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For a few decades, map skills stay at the forefront of not only geographers' and geographic educators' research interest. To identify what has already been accomplished, where the research currently stands and where the potential for future studies lies, a review of the literature was carried out. Specifically, this comprehensive synthesis of map skill research focuses on three perspectives: terminology, methodological approaches, and mainly on investigated factors affecting the map skill level. As non-uniformity in terminology is apparent, an integrative framework of map skill types based on theoretical works and previous studies is proposed. Similarly, methods that can be more suitable and beneficial for future research than now prevailing non-standardized test are presented. These suggestions are mainly based on a variety of identified scarcely used methodological approaches. Furthermore, the synthesis shows that the number of factors which influence on the level of map skills has been tested is substantial. But that, frequently investigated categories of factors are identifiable. In addition, current gaps in map skill research are identified and insufficiently studied, yet potentially important factors are suggested for future studies.

GeoCapabilities is a distinctive approach to teacher professional development which foregrounds the educational potential of geographical knowledge. This paper examines the effect of GeoCapabilities on geography teachers' expertise. First, the paper explores a problem of teacher training which privileges technique for classroom effectiveness over geographical thinking. We then introduce the GeoCapabilities 3 project, presenting and discussing findings through teachers' reflections. We argue that GeoCapabilities 3 offers a model of teacher development, which supports teachers as leaders of curriculum change in an 'activist profession'. This is needed if geography education is to equip young people with knowledge capabilities for their future.

During the 2015 sudden rise in migration movements in Europe, approximately 2.4 million refugees arrived in Europe and 1.2 million asylum applications were received in the European Union countries. We were interested in finding out whether these rapid changes and the polarised attitudes represented in the media affected young people's attitudes towards people with different cultural backgrounds. This study, therefore, examined young people's global understanding in four European countries: Czechia, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands. The aim was to identify the level of world-mindedness of young people and compare the results with an earlier study (conducted in 2010) with the same research design. The research was targeted at a group of upper-secondary students in these countries. In total, 962 students participated in the study in 2017. Although the context in the observed countries varied, the findings revealed a stable state, or rather a slightly positive change of world-mindedness, to 2010 in all the countries. The results stress the need to remain sensitive to students' opinions and attitudes towards other people and cultures in geography lessons in general and especially when teaching and learning about current societal issues, inequality, exclusion and solidarity.

When spatial information is depicted on univariate or multivariate maps, different visualization designs should be considered to fit the designs to suit the target audience and define the map's general purpose and therefore also the map user's expected cognitive processes. Although multivariate maps have attracted research for decades, only several studies have compared the effectiveness of maps that use extrinsic and intrinsic encoding styles, and even fewer have tried to incorporate other map-related factors that could significantly affect the user's performance and clarify the relationship between the selected encoding style's efficiency and the user's cognitive processes. In this paper, we report on an empirical replication study focused on the performance differences of experienced map users solving a task using a map and the possible effect of their cognitive styles on the efficiency of bivariate map encoding styles and the map task type. For the experiment, we recruited 77 spatial planning and geography university students in China considered as experienced map users. The study indicated that extrinsic visualizations outperformed intrinsic visualizations in the main observed variables of correctness and response time but not always significantly. A detailed analysis of the tasks, which involved the use of either one variable or two variables concurrently, confirmed our hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial thinking is a crucial aspect of geography education with which all citizens should be equipped. This study employs eye-tracking technology to research strategies (their repertoire, distribution, effectiveness, and adaptiveness) used by upper-secondary students when analyzing spatial patterns with thematic maps. The results show that students have a broad repertoire of strategies and are mostly able to adapt them to the specific task demands. Moreover, the efficiency of students' strategies gradually increases as they get familiar with the task type and the maps analyzed. Based on the findings, how to appropriately develop students' strategies in geography lessons is suggested.

