Stochastic techniques for the design of robust and efficient emission trading mechanisms

The assessment of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted to and removed from the atmosphere is highon both political and scientific agendas internationally. As increasing international concern and cooper- ation aim at policy-oriented solutions to the climate change problem, several issues have begun to arise regarding verification and compliance under both proposed and legislated schemes meant to reduce the human-induced global climate impact. The issues of concern are rooted in the level of confidence with which national emission assessments can be performed, as well as the management of uncertainty and its role in developing informed policy. The approaches to addressing uncertainty that was discussed at the 2nd International Workshop on Uncertainty in Greenhouse Gas Inventories 1 attempt to improve national inventories or to provide a basis for the standardization of inventory estimates to enable comparison of emissions and emission changes across countries. Some authors use detailed uncertainty analyses to enforce the current structure of the emissions trading system while others attempt to internalize high levels of uncertainty by tailoring the emissions trading market rules. In all approaches, uncertainty analysis is regarded as a key component of national GHG inventory analyses. This presentation will provide an overview of the topics that are discussed among scientists at the aforementioned workshop to support robust decision making. These range from achieving and report- ing GHG emission inventories at global, national and sub-national scales; to accounting for uncertainty of emissions and emission changes across these scales; to bottom-up versus top-down emission analy- ses; to detecting and analyzing emission changes vis-a-vis their underlying uncertainties; to reconciling short-term emission commitments and long-term concentration targets; to dealing with verification, com- pliance and emissions trading; to communicating, negotiating and effectively using uncertainty

Information Management and Market Engineering. Vol. II

The research program Information Management and Market Engineering focuses on the analysis and the design of electronic markets. Taking a holistic view of the conceptualization and realization of solutions, the research integrates the disciplines business administration, economics, computer science, and law. Topics of interest range from the implementation, quality assurance, and advancement of electronic markets to their integration into business processes and legal frameworks

Grading Goal Four

Grading Goal Four explores the tensions, threats and opportunities within Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education, aiming to support its rights-based implementation and to build capacity for strengthened monitoring and analysis of the goal.; Readership: All interested in the threats and opportunities within SDG 4 on quality education, including researchers, students and education activists in academia, civil society, government policy-making and international educational diplomacy

Grading Goal Four

Grading Goal Four explores the tensions, threats and opportunities within Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education, aiming to support its rights-based implementation and to build capacity for strengthened monitoring and analysis of the goal.; Readership: All interested in the threats and opportunities within SDG 4 on quality education, including researchers, students and education activists in academia, civil society, government policy-making and international educational diplomacy

Snatched for sex: a qualitative systematic review exploring the most prevalent beliefs and attitudes about human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation in Africa.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Despite the growing body of literature detailing the beliefs and attitudes with regard to human trafficking stimulated by sexual exploitation, there are knowledge gaps that require a systematic review and meta-analysis of this discourse. Arguably, human trafficking poses human rights violation challenges in contemporary times and most countries worldwide are grappling with it in one way or another. Human trafficking has catastrophic consequences in most developing countries in Africa, which serve as origins, destinations, or transit for citizens being transported to distant lands where they are subjected to enslavement through labour or transactional sexual exploitation. Apparently, the topic is still shrouded in clandestineness owing to under-research and very little effort aimed at curbing the scourge. Feminist Theory was adopted as the conceptual framework. This study is typically a desk top research; hence, no human subjects participated in it. The systematic review was conducted in accordance with the protocol recommended by the Campbell Collaboration (2001), one of the most widely used and recognized protocols for systematic reviews applicable in Social Sciences. The primary sources of data for this review were studies and articles published between 2000 and 2021. Data generated from qualifying studies were meta-analysed and therefore disseminated into distinctive themes. This study systematically reviewed the most prevalent perceptions around human trafficking specifically motivated by sexual exploitation. A systematic review of the most dominant beliefs and attitudes regarding human trafficking for sexual exploitation and the meta-analysis of the findings, can potentially influence future practice and recommend areas for prospective research, and most importantly, the study findings can raise awareness regarding this human rights scourge. The findings of this study attest to the fact that the most prevalent beliefs and attitudes regarding the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation in Africa include: (1) lack of a secure socio-economic status, (2) the victims of human trafficking are to blame for their victimisation, (3) women and children are the only victims of human trafficking, (4) demand propels the trafficking of women and children, (5) the statistics depicting the victims of human trafficking for sexual reasons are understated in African countries, (6) the victims of human trafficking are not easily traceable, (7) Africa serves both as a source and destination of trafficked women and children, (8) transit countries do not play a role in human trafficking, and (9) finally, law enforcement is at its lowest ebb in African countries. The findings indicated that human trafficking for sexual exploitation is induced by poverty. The study found that women and children fall victim to human trafficking as they try to escape from poverty. Consequently, socio-political insecurity predisposes women and girls to human trafficking. In addition, the study found that human trafficking is mainly motivated by sexual exploitation; although men can also be subject to trafficking, women and girls are the main targets, as the fundamental reason underpinning human trafficking is embedded in transactional sex and prostitution. Lastly, the study concludes that most researchers misrepresent African countries as they often paint Africa ‘black’ regarding the continent’s role in human trafficking. Researchers tend to portray Africa as a ‘dark’ continent grappling with intractable trafficking challenges. The recommendations include the need for governments and international organizations to encourage and support formalized cooperation and coordination of institutions and relevant stakeholders to end human trafficking in Africa. Most importantly, the scantiness of knowledge on sex-trafficking demands that African states redirect their energies towards curtailing the trafficking of women and children. Human trafficking is a scourge that requires responses that reflect respect for human rights, including the best interests of children

Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives

Drawing on the South African case, this book looks at shifts in higher education around the world in the last two decades. In South Africa, calls for transformation have been heard in the university since the last days of apartheid. Similar claims for quality higher education to be made available to all have been made across the African continent. In spite of this, inequalities remain and many would argue that these have been exacerbated during the Covid pandemic. Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives responds to these calls by arguing for a social account of teaching and learning by contesting dominant understandings of students as ‘decontextualised learners’ premised on the idea that the university is a meritocracy. This book tackles the issue of teaching and learning by looking both within and beyond the classroom. It looks at how higher education policies emerged from the notion of the knowledge economy in the newly democratic South Africa, and how national qualification frameworks and other processes brought the country more closely into conversation with the global order. The effects of this on staffing and curriculum structures are considered alongside a proposition for alternative ways of understanding the role of higher education in society

Understanding how groups make strategic decisions in emergencies

This thesis investigates how emergency response groups, specifically Strategic Coordinating Groups, make decisions in time-pressured, high-stakes environments. By analysing video footage of simulated emergency exercises, the approach taken combines the reproducibility of traditional decision-making studies with the realism advocated by the paradigm of Naturalistic Decision Making. The investigation of decision-making at a range of national and international exercises revealed systematic departures from the UK doctrine on making group decisions: The Joint Decision Model. Group decision-making did not follow the sequence of activities assumed by the Joint Decision Model or other normative models of decision-making. There were marked between-group differences in the process of decision-making: some groups can be characterised as information seeking (or explorers), others as action orientated (or exploiters). When making decisions, all groups rarely considered alternative courses of action or options. This thesis provides recommendations on the policy and practice of how Strategic Coordinating Groups train and exercise and make decisions in emergencies. These include a national programme of training for the Chairs of Strategic Coordination Groups, use of controls and tools to support decision-making, and use of external challenge and assessment in strategic decision-making

Business Risk in Changing Dynamics of Global Village 2

The monograph is prepared based on the presentations and discussions made at the II International Conference “BUSINESS RISK IN CHANGING DYNAMICS OF GLOBAL VILLAGE (BRCDGV 2019)”, November, 7th-08th, 2019, in Ternopil, Ukraine. The aim of this scientific international conference is to provide a platform for professional debate with the participation of experts from around the globe in order to identify & analyze risks and opportunities in today’s global business, and specifically in Ukraine. The conference will provide a framework for researchers, business elites and decision makers to uplift the business ties and minimise the risk for creating a better world and better Ukraine.The Conference is designed to call experts around the globe from different sectors of practices which are effected by globalization and watching changes in Europe as well as in Ukraine. It is an excellent platform for interactions and communication between academicians, corporate representatives, policy makers, representatives of organizations and community, as well as individuals being the part of this globalized world. The 1st edition of this conference was held at the University of Applied Sciences in Nysa, Poland (2017); the 2nd edition took place at Ternopil Ivan Puluj National Technical University, Ukraine (2019); the 3rd edition will be organized at Patna University, India (2020) in cooperation with Indo-European Education Foundation (IEEF, Poland) and its partner universities from Poland, India, Europe and other part of the world.Under modern conditions of globalization nowadays, economic activity is undergoing changes. Innovative technologies, new forms of business, dynamic changes taking place in the world today result in the emergence of the necessity to minimize risks in order to maximize benefits. The cooperation between experts from different fields with the aim to ensure sustainable growth – policymakers, scientists, universities representatives and business elites is essential nowadays. With the purpose to bring them together and discuss the main issues of todays’ global world this conference took place in Ternopil, Ukraine. As Ukraine is now passing through a dynamic period of changes, recommendations coming up from such discussions can be very beneficial for building stronger society and meet the risks globalization brings up. This monograph provides a useful review of economic, financial and policy issues in the context of globalization processes and has proven extremely popular with practitioners and industry advisors. This edition is given the continued high demand and interest for experts form different areas working on diminishing of business risks wishing to keep abreast of current thinking on this subject. According to many experts process of managing risks is currently one of the most relevant business technologies and at the same time it is a complex process which requires ground knowledge in the research field and practical experience. The popularity of business risks management is due to objective reasons such as dynamics of society, interconnections and interdependence between different players in the society, increasing role of human capital in the country’s sustainable developmen