A Comprehensive Instrument for Identifying Critical Information Infrastructure Services

Kriitiliste Informatsiooni Infrastruktuuride (KII) teenuste kindlaks määramine on üks valituste ja organisatsioonide peamisi prioriteete. KII on ühtlasi kaaluka küberturvalisuse poliitika kriitiline osa. Nii avalikus kui erasektoris Kriitilise Infrastruktuuri (KI) haavatavus suureneb, sest kasvab omavahel ühilduvate hädavajalike teenuste arv, samaaegselt tõuseb ka tõenäosus vahelesegamisteks. Hädavajalike teenuste lubamatute vahelesegamiste mõju võib välja viia arenguteni, kus aset leiab hävitav kaskaadeffekt, mille tagajärjeks on riikliku infrastruktuurisüsteemi kokkuvarisemine. Antud lõputöö eesmärgiks on tutvustada ainulaadset kõikehõlmavat instrumenti, mis toetab eskaleeritud KII teenuste kindlaksmääramist, ja põhineb kolmel analüütilisel komponendil. Nendeks on: peamiste sidusrühmade kindlaks määramine kui täpne terminoloogia loomaks terminitest ühist arusaama; kohaldatava maatriksina töötav kalkuleerimisprotsess kriitiliste reastuste otstarbeks; ja, illustratiivne raamistik nimega 360-kraadi-tagasiside, mis kinnistab terviklikku lähenemist. Terminoloogiline edasiarendus tuleneb vahendi loomisest, mis võtab arvesse esialgseid leide, see tagab KIIde vallas suurema selguse ja täpsuse. Unikaalseid tunnusjooni omavad KIId peaksid olema hinnatud iseseisvalt. Seda vaatamata KIIde ühistele joontele KIde teiste tahkudega. Vahendi kohaldatavus on näitlikustatud Kolumbia juhtumikirjelduses, kus on illustreerivalt toodud seos kahe potensiaalse hädavajaliku teenuse vahel. Juhtumikirjedluses on ühtlasi kaardistatud nende tõenäoline paiknemine riikliku kaitse prioriteetide seas. Antud lõputöö kombineerib kvalitatiivseid ja kvantiatiivseid meetodeid, sisaldab võrdlusanalüüsi teoreetilisi sisendite kohta. Lõputöö tugineb peamiselt dokumentide analüüsil, ametlikest kanalitest pärineval sekundaarselt statistilisel infol, poolstruktureeritud intervjuudel ja juhtumikirjeldusel, mis annab tööle praktilise kaalutluse. Käesolev magistritöö on kirjutatud inglise keeles, koosneb 56 leheküljest, 22 näidetest ja 26 tabelitest.The identification of Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) services has become a top priority for governments and organizations, and a crucial component of a sound cyber security policy. As the interconnectivity of essential services spreads, the probability of disruptions increases and with it the vulnerability of all Critical Infrastructure (CI) sectors public and private. The impact of an undue interruption of essential services may develop in a devastating cascading effect and the collapse of a country’s infrastructures system. The purpose of this work is to introduce an original comprehensive instrument that supports the escalated identification of CII services on the basis of three analytical components: the identification of main stakeholders, as an accurate terminology for establishing a common understanding of the terms; the calculating process for criticality ranking that works as an adaptable matrix; and, an illustrative framework called the 360- DEGREE-FEEDBACK that applies the complete perspective. Terminological development preceded the formulation of the instrument considering preliminary findings on that the field of CII warrants more clarity and precision, and that the CIIs, despite their commonalities with other dimensions of CIs, possess unique characteristics that should be assessed independently. The applicability of the instrument is illustrated in a case study of Colombia, which is used to exemplify the relationship between two potential essential services and map the likely position of them in the table of national protection priorities. This study combines qualitative and quantitative methods, benchmarking theoretical contributions, and relying mainly on documentary analysis, secondary statistical data from official sources, semi-structure interviews and a case study of practical implications. This thesis is written in English and is 56 pages long, including 22 figures and 26 tables

Bolstering Global Trade: Governance A Work Program for the WTO presented by the High-Level Board of Experts on the Future of Global Trade Governance

