Effectiveness in policy administration : the case of the LRAD programme in the North West Province of South Africa

This article presents the challenges of administering the Land Redistribution and Agricultural Development (LRAD) programme in the North West Province of South Africa. The LRAD, which was launched in August 2001, is a market-led land redistribution programme, which contributes to the redistribution of 30% of White owned agricultural land to Black people by March 2014. In the North West Province, this translated into redistribution of 2 035 680 hectares (i.e. 30% of 6 785 600 ha of White owned agricultural land in the province) by the year 2014, of which by March 2007, 172 656 hectares had already been transferred through land redistribution programmes. Political and administrative authority for administration of the LRAD programme has been decentralised from the National to the Provincial sphere. This is consistent with the intergovernmental arrangements of the Republic of South Africa. It presents a governance regime within which the LRAD programme has to be administered. For public administration to be effective in achieving the above-mentioned targets, implementing institutions, namely the North West Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (the DACE) and the North West Provincial Land Reform Offi ce (NWPLRO), had to effectively integrate systems and procedures, as well as co-ordinate the administrative activities required for joint administration of the programme. There was ineffective integration of policies, programmes, systems, and procedures between the DACE and the NWPLRO, which undermined the administration of the LRAD programme in the North West Province. In addition, the DACE suffered from administrative incapacity, which was partly due to the nature of the governance regime pertaining to LRAD programme administration. Administrative incapacity was also affected by the administration of government policy generally. The most important challenge was the inter-governmental relations arrangements, which imposed limits in terms of the allocation of fi nancial resources. The administrative incapacity also undermined the endeavour to collaborate as far as LRAD programme administration is concerned. This negatively impacted the planning phase as a result of shortage of critical personnel. Due to ineffective administration of the programme, the North West Province will not reach its target of 30% of White owned agricultural land to be redistributed by March 2014. Effective administration is instrumental towards the achievement of land redistribution goals and objectives of Government.nf201

Operator-Based Truncation Scheme Based on the Many-Body Fermion Density Matrix

In [S. A. Cheong and C. L. Henley, cond-mat/0206196 (2002)], we found that the many-particle eigenvalues and eigenstates of the many-body density matrix $\rho_B$ of a block of $B$ sites cut out from an infinite chain of noninteracting spinless fermions can all be constructed out of the one-particle eigenvalues and one-particle eigenstates respectively. In this paper we developed a statistical-mechanical analogy between the density matrix eigenstates and the many-body states of a system of noninteracting fermions. Each density matrix eigenstate corresponds to a particular set of occupation of single-particle pseudo-energy levels, and the density matrix eigenstate with the largest weight, having the structure of a Fermi sea ground state, unambiguously defines a pseudo-Fermi level. We then outlined the main ideas behind an operator-based truncation of the density matrix eigenstates, where single-particle pseudo-energy levels far away from the pseudo-Fermi level are removed as degrees of freedom. We report numerical evidence for scaling behaviours in the single-particle pseudo-energy spectrum for different block sizes $B$ and different filling fractions \nbar. With the aid of these scaling relations, which tells us that the block size $B$ plays the role of an inverse temperature in the statistical-mechanical description of the density matrix eigenstates and eigenvalues, we looked into the performance of our operator-based truncation scheme in minimizing the discarded density matrix weight and the error in calculating the dispersion relation for elementary excitations. This performance was compared against that of the traditional density matrix-based truncation scheme, as well as against a operator-based plane wave truncation scheme, and found to be very satisfactory.Comment: 22 pages in RevTeX4 format, 22 figures. Uses amsmath, amssymb, graphicx and mathrsfs package

Iron overload in paediatrics undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass

AbstractPathological changes in iron status are known to occur during bypass and will be superimposed upon physiological abnormalities in iron distribution, characteristic of the neonatal period. We have sought to define the severity of iron overload in these patients. Plasma samples from 65 paediatric patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) were analysed for non-haem iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin and bleomycin-detectable iron. Patients were divided into four age groups for analysis. Within each age group, patients who were in iron overload at any time point were statistically compared to those who were not. The most significant changes in iron chemistry were seen in the plasma of neonates, with 25% in a state of plasma iron overload. 18.5% of infants and 14.3% of children at 1–5 years were also in iron overload at some time point during CPB. No children over 5 years, however, went into iron overload. Increased iron saturation of transferrin eliminates its ability to bind reactive forms of iron and to act as an antioxidant. When transferrin is fully saturated with iron, reactive forms of iron are present in the plasma which can stimulate iron-driven oxidative reactions. Our data suggest that paediatric patients are at greater risk of iron overload during CPB, and that some form of iron chelation therapy may be advantageous to decrease oxidative stress

Amphipathic polymer-mediated uptake of trehalose for dimethyl sulfoxide-free human cell cryopreservation

