Letter From the Editors

Letter from Adam M. McCready, Ph.D. and James P. Barber, Ph.D

Editorial: The History and Evolution of the Journal of Sorority and Fraternity Life Research and Practice

Individuals involved in the founding of the Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors (Oracle), former Oracle editors and Adam M. McCready, Editor of Journal of Sorority and Fraternity Life Research and Practice share the history and evolution of the journal over the past two decades

Time Spent With Parents Varies With Early-Life Condition, but Does Not Predict Survival or Sociality of Juvenile Hihi

Many young birds die soon after fledging, as they lack the skills to find food and avoid predation. Post-fledging parental care is assumed to assist acquisition of these vital skills. However, we still lack empirical examples examining the length of time fledglings spend with parents, how they associate during this critical time, or whether such variation in the fledgling dependency period has consequences for the survival and behaviour of young as they navigate their first year of independent life. Here, we make use of observations and radio frequency identity (RFID) logs of visits to supplementary feeding stations to investigate how condition of fledgling hihi (stitchbird, Notiomystis cincta), a New Zealand passerine, predicts dispersal behaviour and tendency to follow parents during their 2 week post-fledging dependence period. We find that thinner fledglings followed their parents more closely in time when visiting feeding stations, compared to fatter siblings (all following ranged from 3 s to 10 min). However, broods in poorer condition tended to disperse from the natal territory up to 6.5 days earlier than broods of fatter fledglings (all dispersed within 14 days). Our results did not find that sociality or survival during the first year of life differed depending on variation in fledgling behaviour; neither following parents closely nor dispersing later predicted each bird's number of associates (degree), or survival over winter. These results suggest that fledglings may be able to compensate for early differences in condition with behaviour, either during the post-fledging dependence period or when independent.Peer reviewe

BEAR PGR Conference 2023 - Conference proceedings

BEAR Conference proceedings are the collection of papers and posters that were presented at the BEAR PGR conference. Conferences provide opportunities for people to present their research, and get input from other researchers and colleagues in their field

Aristotle's Peculiarly Human Psychology

For Aristotle, human cognition has a lot in common both with non-human animal cognition and with divine cognition. With non-human animals, humans share a non-rational part of the soul and non-rational cognitive faculties (DA 427b6–14, NE 1102b29 and EE 1219b24–6). With gods, humans share a rational part of the soul and rational cognitive faculties (NE 1177b17– 1178a8). The rational part and the non-rational part of the soul, however, coexist and cooperate only in human souls (NE 1102b26–9, EE 1219b28–31). In this chapter, I show that a study of this cooperation helps to uncover some distinctive aspects of human cognition and desire

Evaluating an Integrated Local System Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Case Study of East Toronto Health Partners

Introduction: East Toronto Health Partners (ETHP) is a network of organizations that serve residents of East Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ETHP is a newly formed integrated model of care in which hospital, primary care, community providers and patients/families work together to improve population health. We describe and evaluate the evolution of this emerging integrated care system as it responded to a global health crisis. Description: This paper begins by describing ETHP’s pandemic response mapping out over two years of data. To evaluate the response, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 decision makers, clinicians, staff, and volunteers who were part of the response. The interviews were thematically analyzed, and emergent themes mapped onto the nine pillars of integrated care. Discussion: The ETHP pandemic response evolved rapidly. Early siloed responses gave way to collaborative efforts and equity emerged as a central priority. New alliances formed, resources were shared, leaders emerged, and community members stepped forward to contribute. Interviewees identified positives as well as many opportunities for improvement post-pandemic. Conclusion: The pandemic was a catalyst for change in East Toronto that accelerated existing initiatives to achieve integrated care. The East Toronto experience may serve as a useful guide for other emerging integrated care systems

Genetic and transcriptomic analysis of transcription factor genes in the model halophilic Archaeon: coordinate action of TbpD and TfbA

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Archaea are prokaryotic organisms with simplified versions of eukaryotic transcription systems. Genes coding for the general transcription factors TBP and TFB are present in multiple copies in several Archaea, including <it>Halobacterium </it>sp. NRC-1. Multiple TBP and TFBs have been proposed to participate in transcription of genes via recognition and recruitment of RNA polymerase to different classes of promoters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We attempted to knock out all six TBP and seven TFB genes in <it>Halobacterium </it>sp. NRC-1 using the <it>ura</it>3-based gene deletion system. Knockouts were obtained for six out of thirteen genes, <it>tbp</it>CDF and <it>tfb</it>ACG, indicating that they are not essential for cell viability under standard conditions. Screening of a population of 1,000 candidate mutants showed that genes which did not yield mutants contained less that 0.1% knockouts, strongly suggesting that they are essential. The transcriptomes of two mutants, Δ<it>tbp</it>D and Δ<it>tfb</it>A, were compared to the parental strain and showed coordinate down regulation of many genes. Over 500 out of 2,677 total genes were regulated in the Δ<it>tbp</it>D and Δ<it>tfb</it>A mutants with 363 regulated in both, indicating that over 10% of genes in both strains require the action of both TbpD and TfbA for normal transcription. Culturing studies on the Δ<it>tbp</it>D and Δ<it>tfb</it>A mutant strains showed them to grow more slowly than the wild-type at an elevated temperature, 49°C, and they showed reduced viability at 56°C, suggesting TbpD and TfbA are involved in the heat shock response. Alignment of TBP and TFB protein sequences suggested the expansion of the TBP gene family, especially in <it>Halobacterium </it>sp. NRC-1, and TFB gene family in representatives of five different genera of haloarchaea in which genome sequences are available.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Six of thirteen TBP and TFB genes of <it>Halobacterium </it>sp. NRC-1 are non-essential under standard growth conditions. TbpD and TfbA coordinate the expression of over 10% of the genes in the NRC-1 genome. The Δ<it>tbp</it>D and Δ<it>tfb</it>A mutant strains are temperature sensitive, possibly as a result of down regulation of heat shock genes. Sequence alignments suggest the existence of several families of TBP and TFB transcription factors in <it>Halobacterium </it>which may function in transcription of different classes of genes.</p

The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) Mission Concept Study Final Report

The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory, or HabEx, has been designed to be the Great Observatory of the 2030s. For the first time in human history, technologies have matured sufficiently to enable an affordable space-based telescope mission capable of discovering and characterizing Earthlike planets orbiting nearby bright sunlike stars in order to search for signs of habitability and biosignatures. Such a mission can also be equipped with instrumentation that will enable broad and exciting general astrophysics and planetary science not possible from current or planned facilities. HabEx is a space telescope with unique imaging and multi-object spectroscopic capabilities at wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to near-IR. These capabilities allow for a broad suite of compelling science that cuts across the entire NASA astrophysics portfolio. HabEx has three primary science goals: (1) Seek out nearby worlds and explore their habitability; (2) Map out nearby planetary systems and understand the diversity of the worlds they contain; (3) Enable new explorations of astrophysical systems from our own solar system to external galaxies by extending our reach in the UV through near-IR. This Great Observatory science will be selected through a competed GO program, and will account for about 50% of the HabEx primary mission. The preferred HabEx architecture is a 4m, monolithic, off-axis telescope that is diffraction-limited at 0.4 microns and is in an L2 orbit. HabEx employs two starlight suppression systems: a coronagraph and a starshade, each with their own dedicated instrument