National Decision Research Articles

Assessment of Socioeconomic Impact Diversification from Transport Infrastructure Projects: The Case of a New Regional Airport

In most cases, the decision to invest in a new airport is not simple, mainly because of the complications in the planning process, the amount of capital that needs to be invested before the establishment of the business, and the number of stakeholders involved in the decision. The decision process is more complicated in restricted economic and financing conditions, where the performance of the business plan is strongly related to regional development prospects and future airport business outputs in the medium and long term. This paper provides an evaluation methodology approach to support decisions on airport development projects. The proposed methodology provides an evaluation framework based on a combination of an ex ante assessment analysis, considering the airport’s economic impact and its contribution to a specific regional economy. The Input–Output (IO) analysis framework is used to determine the economic footprint of the airport development. A series of key performance indicators (KPIs) are introduced to review the project performance in a given economic system. The case study is examined, focussing on a new airport at Heraklion in Crete (in the Kasteli valley), one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the southeast Mediterranean. Conventional wisdom is to present a systematic approach appropriate to relevant projects, providing essential tools that support decisions at the level of strategic planning. The approach is essential to provide key messages to national governments, decision makers, and stakeholders on the contribution of an airport investment to regional economic development and its contribution to the business ecosystem in the post-COVID-19 era.

Understanding public support for international climate adaptation payments: Evidence from a choice experiment

While the importance of climate change adaptation is not in doubt, adaptation funding in developing countries remains scarce. Therefore, climate finance institutions and national decision-makers face difficult trade-offs when allocating funds. While not a substitute for expert judgement, we argue that understanding how the public thinks could play a role in building support. Using a representative sample of the UK population, we use a discrete choice experiment to explore in particular the way in which distributional considerations drive respondent decisions in two dimensions: (a) among recipients of adaptation finance in recipient developing countries, and (b) among those who contribute to this finance (via taxation). We categorise our results as follows. First, respondents show strong distributional preferences for funds to reach the poorest individuals, supporting adoption of egalitarian policy mandates among climate adaptation funds. Secondly, respondents prefer an ‘ability-to-pay’ approach over the ‘polluter-pays-principle’ as a way of funding. Thirdly, our results suggest that a focus on communicating future benefits to UK residents can increase policy support. Overall, however, our findings also reveal that public support for global climate adaptation payments is insufficient. Yet we provide means of understanding how to allocate all-too-scarce funds and how to increase support for adaptation finance.

PELAKSANAAN PUTUSAN DEWAN ARBITRASE NASIONAL DAN PUTUSAN DEWAN ARBITRASE ASING DI INDONESIA

Arbitration is an option for parties who wants to resolve disputes between them non-litigation. However, it turns out that there are still many problems that arise in arbitration, both in terms of legal certainty. Legal certainty here includes legal certainty in terms of legal remedies that can be taken by the parties against existing arbitral awards as well as legal certainty regarding the implementation of foreign arbitral council decisions in Indonesia. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out how the implementation of arbitral awards in Indonesia, both national and foreign arbitral council decisions in Indonesia. The research method that the author uses is library research and legal research. Then the research approach used is the Statute Approach and the conceptual approach. From the discussion, it can be concluded that the Government of Indonesia actually already has a legal framework, namely Law Number 30 of 1999 concerning Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution. This law is also a follow-up to the ratification of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of so that related to the application of the decision of the foreign (international) arbitral tribunal, it should be applicable in Indonesia as long as it complies with the provisions of the positive law in Indonesia.

Scaling up UAVs for land administration: Towards the plateau of productivity

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are considered an innovative tool for land administration. However, despite the prospects and market opportunities in the domain, there is a gap between experimentation and widespread technology diffusion. In this work, the Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA) and the Hype Cycle concept are integrated to understand the dynamics of the innovation process of UAVs for the land administration sector. Empirical data stems from literature and interviews of UAV and land administration experts worldwide. The majority of experts estimate UAV technology to be in a phase in which the innovation needs to overcome initial unmet expectations to foster market development and increased adoption. The assessment indicates the changing importance of different FELA pathways during this process. Enabling laws and policies and supporting governance, accountability and institutions are crucial to create such a UAV-friendly national ecosystem early on and allay exaggerated expectations. Once this ecosystem has been made, market demand is expected to surge driven by partnerships, adapted standards, tech advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns, highlighting the superiority of high-resolution data amongst other benefits of UAV technology. These insights can be used as a baseline to direct national strategic decisions towards the increased adoption of UAVs in land administration.

Characterization of Forest Degradation beyond Canopy Cover Change in Mau Forest, Kenya

Monitoring Forest degradation is evidence enough to show a country’s commitment to monitor the forest trend both for national and local decision-making and international reporting processes. Unlike deforestation which is easier to point out, monitoring forest degradation is quite a challenge since there is no universal definition and thus no clear monitoring methods apart from the canopy cover change. This research, therefore, sought to look at the degradation trends in the Mau forest complex between 1995-2020 with the aim of finding out whether monitoring canopy density changes over time and quantifying these changes in terms of biomass loss could be a good approach in monitoring forest degradation. Forest Canopy Density (FCD) model was adopted focusing on using vegetation indices describing biophysical conditions of Vegetation, Shadow and Bareness to monitor changes in canopy density as a parameter for describing forest degradation in the forest blocks of Maasai Mau and Olpusimoru in Mau forest complex. Results indicated how different vegetation indices responded to changes in the vegetation density and eventually changes in the canopy density values which were converted in terms of biomass loss. The forest Canopy Density model proved to be a good tool for monitoring forest degradation since it combines different biophysical indices with different characteristics capturing what is happening below the canopy.

Por um assento à alta mesa! Expressão econômica do poder nacional como fator de influência para a reforma do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas

Concerns over the potential exploitation of cyberspace vulnerabilities to cause logistical inefficiency in matters of national security have endured for almost a quarter of a century. This article updates the stage of this debate and extends the analysis to the reciprocal threats posed by these three areas. A descriptive methodology, grounded on governmental sources, academic papers and news articles, is used to correlate known threats posed by cyberspace to supply chain, and National Security, one to each other, and their possible impacts.  This article demonstrates that, in addition to the well-debated fact that cyberattacks can exploit existing vulnerabilities at different levels of the increasing automation present in logistics systems, posing new threats that can incapacitate military systems or civilian infrastructures related to national security, there is a growing threat posed by logistics to hardware and software products (or cyberspace) and national security, as well as the weaponization of national security decisions made in some countries endanger the cyber (or not) supply chains of other nations, with repercussions on the development of cyberspace itself.

Cyberspace, Logistics and National Security Threats, Not Necessarily in that Order

Concerns over the potential exploitation of cyberspace vulnerabilities to cause logistical inefficiency in matters of national security have endured for almost a quarter of a century. This article updates the stage of this debate and extends the analysis to the reciprocal threats posed by these three areas. A descriptive methodology, grounded on governmental sources, academic papers and news articles, is used to correlate known threats posed by cyberspace to supply chain, and National Security, one to each other, and their possible impacts.  This article demonstrates that, in addition to the well-debated fact that cyberattacks can exploit existing vulnerabilities at different levels of the increasing automation present in logistics systems, posing new threats that can incapacitate military systems or civilian infrastructures related to national security, there is a growing threat posed by logistics to hardware and software products (or cyberspace) and national security, as well as the weaponization of national security decisions made in some countries endanger the cyber (or not) supply chains of other nations, with repercussions on the development of cyberspace itself.

Un-Repeal: Reviving the Arms Control Impact Statements

From the late 1970s into the early 1990s, U.S. federal law mandated the executive branch to prepare annual analytical documents known as Arms Control Impact Statements (ACIS). These instruments – obviously patterned after the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), which had been inaugurated only a few years previously – were intended to prod the national security community to undertake more rigorous, multi-dimensional study of major weapons programs, and to provide Congress and the American public with enhanced, timely information about key arms procurement decisions. However, unlike the EIS process – which rapidly became institutionalized, and which has proliferated to multiple tiers of government and around the world over the past fifty years – the ACIS process was a conspicuous failure. It was widely regarded as a meaningless exercise, consuming immense bureaucratic resources and hardly ever changing any outcomes – a colossal waste of time. The statute that created the ACIS operation was amended to abolish the entire program after only a decade and half of fitful operation. This Article undertakes to compare the starkly different case histories of the ACIS and EIS programs, with an eye to revival of the former in an appropriately modified form. It analyzes the goals of the legislation and the key features accounting for success and failure, and makes recommendations for a modern revival of ACIS that are based upon lessons learned in other contexts. The proposal seeks to underscore the concept that arms control is a key element in sound national security policy, to promote more systematic, wide-ranging analysis in support of key national decision-making, and to empower the legislative branch, as well as the public, to participate in policy debates in a more informed, timely manner.

