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There has been recent concern regarding the regeneration and recruitment of aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the western United States. Forest management techniques have been employed in order to promote the regeneration and recruitment of aspen. We quantified aspen regeneration treatments in southern Utah, USA to better understand the factors driving aspen recruitment. Driving factors were identified by addressing two major research themes: (1) identify the primary ecological controls on aspen regeneration success; (2) assess the relative importance and influence of these controls on successful regeneration. Our definition of successful aspen regeneration requires the satisfaction of two criteria relating to height and density, respectively: (1) regeneration that has attained heights above the ungulate browsing threshold (e.g. >2m); and (2) regeneration that is occurring at a density that represents desired conditions for future stocking (e.g. ≥10,000 stems ha⁻¹). The primary ecological controls on regeneration success were identified using nonmetric multidimensional scaling, and Random Forests analysis was used to assess the relative importance and influence of regeneration controls. These analyses identified three primary factors that are responsible for regeneration success. These factors were (1) contemporary herbivory pressure, (2) site preparation technique, and (3) advance reproduction. Herbivory is the leading predictor of regeneration success, and has integral impacts on other primary regeneration drivers. We suggest considerations that can be made regarding regeneration drivers in order to enhance the effectiveness of aspen management in the future.

Media have become omnipresent in children’s and youths’ everyday lives, and they also offer rich chances and challenges for educational contexts. On the one hand, media can, for example, support students’ learning effectively, enhance lessons with innovative tools and methods and help individualize teaching and learning processes. On the other hand, students need to learn, e.g., how to use these media, how to select and evaluate them and how to act responsibly in a digitalized and mediatized world. Teachers are a core stakeholder in this context. To take advantage of the benefits media offer for teaching and learning processes, to support students in the acquisition of respective competencies and to fulfill numerous other media-related tasks and challenges, teachers need to acquire respective competencies in their initial teacher education, which can be summarized as media-related educational competencies. The relevance of these competencies is evident on different levels. In related research, respective competency models are developed, and in practices of teacher education, competencies are measured and efforts are taken to advance the competencies of preservice teachers. Against this background, this semi-cumulative dissertation presents a theory-based and empirical analysis of the competencies in question from a comprehensive and multidimensional perspective. In accordance with the central aspects outlined, the three systematic main fields focused on are models of media-related educational competencies, their measurement and practices of advancement in teacher education, as well as the interplay of these three fields. The dissertation takes on an international comparative perspective and focuses on the examples of initial teacher education in Germany and the USA. The article-based dissertation comprises three main parts, framed by introduction and conclusion. The introduction provides a basis for the following work with regards to terminology, scope of research and overall methodology. The first main part is concerned with models of media-related educational competencies and includes a theory-based systematic comparison of three relevant models. This part explicates the varieties between competency models, and it discusses central aspects of selection and application. In Part II, methods and varieties of competency measurement are focused on, and an article is presented which shares results of an exploratory quantitative measurement of the respective competencies of German and US preservice teachers. Overall, this part reveals the potential and limitations of competency measurement and transfers these conclusions to the competency models introduced in Part I. Part III is concerned with an analysis of current practices of advancing media-related educational competencies in Germany and the USA. In this context, stakeholders influencing these practices will be systemized and analyzed in their role and impact. The article included in Part III introduces interviews which were conducted to achieve insights into the perspectives of selected experts, regarding relevant models, practices and outcomes of media-related teacher education in Germany and the USA. Finally, the Conclusion of the dissertation will draw together the different strands, clarify the close connection between the domains of modeling, measuring and advancing the competencies in question and discuss