A Study to Determine the Anticipated Qualifications and Competencies of Audiovisual Specialists in the Community Colleges of the State of Washington

The problem considered in this study is to determine the relationship between the responsibilities and duties of the audiovisual services administrator and the competencies and qualifications necessary to perform those responsibilities and duties satisfactorily and professionally

Winners and losers from a commodities-for-manufactures trade boom

A recent boom in commodities-for-manufactures trade between China and other developing countries has led to much concern about the losers from rising import competition in manufacturing, but little attention on the winners from growing Chinese demand for commodities. Using census data for Brazil, we find that local labour markets more affected by Chinese import competition experienced slower growth in manufacturing wages and in-migration rates between 2000 and 2010, and greater rises in local wage inequality. However, in locations benefiting from rising Chinese demand, we observe higher wage growth, lower takeup of cash transfers and positive effects on job quality

Trade in raw materials and economic development

This thesis considers three cases in which trade in natural resources and other raw materials can inform us about wider questions of economic development. The first chapter, “Capturing the Value Chain: The Persistence of Trade Policy in China After WTO Accession”, considers whether in the GATT/WTO era, developing countries are still able to actively conduct trade policy. In this study, I show that after China’s entry into WTO, required import tariff reductions on downstream sectors have been partly offset by an alternative policy with similar effects: export restrictions on raw materials. I also find that larger rises in Chinese raw materials export taxes after WTO accession have been associated with greater downstream export growth. The second chapter, “Winners and Losers from a Commodities-for-Manufactures Trade Boom”, examines two contrasting outcomes of the ‘de-industrialization’ associated with rising trade between China and other developing countries. In particular, this chapter compares changes in labour market outcomes in Brazilian regions stimulated by rising demand from China for raw materials, with Brazilian regions whose manufacturing sectors have been harmed by Chinese import competition. While there was slower growth in manufacturing wages and greater rises in local wage inequality in ‘loser’ regions between 2000 and 2010, ‘winner’ regions experienced higher wage growth, lower takeup of cash transfers and positive effects on job quality. The third chapter,“Access to Raw Materials and Local Comparative Advantage: The Effects of India’s Freight Equalization Policy”, considers the importance of access to raw materials for industrial development. It does so by looking at the effects of a Indian policy that aimed to remove regional comparative advantages associated with proximity to raw materials, by equalizing prices of steel across India. The results suggest that in practice, this policy may have had only a limited effect on access to raw materials across Indian states

Association of Chlamydia pneumoniae with coronary artery disease and its progression is dependent on the modifying effect of mannose-binding lectin

Background— The possible association between coronary artery disease (CAD) and Chlamydia pneumoniae (C pneumoniae) infection is controversial. On the basis of the recent suggestion that mannose-binding lectin (MBL) variant alleles are related to an increased risk of severe atherosclerosis, and on the in vitro interaction of MBL with C pneumoniae, we asked whether MBL might contribute to CAD in conjunction with C pneumoniae. Methods and Results— Antibodies to C pneumoniae were measured by immunofluorescence and MBL alleles were determined by polymerase chain reaction technique in samples from 210 patients with CAD and 257 healthy subjects from Hungary collected between 1995 and 1996. A higher percentage of patients with CAD were anti-C pneumoniae positive as compared with the control group (P=0.058). However, at logistic regression analysis adjusted to age, sex, and serum lipid levels, this difference was confined only to subjects carrying MBL variant alleles (P=0.035, odds ratio 2.63, [95% CI: 1.07 to 6.45]). In contrast, no significant difference was seen in those homozygous for the normal MBL allele (P=0.412). During a 65±5.8-month follow-up period, major outcomes (new myocardial infarction, and/or bypass operation or cardiovascular death) occurred in 11 C pneumoniae positive and 3 C pneumoniae negative patients. In the C pneumoniae positive group, the odds ratio of development of outcomes was 3.27 (95% CI: 1.10 to 9.71, P=0.033) in the carriers of the MBL variant alleles compared with the homozygous carriers of the normal MBL allele. Conclusions— These results indicate that infection with C pneumoniae leads mainly to the development and progression of severe CAD in patients with variation in the MBL gene

Impact of Massachusetts Health Care Reform on Asthma Mortality

Thesis advisor: Marvin KrausThesis advisor: Matt RutledgeThe state of Massachusetts implemented a health care reform in 2006 that induced a number of changes to its health care system. Studies regarding this reform bear a certain degree of predictive power on the national scale because the reform was used as a model for the Affordable Care Act, the highly controversial national health care reform law passed in 2010. Most of the research on health care reform focuses on the costs, not the quality, of health care. I utilized a difference-in-differences statistical design to isolate the impact of the Massachusetts reform on the state's asthma mortality rate, a health care quality indicator. Given certain assumptions, my empirical results indicate that the reform led to a 45.38% reduction in asthma mortality in Massachusetts. Due to the similarity between the Massachusetts and the national health care reform laws, I drew the conclusion that national asthma mortality rates will decrease after 2014 when certain key provisions of the national reform come into play.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Economics Honors Program.Discipline: Economics