The Reality of Governance for the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman: Reality and Challenges

This study aims to identify the reality of governance for the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman. The problem of the study is that the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman is making many efforts to popularize procedures and methods through the tasks carried out by the Financial and Administrative Control Authority to improve the economic performance of institutions and to discover financial and administrative violations that workers may commit during a certain period of time. The importance of governance is highlighted in many matters, most notably the need to respect the laws and regulations that institutions follow, and that governance contributes to exposing professional errors and increasing the experiences of workers, especially those working in the financial and administrative fields, in order to achieve the highest levels of job discipline. Governance contributes significantly to achieving the long- and medium-term goals of institutions and companies. The study followed the descriptive analytical approach to describe and analyze the role of governance in the financial and administrative control body in the Sultanate of Oman. The current study concluded that governance in the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman is based on several pillars, including work ethics in financial institutions and the continuity of oversight, follow-up and oversight. The study recommended the necessity of applying governance mechanisms in Omani institutions.

Transparency in the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman: Pillars and Dimensions

The study aims to identify transparency in the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman. The problem of the study lies in the low status of Omani institutions in the Global Corruption Perceptions Index, which reflects the spread of financial and administrative corruption in the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman. The study highlights the importance of shedding light on transparency in the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman. The study followed the descriptive analytical approach to describe and analyze transparency in the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman. The study reached many results, including that the Financial and Administrative Control Authority is trying to apply governance standards in accordance with the instructions issued in this regard. The results showed that one of the most important dimensions of transparency is the possibility of separating powers, practicing transparency in the areas of public life, and activating the law. The results also showed that the pillars of transparency are clarity of work rules in institutions, the dimensions of suspicious personalities from financial and administrative work, rationalization of consumption, and ensuring access to information by the Financial and Administrative Control Authority in the Sultanate of Oman. The results concluded that the application of transparency greatly contributed to enhancing the freedom of access to information, and the reports of the supervisory bodies on the situation inside the institutions received a lot of attention from the public, which indicates the importance of the prominent media role played by the supervisory institutions in order to enhance the role of transparency. The study recommended the need to expand the application of transparency elements in the financial and administrative control body in the Sultanate of Oman. The study also recommended that the practice of transparency contributes to the spread of more freedoms in society, but it is of the opinion that the application of transparency should not be limited to the public employee in institutions only without looking at the higher leaders, as these leaders may be one of the causes of financial and administrative corruption. The study also recommended that the supervisory authorities have many foundations and standards in the matter of punishment and accountability without prejudice to the rights of the employee, as well as researching the reasons for his fraud and obtaining illegal funds from the institution in which he works.

The Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) as a financial control body that performs functions to counteract the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime

Restrictive measures related to the coronavirus pandemic have contributed to the spread of new types of crimes committed using «high» technologies in Russia. The risks of the spread of the criminal situation are aggravated against the background of the spread of coronavirus infection. The most important factor in countering high-tech crime is the work of Rosfinmonitoring, which is targeted at identifying suspicious financial transactions. This article presents the results of a study of the activities of Rosfinmonitoring in the direction of countering the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime using «high» technologies. The authors set a goal to formulate the problems and possible options for overcoming them in the context of the activities of Rosfinmonitoring with the designation of further prospects for improving its activities. The primary task is to set up the mechanism of interaction of Rosfinmonitoring with law enforcement agencies engaged in criminal prosecution. The conclusion is made about the urgent need to achieve certainty in the issue of accounting for cryptocurrencies, the limits of their use in the economic sphere. The results of the study can be useful for employees of financial control bodies, law enforcement agencies.

