Adult Students’ Perceptions of Tutoring as an Academic Support Tool

This qualitative study examined adult student perceptions of academic support services at an urban-service research university in the Midwest. While adult students often return to school to start or finish their degrees, the six-year graduation rate for students who enter college over the age of 20 is 12% less than those who enroll in college before the age of 20. Adults face situational, institutional, and dispositional barriers to graduation. This qualitative research study examined the perceptions of tutoring as an academic support tool of 13 adult students. Using Cultural Historical Activity as a theoretical framework, three major themes emerged from the study: (a) adult students’ perception of tutoring in their academic success including their perception of tutoring as a lifeline for their success, (b) adult students’ perceptions of community support which included communities both inside and outside of the university, and (c) the student’s role in their academic success where study participants began to take control over their own learning paths. A discussion about the study’s purpose, review of pertinent literature, data collection, and analysis process. The study concludes with an examination of the findings including academic resources, tools used by the tutor, the role of the community, and learner autonomy; offers implications for academic support professionals and university administrators, and proposes future research

Soft.spaces _ new strategies for membrane architecture

The desire for new mostly fluent “soft spaces” in architecture cannot be overseen any more. Therefore new tools and approaches are tried out to create architecture with special spatial qualities. Spatially curved membrane structures and especially anticlastic Minimal Surfaces offer one possible approach to this topic. This paper presents the overview of the research on spatially curved Minimal Surfaces that considers the infinite possibilities of membrane forms as elements in architecture in combination with common buildingtechnologies and shows the manifold possibilities of this approach and technology1. Further on this paper partly reveals new correlations between Minimal Surface and boundary conditions and so far unknown rules in its self organizing processes. Case studies document new capabilities in designing and creating space in architecture. Latest approaches are dealing with alternative boundary-conditions and with software implementation in terms of scripting found rules2

Low-tech or High-tech? “cut.enoid.tower” - three times two facets of irregularity

Do membrane structures belong to low-tech or high-tech products? The concept of low-tech is mostly understood as the counterpart to high-tech and refers to technology which is developed under the aspects of easy function, easy production, easy service, robustness and easy maintenance. In most cases low-tech-solutions bear a huge amount of intelligence deriving from long-lasting processes of trial and error. Therefore the majority of our structural systems is based on low-tech considerations. Building with textiles is one of them. This paper looks into the question above by the means of the realized, experimental structure “cut.enoid.tower”[*] a complex system of combined structural principles. The three aspects – Irregularity as a result of combined structural systems, Irregularity in detail as a result of geometrical necessity and Irregularity as a feature of architectural complexity – spanning from the global design approach to detailing, general rules (low-tech) used tools for formfinding (high-tech) and the final result (low-tech) are highlighted

Concepts of Immune Regulation in Chronic Filarial Infections

Despite worldwide efforts to reduce filariasis, over 100 million individuals still suffer from filarial infections. Filarial infections continue to be a substantial drain at both economic and health levels, especially in rural endemic communities. Part of the problem is the longevity of filariae in man, the different life-stages that the filariae pass through in the host and the number of organs and tissues that are affected. Thus, researchers continue to unravel the complex host:filarial interactions that allow such chronic manifestations. These interactions resulted from an evolutionary process since it is important for the filariae´s own survival to evade the host´s immune responses without killing the host. Using the rodent model of filariasis Litomosoides sigmodontis, immune reactions of the host towards the parasite can be analysed in a controlled setting. Interestingly, this nematode can only develop a patent (release of microfilariae (Mf)) infection in immune-component BALB/c mice since in C57BL/6 mice infections are cleared 40 days post infection. These models have been used to generate a plethora of data showing that control of Mf and worm burden depends on CD4+ T and B1 cells, granulocytes, chemokines, granzymes, alternatively activated macrophages, IL-10, Th1 and Th2 cytokines as well as Th17 cytokines indicating that both innate and adaptive immune responses interact to mediate helminth control. Experiments in this thesis work addressed three questions using filarial/ host-specific interactions. The first experiments expanded on previous data showing unique filarial-specific responses from patent and latent L. sigmodontis-infected BALB/c mice. Here, cytokine release was monitored by ELISA in cultures of isolated CD4+ T cells from early and late infected mice using soluble or pellet-derived antigens prepared from total, female or male adult filariae. Interestingly, IL-13, IFN-&gamma; and IL-10 responses were absent in CD4+ T cell cultures of early-infected mice regardless of antigen source. Developing adaptive immune responses are strongly influenced by innate signalling pathways since earlier studies have noted toll-like receptor (TLR)-triggering by filarial-derived components and infections in TLR-deficient BALB/c strains presented changed parasitology and host immunity. Investigations in the second part of this work addressed whether lack of TLR-signalling, especially central adaptor molecules Myd88 and TRIF, had an impact on < L. sigmodontis infections in C57BL/6 mice. Therefore, C57BL/6 mice deficient for TLR3, TLR4, TRIF, MyD88, IRF1 and IRF3 were analysed at different time points of infection. Interestingly, worm numbers in mice deficient for TRIF were significantly increased at day 30 post infection and the recruitment of CD4+ T cells to the site of infection was reduced. Therefore, our results indicate that the adaptor molecule TRIF plays a key role in worm development. In the final part of this thesis the RAG2/IL-2R&gamma;-deficient mouse strain (lacks T, B and NK cells) was used to analyse the impact of T cells on worm clearance during L. sigmodontis infection and additionally characterise the phenotype of infection-induced T cells using advanced flow cytometry. Previous studies showed that in contrast to WT mice L. sigmodontis infections in RAG2/IL-2R&gamma;-deficient mice resulted in patent infections with extremely high worm and Mf numbers. Expanding on those data, adoptive transfers of CD4+ or CD8+ T cells from WT C57BL/6 donor mice into RAG2/IL-2R&gamma;-deficient recipients did not alter worm burden per se but did result in reduced adult worm length and in the case of CD4+ T cells reduced fecundity as well. Preliminary findings show that these effects are not mediated by IL-4 or IL-10. However, the transfer of CD4+ T cells from L. sigmodontis-infected donor C57BL/6 mice additionally resulted in significantly reduced worm numbers in RAG2/IL-2R&gamma;-deficient recipients. Thus, these data enhance our understanding of immune networks and interplay during infection since although "educated" CD4+ T cells control worm fecundity, further host components are required to restore the phenotype of L. sigmodontis-infected WT C57BL/6 mice

Master Builders revisited: The importance of feedback loops: a case study using salvaged timber and wooden nails only

In the light of today’s challenges regarding sustainable solutions for the built environment, our research focuses on building entire structures with timber only. Salvaged timber and wooden nails are selected as starting points to explore the structural and architectural possibility by following a timber-only concept. Reminding of the ancient Master Builder idea, the process of our investigations makes clear the importance of all steps and their distinct insights feeding back, following the loops from design to the assembly of the objects, in order to increase the efficiency of material use and optimize the functionality of the final object. In this paper we evaluate the feedback loops performed so far including the lessons learnt from success and failure in design, testing and manufacturing. We also look into the potential of increased structural and architectural quality of outputs and increased diversity of applications by our approach.Peer reviewe

