What motivates teenagers to comply with security guidelines?

We examined factors that inspire teenagers to comply with cyber security guidelines. We used protection motivation theory (PMT), and extended the model to include personal norms and normative beliefs. For teenage computer users, believing they are susceptible to hacking or that the consequences of being hacked would be severe, had no bearing on their password choices. This is an interesting finding highlighting a potential difference between adults and teenagers. We found personal norms is a better predictor of teenagers’ security behaviour than PMT’s threat perceptions. This is an important finding which opens new avenues for future research, particularly in explaining teenagers’ security behaviour. This study contributes to finding ways to improve security practices at an early age. To the best of our knowledge this is the first password security study that applies PMT to examine security behaviours in teenager

Harms Of Loot Boxes And Approaching Regulation In Singapore

‘Loot boxes’ are a type of videogame monetization model that contains randomized rewards of varying rarities which emerged in recent years. The element of chance seeks to entice players into buying loot boxes in hopes of receiving a rare and desirable reward. The design of loot boxes has been identified to be addictive and to entice players to spend more money than they estimate they would. With links to addiction and gambling behaviours, loot boxes may cause social harm if unregulated. Singapore is not new to the videogaming scene and may seek to regulate loot boxes should it emerge as a social problem amongst Singaporeans. By acknowledging existing approaches towards regulating loot boxes and situating loot boxes in Singapore’s social context, this paper explores Lessig’s four modalities of constraint as a framework to hypothesize regulatory options for Singapore

Stereospecificity of Thermostable Ornithine 5-Aminotransferase for the Hydrogen Transfer in the L- and D-Ornithine Transamination (MOLECULAR BIOFUNCTION-Molecular Microbial Science)

The thermostable ornithine 5-aminotransferase of a thermophile, Bacillus sp. YM-2 is unique in acting on both enantiomers of ornithine, although less effectively on the D-enantiomer. We studied the stereospecificity of the enzyme for the hydrogen abstraction from C-5 of the substrate moiety and the addition and removal of the hydrogen at C-4' of the cofactor (pyridoxal phosphate and pyridoxamine phosphate) moiety of the external Schiff base intermediate in the transamination of L- and D-ornithine. [5- 3H]L- and D-ornithines were prepared by incubation of L- and D-ornithines with the B. sp. YM-2 ornithine 5-aminotransferase in 3H2O, respectively. The C-5 of the tritiated L-and D-ornithine was proved to have the S-configuration with L-ornithine 5-aminotransferase of a mesophile, Bacillus sphaericus, catalyzing the stereospecific abstraction of pro-S hydrogen from C-5 of L-ornithine and amino acid racemase with lowsubstrate specificity of Pseudomonas putida . When apo-form of the enzyme was incubated with pyridoxamine 5'-phosphates that was stereospecifically tritiated at C-4' and 2-oxoglutarate in the presence of L-ornithine or D-ornithine, tritium was released exclusively from (4'S)-[4'-3H] pyridoxamine. These results suggest that the B. sp. YM-2 ornithine 5-aminotransferase stereospecifically abstracts the pro-S hydrogen from C-5 of L- and D-ornithine. The hydrogen abstracted is then transferred to C-4' of the cofactor moiety stereospecifically on the si face of the external Schiff base intermediate irrespective of the C-2 configuration of amino donor

Parental Mediation of Video Gaming in Singapore

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Economic voting in new democracies

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 27, 2009)Vita.Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.This study investigates economic voting in 70 new democracies that have experienced regime transition since 1974. By incorporating the analysis of elections in virtually all new democracies, this study shows how electorates react to changes in economic conditions under various socio-economic, institutional, and political circumstances. This study addresses a series of questions related to the nexus between economics and elections in new democracies and makes several important findings. The findings are, first, economic performance under an authoritarian regime affects electoral support for authoritarian successors in founding elections. However, the vote share of an interim government is not affected by economic performance in the period of democratic transition. Second, electorates respond to economic performance of incumbents in post-founding elections. Contextual variables, such as economic development, level of democracy, and democratic consolidation have a weak relationship with economic voting. Third, the institutional clarity of responsibility for incumbents over economic performance does little to influence the relative strength of economic voting.Includes bibliographical reference