For stem cell therapy to become a routine reality, one of the major challenges to overcome is their storage and transportation. Currently this is achieved by cryopreserving cells utilising the cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide (MeSO). MeSO is toxic to cells, leads to loss of cell functionality, and can produce severe side effects in patients. Potentially, cells could be frozen using the cryoprotectant trehalose if it could be delivered into the cells at a sufficient concentration. The novel amphipathic membrane permeabilising agent PP-50 has previously been shown to enhance trehalose uptake by erythrocytes, resulting in increased cryosurvival. Here, this work was extended to the nucleated human cell line SAOS-2. Using the optimum PP-50 concentration and media osmolarity, cell viability post-thaw was 60±2%. In addition, the number of metabolically active cells 24h post-thaw, normalised to that before freezing, was found to be between 103±4% and 91±5%. This was found to be comparable to cells frozen using MeSO. Although reduced (by 22±2%, p=0.09), the doubling time was found not to be statistically different to the non-frozen control. This was in contrast to cells frozen using MeSO, where the doubling time was significantly reduced (by 41±4%, p=0.004). PP-50 mediated trehalose delivery into cells could represent an alternative cryopreservation protocol, suitable for research and therapeutic applications. © 2013 The Authors

Amphipathic polymer-mediated uptake of trehalose for dimethyl sulfoxide-free human cell cryopreservation

For stem cell therapy to become a routine reality, one of the major challenges to overcome is their storage and transportation. Currently this is achieved by cryopreserving cells utilising the cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide (MeSO). MeSO is toxic to cells, leads to loss of cell functionality, and can produce severe side effects in patients. Potentially, cells could be frozen using the cryoprotectant trehalose if it could be delivered into the cells at a sufficient concentration. The novel amphipathic membrane permeabilising agent PP-50 has previously been shown to enhance trehalose uptake by erythrocytes, resulting in increased cryosurvival. Here, this work was extended to the nucleated human cell line SAOS-2. Using the optimum PP-50 concentration and media osmolarity, cell viability post-thaw was 60±2%. In addition, the number of metabolically active cells 24h post-thaw, normalised to that before freezing, was found to be between 103±4% and 91±5%. This was found to be comparable to cells frozen using MeSO. Although reduced (by 22±2%, p=0.09), the doubling time was found not to be statistically different to the non-frozen control. This was in contrast to cells frozen using MeSO, where the doubling time was significantly reduced (by 41±4%, p=0.004). PP-50 mediated trehalose delivery into cells could represent an alternative cryopreservation protocol, suitable for research and therapeutic applications. © 2013 The Authors

Implementing the global plan to stop TB, 2011-2015 - optimizing allocations and the global fund's contribution: A scenario projections study

Background: The Global Plan to Stop TB estimates funding required in low- and middle-income countries to achieve TB control targets set by the Stop TB Partnership within the context of the Millennium Development Goals. We estimate the contribution and impact of Global Fund investments under various scenarios of allocations across interventions and regions. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using Global Plan assumptions on expected cases and mortality, we estimate treatment costs and mortality impact for diagnosis and treatment for drug-sensitive and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), including antiretroviral treatment (ART) during DOTS for HIV-co-infected patients, for four country groups, overall and for the Global Fund investments. In 2015, China and India account for 24% of funding need, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) for 33%, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for 20%, and other low- and middle-income countries for 24%. Scale-up of MDR-TB treatment, especially in EECA, drives an increasing global TB funding need - an essential investment to contain the mortality burden associated with MDR-TB and future disease costs. Funding needs rise fastest in SSA, reflecting increasing coverage need of improved TB/HIV management, which saves most lives per dollar spent in the short term. The Global Fund is expected to finance 8-12% of Global Plan implementation costs annually. Lives saved through Global Fund TB support within the available funding envelope could increase 37% if allocations shifted from current regional demand patterns to a prioritized scale-up of improved TB/HIV treatment and secondly DOTS, both mainly in Africa - with EECA region, which has disproportionately high per-patient costs, funded from alternative resources. Conclusions/Significance: These findings, alongside country funding gaps, domestic funding and implementation capacity and equity considerations, should inform strategies and policies for international donors, national governments and disease control programs to implement a more optimal investment approach focusing on highest-impact populations and interventions

Introduction to the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) 2012 Studies

The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) project aimed to determine the impact ofdeep, midlatitude continental convective clouds on tropospheric composition and chemistry. The DC3field campaign was conducted over a broad area of the central United States during May&ndash;June 2012. Datacollected by DC3 have been extensively analyzed, with many results published in Deep Convective Cloudsand Chemistry 2012 Studies (DC3), a joint special section of JGR Atmospheres and Geophysical ResearchLetters. This paper highlights key results from the DC3 project as an introduction to the special issue.</p