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Historically, higher education was established for the privileged few. Enslaved Black people set free to fend for themselves in "separate but equal" sub-standard schools found a way to flourish despite the odds; yet not without a price and not without the sweat, blood, and tears of their ancestors. Critical Race Theory stated that race, class, and gender determined the trajectory from whence Black people rose in American society that ostracized the Black female. Deemed the maid, the servant, the caregiver, the downtrodden, Black women have been faced with obstacles at the intersections of their lives unbeknownst to any other class of people in these United States yet continued to strive for socioeconomic equality through the advancement of education and attainment of degrees purposed to open career doors. How then has higher education considered Black women relative to the nuances of their socioeconomic struggles? Today, higher education is positioned to impact the career trajectory of Black women pursuing undergraduate degrees. This research was an intersectional qualitative document analysis that examined the policies and practices that directly and indirectly impacted career preparation relative to undergraduate Black female students at a mid-sized private university in the United States. This research discovered that while policies and practices at the institution did not directly consider the intersectionality of undergraduate Black females, a plethora of support services were found to indirectly benefit this cohort. Given the steady increase of undergraduate Black females at the case university, intentional consideration in career preparation support is recommended. [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.]

During the past several years, the federal and state governments have adopted a college completion agenda using graduation rates as evidence of student success. With the demand for increased accountability on colleges and universities to ensure student success, institutions of higher education are searching for more effective ways to help students achieve their academic and professional goals. Experiential learning has risen to the forefront as a high impact practice for increasing student persistence and ultimately graduation numbers. Although there has been significant research on the positive impact of experiential learning on student success, there is little research regarding the association between the number of experiential learning credit hours (courses) taken and graduation likelihood. This study was conducted to explore the relationship between the number of experiential learning courses taken and student graduation likelihood. Utilizing retrospective data obtained from a large public university in Tennessee, Pearson Chi- square tests were performed to analyze race, sex and number of experiential learning (EXL) credit hours on graduation likelihood. In addition, the researcher performed strength of association and effect size tests for each Chi-square analysis. Results demonstrate that there was a very significant association between EXL credit hours and graduation. The likelihood of student graduation showed strong incremental significance with each additional level of credit hours completed. [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 present qualitative action research study was conducted to gain further understanding of administrator and teacher perceptions about grading systems in elementary schools, administrators' and teachers' ability to ensure consistent and fair practices and any correlation that grades may have to students' social, emotional, and/or academic development. Theorists Atkinson, Maslow, Klapp, and Rotter raised the argument that there is no true separation between the academic, social, and emotional development of a child. The inconsistencies that exist within the grading practices of teachers, along with the distrust that has developed pertaining to teacher judgment, have led to the increased implementation of accountability policies and evaluation systems based on standardized assessments. Qualitative data was collected through the use of a Google open-ended questionnaire and analyzed using the grounded theory approach. Through the final stage of the grounded theory methodology, selective coding, there were six overarching themes that contributed to the perceptions of administrators and teachers about grading systems in elementary schools: structured graded system, monitoring system, equity focus, consistency focus, reflective behavior, and promotes behavior focus. The results showed that there was very little consistency when reviewing teacher and administrator perceptions about grading practices and variables that influence and or should influence marks that are assigned. The results of this study were used to inform future research pertaining to grading practices and the impact on overall student achievement. [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.]

Academic performance of male student-athletes who participate in revenue-producing sports is typically lower than that of other athletes and non-athletes at the collegiate level. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of high school teachers in core academic classes who educate these students. The goal of this descriptive phenomenological study was to determine how identity, specifically athletic identity, influenced academic engagement in core academic classes. This study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with five educator participants from a Houston area suburban school district. Five emergent themes were revealed through the experiences of the educator participants: "Connections", "On the Campus", "In the Classroom", "Outliers", and "Undercurrents." Within the revealed themes, educator participants of on-level core academic classes discussed the presence of strong athletic identities, while educators of advanced academic classes felt there was a mix of more balanced student-athlete identities and stronger academic identities. Also shared was the sentiment that due to the high expectations of athletic program, particularly football, the majority of male student-athletes in that sport are not getting the necessary academic preparation to be successful at the postsecondary level. Also, educator participants mentioned feelings of frustration and pressure to help athletes remain eligible for competition while also getting inconsistent support at times from coaches. In addition to providing topics for future research, results from this study may provide stakeholders with a framework for improving academic success rates for male student-athletes participating in revenue-producing sports. Educator participants offered suggestions to address expressed concerns. These suggestions include educator workshops for teachers of student-athletes, campus and district personnel assigned solely to student-athletes, and the combination of summer workouts with academic camps. [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.]

This quantitative study on the relationship between teacher burnout and teacher attendance uses an open-source statistical software, Jamovi, to run correlational analysis and linear regression to determine the relationship and predictability between variables. Teacher attendance was collected from the researcher-practitioner's place of employment using convenience sampling. Voluntary participants responded to Maslach's Burnout Inventory. After conducting the data analysis, educational leaders from elementary school, middle school, and high school backgrounds were asked to provide their feedback and leadership perspectives on the significant findings. These responses were then reflected upon through a transformational leadership framework. Finally, impacts on policy was discussed with suggestions for future research and action. [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.]

Background: We previously identified a good-prognosis DNA repair deficient oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) subgroup with improved response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy using a gene expression signature, the DNA Damage Immune Response (DDIR) assay. DDIR positive tumours were characterised by increased CD8+ T lymphocyte infiltration and PD-L1 expression. In this study, we examined subgroups within DDIR positive and DDIR negative OAC and investigated whether mutated genes associated with the DDIR positive subgroup could be potential therapeutic targets to improve response to treatment in the DDIR negative subgroup. Methods: Bioinformatic analysis of three clinically annotated OAC gene expression datasets was undertaken to further characterise DDIR positive disease. Multi-omics data from The Cancer Genome Atlas was used to identify mutations associated with DDIR positive disease. To investigate the effect of knockdown of these mutated genes in DDIR negative disease, we performed an siRNA knockdown screen in ESO26 OAC cells +/-doxorubicin treatment, followed by RNA sequencing. Results: Three OAC gene expression datasets were analysed: (1) Turkington (microarray); (2) TCGA-ESCA (RNA-seq); (3) OCCAMS (RNA-seq). Four distinct clusters were observed in each dataset: (1) DDIR-high (upregulation of immune genes and responsiveness to PD-L1 inhibitors); (2) DDIR mid/high; (3) DDIR mid/low; (4) DDIR low (treatment resistance). Mutations in 18 genes were significantly associated with DDIR positivity. In the siRNA knockdown screen in ESO26 cells, DDIR activation was observed with doxorubicin treatment and was potentiated by target gene knockdown. Conclusions: We have identified four distinct OAC subgroups, consistent across three gene expression datasets. We have comprehensively examined activation of DDIR-related genes in response to DNA damaging chemotherapy and showed that this is cGAS-STING dependent in ESO26 cells. Activation of DDIR-related genes following doxorubicin treatment was potentiated by target gene knockdown indicating potential strategies to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy in OAC.

