Administrative Challenges Research Articles

The VAT Treatment of Cryptocurrencies

Since their creation in 2009, crypto-assets have evolved from niche products into assets held and used much more widely. These assets pose challenges for policymakers and tax administrations, because, as pointed out by the OECD, they can be transferred and held without the participation of traditional financial intermediaries and without central administrators being aware of the transactions carried out or the location of crypto-assets holdings.
 On the indirect taxation side, the VAT Committee discussed the issues relating to the VAT treatment of crypto-assets and, in particular, of cryptocurrencies, on several occasions. The discussion on the most recent of the working papers on this subject, No. 1037 on the VAT treatment of crypto-assets, resulted in the adoption of the Guidelines which aim at harmonising tax administrations’ practice regarding the VAT implications of the different transactions linked to crypto-assets.
 The article highlights the main challenges posed by cryptocurrencies in terms of VAT while focusing on the main supplies with the use of cryptocurrencies and their qualification for the VAT purposes. Those transactions range from the creation, verification, validation, and supply of cryptocurrencies through their modification, storage, transfer, to exchange. The article explains in this context the position of the VAT Committee reflected in the Guidelines.

Incongruencies and Detrimental Effects of Neoliberal Education Reform in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Charged with postcolonial educational planning and development activities over the last 50-70 years, the context and content of educational planning and policymaking have evolved considerably in most Arab countries. The methodologies of planning and policymaking have also changed to match changing milieus and national priorities. Despite some accomplishments, many have amassed a record of educational policy and reform undertakings that have been less successful. Moreover, many Arab countries have been shown to continually lag behind other regions with similar levels of development, such as Latin America and South Asia. However, a few regional countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have taken a leading role in educational change initiatives in the implementation of globalized neoliberal reforms. More precisely, they have promoted bilingual (English/Arabic) and imported curricula, the modernization of school systems, privatization, standardization, accountability, school choice, and assessment reform. This study examined the implementation of recent UAE neoliberal reforms utilizing a framework derived from postmodern (neo)institutional analysis. This study argues that many policy undertakings have included contradictions and harmful impacts impeding the achievement of intended goals. Furthermore, educational policymaking has been caught between global and centralized national prescriptions for education and its role in society and unique contextual demands, which have created administrative challenges, dissatisfaction, and public resentment.

Incongruencies and Detrimental Effects of Neoliberal Education Reform in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Charged with postcolonial educational planning and development activities over the last 50-70 years, the context and content of educational planning and policymaking have evolved considerably in most Arab countries. The methodologies of planning and policymaking have also changed to match changing milieus and national priorities. Despite some accomplishments, many have amassed a record of educational policy and reform undertakings that have been less successful. Moreover, many Arab countries have been shown to continually lag behind other regions with similar levels of development, such as Latin America and South Asia. However, a few regional countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have taken a leading role in educational change initiatives in the implementation of globalized neoliberal reforms. More precisely, they have promoted bilingual (English/Arabic) and imported curricula, the modernization of school systems, privatization, standardization, accountability, school choice, and assessment reform. This study examined the implementation of recent UAE neoliberal reforms utilizing a framework derived from postmodern (neo)institutional analysis. This study argues that many policy undertakings have included contradictions and harmful impacts impeding the achievement of intended goals. Furthermore, educational policymaking has been caught between global and centralized national prescriptions for education and its role in society and unique contextual demands, which have created administrative challenges, dissatisfaction, and public resentment.

Making as an opportunity for classroom assessment: Canadian maker educators’ views on assessment

A growing number of studies have shown that the exploratory, collaborative, and contextualized nature of maker activities create opportunities for learners to engage with knowledge in a uniquely different way from traditional education which largely relies on de-contextualized instructions. The increased integration of making into K-12 curricula has enormous implications not only for instructional design but also for assessment practices. Maker-oriented activities have the potential to shed light on types of learning that previous assessment systems have not captured and examined. Nevertheless, little is discussed on how making can contribute to the assessment and instructional practices at large. This case study investigated educators' experiences with assessment in classrooms integrating maker activities. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews with six K-12 educators in Canada, the researchers examined: (1) in what ways does making activities create opportunities for assessment and instruction in K-12 classrooms? (2) in what ways does maker learning become a challenge for assessment and instruction in K-12 classrooms? Our analysis revealed several ways in which teachers experienced the advantages of the making approach for understanding student learning and for helping students become further aware of their own progress. The results also revealed challenges to conducting assessments for maker learning, including administrative challenges like continuing to gain support from the administration, and literacy challenges such as students’ obsession with letter grades. This study provides insights into how making may help improve assessment and instructional practices in K-12 classrooms.

