A paper waste prediction model

The aim of this paper is to develop a model predicting the collected amount of waste paper at the regional level of municipalities. Leaming about the factors that influence the amount of collected paper is a prerequisite for the evaluation and reorganization of collection systems. We hypothesize that the amount of collected paper depends on both, the waste potential and factors which influence the convenience such as the density of collection sites. For this study, we use a sample of 649 municipalities. The data show a high variance in terms of the collected waste paper per person and year between the municipalities. We develop a multivariate regression model providing valuable insights about the relationship between demographic parameters and the amount of collected waste paper. Furthermore, in this novel approach we found a significant positive impact of the convenience of the collection system

Better safe than sorry: Risky function exploitation through safe optimization

Exploration-exploitation of functions, that is learning and optimizing a mapping between inputs and expected outputs, is ubiquitous to many real world situations. These situations sometimes require us to avoid certain outcomes at all cost, for example because they are poisonous, harmful, or otherwise dangerous. We test participants' behavior in scenarios in which they have to find the optimum of a function while at the same time avoid outputs below a certain threshold. In two experiments, we find that Safe-Optimization, a Gaussian Process-based exploration-exploitation algorithm, describes participants' behavior well and that participants seem to care firstly whether a point is safe and then try to pick the optimal point from all such safe points. This means that their trade-off between exploration and exploitation can be seen as an intelligent, approximate, and homeostasis-driven strategy.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to Cognitive Science Conferenc

Attitudes and attitude change of students towards the relationship between theory and practice

[EN] The present study examines the attitudes towards the relationship between theory and practice of students in the context of teaching-oriented Master's programs. The data are based on the project “intensity and stability of job-related attitudes in teacher training” (ISabEL), which was conducted at the University of Flensburg. The study analyses the change of student's attitudes towards the relationship of theory and practice during a practical semester. The attitudes were measured using a self-developed scale, which was developed on the basis of a qualitative reconstruction of Thon (2014). The results reveal that the contradiction between theory and practice tends to increase after the practical semester.Fischer, T.; Bach, A.; Rheinländer, K. (2017). Attitudes and attitude change of students towards the relationship between theory and practice. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 199-206. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.5104OCS19920

Jutta Mägdefrau (Hrsg.): Schulisches Lehren und Lernen. Pädagogische Theorie an Praxisbeispielen. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt 2010 (296 S.) [Rezension]

Rezension von: Jutta Mägdefrau (Hrsg.): Schulisches Lehren und Lernen. Pädagogische Theorie an Praxisbeispielen. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt 2010 (296 S.; ISBN 978-3-7815-1765-3; 19,90 EUR)

Selbstwirksamkeit im Lehrberuf. Entstehung und Veränderung sowie Effekte auf Gesundheit und Unterricht

Selbstwirksamkeit gehört zu den am häufigsten untersuchten motivationalen Merkmalen von Lehrpersonen. Trotz der Popularität des Konstrukts sind grundlegende Forschungsfragen empirisch unbeantwortet. Die Publikation stellt zunächst den internationalen Forschungsstand zur Selbstwirksamkeit im Lehrberuf umfassend und systematisch dar. Anschließend widmen sich vier Studien bislang wenig eingenommenen Forschungsperspektiven: Mit der Entwicklung und Validierung einer Skala zur Erfassung der Quellen von Selbstwirksamkeit wird eine wichtige Forschungslücke geschlossen. Mediatoranalysen erweitern die Erkenntnisse über die Entstehung von Selbstwirksamkeit. Die Veränderung und das Zusammenspiel von Selbstwirksamkeit und Beanspruchungserleben im Lehramtsstudium wird mit komplexen Längsschnittmodellen untersucht. Analysiert wird darüber hinaus die Bedeutung von domänenspezifisch differenziert erfasster Selbstwirksamkeit für die Qualität von Unterricht. (DIPF/Orig.

Quality of life of patients after retropubic prostatectomy - Pre- and postoperative scores of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with newly diagnosed early stage prostate cancer (PCa) face a difficult choice of different treatment options with curative intention. They must consider both goals of optimising quantity and quality of life. The quality of life (QoL) is a psychometric outcome which is measured using validated questionnaires. Only few data are published concerning pre - and postoperative QoL.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study investigated pre perative QoL of 185 patients who consecutively underwent open radical retropubic prostatectomy for organ-confined PCa to postoperative QoL of another 185 patients. The EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQPR25 module and 24 h ICS pad test were used (mean follow-up 28.6 months).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The examined symptom scores of the EORTC QLQ-PR25 were on lowest level. In the dyspnoea symptom score differences of age emerged: the amount of patients who are short of breath rose significantly in older patients after surgery (p < 0.05 paired, two-tailed student's t-test).. Lastly, the urinary symptom score was found postal-therapeutically low; this fact was age independent. The results of sexual symptom score need to be taken into consideration, since prostatectomy resulted in a significant reduction of sexual activity independent of age. All functioning scales postoperatively reached high values without significant changes (p > 0.05 student's t-test ), which implies a high QoL after surgery. A reliable and satisfying status of continence was found in our patients after retropubic prostatectomy. A high rate of patients (89.2%) would choose retropubic prostatectomy again.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Retropubic prostatectomy represents a reliable and accepted procedure in the treatment of organ-confined PCa. For the first time it could be shown that patients` QoL remained on a high level after retropubic prostatectomy. Nevertheless, the primary avoidance or postoperative therapy of erectile dysfunction should be in the focus of surgeons.</p