Children’s Beliefs about Learning and Physical Difficulties

Beliefs about learning and physical difficulties were explored in 50 younger children (M = 5.6, SD = 1.0 years) and 50 older children (M = 9.5, SD = 1.1 years). Participants were asked why they thought some children had learning or physical difficulties and whether children with these difficulties would always have them. The majority of older children were able to generate one or more ideas about the causes of learning and physical difficulties, but 58% of the younger children did not know the causes of learning difficulties and 42% did not know the causes of physical difficulties. Younger and older children thought that learning difficulties could be overcome with increased effort on the part of parents, teachers, and child, whereas physical difficulties were believed to be beyond anyone’s control. Results suggest that some aspects of children’s knowledge about causes and outcomes of learning and physical difficulties are limited. Research is needed to determine whether beliefs and misconceptions about learning and physical difficulties are associated with the quantity and quality of interpersonal interactions, and to determine the sources of children’s information as well as the accuracy of these sources.     

Economic well-being and children's social adjustment: the role of family process in an ethnically diverse low-income sample

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, a family economic stress model that links economic well-being to child well-being in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 419 elementary school-age children was evaluated. The sample was 57% African American and 28% Hispanic, and most families were headed by single mothers. The results provided support for the position that family process is a critical mediator of the effects of economic hardship on children's social adjustment. Lower levels of economic well-being, and the corollary elevated perceptions of economic pressure indirectly affected parenting behavior through an adverse impact on parental psychological well-being. Distressed parents reported feeling less effective and capable in disciplinary interactions with their child and were observed to be less affectionate in parent-child interactions. In turn, less than optimal parenting predicted lower teacher ratings of children's positive social behavior and higher ratings of behavior problems. Multiple-group analyses revealed that the pathways by which economic hardship influences children's behavior appear to operate similarly for boys and girls, and for African American and Hispanic families.     

Introduction to the research policy 20th anniversary special issue of the publication of “Profiting from Innovation” by David J. Teece

This introductory essay reviews the key contributions of David Teece's landmark paper “Profiting from Innovation” published in research policy in 1986. It summarises the contributions of each of the papers in the special issue. It then offers some perspectives on the key themes emerging from these papers, and on the broader challenges facing researchers, strategists and policymakers in the field of technology innovation today.     

A catalytic and evolutionary approach to horizontal technology policies (HTPs)

This paper presents an evolutionary framework for horizontal technology policies (HTPs) especially market-friendly ones involving project-based incentives (e.g. R&D project based grants rather than tax-based incentives to yearly expenditures on R&D). HTPs are a category of technological policies whose objective is to promote technological development per se, and associated management and organizational routines, irrespective of industrial branch or technological area. They are being increasingly adopted by both advanced countries and newly industrialized countries in response to the new opportunities and threats opened up by the technological revolution and by the processes of liberalization and globalization; and they complement the more specific and well-known selective and vertical policies aimed at individual sectors and technologies. The analysis is conducted within a learning-to-innovate framework with emphasis on collective, organizational learning; search; and market-building. The outcome is a technology policy cycle with distinct infant, growth, and mature phases. Proactive ‘generation’ of a critical mass of projects for efficient learning and diffusion of innovation routines becomes the aim of the infant phase; while the mature phase of the policy should focus on policy restructuring including drastic reductions in the support of routi projects and enhanced support of more complex types of innovation. The paper also emphasizes the importance of a neutrality component in incentives in the infant phase of increasing selectivity; and of building policy capabilities for efficient policy design and implementation.     

Circulating peptide and steroid hormone levels in patients with breast cancer

Circulating levels of gonadotropins (FSH,LH), prolactin (PRL), estradiol and progesterone were measured by radioimmunoassay in the sera of 60 patients with histopathologically proven breast cancer. 30 patients belonged to the post and 30 to the premenopausal group. 30 healthy women, 15 each in the pre and post menopausal groups served as controls for the study. Prolactin was elevated in 33% and 26% of pre and post menopausal breast cancer patients respectively. Lower levels of estradiol and progesterone were observed during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle in premenopausal breast cancer patients. Among postmenopausal patients with breast cancer, LH was elevated in 32%, FSH in 15% and estradiol in 30% of the patients studied.