scholarly journals Predictions of State and County Top Civil Servants Regarding the Abolition of County State Administration Offices: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-61
Author(s):  
Iva Lopižić ◽  
Romea Manojlović Toman

In January 2020, county state administration offices, as first-line state administration offices in Croatia, were abolished and their competences transferred to county second-level units of local self-government. This organizational change represents administrative decentralization. The purpose of this article is to examine whether there are any differences in the predictions regarding the effects of this organizational change between two groups of civil servants: state civil servants (heads of county state administration offices and heads of their internal organizational units) and county civil servants (heads of county organizational units), and which are the factors that shape their predictions. A questionnaire was sent to the respondents in June 2019. The statistical analysis of the data (response rate 52%) shows a statistically significant difference between the predictions of the two groups in relation to all four categories of effects of this organizational change (inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes). There is only one point where there is no difference: both groups agree that the county governor’s role will grow. The difference in predictions is explained by two factors of cognitive biases: the organization’s interest to survive and expand its power, and uncertainty (strategic, structural, and job-related). The paper offers an academic contribution to the field of administrative decentralization by giving insights into the predictions of different actors on the effects of such change before its implementation and by introducing factors of cognitive biases as explanations for discrepancies in the predictions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Sun ◽  
He Dong ◽  
Guoyang Qin ◽  
Ye Tian

Adverse weathers are well-known to impact the operation of transportation systems, including taxis. This paper utilizes taxi GPS waypoint data to investigate the quantitative impact of rainfall on taxi hailing and taxi operations to help improve service quality on rainy days. Through statistical analysis, the study proves that it is more difficult to hail taxis on rainy days, especially during morning peak hours. By modelling the difference value of factors for rainfall and nonrainfall conditions in a multivariate regression model and attaining the significance and elasticity of each factor, passenger demand, taxi supply, search time and velocity are proved to be the significant factors that lower the taxis’ level of service on rainy days. Among them, the number of passengers and taxis are two factors that have the greatest impact. It is also shown that there is no significant difference in the total taxi supply and passenger demand between rainfall and nonrainfall conditions, but a dramatic change in the spatial distribution is discovered. The results suggest that instead of simply providing more taxis on rainy days, optimally dispatching taxicabs to high demand regions can be a more effective solution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sándor Hornok ◽  
Maria Mulvihill ◽  
Krisztina Szőke ◽  
Enikő Gönczi ◽  
Kinga M. Sulyok ◽  
...  

Man-made barriers are well known for their effects on ecosystems. Habitat fragmentation, for instance, is a recognised consequence of modern-day infrastructure. The aim of the present study was to investigate the diversity and abundance of tick species, as well as the risks of acquiring tick-borne infections in habitats adjacent to a freeway. Therefore, ixodid ticks were collected from the vegetation at two-week intervals (in the main tick season, from March to June) in eight habitats of different types (forest, grove, grassland) along both sides of a freeway. Ixodes ricinus females were molecularly screened for three species of tick-borne bacteria. In the study period, 887 ixodid ticks were collected. These included 704 I. ricinus (79.4%), 51 Dermacentor reticulatus (5.7%), 78 D. marginatus (8.8%), 35 Haemaphysalis inermis (3.9%) and 19 H. concinna (2.1%). There was no significant difference in the abundance of tick species between similar habitats separated by the freeway, except for the absence of Dermacentor spp. on one side. In I. ricinus females, the overall prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum was low, and (in part due to this low rate) did not show significant difference between the two sides of the freeway. Rickettsia helvetica had significantly different overall prevalence between two distant habitats along the same side of the freeway (12.3% vs. 31.4%), but not between habitats on the opposite sides. Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. showed significantly different overall prevalence between habitats both on the same and on the opposite sides of the freeway (8.6–35.9%), and the difference was higher if relevant habitats were also separated by the freeway. Importantly, the prevalence rate of the Lyme disease agent was highest in a forested resting area of the freeway, and was significantly inversely proportional to the prevalence of A. phagocytophilum (taking into account all evaluated habitats), apparently related to deer population density. Prevalence rates of these bacteria also differed significantly on single sampling occasions between: (1) closely situated habitats of different types; (2) distant and either similar or different habitat types; and (3) habitats on the opposite sides of the freeway. In conclusion, the findings of the present study show that a fenced freeway may contribute to differences in tick species diversity and tick-borne pathogen prevalence along its two sides, and this effect is most likely a consequence of its barrier role preventing deer movements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Tu Ngoc Phan Thi ◽  
Ardi Ardi ◽  
Warnita Warnita

