Search Results (298)

Given the severe global traffic safety challenges—including threats to human lives and socioeconomic impacts—this study analyzes visual behavior to promote sustainable transportation, improve road safety, and reduce resource waste and pollution caused by accidents. Four typical road sections, namely, turning, straight ahead, uphill, and downhill, were selected, and the eye movement data of 23 drivers in different driving stages were collected by aSee Glasses eye-tracking device to analyze the visual gaze characteristics of the drivers and their transfer patterns in each road section. Using Markov chain theory, the probability of staying at each gaze point and the transfer probability distribution between gaze points were investigated. The results of the study showed that drivers’ visual behaviors in different road sections showed significant differences: drivers in the turning section had the largest percentage of fixation on the near front, with a fixation duration and frequency of 29.99% and 28.80%, respectively; the straight ahead section, on the other hand, mainly focused on the right side of the road, with 31.57% of fixation duration and 19.45% of frequency of fixation; on the uphill section, drivers’ fixation duration on the left and right roads was more balanced, with 24.36% of fixation duration on the left side of the road and 25.51% on the right side of the road; drivers on the downhill section looked more frequently at the distance ahead, with a total fixation frequency of 23.20%, while paying higher attention to the right side of the road environment, with a fixation duration of 27.09%. In terms of visual fixation, the fixation shift in the turning road section was mainly concentrated between the near and distant parts of the road ahead and frequently turned to the left and right sides; the straight road section mainly showed a shift between the distant parts of the road ahead and the dashboard; the uphill road section was concentrated on the shift between the near parts of the road ahead and the two sides of the road, while the downhill road section mainly occurred between the distant parts of the road ahead and the rearview mirror. Although drivers’ fixations on the front of the road were most concentrated under the four road sections, with an overall fixation stability probability exceeding 67%, there were significant differences in fixation smoothness between different road sections. Through this study, this paper not only reveals the laws of drivers’ visual behavior under different driving environments but also provides theoretical support for behavior-based traffic safety improvement strategies. Full article

This study explores the challenges and theoretical transformations that the widespread application of AI technology in social governance brings to the protection of citizens’ fundamental rights. By examining typical cases in judicial assistance, technology-enabled law enforcement, and welfare supervision, it explains how AI characteristics such as algorithmic opacity, data bias, and automated decision-making affect fundamental rights including due process, equal protection, and privacy. The article traces the historical evolution of privacy theory from physical space protection to informational self-determination and further to modern data rights, pointing out the inadequacy of traditional rights-protection paradigms in addressing the characteristics of AI technology. Through analyzing AI-governance models in the European Union, the United States, Northeast Asia, and international organizations, it demonstrates diverse governance approaches ranging from systematic risk regulation to decentralized industry regulation. With a special focus on China, the article analyzes the special challenges faced in AI governance and proposes specific recommendations for improving AI-governance paths. The article argues that only within the track of the rule of law, through continuous theoretical innovation, institutional construction, and international cooperation, can AI technology development be ensured to serve human dignity, freedom, and fair justice. Full article

Sexuality and intimacy are essential aspects of the human experience for all people, contributing significantly to physical and emotional connections, well-being, and quality of life. Despite their importance, these topics are frequently overlooked in stroke rehabilitation, especially for those with cognitive and perceptual impairments. Existing research on post-stroke sexual rehabilitation tends to focus on sexual dysfunction and the secondary physical and psychological stroke symptoms, with little attention to cognitive and perceptual impairments. Cognitive deficits, such as decreased memory, generalized attention, and executive function not only can hinder sexual participation but also raise the complex issue of capacity to consent. This paper argues that it is imperative for researchers and healthcare practitioners to address cognitive and perceptual challenges, understand consent laws in their respective regions, and consider the influence of culture and social norms in order to support the sexual rights and well-being of all stroke survivors. Furthermore, this article provides some practical recommendations, from an occupational therapy perspective, that healthcare practitioners can provide to clients and their partners. Full article

