Information and Communication Technologies for Development: The Bottom of the Pyramid Model in Practice

The currently influential model for information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) is based on increasing the well-being of the poor through market-based solutions, and by using low-cost but advanced technologies. Using ethnographic methods, we chart out the contradictions that could arise when such a development-through-entrepreneurship model is implemented. We examine the Akshaya project, a franchise of computer-service kiosks in Kerala, India, which strives simultaneously for social development through access to computers and financial viability through cost recovery and entrepreneurship. We show that tensions within the state and among entrepreneurs and perceptions of public versus private among consumers make it challenging to meet the twin goals of commercial profitability and social development.     

Development of university life-science programs and university-industry joint research in Japan

How are new university educational programs established in response to expanding sciences and how do they promote university-industry (UI) joint research? To study these questions in relation to life sciences and biotechnology, we first compiled the data on the establishment of new undergraduate and graduate programs on these fields in Japanese universities since the 1950s. We then analyzed statistically whether and how such establishment contributed to the occurrence and frequency of UI joint research in biotechnology. We found that the expansion of such university programs in fact contributed to the promotion of UI joint research. We also confirmed that, even with this contribution controlled, UI joint research projects increased following the 1998 legislation to promote technology transfer from universities (the so-called TLO Act) and the 1999 legislation to allow universities to retain rights on their inventions made with government research funds (the so-called Japanese Bayh-Dole Act).     

Trying to Make a Lever Work at Ages 1 to 4: The Development of "Functions" (Logico-mathematical Thinking)

To find out if children could make functions before age 4, 73 children aged 1 to 4 were encouraged to imitate the use of a lever to make a beanbag fly up. Functions are mental relationships that preoperational children can make between 2 things at a time in a unidirectional way (Piaget, Grize, Szeminska, &; Bang, 1968 Piaget, J., Grize, J.-B., Szeminska, A. and Bang, V. B. 1977. Epistemology and psychology of functions, Boston: Dreidel. (Original work published 1968)[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]/1977). The child's construction of the following 3 functions was hypothesized and confirmed: (a) As a function of being pushed down, the up end of the board (the lever) goes down; (b) as a function of this descent, the down end of the board goes up; and (c) as a function of this ascent of the board, the beanbag flies up. Three developmental levels were found, and educational implications are discussed.     

Enhancing the Development of Low-Birthweight, Premature Infants: Changes in Cognition and Behavior over the First Three Years

The Infant Health and Development Program is a randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy of educational and family support services and pediatric follow-up offered in the first 3 years of life on reducing the incidence of developmental delay in low-birthweight (LBW), preterm infants in 8 clinical sites ( N = 985). Effects of the intervention on cognitive and behavior problem scores over the 3 years are examined. Significant intervention effects were seen on cognitive scores at 24 and 36 but not 12 months of age; effect sizes were similar at both ages. These effects persist when controlling for earlier cognitive scores. At 24 and 36 months, behavior problem scores for the intervention group were significantly lower than for the follow-up group; the intervention was more efficacious for children with higher initial behavior problem scores. Results are discussed in terms of timing and targeting of services for LBW and disadvantaged children.     

Ruyu Hung. Education between speech and writing: Crossing the boundaries of Dao and deconstruction (London: Routledge, 2018)

Abstract

This book review symposium aims to open a space for discussions and questions responded to the book Education between Speech and Writing: Crossing the Boundaries of Dao and Deconstruction, which is published in 2018. The symposium is composed of four articles by four authors. They are “Introduction” by the author of the book; Morimichi Kato's “Writing, History, and Playfulness: A dialogical review of Ruyu Hung's Education Between Speech and Writing: Crossing the Boundaries of Dao and Deconstruction”; Xu Di's “Think Beyond Dichotomy: Discussant paper on Education Between Speech & Writing by Dr. Ruyu Hung”; and Chia-Ling Wang's “Buddhist unconsciousness: A language beyond phonocentrism and graphocentrism in postgraphocentric education”. This symposium creates new possibilities of understanding and exploring Eastern Asian philosophy of education.     

On the Likelihood Ratio Test for the Number of Factors in Exploratory Factor Analysis

In the exploratory factor analysis, when the number of factors exceeds the true number of factors, the likelihood ratio test statistic no longer follows the chi-square distribution due to a problem of rank deficiency and nonidentifiability of model parameters. As a result, decisions regarding the number of factors may be incorrect. Several researchers have pointed out this phenomenon, but it is not well known among applied researchers who use exploratory factor analysis. We demonstrate that overfactoring is one cause for the well-known fact that the likelihood ratio test tends to find too many factors.     

Seeding Writing Project principles and practices in a school community: a case study

This article reports on a small-scale case study involving all English teachers of junior classes in a rural high school in New Zealand. The Head of English had been involved in Writing Project professional learning, designed in accordance with principles and practices that can be found in a number of countries, especially the United States. The researcher was alerted to the Head’s instigation of a school-wide writing competition and the implementation across all classes of a poetry writing unit, and set out to explore the extent to which Writing Project practices had been ‘seeded’ in this context through the actions of the Head of English. All teachers were interviewed and the data thematically analysed using a social constructionist lens. Results showed that while some direct influence occurred, ‘seeding’ was actually a diffused phenomenon and likely to be facilitated by five factors: management structure, dissemination processes, leadership style, staff relationships and teacher disposition.