The demand for higher education in The Netherlands, 1950–1999

This paper investigates the role of economic factors in the university enrollment decision for the post-war period in The Netherlands. We include those factors standing at the heart of the idea that education is an investment. The econometric results suggest that students are not responsive to tuition fees, but financial support (the sum of loans and grants), the college premium on future labor market earnings, and the alternative wage are important in the enrollment decision.     

Spacing effects and their implications for theory and practice

There is considerable evidence, gathered in a variety of settings and across many different types of materials and procedures, that spaced repetitions—regardless of whether they are in the form of additional study opportunities or successful tests—are a highly effective means of promoting learning. Research on spacing effects is reviewed and its theoretical and educational implications are examined. It is concluded that spacing effects can best be understood in terms of the accessibility hypothesis, and that spaced repetitions have considerable potential for improving classroom learning.     

Interference and Inhibition in Cognition and Behavior: Comments on the Commentaries

In our target article (Dempster & Corkill, 1999a) we presented an overview of recent work on interference and inhibition in cognition and behavior. The commentators provided highly informative feedback about a range of implications of this new body of work for educational psychology, including learning disabilities. In our response to the commentators, we reply to two relatively broad topics they touch on: consciousness and the functionalist tradition of American psychology. We also remark on two relatively narrow issues raised by the commentators: what constitutes irrelevant information and perseveration in the missing addend task.     

Longitudinal course of rapid naming in disabled and nondisabled readers

The Rapid Automatized Naming Test (Denckla and Rudel 1974) was studied cross-sectionally in an sample of kindergartners (n=342) at-risk for reading disability (Study 1), and longitudinally in an n=160 epidemiological normal sample of children tested in first, third, fifth, and eighth grades (Study 2). Study 1 showed faster absolute naming speeds for those with near perfect untimed alphabet recitation, but the stronger and more orderly relation (at r=.31, p<.0001) was between three levels of alphabet recitation accuracy and the relative number/letter naming speed advantage (ratio of mean number/letter naming speed minus mean color/object naming speed over mean color/object naming speed). In Study 2, the number/letter advantage was already strongly present by first grade, and did not increase significantly thereafter, but absolute naming times improved steadily across grades in an exponential decay function. In this sample, the relative number/letter advantage was not related to reading level. However, the absolute color/object naming speed was strongly related to reading level and vocabulary across grades. Norms for the Rapid Automatized Naming Test based on the epidemiological normal sample tested in Grades 1, 3, 5, and 8 are presented in the appendix.     

Dielectrophoresis of DNA: Quantification by impedance measurements

Dielectrophoretic properties of DNA have been determined by measuring capacitance changes between planar microelectrodes. DNA sizes ranged from 100 bp to 48 kbp, DNA concentrations from below 0.1 to 70 μg∕ml. Dielectrophoretic spectra exhibited maximum response around 3 kHz and 3 MHz. The strongest response was found for very long DNA (above 10 kbp) and for short 100 bp fragments, which corresponds to the persistence length of DNA. The method allows for an uncomplicated, automatic acquisition of the dielectrophoretic properties of submicroscopical objects without the need for labeling protocols or optical accessibility.     

Popular Culture

Edited by Ray B. Browne, Rituals and Ceremonies in Popular Culture (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1980, 21.95 cloth, 10.95 paper)

The Buyer's Guide (Dynapubs Enterprises, 15800 Rt. 84 North, East Moline, IL 61244, 10.00/26 issues)

Mort Walker, Lexicon of Comicana (Port Chester, NY: Museum of Cartoon Art, Comly Ave., 1980, 95p, pb,) 4.95 plus 50* postage)

Geoffrey O'Brien, Hardboiled America: the Lurid Years of Paperbacks (New York: Van Nostrand, 1981, 144 pp., 16.95, cloth )

The Armchair Detective (Mysterious Press, 129 W. 56th St., NYC 10019, $16 USA, $20 elsewhere)

Bruce Pollock's When Rock Was Young: A Nostalgic Review of the Top 40 Era (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981, 214pp., 6.95 pb)

Jack Ziegler's Hamburger Madness (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1978, 5.95 pb)

Vincent Lynch and Bill Henkin's Jukebox, the Golden Age (Berkeley: Lancaster-Miller, 1981, llOpp., 12.95 cloth)

Blamin Technology: The Irrational Search for Scapegoats (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1981, -207 pp., 12.95 cloth)

Terry Hounsome and Tim Chambre's Rock Record (NY: Facts on File, Inc., 1981, 9.95 pb)

David Dary's Cowboy Culture: A Saga of Five Centuries (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984, 17.95, cloth)