Metal-ligand cooperation in bis(phosphinimine)-supported rhodium pincer complexes: from dehydrogenation to value-added products

Expansion of methodology towards the synthesis of pincer ligand (L = κ3-NNN’ = 2,5-[iPr2P=N(4-iPrC6H4)]2-N’(C4H2)-) supported rhodium tetrylene (κ2-L(CO)Rh(ER2); E = Si, Ge; κ2-L = κ2-NN’-Rh, κ1-N-E) and borylene (κ2-L(CO)Rh(BMes); Mes = mesityl) species is described, followed by investigations into the reactivity of these new complexes. A metal-ligand cooperative approach was used to dehydrogenate group 14 starting materials of the form RR’EH2 (E = Si, Ge; R = aryl or alkyl; R’ = H, aryl or alkyl) and MesBH2 (Mes = mesityl), and the resulting complexes were characterized by a variety of instrumentational techniques (NMR, IR, EA). X-ray crystallography was used to unambiguously confirm the solid-state structure within these species, establishing the hemilability of the R3P=NAr “phosphinimine” nitrogen-donor of the pincer ligand as well as its base-stabilization capabilities. Diverse reaction chemistry was demonstrated for these species, starting with dehydrocoupling reactions with pinacol, which provided proof that the activated main group functionalities could be used as {BMes}, {SiRR’}, and {GeRR’} synthons and transferred to organic substrates. Additionally, reaction of a base-stabilized borylene complex with a variety of alkynes and CO gas yielded highly functionalized boron-containing heterocycles ((PhC=CRBMesO)C=NPipp) that would be difficult to synthesize by alternative routes, showcasing the potential these systems have for applications. Finally, the H-substituted silylene complex, κ2-L(CO)Rh(Si(H)Mes), was demonstrated to react with tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane to yield an elusive silylyne complex, the first of its kind with rhodium. Altogether, a cohesive body of work encompassing the development of new methodologies, diverse reaction chemistry, and the presentation of future areas for pursuit are described herein

Song type preferences during the dawn chorus in male Adelaide’s warblers (Setophaga adelaidae)

Songbirds sing a repertoire of song types, some of which are shared with neighbours. Songbirds prefer certain song types, but the reasons for these preferences are not well understood. I analyzed 11,800 dawn chorus songs from 14 male Adelaide's warblers (Setophaga adelaidae) to determine if males exhibit preference for specific song types and if these preferences are consistent across recording days. Each male had an average repertoire of 21.27 ± 3.62 song types. All males had song preferences, with the most preferred song type accounting for 17% of their song output. Song type preferences were consistent across days. I then omitted recordings that were not amenable to acoustic analysis, resulting in a reduced dataset (n = 9395), which I used to test whether males prefer (1) widely shared (locally prevalent) song types, (2) song types with superior transmission properties, or (3) song types with high or low vocal performance. I found strong evidence that males preferred widely shared songs, but the evidence for the second hypothesis was mixed. Males preferred song types with low frequency and low percent sound, supporting two predictions of the efficient sound transmission hypothesis. However, they did not prefer songs with high amplitude or high vocal deviation, negating the other two predictions of that hypothesis. Males preferred song types with low percent sound, as expected by the third hypothesis if they prefer songs with low performance requirement, but amplitude and vocal deviation had little effect on preference. This study supports the Social Dynamics Hypothesis, which states that social factors influence Adelaide's warblers' song type preference during the dawn chorus. Song sharing within the local communication networks influences male song preferences, although acoustic transmission properties and vocal performance may play a role as well

