Artificial Light at Night as a Driver of Evolution Across Urban–Rural Landscapes

Light is fundamental to biological systems, affecting the daily rhythms of bacteria, plants, and animals. Artificial light at night ( ALAN ), a ubiquitous feature of urbanization, interferes with these rhythms and has the potential to exert strong selection pressures on organisms living in urban environments. ALAN also fragments landscapes, altering the movement of animals into and out of artificially lit habitats. Although research has documented phenotypic and genetic differentiation between urban and rural organisms, ALAN has rarely been considered as a driver of evolution. We argue that the fundamental importance of light to biological systems, and the capacity for ALAN to influence multiple processes contributing to evolution, makes this an important driver of evolutionary change, one with the potential to explain broad patterns of population differentiation across urban–rural landscapes. Integrating ALAN ’ s evolutionary potential into urban ecology is a targeted and powerful approach to understanding the capacity for life to adapt to an increasingly urbanized world

The Impact of Active Learning in a Speech-Language Pathology Swallowing and Dysphagia Course

The signature pedagogy in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) higher education programs has been criticized for its instructor-centric lecture format and emphasis on the lower tiers of Bloom’s taxonomy (simply memorizing knowledge) at the expense of helping students develop the clinical problem-solving skills required for a lifetime of practice and learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of a cohort of graduate speech-language pathology students to an active learning-oriented swallowing and dysphagia course design. A potential relationship between student perceptions of the active learning pedagogy and academic performance was also explored. The results suggest that active learning positively impacted both student perceptions and performance in the redesigned swallowing and dysphagia course

The effects of soil phosphorus content on plant microbiota are driven by the plant phosphate starvation response

Phosphate starvation response (PSR) in nonmycorrhizal plants comprises transcriptional reprogramming resulting in severe physiological changes to the roots and shoots and repression of plant immunity. Thus, plant-colonizing microorganisms-the plant microbiota-are exposed to direct influence by the soil's phosphorus (P) content itself as well as to the indirect effects of soil P on the microbial niches shaped by the plant. The individual contribution of these factors to plant microbiota assembly remains unknown. To disentangle these direct and indirect effects, we planted PSR-deficient Arabidopsis mutants in a long-term managed soil P gradient and compared the composition of their shoot and root microbiota to wild-type plants across different P concentrations. PSR-deficiency had a larger effect on the composition of both bacterial and fungal plant-associated microbiota than soil P concentrations in both roots and shoots. To dissect plant-microbe interactions under variable P conditions, we conducted a microbiota reconstitution experiment. Using a 185-member bacterial synthetic community (SynCom) across a wide P concentration gradient in an agar matrix, we demonstrated a shift in the effect of bacteria on the plant from a neutral or positive interaction to a negative one, as measured by rosette size. This phenotypic shift was accompanied by changes in microbiota composition: the genus Burkholderia was specifically enriched in plant tissue under P starvation. Through a community drop-out experiment, we demonstrated that in the absence of Burkholderia from the SynCom, plant shoots accumulated higher ortophosphate (Pi) levels than shoots colonized with the full SynCom but only under Pi starvation conditions. Therefore, Pi-stressed plants are susceptible to colonization by latent opportunistic competitors found within their microbiome, thus exacerbating the plant's Pi starvation

Autonomous Surface Site Establishment to Ensure Safe Crew Arrival and Operations

Traditional human Mars missions have relied on crew to support the surface systems. However, for safety, the surface systems will likely need to be setup and capable of operating prior to the arrival of crew. To mitigate risks to the crew, a novel surface architecture has been developed that addresses risks associated with other Mars missions. This architecture relies on a reusable descent and ascent vehicle, extensive in-situ resource utilization, redundant habitation systems, and emerging autonomous capabilities. The resulting surface architecture increases safety for the crew while also providing potential to expand to support longer missions with larger populations in the future

Illawarra Born cross-generational health study: feasibility of a multi-generational birth cohort study

Background: There is a strong interest in the concept of developmental origins of health and disease and their influence on various factors from cradle to grave . Despite the increasing appreciation of this lifelong legacy across the human life course, many gaps remain in the scientific understanding of mechanisms influencing these formative phases. Cross-generational susceptibility to health problems is emerging as a focus of research in the context of birth cohort studies. The primary aim of the Illawarra Born study is to make scientific discoveries associated with improving health and wellbeing across the lifespan, with a particular focus on preventable chronic diseases, especially mental health. This birth cohort study will follow and collect data from three cohorts representing different stages across the lifespan: infants, adults (parents) and older adults (grandparents). The multi-generational, cross-sectional and longitudinal design of this birth cohort study supports a focus on the contributions of genetics, environment and lifestyle on health and wellbeing. The feasibility of conducting a multi-generational longitudinal birth cohort project was conducted through a small pilot study. Methods/design: The purpose of this paper is to report on the feasibility and acceptability of the research protocol for a collaborative cross-generation health study in the community and test recruitment and outcome measures for the main study. This feasibility study included pregnant women who were intending to give birth in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region in Eastern Australia. The area includes a large, regional referral hospital, with capacity to treat specialist and complex cases. Pregnant women were asked to participate in five data collection waves beginning at 22 weeks gestation and ending with a 6-month post-partum appointment. Recruitment was then extended, via the pregnant women, to also include fathers and maternal grandmothers. Discussion: This feasibility study focused on the perinatal period and collected data across three multi-disciplinary domains including mental health, diet, exposures to toxins and the role of these in maternal and infant outcomes. Forty-one families participated in extensive data collection from 22 weeks gestation to 6-months post-partum. Factors impacting on viability and feasibility including recruitment solutions provide the basis for a large-scale study

Factors That Impact the Success of Interorganizational Health Promotion Collaborations : A Scoping Review

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Federal Judicial Selection

“The First Two Centuries”: The first panel explored the provisions that the drafters made in the United States Constitution for federal judicial selection and traced the two-century history of the selection process following the constitution\u27s adoption. The panel consisted of Charles Cooper, Esq. of Cooper & Kirk PLLC; Gary L. McDowell, Haynes Professor of Leadership Studies and Political Science at the University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies; and Ms. Maeva Marcus, of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society. Rodney A. Smolla, the George E. Allen Chair in Law, served as program coordinator and moderator. “Modern Federal Judicial Selection”: The second panel explored modern federal judicial selection, tracing the selection process over the last two decades and analyzing how it has grown increasingly contentious. The panel consisted of Theresa M. Beiner, of the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Sheldon Goldman, Department of Political Science University of Massachusetts; Judge Edith Jones, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; and William P. Marshall, the Kenan Professor of Law University of North Carolina School of Law. Carl W. Tobias, Williams Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, served as moderator. “The Prospects of Reform”: The third panel explored numerous suggestions for remedying or ameliorating the difficulties that pervade modern federal judicial selection and the prospects for these measures\u27 success. The panel consisted of Terry Eastland, Publisher of The Weekly Standard; Michael Gerhardt, Hanson Professor of Law at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary; and Sanford V. Levinson, The W. St. John Garwood Centennial Chair in Law and Professor of Government at the University of Texas School of Law. Gary L. McDowell, the Haynes Professor of Leadership Studies and Political Science at the University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies, served as moderator

Building Better Scientists through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Synthetic Biology: A Report from the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching Workshop 2010

A common problem faced by primarily undergraduate institutions is the lack of funding and material support needed to adequately expose students to modern biology, including synthetic biology. To help alleviate this problem, the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT) was founded in 2000 by Malcolm Campbell at Davidson College to bring genomics into the undergraduate curriculum. GCAT’s first tangible activity was to serve as a central clearinghouse both for the purchase and reading of DNA microarrays and for information on how to execute genomics experiments at undergraduate institutions. In response to the evolution of molecular biology in the last decade, Campbell, along with Davidson colleague Laurie Heyer and collaborators Todd Eckdahl and Jeff Poet of Missouri Western State University, organized a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-sponsored GCAT workshop at Davidson in July of 2010. This workshop explored how faculty from multiple disciplines could work together to bring synthetic biology to the undergraduate classroom and laboratory

Building Better Scientists through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Synthetic Biology: A Report from the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching Workshop 2010

A common problem faced by primarily undergraduate institutions is the lack of funding and material support needed to adequately expose students to modern biology, including synthetic biology. To help alleviate this problem, the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT) was founded in 2000 by Malcolm Campbell at Davidson College to bring genomics into the undergraduate curriculum. GCAT’s first tangible activity was to serve as a central clearinghouse both for the purchase and reading of DNA microarrays and for information on how to execute genomics experiments at undergraduate institutions. In response to the evolution of molecular biology in the last decade, Campbell, along with Davidson colleague Laurie Heyer and collaborators Todd Eckdahl and Jeff Poet of Missouri Western State University, organized a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-sponsored GCAT workshop at Davidson in July of 2010. This workshop explored how faculty from multiple disciplines could work together to bring synthetic biology to the undergraduate classroom and laboratory