The Role and Implications of Executive Functions During the Transition to Middle School

The current study analyzed the relationship between executive functions and academic performance in middle school. In particular, this study analyzed the relationship between BRIEF Index and Scale scores that were compiled on a group (N = 54) of seventh graders by two seventh-grade ELA teachers and the students’ final grades in ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. The results showed statistically significant correlations between most of the BRIEF Indexes and Scales and the final grades, with the Metacognitive Scales showing the highest correlations. In contrast, the results showed much higher incongruence index values than expected, given the high correlations that were found. Possible explanations include the level of support afforded to the students, student motivation, and student-teacher relationships. Future research on executive functions and middle school students should use larger sample sizes that include a wider range of students, such as those in advanced classes, general education, and learning disabilities classes, as well as more teacher ratings of executive functions

Nur Anerkennung oder doch Einhaltung?

Im Fokus der vorliegenden Arbeit stehen die Implementierung und Anwendung internationaler Normen zur Bekämpfung des Kinderhandels in Österreich. Es wird untersucht, wie die in Österreich geltenden internationalen Rechtsnormen auf nationaler Ebene implementiert werden und wie sie in Form von konkreten Maßnahmen zur Anwendung kommen. Dazu wurde auf Basis des rationalistischen Institutionalismus, des konstruktivistischen Institutionalismus und auf Basis eines konstruktivistischen Sprachverständnisses ein Katalog aus sieben Kategorien erarbeitet, auf deren Basis das Material ausgewertet wurde. Ausgehend von diesen theoretischen Grundüberlegungen werden in der Arbeit jene Faktoren untersucht, die sich als wichtig für die Rechtsumsetzung und Rechtsdurchsetzung im Politikfeld Kinderhandel darstellen. Dafür wurden neben Rechtsdokumenten, verfügbare Berichte nationaler und internationaler AkteurInnen auch ExpertInneninterviews durchgeführt, die anhand einer theoretisch strukturierten Vorgehensweise ausgewertet wurden. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit machen deutlich, dass Österreich zwar eine Vielzahl internationaler Rechtsgrundsätze zum Gegenstand Kinderhandel in das österreichische Recht überführt, doch fehlt es in Österreich an einer einheitlichen und abgestimmten Vorgehensweise. Zwischen den Institutionen tauchen Ressourcenprobleme ebenso auf, wie sich auch die föderalistisch organisierte Verwaltungsstruktur der Jugendwohlfahrt negativ auswirken, denn es herrscht kein Konsens darüber, dass Kinderhandel bekämpft werden muss. So ist es wenig überraschend, dass auch zwischen staatlichen und nichtstaatlichen AkteurInnen signifikante unterschiedliche Positionen bestehen. Diese Arbeit zeigt, dass die Bekämpfung von Kinderhandel eine anerkannte Norm, die aber unter den in Österreich gegebenen Voraussetzungen nur mangelhaft eingehalten wird.This study focuses on the implementation and application of international norms combating child trafficking in Austria. It analyses how international norms are transposed on the national level and what kind of measures should secure the implementation. For that purpose, the study combines the rational institutionalism, constructivist institutionalism and constructivist understanding of language to develop an analytic instrument. The study relies on several data sources, which consist of official documents for public authorities, reports on the situation in Austria by national and international actors as well as expert interviews with Austrian stakeholders. The results show that combating child trafficking in Austria is a neglected norm. The administrative machinery is overstrained with implementation and the political will is largely limited to declarations of intent. Compliance is granted in regards to ratification of the relevant international treaties and transformation into national law. A national action plan defines measures to be taken. Nonetheless, the administrative body lacks capacities to implement and apply measures. The lacking resources – time, money, know-how – pose an important barrier to fighting child trafficking effectively. Also, the federal organisation of the youth welfare poses a procedural problem. There is no consensus among the federal divisions of the youth welfare regarding the combat of child trafficking. Further, relevant public and civil actors don’t agree on the adequacy of measures to be taken in order to fight the crime. Consequently, the combat of child trafficking is an accepted norm which yet under the given conditions can not be complied with sufficiently

Ideologies of development or practices of power? The Bretton Woods Institutions and ownership

