Diverse psychotropic substances detected in drug and drug administration equipment samples submitted to drug checking services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 2019–April 2020

Background The overdose crisis has generated innovative harm reduction and drug market monitoring strategies. In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a multi-site drug checking service (DCS) pilot project was launched in October 2019. The project provides people who use drugs with information on the chemical composition of their substances, thereby increasing their capacity to make more informed decisions about their drug use and avoid overdose. DCS also provides real-time market monitoring to identify trends in the unregulated drug supply. Methods Sample data were obtained through analyses of drug and used drug administration equipment samples submitted anonymously and free of charge to DCS in downtown Toronto from October 10, 2019, to April 9, 2020, representing the first six months of DCS implementation. Analyses were conducted in clinical laboratories using liquid chromatography- and/or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS, GC–MS) techniques. Results Overall, 555 samples were submitted, with 49% (271) of samples that were found to contain high-potency opioids, of which 87% (235) also contained stimulants. Benzodiazepine-type drugs were found in 21% (116) of all samples, and synthetic cannabinoids in 1% (7) of all samples. Negative effects (including overdose, adverse health events, and extreme sedation) were reported for 11% (59) of samples submitted for analysis. Conclusions Toronto’s DCS identified a range of high-potency opioids with stimulants, benzodiazepine-type drugs, and a synthetic cannabinoid, AMB-FUBINACA. This information can inform a range of evidence-informed overdose prevention efforts.

Conformity Assessments and Post-market Monitoring: A Guide to the Role of Auditing in the Proposed European AI Regulation

The proposed European Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) is the first attempt to elaborate a general legal framework for AI carried out by any major global economy. As such, the AIA is likely to become a point of reference in the larger discourse on how AI systems can (and should) be regulated. In this article, we describe and discuss the two primary enforcement mechanisms proposed in the AIA: the conformity assessments that providers of high-risk AI systems are expected to conduct, and the post-market monitoring plans that providers must establish to document the performance of high-risk AI systems throughout their lifetimes. We argue that the AIA can be interpreted as a proposal to establish a Europe-wide ecosystem for conducting AI auditing, albeit in other words. Our analysis offers two main contributions. First, by describing the enforcement mechanisms included in the AIA in terminology borrowed from existing literature on AI auditing, we help providers of AI systems understand how they can prove adherence to the requirements set out in the AIA in practice. Second, by examining the AIA from an auditing perspective, we seek to provide transferable lessons from previous research about how to refine further the regulatory approach outlined in the AIA. We conclude by highlighting seven aspects of the AIA where amendments (or simply clarifications) would be helpful. These include, above all, the need to translate vague concepts into verifiable criteria and to strengthen the institutional safeguards concerning conformity assessments based on internal checks.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF MARKETING RESEARCH FOR TOURISM DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The purpose of the article is, taking into account the importance of marketing research in the field of tourism, to propose an adequate marketing strategy for a tourism enterprise in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Methodology – the application of methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, forecasting, as well as the use of systemic, activity-based, histori- cal approaches. The scientific novelty is in the proposals for solving problems in the field of tourism, in particular, in conducting marketing research at travel companies in the conditions of Covid-19. Conclusions. As a result of the study, it was found that tourism organizations require market monitoring in the context of Covid-19, constant and consistent marketing research in connection with the reformatting of the market with new challenges of the time. Keywords: marketing research, pandemic, Covid-19, tourism product, tourism

Diverse Psychotropic Substances Detected in Drug and Paraphernalia Samples Submitted to Drug Checking Services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 2019-April 2020

BackgroundThe opioid overdose crisis has generated innovative harm reduction and drug market monitoring strategies. In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a multi-site drug checking service (DCS) pilot project was launched in October 2019. The project provides people who use drugs with information on the chemical composition of their substances, thereby increasing their capacity to make more informed decisions about their drug use and avoid overdose. DCS also provides real-time market monitoring to identify trends in the unregulated drug supply. MethodsSample data were obtained through analyses of drug and used paraphernalia samples submitted anonymously and free of charge to DCS in downtown Toronto from October 10, 2019 to April 9, 2020, representing the first six months of DCS implementation. Analyses were conducted in clinical laboratories using ultra high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS), and liquid chromatography or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS, GC-MS) techniques. ResultsOverall, 555 samples were submitted, with 49% (271) of samples that were found to contain high-potency opioids, of which 87% (235) also contained stimulants. Benzodiazepines or related drugs were also found in 21% (116) of all samples, and synthetic cannabinoids in 1% (7) of all samples. Negative effects (including overdose) were reported for 12% (69) of samples submitted for analysis.ConclusionsToronto’s DCS identified a range of high-potency opioids with stimulants, benzodiazepines and related drugs, and a synthetic cannabinoid, AMB-FUBINACA. This information can inform a range of evidence-informed overdose prevention efforts.

ACTUALIZATION OF DIGITAL LABOR MARKET PLATFORMS INFORMATION

В статье исследован процесс получения, хранения и создания информации в цифровой платформе по мониторингу рынка труда. Проанализированы зарубежные и российские цифровые платформы. Обсуждены их возможности и особенности реализации. Целью исследования является оценка существующих процессов обработки данных, вопросы оптимизации и актуализации данных для оценки состояния рынка труда в цифровых платформах. Рассмотрены методы обновления и пополнения информации. Научная новизна полученных результатов заключается в разработке подхода обработки данных для цифровой платформы по мониторингу рынка труда, принципов фильтрации и унификации данных для удобства использования их соответствующей аудиторией потребителей в качестве основы для оперативной оценки эффективности решений по управлению развитием своей карьеры. The article explores the process of obtaining, storing and creating information in a digital platform for monitoring the labor market. Analyzed foreign and Russian digital platforms. Their possibilities and peculiarities of implementation were discussed. The purpose of the study is to assess the existing data processing processes, optimization and updating of data to assess the state of the labor market in digital platforms. Methods of updating and replenishing information are considered. The scientific novelty of the results is the development of a data processing approach for a digital labour market monitoring platform, filtering principles and data unification for ease of use by an appropriate consumer audience as a basis for a rapid assessment of the effectiveness of career management solutions.

Demonstrating the capacity of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization for timely responses to post-market vaccine monitoring signals: Canada’s experience with the live-attenuated influenza vaccine

Over the last several years, the recommended use of the live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) for children has evolved in the United States (US) in response to evidence of a potential decrease in LAIV effectiveness based on post-market monitoring. These issues were not observed in Canada or elsewhere; consequently, recommendations from Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) and the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on whether to use LAIV differed for two influenza seasons (2016–2017 and 2017–2018). This retrospective describes how NACI arrived at its recommendations in response to post-market signals of reduced LAIV performance from the US in 2013–2014 and again in 2015–2016. NACI’s experience with LAIV marks the first time in Canada where a preferential recommendation on the use of an influenza vaccine in a routine immunization program was reversed. This experience highlights the importance of ongoing post-market monitoring of vaccines, international collaboration and careful consideration of local context to inform vaccine recommendations. NACI’s capacity for timely responses to post-market vaccine performance signals will facilitate responsiveness to similar post-market monitoring signals from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.

Economizing the Uneconomic: Markets for Reliable, Sustainable, and Price Efficient Electricity

Current electricity markets do not efficiently achieve policy targets i.e., sustainability, reliability, and price efficiency. Thus, there are debates on how to achieve these targets by using either market mechanisms e.g., carbon and capacity markets, or non-market mechanisms such as offer-caps, price-caps, and market-monitoring. At the same time, major industry changes including demand response management technologies and large scale batteries bring more elasticity to demand; such changes will impact the methodology needed to achieve the above mentioned targets. This work provides market solutions that capture all three policy targets simultaneously and take into account the above-mentioned industry changes. The proposed solutions are based on: (i) a model of electricity markets that captures all the above mentioned electricity policy targets; (ii) mechanism design and the development of a framework for design of efficient auctions with constraints (individual, joint homogeneous, and joint non-homogeneous). The results show that, within the context of the proposed model, all policy targets can be achieved efficiently by separate capacity and carbon markets in addition to efficient spot markets. The results also highlight that all three policy targets can be achieved without any offer-cap, price-cap, or market monitoring. Thus, within the context of the proposed model, they provide clear answers to the above-mentioned policy debates.

Socio-Geographical Concept of Labor Market Monitoring and Regional Employment Policy Formation

The necessity of socio-geographical concept elaboration and implementation for labor market monitoring and regional employment policy formation is grounded from the socio-geographical point of view. It has been established that: 1) the versatility and complex nature of the labor market development specificated by natural and socio-economic factors of important geographical content has determined its socio-geographical essence; 2) the development of the concept requires different approaches, principles and research methods, including socio-geographical, taking into account various labor market factors; 3)the concept should take into account the influence of the laws of the production and human settlement territorial organisation, as well as the level of development and structure of the region's economy; 4)the concept should take into account the peculiarities of the labor market formation and development in the economic system agricultural sector as well as the impact of current risks and challenges on the social and labor sphere of public life; 5) the implementation of such a concept has to provide the balancing of labor supply and demand within the country and its regions; 6)regional employment policy should be aimed at rational use of the territory labor potential.