Health financing in fragile and conflict-affected situations: A review of the evidence

Witter, Sophie - ORCID 0000-0002-7656-6188 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7656-6188Bertone, Maria Paola - ORCID 0000-0001-8890-583X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8890-583XReplaced with final published version 2020-04-16WHO has well-developed guidance for health financing policy, which supports progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) and overall health system goals. Central to this is the importance of public finances, and the role of government in using those finances in the best way, to strengthen their health system to maximize progress towards UHC. Fragile and conflict affected settings (FCAS) present a growing challenge for countries trying to make progress towards UHC and improve health. This paper examines the core features of FCAS, including deficits in capacity, legitimacy, and security, and considers their implications for efforts to build resilient health systems. Health financing interventions pursued in FCAS in response to both the challenges and opportunities arising from the different deficits are summarized using the WHO health financing functional approach as the organizing framework. Data analysis shows that FCAS countries have significantly higher out of pocket expenditures, greater external dependency and health-related impoverishment, as well as lower mean government expenditure on health. There are substantial challenges for health financing in FCAS settings but considerable ingenuity has also been shown in addressing them, often driven by external stakeholders. Certain approaches, such as performance-based contracting and funding emerged in FCAS settings out of the need to innovate but leave a longer legacy which is given close consideration. This paper forms provides the background to and informs a second paper which revises and adapts WHO’s health financing guidance in the context of FCAS.Financial support was provided by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (Making Country Health Systems Stronger programme).https://www.who.int/publications-detail/health-financing-policy-in-fragile-conflict-affected-situations/pubpu

Investigation of an intelligent personalised service recommendation system in an IMS based cellular mobile network

Success or failure of future information and communication services in general and mobile communications in particular is greatly dependent on the level of personalisations they can offer. While the provision of anytime, anywhere, anyhow services has been the focus of wireless telecommunications in recent years, personalisation however has gained more and more attention as the unique selling point of mobile devices. Smart phones should be intelligent enough to match user’s unique needs and preferences to provide a truly personalised service tailored for the individual user. In the first part of this thesis, the importance and role of personalisation in future mobile networks is studied. This is followed, by an agent based futuristic user scenario that addresses the provision of rich data services independent of location. Scenario analysis identifies the requirements and challenges to be solved for the realisation of a personalised service. An architecture based on IP Multimedia Subsystem is proposed for mobility and to provide service continuity whilst roaming between two different access standards. Another aspect of personalisation, which is user preference modelling, is investigated in the context of service selection in a multi 3rd party service provider environment. A model is proposed for the automatic acquisition of user preferences to assist in service selection decision-making. User preferences are modelled based on a two-level Bayesian Metanetwork. Personal agents incorporating the proposed model provide answers to preference related queries such as cost, QoS and service provider reputation. This allows users to have their preferences considered automatically

X-33 Flight Operations Center

In response to Clause 17 of the Cooperative Agreement NCC8-115, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has compiled an Annual Performance Report of the X-33/RLV Program. This report consists of individual reports from all industry team members, as well as NASA team centers. Contract award was announced on July 2, 1996 and the first milestone was hand delivered to NASA MSFC on July 17, 1996. With the dedication of the launch site, and continuing excellence in technological achievement, the third year of the Cooperative Agreement has been one of outstanding accomplishment and excitement

Managing water locally: an inquiry into community- based water resources management in fragile states

Water resources in many parts of the world, but particularly in Africa, face multiple pressures. These growing pressures, along with rainfall variability, pose significant risks to water resources and livelihoods. Over the past two decades the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been presented as a panacea, but subscription to this model has not delivered the results expected. Despite a massive endeavour there is extensive evidence that IWRM remains difficult to implement, particularly in fragile states. In contrast, at local level the responsibility of communities to manage water supply systems forms a central component of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector policy. But WASH programmes are focused primarily on the supply of services, and not enough on water resources. Consequently, remarkably little has been written about the role of communities in monitoring and managing water resources. Also, few studies have examined the transitions fragile government institutions need to undertake to move from one (inferior) situation, to a much better one. This study used Action Research (AR) to investigate the role community-based institutions can play in monitoring water resources, alongside government authorities. Initial field research was conducted in Darfur and Niger before further work in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. It found that communities could monitor water resources with high degrees of success; however, continued external support is also required from responsible government institutions. Community-Based Water Resources Management (CBWRM) is considered a realistic and plausible approach for strengthening the water component in WASH programmes. This research argues that in fragile states there is greater potential to develop national water security plans from local- level initiatives. Adopting a “localised” approach is particularly important for countries that face the pervasive obstacles of short rainfall seasons: negligible hydrometeorological monitoring, limited water infrastructure and weak institutions. CBWRM warrants greater attention from the WASH sector and further research is needed to identify how effectively communities can manage water resources and scale up this approach once Water Resource Assessments (WRAs) have been conducted

