Language problems in children with learning disabilities: do they interfere with maternal communication?

In this study, parent-child interaction in two carefully matched subgroups-school-age boys with learning disabilities (LD) who showed a discrepancy between their verbal IQ and performance IQ and had more extensive difficulties in higher-level language abilities (VIQ < PIQ, n = 8) and boys with LD who did not manifest a discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ (VIQ = PIQ, n = 8), were investigated. The effects of the child's language problems on child task performance and on the quality of maternal communication were analyzed in a mother-child problem solving task. Children in the VIQ < PIQ group were found to be less successful on the task than children in the VIQ = PIQ group, and their mothers exhibited lower communication clarity in their instructions than the mothers of the children in the VIQ = PIQ group. An interesting interaction effect was found for communication deviances. For mothers in the VIQ < PIQ group the extent of deficient communication increased from the monologue to the dialogue situation, whereas communication deviances decreased for mothers in the VIQ = PIQ group. Three possible models are discussed in light of the differences between the subgroups.     

A pilot scale trickling filter with pebble gravel as media and its performance to remove chemical oxygen demand from synthetic brewery wastewater

Evaluating the performance of a biotrickling filter for the treatment of wastewaters produced by a company manufacturing beer was the aim of this study. A pilot scale trickling filter filled with gravel was used as the experimental biofilter. Pilot scale plant experiments were made to evaluate the performance of the trickling filter aerobic and anaerobic biofilm systems for removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrients from synthetic brewery wastewater. Performance evaluation data of the trickling filter were generated under different experimental conditions. The trickling filter had an average efficiency of (86.81±6.95)% as the hydraulic loading rate increased from 4.0 to 6.4 m³/(m²·d). Various COD concentrations were used to adjust organic loading rates from 1.5 to 4.5 kg COD/(m³·d). An average COD removal efficiency of (85.10±6.40)% was achieved in all wastewater concentrations at a hydraulic loading of 6.4 m³/(m²·d). The results lead to a design organic load of 1.5 kg COD/(m³·d) to reach an effluent COD in the range of 50–120 mg/L. As can be concluded from the results of this study, organic substances in brewery wastewater can be handled in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner using the gravel-filled trickling filter.     

Stichwort: Transfer und Transferforschung im Bildungsbereich

“Transfer of innovation” is understood in education science as concerned with the dissemination of scientifically based innovations in educational systems. This contribution will begin with a more precise definition of the term transfer, an overview of the current state of research and on which factors influence the successful dissemination of innovations in educational systems. In the second part, four strategies will be presented which enable the dissemination of scientific evidence into practical settings. Here we will compare strategies which have been used within the context of pilot programmes in Germany with internationally established approaches. These international approaches are more output-orientated and, therefore, look to the effects of innovations on pupils—especially with respect to performance development. The comparison contrasts classic top-down with evidence-based strategies and participative strategies with design-research approaches. Finally, we discuss the role given to educational research within these strategies.     

Culture and identity in higher education research

The aim of this article is to develop a cultural approach in higher education studies. It will be argued that the cultural approach is rooted mainly in two different intellectual starting points to analyze academic communities as cultural entities: studies of disciplinary cultures and institutional cultures. Notions of disciplines as cultural entities have been developed in Europe in relation to the two cultures topic and to issues developed in the sociology of knowledge. The institutional studies tradition is, in turn, rooted in the American intellectual tradition, where cultural concerns emerge from institutional level phenomena whether they concern students, faculty or higher education institutions. The article discusses the pros and cons of these traditions in order to find new avenues for future research. It will be argued that academic identity provides a seminal perspective for cultural studies in higher education.