Diese Arbeit untersucht die Rollen der Bretton Woods Institutionen im Entwicklungsbereich anhand ihrer Praktiken hinsichtlich „ownership“ in Malawi. Der Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung liegt auf dem Prozess der Entwicklung des ersten Strategiepapiers zur Armutsminderung (PRSP). Sie befasst sich damit, warum und wie das „ownership“-Konzept durch die Weltbank vorangetrieben wurde, sowie mit den aus seiner Umsetzung resultierenden Widersprüchen für Entwicklungspolitik(en). Von einem neo-Gramscianischen Ansatz ausgehend untersucht die Arbeit, inwieweit sich das Entwicklungsparadigma der Weltbank und des Internationalen Währungsfonds seit der Einführung des Armutsminderungsstrategie-Ansatzes hinsichtlich „ownership“ und Partizipation verändert hat. Der Wandel der Beziehung zwischen den Bretton Woods Institutionen und der nationalen Beteiligten in Malawi wird mittels argumentativer Diskursanalyse untersucht und die Frage gestellt, ob Malawis Strategiepapier zur Armutsminderung tatsächlich im nationalen Eigentum lag. Die Arbeit kommt zum Schluss, dass das Entwicklungsparadigma der Bretton Woods Institutionen sich in der Praxis nicht grundlegend verändert hat. Der Kurswechsel hin zu „ownership“ zielte lediglich darauf ab, lokale Unterstützung für Politiken der Bank und des Fonds zu sichern und dies geschah anhand der Vermittlung des Gefühls erhöhter Einflussmöglichkeiten durch Partizipation.This study examines the Bretton Woods Institutions’ roles in development by analyzing their practices with respect to “ownership” in Malawi and focuses on the formulation process of Malawi’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). It is concerned with why and how the idea of “ownership” has been actively promoted by the World Bank, as well as with the contradictions that resulted from applying it in development policy. Applying a neo-Gramscian perspective, the paper examines to which extent the development paradigm of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund changed since the introduction of the Poverty Reduction Strategy approach with respect to “ownership” and participation. The aid relationship between the Bretton Woods Institutions and national stakeholders in Malawi and its change over time are examined by means of Argumentative Discourse Analysis, and the paper asks whether Malawi “owned” its PRSP. It comes to the conclusion that Bretton Woods Institutions’ development paradigm has not changed substantially. The policy shift towards increased “ownership” was meant to increase local support for Bank and Fund policies through creating the sense of greater influence by means of participation

Analysis of Enhanced Light Harvesting and Quantum Efficiency in Textured Silicon Solar Cells

Textures on semiconductor materials, such as monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon (Si), consist of an array of geometrical structures. The main advantage of such structures is the fact that they are able to significantly increase the amount of transmitted light on the cell surface without the use of other antireflection and light trapping techniques, such as antireflection coatings. Texturing a Si wafer includes three benefits: decrease in external reflection, increase in internal reflection preventing the rays from escaping the solar cell, and increase in effective absorption length due to tilted rays. The aim of the thesis is to determine the influence of textures on the total quantum efficiency (QE) of the cell. Firstly, various types of texture structures with different physical parameters, as well as their antireflection and light trapping capabilities are investigated. It becomes evident throughout a brief literature review of textures that regular inverted pyramids are featured in the most efficient commercial solar cell and provide the best optical enhancements. State-of-the-art modeling techniques that aim at developing light simulation programs targeted to analyze solar cells’ reflectance were also investigated. A simulation code based on a chosen analytical geometrical model type is developed and employed to estimate front-face reflection and transmittance of regular upright pyramids in 2D. It is noted, that the results of surface reflection obtained by the simulation code are fairly consistent with the results found in the literature, signifying that such complex problem does not necessarily require a numerical approach. Finally, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) analyses of textured and perfectly flat cells are performed and the obtained results are compared to each other. The simulations show that texturing does indeed provide significant decrease in front-face reflection in comparison with a flat Si surface and a single-layer antireflection coating with an optimal thickness. Furthermore, throughout the study it becomes clear that surface recombination velocity does not affect the IQE significantly in thick solar cells. Therefore, the deteriorating effect on the cell’s electrical performance, an increase in surface recombination velocity due to an increased front surface area in textured cells, is ignored. Also, it is noticed that increased front surface recombination velocity affects only a small fraction of wavelengths of interest, and the surface of a cell can be also passivated to prevent surface recombination altogether. The IQE analysis also reveals that textured cells provide higher IQE values in the longer wavelength region than flat cells, due to tilted light path. The results obtained in this thesis highlighted the numerous benefits of texturing silicon solar cells, since more light is able to penetrate the surface and contribute to the short circuit current

