Das AutoMoDe-Projekt Modellbasierte Entwicklung softwareintensiver Systeme im Automobil

Die Entwicklung eingebetteter Software für Automobile ist inh?rent komplex und vereint verschiedene Entwicklungsphasen, mehrere fachliche Disziplinen, sowie verschiedene Akteure in beteiligten Unternehmen. Der AutoMoDe-Ansatz zur Entwicklung automotiver Software beschreibt Systeme auf verschiedenen Abstraktionsebenen und definiert schrittweise überg?nge zwischen diesen Ebenen. Neben der Definition geeigneter Ebenen werden zur Modellierung von Echtzeitsystemen ein einheitliches Berechnungsmodell sowie dom?nenspezifische Beschreibungstechniken verwendet. Automatisierte Anbindungen für Analyse und Synthese komplexer Softwaresysteme mit dem Ziel eines konsistenzbetonten Entwicklungsprozesses wurden realisiert. Die beschriebenen Techniken wurden in den Werkzeugprototypen AutoFocus integriert und im Zusammenspiel mit einer Werkzeugkette demonstriert.     

Emotional profiles regarding maths among primary school children – A two-year longitudinal study

Learning maths is challenging for many primary school students, and teachers must understand students’ learning and emotional processes specific to learning maths. The current research, grounded in control-value theory, focused on achievement emotions regarding maths. Primary school students (N?=?71) were studied with the primary objective of examining the longitudinal trajectories of achievement emotions of third graders over two years. The Portuguese Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Elementary Students was administered biannually to assess enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom regarding maths. The results indicate that enjoyment decreased and boredom increased over time, revealing three emotional profiles: positive, negative and moderate. The positive profile showed the highest scores in maths achievement. Profile membership was moderately stable and became increasingly stable and structured. In examining the complexity of students’ emotional profiles and processes, the importance of understanding them to enhance educational support, development, and learning was highlighted.

     

Antioxidant diet supplementation enhances aerobic performance in amateur sportsmen

The effects of antioxidant diet supplements on blood lactate concentration and on the aerobic and anaerobic thresholds and their adaptations to training were analysed. Fifteen amateur male athletes were randomly assigned to either a placebo group or an antioxidant-supplemented group (90 days supplementation with 500 mg x day(-1) of vitamin E and 30 mg x day(-1) of beta-carotene, and the last 15 days also with 1 g x day(-1) of vitamin C). Before and after the antioxidant supplements, the sportsmen performed a maximal exercise test on a cycle ergometer and maximal and submaximal physiological parameters were assessed together with blood lactate concentration. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2max)), maximal blood lactate concentration, and the maximal workload attained rose significantly in both groups after the 3 months of training. At the end of the study, maximal blood lactate concentration was lower in the group that took supplements than in the placebo group. The percentage of VO(2max) attained at the anaerobic threshold rose significantly in both groups after 3 months of training, although the final value in the supplemented group was higher than that in the placebo group. Antioxidant diet supplements induced lower increases in blood lactate concentration after a maximal exercise test and could improve the efficiency in which aerobic energy is obtained.     

Mathematics teacher change in a collaborative environment: to what extent and how

This article reports on a study into how collaborative contexts influence the professional development of an early-career primary teacher, Julia. We describe the process of change by which Julia manages to make her planning to teach mathematics more flexible so as to adapt to student difficulties, and we analyse the role that joint reflection plays in promoting this change. In order to understand the how of this influence, we carried out an analysis of the interactions within the group from Julia’s point of view, following a dialogical approach to discourse. We believe that it is in and through the interactions that Julia constructs her interpretation of the opinions, critiques and suggestions expressed. This interpretation conditions the extent of her involvement and moulds the influence of the context on her professional development. The presence of skilled collaborators proved decisive in promoting this development.     

“How do you feel about math?”: relationships between competence and value appraisals,achievement emotions and academic achievement

This study analyzes the relationships between cognitive appraisals, classroom and test emotions, and math achievement in a sample of 1219 Portuguese students from the 6th and 8th grades. Participants completed measures of perceived value, perceived competence, and seven math achievement emotions (boredom, hopelessness, anger, anxiety, enjoyment, pride, and relief) experienced in two different settings: classroom and tests. Math achievement was obtained from school records. Results showed significant associations between student competence and value appraisals, their emotional experiences in test and classroom situations, and their math achievement. However, when emotions were considered simultaneously in structural equation modeling, only anger in test situations and hopelessness were significant negative predictors of students’ math achievement. Hopelessness appears to play a particular role in the interplay between cognitive appraisals, emotions, and academic achievement as it is the only emotion that relates to math achievement both in test and classroom situations. Furthermore, findings also support the existence of differences in the relationships between cognitive appraisals and the achievement emotions students experience in these two settings.     

