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This chapter analyzes the link between the digital divide, infrastructure regulation, and disaster planning and relief through a case study of the flood in San Jose, California triggered by the Anderson dam’s overtopping in February 2017 and an examination of communication failures during the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California. This chapter theorizes that regulatory decisions construct social and disaster vulnerability. Rooted in the Whole Community approach to disaster planning and relief espoused by the United Nations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this chapter calls for leadership to end the digital divide. It highlights the imperative of understanding community information needs and argues for linking strategies to close the digital divide with infrastructure and emergency planning. As the Internet’s integration into society increases, the digital divide diminishes access to societal resources including disaster aid, and exacerbates wildfire, flood, pandemic, and other risks. To mitigate climate change, climate-induced disaster, protect access to social services and the economy, and safeguard democracy, it argues for digital inclusion strategies as a centerpiece of community-centered infrastructure regulation and disaster relief.

Introduction: Decision making is always based on several factors which may affect the possible outcomes, especially in financial markets. Instead of having many criteria which may be required for decision making, “Multiple Criteria Decision Making” (MCDM) models might be used as a tool to reduce all criteria into a single one.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to measure the financial performance of commercial banks listed on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) by the MCDM.

Method: To this end, data from 15 different financial ratios from 11 commercial banks were used between the periods of 2002 and 2018. Both TOPSIS and gray relational analysis (GRA) models were used, which are commonly used in the literature for detecting the financial performance of listed banks in BIST based on their consolidated financial statements.

Results: According to the TOPSIS method, while the best bank is QNB Finansbank, HALKB, a public bank, was determined as the best bank using the GRA method. There is no significant correlation between financial performance indicators and market returns obtained by either method, with exceptions. There is no generally significant correlation detected between financial ratios and market returns. Accordingly, it is concluded that the bank stock prices in the study are shaped by the influence of external factors and expectations. The study results include information that can be used for different purposes among bank managers, academics and financial investors.

This chapter investigates the social determinants (urbanisation, population, literacy and corruption) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the top 100 developed and developing emitting countries. The data were collected from central repositories for the different variables explored for the period 2012–2020 in a cross-country analysis. Fixed effects ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to analyse the data. The results for all top 100 countries and developing countries show that urbanisation and corruption are significantly positive and negative determinants of GHG emissions, respectively. In addition, literacy is a significant positive determinant of GHG emissions in developing countries but not in the top 100 and developed countries. Population is not significant in the top 100 developed and developing countries. The results for the control variables suggest that primary energy consumption is a positive significant determinant of GHG emissions in the top 100 developed and developing countries. However, gross domestic product (GDP) is not a significant determinant of GHG emissions. The findings have important policy implications.

This study focuses on examining the impact of energy consumption, economic structure, population, and manufacturing output on the CO₂ emissions of selected emerging countries by utilizing the Structural Time Series Model (STSM). Based on the annual data ranging from 1970 to 2019, the model is built up using total primary energy consumption, GDP per capita, population and manufacturing value-added, and, finally, a stochastic Underlying Emission Trend as explanatory variables. STSM is extended by the introduction of the notion of Underlying Energy Demand Trend (UEDT) as a factor for exogenous effects, including development in technical progress, energy efficiency improvements, changes in human behaviors, economy, and environmental regulations. In this context, STSM and the notion of UEDT are implemented to form a forecasting model for CO₂ emissions of the selected emerging countries. The model discovers the significant influences of all selected variables of CO₂ emissions. The results suggest that the most forceful factor in CO₂ emissions is the total primary energy supply. Furthermore, while the long-term impact of economic growth on CO₂ emissions is negative for some emerging economies, it is positive for several others. The model also measures the long-term manufacturing value-added elasticity of CO₂ emissions in these emerging economies.

The major objective of this study is to inspect the differences in the effect of derivatives on the stability between banks from emerging countries and those from recently developed countries.

According to the repercussions of the recent financial crisis, we divide the whole period into normal period “the pre-crisis period,” 2003–2006, and turbulent period “the crisis & post-crisis period,” 2007–2011. We use the Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) estimator technique developed by Blundell and Bond (1998) to estimate our regressions.

Our main conclusions show that, in general, using derivatives by banks from emerging countries deteriorates their stability especially during the turbulent period, whereas, using derivatives do not weaken the stability of banks from recently developed countries. We deduce that banks from emerging countries are more destabilized by using derivatives than banks from recently developed countries.

Turkey hosts around three million Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers, more than any other country in the world. Most of the Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers face poverty-related barriers to education, with parents unable to legally work or meet associated costs, or feeling they have no option but to send their children to work rather than school. According to a UNICEF report (January, 2017), even though there is a 50% increase in school attendance for Syrian refugee children in Turkey since June 2016, more than 40% of them (around 390,000) are still not receiving an education. One of the biggest challenges for the Syrian refugee children who are able to go to school in Turkey is the language barrier. The language of instruction in Turkish public schools is Turkish while majority of the Syrian refugee children grew up learning and speaking Arabic. Furthermore, the refugee children often encounter experiences of discrimination, exclusion and marginalization from the non-refugee peers and teachers who cannot recognize and meet the diverse needs of these children with their lack of teaching experience in the culturally diverse classrooms. This narrative research examines the lived experiences of Syrian refugee children attending a Temporary Education Centre (TEC) in a city located in the north-west of Turkey. Narrative research is a way of inquiring into individual and social dimensions of experience over time through storytelling. It is often employed to illuminate the experiences of marginalized or excluded individuals and communities. Given the influx of refugee children in TECs and schools in Turkey, it is important to provide an in-depth understanding of the refugee children’s lived reality in schools and centres particularly, the factors contributing to their academic success, resilience and psychological well-being, so that future studies will have a basis for further investigations of newcomers.

Today, with the introduction of concepts such as big data, social media, corporate social responsibility and e-commerce have become part of our lives, thus the transition to Marketing 4.0 is accelerating. One of the most vital activities that affect consumers’ purchasing decisions is e-commerce. E-commerce plays a decisive role in purchasing stages and processes. For this reason, e-commerce has become an issue that increases the importance of individuals in the purchasing process and decision every day and needs to be emphasized. In line with all this, the concepts of digital marketing and e-commerce will be handled in a broad framework in this study. Moreover, the digitalization of e-commerce sites will be held in the review of literature beside the environment and techniques that can be used within the scope of digital marketing. New approaches and trends that guide modern marketing are changing day by day. The main reason for this change is based on the rapid transformation in information and communication technologies. For this reason, it is important for marketing managers to adapt to these transformations and to use media and techniques in digital marketing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become threatening for economies, causing recession and increased unemployment rates. Many employees in the sectors affected by the crisis face the risks of losing their jobs, getting on unpaid leave, and decreasing their weekly working hours. Various governments including the Turkish government have started struggling with unemployment and embraced macro level measures including support for SMEs, wage subsidies, and new working models. At the micro level, implementation of flexible working methods has been encouraged and has increased with respect to scope and scale. Both governments and companies tried their best to ensure business continuity and prevent unemployment. Actually, business continuity has gained great importance for ensuring sustainability and minimizing the effects of the pandemic. However, previous studies have revealed that approximately 25% of companies all over the world have a continuity plan. This chapter aims to examine the effects of the pandemic and macro level and micro level measures taken by Turkish authorities to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on employment rates and business continuity, thus providing insight into crisis management through a real experience. This study also attempts to explain how Turkish authorities can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through pandemic measures and teleworking.