Good Governance: developing effective board-management relations in public and voluntary organizations

The research suggests that boards do make a number of important contributions to the organisations they serve. The nature of these contributions caries and is influenced by a variety of factors: for example the way the organisation is regulated; the history and culture of the organisation; the way board members are chosen; board member's skills and experience; the relationship with senior managers; and the way the governance function is managed

Children with neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) treated with therapeutic hypothermia are not as school ready as their peers

Aim: We aimed to determine whether children with neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) treated with therapeutic hypothermia (TH) differ from their peers on measures of fine motor skills, executive function, language and general cognitive abilities; factors that are important for school readiness. Methods: We compared school readiness in 31children with HIE treated with TH (without Cerebral Palsy; mean age 5 years 4 months) with 20 typically developing children without HIE (mean age 5 years 6 months). Results: Children with HIE scored significantly lower than typically developing children on fine motor skills, executive functions, memory and language. Conclusion: While general cognitive abilities and attainment were in the normal range, our findings suggest those scores mask specific underlying difficulties identified by more focussed assessments. Children with HIE treated with TH may not be as “school ready” as their typically developing classmates and may benefit from long-term follow-up until starting school

Development of an Integrated Governance Strategy for the Voluntary and Community Sector

This report on governance provides a framework for thinking about how policy makers, funders,regulators and advisers can all work with Board members and staff to enhance the effectiveness of nonprofit organisations. It was commissioned by the Active Community Unit (ACU) of the Home Office, in parallel with other reviews designed to improve the capacity of the voluntary and community sector, at a time when the sector plays an increasingly important role in the delivery of services using public funds. That role has recently been investigated in two Government reports, the Cross Cutting Review carried out by the Treasury, and the Strategy Unit review of charities and nonprofits. Our report proposes actions of three types: some that can be taken immediately, some that require further discussion with key interests, and some integration with the other ACU reviews. Taken together they provide the starting point for an evolving strategy to improve governance across the sector. We recommend ACU chairs a group charged with the responsibility for planning and implementing this. Our focus is on governance as 'the systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall direction, supervision and accountability of an organisation'. This is often taken to mean the way that a Board, management committee or other governing body steers the overall development of an organisation, where day-to-day management is in the hands of staff or volunteers. Sometimes, of course, the committee and volunteers are the same. They – like all governing bodies – have to balance the interests of the organisation and those they are trying to serve, while being conscious of financial and legal responsibilities, and the requirements of funders and other supporters

The integrated database for African policymakers

The Integrated Database for African Policymakers (IDAPs; http://www.walker.ac.uk/projects/idaps-integrated-database-for-african-policy-makers/), is a technological initiative to intended to provide valuable insight and quantitative evidence to policy makers, planners and doers, at international, national and local levels to inform scenario planning and support investment interventions for early action and adaptation. It also provides a rich source of data for researchers exploring the impacts of climate change in rural African communities, and potentially beyond. IDAPS is jointly led by the Walker Institute and Evidence for Development, our embedded NGO partner

The governance of co-operatives and mutual associations: a paradox perspective

This paper presents a new theoretical framework for understanding the governance of co-operative and mutual organisations. The theoretical literature on the governance of co-operatives is relatively undeveloped in comparison with that on corporate governance. The paper briefly reviews some of the main theoretical perspectives on corporate governance and discusses how they can be usefully extended to throw light on the governance of co-operatives and mutuals. However, taken individually these different theories are rather one dimensional, only illuminating a particular aspect of the board's role. This has lead to calls for a new conceptual framework that can help integrate the insights of these different theories. The paper argues that a paradox perspective offers a promising way forward. Contrasting the different theoretical perspectives highlights some of the important paradoxes, ambiguities and tensions that boards face

Economic Implications of New Crops, Row Damming and Land Clearing in the Texas Winter Garden

