Alliance One Tobacco (Malawi)
Academic Research Repository at the Institute of Developing EconomiesNot a member yet
52305 research outputs found
Sort by
Methods in Longitudinal Policy Evaluation
No full textThis dissertation consists of three essays on methods and applications for longitudinal health policy evaluation. The first chapter studies the effects of random variation in the timing of two government benefits on hypoglycemic episodes. Households with limited savings that receive monthly pay and benefit checks often end the pay period without enough money for food. If income and benefits were distributed more frequently, households might be better equipped to smooth their consumption. I investigate the relationship between benefit distribution timing and health outcomes, focusing on older adults who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. I leverage the quasi-random assignment to days on which Social Security and SNAP benefits are distributed. This enables causal conclusions about the impact of benefit timing on hypoglycemic events (emergency department visits and inpatient admissions). I find a statistically significant increase in the relative risk of hypoglycemic events during the week before benefit receipt compared to the week following receipt for beneficiaries who receive their two payments at the same time, but not for those who receive benefits two weeks apart. The effects are larger among black beneficiaries and beneficiaries living in lower-income zip codes. Tweaking the design of these programs to optimize benefit timing is an under-used policy lever to improve health outcomes.
Chapter two empirically investigates the common but often arbitrary choices researchers make when aggregating data over time in difference-in-differences (DID) studies. The choice of time aggregation, from fine (e.g., daily) to coarse (e.g., yearly), can affect the estimation of treatment effects and is currently not guided by statistical criteria. Through simulations and
empirical analyses, we investigate the optimal level of time aggregation across four performance metrics and across a multitude of common scenarios research face in DID study design. We find that in the simpler cases, the choice of aggregation does not have much influence on the performance of the models; however, in more complex cases the choice of time aggregation can influence the precision and bias of estimates, especially in scenarios with staggered treatment
timings and unbalanced panels. Our study highlights the importance of carefully considering time aggregation in DID studies to ensure robust and reliable results and offers guidance towards this aim.
The third chapter explores the landscape of pharmacist-prescribed contraceptive laws in the U.S. and explore the possible mechanisms of uptake of this provision among pharmacists. These laws aim to enhance the accessibility and affordability of contraceptive care, particularly for individuals facing barriers to traditional healthcare services. The COVID-19 pandemic
brought about significant changes in the role of pharmacies, particularly as key points of service for vaccines, but also with broader implications for medication provision. Drawing from nationwide transactional prescription data and innovative linkage of pharmacist licensure and area-level census data, chapter three provides a comprehensive analysis of these policies across the country, with a specific focus on outcomes related to pharmacists and their prescribing trends. Results highlight that despite being a small component of hormonal contraception prescribing, it has potential to expand coverage and improve access across vast geographical areas for a broad population. However, its full utilization may be hindered by a lack of supportive policies
Health Care Variation and Its Determinants: Studies on Physician Quality, Cancer Screening, and Cardiovascular Care
No full textThis dissertation investigates drivers of variation in health care utilization and quality, with a focus on physician decision-making and patient outcomes. The first chapter examines the distribution of new physician quality across the United States, as measured by senior physicians’ evaluations. It explores how physician quality relates to the characteristics of the patient populations and geographic areas that physicians serve. The second chapter investigates how primary care physicians’ exposure to new cancer diagnoses among their patients influences their screening behavior for other patients, using a quasi-experimental study design and all-payer claims data. The third chapter analyzes the continuity and disruption of follow-up cardiovascular care, using electronic health records data and metadata to identify the patient, physician, and system attributes that influence cascades of care and their outcomes. Through insights into key determinants of quality and utilization of health care, this dissertation highlights the need for systems-level interventions to improve the care delivered to all populations
Identity politics, old and new: Party-building in the long twentieth century
No full textThis dissertation seeks to explore the diverse ways that political outsiders construct boundaries of group membership and narratives of social conflict as they carve out a foothold in democratic politics. Across the twentieth century, new party contenders of different stripes have used identity politics to break into electoral competition, finding a place in the democratic sphere by staking a claim to represent some social groups and oppose others, and by linking the groups they oppose to more established parties. Particularly in the early years of building a party, articulating a narrative of group representation can be an effective means of bringing together a well-resourced coalition of actors and gaining a loyal voter base. Yet parties can employ identity politics in different ways, mobilizing groups that have more porous or more consolidated boundaries, and varying the relative emphasis they place on ingroups versus outgroups in their appeals.
