Design and construction of earth dams.

This thesis deals with the design and construction of rolled-fill earth dams with the standard methods of practice, taking the Hirakud Dam as the basis. The field operations of the investigation to obtain observational information and to secure samples for the laboratory testing include observation of rain gauge and river gauge readings, taking river water samples, digging test pits, drilling grout holes, opening drifts, digging borrow pits and conducting detailed topographical surveys. Laboratory tests are conducted on the samples and the results are plotted in graphs. Rainfall and run-off statistics are plotted in graphs. Observational information of geology is plotted in log sheets and the field data of survey works is made use of for the preparation of the topographical maps. From the results of the investigation it is found that the Hirakud Dam has a firm foundation and there is sufficient quantity of material for the embankment at site. The annual rainfall is 47.49 inches yielding a run-off of 50 million sore feet over a catchment area of 32,200 square miles. The stability of the embankment is computed by the slip circle method and the seepage water from the flow net method. The dam is designed for 100 years with a reservoir capacity of 5.98 million acre feet at the maximum water level elevation 625 feet, the bed level being elevation 500 feet. The dead storage is 2.24 million acre feet corresponding to elevation 590 feet, and the maximum submerged area corresponding elevation 625 feet is 150,380 acres. The minimum factor of safety for the upstream slope is 1.68 and that for the downstream slope is 1.19. The seepage water is 0.264 cubic feet per lineal foot per year. The dam is to be constructed as per the design and the specifications. The compaction is attained by the mechanical effort at the optimum moisture content. The mechanical effort is influenced by the type of roller, its weight and the number of passes. Field control is affected by vigilant supervision, needle penetration, ring test and sand test. The construction is to be carried out according to a plan of seven stages. A comparison and contrast is drawn between the U.S.A. and India to bring out the inherent difficulties of construction operations of large dams in India. Importance is given to the sequence of the subject matter since no text book gives all the relevant portions as used in practice. Reference is given to the text books from which the formulas are taken so that a student who is interested in theory, derivation and explanation of the formulas may study the available literature. The procedures employed and the conclusions drawn are based on the experience, observation and the research study of the author both in India and the United States of America

La valutazione delle performance nelle pubbliche amministrazioni nella prospettiva del valore pubblico

premessa la necessità di individuare vie di semplificazione delle performance organizzative ed individuali, l’articolo intende esplorare la possibilità di individuare nuove frontiere di valutazione della performance che integrino, connettano e finalizzino le due citate, avvalendosi di modalità di misurazione che leggano insieme le diverse dimensioni di performance. Ne scaturiscono le due seguenti Research Question: RQ1) quali potrebbero essere le nuove frontiere della valutazione delle performance? RQ2) come si potrebbero misurare le nuove frontiere della valutazione delle performance? Per dare risposta alla RQ1): • ai fini della costruzione del quadro teorico di riferimento, nel paragrafo 2 si analizzeranno, con approccio deduttivo, alcuni contributi scientifici di matrice tradizionale (New Public Management o NPM) e con approccio evoluto (Public Performance Management and Measurement o PPMM; Public Value Management and Measurement o PVMM), sul tema dei sistemi di Programmazione, Controllo e Valutazione (PCV) delle performance delle PA, con focus sui contenuti oggettivi. Per completezza si farà riferimento al contesto normativo in divenire, scaturente dalla Riforma Madia; • nel paragrafo 3 si proverà a ridisegnare la catena di PCV delle performance, e quindi le frontiere della valutazione, sulla base di cinque linee: a) Semplificare il processo e gli strumenti di PCV delle performance individuali e b) organizzative. c) Introdurre le performance istituzionali, d) creando un link bidirezionale tra i 3 livelli delle performance (istituzionale, organizzativo, individuale), e) rendendo utili le prime con la ricerca del VP. . Per dare risposta alla RQ2): • nel paragrafo 4, facendo leva sulla letteratura PVMM, si ragionerà intorno alle possibili modalità di misurazione disgiunta delle diverse dimensioni (sociale, economica, intangibile) delle performance organizzative e istituzionali e sulla misurazione congiunta di queste ultime attraverso un indice sintetico del Valore Pubblico (VP) che consenta di governare sinergicamente i processi per la sua creazione. Attraverso la proposta di un originale modello multidimensionale si normalizzeranno le diverse misure mediante un indice di meta-performance (o del VP); • nel paragrafo 5 si analizzerà, con un approccio induttivo di action research, il caso studio del Comune di Ferrara, con particolare riferimento alla politica istituzionale di miglioramento dell’offerta turistico-culturale, nel biennio 2013-2014. Tale caso verrà affrontato in chiave istituzionalista (DiMaggio e Powell, 1983), mettendo in luce i cambiamenti comportamentali osservati; • nel paragrafo 6 si discuterà intorno ai risultati emersi dal case study; • Infine, verranno delineati possibili sviluppi della ricerca