Sunyani’s Flood Risk Landscape: An In-Depth Examination

Disaster is the only event that can set back most goals achieved in decades in just an event. The ability to cope with the onset and aftermath of flood disasters poses a great challenge for municipal administrators around the world. Sunyani Municipality is vulnerable to flood disasters because of its growing population, dependency on climate for livelihoods, low-income levels, non-existence of insurance policies, weak government institutions, and inadequate funds to manage the municipality. Sunyani Municipality lacks a flood risk management plan to deal with mitigating the hazard, managing it when it occurs and restoring normalcy after the event. Flood-prone map was generated using digital elevation, hydrological datasets, land use maps of Sunyani coupled with flood models which were informed by the land use and Spatial Planning Unit regulation. A questionnaire was used to ascertain information from persons leaving within the flood-prone area. A total of one hundred and fifty (150) respondents. Major hazards Identified are climate hydrological (Riverine and urban flooding). The spatial location of the riverine flood is along the major rivers in the municipality. The other type of flood in the municipality is the urban/flash floods. Although, the areas experiencing the flash floods are built-up or residential areas, field visits indicated that most of the residential buildings are currently sitting in a flow accumulation path, which impedes the movement of rainwater after downpours. As such, the easy spillage of water into houses and shops. The flooding of some of the municipality’s major routes will affect economic activities.

DESIGNING THE PROCESS OF ACADEMIC RECOGNITION – IMPLEMENTING “BRICOLAGE” AS A METHODOLOGICAL TOOL TO ANALYZE A DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN THE ULYSSEUS EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE

European Universities Initiative is transforming the landscape of European higher education in a fundamental way with the establishment of transnational, strategic alliances. In view of the overarching objectives of the European Higher Education Area, new alliances contribute to the consolidation of current best practices in education, research and innovation, and enable novel ways of cooperation to enhance them even more. Alongside the optimistic perspectives opening up with the initiative, alliances also face a number of administrative and pedagogical challenges. Fulfilling the expectations of the European Commission in terms of facilitating more flexible study pathways and of adopting transparent practices in academic recognition is one acute topic that needs to be addressed in every alliance: recognition for both access and for advancement needs thorough reconsideration in the new educational ecosystem. The article presents a pragmatic contribution by unfolding a recent development case from the Ulysseus European University Alliance. It describes an intensive process of designing an alliance-level framework agreement for academic recognition, with supporting documents, to enable more functional processes in alignment with the main European policy papers such as the Lisbon Recognition Convention (1997) and taking into account recent studies where hindrances and developments in academic recognition are discussed and analyzed. The case process is articulated methodologically with the framework of bricolage theory (Matthews 2019) that enables a synchronic analysis of the constituents and the outcomes of the process. Pragmatic recommendations are based on the post-hoc analysis of the case where a transdisciplinary working group achieved a significant administrative step forward in alliance cooperation.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0018/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Factors affecting learning outcomes achievement of public administration bachelor students in Ethiopia

Public administration education is a key instrument to address emerging public administration challenges. Ethiopia started public administration education in the 1950s, and currently, 13 public universities are offering bachelor programs in public administration. Nevertheless, PA program learning outcome achievements are not been studied, and comparative studies are absent. By relying on the resource dependency theory and survey data collected from PA Bachelor students ( n = 91) and faculty members ( n = 28) in three PA-teaching public universities, this article tries to fill these gaps. Significant differences were found between students and faculty members, and between universities with regard to PA learning outcome achievements. The variation between universities in terms of access to resources and student support is also substantial. The difference between students and faculty members, and between universities on the PA faculty quality and the quality of the teaching-learning method proved insignificant. The study confirms public administration faculty members, access to resources, and student support services positively influence PA learning outcomes. The article contributes to PA education literature and PA program evaluation.

