פרסומים

This study investigates challenges in addressing metacognition in professional development (PD) programs addressing instruction of higher-order thinking (HOT). A set of semi-structured interviews was conducted with 18 instructional leaders who had prominent roles in large-scale implementation programs designed to teach HOT. Most participants (n = 15) expressed the opinion that metacognition is valuable in teaching HOT yet, reported that metacognitive teaching is rare in wide-scale efforts to implement HOT. They explained that the major reason for this gap is teachers’ fragile knowledge of metacognition. The analysis shows a deficiency in teachers’ general metacognitive knowledge, deficiency in the more specific metastrategic knowledge (MSK) regarding individual thinking strategies, and deficiencies in relevant pedagogical knowledge. Implications are discussed.

Floods comprise a dominant hydroclimatic phenomenon in aridlands with significant implications for humans, infrastructure, and landscape evolution worldwide. The study of short-term hydroclimatic variability, such as floods, and its forecasting for episodes of changing climate therefore poses a dominant challenge for the scientific community, and predominantly relies on modeling. Testing the capabilities of climate models to properly describe past and forecast future short-term hydroclimatic phenomena such as floods requires verification against suitable geological archives. However, determining flood frequency during changing climate is rarely achieved, because modern and paleoflood records, especially in arid regions, are often too short or discontinuous. Thus, coeval independent climate reconstructions and paleoflood records are required to further understand the impact of climate change on flood generation. Dead Sea lake levels reflect the mean centennial-millennial hydrological budget in the eastern Mediterranean. In contrast, floods in the large watersheds draining directly into the Dead Sea, are linked to short-term synoptic circulation patterns reflecting hydroclimatic variability. These two very different records are combined in this study to resolve flood frequency during opposing mean climates. Two 700-year-long, seasonally-resolved flood time series constructed from late Pleistocene Dead Sea varved sediments, coeval with significant Dead Sea lake level variations are reported. These series demonstrate that episodes of rising lake levels are characterized by higher frequency of floods, shorter intervals between years of multiple floods, and asignificantly larger number of years that experienced multiple floods. In addition, floods cluster into intervals of intense flooding, characterized by 75% and 20% increased frequency above their respective background frequencies during rising and falling lake-levels, respectively. Mean centennial precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean is therefore coupled with drastic changes in flood frequencies. These drastic changes in flood frequencies are linked to changes in the track, depth, and frequency of mid-latitude eastern Mediterranean cyclones, determining mean climatology resulting in wetter and drier regional climatic episodes.

In the present study we aimed to control insulin release from the reverse hexagonal (H-II) mesophase using Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase (TLL) in the environment (outer TLL) or within the H-II cylinders (inner TLL). Two insulin-loaded systems differing by the presence (or absence) of phosphatidylcholine (PC) were examined. In general, incorporation of PC into the H-II interface (without TLL) increased insulin release, as a more cooperative system was formed. Addition of TLL to the systems' environments resulted in lipolysis of the H-II structure. In the absence of PC, the lipolysis was more dominant and led to a significant increase in insulin release (50% after 8 h). However, the presence of PC stabilized the interface, hindering the lipolysis, and therefore no impact on the release profile was detected during the first 8 h. Entrapment of TLL within the H-II cylinders (with and without PC) drastically increased insulin release in both systems up to 100%. In the presence of PC insulin released faster and the structure was more stable. Consequently, the presence of lipases (inner or outer) both enhanced the destruction of the carrier, and provided sustained release of the entrapped insulin. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

During the complex dynamic interactions between rainfall and basin properties, different portions of the basin produce runoff at different moments. Capturing this spatiotemporal variability is important for flood analysis, but knowledge of this subject is limited. The presented research aims at improving the understanding of runoff-contributing areas (RCA; hillslope sections from which water flows, reaches the stream network, and consequently the basin outlet) and at examining their relationship with the magnitude of a flash flood’s peak discharge. A distributed hydrological model (GB-HYDRA) that enables computing RCA and flood discharge was developed. The model was applied to four medium-size basins (18–69 km2) in a Mediterranean climate and 59 flash flood events were analyzed. The correlation between basin input flux (basin area multiplied by the basin maximal rain intensity averaged over the time of concentration) and output flux (observed peak discharge) was poor (R2= 0.16). However, using a newly developed index, termed IRCA, to calculate the input flux accounting only for the RCA extent and rainfall intensity over it, resulted in a substantially higher correlation (R2= 0.64) across a wide range of flood magnitudes. The highest correlation was found using a 50-min time window, which is shorter than the time of concentration. Flood events were categorized according to their magnitude and the differences of several factors among the groups were examined. Pre-storm soil moisture content was found to be similar for all event magnitudes; however, pre-peak soil moisture content was substantially different between moderate and large–extreme events. Other important properties that differed between magnitudes were: RCA extent and its averaged rain intensity and ratio of convective rainfall. Finally, areas with land-uses characterized by low runoff potential became dominant and contributed mainly during large and extreme events. Although the RCA and its extent full potential is yet to be fulfilled, it is proposed as a significant tool for understanding processes of flash flood generation at the basin scale in future research.

MyD88 is a cytoplasmic adaptor protein that plays a central role in signaling downstream of the TLRs and the IL1R superfamily. We previously demonstrated that MyD88 plays a critical role in EAE, the murine model of multiple sclerosis, and showed that the MyD88 BB-loop decoy peptide RDVLPGT ameliorates EAE. We now designed and screened a library of backbone cyclized peptides based on the linear BB loop peptide, to identify a metabolically stable inhibitor of MyD88 that retains the binding properties of the linear peptide. We identified a novel cyclic peptide protein mimetic that inhibits inflammatory responses to TLR ligands, and NFκB activation in response to IL-1 activation. The inhibitor, c(MyD 4-4), is metabolically stable in comparison to the linear peptide, blocks MyD88 in a specific manner, and inhibits MyD88 function by preventing MyD88 dimerization. Finally, treatment of mice with c(MyD 4-4) reduced the severity of clinical disease in the murine EAE model of multiple sclerosis. Thus, modulation of MyD88-dependent signaling using c(MyD 4-4) is a potential therapeutic strategy to lower innate immune inflammation in autoimmune CNS disease.

המדע המכניסטי המודרני אשר מסביר את העולם על פי חומר ותנועה בלבד.התגליות של קופרניקוס, קפלר, גלילאו, בייקון, דקרט וניוטון שינו כליל את השקפת העולם של ימי הביניים והביאו להסרת הקסם מהעולם, להרס היקום המהולל של דנטה ומילטון אשר לא תחם גבולות לדמיון האדם.במקום עולם עשיר בצבעים וקולות, מפעים וזורח, מלא בשמחה, אהבה ויופי, המגלה הרמוניה מכוונת ורעיונות יוצרים, בפילוסופיה המכניסטית העולם המשמעותי הוא עולם קשה, קר, חסר צבע, משולל קול ומת – עולם של כמויות ותנועות הנמנ‏ו‏ת בצורה מתמטית ובקביעות מכניסטית. בהיסטוריה של המדע בעת החדשה המוקדמת דנים לרוב בהתקדמות המדע; מחקרים מעטים, אם בכלל, עוסקים בשאלה כיצד הגיבו בני הדור להרס תמונת היקום המסורתית. הסרת הקסם מהעולם: דת ומדע בראשית העת החדשה דן בהיסטוריה אלטרנטיבית להתקדמות המדע. הוא מגלה את השפעתו השלילית של המדע החדש של הטבע על הגדרות ועיצובים מסורתיים של זהויות דתיות בראשית התקופה המודרנית; כך למשל, המשורר המטפיזי ג’ון דאן התקיף את האסטרונומיה החדשה, אשר בה השמש היא מרכז העולם ולא הארץ; הוא חשף את "פני יאנוס" של המדע החדש, את הסכנות והאיומים שהפילוסופיה החדשה של טב‏ע‏ הציבה בפני דפוסי מחשבה ואמונה דתיים-מסורתיים. כמו דאן, גם הפילוסוף בלז פסקל התנגד לפילוסופיה המכניסטית-רציונליסטית של רנה דקרט. הוא הדין ביחס למהפכה שחולל אייזק ניוטון – רבים באנגליה טענו שהמתמטיזציה שלו את עולם הטבע מביאה להסרת הקסם מהעולם, ובכך משנה את יסודות המחשבה והאמונה הנוצרית-מסורתית. – תיאור המו"ל

Identifying climates favoring extreme weather phenomena is a primary aim of paleoclimate and paleohydrological research. Here, we present a well-dated, late Holocene Dead Sea sediment record of debris flows covering 3.3 to 1.9 cal ka BP. Twenty-three graded layers deposited in shallow waters near the western Dead Sea shore were identified by microfacies analysis. These layers represent distal subaquatic deposits of debris flows triggered by torrential rainstorms over the adjacent western Dead Sea escarpment. Modern debris flows on this escarpment are induced by rare rainstorms with intensities exceeding \textgreater30mm h-1 for at least one hour and originate primarily from the Active Red Sea Trough synoptic pattern. The observed late Holocene clustering of such debris flows during a regional drought indicates an increased influence of Active Red Sea Troughs resulting from a shift in synoptic atmospheric circulation patterns. This shift likely decreased the passages of eastern Mediterranean cyclones, leading to drier conditions, but favored rainstorms triggered by the Active Red Sea Trough. This is in accord with present-day meteorological data showing an increased frequency of torrential rainstorms in regions of drier climate. Hence, this study provides conclusive evidence for a shift in synoptic atmospheric circulation patterns during a late Holocene drought.

Abstract. This paper describes an integrated, high-resolution dataset of hydro-meteorological variables (rainfall and discharge) concerning a number of high-intensity flash floods that occurred in Europe and in the Mediterranean region from 1991 to 2015. This type of dataset is rare in the scientific literature because flash floods are typically poorly observed hydrological extremes. Valuable features of the dataset (hereinafter referred to as the EuroMedeFF database) include (i) its coverage of varied hydro-climatic regions, ranging from Continental Europe through the Mediterranean to Arid climates, (ii) the high space–time resolution radar rainfall estimates, and (iii) the dense spatial sampling of the flood response, by observed hydrographs and/or flood peak estimates from post-flood surveys. Flash floods included in the database are selected based on the limited upstream catchment areas (up to 3000km2), the limited storm durations (up to 2 days), and the unit peak flood magnitude. The EuroMedeFF database comprises 49 events that occurred in France, Israel, Italy, Romania, Germany and Slovenia, and constitutes a sample of rainfall and flood discharge extremes in different climates. The dataset may be of help to hydrologists as well as other scientific communities because it offers benchmark data for the identification and analysis of the hydro-meteorological causative processes, evaluation of flash flood hydrological models and for hydro-meteorological forecast systems. The dataset also provides a template for the analysis of the space–time variability of flash flood triggering rainfall fields and of the effects of their estimation on the flood response modelling. The dataset is made available to the public with the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.6096/MISTRALS-HyMeX.1493.