Practical tools for a pluralistic approach: knowledge of and attitudes towards multilingualism in the classroom

This contribution focuses on didactic resources developed with the aim to provide appropriate tools for dealing with the ‘new multilingualism’ in the schools of South Tyrol. These tools consist of a travelling exhibition and eight workshops developed and created within the project One School, Many Languages (SMS). Each workshop includes a number of activities and brings into focus a specific aspect of multilingualism (etymology, intercomprehension, etc.). This paper presents the perspective of students aged 11 to 14 (middle school) on the activities, thus offering an alternative insight into the implementation and practice of plurilingualism and intercultural awareness in education.Dieser Beitrag konzentriert sich auf die didaktischen Ressourcen, die mit dem Ziel entwickelt wurden, geeignete Instrumente für den Umgang mit der ‚neuen Mehrsprachigkeit‘ in den Südtiroler Schulen bereitzustellen. Diese Tools bestehen aus einer Wanderausstellung und acht Workshops, die im Rahmen des Projekts One School, Many Languages (SMS) entwickelt und erstellt wurden. Jeder Workshop umfasst eine Reihe von Aktivitäten und fokussiert einen spezifischen Aspekt der Mehrsprachigkeit (Etymologie, Interkomprehension, etc.). Dieser Beitrag stellt die Perspektive der 11- bis 14-Jährigen (Mittelschule) auf die Aktivitäten dar und bietet so einen alternativen Einblick in die Umsetzung und Praxis der Mehrsprachigkeit und des interkulturellen Bewusstseins in der Bildung

Practical tools for a pluralistic approach: knowledge of and attitudes towards multilingualism in the classroom

This contribution focuses on didactic resources developed with the aim to provide appropriate tools for dealing with the ‘new multilingualism’ in the schools of South Tyrol. These tools consist of a travelling exhibition and eight workshops developed and created within the project One School, Many Languages (SMS). Each workshop includes a number of activities and brings into focus a specific aspect of multilingualism (etymology, intercomprehension, etc.). This paper presents the perspective of students aged 11 to 14 (middle school) on the activities, thus offering an alternative insight into the implementation and practice of plurilingualism and intercultural awareness in education

Emerging exposures of developmental toxicants

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to identify emerging developmental toxicants that are understudied in children's health. Exposures may arise from new products designed to improve utility, to reduce toxicity, or to replace undesirable chemicals. Exposures to less-toxic chemicals may also be significant if they are very commonly used, thereby generating widespread exposure. Sources of exposure include the workplace, personal, home, and office products; food, water, and air. RECENT FINDINGS: We describe eight exposure categories that contain numerous potential developmental toxicants. References are discussed if reported in PubMed during the past decade at least 10 times more frequently than in 1990-2000. Examples included phthalates, phenols, sunscreens, pesticides, halogenated flame retardants, perfluoroalkyl coatings, nanoparticles, e-cigarettes, and dietary polyphenols. Replacements are often close structural homologs of their precursors. We suggest biomonitoring as preferred means of exposure assessment to emerging chemicals. Some existing analytic methods would require minimal modification to measure these exposures, but others require toxicokinetic and analytic investigation. SUMMARY: A deliberate strategy for biomonitoring of emerging replacement chemicals is warranted, especially in view of concerns regarding developmental toxicity. To prevent adverse health effects, it is important to characterize such exposures before they become widely disseminated

Sprachenrepertoires und Mehrsprachigkeitskompetenzen im Sprachendorf aktivieren

Aufbauend auf aktuellen Entwicklungen in der Mehrsprachigkeitsforschung und -didaktik zeigt dieser Beitrag, wie Sprachenrepertoires und Mehrsprachigkeitskompetenzen in einem didaktischen Szenario erhoben, beschrieben und aktiviert werden können. Dieses als Sprachendorf konzipierte Szenario enthält fünf mehrsprachige Stationen, an denen SchülerInnen in mehr als zehn Arbeitssprachen verschiedene Aufgaben- bzw. Problemstellungen bewältigen. Auf der Grundlage von Daten aus dem Südtiroler Forschungsprojekt RepertoirePluS (2016–2019) beantwortet unser Beitrag folgende Fragen: Wie ist ein mehrsprachiges Sprachendorf konzipiert? Wie kann man es zur Aktivierung von Sprachenrepertoires einsetzen? Welche Mehrsprachigkeitskompetenzen kann man im Rahmen des Sprachendorfs erheben? Wie lässt sich ein Sprachendorf auch im schulischen Kontext zur Förderung der Mehrsprachigkeit aller SchülerInnen und ihrer gesamten Sprachenrepertoires integrieren?Building on current developments in multilingualism research and didactics, our contribution aims to show how language repertoires and multilingual competence can be collected, described and activated in a didactic scenario. This scenario, which was conceived as a ‘language village’, contains five multilingual stations at which pupils cope with different tasks and problems in more than ten working languages. On the basis of data from the South Tyrolean project RepertoirePluS (2016–2019), our contribution will answer the following questions: How is a multilingual ‘language village’ conceived? How can it be used to activate language repertoires? Which multilingual competencies can be surveyed within the framework of the ‘language village’? How can a ‘language village’ also be integrated in a school context to promote the multilingualism of all pupils and their entire language repertoires

Prenatal Exposure to Organophosphates, Paraoxonase 1, and Cognitive Development in Childhood

Background: Prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides has been shown to negatively affect child neurobehavioral development. Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is a key enzyme in the metabolism of organophosphates

Population dynamics of rhesus macaques and associated foamy virus in Bangladesh.

