Understanding the nature and significance of early childhood: new evidence and its implications

INTRODUCTION This paper is based on a presentation at a Centre for Community Child Health seminar devoted to a consideration of the Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Child Care and Early Childhood Learning. The aim of the paper was to present a succinct summary of relevant evidence to inform discussions. Rather than reviewing the evidence regarding existing forms of service, the presentation focused more broadly on what we know about child development – how children learn and what children need. The paper is not so much about challenging existing models of early childhood education and care in Australia as challenging our understanding of the nature and significance of the early years. NEW RESEARCH EVIDENCE AND WHAT IT TELLS US Over the past few decades, there has been a growing acceptance among scholars, professionals and policy makers of the importance of the early years. However, as we learn more about the way in which experiences in the early years shape health, development and wellbeing, and the extent of these influences over the life-course, the true importance of these years becomes more and more apparent. There are nine sources of evidence to be considered. Evidence about the nature and significance of prenatal development and experiences, and their effects over the life course Evidence about the nature and significance of postnatal learning and development, and the impact of proximal environments Evidence regarding the impact of early childhood experiences on long term development, health and wellbeing Evidence regarding neurological development and plasticity Evidence regarding the neurobiology of interpersonal relationships Evidence regarding ‘social climate change’ and its effects Evidence from economic analyses of child development and the benefits of investments in the early years Evidence regarding social inequalities and their effects Evidence from repeated measurement of key indicators of child development and functioning.• Presentation at Centre for Community Child Health seminar Investing in Early Childhood—the future of early childhood education and care in Australia The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, 25 July 201

Modeling gravitational instabilities in self-gravitating protoplanetary disks with adaptive mesh refinement techniques

The astonishing diversity in the observed planetary population requires theoretical efforts and advances in planet formation theories. Numerical approaches provide a method to tackle the weaknesses of current planet formation models and are an important tool to close gaps in poorly constrained areas. We present a global disk setup to model the first stages of giant planet formation via gravitational instabilities (GI) in 3D with the block-structured adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamics code ENZO. With this setup, we explore the impact of AMR techniques on the fragmentation and clumping due to large-scale instabilities using different AMR configurations. Additionally, we seek to derive general resolution criteria for global simulations of self-gravitating disks of variable extent. We run a grid of simulations with varying AMR settings, including runs with a static grid for comparison, and study the effects of varying the disk radius. Adopting a marginally stable disk profile (Q_init=1), we validate the numerical robustness of our model for different spatial extensions, from compact to larger, extended disks (R_disk = 10, 100 and 300 AU, M_disk ~ 0.05 M_Sun, M_star = 0.646 M_Sun). By combining our findings from the resolution and parameter studies we find a lower limit of the resolution to be able to resolve GI induced fragmentation features and distinct, turbulence inducing clumps. Irrespective of the physical extension of the disk, topologically disconnected clump features are only resolved if the fragmentation-active zone of the disk is resolved with at least 100 cells, which holds as a minimum requirement for all global disk setups. Our simulations illustrate the capabilities of AMR-based modeling techniques for planet formation simulations and underline the importance of balanced refinement settings to reproduce fragmenting structures.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures; accepted for publication in A&A; for associated movie files, see http://timlichtenberg.net/publications/gi1

How to Allocate R&D (and Other) Subsidies: An Experimentally Tested Policy Recommendation

This paper evaluates how R&D subsidies to the business sector are typically awarded. We identify two sources of ine_ciency: the selection based on a ranking of individual projects, rather than complete allocations, and the failure to induce competition among applicants in order to extract and use information about the necessary funding. In order to correct these ine_- ciencies we propose mechanisms that include some form of an auction in which applicants bid for subsidies. Our proposals are tested in a simulation and in controlled lab experiments. The results suggest that adopting our proposals may considerably improve the allocation

Heterogeneous Information Arrivals and Return Volatility Dynamics: Uncovering the Long-Run in High Frequency Returns