On the evolution of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis

Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Ptr) is a globally distributed and economically important plant pathogen causing tan spot, a destructive foliar disease of wheat. The relatively recent emergence of Ptr provides a unique opportunity to better understand how necrotrophic pathogens evolve in modern agricultural systems. In this thesis, a variety of genomic and bioinformatic techniques were employed to examine the genomes of a large set of geographically diverse isolates with representatives from all of the established virulence races. These races contain different combinations of Ptrs three primary necrotrophic effectors: ToxA, ToxB, and ToxC. Comparison of total gene content between isolates found that Ptr possesses an open-pangenome, with a high accessory gene content (57%), and significant differences between pathogenic and non-pathogenic races. Putative effectors were found to be primarily accessory in nature, while carbohydrate-active enzymes associated with plant cell wall degradation were conserved. Gene distances and evolutionary rates suggest that the genomic architecture of Ptr is that of a ‘one-compartment’ genome despite having a high proportion of transposable elements (~18 to 25% of the genome). Significant chromosomal rearrangements were observed between isolates including the translocation of ToxA and the presence of ToxB within an accessory region. The translocation of ToxA, along with a 143 kbp region, was facilitated by the Starship transposon Horizon. Within Horizon, was nested the ToxhAT transposon which was responsible for the horizontal transfer of ToxA into Ptr. The accessory region which contains ToxB contained several Starship cargo genes but lacked other defining Starship characteristics, namely the requisite tyrosine recombinase. This region may be an accessory chromosomal arm, an ancient derelict Starship, or the beginning of genome compartmentalization. Detailed examination and extensive manual alignments between ToxB containing isolates revealed the presence of a Helitron-like transposable element, ToxB-HLE, which is replicating the ToxB gene in some isolates. Furthermore, two independent Copia retrotransposon insertions were found to be responsible for the disruption of ToxB thereby creating two of the known inactive toxb haplotypes. Finally, a genome wide association study revealed single-nucleotide polymorphisms significantly associated with the ToxC phenotype (-log(p) = 5.5). The nature of ToxC is unknown, and this analysis provides a number of candidate genes which may be involved in ToxC biosynthesis, secretion, or regulation. This body of work represents one of the most extensive examinations of the Ptr genome and its necrotrophic effectors preformed to-date and has shown that the pathogen exhibits high genome plasticity through not only through rearrangements but gene gains and losses as well. It also shows that transposons play a significant role in the evolution and adaptability of this global plant pathogen by mobilizing, replicating, and disrupting virulence genes

New growth and the fossilized economy: sustainable development, discourse, and the case of recommodification

xiv, 141 pages : illustratedStarting in the 1960s, there was increased public awareness of environmentalism and, later, anthropogenic climate change. Public and private interests began to focus on the ‘issue’ of the environment, and in 1987, the UN Our Common Future Report (later known as the Brundtland Report) introduced the concept of sustainable development (SD). Using this concept as my guide, my research question is: Is the model of SD, as presented in the 1987 Brundtland Report, effective? I argue that SD, with an inherent emphasis on development and (economic) growth, is not a useful tool to advance effective climate action. Through participant observation at a Canadian corporate/climate conference and interviews with young sustainability professionals with experience in the public and private sectors (n=8), I argue that the concepts of sustainability and SD have been co-opted (through discourse and action) by corporations looking to profit. As such, I observe a corporate culture which embraces and adheres to the model of SD, but which uses SD to justify business- and growth-first approaches to environmentalism. I then outline a model of ‘recommodified SD,’ informed by the need to ‘sell’ the idea of SD (in its corporate and commodified form) to and from staff and their organizations. Ultimately, I present an argument on the discursive functionality of SD in perpetuating the idea that There Is No Alternative (TINA) from status-quo approaches to climate action

Exploring icebreakers in nursing education through a mixed-methods design: helpful or harmful?

Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) appliesBackground: Icebreakers share the common goal of promoting interaction. Despite the overwhelming positive regard for icebreakers in nursing education, they may have unintended consequences, such as highlighting inequities or perpetuating microaggressions. This research project incorporated the concept of microaggressions to explore how undergraduate nursing students experienced icebreakers within the classroom setting. Methods: This mixed-methods exploratory sequential design study used a quantitative survey followed by a semi-structured focus group using interpretive description thematic analysis. Results: A total of 43 students completed the quantitative survey, and three students participated in the follow-up focus group. The findings demonstrate that although well intentioned, icebreakers can also cause harm. Three themes were generated: revealing inequities, unveiling multiple tensions, and identifying conflict between purpose and outcome. Conclusion: Through our small study, we found that icebreakers can detract from content delivery, reveal inequities, and be divisive rather than contribute to a greater sense of belonging for students.Ye

Planetary health: a pragmatic theoretical framework to guide nursing education, research, and practice

Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) appliesThe term Planetary Health has been used in mainstream narrative in the past decades, but the term has only recently gained traction in nursing literature. Nurses are highly trusted and well-positioned to play an integral role in planetary health, by addressing the various challenges and health effects associated with planetary health decline. Issue: While the traditional scope of nursing practice includes health promotion, and illness, injury, and disease prevention, planetary health incorporates broader issues such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, and marine degradation. Nurses may lack knowledge and confidence regarding planetary health issues, which may correlate to inadequate confidence and feelings of unpreparedness in practice. Therefore, planetary health presents as a pragmatic theoretical framework for nursing education, practice, and research. Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to advocate for the applicability of planetary health for nursing practice, education, and research, incorporating an example of a research study that examined nurses’ percep- tions toward climate sensitive vector-borne diseases. Planetary health challenges are threatening human health globally, and nurses must be prepared to preserve human and planetary health

