An Analysis of Soft Law Applicable to Humanitarian Assistance: Relative Normativity in Action?

There is limited binding international law specifically covering the provision of humanitarian assistance in response to natural and human-made disasters. Yet a variety of authoritative soft law texts have been developed in the past 20 years, including the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the Red Cross Red Crescent Code of Conduct and the Sphere Project’s Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. While such ‘non-binding normative standards’ do not carry the weight of international law, they play an essential role in the provision of humanitarian assistance albeit subject to their limited enforceability vis-à-vis intended beneficiaries and to their voluntary application by humanitarian actors. Notwithstanding a lack of legal compulsion, certain non-binding normative standards may directly influence the actions of States and non-State actors, and so obtain a strongly persuasive character. Analysis of texts that influence the practice of humanitarian assistance advances our understanding of humanitarian principles and performance standards for disaster response. As the International Law Commission debates draft articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters, such non-binding normative standards are crucial to the development of an internationally accepted legal framework to protect victims of disasters.

Πολιτικες ασύλου της ΕΕ- A critical review of the European policies of asylum: The re-positioning of asylum seekers from refugees/victims in need of protection to criminals (illegal immigrants)

This publication traces how asylum seekers are repositioned in the existing European asylum legislation from asylum seekers as victims in need of protection, to criminals . It is argued that this is due to the European legislation concerning the area of freedom, security and justice. The latest asylum legislation seems to undermine the refugee status which -as it is widely known- is safeguarded by the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its relevant 1967 Protocol. Additionally, in this paper the role of social workers and other social scientists to protect the rights of asylum seekers and question the existing legislation is presented.

Predictors of Strength of In-Group Identity in Northern Ireland: Impact of Past Sectarian Conflict, Relative Deprivation and Church Attendance

Social identity in Northern Ireland is multifaceted, with historical, religious, political, social, economic, and psychological underpinnings. Understanding the factors that influence the strength of identity with the Protestant or Catholic community, the two predominate social groups in Northern Ireland, has implications for individual well-being as well as for the continuation of tension and violence in this setting of protracted intergroup conflict. This study examined predictors of the strength of in-group identity in 692 women (mean age 37 years) in post-accord Northern Ireland. For Catholics, strength of in-group identity was positively linked to past negative impact of sectarian conflict and more frequent current church attendance, whereas for Protestants, strength of in-group identity was related to greater status satisfaction regarding access to jobs, standard of living, and political power compared with Catholics; that is, those who felt less relative deprivation. The discussion considers the differences in the factors underlying stronger identity for Protestants and Catholics in this context. 

Body-centric antenna positioning effects for off-body UWB communications in a contemporary learning environment

The propagation of UWB signals for body-centric communications within a modern classroom/conference room environment was investigated. Presented results demonstrate that the body-antenna mounting position has a marked impact on the received power levels and positioning the antenna on the chest as opposed to the shoulder or wrist creates more extreme values in receive power, mean excess delay and rms delay spread. Additionally, the best fit models for each scenario are presented and highlight the difference between the chest and other compared antenna locations. The work concluded that the chest is a poor choice of mounting position for the antenna due to significant body shadowing effects, with the wrist or shoulder considered better options for UWB systems.

Positioning Clinical Nurse Specialists and Nurse Practitioners as Change Champions to Implement a Pain Protocol in Long-Term Care

Pain management for older adults in long-term care (LTC) has been recognized as a problem internationally. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) and nurse practitioner (NP) as change champions during the implementation of an evidence-based pain protocol in LTC. In this exploratory, multiple-case design study, we collected data from two LTC homes in Ontario, Canada. Three data sources were used: participant observation of an NP and a CNS for 18 hours each over a 3-week period; CNS and NP diaries recording strategies, barriers, and facilitators to the implementation process; and interviews with members of the interdisciplinary team to explore perceptions about the NP and CNS role in implementing the pain protocol. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The NP and CNS used a variety of effective strategies to promote pain management changes in practice including educational outreach with team members, reminders to nursing staff to highlight the pain protocol and educate about practice changes, chart audits and feedback to the nursing staff, interdisciplinary working group meetings, ad hoc meetings with nursing staff, and resident assessment using advanced skills. The CNS and NP are ideal champions to implement pain management protocols and likely other quality improvement initiatives.

Pre-operative fasting for intravenous conscious sedation used in dental treatment: are conclusions based on relative risk management or evidence?

Intravenous sedation is a widely used pharmacological method of patient management commonly used in dental surgery for the treatment of anxious patients. Variety exists in fasting regimes between different centres offering dental sedation, with some advocating starvation in line with general anaesthesia protocols and others not enforcing starvation at all. The currently available guidelines on fasting protocols are ambiguous and open to interpretation partly because they are based on expert opinion rather than evidence-based research. This article reviews the available evidence on the subject of pre-operative fasting and discusses current guidelines.

