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Towards a Regulatory Framework for the Adoption and Use of Cryptocurrencies in Zimbabwe
Published in Sonali Vyas, Vinod Kumar Shukla, Shaurya Gupta, Ajay Prasad, Blockchain Technology, 2022
Tinashe Mazorodze, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Ruramayi Tadu
Cryptocurrencies have three main characteristics of design and operation that present significant challenges to their regulation. These are decentralization, global presence, and diversity in current and potential users. Decentralization means that there is no central authority or control of the system, as it is a distributed network that exists on the internet. The regulation of cryptocurrencies calls for a common approach, as anyone can have access and transact from anywhere in the world based on internet connectivity, thus rendering piecemeal approaches futile. Furthermore, due to the diverse range of stakeholders in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, it would be prudent to ensure that regulation to support one player should not adversely affect the operations of another. It is almost impossible under the current system to regulate a cryptocurrency network such as Bitcoin. It is, however, possible to regulate the operations of players in the Bitcoin ecosystem. These players are dominated by exchanges, users and miners. Regulating users is again a challenge, since anyone can download a virtual wallet and use it to send and receive cryptocurrencies. It is, therefore, impossible to know who owns a wallet and how much cryptocurrency is stored in the wallet.
Centralized and Decentralized Optimization Approaches for Energy Management within the VPP
Published in Ehsan Heydarian-Forushani, Hassan Haes Alhelou, Seifeddine Ben Elghali, Virtual Power Plant Solution for Future Smart Energy Communities, 2023
Nikos Bogonikolos, Entrit Metai, Konstantinos Tsiomos
Decentralization is the transfer of processes, activities, responsibilities, or powers from a central body to more than one. In the case of blockchain, decentralization can be complete, with all participants being equal and sharing the same set of data at the same time, with each one having their own valid copy. In relation to the physical world, it can be compared to an accounting book (ledger) or some other log file that is distributed to everyone involved and updated simultaneously for everyone. Blockchain as a technology is a type of distributed computing system, which is why it is often referred to as distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The logics of technology decentralization – the case of distributed ledger technologies
Published in Massimo Ragnedda, Giuseppe Destefanis, Blockchain and Web 3.0, 2019
Balazs Bodo, Alexandra Giannopoulou
As we have seen with blockchain technology evangelists, and the Web 3.0 summit organizers, ideological commitment to decentralization may produce decentralization, but it is hardly the only and, by all accounts, may not even be the most effective driver. Decentralization comes with severe trade-offs in terms of scalability, efficiency, usability, security, etc. The optimal choice in these trade-offs differs context by context, and there is hardly a one-size-fits all degree of decentralization in the many interdependent layers of a techno-social system (Wang, Vergne, & Hsieh, 2017).
The limits to participation: branch-canal water user associations in the Egyptian Delta
Published in Water International, 2019
Edwin Rap, Francois Molle, Doaa Ezzat Al-Agha, Waleed Abou El Hassan
PIM is an instance of decentralization policy, justified by the principle of ‘subsidiarity’. This governance principle ‘calls for decisions to be made at the lowest possible political-administrative level’ (Ribot, 2002, p. 15). Three PIM components are expected to increase WUAs’ autonomy from the government and downward accountability towards water users. First, local cost recovery by financially autonomous WUAs is expected to increase their financial accountability, as they depend on the users’ willingness to pay irrigation service fees. Second, PIM decentralizes management responsibility to WUAs, which grants managerial discretion and makes decisions on resource allocation closer to the users, thereby providing scope for their feedback and thus improving managerial accountability. Downward accountability is further enhanced through electoral accountability by letting service users periodically elect representatives to manage these entities and make these managers responsive to democratic assemblies (Rap, 2017).
Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
Published in International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 2019
Ralph Buehler, John Pucher, Oliver Dümmler
Recent studies, mainly from Scandinavian countries, analyze collaboration of different stakeholders for successful regional PT coordination. As noted by Hansson (2013), the organizations involved in Swedish PT are municipalities, county councils, regional transport planning agencies, and county PT authorities. Hansson found that the county PT authority serves a crucial moderating role in the coordination of PT service planning and provision, as well as fare integration, confirming the need for a special regional PT organization to ensure regional coordination. Another case study from Sweden finds that informal relationships among stakeholders can improve collaboration, but that formal coordinating bodies are required because informal relationships cannot be legally enforced (Hrelja et al., 2017). Sørensen and Longva (2011) note that the trend toward new public management in Denmark, Sweden, and the UK has increased the need for explicit coordination of regional PT services among the rising number of PT operators and government representatives resulting from privatization, competition, and decentralization of government decision-making. Thus, all three studies provide evidence on the increasingly important need for regional PT coordination, such as that facilitated by the VVs examined in this article.
Lean six sigma in the public sector: overcoming persistent management challenges
Published in Quality Management Journal, 2021
Fernando Juliani, Otávio José de Oliveira
The public sector is one of the largest employer in most countries and comprises a significant part of the economy in the world (Knies et al. 2018; Huws 2019; Oliveira 2018). The high costs involved in providing public services to customer-citizen make both efficiency and effectiveness essential for the countries’ development (Rodgers and Antony 2019). Frameworks such as New Public Management and Collaborative Public Management, as well as other potential management movements that have emerged over time, have allowed a better understanding on public management context, encouraging privatization, decentralization and outsourcing to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility in the public sector (O’Leary and Vij 2012; Bryson, Crosby, and Bloomberg 2014).