Language‐Switching Costs in Bilingual Mathematics Learning

Behavioral studies on bilingual learning have revealed cognitive costs (lower accuracy and/or higher processing time) when the language of application differs from the language of learning. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to provide insights into the cognitive underpinnings of these costs (so‐called language‐switching costs) in mathematics. Twenty‐nine bilingual adults underwent a 4‐day arithmetic training in one language, followed by an fMRI test session in which they had to solve the trained problems in both languages. Language‐switching costs were accompanied by increased activation in areas associated with magnitude processing (intraparietal sulcus), visuo‐spatial imagery (precuneus), numerical stimulus recognition (fusiform gyrus) and executive functions (frontal areas). These findings suggest that language‐switching costs in arithmetic are due to additional numerical information processing. Bilingual education programs need to take these findings into account to reduce language‐switching costs in order to fully exploit the potential of bilingual learning.     

Predicting early center care utilization in a context of universal access

This paper reports predictors for center care utilization prior to 18 months of age in Norway, a country with a welfare system providing up to one-year paid parental leave and universal access to subsidized and publicly regulated center care. A community sample of 1103 families was interviewed about demographics, family, and child characteristics when their child was 6 months old, and the child's entry into center care prior to 18 months of age was recorded. Utilization rate was 72.2%. Parents’ preference that their child entered center care prior to 18 months of age was the strongest predictor of utilization. Nonwestern immigrant status and lower socio-economic status predicted lower utilization. Age of entry was higher for children in two-parent families. Mother's severe health problems, parents’ preferences for entry prior to 18 months, and high child activity levels predicted earlier entry. Our findings suggest that in a context of universally accessible subsidized center care, family and child factors beyond preferences for center care predicted utilization only to a very limited extent.     

中国煤炭需求弹性估算:时间波动与区际差异

需求弹性是经济学中的基础概念,也是我国煤炭市场化进程中的重要研究对象.不同于以往的宽泛研究,本文分别从国家维度、时间维度和区域维度对1995-2010年间的我国煤炭需求弹性展开系统化研究.基于面板数据模型的研究发现全国煤炭需求的价格弹性为0.59,煤炭在所考察期间总体呈现出刚性需求现象,但基于截面数据的回归结果显示各考察年份的煤炭需求弹性为负值且存在着较大的时间波动,而各区域时间序列的回归结果表明煤炭需求弹性的区际差异: 煤炭主产地其值为负,消费地其值为正.分析发现以国家维度和时间维度的研究结论相互矛盾,而以区域维度的研究结果更加科学合理,具有更为可靠的理论和现实指导意义.     

Engineering Courses Taught in English: An Experience from Denmark

The article gives a brief review of the internationalization of Danish higher education and engineering education in particular. It addresses the questions of why it is important to develop courses in English with regard to the process of internationalization, impact on the curricula and impact on students. Finally, it shows the necessity for higher education institutes in minor language areas to develop courses in English, and new keywords in the internationalization process are discussed.     

Waste in education: the potential of materiality and practice

This article explores how waste materials and waste practices figure in education, pointing to educational potentials of waste which have hitherto received little consideration in environmental and sustainability education practice and research. Building on empirical research on waste education in Danish schools and preschools, we discuss how an empirical and theoretical focus on waste as material and on waste practices moves beyond conventional approaches to waste in education. Seeking to overcome the shortcomings of habitual-behavioural and rational action approaches, we argue for an approach to waste education which encourages pupils to explore the socio-material aspects and trajectories of waste practices and waste materials.     

The Addition Property of Expectation – An Example to Convince

This article describes an example that is designed to convince students of the addition property of expectation.     

In the Margins of Journalism

Research on journalists and journalistic work has focused on journalists with permanent, full-time employment. Given the rapid decrease of such employment opportunities, we argue that journalism research needs to pay more attention to those who those who have had to leave their jobs and either stopped doing journalism entirely, or who have switched to a freelance career (sometimes combining journalism with other work). This category of people is at once becoming more marginalized and “the new normal” within the occupation: In this paper, we furthermore focus on local (Swedish) journalists and ex-journalists. Based on a set of semi-structured interviews (n?=?12) with ex-journalists who share the experience of having lost their permanent, full-time jobs, we use the concept of livelihood as an analytical tool. The concept of livelihood highlights the shift from journalism as a job practiced exclusive of other jobs to an activity conducted alongside other income-generating activities and makes it possible to analyse leaving the occupation from a context that incorporates the whole life situation of the respondents. This also contributes to the current wave of studies of journalism and job loss by adding qualitative data about individual experiences of job loss to the existing quantitative survey evidence.