On the orbits of the product of two permutations

AbstractWe consider the following problem: given three partitions A,B,C of a finite set Ω, do there exist two permutations α and β such that A,B,C are induced by α, β and αβ respectively? This problem is NP-complete. However it turns out that it can be solved by a polynomial time algorithm when some relations between the number of classes of A,B,C hold

The Adequacy of Retirement Saving

macroeconomics, saving, retirement

Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of Point-Of-Care CD4 Testing on the HIV Epidemic in South Africa.

Rapid diagnostic tools have been shown to improve linkage of patients to care. In the context of infectious diseases, assessing the impact and cost-effectiveness of such tools at the population level, accounting for both direct and indirect effects, is key to informing adoption of these tools. Point-of-care (POC) CD4 testing has been shown to be highly effective in increasing the proportion of HIV positive patients who initiate ART. We assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of introducing POC CD4 testing at the population level in South Africa in a range of care contexts, using a dynamic compartmental model of HIV transmission, calibrated to the South African HIV epidemic. We performed a meta-analysis to quantify the differences between POC and laboratory CD4 testing on the proportion linking to care following CD4 testing. Cumulative infections averted and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were estimated over one and three years. We estimated that POC CD4 testing introduced in the current South African care context can prevent 1.7% (95% CI: 0.4% - 4.3%) of new HIV infections over 1 year. In that context, POC CD4 testing was cost-effective 99.8% of the time after 1 year with a median estimated ICER of US$4,468/DALY averted. In healthcare contexts with expanded HIV testing and improved retention in care, POC CD4 testing only became cost-effective after 3 years. The results were similar when, in addition, ART was offered irrespective of CD4 count, and CD4 testing was used for clinical assessment. Our findings suggest that even if ART is expanded to all HIV positive individuals and HIV testing efforts are increased in the near future, POC CD4 testing is a cost-effective tool, even within a short time horizon. Our study also illustrates the importance of evaluating the potential impact of such diagnostic technologies at the population level, so that indirect benefits and costs can be incorporated into estimations of cost-effectiveness

Olympus Corporation Financial Statement Fraud Case Study: The Role That National Culture Plays On Detecting And Deterring Fraud

Recent cases provide insight into the role that an unethical corporate culture plays in financial statement fraud. The case of financial statement fraud in Olympus Corporation, a Japanese firm, provides the opportunity to examine how national culture plays a role in corporate governance and fraud detection. This case study focuses on the impact of Japanese culture on the corporate culture of The Olympus Corporation, and how that corporate culture resulted in financial statement fraud

Mathematics Learning Activities Of Students Of SMP Negeri 5 Tondano In The Transitional/Post Pandemi Covid-19 Period

This study aims to describe mathematics learning activities during the co-19 pandemic and after the co-19 pandemic at SMP N 5 Tondano. Approximately 2 years of the brave learning process was carried out, which might make students experience problems in terms of ethics or attitude because while learning, the brave teacher also lacks in supervising students' attitudes and behaviour, so with this change in learning, the difference is very visible. This research is qualitative descriptive research. Data was collected using observation techniques, interviews, and documentation. The results showed that students' mathematics learning activities during the transition/post-covid-19 pandemic were going well at school following the schedule of learning activities the school had prepared. However, students' mathematics lessons are less effective in the process. This is evidenced by observational data, which shows: 1) Teachers are less creative using various learning models, 2) Students do not respond to learning, 3) Students lack interest in mathematics, 4) Students are not actively involved in learning, and 5) Courageous learning that takes so long results in students being very dependent on the internet network. This resulted in the teacher experiencing several obstacles in the students' mathematics learning activities attractively. It can be interpreted that students' mathematics learning activities at SMP N 5 Tondano during the transition/post-covid-19 pandemic were less effective due to courageous learning activities

Report 47: A generic method and software to estimate the transmission advantage of pathogen variants in real-time : SARS-CoV-2 as a case-study

