This study discusses some characteristics in trend and operation of local finance, and suggests some reform agenda for sound finance. While the share of local finance has decreased compared with that of national finance, local debt and inefficient operations of local expenditure have increased since 1995. This study seeks to find reform agenda of local finance on the basis of decentralization and participation. On the side of decentralization, reform of local tax system and financial management system are suggested. The introduction of consensus-based budgeting and taxpayers' suit are proposed on the part of citizen participation.
The biggest tax story of the last third of the 20 th century was the value-added tax (VAT). From its tentative beginnings in the reform of the French production tax in the early 1950s, by August 2000 some form of VAT existed in at least 123 countries. Few fiscal innovations have been adopted so widely and so quickly. Towards the close of the century, another striking trend was the increasing decentralization of the public sector in many countries around the world. In this process, increasing responsibility for delivering such important and expensive public services as education and health has been devolved to sub-national governments, often to regional governments such as states or provinces. Such decentralization may make good sense in many respects, but experience suggests that it is essential to devolve responsibility not only for expenditures but also for some significant revenues if adequate fiscal accountability is to be maintained.The traditional literature on tax assignment suggests that the best form of taxation for intermediate-level governments is a sales tax. Some form or another of sales tax does in fact constitute the major source of finance for intermediate governments in many countries. Indeed, in developing countries in which income taxes do not play a major role, it is hard to see what other major revenue sources such governments could utilize. The retail sales tax once favored as a regional tax, and still in place in most U.S. states (and some Canadian provinces) is now an aberrationfrom a worldwide perspective. The only good sales tax is now generally considered to be a VAT.There appear to be at least three reasons why the question of sub-national consumption VATs needs to bereconsidered, particularly in federal countries with important regional governments. First, there are few other major revenue options open to countries in which, for whatever reason, substantial expenditure responsibilities have been shifted to lower levels of government, if those governments are to behave in a fiscally responsible manner. Second, sub-national VATs have now in fact been successfully operating in Canada for a decade and have also existed, if to less general acclaim, in Brazil for over 30 years. Finally, several novel proposals have recently been made to overcome certain problems that some see with applying the system used in Canada to other countries in which tax administration is less well developed.
Abstract This paper is contextualized within postcolonial movements for social justice and ecological restoration in India, enabled through the emergent participation of diverse and subaltern stakeholders. This paper engages shifts in forest management in India. Within this frame, it refers to public forest lands reform initiatives in Orissa, a state in eastern India. In 1997-98, assisted by the Swedish International Development Agency, a review was conducted of forest management systems in Orissa. The intention was to understand microlevel frameworks within the state toward the transfer of authority over public forest lands from the government to local communities. Using information generated by this review, this paper discusses critical concerns in Orissa. ********** Explanations Within movements for social change currently underway in South Asia and India, development reforms imply a multitude of contradictions and complexities to a diverse constituency of stakeholders. Such reforms instigate discussions and debate on sustainable development and raise strategic questions related to the role and responsibility of the State and international agencies to marginalized rural communities, and of community access to livelihood resources. It speaks to possibilities of social and ecological restitution that confront critical concerns of governmental decentralization, and relocation of authority and resources. This paper is informed by research connected to public forest lands reform in Orissa, a state in eastern India. In 1997-98, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the Swedish Government's international development assistance program, aided a review of forest management systems in Orissa. The intention was to understand microlevel frameworks within the state of Orissa toward the decentralization of forest management. A primary objective was to reframe the fabric of donor-community-government collaborations. The aim was to operationalize development mechanisms that embody the ethical commitments of postcolonial advocacy and action in India. I was involved in this process, and responsible for conducting a Statewide participatory assessment of management systems related to public forest lands. (See Chatterji, 1998.) The SIDA review supported participatory and generative methods of inquiry. It produced openings for limited participation of citizens in decision making within consultative governmental forums on public forest lands management. The review submitted its recommendations to SIDA in 1998. These recommendations constituted a proposal for future action linked to the devolution of authority over public forest lands, requesting SIDA financing for an implementation phase in Orissa. This implementation phase would facilitate capacity building for public lands reform through a reorganization and decentralization of the forest department and