Coordenação da entrega de ajuda a vítimas de desastre: uma abordagem multicritério com pensamento focado em valor.

Este trabalho trata da logística envolvida em operações de resposta a desastres, com foco na entrega final de suprimentos destinados a ajudar vítimas. Seu propósito é investigar os objetivos pertinentes ao planejamento do transporte da carga e encontrar uma metodologia para definir estratégia que sirva à tomada de decisão em campo. Para tanto, primeiramente identifica-se os objetivos adotados em modelos de Pesquisa Operacional para a tarefa em questão, através da análise de conteúdo das publicações pertinentes. Então, a abordagem do Pensamento Focado em Valores é utilizada para estruturar o problema. Finalmente, o método Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique Exploiting Ranks (SMARTER) é empregado na construção de um modelo de Análise da Decisão Multicritério (ADM), com consulta a um profissional experiente da área humanitária e aproveitando a análise da literatura previamente realizada. Neste processo, são elaboradas e avaliadas seis alternativas para a tomada de decisão condizentes com os valores da comunidade humanitária. Os resultados obtidos mostram que existe incompatibilidade entre os critérios de desempenho identificados nas publicações existentes e os objetivos perseguidos pelo Tomador da Decisão (TD) real. De acordo com o modelo construído, o atendimento de prioridades e a manutenção da sustentabilidade da operação são os objetivos que devem ser levados em conta para planejar a entrega de carga em pós-desastre, sendo que o custo e a equidade da distribuição não devem ser considerados. Conclui-se que o método adotado é útil à definição destes critérios e também ao desenvolvimento de estratégias que resultem em distribuições de ajuda melhores, aos olhos do próprio TD. Desta forma, ressalta-se que este trabalho contribui à área da Logística Humanitária com a investigação dos objetivos, assim como ao campo da ADM pela formalização dos processos de elaboração de alternativas, além da adição de mais uma aplicação possível ao repertório do método SMARTER.

A Human Resource Training Program for Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have increased in the twenty-first century; however, the majority of cross-border mergers fail to achieve their financial objectives. Nonetheless, the number of merger failures has not stopped organizations from undertaking mergers. There are multiple sources and types of conflict associated with merger failure, which can all be traced back to the facts that human resource departments have not been utilized effectively and that there has been a lack of planning during the M&A process. Thus, this capstone proposes a training program as a reference for human resource departments to apply best practices for planning, training, and evaluating during the process of M&As, which will help potentially alleviate conflicts during the merger period.

Let´s go the University Laboratory: a successful collaborative experience

Paper submitted to ICERI2013, the 6th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, Seville (Spain), November 18-20, 2013.

El gobierno económico de la Unión Europea y los principios de justicia del gasto público en una hacienda plural

A partir de 2011 se ha reforzado el gobierno económico de la UE a través de seis instrumentos legislativos, el llamado Six Pack, que supone fundamentalmente una reforma de la supervisión de la política presupuestaria de los Estados miembros. Más recientemente el Tratado de estabilidad, coordinación y gobernanza de UE de marzo de 2012 (TECGUE) establece un conjunto de normas destinadas a promover la disciplina presupuestaria a través de un pacto presupuestario; a reforzar la coordinación de sus políticas económicas; y a mejorar la gobernanza de la zona del euro. En el presente trabajo se analiza si este modelo basado en una estricta disciplina presupuestaria es compatible con los postulados del Estado social, y más concretamente con los principios de justicia del gasto público. En efecto, a partir de la reforma del art. 135 de la Constitución Española, el principio de estabilidad presupuestaria debe ser interpretado coordinadamente con otros principios constitucionales que en el momento presente están plenamente vigentes y pueden adquirir una nueva función: la de actuar como límite y medida del objetivo de estabilidad presupuestaria. Del mismo modo se analizan los principios de coordinación entre las políticas presupuestarias y de endeudamiento de los Estados miembros en un Estado con una pluralidad de Haciendas, como es el caso español.

El plano geométrico de Crevillent: un pla urbanístic de sanejament i reforma interior de José Guardiola Picó el 1877

El present article analitza i situa en el context l’expedient urbanístic sobre la reforma interior del nucli urbà de Crevillent que l’ajuntament d’aquesta ciutat intentà dur a terme en l’últim quart del segle xix i que, en part, constitueix el plànol geomètric parcial d’aquesta vila. Es tracta d’un expedient municipal en què se succeeixen les actes del consistori per a la seua tramitació administrativa (entre 1876 i 1878) i en què s’intercala el projecte urbà de reforma interior, que consta de tres documents (memòria i dos planols: geomètric i de perfils), firmats el 12 de gener de 1877 per l’arquitecte José Guardiola y Picó (1836-1909), i que es tanca amb un plànol solt del 9 de gener de 1884 de firma no molt llegible.

