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Iminophosphine platinum(II) complexes containing long chain aniline derivatives: Synthesis, characterization, and anticancer properties
Full text linkA series of iminophosphine ligands (1a-g) have been prepared from the condensation reaction of 2-(diphenylphosphino)benzaldehyde with aniline and aniline derivatives containing linear hydrocarbon chains of varying lengths in the para position. The corresponding platinum(II) complexes (2a-g) were synthesized by reaction of [PtCl2(η2-coe)]2 (coe = cis-cyclooctene) and two equivalents of 1a-g. Full characterization of all new ligands and platinum complexes was performed including multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopy as well as an X-ray diffraction study for compound 2d (derived from 4-hexylaniline). The cytotoxic properties of the platinum complexes against two glioma cell lines using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric method were examined.type of work: Reesearch Articlepublication status: Accepted for publicationThis is the accepted version of an article. The final published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poly.2022.11623
The impact of cellphone use on academic performance- does choosing when to use a cellphone affect academic outcomes?
Full text linkStudents are using their cellphone multiple times throughout the day, extending into the classroom. Last year, we conducted a study to evaluate whether the frequency of cellphone use correlated with students’ course grades. We observed that sending out text messages was not predictive of students’ course grades, however the number of text messages a student received within a day was predictive of student's course grades. I aimed to examine this difference on immediate testing performance. Participants watched a 16-minute lecture after which they were tested on the lecture content. Importantly, students were assigned to one of three conditions: No texting condition, where they put their cellphone away, the controlled texting condition, where they decided when to send text messages or the uncontrolled texting condition, where they sent text messages in response to a prompt sent to them by the experimenter. Our analysis revealed that participants who did not use their cellphone performed better on the test than students who use the cell phone. However, there were no differences in test scores between participants in the control texting condition and the uncontrolled texting condition. The absence of these differences in the current study is likely attributable to the differences in memory performance between immediate testing and overall GPA
Contradictory or complementary? Distributed leadership in a remote work setting
Full text linkThe COVID-19 pandemic has required organizations to shift their ways of working, especially around the location of work. Many companies have transferred to remote work models, which comes with benefits, such as increases in autonomy and decision-making power for workers, shorter commutes, and a reduction in office space costs, but also is accompanied with trade-offs, including barriers to communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing, which can lead to social isolation and have a negative impact on collegial relationships. These trade-offs and changes in work have large implications for existing leadership practices, including leadership frameworks where working together and internal social processes are at the core of the framework, such as distributed leadership.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine distributed leadership in a remote work context to determine if its practices can operate in such a contradictory setting, and if they can help to mitigate the trade-offs employees and organizations see with remote work. This was investigated through using a comparative organizational case study approach, which involved recruiting three organizations who participate in distributed leadership and remote work and performing semi-structured interviews with 22 employees total.
Through conducting a thematic analysis of each cases’ data, results suggested that distributed leadership can operate in a remote work setting for organizations who do not rely on spontaneous collaborative and distributive practices, which do not transfer to remote work. Results also suggested that distributed leadership can mitigate for the negative effects associated with remote work when distributed leadership is implemented as a deliberate, structured strategy, rather than expecting it to emerge in a remote work setting. These findings large implications for businesses who practice remote work as it continues to be a prevalent practice even as COVID-19 restrictions lift, and thus it suggests a deliberate distributed leadership strategy as a potential solution to common problems organizations might see with remote work
The effect of reminiscence on older adults’ appraisals of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions
Full text linkIn response to life disruptions that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults have engaged in appraisal processes that inform how they have coped with life changes. Given that different reminiscence functions, or ways of thinking about one’s past, consistently predict psychological well-being outcomes, the current investigation framed older adults’ pandemic appraisals in the context of how they reminisced during the pandemic. We predicted that reminiscence functions associated with positive well-being would predict positive pandemic appraisals and that negative reminiscence functions would predict negative pandemic appraisals. Ninety-five community-dwelling older adults (Mage = 74.31, SDage = 5.91) completed a self-report questionnaire to report the level of life-disruption they experienced due to the pandemic, how and how frequently they reminisced during the pandemic, and their current positive and negative appraisals of the pandemic. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses revealed that higher levels of pandemic disruption predicted negative appraisals, that more frequent positive reminiscing predicted higher positive and negative appraisal scores, and that more frequent negative reminiscing was associated with higher negative appraisal scores. The relationship between pandemic disruptions and appraisals was not moderated by reminiscence. Overall, these results support the role of reminiscence in the coping process but highlight that the well-being benefit conferred by positive reminiscence functions may be explained by their role in developing self-insight relative to both the positive and negative aspects of a disruptive situation
Reactive oxygen species production and scavenging; genomic patterns across marine phytoplankton
Full text linkMarine phytoplankton produce and scavenge Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), to maintain intracellular ROS homeostasis to support cellular processes, but limit damaging reactions. Some prokaryotic picophytoplankton have lost genes encoding the capacity to scavenge Hydrogen Peroxide (HO2). The “Black Queen Hypothesis” postulates that prokaryotic picophytoplankton might thereby lower costs through H2O2 diffusing across the membrane of the small source cells. We investigated genomes and transcriptomes from diverse taxonomic lineages of eukaryotic phytoplankton, ranging from 0.4 to 44 µm cell radius, to analyze the fraction of total genes dedicated to producing enzymes metabolizing three distinct ROS. H2O2 has low reactivity, long intracellular and extracellular lifetimes, and readily crosses cell membranes, and can therefore potentially leave a cell before provoking damaging intracellular reactions. Across eukaryotic phytoplankton, the fraction of total genes dedicated to H2O2 production indeed decreases with increasing cell radius, consistent with the maintenance of ROS homeostasis in the face of slower diffusional losses of H2O2. The fraction of total genes dedicated to H2O2 scavenging does not change with increasing cell radius, although taxonomic lineage influences the fraction of total genes dedicated to H2O2 metabolism. Superoxide (O2•−) has high reactivity, short intracellular and extracellular lifetimes and limited membrane permeability. As expected, genes encoding O2•− scavenging were ubiquitous, and did not change with radius, consistent with separate intracellular and extracellular O2•− pools separated by the cell membrane. Nitric Oxide (•NO) has low reactivity, long intracellular and extracellular lifetimes, and readily crosses cell membranes. Neither •NO production nor scavenging genomic capacities changed with increasing cell radius, but were influenced by taxonomic lineage, consistent with the low cytotoxicity and diverse regulatory roles of •NO
Formes de collaborations dans l'écriture contemporaine des femmes du Canada français
Full text linkQu’est-ce qu’une collaboration ? Quels sont les enjeux de la collaboration littéraire ? Les collaborations sont souvent définies de la même manière, sans complexité, et la définition traditionnelle suggère surtout qu’il s’agit de travailler explicitement avec quelqu’un. Selon David Farkas, un critique littéraire qui s’intéresse aux stratégies collaboratives, il y a quatre façons de collaborer : deux ou plusieurs personnes qui travaillent ensemble sur un document ; deux ou plusieurs personnes qui contribuent à un document ; deux ou plusieurs personnes qui modifient un document ; et une personne qui crée un document avec quelqu’un d’autre en utilisant ses idées (Hill 3). La majorité de ces définitions se comparent à la définition conventionnelle de la collaboration selon le dictionnaire Larousse : « Action de collaborer [c’est-à-dire de travailler en commun], de participer à une oeuvre avec d’autres ».
Dans le monde littéraire, il y a de nombreux exemples de collaboration qui s’alignent avec les définitions conventionnelles déjà soulignées. Dans l’écriture des femmes au Canada, considérons, par exemple, L’été avant la mort qui est le fruit d’une collaboration entre France Daigle et Hélène Harbec. Ces deux écrivaines ont travaillé ensemble en partageant la tâche d’écriture ; la voix de chacune est bien présente dans l’oeuvre (Les Éditions du Remue-Ménage, 1986). En littérature populaire, le roman State of Terror de Hillary Clinton et l’auteure canadienne Louise Penny est aussi un exemple assez typique d’un projet d’écriture collaboratif entre deux amies lequel illustre le rôle de l’amitié dans la collaboration (Simon & Schuster, 2021). Momo et Loulou de Mona Latif-Ghattas et Louise Desjardins est encore un autre exemple de collaboration littéraire dans le contexte canadien (Les Éditions du Remue-Ménage, 2004). Cette oeuvre traite de l’enfance des deux auteures dans les années 1950 dans deux pays différents : L’Égypte et le Canada. L’amitié des deux écrivaines a influencé la rédaction de Momo et Loulou, parce qu’elles ont décidé d’organiser la structure de l’oeuvre comme un échange de courriels pour raconter leurs souvenirs d’enfance dans leurs pays d’origine.
