The Necessity to Make Errors: The case of German learners of Spanish

[EN] Learners of foreign languages make errors. There has been much debate over whether these errors are to be viewed as something bad, something wrong or something to be avoided. This paper analyses the efficiency of exercises aimed at avoiding the most frequent mistakes German beginning learners of Spanish make. A comparative study shows that learners who make these exercises improve only over their frequency of orthographic errors, but all other types of errors and the total number of errors remain the same as learners who do not make these exercises.Gebhard, C. (2022). The Necessity to Make Errors: The case of German learners of Spanish. En Proceedings 3rd International Conference. Business Meets Technology. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 61-67. https://doi.org/10.4995/BMT2021.2021.13612616

China Competence in Europe: Why It Matters and How to Achieve It

[EN] The MERICS Institute thoroughly depicted the state of the art of China competences in Germany at the beginning of 2018. The report explained why it was important to strengthen these competences and made detailed suggestions on how to do so. This article takes a look at developments regarding these competences in Germany and Spain and sheds light on the current image of China among mainly small and medium-sized enterprises in Franconia, Northern Bavaria, by means of surveys and interviews. Suggestions are made on how to improve language skills, touching upon the situation in Spain.Gebhard, C. (2022). China Competence in Europe: Why It Matters and How to Achieve It. En Proceedings 3rd International Conference. Business Meets Technology. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 69-77. https://doi.org/10.4995/BMT2021.2021.13613697

Praxisbericht: Interkulturelles Video-Tandem an der Hochschule Ansbach

Bei der Videoproduktion im Unterricht können neben Schlüsselqualifikation verschiedenste fachliche Kompetenzen trainiert und bewertet werden. Wenn Lernende zu Produzenten werden und im Fremdsprachenunterricht sich selbst und ihre Heimatinstitution vorstellen, kann dabei ein nachhaltiger interkultureller Austausch mithilfe moderner Medien geschaffen werden. In dieser Projektbeschreibung wird dargestellt, wie diese Ziele an der Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Ansbach in einem kürzlich initiierten „Video-Tandem“ mit Partnerhochschulen verfolgt werden. Producing videos in the classroom can be a means not only to train and assess key skills, but also various professional skills. When learners take on the role of producers and introduce both themselves and their home educational institutions in a foreign language classroom setting, sustainable intercultural exchange can be created with the help of modern media. The following description of a project depicts how these goals are pursued at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences in a so-called video tandem with partner universities that was initiated a short while ago.

Hybridization-Sensitive Fluorescent Probes for DNA and RNA by a Modular “Click” Approach

Fluorescent DNA probes were prepared in a modular approach using the “click” post-synthetic modification strategy. The new glycol-based module and DNA building block place just two carbons between the phosphodiester bridges and anchor the dye by an additional alkyne group. This creates a stereocenter in the middle of this artificial nucleoside substitute. Both enantiomers and a variety of photostable cyanine–styryl dyes as well as thiazole orange derivatives were screened as “clicked” conjugates in different surrounding DNA sequences. The combination of the (S)-configured DNA anchor and the cyanylated cyanine–styryl dye shows the highest fluorescence light-up effect of 9.2 and a brightness of approximately 11,000 M–1 cm–1. This hybridization sensitivity and fluorescence readout were further developed utilizing electron transfer and energy transfer processes. The combination of the hybridization-sensitive DNA building block with the nucleotide of 5-nitroindole as an electron acceptor and a quencher increases the light-up effect to 20 with the DNA target and to 15 with the RNA target. The fluorescence readout could significantly be enhanced to values between 50 and 360 by the use of energy transfer to a second DNA probe with commercially available dyes, like Cy3.5, Cy5, and Atto590, as energy acceptors at the 5′-end. The latter binary probes shift the fluorescent readout from the range of 500–550 nm to the range of 610–670 nm. The optical properties make these fluorescent DNA probes potentially useful for RNA imaging. Due to the strong light-up effect, they will not require washing procedures and will thus be suitable for live-cell imaging

Hepatic platelet and leukocyte adherence during endotoxemia

INTRODUCTION: Liver microcirculation disturbances are a cause of hepatic failure in sepsis. Increased leukocyte-endothelial interaction, platelet adherence and impaired microperfusion cause hepatocellular damage. The time course and reciprocal influences of ongoing microcirculatory events during endotoxemia have not been clarified. METHODS: Male Wistar rats (232 ± 17 g) underwent cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Intravital microscopy (IVM) was performed 0, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 hours after CLP. Mean erythrocyte velocity, leukocyte and platelet rolling in postsinusoidal venules and sticking of leukocytes and platelets in postsinusoidal venules and hepatic sinusoids were determined. Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and portal venous blood flow (PBF) were measured. Blood count and investigation of hepatic enzyme release was performed after each IVM time point. RESULTS: Hepatic platelet-endothelial adherence in liver sinusoids and postsinusoidal venules occurred one hour after the induction of endotoxemia. Leukocyte-endothelial interaction started three to five hours after CLP. A decrease of hepatic microperfusion could be observed at three hours in sinusoids and ten hours in postsinusoidal venules after CLP, although PBF was reduced one hour after CLP. HR remained stable and MAP decreased ten hours after CLP. Hepatic enzymes in blood were significantly elevated ten hours after CLP. CONCLUSION: Hepatic platelet-endothelial interaction is an early event during endotoxemia. Leukocyte adherence occurs later, which underlines the probable involvement of platelets in leukocyte recruitment. Although PBF is reduced immediately after CLP, the later onset of hepatic microperfusion decrease makes the existence of autoregulatory liver mechanisms likely

Highly resolved observations of trace gases in the lowermost stratosphere and upper troposphere from the Spurt project: an overview

During SPURT (Spurenstofftransport in der Tropopausenregion, trace gas transport in the tropopause region) we performed measurements of a wide range of trace gases with different lifetimes and sink/source characteristics in the northern hemispheric upper troposphere (UT) and lowermost stratosphere (LMS). A large number of in-situ instruments were deployed on board a Learjet 35A, flying at altitudes up to 13.7 km, at times reaching to nearly 380 K potential temperature. Eight measurement campaigns (consisting of a total of 36 flights), distributed over all seasons and typically covering latitudes between 35° N and 75° N in the European longitude sector (10° W–20° E), were performed. Here we present an overview of the project, describing the instrumentation, the encountered meteorological situations during the campaigns and the data set available from SPURT. Measurements were obtained for N2O, CH4, CO, CO2, CFC12, H2, SF6, NO, NOy, O3 and H2O. We illustrate the strength of this new data set by showing mean distributions of the mixing ratios of selected trace gases, using a potential temperature – equivalent latitude coordinate system. The observations reveal that the LMS is most stratospheric in character during spring, with the highest mixing ratios of O3 and NOy and the lowest mixing ratios of N2O and SF6. The lowest mixing ratios of NOy and O3 are observed during autumn, together with the highest mixing ratios of N2O and SF6 indicating a strong tropospheric influence. For H2O, however, the maximum concentrations in the LMS are found during summer, suggesting unique (temperature- and convection-controlled) conditions for this molecule during transport across the tropopause. The SPURT data set is presently the most accurate and complete data set for many trace species in the LMS, and its main value is the simultaneous measurement of a suite of trace gases having different lifetimes and physical-chemical histories. It is thus very well suited for studies of atmospheric transport, for model validation, and for investigations of seasonal changes in the UT/LMS, as demonstrated in accompanying and elsewhere published studies