Attitudes of National Decisionmakers Towards Differentiated Integration in the European Union

Attitudes of National Decisionmakers Towards Differentiated Integration in the European Union

Compositional Planning of Restarting the Socio-Economic Development at Different Levels of State Building

The article presents the results of summarizing the author’s experience in using processes and procedures, methodological provisions and methods of compositional planning in the administrative-command system of management and the development of methodological provisions for compositional monitoring of indicators of regional human development in a market economy. The problematic issues of the formation of the Strategic Plans of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine for 2020-2024 have been identified. and for 2022-2024. and managerial failures to cancel the information and methodological support for the coordinated interaction of central, regional and local authorities, as well as the national ranking of regional human development. The practice of using the methods of composition and decomposition in the organizational and economic formulation of planning problems in the conditions of creating automated control systems for different levels of the coal industry in Ukraine is considered. The essence of a fundamentally new post-war state building in the system of relevant principles and features is revealed. The procedure for introducing the principles and features of the system of compositional monitoring of regional human development has been designed. Examples of the use of the structural-reproductive approach of compositional planning for the preparation and expert evaluation of projects of national decisions on the coal industry of Ukraine are given. Substantiated proposals for the definition in the public sector as the basis of the national economy of business entities of various forms of ownership and for the resumption of the publication of statistical bulletins “Regional human development” for 2018-2022, which are formed on the basis of the Methodology for measuring human development in the regions of Ukraine in 2012. Keywords socio-economic development, compositional planning, compositional monitoring, structural-reproductive approach, statehood, principles and signs of new state building, ACS of the coal industry.

«Достаточная убежденность» при разрешении дисциплинарных споров о манипулировании результатами спортивных соревнований

In its decision CAS 2011 / A / 2490, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (hereinafter - CAS) noted for the first time that there is no universal standard of proof (which, for example, is established in the WADA Code in anti-doping violation situations), although there is “consistency in this matter between sports associations is desirable”. Historically, the use of the “comfortable satisfaction” standard has dominated the resolution of disciplinary sports disputes. The strictest standard “without any reasonable doubt” (all doubts in favor of the person brought to justice) is not applied in sports, since it has the legal nature of public procedural branches of national legal systems - for example, in Russian criminal proceedings. At the same time, the refusal to raise the level of the standard of proof to “without any reasonable doubt” does not prevent the jurisdictional body of the federation, CAS from recognizing the court's verdict as evidence, albeit without prejudice. At the same time, in our opinion, such a position is relevant if the denial of the prejudicial significance of national decisions also makes it impossible to confer exclusivity on a sentence, a court ruling as evidence of the charge. In many of the disputes we examined federations had access to investigations by national law enforcements and sometimes to judicial decisions. Such materials, decisions for evidence purposes were provided by the national federations while resolving disputes in the jurisdictional bodies of international sports federations and CAS. With such a status quo, is it possible to speak about the lack of the necessary powers and resources? Formally, yes, because, firstly, it is necessary to gain access to evidence, which is due to the specifics of the legislative system of a particular state and may not be provided, and secondly, the evidence was not collected and evaluated by the bodies of sports federations, the latter use the results of investigative measures and law enforcement activities of state bodies. On the other hand, when the international sports federations and the CAS had at their disposal criminal investigations and decisions of national courts, as well as the jurisdiction of national federations, the evidence was considered as “comfortable satisfaction”. For law enforcement investigations and criminal court verdicts, reference can be made to the higher “without any reasonable doubt” standard of proof, which involves the use of the decisions and evidence presented in it in favor of the manipulation charge in resolving disciplinary disputes at a softer standard. A similar rationale can be extended to decisions of the jurisdictional bodies of national sports federations if they are based on the results of law enforcement investigations and / or court decisions. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Farmland Transfers in China: From Theoretic Framework to Practice.

Land transformation in agriculture is a crucial global issue for food safety and regional sustainable development. In the context of Chinese rural revitalization strategy, farmland transfer has become an increasingly engaging area of focus for those in a broad range of fields. In this paper, we make a comprehensive review of land transformation in agriculture through literature analysis. Farmland transfers in China were characterized as five dimensions: public policy, market mechanisms, influencing factors, optimization of spatial distribution, and practical results. Meanwhile, we shed light on limitations of the theories and methodologies for farmland transfers in previous studies, and propose the highlights of farmland transfers in China in the future: (1) refining the theoretical systems of farmland transfer under the background of transformations, (2) optimizing land use configuration for farmland transfers within the context of national strategic decisions, (3) developing the land use model supported by big data for understanding farmland transformation; (4) enhancing the comprehensive analysis and interdisciplinary application perspective for farmland transfer issues.

