Efficacy

How to Design Impactful Laws - Treatise on Legistic and Legisprudence  in the Age of Soft Law

La loi peine toujours plus à « faire la loi » à l’ère du droit souple et de la globalisation. Afin de produire un impact législatif aussi juste qu’optimal, la légistique doit proposer dans ce nouveau contexte une démarche permettant d’intégrer démocratiquement la force du droit souple dans le processus législatif, de pair avec le contrôle de constitutionnalité des lois, sans se contenter d’améliorer la clarté des textes.

Ce traité présente les fondements de la légistique, constituée historiquement pour faire recouvrer à la loi sa rationalité, son efficacité, sa clarté et sa concision.

Il explique comment :
- créer une analyse d’impact intégrée qui prenne en compte toutes les composantes du développement durable parmi la multiplicité des instruments d’action tant publics que privés (légistique matérielle prospective) ;
- formuler des textes clairs et cohérents (légistique formelle) ;
- évaluer rétrospectivement les effets des lois et des politiques publiques par des méthodes appelées à devenir participatives (légistique matérielle rétrospective).

Ce traité porte sur le droit suisse et le droit de l’Union européenne, avec des aspects de droit comparé. Il intègre de manière critique les développements en économie comportementale, en sciences affectives, en intelligence artificielle et en sciences de la gouvernance et de la régulation.

Il s’adresse non seulement aux juristes mais aussi aux spécialistes en sciences sociales, au personnel politique et administratif ainsi qu’à toute personne intéressée par le pilotage des politiques publiques.

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How to Design Impactful Laws: Treatise on Legistic and Legisprudence  in the Age of Soft Law

In an age of soft law and globalization, it has become increasingly difficult for the law to “lay down the law”. To ensure in this new context that its impact is as fair as optimal, legistic must go beyond mere clear legislative drafting: it has to propose a method for integrating the strength of soft law in the democratic law-making process.
This treatise presents the foundations of the sciences of legislation (legistic or legisprudence), historically constituted to make laws more rational and effective, clearer and shorter.

It explains how to:
- create an integrated impact assessment that factors in all the components of sustainable development, among the multiplicity of public and private policy instruments (ex ante material legistic);
- formulate and communicate clear and coherent texts (formal legistic);
- retrospectively evaluate laws and public policies through methods which should become more participative (ex post material legistic).

This treatise is based on Swiss and European Union law, with a look on comparative law. It includes developments in regulation and regulatory governance, behavioral economics, affective sciences and artificial intelligence.

This work is intended not only for lawyers, but also for social scientist, members of political and administrative authorities, and anyone interested in public policy evaluation.

Background: Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) may promote psychological well-being as well as generalized health especially in autoimmune disorders. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of LDN on the Quality of Life (QoL) of patients with relapsing—remitting and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) using the scales and composite scores of the MSQoL-54 questionnaire. Methods: A 17-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, crossover-design clinical trial was conducted in two universities. A total of 96 adult patients aged between 15 and 65 years with relapsing—remitting (RR) or secondary progressive (SP) clinically definite MS with disease duration longer than 6 months enrolled into the study. The primary outcome of the study was comparison of the scores of physical and mental health by conducting independent t-test of the results obtained in the middle and at the end of study between the two groups. Results: Variables including presence of pai...

Objective: To establish the efficacy of Communication DEALL, an indigenous early intervention program; in the management of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Methods: ABA design of pre intervention assessment, intervention and post intervention assessment was utilized across an 8 month period. The first set of measures covered the developmental skill in eight areas of gross motor skills, fine motor skills, activity of daily living skills, receptive language, expressive language, cognitive, social and emotional skills. The second independent assessment was rating of each child on the CARS. Parental observation and parental estimation of the child's progress was also recorded. The study was conducted in the Com DEALL units in Bangalore, including thirty subjects diagnosed with ASD. Main outcome measure was developmental skill gains and decrease in behavioral issues.
Result: Statistically significant increase in all the eight developmental domains and statistically significant decrease in behavioral symptoms as measures by CARS, was seen.
Conclusion: Thus, the Com DEALL program shows promise as an effective early intervention. It also indicates a need to further enhance the stabilization of the pre linguistic skills, such as maintenance of eye contact, attention, sitting tolerance and compliance, in the program.

