Digital Transformation – The “Design for All” Approach: European Accessibility for The Disabled

Both the UN and the European Commission have been strengthening their regulations concerning the accessibility of products and services by persons with disabilities. Although this is not a new topic, the new regulations are designed to be more binding and to reduce remaining inequity between persons with and without disabilities. Although the topic of accessibility is increasingly better understood and discussed in terms of online systems, it applies just as much to more established technologies such as ATMs or the telephone and even to live human interactions. That said, the new regulations do robustly address the online space. In addition, the COVID 19 pandemic has, (because so many societal interactions have moved online), drawn even greater attention to existing barriers. The purpose of this study was to outline the framework of legal regulations referring to this problem and to show and analyse the broader context of the changes that are expected once the European Accessibility Act takes effect in 2025.

Optimal COVID-19 Vaccine Sharing Between Two Nations That Also Have Extensive Travel Exchanges

Countries around the world have observed reduced infections from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that causes COVID-19 illness, primarily due to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as lockdowns and social distancing measures designed to limit physical proximity between people. However, economies and societal interactions require restarting, and so lockdowns cannot continue indefinitely. Therefore, much hope is placed in using newly developed vaccines as a route back to normality, but this raises key questions about how they are shared. There are also emerging questions regarding travel. For instance, international business and trade necessitates at least some in-person exchanges, alongside restarting travel also for tourist purposes. By utilising a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Vaccinated (SIRV) mathematical model, we simulate the populations of two nations in parallel, where the first nation produces a vaccine and decides the extent to which it is shared with the second. Overlaying our mathematical structure is the virus-related effects of travel between the two nations. We find that even with extensive travel, nation one minimises its total number of deaths by simply retaining vaccines, aiming for full inoculation as fast as possible, suggesting that the risks posed by travel can be mitigated by rapidly vaccinating its own population. If instead we consider the total deaths i.e., sum of deaths of both nations, then such a policy of not sharing by nation one until full vaccination is highly sub-optimal. A policy of low initial sharing causes many more deaths in nation two than lives saved in nation one, raising important ethical issues. This imbalance in the health impact of vaccination provision must be considered as some countries begin to approach the point of extensive vaccination, while others lack the resources to do so.

Simulating Pandemic Disease Spread and the Impact of Interventions in Complex Societal Networks

IntroductionProjecting disease spread is challenging because of the heterogeneous nature of human interactions, including both natural societal interactions and how they change in response to pandemics. Simulations can provide important guidance regarding the likely impact of interventions on an assumed base case.MethodsThis paper uses assumptions based on the COVID-19 pandemic to construct a Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered model representative of US society, focusing on the interrelationships of groups with differing contact networks (essential/non-essential workers and urban/non-urban populations). The model is used to explore the impact of interventions (reduced interactions, vaccinations and selective isolation) on overall and group-specific disease spread.ResultsIn the absence of herd immunity, temporary interventions will only reduce the overall number of disease cases moderately and spread them over a greater period of time unless they virtually eliminate disease and no new infections occur from exogenous sources. Vaccinations can provide stronger benefit, but can be limited by efficacy and utilization rates.ConclusionsWhile a highly effective and broadly utilized vaccine might halt disease spread, some combination of increased long-term surveillance and selective isolation of the most vulnerable populations might be necessary to minimize morbidity and mortality if only moderately effective vaccines are available.

Conflict in the Time of (Post-) Corona: Some Assessments from Behavioral Economics

We present a non-technical assessment of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual level conflict behavior in the household, workplace, and societal interactions in the post-COVID era. We predict that there will be an increase in the intra-household conflict including domestic violence; and the divorce rate will rise. Within workplaces, the pandemic will result both in a higher level of sabotage among the employees, and employee retaliation towards the employer. The pandemic may also affect the diversity and inclusiveness within an organization adversely. In societal interactions, an increase in the identity related conflicts – especially related to the immigration status – can be observed. It is also likely that there will be an increase in the attack and defense or victimization activities in the society. We conclude by proposing various measures for conflict resolution, and a few possible areas of further investigations.

“Their Untold Stories…”: Lived Experiences of Being a Transgender (Hijra), A Qualitative Study From India

Background: Transgender is an umbrella term, used to encompass people who have a gender identity or gender expression, which differs from their sex assignment at birth. Being independent of sexual orientation, they have often been classified as the “third sex.” Based on various sociocultural traditions and beliefs, they are frequently “othered,” discriminated, and stigmatized against. This has led to their limited social inclusion and participation. In the social diversity of a populous country like India, transgenders are termed as “hijra’s,” belonging to a separate social community. Their experiences, perceptions, and unmet needs are rarely evaluated. Methods: Qualitative approach was used to explore the “lived experience” of 4 individuals who are part of the “hijra” community in Kolkata. These individuals were born with ambiguous primary sex characteristics. In-depth interview was conducted with these participants with subsequent transcription. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used for analysis. Results: A total of 2 superordinate themes (identity issues, relationship issues) and 6 subordinate themes emerged from the analysis (identification with feminine gender, perceptions regarding caregivers, perception regarding siblings, perception regarding childhood peer groups, identification with the hijra community, societal rejection). The findings have been discussed in terms of identity process, social and cultural construal of hijras in this part of the world. Conclusion: In India, the transgenders (hijra community) represent a unique subculture besides the heterosexual groups. Understanding their relationships, sexuality and societal interactions are vital for their psychosocial well-being and related interventions. This study adds to the shared understanding of their marginalization and lived experiences, in their own voices.

A Theory of International Involvement and its Societal Effects

What is the effect of international involvement on authoritarianism? Moreover, what is the effect of this involvement on societal dynamics, in the long-term? This chapter presents a theory of international involvement and its societal effects, arguing that such involvement not only affects behavior or preferences on the margins, but also restructures regime dynamics and societal interactions in a way that has yet to be examined fully in the political science literature. There is evidence to suggest that such involvement leads to polarization within society, but it is also important to understand the effect of that polarization on political behavior in the long-term. The theory presented argues international involvement has three specific effects: firstly, creating a principle-agent problem between regime and society, thus disrupting state–society relations, secondly, increasing polarization within society, and thirdly, inhibiting political engagement.

Theorising Chinese International Relations and the Rise of China

This paper critically analyses the case study of Chinese international relations theory through the lens of a non-Western International relations theoretical framework.There should be an attempt to democratise the existing international relations discipline because societal interactions among the countries across the globe cannot be judged by the yardstick of Western experiences. Non-Western international relations theories can be also generated under the post-positivist methodological framework, as it is equally important to include the localised voices and experiences of Asian, African and Latin American countries by reactivating their local historical traditions and ancient philosophies, sociological perspective and ontological, epistemological and axiological dimension of international relations theories 3. Key words: International Relations Theory - Tribute System – Confucian Model of Governance – World Order

Using Transdisciplinary Action Research Toward Sustainable Management of Vineyard Management and Tourism in the Negev Highlands

Communities often lack a framework to guide research and action by which to mitigate complex socio-ecological challenges in the face of conflicting interests and poorly understood ecological and socio-political mechanisms. In an effort to provide such a framework, this article offers an approach for the systematic analysis of societal interactions with the landscape as well as for the structure and function of the ecosystem. Using an approach informed both by transdisciplinary research (TdR) and participatory action research (PAR), modeling is employed to identify trajectories of human influence on the ecosystem, which is illustrated using a case from the Negev Highlands of Israel. The approach identifies several cascades of effects, allowing diverse stakeholders to better understand the mechanisms by which human activities change the capacity of the ecosystem to support human well-being over time, as well as building capacity for stakeholder cooperation for sustainable management.