"Aegeritella superficialis" Bal. et Wis. and A. "tuberculata" Bal. et Wis. ("Deuteromycetes"), epizoic fungi on two "Formica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)" species in the Iberian Peninsula

Aegeritella superficialis Bał. et Wił . i A. tuberculata Bał. et Wis. (Deuteromycetes ), fongs epizoics de dues espècies de Formica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la penísula Ibèrica. Aegeritella superficialis Bał. et Wił. i A. tuberculata Bał. et Wił., fongs epizoics, s'han trobat en dues espècies de formigues, Formica decipiens Bondr. i F. pressilabris Nyl., respectivament. Ambdues formigues són hostes nous per als fongs, i aquests representen dues noves addicions a la micoflora ibèrica. Els bulbil•les abunden més cap a la part distal del cos de les formigues (gaster, tercer parell de potes), el que suggereix un paper actiu, per autocondicia i aliocondicia, de les formigues en la distribució del fong en el seu cos.Aegeritella superficialis Bał. et Wiś. and A. tuberculata Bał. et Wiś., epizoic fungi on Formica decipiens Bondr. and F. pressilabris Nyl., are new records for the Iberian Peninsula; both ant species are new hosts for the fungi. Bulbils are more abundant at the rear of the body suggesting that ants partially control the spread of the fungus over its body by auto and allogrooming

Aegeritella superficialis Bal. et Wis. and A. tuberculata Bal. et Wis. (Deuteromycetes), epizoic fungi on two Formica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species in the Iberian Peninsula

Aegeritella superficialis Bal et Wis i A. tuberculata Bal et Wis fongs epizoics, s'han trobat en dues espècies de formigues, Formica decipiens Bondr. i F. pressilabris Nyl., respectivament. Ambdues formigues són hostes nous per als fongs, i aquests representen dues noves addicions a la micoflora ibèrica. Els bulbil·les abunden més cap a la part distal del cos de les formigues (gaster, tercer parell de potes), el que suggereix un paper actiu, per autocondicia i aliocondicia, de les formigues en la distribució del fong en el seu cos.Aegeritella superficialis Bat. et Wis. and A. tuberculata Bat. et Wis., epizoic fungi on Formica decipiens Bondr . and F. pressilabris Nyl., are new records for the Iberian Peninsula; both ant species are new hosts for the fungi. Bulbils are more abundant at the rear of the body suggesting that ants partially control the spread of the fungus over its body by auto and llogrooming

The impact of the 1999 education reform in Poland

Increasing the share of vocational secondary schooling has been a mainstay of development policy for decades, perhaps nowhere more so than in formerly socialist countries. The transition, however, led to significant restructuring of school systems, including a declining share of vocational students. Exposing more students to a general curriculum could improve academic abilities. This paper analyzes Poland’s significant improvement in international achievement tests and the restructuring of the education system that expanded general schooling to test the hypothesis that delayed vocational streaming improves outcomes. Using propensity score matching and differences-in-differences estimates, the authors show that delayed vocationalization had a positive and significant impact on student performance on the order of one standard deviation.Tertiary Education,Secondary Education,Education For All,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning

Generic Isolated Horizons and their Applications

Boundary conditions defining a generic isolated horizon are introduced. They generalize the notion available in the existing literature by allowing the horizon to have distortion and angular momentum. Space-times containing a black hole, itself in equilibrium but possibly surrounded by radiation, satisfy these conditions. In spite of this generality, the conditions have rich consequences. They lead to a framework, somewhat analogous to null infinity, for extracting physical information, but now in the \textit{strong} field regions. The framework also generalizes the zeroth and first laws of black hole mechanics to more realistic situations and sheds new light on the `origin' of the first law. Finally, it provides a point of departure for black hole entropy calculations in non-perturbative quantum gravity.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX. Minor typos were corrected and the fact that, in contrast to Ref [4], isolated horizons are now allowed to have distortion and rotation was clarifie

Key Competences in Europe: Opening Doors For Lifelong Learners Across the School Curriculum and Teacher Education

