The Effects Of The Alpha1a Adrenergic Receptor In Modulating Psychiatric Symptoms

The adrenergic system plays a key role in the treatment and understanding of the etiology of mental illnesses. Despite antidepressants having the effect of reducing the reuptake of specific neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine (NE), the mechanism of the antidepressant effect is poorly understood. It is apparent that antidepressants increase the rate of neurogenesis occurring within the hippocampal region of the brain with the hippocampus found to have an increased density around the time of symptom improvement (rate plateaus after 4-8 weeks after treatment). With an increased rate of neurogenesis taking ~1 month to occur, it was hypothesized that treatment with an alpha1A-AR agonist would induce an antidepressant-like action as a potential phenotypical action of the adrenergic system.Although utilizing the alpha1A-AR agonist, Cirazoline, did not demonstrate any significant difference in a 2-week acute treatment or a month-long treatment, significance was found in the behavioral experiments. Males and females have long been divided into separate experimental groups due to their biological differences. Current research is working to disprove the need for separate experiments. In the results from the Cirazoline experiment, sex differences were significantly found among the treated and untreated mice. As such, male and female mice cannot be compared in terms of their equal responses in behavioral experiments. Female mice were found to have more anxiety than males whether treated or untreated, indicating a significant difference when sex was compared independently. In the 24-hour restraint test, significance was found in the Tail Suspension Test (TST) which concluded that after 24 hours of restraining, mice display an acute depressive phenotype Although this was not found in the Forced Swim Test (FST), not all tests are equivalent when evaluating psychosomatic symptoms. The TST not only includes immobility but also does not have the bias of mice being able to float, such as in the FST. By being able to float, mice are less likely to continue to be immobile during the FST when learned. However, the TST does not include this bias as mice are not able to learn that harm will not occur if they give up. This is a key indicator for the learned helplessness model

Internal Mobility in New Zealand

What characteristics push people to move and what pulls them to a new location? Evidence from the US has suggested that people are pulled to cities with a high population density and with large concentrations of skilled people. But how does this apply to New Zealand? Where are people moving to and from and what are the characteristics associated with the migrants' origins and destinations? This paper investigates the effect that the characteristics of a community have on the likelihood of people leaving and/or travelling to the community. The movement of people is obtained from a mobility table produced from census data by Statistics New Zealand. We use geographical information system (GIS) tools to define variables based on aggregations of meshblocks around the area units of interest. How does migration vary geographically across New Zealand? We model migration decisions and investigate their causes. Who moves and where do they go? We investigate the broad characteristics of areas that exhibit high losses and/or gains in population through migration. We investigate the relationship between the level of turnover or 'churning' of people with the characteristics of the population in that area.

Evidence-based practice to the forefront: a case study of engineering team Project-Based Learning in an online learning environment

Approaches such as problem and project-based learning (PBL) are the cornerstone of modern engineering curricula. With a growing need to move these student-centred active learning curricula to online and blended learning environments due to issues including increasing cohort sizes and limited budgets, it is essential that instructional designers in engineering education understand the impacts that these differing mediums may have on student collaboration. This study is the beginning of a body of work with the aim to develop effective teaching and learning strategies for team project-based learning in online and blended learning environments. This case study was carried out in an Irish university in 2021 in a first-year engineering module during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study followed an explanatory mixed methods design in which a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were utilised to collect data. The research data was gathered in two phases. Phase 1 included a questionnaire with both closed- and open-ended questions (N=94). Phase 2 was based on semistructured interviews (N=7). This paper will focus on the qualitative datasets, including the open-ended questions and interviews. After completing a thematic analysis, we identified six themes and eighteen sub-themes that affect students’ perceptions of team project-based learning (PBL) in an online environment. Each of these themes are discussed within this paper. The paper concludes with an outline of future research plans for the ongoing project

Visualizing Success: Investigating the Relationship between Ability and Self-Efficacy in the Domain of Visual Processing

The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial reasoning capacities and related self-efficacy beliefs of student teachers. In recent years self-efficacy has been a focal point for those investigating various modes of determinism. The relationship between an individual’s perceptions of their ability to succeed within spatial reasoning tasks is examined in conjunction with their spatial reasoning ability. In this study three tests of spatial ability were administered to align with three unique spatial factors associated with mental rotation. These include Spatial Relations, Speeded Rotation and Spatial Orientation. Self-efficacy within the spatial domain is measured using an adapted Academic Self-Efficacy scale

Differentiating between Spatial Ability as a Specific Rather than General Factor of Intelligence in Performance on Simple, Non-routine Problems in Mathematics

Spearman concluded that performance on any test of mental ability could be explained by several cognitive factors organized hierarchically as one general factor and several subordinate specific factors (Spearman, 1904, 1927). The general factor accounted for the significant amount of inter-correlation between all ability tests for any one individual while the specific factor explained the variation that was unique to each test. While there has been much debate in the literature as to what the specific factors are, with many different combinations of number and type of ability, three abilities — verbal, quantita¬tive and spatial –consistently emerge as playing a dominant role in cognition (Kyllonen, 1996)

Unmanned weapons systems and just wars:the psychological dimensions

This chapter explores the psychological impact of unmanned weapons systems on military decision making. Just war theory is used as a normative framework to evaluate whether decision making is morally acceptable before, during, and after conflict. We discuss the psychology of decision making at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels, and question whether the novelty of unmanned weapons systems can bias the consideration of ethics during conflict. We provide theoretical hypotheses that describe how the possession of unmanned weapons systems may influence military decisions. We query whether military decision makers have an appropriate level of understanding and expertise in using these systems; importantly when considering the trade-off between short-term tactical advantage and long-term strategic goals, and offer recommendations for research

Teamwork Satisfaction And Student Attitudes Towards Online Learning During An Engineering Problem And Project Based Learning (PBL) Module

Research has shown that students that report high levels of learner satisfaction and positive attitudes are more likely to succeed within the online environment. This is reflected in the considerable body of research that focuses on these factors across a range of academic disciplines. By assessing students\u27 attitudes and satisfaction, educators gain a valuable affective perspective that allows for a more complete examination of strategy effectiveness. This paper examines teamwork satisfaction and student attitude towards online learning, while also highlighting elements of successful online collaboration as identified by students using the instruments developed by Hasler-Waters & Napier, Ku et al, and Tseng et al. This case study was carried out over a seven-week period with first-year engineering students (N=94), in a module entitled Design for Manufacture, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed high levels of student satisfaction and attitudes towards working in teams in the online environment while participating in problem and project-based learning (PBL). Additionally, the findings outline multiple factors that affect the success of online collaboration. The relevance of these findings is then discussed in the context of an increasing move towards blended and online engineering education provision

Optimising industry learners’ online experiences – lessons for a post-pandemic world

This study examines the experiences and impact COVID-19 has had on industry online learners. Exploring initially the term ‘industry learner' and explaining the background to the design of the online modules the learners participated on. The design and delivery of this programme resulted in minimal impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study explores qualitative reports of industry learners’ experiences, and these are analysed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that the design principle of maximising social interaction, at peer to peer and peer to educator levels, resulted in an enhanced student experience. Group based interactions were recognised by learners as both an occasional source of friction, but also as a valuable proxy for industry leadership roles and workplace group dynamics. This highlights the complex enhancing and inhibiting nature of group-based learning. Implications for further optimisation of online and blended learning environments are explored and associated future research priorities are identified