Out of the Shadows: HIV/AIDS in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda : a Guide for Donors and Funders

The report provides guidance to donors funding projects to help those affected by HIV/AIDS in those countries. It highlights the extent of the pandemic, resulting needs, types of responses and the outcomes of interventions carried out by a wide spectrum of donors, including private individuals, companies and grantmakers. The report is a useful resource for newcomers to the subject as well as for experienced funders, which can treat the guide as a starting point for debate and further research

HIV/AIDS in South Africa: A Guide For Donors and Grant-makers

This report aims to provide a guide for donors who wish to fund projects to help those affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Its purpose is to provide the detailed contextual information and analysis required to understand the extent of the pandemic, resulting social needs, types of response in operation, and the outcomes generated by such interventions

Early Interventions: An Economic Approach to Charitable Giving

This report highlights the estimated £100bn combined cost impact of some of the most difficult social issues and looks at how private funders can help tackle the root causes of these issues, and in turn deliver significant savings to state and help individual lives. It identifies that early intervention is key to tackling serious social issues which can later become entrenched, therefore bringing significant cost savings to state finances

Best to Invest? A Funders' Guide to Social Investment

Social investment offers the opportunity for socially-minded investors to increase the impact of their money. It's still early days, but already the concept has attracted much interest from funders and has the potential to help charities access long-term, affordable finance. In Best to invest? A new social investment guide for funders published today, NPC finds that the crucial 'next wave' of potential funders are being put off by the perceived complexity of social investment. People interested in social investment are being deterred, as it can be challenging to value accurately social investments in terms of the likely social and financial risk and return; the legal structures involved are complex and often bespoke for each investment; and it can be difficult to obtain investment advice, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The final barrier identified is that investment decisions tend to be outsourced to professionals who are not comfortable or familiar with the blending of the financial goals of investment with the social goals of grant-making. However, interest in social investment among funders is growing. In a time of spending cuts and austerity, many funders are seeing increasing demand for their funding to pay for services previously supported by government contracts or public donations. At the same time, many trusts and foundations have seen the return on their investments dwindle, making it harder to sustain their grant-making. In this context, social investment is an attractive prospect for funders who want to do more to support charities and social enterprises, in a way that has the potential to make both more sustainable in the long term

Graduate Education and Federal Career Success: How Well Does the MPA Stack Up?

Using a one percent sample of federal personnel records for 1983 through 2003, we compare the career success of employees with master's degrees in public administration to those of employees with bachelor's degrees or graduate degrees in other fields - especially law, business administration, and the social sciences, the degrees most likely to compete for our students. Federal employees with master's degrees in any field tend to be one grade higher and to earn 13 to 16% more than comparable employees with bachelor's degrees. Although federal employees with law degrees earn substantially more than other graduate degree-holders, MPAs have salaries, grades, and supervisory authority comparable to those of MBAs and those with master's degrees in the social sciences. Working Paper 08-2

Strain localization of reinforced alkali-activated concrete under corrosion using digital image correlation

Ordinary port land cement (OPC) is one of the most commonly used material in the construction industry. However, its production produces harmful pollutants that largely contribute to global greenhouse emissions, as well as consumes a significant amount of natural resources such as limestone. Studies have found alkali-activated concrete (AAC) to be viable alternative for cement, and one of the greatest advantages of AAC against OPC is it corrosion resistance. In this study, the strain localization of reinforced alkali-activated concrete (AAC) with low-calcium coal fly ash (CFA) and ordinary port land cement (OPC) concrete beams under flexural bending tests with cyclic load has been investigated through digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The strain values obtained from both concrete types were compared and it was concluded that AAC strains are consistently higher than that of OPC Prior to testing the beams, compression tests were conducted on cylindrical samples of the two concrete types wherein it was found that both AAC and OPC are both ductile. Furthermore, the sensitivity of DIC and conventional strain gauges in measuring the strain for both AAC and OPC was investigated, and it was found that both techniques are sensitive for OPC while otherwise for AAC due to strain localization. The strain localization of AAC may be linked to its ductile characterization

