International Evidence on Effective Early Childhood Care and Education Programs: A Review of Best Practices

In recent years, the United States has made substantial progress in the quality and availability of early childhood education (ECE), especially in the areas of special education and ECE programs for low-income families. Nonetheless, there is room for improvement in terms of access and quality. To improve access and quality in ECE, the United States can look to best practices in ECE in other countries. A total of 49 sources were reviewed to develop an in-depth understanding of both ECE in the United States and international ECE best practices. Sources were chosen based on relevance and quality and included books, articles, and policy reports. These sources covered the ECE best practices in increasing funding, access, and quality. From developed to developing countries, this review provides an understanding of best practices in ECE throughout the world that the United States can learn from to enhance ECE for the wellbeing of children as well as society

Farmers’ perceptions of climate change : identifying types

Ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture have been set by both national governments and their respective livestock sectors. We hypothesize that farmer self-identity influences their assessment of climate change and their willingness to im- plement measures which address the issue. Perceptions of climate change were determined from 286 beef/sheep farmers and evaluated using principal component analysis (PCA). The analysis elicits two components which evaluate identity (productivism and environmental responsibility), and two components which evaluate behavioral capacity to adopt mitigation and adaptation measures (awareness and risk perception). Subsequent Cluster Analyses reveal four farmer types based on the PCA scores. ‘The Productivist’ and ‘The Countryside Steward’ portray low levels of awareness of climate change, but differ in their motivation to adopt pro-environmental behavior. Conversely, both ‘The Environmentalist’ and ‘The Dejected’ score higher in their awareness of the issue. In addition, ‘The Dejected’ holds a high sense of perceived risk; however, their awareness is not conflated with an explicit understanding of agricultural GHG sources. With the exception of ‘The Environmentalist’, there is an evident disconnect between perceptions of agricultural emission sources and their contribution towards GHG emissions amongst all types. If such linkages are not con- ceptualized, it is unlikely that behavioral capacities will be realized. Effective communication channels which encour- age action should target farmers based on the groupings depicted. Therefore, understanding farmer types through the constructs used in this study can facilitate effective and tai- lored policy development and implementation

Generalized spectral representations of chaotic maps displaying intermittency and anomalous diffusion

NOTXTVX-022356 Postprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe