By year 2020, developed countries pledged to mobilize USD100 billion per year towards mitigation of greenhouse gases and strategies of adaptation. This redistribution from Annex I (developed) countries to developing countries represents a near doubling of current official development assistance levels, yet future strategies of adaptation remain nebulous. Definitions, opinions and agendas of adaptation have evolved into new global development strategy, but will externally-designed strategies threaten an adaptive process that should be community-led and environmentally-contextual? Little empirical research has been conducted on adaptation as an international development strategy that consists of massive earmarking of funds to institute and later demonstrate that projects are related to climate change. Through semi-structured interviews with international and development organizations, national and local governments, civil society and community focus groups, this research chronicles Malawi's polycentric response to climate change vulnerability. Using site-visits to numerous active adaptation projects in Malawi as case-studies, this research examines who the stakeholders are in this process, what adaptation looks like and how the overall concept of this new development strategy can be improved. / text

B cells are capable of producing antibodies of diverse antigen specificities and effector functions to counter infection by a wide range of pathogens. The diversification of immunoglobulin (Ig) is achieved through a series of programmed DNA recombination and mutagenic events during B cell maturation. A key factor involved in the Ig diversification process is Activation Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID). AID is a B cell specific enzyme that is critical for three distinct pathways of Ig diversification: class switch recombination, somatic hypermutation and Ig gene conversion. AID functions by deaminating cytosine to uracil in target DNA at the Ig loci. Although essential for effective immunity, the mutagenic activity of AID needs to be confined to the Ig loci in order to protect genomic integrity, but the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, I show that two lymphoid specific transcription factors, PU.1 and IRF4, play important roles in regulating AID function in chicken B cells. PU.1 and IRF4 have been implicated in many aspects of B cell development and function. The two factors could form a heterodimer and regulate target gene expression cooperatively. However, we found that PU.1 and IRF4 appear to have different impacts on AID function. We show that PU.1 is important for the expression of AID gene in chicken B cells, and the regulation appears to involve direct interaction of PU.1 with the AID gene. By comparison, IRF4 plays a minor role in AID expression. On the other hand, both PU.1 and IRF4 are required for efficient gene conversion that is mediated by AID at the Igλ locus. Moreover, the gene dosage of PU.1 is critical for AID function, since a severe gene conversion defect is observed in PU.1+/- cells. The function of PU.1 and IRF4 in AID-mediated gene conversion involves binding sites for the PU.1/IRF4 complex within a regulatory element at the Igλ locus. Future studies will be directed at understanding how PU.1 and IRF4 regulate AID-mediated gene conversion. / text

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The thesis examines policy making, especially in the shelter sector, from a different perspective: the impact of the macro-level political economy on the micro-level intervention. To establish this relationship more precisely, a conceptual framework which explores the effects of the role and nature of the state, foreign aid (USAID), and economic reform (IMF/World Bank) is utilised. This framework is deployed to investigate the interaction between these three key elements and how they affected shifts and changes in shelter policies in Egypt from the 1950s. By 1952 the government assumed a more central role in service provision with its socialist orientation. On the macro-political level, dramaticc hanges have taken place since then, but, in effect were not mirrored with adequatere form on the structural or organisational levels, with regards to tackling the shelter needs of the country. The core of the thesis explores, from the shelter sector perspective, the role of the state as an interest mediator throughout different periods. This reveals that the shelter sector always formed an important investment priority susceptible to both internal and external determinants. Internal determinants are related to domestic priorities influenced by changes in the social structure, class interests, and resource allocation. External determinants concern the role played by international agencies in promoting development models in which the shelter sector plays an often uncertain role, or direct political pressure as a part of geo-strategic concerns. The state's receptiveness and ability to mediate is constrained by the extent to which external agendas fit or conflict with the state's development ideology, perceptions of equity, social justice and stability. Using an inductive approach, the empirical evidence is drawn from interviews with key figures in policy making as well as independent observers. The thesis argues that in order to provide a refined understanding to the housing question it has to be put in its broader socio-economic and political context. Outcomes have generally been technocratic solutions to a problem that is largely structural in nature. The gap between the political and technocratic levels of policy making and implementation is a central theme in the study. The distinctive responses to the shelter question, from both levels, over four decades in Egypt, and under a highly complex and rapidly changing political environment are reflected in the outcomes. Perceptions, priorities and criteria driving decision making of key actors, and the state's central role in mediating between external and internal interests, as well as its own, were the main themes deployed in the investigation. The findings suggest that policy making is an outcome of the interaction among the needs of the state (especially the autocratic tendencies of the leadership, and the technocrats) and external forces which determine policies according to a different agenda (geo-political): outcomes, therefore, may not be generated by a conscious policy making process, but rather, directly, from political impact. The study also suggests that structural changes in development paradigms do not appear to be the main determinant of policy shifts. A combination of short-term and specific international objectives and national interests of the state appear to be more instrumental in policy shifts and modifications in approaches.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Student financial-aid programs have changed drastically over the past twenty-five years. Many new loan and grant programs have come into existence at the federal, state, and institution level over this period. While more financial-aid programs are available now than in the past, little has been published regarding the financial-aid plans of high-school seniors and the likelihood of realization of these plans for students of different socioeconomic status (SES) or ability. Nor has there been much published regarding the dropout rates of students using various forms of financial aid. The purpose of this paper was to investigate these two topics with a special emphasis on comparing loan users with users of other forms of aid. The financial-aid groups used most often in these analyses were loans only, loans in combination with other aid, other aid only, and familial aid only. Differences in SES, ability, type of school, and type of loan for students planning various types of aid were analyzed statistically using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), or Chi-square tests. Similar analyses were performed for students using various forms of financial aid in their first postsecondary schooling. Comparisons of the planners and users are made for the different types of aid and other variables. Differences in dropout rates for students in the several financial-aid categories were analyzed using ANOVA. The variables SES, ability, grade-point average, and parental income were used in these ANOVA's as blocking factors to obtain separate estimates of dropout rates for categories of these variables as well as to test for differences in these rates. The final set of analyses in this paper tested for differences in SES, ability, and grade-point average of students in the several financial-aid groups who persist, stop out, or drop out. These tests were accomplished using MANOVA. The dropout rate analyses and the persist, stopout, and dropout analyses were accomplished for academic years beginning in 1972, 1973, and 1974 and thus allow longitudinal estimates of the dropout rates and other variables tested. Data for these analyses were extracted from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Major findings follow. The planning and using analysis in this paper showed that students planning to use loans had significantly lower SES than those not planning loans. Further, when first-year loan users are compared larger percentages of low SES students were using loans than students in the two higher categories of SES. Vocational school students not only plan to use loans at higher rates than students planning other schools, but have a much higher percentage use of loans only than do students at other schools. Low SES students at these schools seem to bear a disproportionate loan burden when compared to students at other schools. Vocational students also use less desirable loan programs at higher rates than other students. When dropout rates of financial-aid groups are compared for this three-year study, it is evident the first year of schooling is critical. First-year dropout rates are higher than those in the following two years; type of aid used in the first year has an apparent effect on first-year students not indicated by the later analyses. Students relying on loans only or familial aid only have higher dropout rates than students using loans in combination with other types of aid. This phenomenon appears to affect levels of SES differentially. Low SES students have higher dropout rates when relying exclusively on loans or on family aid than do high SES students.