The Cost-of-Living Crisis in the UK and Ireland: on Inflation, Indexation, and One-Off Policy Responses

This paper compares social policy responses to the cost-of-living crisis in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland. In seeking to protect citizens from an inflationary shock, a series of fundamental social policy questions arise. What would the aims of support packages be? To what extent should support be universal or targeted? If targeted, did existing policy architectures facilitate or frustrate the targeting of support? As the scale and persistence of the inflationary shock became evident, smaller and near-universal responses gave way to larger support packages with a greater reliance on targeting. Social security systems played an important role in policy responses, though often by passporting one-off payments rather than a strengthening of these core programmes. Passporting led both to improved distributional outcomes vis-à-vis the more universal elements but created new administrative challenges and led to rough justice in some circumstances. The reliance on one-off payments underlined the temporary nature of policy responses.

Reversed audio file content subset identification over existing files using the deduplication technique

The prevalence of cloud storage among users has surged, yet it's imperative to maintain server efficiency as data volume grows. Repositories are brimming with repetitive content, while users continue to demand consistent daily performance despite the extensive storage capacity. Service providers, however, cannot restrict users from uploading multimedia files that already exist on the server. This poses a challenge for storage administrators striving to enhance services and pinpoint duplicate files. Deduplication emerges as a viable solution to alleviate the server's load. This study proposes a method to identify redundant audio content and reversed audio files within existing data, as well as detect reversed audio content. These efforts augment the existing, refined super set identification algorithm.

Penerapan Sistem Manajemen Rekam Web pada DPMPTSP Kota Samarinda dengan Menggunakan Framework Laravel

The management of physical archives into digital formats is a crucial aspect in enhancing the operational efficiency of government agencies, particularly the DPMPTSP of Samarinda City. This research proposes and implements a web-based record management system using the Laravel framework to facilitate this process. The primary focus is to simplify employees' tasks in transforming and managing archives digitally, reducing dependence on physical archiving that often consumes time and resources. Laravel framework is chosen for its reliability in web development and ease of integration with other technologies.The implementation of this system not only transforms how employees store archives but also streamlines the file borrowing process. The system allows employees to easily search for and borrow archives electronically, overcoming traditional barriers in information retrieval. The implementation results show a significant improvement in archive management efficiency, creating an innovative and relevant solution to administrative challenges in government agencies. The success of this implementation creates opportunities to further modernize public administration processes, making technology utilization a key factor in improving productivity and service quality. Thus, this research makes a positive contribution to the transformation of public administration through technology implementation, paving the way for more effective and integrated archive management.

Problems of the Public Personnel Administration in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Study

The basic function of any government is to provide various types of services and facilities to its citizens. The quality of services and facilities greatly depends on how satisfied government employees are, which mainly depends on varies factor i.e., the way they are paid and allocated, how quickly they are promoted, how well they are trained, etc. Well payments and better facilities for the govt. employers inspire them to provide better service delivery for citizens. The findings of this study demonstrate that there are various types of problems and challenges in Bangladesh's public sector personnel administration. The civil service recruitment system is criticized because of its lengthy process, too much politicization in recruitment and police verification, etc. Promotional system is criticized as practice of biasness, partisanship, manipulation in ACR, etc. The training systems of govt. Personnel administration is found dissatisfactory as these training isn’t up to the mark, also the training content don't appear to bring advancement in the service. Additionally, training programs are don’t meet international standards due to the content and master trainer involvement, also there are lack of facilities to receive international training. Promotion or career advancement in the public sector rests more on seniority and interventions from peers and canvassers than it does on continued skill improvement and qualification attainment. By completing the recruitment process in a timely manner, rationalizing the pay structure, promoting on merit, and updating training, we can achieve modern, improved, qualified personnel administration in the public sector in Bangladesh that is capable of providing people with fast, efficient, effective, and better public service delivery.

Web-Based Student Payment Administration Information System Using The Waterfall Method

This research aims to develop an Information System that can assist the school admin in providing the validation process for tuition payments, speed of access, and completeness in providing information. This research aims to overcome administrative challenges that often occur in schools, such as errors in recording payments, late payments, and the difficulty of tracking payment history to save time and effort previously spent processing payments manually. The research method used is the Waterfall method. This application will make it easier for the finance department to record student tuition payments method was chosen because of its deep capabilities and describes a flow or stages that run like a waterfall from one stage to the next. This approach relies heavily on good initial planning because changes made in the early stages may be difficult or expensive to implement in later stages. Based on the results of system design and black box testing, it can run well, and user responses also provide very good responses, with 94% of respondents giving very good responses and 0% saying good and quite good. Based on these findings is hoped that it can be used more efficiently and also ensure data security and can store the results of the data that has been processed.

