Articles de revues sur le sujet « Code-sharing Agreements »

This paper addresses the issue of inter-organizational information-sharing alliances and their impacts on firm values from the perspective of inter-organizational coordination between partners in the airline industry setting. We investigate the shareholder wealth effects of inter-organizational information-sharing alliance arrangements, using 131 cede sharing agrc.unems in the airline industry betwcm 1984-1997. Employing event study methodology, we find that the information-sharing alliances between similar partners did create positive value in terms of stock returns at the time of alliance announcements to major US airlines. However, alliances between dissimilar partners resulted in significant losses of shareholder value to the major airlines. These results strongly support our main hypotheses, that information- sharing alliances arc successful and the benefits of such alliances are realized only when coordination difficulties can be effectively dealt with.

Mawah is an agreement made between the owner of the property and the manager in which the proceeds will be divided based on the agreed agreement. Each agreement can be verbal or written, as long as the conditions for the validity of the agreement as stipulated in Article 1320 of the Civil Code are fulfilled. Generally, mawah agreements are made in the agricultural, land, plantation, animal husbandry sectors, and so on. This research aims to examine how the profit sharing agreement of mawah for livestock between farmers and livestock owners in Pasie Raja District, Aceh Selatan Regency, how to resolve profit sharing disputes in the practice of mawah on livestock and how the perspective of civil law on dispute resolution related to profit sharing. The method used in this research is empirical juridical. Collecting data in the field through interviews with respondents and informants, as well as documentation of activities in the field. The results of the study show that the agreement on the practice of mawah for livestock is still carried out orally. In the implementation of the mawah profit sharing agreement, there are differences between male buffalo, female buffalo that have never given birth, and female buffalo that have given birth. Efforts to resolve profit-sharing disputes in the practice of mawah on livestock are by way of deliberation or kinship, and the perspective of civil law regarding dispute resolution related to mawah profit sharing is appropriate, because the settlement route taken is non-litigation.

First, we revisit the concepts of airline marketing strategy, its components, code-share agreements, Business Model Canvas (BMC) and the benefits of marketing via strategic alliances. Due to the growth in the low-cost airlines sector and air transport passengers, traditional airlines have become increasingly exposed to a highly competitive international market, with airfares having to be reduced and efficiency increased. In response, airline companies have shifted their focus to investing in airline marketing and strategy research. In the meantime, passenger expectations change, and markets evolve rapidly. Hence, this case study is aimed at examining recent trends in passenger satisfaction and expectations, with reference to the marketing factors and airline cooperative strategies of Qantas and Thai Airways. For the study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed and the results are presented separately. In the quantitative section, the BMCs of Qantas and Thai Airways are discussed to determine whether these two airlines can implement the code-sharing agreement. In the following part, customer satisfaction and expectations survey results are used to identify optimal marketing strategies and to formulate recommendations.

The relationship between creditors and debtors is unique. Creditors need debtors as customers and bind them in credit agreements. Creditors tend to be suspicious of debtors as debtors selectively disclose information. This relationship follows the agency theory. Creditors always want a fair and equal position with other creditors. This research is unique in discussing the situation between creditors in the concept of negative pledge and pari passu pro-rata parte. Aside from that, the study also observes the relationship between creditors and debtors in credit agreements and discusses solutions that can be given by debtors to creditors so that the pari passu pro-rata parte principle can be achieved. The pari passu pro-rata parte principle is regulated in the Indonesian Civil Code article 1131 - 1132 and Law on Bankruptcy article 176 jo. 189. The methodology used is the normative juridical method, specifically hermeneutics and idiographic from the economic and financial perspective. The research concluded that debtors and creditors could ensure a fair and equal position by implementing negative pledge through Master Credit Agreement and Security Sharing Agreement. Future research should study on the role of curators and judges as key people to keep the concept of negative pledge running well.

Agreements, consensuses, protocols, resource-sharing, and fairness are all examples of social and political metaphors that define and shape new computational algorithms. The thought experiments and allegories about resource-sharing or agreement between nodes played a vital role in the development of "concurrent programming" (enabling processor power-sharing and process synchronization) and still later in the development of distributed computing (facilitating data access and synchronization). These paved the way for current concepts of consensus mechanisms, smart contracts, and other descriptions of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, distributed ledger, and hashgraph technologies, paradoxically reversing the relations between metaphor and artifact. New computing concepts and algorithmic processes, such as consensus mechanisms, trustless networks, and automated smart contracts or DAOs (Distributed Autonomous Organizations), aim to disrupt social contracts and political decision-making and replace economic, social, and political institutions (e.g., law, money, voting). Rather than something that needs a metaphor, algorithms are becoming the metaphor of good governance. Current fantasies of algorithmic governance exemplify this reversal of the role played by metaphors: they reduce all concepts of governance to automation and curtail opportunities for defining new computing challenges inspired by the original allegories, thought experiments, and metaphors. Especially now, when we are still learning how best to govern the transgressions and excesses of emerging distributed ledger technologies, productive relations between software and allegory, algorithms and metaphors, code and law are possible so long as they remain transitive. Against this tyranny of algorithms and technologies as metaphors and aspirational models of governance, we propose sandboxes and environments that allow stakeholders to combine prototyping with deliberation, algorithms with metaphors, codes with regulations.

Background United States data protection laws vary depending on the data type and its context. Data projects involving social determinants of health often concern different data protection laws, making them difficult to navigate. Objective We systematically aggregated and assessed useful online resources to help navigate the data-sharing landscape. Methods We included publicly available resources that discussed legal data-sharing issues with some health relevance and published between 2010 and 2019. We conducted an iterative search with a common string pattern using a general-purpose search engine that targeted 24 different sectors identified by Data Across Sectors for Health. We scored each online resource for its depth of legal and data-sharing discussions and value for addressing legal barriers. Results Out of 3710 total search hits, 2721 unique URLs were reviewed for scope, 322 received full-text review, and 154 were selected for final coding. Legal agreements, consent, and agency guidance were the most widely covered legal topics, with HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 2 being the top 3 federal laws discussed. Clinical health care was the most prominent sector with a mention in 73 resources. Conclusions This is the first systematic study of publicly available resources on legal data-sharing issues. We found existing gaps where resources covering certain laws or applications may be needed. The volume of resources we found is an indicator that real and perceived legal issues are a substantial barrier to efforts in leveraging data from different sectors to promote health.

Introduction: the article is devoted to the analysis of legal regulation of smart contracts, the concept, content, and scope of their application. The author analyzes in detail foreign expe- rience of using smart contracts and suggests possible options for expanding the application area. The article also has a separate section that looks at smart contracts as compared with traditional institutions of civil law. Smart contracts are expected to find application in almost all areas of life in the future. As is often the case with new technologies, the use of smart con- tracts raises a number of civil law issues. Blockchain technology makes it possible not only to create new means of payment but also to autonomously manage almost any process. It can be used for individual contracts and even for the creation of autonomous decentralized systems. Purpose: to provide an insight into the institution of smart contracts and define their role in civ- il law. Methods: empirical methods of comparison, description, interpretation; theoretical me- thods of formal and dialectical logic; special scientific methods such as the legal-dogmatic me- thod, the methods of interpretation of legal norms and comparative legal research. Results: smart contracts are computer programs that perform legally significant actions according to predetermined algorithms set out in the form of a so-called program code. In practice, they are especially important in connection with the development of blockchain technology or (more generally) distributed ledger technology. Conclusions: the term ‘smart contract’ was defined by Nick Szabo in the 1990s as a sequence of commands represented in digital form, including transaction protocols that execute these agreements. Thus, smart contracts formulate rules and sanctions for agreements and execute them automatically. These are not necessarily contracts in the legal sense, but they are capable of controlling, tracking, and documenting legally signif- icant actions. Smart contracts can also be implemented using traditional, for example, mechan- ical technologies (e.g. in a vending machine). However, blockchain and distributed ledger tech- nologies make it possible to implement incomparably more complex rules and enforcement me- chanisms and offer a decentralized environment with an integrated settlement system. From a legal point of view, smart contracts perform two functions. On the one hand, they serve as a functional equivalent of a contract since their technological code can identify the services to be exchanged as well as the conditions under which they must be provided. Being the normative order of the digital, this code formulates the program of obligations of the parties. It resembles the legal order of a contract, without necessarily coinciding with it. On the other hand, smart contracts serve as a tool for the execution of contracts – by controlling, monitoring, and docu- menting the exchange of services. They can also facilitate the execution of conventional con- tracts by translating their provisions into a technical code, verifying the occurrence of agreed- upon events, and enforcing contracts. Smart contracts are suitable for contractual relation- ships, for example, for processing payments or delivering goods without the participation of the parties and an intermediate step in the form of direct execution. Smart contracts are gaining more and more popularity, especially in the financial sector. In addition to the so-called token economy (cryptocurrencies, ICO, etc.), there are also discussed algorithmic ETFs, online plat- forms for loans or project financing. Another important area of application is sharing economy. From a legal point of view, smart contracts can either be the subject of a contractual agreement or generate it on their own. There is sometimes put forward a thesis under the motto ‘Code is law’ that smart contracts give rise to a largely autonomous legal system and/ or are not subject to applicable law. However, this appears to be an erroneous conclusion

Airline carriage has became a more preferred way of transportation day by day. That is why the airline companies, regarding on one hand to develop their flight network and realize more profits on the other, started to cooperate with each other. Such cooperation was intensified with code sharing practice. Although code sharing seems good practice for airline companies, there is a reality that it has some difficulties problematic issues besides its advantages. In our study we will examine code sharing and Open State Agreement’ specialties in consideration of air carrier’s civil responsibility. We will analyze the possible legal problem that may be concluded from the code-sharing in conjunction with the OSA. In other words, we will examine the problems that occur when these two terms conflicts.

This study aims to examine and analyze the legal position of the plantation profit sharing agreement in the form of an oral agreement and the validity of the oral agreement on the plantation production sharing agreement in the village of Nalahia, Central Maluku. This research is a sociolegal research, which is a combination research method between doctrinal law research methods and empirical legal research methods. This research was conducted in the village of Nalahia, NusalautSubdistrict, Central Maluku.This type of research data is primary data and secondary data obtained through literature study and interview techniques with respondents. Based on the results of the study, the plantation production sharing agreement in the village of Nalahia, NusalautSubdistrict, Central Maluku Regency met the legal requirements of the agreement as stated in Article 1320 of the Civil Code and was carried out in good faith. Therefore, this agreement is still considered valid and binding on both parties, namely the plantation owner and the sharecropper.

Islamic banking shows great potential, this is indicated by the large number of conventional banks converting to sharia-based banks. The conversion of conventional commercial banks to Islamic commercial banks has its own terms and procedures because it has quite basic differences, especially in the characteristics between interest calculation and profit sharing. Likewise, regarding the legal consequences that arise after conventional commercial banks are converted into Islamic commercial banks, of course, they also have their own characteristics. This research aims to find out how legal certainty over the Post-Conversion Financing Contract of NTB Bank into Bank NTB Shariah. This type of research is normative juridical research. This research uses a statute approach. Sources of Legal Materials used are primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The collection of legal materials is carried out by methods of documentation studies and literature studies. The material is analyzed descriptively. The agreement in the financing contract at Islamic banking system is identical to the agreement in the credit contract at conventional banks, because the agreement's concept still refers to the Civil Code's Book III on General Engagements. According to Article 1233 of the Civil Code, an engagement occurs as a result of an agreement or by legislation. However, it should be noted that while financing Islamic banks, they must adhere to the Islamic economic rules that govern all banking activities.

