Development assistance gone wrong : why support services have failed to expand exports

This study shows that in developing countries with no more than partly favorable policies toward manufactured exports, outside assistance to services that promote and support manufactured exports has had little discernible impact on exports and has rarely been effective in expanding them. The principal reasons for this lack of impact appear to be the after effects of inward-looking development policies, neglect of assistance to enterprises in the production and supply aspects of exporting, insufficient donor concern about the direct impact of their assistance on exports, and reliance on an inappropriate delivery mechanism. Recommendations which suggest new guidelines for donor assistance, project components and new country policies are explained in a companion paper, WPS 544.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,ICT Policy and Strategies,Poverty Assessment

Development and Implementation of Fully 3D Statistical Image Reconstruction Algorithms for Helical CT and Half-Ring PET Insert System

X-ray computed tomography: CT) and positron emission tomography: PET) have become widely used imaging modalities for screening, diagnosis, and image-guided treatment planning. Along with the increased clinical use are increased demands for high image quality with reduced ionizing radiation dose to the patient. Despite their significantly high computational cost, statistical iterative reconstruction algorithms are known to reconstruct high-quality images from noisy tomographic datasets. The overall goal of this work is to design statistical reconstruction software for clinical x-ray CT scanners, and for a novel PET system that utilizes high-resolution detectors within the field of view of a whole-body PET scanner. The complex choices involved in the development and implementation of image reconstruction algorithms are fundamentally linked to the ways in which the data is acquired, and they require detailed knowledge of the various sources of signal degradation. Both of the imaging modalities investigated in this work have their own set of challenges. However, by utilizing an underlying statistical model for the measured data, we are able to use a common framework for this class of tomographic problems. We first present the details of a new fully 3D regularized statistical reconstruction algorithm for multislice helical CT. To reduce the computation time, the algorithm was carefully parallelized by identifying and taking advantage of the specific symmetry found in helical CT. Some basic image quality measures were evaluated using measured phantom and clinical datasets, and they indicate that our algorithm achieves comparable or superior performance over the fast analytical methods considered in this work. Next, we present our fully 3D reconstruction efforts for a high-resolution half-ring PET insert. We found that this unusual geometry requires extensive redevelopment of existing reconstruction methods in PET. We redesigned the major components of the data modeling process and incorporated them into our reconstruction algorithms. The algorithms were tested using simulated Monte Carlo data and phantom data acquired by a PET insert prototype system. Overall, we have developed new, computationally efficient methods to perform fully 3D statistical reconstructions on clinically-sized datasets

Navigating a Way Forward: How Women Survivors of Breast Cancer and Their Partners Face Challenges Adapting to Their Changed Lives

Many women survivors of breast cancer and their partners experience challenges while attempting to resume meaningful activities and important life roles following treatment cessation. This mixed method study aimed to explore these challenges and appraise the current services available to meet ongoing needs. Three major themes were determined; women and partners experience occupational disruption, use of a survivorship care plan and rehabilitation is warranted, occupational therapy has a role in assisting women and partners during survivorship

Resistance : the Kwaio struggle for cultural autonomy

"November 1990.""Presented at a Center for International Studies seminar 'Peoples and States: Ethnic Identity and Struggle'" November 8, 1990."Includes bibliographical reference

Exploring the social networks of bereaved spouses: Phenomenological case studies

Bereavement is a significant stressor that can affect and be affected by social support, yet there is little known about the social networks of bereaved individuals. We conducted an in-depth qualitative examination of the social networks of bereaved spouses through an interpretive phenomenological analysis. Five participants were interviewed about their social networks prior to and following bereavement. Participants described considerable changes in their social networks. They reported connecting with others who had experienced similar stressors, including via online support groups for widows/widowers, as a key strategy for re-engagement with their social worlds. The death of a spouse can precipitate the dramatic reorganization of social networks to incorporate and adapt to this crisis. Findings offer guidance for service providers to support bereaved spouses to harness existing social networks to optimize received support