The motivation and process for developing a consortium-wide time and motion study to estimate resource implications of innovations in the use of genome sequencing to inform patient care.

Costs of implementing genomic testing innovations extend beyond the cost of sequencing, affecting personnel and infrastructure for which little data are available. We developed a time and motion (T&M) study within the Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research (CSER) consortium to address this gap, and herein describe challenges of conducting T&M studies within a research consortium and the approaches we developed to overcome them. CSER investigators created a subgroup to carry out the T&M study (authors). We describe logistical and administrative challenges associated with resource use data collection across heterogeneous projects conducted in real-world clinical settings, and our solutions for completing this study and harmonizing data across projects. We delineate processes for feasible data collection on workflow, personnel, and resources required to deliver genetic testing innovations in each CSER project. A critical early step involved developing detailed project-specific process flow diagrams of innovation implementation in projects' clinical settings. Analyzing diagrams across sites, we identified common process-step themes, used to organize project-specific data collection and cross-project analysis. Given the heterogeneity of innovations, study design, and workflows, which affect resources required to deliver genetic testing innovations, flexibility was necessary to harmonize data collection. Despite its challenges, this heterogeneity provides rich insights about variation in clinical processes and resource implications for implementing genetic testing innovations.

Barriers primary care clinic leaders face to improving value in a consumer choice health plan design.

Primary care clinics are a frequent focus of policy initiatives to improve the value of health care; yet, it is unclear whether they have the ability or incentive to take on the additional tasks that these initiatives ask of them. This paper reports on a qualitative study assessing barriers that clinic leaders face to reducing cost within a tiered cost-sharing commercial health insurance benefit design that gives both consumers and clinics a strong incentive to reduce cost. We conducted semi-structured interviews of clinical and operational leaders at a diverse set of 12 Minnesota primary care clinics and identified 6 barriers: insufficient information on drivers of cost; clinics controlling a portion of spending; patient preference for higher cost specialists; administrative challenges; limited resources; and misalignment of incentives. We discuss approaches to reducing these barriers and opportunities to implement them.

Sonographers and Vascular Technologists Offer Potential Solutions to Promote the Health and Well-being of Their Workforce

Objective: Work-related injuries have a major effect on worker health and well-being. This is particularly true in sonography, where work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are common. In response to the current challenge of understanding strategy implementation across social and organizational dimensions, this research captured sonographers’, echocardiographers’, and vascular technologists’ perceptions of critical administrative, organizational, and general health and training challenges, and potential solutions for improving worker health and well-being. Materials and Methods: A survey invitation was sent to the WRMSD Grand Challenge longitudinal study registry participants. Open-ended questions on the online questionnaire allowed respondents to share comments, ideas, or potential solutions to improve worker health and well-being regarding the administrative and organizational environment or through training and general health interventions. There were 377 free-text responses that were qualitatively analyzed using a grounded theory approach to generate overarching themes and identify emerging theory, supported by initial coding, focused coding, and reflexive memoing. A member check was conducted by interviewing four participants to refine and confirm the findings. Results: Five themes were identified: “Limits and Guidelines,” “Injury Education,” “Ergonomics Training Constraints,” “Resources and Equipment,” and “Individual Habits.” Participant suggestions within these themes were categorized and mapped onto a sociotechnical systems model that was developed previously to study the healthcare system(s) in which sonography users work. This conceptual mapping revealed how these solutions were situated to impact different levels of the work environment. The themes and mapping supported an emerging grounded theory: Risk Reduction Relies on Proper Employee Representation. Conclusion: These qualitative findings align with contemporary guidelines and recommendations for mitigating injuries in sonographers, illuminating challenges and solutions targeting levels of influence beyond the staff sonographers’ scope. The need for representation of sonographers at higher-level administrative levels has not heretofore been addressed by WRMSD guidelines.

