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BACKGROUND: The past two decades have seen expansion of childhood vaccination programmes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We quantify the health impact of these programmes by estimating the deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted by vaccination against ten pathogens in 98 LMICs between 2000 and 2030. METHODS: 16 independent research groups provided model-based disease burden estimates under a range of vaccination coverage scenarios for ten pathogens: hepatitis B virus, Haemophilus influenzae type B, human papillomavirus, Japanese encephalitis, measles, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, Streptococcus pneumoniae, rotavirus, rubella, and yellow fever. Using standardised demographic data and vaccine coverage, the impact of vaccination programmes was determined by comparing model estimates from a no-vaccination counterfactual scenario with those from a reported and projected vaccination scenario. We present deaths and DALYs averted between 2000 and 2030 by calendar year and by annual birth cohort. FINDINGS: We estimate that vaccination of the ten selected pathogens will have averted 69 million (95% credible interval 52-88) deaths between 2000 and 2030, of which 37 million (30-48) were averted between 2000 and 2019. From 2000 to 2019, this represents a 45% (36-58) reduction in deaths compared with the counterfactual scenario of no vaccination. Most of this impact is concentrated in a reduction in mortality among children younger than 5 years (57% reduction [52-66]), most notably from measles. Over the lifetime of birth cohorts born between 2000 and 2030, we predict that 120 million (93-150) deaths will be averted by vaccination, of which 58 million (39-76) are due to measles vaccination and 38 million (25-52) are due to hepatitis B vaccination. We estimate that increases in vaccine coverage and introductions of additional vaccines will result in a 72% (59-81) reduction in lifetime mortality in the 2019 birth cohort. INTERPRETATION: Increases in vaccine coverage and the introduction of new vaccines into LMICs have had a major impact in reducing mortality. These public health gains are predicted to increase in coming decades if progress in increasing coverage is sustained. FUNDING: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Legislatures are increasingly developing novel, tradeable statutory entitlements, such as transferable licences or allowances, to respond to a range of social and environmental issues. However, the statutes that establish such entitlements commonly overlook the nature and scope of the legal interests, personal or proprietary, which may exist in relation to an entitlement. As a result, courts are increasingly dealing with issues that stem from the uncertain legal nature of statutory entitlements. Issues that have arisen include whether a statute dealing with property transfers is applicable to a particular statutory entitlement, whether a regulator must pay compensation for withdrawing an entitlement or whether a statutory entitlement is capable of supporting rights that are enforceable against third parties. To determine the legal nature of statutory entitlements, courts undertake a property analysis that involves considering the attributes of a statutory entitlement against particular indicia of property. In this article, we focus on the diff erent conceptions of property and its indicia in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. This comparative analysis illustrates the distinct approaches being adopted to resolve the uncertain legal nature of statutory entitlements. Using emissions trading schemes as a case study, we explore how the diff erent property analyses adopted impact the rights and liabilities of parties as well as the functioning of statutory entitlement schemes.

This report provides an evaluation of the implementation of the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) – a principle of international environmental law – in the context of pollution from sugarcane farming affecting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The research was part of an experiment to test methods for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental laws. Overall, we found that whilst the PPP is reflected to a limited extent in Australian law (more so in Queensland law, than at the national level), the behaviour one might expect in terms of implementing the principle was largely inadequate. Evidence of a longer term, explicit commitment to the PPP was particularly weak.

The concept of environmental justice is well developed in North America, but is still at the evolutionary stage in most other jurisdictions around the globe. This paper seeks to explore two jurisdictions where incidents of environmental justice are likely to be seen in the future as a result of manufacturing and mining practices. The discussion will centre upon avenues to environmental justice for both private citizens and the public at large. The first jurisdiction considered is China, where environmental liability claims brought by Chinese citizens have increased at an annual average of 25% (Yang 2011). Manufacturing is at the core of the Chinese economy and is responsible for some of the unprecedented economic growth in the region. Less discussed are the industry impacts on water and air pollution levels and the associated implications of these pollutants on local communities. China introduced the Tort Liability Law (TLL) in 2010, which may provide avenues to justice for private citizens. The other jurisdiction considered by the paper is Australia, where the mining boom has buffered the Australian economy from the global financial crisis. There is some limited case law in Australia where private citizens have made a claim in toxic torts; however the framework is underdeveloped in terms of the significant risks facing indigenous and local communities in mining areas and also by comparison to the developments of the TLL framework in China. This paper traces the regulatory responses to the affects of major industries on communities in China and Australia. From this it examines the need for environmental justice avenues that align with rule of law principles.

This study is an investigation into methods of developing ergonomic guidelines for automotive assembly tasks involving insertion of small parts. The study was conducted in four major parts: 1) a method of determining and evaluating subjective exertion limits was modified and tested, 2) a large dataset was collected from an industrial population in 10 simulated assembly line tasks, 3) a smaller dataset was collected from a student population to assess hand dominance effects, and 4) strength data obtained was compared with a strength prediction model to determine if the model could predict manual insertion forces. The traditional method of psychophysical data collection requires participants to extrapolate sensations from a relativity short session to judge if the task could be done for a much longer period. Maximum acceptable limits (MALs) are typically derived from having participants adjust a weight, resistance, or frequency to an acceptable level. The present study evaluated a relatively new method of collecting MAL data for simple, single-digit exertions where participants were asked to determine an MAL by self-adjusting and then regulating to maintain the exertion level. Results showed that MAL values obtained from a series of self-regulated exertions were independent of both analysis method and duration (5 minutes vs. 25 minutes) used for evaluation, and that the method was repeatable both within and between sessions. Ergonomic guidelines are often obtained from the strength capacity for a certain task, as it is important to ensure that workers possess sufficient strength to accomplish a task. As task demands increase, however, a larger percentage of a worker's strength capability in required, and other factors, such as performance and worker comfort, tend to be compromised. In this work, both strength capacity and subjective limits were obtained for a variety of simulated tasks to facilitate development of guidelines for the specific tasks. The relationship between these two measures (maximum force, acceptable force) was determined, and acceptable limits were found to be approximately 55% of population strength capacity, with correlations (R2) ranging from 0.40 to 0.60 depending on the task, suggesting the subjective limits and strength capacity are related in these tasks. Hand dominance was found to have a small (5%), but significant (p = 0.006) effect on strength capability, and no significant effect on subjective limit. Biomechanical strength prediction models can be used to assess loads placed on the human performing various tasks. One of the more popular models, Three-Dimensional Static Strength Prediction Program, is often used for heavy material handling tasks, such as lifting or pushing. The tasks studied presently, however, are manual insertions, requiring localized force application rather than whole body exertion. The prediction capabilities of this strength prediction model were compared with strength values obtained from the simulated assembly tasks. Results indicated that the model was not successful when predicting localized force, accounting for only 40% of the observed variance in strength (R2 = 0.4) Master of Science