Developing young people’s understanding of geography concepts requires teachers who have detailed, structured, interconnected, and accurate conceptual knowledge and understanding. Accordingly, this study focuses on pre-service geography teachers’ understanding of the exemplar concept of contours on maps and discusses its implications for teacher training programmes. Data collected using a two-tier conceptual test and a questionnaire in a sample of 127 pre-service geography teachers indicated that pre-service teachers should not be perceived as a homogenous group with identical conceptual understandings and educational needs. The results highlighted the necessity to differentiate between pre-service teachers not only based on their conceptual understanding but also on the non-cognitive dimensions of concepts. Four types of pre-service teachers were identified based on success and certainty rates: successful-certain (SC), successful-uncertain (SU), failing-uncertain (FU) and failing-certain (FC). Both SU and FU types were characterised by low confidence in their related skills and a negative relationship to the concept of contours. The non-cognitive dimension manifested in opposite ways in SC and FC types. The specific educational approach required by each type is discussed, and implications for further research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maps are an increasingly used source of information and it is therefore essential to develop map skills in students. A fundamental factor affecting the choice of map skills and the way they are developed is the teacher and his/her concept of map work. Based on the results of a survey and semi-structured interviews among Czech teachers, this study identifies three basic conceptual types of teachers: "Navigators" and "Problem-Oriented" and "Source-Oriented" teachers. Similarities with teachers' concepts of map-skill development identified in previous studies are discussed together with means of improvement.

We report on frequency doubling of high-energy, high repetition rate ns pulses from a cryogenically gas cooled multi-slab ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser system, Bivoj/DiPOLE, using a type-I phase matched lithium triborate crystal. We achieved conversion to 515 nm with energy of 95 J at repetition rate of 10 Hz and conversion efficiency of 79%. High conversion efficiency was achieved due to successful depolarization compensation of the fundamental input beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the extensive discussion on the educational potential of GIS and the changes made in the curricula in many countries, the implementation of GIS in classrooms has still been relatively slow. This is because of variables limiting the process of GIS implementation in lessons. Although research into the limits of GIS implementation has been carried out quite extensively, there is a need for knowledge systematisation in the field. Therefore, the presented systematic review of 34 empirical studies addresses this need and pays attention to the methodological approaches used to research the limits, the identified limits of GIS implementation, their categorisation, and any temporal trends in their occurrence. Altogether, the analysed studies identified 68 limits of GIS implementation in education using mainly quantitative methodology (especially the questionnaire), with utmost attention paid to teachers as participants. These limits then formed complex categorisation that distinguishes elementarily between the limits related to humans and resources. The most frequent and variable category of limits was teachers followed by technology, while both kept their positions in all periods. The systematisation of the research enables the formulation of implications for educational and geoinformatics practice and recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of plasma-channels by interaction of gas targets with nanosecond laser beams was investigated experimentally. Such laser-generated plasma channels are very promising for subsequent guiding of high peak power femtosecond laser pulses, over several tens of centimeters, as required in laser wake field electron-acceleration (LWFA). The experimental setup was based on the use of a cylindrical lens (100 mm of focal length) with the aim of proposing a technical solution easy to be integrated into a compact experimental setup for acceleration of multi-GeV electron beams using high peak-power laser systems. A pilot experiment, showing production of asymmetric plasma channels over a length of several millimeters in N and Ar targets with initial neutral-gas atomic density around 5 × 1019 cm−3, is reported. Plasma effective threshold formation was estimated, along with future optimization of the optical setup for a symmetrization of such plasma channel. Scalability of this concept to several tens of centimeters is preliminarily discussed, along with the corresponding critical requirements for an optimal LWFA scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyse the attitudes towards immigration among Czech youth and their changes on two distinct surveys of young Czechs (aged 14-19) held in 2011 and 2016, the years before and after a period of a greatly increased inflow of migrants to the European Union. In these surveys, special focus was given to changes in attitudes and factors influencing attitudes in each year. The results show that there was not a big difference