Operationalising Regional Cooperation for Infectious Disease Control: A Scoping Review of Regional Disease Control Bodies and Networks

Background: The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the value of regional cooperation in infectious disease prevention and control. We explored the literature on regional infectious disease control bodies, to identify lessons, barriers and enablers to inform operationalisation of a regional infectious disease control body or network in southeast Asia. Methods: We conducted a scoping review to examine existing literature on regional infectious disease control bodies and networks, and to identify lessons that can be learned that will be useful for operationalisation of a regional infectious disease control body such as the ASEAN Center for Public Health Emergency and Emerging Diseases. Results: Of the 57 articles included, 53 (93%) were in English, with two (3%) in Spanish and one (2%) each in Dutch and French. Most were commentaries or review articles describing programme initiatives. Sixteen (28%) publications focused on organisations in the Asian continent, with 14 (25%) focused on Africa, and 14 (24%) primarily focused on the European region. Key lessons focused on organisational factors, diagnosis and detection, human resources, communication, accreditation, funding, and sustainability. Enablers and constraints were consistent across regions/organisations. A clear understanding of the regional context, budgets, cultural or language issues, staffing capacity and governmental priorities, is pivotal. An initial workshop inclusive of the various bodies involved in the design, implementation, monitoring or evaluation of programmes is essential. Clear governance structure, with individual responsibilities clear from the beginning, will reduce friction. Secure, long-term funding is also a key aspect of the success of any programme. Conclusion: Operationalisation of regional infectious disease bodies and networks is complicated, but with extensive groundwork, and focus on organisational factors, diagnosis and detection, human resources, communication, accreditation, funding, and sustainability, it is achievable. Ways to promote success are to include as many stakeholders as possible from the beginning, to ensure that context-specific factors are considered, and to encourage employees through capacity building and mentoring, to ensure they feel valued and reduce staff turnover.

THE RIGHT OF LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE IN THE SYSTEM OF POWERS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

The article considers the right of legislative initiative of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation in the light of amendments made to the Fundamental Law of our state in 2020, as well as subsequent updating of special federal constitutional legislation. It is noted that the problem of practice deficiency in implementing the mentioned power by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is not new for the Russian legal science; in general, it is naturally determined and is due to a number of objective factors. However, the process of updating and developing the constitutional provisions on the supreme judicial control body of Russia and, in particular, creating the system of preliminary judicial constitutional control, bring the problem under consideration to a qualitatively new level. The approach itself in terms of granting the mentioned power to supreme courts in the Russian Federation is characterized as atypical for the countries near and far abroad. At the same time, the current lack of practice in exercising the power in question by the Constitutional Court is due to the special role of the latter in the system of supreme state authorities, in particular, the judiciary. The point of view is expressed that the problem cannot be unambiguously solved at the present stage of the statehood development. The author does not share the increasingly expressed point of view today that the right of legislative initiative should be excluded from the powers of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, since this will lead to a violation of the equality of the constitutional and legal statuses of the two independent supreme judicial authorities. In addition, the shortcomings in the wording of certain constitutional provisions have been identified and possible ways to eliminate them have been proposed.

Angiotensin-(3–4) (Val-Tyr) Normalizes the Elevated Arterial Blood Pressure and Abnormal Na+/Energy Handling Associated With Chronic Undernutrition by Counteracting the Effects Mediated by Type 1 Angiotensin II Receptors

Purpose To investigate the mechanisms by which chronic administration of a multideficient diet after weaning alters bodily Na+ handling, and culminates in high systolic blood pressure (SBP) at a juvenile age.Methods From 28 to 93 days of age, weaned male Wistar rats were given a diet with low content and poor-quality protein, low lipid, without vitamin supplementation, which mimics the diets consumed in impoverished regions worldwide. We measured food, energy and Na+ ingestion, together with urinary Na+ excretion, Na+ density (Na+ intake/energy intake), plasma Na+ concentration, SBP), and renal proximal tubule Na+-transporting ATPases. Results Undernourished rats aged 93 days had only one-third of the control body mass, lower plasma albumin, higher SBP, higher energy intake, and higher positive Na+ balance accompanied by decreased plasma Na+ concentration. SBP was normalized with Losartan and with Ang-(3–4), and the combination of the 2 substances induced an accentuated negative Na+ balance as a result of strong inhibition of Na+ ingestion. Na+ density in undernourished rats was higher than in control, irrespective of the treatment, and they had downregulated (Na++K+)ATPase and upregulated Na+-ATPase in proximal tubule cells, which returned to control levels after Losartan or Ang-(3–4).Conclusions Na+ density, not only Na+ ingestion, plays a central role in the pathophysiology of elevated SBP in chronically undernourished rats. The observations that Losartan and Ang-(3–4) normalized SBP together with Na+ distribution and handling give support to the proposal that Ang IIÞAT1R and Ang IIÞAT2R axes have opposite roles within the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system of undernourished juvenile rats.

