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Based on the recent reports from Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), a declining trend of hydrocarbon production capability is expected for UK, in upcoming years. In order to keep a relative self-sufficiency in terms of oil and gas supplies, access for new hydrocarbon resources seems necessary. The giant unconventional reservoirs, such as Bowland shale gas, have been recently discovered in the Central Britain and there is a big potential for them to be the future gas sources in UK. However, the development of shale gas reservoirs is still challenging, there are several shale gas reservoirs around the world developed successfully, which provide us with valuable knowledge and experiences. Most of the efforts in discovery and development of these reservoirs, were performed in USA. A combination of advanced techniques, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, has enabled profitable extraction of shale gas trapped in lowpermeability formations. Development of shale gas reservoirs, besides of a comprehensive study on reservoir's properties, demands for a precise forecast of reservoir's production, in order to make the project economical. In this study, the Bowland shale gas, as a high potential candidate for future developments in UK, have been analysed. We conducted a comprehensive study on every aspects of the reservoir, including geological, petrophysical, geochemical, and geomechanical properties. Meanwhile, Barnett shale gas, as a huge shale gas reservoir, which already developed in USA, has reviewed. The results used as a guidance and subsidiary information for appraising future development of Bowland shale gas. Various methods of production forecasting, comprising numerical, analytical, and advanced machine learning techniques have been examined. Numerical and analytical methods provided favourable results in production forecasting of Barnet reservoir, compared with real production test data. Also, the use of time series methods, as a branch of machine learning techniques, provided us with even more precise forecasts. The numerical and time series methods, both considered to be reliable methods in production forecasting of Bowland shale gas. The results of this study open up an executive workflow for any future development of Bowland reservoir. The workflow by accounting any available data from the reservoir and utilizing experiences from already developed similar reservoirs, will provide a clear projection of future behaviour of the reservoir. The high variety of available data, the use of advanced forecasting methods, and successful experience of hydraulic fracturing operation in Barnett, regarding the similarities between the two reservoirs, give us the required feedback for any future development stage of Bowland.

This thesis argues for greater instrumentalisation of Young Adult (YA) realism in secondary schools. I argue for its inclusion in the curriculum but, more specifically, for its use as part of intervention programmes that allow young people to discuss a range of emotional and mental health difficulties in a safe space. Chapter One introduces the central research questions and methodology. Chapter Two provides an overview of the relationship between 'Realism' and 'realistic fiction' so that the work is situated within Literary Studies. Acknowledging that 'reality' in fiction can only be represented within the conventions of narrative structure, the thesis provides a definition of YA realism: it is an artistic representation of a variety of adolescent experiences that could occur in the real world, a fictionalisation of the feasible. Because certain YA material is treated in 'realist' mode, controversies often erupt so some of those issues will be foregrounded here. An overview of the evidence that reading can have a positive impact on well-being is provided in Chapter Three and a discussion about hope and why storytelling matters should help to explain why: YA realism can be a remedy. In Chapter Four, I argue that endings of these books are important and leave the readers of a realm of hope. An analysis of these novels from this standpoint could provide the narrative solution to concerns about certain aspects of YA realism and allay any fears that the books are inappropriate. The chapter offers an analysis of: Melvin Burgess's Junk (1996); Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why (2007); Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999) and Angie Thomas's The Hate You Give (2017). Each section explores the authors' depiction of hope and positivity in the context of the adolescent experiences of sexuality, prejudice, identity, bullying, rejection, suicide, rape and abuse. The final chapter reflects on the writing of my own YA novel, Asterix Clementine, as well as the well-being workshops that I currently deliver to young adults in schools in Wales.

The sub-Alpine chains of south-east France have been the subject of geological inquiry for over a century. While some salt structures have previously been identified in the area, our understanding of salt tectonics has since matured significantly, driven by observations from seismic data in offshore basins worldwide and by analogue modelling. Armed with this new understanding, this study identifies new salt structures in the sub-Alpine chains, and reinterprets structures previously attributed to Alpine shortening as pre-Alpine salt-related structures. The area near the Dôme de Barrot highlights the influence of Permian to Triassic pre-salt faults on the deposition of the Triassic salt section, and how the reactivation of the Permian structural fabric locally controlled the evolution of Jurassic to Cretaceous diapirs. Along the Rouaine-Daluis strike-slip fault system, multiple periods of salt tectonic rise have now been identified, including the extrusion of a salt sheet to surface in the Aptian-Albian, and the development of a Roho-like listric normal fault associated with salt evacuation into the active fault zone during early Alpine shortening. The evolution of the salt wall and diapir along the Rouaine-Daluis fault system is analogous to that of the Svend structure of the South Arne field in the Danish Central Graben, and the two areas represent different endmembers for salt wall-diapir pairs affected by varying magnitudes and orientations of shortening. Salt structures in the sub-Alpine chains are strongly associated with Tethyan (Early-Mid Jurassic) rifting and with the palaeotopography of the Dauphinois (Jurassic) and Vocontian (Cretaceous) basins. They strongly influenced the regional structural fabric with the pre-existing salt structures utilized as thrusts and strike-slip faults as Alpine shortening emplaced the basinal units over the carbonate platform. The importance of salt in the structural evolution of the area may therefore necessitate reassessment of previous regional shortening estimates.

Robotic systems are being employed in a diverse range of applications, with both the scale and complexity of their software increasing through having to operate in unstructured environments and to provide higher levels of autonomy. In addition, the need for robotic systems to be verified grows as robots are used in applications where they can have significant safety implications. Verification of even small robotic systems software is a challenging problem. Therefore, additional techniques are required to enable the practitioners to produce verified robotic systems. The use of model-driven engineering and domain-specific languages (DSLs) have proven useful in the development of complex systems in other areas so applying them to the field of robotics can contribute to the goal of building reliable and safe systems. In this thesis we present RoboArch, a notation for describing the architectures and patterns of robotic systems software supported by the formally defined semantics of RoboChart. RoboChart is a DSL for modelling the behaviour of robot software controllers using state machines. We describe RoboArch from the top-down. First, we examine the role of robotics software architectures in the development of robotic systems by reviewing five robotics architectures, and five DSLs. Next, for the layered architectural pattern, the RoboArch notation is introduced; we provide a metamodel, well-formedness conditions, and transformation rules to RoboChart. Further, we characterise two patterns: reactive skills and subsumption, which can be used by a layer. Finally, we discuss a tool and its implementation for the evaluation of RoboArch and automation of the rules as model transformations. We use a case study of a small obstacle avoidance system to demonstrate: the application of the reactive skills pattern using RoboArch and the expected properties of the architecture that can be proven using the generated RoboChart model CSP semantics.

