Three Steps Towards More Effective Development Assistance

There are three steps New Zealand can take to make its bilateral development assistance more effective in reducing poverty. These steps are ‘easy’ because they are unilateral: they improve the effectiveness of development assistance without requiring changes in the politics or policies of developing countries. By far the most important of these three steps is to focus New Zealand’s bilateral aid on those poor countries that are democracies pursing policies of market-led growth. One of the major findings of recent research is that development aid only reinforces what is already there. New Zealand should accept the developing countries as it finds them and pick and choose so that it helps those already helping themselves.aid effectiveness, autocracy, democracy, development, New Zealand

A Binary Neural Shape Matcher using Johnson Counters and Chain Codes

In this paper, we introduce a neural network-based shape matching algorithm that uses Johnson Counter codes coupled with chain codes. Shape matching is a fundamental requirement in content-based image retrieval systems. Chain codes describe shapes using sequences of numbers. They are simple and flexible. We couple this power with the efficiency and flexibility of a binary associative-memory neural network. We focus on the implementation details of the algorithm when it is constructed using the neural network. We demonstrate how the binary associative-memory neural network can index and match chain codes where the chain code elements are represented by Johnson codes

Mixed Bag: Simulating Market-Based Instruments for Water Quality and Quantity in the Upper Waikato

We designed and implemented participatory computer simulations in three workshops in New Zealand's Upper Waikato catchment to learn how market-based instruments (MBIs) might improve freshwater outcomes when managing water and land resources within limits. An Excel-based platform was built to simulate, in stakeholder workshops, the use of transferable permits and user charges for both water quantity and water quality in the Upper Waikato catchment. Each participant managed a hypothetical property in a simplified catchment that included seven farms, a pulp mill, district council, and a hydro - electric company. Based on profit schedules and policy settings, participants made choices about production intensity, land use change and trading of water and/or nutrient allowances. The simulations highlighted the social and cultural context in which MBIs must operate, and how that context influences the outcomes that we can expect from MBIs. Participants found the simulations to be a valuable learning experience

Sovereign Net Worth: An Analytical Framework

The Fiscal Responsibility Act requires the Crown to articulate targets for a series of fiscal variables, including net worth. Given the dramatic improvement in the fiscal position in recent years, a critical policy question relates to how (and which) measures of Crown net worth should be targeted. This paper sets out a framework for targeting Crown net worth. It does so by supplementing the GAAP-based measure with forward-looking information about spending and tax revenue. The paper argues that targeting net worth for the Crown requires the estimation of a path, rather than a static level.

The first high-resolution observations of 37.7-, 38.3- and 38.5-GHz methanol masers

We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to undertake the first high angular resolution observations of 37.7-GHz ($7_{-2} - 8_{-1}E$) methanol masers towards a sample of eleven high-mass star formation regions which host strong 6.7-GHz methanol masers. The 37.7-GHz methanol sites are coincident to within the astrometric uncertainty (0.4 arcseconds) with the 6.7-GHz methanol masers associated with the same star formation region. However, spatial and spectral comparison of the 6.7- and 37.7-GHz maser emission within individual sources shows that the 37.7-GHz masers are less often, or to a lesser degree co-spatial than are the 12.2-GHz and 6.7-GHz masers. We also made sensitive, high angular resolution observations of the 38.3- and 38.5-GHz class II methanol transitions ($6_{2} - 5_{3}A^{-}$ and $6_{2} - 5_{3}A^{+}$, respectively) and the 36.2-GHz ($4_{-1} - 3_{0}E$) class I methanol transition towards the same sample of eleven sources. The 37.7-, 38.3- and 38.5-GHz methanol masers are unresolved in the current observations, which implies a lower limit on the brightness temperature of the strongest masers of more than $10^6$K. We detected the 38.3-GHz methanol transition towards 7 sources, 5 of which are new detections and detected the 38.5-GHz transition towards 6 sources, 4 of which are new detections. We detected 36.2-GHz class I methanol masers towards all eleven sources, 6 of these are new detections for this transition, of which 4 sources do not have previously reported class I methanol masers from any transition.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 34 pages, 20 figure

Study of the Wall Thermal Condition Effect in a Lean-Premixed Downscaled Can Combustor Using Large-Eddy Simulation

The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of LES, with a turbulent combustion model based on steady flamelets, to predict the flame stabilization mechanisms in an industrial can combustor at full load conditions. The test case corresponds to the downscaled Siemens can combustor tested in the high pressure rig at the DLR. The effects of the wall temperature on the prediction capabilities of the codes is investigated by imposing several heat transfer conditions at the pilot and chamber walls. The codes used for this work are Alya and OpenFOAM, which are well established CFD codes in the fluid mechanics community. Prior to the simulation, results for 1-D laminar flames at the operating conditions of the combustor are compared with the detailed solutions. Subsequently, results from both codes at the mid-plane are compared against the experimental data available. Acceptable results are obtained for the axial velocity, while discrepancies are more evident for the mixture fraction and the temperature, particularly with Alya. However, both codes showed that the heat losses influence the size and length of the pilot and main flame.The research leading to these results has received funding through the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7, 2007-2013) under the grant agreement No. FP7-290042 for the project COPA-GT and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020) and from Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation through Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP) under the HPC4E Project, grant agreement No. 689772. The authors thankfully acknowledge the computer resources, technical expertise and assistance provided by the Red Española de Supercomputación (RES).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft