Motivationale Wirkungen des Lehrformats Lehr-Lern-Labor

Aufbauend auf den bisherigen positiven Erfahrungen mit Lehr-Lern-Labor-Seminaren (LLLS) sowie den entsprechenden Forschungsergebnissen der ersten Förderphase, verfolgt das an der Freien Universität Berlin (FU) beheimatete Projekt K2teach* auch in der zweiten Förderphase der Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung (QLB) das Ziel, zukünftige Lehrer*innen bereits während des Studiums besser auf die Anforderungen lernwirksamen Unterrichts vorzubereiten. Im Verlauf des Professionalisierungsprozesses spielen motivationale Aspekte eine wichtige Rolle. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden daher die motivationale Wirksamkeit von LLL sowie mögliche Forschungsansätze diskutiert

Diversity of selected toll-like receptor genes in cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and African leopards (Panthera pardus pardus).

BackgroundThe growing world population amplifies the anthropogenic impact on wildlife globally. With shrinking habitats, wild populations are being pushed to co-exist in close proximity to humans, leading to an increased threat of infectious disease. Therefore, understanding the immune system of a species is key to assess its resilience in a changing environment. The innate immunity system (IIS) is the body’s first line of defense against pathogens. High variability in IIS-genes, such as the toll-like receptor (TLR) genes, appears to be associated with resistance to infectious diseases. However, few studies have investigated diversity in TLR genes in non-model organisms and drawn conclusions for the conservation of vulnerable species. Large predators are threatened globally, and their populations increasingly have been declining over the last decades. Big cats, such as leopards (Panthera pardus) and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are no exception to this trend and are listed as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) including several subspecies, e.g., A. j. venaticus and P. p. melas, that already face extinction. To better understand vulnerability in terms of immune genetic diversity in the two sympatric occurring species, we compared selected TLR genes (TLR2, TLR4, TLR6 and TLR8) between modern African leopards (P. p. pardus) and Southern African cheetahs (A. j. jubatus). ResultsOur study supports the previously detected high genetic diversity in African leopards and confirms genetic impoverishment in Southern African cheetahs. Despite notable differences, both species share some haplotypic similarities in the investigated TLRs. Moreover, our historic cheetah samples from all five subspecies showed levels of genetic diversity comparable to modern African leopards. By including historic cheetahs and samples from all known subspecies, we put the observed IIS diversity into an evolutionary context.ConclusionThe genetic diversity in the investigated TLR genes in modern Southern African cheetahs and in historic cheetahs is low compared to African leopards. However, according to previous studies, the low immune genetic diversity might not yet affect the health of this cheetah subspecies. Compared to historic cheetah data and other subspecies, a more recent population decline might explain the observed genetic impoverishment of TLR genes in modern Southern African cheetahs.<br/

Identifying goal-oriented and explorative information search patterns

Pfeiffer J, Prosiegel J, Meißner M, Pfeiffer T. Identifying goal-oriented and explorative information search patterns. In: Davis F, Riedl R, vom Brocke J, Léger P-M, Randolph A, eds. Proceedings of the Gmunden Retreat on NeuroIS 2014. 2014: 23-25.One of the latest trends of ubiquitous Information Systems is the use of smartglasses, such as Google Glass or Epson Moverio BT-200 that are connected to the Internet and are augmenting reality with a head-up display. In order to develop recommendation agents (RAs) for the use at the point of sale, researchers have proposed to integrate a portable eye tracking system into such smartglasses (Pfeiffer et al. 2013). This would allow providing the customer with relevant product information and alternative products by making use of the customer’s information acquisition processes recorded during the purchase decision

The potential and shortcomings of mitochondrial DNA analysis for cheetah conservation management

There are only about 7,100 adolescent and adult cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) remaining in the wild. With the majority occurring outside protected areas, their numbers are rapidly declining. Evidence-based conservation measures are essential for the survival of this species. Genetic data is routinely used to inform conservation strategies, e.g., by establishing conservation units (CU). A commonly used marker in conservation genetics is mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Here, we investigated the cheetah’s phylogeography using a large-scale mtDNA data set to refine subspecies distributions and better assign individuals to CUs. Our dataset mostly consisted of historic samples to cover the cheetah’s whole range as the species has been extinct in most of its former distribution. While our genetic data largely agree with geography-based subspecies assignments, several geographic regions show conflicting mtDNA signals. Our analyses support previous findings that evolutionary forces such as incomplete lineage sorting or mitochondrial capture likely confound the mitochondrial phylogeography of this species, especially in East and, to some extent, in Northeast Africa. We caution that subspecies assignments solely based on mtDNA should be treated carefully and argue for an additional standardized nuclear single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker set for subspecies identification and monitoring. However, the detection of the A. j. soemmeringii specific haplogroup by a newly designed Amplification-Refractory Mutation System (ARMS) can already provide support for conservation measures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Motivationale Wirkungen des Lehrformats Lehr-Lern-Labor