The diversity of US institutions of higher education is manifested in many ways. This study looks at that diversity from the economic perspective by studying the subsidy structure through the distribution of institutional price-cost ratio (PCR), defined as the sum of net tuition price divided by total supplier cost and equals to one minus subsidy-cost ratio (SCR). IPEDS Finance, Enrollment, and Institutional Characteristics survey data for academic year 2006-2007 are used.Significant between-sector differences are found in terms of both central locations and ranges of PCR. Public two-year institutions have the lowest average PCR (0.12) and smallest within-group variation while for-profit four-year institutions have the highest average PCR (0.93). The within-group variations are quite large for both private nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Nine types of subsidy structure are constructed and used to categorize institutions, which reveal considerable overlapping between public and private nonprofit sectors and between private nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Private nonprofit sector is consistently shown as the "hybrid" sector with more similarities to the public sector.This study highlights price-cost ratio as an important metric for economics of higher education because it integrates targeted price adjustments (list price - net price) and general subsidy (supplier cost - list price), allows for negative subsidy, and accounts for cost variations. It succinctly provides a holistic view of the subsidy-profit spectrum and serves the purpose to rectify the currently skewed perspective that predominantly focuses on "student aid" (redefined as "targeted price adjustments") and for the most part excludes the for-profit sector. A byproduct of this study is a detailed account of how to adjust new GASB/FASB-based IPEDS Finance data to derive meaningful price and cost measures to support cross-sector comparison.

Foreign aid has shaped the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa since independence. There has been passionate debate as to whether this has helped or hurt Africa’s poor economies. One of the downsides to foreign aid is the effect it can have on appreciating the real exchange rate and on harming the competitiveness of export-oriented sectors in favour of producers of non-traded goods. I find that the influence of aid flows on the real exchange rate varies greatly across countries, and that movements in the real exchange rate driven by foreign aid have been overshadowed by policy changes and structural adjustment.

The purposes of the present work were: 1) to develop a computerized model that could predict the personal lift-assist device (PLAD) spring excursion and control spring stiffness for various individuals based on their anthropometry and working posture and 2) to test the PLAD’s (Version 6) effectiveness and user acceptability during static forward bending in an automotive assembly plant. Study 1 required 30 subjects to carry out a protocol that simulated unloaded stoop, squat, and freestyle lifting. Trunk inclination and knee angles were determined via 3 FastrakTM sensors, whereas a displacement transducer attached in-line with the PLAD determined excursion when the trunk or knees flexed. A model was created to determine spring excursion, and it was successfully validated with 10 additional subjects. A computerized model applying the excursion model and mathematical equations was also developed to calculate the required spring stiffness for offsetting a proportion of the L4/L5 bending moment for each individual in various postures. Study 2 investigated the effectiveness and user acceptability of the PLAD at an automotive manufacturing facility, using operators who performed an assembly process requiring forward bending and static holds. Surface EMG data were collected at six sites on the low back and abdomen, and a tri-axial accelerometer was mounted on each subject’s sternum to measure trunk inclination. A 20% reduction in the L4/L5 bending moment was provided to each wearer using the aforementioned computerized model. The PLAD was able to significantly reduce low back muscular activity, predicted-compression, and ratings of perceived exertion, without significantly changing abdominal activity or trunk inclination. Workers had positive opinions about the device, and 80% said they would wear the device everyday on-line. Additionally, the computerized model developed in Study 1 was effective, as worker low back muscular activity was reduced by approximately 20% when wearing the PLAD. With slight alterations, the PLAD appears to be beneficial in reducing low back forces and discomfort in many tasks that place excessive biomechanical loading on the low back. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-18 15:55:16.757