The modern taxonomic revision of cyanobacteria is a work in progress, with both theoretical and practical challenges to be addressed. This thesis investigated selected terrestrial cyanobacterial taxa using a polyphasic approach, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis and accompanied by phenotypic characterization and nomenclatural treatment. Diverse methodological approaches were used including optical and transmission electron microscopy, molecular analysis (DNA sequencing) of cyanobacterial strains, single cells and filaments, and phylogenetic analysis of multiple genomic loci. This study provided systematic revisions of individual cyanobacterial genera and the entire phylum, and suggestions for future study projects.

Within the framework of research about professional teacher’s knowledge, our business is to identify and to characterize with case study method, a kind of specific professional teacher´s knowledge of Chemistry professorate, associated to the chemical nomenclature notion. This kind of research guides the sight to the teaching contents, but it postulates the teacher as an essential actor of that knowledge, rather than ignore of the other actors (didactic community, researchers, specialists, students, etc.) our research realizes the specific construction that the teacher makes, beyond the «spontaneous epistemologies» category, between others, which seems to deny an academic and discipline character of the built knowledge by the teachers. First, we show a brief reference to the research program on professional teacher´s knowledge which frames in the development of research line about Specific Professional Teacher´s Knowledge associated with Particular Categories, which belongs to the research group «Por las Aulas Colombianas- INVAUCOL». After that, we show a short justification about the choice of the particular category: chemical nomenclature, as a studied object, besides the historical importance that it has to the professional teaching consolidation, recognizing the teacher´s specific contributions to discipline body construction of school knowledge. Finally, weset in consideration some general methodological criteria defined in this research, and we show too, some preliminary reflections derived from field work in thepresent state of the project. / En el marco de la investigación sobre el conocimiento profesional del profesor, nos ocupamos de identificar y caracterizar, con estudios de caso, un tipo de conocimiento profesional específico del profesorado de química asociado a la noción de nomenclatura química. Este tipo de investigaciones orienta nuevamente la mirada hacia los contenidos de enseñanza, pero postula al profesor como un actor fundamental en la construcción de dicho conocimiento. Antes que desconocer a los otros actores (comunidad de didactas, investigadores, especialistas, estudiantes,etc.) nuestra investigación da cuenta de la construcción específica que realiza elprofesor, más allá de la categoría «epistemologías espontáneas», entre otras, que parecen negar el carácter académico y disciplinar de los saberes construidos por el profesor.Presentamos una breve aproximación al programa de investigación sobre el conocimiento profesional del profesor, en el cual se encuadra el desarrollo de la línea de investigación acerca del conocimiento profesional específico del profesor, asociado a categorías particulares, que forma parte de la agenda académica del Grupo Investigación por las Aulas Colombianas (INVAUCOL). Posteriormente, presentamos una corta justificación de la elección de las categorías particulares: nomenclatura química, por ejemplo, como objeto de este estudio; así mismo, de la importancia histórica que tiene para la consolidación de la profesión docente reconocer los aportes concretos del profesorado a la construcción del cuerpo disciplinar del saber escolar. Finalmente, ponemos a consideración algunos criterios metodológicos generales definidos en la investigación y presentamos unas reflexiones preliminares que se derivan del trabajo de campo en el estado actual del proyecto.

Em todas as disciplinas do currículo escolar são utilizados termos específicos nas aulas. No caso da disciplina de Língua Portuguesa, a terminologia gramatical é utilizada para referir-se à própria língua. Essa terminologia é tradicionalmente denominada Nomenclatura Gramatical Brasileira e conhecida como NGB. Esta pesquisa discute a terminologia gramatical da Língua Portuguesa utilizada na sala de aula do ensino fundamental II e tem como objetivo geral verificar como o aluno, ao chegar no 9.º ano, compreende essa terminologia. Com a finalidade de se chegar ao objetivo geral, por meio de pesquisa de campo, foi aplicado um questionário com termos gramaticais referentes às classes de palavras, a fim de verificar como os estudantes definiriam tais termos, pois são palavras que fazem parte do universo escolar dos alunos, estão inseridas no discurso didático e pedagógico da sala de aula e constam dos livros didáticos utilizados por eles ao longo dos anos escolares. O questionário apresentado trouxe os termos e um espaço em branco para os alunos colocarem o significado de cada um, da maneira como eles os entendem. O trabalho seguiu um percurso semasiológico, ou seja, partiu da designação já estabelecida para o conceito. As definições deles foram analisadas, de forma a averiguar se expressam adequadamente os conceitos observados. Para verificar o que se esperaria dos alunos, foram analisadas as definições presentes nas gramáticas, nos livros didáticos, bem como os conceitos etimológicos dos termos. Como esta pesquisa faz parte de um programa de Mestrado Profissional, ela tem a pretensão de oferecer propostas para o trabalho em sala de aula com essa terminologia, de modo a levar os contributos dos estudos lexicológicos e terminológicos à escola. Os resultados apontam que os alunos têm dificuldade para entender a terminologia gramatical usada nas aulas. Nesse sentido, a pesquisa demonstra a necessidade de se produzir materiais voltados ao ensino e intervenções didáticas que propiciem, de maneira mais eficaz, o entendimento e a apropriação pelos estudantes dos conceitos estudados e utilizados por eles. / In all subjects of the curriculum are used specific terms in class. In the case of discipline of Portuguese Language, grammatical terminology is used to refer to own language.This terminology is traditionally called Brazilian Grammatical Nomenclature, known as NGB. This research discusses the terminology of the Portuguese language used in the classroom of elementary school II and has the general objective to verify how the student to reach the 9th grade, understand this terminology. In order to reach the overall goal, through field research, a questionnaire was applied with grammatical terms referring to the words classes in order to verify how the students would define such terms, because these words are part of the school context and student context. They are inserted in the didactic and pedagogical discourse of the classroom and they are found in textbooks used by them over the years. The questionnaire presented brought the terms and a blank space for the students to put the meaning of each one, the way they understand them. The work followed a semasiological route, therefore from designation already established for the concept. The definitions of students were analyzed to see if express adequately the concepts analyzed. To verify what the would expected of students, additionally, it were analyzed the definitions presents in the grammar books, in textbooks, as well as the etymological concepts of terms. As this research is part of a Professional Master\'s program purports to offer proposals for work in the classroom with this terminology, to take contributions from lexicological and terminological studies to school. The results show that students have trouble understanding the grammatical terminology used in class. In this sense, the research demonstrates the need to produce materials geared to teaching and educational interventions that provide, more effectively, understanding and ownership by the students of the concepts studied and used by them.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / J. Ernest Minton / Enteric pathogens are responsible for major economic losses in the swine industry. In the U.S., Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) and serovar Choleraesuis (SC) account for essentially all cases of salmonellosis in swine. Previous studies documented that oral ST eroded growth and produced unmistakable changes in the endocrine stress and somatotropic axis of young growing pigs. However, these effects occurred in the absence of elevated systemic inflammatory cytokines that were previously thought to accompany disease-associated growth retardation. In the current study, it was hypothesized that SC would produce very different systemic inflammatory cytokine responses compared to ST given the likelihood of SC to produce systemic disease in pigs. Weaned pigs were housed two per pen with free access to feed and water during a 14 d experiment. On d 0, pigs were fed either 108 CFU SC or 108 ST, and bacteria were re-fed twice weekly through the course of the experiment. Control pigs were fed dough without bacteria. Serum was collected on d 0, 7, and 14 for determination of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) were determined. Rectal temperatures (RT) were monitored daily beginning 2 d prior to challenge with bacteria and until 7 d following the first bacterial feeding. Pigs were weighed initially, and at the conclusion of the study. Daily body weight gain was reduced by 25.4% in pigs fed SC (P<.0001) compared to control, while growth was similar between control pigs and those fed ST. Pigs fed SC had increased RT beginning on d 2 and continuing though d 7 (P < 0.05) with the greatest elevation spike on d 3 (P < 0.001) when compared to controls. On d 7, pigs fed SC had reduced IGF-I when compared to both control (P < 0.01) and ST pigs (P = 0.01). Despite the obvious febrile response, and the reductions in body weight gain and serum IGF-I, circulating TNFα and IL-1β were not affected by treatment. It was concluded that elevated TNFα and IL-1β are not obligatory correlates of SC-induced pathology and growth retardation in weaned pigs.

M.Sc. (Botany) / The market and public demand for medicinal plants over the past few decades has increased dramatically with more than 1 000 plant species actively traded for medicinal purposes throughout South Africa. Intensive harvesting of wild material is now acknowledged as a serious threat to biodiversity in this country. Also the substitution of a valuable commodity (medicinal plant) by a cheaper alternative (other plant species), either inadvertently due to misidentification, or deliberately to cheat consumers, raises some serious concerns as these adulterants may not be as effective or may even be toxic and cause harm to consumers. To add to the problem many species are either traded as dried leaf, root, bark products, or extracts and their identification becomes problematic. Therefore, DNA barcoding can help to provide a rapid and accurate identification tool for medicinal plants. In the current study I targeted the most commonly used medicinal plants in South Africa and produced a set of barcodes for fast and easy DNA-based species identification (rbcLa & matK). I tested the efficiency of core barcodes in the identification of medicinal plants using four main analyses, in the R package Spider 1.1-1. Here the extent of specific genetic divergence, DNA barcoding gap, BLAST test, and the ability to discriminate between species were assessed. Overall, the matK region was found to be a more useful tool for the species identification of medicinal plants in South Africa.

No description available.

