A Structured Approach for Designing Collaboration Experiences for Virtual Worlds

While 3D virtual worlds are more frequently being used as interactive environments for collaboration, there is still no structured approach developed specifically for the combined design of 3D virtual environments and the collaborative activities in them. We argue that formalizing both the structural elements of virtual worlds and aspects of collaborative work or collaborative learning helps to develop fruitful collaborative work and learning experiences. As such, we present the avatar-based collaboration framework (ABC framework). Based on semiotics theory, the framework puts the collaborating groups into the center of the design and emphasizes the use of distinct features of 3D virtual worlds for use in collaborative learning environments and activities. In developing the framework, we have drawn from best practices in instructional design and game design, research in HCI, and findings and observations from our own empirical research that investigates collaboration patterns in virtual worlds. Along with the framework, we present a case study of its first application for a global collaborative learning project. This paper particularly addresses virtual world designers, educators, meeting facilitators, and other practitioners by thoroughly describing the process of creating rich collaboration and collaborative learning experiences for virtual worlds with the ABC framework

Alquila-se una isla: turistas argentinos em Florianópolis /

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas.Este trabalho tem como objeto o turismo argentino em Florianópolis, mais especificamente, em Canasvieras, no verão de 1992. É, um estudo de como as representações dos turistas argentinos a respeito do Brasil - construídas principalmente pelos divulgadores turísticos e pela mídia - vão autorizar uma relativa suspensão de seu cotidiano na Ilha de Santa Catarina. Suspensão que expressa inversões de ideologias sociais centrais da cultura argentina. Para isso utilizaremos os conceitos de liminaridade e communitas desenvolvidos por Victor Turner. Junto a isso, serão analisadas as representações da população anfitriã - brasileira - a respeito do tursita argentino, levando em consideração que estas são influenciadas por suas relações cotidianas na ilha, pelo comportamento limiar do turista, pela transformação da cidade com a atividade turística e o seu impacto sobre a mesma. Serão estudadas, porém mais superficialmente, as imagens pré-concebidas por ambas as populações na história das relações entre os dois países. Em síntese, mostraremos como a imagem de Florianópolis, mais especificamente, de Canasvieiras, é construída como um espaço propício para suspensão de regras cotidianas argentinas, e de como esta imagem é reforçada pela conduta do turista argentino e repudiada pelo morador local

Zytokin-abhängige Regulation der Genexpression von Aggrekanasen und bone morphogenetic proteins in arthrotischen Synovialfibroblasten

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Bedeutung der Synovialfibroblasten für die Entstehung der Arthrose. In kultivierten Synovialfibroblasten von 5 Arthrosepatienten konnte mittels Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-Analyse gezeigt werden, dass anabole Wachstumsfaktoren- die Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs)- und katabole matrixdegradierende Proteasen- die Aggrekanasen- von Synovialfibroblasten exprimiert wurden. Außerdem wurde beobachtet, dass die Genexpression der Aggrekanasen und BMPs teilweise durch Zytokine reguliert wurde. Während die Genexpression der Aggrekanase-1 durch die Zytokine Interleukin-1 beta, Tumornekrosefaktor alpha und Transforming growth factor beta stimuliert wurde, führten die gleichen Zytokine zu einer Suppression der Genexpression von BMP-2 und BMP-4. Damit heben die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit die pathogenetische Bedeutung der Synovialfibroblasten für die Arthroseentstehung als regulierbare Synthesestätten anaboler Wachstumsfaktoren und kataboler Proteasen hervor

Creating an avatar to become a "spect-actor" of one’s learning of English for specific purposes

[EN] In this article, we shall examine why the creation of avatars in virtual worlds facilitates the learning of business English. We are committed to determining the factors that enable students in a French business school to consolidate their skills in English (from linguistic, socio-linguistic and pragmatic standpoints) and to develop more general competences (such as self-confidence, the management of space and time, interpersonal relationships) through the creation and use of avatars. Our article aims at showing that these skills are then transferable to real communication situations. Our research comes within the scope of a “communic-actional” approach of English learning. It relies on the notions of “distanciation”, “fragmentation” and “spect-actor” of dramaturgs Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal, which give a scientific framework to our researchPrivas-Bréauté, V. (2016). Creating an avatar to become a "spect-actor" of one’s learning of English for specific purposes. The EuroCALL Review. 24(1):40-52. doi:10.4995/eurocall.2016.5695.SWORD4052241Atlan, J. (2000). L’utilisation des stratégies d’apprentissage d’une langue dans un environnement des TICE. Alsic, (Vol. 3, n° 1). doi:10.4000/alsic.1759Berry, V. (2012). L'Expérience virtuelle. Jouer, vivre, apprendre dans un jeu vidéo. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.Brecht, B. (1964). On Theatre. Edited and translated by John Willett, London: Methuen Drama.Boal, A. (1979). Theatre of the Oppressed. New York: Theatre Communications Group.Delwiche, A. (2006). Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) in the new media classroom. Educational Technology & Society, 9(3), 160-172.Garau, M., Slater, M., Vinayagamoorthy, V., Brogni, A., Steed, A., & Sasse, M. A. (2003). The impact of avatar realism and eye gaze control on perceived quality of communication in a shared immersive virtual environment. Proceedings of the conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI ’03. doi:10.1145/642611.642703Goffman. E. (1974). Frame Analysis. An essay on the organization of experience. New York: Northeastern University Press.Huizinga, J. (1988). Homo Ludens. Paris: Gallimard.Julié, K. & Perrot, L. (2008). Enseigner l'anglais. Paris: Hachette Education.Maley, A. & Duff, A. (1994). Drama Techniques in Language Learning. A Resource Book of Communication Activities for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Milon, A. (2005). La réalité virtuelle: Avec ou sans le corps? Paris: Editions Autrement.Nowak, K. L., & Biocca, F. (2003). The Effect of the Agency and Anthropomorphism on Users’ Sense of Telepresence, Copresence, and Social Presence in Virtual Environments. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 12(5), 481-494. doi:10.1162/105474603322761289Privas Bréauté, V. (2015). Dramatic Activities and ICT in Language Acquisition: Learning a Foreign Language for Professional/Specific Purposes through Role Plays and Online Games. Journal of Global Research in Education and Social Science, 3(3): 132-136. Available from http://www.ikpress.org/issue.php?iid=552&id=46.Sarac, H. S. (2014). Benefits and Challenges of Using Second Life in English Teaching: Experts’ Opinions. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 158, 326-330. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.095Schmeil, A., Eppler, M.J. & Gubler, M. (2009). An experimental comparison of 3D virtual environments and text chat as collaboration tools. Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, 7(5), 637-646.Stevens, V. (2006). Second Life in Education and Language Learning. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 10(3): 1-8.Tardieu C. (2008), La Didactique des langues en 4 mots-clés : communication, culture, méthodologie et évaluation, Paris, Ellipses.Vasalou, A., Joinson, A. N., & Pitt, J. (2007). Constructing my online self. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’07. doi:10.1145/1240624.124069

Schmeils botanische Wandtafeln [Material gráfico]

Contenido parcial: IV. [Campanula rotundifolia]Según DNB (Deutsche National Bibliothek), 16/05/2008 se editaron en 1913-191

Schmeils botanische Wandtafeln [Material gráfico]

Contenido parcial: 1. [Tulpe] ; 11. Hunsrose (Rosa canina) 20. Häufige essbare, ungeniessbare und gftige pilze I / nach originalen von Professor E. DoerftlingSegún DNB (Deutsche National Bibliothek), 16/05/2008 se editaron en 1913-1914En la lám. 11 consta Graphisches Institut Julius Klinkhard

The early bee catches the flower - circadian rhythmicity influences learning performance in honey bees, Apis mellifera

Circadian rhythmicity plays an important role for many aspects of honey bees’ lives. However, the question whether it also affects learning and memory remained unanswered. To address this question, we studied the effect of circadian timing on olfactory learning and memory in honey bees Apis mellifera using the olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex paradigm. Bees were differentially conditioned to odours and tested for their odour learning at four different “Zeitgeber” time points. We show that learning behaviour is influenced by circadian timing. Honey bees perform best in the morning compared to the other times of day. Additionally, we found influences of the light condition bees were trained at on the olfactory learning. This circadian-mediated learning is independent from feeding times bees were entrained to, indicating an inherited and not acquired mechanism. We hypothesise that a co-evolutionary mechanism between the honey bee as a pollinator and plants might be the driving force for the evolution of the time-dependent learning abilities of bees

Biological flora of Central europe: Baldellia ranunculoides (Alismataceae)

Baldellia ranunculoides (L.) Parl. (Alismataceae) is a taxonomically problematic aquatic plant with an historically ill-defined distribution and global conservation status. This paper finds morphological, ecological and molecular evidence for two distinct taxa, probably best described as subspecies: (1) B. ranunculoides subsp. ranunculoides and (2) B. ranunculoides subsp. repens and provides detailed distribution data on their overlapping range, in different habitats, across the cool, high rainfall areas of western Europe and west Mediterranean. The two subspecies are amongst the relatively large number of threatened European and north Africa aquatic plants and this paper provides a systematic review of their relative conservation pressures and management needs, with particular emphasis on the status of both taxa in central Europe. Other observations indicate probable evolutionary relationships within B. ranunculoides s.l. and its associated taxa and the review points out where these and other research topics could potentially be pursued