2,778 research outputs found
How macroeconomic policies affect project performance in the social sectors
The main objective of this study is to explore the realationship between a country's overall economic policy environment and the performance of investment projects in the social sectors. The authors focus on the impact of economy-wide policies including a range of fiscal, monetary, exchange rate, trade, and pricing indicators. Particular emphasis is put on the analysis of projects in education, which comprise the large majority of the Bank's social projects. The methodology combines statistical analysis and case studies, with the latter based on a broad range of sectoral reports, Project Completion Reports, Project Performance Audit Reports, and sustainability analysis conducted by the Operation Evaluation Department (OED) of the World Bank. The statistical analysis draws on the OED project data as well as the country-level policy performance variables of the World Development Report 1991 data set. The paper also briefly reviews the literature, and examines some country and project case studies which begin to suggest the relationship between economy-wide policies and projectperformance. It presents a simple analytical framework of the possible linkages between the economic policy environment and project performance. It discusses the data and empirical method and presents the results from statistical analysis.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance,ICT Policy and Strategies
Does"grease money"speed up the wheels of commerce?
If bureaucratic burden and delay are exogenous, a firm may find bribes a helpful way to cut through red tape. According to the"efficient grease"hypothesis, corruption can improve economic efficiency, and,fighting bribery can be counterproductive. This need not be the case. In a general equilibrium in which regulatory burden and delay can be endogenously chosen by rent-seeking bureaucrats, the effective (not just nominal) red tape and bribery may be positively correlated across firms. Using data from three worldwide firm-level surveys, the authors examine the relationship between bribe and payments, management time wasted with bureaucrats, and cost of capital. They find that firms that pay more in bribes are also likely to spend more, not less, management time with bureaucrats, negotiating regulations. They also face a higher, not lower, cost of capital.Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Decentralization,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics,Social Policy,Corruption&Anitcorruption Law,Governance Indicators,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Corruption&Anitcorruption Law,TF054599-PHRD-KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: WATER MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics
The Unofficial Economy in Transition
macroeconomics, official economy, public finances, economic growth
Real Time Exercise Feedback Based on Radar and Video Using Artificial Intelligence
Radar and/or video data is used in combination with a machine learning model to detect an exercise pose or position that a user is attempting to achieve. Feedback is provided in visual or audio form indicating how the user should correct his or her position. When the user properly achieves a position, positive feedback is provided, such as a pleasing auditory sound or a visual indication that the user’s body is in the proper position
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Clinically applicable GABA receptor positive allosteric modulators promote ß-cell replication.
A key goal of diabetes research is to develop treatments to safely promote human ß-cell replication. It has recently become appreciated that activation of γ-aminobutyric acid receptors (GABA-Rs) on ß-cells can promote their survival and replication. A number of positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) that enhance GABA's actions on neuronal GABAA-Rs are in clinical use. Repurposing these GABAA-R PAMs to help treat diabetes is theoretically appealing because of their safety and potential to enhance the ability of GABA, secreted from ß-cells, or exogenously administered, to promote ß-cell replication and survival. Here, we show that clinically applicable GABAA-R PAMs can increase significantly INS-1 ß-cell replication, which is enhanced by exogenous GABA application. Furthermore, a GABAA-R PAM promoted human islet cell replication in vitro. This effect was abrogated by a GABAA-R antagonist. The combination of a PAM and low levels of exogenous GABA further increased human islet cell replication. These findings suggest that PAMs may potentiate the actions of GABA secreted by islet ß-cells on GABAA-Rs and provide a new class of drugs for diabetes treatment. Finally, our findings may explain a past clinical observation of a GABAA-R PAM reducing HbA1c levels in diabetic patients
Integrated Structural Analysis and Test Program
An integrated structural-analysis and structure-testing computer program is being developed in order to: Automate repetitive processes in testing and analysis; Accelerate pre-test analysis; Accelerate reporting of tests; Facilitate planning of tests; Improve execution of tests; Create a vibration, acoustics, and shock test database; and Integrate analysis and test data. The software package includes modules pertaining to sinusoidal and random vibration, shock and time replication, acoustics, base-driven modal survey, and mass properties and static/dynamic balance. The program is commanded by use of ActiveX controls. There is minimal need to generate command lines. Analysis or test files are selected by opening a Windows Explorer display. After selecting the desired input file, the program goes to a so-called analysis data process or test data process, depending on the type of input data. The status of the process is given by a Windows status bar, and when processing is complete, the data are reported in graphical, tubular, and matrix form
Using High-Resolution Glider Data and Biogeochemical Modeling to Investigate Phytoplankton Variability in the Ross Sea
As Earth’s climate changes, polar environments experience a disproportionate share of extreme shifts. Because the Ross Sea shelf has the highest annual productivity of any Antarctic continental shelf, this region is of particular interest when striving to characterize current and future changes in Antarctic systems. However, understanding of mesoscale variability of biogeochemical patterns in the Ross Sea and how this variability affects assemblage dynamics is incomplete. Furthermore, it is unknown how the Ross Sea may respond to projected warming, reduced summer sea ice concentrations, and shallower mixed layers during the next century. to investigate these dynamics and explore their consequences over the next century, high-resolution glider observations were analyzed and used in conjunction with a one-dimensional, data-assimilative biogeochemical-modeling framework. An analysis of glider observations from two latitudinal sections in the Ross Sea characterized mesoscale variability associated with the phytoplankton bloom and highlighted potential mechanisms driving change in the assemblage. In particular, an observed increase in the ratio of carbon to chlorophyll (C:Chl) suggested a marked transition from a phytoplankton assemblage dominated by Phaeocystis antarctica- to one dominated by diatoms. The expected control of phytoplankton variability by Modified Circumpolar Deep Water and mixed layer depth were shown to be insignificant relative to the effects of wind and sea surface temperature on the temporal/spatial scales measured by the glider. Additional glider measurements were used to force the Model of Ecosystem Dynamics, nutrient Utilisation, Sequestration and Acidification, which was adapted for use in the Ross Sea (MEDUSA-RS) to include both solitary and colonial forms of Phaeocystis antarctica. The impacts of climate-induced changes on Ross Sea phytoplankton were investigated with MEDUSA-RS using projections of physical drivers for mid- and late-21st century, and these experiments indicated increases of primary productivity and carbon export flux. Additional scenario experiments demonstrated that earlier availability of low light due to reduction of sea ice early in the growing season was the primary driver of simulated productivity increases over the next century; shallower mixed layer depths additionally contributed to changes of phytoplankton composition and export. Glider data were assimilated into MEDUSA-RS using the Marine Model Optimization Testbed (MarMOT) to optimize eight phytoplankton model parameters. Assimilation experiments that used different data subsets suggest that assimilating observations at the surface alone, as are typically available from remote-sensing platforms, may underestimate carbon export to depth and overestimate primary production. Experiments assimilating observations characteristic of a cruise-based sampling frequency produced a wide range of solutions, depending on which days were sampled, suggesting the potential for large errors in productivity and export. Finally, assimilating data from different spatial areas resulted in less variation of optimal solutions than assimilating data from different time periods in the bloom progression; these temporal differences are primarily driven by decreasing colonial P. antarctica growth rates, increasing colonial P. antarctica C:Chl, and faster sinking of colonies as the bloom progresses from the accumulation stage through dissipation. Overall, this dissertation research demonstrates the value of using bio-optical glider observations in conjunction with modeling to characterize phytoplankton dynamics in a remote marine ecosystem. High-resolution glider data are better able to resolve mesoscale physical-biological relationships, which are typically not discernible from lower frequency data, but it can be difficult to identify mechanistic relationships from in situ measurements alone. In addition, biogeochemical models can be used to extend insights gained by empirical observation, but application is often limited by the quantity and type of in situ data appropriate for evaluation and forcing. The use of gliders for facilitating development and operation of a lower trophic level model demonstrated the effectiveness of a synthetic approach that partly overcomes the individual limitations of these otherwise distinct approaches. Finally, the combination of these approaches is especially useful for gaining a better understanding of ecosystem dynamics in regions similar to the Ross Sea that are undergoing substantive climate-induced changes and where harsh conditions make other means of access difficult
Homotaurine, a safe blood-brain barrier permeable GABAA-R-specific agonist, ameliorates disease in mouse models of multiple sclerosis.
There is a need for treatments that can safely promote regulatory lymphocyte responses. T cells express GABA receptors (GABAA-Rs) and GABA administration can inhibit Th1-mediated processes such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis in mouse models. Whether GABAA-R agonists can also inhibit Th17-driven processes such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of multiple sclerosis (MS), is an open question. GABA does not pass through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) making it ill-suited to inhibit the spreading of autoreactivity within the CNS. Homotaurine is a BBB-permeable amino acid that antagonizes amyloid fibril formation and was found to be safe but ineffective in long-term Alzheimer's disease clinical trials. Homotaurine also acts as GABAA-R agonist with better pharmacokinetics than that of GABA. Working with both monophasic and relapsing-remitting mouse models of EAE, we show that oral administration of homotaurine can (1) enhance CD8+CD122+PD-1+ and CD4+Foxp3+ Treg, but not Breg, responses, (2) inhibit autoreactive Th17 and Th1 responses, and (3) effectively ameliorate ongoing disease. These observations demonstrate the potential of BBB-permeable GABAA-R agonists as a new class of treatment to enhance CD8+ and CD4+ Treg responses and limit Th17 and Th1-medaited inflammation in the CNS
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