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Attaining Advanced proficiency and beyond has been a principal goal for second language learners, practitioners, and researchers. Achieving this level in writing requires producing connected discourse of paragraph-level length and nurturing the ability to arrange various linguistic units to form a unified and cohesive whole. This ability, known as discourse competence, is mainly realized through employing diverse cohesive devices to ensure the logical flow of the propositions in the discourse. The proliferation of Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs across the United States in recent decades attests to the aspiration of promoting bi-/multilingualism that commits to nurturing Advanced language proficiency in an articulated long-term educational model. However, little is known about how DLI learners, Chinese in particular, demonstrate their language proficiency after elementary education. Building upon reflections on the construct of discourse competence and proficiency measurements and by analyzing 200 samples produced by 50 students, this study investigated the linguistic features exhibited in writing samples produced by high school Chinese DLI learners to examine "what" and "how well" they employed three cohesive devices - connectives, connectors, and frame setters - in constructing their written discourse. The study found that most participants were low-to-mid Intermediate-range writers who produced sentence-level text types. These learners used more simple and compound sentence-level (connectives and frame setters) than inter-sentence-level cohesive devices (connectors). Moreover, the syntactic accuracy was higher than its semantic counterpart for connecting cohesive devices (connectives and connectors). In contrast, framing cohesive devices (frame setters) showed higher accuracy semantically than syntactically. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference between Intermediate Low and Intermediate Mid groups in spatial frame setter syntactic accuracy. This study fills an empirical gap in describing secondary Chinese DLI learners' written proficiency attainment. Theoretically, it contributes to a refined understanding of Chinese cohesive devices by using two lenses to analyze cohesive devices: from the perspective of text organization (words-phrases, sentences, paragraphs) and from the cohesive mechanisms (connecting versus framing). The latter lens combines conventional research on connecting devices and insights from Chinese "topics" and a cognitive-functional approach. This synthesis expands the conceptualization of Chinese cohesive devices and text cohesion through a more refined analytical framework. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) contributes 35% of global vegetable oil and has become the most important oil crop in the world. It occupies only 7% of total global oilseed-harvested land with 10 times more oil yield per hectare of cropland than any other oil crop. To further improve the superior oil yield, enormous efforts have been put into selective breeding programmes in the last eight decades. Nevertheless, the breeding progress of oil palm, like other perennial crops, is extremely slow (typically 12 years per breeding cycle) and costly. In this study, major QTL (quantitative trait loci) for trunk height (THT) and correlated yield traits were discovered in low trunk increment breeding populations using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Further understanding of the correlation between THT and oil yield traits, and the effect of cumulative positive alleles of QTL can significantly increase the success rate of multiple trait integration through MAS to produce high-yielding oil palms with low height increment. This compares to an estimated 1% probability of success using conventional breeding methods. Furthermore, illegitimacy in breeding crosses and commercial seed production can be a common problem, if mismanagement happens in controlled pollination (given that oil palm is a naturally outcrossing species) and seed processing. For perennial crops such as oil palm, the illegitimacy problem can easily badly effect a 12-year breeding cycle and illegitimacy can lead to a 25-year yield reduction in commercial planting. Therefore, a practical genomic SNP-based legitimacy testing method with accuracy >97% was developed as a standard quality control procedure for seed purity in breeding and commercial seed production. The method has also successfully addressed the inaccuracy and inefficiency of the conventional fruit census test for contamination. The overall objectives of this study and findings are reported in the thesis.

1.1 Introduction: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease affecting the skin and joints of adults and children. This PhD focused on psoriasis in children because it is especially for this age group that both a research need and an opportunity to improve long-term health outcomes exist. There is a deficiency of paediatric specific research to guide optimal management and, for many individuals, the persistence of psoriasis into adulthood has a negative cumulative effect over their lifetime. Difficulties can arise because of the physical, psychological, and social burden of psoriasis, including the development of psoriatic arthritis. 1.2 Research aim: The aim of this research was to identify opportunities to intervene early in the disease course of children with psoriasis and juvenile psoriatic arthritis, in order to prevent long-term harm from these conditions. Specifically the research aims of each study were: 1. To determine current clinical practice in the assessment and management of childhood psoriasis. 2. To understand current clinical practice in the assessment of juvenile psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. 3. To map the evidence and identify research gaps in the epidemiology of childhood psoriasis. 4. To identify studies which have developed or validated diagnostic criteria for psoriasis. 5. To derive expert agreed diagnostic criteria for plaque psoriasis in children. 6. To design a diagnostic accuracy study to develop DIagnostic criteria for PSOriasis in Children (DIPSOC Study) 1.3 Methods: The initial studies focused on identifying deficiencies in current practice and exploring barriers in the detection of psoriasis and juvenile psoriatic arthritis. This research was undertaken as a multi-centre audit and case-note review, and qualitative descriptive interviews with paediatric rheumatologists and dermatologists. Framework and thematic content analysis were used to ascertain and explore the approach clinicians' take to assess skin and joint disease. The subsequent studies have mapped the volume, nature, and characteristics of epidemiological studies and appraised the literature to inform the development of diagnostic criteria for psoriasis in children. This research was undertaken as a scoping review on the epidemiology of childhood psoriasis and a systematic review on diagnostic criteria for psoriasis. The studies in the systematic review were appraised for risk of bias using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) tool. The final studies focused on developing diagnostic criteria for psoriasis in children. An electronic Delphi (eDelphi) consensus study with the International Psoriasis Council (IPC) used sequential online questionnaires and scoring to reach agreement on a list of expert-derived criteria. These five studies informed the design of a multi-centre case-control diagnostic accuracy study (DIPSOC study) to test the consensus agreed criteria and develop the best predictive criteria. 1.4 Results: The audit of the care of 285 children with psoriasis showed that compliance with national guidelines was variable. Only half of children were assessed annually for juvenile psoriatic arthritis and a third of children with psoriasis were potentially misdiagnosed with having other skin diseases in primary care. Exploring this further, paediatric rheumatologists' and dermatologists' current approach for assessing skin and joint disease, respectively, may not detect psoriasis and juvenile psoriatic arthritis. Reviewing the evidence base, most epidemiological data originates from case-series and cross-sectional studies, and there were few case-control and cohort studies investigating risk factors for disease onset, comorbidities, and long-term health outcomes in paediatric psoriasis. This work highlighted a need to improve the recognition of psoriasis in children and for new studies using standardised methodologies and definitions. Currently, no clinical examination-based diagnostic criteria for psoriasis have been developed, tested, or validated. To address this evidence gap, experts collectively agreed on 16 diagnostic features, divided into three major and thirteen minor criteria, which are important for the clinical diagnosis of plaque psoriasis in children. These consensus agreed criteria will be tested in the DIPSOC study. The design of DIPSOC aims to minimise bias in the four key domains proposed by the QUADAS-2 tool, but uses a case-control design to ensure the recruitment target is feasible within the resources available. 1.5 Discussion: The research in this PhD makes an important contribution to the field of paediatric psoriasis and culminates in the design of the DIPSOC study to test and refine a list of diagnostic criteria for psoriasis in children. The criteria are intended to improve the recognition and early diagnosis of psoriasis in children, as well as offer a standardised disease definition for clinical trials and observational research. Improved diagnostic accuracy and increasing the quality of evidence from research studies will provide opportunities for early intervention to prevent long-term harm in children with psoriasis.

Hypervalent iodine oxidants have been used extensively in oxidative metal catalysis, especially in gold catalysis, where the redox potential of gold(I) to gold(III) is large. The reoxidation of gold(I) within an intramolecular gold-catalysed direct arylation reaction developed previously in the group occurs after the turnover-limiting step, and so cannot be studied by analysing the reaction rates. Competition reactions between ArIIII(OR)2 oxidants with different electronic parameters have been carried out to gain further understanding into the reoxidation of gold(I) under the following reaction conditions. It was found that the more electron-rich oxidant has a higher relative rate compared to electron poor oxidants and log krel gave the best correlation with σ+ of the para-substituent. This suggests that the oxidant undergoes an initial ligand dissociation step to give an iodonium species before the gold is oxidised, as opposed to forming a π-complex with the gold(I) intermediate. Contrary to this result, the relative redox potential of these oxidants, calculated by looking at the equilibrium position between an iodine(III) oxidant and an aryl iodide showed that the more electron-deficient oxidant has a higher redox potential, and is therefore the more oxidising oxidant when compared to electron-rich oxidants. This trend has also been illustrated by looking at the electrochemical reduction of the oxidants using square-wave voltammetry.

Mobile devices have become a popular platform for users to access information and digital services, and stay connected. The increased usage and reliance on these devices also imply that they increasingly handle, manage, and process private and sensitive data. As more and more sensitive data are stored in, or accessible from, mobile devices, the risk and cost of losing these data are becoming higher, particularly given the fact that mobile devices are much more vulnerable to theft or loss in comparison with conventional computing devices such as workstations and laptops. Therefore, more stringent security services should be embedded into mobile devices. One of these services is user authentication, i.e. how to verify a claimed identity. Our initial literature study in the topic area of user authentication on mobile devices shows that authentication on mobile devices should be strengthened and touch dynamics biometrics offers the most usable additional authentication factor than other biometrics alternatives. This has motivated us to investigate how to best exploit the use of users' touch dynamics biometrics to strengthen authentication on mobile devices. To this end, the thesis has made the following three novel contributions. Firstly, this thesis has presented a thorough investigative study on touch dynamics biometrics authentication on mobile devices. The investigative study has led to the discovery that existing studies mainly focus on improving accuracy performance of the authentication system. The characteristics of mobile devices and the way they are typically used are not given due consideration in these studies. As a result, those systems may have high accuracy performances in a research setting, but may not be realistically usable in practice, limiting the scale of their deployment. Secondly, the thesis has proposed and evaluated a novel touch dynamics based two-factor authentication (ToDiTA) system to support user authentication on mobile devices in a secure and usable manner. In proposing this system, we have carried out comprehensive studies of different parameter value settings, different ways of extracting features and different machine learning techniques used to classify the features. The purpose of the studies is to increase accuracy (thus making the system more secure), while, at the same time, reduce overhead costs introduced (thus making the system more usable) as much as possible. The studies have led us to take the following measures in the design: (i) integrating touch dynamics biometrics into a PIN-based authentication method that has a wide social acceptance (improving security and usability); (ii) using descriptive statistical methods to extract additional features from the already-acquired features instead of using features that have to be captured by using additional device sensors (improving usability); (iii) reducing the number of features by selecting and using the most important set of features (improving accuracy and efficiency); and (iv) reducing the touch dynamics data required to train the model by using one-class classification approach (improving usability). In addition, we have used a more comprehensive dataset to evaluate the ToDiTA system so that the conclusion drawn from the evaluation results are more conclusive. The evaluation of ToDiTA showed that by integrating the touch dynamics authentication method into the PIN-based authentication method, along with the above mentioned measures, the ability to counter impersonation attacks is greatly enhanced. For example, if a PIN is compromised, the success rate of an impersonation attempt is drastically reduced from 100% (if only a 4-digit PIN is used) to 9.9% (if both the PIN and the touch dynamics are used). Thirdly, the thesis has proposed and evaluated an enhanced ToDiTA (E-ToDiTA) system by adding a novel learning capability into the ToDiTA system. The E-ToDiTA system can adapt itself to any changes in a user's touch dynamics pattern. This is achieved by capturing the user's new touch dynamics data as soon as it becomes available and use the new data to update the authentication model. To minimise any additional overhead cost introduced by this addition, we have used a feature spooling process to reduce the number of times required to carry out the model adaptation processes and a progressive adaptation method which uses a fewer number of samples to update the model. The performance of the E-ToDiTA system has been evaluated and compared against that of the ToDiTA system. The results show that, on average, the E-ToDiTA system has improved the accuracy performance by 33.53% in comparison with the ToDiTA system, but with virtually zero increase in overhead cost. These results indicate that touch dynamics biometrics is a viable option for strengthening user authentication on mobile devices, particularly the capturing of such biometric data does not require additional efforts from a device user; the data can be captured while the user carries out their normal device-using activities.

