Studies on the aspargine to n-acetylglucosamine linkage in glycoproteins

Imperial Users onl

Industrial Archaeology and its Relevance to the Technical Studies' Teacher

Changes both in society and its aspirations, and industrial structure and requirements, have resulted in a fundamental rethinking of the role of the teacher of 'craft'. This has changed from one of an imparter of traditional handicraft skills in wood and metal to a much wider concept of promoting interest and concern with design and technology and its effects on the society in which the young citizen of today ·finds himself or herself. This widening of aim has demanded a new title for the subject area which better reflects its new role, hence the term design and technology rather than the restriction implied in the word handicraft. The extended field of interest which has come under the purview of the teacher of design and technology has brought with it opportunities for a closer liaison with teachers of the sciences and humanities and the consequent development of integrated study units. It is however essential that such integration is a natural and logical progression and not merely an artificial concoction by those anxious to jump upon any educational bandwaggon that happens to be fashionable at the time. Such a natural and logical progression is provided by industrial archaeology. At the same time this discipline can play an effective role in explaining to the maturing mind the basis of Britain's present socio-economic structure and technical development

British mail-coach services 1784-1850

The use by the Post Office of riders and carts for mail conveyance on main post routes was by c170 proving deficient as a means of distributing intelligence for an economy about to undergo sustained and rapid economic developments. The appearance of fast light stage-coaches on certain roads at this time however, provided the inspiration for John Palmer to advance his plan for a system of mail-coaches. Despite opposition, Palmer had in a period of less than two years established a network of mail-coach services which provided an economical and safe means of mail transit coupled with a premier form of public passenger conveyance. The speed and expansion of routes and facilities resulted initially in a rapid increase in the volume of letters, but this declined as postage rates increased to assist war financiers, and from 1812 stagnation set in. The number of mail-coaches was never large and at the height of the system in the mid 1830s only 300 vehicles were used in Great Britain and another 75 in Ireland, but their success stimulated coaching in general. By the min 1830s mail-coaching produced demand factors in the economy amounting to about £700,000 per annum in Great Britain and £120,000 in Ireland of which the agricultural sector received 70% of the benefit. Mail-coaches represented 9.5% of the public long distance coaching traffic at this period. The development of the railway network saw a rapid collapse of mail-coaching on the lines out of London from the late 1830s. Rail transit of mail increased costs at a time when revenue was reduced by the adoption in 1840 of uniform penny postage. Increased speed of transit, improved frequency of delivery and low rates of postage provided however an inestimable benefit to a society in the throes of an accelerating industrialisation which was to bring Britain to the pinnacle of economic power and world dominance in the late nineteenth century

Pro-domain removal in ASP-2 and the cleavage of the amyloid precursor are influenced by pH

BACKGROUND: One of the signatures of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of aggregated amyloid protein, Aβ, in the brain. Aβ arises from cleavage of the Amyloid Precursor protein by β and γ secretases, which present attractive candidates for therapeutic targeting. Two β-secretase candidates, ASP-1 and ASP-2, were identified as aspartic proteases, both of which cleave the amyloid precursor at the β-site. These are produced as immature transmembrane proteins containing a pro-segment. RESULTS: ASP-2 expressed in HEK293-cells cleaved the Swedish mutant amyloid precursor at different β-sites at different pHs in vitro. Recent reports show that furin cleaves the pro-peptide of ASP-2, whereas ASP-1 undergoes auto-catalysis. We show that purified recombinant ASP-2 cleaves its own pro-peptide at ph 5 but not pH 8.5 as seen by mass spectrometry, electrophoresis and N-terminal sequencing. CONCLUSION: We suggest that ASP-2 processing as well as activity are influenced by pH, and hence the cellular localisation of the protein may have profound effects on the production of Aβ. These factors should be taken into consideration in the design of potential inhibitors for these enzymes

An investigation of the potential role for environmental education in the conservation of the Swartkops estuary and Swartkops Nature Reserve

This study explores the potential role of an environmental education approach towards the conservation of the Swartkops Estuary and Swartkops Nature Reserve. More specifically it examines the opinions, feelings and perceptions of a sample of twenty seven people, who have a vested interest, in the possible conservation of the area. These stakeholders were comprised of people representing all the various groups and communities that use either or both the estuary and reserve. Opinions were examined by means of a qualitative data analysis from semi-structured interviews. The conservation opinions of respondents were obtained on both general topics and more detailed areas. Due to the small sample and exploratory nature of the project, these results should be viewed as tentative. Proposals are made for increasing the impact of Environmental Education programmes in this and similar environments, and recommendations are put forward to help facilitate related studies in the future

Are all students 'hard to reach' in a digital higher education (H.E.) context?

Students entering Higher Education (HE) have high levels of digital capability built on the need to be socially-connected; they should be 'easy to reach’ if thinking about connectivity underpinning the digital age. Yet findings based on commissioned work exploring digital capability and teaching excellence (Austen et al, 2016) indicate that student appraisals of this relationship relate to the logistical benefits of technology rather than to the development of capabilities for professional practice, i.e. the multi-faceted set of academic and information-retrieval skills. Our study highlights a pedagogical challenge in needing to re-frame digital capability for all learners new to HE as this 'hard to reach' phenomenon is maintained by a student focus on technological hygiene factors rather than supported risk-taking