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2012

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Multi-Level Elections In Western Europe: Determinants Of Voting And The Role Of Salience., Jeremy Johns Jan 2012

Multi-Level Elections In Western Europe: Determinants Of Voting And The Role Of Salience., Jeremy Johns

Plymouth Business School Theses

Previous comparative research into the determinants of voting using aggregate data has suffered from two limitations: it relied predominantly on country-level data; and it seldom ventured beyond a consideration of one or two types of elections. In order to overcome these shortcomings, we use an original dataset in which data are aggregated to sub-national units; and include examples of national, sub-national, and supra-national elections. A total of 66 elections between 1995 and 2008 are included, drawn from ten Western European countries: Belgium, England, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. For each country, the same sub-national geographical …


‘Implicit Creation’ – Non-Programmer Conceptual Models For Authoring In Interactive Digital Storytelling, Ulrike Martina Spierling Jan 2012

‘Implicit Creation’ – Non-Programmer Conceptual Models For Authoring In Interactive Digital Storytelling, Ulrike Martina Spierling

Plymouth Business School Theses

Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) constitutes a research field that emerged from several areas of art, creation and computer science. It inquires technologies and possible artefacts that allow ‘highly-interactive’ experiences of digital worlds with compelling stories. However, the situation for story creators approaching ‘highly-interactive’ storytelling is complex. There is a gap between the available technology, which requires programming and prior knowledge in Artificial Intelligence, and established models of storytelling, which are too linear to have the potential to be highly interactive. This thesis reports on research that lays the ground for bridging this gap, leading to novel creation philosophies in future …


Statins In Unconventional Secretion Of Insulin-Degrading Enzyme And Degradation Of The Amyloid-Β Peptide, K Glebov, J Walter Jan 2012

Statins In Unconventional Secretion Of Insulin-Degrading Enzyme And Degradation Of The Amyloid-Β Peptide, K Glebov, J Walter

Peninsula Medical School

Population-based studies demonstrated that statins might decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Statins inhibit the 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme-A reductase and thereby de novo synthesis of cholesterol. Cell culture and animal studies indicated that cholesterol affects the proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein and the generation of amyloid-β (Aβ). Recently, we have demonstrated that statins can also stimulate the degradation of Aβ. The statin-induced clearance of Aβ could be attributed to increased release of the insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) via an exosome-related unconventional secretory pathway. Interestingly, this statin-induced secretion of exosome-associated IDE was independent of cellular cholesterol concentrations, but rather caused …


Control Of Interneuron Dendritic Growth Through Nrg1/Erbb4-Mediated Kalirin-7 Disinhibition., M. E. Cahill, K. A. Jones, I. Rafalovich, Z. Xie, C. S. Barros, U. Müller, P. Penzes Jan 2012

Control Of Interneuron Dendritic Growth Through Nrg1/Erbb4-Mediated Kalirin-7 Disinhibition., M. E. Cahill, K. A. Jones, I. Rafalovich, Z. Xie, C. S. Barros, U. Müller, P. Penzes

Peninsula Medical School

Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) is a secreted trophic factor that activates the postsynaptic erbB4 receptor tyrosine kinase. Both NRG1 and erbB4 have been repeatedly associated with schizophrenia, but their downstream targets are not well characterized. ErbB4 is highly abundant in interneurons, and NRG1-mediated erbB4 activation has been shown to modulate interneuron function, but the role for NRG1-erbB4 signaling in regulating interneuron dendritic growth is not well understood. Here we show that NRG1/erbB4 promote the growth of dendrites in mature interneurons through kalirin, a major dendritic Rac1-GEF. Recent studies have shown associations of the KALRN gene with schizophrenia. Our data point to …


Effects Of Walnut Consumption On Cognitive Performance In Young Adults, Peter Pribis, Rudolph N. Bailey, Andrew A. Russell, Marcia A. Kilsby, Magaly Hernandez, Winston J. Craig, Tevni Grajales, David J. Shavlik, Joan Sabatè Jan 2012