support to community institutions. In 1998, India conducted nuclear experiments, and in 1999-2000 SIDA retracted its support, citing its differences over India's nuclear politics as a primary reason for its withdrawal. While implicitly committed to anti-nuclear military policies, I would like to acknowledge the problematics of North-South relations where attempts at political/military self-assertion by ex-colonies are policed and met with punitive aid sanctions. (1) Reciprocal penalties are not enforcible on countries of the Global North as they continue to set the standard for nuclear stockpiling or participate in nuclear proliferation. The history of manufactured debt, and the plundering of the resources of former colonies, makes donor aid a critical component of human rights activities in the Global South. This is especially true as the debt of the colonizers to the most underprivileged sections of these societies have never been calculated or repaid. Revoking aid impacts the most margilanized sections of these societies who, ironically, do not have access to decision making that relate to nuclear policy. …
Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
This study examined the implementation of Responsibility Center Management (RCM) systems in two institutions of higher education: the Graduate School of Business at Institution and the Center of Collaborative Education and Professional Studies at Institution B. RCM is a management and budgeting process for universities that decentralizes authority and responsibility to academic and support centers. Twelve interviews were conducted with one provost and one Chief Financial Officer from each institution and one dean and three faculty members from each school. Their interview responses were subjected to content analysis. All the administrators at each institution were strongly in favor of RCM, which they regarded as a method of continuing strong central guidelines while decentralizing operations, increasing understanding and awareness of costs, and enabling deans to manage income and expenditures better at their schools and centers. Faculty members praised the decentralization and rationality of RCM, but five of the six voiced concerns about the dean's accountability and their individual management styles. There was consensus on both campuses that RCM was more flexible and more rational than traditional fiscal management. Two senior faculty and the six administrators thought that RCM increased information flow and expanded the number of participants in the decision making process. Four of six faculty members thought that academic quality might be hurt because of financially motivated decisions. Faculty members were aware of the difficulties in achieving a proper balance in RCM. Overall, respondents did not advocate RSM as a panacea, but they did consider it an effective planning tool. (Contains 19 references.) (SLD) PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) ffle<is document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. RESPONSIBILITY CENTER MANAGEMENT: A FINANCIAL PARADIGM AND ALTERNATIVE TO CENTRALIZED BUDGETING Phyllis A. Hensley Benerd School of Education University of the Pacific Stockton, California DJ Bava Fisher Graduate School Monterey Institute Monterey, California Dennis C. Brennan Benerd School of Education University of the Pacific Stockton, California Paper Presented at the American Educational Finance Association 26th Annual Conference Cincinnati, Ohio
The note focuses on the leading role of local level institutions (LLIs) in Burkina Faso, in rural decentralization, and poverty eradication, to enhance equitable prosperity. It is based on the study undertaken by the National Decentralization Commission in Burkina Faso, which draws on case studies in Sanmatenga, Sissili, Houet, and Yatenga, and, presents sociological evidence that certain high-performing LLIs contribute to equitable economic development. Economic findings support this, showing that both lower inequality levels, and lower poverty levels, are linked to a high degree of internal village organization. Contextually, LLIs surround, connect, and manage communities, incorporating many different kinds of indigenous organizations, and functions. Three categories of institutions active at the local level are identified: value institutions, which focus on activating, and maintaining the stability of local governance, and values of the society; production institutions, focused on accessing resources from the national government, so as to increase productivity; and, service-asset management institutions, which integrate productivity, and growth values, focused on managing, and expanding local assets for sustainable development. External aid will need to map these LLIs to guide pro-poor investment, and financing of community driven development, and encourage local governments to formalize participation.
The main purpose of this study is to analyze the correlations between the decentralization and regional disparity in Korea in the 1990s. This study measures the level of decentralization not by single factor, but by three indicators on the dimensions of finance, government function, and personnel. This study also measures the degree of regional disparity using ten indicators on the five dimensions of local economy. local government finance. human resources, SOCs. and living conditions. The major finding is that functional decentralization and personnel decentralization are more positively correlated with alleviating regional disparity than fiscal decentralization. Another finding is that decentralization is positive to alleviate regional disparity on the dimension of local economy and local government finance. but negative to alleviate regional disparity on the dimension of local sacs. The above findings imply that a system of equalization-oriented vertical transfers from the central government is very important to alleviate regional disparity.
