Search results for: system of rights

Authors: C. Brierley, H. El-Farahaty, A. Farhan

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The Leeds Parallel Corpus of Arabic-English Constitutions is a parallel corpus for the Arabic legal domain. Analysis of legal language via Corpus Linguistics techniques is an important development. In legal proceedings, a corpus-based approach to disambiguating meaning is set to replace the dictionary as an interpretative tool, and legal scholarship in the States is now attuned to the potential for Text Analytics over vast quantities of text-based legal material, following the business and medical industries. This trend is reflected in Europe: the interdisciplinary research group in Computer Assisted Legal Linguistics mines big data collections of legal and non-legal texts to analyse: legal interpretations; legal discourse; the comprehensibility of legal texts; conflict resolution; and linguistic human rights. This paper focuses on ‘dignity’ as an important aspect of the overarching concept of human rights in current constitutions across the Arab world. We have compiled a parallel, Arabic-English raw text corpus (169,861 Arabic words and 205,893 English words) from reputable websites such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation and CONSTITUTE, and uploaded and queried our corpus in Sketch Engine. Our most challenging task was sentence-level alignment of Arabic-English data. This entailed manual intervention to ensure correspondence on a one-to-many basis since Arabic sentences differ from English in length and punctuation. We have searched for morphological variants of ‘dignity’ (رامة ك, karāma) in the Arabic data and inspected their English translation equivalents. The term occurs most frequently in the Sudanese constitution (10 instances), and not at all in the constitution of Palestine. Its most frequent collocate, determined via the logDice statistic in Sketch Engine, is ‘human’ as in ‘human dignity’.

Keywords: Arabic constitution, corpus-based legal linguistics, human rights, parallel Arabic-English legal corpora

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Authors: Farhad Ghasemi

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Along with transforming the international system into a complex and chaotic system, the fundamental question arises: how can deterrence be reconstructed conceptually and theoretically in this system model? The deterrence system is much more complex today than it was seven decades ago. This article suggests that the perception of deterrence as a linear system is a fundamental mistake because it does not consider the new dynamics of the international system, including network power dynamics. The author aims to improve this point by focusing on complexity and chaos theories, especially their nonlinearity and cascading failure principles. This article proposes that the perception of deterrence as a linear system is a fundamental mistake, as the new dynamics of the surrounding international system do not take into account. The author recognizes deterrence as a nonlinear system and introduces it as a concept in strategic studies.

Keywords: complexity, international system, deterrence, linear deterrence, nonlinear deterrence

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Authors: Awais Ahmad

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People of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) remains underrepresented in Pakistan’s mainstream media and their miseries and concerns are unheard and unnoticed. Rising the incidents of human rights violation in KP province of Pakistan, and its absence in the mainstream media has raised many questions on the clause of press freedom known as 19/A in the constitution of Pakistan, that has claimed freedom of speech to all Pakistani citizens. Using a ‘think a loud’ research technique, senior most journalists of KP have been interviewed to get to know reasons of why and how Pashtun’s voices have been silenced in a democratic country where individual’s opinion is considered more powerful, and they can exercise freedom to protest and speak-up for their rights. The information collected from the journalists has been used to evaluate press freedom in KP and FATA by applying the institutional theory. The paper evaluates different recent cases where Pashtun journalists, media outlets and social activists were being punished for criticizing authorities and military establishment. This study also explores that the perception of local journalists regarding press freedom and what are the factors they consider it restrictions while they perform their duties.

Keywords: press freedom, federally administered tribal areas (fata), khyber pakhtunkhwa (kp), military establishment

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Authors: Parvez Sattar

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There are around 150,000 female sex workers in Bangladesh, and the country hosts one of the largest brothels in the world. There are 20 brothel-villages in the country, of which 14 are recognized to be ‘official’, and at least 11 are currently operational. Although the national Constitution adopts a preventive policy against prostitution, law does not, as such, prohibit commercial sex work by an adult woman working in a brothel having made an affidavit in this regard. But, at the same time, the law renders at least some forms of floating and hotel based sex work illegal, while sex between males has been termed as sodomy and made culpable offence even on its own. All forms of sex works by MSM and Hijra are thus branded as criminal acts. Observations and findings drawn in this article are based on both primary and secondary sources collecting data from a series of field-based empirical studies conducted by the author through questionnaire survey, FGDs, key informant consultations and other PRA/PLA tools. General and specific conclusions have been based on analysis guided by international standards of human and labour rights approaches. It has been noted that neither the community attitudes nor the cultural mind-sets, or the State's institutional set up is supportive of the causes of sex workers engaged in the most exploitative forms of labour. Lack of respect for fundamental rights continues to diminish any chances of sex workers' reintegration to the mainstream of the society, perpetuates poverty, and increases their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. To aggravate the scenario, the endemic practice of a complex debt-bondage masked by the so-called 'entry-cost' and ‘legal license’ to the industry is considered to be a somewhat accepted 'open secret' and that the police and administration keep their eyes off from such practices treating these as 'their internal affairs'. Often these practices are used by the Sardarni/Khala (landlady) and other 'managing' actors as the tool for further exploitation of the sex workers as well as a 'control strategy'. The paper concludes with the observation that the tabooed truths of commercial sex and sex workers are inherently embedded in the very factors that compel them into this endemically ostracised profession itself. While denial of both recognition and enjoyment of the fundamental human rights of sex workers is widespread, it is the same cycle of social vulnerability and economic exclusion that often confines these people within a continuous process of servitude and modern day slavery.

