PLAIN LANGUAGE W TEKSTACH PRAWNYCH – PERSPEKTYWA Z POLSKI

The purpose of this research is to explore plain-language postulates reflecting on legal drafting assumptions since legal acts should be precise, clear and express with no doubts the intention of the legislator. The aim of this project is to commence discussion about improving the clarity of Polish consumer law based on selected plain-language techniques. This article agrees that the aspiration to make the law comprehensible for all subjects is an idealistic postulate. Ultimately, despite this, legislators’ obligation is to make an effort to increase the intelligibility of legislation wherever it is possible.Przedmiotem artykułu, jest omówienie ruchu „plain legal language” czyli zrozumiałej i efektywnej komunikacji w tekstach prawnych. Zaprezentowany zostanie rozwój ruchu „plain language” oraz postulat powszechnego rozumienia prawa, w odniesieniu do polskich dyrektyw redagowania tekstu prawnego. Wybrane techniki i narzędzia standardu „plain language” zostaną w formie eksperymentu zaimplementowane do ustawy konsumenckiej. Artykuł opisuje rozwiązania, które potencjalnie mogą zwiększyć komunikatywność tekstów prawnych

Comparative study of virulence potential, phylogenetic origin, CRISPR-Cas regions and drug resistance of Escherichia coli isolates from urine and other clinical materials

IntroductionUrinary tract infections (UTI), among which the main etiological factor is uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC, E. coli), remain an important issue for clinicians. The aim of the study was to demonstrate clear differences in the pathogenic properties of urine-derived E. coli compared to other extraintestinal E. coli clinical isolates (derived from: blood, lower respiratory tracts, sputum, reproductive tract, body fluids, perianal pus, other pus, wound, postoperative wound and other sources).MethodsThe collection of 784 E. coli isolates was collected from various materials of hospitalized patients. They were analyzed in terms of virulence-associated genes (papC, sfaD/sfaE, cnf1, usp., fimG/H, hlyA), belonging to phylogenetic groups and the presence of CRISPR-Cas regions using PCR. In addition, the epidemiological data and the antibiotic resistance profiles provided by the hospital’s microbiology department were included for statistical analyses.ResultsUrine-derived E. coli showed significantly greater virulence potential compared to other isolates, but they were generally unremarkable in terms of drug resistance. The isolates most often belonged to phylogenetic group B2. Drug resistance was negatively correlated with CRISPR 2 presence and high average virulence score, but positively correlated with CRISPR 4 presence. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to report significant differences in sputum-derived isolates—they revealed the lowest virulence potential and, at the same time, the highest drug resistance.DiscussionIn conclusion, we demonstrated significant differences of urinary-derived E. coli compared to other clinical E. coli isolates. We would like to suggest excluding penicillins from use in E. coli infection at this time and monitoring strains with a high pathogenicity potential

Family first: Evidence of consistency and variation in the value of family versus personal happiness across 49 different cultures

People care about their own well-being, but also about the well-being of their families. It is currently however unknown how much people tend to value their own and their family’s well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding across a larger sample size (N = 12,819) and a greater number of countries (N = 49), We found that the strength of the idealization of family over personal happiness preference was small (average Cohen’s ds = .20 with country levels varying from -.02 to almost .48), but ubiquitous, i.e., direction presented in 98% of the studied countries, 73-75% with statistical significance and .40 and .30). Importantly, we did not find strong support for traditional theories in cross-cultural psychology that associate collectivism with greater prioritization of the family versus the individual; country level individualism-collectivism was not associated with variation in the idealization of family versus individual happiness. Our findings indicate that no matter how much various populists abuse the argument of “protecting family life” to disrupt emancipation, family happiness seems to be a pan-culturally phenomenon. Family well-being is a key ingredient of social fabric across the world, and should be acknowledged by psychology and well-being researchers, and by progressive movements too

Societal emotional environments and cross-cultural differences in life satisfaction: A forty-nine country study.

