A job analysis of the duties and preparation of tenth-grade english teachers in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Tax Increment Financing: A Cost/Benefit Analysis for the State of Illinois

While there are many supporters of TIF, it is not without opposition. The highly respected Chicago Business letter, Crains, believes that TIFs are one of the all time great economic development boondoggles in Illinois (9/14/92). Many people also have the perception that \u27TIF has been misused to finance \u27sweetheart\u27 deals with local developers at state expense (Ayers 21). Whether this is true or not, there are clearly differences in the level of blight and deterioration among districts. Many argue that development would have occurred in some of these districts without the aid of TIF, and that these developments merely shift jobs and tax revenue from non TIF areas into the newly developed TIF districts resulting in no net gain. With this background information in mind, this study has the following research objectives. First, the impact on the state resulting from the sales tax TIF program will be analyzed. It is obvious that most cities, developers, and investors love TIF. The state\u27s relationship with TIF, however, has turned sour. It must be determined whether the state has made a mistake by withdrawing its support. After the data are analyzed, the current policy stance of the state will be evaluated to see if it is making a mistake by withdrawing its\u27 support. Secondly, a case study of the three TIF districts in Bloomington will be conducted. Net job and tax revenue growth will be examined to see if districts are merely transferring income or if they are creating jobs and revenue. Local impact from TIF will be also be compared with the impact on the state, because what is good for a single entity may not necessarily be good for the whole. The research will be completed in the following order. First, the theoretical framework will analyze the costs and the benefits for the state. Then, the economic model used for the state and the results obtained from the model will follow. Next, the case study of Bloomington will isolate and examine three different TIF districts. Finally, the conclusion will tie the paper together and offer policy advice for the state

Clinical assessment of the MOD-MEM cancer test in controls with non-malignant diseases.

A control series of 105 patients in hospital with non-malignant diseases was used in a limited clinical assessment of the MOD-MEM test. Twenty-seven positive results could be explained on the basis of destruction of nervous parenchyma, tissue necrosis, tuberculosis, malignant disease, etc. The remaining 13 unexplained positives showed a sex and age distribution in agreement with that predicted from cancer registration statistics if the MOD-MEM test detects cancer about 16 years before the clinical appearance of the disease

Tbx20 Is Required in Mid-Gestation Cardiomyocytes and Plays a Central Role in Atrial Development.

RationaleMutations in the transcription factor TBX20 (T-box 20) are associated with congenital heart disease. Germline ablation of Tbx20 results in abnormal heart development and embryonic lethality by embryonic day 9.5. Because Tbx20 is expressed in multiple cell lineages required for myocardial development, including pharyngeal endoderm, cardiogenic mesoderm, endocardium, and myocardium, the cell type-specific requirement for TBX20 in early myocardial development remains to be explored.ObjectiveHere, we investigated roles of TBX20 in midgestation cardiomyocytes for heart development.Methods and resultsAblation of Tbx20 from developing cardiomyocytes using a doxycycline inducible cTnTCre transgene led to embryonic lethality. The circumference of developing ventricular and atrial chambers, and in particular that of prospective left atrium, was significantly reduced in Tbx20 conditional knockout mutants. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated reduced proliferation of Tbx20 mutant cardiomyocytes and their arrest at the G1-S phase transition. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of mutant cardiomyocytes revealed differential expression of multiple genes critical for cell cycle regulation. Moreover, atrial and ventricular gene programs seemed to be aberrantly regulated. Putative direct TBX20 targets were identified using TBX20 ChIP-Seq (chromatin immunoprecipitation with high throughput sequencing) from embryonic heart and included key cell cycle genes and atrial and ventricular specific genes. Notably, TBX20 bound a conserved enhancer for a gene key to atrial development and identity, COUP-TFII/Nr2f2 (chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor 2/nuclear receptor subfamily 2, group F, member 2). This enhancer interacted with the NR2F2 promoter in human cardiomyocytes and conferred atrial specific gene expression in a transgenic mouse in a TBX20-dependent manner.ConclusionsMyocardial TBX20 directly regulates a subset of genes required for fetal cardiomyocyte proliferation, including those required for the G1-S transition. TBX20 also directly downregulates progenitor-specific genes and, in addition to regulating genes that specify chamber versus nonchamber myocardium, directly activates genes required for establishment or maintenance of atrial and ventricular identity. TBX20 plays a previously unappreciated key role in atrial development through direct regulation of an evolutionarily conserved COUPT-FII enhancer