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Value Research Center (VRC) publishes August White Paper: The VRC Value Model & EFRAG

KYOTO, Japan, Sep 6, 2022 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Companies and sustainability teams need a new model for measuring and managing stakeholder impacts, as claims of corporate greenwashing and value washing increase daily. The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan has announced the publication of its 2022 August White Paper, focusing on the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG's) latest disclosure drafts for sustainability reporting, and how this model aligns with and deepens the overall quality of the VRC Value Model.The Value Research Center (VRC) publishes 2022 August White Paper: The Value Model & EFRAGAccording to Professor Philip Sugai, Director of the Value Research Center, "After integrating EFRAG's 114 draft disclosure requirements into the VRC Value Model, we were impressed with the scope of EFRAG's coverage of many of the Value Model's stakeholders, themes and goals. Especially with their push for companies to document their impacts using 'double materiality', we see a shift towards greater understanding of business decisions on individual stakeholder groups."SAP Japan International Ambassador Paul Beddie said, "The VRC In Kyoto has been working to organize the world's top ESG and Sustainability Reporting frameworks into a goal-based, value creation model that will help companies to create value across their key stakeholders. Companies around the world are in desperate need of a way to consolidate the alphabet soup of standards to reduce their workload on ESG reporting and focus more on the critical ESG outcomes they transformed their businesses to achieve. "The VRC's Value Model is a very effective tool for doing just that. The additional integration of the draft reporting standards from EFRAG should also help companies doing business in the EU to align their disclosures with the EU Taxonomy."With the publication of the August White Paper, the VRC will begin to collaborate with several of the world's leading companies in adopting the VRC Value Model, applying it to their own ESG and sustainability reporting requirements, and creating forward-looking sustainability strategies rather than backwards-focused disclosures.Professor Sugai will be hosting a session at the UNGA77 Science Summit, where he will discuss the VRC Value Model and its broader practical applications, together with a panel of experts from academia, government, and business.The UNGA77 Science Summit session, "Valuing Value: How any Organization Can Measure Stakeholder Value and "Ethical Capitalism" (https://ssunga77.sched.com/event/1AWkD), will be held on Sept 26 from 9:00 to 11:30 AM EST. Registration for the complete UNGA77 Science Summit is free and available at https://ssunga77.sched.com/tickets.The "2022 August White Paper: The Value Model & EFRAG" is available for download at the Value Research Center website: www.valueresearchcenter.com/publications.For more information about the Value Research Center and its projects, please visit: www.valueresearchcenter.com, or email Professor Philip Sugai at: info@valueresearchcenter.com .About the Value Research CenterThe Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan was established in November 2021. Its mission: to develop a practical system for organizations to measure, monitor, assess and report on the impacts that they have on various stakeholder groups.The VRC continues to enhance its Value Model, integrating new frameworks as they're introduced, bringing greater transparency, objectivity and measurability to value creation - in ways we didn't see. The VRC Value Model gives government and industry eyes to see the impacts they're actually having, to fix what's broken, and enhance what they're doing well. For more information, visit www.valueresearchcenter.com. Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. (via SEAPRWire)

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PSLE candidates in quarantine need to inform school by 12pm, take daily ARTs at 6pm

SINGAPORE - Quarantined pupils who wish to take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) this year will need to inform the school by 12pm on the day they receive a quarantine order. They will also need to complete a daily antigen rapid test (ART) at 6pm on the day before each paper. These were among more detailed rules provided in a circular issued by the Ministry of Education (MOE) ahead of the first PSLE written paper on Thursday (Sept 30). On Sunday, the ministry and the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board announced new rules allowing quarantined students and those on approved absence to sit their national examinations. It said then that those on quarantine have to test negative for Covid-19 with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at the start of the quarantine order, and complete a self-swab with ART kits at home and test negative within 24 hours before each examination paper. The circular on Tuesday added that quarantined pupils must wait at home for Certis officers to arrive to administer their entry PCR test. The circular noted that a PCR test takes at least 24 hours to be processed such that the earliest a child will be able to sit the PSLE exam is two days after the day of notification. This means that if a paper is scheduled the day after pupils receive a quarantine order, they will not be able to sit the specific paper but can apply for special consideration through the school. Under special consideration, a candidate will be awarded a projected grade for a particular paper that takes into consideration multiple sources of data, such as the candidate's performance in other papers for that subject and the school cohort's performance in national and school-based exams. The Certis officer will also provide ART kits for candidates to conduct daily ARTs while waiting for their entry PCR test results, said the circular. They will be notified about these results via online portal and app HealthHub or SMS. If the entry PCR test is negative, a child has to take an ART that evening before the paper and photograph the negative ART result. On the day of the paper, the circular said that a pupil will need to show the negative PCR test and a photograph of the ART result to sit the PSLE paper. He has to continue doing ARTs the day before his remaining papers. More on this topic   Related Story Students in quarantine or on approved Covid-19 absence may still take national exams: MOE   Related Story Parents welcome move to allow students in quarantine to take national exams The circular added that quarantined parents may accompany their child to school after satisfying the same requirements. It reiterated that candidates have to travel directly to the exam venue by private transport or on foot, with no stops in between. Those who are positive for Covid-19 or on stay-home notice are still not allowed to sit exams this year. More on this topic   Related Story Parents anxious over rise in Covid-19 cases among children but attendance normal at pre-schools, tuition centres   Related Story What to do if you have tested positive for Covid-19: 10 important steps

