Aid dependence reconsidered

If foreign aid undermines institutional development, aid recipients can exhibit the symptoms of “dependence”-a short-run benefit from aid, but increasing need for aid that is damaging in the long run. We show that this high-aid/weakinstitutions state can be an equilibrium outcome even when donors and recipients fully anticipate the effect of aid on institutional development. However, a lowaid/ strong-institutions outcome is also possible, so that the model encompasses the diverse foreign-aid experiences of countries like the Republic of Korea and Tanzania. When the development community ignores the effect of aid on institutions, the outcome depends strongly on initial conditions. Where institutions are already weak, institutional capacity collapses and foreign aid eventually finances the entire public budget. Where they are initially stronger, the result can be close to the institutionssensitive equilibrium. The results suggest that foreign aid strategies, even for countries with similar per capita incomes, should be differentiated according to their institutional capacity; and that a short-run reduction in aid may increase a country’s chances of graduating from aid.

Aid dependence reconsidered

When foreign aid undermines institutional development aid recipients can exhibit the symptoms of aid"dependence"- benefiting from aid in the short term but damaged by it in the long term. The authors find that one equilibrium outcome can be high aid and weak institutions, even when donors and recipients fully anticipate aid's effects on institutional development, but don't take the drastic steps needed to put the country on the path to independence. Another equilibrium outcome can be low aid and strong institutions. Their model encompasses such diverse experiences as those of Tanzania and the Republic of Korea. When the development community ignores aid's effect on institutions, the outcome depends greatly on initial conditions. Where institutions are initially weak (as in many Sub-Saharan African countries at independence), institutional capacity collapses and foreign aid eventually finances the whole public budget. Where they are initially stronger, the result can be close to the institutions-sensitive equilibrium. The results suggest that, even for countries with similar per capita income, the foreign aid strategy should be designed to suit the country's institutional capacity. In some cases a short-term reduction in aid may increase a country's chances of graduating from aid.Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,School Health,Gender and Development,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,Economic Theory&Research,School Health,National Governance

The Association of Physical Function Measures With Frailty, Falls History, and Metabolic Syndrome in a Population With Complex Obesity

Background: Frailty, falls and metabolic syndrome are known to be associated with poorer physical function. This study builds on available research by further investigating the relationship between physical function measures, including those comprising frailty, with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and falls, in the context of complex obesity.Methods: Participants were recruited from the national Level 3 weight management service in Ireland. A retrospective audit of data gathered at initial assessment was performed. Data included past medical history, blood tests, blood pressure measurement, anthropometrics, falls history, self-reported physical activity levels (PALs) and physical function measures, including hand grip strength (HGS), “timed up and go” (TUG), functional reach (FR), sit to stand (STS) and gait speed. A modified version of the Fried Frailty Index was employed.Results: Of the 713 participants, 65.1% (n = 464) were female and 34.9% (n = 249) were male with a mean age of 44.2 (±11.7) years and body mass index (BMI) of 50.6 kg/m2 (±8.2). Frailty was identified in 3.4% (n = 24), falls in 28.8% (n = 205) and MetS in 55.1% (n = 393). Frailty was associated with older age (53.8 ± 14.3 vs. 43.9 ± 11.5 years), poorer PALs (27.29 ± 46.3 vs. 101.1 ± 147.4 min/wk), reduced grip strength (17.7 ± 4.6 vs. 34.2 ± 11.0 Kg) longer STS (21.7 ± 6.6 vs. 13.7 ± 5.7 s), shorter functional reach (29.7 ± 7.9 vs. 37.9 ± 8.2 cm) and slower gait speed (0.6 ± 0.2 vs. 1.1 ± 0.5 m/s). Those reporting a falls history had a reduced FR (35.8 ± 8.9 vs. 38.3 ± 7.8 cm) and slower STS (15.4 ± 8.0 vs. 13.3 ± 4.7 s). Participants with MetS had lower PALs (83.2 ± 128.2 vs. 119.2 ± 157.6) and gait speed (1.1 ± 0.3 vs. 1.2 ± 0.7 m/s). There was no difference in BMI between fallers and non-fallers (51.34 ± 8.44 vs. 50.33 ± 8.13 Kg/m2, p = 0.138), nor between those with or without MetS. Significant associations were found between BMI and all physical function measures except the TUAG.Conclusion: The associations between frailty, falls and MetS and their combined impact on physical function in people living with obesity demonstrates the need for appropriate screening. Utilising grip strength and gait speed to identify frailty in those with obesity and metabolic syndrome could help target therapies aimed at improving strength, physical function and ultimately quality of life

Detection of Ly\beta auto-correlations and Ly\alpha-Ly\beta cross-correlations in BOSS Data Release 9

The Lyman-$\beta$ forest refers to a region in the spectra of distant quasars that lies between the rest-frame Lyman-$\beta$ and Lyman-$\gamma$ emissions. The forest in this region is dominated by a combination of absorption due to resonant Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ scattering. When considering the 1D Ly$\beta$ forest in addition to the 1D Ly$\alpha$ forest, the full statistical description of the data requires four 1D power spectra: Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ auto-power spectra and the Ly$\alpha$-Ly$\beta$ real and imaginary cross-power spectra. We describe how these can be measured using an optimal quadratic estimator that naturally disentangles Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ contributions. Using a sample of approximately 60,000 quasar sight-lines from the BOSS Data Release 9, we make the measurement of the one-dimensional power spectrum of fluctuations due to the Ly$\beta$ resonant scattering. While we have not corrected our measurements for resolution damping of the power and other systematic effects carefully enough to use them for cosmological constraints, we can robustly conclude the following: i) Ly$\beta$ power spectrum and Ly$\alpha$-Ly$\beta$ cross spectra are detected with high statistical significance; ii) the cross-correlation coefficient is $\approx 1$ on large scales; iii) the Ly$\beta$ measurements are contaminated by the associated OVI absorption, which is analogous to the SiIII contamination of the Ly$\alpha$ forest. Measurements of the Ly$\beta$ forest will allow extension of the usable path-length for the Ly$\alpha$ measurements while allowing a better understanding of the physics of intergalactic medium and thus more robust cosmological constraints.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures; matches version accepted by JCA

