Task complexity in history textbooks: A multidisciplinary case study on triangulation in history education research

The purpose of history education in Austria has changed over at least the last decade. While the focus used to be to give students a master narrative of the national past based on positivist knowledge, the current objective of history education is to foster historical thinking processes that enable students to form transferable skills in the self-reflected handling and creation of history. A key factor in fostering historical thinking is the appropriation of learning tasks. This case study measures the complexity of learning tasks in Austrian history textbooks as one important aspect of their quality. It makes use of three different approaches to complexity to triangulate the notion: general task complexity (GTC), general linguistic complexity (GLC), and domain-specific task complexity (DTC). The question is which findings can be offered by the specific strengths and limitations of the different methodological approaches to give new insights into the study of task complexity in the domain of history education research. By pursuing multidisciplinary approaches in a triangulating way, the case study opens up new prospects for this field. Besides offering new insights on measuring the complexity of learning tasks, the study illustrates the need for further research in this field – not only related to the development of analytical frameworks, but also regarding the notion of complexity in the context of historical learning itself

Task Effects on Linguistic Complexity and Accuracy: A Large-Scale Learner Corpus Analysis Employing Natural Language Processing Techniques

Large-scale learner corpora collected from online language learning platforms, such as the EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT), provide opportunities to analyze learner data at an unprecedented scale. However, interpreting the learner language in such corpora requires a precise understanding of tasks: How does the prompt and input of a task and its functional requirements influence task-based linguistic performance? This question is vital for making large-scale task-based corpora fruitful for second language acquisition research. We explore the issue through an analysis of selected tasks in EFCAMDAT and the complexity and accuracy of the language they elicit.Our research was supported as part of the LEAD Graduate School & Research Network [GSC1028], a project of the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments, and by grants ANR-11-LABX-0036 (BLRI) and ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02 (A*MIDEX). We also gratefully acknowledge the support of EF Education First through the sponsorship of the EF Research Lab for Applied Language Learning at the University of Cambridge

Circadian Programs of Transcriptional Activation, Signaling, and Protein Turnover Revealed by Microarray Analysis of Mammalian Cells

Many aspects of physiology and behavior are temporally organized into daily 24 hr rhythms, driven by an endogenous circadian clock. Studies in eukaryotes have identified a network of interacting genes forming interlocked autoregulatory feedback loops which underlie overt circadian organization in single cells [1, 2]. While in mammals the master oscillator resides in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus [2], semiautonomous circadian oscillators also exist in peripheral tissues [3–5] and in immortalized fibroblasts, where rhythmicity is induced following a serum shock [6, 7]. We used this model system in combination with high-density cDNA microarrays to examine the magnitude and quality of clock control of gene expression in mammalian cells. Supported by application of novel bioinformatics tools, we find ∼2% of genes, including expected canonical clock genes, to show consistent rhythmic circadian expression across five independent experiments. Rhythmicity in most of these genes is novel, and they fall into diverse functional groups, highlighted by a predominance of transcription factors, ubiquitin-associated factors, proteasome components, and Ras/MAPK signaling pathway components. When grouped according to phase, 68% of the genes were found to peak during estimated subjective day, 32% during estimated subjective night, with a tendency to peak at a phase corresponding to anticipation of dawn or dusk

The 6 May 1976 Friuli earthquake: re-evaluating and consolidating

The aim of this paper is to propose the creation, in terms of European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98), of the entire macroseismic fi eld of the 6 May 1976 Friuli earthquake. Only forty odd years have passed, and nothwithsatnding that there is a huge quantity of existing data, it was still disturbing to fi nd that much of the original data are missing and probably lost forever Efforts have therefore been made to fi nd additional and still unknown primary data. For the majority of the collected national data sets, a reevaluation was then possible. This study presents the comprehensive macroseismic data set for 14 European countries. It is, to our knowledge, one of the largest European data sets, consisting of 3423 intensity data points (IDPs). The earthquake was felt from Rome to the Baltic Sea, and from Belgium to Warsaw. The maximum intensity 10 EMS-98 was reached in eight localities in Friuli (Italy). Compared to previous studies, the Imax values have changed from country to country, in some cases being lowered due to methodological differences, but in the case of three among the most hit countries, Imax is now higher than in the previous studies, mainly due to the new data.Published417-4444T. Sismicità dell'ItaliaJCR Journa