There is a general consensus worldwide for a need to increase the capacities of transmission lines by not physically altering the transmission structures. Amidst this challenge, dynamic thermal rating (DTR) system appears as an appropriate option. Besides that, many countries have also pledged to integrate wind energy sources into their power networks. Taking these as motivations, the purpose of this thesis is to carry out the reliability analysis of DTR system for transmission lines. The two main standards - IEEE 738 and CIGRE, use for calculating the line rating of overhead lines has been analysed and compared. It was demonstrated that the two standards yield insignificant differences in their calculated line ratings. A new methodology that can systematically assess the reliability and risk of any DTR system designs was proposed in this thesis. In the reliability assessment part, methods such as the event tree analysis (ETA), risk reduction worth (RRW) and wide range method (WRM) were used. The risks of DTR systems were evaluated by implementing them in the IEEE 24-bus reliability test network (RTN). The network's loss of load and the percentages of the conductor loss of tensile strength constitute the risks of DTR systems. In the risk assessment part, a multiple-linear regression (MLR) model was proposed to estimate missing weather values during the failure of DTR sensors. Results in this thesis show that the MLR model is accurate and has only estimation error of less than 6%. It avoids overestimating the risk of DTR systems. An optimum DTR system design was also selected. The strategic placement of DTR sensors along a transmission line is an important reliability issue too. Hence, a new DTR sensor placement algorithm that considers the effects of DTR system ratings on the amount of line sagging, conductor annealing and the correlation between DTR system ratings and actual line ratings was proposed. Results in this thesis show that the newly proposed algorithm outperforms the currently published algorithm in terms of causing no spans to sag beyond their ground clearance limits and all spans experience lesser annealing effects. The 2-dimensional movement of line spans in their longitude and latitude directions, which the currently published algorithm also lacks, are considered in the proposed algorithm. This thesis also investigates the reliability behaviours of a power network that has DTR systems and wind farms. The proposed methodology for achieving that considers the reliability of transmission lines, DTR systems, conventional generators and wind turbines. The chronological behaviour of DTR ratings and wind farm power outputs was modelled using the auto-regressive and moving-average (ARMA) model. The correlations between the ARMA models were also considered. Results in this thesis show that by considering the correlation effects, the network's reliability indices are not over and under estimated. A new reliability index for describing the amount of wind power integration named as Expected Wind Power Delivered (EWPD) was proposed as well.

This thesis reports an investigation of the power scaling of pulsed fiber laser systems towards the hundreds of Watts regime whilst keeping the impact of fiber nonlinearities such as Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) at a manageable level. Two regimes of pulsed operation are investigated: the nanosecond pulse regime and the picosecond pulse regime. Some of the work reported in this thesis was carried out in collaboration with SPI Lasers and Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge under the TSB funded SMART LASER programme. In the nanosecond regime, two kinds of MOPA configurations are investigated. In the first instance a high accuracy active pulse shaping technique is implemented. Using the combination of a fast electrical Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) and an Electro-Optic Modulator (EOM), optical pulses can be shaped into various custom defined pulse shapes with high temporal resolution feature definition, allowing faster pulse rise and fall times than previously possible. This MOPA has the capability to generate a maximum average output power of ~70 W, pulse energy close to 1 mJ, all within a diffraction limited output beam. The second instance a fully-fiberized system capable of producing up to 45 W of average output power with a pulse energy of ~1 mJ was developed in collaboration with SPI Lasers Ltd. Unlike the first system, which uses an EOM for optical pulse shaping, an Acousto-Optic Modulator (AOM) is instead used to pre-shape the leading edge of the optical seed pulse in order to reduce the impact of nonlinear effects caused by the high peak powers otherwise associated with gain-saturation assisted reshaping of long nanosecond square input pulses, providing a cost-effective solution for the SMART Laser system. The successful development of the SMART Laser system allowed SPI Lasers Ltd to introduce a new product line, namely the G4 pulsed fiber laser system. Both types of fiber laser system were used in material processing experiments to investigate their performance and capabilities. Using a nanosecond fiber MOPA as a pump source, a synchronously pumped, tuneable, Raman fiber laser is demonstrated both in the near infrared (NIR) and visible regions. A continuous tuning range of 28nm in the NIR and 2.8nm in the visible region are achieved with efficiencies in the range of 12% to 18% respectively. The conversion efficiency can be increased further with the use of a feedback signal. Furthermore, with the presence of a feedback signal, the linewidth of the Raman Stokes lines in both visible and NIR regions shows a significant narrowing effect. This technique will allow the generation of wavelengths which are not easily generated with rare-earth doped fiber lasers and will be useful in the fields of spectroscopy, archaeology, biomedical and many more. Next, optical pulses in the picosecond regime are investigated. A gain-switching technique is used to generate a stable train of picosecond optical pulses from a semiconductor laser diode (SLD). Gain switching of different types of commercially available SLDs shows different temporal and spectral characteristics which are primarily influenced by the design of the specific chip used. The shortest pulse durations achieved through direct gain switching resulted in ~50 ps pulses; however these were far from transform-limited. However, an external FBG seeded gain switched SLDs was shown to be capable of producing transform-limited optical pulses. I show that a mode-locking mechanism is responsible for the short, transform limited optical pulses observed. This is the first demonstration of a mode locked SLD at the 1.06 μm waveband. With this technique, 18 ps optical pulses with pulse energy of 7.2 pJ and peak power of 400 mW were obtained. The single polarization, stable, picosecond optical pulses were fed into a chain of polarization maintaining fiber amplifiers to investigate the power scaling capability of this system. A maximum average output power of 513 W is demonstrated in a diffraction-limited output beam. The system operated at a repetition frequency of 215 MHz, corresponding to an estimated pulse energy of 2.4 μJ and a peak power of ~ 69 kW. At the maximum operating output power, the OSNR is measured to be well above 26 dB with a polarization extinction ratio (PER) of 17 dB. A pulse energy of 3.23 μJ is achieved from a similar system at a reduced operating frequency of 53 MHz and an average optical power of 200 W, corresponding to a pulse peak power of 107 kW. In both cases, further power scaling is limited by the SRS. These results represent the highest optical power demonstrated from a fiber MOPA producing tens of picosecond optical pulses.

