Social protection for enhanced food security in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper identifies several positive synergies between social protection programmes and enhanced entitlements to food. One function of social protection is to manage or reduce vulnerability. Several instruments are reviewed – weather-indexed insurance, public works programmes, emergency food aid and buffer stock management – which aim to stabilise income and access to food across good and bad years, or between the harvest and the hungry season. Other social protection instruments aim to raise household income and crop production, for instance agricultural input subsidies or input trade fairs, as well as public works projects that construct or maintain physical infrastructure such as rural feeder roads. This paper also argues that entitlements to food can be strengthened if social justice principles are introduced to the design and delivery of social protection programmes. Examples reviewed include rights-based approaches such as employment guarantee schemes, community-based targeting and demand-driven accountability mechanisms. The paper concludes by arguing for a comprehensive approach to social protection that will achieve sustainable food security, by combining interventions that stabilise income or food production with those that raise income or food production, and are designed and delivered in ways that enhance social justice.     

Integrating retirement and permanent disability in NDC pension schemes

In this article, we develop a theoretical basis for integrating retirement and permanent disability using a generic nonfinancial defined contribution framework. The methodology we use relies on a multistate overlapping generations model that includes the so-called survivor dividend. Currently, this feature can only be found in the Swedish defined contribution (DC) scheme. The results achieved in the numerical example we present endorse the fact that the model works well. Special attention is given to the assumptions made about mortality rates for disabled people and disability incidence rates, which largely determine the contribution rate assigned to disability. The model could be of interest to policymakers because, after some adaptations, it could be implemented without too much difficulty and would uncover the real cost of disability and minimize the risk of disability insurance being used as a vote-buying mechanism.     

Managing security risks for inter-organisational information systems: a multiagent collaborative model

Information sharing across organisations is critical to effectively managing the security risks of inter-organisational information systems. Nevertheless, few previous studies on information systems security have focused on inter-organisational information sharing, and none have studied the sharing of inferred beliefs versus factual observations. In this article, a multiagent collaborative model (MACM) is proposed as a practical solution to assess the risk level of each allied organisation’s information system and support proactive security treatment by sharing beliefs on event probabilities as well as factual observations. In MACM, for each allied organisation’s information system, we design four types of agents: inspection agent, analysis agent, control agent, and communication agent. By sharing soft findings (beliefs) in addition to hard findings (factual observations) among the organisations, each organisation’s analysis agent is capable of dynamically predicting its security risk level using a Bayesian network. A real-world implementation illustrates how our model can be used to manage security risks in distributed information systems and that sharing soft findings leads to lower expected loss from security risks.     

数字化医疗信息安全管理机制研究

目前,我国在医疗信息安全保障建设方面严重滞后,信息安全工作的战略统筹和综合协调不够,缺乏体系化的安全策略研究以及针对数字化医疗业务特点的管理机制研究。为了实现安全可信的医疗信息发展环境,笔者针对现有医疗信息系统中各个需要实施安全保护的目标,给出了在推动医疗信息安全保障体系建设方面应涉及的各项安全问题及管理机制,旨在构建一个全面涵盖了信息技术、组织策略、法律意识的整体性治理方案。     

Optimizing suicide and trespass prevention on railways: a problem-solving model from the RESTRAIL project

Suicides and trespassing accidents result in more than 3800 fatalities in Europe, representing 88% of all fatalities occurring within the EU railway system. This paper presents a problem-solving model, which consists of a multistep approach structuring the analysis of a suicide or trespass-related problem on the railways. First, we present the method used to design, evaluate and improve the problem-solving model. Then we describe the model in detail: it comprises six steps with several subsequent actions, and each action is approached through a checklist of prompting questions and possible answers. At the end, we discuss the added value of this model for decision makers and its usability in the selection of optimal prevention measures.     

防恶意干扰的VANET双群联合定位算法

传统的无线定位方法直接应用于车辆自组织网络(VANET)时，会被窃听方利用定位信息，从而导致严重的安全隐患。为此，提出基于Bancroft方法的双群组合定位算法,用于保障车辆自组织网络中车辆定位的安全性和准确性。算法利用两个群组的智能车辆节点分别进行定位，利用两组解分别反求伪距值，如果所获得的伪距值与经过节点钟差修正后的原始伪距值基本一致，则认为这一组解为最终的定位结果，从而保证了定位的正确性。同时，双群定位的信息分散性保证了系统整体的安全性。理论分析及算法仿真表明,双群联合定位算法可使窃听方的误码率稳定在较高水平。     

Slicing,Dicing, Spicing,and Pricing: Factors Influencing Purchase and Consumption of Fresh Potatoes

To better understand potential reasons for a North American decline in fresh potato consumption, a region-wide survey (n = 1009) was undertaken in eastern Canada. Results were examined comparing high- and low-frequency potato users on a variety of factors, including beliefs, attitudes, barriers, needs, and satisfaction with potatoes. Respondents indicated positive perceptions pertaining to potato nutrition, taste, preparation, and overall enjoyment. Multiple logistic regression analysis suggested two variables—age and the perceived importance of potatoes for the everyday meal—were strong predictors of high versus low frequency of potato consumption. Respondents judged the ability to see the potato in the package, potato firmness, and locally produced as point-of-purchase characteristics particularly important when buying fresh potatoes. However, respondents also indicated that their needs were not fully met and expressed relatively low levels of satisfaction when purchasing potatoes. Based on the results, suggestions are provided for improving the marketing of fresh potatoes.     

Friend or Foe? The effects of contingent employees on standard employees' work attitudes

Using data from a large-scale national survey of employers and employees in Britain, we examine the impact of the presence of contingent employees on work attitudes of standard (full-time, indefinite-term) employees. Drawing on differing explanations for the increased use of contingent employment arrangements, we derive competing hypotheses about how this use affects standard employees' work perceptions and attitudes, and explore the impact of a number of potentially intervening factors. We find that contingent employees have little effect on standard employees' perceptions of work overload, but strongly reduce perceived job security, which in turn, mediates the negative effects of contingent employees on job satisfaction and organizational loyalty.     

Revisiting the labor supply effect of social security earnings test: New evidence from its elimination and reinstatement in Japan

We explore the labor supply effect of the social security earnings test in Japan on those aged 65–69 years through a combined examination of the elimination of the earnings test in 1985 and its reinstatement in 2002. We present evidence showing that the effects of changes in the earnings tests on the labor supply of the elderly are not symmetric, controlling for changes in the attributes of workers and firms. The repeal of the earnings test in 1985 did affect the earnings distribution of the elderly (especially for male), while its reinstatement in 2002 did not alter the earnings distribution.     

低碳城镇化对就业的促进作用及保障体系构建

增强人的生存和发展能力,促进人的全面发展是以人为核心的中国新型城镇化建设的终极目标,实现这个目标的前提就是要保障和实现充分就业。低碳城镇化是新型城镇化的重要内容和必由之路,低碳城镇化对就业的保障应该更具公平性并且按照就近原则来推进。文章认为,在低碳城镇化建设过程中,要促进就业增长和提升就业质量,必须优化产业布局、产业结构与发展模式,扩大就业空间;建立健全劳动力教育培训制度,培养适应低碳产业发展需求的劳动者,提高劳动者就业竞争力;推进城乡劳动力市场一体化建设,提高人力资源利用效率,增强社会就业公平性。