Евгений Федорович Сабуров, N. Tipenko, A. Cherniavskii
Budget federalism in Russia began in 1992. Under the effects of strong centrifugal trends, the decentralization of the budget and tax system took place in the form of "waves" of agreements regarding the share distribution of tax receipts, the entry into which entailed the delegation of ever greater powers to finance spending, especially social spending, to the regions.
This paper describes how library operations can be integrated in a cross-platform programming It discusses the organizational and technical issues in planning and designing of macro applications from the technical services workstation. It then describes a variety of technical and public service macro applications. It shows the efficiency and ergonomic benefits of these customized programs. It concludes with an example of how PC-based macro-programs can populate Web-accessible server-side databases with ActiveX technologies. Programming Initiatives Background This article describes how library operations can be integrated, regardless of the systems in use, through what we call the environment. Two keys to a desktop-programmed are the technical services workstation and the macro, a computer program created either through recording series of keystrokes or--far better--through purpose-designed algorithms.(1) While such macros are commonly in use in many libraries within a single system, our article shows how these can be used to link and integrate systems to great functional advantage. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) we began developing cross-system macros in the context of our migration away from a first-generation system known as LCS/FBR, which had been largely developed in-house and used by a consortium of Illinois libraries.(2) While long-range plans call for moving to a state-of-the-art client/server-centered system, interim arrangements required the implementation of a turnkey telnet-based system, DRA Classic. It quickly became evident that the introduction of new technology would have a profound effect on the library as an organization. Indeed, existing structures and entrenched technologies affected implementation of the system and were in turn highly affected themselves by what was implemented. For that reason, this article looks at the programmed environment not only as a desktop phenomenon, but also as an organizational phenomenon. To have a deep understanding of the real impact desktop computer programming can have in a library, we begin with some organizational and technical issues and how they affected systems and services. Local Organizational Structure The UIUC Library is highly decentralized, made up of some forty-five semi-autonomous departmental libraries. Original cataloging had been decentralized in the mid-1980s; much acquisitions and serials check-in work was also done in the departmental libraries. Serials cataloging and copy cataloging were the respective responsibilities of an Office of the Principal Cataloger unit and of an Automated Services unit. Catalog maintenance was entirely centralized for systems reasons: changes to the consortial catalog could only be performed using hardwired terminals running SuperWylbur or WLN text-editing software. Besides using LCS/FBR, UIUC also maintained a variety of other systems, including IBM for acquisitions accounting and Innopac for serials check-in. All original cataloging was done through OCLC. Hence, multiple input was an overall feature of the configuration. Many parts of the system were not automated; many card files were still in use, especially since retrospective conversion was incomplete. Catalog Maintenance in a Pre-Windows (DOS) Environment UIUC had long grappled with the problem of carrying out catalog maintenance using an inflexible line-editing system. This situation has been documented by Clark and Chan and by Henigman.(3) A variety of computer programs written in BASIC and operating under DOS had been developed to facilitate accuracy and productivity in cataloging maintenance. Essentially, these programs guided inputters in the formatting of data and made possible the interface between the separate LCS and FBR databases. In implementing the new system, however, these programs became obsolete, since SuperWylbur, LCS, and FBR were all being retired. …
The note focuses on the external \n benefits of rural electrification (RE), i.e., improved \n access to communication, education, and economic \n opportunities, in addition to extended health services. It \n outlines key lessons to scaling up RE, namely macroeconomic \n stability, continued government commitments, and \n institutional capacity. However, it also suggests that grid \n extension is not always cost-effective, rather, \n decentralized delivery options, and alternative energy \n sources, such as solar photovoltaic, mini-hydro, and other \n renewable energy sources should be considered. Moreover, \n good practices indicate the need for power sector reform, \n regulatory framework with legal guarantees that utilities \n can operate autonomously, and, financial viability, that is, \n to ensure commercialization, and identify a cost-recovery \n system that takes into account capital investment costs, and \n contributions levels. Strongly emphasized is the involvement \n of local communities in the design, and implementation of \n RE, by setting rural electrification committees, and by \n establishing institutional, and organizational procedures \n for project planning.
