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Can immigrant school students profit from an immigrant teacher sharing their minority background? We investigate preservice teachers' (Study 1; M[subscript age] = 26.29 years; 75.2% female) and school students' (Study 2; M[subscript age] = 14.88 years; 49.9% female) perceptions of a teacher as well as immigrant school students' learning gains (Study 2) by comparing four experimental video conditions in which a female teacher with a Turkish or German name instructs school students in a task while either saying that learning gains differed (stereotype activation) or did not differ (no stereotype activation) between immigrant and non-immigrant students. Study 1 shows that preservice teachers, regardless of their own cultural background, perceived the Turkish origin teacher as less biased, even when she voiced the stereotype, and as more motivationally supportive of school students in general than the German origin teacher. Study 2 shows that in contrast, among school students, the minority teacher was not perceived as less biased than the majority teacher. Rather, immigrant school students, in particular those with Turkish roots, were more concerned than students of the German majority that the teacher--irrespective of her background--was biased. Interestingly, these differences between students from different backgrounds disappeared when the teacher said that learning gains differed between immigrant and non-immigrant students. Immigrant school students of non-Turkish backgrounds, but not Turkish origin students suffered in their learning when instructed by the Turkish origin teacher who voiced the stereotype. We discuss implications for teacher recruitment.

Research Findings: The study examined the development of children's social-emotional problems between 2019 (T1) and winter 2021/22 (T2) during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the role of children's home and preschool learning environments. The sample included 228 German children ages 3-7 years at T1 (M[subscript Age] = 5.13, SD = 0.79, 46% female). Results showed an increase in emotional problems between T1 and T2, which was more pronounced among already disadvantaged groups of children from families with lower income and lower educational background. Peer problems increased only among children from families with lower educational backgrounds. The emotional climate of the family and the quality of children's preschool learning environment were identified as protective influences for the development of children's peer problems, but not for children's emotional problems. Practice or Policy: The policy restrictions implemented to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus had longer-lasting consequences for (some) children's emotional functioning. Efforts should be undertaken to mitigate such detrimental effects by supporting disadvantaged groups of children. In addition, based on the findings regarding the importance of high-quality interactions to prevent the development of social problems among children, policy should establish the conditions for preschool staff to provide high-quality interactions in childcare.

In Germany, Turkish-origin students face negative competence-related stereotypes held by different groups in society, including teachers at school. While a large body of research has examined stereotypes (i.e., "other-stereotypes") about immigrant students, little is known about their own competence-related "meta-stereotypes," i.e., beliefs regarding the other-stereotypes that outgroup peers hold about them. The present study addresses this research gap by examining Turkish- and German-origin students' meta-stereotypes about two dimensions of competencies not yet investigated, namely Turkish- and German-origin students' subject-related German competence as well as their general school competence using a newly developed instrument combining verbal and non-verbal measures. These assessments are juxtaposed to the evaluations of a group of peers with other immigrant backgrounds (i.e., "others' meta-stereotypes"). In line with previous evidence, we found "positive" meta-stereotypes (as well as other- and others' meta-stereotypes) towards German-origin students reported by all three groups. However, our study is the first that supports the existence of "negative" meta-stereotypes (as well as other- and others' meta-stereotypes) towards Turkish-origin adolescents, again, among all participants. This pattern was particularly pronounced regarding the dimension of subject-related German competence. We discuss the findings' potential relevance for students' self-concepts and intergroup interactions in classrooms.

Stereotype threat (ST) is a potential explanation for inequalities in language competencies observed between students from different language backgrounds. Language competencies are an important prerequisite for educational success, wherefore the significance for investigation arises. While ST effects on achievement are empirically well documented, little is known about whether ST also impairs learning. Thus, we investigated vocabulary learning in language minority elementary school students, also searching for potential moderators. In a pre-post design, 240 fourth-grade students in Germany who were on average 10 years old (M[subscript Age] = 9.92, SD = 0.64; 49.8% female) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: implicit ST, explicit ST without threat removal before posttest, explicit ST with threat removal before posttest, and a control group. Results showed that learning difficult vocabulary from reading two narrative texts was unaffected by ST. Neither students' identification with their culture of residence and culture of origin nor stereotyped domain of reading were moderators. The findings are discussed with regard to content and methodological aspects such that a motivation effect might have undermined a possible ST effect. Implications for future research include examining the question at what age children become susceptible to ST and whether students have internalized negative stereotypes about their own group, which could increase the likelihood of ST effects occurring.