Property as a life support for the bride and groom in the marriage bond. Where the property is obtained before the marriage (innate property) and obtained during the marriage (joint property). If the marriage bond is dissolved or broken, then each of them will defend their rights to the joint property so that the joint property is often a serious problem and often creates debate between the two parties (husband and wife).The research approach method used in this thesis is sociological juridical. This research specification uses descriptive analysis. The type of data used in this research is primary data which includes the 1945 Constitution; Act No. 2 of 2014 concerning the Position of a Notary; Act No. 16 of 2019 on the amendment to Act No. 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage; Code of Civil law; Compilation of Islamic Law, as well as secondary data containing books and other supporting documents. Collecting research data with interview techniques and study of documents or library materials. The data analysis method used is qualitative analysis.The results of the research and discussion that: First; the division of joint property for couples who are going to divorce in the concept of justice, namely dividing joint property equally or equally. This is in line with what has been regulated in the Marriage Law, the Civil Code and the compilation of Islamic Law which states that if there is a divorce, the joint assets are divided equally. Second; The role of a notary in making a deed of a joint property distribution agreement for a divorced couple without a marriage agreement, namely a notary as a public official who has the authority to make an authentic deed including a deed of a joint property distribution agreement based on the will of both parties who agree to share their assets in accordance with the law. applicable.

The modern socio-economic context of shared consumption (sharing economy) sets new goals and objectives of using joint activities.The article presents the main theoretical and practical problems of types of the partnership agreement as an organizational agreement, forms of organization and conduct of joint activity.The article is prepared with due regard to the reform of contract law of the Russian Federation, new trends in the science of civil law and in law enforcement practice. Also, the article takes into account the jurisprudence that contains new approaches to the interpretation of an obligation and agreement under consideration. In this regard, the decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (for example, the Decision dated March 24, 2016 No. 7 “On Application by Courts of Certain Provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation Concerning the Breach of the Obligations,» 22 November 2016 No. 54 “On Certain Issues of Application of General Provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on Obligations and Their Performance”) are subjected to thorough examination.Particular attention is paid to the legal nature, constitutional features of certain types of the partnership agreement, their manifestations in modern civil legislation and practice of application.

Blind adult members (N = 43; 25 female, 18 male) of a cassette tape-sharing group were administered Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) either by cassette tape or with the help of a reader. In both cases, an assistant marked the answers on the SDS form and computed the scale scores. Mean scores and standard deviations were calculated for each of the six Holland personality types for both male and female participants. Results showed that the Social (S) type had the highest means for both men and women. A majority of the women obtained S as the first letter of their Holland code. S was also the most common first letter code for the men. Means were computed for agreement between SDS codes and first occupational daydream codes, using both the Zener-Schnuelle Index and the hexagonal model. A comparison between these means and normative data revealed that blind male agreement scores on the Zener-Schnuelle Index were lower than those for the normative data. Participants’ Holland codes were also compared to codes considered common and rare.

Buying and selling is an activity that takes place and is inherent in every society in the State of Indonesia. Therefore, there are many rules that regulate the matter of buying and selling in Indonesia. Agreements made by the community in terms of buying and selling must be clear and have a legal basis because every agreement born of an agreement is bound by law, as stated in article 1338 of the Civil Code (KUHPerdt). Buying and selling also has its own way, including buying and selling in the ijon or ngijon system, namely selling fruit that has not been seen. This research is categorized into the type of empirical normative legal research, it is based on the issues and or themes raised as research topics. Empirical normative legal research uses case studies in the form of products of legal behavior, for example reviewing laws and their application in society.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of pressure angle on drive and coast sides in conventional design asymmetric normal contact ratio spur gear, considering the load sharing between the gear teeth pair. The multi pair contact model in finite element analysis is used to find the load sharing ratio and respective stresses. It has been found out that the predictions through multipoint contact model are in good agreement with the available literature. A unique Ansys parametric design language code is developed for this study. It is found that, the maximum fillet stress decreases up to the threshold point for drive side (35o) and coast side (25o) pressure angles, beyond this point it increases. The load share based maximum fillet and contact stresses are lower in the high pressure angle side than that of the low pressure angle side, when it is loaded at the critical loading points.

Granting credit by the bank to the society greatly helps to develop a business that is run by community both individuals and legal entities. The government of the Republic of Indonesia has intructed banking to provide credit facilities especially for the middle and lower businesses. Banking credit agreement is a standard contract made by the bank by almost not giving freedom at all to the other parties to do negotiation for the requirements offered. This type of research using a normative juridicial research. This research aims to analyze the exoneration clauses in a credit agreement between PT. Bank Mandiri Persero (Tbk) Semarang with Wibowo, S.E. and Siti Aisyah. The bank credit agreement is the legal agreement to the Article 1320 of Indonesian Civil Code. However, the exoneration clauses listed on it contradicts some basis in the law agreement and also violates the provisions of Article 18 of The Consumer Protection Act. Clauses in a credit agreement are made to regulate the rights and the obligatons of the parties so that reasonable risk sharing occures between the bank and the customer. In fact, exoneration clauses are often abused by businessman attempting to diminish, divert and even refuse responsibility. The result of this research concludes that: First, the Government must provide more limits on the using of exoneration clauses through revision of The Consumer Protection Act. Second, PT. Bank Mandiri (Tbk) Semarang must be more meticulous and careful to determine contents of credit agreement.

In this data note we provide the details of a research database of 4831 adult intensive care patients who were treated in the Bristol Royal Infirmary, UK between 2015 and 2019. The purposes of this publication are to describe the dataset for external researchers who may be interested in making use of it, and to detail the methods used to curate the dataset in order to help other intensive care units make secondary use of their routinely collected data. The curation involves linkage between two critical care datasets within our hospital and the accompanying code is available online. For reasons of data privacy the data cannot be shared without researchers obtaining appropriate ethical consents. In the future we hope to obtain a data sharing agreement in order to publicly share the de-identified data, and to link our data with other intensive care units who use a Philips clinical information system.

In the business world, capital is an obstacle that is often faced by business actors, especially for small businesses. In order to solve this problem, the government issued regulations related to this problem. Among them through PP No. 9 of 2009 which regulates Financing Institutions and Minister of Finance Regulation No. 18/PMK.010/2012 Regarding Venture Capital Companies. In practice, this company in its capital participation with its business partner company is stated in the form of a written agreement (contract). The purpose of this study was to analyze the contents of the venture capital financing contract with a profit-sharing pattern at PT. South Sumatra SPV. Meanwhile, the problem of this research is how is the financing contract with the profit-sharing pattern applied by PMV with small and medium business actors in South Sumatra. This type of legal research is normative in nature, the legal materials used are primary, secondary and tertiary. It is carried out with a statutory approach and the conclusion of this research is that the financing contract carried out by the parties both formally and materially has fulfilled the legal requirements of a contract as regulated in Article 1320 and Article 1338 of the Civil Code Pdt and made before a Notary and signed by the business partner company and PMV represented by the management, namely the Board of Directors.

The wide distribution of mobile wireless devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) warrants cryptographic protection of information transmitted by these devices, which requires supplying these devices with keys and providing their authentication. Recently, research on key authentication methods within scenarios of pairing mobile devices, has been increasingly relevant. In these conditions, mobile devices are located close to each other, up to the physical contact, and an additional key sharing authenticated channel protected from interception is established for purposes of key authentication. The analysis of additional channel versions: visual, acoustic, vibration, tactile, and magnetometric shows advantages of the latter one in terms of speed and reliability of authentication, as well as easer se of this channel compared to other methods. A magnetometer channel forms if there are magnetometers in mobile devices that measure the Earth’s magnetic field. Random fluctuations of the magnetic field at the measurement point allow to generate in a pair of mobile devices random sequences that coincide with a high probability and which can be used to authenticate session keys. The “Magparing” protocol of mobile devices keys authentication, which are distributed by Diffie-Hellman method is studied. his protocol is based on the magnetometer data measuring. We demonstrate that the protocol is succeptible to “man-in-the-middle” attack. This fact is confirmed also by software AVISPA simulation. A new key authentication method based on the use of authenticating code (A-code) is proposed. Authenticators for Diffie-Hellman values are generated based on A-code blocks and random sequences obtained by the reading of magnetometer’s values. An approach for A-code parameters optimization, that conforms to the requirements for authentication key length and both to the probabilities of false key removal and false key deception, is investigated. We present an example of code parameters for key authentication with the length of 256 bits, providing the probability of a false key agreement of not greater than 10-9 and a probability of false rejection of a true key equal to –10–6, which shows viability of the proposed authentication method.

Objective – The tension between upholding privacy as a professional value and the ubiquity of collecting patrons’ data to provide online services is now common in libraries. Privacy policies that explain how the library collects and uses patron records are one way libraries can provide transparency around this issue. This study examines 78 policies collected from the public websites of U.S. Association of Research Libraries’ (ARL) members and examines these policies for compliance with American Library Association (ALA) guidelines on privacy policy content. This overview can provide library policy makers with a sense of trends in the privacy policies of research-intensive academic libraries, and a sense of the gaps where current policies (and guidelines) may not adequately address current privacy concerns. Methods – Content analysis was applied to analyze all privacy policies. A deductive codebook based on ALA privacy policy guidelines was first used to code all policies. The authors used consensus coding to arrive at agreement about where codes were present. An inductive codebook was then developed to address themes present in the text that remained uncoded after initial deductive coding. Results – Deductive coding indicated low policy compliance with ALA guidelines. None of the 78 policies contained all 20 codes derived from the guidelines, and only 6% contained more than half. No individual policy contained more than 75% of the content recommended by ALA. Inductive coding revealed themes that expanded on the ALA guidelines or addressed emerging privacy concerns such as library-initiated data collection and sharing patron data with institutional partners. No single inductive code appeared in more than 63% of policies. Conclusion – Academic library privacy policies appear to be evolving to address emerging concerns such as library-initiated data collection, invisible data collection via vendor platforms, and data sharing with institutional partners. However, this study indicates that most libraries do not provide patrons with a policy that comprehensively addresses how patrons’ data are obtained, used, and shared by the library.