In this paper, we introduce the concept of ‘societal emotional environment’: the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a society). Using data collected from 12,888 participants across 49 countries, we show how societal emotional environments vary across countries and cultural clusters, and we consider the potential importance of these differences for well-being. Multilevel analyses supported a ‘double-edged sword’ model of negative emotion expression, where expression of negative emotions predicted higher life satisfaction for the expresser but lower life satisfaction for society. In contrast, partial support was found for higher societal life satisfaction in positive societal emotional environments. Our study highlights the potential utility and importance of distinguishing between positive and negative emotion expression, and adopting both individual and societal perspectives in well-being research. Individual pathways to happiness may not necessarily promote the happiness of others

Personal life satisfaction as a measure of societal happiness is an individualistic presumption: Evidence from fifty countries

Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates with societal happiness because the most common measure of societal happiness (i.e., country-level aggregates of personal life satisfaction) is individualism-themed. With the data collected from 13,009 participants across fifty countries, we compare associations of four types of happiness (out of which three are more collectivism-themed than personal life satisfaction) with two different measures of individualism. We replicated previous findings by demonstrating that societal happiness measured as country-level aggregate of personal life satisfaction is correlated with individualism. Importantly though, we also found that the country-level aggregates of the collectivism-themed measures of happiness do not tend to be significantly correlated with individualism. Implications for happiness studies and for policy makers are signaled

Happiness Maximization Is a WEIRD Way of Living

Psychological science tends to treat subjective wellbeing and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective wellbeing is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: what is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, Democratic) societies, but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why “happiness maximization” might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat, i.e., compared to other regions, they faced relatively light existential pressures. We review the influence of the Gulfstream on the North-Western European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealise attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for “happiness maximization”, we also studied its several potential side-effects: alcohol and drug consumption and abuse, and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we re-analyse data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction—the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology—involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as a WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level

Uproszczenie ustawy o prawach konsumenta. Plain legal language a język prawny

The article examines the idea of plain legal language as a standard in creating comprehensible and effective communication in legislative acts. It features plain legal language techniques and tools used to tackle the visual and linguistic layer of legal texts. Selected techniques were implemented to experimentally modify the Polish Consumer Rights Act of 30 May 2014. The document, transformed in the spirit of plain legal language, was then submitted for assessment to lawyers as well as individuals with no legal background. The article features the results of the experiment as well as conclusions which make it possible to say whether the “simplified” act is more comprehensible to an average reader, and to assess the cost of the changes introduced in the original provisions of the law.Przedmiotem artykułu jest przybliżenie idei plain legal language jako standardu tworzenia zrozumiałej i efektywnej komunikacji w akcie prawnym. W artykule zaprezentowane zostały techniki i narzędzia plain legal language, które dotykają warstwy wizualnej i  językowej tekstów prawnych. W  ramach eksperymentu zaimplementowano wybrane techniki do obowiązującej w  Polsce ustawy o  prawach konsumenta z 30 maja 2014 roku. Przebudowaną w duchu plain legal language ustawę poddano ocenie prawników i odbiorców, którzy nie mają wykształcenia prawniczego. W artykule znajdują się wyniki z tych badań oraz wnioski, które pozwalają ocenić, czy „uproszczona” ustawa jest bardziej zrozumiała dla przeciętnego odbiorcy oraz jakie koszty zostały poniesione podczas ingerencji w treść oryginalnych przepisów prawa

PLAIN-LANGUAGE APPROACH IN LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING: A PERSPECTIVE FROM POLAND

The purpose of this research is to explore plain-language postulates reflecting on legal drafting assumptions since legal acts should be precise, clear and express with no doubts the intention of the legislator. The aim of this project is to commence discussion about improving the clarity of Polish consumer law based on selected plain-language techniques. This article agrees that the aspiration to make the law comprehensible for all subjects is an idealistic postulate. Ultimately, despite this, legislators’ obligation is to make an effort to increase the intelligibility of legislation wherever it is possible