Politics and publishing in a democratic society: Technical breakthroughs and research agendas

Publishing flourishes best in a democratic society. Technological changes alter the relationship of forces so that opportunities for publishing expand. A broader range of information channels, for example, increases choice and makes authoritarian rule more difficult. Publishing also enhances democracy when decisions are made on the basis of merit rather than top-down legislation. Research should reflect awareness of the interaction of publishing and politics. Such areas as the relationship between public and private sectors, the impact of internationalization, non-U.S. ownership of information, mergers and acquisitions, and conflict between the First Amendment and copyright law, are examples of areas in which democratic outcomes are critical. Decision making in publishing would benefit from heightened awareness of the political consequences of publishers’ activities. Irving Louis Horowithz is the author ofCommunicating Ideas: The Politics of Publishing Mary E. Curtis has written widely on subjects of concern to professional publishing.     

School readiness gains made by ethnically diverse children in poverty attending center-based childcare and public school pre-kindergarten programs

Although intensive early childhood interventions and high quality preschool programs have been shown to foster children's school readiness, little is known about the school readiness gains made by ethnically and linguistically diverse children in poverty receiving subsidies to attend center-based childcare or those in public school pre-kindergarten programs. Within the context of a large-scale, university–community applied research and evaluation project, The Miami School Readiness Project, children receiving subsidies to attend center-based childcare (n = 1478), children attending free Title 1 public school pre-k programs (n = 1611), and children attending fee-supported public school pre-k programs (n = 749) were individually assessed at the beginning and end of their pre-kindergarten year in the areas of cognitive, language, and fine motor development. Parents and teachers reported on children's socio-emotional strengths and behavior concerns. Findings revealed that although children from all types of programs made considerable school readiness gains in most areas in terms of their national relative standing, children attending public school pre-k programs typically made somewhat greater gains in the areas of cognitive and language development. Results suggest that center-based childcare programs in the community may be beneficial for fostering school readiness within ethnically diverse children in poverty, and that public school pre-kindergarten programs may show even greater gains in some areas. Policy implications are discussed.     

A Bond Graph Description of U-Tube Steam Generator Dynamics

Bond graph methods are used to derive a nonlinear model of a U-tube steam generator like those used in pressurized water reactor (PWR) power plants. A major advantage of bond graph modeling is the ease with which different subsystem models can be interconnected; this feature is demonstrated in the steam generator modeling. Individual models of primary water cooling, generator tube heat capacity, secondary and downcomer fluid mass and energy flows, the feedwater supply system, and the main steam control valve are developed. The complete bond graph model is validated using data from a test reactor steam generator.     

Exploring the Potential of Computers to Enrich Home and Community-Based Services Clients' Social Networks

Older persons receiving services in community settings, rather than Nursing Homes, are at risk of social isolation. Computer mediated communication offers technological resources that recipients of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) might use to reduce their social isolation. The present study involved personal interviews with 40 HCBS clients regarding their interest in communicating with members of their social networks and using computers. At the time of the interview, 30 of the 40 participants did not use computers and reported cost, lack of training, physical limitations, lack of interest and access, and fraud as the reasons for not using computers. After watching a videotape illustrating an easy-to-use computer interface that allows older persons to communicate with families and friends, 90% reported that it would be helpful for people like them. Participants said such a computer would be helpful because it would make communication with friends and family easy, it could accommodate visual and manual disabilities, and would be interesting. Eighty-five percent said they would use a system like the one they were shown if it were available to them.     

Inhibitory control,dyadic social behavior,and mental health difficulties in preschoolers

Although inhibitory control is typically associated with positive outcomes, several theoretical frameworks suggest that too little and too much inhibitory control may be problematic. Using a longitudinal, latent variable approach, we examined whether a multi-method index of inhibitory control at Time 1 (N = 105, 52 girls, M_age = 3.50 years, 87% White) predicted observed social behavior with an unfamiliar peer and maternal report of preschoolers’ mental health difficulties at Time 2 (M_age = 4.76 years). Data collection occurred between 2017 and 2019. Inhibitory control displayed a U-shaped relation with prospective outcomes, where high and low levels of inhibitory control were associated with higher levels of avoidant social behaviors and mental health difficulties. The results are discussed in the context of under- and over-regulation in understanding individual differences in children's social behavior and mental health difficulties.     

Measuring the Interactive Skills of Caregivers in Child Care Centers: Development and Validation of the Caregiver Interaction Profile Scales

Research Findings: High-quality caregiver–child interactions constitute the core of high-quality child care for young children. This article describes the background and development of the Caregiver Interaction Profile (CIP) scales to rate 6 key skills of caregivers for interacting with 0- to 4-year-old children in child care centers: sensitive responsiveness, respect for autonomy, structuring and limit setting, verbal communication, developmental stimulation, and fostering positive peer interactions. Each interactive skill is rated on a 7-point scale based on observation of video-recorded caregiver–child interactions. Together, the 6 scale scores constitute an Interaction Profile for individual caregivers that may serve as a starting point for education and training to improve the quality of caregiver–child interactions. This article also presents the results of a 1st study with the CIP scales, in a sample of 145 caregivers from 75 child care groups in 47 child care centers in The Netherlands. Practice or Policy: Results provide promising preliminary evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the CIP scales.     

K-8 Educators Perceptions and Preparedness for Teaching Evolution Topics

Many science education standards mandate teaching evolution concepts in the K-8 curriculum. Yet, not all K-8 certified educators embrace the notion of teaching evolution content Factors influencing K-8 teacher engagement with evolution curriculum include evolution familiarity and personal beliefs conflicts. With this in mind, we investigated the perceptions and beliefs about evolution of educators who had completed a science and mathematics education master’s degree. Our quantitative and qualitative data indicate some participants did not feel prepared or responsible for teaching evolution content. The discussion of our study results and implications was done in the context of achieving science learning standards.     

Executive functioning and preschoolers' understanding of false beliefs, false photographs, and false signs

Two studies were conducted to investigate the specificity of the relationship between preschoolers' emerging executive functioning skills and false belief understanding. Study 1 ( N =44) showed that 3- to 5-year-olds' performance on an executive functioning task that required selective suppression of actions predicted performance on false belief tasks, but not on false photograph tasks. Study 2 ( N =54) replicated the finding from Study 1 and showed that performance on the executive functioning task also predicted 3- to 5-year-olds' performance on false sign tasks. These findings show that executive functioning is required to reason only about representations that are intended to reflect a true state of affairs. Results are discussed with respect to theories of preschoolers' theory-of-mind development.