678 research outputs found
Civil conflict, federalism and strategic delegation of leadership
This article analyzes negative externalities that policymakers in one region or group may impose upon the citizens of neighboring regions or groups. These externalities may be material, but they may also be psychological (in the form of envy). The latter form of externality may arise from the production of 'conspicuous' public goods. As a result, decentralized provision of conspicuous public goods may be too high. Potentially, a centralized legislature may internalize negative externalities. However, in a model with strategic delegation, we argue that the median voter in each jurisdiction may anticipate a reduction in local public goods supply and delegate to a policymaker who cares more for public goods than she does herself. This last effect mitigates the expected benefits of policy centralization. The authors' theory is then applied to the setting of civil conflict, where they discuss electoral outcomes in Northern Ireland and Yugoslavia before and after significant institutional changes that affected the degree of centralization. These case studies provide support for the authors' theoretical predictions
Bostonia: The Boston University Alumni Magazine. Volume 11
Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs
Exploring CP Violation through Correlations in B --> pi K, B_d --> pi^+pi^-, B_s --> K^+K^- Observable Space
We investigate allowed regions in observable space of B --> pi K, B_d -->
pi^+pi^- and B_s --> K^+K^- decays, characterizing these modes in the Standard
Model. After a discussion of a new kind of contour plots for the
system, we focus on the mixing- induced and direct CP asymmetries of the decays
B_d --> pi^+pi^- and B_s--> K^+K^-. Using experimental information on the
CP-averaged B_d --> pi^{+/-}K^{+/-} and B_d --> pi^+pi^- branching ratios, the
relevant hadronic penguin parameters can be constrained,implying certain
allowed regions in observable space. In the case of B_d --> pi^+pi^-, an
interesting situation arises now in view of the recent B-factory measurements
of CP violation in this channel, allowing us to obtain new constraints on the
CKM angle gamma as a function of the B^0_d--\bar{B^0_d} mixing phase
phi_d=2beta, which is fixed through A_{CP}^{mix}(B_d --> J/psi K_S) up to a
twofold ambiguity. If we assume that A_{CP}^{mix}(B_d --> pi^+pi^-) is
positive, as indicated by recent Belle data, and that phi_d is in agreement
with the ``indirect'' fits of the unitarity triangle, also the corresponding
values for gamma around 60 degrees can be accommodated. On the other hand, for
the second solution of phi_d, we obtain a gap around gamma ~ 60 degrees. The
allowed region in the space of A_{CP}^{mix}(B_s --> K^+K^-) and
A_{CP}^{dir}(B_s --> K^+K^-) is very constrained in the Standard Model, thereby
providing a narrow target range for run II of the Tevatron and the experiments
of the LHC era.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX, 12 figures. More detailed introduction and a few
Comments added, conclusions unchanged. To appear in Phys. Rev.
In Pursuit of New Physics with B_s Decays
The presence of a sizeable CP-violating phase in B_s^0-B_s^0-bar mixing would
be an unambiguous signal of physics beyond the Standard Model. We analyse
various possibilities to detect such a new phase considering both tagged and
untagged decays. The effects of a sizeable width difference Delta Gamma between
the B_s mass eigenstates, on which the untagged analyses rely, are included in
all formulae. A novel method to find this phase from simple measurements of
lifetimes and branching ratios in untagged decays is proposed. This method does
not involve two-exponential fits, which require much larger statistics. For the
tagged decays, an outstanding role is played by the observables of the
time-dependent angular distribution of the B_s -> J/psi [-> l^+ l^-] \phi [->
K^+K^-] decay products. We list the formulae needed for the angular analysis in
the presence of both a new CP-violating phase and a sizeable Delta Gamma, and
propose methods to remove a remaining discrete ambiguity in the new phase. This
phase can therefore be determined in an unambiguous way.Comment: minor changes, lattice prediction of Delta Gamma updated, appears in
PR
Immunoglobulin G immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in people living with multiple sclerosis within Multiple Sclerosis Partners Advancing Technology and Health Solutions
The impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination response is uncertain. Post-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination blood samples across multiple DMTs were tested for SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) response. Three hundred twenty-two people with MS were included; 91.9% received an mRNA vaccine. Post-vaccination reactive IgG rates (IgG index > 1) were 40% for anti-CD20 (32/80 patients); 41% for sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators (S1PRM, 16/39); and 100% for all other classes, including the no DMT group. Anti-CD20 therapies and S1PRMs reduce IgG response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination; IgG response is preserved with other DMTs
Short Communications Proton MR Spectroscopy Correlates Diffuse Axonal Abnormalities with Post-Concussive Symptoms in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Abstract There are no established biomarkers for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), in part because post-concussive symptoms (PCS) are subjective and conventional imaging is typically unremarkable. To test whether diffuse axonal abnormalities quantified with three-dimensional (3D) proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ( 1 H-MRSI) correlated with patients' PCS, we retrospectively studied 26 mTBI patients (mean Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score of 14.7), 18-to 56-year-olds and 13 controls three to 55 days post-injury. All were scanned at 3 Tesla with T1-and T2-weighted MRI and 3D 1 H-MRSI (480 voxels over 360 cm 3 , *30% of the brain). On scan day, patients completed a symptom questionnaire, and those who indicated at least one of the most common subacute mTBI symptoms (headache, dizziness, sleep disturbance, memory deficits, blurred vision) were grouped as PCS-positive. Global gray matter and white matter (GM/WM) absolute concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), creatine (Cr) and myo-inositol (mI) in PCS-positive and PCS-negative patients were compared to age-and gender-matched controls using two-way analysis of variance. The results showed that the PCS-negative group (n = 11) and controls (n = 8) did not differ in any GM or WM metabolite level. The PCS-positive patients (n = 15) had lower WM NAA than the controls (n = 12; 7.0 -0.6 versus 7.9 -0.5mM; p = 0.0007). Global WM NAA, therefore, showed sensitivity to the TBI sequelae associated with common PCS in patients with mostly normal neuroimaging, as well as GCS scores. This suggests a potential biomarker role in a patient population in which objective measures of injury and symptomatology are currently lacking
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