Power coupling mode transitions induced by tailored voltage waveforms in capacitive oxygen discharges

Low-pressure capacitively coupled radio frequency discharges operated in O 2 and driven by tailored voltage waveforms are investigated experimentally and by means of kinetic simulations. Pulse-type (peaks/valleys) and sawtooth-type voltage waveforms that consist of up to four consecutive harmonics of the fundamental frequency are used to study the amplitude asymmetry effect as well as the slope asymmetry effect at different fundamental frequencies (5, 10, and 15 MHz) and at different pressures (50-700 mTorr). Values of the DC self-bias determined experimentally and spatio-temporal excitation rates derived from phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy measurements are compared with particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisions simulations. The spatio-temporal distributions of the excitation rate obtained from experiments are well reproduced by the simulations. Transitions of the discharge electron heating mode from the drift-ambipolar mode to the μ-mode are induced by changing the number of consecutive harmonics included in the driving voltage waveform or by changing the gas pressure. Changing the number of harmonics in the waveform has a strong effect on the electronegativity of the discharge, on the generation of the DC self-bias and on the control of ion properties at the electrodes, both for pulse-type, as well as sawtooth-type driving voltage waveforms The effect of the surface quenching rate of oxygen singlet delta metastable molecules on the spatio-temporal excitation patterns is also investigated

Tailored voltage waveform capacitively coupled plasmas in electronegative gases : frequency dependence of asymmetry effects

Capacitively coupled radio frequency plasmas operated in an electronegative gas (CF4) and driven by voltage waveforms composed of four consecutive harmonics are investigated for different fundamental driving frequencies using PIC/MCC simulations and an analytical model. As has been observed previously for electropositive gases, the application of peak-shaped waveforms (that are characterized by a strong amplitude asymmetry) results in the development of a DC self-bias due to the electrical asymmetry effect (EAE), which increases the energy of ions arriving at the powered electrode. In contrast to the electropositive case (Korolov et al 2012 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 45 465202) the absolute value of the DC self-bias is found to increase as the fundamental frequency is reduced in this electronegative discharge, providing an increased range over which the DC self-bias can be controlled. The analytical model reveals that this increased DC self-bias is caused by changes in the spatial profile and the mean value of the net charge density in the grounded electrode sheath. The spatio-temporally resolved simulation data show that as the frequency is reduced the grounded electrode sheath region becomes electronegative. The presence of negative ions in this sheath leads to very different dynamics of the power absorption of electrons, which in turn enhances the local electronegativity and plasma density via ionization and attachment processes. The ion flux to the grounded electrode (where the ion energy is lowest) can be up to twice that to the powered electrode. At the same time, while the mean ion energies at both electrodes are quite different, their ratio remains approximately constant for all base frequencies studied here

Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Ly{\alpha} forest of BOSS DR11 quasars

We report a detection of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the flux-correlation function of the Ly{\alpha} forest of high-redshift quasars with a statistical significance of five standard deviations. The study uses 137,562 quasars in the redshift range $2.1\le z \le 3.5$ from the Data Release 11 (DR11) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of SDSS-III. This sample contains three times the number of quasars used in previous studies. The measured position of the BAO peak determines the angular distance, $D_A(z=2.34)$ and expansion rate, $H(z=2.34)$, both on a scale set by the sound horizon at the drag epoch, $r_d$. We find $D_A/r_d=11.28\pm0.65(1\sigma)^{+2.8}_{-1.2}(2\sigma)$ and $D_H/r_d=9.18\pm0.28(1\sigma)\pm0.6(2\sigma)$ where $D_H=c/H$. The optimal combination, $\sim D_H^{0.7}D_A^{0.3}/r_d$ is determined with a precision of $\sim2\%$. For the value $r_d=147.4~{\rm Mpc}$, consistent with the CMB power spectrum measured by Planck, we find $D_A(z=2.34)=1662\pm96(1\sigma)~{\rm Mpc}$ and $H(z=2.34)=222\pm7(1\sigma)~{\rm km\,s^{-1}Mpc^{-1}}$. Tests with mock catalogs and variations of our analysis procedure have revealed no systematic uncertainties comparable to our statistical errors. Our results agree with the previously reported BAO measurement at the same redshift using the quasar-Ly{\alpha} forest cross-correlation. The auto-correlation and cross-correlation approaches are complementary because of the quite different impact of redshift-space distortion on the two measurements. The combined constraints from the two correlation functions imply values of $D_A/r_d$ and $D_H/r_d$ that are, respectively, 7% low and 7% high compared to the predictions of a flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model with the best-fit Planck parameters. With our estimated statistical errors, the significance of this discrepancy is $\approx 2.5\sigma$.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 17 pages, 18 figure