The challenges of deliberative development: Bolivia's experience with a national dialogue

The “deliberative development” approach to policy reform has gained popularity in both academic and policy circles without a clear understanding of the requirements for its success. Based on a reading of the deliberative democracy literature, we detail those requirements, finding them to be quite restrictive. We then examine Bolivia’s 2000 National Dialogue, a national deliberation on development policy, and find—not surprisingly—that these requirements were generally missing. More importantly, we demonstrate that the lack of these requirements is not benign: the institutional characteristics of the Dialogue had direct effects, and the Dialogue continues to affect Bolivia’s politics in debatable ways. The late 1990s and early part of this decade witnessed what appeared to be a major change in the approach of international development institutions to policy reform. The most important evidence of this change was the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) initiative of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. This initiative, which arose in 1999 in the context of updating the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries’ (HIPC) Initiative, required countries to prepare a PRSP prior to receiving debt relief (see International Monetary Fund and International Development Association, 1999). Each country’s PRSP was to outline an overall strategy to reduce poverty, including structural reforms such as trade and privatization as well as specific anti-poverty programs. These PRSPs are now required to receive any World Bank or IMF concessional assistance. What made the PRSP initiative particularly innovative and noteworthy was that the Bank and Fund required that the strategy be developed in a “participatory” way. That is, the PRSP needed to be based on some sort of consultative process by which the government solicited input from various societal groups—including local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), businesses, and unions—and then incorporated those preferences in the policy. This approach to government policymaking seemed to go directly against a line of academic work on economic reform that had been influential in these institutions for years (e.g. Sturzenneger and Tommasi, 1998), arguing that there was an inverse relationship between the success of economic reform and the amount of participation of society in making policies. Having criticized this old approach for years, most NGOs and developing country governments supported the new direction taken by the World Bank and IMF. In fact, few critics of the approach (e.g. Stewart and Wang, 2003) have critiqued the idea of participation, most instead focusing their critiques on the poor “extent” and “quality” of participation. In one of the benchmark articles supporting this “deliberative” approach to policy reform, Peter Evans (2004) notes that such an approach to policymaking is supported by work by the economists Amartya Sen (1999) and Dani Rodrik (2000), who argue that participation and public deliberation are means to better policies. Evans writes, “If it were possible to implant this sort of deliberative process in political units large enough to impact developmental trajectories—say, the provincial or municipal level—we would have something that could be called ‘deliberative development’” (2004: 37). Discussing examples from Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Kerala, India, Evans goes on to argue that this type of development is not only desirable, but attainable. Despite its increasing popularity in the academic and policy worlds, we still know little about what is needed for the deliberative development approach to be successful. While it may be true that political processes in Porto Alegre, Kerala, and elsewhere have exhibited deliberative aspects as well as positive development outcomes, the particular details of how the former relates to the latter remain murky. Are deliberative processes appropriate for all development decisions? Are there particular characteristics of the society that need to be present in order for deliberation to work well? Are there particular characteristics of the deliberative institutions that need to be present? Can there be any negative effects if deliberation is not done well? If the deliberative development approach is to be considered a viable and superior policymaking alternative, these questions must be answered

Greenland ice core “signal” characteristics: An expanded view of climate change

The last millenium of Earth history is of particular interest because it documents the environmental complexities of both natural variability and anthropogenic activity. We have analyzed the major ions contained in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP 2) ice core from the present to ∼674 A.D. to yield an environmental reconstruction for this period that includes a description of nitrogen and sulfur cycling, volcanic emissions, sea salt and terrestrial influences. We have adapted and extended mathematical procedures for extracting sporadic (e.g., volcanic) events, secular trends, and periodicities found in the data sets. Finally, by not assuming that periodic components (signals) were “stationary” and by utilizing evolutionary spectral analysis, we were able to reveal periodic processes in the climate system which change in frequency, “turn on,” and “turn off” with other climate transitions such as\u27that between the little ice age and the medieval warm period

Thermal evolution of the crystal structure of the orthorhombic perovskite LaFeO3

CALD and CMK were supported by EPSRC DTA studentships (EP/L505079/1).The thermal evolution of the crystal structure of the prototypical orthorhombic perovskite LaFeO3 has been studied in detail by powder neutron diffraction in the temperature range 25<T<1285 K. A conventional bond length/bond angle analysis, combined with an analysis in terms of symmetry-adapted modes, allows key aspects of the thermal behavior to be understood. In particular, the largest-amplitude symmetry modes (viz. in-phase and out-of-phase octahedral tilts, and A-site cation displacements) are shown to display relatively ‘normal’ behavior, increasing with decreasing temperature, which contrasts with the anomalous behavior previously shown by the derivative Bi0.5La0.5FeO3. However, an unexpected behavior is seen in the nature of the intra-octahedral distortion, which is used to rationalize the unique occurrence of a temperature dependent crossover of the a and c unit cell metrics in this compound.PostprintPeer reviewe