Keywords: commercial sex work and human rights, Labor protection in sex industry, Prostitution Law in Bangladesh, Sex work as modern day slavery

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Authors: Lizelle Ramaccio Calvino

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Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child states that 'The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.' This stance is also echoed in terms of article 20 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. South Africa, as a signatory of the aforesaid international and national conventions, constitutionalised the best interest of the child in terms of section 28(2) of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Section 28(2) provides that '[A] child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child.' The application of 'the best interests of the child' principle is consequently applicable in all fields of South African law, including matrimonial law. Two separate but equal Acts regulate civil marriages in South Africa, namely the Marriage Act 25 of 1961 and the Civil Union Act 17 of 2006. Customary marriages are regulated by the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998. In terms of the Marriage Act and the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, a minor may (provided he/she obtains the required consent) enter into a marriage. Despite the aforesaid, section 1 of the Civil Union Act categorically prohibits a minor from entering into a civil union. The article will first determine whether the ban of minors from entering into a civil union undermines the 'the best interests of the child' principle, and if so, whether it is in violation of the Constitution as well as international and national conventions. In addition, the article will critically analyse whether the application of the Marriage Act and the Civil Union Act (dual Acts) result in disparity within the South African marriage law framework, and if so, whether such discrepancy violates same-sex couples’ right (in particular a same-sex minor) to equality before the law and to have their dignity protected. The article intends, through the application of a qualitative research methodology and by way of a comparative analyses of international and domestic laws, consider whether a single well-defined structure such as the Dutch marriage law system would not be an improved alternative to address the existing paradox resulting from the application of an Act that undermines 'the best interest of the child' principle. Ultimately the article proposes recommendations for matrimonial law reform.

Keywords: best interests of the child, civil marriage, civil union, minor

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Authors: Nahela Nowshin, Rafia Sultana, Farzana Misha, Sabina F. Rashid

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Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are currently an area of neglect for males (aged 15-24 years) in Bangladesh. The lack of focus on the male youth population has consequences not only for their own health and wellbeing, but the patriarchal structure of Bangladeshi society and socio-cultural norms mean that the male population’s SRH behavior can severely impact the lives of their female counterparts. A majority of sexual and reproductive health and rights-related research and interventions in the country are female-centric. Although the Government of Bangladesh has taken many initiatives to improve the SRHR of the general population, the male youth segment has not been prioritized in most of these interventions. There is an urgent need for male-youth-focused SRHR interventions in Bangladesh, but due to a lack of evidence-based research on this issue, there exist data gaps on how such interventions could be better designed and implemented. Therefore, to ascertain strategies for better program design and smoother implementation of male-youth-focused sexual and reproductive health and rights interventions, we carried out 25 key informant interviews with experts as well as focal persons involved in more than 20 ongoing and recently-ended SRHR-related interventions of national and international non-government organizations in which male youth were targeted or engaged. The results show that program implementers face several challenges at the field, organizational and policy levels. Some of the most common field challenges include high sensitivity to SRHR topics due to cultural reasons, difficulties in acquiring access to boys and young men due to their high mobility and engagement in labor for commercial purposes, as well as accessing them in hard-to-reach areas due to transportation and communication issues. Common organizational-level challenges include a lack of skilled manpower. Policy-level challenges include the prohibition of SRH service provision to unmarried adolescents and youth and lack of readiness of local governments to implement existing action plans. Some ways in which male-youth-focused SRHR interventions can be made more effective are through sensitization of service providers, awareness-raising at the community level to engage parents, advocacy to increase donor interest, and generating data on SRHR of male youth.

Keywords: Bangladesh, intervention, male, SRHR

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Authors: Nora Arbaoui, Rachid Tadili

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This study focuses on a solar system designed to heat an agricultural greenhouse. This solar system is based on the heating of a transfer fluid that circulates inside the greenhouse through a solar copper coil integrated into the roof of the greenhouse. The thermal energy stored during the day will be released during the night to improve the microclimate of the greenhouse. This system was tested in a small agricultural greenhouse in order to ameliorate the different operational parameters. The climatic and agronomic results obtained with this system are significant in comparison with a greenhouse with no heating system.

