CAPTURING TEACHER BASIC NEEDS SATISFACTION: VALIDATION EVIDENCE FOR THE GREEK SCALE MEASURING PE TEACHERS’ BNS

According to self-determination theory, teachers’ basic needs satisfaction is essential for the quality of their motivation, teaching, and work behavior. Considering the lack of valid and reliable instruments measuring teachers’ basic needs satisfaction (for autonomy, competence and relatedness) within the Greek context, we evaluated the factorial validity and internal consistency for the Greek version of the Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale for Teachers (BNSST; Longo et al., 2016). Standard back-translation procedures were followed. Focusing on Physical Education (PE) teachers, the validity of the measure was evaluated via two cross-sectional studies with samples of pre-service (n=109; study 1) and in-service (n=91; study 2) teachers. The psychometric properties of the instrument were established through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alphas, and latent variables’ associations with external criteria. In both studies, factor analyses results supported the construct validity of the 9-item, 3-correlated factors model, producing satisfactory goodness of fit indices, suggesting that the three needs are positively related with each other. Internal consistency analysis produced acceptable values for all the scales of the study. In line with theoretical assumptions and past research evidence, latent variables correlations with external criteria showed that basic needs satisfaction connects positively with their beneficence, cooperation willingness, intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. Furthermore, structural equation modeling revealed a positive connection between teachers’ general basic needs satisfaction and their autonomous motivation, work engagement, and work satisfaction, suggesting that the fulfillment of teacher basic needs can positively predict their well-being at work. The present findings suggest that the BNSST-GR has good psychometric properties and provide initial support for the instruments’ validity and reliability. Such measurements may prove useful in examining Greek teachers’ basic needs satisfaction in a variety of work-related contexts (e.g., teacher professional development).  Article visualizations

TEACHERS’ SELF-DETERMINED MOTIVATION IN RELATION TO NON-TEACHING WORK TASKS

The present article reports on two studies (pilot and main) aiming to examine the psychometric properties of two scales assessing (a) teachers’ work motivation and (b) their involvement in non-teaching work tasks, and to explore the associations between the two constructs under the theoretical framework of self-determination theory (SDT). A Greek version of Blais’ Work Motivation Inventory (BWMI-TGr) was adapted for teachers, and a new instrument measuring teacher behaviour relevant to non-teaching work tasks was developed. Rigorous analyses supported the construct validity and internal consistency of the scales used. The findings suggested that teachers’ intrinsic motivation presents the most optimal patterns of relationships with non-teaching work behaviours, such as preparation for teaching, professional training, education-related reading, collaboration with parents, and participation in the school’s cultural activities. Identified and introjected regulations exhibited positive relationships only with teacher involvement in cultural activities, whereas external regulation had no positive relationship with non-teaching work tasks. The findings are discussed through the lens of SDT and strategies are proposed for school climate improvements, which target the cultivation of teachers’ intrinsic motivation at work.  Article visualizations

Short Term Impacts of Harvesting 0perations on Soil Chemical Properties in a Mediterranean Oak Ecosystem

Soil physical and chemical properties can be seriously affected by forest operations. There is a knowledge gap on this topic for oak ecosystems, which can play a significant role in the context of multiple-use forestry. The main objective of this study was to analyse forest floor and topsoil changes (0–10 cm) two years after the application of small-scale thinning (50% reduction of basal area) and clear-cut operations using mules to carry harvested material in a Northern Greece oak (Quercus frainetto Ten)ecosystem. The total amount of forest floor (O1+O2 horizons) was reduced by 37.8% in the thinned and 30.8% in the clear-cut plots compared to control plots. These large reductions are mainly due to reduction in the O2 horizon in the treated plots. Decomposition was reduced in the treated plots, possibly due to the new drier conditions. Treatments increased the soil pH but not to a significant extent. No evidence of erosion was found in the experimental plots due to the protective function of the forest floor and the use of designated mule trails. The areal extent of soil compaction was limited to only 3% of the total area mainly due to the careful planning and implementation of animal skidding. Small differences in C (%) and Ν (%) were found among control, thinned and clear-cut plots. The limiting growth factors in Mediterranean oak ecosystems are soil depth and the seasonal change of soil moisture, especially during the summer dry period. More research on the definition of the optimum thinning degree and extraction systems in similar ecosystems will be important to satisfy the need to improve soil characteristics

