The Perceived Effectiveness of Information Security Awareness

The need to protect information systems as much as possible from security threats and risks has risen in the last few decades due to the increase and sophistication of threats. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the methods used to implement Information Security Awareness (ISA) programs. And also to investigate how the perceived effectiveness of ISA programs in preventing and mitigating security threats and risks organisations face, is assessed. The inductive research approach was used to explore the human side of the information security problem and how this impacts the perceived effectiveness of ISA programs. Then a prototype of a model to assess an ISA program was replicated. The results indicated that the awareness level of the region used for the implementation was average, meaning the ISA program was not as effective as it was expected to be. The model provides a guide to both researchers and practitioners in assessing ISA programs and obtaining statistical data or empirical data in order to prove how effective it is.   Keywords: Information Security Awareness, Information Security Policy, Information System, Security threats/risks and Perceived Effectiveness

Expression and purification of recombinant G protein-coupled receptors: A review

Given their extensive role in cell signalling, GPCRs are significant drug targets; despite this, many of these receptors have limited or no available prophylaxis. Novel drug design and discovery significantly rely on structure determination, of which GPCRs are typically elusive. Progress has been made thus far to produce sufficient quantity and quality of protein for downstream analysis. As such, this review highlights the systems available for recombinant GPCR expression, with consideration of their advantages and disadvantages, as well as examples of receptors successfully expressed in these systems. Additionally, an overview is given on the use of detergents and the styrene maleic acid (SMA) co-polymer for membrane solubilisation, as well as purification techniques

A Role for Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors in Healthy Ageing

The proportion of older individuals globally is increasing. This results in an increase in socioeconomic costs as more people are living long enough to suffer from the detrimental effects of ageing such as chronic age-related diseases. Thus, there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms that drive ageing and promote healthy ageing. Ageing research using simple model organisms has shown that ageing can be modulated by genetic and environmental factors and these interventions extend lifespan and improve health in evolutionarily distant organisms. In this thesis, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster was used to study the role of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR) in biological ageing. mGluRs are highly conserved G-protein coupled receptors activated by the amino acid, L-glutamate to modulate intracellular signal transduction cascades, including the PI3K and MAP/ERK signalling pathways which play evolutionary conserved roles in animal ageing. By utilising a null mutation of the gene encoding the single fly mGluR we have found that loss of mGluR activity in flies causes sex-specific differences on longevity. This sex-specific effect was found to be strain-specific and may be partly attributed to differences in DmGluRA mRNA levels. This study also aimed to elucidate the mechanism(s) by which loss of mGluR extends lifespan. Phenotyping studies revealed that the long-lived mutants were associated with several phenotypes including increased resistance to stress, body weight and differences in triglyceride usage under starvation conditions. The studies also appear to rule out some possible mechanisms for the lifespan extension associated with loss of mGluR in Drosophila such as dietary restriction and improvements in gut physiology. RNA-Seq analysis also identified several genes which change in expression as a response to loss of mGluR signalling, many of which may explain the phenotypes observed and so are potential mechanisms of longevity. Further studies are required to fully understand the mechanisms of lifespan extension but taken together, the results form a case for mGluR as a novel ageing regulator