Rangeland Reform ‘94

18 pages

Rangeland Reform ‘94

18 pages

Political Institutions, Policymaking Processes, and Policy Outcomes in Venezuela

This case study of Venezuela`s democratic institution and policymaking processes is part of the broader regional project based on the theoretical framework developed by Spiller, Stein and Tommasi (2003). The framework focuses on the conditions that foster political cooperation among political actors to sustain inter-temporal policy commitments. The study shows that the political institutions that established Venezuela`s democracy in the 1960s were deliberately set up to generate a cooperative equilibrium with low stakes of power. Constitutionally weak presidents and strong centralized political parties characterized this institutional framework. Cooperation induced a relatively effective policymaking process and good policy outcomes. However, an oil boom and its aftermath, in the 1970s and 1980s, unraveled the cooperative framework and induced rapid economic decay. The political reforms implemented in the late 1980s to improve the democratic process, although in itself desirable, further weakened the party system and induced a highly uncooperative and volatile policymaking process. The recent political reforms, increasing the stakes of power, have stimulated a complete breakdown in cooperation and a highly polarized political system.

Patient copayments in primary medical care

This research was carried out to assess the feasibility of studying the effects of introducing copayments in primary medical care via studying the effects of copayments in primary dental care. Quantitative methods were used to investigate the impact of primary dental care copayments on patients and to compare predictors of primary medical and dental care uptake. Qualitative methods were used to investigate attitudes towards copayments for NHS primary health services and their extension to include primary medical consultations. Regression models, chi-square analyses and ANOVA were applied to the England and Wales sub-sample of nationally representative self-report data from the 1998 Adult Dental Health Survey (ADHS) (n=3628) to investigate the impact of copayments on primary dental care uptake. Regression models and chi-square analyses were applied to the England and Wales sub-sample of nationally representative self-report data from the 1997/98 British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) (n=8526) and the 1998 ADHS (n=3641) to compare predictors of primary medical and dental consultations. Semi- structured interviews were undertaken in Bristol and Somerset with purposively sampled frequent and infrequent primary medical care users (n=19). Predictors of primary medical and dental care utilisation differed across predisposing, enabling and illness level factors. Private and NHS dental copayments were perceived to be expensive and this perception was associated with lower preventive-led dental consultation rates, but not with treatment-led consultation rates. Copayments for services affected the nature of the patient-practitioner relationship. Findings were inconclusive regarding the effect of copayment exemption status on people's decisions to consult a dentist and on dental treatments received. It was not feasible to study the effects of introducing copayments in primary medical care via studying the effects of copayments in primary dental care

Investigating interfacial electron transfer in dye-sensitized NiO using vibrational spectroscopy

Understanding what influences the formation and lifetime of charge-separated states is key to developing photoelectrochemical devices. This paper describes the use of time-resolved infrared absorption spectroscopy (TRIR) to determine the structure and lifetime of the intermediates formed on photoexcitation of two organic donor–π–acceptor dyes adsorbed to the surface of NiO. The donor and π-linker of both dyes is triphenylamine and thiophene but the acceptors differ, maleonitrile (1) and bodipy (2). Despite their structural similarities, dye 1 outperforms 2 significantly in devices. Strong transient bands in the fingerprint region (1 and 2) and nitrile region (2300–2000 cm−1) for 1 enabled us to monitor the structure of the excited states in solution or adsorbed on NiO (in the absence and presence of electrolyte) and the corresponding kinetics, which are on a ps–ns timescale. The results are consistent with rapid (<1 ps) charge-transfer from NiO to the excited dye (1) to give exclusively the charge-separated state on the timescale of our measurements. Conversely, the TRIR experiments revealed that multiple species are present shortly after excitation of the bodipy chromophore in 2, which is electronically decoupled from the thiophene linker. In solution, excitation first populates the bodipy singlet excited state, followed by charge transfer from the triphenylamine to the bodipy. The presence and short lifetime (τ ≈ 30 ps) of the charge-transfer excited state when 2 is adsorbed on NiO (2|NiO) suggests that charge separation is slower and/or less efficient in 2|NiO than in 1|NiO. This is consistent with the difference in performance between the two dyes in dye-sensitized solar cells and photoelectrochemical water splitting devices. Compared to n-type materials such as TiO2, less is understood regarding electron transfer between dyes and p-type metal oxides such as NiO, but it is evident that fast charge-recombination presents a limit to the performance of photocathodes. This is also a major challenge to photocatalytic systems based on a “Z-scheme”, where the catalysis takes place on a µs–s timescale