Mapping our way out? Critical reflections on historical research and the 1972 Faure report

Contributions to the literature have postulated an historical shift in policy narratives from the Faure report’s formulation of “lifelong education” for UNESCO in 1972 to a focus on “lifelong learning” since the mid-1990s. It has also been argued that the policy narrative articulated by de-schoolers in the early 1970s was incorporated in the Faure report. This paper critically examines the empirical foundations for such arguments and is based on a re-reading of the policy repertoire articulated by Faure’s report together with an analysis of the de-schoolers’ reception of the report in the early 1970s. Based upon a re-reading of primary texts and secondary sources from the 1970s, the analysis demonstrates that these widely accepted arguments constitute a problematic interpretation of the historical relationships between the key policy narratives in the 1970s. The conclusions identify a number of significant areas for further empirical research regarding the historical relationships between first generation policy narratives. (DIPF/Orig.

Proteomic Interrogation of Human Chromatin

Chromatin proteins provide a scaffold for DNA packaging and a basis for epigenetic regulation and genomic maintenance. Despite understanding its functional roles, mapping the chromatin proteome (i.e. the “Chromatome”) is still a continuing process. Here, we assess the biological specificity and proteomic extent of three distinct chromatin preparations by identifying proteins in selected chromatin-enriched fractions using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. These experiments allowed us to produce a chromatin catalog, including several proteins ranging from highly abundant histone proteins to less abundant members of different chromatin machinery complexes. Using a Normalized Spectral Abundance Factor approach, we quantified relative abundances of the proteins across the chromatin enriched fractions giving a glimpse into their chromosomal abundance. The large-scale data sets also allowed for the discovery of a variety of novel post-translational modifications on the identified chromatin proteins. With these comparisons, we find one of the probed methods to be qualitatively superior in specificity for chromatin proteins, but inferior in proteomic extent, evidencing a compromise that must be made between biological specificity and broadness of characterization. Additionally, we attempt to identify proteins in eu- and heterochromatin, verifying the enrichments by characterizing the post-translational modifications detected on histone proteins from these chromatin regions. In summary, our results provide insights into the value of different methods to extract chromatin-associated proteins and provide starting points to study the factors that may be involved in directing gene expression and other chromatin-related processes

Looking forward backwards. Varieties of capitalisms, alternative futures, and learning landscapes

Critiques of capitalism have constituted the backbone of political economies addressing living, working, and learning conditions in a variety of forms of capitalism. This paper explores different approaches to representations of the future of (adult) education in capitalist Europe. It examines the 1960s and 1970s as a period when rapid technological change was addressed in studies of the future of Europe by proponents of post-industrial society, New Left public intellectuals, professional futurologists, and critics of late capitalism. These studies envisaged quite different futures for both society and organised adult learning. Attention is subsequently focused on the pan-European project Educating Man for the 21st Century during the early 1970s which envisaged the future as ‘neoindustrial / neo-capitalist society’ in the year 2000. In conclusion, the paper offers a critical account of early encounters with neoliberal politics during the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly the cultural materialist work of Raymond Williams. (DIPF/Orig.

Caterpillar locomotion: A new model for softbodied climbing and burrowing robots

.Abstract – Caterpillars are some of the most successful scansorial and burrowing animals and yet they lack a hard skeleton. Their hydrostatic body and prolegs provide astonishing fault-tolerant manoeuvrability and powerful, stable, passive attachment. This paper describes some of the biomechanics of caterpillar locomotion and gripping. It then describes our recent work to build a multifunctional robotic climbing machine based on the biomechanics and neural control system (neuromechanics) of the caterpillar, Manduca sexta. The new robot (“Softbot”) is continuously deformable and capable of collapsing and crumpling into a small volume. Eventually it will be able to climb textured surfaces and irregular objects, crawl along ropes and wires, or burrow into winding, confined spaces. These robots will be simple, cheap (disposable), and scaleable. They will have numerous applications including search and rescue in emergency situations and mine reconnaissance in complex environments such as rubble-fields. Index Terms – Soft robots, caterpillar, SMA, elastomer. I

<i>Helicobacter pylori</i> Genomic Microevolution during Naturally Occurring Transmission between Adults

<div><p>The human gastric pathogen <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> is usually acquired during childhood and, in the absence of treatment, chronic infection persists through most of the host's life. However, the frequency and importance of <i>H. pylori</i> transmission between adults is underestimated. Here we sequenced the complete genomes of <i>H. pylori</i> strains that were transmitted between spouses and analysed the genomic changes. Similar to <i>H. pylori</i> from chronic infection, a significantly high proportion of the determined 31 SNPs and 10 recombinant DNA fragments affected genes of the <i>hop</i> family of outer membrane proteins, some of which are known to be adhesins. In addition, changes in a fucosyltransferase gene modified the LPS component of the bacterial cell surface, suggesting strong diversifying selection. In contrast, virulence factor genes were not affected by the genomic changes. We propose a model of the genomic changes that are associated with the transmission and adaptation of <i>H. pylori</i> to a new human host.</p> </div

Model of genomic changes associated with <i>H. pylori</i> transmission to a new human host.

<p>Following transmission (I) of <i>H. pylori</i>, mutations (IIb) and recombinant DNA fragments accumulate that result from horizontal gene transfer and intra-chromosomal translocation (IIa). Purifying selection preserves the function of essential genes (IIIb), while diversifying selection by the host's immune system favours growth of bacterial clones with modified surface structures such as OMPs (IIIa). The genomic changes, particularly changes in the expression of bacterial surface components, facilitate adaption of <i>H. pylori</i> to a new human host (IV), a dynamic, continuous process that is anticipated to continue throughout the host-pathogen association.</p

Comparison of algorithms for non-linear inverse 3D electrical tomography reconstruction

Non-linear electrical impedance tomography reconstruction algorithms usually employ the Newton–Raphson iteration scheme to image the conductivity distribution inside the body. For complex 3D problems, the application of this method is not feasible any more due to the large matrices involved and their high storage requirements. In this paper we demonstrate the suitability of an alternative conjugate gradient reconstruction algorithm for 3D tomographic imaging incorporating adaptive mesh refinement and requiring less storage space than the Newton–Raphson scheme. We compare the reconstruction efficiency of both algorithms for a simple 3D head model. The results show that an increase in speed of about 30% is achievable with the conjugate gradient-based method without loss of accuracy