in attitudes between both samples. Nevertheless, looking closely at the results, we found two main differences. The first was higher polarisation of answers in survey from 2016 than from the one held in 2011. The second one was in factors influencing answers, mainly in the statement on having an immigrant among close friends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, the price of the laser diodes significantly dropped and made them an energy-effective solution for pumping high energy class high average power solid-state lasers. This is a significant advantage for the potential use of such lasers in industry, where operation cost is considered. The efficiency of such diode-pumped lasers is much higher compared to the previous generation of flashlamp-pumped solid-state lasers. In addition, the small size of the laser diodes allows a drastic reduction of the overall size of the solid-state lasers. This article will give a brief summary of the worldwide progress in the area of high energy high average power diode-pumped laser systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thematic maps are becoming increasingly important in the current information age, and therefore they have become part of the everyday life of the wider public. Given the number of mapping methods used in thematic cartography, the question arises of what extent the utilized method influences a user's map use level. For this reason, research has been undertaken with 392 students in the 17–20 age group with the aim of identifying and clarifying the influence of the mapping methods used (specifically choropleth mapping, diagram mapping, qualitative and quantitative line symbols, and area shading). The results have shown that the students were less successful with maps that used quantitative mapping methods than with maps using qualitative or both qualitative and quantitative mapping methods. The differences were most significant in the case of the cognitively demanding map interpretation skill, especially due to the students' problematic understanding of the very essence of the quantitative methods. The different natures of the tested mapping methods also probably accounted for the identification of various factors explaining the differences in the levels of the work with the given thematic maps among the individual tested students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoluminescence, X-ray excited radioluminescence and photoelectron yield characteristics were studied in multicomponent GdGaYAG:Ce and GdGaLuAG:Ce garnet films grown by liquid phase epitaxy. Nonradiative energy transfer from \Gd^3+ to activator \Ce^3+ ions was evidenced. At low Gd doping, < \5\%, two virtually independent emission centers coexist, which compete for intensity: \Ce^3+ with fast 5d-4f emission and \Gd^3+ with slow 4f-4f emission. At higher Gd concentrations, the \Ce^3+ emission retrieves intensity due to the energy transferred from \Gd^3+ donors. At Gd concentration \sim \50\% and above, the \Gd^3+ emission is suppressed due to energy migration and transfer to \Ce^3+ centers. In these samples, the host emission is also completely quenched and the best scintillator performance is achieved. Contrary to melt-grown crystals, no positive role of Ga substitution was found in epitaxial films. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We live in a visual era where society prefers data presented in a visual form rather than as a text. As a result, the use of maps, i.e., visual representations of spatial information, increases. Given that, maps are (also due to the development of cartography) widely used not only by geographers but also by the general public. Moreover, the public not only uses maps but, thanks to the availability of diverse data and user-friendly GIS apps, also creates them. The frequency with which maps are used (and also misused), as well as the fact that their authors are no longer only trained and professionally skilled cartographers, then bring the necessity of a higher accent on cartographic education. Specifically, the development of map skills. Only with fully mastered map skills can students recognize the power that maps have and appropriately adapt their conclusions, predictions, and decisions. For that reason and for fully using the educational potential of maps, it is necessary to develop not only map reading but also cognitively more demanding map skills in students. Previous studies in the field distinguish three main types of map use skills, i.e., map reading, map analysis, and map interpretation, based on which individual operations with maps are classified. Distinguishing the main types of map skills, structuring them into a hierarchical cognitive model, and specifying their knowledge/operational components is fundamental for the development of effective learning and teaching systems. In addition to the distinct cognitive complexity of map skills, teachers should consider individual differences in students' map skills level and the ideal way of map skills development during lessons. However, the development of (cognitively more demanding) map skills itself is considered challenging, let alone a development that is systematic and tailored to individual needs of students. Many secondary teachers call for more methodological and practical tools as a support. Therefore, the research group from the Centre for Geographical and Environmental Education at Charles University (Czechia) reflected this