Suchergebnisse

Nigeria as a nation has been experiencing security challenges at alarming level in the last few years. This has taken various forms such as kidnapping from ransom, herders and farmers clashes, organized crimes, and cybercrimes, implosive movement of small and light arms. Trans border crimes, human trafficking, and slavery among others. This has affected Nigeria's external relations with the outside world negatively in various ways, such as constriction of bilateral trade volume, cold diplomatic relations, low tourism attraction, low educational exchang e, reduction of military trainings abroad, refusal of arms purchase, low foreign investments among others. The diversity nature of the Nigerian state stands a gap in finding solutions to the myriads of problems as Nigeria's image abroad has been dented badly. Restructuring the Nigerian state in various spheres has been the agitation of many Nigerians in the recent time. This paper therefore examines restructuring the Nigerian state, National security and its implications on her relationship with the external world. It is a qualitative paper that focused on secondary sources of information, and adopted structural functional theory as its framework of analysis. The paper argued that restructuring the political structures in Nigeria will advance quality security in Nigeria. It is the opinion of the paper that improves security in the country will enhance robust Nigerian's relationship with the external world. The paper recommended among others, the restructuring of political economic and social structures through the instrument and legitimacy of national conference. This has to be backed by legislations from the national and state assembly.
Keywords: Restructuring, External Relationships, National Security, Political Structure, National Conference

This study aims to find an answer to the question that "whether there is a significant difference between quantitative thresholds of materiality (at the financial statement level) calculated according to the method used in Iran and the method employed by big audit firms." The calculated quantitative threshold of materiality according to the method used in Iran and the method employed by big audit firms (based on the study of Eilifsen & Messier, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 2015, 34, pp. 3–26) compared by using the information of 342 listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2014–2018 by comparing test means. The difference between the calculated quantitative threshold of materiality based on the method used in Iran and the method employed by big audit firms is significant. About two decades just passed from the compilation of the method of assessing the quantitative threshold of materiality in Iran, and despite the change in related audit standards, it seems that the guideline requires revision, and professional authorities should pay considerable attention to the issue. To be informed of the manner of evaluating the quantitative threshold of materiality by big audit firms and comparing that with the method used in Iran can provide a better understanding of materiality and its assessment for professional authorities, auditors, scholars, and other users of financial statements. International audit firms are not very active in Iran. Comparing Iranian auditors' materiality thresholds with international audit firms contributes and expands the materiality literature about materiality judgment in developing countries with no or little relevance to international audit firms.

This book showcases a multidisciplinary set of work on the impact of regulatory innovation on the scale and nature of tax evasion, tax avoidance, and money laundering. We consider the international tax environment an ecosystem undergoing a period of rapid change as shocks such as the financial crisis, new business forms, scandals and novel regulatory instruments impact upon it. This ecosystem evolves as jurisdictions, taxpayers, and experts react. Our analysis focuses mainly on Europe and five new regulations: Automatic Exchange of Information, which requires that accounts held by foreigners are reported to authorities in the account holder's country of residence; the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative and Country by Country Reporting, which attempt to reduce the opportunity spaces in which corporations can limit tax payments and utilize low or no tax jurisdictions; the Legal Entity Identifier which provides a 20-digit identification code for all individual, corporate or government entities conducting financial transactions; and the Fourth and Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directives, that criminalize tax crimes and prescribe that the Ultimate Beneficial Owner of a company is registered. Working from accounting, economic, political science, and legal perspectives, the analysis in this book provides an assessment of the reforms and policy recommendations that will reinforce the international tax system. The collection also flags the dangers posed by emerging tax loopholes provided by new business models and in the form of freeports and golden passports. Our central message is that inequality can and has to be reduced substantially, and we can achieve this through an improved international tax system.

The main object of the research is to identify the features of the formative stage of the external vector of Australian environmental policy, which dates back to the 1970s. Methodology of the research is based on an analysis of documents of the Australian Parliament, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Water, Agriculture and Environment. It is found that by the early 1970s, Australia had adopted the first international agreements that formed the basis for the further development of its multilateral environmental cooperation. During this period, various mechanisms and models of multilateral cooperation were developed. The role of United Nations Conference on the Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 in the development of a new level of international environmental cooperation is revealed. It is proven that a number of environmental problems has been has exacerbated in Australia. This led to the country's need for a broad exchange of information with other countries of the world in order to overcome them and to join forces more closely to combat them. By this time in Australia, at both the federal and state levels, government agencies responsible for implementing environmental policies were established. This facilitated the coordination of the internal and external vector of environmental activities. It is concluded that after this conference, in the 1970s, the period of formation of the international vector of Australian environmental policy began. This is justified by the fact that it was based on new principles and background and included new directions. Its peculiarity is demonstrated. It is emphasized on the important role played by the Australian Parliament in the implementation of international agreements.

