Child Care Subsidy and Program Quality Revisited

Research Findings: Previous research has documented conflicting results on the relationship between program quality and the percentage of children receiving subsidized child care (subsidy density) in early childhood centers. This research examined the relationship between subsidy density and the quality of infant and preschool classrooms in child care centers, taking into consideration teacher education and salary as well as other structural variables associated with quality. A multimethod evaluation was conducted with 110 child care centers utilizing an interview of center directors as well as classroom observations using standardized measures of quality and language/literacy in the classroom. Regression analyses indicate that subsidy density does not predict the quality of infant classrooms. However, subsidy density is a significant predictor of the quality of preschool classrooms. Teacher education is predictive of some quality indicators, but teacher salary is not. Practice or Policy: Practice and policy implications are discussed to promote the quality of child care centers that serve low- income children. Statewide initiatives should target centers with higher subsidy density for quality improvements. Local programs and state policy should provide teachers with opportunities to obtain additional education and then offer incentives to remain in their current early childhood settings.     

The Ohio Library and Information Network: Resource Sharing at Its Best

The article describes the development and implementation of the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) shared catalog and patron-initiated online borrowing process. Procedures for providing materials to patrons along with OhioLINK's experience with missing and lost materials are detailed, including lessons learned regarding lost materials and billing. Details of the usage of OhioLINK services and the growth into electronic resources are included. The article summarizes the success of this unmediated borrowing process.     

“Yo! What's it Like to be Black?”: An Exercise to Help Students Deepen the Content of Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Objectives: To help students ask questions across cultural groups that go beyond the superficial or generic so that they may move into deeper dialogue. To push students to use critical thinking and analytical skills to ask questions of substance. To help build relationships with strangers

Course: Intercultural communication     

Syllable,Phoneme, and Tone: Psycholinguistic Units in Early Chinese and English Word Recognition

Tasks of word reading in Chinese and English; nonverbal IQ; speeded naming; and units of syllable onset (a phoneme measure), syllable, and tone detection awareness were administered to 211 Hong Kong Chinese children ages 4 and 5. In separate regression equations, syllable awareness was equally associated with Chinese and English word recognition. In contrast, syllable onset awareness was uniquely associated with English reading only, whereas tone detection was uniquely associated with Chinese reading only. Results underscore both the universality of first-language phonological transfer to second-language reading and the importance of different psycholinguistic units (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005 Ziegler, J. C. and Goswami, U. 2005. Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory.. Psychological Bulletin, 131(1): 3–29. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) for understanding reading acquisition: Tone units are integral to Chinese character recognition, whereas phonemes are more strongly associated with English word recognition, even within the same children.     

Morphological Awareness,Orthographic Knowledge,and Spelling Errors: Keys to Understanding Early Chinese Literacy Acquisition

This 1-year longitudinal study examined the extent to which morphological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and phonological awareness, along with speeded naming, uniquely explained word recognition, dictation (i.e., spelling), and reading comprehension among 171 young Hong Kong Chinese children. With age and vocabulary knowledge statistically controlled, both morphological awareness and orthographic knowledge were uniquely associated with all three concurrently measured literacy skills, as well as longitudinal measures of specific literacy skills. Naming speed was also uniquely associated with concurrent word reading, as well as all three literacy skills longitudinally, even with their autoregressive effects controlled. Analyses of children's spelling mistakes indicated that 97% and 95% of all errors were either morpholexically or orthographically based at times 1 and 2, respectively. Morphologically based spelling errors were also uniquely associated with all three literacy skills across time. Findings underscore the importance of morphological awareness and orthographic knowledge for Chinese literacy acquisition.     

A novel μ-fluidic whole blood coagulation assay based on Rayleigh surface-acoustic waves as a point-of-care method to detect anticoagulants

A universal coagulation test that reliably detects prolonged coagulation time in patients, irrespective of the anticoagulant administered, has not been available to date. An easily miniaturised, novel μ-fluidic universal coagulation test employing surface acoustic waves (SAW) is presented here. SAW was employed to instantly mix and recalcify 6 μl citrated whole blood and image correlation analysis was used to quantify clot formation kinetics. The detection of clinically relevant anticoagulant dosing with old anticoagulants (unfractionated heparin, argatroban) and new anticoagulants (dabigatran, rivaroxaban) has been tested and compared to standard plasma coagulation assays. The applicability of this novel method has been confirmed in a small patient population. Coagulation was dose-proportionally prolonged with heparin, argatroban, dabigatran, and rivaroxaban, comparable to standard tests. Aspirin and clopidogrel did not interfere with the SAW-induced clotting time (SAW-CT), whereas the strong GPIIb/IIIa-inhibitor abciximab did interfere. Preliminary clinical data prove the suitability of the SAW-CT in patients being treated with warfarin, rivaroxaban, or dabigatran. The system principally allows assessment of whole blood coagulation in humans in a point-of-care setting. This method could be used in stroke units, emergency vehicles, general and intensive care wards, as well as for laboratory and home testing of coagulation.     

Pre- and Postnatal Women's Leisure Time Physical Activity Patterns

The purpose of this study was to examine women's leisure time physical activity (LTPA) before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and through the first 7 months postnatal. Pre- and postnatal women (n = 309) completed the 12-month Modifiable Activity Questionnaire and demographic information. Multilevel modeling was used to estimate a growth curve representing the average change in LTPA over time and intraindividual variations in the average growth curve over time. Growth curve estimates for the linear, quadratic, and cubic trends were significant (p < .05), indicating that LTPA declined during pregnancy but then increased following birth. The results also demonstrated that the individual trajectories of LTPA varied substantially from the average growth curve. One demographic predictor variable (having other children at home) was significant (p < .05).     

Writing quality in Chinese children: speed and fluency matter

There were two goals of the present study. The first was to create a scoring scheme by which 9-year-old Chinese children??s writing compositions could be rated to form a total score for writing quality. The second was to examine cognitive correlates of writing quality at age 9 from measures administered at ages 6?C9. Age 9 writing compositions were scored using a 7-element rubric; following confirmatory factor analyses, 5 of these elements were retained to represent overall writing quality for subsequent analyses. Measures of vocabulary knowledge, Chinese word dictation, phonological awareness, speed of processing, speeded naming, and handwriting fluency at ages 6?C9 were all significantly associated with the obtained overall writing quality measure even when the statistical effect of age was removed. With vocabulary knowledge, dictation skill, age, gender, and phonological awareness included in a regression equation, 35% of the variance in age 9 writing quality was explained. With the variables of speed of processing, speeded naming, and handwriting fluency additionally included as a block, 12% additional variance in the equation was explained. In addition to gender, overall unique correlates of writing quality were dictation, speed of processing, and handwriting fluency, underscoring the importance of both general automaticity and specific writing fluency for writing quality development in children.     

Does context matter? Explicit print instruction during reading varies in its influence by child and classroom factors

This study examined preschool teachers’ (n = 59) explicit print instruction during shared reading and considered whether the benefits of this practice to children's learning (n = 379) varied as a function of the classroom environment and children's developmental characteristics. Measures of explicit print instruction and the classroom environment (global classroom quality, literacy environment) were obtained by aggregating observations taken across the 30 weeks of the study. Child outcomes were measured as spring print knowledge performance, controlling for fall. Child developmental characteristics were measured directly (language ability) and indirectly (attentional skills) in fall and winter, respectively. Findings showed that explicit print instruction contributed to children's learning, but its benefits decreased as the quality of the classroom and children's attentional skills increased. Implications for research and practice are discussed.