The translation and sedimentation of accounting reforms. A comparison of the UK, Austrian and Italian experiences

Since the late 1980s, there has been a significant and progressive movement away from the traditional Public Administration (PA) systems, in favour of NPM-type accounting tools and ideas inspired by the private sector. More recently, a new focus on governance systems, under the banner Public Governance (PG), has emerged. In this paper it is argued that reforms are not isolated events, but are embedded in more global discourses of modernisation and influenced by the institutional pressures present in a certain field at certain points in time. Using extensive document analysis in three countries with different administrative regimes (the UK, Italy and Austria), we examine public sector accounting and budgeting reforms and the underlying discourses put forward in order to support the change. We investigate the extent to which the actual content of the reforms and the discourses they are embedded within are connected over time; that is, whether, and to what degree, the reform “talk” matches the “decisions”. The research shows that in both the UK and in Italy there is consistency between the debates and the decided changes, although the dominant discourse in each country differs, while in Austria changes are decided gradually, and only after they have been announced well in advance in the political debate. We find that in all three countries the new ideas and concepts layer and sediment above the existing ones, rather than replace them. Although all three countries underwent similar accounting and budgeting reforms and relied on similar institutional discourses, each made its own specific translation of the ideas and concepts and is characterised by a specific formation of sedimentations. In addition, the findings suggest that, at present in the three countries, the PG discourse is used to supplement, rather than supplant, other prevailing discourses.

"Variations on Psycho Killer" - Musical Score. Commissioned by Pauline Kim Harris. A virtuosic set of variations on the famous Talking Heads song for solo violin. General information State: Unpublished Organisations: School of Creative Arts, Sonic Arts, UOA35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts Authors: Lyon, E. Keywords: (Talking Heads, Violin Music) Publication date: 2012

Musical Score. Commissioned by Pauline Kim Harris. A virtuosic set of variations on the famous Talking Heads song for solo violin.

Premiere of "Spaced Images with Noise and Lines" Performance at the Joinery, Dublin, at at Spatial Music Collective concert. Authors: Lyon, E. Keywords: (Spatial Audio, Electroacoustic Music, Computer Music, Algorithmic Music) Publication date: 07 Oct 2011

Performance at the Joinery, Dublin, at at Spatial Music Collective concert

Three Melodies for Solo Vibraphone Recital performed by Cory Bracken, Percussionist Brooklyn College Studio 312 in Roosevelt Hall, Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY Authors: Lyon, E. Publication date: 27 Oct 2011

Thursday, October 27 · 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Location
Brooklyn College
Studio 312 in Roosevelt Hall, Bedford Ave.
Brooklyn, NY
Created By
Cory Bracken

"Noise Triptych" Performed by Ensemble String Noise at PIANOS, NYC. Authors: Lyon, E. Publication date: 20 Nov 2012

Performed by Ensemble String Noise at PIANOS, NYC.

"The End" for piano and computer. Performed by Shiau-uen Ding. Composer's Voice Concert Series: 15 Minutes of Fame. Jan Hus Church, NYC. General information State: Published Organisations: School of Creative Arts, Sonic Arts, UOA35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts Authors: Lyon, E.

Performed by Shiau-uen Ding. Composer's Voice Concert Series: 15 Minutes of Fame. Jan Hus Church, NYC.

"The End." A winner of the 2012 "15 Minutes of Fame" competition. Authors: Lyon, E. Publication date: 2012

A winner of the 2012 "15 Minutes of Fame" competition.

Five authors reply

We read with interest the comments offered by Drs. Hughes and Bradley (1) on our systematic review (2). Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs9332739 and rs547154 in the complement component 2 gene (C2) and rs4151667 and rs641153 in the complement factor B gene (CFB), were pooled. Hughes and Bradley point out that we omitted the most common variant, rs12614. In fact, rs12614 is in high linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs641153, which was included, and the major allele of both of these SNPs is in the range of 90% (population code, CEU, in the International HapMap Project (http://hapmap.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)). Moreover, our review was initiated in September 2010, at which point only 4 studies had published associations with rs12614, whereas 14 studies (n = 11,378) were available for rs641153. While it is true that both SNPs are better analyzed as a haplotype, these data were simply not available for pooling.
Hughes and Bradley also point out that we obtained and pooled new data that were not previously published. While it is recommended that contact with authors be completed as part of a comprehensive meta-analysis, we acknowledge that these additional data were not previously published and peer reviewed and, hence, do not have the same level of transparency. However, given that sample collections often increase over time and that the instrumentation for genotyping is continually improving, we thought that it would be advantageous to use the most recent information; this is a subjective decision.
We also agree that the allele frequencies given by Kaur et al. (3) were exactly opposite to those expected and were suggestive of strand flipping. However, we specifically queried this with the lead author on 2 separate occasions and were assured it was not.
Hughes and Bradley do make an interesting suggestion that SNPs in high LD should be used as a gauge of genotyping quality in HuGE reviews. This is an interesting idea but difficult to put into practice as the r2 parameter they propose as a measure of LD has some unusual properties. Although r2 is a measure of LD, it is also linked to the allele frequency; even small differences in allele frequencies between 2 linked SNPs can reduce the r2 dramatically. Wray (4) explored these effects and found that, at a baseline allele frequency of 10%, even a difference in allele frequency between 2 SNPs as small as 2% can drop the r2 value below 0.8. This degree of allele frequency difference is consistent with what could be expected for sampling error. Furthermore, when we look at 2 linked dialleleic SNPs, giving 4 possible haplotypes, the absence of 1 haplotype dramatically reduces r2, despite the 2 loci being in high LD as measured by D'. In fact, this is the situation for rs12614 and rs641153, where the low frequency of 1 haplotype means that the r2 is 0.01 but the D' is 1.
Hughes and Bradley also suggest consideration of genotype call rate restrictions as an inclusion criterion for metaanalysis. This would be more appropriate when focusing on genetic variants per se, as considered within the context of a genome-wide association study or other specific genetic analysis where large numbers of SNPs are evaluated (5).
The concerns raised by Hughes and Bradley reflect the limited ability of a meta-analysis based on summary data to tease out inconsistencies best identified at the individual level. We agree that SNPs in LD should be evaluated, but this will not necessarily be straightforward. A move to make genetic data sets publicly available, as in the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ gap), is a step in the right direction for greater transparency.

The Ocho Poetas Mexicanos and the marginalisation of Catholic authors in post-revolutionary Mexico

The group known as the Ocho Poetas Mexicanos were marginalised in post-revolutionary literary circles and remain largely forgotten by literary history because they were dismissed as Catholic authors by a literary establishment which favoured nation-building literature at a time when Catholicism was excluded from official constructions of nationhood. This article draws attention to the significant contribution made by group members to contemporary cultural life and re-evaluates the work they published in the 1955 anthology which announced their arrival onto the literary scene. An analysis of this collection demonstrates that there was scant justification for labelling the group as Catholic poets and suggests that they are best understood with reference to the “universal” strand of Mexican literature and as heirs to groups such as the Contemporáneos. The treatment of the Ocho Poetas provides important evidence of the way in which Catholic authors were marginalised in mid-twentieth century Mexico, even if they did not express religious beliefs in their work, and draws attention to the non-literary criteria which can come into play when evaluating texts.

Will your article be found? Authors choose a confusing variety of words to describe dental survival analyses

OBJECTIVES: Identify the words and phrases that authors used to describe time-to-event outcomes of dental treatments in patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic handsearch of 50 dental journals with the highest Citation Index for 2008 identified articles reporting dental treatment with time-to-event statistics (included "case" articles, n = 95), without time-to-event statistics (active "control" articles, n = 91), and all other articles (passive "control" articles n = 6796). The included and active controls were read, identifying 43 English words across the title, aim and abstract, indicating that outcomes were studied over time. Once identified, these words were sought within the 6796 passive controls. Words were divided into six groups. Differences in use of words were analyzed with Pearson's chi-square across these six groups, and the three locations (title, aim, and abstract).

RESULTS: In the abstracts, included articles used group 1 (statistical technique) and group 2 (statistical terms) more frequently than the active and passive controls (group 1: 35%, 2%, 0.37%, P < 0.001 and group 2: 31%, 1%, 0.06%, P < 0.001). The included and active controls used group 3 (quasi-statistical) equally, but significantly more often than the passive controls (82%, 78%, 3.21%, P < 0.001). In the aims, use of target words was similar for included and active controls, but less frequent for groups 1-4 in the passive controls (P < 0.001). In the title, group 2 (statistical techniques) and groups 3-5 (outcomes) were similar for included and active controls, but groups 2 and 3 were less frequent in the passive controls (P < 0.001). Significantly more included articles used group 6 words (stating the study duration) (54%, 30%, P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: All included articles used time-to-event analyses, but two-thirds did not include words to highlight this in the abstract. There is great variation in the words authors used to describe dental time-to-event outcomes. Electronic identification of such articles would be inconsistent, with low sensitivity and specificity. Authors should improve the reporting quality. Journals should allow sufficient space in abstracts to summarize research, and not impose unrealistic word limits. Readers should be mindful of these problems when searching for relevant articles. Additional research is required in this field.