Maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress:The mediating role of resilience and trait emotional intelligence

University students experience significantly high levels of psychological distress. Maladaptive perfectionism has been identified as a common trait among students that leads to diagnosed conditions such as depression and anxiety. Resilience and trait emotional intelligence have also been identified as common predictors of psychological illness and mediators between related maladaptive perfectionism. However, no current research has investigated maladaptive perfectionism’s relationship with a more general psychological distress experienced by university students. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate maladaptive perfectionism, resilience and trait emotional intelligence association with psychological distress in 171 university students (29 males; 138 females; Mage = 28.48 years; SD = 11.58). Results identified maladaptive perfectionism to significantly, positively correlate with psychological distress in university students. The combination of increased maladaptive perfectionism, low resilience and low trait emotional intelligence significantly predicted psychological distress. Additionally, resilience and trait emotional intelligence significantly added to the prediction of psychological distress, above and beyond maladaptive perfectionism. Finally, resilience and trait emotional intelligence both partially mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress in university students. Findings suggest resilience and trait emotional intelligence to be important factors in predicting general psychological distress in student maladaptive perfectionists. The current study provided additional supporting evidence for the importance of resilience and trait emotional intelligence in intervention and prevention strategies for psychological distress in maladaptive perfectionist students. </jats:p

The evolution and determination of plasmid transfer rate and subsequent effect on competition

Horizontal gene transfer by conjugation is one of the processes that determines the persistence, prevalence and transmission of antibiotic resistance genes that can be found on bacterial plasmids. In order to appropriately tackle the spread of antibiotic resistance we must therefore understand how plasmid dynamics function in complex microbial communities. Various aspects of plasmid dynamics and how they contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance are unclear and require attention. For example, plasmid transfer rates vary widely, but the ways in which environmental, plasmid and host factors explain this variation and the relative importance of each factor is unclear. In addition, the evolutionary forces that differentially affect plasmids and hosts to determine specific transfer rates have not been fully explored; in particular, the effects of host-plasmid conflicts in non-selective conditions and the impact of the relationship between plasmid cost on host growth and plasmid transfer rate. A theoretical understanding of transfer rates must then be placed within the context of the other parameters that affect plasmid dynamics (e.g. plasmid cost, loss etc.) to make assertions on plasmid persistence and prevalence, and theoretical results must be compared with experimental data in increasing microbial complexity. Experiments are rarely conducted using multiple species and the impacts and interactions of plasmid presence on a community have yet to be explored fully in the lab. The first data chapter of this thesis (chapter 2) seeks to address the question of how transfer rate variation can be attributed to various environmental variables in addition to the effects of plasmid, donor and recipient identities. A meta-analysis of published transfer rates was therefore conducted and the variation assessed by applying series of multivariate linear models to the data. Over three quarters of the variation from the meta-analysis could be explained, with plasmid repression and media type explaining the most variation. The results also identify the recipient identity as an important variable that explains up to 34\% of the variation. Given the variation in transfer rates, the next chapter (chapter 3) asks how the various selection pressures on host and plasmid may interact to determine specific rates of transfer. In particular, it asks how the costs of plasmid transfer impact transfer rates, and how host-plasmid conflicts in transfer rate may subsequently affect plasmid prevalence. Adaptive dynamics and invasion analyses were applied to simple conjugation models under selective and non-selective conditions, and using different plasmid transfer-cost relationships. The findings were then combined to model the effects that host-plasmid conflicts in non-selective conditions may have on transfer rates and plasmid prevalence. The results of separate analyses demonstrate the role of the recipient in controlling transfer rates, and show that plasmid-controlled transfer rate can be predicted with only three parameters (host growth rate, plasmid loss rate and the cost of plasmid transfer on growth). Low frequency genetic variation in transfer rate is predicted to accumulate, which can facilitate rapid adaptation to changing conditions. Further modelling showed that in order to substantially affect plasmid prevalence (and corresponding cumulative costs a plasmid has on a population in non-selective conditions) a host may need to decrease the transfer rate by several orders of magnitude, indicating that hosts must have strong control mechanisms to be valuable. In the final data chapter (chapter 4) I ask if and how plasmid dynamics focusing on the interaction of plasmid presence and inter-species competition in simple microbial communities can be predicted using independently measured parameters. In particular, how does the rate of plasmid transfer impact species competitive advantage and the outcomes of competition? A series of experiments were conducted to estimate parameters for two plasmids and two bacterial species for use in a simplified two-species bacterial conjugation model to make predictions of competitive advantage. These predictions were then compared with a series of corresponding competition assays. The effects of the plasmid distribution on competition and the presence of multiple species on plasmid stability in the community were also noted and described. The model accurately predicted many of the experimental results, but deviated from those results where specific parameters were over or underestimated. The results emphasise the importance of appropriate parameter measurement. Plasmid presence reduced the competitive ability of each host and incurred higher costs from the plasmid with a higher transfer rate. These effects were limited or exacerbated dependent on whether the plasmid was able to successfully invade the other species where it incurred similar costs. These results demonstrate the complex effects of plasmid transfer, cost and host interactions on plasmid dynamics in a microbial community and the competitive dynamics of that community. These results show that transfer rates are highly variable according to environmental conditions and that, while the majority of the variation can be assigned to some variables, additional work is required to evaluate the effects of particular variables, such as temperature and the effects of plasmid-host coevolution. While this work demonstrates how selective pressures act on transfer rates, more work is also required to link particular observed transfer rates to the conditions in which they evolve. The results highlight the importance of the variable and potentially conflicting selection pressures on host and plasmid that combine to determine the rate of transfer, emphasising the sometimes neglected role of the recipient. The relationship between plasmid cost and plasmid transfer rate is identified as a key part of transfer rate evolution and also requires future attention to describe this relationship in order to fully understand how plasmid transfer rates are constructed. These results increase our understanding of the factors that affect plasmid dynamics, have implications for the way we consider and handle the spread of antibiotic resistance, and provide direction for future research opportunities.Open Acces