La lengua escrita en el Ciclo Medio. I

La lengua escrita ha sido una de las grandes olvidadas de las diversas propuestas curriculares de la educación española. Limitada en la mayoría de los casos por el estrecho corsé de las «redacciones», los ejercicios o exámenes escritos, no es de extrañar que la lengua escrita sea considerada por el alumno como una tarea tediosa y que no tiene nada que ver con su vida de todos los días fuera de la escuela. En este artículo, que por su extensión será publicado en dos partes, se levanta una voz contra ese estado de cosas y tras una caracterización de los diversos tipos de producciones escritas con que el alumno se enfrenta sin saberlo todos los días, se proponen vías de utilización didáctica no sólo en clase de lengua, sino en las restantes áreas del curriculum.     

Empowering Senior Citizens in Leisure Settings Through Mediation: Becoming a Mediator

Empowering senior citizens helps to preserve optimal physical, mental, and social activity among this age group. It helps them grow old successfully. The development of the mediator figure is an educational opportunity for the senior citizens and their social environment, and it contributes to the promotion of the mediation culture. Thus, this study aims to explain the implementation of a program and its results, a program that seeks to develop the “senior citizens” figure and to empower senior users of leisure facilities with basic social skills. The results were obtained from three senior centers and a total of 32 subjects that followed the training, 21 of which asked to keep spreading the culture of mediation. The main results show a significant improvement of their skills regarding conflict understanding, communication, and handling of conflict situations. Furthermore, 21 of the participants made and implemented 11 projects of social actions in the communities where they live. In addition, the program was evaluated as highly satisfactory. These findings show the effects of this kind of educational program, which predict future possibilities for mediation in senior citizens from an educational perspective.     

A cross‐sectional study of fluency and reading comprehension in Spanish primary school children

The importance of prosodic elements is recognised in most definitions of fluency. Although speed and accuracy have been typically considered the constituents of reading fluency, prosody is emerging as an additional component. The relevance of prosody in comprehension is increasingly recognised in the latest studies. The purpose of this research is to examine the contribution of prosodic reading to comprehension beyond automaticity in word reading, taking into account children's grade level. One hundred and twenty‐two Spanish children (74 second and 48 fourth graders) were tested in prosodic reading, automaticity in word reading (nonword reading and reading rate) and comprehension abilities. Results show that the contribution of automaticity in word reading is relevant in both grades; however, it is more significant in Grade 2. The prosodic components of reading seem to be related differently to comprehension across grades, intonation being the highest predictor of comprehension in Grade 4. Implications for educational practice are discussed.     

National Science Foundation Patronage of Social Science, 1970s and 1980s: Congressional Scrutiny, Advocacy Network, and the Prestige of Economics

Research in the social sciences received generous patronage in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Research was widely perceived as providing solutions to emerging social problems. That generosity came under increased contest in the late 1970s. Although these trends held true for all of the social sciences, this essay explores the various ways by which economists in particular reacted to and resisted the patronage cuts that were proposed in the first budgets of the Reagan administration. Economists?? response was three fold: to engage in joint lobbying with other social scientists, to tap into their authority as a respected policy player, and to influence the types of research financed by the patron. With interviews of the former lobbyist for the social scientists, the former director of the Economics program for the National Science Foundation, and a review of the archival records of economists and their scholarly society, we discuss how economists have claimed entitlement to patronage in the closing decades of the twentieth century. We observe a dynamic and productive relationship between politicians and researchers mediated by the National Science Foundation, where civil servants, lobbyist and public minded scientists, and self-serving grantees trade roles.     

Enseñanza de las ideas principales: problemas en el paso de la teoria a la práctica

Dno de los sueños de todo educador es encontrar conceptos o métodos que sean a la vez poderosos y extremadamente simples. La «idea principal» se ha presentado como una de estas panaceas que permite construir estrategias de comprensión lectora adecuadas a los relativamente complejos modelos cognitivos, mediante un procedimiento de atractiva sencillez. En este artículo se aborda uno de los problemas más importantes y menos tratados de este prometedor enfoque. La propia denominación de «la idea principal» supone la existencia de un única idea principal y la univocidad de ésta: todo el mundo convendrá en una única y misma idea, la del maestro será la misma a la de cada uno de los alumnos.

El problema planteado por los autores de que este supuesto no se realiza (hay divergencias fuertes en la identificación de la idea) abre vías menos simplistas pero quizá más atractivas a la enseñanza desde «la idea principal».