The College Union is a campus facility that is part of the campus ecology.  It
provides a place where all can feel a sense of inclusion, safety, involvement, and
community.  Through a comparative research approach I will present how both students
and professional staff perceive the College Union, the programs that are part of the
facility, and how it impacts the retention of students.  This investigation draws upon
psychology, behavioral sciences and the liberal arts disciplines as they relate to learning
spaces, campus ecology, and the building of community through involvement. 
This study is a two phased mixed method research design with the primary data
collection conducted electronically using web-based survey tools for both professional
staff (N=562) with a response of 113 individuals, and 50 student respondents (N=1,971). 
Follow-up interviews were conducted with two participants at schools that were
randomly selected from the survey participants who completed a construction or
renovation project in their College Union in the past five years (N=21). 
There is a synergy that became evident between Boyer’s 6 Principles of
Community (1990), the ACUI Core Competencies (2005), and common themes that
came out of my literature review, survey results, and the interviews conducted as a
follow-up to the surveys.  Through the application of a grounded theory approach, this study presents the Six Principles of College Union Efficacy that support retention on
college campuses.

1. Supports the academic mission of the institution
2. Enhances communication of community values
3. Is a diverse space on campus
4. Is a Community Center
5. Is a Welcoming Place
6. Celebrates Traditions

Probiotics are live bacteria which have frequently been reported to be beneficial in preventing a wide range of
diseases as well as playing a major role in treating the existing ailments. Thus far, a variety of probiotic products
have been developed which can be categorized into two groups: probiotic foods and supplements. Both foods and
supplements have been able to confer the health benefits claimed for them. However, it is not known which one can
be clinically more efficient, and to the best of our knowledge, until now no research has been conducted to
investigate this issue. The present review aims to discuss this matter, based on the evidence available in the
literature. To do so, articles indexed in PubMed and ScienceDirect between 2000 and 2011 were reviewed. The
articles included the clinical trials in which either foods or supplements were used to administer the probiotics to
either patients suffering from different diseases or healthy subjects. Although both foods and supplements seem to
have been efficient carriers for the beneficial bacteria, to generally promote public health in communities, probiotic
foods appear to be preferred to probiotic supplements.

Abstract:  Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is an efficient free radical scavenger and antioxidant, both in vitro and in vivo. The role of melatonin as an immunomodulator is, in some cases, contradictory. In this study we have investigated the therapeutic efficacy of melatonin in rats subjected to Pelagia noctiluca crude venom (of the familia Pelaguiidae; and genus Pelagia) induced acute paw inflammation. In particular, injection of the venom into the paw of rats elicited an acute inflammatory response characterized by accumulation of fluid containing a large number of polymorphonuclear neutrophils in the paw and subsequent lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, the venom promoted an expression of iNOS, nitrotyrosine and the activation of the nuclear enzyme poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase as determined by immunohistochemical analysis of paw tissues. Administration of melatonin 30 min, 1 and 6 hr after the challenge with the venom, caused a significant reduction in all the parameters of inflammation measured. Thus, based on these findings we propose that melatonin may be useful a treatment of local acute inflammation induced by P. noctiluca crude venom.

Background: Diet is central to treatment of type 2 diabetes. This review aimed to compare the effectiveness of nutrition therapy delivered by dietitians to nutrition advice delivered by other healthcare professionals in adults with type 2 diabetes on metabolic parameters.

Methods: Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsychINFO were searched for randomised controlled trials of three months duration or longer, published from 1st January 2008 to 18th June 2019. Relevant data were extracted from studies with additional author information. Random-effects meta-analysis assessed mean changes in HbA1c and other clinical parameters. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42019130528.

