786 research outputs found
The Role of the IMF and the World Bank in Revolutions in the Developing World: Nicaragua, South Africa, and Nepal
Thesis advisor: Robert MurphyMuch has been said, often negatively, of the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in the international system. Usually these criticisms focus on financial advice rooted in neoliberal ideology rather than in conditions within a given economy, or on the strict conditions attached to IMF or World Bank loans. The discussion of the role of these institutions often does not extend into the discussion of revolutions. This study seeks to draw connections between IMF or World Bank involvement in developing states and the revolutions that occurred within them. Using John Foran’s model for revolution in the Third World, the study aims to determine whether conditionality constitutes a “world-systemic opening”—a change in the international system that allows the structural inadequacies of a state to fall to the pressures of the society beneath it. This examination reaffirms the notion that revolutions are complex processes with roots in a state’s structures and its placement in the international system. The revolutionary consequences of IMF and World Bank involvement is not limited to conditionality, however; in the three situations studied, conditionality was limited, despite rules to the contrary. Throughout these revolutions, the work of the IMF and World Bank is pervasive, especially in economic policy advising and the extending of loans crucial to the survival of the old economic system. More often than not it is the withdrawal of funding due to political oppression or instability than it is conditionality that constitutes a world-systemic opening.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: College Honors Program.Discipline: International Studies
Creation of an NCI comparative brain tumor consortium: informing the translation of new knowledge from canine to human brain tumor patients
On September 14–15, 2015, a meeting of clinicians and investigators in the fields of veterinary and human neuro-oncology, clinical trials, neuropathology, and drug development was convened at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting served as the inaugural event launching a new consortium focused on improving the knowledge, development of, and access to naturally occurring canine brain cancer, specifically glioma, as a model for human disease. Within the meeting, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) assessment was undertaken to critically evaluate the role that naturally occurring canine brain tumors could have in advancing this aspect of comparative oncology aimed at improving outcomes for dogs and human beings. A summary of this meeting and subsequent discussion are provided to inform the scientific and clinical community of the potential for this initiative. Canine and human comparisons represent an unprecedented opportunity to complement conventional brain tumor research paradigms, addressing a devastating disease for which innovative diagnostic and treatment strategies are clearly needed
Inclusive Search for Anomalous Production of High-pT Like-Sign Lepton Pairs in Proton-Antiproton Collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV
We report on a search for anomalous production of events with at least two
charged, isolated, like-sign leptons with pT > 11 GeV/c using a 107 pb^-1
sample of 1.8 TeV ppbar collisions collected by the CDF detector. We define a
signal region containing low background from Standard Model processes. To avoid
bias, we fix the final cuts before examining the event yield in the signal
region using control regions to test the Monte Carlo predictions. We observe no
events in the signal region, consistent with an expectation of
0.63^(+0.84)_(-0.07) events. We present 95% confidence level limits on new
physics processes in both a signature-based context as well as within a
representative minimal supergravity (tanbeta = 3) model.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Minor textual changes, cosmetic improvements to
figures and updated and expanded reference
PRimary Care Opioid Use Disorders treatment (PROUD) trial protocol: a pragmatic, cluster-randomized implementation trial in primary care for opioid use disorder treatment
BACKGROUND: Most people with opioid use disorder (OUD) never receive treatment. Medication treatment of OUD in primary care is recommended as an approach to increase access to care. The PRimary Care Opioid Use Disorders treatment (PROUD) trial tests whether implementation of a collaborative care model (Massachusetts Model) using a nurse care manager (NCM) to support medication treatment of OUD in primary care increases OUD treatment and improves outcomes. Specifically, it tests whether implementation of collaborative care, compared to usual primary care, increases the number of days of medication for OUD (implementation objective) and reduces acute health care utilization (effectiveness objective). The protocol for the PROUD trial is presented here.
METHODS: PROUD is a hybrid type III cluster-randomized implementation trial in six health care systems. The intervention consists of three implementation strategies: salary for a full-time NCM, training and technical assistance for the NCM, and requiring that three primary care providers have DEA waivers to prescribe buprenorphine. Within each health system, two primary care clinics are randomized: one to the intervention and one to Usual Primary Care. The sample includes all patients age 16-90 who visited the randomized primary care clinics from 3 years before to 2 years after randomization (anticipated to be \u3e 170,000). Quantitative data are derived from existing health system administrative data, electronic medical records, and/or health insurance claims ( electronic health records, [EHRs]). Anonymous staff surveys, stakeholder debriefs, and observations from site visits, trainings and technical assistance provide qualitative data to assess barriers and facilitators to implementation. The outcome for the implementation objective (primary outcome) is a clinic-level measure of the number of patient days of medication treatment of OUD over the 2 years post-randomization. The patient-level outcome for the effectiveness objective (secondary outcome) is days of acute care utilization [e.g. urgent care, emergency department (ED) and/or hospitalizations] over 2 years post-randomization among patients with documented OUD prior to randomization.