Internationalismen unter dem Verwendungsaspekt

Der Hauptidee des Dissertationsthemas „Internationalismen unter dem Verwendungsaspekt. Pragmatisch-semantische Analyse anhand empirischer Daten von polnischen Studierenden der Germanistik“ liegen abgesehen vom definitorischen Ansatz im Bereich der Internationalismenforschung zwei einander ergänzende Analyseverfahren zu Grunde. In erster Linie richtet sich das Augenmerk auf die Identifizierung des gegenwärtigen Gebrauchs sowohl internationaler als auch tautonymischer Wortschätze, die auf den Angaben polnischer Studierenden der Deutschen Philologie basiert. Weiters wird die praxisbezogene Verwendung dieser lexikalischen Phänomene anhand österreichischer und polnischer Zeitungen, Zeitschriften und zum Teil verschiedener Internetseiten untersucht. Die in diesem Zusammenhang konzipierten Zielsetzungen repräsentieren eine hypothetische Grundlage für die empirischen Analyseverfahren. Inhaltlich werden sie mit den Probandenangaben über die Fremdsprachenkenntnisse, Verwendung internationaler Wortschätze im Alltag und über die selbständig formulierte Definition des Terminus "Internationalismus" assoziiert. Es wird ebenfalls ein Zusammenhang zwischen den Probandenangaben über die Fremdsprachenkenntnisse bzw. die Anwendung internationaler Wortschätze im Alltag und der Anzahl identifizierter "Internationalismusvertreter" im Kontext geprüft und deskriptiv dargestellt. Unter der Bezeichnung "Analyse der deutschen und polnischen Semantik international-tautonymischer Wortschätze" werden sowohl die Anwendungshäufigkeit der für beide Sprachen charakteristischen Bedeutungsvarianten als auch die im semantischen Bereich liegenden Interferenzfehler verstanden, denen vor allem der Gebrauch der deutsch-polnischen Tautonyme zu Grunde liegt. In der empirischen Untersuchungsetappe, die mit den definitorischen Thesen der Internationalismenforschung zusammenhängt, basiert die Datenerhebung auf einem schriftlichen Fragebogen. Um die Anschaulichkeit der ausgewerteten Probandenangaben hinsichtlich der international-tautonymischen Wortschätze gewährleisten zu können, wurden diese zusätzlich mit gegenwärtigen Verwendungsbeispielen aus der österreichischen und polnischen Presse sowie einzel- und mehrsprachigen Wörterbüchern versehen. Unter einer mehrsprachigen Wortanalyse, die bei der Internationalismusidentifizierung eine große Rolle spielt, ist die Vertiefung des gegenwärtigen Verwendungsaspekts internationaler Wortschätze zu verstehen, die in diesem Fall auf der Berücksichtigung der einzel- bzw. zweisprachigen Lexika der Sprachen Deutsch, Polnisch, Englisch, Französisch, Spanisch und Italienisch sowie der professionellen Übersetzungen in die oben aufgelisteten Sprachen beruht. Bei der Analyse des aktuellen Gebrauchs der deutschen und polnischen sowohl international als auch tautonymisch ausgerichteten Wortsemantik wurden ähnlich wie im Falle der "Internationalismusvertreter" zweisprachig orientierte Wörterbuchanalysen durchgeführt und mit Presse- und Internetbeispielen versehen. Die Auswertungsresultate der erhobenen Daten in Bezug auf die Identifizierung international vertretener Wörter im Kontext deuten auf ein unterdurchschnittliches Resultat hin. Ebenfalls als schwierig erwies sich die selbständige Formulierung der Definition des Terminus "Internationalismus", da viele der angegebenen Inhalte entweder mit einem politischen oder mit einem geschichtlichen Hintergrund zusammenhingen. Diesbezüglich war zusätzlich festzustellen, dass die Mehrheit der Befragten keine selbständig formulierte Definition des Terminus "Internationalismus" angab, da sie die Kenntnis des Terminus einerseits mit sprachwissenschaftlichem Hintergrundwissen, andererseits mit dem Allgemeinwissen verknüpfte. Unter Einbeziehung der international-tautonymischen Bedeutungsvarianten im deutsch-polnischen Sprachvergleich wurde in bestimmten Fällen eine negative Interferenz der muttersprachlichen Semantik auf die formal ähnlichen Vokabel des Deutschen erhoben. In diesem Fall wurde eine Übertragung der polnischen Bedeutungsvariante auf die deutsche formale Entsprechung registriert. Die Abnahme der negativen semantischen Interferenzerscheinungen konnte teilweise erst im Kontext beobachtet werden. Die Arbeit beinhaltet graphische Darstellungen von Tabellen und Diagrammen, die mit Hilfe des SPSS-Programms erstellt wurden.This doctoral thesis: “Internationalism from the application aspect. Pragmatic-semantic analysis on the basis of Polish students of German philology” focuses on two complementary processes of analysis, in addition to definitional improvements in the field of internationalism research. Attention will first be directed to identification of the current application of international words and false friends used by translators, partially in context, on the basis of Polish students of German philology. Austrian and Polish newspapers and various Internet pages have been used to investigate these phenomena. The objectives conceived in this connection represent a hypothetical basis for the empirical process of analysis. They relate in content to the data with regard to qualitative and quantitative knowledge of foreign languages, to the everyday application of international vocabulary and to the independent formulation of the definition of the term "internationalism". With the aid of the already-listed features, possible associations relating to identified international words in specific contexts are tested and described. The main focus of this analysis of the German-Polish semantics of false friends in international vocabulary is the frequency of application of characteristic variations in meaning in the two languages in addition to semantic interference based predominantly on the use of German-Polish false friends. In the empirical research stages relating to definitional theories of internationalism research, the statistics are based on the answers to a standardised questionnaire. In order to assure clarity of the evaluated data, international vocabulary and false friends have been supplied with current examples of their application from the Austrian and Polish press, as well as from foreign-language dictionaries. Multilingual vocabulary analysis, which plays an important role in the identification of internationalisms, is understood as the deepening of their current application aspect. The analysis was carried out not only by using mono- or bilingual dictionaries (German, Polish, English, French, Spanish and Italian) but also by professional translations in the already-listed languages. The results of the evaluation of the data, mostly relating to the identification of international vocabulary in context, clarify the finding of negative patterns in almost every survey. According to this, the data, regardless of age, showed that a majority of students identified small numbers of international words. The students’ individual definitions of the term "internationalism", based on the linguistics` surveys, proved to be complex, as some data associated with the definition were related to political or historical interpretations. It was also noticed that the majority of the test subjects did not prefer an individual definition of the term "internationalism", as they chose to link knowledge of the term with linguistic studies on the one hand and with their general knowledge on the other. In the case of international semantics and the meanings of false friends in the German-Polish language comparison, negative interference was noted between the native language and the similar, formal terms in German. A decrease in the dominance of negative semantic interference tended not to be found when false friends were used in context. This doctoral thesis contains graphical diagrams and tables made with SPSS

