Lineages of Liberalism and Miracles of Modernization: The World Bank, the East Asian Trajectory and the International Development Debate

Until recently the World Bank, arguably the most prestigious and one of the most powerful producers of international development knowledge, played an important role in encouraging the perception that the East Asian trajectory was a veritable miracle of capitalist development. This article begins with a brief discussion of the changes in the World Bank's understanding of development over the past 30 or 40 years. This is followed by an examination of the Bank's efforts to accommodate the East Asian trajectory within the dominant Anglo-American narrative on international development. It is argued that, in the context of the shifting contours of the international political economy and of important changes to the dominant international discourse on development, the World Bank has played a crucial role in domesticating the East Asian Miracle to the dominant liberal narrative of progress and in facilitating the wider reinvention of liberalism in the post-1945 period

The Paradoxes of Paramountcy: Regional Rivalries and the Dynamics of American Hegemony in East Asia

The US plays a pivotal role in the contemporary international system and is able to shape that system to reflect its own interests. At a time when the contemporary international order is in a period of flux, and when the position of the US itself is subject to a range of internal pressures and external challenges, it is useful to try and gauge both the character of, and limits to, US hegemony. We shall examine the dynamics of US power in the context of East Asia, the region most likely to generate a challenge to US hegemony in the coming century. The first part of the paper considers the concept of hegemony. Following this, we place America's relationship with East Asia in historical context, before considering its current relationships with China, Japan and the region as a whole. The central argument we advance is that the character of US hegemony is changing and this is closely connected to the wider transformation of the nation-state system

APEC, ASEAN+3, and American Power: The History and Limits of the New Regionalism in the Asia-Pacific

In the 1990s both non-state-centred and state-centred regional processes of integration have emerged as increasingly important counterpoints to the globalisation project and US globalism. In some parts of the world, most notably Western Europe, regional identity reflects long-standing processes of economic and political integration, which have been facilitated by shared political and even cultural practices. In the "Asia-Pacific", by contrast, not only are processes of regional integration and coordination of more recent vintage, the very definition of the region has been a far more highly contested and far more incompletely realised project. The failure of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to even begin to realise the hopes of its advocates is a powerful reminder of just how difficult regional and political cooperation in such circumstances can be. What is of far greater long-term significance than the faltering APEC project is the contradictory impact of US hegemony on regional processes. This article begins by exploring the limits of the new regionalism in the post-Cold War East Asia via a focus on the Cold War history of the region. It then turns to the changing character of US hegemony in the post-Cold War era. We emphasize that in the context of the complex shifts and continuities of the past five decades there are far more serious constraints on the new regionalism in the Asia-Pacific than in Europe, or the Americas, where regionalisation and regionalism is arguably most advanced. We also look closely at APEC and ASEAN+3, paying particular attention to the role of the United States, which has played a pivotal role in shaping regional outcomes. Finally, we consider the prospects for a distinctive East Asian form of regionalism grounded in a much narrower conception of the Asia-Pacific. We conclude that while there are profound limits on the coherence and unity of ASEAN+3 in the context of the continued salience of US power in the region, APEC has now clearly been displaced by ASEAN+3 as the most significant embodiment of the new regionalism in the Asia-Pacific

The Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transient SN 2010da: The Progenitor, Eruption and Aftermath of a Peculiar Supergiant High-mass X-ray Binary

We present optical spectroscopy, ultraviolet to infrared imaging and X-ray observations of the intermediate luminosity optical transient (ILOT) SN 2010da in NGC 300 (d=1.86 Mpc) spanning from -6 to +6 years relative to the time of outburst in 2010. Based on the light curve and multi-epoch SEDs of SN 2010da, we conclude that the progenitor of SN 2010da is a ~10-12 Msol yellow supergiant possibly transitioning into a blue loop phase. During outburst, SN 2010da had a peak absolute magnitude of M<-10.4 mag, dimmer than other ILOTs and supernova impostors. We detect multi-component hydrogen Balmer, Paschen, and Ca II emission lines in our high-resolution spectra, which indicate a dusty and complex circumstellar environment. Since the 2010 eruption, the star has brightened by a factor of ~5 and remains highly variable in the optical. Furthermore, we detect SN 2010da in archival Swift and Chandra observations as an ultraluminous X-ray source (L~6x10^{39} erg/s). We additionally attribute He II 4686 Angstrom and coronal Fe emission lines in addition to a steady X-ray luminosity of ~10^{37} erg/s to the presence of a compact companion.Comment: published; updated citations and other minor edit

