Tangible Link Research Articles

Breaking a dogma: orthodontic tooth movement alters systemic immunity

BackgroundThe prevailing paradigm posits orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) as primarily a localized inflammatory process. In this study, we endeavor to elucidate the potential ramifications of mechanical force on systemic immunity, employing a time-dependent approach.Materials and methodsA previously described mouse orthodontic model was used. Ni-Ti. springs were set to move the upper 1st-molar in C57BL/6 mice and the amount of OTM was. measured by µCT. Mice were allocated randomly into four experimental groups, each. corresponding to clinical phases of OTM, relative to force application. Terminal blood. samples were collected and a comprehensive blood count test for 7 cell types as well as. proteome profiling of 111 pivotal cytokines and chemokines were conducted. Two controls. groups were included: one comprised non-treated mice and the other mice with inactivated springs.ResultsSerum immuno-profiling unveiled alterations in cellular immunity, manifesting as. changes in percentages of leukocytes, monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, and. lymphocytes, alongside key signaling factors in comparison to both control groups. The systemic cellular and molecular alterations triggered by OTM mirrored the dynamics previously described in the local immune response.ConclusionsAlthough the exact interplay between local and systemic immune responses to orthodontic forces require further elucidation, our findings demonstrate a tangible link between the two. Future investigations should aim to correlate these results with human subjects, and strive to delve deeper into the specific mechanisms by which mechanical force modulates the systemic immune response.

Digital voluntourism and sense of place: volunteers’ responsibility towards an ‘imaginary locality’

Digital volunteer tourism (DVT) has emerged as a viable alternative to positively impact destinations when travel is impossible during times of crisis. This leaves volunteers, the ‘agents’ in volunteer projects and development work, who might often identify with a destination or specific cause, without a tangible link to the locality. Raising the important question of what role being physically connected to the locality plays in voluntourism; this study focuses on volunteers’ perception of their own impact in an out-of-reach destination. Through online fieldwork during an eight-week internship with a volunteer organisation in Fiji, this paper offers first insights into the phenomenon of digital voluntourism by discussing the role that a link to the destination and a sense of place play in still feeling to be making a difference. Furthermore, this debate reveals whether and how DVT intends to stimulate a sense of belonging of those volunteers to foster their sense of responsibility, while juxtaposing these digital programmes to in-situ voluntourism. This paper, therefore, constitutes one of the first contributions conceptualising the geography of digital voluntourism, arguing that while DVT has its merits in contributing to the sustainable development agenda, the physical distance and isolation from the place where this impact should be felt compromise their feelings of achievement and understanding of the locality even more than in usual voluntourism projects.

Sustainable Innovation and Economic Resilience: Deciphering ESG Ratings’ Role in Lowering Debt Financing Costs

AbstractThis study delves into the intricate dynamics between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings and corporate debt financing costs among China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2021. Analyzing a substantial dataset unveils a tangible link where higher ESG ratings correlate with significantly lower debt financing costs. This relationship manifests more prominently in enterprises with lower pollution levels, state ownership, and those in China’s central and western regions, especially under heightened economic policy uncertainty. The findings elucidate that improved ESG ratings, reflective of robust sustainability practices, diminish corporate agency costs and enhance financial stability, thereby reducing debt financing expenses. This research extends the discourse in the knowledge economy by offering empirical evidence on how ESG integration can serve as a lever for financial efficiency and sustainability in business operations. By spotlighting the financial merits of embracing ESG criteria, the study offers profound insights for policymakers, investors, and corporations, encouraging the acceleration of ESG disclosure and assessment frameworks. In doing so, it supports the cultivation of high-caliber, environmentally friendly enterprises, aligning with the broader objectives of innovation, entrepreneurship, and societal welfare within the knowledge economy paradigm.

Elucidating the coherent and incoherent reflection of plane-waves in finite thickness media: a practical pedagogical application

The propagation of light through a thin film interfaced between two semi-infinite media serves as a compelling illustration for elucidating electromagnetic wave interactions with matter at the undergraduate level. Despite its pedagogical significance and diverse technological applications, this model often receives inadequate attention in foundational electromagnetism literature, limiting early student exposure to this emblematic concept. In this pedagogical initiative, we present a comprehensive analysis of electromagnetic wave propagation through a dielectric medium positioned between semi-infinite media. We examine interference phenomena arising from back-and-forth reflected waves within the dielectric, focusing on the coherent and incoherent reflection regimes as limiting cases. Employing rigorous analytical treatment, we delineate transmittance and reflectance profiles, offering students a lucid understanding of how the refractive index’s real and imaginary components compete and manifest under specific conditions. This analytical approach enhances students’ comprehension of electromagnetic wave behavior within diverse mediums. Furthermore, we extend this theoretical foundation to practical applications, emphasizing renewable energy contexts. By calculating absorptance, we estimate the maximum photo-generated current and power conversion efficiency of a prototype solar cell, establishing a tangible link between theoretical knowledge and real-world solar energy utilization.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IN EDUCATION: INTEGRATION OF AI INTO SCIENCE EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

This study investigates the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into science curricula at Nigerian universities, motivated by the imperative to prepare students for the evolving demands of the digital age. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research explores the impact of AI integration on learning outcomes, student engagement, and overall educational quality in science education. Quantitative analysis focuses on academic records, assessing the performance metrics of 180 science education students enrolled in AI-integrated courses across three Nigerian universities. Diverse representation across institutions and academic levels ensures comprehensive insights. Qualitative data, gathered through semi-structured interviews with three experienced lecturers, delves into their perspectives on AI integration in science education. Interviews, conducted via online platforms, highlight the rationale for integrating AI into the curriculum and the lecturers' experiences with AI in their classrooms. Statistical analysis of quantitative data, including regression analysis, identifies patterns and correlations in student performance. Qualitative data undergoes thematic analysis, revealing key insights and recurring themes within educators' and students' narratives. The results demonstrate a tangible link between AI integration and science education, offering a nuanced understanding of advantages and disadvantages. This research advocates for an adaptive curriculum that equips students with AI-related skills, contributing valuable insights for educational stakeholders on effective AI integration into science curricula. Ultimately, the study aims to foster the development of future experts capable of leveraging AI for scientific innovation in Nigeria's evolving technological landscape.

SCHOOL PRINCIPALS’ VIEWS ON THE IMPACT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI) ON PREFERENCES OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

This study aims to discover the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and conflict management within educational institutions, specifically focusing on school administrators' perspectives. Designed in phenomenology, the study encompassed 14 school principals from Turkish public schools, utilizing semi-structured interviews for data collection. Upon transcription and descriptive analysis, seven salient themes emerged. Findings clearly evinced the integral role of EI in conflict management, resonating with established EI paradigms, emphasizing aspects like empathy, self-awareness, and self-regulation. Moreover, the tangible link between EI and harmonious school cultures, efficient conflict resolution, and the generation of emotionally robust students was evident. In light of these revelations, the study proposes policy recommendations, including mandatory EI training for school personnel and the integration of EI frameworks into student curricula.

Comparing Canadian and Norwegian moisture indices for building climate adaptation

To evaluate the suitability of materials and solutions in building envelopes, it is necessary to quantify the relevant climate loads. The critical climate load is typically a combination of multiple parameters, such as temperature and precipitation. Climate indices may be used for finding critical climate loads, and their use helps guide design choices when adapting to local climates. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the suitability of the Canadian Moisture Index (MI) for use in Norway. The values of MI are linked to design recommendations in the Canadian building code, thus enabling a tangible link between index values and moisture design practice. MI has been calculated for 12 locations in Norway, and compared to two indices already in national use: the driving rain index (DRI) and wood decay potential index (WDPI). The applicability of a climate index as a design tool depends on (1) describing a relevant climate stress; (2) logical differentiation of values, and; (3) translating index values to design recommendations. These are fulfilled for MI in a Canadian context, thus making it applicable as a design tool. However, significant adaptation may be required for the index to be adopted to a Norwegian context. As MI and DRI have a similar field of application, introducing MI into a Norwegian context may therefore be redundant. A drawback with the Norwegian indices is the relative weak link between index values and design recommendations, thus further development of recommendations based on index values may improve their applicability as design tools.

Historical Arch Bridges-Deterioration and Restoration Techniques

Historic buildings are the most valuable evidence of cultural heritage. They play an essential role in establishing a tangible link between the past and the present by understanding, interpreting, and tracing the epoch of civilization. Unfortunately, the high costs of restoration, vandalism, and arson take their toll. However, new technologies are having a positive impact on the restoration process and are becoming a suitable alternative to labor-intensive, expensive, and unsafe traditional inspections. Therefore, the role of non-destructive testing (NDT) as a new method is becoming more evident. Faro laser scanning, impact echo, impulse sound testing, and geoelectric tomography as non-destructive methods are leading to the inspection of historic structures to preserve their character. These new methods are representative of the development of non-contact techniques for the examination and documentation of structures. Non-destructive testing examines the internal and external structure of complex building components as well as defective areas, quantifies cracks, and detects near-surface moisture. The objective of this work is to identify new adventurous and traditional methods for the reconstruction of the Turkish arch bridges Dara-1 and Halilviran to determine the appropriate rehabilitation methods and their deterioration of construction materials, damage, and failure patterns. Bridge dimensions were measured using a Faro laser scanner, which allows inspectors to capture and evaluate data from bridges and structural components without permanently altering them. The laser captures bridge dimensions by scanning cross-sections of the structure in the horizontal and vertical planes. The data is exported in the form of point clouds that represent all visible aspects and actual dimensions of the bridge in 2D and 3D models. In comparison between traditional and laser scanning methods, the main advantages of the applied method are the time savings on-site and the creation of a three-dimensional model of the structure, which can be used to collect precise and accurate surface data of objects in a non-destructive manner. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-07-010 Full Text: PDF

Oxidised Low-Density Lipoprotein-Induced Platelet Hyperactivity-Receptors and Signalling Mechanisms.

Dyslipidaemia leads to proatherogenic oxidative lipid stress that promotes vascular inflammation and thrombosis, the pathologies that underpin myocardial infarction, stroke, and deep vein thrombosis. These prothrombotic states are driven, at least in part, by platelet hyperactivity, and they are concurrent with the appearancxe of oxidatively modified low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in the circulation. Modified LDL are heterogenous in nature but, in a general sense, constitute a prototype circulating transporter for a plethora of oxidised lipid epitopes that act as danger-associated molecular patterns. It is well-established that oxidatively modified LDL promote platelet activation and arterial thrombosis through a number of constitutively expressed scavenger receptors, which transduce atherogenic lipid stress to a complex array of proactivatory signalling pathways in the platelets. Stimulation of these signalling events underlie the ability of modified LDL to induce platelet activation and blunt platelet inhibitory pathways, as well as promote platelet-mediated coagulation. Accumulating evidence from patients at risk of arterial thrombosis and experimental animal models of disease suggest that oxidised LDL represents a tangible link between the dyslipidaemic environment and increased platelet activation. The aim of this review is to summarise recent advances in our understanding of the pro-thrombotic signalling events induced in platelets by modified LDL ligation, describe the contribution of individual platelet scavenger receptors, and highlight potential future challenges of targeting these pathways.

FACTOR INFLUENCING THE MARKETABILITY OF GRADUATE: A CASE STUDY IN ISLAMIC SCIENCE UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA (USIM)

Today, graduate marketability is deteriorating. Some graduates from universities in the public sector can still not enter the employment market. This study was thus carried out on the elements which affect the marketability of graduates in Malaysia at the public university. Three hundred eighty graduate students from a public university were the participants in the research. The quantitative approach was applied in this study, descriptive analysis and inferential analysis. The data gathered from the questionnaire are the medium for blasting over the Google Form platform. This study analysed data using Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) Version 26. The analysis utilised included the descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation. The results have shown that the marketability of graduates has a tangible link to their personality and skills. Meanwhile, numerous regression analyses demonstrate that public university graduates' personalities, skills, and academics impact marketability. This research indicates that three key characteristics, personality, skills and academics, affect the marketability of graduate students. To prepare for job marketing, the graduate must be aware of the three variables highlighted in this research.

Structure-conditioned amino-acid couplings: How contact geometry affects pairwise sequence preferences.

Relating a protein's sequence to its conformation is a central challenge for both structure prediction and sequence design. Statistical contact potentials, as well as their more descriptive versions that account for side‐chain orientation and other geometric descriptors, have served as simplistic but useful means of representing second‐order contributions in sequence–structure relationships. Here we ask what happens when a pairwise potential is conditioned on the fully defined geometry of interacting backbones fragments. We show that the resulting structure‐conditioned coupling energies more accurately reflect pair preferences as a function of structural contexts. These structure‐conditioned energies more reliably encode native sequence information and more highly correlate with experimentally determined coupling energies. Clustering a database of interaction motifs by structure results in ensembles of similar energies and clustering them by energy results in ensembles of similar structures. By comparing many pairs of interaction motifs and showing that structural similarity and energetic similarity go hand‐in‐hand, we provide a tangible link between modular sequence and structure elements. This link is applicable to structural modeling, and we show that scoring CASP models with structured‐conditioned energies results in substantially higher correlation with structural quality than scoring the same models with a contact potential. We conclude that structure‐conditioned coupling energies are a good way to model the impact of interaction geometry on second‐order sequence preferences.

Exploring Public Recognition and Perceived Cultural Value of the Special Qualities within English Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

As both the concept of ‘landscape’ and ‘beauty’ have very perceptual definitions, they must be assessed by large groups to be appropriately addressed. Therefore, amid a review of AONB designation, cultural perceptions of what is valuable within these designated areas is of paramount importance. Ecosystem services have gained traction as a way to assign social value to the non-physical benefits landscape can provide. AONB landscapes have a list of ‘special qualities’ (SQs) which are the features and characteristics of this area that warrant its protection. This study looks at the extent to which SQs reflect public values. Multiple methods including photo elicitation, participatory mapping, in-person surveys and social media data analysis have been used. The study suggests that when presented with the same landscape there is huge diversity as to what should be considered ‘special’. There is a general preference of landscape heterogeneity, therefore no one SQ could be more important than any of the others if considered in isolation. SQs that have a tangible link to the cultural ecosystem services they provide, were most appreciated. All methods used had their own benefits and flaws, hence future research should use a combination of methods to address perception issues.

City planning, urban imaginary, and the branded space: Untangling the role of city plans in shaping Dallas's urban imaginaries

Drawing on notions of the symbolic economy and urban imaginary as an inherent dimension of the neoliberal public sphere, this paper examines historicized city plans and their visions, and develops a framework for understanding the role of city plans in shaping urban imaginaries and branded spaces. The paper claims that future city visions, fundamental to plan-making, help legitimize the power elites' growth agendas and ambitions to invest in both symbolic and material flagship place-making projects heavily bolstered and publicized by the media. The study examines this claim in the American context, selecting Dallas, Texas as a unique entrepreneurial city overly concerned with its public image characterized by a long-standing legacy of place promotion and plan-making. Using archival research and semi-structured interviews with key informants, this paper finds that city plans' visions, subservient to the civic elites' cultural tastes, have been instrumental in rallying public support to materialize place-making projects in accord with the city's larger preoccupation with “world-class” status showcased and widely promoted by media outlets. This study concludes by reflecting on the subtle yet tangible link between plan-making and urban imaginaries, an overt tendency of ever more commodified urban spaces, and the paradox it poses to city planning.

‘It’s a Cultural Pull for the Irish Abroad’: Gaelic Games and the Irish Community in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century London

ABSTRACT The GAA essentially performs two key roles in London: on the one hand, functioning as a familiar institution providing opportunities to take part in activities with a tangible link to ‘home’; on the other hand, representing a marker of identity. An examination of the role of Gaelic games in London is timely as various academic fields are increasingly focusing upon the role of cultural practices, such as sport, as identity and community markers in a diaspora. This article contributes to the growing body of work considering the role of sport for members of the Irish diaspora. Drawing on qualitative research in the form of a survey and interviews with members of the GAA in London, it seeks to make sense of the lived experience of being Irish in London and the role that the GAA and Gaelic games play in the lives of different Irish people living in the city, including Irish emigrants and their descendants, the second-generation Irish.

Cover | Clúdach

Cover | Clúdach Angela Griffith (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Cover. Paula Pohli Stilt Barn Blue (2018–19) Tempera on board Used with the artist's permission rural ireland's agricultural architecture provides a window into its social and economic history. Just as the one-time ubiquitous thatched cottage of tourist postcards was gradually replaced by later twentieth-century "bungalow bliss," large, industrially made farm buildings implied status, progress, and success for the farmer and his family. The rough-hewn, hand-built, lime-washed stone byre was replaced with prefabricated steel, concrete, and corrugated metal sheeting. The earlier domestic-scaled stone structures were set aside, or replaced, with commercial-sized buildings, to house time-saving tractors and machinery and the required sundries for, and the fruits of, increased productivity. These barns or sheds would often dwarf the family home. The form of these buildings is utterly determined by function, not affectation. Customarily, aside from their utilitarian purpose of shelter and storage, the shed became a masculine communal space—a place for men to work, to congregate, to discuss, to advise—or they served as places of solitude and introspection. However, at present, the future of agriculture in Ireland is unclear. In the island's more isolated regions, the viability of small-scale farming is uncertain. Existing methods and limited levels of production are viewed as unsustainable, either economically, socially, or environmentally. As farmers age and are not replaced, their barns, stoical monuments to their family's presence in the locality and their labors, become neglected or abandoned. Nature begins to reassert [End Page 157] itself in these human-made spaces. Weather and time assault the structure. Rust and mold will form on exposed or damaged surfaces, plants will put down roots in cracks, and wild animals will find refuge there. It is in these spaces that the painter and printmaker Paula Pohli finds inspiration. This city-born artist's eye is drawn to their vaulted presence. She sees rural sheds as beautiful, describing their frameworks as elegant, even fragile despite their tenacity. The detritus that have gathered—the discarded clothing and footwear, tins, plastic wrapping, tools, machine parts, leaves, and dust—are all attractive to the artist. They are evidence of the passage of time, of human endeavor, and of being. Paula Pohli was born in Dublin, and over the course of her life she has lived in Quebec and Paris. She moved to rural Mayo in 2011. Since then, her husband, Walter, a German national, passed away. In the isolation of the countryside, she has had to learn to be by herself. What was once shared time is now only hers, and because of this she has become increasingly aware of its passing. Pohli is from a family of stonemasons, aptly named Rock. Her grandfather was also a fine sculptor, a businessman who had to balance the prosaic side of the company with the creative. However, the firm dissolved in the wake of Vatican II as demand for church decorations dwindled in the face of the reconfiguring and the refining of the church as a collective space. However, on moving to Mayo, by pure happenchance, Pohli discovered her family's stone carvings in a local church, creating a tangible link between her origins and her new home. Pohli, because of her artistic temperament and ambition, has often felt herself at a remove from the wider community. Her role is to observe and mediate society through her practice. She is drawn to fellow painter-printmaker Albrecht Dürer's master engraving Melencolia I from 1514. In his personification of Melancholy, Dürer explores the isolation felt by the artist, who he believes inhabits a different intellectual, spiritual, and creative plane. Pohli is aware that she sees things in ways others do not, and as an artist she willingly shares her vision of the world, of the real and the imagined. Like her family before her, Pohli is a master of her craft. She is renowned for her distinctively expressive linocuts, and she has been working with the exacting medium of tempera paint since 2012. All her chosen methods are labor intensive. Giving of herself and her days...

Objects and materiality in pragmatic development: Here-and-now to then and-there

Abstract Language acquisition involves more than learning how to produce words in complex strings. It involves a diversity of aptitudes about how, when, with whom and in what way to use language abilities. While it is acknowledged that these skills are learned through social interaction (Blum-Kulka, S. (1997). Dinner talk: cultural patterns of sociability and socialization in family discourse. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, Mahwah, NJ; Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford University Press, Oxford), our understanding about precisely how they emerge and how they are taught and learned remains preliminary at best. Additionally, much of our understanding is strictly limited to spoken language. The analysis and arguments herein detail the consequentiality of child directed interaction strategies (CDIS) which facilitate non-verbal actions and motivate episodic retrospection, making a tangible link between the current interaction and past experiences. Through a multimodal interaction analysis (Author and Pirini, J. (2020). Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. In McKinley, J. and Rose, H. (Eds.) The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics. Rouledge, London, pp. 488–499; Norris, S. (2004). Analyzing multimodal interaction: a methodological framework. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379493; Norris, S. (2011). Identity in (inter)action: introducing Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. de Gruyter Mouton, Berlin & New York. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781934078280; Norris, S. (2019). Systematically working with multimodal data: research methods in multimodal discourse analysis. Wiley Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ; Pirini, J. (2014). Introduction to Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. In: Norris, S. and Maier, C. (Eds.). Interactions, texts and images: a reader in multimodality. Mouton de Gruyter, New York. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614511175.77) of the practice of showing material objects during interaction, I show that non-verbal action, material culture and the physical world are crucial to developing a certain socio-cognitive pragmatic aptitude. CDIS motivating ‘showing’ of tangible objects of personal significance may be the non-verbal antecedent of selecting and introducing new topics during interaction. These CDIS defer interactional agency and motivate non-verbal communicative actions more comfortably within the zone of proximal development. Importantly, the materiality of the objects themselves are of fleeting interactional priority. Instead, the objects provide a bridge between materiality in the here-and-now to past experiences in the there-and-then. Facilitating non-verbal actions of showing help motivate explorations of episodic memory by creating a tangible and immediate link within the unfolding interaction.

