Young children's cognitive achievement: home learning environment, language and ethnic background

For decades, research has shown differences in cognitive assessment scores between White and minority ethnic group(s) learners as well as differences across different minority ethnic groups. More recent data have indicated that the home learning environment and languages spoken can impact cognitive assessment and other corollary outcomes. This study uses the Millennium Cohort Study to jointly assess how minority ethnic group, home learning environment and home languages predict child cognitive assessment scores. Regression analyses were conducted using two assessment measures. The following is hypothesised: (1) cognitive achievement scores vary by minority ethnic group, (2) more home learning environment in early childhood leads to higher cognitive development scores and (3) English only in the home yields the highest cognitive scores while no English in the home yields the lowest. Findings reveal that there are differences in cognitive scores along ethnic group categories although there are also some unexpected findings. Home learning environment does not play as large a role as was predicted in raising the assessment scores overall for learners while speaking English in the home does, irrespective of ethnic background

What makes a successful transition from primary to secondary school?

This report presents the findings of a sub-study on transitions undertaken as part of the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education 3-14 (EPPSE 3-14 project) a major longitudinal study investigating the influence of pre-school, primary and secondary school on children’s cognitive and social/behavioural development in England. The transitions sub-study of more than 500 children and families sheds light on current transition practices and highlights what helps and hinders a successful transition. It takes into account the influence of child and family background characteristics such as socio-economic status (SES) and gender. It suggests how the transition experience could be improved to enhance the smooth continuity between primary and secondary school. By adopting a mixed methods approach, the study investigated the issues related to transition for four distinctive groups: Local Authorities, children, parents and schools. Officers in six Local Authorities were asked about the way transition was dealt with in their Authority. Children in their first term at secondary school completed a questionnaire on their thoughts and experiences of transition, and the study also sought their parents’ opinions in order to illustrate the whole family’s experience. Finally, there were twelve case studies selected from the respondents of the questionnaire because of their positive experiences of transition. These involved interviews with the children and their primary and secondary teachers. This provided further details of the systems in place that support the transition processes between school phases. The sample was drawn from children and families in the wider EPPSE project. 1190 children from the EPPSE sample made a transition at the end of the 2005-06 academic year. Responses were received from 550 children (a 46% response rate) and 569 parents (a 48% response rate) from across England drawn from 6 Local Authorities (Shire County, Inner London borough, Midlands/Metropolitan region, East Anglia area, and two authorities in the North East). Children were recruited to the case studies using stratified selection to get a balanced mix by region, gender, socio-economic status (SES) and ethnicity. A wide range of data, already available from the main EPPSE study was used to complement the analyses

The role of pre-school quality in promoting resilience in the cognitive development of young children

The study reported here investigates the role of pre-school education as a protective factor in the development of children who are at risk due to environmental and individual factors. This investigation builds upon earlier research by examining different kinds of 'quality' in early education and tests the hypothesis that pre-schools of high quality can moderate the impacts of risks upon cognitive development. Cognitive development was measured in 2857 English pre-schoolers at 36 and 58 months of age, together with 22 individual risks to children's development, and assessments were made of the quality of their pre-school provision. Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling revealed that: the global quality of pre-school can moderate the effects of familial risk (such as poverty); the relationships between staff and children can moderate the effects of child level risk (such as low birth weight); and the specific quality of curricular provision can moderate the effects of both. Policy makers need to take quality into account in their efforts to promote resilience in young 'at risk' children through early childhood services

Faktor Dominan pada Indeks Inklusi Perbankan Syariah Sektor Pertanian di Indonesia

The importance of financial inclusion in Islamic Bank is not only affordable for business level, but also agricultural sector. Indonesian Islamic banking as one of the providers of financial services continued to grow, but its market share is still small compared with conventional banking. Therefore financial inclusion Islamic banking, especially in reaching out to the agriculture sector, need to be improved. This study aims to measure the value of financial inclusion Islamic banks in Indonesia province in reaching the agricultural sector, both provincial and district or city. Indexing method factor analysis (Principal Component Analysis) using 14 indicators that have been adapted to the concept of Financial Inclusion Index (FII). Data correlated with Islamic Financial Institution availability can be divided into two factors which are of Islamic banking (including Islamic windows of the conventional bank) and Islamic Rural Bank. The result of the analysis is indicating that the most dominant factor provided by Islamic banking (including Islamic windows of conventional Bank). The result also present the highest index score reached by West Java Province and East Java, while the lowest index score reached by East Nusa Tenggara and West Papua Province.Keuangan inklusi bagi bank syariah sangatlah penting, bukan hanya memberikan pembiayaan pada sektor bisnis namun juga untuk sektor pertanian. Bank syariah di Indonesia sebagai salah satu lembaga keuangan yang terus berkembang memiliki potensi untuk mengembangkan keuangan inklusi walaupun pangsa pasar dari bank syariah masih lebih kecil dibandingkan konvensional. Keberadaan keuangan inklusi di bank syariah khususnya pada sektor pertanian masih perlu ditingkatkan Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengukur nilai keuangan inklusi di bank syariah pada sektor pertanian di seluruh provinsi yang ada di Indonesia, baik pada level provinsi, kabupaten dan kota. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode index faktor analisis (analisis komponen prinsip) dengan 14 indikator yang diadaptasi dari konsep Indeks Inklusi Keuangan. Data-data berkenaan dengan lembaga keuangan Islam yang tersedia dapat dibagi menjadi dua factor, yaitu faktor yang berkaitan dengan bank syariah (termasuk unit USAha syariah) dan Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat Syariah. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa faktor yang paling dominan adalah faktor yang berkaitan dengan bank syariah dan unit USAha syariah. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa angka indeks tertinggi diraih oleh provinsi Jawa Barat dan Jawa Timur, sedangkan angka indeks terendah diraih oleh provinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur dan Papua Barat

