Tertullian--His Life and Theology

With these considerations in minds we are ready to embark upon our study of his life and theology. First, this paper will consider his life and work as it affected the people of his day, his dealings with the heresies of his day, and his own heretical views. Then this paper will consider his theology, which will be done by a survey of the various loci in systematic theology

Vocal Hygiene Training in the Elementary School Teacher Population

This study investigated the effectiveness of vocal hygiene training in improving knowledge and self-rated characteristics of the voice. The subjects were 10 kindergarten through third grade school teachers who received 4 half-hour sessions of vocal hygiene training in the experimental group. Eleven kindergarten through third grade school teachers served as control subjects and received no training. The teachers were placed in subgroups dependent upon their reports of experiencing voice difficulties or not experiencing voice difficulties. This study also researched the effectiveness of vocal hygiene for teachers with self-reported vocal difficulties versus those without difficulties. Lastly, the perception of importance of vocal hygiene training between those participants with reported voice difficulties and those without within the experimental group and within the control group was also investigated. Three instruments developed by the researcher were utilized: the Knowledge Questionnaire, the Vocal Assessment Scale, and the Vocal Hygiene Opinion Questionnaire. The results of this study showed that the teachers in the experimental group increased their knowledge of vocal hygiene significantly higher than the control group participants did. However, vocal hygiene training did not cause significant changes in self-rated voice characteristics of the subjects. In addition, this study revealed that the experimental group participants perceived vocal hygiene training as significantly more important than the control group participants did. Furthermore, this study showed that the experimental with vocal difficulties group perceived vocal hygiene as significantly more important than the experimental without vocal difficulties group did. The implications of motivation in a therapy program and the importance of vocal hygiene training for teachers are discussed

Erkenntnisse, Erfahrungen, Erlebnisse für viele Menschen : Stand und Zukunft der Bildungsarbeit in Botanischen Gärten

Botanische Gärten sind als Lernorte zu allen Themen rund um die pflanzliche Vielfalt besonders attraktiv. So groß wie die Vielfalt der Gärten selbst, so unterschiedlich sind auch die Ansätze und Gründe für ihre Bildungsarbeit, die gleichberechtigt nebeneinander existieren. Ihre Bildungsarbeit bezieht sich sowohl auf Kinder als auch auf Erwachsene. Sie hat einen qualitativ hohen Anspruch, der nur durch das Zusammenwirken aller Berufsgruppen und die fachkompetente Umsetzung erfüllt werden kann. Im Frühsommer 2007 prüfte eine Befragung den Stand und die Umsetzung dieser Arbeit an Botanischen Gärten. Die Auswertung zeigt klare Tendenzen: Die Bildung ist zu einer wichtigen Aufgabe für viele Botanische Gärten geworden, worauf die Neugründungen so genannter „Grüner Schulen“ hinweisen. Vor allem für die universitären Botanischen Gärten könnte eine erfolgreiche außeruniversitäre) Bildungsarbeit Zukunft sichernd sein. Deren Erhalt und Stärkung durch Ausstattung und Personal sind allerdings die Voraussetzung für eine weitere Profilierung der Gärten als Schnittstelle zwischen Wissenschaft und Bevölkerung im Themenfeld Biologische Vielfalt. Dafür bedarf es weiterer Anerkennung der bisherigen Arbeiten sowohl durch die Gärten selbst als auch durch ihre Träger. Zusätzlich müssen die Botanischen Gärten ihre Umweltbildungsangebote an die internationalen Konzepte zur „Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung“ anpassen, so wie es auch der Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) fordert.Botanic gardens play a vital educational role for the public in promoting plant diversity and plant conservation. In summer 2007 all 95 botanic gardens in Germany were asked to take part in a survey on their educational work and its implementation. 65 gardens (68 %) participated. The result was obvious: non-academic education has become very important for many botanic gardens. Just as wide as the diversity of the german gardens themselves is, so is their work and approach in educational work. A wide range of issues is covered not only for young people but for adults as well. Due to the motivated garden teams a large audience can be reached. For a successful future the gardens need to expand their facilities for education including staff, acquire more financial support and better equipment. Additionally the botanical gardens should adjust their environmental education programmes towards international concepts on education for sustainable development as the Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) asks for

