Competence-Oriented Teaching: Combining Theory and Practice in a Future-Oriented Teacher Education

Linking theory and practice in university teacher education is a necessary condition for the development of didactic competence. With this in mind, we developed a seminar to promote competence-oriented teaching through a continuous exchange of practical expertise with current teachers. As a result, all of the participants (students and teachers) should acquire greater pedagogical knowledge as a central element of their teaching expertise. In order to examine the impact of the seminar, we measured the development of the competence-oriented didactic knowledge of 57 participating students and 6 accompanying teachers. To do so, we used a pre–post design with different control groups. The results show a significant increase in didactic knowledge. But they also show that diagnostic competences need significant further development. Hence, in the future, the seminar will be supplemented by video-based learning elements, which in particular address the difficulty of teaching competences in classrooms with a wide variety of pupils

Neotectonic markers in the Panafrican belt formations of Cameroon: elements of interpretation and their environmental impacts

The North equatorial Panafrican Belt, whose Cameroonian formations are dated between 650 and 400 million years, and which are located in the North of the Congo Craton, is subdivided in to three major geodynamic domains: a north Cameroon domain, a central Cameroon domain and a south Cameroon domain. These major domains are generally, particularly the central domain, affected by great strikeslip faults in which the most important are the central cameroonian shear zone and the Sanaga fault. Studies that establish the order of occurrence of geological events, generally performed in these domains and particularly at Banefo area (West Cameroon) reveal markers of recent tectonics (post panafrican) that affect the granitogneissic basement...conferenc

The Machine Learning Landscape of Top Taggers

Based on the established task of identifying boosted, hadronically decaying top quarks, we compare a wide range of modern machine learning approaches. Unlike most established methods they rely on low-level input, for instance calorimeter output. While their network architectures are vastly different, their performance is comparatively similar. In general, we find that these new approaches are extremely powerful and great fun.Comment: Yet another tagger included

Detection of Prion Protein in Urine-Derived Injectable Fertility Products by a Targeted Proteomic Approach

BACKGROUND: Iatrogenic transmission of human prion disease can occur through medical or surgical procedures, including injection of hormones such as gonadotropins extracted from cadaver pituitaries. Annually, more than 300,000 women in the United States and Canada are prescribed urine-derived gonadotropins for infertility. Although menopausal urine donors are screened for symptomatic neurological disease, incubation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is impossible to exclude by non-invasive testing. Risk of carrier status of variant CJD (vCJD), a disease associated with decades-long peripheral incubation, is estimated to be on the order of 100 per million population in the United Kingdom. Studies showing infectious prions in the urine of experimental animals with and without renal disease suggest that prions could be present in asymptomatic urine donors. Several human fertility products are derived from donated urine; recently prion protein has been detected in preparations of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a classical proteomic approach, 33 and 34 non-gonadotropin proteins were identified in urinary human chorionic gonadotropin (u-hCG) and highly-purified urinary human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG-HP) products, respectively. Prion protein was identified as a major contaminant in u-hCG preparations for the first time. An advanced prion protein targeted proteomic approach was subsequently used to conduct a survey of gonadotropin products; this approach detected human prion protein peptides in urine-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG and hMG-HP, but not in recombinant products. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The presence of protease-sensitive prion protein in urinary-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG, and hMG-HP suggests that prions may co-purify in these products. Intramuscular injection is a relatively efficient route of transmission of human prion disease, and young women exposed to prions can be expected to survive an incubation period associated with a minimal inoculum. The risks of urine-derived fertility products could now outweigh their benefits, particularly considering the availability of recombinant products

Consumption caught in the cash nexus.

During the last thirty years, ‘consumption’ has become a major topic in the study of contemporary culture within anthropology, psychology and sociology. For many authors it has become central to understanding the nature of material culture in the modern world but this paper argues that the concept is, in British writing at least, too concerned with its economic origins in the selling and buying of consumer goods or commodities. It is argued that to understand material culture as determined through the monetary exchange for things - the cash nexus - leads to an inadequate sociological understanding of the social relations with objects. The work of Jean Baudrillard is used both to critique the concept of consumption as it leads to a focus on advertising, choice, money and shopping and to point to a more sociologically adequate approach to material culture that explores objects in a system of models and series, ‘atmosphere’, functionality, biography, interaction and mediation

Quotient Complexity of Regular Languages

The past research on the state complexity of operations on regular languages is examined, and a new approach based on an old method (derivatives of regular expressions) is presented. Since state complexity is a property of a language, it is appropriate to define it in formal-language terms as the number of distinct quotients of the language, and to call it "quotient complexity". The problem of finding the quotient complexity of a language f(K,L) is considered, where K and L are regular languages and f is a regular operation, for example, union or concatenation. Since quotients can be represented by derivatives, one can find a formula for the typical quotient of f(K,L) in terms of the quotients of K and L. To obtain an upper bound on the number of quotients of f(K,L) all one has to do is count how many such quotients are possible, and this makes automaton constructions unnecessary. The advantages of this point of view are illustrated by many examples. Moreover, new general observations are presented to help in the estimation of the upper bounds on quotient complexity of regular operations

Kank Is an EB1 Interacting Protein that Localises to Muscle-Tendon Attachment Sites in Drosophila

Little is known about how microtubules are regulated in different cell types during development. EB1 plays a central role in the regulation of microtubule plus ends. It directly binds to microtubule plus ends and recruits proteins which regulate microtubule dynamics and behaviour. We report the identification of Kank, the sole Drosophila orthologue of human Kank proteins, as an EB1 interactor that predominantly localises to embryonic attachment sites between muscle and tendon cells. Human Kank1 was identified as a tumour suppressor and has documented roles in actin regulation and cell polarity in cultured mammalian cells. We found that Drosophila Kank binds EB1 directly and this interaction is essential for Kank localisation to microtubule plus ends in cultured cells. Kank protein is expressed throughout fly development and increases during embryogenesis. In late embryos, it accumulates to sites of attachment between muscle and epidermal cells. A kank deletion mutant was generated. We found that the mutant is viable and fertile without noticeable defects. Further analysis showed that Kank is dispensable for muscle function in larvae. This is in sharp contrast to C. elegans in which the Kank orthologue VAB-19 is required for development by stabilising attachment structures between muscle and epidermal cells

Detection of Prion Protein in Urine-Derived Injectable Fertility Products by a Targeted Proteomic Approach

BACKGROUND: Iatrogenic transmission of human prion disease can occur through medical or surgical procedures, including injection of hormones such as gonadotropins extracted from cadaver pituitaries. Annually, more than 300,000 women in the United States and Canada are prescribed urine-derived gonadotropins for infertility. Although menopausal urine donors are screened for symptomatic neurological disease, incubation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is impossible to exclude by non-invasive testing. Risk of carrier status of variant CJD (vCJD), a disease associated with decades-long peripheral incubation, is estimated to be on the order of 100 per million population in the United Kingdom. Studies showing infectious prions in the urine of experimental animals with and without renal disease suggest that prions could be present in asymptomatic urine donors. Several human fertility products are derived from donated urine; recently prion protein has been detected in preparations of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a classical proteomic approach, 33 and 34 non-gonadotropin proteins were identified in urinary human chorionic gonadotropin (u-hCG) and highly-purified urinary human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG-HP) products, respectively. Prion protein was identified as a major contaminant in u-hCG preparations for the first time. An advanced prion protein targeted proteomic approach was subsequently used to conduct a survey of gonadotropin products; this approach detected human prion protein peptides in urine-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG and hMG-HP, but not in recombinant products. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The presence of protease-sensitive prion protein in urinary-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG, and hMG-HP suggests that prions may co-purify in these products. Intramuscular injection is a relatively efficient route of transmission of human prion disease, and young women exposed to prions can be expected to survive an incubation period associated with a minimal inoculum. The risks of urine-derived fertility products could now outweigh their benefits, particularly considering the availability of recombinant products

Processing and Technology of Fruits and Vegetables, 1960

Tomato Variety Evaluation for Processing, 1961 / W. A. Gould, J. R. Geisman and Wade Schulte -- Evaluation of Sweet Corn Varieties for Processing / J. R. Geisman and W. A. Gould -- Small Fruit Variety Evaluation Studies for Freezing / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- Evaluation of Apples for Processing. I. Fruit Juice Blends / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- Evaluation of Apples for Processing. II. Canned Apple Slices / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- Evaluation of Apples for Processing. III. Frozen Apple Slices / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- Evaluation of Apples for Processing. IV. Frozen Fruit Pies / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- A Study of Several Varieties of Pumpkin and Squash for Canning and Freezing for Use in Pies / Robert H. Clayton, J. R. Geisman and W. A. Gould -- Factors Effecting the Consistency of Cream Style Corn / D. R. Davis and W. A. Gould -- The Objective Measurement of Tomato Juice Consistency / Robert Kluter and W. A. Gould -- A Method for the Detection of Drosophila Fly Eggs and Larvae in Tomato Products / J. R. Geisman and Winston D. Bash -- A Chemical Study of Flavor and Flavor Substances in Tomatoes / John Hal Johnson and W. A. Gould -- Tannin Content Effects Grape Juice Quality / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- pH Survey for Tomatoes in Ohio / W. D. Bash -- Flavor Studies with Sauerkraut / J. R. Geisman, S. S. Verma and W. A. Gould -- The Effect of Fill Weight on Drained Weight of Canned Tomatoes / Wade A. Schulte and W. A. Gould -- A New Method for the Manufacture of Apple Sirup / M. P. Baldauf, D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- Studies on Color Retention in Canned R.T.P. Cherries / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- Clumping Studies in Canned Blueberries / D. R. Davis and H. L. Stammer -- Infra-red Peeling Studies. I. Apples. / L. Lafferty and W. A. Gould -- Infra-red Peeling Studies. II. Tomatoes. / W. A. Gould, Richard Leiss and Donall Streets -- The Effect of Water Holding Times and Temperatures on Quality of Tomatoes / Richard Leiss, Ernest Anderson and W. A. Gould -- Quality Attributes of Sweet Potatoes - Glass Packed / Donald A. Giesser and W. A. Gould -- A Study of Some of the Factors Effecting the Efficiency of Washing of Fruits and Vegetables. I. Tomatoes / W. A. Gould and J. R. Geisman -- A Study of Some of the Factors Effecting the Efficiency of Washing of Fruits and Vegetables. II. Sweet Corn / J. R. Geisman and W. A. Gould -- A Study of Alpha-keto Acids, Amino Acids, and Citric Acid in Eight Tomato Varieties, and Their Changes During Processing / Mokhtar M. Hamdy and W. A. Goul