AbstractAs social media become a staple for knowledge discovery and sharing, questions arise about how self-organizing communities manage learning outside the domain of organized, authority-led institutions. Yet examination of such communities is challenged by the quantity of posts and variety of media now used for learning. This paper addresses the challenges of identifying (1) what information, communication, and discursive practices support successful online communities, (2) whether such practices are similar on Twitter and Reddit, and (3) whether machine learning classifiers can be successfully used to analyze larger datasets of learning exchanges. This paper builds on earlier work that used manual coding of learning and exchange in Reddit ‘Ask’ communities to derive a coding schema we refer to as ‘learning in the wild’. This schema of eight categories: explanation with disagreement, agreement, or neutral presentation; socializing with negative, or positive intent; information seeking; providing resources; and comments about forum rules and norms. To compare across media, results from coding Reddit’s AskHistorians are compared to results from coding a sample of #Twitterstorians tweets (n = 594). High agreement between coders affirmed the applicability of the coding schema to this different medium. LIWC lexicon-based text analysis was used to build machine learning classifiers and apply these to code a larger dataset of tweets (n = 69,101). This research shows that the ‘learning in the wild’ coding schema holds across at least two different platforms, and is partially scalable to study larger online learning communities.

Abstract This article seeks to clarify how the principle of common heritage is being implemented and concretized by the fiscal regime of deep seabed mining. It first explicates the exploitation rationale underlying the common heritage principle. It argues that common heritage is a jurisdictional principle that lays the basis for the international allocation and administration of exploitation rights and, thus, for the effective economic exploitation of seabed minerals. This exploitation bias is strengthened by the perceived remoteness of deep seabed mining and the real institutional disembeddedness of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). To better understand the distribution conflicts that the law of deep seabed mining addresses, the article introduces two (competing) sets of public interest objectives: participation in exploitation and revenue generation pursued by newly independent (and, today, developing) states and access to raw materials pursued by industrialized states. The article then focuses on the different ways in which the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement on the Implementation of Part XI promote, reconcile and detract from the identified public interest objectives. It reveals how the participation objective has given way to a focus on market supply and revenue generation, and how the changes of the 1994 Implementation Agreement may be read as an attempt to dissolve the conflict between these competing public interest objectives, and to depoliticize the seabed regime. Third, the article turns to the ongoing work on a mining code for the deep seabed that, inter alia, must implement the ISA’s mandates to generate revenue from deep seabed mining and to redistribute this revenue. It shows how the ISA’s adoption of an individualist stakeholder orientation and its deference to commercial expectations of profitability, in the context of growing political attention to the oceans as a source of economic growth, are further transforming the notion of common heritage and benefit sharing and concomitantly undermine the regime’s redistributive ambitions. It also clarifies how the sponsorship of deep seabed mining by small Pacific island states holds only little promise of significant public revenue generation for these states, but may work to undermine solidarity among developing states. The article ends with a call on international lawyers to recognize the designing of a mining code for the deep seabed as the making of political economy.

Investigating the legality? Ha ha ha! That cracks me up. There is no international law that would prohibit this action by the Defense Department, nor is there any international court that France may appeal to. I of course think that this is the correct decision. Those countries who did not help win the war – who did not pay the price in blood – have no claim to the postwar profits. – Mike, Why I'm Right, Internet ForumDuring the Reagan administration, I helped negotiate … the “GATT Government Procurement Code”, later incorporated into the World Trade Organization's legal framework. The U.S. was the primary force behind this legal agreement. It was not motivated by altruism, but out of a belief that all signatory governments … and their respective tax payers would benefit from basing practices on economic factors rather than national favoritism. - Gene Tuttle, in responseInfrastructure in Iraq lies in tatters. Unscrupulous exploitation by Saddam Hussein's dictatorial regime, burdensome economic sanctions and massive destruction during the U.S.-led military operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ have turned Iraq into one of the world's most destitute countries. On the UN Human Poverty Index for 2003, Iraq ranks seventy-first out of ninety-six developing nations. The reconstruction of basic infrastructure is but one first step towards development and economic growth. Rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, however, involves substantial economic interests. After all, the cake to be distributed for rebuilding Iraq is expected to exceed $100 billion. Some companies see on the horizon one of the most rewarding business opportunities “undertaken in over 50 years” At the same time, there is a growing suspicion that political or even personal biases of the United States' administration have a bigger role to play than economic reason when it comes to sharing the cake. In December 2003, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, announced that some of America's trading partners, among them Canada, France, Germany and Russia, would be altogether excluded from competition for major reconstruction projects in Iraq. Public opinion in Europe was quick to brand the United States an international law-breaker. Can one State simply reserve to itself the final word on the Iraqi reconstruction money?

Subject area Pricing, digital marketing, marketing management and strategic marketing. Study level/applicability The case can be used for pricing or digital marketing courses as well as marketing management courses to MBA students and/or for management development programmes. Case overview Goldfinch Mobile Solutions, a Hong-Kong based value added services (VAS) and gaming platform provider, had an exclusive tie up with Bharti Airtel in India for providing value added voice applications on an interactive voice response system (IVRS) platform. The Goldfinch flagship service is “Guru Ki Bani” which may be subscribed to by dialing the short code 58282. This “58282” service has a repository of all Sikh religion daily prayers, religious songs, teachings, stories from Guru's life and similar information that is derived from the Sikh Holy book Guru Granth Sahib Ji. As per mutual agreement between Goldfinch Mobile Solutions and Bharti Airtel, the telecom operator had the responsibility to promote Goldfinch's Guru Ki Bani service amongst its subscriber base through its below the line (BTL) promotional channels such as short messaging service (SMS), outbound calls, cell information, notification SMS after call and above the line (ATL) activities such as posters, leaflets, print, promoters, regional TV, outdoors, etc. The revenue sharing arrangement between Airtel and Golfinch was in the ratio of 75 percent and 25 percent. However, with recent changes in the policies of Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), promotional marketing used by telecom operators has been constrained. Declining customer share, decreasing profits (after Bharti Airtel halted promotions) and increasing organization cost per customer have made MD and CEO Mr Newton Bubber think of various options including low-cost marketing initiatives besides digital marketing to promote Guru Ki Bani services. Value communication to its huge potential customer base, i.e. 184.19 million Bharti Airtel subscribers was another challenge facing Mr Newton and his marketing team at Goldfinch. Expected learning outcomes The case enables students to learn the concepts and application of value creation, effective value communication, price waterfall analysis, importance of costing parameters in pricing decisions, low-cost marketing strategies and digital marketing. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Background In-person health care has been the standard model of care delivery for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Despite the growing use of remote technology, virtual health care has received limited formal study in populations with AF. Understanding the virtual care experiences of patients in specialized AF clinics is essential to inform future planning of AF clinic care. Objective This qualitative descriptive study aimed to understand patients’ virtual AF clinic care experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Participants were recruited from a pool of patients who were receiving care from an AF clinic and who were enrolled in a larger survey study. A total of 8 virtual focus groups (n=30) were conducted in 2 waves between March 2021 and May 2021. Facilitators used a semistructured discussion guide to ask participants questions about their experiences of virtual care and the perceived quality of virtual care and technology support. Three team members initially open coded group data to create a preliminary coding framework. As the analysis progressed, with subsequent focus groups, the code clusters were refined. Results The participants were primarily male (21/30, 70%), aged ≥65 years (20/30, 67%), and college graduates (22/30, 73%). Patients found virtual care to be highly beneficial. Central to their experiences of virtual care was its fit or lack of fit with their health needs, which was integrally connected to communication effectiveness and their preferred virtual care future. Practical benefits included flexibility, convenience, and time and cost savings of virtual care. Virtual care fit occurred for small, quick, and mundane issues (eg, medication refills) but was suboptimal for new and more complex issues that patients thought warranted an in-person visit. Fit often reflected the effectiveness of communication between patient and provider and that of in-clinic follow-up. There was near-complete agreement among participants on the acceptability of virtual communication with their providers in addressing their needs, but this depended on adequate reciprocal communication. Without the benefit of in-person physical assessments, patients were uncertain and lacked confidence in communicating the needed, correct, and comprehensive information. Finally, participants described concerns related to ongoing virtual care with recommendations for their preferred future using a hybrid model of care and integrating patient-reported data (ie, blood pressure measurements) in virtual care delivery. Conclusions Virtual care from a specialty AF clinic provides practical benefits for patients, but they must be weighed against the need for virtual care’s fit with patients’ needs and problems. The stability and complexity of patients’ health needs, their management, and their perceptions of communication effectiveness with providers and clinics must be considered in decisions about appointment modality. Patients’ recommendations for future virtual care through use of hybrid models together with systems for data sharing have the potential to optimize fit.

In recent years, rapid advances have taken place in earth-quake engineering as applied to steel structures with major emphasis given to (1) development of advanced procedures for seismic performance assessment, (2) development of advanced design procedures for plastic mechanism control, (3) improvements in structural design detailing, (4) better modeling of members and connections for dynamic non-linear analyses, (5) development of new damping devices for supplementary energy dissipation, (6) development of self-centering structural systems, (7) development and testing of new design strategies for reducing structural damage under severe ground motions. Even though such advances have reached in some cases a refinement level justifying their in-troduction in seismic codes, the updating of Eurocode 8 with design criteria and new design strategies reflecting newly developed knowledge is still in delay. In the actual version of Eurocode 8, some advances, such as new structural ty-pologies like braced frames equipped with buckling re-strained braces and dissipative truss moment frames, are still not codified even if they have already gained space in American codes. Because of these rapid advances, weaknesses of Euro-code 8 and new structural typologies to be codified have been recognized and a document focusing on such weak-nesses and new research needs has been published [1]. In particular, the sharing of knowledge obtained has been rec-ognized to be critical to improve the seismic design of steel structures. Therefore, a Thematic Issue on “New Advances in Seismic Design and Assessment of Steel Structures” can be considered timely. Many researchers, all joined by the common interest in design, testing, analysis and assessment of steel structures in seismic areas, have accepted to contribute to this special is-sue. As a result, this thematic issue is composed by eleven contribution covering important design topics for seismic resistant steel structures. Two works [2, 3] are devoted to the seismic design of Concentrically Braced Frames (CBFs), pointing out the drawbacks of the design provisions suggested by Eurocode 8 and also reported in the Italian Technical Code for Construc-tions. In particular, the need to revise the design procedure suggested for columns of CBFs is discussed showing that both the stability and resistance indexes of columns are often exceeded. The results obtained are in agreement with those presented by other researchers [4-8] who recommended de-sign procedures based on a rigorous application of capacity design principles. Also the third manuscript of the thematic issue is devoted to CBFs, but aiming to the development of a new buckling restrained system which can be easily dis-mounted [9]. As it is well known, buckling restrained braces (BRBs) are basically constituted by two parts: an internal slender steel member, known as the “core” and a restraining member, known as the “casing”. The core component has the key role of dissipating energy, while the casing component restrains the brace core from overall buckling in compres-sion. The buckling restraining mechanism can be obtained by enclosing the core (rectangular or cruciform plates, circu-lar rods, etc.) either in a continuous concrete/mortar filled tube or within a “all-steel” casing. Despite of the use of such braces allows to obtain wide and stable hysteresis loops, thus overcoming the main drawbacks of traditional braces due to the poor cyclic response resulting from overall buckling, and their design is already codified in ANSI/AISC 341-10 [10], their use is still not codified in Europe testifying an impor-tant weakness of Eurocode 8. Two papers of the present thematic issue are devoted to beam-to-column connections [11, 12]. The first one [11] presents the results of a wide experimental program recently carried out at Salerno University dealing with extended end plate connections, with and without Reduced Beam Section (RBS), connections with bolted T-stubs and, finally, innova-tive connections equipped with friction dampers. The second work [12] is mainly devoted to the theoretical development of the analysis of the influence of gravity loads on the seis-mic design of RBS connections. In particular, it deserves to be underlined that such influence is commonly neglected in codified rules, such as ANSI/AISC 358-10 [13], because experimental tests constituting the base of the recommended design procedures are typically based on cantilever schemes where gravity loads are not applied.

