School as Narrated Places : Children´s Narratives of School Enjoyment

Acknowledgments This research was supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): M 1377-G17 (Hyry-Beihammer) and in part by Thule Institute, University of Oulu (Autti).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Lewis A glycans are present on proteins involved in cell wall biosynthesis and appear evolutionarily conserved amongnatural Arabidopsis thaliana accessions

N-glycosylation is a highly abundant protein modification present in all domains of life. Terminal sugar residues on complex-type N-glycans mediate various crucial biological processes in mammals such as cell-cell recognition or protein-ligand interactions. In plants, the Lewis A trisaccharide constitutes the only known outer-chain elongation of complex N-glycans. Lewis A containing complex N-glycans appear evolutionary conserved, having been identified in all plant species analyzed so far. Despite their ubiquitous occurrence, the biological function of this complex N-glycan modification is currently unknown. Here, we report the identification of Lewis A bearing glycoproteins from three different plant species: Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, and Oryza sativa. Affinity purification via the JIM84 antibody, directed against Lewis A structures on complex plant N-glycans, was used to enrich Lewis A bearing glycoproteins, which were subsequently identified via nano-LC-MS. Selected identified proteins were recombinantly expressed and the presence of Lewis A confirmed via immunoblotting and site-specific N-glycan analysis. While the proteins identified in O. sativa are associated with diverse functions, proteins from A. thaliana and N. benthamiana are mainly involved in cell wall biosynthesis. However, a Lewis A-deficient mutant line of A. thaliana showed no change in abundance of cell wall constituents such as cellulose or lignin. Furthermore, we investigated the presence of Lewis A structures in selected accessions from the 1001 genome database containing amino acid variations in the enzymes required for Lewis A biosynthesis. Besides one relict line showing no detectable levels of Lewis A, the modification was present in all other tested accessions. The data provided here comprises the so far first attempt at identifying Lewis A bearing glycoproteins across different species and will help to shed more light on the role of Lewis A structures in plants

Multi-grade teaching practices in Austrian and Finnish primary schools

This article describes the teaching strategies used in multi-grade classes in five small rural primary schools in Austria and Finland on the basis of the content analysis of transcribed teacher interviews. Two main types of strategies were identified: practices that (1) aim to reduce or (2) capitalize on students’ heterogeneity. The results illustrate how differently multi-grade teaching can be realized and how it can effectively support individual student learning. The findings are discussed with regard to teacher education with the intention of increasing the awareness of the professional skills required in high-quality teaching practices in multi-grade teaching

The tobacco GNTI stem region harbors a strong motif for homomeric protein complex formation

IntroductionThe Golgi apparatus of plants is the central cellular organelle for glycan processing and polysaccharide biosynthesis. These essential processes are catalyzed by a large number of Golgi-resident glycosyltransferases and glycosidases whose organization within the Golgi is still poorly understood.MethodsHere, we examined the role of the stem region of the cis/medial Golgi enzyme N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (GNTI) in homomeric complex formation in the Golgi of Nicotiana benthamiana using biochemical approaches and confocal microscopy.ResultsTransient expression of the N-terminal cytoplasmic, transmembrane, and stem (CTS) regions of GNTI leads to a block in N-glycan processing on a co-expressed recombinant glycoprotein. Overexpression of the CTS region from Golgi α-mannosidase I, which can form in planta complexes with GNTI, results in a similar block in N-glycan processing, while GNTI with altered subcellular localization or N-glycan processing enzymes located further downstream in the Golgi did not affect complex N-glycan processing. The GNTI-CTS-dependent alteration in N-glycan processing is caused by a specific nine-amino acid sequence motif in the stem that is required for efficient GNTI-GNTI interaction.DiscussionTaken together, we have identified a conserved motif in the stem region of the key N-glycan processing enzyme GNTI. We propose that the identified sequence motif in the GNTI stem region acts as a dominant negative motif that can be used in transient glycoengineering approaches to produce recombinant glycoproteins with predominantly mannosidic N-glycans

Impact of mutations on the plant-based production of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 RBDs

Subunit vaccines based on recombinant viral antigens are valuable interventions to fight existing and evolving viruses and can be produced at large-scale in plant-based expression systems. The recombinant viral antigens are often derived from glycosylated envelope proteins of the virus and glycosylation plays an important role for the immunogenicity by shielding protein epitopes. The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike is a principal target for vaccine development and has been produced in plants, but the yields of recombinant RBD variants were low and the role of the N-glycosylation in RBD from different SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern is less studied. Here, we investigated the expression and glycosylation of six different RBD variants transiently expressed in leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana. All of the purified RBD variants were functional in terms of receptor binding and displayed almost full N-glycan occupancy at both glycosylation sites with predominately complex N-glycans. Despite the high structural sequence conservation of the RBD variants, we detected a variation in yield which can be attributed to lower expression and differences in unintentional proteolytic processing of the C-terminal polyhistidine tag used for purification. Glycoengineering towards a human-type complex N-glycan profile with core α1,6-fucose, showed that the reactivity of the neutralizing antibody S309 differs depending on the N-glycan profile and the RBD variant

Europa im Geflecht der Welt

Der Band dokumentiert Vorträge und Workshops der internationalen Abschlusstagung des DFG-Schwerpunktprogrammes 1173 „Integration und Desintegration der Kulturen im europäischen Mittelalter“, die Ende Mai 2011 in Berlin stattgefunden hat. Bei der Arbeit im Schwerpunktprogramm hatte sich gezeigt, wie schwierig es ist, Europa im geographischen und historischen Sinne vom Mittelmeerraum mit Nordafrika und Vorder¬asien zu trennen. Daher wurden die Grenzen des mittelalterlichen Europa bewusst überschritten und auch die Geschichte weiter entfernter Länder in den Blick genommen. Als thematischer Schwerpunkt boten sich in diesem Zusammenhang Migrationen an. Migrationen sind ja ein globales Phäno¬men, das an allen Orten und zu allen Zeiten immer wieder die Geschichte der Menschheit prägt und dabei unvermeidlich – selbst in der scheinbaren Isolation einer „Diaspora“ oder „Parallelgesellschaft“ – zu transkulturellen Verflechtungen führt. Fremde und einheimische Gruppen und Individuen werden in neue soziale Umgebungen gerückt und Kontakte oder Konflikte zwischen ihnen erzeugt. Wo aber das jeweilige Leben gegeneinander abgeschottet werden soll, verliert Kultur ihre Inno¬vations¬kraft und versteinert die Gesellschaft. Mit dem Sachthema der „Migrationen“ und mit einem Blick weit über Europa hinaus, bis nach Amerika, Japan und ins südliche Afrika, wird der Übergang von einer eurozentrierten Mittelalterforschung zu einer transdisziplinären Mediävistik in globalen Zusammenhängen markiert

Les arguments juridiques dans la constitution des traités de paix entre chrétiens et Turcs du xiiie au xve siècle

This article examines the development and diversification of legal arguments in Christian-Turkish treaty making in a diachronic perspective. The emergence of the Seljuk sultanate of Konya and other Turkish-Muslim principalities in Asia Minor quickly resulted in the establishment of diplomatic relations with their Christian neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean, such as Byzantium, the Empire of Trebizond, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Venice after 1204, and various Frankish states. The legal basis for bilateral agreements resulting from these contacts, mostly peace treaties and commercial agreements, came from practices and concepts of Muslim-Christian diplomacy, the adoption of ideological features originating from commonly accepted supreme authorities, such as the Byzantine emperor or the Muslim caliphate, and a set of local customs related to the traditions of various political entities. This study focuses on the characteristics of the legal discourse in Christian-Muslim treaty making in late medieval Anatolia. The scope of investigation comprises the earliest surviving examples of Frankish-Seljuk treaties dating to the early thirteenth century, the treaties of Venice and other Christian powers with the emirates of Menteshe and Karaman, and the early Christian-Ottoman treaties of the fifteenth century. Generally speaking, there are clearly visible traces of continuity in the use of Byzantine chancery practices and Arabic formulaic patterns in treaties issued in the Greek language. However, there are also important shifts from a treaty type following Byzantine imperial models to ones strongly influenced by Muslim-Arabic patterns. With the rise of the Ottoman Emirate to an empire, especially in the wake of 1453, the language of the treaties increasingly reflects ideas of superiority and universal aims based on a combination of Muslim and Byzantine concepts

Master-apprentice relation in music teaching. From a secret garden to a transparent modelling

This article aims to consider a master-apprentice relation in music teaching, especially in piano teaching. The article focuses on the teaching of a well known Finnish music pedagogue and artist, Matti Raekallio. Most of the data was collected by observing his piano lessons and by interviewing both Raekallio and his students. It has been analysed using both content analysis and narrative analysis. The results confirmed a typical ‘master teacher’ model in which the focus is on the musical score. In contrast to some views of the master teacher model, the teacher in this research seems ’in the same boat’ as his students rather than taking a master’s ‘authoritative role.’ The teacher adjusts his teaching to suit the needs of different students and their different stages of competence. The students are taught knowledge and skills but also guided into the culture and practice of the field. Keywords: master-apprentice relationship, music teaching, narrative inquiry, teacher-student relationshi