Radio Frequency Identification: Transforming the Dynamics of Supply and Demand in Publishing

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a mature technology used across many industries. However, beyond satisfying industry mandates, many in the publishing industry have stepped back from pursuing the potential of RFID. Why? Publishing was first introduced to RFID in 2003 through retailer mandates which created a negative cloud around RFID. Many focused exclusively on the technology and the cost of compliance, rather than the business benefits. Since then, the primary focus has continued to be on the technology. For a publishing industry facing new sources of competition and serious supply-chain issues, the time has come to stop focusing on the technology and start thinking about the benefits. RFID is really all about lowering costs and achieving greater efficiencies. The potential for RFID to reduce warehouse and distribution costs, in-store theft and out-of-stock conditions is exciting, as are the larger opportunities to improve forecasting, customer experience and planning. RFID is new to the book industry and there is still a lot to learn. Understanding the technology is important. But, RFID is not just a technology. It is an enabler for reducing costs, improving profitability and enhancing competitiveness. It is essential that the industry go beyond the technology and start realizing these opportunities.     

Singaporean gifted adolescents under scrutiny: The gender factor

Research on the sex-role problems of gifted adolescents rarely lifts its sight beyond Western developed countries, making generalizations to the Third World suspect. The present study, by exploring the relationship between gender and adjustment among gifted adolescents in Singapore, hopes to extend the consideration of developmental sex-role issues to a society different from the West. Specifically, it reports that Singaporean gifted girls, like some of their Western counterparts, had difficulty in reconciling their giftedness with societal notions of femininity.Conceivably, this conflict placed them on the threshold of stress, leaving them more vulnerable than the gifted boys to adjustment problems. In addition, having internalized the gender stereotypic view that academic excellence was less important to them than to the boys, the gifted girls might inadvertently put ceilings on their own achievements. The paper concludes with several remedies for educators, counsellors, and parents to help gifted girls embark upon their road to self-fulfilment.

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Zusammenfassung Forschungen über die Probleme begabter Jugendlicher bezüglich geschlechtsspezifischer Rollen erfassen selten Zielgruppen außerhalb der entwickelten westlichen Länder. Demnach wird jede Übertragung auf die dritte Welt fragwürdig. Diese Studie beabsichtigt, mit einer Untersuchung über die Beziehungen zwischen Geschlecht und Anpassungsfähigkeit unter begabten Jugendlichen in Singapur, den Kontext der Debatte über entwicklungsbezogene geschlechtsspezifische Rollen auf eine nicht-westliche Gesellschaft zu erweitern. Insbesondere wird berichtet, daß begabte singapurische Mädchen es ebenso wie westliche Mädchen schwierig finden, ihre Begabtheit mit gesellschaftsüblichen Begriffen der Weiblichkeit zu vereinbaren. Es wäre durchaus möglich, daß dieser Konflikt sie bis an die Schwelle des Stresses bringt, so daß sie für Anpassungsprobleme anfälliger als begabte Jungen sind. Indem sie die geschlechtstypische Ansicht verinnerlichen, daß wissenschaftlicher Erfolg für sie weniger bedeutsam ist als für Jungen, könnten die begabten Mädchen ihren eigenen Leistungen unbewußt Grenzen setzen. Der Artikel endet mit verschiedenen Vorschlägen, wie Pädagogen, Berater und Eltern begabter Mädchen dazu beitragen könnten, daß diese Mädchen zu ihrer Selbsterfüllung finden.

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Résumé La recherche sur les problèmes liés au rôle des sexes des adolescents doués porte rarement son regard au-delà des pays industrialisés occidentaux, rendant les généralisations au Tiers Monde suspectes. En étudiant le rapport entre les sexes et l'adaptation chez les adolescents talentueux de Singapour, la présente étude espère étendre l'examen des problèmes de développement liés au rôle des sexes à une société différente de celles du monde occidental. En particulier, elle relate que les filles douées de Singapour, comme certaines de leurs homologues occidentales, ont des difficultés à concilier leur talent avec les notions sociales de fémininité. II est concevable que ce conflit les ait mises sous pression, les rendant ainsi plus vulnérables que les garçons doués aux problèmes d'adaptation. Par ailleurs, ayant assimilé le point de vue stéréotypé des sexes selon lequel l'excellence scolaire est moins importante pour elles que pour les garçons, il se peut que les filles douées fixent, par inadvertance, un plafond à leurs propres performances. Cet article conclut en proposant quelques remèdes aux éducateurs, conseillers et aux parents pour aider les filles capables à s'engager dans la voie qui leur permettra de s'accomplir.

     

Impact of hostility and withdrawal in interparental conflict on parental emotional unavailability and children's adjustment difficulties

This multimethod, prospective study examined the nature of pathways between interparental hostility and withdrawal, parental emotional unavailability, and subsequent changes in children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and school adjustment difficulties over a 3-year period in a sample of 210 mothers, fathers, and 6-year-old children. The results of autoregressive structural equation models indicated that interparental withdrawal had a detrimental impact on all areas of children's adjustment, whereas interparental hostility had an indirect effect on subsequent changes in child adjustment. An intermediary role of parental emotional unavailability in links between interparental withdrawal and hostility and child outcomes was indicated, with specific, differential effects observed for fathers and mothers.     

Educational Television and the Curriculum for Children up to the Age of Seven Years

The results of a three-year investigation in England and Wales into the way educational television was used by 259 teachers of children up to the age of seven years indicated that only a few teachers were using the medium effectively. Class viewing and mass viewing of programmes were the normal methods, even when a video-recorder was available. In most instances the video-recorder was used for timetable convenience, and'view and follow-up'the common practice. These factors, together with a lack of continuity between programmes and separation from other activities the children were pursuing, suggested that educational television was isolated from other aspects of the curriculum. The findings indicated the necessity for a course on educational television to be included in the initial training of teachers, the need for a vastly increased in-service programme for serving teachers and the provision of adequate resources.     

Young Children,Television & Learning: Part I. The effects of children watching a continuous off‐air broadcast

Responses of 21 pre‐operational children, aged between 6#lb6 and 7#lb4 years, to an uninterrupted television programme, viewed in small groups, were surveyed by individual post‐viewing questioning. The indications are that the children viewed the programme passively except when something extraordinary or stimulating occurred; they recalled only isolated aspects that interested them or that they liked. They were unable to deduce the producer's intentions and gained only a vague idea of what the programme was about. Children are limited in what they can take from a broadcast by their own experiences and by how those relate to what is viewed, so teachers have a responsibility to assist young children to internalise and interpret what is viewed from educational television. Continuous ‘programmes’ seem unsuitable as learning media; children should view, via a videorecorder, short sequences or ‘modules’ of television material, linked to activities with which they are involved or familiar, to enable a three‐way interaction between children, teacher and television to be established