Keywords: solar system, agricultural greenhouse, heating, storage, drying

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Authors: Sıla Uzkul

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As a requirement of human rights and children's rights, the basic condition of inclusive education is that it covers all children. However, the reforms made in the context of education in Turkey and around the world include a limited level of inclusiveness. Generally, the inclusiveness mentioned is for individuals who need special education. Educational reforms superficially state that differences are tolerated, but these differences are extremely limited and often do not include sexual orientation. When we look at the education modules of the Ministry of National Education within the scope of inclusive education in Turkey, there are children with special needs, bilingual children, children exposed to violence, children under temporary protection, children affected by migration and terrorism, and children affected by natural disasters. No training modules or inclusion terms regarding sexual orientations could be found. This research aimed to understand the perspectives of research assistants working in the preschool education department regarding sexual orientations within the scope of inclusive education. Six research assistants working in the preschool teaching department at a public university in Ankara (Turkey) participated in this qualitative research study. Participants were determined by typical case sampling, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. The data of this research was obtained through a "survey consisting of open-ended questions". Raw data from the surveys were analyzed and interpreted using the "content analysis technique" (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2005). During the data analysis process, the data from the participants were first numbered, then all the data were read, and content analysis was performed, and possible themes, categories, and codes were extracted. The opinions of the participants in the research regarding sexual orientations in inclusive education are presented under three main headings within the scope of the research questions. These are: (a) their views on inclusive education, (b) their views on sexual orientations (c) their views on sexual orientations in the preschool period.

Keywords: sexual orientation, inclusive education, child rights, preschool education

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Authors: Amal M. Alrayes

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Data and system quality play a central role in organizational success, and the quality of any existing information system has a major influence on the effectiveness of overall system performance.Given the importance of system and data quality to an organization, it is relevant to highlight their importance on organizational performance in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This research aims to discover whether system quality and data quality are related, and to study the impact of system and data quality on organizational success. A theoretical model based on previous research is used to show the relationship between data and system quality, and organizational impact. We hypothesize, first, that system quality is positively associated with organizational impact, secondly that system quality is positively associated with data quality, and finally that data quality is positively associated with organizational impact. A questionnaire was conducted among public and private organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The results show that there is a strong association between data and system quality, that affects organizational success.

Keywords: data quality, performance, system quality, Kingdom of Bahrain

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Authors: Anuphan Suttimarn, Natcha Wattanaprapa, Suwaree Yordchim

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The aim of this study is to develop the online journal system using a web application to manage the journal service of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in order to improve the journal management of the university. The main structures of the system process consist of 1. journal content management system 2. membership system of the journal and 3. online submission or review process. The investigators developed the system based on a web application using open source OJS software and phpMyAdmin to manage a research database. The system test showed that this online system 'Online Journal System (OJS)' could shorten the time in the period of submission article to journal and helped in managing a journal procedure efficiently and accurately. The quality evaluation of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat online journal system (SSRUOJS) undertaken by experts and researchers in 5 aspects; design, usability, security, reducing time, and accuracy showed the highest average value (X=4.30) on the aspect of reducing time. Meanwhile, the system efficiency evaluation was on an excellent level (X=4.13).

Keywords: online journal system, Journal management, Information system development, OJS

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Authors: Anny Retnowati, Elisabeth Sundari

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This research aims to elaborate the meaning of personal data protection principles on patient access to health data in medical records in Indonesia and its implications. The method uses normative legal research by examining health law in Indonesia regarding the patient's right to access their health data in medical records. The data will be analysed qualitatively using the interpretation method to elaborate on the limitation of the meaning of personal data protection principles on patients' access to their data in medical records. The results show that patients only have the right to obtain copies of their health data in medical records. There is no right to inspect directly at any time. Indonesian health law limits the principle of patients' right to broad access to their health data in medical records. This restriction has implications for the reduction of personal data protection as part of human rights. This research contribute to show that a limitaion of personal data protection may abuse the human rights.

Keywords: access, health data, medical records, personal data, protection

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Authors: Joann Douziech

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Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) possess characteristics that present both challenges and gifts. Individuals with IDD require and are worthy of intentional, strategic, and specialized support throughout their lifespan to ensure optimum quality-of-life outcomes. The current global advocacy movement advancing the rights of individuals with IDD emphasizes a high degree of choice over life decisions. For some individuals, this degree of choice results in a variety of negative health and well-being outcomes. Improving the quality of life outcomes requires the combination of a commitment to the rights of the individual with a responsibility to provide support and choice commensurate with individual capacity. A belief that individuals with IDD are capable of learning and they are worthy of being taught provides the foundation for a holistic model of support throughout their lifespan. This model is based on three pillars of engineering the environment, promoting skill development and maintenance, and staff support. In an ever-changing world, supporting quality of life requires attention to moments, phases, and changes in stages throughout the lifespan. Balancing these complexities with strategic, responsive, and dynamic interventions enhances the quality of life of individuals with ID throughout their lifespan.