Results: Of 2477 records identified, fourteen studies, involving 3338 participants, were eligible for qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis. The mean changes [95% CI] at follow-up in HbA1c, BMI, weight, LDL cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were -0·47 [-0·92, -0·02] %, -0·38 [-0·63, -0·13] kg/m2, -1·49 [-2·14, -0·84] kg, -0·15 [-0·33, 0·04] mmol/L, -0·75 [-2·45, 0·96] mm Hg and -1·17 [-4·52, 2·17] mm Hg respectively in favour of the intervention group. The quality of evidence was limited due to heterogeneity, risk of bias, publication bias and indirectness.

Conclusions: Nutrition therapy provided by dietitians was associated with better clinical parameters of type 2 diabetes, including clinically significant improved glycaemic control, across diverse multiethnic patient groups from all six inhabited continents. This conclusion should be reflected in clinical guidelines.

Keywords: Clinical effectiveness; Dietetic counseling; Medical nutrition therapy; Metabolic syndrome; Systematic review; Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: Although perfectionism is a prominent personality disposition, only a few longitudinal studies have investigated how perfectionism develops. Theoretical models and qualitative studies have posited that academic success is a developmental antecedent of perfectionism. Yet, quantitative studies tend to interpret the cross-sectional relationships as academic success being an outcome of perfectionism. In light of these gaps in the literature, the present study was the first to investigate the longitudinal relationships between perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, academic achievement, and academic efficacy examining academic success as an antecedent of perfectionism. Method: The study examined 487 adolescents (aged 12-19 years, 54% female) using a crosslagged longitudinal design with three time points spaced 4-5 months apart. Results: Results showed that academic achievement predicted relative increases in both perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, even when including academic efficacy. In addition, academic efficacy predicted relative increases in perfectionistic strivings. Discussion: This is the first study to show that academic achievement is a common factor in the development of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, whereas academic efficacy plays a role only in the development of perfectionistic strivings. Conclusions: Implications of the findings for the development of perfectionism are discussed.

Purpose of the study: The main objective of the present work is to assess the efficacy of the restoration endeavour in Bengaluru lakes, Karnataka, India. Rapid urbanisation coupled with industrialisation in urban areas has greatly stressed the available water resources qualitatively and quantitatively. This has also resulted in the generation of enormous sewage and wastewater after independence. Method: Environmental monitoring of 40 restored lakes was carried out to identify the key issues and assessed water quality (physical, chemical and biological). Weighted arithmetic water quality index (WQI) and Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was determined using data of physicochemical parameters of lakes. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) performed using PAST3 software to identify the factors responsible for variations in water quality. Main Findings: The monitored forty lakes distributed across the three major watersheds namely Koramangala and Challaghatta valley, Vrishabhavath...

Publikácia pojednáva o zisťovaní efektívnosti vyučovacích metód. Pracuje s konkrétnymi výskumami, zaoberajúcimi sa efektívnosťou vyučovania matematiky metódou didaktických hier. Analýza týchto výskumov je cenným zdrojom poznatkov a inšpirácií pre metodiku zisťovania efektívnosti vyučovacích metód, ktorú kniha predkladá čitateľovi.