Improving the detection and reporting of suspicious financial transactions: the Spanish case

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the obligation of regulated entities to detect unusual and suspicious transactions and to report them to external control bodies, as established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, the European Community Directive and also the Spanish regulations for the Prevention of Money Laundering. This research paper also aims to create a model to identify and report suspicious transactions to improve financial institutions’ current procedures. Design/methodology/approach According to the Spanish regulations which comply with the FATF recommendations and the European Community Directive on the Prevention of Money Laundering, regulated entities must detect unusual and suspicious transactions. Within this framework, the present research work analyzes both criteria and procedures used by the regulated entities to report suspicious operations. It also assesses the efficiency of the reports sent to an external control body. For this purpose, both analytical and interpretative methods are used in this research paper. Findings In Spain, the current procedures followed by regulated entities to analyze unusual transactions are complex. This results in difficulties to report suspicious transactions involving money laundering. As a consequence, the cases of suspicious transactions reported to the external control body are often unclear and the related process is inefficient. Originality/value The creation of a harmonized model with the aim of detecting suspicious operations and analyzing them will improve the detection and the effectiveness of the suspicious operations procedure which are reported to the external control body. However, such unified model should take into account the currently used activities proposed by each financial institution.

Global dissociation of the amygdala from the rest of the brain during REM sleep

Rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) or paradoxical sleep is associated with intense neuronal activity, fluctuations in autonomic control, body paralysis and brain-wide hyperemia. The mechanisms and functions of these energy-demanding patterns remain elusive and a global picture of brain activation during REMS is currently missing. In the present work, we performed functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging at the whole-brain scale during hundreds of REMS episodes to provide the spatiotemporal dynamics of vascular activity in 259 brain regions spanning more than 2/3 of the total brain volume. We first demonstrate a dissociation between basal/midbrain and cortical structures, the first ones sustaining tonic activation during REMS while the others are activated in phasic bouts. Second, we isolated the vascular compartment in our recordings and identified arteries in the anterior part of the brain as strongly involved in the blood supply during REMS episodes. Finally, we report a peculiar activation pattern in the amygdala, which is strikingly disconnected from the rest of the brain during most but not all REMS episodes. This last finding shows that amygdala undergoes specific processing during REMS and may be linked to the regulation of emotions and the creation of dream content during this very state.

Global dissociation of the amygdala from the rest of the brain during REM sleep

Rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) or paradoxical sleep is associated with intense neuronal activity, fluctuations in autonomic control, body paralysis and brain-wide hyperemia. The mechanisms and functions of these energy-demanding patterns remain elusive and a global picture of brain activation during REMS is currently missing. In the present work, we performed functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging at the whole-brain scale during hundreds of REMS episodes to provide the spatiotemporal dynamics of vascular activity in 259 brain regions spanning more than 2/3 of the total brain volume. We first demonstrate a dissociation between basal/midbrain and cortical structures, the first ones sustaining tonic activation during REMS while the others are activated in phasic bouts. Second, we isolated the vascular compartment in our recordings and identified arteries in the anterior part of the brain as strongly involved in the blood supply during REMS episodes. Finally, we report a peculiar activation pattern in the amygdala, which is strikingly disconnected from the rest of the brain during most but not all REMS episodes. This last finding shows that amygdala undergoes specific processing during REMS and may be linked to the regulation of emotions and the creation of dream content during this very state.