No matter how good your product or service is, if you either lack the means of informing the public of its availability, or if you fail to have an efficient distribution system, your goods will remain on the shelf . . . unsold. Success will largely depend, first, on your ability to bring what you have to offer to the attention of a buyer and, second, to make it readily available for easy purchase. Air transport does not escape this basic principle of commerce. There is very little which is more vital to an airline than its ability to keep potential passengers informed of what is on offer and to facilitate the intended purchase. Airlines sell a service that may not be stored and is perishable in nature. Airline capacity has an exceptionally short shelf life; once an aircraft takes off, any empty seat is lost forever. Take this together with the high proportion of fixed and operational costs and it means that the loss or gain of only a few seats can often determine whether or not a flight will be profitable. Seat inventory constantly needs to be matched by demand before the seats perish. By matching passenger demand, airlines manipulate the number of seats for which discounts are offered and will adjust fares accordingly. The result is that fares on surplus seats change constantly. In an environment that is increasingly defined in terms of alliances and code sharing, Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs) are probably the most well-adapted technological medium to satisfy the vending of tickets under such market requirements. A CRS consists of a database that holds information on schedules, seat availability, and fares of all its participating airlines. This database may be accessed by travel agencies having entered into a subscriber agreement with a CRS. Because of their high-speed processing and real-time links to most airlines, CRSs are capable of continually updating any fare for any given segment. CRSs hence became the prime marketing tools used to distribute the airline’s seat availability and its fares to the public. Ancillary products, such as hotel reservations, car rentals, and other modes of transport, were subsequently added to the CRS content. Since their inception in the 1980s, CRSs enjoyed a privileged marketing position for nearly two decades. It should, however, also be recognized that CRSs were the constant focus of investment by which they remained at the cutting edge of new technology. During the last decade, the steady position of the CRSs has started to show signs of weakness. Airlines, having set up the CRSs as an instrument to ensure effective distribution of their services, progressively abandoned their creation and actively looked for other, cheaper ways of distributing their services and products. At the onset of the airlines’ technological efforts to bypass or replace the CRSs, the airlines neglected to continually upgrade the technology of the CRSs. The technology did improve, however, largely because airlines started to integrate the existing CRS technology with other sales vehicles. This allowed the airlines to gain sales power offset the monopolistic trend of the CRSs. This trend, taken together with the disinvestment of airline ownership in the CRSs, spurred legislators to abandon or to relax the implementation of legal requirements when operating a CRS.

Abstract Introduction: Living with sickle cell disease (SCD) and its associated complications and treatment can impact adolescent coping and adjustment, including peer relationships, participating in physical activities, and academic performance. Understanding the adolescent perspective on SCD and its impact on life activities will enable healthcare professionals to develop focused interventions to improve quality of life for adolescents and young adults (AYA) living with SCD. Objectives: To examine adolescent understanding of SCD and its impact on psychosocial functioning using exploratory qualitative research methodology. Methods: Twenty-one participants (ages 12-21 years old, median: 17 years, 12 female) with a diagnosis of sickle cell anemia (any variant) participated in IRB approved semi-structured interviews. Participants were recruited at routine sickle cell clinic visits and were on various treatment regimens such as chronic transfusions or Hydroxyurea. The interview protocol was piloted with AYA patients for content, understandability, and face validity. All interviews were recorded and transcribed by a single interviewer. All interview transcripts were independently coded by two researchers (In Vivo coding: codes are direct quotes) and required 100% agreement for a code to be included in the final codebook. Using the constant comparative method, codes were placed into categories and themes. A final construct of codes, categories, and themes was agreed upon by three researchers with expertise in psychology and SCD. Interviews did not continue past 21 participants since no new categories or themes were identified during the final interviews. Results: The overarching theme that emerged was the impact of SCD on psychosocial functioning of AYA as it related to coping and adjustment strategies. Three main subthemes relating to coping and adjustment were noted: social support, pain, and transition to adult care. Participants (20/21) reported sharing information about SCD with peers with and without SCD, with several expressing benefits to disclosure; “felt good to talk about it and get it off my chest,” “[friends] they help me out too. They get me water and take care of me.” All participants described benefits of developing relationships with other AYA with SCD and expressed a desire to meet peers with SCD; “it helps because they really know how you feel and what you go through,” “it would be helpful to hear about other people’s experiences and tips for dealing with things.” Participants (18/21) described their disease in terms of pain. Unpredictable pain events negatively impacted relationships with peers; “if I’m out and start feeling bad…it just reminds me that I’m not like everybody else.” Participants (2/21) described balancing taking medication to relieve pain and avoiding becoming dependent on pain medication. Primary concerns about transitioning to adult care included being viewed as drug-seeking by adult emergency department personnel and trusting an unfamiliar doctor’s judgment about their care and willingness to learn how their disease affected them as an individual. Surprisingly, 7/21 participants expressed some positive experiences from living with SCD including feeling “special,” “stronger and better,” and having a different perspective on life than peers without SCD. Conclusion: During adolescence, peer interactions play a major role in social and emotional development. Our findings strongly support the need for AYA with SCD to have opportunities to interact with healthy peers as well as those experiencing similar struggles related to SCD (SCD summer camps, social networking, teen support groups or mentoring). Participants identified pain as a defining characteristic of living with SCD and commented only on pharmacologic pain management. Participants expressed anxiety related to transitioning to adult care with particular focus on inadequate pain management at adult institutions. Our results suggest: 1) medical centers should focus on educating teens about pain and developing pain protocols that highlight teaching non-pharmacologic pain management strategies 2) improved pain management will positively impact quality of life and reduce anxiety about transition. Additionally, participants identified benefits to living with SCD, and future research should identify strategies to promote benefit finding behaviors in AYA with SCD. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

This paper analyzes factors that determine whether alliance carriers choose to remain in or leave a code-share agreement on individual routes. Different types of code-sharing are considered: traditional code-shared routes, virtual code-shared routes and those routes with both traditional and virtual code-sharing. Empirical results show that factors affecting alliance firms’ code-sharing decisions significantly differ for virtual versus traditional code-share agreements. Virtual code-sharing tends to take place in less dense markets and is not significantly affected by yields. This provides tentative support for the Ito and Lee (2005) argument that virtual code-sharing provides a mechanism by which carriers practice price discrimination (for instance, filling unoccupied seats in less dense markets). In contrast traditional code-sharing is found to be more likely to occur in dense markets and higher yields increase the probability of such arrangements. Thus, traditional code-sharing seems to be used to achieve the networking economics and cost savings derived from dense markets and thus appears to be more effective as an instrument to introduce competition into a market.

BackgroundLongitudinal Population Studies (LPS) typically operate as data resources for global bona-fide research, and therefore routinely share data to inform new research investigations. Current data sharing agreements between LPS and NHS Digital generally do not permit the onward-sharing of linked health records beyond the LPS’s host institution or provide mechanisms to dynamically add new research hypotheses. AimTo develop a framework of standardised onward-sharing models which control for risk and legal requirements and fit the context of different LPS. ApproachThe CLOSER longitudinal consortium and NHS Digital held consultation meetings with 13 UK longitudinal studies, consortia studies and infrastructure providers to identify requirements and potential solutions. ResultsFive onward-sharing models were identified. Two rely on the principle that anonymised data can be shared in a light-touch regulatory framework, and that this principle extends to ‘effectively anonymised’ data processed in line with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) anonymisation code of practice. Three methods utilise differing permutations of contractual agreements in order to control for risk and enforce NHS Digital’s legal obligations. Establishing and maintaining these contractual arrangements will involve close working arrangements between the LPS and NHS Digital and further work is needed to clarify requirements for international data sharing. All models rely on the use of socio-technical controls used by LPS and infrastructure providers operating ‘Data Safe Haven’ approaches. Secure research facilities offered by national infrastructure providers – such as UK Secure eResearch Platform and UK Data Service – provide powerful risk control tools. ConclusionThe identified models provide varied and flexible options for the onward-sharing of linked LPS and NHS Digital data. Greater clarity is needed in order to share effectively anonymised data and to share data internationally. There are opportunities for the LPS community to facilitate elements of these processes through partnership approaches.

Sustained implementation of the optimization processes of the airlines commercial activities is indispensable for timely and appropriate business decisions. Development of the commercial air transport make necessary the standardization of the documents, regulatory issues and procedures followed by different modes of commercial agreements. It is especially present when itinerary of the journey includes at least two different air carriers. The modes of commercial cooperation are very different from the simple one to the very sophisticated and complex activities asking for harmonization of many elements and functional areas. It includes special prorate agreements which harmonize the revenue share between the air companies after the negotiations. Next level of the cooperation are code sharing agreements more and more present in business practice. Same conclusion is valid for joint venture agreements. The highest level of the cooperation are airline alliances which are analysed with the most recent results and indicators. Airlines are recognized leaders in implementation of modern information technologies with very sophisticated applications, data platforms and software solutions. Therefore, it is very important to follow and implement trends in e-commerce activities including e-marketing, e-sales and distribution and use of different on line and mobile platforms.

ABSTRACT The European Culture Collections’ Organisation presents two new model documents for Material Deposit Agreement (MDA) and Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) designed to enable microbial culture collection leaders to draft appropriate agreement documents for, respectively, deposit and supply of materials from a public collection. These tools provide guidance to collections seeking to draft an MDA and MTA, and are available in open access to be used, modified, and shared. The MDA model consists of a set of core fields typically included in a ‘deposit form’ to collect relevant information to facilitate assessment of the status of the material under access and benefit sharing (ABS) legislation. It also includes a set of exemplary clauses to be included in ‘terms and conditions of use’ for culture collection management and third parties. The MTA model addresses key issues including intellectual property rights, quality, safety, security and traceability. Reference is made to other important tools such as best practices and code of conduct related to ABS issues. Besides public collections, the MDA and MTA model documents can also be useful for individual researchers and microbial laboratories that collect or receive microbial cultures, keep a working collection, and wish to share their material with others.

