Book Review: Richard Allen, Richard Hemming and Barry H. Potter (Editors), 2013. The International

This volume presents a comprehensive series of readings on the topics of public financial management (PFM) and fiscal policy. Most of these readings have drawn upon the specific experience of the contributors as PFM practitioners, academics and consultants working in both developed and developing countries. The resulting book demonstrates that while PFM has come a long way since the publications by ADB of ‘Managing Government Expenditure’ by Salvatore Schiavo-Campo and Daniel Tommasi in April 1999; by IMF of ‘Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management’ by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond in 1999; and by OECD of ‘Managing Public Expenditure: A Reference Book for Transition Countries’ edited by Richard Allen and Daniel Tommasi in 2001, there is still a long way to go

The legal position of LGBT persons and same-sex couples in Cyprus

Historically, Cyprus was greatly lagging behind other European countries in the recognition and protection of the rights of LGBT persons and same-sex couples. However, from the 1990s, when male-to-male consensual sex was decriminalised, to 2015 when (same-sex and opposite-sex) civil partnerships were introduced, Cyprus has gone a long way – legally – in the recognition of same-sex relationships and the protection of the rights of LGB persons, although, admittedly, some important gaps still persist. As regards trans persons, things are not equally encouraging, as the legal system – still – makes no systematic provision for them. The aim of this article is to take stock of the protection and rights that LGBT persons and same-sex couples have come to enjoy under the Cypriot legal system. It will also seek to highlight the gaps that still remain in the protection that Cyprus offers to LGBT persons and same-sex couples and to briefly suggest ways for filling these gaps. It will be concluded that although some important steps in the right direction have been made, especially in recent years, there is still a long way to go for achieving complete equality under the law between LGBT persons and their heterosexual and cisgender brothers and sisters

Design Proposal for a Portable Elbow Exoskeleton

Exoskeleton based rehabilitation for post-stroke recovery is being aggressively pursued due to unavailability of adequate number of caregivers and huge investment for the manual treatment [1]. The structural framework for providing different training exercises is not similar for all exoskeletons and there is no standardized protocol for rehabilitation following stroke [2]. Various approaches have been undertaken to come up with customized exoskeleton design for implementing a specific type of exercise. Though a few exoskeletons have proved to be beneficial in terms of clinical outcomes, there is still a long way to go before a useful rehabilitation device becomes acceptable to the users. After reviewing the 46 exoskeletons (commercial or prototypes) [3], two key requirements can be considered for the design of an exoskeleton; the structural parameter which decides the size, weight and the ease of control and the other is the nature of rehabilitation therapy which defines the type and intensity of the exercises performed during training

A Guide to the Pomona College Organic Farm: An Introduction to the Farm’s History and Basic Gardening Skills and Techniques

It was almost four years ago when I first visited the Pomona College Organic Farm and since then I have learned everything from the basics of gardening to the complex steps required to organize students for events and activities. As I learned more and saw so many students come and go, I saw a need for written documentation that would allow future generations of students to benefit from the skills that my peers and I have learned in our time at the Farm. The value of the Farm is grounded in having a vibrant physical space, and right now the knowledge to maintain and improve this space is only passed down from person to person. I hope to eventually combine the disparate bits of knowledge that I have accumulated over the years into a single guidebook. This thesis project, which is the first major section of that guidebook, covers the Farm’s history and basic technical skills like soil preparation, planting, plant maintenance, weeding, pest control, and tool use. This is a living document and will be constantly updated as the Farm changes and grows and as new information comes to light. Although the Farm has come a long way over the years, it still has a lot of unrealized potential, and I hope that this document both facilitates and records the great changes that are soon to come

The wandering mind and performance routines in golf

The past decade of research has brought about new understandings in the study of pre-shot routines, with multiple researchers advancing the field of knowledge surrounding the usage of pre-shot routines as a performance enhancement mechanism. Across golfers of novice to expert skill-levels, the results of peer-reviewed studies have clearly presented the potential benefits of incorporating pre-shot routines for all golfers in improving their play. However, with the current state of research serving as an indicator as to how far we have come in our learning of pre-shot routines in golf, researchers and practitioners in the field understand that there is still a long way to go in expanding our knowledge base on pre-shot routines and their role in the golf performance spectrum. The paper reviews the concept of the wandering mind, attentional control theory, performance routines in general, and more specifically, pre-shot routines in golf

Letter Written by Katherine Trickey to Her Folks Dated January 20, 1944

WAC Det , IRTC Camp Wheeler,Georgia Thurs. 20 January 1944 Dear Folks, I have a different job this week. I am typing up lists of the men in the different companies who have to take physical examinations and typing names on the individual physical examination check lists. Just plain typing and not at all interesting-- I\u27m still hoping I\u27ll be put on something more difficult eventually. I do keep busier here than on the other job however which is better. Monday night I washed.clothes and wrote letters and read the first book I\u27ve read since I came in the Army ! We were all restricted to the barracks because the inspection had been so bad and I\u27m afraid it was no punishment at all. Everyone even the girls who had to give up dates seemed to have the best time hanging around getting all those odd jobs done that seem to pile up on one. I had K.P. Tuesday so did not go to the office. It was plenty hard and I was tired when I got through at 8.30 that evening. We did have a two hour break in the afternoon and I fell on the bed and slept the whole two hours. Yesterday we got out of work at 3.30 and went back to the barracks for a physical examination (We get one once a month) It didn\u27t take very long and we had an hour before supper to rest. I had intended to stay in and write you last night but found that Ali Baba and the Forty Theives was showing et the Movies and I couldn\u27t resist going to it. It was very good and colorful I enjoyed it. We are getting more and more girls in until now we have almost two hundred instead of the forty or fifty when we came. However we don\u27t see much of them except at mess because our barracks was full and they all are in other barracks.They are mostly Station Complement Girls so do not work in our office or go back and forth in our bus. I had planned to go to town tonight and have my hair washed and waved but I am fire girl tonight so will have to stay home and tend them. I shall go tomorrow night because I need to badly. There is no place at the Camp yet although plans are being made for us to have a beauty parlor in a room in the same building as our day room. By the way before l forget it, Dad, you\u27d better send me a registration blank for the car fairly soon so that I\u27ll have time to sign it and get it back to you before you need it. Are you taking care of the inspections as they come all? We\u27re getting settled now so that it doesn\u27t seem so new and starnge.[strange] There is plenty to do so that there isn\u27t much time to be homesick and lonesome. We are starting bowling and basketball teams and we\u27ll have softball also as it gets warmer.The weather is better this week.It hasn\u27t rained at all and has been warm enough to go without a top coat in the day­time. Seems good. I must stop now as I think I can find some work to do and I\u27d better do it I suppose although the boys say we haven\u27t anywhere near enough to keep us busy through Saturday. This work is laid out by the week and the week\u27s work is practically done now. I got the paper you sent yesterday.Please send them often as I usually see things that you wouldn\u27t notice or know that I would be interested in them.Thanks. Loads of love to All . Ka

Boys and Brokeback: American Attitudes towards Gays

Movies, like television, literature and music, reflect a society’s standards, values, trends, and anxieties. The wave of alien invasion movies of the 1950s (Attack of the Flying Saucers, The Atomic Submarine, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and more) revealed the American psychological paranoia of the Cold War, just as numerous movies of the late 1970s/1980s that dwelt on Vietnam (Apocalypse Now, Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, etc.) demonstrated a collective attempt to come to psychological grips with the loss of that war. As standards shift movies can become embarrassing reminders of past social norms that make contemporary viewers justifiably uneasy: Witness Kate Smith singing “Pickaninny Heaven” to children of color in the 1933 movie Hello, Everybody! Contrast this with a movie produced decades later like Crash (2005), which attempts to address racism in 21st century America. As American society changes, movies are the lenses through which we see our altered values. Movies give us the opportunity to see ourselves as we were, as we are, and in some cases as we would like to be, but always through the prism of the values existing at the time the movie is made. In the Hollywood mirror LGBT people have been depicted as something to be laughed at (Wanderer of the West, a parody of a western in which the “sissy” was the joke), or pitied (The Children’s Hour), or feared (Cruising)(Russo, 1989). Only recently have mainstream movies begun to depict LGBT people as simply people (ex. Silkwood’s character of Dolly Pellicker as played by Cher). When we consider two landmark movies that depict gay men, 1970’s Boys in the Band and 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, we can see evidence of how American society has progressed – to a degree - in acceptance of LGBT people. To quote a deplorable cigarette company ad, “You’ve come a long way baby,” but our culture still has a long way to go