Keywords: achieving optimum quality of life, comprehensive support, lifespan approach, philosophy and pedagogy

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Authors: Louise Reyntjens

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Where criminal law used to be the traditional response to cope with the terrorist threat, European governments are increasingly relying on administrative paths. The reliance on immigration law fits into this trend. Terrorism is seen as a civilization menace emanating from abroad. In this context, the expulsion of dangerous aliens, immigration law’s core task, is put forward as a key security tool. Governments all over Europe are focusing on removing dangerous individuals from their territory rather than bringing them to justice. This research reflects on the consequences for the expelled individuals’ fundamental rights. For this, the author selected four European countries for a comparative study: Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Sweden. All these countries face similar social and security issues, igniting the recourse to immigration law as a counterterrorism tool. Yet, they adopt a very different approach on this: the United Kingdom positions itself on the repressive side of the spectrum. Sweden on the other hand, also 'securitized' its immigration policy after the recent terrorist hit in Stockholm, but remains on the tolerant side of the spectrum. Belgium and France are situated in between. This paper addresses the situation in Belgium. In 2017, the Belgian parliament introduced several legislative changes by which it considerably expanded and facilitated the possibility to expel unwanted aliens. First, the expulsion measure was subjected to new and questionably definitions: a serious attack on the nation’s safety used to be required to expel certain categories of aliens. Presently, mere suspicions suffice to fulfil the new definition of a 'serious threat to national security'. A definition which fails to respond to the principle of legality; the law, nor the prepatory works clarify what is meant by 'a threat to national security'. This creates the risk of submitting this concept’s interpretation almost entirely to the discretion of the immigration authorities. Secondly, in name of intervening more quickly and efficiently, the automatic suspensive appeal for expulsions was abolished. The European Court of Human Rights nonetheless requires such an automatic suspensive appeal under Article 13 and 3 of the Convention. Whether this procedural reform will stand to endure, is thus questionable. This contribution also raises questions regarding expulsion’s efficacy as a key security tool. In a globalized and mobilized world, particularly in a European Union with no internal boundaries, questions can be raised about the usefulness of this measure. Even more so, by simply expelling a dangerous individual, States avoid their responsibility and shift the risk to another State. Criminal law might in these instances be more capable of providing a conclusive and long term response. This contribution explores the human rights consequences of expulsion as a security tool in Belgium. It also offers a critical view on its efficacy for protecting national security.

Keywords: Belgium, counter-terrorism and human rights, expulsion, immigration law

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Authors: Tanapond S.

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Typically, most of the controlling firms are relate to family firms which are widespread and important for economic growth particularly in Asian Pacific region. The unique characteristics of the controlling families tend to play an important role in determining the corporate policies such as dividend policy. Given the complexity of the family business phenomenon, the empirical evidence has been unclear on how the families behind business groups influence dividend policy in Asian markets with the prevalent existence of cross-shareholdings and pyramidal structure. Dividend policy as one of an important determinant of firm value could also be implemented in order to examine the effect of the controlling families behind business groups on strategic decisions-making in terms of a governance perspective and agency problems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of ownership structure and concentration which are influential internal corporate governance mechanisms in family firms on dividend decision-making. Using panel data and constructing a unique dataset of family ownership and control through hand-collecting information from the nonfinancial companies listed in Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) between 2000 and 2015, the study finds that family firms with large stakes distribute higher dividends than family firms with small stakes. Family ownership can mitigate the agency problems and the expropriation of minority investors in family firms. To provide insight into the distinguish between ownership rights and control rights, this study examines specific firm characteristics including the degrees of concentration of controlling shareholders by classifying family ownership in different categories. The results show that controlling families with large deviation between voting rights and cash flow rights have more power and affect lower dividend payment. These situations become worse when second blockholders are families. To the best knowledge of the researcher, this study is the first to examine the association between family firms’ characteristics and dividend policy from the corporate governance perspectives in Thailand with weak investor protection environment and high ownership concentration. This research also underscores the importance of family control especially in a context in which family business groups and pyramidal structure are prevalent. As a result, academics and policy makers can develop markets and corporate policies to eliminate agency problem.

Keywords: agency theory, dividend policy, family control, Thailand

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Authors: Xuezhang Hou

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In the present paper, a hybrid hyperbolic dynamic system formulated by partial differential equations with initial and boundary conditions is considered. First, the system is transformed to an abstract evolution system in an appropriate Hilbert space, and spectral analysis and semigroup generation of the system operator is discussed. Subsequently, a sliding model control problem is proposed and investigated, and an equivalent control method is introduced and applied to the system. Finally, a significant result that the state of the system can be approximated by an ideal sliding mode under control in any accuracy is derived and examined.

