A troubled relationship: corruption and reform of the public sector in development

Corruption is an issue of increasing visibility in the academic and policy literature on governance and public policy. Whilst it is often talked about, there appears to be some lack of clarity on both its nature and the nature of its determinants. This has led to some increase in the effort to combat it (in light of its significant costs for society) and it is questionable how effective these attempts have been to date. Corruption has a complex relationship with public sector reform. Reform is often executed which has as one of its objectives the control of corruption, but reform itself may be a cause of corruption according to some evidence from recent rounds of economic and public sector reform. The nature of the relationship is complicated by the fundamental nature of public sector reform. This is often ‘dual’ in nature, combining both destructive and constructive phases that redistribute the relative power of internal and external interest groups, create grievances, and present new opportunities for incumbents when compared to the pre-reform position. This paper presents an analysis of some of the data on corruption in relation to public sector reform, and attempts to clarify the nature of the corruption phenomenon in order to answer the question whether corruption can categorically be said to be a problem of public sector reform, or a consequence of it.Corruption; public administration; reform; transition; institutions

The Quantum Frontier

The success of the abstract model of computation, in terms of bits, logical operations, programming language constructs, and the like, makes it easy to forget that computation is a physical process. Our cherished notions of computation and information are grounded in classical mechanics, but the physics underlying our world is quantum. In the early 80s researchers began to ask how computation would change if we adopted a quantum mechanical, instead of a classical mechanical, view of computation. Slowly, a new picture of computation arose, one that gave rise to a variety of faster algorithms, novel cryptographic mechanisms, and alternative methods of communication. Small quantum information processing devices have been built, and efforts are underway to build larger ones. Even apart from the existence of these devices, the quantum view on information processing has provided significant insight into the nature of computation and information, and a deeper understanding of the physics of our universe and its connections with computation. We start by describing aspects of quantum mechanics that are at the heart of a quantum view of information processing. We give our own idiosyncratic view of a number of these topics in the hopes of correcting common misconceptions and highlighting aspects that are often overlooked. A number of the phenomena described were initially viewed as oddities of quantum mechanics. It was quantum information processing, first quantum cryptography and then, more dramatically, quantum computing, that turned the tables and showed that these oddities could be put to practical effect. It is these application we describe next. We conclude with a section describing some of the many questions left for future work, especially the mysteries surrounding where the power of quantum information ultimately comes from.Comment: Invited book chapter for Computation for Humanity - Information Technology to Advance Society to be published by CRC Press. Concepts clarified and style made more uniform in version 2. Many thanks to the referees for their suggestions for improvement

Construction and testing of the optical bench for LISA pathfinder

eLISA is a space mission designed to measure gravitational radiation over a frequency range of 0.1–100 mHz (European Space Agency LISA Assessment Study Report 2011). It uses laser interferometry to measure changes of order $10\,{\rm pm /\sqrt{Hz}}$ in the separation of inertial test masses housed in spacecraft separated by 1 million km. LISA Pathfinder (LPF) is a technology demonstrator mission that will test the key eLISA technologies of inertial test masses monitored by laser interferometry in a drag-free spacecraft. The optical bench that provides the interferometry for LPF must meet a number of stringent requirements: the optical path must be stable at the few ${\rm pm /\sqrt{Hz}}$ level; it must direct the optical beams onto the inertial masses with an accuracy of better than ±25 μm, and it must be robust enough not only to survive launch vibrations but to achieve full performance after launch. In this paper we describe the construction and testing of the flight optical bench for LISA Pathfinder that meets all the design requirements

Holocene vegetation history from King River railway bridge, western Tasmania

Pollen analysis of a sequence of post-glacial deposits north of the old railway bridge over the King River showed that cold wet heath, with Microstrobos and Epacridaceae, and herbland of Gramineae, Compositae and Astelia occurred in the King Valley before ca. 13 000 yr BP. Temperate rainforest/wet mixed forest developed after 13 000 yr BP and was dominated by Phyllocladus before ca. 640 yr BP. Between ca. 6400 and 4000 yr BP Nothofagus and Eucalyptus were co-dominant. A hiatus in deposition of organic-rich sediments occurred between 4000 and 2500 yr BP, when slope debris/alluvial fan gravels were formed. After 2500 yr BP Phyllocladus became dominant again. A mosaic of shrub, heath, sedge and herb communities occurred in addition to the rainforest/wet mixed forest vegetation during much of the post-glacial period.These communities seem to reflect variations in habitat and environmental conditions related to soil differences, flooding, waterlogging and burning adjacent to the King River. The pollen sequence shows the characteristic early post-glacial peak of Phylloladus, the early-middle post-glacial maximum of Pomaderris and the middle Holocene maximum of Nothofogus for western Tasmania. The vegetation was influenced by burning at all times. The climate transition from cold to cool humid conditions occurred around 13 000 yr BP and was probably relatively rapid