In this project, I seek to make sense of similarities and differences in outsider identity politics through a macro-historical study of party-building and group articulation in European politics across the long twentieth century. Specifically, I explore the following, intersecting research questions: how are discourses of group representation connected to processes of party-building and formation? What are the different ways of constructing a narrative of group representation, and how do political outsiders choose amongst these options? Why does politics seem to be more group-based sometimes and less so other times? And, finally, is all group politics cleavage politics? To shed light on these questions, I employ a combination of qualitative case studies and quantitative text analysis, drawing comparisons across multiple waves of party entry but focusing on two in particular: the rise of socialist parties in the early 20th century and fascist party-building in the interwar period. To this end I focus on cases of party formation in Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, treating the British Labour Party and the German Nazi Party as crucial ‘key’ cases. By looking to the past, I shed light on processes of political change, both old and new.
In the first chapter, I situate the project in the field, exploring how scholars of American and European party systems have theorized the relationship of group identities to processes of political change. I argue that employing a macro-historical approach and taking parties’ appeals to groups –rather than cleavages – as the analytic starting point can better elucidate the dynamics at play. In Chapter 2, I introduce the key concepts of the project, group appeals and ‘styles’ of identity politics. I differentiate within group appeals on two criteria: whether the party references an ingroup, an outgroup, or both, and whether the group that they invoke has firm, social boundaries or looser, symbolic ones. Building on these dimensions of variation, I introduce a further conceptual distinction between ‘styles’ of identity politics: ways that group appeals are invoked as part of larger narratives of group representation. Parties employing solidaristic identity politics purport to represent a firmly-bounded ingroup against clear outgroups as part of a symmetric narrative of conflict, whereas parties employing oppositional identity politics seek to mobilize a heterogenous, symbolically-bounded ingroup on the basis of outgroup appeals.
In the first part of my theory, presented in Chapter 3, I explore how group appeals are related to processes of party entry. Building on previous work, I propose a synthesized framework of the three core ‘challenges’ of party-building – coalition construction and maintenance, resource mobilization, and brand differentiation – and identify why constructing a strategy around group representation is particularly well-suited to help new parties meet these tasks. In the second half of the chapter, I provide qualitative support for this theory via a case study of the British Labour Party. In Chapter 4, I turn to methods of quantitative text analysis, finding further support for my hypotheses through a descriptive analysis of hand-coded national Labour manifestos and by applying dictionary methods on a new corpus of Labour election addresses from the interwar period.
In the second part of my theory, presented in Chapter 5, I ask why party formation in some periods has been characterized by the politics of group solidarity, and in other periods by the politics of group antagonism. I argue that the style of identity politics that outsiders employ depends on the presence or absence of a politicizable ingroup, and lay out four key criteria that make a social group more or less politicizable, namely: organization, stratification, size, and electoral availability. First, I test the face validity of this theory by applying it to all major waves of party formation in Europe across the 20th century. I then test the theory more systematically in Chapter 6 by looking at the formation of social democratic and fascist parties, comparing the developmental processes and electoral strategies of these parties in Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. I put particular emphasis on the NSDAP case, my analysis of which includes qualitative and quantitative analysis on a corpus of NSDAP member life histories, and discussion of ‘dogs that didn’t bark’ (potential groups that were not mobilized as a new party base) in the Weimar period. Across this wide set of cases, I find evidence in line with the observable implications of my theory.
