This thesis aims to contribute to the body of work that seeks to unpack development by asking: how does development work? Using a purposive case study of Uganda and taking a mixed methods approach, the thesis explores the reality behind the rhetoric of aid coordination in a developing health sector, questioning the premise that coordination is pursued exclusively to improve the efficacy of official development assistance (as inferred by partners‟ vocal commitments to the tenets of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness). The study focuses on the member groups currently empowered to join Uganda‟s most important multi-stakeholder forum for health - the Health Policy Advisory Committee - finding that all members are guilty of picking and choosing from a checklist of voluntary coordination commitments. This is found to be at once logical - for facilitating the semblance of partnership between a disparate grouping of stakeholders with differing modi operandi, agency objectives and tolerance for risk – and advantageous - for masking difference and allowing outwardly homogenous groupings like the Health Development Partners to speak with “one voice” when addressing the Ugandan government. Most importantly of all however, partial adherence to the aid coordination ethos is found to permit the framing that aid to Uganda is at once necessary and well targeted, as the Government of Uganda actively invites its partners to participate in the processes of government at the central level. Such tangible commitments to the tenets of partnership and transparency are integral to maintaining donor confidence in the aftermath of two financial scandals involving the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation in 2005. In sum, the thesis argues that while on the surface coordination appears important for its internal significance - as an organising principle to improve the effectiveness of aid - in fact, the value of coordination stems from its external significance. Coordination creates a façade of unity which permits the continuance of aid flows to Uganda, with coordination activities now playing a pivotal role in determining who gives and receives aid, and how it should be spent.

This thesis examines the ways in which the Canadian and British bilateral donors—the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA, now Global Affairs Canada) and the Department for International Development (DFID)—have approached the intersections of religion and development. While DFID has been increasingly attentive to the topic, no significant government initiatives on religion in development have been launched by its Canadian counterpart since the early 1990s. Despite their seemingly divergent approaches to religion, the aid cultures of both donors are shaped by Western assumptions about “religion” and “the secular” that are not always shared by program communities. These assumptions, which are evident in both funding patterns and discourse, have the potential to marginalize local perspectives. Government donors exude significant influence on contemporary development practice and thus have the potential to play an important role in efforts to reform the dominant aid culture; however, given the intersecting inequalities manifest on both a global and local level, such efforts are convoluted and contentious. / February 2017

Several theorists have argued that organisations can increase performance through formalised cooperation with other important organisations (Baum & Oliver 1991). This notion of “institutional linkages” is appealing as it uses linkages as a proxy for legitimacy awarded to organisations for adherence to exogenous expectations. However, this operationalization also has its limitations. For what is the role of institutional linkages in groups of organisations where a majority of them – or all – are linked? Baum & Oliver (1991) provide meagre advice for what is to expect beyond the point of organisations being legitimate (linked) or not. But if organisations that hold (at least) one institutional linkage perform better than unlinked organisations, should not organisations that have multiple linkages also perform better than those who have but a single one? Intuitively, this seems reasonable. But considering that institutional linkages are associated with costs in terms of additional administration, audit and fees, it is not obvious that organisations desire ‘as many linkages as possible’. Using data for 339 aid organisations in Sweden, this study suggests developing the theoretical concept of institutional linkages, arguing that the number of institutional linkages serves as a prediction of organisational performance. Although further inquiry is needed to determine whether this effect persists as the number of linkages continues to increase, the findings suggest that organisations will strive towards having more institutional linkages than competing organisations.

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Taxation as State Aid The purpose of my thesis is to analyse taxation in connection with state aid. The reason for my research is to find out how Member States of European Union can use taxation without interfering with state aid provisions. The thesis is composed of three chapters. Chapter One is an introduction to the topic. There is a description of basic state aid provisions, taxation within European Union and the tax competition between Member States. Chapter Two examines article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in respect of taxation. The chapter consists of nine parts. Five ones further discuss constituent elements of state aid, where the main attention is given to selectivity as the main problem in state aid cases. Another four parts focus on procedure, judicial review, recovery of state aid and de minimis regulation. This chapter is the key part of the thesis because it pursues better understanding of state aid definition with respect to taxation. Chapter Three concentrates on problems resulting from the intersection of state aid and taxation such as the influence on double taxation treaties, discretionary powers of Member State's authorities, different taxation of autonomous regions, and so on. Conclusions summarize the importance of state aid in internal market...

Thesis advisor: Robert G. Murphy / Each year increasing levels of development assistance are provided to promote growth and reduce poverty in less developed countries. This is done, however, despite unresolved debates about the effectiveness of foreign aid. Investigating a new approach to the topic in 1999, Burnside and Dollar introduced a conceptual framework in which the effectiveness of aid is contingent on the economic and political policies of the countries receiving it. With its strong intuitive appeal, this hypothesis has attracted widespread attention, and yet the questions surrounding aid's effectiveness remain controversial. While the debate remains open-ended, this study reexamines Burnside and Dollar's specification with new and updated data and builds on their model with new econometric estimation techniques. Getting even a little closer to determining the true effects of foreign aid on developing countries is timely and valuable as calls and commitments for help are continuously rising. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

