Futures and hope of global citizenship education

This article provides a conceptual discussion of the role of hope in promoting global citizenship education (GCED) and argues that a global perspective in education requires a hopeful imaginative ethos to lay the foundations for a new transformative pedagogy. After introducing UNESCO’s recent report Reimagining Our Futures Together, which addresses urgent global challenges and assigns a major role to a global perspective in education, the article discusses the meaning of GCED as a non-neutral transformative approach in education. While this report, as well as previous ones, has been criticised for its visionary over-idealism and lack of attention to the power dynamics governing education, it will be argued that hope has transformational power and can play a political role in education. The article will then highlight contrasting ideas in envisioning different images of the future promoted by international organisations that have a significant impact on global educational policies and the construction of the global discourse on education. Finally, drawing especially on the legacy of Freire’s vision of critical education, radical hope is reviewed by comparing it with two related issues: utopia and optimism

Multiculturalism in the world system: towards a social justice model of inter/multicultural education

Multiculturalism burst in Asia with the winds of globalisation. Fuelled by immigration, cultural hybridity and normative regimes from multilateral and bilateral organisations, multiculturalism is a new challenge for Asian economies, their politics of culture and their higher education institutions. Moreover, although heavily implemented from the start of the last century in the United States and in Europe to some extent, multiculturalism and multicultural education signify a premise in constructing models of cosmopolitan democracies and what has been known as ‘global citizenship education’. Drawing from the more mature experiences of the European Union (EU) and the United States in this field, this article traces the theoretical contours of and debates within multiculturalism. The article also focuses on the learning experience across borders, which is well represented in international comparative education studies. It probes the occurrence of any crisis in the field of multiculturalism in the United States and EU. Lessons learned from a comparison of the U.S. and EU experiences may be instructive to the Asian economies and cultures that are dealing with multiculturalism as a new force in the world system

Compressive strength of heterogeneous masonry walls containing blends of brick types

The study presents a systematic approach for the evaluation of the compression strength of masonry walls composed of heterogeneous mixes of different types of blocks. First of all, the mechanics of a compressed heterogeneous masonry stack is investigated through a series of experimental tests and Finite Element models, then it is reviewed and discussed. Then, the problem of deriving the necessary material parameters entering the Hilsdorf formula is addressed. Solutions for the correct evaluation of the lacking data are presented based on the existing literature data. Finally, the well-known Hilsdorf formula is extended to the field of block blends with different mechanical properties. A deep experimental investigation on stacks and wallets made with fired clay, limestone and sandstone blocks is introduced for the first time. The comparison of the experimental data with the proposed theory points out the very good predictive capability of the extended Hilsdorf formula derived herein

Evaluation of the residual carrying capacity of a large-scale model bridge through frequency shifts

Structural systems are often subjected to degradation processes due to different kinds of phenomena like unexpected loadings, ageing of the materials, and fatigue cycles. This is true, especially for bridges, in which their safety evaluation is crucial for planning maintenance activities. This paper discusses the experimental evaluation of the residual carrying capacity from frequency changes due to distributed damage scenarios. For this purpose, in the laboratory of the University of Bologna, an experimental reinforced concrete model bridge was built and loaded. The applied forces produced bending moments causing up to three increasing levels of damage severity, namely early and diffused concrete cracking, and finally rebar yielding. By processing the acceleration signals recorded during the dynamic tests on the model bridge, the main natural frequencies of the bridge were obtained and the remaining bearing capacity was estimated based on the damage state. The opening and closure of cracks during a dynamic excitation produced a biased estimation of natural frequencies related to each damaged condition. The frequency decay predicted by the theory of breathing cracks applied to the performed experiments properly estimated the losses in the carrying capacity

Implementing global citizenship education in EU primary schools: The role of government ministries

According to recommendations of the UN Secretary General's Global Education First Initiative, countries and regions require a number of structural changes if they are to implement educational policies and practice based on global citizenship education, and to promote respect and responsibility across cultures. In this paper, we present the first results of a three-year project to compare existing educational policies, strategies and school curricula in ten European Union (EU) countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Spain, Portugal, UK) to ascertain the current level of such structural changes. Through a comparative policy analysis, we investigated whether, to what extent, and how global citizenship education is integrated within primary school curricula. The article focuses on national governmental agencies – specifically two main bodies in each country, the ministries of foreign affairs and education – and their political discourses. We argue that the gap between the two traditions, with separate approaches, purposes, concepts and bureaucracies, represents a strategic political challenge for the introduction of global citizenship education in primary schools

