Search Results (5,594)

5q spinal muscular atrophy (5q-SMA) is a leading genetic cause of infant mortality. Presymptomatic intervention with disease-modifying therapies significantly improves motor outcomes, but effectiveness depends on early detection through newborn screening (NBS). Despite global 5q-SMA NBS expansion and recent Brazilian federal legislation, regional disparities and a lack of systematic monitoring hinder access to timely diagnosis and care. This study addresses these gaps by evaluating a statewide pilot program in São Paulo. We used multiplex real-time PCR to detect SMN1 exon 7 deletions in dried blood spots, confirming SMN1/2 copy numbers via MLPA in positive cases. Under real-world conditions, timeliness key performance indicators were evaluated to assess operational efficiency. 194,714 newborns were screened with 14 positive cases, yielding a prevalence of 1:13,908. First-tier results and treatment initiation occurred at a median of 10.8 and 28 days of life, respectively. Notably, 78.6% of patients had two SMN2 copies, of which approximately half were symptomatic by the first evaluation, highlighting the critical need for rapid screening to prevent irreversible motor decline. Screening achieved 100% specificity. This pilot demonstrates the feasibility of 5q-SMA NBS within the Brazilian public health system, providing essential evidence to overcome logistical and socioeconomic barriers and support nationwide expansion. Full article

The continuous collection of road information by autonomous vehicles (AVs) has intensified regulatory pressure on data security protection. At present, the Chinese government adopts a proactive stance on protecting AV data security. Nevertheless, relevant requirements are scattered across various regulatory regimes, including data security, cybersecurity, personal information protection and AV access regulation. It has given rise to ambiguous judgement criteria and inconsistent law enforcement practices among local authorities. As a leading developed economy worldwide, the European Union has continuously refined legislation on data security protection for AVs since 2018, establishing a globally sophisticated protective framework. Against this backdrop, this paper adopts comparative analysis and normative analysis to focus on examining the characteristics of the EU’s advanced rules. The research reveals that the EU has integrated risk prevention, monitoring and reporting mechanisms into a unified regulatory framework. It implements market access and safety assessment before operation, conducts ongoing safety management during operation, and launches data reporting and recall procedures after operation. After evaluating the applicability of the EU model in China, this paper suggests China adopt phased AV data security rules. Governance should focus on early detection of data breach risks before operation, real-time data monitoring during operation, and data reporting after operation. This proposal clarifies responsibilities among regulators, automakers and data service providers, improves the predictability and enforceability of relevant governance and facilitates safe, innovative and sound development of the autonomous driving industry. Full article

Freshwater is essential for sustaining the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems; however, agricultural activities remain a major source of water pollution globally. This review examines how crop production, livestock farming, and aquaculture contribute to water contamination, the effectiveness of current European policies, and the potential of sustainable mitigation strategies. Evidence from the research identified pesticides, herbicides, veterinary antibiotics, nutrient runoff, aquaculture effluents, and microplastics as the primary agricultural pollutants affecting surface and groundwater quality. These contaminants have been linked to ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, endocrine disruption, antimicrobial resistance, and adverse human health outcomes. Despite extensive regulatory frameworks, including the Water Framework Directive, Nitrates Directive, Farm to Fork Strategy, and European Green Deal, significant implementation and monitoring challenges remain. Current evidence indicates that only 40% of European surface waters achieve “good” ecological status, highlighting persistent water quality concerns across the region. The review further identified precision irrigation, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled monitoring, biopesticides, hydroponic systems, and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture as promising solutions for reducing agricultural impacts on water resources. However, barriers, including high implementation costs, technological limitations, and inconsistent policy enforcement, continue to hinder widespread adoption. Overall, the findings demonstrate that while existing policies have improved water governance, stronger regulatory enforcement, greater investment in sustainable technologies, and increased adoption of nature-based solutions are required to reduce agricultural water pollution. An integrated approach combining technological innovation, policy support, and sustainable farming practices is essential to protect freshwater resources and ensure long-term environmental sustainability. Full article

This paper reports a systematic study of low-rank adaptation (LoRA)-based fine-tuning applied to Qwen3 language models (4B, 8B, and 14B parameters) for the task of legal question answering within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The bilingual dataset comprises 63,114 question–answer pairs (76.2% Russian, 23.8% Kazakh) covering 11 legal domains. Models are evaluated through both automated metrics (BERTScore, citation accuracy, and hallucination rate) and blind expert assessment by a panel of two practising legal experts. Key findings: (1) all fine-tuned models reach BERTScore F1 close to 90% (89.6–90.2%) versus 82.2–83.1% for untuned base models; (2) fine-tuned models outperform GPT-4o (87.2%) and GPT-4o-mini (86.7%) on semantic similarity while exhibiting far lower hallucination rates (27–29% vs. 83–90%); (3) blind expert assessment confirms the advantage of fine-tuned models, with panel mean completeness scores of 4.28/5 versus 1.95/5 for base models (quadratically weighted Cohen’s κ = 0.80–0.95 across rating dimensions, indicating substantial to almost perfect inter-rater agreement); and (4) we identify a practical scaling plateau: paired Wilcoxon tests (n = 500) detect statistically significant but practically small differences across the 4B, 8B, and 14B fine-tuned variants (largest mean gap 0.67 pp on BERTScore F1; Cohen’s |d_z| ≤ 0.34), gains too small to justify the 3.5× parameter increase. These findings show that parameter-efficient adaptation of compact open-source models can match or exceed commercial LLMs for specialised legal QA in a low-resource bilingual context. We note one scope restriction: three domains (administrative, criminal, and housing law) are represented only in Russian, so the model is not validated for Kazakh language queries in these areas. Full article

This article examines how Portuguese Members of Parliament have incorporated journalistic media into plenary speech as external discursive resources from 1976 to 2025. While research on the mediatization of politics has shown that political actors operate in increasingly media-shaped environments, less attention has been paid to how journalism enters political discourse itself through explicit references in institutional parliamentary settings. This gap matters because such references provide a concrete way of tracing how parliamentary speech appropriates news as a source of authority, evidence, agenda importation, and rhetorical support. Methodologically, the article analyses the full corpus of Portuguese parliamentary plenary interventions (n = 726,153) using a three-layer rule-based detection strategy that distinguishes between broad media references, named outlet references, and strict journalistic invocations, complemented by manual functional coding of strict cases. The findings show that explicit journalistic references are rare overall and have declined over time, qualifying strong readings of mediatization as simple media saturation. When journalism is invoked, however, it is mobilised selectively, drawing mainly on a small set of established legacy outlets and functioning primarily in evidentiary, agenda-introducing, and meta-media ways rather than adversarial ones. The article argues that journalism remains a residual source of discursive authority in parliament, but that its visible parliamentary relevance may be weaker and more contested than normative democratic accounts often assume. Full article

The seas around Sabah host the richest elasmobranch biodiversity in Malaysia. Currently, only 11 shark and ray species are protected under Malaysian legislation, while other species can be legally caught and sold in markets. Many of these species, including those with protected status, are captured as bycatch in commercial trawl fisheries. In Sabah, where trawling is a cornerstone of seafood production, indiscriminate fishing practices prioritize catch volume over gear selectivity. This study focuses on bycatch of Endangered, Threatened, and Protected (ETP) elasmobranchs, which represents an important ecological loss and is rarely retained for legal sale. To determine the spatiotemporal patterns of these captures, custom electronic monitoring (EM) cameras were deployed to capture time- and GPS-stamped imagery of all catch landed on fishing vessel decks. Over a 42-month period, more than 9400 individuals were recorded, of which 34% were identified as Endangered, Threatened, and Protected (ETP) species. The most common ETP shark species were Carcharhinus tjutjot, Rhizoprionodon acutus, and Sphyrna spp., while the most common ETP ray species were Telatrygon biasa, Maculabatis gerrardi/Maculabatis macrura, and Brevitrygon heterura. Spatial analysis and kernel density estimation were used to identify hotspot areas of high bycatch rates. We calculated bycatch per unit effort (BPUE) to quantify the density of ETP shark and ray bycatch across varying fishing intensities, based on the number of individuals caught per trawl towing hours in each district. Seasonal life-stage analyses indicated that neonate and immature individuals comprised a substantial proportion of the catch for several ETP species and occurred across multiple monsoon seasons, highlighting the vulnerability of early life stages to trawl fisheries. Potential mitigation measures, including spatial and temporal management strategies such as time–area closures, are recommended in areas with consistently high bycatch to reduce shark and ray bycatch and protect hotspot areas. Full article