The AID/APOBEC protein family comprises a group of cytosine deaminases found in vertebrates that are capable of modifying cytosine to uracil in the context of RNA or singlestranded DNA. They exert diverse valuable physiological functions including antibody diversification and restriction of viral infection. However, off-target mutations have also been shown to contribute to cancer development, making it crucial to better understand the interactions and mechanisms that regulate AID/APOBEC activity and editing site fidelity. In this regard, a new focus on RNA as a putative regulator of AID/APOBECs has recently emerged. Regardless of whether it is used or not as a substrate for deamination, most members of the family have been shown to retain the ability to bind RNA, emphasizing a potential regulatory role for this interaction. However, little is known about AID/APOBECs RNA binding specificity. A promiscuous binding has been suggested in some cases while in vitro evidence for other members of the family indicate a certain level of specificity. Therefore, to thoroughly unravel the AID/APOBECs RNA binding specificity, in my doctoral research I applied cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (iCLIP), an unbiased technique that allows identification of protein-bound RNAs with nucleotide resolution in living cells. As a first approach, I adapted the technique for its use in yeast and probed the RNA binding of AID and APOBEC3G, revealing different degrees of preference for small structured RNAs and recognition of particular sites within them. I then expanded the analysis to mammalian cells (HEK293T) and evaluated an extended set of APOBECs finding that, even in the presence of a broader and more complex pool of RNAs, small RNAs were still significantly bound by some members of the family. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of AID, APOBEC1, APOBEC3G, APOBEC3A and APOBEC3B iCLIP data obtained in my research, revealed shared and individual preferences for certain RNAs, suggesting a degree of binding specificity among APOBECs. In summary, my thesis outlines for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the RNA binding specificity of different AID/APOBECs in vivo, including the description of novel interactions with nucleotide resolution. The results obtained are of great value and open the field for further investigation of the specific meaning and validation of each preferential binding, providing new insights into understanding the role of AID/APOBEC interaction with RNA.

The study examines the importance of competitive advantage and change in a dynamic environment. The purpose of the study is to explore how AAI could remain relevant and competitive in the market and examines how regularly changing its approaches to programme delivery could be used to meet needs of the community. The study also focused on the impact of AAI’s pace of change and how the pace impacted on the organization’s effectiveness and quality of programmed delivery. AAI relied on its past successful programmes to address the need of communities in many new countries. However, previously successful programmes did not prove popular when rolled in new markets. AAI programmes are suffering substantial withdrawals from beneficiaries. Beneficiaries are withdrawing from AAI programmes, complaining that the programme delivery approaches were not competitive and innovative. Many new organizations being formed are competing not just for beneficiary markets, but for financial resources (funding), skills and new ideas of delivering programmes. Traditional government type donors are being overtaken by a new crop of donors that is in favour of funding competitive and innovative organizations. Traditional aid organizations are losing market share to smaller agencies. The organizational structure of AAI appears not to support effective and efficient delivery of programmes. With no senior manager at the helm of the department, coordinating activities, sustaining competitive advantage and managing change within the programme department remained a challenge for the organization. A frastruated staff compliments exacerbated the situation. Employee turnover at the key and tactical levels resulted in the department operating without adequate staff and key personnel. This made coordination and cooperation amongst units very difficult. Various programme units operated in silos and mixed messages were sent to community resulting in the community being unhappy with AAI. Community felt that AAI did not consult with them when deciding on how to meet their needs. Community members felt that AAI was taking unilateral decisions and did not care about their feedback and the quality of the programmes delivered. This study further examines how AAI has suffered due to its inability to respond to the needs of community and its failure to adapt to the changing business environment. It reveals how innovation and adaptability is critical for retaining competitive advantage. It reveals how capabilities once built can be eroded by competition through copying. It concludes by revealing the importance of dynamic capabilities in sustaining competitive advantage as well as the need to change in response to the market. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

The foreign aid sector is expanding each year, distributing hundreds of billions of USD per year to the least developed countries of the world. Meanwhile, extensive research has found that aid is not an efficient way to stimulate economic growth in the recipients. Neither is it an effective way to increase long-term sustainable development. While a major debate is going on regarding what actions can be taken to increase the efficiency of foreign aid, a parallel discussion is going on regarding whether the motives of the donor countries are complicit in making the aid inefficient. This thesis examines the contemporary discourse on motives behind foreign aid allocation and puts together an analytical framework for distinguishing between humanitarian, developmental and strategical motives. This framework is used to interpret the results of an empirical study covering two groups of donors; five donors that have previously been found to prioritize their own interests over those of the recipients, and five donors with a more altruistic profile within the literature on the topic. The results of this study corroborate those findings, while emphasizing the impact of colonial- and regional ties for both groups of donors.

Dementia is a growing problem with prevalence rapidly increasing. It is a progressive and eventually severe disease that affects many areas of the person’s life. Often, as a result of this disease, individuals reside in care homes. Care staff can find it difficult to get to know a person with dementia as they have limited time to spend with each person. In addition, communication difficulties can make it difficult to learn important social information and preferences. This lack of knowledge about an individual with dementia can make social interactions very difficult and can often contribute to repetitive social interactions. This research aimed to establish if technology could be used to support care staff within their care environment to get to know people with late-stage dementia. The goal was to develop software that can act as an external communication bridge between carers and people with dementia through the creation of simple but effective ‘Portraits’. This thesis investigates the creation and use of multimedia ‘Portraits’ of individuals with dementia that are immediately and easily accessible to care staff. This thesis describes the development of a software tool called Portrait, designed to help staff in care homes quickly get to know a person with dementia as a person. It is intended to be used by the staff in their care environment to gain an initial understanding of that person’s life prior to entering care and to learn more personal information about their needs and habits. The Portrait system contains important but limited personal and social information about the people with dementia. Five key studies were conducted during this research. The first study evaluated the usability of the Portrait system. The second and third were conducted with care managers and staff in the care home setting to assess usefulness and usability of the Portrait system and to compare it to current methods used in the care home environment. The fourth study conducted case studies with families of people with dementia to investigate the Portrait creation process and the final study investigated the placement of these Portraits in the care environment. The results of this research are promising, with Portrait being very positively received by care managers, care staff and the families of people with dementia. This research highlights the potential benefits of technology in the care environment to assist care staff. A number of key areas for future research have been identified including the possibility of expanding the use of the system and using alternative state of the art devices.