This research study explores the retention and recruitment practices of a prominent school district. The focus is how to retain and recruit female African American high school athletic directors from the state of Maryland. In-depth interviews were used to acquire insight into the retention policies and recruitment practices of female African American high school athletic directors, as these women currently hold leadership positions in a male dominant career. The findings suggest the job fairs that tailor to female high school athletic directors is contingent upon the situation or task at hand. This study is part of a larger phenomenological investigation intended to identify the factors that influence the persistent underrepresentation of women in top athletic leadership positions. Furthermore, the findings indicate that work-life conflict and interpersonal relationships among other women contribute to the underrepresentation of women in top athletic positions. Factors attributed social perception of gender and leadership roles incongruence also limited women leaders' access. Moreover, the findings suggest that these women do not employ the traditional masculine leadership stereotype in the sport domain. The findings from this study may be used to (a) better understand the hiring trends used by prominent school districts to hire women in high school athletic administration; (b) provide human resource managers who hire athletic directors with a new perspective on how critical race and role congruity affects the sport domain; and (c) fill a gap in the literature regarding women in high school sport administration. [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 main purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between students' social-emotional learning (SEL), as demonstrated by the competencies of grit, growth mindset, and self-management, and students' academic achievement, measured by their proficiency in reading, language usage, and mathematics. This study also sought to compare the academic outcomes of English language learners (ELLs) and their English-only peers. Data were collected from students enrolled in Grades 3-5 during the 2022-23 school year at an elementary school in a large suburban district located in Los Angeles. SEL data were sourced from the Panorama SEL Surveys and academic achievement data were sourced from the Northwest Evaluation Association's (NWEA) local assessments, all administered in the fall term of the 2022-23 school year. A significant positive relationship was found between students' self-management scores and their academic assessments. A significant negative relationship was found between growth mindset and scores in reading and English language arts. No significant relationship was found between grit and academic achievement or between growth mindset and scores in mathematics. In addition, little or no difference was found between ELLs and English-only students with respect to the SEL competencies or academic achievement in reading, English language arts, or mathematics. I recommend that additional research be conducted, such as by replicating this study in other districts; in addition, to obtain more diverse data, other measures of student achievement should be used, such as state assessments. [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.]

In this mixed-method study, the researchers examined the perception of the effectiveness of a mentorship program at Hopewell University. The researchers collected data through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with current and past students who had completed the graduate program in educational leadership. They also conducted interviews with mentors from the program to gain their perspective. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the mentees' perception of the effectiveness of the mentorship program. The quantitative data showed a statistically significant difference in perception based on frequency of interaction; however, the data revealed no statistically significant differences in the mentees' perception of the program's career or psychosocial functions based on matching by race, gender, or selection methods. The three themes that emerged during the qualitative analysis were relationship building, career engagement, and challenges; these key factors influenced the mentees' and mentors' perception of the mentorship experience. The researchers identified elements that help build mentoring relationships. These findings will help program directors better understand the factors contributing to mentoring experiences in leadership development programs. [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.]

In this mixed-method study, the researchers examined the perception of the effectiveness of a mentorship program at Hopewell University. The researchers collected data through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with current and past students who had completed the graduate program in educational leadership. They also conducted interviews with mentors from the program to gain their perspective. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the mentees' perception of the effectiveness of the mentorship program. The quantitative data showed a statistically significant difference in perception based on frequency of interaction; however, the data revealed no statistically significant differences in the mentees' perception of the program's career or psychosocial functions based on matching by race, gender, or selection methods. The three themes that emerged during the qualitative analysis were relationship building, career engagement, and challenges; these key factors influenced the mentees' and mentors' perception of the mentorship experience. The researchers identified elements that help build mentoring relationships. These findings will help program directors better understand the factors contributing to mentoring experiences in leadership development programs. [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.]

In this mixed-method study, the researchers examined the perception of the effectiveness of a mentorship program at Hopewell University. The researchers collected data through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with current and past students who had completed the graduate program in educational leadership. They also conducted interviews with mentors from the program to gain their perspective. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the mentees' perception of the effectiveness of the mentorship program. The quantitative data showed a statistically significant difference in perception based on frequency of interaction; however, the data revealed no statistically significant differences in the mentees' perception of the program's career or psychosocial functions based on matching by race, gender, or selection methods. The three themes that emerged during the qualitative analysis were relationship building, career engagement, and challenges; these key factors influenced the mentees' and mentors' perception of the mentorship experience. The researchers identified elements that help build mentoring relationships. These findings will help program directors better understand the factors contributing to mentoring experiences in leadership development programs. [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.]

African American women utilize the community college environments as an avenue to attain an education and eventually pursue career and educational goals while remaining in their own communities. However, not much is known about the unique perceptions and experiences of African American women impacting their enrollment and persistence at rural community colleges. The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive research study was to examine the reasons African American female students choose to enroll and attend a rural community college to further their education and persist towards graduation with an Associate degree. The data were collected using semi-structure individual interviews. Twelve African American women were study participants from one rural community college in the Southeastern United States. A literature review revealed gaps in the research where African American female students attending rural community colleges is missing from academia. Two research questions were investigated to determine the reasons this student population chose to enroll in a rural community college and the factors that lead to persistence. Using the theoretical frameworks of the Conceptual Model of Black Women College Student Success. The following four themes emerged from the research: (a) Breaking Institutional Barriers Encourages Marginalized Students (b) Rural Community College Culture (c) More Representation of Black females on Rural Community College Campuses and (d) Personal Resiliency is Key to Black Female College Student Success. Each theme produced subthemes that detailed the unique lived experiences of African American/Black female students attending rural community college campuses persisting towards their Associate degree. The findings of the present study provided data to rural community college administrators, faculty and staff members, college board members, and others who are interested in developing a model of support and enhance the rural community college experience and success for African American female students. This study provides African American females students the knowledge and means for persisting towards and Associate degree while maneuvering with academic and life challenges. [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.]

