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This article examines many of the Taliban's prominent positions and dynamics in the Afghan state. The Taliban has had few explicit political goals. Instead, its policies have focused on reshaping Afghan society and re‐establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Taliban conflicted with the Afghan Republic (2001−2021) and faced repeated administrative problems and opposition in realizing their minor political goals. They have re‐emerged in Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal. This article compares factors such as corruption, ethnicity, dictatorship, and politics between the Taliban and the Republic. It uses the fragile state framework to explain the continuation of the conflict in Afghanistan, analyzing historical discourse. This article primarily relies on survey data, focusing on the views of Afghan people concerning the Republic and the Taliban. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are contractors keen to develop, implement, and analyse International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) when they appear to make no financial gains? What, if not monetary profit, makes ILSA contracts so attractive? Almost all ILSA contractors interviewed as part of this project state that their ILSA work is an investment, either in the form of a break-even or a loss contract. This paper discusses why contractors carry out ILSA contracts or donate to ILSAs, analysing 35 interviews with OECD and IEA staff and ILSA contractors and applying policy borrowing and lending theory to non-state actors. Drawing on Brostrom's (2012) study, this paper identifies contractor rationales on an organizational level that relate to developing improved or new products and processes, gaining access to networks, managing human capital, and creating direct business opportunities. This paper adds a fifth category of individual rationales, whereby contractors are driven by professional opportunities, lifestyles, and emotional bonds that ILSAs provide. What becomes apparent is an innovation rhetoric gap and that ILSAs are a 'golden door' to business opportunities. The paper concludes that contractors' motivations and agendas become encoded in ILSAs as they buy themselves into ILSA networks, thus shaping the way education is measured, understood, and acted upon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standardised International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have gained prominence in global and national educational discussions. ILSAs claim to offer valuable insights for improving education systems, but their impact on educational policy varies and has become a contested arena. This article analyses how these assessments fed educational policymaking in six Latin American countries based on a review of policy documents; the article advances three theses on how ILSAs are used by policymakers: First, there is a tokenistic usage of ILSAs; second, ILSAs must be considered more as political devices bolstering national reputation rather than studies in the academic sense; third, ILSAs can serve as leverage tools that can be mobilised for broader political ends. The study shows that the promises, designs and reporting of ILSAs are not necessarily aligned, that participation in ILSAs has become a symbolic gesture, and that ILSAs' data are often cherry-picked to support pre-existing diagnoses and policy agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-national comparisons of educational achievement rely upon each participating country collecting nationally representative data. While obtaining high response rates is a key part of reaching this goal, other potentially important factors may also be at play. This paper focuses on one such issue—exclusion rates—which has received relatively little attention in the academic literature. Using data from 20 years of international large-scale assessment data, we find there to be modest variation in exclusion rates across countries and that there has been a relatively small increase in exclusion rates in some over time. We also demonstrate how exclusion rates tend to be higher in studies of primary students than in studies of secondary students. Finally, while there seems to be little relationship between exclusion rates and response rates, there is a weak negative association between the level of exclusions and test performance. We conclude by discussing how information about exclusions—and other similar issues—might be more clearly communicated to non-specialist audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia, as a country with abundant natural resources, faces serious challenges related to the use of non-renewable natural resources such as petroleum. Negative environmental impacts and the risk of depletion of these resources have triggered the need for a transition to renewable energy. We use an inductive qualitative method through document research as data collection. Given the International Energy Agency's (IEA) role in supporting national energy sustainability and reviewing Indonesia's energy policies, a pertinent question arises regarding its role in Indonesia. This study aims to analyze the concrete role of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in supporting the sustainability of renewable energy supply in Indonesia with reference to SDG 7. This study finds that the role of the IEA in striving for a renewable energy transition in Indonesia centres on providing analysis of the potential and challenges as well as policy recommendations to direct the government in developing strategies for implementing renewable energy. The IEA also facilitates international cooperation, technology transfer, and investment in the renewable energy sector. Indonesia is committed to achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, which focuses on universal access to affordable, clean, and sustainable energy. Cooperation with the IEA will continue to be key in achieving this goal, especially to achieve the net-zero emissions target by 2060 and ensure the availability of a sustainable renewable energy supply.

