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Nowadays, technology evolution is essential for business growth. However, there are still loopholes in adopting technology in microbusinesses, especially amongst women microentrepreneurs. Less exposure to knowledge and experience has deterred them from adopting technology. This study examines the relationship between technology adoption readiness among women microentrepreneurs in Malaysia as a key growth contributor for women microbusinesses. Three sub-objectives are (i) to identify the technology adoption readiness of women microentrepreneurs, (ii) to examine the relationship between technology adoption readiness, business model innovation, and their technology readiness, and (iii) to investigate the mediating effects of business model innovation between the technology adoption readiness and their technology readiness. This quantitative study distributed the survey questions to 421 women microentrepreneurs from five regions in Malaysia through digital platforms (i.e., WhatsApp, email, and Telegram). This study selected the respondents through non-probability sampling and analysed the data through descriptive, Pearson-correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analyses. The innovation factor has the highest mean and standard deviation, followed by optimism, insecurity and discomfort. The correlation coefficient for business model innovation and technology ready women microentrepreneurs is r = 0.495, p < 0.01, meanwhile r = 0.577, p < 0.01 for business model innovation and technology adoption readiness and r = 0.488, p < 0.01 for technology adoption readiness and technology ready women microentrepreneurs. Technology adoption readiness is significant and positively related to both technology ready women microentrepreneurs and business model innovation. Next, business model innovation is significant and positively allied with technology ready women microentrepreneurs. Multiple regressions also reveal that after mediating variable business model innovation was considered, the β weight for technology adoption readiness was also significant. Thus, business model innovation acts as a partial mediator in the association between technology adoption readiness and technology ready women microentrepreneurs. There is no proof to reject the hypothesis v of H3. Business model innovation mediates the relationship between technology adoption readiness and technology ready women microentrepreneurs. This study contributes to theoretical development by demonstrating that business model innovation mediates the readiness for technology adoption and technology ready women microentrepreneurs. This study also designs intervention programmes to improve technology adoption readiness and technology ready women microentrepreneurs. Thus, they can improve their business performance by revisiting their business plans and strengthening technology usage.

A successful worldwide implementation of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage largely relies on the establishment of a safe and reliable CO₂ transmission network. CO₂ shipping hereby represents a promising transport option, characterised by a high degree of flexibility in sink-source matching. This study addressed some key knowledge gaps that currently pose a limitation on large-scale commercialisation of this technology by providing information on operational and maintenance challenges in the chain. Firstly, an extensive review of technological advancements and future projections in large scale CO₂ shipping drew the attention to the fact that key technical challenges still need to be addressed in both pipeline and sea vessel systems in order to establish a worldwide network of CO₂ transport infrastructure. In particular, significant dearth concerns the adoption of appropriate safety protocols during accidental scenarios and selection of suitable materials to ensure integrity of transport infrastructure throughout real operations. Thus, an experimental lab scale rig was built and commissioned, capable of handling refrigerated carbon dioxide batches (up to 2.25 L) at conditions typical of sea vessel transport (~0.7 - 2.7 MPa, 223 - 259 K); the facility was designed to permit investigation of accidental leakage behaviour and to determine the qualification assessment of elastomer materials exposed under real shipping conditions. A technical qualification of elastomer materials for CO₂ transport systems was then performed with the aim of assessing their suitability in the intended systems and propensity for degradation. Such elastomers are used as seals in pressure- relief valves, providing elastomer-to-metal shutoff and eliminating leakage around stem during relief mode. Samples previously tested under pipeline conditions (9.5 MPa, 318 K) at exposure times of 50 - 400 h were characterised for a visual inspection, mechanical and thermo-analytical properties. Based on the suitable performance of the elastomers under such pipeline conditions, Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer was selected for testing under operations typical of CO₂ shipping; constrained (25% compression) samples thereby underwent 20 - 100 CO₂ loading and offloading cycles at average decompression rates of 1.6 MPa/min; tested materials were then qualified through the aforementioned characterisation methodology, demonstrating a satisfactory resistance to rapid gas decompression and mechanical stability. A detailed experimental campaign was considered to assess the accidental leakage behaviour of CO₂ under shipping conditions; the main risks associated with CO₂ are asphyxiation due to displacement of oxygen to critically low levels, and exposure to concentrations of 15% or above in air are deemed life threating due to toxicological impacts on humans. The study highlighted that selection of initial fluid conditions significantly affects the propensity for solid formation in the vessel and blockages in the pipe section, thus resulting in significantly diverse leakage behaviours. Low-pressure decompression tests (0.7 - 0.94 MPa) resulted in the highest amount of inventory solidification (36 - 39 wt%) while high- pressure decompression scenarios (1.8 - 2.65 MPa) demonstrated the lowest (17 - 22 wt%). Lastly, a real-scale investigation on liquid CO₂ discharge from the coupler of an emergency release system was undertaken in order to scrutinise the applicability of such spillage containment measure to CO₂ shipping operations. The study focused on two refrigerated states, namely low- (0.87 - 0.94 MPa, 227 - 231 K) and medium-pressure conditions (1.62 - 1.65 MPa, 239 - 240 K) typical of shipping transport; findings demonstrated the presence of an abrupt outflow behaviour, characterised by full inventory discharge form the coupler in less than 1 s and achievement of peak depressurisation rates of 6 MPa/s. Moreover, the discharge behaviour showed considerable variations in relation to the selected initial conditions.

Similar to other healthcare systems worldwide, Kuwait faces challenges of increased demand and cost while trying to operate with constrained resources. There are some data suggesting that Lean methodology, first used by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota, could improve system efficiency or flow by waste elimination, may be useful in addressing some of the challenges found in healthcare. Lean has so far not been used in Kuwaiti primary healthcare centres. This thesis explores the case for using Lean in Kuwait by examines issues around diabetes, as Kuwait rank the six highest in the world. In Kuwait, patients with diabetes are mainly managed in primary healthcare centres. The case for using Lean was explored across five interrelated studies which are summarised below: Study 1 involved a review of the literature which found that Lean tools have been used mostly in hospital settings without any rigorous evaluation and with little or no attention paid to primary healthcare or in developing countries. Study 2 was a systematic documentary review of the challenges facing the healthcare system of Kuwait. In Kuwait, expenditure on healthcare services is expected to double within five years. Life expectancy is increasing, while the percentage of the elderly population is growing, leading to increasing demand of services to treat non-communicable disease such as diabetes. Kuwait still sends many of its patients overseas for treatment. Currently, 10 mega projects worth approximately 2 billion Kuwaiti Dinar are being constructed in Kuwait that will result in a doubling of the bed capacity. However, the average occupancy rate between 2006 to 2015 was 63.6%, which is considered low compared to the average occupancy rate in European Union countries. Study 3 sought the views of Kuwaiti healthcare leaders about Lean and challenges facing the healthcare system of Kuwait. The key findings were: (1) Most leaders agreed that the current healthcare system in Kuwait faces difficult challenges and needs to change its management approach; (2) Lean as a management approach is considered a new concept among leaders of Kuwaiti healthcare organisations; (3) They did not have adequate knowledge regarding Lean but were willing to support any future Lean improvement initiatives. Study 4 explored the knowledge of Healthcare Workers regarding Lean within Kuwait's primary healthcare centres through a cross-sectional survey in four primary healthcare centres. Only 11% of participants were familiar with Lean. None of the participants were involved or had an ongoing Lean initiative or project but 80% of participants were willing to be involved in future Lean initiatives. Study 5 mapped the flow of patients with type 2 diabetes in primary healthcare centres to identify potential waste and make recommendations for improvement. Patients with type 2 diabetes typically visit their General Practitioner at least every two months for a review appointment. When a blood test is required to monitor blood sugar levels, three more visits are required, involving the blood test, collection of test results by the patient and a review of the results with the general practitioner. Four potential improvements were identified: using point of care testing, the posting of laboratory results to general practitioner computer systems, the introduction of guidelines that standardise the practice for the patient's visit and permitting the general practitioner to prescribe medication that will last four months. The process map of patients with type 2 diabetes has highlighted waste and improvement suggestions that may reduce workload, enhance patient satisfaction, avoid unnecessary visits, enhance the timeliness of laboratory testing, improve communication between and across departments and minimise the use of resources without undermining the quality of care. These suggestions, if implemented on the national level, could bring tremendous benefits but still need to be rigorously evaluated. The thesis concludes by noting that there is considerable potential in adopting Lean to improve the healthcare services in Kuwait, but further work is required to implement the changes and rigorously evaluate them.

