Reform Process Research Articles

The association between state regulation and the increase in research productivity in Peruvian universities

In the eight years following the 2014 university system reform in Peru, there has been sustained growth in the scientific production of the Peruvian universities, evident by an increased number of publications in indexed journals compared to the pre-reform period. Using administrative data, the article investigates if the growth of scientific production is associated with the research-strengthening conditions of the Peruvian licensing model. Despite the low institutional research legacy in the university system, there is a strong association of the regulation linked to the university reform process in the production of academic articles. This result is robust to different specifications. Equally important is showing that this change has allowed universities with a limited research legacy to enhance their research output, which could be attributed to their increased necessity to adapt to a research-oriented approach already established by other universities.

A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW: CHALLENGES AND STRATEGY OF BUREAUCRATIC REFORM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Purpose: This research aim to analysis the main challenges and strategies in the bureaucratic reform process in developing countries. All countries in the world make bureaucratic reform their main agenda, including developing countries. However, the main focus of bureaucratic reform studies is still limited to developed countries. Methodology: Using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method, this research attempts to map the main challenges and strategies in the bureaucratic reform process in developing countries. The PRISMA method is used for the SLR process, from articles from international journals indexed by Scopus from 4 reputable publishers (Elsevier, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, and Emerald). A total of 16 relevant articles were analyzed to mapping bureaucratic reform trends in developing countries. Result: As a result, the main problems of bureaucracy in developing countries are the service was accused of being dysfunctional, fragmented, poorly organized, inefficient, ineffective, evasive, defeatist, delayed, reckless, self-serving, inexplicable, irresponsible, corrupt, non-transparent, irresponsible, and incapable meet citizens' expectations. The challenges faced are politicization, incompetent human resources and a corrupt culture. Conclusion: The strategy carried out by developing countries is mainly to carry out a transparent selection process and improve administrative standards. Originality/Value: Bureaucratic reform in developing countries is still a crucial problem in administrative studies. This research offers analysis of main problems and challenges of Bureaucratic Reform in developing countries.

Engaging in Reconciliation in Australia, and the Challenge of Institutional Reform

ABSTRACT The emphasis on reconciliation as a process of individual reflexivity and institutional reform raises important questions about people’s engagement in reconciliation discourses. This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine how staff at a regional Australian university interpret reconciliation and its application in a workplace context. Many frame their understanding on ideas that are considered foundational to reconciliation in post-colonial Australia. Notions of relationships and coexistence, unity and social harmony, cultural respect and the rightful place of First Nations peoples form the foundation to a revisionist national identity tied to a critical examination and responsiveness to past injustice. Participants recombine and reorder these concepts in ways that speak to their individualised translation, with a greater emphasis on the agency of First Nations peoples in the learning and teaching environment. Such expressions indicate a willingness by respondents to engage in the ideas of reconciliation at the cognitive level. For many, however, reconciliation remains an aspirational or desired activity, and belies a reticence to take personal action that will contribute to wider institutional change.

A Multidimensional Analysis of the Discourse Features of the English Translation of Heavy Wings

Ideology and translation go hand in hand. Translation is a rewriting of the source text, reflecting the ideology and poetics of a particular society. This paper establishes a Chinese-English parallel corpus based on two English translations of Heavy Wings, which takes ideology as the object of study, using multidimensional analysis to examine register differences and to compare the represented features in ideological markers between the two translations in the four dimensions, namely nominalization, transitivity, modality and coherence. Based on system functional linguistics, this paper examines the relationship between ideological markers and the process of the event, the participants and the environment. It was found that: (1) There is a great significance in register of two translations, with 31 out of 67 lexico-grammatical features. Gladys Yang’s translation shows a higher degree of abstract information and explicit; (2) Gladys Yang’s translation mainly focus on the reform process and participants, deliberately distancing the two parties from each other, while Goldblatt’s translation tends to attribute the factional conflicts in the reform to various environmental components, opening up more evaluation space for the textual content; (3) The differences in the use of linguistic and ideological markers are affected by both intra-linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, namely source text factors, social context, ideology, translator subjectivity, etc.