This article introduces the concept of "digital light" into the Russian-language space of media theory, and also offers its conceptualization as a distributed network medium that transforms cultural practices. The article substantiates the need to distinguish digital light as a separate concept. Unlike the concept of "electric light" introduced by McLuhan, the content of the concept of "digital light" is based on the constructive and physical features of this medium, and not on abstract ideas about "pure information". This article describes the media properties of digital light, determined by its semiconductor structure and the property of sampling the electrical signal. It substantiates the productivity of considering these structures in the context of a broad concept of digital light, rather than individual technological forms or software solutions. Considered not as a separate technological form, like a light bulb or a screen, but as covering the entire set of radiating and controlling means, and as a dynamic developing network, the elements of which can be both visible to a person and invisible to him (as a part of the infrastructure), digital light creates various situations of multi-channel exchange of electrical signals, eliminating the boundaries between its own digital structure and the illuminated objects of the environment. In particular, digital light allows interactive digital installations to exist and can process and visualize big data in real time. Digital light, understood in this way, turns out to be a medium with its own "message", which overcomes McLuhan's claim of electric light as a "medium without a message".

This book showcases a multidisciplinary set of work on the impact of regulatory innovation on the scale and nature of tax evasion, tax avoidance, and money laundering. We consider the international tax environment an ecosystem undergoing a period of rapid change as shocks such as the financial crisis, new business forms, scandals and novel regulatory instruments impact upon it. This ecosystem evolves as jurisdictions, taxpayers, and experts react. Our analysis focuses mainly on Europe and five new regulations: Automatic Exchange of Information, which requires that accounts held by foreigners are reported to authorities in the account holder's country of residence; the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative and Country by Country Reporting, which attempt to reduce the opportunity spaces in which corporations can limit tax payments and utilize low or no tax jurisdictions; the Legal Entity Identifier which provides a 20-digit identification code for all individual, corporate or government entities conducting financial transactions; and the Fourth and Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directives, that criminalize tax crimes and prescribe that the Ultimate Beneficial Owner of a company is registered. Working from accounting, economic, political science, and legal perspectives, the analysis in this book provides an assessment of the reforms and policy recommendations that will reinforce the international tax system. The collection also flags the dangers posed by emerging tax loopholes provided by new business models and in the form of freeports and golden passports. Our central message is that inequality can and has to be reduced substantially, and we can achieve this through an improved international tax system.

The expansion of the Ottoman Empire became an all-European military problem after the 1526 battle of Mohács and the fall of the Kingdom of Hungary A huge zone of defence was constructed between the Habsburg and Ottoman powers, dividing the former country. The first map of the country (Lazarus, 1528) was printed to serve Habsburg, imperial and Christian propaganda. The printed maps in the first half of the 16th century were compiled by humanist scholars (Lazius, 1556), and their representations of the stage of the Turkish wars were circulated in European atlases (Ortelius, 1570). Although proper military maps were rare in the Renaissance, the systematic, military-purpose mapping of the border fortifications indicates a Habsburg military cartography. The cartographic workshop of the Angelinis, an Italian family of military architects in Vienna, produced systematic collections of plans, views and chorographic maps in the 1570s. Map historians rarely consider the transfer of cartographic information between different modes and audiences. In this paper, the exchanges between Renaissance humanistic, military and commercial mapping are studied by map examples. Emphasizing the functional and representational changes the cartographic processes implied we focus on the connections between the contemporary, public and printed and the secret and manuscript cartographies. To expand the scope of the study a cross-cultural example, the representations of the 1566 siege of Sziget on Venetian prints and Ottoman topographical miniatures are compared. The Ottoman-Habsburg conflict, the series of the Turkish wars in Rumelia in 16th century exemplifies an appropriate context for the early-modern cartography of Hungary as a transitional and contested war zone.

The expansion of the Ottoman Empire became an all-European military problem after the 1526 battle of Mohács and the fall of the Kingdom of Hungary A huge zone of defence was constructed between the Habsburg and Ottoman powers, dividing the former country. The first map of the country (Lazarus, 1528) was printed to serve Habsburg, imperial and Christian propaganda. The printed maps in the first half of the 16th century were compiled by humanist scholars (Lazius, 1556), and their representations of the stage of the Turkish wars were circulated in European atlases (Ortelius, 1570). Although proper military maps were rare in the Renaissance, the systematic, military-purpose mapping of the border fortifications indicates a Habsburg military cartography. The cartographic workshop of the Angelinis, an Italian family of military architects in Vienna, produced systematic collections of plans, views and chorographic maps in the 1570s. Map historians rarely consider the transfer of cartographic information between different modes and audiences. In this paper, the exchanges between Renaissance humanistic, military and commercial mapping are studied by map examples. Emphasizing the functional and representational changes the cartographic processes implied we focus on the connections between the contemporary, public and printed and the secret and manuscript cartographies. To expand the scope of the study a cross-cultural example, the representations of the 1566 siege of Sziget on Venetian prints and Ottoman topographical miniatures are compared. The Ottoman-Habsburg conflict, the series of the Turkish wars in Rumelia in 16th century exemplifies an appropriate context for the early-modern cartography of Hungary as a transitional and contested war zone.