Mais peut-on élargir cette définition de « collaboration » ? Plus précisément, les collaborations créatives entre femmes peuvent-elles faire partie d’une autre définition de collaboration ou même générer une nouvelle définition ? Susan Rudy, auteure de l’article « Women Who Invite Collaboration », se concentre sur les collaborations littéraires non conventionnelles entre femmes avec le but de reconstruire ou renouveler la définition de collaborations et d’explorer ce qui peut être catégorisé comme « collaboratif ». Rudy construit ses arguments à l’aide d’autres sources secondaires et de plusieurs exemples littéraires ; elle propose qu’il y ait une variété de collaborations atypiques dans l’écriture des femmes au Canada. Elle suggère notamment qu’il ne faut pas avoir deux auteures inscrites dans une oeuvre pour que cela puisse être considéré comme un projet collaboratif (Rudy 24). Elle affirme aussi que les lectrices peuvent faire partie du processus collaboratif en étant invitées à collaborer implicitement par l’auteure. Selon Rudy, un individu peut même collaborer avec un quelqu’un de décédé (28). Ces idées démontrent qu’il y a amplement à découvrir sur les nombreuses formes de collaboration littéraire des femmes.
De même, Lorraine York, une historienne littéraire, soutient les idées de Rudy et examine elle-même le processus collaboratif typique dans l’oeuvre Rethinking Women’s Collaborative Writing. Selon York, il n’y a pas une seule façon de définir la collaboration parce qu’elle peut être menée de façons variées. Soulignant l’histoire des collaborations entre femmes, York suggère que les exemples historiques montrent déjà une perspective plus large (6). Un exemple intéressant qu’elle analyse est le texte Educate, Organize, and Agitate : A Historical Overview of Feminist Collaboration in Great Britain and America de Melodie Andrews, une auteure qui se penche sur les mouvements collaboratifs entre femmes. Andrews examine les collaborations entre femmes anglaises de classe moyenne dans le 19e siècle et elle propose que ces collaborations fussent activées par l’amitié. C’est l’amitié qui permettait aux femmes de trouver une identité collaborative ainsi qu’une solidarité nécessaire pour la collaboration (York 6). Ces idées s’alignent avec les caractéristiques de la collaboration identifiées par Rudy dans « Women Who Invite Collaboration ». Comme York, Rudy soutient que l’amitié est un élément intégral de l’acte collaboratif (23).
Pour voir comment ces éléments de la collaboration — ses formes multiples et son rapport à l’amitié entre femmes — se manifestent dans divers écrits récents de femmes au Canada français, nous nous pencherons sur trois oeuvres fort différentes. En premier lieu, nous étudierons l’essai « Châtoyants, les morceaux de soi » de Marilou Craft et Chloé Savoie-Bernard, dans l’ouvrage collectif Se faire éclaté.e expériences marginales et écritures de soi et un autre essai écrit par ces deux femmes intitulé « Dans l’ordre et le désordre du secret » publié dans la revue Percées — Explorations en arts vivants. Craft et Savoie-Bernard créent une performance qui reflète une variété d’aspects de leur vie et de leurs expériences en tant que femmes noires artistes, ce qui permet une vaste exploration de formes collaboratives atypiques grâce à l’identité, aux expériences partagées et à la liaison de ces deux femmes par leurs créations artistiques ainsi que par les choix lexicaux. Cette analyse permettra de tenir compte de la notion de « connivence » de Nicole Brossard et son rôle dans le processus collaboratif.
Ensuite, on analysera Je veux une maison faite de sorties de secours, un ouvrage collectif édité par Claudia Larochelle et composé d’essais, de lettres et d’illustrations de plusieurs écrivains et critiques, dont Larochelle. Ce volume est un hommage à Nelly Arcan édité par une ancienne amie de l’écrivaine décédée, ce qui nous donnera l’occasion d’explorer les façons variées dont on peut collaborer avec quelqu’un de décédé. On examinera également le lien entre l’amitié et la collaboration. Ce texte permettra ainsi une analyse du croisement entre les critiques et les relations intimes tout en considérant ce que cela apporte à la question de la collaboration.
En dernier lieu, on étudiera Les villes de papier de Dominique Fortier. Cette oeuvre hybride entremêle les expériences de Fortier et celles de Dickinson imaginées par Fortier. Elle inclut aussi les poèmes de Dickinson dans l’oeuvre. On considéra donc le rôle des formes d’intertextualités et de l’écriture créative dans la collaboration en touchant sur les façons dont on peut collaborer avec un individu qu’on n’a pas connu et créer un lien avec cette personne.
Les trois oeuvres littéraires qu’on analysera dans ce mémoire ont été choisies parce qu’elles représentent les formes de collaborations atypiques et elles contribuent au développement d’une nouvelle définition de la collaboration. Les idées de Rudy et York introduisent de nouvelles approches hors de la norme qui permettent une exploration des techniques collaboratives incluses dans la littérature contemporaine des femmes. Ainsi, à l’aide des théories de Rudy et York, ce mémoire explorera des approches novatrices aux formes de collaborations utilisées dans de nombreuses oeuvres littéraires du Canada français rédigées par des femmes. Cette analyse autorisera aussi une compréhension du processus créatif et collaboratif des femmes auteures du Canada dans la rédaction littéraire. De plus, les textes de Craft et Savoie-Bernard, comme ceux de Larochelle et Arcan, permettront de voir en quoi l’amitié nourrit la collaboration. Pour sa part, la collaboration de Fortier et Dickinson aidera à voir jusqu’à quel point la collaboration peut créer une solidarité entre les générations. Finalement, cette étude permettra d’affirmer les liens diachroniques et synchroniques entre les écrits de femmes
Expression, purification, and antibody purification for the enzyme methylthiooxobutyrate reductase in algal dimethylsulfoniopropionate biosynthesis
Full text linkMany marine algae produce the organosulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). This compound is thought to be an important osmoprotectant to both producers and grazers. It is known to counteract stressors algae encounter in the euphotic zone such as fluctuating salinity, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, and grazing. When liberated into marine surface waters, dissolved DMSP becomes an important source of carbon and reduced sulfur for the marine microbial community and through its breakdown into dimethylsulfide (DMS), the chief biogenic vehicle for sulfur transit into the atmosphere. The importance of DMSP has been well studied and known for decades, but less is known about the enzymes that govern its biosynthesis in marine algae. Earlier studies identified and partially characterized the 4 biosynthetic enzymes from tissue extracts of the macroalgae Ulva intestinalis but lacked thorough analysis of the individual enzymes. The sequencing of the Ulva mutabilis genome revealed a megasynthetase encoding a tripartite fusion protein with domains consistent with catalyzing the last three enzymatic steps of DMSP biosynthesis. This discovery enabled the design of recombinant proteins of the individual domains with encoded affinity tags for chromatographic purification to enable the isolation of pure enzyme. This project sought to leverage these recombinant variants to expand the understanding of the second-step enzyme, 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyrate (MTOB) reductase, the putative 2-D-hydroxyacid dehydrogenase enzyme that catalyzes the NADPH-coupled stereospecific reduction of MTOB to D-4-methylthio-2-hydroxybutyrate (MTHB). This study finds that recombinant C-terminally hexahistidine-tagged MTOB reductase is likely inactive, that purification should be further refined to eliminate contaminating proteins, and that MTOB reductase-specific antibody purification for this protein was unsuccessful. Additionally, this project has produced 2 new recombinant versions of MTOB reductase for future testing
Queering l'Acadie: Unsettling identity, language, and place in contemporary Acadian cultural productions
Full text linkIn this research, I focus on the queering of Acadie. Queering, used as a verb, is a way to un-settle and challenge normative institutions and systems (i.e. colonialism, language, iden-tity), and gives us tools for an inclusive future. I will reveal and make sense of the complex-ities of language and its role in identity construction, as well as the unsettling of place; I ex-amine how three queer Acadian writers reclaim this language as a tool of resistance against both language surveillance and colonial heteronormative discourses. My corpus includes Fif and Sauvage by Shayne Michael, Overlap by Céleste Godin, and a selection of poems by Xavier Gould. These Acadian writers explore the connections between Acadian and queer identities and issues of language, territory and sovereignty, relations of reciprocity, abjection and embodiment. My analysis of this body of work draws on theoretical insights of Sara Ahmed, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and Homi Bhabha, among others. In addi-tion to poststructural discourse analysis, I use a queer linguistics approach, which chal-lenges heteronormativity from a linguistic lens, that is, by examining the various linguistic mechanisms involved in creating queer identities through language, but also how language is part of identity-construction. Queerness is often invisible in Acadian literature, so the purpose of this research is to highlight the importance of paying attention to gender and sexuality as facets of cultural identity. By paying attention to the voices and experiences of marginalized Acadians, a greater understanding of shifting social roles and linguistic prac-tices in relation to identity construction emerges
Cross-cultural childhood: Translation and the sanitization of stories in the song of Mio Cid
Full text linkWithin the realm of translation, scholars have noted that the themes of violence, sex, and bodily functions are often changed depending on time, place, and audience. For this project, I examined this phenomenon within the case study of The Song of Mío Cid. This translation helps to identify the shifts that have occurred in these areas between the original Spanish ballad and the 21st century Spanish children’s edition, and what further modifications are required to make the story acceptable for an audience of 21st century children in North America. The changes that were necessary, in terms of grammar and style choices as well as the sanitization of “taboo” topics, were consistent with the findings of the initial research
Determining breeding origins of semipalmated sandpipers staging in New Brunswick, Canada
Full text linkThe Northumberland Strait and the Bay of Fundy are crucial refuelling sites for shorebird species migrating through Atlantic Canada. Many of these species are declining, including the Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), a Nearctic breeding migratory shorebird that refuels in Atlantic Canada during southbound migration. The origin of Semipalmated Sandpiper’s population declines is not fully understood as these declines have not been identified as widespread or isolated to a specific Arctic breeding region. Currently, bill lengths are used as a proxy for breeding origin as Semipalmated Sandpiper bill length increases from west to east across the Arctic. However, bill length relationships confound with sex as females have longer bills than males. Therefore, deuterium (δ2H) signatures were used to track the breeding origin of juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers. To elucidate the migratory connectivity of Semipalmated Sandpipers refueling in the Northumberland Strait and the Bay of Fundy we examined (1) the relationship between deuterium signature and bill length, (2) the origin of Semipalmated Sandpipers, (3) the relationship between breeding origin and timing of migration, (4) differences in breeding origin between years and refueling sites, and (5) the relationship between breeding origin and the amount of time spent refueling. We captured juvenile shorebirds on Maritime staging locations. We obtained blood samples for molecular sexing as well as feather samples for stable isotope analysis. We found that, though the relationships between migration timing and breeding origin varied among years, the proportional origins of birds did not change. Most birds are arriving from the eastern and central regions of the Arctic. Birds associated with an unusually early arrival in 2019 were from more southeastern breeding populations. Conversely, early arriving birds in 2018 came from more western and northern sites. Semipalmated Sandpiper arriving from more eastern and southern breeding populations had longer stopover durations in 2019. Climate on Arctic breeding grounds correlated with migratory timing. Colder temperatures and slightly later snowmelt in 2018 related to an earlier migration from northern and western breeding birds. Additionally, cooler temperatures, more precipitation, and earlier snowmelt in most southern and eastern breeding populations suggested more success and earlier migration for these populations in 2019. A large implication of this study is that stable isotope analysis of feathers will allow us to identify approximate breeding origin of birds staging in Maritime Canada. We look forward to assessing long-term trends and proportional breeding origin changes as additional years of data are obtained