The behavioural significance of animal play

Play is frequently reported to be difficult to define but nevertheless easy to recognise. Other workers' attempts at definition are reviewed. These commonly involve initial subjective recognition of play followed by description in terms of characteristics which are frequently shared with the play of other species. Play appears to have certain associated costs and is therefore assumed to benefit the animal in some way in order to justify its existence in evolutionary terms, but the nature of this benefit is unknown. Theories regarding the functions of play are discussed in the light of its properties and potential costs. Chapter 2 describes an experiment to test the common assumption that observers agree on what constitutes play. Comparison of the judgements of the ten naive observers on the behaviour of young rats indicated that the majority agreed, and the activities which they called play formed the basis of the working definition of rat play which is used in the studies described below. A longitudinal study of aspects of the play and other behaviour of littermate groups of rats is described in Chapter 3. The quantitative findings are used to test the validity of certain characteristics for rat play. The experiments described in Chapters 4 and 5 examined aspects of the rat's motivation to play. The nature of recent social experience was found to influence the rat's tendency to play, and a series of choice experiments showed that play was highly reinforcing by comparison with other forms of social experience. The extent to which existing definitions of play can be applied to that of rats is examined in the light of the observational and experimental evidence described in Chapters 2-5 concerning its characteristics. The cost of play for rats is estimated using indirect evidence and tentative suggestions are made as to its functions

Office technology : bridging to the future

196, xxiii leaves ; 29 cm.No abstract

Automated compliance checking in healthcare building design

Regulatory frameworks associated to building design are usually complex, representing extensive sets of requirements. For healthcare projects in the UK, this includes statutory and guidance documents. Existing research indicates that they contain subjective requirements, which challenge the practical adoption of automated compliance checking, leading to limited outcomes. This paper aims to propose recommendations for the adoption of automated compliance checking in the design of healthcare buildings. Design Science Research was used to gain a detailed understanding of how information from existing regulatory requirements affects automation, through an empirical study in the design of a primary healthcare facility. In this study, a previously proposed taxonomy was implemented and refined, resulting in the identification of different types of subjective requirements. Based on empirical data emerging from the research, a set of recommendations was proposed focusing on the revision of regulatory documents, as well as to aid designers implementing automated compliance in practice

CXCR4 Physically Associates with the T Cell Receptor to Signal in T Cells

SummarySDF-1α (CXCL12) signaling via its receptor, CXCR4, stimulates T cell chemotaxis and gene expression. The ZAP-70 tyrosine kinase critically mediates SDF-1α-dependent migration and prolonged ERK mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activation in T cells. However, the molecular mechanism by which CXCR4 or other G protein-coupled receptors activate ZAP-70 has not been characterized. Here we show that SDF-1α stimulates the physical association of CXCR4 and the T cell receptor (TCR) and utilizes the ZAP-70 binding ITAM domains of the TCR for signal transduction. This pathway is responsible for several of the effects of SDF-1α on T cells, including prolonged ERK MAP kinase activity, increased intracellular calcium ion concentrations, robust AP-1 transcriptional activity, and SDF-1α costimulation of cytokine secretion. These results suggest new paradigms for understanding the effects of SDF-1α and other chemokines on immunity

Neural mechanisms for learning self and other ownership

The sense of ownership – of which objects belong to us and which to others - is an important part of our lives, but how the brain keeps track of ownership is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that specific brain areas are involved in ownership acquisition for the self, friends, and strangers

Ambient temperature CO oxidation using palladium-platinum bimetallic catalysts supported on tin oxide/alumina

A series of Pt-based catalysts were synthesised and investigated for ambient temperature CO oxidation with the aim to increase catalytic activity and improve moisture resistance through support modification. Initially, bimetallic PtPd catalysts supported on alumina were found to exhibit superior catalytic activity compared with their monometallic counterparts for the reaction. Following an investigation into the effect of Pt/Pd ratio, a composition of 0.1% Pt/0.4% Pd was selected for further studies. Following this, SnO2/Al2O3 supports were synthesised from a variety of tin oxide sources. Catalytic activity was improved using sodium stannate and tin oxalate precursors compared with a traditional tin oxide slurry. Catalytic activity versus tin concentration was found to vary significantly across the three precursors, which was subsequently investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)

Self-Management of Unpleasant Auditory Hallucinations: A Tested Practice Model

Individuals who experience auditory hallucinations (AH) frequently report hearing unpleasant voices saying disturbing things to them, making derogatory remarks about them, or commanding them to do something, including harming themselves or someone else. The Self-Management of Unpleasant Auditory Hallucinations Practice Model was developed to help psychiatric-mental health nurses in both inpatient and outpatient settings implement evidence-based nursing care for voice hearers who are distressed by unpleasant voices. The model\u27s utility extends to nursing education, administration, and research. The model is comprised of three parts: (a) Assessment of Voice Hearer\u27s Experience, (b) Nursing Interventions, and (c) Voice Hearer\u27s Expected Positive Outcomes. These three parts of the model describe nursing assessments conducted with an interview guide and two self-report tools, nursing interventions that teach strategies to manage unpleasant AH in a 10-session course or individually, and evaluation of voice hearer outcomes with two self-report tools

Proceedings of the 6th National Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) Annual UK Research Virtual Conference, Bridgend, Wales 2022

The 6th UK Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) Research Conference was held on the 14th and 15th of June 2022. Hosted online, it attracted an international audience from locations including Europe, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean, and was attended by 381 people with representatives from academia, healthcare, patients, and industry. Previously hosted by the Universities of Sheffield, Oxford, Birmingham and Leeds Beckett, for the first time it was hosted by a non-academic organisation, making its inaugural visit to Wales, and was hosted by The Welsh Value in Health Centre. Welcoming abstracts on any topics, focused themes included: Methods; Implementation; Palliative Care; COVID-19; Patient and Public Involvement; Mental Health; and Social Care