This article studies the question of copyright ownership for works produced by artificial intelligence. Taking China, the United States, and the European Union as the research subjects, a systematic analysis of the legislative provisions, administrative practices, and judicial precedents in each jurisdiction is conducted, concerning the copyrightability of AI-generated works and the question of rights attribution. On the basis of comparative analysis, this paper offers a theoretical review of the core disputes from the standpoints of the Lockean labour theory, the Hegelian personality theory, and the utilitarian theory. It constructs an analytical framework for distinguishing AI-assisted works from works generated autonomously by AI, with the substantiality of human participation as the core criterion, and puts forward a system of recommendations centered on a hierarchical ownership model. It advocates attributing copyright to the users of AI-assisted works that involve substantial human participation, establishing a special rights system with a shorter protection term for purely AI-generated works, and promoting the achievement of international coordinated consensus within the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization, in keeping with the call of the Initiative for open, fair, and effective governance of artificial intelligence by all states. Full article

The proliferation of large-scale interaction datasets, from scientific collaboration networks and legislative records to online communication platforms, has made the analysis of group-based, time-varying systems one of the central challenges of modern data analytics. Hypergraphs provide a natural formalism for such systems, where interactions involve arbitrary groups of agents rather than isolated pairs, and temporal hypergraphs extend this to sequential data by capturing how group interactions evolve over time. Yet quantifying how complex, predictable, or volatile this evolution is remains an open problem: existing entropy-based measures either operate on pairwise projections and thus discard multi-way dependencies or are not naturally defined for varying hyperedge sizes. In this paper, we propose an information–theoretic framework for characterizing how the diversity of interaction orders in a temporal hypergraph evolves over time. We introduce the hyperedge-size distribution entropy of a snapshot and, building on the theory of entropy rates for stochastic processes, we define the temporal hypergraph entropy rate as a principled, dataset-agnostic measure of the average diversity of interaction orders exhibited by the snapshot sequence over time. We further equip the framework with a bias-corrected sliding-window estimator and a lightweight change-point detector, assembling a complete pipeline that runs in time linear in the total number of hyperedges and requires no node alignment across datasets or snapshots. We prove that the measure collapses to zero under clique expansion, demonstrating that it captures interaction-order information that is discarded by the standard size-blind pairwise projection. Experiments on six small and large publicly available benchmark datasets show that the entropy rate spans 1.60 bits across domains, detects unsupervised structural change points, and discriminates between structurally distinct interaction cultures even within the same domain. Our framework is computationally lightweight and applicable to any dataset that can be represented as a temporal sequence of hypergraphs, paving the way for practical, scalable, interaction-order-aware analysis of large-scale higher-order temporal data. Full article

In recent decades, the exponential growth of the global seafood industry has intensified the exploitation of aquatic invertebrates, particularly decapod crustaceans, whose commercial value continues to rise alongside consumer demand. This expansion has coincided with significant scientific advances recognizing these animals as sentient beings capable of experiencing pain and exhibiting complex behavioral responses to noxious stimuli. Nevertheless, legal systems have been slow integrate such evidence, resulting in a persistent misalignment between scientific knowledge and regulatory practice. This article critically examines the legal status of decapod crustaceans within animal welfare law, underscoring a pronounced disjunction between well-established scientific evidence of their sentience and the limited protections they receive. Despite extensive research supporting their capacity for suffering, the prevailing legal paradigm continues to construe these animals predominantly as commodities. Through a comparative analysis of regulatory regimes across the European Union, Italy, and selected extra-European jurisdictions, including UK, Australia, and New Zealand, the study identifies a significant regulatory lacuna alongside considerable legislative fragmentation. It scrutinizes a spectrum of normative models, ranging from indeterminate, principle-based provisions to more exacting and technically prescriptive standards. The article finally advocates for a harmonized, science-driven regulatory framework to ensure coherent and effective welfare protections for decapod crustaceans within the global food industry. Full article

