The political economy of industrial policy in Peru and Ecuador: 1980-2010

This dissertation focuses on industrial policy in two developing countries: Peru and Ecuador. Informed by comparative historical analysis, it explains how the Import-Substitution Industrialization policies promoted during the 1970s by military administration unravelled in the following 30 years under the guidance of Washington Consensus policies. Positioning political economy in time, the research objectives were two-fold: understanding long-term policy reform patterns, including the variables that conditioned cyclical versus path-dependent dynamics of change and; secondly, investigating the direction and leverage of state institutions supporting the manufacturing sector at the dawn, peak and consolidation of neoliberal discourse in both countries. Three interconnected causal mechanisms explain the divergence of trajectories: institutional legacies, coordination among actors and economic distribution of power. Peru’s long tradition of a minimal state contrasts with the embedded character of Ecuador long tradition of legal protectionism dating back to the Liberal Revolution. Peru’s close policy coordination among stakeholders –state technocrats and business elites- differs from Ecuador’s “winners-take-all” approach for policy-making. Peru’s economic dynamism concentrated in Lima sharply departs from Ecuador’s competitive regional economic leaderships. This dissertation paid particular attention to methodology to understand the intersection between structure and agency in policy change. Tracing primary and secondary sources, as well as key pieces of legislation, became critical to understand key turning points and long-term patterns of change. Open-ended interviews (N=58) with two stakeholder groups (business elites and bureaucrats) compounded the effort to knit motives, discourses, and interests behind this long transition. In order to understand this amount of data, this research build an index of policy intervention as a methodological contribution to assess long patterns of policy change. These findings contribute to the current literature on State-market relations and varieties of capitalism, institutional change, and policy reform.

Rightful Resistance in the Colombian conflict. A theoretical reflection based on a Peace Community

This article considers the opportunities of civilians to peacefully resist violent conflicts or civil wars. The argument developed here is based on a field-based research on the peace community San José de Apartadó in Colombia. The analytical and theoretical framework, which delimits the use of the term ‘resistance’ in this article, builds on the conceptual considerations of Hollander and Einwohner (2004) and on the theoretical concept of ‘rightful resistance’ developed by O’Brien (1996). Beginning with a conflict-analytical classification of the case study, we will describe the long-term socio-historical processes and the organizational experiences of the civilian population, which favoured the emergence of this resistance initiative. The analytical approach to the dimensions and aims of the resistance of this peace community leads to the differentiation of O`Brian’s concept of ‘rightful resistance’.

A metagenomic comparison of endemic viruses from broiler chickens with runting stunting syndrome and from normal birds

Runting-stunting syndrome (RSS) in broiler chickens is an enteric disease that causes significant economic losses to poultry producers worldwide due to elevated feed conversion ratios, decreased body weight during growth, and excessive culling. Of specific interest are the viral agents associated with RSS which have been difficult to fully characterise to date. Past research into the aetiology of RSS has implicated a wide variety of RNA and DNA viruses however, to date, no individual virus has been identified as the main agent of RSS and the current opinion is that it may be caused by a community of viruses, collectively known as the virome. This paper attempts to characterise the viral pathogens associated with 2 – 3 week old RSS-affected and unaffected broiler chickens using next-generation sequencing and comparative metagenomics. Analysis of the viromes identified a total of 20 DNA & RNA viral families, along with 2 unidentified categories, comprised of 31 distinct viral genera and 7 unclassified genera. The most abundant viral families identified in this study were the Astroviridae, Caliciviridae, Picornaviridae, Parvoviridae, Coronaviridae, Siphoviridae, and Myoviridae. This study has identified historically significant viruses associated with the disease such as chicken astrovirus, avian nephritis virus, chicken parvovirus, and chicken calicivirus along with relatively novel viruses such as chicken megrivirus and sicinivirus 1 and will help expand the knowledge related to enteric disease in broiler chickens, provide insights into the viral constituents of a healthy avian gut, and identify a variety of enteric viruses and viral communities appropriate for further study.

Understanding Quadruple Helix Relationships of University Technology Commercialisation: A Micro Level Approach

Given recent demands for more co-creational university technology commercialisation
processes involving industry and end users, this paper adopts a micro level approach to explore
the challenges faced by universities when managing quadruple helix stakeholders within the
technology commercialisation processes. To explore this research question, a qualitative
research methodology which relies upon comparative case analysis was adopted to explore the
technology commercialisation process in two universities within a UK region. The findings
revealed that university type impacts Quadruple Helix stakeholder salience and engagement
and consequently university technology commercialisation activities and process. This is
important as recent European regional policy fails to account for contextual influences when
promoting Quadruple Helix stakeholder relationships in co-creational university technology
commercialisation.

