The Implementation of the Precautionary Principle in Nuclear Safety Regulation: Challenges and Prospects

The precautionary principle has been implemented in many fields including environment protection, biological diversity, and climate change. In the field of international nuclear safety regulation, the implementation of this principle is in an ongoing process. Since Japan declared to discharge Fukushima nuclear waste water into the ocean, the precautionary principle was put on the stage, and some debates are invoked on it. As is observed by this article, the precautionary principle has not been effectively implemented in nuclear safety regulation, specifically in nuclear safety law making, law enforcement, and judicial application. The reasons can be found from two main challenges: indeterminacy of perceived risk level required to justify precautionary action and hard balance of national interest and community interest in nuclear safety. In a long-term perspective, the framework of international nuclear safety regulation has to respond to these challenges, both by clarifying the precautionary principle in legal binding nuclear safety documents and moving towards a more transparent, fair, and effective enforcement regime in order to promote safer, more sustainable, and efficient civilian nuclear utilization around the world.

Pandemic, risk-adaptation and household saving: evidence from China

PurposeScholars have not agreed with each other on how people would behave after experiencing a catastrophic event. They could save more as a precautionary action for future difficulties or save less with a carpe diem attitude. This study aims to attempt to shed light on this debate with empirical observations on how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected household saving decisions.Design/methodology/approachThe two waves of the survey data allowed us to investigate both instantaneous and ongoing effects of Covid-19 on household saving decisions. The instantaneous effect refers to the immediate impact of the crisis, while the ongoing effect refers to the lasting impact of the pandemic when economic recovery had started. The variation in the number of confirmed cases across cities during the two waves provides the source of power for identification. The authors extend their analyses of the impact of Covid-19 on the household saving decision by using ordinary least squares models. Due to the ordered nature of survey responses, the authors also rerun all baseline models using the ordered probit regression method.FindingsThis paper studied the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on household saving decisions in China. This study found that households in the most affected cities would save more during the Covid-19 but tend to save less when the disaster started fading away. Combining findings in Kun et al. (2013) and Filipski et al. (2015), people do become more pessimistic during and after the Covid-19, possibly driving their observed precautionary and cape diem behaviors during the two points of time. Heterogeneity analysis shows that specific households would dramatically change their saving behavior. These observations might be useful for policymakers who concern the economic recovery after this pandemic disaster.Originality/valueUnderstanding how the Covid-19 pandemic would affect household consumption vs saving decisions is important for the economic recovery after this disaster comes to an end. The analyses presented in this research could be useful for policymakers who concern appropriate policies aiming to boost consumption and economic activities after Covid.

Paracetamol use during pregnancy — a call for precautionary action

Paracetamol (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (APAP), otherwise known as acetaminophen) is the active ingredient in more than 600 medications used to relieve mild to moderate pain and reduce fever. APAP is widely used by pregnant women as governmental agencies, including the FDA and EMA, have long considered APAP appropriate for use during pregnancy when used as directed. However, increasing experimental and epidemiological research suggests that prenatal exposure to APAP might alter fetal development, which could increase the risks of some neurodevelopmental, reproductive and urogenital disorders. Here we summarize this evidence and call for precautionary action through a focused research effort and by increasing awareness among health professionals and pregnant women. APAP is an important medication and alternatives for treatment of high fever and severe pain are limited. We recommend that pregnant women should be cautioned at the beginning of pregnancy to: forego APAP unless its use is medically indicated; consult with a physician or pharmacist if they are uncertain whether use is indicated and before using on a long-term basis; and minimize exposure by using the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time. We suggest specific actions to implement these recommendations. This Consensus Statement reflects our concerns and is currently supported by 91 scientists, clinicians and public health professionals from across the globe.

MOLECULAR PROPERTIES, BIOACTIVITY SCORES, AND TOXICITY PREDICTIONS OF THE PHYTOCONSTITUENTS PRESENT IN BAUHINIA ACUMINATA

