Elternvertreter mit Migrationshintergrund an allgemeinbildenden Schulen

Parents with a migration background are underrepresented among parent representatives at schools in Germany. However, increased involvement of these parents is essential for a lively democratic culture. To explore the motivations of parents with migration background regarding their school involvement, interviews with N?=?31 parent representatives with migration background were content analysed, starting deductively from a set of categories according to the theory of planned behaviour. In the analysis, the main category ??attitude?? was deductively subdivided into ??motivation in the course of action/intrinsic value??, ??results and consequences regarding own interests?? and ??results and consequences regarding others/altruistic motivation??. ??Subjective norm?? was inductively differentiated into ??other parents??, ??teachers and leadership team?? and ??other persons/perceived general expectations??; ??perceived behavioural control?? was differentiated into the subcategories ??assertiveness and freedom from anxiety??, ??language competence??, ??socioeconomic background??, ??availability of time??, ??setting in school and school district?? and ??field expertise and know-how??. Additionally, ??habit?? was deductively established and retained as a main category. Analysis of 513 statements resulted in an interrater-agreement of ???=?0.82. Implications for working with parents in an intercultural context are discussed.     

Evaluierung von unterschiedlichen Trainingsmodellen bei berufstätigen Freizeitläufern

The aim of the study was to examine the effects of three different training models on aerobic power and body composition in recreationally active runners. According to their preferences 54 subjects (female=?27, male?=?27) were assigned to the following groups: (a) weekend group (WE), who performed two sessions of continuous endurance training weekly, (b) after-work group (FE) who carried out four sessions of high intensity training as well as an additional endurance run and (c) STAR group (STAR), who took part in a training with exercise telemetry monitors based on the heart rate variability. Over the 12-week study period the mean training volume was approximately 2 h 15 min per week. Of the participants 47 successfully completed the training study and all 3 groups showed significantly improved aerobic power (p?<0.001); however, the FE group (d?=?1.15) showed increased VO_2max superior to WE (d?=?0.48) and STAR (d?=?0.66) groups. Significant improvements in body mass (p?<?0.001), body fat (p?<?0.001) and visceral fat (p?<?0.001) were found in the WE, FE and STAR group. All groups completed the half marathon with no significant differences in performance. Based on a similar training volume, short, intensive endurance training sessions of about 30 min were found to elicit the greatest improvements of VO2max in recreationally active runners.     

An analysis of cognitive tool use patterns in a hypermedia learning environment

In this study, we examined the use of cognitive tools provided in a problem-based hypermedia learning environment for sixth graders. Purposes were to understand how the built-in tools were used, and if tool use was associated with different problem-solving stages. Results showed that tools supporting cognitive processing and sharing cognitive load played a more central role early in the problem-solving process, whereas tools supporting cognitive activities that would be out of students' reach otherwise, and hypothesis generation and testing were used more in the later stages of problem-solving. The findings also indicated that students increasingly used multiple tools in the later stages of their problem-solving process. The various tools, performing different functions, appeared to enable students to coordinate multiple cognitive skills in a seamless way and, therefore, facilitated their information processing. Results also suggested that students with higher performance scores made more productive use of tools than students with lower performance scores. Findings of the study, are discussed.     

Top-down and bottom-up approaches to improve educational quality: their intended and unintended consequences

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability -     

Protein identification and localization using mass spectrometry and staining tests in cross-sections of polychrome samples

The identification and localization of the proteinaceous binders are essential issues in studies of painting materials and techniques, for further proposing valid restoration and conservation treatments of the painted or polychrome works of art. The challenge for analytical chemists and conservation scientists is the availability of methods able to simultaneously identify and map the presence of the binders in the multilayered structure of a sample and the possibility to use a very low amount of sample from the studied art object (considering also the criteria of minimum sampling). These methods should be fast, reproducible in different artefacts and in case of mixture of protein-based binders with other non-proteinaceous constituents (oils, resins, waxes, gums etc.) and also economical (both in terms of materials and time consume). In this context, the present paper proposes an innovative protocol of investigation using two complementary techniques – Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation – Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and staining tests (one visible and one fluorescent stain) assisted by Optical Microscopy (OM) on cross-section of samples – for the simultaneous identification and mapping of protein – and oil-based binders in paint materials. The novelty is based on the use of MALDI-TOF MS on cross-sections of paints together with a fluorescent stain for protein identification and mapping (mainly used in the area of proteomics) complementing the use of a traditional visible stain for oil-based material identification. The protocol was successfully applied on several samples taken from a Czech medieval polychrome sculpture, entitled “The Mourning of Jesus Christ” (16th century) belonging to the Moravian Gallery (Brno).     

Diagnostic Problem-Solving Process in Professional Contexts: Theory and Empirical Investigation in the Context of Car Mechatronics Using Computer-Generated Log-Files

This article deals with a theory-based investigation of the diagnostic problem-solving process in professional contexts. To begin with, a theory of the diagnostic problem-solving process was developed drawing on findings from different professional contexts. The theory distinguishes between four sub-processes of the diagnostic problem-solving process and includes several hypotheses. According to the theory, the quality of the sub-processes “representing information” and “testing hypotheses” causally influences the diagnostic problem-solving success. Additionally, the theory suggests that the influence of “testing hypotheses” on the problem-solving success is higher than the influence of “representing information”. Moreover, the theory assumes that the influence of the quality of “representing information” on the success is mediated by the quality of “testing hypotheses”. These hypotheses were examined in the context of car mechatronics using diagnostic problems of the car sector, a computer-based assessment and a sample of car mechatronic apprentices (N = 339). To operationalize the sub-processes’ quality, observable critical behavior was theoretically identified and extracted from computer-generated log-files. The empirical results were largely in line with the hypotheses and indicated a (very) first corroboration of the theory in the context of car mechatronics. The theory could be helpful to investigate and teach diagnostic problem solving in different professional contexts. Further studies, however, should scrutinize whether the theory applies to other studies and professional contexts.     

Sexuality education for young children: The role of parents

An important component of family life is sexuality education. Being comfortable with one's sexuality is an essential component of individual and family wellness. To this end, parents and teachers who intend to assist in young children's sexuality education must be comfortable and well informed.Nilufer P. Medora is Associate Professor, Department of Home Economics, California State University, Long Beach, CA. Stephan Wilson is Associate Professor, and Director, Center for Kentucky Children and Family Research, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. 40506.     

Automatic,semantics-based indexing of natural language texts for information retrieval systems

The fundamental idea of the work reported here is to extract index phrases from texts with the help of a single word concept dictionary and a thesaurus containing relations among concepts. The work is based on the fact, that, within every phrase, the single words the phrase is composed of are related in a certain well denned manner, the type of relations holding between concepts depending only on the concepts themselves. Therefore relations can be stored in a semantic network. The algorithm described extracts single word concepts from texts and combines them to phrases using the semantic relations between these concepts, which are stored in the network. The results obtained show that phrase extraction from texts by this semantic method is possible and offers many advantages over other (purely syntactic or statistic) methods concerning preciseness and completeness of the meaning representation of the text. But the results show, too, that some syntactic and morphologic “filtering” should be included for effectivity reasons.