the interdependencies of these three dimensions. These perspectives help both to contextualize and bring together important facets which have often been treated separately in related research and will add new facets to ultimately achieve a comprehensive and multifaceted viewpoint. Against the background of the intercultural comparative perspective, the results and findings will ultimately achieve an enhanced and deep analysis and reflection on the complex field of media-related educational competencies in Germany and the USA and beyond. / Medien sind in den Lebenswelten heutiger Kinder und Jugendlicher allgegenwärtig, und auch für pädagogische Kontexte bieten sie vielfältige Chancen, aber auch Herausforderungen. Einerseits können Medien beispielsweise effektiv die Lernprozesse von Schülerinnen und Schülern unterstützen, Unterricht um innovative Instrumente und Methoden ergänzen und zur Individualisierung von Lehr- und Lernprozessen beitragen. Andererseits müssen Schülerinnen und Schüler beispielsweise lernen, wie sie diese Medien nutzen, wie sie sie auswählen und einschätzen und wie sie in einer digitalisierten Welt verantwortungsvoll handeln. Lehrerinnen und Lehrern kommt dabei eine zentrale Rolle zu. Um die Vorteile, die Medien für Lehr- und Lernprozesse bieten, nutzen zu können, um Schülerinnen und Schüler beim Erwerb entsprechender Fähigkeiten und Kompetenzen unterstützen zu können und um zahlreiche weitere medienbezogene Aufgaben und Herausforderungen bewältigen zu können, müssen Lehrerinnen und Lehrer bereits im Studium entsprechende Kompetenzen erwerben, die als medienbezogene pädagogische Kompetenzen [media-related educational competencies] bezeichnet werden können. Die Relevanz dieser Kompetenzen zeigt sich auf verschiedenen Ebenen. In der Wissenschaft werden entsprechende Kompetenzmodelle entwickelt, und in der Praxis der Lehrerbildung werden Kompetenzen gemessen und es werden Anstrengungen unternommen, um die Kompetenzen von Lehramtsstudierenden zu fördern. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt diese teilkumulative Dissertation eine theoriebasierte und empirische Untersuchung der betroffenen Kompetenzen aus einer umfassenden und vielschichtigen Perspektive vor. In Übereinstimmung mit den skizzierten zentralen Aspekten sind die drei systematischen Kernfelder Modelle medienbezogener pädagogischer Kompetenzen, ihre Messung und Praktiken der Förderung im Lehramtsstudium, sowie das Zusammenspiel dieser drei Felder. Es wird eine international vergleichende Perspektive eingenommen, die beispielhaft die Lehrerbildung in Deutschland und den USA in den Blick nimmt. Die teilkumulative Dissertation umfasst drei Hauptteile, die durch eine Einleitung und ein Schlusskapitel gerahmt werden. Die Einleitung stellt in Hinblick auf Terminologie, Forschungsabsicht und die grundlegende Methodik eine Grundlage für das folgende Werk dar. Im ersten Hauptteil werden Modelle medienbezogener pädagogischer Kompetenzen behandelt und ein theoriebasierter systematischer Vergleich dreier relevanter Modelle wird vorgestellt. So werden die Unterschiede zwischen Kompetenzmodellen verdeutlicht und zentrale Aspekte der Auswahl und des Einsatzes diskutiert. Im zweiten Teil werden Methoden und unterschiedliche Möglichkeiten der Kompetenzmessung fokussiert, und in einer veröffentlichten Studie werden Ergebnisse einer explorativen quantitativen Messung der entsprechenden Kompetenzen bei deutschen und US-amerikanischen Lehramtsstudierenden vorgestellt. Insgesamt werden in diesem Teil die Möglichkeiten und Einschränkungen der Kompetenzmessung aufgezeigt und auf die Modelle übertragen, die im ersten Teil eingeführt wurden. Im dritten Teil werden gegenwärtige Praktiken der Förderung medienbezogener pädagogischer Kompetenzen in Deutschland und den USA analysiert. In diesem Zusammenhang werden auch Parteien und Interessengruppen, die einen Einfluss auf diese Praktiken ausüben, hinsichtlich ihrer Rolle und ihres Einflusses systematisiert und analysiert. Die veröffentlichte Studie in diesem Teil stellt Experteninterviews vor, deren Ziel es ist, einen Einblick in die Perspektiven ausgewählter Expertinnen und Experten bezüglich relevanter Modelle, Praktiken und Ergebnissen der medienbezogenen Lehramtsausbildung in Deutschland und den USA zu erlangen. Am Ende werden im Abschlusskapitel die verschiedenen Bereiche zusammengeführt und die enge Verbindung und die gegenseitigen Abhängigkeiten zwischen den Bereichen der Modellierung, der Messung und der Förderung der untersuchten Kompetenzen verdeutlicht und diskutiert. Diese Perspektiven tragen dazu bei, sowohl Dimensionen, die zuvor in der relevanten Forschung oftmals separat behandelt wurden, zu kontextualisieren und zusammenzuführen, als auch neue Facetten hinzuzufügen, um ein umfassendes und mehrperspektivisches Verständnis medienpädagogischer Kompetenzen zu erreichen. Vor dem Hintergrund einer international vergleichenden Sichtweise werden die Ergebnisse und Erkenntnisse schlussendlich zu einer ausführlichen und tiefgehenden Analyse und Reflexion zum komplexen Themengebiet der medienbezogenen pädagogischen Kompetenz in Deutschland und den USA und darüber hinaus führen.

