Is it time for a global legal framework in Belgium?

Environmental mediation continues to develop and evolve in different jurisdictions across the world in order to prevent potential environmental conflicts or to resolve the conflicts while avoiding the inherent drawbacks of an adjudicated solution. This book takes a comparative approach to explore the legal framework of environmental mediation with a focus on the judicial, administrative and private procedures and the criteria for accrediting mediators in a range of jurisdictions across the world. It also examines practical considerations for environmental mediators while analysing the effectiveness of different mediation processes

Does an interactive trust-enhanced electronic consent improve patient experiences when asked to share their health records for research? A randomized trial

Objective In the context of patient broad consent for future research uses of their identifiable health record data, we compare the effectiveness of interactive trust-enhanced e-consent, interactive-only e-consent, and standard e-consent (no interactivity, no trust enhancement). Materials and Methods A randomized trial was conducted involving adult participants making a scheduled primary care visit. Participants were randomized into 1 of the 3 e-consent conditions. Primary outcomes were patient-reported satisfaction with and subjective understanding of the e-consent. Secondary outcomes were objective knowledge, perceived voluntariness, trust in medical researchers, consent decision, and time spent using the application. Outcomes were assessed immediately after use of the e-consent and at 1-week follow-up. Results Across all conditions, participants (N = 734) reported moderate-to-high satisfaction with consent (mean 4.3 of 5) and subjective understanding (79.1 of 100). Over 94% agreed to share their health record data. No statistically significant differences in outcomes were observed between conditions. Irrespective of condition, black participants and those with lower education reported lower satisfaction, subjective understanding, knowledge, perceived voluntariness, and trust in medical researchers, as well as spent more time consenting. Conclusions A large majority of patients were willing to share their identifiable health records for research, and they reported positive consent experiences. However, incorporating optional additional information and messages designed to enhance trust in the research process did not improve consent experiences. To improve poorer consent experiences of racial and ethnic minority participants and those with lower education, other novel consent technologies and processes may be valuable

Some Reflections on Copyright Management Systems and Laws Designed to Protect Them

Copyright management systems (CMS)—technologies that enable copyright owners to regulate reliably and charge automatically for access to digital works—are the wave of the very near future. The advent of digital networks, which make copying and distribution of digital content quick, easy, and undetectable, has provided the impetus for CMS research and development. CMS are premised on the concept of trusted systems or secure digital envelopes that protect copyrighted content and allow access and subsequent copying only to the extent authorized by the copyright owner. Software developers are testing prototype systems designed to detect, prevent, count, and levy precise charges for uses that range from downloading to excerpting to simply viewing or listening to digital works. In a few years, for example, an individual seeking online access to a collection of short fiction might be greeted with a menu of options including: Open and view short story A — $0.50, or$0.40 for students doing assigned reading (verified based on roster submitted by instructor) Open and view short story B (by a more popular author) — $0.80, or$0.70 for students Download short story A (encrypted and copy-protected) — $1.35 Download short story B —$2.25 Download entire collection — $15.00 Extract excerpt from short story A —$0.03 per 50 words Extract excerpt from short story B — $0.06 per 50 words CMS also loom large on the legislative horizon. Copyright owners have argued that technological protection alone will not deter unauthorized copying unless the law provides penalties for circumventing the technology. Although a bill to protect CMS against tampering failed to reach a vote in Congress last year, the World Intellectual Property Organization\u27s recent adoption of treaty provisions requiring protection means that Congress must revisit the question soon. Part II describes these developments. The seemingly inexorable trend toward a digital CMS regime raises two questions, which the author addresses in parts III and IV, respectively. First, broadly drawn protection for CMS has the potential to proscribe technologies that have indisputably lawful uses and also to foreclose, as a practical matter, uses of copyrighted works that copyright law expressly permits. How may protection for CMS be drafted to avoid disrupting the current copyright balance? Second, and equally fundamental, CMS may enable both pervasive monitoring of individual reading activity and comprehensive private legislation designed to augment—and possibly alter beyond recognition—the default rules that define and delimit copyright owners\u27 rights. Given the unprecedented capabilities of these technologies, is it also desirable to set limits on their reach

Building consumer trust during the productization phase of a new, smart health tech consumer product

Abstract. The thesis aims to investigate the role of trust during the New Product Development (NPD) phase of smart health tech products, focusing on the consumer testing phase. The central research question examines the factors related to trust that arise during the productization/NPD process, and how these factors can be incorporated and enhanced during the development of a new smart health tech product. The study seeks to understand the factors influencing trust in smart health tech products, validate these factors in a real-life business setting, and provide recommendations for future research and productization processes. The research employs a two-step methodology, starting with a literature review to identify general and specific trust-building factors and establish a theoretical framework. Following this, empirical research is conducted with WellO2, a Finnish health tech company planning to launch a new smart mouthpiece designed to measure lung and breathing functions. This phase involves real-life testing of the product to validate the identified trust-building factors and uncover any previously unrecognized factors. The most crucial findings of the study are expected to highlight the key trust-building factors that emerge during the consumer testing phase of the NPD process and offer practical recommendations for incorporating these factors into future product development processes for SMEs. The results of this study are intended to be used by companies involved in the development of smart health tech products to enhance trust during the NPD process, leading to successful product adoption and commercialization. While the research is conducted in the context of a specific company and product, the findings and recommendations may have broader applicability and generalizability to other companies and products in the smart health tech sector.Asiakasluottamuksen rakentaminen uusien ja älykkäiden terveysteknologiatuotteiden tuotteistamisvaiheessa . Tiivistelmä. Tämä diplomityö pyrkii tutkimaan luottamuksen roolia älykkäiden terveysteknologiatuotteiden uuden tuotekehityksen (NPD) vaiheessa, keskittyen kuluttajatestausvaiheeseen. Keskeinen tutkimuskysymys tarkastelee tuotteistamis-/NPD-prosessin aikana esiin tulevia luottamukseen liittyviä tekijöitä ja sitä, kuinka näitä tekijöitä voidaan sisällyttää ja vahvistaa uuden älyterveysteknologiatuotteen kehityksessä. Tutkimus pyrkii ymmärtämään tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat luottamuksen kehittymiseen älyterveysteknologiatuotteissa, arvioimaan näitä tekijöitä todellisessa liiketoimintaympäristössä ja antamaan suosituksia tulevalle tutkimukselle ja tuotteistamisprosesseille. Tutkimus alkaa kirjallisuuskatsauksella, joka pyrkii tunnistamaan luottamuksen rakentamiseen liittyviä tekijöitä ja luomaan täten teoreettisen viitekehyksen aiemman kirjallisuuden pohjalta. Tämän jälkeen teoreettista viitekehystä ja tunnistettuja luottamusta rakentavia tekijöitä tutkitaan todellisessa liiketoimintaympäristössä. Case-yrityksenä on suomalainen terveysteknologiayritys WellO2, joka suunnittelee uuden tuotteen (älysuukappaleen) lanseerausta, jonka tarkoituksena on pystyä mittaamaan keuhkojen hengitystoimintoja. Tutkimuksen aikana tuotetta testattiin todellisessa kuluttajatestausympäristössä ja sillä pyrittiin validoimaan tunnistetut luottamuksen rakentamisen tekijät ja löytämään uusia, vielä tuntemattomia tekijöitä. Tutkimuksen tärkeimmät tulokset korostavat avaintekijöitä uuden tuotteen luottamuksen rakentamiseen, mitkä nousevat esiin NPD-prosessin kuluttajatestausvaiheessa ja tarjoavat käytännön suosituksia näiden tekijöiden sisällyttämiseksi tuleviin tuotekehitysprosesseihin PK-yrityksille. Tämän tutkimuksen tulosten on tarkoitus palvella yrityksiä, jotka ovat mukana älyterveysteknologiatuotteiden kehittämisessä ja joiden tarkoituksena on parantaa kuluttajien luottamusta tuotteeseen NPD-prosessin aikana, mikä helpottaisi tuotteen menestyksekästä käyttäjähyväksyntää ja kaupallistamista. Vaikka tutkimus on tehty yhden yrityksen ja tuotteen kontekstissa, tuloksilla ja suosituksilla voi olla laajempaa käyttöä ja yleistettävyyttä myös muille yrityksille ja tuotteille älyterveysteknologia-alalla

