title: Data on coding association rules from an inpatient administrative health data coded by International classification of disease - 10th revision (ICD-10) codes

authors: Peng, Mingkai

subjects: computer science

abstract: Data presented in this article relates to the research article entitled “Exploration of association rule mining for coding consistency and completeness assessment in inpatient administrative health data” (Peng et al. [1]) in preparation). We provided a set of ICD-10 coding association rules in the age group of 55 to 65. The rules were extracted from an inpatient administrative health data at five acute care hospitals in Alberta, Canada, using association rule mining. Thresholds of support and confidence for the association rules mining process were set at 0.19% and 50% respectively. The data set contains 426 rules, in which 86 rules are not nested. Data are provided in the supplementary material. The presented coding association rules provide a reference for future researches on the use of association rule mining for data quality assessment.

text: Data on coding association rules from an inpatient administrative health data coded by International classification of disease - 10th revision (ICD-10) codes Data presented in this article relates to the research article entitled “Exploration of association rule mining for coding consistency and completeness assessment in inpatient administrative health data” (Peng et al. [1]) in preparation). We provided a set of ICD-10 coding association rules in the age group of 55 to 65. The rules were extracted from an inpatient administrative health data at five acute care hospitals in Alberta, Canada, using association rule mining. Thresholds of support and confidence for the association rules mining process were set at 0.19% and 50% respectively. The data set contains 426 rules, in which 86 rules are not nested. Data are provided in the supplementary material. The presented coding association rules provide a reference for future researches on the use of association rule mining for data quality assessment.

year: 2018

title: Public sector accounting and financial management in the context of a developing country: an empirical study of the Volta River Authority in Ghana

authors: Rahaman, Abu Shiraz

abstract: Using the Volta River Authority, a major Ghanaian corporation responsible for the generation and distribution of electricity in Ghana and neighbouring countries, as a case study, this thesis seeks to gain an empirical understanding of the nature and effectiveness of accounting and financial management systems in the context of a public sector organisation in a developing country. The principal rationale of the thesis is an attempt to substantiate and illuminate major issues and concerns about the nature of accounting and financial management systems in public sector organisations of developing countries today. The thesis problematises an overly simple view that developing countries have deficient accounting and financial management systems in their public sector organisations.

The methodological, epistemological, and ontological orientations of the thesis are consistent with what Chua (1986) labels the “interpretive” paradigm. A recognition of multiple realities in the functioning of accounting enables an exploration of the claim that developing countries have deficient public sector accounting and financial management systems in a three-dimensional fashion. Firstly, the perceptions of organisational actors are drawn upon to aid evaluation of the basic deficiency claim. The research at this level emphasizes the technical-rational view of accounting as a tool for control over organisational financial resources. Thick descriptions of the systems for managing financial resources (including planning, budgeting, pricing, extent of computerisation, financial reporting and audit practices) of the VRA are gathered from organisational actors together with perceptions of the accounting and financial management systems by external constituencies such as the World Bank and the Authority’s multinational audit firms as a basis for evaluating the deficiency claim in the context of the VRA. Secondly, the thesis draws upon social theory (the view of organisations as negotiated orders) to further interpret the deficiency claim by bringing into the analysis the socio-historical circumstances of the organisation and how they help to provide insights into how the systems for financial resource management arise at the VRA. At this level of analysis, the thesis provides an interpretive construction of the technical procedures for financial resource management against the backdrop of the institutional setting within which the Authority conducts its operations. To this end, the influence of external constituencies such as the World Bank and the Volta Aluminium Company (VRA’s major customer) on the Authority’s accounting and financial management systems are explored. Thirdly, the thesis evaluates the effectiveness of the Authority’s accounting and financial management systems with reference to the extent to which they assist in the accomplishment of the principal rationale for establishing the organisation (i.e. socio-economic development of Ghana). At the third level of analysis, the Brundtland Commission’s notion of sustainable development is drawn upon as an alternative to the dominant economistic notion of development to provide a benchmark for the analysis. Employing the Commission’s perspective, the thesis attempts to understand the extent to which VRA’s systems of financial resource management reflect the notion of people-centredness and environmental awareness (i.e. the two major strands of the Commission’s notion of sustainable development).