Increased recognition of the ecosystem services, such as climate regulation and supply of drinking water, provided by intact peatlands and the damaging impacts of peat afforestation on runoff regimes, water quality and carbon storage are driving forest-to-bog restoration initiatives within the UK and elsewhere. However, restoration programmes accompanied by long-term reference data remain scarce, limiting our current understanding of the timescales and mechanisms involved in post-forestry peatland restoration and the extent of hydrological and biogeochemical recovery attainable. This research is set on May Moss, a 1.5 km2 ombrotrophic open low-relief blanket mire in the North York Moors (NE England) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The watershedding mire comprises two basins, one of which drains mainly intact and protected blanket bog, forming the headwater catchment for the Eller Beck (0.63 km2 ). The second basin drains towards the Long Grain (1.53 km2 ) and was afforested between 1975 and 1983 to form a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) plantation. Most of the forestry plantation within the Long Grain catchment was removed between 2009 and 2012 as part of a SITA Trust Enriching Nature funded blanket bog restoration program, which involved forest clearance, carried out through a combination of felling and mulching or pulverising, and drain blocking with peat plugs and timber weirs. A weather station was installed on the intact bog watershed in 2010 to enable long-term micrometeorological monitoring. A four-year paired catchment hydrological monitoring programme was initiated in spring 2017 through the installation of V-notch weirs and dipwells in both catchments, and expanded in summer 2018 through a two-year paired water sampling campaign for stream-water chemistry analysis. This research is thus based on a paired catchment study, comparing an "intact" blanket bog catchment with a "restored" catchment, ten years after rewetting. The main aims of this study were 1) to use the long-term hydrometeorological time-series to assess the hydrological functioning of an intact upland ombrotrophic mire, and 2) to examine the effects of peatland restoration from former conifer plantation on blanket bog functioning. These were assessed through three main objectives: I. A characterisation of the hydrological functioning of May Moss based on the longterm micro-meteorological series (20/08/2010 – 01/07/2021) to examine the key drivers in water balance behaviour. II. A comparison in hydrological functioning between the "intact" and "restored" catchments based on a four-year (14/03/2017 – 01/07/2021) paired runoff and water table depth (WTD) series, supported by the long-term meteorological series for May Moss, to assess the hydrological recovery of the Long Grain catchment. III. A comparison in stream-water chemistry between the "intact" and "restored" catchments based on a two-year (18/07/2018 – 27/08/2020) paired sampling campaign, supported by the simultaneous hydrological and meteorological series. These three objectives produced the following key results: I. Variations in average WTD between years are primarily related to variations in the average available energy (net radiation – soil heat flux), while variation in WTD over monthly timescales are driven mainly by changes in the vapour pressure deficit. Changes in peat water storage across the summer (June – August) are driven by summer water availability (precipitation – evapotranspiration), while more frequent, highly evaporative days (= 25°C) in summer are the main determinant in driving more severe water table drawdown events. II. A decade after rewetting, storm runoff was significantly less "flashy" in the "restored" catchment, with a 35% reduction in peak flow, compared to the "intact" catchment, although the "restored" catchment releases proportionally higher baseflow. Water levels were near surface level (< 5cm) 45% of the time at the "restored" sites, compared to 60% at the "intact" site. Both sites showed good recovery after the 2018 drought summer, although runoff/rainfall coefficients suggest lower water retention and a longer post-drought recovery time at the "restored" catchment. III. The "restored" site had significantly lower dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and water discolouration relative to the "intact" site, which may be related to factors such as recovery, enhanced flushing or differences in DOC production or mobility. Element enrichments in dry masses extracted from the water samples at the "restored" site are indicative of disturbance to the upper peat profile. The research presented here indicates present hydrological resilience of an intact and recovering blanket mire to a drought event, though current climate trends may indicate vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Given the relative reduction in storm runoff intensity and fluvial carbon loss in the recovering catchment of Long Grain within a decade of rewetting, this research advocates further and larger-scale forest-to-bog restoration, particularly of sites most at risk of drying, in order to sustain future hydrological resilience and ensure net carbon storage under a changing climate.

This thesis investigates merger arbitrage, an important hedge fund strategy. It addresses a significant gap in the literature by taking a panel data approach to ascertain the statistically significant determinants of the merger arbitrage spread ("spread") for mergers and acquisitions ("M&A") transactions involving UK listed companies. It also contributes to the extant literature concerning the risk return trade‐off and level of efficiency of the UK equity market. A spread is created when one listed company, the bidder, announces its intention to acquire another listed company, the target, and the consideration offered to the shareholders of the target contains an equity element. It is calculated as the percentage difference between the value of the bidder's offer on a per share basis and the share price of the target and varies throughout the offer period which ends when the deal either completes or fails. The collected data, a sample of 36 recent M&A transactions involving UK listed companies, demonstrate that spread for completed deals converges to parity over time as deal completion uncertainty is resolved. Conversely, there is no convergence of the spread for deals which fail to complete. These results are as expected in an efficient equity market with the presence of active arbitrageurs. The data also shows that the transactions take different lengths of time to complete or fail. Accordingly, and to create a balanced panel data‐set so that a range of panel data estimators could be employed, the offer period of each deal was innovatively converted from natural time into percentiles. This standardisation of time was possible because of the high frequency (minute‐by‐minute) nature of the collected data and it was found, via a number of robustness checks, not to significantly affect the conclusions drawn from the panel data regressions. The first stage of the analysis was to econometrically estimate the determinants of the spread for a typical completed and failed deal using the static fixed and random effects models with ordinary least squares and generalised least squares estimators, respectively. Whilst the former produced plausible results when the autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity in the residuals were corrected for, it was found that a number of the variables were non‐stationary and the results were, therefore, potentially spurious. Evidence of an underlying cointegrating relationship between the spread and its hypothesised determinants was found for the completed deals and, accordingly, the next stage of the analysis was to estimate the determinants of the spread using a dynamic autoregressive distributed lag model with the pooled mean group estimator of Pesaran et al. (1999). The panel regression found that the statistically significant determinants of the spread were, as hypothesised, the premium payable by the bidder for the target, the recommendation of the deal by the target's board of directors to its shareholders, the presence of an alternate bidder for the target, the receipt of regulatory clearance and the approval by the target's shareholders. Conversely, the proportion of the consideration offered by the bidder which is in cash was found to be significant but positively related to the spread rather than negatively as hypothesised. This suggests that the proportion of cash consideration contributes to deal completion risk rather than supporting the notion that shareholders prefer the certainty of cash over other forms of consideration. For the failed deals, there was no evidence of cointegration and thus estimation of the panel was not possible. These findings lend support to the conjecture that the UK equity market is informationally efficient and also strongly suggest that merger arbitrageurs in UK deals are rewarded for bearing unsystematic risk, primarily deal completion risk. They should also be of use to merger arbitrageurs for enhancing their trading profitability, in particular by exploiting the underlying relationship and short‐run error correction mechanism identified between the spread and the tested determinants. Furthermore, the innovative methodological approach taken may stimulate further research into the determinants of the spread in other jurisdictions or may be applied to the investigation of other financial datasets.

This thesis is a study of the changing role which Toynbee Hall, the first university settlement, played in East London between 1884 and 1914. The first chapter presents a brief biography of Sainiel Augustus Barnett, the founder and first warden of the settlement, and analyzes his social thought in relation to the beliefs which were current in Britain during the period. The second chapter discusses the founding of the settlement, its organization, structure and the aims which underlay its early work. The third chapter, concentrating on three residents, C.R. Ashbee, .H. Beveridge and T. Edmund Harvey, shows the way in which subsequent settlement workers reformulated these aims In accordance with their own social and economic views. The subsequent chapters discuss the accomplishments of the settlement in various fields. The fourth shows that Toynbee Hall's educational program, which was largely an attempt to work out Matthew Arnold's theory of culture, left little impact on the life of East London. The fifth chapter discusses the settlement residents' ineffectual attempts to establish contact with working men's organizations. The final chapter seeks to demonstrate that In the field of philanthropy the residents were far more successful than in any other sphere in adapting the settlement to changing social thought.

There is an absence of literature on the experience of former political prisoners of the Romanian Communist Gulag and their experience of freedom/oppression. Most research on individuals subjected to physical or/and psychological torture for political reasons has focused on the traumatic experiences of this client group and their sequelae approximating the diagnostic criteria of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was the purpose of this research to reflect on the gaps in the literature and highlight the potential importance of turning towards an experiential and phenomenological understanding of freedom for this particular subgroup. This was an idiographic investigation capturing the first-hand experiential accounts of six former political prisoners of the Romanian Communist Gulag. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit the participants' understanding of freedom before, during and after incarceration and the resources that they drew upon in the face of overwhelmingly distressing life circumstances, such as those of political torture. The data was analysed using Critical Narrative Analysis (Langdridge, 2007), a method which facilitates a hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry into the unique individual experiences as well as commonalities amongst participants. The inclusion of a critical moment allowed an exploration of the interplay of personal narratives and the frameworks of dominant narratives and canonical cultural discourses. The participants conceptualised their freedom in close relation to taking action, understood as active political engagement - not so much as an abstract quality or trait; their actions were guided by the compass of their own values and beliefs, which facilitated a positive appraisal of adversity; the noetic dimension of freedom was prominent, articulated as psycho-spiritual autonomy and congruence with the 'voice within', which was inseparable form a transcendental orientation towards meaning and didn't alter with the passing of time. Narrators described the collective power of being with others and their spirituality as central to their coping. Findings also highlighted the significance of disgruntlement with the present political context in Romania and the government's failure to purge Communism from key power structures and collective mentalities. Canonical cultural narratives of freedom were also discussed with reference to narrators' stories. The implications of the project's findings for counselling psychology theory and practice were explored.

