Debt relief as a platform for reform: the case of Nigeria's virtual poverty fund

In June 2005 the Paris Club group of creditors announced a US$30 billion debt relief package for the Nigerian government, which included a US$18 billion debt write off. This paper describes how these debt relief savings have been managed and spent, with a focus on the development and implementation of a comprehensive tracking system that aimed to effectively monitor debt relief expenditures. The paper argues that the Nigerian case implies debt relief can be a valuable tool for supporting public sector reform

Break-taking behaviour pattern of long-distance freight vehicles based on GPS trajectory data

This paper focuses on the break-taking behaviour pattern of long-distance freight vehicles, providing a new perspective on the study of behaviour patterns and simultaneously providing a reference for transport management departments and related enterprises. Based on Global Positioning System (GPS) trajectory data, we select stopping points as break-taking sites of long-distance freight vehicles and then classify the stopping points into three different classes based on the break-taking duration. We then explore the relationship of the distribution of the break-taking frequency between the three single classifications and their combinations, on the basis of the break-taking duration distribution. We find that the combination is a Gaussian distribution when each of the three individual classes is a Gaussian distribution, contrasting with the power-law distribution of the break-taking duration. Then we experimental analysis the distribution of the break-taking durations and frequencies, and find that, for the durations, the three single classifications can be fitted individually by an Exponential distribution and together by a Power-law distribution, for the frequencies, both the three single classifications and together can be fitted by a Gaussian distribution,so that can validate the above theoretical analysis. Key words: break-taking behaviour, long-distance freight vehicle, statistical analysi

Los mecanismos de control interno en la ejecución presupuestal y su impacto en los resultados de gestión de los gobiernos regionales del Perú. Caso: sede central del gobierno regional Piura, Año 2015

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo general: Describir los mecanismos de control interno en la ejecución presupuestal y su impacto en los resultados de gestión de los gobiernos regionales del Perú-Caso: Sede Central del Gobierno Regional Piura, año 2015. El fundamento teórico de la investigación presenta como variable independiente el Control Interno y como variable dependiente la ejecución presupuestal. La población y muestra no es aplicable por ser un caso en estudio ubicado en la ciudad de Piura. La metodología fue de tipo descriptivo, nivel cualitativo, diseño No experimental, transeccional, descriptivo, bibliográfico, documental y de caso. Aplicando la técnica de la revisión bibliográfica y entrevista, y como instrumento de recolección de información el cuestionario pre estructurado con preguntas relacionadas a la investigación, aplicado la entidad materia de investigación, obteniéndose como resultado: Que se han aplicado mecanismos de control interno en la Sede Central del Gobierno Regional Piura en todas las áreas y/o sistemas administrativos; La aplicación de dichos mecanismos han contribuido a mejorar la asignación y ejecución de los recursos públicos del presupuesto asignado; Por ultimo han sido utilizados de manera óptima y eficiente de acuerdo con a la normatividad legal y directivas de control y presupuesto, para el logro de los resultados esperados y por ende el desarrollo social de nuestra región.Tesi

Understanding Flood Regime Changes in Europe: a state-of-the-art assessment

There is growing concern that flooding is becoming more frequent and severe in Europe. A better understanding of flood regime changes and their drivers is therefore needed. The paper reviews the current knowledge on flood regime changes in European rivers that has traditionally been obtained through two alternative research approaches. The first approach is the data-based detection of changes in observed flood events. Current methods are reviewed together with their challenges and opportunities. For example, observation biases, the merging of different data sources and accounting for nonlinear drivers and responses. The second approach consists of modelled scenarios of future floods. Challenges and opportunities associated with flood change scenarios are discussed such as fully accounting for uncertainties in the modelling cascade and feedbacks. To make progress in flood change research, we suggest that a synthesis of these two approaches is needed. This can be achieved by focusing on long duration records and flood-rich and flood-poor periods rather than on short duration flood trends only, by formally attributing causes of observed flood changes, by validating scenarios against observed flood regime dynamics, and by developing low-dimensional models of flood changes and feedbacks. The paper finishes with a call for a joint European flood change research network

