14,786 research outputs found

    Minimum income support systems as elements of crisis resilience in Europe: Final Report

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    Mindestsicherungssysteme dienen in den meisten entwickelten Wohlfahrtsstaaten als Sicherheitsnetz letzter Instanz. Dementsprechend spielen sie gerade in wirtschaftlichen Krisenzeiten eine besondere Rolle. Inwieweit Mindestsicherungssysteme in Zeiten der Krise beansprucht werden, hĂ€ngt auch von der AusprĂ€gung vorgelagerter Sozialschutzsysteme ab. Diese Studie untersucht die Bedeutung von Systemen der Mindestsicherung sowie vorgelagerter Systeme wie Arbeitslosenversicherung, Kurzarbeit und arbeitsrechtlichem Bestandsschutz fĂŒr die Krisenfestigkeit in Europa. Im Kontext der Finanzkrise von 2008/2009 und der Corona-Krise wird die FĂ€higkeit sozialpolitischer Maßnahmen untersucht, Armut und Einkommens­verluste einzudĂ€mmen und gesellschaftliche Ausgrenzung zu vermeiden. Die Studie setzt dabei auf quantitative und qualitative Methoden, etwa multivariate Analysen, Mikrosimulationsmethoden sowie eingehende Fallstudien der LĂ€nder DĂ€nemark, Frankreich, Irland, Polen und Spanien, die fĂŒr unterschiedliche Typen von Wohlfahrtsstaaten stehen.The aim of this study is to analyse the role of social policies in different European welfare states regarding minimum income protection and active inclusion. The core focus lies on crisis resilience, i.e. the capacity of social policy arrangements to contain poverty and inequality and avoid exclusion before, during and after periods of economic shocks. To achieve this goal, the study expands its analytical focus to include other tiers of social protection, in particular upstream systems such as unemployment insurance, job retention and employment protection, as they play an additional and potentially prominent role in providing income and job protection in situations of crisis. A mixed-method approach is used that combines quantitative and qualitative research, such as descriptive and multivariate quantitative analyses, microsimulation methods and in-depth case studies. The study finds consistent differences in terms of crisis resilience across countries and welfare state types. In general, Nordic and Continental European welfare states with strong upstream systems and minimum income support (MIS) show better outcomes in core socio-economic outcomes such as poverty and exclusion risks. However, labour market integration shows some dualisms in Continental Europe. The study shows that MIS holds particular importance if there are gaps in upstream systems or cases of severe and lasting crises

    The Gradual Disappearance Of Financial Literacy In Today\u27s World. What Is Financial Literacy And Why Is It So Important? My Own Story Of Acquisition

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    There is a growing concern in this country that the middle class is disappearing and not in the way one would hope. Instead of families moving into a higher socio-economic class and being able to provide richer life experiences for themselves and their children, vast numbers are shifting to a lower socio-economic status level. The gap between the affluent and those barely eking out an existence is increasing at an alarming rate. This trend will directly affect who can successfully attend college and who will be available and capable to perform the blue-collar jobs that are vital to the continuation of our economy. Many of these jobs are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. While they may not require a college degree, they do require additional post-secondary training and expertise. Longer reaching concerns are that a dwindling middle class equates to a smaller tax base and contributes to a larger segment of the population that needs financial assistance. The productive management of money is part of a concept known as financial literacy. People that have money take this knowledge for granted. Somewhere along the line, whether it was at home, in school, or from personal experiences, successful people learned the value of earning money and using it thoughtfully and intentionally in order to achieve a future goal. No one disputes the fact that personal choices and discretion are parts of the picture. Imagine, however, that the environment in which you grew up did not contain earning possibilities. Perhaps you had to work without pay caring for your siblings, leaving no time to go out and earn your own money. Maybe your family was in the situation where everything that each family member earned was required to try to make ends meet. The result can be a feeling of ignorance and powerlessness around financial literacy and a lack of understanding the difference it could make in your life. This dissertation examines these issues. As a Scholarly Personal Narrative, it will also relate the story of my own journey of acquiring financial literacy and how that knowledge has affected my life. It concludes with a proposal that I created for teaching the concepts of financial literacy to underserved members of our society living at the lower socio-economic level. This education is important because understanding financial literacy can build self-confidence, empowerment, and purpose. This knowledge can also set an example that parents can pass on to their children and future generations. I believe this is one possible route toward breaking the cycle of poverty

    Northern Powerhouses: the homes of the industrial elite, c.1780-1875

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    This thesis explores the world of the industrial elites of Manchester and Liverpool in the period c.1780-1875, through their houses. The homes of the industrial elites, namely merchants and manufacturers, were extremely important tangible communicators of wealth, taste, and comfort. Whilst status-building was closely connected to the house, this thesis argues that the industrial elites carved their own identities into their domestic spheres and that emulation was not solely linked with aspiration. The findings of this thesis are based around its three research aims regarding the changing location of houses in Manchester and Liverpool in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the appearance and use of houses, and the daily routines and involvement of the industrial elite in their domestic routines. An analysis of elite residential patterns in Manchester and Liverpool across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has created a more nuanced look at urban geographies of the region in this period. Though some residential patterns differed because of economic and political structure, a key finding has been that the process of suburbanisation in and around Manchester and Liverpool commenced earlier than previous scholarship has suggested. Suburbanisation among the elites began in the latter decades of the eighteenth century and into the early decades of the nineteenth century, with elite suburban communities being firmly established by the 1820s. This thesis discovered that despite socio-economic and political differences, the industrial elites of Manchester and Liverpool used their houses, gardens, and landed estates in very similar ways. This was a result of conformity which arose from emulation at both a community-based level and the emulation and aspiration of elite, gentrified lifestyle. Also, the merchants and manufacturers analysed within this work were involved in their home at every level of domesticity, from the construction of the house to the financial management of the household, although this latter theme was often a cooperative effort between spouses and family members, adding more to our understanding of gender, domesticity, and familial relations. Through detailed case studies and a combination of sources, the private lives of the industrial elites have been revaluated and redefined, including showing how their houses functions metaphorically and in reality

    TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF EFFORTFUL FUNDRAISING EXPERIENCES: USING INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN FUNDRAISING RESEARCH

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    Physical-activity oriented community fundraising has experienced an exponential growth in popularity over the past 15 years. The aim of this study was to explore the value of effortful fundraising experiences, from the point of view of participants, and explore the impact that these experiences have on people’s lives. This study used an IPA approach to interview 23 individuals, recognising the role of participants as proxy (nonprofessional) fundraisers for charitable organisations, and the unique organisation donor dynamic that this creates. It also bought together relevant psychological theory related to physical activity fundraising experiences (through a narrative literature review) and used primary interview data to substantiate these. Effortful fundraising experiences are examined in detail to understand their significance to participants, and how such experiences influence their connection with a charity or cause. This was done with an idiographic focus at first, before examining convergences and divergences across the sample. This study found that effortful fundraising experiences can have a profound positive impact upon community fundraisers in both the short and the long term. Additionally, it found that these experiences can be opportunities for charitable organisations to create lasting meaningful relationships with participants, and foster mutually beneficial lifetime relationships with them. Further research is needed to test specific psychological theory in this context, including self-esteem theory, self determination theory, and the martyrdom effect (among others)

    Annals [...].

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    Pedometrics: innovation in tropics; Legacy data: how turn it useful?; Advances in soil sensing; Pedometric guidelines to systematic soil surveys.Evento online. Coordenado por: Waldir de Carvalho Junior, Helena Saraiva Koenow Pinheiro, Ricardo SimĂŁo Diniz Dalmolin

    Controls on groundwater and surface water salinity in coastal Bangladesh

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    Salinity in surface water and groundwater is a pervasive issue along coastal Bangladesh, a low-lying megadelta where around 35 million people live. A large amount of this land has been reclaimed using a network of low-lying polders. The area is particularly susceptible to flooding from tropical cyclones. Cyclone induced storm surges coupled with the low-lying reclaimed land can breach polder embankments and cause extensive flooding, resulting in excess salinity in soil and surface water. Salinity in drinking water is known to cause adverse effects on human health. It is, therefore, important to identify the controls surface water and groundwater salinity in these coastal areas. A fully coupled surface-subsurface model of a coastal polder by using HydroGeo- Sphere is developed to investigate the impact of storm surge events on groundwater salinity. The hydrological parameters were calibrated from the fieldwork at a field site in the Dacope Upazila, in the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh. The results suggest that sudden salt fluxes in the pond are likely to build up salinity in the underlying sediment. A set of scenarios were considered: a cyclone induced storm surge during both the monsoon and dry seasons, and both with and without remediation. The results show that surge events caused a rise in salinity in drinking water and near-surface groundwater. However, rapid remediation after a surge event could help mitigate the severity of the impact on drinking water. This provides suggestions for water resources management planning. The 2D cross-section model was extended to the 3D model to improve the understanding of the salinity process. Climate change scenarios were then used to evaluate the effects of episodic cyclone surges on shallow groundwater salinity. This study suggests that more frequent cyclones would worsen not only salinity in near-surface groundwater but lateral saltwater intrusion at the shallow or deep aquifers.Open Acces

    The origin and collapse of rock glaciers during the BĂžlling-AllerĂžd interstadial: A new study case from the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain)

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    .During the Late Pleistocene, the main mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula were covered by small icefields and cirque and alpine glaciers. The deglaciation triggered paraglacial processes that generated landforms, mostly within the ice-free glacial cirques. In this research we analyse the deglaciation process in the MuxivĂ©n Cirque (42°15â€ČN – 6°16â€ČW), in the upper Sil River Basin, which includes some of the largest relict rock glaciers of the Cantabrian Mountains. We addressed this objective by means of accurate geomorphological reconstructions, sedimentological analysis, Schmidt-hammer surface weathering measurements and a dataset of 10 10Be Cosmic-Ray Exposure ages. Results reveal that after ~16 ka, glaciers retreated to the bottom of the cirques at the headwaters of the valley, leaving the walls free of ice and triggering rock avalanches onto the remnants of these glaciers. This paraglacial process supplied debris to a small glacier within MuxivĂ©n Cirque, which transformed in two rock glaciers. These debris isolated the ice inside the rock glaciers only for a very short period of time and ended up melting completely before the Younger Dryas. The lower sector of the largest one stabilized at 14.5 ± 1.5 ka, while the upper sector remained active until 13.5 ± 0.8 ka. Previous to the stabilization of the lower sector of the northern rock glacier, at its margin a high-energy debris avalanche occurred at ~14.0 ± 0.9 ka. These data agree with previous research, corroborating the paraglacial origin of most Iberian rock glaciers during the BĂžlling-AllerĂžd interstadial.S

