Bridging the Risk Modeling Gap: Expanding Climate-Related Risk Insurance Through Global Risk Assessment

In 2015, more than 1,000 natural disasters inflicted some $100 billion worth of economic damages around the world. These natural disasters included severe storms, flooding, extreme temperatures, droughts, and wildfires—all of which are expected to increase in frequency for years to come as a result of climate change. The annual number of such extreme weather events has been increasing, with almost three times as many occurring worldwide from 2000 to 2009 as in the 1980s.Of the total economic losses endured last year from natural disasters, insurance covered only 30 percent. The majority of uninsured losses occurred in developing countries across Africa, Asia, and South America. In Asia, only 8 percent of losses from natural disasters were insured in 2015, and in Africa, only 1 percent of such losses were insured. Without such risk management tools, governments and individuals are less able to prepare for, respond to, cope with, and recover from climate-change-fueled weather events and natural disasters. While insurance can take many forms, risk management in particular includes a lack of access to innovative insurance instruments—such as parametric risk insurance, which is specifically designed to pay out quickly in the aftermath of a natural disaster. This gives countries a rapid injection of capital that can be vital in the early window before overseas assistance is effectively ramped up and delivered.To help address this shortfall, the private sector, national governments, and international financial institutions and organizations are working to build new partnerships aimed at enabling countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change and related natural disasters to gain access to climate-related risk insurance. These efforts were given a boost in 2015, when at its annual meeting, the G7 announced a goal of expanding access to climate-related risk insurance to 400 million additional people in the most vulnerable developing nations by 2020. This would quintuple the current level of coverage throughout the developing world from 100 million people to half a billion people. In order to meet this goal of making innovative insurance and climate risk-management tools available to so many millions of new people, a critical gap in high-resolution data and cutting-edge modeling needs to be bridged

Capacity Building of Health Workforce: Investigation of Training Process for Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) Serving Refugee Populations in Host Communities, as Perceived by Participants and Trainers

The health system in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which hosts 1.4 million refugees from the Syrian Arab Republic—more than 636,000 of whom are registered with UNHCR—is over-extended (UNHCR, 2016). Non-governmental organizations fill gaps in service delivery by injecting health personnel to deliver care, however, nationals and refugees must be integrated in the response to ensure sustainable health care delivery (UNHCR Handbook for Emergencies, 2007). Leveraging the capacities of lay citizens and refugees by task shifting and training CHVs can alleviate the increased health burden. Research into training programs is significant because the quality of training is directly related to the effectiveness of CHVs. This research project investigated the training of CHVs serving refugee communities, as perceived by the trainees and the trainers. The objectives of the study were to characterize the process of training CHVs, assess the extent to which the training programs build their capacities and prepare them to fulfill their responsibilities, and identify the perceived areas of improvement for the training process. The researcher formed a relationship with Noor Al-Hussein Foundation Institute of Family Health in Amman to administered questionnaires to CHVs as well as conducted interviews with trainers. The findings indicate that the trainings adhere to standards and manuals developed by donors that operate under the same mandates concerning training CHVs. However, participants and trainers reported that a wider array of topics, longer trainings to cover more in-depth information, and increased resources to allow for use of effective techniques would improve the quality of the trainings and build the capacity of CHVs. This study can inform process improvement if applied by training institutions. Additionally, research field is important to policy makers who can apply findings to advocate for scale-up of CHV programs and increased investment in the capacities of human resources

Reshaping Ethiopia’s Higher Education Curriculum to Tackle Youth Unemployment

Ethiopia has seen remarkable economic growth in the past decade, and there has been high demand for construction work to keep up with the pace of change. As part of the country’s Growth and Transformation Plans (GTPs) unprecedented efforts have been made to grow the university sector, particularly science and technology degrees, which has resulted in an increase in engineering graduates. However, universities produce graduates equipped with theoretical knowledge but often lacking the practical skills that employers look for. The mismatch between the theoretical skills gained in higher education and the practical skills needed by the private construction sector means that engineering graduates often end up unemployed or underemployed. The evaluation of GTP II and the creation of GTP III from 2020 are key opportunities to revise the higher education curriculum in collaboration with the private sector to make it fit for purpose and reduce graduate unemployment.Mastercard Foundatio

A Framework for Post-Sentence Sex Offender Legislation: Perspectives on Prevention, Registration, and the Public\u27s Right to Know

During a weekend in late July, 1994, Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old girl, was raped and murdered in Hamilton Township, New Jersey.\u27 When neighbors dis- covered that the perpetrator was a man who lived across the street from the little girl, and that this man was a twice-convicted felon who had served six years for sexual assault, their sadness turned to anger. Why, they asked, had they not been told? The question of what, if anything, to do with sex offenders after they have served their sentences is one of which few are without opinion. It is a complicated and contentious debate. Generally, statistics show a higher rate of recidivism by sex offenders than any other type of criminal All too often, the evening news informs the public of another child, who, like Megan, has been brutally victimized by a sex offender recently released from prison-a prison term he received for committing a similar offense. Angry, frightened parents are insistent on legislative change--change that will prevent such repeat attacks from occurring. An increasing number of jurisdictions has recognized the specific danger presented by repeat sex offenders by requiring them to register with the county sheriff following their release from prison. To many Americans, however, this is not enough. Many citizens now are demanding that law enforcement officials notify them of the release of sex offenders into their communities. A legislative model many states are examining is a new get- tough approach recently passed in Washington state-the Community Protection Act of 1990 (the \u27Washington Act ). The Washington Act requires sex offenders to register with their county sheriff upon completion of jail terms. A more controversial provision of the act authorizes law enforcement officials to release to the public information regarding freed sex offenders, including their names, ad- dresses, and the crimes of which they were convicted. The passage of the Washington Act, and similar provisions for public notification in Louisiana,, Tennessee, Alaska, and New Jersey\u27 evidence the growing belief among Americans that the best legislative solution to the problem of recidivistic sex offenders is public notification. Communities like Megan Kanka\u27s are urging state legislators to pass public notification provisions. The federal government also has responded to such pressure, requiring states to establish registration programs for sex offenders that may authorize the release of information to the public