Multiple methods, including interviews, observation, document analysis and survey are employed to collect empirical evidence for this study. The major conclusions of the study are that from a technical-rational perspective, the claim that developing countries generally have deficient public sector accounting and financial management systems could not be established in the context of the VRA. This conclusion derived from the overwhelming positive perception of the Authority’s financial resource management systems by organisational actors, international funding agencies such as the World Bank, and the Authority’s multinational accounting/audit firms. Indeed, the claims about the lack of published annual accounts, inadequate information for managerial decision making, poor budgetary practices, and lack of independent auditors in developing country public sector contexts could not be supported in the case of the VRA. However, by going behind the technical procedures (façade) to uncover the forces which explain how the systems arise, the thesis argued that the deficiency claim might be supported in another sense; a sense which appreciates and problematises the socio-historical and institutional setting which are strongly responsible not only for the nature of the Authority’s current systems but how they have changed over time. In particular, the thesis argues that the systems of financial resource
management are constructed partly to legitimise outcomes of prior negotiations between the Authority and its external constituencies. The constraints presented by these prior agreements and contracts render some of the Authority’s systems of financial resource management inconsistent with explanations grounded in conventional accounting and financial management logic. The thesis also finds, however, that some of the inadequacies observed with VRA’s systems of financial resource management reflected general limitations of conventional accounting with its over-emphasis on the entity concept rather than a peculiar organisational or even developing country problem.

By employing an interpretive methodological approach to gain an understanding of the nature and effectiveness of accounting in a third world public sector organisational context, this thesis illuminates hitherto relatively unappreciated issues, including furthering an appreciation of accounting as a socio-political artefact in this context, and thus contributes to the critical and interpretive accounting literature.

text: Public sector accounting and financial management in the context of a developing country: an empirical study of the Volta River Authority in Ghana Using the Volta River Authority, a major Ghanaian corporation responsible for the generation and distribution of electricity in Ghana and neighbouring countries, as a case study, this thesis seeks to gain an empirical understanding of the nature and effectiveness of accounting and financial management systems in the context of a public sector organisation in a developing country. The principal rationale of the thesis is an attempt to substantiate and illuminate major issues and concerns about the nature of accounting and financial management systems in public sector organisations of developing countries today. The thesis problematises an overly simple view that developing countries have deficient accounting and financial management systems in their public sector organisations.

The methodological, epistemological, and ontological orientations of the thesis are consistent with what Chua (1986) labels the “interpretive” paradigm. A recognition of multiple realities in the functioning of accounting enables an exploration of the claim that developing countries have deficient public sector accounting and financial management systems in a three-dimensional fashion. Firstly, the perceptions of organisational actors are drawn upon to aid evaluation of the basic deficiency claim. The research at this level emphasizes the technical-rational view of accounting as a tool for control over organisational financial resources. Thick descriptions of the systems for managing financial resources (including planning, budgeting, pricing, extent of computerisation, financial reporting and audit practices) of the VRA are gathered from organisational actors together with perceptions of the accounting and financial management systems by external constituencies such as the World Bank and the Authority’s multinational audit firms as a basis for evaluating the deficiency claim in the context of the VRA. Secondly, the thesis draws upon social theory (the view of organisations as negotiated orders) to further interpret the deficiency claim by bringing into the analysis the socio-historical circumstances of the organisation and how they help to provide insights into how the systems for financial resource management arise at the VRA. At this level of analysis, the thesis provides an interpretive construction of the technical procedures for financial resource management against the backdrop of the institutional setting within which the Authority conducts its operations. To this end, the influence of external constituencies such as the World Bank and the Volta Aluminium Company (VRA’s major customer) on the Authority’s accounting and financial management systems are explored. Thirdly, the thesis evaluates the effectiveness of the Authority’s accounting and financial management systems with reference to the extent to which they assist in the accomplishment of the principal rationale for establishing the organisation (i.e. socio-economic development of Ghana). At the third level of analysis, the Brundtland Commission’s notion of sustainable development is drawn upon as an alternative to the dominant economistic notion of development to provide a benchmark for the analysis. Employing the Commission’s perspective, the thesis attempts to understand the extent to which VRA’s systems of financial resource management reflect the notion of people-centredness and environmental awareness (i.e. the two major strands of the Commission’s notion of sustainable development).

Multiple methods, including interviews, observation, document analysis and survey are employed to collect empirical evidence for this study. The major conclusions of the study are that from a technical-rational perspective, the claim that developing countries generally have deficient public sector accounting and financial management systems could not be established in the context of the VRA. This conclusion derived from the overwhelming positive perception of the Authority’s financial resource management systems by organisational actors, international funding agencies such as the World Bank, and the Authority’s multinational accounting/audit firms. Indeed, the claims about the lack of published annual accounts, inadequate information for managerial decision making, poor budgetary practices, and lack of independent auditors in developing country public sector contexts could not be supported in the case of the VRA. However, by going behind the technical procedures (façade) to uncover the forces which explain how the systems arise, the thesis argued that the deficiency claim might be supported in another sense; a sense which appreciates and problematises the socio-historical and institutional setting which are strongly responsible not only for the nature of the Authority’s current systems but how they have changed over time. In particular, the thesis argues that the systems of financial resource
management are constructed partly to legitimise outcomes of prior negotiations between the Authority and its external constituencies. The constraints presented by these prior agreements and contracts render some of the Authority’s systems of financial resource management inconsistent with explanations grounded in conventional accounting and financial management logic. The thesis also finds, however, that some of the inadequacies observed with VRA’s systems of financial resource management reflected general limitations of conventional accounting with its over-emphasis on the entity concept rather than a peculiar organisational or even developing country problem.