The use of concrete is associated with immense negative environmental impacts. More than 50 billion tonnes of aggregates are extracted annually for use in concrete, which presents high risks of depleting natural resources. Moreover, concrete has an embodied carbon footprint of 350 kg eq CO2/m3 on average of which 90% is attributable to the production of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Although this is less than that of steel and most polymers per unit mass, the intensive use of concrete results in an alarming 7% share of the global carbon emissions. Therefore, increasing interest is being directed towards producing sustainable concrete. Conducting a Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely accepted tool to assess and compare the acclaimed environmental gains of these sustainable concrete types, while calculating the base line cost of each of these mixes could suffice for economic comparisons. However, sustainability is a multifaceted concept and in order to validate the sustainable of a concrete mix, multi criteria sustainability frameworks are needed. The critical examination of the only two frameworks found in the literature that fits this description, MARS-SC and CONCRETop, showed the need to develop a new one that covers their gaps, which inspired the main contribution in this PhD project. A novel ECOnomic and ECOlogical assessment framework for concrete (hence the name ECO2 which also refers to the symbolic carbon dioxide formula) was created with the following distinguishing features: 1. The scope specified for the LCA study is selected as Cradle-to-Grave in order to account for the whole life cycle of concrete. Therefore, the LCA inventory data, for which sitespecific primary data is prioritized, would include upstream data such as the impact allocation from previous processes from which the raw materials originated and downstream data such as the demolition and disposal impact of concrete. 2. The ECO2 framework considers the amount of carbon sequestration, which is the term used to describe how much carbon dioxide is absorbed by concrete from the environment. The accurate calculation of the carbon footprint of a concrete mix is vital for its absolute environmental impact assessment, but would soon in the near future also affect its economic impact when carbon taxation becomes a normal practice. Aside from filling the technical gaps of the sustainability assessment method, the main contribution the ECO2 framework brings is a shift in the philosophy related to the inclusion of the concrete performance in the process. In both reviewed frameworks (MARS-SC and CONCRETop), concrete performance is assessed as a separate pillar of sustainability perpetuating that the higher performance is rewarded with a higher sustainability index value. Instead, the ECO2 framework brings forward a two layered performance based methodology that promotes a value of resource efficiency. First, the user sets a minimum requirement for the workability and strength depending on the project specifications. The second layer is to correlate the expected service life of each qualifying concrete mix to the required service life of the concrete application within the project through a factor N. This factor, for which the minimum value is 1, is then multiplied by the functional unit used for the LCA to ensure that the economic and ecological assessment are not only accurate but also truly reflective of sustainability. An MS excel tool was also developed to self-validate the ECO2 framework in what could be labelled as a methodical contribution. Finally, three case studies were conducted using the newly developed ECO2 framework as follows: 1. The first case study was experimental using electric arc furnace slag as a precursor for alkali activated concrete and comparing its ECO2 sustainability index to a basic alkali activated concrete mix based on fly ash as a precursor. The case study showed that the deterioration in the mechanical properties of the novel alkali activated slag concrete largely overshadow the ecological and economic merits of recycling it. 2. The second case study was analytical using a database of more than 2500 data points to predict and hence optimize the functional, environmental and economic performance of blended cement concrete using the ECO2 framework. The mixes included varying combinations of five different types of SCMs based on plain and reinforced concrete scenarios of different strength and service life requirements. 3. The final case study was prepared to investigate an issue facing the UK Green concrete market which is the need to shut down all coal operated electrical power plants by 2022 and the subsequent absence of fly ash. The case study used the ECO2 framework to compare between importing fly ash from China, Germany and recycling locally existing stockpiled fly ash in the UK. The vital parameter in the comparison was the environmental and economic impact resulting from the transportation of fly ash from its source to the location of the concrete batch plant in the UK.

This work was dedicated to development of novel biosensing technologies for detection of toxic chemicals, such as heavy metals, pesticides and petrochemicals, which possess a serious threat to humans and all living organisms in our planet nowadays. This was the main motivation for research in such important field. In the present work a novel approach in detection of heavy metal salts (HgCl2, PbCl2, ZnCl2 and CdCl2), pesticides (atrazine, simazine, DDVP), and petro-chemicals (hexane, octane, pentane, toluene, pyrene and ethanol) dissolved in water was proposed. It is based on a concept of inhibition sensor array utilising different whole bacteria cells. The main aim of this project is to develop novel, simple and cost-effective biosensing technologies for in-field detection of the above pollutants in water which effectively reduce the time and cost of analysis. Electrochemical detection appeared to be the most suitable for such task. In this project, three types of bacteria, e.g. Escherichia coli, Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) or Methylosinus trichosporium (OB3b) and Shewanella oneidensis, were selected because of their different inhibition patterns. The concentration of live bacteria (which is an indicator of the presence of pollutants) was first characterised by the optical analytical methods of optical density OD600, fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. The main findings of this study were the facts that E. coli (K12 strain, gram-negative bacteria) are very sensitive to all above mentioned pollutants; methanotrophic bacteria (Mc. capsulatus Bath & Ms. trichosporium OB3b) appeared to be more resistant to petrochemicals; while S. oneidensis (MR-1 strain, gram negative bacteria) are more tolerant to heavy metals. A series of AC and DC electrochemical measurements were carried out on the same bacteria samples. As a first step, a correlation between optical and electrochemical characteristics of bacteria concentration in solution was established. The study of the effect of heavy metals, pesticides and petrochemicals on DC and electrical characteristics of bacteria in suspension revealed a similar inhibition pattern as was found in optical study. Then a similar study was carried out on samples of bacteria immobilized on the surface of screen-printed electrodes, which is more suitable for sensing applications. The results of DC (cyclic voltammograms) and AC (impedance spectroscopy) measurements were consistent with previous studies. A possibility of pattern recognition of pollutants by their inhibition effects on the selected bacteria was found. The classes of pollutants, e.g. heavy metals, pesticides, and petrochemicals, can be identified from pseudo-3D graphs of responses of the three sensing channels, e.g. electrodes with different immobilized bacteria. Much more accurate assessment of pollutants was achieved with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) software which was developed using MatLab. ANN programme was capable of both the identification of pollutants with 91% accuracy and rough estimation of their concentrations in five bands from 0.01 ng/ml to 1000 ng/ml (ppb). The developed bacteria sensor array could be suitable for simple, inexpensive, and quick preliminary in-field detection (screening) of water samples. The suspected highly contaminated samples could be easily identified and passed to specialized laboratories for further more detailed testing. In such way, the time and cost of analysis could be substantially reduced. In addition to the inhibition sensor array utilising non-specific bio-receptors such as bacteria, the electrochemical detection of heavy metal ions (Hg2+ and Pb2+) was attempted using novel highly specific aptamer bio-receptors labelled with redox groups. Such experiments were successful; the above metal ions in very low concentrations down to 1 pg/ml (or 1 ppt) were detected using both cyclic voltammograms and impedance spectroscopy. The affinity of the aptamers used was found to be very high and similar to that of antibodies. Additional advantages of aptamers were their high stability and simple recovery by thermo-cycling. Considering fast evolvement of aptamer research, their advantages and low cost, the development of aptasensor arrays for accurate detection of large number of pollutants is possible in near future.