Between a Rock and a Soft Place: The Role of Viruses in Lithification of Modern Microbial Mats

Stromatolites are geobiological systems formed by complex microbial communities, and fossilized stromatolites provide a record of some of the oldest life on Earth. Microbial mats are precursors of extant stromatolites; however, the mechanisms of transition from mat to stromatolite are controversial and are still not well understood. To fully recognize the profound impact that these ecosystems have had on the evolution of the biosphere requires an understanding of modern lithification mechanisms and how they relate to the geological record. We propose here viral mechanisms in carbonate precipitation, leading to stromatolite formation, whereby viruses directly or indirectly impact microbial metabolisms that govern the transition from microbial mat to stromatolite. Finding a tangible link between host-virus interactions and changes in biogeochemical processes will provide tools to interpret mineral biosignatures through geologic time, including those on Earth and beyond.

‘We should all know where we came from.’ Identity and personal experiences at heritage sites

ABSTRACT This paper considers the role that heritage sites as visitor attractions play in the creation and reinforcing of identities at different levels through individual visitor experiences. In-depth interviews with participants at three heritage sites in Scotland reflect the role archaeological heritage can have in creating and reinforcing identities at different levels. Archaeological heritage, and its associated artefacts, creates a tangible link to ‘the past’, providing legitimacy for the creation of particular narratives of the past. In contrast, perceptions of individual identity are often bound up within broader notions of identity and place, but also reflect less obvious but equally valid personal interpretations of heritage sites. Personal identity manifest in different ways in the interviews, through engagement with tangible remains alongside authoritative accounts of ‘the past’. The results show the complex nature of identity when considering visitor experiences at heritage sites, and how recognised narratives of identity may be reimagined and reconstructed through individual experiences on site.

Heterozygous loss of epilepsy gene KCNQ2 alters social, repetitive and exploratory behaviors.

KCNQ/Kv7 channels conduct voltage‐dependent outward potassium currents that potently decrease neuronal excitability. Heterozygous inherited mutations in their principle subunits Kv7.2/KCNQ2 and Kv7.3/KCNQ3 cause benign familial neonatal epilepsy whereas patients with de novo heterozygous Kv7.2 mutations are associated with early‐onset epileptic encephalopathy and neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by intellectual disability, developmental delay and autism. However, the role of Kv7.2‐containing Kv7 channels in behaviors especially autism‐associated behaviors has not been described. Because pathogenic Kv7.2 mutations in patients are typically heterozygous loss‐of‐function mutations, we investigated the contributions of Kv7.2 to exploratory, social, repetitive and compulsive‐like behaviors by behavioral phenotyping of both male and female KCNQ2 +/− mice that were heterozygous null for the KCNQ2 gene. Compared with their wild‐type littermates, male and female KCNQ2 +/− mice displayed increased locomotor activity in their home cage during the light phase but not the dark phase and showed no difference in motor coordination, suggesting hyperactivity during the inactive light phase. In the dark phase, KCNQ2 +/− group showed enhanced exploratory behaviors, and repetitive grooming but decreased sociability with sex differences in the degree of these behaviors. While male KCNQ2 +/− mice displayed enhanced compulsive‐like behavior and social dominance, female KCNQ2 +/− mice did not. In addition to elevated seizure susceptibility, our findings together indicate that heterozygous loss of Kv7.2 induces behavioral abnormalities including autism‐associated behaviors such as reduced sociability and enhanced repetitive behaviors. Therefore, our study is the first to provide a tangible link between loss‐of‐function Kv7.2 mutations and the behavioral comorbidities of Kv7.2‐associated epilepsy.

A German Rifle Casing and Chief Mkwawa of the Wahehe: the Colonial and Post-Colonial Significance of Mlambalasi Rockshelter, Iringa Region, Tanzania

Abstract During the 2010 excavations of Mlambalasi rockshelter, Iringa Region, Tanzania, a single rifle bullet casing was recovered. Analysis of this casing found that it was manufactured in 1877 at the munitions factory in Danzig for the German infantry’s Mauser 71 rifle. This casing is thus directly linked to the period of German colonization of Tanganyika, during which Iringa was a key centre of anti-colonial resistance. Mlambalasi was the location of the last stand of Chief Mkwawa of the Hehe people, and this bullet casing provides a tangible link to his uprising during the 1890s. In light of this colonial context and our ongoing research at Mlambalasi, this find is used to illustrate that a single artifact can reinforce multiple narratives about the past and the significance of an archaeological site.