Impact of Graft Tunnel Placement on Short-Term Clinical Outcome Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

\ua9 2025, Malaysian Orthopaedic Association. All rights reserved. Introduction: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are a common musculoskeletal injury often requiring anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Many factors are thought to influence patient outcome and determining the extent can allow for optimisation of patient care. One of these factors is graft tunnel placement, both femoral and tibial. The aim of this study was to investigate whether graft tunnel placement influences clinical outcome following ACLR. Materials and methods: The patient responses from six patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) at initial presentation and one year following ACLR, as well as demographic data at presentation, were collected. Graft tunnel placement was evaluated using 10 validated radiological measurements on antero-posterior and lateral radiographs following surgery. Results: A total of 45 patients were included in the study. There was a significant longitudinal improvement (p<0.001) for almost all PROM scores when comparing pre-operative to post-operative results. Overall, no significant correlation was demonstrated between graft tunnel placement and PROM scores, except for a weak association between femoral tunnel positioning on lateral view radiographs and the overall Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (rho=0.37, p=0.038) and the Lysholm score (rho=0.36, p=0.034) and also tibial tunnel placement on lateral view radiographs and the EQ-5D VAS score (rho=0.37, p=0.037). Conclusion: ACLR is a clinically successful treatment strategy for patients with symptomatic ACL tears. Graft tunnel positioning does not generally affect clinical outcomes, although there may be a weak association with femoral tunnel positioning on lateral radiographs

Land use change impacts on floods at the catchment scale: Challenges and opportunities for future research

Research gaps in understanding flood changes at the catchment scale caused by changes in forest management, agricultural practices, artificial drainage and terracing are identified. Potential strategies in addressing these gaps are proposed, such as complex systems approaches to link processes across time scales, long-term experiments on physical-chemical-biological process interactions, and a focus on connectivity and patterns across spatial scales. It is suggested that these strategies will stimulate new research that coherently addresses the issues across hydrology, soil and agricultural sciences, forest engineering, forest ecology and geomorphology

An agenda for the study of Public Administration in Developing Countries

Developing nations demand a different scholarly approach in the field of public administration. We advance an agenda for research that stands on four pillars. First, in the absence of easily accessible data scholars of developing world public administration must assemble it for themselves. Second, building and testing theory plays a paramount role because researchers face limited information. Third, in developing countries, multi‐national and non‐governmental organizations are often crucial and must be considered in studying public administration. Fourth, given the novelties and ambiguities researchers face, qualitative information must be integrated throughout the research process. Our article—and the articles in this volume—constitute a call for developing country research to contribute to the study of public administration writ large, informing our understanding of both developing and developed states.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162699/2/gove12520_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162699/1/gove12520.pd

Cultural Framing and the Impact On Acute Pain and Pain Services.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Optimal treatment requires a thorough understanding of all factors contributing to pain in the individual patient. In this review, we investigate the influence of cultural frameworks on pain experience and management. RECENT FINDINGS The loosely defined concept of culture in pain management integrates a predisposing set of diverse biological, psychological and social characteristics shared within a group. Cultural and ethnic background strongly influence the perception, manifestation, and management of pain. In addition, cultural, racial and ethnic differences continue to play a major role in the disparate treatment of acute pain. A holistic and culturally sensitive approach is likely to improve pain management outcomes, will better cover the needs of diverse patient populations and help reduce stigma and health disparities. Mainstays include awareness, self-awareness, appropriate communication, and training

Comparative assessment of predictions in ungauged basins – Part 1: Runoff-hydrograph studies