Abstract Before describing the model of palliative care in Spain, it is necessary to give a brief description of the country’s current health care model. Our country has approximately 40 million inhabitants. The public health system offers universal access and is publicly financed. In accordance with the constitutional principle of territorial decentralization in the healthcare field, public health services and functions have been transferred from central government to 7 of the 17 Autonomous Regions, affecting some 62% of the country’s population.
As a parent of a teenage daughter and as a teacher of adolescents, I try to stay in touch with their entertainment world. I listen to their music, go to some of the “teen” movies, read adolescent novels, and watch television targeted to the teen audience. Two years ago, my daughter invited me to watch her favorite television program with her. Initially, I would simply enjoy sitting with her and sneaking in some conversation during the commercials. Since that time, I am surprised and a little embarrassed to discover that I frequently find myself sitting alone watching this program while my daughter busies herself with other activities. I'm hooked. That program is Buffy, The Vampire Slayer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers. The series, which premiered on March 10, 1997, is a spin-off from the 1992 movie of the same name. Although the movie was not a box-office hit, it developed a loyal following of viewers who kept video rentals and sales active. The scriptwriter for the movie version of Buffy, Joss Whedon, also serves as creative executive—writer, producer, and director—for the television series (Genge). Although the show airs on the upstart network, WB, and is targeted at adolescents, it has received a significant amount of attention in entertainment and mainstream media. Buffy has been described as “the very best horror has to offer” (Genge xv); with “powerful] ludic elements [in] symbolism and language” (Wilcox 23); offering “transgressive possibilities for reimagining gendered relations and modernist American ideologies” (Owen 25) in “brainy, goodhearted, gloriously expressive TV poetry” (Carson 37) with “delightfully campy dialogue” (Genge xiv) centering around a slight, blonde, ex-cheerleader who “kicks vampire butt.” The framing narrative is about a young woman who inherited special skills as a vampire-slayer, and each episode sees her face assorted demonic forces challenging her and threatening humanity. The first three seasons were set in Sunnydale High School; the present season has moved to the campus of the college in the same town. Buffy has an assortment of friends and foes who are regulars or semi-regulars in the series. Her “Watcher” (or guardian) is Giles (played by Anthony Stewart Head) who has been charged with the duties of training and assisting the Slayer. Her best friend, Willow (played by Alyson Hannigan), displays exceptional computer skills and dabbles in witchcraft. Two other friends, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Oz (Seth Green), round out Buffy's inner circle who get entangled in demonic battles. Another character, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) has left the series to join Angel in a spin-off show. Cordelia plays a shallow, narcissistic young woman who epitomizes the homecoming queen popularity of traditionally mainstream adolescent experiences. The show has generated an active following. My daughter has bookmarked several web pages that serve as electronic equivalents of fan clubs. These pages include episode summaries, electronic bulletin boards, current news regarding future episodes, personal information about the stars and Joss Whedon, lyrics and artists of the music heard in the show, and links to other related sites. Several of the sites solicit and receive stories and songs written by viewers that stay true to the characters, plots, and themes of the show. Recently two sites ceased including transcripts and sound recordings from the shows after executives (and probably their legal affairs department) contacted them from 20th Century-Fox. Fans are being urged to write letters of protest. In addition to the web pages, there are several chat line sites where fans can engage in a conversation about the show. My daughter's email receives an average of eight to ten messages a week from the chat line to which she subscribes. In addition to the large adolescent following, clearly, something about this show has touched a chord in older viewers as well, witness the critical reviews cited above. The adult magazine George revealed Buffy as second in a list of “20 Most Fascinating Women in Politics.” To apply the term “postmodern” (or any other term) to contemporary society can be problematic. The complexity and vastness of our society defies simple one-word categorization. Postmodernism, as defined by M. H. Abrams extended the contratraditional movements in arts and literature of the modern age to the breaking point where modern works were deemed as conventional and “high art” was devalued in favor of popular art forms. Some postmodernist works celebrated the “'meaninglessness' of existence and the underlying 'void,' or 'nothingness' on which any supposed security is conceived to be precariously suspended” (120). Susan Bordo proposes various origins of the “postmodern age.” Some posit that the postmodern era developed as a reaction to the breakdown of the Enlightenment notions of humanism, rational thought, and beliefs in Truth and Objectivity. Some cite the failure of a cohesive hegemony of Western culture as the beginning of postmoderninity. Some discuss the “information explosion” as evidence of the new era. And some, including Bordo, point to the runaway consumer capitalism of our present culture as the most visible proof of a postmodern society. The term “postmodernism” is used in discussions about literature and the arts in much the same way “poststructuralism” frames conversations about linguistics and literary