Editorial note for the Geodesy and Geodynamics journal special issue Contemporary Research in Geodynamics and Earth Tides : An account of the 18th Geodynamics and Earth Tides Symposium 2016, Trieste, Italy

This volume aims at conveying the rich and interdisciplinary topics discussed at the 18th Geodynamics and Earth Tides Symposium, Trieste, 2016. For seventeen times the gathering was named the Earth Tides Symposium, when giving tribute to the evolution of the observed signals, the term geodynamics was added to the title.The present volume aims at a full coverage of the Symposium by including the entire list of abstracts that were presented either as oral or poster presentation

Neuronal hemoglobin affects dopaminergic cells' response to stress

Hemoglobin (Hb) is the major protein in erythrocytes and carries oxygen (O2) throughout the body. Recently, Hb has been found synthesized in atypical sites, including the brain. Hb is highly expressed in A9 dopaminergic (DA) neurons of the substantia nigra (SN), whose selective degeneration leads to Parkinson's disease (PD). Here we show that Hb confers DA cells' susceptibility to 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+)) and rotenone, neurochemical cellular models of PD. The toxic property of Hb does not depend on O2 binding and is associated with insoluble aggregate formation in the nucleolus. Neurochemical stress induces epigenetic modifications, nucleolar alterations and autophagy inhibition that depend on Hb expression. When adeno-associated viruses carrying \u3b1- and \u3b2-chains of Hb are stereotaxically injected into mouse SN, Hb forms aggregates and causes motor learning impairment. These results position Hb as a potential player in DA cells' homeostasis and dysfunction in PD. Copyright The Author(s) 201

Methamphetamine-Induced Dopamine-Independent Alterations in Striatal Gene Expression in the 6-Hydroxydopamine Hemiparkinsonian Rats

Unilateral injections of 6-hydroxydopamine into the medial forebrain bundle are used extensively as a model of Parkinson's disease. The present experiments sought to identify genes that were affected in the dopamine (DA)–denervated striatum after 6-hydroxydopamine-induced destruction of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway in the rat. We also examined whether a single injection of methamphetamine (METH) (2.5 mg/kg) known to cause changes in gene expression in the normally DA-innervated striatum could still influence striatal gene expression in the absence of DA. Unilateral injections of 6-hydroxydopamine into the medial forebrain bundle resulted in METH-induced rotational behaviors ipsilateral to the lesioned side and total striatal DA depletion on the lesioned side. This injection also caused decrease in striatal serotonin (5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) levels. DA depletion was associated with increases in 5-HIAA/5-HT ratios that were potentiated by the METH injection. Microarray analyses revealed changes (± 1.7-fold, p<0.025) in the expression of 67 genes on the lesioned side in comparison to the intact side of the saline-treated hemiparkinsonian animals. These include follistatin, neuromedin U, and tachykinin 2 which were up-regulated. METH administration caused increases in the expression of c-fos, Egr1, and Nor-1 on the intact side. On the DA-depleted side, METH administration also increased the expression of 61 genes including Pdgf-d and Cox-2. There were METH-induced changes in 16 genes that were common in the DA-innervated and DA-depleted sides. These include c-fos and Nor-1 which show greater changes on the normal DA side. Thus, the present study documents, for the first time, that METH mediated DA-independent changes in the levels of transcripts of several genes in the DA-denervated striatum. Our results also implicate 5-HT as a potential player in these METH-induced alterations in gene expression because the METH injection also caused significant increases in 5-HIAA/5-HT ratios on the DA-depleted side