The Influence of Budget and Financial Control in Selected Government Parastatals in Nigeria

The study examined budget and financial control in selected government parastatals in Nigeria. The survey research design was adopted in the study. Primary data was obtained using a well-designed questionnaire. Data gathered in the study was analyzed using descriptive, correlation analysis, logit regression analysis and other post estimation tests. Findings obtained in the study indicated that budget preparation exerts insignificant positive impact on financial control in Nigerian government parastatals with coefficient estimate of .034178 (p=0.195> 0.05); budget implementation exerts insignificant positive impact on financial control of Nigerian government parastatals with coefficient estimate of .0082354 (p=0.750> 0.05) and budget monitoring and evacuation exert insignificant positive impact on financial control, with coefficient estimate of .0468773 (p=0.234> 0.05). Premise on these findings, the study concluded that financial control on the average tends to increase as government parastatals experience effectual budget performance, with more budget preparation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation as opposed to the usual neglect of budget after implementation. Hence, it was suggested that government should ensure improvement in budget design; government should ensure adequate budget monitoring procedure and government should ensure viable budget evaluation procedure.

The capability of terrestrial laser scanning for monitoring the displacement of high-rise buildings

Recently, terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) has been increasingly used to monitor ofdisplacement of high-rise buildings. The main advantages of this technique are time-saving, higherpoint density, and higher accuracy in comparison with GPS and conventional methods. While TLS isordinary worldwide, there has been no study of the capability of TLS in monitoring the displacement ofhigh-rise buildings yet in Vietnam. The paper's goal is to build a procedure for displacement monitoringof high-rise buildings and assess the accuracy of TLS in this application. In the experiments, a scannedboard with a 60 cm x 60 cm mounted on a moveable monument system is scanned by Faro Focus3DX130. A monitoring procedure using TLS is proposed, including three main stages: site investigation,data acquisition and processing, and displacement determination by the Cloud-to-Cloud method (C2C).As a result, the displacement of the scanned object between epochs is computed. In order to evaluate theaccuracy, the estimated displacement using TLS is compared with the real displacement. The accuracydepends on scanning geometry, surface property, and point density conditions. Our results show that theaccuracy of the estimated displacement is within ± 2 mm for buildings lower than 50 m of height. Thus,TLS completely meets the accuracy requirements of monitoring displacement in the Vietnam Standardsof Engineering Surveying. With such outstanding performance, our workflow of using TLS could beapplied to monitor the displacement of high-rise buildings in the reality of geodetic production inVietnam.

HEAVY METALS BIOACCUMULATION AND RISK ESTIMATION IN EDIBLE FRESHWATER FISH FROM PEDROSO RESERVOIR (MAYABEQUE, CUBA)

This work is a validation of the second step of a heavy metal monitoring procedure in Cuba fluvial ecosystems. Concentrations of seven heavy metals were measured by ICP-MS in water samples collected from the Pedroso reservoir (Mayabeque province, Cuba) and its main tributaries, as well as in edible muscle of three locally consumed fish species: Oreochromis spp., Tinca tinca and Clarias gariepinus. The results show a high concentration of Pb in areas near a paint factory (85.5 μg/L), an asphalt factory and a high traffic area (345.8 μg/L). Metal content (in mg/kg ww) in fish fillet ranged as follows: Cr (0.01-0.58), Co (0.01-0.58), Cu (0.23-88.16), Zn (4.9-29.9), As (0.01-0.86), Cd (0.02-2.93) and Pb (0.01-1.23). According to Cuban regulations, concentrations of Cd in muscle are not safe in 37.5 to 44.0 % of the studied fishes, while Pb is high in 14.0 to 20.0 %. Non-carcinogenic risk (HI) is present when daily intake is above 81 g/day. Carcinogenic risk (ELCR) is calculated to be 5.8 × 10–4 according to the US-EPA methodology. Fishermen families are the most sensitive population sector. Local authorities were informed and different measures were taken to avoid polluted fish consumption and the reduction of pollutant sources.

Integration of Cognitive and Emotional Processing Predicts Poor and Good Outcomes of Psychotherapy

With the aim of investigating analogies and differences between psychotherapeutic processes, ten good-outcome and ten poor-outcome cases were selected from a sample of patients treated at the University Hospital of Psychiatry, Salzburg, Austria, and the Department of Psycho-Traumatology of the Clinic St. Irmingard, Prien am Chiemsee, Germany. They were monitored daily using the Therapy Process Questionnaire (TPQ), and their evolution over time was analyzed by means of Principal Components Analysis and Linear Discriminant Analysis. The results highlight that poor-outcome patients show a separation between cognitive processes (Principal Component 1) and relational-emotional processes (Principal Component 2) (r = − 0.25; p = n.s.), while in the good-outcome patients these aspects are well integrated (r = 0.70; p = 0.02). These results corroborate the validity of the daily monitoring procedure and also indicate the need for greater attention to the relational and emotional aspects of the patients rather than merely to their cognitive functioning and well-being. Key Message In poor-outcome cases, burdensome emotions and interpersonal experiences on the one hand and cognitive/well-being aspects of the mental processing on the other, stay unrelated. Successful therapeutic processing, as in good-outcome cases, requires an integration of cognitive and affective components.

