A contingency-based accountability and governance framework for the non-profit sector in the post-COVID-19 era

Purpose: The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused significant disruptions to the non-profit sector, highlighting the issues that the narrowly focused, traditional conception of governance fails to address. The purpose of this paper is to propose a contingency-based framework with its theoretical underpinnings in the existing literature, in order to support future empirical research on non-profit governance and accountability practices. Design/methodology/approach: From a theoretical perspective, this paper synthesizes relevant existing literature and proposes a contingency-based accountability and governance framework in the non-profit sector. This paper draws on Ostrower and Stone’s (2010) contingency-based framework on boards and Hyndman and McDonnell’s (2009) conception of governance systems. This paper engages with the New Zealand and Australia context while reviewing relevant literature and relevant regulations. Findings: The global pandemic has caused severe worldwide disruptions both socially and economically. There have been dramatic changes to the ways in which non-profit organisations (NPOs) operate. There is an urgent need to understand how such changes in the external environment impact on NPOs’ governance and accountability practices. In this context, the contingency-based accountability and governance framework proposed in this paper has important implications for non-profit research, while opening up an avenue for future research in this field. Research limitations/implications: This paper does not involve empirical analysis. Practical implications: This paper contributes by facilitating better understanding on how external contingencies like the COVID-19 global pandemic affect the external and internal environment of an NPO, how they impact on stakeholders and their interplay with an NPO’s governance and accountability systems. It also suggests that regulators of the non-profit sector, umbrella support organisations, and funders proactively encourage and guide NPOs to embrace a wider scope of governance and strengthen the level of governance in the sector. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature by proposing a contingency-based accountability and governance framework in the non-profit sector to support future research in this field. It also sheds light on competing theoretical debates relating to the conceptualisation and operationalization of accountability and governance.Publishe

A bi-objective turning restriction design problem in urban road networks

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Diagonally-reinforced beam–column joints reinforced under cyclic loading

The beam-column joints in a reinforced concrete frame are vulnerable to damage caused by seismic events. The conventional detailing using transverse hoops usually results in serious joint congestion, which creates contruction problems. This paper introduces a new detail especially developed for low to medium seismicity, which involves the use of additional diagonal bars in the joint. Six half-scale interior beam-column assemblies with different joint details, namely 'empty', nominal transverse reinforcement and diagonal bars, tested under reversed cyclic loading are reported. The empty joint is not suitable even under moderate seismicity. The test results show that the joints containing the newly proposed detail, with or without axial compressive load present in the column, exhibit better behaviour at the lower range of ductility factors in terms of higher load-carrying capacity, greater stiffness and less strength degradation. Therefore, the newly proposed joint detail is suitable for beam-column joints of reinforced concrete buildings located in regions of low to medium seismic risk.published_or_final_versio

Collection, spillback, and dissipation in pedestrian evacuation: A network-based method

We present a method of predicting pedestrian route choice behavior and physical congestion during the evacuation of indoor areas with internal obstacles. Under the proposed method, a network is first constructed by discretizing the space into regular hexagonal cells and giving these cells potentials before a modified cell transmission model is employed to predict the evolution of pedestrian flow in the network over time and space. Several properties of this cell transmission model are explored. The method can be used to predict the evolution of pedestrian flow over time and space in indoor areas with internal obstacles and to investigate the collection, spillback, and dissipation behavior of pedestrians passing through a bottleneck. The cell transmission model is further extended to imitate the movements of multiple flows of pedestrians with different destinations. An algorithm based on generalized cell potential is also developed to assign the pedestrian flow. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.postprin

A potential field approach to the modeling of route choice in pedestrian evacuation

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An intersection-movement-based stochastic dynamic user optimal route choice model for assessing network performance

Different from traditional methods, this paper formulates the logit-based stochastic dynamic user optimal (SDUO) route choice problem as a fixed point (FP) problem in terms of intersection movement choice probabilities, which contain travelers’ route information so that the realistic effects of physical queues can be captured in the formulation when a physical-queue traffic flow model is adopted, and that route enumeration and column generation heuristics can be avoided in the solution procedure when efficient path sets are used. The choice probability can be either destination specific or origin–destination specific, resulting into two formulations. To capture the effect of physical queues in these FP formulations, the link transmission model is modified for the network loading and travel time determination. The self-regulated averaging method (SRAM) was adopted to solve the FP formulations. Numerical examples were developed to illustrate the properties of the problem and the effectiveness of the solution method. The proposed models were further used to evaluate the effect of information quality and road network improvement on the network performance in terms of total system travel time (TSTT) and the cost of total vehicle emissions (CTVE). Numerical results show that providing better information quality, enhancing link outflow capacity, or constructing a new road can lead to poor network performance.postprin

