The EU legal framework and national strategies for monitoring terrorist content online

It is generally but rightly said that while everyone understands what terrorism is, no one has agreed on its definition yet. The scenario is no different when it comes to the issue of online terrorist content. The ambit and the scope of legal definition pertaining to the terrorist organization online has always been an issue for the European Union Member States. With the increasing frequency of online terrorist content and their changing spectrums has made this task for the jurists a bit difficult and hard nut to crack. There was always a need to not only analyze the issues that the EU Member States face in defining the ambit of it, but it seemed quite necessary that the scope of those provisions which pertains to the distribution of terrorist content online much be re-defined or at least defined. The legal framework that has been taken into account has somehow served the purpose in this regard. However, holistic efforts are required in this regard. On the similar account, the surveillance of the online terrorist content in European Union is needed to be tighten up. For that, this study assessed the ways in which the EU Member States are monitoring and handling online terrorist content and related issues in the region. In this regard, number of commissions under the ambit of European Union and other working under national authorities have shown significant work. These Commissions are continuously studying the matter of handling illegal content on online platforms and have already organized a number of educational and informational activities. The weaknesses and strengths of the European Union Members States to counter online terrorist content is of grave concern. There is need to present and evaluate the EU Member States’ strategies regarding online terror related content. Analysis can be made over case studies of France and Germany. The study moves forward by assessing and evaluating the remedial measures in this regard as well. The major focus is based upon assessing the remedies and complaint procedures to address the distribution of terrorist content online under the Regulation (EU) 2021/784. Similarly, an effort has been made to explore the current implementation status and hurdles regarding the Regulation (EU) 2021/784. Lastly, the analysis could only be cemented through recommending reforms at administrative and legislative level in the EU for efficient mitigation of online terrorism and associated threats. It is need of hour to enact such laws, statutes and regulations that not only accurately defines the illegal or terrorist content but also enables the Internet Services Providers to have clear litmus test for such content along with the authority to be given to the Internet Services Providers and other regulatory authorities to struck down content falling under the criterion set for the online terrorist conten

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

First-principles study of structural, electronic and thermoelectric properties of nidoped Bi2 Se3

Direct conversion of waste heat to electrical energy could address present energy challenges. Bi2 Se3 is one of few thermoelectric materials known to operate at room temperature. Comprehensive analysis using density functional theory was conducted to explore the effect of nickel doping on structural, electronic, and thermoelectric properties of Bi2 Se3 . Local density approximation (LDA) was used with an addition of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and van der Waals interaction scheme consideration. Analysis of the effect of SOC was elaborated. It was found that nickel has changed the crystal structure of Bi2 Se3 . Nickel has also changed band structure and density of state that alter the thermoelectric performance. The decreased band gap has decreased the thermopower. However, it gives advantages to the improvement of electrical conductivity. Higher electrical conductivity has risen thermal conductivity. Despite the decreased thermopower and increased thermal conductivity, the higher electrical conductivity has improved the overall thermoelectric performance of Bi2 Se3 when nickel is introduced

Enhanced mechanism of thermoelectric performance of Bi2Se3 using density functional theory

Good thermoelectric performance is being sought to face major problems related to energy, especially in the concern of the usage of energy on environmental impact. In this work, we investigate the underlying mechanism to enhance the thermoelectric performance of bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) by employing density functional theory (DFT) followed by the Boltzmann transport equation under relaxation time approximation. The structural, electronic, and thermoelectric properties were calculated and analyzed. From the analysis of combined results of thermoelectric properties and electronic properties as the function of the Fermi level, we found that the power factor of Bi2Se3 is improved by increasing electrical conductivity that contributed by the large density of states and light effective mass of charge carriers. The figure of merit, on the other hand, is enhanced by increasing Seebeck coefficient that contributed by heavy effective mass and decreasing thermal conductivity that contributed by low density of states. We also found that both power factor and figure of merit can be improved through n-type doping at 300 K and p-type doping at higher temperature (400 K and 500 K)

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially