Mobiliųjų kelių transporto darbuotojų darbo pobūdžio probleminiai aspektai

The paper deals with problems of legal regulation of guarantees and compensations in labour law. The focus is on the problem related to determination of types of work in the road transport sector. It is emphasized that the most peculiar aspect of work of mobile road transport workers is their regular trips outside the enterprise; therefore, such specific work has to be fairly remunerated. Various polemical issues concerning the assessment and evaluation of the work performed by road transport worker are discussed, how it should be treated – should it be considered as a posting of worker or the work performed while travelling. The point of view that the work of mobile road transport workers should be regarded as a form of posting has been criticized by indicating that legal acts provide other kinds of work that also exists in practice. A posting is understood as a temporary journey of the employee from his permanent workplace for performance of a special assignment, therefore the activities taking the form of a longdistance trip of road transport drivers is considered as working while travelling (mobile work). When mobile workers conform to the provisions of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, they must be considered as ‘posted’. The imperative State regulation of daily allowances for the posting period and other compensation allowances provided by legal acts has been criticised. It is claimed that the application of the method of contractual remuneration for work by establishing certain sums of compensation allowances for road transport workers and letting the employment agreement parties to set them locally or by way of social dialogue would ensure a better differentiation of the remuneration for work. Special attention is paid to the problems related to the distinction that should be made between legal regulation of taxation and labour law. The analysis carried out on the specifics of work performed in the road transport enterprise allows concluding that according to the working conditions, mobile workers can perform work while being 1) on travel (mobile work), 2) being posted or 3) they can work in the premises of the enterprise (employer). Accordingly, remuneration for work of these workers is set differently because their specific work conditions and provisions of the legal acts are taken into account.Straipsnyje analizuojama su teisinių garantijų taikymu darbo teisėje bei kompensacijų mokėjimu susijusi aktuali problema – mobiliųjų kelių transporto darbuotojų darbo pobūdžio nustatymas. Autorius diskutuoja, kaip reikėtų vertinti kelių transporto darbuotojo darbą – laikyti jį komandiruote ar darbu, atliekamu kelionėje? Kritikuojama nuomonė, jog mobiliųjų kelių transporto darbuotojų darbas atliekamas nuolat esant komandiruotėje, nurodoma, kad norminiai teisės aktai numato ir kitokį šių darbuotojų darbo pobūdį. Komandiruotė yra laikino pobūdžio darbuotojo išvykimas iš nuolatinės darbo vietos specialiam pavedimui atlikti, todėl dažniausiai tolimųjų reisų kelių transporto vairuotojo darbas turi būti laikomas darbu, dirbamu kelyje. Kai mobilusis darbuotojas atitinka požymius, nurodytus direktyvoje Nr. 96/71/EB „Dėl darbuotojų komandiravimo paslaugų teikimo sistemoje“, jo darbas gali būti laikomas komandiruote. Analizuojant kelių transporto įmonėje atliekamo darbo pobūdį pateikiama išvada, jog mobiliųjų darbuotojų darbas gali būti dirbamas ir kelionėje, ir komandiruotėje, ir įmonėje. Tai priklauso nuo darbo sąlygų, atitinkamai atsižvelgiant į darbo pobūdį bei norminių teisės aktų nuostatas diferencijuojamas šių darbuotojų darbo užmokestis. Autorius kritikuoja imperatyvų komandiruotės dienpinigių bei kitų kompensacinių išmokų konkretaus dydžio nustatymą poįstatyminiuose norminiuose teisės aktuose, atkreipdamas dėmesį į tai, jog reikia atskirti mokesčių teisės ir darbo teisės (kompensacinių išmokų darbuotojams dydžio nustatymo) normas

Computer-aided detection of interstitial lung diseases: A texture approach

We have developed the flexible scheme for computer-aided detection (CAD) of interstitial lung diseases on chest radiographs. These schemes enable us to perform diagnostics in the broad circumstances of pneumonia and other interstitial lung diseases. It is applied in the case of children pneumonia when conditions are difficult to standardize. In the adults' case the schemes of CAD are more adaptive, as there are more characteristic interstitial lung tissue's changes to all kinds of pathological conditions. Even in the norm of drawing there are more visible and more highlighted features, leading to better results. The CAD scheme works as follows. For the first of all, we are using adopted algorithms of active contours to select the area of lungs, and then to divide this area into subareas - regions of interest (40 different ROI). Then ROIs were subjected to the 2-dimensional Daubechies wavelet transform, and only main transformation was used. For every transformation 12 texture measures were calculated. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to extract 2 main components for each ROI, and these components were compared to predictive component region

Darbo teisės problemų evoliucija Lietuvoje po 1990 m.

The article describes the evolution of problems in the Lithuanian labour law and labour law science since the re-establishment of independence in 1990. Three periods of evolution are presented: the Soviet period (lasted until 1990), the transitional period (1990- 2004) and the period of the Labour Code (2003 and onwards). During the Soviet period, the Code of Labour Laws regulated employment relationship in strict detail as the main employer was the state itself. Good reflections of that period can be pointed out: active (but forced) collective bargaining, single tariff system that implemented equal treatment in the field of remuneration for work and fluent performance of enforcement of labour laws (legal clarity). During the transitional period, new labour laws were introduced and tuned-up with international labour standards (ILO), but in general there were no essential changes in practice. During all that period, the Lithuanian Labour Code was drafted and came in force in 2003. The period of the new Labour Code started together with the European integration and had to bring new trends of the European labour market into Lithuanian practice. The government and academics brought few initiatives for the liberalisation of labour laws but most of them were stuck in the stage of consulting with social partners (Tripartite Council). Nevertheless, 22 years after the collapse of command economy labour laws incompatible with free labour market still dominate. It is obvious that the Lithuanian Labour Code is outdated and needs general reconstruction. Scientific researches and the EU Council recommendations call for the introduction of flexibility, implementation of flexicurity aiming for full integration into the single European labour market. Some strict labour code rules are prevented from functioning in practice. The courts are forced to derogate from disproportionate and improper articles of the Labour Code. The author brings some of the existing problems of labour law into light and proposes their possible solutions. The existing crisis of labour law could be solved by drafting a new Labour Code with the help of academic researchers and by introducing it directly to the Parliament for adoption.Straipsnyje nagrinėjama Lietuvos darbo teisės problemų raida nuo tarybinių laikų iki šių dienų. Apžvelgiama, su kokiomis problemomis darbo teisė susiduria nuo 1990-ųjų metų. Pažymima, jog tarybinis griežtas ir nelankstus darbo santykių reguliavimas iš esmės nedaug pasikeitė. Pasikeitus ekonominei santvarkai ir darbo rinkos poreikiams, darbo įstatymai keičiasi lėtai. Viena didžiausių problemų – darbuotojų pasyvumas ir realaus kolektyvinio atstovavimo stoka. Ilgametė praktika parodė, jog Lietuvos Respublikos trišalė taryba nebepajėgi efektyviai spręsti naujai kylančių ir nuolat besikeičiančių socialinių problemų. Vyriausybė taip pat nepajėgia laiku šalinti pasenusių, neveikiančių ar viena kitai prieštaraujančių darbo įstatymų nuostatų. Pasenus įstatymams, problemas, kylančias darbo teisėje, yra priversti spręsti teismai. Darbo įstatymus būtina tobulinti atsižvelgiant į Europos institucijų rekomendacijas, mokslininkų įžvalgas ir teismų praktiką

Saugos ir sveikatos darbe reglamentavimo problemos kelių transporto srityje.

The paper deals with problems of reglamentation of health and safety at work in road transport sector in the Republic of Lithuania. The author pays attention to the fact that a lot of standards are provided in international, European, and national legal acts but there is no sector-specific provisions on health and safety for the road transport sector. However the statistics shows that road transport sector is one of the most dangerous sectors with a growing number of accidents at work. Both European Community and national legal framework on health and safety is very complex and not very clear and has to be simplified and rationalised. The lack of provisional information from State labour inspectorate and other competent institutions about existing and new requirements on specifics of health and safety at work in road transport is marked. Due to the lack of dialogue between social partners, there are difficulties with the local (establishment-level) regulation of safety and health at work. Trade unions are not active in process of consultation and information of employees inside establishments. Therefore the road transport operators are not able to sort out, enact in local legal acts and observe all the standards in this field.Straipsnyje nagrinėjama saugių ir sveikų darbo sąlygų reglamentavimo problema kelių transporto ūkio srityje, Nurodomi teisės norminiai aktai, reglamentuojantys darbuotojų saugą ir sveikatą, nagrinėjamos šių aktų įgyvendinimo praktikoje problemos- Valstybei siūloma aktyviau dalyvauti reikalavimus norminiuose teisės aktuose ne tik įtvirtinant, bet ir pritaikant. Aptariamos galimybės kompetentingoms ministerijoms bendradarbiaujant su Europos Sąjungos institucijomis parengti pavyzdinius šakinius norminius teisės aktus, skirtus kelių transporto darbuotojų saugai ir sveikatai darbe nustatyti

Darbo nuoma ir jos teisinio reguliavimo perspektyvos Lietuvoje.

Flexibility and Flexible Work remains most perspective forms of organisation of work. Nowadays three main forms of service providing (except employment relations) exist: 1) freelancers, 2) outsourcing and 3) temporary agency work. The regulation of temporary agency work in Europe and the ways of adoption of such regulation in Lithuania is analysed in the paper. Temporary agency work relations are regulated by International Labour Organisation Convention No 181, EC Directive 91/383 and partly by Directive 96/71. The draft of Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on Working Conditions for Temporary Workers is under discussion and is on its way for adoption in European Parliament. The purpose of this Directive is to ensure the protection of temporary agency workers and to improve the quality of temporary agency work by ensuring that the principle of equal treatment is applied to temporary agency workers and recognising temporary agencies as employers, while taking into account the need for establishing a suitable framework for the use of temporary agency work with a view to contributing effectively to the creation of jobs and to the development of flexible forms of working. The provisions of directive draft are discussed in the paper. Social partners discuss the draft of new Law of The Republic of Lithuania on Temporary Agency Work. Authors highlight the importance to achieve two main goals in the new law; 1) it shall regulate temporary agency work ensuring the application of the principle of equal treatment and social security for employees, and at the same time 2) it shall exploit temporary agency work as a flexibility model to obtain benefits solving problems of unemployment and shortage of qualified employees.Lanksčios darbo formos šiuo metu išlieka perspektyviausios darbo organizavimo formos. Viena jų - darbo nuoma, arba agentūrinis darbas. Šiame straipsnyje analizuojamas darbo nuomos teisinis reglamentavimas Europoje ir nagrinėjamas tokio reglamentavimo atsiradimas Lietuvos Respublikoje. Sudėtingi gamybos procesai bei gamybos išlaidų mažinimas skatina ieškoti nestandartinių darbo organizavimo formų. Pagal formos požymius paslaugų teikėjus galime skirstyti į 1) laisvai samdomus specialistus (angį. freelancer), 2) funkcinių paslaugų (angį. outsourcing) įmones ir 3) personalo nuomos įmones, besispecializuojančias operatyviai suteikti rinkos dalyviams - savo klientams - reikalingos specializacijos ir kvalifikacijos darbuotojus konkrečiai nustatytam laikui ir/arba konkrečiai apibrėžtam darbui atlikti. Darbo nuomos santykius reglamentuoja Tarptautinės darbo organizacijos konvencija Nr. 181, Europos Sąjungos (toliau ir ES) direktyva 91/383, rengiama Europos Sąjungos direktyva dėl laikinųjų darbuotojų apsaugos. Šios direktyvos tikslas - užtikrinti laikinųjų darbuotojų apsaugą ir pagerinti laikino darbo kokybę užtikrinant, kad laikiniesiems darbuotojams būtų taikomas vienodo požiūrio principas ir laikino įdarbinimo įmonės būtų pripažintos darbdaviais, tuo pat metu atsižvelgiant į poreikį nustatyti tinkamą laikino darbo naudojimo sistemą siekiant veiksmingai prisidėti prie darbo vietų kūrimo ir lanksčių darbo formų plėtojimo. Lietuvoje socialiniai partneriai diskutuoja Darbo nuomos įstatymo projektą. Svarbu pasiekti, kad būsimasis Darbo nuomos įstatymas reglamentuotų darbo nuomą taip, kad užtikrintų laikinųjų darbuotojų teises ir interesus ir kartu sudarytų sąlygas darbo rinkai efektyviai pasinaudoti šia lanksčia darbo forma, kuri leistų spręsti nedarbo ir darbuotojų trūkumo problemas

Taikytinos teisės pasirinkimo darbo teisiniuose santykiuose galimybės pagal „Roma I“ reglamentą.

In this paper, the right to choose law applicable to individual employment contracts under Regulation Rome I that replaced the 1980 Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations is discussed. The short evolution of the European choice-of-law rules for employment contracts and principle of parties’ autonomy is revealed. The Regulation Rome I implementation practices as well as expression of such choice and cases of limitations are analysed in the paper, as well. The following questions that arise from provisions on the law applicable to the employment contracts and a wide scope of application of Rome I Regulation are discussed: 1) Do the parties to the employment contract may choose applicable law of any State?; 2) Is it necessary to have a connection between the contract and the State whose law the parties have chosen to apply?; 3) Is there a need of foreign element in the relationship when choosing other State’s law and should it be seen as a foreign element in terms of the Rome I Regulation?; 4) Is the choice of the parties limited to only State law or may it include non-state provisions as well? Practical situations arising from the abovementioned questions are presented in the paper, too. After analysing individual national laws, case law and doctrine, two types of the interpretation of the principle of autonomy are presented: 1) the first type (which is used in Lithuania and many other European countries), where the parties are completely free and may choose the applicable law, irrespective of the fact that contractual relationship is related to only one state and the fact that the state whose law is chosen by the parties, has no connection with the employment contract; and 2) the second type (which is used in Poland, Germany), where the parties may exercise the freedom of choice of the contractual relationship only when there is an objective connection with the state which law is chosen. Finally, some states provide that the parties may choose only law of a particular state. However, it is stressed that parties to an employment contract are free to agree on any law to the extent that the agreement improves upon the mandatory minimum standard of protection set by the objectively applicable law.Straipsnyje aptariamas Europos Parlamento ir Tarybos reglamente (EB) Nr. 593/2008 dėl sutartiniams santykiams taikytinos teisės (Roma I) įtvirtintas šalių autonomijos principas, suteikiantis galimybę pasirinkti taikytiną teisę darbo teisiniuose santykiuose. Aptariami praktiniai tokio pasirinkimo pavyzdžiai, nurodoma, kaip turi būti pasirinkimas išreikštas, kokie yra nustatyti pasirinkimo apribojimai, taip pat kitos problemos, iškylančios taikant minėtą reglamentą praktikoje

Dispozityvumo įgyvendinimas Lietuvos darbo teisėje

The freedom to agree on employment conditions in employment contract in Lithuania is discussed in this article. The practice of employment relationship used to be quite conservative in Lithuania but since joining the European Union the employment practice from the Western countries started to spread rapidly. The questions of legitimacy of the new practices such as agency work, noncompete clause or zero hour work arises and are analysed in courts. Authors examine the limits of freedom of contract in employment relationship given in the Labour Code of Republic of Lithuania. The Constitution of Republic of Lithuania provides that each human being may freely choose a job or business, and shall have the right to have proper, safe and healthy conditions at work, to receive fair pay for work and social security in the event of unemployment. These guarantees roll back the frontiers for freedom of contract in employment relationship. In the cases where the Labour Code and other laws do not directly prohibit parties of legal employment relationships from establishing, of their own accord and by agreement, mutual rights and obligations, the parties must observe the principles of equity, reasonableness and fairness. The parties may not establish working conditions, which are less favourable to the employee than those provided by the Labour Code, laws, other regulatory acts and the collective agreement. The understanding of “less favourable” conditions shall be evaluated in every case separately taking into consideration the general level of guarantees given to employees. Authors suggest removing part of guarantees provided in Labour Code leaving more space to agree on it in employment contract or collective agreement. The guide for the state imperative employment regulation could be the rights set in Constitution, European Union labour law and international labour law standards ratified by state. These changes in legal regulation could lead to more active initiatives by employees to agree on working conditions locally and/or collectively and involve parties into constructive social dialogue. The practice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania is discussed. The suggestion to provide the rules for noncompete clause in Labour code is given because it limits the right to choose the job freely. The court precedents related to confidentiality clause, changing of essential conditions of the employment contract, compensation of expenses incurred in relation to the employee’s training, part time work, fixed-term contract and other conditions are reviewed in the article.Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas darbdavio ir darbuotojo susitarimas kaip dispozityvus darbo santykių reglamentavimo būdas, siekiant išsiaiškinti, kiek laisvai darbo sutarties šalys savo susitarimu gali prisiimti įsipareigojimus, kaip teisės aktai reguliuoja susitarimų dėl papildomų darbdavio ir darbuotojo įsipareigojimų sudarymą. Diskutuojama, jog nebūtina visus darbo procese atsirandančius santykius stengtis reguliuoti valstybės leidžiamais norminiais teisės aktais, siūloma papildomas darbo sutarties sąlygas palikti šalių dispozicijai ar socialinių partnerių dialogui. Taip pat aptariamos dabar praktikoje egzistuojančios ir Darbo kodekse nereglamentuojamos darbo sutarčių sąlygos, apžvelgiama su tuo susijusi Lietuvos teismų praktika

