Postmortem examination of transepithelial ion currents in rabbit colon and trachea in relation to temperature of storage and its importance for interlethal reactions

Electrical phenomena resulting from transepithelial ion transport have been a subject of clinical, physiological, pharmacologic and toxicologic studies. These examinations concern mainly electric phenomena in live organisms. The changes of transepithelial ion pathways which take place postmortem have not been yet established. The aim of the study was an attempt to trace variability of electrophysiological parameters related to transepithelial ion transport in specimens of rabbit trachea and colon depending on temperature at which specimens were stored after death. It was observed that postmortem electric phenomena in epithelium of airways and alimentary tract of rabbit occur well-ordered but with slower course in trachea samples and in tissues which were preserved at low temperature after death.     

State marionettes,phantom organisations or genuine movements? The paradoxical emergence of rural social movements in post-socialist Russia

Of all the rural social movements in the world, those in post-socialist Russia have been considered to be among the weakest. Nevertheless, triggered by the neo-liberal reforms in the countryside, state attention to agriculture and rising land conflicts, new social movement organisations with a strong political orientation are emerging in Russia today. This sudden burst of civil activity, however, raises questions as to how genuine and independent the emerging organisations are. Our research shows that many rural movements, agricultural associations, farm unions and rural political parties lack constituency, support the status quo and/or are actually counterfeits (what we call ‘phantom movement organisations’). With this analysis, we aim to explain the nature of social movements in the post-Soviet countryside and offer an original contribution to the theory on and practice of rural social movements.     

Bad but Stable

Russia's fiscal system was destabilized in 2015 because of the fall in national oil revenues. The budget crisis resulted in a sustained fall in personal income, which in turn led to a fall in consumption. This in turn resulted in a decline in trade and investment. These trends were present in the majority of Russia's regions. Russia's industrial slump, on the other hand, was relatively small and did not last long, in large part due to continued investment and growth in the defense industry. The sustained industrial production, combined with the buffer of a substantial pool of foreign migrant labor, allowed for stable employment figures. Overall, the Russian economy was better able to adapt to the deterioration in conditions than most expected.     

IPSASB’s Conceptual Framework: Coherence with Accounting Systems in European Public Administrations

Accounting and reporting systems in public administrations of European countries have deeply changed in the last 20 years due to the new public management wave and the trend toward international harmonization. This research aims to examine the possibility of implementing International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board’s (IPSASB’s) Conceptual Framework (CF), by observing accounting and reporting systems in the different governmental levels of countries selected and taking into account the embedded traditional characteristics of European countries. Results highlight how many structural differences still occur within and among countries, showing that much work is still necessary to obtain harmonization as implied in the IPSASB’s CF.     

EXPECTATIONS AND CAPACITY OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT IN NGOs IN THE DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

There are many obstacles to promoting learning as an outcome of performance measurement in non‐governmental organizations (NGO) social service providers, especially in less developed countries. Building upon a conceptualization of accountability as a multifaceted set of relationships through which funders, or principals, and non‐profit providers, or agents, jointly shape organizational learning, and performance, this study expands our understanding of how accountability mechanisms affect learning within service providers. This paper explores the role that funders play in shaping performance measurement, or monitoring, practices within NGOs serving disadvantaged children in developing countries. We examined the experience of service providers in Egypt and Colombia to assess how the barriers to use of performance data and learning may be addressed. We conducted interviews using the same protocols with program managers in six non‐profit providers in each country that provide services to children, and we also interviewed major donors in the arena of children's services in the USA. We probed the NGO managers' experiences with performance measurement to identify obstacles and potential solutions to improve the use of the data to promote learning. Our findings support previous research about the potential for upward accountability mechanisms to influence internal learning. We suggest that funders should be held accountable for how the incentives and disincentives they provide to grantees affect their internal learning about how to improve their services. This notion of ‘reverse accountability’ means that funders need to be strategic and intentional when they design reporting mechanisms that affect the learning behaviours within their grantees. In line with our call for reverse accountability, we offer a model demonstrating our notion of the two‐way flow of accountability and we offer recommendations to help improve the performance reporting environment for NGOs who are addressing complex problems with less than adequate capacity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reviews

Enrique Leff: Ecologia y Capital: Hacia una perspectiva ambiental del desarrollo (Ecology and Capital: Toward an Environmentalist Perspective on Development). Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, 1986?

Martin Ryle: Ecology and Socialism. Century Hutchinson, London, 1988.

Klaus Eder: Die Vergesellschaftung der Natur: Studien zur sozialen Evolution der praktischen Vernunft (The Socialization of Nature: Studies on the Social Evolution of Practical Reason). Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, 1988.     

Can Information about Local Government Performance Induce Civic Participation? Evidence from the Philippines

The question of whether people are motivated to engage in civic activities once informed of their local government's performance is relevant to many developing countries that adopted decentralisation. Applying propensity score matching technique on a unique household-level dataset from the Philippines, it is found that the knowledge of an index of local government performance has positive and statistically significant effects on the likelihood of membership in local organisations and participation in local projects. Thus, the results support policies for greater transparency in local governance to deepen citizenship.     

Not yet a democracy: establishing civilian authority over the security sector in Brazil – lessons for other countries in transition

Brazil is considered one of the more successful examples of democratic transition and consolidation in the developing world; and one of the fastest developing and emerging countries. This article contends that Brazil is not yet a fully established democracy, because it lacks the proper civilian checks and balances ensuring full authority over the armed forces, police and secret services. There are five main reasons for this: first, the Constitution does not provide a generalised guide for the institution of civilian oversight. Second, a change of cultural perceptions vis-à-vis the security sector entities is needed. Third, piecemeal rather than holistic or comprehensive legal and institutional transformation has occurred, with little civilian oversight of the armed forces. Fourth, the large structures still held by each of the armed forces require re-articulation and fundamental transformation. Finally, there is no fully fledged civil society participation in security sector life through the media and academia. These problems weaken democracy in Brazil. The course of democratisation in Brazil and the role the security sector played in the transition are examined before discussion of some of the more recent legal and political developments in the security sector, as part of the democratic consolidation. The conclusion presents insights from Brazil’s experience and lessons for states facing similar transition challenges.