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This thesis is a study of the influence of linguistic constraints on automatic speech recognition by computer. The strategy is to constrain the recognition process by knowledge about the pattern to be recognised, in this case the intonation system of British English. The categorical nature of the perception of pitch movement corresponding to nuclear syllable intonation is demonstrated. It is shown that Halliday's system of five primary tones is appropriate and applicable to automatic intonation analysis. A computer analysis system was constructed which uses dynamic programming time warping to compare fundamental frequency patterns. The analysis is constrained by an intonation tone group structure grammar. The grammar consists of context-free rewrite rules and a lexicon of intonation templates. The analysis system comprises a rule translator, a syntax-directed analyser, dynamic programming fundamental frequency contour matcher, and a speech preprocessor. The system was used in nuclear tone analysis and classification experiments for speaker dependent and independent tone recognition, and for connected utterance analysis over the complete tone group. The results show that a limited prosodics-only speech recogniser is practical.

German literature was virtually unknown in Scotland in 1750. Between then and 1786 a number of German poems, novels and other works were translated into English, and some of these achieved a considerable circulation. From 1787 to 1799 German literature became increasingly popular, attention being concentrated on drama, fiction and the ballad. In the early nineteenth century there was a general reaction, but by 1813 a certain revival of interest was perceptible. The German poets who were read in Scotland included Haller, Gellert, Gessner, Klopstock, Wieland, Burger and Goethe, the best-known poems being Per Tod Abels and Lenore, The plays of Lessing, Goethe, Schiller and Iffland were known, and adaptations of Kotzebue were frequently performed in the larger towns. German scientific, philosophical, historical, geographical and critical works enjoyed a considerable reputation, and translations of Lavater, Zimmermann, and Trenck were widely read. German novels were much translated and imitated, and Die Leiden des .jungen Werthers was among the most popular books of the day. Many German works were translated by Scottish writers, and many extracts and criticisms appeared in the press. Henry Mackenzie, Walter Scott, Thomas Campbell and others were interested in German literature, and their own work was sometimes influenced by this interest.

In Chapter 1, I use a structural approach, to quantify the effect of land-use regulations on different age and education groups. I estimate a dynamic spatial structural equilibrium model of household location choice, local housing supply, and amenity supply. I show that in the long-run, removing land-use restrictions benefits all household groups and increases aggregate consumption by 7.1%. These consumption gains vary across households, less educated and younger households see increases in consumption about twice as large as more educated or older households. In contrast, in the short-run, removing land-use regulations reduces the consumption of older-richer homeowners while increasing the consumption of younger renters. In a counterfactual 1990-2019 transition, abolishing land-use regulations reduces the consumption of households born before the mid-1960s, while increasing consumption of more recent generations. In Chapter 2, co-authored with Mahyar Kargar, Benjamin Lester, Shuo Liu, Pierre-Olivier Weill, Diego Zuniga, we study liquidity conditions in the corporate bond market during the COVID-19 pandemic. We document that the cost of trading immediately via risky-principal trades dramatically increased at the height of the sell-off, forcing customers to shift toward slower agency trades. Exploiting eligibility requirements, we show that the Federal Reserve’s corporate credit facilities have had a positive effect on market liquidity. A structural estimation reveals that customers’ willingness to pay for immediacy increased by about 200 bps per dollar of transaction, but quickly subsided after the Fed announced its interventions. Dealers’ marginal cost also increased substantially but did not fully subside.In Chapter 3, co-authored with Diego Zuniga, we study inter-dealer trading patterns in the US corporate bond market. We document that dealers trade with only a small group of other dealers and that this group of dealers is highly persistent over time. We show that the longer a dealer pair have been trading the more likely that they will continue to trade and the larger the bilateral volume traded between them. We measure trading costs between dealers and show that stronger relationship leads to lower trading costs. Motivated by our empirical work we develop a structural model of trading relationships. The existence of double marginalization leads to inefficiency. We show that the repeated nature of the interactions between dealers allows them to form relationships and hence restore optimality.

Within our research team, significant efforts towards the total synthesis of the natural product agariblazeispirol C (1) has been conducted. In our synthetic programme, and as aligned with the broader interests of our team, we proposed that the key core skeleton of the target could be constructed through a combination of two effective metal-mediated cyclisation processes. More specifically, intramolecular Heck and Pauson-Khandannulation techniques have been employed to construct the core structure of the desired natural product, leaving the installation of an oxygenated five carbon side-chain as the final requirement to complete the target. Througout this overall programme of work, each individual reaction sequence has been fully explored and strategic synthetic steps have been established, and optimised, to provide access to advanced intermediates. Disclosed in this thesis is an extensive exploration of the asymmetric intramolecular Heck cyclisation reaction to deliver an enantioenriched 6,6-bicyclic system (rings B and C). This established the first quaternary stereocentre within the natural product, ultimately, dictating the overall diastereoselectivity in the downstream synthesis. Indeed, high enantioselectivityof the asymmetric Heck reaction was achieved via substantial optimisation processes, including a comprehensive chiral ligand screen – allowing the cobalt-mediated Pauson-Khand cyclisation to be studied next in our programme of work. This demanding cyclisation required the formation of the two cyclopentyl rings (rings D and E), constructing the overall polycyclic network containing a further quaternary centre within the congested system. In this regard, efficient cyclisation of two distinct Pauson-Khand precursors has delivered the overall core of the natural product as a single diastereomer, confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Exploration of the final synthetic manipulations to allow for the installation of the required oxygenated side-chain has been initiated, with promising methodology having emerged to allow the final target to be accessed.