software with any confidence and that domain experts are an absolute necessity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ensuring compliance of software systems with government regulations, policies, and laws is a complex problem. Generally speaking, solutions to the problem first identify rights and obligations defined in the law and then treat these as requirements for the system under design. This work examines the challenge of developing tool support for extracting such requirements from legal documents. To address this challenge, we have developed a tool called GaiusT. The tool is founded on a framework for textual semantic annotation. It semiautomatically generates elements of requirements models, including actors, rights, and obligations. We present the complexities of annotating prescriptive text, the architecture of GaiusT, and the process by which annotation is accomplished. We also present experimental results from two case studies to illustrate the application of the tool and its effectiveness relative to manual efforts. The first case study is based on the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, while the second analyzes the Italian accessibility law for information technology instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinical benefits of early prophylaxis in the treatment of haemophilia have been unquestioned since publication of the results of the first randomized study. The question of whether or not prophylaxis is cost-effective remains to be proven. For European physicians treating haemophilia patients, and for German clinicians in particular, the law largely supports the use of prophylaxis in haemophilia, but many doctors are unaware of this. The aim of this review was therefore to describe the German legal framework and outline how it can be used to support appropriate clinical decision-making in the treatment of haemophilia and justify the use of prophylaxis to health insurers and third-party payers. The German Disability Equalisation Law and German Social Law Books V and IX outline legal requirements to prevent or ameliorate disability, and support the argument that all haemophilia patients, including adults, have the right to receive appropriate, adequate, and cost-effective treatment. "Appropriate" treatment means that it must be in accordance with state-of-the-art medical knowledge taking into account medical progress. "Adequate" treatment must be conducive to the goals of haemophilia management, which are to prevent bleeds, treat bleeding episodes, maintain and/or restore joint function, and integrate patients into a normal social life. This can only be achieved when long-term treatment is adequately dosed and regularly administered for as long as it is required. Thankfully, with the availability of virus-safe factor concentrates, the introduction of home treatment programmes, and the law on our side, we are in a very strong position to achieve these goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian court decisions and human rights legislation impose strict legal criteria for developing applicant and incumbent physiological employment standards to qualify as a bona fide occupational requirement. These legal criteria compel researchers and employers to ensure that the standards are criterion-based and validly linked to the critical life threatening physically demanding tasks of the occupation, and this has led to the establishment of a systematic research process template to ensure this connection. Validation of job-related physiological employment standards is achieved using both construct and content procedures and reliability is established via test-retest procedures. The 1999 Supreme Court of Canada Meiorin Decision also obliges employers to demonstrate that it is impossible to accommodate an individual applicant or employee who is adversely impacted by lowering the physiological employment standards without imposing undue hardship on the employer. Recent evidence has demonstrated convincingly that familiarization opportunities, motivational feedback/coaching during test performance, and participation in a 6-week job-specific physical fitness training program can overcome the adverse impact of a physiological employment standards on a sub-group of participants, thereby providing 'de facto' accommodation. In this article, the authors review the physiological employment standards for prominent Canadian physically demanding public safety occupations; police, correctional officers, nuclear emergency personnel, structural fire fighters, and wildland fire fighters, to illustrate the steps, challenges, and solutions involved in developing and implementing physiological employment standards designed to meet the requirements to qualify as a bona fide occupational requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As school-based action research has taken a higher profile in UK schools, the place of ethics warrants particular attention. This paper draws on evidence from a taught online Master of Education course collated via chat room discussion where 53 researching teachers were asked to explore policy within their own institution regarding school-based action research ethics. None of these teachers identified the existence of any such policies but described instead current practices. We analysed their reported school-based action research practices and discovered three major categories of response: the unexamined use of gatekeepers; the unsupported use of existing ethics guidelines (such as those of the British Educational Research Association); and the conflation of legal and ethical demands by schools. We raise questions relating to the relationship between ethics and education and call for all those involved in school-based action research to take part in developing action research ethical policy in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies that own, license, or maintain personal information face a daunting number of privacy and security regulations. Companies are subject to new regulations from one or more governing bodies, when companies introduce new or existing products into a jurisdiction, when regulations change, or when data are transferred across political borders. To address this problem, we developed a framework called 'requirements water