On the Myth of a General National Culture. Making Visible Specific Cultural Characteristics of Learners in Different\ud Educational Contexts

The concept of a few values that can characteristically explain all units of culture (Schneider, 1968, pp.1-2) within any national context generally sounds promising. In order to take design-oriented decisions on culture-specific research questions, such characteristic values, particularly if already determined for many countries, would allow a massive reduction of effort. However, we were unsure if the contexts of academic and professional education allowed the adoption of such values without loosing the characteristic information, which are crucial for designing context sensitive e-Learning contents. In both educational scenarios we investigated the subcultures ‘faculty’, ‘university’, ‘enterprise’, and ‘nation’. In this paper, we exemplarily discuss our study’s results regarding one selected topic\ud from our questionnaire, i.e. the ‘role of the lecturer’. Actually, we found major differences between the investigated scenarios. Thus, we came to the conclusion\ud that in our context, adapting, e. g. Hofstede’s national values, would not lead to a learning design that takes the context-specific cultural differences into consideration

Timeless Toys: \u3ci\u3eThe Nutcracker and the Mouse King\u3c/i\u3e

Fantasy is a genre that is attractive to people of all ages from all backgrounds as it allows an escape from everyday life. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a beloved classic that has transcended time and various forms. E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novel transitioned from a story to a ballet, then to other texts and major motion pictures. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King acknowledges strife in the world through the conflict with the Mouse King but allows an escape that conveys relatable and truthful elements of everyday life. The plot is one of the most well-known and beloved pieces of Christmas literature today. The story of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King starts as a childhood fantasy and becomes a dream world that invokes joy that carries through the dreamlike world to the real world. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a staple of fantasy because of the whimsical adventure while still connecting to reality, with engaging themes for all ages, along with the adaptation into multiple forms including ballets, texts, and films

Online Learning: Educational Motivation through FaceTime

Digital learning presents challenges, one of which is the ability to motivate students. Elementary students can be motivated through intrinsic and extrinsic means, and it is important that teachers and digital learning mediums such as Google Classroom and Zoom work to motivate students in order to help them learn. Individualized attention provided by the teacher motivates students. Students’ are motivated by individualized attention provided to them by the teacher as well as Social Cognitive Theory, noting the importance of watching interactions with other students. The attention can vary from a one-on-one conversation or a personalized comment. Students are also motivated through an understanding of their educational progress and how to utilize the information they have learned and meaningful incentives. Meaningful incentives can include choice in activity, or other various awards. It is important to find creative ways to motivate students in a digital classroom

A Center for Dance and Performing Arts

This thesis proposes a cultural facility for theater and dance as a way to enhance the community and surrounding city fabric in the southeast quadrant of Center City Philadelphia

Cut Cell Methods in Global Atmospheric Dynamics

In this thesis, we study next generation techniques for the numerical simulation of global atmospheric dynamics, which range from modeling and grid generation to discretization schemes. Based on a detailed dimensional analysis of the compressible three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for small- and large-scale motions in the atmosphere, we derive the compressible Euler equations, the dynamical core of meteorological models. We also provide an insight into multiscale modeling and present a new numerical way of deriving reduced atmospheric models and gaining consistency of the modeling and discretization errors. The main focus of this thesis is the grid generation of the atmosphere. With regard to newly available surveys of the Earth's surface and the ever increasing computing capacities, the atmospheric triangulation techniques have to be reconsidered. In particular, the widely-used terrain-following coordinates prove to be disadvantaguous for highly resolved grids, since both the pressure gradient force error and the hydrostatic inconsistency of this vertical ansatz seriously increase with finer resolution. After a detailed analysis of the standard methods for vertical atmospheric triangulations, we present the cut cell approach as capable alternative. We construct a special cut cell method with two stabilizing constraints and provide a comprehensive guideline for an implementation of cut cells into existing atmospheric codes. For the spatial discretization of the dynamical core, we choose the Finite Volume method because of its favorable characteristics concerning conservation properties and handling of hyperbolicity. We accompany the Finite Volume discretization by a new non-linear interpolation scheme of the velocity field, which is adapted to the geometry and rotation of the Earth. To fathom the capabilities of cut cell grids together with our discretization and new interpolation scheme, we finally present several three-dimensional simulation runs. We apply standard benchmarks like an advection test and the simulation of a Rossby-Haurwitz wave and construct a new test case of counterbalancing flow between high- and low-pressure areas, with which we expose the potential of cut cell methods and the influences of different effects of the Euler equations as well as the topography of the Earth

Psychiatrische Störungen bei Adoptivkindern

Grundlage der Arbeit, die anhand von 141 Krankengeschichten in der Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie in Marburg durchgeführt wurde, war die vermehrte Vorstellung von Adoptivkindern verglichen mit ihrem Anteil an der Normalbevölkerung. Es sollten mögliche Gründe dafür sowie das Diagnosenspektrum der Patienten erarbeitet werden. Es fand außerdem ein Vergleich der Diagnosen mit der Inanspruchnahmepopulation der Klinik statt. Es zeigte sich, dass insgesamt die extroversiven Störungen bei den Adoptierten am häufigsten auftraten. Diese fanden sich insbesondere vermehrt bei den Spätadoptierten (Adoption nach dem 3. Geburtstag). Die Unterschiede im Vergleich zu den Frühadoptierten waren nicht signifikant. Essstörungen traten ausschließlich bei den Frühadoptierten (Adoption in den ersten 6 Lebensmonaten) auf. Im Vergleich mit dem Inanspruchnahmepatienten zeigte sich, dass diese weniger häufig extroversive Störungen zeigten. Das Auftreten von Essstörungen entsprach dem der Frühadoptierten. Die möglichen Gründe für das vermehrte Auftreten von psychiatrischen Störungen bei den Adoptierten blieben aufgrund vieler fehlender Informationen über die leiblichen Eltern und die Zeit vor der Adoption weiterhin spekulativ. Weitere Arbeiten in diesem Bereich wären wünschenswert

Enhanced orbital magnetic field effects in Ge hole nanowires

Hole semiconductor nanowires (NW) are promising platforms to host spin qubits and Majorana bound states for topological qubits because of their strong spin-orbit interactions (SOI). The properties of these systems depend strongly on the design of the cross section and on strain, as well as on external electric and magnetic fields. In this paper, we analyze in detail the dependence of the SOI and g factors on the orbital magnetic field. We focus on magnetic fields aligned along the axis of the NW, where orbital effects are enhanced and result in a renormalization of the effective g factor up to 400%, even at small values of magnetic field. We provide an exact analytical solution for holes in Ge NWs and we derive an effective low-energy model that enables us to investigate the effect of electric fields applied perpendicular to the NW. We also discuss in detail the role of strain, growth direction, and high-energy valence bands in different architectures, including Ge/Si core/shell NWs, gate-defined one-dimensional channels in planar Ge, and curved Ge quantum wells. By comparing NWs with different growth directions, we find that the isotropic approximation is well justified. Curved Ge quantum wells feature large effective g factors and SOI at low electric field, ideal for hosting Majorana bound states. In contrast, at strong electric field, these quantities are independent of the field, making hole spin qubits encoded in curved quantum wells to good approximation not susceptible to charge noise, and significantly boosting their coherence time

Human immunodeficiency virus infection of the human thymus and disruption of the thymic microenvironment in the SCID-hu mouse.

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) results in immunosuppression and depletion of circulating CD4+ T cells. Since the thymus is the primary organ in which T cells mature it is of interest to examine the effects of HIV infection in this tissue. HIV infection has been demonstrated in the thymuses of infected individuals and thymocytes have been previously demonstrated to be susceptible to HIV infection both in vivo, using the SCID-hu mouse, and in vitro. The present study sought to determine which subsets of thymocytes were infected in the SCID-hu mouse model and to evaluate HIV-related alterations in the thymic microenvironment. Using two different primary HIV isolates, infection was found in CD4+/CD8+ double positive thymocytes as well as in both the CD4+ and CD8+ single positive subsets of thymocytes. The kinetics of infection and resulting viral burden differed among the three thymocyte subsets and depended on which HIV isolate was used for infection. Thymic epithelial (TE) cells were also shown to endocytose virus and to often contain copious amounts of viral RNA in the cytoplasm by in situ hybridization, although productive infection of these cells could not be definitively shown. Furthermore, degenerating TE cells were observed even without detection of HIV in the degenerating cells. Two striking morphologic patterns of infection were seen, involving either predominantly thymocyte infection and depletion, or TE cell involvement with detectable cytoplasmic viral RNA and/or TE cell toxicity. Thus, a variety of cells in the human thymus is susceptible to HIV infection, and infection with HIV results in a marked disruption of the thymic microenvironment leading to depletion of thymocytes and degeneration of TE cells

Squeezed hole spin qubits in Ge quantum dots with ultrafast gates at low power

Hole spin qubits in planar Ge heterostructures are one of the frontrunner platforms for scalable quantum computers. In these systems, the spin-orbit interactions permit efficient all-electric qubit control. We propose a minimal design modification of planar devices that enhances these interactions by orders of magnitude and enables low power ultrafast qubit operations in the GHz range. Our approach is based on an asymmetric potential that strongly squeezes the quantum dot in one direction. This confinement-induced spin-orbit interaction does not rely on microscopic details of the device such as growth direction or strain, and could be turned on and off on demand in state-of-the-art qubits