Conclusion

The Reagan administration’s democracy promotion initiative was inextricably linked to US Cold War goals. Democracy promotion towards the Soviet bloc posited the possibility of an American Cold War victory secured through democratic transformation in these states. In the Third World, democracy promotion was deployed as part of the Reagan administration’s effort to roll back perceived Soviet gains, stabilize US client states, confront Third World nationalism, and promote neoliberal economic policies. Reagan-era democracy promotion had limitations in terms of scope, human rights, and economic impact. Nevertheless, the rising importance of democracy promotion had significant implications for post-Cold War US foreign policy. Successive post-Cold War administrations advanced the belief that US national interests and moral concerns were best served in a world of free-market democracies.History and International Relation

Introduction: the Reagan administration and democracy promotion

During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, a distinctive form of democracy promotion emerged as a central pillar of US foreign policy. The administration integrated democracy promotion into US strategy towards communist and non-communist governments, deploying diplomacy and support for anti-Soviet guerrillas, as well as new tactics such as electoral and political assistance for foreign actors delivered through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to foster political, institutional, and economic change compatible with US interests. Historically, the US record on democracy promotion was mixed. However, rising support for human rights in the US and global geopolitical and geo-economic change during the 1970s created an opening for a new mode of US democracy-based hegemony pressed by administration officials, neoconservatives, and non-state actors.History and International Relation

Prevention of acute malnutrition: distribution of special nutritious foods and cash, and addressing underlying causes--what to recommend when, where, for whom, and how

Acute malnutrition is associated with increased morbidity and mortality risk. When episodes are prolonged or frequent, acute malnutrition is also associated with poor growth and development, which contributes to stunting Nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive strategies to prevent undernutrition during the first 1,000 days from conception to 24 months of age can reduce the risks of wasting, stunting, and micronutrient deficiencies. Under circumstances that exacerbate the underlying causes of undernutrition and increase the incidence of wasting, such as food insecurity related to lean seasons or emergencies, or increased incidence of illness, such as diarrhea or measles, additional efforts are required to prevent and treat wasting. Special nutritious foods directly meet the increased nutrient requirements of children at risk for wasting; assistance to vulnerable households, in the form of cash or food, enables households to better meet the food, health, and other needs of household members and may increase resilience; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and health interventions help prevent and address illness and hence reduce wasting risk. The contributions of specific interventions to reducing the incidence of wasting are difficult to assess under emergency conditions, due to ethical constraints and to the fact that multiple strategies are implemented at the same time. However, pragmatic studies under real-life circumstances, using different designs, e.g., including a group receiving "best possible" treatment, can provide evidence about what works, to what extent, at what cost, and under which circumstances. Programs should address the most important causes in given contexts, be feasible to implement at scale, and assess implementation, coverage, and outcomes

Features selection approaches for an objective control of cosmetic quality of coated surfaces

The cosmetic aspect is one of the main functions of industrial surfaces in numerous applications. Even the smallest surface defects may have a critical effect on the cosmetic tolerability of such industrial surfaces. Thus, surfaces are generally coated at the last manufacturing process stage to cover existing defects and to certify their cosmetic quality. The surface quality is however constantly controlled after coating that induces an increase of lead-time increase and production costs. This is due to a various flaw patterns and a lack of uncoated surfaces specifications. Hence, the identification of relevant surface morphological parameters underlies an objective and automatic cosmetic control performance. In fact, this relevant parameter selection allows tracking surface flaws during the coating finishing operation. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of various feature selection tools for data analysis (Neighbourhood Component Analysis (NCA), ReliefF, Sequential wrapper method, Decision tree) to extract relevant information out of physical data. A design of experiment based on scratches test on amorphous polymers to generate typical controlled defects has been performed. Then, several cosmetic defects characteristics were extracted from experimental measurements. Feature selection approaches were applied and compared to determine the most relevant parameters. The advantages and limitations of each method for data analysis have been highlighted in the case of real engineering surface quality control

Photoproduction of pi0 omega off protons for E(gamma) < 3 GeV

Differential and total cross-sections for photoproduction of gamma proton to proton pi0 omega and gamma proton to Delta+ omega were determined from measurements of the CB-ELSA experiment, performed at the electron accelerator ELSA in Bonn. The measurements covered the photon energy range from the production threshold up to 3GeV.Comment: 8 pages, 13 figure