Heilpflanzen als politische Pflanzen: Ingwer und Arnika

Der Beitrag betrachtet die Heilpflanzen Ingwer und Arnika im Spannungsfeld zwischen Naturschutz und Ökonomie. Er beschäftigt sich mit ihren politischen und ökonomischen Dimensionen im Kontext der Nachhaltigkeit und schlägt das Thema für Unterricht und außerschulische Lernorte vor. (DIPF/Orig.)The article looks at the medicinal plants ginger and arnica in the field of tension between nature conservation and economy. It deals with their political and economic dimensions in the context of sustainability and proposes the topic for lessons and extracurricular places of learning. (DIPF/Orig.

Das Potenzial von botanischen Gärten als Lernorte zum Globalen Lernen

Etwa 95 deutsche botanische Gärten kultivieren etwa ein Fünftel der beschriebenen Pflanzenarten weltweit. Sie erreichen geschätzte 14 Millionen Besucher jährlich und engagieren sich durch Bildungsveranstaltungen. All dies trägt als unverzichtbarer Bestandteil zur Umsetzung von internationalen Abkommen und Verpflichtungen zur Erhaltung der (pflanzlichen) Biodiversität bei. Der Beitrag fasst die Ergebnisse einer Befragung zu den Angeboten und Methoden der Bildungsarbeit an botanischen Gärten zusammen und beschreibt ihr Potenzial als außerschulische und informelle Lernorte rund um das Schlüsselthema der Bewahrung und Nutzung pflanzlicher Vielfalt im globalen Kontext. (DIPF/Orig.)About 95 German botanical gardens cultivate an average of one fifth of the world\u27s classified plant species. They record 14 million visitors each year and are involved in many educational programs. All these activities are an important contribution to international agreements on the conservation of biological (plant) diversity. The paper provides a summary of a study that investigates offers and methods of educational programs in botanical gardens and describes their potential as out-of-school and informal learning sites for the key issue of conservation and use of plant diversity in a global context. (DIPF/Orig.

Inter- and intra-tree variability of carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios of modern pollen from nine European tree species

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of raw pollen sampled from nine abundant tree species growing in natural habitats of central and northern Europe were investigated to understand the intra- and inter-specific variability of pollen-isotope values. All species yielded specific δ13Cpollen and δ18Opollen values and patterns, which can be ascribed to their physiology and habitat preferences. Broad-leaved trees flowering early in the year before leaf proliferation (Alnus glutinosa and Corylus avellana) exhibited on average 2.6‰ lower δ13Cpollen and 3.1‰ lower δ18Opollen values than broad-leaved and coniferous trees flowering during mid and late spring (Acer pseudoplatanus, Betula pendula, Carpinus betulus, Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris and Quercus robur). Mean species-specific δ13Cpollen values did not change markedly over time, whereas δ18Opollen values of two consecutive years were often statistically distinct. An intra-annual analysis of B. pendula and P. sylvestris pollen revealed increasing δ18Opollen values during the final weeks of pollen development. However, the δ13Cpollen values remained consistent throughout the pollen-maturation process. Detailed intra-individual analysis yielded circumferential and height-dependent variations within carbon and oxygen pollen-isotopes and the sampling position on a tree accounted for differences of up to 3.5‰ for δ13Cpollen and 2.1‰ for δ18Opollen. A comparison of isotope ranges from different geographic settings revealed gradients between maritime and continental as well as between high and low altitudinal study sites. The results of stepwise regression analysis demonstrated, that carbon and oxygen pollen-isotopes also reflect local non-climate environmental conditions. A detailed understanding of isotope patterns and ranges in modern pollen is necessary to enhance the accuracy of palaeoclimate investigations on δ13C and δ18O of fossil pollen. Furthermore, pollen-isotope values are species-specific and the analysis of species growing during different phenophases may be valuable for palaeoweather reconstructions of different seasons

Testing the success of palaeontological methods in the delimitation of clam shrimp (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) on extant species