Problems of Prioritization National Security interest of Energy import-dependent States (Case studies: Georgia and Lithuania)

This paper focuses on studying the prioritization process of national interests of energy import-dependent states. In particular, considering the energy strategy formation processes of Georgia and Lithuania, it explores the interrelation among the objectives of supply security and national security challenges. The reason behind the choice of the given countries was that energy security policies of both countries were formed based on identical characteristics after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Analysis of the mentioned cases offers a good opportunity to explain how foreign policy threats affect national energy security decisions. The study also examines the major factors affecting prioritization of national security interests, providing a possibility to answer the main research question of the paper - what prompts states to pursue less rational policies in terms of energy security, justified by maintaining state sovereignty? Using the securitization concept, the paper also explains what leads to taking steps aimed at solving national security challenges, which may, in turn, lead to the emergence of new types of security challenges. Analysis of the mentioned cases offers a good opportunity to explain how foreign policy threats affect national energy security decisions, whether such threats cause new energy challenges to be subject to political interests and whether it is appropriate for states to pursue such energy policy with the motive of maintaining state sovereignty. The paper indicates that energy policies purely formed based on political interests, may not face the main energy security challenges of the country.

Schengen and the Administration of Exclusion: Legal Remedies Caught in between Entry Bans, Risk Assessment and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract To create an area in which persons can move freely, the Schengen states committed to control their external borders to prevent irregular immigration and the entry of third-country nationals (TCN s) who are considered to be ‘a public order and security risk’. The exclusion of ‘unwanted aliens’ can be based on the mutual enforcement of national decisions, such as entry bans reported in the Schengen Information System, or objections against the issuing of a Schengen visa, based on the consultation procedure in the Visa Code. This contribution focuses on the right of TCN s to have access to effective remedies, both with regard to existing and newer mechanisms of exclusion. It argues that when dealing with the use of large-scale databases and risk assessment as basis for excluding admission, existing rules and case-law by the CJEU should be taken into account to ensure access to effective judicial protection for TCN s.

Court Decision Contra Legem or an Application of the Principle of Proportionality in Concreto?

The article analyses cases of non-application of a national legal rule by cassation court judges hearing civil cases where, based on the analysis of concrete circumstances, the application of such a rule, in the opinion of judges, would lead to an infringement of the principle of proportionality and the European Convention on Human Rights. Decisions of two courts of cassation belonging to the continental law tradition (the Lithuanian Supreme Court and the French Court of Cassation) illustrate such a control of the application of the principle of proportionality in concreto. While national law is subject to an increasing impact of the case law of supranational courts, the legitimacy of such national court decisions is discussed also in the context of the transformations taking place in regard to the role of a judge.

The Inter-American Rule of Law in South American constitutionalism

The objective of this text is to present the modification of the conception of Rule of Law in the South America constitutionalism, from the dialogue and synergy between the Inter-American System of Human Rights and the new constitutions that emerged after dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, and internal wars, taking Operation Condor as a clandestine inter-American system or as unconventional status quo. We problematize how it is possible to speak of "Inter-American Rule of Law", which means the reconstruction of that State compatible with the ACHR in the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary spheres, as well the conventionality control and the standards emanating from the IACourtHR to laws, public policies, and national court decisions. Therefore, we defend the thesis that this dialogue can be the key to access the engine room of the constitutions, with the pro persona principle. The methodology used was a theoretical and normative approach, from a hypothetical deductive perspective and prioritizing as sources the bibliography and the caselaw of the IACourtHR.

National polarization and international agreements

The network of international environmental agreements (IEAs) has been characterized as a complex adaptive system (CAS) in which the uncoordinated responses of nation states to changes in the conditions addressed by particular agreements may generate seemingly coordinated patterns of behavior at the level of the system. Unfortunately, since the rules governing national responses are ill understood, it is not currently possible to implement a CAS approach. Polarization of both political parties and the electorate has been implicated in a secular decline in national commitment to some IEAs, but the causal mechanisms are not clear. In this paper, we explore the impact of polarization on the rules underpinning national responses. We identify the degree to which responsibility for national decisions is shared across political parties and calculate the electoral cost of party positions as national obligations under an agreement change. We find that polarization typically affects the degree but not the direction of national responses. Whether national commitment to IEAs strengthens or weakens as national obligations increase depends more on the change in national obligations than on polarization per se. Where the rules governing national responses are conditioned by the current political environment, so are the dynamic consequences both for the agreement itself and for the network to which it belongs. Any CAS analysis requires an understanding of such conditioning effects on the rules governing national responses.

Guardians’ willingness to vaccinate their teenagers against COVID-19 in China: A national cross-sectional survey

ObjectiveTo investigate Chinese guardians’ willingness to vaccinate teenagers (WVT) against COVID-19, we conducted a national wide survey in 31 provinces in mainland China. MethodsWe involved 16133 guardians from 31 provinces in Chinese Mainland from August 6th to 9th, 2021. The question “Are you willing to vaccinate teenagers of COVID-19 vaccine?” was designed to capture WVT. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) for potential factors of WVT were estimated using multiple logistic regression models. ResultsIn total, 13327 (82.61%) of the respondents expressed positive WVT, 12.90% of the respondents were uncertain but inclined to vaccinate their teenagers. Meanwhile, 3.89% of the respondents were uncertain and inclined to reject, and 0.60% of the respondents rejected the vaccines. After adjusting for potential confounders, the married, total family income last year, reject to Categoly1 vaccines, access information about the COVID-19 vaccines from community workers, low COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy, guardian's vaccination behavior, and the importance of vaccinating teenagers were all independent factors that affected the guardians' likely to accept. Further, the current study found that lower trust in doctors and vaccine developers was associated with negative WVT. The reasons for negative WVT included teenagers’ young age and guardians’ worries on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. ConclusionThis large-scale study assessed Chinese guardians’ WVT against COVID-19, as well as its potential influencing factors, which is useful for international and national decision-makers.

Clinical comprehensive evaluation of Wenxin Granules in treatment of arrhythmia with deficiency of Qi and Yin

This study evaluated the safety, effectiveness, economy, innovation, suitability, accessibility, and characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine of Wenxin Granules in the treatment of arrhythmia(ventricular premature beat and atrial premature beat) with deficiency of Qi and Yin. The multi-criteria decision analysis(MCDA) model was adopted, and the criterion layer and index layer were weighted by experts. CSC v2.0 was used for clinical comprehensive evaluation. This study embodies the clinical value of Wenxin Granules, promotes its safe, effective and rational use, and provides a basis for national medical decision-making. The multi-source evidence shows that the major adverse reaction of Wenxin Granules is gastrointestinal damage. According to the available studies, Wenxin Granules has controllable risk and thus is rated as grade B in terms of safety. The systematic evaluation of effectiveness shows that compared with antiarrhythmic western medicine, Wenxin Granules demonstrates improved clinical efficacy and electrocardiogram efficacy, which is supported by high-quality evidence, and thus the effectiveness of Wenxin Granules is evaluated as grade A. Economic research shows that Wenxin Granules is more economical than antiarrhythmic western medicine, which is supported by sufficient evidence and clear results, and thus the economy of this preparation is rated as grade B. The indications and contraindications of Wenxin Granules are clear and detailed to different types of arrhythmia, which, together with the precise positioning and prominent clinical innovation and industrial innovation, rates it as grade A in terms of innovation. The suitability of drug storage, prescription circulation, dosage form and course of treatment basically meet the clinical medication needs of doctors and patients, and thus the suitability of Wenxin Granules is evaluated as grade B. Because of the few restrictions and the sustainable resources of medicinal materials, the accessibility of Wenxin Granules is evaluated as grade A. The prescription compatibility focuses on the pathogenesis characteristics of deficiency of Qi and Yin, and there are more than 3 000 cases studied. Therefore, the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine of Wenxin Granules are evaluated as grade B. Based on the evidence from all the above dimensions, Wenxin Granules has the clinical comprehensive value of class A and prominent characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine. It is suggested to include Wenxin Granules into the policy results related to basic clinical medication management according to the procedure.

Early development of primary care networks in the NHS in England: a qualitative mixed-methods evaluation

ObjectivesPrimary care networks (PCNs) were introduced in the National Health Service (NHS) in England in 2019 to improve integrated care for patients and help address financial and workforce sustainability issues...