Background: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common form of medium and large vessel vasculitis. This condition is associated with serious complications, such as blindness if left untreated, and is therefore considered a medical emergency. However, GCA remains difficult to diagnose, in part, due to the wide variation of presenting symptoms, resulting in some patients facing significant diagnostic delay. Aim: To evaluate clinical features experienced by patients prior to a diagnosis of GCA. Methods: Four studies were undertaken. Firstly, a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical features previously associated with a diagnosis of GCA. Subsequently using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), the remaining three studies investigated; the trends in incidence of GCA; the association of individual clinical features on the subsequent diagnosis of GCA; and finally, combinations of presenting clinical features prior to a GCA diagnosis. Results: The systematic review found 30 distinct clinical features, with the strongest pooled association for jaw claudication and elevated ESR. A total of 9205 GCA cases were identified from 1990-2017 in CPRD. Consultation incidence of GCA was 1.46 per 10,000 person-years in 2017. In the CPRD analysis, individual features most strongly associated with GCA prior to diagnosis were headache, hypertension, and visual impairment. Application of latent class analysis (LCA) suggested five distinct patterns of presenting features; polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), hypertension and multiple other features, single or no feature, hypertension, and elevated ESR. Conclusion: GCA remains a difficult condition to recognise in primary care. Clinical features, such as headache, PMR, elevated ESR, and hypertension were consistently identified as important clinical features experienced prior to GCA diagnosis. This thesis has highlighted the need to research patterns of clinical features rather than individual features that occur prior to a GCA diagnosis.

The Ghanaian banking industry has undergone several changes in the past decade because of the effects of the global financial crisis in 2008 resulting in the collapse of some banks in Ghana. The Bank of Ghana introduced many measures to make the banking industry in Ghana robust. All banks were expected to introduce change strategies in line with the directives of Bank of Ghana. These changes had great impact on employees due to lack of understanding of the change. Conducting business in an ever-changing environment demands that all stakeholders especially employees understand change and change management processes and practices to make it effective. This is because employees were required to tweak their thinking and practices to respond to the changing needs and expectations demanded of them by management and the central bank. The collapse of some of the banks in the process of change was attributed to among other factors, poor employee engagement, poor communication, and poor employee commitment change. The role of management during change was also sighted to be unsatisfactory. In view of the above, this case study sought to explore and analyse the understanding of employees of the banking industry in Ghana regarding change and change management processes and practices. Only Ecobank Ghana Limited out of the 27 banks in Ghana was selected as case for this research. This is because some of the banks were established within the last 5 years and did not have enough change experiences. Other banks gave the presence of COVID-19 as a reason not to participate in this study. That notwithstanding, Ecobank Ghana Limited was representative of the Ghana banking industry because of its wide geographical spread across the country and its long-standing operations since 1990. The bank also satisfied all Bank of Ghana requirements. The qualitative method was adopted for the study. This was meant to allow the researcher the opportunity to explore the experiences of employees in respect of finding answers to the research questions of the study. It also allowed the researcher to probe deeper into employee perspectives on the subject matter. It was also cost effective and easy to use. Data was gathered through in-depth telephone interviews with the use of a semi-structured interview guide. This was appropriate due to the cancellation of flights as a result of Covid 19. As part of the data collecting process, participants were required to answer questions relating to their understanding of change and their experiences of change relative to employee engagement, communication, employee commitment to change, role of managers and resistance to change. In all, 39 employees of Ecobank Ghana Limited, cutting across all levels and different departments were interviewed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with 5 themes guided by the research questions. The case study found out that there was no consensus on the understanding of employees on change and change management which had a potential of adversely affecting the effective implementation of any change project. The study also found out that the general feelings of employees with the introduction of change were negative and mostly expressed as fear, uneasiness, doubtfulness and uncertainty. Majority of employees did not feel engaged in the change process with the explanation that their views did not matter to management. Additionally, majority of employees were not satisfied with how change was communicated to them indicating that, in most cases they got information from the grapevine. In spite of the above findings, the majority of employees did not resist change because they did not see the need to resist change, and also for the fear of victimization and loss of their jobs and position. Additionally, appreciating the dynamics between the reality of organisational change and employees Ecobank Ghana Limited is vital to management, policy makers and the industry regulator. Furthermore, whilst there is considerable literature on change and change management, not much has been made to tackle and resolve the fears, concerns and expectations of these changes upon employees of the bank and this has dangerous implication for the success of future change. Moreover, little evidence exists in the literature of the positive or negative aspects of change and change management from the viewpoint of employees and as stakeholders at the receiving end, the success or otherwise of change and change management rely on how employees accept and buy into the change initiative. The study recommends a strategic change framework for Ecobank Ghana Limited in particular, and the Ghanaian banking industry in general that will potentially guide the effective initiation, implementation and evaluation of change management within the industry.

This research was conducted based on the main research question, "How can an effective regulatory compliance monitoring framework minimise bank failures in Ghana?" The main aim of the research was to meet the objectives of examining the existing Regulatory Framework for banks in Ghana, identifying the monitoring framework of the Central Bank (Bank of Ghana), identifying the soundness of banks before the failure, examining the causes of the recent bank failures in Ghana and making recommendations for an effective regulatory compliance monitoring framework which could minimise such bank failures in Ghana. The researcher adopted a mixed method of data collection and analysis. A total of ninetyseven respondents were involved in the study. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed for the collection of primary data. The secondary sources of data included academic journals, official documents from international organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, documents from the Central Bank (Bank of Ghana), and annual reports of some selected banks in Ghana. From the data collection and analysis, the researcher identified that Bank of Ghana (the Central Bank of Ghana) is the regulator of the Ghana Banking Sector as mandated by the Bank of Ghana Act 930, 2016 to maintain a sound banking system. The findings and analyses showed that the causes of the recent bank failures in Ghana were capital inadequacy, illiquidity, high rate of non-performing loans, bad corporate governance practices and ineffective monitoring by the regulator. It was also identified that except forRegulatory Monitoring lapses, all the other causes of the bank failures cited by the respondents were indicators monitored by the regulator. It could, therefore, be concluded that the responsibility of Regulatory Compliance Monitoring, if effectively executed by the regulator, could minimise bank failures in Ghana. The methods of analyses were Content Analysis, Survey Analysis, The Delphi Technique, CAMELS Analysis and Regression Analysis. The researcher then recommended a more robust regulatory compliance monitoring framework to help improve the effectiveness of monitoring regulatory compliance in the banking sector in Ghana.

This thesis is concerned with understanding the risk factors for suicidal behaviour amongst young university students in the UK. Part one reviews the evidence for the recent 'ideation to action' models of suicide, as well as the theories that have led to their development, amongst young people aged 29 years and under. The constructs of the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of suicide (IPT; Joiner, 2005) emerge as the most researched, and empirically supported, risk factors amongst young populations. However, the concepts of the IPT do not always relate to youth suicide in the ways that the model predicts. Research exploring the Integrated Motivational-Volitional model (O'Connor, 2011) and the Three Step Theory (3ST; Klonsky & May, 2015) amongst young populations is sparse and limited by cross-sectional designs and methodological decisions. Part two explores the constructs of the 3ST and the IPT as risk factors for suicidal behaviour amongst 355 young UK university students. Perceived burdensomeness, psychache and depression are identified as particularly relevant to suicidal behaviours amongst this population. Psychache is also found to fully mediate the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and suicidal ideation. Implications are discussed. Part three offers a critical appraisal of this thesis. It discusses the challenges of time encountered throughout this project and reflects on the real-world implications that these challenges may have on research and clinical practices. It also reflects on the researcher's personal contexts and how these may have impacted on the project.

Compulsory treatment presents an ethical quandary and thus far research provides little promise regarding reduced readmission or length of inpatient stays, though some value has been shown in administering outpatient treatment. Those in forensic services and particularly those under restriction orders face the greatest constraints on their liberty with detention imposed "without limit of time", unlike time-limited sentences in the prison system. There is a dearth of research exploring patients perspectives of compulsory treatment and particularly the most restrictive forms of this. The current study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyse interviews with participants about their experiences of living under restriction. Results derived four superordinate themes; (1) How did I end up here? (2) Impact: Power, Punishment and Protection (3) Surviving and Adapting (4) Healing. The results are reviewed in the context of extant findings; clinical implications and areas of future research are discussed. Conditional release (CR) is the primary mechanism for managing individuals under forensic care in the community. Services must identify those at higher risk for revocation/ readmission (RR) and promote protective factors for increased quality of life and to minimize recidivism. A systematic search was conducted to identify, summarise and critically assess studies that have evaluated factors associated with RR in forensic patients. The review found that higher substance use, personality disorder/ traits, severity and chronicity in psychiatric illness, criminality and minority ethnicity are risk factors for RR. Protective factors identified were: white ethnicity, being married, social security, not having personality disorder, longer tenure in outpatient programme, clozapine treatment, fewer incidents while on CR, labour skills and higher functioning at CR. Future research should include prospective study designs, standardised measures, and variables independent from RR. Clinical implications include identification of individuals with risk factors for RR and promotion of protective factors.

