A Framework for Electronic Coordination in the Air Cargo Market

The increasing need for faster, cheaper, and better logistical service has brought forwarders, carriers, and related services such as customs, banks, and handling companies closer together. This suggests a need to adjust coordination mechanisms. Neoclassical theory considers market-oriented coordination superior to hierarchic if the necessary information and communication can be handled. Since these tasks can be taken over by software instead of human agents, basic requirements seem to be fulfilled. This article outlines how market orientation can be realized in the field of air freight by applying easily accessible communication infrastructures and by considering qualitative aspects in price-finding mechanisms.     

Restrukturierung objektorientierter Datenbankschemata mittels formaler Begriffsanalyse

Zusammenfassung.   Eine Restrukturierung eines gegebenen Datenbankschemas kann aus unterschiedlichen Gründen notwendig werden. So kann dadurch z.B. die Verst?ndlichkeit des Schemas verbessert werden. Im Bereich der relationalen Datenbanken steht die Normalisierungstheorie zur Verfügung, um z.B. Redundanz zu vermeiden. Der Normalisierung liegt dabei ein Begriff der ?quivalenz von Datenbankschemata zugrunde. Im Bereich der objektorientierten Datenbanken gibt es bislang kaum vergleichbare Ans?tze. In diesem Beitrag pr?sentieren wir daher einen Ansatz, mit dem Klassenhierarchien in objektorientierten Datenbankschemata in eine „normalisierte” Form transformiert werden k?nnen. Dazu mu? zun?chst eine extensionale Analyse durchgeführt werden, die die notwendigen Informationen über extensionale Beziehungen zwischen den gegebenen Klassen liefert. Anschlie?end wenden wir Konzepte der formalen Begriffsanalyse an, um eine „normalisierte” Klassenhierarchie abzuleiten. Eingegangen am 16. Januar 1999 / Angenommen am 3. Oktober 1999     

Ein Vorgehensmodell für die Multimedia-Entwicklung mit Autorensystemen

Zusammenfassung.   Multimedia-Anwendungen sind interaktive Softwaresysteme und verlangen als solche, mit softwaretechnischen Methoden erstellt zu werden. Sie werden heutzutage in der Regel mit Hilfe von Autorensystemen entwickelt, die eine Ad-hoc-Entwicklung auf Implementierungsniveau unterstützen. Hierdurch und wegen des Fehlens etablierter Vorgehensmodelle für die Multimedia-Softwareentwicklung reduziert sich der Multimedia-Entwicklungsproze? auf die Implementierungsphase. Dies führt zu den in der Softwaretechnik bekannten Problemen wie mangelnder Konzeption und fehlender Dokumentation. Wir stellen in diesem Beitrag ein Vorgehensmodell für die Entwicklung von Multimedia-Anwendungen vor, in dessen Mittelpunkt eine Analyse- und Entwurfsphase im Hinblick auf eine Implementierung der Multimedia-Anwendung mit einem Autorensystem stehen. Ausgehend von einem frameworkbasierten Analysemodell der Anwendung und einem Modell der Realisierungsm?glichkeiten mit einem konkreten Autorensystem wird systematisch ein Implementierungsmodell auf Instanzebene abgeleitet, das als Eingabe für das Autorensystem verwendet wird. Das postulierte Vorgehensmodell wird exemplarisch für das Autorensystem Director am Beispiel der Dom?ne multimedialer Lehr-/Lernanwendungen erl?utert. Eingegangen am 2. November 1998 / Angenommen am 18. M?rz 1999     

Neural Network Agents for Learning Semantic Text Classification

The research project AgNeT develops Agents for Neural Text routing in the internet. Unrestricted potentially faulty text messages arrive at a certain delivery point (e.g. email address or world wide web address). These text messages are scanned and then distributed to one of several expert agents according to a certain task criterium. Possible specific scenarios within this framework include the learning of the routing of publication titles or news titles. In this paper we describe extensive experiments for semantic text routing based on classified library titles and newswire titles. This task is challenging since incoming messages may contain constructions which have not been anticipated. Therefore, the contributions of this research are in learning and generalizing neural architectures for the robust interpretation of potentially noisy unrestricted messages. Neural networks were developed and examined for this topic since they support robustness and learning in noisy unrestricted real-world texts. We describe and compare different sets of experiments. The first set of experiments tests a recurrent neural network for the task of library title classification. Then we describe a larger more difficult newswire classification task from information retrieval. The comparison of the examined models demonstrates that techniques from information retrieval integrated into recurrent plausibility networks performed well even under noise and for different corpora.     

The visual motor integration test: High interjudge reliability,high potential for diagnostic error

Extending Pryzwansky's (1977) work on the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI), this paper investigated scoring agreement among three levels of increasingly better trained VMI diagnosticians. Correlational data demonstrated high interexaminer reliabilities (.92, .93, and .98) between groups of Consumers (Special Education undergraduates), Experts (doctoral Psychology students), and Consensus-Judges (experienced school psychologists) in their scoring of 39 subject protocols. However, gross errors in precision were discovered after the raw scores had been converted into the VMI age equivalent scores: fully 56% of the assigned age equivalent scores resulted in discrepancies of at least one year of age. These findings indicate that, despite high interexaminer reliabilities, great caution must be exercised when children are evaluated or placed by virtue of their age equivalent scores.     