Trabectedin (ET-743/Yondelis) for treating soft tissue sarcomas and ovarian cancer

peer reviewedSoft tissue sarcomas account for 1% of all malignant tumours. Until a few years ago, doxorubicine and ifosfamide were the only active chemotherapy drugs in the metastatic setting. Recently, a new drug has proven its efficacy after failure of standard treatments: the trabectedin; its activity is based on interference with ADN repair mechanisms. Trabectedin has just been also validated and reimbursed in patients with ovarian cancer, in partially sensitive recurrence. In this paper, we will review the mechanism of action and the clinical results of trabectedin

General self-efficacy scale (GSE). Outcomes measurement tool: attitudes & feelings - self-efficacy.

The ten-item General Self-Efficacy Scale is correlated to emotion, optimism and work satisfaction. Negative coefficients were found for depression, stress, health complaints, burnout, and anxiety

FUNKCIONALNO POZNAVANJE KAO FAKTOR USPJEHA – ANALIZA NJEMAČKIH MDAX PODUZEĆA

The purpose of this paper is to consider the German stock market and develop a method for company valuation that complements the methods used to date. The paper elaborates on the novel construct of functional familiarity, consisting of board size, board fluctuation, diversity management, long-term incentive plans (LTIP) and research and development intensity, in relation to company performance. Company reports of MDAX-listed companies were collected and examined for the years 2013 to 2019. Based on the empirical investigation in the form of regression analyses, the statistically significant influence of the executive board size and board fluctuation, as well as of the LTIP, on the development of the share price could be demonstrated. The results indicate that the evaluation tool of functional familiarity in its current constellation identified three factors that should at least lead to a critical view of the stakeholder.Svrha ovog rada je razmotriti njemačko tržište dionica i razviti metodu za vrednovanje poduzeća koja nadopunjuje dosadašnje metode. U radu se razrađuje novi konstrukt funkcionalnog poznavanja, koji se sastoji od veličine odbora, fluktuacije odbora, upravljanja raznolikošću, dugoročnih planova poticaja (LTIP) i intenziteta istraživanja i razvoja, u odnosu na uspješnost poduzeća. Prikupljena su i ispitana izvješća poduzeća koje kotiraju na MDAX-u za razdoblje od 2013. do 2019. godine. Na temelju empirijskog istraživanja u obliku regresijske analize, mogao se pokazati statistički značajan utjecaj veličine izvršnog odbora i fluktuacije odbora, kao i LTIP-a, na razvoj cijene dionice. Rezultati pokazuju da je alat za evaluaciju funkcionalnog poznavanja u svojoj trenutnoj konstelaciji identificirao tri čimbenika koji bi barem trebali dovesti do kritičkog razmatranja dioničara

The anti-terror war in Somalia: Somali women's multifaceted role in armed conflict

'Es ist Ziel dieses Aufsatzes, den von den USA angeführten Antiterrorkrieg in Somalia zu diskutieren und seine Auswirkungen auf die Stellung und Rolle von Frauen in Somalia zu untersuchen. Mit den Anschlägen der al-Qaeda auf die Botschaften der USA in Nairobi (Kenia) und Dar es Salam (Tanzania) im August 1998 entwickelte sich islamischer Fundamentalismus und Terrorismus zu einer bedeutenden Bedrohung für die Region. Als Antwort darauf initiierten die USA in Ostafrika, insbesondere in Somalia, einen Antiterrorkrieg. Sowohl in diesem als auch im somalischen Bürgerkrieg ist die Beteiligung von Frauen bedeutsam. Bislang existiert keine umfassende Studie über die Rolle von Frauen in bewaffneten Konflikten und deren Auswirkungen auf Frauen in Somalia, einem Land, das bereits von Hungersnot, politischer Instabilität, ethnischem Krieg und geschlechterspezifischer Gewalt geprägt war. Bewaffnete Konflikte bringen neue Möglichkeiten und Zuständigkeiten im privaten wie auch im öffentlichen Bereich, durch die die sozialen Beziehungen zwischen Männern und Frauen neu definiert werden. Nach Ende des Konfliktes bestehen diese Veränderungen jedoch nicht immer fort und patriarchal dominierte Geschlechterrollen treten in vielen Gesellschaften wieder in den Vordergrund. Am Fallbeispiel Somalia geht dieser Artikel der Frage nach, warum Geschlechterrollen, die bereits vor dem Krieg existierten, nach Konflikten wieder auftauchen.' (Autorenreferat)'The aim of this article is to explore the U.S.-led anti-terror war in Somalia and evaluate its impact on the status and role of Somali women. With the al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar es Salam (Tanzania) in August 1998, Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism became a major threat to the region. In response to this threat, the United States initiated an anti-terror war in East Africa, in particular in Somalia. In both the anti-terror war and the Somali civil war, Somali women's participation has been significant. So far, however, no serious research has been conducted into women's role in these conflicts or into the impacts of these conflicts on women in Somalia, a country already plagued by famine, political instability, ethnic war, and gender-based violence. Armed conflicts offer new opportunities and responsibilities in both domestic and public spheres that assist in redefining social relations between women and men. After conflicts, however, the changes in gender roles often do not persist and pre-war patriarchal gender roles re-appear in many societies. By investigating the case of Somalia, this paper examines the reasons behind the re-emergence of pre-war gender roles after conflicts.' (author's abstract