No / The adoption of mineral pigments for artistic expression can be traced back to the paintings of the Magdalenian and Cro-Magnon cultures of about 25 000 years BCE, wherein a limited range of oxides such as pyrolusite, goethite, and hematite were utilized along with the first synthetic pigment, carbon, to decorate cave dwellings with surprisingly lifelike images. The growth of chemistry created a new palette of colors, culminating in the preparation of organic dyes and pigments in the mid-nineteenth century. The historical usage of mineral pigments largely based on metal sulfides, oxides, carbonates, sulfates, and nitrates followed by early natural organic extracts from botanical and insect species such as dragon's blood, indigo, gamboge, and cochineal that were later partially superseded by a wide range of synthetic azo dyes is described, where possible alongside their accepted date of first adoption in artworks; while this is relatively easy to define in the case of synthetic materials, it is rather more conjectural for the establishment of an historical timeline for naturally occurring minerals. The characterization of pigments using analytical chemical techniques applied to artworks and artifacts can therefore be used to identify an out-of-context material in an otherwise perfectly acceptable work of art sufficient to render an appellation of ‘fake’ being applied to the object. However, unrecorded later restoration whereby an artwork has been retouched using modern, more stable pigments replacing their more fugitive analogues can cause problems in this respect. In this article, the mineral pigments used are tabulated along with their synthetic counterparts that frequently have precise dates for their appearance in the chemical literature giving rise to a contextual and chronological aspect to analytical science applied to artworks – a forensic art theme. Much work has recently been discussed in the analytical discrimination between natural mineral pigments used historically and their more recent synthetic counterparts: here, terminological differences are critically important and often lacking – hence, the confused usage of terms such as cinnabar and vermilion, lapis lazuli and ultramarine, which are to be found in artists' manuals and contemporary texts.

Adhesion G protein-coupled receptors (aGPCRs) form a structurally separate class of GPCRs with an unresolved evolutionary history and classification. Based on phylogenetic relations of human aGPCRs, nine families (A–G, L, V) were distinguished. Taking advantage of available genome data, we determined the aGPCR repertoires in all vertebrate classes. Although most aGPCR families show a high numerical stability in vertebrate genomes, the full repertoire of family E, F, and G members appeared only after the fish–tetrapod split. We did not find any evidence for new aGPCR families in vertebrates which are not present in the human genome. Based on ortholog sequence alignments, selection analysis clearly indicated two types of tetrapod aGPCRs: (i) aGPCR under strong purifying selection in tetrapod evolution (families A, B, D, L, V); and (ii) aGPCR with signatures of positive selection in some tetrapod linages (families C, E, G, F). The alignments of aGPCRs also allowed for a revised definition of reference positions within the seven-transmembranehelix domain (relative position numbering scheme). Based on our phylogenetic cluster analysis, we suggest a revised nomenclature of aGPCRs including their transcript variants. Herein, the former families E and L are combined to one family (L) and GPR128/ADGRG7 forms a separate family (E). Furthermore, our analyses provide valuable information about the (patho)physiological relevance of individual aGPCR members.

Selaginellaceae, spikemosses, is a heterosporous plant family belonging to the lycophytes. With an estimated age of some 350 million years, the family is historically important as one of the oldest known groups of vascular plants. Selaginellaceae is herbaceous with a worldwide distribution. However, the majority of the ca. 750 species in the single genus Selaginella are found in the tropics and subtropics. This thesis aims at elucidating the systematics and historical biogeography of Selaginellaceae. The evolutionary relationships of the family were inferred from DNA sequence data (plastid and single-copy nuclear) of one-third of the species richness in the group. Attention was paid to cover the previously undersampled taxonomic, morphological, and geographical diversity. Morphological features were studied and mapped onto the phylogeny. The results show an overall well-supported phylogeny and even more complex morphological patterns than previously reported. Despite this, many clades can be distinguished by unique suites of morphological features. With the phylogeny as a basis, together with the thorough morphological studies, a new subgeneric classification with seven subgenera, representing strongly supported monophyletic groups, is presented for Selaginella. By mainly using gross morphological features, easily studied by the naked eye or with a hand lens, the intention is that the classification should be useful to a broader audience. During the work with species determinations, it was revealed that the correct name for an endemic Madagascan Selaginella species is S. pectinata Spring, not S. polymorpha Badré as previously proposed. The robust phylogeny of Selaginellaceae allowed for a historical biogeographical analysis of the group. A time-calibrated phylogeny, together with extant species distribution data, formed the basis. The results show pre-Pangean diversification patterns, Gondwanan vicariance, and more recent Cenozoic long-distance dispersals. The many inferred transoceanic dispersals during the last 50 million years are surprising considering Selaginella’s large megaspores that are thought to have a negative effect on dispersal. In conclusion, this thesis presents a well-founded hypothesis of the evolutionary history of Selaginellaceae including its phylogeny, morphology, and historical biogeography. The thesis forms a firm basis for further studies on Selaginellaceae in particular, and gives us a better understanding of early land plant evolution in general.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of terminology databases, including the creation of a terminology database that incorporates names of trees in Latin, Italian and Czech language. In the first part lexicography, terminography and terminology, disciplines related to the topic of the thesis, are presented. It includes also the summary of their historical development and introduces some basic notions associated with them, such as term, nomenclature, taxonomy, etc. Basic differences between terminography and lexicography and between terminological dictionaries and databases are briefly presented as well. The practical part describes basic methods and procedures used while creating the terminology database in Microsoft Access 2016. The database is also enclosed with the thesis and contains names of trees in Latin, Czech and Italian and some additional information related to those names.