Effects of parental support and coach-initiated motivational climate on young athletes’ psychosocial behaviors and well-being

This study examined the effect of coach-initiated motivational climate and parental support on intrinsic motivation, enjoyment of sport participation, subjective vitality, sport-related violence, and academic achievement of youth soccer players. The second purpose was to examine if intrinsic motivation mediates the impact of coach-initiated climate and parental support on the above endogenous variables. Two measurements Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2) were conducted. In T1, 494 young soccer male athletes completed surveys of coach-created motivational climate, parental praise and understanding, intrinsic motivation, sport-related violence, vitality, sport enjoyment and Grade Point Average (GPA). After five months, 188 of those soccer athletes responded again to the same surveys (T2). In both measurements the findings suggest that perceived coach-initiated empowering climate and parental praise and understanding have indirect effects on sport-related violence, GPA, vitality and sport enjoyment through intrinsic motivation in sport.publishedVersio

Serum VEGF levels are related to the presence of pulmonary arterial hypertension in systemic sclerosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The association between systemic sclerosis and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is well recognized. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been reported to play an important role in pulmonary hypertension. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between systolic pulmonary artery pressure, clinical and functional manifestations of the disease and serum VEGF levels in systemic sclerosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Serum VEGF levels were measured in 40 patients with systemic sclerosis and 13 control subjects. All patients underwent clinical examination, pulmonary function tests and echocardiography.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum VEGF levels were higher in systemic sclerosis patients with sPAP ≥ 35 mmHg than in those with sPAP < 35 mmHg (352 (266, 462 pg/ml)) vs (240 (201, 275 pg/ml)) (p < 0.01), while they did not differ between systemic sclerosis patients with sPAP < 35 mmHg and controls. Serum VEGF levels correlated to systolic pulmonary artery pressure, to diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide and to MRC dyspnea score. In multiple linear regression analysis, serum VEGF levels, MRC dyspnea score, and D_LCOwere independent predictors of systolic pulmonary artery pressure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Serum VEGF levels are increased in systemic sclerosis patients with sPAP ≥ 35 mmHg. The correlation between VEGF levels and systolic pulmonary artery pressure may suggest a possible role of VEGF in the pathogenesis of PAH in systemic sclerosis.</p

Review of solar energetic particle models

Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events are interesting from a scientific perspective as they are the product of a broad set of physical processes from the corona out through the extent of the heliosphere, and provide insight into processes of particle acceleration and transport that are widely applicable in astrophysics. From the operations perspective, SEP events pose a radiation hazard for aviation, electronics in space, and human space exploration, in particular for missions outside of the Earth’s protective magnetosphere including to the Moon and Mars. Thus, it is critical to improve the scientific understanding of SEP events and use this understanding to develop and improve SEP forecasting capabilities to support operations. Many SEP models exist or are in development using a wide variety of approaches and with differing goals. These include computationally intensive physics-based models, fast and light empirical models, machine learning-based models, and mixed-model approaches. The aim of this paper is to summarize all of the SEP models currently developed in the scientific community, including a description of model approach, inputs and outputs, free parameters, and any published validations or comparisons with data.</p

Σχεδιασμός και Υλοποίηση Αρχιτεκτονικής για την Αποδοτική Επιλογή και Παροχή SLA σε Δίκτυα DiffServ

Today's Internet provides only Best Effort service. Traffic is served as quickly as possible, while there is no guarantee as to timeliness or actual delivery. However, new applications that are demanding in terms of QoS emerge rapidly. This fact in conjunction with the continuously increasing amount of Internet users necessitates the provision of class guarantees as well as the control of the traffic inserted in Internet. Also, certain algorithms for the negotiation of the traffic contracts have to be introduced, in order both specific policies for network management and the interests of the end-users to be served. To accomplish the above, certain solutions are needed that use the current Internet framework. Such solutions should not modify in principle the network operation and nature, and they should be feasible and scaleable in the whole Internet, without inducing great overhead costs. None of the proposed solutions for QoS provision in Internet (RSVP, DiffServ, RSVP/DiffServ, RSVP/MPLS, MPLS, Bandwidth Brokers) serves all of these goals so far. In the present thesis, we define, implement, and analyze an architecture for the control and negotiation of the traffic to be inserted in an administrative network domain that provides differentiated services in its users. We have employed the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) architecture for the QoS provision, due to simplicity in its implementation and the scaleability it provides. The traffic inserted in this network is categorized in the various network QoS classes by means of a control environment according to the results of the negotiation algorithm. The control environment consists of a Policy Server (PS), the ingress routers of the network and the QoS functionalities of the Windows 2000 operating system. We use the RSVP signaling for the communication of the QoS provision requests for new traffic flows of the end-users to the network provider in a clear and controlled way. The PS functions as the network provider's representative, and thus all QoS provision requests for new traffic flows are sent to the PS by the ingress routers of the network using the COPS protocol. The PS negotiates with the User Agent (UA) of a user in order to select efficiently the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for a new traffic flow of the user, i.e. the categorization of the traffic flow in a QoS class in an efficient way. The UA functions as an "intelligent" user representative that serves the interests of the user in the SLA selection process. In this process, under our approach,a UA selects the SLA for a new traffic flow by maximizing the net benefit of the user that represents. For the purposes of negotiation, we develop an appropriate utility model that expresses user preferences in a simple yet informative way. Although our approach is more generally applicable, we assume that the PS charges proportional to the effective bandwidth of the traffic flows, thus providing the user with the right incentives for SLA selection. We retain free usage of Best Effort service, as in today's Internet. An important feature of our approach is the distribution of information enabling the efficient SLA selection. According to this distribution, each of the components involved only possesses those peieces of information for which it has an incentive to store. Another important feature of our approach is the simplicity of user's procedure for selecting optimal Service Level Specification (SLS) parameters. In order to achieve efficient resource management in the network, we