Advanced boundary-enhanced instance segmentation and spatial-temporal transformer models for automated schizophrenic investigation

Accurate segmentation and detection in neuroimaging is essential for advancing clinical understanding and the diagnosis of schizophrenia. This thesis introduces Boundary-Refined Attention Network (BoRefAttnNet), a novel boundary-refined 3D U-Net variant specifically designed for precise segmentation of subcortical brain structures from structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). BoRefAttnNet incorporates multi-scale boundary attention modules that explicitly highlight anatomically critical edges while suppressing background noise, significantly improving segmentation accuracy for small or complex anatomical structures. Evaluations using FastSurfer-processed sMRI data from the publicly available Centre for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) dataset demonstrate that BoRefAttnNet significantly outperforms conventional 3D U-Net baselines in accurately delineating key subcortical structures, including the hippocampus, amygdala, and basal ganglia. Building upon this enhanced segmentation capability, we further experiment with a Dynamic Spatial-Temporal Transformer Model (DySTTM) to detect schizophrenia by integrating structural and functional MRI (fMRI) modalities. The DySTTM leverages spatial attention to capture anatomical interdependencies from segmented sMRI data and temporal attention to model dynamic brain connectivity patterns from resting-state fMRI. Experimental results indicate that the integration of these multimodal imaging features using DySTTM provides superior diagnostic accuracy and interpretability compared to established models such as 3D ResNet and XGBoost classifiers.University of Lethbridge, Alberta Innovates, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute

Impact of interest rates and private wealth on labor supply: a study on G7 countries

This study examines the impact of interest rates and private wealth on labor supply across the G7 countries using data from 1971 to 2020. It uses a panel data analysis to explore how the changes of these variables influence labor supply, with a particular focus on substitution effect¬ — where labor supply increases as the interest rates rise — and income effects — where wealth accumulation reduces the labor supply. The study uses a Representative Agent New Keynesian (RANK) model to frame the theoretical discourse on the labor supply decisions. In the empirical analysis we considered the possibility of structural break and implemented diagnostic checks for it. The findings postulate insightful results, such as the dominance of the substitution effect in the case of interest rates, and the dominance of income effect when the interest rate was persistently high. Although, there is a statistically significant impact of these variables on the labor supply, the magnitude of these impacts remains modes

Exploring the musical and cultural practices of Nigerian migrants in Lethbridge, Canada: a case study on community building

Additional audiovisual examples are available from the author by request.This study investigated how Nigerian immigrants in Lethbridge, Alberta, use music to navigate questions of place, identity, and community in the diaspora. Given the nature of the study, an ethnographic fieldwork design was adopted. Fieldwork comprised participant observation at community events, including Ndi Igbo Day (Yam Festival), the Tehillah concert, Nigerian Independence Day, church gatherings, and birthday parties, along with interviews with five members of the Nigerian community. The study identified how music serves as a cultural pillar and adaptive mechanism. In response to challenges such as the unavailability of important traditional instruments and professional musicians, the community resorts to creative measures such as engaging and hiring members of the community to fill musical roles, and harnessing technology (e.g. loop pedals and DJ mixes) to aid in replicating the Nigerian soundscape. The study further highlighted how music establishes emotional well-being and intergenerational continuity, especially in religious and social events. Remarkably, events such as the Tehillah concert and Nigerian Independence Day celebrations reduce ethnic boundaries and divisions that exist back home in Nigeria and, therefore, give a common identity as “Nigerians” in Lethbridge. This study contributed to filling a scholarly gap in the study of Nigerian musical practices in the diaspora, addressing ways in which diasporic groups are negotiating culture preservation, cultural change, and integration. This study therefore advanced discussions on music, migration, and belonging by putting the voices of Nigerian immigrants at the centre

Exploring health, well-being, and community support in cooperative housing models in Canada

This study examines the impact of cooperative housing models on health, well-being, and community support among Canadian residents. Cooperative housing, characterized by collective ownership and governance, presents a sustainable alternative to traditional housing structures by fostering social equity and inclusion. Through a cross-sectional survey of 128 cooperative housing members, the research highlights key findings related to demographics, sense of belonging, social networks, financial security, and environmental concerns. Results reveal high levels of community trust, robust social support networks, and a strong sense of belonging among residents, showcasing the transformative potential of cooperative housing for promoting stability and social cohesion. However, challenges such as financial strain, food insecurity, discrimination, and environmental issues underscore the need for systemic interventions and targeted policies. These findings contribute to the broader discourse on equitable housing and public health, offering actionable insights for policymakers, housing cooperatives, and researchers. The study reinforces cooperative housing as a critical component of sustainable living strategies, advocating for its expansion to address current and future housing crises