Aid, peasants and social exclusion

Using unique village census data collected in 2003 and 2008 in Senegal, we assess the impact of a major World Bank-funded Community Driven Development (CDD) program on membership and assortative matching in community-based organizations (CBOs). We implement both standard discrete choice and dyadic regression techniques. We find that channeling development aid through CBOs makes these organizations more inclusive in the sense that a number of tradition-bound assortative matching patterns are partly broken. Ceteris paribus, this leads to more heterogeneous CBOs. On the other hand, the likelihood of CBO membership is reduced in treated villages, with significant differences between men and women. Our results suggest that grassroots level development projects which target CBOs must be carefully designed and executed if they are not to result, paradoxically, in a greater degree of social exclusion, with differentiation by gender playing a crucial role.Community Based Organizations, Dyadic Regression, Gender Differences, Social Exclusion

Precise nuclear data of the 14N(p,gamma)15O reaction for solar neutrino predictions

The 14N(p,gamma)15O reaction is the slowest stage of the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle of hydrogen burning and thus determines its reaction rate. Precise knowledge of its rate is required to improve the model of hydrogen burning in our sun. The reaction rate is a necessary ingredient for a possible solution of the solar abundance problem that led to discrepancies between predictions of the solar standard model and helioseismology. The solar 13N and 15O neutrino fluxes are used as independent observables that probe the carbon and nitrogen abundances in the solar core. This could settle the disagreement, if the 14N(p,gamma)15O reaction rate is known with high precision. After a review of several measurements its cross section was revised downward due to a much lower contribution by one particular transition, capture to the ground state in 15O. The evaluated total relative uncertainty is still 7.5%, in part due to an unsatisfactory knowledge of the excitation function over a wide energy range. The present work reports experimentally determined cross sections as astrophysical S-factor data at twelve energies between 0.357 - 1.292 MeV for the strongest transition, capture to the 6.79 MeV excited state in 15O with lower uncertainties than before and at ten energies between 0.479 - 1.202 MeV for the second strongest transition, capture to the ground state in 15O. In addition, an R-matrix fit is performed to estimate the impact of the new data on the astrophysical relevant energy range. The recently suggested slight S-factor enhancement at the Gamow window could not be confirmed and differences to previous measurements at energies around 1 MeV were observed. The present extrapolated zero-energy S-factors are S_6.79(0) = (1.19+-0.10) keV b and S_GS(0) = (0.25+-0.05) keV b and they are within the uncertainties consistent with values recommended by the latest review.Die 14N(p,gamma)15O Reaktion ist die langsamste Phase im Bethe-Weizsäcker-Zyklus des Wasserstoffbrennens und bestimmt deshalb die Reaktionsrate des gesamten Zyklus. Präzise Werte für die Reaktionsrate sind notwendig um das Wasserstoffbrennen in unserer Sonne besser zu verstehen. Besonders das Problem widersprüchlicher Ergebnisse aus Vorhersagen des aktuellen Sonnenmodells und helioseismologischen Experimenten könnte durch genauer bekannte 14N(p,gamma)15O Reaktionsraten aufgelöst werden. Dafür soll der solare 13N und 15O Neutrinofluss von den beta+-Zerfällen als direkter Informationsträger über die Häufigkeit von Stickstoff und Kohlenstoff im Sonneninneren genutzt werden. Der für die Berechnung der Häufigkeiten benötigte Wirkungsquerschnitt der 14N(p,gamma)15O Reaktion wurde in einer Evaluation verschiedener Messungen reduziert, da der Anteil des direkten Protoneneinfang mit Übergang in den Grundzustand deutlich weniger zum gesamten Wirkungsquerschnitt beiträgt als zuvor angenommen. Die evaluierte relative Gesamtunsicherheit ist mit 7.5% dennoch hoch, was zu einem großen Teil an ungenügendem Wissen über die Anregungsfunktion in einem weiten Energiebereich liegt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden experimentell ermittelte Wirkungsquerschnitte in Form von astrophysikalischen S-Faktoren für zwei Übergänge vorgestellt. Für den stärksten Übergang, den Protoneneinfang zum angeregten Zustand bei 6.79 MeV in 15O, wurden zwölf S-Faktoren bei Energien zwischen 0.357 – 1.292 MeV mit geringeren Unsicherheiten als zuvor ermittelt und für den direkten Übergang in den Grundzustand zehn Werte zwischen 0.479 – 1.202 MeV. Außerdem wurde ein R-Matrix Fit durchgeführt um den Einfluss der neuen Daten auf Extrapolationen zum astrophysikalisch relevanten Energiebereich zu prüfen. Die kürzlich vorgeschlagene Erhöhung des S-Faktors im Gamow-Fenster konnte nicht bestätigt werden und es wurden auch Unterschiede zu bisherigen Messungen im Energiebereich um 1 MeV deutlich. Die neuen extrapolierten S-Faktoren sind S679(0) = (1.19±0.10) keV b und SGS(0) = (0.25 ± 0.05) keV b und sie stimmen mit den von der Evaluation empfohlenen Werten im Rahmen ihrer Unsicherheiten überein

