Externalities, technological complementarities and sustained economic growth

Externalities as conventionally defined miss many of the spillovers that are both causes and consequences of the technological changes that underlie economic growth. We introduce a much wider concept called technological complementarities. New general purpose technologies (GPTs) rejuvenate the growth process by creating technological complementarities, which are adequately measured neither by total factor productivity (TFP) nor by externalities. There would be major gains from technological change even if the returns on capital invested in innovation never exceeded the returns on investing in existing technologies so that there were neither externalities nor positive changes in TFP.     

Using A Split-ballot Survey to Explore the Robustness of the 'MIP' Question in Agenda-Setting Research: A Methodological Study

Three aspects of the ‘most important problem’ questionused in agenda-setting research to measure issue salience amongthe public were examined. A split-ballot design in a state-widesurvey compared versions of the public agenda with a socialframe of reference versus a personal frame of reference, versionsusing the traditional term ‘problem’ versus ‘issue’,and the effects of question order. High correlations betweenthe different versions were found in all three sets of comparisons.     

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of goat ovaries,follicles and oocytes in view of in vitro production of embryos

Goat ovaries were collected from the slaughterhouse and categorized as right, left, corpus luteum （CL）-present and -absent group and evaluated on the basis of weight （g）, length （cm）, width （cm）, number of follicles, follicles aspirated and number and state ofcumulus-oocyte-complexes （COCs）. Comparatively higher weight [（0.66±0.02） vs （0.64±0.02） g], length [（1.17±0.02） vs （1.1 ±0.02） cm] and width [（0.77±0.02） vs （0.74±0.02） cm] were found in right ovaries than those of left. On the other hand significantly （P〈0.05） higher weight [（0.71±0.03） vs （0.64±0.01） g] and width [（0.76±0.03） vs （0.75±0.01） cm] were found in CL-present group than those of CL-absent group of ovaries. The left ovaries contained comparatively higher number of normal COCs [（1.06±0.09） per ovary] than fight ovaries [（1.03±0.10） per ovary] and the similar trend was found in total number of follicles [（4.51±0.25） vs （4.30±0.23） per ovary] and follicles aspirated [（2.55±0.14） vs （2.52±0.12） per ovary]. But the total COCs per ovary was almost similar in both ovaries [right and left： （1.85±0.12） and （1.85±0.11） per ovary, respectively]. Higher number of total COCs [（1.87±0.09） vs （1.76±0.16） per ovary], total number of follicles [（4.45±0.19） vs （4.16±0.37） per ovary], follicles aspirated [（2.55±0.10） vs （2.48±0.21） per ovary] and normal COCs [（1.12±0.07） vs （0.76±0.14） per ovary] were found in CL-absent group than those of CL-present group of ovaries.     

A semester-long student-directed research project involving enzyme immunoassay: appropriate for immunology, endocrinology, or neuroscience courses

The following project aimed at promoting integrated and long-lasting learning is described for an Immunology course, but it may be adapted to other disciplines. Students were asked to develop and carry out a research project to examine the relationship between immune function and stress. The experiments were required to include the assessment of salivary cortisol and salivary IgA (sIgA) with enzyme immunoassays. All other aspects of the experiments were developed by student groups with appropriate guidance from the instructor. Data are presented for one group project that assessed the effect of music on cortisol and sIgA. Overall levels of sIgA and cortisol were consistent with reported values. Students found a significant decrease in cortisol over time. Additionally, there was a trend that supported the overall student hypothesis regarding the effect of stress and immune function. Compared with the same Immunology course that included an instructor-designed experiment using enzyme immunoassays for cortisol and sIgA, several assessments (e.g., final grades and comments on student evaluations) show that overall learning seemed to be much better in the course with the student-directed research project.     

Phenomenal permanence and the development of predictive tracking in infancy

The perceived spatiotemporal continuity of objects depends on the way they appear and disappear as they move in the spatial layout. This study investigated whether infants' predictive tracking of a briefly occluded object is sensitive to the manner by which the object disappears and reappears. Five-, 7-, and 9-month-old infants were shown a ball rolling across a visual scene and briefly disappearing via kinetic occlusion, instantaneous disappearance, implosion, or virtual occlusion. Three different measures converged to show that predictive tracking increased with age and that infants were most likely to anticipate the reappearance of the ball following kinetic occlusion. These results suggest that infants' knowledge of the permanence and nonpermanence of objects is embodied in their predictive tracking.     

