Quebec-based Parents’ Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism: Evaluative Dimensions and Potential Predictors

This is the first large-scale, quantitative study of the evaluative dimensions and potential predictors of Quebec-based parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Such attitudes are assumed to constitute a determinant of parental language choices, and thereby influence children’s multilingual development. The newly-developed Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism Questionnaire was used to gather data from 826 participants raising an infant/toddler aged 0-4 years with multiple languages. The results reveal three separate dimensions: status and solidarity (the same dimensions found in attitudes towards individual languages) as well as cognitive development (not previously attested as a separate dimension). The study thus advances knowledge regarding the dimensionality of attitudes. Participants’ approach to promoting multilingualism and the combination of languages transmitted – and specifically, whether this included a heritage language – correlated significantly with parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Parents’ linguistic background and location within Quebec were not significant predictors of attitudes. The paper discusses directions for further research.

PERAN PENGELOLAAN ANGGARAN PEMERINTAH DALAM PEMUDARAN KESENJANGAN PENDIDIKAN DI INDONESIA

This study aims to analyze the convergence process of educational outcomes in Indonesia and determine the role of government budget allocation in accelerating convergence by observing all regions from 2010-2019. According to the results of the σ-convergence analysis, it is found that the dispersion explains the convergence process of the educational index gap. Then confirmed by the results of conditional β-convergence analysis by the System-GMM model, it was found that the convergence speed was relatively slow. This is a consequence of the role of government budget management which has not been optimal. In terms of regional revenues, it is found that the specific purpose transfer and the general purpose transfer have a significant negative effect on the convergence of the education index. Then from the expenditure side, it is known that direct expenditure has a significant positive effect on convergence, while indirect expenditure is not significant. Thus, this evidence opens up opportunities for the educational index to become a separate dimension in determining purpose transfer to the regions to accelerate the convergence of educational outcomes.

Utilization of adaptive methodology to underpin rail transportation systems: Sydney metro’s methodical formulation

Purpose As a part of adaptive and complex system thinking, geographic information systems (GIS) are beneficial particularly for transportation projects, where uncertainty is frequent. Accordingly, this paper aims to examine the utilization of GIS in line with adaptive and complex system thinking, as the basis of the methodical formulation of perceived gaps within the integrated transportation planning (ITP) specifically for the mega transportation projects. Such a framework is undertaken, as the mega transportation projects although may seem straightforward, however, are problematic and require more consideration than the traditional triple bottom line factors. Using the Sydney Metro as the case study, the outcome demonstrates the significance of the fourth separate dimension of engineering into the aforementioned bottom-line factors. Design/methodology/approach The research examines the utilization of adaptive and complex system thinking, as the basis of the methodical formulation of perceived gaps within the ITP. The use of Sydney’s Metro project is a novel example of the proposed methodical formulation and its empirical assessment and provides a better understanding of the use of mapping and planning tools for mega transportation projects. Findings Aptly, using the developed conceptual framework, this research further validates the inclusion of a separate engineering dimension with the usual triple bottom line factors. Such inclusion is paramount in responding to the existing ITP gaps found within the current literature. Originality/value This research uses GIS and ITP process to support the aforementioned adaptive and complex system thinking. This, in turn, is used as the basis of a methodical formulation framework in dealing with mega rail transportation infrastructure. To support such a proposition, Sydney Metro is examined as the basis of a case study.

Willingness to Disclose Personal Information: How to Measure it?

The study investigates a possibility of multidimensionality of a construct of willingness to disclose personal information (WTD). Willingness or unwillingness to disclose personal information has been a widely studied phenomenon as personal data is becoming increasingly important for many industries including marketing. Most of these studies treat the willingness to disclose personal information as a homogenous construct. In many cases it is measured by providing a number of personal information items and asking about the willingness to share them. Although recently there have been studies that find possible multidimensionality of the construct, most of them do not further elaborate this possibility. Therefore, we have adopted a scale used in many previous studies and made an attempt to test the hypotheses that would base the argument regarding the multidimensionality of this construct or even the possibility to consider several separate variables and constructs aimed at measuring the willingness to disclose personal data. This was achieved by using three antecedents of the willingness to disclose personal data – the perceived regulatory effectiveness, privacy awareness and disposition to value privacy – and comparing how they interact with different types of the willingness. This allowed to assess different relationship patterns between the antecedents and possible dimensions of the willingness to disclose personal information. We have employed Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis to check the homogeneity of the willingness to disclose personal information and Structural Equation Modelling to test the patterns of the relations. We have found that there is more than one separate dimension of WTD which means it could not be treated as a homogenous construct. Factorial analysis distinguishes three types of the willingness linked with three types of data: the willingness to disclose personal data that includes individual facts (profile data), social networking data and online browsing/purchasing data. The conclusion of multidimensionality is also supported by the differences in relationship patterns observed between the antecedents and the willingness to disclose personal information.

