The political economy of avian influenza in Thailand

Thailand is centrally located relative to the Avian Influenza epidemic and her response to the disease has important implications for disease control efforts both regionally and globally. A middle-income country with a large and economically significant export-oriented poultry sector, Thailand has made protection of the broiler industry and preservation of international market access the primary focus of her response. At the same time, policy-makers have needed to assuage small-scale poultry producers, including cockfighting enthusiasts, who have borne the brunt of movement controls and stricter biosecurity standards. Consequently, the government has re-evaluated its absolute ban on livestock vaccination and implemented innovative strategies such as “bird passports” to reduce the burden of compliance on small producers. Another significant dimension of the Thai epidemic is the recent emergence of open-grazing duck production, which may have provided a reservoir and vector for the H5N1 virus. Niche producers, including duck farmers, carry increasing weight in political and economic spheres in Thailand. Finally, the Thai public health community has advocated for more aggressive measures to prevent additional animal-to-human transmission of disease. The human health dimensions of the Avian Influenza epidemic have ultimately strengthened Thailand’s position in the international health debate and resulted in increased funding for infrastructure development and capacity-building.ESRC; FAO Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative; DFID; World Bank

Chiral patterns arising from electrostatic growth models

Recently, unusual and strikingly beautiful seahorse-like growth patterns have been observed under conditions of quasi-two-dimensional growth. These `S'-shaped patterns strongly break two-dimensional inversion symmetry; however such broken symmetry occurs only at the level of overall morphology, as the clusters are formed from achiral molecules with an achiral unit cell. Here we describe a mechanism which gives rise to chiral growth morphologies without invoking microscopic chirality. This mechanism involves trapped electrostatic charge on the growing cluster, and the enhancement of growth in regions of large electric field. We illustrate the mechanism with a tree growth model, with a continuum model for the motion of the one-dimensional boundary, and with microscopic Monte Carlo simulations. Our most dramatic results are found using the continuum model, which strongly exhibits spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, and in particular finned `S' shapes like those seen in the experiments.Comment: RevTeX, 12 pages, 9 figure

The Political Economy of Non-Traditional Security: Explaining the Governance of Avian Influenza in Indonesia

Given the common association of non-traditional security (NTS) problems with globalisation, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how the political economy context of given NTS issues shape how they are securitised and managed in practice. We argue that security and its governance are always highly contested because different modes of security governance invariably privilege particular interests and normative agendas in state and society, which relate directly to the political economy. Drawing on critical political geography, we argue that, because NTS issues are perceived as at least potentially transnational, their securitisation often involves strategic attempts by actors and coalitions to ‘rescale’ their governance beyond the national political and institutional arenas, into new, expert-dominated modes of governance. Such efforts are often resisted by other coalitions, for which this rescaling is deleterious. As evidenced by a case study of avian influenza in Indonesia, particular governance outcomes depend upon the nature of the coalitions assembled for and against rescaling in specific situations, while these coalitions’ make-up and relative strength is shaped by the political economy of the industries that rescaling would affect, viewed against the broader backdrop of state-society relations

Operating a Medical System in Quarantine: The Impact of Economic Isolation and Political Turmoil on Myanmar's Health

Operating a Medical System in Quarantine: The Impact of Economic Isolation and Political Turmoil on Myanmar's Healt

Minorities and state-building in mainland Southeast Asia

Myanmar: State, Society and Ethnicity30-6

Assessing the impact of orphanhood on Thai children affected by AIDS and their caregivers

10.1080/09540120310001633930AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV16111-1

Illinois: Today and Tomorrow, a Study of Utilization and Factors That Come Between Dissemination and Utilization

127 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1981.Between 1977 and 1978, the Illinois: Today and Tomorrow survey was conducted. Its purpose was to provide decision-makers and planners in state and local government with information about what Illinois residents saw as problems with and priorities for their communities and state. It was hoped that the survey findings would be used as input into decision-makers' and planners' general planning and program development.The findings from this survey were obtained from 9,900 usable returned questionnaires. These findings were disseminated through a newspaper tabloid, which highlighted the main findings, regional publications, and special topical bulletins. In addition, workshops concerning the survey and its findings were held throughout the state of Illinois.Following the dissemination activities, an impact study was conducted to learn what effect, if any, the Illinois: Today and Tomorrow survey had on those decision-makers and planners it intended to serve. To investigate its impact, an elite and specialized interview guide was developed and sixty respondents who were involved in the planning stages of the survey or who had requested information on the survey findings were interviewed face-to-face or by phone. The data gathered from the interview process underwent a content analysis which identified implicit and explicit themes, and influence, process, and outcome variables.The impact study found that two-thirds of all respondents utilized the Illinois: Today and Tomorrow survey findings either instrumentally or conceptually. Those respondents who received an explanation on how to use the findings made greater utilization of the findings than those who did not receive an explanation. Utilization was found not to be significantly associated with initial involvement of respondents in the survey project nor with political factors surrounding the respondents' work-related setting. The most important factors affecting utilization were respondent position and the uniqueness of the Illinois: Today and Tomorrow survey.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Qualitative sample extensiveness in health education research

10.1177/1090198103259185Health Education and Behavior3119-2