Developing a Website for Hamilton Brothers Ranch

The purpose of this project is to develop a website for Hamilton Brother’s Ranch purpose is to evolve Hamilton Brother’s Ranch to modern times and make it easier for the customer to see where their product is coming from. The Hamilton Family has a long history in agriculture and what they think is normal is actually very unique and consumers love reading and feeling as if they are a part of where their food comes from. The overall goal of the project is to promote Hamilton Brother’s operation as a whole through a website that will be able to connect the consumer the products they consume. Growing up on her family’s ranch distilled a passion for agriculture at a young age for the author. She would go to work with her father and come home to do art projects with her mother. The author’s parents have been an influence in so many ways throughout her life and she treasures they engrained a mutual passion for art and agriculture. The author always wanted to mix the two passions together in a way she could promote agriculture but still add a creative twist to the more traditional agriculture world. Keeping the ranch running for years and years to come is the author’s ultimate goal in life. To obtain her goal she’s aware the ranch must evolve as a company with the changing times. A website gives people a way to reach out to the Hamilton Brothers and help respond to the hundreds of calls and emails the author’s family currently fields on their personal phones. Providing information differently can actually enable the family to pursue their ranch work with greater ease and focus as the communication for the ranch improves through the website

UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER IN ARDABIL,NORTH-WEST OF IRAN: A REVIEW

Introduction: Cancer is a serious health problem worldwide, imposing a large economical and psychological burden as well as loss of life and productivity.1 Lots of effort and money have been put in the fields of clinical, epidemiological, pharmacological, and biological research on cancer in the recent decades. Although we have witnessed dramatic progress in the field, but still there is a long way to go. Cancer is the third most common cause of death in Iran, accounting for 14% of the total death toll.2 It stands just after cardiovascular events and accidents (46% and 17% of the total death toll respectively, Table 1) according to the latest census of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (IMHME). Overall, gastrointestinal (GI) cancers cause about half of all cancer deaths in Iran. Of the 17,450 GI cancers recorded in the IMHME report, 7,560 (43.3%) were gastric cancers.2 In other words, of every 100 people dying of cancer in Iran, 22 die of gastric cancer, and six from esophageal cancer. Unfortunately, both of these cancers come to medical attention when they are rather advanced and limited or no effective therapies are available for them. Theoretically, these cancers may be treatable in their early stage; therefore, finding them at the earliest possible stage may subject them to effective therapy. Other nations, such as the Japanese, have managed to decrease the toll of gastric cancer by effective screening programs and timely intervention.3 Therefore, if we are to plan meaningfully to combat this still deadly disease we should have accurate information about the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of various cancers, especially the upper GI cancers in Iran. Earlier reports indicated that Ardabil, in North-West of Iran, had a rather high incidence of upper GI cancers. 4 – 8 In their 1973 report, Mahboubi et al reported that about 64% of all cancer deaths in Ardabil are due to esophageal and gastric cancers (56% esophagus and 8% stomach).4 This background and the availability of facilities of a collaborating local medical university and easy means of air travel to the area made Ardabil an appropriate place for epidemiological and clinical cancer studies in the past few years. This review focuses on the background and recent studies done in the region as a model of cancer research in Ira

Addressing and Educating Northwestern Students on White Privilege and Systemic Racism

Systemic racism has been a part of American Culture for hundreds of generations, and while the United States has come a long way since the 17th century, there is still an overwhelming number of racial injustices happening today which go unaddressed. Due to a lack of diverse education, common misconceptions regarding white privilege, systemic racism, and racial injustice are taken as truth. To address these misconceptions and educate individuals, the organizers of this project researched, collaborated, and then hosted a Racial Injustice Prayer Vigil at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. This Racial Injustice Prayer Vigil had six different stations: Identity, Colorblindness, Prayer, Lament, Information, and Celebration. The purpose of the prayer vigil was to educate Northwestern Students on White Privilege, Systemic Racism, and Racial Injustice, and to have them self-reflect on their own identities. The overall goal of the project was to allow for more informed, meaningful conversations regarding diversity and racial injustice on campus as a way to combat negative misconceptions and promote social change. At the end of the prayer vigil, visitors were asked to fill out a survey with a list of questions regarding their experience. The organizers received primarily positive feedback, with the only critical feedback being more advertising, longer portion of time, and more flow from station to station. Apparent growth was also found in Appendix B which showed an increase in levels before and after the event in regard to their comfortability level participating in racial conversations