The consumers’ increasing desire to be connected at all times and the advancement of integrated functionality within the vehicle, increases the risk that drivers could be faced with information overload while driving. Given the importance of human interaction with technology within the vehicle, automobile manufacturers are introducing workload manager systems within the vehicles to help prevent driver overload. However the ability of the system to decide in a timely manner requires anticipation of changes in workload, depending on the capacity of the driver and matching it with the demand expected from the driving task such as the dynamic traffic environment. In relation to the need to understand the influence of traffic demand on driver workload, the work here comprises the systematic manipulation of traffic complexity and exploration of workload measures to highlight which are sensitive to primary task demand manipulated. A within-subjects design was used in the studies explored in this thesis to allow comparison between different manipulated traffic conditions. In the first simulator test, the ability of various objective and subjective workload measures to tap into drivers’ momentary workload was examined. Following the identification of a subjective measure that was sensitive to the influence of lane changes performed by neighbouring vehicle on drivers’ momentary workload, the characteristics of the lane change were explored in the subsequent studies involving single and dual-task conditions. Overall, these studies suggested suppression of non-urgent communications by a workload manager during safety-critical conditions involving critical cut-ins would be advantageous to both younger and older drivers. This thesis offers a novel and valuable contribution to the design of a workload estimator so as to ensure that the driving demand is always within drivers’ capacity to avoid driver overload. Results of these studies have also highlighted the utility of vehicle-based sensor data in improving workload manager functionality.

Different types of breakwaters have been developed in the past for the protection of valuable coastal property, commercial activity and beach morphology. Among these, gravity-type breakwaters are the most common and provide good surface wave attenuation. However, these breakwaters are not always suitable due to their adverse impact on the coastal environment. To alleviate the problem, free surface breakwaters with a variety of caisson designs have been proposed and developed. The main advantages of such breakwaters are low capital cost, freedom from silting and scouring, short construction period, circulation of water beneath the breakwater and exertion of relatively low hydrodynamic forces on the structure as compared to conventional breakwaters. However, complete tranquillity on the lee side is not likely to occur due to wave energy transfer through the permeable parts of the breakwater. The degree of wave attenuation primarily depends on the configuration of the breakwater, the water depth and the incident wave conditions. The hydrodynamic performance of such free surface breakwaters is the subject of this thesis. Semicircular breakwaters mounted on a low-crested rubble mound structure were successfully built for harbour protection in Japan and China. However, the concept of having semicircular structures as free surface breakwaters has not yet been explored by the research community. As a result, this research is initiated with the aim of developing a free surface semicircular breakwater (SCB) that would serve as an anti-reflection barrier and provide reasonably good wave protection to coastal and marine infrastructures. To meet this research goal, a free surface SCB models were constructed and tested in a wave flume under various wave conditions. The experiments were conducted in three stages. For the first stage, the SCB model was initially tested without any perforations on the curved surface (i.e. a solid SCB) for different depths of immersion from the still water level in the wave flume. For the second stage, the front curved wall of the model was subsequently perforated with rectangular openings of different dimensions, producing front wall porosity of 9, 18 and 27%. Following this, two rows of rectangular openings near the crest of the rear curved wall were provided so as to facilitate water infiltration and escape of the run-up waves. For the third stage, additional effort was made to extend the draft of the breakwater by adding a wave screen at the front or/and rear. The screen porosity was 25, 40 and 50%. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the SCB models were investigated in both regular and irregular seas through a series of systematic experimental programme. The water surface elevations were measured at different locations upstream and downstream of the models to determine the coefficients of wave transmission (CT), reflection (CR) and energy dissipation (CL) as well as the wave climate coefficients in front and inside the breakwater chamber. The horizontal wave forces exerted on the SCB models and the wave screen(s) were also measured and subsequently normalised to yield the force coefficients in the analysis. These hydrodynamic coefficients for the respective test cases are presented and discussed in this thesis. The experimental results revealed that even though the solid SCB was a better wave attenuator than the perforated ones, it produced a considerable amount of wave reflection. The perforated SCB with 9% porosity of the front wall (denoted as SCB9) outperformed the other perforated breakwater models; however, it produced high wave transmission when the draft was limited and subjected to longer period waves. Hence, wave screens were added to further enhance the performance of the SCB9. The SCB9 with double screens of 25% porosity was found to provide the highest hydraulic performance. Empirical equations were developed using a multiple regression technique to provide design formulae for wave transmission, wave reflection and horizontal wave forces. The proposed empirical equations showed good agreement with the experimental data. These equations are intended to be of direct use to engineers in predicting the hydrodynamic performance of free surface SCBs. However, sensible engineering judgement must be taken while using these equations as they are based on small scale laboratory tests.

Background: Current management of patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) includes aggressive and expeditious revascularisation, including surgical revascularisation. However, early surgery following ACS is associated with high mortality, as subsequent global ischaemia induced during surgery is imposed on infarcted myocardium. Emerging evidence suggests that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), especially MMP2, may have an important role in the acute myocardial dysfunction seen after global ischaemia-reperfusion injury, by targeting intracellular functional and structural proteins. Aims: To investigate whether MMP2 has a causative role in heart dysfunction when previously infarcted hearts were subjected to further global ischaemia-reperfusion, as occurs in cardiac surgery, with and without cardioplegic protection. Methods and Results: MI was surgically induced in male Wistar rats, (250-350 g body weight) by in vivo ligation of the left anterior descending artery. The animals were recovered for 7 days prior to excision of hearts and isolated Langendorff perfusion, followed by induction of further global ischaemia and reperfusion. The recovery of mechanical function (left ventricular developed pressure: LVDP) of the heart was assessed during reperfusion. MMP2 activity was also measured during the early reperfusion phase in the heart tissues. Infarcted hearts had less capacity to recover function after an additional period of global ischaemia, which was associated with higher MMP2 activity in the infarcted hearts compared to normal hearts. Inhibition of MMP2 improved recovery of function. When an MMP inhibitor was used as an adjunct to St Thomas’ Hospital cardioplegia, there was a trend towards improved recovery if the inhibitor was present before, during and after ischaemia. Conclusion: MMP2 has a role in causing cardiac dysfunction when infarcted hearts were subjected to further global ischaemia-reperfusion. Inhibition of MMP2 resulted in improved recovery of the function of the hearts during reperfusion. With cardioplegia, MMP2 inhibition before, during and after ischaemia was crucial to improve cardioprotection during early reperfusion.

Introduction: The consequences of sustaining a head injury (HI) are varied. Recent research has begun to explore the experience of HI on identity which can, in turn, affect wellbeing. The move into a care home is also associated with changes to identity and wellbeing. Arguably changes to social identity (a form of identity based on membership to social groups) are particularly salient in this setting. Despite this, there have been no studies examining social identity in individuals with severe HI who reside in care homes. Aims: This exploratory study examines the perceptions of adults with severe HI residing in care homes, their relatives and care staff using a social identity framework. Methods: Eight participants from three group perspectives took part in this study (three adults with severe head injuries, two relatives and three staff carers) comprising two participant triads and one participant dyad. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were completed and recorded with each participant on an individual basis. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Three superordinate themes were found: doing as normality, HI as separate from the individual and being a child and an adult. Discussion: Social identity processes of pre-injury identity loss and the acquisition of new social identities relating to the HI and being a resident in a care home are discussed. HI and the care home environment lead to perceptions of the PPs as part of a homogenous group which result in stigmatising interactions. The role of socially meaningful behaviour in mediating perceptions of the PPs is raised as well as the need to acknowledge issues relating to insight and current ability. It is unclear based on the results of this study whether needs relating to identity are met within care homes. Conclusion: The importance of taking an individual approach to explore meaningful social activity for the PPs and the recognition of the importance of this in relatives and carers is highlighted. Further research into interventions for this population and care staff is recommended.

This thesis explores how water infrastructures can be reconfigured in the urban environment to the advantage of human society in the future. It found actor-network theory co-evolutionary pathways between current material configurations and social practices for these reconfigurations. Material configurations include infrastructures, urban form, fixtures, fittings, and water types. Social practices, include existing behaviours, imagined behaviours, desires, and aspirations. This is an important question to answer because there are many places around the world, both in developed and developing countries that currently face inadequate water supplies to serve the needs of their ever growing populations, or conversely flooding due to extreme precipitation or sea level rise. The lower Lea river basin in London is one such area. The large scale engineering solutions of pipes and pumps to control water that have been the typical solution are reaching their limits therefore it is imperative to find other means to manage water in urban environments. This research used an actor-network theory co-evolution framework to understand the existing urban water-cycle, and to find areas of transformation in order to develop actor-network coevolutionary pathways for change. Interviews, group discussions and water diaries were used to investigate the existing conditions and anticipated future changes of both private citizens and water professionals. An iterative process of design synthesis and discussions were repeated twice to test and define the actor-network theory co-evolutionary pathways. This research stretches actor-network theory from its ethnographic beginnings into the realm of the future through design propositions. It found that there were two strongly favoured actor-network theory co-evolutionary pathways for reconfiguring the urban water-cycle in the lower Lea river basin. These were increasing freshwater productivity and transforming waste to resource. These create new water-cycle assemblages that offer advantages to people who face many, yet uncertain, types of water stress in the future.

Mineral scaling poses a far greater problem to any industry that uses or produces water. The quality of water used by industry varies widely and gives rise to numerous scaling problems. Mineral scale formation and deposition on equipment surface causes major flow assurance concerns particularly apparent in the offshore oil and gas industry. An improper of scale management programmes could lead to a rapid mineral scale build up and subsequently significant reductions in productivity and compromises the operational safety of process equipment (i.e. safety valves) as a result of blockage. The result is costly workovers increasing project operating costs (OPEX) due to the need for scale dissolver treatments and significant production losses. As part of scale management programme, it is desirable to be able to quantify the extent of the mineral scale that has deposited on component surface and also to be able to monitor the changes of likelihood that a production fluid will precipitate out mineral scale. The nature of this research is focus on exploring a simple approach or a methodology to detect the mineral scale formed specifically for calcium carbonate on the electrode surface. The application of a submerged impinging jet (SIJ) in conjunction with an electrochemical technique was developed. The development of this technique has been taken into the consideration of advantages and disadvantages of the current available scale detection techniques. Not only has the complexity of equipment and facilities been considered during the development stage, but the data interpretation of the existing technologies has been considered. In general, efforts have concentrated upon strategies to develop and to validate this methodology for the scale coverage on the electrode surface as well as monitoring the scaling tendency through the electrochemical technique measurement. Various verifications and experiments were undertaken to ensure the reliability of the use of electrochemical measurement and SIJ geometry configurations. The influence of surface condition on the sensitivity of this technique were also assessed This technique clearly demonstrated that various levels of mineral deposition on the surface could be quantified. This included the calcium carbonate deposition in the presence and absence of magnesium ions. In this study, a similar SIJ set up configuration was used for scaling tendency measurement to quantify and predict whether scaling will occur in water or brine solution. The scaling tendency results illustrated that there was a good correlation between the saturation ratio and the scaling tendency slope measurement by an electrochemical analysis. The contribution main of this research contributes to a better understanding of the used of SIJ for scale detection, monitoring and quantification of calcium carbonate scale formation.