Lower vocabulary in German is repeatedly reported for students with Turkish migration background attending school in Germany. We investigated whether in students of Turkish descent (a) learning vocabulary is impaired when the teacher activates the negative stereotype that students with Turkish family language learn less well and (b) whether a Turkish-origin teacher, as an ingroup expert model, can mitigate negative effects of the activation of the stereotype. In an experimental study, Turkish- and German-origin students (N = 182) living in Germany worked individually on a tablet on a vocabulary learning task instructed by a teacher in a video tutorial who introduced herself with either a Turkish or German name. Before the task, the teacher either mentioned that students in general (no stereotype activation) or students who speak Turkish in their families (stereotype activation) often have difficulties acquiring new vocabulary. A multiple-group regression analysis showed that Turkish-origin students learned significantly more under stereotype activation with the Turkish-origin teacher than in all other conditions. Results suggest that students are particularly motivated to learn when the teacher represents their ingroup targeted by negative stereotypes and openly addresses potential difficulties students of the stigmatized ingroup may encounter. We discuss the findings in light of the literature on stereotype threat and on the role of ingroup expert models.

The personalisation principle is a design recommendation and states that multimedia presentations using personalised language promote learning better than those using formal language (e.g., using "your" instead of "the"). It is often assumed that this design recommendation affects motivation and therefore allocation of attention. To gain further insight into the processes underlying personalisation effects we conducted an eye tracking experiment with 37 German university students who were presented with either personalised or formal learning materials. We examined group differences in attention allocation parameters (fixation rate, mean fixation duration, transition count, reading depth). The eye-tracking data was combined with self-reports concerning motivation, cognitive load, and learning outcomes. Eye-tracking data revealed a higher reading depth for the main picture areas of interest in the personalised condition. Additionally, participants found the personalised version more appealing and inviting. For learning outcomes, there was a positive effect of personalisation. However, after Bonferroni correction effects and therefore the pattern expected did not reach significance. The results are discussed in regard to their importance for methodological and practical implications for instructional design.

By focusing on the personalization principle, the present study investigates whether two different language presentation formats of a multimedia presentation influence students' learning outcome and how individual interest towards the learning material moderates this impact. German students (N = 104) were randomly assigned to either a conversational or a formal language format of the multimedia presentation that taught Gestalt Laws. The results of this study showed that there were more positive effects on the learning performance in the conversational presentation format than the formal language format. This was, therefore, an indication of the effects of personalization. Furthermore, individual interest is a significant predictor for learning in this study. By testing different percentiles of individual interest, the findings showed that students with intermediate interest were affected by the format of language style. In contrast, learning results of students with the very lowest and very highest individual interest were not affected by different language styles. These results underline the necessity to take into account individual motivational prerequisites when designing multimedia learning environments.

Sleep fosters the generation of explicit knowledge. Whether sleep also benefits implicit intuitive decisions about underlying patterns is unclear. We examined sleep's role in explicit and intuitive semantic coherence judgments. Participants encoded sets of three words and after a sleep or wake period were required to judge the potential convergence of these words on a common fourth associate. Compared with wakefulness, sleep increased the number of explicitly named common associates and decreased the number of intuitive judgments. This suggests that sleep enhances the extraction of explicit knowledge at the expense of the ability to make intuitive decisions about semantic coherence.