The role of parental and child physical and mental health on behavioural and emotional adjustment in mid-childhood: a comparison of two generations of British children born 30 years apart

Poor physical health and behavioural and emotional problems in childhood have a lasting impact on well-being in adolescence and adulthood. Here we address the relationship between poor parent and child physical and mental health in early childhood (age 5) and conduct, hyperactivity and emotional problems in mid-childhood (age 10/11). We compare results across two generations of British children born 30 years apart in 1970 (n = 15,856) and 2000/2 (16,628). We take advantage of rich longitudinal birth cohort data and establish that a child’s own poor health was associated with conduct, hyperactivity and emotional problems in mid-childhood in both generations, and that with the exception of conduct problems in the 1970 cohort these relationships remained when family socio-economic status and individual characteristics were accounted for. Poor maternal mental health was similarly associated with conduct, hyperactivity and emotional problems in both generations; poor parental physical health with a child having later hyperactivity and emotional problems in the younger generation. Results also indicated that earlier behaviour problems had more influence on later problems for children in the more recent cohort. Given the increasing proportion of children and adolescents with mental health problems and that socio-economic disadvantage increases physical and mental well-being concerns within families, policy solutions must consider the holistic nature of a child’s family environment to prevent some children experiencing a ‘double whammy’ of disadvantage. The early years provide the best opportunity to promote children’s resilience and well-being and minimise the development of entrenched negative behaviours and their subsequent costs to society

Sex, ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities and trajectories in child and adolescent mental health in Australia and the UK: findings from national prospective longitudinal studies

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the sex, ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in emotional difficulties over childhood and adolescence using longitudinal cohort studies in the UK and Australia. Estimating cross-national differences contributes to understanding of the consistency of inequalities in mental health across contexts. METHODS: Data from 19,748 participants in two contemporary representative samples in Australia (Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, n = 4,975) and UK (Millennium Cohort Study, n = 14,773) were used. Emotional difficulties were assessed using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at ages 4/5, 6/7, 11/12 and 14/15 years and the self-reported Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire at age 14/15. Latent Growth Curve Modelling was used to examine mental health over time. RESULTS: There were significant increases in emotional difficulties in both countries over time. Emotional difficulties were higher in Australian children at all ages. The gender gap in self-reported depressive symptoms at age 14/15 was larger in the UK (8% of UK and 13% of Australian boys were above the depression cut-off, compared with 23% of girls). Ethnic minority children had higher emotional difficulties at age 4/5 years in both countries, but over time this difference was no longer observed in Australia. In the UK, this reversed whereby at ages 11/12 and 14/15 ethnic minority children had lower symptoms than their White majority peers. Socioeconomic differences were more marked based on parent education and employment status in Australia and by parent income in the UK. UK children, children from White majority ethnicity and girls evidenced steeper worsening of symptoms from age 4/5 to 14/15 years. CONCLUSIONS: Even in two fairly similar countries (i.e. English-speaking, high-income, industrialised), the observed patterns of inequalities in mental health symptoms based on sociodemographics are not the same. Understanding country and context-specific drivers of different inequalities provides important insights to help reduce disparities in child and adolescent mental health

A troubled relationship: corruption and reform of the public sector in development

