Strategies to Improve the World Food Programme's Revenue Mobilisation and Procurement Practices

Currently, a vast majority of WFP food procurement is executed through spot markets, which exposes it to substantial commodity and transport price risk as well as significant delays in delivery. The WFP also has limited flexibility owing to unpredictable revenue mobilisation, partly driven by restricted donor contributions. However, a significant portion of its operations are fairly predictable – both in terms of countries and delivery volumes. There are several types of derivatives contracts available at commodities exchanges that can facilitate strategic hedging. Greater commitments of untied cash donations from the US and other major donors can give the WFP significant operational flexibility to execute prudent financial management operations without damaging local food markets.     

Displeasure at plurality and fear of strangers? An empirical study among youth in Germany and the Netherlands

A comparison between the Netherlands and Germany concerning religious, cultural and ethnic plurality provides interesting insights. Germany has never defined itself as a multicultural society, as was historically the case in the Netherlands. The outcomes of the research are somewhat surprising. Dutch pupils – especially boys – are more negative about plurality than their German contemporaries are. Belonging to a church in Germany appears to be connected to a positive attitude to migrants, while in the Netherlands this is not important at all.     

当面试官问三年内,你有深造计划吗?

<正>首先,问题背后是招聘方的担心:担心优秀人才是否愿意在相对长的时间里与公司共同发展,还是只把公司当成跳板为以后继续进修积累经验。毕竟公司还是希望员工能稳定。求职者如果回答:"是的,我有计划。准备3年之内重返校园或者出国。"那么招聘     

Going out of business in Highland Park

The practice of collecting photographs of refugees in ‘coffee‐table books’ is a practice of framing and thus inflecting the meanings of those images. The ‘refugee coffee‐table books’ discussed here each approach their topic with a particular style and emphasis. Nonetheless, while some individual images offer productive readings which challenge stereotypes of refugees, the format of the collections and the accompanying written text work to produce spectacle rather than empathy in that they implicitly propagate a world view divided along imperialist lines, in which the audience is expected to occupy the position of privileged viewing agent while refugees are positioned as viewed objects.     

Simultaneous equivariant estimation of the parameters of matrix scale and matrix location-scale models

Eaton and Olkin (1987) discussed the problem of best equivariant estimator of the matrix scale parameter with respect to different scalar loss functions. Edwin Prabakaran and Chandrasekar (1994) developed simultaneous equivariant estimation approach and illustrated the method with examples. The problems considered in this paper are simultaneous equivariant estimation of the parameters of (i) a matrix scale model and (ii) a multivariate location-scale model. By considering matrix loss function (Klebanov, Linnik and Ruhin, 1971) a characterization of matrix minimum risk equivariant (MMRE) estimator of the matrix parameter is obtained in each case. Illustrative examples are provided in which MMRE estimators are obtained with respect to two matrix loss functions.     

Which Congregations Will Take Advantage of Charitable Choice? Explaining the Pursuit of Public Funding by Congregations*

Objective. To determine the effects of clergy attitudes on the willingness of congregations to seek public funding to provide social welfare. Methods. Survey data are drawn from a probability sample of clergy leading congregations in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A logistic regression model examines the effects of clergy attitudes on the potential pursuit of public funding by congregations. Results. Controlling for a set of congregation attributes, a positive attitude toward partnerships between congregations and secular groups and a fear of government entanglement with religion are the strongest attitudinal predictors of congregation willingness to pursue public funding. However, attributes, particularly the racial composition of members and denominational affiliation, also predict congregation willingness to seek public funding. Conclusions. Congregation willingness to pursue public funding is a function of clergy attitudes and congregation attributes, which has implications for politics and public policy.     

The quotient of two correlated normal variables with applications

The purpose of this paper is to present new results on the distribution of the quotient of two correlated normal variables and its use to solve many outstanding problems in all fields of science, economics, industry, commerce, education, and medicine. The results are relatively simple and may encourage one to use the exact distribution of the quotient. Examples in medicine, economics and industry will illustrate the applications. Further, these results open a new vista for the solution not only of problems involving bivariate distributions but also multivariate distributions.     

Time series in m-dimensions definition,problems and prospects

We define time series in m dimensions x, as follows: the observed variable z depends on and similarly n time series in m variables where f(x,t) and x are vectors. This is the discrete case. The continuous case is similar. Distinction is made between m time series in zero dimension, at a particular point x, and one time series in m dimensions.