ALMA 1.3 Millimeter Map of the HD 95086 System

Planets and minor bodies such as asteroids, Kuiper-belt objects and comets are integral components of a planetary system. Interactions among them leave clues about the formation process of a planetary system. The signature of such interactions is most prominent through observations of its debris disk at millimeter wavelengths where emission is dominated by the population of large grains that stay close to their parent bodies. Here we present ALMA 1.3 mm observations of HD 95086, a young early-type star that hosts a directly imaged giant planet b and a massive debris disk with both asteroid- and Kuiper-belt analogs. The location of the Kuiper-belt analog is resolved for the first time. The system can be depicted as a broad ($\Delta R/R \sim$0.84), inclined (30\arcdeg$\pm$3\arcdeg) ring with millimeter emission peaked at 200$\pm$6 au from the star. The 1.3 mm disk emission is consistent with a broad disk with sharp boundaries from 106$\pm$6 to 320$\pm$20 au with a surface density distribution described by a power law with an index of --0.5$\pm$0.2. Our deep ALMA map also reveals a bright source located near the edge of the ring, whose brightness at 1.3 mm and potential spectral energy distribution are consistent with it being a luminous star-forming galaxy at high redshift. We set constraints on the orbital properties of planet b assuming co-planarity with the observed disk.Comment: accepted for publication in A

CLH-3, a ClC-2 anion channel ortholog activated during meiotic maturation in C. elegans oocytes

AbstractBackground: ClC anion channels are ubiquitous and have been identified in organisms as diverse as bacteria and humans. Despite their widespread expression and likely physiological importance, the function and regulation of most ClCs are obscure. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans offers significant experimental advantages for defining ClC biology. These advantages include a fully sequenced genome, cellular and molecular manipulability, and genetic tractability.Results: We show by patch clamp electrophysiology that C. elegans oocytes express a hyperpolarization- and swelling-activated Cl− current with biophysical characteristics strongly resembling those of mammalian ClC-2. Double-stranded RNA–mediated gene interference (RNAi) and single-oocyte RT-PCR demonstrated that the channel is encoded by clh-3, one of six C. elegans ClC genes. CLH-3 is inactive in immature oocytes but can be triggered by cell swelling. However, CLH-3 plays no apparent role in oocyte volume homeostasis. The physiological signal for channel activation is the induction of oocyte meiotic maturation. During meiotic maturation, the contractile activity of gonadal sheath cells, which surround oocytes and are coupled to them via gap junctions, increases dramatically. These ovulatory sheath cell contractions are initiated prematurely in animals in which CLH-3 expression is disrupted by RNAi.Conclusions: The inwardly rectifying Cl− current in C. elegans oocytes is due to the activity of a ClC channel encoded by clh-3. Functional and structural similarities suggest that CLH-3 and mammalian ClC-2 are orthologs. CLH-3 is activated during oocyte meiotic maturation and functions in part to modulate ovulatory contractions of gap junction–coupled gonadal sheath cells

Acetaminophen Combinations Protect Against Iron-Induced Cardiac Damage in Gerbils

This study tested if acetaminophen, N-methyl-D-glucamine dithiocarbamate (NMGDTC), deferoxamine, and combinations of these agents reduce excess iron content, prevent iron-induced pathology, reduce cardiac arrhythmias, and reduce mortality in iron-overloaded gerbils. Eight groups of 16 gerbils received iron dextran injections (ferric hydroxide dextran complex, 120 mg/kg, ip) or saline solution (controls) twice/wk for 8 wk. The 8 groups were treated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with one of the following: saline control, acetaminophen, 150 mg/kg, ip), acetaminophen (150 mg/kg, po), deferoxamine, 83 mg/kg, ip), NMGDTC (200 mg/kg, ip), or combinations of acetaminophen (75 mg/kg) with deferoxamine (42 mg/kg, each ip, separately) or acetaminophen (75 mg/kg) with NMGDTC (100 mg/kg, each ip, separately). The treatments were given 4 hr after each iron injection on days when both iron administration and treatment occurred during iron overloading (8 wk) and were continued 4 wk thereafter. Echocardiography (ECHO) was used to evaluate iron-induced cardiac changes and detect arrhythmias. Acetaminophen and NMGDTC, or combinations thereof, reduced cardiac and hepatic excess iron content as measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Acetaminophen was effective whether administered po or ip. Acetaminophen treatment had a positive inotropic effect on cardiac function. Acetaminophen-deferoxamine combination conferred equal cardioprotection as acetaminophen or deferoxamine alone, was equally able to remove hepatic iron, and was superior to either acetaminophen or deferoxamine in removing cardiac iron from iron-overloaded gerbils. Acetaminophen-NMGDTC combination was also effective in removing cardiac and hepatic iron and protecting against iron-induced cardiac damage. ECHO evaluation of iron-overloaded, untreated gerbils demonstrated a high incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, usually PVCs (10/16 = 63%), and mortality prior to completion of the experiment (4/16 = 25%). All treatments except deferoxamine, alone, reduced the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias and deaths. All treatments reduced iron-induced increases in hepatic and cardiac weights. This study demonstrates injection alternates that are equally or more effective than deferoxamine injections and shows oral acetaminophen to be effective in treatment of iron-overload and associated cardiac complications