Diffusion-weighted imaging of small animals at high field strengths is a challenging prospect due to its extreme sensitivity to motion. Periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) was introduced at 9.4T as an imaging method that is robust to motion and distortion. Proton density (PD)-weighted and T2-weighted PROPELLER data were generally superior to that acquired with single-shot, Cartesian and echo planar imaging-based methods in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio and resistance to artifacts. Simulations and experiments revealed that PROPELLER image quality was dependent on the field strength and echo times specified. In particular, PD-weighted imaging at high field led to artifacts that reduced image contrast. In PROPELLER, data are acquired in progressively rotated blades in k-space and combined on a Cartesian grid. PROPELLER with echo truncation at low spatial frequencies (PETALS) was conceived as a post-processing method that improved contrast by reducing the overlap of k-space data from different blades with different echo times. Where the addition of diffusion weighting gradients typically leads to catastrophic motion artifacts in multi-shot sequences, diffusion-weighted PROPELLER enabled the acquisition of high quality, motion-robust data. Applications in the healthy mouse brain and abdomen at 9.4T and in stroke patients at 3T are presented. PROPELLER increases the minimum scan time by approximately 50%. Consequently, methods were explored to reduce the acquisition time. Two k-space undersampling regimes were investigated by examining image fidelity as a function of degree of undersampling. Undersampling by acquiring fewer k-space blades was shown to be more robust to motion and artifacts than undersampling by expanding the distance between successive phase encoding steps. To improve the consistency of undersampled data, the non-uniform fast Fourier transform was employed. It was found that acceleration factors of up to two could be used with minimal visual impact on image fidelity. To reduce the number of scans required for isotropic diffusion weighting, the use of rotating diffusion gradients was investigated, exploiting the rotational symmetry of the PROPELLER acquisition. Fixing the diffusion weighting direction to the individual rotating blades yielded geometry and anisotropy-dependent diffusion measurements. However, alternating the orientations of diffusion weighting with successive blades led to more accurate measurements of the apparent diffusion coefficient while halving the overall acquisition time. Optimized strategies are proposed for the use of PROPELLER in rapid high resolution imaging at high field strength.

MRI of hyperpolarised (HP) gases (³He and 129Xe) allows imaging of the airspaces. In this thesis possible methods of sensitivity improvements for ³He lung MRI are described in detail with examples from phantom and in-vivo studies.

This study explored the management of university-industry collaborations (UICs). Although increasingly important for delivering innovation in many sectors, policy research has expressed concern about the detailed performance of these inter-organisational arrangements. Moreover, although well researched as a knowledge-based economic phenomenon there is much less equivalent managerial research, especially from the perspective of university scientists. Therefore, owing to the paucity of such research, this thesis investigated the adoption of particular project management (PM) practices by university scientists and their subsequent impact on innovative project performance. Four research questions were defined and they were developed, refined and tested within a two-stage process.

Over the past forty years, compelling demands for safer, cleaner and more efficient vehicles have given rise to a drastic increase in the replacement of many traditional mechanical and electrical mechanisms by more advanced electronic systems. Due to their harsh operating environments, automotive electronic systems are subject to failures from thermomechanical stresses and corrosive breakdown, adversely affecting their reliability and lifespan. Furthermore, the development of bus communication protocols for improved control capabilities has prompted wider systems distribution within the restricted space of a vehicle and inadvertently led to higher assembly complexity, increased vehicle weight and manufacturing costs. Despite advancements in the industry, no commercially viable process exists that is capable of providing electronic systems with sufficient robustness for their operating environments while also offering assembly consolidation to enable cost reduction. The primary focus of this thesis is the engineering of a low-cost, single-cycle process for the direct encapsulation of electronic systems within thermoplastic structures, leading to the production of robust, geometrically flexible and ready-to-assemble plastic automotive components with integrated electronics and requisite power distribution.

This thesis describes the research on the implementation of all-optical code generation and recognition based on superstructure fibre Bragg grating (SSFBG) for use in Optical Code Division Multiple Access (OCDMA) systems and also in high-speed all-optical packet switched networks.These results highlight the precision and flexibility of the continuous grating writing process and show that the SSFBG technology represents a promising technology not just for OCDMA but an extended range of other pulse shaping, and associated optical processing applications such as required within optical packet switched networks

Malay seals are defined in this study as 'seals from Southeast Asia with inscriptions at least partially in the Jawi/Arabic script or the Malay language'. Malay seals originate from the present-day territories of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and the southern parts of Thailand and the Philippines. They are found primarily as seal impressions stamped in lampblack, ink or wax on manuscript letters, treaties and other documents, but some seal matrices have also been documented. Just over 1500 Malay seals have been recorded, dating from the early 17th to the early 20th century, and are presented in the accompanying catalogue. Malay seals have never been studied before, despite their enormous value as historical sources, and this thesis is the first study of the sigillography of the Malay world. As small but highly visible and symbolic emblems of their users, seals were designed to portray the image of the self that the sealholder wished to project, but were also no less strongly shaped by the prevailing social, political, religious and artistic norms of their time. It is these multifarious layers of identity, both consciously and subconsciously revealed in seals, that this study attempts to identify, record and interpret. An introductory chapter surveys the use of seals in the Malay world prior to the earliest surviving Malay seals, on the basis of archaeological evidence and textual sources. The core of the thesis is a critical analysis of the seal inscriptions according to their constituent elements: introductory formulae, names and titles, pedigrees, place namesireligious legends and talismanic elements. On the basis of this study, Malay seal inscriptions can be characterised as self-consciously Islamic compositions, which seek to depict the sealholder in the most sophisticated and formal Arabic-Islamic terms, yet whose Malay identity is never in doubt. In an epilogue, the seals are re-evaluated from a chronological viewpoint, in an investigation into the origins and development of the Malay seal tradition. The conclusion reached is that Malay seals were probably first used in the early Muslim kingdoms of north Sumatra, at least by the 14th century, but may have been introduced further east in the archipelago as late as the early 17th century.

