455 research outputs found

    Data ethics : building trust : how digital technologies can serve humanity

    Get PDF
    Data is the magic word of the 21st century. As oil in the 20th century and electricity in the 19th century: For citizens, data means support in daily life in almost all activities, from watch to laptop, from kitchen to car, from mobile phone to politics. For business and politics, data means power, dominance, winning the race. Data can be used for good and bad, for services and hacking, for medicine and arms race. How can we build trust in this complex and ambiguous data world? How can digital technologies serve humanity? The 45 articles in this book represent a broad range of ethical reflections and recommendations in eight sections: a) Values, Trust and Law, b) AI, Robots and Humans, c) Health and Neuroscience, d) Religions for Digital Justice, e) Farming, Business, Finance, f) Security, War, Peace, g) Data Governance, Geopolitics, h) Media, Education, Communication. The authors and institutions come from all continents. The book serves as reading material for teachers, students, policy makers, politicians, business, hospitals, NGOs and religious organisations alike. It is an invitation for dialogue, debate and building trust! The book is a continuation of the volume “Cyber Ethics 4.0” published in 2018 by the same editors

    Assessing land administration systems with their legal frameworks: the case of peri-urban land in Ekiti State, Nigeria

    Get PDF
    The coexistence of customary and statutory law, tenure, and administration in peri-urban areas of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries such as Nigeria may cause conflict and tension. An efficient and effective land administration systems (LASs) and legal frameworks are crucial for ensuring pro-poor objectives in land administration. Women, the vulnerable and the poor who are denied access to efficient and effective land administration services tend to experience tenure insecurity. Nigeria is one of the countries with an inefficient and ineffective LASs. The study explores the possibility of hybrid legal systems contributing to tenure insecurity in peri-urban areas of Southwest Nigeria. This study assesses customary and statutory laws and administration systems pertaining to Ekiti State, Nigeria to understand whether there is legal pluralism. A case study of customary and statutory laws, tenure, and administration was carried out using primary and secondary data. The study used three peri-urban cases from Ekiti State, Nigeria (Ikere-Ekiti, Ijero-Ekiti, and Oye-Ekiti) to learn how customary and statutory laws, tenure, and administration operate within the same geographical space. The study adopted Soft System Methodology (SSM), with two analytical frameworks: Responsible Land Management (RLM) and Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration (FFPLA). Moreover, the study used institutional isomorphism theory to determine the conflicting pressure exerted on the customary legal framework, comprising the customary courts and the Customary Court of Appeal of a State (CCAS). The LASs with their legal frameworks were assessed using text-based and empirical approaches. The study findings show weak and deep legal pluralism in LASs. The assessment leads to developing conceptual tools for assessing LASs with their legal frameworks. On the one hand, the conceptual tool for assessing LASs with their legal frameworks is based on the three pillars of human rights, the rule of law, and legal pluralism, taking a constitutional focus. The study findings revealed conflicting pressure exerted on customary courts and the Customary Court Appeal of a State (CCAS). On the other hand, the conceptual tool for measuring land tenure security based on three pillars of jurisdiction, legitimacy, and collaboration. The conceptual tools provide understanding of the influence of the hybrid legal system in LASs in peri-urban areas. The understanding of the influence of hybrid system is based on decentralising land administration activities, local land management, self-determination, and autonomy. The framework also incorporates legal and institutional flexibility. Areas of further research are recommended

    Metaverse. Old urban issues in new virtual cities

    Get PDF
    Recent years have seen the arise of some early attempts to build virtual cities, utopias or affective dystopias in an embodied Internet, which in some respects appear to be the ultimate expression of the neoliberal city paradigma (even if virtual). Although there is an extensive disciplinary literature on the relationship between planning and virtual or augmented reality linked mainly to the gaming industry, this often avoids design and value issues. The observation of some of these early experiences - Decentraland, Minecraft, Liberland Metaverse, to name a few - poses important questions and problems that are gradually becoming inescapable for designers and urban planners, and allows us to make some partial considerations on the risks and potentialities of these early virtual cities

