Jimmy Carter and Human Rights in Latin America

Human rights was perhaps the defining feature of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Although much attention was given at the time to its impact on US relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Latin America was equally, if not more, important in defining and implementing Carter’s vision of a human rights foreign policy. Latin America was the site of some of the Carter administration’s most visible and concentrated human rights diplomacy, and revealed the central logic and persistent challenges of implementing a coherent, comprehensive human rights policy that worked in tandem with other US interests. Carter’s Latin America policy reimagined US national interests and paired human rights with greater respect for national sovereignty, challenging US patterns of intervention and alignment with right-wing anticommunist dictatorships throughout the Cold War. In the Southern Cone, the Carter administration’s efforts to distance the United States from repressive Cold War allies and foster improvements in human rights conditions provoked nationalist backlash from the military regimes, and faced domestic criticism about the economic and security costs of new human rights policies. Similarly, in Central America, the administration faced the challenge of reforming relations with abusive anticommunist allies in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador without supporting communist revolution. Its tepid and cautious response to violence by the Central American governments called into question the Carter administration’s commitment to its human rights agenda. In Cuba, the Carter administration sought to advance human rights as part of a larger effort to normalize relations between the two countries, an effort that was ultimately stymied by both geopolitical dynamics and domestic politics. Although limited in the fundamental changes it could coax from foreign governments and societies, the administration’s policy had a tangible impact in specific high-profile human rights cases. In the long term, it helped legitimize human rights as part of international diplomacy in Latin America and beyond, amplifying the work of other government and nongovernment proponents of human rights.

Fair and balance rate for benefits not scheduled in defined contribution plans

ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to propose a methodology that, using multiple decreases, in addition to classified by actuarial profile and source of social security costs, calculates actuarially fair and balanced rates for unscheduled collective costing benefits from Defined Contribution (DC) pension plans. There are no studies in Brazil about costing rates for benefits not scheduled in pension plans of the DC modality. Any institution that pays collective cost social security benefits must determine an actuarial rate that is not insufficient, generating a financial imbalance in the fund, nor excessive, compromising the participant’s income. This work is the first study on costing rates for collective costing benefits from pension plans with DC modalities. Actuarially fair rates are obtained considering multiple decreases and equalizing the present value of contributions and the present value of pension and disability benefits, classified by actuarial profile and source of social security cost. The specific balance rate is determined for each source of social security costs and is obtained considering the actuarially fair rates for each actuarial profile. The general balance rate is obtained by the marginal contribution of each specific balance rate. The proposed methodology was used to calculate the rates of unscheduled benefits with collective costing in DC modality plans. The proposed methodology estimated that the legal changes, resulting from Constitutional Amendment 103/2019, indirectly increased by more than 4% the general balance rate of the unscheduled benefits of the Supplementary Social Security Foundation of the Federal Public Servant of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government (FUNPRESP-Exe).

System risk assessment based on the probabilistic model “exposure-susceptibility” at the enterprises of storage and processing of vegetable agricultural products

At present, elements of probabilistic safety and risk assessment have been introduced into the design and analysis of complex technical systems, one of the main disadvantages of which is the difficulty due to the selection of initial data in the form of probabilities of initiating events. As a consequence, the use of known methodologies for quantifying risk can lead to either underestimation of threats or unreasonably high security costs. On the example of an enterprise for the storage and processing of vegetable agricultural products, an approach was considered for assessing the risk of a technical system based on the probabilistic model “exposure-susceptibility”.

Evaluation of the trust values among human resources in the enterprise cloud using an optimization algorithm and fuzzy logic

PurposeCloud eases information processing, but it holds numerous risks, including hacking and confidentiality problems. It puts businesses at risk in terms of data security and compliance. This paper aims to maximize the covered human resource (HR) vulnerabilities and minimize the security costs in the enterprise cloud using a fuzzy-based method and firefly optimization algorithm.Design/methodology/approachCloud computing provides a platform to improve the quality and availability of IT resources. It changes the way people communicate and conduct their businesses. However, some security concerns continue to derail the expansion of cloud-based systems into all parts of human life. Enterprise cloud security is a vital component in ensuring the long-term stability of cloud technology by instilling trust. In this paper, a fuzzy-based method and firefly optimization algorithm are suggested for optimizing HR vulnerabilities while mitigating security expenses in organizational cloud environments. MATLAB is employed as a simulation tool to assess the efficiency of the suggested recommendation algorithm. The suggested approach is based on the firefly algorithm (FA) since it is swift and reduces randomization throughout the lookup for an optimal solution, resulting in improved performance.FindingsThe fuzzy-based method and FA unveil better performance than existing met heuristic algorithms. Using a simulation, all the results are verified. The study findings showed that this method could simulate complex and dynamic security problems in cloud services.Practical implicationsThe findings may be utilized to assist the cloud provider or tenant of the cloud infrastructure system in taking appropriate risk mitigation steps.Originality/valueUsing a fuzzy-based method and FA to maximize the covered HR vulnerabilities and minimize the security costs in the enterprise cloud is the main novelty of this paper.