Reinforced alkali-activated concrete with induced corrosion

Reinforced concrete comprising of deformed steel bars is the common structural material in construction. The problem of this composite material is the corrosion of deformed steel bars inside the concrete that weakens the structure over time. In this paper, investigation on the two types of reinforced concrete were used: alkali-activated concrete (AAC) and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete beams. In addition, Impressed Current Technique (ICT) was made to accelerate corrosion before performing flexural bending test. The use of a non-destructive test which is the digital image correlation (DIC) technique during the flexural loading test on the two types of beam were considered to monitor the strain values against load. It was concluded that AAC mixture 1:1:2 (coal fly ash: fine aggregate: coarse aggregate) with 12M Molarity and water binder ratio of 0.52 produced the lowest corrosion rate over time for all the beams. In addition, the strain values of the AAC mixture produced ductile behavior with strain softening effect on the third point bending load test where the location of the force was applied. © 2019 International Committee of the SCMT conferences. All rights reserved

Assessment, endoscopy, and treatment in patients with acute severe ulcerative colitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (PROTECT-ASUC): a multicentre, observational, case-control study

BackgroundThere is a paucity of evidence to support safe and effective management of patients with acute severe ulcerative colitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to identify alterations to established conventional evidence-based management of acute severe ulcerative colitis during the early COVID-19 pandemic, the effect on outcomes, and any associations with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and severe COVID-19 outcomes. MethodsThe PROTECT-ASUC study was a multicentre, observational, case-control study in 60 acute secondary care hospitals throughout the UK. We included adults (≥18 years) with either ulcerative colitis or inflammatory bowel disease unclassified, who presented with acute severe ulcerative colitis and fulfilled the Truelove and Witts criteria. Cases and controls were identified as either admitted or managed in emergency ambulatory care settings between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic period cohort), or between Jan 1, 2019, and June 30, 2019 (historical control cohort), respectively. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with acute severe ulcerative colitis receiving rescue therapy (including primary induction) or colectomy. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04411784. FindingsWe included 782 patients (398 in the pandemic period cohort and 384 in the historical control cohort) who met the Truelove and Witts criteria for acute severe ulcerative colitis. The proportion of patients receiving rescue therapy (including primary induction) or surgery was higher during the pandemic period than in the historical period (217 [55%] of 393 patients vs 159 [42%] of 380 patients; p=0·00024) and the time to rescue therapy was shorter in the pandemic cohort than in the historical cohort (p=0·0026). This difference was driven by a greater use of rescue and primary induction therapies with biologicals, ciclosporin, or tofacitinib in the COVID-19 pandemic period cohort than in the historical control period cohort (177 [46%] of 387 patients in the COVID-19 cohort vs 134 [36%] of 373 patients in the historical cohort; p=0·0064). During the pandemic, more patients received ambulatory (outpatient) intravenous steroids (51 [13%] of 385 patients vs 19 [5%] of 360 patients; p=0·00023). Fewer patients received thiopurines (29 [7%] of 398 patients vs 46 [12%] of 384; p=0·029) and 5-aminosalicylic acids (67 [17%] of 398 patients vs 98 [26%] of 384; p=0·0037) during the pandemic than in the historical control period. Colectomy rates were similar between the pandemic and historical control groups (64 [16%] of 389 vs 50 [13%] of 375; p=0·26); however, laparoscopic surgery was less frequently performed during the pandemic period (34 [53%] of 64] vs 38 [76%] of 50; p=0·018). Five (2%) of 253 patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during hospital treatment. Two (2%) of 103 patients re-tested for SARS-CoV-2 during the 3-month follow-up were positive 5 days and 12 days, respectively, after discharge from index admission. Both recovered without serious outcomes. InterpretationThe COVID-19 pandemic altered practice patterns of gastroenterologists and colorectal surgeons in the management of acute severe ulcerative colitis but was associated with similar outcomes to a historical cohort. Despite continued use of high-dose corticosteroids and biologicals, the incidence of COVID-19 within 3 months was low and not associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes