Performance Accountability in Indonesian Local Governments: Does Monitoring Really Work?

This study aims to empirically examine whether the monitoring activities on local government implementation really matter for local government performance accountability. Based on a sample of decentralized Indonesia during 2010-2019, we test this by measuring monitoring activities of local government at district and city levels. Using panel data set of 514 local governments, our results show that the monitoring activities, conducted by external audit and the public, positively affect local government performance accountability. In contrast, legislative monitoring negatively affects performance accountability. These findings suggest that the external audit plays a fundamental role in monitoring activities at the local governments. In addition, direct public monitoring can enhance performance accountability through intensifying human development and a greater democracy. As for legislators, the composition between government coalition and opposition should also be suitable for the effectiveness of monitoring.

Geochemical evaluation of soils, surface and groundwater from natural protected areas from Romania. Case studies.

The purpose of this article was to present an assessment of the soil and water quality in some protected areas from Romania in order to establish a series of geochemical thresholds on a spatial and temporal scale. The activities and results presented in this article are based on extensive monitoring, being stage results because the monitoring activities will continue, the project is ongoing. Two protected areas, Cheile Nerei -Beusnita National Park and Piatra Craiului National Park were selected. Surface water, groundwater samples, and soil samples were collected in 2019, respectively 2021 from 16 sampling sites situated in both locations. For each sample, twenty quality parameters/indicators were analyzed and the values were compared with in-force legislations. For Arsenic, Copper, and Nitrates parameters have plotted the distribution of the values in each site. In future monitoring activities, the evolution of the parameters will be followed.

PENGETAHUAN DAN SIKAP REMAJA PUTRI DESA ALUH-ALUH BESAR RT. 04 MENGENAI COVID-19

ABSTRAKIndonesia merupakan salah satu negara dengan jumlah kasus Covid-19 terkonfirmasi yang cukup tinggi. Kalimantan Selatan merupakan provinsi dengan jumlah kasus yang mengalami peningkatan. Kabupaten Banjar termasuk salah satu kabupaten dengan jumlah kasus Covid-19 yang cukup tinggi dan terus mengalami peningkatan. Kegiatan pengabdian ini dilakukan untuk melihat pengetahuan dan sikap remaja putri di Desa Aluh-Aluh Besar RT. 04 terhadap Covid-19. Subjek yang mengikuti kegiatan berjumlah 14 remaja putri. Penyelenggaraan pengabdian masyarakat ini terdiri dari 3 tahap meliputi: tahap persiapan yaitu pengumpulan kontak remaja putri serta pembuatan media, tahap pelaksanaan kegiatan pemberian pretest dan posttest serta pemberian materi, dan tahap monitoring dan evaluasi meliputi pemantauan dan pengawasan kegiatan penyuluhan serta menilai peningkatan dalam pengetahuan mengenai Covid-19. Data diperoleh dari hasil pretest dan posttest. Hasil kegiatan ini terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan antara pengetahuan remaja putri pada saat pengisian kuesioner sebelum dan sesudah penyuluhan dan ada perbedaan antara sikap remaja putri di pada saat pengisian kuesioner sebelum dan sesudah penyuluhan. Kata Kunci: pengetahuan; sikap; covid-19 ABSTRACTIndonesia is one of the countries with a high number of confirmed Covid-19 cases. South Kalimantan is a province with an increasing number of cases. Banjar Regency is one of the districts with a fairly high number of Covid-19 cases and continues to increase. This service activity was carried out to see the knowledge and attitudes of young women in the Village of Aluh-Aluh Besar RT. 04 against Covid-19. Subjects who attended lessons were 14 young women. The implementation of this community service consists of 3 stages including: stages of preparation, preparation phase the contacts of young women and making media, activity phase of presenting pretest and posttest and presenting material, and the stages of monitoring and evaluating activities and monitoring activities as well as assessing the increase in Covid-19 knowledge. Data obtained from the results of the pretest and posttest. The result of this activity is that there is a significant difference between the knowledge of young women when filling out the questionnaire before and after counseling and there is a difference between the attitudes of young women when filling out the questionnaire before and after extension. Keywords: knowledge; attitude; covid-19

Conservation of endemic lizards in New Zealand cities

<p>Globally, biodiversity is in crisis. One contributing factor is the rapid urbanisation of the world’s population. Land cover change associated with urbanisation radically alters ecosystems, making them uninhabitable for many species. Additionally, people who live in cities often have reduced contact with nature and there are fears that a lack of nature experience may diminish concern for the environment and biodiversity among urbanites. For these reasons, people in cities are increasingly being encouraged and empowered to reduce environmental impacts and connect with nature through urban restoration and backyard conservation. Internationally, lizards are a common feature of urban biodiversity but in New Zealand, where many species are threatened, little is known about populations of endemic skinks and geckos in cities. In order to effectively manage urban lizard populations, greater knowledge is needed about where and how lizards are surviving in cities, and what potential exists for their restoration. I investigated species diversity and abundance of lizards in New Zealand cities, making comparisons with historical species distributions to inform urban restoration and investigating the potential role that participatory conservation might play in their protection. To collate current knowledge about past and present distributions of urban-dwelling lizards, I reviewed records for six New Zealand cities from published and unpublished literature and databases. Little research was identified from cities and the majority of lizard records were of one-off sightings, or surveys related to salvage or biosecurity operations. Comparing current species records with historical species distributions, it found that the diversity of lizards in all of the cities has declined dramatically since human colonisation. To begin to fill the identified knowledge gap and to provide baselines for future monitoring, I carried out skink surveys in four cities and trialled a citizen science project that collected public sighting records from residential backyards. Surveys undertaken in urban habitats captured four species of endemic skink: Oligosoma aeneum in Hamilton, O. polychroma, O. aeneum and O. ornatum in Wellington, O. polychroma in Nelson, and O. aff. polychroma Clade 5 in Dunedin. Site occupancy and number of captures were highly variable among the species and cities, with a very high proportion of sites occupied by skinks in Nelson and Wellington compared with Hamilton and Dunedin. Modelling showed O. polychroma catch per unit effort was positively related to rat tracking rates when grass cover was low but showed a negative relationship when grass cover was high. Higher proportions of urban land cover within 500 m were negatively associated with body condition. The public sightings website gathered more than 100 records from around the Wellington region over one summer, suggesting citizen science may be a cost-effective solution for building knowledge about lizards in residential gardens that are otherwise difficult to survey. While skink sightings were reported from all over the city, gecko sightings appeared in clusters. Compared with a random sample of street addresses, both skink and gecko sightings were more common closer to forest land cover, but only skink sightings were more common in backyards that were north facing. Finally, I administered a questionnaire survey to understand how socio- demographic characteristics relate to willingness to engage in three different pro-conservation activities that might benefit lizards: pest mammal trapping, biodiversity monitoring and pest mammal monitoring. Public willingness to engage in all three activities was positively related to respondents’ nature relatedness and nature dosage, while only the two monitoring activities were positively related to education. The relationship between willingness and nature relatedness was weaker for pest trapping than it was for the two monitoring activities, suggesting that willingness to trap may be determined by factors other than environmental concern. Native lizards are an important component of New Zealand’s urban biodiversity. Despite cities having lost significant proportions of their original lizard fauna, a wide variety of habitats in cities still support numerous species. Some of these species seem well adapted to cope with the challenges of urban living, while further research is required to understand whether populations of other species are stable or in decline. To ensure the persistence of lizards in cities, further surveys using a variety of methods should be undertaken to assess lizard diversity and abundance in urban habitats and understand population trends of rare and sparsely distributed species. Public sightings may provide a useful starting point for assessing distribution patterns and allowing the targeting of surveys. In the future, through urban restoration, cities may offer opportunities to conserve a larger proportion of endemic species by reintroducing species that have become regionally extinct.</p>

GRE Lined OCTG as a Cost-Effective Solution for Water Disposal Wells

Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE), lining systems for API 5CT tubing have gained prominence in O&G industry, essentially due to the fact that GRE constitutes a physical barrier protecting the OCTG pipe from corrosive environment, and minimizing issues with scale deposition. ADNOC group companies have been building experience on the implementation of GRE Lined L-80 tubing by successfully using it in produced water disposal wells. Produced water is a highly corrosive medium due to dissolved CO2, H2S high to very high chloride content, high TDS, eventually containing bacteria. The corrosiveness of the fluid increases as the temperature increase from temperatures in the range of 30 – 50 degC at surface to reservoir temperature. The aggressiveness of this medium towards API 5CT L-80 or 13Cr / modified 13Cr increases with its contamination with oxygen. Dissolved oxygen is a strong depolarizer leading to high pitting rates if dissolved O2 content in the water is above 10 or 20ppb. Conventional completion of WDW in ADNOC Onshore is based on API 5CT L-80, and short life of the completion strings has been attributed to deficient water treatment (lack of oxygen scavenger, corrosion inhibitor unsuitable for downhole conditions. A life cycle cost analysis suggests that GRE lined OCTG could be a cost-effective solution for water injection. For this life cycle cost assessment, CAPEX (cost of L-80 completion string, combo corrosion inhibitor & oxygen scavenger skid and OPEX: cost of Combo chemical and monitoring activities for design life were considered, while achieving the required level of well integrity and lower operational safety risks (e.g. handling hazardous chemicals, monitoring activities)

Reservoir Monitoring Activities for Co2 Wag Pilots

Two CO2 WAG Pilots are in progress in an Abu Dhabi Oil Reservoir. Each pilot has one horizontal producer and two horizontal injectors along with 2 vertical pilot observers to monitor the movement of flood front away from the injectors. The pilots are being monitored based on a detailed reservoir-monitoring plan. The paper discusses in detail various activities and the results related to the pilot monitoring. Methods, Procedures, Process The wells are being tested for oil rate, water cut, GOR on a daily basis using MPFM. For calibration purposes portable test separators are used every quarter to validate the rate, water cut and GOR measurements. Separator PVT samples from pilot wells are collected every quarter for PVT analysis. In addition PVT samples are also collected from the pilot wells and nearby wells every month from the sampling point near MPFM to monitor the CO2 content in the produced gas. Online CO2 analyzer is fitted on the surface flow line connecting pilot wells to the RDS to provide continuous measurement of CO2 in the produced fluid. Produced water is also sampled for detailed compositional analysis. Different gas and water tracers have been injected through the pilot injectors to trace the movement and breakthrough of injected fluids into the pilot producers. Sampling and analysis for tracer is carried out on a regular basis. Carbon and oxygen Isotope analysis for produced and injected CO2 gas is also carried out in order to monitor the breakthrough of injected CO2 into the pilot producers. There is a good difference in the carbon and oxygen isotopes of injected CO2 and the CO2 present in the reservoir. To monitor the changes in water and gas saturation with time across different layers a set of Pulsed neutron (RAS) logs are run in the observers on regular basis. PLT logs are run in the injectors and producers to check the distribution and conformance of the produced and injected fluids along the horizontal wellbore. Walk away VSP surveys are being carried out on regular intervals for one pilot to monitor the injected fluids distribution in the pilot area. The paper describes all these reservoir monitoring activities in detail. Results, Observations, Conclusions Analysis of Carbon oxygen RST logs are helpful for tracking fluid saturation changes and CO2 movement across the logged intervals. The RST logs in the observers demonstrate good sweep across different layers of the reservoir. Analysis of CO2 in produced gas has resulted into correctly pointing out the timing of CO2 breakthrough in the producers. It is well supported by the CO2 isotopes analysis for the injected and produced CO2 through pilot producer and nearly producers. The tracer analysis results show clearly the injector from where the injected CO2 has reached the producers. The PLT logs demonstrate good conformance for CO2 and water injection across the horizontal section in the injectors. All these monitoring activities provide a good source of data for further analysis and improved understanding of the pilots. Novel/Additive Information The paper discusses the usefulness of different reservoir monitoring tools for improved understanding of the pilots, which will be used as a basis for implementing CO2 WAG for the full area development.

Conservation of endemic lizards in New Zealand cities

<p>Globally, biodiversity is in crisis. One contributing factor is the rapid urbanisation of the world’s population. Land cover change associated with urbanisation radically alters ecosystems, making them uninhabitable for many species. Additionally, people who live in cities often have reduced contact with nature and there are fears that a lack of nature experience may diminish concern for the environment and biodiversity among urbanites. For these reasons, people in cities are increasingly being encouraged and empowered to reduce environmental impacts and connect with nature through urban restoration and backyard conservation. Internationally, lizards are a common feature of urban biodiversity but in New Zealand, where many species are threatened, little is known about populations of endemic skinks and geckos in cities. In order to effectively manage urban lizard populations, greater knowledge is needed about where and how lizards are surviving in cities, and what potential exists for their restoration. I investigated species diversity and abundance of lizards in New Zealand cities, making comparisons with historical species distributions to inform urban restoration and investigating the potential role that participatory conservation might play in their protection. To collate current knowledge about past and present distributions of urban-dwelling lizards, I reviewed records for six New Zealand cities from published and unpublished literature and databases. Little research was identified from cities and the majority of lizard records were of one-off sightings, or surveys related to salvage or biosecurity operations. Comparing current species records with historical species distributions, it found that the diversity of lizards in all of the cities has declined dramatically since human colonisation. To begin to fill the identified knowledge gap and to provide baselines for future monitoring, I carried out skink surveys in four cities and trialled a citizen science project that collected public sighting records from residential backyards. Surveys undertaken in urban habitats captured four species of endemic skink: Oligosoma aeneum in Hamilton, O. polychroma, O. aeneum and O. ornatum in Wellington, O. polychroma in Nelson, and O. aff. polychroma Clade 5 in Dunedin. Site occupancy and number of captures were highly variable among the species and cities, with a very high proportion of sites occupied by skinks in Nelson and Wellington compared with Hamilton and Dunedin. Modelling showed O. polychroma catch per unit effort was positively related to rat tracking rates when grass cover was low but showed a negative relationship when grass cover was high. Higher proportions of urban land cover within 500 m were negatively associated with body condition. The public sightings website gathered more than 100 records from around the Wellington region over one summer, suggesting citizen science may be a cost-effective solution for building knowledge about lizards in residential gardens that are otherwise difficult to survey. While skink sightings were reported from all over the city, gecko sightings appeared in clusters. Compared with a random sample of street addresses, both skink and gecko sightings were more common closer to forest land cover, but only skink sightings were more common in backyards that were north facing. Finally, I administered a questionnaire survey to understand how socio- demographic characteristics relate to willingness to engage in three different pro-conservation activities that might benefit lizards: pest mammal trapping, biodiversity monitoring and pest mammal monitoring. Public willingness to engage in all three activities was positively related to respondents’ nature relatedness and nature dosage, while only the two monitoring activities were positively related to education. The relationship between willingness and nature relatedness was weaker for pest trapping than it was for the two monitoring activities, suggesting that willingness to trap may be determined by factors other than environmental concern. Native lizards are an important component of New Zealand’s urban biodiversity. Despite cities having lost significant proportions of their original lizard fauna, a wide variety of habitats in cities still support numerous species. Some of these species seem well adapted to cope with the challenges of urban living, while further research is required to understand whether populations of other species are stable or in decline. To ensure the persistence of lizards in cities, further surveys using a variety of methods should be undertaken to assess lizard diversity and abundance in urban habitats and understand population trends of rare and sparsely distributed species. Public sightings may provide a useful starting point for assessing distribution patterns and allowing the targeting of surveys. In the future, through urban restoration, cities may offer opportunities to conserve a larger proportion of endemic species by reintroducing species that have become regionally extinct.</p>

Neuroanatomia: Assiduidade na Monitoria e Desempenho Acadêmico

ResumoA Neuroanatomia é uma vertente complexa do estudo da Anatomia Humana, sendo a monitoria acadêmica (MA) uma forma dinâmica de habituar os discentes às estruturas e contribuir com a assimilação dos assuntos. O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar a assiduidade nas atividades de MA com o desempenho dos estudantes. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, transversal e quantitativo, realizado com 91 discentes vinculados aos cursos de Psicologia e Fisioterapia. Os estudantes foram distribuídos em três grupos: indivíduos que não participaram da MA (G1), participaram poucas vezes da MA (G2) e aqueles com participação mais assídua na MA (G3), com base na mediana da frequência dos participantes na MA. A análise estatística foi realizada pelo programa GraphPad Prism 6. Observou-se que, em ambas as avaliações parciais, os indivíduos que apresentaram maior assiduidade (G3) na MA tiveram melhor desempenho em relação àqueles que não participaram da MA (G1). Quando realizada a média final, foi observado que os indivíduos com maior assiduidade (G3) apresentaram melhor desempenho, quando comparados tanto ao G1 como G2. Além disso, o teste de Spearman mostrou correlação positiva entre presença e nota. Os discentes que participam das atividades da monitoria encontraram vantagens pedagógicas, resultando em um melhor domínio do processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Palavras-chave: Anatomia. Ensino. Educação Superior. AbstractNeuroanatomy is a complex aspect of the study of Human Anatomy, and academic monitoring (AM) is a dynamic way to familiarize the students with structures and contribute to the subjects assimilation. The objective of the study was to analyze the assiduity in AM activities with the students' performance. It is a descriptive, transversal, and quantitative study, carried out with 91 students linked to the Psychology and Physiotherapy courses. The students were divided into three groups: individuals who did not participate in AM (G1), participated in AM less often (G2) and those with more frequent participation in AM (G3), based on the participants’ median frequency in AM. Statistical analysis was performed using the GraphPad Prism 6 program. It was observed that in both partial assessments, the individuals who showed greater attendance (G3) in AM had a better performance in relation to those who did not participate in AM (G1). When the final average was performed, it was observed that individuals with greater attendance (G3) performed better when compared to both G1 and G2. In addition, the Spearman test showed a positive correlation between presence and grade. The students who participate in the monitoring activities found pedagogical advantages, resulting in a better mastery of the teaching-learning process. Keywords: Anatomy. Teaching. Education.

The Management of Reading Park Case study in Kaba Kamboja Batipuh Panjang

Reading park it means of a place to increase children’s interest in reading which makes reading a daily culture in improving the quality of human resources. In Kaba Kamboja, the withdrawal of interest in reading is carried out by managers the managers is who are collage students. The manager himself which has several strategies in its services, especially learning management in the form of : 1) critical awareness 2) motivating children, 3) two-way communication, 4) monitoring activities, and 5) program providers as needed. In the case of kaba kamboja its focuses on reading interest to make area on Batipuh Panjang are reading culture. The purpose of managing the reading park itself now more focused on children’s reading culture. Kaba Kamboja is opened every times a week and more towards tutoring and becoming a focus for playing and learning areas for the children of the jambak village