Recently, worldwide, the attention being paid to hydrogen and its derivatives as alternative carbon-free (or low-carbon) options for the electricity sector, the transport sector, and the industry sector has increased. Several projects in the field of low-emission hydrogen production (particularly electrolysis-based green hydrogen) have either been constructed or analyzed for their feasibility. Despite the great ambitions announced by some nations with respect to becoming hubs for hydrogen production and export, some quantification of the levels at which hydrogen and its derived products are expected to penetrate the global energy system and its various demand sectors would be useful in order to judge the practicality and likelihood of these ambitions and future targets. The current study aims to summarize some of the expectations of the level at which hydrogen and its derivatives could spread into the global economy, under two possible future scenarios. The first future scenario corresponds to a business-as-usual (BAU) pathway, where the world proceeds with the same existing policies and targets related to emissions and low-carbon energy transition. This forms a lower bound for the level of the role of hydrogen and its penetration into the global energy system. The second future scenario corresponds to an emission-conscious pathway, where governments cooperate to implement the changes necessary to decarbonize the economy by 2050 in order to achieve net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide (carbon neutrality), and thus limit the rise in the global mean surface temperature to 1.5 °C by 2100 (compared to pre-industrial periods). This forms an upper bound for the level of the role of hydrogen and its penetration into the global energy system. The study utilizes the latest release of the annual comprehensive report WEO (World Energy Outlook—edition year 2023, the 26th edition) of the IEA (International Energy Agency), as well as the latest release of the annual comprehensive report WETO (World Energy Transitions Outlook—edition year 2023, the third edition) of the IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency). For the IEA-WEO report, the business-as-usual situation is STEPS (Stated "Energy" Policies Scenario), and the emissions-conscious situation is NZE (Net-Zero Emissions by 2050). For the IRENA-WETO report, the business-as-usual situation is the PES (Planned Energy Scenario), and the emissions-conscious situation is the 1.5°C scenario. Through the results presented here, it becomes possible to infer a realistic range for the production and utilization of hydrogen and its derivatives in 2030 and 2050. In addition, the study enables the divergence between the models used in WEO and WETO to be estimated, by identifying the different predictions for similar variables under similar conditions. The study covers miscellaneous variables related to energy and emissions other than hydrogen, which are helpful in establishing a good view of how the world may look in 2030 and 2050. Some barriers (such as the uncompetitive levelized cost of electrolysis-based green hydrogen) and drivers (such as the German H2Global initiative) for the hydrogen economy are also discussed. The study finds that the large-scale utilization of hydrogen or its derivatives as a source of energy is highly uncertain, and it may be reached slowly, given more than two decades to mature. Despite this, electrolysis-based green hydrogen is expected to dominate the global hydrogen economy, with the annual global production of electrolysis-based green hydrogen expected to increase from 0 million tonnes in 2021 to between 22 million tonnes and 327 million tonnes (with electrolyzer capacity exceeding 5 terawatts) in 2050, depending on the commitment of policymakers toward decarbonization and energy transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the formation of the second Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) is a case of déjà vu for China and that, despite its engagement with the new Taliban-led government, Beijing will be unable to meet its geopolitical, geostrategic, geo-economic and national security goals in the country. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, similarly to the situation under the first IEA, the Taliban are finding it difficult to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. The security situation will remain perilous due to persistent attacks by the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) group. Secondly, and also just as during the first IEA, the Taliban cannot be relied upon as allies in China's "war on terror". This is due to the Taliban's ideological beliefs, decades of ties with the Uyghur militants in Afghanistan and concerns about reputational damage if it breaks links with Islamist groups or undertakes counterterrorism operations against these groups, damage which may undermine the second IEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Electroencephalography (EEG) is a widespread test in medical setup yet there is scarcity of data of what percentage of referred EEG has abnormality that is suggestive of epileptiform discharges and what is the frequency distribution of these abnormalities. Objective: The study is used to retrospectively evaluate the frequency and pattern of EEG abnormality in various age groups and all sexes. Method: It was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of EEG of every patient referred to EEG laboratory for finding discharges suggestive of epileptiform discharges over a one-year period. The age and sex data of patients were collected. The epileptiform discharges were classified accordingly to the International Federation of Societies of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology definition of interictal epileptiform activities (IEA). Result: The study revealed that a higher percentage of patients in the younger age group (100/126 [79%]) displayed abnormal EEG results, compared to the adult population (58/106 [54%]). This discrepancy indicates a significant difference in the prevalence of abnormal EEG findings between these two age groups. Moreover, the study found no discernible variation in the occurrence of abnormal EEG results based on sex. Conclusion: The study found age was an important variable in predicting both frequency of abnormality and its type.

