University of New Brunswick

About: University of New Brunswick is a education organization based out in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 10498 authors who have published 20654 publications receiving 474448 citations.

The Semanticscience Integrated Ontology (SIO) for biomedical research and knowledge discovery

Abstract: The Semanticscience Integrated Ontology (SIO) is an ontology to facilitate biomedical knowledge discovery. SIO features a simple upper level comprised of essential types and relations for the rich description of arbitrary (real, hypothesized, virtual, fictional) objects, processes and their attributes. SIO specifies simple design patterns to describe and associate qualities, capabilities, functions, quantities, and informational entities including textual, geometrical, and mathematical entities, and provides specific extensions in the domains of chemistry, biology, biochemistry, and bioinformatics. SIO provides an ontological foundation for the Bio2RDF linked data for the life sciences project and is used for semantic integration and discovery for SADI-based semantic web services. SIO is freely available to all users under a creative commons by attribution license. See website for further information: http://sio.semanticscience.org.

Learning in Computer Conferenced Contexts: The Learners' Perspective

Abstract: Reported here is a study about how adult students learn in an environment that enables group communication only by text-based messaging, that is, computer conferencing (CC). Four questions guided the study: How do students say they learned? What, in their opinion, are the salient features of CC? What, if any, are the effects of those features on their learning? And Do the students' descriptions of how they learned relate to learning strategies as found in cognitive psychology literature? The results were developed from qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews with 21 M.Ed. students and the instructors for the two courses involved. The key categories of learning strategies identified were choice, expression, peer interaction, and organization of information. The salient features were interconnected to the perceived strengths and weaknesses of CC, and all appear to indicate that CC poses as many challenges as it does opportunities for its use in higher education. The results of the study suggest that the taxonomy from cognitive psychology that was used for this study should be expanded to include strategies that focus on the management of the inter-personal and logistical elements of the CC context. Suggestions for improved practice are offered. Lorsque la communication de groupe depend uniquement de messageries textuelles, a savoir les ordinoconferences, comment les etudiants adultes apprennent-ils? Le present article fait etat des resultats d'une enquete orientee par quatre questions: 1) Comment les etudiants affirment-ils avoir appris? 2) Que percoivent-ils comme etant les traits saillants des ordinoconferen-ces? 3) Ces traits ont-ils une incidence sur leur apprentissage? et 4) Les modes d'apprentissage identifies sont-ils conformes aux strategies decrites par la psychologie cognitive? Au cours d'entrevues en profondeur, on a recueilli des donnees qualitatives aupres de 21 etudiants a la maitrise en education et aupres des enseignants des deux cours en cause. Les princi-pales strategies identifiees ont ete le choix, l'expression, l'interaction avec les pairs et l'organisation des informations. Les traits saillants etaient relies aux forces et aux faiblesses percues de tels environnements, et tout porte a croire qu'au niveau des etudes superieures, les ordinoconferences sont porteuses d'autant de defis que de promesses. Les resultats semblent in-diquer que la taxonomie utilisee, tiree de la psychologie cognitive, devrait inclure aussi des strategies orientees par la gestion des elements interper-sonnels et logistiques propres aux ordinoconferences. L'article presente aussi des suggestions d'ordre pratique.

Towards a unified study of multiple stressors: divisions and common goals across research disciplines.

Abstract: Anthropogenic environmental changes, or 'stressors', increasingly threaten biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. Multiple-stressor research is a rapidly expanding field of science that seeks to understand and ultimately predict the interactions between stressors. Reviews and meta-analyses of the primary scientific literature have largely been specific to either freshwater, marine or terrestrial ecology, or ecotoxicology. In this cross-disciplinary study, we review the state of knowledge within and among these disciplines to highlight commonality and division in multiple-stressor research. Our review goes beyond a description of previous research by using quantitative bibliometric analysis to identify the division between disciplines and link previously disconnected research communities. Towards a unified research framework, we discuss the shared goal of increased realism through both ecological and temporal complexity, with the overarching aim of improving predictive power. In a rapidly changing world, advancing our understanding of the cumulative ecological impacts of multiple stressors is critical for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Identifying and overcoming the barriers to interdisciplinary knowledge exchange is necessary in rising to this challenge. Division between ecosystem types and disciplines is largely a human creation. Species and stressors cross these borders and so should the scientists who study them.

Inadvertent social information in breeding site selection of natal dispersing birds.

Abstract: Several species use the number of young produced as public information (PI) to assess breeding site quality. PI is inaccessible for synchronously breeding birds because nests are empty by the time the young can collect this information. We investigate if location cues are the next best source of inadvertent social information (ISI) used by young prospectors during breeding site choice. We experimentally deployed ISI as decoys and song playbacks of breeding males in suitable and sub-optimal habitats during pre- and postbreeding periods, and monitored territory establishment during the subsequent breeding season for a social, bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and a more solitary species, Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus nelsoni ). The sparrows did not respond to treatments, but bobolinks responded strongly to post-breeding location cues, irrespective of habitat quality. The following year, 17/20 sub-optimal plots to which bobolink males were recruited were defended for at least two weeks, indicating that song heard the previous year could exert a ‘carry-over attraction’ effect on conspecifics the following year. Sixteen recruited males were natal dispersers, as expected when animals have little opportunity to directly sample their natal habitat quality. We suggest that differences in breeding synchronicity may induce an equivalent clinal distribution of ISI use.

Dna barcoding is a powerful tool to uncover algal diversity: a case study of the phyllophoraceae (gigartinales, rhodophyta) in the canadian flora

Abstract: Previous studies have established that the 5′ end of the mitochondrial gene COI (cytochrome oxidase subunit I) is useful for rapid and reliable identification of red algal species and have demonstrated that our understanding of red algal biodiversity and biogeography is fragmentary. In this context, we are completing a thorough sampling along the Canadian coast and using the DNA barcode for the assignment of collections to genetic species to explore algal diversity in the Canadian flora. In the present study, we provide results regarding diversity of members of the red algal family Phyllophoraceae. We have analyzed 354 individuals from the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts of Canada, as well as 26 specimens from the USA, Europe, and Australia, resolving 29 species based on the analyses of the DNA barcode. Twenty-three of these genetic species were present in Canada where only 18 species are currently recognized, including Ceratocolax hartzii Rosenv., which was in the same genetic species group as its host Coccotylus truncatus (Pall.) M. J. Wynne et N. J. Heine and is thus transferred to Coccotylus, C. hartzii (Rosenv.) comb. nov., but retained as a distinct species owing to its unique habit and phenology. Our results revealed the presence of cryptic diversity within the genera Coccotylus, Mastocarpus, Ozophora, and Stenogramme, for which we resurrect Coccotylus brodiei (Turner) Kutz. and describe Mastocarpus pachenicus sp. nov., Ozophora lanceolata sp. nov., and Stenogramme bamfieldiensis sp. nov., leaving a multitude of unnamed Mastocarpus spp. in need of further taxonomic study. In addition, we report range extensions into British Columbia of Besa papillaeformis Setch., previously known only from its type and nearby localities in California; Gymnogongrus crenulatus (Turner) J. Agardh, recorded only from the Atlantic; and Stenogramme cf. rhodymenioides Joly et Alveal, previously only known from South America. Finally, the phylogenetic affinities of the Canadian species of Phyllophoraceae characterized in this study were investigated using LSU rDNA, RUBISCO LSU (rbcL), and combined analyses.