New technology for interactive CAL: The origami project

Origami is a three‐year EPSRC project that forms part of a general research programme on human‐computer interaction. The goal of this research is to investigate and implement new methods for human‐computer interaction, and to apply and evaluate their use. The research centres on the DigitalDesk, an ordinary desk augmented with a computer display using projection television and a video camera to monitor inputs. The DigitalDesk allows electronic and printed documents to be combined to give richer presentation and interaction possibilities than are possible with either separate medium. This paper examines the implications of such a system for CAL, and presents two prototype applications that demonstrate the possibilities

Analyzing the Binding of Co(II)-specific Inhibitors to the Methionyl Aminopeptidases from \u3cem\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3ePyrococcus furiosus\u3c/em\u3e

Methionine aminopeptidases (MetAPs) represent a unique class of protease that is capable of the hydrolytic removal of an N-terminal methionine residue from nascent polypeptide chains. MetAPs are physiologically important enzymes; hence, there is considerable interest in developing inhibitors that can be used as antiangiogenic and antimicrobial agents. A detailed kinetic and spectroscopic study has been performed to probe the binding of a triazole-based inhibitor and a bestatin-based inhibitor to both Mn(II)- and Co(II)-loaded type-I (Escherichia coli) and type-II (Pyrococcus furiosus) MetAPs. Both inhibitors were found to be moderate competitive inhibitors. The triazole-type inhibitor was found to interact with both active-site metal ions, while the bestatin-type inhibitor was capable of switching its mode of binding depending on the metal in the active site and the type of MetAP enzyme

Plaintiff\u27s Exhibit 0050: Stephen Sheppard Letter to Eberling - description of Sheppard home

Stephen Sheppard\u27s letter to Eberling requesting Eberling to draw a diagram of Sam Sheppard\u27s home as Eberling remembered it in 1954. Attached is Eberling\u27s diagram of the Sheppard home sent in response.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/plaintiff_exhibits_2000/1008/thumbnail.jp

Active paper for active learning

Recent research into distance learning and the virtual campus has focused on the use of electronic documents and computer‐based demonstrations to replace or reinforce traditional learning material. We show how a computer‐augmented desk, the DigitalDesk, can provide the benefits of both paper and electronic documents using a natural interface based on real paper documents. Many electronic documents, particularly those created using the guidelines produced by the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), include detailed semantic and linguistic information that can be used to good effect in learning material. We discuss potential uses of TEI texts, and describe one simple application that allows a student's book to become an active part of a grammar lesson when placed on the DigitalDesk. The book is integrated into an interactive point‐and‐click interface, and feedback is related to the currently visible pages of the boo

What students want: using a choice modelling approach to estimate student demand

Higher education institutions operate in an increasingly competitive global market, and require precise knowledge regarding the preferences of potential students. Traditional methods for evaluating what potential students look for in a degree tend to be descriptive, and while informative, do not assess the strength of students' preferences; how important they are relative to each other, and hence where efforts and investments may best be targeted. To do this, more statistically rigorous methods are required. We used a discrete choice experiment to estimate the relative importance of the attributes that inform student choice and also quantify these trade-offs in monetary terms using 'willingness to pay'. Using data from a UK postgraduate institution we illustrate how this method can be applied and can provide an accurate measure of student preferences as well as quantifying the trade-offs students are willing to make. Our results show that staff expertise, and flexibility of the teaching platform, were the attributes that students most highly value when choosing a postgraduate degree

ASTM patio, carport and awning standard

Issued as Monthly progress letter no. 1-2, and Letter report, Project no. A-181

Tone-in-noise detection deficits in elderly patients with clinically normal hearing

One of the most common complaints among the elderly is the inability to understand speech in noisy environments. In many cases, these deficits are due to age-related hearing loss; however, some of the elderly that have difficulty hearing in noise have clinically normal pure-tone thresholds. While speech in noise testing is informative, it fails to identify specific frequencies responsible for the speech processing deficit. Auditory neuropathy patients and animal models of hidden hearing loss suggest that tone-in-noise thresholds may provide frequency specific information for those patients who express difficulty, but have normal thresholds in quiet. Therefore, we aimed to determine if tone-in-noise thresholds could be a useful measure in detecting age-related hearing deficits, despite having normal audiometric thresholds