This research thesis reports the development of a novel concept for Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) analysis - Composition Theory of Stress Intensity Factor Weight Functions (CToWF). A generic closed form composition model has been derived to generate Mode I SIFs for an edge crack propagating in a symmetrically loaded two-dimensional body. The CToWF concept has demonstrated, by verification with published solutions and Finite Element Analysis (FEA), that the SIF weight function for a new cracked body can be evaluated by isolating and combining appropriate constituent geometries. Being a unique property of crack and component geometry, the newly determined weight function enables rapid generation of SIFs for the same cracked component under different stress systems. Over two thousand Finite Element (FE) models were analysed to provide constituent geometrical configurations and to validate the SIFs calculated from the CToWF model where published solutions were not available. These are Mode I SIFs for edge cracks emanating from two-dimensional notches i.e. semi-elliptical, U- and V-notches in semi-infinite bodies along with their associated stress distributions. Hence, a comprehensive database has been established. Using the versatile composition model with the database, a large number of new SIF solutions for edge cracks from equivalent notches in finite bodies have been obtained. This 'Library' of geometric influences, which are presented as weight function coefficients in tabular form, can now be composed by the CToWF approach to generate SIFs for modelling crack propagation through residual stress fields and other complex stress systems. In general, this universal approach, which is easy-to-implement yet maintaining high accuracy, has tremendous potential in allowing rapid assessment of defects prone to linear elastic fracture behaviour via the evaluation of SIFs. Further work to enhance the understanding of this novel concept is proposed to develop a broader practical use in real engineering applications.

This thesis is a detailed case study about employee fraud in a bank in Malaysia. As this bank is set up by the Government in 1965, the fraud has political implications. This thesis discusses the internal structure of the organization as well as the political and social climate conducive to fraud and corruption in Malaysia. Two other major financial fraud cases in Malaysia will be discussed as comparative case studies. Fraud and corruption trends in other countries will also be discussed to illustrate that the Malaysian case is not a unique one. In chapter one, a theoretical framework suitable for the studies of crime in developing countries will be formulated. In Malaysia, the historical development of the country is important. Chapter two introduces the concepts and definitions of crimes at the workplace, in particular fraud. Chapter three tries to trace the detailed movements of the funds that were defrauded in the Bumiputra Malaysian Finance Limited (BMF) case. In doing so, they give a good idea of how frauds can occur and how they can be prevented. Chapter four is an analysis of the BMF case. The chapter is divided into two sections. The first section is the micro-analysis which deals with the structure of the organisation that is problematic. The second section is the macro-analysis which deals with the wider political and social structure that is problematic. Chapter five is on the comparative case studies which tries to establish the trend of how public organisations can be defrauded in Malaysia. A comparison with other countries will also show that the Malaysian case is not a unique one. Chapter six deals with the overall commercial crime scenario in Malaysia. Chapter seven tries to give some suggestions on combating and preventing fraud. The thesis is concluded with chapter eight.

Neuropsychiatric (NP) symptoms are relatively common in patients with SLE. The diverse and dramatic clinical presentations, the unclear pathogenesis, the lack of diagnostic test/s and uncertainties about the optimal management are some problems facing a clinician. When serum anti P antibodies were claimed to be highly correlated to lupus psychosis, this needed confirmation. An ELISA for measuring anti P antibodies was developed and validated. The prevalence of anti P antibodies was determined in different patient groups in a large retrospective study. Although anti P antibodies were highly specific for SLE, there was no correlation between the presence of these antibodies and lupus psychosis or other NP symptoms. Two prospective studies were carried out to eliminate any bias in our retrospective study. In one, none of the patients developed psychosis and these antibodies were not found to be specific for lupus depression or anxiety. In the other, anti P antibodies were measured in Malaysian Chinese SLE patients. No correlation was found between these antibodies and NP-SLE but a high prevalence of these antibodies was demonstrated in this group. Genetic studies showed that there was an increase in HLA-Dr2w16X subtype allele in anti P-positive patients but this did not reach significance. The usefulness of measuring antineuronal antibodies in helping to diagnose NP-SLE was examined but these antibodies were not better indicators of NP-SLE. Although the clinical correlations of anti P antibodies remain controversial, anti P antibodies were found to selectively bind to neuroblastoma cell surfaces in vitro but the nature of the surface antigen was not determined. Finally, sera from patients with lupus psychosis were found to significantly influence the response of neuroblastoma cells to agonist-induced stimulation and if confirmed, would offer an explanation for the reversible changes in cell function associated with psychiatric lupus.