Purpose: We explored the efficacy of selenium and/or or N-acetyl-cysteine for improving semen parameters in infertile men, and the associations among semen quality and the concentrations of selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine in seminal plasma. Materials and Methods: The study included 468 infertile men with idiopathic oligo-asthenoteratospermia who were randomized to receive 200 g selenium orally daily (selenium group of 116), 600 mg N-acetyl-cysteine orally daily (N-acetyl-cysteine group of 118), 200 g selenium plus 600 mg N-acetyl-cysteine orally daily (selenium plus N-acetyl-cysteine group of 116) or similar regimen of placebo (control group of 118) for 26 weeks, followed by a 30-week treatment-free period. These patients provided blood samples for the measurement of serum testosterone, estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolac-tin, inhibin B, selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine. Semen samples were also obtained for routine semen analysis, and the measurement of seminal plasma selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine. Results: In response to selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine treatment serum follicle-stimulating hormone decreased but serum testosterone and inhibin B increased. All semen parameters significantly improved with selenium and N-acetyl-cys-teine treatment. Administering selenium plus N-acetyl-cysteine resulted in additive beneficial effects. A significant positive correlation existed between the seminal plasma concentrations of selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine, and semen parameters. A strong correlation was observed between the sum of the selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine concentrations, and mean sperm concentration (r 0.67, p 0.01), sperm motility (r 0.64, p 0.01) and percent normal morphology (r 0.66, p 0.01). Conclusions: These results indicate that supplemental selenium and N-acetyl-cysteine improve semen quality. We advocate their use for male infertility treatment. Abbreviations and Acronyms E2 estradiol FSH follicle-stimulating hormone GSH glutathione LH luteinizing hormone NAC N-acetyl-cysteine PRL prolactin RIA radioimmunoassay assay ROS reactive oxygen species TEAE treatment emergent adverse event

Проведено е изследване сред новостартиращи компании в България с цел идентифициране на организационно-културния им профил и в търсене на взаимовръзки с груповата им ефективност. За установяване на доминиращата дименсия организационна култура се използва моделът на конкуриращи се ценности, който разграничава четири основни културни типа (кланова, адхократична, пазарна, йерархична). Резултатите идентифицират, че водеща е дименсията кланова (семейна) култура, следвана от адхократичната. Установена е отрицателна и вероятно контрапродуктивна връзка между клановата дименсия на организационна култура и груповата ефективност. С нарастване възрастта на компаниите се наблюдава засилване на дименсията пазарна култура.

EN:
A research among Bulgarian startups has been conducted aiming at identifying the organizational cultural profile of newly started ventures and looking for interrelationship between organizational culture and group effectiveness. The Competing Values framework is used to establish the dominant dimension between the four types of organizational culture - clan, market, adhocracy, and hierarchy. The results show that leading dimension among Bulgarian startup organizational cultures is the clan (“family”) followed by the ad-hoc culture type. It has also been proven that the clan dimension has a negative (perhaps also counterproductive) correlation with the group effectiveness. As startups mature, the research shows that their organizational culture type changes and the market dimension becomes stronger.

Validity, efficacy and coerciveness are all central concepts in legal theory. Every major legal theoretician has somehow touched upon in each of these concepts. However, their meaning and interrelationship remain problematic. Some of these problems originate from the adopted definitions of these concepts, some others from the ambiguous tone of legal philosophers. This article can be viewed as an effort to reconcile these three concepts and rediscover their central position in legal theory. In this regard, the article examines the work of three important positivists, each leading a different understanding of positivism: Austin, Kelsen and Hart. The article reaches the conclusion that the concepts of efficacy and validity are intertwined as the efficacy of the legal system has always been conceived of as the precondition for its validity. On the other hand, an individual norm's efficacy should have no effect on its validity. The connection of sanctions as the tool of coerciveness to these two concepts depends on the adopted definition of sanction. There are two understandings of sanctions: Normative and factual. In case the normative understanding or definition is adopted, sanction and coerciveness have very little to do with either validity or efficacy. If sanction is considered to be a factual "evil", however, its effect on the system's efficacy and validity increases.

The new Common Core Standards and Virginia Standards of Learning call for an increase in informational/nonfiction text in the language arts classroom.  Students are performing at low levels in this specific genre in one urban eastern Virginia school district, and more than half of the district middles schools are in accreditation warning due to low scores on the state standardized reading test.  In this paper Bandura’s social learning theory provides the framework supported by other searchers in the fields of self-efficacy, technology, science-based instructional strategies, and professional development.  District reading data is analyzed along with an audit of the middle school language arts curriculum, with recommendations on how build student-efficacy, implementing computer-based reading program, the use of science-based instructional strategies, building teacher-efficacy, and the development of job-embedded professional development.  Lastly, a reflection is provided with a list of strengths and weaknesses of this report.