Local Government Behavior and Property Right Formation in Rural China

Secure land tenure is important to the development process, but China’s rural reforms have so far failed to provide farm households with this security. We examine the political economy of land tenure and find that local governments sacrifice tenure security in the interests of efficiency and equity. Local rent seeking also plays an important role, and is a likely source of the under-development of land rental markets. Our results further suggest that decreases in distortionary taxes and increases in the integrity of elections will lead to more secure tenure and an increased reliance on market land exchange.

Using a Tablet-PC to Provide Peer-Review Comments

This reports describes our initial exploration in using a Tablet-PC to provide peer-review comments in the first year Computer Science course. Our exploration consisted of an informal evaluation of how students write comments on other students assignments using three different methods: pen and paper, a Tablet-PC, and a desktop computer. Our ultimate goal is to explore the effect that interface style has on the quality and quantity of the comments provided

Comparing Classroom Note Taking across Multiplatform Devices

Many educators have suggested that note taking can be beneficial for the students' educational growth. Note taking is the core activity for students in a classroom and there been a large amount of research conducted, both from industry and from academia, into facilitating the note taking process. As such, there are many available systems for taking notes. However, what has not been given as much attention is how different devices, such as Tablet PCs and PDAs, effect this task. In this paper, we study students' current note taking behavior and the changes caused by the use of different platforms for this activity. Our goal is to provide ideas and general design guidelines for future note taking systems

Mechanisms of Glioma Cell Invasion

Malignant gliomas are the most aggressive primary brain tumors. Although current treatment includes surgery and chemo/radiation therapy, life expectancy remains on the order of 2 years. One of the features, which make these tumors incurable, is their infiltration into normal brain tissue. This process is incompletely understood at a molecular level and appropriate targets need to be developed. This review discusses (1) the unique structure of the neural extracellular matrix (ECM), (2) the basis of the proliferation to migration transition that initiates the infiltrative process, (3) the remodeling of the ECM by degradation and synthesis of new components, and (4) trophic factors that act as chemoattractants and chemorepellents for migrating cells. Finally we briefly discuss the challenges facing the study of this complex process and future directions in attacking this important problem in neuro-oncology

From Intentional Meandering to Roadmap: UMass Amherst Libraries\u27 philosophical and practical considerations for investing with open content providers

UMass Amherst (UMA) has chosen to invest in myriad models of open content, systems and advocacy organizations for well over a decade. What at first was an experimental approach has become more values-based, considered and collaborative. Consistent with its strategic plan, the Libraries are intentionally allocating and tracking part of their acquisitions budget to open scholarship. In an ecosystem of ever-increasing options, the social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines, monographs, and non-author processing charge (APC) funding are all under-represented in the open access market. UMA Libraries were an early supporter of Knowledge Unlatched (KU) as providers of OA monographs in SSH. KU will provide a case study of UMA’s acquisitions investments in open content. Both have evolved as organizations, and in their practices. They will discuss their respective histories with open access, how their business partnership has developed and the factors they consider when approaching project and investment decisions. KU will discuss the growth of KU as an OA organization (including recent changes which have been the subject of debate in social media), and the growth of its relationship with UMA as it reflects a common pattern among KU supporting institutions: from initial skepticism to experimentation to expanded support. The presenters will encourage questions and discussion with attendees

Directed Protein Packaging within Outer Membrane Vesicles from Escherichia coli: Design, Production and Purification

A protocol for the production, purification, and use of enzyme packaged outer membrane vesicles (OMV) providing for enhanced enzyme stability for implementation across diverse applications is presented

An Empirical Evaluation of Statistical Matching Methodologies

Using known data, the methodologies available for microdata file merging are compared. Results indicate that various techniques work or do not work in specific circumstances. An optimal-constrined merge model with an absolute difference distance function provide the best results