Measuring public value: a conceptual and applied contribution to the debate

Countries facing austerity measures need to create public value. Academics and practitioners have been discussing the ways in which public value can be created, managed and measured. This paper contributes to this conversation by proposing a public value measurement model. An Italian case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the model and the organizational implications when public value measures are available to public sector managers, politicians and the public

Accounting for Control of Italian Culture in the Fascist Ethical State: The Alla Scala Opera House

Purpose - The study focuses on the complex interaction between ideological beliefs, culture and accounting by identifying during Benito Mussolini’s time in power the contributions of accounting to the Italian Fascist repertoire of power in the cultural domain. It emphasises the importance of accounting in making the Alla Scala Opera House in Milan a vital institution in the creation of a Fascist national culture and identity which was meant to define the Fascist ‘Ethical State’. Design/methodology/approach - The study adopts the Foucauldian concept of discourse in analysing the accounting practices of the Alla Scala Opera House. Findings - Financial statements and related commentaries prepared by the Alla Scala Opera House were not primarily for ensuring good management and the minimisation of public funding in contrast to the practices and expectations of accounting in liberal States. Instead, the dominant Fascist discourse shaped the content and use of accounting and ensured that accounting practices could be a means to construct the Opera House as a ‘moral individual’ that was to serve wider national interests consistent with the priorities of the Fascist Ethical State. Research implications - The study identifies how accounting can be mobilised for ideological purposes in different ways which are not limited to supporting discourses inspired by logics of efficiency and profit. The paper also draws attention to the contributions of accounting discourses in shaping the identity of an organisation consistent with the priorities of those who hold the supreme authority in a society. Social implications - The analysis of how the Fascist State sought to reinforce its power by making cultural institutions a critical part of this process provides the means to understand and unmask the taken-for-granted way in which discourses are created to promote power relations and related interests such as in the rise of far-right movements, most especially in weaker and more vulnerable countries today. Originality/value - Unlike most of the work on the relationship between culture and accounting which has emphasised liberal States, this study considers a non-liberal State and documents a use of accounting in the cultural domain which was not limited to promoting efficiency consistent with the priorities now recognised more recently of the New Public Management. It presents a micro-perspective on accounting as an ideological discourse by investigating the role of accounting in the exploitation of a cultural institution for political purposes

Accounting for Power and Resistance: the University of Ferrara under the Fascist Regime in Italy

Recognising the dynamic character of the exercise of power, this study analyses the complex interplay between power and resistance, as conceived by Foucault, after the Italian Fascists sought to subjugate all Italian universities. When the University of Ferrara, a ‘Free University’, resisted the government’s intentions, which would also have meant restricting access to higher education to working class youth, accounting practices became essential in providing justification for the government’s actions. In response, the University was forced to use accounting practices as its main form of defence. This resulted in the government having to use different tactics to achieve its final goals. If resistance is met by governments in the implementation of their programmes this may require a shift in the tactics originally employed to achieve the planned outcomes. Greater demands were placed on the funders of the University and changes were made to how the University’s performance was represented, interpreted and evaluated by the means of accounting practices. In the power struggle, accounting played different roles in the service of conflicting objectives, ranging from concealing the interested nature of political action, demonstrating the achievement of financial stability and self-sufficiency, providing legitimacy or ensuring the use of resources consistent with the aims of those who exercised power. So persuasive was the action enabled by accounting information that the State was finally able to gain control of the University without making it a ‘Kingdom University’, and hence seeming to preserve the appearance of independence almost until the end of the Fascist regime

Measuring public value: a conceptual and applied contribution to the debate

Countries facing austerity measures need to create public value. Academics and practitioners have been discussing the ways in which public value can be created, managed and measured. This paper contributes to this conversation by proposing a public value measurement model. An Italian case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the model and the organizational implications when public value measures are available to public sector managers, politicians and the public

Public value and public sector accounting research: a structured literature review

Purpose – The paper investigates the role and impact of accounting within the fragmented field of public value theory literature. Design/methodology/approach – The work develops a structured literature review and seeks to shed light on the state of public value research, with particular emphasis on the role of accounting scholarship. Findings – The lack of empirical research and the limited number of papers on accounting for the creation of public value means that accounting scholars need to address ‘theoretical stagnation’ to achieve a deeper understanding of how to govern the public value creation process. Originality/value – The paper develops the first wide-ranging structured literature review on public value accounting. It is a starting point to develop new research avenues, both in the fields of accountability/external reporting, and management accounting and performance management. Keywords: public value, performance measurement, public value accounting, structured literature review Paper type: Literature revie