Public Accountability or Fiscal Control? Benchmarks of Performance in Australian Schooling

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Watson

The Industry Commission review of service provision in school education aims to define performance benchmarks for Australia's eight government education systems, by providing comparative measures of efficiency in education provision. Such benchmarks are likely to lead to a reduction in the level of public resources for government schools unless it is possible to demonstrate the link between expenditure on schooling and school effectiveness. If efficiency audits like the Industry Commission review are to deal with issues of school effectiveness adequately, they should avoid the tendency of previous public sector audits to focus on financial data on schools expenditure to the exclusion of data on student achievement. This paper suggests an approach to measuring system performance which would establish benchmarks that reflected both the efficiency and effectiveness of Australian school systems, and warns against the misuse of performance indicators as an instrument in the determination of funding levels for schools.

Physchem ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-188
Author(s):  
Gregor Lipinski ◽  
Markus Richter

Efficient and environmentally responsible use of resources requires the development and optimization of gas separation processes. A promising approach is the use of liquids that are designed for specific tasks, e.g., the capture of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. This requires an accurate determination of gas solubilities for a broad range of temperatures and pressures. However, state of the art measurement techniques are often very time consuming or exhibit other pitfalls that prevent their use as efficient screening tools. Here, we show that the application of Raman spectroscopy through a compact measuring system can simplify data acquisition for the determination of gas solubilities in liquids. To demonstrate that this approach is expedient, we determined gas solubilities of carbon dioxide in water for three isotherms T = (288.15, 293.15, 298.15) K over a pressure range from p = (0.5–5) MPa and in three imidazolium-based ionic liquids for one isotherm T = 298.15 K at pressures from p = (0.1–5) MPa. When compared to data in the literature, all results are within the reported uncertainties of the measurement techniques involved. The developed analysis method eliminates the need for a lengthy volume or mass calibration of the sample prior to the measurements and, therefore, allows for fast screening of samples, which can help to advance gas separation processes in scientific and industrial applications.


Author(s):  
Annika Jones

Abstract Amid pressure to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the International Criminal Court (ICC), work has progressed on the development of a set of performance indicators for the ICC. This article argues that performance indicators play into tensions that underpin the international criminal justice process at the ICC, in particular between expeditiousness, on the one hand, and fairness and victim satisfaction, on the other. It argues that while the ICC’s performance indicators extend assessment of the ICC beyond the speedy completion of cases and embrace goals of fairness and victim access to justice, they inevitably support the former to the detriment of the latter, with implications for the Court’s identity. While acknowledging the benefits of performance indicators for the ICC, the article outlines several measures to counter the risks that they pose for the balance between these goals.


Gefahrstoffe ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (10) ◽  
pp. 378-384
Author(s):  
C. Sun ◽  
C. Thelen ◽  
I. Sancho Sanz ◽  
A. Wittmann

The efficacy of a respirator under real workplace conditions is presented by its workplace protection factor (WPF). The aim of this study was to assess a portable measuring system for the determination of WPF for particulate filtering facepiece respirators. WPFs of CE-marked FFP2 and FFP3 filtering facepiece respirators were measured as a pilot test conducted at two workplaces: an inter-company training facility and a paper mill, with a total of seven test subjects. Each subject was quantitatively fit tested prior to the field measurements. Two TSI PortaCount instruments measured the particle concentrations simultaneously and continuously inside and outside the respirator for 15 min, with three repetitions. The results of the fit test (overall fit factor) ranged from 22 to 199. Individual WPF results ranged from 16 to 568 for FFP2 respirators, and from 13 to 232 for FFP3 respirators. The geometric means (GM) of the WPF were 135 with a 5th percentile value of 37 (FFP2), and 47 with a 5th percentile value of 12 (FFP3). This pilot test provides a new method of evaluating the workplace performance of filtering facepiece respirators.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-326
Author(s):  
A. R. Baev ◽  
A. L. Mayorov ◽  
M. V. Asadchaya ◽  
V. N. Levkovich ◽  
K. G. Zhavoronkov

Application of surface and subsurface waves for control of objects with a double-layer structure allows to extend possibilities of diagnostics of their physico-mechanical properties. The purpose of work was to determine conditions and offer recommendations providing measuring of ultrasonic velocity and amplitude of the former modes in protective layers and in basis of object at one-sided access to its surface.The analysis of an acoustic path of a measuring system in relation to ultrasonic evaluation of the objects having the restricted sizes and the protective coating according to velocity data of the surface and subsurface waves propagation is made. On the basis of representations of beam acoustics the dependences connecting a wavelength of the excited surface and subsurface modes, thickness and width of a controlled object, acoustic base of a sounding are defined. There are to provide a condition leveling of the influence of an acoustical noise created by the reflected and accompanying waves on parameters of acoustic signal with the given quantity of oscillations in an impulse.The principle opportunity is shown and conditions for determination of velocity of subsurface body waves in the base material which is under a protective coating layer are established. For these purposes on the basis of use of the block of ultrasonic probes the optimum scheme of a sounding is offered and the analytical expression for calculation of required velocity considering varying of thickness of a covering is received.The method of acoustical measuring realized by a direct and reverse sounding of the objects with small aperture and angle probes was analysed and formulas for determination of speed of subsurface wave under protective layer of the wedge form have been got. An ultrasonic device is suggested for the excitationreception of subsurface waves with different speed in objects (on 20–35 %) using for the acoustic concordance of environments of metallic sound duct as a wedge. Possibility of leveling of interference in a protective layer to control efects in basis of material by a volume wave by creation of supporting echo-signal of longitudinal wave of the set frequency and entered normally to the surface of object was studied.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-204
Author(s):  
José Francisco Ribeiro Filho ◽  
Jorge Expedito de Gusmão Lopes ◽  
Marcleide Maria Macedo Pederneiras ◽  
Alan José de Moura Silva ◽  
Caio Eduardo Silva Mulatinho

The Brazilian company has been aware of the importance of requiring the responsible use of public resources, made available to their elected representatives, reverting them into benefits that meet the needs of citizens. The bodies of external control are beginning to worry about achievement of targets and improvement of the performance of public policy and start to perform audits of an operational nature, seeking to evaluatethe management in terms of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, and the effectiveness of government expenditure. This research examined whether it was possible to identify weaknesses that jeopardise the effectiveness of the recommendations issued by operational audits conducted by the Court of the State of PE, from the concept of competitive intelligence and in order to subsidize a preventive action and / or contingencial.It was used the deductive method with literature search and documentary, with the analysis of all the recommendations of audits conducted operational and judged by the ECA / PE 2003-2007. It was concluded on the basis of competitive intelligence, that there are weaknesses that could compromise the effectiveness of implementing the recommendations issued by the operational audit, which once identified will allow the establishment of a preventive strategy, and contingencial a strategy to tackle the risk factors If materialise.


Author(s):  
John Harris

Performance management is usually presented as a technical tool to monitor policies and programmes. Performance indicators are presented as neutral and as having been developed in pursuit of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. According to this approach, if properly conceptualised and constructed, performance indicators illuminate the extent to which agencies or services are achieving goals and provide accountability. In contrast, understanding performance indicators as political requires examination of their social as well as their technical aspects. From this perspective, the effectiveness of an indicator as a means to measure performance is not as important as other roles, such as embedding policy and shaping practice. Accordingly, performance management represents a significant technology of control over social work. It acts as a powerful determinant of which forms of practice are approved by deciding which of them are drawn into the accountability framework and are therefore authorised.


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