The University Defence Research Collaboration In Signal Processing

This chapter describes the development of algorithms for automatic detection of anomalies from multi-dimensional, undersampled and incomplete datasets. The challenge in this work is to identify and classify behaviours as normal or abnormal, safe or threatening, from an irregular and often heterogeneous sensor network. Many defence and civilian applications can be modelled as complex networks of interconnected nodes with unknown or uncertain spatio-temporal relations. The behavior of such heterogeneous networks can exhibit dynamic properties, reflecting evolution in both network structure (new nodes appearing and existing nodes disappearing), as well as inter-node relations. The UDRC work has addressed not only the detection of anomalies, but also the identification of their nature and their statistical characteristics. Normal patterns and changes in behavior have been incorporated to provide an acceptable balance between true positive rate, false positive rate, performance and computational cost. Data quality measures have been used to ensure the models of normality are not corrupted by unreliable and ambiguous data. The context for the activity of each node in complex networks offers an even more efficient anomaly detection mechanism. This has allowed the development of efficient approaches which not only detect anomalies but which also go on to classify their behaviour

The University Defence Research Collaboration In Signal Processing: 2013-2018

Signal processing is an enabling technology crucial to all areas of defence and security. It is called for whenever humans and autonomous systems are required to interpret data (i.e. the signal) output from sensors. This leads to the production of the intelligence on which military outcomes depend. Signal processing should be timely, accurate and suited to the decisions to be made. When performed well it is critical, battle-winning and probably the most important weapon which you’ve never heard of. With the plethora of sensors and data sources that are emerging in the future network-enabled battlespace, sensing is becoming ubiquitous. This makes signal processing more complicated but also brings great opportunities. The second phase of the University Defence Research Collaboration in Signal Processing was set up to meet these complex problems head-on while taking advantage of the opportunities. Its unique structure combines two multi-disciplinary academic consortia, in which many researchers can approach different aspects of a problem, with baked-in industrial collaboration enabling early commercial exploitation. This phase of the UDRC will have been running for 5 years by the time it completes in March 2018, with remarkable results. This book aims to present those accomplishments and advances in a style accessible to stakeholders, collaborators and exploiters

Architecture à qualité de service pour systèmes satellites DVB-S/RCS dans un contexte NGN

L'objet de cette thèse est de doter les réseaux satellites d'accès géostationnaires d'une architecture de QoS compatible avec l'infrastructure NGN (Next Generation Network) qui entend réaliser la convergence des réseaux et services de communication existants et à venir. Dans une première étape, nous établissons un modèle de QoS NGN s'inspirant principalement de l'évolution des architectures de QoS dans les réseaux IP. Dans une deuxième étape, nous démontrons que les réseaux satellites ne disposent pas, en l'état actuel, d'une architecture de QoS suffisamment mature pour assurer un accès large bande aux futurs services IP multimédias. Afin d'y remédier, nous spécifions une architecture de QoS NGN unifiée assurant une étroite collaboration entre les mécanismes de QoS déployés à différents niveaux de communication (Application, Session, Réseau et MAC). Elle assure à la fois une différenciation de la QoS adaptée aux besoins des différentes classes d'applications au niveau IP tout en optimisant l'utilisation des ressources satellites via des mécanismes de bande passante à la demande au niveau MAC. Deux solutions applicatives assurant la corrélation dynamique entre les applications et les services réseaux différenciés sont également spécifiées et implémentées. Enfin un émulateur satellite de niveau réseau a été implémenté et nous a permis d'évaluer les garanties de QoS offertes par notre architecture et de valider leur conformité avec les besoins d'applications multimédias réelles. ABSTRACT : This thesis deals with the integration of geostationary access satellite networks in the NGN (Next Generation Network) infrastructure, a global QoS-enabled communication network based on IP. The first part depicts this multiservice ubiquitous infrastructure anchored on a clean separation between a transport/network domain and a service/application domain. Then a unified NGN control and management architecture, mainly inspired by the past and current IP QoS architectures, is proposed. In a second part, starting from this model and through a critical analysis of current DVB-S/RCS satellite systems, we demonstrate that satellite QoS architectures are not mature enough to support broadband access to future multimedia services and to integrate into the emerging NGN infrastructure. In order to cope with these issues, a NGNcompliant QoS architecture for DVB-S/RCS systems is defined. It relies on a cross-layer approach based on a tight interaction between QoS mechanisms available at different communication layers (Application, Session, Network and MAC). It aims at maximizing satellite capacity utilization at different granularity levels through a relevant configuration of DiffServ services using session/application signalling information and the use of optimized bandwidth on demand allocation schemes at the MAC layer. Application solutions (QoS Agent and QoS SIP Proxy) were developed while the satellite network with its associated QoS architecture was implemented through a network emulator. This latter enables us to evaluate the QoS guarantees provided by this architecture and to validate its appropriateness with real multimedia applications needs