The linkage of Electronic Medical Records, Administrative and other data sources is highly valuable for research and health system monitoring. Once linked, combined resources can be analyzed to provide the answers to a variety of health questions that otherwise could not be answered. However, legislative and administrative barriers, including lengthy processes for data sharing agreements, may preclude timely linkage which is a key requirement during pandemics. ObjectiveTo develop a method using a patient’s health trajectory to probabilistically link primary care Electronic Medical Record (EMR) data with administrative and other data, without the need to transfer large datasets or identifiable information. To determine the legislative feasibility, accuracy and validity of this linkage process. Study DesignIdentify data strings that do not directly identify patients and could be used as unique linkage variables. The data strings, which we are calling dataprints, are sufficiently similar over time in different databases. One example in Ontario, Canada, is the pattern of submitted health claims. For every patient seen by a family physician, there exists a unique pattern of dates/billing codes/diagnoses over time. These unique patterns are reasonably similar in EMR and administrative datasets. We will apply an algorithm which turns the string in the selected dataprints to an irreversibly hashed code for each person. The hashed code and no additional information will be provided by both data controllers to a trusted-third party who will determine which records match and send a mapping table to both. This enables analyses to be run in parallel, without divulging any direct person identifiers. DatasetIndividuals contained in the University of Toronto Practice Based Research Network (UTOPIAN). Outcome MeasuresLinkage quality will be assessed by the number of true matches and represented by sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values. ResultsThe method will be evaluated against a validated, deterministically linked reference standard at North York General Hospital using de-identified EMR and hospital data. Results will inform processes to enable analyses across datasets while adhering to privacy legislation.

Transparency as well as complete and traceable documentation of specimens, samples and associated information are prerequisites to comply with laws and regulations in Provider and User Countries to ensure benefits of utilised genetic resources are shared. Besides legal compliance, these measures should also help to build trust among users, suppliers and collaborators. This concerns for example laws of providing countries that have established access laws under the Nagoya Protocol, such as Mexico's Ley General de la Vida Silvestre, or under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), such as the Brazil Law No. 13,123, regulating access to the country's genetic heritage. On the other hand there are laws and regulations in user countries that ensure compliance with access laws of providing countries under the Nagoya protocol (e. g. Regulation (EU) No 511/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16. April 2014, which has to be implemented at national level in the EU member states). As an institution holding genetic resources as living collections (including seeds), herbarium specimens and DNA and tissue samples as well as a wealth of associated data, the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin (BGBM) aims at creating transparency on the processes associated with the handling of these materials and data, such as metadata or associated analytical research results (Fig. 1). As a member of CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities), IPEN (International Plant Exchange Network), and GGBN (Global Genome Biodiversity Network) the workflows and documentation of biological collections at BGBM are in compliance with CETAF’s Code of Conduct on Access and Benefit Sharing (https://www.cetaf.org/services/natural-science-collections-and-access-and-benefit-sharing) for herbarium specimens including algae, IPEN´s Code of Conduct (http://www.bgci.org/policy/ipen) for living plants and seeds, and GGBN’s (https://library.ggbn.org/share/s/UM5JietQR9aevtYDymHbjw) code of conduct (CoC) for DNA and tissue samples. A major challenge was to ensure the comprehensive, transparent, and traceable documentation of specimens and associated material and information along our internal workflows that have evolved with the development of a manifold of protocols. However, this challenge presented the opportunity to revise the existing protocols that cover the handling, collecting, and processing of the specimens, which had accumulated over the long history of our collections and our databases, into a consistent set of workflows (Stevens et al. 2019). A key component is the Collection Data Form (CDF) which guarantees that all necessary documentation will be imported into our collection management systems, including potential restriction of destructive sampling or loaning. The latest version of the CDF as wells as other information about BGBM’s collection and data workflows can be found at https://wiki.bgbm.org/collectionworkflows. This site has been created in late 2018 to be used by everyone to explore BGBM’s routines and examples. All legal and formal documents, such as collecting permits, Prior Informed Consent (PIC), CITES documentation, phytosanitary documents, Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), long term agreements with partner institutions, project agreements etc., are digitized and managed using a digital asset management software (Alfresco, an open source document management system, www.alfresco.com. The challenge is to link all this information unambiguously. To achieve this, all of BGBM’s collections (tissue and DNA-samples as well as living plants, seeds and diatom cultures) must have, whenever possible, a herbarium specimen that can be permanently stored and that allows a correct taxonomic identification of the material. These voucher specimens shall be digitized. Therefore, all data and all documentation can be traced back to identifiers referring to a herbarium specimen or living accession. The other collections (e. g. DNA and tissue samples) also get unique identifiers that are cross-referenced with each other. By this process we ensure that genetic material is identified by collecting number (assigned by the collector), as well as accession number and barcodes (assigned by BGBM according to type of material such as plant tissue, DNA, sample, seed lot, plant accession number of living plants, environmental sample, culture strain or herbarium specimen), and, most importantly in this regard, the document number/identifier of the legal or formal documents issued by the national legal entity or signed by a partner institution (assigned by the documentation office at BGBM when digitized). All these identifiers or numbers must refer to the respective material and as such allow BGBM to trace back the material at all stages of processing. This is of vital importance when genetic material is exchanged with partners. If there are any restrictions or any requirements for the further processing, use or exchange of plant material this is documented and flagged in all database modules and accession numbers.

Background with rationaleThe Georgia Policy Labs’ mission is to improve outcomes for children and families by producing rigorous research with long-term government partners. A key component of this model is having secure access to research-ready, individual level data from multiple sources to answer government agencies’ questions within policy windows. Obtaining sensitive data from our partners requires significant relationship building, demonstrations of value, and assurances of our ability to mitigate all security and privacy concerns. Objectives Securely transfer and de-identify disparate individual level datasets with personally identifiable information from public entities. Clean data and store in a pristine data lake, made available for fast turn-around research. Ensure individual records can be matched across disparate organizations’ datasets. ApproachOur practices, infrastructure, data sharing agreements and security are built to support the intersection of data availability for researchers and security standards that give our partners ease. We highlight two solutions addressing security concerns while supporting our researchers, which can be used by other researchers using sensitive data. First, we discuss our multiple tiers of transfer and access that remove risk from identifiable data. Second, we share the double hash solution created for a partner who was not willing to share PII. We share the source code for our SHA3-512 double hash solution, which allows for matching of records across disparate datasets without receiving PII sensitive elements. ResultsWe created reliable matching values without the need for the actual social security numbers or other PII values on our side, enabling a large school district to share its student-level data with us. ConclusionThe balance of security and easy access for researchers is a common area of friction. Our security set-up and hashing solution allows others to remove this barrier for applied policy research.

Abstract Background The National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Disease Registration Service (NCARDRS) records those people with congenital anomalies and rare diseases across the whole of England. The NCARDRS Rare Rheumatology Project is establishing methodologies to identify and register people with rare rheumatic diseases. Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), comprising data from all admitted-patient NHS care in England, provides a promising source for case ascertainment. We aimed to confirm the reliability of diagnostic ICD codes for rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases within HES. Methods We used NCARDRS’ legal permissions (CAG 10-02(d)/2015) to extract cases who had at least one inpatient or daycase admission recorded in HES during 2003 to 2017 with a primary or additional diagnostic code for Kawasaki disease, Takayasu’s arteritis, Adult-onset Still’s disease, Relapsing polychondritis, Polyarteritis nodosa, Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) or Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA). Using Data Sharing Agreements between NCARDRS and NHS Trusts, we reviewed medical records for all cases admitted to one NHS Trust to confirm diagnoses. For ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), up to 20 randomly selected cases admitted to 5 Trusts with a diagnostic code of GPA, MPA and EGPA were reviewed. Results Table 1 shows the positive predictive value (PPV) of each diagnosis at one Trust: Kawasaki disease 100%, Takayasu’s arteritis 91.7%, Adult-onset Still’s disease 42.8%, Relapsing polychondritis 40.0%, and Polyarteritis nodosa 5.0%. For AAV, which had a PPV at the index Trust of 92.0%, the PPV across the 5 Trusts varied from 92.9% to 74.0%. Combining all 5 Trusts PPV for AAV was 85.9%. It was higher in MPA (PPV=98.4%) than in GPA (PPV=83.3%) and EGPA (PPV=77.4). Conclusion This is the first study to validate the coding of rare rheumatic disease diagnoses within HES data. Our results highlight heterogeneity in coding accuracy both between conditions and between NHS Trusts. Further work is needed to develop and validate algorithms for conditions where HES coding alone has poor positive predictive value, and test sensitivity. National rare disease registration will enable robust, cost-effective and reproducible population-based epidemiology of rare rheumatic diseases across England which is needed to inform service provision and aid development of new treatments. Disclosures F.A. Pearce None. M. Rutter None. B. Griffiths None. C. Mukhtyar None. R. Al-Jayoussi None. R.A. Watts None. J. Aston None. M. Bythell None. S. Stevens None. P.C. Lanyon None.

The new Romanian Civil Code regulations have reconfirmed the rule ofproportionality when speaking about profit and loss in a partnership agreement. Basically,the law does not require that the participation of partners in profit and loss be necessarilyproportional to their contribution to the society’s capital and the associates can evendetermine their share of benefits and losses. In case the associates establish by contract onlytheir share of benefits, then their contribution to losses will become proportional to theirprofit share. If the share of profit is not proportionally equal with the contribution, then thecontribution to debts will be proportional with the profit share and not with the contributionbrought to the capital.One must keep in mind as compulsory the condition that each partner shouldparticipate both in profit and loss sharing. On the one hand, a partner cannot reserve all thebenefit for himself only, while on the other hand the partners cannot decide that one orseveral of them are exempted from participating in loss sharing. Also, they cannot set aprovision by which a partner is excluded wither from profit sharing or from participation inloss, as this provision would be void ab initio.

There is an increasing demand for high-quality genetic samples for biodiversity research as the techniques are rapidly developing and the costs are decreasing. The Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus, an independent research institute within the University of Helsinki holding and developing the national natural history collections, has joined the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN; http://www.ggbn.org/ggbn_portal/) and established a Genomic Resources Collection (GRC) in 2018. In March 2019, the Luomus GRC comprised 2500 DNA extractions and 4000 vertebrate tissue samples amassed in approximately the last 10 years. The DNA extractions are mainly of lichens, polypores, beetles, flies, molluscs and crustaceans of worldwide origin, reflecting the focal organism groups of research groups in Luomus. The deep-frozen tissue samples are mostly of Finnish birds and mammals, as accessions of vertebrate specimens acquired to Luomus’ collections are sampled. High-quality whole-genome DNA extracts will also be prepared. We expect the GRC to increase rapidly in numbers of samples within the coming years. Furthermore, the collection will also serve the many active research groups in the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Helsinki. The GRC collection follows the best practices of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) concerning long-term storage and physical quality of samples, and international agreements (the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Nagoya Protocol, CITES) as regards the legitimacy of the samples. The GRC samples are always cross-linked with the taxonomically identified and georeferenced voucher specimen from which it is separated. Each GRC sample gets a Unique Resource Identifier HTTP-URI, which is a derivative of the unique specimen ID used in Luomus’ Collection Management System (CMS) ‘Kotka’. The sample tubes are cryolabelled with the QR code on the lid of the tube. The voucher specimens are deposited in Luomus’ collections or in another international public repository. The data on the GRC samples form part of the Open Data distributed through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility FinBIF species.fi (Data policy: https://laji.fi/en/about/960), and will be made searchable at the web portal in 2019. The specific database functions to meet the needs of Luomus’ GRC are developed by Luomus’ Biodiversity Informatics Unit and implemented in Kotka. We have already implemented part of the database tools to manage the compliance with the Nagoya protocol. The tool for registering material transactions (donations / loans) makes use of the Application Programming Interface (API) provided by the Access and Benefit Sharing Clearing House (ABS-CH) and includes links to the ABS-CH webpage (https://absch.cbd.int/). The ABS-CH shows the contact person or organization details of the provider country, and the country-specific requirements for access to genetic resources, when present. The necessary information and documentation (letter of Prior Informed Consent, Mutually Agreed Terms, Material Transaction Agreement, and other permits) are linked from the material transactions to the relevant specimens.