FISH Mapping of Two Putative Keratin Gene Clusters on Cat (Felis catus) Chromosomes

Genes encoding keratins are evolutionary highly conserved and clustered in two linkage groups in mammalian genomes. Canine keratin 9 (K-9) and keratin 2e (K-2) cosmid-derived gene probes were used to localize the acidic and basic-neutral keratin gene clusters to cat chromosomes E1q12 and B4q15, respectively. The status of the physical map of the cat genome is discusse

Canine-Derived Cosmid Probes Containing Microsatellites Can Be Used in Physical Mapping of Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus) and Chinese Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides procyonoides) Genomes

Rapid development of the canine marker genome map facilitates genome mapping of other Canidae species. In this study we present chromosomal localization of 18 canine-derived cosmid probes containing microsatellites in the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) and Chinese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides procyonoides) genomes by the use of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The chromosome localizations in the arctic fox are in general agreement with data obtained from comparative genome maps of the dog and the fox. However, our studies showed that the order of the loci on some chromosomes was changed during karyotype evolution. Therefore, we suggest that small intrachromosomal rearrangements took plac

The role of tropical-extratropical interaction and synoptic variability in maintaining the South Pacific Convergence Zone in CMIP5 models

The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) is simulated as too zonal a feature in current generation climate models, including those in Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). This zonal bias induces errors in tropical convective heating, with subsequent effects on global circulation. The SPCZ structure, particularly in the subtropics, is governed by the tropical-extratropical interaction between transient synoptic systems and the mean background state. However, the fidelity of synoptic-scale interactions as simulated by CMIP5 models has not yet been evaluated. In this study, analysis of synoptic variability in the simulated subtropical SPCZ reveals that the basic mechanism of tropical-extratropical interaction is generally well simulated, with storms approaching the SPCZ along comparable trajectories to observations. However, there is a broad spread in mean precipitation and its variability across the CMIP5 ensemble. Inter-model spread appears to relate to a biased background state in which the synoptic waves propagate. In particular, the region of mean negative zonal stretching deformation or "storm graveyard" in the upper troposphere?a feature previously determined to play a key role in SPCZ-storm interactions?is typically displaced in CMIP5 models to the northeast of its position in reanalysis data, albeit with individual model graveyards displaying a pronounced (25 degree) longitudinal spread. From these findings, we suggest that SPCZs simulated by CMIP5 models are not simply too zonal; rather, in models the subtropical SPCZ manifests a diagonal tilt similar to observations while SST biases force an overly zonal tropical SPCZ, resulting in a more disjointed SPCZ than observed

The influence of diabatic heating in the South Pacific Convergence Zone on Rossby wave propagation and the mean flow

The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) is a northwest-southeast oriented precipitation band over the South Pacific Ocean. Latent heat release from condensation leads to substantial diabatic heating, which has potentially large impacts on local and global climate. The influence of this diabatic heating within the SPCZ is investigated using the Intermediate General Circulation Model (IGCM4). Precipitation in the SPCZ has been shown to be triggered by transient Rossby waves that originate in the Australian subtropical jet and are refracted towards the equatorial eastern Pacific. A Rossby wave triggers a SPCZ 'convective event', with associated diabatic heat release and vortex stretching. Consequently, the Rossby wave is dissipated in the SPCZ region. These features are simulated well in a control integration of IGCM4. In an experiment, convective heating is prescribed to its 'climatological' value in the SPCZ region during the Rossby wave 'events' and dynamic forcing from Rossby waves is decoupled from the usual thermodynamic response. In this experiment Rossby waves over the SPCZ region are not dissipated, confirming the vortex stretching mechanism from previous studies. Furthermore, the change in Rossby wave propagation has an impact on momentum transport. Overall, the effect of the Rossby wave-induced convection in the SPCZ is to decrease the strength of the Pacific subtropical jet and the equatorial eastern Pacific upper-tropospheric westerlies, by about 2-6 m s-1. Following these changes to the basic state, two potential feedbacks in the SPCZ and larger Pacific climate system are suggested: increased SPCZ convection due to the enhancement of negative zonal stretching deformation in the SPCZ region and decreased equatorward refraction of Rossby waves into the westerly duct leading to less SPCZ 'events'. As the convective events in the SPCZ have a significant impact on Pacific mean climate, it is crucial that the SPCZ is represented correctly in climate models