Learning From Experience With Performance Assessment Frameworks for General Budget Support

This report provides the findings of a study financed by SECO and undertaken under the auspices of the OECD-DAC multi-country evaluation of General Budget Support (GBS). The overall objective was to gather preliminary lessons on what could be good international practice in the development\ud of Performance Assessment Frameworks (PAFs) for GBS. The study is based on the experience of three countries which have adopted harmonised PAFs – namely Ghana, Mozambique, and Tanzania, and two which are moving in this direction – Benin and Nicaragua. In order to assess the effectiveness of these PAFs, the study employed a simplified, standard framework reflecting the OECD-DAC guiding principles for the provision of budget support.\u

Marshall University Music Department Presents Music from the Age of Invention, The Maelzel Woodwind Quintet, performing on historical instruments from the early 19th century, Wendell Dobbs, flute, Richard Kravchak, oboe, Richard Spece, clarinet, Stephen Lawson, horn, Kay Lawson, bassoon

https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/1726/thumbnail.jp

Financial System Inquiry topical analysis

Summary This research paper describes the merit of developing a text analytics engine to index public submissions to the recent Financial System Inquiry (FSI). Public inquiries such as the FSI typically involve processing a substantial number of documents, with content that represents a diverse range of opinions. Managing the diverse authorship and viewpoints reflected in a body of submissions presents a unique challenge. This research demonstrates the use of automated topic analysis to enhance the productivity of panel members who are responsible for reading and analysing a large body of submission material. The result is a heat-map of topic exposure by submissions. Description Public policy development is often conducted via the process of a Public Inquiry involving the statement of a Terms of Reference, appointment of an Expert Panel and call for submissions from interested organisations and members of the public. The public input to a typical inquiry involves substantial textual content reflecting the diverse opinions of contributors. Managing large inventories of publicly submitted documents with diverse authorship and competing viewpoints is a challenging problem area. In this working paper, we describe research efforts to develop a proof-of-concept text analytics engine to assist topical indexing of a large corpus of public submissions to the recent Australian Financial Systems Inquiry (FSI). The methodology was based on topical analysis of the documents using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) as implemented within open source software based on the Python gensim package. This report details how the proof-of-concept text analytics pipeline was assembled and summarizes some of the key topic patterns of submissions by identified author affinity groups. Through use of the textual commentary of the Expert Panel during the course of the Inquiry, the topic analysis is constrained to focus on those matters deemed most relevant to their editorial input. Using this approach provides a means to introduce an “editorial prior” incorporating the stated views of the Expert Panel on their Interim Observations and their Final Recommendations. It is hoped that such methods might provide a means to sharpen understanding of the conversation expressed through the process of public submissions, commentary and second-round consultations

Unmasking Hidden Commercials in Broadcasting: Origins of the Sponsorship Identification Regulations, 1927-1963

This Article by Richard Kielbowicz and Linda Lawson is an exploration of the origins of sponsorship identification regulations as they pertained to early radio and television programming. Beginning with the statutory sponsorship identification requirement enacted in 1927, the Authors trace the development of sponsorship identification rules in the communications industry. By arguing that such rules express a basic goal of American communication law and policy, Kielbowicz and Lawson analyze trends and developments in sponsorship regulation that did not materialize in the 1930s and 1940s because of the nature of early broadcast sponsorship. The Authors then assert that those same early rules proved unexpectedly useful in dealing with a 1940s\u27 controversy over covert political promotions. Next, the piece reveals that the FCC failed to apply the rule to broadcast practices that had become commonplace in the 1950s, such as quiz show rigging, payola and plugola. The Article then analyzes the 1960 amendments to the Communications Act and examines the resulting rules, which unsuccessfully proposed extending the rules into broadcasters\u27 financial interests. Finally, the Authors conclude by analyzing the dynamics that produced the 1963 regulations

AN EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE FLORIDA COOPERATIVE'S SEASONAL PRICING PLAN ON SEASONAL PRODUCTION VARIABILITY

From 1993 - 1995, Florida dairy cooperatives implemented a seasonal pricing plan in an attempt to decrease the variability in seasonal production. Farmers that participated in the seasonal pricing plan were able to reduce seasonality in each year when compared to 1992 by as much as 20 percent. For farmers that did not participate, seasonality increased in each year by as much as 32 percent. Overall, the seasonal pricing plan was effective in reducing seasonality for those farmers that chose to participate in the plan and that its limited short-run success was the result of seasonality increases by non-participating farms.amplitude, seasonal pricing plan, seasonality, Livestock Production/Industries,

Application of digital particle image velocimetry to insect aerodynamics: measurement of the leading-edge vortex and near wake of a Hawkmoth.

Some insects use leading-edge vortices to generate high lift forces, as has been inferred from qualitative smoke visualisations of the flow around their wings. Here we present the first Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) data and quantitative analysis of an insect’s leading-edge vortex and near wake at two flight speeds. This allows us to describe objectively 2D slices through the flow field of a tethered Tobacco Hawkmoth (Manduca sexta). The near-field vortex wake appears to braodly resemble elliptical vortex loops. The presence of a leading-edge vortex towards the end of the downstroke is found to coincide with peak upward force production measured by a six-component force–moment balance. The topology of Manduca’s leading-edge vortex differs from that previously described because late in the downstroke, the structure extends continuously from wingtip across the thorax to the other wingtip

Microevolution in Island Water Snakes

Examples presented demonstrate that evolutionary outcomes depend not only on those processes that operate within populations(e,g.,selection) but also on interactions (via gene flow) among populations. Factors affecting rates of gene flow are likely to produce evolutionary change even when within-population processes remain constant. These examples also illustrate that the combined effects of selection and gene flow are not restricted to organisms found on islands like those in western Lake Erie but may be important in any organism whose distribution spans a range of habitat types. As human activities produce changes in habitat characteristics and distribution (e.g., by fragmenting formerly continuous habitats), changes in selection regimes and rates of gene flow may produce microevolutionary changes in other organisms that mirror those seen in island water snakes