The WTO provides the foundation of the rules-based global trading system that has played a critical role in sup- porting growth in global GDP during recent decades. Preserving the salience of the WTO is vital in managing the adjustment pressures from globalization and sustaining the cooperation needed to govern trade relations in a world in which the transformation towards a global digital economy and associated servicification of production creates new policy challenges. Efforts to address these challenges are stymied by disagreements between WTO members regarding the priorities for the multilateral trading system. These disagreements reflect differences in views on the extent to which national policies have adverse international effects and the costs and benefits of ne- gotiating additional trade policy rules. The result has been to impede progress on rule-making for both long- standing core policies of concern to many WTO members (e.g., agriculture) as well as new policy areas. Matters have been compounded by dissatisfaction by some Members regarding the functioning of the WTO dispute set- tlement body and transparency mechanisms. While preferential trade agreements are important complementary vehicles for countries to pursue deeper coop- eration on trade policy matters than has been possible in the WTO, such initiatives depend on the strong foundation of basic rules provided by the WTO. Moreover, they only offer partial solutions – many of the emerging policy areas of concern to business and civil society call for multilateral cooperation. Re-vitalizing such coopera- tion does not require major changes in the organization. What is needed is willingness to engage in candid, substantive discussion of perceived problems and possible solutions. The recent Agreement on Trade Facilitation, with its positive approach to addressing development concerns, and the success of Members in incrementally deepening cooperation on some matters under the purview of some WTO agreements – e.g., addressing specific trade concerns arising from proposed new product regulations – show that WTO Members can innovate and agree to common approaches towards trade policies while recogniz- ing differences in social preferences and national circumstances

Analyzing urban poverty: a summary of methods and approached

In recent years an extensive body of literature has emerged on the definition, measurement and analysis of poverty. Much of this literature focuses on analyzing poverty at the national level, or spatial disaggregation by general categories of urban or rural areas with adjustments made for regional price differentials. Yet for an individual city attempting to tackle the problems of urban poverty, this level of aggregation is not sufficient for answering specific questions such as where the poor are located in the city, whether there are differences between poor areas, if access to services varies by subgroup, whether specific programs are reaching the poorest, and how to design effective poverty reduction programs and policies. Answering these questions is critical, particularly for large, sprawling cities with highly diverse populations and growing problems of urban poverty. Understanding urban poverty presents a set of issues distinct from general poverty analysis and thus may require additional tools and techniques. This paper summarizes the main issues in conducting urban poverty analysis, with a focus on presenting a sample of case studies from urban areas that were implemented by a number of different agencies using a range of analytical approaches for studying urban poverty. Specific conclusions regarding design and analysis, data, timing, cost, and implementation issues are discussed.Public Health Promotion,Poverty Reduction Strategies,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Urban Partnerships&Poverty,Poverty Reduction Strategies,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,City Development Strategies

How To Strengthen Youth-Serving Nonprofits?: Experiences of the James Irvine Foundation's Youth Development Initiative

Examines how Irvine's initiative to strengthen the management and organizational capacities of youth-serving nonprofits in Fresno and Los Angeles changed budgets, staff, numbers served, funding sources, and practices. Discusses the role of intermediaries

OGC SWE-based Data Acquisition System Development for EGIM on EMSODEV EU Project

The EMSODEV[1] (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory DEVelopment) is an EU project whose general objective is to set up the full implementation and operation of the EMSO distributed Research Infrastructure (RI), through the development, testing and deployment of an EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM). This research infrastructure will provide accurate records on marine environmental changes from distributed local nodes around Europe. These observations are critical to respond accurately to the social and scientific challenges such as climate change, changes in marine ecosystems, and marine hazards. In this paper we present the design and development of the EGIM data acquisition system. EGIM is able to operate on any EMSO node, mooring line, sea bed station, cabled or non-cabled and surface buoy. In fact a central function of EGIM within the EMSO infrastructure is to have a number of ocean locations where the same set of core variables are measured homogeneously: using the same hardware, same sensor references, same qualification methods, same calibration methods, same data format and access, and same maintenance procedures.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

How does the composition of public spending matter?

Public spending has effects which are complex to trace and difficult to quantify. But the composition of public expenditure has become the key instrument by which development agencies seek to promote economic development. In recent years, the development assistance to heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) hasbeen made conditional on increased expenditure on categories that are thought to be"pro-poor". This paper responds to the growing concern being expressed about the conceptual foundations and the empirical basis for the belief that poverty can be reduced through targeted public spending. While it is widely accepted that growth and redistribution are important sources of reduction in absolute poverty, a review of the literature confirms the lack of an appropriate theoretical framework for assessing the impact of public spending on growth as well as poverty. There is a need to combine principles of both public economics and growth theory to develop appropriate theoretical guidance for public expenditure policy. This paper identifies a number of approaches that are beginning to address this gap. Building on these approaches, it proposes a framework that has its foundation in a broadly articulated development strategy and its economic goals such as growth, equity, and poverty reduction. It recommends the use of public economics principles to clarify the roles of the private and public sectors and to recognize the complementarity of spending, taxation, and regulatory instruments available to affect public policy. With regard to the impact of any given type of public spending, policy recommendations must be tailored to countries and be based on empirical analysis that takes account of the lags and leads in their effects on equity and growth and ultimately on poverty. The paper sketches out such a framework as the first step in what will have to be a longer-term research agenda to provide theoretically and empirically robust and verifiable guidance to public spending policy.Poverty Assessment,Achieving Shared Growth,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Governance Indicators