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) was enacted in 2021. In its brief three-year existence, the PDPL has attracted significant academic and legal practitioner attention. This critical analysis focuses on three key questions: (1) What are the key PDPL objectives? (2) How does this legislation compare with privacy–data protection approaches adopted in other jurisdictions (notably the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR))? and (3) Does the PDPL achieve a reasonable, workable balance between personal data protection (‘data subjects’ interests) and risks associated with personal data being shared with KSA insurers? The analysis confirms that these PDPL measures appear sound, but a definitive assessment of the ‘balance’ objectives highlighted here requires ongoing attention—three years of PDPL use is an insufficient basis to reach final conclusions regarding PDPL fitness for purpose. However, a tentative ‘soundness’ conclusion has reasonable support when the relevant authorities are collectively assessed, particularly regarding the treatment of personal data by KSA insurers in the context of personal insurance policies. Full article

Human trafficking, a grave violation of human rights, frequently intersects with financial crimes, notably identity theft and coercive debt accumulation. This creates complex challenges for victims, survivors, and law enforcement. Victims of human trafficking are often coerced and/or threatened into committing various forms of crime, referred to as “forced criminality.” In recent years, this trend of criminality has moved from violent crimes to financial crimes and fraud, including identity theft, synthetic identity fraud, and serving as money mules. This phenomenon, termed “forced fraud”, exacerbates the already severe trauma experienced by victims (referred to as both victims and survivors throughout, consistent with trauma-informed terminology) trapping them in a cycle of financial instability and legal complications. Traffickers often coerce their victims into opening credit lines, taking out loans, or committing fraud all in their own names, leading to ruined credit histories and insurmountable debt. These financial burdens make it extremely difficult for survivors to rebuild their lives post-trafficking. This paper explores the mechanisms of forced fraud, its impact on survivors, and the necessary legislative and financial interventions to support survivors. By examining first-hand accounts and social and policy efforts from a range of sources, this paper highlights the urgent need for comprehensive support systems that address both the immediate and long-term financial repercussions of human trafficking. Full article

While studies consistently show that the popular media often provide medicalized images of disabled people as “other” or inferior, dynamic societal changes, such as the diffusion of human rights laws, increasing public awareness, and the mediatization of disability activism, also influence media representations. The present research aims to identify relevant discursive practices in Hungarian online news media, a non-Western European country with about 50 years of a state party system under communism, and offer insight into how progressive policy changes and mediatized activism shape media features on disability. To establish the dataset, the most visited and independent online news media portal in Hungary (24.hu) was searched for articles discussing disability between 2019 and 2022. The 481 relevant articles extracted were analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with the help of MAXQDA 2020. The findings reveal a multiplicity of disability representations: medicalized and victimized images on the one hand, and reports of resilience and “heroism” on the other. Three distinct discursive practices are identified: (1) traditional/ableist representations, (2) alternative representations with ableist framing, and (3) agency and the co-creation of disability representations. Results suggest that even 30 years after the political changes, disabled people’s collective agency is marginal in Hungary, and that socio-legal changes and mediatized disability activism are yet to influence news media features. Full article

Ritual slaughter—understood as the killing of animals without prior stunning for religious purposes—constitutes a legally and ethically intricate domain, situated at the intersection of animal welfare, freedom of religion, public health, and consumer protection. This review offers a critical examination of the influence exerted by international and supranational jurisprudence—most notably the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union—on the regulatory landscape governing ritual slaughter. While the right to religious freedom enjoys robust protection under European constitutional and human rights frameworks, recent judicial decisions have affirmed the legitimacy of national legislative measures mandating pre-slaughter stunning, insofar as such measures pursue objectives of animal welfare and transparency in the public interest. Particular attention is devoted to seminal rulings originating in Belgium and within the broader EU context, with a focus on the application of the principle of proportionality as a legal mechanism for balancing colliding fundamental rights. The analysis further engages with the scientific and ethical discourse surrounding animal suffering and the legal obligations tied to consumer information and labeling. Taken together, these developments reveal an emergent trajectory within EU law toward the progressive tightening of regulatory standards governing ritual slaughter, shaped by an evolving jurisprudential understanding of animal welfare imperatives. Full article

This article explores identity-based prison worklines, described as the organisation of prison labour around prisoners’ identities such as race, sex, disability, and age. These worklines often impact prisoners’ pay, working conditions, and post-release opportunities. By examining this phenomenon primarily in the United Kingdom, as well as across Europe and the US, the article discusses the co-constitutive relationship between prison labour and the identity of prisoner-labourers. To analyse this relationship, the article develops a theoretical model of Incarcerated Working Identities (IWI), drawing insights from six distinct theoretical fields: prison studies, labour studies, identity studies, and their intersecting sub-fields. Placing identity-based prison worklines within the IWI theoretical framework exposes two tiers of harm: (1) discrimination and (2) identity re/construction. Together, these harms illustrate how identity-based prison worklines infringe on prisoners’ right to equality while also constraining their identity in ways that clash with their rights to liberty, autonomy, and dignity. These harms, this article concludes, violate human rights law. Incarcerated individuals could therefore utilise the IWI framework to challenge their current work assignments and conditions. Full article

The purpose of this study is to explore how university instructors and students in five European countries (The Netherlands, Türkiye, Greece, Czechia, and Italy) perceive the incorporation of European Union (EU) values into higher education. To achieve this, a phenomenological research design was employed, utilizing semi-structured group interviews with 42 participants, comprising 20 instructors and 22 undergraduate students from various disciplines. While the findings revealed a shared understanding of fundamental EU values including democracy, human rights, equality, freedom, human dignity, and rule of law, they also demonstrated considerable challenges regarding their effective integration into educational practices. The main barriers identified include insufficient educational materials and training opportunities, a lack of coordination in exchange programs, a lack of time, and financial limitations. This study highlights that more structured and systematic strategies are needed to successfully integrate these values in university curricula. The implications of this research underscore the need for universities to enhance their support mechanisms, foster inclusivity, and develop innovative pedagogical approaches to overcoming these challenges and fully integrating EU values into higher education. Full article

Objective: This study examines YouTube comments following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, investigating how perceptions of health implications differ based on commenters’ gender and abortion stance. Methods: Using Netlytic, 25,730 comments were extracted from YouTube videos discussing the overturn of Roe v. Wade, half of which featured physicians discussing public health implications. Manual coding of 21% of the comments identified discussions on abortion stance and medical implications, while Gender API approximated the commenters’ gender. A term co-occurrence network was generated with VOSviewer to visualize key terms and their interrelations. Custom overlays explored patterns related to gender, abortion views, and medical implications, and comparisons within these overlays intersected with the medical implications overlay to illustrate contextual differences across demographics. Results: Four clusters emerged in the network: Constitutional Law, addressing the U.S. Constitution’s interpretation and legal impacts; Reproductive Rights and Responsibility, discussing alternatives to abortion and access; Human Development, exploring the intersection of abortion laws and individual beliefs; and Religious Beliefs, linking abortion laws to faith. Prochoice users focused on medical and socioeconomic impacts on women, whereas prolife users emphasized the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and moral considerations. Gender analysis revealed males centered on constitutional issues, while females highlighted medical and personal effects. Conclusion: The findings underscore that monitoring YouTube discourse offers valuable insights into public responses to shifts in health policy. Full article

The atrocities of World War II were pivotal to the launch of the human rights project, which became anchored on the recognition of the inherent dignity of all humans and formed a cornerstone justifying the ascription of rights. Indeed, it became essential to recognise education as a human right given the emergent need to promote the use of reason, having recognised humans as people imbued with inherent dignity. This paper explores the right to education in international human rights law (IHRL) from the perspective of its purpose, and uses IHRL as its starting point. It argues that the ascription of inherent dignity to everyone justifies access to education and investigates the nexus between dignity and education, arguing that access to education is a sine qua non to expanding the inherent dignity of all humans. Thus, it argues that the recognition of dignity requires that all children must be provided with equal access to education to stimulate the use of reason. Full article

‘Transitional justice’ refers to the full range of efforts to deal with past human rights violations. Since its inception, the concept has undergone an immense expansion of interpretation as it has been applied to a wider range of scenarios in the field. This paper examines the dilemmas of transitional justice as a concept, showing how it has evolved over time and adapted to new contexts. After a brief conceptual history, the paper analyzes the two components of the concept, ‘justice’ and ‘transition’, followed by an examination of the contemporary challenges facing the concept. We argue that the evolving and multifaceted nature of transitional justice defies a singular definition, as neither the term ‘justice’ nor ‘transition’ fully encapsulates its scope. Although conceptual ambiguities persist and debates over its boundaries continue, the conclusion argues that the term remains analytically and normatively valuable and warrants further engagement rather than abandonment. Full article

It is essential to establish a normative framework that ensures the harmonious coexistence of humans and animals from legal and institutional perspectives. This study classifies and compares animal welfare policies in welfare states, identifying distinct policy types across different countries. Using fuzzy set ideal type analysis, this study examines seven OECD countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (USA). These countries are consistent with Esping-Andersen’s three welfare state models and actively implement animal welfare policies. This study addresses the limitations of previous studies that focused primarily on animal-related discourses by examining the characteristics of different policy types that integrate two core components of animal welfare policy: animal welfare law and animal welfare systems. This analysis identified four types of animal welfare policies: (1) economic value type (South Korea and the USA); (2) social value type (the UK); (3) rights extension type (Denmark, Germany, and Sweden); and (4) ecological type (Austria). The results show that welfare state animal welfare policies are generally consistent with the ideological characteristics of the welfare system in question. However, Korea presents notable differences, providing valuable insights into its unique approach to animal welfare policy and informing future policy development. Full article

This report provides an editorial account of the 2023/2024 seminar series organized by Working Group 1 (WG1) of the K-Peritia COST Action Network. The series served as a platform to explore and refine the theoretical framework of cultural expertise, addressing its applicability across diverse jurisdictions and disciplines. This editorial report, presented as part of WG1’s seminar series, has also been shared in video format on the K-Peritia YouTube channel. The report begins with an overview of K-Peritia as a network, highlighting its interdisciplinary and global focus. It then introduces WG1, emphasizing its central role in advancing theoretical discussions on cultural expertise. Finally, it presents the seminars, showcasing the themes, contributions, and insights they offered, while drawing connections between them to illustrate the evolving discourse. The K-Peritia COST Action Network is an interdisciplinary initiative that seeks to address the complexities of knowledge and expertise in a globalized world. With a focus on bridging diverse disciplines and jurisdictions, K-Peritia serves as a platform for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to explore the interplay of cultural, legal, and social dimensions in addressing global challenges. Within this framework, Working Group 1 (WG1): Theory plays a crucial role in articulating and refining the theoretical underpinnings of cultural expertise, a pivotal concept for navigating the cultural and contextual dimensions of legal and social processes. Full article

The ethical theories considered in this commentary include Anthropocentrism, Dominionism, Utilitarianism, Reverence for Life, Animal Rights, Biocentrism, Ecocentrism and Care Ethics. It is apparent that Utilitarianism provides a motivating rationale for devising legal instruments to manage animal welfare in many countries. The emphasis of different laws spanning many decades paralleled the trajectory of changing attitudes to animals. Initial laws focussed on serious abuse, and were enacted to deal with relative indifference to animal suffering. Anticruelty laws followed; they dealt with a wider range of noxious acts that also cause suffering. Animal Protection laws accommodated a growing acceptance that much less severe, yet still very unpleasant experiences, are of significant welfare concern. These laws and their amendments, plus the associated instruments (e.g., Codes of Welfare/Practice), were increasingly couched using animal welfare terminology. Finally, contemporary laws that focus directly to animal welfare, increasingly refer to a ‘duty of care’ towards animals, entailing responsibilities to minimise negative experiences and to promote positive ones. Outlined here is an example of an ethically-based legal structure for providing guidance and outlining requirements for animal welfare management nationally. It has four interacting levels: Level 1—Law; Level 2—Codes of Welfare/Practice; Level 3—Regulations; and Level 4—Cooperation at a National Level. It is noted that although the framing of this legal structure is based on ethical principles, the expression of those principles is more implicit than explicit. However, expression of the ethical principles can be made much more explicit when putting into effect legal requirements to assess the acceptability of different practices in animal welfare terms. There are four interacting steps in this process: Step 1—the Primary Assumption: Animals have intrinsic value and an interest in having good lives. Step 2—Distribution of Responsibility: Humans usually control human-animal interactions and have an overarching responsibility to operate two principles: (1) If in doubt err on the side of the animal; (2) If there are justified concerns, a lack of evidence can never in itself justify a practice. Step 3—Assessment of Impact on the Animals: Use a structured framework to assess the impact of human-initiated activities. The Five Domains Model is suggested as a suitable device for this. Step 4—Rigorous Evaluation: the aim, to choose the least noxious intervention as required by the Principle of Proportionality which, once chosen, supports a justification to proceed. This commentary provides examples of how ethical reasoning, and its operational consequences, can be made visible at every stage of developing, introducing and operating infrastructures for managing animal welfare nationally. Full article