This study aims to examine why and how specific sites are prioritised and others are marginalised in the planning and development of urban areas. In doing so, it develops a framework for analysing the rationales, spatial constructs, practices and the role of different actors in the articulation of priority development areas (PDAs), and testing it in the context of new cities in Egypt. The conceptual framework underpinning this study is rooted in assemblage thinking. The lens of the virtual and actual are mobilised to examine the multiple spatial imaginaries attached to different PDAs. The PDA assemblage framework identified three critical components necessary to understanding its formulation in different contexts. This includes: 1) the 'codification processes' practised through specific regulations, planning systems, institutional arrangements and technological tools, 2) the 'milieu' through which the scope of PDAs is defined, in addition to the spatial networks and scales framing the selection of sites, and 3) the state and non-state 'actors' and their capacities to mobilise certain imaginaries and PDAs through particular geometries of power. Drawing on empirical investigation of the Sixth of October new city in Egypt, the thesis illustrates the multiple interfaces between the three components, and their enabling and constraining effects on imaginary making and PDA implementation. Documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine how PDAs are perceived by policy elites, practitioners, investors and local communities. The analysis revealed three successive waves of urban-based imaginaries that emerged and retreated through the development of the city. Each imaginary focused on one of the three components as a leading rationale underpinning the making of PDAs. The first imaginary focused on the milieu of the Sixth of October city as a vanguard urban centre in the desert intended to help rebalance the Egyptian urban system in areas beyond the urbanised Nile Valley. PDAs were defined according to a blueprint land-use plan, while focusing on the physical structure of the city and its territorial separation from Cairo. Rooted in the socialist era, this plan depended on bureaucratic institutional arrangements and state finance. A challenge to the public funded urban development that characterised the first wave enabled a second imaginary to emerge, and shifted the focus on the roles and capacities of different types of actors, largely from the private sector, to drive growth. Underpinned by a neoliberal agenda, PDAs were articulated through close arrangements between elite political and market actors who led a real estate boom during the 2000s. After a period of flexible regulation and loose planning processes, a third imaginary emerged through a new strategic plan for the city. Informed by the planning system reforms in 2008, the new planning law articulated a participatory mechanism to define PDAs. However, the power of political and market actors to lead specific PDAs, weak institutional arrangements, a marginalised planning system, and a durable socio-spatial morphology were critical in undermining the efficiency and effectiveness of the strategic plan in actualising and coordinating PDAs across the city. The research concludes that while the milieu, codification processes and actors are pivotal components in the making of PDAs, their relative importance and capacities are reassembled according to the particular diagrams that hold them together to achieve certain political, economic, social or developmental goals.

Spectral efficiency is one of the most important measures of the performance of wireless communication systems owing to scarcity and cost of the radio spectrum. The increase in spectral efficiency provides higher data rates to the user, lower network cost to the operator, coverage extension and higher service reliability as well. Intercell interference due to frequency reuse is one of the key impairments in wireless systems. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique has been developed to enhance the desired signal power (and hence mitigating the effects of intercell interference) and with employing simple linear signal processing technique, can strongly mitigate the interference resulting from co-channel users. This technique is mainly used to achieve spatial diversity for boosting the communication link reliability by combating fading, and providing spatial multiplexing to increase data rates without extra bandwidth by exploiting multipath. Distributed antenna system (DAS) has recently gained substantial interest due to its ability to reduce transmitted power thereby lowering the out-of-cell interference effects, maximise the coverage and improve the spectral efficiency. The combination of MIMO techniques with DAS, so-called distributed MIMO (D-MIMO) systems, is now being exploited and largely succeeded to fulfil the services of the fourth generation (4G) wireless systems. Very recently, one of crucial significance approach to reducing the radiated power and improving spectral efficiency to cope with fifth generation (5G) wireless systems is the use of large-scale MIMO (also referred to as massive MIMO) technology, which utilizes a large number of antennas, i.e., tens to hundreds, typically at the base station (BS) side. Presently, in the light of the rapid evolution of wireless systems into 5G, the integration of wireless power transfer (WPT) with newly wireless systems has seen a great deal of attention as a potential solution for powering energy-constrained wireless systems, especially with shortening communication links by emerging new technologies, e.g., D-MIMO and massive MIMO. This thesis is devoted to investigating and comparing the performance of three different MIMO systems. More specifically, the thesis focuses on analysing the spectral efficiency of a comprehensive model of self-powered MU-MIMO systems employing linear ZF technique at the BS for both perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI) cases. The results demonstrate the impact of practical channel impairments, e.g., spatial correlation, shadowing and co-channel interference (CCI), and system parameters, e.g., the number of BS and user antennas, signal to noise ratio (SNR) and channel estimation error, on the spectral efficiency of the system. Besides, from a spectral efficiency perspective, a proposed model of a combination of MIMO and massive MIMO technologies with DAS in the presence of linear receivers at the processing unit (PU) is considered and compared to a centralised MIMO (CMIMO) system. The obtained results provide a wide range of insights into the effects of system parameters on the spectral efficiency and reveal that the proposed distributed MIMO system outperforms the C-MIMO system. In the context of wireless powered MIMO systems, this work investigates the performance of a power beacon (PB)-assisted wireless powered C-MIMO system, including one multi-antenna BS and a number of single-antenna users powered by randomly deployed PBs in the presence of ZF receiver at the BS. Also, two modes for radiation from the PBs are assumed and compared, one is the beamforming radiation mode (BRM), and the other is the isotropic radiation mode (IRM).

The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of novel cytokine antagonists, tumour necrosis factor-alpha antagonist (Etanercept) and interleukin-1 antagonist (Anakinra), and interleukin-10 anti-inflammatory cytokine on the inflammatory response at the site of peripheral nerve injury, in order to establish their potential contribution on nerve regeneration and determine their potential effect on the reduction or prevention of neuropathic pain. The outcome measures of functional nerve recovery were assessed using a combination of electrophysiology to determine the rate of axon regeneration, immunohistochemistry to study immune cell immunoreactivity and their related pain markers expression, and analysis of gait coordination to determine nerve function. In addition, axonal tracing was used to quantity regenerated nerve fibres following nerve conduit repair. The results showed that the peripheral application of interleukin-1 antagonist and combination treatment of interleukin-10 and tumour necrosis factoralpha antagonist at the time of nerve repair was significantly effective in downregulating macrophage immunoreactivity at the site of nerve injury and repair. Application also decreased expression of GFAP and IBA-1 positive glial cells in the spinal cord. Results showed that interleukin-1 antagonist or tumour necrosis factoralpha antagonist, as single therapies did not appear to significantly improve the regenerative potential of injured axons after nerve repair. However, application of a combined therapy of tumour necrosis factor-alpha antagonist and interleukin-10 greatly improved recovery, possibly due to reduced immune response and scar tissue formation. Following poly-caprolactone nerve conduit repair, axonal tracing revealed that regenerating axons took a more uniform path in the regeneration process, following treatment with tumour necrosis factor-alpha antagonist, when compared with the sterile water treatment, where many axons displayed a disorganized pattern of regeneration. However, no significant difference in nerve function recovery was observed between the two groups. The findings contained in this work provide new insights into the role of inflammatory cytokines on functional nerve recovery and the development of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury. These agents demonstrate potential as therapeutic strategies for the treatment of peripheral nerve injures.