The chief sources of groundwater for the Texas Winter Garden are the Carrizo (Dimmit, Zavala, Frio, and LaSalle Counties) and Edwards (Uvalde County) Aquifers. The major user of groundwater in the region is irrigation. However, insufficient aquifer recharge relative to groundwater use has stimulated interest in alternatives to ease adjustments to diminished groundwater supplies. The impact on net revenue, groundwater utilization, and land use of new crops (guar, guayule, and short-season irrigated cotton), row damming, and conversion of range to cropland was evaluated using a regional linear programming model. Temporal analysis, 1981-2001, incorporated changes in groundwater availability, static groundwater levels, and corresponding fixed and variable costs. Introduction of guar and short-season irrigated cotton (base solution) was associated with increased groundwater pumpage from the Carrizo Aquifer, increased net revenue, and increased irrigated acreages. Edwards Aquifer pumpage remained constant at an upper limit. When guayule entered the base solution, net revenue rose by four million dollars and groundwater pumpage and irrigated acreages declined only in the Carrizo Aquifer. Land clearing without guayule added 17, 25.2, and 26.3 million dollars to net revenue for light; light and medium; and light, medium, and heavy brush clearing; respectively. Under light brush clearing about 480,000 acres were added to cropland and groundwater pumpage remained steady. Pumpage increased under the other land clearing activities. Land clearing with guayule almost doubled net revenue compared to land clearing without guayule. Row damming was the most effective alternative in reducing dependence on groundwater. Row damming in dryland grain sorghum and dryland cotton decreased groundwater pumpage and increased net returns above the base by 6.7 million dollars without land clearing and 18.6, 30.3, and 32.9 million dollars with the respective land clearing alternatives. Carrizo Aquifer groundwater pumpage was significantly reduced in each of the four alternatives and Edwards pumpage was reduced in all but the heavy brush clearing alternative. Under temporal and static analysis for projected (forecast) groundwater pumpage, net revenue, groundwater pumpage, and irrigated acres exceeded those of solutions with restricted (forced conservation) groundwater. Carrizo Aquifer groundwater pumpage was greater under restricted than in the projected groundwater scenarios

Communitarian perspectives on social enterprise

Concepts of social enterprise have been debated repeatedly, and continue to cause confusion. In this paper, a meta-theoretical framework is developed through discussion of individualist and communitarian philosophy. Philosophers from both traditions build social theories that emphasise either consensus (a unitarist outlook) or diversity (a pluralist outlook). The various discourses in corporate governance reflect these assumptions and create four distinct approaches that impact on the relationship between capital and labour. In rejecting the traditional discourse of private enterprise, social enterprises have adopted other approaches to tackle social exclusion, each derived from different underlying beliefs about the purpose of enterprise and the nature of governance. The theoretical framework offers a way to understand the diversity found within the sector, including the newly constituted Community Interest Company (CIC).</p

Combinatorial quorum sensing allows bacteria to resolve their social and physical environment

Quorum sensing (QS) is a cell–cell communication system that controls gene expression in many bacterial species, mediated by diffusible signal molecules. Although the intracellular regulatory mechanisms of QS are often well-understood, the functional roles of QS remain controversial. In particular, the use of multiple signals by many bacterial species poses a serious challenge to current functional theories. Here, we address this challenge by showing that bacteria can use multiple QS signals to infer both their social (density) and physical (mass-transfer) environment. Analytical and evolutionary simulation models show that the detection of, and response to, complex social/physical contrasts requires multiple signals with distinct half-lives and combinatorial (nonadditive) responses to signal concentrations. We test these predictions using the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and demonstrate significant differences in signal decay betweeallyn its two primary signal molecules, as well as diverse combinatorial responses to dual-signal inputs. QS is associated with the control of secreted factors, and we show that secretome genes are preferentially controlled by synergistic “AND-gate” responses to multiple signal inputs, ensuring the effective expression of secreted factors in high-density and low mass-transfer environments. Our results support a new functional hypothesis for the use of multiple signals and, more generally, show that bacteria are capable of combinatorial communication

Mortality in the UK STRIDER trial of sildenafil therapy for the treatment of severe early-onset fetal growth restriction.

Severe early-onset fetal growth restriction (FGR) is an untreatable condition associated with significant mortality and morbidity for the fetus and neonate. There has been growing interest in novel therapies such as nitic oxide donors/promotors to improve placental function and outcomes for these high-risk pregnancies. The recently published STRIDER UK trial was designed to test the effectiveness of sildenafil (25mg three times a day) versus placebo at prolonging gestation in severe early-onset

Assessing the impact of climate change on sweet potato in Uganda

Sweet potato is a mainstay of household food security and a major source of vitamin A across sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly in Uganda. Understanding how climate change is likely to impact on sweet potato would be useful for policymakers in Uganda making decisions to improve food security and increase resilience to climate shocks. However, sweet potato is an under-researched crop and the impacts of climate change have not been systematically analysed. The Sweet Potato Catalyst Project aims to assess the impacts of climate change on sweet potato in Uganda and develop ways for local stakeholders to access and assess this information to strengthen governance. This policy briefing note provides an overview of the research, the approach being taken and anticipated outcomes that will feed into the UNFCCC Koronovia Joint Work on Agriculture