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This study aims to, in the light of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) objective to provide “broadband for all”, investigate how the DAE can make use of universal service as a regulatory instrument created specifically to ensure a minimum of available and affordable electronic communications services within a competitive market.

The paper uses systematic and comparative legal analyses of the European Union (EU)’s universal service rules and contrasts them with Information Society policy measures.

There are strong commonalities between the DAE and universal service on the level of objectives. However, due to heavy reliance on the measures stimulating supply-side, there are discrepancies in the mechanisms of their achievement. At the same time, an effective use of universal service instrument by the DAE is not reasonable. In its current form, universal service does not correspond to the substantive requirements of the Information Society policy and needs to be reformed. The paper calls for additional empirical and theoretical research on the role and form of universal service in the Information Society and outlines main issues for further research.

The paper uses the perspective of the EU Information Society policy to undertake a legal analysis of the current universal service regulation. Against this backdrop, it points out obsolescence of individual elements of the scope and logical deficiencies of the review mechanism.

Surface mount technology (SMT) is being increasingly used in printed circuit board (PCB) assembly. The reduced lead pitch of surface mount components coupled with their increased lead count and packing densities have made it imperative that automated placement methods be used. However, the SMT placement process is often a bottleneck in surface mount manufacturing. A reduction in placement time in SMT will enhance throughput and productivity. This paper describes the design and development of a prototype expert system based approach which identifies ‘near’ optimal placement sequences for surface mount PCBs in (almost) realtime. The software structure used integrates a knowledge based system with an optimisation module. PROLOG is the language used in this research. The system was rigorously validated and tested. Ideas for further research are also presented.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the legal framework and challenges to economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights of women.

This paper focuses on ESC rights of women. ESC rights are recognized under primary instrument International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which is adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1966. States have obligations to respect, protect and fulfil ESC rights. This paper aims to address ESC rights of women in particular. It analyzes the international legal framework including provisions of UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and ICESCR and its optional protocol. It also analyzes provisions of Women’s Convention and identifies its linkage to ICESCR.

ESC rights are not justiciable and growing debate over justiciability is important for consideration. Also, there exist certain challenges for the progressive realization of ESC rights which need to be addressed by analyzing provisions of the existing legal framework and Maastricht Guidelines. The argument developed throughout the paper is that women’s ESC rights may be protected at all levels by the progressive realization of these rights. The issue of justiciability may also be resolved to protect the basic needs and interests of women that leads to their empowerment.

The work is original and not published by any other journal so far.