This thesis is about estimating the surface coverages (Г) of immobilised redox molecules at modified electrode surfaces using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique less sensitive than DPV technique because of the background current that can obscure the Faradaic current of the attached redox molecules. As a result, CV technique less sensitive for measurements of low surface concentrations of immobilised redox species. This is not the case for DPV. Currently, there is no specific agreed procedure to determine the surface coverages by DPV. Thus to establish the method to determine the surface coverages of immobilised redox molecules at the surface of the electrode by DPV measurement was a prime interest in this research. Secondary to that point, exploring a new strategy in preparing chemically modified electrodes in order to obtain a better surface coverages of covalently immobilised redox molecules at electrode surfaces was also an aim of this thesis. Enhanced DPV currents were obtained when an external resistance (Rext) of suitable magnitude was added in the DPV cell circuit for electrode modified with either for organic, DNA labelled or inorganic redox systems. This motivated us to develop an experimental model for estimating the DPV surface coverages (ГDPV, exp) of attached redox molecules at electrode surfaces at suitable Rext. Moreover, a simple equation for estimating the ΓDPV, exp based on DPV parameters is presented in this study and shown to work well, given several underlying assumptions. Our approach makes use of an additional Rext in the DPV cell circuit and several non-adjustable DPV parameters. Subsequently, the ΓDPV, exp of immobilised redox probes can be estimated by integrating the area under the oxidation peak of the differential pulse voltammograms (DPVs) at a suitable Rext. The experimental approach was verified by numerical modelling using a specially developed DPV simulation in MATLAB. The electrochemical parameters used for the DPV simulation, such as uncompensated solution resistance in an electrochemical cell (Ru), double layer capacitance (Cdl) and electrode kinetics (ks and α) were obtained from cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements made on the modified electrodes. Good agreement was obtained between the experimental DPV and the simulations. The second part of this thesis was focused on extracting thermodynamic and kinetic parameters such as the standard potential (E°), the diffusion coefficient (Do), surface coverages, the rate constant for adsorption (kA), the rate constant for homogenous reaction (kH), the rate of electron transfer (ks), and the transfer coefficient (α) for the electrochemical grafting of primary amine linkers onto GC electrode surfaces by numerical simulation. These parameters are impossible to access by experimental approaches. The grafting process was performed in two different solvents; by electrochemical grafting from neat ACN and by electrochemical grafting in a mixed solvent of ACN and sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3). In the case of the mixed-solution method, the ratio of ACN to NaHCO3 was 4:1. The primary amine of the EDA-Boc molecule was studied as an experimental model in this work. Using a specially developed CV simulation for inhibiting species at the surface of the electrode, the experimental CVs for the electrochemical grafting of EDA-Boc in the two solutions were simulated. Good agreement between experimental CV and the simulated CV was obtained. Moreover, this simulation allows us to extract the aforementioned parameters, which are not electrochemically accessible. To investigate the effect of the presence of NaHCO3 on immobilised EDA-Boc at the surface of GC electrodes, the anthraquinone (AQ) was covalently coupled to the grafted EDA (after removal of the Boc group). The CV and DPV surface coverages of covalently attached AQ on the EDA linker based on the two methods of electrografting were compared. The developed DPV simulation was also employed in this work in order to show the utility and flexibility. A good agreement between experimental and simulated DPV was achieved.

The use of polymeric power cables for high voltage direct current HVDC has become increasingly popular for renewable power sources such as offshore wind farms. The long term reliability of polymeric cables operating under DC conditions is still unknown and therefore of concern to the industry. However, there is no an explicit consideration of how the injected charges can cause effects to the prediction of the life-time. Thus, it is important to develop an ageing model can assist of understanding the effect of these charges on the insulating material. Regarding to the polymeric material that are used as an electrical insulation, the presence of space charges could be the consequence of material degradations that are thermally activated and accelerated by the presence of electric field. The dynamics of space charge, therefore, can be potentially used to characterise the material. In this direction, an ageing model in which parameters have clear physical meanings has been developed and applied to the material to extrapolate the lifetime. The kinetic equation has been established based on charge trapping and detrapping of the injected charge from electrodes. The local electromechanical energy stored in the region surrounding the trap reduces the trap depth with a value related to the electric field. At a level where the internal electric field exceeds the detrapping field in the material, an electron can be efficiently detrapped and the released energy per detrapped charge can cause a weak bond or chain scission i.e. material degradation. The model has been applied to the electro-thermally aged low density polyethylene LDPE film samples. To evaluate the damages structure during ageing process, a simulation work was performed on the developed ageing model to investigate the susceptibility of such parameters that can cause an explicit effect to the ageing process. The simulation work is performed on a two-dimensional square grid that is assumed to represent a part of the insulating material. The mesh structure is divided using the finite element method. Based on the nature of polyethylene, its structure is semi-crystalline with a spatially varying morphology. Consequently, each bond in the grid is assigned a set of parameter values. One of these parameters is the critical fraction of trapped charges C*, which needs to be reached in order to fail a bond. It is chosen at random values from a range centred on the characteristic value obtained from the experimental results. This indicates that the insulation life at varying parameter C* is lower than its characteristic value.

Current thermosonic flip chip bonding technologies are adversely affected by chip-to-substrate co-planarity errors and bump/pad height variations which can lead to uneven bonding strength and, in extreme cases, chip cratering. This has limited the industrial uptake of thermosonic flip chip assembly. The aim of the research reported here was to explore the use of laser-generated ultrasound as an alternative ultrasound source in flip chip bonding. The research was motivated by the idea that, with greater control over the distribution of ultrasonic energy applied over the bonding interface, it should be possible to compensate for and mitigate the above effects. The main objective of this research work was to establish a working flip-chip bonding process using laser induced ultrasonic vibration. Initially, a literature review on current flip-chip bonding methods and laser ultrasonic methods was carried out. This suggested that confined laser ablation would be the most appropriate technique for generating strong ultrasonic vibration. Next, through modelling and simulation, an investigation was carried out to determine the suitable parameters and methods to be implemented during the experimental stage, including the pressure pulse amplitude, cavity width (irradiance spot size) and type of sacrificial material. Additional investigations were also carried out to explore the effect of applying different materials in generating ultrasonic vibration and also to show the effect of applying multiple pressure pulses simultaneously. In the experimental phase, a custom bonding rig was developed and used to explore the parameter space for thermosonic bonding on polymer substrates using ultrasound generated by a diode-pumped solid-state laser (355 nm wavelength). Initial experiments showed unstable bond strength due to the accumulation of heat which resulted in the appearance of an unwanted glue-like substance at the bonding interface. However, this issue was overcome through careful choice of process parameters combined with the introduction of off-axis laser irradiation. A process for bonding dummy test chips to flexible substrates was successfully established, and in the best case a die shear strength of 9.3 gf/bump was achieved.

5G will be different from previous cellular generations in the fact that it will enable the cellular industry, besides offering superior broadband services, to conquer vertical industries such as vehicular communication, factory automation, healthcare and many more. Many of these use cases have challenging and quite often contradicting requirements in terms of data rate, latency, power consumption and so on. This suggests that 5G needs to adopt a flexible architecture that can adapt to different devices and traffic requirements. Consequently, a fresh look onto how cellular networks are currently designed and deployed is needed. Historically, cellular networks have relied on the axiomatic role of cells as the cornerstone of the radio access network. Cellular systems have witnessed several recent trends such as the increased heterogeneity in infrastructure and spectrum as well as the rise of different traffic types with different requirements. These trends have called for a shift from the cell-centric architecture approach to a more device-centric architecture where a user or a device should be able to communicate with the network by exchanging information over multiple traffic flows through several sets of heterogeneous nodes. This design concept suggests to drop the rigid cell-centric concept and move to a more flexible design where information is exchanged in the most efficient way possible disregarding in which cell the device is located. This thesis features a comprehensive study of some of the technological enablers of the device-centric 5G architecture vision where we start by motivating the need for this architectural change by presenting the envisioned use cases and requirements of 5G and how the current cellular designs are lacking the flexibility and agility to satisfy the 5G ambition. The main contribution of the thesis is on Downlink and Uplink Decoupling (DUDe) where we pioneered the research on this disruptive 5G architectural design. The traditional way for users to associate to the cellular network is through coupled association where a device associates in both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) to the same cell. However, the ever increasing density and heterogeneity of cellular networks have rendered the traditional design concepts such as coupled cell association obsolete and highly suboptimal. In simple words, a device connecting in the DL to a high power macro cell from which it receives the highest signal power might want to connect in the UL to a small cell to which the pathloss is lower. Therefore, DUDe solves the UL and DL coverage imbalance problem caused by the different transmit powers from the different tiers. The UL and DL imbalance could also be caused by imbalance in the UL and DL loads, interference and traffic requirements. The concept of DUDe is ground breaking in the sense that it introduces the notion of treating the UL and DL as two separate network entities emphasizing the fact that these two entities have different transmission and traffic requirements. The thesis features a comprehensive simulation study on DUDe using Vodafone’s small cell live network deployment in conjunction with a high resolution 3D ray tracing propagation model as well as user deployments based on traffic measurements to guarantee the most realistic simulation setup. Using this setup, the superiority of DUDe compared to baseline LTE is shown in terms of data rate, outage, channel quality and many more parameters. The evaluation starts by examining the basic form of DUDe where the UL and DL associations are based on pathloss and DL received power respectively which is followed by a more complicated form of DUDe where the UL association takes into account the cell load and the backhaul capacity. An extensive theoretical evaluation of DUDe using tools from stochastic geometry is then presented where cell association and SINR/rate distributions are evaluated in great detail for a sub-6GHz deployment as well as a mixed millimeter wave and sub-6GHz deployment. In addition, the architectural aspect is extensively discussed highlighting the support of DUDe in current 4G networks as well as the changes needed for a native support in future 5G networks. The second aspect covered in this thesis is Device-to-Device (D2D) communications. D2D allows to establish a direct link between devices in the same vicinity to exchange data instead of going through the traditional way through the network infrastructure. D2D is considered to be another important aspect of the device-centric framework as it allows devices to exchange information in the most efficient way possible through a direct communications without the need to abide by the normal cellular way of conveying data. The cell association in a D2D enabled network is studied through an optimization framework considering a decoupled access regime. In addition, novel resource management techniques for D2D communications are presented considering bio-inspired genetic algorithms. Finally, the thesis is concluded by a summary of the findings and takeaways from the conducted research along with some directions for future work.