The aim of the study is to provide a comparative overview of policy and practice concerning the development and implementation of key competences in the education systems of the 27 Member States of the European Union. In particular, the study assesses the implementation of the 8 key competences contained in the European Reference Framework of Key Competences in primary and secondary schools across the EU as well as the extent to which initial and in-service education and training of teachers equips them with the skills and competences necessary to deliver key competences effectively.key competences, lifelong learning, cross-curricular, competence

Degenerate Sectors of the Ashtekar Gravity

This work completes the task of solving locally the Einstein-Ashtekar equations for degenerate data. The two remaining degenerate sectors of the classical 3+1 dimensional theory are considered. First, with all densitized triad vectors linearly dependent and second, with only two independent ones. It is shown how to solve the Einstein-Ashtekar equations completely by suitable gauge fixing and choice of coordinates. Remarkably, the Hamiltonian weakly Poisson commutes with the conditions defining the sectors. The summary of degenerate solutions is given in the Appendix.Comment: 19 pages, late

Background Independent Quantum Gravity: A Status Report

The goal of this article is to present an introduction to loop quantum gravity -a background independent, non-perturbative approach to the problem of unification of general relativity and quantum physics, based on a quantum theory of geometry. Our presentation is pedagogical. Thus, in addition to providing a bird's eye view of the present status of the subject, the article should also serve as a vehicle to enter the field and explore it in detail. To aid non-experts, very little is assumed beyond elements of general relativity, gauge theories and quantum field theory. While the article is essentially self-contained, the emphasis is on communicating the underlying ideas and the significance of results rather than on presenting systematic derivations and detailed proofs. (These can be found in the listed references.) The subject can be approached in different ways. We have chosen one which is deeply rooted in well established physics and also has sufficient mathematical precision to ensure that there are no hidden infinities. In order to keep the article to a reasonable size, and to avoid overwhelming non-experts, we have had to leave out several interesting topics, results and viewpoints; this is meant to be an introduction to the subject rather than an exhaustive review of it.Comment: 125 pages, 5 figures (eps format), the final version published in CQ

Abnormal Intracellular Accumulation and Extracellular Aβ Deposition in Idiopathic and Dup15q11.2-q13 Autism Spectrum Disorders

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>It has been shown that amyloid ß (Aβ), a product of proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid β precursor protein (APP), accumulates in neuronal cytoplasm in non-affected individuals in a cell type–specific amount.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>In the present study, we found that the percentage of amyloid-positive neurons increases in subjects diagnosed with idiopathic autism and subjects diagnosed with duplication 15q11.2-q13 (dup15) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In spite of interindividual differences within each examined group, levels of intraneuronal Aβ load were significantly greater in the dup(15) autism group than in either the control or the idiopathic autism group in 11 of 12 examined regions (p<0.0001 for all comparisons; Kruskall-Wallis test). In eight regions, intraneuronal Aβ load differed significantly between idiopathic autism and control groups (p<0.0001). The intraneuronal Aβ was mainly N-terminally truncated. Increased intraneuronal accumulation of Aβ_17–40/42 in children and adults suggests a life-long enhancement of APP processing with α-secretase in autistic subjects. Aβ accumulation in neuronal endosomes, autophagic vacuoles, Lamp1-positive lysosomes and lipofuscin, as revealed by confocal microscopy, indicates that products of enhanced α-secretase processing accumulate in organelles involved in proteolysis and storage of metabolic remnants. Diffuse plaques containing Aβ_1–40/42 detected in three subjects with ASD, 39 to 52 years of age, suggest that there is an age-associated risk of alterations of APP processing with an intraneuronal accumulation of a short form of Aβ and an extracellular deposition of full-length Aβ in nonfibrillar plaques.</p> <h3>Conclusions/Significance</h3><p>The higher prevalence of excessive Aβ accumulation in neurons in individuals with early onset of intractable seizures, and with a high risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy in autistic subjects with dup(15) compared to subjects with idiopathic ASD, supports the concept of mechanistic and functional links between autism, epilepsy and alterations of APP processing leading to neuronal and astrocytic Aβ accumulation and diffuse plaque formation.</p> </div