Water Markets in China: Challenges, Opportunities, and Constraints in the Development of Market-Based Mechanisms for Water Resource Allocation in the People's Republic of China

This discussion paper examines the development of water markets as a solution to water scarcity in China, with particular focus on Water Rights Trading (WRT). Water scarcity is an issue of growing concern for China, particularly in the north, where a combination of limited water sup- plies, economic growth, and population increases are increasingly straining water resources. The Chinese government has moved enthusiastically toward an embrace of market mechanisms to address water scarcity, with WRT being the preferred policy instrument in the agricultural sector, which accounts for the majority of water use in China. Proposed advantages of WRT include a more efficient allocation of scarce water resources and the ability to limit total water use in a given region by carefully limiting rights allocation. However, the implementation of WRT has encountered significant challenges in China, which include a lack of effective monitoring and enforcement of water use, conflicts of interest between various units of government, which prevent effective administration, and a lack of integration with other approaches to water scarcity, including supply augmentation. In light of these challenges, this analysis concludes that market-based mechanisms in general, and WRT in particular, have an important but only partial role to play in alleviating water scarcity in China. This discussion paper proposes several policy recommendations to improve the development of water markets in China, in particular by lowering the transaction costs to establishing markets and improving policy coordination

A case study of the design and implementation of a new teacher evaluation system in a northern Michigan school district

The purpose of this study was to identify how one district attempted to meet the need for greater accountability in the teacher evaluation process as mandated by law and to describe strategies that were employed by the district to ensure the integration of student achievement data. This research highlighted how a teacher evaluation instrument evolved over a 5-year period from 2011 to the end of the 2014–2015 school year. This qualitative, single-case study comprised examination of interview responses of 17 stakeholders including a former superintendent, technology director, two board of education members, three former principals, and ten teacher-leaders. Open-ended interview questions led to an objective understanding of the process of change and compliance with Michigan legislation, PA 102 (2011). Findings revealed a consensus of the meaning interpreted by the personal experience of the stakeholders about the integration of Danielson’s (1996) teacher evaluation rubric with a system that considered multiple measures of student achievement data. Multiple themes emerged in the analysis of stakeholders’ perceptions of the efforts in one Michigan school district to comply with a state-mandated teacher evaluation process. Paramount among the themes was that trust needed to be involved in the process of teacher evaluation for improvement to transpire. Principals’ leadership and collaboration among staff, union representatives, central office, and policy-makers was critical to successful implementation of the modified teacher evaluation process. Ownership felt by all stakeholders extended confidence for addressing continuing change and assured sustainability of the process

Archaeological Data and Small Projects: A Case Study from the Pyla-Koustopetria Archaeological Project on Cyprus

A case study in how small projects use digital tools

A Strategy to Plant Missional Churches that Multiply in Small Urban Communities

This thesis will use Hopewell, VA, as a microcosm of small urban towns across America that are in need of spiritual and economic revitalization. The purpose of this thesis will be to develop a strategy for planting churches in Hopewell, VA, that is not only able to reach its community but serve as a model to reach other similar urban communities. The rationale for this topic is to shine the light on the need for revival in spiritually and economically depressed towns. Demographic and ethnographic research will be done, as well as interviews with a minimum of ten local leaders. This research will be able to help other potential church planters have a strategy that will help reach not only Hopewell, VA, but other smaller urban communities as well

The Americans with Disabilities Act Title III—The New Building Code

I. Introduction II. Public Accessibility Prior to the ADA III. The Old Building Code ... A. History of the Old Code ... B. The Old Code and Accessibility ... C. Federal Building Codes IV. Disability Defined ... A. Physical or Mental Impairment ... B. Record of Impairment ... C. Being Regarded as Having an Impairment V. The New ADA Building Code ... A. Types of Facilities ... 1. Altered Space ... 2. New Space ... B. Places of Public Accommodation and Commercial Facilities ... 1. Places of Public Accommodation ... 2. Commercial Facilities ... C. Compliance with Title III ... 1. Barrier Removal within Existing Space ... i. Barrier removal ... ii. Readily achievable ... iii. Alternatives to barrier removal ... 2. Readily Accessible—New and Altered Facilities … i. Standards for newly constructed space ... ii. Standards for altered space VI. Remedies and Enforcement of the Ac

Teaching the Empire: Education and State Loyalty in Late Habsburg Austria

Teaching the Empire explores how Habsburg Austria utilized education to cultivate the patriotism of its people. Public schools have been a tool for patriotic development in Europe and the United States since their creation in the nineteenth century. On a basic level, this civic education taught children about their state while also articulating the common myths, heroes, and ideas that could bind society together. For the most part historians have focused on the development of civic education in nation-states like Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. There has been an assumption that the multinational Habsburg Monarchy did not, or could not, use their public schools for this purpose. Teaching the Empire proves this was not the case. Through a robust examination of the civic education curriculum used in the schools of Habsburg from 1867–1914, Moore demonstrates that Austrian authorities attempted to forge a layered identity rooted in loyalties to an individual’s home province, national group, and the empire itself. Far from seeing nationalism as a zero-sum game, where increased nationalism decreased loyalty to the state, officials felt that patriotism could only be strong if regional and national identities were equally strong. The hope was that this layered identity would create a shared sense of belonging among populations that may not share the same cultural or linguistic background. Austrian civic education was part of every aspect of school life—from classroom lessons to school events. This research revises long-standing historical notions regarding civic education within Habsburg and exposes the complexity of Austrian identity and civil society, deservedly integrating the Habsburg Monarchy into the broader discussion of the role of education in modern society.https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_previews/1052/thumbnail.jp