    Management Controls for Sustainable Development: Evidence from a Thai Manufacturing Organisation

    Get PDF
    This thesis aims to empirically investigate the use of management controls in relation to sustainable development within an established manufacturing organisation in Thailand. Situated within the conflicts between formal motivators (e.g., performance measurement and reward systems) which call for economic rationalism and an informally cognitive responsibility for socio-ecological awareness and commitment (Ball and Milne, 2005; Milne, 1996), the existence of formal and informal management controls to support the sustainable development belief and their interplays are examined. An inductive research approach with Laughlin’s (1991) organisational change framework is drawn upon in the analysis of a single case study. The empirical evidence is collected through semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations and document analysis to investigate the organisation's sustainability discourse. This study makes important contributions to the extant social and environmental accounting literature, especially concerning management controls. Little research directs towards how organisations integrate their management controls with the sustainable development concept (Lueg and Radlach, 2016) due to its subjective and disputable nature (Ball and Milne, 2005; Gray, 2010; Milne, 1996). This research goes further to unveil the change journey in quantifiable and religious-based management controls within a Thai manufacturing organisation that encountered complex sustainability challenges. Furthermore, the sustainability concept has been integrated into corporate strategies, organisational culture and key capabilities for value-added activities and innovation. The internal and external disturbances were managed with proper caution and safeguards. The observed formal and informal management controls worked interdependently in line with the organisation’s core values (i.e., interpretive schemes – Laughlin, 1991). These control tools are shown to be built on “measure what can be managed” or achievable-based outcomes with support from multiple specialist work groups

    Organisational intelligence and digital government service quality: the mediating role of occupational stress among Malaysian service providers

    Get PDF
    The need to evolve and transform public service has led the public to re-think its approach, and to use technological tools to improve access, efficiency and satisfaction of users. The same scenario has also been observed in the Malaysian public sector, as to how the industrial revolution and COVID-19 pandemic have forcibly led to a greater emphasis on digitalisation initiatives. Today, with more than 50% of Malaysian public services available online (end-toend), digital service quality is to be given more emphasis, as it is the most important determinant in ensuring user satisfaction. Essentially this study seeks to broaden the knowledge of digital services quality in the public sector, due to dissimilarities with the context of the private sector. Additionally, service providers' perspectives such as back-office managementrelated strategies have not been examined to a similar extent as the customers' standpoint. It is also important to note that the role of employee well-being has received very little attention in understanding its importance to service delivery performance. Following this, the study proposed four research objectives to gain a better understanding on the mediating role of occupational stress in addressing the missing link between organisational intelligence (OI) traits, and digital government service quality. By employing multistage cluster sampling, a total of 394 completed survey responses comprising 4 clusters, 30 federal agencies, and 143 digital services were obtained for analysis. Next, all-inclusive strategies for this study were proposed based on the triangulation approach by incorporating a) mediation analysis; b) IPMA approach and c) Tree-Map chart (participants’ feedback) and d) experts' and practitioners’ insights. In principle, OI traits collectively demonstrate a significant direct effect on occupational stress and an indirect effect on digital service quality. Hence, this study proposes areas that require greater attention in sustaining the service quality, particularly the ‘Appetite for Change and Knowledge Deployment’, ‘Alignment and Congruence’, ‘Shared Fate’ and ‘Heart’. Considering the significance of the ‘occupational stress’ factor in the proposed model, this study also presents some practical recommendations in terms of organisation-focused interventions, particularly on the ‘Leadership’, ‘Alignment and Congruence’, and ‘Heart’ to manage occupational stress. At the same time, individual-focused interventions such as training and job crafting are proposed in ensuring the psychological well-being of the service providers. This study hopes that these recommendations will serve as guidance to the Malaysian public sector in sustaining its digital government service performance in the long run

    Niigani Miinigowiziiwin (we give these gifts to the future)