Corruption is an issue of increasing visibility in the academic and policy literature on governance and public policy. Whilst it is often talked about, there appears to be some lack of clarity on both its nature and the nature of its determinants. This has led to some increase in the effort to combat it (in light of its significant costs for society) and it is questionable how effective these attempts have been to date. Corruption has a complex relationship with public sector reform. Reform is often executed which has as one of its objectives the control of corruption, but reform itself may be a cause of corruption according to some evidence from recent rounds of economic and public sector reform. The nature of the relationship is complicated by the fundamental nature of public sector reform. This is often ‘dual’ in nature, combining both destructive and constructive phases that redistribute the relative power of internal and external interest groups, create grievances, and present new opportunities for incumbents when compared to the pre-reform position. This paper presents an analysis of some of the data on corruption in relation to public sector reform, and attempts to clarify the nature of the corruption phenomenon in order to answer the question whether corruption can categorically be said to be a problem of public sector reform, or a consequence of it

Information society: networks, collective action and the role of institutions

The knowledge economy and knowledge society depend on the development of networks of communications in terms of both physical possibilities of national and international infrastructure, and the inclination of individuals to participate in these. The rapid spread of such technical capacity, and the rise of wireless methods of communications enables many countries that might previously have been prevented from developing such an infrastructure to rapidly develop capacity. This physical development has reduced the costs of communications and consequently information, as well as the freedom to communicate internationally and, implicitly, inter-culturally. It is also recognised, however, that a range of social and economic factors influence the attitudes of individuals towards such communication, and also the possibilities of collective action both within and across nations, depending on the economic and social costs and ‘payoffs’ of such activities. The growth of low-cost information provision and low-cost international communications using the internet has raised the potential benefits of such facilities so that it is changing much of the nature of economic interaction in modern, as well as more traditional societies. Whether or not it will demonstrate a similar significance for the development of an information society remains to be seen, but parallels can be drawn between such changes and the existing analysis of networks, organisations and political ‘collective action’ from the grass roots level. Networks form a significant complement to the existing media that are also seizing on the potential of this modern technology, and constitute a source of general, or more specifically valuable information to individuals in society

Information society: networks, collective action and the role of institutions

The knowledge economy and knowledge society depend on the development of networks of communications in terms of both physical possibilities of national and international infrastructure, and the inclination of individuals to participate in these. The rapid spread of such technical capacity, and the rise of wireless methods of communications enables many countries that might previously have been prevented from developing such an infrastructure to rapidly develop capacity. This physical development has reduced the costs of communications and consequently information, as well as the freedom to communicate internationally and, implicitly, inter-culturally. It is also recognised, however, that a range of social and economic factors influence the attitudes of individuals towards such communication, and also the possibilities of collective action both within and across nations, depending on the economic and social costs and ‘payoffs’ of such activities. The growth of low-cost information provision and low-cost international communications using the internet has raised the potential benefits of such facilities so that it is changing much of the nature of economic interaction in modern, as well as more traditional societies. Whether or not it will demonstrate a similar significance for the development of an information society remains to be seen, but parallels can be drawn between such changes and the existing analysis of networks, organisations and political ‘collective action’ from the grass roots level. Networks form a significant complement to the existing media that are also seizing on the potential of this modern technology, and constitute a source of general, or more specifically valuable information to individuals in society

Co-Administration of Iron and a Bioavailable Curcumin Supplement Increases Serum BDNF Levels in Healthy Adults

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is key for the maintenance of normal neuronal function and energy homeostasis and has been suggested to improve cognitive function, including learning and memory. Iron and the antioxidant curcumin have been shown to influence BDNF homeostasis. This 6-week, double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study examined the effects of oral iron supplementation at low (18 mg) and high (65 mg) ferrous (FS) iron dosages, compared to a combination of these iron doses with a bioavailable formulated form of curcumin (HydroCurcTM; 500 mg) on BDNF levels in a healthy adult cohort of 155 male (26.42 years ± 0.55) and female (25.82 years ± 0.54) participants. Participants were randomly allocated to five different treatment groups: both iron and curcumin placebo (FS0+Plac), low dose iron and curcumin placebo (FS18+Plac), low dose iron and curcumin (FS18+Curc), high dose iron and curcumin placebo (FS65+Plac) and high dose iron and curcumin (FS65+Curc). Results showed a significant increase in BDNF over time (26%) in the FS18+Curc group (p = 0.024), and at end-point between FS18+Curc and FS18+Plac groups (35%, p = 0.042), demonstrating for the first time that the combination with curcumin, rather than iron supplementation alone, results in increased serum BDNF. The addition of curcumin to iron supplementation may therefore provide a novel approach to further enhance the benefits associated with increased BDNF levels