marking' that business analysts can use to align and reconcile requirements from multiple jurisdictions (municipalities, provinces, nations) to produce a single high or low standard of care. We evaluate the framework in two empirical case studies covering a subset of U.S. data breach notification laws and medical record retention laws. In these studies, applying our framework reduced the number of requirements a company must comply with by 76 % across 8 jurisdictions and 15 % across 4 jurisdictions, respectively. We show how the framework surfaces critical requirements trade-offs and potential regulatory conflicts that companies must address during the reconciliation process. We summarize our results, including surveys of information technology law experts to contextualize our empirical results in legal practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Food composition databases prepared for nutrition labelling have some important differences to other food composition databases. Nutrient values must be expressed in accordance with legal requirements for nutrition labelling in the country where it will be used. The database should include all the nutrients that must be declared in labels and contain data for ingredients (including additives) used in manufacturing. Data should be as current as possible and it may be necessary to update the databases before release. Information on typical measures, indicative weight changes during processing and retention factors (if including vitamins and minerals) will be required, as will explanatory material appropriate to the audience. Challenge areas for use of a labelling database include foods prepared by soaking or packing in salt or by deep frying, and estimation of vitamin levels. Limited Australian and New Zealand research suggests that label and analytical data for proximate nutrients, fatty acids and sodium agree in around 60% of cases or more; for added micronutrients, no more than 50% of values agree. However there is no research available to show whether labels prepared from a labelling database are more or less accurate than labels prepared using analysis. The Australian experience shows that it is possible to develop a labelling database suitable for many, but not all, foods and nutrients, but there is a lack of information to assess the quality of the data produced. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article explores the impact of 15 separate provisions of state annexation laws on seven different measures of annexation activity. This analysis uses annexation data from 42 states between 1990 and 1998. The analysis finds that there are different patterns of annexation activity for laws designed to constrain annexation, as compared with laws designed to facilitate annexation. Laws designed to facilitate annexation are likely to be associated with high levels of annexation activity. On the other hand, laws designed to constrain annexation are not very likely to have lower levels of activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation has become an important part in the Environmental Impact Assessment process. However, a few factors can affect, even change, its positive effect, including times when the public is to be involved, and the distribution of the necessary forms to the public involved. Therefore it is very important to pay attention to those factors and to design an integrated plan for public participation in the assessment process. In this article, the legal requirements for public participation are firstly set out, then current problems as well as the gaps between the practices and regulations of participation are analyzed. The design of a plan to improve the effectiveness of the assessment process, including designing principles, defining the roles of the different actors, setting standards for selecting the form(s) to involve participation of the public, and defining the times when the public is to be involved, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Issues that are to be considered in the process of organizing full digital environment in Russian radiology departments were gathered and analyzed. Different specific features besides economical ones were found. Possible ways of overcoming problems, inconveniences and inconsistencies were proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Adaptive and science-based management is widely accepted as necessary to safeguard wildlife and their habitats into the future. However, many of the decisions in this field are still based on unsupported ideas that lack validation with real data and which do not make their analysis available for a public review. Decisions based on soft foundations can be harmful to wildlife, habitat and the survival of both. I suggest a new wildlife management approach founded on scientific databases that has become possible, if not imperative, with improved technology and increasing access to freely available data over the Word Wide Web (WWW). This approach is partly a consequence of the effective implementation of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. In order to justify management decisions relating to wildlife, habitat, and conservation, the listing, use, and full investigation of all available and relevant databases needs to be implemented, voluntarily or legally, as a prerequisite. Second, similar to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standards, each major wildlife management decision needs to add a standard management documentation system as a backup that clearly records what data and research were or were not available at that time and what the recommended research still needs to address in order to complete the data situation and to decrease uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the United States, a number of federal laws establish requirements that electronic government (e-government) information and services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. These laws affect e-government Web sites at the federal, state, and local levels. To this point, research about the accessibility of e-government Web sites has tended to focus on compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Though Section 508 has the most specific guidelines regarding Web site accessibility, it is hardly the only law establishing