An Investigation of Rotorcraft Stability-Phase Margin Requirements in Hover

A cooperative study was performed to investigate the handling quality effects from reduced flight control system stability margins, and the trade-offs with higher disturbance rejection bandwidth (DRB). The piloted simulation study, perform on the NASA-Ames Vertical Motion Simulator, included three classes of rotorcraft in four configurations: a utility-class helicopter; a medium-lift helicopter evaluated with and without an external slung load; and a large (heavy-lift) civil tiltrotor aircraft. This large aircraft also allowed an initial assessment of ADS-33 handling quality requirements for an aircraft of this size. Ten experimental test pilots representing the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, NASA, rotorcraft industry, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), evaluated the four aircraft configurations, for a range of flight control stability-margins and turbulence levels, while primarily performing the ADS-33 Hover and Lateral Reposition MTEs. Pilot comments and aircraft-task performance data were analyzed. The preliminary stability margin results suggest higher DRB and less phase margin cases are preferred as the aircraft increases in size. Extra care will need to be taken to assess the influence of variability when nominal flight control gains start with reduced margins. Phase margins as low as 20-23 degrees resulted in low disturbance-response damping ratios, objectionable oscillations, PIO tendencies, and a perception of an incipient handling qualities cliff. Pilot comments on the disturbance response of the aircraft correlated well to the DRB guidelines provided in the ADS-33 Test Guide. The A D-3S3 mid-term response-to-control damping ratio metrics can be measured and applied to the disturbance-response damping ratio. An initial assessment of LCTR yaw bandwidth shows the current Level 1 boundary needs to be relaxed to help account for a large pilot off-set from the c.g. Future efforts should continue to investigate the applicability/refinement of the current ADS-33 requirements to large vehicles, like an LCTR

Discharge Age and Weight for Very Preterm Infants in Six Countries: 2012-2020

BACKGROUND Postmenstrual age for surviving infants without congenital anomalies born at 24-29 weeks' gestational age from 2005 to 2018 in the USA increased 8 days, discharge weight increased 316 grams, and median discharge weight z-score increased 0.19 standard units. We asked whether increases were observed in other countries. METHODS We evaluated postmenstrual age, weight, and weight z-score at discharge of surviving infants without congenital anomalies born at 24-29 weeks' gestational age admitted to Vermont Oxford Network member hospitals in Austria, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA from 2012 to 2020. RESULTS After adjustment, the median postmenstrual age at discharge increased significantly in Austria (3.6 days, 99% CI [1.0, 6.3]), Italy (4.0 days [2.3, 5.6]), and the USA (5.4 days [5.0, 5.8]). Median discharge weight increased significantly in Austria (181 grams, 99% CI [95, 267]), Ireland (234 [143, 325]), Italy (133 [83, 182]), and the USA (207 [194, 220]). Median discharge weight z-score increased in Ireland (0.24 standard units, 99% CI [0.12, 0.36]) and the USA (0.15 [0.13, 0.16]). Discharge on human milk increased in Italy, Switzerland, and the UK, while going home on cardiorespiratory monitors decreased in Austria, Ireland, and USA and going home on oxygen decreased in Ireland. CONCLUSIONS In this international cohort of neonatal intensive care units, postmenstrual discharge age and weight increased in some, but not all, countries. Processes of care at discharge did not change in conjunction with age and weight increases

A Method to Improve Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy Circuit Survival Time in Critically Ill Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients With Acute Kidney Injury

Objectives: Optimizing continuous renal replacement therapy circuit survival in coronavirus disease 2019 patients admitted to the ICU. Design: Single-center prospective observational cohort study. Setting: Tertiary academic teaching ICU. Patients: Between March 19, 2020, and May 18, 2020, 11 out of 101 coronavirus disease 2019 patients were treated with continuous renal replacement therapy comprising 127 continuous renal replacement therapy days. Interventions: A nonrandomized observational comparison of circuit anticoagulation modalities using standard regional citrate anticoagulation, continuous IV heparin anticoagulation, or the combination of regional citrate anticoagulation with either continuous IV heparin or therapeutic dose nadroparin. Measurements and Main Results: Circuit patency was shorter than 24 hours using standard regional citrate anticoagulation or continuous IV heparin anticoagulation. Median circuit survival increased with at least 165% when the combination of regional citrate anticoagulation with either continuous IV heparin or therapeutic dose nadroparin was applied. Conclusions: Continuous renal replacement therapy circuit patency is diminished in coronavirus disease 2019 ICU patients. Combining regional citrate anticoagulation with either continuous IV heparin or therapeutic dose nadroparin increases filter survival as compared with regional citrate anticoagulation alone in this nonrandomized observational study