Effect of Budgeting Process on Organizational Effectiveness: The Case of Hadiya Zone Selected Woreda Public Finance Sectors

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of budgeting process on the organizational effectiveness in Hadiya zone public finance and economy development sectors. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. The study was carried out in purposively selected five woreda of the zone. These woredas were selected among twelve woredas of the zone due to their establishments’ priorities, rich information, and experienced man power. Moreover, Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were respectively applied to select a sample of 157 staff members. From these 157 respondents, only 151 samples were used to collect the data (i.e. 96 %) of the respondents participated in the study. The data were collected through questionnaires and document analysis. The data obtained from respondents were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis via SPSS version 20.0 soft ware. The findings of the study indicated that there was a direct relation between the effects of BPL, BI, BC, and TRB with the organizational effectiveness on HZOFED. The study indicated that the contribution of budget planning for the success of organizational effectiveness seems not promising as others did. Thus, its significance was not as strong as others. Inefficient budget utilization and Budget control in their organizations was not promising as expected.  All of four independent variables are making 63.20% of the contribution to OE in HZOEFD. Finally, recommendations such as empowering major stakeholders in budget planning, improving the execution of budget implementation, establishing budget control system and Providing Training Programs for Employees to Improve Organizational Effectiveness in Finance Sectors, enhancing organizational capacity in the budget process were forwarded to overcome organizational effectiveness challenges in the study area. Keywords: budget, budgeting process, Government Finance, organizational effectivenes

Purification of CO2 for AMS 14C analysis: Method development and application to permafrost deposits

The Arctic is most sensitive to climate change and global warming. Just recently (winter 2017/2018), this region experienced its warmest winter on record. The rising temperatures have dramatic effects on the normally frozen ground – permafrost – which underlies twenty-four percent of the land area in the northern hemisphere. The permafrost thaws much deeper and rapid erosion of deep, ice-rich permafrost will increase. The Pleistocene deep permafrost (Yedoma) deposits are particularly prone to rapid degradation due to the loss of their high ice-contents upon thaw. Through this degradation, large amounts of previously stored frozen organic carbon will be exposed to microbial decomposition, resulting in the release of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. This emission in turn acts as a positive feedback to the climate system. So far, it is difficult to predict the rates of greenhouse gas emission because information on the decomposability of the organic matter is limited. As the organic matter is stored for millennia in the deep permafrost deposits, the radiocarbon (14C) analysis on CO2 can be used to trace the decomposition of ancient (permafrost derived) vs. recent organic matter sources. The collection and processing of the respired CO2 for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C analysis, however, is challenging and prone to contamination. Thus, during the progress of this thesis, we constructed a robust stainless-steel sampling device and refined a method for the collection of even small amounts (50 µg C) of CO2. This method is based on a CO2 sampling technique using a molecular sieve, which acts as an adsorbent. It has the advantage over other approaches (such as sampling in glass flasks) that CO2 can be concentrated from large air volumes. The reliability of the 14CO2 results obtained with this molecular sieve cartridge (MSC) was evaluated in detailed tests of different procedures to clean the molecular sieve (zeolite type 13X) and for the adsorption and desorption of CO2 from the zeolite using a vacuum rig. Under laboratory conditions, the contamination of exogenous carbon was determined to be less than 2.0 µg C from fossil and around 3.0 µg C from modern sources. In addition, we evaluated the direct CO2 transfer from the MSC into the automatic graphitization equipment, AGE, with the subsequent 14C AMS analysis as graphite. This semi-automatic approach is promising as it resulted in a lower modern carbon contamination of only 1.5 µg C. In addition, this analyzing procedure can be performed autonomously. To collect CO2 released from soils or sediments, additional sampling equipment, such as respiration chambers or depth samples, connected to the MSC is needed. Including the sampling equipment, a modern contamination of 3.0–4.5 µg C was obtained. Overall, these results show that the contamination becomes insignificant for large sample sizes (>500 µg C) and should be considered for smaller amounts. With this successfully tested MSC, it became possible to investigate the decomposition of the organic matter in thawing Pleistocene Yedoma deposits. On a Yedoma outcrop in the Lena River Delta, Northeast Siberia, we measured CO2 fluxes and their 14C signature to assess whether ancient (Yedoma derived) or younger C sources are preferentially respired. The CO2 released from the different sites is generally younger (2600–6500 yrs BP) than the bulk sediment (4000–31,000 yrs BP). Using isotopic mass balance calculations, we determined that up to 70% of the respired CO2 originates from ancient OM. These data show that thawing Yedoma organic matter can be rapidly decomposed, which introduces the ancient carbon into the active carbon cycle and thus increases the permafrost carbon feedback

(Re)proposal of Three Cambrian Subsystems and Their Geochronology

The Cambrian is anomalous among geological systems as many reports divide it into three divisions of indeterminate rank. This use of “lower”, “middle”, and “upper” has been a convenient way to subdivide the Cambrian despite agreement it consists of four global series. Traditional divisions of the system into regional series (Lower, Middle, Upper) reflected local biotic developments not interprovincially correlatable with any precision. However, use of “lower”, “middle”, and “upper” is unsatisfactory. These adjectives lack standard definition, evoke the regional series, and are misused. Notably, there is an almost 50 year use of three Cambrian subsystems and a 1997 proposal to divide the Avalonian and global Cambrian into four series and three subsystems. The global series allow proposal of three formal subsystems: a ca. 32.6 Ma Lower Cambrian Subsystem (Terreneuvian and Series 2/proposed Lenaldanian Series), a ca. 9.8 Ma Middle, and a ca. 10 Ma Upper Cambrian Subsystem (=Furongian Series). Designations as “Lower Cambrian Subsystem” or “global Lower Cambrian” distinguish the new units from such earlier units as “Lower Cambrian Series” and substitute for the de facto subsystem terms “lower”, “middle”, and “upper”. Cambrian subsystems are comparable to the Carboniferous’ Lower (Mississippian) and Upper (Pennsylvanian) Subsystems