need together with the new perspectives opened by the dispersion of new technologies into education and developed an online adaptive educational system Mapwork.education. Mapwork.education is a web-based, fully automated adaptive learning and assessment system developed in Czech and English language. It is a part of an extensive platform (www.mapwork.education) aiming to help teachers with the systematic development of students' cartographic knowledge and map use skills. The system provides immediate feedback and adapts the further process according to student's performance - simply put, the tasks become more complex/difficult in case of previous correct answer, in the other case the student is given easier tasks. Therefore, the system filters the tasks to be solved and prevents students to solve tasks too difficult/complex or too easy/simple to their actual level of map skills (see Figure 1 for the model of the test administration). The distinction between simple and complex tasks is made based on the typology of map skills (considering map reading as the simplest and map interpretation as the most complex type of map use skills). The system aims at skills related to the use of the most common map types which students use in school and in their personal lives (general reference map, topographic map, choropleth map, proportional symbol map, maps with figural, line, and area symbols), together with less traditional map types (cartogram, dot map, dasymetric map, and isopleth map). The educational potential of the system (for identification of acquired level of map skills by students and direct development of students' map skills) is strengthen by the by additional educational features for both students and their teachers. The web portal for map education was designed and implemented with gamification elements to facilitate learning efficiency, to boost students' motivation to solve as many tasks as possible, and to develop their map skills more. The contribution will present the developed system as a tool supporting a high-quality cartography education. The emphasis will be laid on the discussion of its theoretical principles (adaptive testing principles; cognitive levels of map skills) and the introduction of its methodological/practical aspects. Last but not least, the implications for secondary school cartography will be provided based on the data from the system, specifically data on students' level of map skills (and their improvement thanks to the task solving in the system) and bottlenecks identified in the use of maps by secondary students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When students use thematic maps during school lessons, how they are required to do so can substantially differ from the usual interaction with these maps in daily lives. Rather than quickly overview a map content as a whole or search for a particular object/value, they are challenged to solve specific problems or answer given tasks using a map. It is thus important to know not only how students use the map itself and which strategies they use when they are searching for a given object/value in the map face, but how they generally process during the map task solving. Given that, it is necessary to consider also how they get familiar with the presented task assignment, how and in which order they interconnect the information in the assignment with the information in the map elements, and possibly with the offered task answers. Moreover, to fully use the potential of thematic maps as educational tools, students should identify and compare spatial/temporal patterns of depicted phenomena, formulate predictions, generalizations, and conclusions based on the maps, and critically approach their content and design. Therefore, they should have developed efficient strategies for these cognitively more demanding map tasks. For these reasons, the presented study focuses on strategies that students use when they are solving tasks requiring analysis of spatial patterns and spatial relations on thematic maps. Even though there are various methodological approaches for investigating individuals' strategies, it is the eye-tracking that is becoming more and more frequently used as it can directly identify the strategies and thus it avoids the subjectivity and incompleteness of participants' selfreported strategies. Our study combines the eye-tracking technology with a follow-up questionnaire to also understand the reasoning behind students' strategy choice. For the eye-tracking experiment, a piloted version of the achievement test, consisting of 12 tasks, was used. Each task was presented as an individual stimulus together with the main map elements (i.e., map face, legend, graphic scale, and north arrow), and three possible answers (one correct answer and two distractors; see Figure 1). The widely used mapping methods in Czech school atlases and geography textbooks were chosen, namely area-shading, line symbols, choropleth mapping, and diagram mapping. Different mapping methods were used to test if and, if yes how, the chosen mapping methods influences students' strategy. All other characteristics of map design and layout were homogenized. The created maps represent a fictional area and data to avoid the potential influence of students' previous knowledge about depicted phenomena and familiarity with the area. In addition, the specific task demand was manipulated to investigate its impact on the strategy. Nevertheless, the