Stormningen av Kapitolium år 2021 har satt spår långt utanför USA. Den sjätte januari håller den dåvarande presidenten Donald Trump ett tal endast ett stenkast från Kapitolium. I talet klargjorde presidenten att valet bestått av fusk och oegentligheter och därför ska inte valresultatet bekräftas. Ett narrativ av en president som kallas populist och där viktiga demokratiska kriterium ifrågasätts, gör det relevant att titta närmare på populism som teori och vad som identifierar en populistisk ledare. Denna idéanalys har till syfte att skapa förståelse för hur populism och demokrati framträder i president Trump tal. Följande frågeställning kommer vägleda studien. Vilka genomslag av populism kan urskiljas i president Trumps tal; (1) Valnatten den fjärde november år 2020? (2) Om valfusk den andra december år 2020?, (3) Den sjätte januari år 2021. För att besvara frågeställningen kommer populism definieras, vad som utmärker en populistisk ledare samt kopplingar mellan demokrati och populism. Dessa tre teoretiska infallsvinklar operationaliseras för att användas på valda tal av president Trump. Resultatet visar på att Trump kan kopplas till populismens grundtankar om eliten, folket och folkviljan. Det går också att konstatera att i de tre talen som analyserats visar Trump tydliga drag av att vara en populistisk ledare, där fler demokratiska utmaningar framträder.

Tidal inlets are among the most dynamic of landforms and leave a geological legacy within coastal barrier systems. Background document analysis of the historic Cranbury Inlet (also known as New or Cranbury Inlet, New Jersey, USA), suggests much debate surrounding the years of its opening and a relatively poorly constrained migration history. According to coastal charts and maps dating back to the early 1700s, there have been numerous inlets along the wave-dominated central New Jersey coast but due to the unstable location and the cross-sectional area, most of them had closed or migrated, leaving little surficial evidence of their existence. Cranbury Inlet was located south of Mantoloking Beach (a breach from the 2012 Superstorm Sandy), between Barnegat Inlet in the south and the historic Herring Inlet in the north. A large channel connected Barnegat Bay with the Atlantic Ocean and was a key artery for navigation and historic Revolutionary War battles. The timing of its opening has varied from 1740 to 1760. The channel location was unclear, and some sources described it to be several km north of the Toms River mouth, while others claim it was located at the current Ortley Beach. My historical document research helped to establish a more accurate timing of the Cranbury Inlet opening between 1738-1747. The migration path and the final location of the inlet were also confirmed using a first-ever set of geophysical surveys collected along this section of the coast. This study employed a 500 MHz ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to test whether a channel sequence can be identified below an intensely developed barrier segment and to help locate the closure site of the inlet channel. With more than 3 km of high-resolution GPR images, I was able to locate the northern margin of the historic inlet and its migration to the south, consistent with the longshore transport direction. My study confirms that Cranbury Inlet was at least 4-5 m deep and started filling up several years before closing in 1812, gradually shoaling more each year until it was finally closed. In the following century, there were several failed attempts to reopen the channel. My study also helped to reveal that in 1821, there was another inlet in a close proximity to Cranbury Inlet, which most likely was opened due to an intense storm and did not stay active for a long time. Geophysical imaging confirms the presence of Cranbury Inlet seaward of a lobate region, terminating in the north at West Point Island. The latter is likely a large flood-tidal delta complex with relict ebb-shield and ebb-spits, with several undeveloped marsh-covered islands to the south representing the path of a rapidly migrating inlet prior to its closure. The paleo-inlet complex remains as a site of inverted stratigraphy (fining-upward sequence), with implications for hydrologic structure (saltwater intrusion) and stability of the barrier. / Geology

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Thesis advisor: John E. Ebel / Drilling operations and extraction of oil and gas (O&G) may lead to subsurface slumping or compression of sediments due to reduced vertical principal stress which may lead to small earthquakes at the drilling site. O&G extraction is common in the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGM) and only thirty-five earthquakes of magnitudes between 2.3 and 6.0 have been recorded in the area from 1974 to the present. The purpose of this research is to detect more earthquakes using stacks of seismic data from the Transportable USArray (TA) from 2011 to 2013, and determine the spatiotemporal relationship between the detected earthquakes and O&G extraction. Five new small offshore earthquakes, that may be associated with the offshore O&G production, have been detected in the data. Spatial correlation of the epicenters with offshore drilling sites shows that the earthquakes may be due to the O&G extraction. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. / The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq initiated a surge of texts by US soldiers who utilized recent Web 2.0 technology to forge new types of war narratives, such as the so-called "milblogs." Milblogs merge letter and journal writing with journalistic reporting, and they maintain contact between soldiers and their social environment. They are at once public and private communication. Military psychology since Vietnam has referred to warrior traditions of Native American communities to discuss public narration and ceremonial acknowledgment of a soldier’s war experience as vital elements for veteran readjustment and trauma recovery. This article analyzes an exemplary milblog to argue that the interaction between blogger and audience does similar cultural work and has comparable ceremonial and, therefore, therapeutic functions: Soldiers publicly share their experience, reflect on it with their audience, receive appreciation and support, and thus mutually (re-)negotiate group identity

Whether invoking the noble—or the cruel—savage, the image of Native Americans has always included notions of war and fighting. Non-Natives have attributed character traits to them such as cunning, stealth, endurance, and bravery; and they have used these im ages to denounce or to idealize Native Americans. In the U.S., a prolon ged history of frontier conflict, multiplied by popular frontier myths, has resulted in a collective memory of Indians as fighters. While images of fighting Indians have entered American everyday language, Germans have had no significant collective history of American frontier settlement and conflicts with Native Americans. Nevertheless, they have acquired a number of idioms and figures of speech relating to Indian images due to the romanticized euphoria for Native themes, spurred by popular nove ls and Wild West shows.

Als Ferdinand Pettrich im September 1835 in den USA eintraf, waren Vorstellungen vom Wesen amerikanischer Ureinwohner in den deutschen Staaten bereits ausgeprägt und folgten bestimmten Mustern. Die Zeit der Indianerbegeisterung als Massenphänomen, die Karl May zum meistgelesenen deutschsprachigen Schriftsteller machte und Hunderttausende in die Vorstellungen amerikanischer und deutscher Wild-West-Shows trieb, lag damals zwar noch etliche Jahrzehnte in der Zukunft, und die bildlichen Vorstellungen vom berittenen Krieger der Prärien als dem ‚Standardindianer' würden sich erst ab Ende der 1830er- und während der 1840er-Jahre mit den Illustrationen von Bodmer und Catlin entwickeln. Jedoch war ‚der Indianer' bereits ein fester Bestandteil in der Vorstellungswelt von Amerika wie auch der eigenen Gruppenidentität. Bereits an den ersten transatlantischen Erkundungsreisen waren Deutsche beteiligt, frühe Berichte über die Bewohner dieser ‚neuen Welt' verbreiteten sich Dank der Entwicklung des Buchdrucks schnell durch Mitteleuropa. Beim Eintreffen Pettrichs in Amerika war Coopers Letzter Mohikaner bereits in der deutschen Übersetzung erschienen und zum Verkaufsschlager geworden. / When Ferdinand Pettrich arrived in the United States in September 1835, perceptions about the nature of Native Americans had already become established and followed certain patterns. The era of Indian enthusiasm as a mass phenomenon—which made Karl May the most-read writer in the German-speaking world and drove hundreds of thousands to American and German Wild West shows—at that time still lay a number of decades in the future. Pictorial representations of mounted warriors of the prairie, which became the ‘standard Indian,’ were first developed through the illustrations of Karl Bodmer and George Catlin around the end of the 1830s and during the 1840s. Nevertheless, 'the Indian' was already a standard part of the vocabulary of perception for America—as well as of the Germans’ self-perception as a group. Germans took part in the fi rst transatlantic explorations, and early reports about the inhabitants of this ‘new world’ spread across Central Europe thanks to the quick development of the printing press. Upon Pettrich’s arrival in America, James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last Mohican had already been translated into German, becoming a bestseller there.