theory. Poststructuralists discuss meaning, or meaninglessness, by exposing “the naively representational theory of language” (Eagleton 124). Because we are all powerless over the universal influence of language, our agency or our free will is lessened; in a sense, we are de-centered within the circle of our experiences. These structures of language have presented society in terms of binary opposites, of opposing dualities. Poststructuralists reveal these oppositions within a text or any other cultural artifact and neutralize them by deconstructing the binary altogether. This process, outlined by Jacques Derrida, suggests that a deconstructive reader (or viewer) will look for evidence of grammatical or linguistic oppositions—rich/poor, strong/weak, right/left, man/woman—that conform to culturally accepted hierarchical relationships which privilege the first term (or signifier) in the duality while subordinating the second. After exposing the opposition, the hierarchy is inverted by privileging the second term resulting in a new vision of the relationship—poor/rich, weak/strong, left/right, and woman/man. The final step argues for the futility and meaninglessness of structuring binary oppositions in general by exposing them as ideological and cultural contexts that limit and marginalize us. The writers of Buffy play with discourse of cultural patterns in a way that deconstructs many of the dualities of contemporary society. A recent episode (November 23, 1999) is set on Thanksgiving, a cultural tradition rife with ideology. Buffy wants to re-enact a traditional Thanksgiving celebration with her “family of friends.” (Like many adolescent narratives, parents figure little in the action (Donelson and Nilsen). Buffy's father lives in another city and has only been seen in a few episodes. Her mother, Joyce (played by Kristine Sutherland), was oblivious to Buffy's secret slayer identity until the last episode of the second season.) Willow voices the cynical postmodern summation of the hypocrisy of celebrating the genocide of an indigenous culture. Nevertheless, Buffy convinces Willow, Xander, and Anya (played by Emma Caulfield)—Xander's demon girlfriend who grants spurned women retribution towards men—to come to a “real Thanksgiving dinner” at Giles' home. When Giles asks why the dinner has to be at his house, Buffy replies, “You're the patriarch; you have to toast the festivities or it's all meaningless.” Giles notes that it's more a matter of leaving him with the mess to which Buffy agrees. Later as the plot develops, avenging spirits of slaughtered native Americans begin to attack and kill. Willow is reluctant to help devise a plan to kill the spirits due to her nationalistic guilt. Into the mix enters another recurring character called Spike (played by James Marsters), although an enemy of Buffy's, he has come to her for help because he has been implanted (neutered) so that he can no longer “perform” as a vampire. He speaks with a British accent and adds commentary to the discussion about the avenging spirits. He scoffs at the guilt feelings expressed by Willow and speaks with the imperialistic voice of the “natural order” and “might makes right” in Western colonialism. Within this single episode, Buffy has offered ironic commentary and parody of cultural icons such as nationalistic holidays, patriarchal customs, masculine libido, and colonial expansionism. For poststructuralist feminists, the duality of male/female becomes the most troublesome and its inversion and subsequent neutralization is the object of a collective activity. Feminists seek means to subvert the patriarchal nature of Western society. Feminists, like Luce Irigaray in “The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of the Feminine,” re-write the psychoanalytic assumptions of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan to demonstrate that gender roles are male/female from the of the out that the has been conceived as a with other sees the as and and This of gender from of the gender roles as the of cultural and linguistic are not with or masculine we to them in with the culture of argues that from the nature of these proposes a that these the parody of traditional gender roles by as seen in of women not becomes are no longer as and which a of being of to in that of can in Although much of her discussion of with the roles in Buffy a to traditional gendered roles within the more and much of mainstream culture. the gender we all have new for and These new be in like Buffy has and traditionally to The two recurring in the show, Giles and Xander, are Giles is and Xander is about his in to the and action of the Buffy's is as “the most and of all the a the consumer of and These roles the of roles traditionally seen in action evidence of As a of the episode, Angel to Sunnydale because of a vision that Buffy was in he his to Giles not not to her although he is of some Buffy makes the final that in a episode on show, Buffy to to she his by a demon as he on the This is an of of the plot in episode in the first season with the the to the In this episode, a out other traditional gender roles to the point of the by and parents of adolescent of the of in voices this in a of three adolescent with am with the of of and is or that to in these stories and in the literature at young on to point out that although have that young women stories with there is a of such stories in and A of from the chat line on my daughter's Buffy the that young In the most used to Buffy's most is her to butt.” Buffy simply a tradition of or she a in young are in The first that are and has been written about the relationships in to of the of in the and each to their and are only the of a and Although there be many of in the or stories of many most Western have been and with on the in the action of the to the and of the and to contemporary many of the stories that adolescent literature of These stories to young because the of that the within the of the world. most of these stories with them more to young are to young that our young for or The High series, and adult written by writers like are to adolescent from to many about this in is that read stories where the in and due to a and it be stories that the in the in who a that the reader their and parents and for to them why have to find it for Another that in is the of to their of the High series. these within the the of each as by the As would their gender on their of the in the “The with and and with and that the narrative of these for a where and are where from action and The to cultural is not to in a with that with of and in at about her with adolescent and the of a culture that to their their and their free will in to be and be and to a in the in 1992 that over about their feelings as and of would to be while of the were Although the of age who would have to be the who were to these more of in their on their television and in their would more in the and possibilities of being suggests that can as on a by first the of her and she attack her she a her The so much a a or as a being at the of the figure to such are or rational also in the is also an on of society would to also its or of of and of The a or to herself from so that the can be developed in Buffy A average teen who inherited the skills to and who to in a that is on of the for a of the many of demonic most of the of including Buffy's mother, of and for Buffy's vampire father and Buffy inherited special and skills that her from her the of the second Buffy Sunnydale an episode that is described as the in the patterns of action that is an or The that most of this or of this are a about the of the culture for the very little about the nature of the The of these patterns are to be culturally in the same way as the of their to This about a it's another of on the This about A that has a woman as would lives as we would that women are and is and I and and I'm of that women by them After that in which the is the of traditional literature and that is not simply the of her she is the of the for I would that Buffy the same for our young television This is by a of the electronic conversation of Buffy fans on chat I of my daughter's Buffy chat line to to related to Buffy's as a A was as a very for young I can many that to her to that have to me in show as as to and the of that can shows that you have to more My discussion of has on Buffy is of the an of to the and only visible of and come with and more for The and and the Although these to more a of the have offered young and stories with many in the a psychoanalytic in her and to the we to with is by the way that the of patriarchal society has Her revealed in the narrative to the action while the also the of at another as an figure and the of with the as This is in where the of as for the of the and the patriarchal of contemporary society. And she vision of threatening woman as to the of women is the of the as the evidence on which is the for the of to the and the of the The of with the Buffy a point of for in the action of the Buffy, as the the The as and plot for her Although Buffy, as as all the other in the show, is and about the at in the of woman as and as active is in each is a of in the is as and her is a for American her face and are by the she and the there can be little that Buffy's agency the narrative and the (Owen the term apply to Giles and Xander, it would be for And the most of Buffy in of is the of woman as Although of the or with and about the and writers of the show have a psychoanalytic to the show, the of Buffy with a some to such a with the narrative as Buffy's are the point to the The have a for is you an am me the and the and the makes it the I was in a woman who was and who not only have a with that were of to A is with her mother, Although Joyce and Buffy enjoy from the first and second of the American little is about the of in American culture. to the Joyce is of and in the series. Buffy's and are not from the of of are her as a The series plays at as it is it to be seen play can relations of this society over adolescent in all of from them in to that the average to that are way me a to my I it's that these are TV shows their parents or older to the is that it's so at with the that the of in for my Buffy episode would with her a In a television shows would of from the critical of an and and would be to in of their television in the of these most of all watch television to be first and A program with the best of critical will not the of it on that entertainment our will the of the and to something for which we can some Buffy as the best of the like with in an age where television to be more and more Buffy to about young As a television like any to the audience. television from the In other we to the narrative and Buffy to young (and some and the The and are because ironic commentary on the of the and the of cultural to adolescent while to the of mainstream The symbolism of the Buffy and by the average is not on its young it also them over the with The also a of linguistic that to for its to the language of Buffy's mother, with other with a demonic to the out and of witchcraft. 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In recent years, the problem of reforming governmental systems has been a major issue facing Poland. This paper outlines the challenges of reforming Poland's public finance system, concentrating on the financial aspects of reform. Due to the constraints of public funding and efforts to diminish the total tax burden, reform is difficult. Yet, change in the redistribution of public revenues is absolutely essential for Polish society. We sketch the existing situation in Polish public finance and concentrate on the limitations and possible directions of the reforms. One crucial aspect of the forthcoming reforms will be a change in the revenue that local government derives from central government taxation. Reformers expect to involve local governments in the process of taxation through a new local tax and allow them to establish tax policy on both local and regional levels.
Abstract Decentralization in Latin America has dramatically transformed the public sector, producing a quiet revolution of popular participation in public choices at the local level. The process of decentralization has had its share of frustra tions, dangers, and false starts in the Latin American region. Fuzzy or overlap ping divisions of labor, associated threats of fiscal instability, and sustained finance for urban infrastructure still remain to be resolved in many countries. But decentralization has also produced a new generation of leaders, particularly at the local level. Several opinion polls have shown that local, elected officials were more trusted by voters and more responsive than ever to their constituents. They were also energetic, proactive, and vocal. New leaders exhibited a drive to deliver, and this made them eager consumers of new ideas and techniques. They have invented or adopted many ways to mobilize local participation, strengthen organizational capacities, and even raise local taxes, despite increasing fiows of shared revenues from central governments.
The current dogma of cancer research is that the accumulation of gene mutations in a single cell is responsible for the development and progression of human cancers. “Almost everybody believes that cancer requires certain gene mutations,” noted Christoph Lengauer, Ph.D., associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. “Several genes have to be affected in order to generate cancer, and genetic instability [caused by gene mutations] allows for the accumulation of [these] mistakes.” But this theory is open to debate. Robert Weinberg, Ph.D., professor of cancer research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, agrees with Lengauer and believes that tumor cells arise from disruptions in critical signaling pathways as a result of mutations in various oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. However, Peter Duesberg, Ph.D., professor of molecular and cellular biology at the University of California at Berkeley, believes that aneuploidy, an abnormal number or complement of chromosomes, is the critical mutation responsible for all solid human cancers, independent of specific gene mutations. Both theories have plenty of research—and unanswered questions—behind them. As codiscoverer of viral oncogenes in the 1970s, Duesberg spent 10 years testing the hypothesis that cellular oncogenes cause cancer, but was unsuccessful. “I had my own interests at stake,” said Duesberg. “I realized that the fundamental difference that set apart human oncogenes from viral oncogenes was that viral oncogenes have very strong promoters and express [the gene product] 1000-fold higher. We cannot find such a dominant human oncogene.” Because of this, he criticizes the widespread use of viral promoters in already aneuploid cells, such as NIH3T3, to prove that an oncogene causes cancer. Duesberg began to explore alternative cancer theories. “All of a sudden you see a forest when you were looking for trees,” said Duesberg on aneuploidy, predicted to be the cause of cancer almost a century ago. “Aneuploidy is a very solid correlation.” It is present in nearly all nonviral, solid cancers, and it explains the growing list of nonmutagenic carcinogens and why human oncogenes cannot turn human cells into cancer cells. In addition, “aneuploidy changes thousands of cellular pathways,” he noted, explaining the unique properties of cancer cells. He said he believes that aneuploidy is the only somatic mutation that explains all of the characteristics of a cancer cell. William Brinkley, Ph.D., vice president and dean of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, is also examining the relationship between aneuploidy and cancer. “My view is that aneuploidy is an essential mutation for transformation to malignancy. Aneuploidy is brought about by defects in the mitotic apparatus that result in cell progeny with chromosomal imbalance. Therefore, a defective mitosis leading to aneuploidy is a decisive event in the initiation of genomic instability, a complex process that results largely in cell death but also favors selective clonal outgrowth of tumor cells.” However, Brinkley believes that aneuploidy “must be preceded by additional mutations or altered gene expression that results in defective mitosis.” He is examining the role of a specific mitosis gene that he believes is involved in this process. Duesberg believes that carcinogens generate defects in the mitotic apparatus by directly targeting the spindle apparatus or fragmenting the chromosomes. In addition to causing cancer, Duesberg predicts that aneuploidy, by reassortment of the chromosomes, is responsible for tumor recurrence and multidrug resistance observed in cancer patients. “Most people believe that aneuploidy is important for cancer