tasks differ only in the means used during the analysis of the phenomena spatial distribution. The first tasks for each given mapping method do not require any special means. The second tasks are focused on analysing the distances, i.e., using a map scale. The third tasks are focused on using the cardinal points for the description of the spatial distribution. A total of 53 students from gymnasia (i.e., selective secondary schools) in Czechia participated in the present study. All participating students were in the penultimate (3rd) or last (4th) year (i.e., 17-19 years of age) and had finished their mandatory geography education. Given that, their level of map skills and strategies used for map task-solving should be the highest possible developed by Czech upper secondary education. To identify participants' strategies, the collected eye-tracking data were analyzed using the GazeReplay method, i.e., by analyzing the video recordings of participants' eye movements. Based on detailed and repeated analysis of the recordings, both authors independently coded the strategies that participants used when they were solving the tasks. During the coding, the used strategies were assigned to the theoretical strategies that were previously set based on a cognitive walk-through with experts and the framework of Svenson's differentiation and consolidation theory of decision-making. The theoretically set strategies were categorized into four strategy types; see Table 1 for their brief description and Figure 1 for a simplified visualisation of sample strategies from one of the strategy types. The results of our study show that the participating upper-secondary students had on average developed equally broad repertoires of strategies for solving tasks focused on the analysis of thematic maps as previously investigated university students and cartographers. Similarly to them, the upper-secondary students most frequently processed the task-solving in a way in which they first got familiar with the task assignment, then started to solve the task using the map face and other map elements (largely the map legend), and only after that verified if their found solution matched the provided possible answers (i.e., they chose strategies from TMA type). The tested students properly adapted their choice of strategy to specific task demands. Contrary to the task demand, they only marginally, if at all, changed their strategy due to the different mapping methods used. Since the students in almost all the cases paid attention only to the elements containing relevant information for the given task and were not substantially influenced by the map design, their strategies can be considered expert-like. In addition, students' statements in the follow-up questionnaire confirm the learning effect identified from the eye-tracking data. The students stated that they did not considerably change their approach to task-solving but gradually got used to the task structure, learned how to better orient in the map face, spent less time getting familiar with the map legend, were more cautious during the first task assignment reading, etc., and for these reasons were more efficient in task-solving. Despite the relatively high students' success rate and efficiency of the strategies they chose, it is possible to identify several potentially problematic aspects of the used strategies and a few cognitive bottlenecks during the analysis of thematic maps. Based on them and the most efficient task-solving process of the students, it is possible to suggest how students' strategies for task-solving with maps can be appropriately developed from primary education, and possibly, how the cartographic production for schools can be enhanced. For instance, one of the specific practical outcomes based on the results of this study (and other following studies) could be a web-based adaptive application that would help teachers to develop a broad repertoire of efficient strategies for map use in their students and would pay special attention to the identified problematic aspects of commonly used strategies and to individuals' needs and level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of geographic information systems (GIS) is found as very significant for geography and cartography education. Previous research showed that teaching with GIS can help students foster many (not only map and geographic) skills. The most frequently mentioned benefit of learning with GIS in geography lessons is the development of spatial thinking. Because GIS helps students to obtain, process, analyze, evaluate, and present information related to a specific area (Bednarz, Schee 2006; Lee, Bednarz 2009; Kerski et al. 2013; Král, Řezníčková 2013; Jo et al. 2016). Other frequently cited benefits of learning with GIS are developing of critical thinking and the potential use of GIS in problembased learning (Rød 2010; Uuemaa, Liiber 2014; Jo et al. 2016). Despite advantages of teaching and learning with GIS, its implementation in schools is still rather sporadic in a considerable number of countries (Demirci 2009; Král, Řezníčková 2013). Considering the prevailing insufficient use of GIS during teaching, a systematic review was carried out to identify and categorize the most common and serious limits of GIS implementation in teaching. Specifically, the aim of the review is to answer the following questions: • Based on previous empirical research, what are the main limits for