The article examines the Greek party system under the Third Republic and identifies the key trends in its development during the years of the "great recession" (2008–2016) and the subsequent post-crisis recovery. Economic and social cataclysms led to the political fragmentation, the decline of the once largest party PASOK, the rise of radical parties, both left and right wing. However, the period of political chaos was short-lived. As a result, Greece has come to a quasi-two-party system, similar to the one that functioned in the pre-crisis decades. The return to normalcy was partly caused by the failure of the anti-European agenda, which brought SYRIZA and Independent Greeks to power in 2015 on the crest of a populist wave. But there were other reasons. First, the revitalization of the bipartisan system was facilitated by a reinforced proportional electoral system, which gave 50 bonus seats to the leading party. Second, political competition is constrained by the conservatism of Greek society, its weak susceptibility to new ideas (liberal, «green», regionalist, etc.). Third, bipartisanship is cemented by widespread clientelistic ties between the largest parties and voters who receive public sector jobs and other benefits in exchange for their loyalty. Fourth, the lion's share of media resources is concentrated in the hands of a small number of media moguls associated with the leading parties, and citizens receive rather scant information about smaller political actors. These factors contribute to political stability, but at the same time they limit political competition, which poses serious risks for the country.

BACKGROUND: The development of Precision Medicine strategies requires high-dimensional phenotypic and genomic data, both of which are highly privacy-sensitive data types. Conventional data management systems lack the capabilities to sufficiently handle the expected large quantities of such sensitive data in a secure manner. PROMISE is a genetic data management concept that implements a highly secure platform for data exchange while preserving patient interests, privacy, and autonomy. METHODS: The concept of PROMISE to democratize genetic data was developed by an interdisciplinary team. It integrates a sophisticated cryptographic concept that allows only the patient to grant selective access to defined parts of his genetic information with single DNA base-pair resolution cryptography. The PROMISE system was developed for research purposes to evaluate the concept in a pilot study with nineteen cardiomyopathy patients undergoing genotyping, questionnaires, and longitudinal follow-up. RESULTS: The safety of genetic data was very important to 79%, and patients generally regarded the data as highly sensitive. More than half the patients reported that their attitude towards the handling of genetic data has changed after using the PROMISE app for 4 months (median). The patients reported higher confidence in data security and willingness to share their data with commercial third parties, including pharmaceutical companies (increase from 5 to 32%). CONCLUSION: PROMISE democratizes genomic data by a transparent, secure, and patient-centric approach. This clinical pilot study evaluating a genetic data infrastructure is unique and shows that patient's acceptance of data sharing can be increased by patient-centric decision-making. GRAPHIC ABSTRACT: [Image: see text]

Biological wastewater treatment processes such as activated sludge and anaerobic digestion remain the most favorable when compared to processes such as chemical precipitation and ion exchange due to their cost-effectiveness, eco-friendliness, ease of operation, and low maintenance. Since Abattoir Wastewater (AWW) is characterized as having high organic content, anaerobic digestion is slow and inadequate for complete removal of all nutrients and organic matter when required to produce a high-quality effluent that satisfies discharge standards. Multi-integrated systems can be designed in which additional stages are added before the anaerobic digester (pre-treatment), as well as after the digester (post-treatment) for nutrient recovery and pathogen removal. This can aid the water treatment plant effluent to meet the discharge regulations imposed by the legislator and allow the possibility for reuse on-site. This review aims to provide information on the principles of anaerobic digestion, aeration pre-treatment technology using enzymes and a hybrid membrane bioreactor, describing their various roles in AWW treatment. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification are essential to add after anaerobic digestion for nutrient recovery utilizing a single step process. Nutrient recovery has become more favorable than nutrient removal in wastewater treatment because it consumes less energy, making the process cost-effective. In addition, recovered nutrients can be used to make nutrient-based fertilizers, reducing the effects of eutrophication and land degradation. The downflow expanded granular bed reactor is also compared to other high-rate anaerobic reactors, such as the up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and the expanded granular sludge bed reactor (EGSB).