    Get PDF
    This dissertation is the ni di-bah-ji-mo-win (my personal story) of being an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibway woman) doctoral student, studying conventional systems thinking, complexity and transitions to sustainability discourse at a Canadian university. I problematize the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) paradigm in transformations to sustainability discourse and explore the foundations of an Indigenous standpoint theory (relational systems thinking) to transcend the binary mental model that limits conventional approaches to decolonization of Western theory. Relational systems thinking has spirituality at its core, it is naa-wi aki (middle ground). It offers protocols and processes for biin-di-go-daa-di-win (To enter one another’s lodge). Respecting Anishinabe i-zhi-chi-gay-win zhigo kayn-dah-so-win (Ways of doing and knowing) this research explores the pluralization of transformation discourse through Anishinabe bish-kayn-di-ji-gay-win (pedagogy). Offered protective space at the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience, I explore whether the standpoint theory of relational systems thinking is a pathbreaking innovation that supports the transition from systemic regimes of colonization to a systemic regime of Ojibway-Anishinaabe bish-kayn-di-ji-gay-win (pedagogy) at the niche or micro scale. What emerges is a realization that this work is land-based, language-and culture based and spiritual. The Spirits hear our distress and real systems change happens when we wake up the Spirits and they start to do their work. Yarning with Anishinaabe Knowledge Keepers, Language Speakers and Elders Eleanor Skead, Bert Landon, and Keith Boissoneau, I introduce readers to the beings/helpers I met on my journey, when I walked in the woods amongst the Ancestors. This dissertation recounts the living stories of my apprenticeship with complexity

    Queensland University of Technology: Handbook 2023

    Get PDF
    The Queensland University of Technology handbook gives an outline of the faculties and subject offerings available that were offered by QUT

    Myth or reality? – Assessing the suitability of biodegradable plastics within a circular bioeconomy framework

    Get PDF
    The proposition of a circular bioeconomy framework was introduced as a means of moving from a fossil-based to bio-based economy. With an emphasis on resource efficiency and waste valorisation, it has supported the development of biodegradable bioplastics (BBPs), notably in food packaging applications. Designed to be treated alongside organic waste, BBPs open new streams for plastic waste management within the food-energy-waste nexus, but their suitability in the current social, policy and sustainability landscape remains to be determined. Taking a systems-thinking approach, this thesis explores the compatibility of (certified) BBP packaging under a circular bioeconomy framework, focusing on a co-mingled food and BBP waste stream for anaerobic co-digestion. It uncovers major technical, policy and social challenges and urges for caution when deploying these novel plastic packaging materials on the consumer market. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to BBPs and their framing in the wider context of plastic sustainability and organic waste management, followed by aims and objectives in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive literature review, depicting the importance and ubiquity of plastics, their environmental impact and the role BBPs could play in a circular bioeconomy framework from a systems-thinking perspective. Chapter 4 details the anaerobic co-digestion treatment of different BBPs with food waste and the impact of BBPs on biogas and methane yields and on microbial communities. The need for consistent experimental design of co-digestion trials is also discussed. Guided by these results, Chapter 5 presents the outcomes of a stakeholder study on attitudes towards BBPs in the current waste management infrastructure and policy landscape to explore how BBPs are perceived and managed on-the-ground in the United Kingdom. Chapters 6 & 7 build on a major finding from the stakeholder study, which outlined the importance of consumers in enabling circularity in the system. Chapter 6 covers a systems framework developed to identify and structure systemic factors that influence how consumers interact with BBP packaging, with a focus on disposal routes. The framework is then applied in practice, based on a survey conducted at two academic institutions, and the role of contextual setting is explored through a comparative case study presented in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 extends the debate on the suitability of BBPs further upstream in the value chain and consumption system and addresses the functional properties of BBP packaging in the context of a shelf-life study, anchoring BBPs in the food system they are embedded within. Chapter 9 summarises key findings and suggests future research related to this thesis. The Appendix contains supplementary figures and data for Chapters 4-8.Open Acces
    • 

    corecore