Justifying accounting change through global discourses and legitimation strategies. The case of the UK central government.

Accounting has been viewed, especially through the lens of the recent managerial reforms, as a neutral technology that, in the hands of rational managers, can support effective and efficient decision making. However, the introduction of new accounting practices can be framed in a variety of ways, from value-neutral procedures to ideologically-charged instruments. Focusing on financial accounting, budgeting and performance management changes in the UK central government, and through extensive textual analysis and interviews in three government departments, this paper investigates: how accounting changes are discussed and introduced at the political level through the use of global discourses; and what strategies organisational actors subsequently use to talk about and legitimate such discourses at different organisational levels. The results shows that in political discussions there is a consistency between the discourses (largely NPM) and the accounting-related changes that took place. The research suggests that a cocktail of legitimation strategies was used by organisational actors to construct a sense of the changes, with authorisation, often in combination with, at the very least, rationalisation strategies most widely utilised. While previous literature posits that different actors tend to use the same rhetorical sequences during periods of change, this study highlights differences at different organisational levels.

Inside the tent: Community and government in refugee camps

Refugee camps are increasingly managed through a liberal rationality of government similar to that of many industrialized societies, with security mechanisms being used to optimize the life of particular refugee populations. This governmentality has encompassed programmes introduced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to build and empower communities through the spatial technology of the camp. The present article argues that such attempts to ‘govern through community’ have been too easily dismissed or ignored. It therefore examines how such programmes work to produce, manage and conduct refugees through the use of a highly instrumentalized understanding of community in the spatial and statistical management of displaced people in camps. However, community is always both more and less than what is claimed of it, and therefore undermines attempts to use it as a governing tactic. By shifting to a more ontological understanding of community as unavoidable coexistence, inspired by Jean-Luc Nancy, we can see how the scripting of and government through community in camps is continually exceeded, redirected and resisted. Ethnographies of specific camps in Africa and the Middle East enable us both to see how the necessary sociality of being resists its own instrumentalization and to view the camp as a spatial security technology. Such resistance does not necessarily lead to greater security, but it redirects our attention to how community is used to conduct the behaviour of refugees, while also producing counter-conducts that offer greater agency, meaning and mobility to those displaced in camps.

Species composition of coastal dune vegetation in Scotland has proved resistant to climate change over a third of a century

Climate change is expected to have an impact on plant communities as increased temperatures are expected to drive individual species' distributions polewards. The results of a revisitation study after c. 34years of 89 coastal sites in Scotland, UK, were examined to assess the degree of shifts in species composition that could be accounted for by climate change. There was little evidence for either species retreat northwards or for plots to become more dominated by species with a more southern distribution. At a few sites where significant change occurred, the changes were accounted for by the invasion, or in one instance the removal, of woody species. Also, the vegetation types that showed the most sensitivity to change were all early successional types and changes were primarily the result of succession rather than climate-driven changes. Dune vegetation appears resistant to climate change impacts on the vegetation, either as the vegetation is inherently resistant to change, management prevents increased dominance of more southerly species or because of dispersal limitation to geographically isolated sites.

Os alunos de risco no 2º ciclo da Escola Básica 2, 3 Ana de Castro Osório, no ano lectivo 2004/2005: um estudo de caso

O presente estudo aborda a problemática dos alunos de risco no 2° Ciclo da E.B. 2,3 Ana de Castro Osório, no ano letivo 2004/2005. Na dimensão teórica são referenciadas algumas questões de Organização Escolar (escola reflexiva, autonomia de escola, gestores intermédios e supervisão escolar, o papel do Diretor de Turma, o Projeto Curricular de Escola, algumas linhas orientadoras da política educativa portuguesa, no período em que decorre a elaboração desta investigação) e abordados alguns aspetos gerais dos pré-adolescentes, diversos conceitos de risco, a ação de diversas entidades com competência na área da infância e juventude, o papel da família e a relação desta com a escola. Foi utilizada a metodologia do “Estudo Caso”, no decurso da qual foram analisados documentos internos da escola e elaborados instrumentos de recolha de dados (questionários aplicados aos Alunos e aos seus Diretores de Turma). No tratamento das informações de natureza quantitativa, utilizou-se o programa informático Excel, enquanto nas questões abertas procedeu-se à análise de conteúdo. Em síntese, concluiu-se que: a) um terço dos alunos que frequentava o 2° Ciclo do Ensino Básico, foi sinalizado como “aluno de risco”. Cerca de 75% era do 5° Ano de Escolaridade. Os fatores de risco que mais se destacam são: assiduidade irregular, desmotivação/desinteresse/apatia, défice de atenção e concentração, indisciplina e retenções sucessivas no seu percurso escolar. A família é pouco participativa. b) a resposta curricular dá-se essencialmente dentro da sala de aula; c) a resposta organizacional assenta essencialmente nalgumas medidas previstas nos documentos legislativos. Na última parte do trabalho deixamos expressas as conclusões do estudo mais pormenorizadas, bem como algumas recomendações/sugestões que eventualmente, poderão orientar posteriores investigações. /ABSTRACT - The risk students on a 2nd Cycle of classroom of the E.B. 2, 3 Ana de Castro Osório, during academic year of 2004/2005: A Case study The present study attempts to assess risk students on a 2nd Cycle (Sth and 6th grades) classroom of the “E.B. 2, 3 Ana de Castro Osório” Public School during the academic year of 2004/2005. On a theoretical scale, are assessed some questions about the Classroom Organization (reflexive school, school autonomy, intermediate directors and school supervision, the role of the Class Tutor, the School Curricular Project, some guidelines about the Portuguese education policy during the period when this study took place), and was also assessed some general aspects of preadolescents, risk concepts, and actions taken by various organizations specialized in the areas of childhood and youth, the role of the family and the interrelation between the family and the school. It was used a “Case Study” methodology during which was assessed school documents of this particularly school, and data collecting instruments (Student-applied and Class Tutor-applied questionnaires). On dealing with quantitative data, it was used the Excel application, while for the open questions was assessed by its contents. In brief, it was concluded that: a) a third of students that attended the 2nd Cycle Basic Education schools revealed to be “risk students”. Around 75% of them were 5th grade students. Among the most important risk factors are: irregular attendance, unmotivated/aloofness /apathy, lack of attention and concentration, indiscipline and successive retentions during their education pathway. The family is scarcely participative. b) The curricular response is normally given within the classroom; c) the organizational response lies mostly on some measures included in government documents. On the last part of the paper, we focus on more detailed conclusions, as well as give recommendations/suggestions which may eventually be of guidance to future studies.

Production of biodiesel from the resources endogeneous of Timor Leste

Os biocombustíveis têm estado na linha da frente das políticas energéticas mundiais visto que as suas vantagens conseguem colmatar as incertezas e resolver alguns dos problemas associados aos combustíveis fósseis. O biodiesel tem provado ser um combustível muito fiável, alternativo ao petrodiesel. É uma mistura de ésteres alquílicos produzidos a partir de óleos vegetais e gorduras animais através de uma reacção de transesterificação. Como combustível, o biodiesel é economicamente viável, socialmente responsável, tecnicamente compatível e ambientalmente amigável. O principal desafio associado ao seu desenvolvimento tem a ver com a escolha de matéria-prima para a sua produção. Nos países do terceiro mundo, óleos alimentares são mais importantes para alimentar pessoas do que fazer funcionar carros. Esta tese tem como objectivos produzir/processar biodiesel a partir de recursos endógenos de Timor-Leste e medir/prever as propriedades termodinâmicas do biodiesel, a partir das dos esteres alquílicos. A síntese do biodiesel a partir dos óleos de Aleurites moluccana, Jatropha curcas e borras de café foram aqui estudados. As propriedades termodinâmicas como densidade, viscosidade, tensão superficial, volatilidade e velocidade do som também foram medidas e estimadas usando modelos preditivos disponíveis na literatura, incluindo as equações de estado CPA e soft-SAFT. Timor-Leste é um país muito rico em recursos naturais, mas a maioria da população ainda vive na pobreza e na privação de acesso a serviços básicos e condições de vida decentes. A exploração de petróleo e gás no mar de Timor tem sido controlado pelo Fundo Petrolífero. O país ainda carece de electricidade e combustíveis que são cruciais para materializar as políticas de redução da pobreza. Como solução, o governo timorense criou recentemente o Plano Estratégico de Desenvolvimento a 20 anos cujas prioridades incluem trazer o desenvolvimento do petróleo do mar para a costa sul de Timor-Leste e desenvolver as energias renováveis. É neste último contexto que o biodiesel se insere. O seu desenvolvimento no país poderá ser uma solução para o fornecimento de electricidade, a criação de empregos e sobretudo o combate contra a pobreza e a privação. Para ser usado como combustível, no entanto, o biodiesel deve possuir propriedades termodinâmicas coerentes com as especificadas nas normas da ASTM D6751 (nos Estados Unidos) ou EN 14214 (na Europa) para garantir uma adequada ignição, atomização e combustão do biodiesel no motor.

Model of access to natural language sources in electronic government

For the actual existence of e-government it is necessary and crucial to provide public information and documentation, making its access simple to citizens. A portion, not necessarily small, of these documents is in an unstructured form and in natural language, and consequently outside of which the current search systems are generally able to cope and effectively handle. Thus, in thesis, it is possible to improve access to these contents using systems that process natural language and create structured information, particularly if supported in semantics. In order to put this thesis to test, this work was developed in three major phases: (1) design of a conceptual model integrating the creation of structured information and making it available to various actors, in line with the vision of e-government 2.0; (2) definition and development of a prototype instantiating the key modules of this conceptual model, including ontology based information extraction supported by examples of relevant information, knowledge management and access based on natural language; (3) assessment of the usability and acceptability of querying information as made possible by the prototype - and in consequence of the conceptual model - by users in a realistic scenario, that included comparison with existing forms of access. In addition to this evaluation, at another level more related to technology assessment and not to the model, evaluations were made on the performance of the subsystem responsible for information extraction. The evaluation results show that the proposed model was perceived as more effective and useful than the alternatives. Associated with the performance of the prototype to extract information from documents, comparable to the state of the art, results demonstrate the feasibility and advantages, with current technology, of using natural language processing and integration of semantic information to improve access to unstructured contents in natural language. The conceptual model and the prototype demonstrator intend to contribute to the future existence of more sophisticated search systems that are also more suitable for e-government. To have transparency in governance, active citizenship, greater agility in the interaction with the public administration, among others, it is necessary that citizens and businesses have quick and easy access to official information, even if it was originally created in natural language.

Revenue diversification in higher education: the case of Portugal

Socio-economic changes, alterations in societal expectations and new public policies have put pressures on higher education public funding, bringing the issue of funding diversification to the forefront. Income diversification, namely, generation of funds from private, as well as from competitive public sources, has become increasingly important in European higher education due to a complex financial environment and perceived deficit of innovation transfer. Although there are numerous studies about changes in national funding systems and allocation mechanisms, few have focused on diversification of funding sources, especially in the European context, making Portugal no exception. Thus, this study aims at exploring income diversification at the institutional level and its influence on the internal organisational structures. For this purpose two Portuguese public universities were chosen as case studies. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews with top management and middle management of each university and through documentary analysis. Data analysis demonstrated that both universities are in the process of institutionalizing and formalising practices of income diversification, notably by getting more professional in how they are dealing with external stakeholders, such as businesses, local community, and students. However, the study also revealed that there is no formal, organised strategy to deal with income diversification. In general, the universities are reacting to external demands rather than pro-actively exploring opportunities. In this respect, the analysis determined several factors that promote or inhibit income diversification activities. Quality and favourable organizational culture were named by the interviewees as the most relevant factors for successful income diversification. External factors such as legal arrangements and funding conditions were cited as major constraints. This research has also revealed that revenue diversification activities tend to develop along the continuum towards higher sophistication and systematisation of activities that are supported by a powerful infrastructure. Together with efforts at the institutional level, the role of government policies proves to be crucial in providing tools and incentives to higher education institutions and creating a harmonious higher education system.

Working Paper: Open Government Data

In diesem Working Paper sollen wesentliche Erkenntnisse und Forderungen aus der - bisher vor allem englischsprachigen - Diskussion über die webgerechte Freigabe öffentlicher Daten zusammengefaßt werden. Das Paper versteht sich als Ausgangspunkt für Diskussion und Strategieentwicklung, ohne letztere selbst leisten zu können. Die Entwicklungspotentiale von Open Government Data (OGD) sollen zunächst aus der Sicht verschiedener Beteiligter dargestellt werden. Mit den in den Sebastopol-Prinzipien formulierten grundlegenden Anforderungen an OGD wird der Begriff schließlich definiert. Anhand von Veröffentlichungen des W3C kann schließlich die Bedeutung der Verwendung und (Weiter-)Entwicklung offener Standards für OGD gezeigt werden, daneben aber auch die Hauptprobleme eines entsprechenden Change Managements im öffentlichen Sektor. Abschließend werden einige modellhafte Beispiele für die praktische Umsetzung von OGD angeführt.

Review of state government motor vehicle resources

The LAC was requested to review state motor vehicle resources and make recommendations. It focused on three statewide objectives posed by the committees: (1) Determine if any wasteful duplication exists among state-owned vehicle maintenance facilities. (2) Identify any waste or inefficiency in the use of state owned vehicles. (3) Identify unnecessary or personal use of state-owned vehicles.

THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Annual report of the Audubon Society of South Carolina, 1 January 1910, discusses fish and game laws, bird species found in the state of South Carolina, the effects of insects on local crops, and membership information. Report also includes a color illustration of a mockingbird on the inside of the front cover.

Catalogue of the articles on exhibition, at the fair of the South-Carolina Institute, third annual fair, November 18, 1851

This document contains a catalogue of the articles on exhibition at the 1851 annual fair of the South Carolina Institute. It includes 432 items exhibited at the fair in Charleston.