Keywords: hyperbolic dynamic system, sliding model control, semigroup of linear operators, partial differential equations

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Authors: Camila Lee Park, Mauro Fracarolli Nunes

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Understood as the preference for products and services that do not involve moral dilemmas, ethical consumption has been increasingly discussed by scholars, practitioners, and consumers. Among its diverse trends, the defense of animal rights and welfare seems to have gained particular momentum in past decades. Not surprisingly, companies, governments, ideologues, and virtually any institution or group interested in (re)shaping society invest in the building of narratives oriented to influence consumption behavior. The animal rights movement, for example, is devoted to the elimination of the use of animals in science, as well as of commercial animal agriculture and hunting activities. Although advances in ethical consumption may be observed in practice, it still seems more popular as rhetoric. Diverse scholars have addressed the disparities between self-professed ethical consumers and their actual purchase patterns, with differences being attributed to factors such as price sensitivity, lack of information, quality, cynicism, and limited availability. The gap is also linked to the 'consumer sovereignty myth', according to which consumers are only able to choose from a pre-determined range of choices made before products reach them. On the other hand, academics also debate ethical consumption behavior as more likely to occur when it assumes compliance with social norms. As sustainability becomes a permanent issue, customers may tend to adhere to ethical consumption, either because of an individual value or due to a social one. Regardless of these efforts, the actual value attributed to ethical businesses remains unclear. Likewise, the power of stakeholders’ initiatives to influence corporate strategies is dubious. In search to offer new perspectives on these matters, the present study concentrates on the following research questions: Do customers value products/companies that respect animal rights? If so, does such enhanced value convert into actions from the part of the companies? Broadly, we aim to understand if customers’ perception holds performative traits (i.e., are capable of either trigger or contribute to changes in organizational behaviour around the respect for animal rights). In addressing these issues, two preliminary behavioral vignette-based experiments were conducted, with the perspectives of 307 participants being assessed. Building on a case of the cosmetics industry, social, emotional, and functional values were hypothesized as directly impacting positive word-of-mouth, which, in turn, would carry direct effects on purchase intention. A first structural equation model was analyzed with the combined samples of studies I and II. Results suggest that emotional value strongly impacts both positive word-of-mouth and purchase intention. Data confirms initial expectations on customers valuing products and companies that comply with ethical postures concerning animals, especially if social-oriented practices are also present.

Keywords: animal rights, business ethics, emotional value, ethical consumption

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Authors: Iman Shabanzadeh

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In terms of its geopolitical position, Iran has been one of the main centers of migration movements in the world in recent decades. However, the policy makers' lack of preparation in completing the cycle of social integration of these immigrants, especially the second and third generation, has caused these people to always be prone to leave the country and immigrate to developed and industrialized countries. In this research, the issue of integration of immigrants in Iran from the perspective of four indicators, "Identity Documents", "Access to Banking Services", "Access to Health and Treatment Services" and "Obtaining a Driver's License" will be analyzed. The research method is descriptive-analytical. To collect information, library and document sources in the field of laws and regulations related to immigrants' rights in Iran, semi-structured interviews with experts have been used. The investigations of this study show that none of the residence documents of immigrants in Iran guarantee the full enjoyment of basic citizenship rights for them. In fact, the function of many of these identity documents, such as the census card, educational support card, etc., is only to prevent crossing the border, and none of them guarantee the basic rights of citizenship. Therefore, for many immigrants, the difference between legality and illegality is only in the risk of crossing the border, and this has led to the spread of the habit of illegal presence for them. Despite this, it seems that there is no clear and coherent policy framework around the issue of foreign immigrants in the country. This policy incoherence can be clearly seen in the diversity and plurality of identity and legal documents of the citizens present in the country and the policy maker's lack of planning to integrate and organize the identity of this huge group. Examining the differences and socioeconomic inequalities between immigrants and the native Iranian population shows that immigrants have been poorly integrated into the structures of Iranian society from an economic and social point of view.

Keywords: immigrants, social integration, citizen services, structural inequality

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Authors: Pataramon Satalak, Sakrit Isariyanon, Teerapong Puripanik

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This article uses the recent events in Thailand as a case study for examining why democratic transition is necessary during political upheaval to ensure that the people’s power remains unaffected. After seizing power in May 2014, the military, backed by anti-government protestors, selected and established their own system to govern the country. They set up the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) which established a People’s Assembly, aiming to reach a compromise between the conflicting opinions of former, pro-government and anti-government protesters. It plans to achieve this through political reform before returning sovereign power to the people via an election in 2018. If a governmental authority is not representative of the people (e.g. a military government) it does not count as a legitimate government. During the last four years of military government, from May 2014 to January 2018, their rule of Thailand has been widely controversial, specifically regarding their commitment to democracy, human rights violations and their manipulation of the rule of law. Democratic legitimacy relies not only on established mechanisms for public participation (like referendums or elections) but also public participation based on accessible and educational reform (often via NGOs) to ensure that the free and fair will of the people can be expressed. Through their actions over the last three years, the Thai military government has damaged both of these components, impacting future public participation in politics. The authors make some observations about the specific actions the military government has taken to erode the democratic legitimacy of future public participation: the increasing dominance of military courts over civil courts; civil society’s limited involvement in political activities; the drafting of a new constitution and their attempt to master support through referenda and its consequence for delaying organic law-making process; the structure of the legislative powers (Senate and the members of parliament); and the control of people’s basic freedoms of expression, movement and assembly in political activities. One clear consequence of the military government’s specific actions over the last three years is the increased uncertainty amongst Thai people that their fundamental freedoms and political rights will be respected in the future. This will directly affect their participation in future democratic processes. The military government’s actions (e.g. their response to the UN representatives) will also have influenced potential international engagement in Thai civil society to help educate disadvantaged people about their rights, and their participation in the political arena. These actions challenge the democratic idea that there should be a checking and balancing of power between people and government. These examples provide evidence that a democratic transition is crucial during any process of political transformation.