The objective of this assessment is to compare studies predicting runoff hydrographs in ungauged catchments. The aim is to learn from the differences and similarities between catchments in different locations, and to interpret the differences in performance in terms of the underlying climate and landscape controls. The assessment is performed at two levels. The Level 1 assessment is a meta-analysis of 34 studies reported in the literature involving 3874 catchments. The Level 2 assessment consists of a more focused and detailed analysis of individual basins from selected studies from Level 1 in terms of how the leave-one-out cross-validation performance depends on climate and catchment characteristics as well as on the chosen regionalisation method. The results indicate that runoff-hydrograph predictions in ungauged catchments tend to be more accurate in humid than in arid catchments and more accurate in large than in small catchments. The dependence of performance on elevation differs by regions and depends on how aridity varies with elevation and air temperature. The effect of the parameter regionalisation method on model performance differs between studies. However, there is a tendency towards a somewhat lower performance of regressions than other methods in those studies that apply different methods in the same region. In humid catchments spatial proximity and similarity methods perform best while in arid catchments similarity and parameter regression methods perform slightly better. For studies with a large number of catchments (dense stream gauge network) there is a tendency for spatial proximity and geostatistics to perform better than regression or regionalisation based on simple averaging of model parameters from gauged catchments. There was no clear relationship between predictive performance and the number of regionalised model parameters. The implications of the findings are discussed in the context of model building

Preparación comunitaria y organizativa contra el trabajo infantil en tres colegios de barrios periféricos de Lima (Perú)

Los centros educativos son un escenario medular de la vida comunitaria. En este artículo analizamos la preparación para la prevención del trabajo infantil en tres contextos comunitarios de Jicamarca y Villa El Salvador, en el entorno periurbano de Lima (Perú). Para ello comparamos las características organizativas y comunitarias de los colegios “Max Uhle”, “Peruano Suizo” y “NASSAE”, junto con el perfil psicológico de 151 niños de 4º y 5º de primaria participantes en el programa Edúcame Primero, Perú. El estudio de caso comparativo combinó la observación participante, entrevistas a 10 informantes clave y la aplicación de una batería de evaluación infantil con escalas de autoestima, autoeficacia, habilidades sociales y rendimiento académico. También se evaluó el clima social en cada centro y se obtuvieron indicadores de violencia escolar y violencia comunitaria. El colegio de mayor tamaño, con una estructura organizativa burocratizada, mostró los indicadores más negativos en rendimiento académico, habilidades sociales y percepción de violencia en la comunidad. También obtuvo la evaluación más baja en la preparación comunitaria contra el trabajo infantil. Este caso muestra la importancia de las dinámicas organizativas en el papel comunitario que ejerce el centro educativo. En la discusión destacamos la interacción entre los factores organizativos y las características de la comunidad como un indicador clave de la preparación para el cambio. Concretamente, el ajuste comunitario de las organizaciones educativas parece ser fundamental en la implementación efectiva de programas contra el trabajo infantil.Schools are a central scenario of community life. In this paper we analyze the preparation for the prevention of child labor in three community settings in Jicamarca and Villa El Salvador, in the suburban area of Lima (Peru). To do this we compare the community and organizational characteristics of three primary schools (“Max Uhle”, “Peruano Suizo” and “NASSAE”), along with the psychological profile of 151 children in 4th and 5th grade, participants in the Edúcame Primero, Perú Program. In a comparative case study we combined participant observation, and interviews with 10 key informants with the application of scales to assess self-esteem, self-efficacy, social skills and academic performance in children. Social climate as well as indicators of school and community violence was also obtained for each educative center. The largest school, with a bureaucratic organizational structure, showed the most negative indicators on academic achievement, social skills and awareness of violence in the community. It also obtained the lowest rating in community readiness against child labor. This case shows the importance of organizational dynamics in the community role played by the school. The discussion highlights the interaction between organizational factors and characteristics of the community as a key indicator of readiness for change. Community fit of educational organizations appears to be critical in the effective implementation of programs against child labor