Broad participation and compliance are key elements of any successful international environmental agreement (IEA). Notwithstanding the participation of a significant number of countries in the Paris Agreement, the level of compliance remains challenging. This article investigates the potential role of fairness in enhancing compliance under the Paris Agreement. It draws lessons from the Montreal and Kyoto protocols that could assist the Paris Agreement in incentivising countries. The article discusses the operationalisation of the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC) principle in different treaties. A formulaic approach to interpreting the CBDR-RC principle and the imposition of restrictions on non-compliant parties could be effective ways of promoting compliance with the Paris Agreement. Besides, market-based solutions are considered as economic approaches to incentivising countries to meet the climate target. The importance of market-based solutions is supported by the findings from a worldwide survey among international delegates negotiating the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the challenges and prospects associated with the adoption of Islamic banking in Afghanistan. Despite the global growth and acceptance of Islamic banking by approximately 50 countries by 1997, Afghanistan only embraced it between 2008–2009. The decision to convert conventional banks to Islamic ones, driven by the involvement of interest rates (riba) in the prevailing system, necessitates a thorough examination of the challenges and the need for an appropriate response. The study employs qualitative, analytical, and exploratory methods, reviewing secondary sources and conducting unstructured interviews with key stakeholders, including officials from the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), staff of Islamic banking institutions, experts in Islamic banking and finance, and consumers. The findings reveal that the challenges in promoting Islamic banking in Afghanistan are more complex and multi-layered than commonly understood, stemming from the legal system, regulatory capacities and mindset, banking services, and public perception. The paper emphasizes the importance of addressing these challenges comprehensively to safeguard the already fragile economic and financial sector. Failure to do so may lead to further deterioration. This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by shedding light on the unique challenges and prospects of Islamic banking in Afghanistan, providing valuable insights for policymakers, regulators, and practitioners in shaping an effective transformation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important goal of Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) is to be an inclusive, evidence-based process to engage stakeholders, in support of ecosystem-based management. IEA is resource intensive, requiring the engagement of personnel, experts from many disciplines, public and private institutions, and including issues of technology, infrastructure, capacity building, etc. Stakeholders such as policy-makers and scientists in influential decision-making roles often determine the level of investment when committing to an IEA. It is thus critical to understand how these specific stakeholders understand and perceive IEA, as well as their motivations for engagement. We interviewed government officials, science managers and scientists whose decisions are critical for mobilizing resources (time, expertise and funding) in support of ecosystem based management (and potentially IEA) in the Atlantic Ocean. The interviews aimed at documenting their perceptions of IEA, and their motivations to engage in the process. Our results show that most of these research and policy stakeholders are generally unaware of, or have misconceptions about IEA concepts. Those who expressed awareness of IEA considered IEA as unfit to address most policy and managerial goals. We propose that the IEA process could be improved by promoting inclusivity and applying ocean science diplomacy. We see that these two aspects (inclusivity and science diplomacy) can help research and policy stakeholders understand the true meaning of IEA through negotiating, and by strengthening and diversifying the involvement of international stakeholders. We advocate that the scoping phase of an IEA is of critical importance and should be core to the whole process. It is during the scoping phase that stakeholders are identified and engaged. With their involvement, there is a need to make their interests visible and respected. During the scoping phase, a safe and open space needs to be secured, so these interests can be negotiated and mutual understanding on concepts, roles in the process and the possible outcomes are achieved. This article is part of the Mission Atlantic Project (Horizon 2020) which is designed to conduct IEAs in the Atlantic Ocean.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) releases each year in October/November its World Energy Outlook (WEO). The IEA WEO 20221 provides analysis and insights on trends in global energy demand and supply, and what they imply for energy security, environmental protection and economic development. The WEO covers the whole energy system and uses a scenario-based approach to highlight the key choices, consequences and issues lying ahead, and to show how the course of the energy system can be affected by changing some of the key variables, mostly the energy policies adopted by governments around the world. This article tries to identify the main conclusions which can be drawn from this year's edition, in the troubled context of the energy crisis stemming from the Russian aggression in Ukraine and with the pressing climate urgency in the background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to use the variable returns to scale (VRS)-slacks-based measure (SBM)-data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to compare the energy resilience of different economies and areas. This study looks at the energy resilience scores of 26 economies from Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific area. It does this by looking at twelve sub-indicators in three dimensions: society, the economy, and the environment. According to the computational results, seventeen of these economies' total energy resilience achieved top-tier performance. South Korea, ranked 18th, is only second to these seventeen economies and is followed by, among others, Turkey, Luxembourg, Poland, Italy, Belgium, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Twelve of the twenty European economies, all three American economies, and two Asia-Pacific economies are relatively energy-resilient. There are sixteen economies in society dimensions, seventeen economies in economy dimensions, and seventeen economies in environment dimensions that are relatively energy-resilient. Sub-dimensional improvement suggestions for relatively less energy-resilient economies are provided according to empirical results. The outcome of the research provides policymakers with a benchmark for future policy planning. Due to data limitations, this study cannot benchmark all OECD economies and does not account for sub-dimensional resource inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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While the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) deems human rights as universal and uniformly applicable to all societies, John Rawls's idea of rights offers a narrower account of human rights which would be differential and acceptable to different societies and people. The notion emphasises that human rights move on a spectrum of continual development with regard to particularities and changing needs of different societies. Such an approach to human rights, Rawls argues, leads to better implementation of international human rights. Rawls's analysis of human rights' dynamic nature, however, remains confined only to macro-level variation of human rights among different societies. This article argues that human rights also vary within the same society. It charts how Afghan women's conception of human rights has evolved from one period of the Taliban rule to another. This evolution indicates how, with the passage of time and the effect of external factors, new variants of women's rights have emerged and became fundamental to the Afghan society. The article suggests that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) should not ignore this evolution and development. Rather, it can seize the opportunity to cooperate with the international community and foreign powers to implement women's rights within a middle framework between human rights notions of Rawls and the UDHR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to study the stability of international environmental agreements (IEAs) in a pollution abatement context. Countries can decide to cooperate or to defect. Defector countries decide on their abatement levels by minimizing their own total cost whereas, signatory countries decide on their abatement levels by minimizing the aggregate of all cooperators.In the model, all countries have the same environmental damage instead, respect to the non-environmental cost, we assume that each signatory country has to punish a non-signatory for its behaviour, at some cost to itself (see [17]). We propose two different cases in which we have that punishment is directly proportional to the level of pollution (see [6] or not (see [5]). Punishments can be in the form of trade sanctions or import tariffs, as a measure to encourage cooperation.We model a differential game in order to determine both the optimal path of the abatement levels and stock pollutant as results of feedback Nash equilibria. Stability conditions, such as internal and external stability, are applied showing that different answers about the size of a stable IEA can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the challenges and prospects associated with the adoption of Islamic banking in Afghanistan. Despite the global growth and acceptance of Islamic banking by approximately 50 countries by 1997, Afghanistan only embraced it between 2008–2009. The decision to convert conventional banks to Islamic ones, driven by the involvement of interest rates (riba) in the prevailing system, necessitates a thorough examination of the challenges and the need for an appropriate response. The study employs qualitative, analytical, and exploratory methods, reviewing secondary sources and conducting unstructured interviews with key stakeholders, including officials from the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), staff of Islamic banking institutions, experts in Islamic banking and finance, and consumers. The findings reveal that the challenges in promoting Islamic banking in Afghanistan are more complex and multi-layered than commonly understood, stemming from the legal system, regulatory capacities and mindset, banking services, and public perception. The paper emphasizes the importance of addressing these challenges comprehensively to safeguard the already fragile economic and financial sector. Failure to do so may lead to further deterioration. This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by shedding light on the unique challenges and prospects of Islamic banking in Afghanistan, providing valuable insights for policymakers, regulators, and practitioners in shaping an effective transformation strategy.

