Evaluating Long Term Political Consequences of Economic Restructuring Programs

Development assistance loans provided by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are accompanied by structural adjustment programs that must be implemented as a condition of receiving the loan. These economic reforms often include currency devaluation, inflation control, increased taxation, market liberalization, decreased expenditure, and a decrease in the size of government. Populations within countries are drastically effected by these structural economic reforms as social welfare programs are often cut, government workers laid off, and the domestic economy struggles to compete in the global marketplace. The implementation of restructuring programs also constrains the policy options that are available to the governments within these countries. While a great deal of work has been done on the winners and losers in countries that have adopted economic restructuring programs as part of their World Bank or IMF loans, there have been very few examinations of the long term political ramifications of these programs within countries that have adopted them. This paper considers the long term political consequences of World Bank and IMF structural adjustment programs. It seeks to answer the question: what are the political consequences of economic restructuring and how does this shape the rights of the population and the structure of the government? A literature review of the relevant research on the topic is given as well as a theoretical overview of the relationship between constraints and political freedom. Based on these literature reviews and theoretical overviews, a set of hypothesis were created to predict what we would expect to see as a result of economic restructuring given a country’s conditions and history. Finally, several case studies are done to analyze the direct consequences of economic restructuring. The results of structural adjustment programs in these countries were analyzed to determine how they impacted political development, stability, trust in government, and the ability to administer social programs and implement policy agenda

Studies in Pyrolysis: Part I: A Reversible Rearrangement in the Pyrolysis of Enol Carboxylates. Part II: Competitive Routes in the Thermal Breakdown of Some Open-Chain alpha-Anilino-Carboxylic Acids

PART I: The previously described formation of beta-diketones by thermal rearrangement (l) of enol carboxylates (other than vinyl esters) is shown to be reversible. In the vapour phase at ca. 50

Tubulin Post-Translational Modifications are altered by changes in Actin-Myosin Contractility in non-muscle cells

All cells regulate their contractility by the interaction of actin and myosin. In non-muscle cells, however, this interaction is regulated by rho, a GTPase, which is the upstream effector for multiple pathways. Cell contractility increases when rho is active, and prior research has shown the depolymerization of microtubules (MTs) activates rho. Microtubules play a role in many cellular functions and it is thought that either associations with MT-associated proteins and/or post-translational modifications to tubulin regulate MT functions. Numerous post-translational modifications (PTMs) to microtubules have been identified, but their roles are not well understood. A possible relationship between changes in cell contractility and two tubulin post-translational modifications, acetylation and detyrosination, has been suggested by past research. We investigated if altered cell contractility caused changes in MT acetylation and detyrosination. We found that inhibition of rho caused a decrease in the amount of acetylation while activation of rho caused an increase. Since MT acetylation and detyrosination correlate with more stable MTs, our results suggest that a signaling pathway or feedback mechanisms exists in cells that allow them to respond to changes in contractility by altering MT dynamics. This not only sheds light on the crosstalk between actin and microtubules due to rho having a feedback mechanism as opposed to linear, but also allows for the speculation that one of the downstream effects of rho is the regulation of the enzymes that control MT acetylation

Horizontal transmission of Escherichia coli O157:H7 during cattle housing, survival kinetics in feces and water of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and characterisation of E. coli O157:H7 isolates from cattle faeces and a feedlot environment

End of project reportTeagasc acknowledges with gratitude the support of European Union Structural Funds (EAGGF) in financing this research projectEscherichia coli O157:H7 can cause severe illness and in some cases leading to death. Cattle are the main reservoir with transmission to humans occurring through contamination of food or the environment. Improved understanding of the survival and transmission and survival of E. coli O157:H7 on the farm is essential for developing future controls of this pathogen. This study showed that transmission of E. coli O157:H7 can occur rapidly in groups of housed cattle, with contamination of the pens and hides occurring in 24 hrs. The inoculation dose for cattle is lower than previously reported. Ingestion of bacteria from the hide through social grooming is important for pathogen transmission in housed cattle along with faecal contamination of the environment. Sampling hide will improve the estimation of prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in pens

Laboratory spectroscopy in support of atmospheric measurements

Optical measurements of trace species in the atmosphere require precise, accurate spectroscopic data for the molecules under study. This laboratory exits to provide high quality spectroscopic data for the interpretation of data from existing satellite, balloon, ground, and aircraft instruments, as well as to provide sufficient data to assess the feasibility of new instruments

Ground-based lidar measurements of stratospheric ozone. The NASA/GSFC stratospheric ozone lidar trailer experiment STROZ LITE

The major research objective is the measurement of high precision vertical profiles of ozone between 20-40 kilometers. The precision is such that the instrument should be capable of detecting a small trend (on the order of less that 1 percent per year) over a 5-10 year period. Temperature was measured between 30 and 365 km. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) mobile lidar was installed at Table Mountain and a comparison between it and the permanent Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) lidar was made over the course of about 3 weeks. The lidars agreed very well between 20 and 40 km, and under certain conditions up to 45-47 km. There were several anomalies that both lidars followed very well. Agreement with Rocket Ozonesonde (ROCOZ) and electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) sondes was also very good