Game Player Types and its Influence on Game Dependency

This study investigates the relationship between video game dependency and player type typology. As video gaming grows to become an integral part of the lives of many youths, concerns about the consequences of excessive gaming have arisen too. These concerns appear to be grounded as video games have been reported to damage family, school, social and psychological functioning – collectively describing the effects of game dependency (akin to pathological gaming measures). Moreover, over the years, various gamer typologies have been developed to provide insights into the different behaviours and motivations of gamers. While these typologies were initially developed for game designers to create more appealing games, their applicability has since extended beyond. This study adopts such gamer typologies and establishes a framework of player types (Achiever, Guru, Socializers, Explorers) and investigates its influence on game dependency. Through literature review, this study hypothesised that (H1) Achievers will be positively associated with Game Dependency, and (H2) Socializers and Explorers will be negatively associated with Game Dependency. Secondary school students, aged 13-17, were invited through schools to participate in an online survey. Data was collected with the permission of the respective schools to be used for research purposes. A total of students (n=999) was included in the sample, gathered from three secondary schools in Singapore. Game Dependency measure satisfied the reliability criteria with a Cronbach alpha of 0.94. Correlational analysis and comparison of means were performed on the data collected. Our findings showed statistically significant support for H1 and H2. This study explains that the Socializer player type, who are more people- than game-centric, are more likely to follow their social contacts in a game and expand their social network and resources. And as such, they are more likely to play with their friends and would hence have a lower game dependency. On the other hand, the Explorer player type may spend less time in games due to the limited exploratory possibilities present; they may choose to exhibit these tendencies by viewing videos or talking to other players. These constitute activities outside video gaming that are not captured in the current tool used to capture game dependency. The Explorer player type also does not enjoy challenges within the game and may thus stop playing once games get difficult. Therefore, the Explorer player type requires the least measure of commitment (i.e., time, effort, money), which in turn causes an opposite influence on their game dependence. While the measures used are theoretically derived and consistent with other studies, this study went a step further by quantitatively showing its association between the two variables and discriminating between game dependency groups. This study provides a nuanced understanding of the Uses and Gratifications Theory, demonstrating how different gamer types (akin to gratifications) play the game (akin to game dependency). While nascent, this venture has proven useful for identifying problematic ingame tendencies, thus informing the rehabilitative work among pathological video gamers, which the authors seek to undertake

Cystathionine β-Synthase p.S466L Mutation Causes Hyperhomocysteinemia in Mice

Missense mutations in the cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) gene are the most common cause of clinical homocystinuria in humans. The p.S466L mutation was identified in a homocystinuric patient, but enzymatic studies with recombinant protein show this mutant to be highly active. To understand how this mutation causes disease in vivo, we have created mice lacking endogenous mouse CBS and expressing either wild-type (Tg-hCBS) or p.S466L (Tg-S466L) human CBS under control of zinc inducible metallothionein promoter. In the presence of zinc, we found that the mean serum total homocysteine (tHcy) of Tg-S466L mice was 142 ± 55 µM compared to 16 ± 13 µM for hCBS mice. Tg-S466L mice also had significantly higher levels of total free homocysteine and S-adenosylhomocysteine in liver and kidney. Only 48% of Tg-S466L mice had detectable CBS protein in the liver, whereas all the Tg-hCBS animals had detectable protein. Surprisingly, CBS mRNA was significantly elevated in Tg-S466L animals compared to Tg-hCBS, implying that the reduction in p.S466L protein was occurring due to posttranscriptional mechanisms. In Tg-S466L animals with detectable liver CBS, the enzyme formed tetramers and was active, but lacked inducibility by S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet). However, even in Tg-S466L animals that had in vitro liver CBS activity equivalent to Tg-hCBS animals there was significant elevation of serum tHcy. Our results show that p.S466L causes homocystinuria by affecting both the steady state level of CBS protein and by reducing the efficiency of the enzyme in vivo. Hum Mutat 29(8), 1048–1054, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Effect of few-walled carbon nanotube crystallinity on electron field emission property

We discuss the influence of few-walled carbon nanotubes (FWCNTs) treated with nitric acid and/or sulfuric acid on field emission characteristics. FWCNTs/tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) thin film field emitters were fabricated by a spray method using FWCNTs/TEOS sol one-component solution onto indium tin oxide (ITO) glass. After thermal curing, they were found tightly adhered to the ITO glass, and after an activation process by a taping method, numerous FWCNTs were aligned preferentially in the vertical direction. Pristine FWCNT/ TEOS-based field emitters revealed higher current density, lower turn-on field, and a higher field enhancement factor than the oxidized FWCNTs-based field emitters. However, the unstable dispersion of pristine FWCNT in TEOS/N,N-dimethylformamide solution was not applicable to the field emitter fabrication using a spray method. Although the field emitter of nitric acid-treated FWCNT showed slightly lower field emission characteristics, this could be improved by the introduction of metal nanoparticles or resistive layer coating. Thus, we can conclude that our spray method using nitric acid-treated FWCNT could be useful for fabricating a field emitter and offers several advantages compared to previously reported techniques such as chemical vapor deposition and screen printing.ope