Photo by Umanoide on Unsplash INTRODUCTION In the US, more than three million people have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans daily.[1] MRIs are the most common way to image the brain and detect tumors, brain injuries, strokes, aneurysms, sclerosis, and other conditions.[2] After the procedure, the images are usually kept by the hospital or other medical facility. Thousands of neuroimages are shared among the researchers to increase the data available for studies and enable scientific discovery. l. Reidentification Using AI and Facial Recognition The possibility of the reidentification of an individual using AI and facial recognition technology is an ethical concern. AI can reidentify a person from the scan by reconstructing the face.[3] Despite the steps taken to deidentify the patient, such as removing or changing the name, age, identification number, gender, and postal code, according to the Mayo Clinic researchers, the software still can reidentify individuals from deidentified scans.[4] The Mayo Clinic’s study shows that AI was 83 percent successful in reidentifying the person by analyzing the scans.[5] In most cases, scientists can share anonymized information without the patient's consent.[6] The only way to anonymize the scan and to remove any personal data that can lead to reidentification is to blur the image, which would compromise the ability to read and analyze the scan, defeating the purpose of sharing the data. One of the fundamental values in the relationship between a physician and a patient is respect for autonomy and privacy. When subjects enter a clinical study, the researchers guarantee confidentiality. Yet, it seems impossible to protect a patient's privacy when sharing brain scans. Potential MRI image reidentification impacts research participants, healthcare providers, and government regulating bodies. I suggest that modified informed consent and the introduction of data misuse liability could improve accountability to the patient while still allowing societal health benefits associated with data sharing for research and education. Furthermore, I advocate patients who agree to data sharing be granted a small financial reward as a sign of recognition of their contribution to the medical field. ll. Privacy Privacy is a fundamental human right and especially important when sensitive medical information is shared. Deidentification can expose a research subject to unfortunate events, including but not limited to increasing cost of insurance, discrimination, and humiliation.[7] “This identification would result in an infringement of privacy that could include diagnoses, cognitive scores, genetic data, biomarkers, results of other imaging, and participation in studies or trials.”[8] In the same study that found the 83 percent successful reidentification, AI wrongly identified 15 percent of the patients.[9] Misidentification may lead researchers to overlook relevant information. Suppose a certain type of tumor develops predominantly in men, and patient X is a man and has the tumor and is not aware of it. If AI incorrectly labeled patient X female and skipped the tumor detection analysis of her scan, the AI would fail to detect her condition. Internal bias in AI may harm the patients even further. lll. Who Benefits from Sharing Scans? Patients who are willing to risk their privacy are not directly benefiting from sharing their brain images in their health care. The research is usually designed for the common good and for improving medical care and diagnosis generally. Often, current patients benefit future patients. Stimulating the development of treatment for future patients is an important societal benefit, but patients should know they may not benefit from sharing scans.[10] (In some cases, patients will benefit from research involving their own scans.) lV. Research and the Importance of Sharing Data Data sharing is essential for the research and development of new medical treatments that would benefit current and future patients. I argue that patients have a duty to contribute to this process by providing images because they are beneficiaries of data derived from previous patients. The existing images increase the sample size,[11] producing more valid and generalizable results. If patient X is using a certain cancer treatment, patient X is arguably indebted to past patients who contributed health data to the medical research. Because of such a gracious act by another patient, X is benefitting and thus has a duty to assist future patients by sharing data. It is wrong to be a free rider in society. In addition to past patient research, institutions use both public and private resources to train the physicians who treat patient X and to build hospitals where patient X seeks treatment While the argument I promote is likely not strong enough to compel participation in risky clinical trials, and it does not negate a moral right to refuse, it promotes participation in scientific research as a moral good, and sometimes, an obligation. Despite the low risk that the data would not be protected to the highest degree, patients ought to share it with scientists to give back to society. Furthermore, scientists may not have enough incentive to share the data.[12] Deidentification is a time-consuming manual process that society underappreciates. Despite the overall benefit to the community and the scientists’ dedication and curiosity, the deidentification process is an obstacle to data sharing that would benefit society. Recognizing the risk to patient privacy and the difficulty physicians already face, I argue that a better balance should ensure privacy while incentivizing sharing scans. V. Establishing Liability: A Rule to Ensure Proper Use and Prohibit Reidentification A government agency such as Health Canada or the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is interested in promoting clinical studies while protecting the research subjects. Yet, Health Canada recognizes that it is impossible to eliminate the risk of reidentification.[13] Direct personal identifiers, of course, pose a higher risk to the research subject; yet there should not be a blanket prohibition of neuroimaging share. Currently, the risk is diminished by the requirement to sign a data use agreement.[14] Currently, there is no universal rule on the liability of reidentification breach; rather, there are numerous suggestions to ensure ethical data use. The European and North American Multisociety suggests that release of information and data use agreements (DUA) are critical tools in making it clear what various stakeholders are permitted or prohibited to do with the data.[15] Yet, the statement does not impose any liability for DUA breach, rather it only goes as far to suggest that data sharing should be traceable.[16] I suggest introducing and establishing a clear liability for data misuse. A controlling body, such as the FDA or Health Canada, needs to continuously check data use compliance and, in case of illegal use, apply appropriate penalties. This will strengthen the research subjects’ protection and give more reason for researchers to follow the rules. CONCLUSION As mentioned above, data sharing contributes to society in the long run. Therefore, the government must provide incentives to both scientists and patients to contribute to the medical field. The risks of reidentification need to be clearly outlined in the informed consent process, and subjects should be financially rewarded for their images. I suggest a financial reward since there are direct benefits to current patients, yet the scientists and others cut costs by accessing existing data. Thus, to be just, the savings from the industry cost-cutting needs to be given to people who are risking their privacy. The financial reward can be as little as five dollars, enough to recognize the good deed of contribution. The neuroimaging data share comes at costs to both researchers and trial participants, yet the burdens and risks can be decreased with the efforts of governmental bodies. - [1] Conor Stewart, “MRI Scan Volume by Facility Type U.S. 2016 and 2017,” Statista, March 24, 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/820927/mri-scans-number-in-us-by-facility-type/. [2] “MRI,” Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, August 3, 2019), https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/mri/about/pac-20384768. [3] Gina Kolata, “You Got a Brain Scan at the Hospital. Someday a Computer May Use It to Identify You.,” The New York Times (The New York Times, October 23, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/health/brain-scans-personal-identity.html. [4] “Mayo Clinic Studies Patient Privacy in MRI Research,” Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research), accessed July 20, 2021, https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-studies-patient-privacy-in-mri-research/. [5] “Mayo Clinic Studies Patient Privacy in MRI Research,” Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research), accessed July 20, 2021, https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-studies-patient-privacy-in-mri-research/. [6] Tonya White, Elisabet Blok, and Vince D. Calhoun, “Data Sharing and Privacy Issues in Neuroimaging Research: Opportunities, Obstacles, Challenges, and Monsters under the Bed,” Human Brain Mapping, April 2020, https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25120, 3. [7] Jacob L. Jaremko et al., “Canadian Association of Radiologists White Paper on Ethical and Legal Issues Related to Artificial Intelligence in Radiology,” Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal 70, no. 2 (2019): pp. 107-118, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carj.2019.03.001, 110. [8] Letter to the Editor Identification of Anonymous MRI Research Participants with Face-Recognition Software N Engl J Med 2019; 381:1684-1686, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc1908881. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1908881 [9] “Mayo Clinic Studies Patient Privacy in MRI Research,” Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research), accessed July 20, 2021, [10] “Mayo Clinic Studies Patient Privacy in MRI Research,” Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research), accessed July 20, 2021, https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-studies-patient-privacy-in-mri-research/. [11] Tonya White, Elisabet Blok, and Vince D. Calhoun, “Data Sharing and Privacy Issues in Neuroimaging Research: Opportunities, Obstacles, Challenges, and Monsters under the Bed,” Human Brain Mapping, April 2020, https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25120, 2. [12] Tonya White, Elisabet Blok, and Vince D. Calhoun, “Data Sharing and Privacy Issues in Neuroimaging Research: Opportunities, Obstacles, Challenges, and Monsters under the Bed,” Human Brain Mapping, April 2020, https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25120, 8. [13] William Parker et al., “Canadian Association of Radiologists White Paper on De-Identification of Medical Imaging: Part 1, General Principles,” Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal 72, no. 1 (March 2020): pp. 13-24, https://doi.org/10.1177/0846537120967349, 19. [14] “Mayo Clinic Studies Patient Privacy in MRI Research,” Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research), accessed July 20, 2021, [15] Geis JR, Brady AP, Wu CC, et al. Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Radiology: Summary of the Joint European and North American Multisociety Statement. Radiology. 2019;293(2):436-440. doi:10.1148/radiol.2019191586. [16] Geis, et al.