High levels of unmet need for contraception in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are alarming and contribute significantly to maternal and child morbidity and mortality. This thesis describes the implementation of a six-country initiative aimed at setting up services providing postpartum family planning (PPFP) counselling and postpartum intrauterine device (PPIUD) insertion for those consenting across 48 referral hospitals. The countries involved included Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Tanzania. Six published works are included. The first study analysed complications rates from PPIUD across all countries at the six-week postnatal follow up visit. Complications such as infection and perforation were minimal and expulsion rates were similar to when the intrauterine device (IUD) is inserted as an interval method in non-pregnant women (3%). Task shifting to nurses and midwives was safe, with no increase in complications reported. In the second study, analysis of four out of the six countries looked at which factors influenced women's decision to accept the method through quantitative analysis of exit interviews. Repeated counselling in the antenatal period was the only factor that increased uptake across all countries with each country having particular associated factors pertaining to their context. Uptake of PPIUD was initially very low in Nepal. A third study was designed using qualitative methodology to understand how women made their decisions regarding consenting for PPIUD and which factors influence that choice. Subjective norms were found to have a strong influence. It was suggested that community agents known as Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) could help modify this. Strategies were altered to allow for greater involvement of FCHVs. The fourth study used mixed methods to find that formal training increased FCHV's knowledge, their counselling of women and consequently PPIUD uptake. The fifth study looked at sustainability of this strategy. Using a mixed method approach the study found that after one year FCHVs were able to retain their knowledge and were active in counselling on PPFP/PPIUD albeit to a lesser extent than immediately post intervention. Following implementation of the initiative through donor funds, the issue of sustainability of services through local governments became increasingly important. Information on costeffectiveness of PPIUD in LMICs was lacking. The sixth study therefore looked at the costeffectiveness of services in Bangladesh and Tanzania as well as cost savings to the health system were these services to be expanded nationally. In both countries, services were highly cost-effective with national rollout saving more funds through aversion of associated morbidity and mortality related to unplanned pregnancies than it would cost to roll out. In conclusion, the six studies form a cohesive group of research that expands the knowledge on PPFP/PPIUD in LMICs. They demonstrate that implementation of PPFP/PPIUD services was successful, cost-effective and highlighted the importance of: considering contextual realities when devising counselling strategies, using task shifting to increase access and the value of involving community agents. The sustainability of initiatives such as this one and the move to upscaling however remain a challenge.

This thesis focuses on the spatial variability of benthic abyssal microbes, which have important implications for biogeochemical cycling in the deep ocean. Abyssal ecosystems, considered to be between 3,000 to 6,000 m water depth, cover vast areas of the Earth's surface. The majority of the abyssal seafloor is characterised by fine sediments, and these benthic habitats contain vast numbers of microbes with huge metabolic diversity. Abyssal microbes drive biogeochemical cycles, regulate fluxes of energy and contribute to organic carbon production and remineralization. So far, detailed assessments of the spatial distributions of benthic microbial communities in abyssal regions are still incomplete, and the influence of seafloor topography and heterogeneity on microbial distributions across a range of scales are poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to characterise the spatial variability of benthic microbes, which is essential for understanding their roles in benthic environments and for conducting baseline assessments of areas of the seabed that might be targeted by commercial mining activities. The spatial variation of benthic microbes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is the subject of three chapters, one of which focuses on the spatial variation of microbes associated with sediment and polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ) of the Pacific Ocean. The following chapter compares diversity and distribution of sediment microbes across three sites with varying productivity regimes in the Atlantic and Pacific. The final chapter examines the gut microbiome of holothurians, a dominant megafaunal group in the North-East Atlantic. This thesis showed that ammonia-oxidising Archaea (Thaumarchaeota) and nitrogen-cycling microbes were highly abundant in oligotrophic sediments and highlighted that these microbial taxa exhibited a spatial variability across small to large geographic scales, indicative of nîche diversity and resource partitioning. Given that chemolithoautotrophic taxa, such as ammoniaoxidisers and nitrifying microbes may form a significant source of organic carbon through inorganic carbon fixation and as microbes in general form the base of the marine food web, changes to microbial assemblages will likely have cascading impacts to higher trophic levels. Understanding the diversity patterns and functional roles of benthic microbes is vital for the sustainable use and preservation of ecosystems ahead of potential seabed exploration, exploitation and disturbance. Detailed observations are therefore necessary for modelling microbially mediated biogeochemical functions, monitoring biodiversity and ecological assessments for the preservation of ecosystem functioning.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. Early detection and treatment of pre-cancerous tissue during colonoscopy is critical to improving prognosis. However, navigating within the colon and inspecting the endoluminal tissue comprehensively are challenging, and success in both varies based on the endoscopist's skill and experience. Computer-assisted interventions in colonoscopy show much promise in improving navigation and inspection. For instance, 3D reconstruction of the colon during colonoscopy could promote more thorough examinations and increase adenoma detection rates which are associated with improved survival rates. Given the stakes, this thesis seeks to advance the state of research from feature-based traditional methods closer to a data-driven 3D reconstruction pipeline for colonoscopy. More specifically, this thesis explores different methods that improve subtasks of learning-based 3D reconstruction. The main tasks are depth prediction and camera pose estimation. As training data is unavailable, the author, together with her co-authors, proposes and publishes several synthetic datasets and promotes domain adaptation models to improve applicability to real data. We show, through extensive experiments, that our depth prediction methods produce more robust results than previous work. Our pose estimation network trained on our new synthetic data outperforms self-supervised methods on real sequences. Our box embeddings allow us to interpret the geometric relationship and scale difference between two images of the same surface without the need for feature matches that are often unobtainable in surgical scenes. Together, the methods introduced in this thesis help work towards a complete, data-driven 3D reconstruction pipeline for endoscopy.