employ Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) protocol for the implementation of the network. MPLS has such routing features that facilitate the traffic engineering procedures. We describe how, using our approach, the network provider can employ network management policies (in conjuction with appropriate charging) for traffic categorization into QoS classes. In the SLA control and negotiation environment that we have developed any specific negotiation process can be used. Using our SLA selection process we achieve individual optimization, by maximizing the net benefit of the user, and at the same time we attain improved economic efficiency. In particular, experimental results indicate that users are provided with the right incentives in SLA selection process. Having implemented our system in a real DiffServ/MPLS network environment, we proved its feasibility, and assessed its efficiency in terms of performance. Last, we studied possible extensions of our approach.Το Internet, σήμερα, παρέχει μόνο την κλάση ποιότητας υπηρεσίας Best Effort σε όλες τις ροές κίνησης που εξυπηρετεί. Σύμφωνα με αυτή δεν παρέχονται εγγυήσεις όσον αφορά την ποιότητα υπηρεσίας που θα έχει η κυκλοφορία. Ολοένα, όμως, αυξάνονται οι εφαρμογές που έχουν συγκεκριμένες απαιτήσεις για παροχή ποιότητας υπηρεσίας που σε συνδυασμό με το διαρκώς αυξανόμενο πλήθος των χρηστών κάνουν επιτακτική την ανάγκη παροχής εγγυήσεων υπηρεσίας στο Internet, αλλά και τον έλεγχο εισαγωγής της κυκλοφορίας σ' αυτό. Επίσης, πρέπει να ορισθούν αλγόριθμοι διαπραγμάτευσης των συμβολαίων κίνησης, προκειμένου να εξυπηρετούνται οι πολιτικές του παροχέα του δικτύου, αλλά και τα συμφέροντα των χρηστών. Τα παραπάνω πρέπει να γίνουν με λύσεις που να αξιοποιούν την υπάρχουσα υποδομή του σημερινού Internet, να μην απαιτούν σημαντικές αλλαγές στη φύση και λειτουργία του, και να είναι υλοποιήσιμες και επεκτάσιμες χωρίς μεγάλο κόστος σε ολόκληρο το Internet. Καμιά από τις προτεινόμενες λύσεις για παροχή ποιότητας υπηρεσίας στο Internet (RSVP, DiffServ, RSVP/DiffServ, RSVP/MPLS, MPLS, Bandwidth Brokers), δεν ικανοποιεί εξ' ολοκλήρου αυτές τις προδιαγραφές. Στην παρούσα εργασία, ορίζομε υλοποιούμε και μελετάμε ένα περιβάλλον ελέγχου και διαπραγμάτευσης κατά την εισαγωγή της κίνησης σε ένα διαχειριζόμενο περιβάλλον δικτύου που παρέχει διαφοροποιημένες υπηρεσίες στους χρήστες του. Χρησιμοποιούμε για διαφοροποιημένες κλάσεις υπηρεσιών στο δίκτυο την αρχιτεκτονική DiffServ, λόγω της απλότητας υλοποίησής της και της επεκτασιμότητας που παρέχει. Η κίνηση που εισάγεται σε αυτό το δίκτυο κατηγοριοποιείται στις κλάσεις ποιότητας υπηρεσίας του μέσω ενός περιβάλλοντος ελέγχου και σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα του αλγορίθμου διαπραγμάτευσης. Το περιβάλλον ελέγχου αποτελείται από έναν εξυπηρετητή πολιτικών (Policy Server, PS), από τους δρομολογητές εισόδου του δικτύου και από τις λειτουργίες του λειτουργικού συστήματος Windows 2000 για παροχή ποιότητας υπηρεσίας. Οι αιτήσεις για παροχή ποιότητας υπηρεσίας σε νέες ροές κίνησης γίνονται μέσω του πρωτοκόλλου RSVP με έναν τρόπο σαφή αλλά και αυστηρά ελεγχόμενο από το δίκτυο. Ο PS ενεργεί ως αντιπρόσωπος του δικτύου και σε αυτόν στέλνονται όλες οι αιτήσεις για παροχή ποιότητας υπηρεσίας σε νέες ροές κίνησης από τους δρομολογητές εισόδου του δικτύου μέσω του πρωτοκόλλου COPS. O PS διαπραγματεύεται με τον προσωπικό αντιπρόσωπο (User Agent, UA) του χρήστη την αποδοτική επιλογή συμβολαίου (Service Level Agreement, SLA) για μια νέα ροή κίνησης του χρήστη, δηλαδή την κατηγοριοποίηση της κυκλοφορίας μιας νέας ροής κίνησης ενός χρήστη σε μια κλάση υπηρεσίας του δικτύου με αποδοτικό