and barriers to using GIS in teaching • Does perception of limits change over time • Is perception of limits different among various actors in education (pupils, teachers, curriculum developers ...). • Does the perception and occurrence of limits vary between specific geographical areas The identified limits, their categorization, and analysis are the key steps leading to their elimination, and thus it can lead to more frequent and more accessible use of GIS in teaching. The systematic review is methodologically grounded in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA), i.e., an explicit systematic method for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing relevant results (Moher et al. 2009). Due to the topic of systematic review (education, teaching) the Web of Science (WoS) and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases were selected for searching for relevant peer-reviewed articles (similarly also Havelková, Hanus 2019). In the next few lines the used methodology is described. First of all, it was necessary to search for relevant articles in the selected databases, this part of PRISMA methodology is called the identification. Based on the previous research about GIS in education, the search command was created (see Figure 1). The search command used Boolean operations. The first part of the command is connected to the definition of GIS, and the second part to the teaching. This command has been inserted into the selected databases. After removing duplicates, a database containing 2,851 records in total was created based on this command. Additional selection criteria were applied for the first screening. If, on the basis of the abstract, the article was evaluated as not meeting the given criteria, it was excluded from the database. A total of nine criteria were included in this selection. These criteria were: • GIS - the article had to be about GIS. In this study the term GIS included, e.g., geoportals, Google Earth, StoryMaps, ArcGIS, etc. GIS in education - the article had to be about GIS use in education. Moreover, there had to be presented or tested cognitively demanding skills (to not use GIS similarly as a static map, i.e., to exploit the specific educational potential of GIS). Student - the participants had to be primary or secondary school students, pre-service teachers or in-service teachers in primary or secondary school. Special populations - the article had not to be dedicated to special parts of the population, such as students with special educational needs. Empirical research - the article had to be empirical research with a clearly defined methodology (not, for example, lesson description) and had not to be a review. • Peer-review - the article had to be peer-reviewed. Limits and barriers - the article was eliminated when it was clear from abstract that it was not dealing with limits for / barriers to GIS implementation in education. English - the article had to be written in English. Two evaluators independently performed this screening of abstracts based on the selected criteria. The total of 223 potentially relevant articles remained in the database. The full-texts of these articles were subsequently obtained and subjected to a more specific evaluation, the so-called eligibility. Eligibility was performed by three evaluators, where one article was always evaluated by two of them, and there had to be unanimity. Most of the evaluated articles focus on the effectiveness of GIS usage in terms of skills development or knowledge acquisition and address the desired limits only marginally or not at all. However, articles that deal specifically with the limits of GIS implementation in teaching, most often from teachers' point of view, were found as well. The specific results of the employed systematic review will be the key part of the presented conference contribution. Except the answers to the main, aforementioned, research questions, the recommendations related to how a suitable GIS course for students, pre-service teachers, or a follow-up course for in-service teachers should be developed will be stated based on the review results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maps are not just powerful tools to communicate spatial information; they also have significant educational potential to develop students' knowledge, skills, and thinking. To fully exploit this potential, deep research is needed into map-use processes considering the variability of map types and the cognitive complexity of map operations. Whereas research on map reading is relatively common, the research into cognitively more demanding operations is lacking. Therefore, this study employed an eye-tracking experiment combined with a follow-up questionnaire with 20 upper-secondary students to examine the strategies students choose when analyzing general-reference maps. Specifically, attention is paid to the strategy repertoire, distribution, efficiency, and adaptiveness of strategy choice. Subsequently, the study is focused on students' perception of strategies. According to the results, participants used a rich repertoire of strategies (although many of them unconsciously) and adapted the strategy choice to task demands. The solution efficiency varied among task demands, as did the efficiency of individual strategies and their combinations. The research design allowed a comparison with earlier studies on strategies for thematic map use. The results should be of interest