Evidence suggesting that infants appreciate a range of cross-sensory correspondences is growing rapidly (see Dolscheid, Hunnius, Casasanto & Majid, 2014; Fernández-Prieto, Navarra & Pons, 2015; Haryu & Kajikawa, 2012; Mondloch & Maurer, 2004; Walker, Bremner, Mason, Spring, Mattock, Slater, & Johnson, 2010; Walker, Bremner, Lunghi, Dolscheid, Barba & Simion, 2018), and yet there is no known attempt to establish the functional significance of these correspondences in infancy. Research shows that speakers manipulate their prosody (i.e. melody of spoken language) to communicate the meaning of unfamiliar words and do so in ways that exploit the cross-sensory correspondences between, for example, pitch and size (Nygaard, Herold & Namy, 2009) and pitch and height (Shintel, Nusbaum & Okrent, 2006). But do infants attend to a speaker’s prosody in this context to interpret the meaning of unfamiliar words? The aim of this thesis is to further establish how infant-directed speakers use prosody to communicate the cross-sensory meanings of words and, for the first time, identify whether infants capitalise on their sensitivity to cross-sensory correspondences to resolve linguistic uncertainty. In Experiment 1 – 4 we identify a list of novel pseudowords to use in all experiments being reported. These pseudowords were judged by participants as being neutral in terms of their sound-symbolic potential, allowing us to rule out the impact of sound-symbolism in our investigation. Experiment 5 provides support for earlier studies revealing cross-sensory correspondences in infant-directed speech. When presented with pseudowords spoken in a prosodically meaningful way, 13-month-old infants demonstrated a preference for objects that were contradictory to the cross-sensory acoustic properties of speech (e.g. lower-pitch voice with higher objects) (Experiment 6), and adults failed to match pseudowords with objects based on the prosodic information that was provided (Experiment 7). However, Experiment 8 provides evidence that 24-month-olds match pseudowords spoken in a higher-pitch voice, and at a faster rate, with objects that are visually higher in space. The implications of these findings are discussed, with suggestions as to how they can be usefully extended.

This thesis explores the relationship between food and religion in the European Reformations, through the comparative case studies of Protestant England and Catholic Italy, c. 1560 - c. 1640. It seeks to answer two broad interrelated questions: how did Protestants and Catholics understand food and eating in relation to their faith; and how did Protestants and Catholics differ in terms of what, how, and where they ate in practice. As such an essential feature of everyday life, a focus on food makes a significant contribution to the most recent concerns of historians of the Reformations, who are increasingly interested in lay lived religion rather than seeking top-down narratives to explain religious change. Through consumption food literally becomes a part of the self. Accordingly, the thesis uniquely employs both theological and physiological texts to reveal how food related to key ontological questions regarding the interaction between matter, the body, sensation, and the spiritual realm. The thesis also adds to the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of food studies, which has unequivocally shown that what people eat and how they eat it are principal in the creation and expression of group identities. The thesis argues that food - both in terms of ideas and practice - was a central and so-far overlooked feature of Protestant and Catholic identities in early modern Europe, which helped to draw the confessional divisions of the Reformations. It is based on a range of material in print and in manuscript form from across England and Italy. Sources can broadly be divided into those relating to the enforcement of religious reform (sermons, theological tracts, and church visitation records); those prescribing food practices (recipe books, medicinal literature, and guidebooks); and those evidencing actual consumption (account books from households, guilds, and churches, and Inquisition records); whilst material culture spans all three sections.

DNA repair is crucial for the survival of all organisms. However, cellular DNA repair pathways are complex and many of the molecular details remain elusive. Understanding how DNA is repaired is paramount, as aberrant repair is implicated in numerous diseases that lead to premature ageing and increased cancer risk. Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is found across all kingdoms of life and protects the genome following exposure to diverse types of DNA damage, including UV light and chemotherapeutics. In this thesis, a combination of single molecular fluorescence and bulk biochemical techniques are used to investigate how NER proteins find damage in the genome. Individual molecules of DNA repair proteins are visualised interacting with the DNA using fluorescent tags. We show both DNA damage and nucleotide cofactors affect the attached lifetime of a prokaryotic DNA damage detecting protein (UvrA) to DNA. Based on these data and supporting biochemical ATPase experiments we devise a hypothesis where UvrA sequentially hydrolyses nucleotide in each ATPase site and reconcile this with UvrA's role in DNA repair. We also investigate two recent cryo-EM structures of the major transcription factor TFIH. Two previously identified 'structural' subunits (p44/p62) are show to make extensive contacts with a damage verifying helicase, XPD. We show these subunits stimulate XPD's ATPase on damaged DNA. In addition, we show p44/p62 form an independent complex that is capable of binding to DNA and discriminating damage. This suggests p44/p62 is a novel DNA-binding entity in the TFIH complex that may have a role in the detection or verification of DNA damage. The results in this have relevance for understanding cancer and ageing, as well as answering controversial questions in the field and contributing to our understanding of how DNA is repaired.

Social stratification position is a key explanatory variable in the social sciences, as is gender. Social stratification position is often measured using individual occupations. However, the occupational structure and the gender structure of society intertwine in numerous complex ways. The interlock of these structures makes the measurement of women’s social positions problematic. This thesis explores approaches to measuring women’s positions which aim to account, at least partially, for this complexity. This thesis begins by providing an overview of the relationship between the gender structure and occupational structure from the 1970s to present, with a focus on the United Kingdom. Then a gendered critique of conventional approaches to the measurement of stratification position in the social sciences is offered. In the remaining part of the thesis, three suggested strategies are tested that might better account for the relationship between gender and occupations; (i) Gender-specific measures, (ii) Household-level approaches, and (iii) Intersectional approaches. A methodology for the creation of gender-specific ‘SEI’ and ‘CAMSIS’ measures using British Household Panel Survey data is described before three analysis chapters are presented that draw on the International Social Survey Programme and British Social Attitudes data. The results suggest that social stratification researchers would benefit from engaging with the ideas of intersectionality, though they should recognise that inequalities are not intersectional in all contexts. A further conclusion is that multilevel models offer a promising analytical approach for intersectional research. The comparison of measures showed varying results, which would have led to some substantial differences in conclusions had only one measure been considered. Thus, a further conclusion is that undertaking a sensitivity analysis is of importance when measuring women’s stratification position and that several approaches to using household and individual level, including gender-specific, measures, should be compared.

Understanding the protein interaction and functional signalling networks that define a cells' endogenous environment is key to understanding the internal mechanics of cellular homeostasis, development of disease, treatment, and drug resistance. The use of controlled experimental models allow the accurate analysis of the consequences of a single perturbation to a protein network, with the aim of characterizing the role of that protein within the wider cellular environment. Presented here are four different models for controlled perturbation of a cells' signalling network, centred on proteins involved in the canonical Wnt signalling pathway in a colorectal cancer model. CRISPR Cas9 was utilized in tandem with lentiviral transduction of the F-box protein TIR-1, in an attempt to create a CRC-derived cell line with an inducible degration mechanism of Dnmt1, which would facilitate study of the cell signalling and functional consequences of Dnmt1. Although TIR-1 was successfully inserted and expressed by the cells, issues with Cas9 guide specificity prevented the integration of an inducible degradation tag into Dnmt1. An alternative method of Dnmt1 knockdown is utilised to investigate the changes to the nuclear-enriched proteome. 5-Azacitidine, a nucleoside analog able to trap and induce DNA-repair mediated degradation of Dnmt1, was utilized to degrade the protein over two time points. Nuclear-enriched proteomics analysis indicated that Dnmt1 degradation by this method resulted in the reduction in protein abundance of its interaction partner Uhrf1. Further analysis suggested that loss of Dnmt1 protein abundance on its own is not sufficient to result in Uhrf1 protein abundance decrease, therefore 5-Azacitidine treatment or the endogenous cellular mechanism of Dnmt1 degradation may result in Uhrf1 protein loss. Nuclear-enriched proteomics analysis was used to investigate the changes to the functional proteome of a well characterized and frequently researched hypomorphic cell line, HCT116-Dnmt1∆3-5. Although this cell line is a well studied model of investigation for genomic methylation changes in the presence of minimal Dnmt1 protein levels, this is the first proteomic characterization of this model. Results indicate that key markers of the epithelial to mesenchymal transition process are dysregulated within this cell line, and these changes could not be rescued upon the reintroduction of the wild type Dnmt1 protein in these cells. In addition changes in the cellular localization of Dnmt1 and its interaction partner Beta-Catenin were evident, this suggests that the loss of exons 3 to 5 in this protein results in functional changes that impact the cellular proteome, and interaction partners of this crucial DNA methyltransferase. Finally, the functional proteome of GSK3β, a protein that plays a key role in the canonical Wnt signalling destruction complex and a promiscuous kinase, is investigated in a novel CRC knockout cell line. Findings show that in a constituatively Wnt activated cell model, loss of GSK3β does not impact levels of its interactors in the Wnt signalling cascade, however changes within the wider cellular proteome were present. A key finding is dysregulation of proteins involved in desmosomes, specialized cell-cell adhesion junctions, changes in protein abundance of these junctional proteins resulted in weaken cell-cell adhesion capability of the cells. Therefore, indicates a role for GSK3β in cell-cell junction strength and potentially in processes related to metastatic spread of cancerous cells.

