The management of a policy implementation project: the disastrous Gauteng Mental Health Marathon Project

The widely reported disastrous Gauteng Mental Health Marathon Project caused the deaths of about 144 vulnerable individuals. The purpose of this contribution is to make sense of the latter by providing a chronological reconstruction of the main series of events. This is followed by a selection of the most appropriate theoretical lenses for identifying those implausible events and for comprehensively redrafting this narrative to gain understanding. The sensemaking approach was selected for the simplicity in guiding the sense-maker with naïve questions through the messy field of discrepancies. With this disastrous policy implementation project study in mind, we have asked: “Why do policy implementation projects become disastrous?” and “How can policy implementation projects be vision aligned?” As this specific case of policy implementation projects has been intensively and widely scrutinised in the public domain, we have relied nearly exclusively on publicly available material. In doing so, researchers acknowledge that there are numerous other perspectives and stories that we have not sourced and analysed. For the purpose of this sensemaking process, three interrelated lenses were used, namely the policy regime lens, the policy commitment lens and the political-administrative interface lens. However, we acknowledge that our selection and use of these theoretical lenses are not entirely exhaustive and adequate. This study has found that the all-inclusive national healthcare policy regime has been attenuated by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) to the exclusion of the national policy intent and the wide variety of legitimate healthcare stakeholders. We have argued that the behaviour of the GDoH in this saga can be attributed, inter alia, to the situational theory of policy commitment. Furthermore, the study found that the relationship between the political office bearer and the Head of Department (HoD) in our case, was not at all equal and complementary; the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) overstepped in the sphere of public administration, while the HoD did not sufficiently execute his legal authority as accounting officer. Lastly, it was found that the operational project management process focused almost exclusively on removing the mental healthcare users from the Life Healthcare Esidimeni facilities before 30 June 2016, without evidence that those facilities to which they were transferred, would constitute the envisaged improved mental healthcare for them. This case study has shown that it is possible through retrospective sensemaking to creatively rectify the errors of the past and replace them with an envisaged future storyline.European UnionPublic Administration and Managemen

Meaningful knowledge about public administration: Epistemological and methodological antecedents

While scientific knowledge has become valuable in creating national and global policies, the influence of Public Administration knowledge may be perceived as limited and thus not meaningful. This study aimed to understand the epistemological and methodological antecedents for meaningful knowledge about public administration. It departed from two assumptions, namely that of a social ontology of a complex, emerging and socially constructed public administration reality, and that of the co-situatedness of scholars, administrators, politicians and citizens in the public administration reality. The current study has shown that a situated knowledge quest for this reality implies, firstly, an extended epistemology to recognize and consider all forms of tangible and non-tangible knowledge about public administration within relevant contexts. Secondly, it implies an interscience methodology drawing from multi- and transdisciplinary traditions for comprehensive knowledge about public administration within relevant contexts. Meaningful knowledge about public administration can influence public policy only if (a) it is consistent with the social ontology of this reality, (b) it is of value for the situated and interconnected knowledge stakeholders, (c) this emerging, irreducible and complex reality is explored through an extended epistemology, and (d) results from a methodology of interscience and complex thinking.n.a.Public Administration and Managemen

Risk management in higher education: An open distance learning perspective

This article contributes to the continuing scholarly discourse on risk and risk management within the context of higher education institutions by reporting on a qualitative assessment of the appropriateness of the risk management framework of a selected open distance learning institution. The assessment is based on a single instrumental case study of an open distance learning institution. The assessment was undertaken by conducting a qualitative content analysis of the institution’s enterprise risk management framework document. For the purpose of this analysis, two reading strategies were followed, namely the reproductive (literal) and hermeneutic reading strategies. This article’s unique contribution to the scholarly discourse is to apply a conceptual framework derived from the work by Tufano (2011) providing trustworthy evidence that the critique by Leitch’s (2010) on the ISO 31000:2009 standard does not necessarily have an empirical sound foundation. The research has indicated that an enterprise risk management framework meeting the ISO 31000:2009 standard, is not only appropriate for a risk imbedded open distance higher education institution such as the selected institution, but has the potential to contribute signifi cantly to the enhancement of the institution’s mission, strategic goals and objectives within an astringent national regulatory and funding context and an ever-changing international higher education landscape.Public Administration and Managemen

Continuous, response-based road roughness measurements utilising data harvested from telematics device sensors

Roads need to be continuously monitored and maintained to ensure that they offer a driving surface that effectively address the safety and comfort needs of road users. Well maintained roads are also vital for freight transport companies, assisting with minimising vehicle and goods damage that can occur during transportation. Vehicle telematics is technology that is advancing in terms of complexity, diversity and data volume. Hundreds of thousands of these devices are installed in vehicles throughout South Africa and worldwide. The technology is predominantly used for the recovery of hijacked or stolen vehicles, driver behavioural insurance and monitoring and management of vehicle fleets. This paper demonstrates that vehicle telematics provides additional potential in terms of estimating road roughness (similar to a Class 3 level). This is demonstrated by utilising the global positioning system (time, latitude, longitude and speed) and vertical (z) acceleration data harvested from telematics device sensors. Road roughness data obtained from telematics technology can be used as ‘screening’ devices to measure road roughness on a real-time basis. It can also help close the gap between Class 1, Class 2 and Class 4 road roughness measurements.The University of Pretoriahttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gpav202019-06-18hj2019Civil Engineerin

Telematics-based technology and the development of road condition trends from cloud-sourced data

Road related telematics encompasses a combination of road transportation, in-vehicle electronics and telecommunications. It is continuously evolving in terms of complexity and diversity, and contains high volumes of sensor data. Telematics-based technology is mainly used for the recovery of hijacked/stolen vehicles, insurance purposes and vehicle fleet monitoring and management. In this paper, it is demonstrated that telematics-based technology may offer capabilities in terms of predicting road condition. This is based on a project where some simple statistical analysis techniques were used to interpret existing data originating from standard vehicle telematics units. The paper mainly evaluates the z-direction (up / down) acceleration for a few different vehicle types and x-direction (lateral), y-direction (longitudinal) and z-direction acceleration for the identification of road anomalies/defects. Roads are currently monitored using Class 1 profilometers, which provides a detailed but relatively costly indication of road condition. The use of vehicle telematics may provide a more cost-effective solution to monitor a wider road network and on a continuous basis, albeit on a Class 3 profilometer level. Telematics units are currently installed in numerous vehicle types throughout South Africa, and this paper focuses on achieving a reliable Class 3, real-time response-type measurement which can be used as a screening device and which is able to accurately produce an indication of road roughness, as well as major road distresses. This may assist in ensuring that agencies without direct access to funding for Class 1 road condition data may be able to obtain an indication of their road network conditions. It also contributes towards the safety and comfort of road users.Paper presented at the 34th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 6-9 July 2015 "Working Together to Deliver - Sakha Sonke", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.The Minister of Transport, South AfricaTransportation Research Board of the US

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged jet production in root s(NN)=2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as nu(ch)(2) (jet). Jet finding is performed employing the anti-k(T) algorithm with a resolution parameter R = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero nu(ch)(2) (jet) is observed in semi-central collisions (30-50% centrality) for 20 <p(T)(ch) (jet) <90 GeV/c. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the nu(2) of single charged particles at high p(T). Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Forward-central two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between trigger particles in the forward pseudorapidity range (2.5 2GeV/c. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B. V.Peer reviewe

Event-shape engineering for inclusive spectra and elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV

Peer reviewe