By employing an interpretive methodological approach to gain an understanding of the nature and effectiveness of accounting in a third world public sector organisational context, this thesis illuminates hitherto relatively unappreciated issues, including furthering an appreciation of accounting as a socio-political artefact in this context, and thus contributes to the critical and interpretive accounting literature.

year: 1997

title: Maori and mining in New Zealand and beyond

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Before the arrival of Europeans, Maori had known of the existence of gold but did not mine it and had no understanding of its value. Once mining commenced in California in 1849 and Australia in the early 1850s, many Maori participated on several fields, especially in Victoria. When gold was first discovered in New Zealand, at Coromandel in 1852, Maori were keen to learn prospecting skills, and soon found gold in several parts of both the North and South Islands. Some alluvial claims were worked communally, even some women participating. From the start, Maori were determined to protect their rights against Pakeha when they were rivals for the same ground.  
On the Hauraki Peninsula, which had no alluvial gold, Maori were prospectors rather than miners. Some were successful, often going against the wishes of rangatira who, fearing that opening goldfields would result in their losing their land, refused access to prospectors, particularly in Ohinemuri. At Thames, Maori prospectors succeeded where Pakeha ones had failed, finding the gold that led to the 1867 rush; a rush encouraged by one rangatira in particular, Wirope Hoterene Taipari, who understood how a successful field would benefit him financially (including obtaining a reward for discovering a payable goldfield). After the opening of this field, some Maori prospected throughout the peninsula and elsewhere for the remainder of the century, with varying success but with some good finds, particularly at Kuaotunu. A few even participated in the Klondike rush. By the twentieth century, Maori were overcoming their reluctance to mine underground, notably in the coalmines of the Waikato, but until then almost none had seen mining as a full-time career. 
Indigenous inhabitants throughout the world successfully prospected for precious metals, but their achievements were commonly written out of history, as for example in Australia, where Aboriginal involvement is only now being uncovered. In New Zealand also, Maori achievements, although well known to contemporaries, have largely been forgotten. At the time, Maori prospector’s successes were praised and many became owners of claims, and in some cases benefited financially from their involvement in mining.

text: Maori and mining in New Zealand and beyond Before the arrival of Europeans, Maori had known of the existence of gold but did not mine it and had no understanding of its value. Once mining commenced in California in 1849 and Australia in the early 1850s, many Maori participated on several fields, especially in Victoria. When gold was first discovered in New Zealand, at Coromandel in 1852, Maori were keen to learn prospecting skills, and soon found gold in several parts of both the North and South Islands. Some alluvial claims were worked communally, even some women participating. From the start, Maori were determined to protect their rights against Pakeha when they were rivals for the same ground.  
On the Hauraki Peninsula, which had no alluvial gold, Maori were prospectors rather than miners. Some were successful, often going against the wishes of rangatira who, fearing that opening goldfields would result in their losing their land, refused access to prospectors, particularly in Ohinemuri. At Thames, Maori prospectors succeeded where Pakeha ones had failed, finding the gold that led to the 1867 rush; a rush encouraged by one rangatira in particular, Wirope Hoterene Taipari, who understood how a successful field would benefit him financially (including obtaining a reward for discovering a payable goldfield). After the opening of this field, some Maori prospected throughout the peninsula and elsewhere for the remainder of the century, with varying success but with some good finds, particularly at Kuaotunu. A few even participated in the Klondike rush. By the twentieth century, Maori were overcoming their reluctance to mine underground, notably in the coalmines of the Waikato, but until then almost none had seen mining as a full-time career. 
Indigenous inhabitants throughout the world successfully prospected for precious metals, but their achievements were commonly written out of history, as for example in Australia, where Aboriginal involvement is only now being uncovered. In New Zealand also, Maori achievements, although well known to contemporaries, have largely been forgotten. At the time, Maori prospector’s successes were praised and many became owners of claims, and in some cases benefited financially from their involvement in mining.

year: 2016