Employee Acceptance of Employer Control Over Personal Devices

Organizations face new and growing security challenges as consumer technology continues to be integrated into organizational workflows. Bring your own device (BYOD) is a phenomenon that is here to stay; however, securing employee’s personally owned devices may require the organizations to consider exerting some control over the employee’s device. In order for organizations to secure access to their sensitive information in this way, they must first garner the employee’s consent. This research seeks to examine employee acceptance of employer control by constructing a model of employee acceptance based upon the extant acceptance literature. The model is then empirically tested through the use of structural equation modeling. The results indicated that social influence and to a lesser extent habit play a crucial role in employee’s desire to accept employer control over personally owned devices. Supporting these two significant factors can help technology managers secure employee acceptance of employer control over personally owned devices

New Criminal Law Review Symposium on Privilege or Punish: Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties

This symposium includes three review essays by Professors Doug Berman, Naomi Cahn, and Jack Chin. The review essays are focused on a recent book by Professors Dan Markel, Jennifer M. Collins and Ethan J. Leib entitled \u27Privilege or Punish: Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties\u27 (Oxford 2009). You can download the entire book for free at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1677503. In addition to the three review essays, the collection includes an essay by the book\u27s authors that serves as a reply to this set of critiques. Collectively, we are grateful to the New Criminal Law Review, which is hosting this collection in an upcoming issue. The essays are titled, respectively: Berman: Digging Deeper into, and Thinking Better about, the Interplay of Families and Criminal Justice Cahn: Protect and Preserve? Chin: Mandatory, Contingent, and Discretionary Policy Arguments Collins, Leib & Markel: (When) Should Family Status Matter in the Criminal Justice System

Global Bioethics

Two new factor have been added to the ideological change in the second half of the past century: the “ecological impact” of humankind on the environment due to the population increase; and the “ innovative impact of science, first with atomic physics, which introduced the scission of the fundamental unit of matter, the atom, and then witch molecular biology, which led to the decoding of genetic information and intervention of biological engineering that annihilate our concepts of individual and species as fundamental units in biology. This stage of fundamental rethinking is however overshadowed by the threat of ecological disaster and catastrophic population increase, which not only impose limits to development, but undermine the very survival of Humankind. The future survival our species in fact depends on the interaction between its reproductive characteristics and the productivity of the territory, which, even if increased by the intellectual capability of the human brain, has intrinsically limits. The adaptive choices (which are also biotechnological and biomedical) of the interaction between human population and the natural ambience is the conceptual basis of the new discipline “Global Bioethics”

Enabling by voice: An exploratory study on how Interactive Smart Agents (ISA) can change the design of Environmental Control (EC) equipment and service

This thesis was submitted for the award of Master of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThe use of well-designed assistive devices may improve the quality of life of individuals living with severe and permanent impairments and reduce the burden on their caregivers. Interactive Smart Agents (ISA)s use the latest smart home technology to control devices around the house through voice interfaces. This study aims to investigate whether ISAs may be effective to support individuals who are affected by multiple sclerosis, stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI) or other neurological ailments. This study’s approach is user-centred to ensure inclusion. This study includes two main parts: 1. the initial development of a technology adoption model informed by secondary research and exploratory primary data, 2. a second in-depth investigation of the initially identified constructs and relationships through a multipoints qualitative study. After data analysis the initial model was altered to reflect the insights generated by the primary research. By using this modified technology adoption model, designers and manufacturers can make changes in their future ISA devices so that they can be better suited to the needs of users with severe mobility impairments. This research is in collaboration with the North Thames Regional Environmental Control Services (NTRECES), an NHS organisation that provides Environmental Control (EC) devices to manage the patients’ electrical and computing appliances. Clinical staff have indicated an increasing patients’ demand of ISAs instead of traditional EC devices and have suggested that their clients are keen to experiment with more intuitive interfaces. The originality of this work consists of bringing together two established schools of thoughts, the Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to arrive at a model that specifically considers adoption and usability factors relevant to a niche service user group (people with severe mobility impairments) and a specific technology, ISAs. This research has uncovered that, novelty, and ease of voice interaction as well as its entertainment value played a key role in the decision to adopt an ISA device. Users are willing to overlook the reliability, privacy and security issues if a back-up device is present and as most of the functions the users require are not security and privacy critical.Brunel Partners Academic Centre for Health Sciences (BPACHS