Exploring outdoor science in teacher education from a comparative Scandinavian perspective

Source at https://periodicos.uniformg.edu.br:21011/ojs/index.php/conexaociencia/article/view/821.This paper focuses on the development of prospective teachers’ competence to conduct outdoor science education in a Scandinavian context. This context is characterized by easy accessibility to open-air natural environment and folk traditions of being and doing different activities outdoors. Working in the field of science teacher education in Sweden and Norway, we have experienced that outdoor science is traditionally linked to environmental and biology field courses or teaching units that contain fieldwork. The Ministries of education in both countries are supporting outdoor science in schools through a variety of programs, that are internet- and open source-based (www.skolverket.se, www.naturfag.no; www.ndla.no). Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens is applied to the study. The conclusions of the study underline the importance of working actively with issues related to pedagogical complexity of outdoor teaching, which is demanding a purposeful development of teacher competence and teaching material

A Comprehensive Deep Sequencing Strategy for Full-Length Genomes of Influenza A

Driven by the impact of influenza A viruses on human and animal health, much research is conducted on this pathogen. To support this research, we designed an all influenza A-embracing reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for the generation of DNA from influenza A virus negative strand RNA genome segments for full-length genome deep sequencing on a Genome Sequencer FLX instrument. For high reliability, the RT-PCRs are designed such that every genome segment is divided into two amplicons and for the most variable segments redundancy is included. Moreover, to minimize the risk of contamination of diagnostic real-time PCRs by sequencing amplicons, RT-PCR does not generate amplicons that are amenable to RT-qPCR detection. With the presented protocol we were able to generate virtually all amplicons (99.3% success rate) from isolates representing all so far known 16 hemagglutinin and 9 neuraminidase subtypes and from an additional 2009 pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus. Three isolates were sequenced to analyze the suitability of the DNA for sequencing. Moreover, we provide a short R script that disambiguates the sequences of the primers used. We show that using unambiguous primer sequences for read trimming prior to assembly with the genome sequencer assembler software results in higher quality of the final genome sequences. Using the disambiguated primer sequences, high quality full-length sequences for the three isolates used for sequencing trials could be established from the raw data in de novo assemblies

Restoration of peatlands and greenhouse gas balances

In this chapter the impact of peatland restoration on greenhouse gas fluxes is discussed based on a literature review. Casestudies are presented covering different peatland types, different regions and different starting conditions

Indoor Aerosols – Calculation of Zonal Particle Concentration and Particle Deposition in the Human Respiratory Tract

This study presents a modeling approach to calculate the particle concentration in mechanically conditioned indoor environments and predict particle deposition in the Human Respiratory Tract (HRT) by combining two aerosol models. The developed Indoor Aerosol Model (IAM) combines the semi-empirical Respiratory Deposition Model (RDM) presented by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in its publication 66/130 with a Material Balance Model (MBM). This enables the determination of total regional deposition fractions in the HRT for different particle diameters, subjects, levels of exertion or respiration types. These total regional deposition fractions are then incorporated into the MBM, which can be used to determine the number and mass of particles deposited in the HRT over a maximum period of 24 hours. Furthermore, the time history of the airborne particle concentration, as well as the surface loading and, in addition, the particle fate can be determined for well-mixed single zones.publishedVersio

Creation of functional viruses from non-functional cDNA clones obtained from an RNA virus population by the use of ancestral reconstruction

RNA viruses have the highest known mutation rates. Consequently it is likely that a high proportion of individual RNA virus genomes, isolated from an infected host, will contain lethal mutations and be non-functional. This is problematic if the aim is to clone and investigate high-fitness, functional cDNAs and may also pose problems for sequence-based analysis of viral evolution. To address these challenges we have performed a study of the evolution of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) using deep sequencing and analysis of 84 full-length cDNA clones, each representing individual genomes from a moderately virulent isolate. In addition to here being used as a model for RNA viruses generally, CSFV has high socioeconomic importance and remains a threat to animal welfare and pig production. We find that the majority of the investigated genomes are non-functional and only 12% produced infectious RNA transcripts. Full length sequencing of cDNA clones and deep sequencing of the parental population identified substitutions important for the observed phenotypes. The investigated cDNA clones were furthermore used as the basis for inferring the sequence of functional viruses. Since each unique clone must necessarily be the descendant of a functional ancestor, we hypothesized that it should be possible to produce functional clones by reconstructing ancestral sequences. To test this we used phylogenetic methods to infer two ancestral sequences, which were then reconstructed as cDNA clones. Viruses rescued from the reconstructed cDNAs were tested in cell culture and pigs. Both reconstructed ancestral genomes proved functional, and displayed distinct phenotypes in vitro and in vivo. We suggest that reconstruction of ancestral viruses is a useful tool for experimental and computational investigations of virulence and viral evolution. Importantly, ancestral reconstruction can be done even on the basis of a set of sequences that all correspond to non-functional variants