Keywords: political tranformation, public participation, Thailand coup d'etat 2014, election 2018

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Authors: Desiree Llaguno Cerezo, Elizabeth Valdes-Miranda Fernandez

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Women have a critical role in sustaining the economy and in the development of trade. However, such a role has long been invisible due to orthodox conceptions that have ignored the gender variable in commercial analyses. Today, it is generally accepted that neither the economy nor business are gender-neutral and that the performance of these activities often impact negatively the lives of women. Women’s participation in trade, on equal terms as men, in any of the various possible roles -producer, wage earner, consumer, merchant, taxpayer- will not only favour the lives of women but also the performance of the economies in which they participate. Transparency, as a principle of the multilateral trading system, can play a significant role as a strategy for the empowerment of women.

Keywords: trade, human rights, gender equality, transparency, WTO, women workers, women's economic empowerment

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Authors: Stephen A. Akinlabi, Esther T. Akinlabi

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The drip irrigation system is one of the important areas that affect the livelihood of farmers directly. The use of drip irrigation system has been the most efficient system compared to the other types of irrigations systems because the drip irrigation helps to save water and increase the productivity of crops. But like any other system, it can be considered inefficient when the filters and the emitters get clogged while in operation. The efficiency of the entire system is reduced when the emitters are clogged and blocked. This consequently impact and affect the farm operations which may result in scarcity of farm products and increase the demand. This design work focuses on how to overcome some of the challenges affecting drip irrigation system through the design of an efficient filtration and flushing system.

Keywords: drip irrigation system, filters, soil texture, mechanical engineering design, analysis

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Authors: Yu-Yu Wang, Shih-Hua Hsieh, Ru-Shian Hsieh

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Wishes and choices being respected, and the right to be supported rather than coerced, have been internationally recognized as the human rights of persons with mental illness. In Taiwan, ‘coerced hospitalization’ has become difficult since the revision of the mental health legislation in 2007. Despite trend towards human rights, the real problem families face when their family members are in mental health crisis is the lack of alternative services. This study aims to explore: 1) When is hospitalization seen as the only solution by family members? 2) What are the barriers for arranging hospitalization, and how are they managed? 3) What have family carers learned, in their experiences of caring for their family members with mental illness? To answer these questions, qualitative approach was adopted, and focus group interviews were taken to collect data. This study includes 24 family carers. The main findings of this research include: First, hospital is the last resort for carers in helplessness. Family carers tend to do everything they could to provide care at home for their family members with mental illness. Carers seek hospitalization only when a patient’s behavior is too violent, weird, and/or abnormal, and beyond their ability to manage. Hospitalization, nevertheless, is never an easy choice. Obstacles emanate from the attitudes of the medical doctors, the restricted areas of ambulance service, and insufficient information from the carers’ part. On the other hand, with some professionals’ proactive assistance, access to medical care while in crisis becomes possible. Some family carers obtained help from the medical doctor, nurse, therapist and social workers. Some experienced good help from policemen, taxi drivers, and security guards at the hospital. The difficulty in accessing medical care prompts carers to work harder on assisting their family members with mental illness to stay in stable states. Carers found different ways of helping the ‘person’ to get along with the ‘illness’ and have better quality of life. Taking back ‘the right to control’ in utilizing medication, from passiveness to negotiating with medical doctors and seeking alternative therapies, are seen in many carers’ efforts. Besides, trying to maintain regular activities in daily life and play normal family roles are also experienced as important. Furthermore, talking with the patient as a person is also important. The authors conclude that in order to protect the human rights of persons with mental illness, it is crucial to make the medical care system more flexible and to make the services more humane: sufficient information should be provided and communicated, and efforts should be made to maintain the person’s social roles and to support the family.

Keywords: family carers, independent living, mental health crisis, persons with mental illness

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Authors: Young-Kwan Choi, Han-Sang Jeong

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Floating photovoltaic system is a technology that combines photovoltaic power generation with floating structure. However, since floating technology has not been utilized in photovoltaic generation, there are no standardized criteria. It is separately developed and used by different installation bodies. This paper aims to discuss the change of floating photovoltaic system technology based on examples of floating photovoltaic systems installed in Korea.

Keywords: floating photovoltaic system, floating PV installation, ocean floating photovoltaic system, tracking type floating photovoltaic system

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Authors: Issa Hussein Manita

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This paper presents an example of industrial information system design and implementation (IIDC), the most common software engineering design steps that are applied to the different design stages. We are going through the life cycle of software system development. We start by a study of system requirement and end with testing and delivering system, going by system design and coding, program integration and system integration step. The most modern software design tools available used in the design this includes, but not limited to, Unified Modeling Language (UML), system modeling, SQL server side application, uses case analysis, design and testing as applied to information processing systems. The system is designed to perform tasks specified by the client with real data. By the end of the implementation of the system, default or user defined acceptance policy to provide an overall score as an indication of the system performance is used. To test the reliability of he designed system, it is tested in different environment and different work burden such as multi-user environment.