Educating teachers towards global citizenship: A comparative study in four European countries

This article, derived from a larger EU-funded empirical research project, draws on a comparative analysis of pioneering global citizenship education (GCE) in-service primary teacher education programmes, as theorized and practised in four European countries, to explore how higher education institutions (HEIs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and participating teachers shape the development of content-based, competence-based and values-based approaches to teacher education. With reference to the multiple-site case study in Ireland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy, this article argues that, through investment, structural and institutional support and professional teacher education expertise, HEIs are, alongside NGOs and in-service teachers, pivotal actors in the collaborative development of GCE teacher education. The article concludes that successful collaborations can foster teacher agency through transformative, values-based approaches to GCE teacher education

Esculetin provides neuroprotection against mutant huntingtin-induced toxicity in huntington’s disease models

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by an abnormal CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion within exon 1 of the huntingtin (HTT) gene. This mutation leads to the production of mutant HTT (mHTT) protein which triggers neuronal death through several mechanisms. Here, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of esculetin (ESC), a bioactive phenolic compound, in an inducible PC12 model and a transgenic Drosophila melanogaster model of HD, both of which express mHTT fragments. ESC partially inhibited the progression of mHTT aggregation and reduced neuronal death through its ability to counteract the oxidative stress and mitochondria impairment elicited by mHTT in the PC12 model. The ability of ESC to counteract neuronal death was also confirmed in the transgenic Drosophila model. Although ESC did not modify the lifespan of the transgenic Drosophila, it still seemed to have a positive impact on the HD phenotype of this model. Based on our findings, ESC may be further studied as a potential neuroprotective agent in a rodent transgenic model of HD

Identification of recurrent genetic patterns from targeted sequencing panels with advanced data science: a case-study on sporadic and genetic neurodegenerative diseases

open8noThis work is funded by the University of Bologna, the IRCCS Institute of Neurological sciences of Bologna, and by the European Grants H2020 GenoMed4All [AM1] (Grant N. 101017549) and H2020 MSCA-ITN IMforFUTURE (Grant N. 721815).Background Targeted Next Generation Sequencing is a common and powerful approach used in both clinical and research settings. However, at present, a large fraction of the acquired genetic information is not used since pathogenicity cannot be assessed for most variants. Further complicating this scenario is the increasingly frequent description of a poli/oligogenic pattern of inheritance showing the contribution of multiple variants in increasing disease risk. We present an approach in which the entire genetic information provided by target sequencing is transformed into binary data on which we performed statistical, machine learning, and network analyses to extract all valuable information from the entire genetic profile. To test this approach and unbiasedly explore the presence of recurrent genetic patterns, we studied a cohort of 112 patients affected either by genetic Creutzfeldt–Jakob (CJD) disease caused by two mutations in the PRNP gene (p.E200K and p.V210I) with different penetrance or by sporadic Alzheimer disease (sAD). Results Unsupervised methods can identify functionally relevant sources of variation in the data, like haplogroups and polymorphisms that do not follow Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, such as the NOTCH3 rs11670823 (c.3837 + 21 T > A). Supervised classifiers can recognize clinical phenotypes with high accuracy based on the mutational profile of patients. In addition, we found a similar alteration of allele frequencies compared the European population in sporadic patients and in V210I-CJD, a poorly penetrant PRNP mutation, and sAD, suggesting shared oligogenic patterns in different types of dementia. Pathway enrichment and protein–protein interaction network revealed different altered pathways between the two PRNP mutations. Conclusions We propose this workflow as a possible approach to gain deeper insights into the genetic information derived from target sequencing, to identify recurrent genetic patterns and improve the understanding of complex diseases. This work could also represent a possible starting point of a predictive tool for personalized medicine and advanced diagnostic applications.openTarozzi, M.; Bartoletti-Stella, A.; Dall’Olio, D.; Matteuzzi, T.; Baiardi, S.; Parchi, P.; Castellani, G.; Capellari, S.Tarozzi, M.; Bartoletti-Stella, A.; Dall’Olio, D.; Matteuzzi, T.; Baiardi, S.; Parchi, P.; Castellani, G.; Capellari, S