On the measurement and impact of fiscal decentralization

The typical post-Bretton Woods era development approach that emphasized central government-led development efforts has changed dramatically, and local governments have clearly emerged as players in development policy. The thinking about what is important to achieve in development objectives is changing as fiscal decentralization reforms are being pursued by many countries around the world. In this context, a number of studies have attempted to quantify the impact of decentralization by relating some measure of it to economic outcomes of fiscal stability, economic growth, and public sector size. But decentralization is surprisingly difficult to measure. Nearly all cases examining the relationship between decentralization and macroeconomic performance have relied on the Government Finance Statistics (GFS) of the International Monetary Fund. However, despite its merits, GFS falls short in providing a full picture of fiscal decentralization. For some countries, however, there is data that more accurately captures fiscal responsibilities among different types of governments.Decentralization,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Public&Municipal Finance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,National Governance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Urban Economics

Biofilm responses to salmon carcass analog addition in central Idaho streams

Pacific salmon populations have declined due to human activity in the Pacific Northwest, resulting in decreased delivery of marine-derived nutrients to streams. Managers use artificial nutrient additions to increase juvenile salmon growth and survival and assume that added nutrients stimulate biofilm production, which propagates up the food web to juvenile salmon. We assessed biofilm responses (standing crop, nutrient limitation, and metabolism) to experimental additions of salmon carcass analog in tributaries of the Salmon River, Idaho in 2010 and 2011. Biofilm standing crop and nutrient limitation did not respond to analog, but primary productivity and respiration increased in the subset of streams where they were measured. Discrepancies between biofilm productivity and standing crop may occur if standing crop is constrained by physical and biological factors. Thus, conclusions about biofilm response to analog should not be based on standing crop alone and mitigation research may benefit from nutrient budgets of entire watersheds

The Effect of Human Activity on the Movement of the Idaho Gaint Salamander in the Lochsa Drainage of Central Idaho

Movement influences fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes including population persistence and gene flow. It is, however, relatively unknown how fragmentation of habitats by anthropogenic disturbances influences movement of stream organisms. We examined the relationship between presence of road culverts and movement patterns of a large stream salamander (Dicamptogon aterrimus), along two streams in the Lochsa River watershed of central Idaho. With this research, we tested whether road culverts affect frequency of movement. To determine movement patterns, we conducted a mark-recapture survey of 30-m reaches above and below road culverts and in reaches away from culverts during the summers of 2008 and 2009. Using a multi-strata model and Akaike’s information criterion for model selection, we estimated survival and transition probabilities within and among stream reaches. We found that presence of road culverts does not effectively halt movement along the stream channel and, therefore, should not stop gene flow among local populations. It may, however, hinder important demographic contributions, but this is in need of further study. Additionally, frequency of movement between reaches separated by culverts varied significantly between the two streams indicating that D. aterrimus populations may each react differently to presence of road culverts. This research shows the need to understand variations in response of distinct populations of stream organisms to human disturbance for effective amphibian conservation practices to be implemented

Asymptotic methods for peristaltic transport of a heat-conducting fluid

AbstractTwo asymptotic methods based upon Stokes and long-wave approximations are developed for the study of transporting a heat-conducting fluid through a flexible tube by peristaltic motion of the tube well. The asymptotic methods are justified rigorously and the existence of a unique generalized solution of the governing equations is proved if a condition in terms of the Reynolds number and other nondimensional parameters is satisfied

Kinetic energy budgets in areas of intense convection

A kinetic energy budget analysis of the AVE-SESAME 1 period which coincided with the deadly Red River Valley tornado outbreak is presented. Horizontal flux convergence was found to be the major kinetic energy source to the region, while cross contour destruction was the major sink. Kinetic energy transformations were dominated by processes related to strong jet intrusion into the severe storm area. A kinetic energy budget of the AVE 6 period also is presented. The effects of inherent rawinsonde data errors on widely used basic kinematic parameters, including velocity divergence, vorticity advection, and kinematic vertical motion are described. In addition, an error analysis was performed in terms of the kinetic energy budget equation. Results obtained from downward integration of the continuity equation to obtain kinematic values of vertical motion are described. This alternate procedure shows promising results in severe storm situations

Temperature Fluctuations driven by Magnetorotational Instability in Protoplanetary Disks

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) drives magnetized turbulence in sufficiently ionized regions of protoplanetary disks, leading to mass accretion. The dissipation of the potential energy associated with this accretion determines the thermal structure of accreting regions. Until recently, the heating from the turbulence has only been treated in an azimuthally averaged sense, neglecting local fluctuations. However, magnetized turbulence dissipates its energy intermittently in current sheet structures. We study this intermittent energy dissipation using high resolution numerical models including a treatment of radiative thermal diffusion in an optically thick regime. Our models predict that these turbulent current sheets drive order unity temperature variations even where the MRI is damped strongly by Ohmic resistivity. This implies that the current sheet structures where energy dissipation occurs must be well resolved to correctly capture the flow structure in numerical models. Higher resolutions are required to resolve energy dissipation than to resolve the magnetic field strength or accretion stresses. The temperature variations are large enough to have major consequences for mineral formation in disks, including melting chondrules, remelting calcium-aluminum rich inclusions, and annealing silicates; and may drive hysteresis: current sheets in MRI active regions could be significantly more conductive than the remainder of the disk.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, ApJ In Press, updated to match proof

Rural Roads: Multi-Tier Monitoring of Infrastructure: Top Down and Bottom Up

The focus of this paper is on the last set of these questions -- that of the capacity and the practice of decentralized infrastructure monitoring. The experience and practice of low, middle and high income countries alike is considered. The paper is organized as follows: the next section, Section 2, defines how infrastructure is defined for purposes here, and then proceeds to discuss where the monitoring of infrastructure fits into the broader activity of decentralized infrastructure management. Section 3 then lays out some of the “pre-conditions” for effective decentralized monitoring of infrastructure, leading to the conclusion that for many developing countries these pre-conditions are not satisfied and, thus, why in order to make useful statements about decentralized monitoring of infrastructure one turns to specific case studies for lessons learned from current practice. Accordingly, Section 4 focuses on a mix of illustrative country practices on governmental monitoring of infrastructure that serve to reinforce the conventional view that though there are core lessons common to all intergovernmental societies, there is no single “best” approach since each country faces different starting and end points to which they aspire. Section 5 reviews selected non-governmental and civil society role in what the paper labels as decentralized “bottom up” monitoring. Concluding comments are provided in Section 6