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Cognitive control enables adaptive behavior in a dynamically changing environment. In this context, one prominent adaptation effect is the sequential conflict adjustment, i.e., the observation of reduced response interference on trials following conflict trials. Increasing evidence suggests that such response conflicts are registered as aversive signals. So far, however, the functional role of this aversive signal for conflict adaptation to occur has not been put to test directly. In two experiments, the affective valence of conflict stimuli was manipulated by fluency of processing (stimulus contrast). Experiment 1 used a flanker interference task, Experiment 2 a color-word Stroop task. In both experiments, conflict adaptation effects were only present in fluent, but absent in disfluent trials. Results thus speak against the simple idea that any aversive stimulus feature is suited to promote specific conflict adjustments. Two alternative but not mutually exclusive accounts, namely resource competition and adaptation-by-motivation, will be discussed.

Das Interesse an empirischen Fragestellungen in der Fremdsprachendidaktik ist in den vergangenen Jahren stetig gewachsen. Auch für das Verfassen wissenschaftlicher Qualifizierungsarbeiten werden entsprechende Methodenkenntnisse zunehmend vorausgesetzt. Der Sammelband Fremdsprachenunterricht empirisch erforschen. Grundlagen – Methoden – Anwendung liefert differenzierte Einblicke in das Feld der empirischen Fremdsprachenforschung und veranschaulicht anhand ausgewählter Methoden die verschiedenen Phasen des Forschungsprozesses. Neben theoretisch fundierten Darstellungen zur Planung empirischer Arbeiten, führt der Band in wichtige Instrumente der Datenerhebung sowie Methoden für deren Analyse und Auswertung ein. Mittels detaillierter Anwendungsbeispiele aus der Praxis zeigen die Autoren Möglichkeiten der Umsetzung qualitativer sowie quantitativ ausgerichtete Forschungsprojekte., KULT_online, Nr. 38 (2014): KULT_online 38 (2014)

The following article offers an overview of the central fields of research concerning Prisoners of War (POWs) in the Habsburg Empire during World War One, including living conditions in war camps, propaganda campaigns, forced labour, repatriation and the memory of captivity., 1914-1918-Online International Encyclopedia of the First World War

An 8-year-old intact male Briard was presented with a non-painful bilateral diffuse swelling of mandible and maxilla. The teeth were mobile. The jaws felt like rubber. Radiographic examination revealed generalized osteopenia. Ultrasound showed prominent parathyroid glands. The plasma parathyroid hormone concentration was extremely high, the serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25-OH Vit D) was low, and the serum ionized calcium remained within the reference range. As the dog had been fed an unbalanced homemade diet for many years, rubber jaw, osteomalacia and secondary hyperparathyroidism due to dietary calcium and vitamin D deficiency were diagnosed. Dietary correction resulted in clinical improvement and normalization of the plasma parathyroid hormone concentration within 4 months. However, although the 25-OH Vit D was clearly raised, it still did not reach reference values, which was due to lack of owner compliance, as the owner had changed the patient's diet over time.

Among different factors – such as food characteristics and ingesta retention time -, ingesta particle size (measurable in the faeces) is an important parameter that influences digestion in herbivores. In the literature, there are only four comparative studies on the faecal particle size in herbivores. These studies either concentrate on only a few different species, or are restricted to one taxonomic order. Comparative data on reptiles and birds are totally lacking. Thus the present study represents the first attempt to quantify the faecal particle size across broad range of herbivore species within all three taxonomic classes, and to investigate whether there is an allometric relationship to body mass. Relevant factors influencing ingesta particle size, such as body mass, type of dentition, phylogenetic affiliation and digestive strategy, are discussed in context. In total, more than 1100 faecal samples from herbivorous mammals (205 species), reptiles (12 species) and birds (14 species) are analysed with a standardized wet-sieving procedure using nine sieves ranging from 0,063 mm to 16 mm mesh size. For the description of faecal particle size two different particle dimensions (in mm particle length) are used, the mean particle size (“Mittelwert”: MW) obtained by curve fitting, and the weighted average (WA) obtained by calculation. The following results are obtained: It is confirmed that faecal particle size is a reliable measure for the extent to which food is processed by mastication. However, this only applies to terrestrial forage plants. Faecal particle size increases with increasing body mass in all three classes. For all mammal groups faecal particle size scales positively to body mass to the power of 0.34 (MW) or 0.31 (WA), respectively. Given the literature assumption that tooth size scales isometrically to body mass, these results underline the fact that there is a functional relationship between tooth size and the achieved ingesta particle length. Considering their body mass range, ruminants - and also equids - achieve particularly small faecal particles and therefore are peculiar among the mammals. Species adapted to grazing (Przewalski horse, auerochs) showed comparable faecal particle sizes in the wild and in captivity, whereas species adapted to browsing (tapir, giraffe) had smaller faecal particles in the wild compared to captivity. Reptiles have distinctively higher mean faecal particle sizes than mammals and birds. Ingesta comminution in the gizzard of herbivorous birds is comparable to that achieved by chewing in non-ruminant mammals, as faecal particle size does not differ between these two groups. Before it enters the gizzard, however, bird ingesta have a similar particle size as reptile faeces. With respect to the ongoing paleobiological discussion on the competition of two dinosaur groups – the sauropods and ornithopods – the present study supports the theory that comminution by gizzard is not less effective than comminution by mastication. The differences in the comminution efficiency between and within mammal groups can partly be related to the evolutionary success of certain species.