Faktor Dominan pada Indeks Inklusi Perbankan Syariah Sektor Pertanian di Indonesia

The importance of financial inclusion in Islamic Bank is not only affordable for business level, but also agricultural sector. Indonesian Islamic banking as one of the providers of financial services continued to grow, but its market share is still small compared with conventional banking. Therefore financial inclusion Islamic banking, especially in reaching out to the agriculture sector, need to be improved. This study aims to measure the value of financial inclusion Islamic banks in Indonesia province in reaching the agricultural sector, both provincial and district or city. Indexing method factor analysis (Principal Component Analysis) using 14 indicators that have been adapted to the concept of Financial Inclusion Index (FII). Data correlated with Islamic Financial Institution availability can be divided into two factors which are of Islamic banking (including Islamic windows of the conventional bank) and Islamic Rural Bank. The result of the analysis is indicating that the most dominant factor provided by Islamic banking (including Islamic windows of conventional Bank). The result also present the highest index score reached by West Java Province and East Java, while the lowest index score reached by East Nusa Tenggara and West Papua Province.Keuangan inklusi bagi bank syariah sangatlah penting, bukan hanya memberikan pembiayaan pada sektor bisnis namun juga untuk sektor pertanian. Bank syariah di Indonesia sebagai salah satu lembaga keuangan yang terus berkembang memiliki potensi untuk mengembangkan keuangan inklusi walaupun pangsa pasar dari bank syariah masih lebih kecil dibandingkan konvensional. Keberadaan keuangan inklusi di bank syariah khususnya pada sektor pertanian masih perlu ditingkatkan Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengukur nilai keuangan inklusi di bank syariah pada sektor pertanian di seluruh provinsi yang ada di Indonesia, baik pada level provinsi, kabupaten dan kota. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode index faktor analisis (analisis komponen prinsip) dengan 14 indikator yang diadaptasi dari konsep Indeks Inklusi Keuangan. Data-data berkenaan dengan lembaga keuangan Islam yang tersedia dapat dibagi menjadi dua factor, yaitu faktor yang berkaitan dengan bank syariah (termasuk unit usaha syariah) dan Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat Syariah. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa faktor yang paling dominan adalah faktor yang berkaitan dengan bank syariah dan unit usaha syariah. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa angka indeks tertinggi diraih oleh provinsi Jawa Barat dan Jawa Timur, sedangkan angka indeks terendah diraih oleh provinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur dan Papua Barat

Salt marsh pond biogeochemistry changes hourly-to-yearly but does not scale with dimensions or geospatial position

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 125(10), (2020): e2020JG005664, doi:10.1029/2020JG005664.Shallow ponds are expanding in many salt marshes with potential impacts on ecosystem functioning. Determining how pond characteristics change over time and scale with physical dimensions and other spatial predictors could facilitate incorporation of ponds into projections of ecosystem change. We evaluated scaling relationships across six differently sized ponds in three regions of the high marshes within the Plum Island Ecosystems‐Long Term Ecological Research site (MA, USA). We further characterized diel fluctuations in surface water chemistry in two ponds to understand short‐term processes that affect emergent properties (e.g., habitat suitability). Primary producers drove oxygen levels to supersaturation during the day, while nighttime respiration resulted in hypoxic to anoxic conditions. Diel swings in oxygen were mirrored by pH and resulted in successive shifts in redox‐sensitive metabolisms, as indicated by nitrate consumption at dusk followed by peaks in ammonium and then sulfide overnight. Abundances of macroalgae and Ruppia maritima correlated with whole‐pond oxygen metabolism rates, but not with surface area (SA), volume (V), or SA:V. Moreover, there were no clear patterns in primary producer abundances, surface water chemistry, or pond metabolism rates across marsh regions supplied by different tidal creeks or that differed in distance to upland borders or creekbanks. Comparisons with data from 2 years prior demonstrate that plant communities and biogeochemical processes are not in steady state. Factors contributing to variability between ponds and years are unclear but likely include infrequent tidal exchange. Temporal and spatial variability and the absence of scaling relationships complicate the integration of high marsh ponds into ecosystem biogeochemical models.Thanks to S. McNichol, S. Jayne, E. Neel, and PIE‐LTER (NSF‐OCE1238212) for field assistance; I. Forbrich for meteorological data (Giblin & Forbrich, 2018); J. Jennings for dissolved nutrient analyses; J. Seewald for ion chromatograph access; and G. Mariotti for elevation data. C. Wilson and an anonymous reviewer provided comments that greatly improved our manuscript. A. C. S. was supported by NSF (OCE1233678), NOAA (NA14NOS4190145), and Sea Grant (NA14OAR4170104) awards, and A. D. by the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.2021-03-1