Relative Contribution of P5 and Hap Surface Proteins to Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae Interplay with the Host Upper and Lower Airways

Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a major cause of opportunistic respiratory tract disease, and initiates infection by colonizing the nasopharynx. Bacterial surface proteins play determining roles in the NTHi-airways interplay, but their specific and relative contribution to colonization and infection of the respiratory tract has not been addressed comprehensively. In this study, we focused on the ompP5 and hap genes, present in all H. influenzae genome sequenced isolates, and encoding the P5 and Hap surface proteins, respectively. We employed isogenic single and double mutants of the ompP5 and hap genes generated in the pathogenic strain NTHi375 to evaluate P5 and Hap contribution to biofilm growth under continuous flow, to NTHi adhesion, and invasion/phagocytosis on nasal, pharyngeal, bronchial, alveolar cultured epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages, and to NTHi murine pulmonary infection. We show that P5 is not required for bacterial biofilm growth, but it is involved in NTHi interplay with respiratory cells and in mouse lung infection. Mechanistically, P5NTHi375 is not a ligand for CEACAM1 or α5 integrin receptors. Hap involvement in NTHi375-host interaction was shown to be limited, despite promoting bacterial cell adhesion when expressed in H. influenzae RdKW20. We also show that Hap does not contribute to bacterial biofilm growth, and that its absence partially restores the deficiency in lung infection observed for the ΔompP5 mutant. Altogether, this work frames the relative importance of the P5 and Hap surface proteins in NTHi virulence.

Relative contributions of lipooligosaccharide inner and outer core modifications to nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae pathogenesis

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a frequent commensal of the human nasopharynx that causes opportunistic infection in immunocompromised individuals. Existing evidence associates lipooligosaccharide (LOS) with disease, but the specific and relative contributions of NTHi LOS modifications to virulence properties of the bacterium have not been comprehensively addressed. Using NTHi strain 375, an isolate for which the detailed LOS structure has been determined, we compared systematically a set of isogenic mutant strains expressing sequentially truncated LOS. The relative contributions of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid, the triheptose inner core, oligosaccharide extensions on heptoses I and III, phosphorylcholine, digalactose, and sialic acid to NTHi resistance to antimicrobial peptides (AMP), self-aggregation, biofilm formation, cultured human respiratory epithelial infection, and murine pulmonary infection were assessed. We show that opsX, lgtF, lpsA, lic1, and lic2A contribute to bacterial resistance to AMP; lic1 is related to NTHi self-aggregation; lgtF, lic1, and siaB are involved in biofilm growth; opsX and lgtF participate in epithelial infection; and opsX, lgtF, and lpsA contribute to lung infection. Depending on the phenotype, the involvement of these LOS modifications occurs at different extents, independently or having an additive effect in combination. We discuss the relative contribution of LOS epitopes to NTHi virulence and frame a range of pathogenic traits in the context of infection.

Alien aquatics in Europe: assessing the relative environmental and socio-economic impacts of invasive aquatic macroinvertebrates and other taxa

Invasive alien aquatic species, including marine and freshwater macroinvertebrates, have become increasingly important in terms of both environmental and socio-economic impacts. In order to assess their environmental and economic costs, we applied the Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS) and performed a comparison with other taxa of invaders in Europe. Impacts were scored into six environmental and six socio-economic categories, with each category containing five impact levels. Among 49 aquatic macroinvertebrates, the most impacting species were the Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis (Milne-Edwards, 1853) and the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771). The highest impacts found per GISS impact category were, separately; on ecosystems, through predation, as competitors, and on animal production. Eleven species have an impact score > 10 (high impact) and seven reach impact level 5 in at least one impact category (EU blacklist candidates), the maximum score that can be given is 60 impact points. Comparisons were drawn between aquatic macroinvertebrates and vertebrate invaders such as fish, mammals and birds, as well as terrestrial arthropods, revealing invasive freshwater macroinvertebrates to be voracious predators of native prey and damaging to native ecosystems compared with other taxa. GISS can be used to compare these taxa and will aid policy making and targeting of invasive species for management by relevant agencies, or to assist in producing species blacklist candidates.

Relative toxicity of arsenite and arsenate on germination and early seedling growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Elevated soil arsenic levels resulting from long-term use of arsenic contaminated ground for irrigation in Bangladesh may inhibit seed germination and seedling establishment of rice, the country's main food crop. A germination study on rice seeds and a short-term toxicity experiment with different concentrations of arsenite and arsenate on rice seedlings were conducted. Percent germination over control decreased significantly with increasing concentrations of arsenite and arsenate. Arsenite was found to be more toxic than arsenate for rice seed germination. There were varietal differences among the test varieties in response to arsenite and arsenate exposure. The performance of the dry season variety Purbachi was the best among the varieties. Germination of Purbachi was not inhibited at all up to 4 mg l^-1 arsenite and 8 mg l^-1 arsenate treatment. Root tolerance index (RTI) and relative shoot height (RSH) for rice seedlings decreased with increasing concentrations of arsenite and arsenate. Reduction of RTI caused by arsenate was higher than that of arsenite. In general, dry season varieties have more tolerance to arsenite or arsenate than the wet season varieties.