ABSTRACT: To develop the herbal drug with the least side effects, there are superior opportunities to discover the medicinal and other biological properties. Natural products serve as sources of beneficial chemical molecules. For this study, Bauhinia acuminata an important medicinal plant of the Indian subcontinent that belongs to the family Fabaceae was chosen. The plant is well known for its precautionary action in tuberculosis. It has been established to possess some pharmacological activities such as membranes Stabilizing activity1, antibacterial2, anti-nociceptive3, thrombolytic activity4, antioxidant5, anthelmintic6, anti-diarrheal7, Hepato-protective 8. Phytoconstituents present in Bauhinia acuminata obey Lipinski's rule (MiLog P <5) except Kaempferol-3-glucoside indicated their drug-likeness property. Rhoeagenine, 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid, and 9, 12-octadecadienoic acid are the phytoconstituents showing all types of binding with all types of receptors binding except Kinase inhibitor activity. Rhoeagenine, Alpha humulene, 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid, 9, 12-octadecadienoic acid, Alpha muurolol, Beta-sitosterol, Kaempferol-3-glucoside are the phytoconstituents that are free from any type of toxicity. The accurate prediction scores can be used as monographs by researchers and scientists for the development of potential Semisynthetic and synthetic drugs for multifarious usage.

Uncertainty Information & Non-Expert Decisions

&lt;p&gt;This talk will describe an experimental research demonstrating the benefit of including numeric uncertainty information in weather forecasts intended for non-experts. Our results suggest that numeric uncertainty estimates (e.g. 30% chance) allow users to better differentiate situations that do and do not require precautionary action while also increasing understanding and trust in the forecast. People appear to understand that all forecasts involve uncertainty and find forecasts that&amp;#160;acknowledge it explicitly more&amp;#160;plausible. &amp;#160;Moreover, these benefits are not dependent on higher education or special abilities&amp;#8212;they extend to a broad range of users. However, this work also suggests that it is important to present numeric uncertainty estimates in a manner that is compatible with the way in which people process information and with their decision goal.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Spatial resolution of probabilistic forecasts and its impact on risk perception and precautionary action

&lt;p&gt;In the context of probabilistic forecasting, low probabilities are known to be often underestimated by forecast users. This underestimation of low probabilities may have severe consequences, if people fail to take adequate precautions to protect against high-impact events like storms.&lt;br&gt;One solution is to communicate higher probabilities by lowering the forecasts&amp;#8217; spatial resolution: the lower the resolution, the higher the probability that the event will occur within the area. At the same time, a lower resolution entails more uncertainty about where exactly the event could occur. Thus, whereas a lower forecast resolution may heighten forecast users&amp;#8217; risk perception through larger probabilities, an increase in spatial uncertainty could reverse this effect.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In an online experiment, we investigate the effects of forecast resolution and spatial uncertainty on risk perception and precautionary decisions (N = 149). For 12 probabilistic thunderstorm forecasts, participants (i) entered how likely they believed their location would be hit by a thunderstorm, and (ii) decided whether to host an outdoor event at that location at a risk of a high loss or cancel in advance at a smaller cost (blocks randomized).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We find that a lower forecast resolution significantly reduced how likely participants believed to be hit and how often they chose to protect against thunderstorms. At the same time, higher forecast probabilities increased participants&amp;#8217; risk perception and likelihood to take precautionary action. Furthermore, the interpretations of the forecast&amp;#8217;s spatial reference assessed in multiple choice formats were only a rough proxy for experimentally observed perceptions of risk.&lt;br&gt;The results constitute a starting point for investigating the trade-off between forecast probability and spatial uncertainty. They also reiterate that the spatial resolution forecasters choose for their products directly influence forecast users&amp;#8217; risk perception and behavior.&lt;/p&gt;

Knowledge, precautionary actions, and perceived risk of COVID-19 among Indonesian people

Novel coronavirus was first identified in China in December 2019, causing several cases of the new type of pneumonia. The exported cases were found in other countries, including countries in the Southeast Asia region. At the same time, no cases were confirmed in Indonesia. We aimed to assess COVID-19 related knowledge, precautionary actions, and perceived risk among general Indonesian population when there were no confirmed cases in Indonesia. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 382 participants aged 17 years and above residing in Indonesia. The data was collected through the online questionnaire from February 19^thto February 29^th 2020. The average score of COVID-19 related knowledge was 88.0%, whereas 83.8% of the participants had a high level of knowledge. The average score of taking precautionary actions was 77.4% and 65.7% had a high level of performance. In terms of the perceived risk of COVID-19, only 11.3% of the participants perceived themselves likely to acquire COVID-19 when compared with other diseases or accidents. The perceived risk of COVID-19 was significantly associated with precautionary action (p&lt;0.05). Perceived risk of COVID-19 was at a low level when there were no confirmed cases. Effective strategies of risk communication are needed to improve precautionary actions to prevent COVID-19.