A professional doctoral study by an Anglican priest using qualitative research, this is an autoethnographic description of multiple religious participation based on fieldwork in a Sikh gurdwara and a Christian church, partnered reflection, interviews, focus groups, and a self-survey. The thesis contributes to practical theology by using continuous narrative to unite description, reflection and theory. It shows the subtlety of religious belonging and identity for communities and the individual, examines how conflict of belief is addressed, and demonstrates difficulties with but overall growth in dual engagement. Focus groups show mixed views on multiple religious participation from clergy, but that Christian interreligious workers do find themselves participating in non-Christian worship despite being anxious about the response from other Christians. The thesis contributes to practice by encouraging them in reflective cross-boundary activity, calling on the church to support this and learn from their experiences. A growing awareness of divine friendliness during meditation led to exploration of friendship in both religions, and contributes to theology of religions by introducing 'amicism', an approach that is discerning, open, peaceable, joyful, vulnerable, and attentive. The unique fieldwork of the thesis also contributes to the growing discussion in religious studies on the complexity of religious belonging.

Photochemical internalisation (PCI) is a novel, minimally-invasive, drug delivery technology that facilitates the delivery of therapeutic molecules into the cytosol of cells. Owing to PCI being initiated by light, treatment is confined to the specific area of illumination and adverse effects in distant tissues are therefore minimised. PCI can enhance the targeted intracellular delivery of therapeutics unable to penetrate cellular membranes and of those sequestered within endosomes and lysosomes whereby they are unable to exert their therapeutic potential. To date, PCI studies have predominantly used immunotoxins as the chemotherapeutic component with relatively few investigating the benefit of PCI in the delivery of clinically-approved small molecule chemotherapy drugs. Three-dimensional (3D) in vitro cell culture models of breast cancer (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells) and pancreatic cancer (MiaPaCa-2 cells) were used in this work. First, the performance of a range of chemotherapy drugs was tested in 3D breast cancer models with key parameters identified for subsequent use in light treatment experiments. PDT and PCI experiments were then performed and novel PCI-drug combinations compared to PCI of bleomycin (a model PCI chemotherapeutic drug). Excitingly, several promising new PCI-drug combinations were seen to outperform PCI-bleomycin. In particular, PCI-vincristine and PCI delivery of the vinca alkaloids, in general, was seen to perform impressively across all of the treatment outcomes of potency, efficacy, and synergy - as determined by means of a cell viability assay. Key PCI-drug combinations were then taken forward to investigations with alterations made in both PCI regimen and cell culture conditions. Both variations were seen to significantly impact upon PCI treatment outcomes. Finally, PCI-drug combinations were then tested in a 3D model of pancreatic cancer. In addition to this, novel gemcitabine nanoformulations (gemcitabine-squalene and gemcitabine-polymer) were combined in PCI regimens and the former bioconjugate was seen to vastly improve treatment outcomes in both pancreatic and breast cancer models.

In the summer stratified temperate shelf waters of the Western English Channel, a subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) is typically observable within the seasonal thermocline. Surveys were conducted in these summer (June/July) stratified waters from 2013 to 2016 investigating SCM phytoplankton communities. A SeaBird CTD with fluorometer and Niskin rosette sampler was routinely used to collect water column profiles and discrete water samples, and an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measured current profiles. In 2013 SCM thin layers (SCMTL; < 5 m thick) and broader SCM were studied in detail. SCMTL were detected in 18 of 52 profiles, typically characterised by higher maximum chlorophyll concentrations than broader SCM. Water column structure and physical forcing governed SCM chlorophyll structure, with SCMTL generally associated with a stepped thermocline and greater stratification. Community structure within SCMTL was statistically distinct from that of broader SCM, proposed to result from promotion of phytoplankton better adapted to conditions more specific to SCMTL compared to broader SCM. Findings suggest that with more intense stratification projected for the NW European shelf there may be increased prevalence of SCMTL and associated specialised flora. In 2015, a digital in-line holographic camera (holocam) was deployed, the data from which identified a transition of phytoplankton through the stratified water column, showed how one taxon can be dominant over a small part of the water column, and provided evidence of the SCM as a considerable source of carbon flux. Following methodological developments, in situ holography has the potential to be powerful in the assessment of the phytoplankton community on a large spatial and temporal scale, and as a tool for obtaining quantitative carbon flux data. Primary production was also assessed in 2015, using a combination of 13C incubation experiments and Fluorescence Induction and Relaxation (FIRe) measurements. The SCM was estimated to account for, on average, 50 % of total water column primary production and was identified as a key site of new production. Variation in the magnitude of water column production was driven by changes in SCM layer production, which was governed by factors including chlorophyll concentration, irradiance, and the photophysiology and structure of the phytoplankton community, with increases in SCM carbon fixation associated with greater contributions of red fluorescing nano-phytoplankton due to their enhanced light utilisation efficiency. Greater percentages of these nano-phytoplankton generally coincided with stronger stratification, which may have implications for our understanding of the relationship between stratification and primary production. Finally, data from all four years was gathered to study environmental controls of interannual variability in SCM chlorophyll and phytoplankton community structure at one location in the Western Channel. Stability (given by the instantaneous index of stability; IIS) and temperature were found to be key governing factors. Changes in stability were related to interannual variation in SCM maximum chlorophyll, the 50 m:SCM maximum chlorophyll ratio, and proportions of red fluorescing nano-phytoplankton and dinoflagellates within the SCM community. Changes in water temperature were associated with interannual variation in SCM maximum chlorophyll and proportions of small versus large diatoms within the SCM. These findings may have implications, in particular, for the silica cycle, carbon export to depth and the microbial loop. Possible causes and implications of all results, as described above, are discussed in detail within this thesis.

