Host Country Systems and Harmonizing Donor Audit Requirements: A Case Study of Ghana

In 2011 the author was commissioned to review current financial audit practices of the Government of Ghana (GoG) and twelve development partners (DPs) that relate to the provision of bilateral and multilateral assistance to the GoG and its constituent entities (including Ministries, Districts and Assemblies – MDAs). The report was commissioned by the Ghana Audit Working Group (AWG), a sub-group of the Ghana Public Financial Management Working Group (a body that brings together the GoG and DPs) and was paid for by USAID. The purpose of the study is to analyze the various audit scopes of work (or terms of reference), criteria and requirements used by DPs and the Ghana Audit Service (GAS), extrapolate common standards, and develop consensus around commonalities within the audit process. This paper summarizes the findings of this research, making the findings available to a wider audience. This case study will be relevant to anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of efforts at donor harmonization, use of host country systems and public policy relevant to development assistance

From Spaghetti Bowl to Jigsaw Puzzle? Addressing the Disarray in the World Trade System

The rise of mega-regionals such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) suggests that the world trade system is fragmenting to the point it appears more like a jigsaw puzzle than a spaghetti bowl. There are both regional and global jigsaw puzzles to be solved—in that order—to clean up the world trade system. But is this even likely? The difficulties of free trade agreement (FTA) consolidation at the regional level are well known, while piecing together the blocs around the world to form a coherent whole is even more challenging. In this context, a way forward is to return to the most widely used modality of trade liberalization—unilateral actions—but this time involving the multilateralization of preferences rather than unreciprocated reductions in tariff rates. As more and more FTAs are negotiated, preference erosion sets in, reducing the resistance of FTA partners to multilateralization. Multilateralization of preferences may then present a practical way forward in addressing the disarray in the world trade system

Interdisciplinary Educational Technology based on the Concept of Human Brain Functional Asymmetry

The main aspects of interdisciplinary technology of educational process based on the concept of functional asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres, which reflect space-time asymmetry of the Universe and constitute a certain psychophysiological focus of human organism, are presented in the article. Its urgency stems from the global tendencies, evolving towards the information society (or the "society of knowledge") and influencing the development of education, becoming increasingly multimedia-rich and psychologised. The authors consider the major peculiarities of cognitive strategies of brain’s hemispheres, which should be taken into account in educational process with a wide use of multimedia means when teaching different academic disciplines. It is shown that training materials offered to the students can be differentiated by the right (abstract and verbal) and left (concrete and graphic) video sequences, which corresponds to hemispheric information processing strategies and promotes the synergetic state of synchronization of the hemispheres functions. Meanwhile, the encephalographic studies show that such functional synchronization, revealing the specific state of human brain, presupposes the integration of two information processing strategies, leading to harmonization of the processes of the first and second signalling systems. The algorithms of the most effective influence of multimedia presentations of teaching materials on a student based on the concept of functional asymmetry of human brain have been substantiated. These algorithms provide for combining the "left" and "right" information in such a way that the volumes of two types of information would form a harmonious (golden) proportion

HbbTV-compliant Platform for Hybrid Media Delivery and Synchronization on Single- and Multi-Device Scenarios

[EN] The combination of broadcast and broadband (hybrid) technologies for delivering TV related media contents can bring fascinating opportunities. It is motivated by the large amount and diversity of media contents, together with the ubiquity and multiple connectivity capabilities of modern consumption devices. This paper presents an end-to-end platform for the preparation, delivery, and synchronized consumption of related hybrid (broadcast/broadband) media contents on a single device and/or on multiple close-by devices (i.e., a multi-device scenario). It is compatible with the latest version of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) standard (version 2.0.1). Additionally, it provides adaptive and efficient solutions for key issues not specified in that standard, but that are necessary to successfully deploy hybrid and multidevice media services. Moreover, apart from MPEG-DASH and HTML5, which are the broadband technologies adopted by HbbTV, the platform also provides support for using HTTP Live Streaming and Real-time Transport Protocol and its companion RTP Control Protocol broadband technologies. The presented platform can provide support for many hybrid media services. In this paper, in order to evaluate it, the use case of multi-device and multi-view TV service has been selected. The results of both objective and subjective assessments have been very satisfactory, in terms of performance (stability, smooth playout, delays, and sync accuracy), usability of the platform, usefulness of its functionalities, and the awaken interest in these kinds of platforms.This work was supported in part by the "Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional" and in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through R&D&I Support Program under Grant TEC2013-45492-R.Boronat, F.; Marfil-Reguero, D.; Montagud, M.; Pastor Castillo, FJ. (2017). HbbTV-compliant Platform for Hybrid Media Delivery and Synchronization on Single- and Multi-Device Scenarios. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBC.2017.2781124S12

