Conditional expression in corticothalamic efferents reveals a developmental role for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in modulation of passive avoidance behavior

Prenatal nicotine exposure has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and cognitive impairment, but the sites of action for these effects of nicotine are still under investigation. High-affinity nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) contain the .2 subunit and modulate passive avoidance (PA) learning in mice. Using an inducible, tetracycline-regulated transgenic system, we generated lines of mice with expression of high-affinity nicotinic receptors restored in specific neuronal populations. One line of mice shows functional .2 subunit-containing nAChRs localized exclusively in corticothalamic efferents. Functional, presynaptic nAChRs are present in the thalamus of these mice as detected by nicotine-elicited rubidium efflux assays from synaptosomes. Knock-out mice lacking high-affinity nAChRs show elevated baseline PA learning, whereas normal baseline PA behavior is restored in mice with corticothalamic expression of these nAChRs. In contrast, nicotine can enhance PA learning in adult wild-type animals but not in corticothalamic-expressing transgenic mice. When these transgenic mice are treated with doxycycline in adulthood to switch off nAChR expression, baseline PA is maintained even after transgene expression is abolished. These data suggest that high-affinity nAChRs expressed on corticothalamic neurons during development are critical for baseline PA performance and provide a potential neuroanatomical substrate for changes induced by prenatal nicotine exposure leading to long-term behavioral and cognitive deficits

Interactive and Participatory Methods to Improve Learning Outcome of Nahwu-Sharf

The mastery of nahwu-Sharf’s is inseperable from learning Arabic, in learning there are oftenproblems faced by students. The focus of this study is to improve learningoutcomes of nahwu-Sharf.This study uses a qualitative approach with a classroom action reaserch method. The researcher using observation, interview and group discussion for collectingthedata. For the analysing isusing descriptive analysis model to describe the state of increasing achievement indicators of success of each cycle. The steps of the analysis include data collection, data simplification, data presentation and conclusion making and verification.The results of the research in the participatory-interactive method planning stage identified that students experienced difficulties in learning Nahwu-Sharafin terms of i’rab, giving lines when reading Arabic texts determining illat and wazan fi’il. The results of the research at the implementation stage of participatoryinteractive methods revealed an increase in students’ understanding of i’rab, giving lines when reading Arabic texts determining illat and wazan fi’il. The results of the study at the evaluation stage showed an increase in learning outcomes about learning Nahwu-Sharaf, especially student understanding of i’rab, giving lines when reading Arabic texts determining illat and wazan fi’il. Keywords: Interactive, participatory methods; Nahwu-Sharf; Arabi

‘Experimentation in contact with the real’: networking with Deleuze & Guattari

This paper draws on data from an longitudinal case study of a Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN) instituted by a state government in Victoria in the arena of post compulsory education and training to explore the possibilities of a new approach to thinking about networks, their formation and operation, one that is inspired by ‘A Thousand Plateaus’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987). Using a rhizomatic approach my focus is on the middle — the plateau — a space that is made of lines moving in multiple directions. Looking at the middle disrupts taken-for-granted understandings and perceptions of linearity; it is in considering middles and plateaus that it is possible to move beyond a concern with joining-up ‘fixed’ entities within existing, and constrained, ways of knowing and, in the process, finding new ways of understanding and realizing the potential of a phenomenon that is ‘fast becoming a standard explanation of structure and action in both the public and private domain’(Considine, 2002)

Utilization of the Wondering, Exploring, and Explaining (WEE) Learning Model Assisted by GeoGebra to improve Understanding of Mathematical Concepts

This study aims to describe the application of the Geogebra-assisted Wondering, Exploring, and Explaining (WEE) learning model in improving the ability to understand mathematical concepts on lines and angles material at Junior High School of Darush Sholihin Batu in the 2022/2023 academic year. The study employs practical classroom action research, recruiting class VII-B as the research subjects. Interview guides, observation sheets, end-of-cycle test questions adapted to indicators of the ability to understand concepts, and field notes were the study's pilots for data collection. The findings showcased that the observation of teachers' and students' activities, the final cycle test completeness, and the interview results with happy students were boosted from cycles I to II. Furthermore, cycle II met the indicators of action success, indicating that the Geogebra-assisted Wondering, Exploring, and Explaining (WEE) learning model can improve the ability to understand mathematical concepts on lines and angles material at SMP Darush Sholihin Batu

International Cooperation Framework For Next Generation Engineering Students

International Cooperation Framework for Next Generation Engineering Students (NextGEng) is an Erasmus+ Cooperation partnership in higher education project which started at the beginning of October 2022 and will end at the end of September 2025. In this project, there are six full partners who are participating in all project’s activities: Technical University of Cluj Napoca (main partner) and Robert Bosch SRL from Romania; Jamk University of Applied Sciences and Valmet Technologies Oyj from Finland; University of Jaen and Sensory Integration and Robotics from Spain. This project aims to develop an international cooperation framework that promotes international team-teaching aligned with the European Education Area 2025 and labour market needs, including actions to support collaborative, international and experiential learning in engineering. To achieve that end, NextGEng activities are based on three lines of action: a tailored training process for teachers, an international team-teaching pilot program and cases for experiential learning. This paper describes the aims and main activities of NextGEng, details of three lines of action, and achieved results during the first project year

Common but differentiated learning

Transformation is complex and multi-level governance the admittance of this fact. Our paper presents the lessons learnt from a number of projects, which were / are meant to foster fruitful dialogue and transformative learning among a variety of actors. The projects are united by local climate action as the chosen political arena, our assumption that a level playing field or ‘middle ground’ is needed, and questions such as: How to build effective coordination structures between horizontal and vertical lines? How to facilitate common but differentiated learning? And how to measure and monitor the ‘fruitfulness’ of such dialogue? In trying to answer these questions we draw on applied research from transformative governance projects in Europe, Asia and Africa. One example given is the V-LED project, which will – in the context of the post 2015 agenda, the implementation of the Sendai Framework of Action, the adoption of the SDGs, and ‘après Paris’ – promote platforms for exchange on local climate action in four countries with very different political systems: communist Vietnam, post-apartheid South Africa, Kenya and the Philippines. Our research aims at understanding the coordination mechanisms that may lead to the emergence of dialogue, learning and eventually climate action in multi- level governance systems