The Dynamics of Vote Buying in Developing Democracies: Party Attachment and Party Competition in Southeast Asia

Broadly defined, what factors explain changes in party competition in developing democracies? The dominant theoretical paradigm used to explain changes in party competition in established democracies does not offer much leverage in emerging ones. The literature argues that linkages between voting blocs and parties erode and cleavages shift, allowing for new voter blocs or even new parties. However, if social groups, parties, and party systems are different in emerging democracies than in established ones, does this mean the dynamics of party competition are also different? Also, what does is the role of voters in these systems? My dissertation outlines a theory for how changes in competition occur. Over time, voters form partisan attachments to parties based upon what parties say and do. Using extensive fieldwork my dissertation maps the broad contours of clientelism in Malaysia. I demonstrate that clientelism, as part of the party brand, has been a significant part of the electoral strategy for Malaysia’s longstanding dominant coalition. Nonetheless, in recent years programmatic platforms of opposition parties have become more popular, culminating in a substantial decline of Malaysia’s longstanding ruling coalition in the 2018 elections. This finding challenges much of the existing literature, which treats Malaysia as a case where ethnic political parties are the driving force behind electoral politics. However, in failing to account for clientelism and the way it is changing, this literature misses a major factor driving party competition. This has broad implications for democracy in Malaysia

A quantum categorification of the Alexander polynomial

Using a modified foam evaluation, we give a categorification of the Alexander polynomial of a knot. We also give a purely algebraic version of this knot homology which makes it appear as the infinite page of a spectral sequence starting at the reduced triply graded link homology of Khovanov--Rozansky.Comment: v2: A technical Proposition was missing, now included as an Appendix. 57 pages, many figures. Comments welcome! v3: Some typos corrected. Introduction re-writte

An adjudicated hermeneutic single-case efficacy design study of experiential therapy for panic/phobia

This paper illustrates the application of an adjudicated form of Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design (HSCED), a critical-reflective method for inferring change and therapeutic influence in single therapy cases. The client was a 61 year-old European-American male diagnosed with panic and bridge phobia. He was seen for 23 sessions of individual Process-Experiential/Emotion-Focused Therapy. In this study, affirmative and skeptic teams of researchers developed opposing arguments regarding whether the client changed over therapy and whether therapy was responsible for these changes. Three judges representing different theoretical orientations then assessed data and arguments, rendering judgments in favor of the affirmative side. We discuss clinical implications and recommendations for the future interpretive case study research

Prospective Physicians’ Intention to Adopt Artificial Intelligence: A Configurational Perspective

Artificial intelligence (AI) drives transformation across medical specialities, requiring current and future generations of physicians to navigate ever-changing digital environments. In this context, prospective physicians will play a key role in adopting and applying AI-based health technologies, underlining the importance of understanding their knowledge, attitudes, and intentions toward AI. To dissociate corresponding profiles, we adopted a configurational perspective and conducted a two-stage survey study of 184 (t_0) and 138 (t_1) medical students at a Canadian medical school. Our principal findings corroborate the existence of distinct clusters in respondents’ AI profiles. We refer to these profiles as the AI unfamiliar, the AI educated, and the AI positive, showing that each profile is associated with different intentions towards future AI use. These exploratory insights on the variety of AI profiles in prospective physicians underline the need for targeted and adaptive measures of education and outreach