NGL-1/LRRC4C Deletion Moderately Suppresses Hippocampal Excitatory Synapse Development and Function in an Input-Independent Manner

Netrin-G ligand-1 (NGL-1), also known as LRRC4C, is a postsynaptic densities (PSDs)-95-interacting postsynaptic adhesion molecule that interacts trans-synaptically with presynaptic netrin-G1. NGL-1 and its family member protein NGL-2 are thought to promote excitatory synapse development through largely non-overlapping neuronal pathways. While NGL-2 is critical for excitatory synapse development in specific dendritic segments of neurons in an input-specific manner, whether NGL-1 has similar functions is unclear. Here, we show that Lrrc4c deletion in male mice moderately suppresses excitatory synapse development and function, but surprisingly, does so in an input-independent manner. While NGL-1 is mainly detected in the stratum lacunosum moleculare (SLM) layer of the hippocampus relative to the stratum radiatum (SR) layer, NGL-1 deletion leads to decreases in the number of PSDs in both SLM and SR layers in the ventral hippocampus. In addition, both SLM and SR excitatory synapses display suppressed short-term synaptic plasticity in the ventral hippocampus. These morphological and functional changes are either absent or modest in the dorsal hippocampus. The input-independent synaptic changes induced by Lrrc4c deletion involve abnormal translocation of NGL-2 from the SR to SLM layer. These results suggest that Lrrc4c deletion moderately suppresses hippocampal excitatory synapse development and function in an input-independent manner

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Measuring the Level of Political System Literacy Through the Election Pledges of South Korean Electoral Candidates

I analyze unfamiliar aspects of the political system in the South Korean local elections held on June 13, 2018. In particular, an analysis of the election promises made by the mayoral candidates of Gwangju Metropolitan City and superintendent candidates of the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education suggest that they lack political system literacy, a concept that is defined in general and as a means of cultivating democracy in South Korea. The election promises presented to voters are analyzed in terms of political system literacy in relation to current issues in city governance and to problems in public education. One conclusion from this analysis is that better efforts must be made to educate the future leaders of the South Korean political system from an early age to improve their political system literacy

System Thinking for Global Political Citizenship Education

Humans are political animals but need to be better ones, because like all other animals, indeed all life forms, they are connected, through their various social systems of all types and at all levels, more closely than ever before with a planet’s subsystems increasingly interlocking in a global system. Their role as political animals is crucial because politics remains the authoritative distribution of values. In a global society lacking an equivalent world government, humans are everywhere performing political activities on different levels, from households to villages, from cities to provinces, from states to suprastate entities, from individual economic transactions to membership in organizations interacting with other organizations, that, in the context of globalization, cannot help affecting the lives of others around the world. Because all political decisions matter, it is necessary in constructing a global society as a system for humans to cultivate their political citizenships, and for others to help them understand what the needs of a sustainable future for the earth require them to take into consideration in their political choices from the perspective of system theory

Thinking and Acting Systematically about the Anthropocene

Living in a globalized society implies that political thinking necessarily extends beyond the national level to encompass our roles as citizens of the world. Living in today’s globalized society also requires a new level of political thinking commensurate with the complexity of its challenges. To overcome the many difficulties facing the planet on which we live, and therefore our very existence, in the Anthropocene era, it has become incumbent on human beings to practice systems thinking. This paper will first attempt to clear the ground by examining how three common approaches to systems theory are unlikely to facilitate a resolution of the Anthropocene crisis. It will then examine how general systemic thinking, critical systems thinking, and whole healing systems thinking can help us both to comprehend the rifts in the earth’s system and to repair them

Nonlinear Systemic Thinking: Synergic Epistemology

Quantum physicists studying the essence of existence have discovered the connection between the constituent quarks and gluons within atomic particles. The interconnected synergy of rationality, sensibility, understanding, intuition, and imagination as components of the human mind is equally important, even if not as yet scientifically proven. The environment in which humans are located is a nonlinear system, but humans can grasp even nonlinear systems because the human pure spirit connects consciousness and comprehensive awareness with objects to be known

Improvement of Gear Durability for an 86 kW Class Agricultural Tractor Transmission by Material Selection

This study was conducted to ensure gear durability and design optimal transmission of agricultural tractors. A field test was conducted using an 86 kW agricultural tractor for plow and rotary tillage, which are typical agricultural operations. The field test was completed after about 107 h due to transmission noise and operational problems. As a result of disassembling the transmission, it was found that the range shift A and B gears were damaged. In the case of the range shift A gear, it was judged that plastic deformation occurred due to low contact stress, and the bending stress was low, therefore gear tooth breakage occurred in the range shift B gear. In order to ensure the durability of the transmission, four materials of alloy steel for machine structural use, such as SCr420, SNCM220, SCM822, and SNC815, were selected, and the safety factor and service life according to the gear materials were compared using simulation software. As a result of simulation analysis, SCM822 satisfied the target life value and was selected as a material for change. The damaged range shift A and B gears were changed to SCM822, and an axle dynamometer test was performed for the verification of the modified transmission. After conducting the axle dynamometer test, the transmission was disassembled, and it was confirmed that the range shift A and B gears were in normal condition. Therefore, it was considered that the durability of the transmission was ensured by satisfying the target life requirements of the gears. In the future, the transmission simulation model for 86 kW class agricultural tractor is expected to be utilized for the development of tractor transmissions, cost reduction, and optimal design