Environmental Protection, Energy Policy and Poverty Reduction – Synergies of an Integrated Approach

This paper describes the mechanisms that link poverty reduction with climate and energy policy. First, there is a brief analysis of the relationship between ongoing climate change, energy use and poverty. This analysis is followed by an overview of different policy options that have the potential to fight poverty while simultaneously limiting global warming and environmental degradation. Mitigating climate change, transforming the energy systems in developing countries and financing adaptation to climate change are pointed out as central policy fields governments and developing agencies should focus on. Furthermore, one can argue that new technologies to increase energy efficiency and the dissemination of renewable energy systems have an especially strong impact on poverty. Access to clean and cost-efficient energy has a direct effect on the income generation potentials of the poor. Finally, this paper identifies appropriate financing mechanisms to implement the aforementioned strategies.

Cycle decomposition for integral current homology

A standard graph theoretical result states that every element of the cycle space of a graph has a cycle decomposition. Georgakopoulos expands this result to a primitive decomposition and minimal representation of each element in a modified 1-dimensional singular homology. We modify the m-dimensional integral current homology in order to ensure a primitive decomposition for each element

Mistrust in CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) requires an organisation to be responsible for “the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethical behaviour that contributes to sustainable development” (ISO Central Secretariat, 2011, p. 26). Companies are voluntarily starting to implement CSR due to understanding the social need or wanting to improve their corporate image. The Internet facilitates the availability and accessibility of information for consumers, hence it is perceived as the most transparent communication channel of modern times. Due to this transparency, consumers are exposed to an unsolicited amount of information and have access to information regarding CSR scandals. As a consequence, consumers turn to social media, which gives them the opportunity to voice and exchange opinions. However, this transparency can have an impact on trust issues for the consumer, which then can affect trustworthiness within CSR-related campaigns, especially towards companies in the food industry, where scandals are particularly high. The aim of this research is to explore these trust issues within CSR communication in social media. The implications of this study are aimed to help marketing managers, who want to take an honest approach to CSR. Through this approach, marketing manages are able to find a way to gain consumer trust. To gain an understanding of this problem, an inductive approach was chosen comprising of a qualitative analysis based on 14 semi-structured interviews with German consumers. The main findings imply that consumers do not trust CSR projects when there is no relation between the company and its CSR project and there is a lack of proof that the project exists. When communicating CSR in social media, companies need to educate the consumer about CSR, pursue honest communication, and react to criticism

Think With Your Fork: Five Areas of Intervention for Kimball Dining Hall

Our goal with the present proposal is to bring modifications to the dining experience in Kimball Hall at the College of the Holy Cross, so to encourage a more well-rounded approach, which would best represent the values of continuous learning and education of the whole person and reflect the mission of the College. In order to meet these goals, we recommend five changes to Kimball dining , which we plan to implement during the Spring 2017 semester in collaboration with two Montserrat seminars

The Science and Psychology of Infertility

An evidence-based presentation on the science/etiologies of infertility and its psychological impact. Outline: Prevalence and Etiology of Infertility. Basic Evaluation. Treatment Options. Psychological Effects of Infertility. Depression/Anxiety. Social, Cultural, and Gender Issues. Relationship Issues. Patient Distress and Pregnancy Rates. Psychological Support. Evidence-Based Psychological Interventions

Technology and the Demand for Skill:An Analysis of Within and Between Firm Differences

We estimate the effects of technology investments on the demand for skilled workers using longitudinally integrated employer-employee data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program infrastructure files spanning two Economic Censuses (1992 and 1997). We estimate the distribution of human capital and its observable and unobservable components within each business for each year from 1992 to 1997. We measure technology using variables from the Annual Survey of Manufactures and the Business Expenditures Survey (services, wholesale and retail trade), both administered during the 1992 Economic Census. Static and partial adjustment models are fit. There is a strong positive empirical relationship between advanced technology and skill in a cross-sectional analysis of businesses in both sectors. The more comprehensive measures of skill reveal that advanced technology interacts with each component of skill quite differently: firms that use advanced technology are more likely to use high-ability workers, but less likely to use high-experience workers. These results hold even when we control for unobservable heterogeneity by means of a selection correction and by using a partial adjustment specification.

Facing up to the phosphorus challenge

The loss of phosphorus in exported products is a concern for all organic producers. The team of CORE Organic Project "Improve-P" assess attitudes to alternative phosphorus fertilisers among organic stakeholders. This paper reports on results collected via a questionnaire at the National Soil Symposium in Solihull, UK November 2014. 58 respondents showed a large interest in recycled P fertilisers, e.g. derived from human urine. One respondent who summed up the workshop in this way: Ultimately for sustainability we have to replace P, lost off farm but balance between purity and recycling is a difficult one. We need to focus on making best use of P reserves in soil, for example deep-rooting green manures, efficient composting, P scavenging plants, that is, getting more P into the organic fraction and sourcing less contaminated sources of P