The ARMM System-Autonomous Steering of Magnetically-Actuated Catheters:Towards Endovascular Applications

Positioning conventional endovascular catheters is not without risk, and there is a multitude of complications that are associated with their use in manual surgical interventions. By utilizing surgical manipulators, the efficacy of remote-controlled catheters can be investigated in vivo. However, technical challenges, such as the duration of catheterizations, accurate positioning at target sites, and consistent imaging of these catheters using non-hazardous modalities, still exist. In this paper, we propose the integration of multiple sub-systems in order to extend the clinical feasibility of an autonomous surgical system designed to address these challenges. The system handles the full synchronization of co-operating manipulators that both actuate a clinical tool. The experiments within this study are conducted within a clinically-relevant workspace and inside a gelatinous phantom that represents a life-size human torso. A catheter is positioned using magnetic actuation and proportional-integral (PI) control in conjunction with real-time ultrasound images. Our results indicate an average error between the tracked catheter tip and target positions of 2:09 0:49 mm. The median procedure time to reach targets is 32:6 s. We expect that our system will provide a step towards collaborative manipulators employing mobile electromagnets, and possibly improve autonomous catheterization procedures within endovascular surgeries

Chemostratigraphic Correlations Across the First Major Trilobite Extinction and Faunal Turnovers Between Laurentia and South China

During Cambrian Stage 4 (~514 Ma) the oceans were widely populated with endemic trilobites and three major faunas can be distinguished: olenellids, redlichiids, and paradoxidids. The lower–middle Cambrian boundary in Laurentia was based on the first major trilobite extinction event that is known as the Olenellid Biomere boundary. However, international correlation across this boundary (the Cambrian Series 2–Series 3 boundary) has been a challenge since the formal proposal of a four-series subdivision of the Cambrian System in 2005. Recently, the base of the international Cambrian Series 3 and of Stage 5 has been named as the base of the Miaolingian Series and Wuliuan Stage. This study provides detailed chemostratigraphy coupled with biostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy across this critical boundary interval based on eight sections in North America and South China. Our results show robust isotopic evidence associated with major faunal turnovers across the Cambrian Series 2–Series 3 boundary in both Laurentia and South China. While the olenellid extinction event in Laurentia and the gradual extinction of redlichiids in South China are linked by an abrupt negative carbonate carbon excursion, the first appearance datum of Oryctocephalus indicus is currently the best horizon to achieve correlation between the two regions

The impact of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction event on the global sulfur cycle: Evidence from Seymour Island, Antarctica

The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction event 66 million years ago led to large changes to the global carbon cycle, primarily via a decrease in primary or export productivity of the oceans. However, the effects of this event and longer-term environmental changes during the Late Cretaceous on the global sulfur cycle are not well understood. We report new carbonate associated sulfate (CAS) sulfur isotope data derived from marine macrofossil shell material from a highly expanded high latitude Maastrichtian to Danian (69–65.5 Ma) succession located on Seymour Island, Antarctica. These data represent the highest resolution seawater sulfate record ever generated for this time interval, and are broadly in agreement with previous low-resolution estimates for the latest Cretaceous and Paleocene. A vigorous assessment of CAS preservation using sulfate oxygen, carbonate carbon and oxygen isotopes and trace element data, suggests factors affecting preservation of primary seawater CAS isotopes in ancient biogenic samples are complex, and not necessarily linked to the preservation of original carbonate mineralogy or chemistry. Primary data indicate a generally stable sulfur cycle in the early-mid Maastrichtian (69 Ma), with some fluctuations that could be related to increased pyrite burial during the ‘mid-Maastrichtian Event’. This is followed by an enigmatic +4‰ increase in δ³⁴SCAS during the late Maastrichtian (68–66 Ma), culminating in a peak in values in the immediate aftermath of the K–Pg extinction which may be related to temporary development of oceanic anoxia in the aftermath of the Chicxulub bolide impact. There is no evidence of the direct influence of Deccan volcanism on the seawater sulfate isotopic record during the late Maastrichtian, nor of a direct influence by the Chicxulub impact itself. During the early Paleocene (magnetochron C29R) a prominent negative excursion in seawater δ³⁴S of 3–4‰ suggests that a global decline in organic carbon burial related to collapse in export productivity, also impacted the sulfur cycle via a significant drop in pyrite burial. Box modelling suggests that to achieve an excursion of this magnitude, pyrite burial must be reduced by >15%, with a possible role for a short term increase in global weathering rates. Recovery of the sulfur cycle to pre-extinction values occurs at the same time (∼320 kyrs) as initial carbon cycle recovery globally. These recoveries are also contemporaneous with an initial increase in local alpha diversity of marine macrofossil faunas, suggesting biosphere-geosphere links during recovery from the mass extinction. Modelling further indicates that concentrations of sulfate in the oceans must have been 2 mM, lower than previous estimates for the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene and an order of magnitude lower than today

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