Key ecological function areas are not only recognized as the critical subject for national and global ecosystem protection, but also the crucial hinterland for maintaining the livelihood of local residents. Studies on livelihood resilience contribute to better understand the adaptation strategies and development needs of poor and highly vulnerable groups in key ecological function zones, which is crucial to promoting the long run sustainability. Based on the survey data of 575 households, this paper constructs the livelihood resilience evaluation index system from three dimensions of buffer capacity, self-organization ability and learning ability. The method of weighted sum is used to evaluate the livelihood resilience of farmers, and the influencing factors are analyzed by multiple regression model. The results show that the overall level of livelihood resilience of farmers is weak, and the self-organization ability of farmers is significantly higher than their buffering ability and learning ability. We found that ecological policy, age of head of household, diversity of livelihoods, family size, and environmental dependence are the key factors that affect the resilience of farmers' livelihoods. We argued that, new methods such as establishing a technical training system for farmers, promoting livelihood diversity, improving and implementing active ecological policies, and building long-term and effective risk warning, emergency response, and poverty alleviation mechanisms should be considered and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses how much oil remains to be produced, and whether this poses a significant constraint to global development. We describe the different categories of oil and related liquid fuels, and show that public-domain by-country and global proved (1P) oil reserves data, such as from the EIA or BP Statistical Review, are very misleading and should not be used. Better data are oil consultancy proved-plus-probable (2P) reserves. These data are generally backdated, i.e. with later changes in a field's estimated volume being attributed to the date of field discovery. Even some of these data, we suggest, need reduction by some 300 Gb for probable overstatement of Middle East OPEC reserves, and likewise by 100 Gb for overstatement of FSU reserves. The statistic that best assesses ‘how much oil is left to produce’ is a region's estimated ultimately recoverable resource (URR) for each of its various categories of oil, from which production to-date needs to be subtracted. We use Hubbert linearization to estimate the global URR for four aggregate classes of oil, and show that these range from 2500 Gb for conventional oil to 5000 Gb for ‘all-liquids’. Subtracting oil produced to-date gives estimates of global reserves of conventional oil at about half the EIA estimate. We then use our estimated URR values, combined with the observation that oil production in a region usually reaches one or more maxima when roughly half its URR has been produced, to forecast the expected dates of global resource-limited production maxima of these classes of oil. These dates range from 2019 (i.e., already past) for conventional oil to around 2040 for ‘all-liquids’. These oil production maxima are likely to have significant economic, political and sustainability consequences. Our forecasts differ sharply from those of the EIA, but our resource-limited production maxima roughly match the mainly demand-driven maxima envisaged in the IEA's 2021 ‘Stated Policies’ scenario. Finally, in agreement with others, our forecasts indicate that the IPCC's ‘high-CO2’ scenarios appear infeasible by assuming unrealistically high rates of oil production, but also indicate that considerable oil must be left in the ground if climate change targets are to be met. As the world seeks to move towards sustainability, these perspectives on the future availability of oil are important to take into account.

Aim. Comparative study of the level of anti-measles immunity in monkeys of the Primate Center , colony service staff and in some groups of the population of the Adler region. Materials and methods. In this study 1077 sera have been investigated : 354-from humans and 723-from monkeys. Commercial test systems were used to determine IgG and IgM antibodies to measles virus by IEA (immune enzyme analysis). Results. An extremely low degree of anti-measles immunity among monkeys of different species of the Adler Primate Center (10,2±1,4%) at the expense of the individuals born before 1993 was revealed. In cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) imported from Vietnam and the Republic of Mauritius in 2015-2017 the rate of detection of anti-IgG varied from 2.3% to 57.5%. Anti-IgM was no detected. The rate of anti — measles immunity in the adult population was generally below normal (86.4±1.8%), but varied in different groups (57.8-100%). A significant difference was found (p≤0.05) not only in the percentage of individuals with the immunity to measles virus among persons aged 18-35 compared with persons aged 36-75 years (73.6±3.5% and 96.9±1.2%, respectively), but also in the average antibody titers (1.34±0.26 IU/ml and 2.92±0.24 IU/ml, respectively). The lowest percentage of seropositive individuals (57.8±6.2%) and antibody levels (0.97±0.21 IU/ml) were observed in a group of students (18-25 years old). Conclusion. The presence of individuals (26.4%) seronegative to the measles virus among young people aged 18-35 years supports the necessity of vaccination against measles. The emergence of a source of infection among nonimmune monkeys (89.8%) born after 1992 may lead to an outbreak of measles.

This essay begins with a brief summary of the IEA comparisons of mathematics achievement from 1964 to 2007, showing the predominance of Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. Then in response to one scholar's suggestion that their success stems from the fact that their curricula are challenging, demanding and rigorous, I provide evidence that in the case of Japan, the exact opposite is true, and that the real key is that Japanese elementary teachers use extremely effective teaching methods which they have developed over decades of classroom research. They also understand that their students, who are taught in mixed ability classrooms, need to move at a moderate pace and have frequent periods of vigorous activity. This results in a high level of learning compared to that of students in other systems, which leads to the mistaken assumption that their curriculum is more difficult. An appendix is provided with excerpts of lessons from two different publishers, separated by seven years, illustrating the efficiency and consistency of their teaching practices.

The OPEC oil embargo of October 1973 gave rise to the concept of Energy Security (ES), focused on guaranteeing the economic supply of fuels. It gradually included environmental, governance and equity issues and the complexity of the concept, policies and measurement methods increased. With a focus on political economy, this essay examines this trajectory, and selects variables to construct three related and independent ES indexes: Petroleum Security (PSI), Energy Diversity (EDI) and Energy Transition (ETI) and applies them for the period 1980 -2016, to Canada, the United States and Mexico, countries with historical social and economic ties, including energy. The results indicate the centrality of oil in the SE and the benefits of building independent indexes for each considered country and context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]