Joining institutional policy with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Higher educational context and implementation strategies at the Universities of Lübeck and Hamburg

An article about the implementation of the concept of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at the universities of Lübeck and Hamburg. Both universities have integrated SoTL as a central element in their teaching and learning strategies. At the University of Lübeck, SoTL is promoted through a certificate program that includes individual research and development projects. At the University of Hamburg, SoTL is an integral part of a master\u27s degree program in Higher Education. Both implementations show that it is possible to implement SoTL at the institutional level in Germany. However, systematic guidance and support are critical to the success of these efforts. (Author)Ein Artikel über die Implementierung des Konzepts des Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) an den Universitäten Lübeck und Hamburg. Beide Universitäten haben SoTL als zentrales Element in ihre Lehr- und Lernstrategien integriert. An der Universität Lübeck wird SoTL durch ein Zertifikatsprogramm gefördert, das individuelle Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekte umfasst. An der Universität Hamburg ist SoTL ein wesentlicher Bestandteil eines Masterstudiengangs in Higher Education. Beide Implementierungen zeigen, dass es möglich ist, SoTL auf institutioneller Ebene in Deutschland umzusetzen. Systematische Anleitung und Unterstützung sind jedoch entscheidend für den Erfolg dieser Bemühungen. (Autor

Genderintegrierte Hochschuldidaktik

Hochschullehre wird heute mit zwei Innovationen konfrontiert: zum Einen verlangt die Modularisierung des Studiums neue Lehr-Lernkonzepte, den "shift from teaching to learning". Zum Anderen wird von guter Lehre auch Gender- und Diversity-Orientierung strukturell, inhaltlich und interaktionsbezogen erwartet. Beides spiegelt sich noch kaum in der Hochschuldidaktik wider und schon gar nicht in einem integrierten hochschuldidaktischen Konzept. In dem Beitrag werden am Beispiel der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg Konzepte und Ansätze des Integrativen Genderings in der Lehre und der genderintegrierten Hochschuldidaktik vorgestellt. 29.08.2008 | Bettina Jansen-Schulz (Lüneburg

Turbulent impinging jets on rough surfaces

This work presents direct numerical simulations (DNS) of a circular turbulent jet impinging on rough plates. The roughness is once resolved through an immersed boundary method (IBM) and once modeled through a parametric forcing approach (PFA) which accounts for surface roughness effects by applying a forcing term into the Navier–Stokes equations within a thin layer in the near-wall region. The DNS with the IBM setup is validated using optical flow field measurements over a smooth and a rough plate with similar statistical surface properties. In the study, IBM-resolved cases are used to show that the PFA is capable of reproducing mean flow features well at large wall-normal distances, while less accurate predictions are observed in the near-wall region. The demarcation between these two regions is approximately identified with the mean wall height of the surface roughness distribution. Based on the observed differences in the results between IBM- and PFA-resolved cases, plausible future improvements of the PFA are suggested

Resničen in idealen evropski morski transfer ob Atlantski obali v neolitiku

The history of research on the Neolithic of the Atlantic façade shows how speculation about prehistoric mobility, especially across the sea, is mainly based on three types of archaeological evidence: megalithic monuments, rare stones, and pottery decoration. With the aim of approaching the issue from other perspectives, we have focused on the Morbihan area, a focal point of the European Neolithic during the mid-5th millennium BC. The analysis of this area has allowed us to grasp which objects, ideas and beliefs may have been desired, adopted and imitated at the time. We shall begin with an architectural concept, the standing stone. These were sometimes engraved with signs that can be directly compared between Brittany, Galicia (NW Spain) and Portugal, but for which there are no intermediate parallels in other areas of the French or Spanish coast. The unique accumulation and transformation of polished blades made of Alpine rocks and found inside tombs or in other sort of depositions in the Carnac region allowed us to establish a second link with Galicia and the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, where certain types of the axes were imitated using a set of different rocks (sillimanite, amphibolite). Finally, the variscites and turquoises from different Spanish regions were used for the manufacture of beads and pendants at the Carnacean tombs, without it being possible – once again – to retrieve similar objects in the intermediate areas. The mastery ofdirect Atlantic sea routes is posed as an explanation for this geographical distribution. But, beyond the information drawn from specific artefacts – whose presence/absence should not be used in excess as an argument to endorse or underrate such movements across the ocean – we will return to a more poetic and universal phenomenon: the spell of the sea. Therefore, we will focus on the depictions of boats on the stelae of Morbihan to open such a debate.Zgodovina raziskav obdobja neolitika ob Atlantski obali kaže na to, da so domneve o premikih ljudi v prazgodovini, predvsem premiki po morju, osnovani predvsem na treh vrstah arheoloških podatkov: na megalitskih spomenikih, na redkih kamninah in na okrasu na lončenini. V članku se bomo te teme lotili iz drugega vidika, in sicer se bomo osredotočili na območje departmaja Morbihan, ki je bil v središču dogajanja v evropskem neolitiku v sredini 5. tisočletja pr. n. št. Z analizo tega območja lažje razumemo, katere objekte, ideje in verovanja so v tem obdobju ljudje najbolj pogosto želeli, posvojili in posnemali. Začeli bomo z arhitekturnim konceptom, menhirji/stoječimi kamni. Takšni kamni imajo občasno gravure z znaki, ki jih lahko neposredno vežemo na območje Bretanje, Galicije (SZ Španija) in Portugalske, medtem ko nimajo primerjav v vmesnih območjih ob francoski in španski obali. Enkraten zbir in preoblikovanje glajenih rezil, izdelanih na kamninah iz Alp, ki so bila odkrita v grobnicah ali drugih depozicijah na območju Carnaca, predstavlja drugopovezavo z območjem Galicije in Atlantsko obalo na Iberskem polotoku, kjer so bili najdeni posnetki nekaterih tipov sekir, izdelani iz različnih kamnin (silimanit, amfibolit). Tudi jagode in obeski, najdeni v grobnicah v Carnacu v Bretanju, so bili izdelani iz mineralov variscita in turkiza, ki izvirata iz španskih regij, medtem ko takšni predmeti – ponovno – na vmesnih območjih niso bili odkriti. Takšna geografska porazdelitev se razlaga z obvladovanjem neposrednih morskih poti po Atlantiku v prazgodovini. Kljub informacijam, ki jih dobimo s takšnimi posebnimi najdbami – katerih prisotnost/odsotnost naj ne bi preveč pogosto uporabljali kot argument v podporo ali podcenjevanje takšnih premikov po oceanu – se bomo vrnili na bolj poetičen in univerzalen fenomen: čarobnost morja. Pri tem se bomo osredotočili in razpravljali predvsem na upodobitve ladij na stelah, najdenih na območju departmaja Morbihan

Flip Graphs of Degree-Bounded (Pseudo-)Triangulations

We study flip graphs of triangulations whose maximum vertex degree is bounded by a constant $k$. In particular, we consider triangulations of sets of $n$ points in convex position in the plane and prove that their flip graph is connected if and only if $k > 6$; the diameter of the flip graph is $O(n^2)$. We also show that, for general point sets, flip graphs of pointed pseudo-triangulations can be disconnected for $k \leq 9$, and flip graphs of triangulations can be disconnected for any $k$. Additionally, we consider a relaxed version of the original problem. We allow the violation of the degree bound $k$ by a small constant. Any two triangulations with maximum degree at most $k$ of a convex point set are connected in the flip graph by a path of length $O(n \log n)$, where every intermediate triangulation has maximum degree at most $k+4$.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, acknowledgments update

Vitamin D receptor regulates intestinal proteins involved in cell proliferation, migration and stress response

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies found low plasma levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms associated with a higher prevalence of pathological changes in the intestine such as chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. METHODS: In this study, a proteomic approach was applied to understand the overall physiological importance of vitamin D in the small intestine, beyond its function in calcium and phosphate absorption. RESULTS: In total, 569 protein spots could be detected by two-dimensional-difference in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), and 82 proteins were considered as differentially regulated in the intestinal mucosa of VDR-deficient mice compared to that of wildtype (WT) mice. Fourteen clearly detectable proteins were identified by MS/MS and further analyzed by western blot and/or real-time RT-PCR. The differentially expressed proteins are functionally involved in cell proliferation, cell adhesion and cell migration, stress response and lipid transport. Mice lacking VDR revealed higher levels of intestinal proteins associated with proliferation and migration such as the 37/67 kDa laminin receptor, collagen type VI (alpha 1 chain), keratin-19, tropomyosin-3, adseverin and higher levels of proteins involved in protein trafficking and stress response than WT mice. In contrast, proteins that are involved in transport of bile and fatty acids were down-regulated in small intestine of mice lacking VDR compared to WT mice. However, plasma and liver concentrations of cholesterol and triglycerides were not different between the two groups of mice. CONCLUSION: Collectively, these data imply VDR as an important factor for controlling cell proliferation, migration and stress response in the small intestine

Intrinsic network activity reflects the ongoing experience of chronic pain

Analyses of intrinsic network activity have been instrumental in revealing cortical processes that are altered in chronic pain patients. In a novel approach, we aimed to elucidate how intrinsic functional networks evolve in regard to the fluctuating intensity of the experience of chronic pain. In a longitudinal study with 156 fMRI sessions, 20 chronic back pain patients and 20 chronic migraine patients were asked to continuously rate the intensity of their endogenous pain. We investigated the relationship between the fluctuation of intrinsic network activity with the time course of subjective pain ratings. For chronic back pain, we found increased cortical network activity for the salience network and a local pontine network, as well as decreased network activity in the anterior and posterior default mode network for higher pain intensities. Higher pain intensities in chronic migraine were accompanied with lower activity in a prefrontal cortical network. By taking the perspective of the individual, we focused on the variability of the subjective perception of pain, which include phases of relatively low pain and phases of relatively high pain. The present design of the assessment of ongoing endogenous pain can be a powerful and promising tool to assess the signature of a patient's endogenous pain encoding