Financial intermediation and economic performance in Zimbabwe

Financial literature is replete with theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting financial development has a causal effect on economic growth. Yet there is no consensus on the finance-growth nexus. The direction of causality is still controversial In fact, classical economists argue that financial factors are neutral and hence cannot have real effects. Critics argue the traditional methods of identifying long run economic relationships fail to address the methodological conflict between equilibrium implied by theory and the disequilibria in the data. The rise of new representation techniques such as the General Methods of Moments (GMM) and vector autoregression [VAR] brought with them empirical flexibility, which facilitates the re-examination of several theories. VAR characterization permits the economic system to determine the behavior of macroeconomic variables simultaneously. The endogenous growth theoretical literature gives credibility to system-wide V AR financial models. This research is both critical (in its search for a common framework to inform debate on Zimbabwe) and positive (to the extent it undertakes an empirical investigation.) Empirically, the study examines the nature and intensity of links between financial intermediation and economic performance in a small developing economy. A Vector Autoregressive [VAR] framework is applied to model and estimate the temporal and dynamic relationships between financial aggregates and economic activity. Cointegration among the variables is examined to determine the degree of heterogeneity and coevolution. The general impulse response function [GIRF] and variance decomposition [VDC] analytical techniques are applied to throw light on the speed and direction of the causal links and the persistence of shocks over time. Branches of financial theory, e.g. agency risk, corporate governance and information asymmetry have taught us economic activity does not take place in a vacuum or perfect market. To put this research into perspective, the study critically examines the evolution of Zimbabwean institutional structures in search of a new conceptual framework with potential to inform debate. The works of Levine (1997, 1998) LaPorta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer and Vishny (1997, 1998, 2000), Beck, Levine and Loayza (2000), Kane (1981, 1983, 2000) Jensen and Meckling (1976) and Stiglitz (1989) give considerable prominence to governance and institutional design. Allen and Gale(1994, p10) emphasized that institutional settings underlie the process of financial innovation. In fact, Schumpeter (1954, p12) exalts history, statistics and theory as the three pillars of economic analysis. Stiglitz (1989, p199) agrees that particular localized historical events could have permanent effects. More recently, Beck, Demirgüç-Kunt and Levine (2001) summarized the theory and provided an empirical examination of the links between laws, politics and finance

The 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association Conference: Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment, Conference Proceedings, 23 - 25 November 2022, Western Sydney University, Kingswood Campus, Sydney, Australia

This is the proceedings of the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) conference which will be hosted by Western Sydney University in November 2022. The conference is organised by the School of Engineering, Design, and Built Environment in collaboration with the Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University. This year’s conference theme is “Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment”, and expects to publish over a hundred double-blind peer review papers under the proceedings

Measuring knowledge sharing processes through social network analysis within construction organisations

The construction industry is a knowledge intensive and information dependent industry. Organisations risk losing valuable knowledge, when the employees leave them. Therefore, construction organisations need to nurture opportunities to disseminate knowledge through strengthening knowledge-sharing networks. This study aimed at evaluating the formal and informal knowledge sharing methods in social networks within Australian construction organisations and identifying how knowledge sharing could be improved. Data were collected from two estimating teams in two case studies. The collected data through semi-structured interviews were analysed using UCINET, a Social Network Analysis (SNA) tool, and SNA measures. The findings revealed that one case study consisted of influencers, while the other demonstrated an optimal knowledge sharing structure in both formal and informal knowledge sharing methods. Social networks could vary based on the organisation as well as the individuals’ behaviour. Identifying networks with specific issues and taking steps to strengthen networks will enable to achieve optimum knowledge sharing processes. This research offers knowledge sharing good practices for construction organisations to optimise their knowledge sharing processes