K^0 pi^0 Sigma^+ and K^*0 Sigma^+ photoproduction off the proton

The exclusive reactions $\gamma p \to K^{*0} \Sigma^+(1189)$ and $\gamma p \to K^{0} \pi^{0}\Sigma^+(1189)$, leading to the p 4$\pi^{0}$ final state, have been measured with a tagged photon beam for incident energies from threshold up to 2.5 GeV. The experiment has been performed at the tagged photon facility of the ELSA accelerator (Bonn). The Crystal Barrel and TAPS detectors were combined to a photon detector system of almost 4$\pi$ geometrical acceptance. Differential and total cross sections are reported. At energies close to the threshold, a flat angular distribution has been observed for the reaction $\gamma p\to K^{0} \pi^{0}\Sigma^+$ suggesting dominant s-channel production. $\Sigma^*(1385)$ and higher lying hyperon states have been observed. An enhancement in the forward direction in the angular distributions of the reaction $\gamma p \to K^{*0}\Sigma^+$ indicates a $t$-channel exchange contribution to the reaction mechanism. The experimental data are in reasonable agreement with recent theoretical predictions.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, submitted to EPJ

Measurement of gamma p --> K+ Lambda and gamma p --> K+ Sigma0 at photon energies up to 2.6 GeV

The reactions gamma p --> K+ Lambda and gamma p --> K+ Sigma0 were measured in the energy range from threshold up to a photon energy of 2.6 GeV. The data were taken with the SAPHIR detector at the electron stretcher facility, ELSA. Results on cross sections and hyperon polarizations are presented as a function of kaon production angle and photon energy. The total cross section for Lambda production rises steeply with energy close to threshold, whereas the Sigma0 cross section rises slowly to a maximum at about E_gamma = 1.45 GeV. Cross sections together with their angular decompositions into Legendre polynomials suggest contributions from resonance production for both reactions. In general, the induced polarization of Lambda has negative values in the kaon forward direction and positive values in the backward direction. The magnitude varies with energy. The polarization of Sigma0 follows a similar angular and energy dependence as that of Lambda, but with opposite sign.Comment: 21 pages, 25 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

K0-Sigma+ Photoproduction with SAPHIR

Preliminary results of the analysis of the reaction p(gamma,K0)Sigma+ are presented. We show the first measurement of the differential cross section and much improved data for the total cross section than previous data. The data are compared with model predictions from different isobar and quark models that give a good description of p(gamma,K+)Lambda and p(gamma,K+)Sigma0 data in the same energy range. Results of ChPT describe the data adequately at threshold while isobar models that include hadronic form factors reproduce the data at intermediate energies.Comment: 4 pages, Latex2e, 4 postscript figures. Talk given at the International Conference on Hypernuclear and Strange Particle Physics (HYP97), Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, October 13-18, 1997. To be published in Nucl. Phys. A. Revised version due to changes in experimental dat

Risk Prediction for Breast, Endometrial, and Ovarian Cancer in White Women Aged 50 y or Older: Derivation and Validation from Population-Based Cohort Studies

Background: Breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers share some hormonal and epidemiologic risk factors. While several models predict absolute risk of breast cancer, there are few models for ovarian cancer in the general population, and none for endometrial cancer. Methods and Findings: Using data on white, non-Hispanic women aged 50+ y from two large population-based cohorts (the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial [PLCO] and the National Institutes of Health–AARP Diet and Health Study [NIH-AARP]), we estimated relative and attributable risks and combined them with age-specific US-population incidence and competing mortality rates. All models included parity. The breast cancer model additionally included estrogen and progestin menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) use, other MHT use, age at first live birth, menopausal status, age at menopause, family history of breast or ovarian cancer, benign breast disease/biopsies, alcohol consumption, and body mass index (BMI); the endometrial model included menopausal status, age at menopause, BMI, smoking, oral contraceptive use, MHT use, and an interaction term between BMI and MHT use; the ovarian model included oral contraceptive use, MHT use, and family history or breast or ovarian cancer. In independent validation data (Nurses' Health Study cohort) the breast and ovarian cancer models were well calibrated; expected to observed cancer ratios were 1.00 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.96–1.04) for breast cancer and 1.08 (95% CI: 0.97–1.19) for ovarian cancer. The number of endometrial cancers was significantly overestimated, expected/observed = 1.20 (95% CI: 1.11–1.29). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs; discriminatory power) were 0.58 (95% CI: 0.57–0.59), 0.59 (95% CI: 0.56–0.63), and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.66–0.70) for the breast, ovarian, and endometrial models, respectively. Conclusions: These models predict absolute risks for breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers from easily obtainable risk factors and may assist in clinical decision-making. Limitations are the modest discriminatory ability of the breast and ovarian models and that these models may not generalize to women of other races. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summar