development,” said Lengauer, who supports Duesberg’s work. “But [Duesberg] goes a little too far in his belief that cancer can occur independent of gene mutations.” Lengauer agrees that carcinogens may be able to induce aneuploidy in the absence of gene mutations, but he does not believe that this by itself can cause cancer. Weinberg believes that aneuploidy is only a consequence of the cancer process, and may not even be a requirement. “Over the last 25 years, no one had ever succeeded in taking a normal human cell and transforming it into a tumor cell through the introduction of mutant genes,” said Weinberg. However, Weinberg and colleagues did just that. In Nature last year, they described the first genetically defined human tumor cells, by adding three mutant genes to two normal human cell lines, embryonic kidney and fibroblasts. In this study, four cellular pathways were important. An oncoprotein of SV40 virus (large T antigen) simultaneously knocked out two tumor suppressor proteins, p53 and Rb. “And both of them must be inactivated, we believe, in order to create a human tumor cell. At the same time, hTERT [telomerase] must be upregulated [to enable cells to grow indefinitely], and finally the mitogenic growth-promoting pathway indicated by ras must also be upregulated.” The resulting cells were anaplastic, highly angiogenic, minimally invasive, and nonmetastatic. “They set the stage for the long process of trying to relate the genes that are damaged in a human genome with the complex behavioral phenotype of the cancer cell,” noted Weinberg. “Of course, there’s much that lies ahead because the genes that we’ve introduced are hardly representative of those that are found mutated in spontaneously arising human tumors.” In response to Weinberg’s publication, Duesberg analyzed the cells and published his observations in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, arguing that what was important about the tumor cells was their aneuploidy, not the introduced genes. “And in fact,” noted Weinberg, “he argued that this was a troubled hypothesis [gene mutation], and these genes were really an epiphenomenon of the whole process of cancer formation, rather than being at the center of the process.” Weinberg recently had the cells re-examined at the National Cancer Institute, and mentioned that one of the cell lines was found to be diploid, in complete contradiction to Duesberg’s observation. Weinberg believes this is proof that “aneuploidy is not an essential prerequisite to the creation of a transformed human malignant cell.” “If present at the scene of a crime, you are a suspect. If not present, you are excused,” noted Duesberg, an analogy to the observation that “not one gene [mutation] has been identified that is consistently found in a highly specific cancer.” Weinberg and others believe that many of the identified oncogenes/tumor suppressor genes lie in the same critical pathways that need to be disrupted for cancer development. Lengauer pointed out that 88% of nonhereditary colon cancers have a mutation in the APC gene, and a nonoverlapping 10% have a mutated β-catenin gene. Both of these genes lie in the same cellular pathway. But can gene mutations and aneuploidy really work independently to cause cancer? Can they work together? “Currently, I believe both may be involved in some cancers,” said Baylor College of Medicine’s Brinkley. “Carcinogens that are mutagens may target oncogenes that ultimately destabilize mitosis, setting conditions for errors that lead to aneuploidy. In the case of nongenotoxic carcinogens such as asbestos, aneuploidy appears to be sufficient to cause cancer. The fact that non-mutagenic agents can cause cancer, and the fact that it has been impossible to isolate cellular genes from cancer cells that transform normal human cells, leads me to seriously question whether gene mutation alone (without aneuploidy) can cause cancer.” Dr. Robert Weinberg Dr. Peter Duesberg The photos above show the 46 chromosomes (plus x and y) from a normal diploid cell (left) and the chromosomes from a cancer cell that exhibits aneuploidy—it has 85 chromosomes.
College system is relatively widely adopted management model of decentralization in our country.Based on the analysis of prlblems in the operation of college system,the paper believes it necessary for colleges to be entrusted three powers autonomous financing,autonomous personnel placement and autonomous allocation of college resources so that the advantages of structural reform of college system can be made use of and the college itself will become a relatively independente ducational entity,The paper expounds the connotation and method of college autonomous financing which is the basis of power for college real operation,and makes an analysis of advantages of college autonomous financing.