    The International Political Economy of Land Reform and Conflict in Colombia 1936-2018

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    Why did land reforms attempted in 1936, 1961 and 1994 not lead to more equality, stability, and peace in Colombia? Using a theoretical framework informed by Gramscis theory of passive revolution, this study examines the origin of inequality and the propagation of conflict in Colombia by exploring the relationship between international political economy, production relations and class conflict surrounding three cases of land reform (1936, 1961 and 1994). I argue that land reforms have failed to address inequality and have exacerbated class conflicts for three interrelated reasons: 1) though campesinos demanded the redistribution of large estates, pro-capitalist land reforms left productive plantations intact and instead promoted access to lands in frontier areas where the state had little effective control over property rights; 2) demands for reforms emerged during 'commodity booms', when a bourgeois-peasant alliance in favour of capitalist expansion was possible, but during phases of subsequent crisis and price collapse, agrarian reforms were coopted by landlord-bourgeois alliances that pushed the consolidation of larger, more productive holdings; 3) the failure of reforms to address popular demands for land contributed to an atmosphere of instability in which reactionary elites used popular unrest as a pretext for repression against opponents of capitalism with the support of international financial and military power. The result has been the intensification of land conflicts and several waves of landlord-led dispossession, popular resistance, and counterinsurgency in the 1940s-50s, 1960s-1970s and 1980s-2000s. Political instability in Colombia is indicative of the dynamics of passive revolution as the case lends itself to a Gramscian analysis of uneven development in the 20th century Latin American context. Colombia's experience shows the limits of "passive revolutionary" land reforms which may unite diverse constituencies under certain conditions, but which leave the material and social foundations of conflict fundamentally unchanged, leaving campesinos vulnerable to shifts in global market conditions. This leads me to the conclusion that there will be no stable peace in Colombia without redistributive land reform. Redistribution has been the demand of the agrarian social movement since the 1930s but has been consistently denied in land reforms during broader processes of passive revolution that favour large-scale corporate farming, natural resource development and the debasement and exploitation of labour through dispossession in a context of unevenly expanding capitalism

    Flexographic printed nanogranular LBZA derived ZnO gas sensors: Synthesis, printing and processing

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    Within this document, investigations of the processes towards the production of a flexographic printed ZnO gas sensor for breath H2 analysis are presented. Initially, a hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) based, microwave assisted, synthesis method of layered basic zinc acetate (LBZA) nanomaterials was investigated. Using the synthesised LBZA, a dropcast nanogranular ZnO gas sensor was produced. The testing of the sensor showed high sensitivity towards hydrogen with response (Resistanceair/ Resistancegas) to 200 ppm H2 at 328 °C of 7.27. The sensor is highly competitive with non-catalyst surface decorated sensors and sensitive enough to measure current H2 guideline thresholds for carbohydrate malabsorption (Positive test threshold: 20 ppm H2, Predicted response: 1.34). Secondly, a novel LBZA synthesis method was developed, replacing the HMTA by NaOH. This resulted in a large yield improvement, from a [OH-] conversion of 4.08 at% to 71.2 at%. The effects of [OH-]/[Zn2+] ratio, microwave exposure and transport to nucleation rate ratio on purity, length, aspect ratio and polydispersity were investigated in detail. Using classical nucleation theory, analysis of the basal layer charge symmetries, and oriented attachment theory, a dipole-oriented attachment reaction mechanism is presented. The mechanism is the first theory in literature capable of describing all observed morphological features along length scales. The importance of transport to nucleation rate ratio as the defining property that controls purity and polydispersity is then shown. Using the NaOH derived LBZA, a flexographic printing ink was developed, and proof-of-concept sensors printed. Gas sensing results showed a high response to 200 ppm H2 at 300 °C of 60.2. Through IV measurements and SEM analysis this was shown to be a result of transfer of silver between the electrode and the sensing layer during the printing process. Finally, Investigations into the intense pulsed light treatment of LBZA were conducted. The results show that dehydration at 150 °C prior to exposure is a requirement for successful calcination, producing ZnO quantum dots (QDs) in the process. SEM measurements show mean radii of 1.77-2.02 nm. The QDs show size confinement effects with the exciton blue shifting by 0.105 eV, and exceptionally low defect emission in photoluminescence spectra, indicative of high crystalline quality, and high conductivity. Due to the high crystalline quality and amenity to printing, the IPL ZnO QDs have numerous potential uses ranging from sensing to opto-electronic devices
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