The first two months of 2021 saw Google and Facebook ‘go dark’ in terms of news content on the Australia versions of their platforms. In January, Google ran a so-called “experiment” which removed or demoted current news in the search results available to a segment of Australian users. While Google was only darkened for some, in February news on Facebook went completely dark, with the company banning all news content and news sharing for users within Australian. Both of these instances of going dark occurred because of the imminent threat these platforms faced from the News Media Bargaining Code legislation that was due to be finalised by the Australian parliament. This article examines how both Google and Facebook responded to the draft Code, focussing on their threats to go dark, and the extent to which those threats were carried out. After exploring the context which produced the threats of going dark, this article looks at their impact, and how the Code was reshaped in light of those threats before it was finally legislated in early March 2021. Most importantly, this article outlines why Google and Facebook were prepared to go dark in Australia, and whether they succeeded in trying to prevent Australia setting the precedent of national governments dictating the terms by which digital platforms should pay for news content. From the Digital Platforms Inquiry to the Draft Code In July 2019, the Australian Treasurer released the Digital Platforms Inquiry Final Report which had been prepared by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It outlined a range of areas where Australian law, policies and practices were not keeping pace with the realities of a digital world of search giants, social networks, and streaming media. Analysis of the submissions made as part of the Digital Platforms Inquiry found that the final report was “primarily framed around the concerns of media companies, particularly News Corp Australia, about the impact of platform companies’ market dominance of content distribution and advertising share, leading to unequal economic bargaining relationships and the gradual disappearance of journalism jobs and news media publishers” (Flew et al. 13). As such, one of the most provocative recommendations made was the establishment of a new code that would “address the imbalance in the bargaining relationship between leading digital platforms and news media businesses” (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Digital Platforms Inquiry 16). The ACCC suggested such a code would assist Australian news organisations of any size in negotiating with Facebook, Google and others for some form of payment for news content. The report was released at a time when there was a greatly increased global appetite for regulating digital platforms. Thus the battle over the Code was watched across the world as legislation that had the potential to open the door for similar laws in other countries (Flew and Wilding). Initially the report suggested that the digital giants should be asked to develop their own codes of conduct for negotiating with news organisations. These codes would have then been enforced within Australia if suitably robust. However, after months of the big digital platforms failing to produce meaningful codes of their own, the Australian government decided to commission their own rules in this arena. The ACCC thus prepared the draft legislation that was tabled in July 2020 as the Australian News Media Bargaining Code. According to the ACCC the Code, in essence, tried to create a level playing field where Australian news companies could force Google and Facebook to negotiate a ‘fair’ payment for linking to, or showing previews of, their news content. Of course, many commentators, and the platforms themselves, retorted that they already bring significant value to news companies by referring readers to news websites. While there were earlier examples of Google and Facebook paying for news, these were largely framed as philanthropy: benevolent digital giants supporting journalism for the good of democracy. News companies and the ACCC argued this approach completely ignored the fact that Google and Facebook commanded more than 80% of the online advertising market in Australia at that time (Meade, “Google, Facebook and YouTube”). Nor did the digital giants acknowledge their disruptive power given the bulk of that advertising revenue used to flow to news companies. Some of the key features of this draft of the Code included (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, “News Media Bargaining Code”): Facebook and Google would be the (only) companies initially ‘designated’ by the Code (i.e. specific companies that must abide by the Code), with Instagram included as part of Facebook. The Code applied to all Australian news organisations, and specifically mentioned how small, regional, and rural news media would now be able to meaningfully bargain with digital platforms. Platforms would have 11 weeks after first being contacted by a news organisation to reach a mutually negotiated agreement. Failure to reach agreements would result in arbitration (using a style of arbitration called final party arbitration which has both parties present a final offer or position, with an Australian arbiter simply choosing between the two offers in most cases). Platforms were required to give 28 days notice of any change to their algorithms that would impact on the ways Australian news was ranked and appeared on their platform. Penalties for not following the Code could be ten million dollars, or 10% of the platform’s annual turnover in Australia (whichever was greater). Unsurprisingly, Facebook, Google and a number of other platforms and companies reacted very negatively to the draft Code, with their formal submissions arguing: that the algorithm change notifications would give certain news companies an unfair advantage while disrupting the platforms’ core business; that charging for linking would break the underlying free nature of the internet; that the Code overstated the importance and reach of news on each platform; and many other objections were presented, including strong rejections of the proposed model of arbitration which, they argued, completely favoured news companies without providing any real or reasonable limit on how much news organisations could ask to be paid (Google; Facebook). Google extended their argument by making a second submission in the form of a report with the title ‘The Financial Woes of News Publishers in Australia’ (Shapiro et al.) that argued Australian journalism and news was financially unsustainable long before digital platforms came along. However, in stark contrast the Digital News Report: Australia 2020 found that Google and Facebook were where many Australians found their news; in 2020, 52% of Australians accessed news on social media (up from 46% the year before), with 39% of Australians getting news from Facebook, and that number jumping to 49% when specifically focusing on news seeking during the first COVID-19 pandemic peak in April 2021 (Park et al.). The same report highlighted that 43% of people distrust news found on social media (with a further 29% neutral, and only 28% of people explicitly trusting news found via social media). Moreover, 64% of Australians were concerned about misinformation online, and of all the platforms mentioned in the survey, respondents were most concerned about Facebook as a source of misinformation, with 36% explicitly indicating this was the place they were most concerned about encountering ‘fake news’. In this context Facebook and Google battled the Code by launching a public relations campaigns, appealing directly to Australian consumers. Google Drives a Bus Across Australia Google’s initial response to the draft Code was a substantial public relations campaign which saw the technology company advocating against the Code but not necessarily the ideas behind it. Google instead posited their own alternative way of paying for journalism in Australia. On the main Google search landing page, the usually very white surrounds of the search bar included the text “Supporting Australian journalism: a constructive path forward” which linked to a Google page outlining their version of a ‘Fair Code’. Popup windows appeared across many of Google’s services and apps, noting Google “are willing to pay to support journalism”, with a button labelled ‘Hear our proposal’. Figure 1: Popup notification on Google Australia directing users to Google’s ‘A Fair Code’ proposal rebutting the draft Code. (Screen capture by author, 29 January 2021) Google’s popups and landing page links were visible for more than six months as the Code was debated. In September 2020, a Google blog post about the Code was accompanied by a YouTube video campaign featuring Australia comedian Greta Lee Jackson (Google Australia, Google Explains Arbitration). Jackson used the analogy of Google as a bus driver, who is forced to pay restaurants for delivering customers to them, and then pay part of the running costs of restaurants, too. The video reinforced Google’s argument that the draft Code was asking digital platforms to pay potentially enormous costs for news content without acknowledging the value of Google bringing readers to the news sites. However, the video opened with the line that “proposed laws can be confusing, so I'll use an analogy to break it down”, setting a tone that would seem patronising to many people. Moreover, the video, and Google’s main argument, completely ignored the personal data Google receives every time a user searches for, or clicks on, a news story via Google Search or any other Google service. If Google’s analogy was accurate, then the bus driver would be going through every passenger’s bag while they were on the bus, taking copies of all their documents from drivers licenses to loyalty cards, keeping a record of every time they use the bus, and then using this information to get advertisers to pay for a tailored advertisement on the back of the seat in front of every passenger, every time they rode the bus. Notably, by the end of March 2021, the video had only received 10,399 views, which suggests relatively few people actually clicked on it to watch. In early January 2021, at the height of the debate about the Code, Google ran what they called “an experiment” which saw around 1% of Australian users suddenly only receive “older or less relevant content” when searching for news (Barnet, “Google’s ‘Experiment’”). While ostensibly about testing options for when the Code became law, the unannounced experiment also served as a warning shot. Google very effectively reminded users and politicians about their important role in determining which news Australian users find, and what might happen if Google darkened what they returned as news results. On 21 January 2021, Mel Silva, the Managing Director and public face of Google in Australia and New Zealand gave public testimony about the company’s position before a Senate inquiry. Silva confirmed that Google were indeed considering removing Google Search in Australia altogether if the draft Code was not amended to address their key concerns (Silva, “Supporting Australian Journalism: A Constructive Path Forward An Update on the News Media Bargaining Code”). Google’s seemingly sudden escalation in their threat to go dark led to articles such as a New York Times piece entitled ‘An Australia with No Google? The Bitter Fight behind a Drastic Threat’ (Cave). Google also greatly amplified their appeal to the Australian public, with a video featuring Mel Silva appearing frequently on all Google sites in Australia to argue their position (Google Australia, An Update). By the end of March 2021, Silva’s video had been watched more than 2.2 million times on YouTube. Silva’s testimony, video and related posts from Google all characterised the Code as: breaking “how Google search works in Australia”; creating a world where links online are paid for and thus both breaking Google and “undermin[ing] how the web works”; and saw Google offer their News Showcase as a viable alternative that, in Google’s view, was “a fair one” (Silva, “Supporting Australian Journalism”). Google emphasised submissions about the Code which backed their position, including World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee who agreed that the idea of charging for links could have a more wide-reaching impact, challenging the idea of a free web (Leaver). Google also continued to release their News Showcase product in other parts of the world. They emphasised that there were existing arrangements for Showcase in Australia, but the current regulatory uncertainty meant it was paused in Australia until the debates about the Code were resolved. In the interim, news media across Australia, and the globe, were filled with stories speculating what an Australia would look like if Google went completely dark (e.g. Cave; Smyth). Even Microsoft weighed in to supporting the Code and offer their search engine Bing as a viable alternative to fill the void if Google really did go dark (Meade, “Microsoft’s Bing”). In mid-February, the draft Code was tabled in Australian parliament. Many politicians jumped at the chance to sing the Code’s praises and lament the power that Google and Facebook have across various spheres of Australian life. Yet as these speeches were happening, the Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was holding weekend meetings with executives from Google and Facebook, trying to smooth the path toward the Code (Massola). In these meetings, a number of amendments were agreed to, including the Code more clearly taking in to account any existing deals already on the table before it became law. In these meetings the Treasurer made in clear to Google that if the deals done prior to the Code were big enough, he would consider not designating Google under the Code, which in effect would mean Google is not immediately subject to it (Samios and Visentin). With that concession in hand Google swiftly signed deals with over 50 Australian news publishers, including Seven West Media, Nine, News Corp, The Guardian, the ABC, and some smaller publishers such as Junkee Media (Taylor; Meade, “ABC Journalism”). While the specific details of these deals were not made public, the deals with Seven West Media and Nine were both reported to be worth around $30 million Australian dollars (Dudley-Nicholson). In reacting to Google's deals Frydenberg described them as “generous deals, these are fair deals, these are good deals for the Australian media businesses, deals that they are making off their own bat with the digital giants” (Snape, “‘These Are Good Deals’”). During the debates about the Code, Google had ultimately ensured that every Australian user was well aware that Google was, in their words, asking for a “fair” Code, and before the Code became law even the Treasurer was conceding that Google’s was offering a “fair deal” to Australian news companies. Facebook Goes Dark on News While Google never followed through on their threat to go completely dark, Facebook took a very different path, with a lot less warning. Facebook’s threat to remove all news from the platform for users in Australia was not made explicit in their formal submissions the draft of the Code. However, to be fair, Facebook’s Managing Director in Australia and New Zealand Will Easton did make a blog post at the end of August 2020 in which he clearly stated: “assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram” (Easton). During the negotiations in late 2020 Instagram was removed as an initial target of the Code (just as YouTube was not included as part of Google) along with a number of other concessions, but Facebook were not sated. Yet Easton’s post about removing news received very little attention after it was made, and certainly Facebook made no obvious attempt to inform their millions of Australian users that news might be completely blocked. Hence most Australians were shocked when that was exactly what Facebook did. Facebook’s power has, in many ways, always been exercised by what the platform’s algorithms display to users, what content is most visible and equally what content is made invisible (Bucher). The