The problem: Many previous studies have pointed out that EFL learners tend to face communication breakdowns with native speakers because their traditional classroom and textbooks are not able to provide learners with sufficient pragmatically appropriate input (Bardovi-Harlig, 1996; Rose, 1994, 1997). On the contrary, they are exposed to rich input of grammar instruction and tend to develop a higher awareness of grammatical competence (Niezgoda & Rover, 2001). Therefore, EFL learners may produce utterances that are perfectly grammatical, but they may violate social norms of the target language because they lack pragmatic competence (appropriateness of meaning) to support grammatical competence (appropriateness of form) (Thomas, 1983; Leech, 1983; Bardovi-Harlig & Dornyei, 1998). Method: A total of 294 Taiwanese university EFL students participated in this study including 106 males and 188 females from four different universities in Taiwan. Their mean age was 19.32 years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between Taiwanese students' frequency of use of language learning strategies in the four areas of communicative competence (grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence) and their pragmatic and grammatical awareness. Two kinds of data eliciting instruments were employed: (1) the Pragmatic and Grammaticality Judgment Task modified from Bardovi-Harlig and Dornyei's (1998) study and (2) the Language Learning Strategies for Communicative Competence modified from Oxford's (1990) SILL and Canale and Swain's (1980) and Canale's (1983) four-component model of communicative competence. Data analysis included descriptive statistics for Research Question one and two, and a Pearson correlation for Research Questions three and four. Results: The results reveal that Taiwanese EFL students' pragmatic error recognition is significantly correlated with grammatical, discourse, and strategic competence strategies; however, it is not correlated with sociolinguistic competence strategies. Additionally, Taiwanese students' pragmatic severity rating is significantly correlated with the four categories of strategies (grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence strategies). Furthermore, the results indicate that Taiwanese university EFL students' grammatical awareness (both error recognition and severity ratings), is not significantly correlated with any of the four categories of learning strategies. Conclusion: The results reveal that Taiwanese university students' pragmatic awareness has a significant correlation with language learning strategies. Therefore, it is suggested that students should adopt multiple strategies to enhance their communicative competence. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The quasi-static penetration of a cone penetrometer into clay can be formulated as a steady state problem by considering a steady flow of soil past a stationary cone. The soil velocities are estimated from the flow field of an inviscid fluid, and the incompressibility condition is achieved by adopting a stream function formulation. Emphasis is placed on obtaining an accurate velocity estimate and this is accomplished by a solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. The strain rates are evaluated from the flow field using a finite difference scheme. The clay is modelled as a homogeneous incompressible elastic-perfectly plastic material and the soil stresses are computed by integrating along streamlines from some initial stress state in the upstream region. These stresses do not in general obey the equilibrium equations, although one of the two equations can be satisfied by an appropriate choice of the mean stress. Several attempts have been made to use the remaining equilibrium equation to obtain an improved velocity estimate and three plausible iterative methods are detailed in this thesis. In a second study, a series of finite element calculations on the cone penetration problem is performed. In modelling the penetration process, the cone is introduced in a pre-formed hole and some initial stresses assumed in the soil, incremental displacements are then applied to the cone until a failure condition is reached. Although the equilibrium condition is satisfied very closely in the finite element calculations, it is extremely difficult to achieve a steady state solution. In a third series of computations, the stresses evaluated by the strain path method are used as the starting condition for the finite element analysis. This is believed to give the most realistic solution of the cone penetration problem because both the steady state and equilibrium conditions are approximately satisfied. Numerically derived cone factors are presented and these are found to depend on the rigidity index of the soil and the in situ stresses. The pore pressure distribution in the soil around the penetrometer is estimated using Henkel's empirical equation. The dissipation analysis is based on Terzaghi's uncoupled consolidation theory. The governing equation is formulated in the Alternating-Direction-Implicit finite difference scheme. This formulation is unconditionally stable and variable time steps are used to optimise the solution procedure. The dissipation curves are found to be significantly affected by the rigidity index of the soil and a dimensionless time factor is proposed to account for this effect.

This thesis deals with the detection of hidden objects using a short-range frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar. The detection is carried out by examining the estimated Power Spectral Density (PSD) functions of sampled returns, the peaks of which theoretically correspond to the reflecting surfaces of hidden objects. Fourier and non-Fourier PSD estimation algorithms are applied to the radar returns to extract information on the hidden surfaces. The Fourier methods used are Direct, Blackman-Tukey, Bartlett, and Smoothed Periodograms. The different PSDs are compared, and the validity of each PSD is then discussed. The study is new for this type of radar and the results are used as references for other PSD estimations. Non-Fourier methods offer many advantages. Firstly the Autoregressive Process (AR) is used for this particular application. As well as PSDs the noise spectra are also produced to show the performance of the chosen models. An alternative approach to the conventional forward-backward residuals ( e. g. Burg's method) or autocorrelation and covariance methods ( as those used in speech analysis ) is introduced in this thesis. The stability and good resolution of the PSDs is obtained by a better estimation of the autocovariance coefficients (ACF) from the data available : averaging two p-shifted ACF calculated by covariance method. Once the covariance coefficients are found, the Levinson-Durbin recursive algorithm is used to get the model parameters and the PSDs. Two other non-conventional methods are also attempted to show the image of hidden objects. They are Pisarenko Harmonic Decomposition method and Prony energy spectrum density estimation. In addition to the one-dimensional processing stated above, this thesis extends it to two-dimensional cases, which give more information on the shape of hidden objects.

With a fast-approaching climate crisis, it is now more urgent than ever to realize and expand new renewable energy sources. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) are an emerging technology that has the potential for widespread application in building integrated photovoltaic applications. This technology makes use of quantum dots (QD) embedded in polymer sheets on glass to absorb ultraviolet (UV), visible and near-infrared light for electricity generation, while at the same time maintaining the semi-transparent nature of the glass, allowing for applications as windows. This enables solar energy to be further implemented onto vertical facades in dense cities where roof space is highly limited for current solar panel technology, but energy demand is high. PbS QDs are ideal materials for such applications as it absorbs a wide spectral range, maximizing the light absorption and power conversion performance. There still remain various challenges to large scale applications of PbS QD LSCs, such as the less than ideal photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of PbS and PbS/CdS QDs, and light reabsorption that severely limit the performance of the LSC. This thesis presents various synthesis methods to synthesize PbS and PbS/CdS QDs with high PLQY and its performance is evaluated in LSCs. High PLQY PbS QDs are synthesized based on the use of highly pure Pb-oleate precursors, improving the PLQY from 44% to 71%. High PLQY PbS/CdS QDs are also developed based on the formation of an alloyed PbCdS core-shell, reducing defects at the core-shell interface and further enhancing the PLQY to 85% and achieving a long excitation lifetime of 3.82 μs. This translates into an improved LSC optical efficiency of 8.26%.