German Sports Medicine in the 1950s: Prevention and Public Health in East and West

Abstract

The article is part of a research project on the history of German sports medicine, from its organized beginnings in the early twentieth century until today. Through analyzing newly available archival documents, the focus is on the 1950s, when both German society and the political system had to be rebuilt after the war and ‘complete surrender’ of the Third Reich in 1945. Sports and sports medicine in both Germanys of the 1950s had the same roots or traditions, but had to be developed under completely different political and economic conditions. However, a crucial legacy of German sports medicine in East and West was and still is prevention. The specific and very different roles and systems of top-level sports, including sports medical and scientific support which developed since the 1960s, are by contrast, one of the major differences between East and West, causing major conflicts and problems until today.     

Attitudes and self-efficacy of physical education teachers toward inclusion of children with disabilities: a narrative review of international literature

Background: Teachers in various countries worldwide have been confronted with the placement of students with disabilities in general classes, and the need to provide them with support and adapted physical education (APE). However, physical education (PE) teachers often do not feel prepared or self-confident enough for this inclusion. While a considerable amount of research has been identified, researchers have emphasized a need for additional studies that can shed more light on the influencing factors relevant to shaping teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, as well as on their inclusion practices.

Purpose: The current article aims to provide a narrative summary of international research perspectives and findings regarding PE teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy (SE) toward inclusion, as well as to develop a model for conducting further research.

Design: A narrative literature review was performed, based on a search of the databases SPORT Discus and MEDLINE (combined via EBSCO host and screened for peer-reviewed academic journals only), and Google Scholar. The search used the following terms: physical education teachers, inclusion, disability, and attitudes or SE. The narrative review begins with setting the scope of this topic via definitions and theoretical frameworks used to enable the understanding of attitudes and SE within inclusive PE. The Social Learning Theory (SLT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were outlined in order follow up with an explanation of the link between attitudes and SE. In the next section, the literature on attitudes and SE of PE teachers is presented. This section is comprised of subsections describing the development of instruments and their utilization in the field of study, as well as contextual variables influencing PE teachers’ attitudes and SE toward inclusion.

Findings: Seventy-five articles were included in total, of which 54 discussed research on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive PE, 12 were related to research on teachers’ SE (three of which also included research on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion), and 12 were considered reviews or viewpoints. The article ends with a model, including the following parts: background variables (regarding teachers’ personal attributes, school attributes, and disability attributes); moderating variables (attitude and SE); and, teachers’ behavior toward inclusion, all of which are interrelated and include a feedback loop. This model can be used for designing future research, as well as evidence-based interventions aimed at facilitating teacher training toward inclusion.

Summary for practitioners: From a practical point of view, educational inclusion practitioners should be aware of several factors influencing attitudes and/or SE while engaging in inclusion of children with disabilities in PE: (a) The teachers’ volume and type of experience with persons with disabilities at school, in the family or in the community; (b) The professional and academic training toward inclusion; (c) Individual factors, including gender; (d) School environmental factors, such as a process rather than performance orientation; and, finally, (e) The type and degree of disability.     

ECVET and ECTS credit equivalency in higher education – A bridge too far?

The implementation within Europe of a credit system for vocational education and training known as ECVET is a European Commission priority. The potential for permeability between the ECVET and European Credit Transfer and accumulation System (ECTS) was foreseen in the Recommendation to establish ECVET in 2009, while the Bruges Communique of 2010 called for the promotion of flexible links between vocational and higher education and increased coherence between ECVET and ECTS. To this end a significant number of EU-funded projects were undertaken to explore compatibility between ECVET and ECTS. This article reviews the findings of these projects and reflects on their success in terms of achieving this policy goal. These bridging projects identified several points of compatibility between the two credit systems and produced valuable tools and frameworks to facilitate such permeability. Achieving credit equivalency between ECVET and ECTS does not appear feasible, rather the evidence points to using a learning outcomes-based equivalency framework. However, this article calls into question the sustainability of these project results with regard to the lack of success in translating these findings into practice and the lack of co-ordinated efforts to implement these findings at a national or pan European level.     

Ein Vorgehensmodell für die Multimedia-Entwicklung mit Autorensystemen

Multimedia-Anwendungen sind interaktive Softwaresysteme und verlangen als solche, mit softwaretechnischen Methoden erstellt zu werden. Sie werden heutzutage in der Regel mit Hilfe von Autorensystemen entwickelt, die eine Ad-hoc-Entwicklung auf Implementierungsniveau unterstützen. Hierdurch und wegen des Fehlens etablierter Vorgehensmodelle für die Multimedia-Softwareentwicklung reduziert sich der Multimedia-Entwicklungsproze? auf die Implementierungsphase. Dies führt zu den in der Softwaretechnik bekannten Problemen wie mangelnder Konzeption und fehlender Dokumentation. Wir stellen in diesem Beitrag ein Vorgehensmodell für die Entwicklung von Multimedia-Anwendungen vor, in dessen Mittelpunkt eine Analyse- und Entwurfsphase im Hinblick auf eine Implementierung der Multimedia-Anwendung mit einem Autorensystem stehen. Ausgehend von einem frameworkbasierten Analysemodell der Anwendung und einem Modell der Realisierungsm?glichkeiten mit einem konkreten Autorensystem wird systematisch ein Implementierungsmodell auf Instanzebene abgeleitet, das als Eingabe für das Autorensystem verwendet wird. Das postulierte Vorgehensmodell wird exemplarisch für das Autorensystem Director am Beispiel der Dom?ne multimedialer Lehr-/Lernanwendungen erl?utert.