Analysis of the Path of Educational Rehabilitation of Inmates in the Context of the "Five Reforms"

Citizens' illegal and criminal behaviors should be sanctioned by law, and prison serves as a vital institution for both punishment and rehabilitation of inmates. After imprisonment, inmates undergo a long-term reform process aimed at transforming their mindset and behavior. Education plays a crucial role in this process, serving as the catalyst for implementing positive changes. In light of the current era, the "Five Reforms" proposal serves as the logical starting point for this study. The aim is to analyze the significance of educational rehabilitation for the inmates within this context, identify and refine the new characteristics of such programs, and propose practical paths for their education and reform. The findings from this study hold significant practical implications and provide valuable guidance for the practice of inmate rehabilitation.

Russian Religious Reformation Process of Early 20th Century through Prism of Ideological Quests of Fr. Mikhail (Semenov)

The article examines the development of views on the reform of Russian Orthodoxy in the early 20th century by one of the prominent and unconventional religious thinkers of that time, Father Mikhail (Pavel Vasilievich Semenov, 1873-1916). It traces his journey from official Orthodoxy to the movement for religious renewal, and then to the Belokrinitskaya (or Austrian) Old Believer hierarchy, after which he becomes the main ideologist of “Golgotha Christianity” — a unique religious-reformist movement advocating for the revival of social and moral ideals of the early Christian community. As contemporaries noted, these “oscillations” of Father Mikhail (Semenov) became a natural expression of his intense quest for the kerygma of Christianity, capable of overturning the social ontology of the Orthodox Church — finding an Orthodox formula for individualizing faith and making the world the goal of salvation. The author concludes that the life path and ideological quests of Father Mikhail (Semenov) reflect an important regularity of the Russian reformation process. This regularity lies in the fact that the search for “foundations” of faith, theological foundations of doctrine, or religious foundations of culture and society is simultaneously associated with the actualization of a fundamentalist impulse in religion and to some extent with the modernization of the religious complex (this is a kind of religious swing: “fundamentalism — modernism,” “Old Believers — religious renewal,” etc.).

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS AS A TOOL FOR IMPLEMENTING THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Among the most effective mechanisms for social development and institutional modernization of the national economy in European practice is the system of social responsibility of business. Given the European integration trajectory of Ukraine's economic development, the issue of aligning social responsibility of business standards with European norms remains a subject of debate and requires further research. The implementation of European legislation on social responsibility of business standards is a crucial task in Ukraine's reform process, as it can serve as a foundation for modernizing the institutional environment of the national economy and as an indicator of its success. We believe that the primary priorities for developing of social responsibility of in Ukraine should include: state promotion of the importance of social responsibility of business, its benefits, and its necessity for society; the creation of a state fund and the allocation of local budget funds for partial co-financing of social projects implemented by private enterprises; the provision of various tax incentives and moral encouragement for entrepreneurs who invest in socially important projects; and the introduction of mandatory social reporting at the national level for companies eligible to list shares on stock exchanges, participate in government tenders, obtain certain licenses etc..

Pinch, energy, and exergy analysis for a power-hydrogen cogeneration system fueled by biogas

This paper presents a combined heating, power, and hydrogen system production by utilizing biogas energy. A novel methodology is proposed to identify thermodynamic cycle conditions and reform processes by using biogas as the energy source. Biogas steam and dry reforming methods are considered based on equilibrium data employing the EES program. It is found that biogas has two principal roles for combustion and reforming processes simultaneously. The thermal energy from the combustion of biogas causes its reforming and improves the efficiency of the system by 74%. The exergy efficiency, the overall exergy destruction, and hydrogen efficiency are calculated for various electric powers ranging from 5 to 40 MW. It is found that the combustion chamber has the maximum exergy destruction of about 51%. The parametric study of the system is performed to assess the optimum conditions for producing hydrogen. The optimal condition corresponds to CO2/CH4 = 0.50–0.66, H2O/CH4 = 2–3.6, and the reforming temperature range of 965–1036 K. The conversion of methane and carbon dioxide shows the reduction of the greenhouse gases.

Implementation And Initiatives of Higher Education Reform to Teaching Management

The implementation and promotion of higher education reform are of great significance for improving the quality of teaching management in higher education. This paper used qualitative research to investigate and study the specific measures of teaching management in Shandong Youth University of Political Science during the implementation process of higher education reform. It aims to identify the problems in teaching management of Shandong Youth University of Political Science in higher education reform, and further construct a scientific feasible optimization strategies and implementation suggestions can help promote the healthy development of the university's teaching management and provide excellent case support for the teaching management and improvement of other universities.

From Waste to Clean Energy: An Integrated Pyrolysis and Catalytic Steam Reforming Process for Green Hydrogen Production from Agricultural Crop Residues

From Waste to Clean Energy: An Integrated Pyrolysis and Catalytic Steam Reforming Process for Green Hydrogen Production from Agricultural Crop Residues

Curriculum effectiveness for secondary-aged students with severe intellectual disabilities or profound and multiple learning difficulties in Australia: Teacher perspectives.

The active inclusion of students within education systems relies on a curriculum that caters to all. This article presents partial findings from Australian mixed methods research examining 46 teacher perspectives on the curriculum and its ability to support their practice in supporting students aged 12-19 years with severe intellectual disability or profound and multiple learning difficulties who attend specialist school settings. Results reveal that Australian teachers see the current curriculum as insufficient in its design and content and unable to cater to their students educational and social capacities or needs. Strengths essential to the reform process are highlighted, emergent challenges discussed and recommendations for future action are presented.

Foreign Direct Investment on China's Balance of Payments

With the acceleration of China's reform and opening-up process, the macro-economy is also developing rapidly, but in recent years, changes in the internal and external situation have all been seen as factors affecting the macro-economy, how to see the situation, how to formulate a reasonable policy to cope with the problem, has become the main task of the macro-economy. The balance of payments is an essential link in determining macroeconomic development. It is related to the balance and stability of domestic and foreign wealth, of which foreign investment is an essential part of China's opening up to the outside world, and most foreign investment is direct investment. The study of the impact of foreign direct investment on the balance of payments is of practical significance. Its main strategies of a trade conflict between China and the United States and the expansion of domestic demand in recent years can put forward valuable opinions, as well as guiding significance for stabilizing the exchange rate and guaranteeing the healthy development of the macroeconomy. This paper firstly summarizes and combs the research and theories on the impact of foreign direct investment on the balance of payments; secondly, it analyzes and summarizes the data on the status of FDI in China and China's balance of payments; then it conducts the theoretical, empirical analysis based on the theory; and finally, it draws the conclusions and realistic recommendations based on the above contents.

The Cultural Political Economy of Knowledge in Neo-Liberal Indonesia

This article analyses the policy agendas and bureaucratic apparatuses that have shaped the norms and values directing knowledge production in neo-liberal Indonesia. It uses a Gramscian approach to hegemony to understand how knowledge, as power, is organised and imposed on workers. It unpacks the norms and values shaped during processes of neo-liberal capitalist reform, which are identified as knowledge imaginaries; or shared social systems that organise a field of knowledge commodities. Their mobilisation during material and discursive moments are crucial in the juncture between predatory and market interests that fundamentally benefit capital accumulation. It is argued that funding and policies serve as key apparatuses for knowledge elites to normalise and enforce notions of self-reliance, competitiveness, and entrepreneurship as common sense for their managers, which are exploitative for workers. Within the hegemony of knowledge capitalism, there are antagonisms and attempts to form alternative spaces of knowledge by using digital media. While merely leaving a dent on the surface of broader capitalist structures, its promotion of subversive ways of knowing remains no less meaningful in understanding the social positions of academic workers in an increasingly networked but fragmented neo-liberal social world.

Synergistic promotions between high purity H2 production and CO2 capture via sorption enhanced chemical looping reforming

Hydrogen energy, a promising clean source, holds potential to combat global warming. To achieve efficient and low-carbon H2 production, we proposed an isothermal sorption-enhanced chemical looping reforming (SE-CLR) process to realize the high-purity hydrogen production and in-situ CO2 capture at mild temperatures (550–650 °C). For practical application, the process is characterized to use Fe-Ni double metal oxide particles as steam methane reforming oxygen carriers, and K2CO3-promoted Li4SiO4 particles as CO2 sorbent. The oxygen transfer capacity of metal oxide matintained high at 57.4%, and the K-Li4SiO4 absorbents remained at 22.5% CO2 absorption capacity over 200 isothermal absorption-regeneration cycles. Conducting a synergistic conversion mechanism within double metal oxides and absorbents, and adjusting the absorbent-to-metal oxide mass ratio to 7:4, enhanced hydrogen purity to 92% and CO2 uptake to 95%. Furthermore, in-situ CO2 removal in CLR processes achieved methane conversion and H2 production rates equivalent to conventional CLR processes under the same reaction conditions, but at temperatures ∼60 °C lower. The effects of the reaction temperature, pressure, steam-to-methane and methane-to-solid ratios on SE-CLR performance were studied systematically. Finally, stable hydrogen production with a purity of 91%–89% and CO2 uptake of 94%–91% were obtained over 25 CLR cycles, with minimal changes in mechanical strength of particles.

Fluid dynamics and erosion analysis in industrial naphtha reforming: A CFD-DPM simulation approach

This paper explores using Computational Fluid Dynamics-Discrete Phase Model simulation in an industrial naphtha reforming unit. It analyzes the reformer process, including the reformer, hopper, and three elbow types. Objectives encompass catalyst residence time, fluid flow, and erosion due to the catalyst in these geometries. Simulation results unveil insights, showing varying erosion rates among the elbows. The 90-degree elbow has the highest erosion rate 4.42×10−8kgm2s, followed by the 60-degree elbow3.49×10−8kgm2s, and the 45-degree elbow with lower erosion rate 2.65×10−8kgm2s. Results align with literature, emphasizing flow dynamics' role in optimization and maintenance. The study validates simulation with only 1.58% deviation from plant data, highlighting model's precision. Catalyst residence time is 1.28 s. Erosion patterns in the hopper pinpoint high-density zones as erosion-prone areas, guiding preventive measures. This research enhances continuous catalytic reformer systems' efficiency and integrity, aiding decisions for design and maintenance, ultimately improving overall process efficiency and stability.

Modeling and simulation of an integrated bioethanol-hydrogen production process

Hydrogen (H2) production from renewable feedstocks such as bioethanol represents one of the sustainable and environmentally benign methods of making the proposed utilization of H2 as energy carrier of the future a reality. However, successful implementation of this technology depends on several factors which include understanding of the technicality, as well as process design and modelling. Generally, this area of research has not received adequate attentions. In this article, an integrated process for producing H2 through starch hydrolysis, fermentation, and ethanol steam reforming (ESTR) process has been proposed. Enzymatic hydrolysis of starch was performed to obtain the fermentable sugar (hydrolysate). In addition, batch fermentation experiments were carried out using a laboratory scale fermenter with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) culture adapted for anaerobic conversion of the hydrolysate to bioethanol. Subsequently, kinetic data obtained from these experiments was employed to guide thermodynamic modeling of fermentation process which was coupled with the ESTR model and was implemented in the Aspen HYSYS simulator. The results ultimately revealed pertinent information which could find applications in the implementation of the proposed integrated process for bioethanol and H2 production.

Reform from Within: Efforts by Kadhis' Courts in Kenya to Empower Muslim Women's Access to Matrimonial Property and Divorce Settlements Rights

When the relationship ends through divorce or separation, Muslim married women risk losing their share of the matrimonial property and other marital rights after divorce. As a result, Muslim widowed women lose the rights to ownership, control, and access to properties they enjoyed during their marriage life. The application of Muslim personal law (MPL) in the Kadhis’ courts in Kenya, similar to other jurisdictions, is highly dependent on social customs that to a great extent hinders women’s access to their rights after divorce. Previously, Muslim women appearing before the Kadhis’ courts in Kenya would persevere their marital sufferings and submit to patriarchal norms of male priority, authority, and power. Current religious underpinnings of MPL in the Kadhis’ courts in Kenya demonstrate a continuing change in Muslim religious courts toward expanding Muslim women’s access to justice. Neo-Kadhis are influenced by contemporary Muslim legal opinions and conventional legal trends and constitutional instruments such as the Constitution of Kenya 2010 that provides for gender equality, including equality in ownership of property, and prohibits the state from making laws that arbitrarily deprive a person of property or the enjoyment of the rights/interests over property on any discriminatory grounds. The Neo-kadhis are pioneering the reform process that adopts a progressive approach in responding to emerging legal issues related to women litigants’ rights to matrimonial property rights and divorce settlements rights in the form of Mata’a (consolatory gift) as opposed to the prevalent Islamic traditional approach in Muslim religious courts. Influenced by conventional court decisions, recent cases decided by the Neo-Kadhis in Kenya consider wives’ day-to-day household activities and monetary contributions in assessing matrimonial property rights after divorce. This paper examines the dynamics of the progressive approach adopted by the Neo-Kadhis in Kenya toward enhancing women’s access to justice rights and gender relations in Muslim religious courts in Kenya and beyond.
 Keywords: Access to matrimonial rights, divorce settlement rights, Kadhi’s courts, Muslim women, Islamic family law, Ken

A High‐Contrast Autolysosome Probe for Detecting Interaction between Autophagosomes and Autolysosomes in Mitophagy†

Comprehensive SummaryAutophagy is a multi‐step cell metabolism process in which cells remove damaged and unwanted materials. During autophagy, autophagosomes fuse with lysosomes to form autophagosomes. Autophagosomal membrane components are recycled from autolysosomes through the autophagosomal components recycling (ACR), while lysosomal components circulate on the autolysosomal surface through the autophagic lysosome reformation (ALR) process. Autolysosomes contain components from autophagosomes and lysosomes. However, whether there is a fusion between autolysosome and autophagosome or lysosome at the organelle level remains unknown. In this study, a pH and viscosity dual‐controlled mitochondria‐targeting fluorescent probe Mito‐Q was designed based on an asymmetric norcyanine to achieve the high‐contrast imaging of mitochondria‐containing autolysosomes. Mito‐Q not only effectively detected mitochondrial viscosity changes and mitophagy with high sensitivity, but more importantly, the fusion of mitochondria‐containing autolysosomes and autophagosomes (FMAA) was observed during autophagy by the real‐time confocal imaging of HeLa cells.

Poaching and hunting, conflicts and health: human dimensions of wildlife conservation in the Brazilian Cerrado

IntroductionUnderstanding human-wildlife interactions is critical to overcoming the socio-environmental crises we face worldwide. Among these interactions, poaching and hunting, human-wildlife conflict, and transmission of zoonotic diseases are major causes of biodiversity loss and detrimental to human well-being. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze wildlife poaching, feral pig hunting, human-wildlife conflict, and health issues in a region of the Brazilian Cerrado, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The study also focused on the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), a poached species listed as vulnerable to extinction.MethodsFrom October 2016 to September 2017, we conducted face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 51 local people from nine stakeholder groups. Interview answers and additional information compiled during the study were evaluated using coding, narrative, and co-occurrence analyses.Results and discussionWe found that the main human-wildlife conflict in the region involves feral pigs, and hunting is practiced as a population control strategy. The lowland tapir is not considered a conflictual species, as it is beloved by most people. However, tapirs are still poached, although less so than in the past, mainly for cultural reasons. Culture was the main motivation behind wildlife poaching in general. We identified 28 species and five taxa currently poached in this Cerrado region, of which 11 are used for medical and aphrodisiac purposes. Historically, wildlife poaching was linked to poor livelihood conditions and lack of support from governmental institutions during the Agrarian Reform process, becoming a cultural habit over the years. Nevertheless, wildlife poaching is less frequent than in the past, and its main barriers are surveillance, poaching prohibition by landowners, and social norm. Therefore, promoting a change in the way people relate to nature, meeting socioeconomic needs, and increasing surveillance appear to be important conservation strategies. Although feral pig hunting may replace wildlife poaching, some hunters still poach wild species, especially peccaries. Hence, it is necessary to keep hunters under surveillance, raise awareness among them, and make them allies in conservation strategies. We found a worryingly low level of awareness about disease transmission risk through bushmeat manipulation and consumption, highlighting the importance of One Health approaches.

Are interest groups effective public action influencers in the field of education? Case studies of two school reforms in Switzerland

This article interrogates the legitimacy and influence of interest groups in the elaboration of two school reforms of the last stage of compulsory schooling in two Swiss cantons: Geneva and Vaud. Based on the principle of participatory democracy, the Swiss political system raises questions about the specificities of interest groups’ influence on educational policies. What role is given to them by the political institutions? Conversely, what role do they grant themselves in school reform processes? This article is based on a sociology of public action and aims to determine whether interest groups influence educational policies. We investigated these actors’ involvement in the development of the reforms through a thematic content analysis of four corpora of texts for each canton. Our analysis of the data indicates that the influence of interest groups operates on two fronts: agenda setting and implementation of reforms. In contrast, interest groups are little considered during the process of drawing up bills in Parliament.