Monitoring and Maintenance of CP System in MGL

Mahanagar Gas Limited is a City Gas distribution (CGD) company based out of the city of Mumbai and around. MGL currently has around 480 Kms of Steel gas pipelines for transportation of natural gas. The diameters of these pipelines are ranging from 2” to 18” and almost all are coated with 3 layer Poly Ethylene coating (3LPE). We are installing Permanent Cathodic Protection (PCP) for all commissioned pipelines and Temporary Cathodic Protection (TCP) having a design life of 5 years for un-commissioned pipelines during the projects stage itself. This paper shall basically outline the CP system in MGL along with various practices being followed in MGL to ascertain the effectiveness of CP. MGL has installed various CP assets like CP stations, Diode stations, external ER probes, corrosion coupons to ascertain the CP effectiveness. This paper shall outline the detailed monitoring procedure along with monitoring frequency of all the assets. MGL is also carrying out health adequacy surveys like DCVG, CIPL etc over the steel pipeline network. Few case studies arising out of these monitoring results shall be presented in this paper. (1) Casing carrier short at Taloja Railway crossing. The detailed procedure of monitoring and rectification shall be presented. (2) Case study on CP under-protection at Andheri which was resolved using a flange isolation kit.

Algorithms and soft for adapting the knowledge base of project management information systems

The effectiveness of design solutions largely depends on the promptness of processing a large amount of data from various sources, which determines the feasibility of using information decision support systems (IDSS) in the field of project management. The peculiarities of information processes in project management greatly complicate or even make it impossible to implement in practice methods for constructing analytical, as well as probabilistic and statistical dependencies between the characteristics of the modeled project management system and the indicators of its internal and external environment. In this regard, as an algorithmic support for IDSS for project management, it is promising to use precedent methods for analyzing information based on knowledge about similar situations previously observed in the practice of project management, and representing knowledge in the form of ontologies. Analysis of practical situations in the field of project management makes it possible to substantiate the expediency of organizing a monitoring procedure for the IDSS knowledge base, based on the results of which decisions on its adaptation are made. The article proposes the main ways of this adaptation: changing the structure and basic elements (first of all, concepts) of ontologies; clarification of the structure of the description of current situations and, therefore, precedents. The developed algorithm for monitoring the IDSS knowledge base on project management for the analysis and identification of typical situations of the feasibility of changing it is described. The algorithm is distinguished by the possibility of developing recommendations on the modification of ontologies based on a fuzzy classification of search results and using precedents relevant to current situations. A procedure is proposed for changing the structure of the description of precedents, taking into account the results of assessing the indices of the fuzzy correspondence of the characteristics of the existing precedents to the characteristics of the project being implemented. A description of a computer program that implements the proposed algorithm and its components, as well as the results of its application are given.

Time for the Gloves to Come Off?

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has limited tools to respond to rule of law backsliding by member states. Sanctions have never been used for this purpose, and the Assembly’s monitoring procedure—the most significant tool of scrutiny—presents a mixed picture. This article focuses on four states exhibiting severe rule of law backsliding: Hungary, which has evaded the procedure; Poland, which was placed under monitoring in 2020; Turkey, which in 2017 became the first state to have monitoring reopened; and Azerbaijan, which has been under monitoring since 2001. Through a first-ever analysis of debates, voting patterns, and tactics used in the Assembly, the article elucidates how proponents and opponents of monitoring have framed their arguments in the battleground of ideas about democracy and the rule of law in Europe. It concludes that the Assembly should fundamentally reappraise monitoring—and the possible use of sanctions—to meet the severity of the challenge.

Case Report: Low Hematocrit Leading to Tacrolimus Toxicity

Tacrolimus is a calcineurin inhibitor characterized by a narrow therapeutic index and high intra- and inter-individual pharmacokinetic variability. Therapeutic drug monitoring in whole-blood is the standard monitoring procedure. However, tacrolimus extensively binds to erythrocytes, and tacrolimus whole-blood distribution and whole-blood trough concentrations are strongly affected by hematocrit. High whole-blood tacrolimus concentrations at low hematocrit may result in high unbound plasma concentrations and increased toxicity. We present the case of a 16-year-old girl with kidney and liver transplant in whom low concentrations of tacrolimus in the context of low hematocrit led to significant increase in the dosage of tacrolimus and participate, along with a genetic polymorphism of ABCB1, in nephrotoxicity.

A Novel Condition Monitoring Procedure for Early Detection of Copper Corrosion Problems in Oil-Filled Electrical Transformers

The negative impacts of catastrophic fire and explosion accidents due to copper corrosion problems of oil-filled electrical transformers are still in the spotlight due to a lack of effective methods for early fault detection. To address this gap, a condition monitoring (CM) procedure that can detect such problems in the initial stage is proposed in this paper. The suggested CM procedure is based on identified measurable variables, which are the relevant by-products of the corrosion reaction, and utilizes an Early Fault Diagnosis (EFD) model to detect and solve the copper corrosion problems. The EFD model includes a fault trend chart that can track a fault progression during the useful life of transformers. The purpose of this paper is to verify and validate the effectiveness of the suggested CM procedure by an empirical study in a power plant. The result of applying this procedure was early detection of copper corrosion problems in two transformers with suspected copper corrosion propagation from a total of 84. The corrective action was adding an optimized amount of a passivator, an anticorrosion additive, to suppress the corrosion reaction at the correct time. The main conclusion of this study is the importance of early detection of transformer faults to avoid the negative impacts on societal, company, and individual levels.

Order and control of emissions of the fulfilled gases of diesels at the new level

The standard of the organization directed on increase of efficiency and quality of monitoring procedure of emissions of harmful substances of the fulfilled gases of diesels of the capital repaired tractors and self-propelled farm vehicles which are in operation, intended for work and working in the conditions of unlimited and limited air exchange is developed and establishes norms of emissions of harmful substances with the fulfilled gases, means of their definition, at control and bench tests of tractors and the agricultural cars. Technical characteristics of the fuel and engine oil intended for test of the diesel are defined. Modern control devices are optimized and techniques of tool control of the maintenance of CO, CH and NOx in the fulfilled gases of diesels of page are the agricultural cars.