Technological and social development is desirable and even indispensable, which necessarily involves the restriction of new life situations within legal frameworks. European legislation has been visibly struggling with this problem in recent years, but the established/ongoing regulation may be an obstacle to development. Among other things, this includes the issue of regulating platform work. The emergence and spread of platform work has numerous advantages from an economic point of view, but from a legal point of view, the cautious regulation of this relatively new employment construction is not acceptable to the majority dealing with labour law. In our opinion, the relevant EU legislation is fundamentally flawed, as it basically seeks to answer the question of whether a given legal relationship is an employment relationship or not. The current binary classification might not be sufficient. Thus, the present study examines why platform work can be considered special and what are the labour law guarantees that are justified to be extended—at least as a rule—in this regard. To further investigate the practical risks of the current rules, a recent and relevant judgement of the Hungarian Supreme Court is also analysed in order to illustrate the uncertainties in litigation. The ruling demonstrates that traditional employment tests fail to recognise algorithmic control—including GPS surveillance, scheduling penalties, and unilateral remuneration determination—as indicators of subordination, while placing an insurmountable burden of proof on workers. This case empirically confirms the practical difficulties of the current binary classification. Our aim is to examine whether it is necessary to develop a minimum guarantee system that allows for easier transparency, greater legal certainty and a more uniform application of the law, unlike the current regulation. Full article

Contemporary zoning-driven planning has been associated with traffic hazards, pollution and noise, loss of human scale and public space, socio-spatial separation, and rigid development patterns that impede incremental renewal. In response, the New Urbanism movement promotes traditional urbanism, with Form-Based Codes (FBCs) that regulate urban form and spatial structure, as a central tool. However, FBC practice remains concentrated in North America, and evidence from other contexts is limited. This study examines whether and how FBCs can be implemented within a hierarchical, centralized planning system. Using an exploratory case study approach, we analyzed an approved urban renewal plan for Ramat Verber in Petah Tikva, Israel. The study combines plan analysis, a conceptual FBC simulation, and expert consultations, with findings derived through an inductive analysis of implementation barriers. The FBC simulation showed that goals could be translated into more effective actionable provisions, whereas the statutory plan diluted objectives between vision and implementation. Identified barriers clustered into (1) legal and institutional constraints, (2) social and professional norms, and (3) management and coordination needs. We conclude that FBCs can be advanced without legislative change through municipal policy-level codes that standardize subsequent statutory local plans, supported by clear conversion protocols and existing urban renewal governance mechanisms. Full article

This article analyses the transformation of the competitiveness of the European Union in the context of geopolitical fragmentation, geo-economic rivalry and the growing importance of economic security in contemporary economic governance. The article argues that the traditional efficiency-oriented understanding of competitiveness, associated primarily with productivity growth, market efficiency and trade openness, is increasingly complemented by a resilience-oriented governance framework that emphasizes strategic autonomy, technological capabilities, economic security and long-term adaptive resilience. Using a conceptually oriented qualitative research design based on interpretive analysis and analytically focused comparison, we integrate knowledge from studies of competitiveness, political economy, geo-economics and European economic governance. The research draws on academic literature primarily available in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, EU strategic documents and legislation, and selected aggregated indicators related to productivity, innovation, trade openness, technological development and sustainability. The findings show that geopolitical fragmentation, supply chain vulnerabilities, technological competition and strategic dependencies are increasingly changing the structural foundations of European competitiveness. Innovation and technological capabilities remain key determinants of long-term competitiveness, but their strategic importance is increasingly linked to resilience, technological sovereignty and economic security. The results also show that the European Union is gradually moving towards a hybrid governance model that combines market openness with strategic coordination, industrial policy and resilience-oriented adaptation. At the same time, significant asymmetries between Member States continue to limit the EU’s ability to adapt in a coordinated manner. The article contributes to current debates on competitiveness by establishing an integrated analytical framework linking competitiveness, resilience, economic security, strategic autonomy and sustainable development in the context of geo-economic transformation. Full article

In Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, diaconal actors have been pioneers in social and health work. By applying complexity theory on managing unpredictability, the article reviews recent pioneering efforts: caring for undocumented migrants—whose legal permissions have expired. Pioneering efforts apply to services for substance abusers. With Norwegian examples, unpredictability is demonstrated for institutional and drop-in services. The second part of the article analyses different strategies for facilitating diaconal actors: the Danish so-called “in-house” system, and Norwegian and Swedish public procurement legislation that allows reservation for non-profit actors. Within public procurement, defining certain services as Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI) is an option, underutilized by Norway and Sweden. Finally, a draft directive on European cross-border associations (ECBA), including religious associations, is explained. By reviewing policy documents, legislation, court rulings, and adopted and draft EU directives and regulations, the article’s overall conclusions are: the services to undocumented migrants have not affected the overall relationships between diaconal actors and political authorities, and starting such services is not a radical shift for diaconal actors. Moreover, Denmark provides the greatest predictability for non-profit actors. Full article

Apple pomace is an abundant agro-industrial by-product rich in bioactive compounds. In the present study, amphiphilic bioactives from organic Greek Starking and Granny Smith apple pomace were recovered using a green extraction methodology, in compliance with EU legislations for food-grade solvents utilized in food stuffs, followed by evaporation of these solvents in vacuum conditions by flash rotary evaporation. The green extracts were then evaluated for their content in amphiphilic bioactives, as well as for their antioxidant photoprotective capacities spectrophotometrically, and for anti-inflammatory and potential in vitro antithrombotic activities by inhibiting human platelets’ aggregation. ATR-FTIR analysis revealed the presence of phenolics, carotenoids and polar lipids in these extracts. Thus, the total phenolic content (TPC) and total carotenoid content (TCC) were determined spectrophotometrically, while LC–MS analysis facilitated the characterization of specific polar lipid bioactives and quantified their fatty acid composition. Granny Smith extracts exhibited a higher phenolic content and enhanced anti-inflammatory and anti-platelet activities, likely associated with their polar lipid composition and low balanced ω6/ω3 fatty acid ratio, aligned with anti-inflammatory phenolic bioactives that are present in apple pomace. The observed inhibition of platelet aggregation, particularly via the PAF-related inflammatory pathways, suggests potential cardioprotective applications. Moreover, both extracts demonstrated potent antioxidant capacity by all the three mechanisms of action and UV photoprotective properties, probably due to the presence of both phenolic and carotenoid bioactives, with Starking showing stronger UVB-related activity and Granny Smith enhanced UVA-related protection, which—if combined with the observed potent antioxidant capacity and anti-PAF anti-inflammatory properties—further suggest potential applications in functional photoprotective and anti-aging cosmetic formulations. These findings highlight that apple pomace offers a sustainable source of amphiphilic bioactives suitable for nutraceutical and cosmetic applications. Full article

Posthumous gamete retrieval has emerged as a complex issue at the intersection of reproductive technology, bioethics, consent, and law. While posthumous sperm retrieval has received small amounts of legal, ethical, and clinical attention, posthumous oocyte retrieval, particularly in minors, remains largely unaddressed. This review examines the clinical, legal, and ethical considerations surrounding posthumous oocyte retrieval in minor girls. First, the paper explores the medical processes involved in posthumous gamete retrieval, drawing a significant distinction between sperm and oocyte retrieval. Second, it reviews international legal standards and U.S. jurisprudence relevant to posthumous reproduction, including both constitutional reproductive rights cases and court decisions directly addressing posthumous gamete use at the state level. Third, it analyzes existing institutional and professional guidelines governing posthumous reproduction in the United States. Across these three domains, the analysis reveals three main takeaways. First, current frameworks overwhelmingly assume adult decedents and focus primarily on sperm retrieval requested by spouses or partners, leaving a large unaddressed gap for minors and posthumous oocyte retrieval. Second, posthumous oocyte retrieval in minors presents distinct challenges related to medical burden, consent, parental authority, and the upbringing and welfare of potential offspring. Lastly, institutional, professional, and legislative guidance that prohibits posthumous oocyte retrieval in minors should be issued to provide clarity and recommendations for clinicians confronted with such requests. Full article