Concordia University

About: Concordia University is a education organization based out in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Control theory. The organization has 13565 authors who have published 31084 publications receiving 783525 citations. The organization is also known as: Sir George Williams University & Loyola College, Montreal.

Advances in the Treatment of Context in Organizational Research

Abstract: Although scholars in the field of organizational behavior have raised concerns about a lack of contextual appreciation, there has been a recent embrace of contextual thinking in the organizational sciences. In this review, I discuss several recent theories and measures of context. The added value of a contextual approach is illustrated by how context can shape personality, how it affects the emergence of work designs, and how it benefits the study of organizational demography. Future research topics include context cue sensitivity, the way context is shaped, the mediators of context effects, and the breadth and limits of contextual impact. A recurrent theme is that although context enables a demarcation of what is distinctive about situations, it also permits integration across research areas and levels of analysis, identifying what they have in common as settings for organizational behavior.

The Stringent Response Controls Catalases in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Is Required for Hydrogen Peroxide and Antibiotic Tolerance

Abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a human opportunistic pathogen, possesses a number of antioxidant defense enzymes under the control of multiple regulatory systems. We recently reported that inactivation of the P. aeruginosa stringent response (SR), a starvation stress response controlled by the alarmone (p)ppGpp, caused impaired antioxidant defenses and antibiotic tolerance. Since catalases are key antioxidant enzymes in P. aeruginosa, we compared the levels of H2O2 susceptibility and catalase activity in P. aeruginosa wild-type and ΔrelA ΔspoT (ΔSR) mutant cells. We found that the SR was required for optimal catalase activity and mediated H2O2 tolerance during both planktonic and biofilm growth. Upon amino acid starvation, induction of the SR upregulated catalase activity. Full expression of katA and katB also required the SR, and this regulation occurred through both RpoS-independent and RpoS-dependent mechanisms. Furthermore, overexpression of katA was sufficient to restore H2O2 tolerance and to partially rescue the antibiotic tolerance of ΔSR cells. All together, these results suggest that the SR regulates catalases and that this is an important mechanism in protecting nutrient-starved and biofilm bacteria from H2O2- and antibiotic-mediated killing.

The presence of a best friend buffers the effects of negative experiences.

Abstract: The goal of the current study was to examine how the presence of a best friend might serve as protection against the effect of negative experiences on global self-worth and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA axis). A total of 103 English-speaking male (n = 55) and female (n = 48) participants from Grade 5 (M = 10.27 years) and Grade 6 (M = 11.30 years) completed booklets about their experiences that occurred 20 min previously and how they felt about themselves at the moment, and they provided saliva multiple times per day over the course of 4 consecutive days. Having a best friend present during an experience significantly buffered the effect of the negativity of the experience on cortisol and global self-worth. When a best friend was not present, there was a significant increase in cortisol and a significant decrease in global self-worth as the negativity of the experience increased. When a best friend was present, there was less change in cortisol and global self-worth due to the negativity of the experience.