Rice is staple grain production that plays an important role in food security and the socio-economic value of agriculture in South East Asia countries. Among the factors that have negative effects on rice, weed is the major one. Its production constraint is directly seeded rice; besides, weed also affects rice growth and yield by competition about light, water, nutrient, space. Jussiaea octovalvis is a kind of weed in the field during rice growth to mature, which affects the growth and yield of rice but not significantly different based on this research. Treatments were arranged factorially in Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with two factors, 20 treatments (4 varieties, 5 of weed densities), and four replications, and each repetition used two pots for each treatment. As a result, the data showed the difference between the rate of growth and the yield of rice grain recovery products. Especially at data of LL 58 DAP showed significant difference (P=0.017), which the highest rate is 59.13 cm of V2; for harvest data showed that V3 is the best result, but it is also a sensitive one in the condition of weed densities impaction more than the others varieties (D0V3=620.5; D4V3=438). Besides, the measurement of W1000 of rice grain (30.96 g) and Wt per pot (20.01 g) of D0V3 is weight more than the other treatment; within D4V4 was obtained lowest of W1000 (19.26 g) and the lowest of Wt is D1V1 (5.25 g). Besides that, D2 and D4 are more effective on rice growth and yield, and it was non–significant. However, it is not the interaction between weed densities and varieties of rice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 129-148
Author(s):  
Iva + Lopižić

After the abolition of the county administrative offices in January 2020, the tasks performed by the county administrative offices as first-instance state administration bodies were delegated to the counties, as the second level self-government units in Croatia. By this organizational change, the model of deconcentrated performance of state administration tasks was replaced by the model of administrative decentralization. In this context, the paper presents the features of the delegated scope of competence as an organizational performance model of state administration tasks in territorial units and administrative decentralization with a delegated scope of competence as an institutional result. The review of the scholarly literature on the delegated scope of competence and the effects of administrative decentralization is supported by a comparative review of the delegated scope of competence in the Czech and German local self-government. Based on theoretical considerations and comparative practices, the paper discusses the possible effects of the application of the delegated scope of competence in Croatian counties on their institutional development and performance of the delegated tasks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 622-622
Author(s):  
Henning Jann ◽  
Antonin Kayser ◽  
Bertram Wiedenmann ◽  
Frank Tacke ◽  
Christoph Roderburg

622 Background: Extra-pulmonary neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC) and neuroendocrine tumors (NET) G3 are aggressive neoplasia that are associated with a limited prognosis. Data on this entity is scarce and optimal treatments are only poorly defined. Methods: 105 patients (♀ = 46; 43.8% and ♂ = 59; 56.2%) with histologically confirmed neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC; n = 83) or neuroendocrine tumor G3 (NET G3; n = 12) or mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasms G3 (MiNEN G3; n = 10) were included into this study. Clinical and pathological characteristics at diagnosis, therapies, outcomes and survival data were recorded. Results: Primary tumor localizations included esophagus/stomach (n = 9; 8.7%), pancreas/duodenum (n = 29; 27.9%), appendix/colon/rectum (n = 25; 24.0%), the genitourinary tract (n = 9; 8.7%) and CUP (n = 32; 30.8%). Median Ki-67 across all patients was 70% (range 25-95) with a statistically significant difference in NEC G3 vs. NET G3 (74%, range 25-95 vs. 33.5%, range 25-69; p < .001). Median overall survival (mOS) was 19.2 (±1.6)months and was significantly higher in NET G3 (38 vs. 16.8 months in NEC; p = .012). First-line therapy in most patients was cisplatin or carboplatin in combination with etoposide (n = 64; 61.0%), followed by FOLFOX (n = 29; 27.6%). Twelve Patients (11.4%) received other chemotherapies. Best overall response to first-line chemotherapy was CR (5.7%), PR (52.4%) SD (17.1%) and PD (21%). In patients with Ki-67 < 55% (n = 40) no significant difference between the different regimens was found. In analyzing median PFS (mPFS) in patients with Ki-67 > 55% (n = 65) the combination of cis- or carboplatin with etoposide (mPFS 6.1±0.5 months) was superior to FOLFOX (mPFS 2.8±1.4 months; p = 0.038). Strikingly, in patients with small-cell NEC (n = 28) the combination of cisplatin/etoposide (mPFS 12.3±3months) showed a superior outcome compared to carboplatin/etoposide (mPFS: 6±1.4months; p = .022). Conclusions: Patients with non resectable NEN G3 should be treated with chemotherapy. In cases with proliferative index > 55% the 1st-line regimen of choice should be platinum in combination with etoposide. The difference in efficacy between carboplatin and cisplatin in our data should be evaluated in a prospective setting.


