Poisoning the mind: Arsenic contamination of drinking water wells and children's educational achievement in rural Bangladesh

Bangladesh has experienced the largest mass poisoning of a population in history owing to contamination of groundwater with naturally occurring inorganic arsenic. Prolonged drinking of such water risks development of diseases and therefore has implications for children's cognitive and psychological development. This study examines the effect of arsenic contamination of tubewells, the primary source of drinking water at home, on the learning outcome of school-going children in rural Bangladesh using recent nationally representative data on secondary school children. We unambiguously find a negative and statistically significant correlation between mathematics scores and arsenic-contaminated drinking tubewells at home, net of the child's socio-economic status, parental background and school specific unobserved correlates of learning. Similar correlations are found for an alternative measure of student achievement and subjective well-being (i.e. self-reported measure of life satisfaction), of the student. We conclude by discussing the policy implication of our findings in the context of the current debate over the adverse effect of arsenic poisoning on children.     

The impact of education on health knowledge

The theory on the demand for health suggests that schooling causes health because schooling increases the efficiency of health production. Alternatively, the allocative efficiency hypothesis argues that schooling alters the input mix chosen to produce health. This suggests that the more educated have more knowledge about the health production function and they have more health knowledge. This paper uses data from the 1997 and 2002 waves of the NLSY97 to conduct an investigation of the allocative efficiency hypothesis by analyzing whether education improves health knowledge. The survey design allows us to observe the increase in health knowledge of young adults after their level of schooling is increased by differential and plausibly exogenous amounts. Using nine different questions measuring health knowledge, we find weak evidence that an increase in education generates an improvement in health knowledge for those who ultimately attend college. For those with high school as the terminal degree, no relationship is found between education and health knowledge. These results imply that the allocative efficiency hypothesis may not be the primary reason for why schooling impacts health outcomes.     

“十二五”期间区域教育科研发展与创新的思考

教育科研在教育改革与发展中起着基础性、导向性、引领性、战略性等作用。区域教育差异、区域教育科研水平差距的现状迫切需要推进区域教育科研发展与创新。“十二五”期间,区域教育科研要以国家中长期教育改革与发展规划纲要为指导,结合区域教育实际情况,不断提升教育科研的水平与质量;加强教育科研管理,创新机制;突出重点,全面推进;加大经费投入,加强教育科研成果的转化,努力形成区域教育科研的特色和优势。     

建设体育生态城市，实现上海体育“十二五”时期创新驱动、转型发展

上海“十二五”规划将建设生态城市列为未来发展目标之一。体育生态是建设生态城市的一个组成部分,契合了当前体育和社会发展的趋势。研究提出应从以下几个路径建设上海体育生态城市,实现上海体育“十二五”时期创新驱动、转型发展：加强体育设施的规划和科学论证,通过生态体育提升上海的“软实力”;倡导全民生态体育理念;形成上海独特的体育自然、人文生态;关注民生,通过生态体育建设推进《全民健身计划》的落实;借鉴国外体育生态建设的经验等。     

“十二五”时期河南省新农村武术发展的思考研究

社会主义新农村建设是一个全面、系统的工程,体育活动成为衡量新农村建设过程中提高人民生活水平和质量的一个重要举措。在新农村怎样开展好武术活动成为整个＂十二五＂时期河南省新农村体育事业可持续发展的目标,对更好地继承和弘扬中华民族传统文化具有举足轻重的作用,值得引起我们深刻的思考和研究。     

关于图书馆“十二五”战略规划的若干思考

"十一五"期间,我国图书馆在经济、法律、信息技术、教育等方面都取得显著成就,为"十二五"战略规划的制定奠定基础。本文在对我国图书馆"十二五"战略规划制定现状与存在问题进行探讨与分析的基础上,从加强图书馆战略规划制定的科学性、加强对图书馆战略规划的分类指导两个方面,为我国图书馆"十二五"战略规划的制定提供理论参考。     

加快转变经济发展方式 建设石油和化学工业强国

文章介绍了中国石油和化学工业“十一五”取得的发展成就,分析了“十二五”时期中国石油和化学工业面临的形势,并提出了中国石油和化学工业的发展方向、重点任务和发展愿景。     

“十一五”以来我国四大区域经济发展回顾及“十二五”展望

＂十一五＂以来,我国区域经济发展总体战略稳步实施,四大区域发展的协调性有所增强,成绩显著。在即将进入的＂十二五＂时期,区域经济发展的国内外环境都发生了明显变化,文章认为各区域应继续以构建＂和谐＂社会为目标,以＂富民＂为着力点,根据各区域的实际情况创新各具特色的区域发展模式,培育区域新的核心竞争力,实现四大区域又好又快发展,同时增强区域发展的协调性。     

“加速城市化”不应成为中国“十二五”规划的重大战略抉择——与陈玉和教授等商榷

近年来我国城市化速度和世界同期相比已经很快,也并不滞后于经济发展。加速城市化不应成为我国城市化的长期目标,通过加速城市化促进经济发展往往达不到预期目标,城市化发展需要多维支撑系统。十二五时期以及更长时期,我国城市化应适时提出健康城市化(或新型城市化),走可持续发展的城市化道路。     

改革开放以来我国民族中等职业教育政策回顾与展望——基于NVivo12的文本分析

以改革开放以来我国政府层面出台的51份政策文件为研究样本,运用扎根理论、NVivo12质性分析软件进行文本分析。研究发现,民族中等职业教育扶贫、民族特色中等职业教育、民族中等职业教育经费三大主题始终伴随民族中等职业教育政策的发展,在推动民族中等职业教育“质”“量”提升的过程中,贫困文化、政策主体关注点差异、政策执行协同化差异导致政策效果出现偏差。在“十四五”开局之年,民族中等职业教育政策需要秉承多元和谐的政策价值取向、彰显特色与普适共融的政策理念、采取多方面协同增效的政策行动,为新时期民族中等职业教育高质量发展奠定坚实的政策基础。