D8.7 Report on options for direct democracy in the EU

One of the solutions proposed both by politicians and scholars to deal with the alleged democratic deficit of the European Union is to favour direct participation of EU citizens in decision-making at the European level. The object of D.8.7 is to assess the viability of EU referenda as a mechanism of direct democracy. It proposes a model for a European referendum that is: 1) held on EU internal issues of primary law; 2) mandatory; 3) simultaneous in all member states; 4) binding; and 5) simple regarding subject matter

Professional Learning Through Video: Reflection of a Pre-Service Teacher One Year On

The research presented in this paper investigates a pre-service teacher’s reflection on professional learning using the medium of video. To promote a reflective activity, we invited the pre-service teacher—now a titular teacher—to comment on their activity while remarking on a recording of one of theirlessons conducted one year earlier. The lesson was performed in a professional high school, followed by a meeting with the teacher and a university tutor. Quali-quantitative analysis was used to analyse the data--where the teacher’s reflections emerged during their viewing of the lesson—to trace the typology of the comments of the pre-service teacher, and the topics of the reflection. The analysis highlights the dimensions of reflective activity, which can be a reflection of the professional learning of the pre-service teacher in one year. This study provides useful information in describing the process of professional learning and, at the same time, supports the integration of video into pre-service teacher training as a tool of reflection.La recherche présentée dans cet article vise à étudier la réflexion d'un enseignant en formation sur son apprentissage professionnel en utilisant le milieu de la vidéo. Afin de promouvoir une activité de réflexion, nous avons invité un enseignant en formation – maintenant enseignant titulaire - à verbaliser sur son activité pendand une leçon enregistré un anné plus tôt. La leçon a été réalisée dans un lycée professionnel, suivie d'une rencontre avec l'enseignant titulaire et un tuteur universitaire. L'analyse quali-quantitative est utilisée pour analyser les données - toutes les réflexions des enseignants que sont émergé lors de la vision de la leçon - tracer la typologie des commentaires de l'enseignant, et les ses réflexions. Cette étude fournit des informations utiles pour décrire le processus d'apprentissage professionnel et, dans le même temps, soutenir l'intégration de la vidéo dans la formation initiale des enseignants comme outil de réflexion

Professional Learning Through Video: Reflection of a Pre-Service Teacher One Year On

The research presented in this paper investigates a pre-service teacher’s reflection on professional learning using the medium of video. To promote a reflective activity, we invited the pre-service teacher—now a titular teacher—to comment on their activity while remarking on a recording of one of theirlessons conducted one year earlier. The lesson was performed in a professional high school, followed by a meeting with the teacher and a university tutor. Quali-quantitative analysis was used to analyse the data--where the teacher’s reflections emerged during their viewing of the lesson—to trace the typology of the comments of the pre-service teacher, and the topics of the reflection. The analysis highlights the dimensions of reflective activity, which can be a reflection of the professional learning of the pre-service teacher in one year. This study provides useful information in describing the process of professional learning and, at the same time, supports the integration of video into pre-service teacher training as a tool of reflection.La recherche présentée dans cet article vise à étudier la réflexion d'un enseignant en formation sur son apprentissage professionnel en utilisant le milieu de la vidéo. Afin de promouvoir une activité de réflexion, nous avons invité un enseignant en formation – maintenant enseignant titulaire - à verbaliser sur son activité pendand une leçon enregistré un anné plus tôt. La leçon a été réalisée dans un lycée professionnel, suivie d'une rencontre avec l'enseignant titulaire et un tuteur universitaire. L'analyse quali-quantitative est utilisée pour analyser les données - toutes les réflexions des enseignants que sont émergé lors de la vision de la leçon - tracer la typologie des commentaires de l'enseignant, et les ses réflexions. Cette étude fournit des informations utiles pour décrire le processus d'apprentissage professionnel et, dans le même temps, soutenir l'intégration de la vidéo dans la formation initiale des enseignants comme outil de réflexion

Spider peptide toxin HwTx-IV engineered to bind to lipid membranes has an increased inhibitory potency at human voltage-gated sodium channel hNaV1.7

The human voltage-gated sodium channel sub-type 1.7 (hNaV1.7) is emerging as an attractive target for the development of potent and sub-type selective novel analgesics with increased potency and fewer side effects than existing therapeutics. HwTx-IV, a spider derived peptide toxin, inhibits hNaV1.7 with high potency and is therefore of great interest as an analgesic lead. In the current study we examined whether engineering a HwTx-IV analogue with increased ability to bind to lipid membranes would improve its inhibitory potency at hNaV1.7. This hypothesis was explored by comparing HwTx-IV and two analogues [E1PyrE]HwTx-IV (mHwTx-IV) and [E1G,E4G,F6W,Y30W]HwTx-IV (gHwTx-IV) on their membrane-binding affinity and hNaV1.7 inhibitory potency using a range of biophysical techniques including computational analysis, NMR spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance, and fluorescence spectroscopy. HwTx-IV and mHwTx-IV exhibited weak affinity for lipid membranes, whereas gHwTx-IV showed improved affinity for the model membranes studied. In addition, activity assays using SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells expressing hNaV1.7 showed that gHwTx-IV has increased activity at hNaV1.7 compared to HwTx-IV. Based on these results we hypothesize that an increase in the affinity of HwTx-IV for lipid membranes is accompanied by improved inhibitory potency at hNaV1.7 and that increasing the affinity of gating modifier toxins to lipid bilayers is a strategy that may be useful for improving their potency at hNaV1.7

Structure-activity relationship study of the plant-derived decapeptide OSIP108 inhibiting Candida albicans biofilm formation

We performed a structure-activity relationship study of the antibiofilm plant-derived decapeptide OSIP108. Introduction of positively charged amino acids R, H, and K resulted in an up-to-5-fold-increased antibiofilm activity against Candida albicans compared to native OSIP108, whereas replacement of R9 resulted in complete abolishment of its antibiofilm activity. By combining the most promising amino acid substitutions, we found that the double-substituted OSIP108 analogue Q6R/G7K had an 8-fold-increased antibiofilm activity