Author(s):  
Annie Lang ◽  
Nancy Schwartz ◽  
Sharon Mayell

The study reported here compared how younger and older adults processed the same set of media messages which were selected to vary on two factors, arousing content and valence. Results showed that older and younger adults had similar arousal responses but different patterns of attention and memory. Older adults paid more attention to all messages than did younger adults. However, this attention did not translate into greater memory. Older and younger adults had similar levels of memory for slow-paced messages, but younger adults outperformed older adults significantly as pacing increased, and the difference was larger for arousing compared with calm messages. The differences found are in line with predictions made based on the cognitive-aging literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 93-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
MF Van Bressem ◽  
P Duignan ◽  
JA Raga ◽  
K Van Waerebeek ◽  
N Fraijia-Fernández ◽  
...  

Crassicauda spp. (Nematoda) infest the cranial sinuses of several odontocetes, causing diagnostic trabecular osteolytic lesions. We examined skulls of 77 Indian Ocean humpback dolphins Sousa plumbea and 69 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins Tursiops aduncus, caught in bather-protecting nets off KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from 1970-2017, and skulls of 6 S. plumbea stranded along the southern Cape coast in South Africa from 1963-2002. Prevalence of cranial crassicaudiasis was evaluated according to sex and cranial maturity. Overall, prevalence in S. plumbea and T. aduncus taken off KZN was 13 and 31.9%, respectively. Parasitosis variably affected 1 or more cranial bones (frontal, pterygoid, maxillary and sphenoid). No significant difference was found by gender for either species, allowing sexes to be pooled. However, there was a significant difference in lesion prevalence by age, with immature T. aduncus 4.6 times more likely affected than adults, while for S. plumbea, the difference was 6.5-fold. As severe osteolytic lesions are unlikely to heal without trace, we propose that infection is more likely to have a fatal outcome for immature dolphins, possibly because of incomplete bone development, lower immune competence in clearing parasites or an over-exuberant inflammatory response in concert with parasitic enzymatic erosion. Cranial osteolysis was not observed in mature males (18 S. plumbea, 21 T. aduncus), suggesting potential cohort-linked immune-mediated resistance to infestation. Crassicauda spp. may play a role in the natural mortality of S. plumbea and T. aduncus, but the pathogenesis and population level impact remain unknown.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Wahdaniah Wahdaniah ◽  
Sri Tumpuk