DISCUSSION: The PROUD trial provides information for clinical leaders and policy makers regarding potential benefits for patients and health systems of a collaborative care model for management of OUD in primary care, tested in real-world diverse primary care settings
Measurement of and Production in Collisions at = 1.96 TeV
The Standard Model predictions for and production are
tested using an integrated luminosity of 200 pb of \ppbar collision data
collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The cross sections are measured
selecting leptonic decays of the and bosons, and photons with
transverse energy GeV that are well separated from leptons. The
production cross sections and kinematic distributions for the and
are compared to SM predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Evidence for the exclusive decay Bc+- to J/psi pi+- and measurement of the mass of the Bc meson
We report first evidence for a fully reconstructed decay mode of the
B_c^{\pm} meson in the channel B_c^{\pm} \to J/psi \pi^{\pm}, with J/psi \to
mu^+mu^-. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 360 pb$^{-1} in
p\bar{p} collisions at 1.96 TeV center of mass energy collected by the Collider
Detector at Fermilab. We observe 14.6 \pm 4.6 signal events with a background
of 7.1 \pm 0.9 events, and a fit to the J/psi pi^{\pm} mass spectrum yields a
B_c^{\pm} mass of 6285.7 \pm 5.3(stat) \pm 1.2(syst) MeV/c^2. The probability
of a peak of this magnitude occurring by random fluctuation in the search
region is estimated as 0.012%.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Version 3, accepted by PR
Measurement of the Lifetime Difference Between B_s Mass Eigenstates
We present measurements of the lifetimes and polarization amplitudes for B_s
--> J/psi phi and B_d --> J/psi K*0 decays. Lifetimes of the heavy (H) and
light (L) mass eigenstates in the B_s system are separately measured for the
first time by determining the relative contributions of amplitudes with
definite CP as a function of the decay time. Using 203 +/- 15 B_s decays, we
obtain tau_L = (1.05 +{0.16}/-{0.13} +/- 0.02) ps and tau_H = (2.07
+{0.58}/-{0.46} +/- 0.03) ps. Expressed in terms of the difference DeltaGamma_s
and average Gamma_s, of the decay rates of the two eigenstates, the results are
DeltaGamma_s/Gamma_s = (65 +{25}/-{33} +/- 1)%, and DeltaGamma_s = (0.47
+{0.19}/-{0.24} +/- 0.01) inverse ps.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; as published in Physical Review Letters
on 16 March 2005; revisions are for length and typesetting only, no changes
in results or conclusion
Top quark mass measurement using the template method at CDF
We present a measurement of the top quark mass in the lepton+jets and
dilepton channels of decays using the template method. The data
sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.6 fb of
collisions at Tevatron with TeV, collected with the CDF II
detector. The measurement is performed by constructing templates of three
kinematic variables in the lepton+jets and two kinematic variables in the
dilepton channel. The variables are two reconstructed top quark masses from
different jets-to-quarks combinations and the invariant mass of two jets from
the decay in the lepton+jets channel, and a reconstructed top quark mass
and , a variable related to the transverse mass in events with two
missing particles, in the dilepton channel. The simultaneous fit of the
templates from signal and background events in the lepton+jets and dilepton
channels to the data yields a measured top quark mass of Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is
derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the
calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and
compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at
centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009
and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter
response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged
pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo
predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by
propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles
to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3%
for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table,
submitted to European Physical Journal
Measurement of B(t->Wb)/B(t->Wq) at the Collider Detector at Fermilab
We present a measurement of the ratio of top-quark branching fractions R= B(t
-> Wb)/B(t -> Wq), where q can be a b, s or a d quark, using lepton-plus-jets
and dilepton data sets with integrated luminosity of ~162 pb^{-1} collected
with the Collider Detector at Fermilab during Run II of the Tevatron. The
measurement is derived from the relative numbers of t-tbar events with
different multiplicity of identified secondary vertices. We set a lower limit
of R > 0.61 at 95% confidence level.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, published in Physical Review Letters; changes
made to be consistent with published versio
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