Toward the Inter-organizational Product Information Supply Chain – Evidence from the Retail and Consumer Goods Industries

Since the 1980s, the retail and consumer goods industries have been making very extensive use of EDI-based data exchange and subsequently developed the vision of Efficient Consumer Response (ECR). In the meantime, a growing number of studies report that poor data quali¬ty, in particular out¬dated or wrong product information, negatively impacts demand and supply chain performance. Whereas prior literature intensively studied the positive effects of information sharing on the coordination of supply and demand, this research is aimed at establishing a basis for understanding the phenomena of the underlying inter-organizational product information supply chain. Using coordination theory as an overarching framework, the main research contribution is a set of dependencies, coordination problems, and coordination mechanisms that characterize the product information supply chain. From an analysis of two retailer-manufacturer relationships, we conclude that flow and sharing dependencies evolve into reciprocal dependencies as the intensity of demand and supply collaboration increases. We also find that industry standards ?notably Global Data Synchronization (GDS) ?do not yet fully cover the inter-organizational coordination requirements that result from the identified set of sharing and flow dependencies

The Impact of Mindfulness On Balance, Cognition and Arousal

The control group study investigated the impact of a mindfulness centering technique, taken from the Japanese martial art Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, on balance and reaction time performance as well as on concurrent levels of galvanic skin response (arousal). Study design and analysis occurred within a social neuroscience framework that included the cultural view of mind, body, and emotion as an integrated whole, and brain research from multiple disciplines revealing the neural integrated organism. Thirty-one subjects were tested in a visual-stimulus reaction time task and in an unstable rocker-board balancing task. Prior to repeating the tests, experimental group participants learned the centering technique and control group participants received a brief lecture. Significant improvement for the experimental group over the control group was limited to one balance measure. Results in general indicated a possible trend to improved balance performance with centering. Arousal level correlated significantly with performance and task type for the entire sample. In light of ongoing neuroscience research, the study\u27s findings point to the value of approaching clinical studies of performance from an integrated organism perspective

A Deployment Process for Strategic Measurement Systems

Explicitly linking software-related activities to an organisation's higher-level goals has been shown to be critical for organizational success. GQM+Strategies provides mechanisms for explicitly linking goals and strategies, based on goal-oriented strategic measurement systems. Deploying such strategic measurement systems in an organization is highly challenging. Experience has shown that a clear deployment strategy is needed for achieving sustainable success. In particular, an adequate deployment process as well as corresponding tool support can facilitate the deployment. This paper introduces the systematical GQM+Strategies deployment process and gives an overview of GQM+Strategies modelling and associated tool support. Additionally, it provides an overview of industrial applications and describes success factors and benefits for the usage of GQM+Strategies.Comment: 12 pages. Proceedings of the 8th Software Measurement European Forum (SMEF 2011

Administrating Integration: The Principles of Integrated Communication in the Institutional Setting

As an emerging paradigm for communication management, integrated communication, also referred to as integrated marketing communication (IMC), poses challenges to communication administration, particularly when institutes of higher learning face a departmentalized context that may impede integration efforts. This article outlines the principles of integrated communication and illustrates them in a university’s integrated communication efforts. Integration may function as an organic process of interpersonal and social connected