In recent time, the impact of macro-economic variables on agriculture has become an issue of concern in terms of securing adequate food supply for the populace. This study evaluated the implications of macro-economic variables for national food security in Nigeria. This study made use of time series data sourced from the publications of Central Bank of Nigeria Annual Reports, Statistical Bulletins and the National Bureau of Statistics spanning from 1995 to 2015. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) co-integration test with Error Correction Model (ECM) was adopted to substantiate the implications of these macro-economic variables. The results of the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test showed that Food security, Interest rate, Exchange rate, Net export and Government expenditures were non stationary at their respective level forms and became stationary at first difference. While Inflation and Money supply were found to be stationary at level form. ARDL bounds test for co-integration confirms the existence of long run relationship between the variables. The results of long run and short run relationships shows that Interest rate, Inflation, Government expenditures and Money supply were both significant at 5% and 1% levels indicating that these variables had a significant impact on food security. The estimated error correction coefficient of -0.7996 is highly significant, has the correct sign, and implies a fairly high speed of adjustment to equilibrium after a shock. However, these findings recommend farmers in Nigeria to take good advantage of the linkages between macroeconomic variables and agricultural productivity, as this useful information can assist them to boost their land productivity, hence increased food security at all times.

The Nordic Council of Ministers has noted the call from the UN to take measures in order to secure the fundamental values of rule of law and democracy in relation to public digitalisation and to consider the growing influence of the tech industry on public administration in the digital welfare states. The shared Nordic values of democracy, rule of law and trust between citizens and authorities, should be carried further into the digital age. Therefore, the Nordic Council of Ministers has initiated a pilot project that identify relevant themes and initiatives on the basis of input and information from public authorities and supervisory bodies in Norway, Sweden, The Faeroe Islands, Finland and Denmark. The team behind the report assesses that there is a need to: - strengthen the exchange of knowledge regarding investigations, reflections and case law of supervisory bodies in the Nordic and Baltic countries - identify and analyse the legal framework related to constitutional law and human rights for public sector digitisation, and to evaluate whether present administrative law provides sufficient support for compliance within these parameters - study the effects of digitisation on governance, control and liability structures in the field of public administration, possibly including the court administration - investigate the direction of the legislative development, clarify the underlying considerations and interests and assess this development in light of the values of legal certainty and rule of law - integrate legal research as an element of projects related to public digitisation within Nordic research programmes The Nordic Council of Ministers will now consider how it can support using the opportunities offered by digitisation so that they safeguard the shared Nordic values.

The functions and networking of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Tanzania aimed at promoting sustainable community development that are community-based. This study examined the current CSOs functions, networking and coalition status in Northern Tanzania, particularly in Arusha and Manyara regions. The study applied qualitative methods such as key informants' interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations in data collection. The triangulation of this methods enabled the researcher to acquire the information on their networking mindset, ideological and programming capacities. The findings revealed that sustainable CSOs functions are pegged on a healthy networking and coalition on community capacity building and democratically accepted criteria for choosing their priority in the delivery of social services, and designing financial management standards for checks and balances among financial managers and risks auditors. Therefore, CSOs networking is a base foundation for creating a healthy environment for individual CSOs to form a coalition with other stakeholders in social services delivery to the communities they serve. This is enabled through creativity and addressing critical issues within the society. Thence, such creativity expand their capacity to respond to people's demands with effectiveness. In promoting a healthy networking rather than competition or supremacy, it is suggested that all CSOs operating in an area should be registered under local government authorities (LGAs), and should have frequent meetings per year organized by LGAs as their hosts. The agendas for such meetings should be within the LGAs' goals, objectives and plans. This will increase a sense of attachment and ability to exchange resources, involvements, materials and personnel for good networking environment and coalition.

Business networks are now becoming increasingly important in the business environment. Their nature is also changing because of the increasing complexity of the business environment, which now not only calls for exchange of resources but also to create new knowledge to address emerging issues and improve the products and services of network partners. Developing new knowledge often calls for changes in network membership, and in changes the way the network operates. In many cases, specialized knowledge is transient in nature; it is often required quickly and hence needs to be quickly developed. The result is that business networks are becoming increasingly dynamic in nature as they require to continually adapt to changes in the business environment often by change of membership and what members do. There are, however, many ways to organize a business network. This paper describes a study of a large number of business network arrangements found in practice. The paper then identifies common characteristics of networks and develops a model that can be used to classify business networks in terms of these characteristics. The model defines levels that distinguish between organizational and operational levels now increasingly used in creative organizations. The levels are defined in terms of common characteristics that include governance, collaboration, knowledge, and privacy. The paper then describes ways to model networks in terms of the common characteristics and verified implementation of the model. Businesses wishing to set up a business network can describe it in these characteristics and convert it to a computer support system. It shows how to organize networks where strategic planning, team management, information and knowledge systems, and CoDesign can be combined in flexible ways to meet emerging needs.