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Anti-discrimination laws, allowing egg freezing among recommendations in PAP paper on women’s issues

SINGAPORE - The People's Action Party's (PAP) women's wing and youth wing have called for workplace anti-discrimination laws and full flexibility for couples to share parental leave. Women should also be allowed to freeze their eggs for non-medical reasons, the PAP team said in a joint paper released on Thursday (July 29). The joint paper, which sets out a total of 12 recommendations aimed at improving women's development in Singapore, comes after the Government announced last September that it was embarking on a comprehensive review of issues related to women and gender equality. The review will culminate in an upcoming White Paper that will be introduced in Parliament later this year. In putting together the joint paper, the PAP team conducted dialogue sessions with about 1,500 people who raised issues facing women in schools, workplaces and at home. The recommendations will be submitted to the Government for its consideration in drafting the White Paper. Give women more options to balance careers with other obligations The paper noted that existing frameworks, such as those under the Employment Act, offer women some protection against discriminatory actions like being dismissed without cause while pregnant. But it said more needs to be done to further reduce workplace discrimination, such as legislating the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices to allow for stronger enforcement of these practices. The paper also recommended scaling up movements like SG Women in Tech to encourage girls and young women to enter and progress in growth sectors. It added that the Government, organisations and employers should work together to develop support packages and networks for women who wish to re-enter the workforce and rebuild their careers after taking a break to care for their children. Promote more equal sharing of caregiving responsibilities The paper recommended several ways to shift the burden of caregiving in a more equitable direction while bolstering support for caregivers. The cap on the number of days of maternity leave that can be converted to paternity leave should be removed, the paper said, adding that this will give couples the freedom to decide which parent is best suited to caring for their young children. More financial support should be given to those caring for seniors. The paper recommended boosting the existing Home Caregiving Grant and creating a new scheme to help caregivers receiving the grant with their own retirement needs. Under the proposed scheme, the Government would match funds contributed by families to the Central Provident Fund account of the family member performing full-time caregiver duties. More on this topic   Related Story Dilemma of social egg freezing for women in Singapore   Related Story Allow healthy S'porean women aged 40 and below to freeze their eggs here, says MP The paper also said steps should be taken to organise voluntary respite care services, raise awareness of existing support programmes and enhance long-term home-based care options for seniors. Change mindsets on gender norms The paper identified existing stereotypes and norms as some of the barriers to achieving greater fairness and equal respect between genders. For schools, it recommended that the Ministry of Education conduct timely and regular updates to its sexual education curriculum to respond to current issues and trends, especially for secondary schools. Schools should also create safe spaces for students to ask sex-related questions, it added, and steps should also be taken to equip parents with the knowledge and skills to have such conversations with their children at home. For workplaces, the paper said there should be a tripartite effort to promote open and safe reporting of harassment as well as a zero-tolerance approach. The paper also noted that some Singaporean women are going overseas to have their eggs frozen for non-medical reasons, which is currently banned here. It recommended that such procedures be allowed, but with a regulatory framework and conditions in place. Other recommendations included creating a national reproductive health screening programme to help married couples make decisions and plans on starting families, as well as a network to help single mothers access support and resources. More on this topic   Related Story Modules on respect and appropriate behaviour part of curriculum in university and schools: Sun Xueling   Related Story Aware calls for enhanced laws on workplace discrimination, harassment in Singapore

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DOCOMO Releases White Paper on 5G Open RAN Ecosystem

TOKYO, Jun 28, 2021 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that it has released a white paper on the 5G Open RAN Ecosystem that will support the construction of flexible networks capable of leveraging 5G wireless communication to meet the diverse needs of operators and related companies.DOCOMO, which aims to commercialize highly flexible and scalable virtualized RAN (vRAN) in 2022, is collaborating with 12 partners toward verifying vRAN performance and providing Open RAN to telecommunications carriers worldwide.The white paper explains the aims and benefits of the Open RAN Ecosystem and introduces examples of envisioned applications based on DOCOMO's unique perspective as the world's first company to operate a 5G Open RAN.The paper addresses the challenges of deploying Open RAN, especially vRAN, such as the difficulty of flexibly combining base stations and software of various different vendors. Since this would require verification entailing significant time and cost, the new ecosystem would provide a highly useful lab that global operators could use remotely and freely to verify vRAN performance.Another key to realizing the expanded use of Open RAN will be the deployment of vRAN on general-purpose servers, which currently presents problems in terms of system performance. The white paper discusses target performance indicators for Open RAN, such as tripling both transmission speed and the number of cells compared with current vRAN performance, and reducing power consumption by at least half.Going forward, DOCOMO will continue to work with Open RAN Ecosystem partners and other stakeholders to promote the further development of the ecosystem as well as related technologies and know-how for the early adoption of Open RAN and vRAN.About NTT DOCOMONTT DOCOMO, Japan's leading mobile operator with over 82 million subscriptions, is one of the world's foremost contributors to 3G, 4G and 5G mobile network technologies. Beyond core communications services, DOCOMO is challenging new frontiers in collaboration with a growing number of entities ("+d" partners), creating exciting and convenient value-added services that change the way people live and work. Under a medium-term plan toward 2020 and beyond, DOCOMO is pioneering a leading-edge 5G network to facilitate innovative services that will amaze and inspire customers beyond their expectations. https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/. Copyright 2021 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. (via SEAPRWire)

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