Abstract: Routine blood examination is the earliest blood test or screening test to determine the diagnosis of an abnormality. Blood easily froze if it is outside the body and can be prevented by the addition of anticoagulants, one of which Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetate (EDTA). Currently available vacuum tubes containing EDTA anticoagulants in the form of K2EDTA and K3EDTA. K3EDTA is usually a salt that has better stability than other EDTA salts because it shows a pH approaching a blood pH of about 6.4. The purpose of this research is to know the difference of erythrocyte index results include MCH, MCV and MCHC using K3EDTA anticoagulant with K2EDTA. This research is a cross sectional design. This study used venous blood samples mixed with K2EDTA anticoagulant and venous blood mixed with K3EDTA anticoagulants, each of 30 samples. Data were collected and analyzed using paired different test. Based on data analysis that has been done on MCH examination, p value <0,05 then there is a significant difference between samples with K3EDTA anticoagulant with K2EDTA to erythrocyte index value. Then on the examination of MCV and MCHC obtained p value <0.05 then there is no significant difference between samples with K3EDTA anticoagulant with K2EDTA to erythrocyte index value.Abstrak: Pemeriksaan darah rutin merupakan pemeriksaan darah yang paling awal atau screening test untuk mengetahui diagnosis suatu kelainan. Darah mudah membeku jika berada diluar tubuh dan bisa dicegah dengan penambahan antikoagulan, salah satunya Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetate (EDTA). Dewasa ini telah tersedia tabung vakum yang sudah berisi antikoagulan EDTA dalam bentuk  K2EDTA dan  K3EDTA. K3EDTA  biasanya berupa garam yang mempunyai stabilitas yang lebih baik dari garam EDTA yang lain karena menunjukkan pH yang mendekati pH darah yaitu sekitar 6,4. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui perbedaan hasil indeks eritrosit meliputi MCH, MCV dan MCHC menggunakan antikoagulan K3EDTA dengan K2EDTA. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian dengan desain cross sectional. Penelitian ini menggunakan sampel darah vena yang dicampur dengan antikoagulan K2EDTA dan darah vena yang dicampur dengan antikoagulan K3EDTA, masing-masing sebanyak 30 sampel. Data dikumpulkan dan dianalisis menggunakan uji beda berpasangan. Berdasarkan analisis data yang telah dilakukan pada pemeriksaan MCH didapatkan nilai p < 0,05 maka ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara sampel dengan antikoagulan K3EDTA dengan K2EDTA terhadap nilai indeks eritrosit. Kemudian pada pemeriksaan MCV dan MCHC didapatkan nilai p < 0,05 maka tidak ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara sampel dengan antikoagulan K3EDTA dengan K2EDTA terhadap nilai indeks eritrosit.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Indah Purwaningsih ◽  
Supriyanto Supriyanto

Abstract: Chlorine is a green halogen-shaped halogen gas at normal temperature and serves as bleach, stain remover and disinfectant. Chlorine is now widely used for bleaching rice so that less quality rice looks like quality rice. Chlorine is very toxic and causes mucous membrane irritation, highly reactive and very powerful oxidizer. The purpose of this research was to determine the difference of chlorine level in chlorinated rice washed once, twice and 3 times. The sample in this study amounted to 11 samples calculated by replication formula. Each sample was treated 3 times, ie 1 washed once, 2 washed twice and washed 3 times. The samples then examined by iodometric titration method. Based on the results of the study using ANOVA test, 11 samples obtained the average value of chlorine after washed once amount of 0.0176%, after washed twice amount of 0.0111%, and after washed 3 times amount of 0.0052% with the value significance p = 0.03 (p <0.05) at 95% confidence level which means there was a significant difference between chlorine levels in chlorinated rice washed once, twice and 3 times.Abstrak: Klorin merupakan unsur halogen berbentuk gas berwarna kuning kehijauan pada suhu normal danberfungsi sebagai pemutih, penghilang noda maupun desinfektan. Klorin sekarang banyak digunakan untuk bahan pemutih beras agar beras yang kurang berkualitas tampak seperti beras berkualitas. Klorin sangat toksik dan menyebabkan iritasi membran mukosa, sangat reaktif dan merupakan oksidator yang sangat kuat. Tujuan dari penelitian ini ialah untuk mengetahui perbedaan kadar klorin pada beras berklorin yang dicuci sebanyak 1 kali, 2 kali dan 3 kali. Sampel dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 11 sampel yang dihitung dengan rumus replikasi. Setiap sampel diberi perlakuan sebanyak 3 kali, yaitu 1 kali pencucian, 2 kali pencucian dan 3 kali pencucian. Sampel penelitian kemudian diperiksa dengan metode titrasi iodometri. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian menggunakan uji Anova secara komputerisasi terhadap 11 sampel diperoleh nilai rata-rata kadar klorin setelah 1 kali pencucian sebesar 0,0176 %, setelah 2 kali pencucian sebesar 0,0111 %, dan setelah 3 kali pencucian sebesar 0,0052 % dengan nilai signifkansi p = 0,03 (p<0,05) pada tingkat kepercayaan 95% yang artinya ada perbedaan yang bermakna antara kadar klorin pada beras berklorin yang dicuci sebanyak 1 kali, 2 kali dan 3 kali.


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