Closed-Form Bayesian Inferences for the Logit Model via Polynomial Expansions

Articles in Marketing and choice literatures have demonstrated the need for incorporating person-level heterogeneity into behavioral models (e.g., logit models for multiple binary outcomes as studied here). However, the logit likelihood extended with a population distribution of heterogeneity doesn't yield closed-form inferences, and therefore numerical integration techniques are relied upon (e.g., MCMC methods). We present here an alternative, closed-form Bayesian inferences for the logit model, which we obtain by approximating the logit likelihood via a polynomial expansion, and then positing a distribution of heterogeneity from a flexible family that is now conjugate and integrable. For problems where the response coefficients are independent, choosing the Gamma distribution leads to rapidly convergent closed-form expansions; if there are correlations among the coefficients one can still obtain rapidly convergent closed-form expansions by positing a distribution of heterogeneity from a Multivariate Gamma distribution. The solution then comes from the moment generating function of the Multivariate Gamma distribution or in general from the multivariate heterogeneity distribution assumed. Closed-form Bayesian inferences, derivatives (useful for elasticity calculations), population distribution parameter estimates (useful for summarization) and starting values (useful for complicated algorithms) are hence directly available. Two simulation studies demonstrate the efficacy of our approach.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, corrected some typos. Appears in Quantitative Marketing and Economics vol 4 (2006), no. 2, 173--20

Transcriptomic effects of adenosine 2A receptor deletion in healthy and endotoxemic murine myocardium

Influences of adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR) activity on the cardiac transcriptome and genesis of endotoxemic myocarditis are unclear. We applied transcriptomic profiling (39 K Affymetrix arrays) to identify A2AR-sensitive molecules, revealed by receptor knockout (KO), in healthy and endotoxemic hearts. Baseline cardiac function was unaltered and only 37 A2AR-sensitive genes modified by A2AR KO (≥1.2-fold change, \u3c5 \u3e% FDR); the five most induced are Mtr, Ppbp, Chac1, Ctsk and Cnpy2 and the five most repressed are Hp, Yipf4, Acta1, Cidec and Map3k2. Few canonical paths were impacted, with altered Gnb1, Prkar2b, Pde3b and Map3k2 (among others) implicating modified G protein/cAMP/PKA and cGMP/NOS signalling. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 20 mg/kg) challenge for 24 h modified \u3e4100 transcripts in wild-type (WT) myocardium (≥1.5-fold change, FDR \u3c 1 %); the most induced are Lcn2 (+590); Saa3 (+516); Serpina3n (+122); Cxcl9 (+101) and Cxcl1 (+89) and the most repressed are Car3 (−38); Adipoq (−17); Atgrl1/Aplnr (−14); H19 (−11) and Itga8 (−8). Canonical responses centred on inflammation, immunity, cell death and remodelling, with pronounced amplification of toll-like receptor (TLR) and underlying JAK-STAT, NFκB and MAPK pathways, and a ‘cardio-depressant’ profile encompassing suppressed ß-adrenergic, PKA and Ca2+ signalling, electromechanical and mitochondrial function (and major shifts in transcripts impacting function/injury including Lcn2, S100a8/S100a9, Icam1/Vcam and Nox2 induction, and Adipoq, Igf1 and Aplnr repression). Endotoxemic responses were selectively modified by A2AR KO, supporting inflammatory suppression via A2AR sensitive shifts in regulators of NFκB and JAK-STAT signalling (IκBζ, IκBα, STAT1, CDKN1a and RRAS2) without impacting the cardio-depressant gene profile. Data indicate A2ARs exert minor effects in un-stressed myocardium and selectively suppress NFκB and JAK-STAT signalling and cardiac injury without influencing cardiac depression in endotoxemia