Defect complexes formed with Ag atoms in CDTE, ZnTe, and ZnSe

Using the radioactive acceptor $^{111}\!$Ag for perturbed $\gamma$-$\gamma$-angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy for the first time, defect complexes formed with Ag are investigated in the II-VI semiconductors CdTe, ZnTe and ZnSe. The donors In, Br and the Te-vacancy were found to passivate Ag acceptors in CdTe via pair formation, which was also observed in In-doped ZnTe. In undoped or Sb-doped CdTe and in undoped ZnSe, the PAC experiments indicate the compensation of Ag acceptors by the formation of double broken bond centres, which are characterised by an electric field gradient with an asymmetry parameter close to h = 1. Additionally, a very large electric field gradient was observed in CdTe, which is possibly connected with residual impurities

HistStadt4D – A four dimensional access to history

Purpose – We propose a multidisciplinary approach based on an extensive data base which provides digitalized photographic material from the end of the 19th century up to recent times. Thus a large amount of photographic evidence will be exploited, structured and enriched by additional sources to serve as a foundation for an application relying on 3D visualizations. The application addresses scholars as well as the general public and will provide different kinds of information and tools for research and knowledge transfer. Design/methodology/approach – The method applied will be diachronic: the virtual model may show one point in urban history depicting a certain state of past Dresden and also its development through the various eras. In addition the method works in a dualistic mode: on the one hand the physical development of the urban area will be explored and presented in detail, on the other hand the analysis of the pictures will give profound insights in the specific perception of the urban space. Originality/value – This methodology aims to make large repositories more accessible and proactive in information-seeking. Using a 3D application as an access for media repositories, research tools and functionalities which can improve the scientific handling of the data will be considered. How should the data and information be processed to meet the researcher’s needs? Which information can be retrieved from the visual media? What needs to be considered to ensure scientific standards and motivation while working with the image repositories? Users of the virtual archives can benefit extensively form effective searching functions and tools which work not only content- and theme-based but also location-based. Practical implications – The outcomes of the research will be presented in a 4D browser and available in an Augmented Reality presentation. The design will comply with the requirements of the field of application, whether aiming at a scientific, educative or touristic purpose. The paper itself considers three different approaches to the topic highlighting the multidisciplinary strategy and opportunities of the project. The first one considers research questions from art history. The second one reflects on concepts from information science, photogrammetry and computer vision for visualizations and the third one introduces an interaction concept for an AR application for the Zwinger in Dresden