Range-wide life-history diversity and climate exposure in Chinook salmon

Climate change risk for migratory species is intertwined with their life-history diversity. Here I quantify climate risk, exposure, and phenological adaptive capacity in Chinook salmon during their spawning migrations for populations from across their North American range. First, I assessed how migration timing varies with watershed characteristics. Populations with longer migration distances and from higher elevations entered freshwater earlier. Second, I quantified climate exposure and risk by linking migration timing data to recent (1990s) and future (2040s) water temperatures. Nearly a quarter of populations will be exposed to future temperatures above thermally stressful thresholds. Third, I assessed the rate and direction of phenological shifts that would enable Chinook to adapt to climate warming. Spring populations would need to shift earlier, while fall populations would need to shift later. Broadly, my thesis highlights that climate exposure, risk and adaptive capacity are structured by phenology and latitude in a diverse migratory species

Normativity in Russian History Education: Political Patterns and National History Textbooks

My current research concerns the politics in Russian History education. In this paper I discuss some of the issues raised by the study of national History textbooks. I analyze the normative implications of sentences and statements about the past and try to define contrary ideological assumptions. How do the authors construct the aim of historical education? In what kind of activities do the typical patterns of textbook questions and instructions try to engage pupils? How do the different Textbooks construct the political subject? The article aims to explore the media construction of political actions in Russian School History Textbooks

SWIMMING IS LIFE - REDUCING DROWNING RISK FOR CHILDREN

Drowning is the second global leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 1 to 14 years, and the fifth leading cause for people of all ages (excluding flood disasters and water transport incidents). Why is the risk of drowning so high? It is important to investigate existing situation: what are the reasons that create a danger, is there a main risk group, how the risk of drowning can be reduced or even prevented, what is already in use for drowning prevention and what is the level of its’ contribution, what role plays the ability to swim? Research methods such as interviews, questionaires, observations, documentary analysis and other let to explore: various risk factors, types of common activities and children’s behaviour in the water, functioning of the existing swimming and buoyancy equipment and safety aids, conditions of the water settings, parents’ opinions and observations and the swimming trainers’ experience. All findings lead to a discussion what can be useful and important to take into account in order to improve the existing situation related to the safety level of the children activities in the water Following the discussion, the design process, including ideas generation, experiments and several other methods, it created an advantage for product development

Regulation of type IV pili formation and function by the small GTPase MglA in Myxococcus xanthus

Myxococcus xanthus cells are rod-shaped and move in the direction of their long axis, using two distinct motility systems. Adventurous gliding (A-) depends on the Agl/Glt motility complexes that assemble at the leading pole, adhere to the substratum, and disassemble at the lagging pole. Social (S-) motility depends on type IV pili (T4P) that localize at the leading cell pole. T4P are anchored in the cell envelope and pull cells forward through cycles of extension, surface adhesion and retraction powered by the T4P machine. This machine includes 10 proteins spanning the outer membrane, periplasm, inner membrane and cytoplasm. Most of the proteins in the machine form stationary complexes at the two poles while the two ATPases PilB and PilT localize mostly at the leading and lagging pole, respectively. M. xanthus cells occasionally stop and resume movement in the opposite direction. These reversals are regulated by the Frz chemosensory system. During reversals the old lagging pole becomes the new leading and vice versa, the two motility systems invert polarity and after a reversal, T4P are formed at the new leading pole. Thus, T4P can assemble at both poles but at any point in time, T4P only assemble at one pole. The mechanism(s) underlying unipolar T4P formation during cell movement remains unknown. The small GTPase MglA is essential for motility in M. xanthus. MglA cycles between the active MglA-GTP state, which is essential for motility, and the inactive MglA-GDP state. MglA is activated by the RomR/RomX complex, which has guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) activity, and is inhibited by MglB, which is a GTPase activating protein (GAP). MglA-GTP mostly localizes to the leading pole while MglB as well as RomR/RomX localize in bipolar, asymmetric pattern with the large cluster at the lagging pole. RomR/RomX recruits MglA-GTP to the leading pole while MglB excludes MglA-GTP from the lagging pole by converting MglA-GTP to MglAGDP. Among these four proteins, only MglA is essential for T4P-dependent motility. However, the precise function of MglA for the T4P-dependent motility remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that MglA-GTP stimulates T4P formation and function while MglB ensures T4P unipolarity by excluding MglA-GTP from the lagging pole. Moreover, we identify the TPR domain-containing protein SgmX and show that it is important for T4P formation. Epistasis analyses support that MglA-GTP and SgmX act in the same genetic pathway and that SgmX acts downstream of MglA-GTP. In vitro analyses support that SgmX interacts directly with MglA-GTP. Additionally, SgmX stimulates polar accumulation of the PilB extension ATPase. Based on these findings, we propose a model in which MglA-GTP stimulates T4P assembly via direct interaction with SgmX, which in turn interacts with PilB to stimulate T4P extension