National evaluation of the neighbourhood nurseries: integrated report

Report description: The NNI was launched in 2001 to provide high quality childcare in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of England, to help parents into employment, reduce child poverty and boost children’s development. By 2005 45,000 new childcare places had been created in approximately 1,400 neighbourhood nurseries. This report brings together the findings of the four individual strands of the National Evaluation of Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative as shown above and makes a number of recommendations. The report shows the rationale for the government’s strategy in targeting disadvantaged neighbourhoods and in focusing on high quality childcare to provide the link between raising parental employment and income and improving children’s life chances

The Effect of Income Level, Education Level, and Public Awareness on Land Building Tax Compliance

This study aims to find out empirically about the effect of income level, education level and public awareness on land and building tax compliance in Benteng Village, Ciampea District. The research method used is quantitative method. The analysis prerequisite test consisted of normality and multicollinearity tests. Hypothesis testing using data analysis method, namely multiple linear regression with f test and t test between four variable data, namely data on the influence of income level analysis, education level and public awareness on land and building tax compliance. random, representing the population of taxpayers who have SPPT in Benteng Village (3118 taxpayers). The results of this study indicate that public awareness of land and building tax compliance has a significant effect on compliance with land and building taxes, this is because the people of Benteng village are very aware of land and building tax compliance.Especially for national development

Multi-objective integer programming: An improved recursive algorithm

This paper introduces an improved recursive algorithm to generate the set of all nondominated objective vectors for the Multi-Objective Integer Programming (MOIP) problem. We significantly improve the earlier recursive algorithm of \"Ozlen and Azizo\u{g}lu by using the set of already solved subproblems and their solutions to avoid solving a large number of IPs. A numerical example is presented to explain the workings of the algorithm, and we conduct a series of computational experiments to show the savings that can be obtained. As our experiments show, the improvement becomes more significant as the problems grow larger in terms of the number of objectives.Comment: 11 pages, 6 tables; v2: added more details and a computational stud

Isotopic exchange of carbon-bound hydrogen over geologic timescales

The increasing popularity of compound-specific hydrogen isotope (D/H) analyses for investigating sedimentary organic matter raises numerous questions about the exchange of carbon-bound hydrogen over geologic timescales. Important questions include the rates of isotopic exchange, methods for diagnosing exchange in ancient samples, and the isotopic consequences of that exchange. This article provides a review of relevant literature data along with new data from several pilot studies to investigate such issues. Published experimental estimates of exchange rates between organic hydrogen and water indicate that at warm temperatures (50–100°C) exchange likely occurs on timescales of 10^4 to 10^8 yr. Incubation experiments using organic compounds and D-enriched water, combined with compound-specific D/H analyses, provide a new and highly sensitive method for measuring exchange at low temperatures. Comparison of δD values for isoprenoid and n-alkyl carbon skeletons in sedimentary organic matter provides no evidence for exchange in young (350 Ma) rocks. Specific rates of exchange are probably influenced by the nature and abundance of organic matter, pore-water chemistry, the presence of catalytic mineral surfaces, and perhaps even enzymatic activity. Estimates of equilibrium fractionation factors between organic H and water indicate that typical lipids will be depleted in D relative to water by ∼75 to 140‰ at equilibrium (30°C). Thus large differences in δD between organic molecules and water cannot be unambiguously interpreted as evidence against hydrogen exchange. A better approach may be to use changes in stereochemistry as a proxy for hydrogen exchange. For example, estimated rates of H exchange in pristane are similar to predicted rates for stereochemical inversion in steranes and hopanes. The isotopic consequences of this exchange remain in question. Incubations of cholestene with D_2O indicate that the number of D atoms incorporated during structural rearrangements can be far less than the number of C-H bonds that are broken. Sample calculations indicate that, for steranes in immature sediments, the D/H ratio imparted by biosynthesis may be largely preserved in spite of significant structural changes