Fabrication and characteristics of a GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor using a selective buried sub-collector

A C-doped GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) with a selective buried sub-collector has been fabricated by two growth steps. The active HBT region was made on the selective buried sub-collector layer with minimum overlap of the extrinsic base and the sub-collector region resulting in substantial reduction of the base-collector capacitance. The experiment shows that the base-collector capacitance is reduced to about half of that of a conventional HBT while the base resistance remains unchanged resulting in a 40-50% increase in the maximum oscillation frequency. Both DC and RF characteristics are investigated and compared with a conventional HBT. A current gain of 40 cutoff frequency of 50 GHz and maximum oscillation frequency of 140 GHz were obtained for the GaInP/GaAs HBT. It is demonstrated that the selective buried sub-collector provides an effective means for enhancing RF performance of an HBT. © 1997 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

A nonlinear equation system approach to the dynamic stochastic user equilibrium simultaneous route and departure time choice problem

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The effect of glutamine supplement on small intestinal morphology and xylose absorptive ability of weaned piglets

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effects of glutamine (Gln) supplement on small intestinal  morphology, xylose absorptive and growth performance of weaned piglets. Forty eight piglets weaned at 28 ± 2 days of age were randomly allotted to three treatment groups. A basal corn-soybean diet was formulated to contain 20.3% protein and 3450 kcal DE/kg diet. Glutamine was supplemented to the basal diet at 0% (control), 1% (Gln 1%) and 2% (Gln 2%). Pigs were fed experimental diets for three weeks. The results  showed that the villous height of the Gln groups tended higher than the control group in duodenum and jejunum (P < 0.1). Glutamine supplementation increased plasma net xylose absorptive concentration from 0.78 to 1.20 and 0.95 to 1.23 in Gln 1% and Gln 2% group, respectively, which were better than the control group (0.86 to 0.97) in day 7 to 14 after weaning. Growth performance was not significantly affected by Gln supplement;  however, average daily gain was approximately improved from 21 to 28% by Gln supplement compared to the control group during 21 days of experimental period. In summary, the results suggested that dietary  supplementation of Gln could be beneficial in small intestinal villous morphology and xylose absorptive  capacity, and could have a slight contribution to the average daily gain of weaned piglets.Key words: Glutamine, growth performance, intestinal morphology, weaned piglets

Black Hole Emission in String Theory and the String Phase of Black Holes

String theory properly describes black-hole evaporation. The quantum string emission by Black Holes is computed. The black-hole temperature is the Hawking temperature in the semiclassical quantum field theory (QFT) regime and becomes the intrinsic string temperature, T_s, in the quantum (last stage) string regime. The QFT-Hawking temperature T_H is upper bounded by the string temperature T_S. The black hole emission spectrum is an incomplete gamma function of (T_H - T_S). For T_H << T_S, it yields the QFT-Hawking emission. For T_H \to T_S, it shows highly massive string states dominate the emission and undergo a typical string phase transition to a microscopic `minimal' black hole of mass M_{\min} or radius r_{\min} (inversely proportional to T_S) and string temperature T_S. The string back reaction effect (selfconsistent black hole solution of the semiclassical Einstein equations) is computed. Both, the QFT and string black hole regimes are well defined and bounded.The string `minimal' black hole has a life time tau_{min} simeq (k_B c)/(G hbar [T_S]^3). The semiclassical QFT black hole (of mass M and temperature T_H) and the string black hole (of mass M_{min} and temperature T_S) are mapped one into another by a `Dual' transform which links classical/QFT and quantum string regimes.Comment: LaTex, 22 pages, Lectures delivered at the Chalonge School, Nato ASI: Phase Transitions in the Early Universe: Theory and Observations. To appear in the Proceedings, Editors H. J. de Vega, I. Khalatnikov, N. Sanchez. (Kluwer Pub