Perceptions, Uses, and Interpretations of Uncertainty in Current Weather Forecasts by Spanish Undergraduate Students

This quantitative study evaluates how 71 Spanish undergraduate students perceive and interpret the uncertainty inherent to deterministic forecasts. It is based on several questions that asked participants what they expect given a forecast presented under the deterministic paradigm for a specific lead time and a particular weather parameter. In this regard, both normal and extreme weather conditions were studied. Students’ responses to the temperature forecast as it is usually presented in the media expect an uncertainty range of ±1°–2°C. For wind speed, uncertainty shows a deviation of ±5–10 km h−1, and the uncertainty range assigned to the precipitation amount shows a deviation of ±30 mm from the specific value provided in a deterministic format. Participants perceive the minimum night temperatures as the least-biased parameter from the deterministic forecast, while the amount of rain is perceived as the most-biased one. In addition, participants were then asked about their probabilistic threshold for taking appropriate precautionary action under distinct decision-making scenarios of temperature, wind speed, and rain. Results indicate that participants have different probabilistic thresholds for taking protective action and that context and presentation influence forecast use. Participants were also asked about the meaning of the probability-of-precipitation (PoP) forecast. Around 40% of responses reformulated the default options, and around 20% selected the correct answer, following previous studies related to this research topic. As a general result, it has been found that participants infer uncertainty into deterministic forecasts, and they are mostly used to take action in the presence of decision-making scenarios. In contrast, more difficulties were found when interpreting probabilistic forecasts.

PREVENTIVE RECORD AS A MEANS OF PENITENTIARY CRIME CONTROL

Предупреждение преступлений и формирование у осужденных уважительного отношения к закону являются целями исполнения наказания. В пенитенциарных учреждениях, которые обеспечивают изоляцию от общества, данные цели достигаются обеспечением режима исправительного учреждения. В данной статье обосновывается позиция, согласно которой постановка осужденного на профилактический учет является действенным средством предупреждения преступлений в местах лишения свободы, под которым необходимо понимать форму специальной и индивидуальной профилактики правонарушений осужденных, состоящую из воспитательно-предупредительных мероприятий в отношении конкретных осужденных и направленную на их исправление и/или предупреждение совершения (возможного совершения) ими правонарушений. При проведении профилактического учета за осужденным устанавливается особый контроль со стороны всех подразделений исправительного учреждения; закрепляется наиболее профессионально подготовленный сотрудник учреждения УИС, ответственный за проведение профилактической работы; разрабатываются конкретные, индивидуальные предупредительно-профилактические мероприятия, направленные на отказ от антиобщественного образа жизни и стимулирование правопослушного поведения. Обозначается ряд пробелов и неточностей в регламентации профилактического учета как средства предупреждения преступлений, и предлагаются меры по их устранению, которые будут способствовать повышению эффективности предупредительно-профилактического воздействия на осужденных. The prevention of crimes and the formation of respect for the law among convicts are the goals of the execution of punishment. In penitentiary institutions that provide isolation from society, these goals are achieved by ensuring the regime of the correctional institution. This article substantiates the position that placing a convicted person on preventive registration is an effective means of preventing crimes in places of deprivation of liberty, which should be understood as a form of special and individual prevention of offenses of convicted persons, which consists of educational and preventive measures against specific convicts and is aimed at correcting them and/or preventing them from committing (possible committing) offenses. When conducting preventive record, a special control is established over the convict by all divisions of the correctional institution; the most professionally trained employee of the penal system is assigned, responsible for carrying out preventive work; specific, individual preventive and preventive measures are being developed aimed at abandoning an antisocial lifestyle and stimulating law-abiding behavior. A number of gaps and mistakes in the regulation of preventive record as a means of preventing crimes are indicated, and measures are proposed to eliminate them, which will help to increase the effectiveness of preventive and precautionary action on convicts.

How Extreme Is the Precautionary Principle?

The precautionary principle has often been described as an extreme principle that neglects science and stifles innovation. However, such an interpretation has no support in the official definitions of the principle that have been adopted by the European Union and by the signatories of international treaties on environmental protection. In these documents, the precautionary principle is a guideline specifying how to deal with certain types of scientific uncertainty. In this contribution, this approach to the precautionary principle is explicated with the help of concepts from the philosophy of science and comparisons with general notions of practical rationality. Three major problems in its application are discussed, and it is concluded that to serve its purpose, the precautionary principle has to (1) be combined with other decision principles in cases with competing top priorities, (2) be based on the current state of science, which requires procedures for scientific updates, and (3) exclude potential dangers whose plausibility is too low to trigger meaningful precautionary action.