accessibility requirements for e-government Web sites, and Section 508 does not apply to many sites that may be required to be accessible by other laws. Until assessment of the accessibility of e-government Web sites accounts for all of the relevant laws, the understanding of levels of accessibility and compliance will be incomplete. This article examines the entire spectrum of federal laws that create legal requirements for accessible e-government Web sites, analyzing the accessibility requirements that the laws establish and the ways in which each of the laws applies to an e-government Web site. This article also suggests research areas that should be included in future assessments to address the entire range of laws related to the accessibility of e-government Web sites. The issues raised in this article have significant relevance to the design and development of e-government, to the assessment of e-government information and services, and to the inclusion in e-government of the 54 million individuals in the United States with disabilities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: This study has analyzed the policy-making requirements related to basic health insurance package at the national level with a systematic view. Results: All the documents presented since the enactment of universal health insurance in Iran from 1994 to 2017 were included applying Scott method for assuring meaningfulness, authenticity, credibility and representativeness. Then, content analysis was conducted applying MAXQDA10. The legal and policy requirements related to basic health insurance package were summarized into three main themes and 11 subthemes. The main themes include three kinds of requirements at three level of third party insurer, health care provider and citizen/population that contains 5 (financing insurance package, organizational structure, tariffing and purchasing the benefit packages and integration of policies and precedents), 4 (determining the necessities, provision of services, rules relating to implementation and covered services) and 2 (expanded coverage of population and insurance premiums) sub themes respectively. According to the results, Iranian policy makers should notice three axes of third party insurers, health providers and population of the country to prepare an appropriate basic benefit package based on local needs for all the people that can access with no financial barriers in order to be sure of achieving UHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Respect for patient autonomy and the requirement of informed consent is an essential basic patient right. It is constituted through international conventions and implemented in health law in Norway and most other countries. Healthcare without informed consent is only allowed under specific exceptions, which requires a record in the patient charts. In this study, we investigated how surgeons recorded decisions in situations where the elderly patient's ability to provide a valid informed consent was questionable or clearly missing. Method: We investigated all medical records of patients admitted to surgical departments in a Norwegian large academic emergency hospital over a period of 38 days (approximately 5000 patients). We selected records of patients above the age of 70 (570 patients) and searched through these 570 medical records for any noted clear indications of inability to consent such as "do not understand", "confused" etc. (102 patients). We read through all the medical records on these 102 patients noting any recordings on lack of informed consent, any recordings on reasoning and process hereto. We also took note whether there were clear indications on the use of coercion. Results: None of the 102 included patients´ charts contained legally valid recorded assessments (for example related to the patients´ competence to consent) when patients without the ability to consent were admitted and provided healthcare. Some charts contained records that the patient resisted treatment, thus indicating treatment with coercion. In these situations, we did not find any documentation related to legal requirements that regulate the use of coercion. Discussion and conclusion: We found a substantial lack of compliance with the legal requirements that apply when obtaining valid informed consent. There are many possible reasons for this: Lack of knowledge of the legal requirements, disagreement about the rules, or that it is simply not possible to comply with the extensive formal and material legal requirements in clinical practice. The results do not point out whether the appropriate measures are amending the law, educating and requiring more compliance from surgeons, or both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the need for informed consent to medical treatment should be familiar to health-care professionals, the detail regarding what needs to be disclosed to the patient is less well known and even unclear. This article describes the legal requirements for informed consent, and briefly charts the development of the law over the past 25 years. It highlights the fact that the law has changed considerably, and demonstrates that this judicial activism has been as a result of an increasing prioritization of the concept of patient autonomy. It also shows that, on occasion, the courts are prepared to modify the law in order to protect what they see as the underlying principles behind it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Germany, paternity testing can be ordered by a judge as well as by private persons. In the case of private counselling, the expert has the duty to inform the parties on all medical, legal and ethical aspects. Informed consent must be given by each individual included in an exploration of family relationships. Due to the rapid progress of DNA typing in even minute amounts after polymerase chain reaction amplification, genotypes of short tandem repeat systems can be elicited by extraction from single cells. Therefore, the number of unlawful investigations of paternal relationships is steadily increasing. Here the requirements for paternity testing laboratories and sanctions for unlawful exploration of a person''s genotypes are discussed. A new Federal law should be drafted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]