An der „Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung“ ist die Freie Universität Berlin (FU) mit dem Projekt „K2teach“ (Know how to teach) beteiligt. Im Rahmen der ersten Förderphase wurden in einem der K2teach-Teilprojekte Lehr-Lern-Labore (LLL) als praxisnahe Lernorte weiterentwickelt und fä-cherübergreifend in Bezug auf ihre Wirksamkeit evaluiert. Ein LLL ist ein universitäres Lehrformat mit Laborcharakter, bei dem Studierende komplexitätsreduzierte Unterrichtssituationen theoriege-leitet planen und mit Schüler*innen durchführen (Dohrmann & Nordmeier, 2015). Auch in der zwei-ten Förderphase verfolgt K2teach das Ziel, zukünftige Lehrer*innen im Studium durch LLL besser auf die Anforderungen lernwirksamen Unterrichts vorzubereiten. Das Format wird weiter beforscht und als innovatives Lehrformat auf weitere Fächer ausgeweitet. Inzwischen sind LLL-Seminare an der FU Berlin sowohl in Bachelor- als auch in Masterstudienordnungen verankert, und über die Wirkungen der LLL-Formate liegen bereits einige Befunde vor. Aufbauend auf den bisherigen po-sitiven Erfahrungen und Forschungsergebnissen liegt im Rahmen der weiteren Begleitforschung ein besonderer Fokus auf den motivationalen Aspekten des LLL-Formats

Alignments of immune response gene exon data of jaguars

Exon alignments of 13 jaguars for Killer cell lectin-like receptor (KLR) genes: KLRA, KLRC1-1, KLRC1-4, KLRC1-5, KLRC1-6, KLRC2-1, KLRC3, KLRH4, KLRJ; Toll-like receptor (TLR) genes: TLR1, TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR6, TLR7, TLR8, TLR9, TLR10; and Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II genes: DMA, and DRA.Exon alignments of 13 jaguars for Killer cell lectin-like receptor (KLR) genes: KLRA, KLRC1-1, KLRC1-4, KLRC1-5, KLRC1-6, KLRC2-1, KLRC3, KLRH4, KLRJ; Toll-like receptor (TLR) genes: TLR1, TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR6, TLR7, TLR8, TLR9, TLR10; and Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II genes: DMA, and DRA

Mobile recommendation agents making online use of visual attention information at the point of sale

Pfeiffer T, Pfeiffer J, Meißner M. Mobile recommendation agents making online use of visual attention information at the point of sale. In: Davis F, Riedl R, Jan vom B, Léger P-M, Randolph A, eds. Proceedings of the Gmunden Retreat on NeuroIS 2013. 2013: 3-3.We aim to utilize online information about visual attention for developing mobile recommendation agents (RAs) for use at the point of sale. Up to now, most RAs are focussed exclusively at personalization in an e-commerce setting. Very little is known, however, about mobile RAs that offer information and assistance at the point of sale based on individual-level feature based preference models (Murray and Häubl 2009). Current attempts provide information about products at the point of sale by manually scanning barcodes or using RFID (Kowatsch et al. 2011, Heijden 2005), e.g. using specific apps for smartphones. We argue that an online access to the current visual attention of the user offers a much larger potential. Integrating mobile eye tracking into ordinary glasses would yield a direct benefit of applying neuroscience methods in the user’s everyday life. First, learning from consumers’ attentional processes over time and adapting recommendations based on this learning allows us to provide very accurate and relevant recommendations, potentially increasing the perceived usefulness. Second, our proposed system needs little explicit user input (no scanning or navigation on screen) making it easy to use. Thus, instead of learning from click behaviour and past customer ratings, as it is the case in the e-commerce setting, the mobile RA learns from eye movements by participating online in every day decision processes. We argue that mobile RAs should be built based on current research in human judgment and decision making (Murray et al. 2010). In our project, we therefore follow a two-step approach: In the empirical basic research stream, we aim to understand the user’s interaction with the product shelf: the actions and patterns of user’s behaviour (eye movements, gestures, approaching a product closer) and their correspondence to the user’s informational needs. In the empirical system development stream, we create prototypes of mobile RAs and test experimentally the factors that influence the user’s adoption. For example, we suggest that a user’s involvement in the process, such as a need for exact nutritional information or for assistance (e.g., reading support for elderly) will influence the user’s intention to use such as system. The experiments are conducted both in our immersive virtual reality supermarket presented in a CAVE, where we can also easily display information to the user and track the eye movement in great accuracy, as well as in real-world supermarkets (see Figure 1), so that the findings can be better generalized to natural decision situations (Gidlöf et al. 2013). In a first pilot study with five randomly chosen participants in a supermarket, we evaluated which sort of mobile RAs consumers favour in order to get a first impression of the user’s acceptance of the technology. Figure 1 shows an excerpt of one consumer’s eye movements during a decision process. First results show long eye cascades and short fixations on many products in situations where users are uncertain and in need for support. Furthermore, we find a surprising acceptance of the technology itself throughout all ages (23 – 61 years). At the same time, consumers express serious fear of being manipulated by such a technology. For that reason, they strongly prefer the information to be provided by trusted third party or shared with family members and friends (see also Murray and Häubl 2009). Our pilot will be followed by a larger field experiment in March in order to learn more about factors that influence the user’s acceptance as well as the eye movement patterns that reflect typical phases of decision processes and indicate the need for support by a RA

eMobility-Scout. Der Weg zum wirtschaftlichen Elektrofuhrpark von morgen

Die Elektromobilität ist aus dem gesellschaftlichen Diskurs nicht mehr wegzudenken. Zahlreiche Entwicklungen wie elektrische Lieferwägen, Lastenfahrräder und LKWs zeigen das große Potenzial der gewerblichen Nutzung. Das Verbundprojekt eMobility-Scout leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag, um dieses Potenzial nutzbar zu machen: Eine cloudbasierte IT-Lösung für den Betrieb von E-Fahrzeugen ermöglicht es Unternehmen, Elektrofahrzeuge einfach in ihre Flotten einzubinden