[aDNA Research From a Historical Perspective]

aDNA studies are a cooperative field of research with a broad range of applications including evolutionary biology, genetics, anthropology and archaeology. Scientists are using ancient molecules as source material for historical questions. Colleagues from the humanities are observing this with both interest and concern because aDNA research is affecting academic identities and both concepts of history and historiography. aDNA research developed in a way that can be described as a Hype Cycle (Chackie Fenn). Technological triggers such as Sanger Sequencing and the Polymerase Chain Reaction kicked off a multitude of experiments with ancient DNA during the 1980s and 1990s. Geneticists, microbiologists, anthropologists and many more euphorically joined a "molecule hunt". aDNA was promoted as a time machine. Media attention was enormous. As experiments and implementations began to fail and contamination was discovered to be a tremendous problem, media interest waned and many labs lost their interest. Some turned their disillusionment into systematic research into methodology and painstakingly established lab routines. The authenticity problem was first addressed by control oriented measures but later approached from a more cognitive theoretical perspective as the pitfalls and limits of aDNA became clearer. By the end of the 2000s the field reached its current plateau of productivity. Cross-disciplinary debates, conflicts and collaborations are increasing critical reflection among all participants. Historians should consider joining the field in a kind of critical friendship to both make the most of its possibilities and give an input from a constructivist perspective.

[Idiopathic macular hole: history and status quo review]

The article reviews the literature on one of the topical problems of vitreoretinal surgery - idiopathic macular holes. The history, concept, classification and diagnostics, as well as surgical and alternative treatment methods of macular holes are explored.

History, Morals, and Medicine

This essay provides a rational reconstruction of the author's genetically inscribed inclination to do normative ethics with an historical bent and offers some reflections on the value of historical thinking for bioethics.

The Southern Society in Retrospect: An Abbreviated History of the First Sixty Years of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, 1904–1964

A short history is presented of the oldest of the regional psychological societies in the United States. The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology was founded in 1904 and is celebrating its diamond-jubilee year during 1964. “The Southern Society is the symbol of a conviction, grounded in the history of inquiry, that special and vital relations exist between philosophic reflection and psychological science.” The Society devotes its principal energies “to providing a platform and a congenial convention atmosphere for the academic-experimental-theoretical aspects” of psychology and philosophy.

Counterfactuals and history: Contingency and convergence in histories of science and life

This article examines a series of recent histories of science that have attempted to consider how science may have developed in slightly altered historical realities. These works have, moreover, been influenced by debates in evolutionary science about the opposing forces of contingency and convergence in regard to Stephen Jay Gould's notion of "replaying life's tape." The article argues that while the historians under analysis seem to embrace contingency in order to present their counterfactual narratives, for the sake of historical plausibility they are forced to accept a fairly weak role for contingency in shaping the development of science. It is therefore argued that Simon Conway Morris's theory of evolutionary convergence comes closer to describing the restrained counterfactual worlds imagined by these historians of science than does contingency.

Improving the Historical Knowledge and Writing of Students With or At Risk for LD

In this study, we explored the potential of two forms of discussion (disciplinary vs. traditional) for 39 sixth- and seventh-grade students with or at risk for learning disabilities (LD), before writing historical arguments. Nine teachers who led small group discussions in six heterogeneous social studies classrooms implemented the intervention. Students who were involved in disciplinary discussions ( n = 19) scored statistically higher than their peers who engaged in traditional discussions ( n = 20) on a measure of historical knowledge (partial η² = .23); they also wrote essays with better persuasive quality (partial η² = .43) and greater evidence of historical thinking (partial η² = .40). A delayed posttest delivered 8 weeks after instruction ended revealed that students in the experimental condition continued to write in more historically sophisticated ways than did students in the comparison condition (partial η² = .19). Challenges, however, remain for struggling learners who must now meet basic and advanced disciplinary literacy goals.

Monitoring Natural World Heritage Sites: optimization of the monitoring system in Bogda with GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis

Natural World Heritage Sites (NWHSs) are invaluable treasure due to the uniqueness of each site. Proper monitoring and management can guarantee their protection from multiple threats. In this study, geographic information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) was used to assess criteria layers acquired from the data available in the literature. A conceptual model for determining the priority area for monitoring in Bogda, China, was created based on outstanding universal values (OUV) and expert knowledge. Weights were assigned to each layer using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on group decisions, encompassing three experts: one being a heritage site expert, another a forest ranger, and the other a heritage site manager. Subsequently, evaluation layers and constraint layers were used to generate a priority map and to determine the feasibility of monitoring in Bogda. Finally, a monitoring suitability map of Bogda was obtained by referencing priority and feasibility maps.The high-priority monitoring area is located in the montane forest belt, which exhibits high biodiversity and is the main tourist area of Bogda. The northern buffer zone of Bogda comprises the concentrated feasible monitoring areas, and the area closest to roads and monitoring facilities is highly feasible for NWHS monitoring. The suitability of an area in terms of monitoring is largely determined by the monitoring priority in that particular area. The majority of planned monitoring facilities are well distributed in both suitable and less suitable areas. Analysis results indicate that the protection of Bogda will be more scientifically based due to its effective and all-around planned monitoring system proposed by the declaration text of Xinjiang Tianshan, which is the essential file submitted to World Heritage Centre to inscribe as a NWHS.

History Matters: What Happens When African Americans Confront Their Difficult Past

History and Reconstruction is an interdisciplinary project to assess the impact of African American history education for black men. Under the theory of trauma recovery, leading scholars of African American history worked with a group of ten ex-offenders, supported by the services of a psychologist and an African American cultural expert and storyteller. Results based on psychological testing and qualitative feedback showed that history can be a catalyst for personal development and transformation. It also demonstrated that difficult history can be taught and assimilated for audience benefit. History and Reconstruction was supported by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.