to cartographers (to design effective educational tools) and educators (to educate map users complexly and effectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the secondary education in many countries of the world, maps are mainly used in geography lessons. Pupils commonly learn how to use maps as a sources of information (they are taught to find relevant information, locate places on the map, decode the language of the map etc.). However, maps do not only provide us with information about where individual cities, mountains or rivers lie. They can also help us analyse and interpret spatial information and derive our decisions from it. Such cognitively demanding map skills (i.e., the map analysis and interpretation) should be of higher attention to the cartographical education as development of these skills can helps teachers to educate competent 21st century citizens. However, it is crucial to develop cartographic skills systematically and comprehensively. Specifically, teachers and their students should gradually proceed from the cognitively less demanding tasks to the most complex ones - particularly from map reading, through analysis to interpretation of maps. And, finally, the results of the interpretation could be visualized in a new map - the map design skills are then developed. Numerous research studies on cartography education and specifically cartography skills have been carried out in the last decades in Czechia. These studies show that Czech secondary students are fully skilled in map reading, but the map analysis and interpretation skills are rarely sufficiently developed. It is supposed, that the most important causes of this situation are: (a) curriculum oriented on cognitively less demanding skills and (b) teachers and their preferences of development simple map reading to more complex operations with maps. However, there is an deficiency in research focusing on the interactions between student and teacher during the map use in lessons and on teacher's influence during development of students' map skills. Being aware of these research gaps, following research questions raised: How do teachers use maps in their lessons? What type of maps do they commonly use in lessons? What map skills do teachers dominantly develop in their students? Do teachers develop map skills comprehensively and systematically? What are the most common students' bottlenecks when working with maps? Considering this, the aim of the proposed paper is to bring insight into map use in lower secondary lessons and provide answers to these questions employing the analysis of 20 videostudies of lessons aimed at map skills development, and, subsequently, the semi-structured interviews with teachers. These interviews focus on the issues related to teachers' personal beliefs and conceptions of cartography education and map skills development in particular. Finally, the findings from videostudies and interviews were confronted to allow unique comparison of theoretical/intended (interview) and practical (real lesson) aspects of cartography education. The findings mainly show that teachers do not develop map skills comprehensively and focus mainly on reading the map (especially locating objects on maps). However, it is encouraging that most teachers actively use the map in class. Teachers commonly take responsibility for choosing the right map, and students do not practice this skill. The most common bottle-necks in map work, perceived by teachers, is the use of geographical coordinates or time zones. Teachers also think that the development of map skills should start at the youngest possible age, ideally in pre-school education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial perception is formed throughout our entire lives. Its quality depends on our individual differences and the characteristics of the environment. A sketch map is one way of visualising an individual's spatial perception. It can be evaluated like a real map, in terms of its positional accuracy, content frequency and choice of cartographic methods. Moreover, the factors influencing the sketch map and/or its individual parameters can be identified. These factors should be of interest to geographers, cartographers and/or (geography) educators. The aim of this paper is to identify and describe the factors that clearly affect sketch map quality, by conducting a systematic review of 90 empirical studies published since 1960. Results show that most empirical studies focus on individual differences more than on environmental characteristics or information sources, even though the importance of these overlooked factors, especially source map characteristics and geographical education, has been proven in most analysed studies. Therefore, further research is needed in the field of sketch map quality parameters, especially in the use of cartographic methods. This paper could serve as a framework for such research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on efficient and stable, type-I phase-matched second harmonic conversion of a nanosecond high-energy, diode-pumped, Yb:YAG laser. With a frequency-doubling crystal in an enclosed, temperature controller with optical windows, 0.5% energy stability was achieved for approximately half an hour. This resulted in 48.9 J pulses at 10 Hz (489 W) and a conversion efficiency of 73.8%. These results are particularly important for stable and reliable operation of high-energy, frequency-doubled lasers.