Caring for Children Dying from Cancer at Home: a Qualitative Study of the Experience of Primary Care Practitioners

Background. The rarity of childhood cancers makes providing palliative care in the community an unusual event for primary care practitioners. Providing this care requires effective interprofessional collaboration with the team that forms to provide the care often working together for the first and only time. Objective. To explore the experiences of primary care practitioners following their involvement in the palliative care of a child with cancer at home. Methods. The study design was a community-based qualitative study. The study location was the West Midlands region. Purposeful sample of GPs and community nurses involved in providing palliative care to 12 children. One-to-one in-depth interviews with 47 primary care professionals (10 GPs and 37 community nurses) and 5 facilitated case discussions were undertaken. Field notes were documented and grounded theory data analysis undertaken: chronological comparative data analysis identifying generated themes. Results. GPs had minimal input into the preceding care of children undergoing treatment for cancer but sought to re-establish their role at the child’s transition to palliative care. GPs felt they had a role to play and could add value to this phase of care, highlighted their continuing role with the child’s family and acknowledged that they had gained from the experience of contributing. However, lack of specialist knowledge and uncertainty about their role within the team made this more challenging. In contrast, community nurses were routinely involved in both active treatment and palliation care phases. There was little evidence of collaboration between the specialist and primary care professionals involved. There was considerable variation in out of hours provision across cases. Conclusions. Engaging primary care practitioners needs to be more actively anticipated and negotiated at the transition to palliation. Variation in out of hours care is another cause for concern. Enhancing inter-professional collaboration and planning during both active and palliative care phases may help. Keywords. Cancer, family medicine, palliative care, paediatric.

Using Social Worlds Theory to Explore Influences on Community Nurses’ Experiences of Providing Out of Hours Paediatric Palliative Care

Abstract Background: Paediatric oncology palliative care in the community is rare and nationally there is a lack of standardisation of out of hours nursing service provision. Objectives: This paper seeks to explore influences on the experiences of paediatric nurses providing out of hours palliative care within the family home to children with cancer. The study used social worlds theory to aid identification and demonstration of the findings. Methods: Twelve community-based palliative cases were purposively selected from children with cancer treated at one regional centre. Tape-recorded interviews were undertaken with 54 health professionals (general practitioners, community nurses and allied health professionals) involved in providing their palliative care and five facilitated case discussions completed. Data analysis followed a grounded theory approach; chronological comparative data analysis identifying generated themes. Social worlds theory was used as a framework to examine the data. Results: Nurses’ experiences are shaped by their social world and those of the nursing team,child and family and the inter-professional team providing the care. The lack of a formalised service, sub-optimal inter-professional working and impact of social worlds influence the experience of the nurse. Conclusions: Social worlds theory provided a new perspective in understanding these experiences based within a paediatric palliative care setting, knowledge that can be used to inform service provision.

Pediatric Oncology Palliative Care: Experiences of General Practitioners and Bereaved Parents

Objective: This qualitative study set in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom, aimed to examine the role of the general practitioner (GP) in children's oncology palliative care from the perspective of GPs who had cared for a child with cancer receiving palliative care at home and bereaved parents. Methods: One-to-one semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 GPs and 11 bereaved parents following the death. A grounded theory data analysis was undertaken; identifying generated themes through chronological comparative data analysis. Results: Similarity in GP and parent viewpoints was found, the GPs role seen as one of providing medication and support. Time pressures GPs faced influenced their level of engagement with the family during palliative and bereavement care and their ability to address their identified learning deficits. Lack of familiarity with the family, coupled with an acknowledgment that it was a rare and could be a frightening experience, also influenced their level of interaction. There was no consistency in GP practice nor evidence of practice being guided by local or national policies. Parents lack of clarity of their GPs role resulted in missed opportunities for support. Conclusions: Time pressures influence GP working practices. Enhanced communication and collaboration between the GP and regional childhood cancer centre may help address identified GP challenges, such as learning deficits, and promote more time-efficient working practices through role clarity. Parents need greater awareness of their GP's wide-ranging role; one that transcends palliative care incorporating bereavement support and on-going medical care for family members