Fossil spinicaudatan taxonomy heavily relies on carapace features (size, shape, ornamentation) and palaeontologists have greatly refined methods to study and describe carapace variability. Whether carapace features alone are sufficient for distinguishing between species of a single genus has remained untested. In our study, we tested common palaeontological methods on 481 individuals of the extant Australian genus Ozestheria that have been previously assigned to ten species based on genetic analysis. All species are morphologically distinct based on geometric morphometrics (p ≤ 0.001), but they occupy overlapping regions in Ozestheria morphospace. Linear discriminant analysis of Fourier shape coefficients reaches a mean model performance of 93.8% correctly classified individuals over all possible 45 pairwise species comparisons. This can be further increased by combining the size and shape datasets. Nine of the ten examined species are clearly sexually dimorphic but male and female morphologies strongly overlap within species with little influence on model performance. Ornamentation is commonly species-diagnostic; seven ornamentation types are distinguished of which six are species-specific while one is shared by four species. A transformation of main ornamental features (e.g. from punctate to smooth) can occur among closely related species suggesting short evolutionary timescales. Our overall results support the taxonomic value of carapace features, which should also receive greater attention in the taxonomy of extant species. The extensive variation in carapace shape and ornamentation is noteworthy and several species would probably have been assigned to different genera or families if these had been fossils, bearing implications for the systematics of fossil Spinicaudata

Can fractal dimensions objectivize gastropod shell morphometrics? A case study from Lake Lugu (SW China)

1. Morphometrics are fundamental for the analysis of size and shape in fossils, particularly because soft parts or DNA are rarely preserved and hard parts such as shells are commonly the only source of information. Geometric morphometrics, that is, landmark analysis, is well established for the description of shape but it exhibits a couple of shortcomings resulting from subjective choices during landmarking (number and position of landmarks) and from difficulties in resolving shape at the level of micro-sculpture. 2. With the aid of high-resolution 3D scanning technology and analyses of fractal dimensions, we test whether such shortcomings of linear and landmark morphometrics can be overcome. As a model group, we selected a clade of modern viviparid gastropods from Lake Lugu, with shells that show a high degree of sculptural variation. Linear and landmark analyses were applied to the same shells in order to establish the fractal dimensions. The genetic diversity of the gastropod clade was assessed. 3. The genetic results suggest that the gastropod clade represents a single species. The results of all morphometric methods applied are in line with the genetic results, which is that no specific morphotype could be delimited. Apart from this overall agreement, landmark and fractal dimension analyses do not correspond to each other but represent data sets with different information. Generally, the fractal dimension values quantify the roughness of the shell surface, the resolution of the 3D scans determining the level. In our approach, we captured the micro-sculpture but not the first-order sculptural elements, which explains that fractal dimension and landmark data are not in phase. 4. We can show that analyzing fractal dimensions of gastropod shells opens a window to more detailed information that can be considered in evolutionary and ecological contexts. We propose that using low-resolution 3D scans may successfully substitute landmark analyses because it overcomes the subjective landmarking. Analyses of 3D scans with higher resolution than used in this study will provide surface roughness information at the mineralogical level. We suggest that fractal dimension analyses of a combination of differently resolved 3D models will significantly improve the quality of shell morphometrics

A polymerase III-like reinitiation mechanism is operating in regulation of histone expression in archaea

An archaeal histone gene from the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus containing four consecutive putative oligo-dT terminator sequences was used as a model system to investigate termination signals and the mechanism of termination in vitro. The archaeal RNA polymerase terminated with high efficiency at the first terminator at 90°C when it contained five to six T residues, at 80°C readthrough was significantly increased. A putative hairpin structure upstream of the first terminator had no effect on termination efficiency. Template competition experiments starting with RNA polymerase molecules engaged in ternary complexes revealed recycling of RNA polymerase from the terminator to the promoter of the same template. This facilitated reinitiation was dependent upon the presence of a terminator sequence suggest-ing that pausing at the terminator is required for recycling as in the RNA polymerase III system. Replacement of the sequences immediately down-stream of the oligo-dT terminator by an AT-rich segment improved termination efficiency. Both AT-rich and GC-rich downstream sequences seemed to impair the facilitated reinitiation pathway. Our data suggest that recycling is dependent on a subtle interplay of pausing of RNA polymerase at the ter-minator and RNA polymerase translocation beyond the oligo-dT termination signal that is dramatically affected by downstream sequences