Mapping knowledge transfer in early childhood education and care in South Africa

This pilot study explores through participative methods the implicit models, situated understandings and processes of early childhood care and education in South Africa in the context of poverty. The intention is to expose and reconcile potential tensions between ‘official’ Western and classed child-rearing practices and indigenous beliefs and realities of poor communities in KwaZulu-Natal

A review of the evidence on the use of ICT in the Early Years Foundation Stage

This report reviewed existing evidence on the potential of technology to support the development of educational policy and practice in the context of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Reference is made to the use of ICT by young children from aged birth to five years and its potential impacts, positive and negative on their cognitive, social, emotional educational, visual and physical development

A dynamic comparison of an oil tariff, a producer subsidy, and a gasoline tax

Petroleum industry and trade ; Tariff ; Power resources - Prices

Energy security: a comparison of protectionist policies

Power resources

A survey of energy demand elasticities in support of the development of the NEMS

With NEMS, there has been increased interest in modeling energy markets and a resurgent interest in energy elasticities of demand. Since such elasticities are often a convenient way to summarize the responsiveness of demand to such things as own prices, cross prices, income, or other relevant variables, a substantial amount of resources have been devoted to estimating demand elasticities, at various levels of aggregation using a variety of models. The goal of this project is to survey these works for the U.S. on energy demand elasticities, do a critical analysis of them, attempt to come up with summary elasticities, discuss the scope and breadth of the work that has been done, and make suggestions for further research.energy demand elasticities; price; income

A survey of energy demand elasticities in support of the development of the NEMS

With NEMS, there has been increased interest in modeling energy markets and a resurgent interest in energy elasticities of demand. Since such elasticities are often a convenient way to summarize the responsiveness of demand to such things as own prices, cross prices, income, or other relevant variables, a substantial amount of resources have been devoted to estimating demand elasticities, at various levels of aggregation using a variety of models. The goal of this project is to survey these works for the U.S. on energy demand elasticities, do a critical analysis of them, attempt to come up with summary elasticities, discuss the scope and breadth of the work that has been done, and make suggestions for further research

Developing a Family of Curves for the HEC-18 Scour Equation

Accurate pier scour predictions are essential to the safe and efficient design of bridge crossings. Current practice uses empirical formulas largely derived from laboratory experiments to predict local scour depth around single-bridge piers. The resulting formulas are hindered by insufficient consideration of scaling effects and hydrodynamic forces. When applied to full-scale designs, these formula deficiencies lead to excessive over prediction of scour depths and increased construction costs. In an effort to improve the predictive capabilities of the HEC-18 scour model, this work uses field-scale data and nonlinear regression to develop a family of equations optimized for various non-cohesive soil conditions. Improving the predictive capabilities of well-accepted equations saves scarce project dollars without sacrificing safety. To help improve acceptance of modified equations, this work strives to maintain the familiar form of the HEC- 18 equation. When compared to the HEC-18 local pier scour equation, this process reduced the mean square error of a validation data set while maintaining over prediction

IGEMS : The Consortium on Interplay of Genes and Environment Across Multiple Studies - An Update

The Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) is a consortium of 18 twin studies from 5 different countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, United States, and Australia) established to explore the nature of gene-environment (GE) interplay in functioning across the adult lifespan. Fifteen of the studies are longitudinal, with follow-up as long as 59 years after baseline. The combined data from over 76,000 participants aged 14-103 at intake (including over 10,000 monozygotic and over 17,000 dizygotic twin pairs) support two primary research emphases: (1) investigation of models of GE interplay of early life adversity, and social factors at micro and macro environmental levels and with diverse outcomes, including mortality, physical functioning and psychological functioning; and (2) improved understanding of risk and protective factors for dementia by incorporating unmeasured and measured genetic factors with a wide range of exposures measured in young adulthood, midlife and later life.Peer reviewe