Effects of the agricultural food security pack programme in Zambia: the case of Mpulungu District

Agricultural food programmes are one of the means to improve household food security for vulnerable small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. In Zambia, household food insecurity is entrenched among small-scale farmers. Despite the implementation of the food security pack programme by the Zambian government, there is scanty scientific information on the performance of the programme. The study reviewed the effects of the food security pack programme on land cultivation and maize crop productivity in Mpulungu district using a mixed-methods design. Using a simple random sampling and Slovin’s Formula, 147 beneficiaries and 152 non-beneficiaries were selected as questionnaire respondents. The study purposely selected two government officials, one traditional leader, and five focus groups for interviews and focus group discussions. Descriptive data were generated using SPSS and content analysis. The study revealed that 66% of the beneficiaries, cultivated between a quarter (0.25) and half (0.50) a hectare compared to the non-beneficiaries, whose 61% cultivated less than a quarter (<0.25) hectare. Similarly, 70.1% of the beneficiaries, harvested more than 20 (50kg) bags of maize grain on average, per 0.25 hectares of land compared to 8% of the non-beneficiaries for three farming seasons reviewed. The land cultivated by the beneficiaries had a larger mean (M ₌ 2.00) than the land cultivated by the non-beneficiaries (M ₌ 1.59). Maize crop productivity by the beneficiaries had a larger mean (M ₌ 4.25) than the non-beneficiaries (M ₌ 2.45). There was a statistically significant difference in land cultivation and maize crop productivity between the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, with the former having more land cultivated and higher maize crop productivity than the latter. Administrative challenges in programme implementation were noticed. Farming inputs were received late and outside the planting period due to the centralised purchase system despite the beneficiaries performing better than the non-beneficiaries. Funds for the purchase of agricultural inputs were released late by the Zambian government. The study concluded that the food security pack programme had a significant positive effect on land cultivation and maize crop production for benefiting households. The study recommends decentralisation of the supply of farming inputs to the districts for timely delivery to the beneficiaries, increasing the number of beneficiaries, and timely release of funds for the purchase of farming inputs by the Zambian government. Key words: Agriculture, food security, small-scale farmer, empowerment, vulnerable farmers

Analyzing Development Administration in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges

Economy and efficiency serves as both ends and means blurring the distinction between them. Development Administration therefore can be seen as an instrumental means for defining, consolidating, and implementing national goals in developing countries. The study is guided by two specific objectives; examine the challenges of development administration in Nigeria and ascertain plausible mitigation strategies to the identified challenges towards engineering and fostering social and economic progress in Nigeria. The study adopted the Marxist theory of post colonial state, by Alavi (1972). Content analysis were used in the study. However, the study revealed that Nation-building and socio economic development are dependent on development administration, hence recommended amongst others that promoting and creating enabling policies, environment and building capacity for participation in global economy is imperative in mitigating perceived challenges.

School Leadership Role in Nurturing a Sense of Responsibility in High Schools: A Comparative Study of Afghanistan and Indonesia

The development of a school and the readiness of teachers to teach with dedication, accountability, and enthusiasm depend significantly on leadership. Afghanistan has been a hub for educational advancement, and teachers' dedication and sense of accountability has been a key problem. The majority of Indonesia's educational administration and leadership challenges in schools, in contrast, have been resolved by professional leadership. Through a comparison of Indonesia and Afghanistan, the current study explored the function of school leadership in fostering a feeling of responsibility in teachers. They conducted interviews with school principals and teachers in both nations using a qualitative research design. The study's findings showed that school leaders were crucial in fostering a sense of responsibility at both research sites. Each nation has its own unique school principal practices and nurturing styles. In terms of fostering a sense of responsibility in school teachers, the leadership styles in both nations may be described as democratic in Indonesia and authoritative in Afghanistan as a result of the findings.

The challenge of the medication administration via enteral feeding tube in intensive care units

The challenge of the medication administration via enteral feeding tube in intensive care units

THE ADVANTAGES OF USING SECUBE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE INFORMATION SECURITY

This article explores the advantages of using SeCube in public administration to ensure information security. SeCube, a comprehensive information security management system, is particularly suited for the unique requirements of public sector entities. The article highlights how SeCube addresses common challenges in public administration, such as data protection, regulatory compliance, and secure communication. The focus is on SeCube’s capabilities in risk assessment, incident management, policy implementation, and compliance monitoring, providing insights into its role in enhancing the security posture of public sector organizations.