The structure of teacher-specific intercultural competence: Empirical evidence on the 'Beliefs, Values, and Goals' dimension

The aim of this contribution is to identify the elements that are integral parts of a teacher-specific intercultural competence construct. In this paper, we focus on those facets of the construct that are considered to be rather value-laden and affectively tinged. Following the widely used theoretical model of teachers’ professional competencies developed by Baumert and Kunter (2013), we conceptually place these facets within the Beliefs, Values, & Goals dimension, and propose four core elements: (1) appreciation of cultural diversity; (2) ethno-relative worldview; (3) attitudes toward integration; and (4) identification with goals of intercultural education. In order to test the hypothesis that these four aspects represent one single overarching latent construct, we operationalized each with an appropriate scale and then scrutinized the instruments’ internal consistency, and convergent and factorial validity. The results suggest that our four scales have good internal consistencies (Cronbach’s alphas between .82 and .89), adhere to a one-factor structure (as demonstrated by Confirmatory Factor Analysis), and indicate one latent construct (RMSEA = 0.000; TLI = 1.004; CFI = 1.000; SRMR = .007). With these results, this paper presents a valid, contextually relevant new instrument to assess (pre-service) teachers’ beliefs, values and goals regarding intercultural education and contributes to resolving theoretical, methodological, and practical issues of research on intercultural competencies.+repphzhbib2018

Evidence of a new type of fission within a solid state nuclear detector

An SSNTD study of reactions induced by 10 MeV/n U ions on U, Au and Pb targets led to the observation of a new type of fission event which can be explained as a delayed fission

The structure of teacher-specific intercultural competence: Empirical evidence on the 'Beliefs, Values, and Goals' dimension

The aim of this contribution is to identify the elements that are integral parts of a teacher-specific intercultural competence construct. In this paper, we focus on those facets of the construct that are considered to be rather value-laden and affectively tinged. Following the widely used theoretical model of teachers’ professional competencies developed by Baumert and Kunter (2013), we conceptually place these facets within the Beliefs, Values, & Goals dimension, and propose four core elements: (1) appreciation of cultural diversity; (2) ethno-relative worldview; (3) attitudes toward integration; and (4) identification with goals of intercultural education. In order to test the hypothesis that these four aspects represent one single overarching latent construct, we operationalized each with an appropriate scale and then scrutinized the instruments’ internal consistency, and convergent and factorial validity. The results suggest that our four scales have good internal consistencies (Cronbach’s alphas between .82 and .89), adhere to a one-factor structure (as demonstrated by Confirmatory Factor Analysis), and indicate one latent construct (RMSEA = 0.000; TLI = 1.004; CFI = 1.000; SRMR = .007). With these results, this paper presents a valid, contextually relevant new instrument to assess (pre-service) teachers’ beliefs, values and goals regarding intercultural education and contributes to resolving theoretical, methodological, and practical issues of research on intercultural competencies

VCA, a method for mapping and neutralizing the environmental impact of a company's value chain

Companies need to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste from their value chains in order to minimize the climate change and resource depletion that are caused by their business operations. However, it is difficult for companies to assess their current state and to plan and keep track of improvements. This paper will discuss how life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to develop a value chain assessment (VCA) method that supports companies with their ambition to assess and neutralize the environmental impacts of their value chains. The 6-step VCA method was developed and evaluated through a case study regarding the realization of large-scale solar parks. The method incorporates the guidelines and reporting requirements of the GHG Protocol standard for accounting and reporting emissions and the ISO standards for LCAs. Similar to LCAs, the developed VCA method is highly dependent on the level of detail and quality of gathered data, but also on the competency of the assessor. The VCA method does however provide suggestions for considering data gaps and inaccuracies. The method already presents a simplified and organized way of structuring, estimating, analyzing, reporting, and reducing a value chain's emissions and waste. The performed case study proved that the method could improve through more detailed evaluation and application in more case studies.</p

