Growing Up Bilingual: Understanding specific benefits across the mainstream and complementary education sectors

There is a paucity of longitudinal research on the development of younger bilinguals, particularly those with a heritage language (HL). Complementary schools (CS) that promote HL learning have become increasingly prominent and are also underrecognized. This project applied a mixed-methods approach to examine the cognitive, social and educational outcomes of children with or without CS longitudinally. The quantitative component of this research assessed cognitive and social developmental outcomes of 153 bilingual children (aged 4-9 years) across four mainstream primary schools and five CSs across East London. Following initial data collection (timepoint1) in 2019, eleven interviews were conducted with school staff and parents from each setting, focusing on language attitudes and practices, to help explain some of the initial findings. Ninety children (aged 6-12 years) from the initial sample were then revisited in 2021 (timepoint2) following the Covid-19 lockdowns, for reassessment of outcomes. Cognitive measures included executive functioning, attentional control and English object naming. Social measures included strength of ethnic and national identities, and cognitive, athletic and social competences. Teacher ratings of school adjustment were taken at timepoint2 as an educational outcome. Perceived HL and English language proficiency and exposure and family affluence (FA) were measured at both timepoints. Findings indicated the supportive role of CSs in children’s perceived HL proficiency, particularly literacy, and developing ethnic identity. Apart from age, the impact of FA and proficiency of both languages on cognitive and social outcomes were also implicated. The sample showed a decline in perceived HL proficiency and competences post-pandemic, but the decline was smaller among CS-attendees. Interviews further highlighted the challenges of HL learning, the role of CSs in parental engagement, and the efforts by primary schools to support bilinguals’ English with a desire for greater inclusivity. The potential implications of these findings on education and policy are considered

Dimension-Dependence of the Critical Exponent in Spherically Symmetric Gravitational Collapse

We study the critical behaviour of spherically symmetric scalar field collapse to black holes in spacetime dimensions other than four. We obtain reliable values for the scaling exponent in the supercritical region for dimensions in the range $3.5\leq D\leq 14$. The critical exponent increases monotonically to an asymptotic value at large $D$ of $\gamma\sim0.466$. The data is well fit by a simple exponential of the form: $\gamma \sim 0.466(1-e^{-0.408 D})$.Comment: 5 pages, including 7 figures New version contains more data points, one extra graph and more accurate error bars. No changes to result

A People-state Negotiation in a Borderland a Case Study of the Indonesia–Malaysia Frontier in Sebatik Island

This paper aims to show the dynamics of the Indonesian – Malaysian border area in Sebatik Island, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Take into account as a background is the territorial dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia over the Ligitan and Sipadan Islands which were awarded to Malaysia by the decision of the ICJ (International Court of Justice) in 2002, which was followed by the dispute over the Ambalat sea block in 2005. Sebatik Island is geographically very strategic since it faces the disputed areas. Therefore the concerns of the Indonesian state with regard to the island pertain to issues of nation-state sovereignty and territorial security, which she tries to safeguard through intensive campaigns. Research conducted in Sebatik in 2009 showed how people willingly reinforced the state by incorporating its programs, despite their ambiguous position as people in a border area, which support they used subsequently in negotiating with the state for their own local purpose

Understanding The Benefits of Growing Up Bilingual: The First Timepoint of A Longitudinal Study

Background: The UK is linguistically rich, but faces a decline in language learning, with no official policy on multilingualism (Taylor, 2013). A significant component in many linguistic minority communities is complementary schooling, which has wide-ranging educational and societal implications (Li, 2006). Aim: This study examines potential cognitive and social benefits of bilingual development in primary school children that attend complementary schools, compared to those who do not, from the first time-point/baseline data of a three-year longitudinal project in East London. Method: A sample of 153 bilingual pupils aged 4-9 years was recruited, including 73 across five complementary schools from Albanian, Russian, Tamil, and Gujarati communities, and 80 across four state primary schools, representing 35 heritage languages. Children were tested in two sessions: 1) cognitive measures (attentional control, executive functioning, object naming); 2) social development measures (ethnic and national identities, perceived competence). Additional information was collected on family affluence (a measure of socioeconomic status), and perceived exposure, use and proficiency for each language. Results: Correlational analyses revealed a positive association between English proficiency and family affluence, and ethnic and British identities were positively associated with respective language use and exposure. In comparative analyses, controlling for age and family affluence, children that attend complementary schooling reported significantly higher proficiencies in both English and heritage language, particularly in literacy of the latter, compared to non-attendees. Children with more balanced proficiencies reported stronger ethnic identity and performed better in the executive functioning task. Conclusions: Findings indicate the role of complementary schools in literacy and identity development and that of proficiency in producing cognitive benefits. Further considerations of these factors in subsequent time-points and modelling with these cohorts are discussed. Relevance to the general public, professionals, or policymakers: This study aims to bring to light the potential benefits of early bilingual development and how those may be enhanced by the under-recognised context of complementary schools. The presentation will highlight how such schools contribute to language learning and explore how they can better connect with the mainstream education sector

School Nutrition Programs and the Incidence of Childhood Obesity

In light of the recent rise in childhood obesity, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have received renewed attention. Using panel data on over 13,500 primary school students, we assess the relationship between SBP and NSLP participation and (relatively) long-run measures of child weight. After documenting a positive association between SBP participation and child weight, and no association between NSLP participation and child weight, we present evidence indicating positive selection into the SBP. Allowing for even modest positive selection is sufficient to alter the results, indicating that the SBP is a valuable tool in the current battle against childhood obesity, whereas the NSLP exacerbates the current epidemic.School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program, child health, obesity, program evaluation

Quantum resolution of black hole singularities

We study the classical and quantum theory of spherically symmetric spacetimes with scalar field coupling in general relativity. We utilise the canonical formalism of geometrodynamics adapted to the Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates, and present a new quantisation of the resulting field theory. We give an explicit construction of operators that capture curvature properties of the spacetime and use these to show that the black hole curvature singularity is avoided in the quantum theory.Comment: 5 pages, version to appear in CQ

Spherically symmetric scalar field collapse in any dimension

We describe a formalism and numerical approach for studying spherically symmetric scalar field collapse for arbitrary spacetime dimension d and cosmological constant Lambda. The presciption uses a double null formalism, and is based on field redefinitions first used to simplify the field equations in generic two-dimensional dilaton gravity. The formalism is used to construct code in which d and Lambda are input parameters. The code reproduces known results in d = 4 and d = 6 with Lambda = 0. We present new results for d = 5 with zero and negative Lambda.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, typos corrected, presentational changes, PRD in pres

Dynamic range of nanotube- and nanowire-based electromechanical systems

Nanomechanical resonators with high aspect ratio, such as nanotubes and nanowires are of interest due to their expected high sensitivity. However, a strongly nonlinear response combined with a high thermomechanical noise level limits the useful linear dynamic range of this type of device. We derive the equations governing this behavior and find a strong dependence [[proportional]dsqrt((d/L)[sup 5])] of the dynamic range on aspect ratio

Probing entropy bounds with scalar field spacetimes

We study covariant entropy bounds in dynamical spacetimes with naked singularities. Specifically we study a spherically symmetric massless scalar field solution. The solution is an inhomogeneous cosmology with an initial spacelike singularity, and a naked timelike singularity at the origin. We construct the entropy flux 4-vector for the scalar field, and show by explicit computation that the generalized covariant bound $S_{L(B,B')}\le (A(B)-A(B'))/4$ is violated for light sheets $L(B,B')$ in the neighbourhood of the (evolving) apparent horizon. We find no violations of the Bousso bound (for which $A(B')=0$), even though certain sufficient conditions for this bound do not hold. This result therefore shows that these conditions are not necessary.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; published version with typos correcte