Providing Palliative Care for the Child with Cancer: The Experience of GPs

Background Childhood cancers are rare and general practitioners (GPs) have limited experience in caring for these children and even less in providing their palliative care. Most families prefer that their child is cared for at home in the palliative phase of their illness, with professional support from those known to them (Chambers and Oakhill 1995, Vickers and Carlisle 2000, Craft and Killen 2007). A community based qualitative study examined the experiences of ten GPs following their involvement in the care of a child with cancer receiving palliative care within the family home. Methods Data collection was through 1:1 in-depth interviews and facilitated case discussion supported by field notes and grounded theory analysis (chronological comparative data analysis identifying generated themes). Social worlds theory was used as a framework to aid examination, and facilitate critical understanding, of the experiences of the GPs. Findings This presentation focuses on five of the findings relating to the experiences of the GP; the impact of minimal contact; lack of knowledge and experience, uncertain role, out of hours service provision and the emotional toll. Findings highlighted that GPs often have to re-establish their role at the child’s transition to palliative care. Factors hindering the GP in this process include a deficit of specialist knowledge and experience of paediatric palliative care and lack of role clarity. Conclusions/points of interest Strategies for enhancing the role of the Macmillan team in supporting GPs have been identified by this study, such as enhanced collaborative working. Findings have also provided further confirmation of the substantial variation in out of hours medical palliative care provision; with evidence that some GPs work beyond their remit in providing informal out of hours care. This presentation details the findings of one aspect (the experiences of GPs) of a wider study that explored the experiences of 54 community based health professionals (GPs, community nurses and allied health professionals) who had been involved in caring for a dying with cancer receiving palliative care at home (Neilson 2009).

Managing Transition from Curative to Palliative: GP and Bereaved Parent Experiences

Background Children with cancer in the UK are treated in regional childhood cancer centres (RCCC). Families and health care professionals can develop close working relationships over the often-long duration of treatment. Cancer still accounts for largest numbers of childhood disease related deaths and as home is commonly the choice of location for palliative and end of life care, the child and family can face transitions both from curative to palliative care and from hospital to home. This paper reports on findings relating to these transitions from the perspectives of parents and family doctors highlighting implications for both hospital and community based health care practitioners. Aims To explore the experiences of bereaved parents and family doctors following the death of a child with cancer in the family home. Methods Ethical approval was sought and obtained. In this qualitative study one-to-one semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 GPs and 11 bereaved parents. The parents were those whose child had received treatment for cancer at a RCCC in the UK and who died at home, the GPs were those involved in the palliative care. Chronological comparative data analysis using grounded theory was completed. Results Cessation of contact with the RCCC when the child receives palliative care at home can be traumatic for parents. Hospital and community based health care professionals need to carefully consider how they establish, maintain and end working relationships with the child and family. Conclusions Findings from this study provide a new perspective to the effective management of transition in paediatric oncology palliative care; managing working relationships. Findings highlight the need for hospital and community based staff to identify and employ strategies that ensure working relationships with families are effectively managed prior to, during and following the child’s transition from curative to palliative care.

Undertaking Sensitive Interviews: Reflections on Interviewing Bereaved Parents

Paediatric palliative care is a rare experience for many GPs. Although they recognise that they have a role to play, and can be is value in providing palliative care, their ability to fulfil this role can be hindered by a lack of role clarity. A qualitative study set in the West Midlands, examined the role of the GP in children's oncology palliative care from the perspective of the GP who had cared for the child receiving palliative scare for cancer at home and the bereaved parent. One-to-one semi-sturcured interviews were undertaken with 18 GPs an 11 bereaved parent following the death. A ground theory data analysis was undertaken: identifying generated themes through chronological comparative data analysis. Reflecting on my experiences working with bereaved families both as a paediatric Macmillan nurse and a researcher, the challenges of undertaking sensitive research, in relation to the vulnerability of the particular group and the nature of questions being asked will be explored.

Dealing with flood damages: will prevention, mitigation, and ex post compensation provide for a resilient triangle?

There is a wealth of literature on the design of ex post compensation mechanisms for natural disasters. However, more research needs to be done on the manner in which these mechanisms could steer citizens toward adopting individual-level preventive and protection measures in the face of flood risks. We have provided a comparative legal analysis of the financial compensation mechanisms following floods, be it through insurance, public funds, or a combination of both, with an empirical focus on Belgium, the Netherlands, England, and France. Similarities and differences between the methods in which these compensation mechanisms for flood damages enhance resilience were analyzed. The comparative analysis especially focused on the link between the recovery strategy on the one hand and prevention and mitigation strategies on the other. There is great potential within the recovery strategy for promoting preventive action, for example in terms of discouraging citizens from living in high-risk areas, or encouraging the uptake of mitigation measures, such as adaptive building. However, this large potential has yet to be realized, in part because of insufficient consideration and promotion of these connections within existing legal frameworks. We have made recommendations about how the linkages between strategies can be further improved. These recommendations relate to, among others, the promotion of resilient reinstatement through recovery mechanisms and the removal of legal barriers preventing the establishment of link-inducing measures.

