IPMN Symposium on Performance Budgeting and the Politics of Reform

Various systems to integrate performance measurement into budgeting are applied in nations around the world. Governments at all levels have embarked on a journey into performance measurement and management. Performance budgeting, and the application of performance analysis in budgeting, is a topic of a considerable discourse in the public management community. This symposium provides dialogue and comment on efforts to integrate performance evaluation into the executive budget process at the federal government level in the United States of America under the administration of President George W. Bush. The experience of other nations also is addressed

Winter residency and site association in the critically endangered North East Atlantic spurdog (Squalus acanthias)

Identification and incorporation of residential behaviour into elasmobranch management plans has the potential to substantially increase their effectiveness by identifying sites where Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) might be used to help conserve species with high migratory potential. There is evidence that spurdog (Squalus acanthias) displays site association in some parts of its global distribution, but this has currently not been shown within the North East Atlantic where it is critically endangered. Here we investigate the movements of electronically tagged spurdog within Loch Etive, a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Archival data storage tags (DSTs), that recorded depth and temperature, revealed that mature female spurdog over wintered within the loch, restricting their movements to the upper basin, and remaining either in the loch or the local vicinity for the rest of the year. This finding was supported by evidence for limited movements from conventional mark/recapture data and acoustically tagged individual spurdog. Some of the movements between the loch basins appear to be associated with breeding and parturition events. This high level of site association suggests that spatial protection of the loch would aid the conservation of different age and sex classes of spurdog

Smart Practice Development Administration in Iraq and Other High Security Risk Nations: Lessons From Colonial Experience

Outcomes of armed conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq indicate that the U.S. has been unprepared to fully address the panoply of problems related to establishment of social and economic stability, security and governance in the aftermath of war. How the war against terrorism should be fought is an issue beyond the scope of this article. However, if U.S. policy makers are to succeed in obtaining stability, security and good governance in these nations and in other parts of the world where significant development assistance is provided to highly unstable nations, they should learn lessons from past U.S. colonial experience, and from the experience of other nations. Such context include U.S. colonial administration of the Philippines after the Spanish- American War, the administration of the British Empire in India, the occupations of Germany and Japan after World War II and European colonization of Africa. Lessons from these cases, good and bad, may be examined in attempt to identify elements of what we term “smart practice” neo-colonial administration. No claim is made here that the U.S. is operating as a colonial power in Iraq. Rather, our argument is that lessons may be learned from colonial experience that are applicable to Iraq and other high security risk nations where development and reconstruction is badly needed

Defense Acquisition and Budgeting: Investigating the Adequacy of Linkage Between Systems

In this article we assess evidence and test the hypothesis that the complicated architecture and processes of national defense planning, programming, budgeting and execution and the defense acquisition decision system produce system linkage weaknesses that lead to unintended and negative consequences for defense acquisition and procurement. The purpose of this article is to identify key points of linkage weakness and failure between DOD financial management and acquisition decision systems, and then suggest how reengineering and realignment might be approached to resolve some of these problems. We first describe the key components of the defense planning, program, budgeting and execution system (PPBES) decision process. We then provide an analysis of recent changes to PPBES. Next, we describe the defense acquisition system (DAS) in detail. Then, relying on independent assessment of system relationships and data gathered from interviews with system participants, we identify systems linkages and areas of misalignment between the PPBES and the DAS. Finally, we provide conclusions with respect to our hypothesis and analysis of consequent key problems and issues to be addressed by top level DOD leadership

Reform of Program Budgeting in the Department of Defense

In this article we conduct a process analysis to assess evidence to test the following hypothesis: that the complicated architecture and processes of national defense planning, programming, budgeting and execution and the defense acquisition decision system lead to unintended and negative consequences for defense acquisition and procurement. The purpose of this article is to identify key points of linkage weakness or failure between Department of Defense (DOD) financial management and acquisition decision systems. We first describe the PPB system and decision process. We then provide an analysis of recent changes to PPB. Next, we describe the Defense Acquisition System (DAS) in detail. This leads us to identification of systems linkages and areas of misalignment between PPBES and the DAS, drawing on interview data. Finally, we provide conclusions with respect to our hypothesis, analysis of consequent key problems and issues, and areas that require further research

Public policy and management issues in budgeting for defense

The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1080/0743017920840552

A reanalysis of the luminosities of clusters of galaxies in the EMSS sample with 0.3 < z < 0.6

The X-ray luminosities of the Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS) clusters of galaxies with redshifts 0.3<z<0.6 are remeasured using ROSAT PSPC data. It is found that the new luminosities are on average 1.18 +/- 0.08 times higher than previously measured but that this ratio depends strongly on the X-ray core radii we measure. For the clusters with small core radii, in general we confirm the EMSS luminosities, but for clusters with core radii >250 kpc (the constant value assumed in the EMSS), the new luminosities are 2.2 +/- 0.15 times the previous measurements. The X-ray luminosity function (XLF) at 0.3<z<0.6 is recalculated and is found to be consistent with the local XLF. The constraints on the updated properties of the 0.3<z<0.6 EMSS sample, including a comparison with the number of clusters predicted from local XLFs, indicate that the space density of luminous, massive clusters has either not evolved or has increased by a small factor ~2 since z=0.4. The implications of this result are discussed in terms of constraints on the cosmological parameter Omega_0.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

An assessment of the lattice strain in the CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy

The formation of single phase solid solutions from combinations of multiple principal elements, with differing atomic radii, has led to the suggestion that the lattices of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) must be severely distorted. To assess this hypothesis, total scattering measurements using neutron radiation have been performed on the CrMnFeCoNi alloy and compared with similar data from five compositionally simpler materials within the same system. The Bragg diffraction patterns from all of the studied materials were similar, consistent with a face-centered cubic structure, and none showed the pronounced dampening that would be expected from a highly distorted lattice. A more detailed evaluation of the local lattice strain was made by considering the first six coordination shells in the pair distribution functions (PDF), obtained from the total scattering data. Across this range, the HEA exhibited the broadest PDF peaks but these widths were not disproportionately larger than those of the simpler alloys. In addition, of all the materials considered, the HEA was at the highest homologous temperature, and hence the thermal vibrations of the atoms would be greatest. Consequently, the level of local lattice strain required to rationalise a given PDF peak width would be reduced. As a result, the data presented in this study do not indicate that the local lattice strain in the equiatomic CrMnFeCoNi HEA is anomalously large.The authors would like to thank the EPSRC/Rolls-Royce Strategic Partnership for funding (EP/M005607/1 and EP/H022309).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2016.09.03

Mindfulness, self-stigma and social functioning in first episode psychosis: a brief report

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that people with first-episode psychosis who are more mindful will have lower self-stigma, and hence better social functioning. Thirty-four participants experiencing first-episode psychosis completed self-report questionnaires, in a cross-sectional design. Consistent with the hypothesis, higher levels of mindfulness predicted lower self-stigma and better social functioning, and self-stigma statistically mediated the mindfulness → social functioning relationship. However, contrary to expectations, when symptom severity was included as a covariate, evidence of mediation was lost. Limitations and implications of these findings are discussed