The thesis covers three topics: i) Synthesis of the uracil D-ring precursor of the cylindrospermopsin alkaloids: this study entailed the preparation of compounds I and II which were shown to be a RHS D-ring precursor in the synthesis of the cylindrospermopsin alkaloids. Compound I was prepared in 3 steps and in 24% overall yield from dibenzylurea whilst II was prepared from either diethyl 1,3-acetonedicarboxylate in 5 steps and 9% overall yield or barbituric acid in 5 steps and 16% overall yield. ii) Preparation of analogues of cylindrospermopsin: the synthesis of the cylindrospermopsin analogue III was achieved in 6 steps and 12% overall yield from the literature compound 2,6-dimethoxypyrimidine-4-carboxaldehyde. iii) Preparation and enzymatic studies on 2.4-dinitrobenzamide pro-drugs: the known pro-drugs IV (X = Cl, Br, I), were prepared and found to be good substrates for the enzyme NfsA NTR. These can thus be considered as alternative pro-drugs to the usually employed CB 1954 in combination with NfsA NTR for human chemotherapy.

The research involving Arabic Writing System (WS) is quite limited. Yet, researching writing errors of L2WS Arabic against a certain L1WS seems to be relatively neglected. This study attempts to identify, describe, and explain common orthographic errors in Arabic writing amongst English-speaking learners. First, it outlines the Arabic Writing System’s (AWS) characteristics and available empirical studies of L2WS Arabic. This study embraced the Error Analysis approach, utilising a mixed-method design that deployed quantitative and qualitative tools (writing tests, questionnaire, and interview). The data were collected from several institutions around the UK, which collectively accounted for 82 questionnaire responses, 120 different writing samples from 44 intermediate learners, and six teacher interviews. The hypotheses for this research were; a) English-speaking learners of Arabic make common orthographic errors similar to those of Arabic native speakers; b) English-speaking learners share several common orthographic errors with other learners of Arabic as a second/foreign language (AFL); and c) English-speaking learners of Arabic produce their own common orthographic errors which are specifically related to the differences between the two WSs. The results confirmed all three hypotheses. Specifically, English-speaking learners of L2WS Arabic commonly made six error types: letter ductus (letter shape), orthography (spelling), phonology, letter dots, allographemes (i.e. letterform), and direction. Gemination and L1WS transfer error rates were not found to be major. Another important result showed that five letter groups in addition to two letters are particularly challenging to English-speaking learners. Study results indicated that error causes were likely to be from one of four factors: script confusion, orthographic difficulties, phonological realisation, and teaching/learning strategies. These results are generalizable as the data were collected from several institutions in different parts of the UK. Suggestions and implications as well as recommendations for further research are outlined accordingly in the conclusion chapter.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 150 and 240 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C and B viruses (HCV/HBV) worldwide, of whom approximately 500,000 develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) annually. The 5-year survival for HCC is less than 10% and up to 80% of cases are inoperable at presentation with no hope of cure. The treatment of patients with advanced HCC is frequently complicated by immunosuppression, leading to the attenuation of cancer-directed immune responses and the reactivation/exacerbation of HCV/HBV infections. In contrast, immunotherapies such as cancer selective oncolytic viruses, could theoretically suppress rather than stimulate underlying oncogenic virus infections, and improve clinical outcomes. This project investigates the potential for oncolytic viruses to be employed as dual anti-cancer and anti-viral therapies in pre-clinical models of hepatitis virus-associated HCC. The results described herein show that oncolytic virus stimulation of normal primary and malignant liver cells induces interferon secretion, leading to the inhibition of HCV. Further work using oncolytic wild-type reovirus showed that it stimulates interferon responses in primary hepatocytes, liver-resident immune cells and HCC cell lines, potently inhibiting HCV and HBV replication. Reovirus also activated liver resident natural killer cells to kill HCC, whilst infection of primary hepatocytes was non-toxic. Finally, in preclinical murine models of HCV-positive HCC, reovirus exerted a specific antiviral effect on HCV replication, detectable at very early times post-treatment, and distinct to its direct and immune-mediated tumour killing. Application of oncolytic virus therapy in an HCV/HBV positive HCC setting represents a novel, and potentially safe means of simultaneously targeting both tumours and the underlying oncogenic virus, providing a much-needed opportunity to improve clinical outcomes in HCC patients.

This thesis examines the role of Acoustic Emission (AE) as a non-destructive testing (NDT) technique for prestressed and reinforced concrete structures. The work focuses on the development of experimental techniques and data analysis methods for the detection, location and assessment of AE from prestressed and reinforced concrete specimens. This thesis reveals that AE can be used to detect the onset of corrosion activity in wire in the interface between prestressed concrete and mortar as found in prestressed concrete pipes. Furthermore, this technique can be used to locate the corrosion activity on different size prestressed concrete samples. By correlation between three parameters of classical AE analysis techniques (traditional parameters), damage can be detected and located whilst the corrosion area, macro crack and crack propagation can be identified. However, it cannot classify the crack type. Different damage modes, including corrosion activity, micro/macro cracking formation, crack propagation and wire failure generate different types of AE signals with varying amplitudes and absolute energy emitted. A novel analysis approach has been used on composite materials (concrete, mortar and steel) to evaluate differing crack types by a combination of the classical acoustic emission analysis technique and advanced analysis Rise time / Amplitude (RA) and Average Frequency (AF), results proved the effectiveness of the developed techniques for damage detection and classification crack types. The relationship between RA value and AF value can be used to determine the crack area and classify it as either tensile crack type, other type (shear movement) or no crack. The results of the research have demonstrated that the AE technique is valid in larger scale monitoring and hence the potential for monitoring real structures such as prestressed concrete pipes. Use of Kernel Density Estimation Function (KDEF) provides improved visualisation of the data to represent clearly the RA/AF values. Key Words: Acoustic Emission, Corrosion, Reinforced Concrete, Prestressed Concrete, Micro and Macro Concrete Cracks, Crack classification, Source Location, Damage Assessment, Monitoring.

The growing deployment of biometrics as a proof of identity has generated a great deal of research into biometrics in recent years, and widened the scope of investigations beyond improving accuracy into mechanisms to deal with serious concerns raised about security and privacy due to the potential misuse. of the collected biometric data along with possible attacks on biometric systems. The focus on improving performance of biometric authentication has been more on multi-modal and multi-factor biometric authentication in conjunction with designing recognition techniques to mitigate the adverse effect of variations in recording conditions. Some of these approaches together with the emerging developments of cancellable biometrics and biometric cryptosystems have been used as mechanisms to enhance security and privacy of biometric systems. This thesis is designed to deal with these complimentary and closely related issues through investigations that aim at understanding the impact of varying biometric sample recording conditions on the discriminating information content (entropy) of these samples, and to use the gained knowledge to (1) design adaptive techniques for improved performance of biometric authentication, and (2) propose and test a framework for a proper evaluation of security of all factors/components involved in biometric keys and multi-factor biometric authentication. The first part of this thesis consists of a set of theoretical and empirical investigations designed to evaluate and analyse the effect of emerging developments in biometrics systems, with a focus on those related to biometric entropy and multi-factor authentication. The analysis of different biometric entropy measures, proposed in the literature, reveals that variations in biometric sample quality lead to variations in the correlation between biometric entropy values calculated using any of the known measures and the accuracy of the biometric recognition. Furthermore, analysis of the spatial distribution of entropy values in face images reveals a non-uniform distribution. The widely expected inherent individual differences in biometric features entropy will also be confirmed. Moreover, we uncover a myth reported in the literature about near perfect accuracy of certain quality-based adaptive recognition schemes.

In survival studies the values of some covariates may change over time. It is natural to incorporate such time dependent covariates into the model to be used in the survival analysis. A standard approach is to use the semi parametric extended Cox proportional hazard model. An alternative is to extend a standard parametric model, such as a Weibull regression model, to include time-dependent covariates. However, the use of such simple parametric models may be too restrictive. Therefore in this thesis we further extend the Weibull regression model with time dependent covariates by using splines to give greater flexibility. The use of Cox, simple parametric and Weibull spline models is illustrated with and without time dependent covariates on two large survival data sets supplied by NHS Blood and Transplant. One data set involves times to graft failure of patients who have undergone a corneal transplant and contains many fixed covariates and one time-dependent covariate with at most one change point. The other data set concerns time to death of heart transplant patients and contains many fixed covariates and a time-dependent covariate with possibly many change points. A simulation study is used to evaluate and compare likelihood-based methods of inference for the competing models. In the first stage attention is focused on selection of the number of knots in the Weibull spline model in the simple case with no covariates. Stage two examines the results of inferences from the Weibull splines model with fixed covariates. Stage three compares the results of inferences for parameters in the extended Cox model and two simple parametric models with time-dependent covariates. Finally, stage four examines the Weibull splines model with time-dependent covariates.

The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the short and long–term overreaction phenomenon in the Egyptian stock market. In addition, the thesis investigates links between stock market regulatory policies (price limits and circuit breakers) and the profitability of contrarian strategies. Finally, the study examines the effect of regime switch – from strict price limits to circuit breakers – on the volatility spillover, delayed price discovery and trading interference hypotheses. Using data from the Egyptian stock exchange, I find that a panel data approach adds a new dimension to the existing models, offers interesting additional insights and reveals the importance of the role of unobservable firm-specific factors in addition to observable factors in the analysis of the overreaction phenomenon. Moreover, portfolios based on unobserved factors i.e. management quality, corporate governance and political connections of board members, significantly outperform traditional portfolios based on size. Results also show evidence of genuine long-term overreaction phenomenon in the Egyptian stock market as the contrarian profits of the arbitrage portfolio cannot be attributed to the small firm effect, formation period length, and stability of time varying factor or seasonality effect. Finally, switching from a strict price limit to a circuit breakers regime increases stock price volatility and disrupts the price discovery mechanism in the Egyptian stock market.

The last three decades have experienced an impressive growth in loads interfacing with the grid through power electronic devices. These include personal computers and most office equipment as well as industrial induction motors driven by variable frequency drives. The increasing importance of these nonconventional loads has an impact which is yet to be quantified and modelled systematically. This is particularly the case with the natural load-side frequency response. This lack of knowledge compounds with the current uncertainty in the characterization of the load’s natural behaviour under frequency disturbances. The load in power systems is known to have an inherent frequency sensitivity. Because of the complexity and the constant evolution of the aggregate system load, the frequency sensitivity is difficult to estimate. In fact, in practice, utilities use some ill-defined, static and generic values for this sensitivity as part of their dynamic performance assessments and load-frequency control designs. To address this shortcoming, this thesis proposes a methodology based on a bottom-up approach based on aggregate load composition information and load behaviour modelling. The method allows for the development of a deeper understanding of the currently unknown impact of the load mix and other external factors on the natural load-side frequency sensitivity. The thesis then goes on to demonstrate that the load-frequency sensitivity is indeed a time-varying value, changing throughout the course of the day and the year, unlike the industry-wide static value assumption. The methodology allows for the identification of the explanatory factors behind the sensitivity variations. The evidence shows that those explanatory factors are the outside ambient temperature, the time of day and the date. The methodology is also able to model frequency sensitivity within a 10% error margin (using only publicly-available data). A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is undertaken to prove the robustness of the Load Frequency Sensitivity Bottom-Up Methodology (LFS-BUM). Probabilistic characterizations that represent the uncertainty embedded in the load-frequency sensitivity (LFS) at various times reveal that generally the prediction error probability distributions are skewed and sometimes even bimodal. For this reason, Edgeworth series expansions are used to provide analytical formulae for the approximate the probability distribution of the LFS values. The statistical relationship between LFS and the outside ambient temperature is used to generate prediction models for LFS. Error analyses of the models demonstrate an ability to predict LFS within a 7.66% error margin. The methodologies and the results should be of interest most notably to transmission system operators as they attempt to quantify the resources necessary to conduct primary frequency control tasks reliably and at the best possible cost. Furthermore, the bottom-up methodology is used to provide a detailed understanding of the evolution of LFS and thus is of potential use in informing grid operators and planners on the potential impacts of an evolving load mix which is increasingly insensitive/“stiffer” to frequency deviations, especially for frequency control. In addition, it will assist as a primary tool in redesigning frequency regulation function to accommodate for load participation.

The experimental and analytical modal analysis is used to establish a system modelling methodology in rotating structures, which subsequently can help in design and development of rotating machinery. The purpose of the study is to develop and use modal testing and vibration analysis which would involve obtaining the mathematical model of the system from the test data and subsequently obtaining the unbalanced parameters. The research work includes the application of modal testing method in rotor rig to investigate different modal parameters and detect the behaviour and performance of rotating machinery. This method would be capable of solving many of the related rotating machine problems, such as in turbine and compressor. Unbalance is one of the problems which exist in rotating machinery. Balancing is usually an expensive and laborious procedure and a balancing system would be beneficial for rotor dynamic systems and power generation applications. Excess vibration can cause noise, cyclic stress and wear in machinery. It is important to identify all the critical speeds within the range of operation and analyse the damping effect, mass unbalance and other phenomena in rotating machinery and their effects in their safe operation. These will be investigated in this study. There are several phenomena associated with rotating machinery such as centrifugal and gyroscopic forces which would create complexity in the mathematical procedures in modal analysis that they need to be addressed and interpreted appropriately before they could be used in modal testing of rotating machinery. The experimental technique used in this thesis to obtain the modal and dynamic response properties of structures. This technique has been applied to rotating structures, however the full implementation of modal testing in rotating structures and the implications are not fully understood. and are therefore in need of further investigations. In this study the Frequency Response Function (FRF) data obtained from the specific experimental results are curve-fitted by theoretical data regenerated from overall statistical analysis of measured data. Different excitation methods are used in experiment (hammer and shaker). For hammer test, transient signal is produced. While for shaker test, different vibration signals are produced (Sine, Random and Burst Random). In shaker test, a special frame was designed and used around a plain bearing and the accelerometers were attached to the outer surface of the bearing to measure the response of the lateral motion on several points of the shaft. The excitation force with help of push' rod was generated and applied to the shaft. This method can help to solve the problem in the attachment of shaker and force transducers to the rotor system. The analysis of vibration suppression with different locations and configurations of the unbalanced masses and effect of the adding of balance masses to suppress the vibration amplitude has been studied properly. The experimental results were used for verification of Finite Element (FE) models, since it has good capability for eigen analysis and also good graphical facility. 3-D models result in large number of nodes and elements. This project demonstrates how to extract a plane 2-D model from the 3-D model that can be used with fewer nodes and elements with no loss in accuracy of the results. Transient orbit analysis in the literature indicates that the bearing stiffness and damping affects the vibration amplitude. In this project the study of the effects on the bearing reaction forces and cyclic. bending stress will be investigated. It is envisaged that the approach is not limited to the condition diagnosis and predictive failure but could help the designers to have better understanding of rotor performance at the system design stage. The experimental data are used to characterise the dynamic behaviour of the system and introduce to the correction unbalance to suppress the excess vibration. The experimental data are also used to generate the FE models and subsequently calculate the dynamic reaction forces in the bearings and the cyclic bending stress.

Risk-benefit assessment for decision-making based on evidence is a subject of continuing interest. However, randomised clinical trials evidence of risks and benefits are not always available especially for drugs used in children mainly due to ethical concern of children being subjects of clinical trials. This thesis appraises risk-benefit evidence from published trials in children for the case study; assesses the risk-benefit balance of drugs, proposes a framework for risk-benefit evidence synthesis, and demonstrates the extent of its contribution. The review shows trial designs lack safety planning leading to inconsistency safety reporting, and lack of efficacy evidence. The General Practice Research Database (GPRD) data was exploited to synthesise evidence of risks of cisapride and domperidone in children with gastro-oesophageal reflux as a case study. Efficacy data are only available through review evidence. Analysis of prescribing trends does not identify further risk-benefit issues but suggest the lack of evidence has led to inappropriate prescribing in children. Known adverse events are defined from the British National Formulary and quantified. Proportional reporting ratio technique is applied to other clinical events to generate potential safety signals. Signals are validated; and analysed for confirmatory association through covariates adjustment in regressions. The degree of associations between signals and drugs are assessed using Bradford Hill’s criteria for causation. Verified risks are known adverse events with 95% statistical significance, and signals in abdominal pain group and bronchitis and bronchiolitis group. The drugs’ risk-benefit profiles are illustrated using the two verified signals and an efficacy outcome. Sensitivity of input parameters is studied via simulations. The findings are used to hypothetically advise risk-benefit aspects of trial designs. The value of information from this study varies between stakeholders and the keys to communicating risks and benefits lie in presentation and understanding. The generalisability and scope of the proposed methods are discussed.

The aim of this study is to characterise the cultivated Calamus manan aged 10 and 13 years grown under rubber tree canopy and the properties of acetylated rattan. Each stem age was divided into five different portions of its total height namely basal, upper basal, middle, upper middle and top. The stem was transversely divided into periphery, inner and centre sections of its average diameter. Cross sections sized 30 mm by 10 mm by its thickness were prepared and were used for investigation of anatomical, physical, chemical, mechanical and decay resistance properties. The reactivity of acetic anhydride with different specimen sizes namely split rattan (30 mm by 10 mm by thickness); block rattan (20 mm by 20 mm by 5 mm) and strip rattan (100 mm by 10 mm by 5 mm) were conducted at 110 °C for the times ranging from 0.25 to 30 hours. Characterisation of the properties found that only the basal portion of each age was classified as mature based on its mechanical properties. Other properties including anatomical, chemical, physical, and decay resistance can be used as indicators of maturity since these properties differed elsewhere along the stem. The reactivity of rattan with acetic anhydride occurred earliest at the juvenile top of stem and proceeded more slowly moving downwards to the mature of basal portion for both ages. Transversely the reactivity was earliest at the peripheral and proceeded more slowly to the centre for the younger plantation rattan, and conversely for the older plantation rattan. This is due to variation of hemicellulose content. The reactivity was also higher in strip rattan than block rattan because of the difference in specific gravity. The optimum dimensional stability in terms of ASwE, AShE, EMC_R and MEE were achieved at the levelling-off WPG. The lower EMC_R had a strong relationship with bulking coefficient. The MoE of acetylated rattan was not significantly different from the untreated rattan for both ages. The MoR of acetylated older plantation rattan was higher than untreated rattan, and this had a strong relationship with specific gravity following modification. The decay protection against white rot T. versicolor and brown rot C. puteana were achieved at the levelling-off WPG for both ages. The improvement of decay resistance had a strong relationship with WPG. The decay resistance against soft rot and other soil inhabiting micro-organisms were achieved after low reaction periods (15 minutes). Following exposure, the MoR, MoE and maximum load at failure of acetylated rattan decayed by soft rot were much higher than for untreated rattan. Acetylated rattan at the levelling-off WPG was classified as durability class 1 according to EN 350-1. Modification the structural organic chemical components through acetylation alters the cell wall chemistry and other physical properties of the juvenile rattan, thus improves its dimensional stability and decay resistance properties.

Despite improvements in the diagnosis and therapy of medulloblastoma (MB), the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour, survival rates are still only 40-60% for high-risk patients, and surviving patients offer suffer life-long therapy-associated late effects. Improving the current clinical disease risk classification may provide opportunities to tailor therapy to disease-risk more accurately, aiming to improve survival whilst minimizing late effects. The overall aim of this study was to identify and validate clinicopathological and molecular markers of prognostic significance in a large cohort of cases derived from the PNET3 clinical trial, which could be used in improved disease stratification schemes. Initial investigations focussed on defects of chromosome 17, the most common chromosomal aberrations identified in MB, which have been associated with adverse outcome in some previous studies. During this initial study, methods for testing for regions of genetic loss in DNA samples extracted from routinely collected and stored pathology material were developed and validated. Using these methods, 17p loss was assessed in 284 cases overall, but did not show an association with poor prognosis. 17p loss was rare in patients <3 years at diagnosis (1/21 cases) compared to children aged >3 years (21/59, p=0.009), supporting the notion that infants with MB may represent a biologically distinct disease subgroup. During the course of this study, evidence of a microsatellite instability phenotype was also found in one case (1/29; 3.8%), suggesting a role for this phenomenon in a small subset of medulloblastomas. Previous studies have identified MBs with activation of the Wnt/Wg signalling pathway to be associated with a favourable outcome. Three independent molecular markers of Wnt/Wg activation in medulloblastoma (β-catenin nuclear localization, CTNNB1 mutation and chromosome 6 loss) have recently been identified, and were therefore assessed in the PNET3 cohort to examine their inter-relationships and relative prognostic utilities. β-catenin nuclear localization was detected in 34/207 (16.4%) cases, CTNNB1 mutation in 20/197 (10.1%), and chromosome 6 LOH in 20/190 (10.5%); all three markers were highly associated with each other (p=0.001). Univariate survival analysis showed significant associations between clinicopathological (gender, pathology, M stage and extent of tumour resection) and molecular variables (β-catenin nuclear localization and CTNNB1 mutation) with survival (all 'p' values <0.03) in the PNET3 cohort. Multivariate survival analysis and Cox proportional regression hazard analysis identified M stage, large cell / anaplastic pathology, gender and β-catenin nuclear staining to be significantly associated with prognosis (p<0.04), with hazard ratios of 1.924, 3.338, 0.57 and 0.215, respectively. Finally, combined models for disease risk prediction were constructed using the prognostically significant clinicopathological and molecular variables identified, including models to precisely classify the overall disease hazard for individual cases based on their clinical, pathological and molecular profile. In summary, Wnt/Wg pathway activation was associated with favourable outcome and can be most accurately identified using β-catenin nuclear staining. Combined models which incorporate Wnt/Wg status alongside other prognostically significant clinical and pathological indices validated in this study provide schemes for improved disease risk prediction in medulloblastoma, which should now be tested prospectively in large clinical trials.

This study considers Total Quality Management within the context of the Saudi Arabian process manufacturing sector. The goal of this research is to present the Saudi process industries with a new framework model that could enhance and improve the implementation of total quality management in this sector. This study researches the current barriers to successful TQM implementation in this sector. It also researches the principles of Islam in relation to quality management and analyzes whether a distinctively Islamic implementation method for TQM could overcome these current barriers.

The poor aqueous solubility of hydrophobic drugs has always been a challenge for formulation scientists. One approach to increase the dissolution rate of hydrophobic drugs is the use of solid dispersion that involves the molecular mixing of the drug with hydrophilic polymers. In addition to increased wettability of the drug, the drug can be prepared in the amorphous form which is associated with higher dissolution rate than the crystalline form. However, this form is physically unstable and materials tend to form the more stable crystalline form. In this thesis, the focus was on increasing the physical stability of amorphous hydrophobic drugs. The hypothesis was based on hydrogen bonding between the drug and the polymer. The model drugs contained proton acceptor groups in order to test the hypothesis. A third polymer was used as a linker to form hydrogen bonds with the drug and the polymer. Griseofulvin, progesterone and pheninedione were used as model drugs while poly [N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylate] (PHPMA) was used as the linker molecule since it contains proton acceptor and donor groups while polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) was used as the third polymer. The drug, PHPMA and PVP were spray dried to prepare amorphous solid dispersions. The results showed that the griseofulvin is more stable than the other two model drugs as confirmed by XRPD. Using the Flory-Huggins model, it was possible to calculate the entropy, enthalpy and free energy of mixing the drug with PHPMA. The results coincided with the stability data which suggest that PHPMA increases the miscibility of the drug with PVP. The above solid dispersions were compared against other solid dispersions containing cellulose based polymers since these polymers could form hydrogen bonding with the drug. The dissolution studies were carried on to investigate the mechanisms of drug release from the solid dispersion. The factors which could influence the strength of hydrogen bonding were investigated. These included the concentration of the drug and polymers, the solvents used, incorporation of surfactants, order of adding the drug and polymers and the spray drying parameters. The results showed that significant differences could be obtained when one of these factors is varied.

This study deals with one of the most important subjects that can be raised in the field of arbitration, namely. challenging arbitral awards. It provides an in-depth analysis, and identifies the deficiencies, of article 34 of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. Basically, the study argues that the Model Law has failed to recognise appeals to arbitral tribunals of second instance as well as appeals to courts on points of law, and whereas it has also failed to provide sufficient grounds for setting aside arbitral awards, the grounds that it provides were not well formulated by its drafters. The study also provides an in-depth analysis of the adoption of article 34 by Bahrain, Egypt, England, Jordan, Oman and Tunisia. Whilst it concludes that Egypt, Jordan, Oman and Tunisia have tackled some of the deficiencies of article 34, the study recommends UNCITRAL to adopt, after inserting some amendments, sections 30, 67, 68, 69 and 70 of the English Act as a substitute for article 34. In addition, this study proves that the Model Law is defective in many respects in relation to its provisions that deal with arbitral awards, and it discusses a number of unnecessary divergences from the Model Law made by Egypt, England, Jordan, Oman and Tunisia.

This thesis explores the potential of probabilistic neural architectures as a computational paradigm for future nanoscale MOSFETs. The performance of the Continuous Restricted Boltzmann Machine (CRBM) implemented with simulated device noise in both Random Telegraph Signal (RTS) and “flicker”, or 1/f form is studied. A methodology for time domain RTS based noise analysis is described, based upon the known physics of future nanoscale MOSFETs. This noise is injected into a circuit implementation of the synaptic analogue multiplier and subsequently included in a behavioural model of a stochastic CRBM. The performance of the resultant “deep-sub-micron CRBM” compares well with that of the perfect Gaussian CRBM. Through simulation experiments, the CRBM with nanoscale MOSFET noise shows the ability to reconstruct training data with only minor performance degradation. These results do not prove that nanoscale MOSFET noise can be exploited in all contexts, and with all data, for probabilistic computation. The conclusion is, however, that nanoscale MOSFET noise is potentially usable in probabilistic neural computation. This thesis thus introduces a methodology for a form of technology-downstreaming and highlights the potential of probabilistic architecture for computation with future nanoscale MOSFETs.

This thesis explores selected legal problems that arise in the formation of online contracts in the American and English legal systems. The thesis examines to what extent traditional contract law rules provide a satisfactory legal ground for governing such issues. It attempts to show that no substantial legislative reform is necessary as adaptations of traditional contract law rules are sufficient. To this end, this study focuses on questions regarding the formation of email contracts, the role of electronic agent in forming website contracts, the distinction between offer and website advertisement, online errors and mistakes, web site acceptance, and finally, the incorporation of online terms.

This thesis has three goals: to identify patterns of repetition in the Arab writers Taha Hussein’s and Muhammad al-Muwaylihi’s texts, their shift in the English translations, and to establish the translation strategies used in this area. The empirical base material for this study consists of a three-part autobiography (al-Ayyaam, ‘The Days’) and a narrative fiction (Hadiith ‘Isaa ibn Hishaam, ‘Isa ibn Hisham’s Tale’). As a first step Taha Hussein and Muhammad al-Muwaylihi along with their texts are presented and criteria for selecting research material discussed. Secondly, the notion of repetition is explored from the perspective of linguistic and cultural norms, and issues related to the norm theories discussed. Lastly, a comparative analysis is carried out in five chapters to see how instances of repetition are rendered in the English translations. The findings show that Arabic texts utilise repetitive patterns for text-building and rhetorical purposes. These patterns are manifested, on all levels, in phonological, morphological and lexical repetition, lexical doublets paraphrase, parallelism and chiasmus. A stereoscopic type of lexical doublet cements textual cohesion and coherence by signalling complex meaning that goes beyond the confines of the doublet. Patterns of repetition are shifted in the English translations and various translation strategies are applied, the most common being grammatical transposition and reduction. A statistical assessment of the translation of lexical doublets in three samples is done. The samples are about 2500 words each and randomly selected from the autobiography’s three parts. The figures suggest that one translator (Part One) adopts a source text-oriented strategy versus a shifting strategy preferred by the other two. This is a useful indicator of the direction of the translations, towards either adequacy or acceptability.

This thesis examines the structure created by Glas Cymru, the owner of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW). As a not-for-profit, debt-funded structure, this approach is one of a kind in the privatised water industry of England and Wales. The change to a not-for-profit company introduced some unique characteristics. First, it disposed of equity altogether, and sourced its financing through debt. This appeared to break away from the idea of privatisation. The removal of shareholders from the company also invited doubts from industry observers with regard to the company's ability to maintain sufficient pressure to perform. The policy of outsourcing most of its functions, including its operation and maintenance, broke away from the traditional view that the core functions of a company should be kept in-house. By outsourcing most of its functions, the company was thought to run the risk of losing control of the business of supplying water and sewerage services. The changes caused by Glas Cymru effectively made it the odd one out in the water industry in England and Wales, raising regulatory concerns on how such a structure should be managed in an equity-based, shareholder-driven industry. These developments prompted this research, to investigate whether or not such a structure is suitable for the water industry in Wales in particular, and in England and Wales in general, and whether the company is at a regulatory disadvantage by adopting this structure in the water industry in England and Wales. As this reseai:ch attempted to delve into a new development in the water industry, it relied mainly on qualitative data collected through interviews with various industry stakeholders. Additionally, quantitative data obtained from various reports produced by water companies and the regulators were used to strengthen the qualitative data. The research concludes that the structure is suitable for the water industry in England and Wales. Similar methods are also used in Europe, particularly France. While the structure is suitable for the water industry, however, it is not easily replicable by other companies in this privatised industry. The advantages enjoyed by Glas Cymru may also be 'neutralised' in the next periodic review, reducing the anticipated benefits after 2005. However, financial reserves accumulated during the first few years actually helped the company to achieve relatively lower gearing compared to conventionally financed companies. As more companies move towards greater debt-funding, it is necessary for the regulator to be more receptive to the way the industry evolves.