Collaboration between teachers constitutes an important predictor for the successful implementation of digital media in schools and teaching. The present contribution examines the supporting conditions of ICT (information and communications technology)-related teacher collaboration as a feature of school quality in six selected European educational systems on the basis of the instruments and data administered by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's study of ICILS 2013 (International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2013). Along the ICILS 2013 theoretical framework, predictors on the level of the school and classroom, antecedents regarding teachers' attitudes and competencies, variables concerning processes at school and in class, as well as teachers' background variables, are analysed. The regression analysis shows no consistent differences regarding the coefficients of different predictors with respect to ICT-related collaboration in the countries where teachers have expressed a high, medium or low rate of agreement with ICT-related collaboration.

Analyzes student cooperation identified in cases of IPPUTs (innovative pedagogical practice using technology) in German elementary and secondary schools, part of the Second Information Technology in Education Study-Module 2 (SITES-M2). Discusses the use of ICT (information and communication technology) and how it promotes a cooperative and collaborative learning environment. (Author/LRW)

Das Verfahren der vom G-BA im Dezember 2016 beschlossenen planungsrelevanten Qualitätsindikatoren soll die Krankenhausplanung durch Qualitätsdaten der Krankenhäuser unterstützen. Die Ergebnisse des ersten Jahres zeigen, dass an 71 dt. Krankenhäusern insgesamt 73 als „unzureichende Qualität" bewertete Versorgungsaspekte in drei Leistungsbereichen identifiziert wurden. Das Verfahren wird derzeit weiterentwickelt, um zukünftig die Versorgungsqualität ganzer Fachabteilungen planungsrelevant abzubilden. In January 2017, quality indicators were implemented in Germany's hospital landscape to support hospital planning by providing data and criteria about the quality of care of single institutions. The results of the first year were able to demonstrate that in 71 German hospitals 73 aspects of care in Gynecology, Obstetrics and Breast Surgery were found to be of insufficient quality. To be able to describe the quality of care of whole departments, IQTIG was requested by the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) to recommend further quality indicators relevant for hospital planning and to develop criteria for a more differentiated quality assessment, to be submitted until September 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of obesity in developed countries is rising. Currently, Europe has a prevalence of 9-30% with significant impact on public health systems. Obese patients in ICUs require special management and treatment. Altered anatomy in obese patients complicates procedures such as mechanical ventilation. Obesity affects cardiopulmonary physiology and requires elevated ventilation pressures. In our retrospective study, we determined the effect of early percutaneous dilatational tracheotomy (PDT) and cessation of sedation on respiratory parameters in severely obese subjects. METHODS: From June 2010 to July 2014, we included all subjects with a body weight of > 130 kg (body mass index >35 kg/m²) and respiratory failure who were admitted to the medical ICU of the University Hospital of Miinster. All subjects were treated with early PDT and immediate cessation of sedative drugs. We compared ventilator parameters and blood gas analysis before and after PDT. Parameters were recorded on days 0, 1, 3, and 5. Day 0 represents values during ventilation via an endotracheal tube, and days 1, 3, 5 represent values during ventilation via a tracheotomy tube. PDT was performed on day 0 after recording values during ventilation via an endotracheal tube. RESULTS: We included 23 subjects with a mean body mass index of 53.1 kg/m² and respiratory failure. After PDT and cessation of sedation, the required ventilation pressures and ... could be rapidly reduced (P < .001), whereas blood gas parameters significantly improved. We observed no severe PDT-associated complications in our cohort. CONCLUSIONS: In severe obesity, respiratory failure might be increased by problems in mechanical ventilation due to required high pressures and obesity-induced pulmonary restriction. Rapid tracheotomy with reduction of dead-space ventilation and airway resistance as well as cessation of sedation to enable spontaneous breathing might be a key factor in the therapy of respiratory failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research on immigrant children's acquisition of German as a second language in Germany and Switzerland. The children's motivation to learn German is statistically correlated in the study to their sense of a shared collective identity and ethnic group self-esteem. The negative effects of ethnic discrimination on such children are also examined.