Finally, I conclude in Chapter 7 with some general thoughts and a discussion of my work’s application to and implications for our understanding of the contemporary far right
Nationwide Disparities in Exposure and Susceptibility to Fine Particulate Matter and Extreme Temperatures
No full textIn the past few decades, and especially recently, much attention has been given to studying the distributions and effects of air pollution and adverse temperatures. Both of these exposures are ubiquitous and responsible for substantial mortality and morbidity worldwide.
In the United States, the burdens of these exposures are not felt equally. Sections of the population that have been subject to historical discrimination and oppression – such as communities of color – have been shown to be significantly more exposed to adverse environments as a result of such historical context. However, most of what we know of these disparate exposures are derived from fairly coarse geographic data which smooth over fine-scale variations in the social and physical environments. Additionally, evidence is emerging that increased susceptibility in marginalized communities arising from chronic psychosocial stress is another driver of these disparities, independent of disparate exposure levels.
In this dissertation, we investigate both disparate exposures and disparate susceptibilities to air pollution and extreme temperatures at fine spatiotemporal scales. We demonstrate that historically marginalized communities continue to be disparately more exposed and more susceptible to these two exposures today, highlighting the urgent need for further efforts to alleviate these burdens in order to achieve health equity
Structure and assembly of a bacterial gasdermin pore
No full textAbstractIn response to pathogen infection, gasdermin (GSDM) proteins form membrane pores that induce a host cell death process called pyroptosis1–3. Studies of human and mouse GSDM pores reveal the functions and architectures of 24–33 protomers assemblies4–9, but the mechanism and evolutionary origin of membrane targeting and GSDM pore formation remain unknown. Here we determine a structure of a bacterial GSDM (bGSDM) pore and define a conserved mechanism of pore assembly. Engineering a panel of bGSDMs for site-specific proteolytic activation, we demonstrate that diverse bGSDMs form distinct pore sizes that range from smaller mammalian-like assemblies to exceptionally large pores containing >50 protomers. We determine a 3.3 Å cryo-EM structure of aVitiosangiumbGSDM in an active slinky-like oligomeric conformation and analyze bGSDM pores in a native lipid environment to create an atomic-level model of a full 52-mer bGSDM pore. Combining our structural analysis with molecular dynamics simulations and cellular assays, our results support a stepwise model of GSDM pore assembly and suggest that a covalently bound palmitoyl can leave a hydrophobic sheath and insert into the membrane before formation of the membrane-spanning β-strand regions. These results reveal the diversity of GSDM pores found in nature and explain the function of an ancient post-translational modification in enabling programmed host cell death.Accepted Manuscrip
The World’s Oldest Expressions: Using an Intersectional Framework to Re-investigate Prehistoric Parietal Art
No full textPrehistoric parietal art are examples of some of the world’s earliest human creations. While largely Westernized and modern ways of thinking about art, I believe there is much more to be discovered about such emotional expressions both displayed and received by experiencing prehistoric art. Previous research has largely focused on the tangible aspects of prehistoric parietal art and has just begun to move away from a Eurocentric worldview. While broader conclusions may ultimately require additional research on this fascinating topic, for the purposes of this thesis, I will be comparing two prehistoric parietal art sites: the petroglyphs and pictographs of Columbia Hills State Park in Washington state and Cueva de las Manos in Santa Cruz, Argentina using an intersectional approach with descriptive, semiotic, contextual, phenomenological and heritage management components. This collective approach will allow us to explore the meaning(s) of these works, the roles they may have played in expressing emotion, and a general approach to examining rock art in many contexts. With my background as a psychiatrist trained in furthering mental health and the treatment of mental illness, my phenomenological observations of both sites provide a unique view on how both sites may be experienced by present-day populations. While we may never be able to fully understand the meaning and emotion expressed by prehistoric parietal art, this intersectional approach is proposed as a standardized way for future enthusiasts to systemically study previously uncovered and as-yet-to-be discovered artworks left by early humans
B-MYB and FOXM1 drive cell division through cooperative regulation of cell cycle genes.
