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(MIS3 & 2) millennial oscillations in Greenland dust and Eurasian aeolian records – A paleosol perspective
Since their discovery, the abrupt climate changes that punctuated the last glacial period (∼110.6–14.62 ka) have attracted considerable attention. Originating in the North-Atlantic area, these abrupt changes have been recorded in ice, marine and terrestrial records all over the world, but especially in the Northern Hemisphere, with various environmental implications. Ice-core records of unprecedented temporal resolution from northern Greenland allow to specify the timing of these abrupt changes, which are associated with sudden temperature increases in Greenland over a few decades, very precisely. The continental records have, so far, been mainly interpreted in terms of temperature, precipitation or vegetation changes between the relatively warm “Greenland Interstadials” (GI) and the cooler “Greenland Stadials” (GS). Here we compare records from Greenland ice and northwestern European eolian deposits in order to establish a link between GI and the soil development in European mid-latitudes, as recorded in loess sequences. For the different types of observed paleosols, we use the correlation with the Greenland records to propose estimates of the maximum time lapses needed to achieve the different degrees of maturation and development. To identify these time lapses more precisely, we compare two independent ice-core records: δ18O and dust concentration, indicating variations of atmospheric temperature and dustiness in the Greenland area, respectively. Our method slightly differs from the definition of a GI event duration applied in other studies, where the sharp end of the δ18O decrease alone defines the end of a GI. We apply the same methodology to both records (i.e., the GIs are defined to last from the beginning of the abrupt δ18O increase or dust concentration decrease until the time when δ18O or dust recur to their initial value before the GI onset), determined both visually and algorithmically, and compare them to published estimates of GI timing and duration. The duration of the GI and consequently the maximum time for paleosol development varies between 200 and 4200 years when visually determined and between 200 and 4800 years when estimated algorithmically for GI 17 to 2, i.e. an interval running from 60 ka to 23 ka b2k (age before 2000 AD). Furthermore, we investigate the abruptness of the transition from stadial to interstadial conditions, which initiates the paleosol development. The average transition duration is 55.4 ± 16.1 (56.8 ± 19.6) years when determined visually, and 36.4 ± 13.4 (60.00 ± 21.2) years when determined algorithmically for the δ18O (dust concentration). The δ18O increases correspond to a mean temperature difference of 11.8 °C on the top of the Greenland ice sheet, associated with substantial reorganizations of the ecosystems in mid-latitude Europe
Zweijährige und dreijährige berufliche Grundbildungen in der Schweiz: Eine Vergleichsstudie aus dem Detailhandel und dem Gastgewerbe
Implicit theories about willpower in resisting temptations and emotion control
Previous research suggests that people’s implicit theories about willpower affect continuous self-control performance in the domain of strenuous mental activities. The present research expands these findings to two further domains of self-control: resisting temptations and emotion control. In Study 1, participants were either led to resist a temptation or not. Participants who believed that willpower gets depleted by resistance to temptations (limited-resource theory) performed significantly worse in a subsequent Stroop task compared to participants who believed that resisting temptations activates their willpower (nonlimited-resource theory). In Study 2, participants controlled their emotions during a funny video or were allowed to express them. Participants who believed that controlling emotions depletes willpower performed worse in a subsequent persistence task than those who believed that controlling emotions activates willpower. Results suggest that implicit theories about willpower are domain specific and sensitive to the domain of the initial self-control task rather than that of the subsequent self-control task
Using psychological constructs from the MUSIC Model of Motivation to predict students’ science identification and career goals: results from the U.S. and Iceland
We investigated students’ perceptions related to psychological constructs in their science classes and the influence of these perceptions on their science identification and science career goals. Participants included 575 middle school students from two countries (334 students in the U.S. and 241 students in Iceland). Students completed a self-report questionnaire that included items from several measures. We conducted correlational analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, and structural equation modelling to test our hypotheses. Students’ class perceptions (i.e. empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring) were significantly correlated with their science identification, which was correlated positively with their science career goals. Combining students’ science class perceptions, science identification, and career goals into one model, we documented that the U.S. and Icelandic samples fit the data reasonably well. However, not all of the hypothesised paths were statistically significant. For example, only students’ perceptions of usefulness (for the U.S. and Icelandic students) and success (for the U.S. students only) significantly predicted students’ career goals in the full model. Theoretically, our findings are consistent with results from samples of university engineering students, yet different in some ways. Our results provide evidence for the theoretical relationships between students’ perceptions of science classes and their career goals
Competitive classroom norms and exclusion of children with academic and behavior difficulties
We investigated effects of classroom-level norms and individual competitive attitudes on children's exclusion of hypothetical peers with behavior or academic difficulties. Upper elementary school children (N = 1009) from Switzerland were presented with four scenarios about social exclusion at two time points (fifth and sixth grade). These scenarios varied according to difficulty type of exclusion target (low-achieving vs. hyperactive) and context of exclusion (academic vs. social). Multilevel analyses revealed that children were more likely to exclude hypothetical hyperactive peers than low-achieving peers for reasons of effective group functioning. When children transferred to the sixth grade, they became more likely to coordinate the type of difficulty of the exclusion target with the context of exclusion. Moreover, competitive classroom-level norms and individual attitudes positively predicted the exclusion of low-achieving children. To improve social inclusion, teachers can encourage learning environments, where children learn to integrate effective academic group functioning with fairness principles
Compétence plurilingue durch Translanguaging im schulischen Französischunterricht: Ein Beitrag zur produktiven Mehrsprachigkeitsdidaktik
Professionalisierung der Evaluation: Ergebnisse der SEVAL-Mitgliederbefragung
Seit einiger Zeit wird in Evaluationsfachkreisen eine Diskussion um die Professionalisierung in der Evaluation geführt, und auch der Vorstand der Schweizerischen Evaluationsgesellschaft (SEVAL) hat zu diesem Thema Stellung bezogen. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat die SEVAL-Arbeitsgruppe «Kompetenzen in der Evaluation» 2016 eine Befragung der SEVAL-Mitglieder über den Stand der Professionalisierung in der Schweiz und mögliche Professionalisierungsmassnahmen durchgeführt. Dieser Beitrag fasst das Vorgehen der Umfrage zusammen und stellt die Ergebnisse vor. Abschliessend wird ein Fazit über mögliche Professionalisierungsmassnahmen gezog