The quality of toddler child care and cognitive skills at 24 months: Propensity score analysis results from the ECLS-B

Over half of the toddlers in the US experience routine nonparental care, but much less is known about early care than about preschool care. This study analyzed 2-year-old child care and child outcome data from the nationally representative ECLS-B sample of children born in 2001. At two-years of age, 51% of children experienced exclusive parental care, 18% relative care, 15% family child care, and 16% center care. More children in nonparental care were in medium quality care (61%) than in high quality (26%) or low quality (13%) care. Low-income children were more likely than non-low income children to be cared for by their parents and, when in care, were more often in lower quality care. The impact of toddler care quality on cognitive skills was estimated using propensity score adjustments to account for potential selection confounds due to family and child characteristics. Children's cognitive scores were higher in high or medium quality care than in low quality care, but no evidence emerged suggesting that poverty moderated the quality effects. Nevertheless, this suggests that increasing the proportion of low-income children in high quality care could reduce the achievement gap because low-income children are very unlikely to experience high quality care.     

Broadcasting in General

Erik Barnouw's The Image Empires A History of Broadcasting in the United States From 1953 (Oxford University Press, $9.75)

Howard Koch's The Panic Broadcast (Little, Brown & Co., $4.95)

Howard W. Coleman's Caso Studios in Broadcast Management (Hastings House, $4.95)

Joe McGinniss' The Soiling of the President 1963 (Pocket Books, $1.25)

Alexander Kendrick's Prime Time: The Life of Edward R. Murrow (Avon, $1.65)

Nicholas Johnson's How To Talk Back to Your Television Set (Bantam, $1.25)

Herbert C. Kelman and Raphael S. Ezekiel's Cross-National Encounters (Jossoy-Bass (San Fransisco), $10.50)

Victor Gold's The Enemies He Has Made (Arlington House)

Bon Bagdikian's The Information Machine (Harper & Row)

Chester, Garrison, and Willis' Television and Radio (Appleton-Century-Crofts)     

General Communication

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP edited by Donald Sexton and Raymond Smilor (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1986—$32.00)

MINORITIES AND MEDIA: DIVERSITY AND THE END OF MASS COMMUNICATION by Clint C. Wilson II, and Felix Gutierrez (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985—price not given, paper)

MEDIA GRATIFICATIONS RESEARCH: CURRENT PERSPECTIVES edited by Karl Erik Rosengren, et al. (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985—pricenot given, paper)

PROGRESS IN COMMUNICATIONS SCIENCES VII edited by Brenda Dervin and Melvin J. Voigt (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1986—$45 to institutions, $29.50 to individuals)

MASS MEDIA VS. ITALIAN AMERICANS by Adolph Caso (Brandon Publishing, 21 Station St., Box 843, Brookline Village MA 02147 $4.95, paper)     

Editorial research and the publication process in biomedicine and health: Report from the Esteve Foundation Discussion Group,December 2012

Despite the fact that there are more than twenty thousand biomedical journals in the world, research into the work of editors and publication process in biomedical and health care journals is rare. In December 2012, the Esteve Foundation, a non-profit scientific institution that fosters progress in pharmacotherapy by means of scientific communication and discussion organized a discussion group of 7 editors and/or experts in peer review biomedical publishing. They presented findings of past editorial research, discussed the lack of competitive funding schemes and specialized journals for dissemination of editorial research, and reported on the great diversity of misconduct and conflict of interest policies, as well as adherence to reporting guidelines. Furthermore, they reported on the reluctance of editors to investigate allegations of misconduct or increase the level of data sharing in health research. In the end, they concluded that if editors are to remain gatekeepers of scientific knowledge they should reaffirm their focus on the integrity of the scientific record and completeness of the data they publish. Additionally, more research should be undertaken to understand why many journals are not adhering to editorial standards, and what obstacles editors face when engaging in editorial research.     

A chitosan coated monolith for nucleic acid capture in a thermoplastic microfluidic chip

A technique for microfluidic, pH modulated DNA capture and purification using chitosan functionalized glycidyl methacrylate monoliths is presented. Highly porous polymer monoliths are formed and subsequently functionalized off-chip in a batch process before insertion into thermoplastic microchannels prior to solvent bonding, simplifying the overall fabrication process by eliminating the need for on-chip surface modifications. The monolith anchoring method allows for the use of large cross-section monoliths enabling high flowrates and high DNA capture capacity with a minimum of added design complexity. Using monolith capture elements requiring less than 1 mm² of chip surface area, loading levels above 100 ng are demonstrated, with DNA capture and elution efficiency of 54.2% ± 14.2% achieved.     

The Rise and Fall of Swedish Educational Technology 1960–1980

In Sweden educational technology (EdTech) prospered during the 1960s and 1970s inspired by US experiences from primarily programmed instruction. The Departments of Education at the universities started different activities of research and other bodies developed EdTech products for commercial use. In some business firms in‐service training of staff was organised and managed according to the rational ideas that were the basis of EdTech. Public education from elementary to university level was also influenced by EdTech and in the National Board of Education particularly the section responsible for developing teaching–learning aids ran its work guided by EdTech principles in a broad sense of rational and systematic planning. In the 1970s the peak of EdTech withered, to almost disappear towards 1980. This article describes the development in Sweden with the aim of understanding both the rise and fall of EdTech. The rise is understood in relation to the modernisation of Swedish society with reforms of education and trust of science and technology. The fall is understood in terms of the change of values and conception of democracy taking place around 1970 (1968).     

Preschool Children: Inquiry into Interconnections between Social Class,Language and Training Programs

Nafstad, H.E. 1982. Preschool Children: Inquiry into Interconnections between Social Class, Language and Training Programs. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 26, 121‐139. Over the last few years there has been an increasing interest in the development and education of preschool children. Especially, there has been great interest in the linguistic and conceptual development of those categories of children who are most likely to become losers at school. Various attempts at reaching future school losers at an early stage to give them a better start in life ‐ for instance, by means of special preschool training programs — have not been unequivocally successful, however. The present article undertakes a critical examination of the basic premises underlying linguistic and conceptual training programs for preschool children. It is shown how widely used preschool programs are based on inadequate assumptions concerning language, language use and communication.