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Background Insects depend on their olfactory sense as a vital system. Olfactory cues are processed by a rather complex system and translated into various types of behavior. In holometabolous insects like the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, the nervous system typically undergoes considerable remodeling during metamorphosis. This process includes the integration of new neurons, as well as remodeling and elimination of larval neurons. Results We find that the sensory neurons of the larval antennae are reused in the adult antennae. Further, the larval antennal lobe gets transformed into its adult version. The beetle’s larval antennal lobe is already glomerularly structured, but its glomeruli dissolve in the last larval stage. However, the axons of the olfactory sensory neurons remain within the antennal lobe volume. The glomeruli of the adult antennal lobe then form from mid-metamorphosis independently of the presence of a functional OR/Orco complex but mature dependent on the latter during a postmetamorphic phase. Conclusions We provide insights into the metamorphic development of the red flour beetle’s olfactory system and compared it to data on Drosophila melanogaster, Manduca sexta, and Apis mellifera. The comparison revealed that some aspects, such as the formation of the antennal lobe’s adult glomeruli at mid-metamorphosis, are common, while others like the development of sensory appendages or the role of Orco seemingly differ.

This paper presents the results of a graduate research project with the objective to understand the process of developing teaching skills of undergraduate performance majors who work as musical instrument teachers. We address, specifically, the results regarding the professor’s knowledge employed during the practice of teaching the undergraduate performance major. We adopted a biographical narrative methodology (BOLIVAR; DOMINGO, 2006) producing narratives of three performance majors that graduated with a bachelor’s degree from UFSM (Federal University of Santa Maria) and are musical instrument teachers. As a theoretical framework, this inquiry was based on studies by Gauthier et al. (2006) and Tardif (2012). With regard to the knowledge employed during the practice of teaching, we observe that the teachers, in some way, employed the knowledge described by the above mentioned authors, among them: knowledge of the pedagogical, disciplinary, curricular, and experiential traditions, of educational sciences and knowledge of pedagogical action; and knowledge specific to musical instrument teachers, such as knowledge of the educational function (ARAUJO, 2006) in reference to the methodology and didactics specifically used for the teaching of instruments. Moreover, this research advances knowledge when we identified a type of knowledge that has not yet been mentioned within the context of the teacher of a musical instrument: knowledge related to technique and musical expression, as well as the physical and emotional preparation for a public performance, which we denominate “performance knowledge”.

This interview began in Hamburg and Berlin and continued virtually, as an active email exchange, between November 2017 and April 2018. Our conversation was sparked by the recent and ongoing turn to...

We present an on-line learning system for the Italian and German languages especially created to help the people living in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen prepare the so-called bilingual proficiency exam. In the first part of the paper we present the peculiar political, social and linguistic situation of the Province and describe the bilingual proficiency exam. After having clarified the background in which our learning system originates, we will concentrate on the system itself presenting the different parts it consists of. Section 4 will describe the system function, and section 5 will make some final comments and highlight future prospects.