The social evil in Chicago: a study of existing conditions with recommendations by the Vice Commission of Chicago, a municipal body appointed by the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago, and submitted as its report to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago

Preface -- Outline of study -- Resolution of appreciation -- Introduction and summary -- Proposed ordinance -- Recommendations -- Existing conditions in Chicago -- The social evil and the saloon -- The social evil and the police -- Sources of supply -- Child protection and education -- Rescue and reform -- The social evil and its medical aspects -- Appendices: Text of revised statutes of Illinois and ordinances of the City of Chicago ; Tables ; Exhibits.

A New Start for the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice? Setting of Priorities for the New European Commission. CEPS Commentary, 23 September 2014

The nomination of a First Vice-President (Frans Timmermans) in charge of rule of law and the EU Charter of Fundamental is one of the more far-reaching innovations contained in the new institutional shape of the Juncker Commission. This CEPS Commentary by Sergio Carrera and Elspeth Guild welcomes the fact that a new fundamental rights and rule of law First Vice-President will exercise a coordination and advisory role over the other two JHA Commissioners – Věra Jourová, responsible for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality (DG Justice); and Dimitris Avramopoulos, responsible for Migration and Home Affairs (DG Home Affairs), but expresses a note caution whether this new role and triangular relationship can be made to work effectively in practice.

Does ASEM work? CEPS Policy Brief No. 321, 14 October 2014

This CEPS Policy Brief is based on a larger study for the EEAS and European Commission, written by the same authors in the run-up of the Milan ASEM summit of 16-17 October 2014. The main idea of the study is to assess whether ASEM works and how, by verifying the factual evidence in detail. After all, ASEM has no institutions, no budget and no treaty, whilst dialogues and a loose improvement over time in Asia-Europe relations refer to process much more than genuine ‘results’. The stocktaking covers all ASEM activities since the 2006 Helsinki summit. Summit and foreign ministers’ declarations and ASEM calendar of activities (and interviews) are used to trace ASEM activities in the three ASEM pillars (political, economic, and peoples-to-peoples/cultural). All the ‘regular’ ASEM meetings at ministerial and other levels (many of which are only known to relatively few) have been mapped. Also the ASEM working methods, based on the 2000 AECF framework and many subsequent initiatives, have been scrutinised, including whether they are actually implemented or not or partially. Such methods refer to how to work together in areas of cooperation (beyond the typical ASEM dialogue), organisation, coordination and ASEM visibility. The main conclusion is that ASEM works reasonably well, once one accepts the ASEM of today, although some inefficiencies still characterise the ‘system’. There is a host of secondary conclusions on the three pillars, the foreign ministers, the strong government-to-government nature of ASEM and the working methods. We recommend that today’s ASEM needs no reform and that not having ASEM would entail political and diplomatic costs. We emphasise that ASEM is well placed to stimulate exchange of information between the mega-FTAs such as TPP, RCEP and TTIP. However, the ASEM of tomorrow might be different, given the great changes in geo-political and economic conditions since ASEM began in the mid-1990s. Moreover, the size of ASEM has become such that classical ways of operating with (after Milano) 53 countries (including the EU and ASEAN) cannot possibly be effective all the time. We suggest that, in the run-up to the 20th ASEM birthday (2016), EU and Asian independent think-tanks get together to write an ‘options report’ reconsidering options for a new ASEM, as the basis for a profound and wide debate how to get more value-added out of ASEM.

From stabilisation to stagnation. Viktor Yanukovych's reforms. OSW Point of View Number 32, March 2013

After winning the 2010 presidential election, Viktor Yanukovych and his government developed an ambitious and comprehensive programme of reforms across key areas of social and political life. The return to a presidential system of government created the ideal conditions for the introduction of deep reforms: it allowed Viktor Yanukovych to consolidate more power than any other Ukrainian president before him.The authorities launched an overhaul of the tax and the pension systems, and of the Ukrainian gas sector. Kyiv also completed its negotiations on an Association Agreement with the EU and on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. However, the reformist zeal of Ukraine’s political elite progressively diminished as the parliamentary election approached, the economy slowed down, and the polls showed a decline in support for the ruling Party of Regions. Many of the reforms still remain in the planning stages, and in many areas the government has moved backwards. Viktor Yanukovych has proved unable to make systemic changes, and has increasingly used his powers to crush political opposition in Ukraine. The outcome of the latest parliamentary elections prevents the formation of a stable parliamentary majority, which in turn, removes any chance of reform before the 2015 presidential ballot.

The fiscal compact - Europe's "hard core" based on German economic conditions. OSW Commentary No. 71, 2012-03-07

On 2 March, the leaders of 25 EU member states signed the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union. It will introduce new fiscal constraints and officially vest new competences in the eurozone countries. Thus, their right to coordinate economic policy among them will be sanctioned. So far, the Lisbon Treaty has only provided for organisation of informal Eurogroup meetings, to be attended by representatives of the European Commission. The principles introduced by the compact, if the eurozone countries are really determined to observe its provisions, will create a new way of managing the single currency. Within the next few years, the most indebted countries will have to carry out radical reforms to boost their competitiveness and adjust it to German standards. During this period the Federal Republic of Germany will most probably decide to offer higher loan guarantees to relieve these countries’ budgets. The compact’s political consequences are also of great significance, especially considering how the treaty was finalised. The eurozone states have in fact accepted that the direction for changes will be devised by France and Germany, and the role of European institutions such as the Commission or the Parliament may weaken. From the perspective of eurozone candidate countries, the introduction of the fiscal compact means expanding the scope of conditions they must meet to become members of the single currency area. In the future, a country, in order to adopt the single currency, will have to meet the structural deficit criterion, and also most probably carry out economic reforms such as unifying its fiscal system. These goals will be achieved across the eurozone gradually, in the subsequent stages of the economic governance reform.

Designing a Genuine EMU: Which "Unions" for EU and Eurozone? Bruges European Economic Policy (BEEP) Briefing 34/2014

The initial ‘framing’ (in the summer of 2012) of the ‘genuine EMU’ for the wider public suggested to design an entire series of ‘unions’. So many ‘unions’ are neither necessary nor desirable – only some are and their design matters. The paper critically discusses first the negative fall-out of the crisis for EMU, and subsequently assesses the fiscal and the banking unions as accomplished so far, without going into highly specific technical details. The assessment is moderately positive, although there is ample scope for further improvement and a risk for short-term turbulence once the ECB has finished its tests and reviews. What about the parade of other ’unions’ such as economic union, social union and political union? The macro-economic imbalances procedure (MIP) and possibly the ESRB have overcome the pre-crisis disregard of macro competitiveness. The three components of ‘economic union’ (single market, economic policy coordination and budgetary disciplines) have all been strengthened. The last two ‘unions’, on the other hand, would imply a fundamental change in the conferral of powers to the EU/ Eurozone, with drastic and possibly very serious long-run implications, including a break-up of the Union, if such proposals would be pushed through. The cure is worse than the disease. Whereas social union is perhaps easier to dismiss as a ‘misfit’ in the EU, the recent popularity of suggesting a ‘political union’ is seen as worrisome. Probably, nobody knows what a ‘political union’ is, or, at best, it is a highly elastic notion: it might be thought necessary for reasons of domestic economic reforms in EU countries, for a larger common budget, for some EU tax power, for (greater) risk pooling, for ‘symmetric’ macro-economic adjustment and for some ultimate control of the ECB in times of crisis. Taking each one of these arguments separately, a range of more typical EU solutions might be found without suggesting a ‘political union’. Just as ‘fiscal capacity’ was long an all-or-nothing taboo for shifting bank resolution to the EU level, now solved with a modest common Fund and carefully confined but centralised powers, the author suggests that other carefully targeted responses can be designed for the various aspects where seen as indispensable, including the political say of a lender-of-last-resort function of the ECB. Hence, neither a social nor a political union worthy of the name ought to be pursued. Yet, political legitimacy matters, both with national parliaments and the grassroots. National parliaments will have to play a larger role.

The Re-emergence of Russia and its Collision Course with Europe. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 14 No. 4, March 2014

From the Introduction. In order to understand the historical roots of the current geopolitical confrontation between the EU and Russia, we have to go back to the end of the Cold War and to the catastrophic decade that it was followed by in Russian history. The dissolution of the USSR imposed serious economic hardship for Russia and for all the ex-communist East-European states. Russia was the hardest hit amongst them, as the center of the USSR's economic system it suffered most from the dissolution of regional economic ties. This crisis was just deepened by the IMF's privatization and reform campaign, which imposed austerity measures and state-asset privatization as a “shock-therapy” answer to the country's economic problems. This policy package did nothing to save Russia from economic collapse (which eventually happened in 1998), the only thing it achieved was an even stronger social and economic crisis and the enrichment of the rent-seeking ex-communist top bureaucrats by state-assets, which were sold out under-priced through diverse channels of corruption

The limitations of policy coordination in the euro area under the European Semester. Bruegel Policy Contribution 2015/19, November 2015

The European Semester is a yearly process of the European Union to improve economic policy coordination and ensure the implementation of the EU’s economic rules. Each Semester concludes with recommendations for the euro area as a whole and for each EU member state. We show that implementation of recommendations was poor at the beginning of the Semester in 2011, and has deteriorated since. The European Semester is not particularly effective at enforcing even the EU’s fiscal and macroeconomic imbalance rules. We find that euro-area recommendations with tangible economic goals are not well reflected in the recommendations issued to member states. Finally, we review various proposals to improve the efficiency of the European Semester and conclude that while certain steps could be helpful, policy coordination will likely continue to have major limitations.

The EU and its Counter-Terrorism Policies after the Paris Attacks. Liberty and Security in Europe No. 84, 27 November 2015

This paper examines the EU’s counter-terrorism policies responding to the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015. It argues that these events call for a re-think of the current information-sharing and preventive-justice model guiding the EU’s counter-terrorism tools, along with security agencies such as Europol and Eurojust. Priority should be given to independently evaluating ‘what has worked’ and ‘what has not’ when it comes to police and criminal justice cooperation in the Union. Current EU counter-terrorism policies face two challenges: one is related to their efficiency and other concerns their legality. ‘More data’ without the necessary human resources, more effective cross-border operational cooperation and more trust between the law enforcement authorities of EU member states is not an efficient policy response. Large-scale surveillance and preventive justice techniques are also incompatible with the legal and judicial standards developed by the Court of Justice of the EU. The EU can bring further added value first, by boosting traditional policing and criminal justice cooperation to fight terrorism; second, by re-directing EU agencies’ competences towards more coordination and support in cross-border operational cooperation and joint investigations, subject to greater accountability checks (Europol and Eurojust +); and third, by improving the use of policy measures following a criminal justice-led cooperation model focused on improving cross-border joint investigations and the use of information that meets the quality standards of ‘evidence’ in criminal judicial proceedings. Any EU and national counter-terrorism policies must not undermine democratic rule of law, fundamental rights or the EU’s founding constitutional principles, such as the free movement of persons and the Schengen system. Otherwise, these policies will defeat their purpose by generating more insecurity, instability, mistrust and legal uncertainty for all.

Constructing, Creating and Contesting Cityscapes. A Socio-Anthropological Approach to Urban Transformation in Southern Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China

This manuscript is based on a PhD thesis submitted at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Bern in 2014. The dissertation was part of the research project „Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Chinese Territoriality. The Development of Infrastructure and Han Migration into the Region“ under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Heinzpeter Znoj and financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF. Madlen Kobi analyzes the architectural and socio-political transformation of public places and spaces in rapidly urbanizing southern Xinjiang, P.R. China, and in doing so pays particular attention to the cities of Aksu and Kaxgar. As the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region lies in between China and Central Asia, it is especially characterized by differing political, cultural, and religious influences, and, furthermore, due to its being a multiethnic region, by multiple identities. One might expect cultural and social identities in this area to be negotiated by referring to history, religion, or food. However, they also become visible by the construction and reconstruction, if not demolition, of public places, architectural landmarks, and private residences. Based on ethnographic fieldwork performed in 2011 and 2012, the study explores everyday life in a continuously transforming urban environment shaped by the interaction of the interests of government institutions, investment companies, the middle class, and migrant workers, among many other actors. Here, urban planning, modernization, and renewal form a highly sensitive lens through which the author inspects the tense dynamics of ethnic, religious, and class-based affiliations. She respects varieties and complexities while thoroughly grounding unfolding transformation processes in everyday lived experiences. The study provides vivid insights into how urban places and spaces in this western border region of China are constructed, created, and eventually contested.