Fiscal Renaissance in a Democratic South Africa

South Africa has overcome adverse initial conditions to achieve a remarkable fiscal transformation since the 1994 democratic elections, held amid uncertainty about its ability to maintain the rule of law and resist the populist spending pressures. Constitutionally-bases, durable and credible fiscal reforms have contained spending and rendered policy at all levels of government more transparent and accountable, and more predictable through multi-year budgeting. Extensive tax reform and more efficient tax collection has expanded revenue, permitting lower tax rates for both individuals and companies, and personal tax relief. Fiscal consolidation almost eliminated the budget deficit by 2005, and with improved debt management, has created a lower and more sustainable debt burden. While highly centralised revenue raising powers and greater decentralisation of expenditure to sub-national governments created a vertical fiscal imbalance, a strict no-bail out approach helped control provincial spending. The fiscal-monetary policy mix has stabilised the macro-economy and reduced uncertainty, reflected internationally in narrowed sovereign risk spreads and improved debt ratings. However, micro-service delivery in social expenditure has been disappointing (in some cases due to capacity constraints rather than inadequate fiscal allocations). And long-term decline in infrastructure investment and capital stock is only belatedly receiving attention. The challenge is to increase social and infrastructure expenditure at a sustainable rate and to improve the quality of service delivery, to avoid undermining the gains in microeconomic stability.

Effect on Mortality of Higher Versus Lower β-Blocker (Metoprolol Succinate or Carvedilol) Dose in Patients With Heart Failure

This study aimed to compare the effect of β-blocker dose and heart rate (HR) on mortality in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The Veteran Affairs databases were queried to identify all patients diagnosed with HFrEF based on International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision codes from 2007 to 2015 and β-blocker (carvedilol or metoprolol succinate) use. 36,168 patients on low dose β blocker were then matched with 36,168 patients on high dose β-blocker using propensity score matching. The impact of β-blocker dose and HR was assessed on overall mortality using Cox proportional hazard model. After dividing average HR into separate quartiles and adjusting for patient characteristics, high β-blocker dose was associated with lower overall mortality as compared with a low dose of β blocker (hazard ratio 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.73 to 0.77, p <0.01) independent of the HR achieved. The results held for all 4 quartiles of average HR. A higher β-blocker dose or a lower HR were independently and jointly associated with lower mortality for all quartiles of HR. In conclusion, higher dose of β-blocker therapy and a lower achieved HR were independently associated with a reduction in mortality in HFrEF patients

Peningkatan Belajar Siswa Menggunakan Metode Kerja Kelompok di Kelas IV Sdn 16 Balau Nyawang

The purpose of this research is to increase teacher's ability in increasing students achievement in study mathematic in class IV of Elementary school number 16 Balau Nyawang. method of research used is descriptive method in form classroom Action research bi using collaborative. The subject in this research are teacher's and students class IV of Elementary school 16 students. Technical of this research is direct technical and the tool of collecting data is worksheet of observation for teachers and students the data have been collected is analyzed: 1) in teachers ability in teaching and planning the process of study mathematic with workgroup with the different score from cycles 1 and cycles 2 is : 0.84. 2) Teacher ability in teaching mathematic with group work has different score from cycles 1 and cycles 2 is : 0.18. 3) The using of group work can increase the students achievement with different score from cycles 1 and cycles 2 is : 25.63

Etude d’impact sur l’optimisation des horaires d’ouverture des bibliothèques territoriales

Inscrite dans une dynamique d’accompagnement méthodologique des collectivités territoriales engagée par le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, cette étude fait suite à l’ouvrage Ouvrir grand la médiathèque, coédité par le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication et l’Association des bibliothécaires de France. Cette étude présente les bilans de projets d’aménagement des horaires d’ouverture des bibliothèques de six collectivités, en recueillant le point de vue de leurs usagers, des professionnels et des tutelles. Ces bilans sont confrontés aux retours d’expérience de 145 établissements interrogés dans le cadre d’une enquête en ligne. Elle confirme notamment que les effets de l\u27extension des horaires sont clairement positifs, mais que l\u27extension en elle-même ne suffit pas toujours à créer un effet durable et gagne à s\u27inscrire dans une démarche stratégique mobilisant d\u27autres leviers (réflexion sur les services). Par ailleurs, elle démontre que si la question des moyens financiers est importante, les difficultés d\u27application sont aussi d\u27ordre organisationnel et social

A study of recent contributions on performance and simulation techniques for accelerator devices

High performance computing platform is moving from homogeneous individual unites to heterogeneous systems where each unit is a combination of homogeneous cores and accelerator devices. Accelerators such as GPUs, FPGAs, DSPs, are usually designed for specific and intensive type of computing tasks. The presence of these devises have created fresh and attractive development platforms for developers and designers as well as novel performance analysis frameworks and optimization tools. This is the cutting edge in performance of some accelerator devices like: GPUs and Intel’s Xeon Phi. We outline some of the existing heterogeneous systems and their development frameworks. The core of this study is a review of performance modeling of these devices

Europeana : Etude sur les usages et les attentes relatifs à l\u27interface de consultation de la future Bibliothèque numérique européenne

Rapport final d\u27une étude prospective sur les publics de la future Bibliothèque numérique européenne (BNuE : Europeana) conduite par la société Ourouk pour la Bibliothèque nationale de France. L\u27objectif est d\u27évaluer les fonctionnalités susceptibles d\u27être offertes par la future BNuE par une sélection d\u27utilisateurs potentiels. Mesure de la compréhension et de l\u27intérêt de différentes catégories d\u27utilisateurs potentiels, évaluation des attentes, évaluation des partis pris ergonomiques et graphiques, à l\u27aune de l\u27ambition d\u27une "bibliothèque numérique européenne moderne, citoyenne et grand public"

Model voor de schatting van de initiele lichaamsbelasting en de dagelijkse absorptie van lipofiele verontreinigingen in landbouwhuisdieren

Many lipophilic organic contaminants in the environment are toxic for humans and animals. The presence of this class of contaminants in animal products (meat and milk) intended for human consumption thus involves health risks to the general population. In order to assess these risks, concentrations of contaminants in domestic animals are monitored by occasional measurements on blood (plasma) or milk of living animals. A computer model to translate such measured concentrations into historical absorption and burden of the compound, and into the future residues expected in meat and milk products, is described. The methodology is based on a Physiologically Based Pharmaco Kinetic model for lipophilic contaminants in domestic animals. Validation of the proposed method was carried out using the results of experiments in which lactating and non-lactating cows were exposed to 2378-TCDD, and lactating and non-lactating goats to lindane and a number of PCB congeners. In the above-mentioned experiments, the animals were internally exposed by injecting known amounts of contaminant into their rumen. Concentration measurements were used to estimate the initial burden and the daily absorption of the PBPK model. Validation was carried out by comparing estimated initial burden and the daily absorption with the doses imposed in the experiment. The results show that the estimated initial body burdens are lower than the doses imposed by the bolus injection in the rumen. This indicates that absorption from the intestine is probably incomplete. The estimates of daily absorption correspond to zero or trace values for the stages in which the animals were fed with food devoid of the contaminant. The model is intended for use by veterinary services/inspections as a screening tool to estimate exposures and residues.Veel lipofiele organische milieucontaminanten zijn toxisch voor mens en dier. De aanwezigheid van deze contaminanten in vlees- en/of melkproducten bestemd voor menselijke consumptie kunnen daarom een gezondheidsrisico voor de bevolking vormen. Om de risico's te kunnen beoordelen worden incidenteel concentraties gemeten in bloedplasma of melk van levende dieren. Dit rapport presenteert een computer model om dergelijke metingen te vertalen naar de historische opname van de component en de te verwachten residuen in vlees en melk. De methodologie is gebaseerd op een "Physiologically Based Pharmaco Kinetic" model voor lipofiele contaminanten in landbouwhuisdieren. Validatie van de voorgestelde methode werd uitgevoerd m.b.v. de resultaten van experimenten waarin lacterende en niet-lacterende koeien werden blootgesteld aan 2378-TCDD en lacterende en niet-lacterende geiten aan lindaan en een aantal PCB congeneren. In de bovengenoemde studies werden de dieren blootgesteld door bekende hoeveelheden contaminant in het rumen te spuiten, waarna concentraties in melk, bloedplasma, of vet werden gemeten in de tijd. Deze metingen werden aangewend om de initikle belasting en de dagelijkse absorptie van de contaminant te schatten. Validatie vond plaats door de geschatte waarden te vergelijken met de initikle belasting en de dagelijkse absorptie die waren opgelegd in het experiment. De resultaten laten zien dat na een bolus injectie in het rumen de geschatte initikle belasting van het lichaam over het algemeen lager is dan de opgelegde hoeveelheid. Dit kan duiden op incomplete absorptie uit de darm. De geschatte dagelijkse absorptie was nul of bijna nul voor de perioden dat de dieren schoon voedsel aangeboden kregen. Het model is bedoeld om gebruikt te worden door veterinaire inspecties als een 'screening' instrument om een eerste indruk te krijgen van blootstellingen en residuen en de daarbij behorende gezondheidsrisico's

Statistical Modeling of FSO Fronthaul Channel for Drone-based Networks

We consider a drone-based communication network, where several drones hover above an area and serve as mobile remote radio heads for a large number of mobile users. We assume that the drones employ free space optical (FSO) links for fronthauling of the users' data to a central unit. The main focus of this paper is to quantify the geometric loss of the FSO channel arising from random fluctuation of the position and orientation of the drones. In particular, we derive upper and lower bounds, corresponding approximate expressions, and a closed-form statistical model for the geometric loss. Simulation results validate our derivations and quantify the FSO channel quality as a function of the drone's instability, i.e., the variation of its position and orientation.Comment: This paper has been submitted to ICC 201