The Discussion of Theory and Practice on Decentralization and Service Delivery

In recent years, the responsibility of service delivery has strategically shifted from the central government to the most localised public sectors. Decentralization implies that a sub-national level government can choose between different measures and adapt service delivery to local circumstances or the characteristics of individual service recipients. Various governments around the world have started decentralization based on the principle of selfgovernance. It has many successes and has become a method of choice for people to get closer to goods and services. In addition, most governments have decided to use decentralization to empower the local population for political, economic, social, management, administration, and technology. As a result, local people can participate in the planning and management of development processes and decision-making. The specific objective of this paper is to discuss the relationship between decentralization and service delivery and is primarily based on literature review. Many governments have recognized the use of decentralization models based on their economic, political, cultural, and geographical factors, and decentralization could be understood as a process of expanding the role of sub-national governments. Every central government has to perform nationally-recognized functions. But sub-national level governments need to provide services and make decisions that are specific to their own affairs. Therefore, the decentralized structure plays a huge role in the administration and development of a country

Performance of Decentralized Local Service Delivery in Developed Countries: Case Study of Japan

Many countries decentralize the administrative, fiscal, and political functions of the central government to lower-level governments. In many developing and developed countries, governments and their policymakers have used decentralization as a means of improving the delivery of local service. Accordingly, this study is based on the delivery of local services to the people by the local governments of Japan as a developed country. The overall objective of this article is to review the performance of decentralized local service delivery in developed countries and based on a case study of Japan. The study also aims to examine the correlation between the revenue and expenditure of local governments of Japan and its trends. Basically, this article has been written based on secondary data materials. This data consists of qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Hence, a qualitative and quantitative descriptive method has been applied to analyse the performance of local government decentralization in Japan, and descriptive statistical methods are used to analyse the data and the correlation between revenue and expenditure. The problem in this research is how the functional political institutions created for local service delivery at the sub-national governments in Japan affects the success of decentralization. This research revealed several findings. The local governments of Japan have a sound institutional system and several powers recognized by the constitution. Japanese local governments monitor over 70% of national works, but a majority of the standard public services are the responsibility of local governments. Karl Pearson’s correlation value of revenue and expenditure is 0.979, and there is a strong positive relationship between revenues and expenditure. In Japan, the highest value of local government spending is on public welfare. It is followed by education, civil engineering works, and general administration, second, third, and fourth, respectively. Also, its central and local administrative institutions are maintained in a mutually dependent and mutually complementary relationship. Most of the local governments are collaborating with the private sector in Japan. As a result, the efficiency of service delivery has improved at the local level. In this way, waste management, which is a major local problem in Japan, is being dealt with closely by the central government and the local governments.&nbsp

Batch solution of small PDEs with the OPS DSL

In this paper we discuss the challenges and optimisations opportunities when solving a large number of small, equally sized discretised PDEs on regular grids. We present an extension of the OPS (Oxford Parallel library for Structured meshes) embedded Domain Specific Language, and show how support can be added for solving multiple systems, and how OPS makes it easy to deploy a variety of transformations and optimisations. The new capabilities in OPS allow to automatically apply data structure transformations, as well as execution schedule transformations to deliver high performance on a variety of hardware platforms. We evaluate our work on an industrially representative finance simulation on Intel CPUs, as well as NVIDIA GPUs

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Exploring the role of individual level and firm level dynamic capabilities in SMEs’ internationalization

This paper presents a multi-level model that examines the impact of dynamic capabilities on the internationalization of SMEs while taking into account the interactions among them. The purpose of the research is to understand the applicability of dynamic capabilities at the individual and the firm level to the SME internationalization process in developing country context and to assess to what extent a firm’s asset position and individual level dynamic capabilities influence the generation of firm level dynamic capabilities in SMEs. First, the dynamic capabilities theory was theoretically linked to the internationalization phenomenon. The relationships among firm-level dynamic capabilities, individual-level dynamic capabilities (owner specific dynamic capabilities), and internationalization were identified. The research framework and hypotheses were developed and empirically tested with 197 SMEs. The findings established that owner-specific dynamic capabilities have a positive influence on both firm dynamic capabilities and internationalization, and firm dynamic capabilities positively influence internationalization. It was also found that the market assets position measured as perceptual environmental dynamism positively influenced firm dynamic capabilities but structural and reputational asset positions of SMEs did not influence generation of firm dynamic capabilities. Moreover, firm dynamic capabilities had a mediation effect in the relationship between owner-specific dynamic capabilities and internationalization. Theoretically, this confirms the relevance of dynamic capability theory to internationalization and the possibility of integrating existing internationalization theories. Entrepreneurs, SME managers, and policy-makers could gain valuable insights on how entrepreneur and firm capabilities lead to better international prospects from this outcome

Application of saturated core fault current limiters to interconnected distribution networks

There is an increasing need for electricity utilities to limit fault levels in critical locations in power systems so that existing switchgear can continue to function as expected. This is particularly true in electrical distribution systems, where the increased penetration of renewable and decentralised generation is forcing the network to be highly interconnected in order to allow for higher integration capacity and reliable operation. Consequently, the short-circuit currents in distribution systems have increased significantly. In this background, application of fault current limiting devices is one of the solutions that is being considered by the Distribution Network Service Providers (DNSPs). A saturated core Fault Current Limiter (FCL) is one such device that can be used in existing and future electrical distribution systems to reduce the fault currents to a manageable level. This paper presents the potential performance of a saturated core FCL, in an interconnected 11kV test system, utilising a new comprehensive time-domain model to represent the FCL. PSCAD/EMTDC studies and numerical fault analysis are carried out to simulate the efficacy of an FCL when placed on a bus-Tie of a looped circuit. The effect of the bus-Tie FCL impedance on the network impedance and the subsequent fault current contributions is investigated. It is demonstrated that in a circuit with complex interconnections, suppression of fault currents need multiple FCLs in critical feeders

The Impact of incentives and regulatory regimes on changing customer behavior : a study based on the Power Utility Customer Segments in Sri Lanka

This study aims to develop a scientific model to ascertain the impact of incentives, regulatory regimes, and new technology products on the behavior of different customer segments of the electricity market, in order to conserve energy and address the current problem of peak power deficit in Sri Lankan electricity secto

Mediating effect of consumer behavior on the intention of self generation and energy conservation in Sri Lanka

This paper explores the mediating effect of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control of consumers on running their generators under the selfgeneration scheme of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). 300 self-generating consumers in Colombo and Kalutara districts were investigated by means of structured questionnaire interviews to ascertain the nature of the issues prevailing with respect to the different incentive schemes introduced by the CEB. The data analysis was carried out using the Structural Equations Modeling technique available in AMOS 25 software package. The findings show that the bulk supply consumers who possess standby and prime power generators were found to be not financially strong to fully operate, the existing equipment too old and having poor performance, lack of fuel storage capacities at sites, environmental issues, lack of firm power to cover entire organization with available resources, high cost of generator spare parts, services and maintenance, lack of trained staff and bad previous experience on given incentive schemes etc. However, 70% of generator owners stated that the financial grant offered by the utility is insufficient to run their own generators whilst 33% of them do not possess the prime power to cater their total demand 24% of industrial consumers want CEB to hire a generator for them to operate during power outages considering the poor incentive level. At the same time, 47% of consumers expected a financial grant or possib e incentive to be paid in advance in order to relieve them from the additiona financial burden coming to their core business