Recent empirical evidence suggests that the long-run dependence in financial market volatility is best characterized by a slowly mean-reverting fractionally integrated process. At the same time, much shorter-lived volatility dependencies are typically observed with high-frequency intradaily returns. This paper draws on the information arrival, or mixture-of-distributions hypothesis interpretation of the latent volatility process in rationalizing this behavior. By interpreting the overall volatility as the manifestation of numerous heterogeneous information arrivals, sudden bursts of volatility typically will have both short-run and long-run components. Over intradaily frequencies, the short-run decay stands out most clearly, while the impact of the highly persistent processes will be dominant over longer horizons. These ideas are confirmed by our empirical analysis of a one-year time series of intradaily five-minute Deutschemark - U.S. Dollar returns. Whereas traditional time series based measures for the temporal dependencies in the absolute returns give rise to very conflicting results across different intradaily sampling frequencies, the corresponding semiparametric estimates for the order of fractional integration remain remarkably stable. Similarly, the autocorrelogram for the low-pass filtered absolute returns, obtained by annihilating periods in excess of one day, exhibit a striking hyperbolic rate of decay.

Acting early, changing lives: how prevention and early action saves money and improves wellbeing

Evidence indicates worsening or unacceptably high levels of problems amongst Australia’s children and young people. These problems will not improve – and could get worse – unless we are able to effectively intervene to prevent these problems from occurring in the first place or address the problems early before they become entrenched. This report investigates the potential of early intervention to improve the outcomes of Australian children, especially those children experiencing significant levels of disadvantage, and especially for the long-term (i.e. into adolescence and adulthood). Early intervention is defined in this report as interventions that occur during the early years of an individual’s life (0-5 years of age) in order to prevent a negative outcome or to address an existing problem. The justification for early intervention (i.e. intervention during the early years) rests with the nature of human development and the way in which children develop and learn. The basic foundations for development are laid down during the early childhood years. The prenatal period also plays an important role in an individual’s longterm outcomes.&nbsp

Answering the Critics: Yes, ARCH Models Do Provide Good Volatility Forecasts

Volatility permeates modern financial theories and decision making processes. As such, accurate measures and good forecasts of future volatility are critical for the implementation and evaluation of asset pricing theories. In response to this, a voluminous literature has emerged for modeling the temporal dependencies in financial market volatility at the daily and lower frequencies using ARCH and stochastic volatility type models. Most of these studies find highly significant in-sample parameter estimates and pronounced intertemporal volatility persistence. Meanwhile, when judged by standard forecast evaluation criteria, based on the squared or absolute returns over daily or longer forecast horizons, ARCH models provide seemingly poor volatility forecasts. The present paper demonstrates that ARCH models, contrary to the above contention, produce strikingly accurate interdaily forecasts for the latent volatility factor that is relevant for most financial applications.

Place-based approaches to child and family services

This paper synthesizes the conceptual and empirical literature on place-based approaches to meeting the needs of young children and their families. A specific focus of the paper is on the potential contribution of place-based approaches to service reconfiguration and coordination. Outline The paper begins by outlining the sweeping social changes that have occurred in developed nations over the past few decades and their impact on children, families and communities. It explores the ‘joined up’ problems faced by families and communities in the contemporary world, and highlights the need to reconfigure services to support families more effectively. The paper then focuses on ‘joined up’ solutions, on what we know about how to meet the challenges posed by the complex problems that characterise our society. Next, the paper explores what a place-based approach involves, and what role it can play in supporting families with young children. The rationale underpinning place-based approaches is outlined and the evidence for the effectiveness of the approach is summarised. The paper then looks at what can be learned from efforts to implement place-based initiatives in Australia and overseas, and explores the issues that need to be addressed in implementing this strategy. The ways in which the early childhood service system might be reconfigured are also considered, and the paper ends with a consideration of the policy and implementation implications.&nbsp

Integrability of the Einstein-nonlinear SU(2)SU(2) σ\sigma-model in a nontrivial topological sector

The integrability of the\ $\Lambda-$Einstein-nonlinear $SU(2)$ $\sigma$-model with nonvanishing cosmological charge is studied. We apply the method of singularity analysis of differential equations and we show that the equations for the gravitational field are integrable. The first few terms of the solution are presented.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, published at EPJ