Two faces of party system stability: Programmatic change and party replacement

Despite extensive research on party system stability, the concept is often reduced to the survival of existing parties. This article argues for introducing programmatic stability as a separate dimension and shows how the combination of party replacement and programmatic instability shapes patterns of party competition. Based on their interaction, the article distinguishes four ideal types: stable systems, systems with empty party labels, systems with ephemeral parties, and general instability. The empirical analysis relies on media data and proposes a new measure of programmatic stability to study its interaction with party replacement in fifteen European countries during the period of the economic crisis. As the article shows, the two dimensions shape the transformation of party systems in northwestern, southern, and eastern Europe. Relying on multidimensional scaling, the article analyzes in detail the cases of the United Kingdom, Romania, Ireland, and Latvia to showcase party competition under different conditions of systemic instability.

Slums, Space, and State of Health—A Link between Settlement Morphology and Health Data

Approximately 1 billion slum dwellers worldwide are exposed to increased health risks due to their spatial environment. Recent studies have therefore called for the spatial environment to be introduced as a separate dimension in medical studies. Hence, this study investigates how and on which spatial scale relationships between the settlement morphology and the health status of the inhabitants can be identified. To this end, we summarize the current literature on the identification of slums from a geographical perspective and review the current literature on slums and health of the last five years (376 studies) focusing on the considered scales in the studies. We show that the majority of medical studies are restricted to certain geographical regions. It is desirable that the number of studies be adapted to the number of the respective population. On the basis of these studies, we develop a framework to investigate the relationship between space and health. Finally, we apply our methodology to investigate the relationship between the prevalence of slums and different health metrics using data of the global burden of diseases for different prefectures in Brazil on a subnational level.

Does Polarized Political Environment Hamper Foreign Investors? The Evidence from Parliamentary Democracies

The socio-political characteristics of the host environment influence investment decisions. The complexity of the political setup strengthens the need for advanced research in the field. The main contribution of this article is to identify the party polarization as a separate dimension of the political system. This paper examines the relationship between the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and the host country political factors: the party polarization and the political stability. Besides constructing the political polarization index in a traditional way, authors also formulate a novel measure, which explicitly shows the divergence of political parties on economic actions. By using the manifesto data of 50 parliamentary democracies based on fixed effects model, authors conclude that political polarization is an important socio-political factor which has been previously neglected in literature while addressing the determinants of foreign investments. The paper shows that the effect of political polarization on FDI inflows changes for country groups of different institutional and development indicators. Authors underline the importance of political instability in tackling the polarization impact on capital flows. Accounting together the two variables, the authors find a negative significant effect on FDI.

FORMATION OF THE UKRAINIAN INCLUSIVE LITERATURE DIRECTION AS THE NEW PUBLISHING TREND

The publishing industry is a kind of marker that reflects the real state of the society in many aspects: cultural development, socio-economic situation, state of technological development. The latest publishing trends emerge as a response to the modern needs and challenges of humanity and have not only a consequential nature, but also somehow form the cultural trends. In the context of globalization and the active use of digital technology, the issues such as accessibility, barrier, inclusiveness are on the agenda of world publishers. One of the most effective steps on this way is development and promotion of inclusive literature through formation of comprehensive publishing industry. To realze this, the publishing industry faces a number of tasks: educational work among the population, updating the printing base, introducing innovative technologies, training professional personnel from inclusive publishing industry, analytical work, introduction of motivational means. The article is devoted to the analysis of current state of inclusive literature publishing in the context of formation of the newest publishing trend. The international experience of using inclusive editions for educational purposes is explored. To achieve this objective the following tasks are fulfilled in the process of research: a definition of inclusive literature as a separate publishing dimension is formulated; the international experience in studying the issue and level of readers’ awareness of Ukrainian inclusive editionss are studied; the expediency of a comprehensive selection of editions of inclusive literature into a separate dimension is substantiated; the achievements and outstanding problems on the outlined topic are ascertained; the tasks are set and the practical proposals on realization of the certain issue are represented. The peculiarities, outstanding problems and achievements of inclusive literature editions in Ukraine are determined. It is concluded that the publishing dimension of inclusive literature in Ukraine is extremely relevant taking into account active introduction of inclusive education and growth of readership. This topic is not well-researched and has a high social and scientific potential.

Redefining ADHD Using an Adult Population: Should Inattention be Viewed as a Separate Dimension From Cognitive and Physiological Activity Level?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to reexamine the latent structure of ADHD and sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) due to issues with construct validity. Two proposed changes to the construct include viewing hyperactivity and sluggishness (hypoactivity) as a single continuum of activity level, and viewing inattention as a separate dimension from activity level. Method: Data were collected from 1,398 adults using Amazon’s MTurk. A new scale measuring activity level was developed, and scores of Inattention were regressed onto scores of Activity Level using curvilinear regression. Results: The Activity Level scale showed acceptable levels of internal consistency, normality, and unimodality. Curvilinear regression indicates that a quadratic (curvilinear) model accurately explains a small but significant portion of the variance in levels of inattention. Conclusion: Hyperactivity and hypoactivity may be viewed as a continuum, rather than separate disorders. Inattention may have a U-shaped relationship with activity level. Linear analyses may be insufficient and inaccurate for studying ADHD.