Das kurhannoversche Postpersonal 1736-1803 : ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der sozialen Organisation von Herrschaft, Kommunikation und Verkehr im 18. Jahrhundert

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The Transcriptional Landscape of Marek’s Disease Virus in Primary Chicken B Cells Reveals Novel Splice Variants and Genes

Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is an oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that infects chickens and poses a serious threat to poultry health. In infected animals, MDV efficiently replicates in B cells in various lymphoid organs. Despite many years of research, the viral transcriptome in primary target cells of MDV remained unknown. In this study, we uncovered the transcriptional landscape of the very virulent RB1B strain and the attenuated CVI988/Rispens vaccine strain in primary chicken B cells using high-throughput RNA-sequencing. Our data confirmed the expression of known genes, but also identified a novel spliced MDV gene in the unique short region of the genome. Furthermore, de novo transcriptome assembly revealed extensive splicing of viral genes resulting in coding and non-coding RNA transcripts. A novel splicing isoform of MDV UL15 could also be confirmed by mass spectrometry and RT-PCR. In addition, we could demonstrate that the associated transcriptional motifs are highly conserved and closely resembled those of the host transcriptional machinery. Taken together, our data allow a comprehensive re-annotation of the MDV genome with novel genes and splice variants that could be targeted in further research on MDV replication and tumorigenesis

Präfrontale Oxygenierung bei Jugendlichen mit Störungen der Emotionsregulation

Erfolgreiche Emotionsregulation (ER) stellt eine wichtige Fähigkeit im Umgang mit Stressoren und kritischen Lebensereignissen dar. Die neurobiologische Basis erfolgreicher ER ist der präfrontale Kortex (PFK), der regulierend auf emotionserzeugende Hirnstrukturen wirkt. Zur ER wenden Personen Strategien an. Eine dysfunktionale ER-Strategie ist nichtsuizidales selbstverletzendes Verhalten (NSSV), welches häufig im Jugendalter auftritt. Viele Betroffene berichten von Schwierigkeiten in der ER. NSSV stellt ein Kriterium der Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung (BPS) dar, welche oft im Jugendalter beginnt. Sie ist wesentlich durch eine emotionale Dysregulation gekennzeichnet. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, Befunde aus der neurobiologischen Forschung zur Rolle des PFK an erwachsenen Patient*innen mit BPS bei Jugendlichen mit NSSV über das Spektrum der BPS zu replizieren. Dabei soll das Verständnis der Rolle des PFK bei Jugendlichen mit Störungen in der ER verbessert werden und so die Basis für weitere Forschung und neue (psycho)therapeutische Ansätze gelegt werden. Außerdem soll hiermit das Verständnis neurobiologischer Grundlagen psychischer Erkrankungen, die mit ER-Störungen assoziiert sind, erweitert werden. Dieser Arbeit liegen drei wissenschaftliche Studien zugrunde. In Studie I wird die Aktivität des PFK im Ruhezustand bei einer Gruppe von Jugendlichen mit NSSV im Vergleich zu einer Kontrollgruppe von gesunden Jugendlichen untersucht. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass die Aktivität im PFK im Ruhezustand geringer ist bei Jugendlichen mit NSSV als bei gesunden Jugendlichen. Studie II befasst sich mit der Aktivität im PFK während einer Stressaufgabe. Die Ergebnisse deuten bei Jugendlichen mit NSSV auf eine Überaktivierung im PFK während der Exposition mit einem psychosozialen Stressor im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe in Abhängigkeit der Schwere der BPS-Symptomatik hin. Eine Option therapeutischer Intervention zur Modulation präfrontaler Aktivität bei Störungen der ER stellt transkutane Vagusnervstimulation (tVNS) dar. Daher wird in Studie III die Auswirkung von tVNS auf die Aktivität im PFK bei Jugendlichen ohne affektive Störung untersucht. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Aktivität im PFK ein Prädiktor für die Veränderungen der Herzratenvariabilität und der Herzrate bei tVNS im Vergleich zu Sham-Stimulation darstellt