Multifunctionality of Agriculture (MFA) is a concept that supports the recognition of complex interdependencies between different resources, production processes and outputs of agricultural land use. Political decision making within a sustainable development frame requires extensive information about these interrelationships in order to analyse the impact of implemented policies and to assess future policy effects. This paper presents selected results of the EU FP6 supported MultAgri project, such as a comparative overview of models, techniques and tools that have been applied to the assessment of various agricultural outputs. In detail, multidimensional modelling tools and economic valuation instruments have been inspected and valuated. Examples from France, Germany, The Netherlands and Portugal - the countries reviewed within the MultAgri workpackage 3 - are used to highlight specific instrumental strengths and weaknesses. Conclusions are drawn with respect to further methodological research needs on multifunctionality of agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews integrative modelling approaches which were developed to analyze the impact of multifunctional agriculture, or which may be used as such. The approaches are integrative in combining multiple goals of agriculture, and confronting these with current or potential performance of agricultural land-use systems at different spatial scales. The paper focuses on France, Germany and The Netherlands, countries with a track record in quantitative systems modelling, to identify convergence of concepts and technologies applicable to assessment of multifunctional agriculture and to establish shortcomings through analysis and comparison of 15 integrative modelling cases. An analytical framework for comparison is applied, based on a conceptual model of goal-oriented evaluation of agriculture. Results demonstrate unexpectedly large differences between countries in the number of integrative models; the nature of agro-ecological or bio-economic relations used, and target audience. Common elements were a focus on methodology development rather than answering questions of specific clients, limited attention for model evaluation and impact analysis, and an imbalanced attention for economic and abiotic environmental indicators at the expense of biotic, landscape and social indicators. None of the approaches specifically addressed multifunctionality of agriculture. In the discussion we argue that to be relevant research efforts aimed at supporting policy development for multifunctional agriculture cannot concentrate on filling gaps in knowledge and technology alone, but need to concern the process of utilization of knowledge as well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a method that includes explicit aims of both nature conservation and environmental protection in the management strategies of agricultural systems. Following methods of land use planning and farming systems analysis a decision support system was developed to simulate site specific cropping practices andassess the impacts on natural resources. The optimization of farm income under defined restrictions of nature conservation and environmental protection completes the decision support system. The paper presents the general modelling approach and elaborates as an example the modelling of cropping practices. Cropping systems are modified to protect amphibians as a typical group of endangered organisms in agricultural landscapes. Evaluation tools are presented to assess the impact of defined production techniques on indicators of sustainable land use. The indicators are nitrate leaching, impact of land use on amphibians and gross margin of the crop production. The implementation of the evaluation tools on the land use of a model farm in northeast Germany is presented. Spatial allocation of target values is presented forone crop as an example. The site specific comparative advantages of the different cropping systems with regard to the indicators provide a basis for integration and optimization of a set of goals into land use practices on a larger scale, e.g., an agricultural landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provisioning ecosystem services play a vital role in sustaining human well-being. Agro-ecosystems contribute a significant share of these services, besides food and fodder and also fuel and fibre as well as regulating and cultural ecosystem services. Until now, the indication of provisioning ecosystem services of agro-ecosystems has been based almost only on yield numbers of agricultural products. Such an indication is problematic due to several reasons which include a disregard of the role of significant anthropogenic contributions to ecosystem service co-generation, external environmental effects and strong dependence on site conditions. We argue for an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services that considers multiple aspects of their delivery. The conceptual base for such an indication has been made by prior publications which have been reviewed. Relevant points were taken up in this article and condensed into a conceptual model in order to develop a more holistic and expanded set of indictors, which was then exemplarily applied and tested in three case studies in Germany. The case studies represent different natural conditions, and the indicator set application showed that ecosystem services (ES) flow-in terms of output alone-does not characterise agro-ecosystems sufficiently. The proposed aspects of provisioning ecosystem services can give a fuller picture, for example, by input-output relationships, as it is possible by just using single indicators. Uncertainties as well as pros and cons of such an approach are elaborated. Finally, recommendations for an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems that can help to integrate agricultural principles with ideas of sustainability and site-specific land use are derived.