Small Cities Blues: Looking for Growth Factors in Small and Medium-Sized Cities

The purpose of this exploratory study is to attempt to identify particular public policies which have the potential to increase the economic viability of smaller metropolitan areas and cities. We identify characteristics associated with smaller metro areas that performed better-than-expected (winners) and worse-than-expected (losers) during the 1990s, given their resources, industrial mix, and location as of 1990. Once these characteristics have been identified, we look for evidence that public policy choices may have promoted and enhanced a metro area's ability to succeed and to regain control of its own economic destiny. Methodologically, we construct a regression model which identifies the small metro areas that achieved higher-than-expected economic prosperity (winners) and the areas that saw lower-than-expected economic prosperity (losers) according to the model. Next, we explore whether indications exist that winners and losers are qualitatively different from other areas in ways that may indicate consequences of policy choices. A cluster analysis is completed to group the metro areas based on changes in a host of social, economic, and demographic variables between 1990 and 2000. We then use contingency table analysis and ANOVA to see if "winning" or "losing," as measured by the error term from the regression, is related to the grouping of metro areas in a way that may indicate the presence of deliberate and replicable government policy.economic, development, growth, factors, erickcek, mckinney, incentives, local, regional, small, medium, cities

The School Improvement Partnership Programme: Sustaining Collaboration and Enquiry to Tackle Educational Inequity

No abstract available

Small Cities Blues: Looking for Growth Factors in Small and Medium-Sized Cities

The purpose of this exploratory study is to attempt to identify particular public policies which have the potential to increase the economic viability of smaller metropolitan areas and cities. We identify characteristics associated with smaller metro areas that performed better-than-expected (winners) and worse-than-expected (losers) during the 1990s, given their resources, industrial mix, and location as of 1990. Once these characteristics have been identified, we look for evidence that public policy choices may have promoted and enhanced a metro area\u27s ability to succeed and to regain control of its own economic destiny. Methodologically, we construct a regression model which identifies the small metro areas that achieved higher-than-expected economic prosperity (winners) and the areas that saw lower-than-expected economic prosperity (losers) according to the model. Next, we explore whether indications exist that winners and losers are qualitatively different from other areas in ways that may indicate consequences of policy choices. A cluster analysis is completed to group the metro areas based on changes in a host of social, economic, and demographic variables between 1990 and 2000. We then use contingency table analysis and ANOVA to see if winning or losing, as measured by the error term from the regression, is related to the grouping of metro areas in a way that may indicate the presence of deliberate and replicable government policy

Learning Through Equity Trading Simulation

Over the past several decades, colleges and universities have moved away from the traditional chalk-and-talk lecture.  Professors have experimented with a myriad of methods to engage students more fully.  Some of the innovations that have been used have succeeded in improving student performance and satisfaction.  In this paper we report the learning results of using an equity trading simulation across three different classes at a small Midwestern liberal arts college.  Sixty-one students participate in a nine-week equity trading simulation exercise. All class levels are represented, and students with a range of prior courses in business and economics are included. Assessment tools include a pre-simulation survey, a pre-simulation investments test, a post-simulation survey, a post-simulation investments test, and simulation performance.  The simulation allows trades in all U.S. equities including ADRs.  Trades use actual delayed market prices with a 20-minute delay in order execution.  No actual investments are made.  The students are given a test before the simulation began to assess their incoming knowledge of investment fundamentals.  None of the three classes covers this material in lecture.  The students have access to online investments resources and information during the simulation via the simulation service provider.  A test is given on the same investment fundamentals after the simulation is completed.  The students are also surveyed as to their motivation, interest and satisfaction.  Initial results show an average 14-point difference (out of 100) between the pre and post-simulation test scores.  This is significantly different from zero at better than the 99 percent level.  The gains in performance are higher for the students with the lower pre-simulation test scores. Pre-simulation test scores are significantly higher for students who have taken more business and economics classes.  Interestingly, post-test scores show no significant relationship to the number of prior courses in business and economics suggesting that the simulation effectively delivers content to students with limited backgrounds.  Survey results show that 64 percent of students regularly use the online education resources provided as part of the simulation, while 97 percent report using outside resources to inform their decisions.  Sixty-six percent report the simulation is effective or very effective at increasing their knowledge of investments.  Most students, 86 percent, indicate that the simulation increased their interest (a little or greatly) in investments and equity markets.     &nbsp

Research on the impact of the School Improvement Partnership Programme: Interim Report

In November 2013 Education Scotland commissioned the Robert Owen Centre for Education Change at The University of Glasgow to evaluate and support the School Improvement Partnership Programme (SIPP) for the first year of its implementation. The overall objectives for the evaluation support for SIPP were as follows: • To provide tailored support to up to 10 individual partnership projects which are part of the SIPP; • To assess how well the overall SIPP, and each individual partnership project within it, have been initiated; • To assess the extent to which the SIPP has contributed to its intended intermediate outcome; and • To make recommendations for the future development and potential scale-up of the SIP

Gray platelet syndrome: proinflammatory megakaryocytes and α-granule loss cause myelofibrosis and confer metastasis resistance in mice.

NBEAL2 encodes a multidomain scaffolding protein with a putative role in granule ontogeny in human platelets. Mutations in NBEAL2 underlie gray platelet syndrome (GPS), a rare inherited bleeding disorder characterized by a lack of α-granules within blood platelets and progressive bone marrow fibrosis. We present here a novel Nbeal2(-/-) murine model of GPS and demonstrate that the lack of α-granules is due to their loss from platelets/mature megakaryocytes (MKs), and not by initial impaired formation. We show that the lack of Nbeal2 confers a proinflammatory phenotype to the bone marrow MKs, which in combination with the loss of proteins from α-granules drives the development of bone marrow fibrosis. In addition, we demonstrate that α-granule deficiency impairs platelet function beyond their purely hemostatic role and that Nbeal2 deficiency has a protective effect against cancer metastasis.This work was funded by the British Heart Foundation to CG (FS09/039) and WHO and AR (RG/09/12/28096); NHSBT to CB and HM; Wellcome Trust (WT098051) to ZM, ELC, JE, HWJ and AOS.This is the accepted manuscript. The final published version is available from Blood at http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/early/2014/09/25/blood-2014-04-566760

Gene expression profiling of CD8+ T cells predicts prognosis in patients with Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis.

Crohn disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are increasingly common, chronic forms of inflammatory bowel disease. The behavior of these diseases varies unpredictably among patients. Identification of reliable prognostic biomarkers would enable treatment to be personalized so that patients destined to experience aggressive disease could receive appropriately potent therapies from diagnosis, while those who will experience more indolent disease are not exposed to the risks and side effects of unnecessary immunosuppression. Using transcriptional profiling of circulating T cells isolated from patients with CD and UC, we identified analogous CD8+ T cell transcriptional signatures that divided patients into 2 otherwise indistinguishable subgroups. In both UC and CD, patients in these subgroups subsequently experienced very different disease courses. A substantially higher incidence of frequently relapsing disease was experienced by those patients in the subgroup defined by elevated expression of genes involved in antigen-dependent T cell responses, including signaling initiated by both IL-7 and TCR ligation - pathways previously associated with prognosis in unrelated autoimmune diseases. No equivalent correlation was observed with CD4+ T cell gene expression. This suggests that the course of otherwise distinct autoimmune and inflammatory conditions may be influenced by common pathways and identifies what we believe to be the first biomarker that can predict prognosis in both UC and CD from diagnosis, a major step toward personalized therapy