Factors Affecting IRS Audit Rate Probability: Empirical Evidence from RGV Region

IRS tax audits are intended to curb tax evasion; however, they are costly to conduct and have negative impacts on taxpayers. The purpose of this study is to find out factors that lead to high IRS audit rate in a region from the perspective of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Relationship between IRS tax audit rate and determinants of tax evasion identified by Davis, Cebula, & Boylan (2020) among others are studied. A regression analysis is conducted on the regions scores on poverty rate, demography, unemployment rate and general level of education with the IRS audit rate. The results suggest that poverty, unemployment, and the level of education among taxpayers have a significant effect on the IRS audit rate of a region. However, demography was found to have an insignificant effect on the IRS audit rate. The study thus recommends that the local government and other stakeholders affected by the negative impacts of tax evasion and IRS audits, address these underlying factors by for instance, trying to alleviate poverty in the region, create more employment opportunities or increase general awareness through education. As this would help increase tax compliance and reduce IRS audits

Information and Communications Technologies and Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies, Practices, Trends and Recommendations

The following report discusses the use of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) to improve access to, quality of, and delivery of secondary education within sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses the policy environment for ICTs in sub-Saharan Africa, their successes, challenges, andlessons learned, and it concludes with a broad and detailed set of recommendations for policymakers, donors, the private sector, designers, and implementers of ICTs in education programs. The report seeks to generally answer the question of how sub-Saharan African (SSA) governments can best use technology to improve access to secondary education, improve learning, strengthen management of schools and the education system, and foster innovation

Hajj-Related Neisseria Meningitidis Serogroup W135 in Mauritius

Meningococcal disease is rare in Mauritius; only one case was reported from 1992 to 1999. However, since June 2000, four cases have occurred. Epidemiologic information and typing results indicate that these recent cases probably followed the introduction of Neisseria meningitidis W135 in Mauritius by pilgrims returning from the Hajj in 2000 and 2001

Strategic management practices and performance of public health institutions in Mandera county, Kenya

The general objective of this study was to look at strategic management practices on performance of public health institutions in Mandera County. This study sought to examine the influence of environmental analysis on performance of public health institutions, to establish the effect of strategy formulation on performance of public health institutions, to determine the impact of strategy implementation on performance of public health institutions and to find out the effect of strategy evaluation on performance of public health institutions in Mandera County. This study adopted a descriptive survey. Mandera County has a total of Fifty (50) public health institution. The study targeted one hospital administrators from five (5) Sub-county Hospitals, Two (2) staff from Mandera Referral Hospital (Director of Medical Service and Administrator), nineteen (19) Health Administrators from Health Centers and twenty five (25) nursing officer in charge of dispensaries thus totaling to Fifty one (51) respondents.The findings revealed that environmental analysis, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, strategy evaluation and performance of public health institutions in Mandera County are positively and significantly related. Correlation analysis showed that environmental analysis, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evalaution are significantly and positively related to performance of public health institutions in Mandera County. Based on the findings the study concluded that environmental analysis, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, strategy evaluation affects performance of public health institutions. The study recommends that public health institutions formulates strategies that can enable them to define their corporate mission, specifying achievable objectives, develop strategies and setting policy guidelines

Creating demand for safe human excreta disposal in a nomadic community: a case study of Riba location, Wajir county

Wajir South Development Association (WASDA) as one of the WASH actors in Wajir county, with support from Amref Health Africa in Kenya, has been implementing the Kenya Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement Programme (K-SHIP) funded by Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) through the Global sanitation Fund (GSF). The programme targeted the rural set ups in Wajir East, where communities majorly practice pastoralism. Though this lifestyle is viewed as maintaining the livelihood of communities, it presents significant health challenges and environmental pressures, especially where it is combined with nomadism. This paper presents the methods adopted to influence behaviour change to make the communities open defecation free (ODF) and lessons learnt during implementation of the program. The programme implementing team adopted several innovative approaches within the actual CLTS approach to overcome these barriers. Customizing the timing of triggering where CLTS activities are mainly intensified during the rainy seasons with post-triggering follow ups done at dawn and dusk targeting household heads, involvement of religious leaders and school children and empowering women played a big role in achieving several ODF villages

Effects of Temperature on the p53-DNA Binding Interactions and Their Dynamical Behavior: Comparing the Wild Type to the R248Q Mutant

Background: The protein p53 plays an active role in the regulation of cell cycle. In about half of human cancers, the protein is inactivated by mutations located primarily in its DNA-binding domain. Interestingly, a number of these mutations possess temperature-induced DNA-binding characteristics. A striking example is the mutation of Arg248 into glutamine or tryptophan. These mutants are defective for binding to DNA at 310 K although they have been shown to bind specifically to several p53 response elements at sub-physiological temperatures (298-306 K). Methodology/Principal Findings: This important experimental finding motivated us to examine the effects of temperature on the structure and configuration of R248Q mutant and compare it to the wild type protein. Our aim is to determine how and where structural changes of mutant variants take place due to temperature changes. To answer these questions, we compared the mutant to the wild-type proteins from two different aspects. First, we investigated the systems at the atomistic level through their DNA-binding affinity, hydrogen bond networks and spatial distribution of water molecules. Next, we assessed changes in their long-lived conformational motions at the coarse-grained level through the collective dynamics of their side-chain and backbone atoms separately. Conclusions: The experimentally observed effect of temperature on the DNA-binding properties of p53 is reproduced. Analysis of atomistic and coarse-grained data reveal that changes in binding are determined by a few key residues and provide a rationale for the mutant-loss of binding at physiological temperatures. The findings can potentially enable a rescue strategy for the mutant structure. \ua9 2011 Barakat et al.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON SOURCING IN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

This research, aimed to discuss the impacts of globalization on sourcing in non-governmental organization with a case study of Northern Nomadic Disabled Persons Organization (NONDO). Specific objectives of the study included; to examine determinants of global sourcing in the Northern Nomadic Disability Persons, to determine the effects of global sourcing in northern nomadic disabled people’s organization, to examine the sourcing strategies in the northern nomadic people’s organization and to identify the challenges of global sourcing in northern nomadic disabled persons. The significance of the study was to various non-governmental organizations. Northern Nomadic Disabled Persons Organization will benefit in understanding the determinants of global sourcing, find out the impacts of global sourcing in northern nomadic disabled persons organization, identify the various challenges of global sourcing in northern nomadic disabled persons organizations and find out the various sourcing strategies of the northern nomadic disabled persons organization. The research was qualitative and quantitative in nature based on (NONDO) consisting of a target population of 120 people from the organization divided into Top level managers costing of 40 people, procurement personnel of 80 people from which a sample size of 50% was taken. Stratified random sampling was employed into getting the sample size. The data collection instruments were questionnaires with closed questions based on the objectives. Data was collected and analyzed in bar graphs and pie charts. The findings indicated that unavailability of materials and unsatisfactory products highly determine global sourcing. Communication highly aided global sourcing hence need to be enhanced. Existence of perennial problems of different standards and regulations in global sourcing, currency exchange rate fluctuation and lingual differences were the main hindrances to global sourcing. The recommendation were that communication in northern nomadic disabled persons organization should be enhanced, other competitive strategies to boost global sourcing need be adopted, study also recommended trainings, and using procurement techniques in projection and other ways to take care of the currency fluctuations

Open API Service To Generate CDA Documents Based On Cloud Computing

We depict our CDA report era and coordination Open API benefit in light of distributed computing, through which doctor's facilities are empowered to helpfully create CDA records without purchasing exclusive programming. Our CDA archive joining framework coordinates various CDA records per tolerant into a solitary CDA report and doctors and patients can peruse the clinical information in sequential request. Our arrangement of CDA record era and mix depends on distributed computing and the administration is offered in Open API