Barreras y fuerzas impulsoras de la implementación de la Industria 4.0 en las organizaciones: un estado del arte

Industry 4.0 is a manufacturing concept that has gained strength in organizations because it delves into industrial automation, digitization, and new technology implementation to improve working conditions and productivity. This article aims to contribute to the current debate on industry 4.0 while providing an overview of barriers and facilitators. Based on documentary analysis of 49 articles written between 2014 and 2020, six categories related to barriers were identified: security, costs, human talent, organizational resistance, and use of technologies; and eight as driving forces of Industry 4.0 implementation: technological pre-existence, management commitment, efficiency, competitiveness, sustainability, competent employees, and government policies.

Cost Benefit Analysis of Incorporating Security and Evaluation of Its Effects on Various Phases of Agile Software Development

This article addresses the costs and benefits of integrating security into the development of applications and gives formulas for calculating security costs and benefits. The lack of safe application might lead to safety issues. Increasingly, there are accidents recorded that expose security flaws in many major software systems. It results in significant losses for consumer companies. While software businesses are working to produce secure software, the utility of secure software is quite limited. In contrast to the traditional manufacturers of commodities, for example, automakers, software developers have no legal responsibility if their products include flaws. The market reacts adversely to software manufacturers with serious vulnerabilities in their products. This is because of the loss of credibility, cost of patches, and so on. The study shows that the market is ready to penalize the supplier for insecurity and therefore offers the chance to deliver safer technologies. To improve cost/efficiency, the vulnerabilities are connected by accessible fixes. Significant savings are gained when security shortcomings are corrected during designing requirements instead of fixing security failures after deploying software. For suppliers, updates are more expensive to produce and publish. In addition, development costs can be reduced by plugging security issues in the early stages of development.

ANALISIS PEMIKIRAN KEUANGAN PUBLIK IBNU TAIMIYAH VS KEBIJAKAN FISKAL KEYNESIAN

This article examines Ibn Taimiyyah’s thoughts in Islamic Public Finance as contained in several of his books, including the book Majmu’ Fatawa, Al-Siyasah al-Syar’iyyah fi Islah al-Ra’i wa al-Ra’iyyah and the book Al-Hisbah fi al-Islam aw Wazifah al-Hukumah al-Islamiyah. Furthermore, these thoughts are compared with the concept of fiscal policy proposed by John Maynard Keynes in his book The General Theory of Interest and Money. This research is literature study using comparative methods and qualitative descriptive analysis. The results of this study indicate that Ibn Taymiyyah’s thoughts on public finance have the advantage of Islamic values based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah, upholding the values of justice, is oriented towards material and spiritual welfare, the existence of a hisbah institution which acts as a supervisor, sources of state revenue paying attention to the aspects of halalness, emphasizing the zakat sector and managing of public ownership. As far the allocation of state expenditures in accordance with the provisions of Islamic law and the benefit of the people. Whereas Keynes fiscal policy is based on man-made regulations, emphasizes state revenue from the tax sector, and is oriented towards material welfare. However, the two concepts have similarities in several state expenditure allocations, including defense and security costs, salaries of state officials, and construction of public facilities. In addition, there are similarities, the role of the state in overcoming unemployment and alleviating poverty.

Perfil epidemiológico de pacientes amputados num hospital de referência brasileiro, 2012-2019

Responsible for high rates of morbidity and mortality, amputation has constituted a great public health problem, which burdens the social security costs and the health system. We aimed to describe the epidemiological profile of people who suffered amputation in a public hospital in the interior of Brazil, which is a reference for a macroregion.This was a retrospective and descriptive epidemiological study, carried out by analyzing the medical records of 214 patients who underwent amputations of various causes, between the years 2012 and 2019 at the Municipal Hospital Dr. Raimundo Gobira, located in Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Statistical analysis of Pearson's correlation, mean and standard deviation was performed. A significance level of 5% was adopted. Of the 214 cases of amputations, the majority were men (91.12%), aged 19-30 years (21.96%), from the urban area (63.45%). Of these, 46.26% were associated with work. The maquita was the tool responsible for most injuries (17.35%). The fingers of the left hand were the main body segments affected (23.60%). Most of the subjects were residents of Teófilo Otoni (34.57%). Approximately 20.10% of amputations occurred in the year 2018. Statistical significance was not demonstrated when age and length of hospital stay were correlated, although the results point to a longer length of stay as age increases. The results made it possible to understand the epidemiological reality of the causes of amputations performed in the region and provide public managers with the opportunity to make decisions based on prevention.

Rethinking the Role of Grain Banks in China’s Agriculture

Grain banks are an organizational innovation and unique phenomenon in China that help reduce food losses and food security costs. It collects scattered food from the farming community into centralized storage and circulates it, thereby realizing asset mobilization and appreciation. This article first elaborates on the definition, function, and evolution of China’s grain banks through a literature review. Then, we used survey data of face-to-face interviews and field visits to a grain bank company in Hubei Province to analyze the economic rationale of grain bank development, including micro and macro conditions of grain bank development and its operating mechanisms. In addition, from the perspective of key stakeholders such as farmers, grain bank companies, and the government, we also studied the challenges of grain banks. We found that, in addition to providing many economic and social benefits in the form of food security and improved farmer income, grain banks still face many challenges in the new era. These include the ambiguity of property rights, lack of institutional structure, low efficiency of state-owned grain banks, and exploitation of loopholes by grain dealers. We propose to implement the supply-side reforms, clarify property rights, improve the supervision and management of grain banks, promote the privatization of grain banks, and take advantage of rural finance to realize the industrialization of the whole sector.