Incorporation du 3H-cortisole dans la pulpe dentaire et changements induits

The incorporation of labelled hydrocortisone (3H-Cortisol) in the dental pulp of Wistar rats has been tested using autoradiography. Light microscopy showed that an hour after injection the hormone is incorporated in the nuclei of the odontoblasts, subodontoblastic and endothelial cells of the dental pulp.It was also demonstrated at the ultrastructural level that a 4 week-treatment with high rates of hydrocortisone (16 and 32 mg/kg) at the time of rat intensive growth induces degeneration of the odontoblasts, pulp connective tissue cells and capillaries. High rates of hydrocortisone thus induces a decrease in the protective and reparative responses of rat molar pulp.L’incorporation d’hydrocortisone tritiée (3H-Cortisol) à la pulpe de molaires de rats Wistar a été étudiée par autoradiographie. Il a été démontré, en microscopie classique, que cette hormone, une heure après l’injection chez le rat, se conjugue aux odontoblastes, aux autres cellules conjonctives pulpaires et aux cellules endothéliales des vaisseaux sanguins de la pulpe. Si le mécanisme exact de l’action de l’hydrocortisole demeure encore inconnu, l’incorporation de cortisole marqué au noyau des cellules plaide en faveur d’une action directe de cette hormone sur le métabolisme des cellules pulpaires.Le présent travail montre en outre, à l’échelle structurale et ultrastructurale, qu’un traitement pendant 4 semaines par des doses élevées d’hydrocortisone (16 et 32 mg/kg), au cours de la période de croissance intensive chez le rat, induit une dégénérescence des odontoblastes, des autres cellules conjonctives pulpaires et des vaisseaux sanguins de la pulpe, avec pour conséquence une diminution du potentiel de défense, de régénération et de réparation du complexe dentino-pulpaire

Absorbed Dose Uncertainty Estimation for Proton Therapy

Successful radiotherapy treatment depends on the absorbed dose evaluation and the possibility to define metrological characteristics of the therapy beam. Radiotherapy requires tumor dose delivery with expanded uncertainty less than +/- 5 %. It is particularly important to reduce uncertainty during therapy beam calibration as well as to apply all necessary ionization chamber correction factors. Absorbed dose to water was determined using ionometric method. Calibration was performed in reference cobalt beam. Combined standard uncertainty of the calculated absorbed dose to water in 65 MeV proton beam was +/- 1.97% while the obtained expanded uncertainty of absorbed dose for the same beam quality was +/- 5.02%. The uncertainty estimation method has been developed within the project TESLA

Monte Carlo Calculation of the Energy Response Characteristics of a RadFET Radiation Detector

The Metal -Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistor (MOSFET, RadFET) is frequently used as a sensor of ionizing radiation in nuclear-medicine, diagnostic-radiology, radiotherapy quality-assurance and in the nuclear and space industries. We focused our investigations on calculating the energy response of a p-type RadFET to low-energy photons in range from 12 keV to 2 MeV and on understanding the influence of uncertainties in the composition and geometry of the device in calculating the energy response function. All results were normalized to unit air kerma incident on the RadFET for incident photon energy of 1.1 MeV. The calculations of the energy response characteristics of a RadFET radiation detector were performed via Monte Carlo simulations using the MCNPX code and for a limited number of incident photon energies the FOTELP code was also used for the sake of comparison. The geometry of the RadFET was modeled as a simple stack of appropriate materials. Our goal was to obtain results with statistical uncertainties better than 1% (fulfilled in MCNPX calculations for all incident energies which resulted in simulations with 1 - 2x10(9) histories.13th IMEKO TC1-TC7 Joint Symposium Without Measurement No Science, Without Science No Measurement, Sep 01-03, 2010, City Univ London, London, Englan

Mitochondrial abnormalities and low grade inflammation are present in the skeletal muscle of a minority of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; an observational myopathology study

BACKGROUND Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a primary progressive neurodegenerative disease characterised by neuronal loss of lower motor neurons (in the spinal cord and brainstem) and/or upper motor neurons (in the motor cortex) and subsequent denervation atrophy of skeletal muscle. AIM A comprehensive examination of muscle pathology from a cohort of clinically confirmed ALS patients, including an investigation of inflammation, complement activation, and deposition of abnormal proteins in order to compare them with findings from an age-matched, control group. MATERIAL AND METHODS 31 muscle biopsies from clinically confirmed ALS patients and 20 normal controls underwent a comprehensive protocol of histochemical and immunohistochemical stains, including HLA-ABC, C5b-9, p62, and TDP-43. RESULTS Neurogenic changes were confirmed in 30/31 ALS cases. In one case, no neurogenic changes could be detected. Muscle fibre necrosis was seen in 5/31 cases and chronic mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration in 5/31 (2 of them overlapped with those showing muscle necrosis). In four biopsies there was an increase in the proportion of cytochrome oxidase (COX) negative fibres (2-3%). p62 faintly stained cytoplasmic bodies in eight cases and none were immunoreactive to TDP-43. CONCLUSION This large series of muscle biopsies from patients with ALS demonstrates neurogenic atrophy is a nearly uniform finding and that mild mitochondrial abnormalities and low-grade inflammation can be seen and do not rule out the diagnosis of ALS. These findings could lend support to the notion that ALS is a complex and heterogeneous disorder