From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis

Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible. Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well. As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems. Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits, where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good, as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

Doing Identity in Luxembourg: Subjective Appropriations - Institutional Attributions - Socio-Cultural Milieus

Luxembourg - international financial center, European administrative center, destination country for immigration? This empirical study provides insights about a society that has hitherto largely eluded scientific investigation and observes the processes of identity construction in globalised conditions. The interdisciplinary team of authors exposes the processes of subjective appropriations and institutional attributions at work in the fields of languages, spaces, perceptions of self and others as well as everyday cultures, and identifies for the first time socio-cultural milieus in the Grand Duchy. The findings of the three-year research project uncover the ambivalences and dynamics of a multicultural and multilingual society

ESG standards in Portugal PSI companies case study

Corporate Social Responsibility has been growing to record significance in the XXI century. Investing patterns around the globe are suffering a deep shift towards the prioritization of conscious practices. Once the exclusive domain of impact investors and sustainable development funds, today ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) considerations are being mainstreamed by the world’s largest asset managers, insurers, banks and pension funds. According to the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing (USSIF) (2021), there are now more than US$30 trillion of assets globally under management with an explicit ESG mandate, an increase of over 50Through the investigation of selected organizations within the Portuguese market, this research seeks to provide input on the status of ESG standards adoption by some of the most prominent Portuguese enterprises, showing risks and/or opportunities for these groups to increase international competitiveness. The objective is to examine selected companies of PSI – the Portuguese Stock Index –, look through their internal processes, resources, values and drivers so as to conclude on where they rank relatively to ESG score. The return was an average of 65.5$30 biliões de ativos geridos considerando indicadores ESG, um aumento de 50% em apenas três anos. No mesmo período, duplicou o número de empresas que reportaram esses mesmos indicadores, alinhados com as normas internacionais. Um (cada vez maior) conjunto de evidências demostra que empresas com fortes práticas a nível de ESG, têm uma melhor performance financeira, no âmbito de cotação de ações, crescimento económico, rentabilidade de capitais e avaliação de crédito. Através da investigação de corporações selecionadas, esta pesquisa tenciona providenciar informação sobre o progresso de adoção de padrões ESG por parte de algumas das mais proeminentes empresas portuguesas, detalhando riscos e oportunidades para um aumento da competitividade das mesmas a nível internacional. O objetivo é examinar as empresa selecionadas do PSI (Índice da Bolsa Portuguesa), analisar os seus processos, recursos, valores e motores de crescimento, de forma a traduzir estes parametros em valores e chegar a uma avaliação numérica de medidas ESG. O resultado foi uma média de 65.5% conformidade entre as organizações estudadas, quando considerando os três pilares da pesquisa. Isto demonstra um progresso relativamente baixo em relação a inovação responsável, o que leva à conclusão de que os sujeitos em estudo consideram satisfatório e adequado um nível moderado de performance ESG

Social change and nationalism in modern Scotland.

SIGLELD:D48241/84 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Strategic risk management in water utilities: development of a holistic approach linking risks and futures

Risk management plays a key role in water utilities. Although tools are well established at operational and tactical levels of management, existing methods at strategic level lack a holistic treatment and a long-term perspective. In fact, risks are analysed per se, despite being interconnected; and long-term scenarios are commonly used for strategic planning, rather than for risk management, most of the time being related to one single issue (for example: climate change). In order to overcome the limitations identified in the existing methodologies, a novel approach for water utilities to manage risk at strategic level was developed and tested in EPAL - the largest and oldest water utility in Portugal. It consists of (i) setting a baseline risks comparison founded on a systemic model developed ‗bottom-up‘ through the business; (ii) the construction of future scenarios and an observation of how baseline risks may change with time. Major contributions of this research are the linkage between operational and strategic risks, capturing the interdependencies between strategic risks; the ability to look at long term risk, allowing the visualizing of the way strategic risks may change under a possible future scenario; and the novel coupling of risks and futures research. For the water sector, this approach constitutes a useful tool for strategic planning, which may be presented to the Board of Directors in a simple and intuitive way, despite the solid foundations of the underlying analysis. It also builds on in-house expertise, promoting the dissemination and pervasiveness of risk management within the companies and, on the other hand, allowing unveiling of existing knowledge, making it explicit and more useful for the organization

International Experience in Developing the Financial Resources of Universities

This open access book aims to present the experiences and visions of several world university leaders, providing strategies and methods used to find various income sources for their institutions. The expansion of a university system requires a corresponding increase in funding. Consequently, university administrators all over the world are in a constant search for additional funds. If higher-level institutions are expected to deliver high-quality education and research, their sustainable funding is crucial to the development of the countries they serve. While governmental sources are a major part of the funding of most universities, economic downturns as in the case of the COVID-19 crisis may reduce governmental contributions in this and cause administrators to look for various alternative sources to help them compete in a global setting. This book offers valuable information and guidance to university leaders and administrators worldwide especially at a time when university budgets are under stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic with its dire financial and economic consequences

The Disinformation Age

Understanding the post-fact era requires going beyond foreign influence or the rise of social media. This examination of the origins and workings of the US disinformation system shows how political strategies and communication practices have undermined authoritative democratic institutions. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

AICPA technical practice aids as of June 1, 2014

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides/2703/thumbnail.jp

Globalization and Labour in the Twenty-First Century

Globalisation has adversely affected working-class organisation and mobilisation; but international labour movement demobilisation is not necessarily an irreversible trend. Globalisation has prompted workers and their organisations to find new ways to mobilise. This book examines international labour movement opposition to globalisation. It chronicles and critically scrutinizes the emergence of distinctively new forms of labour movement organisation and mobilisation that constitute creative initiatives on the part of labour, which present capitalism with fresh challenges. The author identifies eight characteristics of globalisation that have proven problematic to workers and their organisations and describes and analyses how they have responded to these challenges since 1990 and especially in the past decade. In particular, it focuses attention on new types of labour movement organisation and mobilisation that are not simply defensive reactions but are offensive and innovative responses that compel corporations to behave more responsively and responsibly towards employees and society at large. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of globalisation, political economy, labour politics, economics, Marxism and sociology of work

AICPA technical practice aids as of June 1, 2013

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides/2667/thumbnail.jp