No full textTranscription facilitates cell cycle division and progression as it orchestrates the timely expression of genes crucial for each cell cycle phase. Two waves of gene expression prime the cell for replication: the first wave (DNA replication genes) produces the needed cell machinery for DNA replication, and the second wave of gene expression (mitotic genes) encodes the mitotic regulators required for cell division. The B-MYB/MuvB(MMB)-FOXM1 complex coordinates the expression of mitotic genes. This dissertation investigates the inter-dependence between B-MYB and FOXM1 and their requirement for mitosis.
We show that knockout of MMB-FOXM1 complex components B-MYB, LIN54, or FOXM1 confers resistance to CHK1 and ATR inhibition. In addition, we demonstrate that the loss of B-MYB impedes arrest following contact inhibition. Cell cycle kinetic studies reveal that the knockout of B-MYB or FOXM1 has profound effects on the progression of every cell cycle phase. These findings indicate the MMB-FOXM1 complexes function as global coordinators of cell cycle progression and establish the MMB-FOXM1 as a crucial signaling node in response to cellular stress.
During early S phase, B-MYB binds to MuvB to form the MMB complex. The MMB complex recruits FOXM1, and both B-MYB and FOXM1 contribute to activating mitotic genes. In this dissertation, we extend these findings by showing that MMB enhanced FOXM1 binding to DNA, and B-MYB-mediated recruitment of FOXM1 was critical for the onset of mitotic gene expression. We found that FOXM1 was required to properly dissociate B-MYB from DNA in G2 and degradation of B-MYB and other DNA machinery in mitosis. These findings prove that B-MYB and FOXM1 functionally cooperate and rely on mutually interdependent interactions to activate mitotic genes.
The CHR motif, recognized by the MuvB complex, is primarily enriched at mitotic gene promoters, while canonical MYB and forkhead DNA motifs are less abundant. Current models propose that B-MYB and FOXM1 stabilize MuvB complexes at CHR elements by binding largely non-sequence-specific DNA. Using high-resolution chromatin profiling, we show that B-MYB and FOXM1 binding is correlated but also distinct. We observed that B-MYB binding was enriched at mitotic gene promoters and contained canonical MYB and CHR DNA recognition motifs. In addition, we found that MuvB component LIN9 binding follows the pattern of BMYB rather than FOXM1. We demonstrate that FOXM1 binds to mitotic and DNA damage gene promoters. FOXM1 gene targets were enriched for canonical forkhead DNA recognition motifs. Combining nascent transcript analysis (PRO-seq), RNA-seq, and Cut\&Run sequencing, we define FOXM1 as a critical transcriptional driver of cell cycle gene expression. Collectively, these findings indicate that B-MYB and FOXM1 cooperatively regulate the expression of cell cycle genes, where the MMB complex defines mitotic genes through association with MYB and CHR recognition motifs and enhances recruitment of FOXM1 to mitotic gene promoters, where FOXM1 drives transcription of mitotic genes and DNA repair genes.Medical SciencesMedical Science
Athlete Rankings: An Analysis of Elite Women's Cyclists
No full textWomen’s professional sports are on the rise, and with that comes an increased interest in athlete statistics and predictive analytics. Many mainstream approaches used to rank athletes today involve an analysis of naturally paired data in head-to-head match-ups between two individuals or teams. This paper aims to progress the field of women’s sports analytics, proposing a novel approach to establishing rankings for elite women’s cyclists using linear algebra and statistical-based methods with data based on race type. In particular, Massey’s and Colley’s methods as well as the Elo and Glicko ratings systems are considered. The exploration of data from the 2022 UCI Women’s World Tour season suggests that statistical-based approaches are more in line with the UCI’s own descriptive points system