τρόπο. Ο UA ενεργεί ως "ευφυής" αντιπρόσωπος του χρήστη, ο οποίος εξυπηρετεί τα συμφέροντά του στη διαδικασία επιλογής του SLA. Στη διαδικασία διαπραγμάτευσης που έχουμε ορίσει, ο UA επιλέγει το SLA για μια νέα ροή κίνησης μεγιστοποιώντας το καθαρό όφελος του χρήστη που αντιπροσωπεύει. Για το σκοπό αυτό, ορίζομε ένα κατάλληλο μοντέλο ωφελιμότητας του χρήστη που εκφράζει τις προτιμήσεις του με έναν απλό αλλά σαφή και λογικό τρόπο. Επίσης, αν και η ανωτέρω προσέγγιση είναι εφαρμόσιμη γενικότερα, θεωρούμε ότι ο PS χρεώνει τις υπηρεσίες του ανάλογα με το ισοδύναμο εύρος ζώνης κάθε ροής, προκειμένου να δώσει τα σωστά κίνητρα στο χρήστη όσον αφορά στη χρήση του δικτύου. Διατηρούμε τη δωρεάν χρήση της κλάσης ποιότητας υπηρεσίας Best Effort, όπως ισχύει στο σημερινό Internet. Ένα σημαντικό πλεονέκτημα της προσέγγισής μας είναι κατανομή της πληροφορίας που κάνει δυνατή την αποδοτική επιλογή SLA. Σύμφωνα με αυτή, κάθε συστατικό μέρος της αρχιτεκτονικής κατέχει μόνο την πληροφορία την οποία έχει κίνητρο να αποθηκεύει. Ένα άλλο σημαντικό πλεονέκτημα είναι η απλότητα της διαδικασίας του χρήστη για την επιλογή των βέλτιστων παραμέτρων του Service Level Specification (SLS). Όσον αφορά στην πιο αποδοτική δυνατή διαχείριση των διαθεσίμων πόρων του δικτύου υιοθετούμε το πρωτόκολλο MPLS για την υλοποίηση του δικτύου. Το MPLS παρέχει δυνατότητες για διαχείριση κυκλοφορίας (traffic engineering) μέσω δρομολόγησης βάσει κινήτρων. Περιγράφουμε πώς σε αυτό το περιβάλλον ο παροχέας του δικτύου είναι δυνατόν να εφαρμόσει πολιτικές διαχείρισης του δικτύου του μέσω της κατάλληλης χρέωσης για την κατηγοριοποίηση της κυκλοφορίας μιας νέας ροής κίνησης στις κλάσεις ποιότητας υπηρεσίας. Στο περιβάλλον ελέγχου και διαπραγμάτευσης εισόδου κυκλοφορίας στο δίκτυο που έχουμε ορίσει μπορούμε να εφαρμόσουμε οποιαδήποτε διαδικασία διαπραγμάτευσης. Εφαρμόζοντας αυτή που έχουμε ορίσει πραγματοποιούμε ατομική βελτιστοποίηση, μεγιστοποιώντας το καθαρό όφελος του κάθε χρήστη, και βελτιώνουμε την οικονομική αποδοτικότητα του συστήματος. Επιπροσθέτως, πειραματικά αποτελέσματα δείχνουν ότι παρέχονται τα σωστά κίνητρα στους χρήστες κατά τη διαδικασία επιλογής SLA, δηλαδή ότι η κοινωνική ευημερία που προκύπτει είναι καλύτερη απ' ό,τι όταν οι χρήστες μοιράζονται εξίσου το ίδιο σύνολο δικτυακών πόρων. Το σύστημα αυτό υλοποιήθηκε σε ένα πραγματικό περιβάλλον δικτύου DiffServ/MPLS, καταδεικνύοντας έτσι την εφαρμοσιμότητά του, και εξετάσθηκε η απόδοσή του από πλευράς επιδόσεων. Τέλος, μελετήθηκαν οι δυνατές επεκτάσεις της προσέγγισής μας

Sport psychology in emerging countries, special section 2: Introduction

Papaioannou AG, Schinke RJ, Schack T. Sport psychology in emerging countries, special section 2: Introduction. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY. 2019;17(1):1-4.This is the 2nd special issue section focused on sport and exercise psychology research and practice in countries referred to as "emerging" in sport and exercise psychology. Promotion of sport psychology research and practice in emerging countries is an important aim in this journal and of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP). This special issue is one among several actions adopted by the ISSP to promote sport psychology in emerging countries. Six articles are reported here from China, Ghana, Argentina and Brazil. Some of them focus on sport psychology practice while others cover different areas of sport and exercise psychology research. These contributions extend beyond building capacity in these regions to an equal mandate: revealing diverse sport psychology practices from the global sport psychology community