Biodemography: Research prospects and directions

The purpose of this opinion report is to outline what I consider to be the most promising areas for future biodemographic research and to suggest ways in which the field can be moved forward. I discuss five major themes: i) biodemography of disability; ii) ecological, developmental, behavioral and evolutionary biodemography; iii) biodemography of sociality; iv) genomic and genetic biodemography; and v) biodemographic modeling and analysis. I consider the last two areas (genomics/genetics; modeling/analysis) as both stand-alone topics and cross-cutting concepts. At the end of the paper I present ideas for charting the future course including strengthening and expanding infrastructure, database and website development, organizing conferences, submitting new training grants, and integrating biodemography into teaching programs.biodemography, frailty, life span, longevity

A Partition Theorem for a Randomly Selected Large Population

We state and prove a proposition on partitioning of a randomly selected large population into stationary and non-stationary populations by using a property of stationary population identity. Applicability of this theorem for practical purposes is summarized at the end.Comment: 7 pages, a new result in population dynamic

Diet Shapes Mortality Response to Trauma in Old Tephritid Fruit Flies.

Despite the importance of trauma in healthspan and lifespan in humans as well as in non-human species, with one important exception the literature in both gerontology and ecology contains virtually no experimental demographic studies concerned with trauma in any species. We used dietary manipulation [full diet (F) versus sugar-only (S)] to produce four levels of frailty in 55-day old tephritid fruit flies (Anastrepha ludens) that were then subject to the trauma of cage transfer stress (n = 900/sex in each of the 4 treatments). The key results included the following: (1) there is a trauma effect caused by the transfer that depends on previous diet before transfer, new diet after transfer and gender of the fly; (2) males are more vulnerable than females; (3) if initial diet was F, flies are relatively immune against the trauma, and the subsequent diet (F or S) does not matter; (4) however if initial diet was S, then the effect of the trauma depends largely on the diet after the transfer; (5) flies transferred from S to F diets do very well in terms of remaining longevity (i.e. greatest remaining longevity), while flies transferred from S to S diet do poorly (i.e. shortest remaining longevity). We discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of this study and implications of the results

Individual fecundity dynamically predicts remaining life expectancy in medflies

-

Season of birth influences life span of Mediterranean fruit flies, rats and mice

-

Measuring Australian Preservice Teachers’ Asia Capability and Perceived Readiness to Teach the Asia Cross-Curricular Priority.

Preservice teachers are soon-to-be graduates expected to deliver the Cross-Curricular Priority ‘Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia’. Teachers of all learning areas are expected to teach about Asia, irrespective of their knowledge or capabilities in Asian contexts. The curriculum review has revised expectations for ‘Asia literacy’ in graduates. The changes de-emphasise cultural knowledge, and instead, promote relationship-building and intercultural understanding. This research identified 31 preservice teachers’ perceptions of their Asia literacy and preparedness to teach the related curriculum initiative. Grainger and Christie’s (2016) linguistic model was used to define and measure Asia literacy. Thematic analysis identified (1) how participants conceptualised ‘meeting’ expectations for Asia literacy, and (2) how the tertiary provider might better respond to their learning needs. Like previous research (see Australian Government, 2023; Halse & Cairns, 2018), we found that most respondents felt unqualified to teach about Asia. Participants expressed the desire for more content knowledge, authentic opportunities (such as in-country experience or language capability), and pedagogical skills. We argue that the national improvement of Asia literacy in preservice teachers is tied to its assessment. There is a need to consistently define, delimit and assess Asia literacy within a framework of cultural literacy. These theoretical considerations underlie future, systemic efforts to track and evaluate a long-term government initiative

Gross Anatomy for Physical Therapy course

The study of anatomy supported with human dissection is foundational to training of health science professionals. For a student, cadaver dissection offers an active learning experience. For the training of physical therapists, we created a manual that efficiently instructs the dissection of the whole body over the course of 30 laboratory periods. In the spirit of academic collegiality, this letter provides health science educators a direct download link (https://hdl.handle.net/11299/218174) to the dissection manual hosted by the University of Minnesota (USA) Digital Conservancy. No registration is required, the download is free, and the PDF file of the dissection manual can be reproduced or adapted for any educational use. &nbsp