bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Red blood cell scintigraphy in children with acute massive gastrointestinal bleeding
Authors: Lee Jung , Lai Ming‐Wei , Chen Chien‐Chang , Chen Shih‐Yen , Chao Hsun‐Chin , Chan Sheng‐Chieh , Kong Man‐Shan 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackground: The main topic of the current review is the usefulness of technetium‐99m‐labeled red blood cell scintigraphy (99mTc RBC scan) in children with acute massive gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.Methods: The medical records of pediatric patients who experienced massive GI bleeding and who underwent 99mTc RBC scanning between November 1991 and December 2004 were reviewed and analyzed retrospectively.Results: The study included 22 patients who underwent 23 99mTc RBC scans. The scans were usually performed after other diagnostic tests failed to locate the bleeding. The diagnostic sensitivity of the scans was nine out of 23 (39.1%). The test demonstrated a positive scan within the first 2 h in six patients, and three patients had positive results at 24 h. The locations of the lesions identified on scanning and surgical investigation were highly correlated in patients with a positive scan within 2 h.Conclusions: The 99mTc RBC scan is a sensitive, albeit non‐specific, method for detecting GI bleeding. The location of a lesion as indicated by a positive scan within 2 h is helpful for guiding surgical intervention and angiography, although a definitive diagnosis should be made with other methods, particularly laparotomy.
Effect of different doses of vitamin D on osteocalcin and deoxypyridinoline in preterm infants
Authors: Kislal Fatih M. , Dilmen Ugur 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackground: Metabolic bone disease of prematurity is a common problem in preterm infants. The aim of the present paper was to measure the effect of vitamin D, in order to see the relation between vitamin D and urinary excretion of deoxypyridinoline (DPD), serum osteocalcin (OC), calcium (Ca), inorganic phosphorus (P), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP).Methods: Three different doses of vitamin D, 200 IU/kg (group 1, 11 infants), 400 IU/kg (group 2, 15 infants) and 800 IU/kg bodyweight/day (group 3, 11 infants), were administered to a total of 37 preterm infants between 15th day of birth until the 30th day of birth.Results: There were no significant differences in levels of serum Ca and P before and after vitamin D supplementation in all groups. Serum ALP levels were increased in all but significantly only in groups 1 and 3. Serum OC levels were also increased in each group by the treatment. Urinary DPD excretion was increased gradually by the increase in vitamin D intake, but it was significant only in group 3.Conclusion: High dose of vitamin D supplementation might accelerate bone turnover and increased urinary DPD levels might reflect increased bone resorption. To the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first study comparing the effects of different vitamin D dose, by the means of urinary collagen cross‐links, on bone turnover in preterm infants.
Effect of interleukin‐2 and tumor necrosis factor‐α on osteopontin: molecular function and biological process
Authors: Wiwanitkit Viroj 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackground: Biliary atresia (BA) is the most common cause of neonatal cholestasis. Recently it was reported that osteopontin (OPN) expression by human bile duct epithelial cells in culture was responsive to interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) and tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α). This might be an important part in the pathogenesis of BA, but the function of IL‐2 and TNF‐α in OPN expression is not well understood.Methods: A new gene ontology technology was used to predict the molecular function and biological process of the effect of IL‐2 and TNF‐α on OPN.Results: Using GoFigure server, the molecular function and biological process of the effect of IL‐2 and TNF‐α on OPN is predicted. Compared to IL‐2, TNF‐α and OPN, the IL‐2–TNF‐α–OPN combination has more functions.Conclusion: The IL‐2–TNF‐α–OPN combination presents many more functions including positive regulation of osteoclast and response to virus. IL‐2 and TNF have a synergistic effect on OPN expression.
Obesity and obstructive sleep apnea‐hypopnea syndrome
Authors: De Sousa A. G. P. , Cercato C. , Mancini M. C. , Halpern A. 
Published: March 2008

SummaryObstructive sleep apnea‐hypopnea syndrome involves recurring episodes of total obstruction (apnea) or partial obstruction (hypopnea) of airways during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea‐hypopnea syndrome affects mainly obese individuals and it is defined by an apnea‐hypopnea index of five or more episodes per hour associated with daytime somnolence. In addition to anatomical factors and neuromuscular and genetic factors, sleep disorders are also involved in the pathogenesis of sleep apnea. Obesity affects upper airway anatomy because of fat deposition and metabolic activity of adipose tissue. Obstructive sleep apnea‐hypopnea syndrome and metabolic syndrome have several characteristics such as visceral obesity, hypertension and insulin resistance. Inflammatory cytokines might be related to the pathogenesis of sleep apnea and metabolic syndrome. Sleep apnea treatment includes obesity treatment, use of equipment such as continuous positive airway pressure, drug therapy and surgical procedures in selected patients. Currently, there is no specific drug therapy available with proven efficacy for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea‐hypopnea syndrome. Body‐weight reduction results in improvement of sleep apnea, and obesity treatment must be emphasized, including lifestyle changes, anti‐obesity drugs and bariatric surgery.
THE IDEA OF A PROMOTIONS APPEAL SYSTEM
Authors: Byrt W. J. 
Published: March 2008

“The Public Utility did not have a formal Appeals Board system in the form which had been adopted by a number of other government organisations in Australia. Over the years, however, the procedure had been established that senior employees who had been superseded could appeal to the Executive Committee.”“A striking feature of civil service mores is an apparently widely‐held belief that special protection must be provided in public service not only against political influence in appointments, but also against what is called ‘internal patronage’. By this is meant protection against arbitrariness, nepotism, and favouritism, all alleged in some quarters to be inherently characteristic of the managerial and supervisory ranks of the public service. The present role of the Civil Service Commission as protector of the individual employee in questions of transfer, promotion and salary increments derives from this fear, and from the belief that intervention of an independent authority is necessary to ensure preferment on the basis of merit.“No convincing evidence has been found that any special factors distinguish the public service from other employment in this respect. Consequently, it cannot be concluded that civil servants need special protective machinery which employees outside the public service do not have. Moreover, there is an impressive array of evidence that the procedures and machinery created to prevent internal patronage have imposed upon the public service a very high cost in terms of delay, unfilled positions, poor selection of personnel, and generai frustration of responsible supervisors.”
SCIENCE, THE WORKFORCE AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION*
Authors: Dunbar R. E. 
Published: March 2008

SummaryThe change in the organization of work with advancing technology thus has important implications for governments, for educational authorities and for managers and administrators in both private and public sectors of industry. Governments must strive particularly for better means of analysing the structure of the workforce and predicting changes in the need for educated and trained manpower. Educational authorities must learn to interpret information from such analyses and to obtain further Information for detailed forward planning. Managements must learn to make the most of the products of the educational systems (especially the technical and vocational educational systems) and to provide training both within the undertaking and in conjunction with technical institutions. This training (and retraining) must be provided for workers at all levels and for managers at all levels.I shall conclude with a quotation from The Revolution in Education, by M. J. Adler and M. Mayer:Democracy and mechanization of labour are here and they are here together. Whatever their shortcomings in practice they present the human race for the first time in human history with the possibility of the good life for all men and the equitable organization of human society.
CAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION COPE?
Authors: Bailey P. H. 
Published: March 2008

Abstract: This paper asks two questions: first, why is it so difficult for public administration to change and secondly, which sources of change present public administration with its greatest problems? The answers to the first include the influence of factors such as permanence, with its emphasis on continuity and fit; hierarchy and the doctrinal orthodoxies it engenders; power and the opposition to its re‐distribution; the system of checks and balances which characterizes Australian public administration; and the complexities of the process of change itself. To answer the second question it is helpful to distinguish between endogenous change, originating from sources within public administration and exogenous change, emanating from sources outside it There are a number of examples of successful endogenous change, but the record of exogenous change is not as good, particularly where change came from outside both the public service and the political system. For a number of reasons it has taken time for public administration to respond adequately to the problems associated with such change. On the other hand the public service has coped reasonably well with the political inputs of exogenous change, such as changes of government. Four objectives for action could, if met, significantly improve public administration's responsibility to its problems. These are recognition of the need for adequate time if any change is to be coped with effectively; the funding of research for political parties; the spotting, development and positioning of innovators; and the creation of appropriate “look‐out” arrangements.Living in an age whose single constant is radical change, all men are in urgent need of whatever resources may be available as they seek to understand and manage their environment, to understand and solve the unprecedented problems confronting them1
SIR ROBERT PEEL AND AUSTRALIA
Authors: Eddy J. J. 
Published: March 2008

It seems to me that the occupation and colonization of New Holland and the other islands of Australia is one of those vast schemes of national policy into which Great Britain has been drawn by the current of events and with little human foresight to direct us, but which like the peopling of North America and the conquest of India must be regarded as amongst the most impressive movements of divine providence in the government of this world.Sir James Stephen, Minute of January, 1842, in Colonial Office, New South Wales Series, 201/329.
URBAN GOVERNMENT, URBAN POLITICS AND THE FABRICATION OF URBAN ISSUES: THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF URBAN POLICY
Authors: Painter Martin 
Published: March 2008

An “urban” definition of public policy problems raises great difficulties for the policy maker. If we emphasize implementation as a primary factor in evaluating public policy, we have good grounds for questioning the wisdom of an urban perspective. But urban questions have been and still are major areas of concern in public policy formulation. The ALP federal platform contains a long section on urban policies, reiterating what the Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD) was striving to achieve under the Whitlam Government. At state level, urban problems have been tackled with varying degrees of success and seriousness, although at this level overall urban perspectives tend to be ignored, for reasons we shall indicate. However urban planning authorities have been tried in most capital cities, and metropolitan plans have been drawn up for all of them. They have concentrated mainly on land use and urban form. By the 1970s a common criticism of such planning was that it left aside many social and economic aspects of urban growth. For example, one (admittedly partisan) government source—the N.S.W. Department of Decentralization and Development—noted “a massive and increasing trend towards socio‐economic segregation”:…the remoteness of central city facilities …the cost of commuter transport and the inadequacy of community facilities in low‐income outer suburbs are operating to perpetuate economic under‐privilege.
DEVELOPMENTS IN PUBLIC SECTOR AUDIT: HOW EFFECTIVE ARE EFFICIENCY AUDITS?
Authors: Dillon M. C. 
Published: March 2008

Abstract: A crucial issue facing the public sector is the extent to which efficiency and effectiveness are elements in the concept of accountability to parliament and the people. This paper argues that the recent moves towards efficiency audit in many countries, including Australia, need to be extended to effectiveness audit, and that to the extent that this does not occur, efficiency (and compliance) audit in the public sector is ineffective and accountability lacking.An examination of Australian public sector auditing is undertaken first, based on a discussion of the 1974–76 Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration, the 1977–82 Review of New South Wales Government Administration and the subsequent implementation of their recommendations as the means of clarifying and elucidating the definitions of compliance, efficiency and effectiveness audit, as well as a means of critically analysing Australian developments. Developments in public sector auditing in the United Kingdom and the United States of America are critically examined. Finally, the future prospects and problems facing public sector audit in Australia are reviewed, and policy options relating to the development of comprehensive audit are outlined.
ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC POLICY
Authors: Power John 
Published: March 2008

Comparative State Policies. Edited by B. GALLIGAN (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1988, 303pp). From Fraser to Hawke: Australian Public Policy in the 1980s. Edited by B. HEAD and A. PATIENCE (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1989, 525pp). Hawke and Australian Public Policy: Consensus and Restructuring. Edited by E. JENNETT and R. STEWART (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1990, 422PP).
STUDYING FEDERALISM: PERSPECTIVES AND PROSPECTS
Authors: Painter Martin 
Published: March 2008

Governing Federations: Constitution, Politics Resources, edited by MICHAEL WOOD, CHRISXIPHER WILLIAMS, CAMPBELL SHARMAN (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger in association with the Royal Australian Institute of Public Administration, 1989, 281 pp). Federalism in Canada t Australia: Historical Perspectives 192088, edited by BRUCE W. HODGINS, JOHN J. EDDY, SHELAGH D. GRANT, JAMES STRUTHERS (Peterborough: Frost Centre for Canadian Heritage and Development Studies, Trent University, 1989, 511 PP). Australian Federalism, edited by BRIAN GALLIGAN (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1989, 278 pp).
THE ROLE OF THE INDUSTRY COMMISSION IN RELATION TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT*
Authors: Hundloe Tor 
Published: March 2008

Abstract: The Industry Commission is the Australian government's independent advisory body on industry and industry matters. The Commission's role is to make recommendations on ways to improve the nation's overall economic performance. It performs this task by holding public inquiries and producing reports that are presented to the parliament.While the Commission's perspective is economic efficiency, it is required to report on the environmental consequences of its findings. One of the commissioners is required to have expertise in such matters.The extent to which it has met this challenge is illustrated by reference to a number of inquiry reports. The Commission has found that both economic efficiency gains and better environmental outcomes can go hand in hand, but it has recognised that the intergenerational equity prescription underpinning the concept of sustainable development is an ethical issue beyond the limits of economics.
THE ROLES OF GOVERNMENT A PARTICIPANT'S PERSECTIVE*
Authors: Porter Robert 
Published: March 2008

SummaryHasluck is unusual in the lengths he went to the define the responsibilities of the various offices in which he was involved. Many of the functions and processes of government have changed since Hasluck was an active participant in the political process. Interest groups have increasingly influenced political decision‐making, organisations external to the public service now play a greater role in influencing the development of public policy, the operation of a number of areas of the public service has become more visible and open to external scrutiny, there has been a constant trend towards political appointments within the public service, and it appears unlikely that the emphasis on public relations and marketing techniques as an integral feature of government communication will diminish. Likewise, the demands on ministers' time have increased and, while it is questionable whether ministers now handle a larger ministerial workload than Hasluck did, it is doubtful whether very many then or since have had his capacity for hard work or for handing the matters which cross their desk without the support of a professional advisory staff.The functions and operations of government evolve and the adaptation of roles and functions may not necessarily weaken the effectiveness of government administration. However, the fundamental tenet of Hasluck's writings on the roles of government remains compelling: the participants in the various areas of government should have an appreciation of the constitutional responsibilities of their position, its relationship to other areas of government and the fundamental principles which are required to maintain the credentials of the office into the future.
THE HEARTLANDS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE US STATES
Authors: Laffin Martin 
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Over recent years the American states have re‐emerged as centres of policy innovation and reasserted themselves within the federal system. In contrast, at least until Bill Clinton's accession to the presidency, the federal government has lost the initiative. Indeed, Clinton's accession from what in the past would have been regarded as an obscure southern governorship symbolises the shift of the states to the centre stage of American politics.This article considers the reasons for this shift, stressing the generational change among the governors, the new economic and social challenges faced by the states and the increasing withdrawal of the federal government from the state sphere. In terms of the prospects for the future of American federalism, federal government is likely to withdraw further under Clinton, reversing the trend of earlier Democratic presidencies. Indeed, thanks to the efforts of governors like Clinton, state governments are now better equipped than ever before to shoulder new responsibilities. Their tax base has widened, though many states have faced difficult budgetary situations in the early 1990s. The organisation and structure of most state governments have been modernised, if slowly given the obstacles inherent in the separation of powers. The new breed of governor has a more managerial approach than earlier generations, and contemporary governors have sought to centralise their power within the executive branch. As state legislatures have also asserted their influence over the executive branch, gubernatorial influence has usually been enhanced at the expense of other power centres within the executive.
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Authors: Bartos Stephen 
Published: March 2008

Abstract: This paper outlines the current state of play in relation to performance information in the Australian Public Service. It highlights the findings of the evaluation of the past decade of management reform in The Australian Public Service Reformed and the Management Advisory Board's Building a Better Public Service in relation to performance information.It outlines some of the recent initiatives at commonwealth level to improve the quality of performance information. It touches briefly on benchmarking (noting that this topic is covered by other papers at the same session and at the conference). It sets out the rationale behind the recent changes to annual reporting requirements for commonwealth departments: to provide parliamentarians with more focused information and reduce unnecessary duplication and paper overload. Reports so far have tended to confirm the success of this strategy, with some modifications required to provide more detail in agencies' documentation provided at budget time.It sets out the findings of the recent Department of Finance paper on the use of evaluation in the 1994–95 Budget—in summary, some 75% of proposals for new spending or savings in the budget were influenced by the results of evaluation.Finally, it makes some observations about the success of the Australian system of making public servants responsible for outcomes as well as outputs, and suggests that this is in part the reason why we have been able to make our evaluation strategy stick.
PERFORMING AUDITORS?: ASSESSING AND REPORTING THE PERFORMANCE OF NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICES—A THREE‐COUNTRY COMPARISON
Authors: Wilkins Peter 
Published: March 2008

Abstract: This article reviews self‐assessment and reporting strategies of national audit offices in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia and develops a framework for the reporting of their performance. There is a common emphasis in the audit office objectives on serving their primary client and on improving the performance of the public sector, but there are differences in emphasis regarding the clients being served. The differing approaches to assessing and reporting their own performance can in part be attributed to differences between their mandates, objectives and identification of the clients being served. The audit offices have developed complementary internal quality assurance processes which generate additional performance information and have been subject to external peer reviews which assess and report on their performance.A framework is developed which clarifies the relationship between audit office objectives and the measures used. It involves a hierarchy of performance parameters, including effectiveness, efficiency and workload and gives priority to meeting the needs of the primary client. The study has revealed that significant progress is being made in particular areas of assessing and reporting audit office performance and this should encourage audit offices to share their experiences internationally to enhance their own accountability to their primary clients and the communities they serve.
Public Management 1995: The Year That Was
Authors: Stewart Jenny 
Published: March 2008

Until it was discontinued in 1988, the Australian Journal of Public Administration published an administrative chronicle intended to document the events of the past year in state and commonwealth administrations.This administrative essay, the first of a projected annual series, has a different, although related purpose. It is organised on a thematic, rather than a state‐by‐state basis, and attempts to describe and to illuminate the main issues in public administration in Australia as they emerged through the events of 1995.In a short essay, detail must necessarily be sacrificed in order to capture the main trends. Nevertheless, the major features of the administrative landscape, as they appeared during 1995, have been faithfully recorded.