Recent months have demonstrated that emerging variants may set back the global COVID-19 response. The ability to rapidly assess the threat of new variants in real-time is critical for timely optimisation of control strategies. We extend the EpiEstim R package, designed to estimate the time-varying reproduction number (Rt), to estimate in real-time the e ective transmission advantage of a new variant compared to a reference variant. Our method can combine information across multiple locations and over time and was validated using an extensive simulation study, designed to mimic a variety of real-time epidemic contexts. We estimate that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant is 1.46 (95% Credible Interval 1.44-1.47) and 1.29, (95% CrI 1.29-1.30) times more transmissible than the wild type, using data from England and France respectively. We further estimate that Beta and Gamma combined are 1.25 (95% CrI 1.24-1.27) times more transmissible than the wildtype (France data). All results are in line with previous estimates from literature, but could have been obtained earlier and more easily with our o -the-shelf open-source tool. Our tool can be used as an important rst step towards quantifying the threat of new variants in real-time. Given the popularity of EpiEstim, this extension will likely be used widely to monitor the co-circulation and/or emergence of multiple variants of infectious pathogens

How Many Simultaneous Audit Committee Memberships Are Too Many?

Recent research by Sharma, Sharma, Tanyi, and Cheng (2020) provides new insight into directors serving on multiple public company audit committees. Specifically, they investigate how an individual audit committee director serving on multiple audit committees is related to companies’ cost of equity capital. Their evidence suggests that serving on multiple audit committees is viewed positively by investors up to a certain point, but beyond that point investors become concerned. This turning point, on average, is 3.5 audit committees for retired directors and 1.5 audit committees for directors in full-time employment. These results have implications for numerous stakeholders including investors, proxy advisors, boards, nominating committees, stock exchanges, and policymakers. They also have implications for future research

Use of Policy Risk Assessment Results in Political Decision Making

The RAPID project established, during the first period, a thematic network of risk assessment experts, including relevant partners in the ten countries involved, the "Risk assessor database". The project devoted a specific activity, a single work package, to the dissemination and discussion of the methodology developed during" first two years of the project. National workshops were planned in each country to facilitate integrated knowledge translation activity, using a participatory approach to increase potential knowledge-users awareness on the RAPID project, and to engage them in using the RAPID guidance. Workshops were conceived to present case studies and the RAPID guidance to a targeted audience, to discuss and collect further insights, and integrate different perspectives in the final version of the policy evaluation methodology. However, national workshops also actively contributed to develop evidence based methodological guidance and increase its quality and relevance for potential users by bridging know-do gap between researchers and stakeholders; by involving decision makers and potential users in the knowledge creation process; by facilitating diverse stakeholder participation from governmental, academic and private sectors, carefully identified by national RAPID surveys as having direct expertise in the field of risk assessment. The cultural and administrative differences existing in the countries involved in RAPID guarantee the inclusion of a wide range of perspectives. Results of the national workshops helped to identify barriers and solutions for using the guidance, for adapting necessary changes to it and for communicating results to other potential users.

Reconciliation in Zimbabwe : the conflict between a state-centred and people-centred approach

Reconciliation has become an integral part of the post-conflict peacebuilding process, and has come to be seen as an integral part of sustaining peace and security, particularly at the local level. The tension between a state security and human security approach to peacebuilding is particularly evident in national reconciliation and transitional justice processes. There is a continued emphasis on high-level reconciliation processes and the reconciliation of elite actors over processes that facilitate reconciliation at the community level. This article explores this in the case of Zimbabwe, where the emphasis is on a state-based approach to resolving conflict, which fails to take into account or address the needs and issues that affect local communities. Drawing from fieldwork undertaken in Matabeleland in April, 2014, this article describes what community members identify as their central needs when it comes to reconciliation, within the context of the state-driven processes that have been implemented to date.Fieldwork was undertaken by the first author for her Master's dissertation on reconciliation in Zimbabwe titled, "The politicization of reconciliation in Zimbabwe: a case study of the Nkayi District". The second author, as supervisor of the Master's, participated in the fieldwork for a brief period. (http://hdl.handle.net/2263/43770)http://www.up.ac.za/en/political-sciences/article/19718/strategic-review-for-southern-africaam2016Political Science