Preterm birth is a leading cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity, and creates significant personal, social and health care costs. Around 15 million infants are born preterm each year, more than 1 in 10 of all births, and this incidence is increasing (WHO, 2013). While survival rates following preterm birth have improved, the incidence of neuromotor and neurocognitive deficits remains stable, with around 25% of extreme preterm infants displaying moderate or severe impairment in early childhood (Saigal and Doyle, 2008). A significant proportion of preterm birth follows multiple pregnancies. More than half of twin pregnancies end in preterm birth, with 10% delivering at less than 32 weeks or below 1500 grams (Chauhan et al., 2010). The birth rate of twins and multiples has risen sharply since the advent of artificial reproductive technologies (Bodeau-Livinec et al., 2013; Gnanendran et al., 2014) and the trend for an increase in maternal age, with multiple pregnancy rates of 9.8 per 1000 in 1976 having increased to 16.1 in 2011 (Office for National Statistics, 2013). It has, therefore, become increasingly important to determine their suitability for inclusion in neuroimaging studies exploring the relationship between clinical risk factors and brain development in infants born preterm. Structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging have improved the detection rate of focal lesions in preterm infants, facilitated quantitative assessment of regional brain volumes, and assessment of the properties of the white matter tracts of the brain (Ajayi-Obe et al., 2000; Ball et al., 2013b, 2012; Boardman et al., 2006; Dubois et al., 2008). Aberrant brain development identified using these techniques has been linked to neurodevelopmental outcome assessed in early childhood (Ball et al., 2015; Counsell et al., 2008; Van Kooij et al., 2012). Additionally a number of perinatal risk factors known to be associated with preterm birth appear to be associated with white matter injury (Ball et al., 2010; Counsell et al., 2008; Kuypers et al., 2012; Rose et al., 2009; Tan et al., 2008). This thesis aimed to determine whether preterm twins were suitable for inclusion in preterm imaging studies assessing brain development in the preterm population as a whole. In Chapter 4 I assessed lesions frequency, regional brain volumes, white matter injury determined by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and neurodevelopmental outcome in a large cohort of preterm twins and singletons. Brain development in preterm twins and neurodevelopmental outcome was similar to preterm singletons, and so these infants are suitable for inclusion in general preterm studies. I then tested the hypothesis that white matter injury is related to preterm birth and specific perinatal risk factors using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging assessed with tract-based-spatial-statistics (Chapter 5). Gestational age, sex, fetal growth restriction, days on mechanical ventilation, days of parenteral nutrition and necrotising enterocolitis were associated with diffusion magnetic resonance imaging defined white matter damage at term-equivalent age. When these risk factors were combined to produce a cumulative risk factor score, a linear relationship between the number of risk factors and white matter damage was demonstrated. These findings are consistent with the multiple-hit hypothesis. To further explore the suitability of high-risk twins in preterm imaging studies in Chapter 6 I examined perinatal risk factors and brain injury in twin-to-twin-transfusion syndrome. This subgroup of the twin population is at risk of significant morbidity and mortality despite the current gold standard treatment (Rossi et al., 2011; Simpson, 2013) . Perinatal risk factors and brain abnormalities seen on postnatal MRI are described in 3 groups including monochorionic diamniotic twins born following pregnancies complicated by twin-to-twin-transfusion syndrome, monochorionic diamniotic twins without a history of twin-to-twin-transfusion syndrome and dichorionic diamniotic twins. Robust statistical analysis in this group was not possible due to heterogeneity of the sample and small sample size. Data collection for this study is on-going.

MicroRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Studies in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) where DGCR8; a major protein involved in their biogenesis has been knocked out, have shown that the global loss of canonical miRNAs results in cell cycle defects, delayed and reduced expression of markers of differentiation, and an inability to downregulate pluripotency markers upon differentiation. By conducting a 2D-DIGE study, comparing protein expression in wild type and DGCR8-/- mESCs, the aim was to study the effects that the loss of DGCR8 has on the proteome of mESCs when grown under proliferative conditions. The loss of DGCR8 in mESCs resulted in the deregulation of proteins with a chaperone function and those involved in glucose metabolism. Notably enzymes involved in glycolysis were reduced, whereas those involved in the TCA cycle were upregulated compared to wild type cells. mESCs are known to be highly glycolytic and the form of glucose metabolism used by cells has been linked to their capacity to differentiate. A second DIGE study was carried out on DGCR8-/- mESCs individually transfected with Embryonic Stem Cell Cycle specific (ESCC) miRNAs, to establish novel targets of these miRNAs and study their effect on the proteome. The study revealed that the ESCC miRNAs influence the expression of glucose metabolism proteins, notably Aldolase A, a key enzyme for glycolysis was identified in both studies as being an indirect target of the ESCC miRNAs. High resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy further revealed differences in metabolism between the DGCR8-/- mESCs transfected with the ESCC miRNAs and those transfected with a control miRNA, indicative of a switch from predominantly glucose metabolism in the wild type mESCs to glutaminolysis for energy generation in the DGCR8-/-. Therefore the same miRNAs that control the embryonic stem cell cycle, also play a major role in the metabolic status of these cells, which may in turn play a role in the controlling the balance between pluripotency and differentiation. At the time of writing this is the first study using proteomic techniques to compare DGCR8-/- and wild type mESCs, and to explore the effect of the ESCC miRNAs.

The topics of Grounding and Metaphysical Explanation have been at the forefront of research and debate within metaphysics for the last decade. Grounding is commonly taken to be a relation of non-causal dependence. In this thesis I address the pertinent question as to what sorts of entities are related in instances of grounding. There has so far been little enquiry into this issue, and it therefore requires urgent attention. I argue here that the entities involved in grounding are facts, where facts are true Fregean propositions. True Fregean propositions are abstract entities composed of senses, and are individuated according the senses which they involve. I proceed by setting out some desiderata which the entities involved in grounding will fulfil. Firstly, they will be individuated sufficiently finely as to provide instances of grounding to back all putative cases of non-causal explanation. Secondly, they will ensure that there is unity between instances of grounding and instances of causation. Finally, they will be mind- independent. I survey different types of entity and show that true Fregean propositions are best-equipped to fulfil these desiderata. We therefore have reason to believe that grounding relates facts, so understood. The conclusion of this thesis therefore makes it incumbent upon us to extend our ontology to include true Fregean propositions.

The site of Engaruka in northern Tanzania has been the focus of decades of archaeological research regarding the development of terraced field systems in East Africa. Engaruka is a vast agricultural landscape, occupied from the 14th century and abandoned in 18th century. The abandonment of such a large and intensively cultivated area has been interpreted by some policy makers as a response to a failure of the agronomy, as has been argued elsewhere. This PhD research represents the archaeobotanical component of the AAREA (Archaeology of Agricultural Resilience in East Africa) Project, which was focused on establishing the efficacy of applying archaeological results that are in a dynamic state of development to policy decisions regarding agricultural resilience and sustainability. This study focuses on the identification of crops in cultivation at Engaruka during its occupation based on the analysis of archaeobotanical residues (e.g. charred plant remains), as well as historic and ethnographic observations of cultivation throughout the region. The results confirm the presence of sorghum and other millets as well as several pulses, disproving the argument that ancient Engarukans were practicing sorghum monoculture. These data have been queried to address questions about the presence and preservation of millets and pulses and non-crop taxa in both expected and unlikely contexts, providing information on a range of issues including cultivation strategy and practice, specifically relating to harvesting techniques, the role of wild and weedy taxa, and differential use of space. Discussion is based upon detailed investigations of plant cultivation, collection/harvest, and exploitation through quantification of charred plant macrofossils, gathered weeds/wild taxa, and interview data relating to farming practices, thus highlighting the strengths of a multi-disciplinary approach for understanding resilience, sustainability, and, more generally, what it means to subsist in a challenging and dynamic agricultural landscape.

Contested, multi-faceted and conceptually confused, the relationship between decentralisation and education quality is not well understood. In this thesis, I use qualitative and quantitative methods to undertake an empirical exploration of decentralisation, education quality and the relationship between them in the context of Malawi. Through semi-structured interviews, I first consider how different actors within Malawi understand decentralisation and its implementation. I find that despite stalled democratic decentralisation, a new school-based management reform (the Primary School Improvement Programme) has gone ahead, financed mainly by international donors. Whilst the reform is welcomed by communities, it fails to counter the continued pressures to centralise power by Malawi’s ruling class. To understand if education decentralisation can lead to positive outcomes despite resistance to broader decentralisation reform, I investigate the effect of the Primary School Improvement Programme (PSIP) on pre-defined indicators of education quality. Exploiting its staggered national roll out and using standard difference-in-difference estimation, I find that the PSIP improves exam pass rates, reduces school dropout and increases the availability of toilets for girls. Put simply, these findings suggest that the PSIP ‘works’, although the reliability and validity of Malawi’s school census data is questionable. Finally, I turn to a deeper examination of education quality and its relationship with the PSIP through four case study schools. I find that the PSIP impact on schools is varied; while it creates the opportunity for schools and communities to work together towards school improvement, it also fosters suspicion about the management of school grants and tension over what to prioritise to improve education quality. Parents, community members and teachers are more likely to understand education quality in terms of quantity (classrooms, learning materials, numbers of students passing exams) while policymakers are more concerned with the acquisition of skills. This disconnect undermines the coherence and alignment of the reform. Making an original theoretical contribution, I show that there is a two-way relationship between decentralisation and education quality with implications for policy.

Introduction There is now a greater understanding of the significance of attachment and the importance of the mother-child dyad in relation to Eating Disorders (ED). Mothers with this illness may not be able to offer their child the best environment to develop in a healthy way. Previous literature has indicated the probability of transgenerational effect and recognised that children of mothers with an ED are a high risk group. This research takes forward such awareness in relation to transgenerational EDs. It focuses on environmental factors and attachment. It explores the effectiveness of a group therapy intervention to prevent or mitigate the perpetuation of an ED through the generations. This study presents the outcomes of the group process, discussing the effects on the participants. Aims 1. To conduct a group intervention. 2. To aid the recovery of the mother from her ED. 3. To investigate the possibility of primary prevention of an ED for the child. 4. To develop a transferable protocol from the group therapy that can be used by other therapists within a health care setting. Method Participants with an ED (AN, BN or EDNOS) as defined by DSM-IV, who had children under the age of 13 were recruited from NHS settings. Two hour sessions were conducted by a therapist at weekly intervals for 19 weeks; each session was recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were thematically analysed using NUD*ST. The CORE and the EDI together with a semi-structured interview were administered at the beginning and end of the group and at the six and twelve month follow ups. The n=1 case study methodology was used to design and analyse the study, using the group intervention as the case investigated. Results At the end of the intervention and at 6 month follow up all participants demonstrated an improvement in their ED, but at 12 months this improvement was only sustained by 50%. At all points including the 12 month follow up all participants showed substantial improvement in the nurturing of their children. From this study we were able to complete a manual that could be disseminated to health professionals in order to replicate the organization of further groups for this particular client population. Discussion These results gave encouraging support to the hypothesis that group therapy can be a useful intervention for mothers with an ED in order to break the transgenerational cycle of dysfunction.

The thesis is comprised of three sections. The first is a Literature Review covering studies published in the English language that investigate mentalizing skills amongst adolescents either with diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder or with behavioural traits characteristic of this condition. There is increased acceptance the psychological difficulties and behaviours that comprise the diagnosis of BPD in adults begin in childhood & adolescence. The Review examines the studies to date investigating the role of mentalization in the onset and maintenance of these difficulties, with suggestions for further research in this area. The second section describes a quantitative study exploring mentalization functioning of a group of adolescents who have been adopted, compared with a group of age and gender-matched non-adopted adolescents. Early adversity (e.g. child abuse and neglect, admission into foster care) has been associated with a range of later life negative outcomes, including mental health. For the adopted group, analyses were also undertaken to explore for relationships between current functioning (emotional, behavioural, mentalization, communication skills) and early experiences. Results of statistical analyses are presented, followed by discussion. The study findings are considered with respect to areas for future research. References for the first and second papers are included after each paper, respectively. The third section consists of Appendices, including a Public Domain briefing paper, quality estimations of the research studies reviewed, and a summary table of each study article. Information for participants, and consent and ethics documentation relating to the empirical paper, are also included.

The subject of this thesis is quasars with redshifts greater than seven. We first consider the z = 7.084 quasar ULAS J1120+0641, the most distant quasar discovered to date. We combine new and existing photometric observations of the source to create the multiwavelength SED for ULAS J1120+0641. We measure a bolometric luminosity $L_bol = 2.6 ± 0.6 × 10 ^ 47 erg s^−1$ for the source, and estimate a star formation rate in the range $60 - 270 M_sol yr ^−1$ from the [CII] line luminosity and the 158 μm continuum luminosity. We find that at the time observed the black hole was growing in mass more than 100 times faster than the stellar bulge, relative to the mass ratio measured in the local Universe. We present a deep X-shooter spectrum of the Lyman series forest towards ULAS J1120+0641. We detect seven narrow flux transmission spikes in the Lyα forest. We consider the possible detection of a 4.5σ spike in the Lyβ forest. We also present revised Hubble Space Telescope F814W photometry of the source, paying close attention to the issue of charge transfer efficiency losses. We combine the observations to constrain the evolution of the Lyα effective optical depth $(τ _GP^eff)$ with redshift. We find $τ_GP^eff ∝ (1 + z) ^ ξ$ where $ξ = 11.2 +0.4 −0.6$, for z > 5.5. The data can only weakly constrain the hydrogen IGM neutral fraction at $z ∼ 6.5, x_HI > 10^−4$, similar to limits at redshift z ∼ 6. We discuss difficulties associated with extending Lyα forest analyses to redshifts much greater than six. The second half of the thesis begins a search for $z >~ 8$ quasars in the UKIDSS Large Area Survey and VIKING. We extend existing Bayesian model comparison techniques to higher redshifts. We assess the plausibility of such a search by simulating realistically sized populations of contaminating galactic L and T dwarf stars, and elliptical galaxies. We also assess the quasar selection function in both surveys. We predict ∼ 2 quasars will be detectable across the two surveys, although the redshift evolution of the luminosity function is uncertain. Finally, we begin the search for z ∼ 8 quasar candidates using VIKING list-driven photometry, using $∼ 25 deg ^ 2$ of sky. We use cuts including morphological information to reduce an initial sample of $∼ 1.1 × 10 ^ 6 objects$ to ∼ 8000. Applying our Bayesian model comparison technique to the remaining sources, we find two candidates with $P_q > 0.1$, both of which are quickly ruled out as real quasars. We are nevertheless encouraged to find zero candidates for follow-up observations, as the implied number of good candidates will be manageable over the full area of VIKING.

In recent years, microscopy has undergone a revolution that has made it much more powerful and able to achieve sub-diffraction resolutions that have in the past been the absolute limit of the optical microscope. These novel techniques, collected under the umbrella term "Super-resolution" have advanced the resolving power of an optical imaging system to the nanometre level, allowing a much deeper insight into biological problems in near native conditions. These techniques have differing levels of enhancement but typically lower the temporal resolution in favour increasing the spatial resolution. This thesis concerns both the advancement, through the development of a novel camera architecture and testing of a previously unknown label, and application of super-resolution microscopy to studying photosynthetic systems. How accurately each molecule can be located limits localisation microscopy in building a coordinate map. Here is demonstrated a camera that has the potential to increase that accuracy by discarding the concept of traditional images in favour of a continuous exposure. The camera is shown to outperform a traditional imaging regime, boosting the signal-to-noise ratio by two. Photosynthesis is a system that has been tuned over billions of years to produce proteins capable of absorbing and transferring photonic energy to create extended light harvesting arrays. We investigate the capabilities of one of these light-harvesting proteins, CpcA from the phycobilisome of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, as a super-resolution label. CpcA is tested both in vitro, in the form of a nanopatterned surface; and in vivo, expressed in Escherichia coli. Additionally, the work presented here focusses on the investigation of photosynthesis with advanced microscopy techniques, notably hyperspectral confocal microscopy, localisation microscopy and structured illumination microscopy. These techniques are applied to investigate the in vivo protein distributions of many proteins known to be functionally involved in photosynthesis such as photosystem I, YidC, CURT1A, FtsH1, FtsH2 and FtsH4. Finally, the investigation of chloroplast thylakoid structure with structured illumination microscopy is demonstrated, showing morphological changes to the ultrastructure under different light conditions. These changes are further examined in mutants of proteins involved in regulation and adaption of the system to different light conditions.

This thesis describes the author's contribution, from 1997-2017, to medicines optimisation through use of a person-centred care approach to pharmacy practice. It outlines the author's publications in the area of pharmacy practice and older people together with copies of key publications and relevant authorship statements. The thesis is divided into four key themes: pharmacy and older people, clinical leadership, reducing preventable medicines-related hospital readmission and the development of a coaching approach in pharmacy practice. The thesis begins with describing the growth of the author's skills as a hospital pharmacist working with older people, which provides the content for the first theme. This includes development of the author's research skills and the start of collaboration with a cross-sector multidisciplinary team, led by a national leader in the care of older people. The second theme, of clinical leadership, incorporates the author's role as the first consultant pharmacist working with older people in England and also as a pharmacist prescriber in intermediate and long-term care. This includes the creation and leadership of the national consultant pharmacist group for England and information about pharmacist prescribing through publications and describes how practice focussed on what mattered to patients. The third theme focuses on reducing preventable medicines-related re-admissions and includes description of the development of the Integrated Medicines Management Service (IMMS), an award winning service, including delivery of person-centred consultations. The fourth and final theme outlines the development of a coaching approach to pharmacy practice including the use of health coaching. This includes development of the nationally utilised 'Four Es' (Explore, Educate, Empower, Enable), a structured approach to person-centred pharmacy consultations to support medication review, medicines adherence, reducing inappropriate polypharmacy and optimising safe deprescribing. This section of the thesis also describes collaboration with colleagues to develop the nationally recognised 'patient-centred polypharmacy process', joint-editing a peer-reviewed themed journal issue on deprescribing and devising and delivering learning events to provide pharmacy support for special populations. This thesis demonstrates that the author has contributed to the development of person-centred care in pharmacy practice. The author's work in this area supports medicines optimisation, thus improving the patient experience and the provision of safe, effective pharmacy services, which are embedded within everyday pharmacy practice.

In Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies, inference is made on the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) of an externally administered compound within the body. This is done by measuring the concentration of the compound in some form of bodily tissue (such as whole blood or plasma) at a number of time points after administration. There are two approaches to PK analysis, modelling and non-compartmental (NCA). The modelling approach uses assumptions of the behaviour of the compound in the body to fit models to the data in order to approximate the concentration versus time curve. Whereas in NCA, no such assumptions are made, and numerical methods are used to approximate this curve. The PK behaviour is summarised by PK parameters that are derived from this approximation, such as the area under the curve (AUC), the maximum concentration (Cmax) and the time at which this maximum occurs (tmax). In this thesis, three separate topics in the area of PK studies are explored. The first two are motivated by the new blood sampling method of microsampling, which requires a smaller sample volume than traditionally used. Firstly, a methodology is introduced for comparing microsampling to traditional sampling using the derived PK parameters from PK modelling, to find evidence of equivalence of the two sampling methods. The next topic establishes an algorithm for choosing an optimal sparse sampling scheme for PK studies that use microsampling using NCA, developing a two-stage procedure that minimizes bias and variance of the PK parameter estimates. The final topic concerns how PK analysis can be conducted when some measurements are too low to be reliably detected, again using NCA. Seven methods are explored, with the introduced method of using kernel density estimation to impute values onto censored responses using an iterative procedure showing.

Media, government and public discourse in the UK associate young drinkers as mindless, hedonistic consumers of alcohol, resulting in young people epitomising ‘Binge Britain’. This preoccupation with ‘binge’ drinking amplifies moral panics surrounding youth alcohol consumption whereby consideration of the social and cultural nuances of pleasure that give meaning to young people’s excessive drinking practices and values has been given little priority. This sociological study explores how young drinkers regulate their drinking practices through levels of agency which is informed by values linked to the pursuit of pleasurable intoxication alongside friendship groups in a variety of drinking settings. Data informing this study comes from contextualised ethnographic fieldwork alongside heterogeneous groups of young people and community members in an area of South West London. Whilst encountering hundreds of participants in fieldwork, data informing this research stems from ninety main protagonists. Following a qualitative grounded theoretical approach, the study prioritises the voice and everyday experience of young drinkers and local community members to present theoretical descriptions of youth drinking cultures embedded in a historical, social, cultural and spatial context. Through the ethnographic data, this thesis argues that young drinkers show levels of agency in their pursuit of pleasurable drinking experiences through conscious forms of self-governance and regulation which are informed by learned experiences and interactions such as gender. Moreover, youth drinking is both enabled and restricted by constraints and complexities such as space and place; which form central points of analysis in this thesis. It is concluded that accounts derived directly from young people are not only central to understanding how and why young people engage in forms of excessive drinking, but can better inform national and local alcohol-related policies and strategies, as opposed to discourse preoccupied with UK ‘binge’ drinking that young people rarely identify with.

As women’s roles in society have changed and they have had more freedom to pursue other life-goals, decisions about having children are frequently delayed. Consequently, some women find themselves in their late thirties and undecided about motherhood in the face of the relentless ticking of the biological clock. This research explores women’s experiences of being undecided about motherhood between the ages of 35 and 40 when fertility levels begin to decline sharply. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse semi-structured interviews with five participants. Three major findings were identified. The first was that being at an age where fertility is decreasing and finding oneself undecided about the pursuit of motherhood resulted in feelings of panic and fears regarding the future for some participants. This was influenced by the second major finding – that of societal discourses impacting on the participant’s experience. The third finding was the changing sense of identity and emotional impact experienced by participants in the face of their uncertainty. This suggests a multi-faceted experience which encompasses the intertwining of biological, social and psychological factors. These findings are discussed alongside existing literature in the field to suggest how Counselling Psychologists may support and empower women who are experiencing this stage of their lives as a challenging time.

The strategic and local road networks are together the United Kingdom’s most valuable infrastructure assets. Roads deteriorate over time as a function of traffic and the environment and must be maintained appropriately to preserve their asset value in order to help support the economy. Furthermore, well maintained roads reduce road user costs via lowering vehicle operating costs, reducing accidents, delays and litigation. Amongst other projections, climate change indicators suggest there will be warmer wetter winters and an increase in extreme weather events such as heavy rains. Increased heavy rainfall events will adversely influence the road infrastructure and place more demands on maintenance. The inherent risks in highway infrastructure assets and those associated with future climate predictions must be better understood and incorporated within decision support models to enable highway engineers and asset managers make better, more informed decisions regarding infrastructure maintenance. By combining the risk management process and drainage network analysis this study explored the risks and their potential impacts within a road network. This resulted in a proposed methodology for the identification of parts of a network to be most at flood risk. Data in respect of the risks and their probability of occurrence, for use within the model was obtained through a questionnaire completed by highway drainage engineers at various locations in the UK.

In many sectors customers are increasingly seeking service contracts rather than buying products. High tech capital equipment firms attracted by the potential revenue benefits are choosing to move from supplying product only to supplying product and services. This concept is known as ‘Servitization’. Through empirical evidence the academic literature has shown that businesses face challenges in undertaking the transformation from product to service provision and that organisational, cultural, commercial and operational challenges have the potential to erode the desired and expected benefits sought from such a transition. The research presented in this thesis investigates and identifies the features and challenges of servitization in the context of a complex engineering service provided by the UK Aerospace Defence industry. The research also explores the reported costs and front of mind costs for the provision of a complex engineering service. Particular attention is given to the problem of less than expected profitability during and post transformation to service. This research adopts a qualitative approach through the use of a single case study with multiple case examples of the complex engineering service. Findings identify a number of challenges associated with the transformation from product to service provision that include strategy, organisation and enterprise management, contracting, risk, culture and operations. Considering these findings holistically it is suggested that a paradigm shift needs to occur, changing both managers perspective and the business models employed if the firm is to provide a sustainable service offering. New ways of structuring and managing the enterprise to deliver the service value proposition will be required. This will include the development of performance management of all operations across the enterprise required as a minimum to ensure optimum performance of service delivery at lowest cost.

Camouflage and aposematism are two seemingly contrasting and mutually exclusive forms of anti-predator defence. With natural variation in predator experience and motivation to attack, however, defended prey may benefit from incorporating aspects of camouflage in order to reduce their predator encounter rate. One potential mechanism is distance-dependent signals, which take advantage of limitations in visual acuity to produce highly salient signals that are functionally camouflaged when viewed from a distance. Aposematic patterns often contain high contrast elements which have been suggested to increase the saliency of the signal. At greater viewing distances, however, the perception of pattern will change as different components dominate perceptual grouping mechanisms and adjacent patches of colour are summed to create a combined colour. Using computational modelling of ecologically relevant visual predators, laboratory experiments with human observers, and field experiments with bird predation, this thesis investigates distance-dependent signals in artificial prey and in two highly salient aposematic species: the cinnabar moth caterpillar (Tyria jacobaeae Erebidae). and the dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius Dendrobatidae). Where the combined colour of a striped aposematic pattern matches that of the background, pattern-blending can create effective camouflage to distant observers, and lead to significant survival benefits. On more complex, visually textured, backgrounds, however, the homogenous colour produced by pattern-blending may not recreate the background, and a target will be easily detected. Indeed, pattern-blending may prevent an aposematic signal from being identified at the distance at which it is first detected. In this situation, optimal aposematic signalling appears to be produced from a balance between signal distinctiveness and recognition. Field experiments and visual modelling suggest that for both T. jacobaeae and D. tinctorius combining aposematism with camouflage, by exploiting distance-dependent effects, can be advantageous. Observer distance and its exploitation by specific colour patterns are likely to be underappreciated components of defensive colouration.