Enterprise Behavior and Privatization of the Large Enterprises in the Russian Federation

The Economic Transition and Integration (ETI) Project at IIASA has built on the institute's tradition of promoting collaborative research between East and West. The ETI Project's proven ability in dealing with issues pertaining to the transformation from central planning to market economics has been valuable for policy-makers and scientists alike. As a result, the government of the Russian Federation turned in 1992 to the ETI Project to organize a series of seminars and provide reports on topics of concern to the government. The Ford Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts have generously provided financial support for the seminar series. This report summarizes the contributions of participants at two related seminars held at the request of the Russian government at IIASA in the summer of 1993: Enterprise Behavior under Conditions of Economic Reform and Privatization of Large State Enterprises, both in the Russian Federation. Enterprise behavior, particularly of the large state enterprises that continue to dominate the Russian industrial and service sectors, is a crucial factor determining the success of economic reform. Somewhat surprisingly, the changing economic conditions have as yet to be accompanied by similarly sweeping alterations in firm behavior. The first of the two summer seminars focussed on why and how managerial attitudes and objectives, enterprise relationships, financial issues and taxation, foreign trade, and social welfare were significant in explaining present trends in enterprise behavior. Seminar participants searched out alternatives that would make these factors more conducive to promoting economic recovery and growth, and also compared the behavior of Russian enterprises with experiences in Poland and the Czech Republic. Privatization of large state enterprises is an integral part of the Russian economic transition. Vice Premier Anatoly Chubais opened the second workshop by reviewing the economic and political history of Russian privatization efforts, summarizing recent developments, and outlining future plans. Potential and actual privatization influence managers' and firms' behavior before and after the process is undertaken. Further discussions were devoted to the legal and institutional environment, the restructuring and privatization interface, and a review of privatization techniques and experiences from Central and Eastern Europe. Once again, the seminar revealed an intense willingness of experts from Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the West to share their valuable experiences in an effort to find approaches to more optimally encourage the successful transition to a market economy

2010 CGIAR Financing Plan: TMT Recommendations to the ExCo 17

This is a draft paper of the TMT recommendations based on information provided by the Centers for the purpose of consultation with the Alliance and the donors. The draft was circulated to the Centers and received excellent comments. It will be discussed further at the dialogue of the Alliance and the donors on Nov 2, 2009 in Rome, and revised after the ExCo 17 meeting. This document was discussed at ExCo17

A longitudinal, observational study examining the relationships of patient satisfaction with services and mental well-being to their clinical course in young people with Type 1 diabetes mellitus during transition from child to adult health services

AIM: We hypothesized that participant well-being and satisfaction with services would be positively associated with a satisfactory clinical course during transition from child to adult health care. METHODS: Some 150 young people with Type 1 diabetes mellitus from five diabetes units in England were recruited to a longitudinal study of transition. Each young person was visited at home four times by a research assistant; each visit was 1 year apart. Satisfaction with services (Mind the Gap; MTG) and mental well-being (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale; WEMWBS) were captured. Change in HbA1c , episodes of ketoacidosis, clinic and retinal screening attendance were used to assess clinical course. In total, 108 of 150 (72%) young people had sufficient data for analysis at visit 4. RESULTS: Mean age at entry was 16 years. By visit 4, 81.5% had left paediatric healthcare services. Median HbA1c increased significantly (P = 0.01) from 69 mmol/mol (8.5%) at baseline to 75 mmol/mol (9.0%) at visit 4. WEMWBS scores were comparable with those in the general population at baseline and were stable over the study period. MTG scores were also stable. By visit 4, some 32 individuals had a 'satisfactory' and 76 a 'suboptimal' clinical course. There were no significant differences in average WEMWBS and MTG scores between the clinical course groups (P = 0.96, 0.52 respectively); nor was there a significant difference in transfer status between the clinical course groups. CONCLUSIONS: The well-being of young people with diabetes and their satisfaction with transition services are not closely related to their clinical course. Investigating whether innovative psycho-educational interventions can improve the clinical course is a research priority

NPN 9 GHz wideband transistor

excellent reliability

The critical exponents of the two-dimensional Ising spin glass revisited: Exact Ground State Calculations and Monte Carlo Simulations

The critical exponents for $T\to0$ of the two-dimensional Ising spin glass model with Gaussian couplings are determined with the help of exact ground states for system sizes up to $L=50$ and by a Monte Carlo study of a pseudo-ferromagnetic order parameter. We obtain: for the stiffness exponent $y(=\theta)=-0.281\pm0.002$, for the magnetic exponent $\delta=1.48 \pm 0.01$ and for the chaos exponent $\zeta=1.05\pm0.05$. From Monte Carlo simulations we get the thermal exponent $\nu=3.6\pm0.2$. The scaling prediction $y=-1/\nu$ is fulfilled within the error bars, whereas there is a disagreement with the relation $y=1-\delta$.Comment: 8 pages RevTeX, 7 eps-figures include

How well do services for young people with long term conditions deliver features proposed to improve transition?

Background - For young people with long-term conditions, transition from child to adult-oriented health services is a critical period which, if not managed well, may lead to poor outcomes. There are features of transition services which guidance and research suggest improve outcomes. We studied nine such features, calling them ‘proposed beneficial features’: age-banded clinic; meet adult team before transfer; promotion of health self-efficacy; written transition plan; appropriate parent involvement; key worker; coordinated team; holistic life-skills training; transition manager for clinical team. We aimed to describe the extent to which service providers offer these nine features, and to compare this with young people’s reported experience of them. Methods - A longitudinal, mixed methods study followed 374 young people as their care moved from child to adult health services. Participants had type 1 diabetes, cerebral palsy or autism spectrum disorder with additional mental health difficulties. Data are reported from the first two visits, one year apart. Results - Three hundred four (81.3%) of the young people took part in the second visit (128 with diabetes, 91 with autism, 85 with cerebral palsy). Overall, the nine proposed beneficial features of transition services were poorly provided. Fewer than half of services stated they provided an age-banded clinic, written transition plan, transition manager for clinical team, a protocol for promotion of health self-efficacy, or holistic life-skills training. To varying degrees, young people reported that they had not experienced the features which services said they provided. For instance, the agreement for written transition plan, holistic life-skills training and key worker, was 30, 43 and 49% respectively. Agreement was better for appropriate parent involvement, age-banded clinic, promotion of health self-efficacy and coordinated team at 77, 77, 80 and 69% respectively. Variation in the meaning of the features as experienced by young people and families was evident from qualitative interviews and observations. Conclusions - UK services provide only some of the nine proposed beneficial features for supporting healthcare transition of young people with long term conditions. Observational studies or trials which examine the influence of features of transition services on outcomes should ensure that the experiences of young people and families are captured, and not rely on service specifications