Innovation strategies for education: Liberal and Utilitarian Educational Tendencies in the Higher Education System

This paper discusses innovation strategies for education. The authors of the paper argue that the leading modern universities are the educational and training ones. The global changes in higher education have happened due to several reasons: information playing a key role in modern society (nowadays, it is possible to find plenty of information on any questions); the task of education is to develop educational, professional and cultural skills of students, which is not the original central idea of modern European countries as well as Russia; the tendency to unite several higher education institutions. The authors acknowledge that there are several trends in higher education: the multilevel system; modern information technologies; the distant educational system and development; university complexes; new educational standards; new educational technologies and management structures etc. At the same time, the authors claim that there are at least two systems (tendencies) in the theory of university development: liberal and pragmatic. The former is connected with the educational university’s mission; the later is related to the needs of modern society

Structurally and functionally unique complexins at retinal ribbon synapses

Ribbon synapses in retinal sensory neurons maintain large pools of readily releasable synaptic vesicles. This allows them to release several hundreds of vesicles per second at every presynaptic release site. The molecular components that cause this high transmitter release efficiency of ribbon synapses are unknown. In the present study, we identified and characterized two novel vertebrate complexins (CPXs), CPXs III and IV, that are the only CPX isoforms present in retinal ribbon synapses. CPXs III and IV are COOH-terminally farnesylated, and, like CPXs I and II, bind to SNAP receptor complexes. CPXs III and IV can functionally replace CPXs I and II, and their COOH-terminal farnesylation regulates their synaptic targeting and modulatory function in transmitter release. The novel CPXs III and IV may contribute to the unique release efficacy of retinal sensory neurons