Household Socioeconomic Status and Parental Investments: Direct and Indirect Relations With School Readiness in Ghana

This study examines how parent socioeconomic status (SES) directly and indirectly predicts children's school readiness through pathways of parental investment. Data come from direct assessments with preschool children and surveys with their primary caregivers in Ghana at the start of the 2015–2016 school year (N = 2,137; M_age = 5.2 years). Results revealed SES-related gaps in all parental investment characteristics and child school readiness skills. Preschool involvement served as the primary mediating mechanism in the path from SES to most school readiness skills, though it did not predict executive function. The number of books in the household was marginally positively predictive of early literacy, whereas at-home stimulation was negatively related to motor, literacy, and numeracy skills.     

An Entity Theory of Intelligence Predicts Higher Cortisol Levels When High School Grades Are Declining

Grades often decline during the high school transition, creating stress. The present research integrates the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat with the implicit theories model to understand who shows maladaptive stress responses. A diary study measured declines in grades in the first few months of high school: salivary cortisol (N = 360 students, N = 3,045 observations) and daily stress appraisals (N = 499 students, N = 3,854 observations). Students who reported an entity theory of intelligence (i.e., the belief that intelligence is fixed) showed higher cortisol when grades were declining. Moreover, daily academic stressors showed a different lingering effect on the next day's cortisol for those with different implicit theories. Findings support a process model through which beliefs affect biological stress responses during difficult adolescent transitions.     

Pedagogy and Curricular Choice in Community College Accelerated Writing Courses

To improve students’ outcomes and retention rates, community colleges have implemented acceleration strategies which hasten the completion of educational requirements (Edgecombe, 2011). The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of an accelerated freshmen writing course on teachers’ curricular decisions and pedagogical practices at a large urban community college. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the 11 faculty members teaching different sections of this accelerated writing course. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Our findings reveal that while instructors embrace the structural changes that come with accelerated courses and demonstrate a new appreciation for struggling students in their traditional English 101 class, they report on significant challenges in teaching due to the students’ lack of academic and personal maturity, as well as a need to lower their expectations and simplify the curriculum. This research raises questions about the unintended positive and negative effects of accelerated courses on teaching. More qualitative research is needed that focuses on the teachers’ experiences and their capacity to help students benefit from an accelerated course.     

Ghosts in the Nursery 2.0

SYNOPSIS

Parental working is not unambiguously beneficial for children. On the one hand, working parents can be positive role models for their children, and income can improve children’s lives in many ways. On the other hand, work can impair parent-child interactions, especially when the parents experience high levels of working stress. In my commentary, I conclude that the paper by River, enjoys strong support for the impact of maternal state anxiety (attachment anxiety) and work-interfering-with-family (WIF)-conflict related guilt on parents behaviors. Considering the cognitive-relational stress-theory by Lazarus and Folkman, the balance of personal resources and external demands can explain parental stress, which could be associated with parental behavior. Full-time-working parents, who experience high levels of guilt and report high levels of attachment anxiety, are more prone to show low levels of stress resistance toward crying infants. However, these associations are not studied in families with high risk factors. Furthermore, future studies should include aspects of mental health status in a theoretical model. Taken together, the target article provides a solid foundation for further research. I also propose to transfer the findings into more realistic research setting, which includes high-risk groups (parents with low socioeconomic status, low-income, mental health problems) to study how infant cry can influence parents’ patterns of care and abuse. The commentary tries to enrich the study by including Fraiberg’s “ghosts in the nursery” to further integrating parental mentalizing processes in the model explaining parents’ reactions to infant cry signal in the context of WIF conflicts.     

Factors associated with school psychologists' perceptions of campus violence

Recent concern about school violence has increased demands on school psychologists to respond to safety concerns on their school campuses. In this study, 123 school psychologists responded to a survey about their perceptions, experiences, and readiness to meaningfully address school violence. School psychologists reported that they do not worry about their personal safety at school (78%), but most felt unprepared to deal with school violence (73%) and had received no specialized training in this area (85%). A principal components analysis of the types of violence school psychologists perceived to occur on their campuses identified a range of incidents from bullying to antisocial behavior. School psychologists working in inner-city schools were more likely to believe that their schools had high levels of violence (45.6%) compared with those working in urban-not inner-city (14.3%), suburban (4.9%), or rural (0%) schools. Recommendations to prepare school psychologists to help prevent, reduce, and respond to campus violence are discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.