morning of Wednesday, 17 February 2021, Australian Facebook users awoke to find that all traditional news and journalism had been removed from the platform. Almost all pages associated with news organisations were similarly either disabled or wiped clean, and that any attempt to share links to news stories was met with a notification: “this post can’t be shared”. The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison reacted angrily, publicly lamenting Facebook’s choice to “unfriend Australia”, adding their actions were “as arrogant as they were disappointing”, vowing that Australia would “not be intimidated by big tech” (Snape, “Facebook Unrepentant”). Figure 2: Facebook notification appearing when Australians attempted to share news articles on the platform. (Screen capture by author, 20 February 2021) Facebook’s news ban in Australia was not limited to official news pages and news content. Instead, their ban initially included a range of pages and services such as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, emergency services pages, health care pages, hospital pages, services providing vital information about the COVID-19 pandemic, and so forth. The breadth of the ban may have been purposeful, as one of Facebook’s biggest complaints was that the Code defined news too broadly (Facebook). Yet in the Australian context, where the country was wrestling with periodic lockdowns and the Coronavirus pandemic on one hand, and bushfires and floods on the other, the removal of these vital sources of information showed a complete lack of care or interest in Australian Facebook users. Beyond the immediate inconvenience of not being able to read or share news on Facebook, there were a range of other, immediate, consequences. As Barnet, amongst others, warned, a Facebook with all credible journalism banned would almost certainly open the floodgates to a tide of misinformation, with nothing left to fill the void; it made Facebook’s “public commitment to fighting misinformation look farcical” (Barnet, “Blocking Australian News”). Moreover, Bossio noted, “reputational damage from blocking important sites that serve Australia’s public interest overnight – and yet taking years to get on top of user privacy breaches and misinformation – undermines the legitimacy of the platform and its claimed civic intentions” (Bossio). If going dark and turning off news in Australia was supposed to win the sympathy of Australian Facebook users, then the plan largely backfired. Yet as with Google, the Australian Treasurer was meeting with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook executives behind closed doors, which did eventually lead to changes before the Code was finally legislated (Massola). Facebook gained a number of concessions, including: a longer warning period before a Facebook could be designated by the Code; a longer period before news organisations would be able to expect negotiations to be concluded; an acknowledgement that existing deals would be taken in to account during negotiations; and, most importantly, a clarification that if Facebook was to once again block news this would both prevent them being subject to the Code and was not be something the platform could be punished for. Like Google, though, Facebook’s biggest gain was again the Treasurer making it clear that by making deals in advance on the Code becoming law, it was likely that Facebook would not be designated, and thus not subject to the Code at all (Samios and Visentin). After these concessions the news standoff ended and on 23 February the Australian Treasurer declared that after tense negotiations Facebook had “refriended Australia”; the company had “committed to entering into good-faith negotiations with Australian news media businesses and seeking to reach agreements to pay for content” (Visentin). Over the next month there were some concerns voiced about slow progress, but then major deals were announced between Facebook and News Corp Australia, and with Nine, with other deals following closely (Meade, “Rupert Murdoch”). Just over a week after the ban began, Facebook returned news to their platform in Australia. Facebook obviously felt they had won the battle, but Australia Facebook users were clearly cannon fodder, with their interests and wellbeing ignored. Who Won? The Immediate Aftermath of the Code After the showdowns with Google and Facebook, the final amendments to the Code were made and it was legislated as the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code (Australian Treasury), going into effect on 2 March 2021. However, when it became legally binding, not one single company was ‘designated’, meaning that the Code did not immediately apply to anyone. Yet deals had been struck, money would flow to Australian news companies, and Facebook had returned news to its platform in Australia. At the outset, Google, Facebook, news companies in Australia and the Australian government all claimed to have won the battle over the Code. Having talked up their tough stance on big tech platforms when the Digital Platforms Inquiry landed in 2019, the Australian Government was under public pressure to deliver on that rhetoric. The debates and media coverage surrounding the Code involved a great deal of political posturing and gained much public attention. The Treasurer was delighted to see deals being struck that meant Facebook and Google would pay Australian news companies. He actively portrayed this as the government protecting Australia’s interest and democracy. The fact that the Code was leveraged as a threat does mean that the nuances of the Code are unlikely to be tested in a courtroom in the near future. Yet as a threat it was an effective one, and it does remain in the Treasurer’s toolkit, with the potential to be deployed in the future. While mostly outside the scope of this article, it should definitely be noted that the biggest winner in the Code debate was Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp. They were the strongest advocates of regulation forcing the digital giants to pay for news in the first place, and had the most to gain and least to lose in the process. Most large news organisations in Australia have fared well, too, with new revenue flowing in from Google and Facebook. However, one of the most important facets of the Code was the inclusion of mechanisms to ensure that regional and small news publishers in Australia would be able to negotiate with Facebook and Google. While some might be able to band together and strike terms (and some already have) it is likely that many smaller news companies in Australia will miss out, since the deals being struck with the bigger news companies appear to be big enough to ensure they are not designated, and thus not subject to the Code (Purtill). A few weeks after the Code became law ACCC Chair Rod Sims stated that the “problem we’re addressing with the news media code is simply that we wanted to arrest the decline in money going to journalism” (Kohler). On that front the Code succeeded. However, there is no guarantee the deals will mean money will support actual journalists, rather than disappearing as extra corporate profits. Nor is there any onus on Facebook or Google to inform news organisations about changes to their algorithms that might impact on news rankings. Also, as many Australia news companies are now receiving payments from Google and Facebook, there is a danger the news media will become dependent on that revenue, which may make it harder for journalists to report on the big tech giants without some perceptions of a conflict of interest. In a diplomatic post about the Code, Google thanked everyone who had voiced concerns with the initial drafts of the legislation, thanked Australian users, and celebrated that their newly launched Google News Showcase had “two million views of content” with more than 70 news partners signed up within Australia (Silva, “An Update”). Given that News Showcase had already begun rolling out elsewhere in the world, it is likely Google were already aware they were going to have to contribute to the production of journalism across the globe. The cost of paying for news in Australia may well have fallen within the parameters Google had already decided were acceptable and inevitable before the debate about the Code even began (Purtill). In the aftermath of the Code becoming legislation, Google also posted a cutting critique of Microsoft, arguing they were “making self-serving claims and are even willing to break the way the open web works in an effort to undercut a rival” (Walker). In doing so, Google implicitly claimed that the concessions and changes to the Code they had managed to negotiate effectively positioned them as having championed the free and open web. At the end of February 2021, in a much more self-congratulatory post-mortem of the Code entitled “The Real Story of What Happened with News on Facebook in Australia”, Facebook reiterated their assertion that they bring significant value to news publishers and that the platform receives no real value in return, stating that in 2020 Facebook provided “approximately 5.1 billion free referrals to Australian publishers worth an estimated AU$407 million to the news industry” (Clegg). Deploying one last confused metaphor, Facebook argued the original draft of the Code was “like forcing car makers to fund radio stations because people might listen to them in the car — and letting the stations set the price.” Of course, there was no mention that following that metaphor, Facebook would have bugged the car and used that information to plaster the internal surfaces with personalised advertising. Facebook also touted the success of their Facebook News product in the UK, albeit without setting a date for the rollout of the product in Australia. While Facebook did concede that “the decision to stop the sharing of news in Australia appeared to come out of nowhere”, what the company failed to do was apologise to Australian Facebook users for the confusion and inconvenience they experienced. Nevertheless, on Facebook’s own terms, they certainly positioned themselves as having come out winners. Future research will need to determine whether Facebook’s actions damaged their reputation or encouraged significant numbers of Australians to leave the platform permanently, but in the wake of a number of high-profile scandals, including Cambridge Analytica (Vaidhyanathan), it is hard to see how Facebook’s actions would not have further undermined consumer trust in the company and their main platform (Park et al.). In fighting the Code, Google and Facebook were not just battling the Australian government, but also the implication that if they paid for news in Australia, they likely would also have to do so in other countries. The Code was thus seen as a dangerous precedent far more than just a mechanism to compel payment in Australia. Since both companies ensured they made deals prior to the Code becoming law, neither was initially ‘designated’, and thus neither were actually subject to the Code at the time of writing. The value of the Code has been as a threat and a means to force action from the digital giants. How effective it is as a piece of legislation remains to be seen in the future if, indeed, any company is ever designated. For other countries, the exact wording of the Code might not be as useful as a template, but its utility to force action has surely been noted. Like the inquiry which initiated it, the Code set “the largest digital platforms, Google and Facebook, up against the giants of traditional media, most notably Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation” (Flew and Wilding 50). Yet in a relatively unusual turn of events, both sides of that battle claim to have won. At the same time, EU legislators watched the battle closely as they considered an “Australian-style code” of their own (Dillon). Moreover, in the month immediately following the Code being legislated, both the US and Canada were actively pursuing similar regulation (Baier) with Facebook already threatening to remove news and go dark for Canadian Facebook users (van Boom). For Facebook, and Google, the battle continues, but fighting the Code has meant the genie of paying for news content is well and truly out of the bottle. References Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 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Abstract In 2019, the BONN Agreement celebrated 50 years of continuous cooperation in dealing with marine pollution in Europe. This makes the Bonn Agreement the oldest regional agreement in the world established by governments for jointly dealing with and responding to pollution incidents. The first “Agreement for Cooperation in Dealing with Pollution of the North Sea by Oil” was signed in 1969 by the eight states bordering the North Sea: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This was shortly after the oil tanker “Torrey Canyon” broke up off Cornwall in 1967 spilling 117 000 tonnes of oil in the first major pollution disaster affecting Western Europe. In 1983 the agreement was expanded to include “other harmful substances” as well as oil and the European Union became a Contracting Party. In 1989 the agreement was amended to include aerial surveillance. In 2010, Ireland was included and in 2019, at the 50'th anniversary, a new enlargement of the geographical scope was approved by including the Bay of Biscay through Spain's accession and a new task related to the monitoring of air pollution from ships was incorporated. The area of the Bonn Agreement now covers the Greater North Sea and its approaches, comprising most of the heavy density traffic area and oil fields in Western Europe. During these 50 years, the cooperation has resulted in a number of achievements on different topics. Some of these are: - aerial surveillance and detection of marine pollution,- harmonized pollution reporting format,- common quantification of oil spills through the Bonn Agreement Oil Appearance Code,- systems for reimbursement of costs when rendering assistance as the Bonn Agreement provides for mutual assistance between Contracting Parties,- joint exercises,- information sharing on experiences and on research & development findings,- Bonn Agreement region-wide risk assessment through the BE-AWARE project. In October 2019, the agreement's 50th anniversary was celebrated and a ministerial meeting was held. This paper will give an overview of the history, the achievements and the future for the Bonn Agreement.

Usually whenever we take a subscription from any OTT platform we often use it only for 5-10% of time we subscribe for, but we end up paying for the whole lot of time. Also, often users keep sharing their subscriptions with their friends and a single screen subscription ends up running on multiple devices. It causes losses to service providers. So, a more smooth and efficient subscription system is needed and it would benefit both the parties - Customers and Service Providers. Since Ethereum has been an open source development platform, the industry has taken advantage of decentralized application or DApp where by the application is based on Smart Contract, a set of programming written code becomes the law of in agreement.

Conducting research in indigenous settings in rural villages, where traditional leaders are the custodians of communities remains a challenge. Traditional health practitioners have to adapt their protocols to the needs of the cultural setting. When gaining access to a setting, researchers have to follow a process that respects the autonomy of individuals, thus adhering to one of the ethical principles of research with human participants. In this paper, the researchers reflect on gaining access to conduct research with traditional health practitioners and traditional leaders in Vhembe district, South Africa. Researchers participated in sharing circles, and identified five reflective themes. The themes included initiating agreement and rapport, continuous negotiation and compromise, Them and Us, adhering to local dress code and ritual performance. Researchers planning to conduct research with traditional health practitioners and traditional leaders should consider these themes in the preparation phase.