Genome Characterisation of Enteroviruses 117 and 118 : A New Group within Human Enterovirus Species C

The more than 120 genotypes of human enteroviruses (HEVs) reflect a wide range of evolutionary divergence, and there are 23 currently classified as human enterovirus C species (HEV-C). Two new HEV-C (EV-C117 and EV-C118) were identified in the Community-Acquired Pneumonia Pediatric Research Initiative (CAP-PRI) study, and the present paper describes the characterisation of the complete genome of one EV-C117 strain (LIT22) and two EV-C118 (ISR38 and ISR10) strains. The EV-C117 and EV-C118 5'UTR sequences were related to those of EV-C104, EV-C105 and EV-C109, and were slightly shorter than those of other HEV A-D species. Similarity plot analyses showed that EV-C117 and EV-C118 have a P1 region that is highly divergent from that of the other HEV-C, and phylogenetic analyses highly supported a monophyletic group consisting of EV-C117, EV-C118, EV-C104, EV-C105 and EV-C109 strains. Phylogenetic, Simplot and Bootscan analyses indicated that recombination was not the main mechanism of EV-C117 and EV-C118 evolution, thus strengthening the hypothesis of the monophyletic origin of the coding regions, as in the case of other HEV-C. Phylogenetic analysis also revealed the emergence of a new group within HEV-C that is divided into two subgroups. Nucleotide and amino acid identity in VP1 sequences have been established as useful criteria for assigning new HEV types, but analysis of the complete P1 region improves resolutio

Correlation of protection against varicella in a randomized Phase III varicella-containing vaccine efficacy trial in healthy infants

Background: Varicella vaccination confers high and long-lasting protection against chickenpox and induces robust immune responses, but an absolute correlate of protection (CoP) against varicella has not been established. This study models the relationship between varicella humoral response and protection against varicella. Methods: This was a post-hoc analysis of data from a Phase IIIb, multicenter, randomized trial (NCT00226499) conducted in ten varicella-endemic European countries. Healthy children aged 12–22 months were randomized 3:3:1 to receive one dose of measles-mumps-rubella and one dose of varicella vaccine (one-dose group) or two doses of measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine (two-dose group) or two doses of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (control group) six weeks apart. The study remained observer-blind until completion, except in countries with obligatory additional immunizations. The objective was to correlate varicella-specific antibody concentrations with protection against varicella and probability of varicella breakthrough, using Cox proportional hazards and Dunning and accelerated failure time statistical models. The analysis was guided by the Prentice framework to explore a CoP against varicella. Results: The trial included 5803 participants, 5289 in the efficacy (2266: one-dose group, 2279: two-dose group and 744: control group) and 5235 (2248, 2245 and 742 in the same groups) in the immunogenicity cohort. The trial ended in 2016 with a median follow-up time of 9.8 years. Six weeks after vaccination with one- or two-dose varicella-containing vaccine, more than 93.0% of vaccinees were seropositive for varicella-specific antibodies. Estimated vaccine efficacy correlated positively with antibody concentrations. The fourth Prentice CoP criterion was not met, due to predicted positive vaccine efficacy in seronegative participants. Further modelling showed decreased probability of moderate to severe varicella breakthrough with increasing varicella-specific antibody concentrations (ten-year probability <0.1 for antibody concentrations ≥2-fold above the seropositivity cut-off). Conclusions: Varicella-specific antibody concentrations are a good predictor of protection, given their inverse correlation with varicella occurrence. Clinical trial: NCT00226499