Genometa - A Fast and Accurate Classifier for Short Metagenomic Shotgun Reads

Metagenomic studies use high-throughput sequence data to investigate microbial communities in situ. However, considerable challenges remain in the analysis of these data, particularly with regard to speed and reliable analysis of microbial species as opposed to higher level taxa such as phyla. We here present Genometa, a computationally undemanding graphical user interface program that enables identification of bacterial species and gene content from datasets generated by inexpensive high-throughput short read sequencing technologies. Our approach was first verified on two simulated metagenomic short read datasets, detecting 100% and 94% of the bacterial species included with few false positives or false negatives. Subsequent comparative benchmarking analysis against three popular metagenomic algorithms on an Illumina human gut dataset revealed Genometa to attribute the most reads to bacteria at species level (i.e. including all strains of that species) and demonstrate similar or better accuracy than the other programs. Lastly, speed was demonstrated to be many times that of BLAST due to the use of modern short read aligners. Our method is highly accurate if bacteria in the sample are represented by genomes in the reference sequence but cannot find species absent from the reference. This method is one of the most user-friendly and resource efficient approaches and is thus feasible for rapidly analysing millions of short reads on a personal computer.

Conflict and Stability in the Neoliberal Era: Explaining Urban Unrest in Latin America

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Collection-Level Subject Access in Aggregations of Digital Collections: Metadata Application and Use

Problems in subject access to information organization systems have been under investigation for a long time. Focusing on item-level information discovery and access, researchers have identified a range of subject access problems, including quality and application of metadata, as well as the complexity of user knowledge required for successful subject exploration. While aggregations of digital collections built in the United States and abroad generate collection-level metadata of various levels of granularity and richness, no research has yet focused on the role of collection-level metadata in user interaction with these aggregations. This dissertation research sought to bridge this gap by answering the question “How does collection-level metadata mediate scholarly subject access to aggregated digital collections?” This goal was achieved using three research methods: • in-depth comparative content analysis of collection-level metadata in three large-scale aggregations of cultural heritage digital collections: Opening History, American Memory, and The European Library • transaction log analysis of user interactions, with Opening History, and • interview and observation data on academic historians interacting with two aggregations: Opening History and American Memory. It was found that subject-based resource discovery is significantly influenced by collection-level metadata richness. The richness includes such components as: 1) describing collection’s subject matter with mutually-complementary values in different metadata fields, and 2) a variety of collection properties/characteristics encoded in the free-text Description field, including types and genres of objects in a digital collection, as well as topical, geographic and temporal coverage are the most consistently represented collection characteristics in free-text Description fields. Analysis of user interactions with aggregations of digital collections yields a number of interesting findings. Item-level user interactions were found to occur more often than collection-level interactions. Collection browse is initiated more often than search, while subject browse (topical and geographic) is used most often. Majority of collection search queries fall within FRBR Group 3 categories: object, concept, and place. Significantly more object, concept, and corporate body searches and less individual person, event and class of persons searches were observed in collection searches than in item searches. While collection search is most often satisfied by Description and/or Subjects collection metadata fields, it would not retrieve a significant proportion of collection records without controlled-vocabulary subject metadata (Temporal Coverage, Geographic Coverage, Subjects, and Objects), and free-text metadata (the Description field). Observation data shows that collection metadata records in Opening History and American Memory aggregations are often viewed. Transaction log data show a high level of engagement with collection metadata records in Opening History, with the total page views for collections more than 4 times greater than item page views. Scholars observed viewing collection records valued descriptive information on provenance, collection size, types of objects, subjects, geographic coverage, and temporal coverage information. They also considered the structured display of collection metadata in Opening History more useful than the alternative approach taken by other aggregations, such as American Memory, which displays only the free-text Description field to the end-user. The results extend the understanding of the value of collection-level subject metadata, particularly free-text metadata, for the scholarly users of aggregations of digital collections. The analysis of the collection metadata created by three large-scale aggregations provides a better understanding of collection-level metadata application patterns and suggests best practices. This dissertation is also the first empirical research contribution to test the FRBR model as a conceptual and analytic framework for studying collection-level subject access.

Obrazy muzyki w twórczości Janiny Kraupe-Świderskiej

Filologii Polskiej i Klasycznej: Zakład Dydaktyki Literatury i Języka Polskiego