Foamy viruses are complex retroviruses that have been shown to be transmitted from nonhuman primates to humans. In Bangladesh, infection with simian foamy virus (SFV) is ubiquitous among rhesus macaques, which come into contact with humans in diverse locations and contexts throughout the country. We analyzed microsatellite DNA from 126 macaques at six sites in Bangladesh in order to characterize geographic patterns of macaque population structure. We also included in this study 38 macaques owned by nomadic people who train them to perform for audiences. PCR was used to analyze a portion of the proviral gag gene from all SFV-positive macaques, and multiple clones were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis was used to infer long-term patterns of viral transmission. Analyses of SFV gag gene sequences indicated that macaque populations from different areas harbor genetically distinct strains of SFV, suggesting that geographic features such as forest cover play a role in determining the dispersal of macaques and SFV. We also found evidence suggesting that humans traveling the region with performing macaques likely play a role in the translocation of macaques and SFV. Our studies found that individual animals can harbor more than one strain of SFV and that presence of more than one SFV strain is more common among older animals. Some macaques are infected with SFV that appears to be recombinant. These findings paint a more detailed picture of how geographic and sociocultural factors influence the spectrum of simian-borne retroviruses

Prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides and reciprocal social behavior in childhood

Prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPs) has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood, including low IQ, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), attention problems and ADHD. Many of these disorders involve impairments in social functioning. Thus, we investigated the relationship between biomarkers of prenatal OP exposure and impaired reciprocal social behavior in childhood, as measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Using a multi-ethnic urban prospective cohort of mother-infant pairs in New York City recruited between 1998 and 2002 (n=404) we examined the relation between third trimester maternal urinary levels of dialkylphosphate (ΣDAP) OP metabolites and SRS scores among 136 children who returned for the 7–9 year visit. Overall, there was no association between OPs and SRS scores, although in multivariate adjusted models, associations were heterogeneous by race and by sex. Among blacks, each 10-fold increase in total diethylphosphates (ΣDEP) was associated with poorer social responsiveness (β = 5.1 points, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8, 9.4). There was no association amongst whites or Hispanics, or for total ΣDAP or total dimethylphosphate (ΣDMP) biomarker levels. Additionally, stratum-specific models supported a stronger negative association among boys for ΣDEPs (β = 3.5 points, 95% CI 0.2, 6.8), with no notable association among girls. Our results support an association of prenatal OP exposure with deficits in social functioning among blacks and among boys, although this may be in part reflective of differences in exposure patterns

The Heaven Dictator Game: Costless taking or giving

We present experimental data from the Heaven-Dictator Game, a generalization of the Dictator Game that investigates the overstatement of inequality reduction in the motivation of social preferences. Two players start with equal endowments and the Heaven-Dictator player, without incurring any pecuniary cost or profit, chooses among increasing, decreasing or maintaining the earnings of the recipient player. Any choice except for the status quo generates unequal payoffs. The design avoids the experimenter demand effect of the standard “give only” version while simultaneously allowing participants to manifest antisocial preferences, inequity reduction or retaliation cannot be called for as motives. We find that the majority (75.4%) of subjects choose to increase their partners’ earnings; there is a non-negligible 24.6% of subjects that either choose the status quo (11.9%) or to decrease (12.7%) others’ earnings. Based on the psychological literature on music as a mood-inducing stimulus and on the effects of mood on helping behavior, we study the effect of exposure to different types of music on the Heaven-Dictator choices. Although at first sight observed distributional preferences are independent of the music condition, further analysis reveals that classical music seems to foster social welfare rather than inequality aversion.Financial support by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant ECO2015-68469-R) and the Universitat Jaume I (grant UJI-B2018-76) is gratefully acknowledge

Prediagnostic Serum Concentrations of Organochlorine Compounds and Risk of Testicular Germ Cell Tumors

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that exposure to organochlorine (OC) compounds, chlordanes and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE) in particular, may increase the risk of developing testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs). OBJECTIVE: To further investigate this question, we conducted a nested case-control study of TGCTs within the Norwegian Janus Serum Bank cohort. METHODS: The study was conducted among individuals with serum collected between 1972 and 1978. TGCT cases diagnosed through 1999 (n = 49; 27-62 years of age at diagnosis) were identified through linkage to the Norwegian Cancer Registry. Controls (n =51) were matched to cases on region, blood draw year, and age at blood draw. Measurements of 11 OC insecticide compounds and 34 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners were performed using gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry. Case-control comparisons of lipid-adjusted analyte concentrations were performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for tertiles of analyte concentration were calculated using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: TGCT cases had elevated concentrations of p,p′-DDE (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1 OR (ORT3) 2.2; 95% CI, 0.7-6.5; p Wilcoxon = 0.07), oxychlordane (ORT3 3.2; 95% CI, 0.6-16.8; pWilcoxon = 0.05), trans-nonachlor (ORT3 2.6; 95% CI, 0.7-8.9; pWilcoxon = 0.07), and total chlordanes (OR T3 2.0; 95% CI, 0.6-7.2; pWilcoxon = 0.048) compared with controls, although no ORs were statistically significant. Seminoma cases had significantly lower concentrations of PCB congeners 44, 49, and 52 and significantly higher concentrations of PCBs 99, 138, 153, 167, 183, and 195. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides additional but qualified evidence supporting an association between exposures to p,p′-DDE and chlordane compounds, and possibly some PCB congeners, and TGCT risk