Keywords: software engineering, design, system requirement, integration, unified modeling language

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Authors: Mina Dousti

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Like many women worldwide, and especially those living in the Middle East, Iranian women are struggling to have equal rights as men. The Islamic Republic regime, established in 1979, made this path even more difficult for Iranian women. Media and the Islamic Republic's powerful propaganda are the main factors and advertisers in omitting women's social rights and civic activities. Also, the hijab (veil), which became obligatory immediately after the revolution based on the Qur'an and religious Hadiths, was another way of suppressing women. Since the Islamic Republic Revolution and the following Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), the Iranian female community has been experiencing different social and legal challenges. Aside from the Islamic regime's role in ignoring women, their families have also contributed to this limitation via unreasonable zeals and religious prejudices. Subsequently, all these factors led to pushing Iranian women to the corner and public dormancy. During the eight-year war, many Iranian women directly participated in the war front line. Although they became martyred, the regime intentionally ignored their public presence employing Islamic justifications and Sharia as an excuse. The government did these actions to justify censorship and unfairness toward women.

Keywords: Iranian women, Islamic Republic Regime, hijab, revolution, Iran-Iraq war, Martyr

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Authors: Deepak Singh

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AI technology is rapidly being integrated into the healthcare system, bringing many ethical and social implications. This literature review examines the various aspects of this phenomenon, focusing on the ethical considerations of using AI in healthcare, such as how it might affect patient autonomy, privacy, and doctor-patient relationships. Furthermore, the review considers the potential social implications of AI in Healthcare, such as the potential for automation to reduce the availability of healthcare jobs and the potential to widen existing health inequalities. The literature suggests potential benefits and drawbacks to using AI in healthcare, and it is essential to consider the ethical and social implications before implementation. It is concluded that more research is needed to understand the full implications of using AI in healthcare and that ethical regulations must be in place to ensure patient safety and the technology's responsible use.

Keywords: AI, healthcare, telemedicine, telehealth, ethics, security, privacy, patient, rights, safety

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Authors: Andrew R. Beatty

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The exploitation of Australia’s vast mineral wealth is regulated by a matrix of planning, environment and heritage legislation, and despite the desire for a ‘balance’ between economic, environmental and heritage values, Aboriginal objects and places are often detrimentally impacted by mining approvals. The Australian experience is not novel. There are other cases of clashes between the rights of traditional landowners and businesses seeking to exploit mineral or other resources on or beneath those lands, including in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. How one reconciles the rights of traditional owners with those of resource companies is an ongoing legal problem of general interest. In Australia, planning and environmental approvals for resource projects are ordinarily issued by State or Territory governments. Federal legislation such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth) is intended to act as a safety net when State or Territory legislation is incapable of protecting Indigenous objects or places in the context of approvals for resource projects. This paper will analyse the context and effectiveness of legislation enacted to protect Indigenous heritage in the planning process. In particular, the paper will analyse how the statutory objects of such legislation need to be weighed against the statutory objects of competing legislation designed to facilitate and control resource exploitation. Using a current claim in the Federal Court of Australia for the protection of a culturally significant landscape as a case study, this paper will examine the challenges faced in ascribing value to cultural heritage within the wider context of environmental and planning laws. Our findings will reveal that there is an inherent difficulty in defining and weighing competing economic, environmental and heritage considerations. An alternative framework will be proposed to guide regulators towards making decisions that result in better protection of Indigenous heritage in the context of resource management.

Keywords: environmental law, heritage law, indigenous rights, mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Andreas Aceranti, Simonetta Vernocchi, Federica Brondoni, Marco Colorato, Marta Primatesta

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This study entitled “LGBT+ migrants: a cultural and legislative comparison in Canada, Italy and Egypt” suggests an analysis of the living conditions of migrants who are members of the LGBT+ community in Canada, Italy and Egypt. The acronym LGBT+ refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and all other gender identities and sexual orientations that do not fit into the male and female binary. This study aims at reflecting on the living conditions of LGBT+ migrants and the relatable difficulties they may face due to the culture and laws of their countries. Migratory flows were examined by providing a definition of "migrant" and the choices that drive a person to migrate elsewhere explained, followed by a focus on the recognition of refugee status related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Furthermore, we will deal with Canada, Italy and Egypt respectively, by analyzing for each country the history and rise of the LGBT+ community, the different laws and especially the migrants’ rights. Finally, the services and associations designed to provide a response to the needs of these people will be analyzed, highlighting the branches which nowadays operate in those areas and the importance of the cultural mediator.

Keywords: LGBTQ+, migrants, international rights, discrimination

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Authors: Gabriel Acha Ekobi

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Fathers play a crucial role in meeting family needs such as affection, protection, and socio-economic needs of children in the world in general and South Africa in particular. Fathers’ role in children’s lives is important in providing socialization, leadership skills, and teaching societal norms. Fathers influence is very significant for children’s well-being and development as it provides the child with moral lessons, guidance, and economic support. However, there is a paucity of information regarding the effects of fathers on children. In addition, despite legal frameworks such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the child (1999) introduced by the African Union to promote child rights nevertheless, it appears maltreatment, abuse, and poor health care continue to face children. Also, the Constitution of 1996 of the Republic of South Africa (Section 28 of the Bill of Rights) and the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 were introduced by the South African government to foster the rights of children. Nevertheless, these legal frameworks remain ineffective as children’s rights are still neglected by resident fathers. This paper explores the impact of resident fathers on children in the Golf View, Alice town of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. A qualitative research method and an exploratory research design were utilized, and 30 participants took part in the study. The participants comprised of single mothers or caregivers of children, resident fathers and social workers. Eighteen (18) single mothers or caregivers, 10 resident fathers, and two (2) social workers participated in the study. Data was collected using semi-structured and unstructured interviews and analysed thematically. Two main themes were identified: the role of fathers on children and the effects of resident fathers on children. The study found that the presence of fathers in the lives of children prevented psychosocial issues such as stress, depression, violence, and substance abuse. A father’s presence in a household was crucial in instilling moral values in children. This allowed them to build positive characters such as respect, kindness, humility, and compassion. Children with more involved fathers tend to have fewer impulse control problems, longer attention spans, and a higher level of sociability. The study concludes that the fathers’ role prevented anxiety, depression, and stress and led to the improvement of children’s education performance. Nevertheless, the absence of a father as a role model to act as a leader by instilling moral values hinders positive behaviours in children. This study recommended that occupational training and life skills programmes should be introduced by the government and other stakeholders to empower the fathers as this might provide the platform for them to bring up their children properly.

Keywords: children, fathering, household, resident, single parent

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Authors: Satien Janpla, Kunyanuth Kularbphettong

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This paper aims to present the development of a web‑based system to serve the need of selling OTOP products in Samut Songkhram, Thailand. This system was designed to promote and sell OTOP products on website. We describe the design approaches and functional components of this system. The system was developed by PHP and JavaScript and MySQL database System. To evaluate the system performance, questionnaires were used to measure user satisfaction with system usability by specialists and users. The results were satisfactory as followed: Means for specialists and users were 4.05 and 3.97, and standard deviation for specialists and users were 0.563 and 0.644 respectively. Further analysis showed that the quality of One Tambon One Product (OTOP) Website was also at a good level as well.

Keywords: web-based system, OTOP, product, website

Procedia PDF Downloads 301

Authors: Mariana Calderón, Rocío Murad, Natalia Acevedo, Laura León, Juliana Fonseca, Maria de los Angeles Balaguera Villa

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Recently, different countries and international organizations have put on their agenda the elimination of violence against people with disabilities. This research aims to evaluate the social dimensions of sexual violence against people with disabilities, particularly those with psychosocial and cognitive, in Colombia. Results reveal that 55% of people with disabilities that are survivors of sexual violence are younger than 29 years and 20,4 are people with cognitive and psychosocial disabilities. Colombian regions with better social positions presented more cases of sexual violence against people with disabilities. There were found access barriers for health, education and employment among this population, and there was also found poor data quality. Despite Colombia having an important normative framework aimed at preventing and attending to gender-based violence, it does not take into account people with disabilities specific needs. Additionally, it was found an insufficient implementation and appropriation of these norms, negative attitudes, and in general, a lack of service adaptation according to the needs, identities and circumstances of people with disabilities. Furthermore, among the factors that are exposing people with disabilities to sexual violence, it was found that family members tend to be the main aggressors, there are deep gaps in the sex education received by people with disabilities, imaginaries and perceptions about their sexuality are both hypersexualizing and presenting them as asexual. On the other hand, among protective factors, there were found body self-knowledge and conscience, acknowledgment of their sexuality and their sexual and reproductive rights and access to sex ed. Although during the last few years, there has occurred a positive change toward social inclusion of people with disabilities, specifically through their role in the political agenda and the recognition of their rights. More work is needed in order to guarantee their sexual and reproductive rights, particularly for persons with psychosocial and cognitive disabilities. This research results showed the importance of transforming persisting negative imaginaries about their sexuality and also enforcing and promoting their autonomy. In this sense, it is important to acknowledge gaps and barriers faced by them and create strategies to encourage their social inclusion through education, employment, and skill development. Nevertheless, it is necessary to keep contributing new evidence of the social determinants of health that are influencing the occurrence of sexual violence. This research understands sexual violence against people with disabilities in a multidimensional manner and offers the following recommendations: 1- To foment public sensitization and understanding of disabilities. 2- To increase parents, caregivers and officers’ commitment to the prevention and reduction of sexual violence. 3- To focus on the needs, identities and circumstances of people with disabilities.

Keywords: disabilities, sexual and reproductive rights, sexual violence, prevention

Procedia PDF Downloads 65