Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Africa, 2011

[Excerpt] This third issue in the current four-volume series of Social Security Programs Throughout the World reports on the countries of Africa. The combined findings of this series, which also includes volumes on Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas, are published at six-month intervals over a two-year period. Each volume highlights features of social security programs in the particular region. This guide serves as an overview of programs in all regions. A few political jurisdictions have been excluded because they have no social security system or have issued no information regarding their social security legislation. In the absence of recent information, national programs reported in previous volumes may also be excluded. In this volume on Africa, the data reported are based on laws and regulations in force in January 2011 or on the last date for which information has been received

Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas, 2011

[Excerpt] This fourth issue in the current four-volume series of Social Security Programs Throughout the World reports on the countries of the Americas. The combined findings of this series, which also includes volumes on Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa, are published at six-month intervals over a two-year period. Each volume highlights features of social security programs in the particular region. The information contained in these volumes is crucial to our efforts, and those of researchers in other countries, to review different ways of approaching social security challenges that will enable us to adapt our social security systems to the evolving needs of individuals, households, and families. These efforts are particularly important as each nation faces major demographic changes, especially the increasing number of aged persons, as well as economic and fiscal issues

Attendees at 6:30 P.M. Meeting

Attendees at 6:30 P.M. Meeting: The President, Secretary of State Rusk, Secretary of Defense Clifford, Secretary of Treasury Fowler, CIA Director Helms, Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Wheeler, and others

The Australian Cyber Security Centre threat report 2015

Introduction: The number, type and sophistication of cyber security threats to Australia and Australians are increasing. Due to the varied nature of motivations for cyber adversaries targeting Australian organisations, organisations could be a target for malicious activities even if they do not think the information held on their networks is valuable, or that their business would be of interest to cyber adversaries. This first unclassified report by the ACSC describes the range of cyber adversaries targeting Australian networks, explains their motivations, the malicious activities they are conducting and their impact, and provides specific examples of activity targeting Australian networks during 2014. This report also offers mitigation advice on how organisations can defend against these activities. The ACSC’s ability to detect and defend against sophisticated cyber threats continues to improve. But cyber adversaries are constantly improving their tradecraft in their attempts to defeat our network defences and exploit the new technologies we embrace. There are gaps in our understanding of the extent and nature of malicious activity, particularly against the business sector. The ACSC is reaching out to industry to build partnerships to improve our collective understanding. Future iterations of the Threat Report will benefit from these partnerships and help to close gaps in our knowledge

Facilitating Effective Food Security Policy Reform

Food Security and Poverty, Downloads December 2008 - July 2009: 10,

Evaluating a Potential US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty: Background, Context and Implications

[Excerpt] This paper, prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the US-China Economic and Security Council, summarises the context, current discussions and implications of a potential US-China bilateral investment treaty (BIT). The paper is organised in six sections: I. Existing US BITs II. China’s current BITs with other countries III. The potential US-China BIT IV. Major regulatory and transparency issues V. Implications for the US economy VI. Interviews Simply defined, a BIT is a treaty between two countries designed to promote and protect investments between the two signatory states. A BIT provides investors with a safer and more transparent investment environment by guarding against the risk of expropriation by the host state. Many countries, especially the larger economies, sign BITs with their main trading partners, both to ensure that companies from their country receive proper protection when they make investments abroad and to ensure that their rights can be protected and enforced through binding international arbitration

Strengthening e-banking security using keystroke dynamics

This paper investigates keystroke dynamics and its possible use as a tool to prevent or detect fraud in the banking industry. Given that banks are constantly on the lookout for improved methods to address the menace of fraud, the paper sets out to review keystroke dynamics, its advantages, disadvantages and potential for improving the security of e-banking systems. This paper evaluates keystroke dynamics suitability of use for enhancing security in the banking sector. Results from the literature review found that keystroke dynamics can offer impressive accuracy rates for user identification. Low costs of deployment and minimal change to users modus operandi make this technology an attractive investment for banks. The paper goes on to argue that although this behavioural biometric may not be suitable as a primary method of authentication, it can be used as a secondary or tertiary method to complement existing authentication systems

Improving Food Security in Africa: Highlights of 25 Years of Research, Capacity-Building, and Outreach.

Decades of research have led to substantially improved understanding of the nature of food insecurity. A combination of economic growth and targeted programs resulted in a steady fall (until the food crisis of 2007/08) in the percentage of the world’s population suffering from undernutrition (from 20% in 1990/92 to 16% in 2006). Yet over a billion people still face both chronic and/or transitory food insecurity due to long-standing problems of inadequate income, low-productivity in agricultural production and marketing, and related problems of poor health and absence of clean water. Assuring adequate food security for such a large share of the world’s population is increasingly challenging due to continuing resource degradation driven by a combination of population pressure and outdated agricultural practices, poorly functioning input markets, rapid urbanization, increased concerns about food safety, and climate change. This document contains an overview of the past 25 years of research, capacity-building, and outreach by MSU’s Food Security Group. The paper describes key elements of the FSG approach and draws lessons regarding the value of that model. Insights gained from research and outreach and their value in addressing the major current challenges facing food and agricultural systems in Africa are summarized in FSG (2009).Africa, Food Security, research, capacity building, outreach, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, q10, q18, q12, q13,

National climate, agriculture and socio-economic development policies and plans formulated with the use of scenarios across six global regions

Climate change impacts bring great uncertainty, raising the need to plan for the future. As the impacts of climate change are complex and far-reaching, it can be extremely difficult to foresee exactly what the consequences will be, and how they will affect different regions and sectors. However, by bringing together relevant stakeholders and brainstorming "what if" ideas of possible future scenarios, policy makers can prepare themselves for a variety of potential challenges. Including stakeholders from diverse backgrounds can avoid blindspots focused on a single vision of the future

The SmartAG partner: CCAFS East Africa Bi-Annual Newsletter, July - December 2019

We are pleased to share with you our SmartAg Partner bi-annual newsletter, highlighting policy engagement, ongoing research, field updates and activities with partners from the second half of 2019