Effects Of Walnut Consumption On Cognitive Performance In Young Adults, Peter Pribis, Rudolph N. Bailey, Andrew A. Russell, Marcia A. Kilsby, Magaly Hernandez, Winston J. Craig, Tevni Grajales, David J. Shavlik, Joan Sabatè

Faculty Publications

Walnuts contain a number of potentially neuroprotective compounds like vitamin E, folate, melatonin, several antioxidative polyphenols and significant amounts of n-3 α-linolenic fatty acid. The present study sought to determine the effect of walnuts on verbal and non-verbal reasoning, memory and mood. A total of sixty-four college students were randomly assigned to two treatment sequences in a crossover fashion: walnuts-placebo or placebo-walnuts. Baseline data were collected for non-verbal reasoning, verbal reasoning, memory and mood states. Data were collected again after 8 weeks of intervention. After 6 weeks of washout, the intervention groups followed the diets in reverse order. Data were …


Homosexuality And The Bible: What Is At Stake In The Current Debate, Richard M. Davidson Jan 2012

Homosexuality And The Bible: What Is At Stake In The Current Debate, Richard M. Davidson

Faculty Publications

The sexual distinction between male and female is fundamental to what it means to be human. Humankind-in-fellowship as male and female is fundamental to what it means to be in the image of God.


Coping Behaviour As An Adaptation To Stress: Post-Disturbance Preening In Colonial Seabirds, Shandelle M. Henson, Lynelle M. Weldon, James L. Hayward, Daniel Greene, Libby C. Megna, Maureen C. Serem Jan 2012

Coping Behaviour As An Adaptation To Stress: Post-Disturbance Preening In Colonial Seabirds, Shandelle M. Henson, Lynelle M. Weldon, James L. Hayward, Daniel Greene, Libby C. Megna, Maureen C. Serem

Faculty Publications

In humans, coping behaviour is an action taken to soothe oneself during or after a stressful or threatening situation. Some human behaviours with physiological functions also serve as coping behaviours, for example, comfort sucking in infants and comfort eating in adults. In birds, the behaviour of preening, which has important physiological functions, has been postulated to soothe individuals after stressful situations. We combine two existing modelling approaches – logistic regression and Darwinian dynamics – to explore theoretically how a behaviour with crucial physiological function might evolve into a coping behaviour. We apply the method to preening in colonial seabirds to …


High Metabolic Potential May Contribute To The Success Of St131 Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli., Tarek M. Gibreel, Andrew R. Dodgson, John Cheesbrough, Frederick J. Bolton, Andrew J. Fox, Mathew Upton Jan 2012

High Metabolic Potential May Contribute To The Success Of St131 Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli., Tarek M. Gibreel, Andrew R. Dodgson, John Cheesbrough, Frederick J. Bolton, Andrew J. Fox, Mathew Upton

School of Biomedical Sciences

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the predominant cause of urinary tract infection in both hospital and community settings. The recent emergence of multidrug-resistant clones like the O25b:H4-ST131 lineage represents a significant threat to health, and numerous studies have explored the virulence potential of these organisms. Members of the ST131 clone have been described as having variable carriage of key virulence factors, and it has been suggested that additional unidentified factors contribute to virulence. Here we demonstrated that ST131 isolates have high metabolic potential and biochemical profiles that distinguish them from isolates of many other sequence types (STs). A collection of …


Antimicrobial Peptides As Therapeutic Agents., Mathew Upton, Paul Cotter, John Tagg Jan 2012

Antimicrobial Peptides As Therapeutic Agents., Mathew Upton, Paul Cotter, John Tagg

School of Biomedical Sciences

No abstract provided.


Increased Water Current Induces Micro-Architectural Changes To The Vertebral Bone Of Juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss), Mag Owen, B Eynon, S Woodgate, Sj Davies, S Fox Jan 2012

Increased Water Current Induces Micro-Architectural Changes To The Vertebral Bone Of Juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss), Mag Owen, B Eynon, S Woodgate, Sj Davies, S Fox

School of Biomedical Sciences

No abstract provided.