Contrasting and explaining purposeful and legitimizing uses of performance information: a mayor’s perspective

This study looks at purposeful and legitimizing types of performance information use in local governments. Drawing on a survey of Austrian mayors who are at the politico-administrative apex of local government, the paper shows that purposeful and legitimizing uses of performance information coexist, but they appear to be negatively associated. In exploring the contextual and organizational conditions under which legitimizing uses prevail over purposeful ones, the analysis shows that oversight (coercive) and political (normative) pressures, hierarchical culture, and low-performance information availability foster the dominance of the legitimizing use type over the purposeful one

Heritage: the priceless hostage of accrual accounting

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how the convergence of private and public sector accounting standards is affecting conceptual and practical issues relating to heritage. More specifically, the paper is intended to provide a better understanding of the state of the art in national and international accounting standards on heritage assets, and of the views influencing such standards. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative documentary analysis is carried out to explore the variety of existing positions and views on heritage, ranging from the scholarly literature, through potential stakeholders and users, to international and national standard setters. Findings: The analysis shows that the path of convergence between public and private sector standards and practices is still problematic. After more than two decades of debate around the nature, definition, measurement, and reporting of heritage, these issues are far from settled. Research limitations/implications: In the light of calls for increased measurement and reporting of public sector “assets”, and specifically for the definition of standards to recognise heritage, the paper suggests the need to strongly reconsider whether the convergence between public and private sector standards is desirable, feasible and effective. As such, the risks of embracing simplified or hybrid forms of accounting and reporting for heritage should be more seriously assessed. While reporting on heritage is important, it is fundamental to keep it distinct from reporting on government’s regular operations, in order to appreciate its specific value, nature and features. Originality/value: Looking at European national standards for heritage, the IPSASB’s proposals, and the reactions to the latter by relevant stakeholders, the paper provides a pluralistic view on the positions and experiences about heritage, contributing to the debate on the convergence between private and public sector accounting standards

Implementació d'un middleware per gestionar xarxes Adhoc basades en IP's

La idea principal d’aquest projecte és implementar un middleware que ens permeti gestionar un tipus de xarxes sense fils, concretament xarxes Ad-Hoc. L’objectiu final és desenvolupar una aplicació que actuï de DNS.La programació de l’aplicació es durà a terme mitjançant el llenguatge Java a través de l’aplicació Eclipse, i per això s’han hagut d’estudiar les diverses eines que Java ens aporta. Concretament, la comunicació entre màquines es basa en l’ús de Sockets UDP. També s’utilitza Java SWT per fer la petita interfície gràfica que ajudarà a que l’aplicació sigui més amigable per l’usuari. Finalment, s’ha programat una petita aplicació, com l’intercanvi de missatgeria, perquè els usuaris puguin establir una comunicació entre ells, aprofitant la xarxa que s’ha creat

Implementació d'un middleware per gestionar xarxes Adhoc basades en IP's

La idea principal d’aquest projecte és implementar un middleware que ens permeti gestionar un tipus de xarxes sense fils, concretament xarxes Ad-Hoc. L’objectiu final és desenvolupar una aplicació que actuï de DNS.La programació de l’aplicació es durà a terme mitjançant el llenguatge Java a través de l’aplicació Eclipse, i per això s’han hagut d’estudiar les diverses eines que Java ens aporta. Concretament, la comunicació entre màquines es basa en l’ús de Sockets UDP. També s’utilitza Java SWT per fer la petita interfície gràfica que ajudarà a que l’aplicació sigui més amigable per l’usuari. Finalment, s’ha programat una petita aplicació, com l’intercanvi de missatgeria, perquè els usuaris puguin establir una comunicació entre ells, aprofitant la xarxa que s’ha creat

MBM 12: young protoplanetary discs at high galactic latitude

(abridged) We present Spitzer infrared observations to constrain disc and dust evolution in young T Tauri stars in MBM 12, a star-forming cloud at high latitude with an age of 2 Myr and a distance of 275 pc. The region contains 12 T Tauri systems, with primary spectral types between K3 and M6; 5 are weak-line and the rest classical T Tauri stars. We first use MIPS and literature photometry to compile spectral energy distributions for each of the 12 members in MBM 12, and derive their IR excesses. The IRS spectra are analysed with the newly developed two-layer temperature distribution (TLTD) spectral decomposition method. For the 7 T Tauri stars with a detected IR excess, we analyse their solid-state features to derive dust properties such as mass-averaged grain size, composition and crystallinity. We find a spatial gradient in the forsterite to enstatite range, with more enstatite present in the warmer regions. The fact that we see a radial dependence of the dust properties indicates that radial mixing is not very efficient in the discs of these young T Tauri stars. The SED analysis shows that the discs in MBM 12, in general, undergo rapid inner disc clearing, while the binary sources have faster discevolution. The dust grains seem to evolve independently from the stellar properties, but are mildly related to disc properties such as flaring and accretion rates.Comment: 14 pages, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic

Impact of grain evolution on the chemical structure of protoplanetary disks

We study the impact of dust evolution in a protoplanetary disk around a T Tauri star on the disk chemical composition. For the first time we utilize a comprehensive model of dust evolution which includes growth, fragmentation and sedimentation. Specific attention is paid to the influence of grain evolution on the penetration of the UV field in the disk. A chemical model that includes a comprehensive set of gas phase and grain surface chemical reactions is used to simulate the chemical structure of the disk. The main effect of the grain evolution on the disk chemical composition comes from sedimentation, and, to a lesser degree, from the reduction of the total grain surface area. The net effect of grain growth is suppressed by the fragmentation process which maintains a population of small grains, dominating the total grain surface area. We consider three models of dust properties. In model GS both growth and sedimentation are taken into account. In models A5 and A4 all grains are assumed to have the same size (10(-5) cm and 10(-4) cm, respectively) with constant gas-to-dust mass ratio of 100. Like in previous studies, the "three-layer" pattern (midplane, molecular layer, hot atmosphere) in the disk chemical structure is preserved in all models, but shifted closer to the midplane in models with increased grain size (GS and A4). Unlike other similar studies, we find that in models GS and A4 column densities of most gas-phase species are enhanced by 1-3 orders of magnitude relative to those in a model with pristine dust (A5), while column densities of their surface counterparts are decreased. We show that column densities of certain species, like C2H, HC(2n+1)N (n=0-3), H2O and some other molecules, as well as the C2H2/HCN abundance ratio which are accessible with Herschel and ALMA can be used as observational tracers of early stages of the grain evolution process in protoplanetary disks.Comment: 50 pages, 4 tables, 11 figures, accepted to the Ap

A Spitzer IRS Survey of NGC 1333: Insights into disk evolution from a very young cluster

We report on the {\lambda} = 5-36{\mu}m Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph spectra of 79 young stellar objects in the very young nearby cluster NGC 1333. NGC 1333's youth enables the study of early protoplanetary disk properties, such as the degree of settling as well as the formation of gaps and clearings. We construct spectral energy distributions (SEDs) using our IRS data as well as published photometry and classify our sample into SED classes. Using "extinction-free" spectral indices, we determine whether the disk, envelope, or photosphere dominates the spectrum. We analyze the dereddened spectra of objects which show disk dominated emission using spectral indices and properties of silicate features in order to study the vertical and radial structure of protoplanetary disks in NGC 1333. At least nine objects in our sample of NGC 1333 show signs of large (several AU) radial gaps or clearings in their inner disk. Disks with radial gaps in NGC 1333 show more-nearly pristine silicate dust than their radially continuous counterparts. We compare properties of disks in NGC 1333 to those in three other well studied regions, Taurus-Auriga, Ophiuchus and Chamaeleon I, and find no difference in their degree of sedimentation and dust processing.Comment: 67 pages, 20 figures, accepted to The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

Gastrointestinal Tract Malrotation: Etiology and Risk Factors

Malrotation is a congenital abnormal position of the intestine within the peritoneal cavity and usually involves the small intestine and large intestine. Intestinal malrotation occurs at a rate of 1 in 500 live births. Male predominance was present in neonates with a male-to-female ratio of 2:1. Up to 40% of patients with malrotation present within the first week of life, 50% up to one month of age and 75% by one year of age. Purpose: To determine the etiology and risk factors for gastrointestinal tract malrotation. Conclusion: Malrotation is a congenital abnormal position of the intestine within the peritoneal cavity and usually involves the small intestine and large intestine. Gastrointestinal (GI) malrotation, sometimes referred to as incomplete rotation or non- rotation of the bowel, is any deviation from the physiological rotation and/or fixation of the GI tract during embryonic development. During the development of the GI tract, the 3 parts of the tract, namely the foregut, middle, and hindgut, usually protrude from the abdominal cavity and undergo a counterclockwise rotation of 270 degrees. Basically, rotational and fixation anomalies are caused by failure of various embryological stages. Clinical manifestations are divided into 4, namely Midgu Volvulus, Intestinal Obstruction, Gasroschisis, and Omphalocele. The main management of intestinal malrotation is a surgical procedure. Other therapies are given to stabilize the patient and are supportive

Mid-Infrared Variability of protostars in IC 1396A

We have used Spitzer/IRAC to conduct a photometric monitoring program of the IC1396A dark globule in order to study the mid-IR (3.6 - 8 micron) variability of the heavily embedded Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) present in that area. We obtained light curves covering a 14 day timespan with a twice daily cadence for 69 YSOs, and continuous light curves with approximately 12 second cadence over 7 hours for 38 YSOs. Typical accuracies for our relative photometry were 1-2% for the long timespan data and a few mmag, corresponding to less than 0.5%, for the 7 hour continuous "staring-mode" data. More than half of the YSOs showed detectable variability, with amplitudes from ~0.05 mag to ~0.2 mag. About thirty percent of the YSOs showed quasi-sinusoidal light curve shapes with apparent periods from 5-12 days and light curve amplitudes approximately independent of wavelength over the IRAC bandpasses. We have constructed models which simulate the time dependent spectral energy distributions of Class I and I I YSOs in order to attempt to explain these light curves. Based on these models, the apparently periodic light curves are best explained by YSO models where one or two high latitude photospheric spots heat the inner wall of the circumstellar disk, and where we view the disk at fairly large inclination angle. Disk inhomogeneities, such as increasing the height where the accretion funnel flows to the stellar hotspot, enhances the light curve modulations. The other YSOs in our sample show a range of light curve shapes, some of which are probably due to varying accretion rate or disk shadowing events. One star, IC1396A-47, shows a 3.5 hour periodic light curve; this object may be a PMS Delta Scuti star