Why budget accountability fails? The elusive links between parliaments and audit agencies in the oversight of the budget

ABSTRACTParliaments and audit agencies have critical and complementary roles in the oversight of the budget and the enforcement of government accountability. Yet, the nexus between parliaments and audit agencies is one of the weakest links in the accountability chain, generating an accountability gap in the budget process. This articles analyses the interactions between parliaments and audit agencies in the oversight of government finances during the latter stages of the budget process. Using proxies to evaluate the quality of those linkages, such as the follow-up to audit findings and the discharge of government, it shows important dysfunctions in the interactions between parliaments and audit agencies due to a combination of technical capacity constraints and political economy disincentives. It suggests that the effective functioning of the system of checks and balances in public budgeting critically hinges on the agility of the linkages between accountability institutions. As such, the failure of budget accountability is due to systemic dysfunctions in the systems of accountability, rather than the failure of an individual accountability institution acting in isolation. In addition, the effectiveness of the horizontal accountability architecture depends on the political economy incentives shaping the budget process, which are generated by the interactions between the choice of institutional design and budget rules, with the degree of political competition and electoral rules.

Estudo da vantagem da orelha direita em teste de detecção de gap

A habilidade auditiva de resolução temporal consiste no tempo mínimo requerido para segregar ou resolver eventos acústicos. Esta habilidade é fundamental para a compreensão da fala e pode ser avaliada por testes de detecção de gap. Alguns estudos apontam uma vantagem da orelha direita sobre a esquerda em tarefas de resolução temporal, já que existe um papel preferencial do hemisfério esquerdo na análise dos aspectos temporais do estímulo acústico. OBJETIVO: Determinar se existem diferenças de resposta (limiares de detecção de gap e porcentagem de acertos) entre as orelhas direita e esquerda para um teste de detecção de gap. Forma de Estudo: Experimental. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: O teste de detecção de gap foi aplicado em 100 indivíduos adultos, após a realização de outros testes audiológicos para descartar possíveis alterações auditivas e/ou do processamento auditivo. RESULTADOS: Foram observados limiares de detecção de gap e porcentagens médias de acertos semelhantes para as orelhas direita e esquerda, independente da orelha de início do teste. CONCLUSÃO: Não houve vantagem de uma orelha sobre a outra na tarefa de detecção de gap.

Climate paradox of the G-8: legal obligations, policy declarations and implementation gap

This article analyzes the climate policy performance of the G-8 from 1992 to 2012 based on their legal commitments (Annex-1 and Annex-B countries) under the UNFCCC (1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and their policy declarations on their GHG reduction goals until 2050. A climate paradox has emerged due to a growing implementation gap in Canada, USA and Japan, while Russia, Germany, UK, France and Italy fulfilled their GHG reduction obligation.

Family expectation, social adjustment and gender differences in a sample of schizophrenic patients

A case series to study factors related to family expectation regarding schizophrenic patients was conducted in an out-patient setting in the city of S. Paulo, Brazil. Patients diagnosed as presenting schizophrenia by the ICD 9th Edition and having had the disease for more than four years were included in the study. Family Expectation was measured by the difference between the Katz Adjustment Scale (R2 and R3) scores based on the relative's expectation and the socially expected activities of the patient (Discrepancy Score), and social adjustment was given by the DSM-III-R Global Assessment Scale (GAS) . Outcome assessments were made independently, and 44 patients comprised the sample (25 males and 19 females). The Discrepancy mean score was twice as high for males as for females (p < 0.02), and there was an inverse relationship between the discrepancy score and social adjustment (r =-0.46, p < 0.001). Moreover, sex and social adjustment exerted independent effects on the discrepancy score when age, age at onset and number of psychiatric admissions were controlled by means of a multiple regression technique. There was an interaction between sex and social adjustment, the inverse relationship between social adjustment and discrepancy score being more pronounced for males. These findings are discussed in the light of the potential association between the family environment, gender and social adjustment of schizophrenic patients, and the need for further research, i.e. ethnographic accounts of interactions between patient and relatives sharing households particularly in less developed countries.

Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT): explorando seus parâmetros psicométricos

OBJETIVO: O presente estudo teve como objetivo conhecer evidências de validade e precisão do Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). MÉTODOS: Contou-se com uma amostra de conveniência (não probabilística) de 547 estudantes universitários de Fortaleza (CE), com idade média de 21,6 anos (dp = 4,86; amplitude de 18 a 53), a maioria do sexo masculino (51,5%), solteira (91,4%) e católica (62,5%). Os participantes responderam ao AUDIT e a perguntas demográficas. Procurando conhecer a estrutura fatorial, além de estatísticas descritivas, realizou-se uma Análise de Componentes Principais. Adicionalmente, a fim de avaliar a precisão do instrumento, efetuaram-se cálculos de alfa de Cronbach (consistência interna), correlações de r de Pearson e coeficiente de correlação intraclasse - ICC (precisão teste-reteste). RESULTADOS: De acordo com a análise de componentes principais com rotação oblimin, a estrutura bifatorial do AUDIT mostrou-se coerente, com todos os itens apresentando saturações satisfatórias, superior a |0,40|, tendo o Fator 1 explicado 47,5% da variância total com alfa de 0,84 e o Fator 2 explicado 11,6% da variância total com alfa de 0,69. Os resultados do teste-reteste indicaram correlação forte entre os dados obtidos na primeira (t1) e segunda (t2) aplicação (r tt = 0,94, p < 0,01), sem diferença significativa de médias nos dois tempos (m t1 = 0,37, dp = 0,49; m t2 = 0,34, dp2= 0,47; p > 0,05), com ICC satisfatório (0,96). CONCLUSÕES: Os achados apoiaram a adequação psicométrica do AUDIT, com as análises fatoriais exploratórias apontando como mais satisfatória a estrutura com dois fatores, bem como atestaram sua boa estabilidade temporal.

Gap junction reduction in cardiomyocytes following transforming growth factor-β treatment and Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Gap junction connexin-43 (Cx43) molecules are responsible for electrical impulse conduction in the heart and are affected by transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). This cytokine increases during Trypanosoma cruzi infection, modulating fibrosis and the parasite cell cycle. We studied Cx43 expression in cardiomyocytes exposed or not to TGF-β T. cruzi, or SB-431542, an inhibitor of TGF-β receptor type I (ALK-5). Cx43 expression was also examined in hearts with dilated cardiopathy from chronic Chagas disease patients, in which TGF-β signalling had been shown previously to be highly activated. We demonstrated that TGF-β treatment induced disorganised gap junctions in non-infected cardiomyocytes, leading to a punctate, diffuse and non-uniform Cx43 staining. A similar pattern was detected in T. cruzi-infected cardiomyocytes concomitant with high TGF-β secretion. Both results were reversed if the cells were incubated with SB-431542. Similar tests were performed using human chronic chagasic patients and we confirmed a down-regulation of Cx43 expression, an altered distribution of plaques in the heart and a significant reduction in the number and length of Cx43 plaques, which correlated negatively with cardiomegaly. We conclude that elevated TGF-β levels during T. cruzi infection promote heart fibrosis and disorganise gap junctions, possibly contributing to abnormal impulse conduction and arrhythmia that characterise severe cardiopathy in Chagas disease.