The fibre laser has revolutionised modern technology, underpinning applications as diverse as materials processing, communications, and medical imaging. Demand has grown for fibre-based laser sources across a wide range of spectral regions. This thesis outlines progress towards extending the spectral coverage of fibre laser technology, through efficient nonlinear conversion techniques such as stimulated Raman scattering, four-wave mixing, and second-harmonic generation. We target two distinct areas of research: nonlinear frequency conversion in bulk crystals, and four-wave mixing in photonic crystal fibre. We begin by introducing an architecture for generating nanosecond pulsed, MHz repetitionrate pulses at 1240 nm based on stimulated Raman scattering in phosphosilicate fibre. The resulting amplifier has ideal properties as a pump for subsequent nonlinear conversion in crystals. We demonstrate the use of this phosphosilicate Raman amplifier as the pump system for three novel nonlinear sources. The first of these utilises seeded optical parametric generation in a cadmium silicon phosphide crystal to generate nanosecond pulsed, MHz repetition-rate, mid-infrared radiation between 4.2-4.6 μm. The second source we present delivers watt-level average powers at 620 nm, based on the direct frequency-doubling of the 1240 nm amplifier system, with ideal properties for stimulated-emission depletion microscopy. The third source extends the concept of the frequency-doubled Raman amplifier system at 620 nm to 743 nm, by utilising cascaded Raman amplification in phosphosilicate fibre. Lastly, we outline an architecture for generating short, tuneable pulses at 794-828 nm based on fibre optical-parametric chirped pulse amplification, a technique which utilises four-wave mixing in photonic crystal fibre. This architecture aims to generate ultrashort pulses in spectral regions not traditionally well served by existing fibre lasers. We underpin the work with both experimental results and simulations, discussing the design, implementations and limitations of this architecture, as well as presenting avenues for the future research and development of similar systems.

Tropical tree species richness and community composition varies along natural and anthropogenic gradients. Microbial pathogens and mutualists, insect herbivores, and predators of insect herbivores may contribute to such variation. Plant-microbial and plant- insect interactions affect the seedling performance and local abundance of tropical tree species. Evidence from temperate systems suggests that variation in the amount of insect herbivory can limit the distribution of plant species. Further, plant-soil feedbacks (PSF), the reciprocal effects between a plant and the soil microbial community it grows in, have been shown to drive the successional trajectories of grassland ecosystems. However, we know little about the role of plant-microbial and plant-insect interactions in determining the dynamics of secondary and mature tropical rainforests. This thesis aims at contributing knowledge to fill this research gap in four data chapters. Two large greenhouse experiments and two manipulative field studies were performed to address the role of biotic interactions on tropical plant communities in Panama from different perspectives. The greenhouse experiments described in Chapter 2 and 3 tested the variation in PSF with successional stage (i.e. in soils from forests differing in the duration of their recovery since agricultural abandonment), experimental light level, tree species' association with specific stages of succession, and phylogenetic distance between soil conditioning and succeeding tree species. Chapter 4 assessed variation in seedling vigour of the widespread tropical tree species Lacistema aggregatum across four forest sites along a rainfall gradient within its distributional range and correlated these changes with measurements of pest effects (fungal pathogens and insect herbivores) on plant performance. Chapter 5 explored whether predation pressure on insect herbivores varies with time of the day and host plant pubescence and assessed the effect of model prey shape on estimates of predation in two lowland rainforests. The results of this thesis are threefold. First, the greenhouse experiments showed that species-specific PSF acted in soils from all successional stages and affected most tree species tested. The occurrence of negative and positive net PSF suggests roles of both microbial pathogens and mutualists in structuring rainforest communities. PSF may contribute to driving the rate and direction of successional tree species turnover by overall more positive PSF occurring at successional stages in which a species is naturally abundant, a lower susceptibility of tree species that are abundant in late successional stages, and a phylogenetic signal in heterospecific PSF. Second, pest effects varied across the rainfall gradient and peaked where plant vigour was highest, providing evidence that pest effects may contribute to determine tree species' local abundance but no support for pests limiting the distribution of this tree species. Third, this thesis shows that model prey shape may not be as important in prey recognition as assumed in previous studies indicating the need for caution when interpreting model-prey-derived estimates of predation. The findings of this thesis indicate widespread effects of biotic interactions on plant community dynamics in secondary and mature rainforests. This contributes to closing the knowledge gap on the role of plant-microbial and plant-insect interactions in driving patterns of plant diversity and community structure in tropical rainforests. Its findings contribute to advancing fundamental science on the drivers of tropical biodiversity. Further, they provide information that enhances our ability to predict the consequences of projected changes in climate on tree species distributions and to develop effective restoration strategies to promote the recovery of tropical rainforests after severe disturbance.

This study examines continuous professional development opportunities for Special Educational Need Co-ordinators (SENCOs) in England beyond the National SENCO Award (NASENCO) and in doing so, further thought is given to career trajectories, and the prospect of a SEND leadership model to define SENCO identity to enhance SENCO agency. Using a conceptual framework, this research utilises the triad of identity, agency, and power to demonstrate how policy and practice can play a greater role in determining SENCO impact and effectiveness (Smith & Broomhead, 2019). The case presented in this study suggests that if SENCOs focus on leadership, as opposed to management, this gives them greater agency to enact their vision for change, as well as empower them in meeting the needs of children and young people; whilst simultaneously supporting them to grow and utilise their power more effectively across a whole-setting team. Unlike legislation, a model focusing on policy and practice embraces flexibility to cater for localised variants (Garner, 2011; Tissot, 2013; Done et al., 2016) and wider unexpected eventualities like COVID19 (Clarke & Done, 2021; Hallet, 2021). The findings highlight a potential perverse incentive to investing in continuous professional development opportunities for SENCOs, due to fear of them moving on and settings then having to re-recruit. What also emerges from the data is that retention is best supported, if considered thought and structure is given to professional development and a career trajectory at the time of recruitment. This is an area currently unresearched. Collectively, one hundred and fifty SENCOs in England took part in different segments of this qualitative research design, which included a preliminary evaluation study, under Part 1 of the PhD programme. This set assignment laid the foundation for my main study which consisted of focus groups, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. This thesis builds on previous studies that have looked at different aspects the SENCO role and the SENCO as a leader, including how a more strategic approach would attract more males to the profession (Woolhouse, 2015, Pulsford, 2020). This thesis adds to the body of knowledge in this area by primarily putting forward a SEND Leadership model, which can support future effective recruitment and retention through structured continuous professional development.

The growing adoption of electric vehicles presents an opportunity to explore the numerous benefits to network operators. For example, aggregated electric vehicles can replace peaking power plants traditionally used to satisfy peak energy demands. However, unlike other distributed energy resources, electric vehicles do not have fixed locations within single- or multi-energy systems as they can be connected to any charging station. This makes optimally coordinating their charge/discharge operations challenging, compounded when uncertainties related to electric vehicles' characteristics, availability, and charging preferences are considered. Presented is a generalised mobile storage model representing successive electric vehicles' charge/discharge operations that will utilise a charging station. The model is not restricted to a fixed number of electric vehicles and can be used to analyse the different ways charging stations are utilised in residential, commercial, and public areas. The mobile storage model extends a generalised modelling framework primarily developed for predictive control applications. Modifications are made to the entire framework for application in stochastic predictive control. The effectiveness of the modified framework is demonstrated with three representative case studies. One illustrates how the model is incorporated into the generalised framework and implemented within a deterministic energy management scheme. Results show significant cost savings when exploiting successive electric vehicles utilising a charging station. The other is used to demonstrate how uncertainties are incorporated within the generalised framework and implemented within a stochastic energy management scheme. Results show significant cost savings compared to the deterministic scheme. Finally, the last case study has a varying number of charging stations. It is used to analyse the performance of a stochastic scheme whose optimisation problem is designed to consider charge/discharge power smoothing applications. This is done to prevent damage when electric vehicles are used for ancillary services such as peak demand management. Analyses presented show the challenges in implementing the stochastic scheme in different areas.

Background: Severe hypoglycaemic events (SHEs) are classified as glucose readings of 3.9mmol/l and below, requiring assistance from another person to treat. These diabetic emergencies often require emergency services attendance and are associated with lower general health, greater fear and anxiety, lower health-related quality-of-life, higher risk of long term complications, higher risk of mortality, reduced work productivity, and problems performing daily activities. Patient empowerment and structured patient education programs aimed at reducing SHEs and restoring hypoglycaemia awareness are highly recommended. However, there seems to be a paucity of evidence surrounding the understanding of SHEs and their aftermath for affected people and family members involved. This lack of current evidence compromises the incorporation of timely, person-centred interventions within the SHE treatment pathway once an event has occurred. Promising approaches for emergency services teams to support post-event daily self-management activities are brief interventions (Bls). Therefore, this study's overall aim was to understand BI opportunities within emergency service settings to inform SHE-related care. Method: The overall aim was addressed by three distinct but linked studies. In the first step, an analysis of routinely collected data over a 12-month period (paper 1) quantified and described the characteristics of individuals treated for SHEs in a single emergency care setting in Switzerland. A systematic review study (paper 2) identified BI components and outcomes for people with diabetes in a second step. Finally, a constructivist grounded theory study explored patterns of social actions, interactions, and behaviour in twelve affected persons and six spouses who were experiencing and responding to SHEs and dealing with their aftermath. Results: Paper 1 showed that over 50% of those affected by SHEs were men over 65 years, living in a relationship, and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for over a decade. Individuals treated by emergency medical services alone were significantly younger than those subsequently treated in the emergency department or requiring follow-up inpatient treatment. Paper 2 demonstrated inconsistency in the use of the term BI and a lack of evidence of Bls for people with diabetes in emergency care and other care settings. In the four studies included in the systematic literature review, psychological, functional and satisfactory patient outcomes were significantly improved, whereas clinical outcomes were not. Reported core BI components utilised included assessment, advice-giving and assistance. The emerged explanatory theory described the affected person's and their spouse's individual and shared experiences and interactions while responding to SHEs. Four phases constituted a chronological trajectory while experiencing a disturbed rhythm of activities: a) falling out of rhythm, b) re-establishing identity, c) re-establishing routines, and d) experiencing (new) normality. These results combined led to three key findings providing novel insights and aspects in the care of people with SHEs and opportunities for BI: 1) SHEs led to a disrupted self, identity and normality in affected people, 2) the need for effective individual and couples interventions to strengthen ongoing management to prevent future SHEs and 3) identified windows of opportunity for Bls during the encounter with emergency care services and beyond. Conclusion: The findings highlighted the disruptive nature of SHEs in affected people and their spouses' lives. During the encounter with emergency care services, there is an opportunity for Bls to initiate ongoing support with the core components of assessment, advice-giving and assistance. Therefore, Bls need to be integrated into person-centred clinical pathways in emergency care services. Further, essential ongoing support throughout the mentioned trajectory calls for trusting relationships between healthcare professionals and affected persons and spouses. Lastly, it is crucial to raise awareness of the issue among healthcare professionals and provide appropriate training.

Many researchers have studied how Black educators serve as role models for Black students and affect students' academics and emotionality. Currently, a shortage of U.S. Black educators has prompted many state legislatures to create initiatives to increase the number of Black educators in school systems. In the State of Connecticut, legislators implemented initiatives in 2012 and 2015 to increase the number of minority (Black and Hispanic) school teachers and administrators. To date, these initiatives have not been successful. In fact, approximately 270 Black educators certified between 2013 and 2017 had not found employment in public schools in 2018. The researcher conducted a qualitative study to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of certified Black educators seeking employment in Connecticut's public school system. The researcher sought a better understanding of the barriers and opportunities these educators encountered throughout the hiring process. Data for this study were collected from semistructured interviews of Black certified educators in Connecticut who experienced the hiring process since the passage of legislation seven years ago. The researcher found all participants perceived racial discrimination and unconscious bias when applying for positions. The personal stories of participants represented their various challenges, which included many application submissions, few interviews, and even fewer hires. In addition, participants seeking administrator opportunities found the path toward job attainment more difficult than did those pursuing teaching positions. Because the State has expressed the need for more Black certified educators, and Black certified educators are finding it difficult to get hired, a better understanding of possible motives is needed. The findings show that Connecticut's State Department of Education should monitor human resource departments and hiring practices at the local and district levels. [This dissertation is published in Theses and Dissertations at DUNE: DigitalUNE.]

The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of how the professional identity of the Further Education (FE) teacher is formed within the UK with a particular emphasis on England. This involves examining the way in which their role and the context in which they work contributes to their identity and draws upon Bourdieu's theories of habitus, capital and field (1986) in addition to the conceptual frameworks of professional identity from Millerson (1964), Furlong et al. (2000) and Briggs (2007). This research contributes knowledge to the field of professional identity FE by collecting and analysing qualitative data focussing upon the expectations and experiences of teachers employed in FE Colleges (FEC). Through an exploratory case study approach, data was collected using two sets of semi-structured interviews, participant diaries and a paper based questionnaire with the process of analysis informed by the literature review to develop overarching themes of professional identity. Coding was undertaken using a four-step process proposed by Harding (2013) which produced 19 categories and finally the themes relating to teacher role, student profile and qualifications. The thesis concludes that the way in which professional identity is formed is unique to other occupations due to the role of the FE teacher; the nature of their work and the environment in which they inhabit. Notably, this has evolved through legislative acts which are designed to align education into business concepts, where accountability and the importance of the client service relationship are seen as key concepts of new managerialism. These now dominate the day-to-day activities of the FE teacher involving, for example, administrative and welfare duties which were not previously undertaken by teachers. In addition, the relationship between the FE teacher and the non-traditional type of student in having a 'second chance' was a key element in the identity of the FE teacher in what has been described by some as the 'Cinderella' sector. Due to the unique formation of such an identity, a new term is proposed namely the 'Morphed' professional. This accounts for the ways in which FE teachers often have previous professional identities, sometimes more than one, in addition to being a teacher in FE. However, these other identities may interrelate to each other and effectively contribute to the uniqueness of the FE teacher rather than replace an identity from a previous career.

Background: Strategy documents recommend a patient-led approach to identifying and addressing the unmet support needs of patients with long-term conditions. Further recommendations advocate an intervention-model to systematically assess need based around the use of a needs-assessment questionnaire or prompt completed with, or by, the patient, and a patient-HCP conversation. However, despite enthusiasm for these interventions within the qualitative literature, their usefulness in supporting a patient-led approach remains unclear, and there has been limited attention to exploring the case for an alternative person-centred approach to intervention format and delivery. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to critically analyse the nature and usefulness of the Systematic Needs Assessment intervention model as a means to enable a patient-led approach to identifying, expressing and addressing unmet support need, and to make the case for an alternative person-centred approach to intervention format and delivery. In addition, the thesis aims to investigate whether, and how, this alternative approach can support patient-led identification and expression of their unmet support needs in practice through the exploration of an 'exemplar': the Support Needs Approach for Patients (SNAP): consisting of a five-stage approach to delivering person-centred care underpinned by the SNAP Tool. Methods: A mixed methods approach was adopted involving three stages: 1) a thematic synthesis of the relevant qualitative literature; 2) a mixed methods study to assess the face, content and criterion validity of the SNAP Tool; 3) a qualitative study to explore the use of SNAP in clinical practice. Results: The thematic synthesis identified that interventions based around the systematic assessment of patient need tend to support enhanced patient involvement in an HCP-led approach to identifying and addressing support need, rather than a more person-centred patient-led process. Findings also suggested this was a function of intervention characteristics that emphasised the HCP role (e.g. use of instruments designed to measure symptoms). In contrast, elements of a patient-led approach were evident where interventions incorporated features orientated towards person-centred care and support needs (rather than symptoms). Together these limitations exposed a weakness in the evidence base of existing interventions, and lent support for the exploration of an alternative person-centred approach to intervention format and delivery. Consideration of this alternative person-centred approach, via an exemplar intervention (SNAP,) found that SNAP had value in clinical practice and was able to support a person-centred patient-led process. Validity testing of the SNAP Tool found it has good face, content and criterion validity. The qualitative investigation of SNAP further identified that, when delivered as intended, SNAP operationalised person-centred care thereby enabling patient-led identification, expression, and addressing of their unmet support needs. Conclusion: This thesis found that interventions based on a Systematic Needs Assessment intervention model are orientated to supporting enhanced patient involvement in an HCP-led approach to identifying and addressing patient support need, rather than a patient-led approach. In contrast, SNAP provides an alternative person-centred approach to intervention format and delivery that can directly enable patient-led identification, expression, and addressing of their unmet support needs.

Vector Space Models of Distributional Semantics - or Embeddings - serve as useful statistical models of word meanings, which can be applied as proxies to learn about human concepts. One of their main benefits is that not only textual, but a wide range of data types can be mapped to a space, where they are comparable or can be fused together. Multi-modal semantics aims to enhance Embeddings with perceptual input, based on the assumption that the representation of meaning in humans is grounded in sensory experience. Most multi-modal research focuses on downstream tasks, involving direct visual input, such as Visual Question Answering. Fewer papers have exploited visual information for meaning representations when the evaluation tasks involve no direct visual input, such as semantic similarity. When such research has been undertaken, the results on the impact of visual information have been often inconsistent, due to the lack of comparison and the ambiguity of intrinsic evaluation. Does visual data bolster performance on non-visual tasks? If it does, is this only because we add more data or does it convey complementary quality information compared to a higher quantity of text? Can we achieve comparable performance using small-data if it comes from the right data distribution? Is the modality, the size or the distributional properties of the data that matters? Evaluating on downstream or similarity-type tasks is a good start to compare models and data sources. However, if we want to resolve the ambiguity of intrinsic evaluations and the spurious correlations of downstream results, creating more transparent and human interpretable models is necessary. This thesis proposes diverse studies to scrutinize the inner "cognitive models" of Embeddings, trained on various data sources and modalities. Our contribution is threefold. Firstly, we present comprehensive analyses of how various visual and linguistic models behave in semantic similarity and brain imaging evaluation tasks. We analyse the effect of various image sources on the performance of semantic models, as well as the impact of the quantity of images in visual and multi-modal models. Secondly, we introduce a new type of modality: a visually structured, text based semantic representation, lying in-between visual and linguistic modalities. We show that this type of embedding can serve as an efficient modality when combined with low resource text data. Thirdly, we propose and present proof-of-concept studies of a transparent, interpretable semantic space analysis framework.

Under the weight of the neoliberal agenda, higher education lecturers in the United Kingdom (UK) struggle to maintain their professional identity, destabilised by the pressures of marketisation and accountability. The questions explored within this thesis are based around a research project that aimed to examine the shifting academic identities of lecturers in a post-1992 university. The research adopted a qualitative methodology, informed by a post-structuralist perspective and a Foucauldian theoretical framework. Neoliberalism, marketisation of higher education and new managerialism have disrupted academic identities and altered the very nature of academic work (Fumasoli et al., 2015). Academics are required to meet students' raised expectations in a business-based environment and are obliged to participate in the new culture of audit and increased accountability This thesis argues that academics' identities have shifted to include three new identities: customer service-provider, carer and for some, researcher. Analysis of the data suggests that there are clearly gendered patterns of work at the university and highlights how the Research Excellence Framework (REF), also has gendered implications (Yarrow and Davies 2018). This thesis presents the concept of academic identity in a post-1992 UK university as a fluid and multifaceted entity. This is shaped by the broad relationship between the universities' adoption of neoliberal agendas and the impact of this commitment on the life of academics, resulting in the appearance of a new identity of a 'multifarious' academic.

This thesis analyses public discourses about political violence in interwar Britain and Germany. Much of the existing work on political violence in the aftermath of the First World War has focused on the defeated countries of Central and Eastern Europe. A comparative study on Germany and Great Britain, however, has not previously been undertaken and therefore presents a novel and ambitious addition to the field. The study's approach is based on the assumption that analysing inherently public discourses, primarily press and parliamentary language, can provide insights into both nations' identity construction, both domestically and internationally. A series of case studies from the early and late interwar period has been chosen for this purpose. In examining the discourses exhibited in reaction to these case studies, the thesis will find that the language used publicly to discuss political violence in both countries referenced a series of common themes which aided in constructing the desired national narratives and identities. In the aftermath of the experience of extreme violence during the First World War, in particular, these themes revolved around notions of civilisation, justice, law and order, and, especially in the case of the young Weimar Republic, the desire to establish membership in the international community of civilised, democratic nations. Additionally, race, class, nation, gender, and political conviction were recurring rhetorical frameworks, along which public discourses sought to categorise victims and perpetrators of violence, legitimising certain acts of political violence while delegitimising others. While the thesis presents these thematic similarities, crucial differences in the nature, intensity, and contexts of German and British public discourses on political violence were obvious, pointing towards both countries' divergent paths. The thesis' undisputed conceptual vanishing point is the rise of Nazism in Germany. Thus, by comparing German interwar discourses on political violence to British ones, the thesis retraces important watershed moments at which language contributed to shifting the boundaries of acceptable uses of violence in the name of politics. Furthermore, by its comparative approach, the thesis actively seeks to Europeanise British history more than it traditionally has been; similarly, by consciously including case studies from the colonial sphere, it seeks to integrate British and imperial histories more meaningfully.

This thesis examines how the organisation of technology intelligence processes influences the identification of disruptive technological innovations. It poses the question, 'Are process-oriented or unstructured procedures and activities within a technology management department in leading global manufacturing companies useful for identifying disruptive innovations?' This research addresses this question and examines the emerging role of identifying disruptive technological innovations in the context of industrial technology management. Hence, this study analyses the processes and activities in the technology intelligence process in 20 multinational companies in the automotive, fast-moving consumer goods, aerospace, and energy and electronics industries to identify disruptive innovations. It investigates the differences between these industries and organisations as well as the management of processes and activities in a technology management department within an organisation to identify disruptive innovations. It demonstrates that the organisation of a technology intelligence process influences a technology management department and how this can be crucial in identifying disruptive technological innovations in knowledge-intensive industries.

'Going tribal' programmes are hybrids of documentary and reality television. I call these programmes ethnotainment which is a product of primitivism reality television. As a hybrid product, ethnotainment works in the liminal spaces of media. Within the post-colonial theoretical context, liminal spaces are ideological spaces in between designated identities, and processes of identity and self-hood are negotiated within these spaces. Post-colonial Pacific discourse often de-create and subvert coloniality through subaltern narratives, and they can be in liminal spaces. However, as already noted, 'going tribal' programmes are also in liminal spaces. Since some programmes feature colonised and post-colonial Pacific peoples, they can also be in the same liminal space as post-colonial Pacific discourse. In my research, I examine programmes of Euro-American adventurers travelling to remote locations to contact endangered peoples. Their aim is to live as 'one of the tribe'. These programmes are what I call transnational ethnotainment. I also discuss what I refer to as Pasifika ethnotainment. These are programmes produced by New Zealanders with Pacific Island backgrounds in former colonial centres in the Pacific such as New Zealand. The main theme is the journey to a cultural homeland. This dissertation considers issues regarding 1) What happens when an ethnotainment product participates in liminal spaces of post-colonial discourse? (2) How does this affect discourse subversion from the filmed indigenous groups? Edgewalking is a concept contesting liminality and hybridity and, as this dissertation shows, the filmed indigenous groups can be seen to edgewalk the borders of their cultural and social contexts. As edgewalkers, these groups, as subjects and objects of the camera's lens, create subversive methods, despite not controlling the camera. The filmed groups control the presenter's perception of himself and of them by controlling access to their cultural cosmologies. This creates moments of ambiguity and ambivalence, despite minimalisation, through explicit editing. In this conceptual framework, analyses of a selection of ethnotainment programmes are done using an adaptation of a methodology from Linguistics called Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structure Theory. This adapted methodology is used to unpack how, in the final programme cut, these representations of Pacific peoples demonstrate a (re-)imagining of Pacific cultures. This process can be seen to be repeated in this ethnotainment genre, regardless of who the main protagonist is, or the documentary production values' claim to represent the indigenous voice.

Sleep timing, i.e., chronotype, can be conceptualised as mid-sleep which is the mid-point between sleep onset and wake-up time. This thesis aims to further explore the construct by assessing changes in sleep timing, the influence of the five-factor model (FFM) personality traits on sleep timing, and the influence of sleep timing on subjective well-being (outcome). The thesis uses data from an experience sampling study of British university students and a large-scale sample of participants from the Estonian Biobank. Chapter 2 assesses the intraindividual variability of mid-sleep, using a two-week long sleep diary, and temporal stability of mid-sleep on free and workdays of up to five years, by examining their test-retest correlations. Chapter 3 examines the relationship between the FFM personality traits and chronotype on the phenotypic and genetic level using personality and chronotype questionnaires and polygenic scores. Participants of the experience sampling study also provided multiple daily measures of subjective well-being (Chapter 4) allowing the analysis of the influence of sleep timing and other sleep indicators on subjective well-being. The intraindividual variability of mid-sleep was smaller than the interindividual variability of mid-sleep once the effect of free and workdays was accounted for. The temporal stability of mid-sleep on both free and workdays was strong, but largely dependent on participants' age. The FFM personality traits and chronotype were related at all three levels of the personality hierarchy (i.e., domains, facets, and items) and seemed to share underlying genetic mechanisms. Sleep satisfaction, but not sleep timing, influenced all three components of next day's subjective well-being. The findings of the thesis offer a wide range of practical implications which could lead to an overall improvement of people's well-being. The thesis closes with directions for future studies that can dive deeper into better understanding sleep timing and its associated factors and outcomes.

It may be presumed that the UK’s compensation code fairly compensates those subject to compulsory purchase given its awarding of home loss payments, payments which recognise the sentimental value of one’s home. However, despite providing just awards at face value, this perception is only valid to an extent since UK compensation fails to consistently recompense this recognised sentimental aspect of property ownership today. This consequently impacts the awarding of full and justified compensation for all whose homes are compulsorily acquired since such awards are ‘additional’, and not a core component of compensation’s assessment. In light of the UK’s failure to endorse sentiment as a guaranteed compensatory value, and the subsequent failure of contemporary theories of property to recognise the importance of sentimental attachments in this context, this thesis aims to consider the necessity for the law’s reform, and the consequential development of contemporary theories to explain and justify such changes. To do so, this thesis will examine: the uniform recognition of a sentimental attachment to property across discourses; the implications of such recognition on UK legislation and theoretical understandings of property; and whether legal reform, through means of incorporating sentiment within the compensation code as an obligatory value to be recompensed when homes are acquired, is necessary to address such issues. As will be demonstrated, the failure of the compensation code to recognise sentiment as a guaranteed compensable value hinders the awarding of full and fair compensation for all compulsory purchases of the home, leading the thesis to urge such legislative reforms to ensure the UK secures compensation of equivalence to the losses suffered in practice. Thus, the thesis aims to highlight the current gaps within UK compensatory provisions and the need for their reform in light of the uniform recognition of the importance of sentimental attachments to property.

School turnaround is premised on the assumption that school leaders provide the guidepost along which transformational change occurs. This collective case study examined the turnaround leadership styles and practices of eight senior high school principals in seven senior high schools in Ghana. This study examined the research questions: What formal training and leadership experiences best equip principals to be effective school turnaround leaders? What visions of school turnaround were expected by these principals? What leadership styles and practices were exhibited by these turnaround principals? What levels of success were achieved by the participating principals? How are these principals shaping success-oriented school culture? Data were gathered from principals who had successfully brought their schools from failing schools to schools performing well within a 3-year period. The findings showed that effective turnaround principals put different leadership theories into practice. These practices included operating from a position of teamwork and inclusion, focusing on the vision, using effective two-way communication, motivating teachers and students, reflecting on their own practices, using resource-oriented practices, and going beyond the normal scope of duty. [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 purpose of this generic quality study was to explore African American parents' experiences of mental health support after their child was diagnosed with ADHD. Mental health support can help parents navigate their environment to better aid their children in coping with their ADHD diagnosis. Due to the dearth of literature relating to African American parents' experiences with mental health support, the topic deserves further attention as it focuses specifically on those parents of children diagnosed with ADHD. This research study employed purposeful sampling and generic qualitative methods to gain insight from the subjective experiences of participants. The data collection method included individual interviews with 10 participants identifying themselves as an African American parent of a child diagnosed with ADHD, using 14 school-approved guiding interview questions. This data was analyzed using a process of thematic analysis with constant comparison, which involved a 13-step inductive analysis. A comprehensive analysis of the data identified six themes: (a) increased patience, (b) gaining knowledge through advocacy, (c) noticing patterns, triggers, and severity of symptoms, (d) positive experiences increased collaboration with professionals, (e) providing encouragement enhanced socialization with peers, and (f) engaged as an independent researcher. The study found that African American parents benefit from positive experiences with mental health support professionals. This study has implications for counselor supervisors, counselor educators, academic institutions, African American churches, and educators in local schools. [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 purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry, framed by theories of intercultural competence, sociocultural awareness, and national culture dimensions, was to understand how former American residence hall assistants (RAs) in one institution in the northwestern United States developed intercultural friendships with international students. The study sample included ten former RAs who supervised international students as they lived in dormitories on a private language school campus in the northwestern United States. The research question guiding the study pertained to explorations of the participants' development of intercultural relationships with international students in a dormitory setting, as told through their stories. Data were collected through semi-structured, open-ended interviews, along with analytic notes, and transcribed for analysis. Two levels of thematic analysis were used; initial coding with descriptive and In Vivo codes followed by secondary pattern codes identified through a mapping technique. Results detail participants' recollections involving their language negotiation, dormitory life exchanges, intercultural understanding, and friendship formation with the international students. The retelling of the general story contains contrasts and similarities representing the participants' stories. Findings include descriptions of the participants': (1) contextualized interactions; (2) intercultural navigation; and (3) relational connectedness with the international students. The study's implications apply to residence hall directors, English language educators, and intercultural curriculum coordinators regarding host-country students' sociocultural awareness and connectedness in a local-global context. [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 purpose of this mixed methods research is to explore how global studies programs are designed and implemented at public community colleges in the United States and to identify the challenges and the opportunities facing the faculty and administrators tasked with establishing global studies. Despite the fact that most global programs have been designed by political science faculty, they tend to be independent of one another and distinct in goals and character. By examining the nature of similar programs in select community colleges across the United States, the study identifies both the challenges and opportunities that program developers face. Using a multi-phase approach to data collection using both quantitative and qualitative data, this research allowed for the analysis of the information to continually loop back and help connect the research to the other phases. Through document review, including website analysis, the study identified which of the 925 public, tribal, and independent community colleges have global, international, or similar programs. Using Geographic Information Systems, the study produced first-of-its-kind maps to represent findings visually, allowing the project to identify regional trends in the spatialization of global studies programs in the United States, including in relation to local demographic changes. While only 22 community colleges offer full global studies programs, multiple others are responding to the need for more globalized/international framing in related ways, in areas with similarly growing percentages of foreign-born residents. From these findings, eight faculty and administrator participants were selected for interviews. Interviews revealed that GS is as much a perspective as it is a discipline. It is a way of looking at and making connections in the world and is very much influenced by the life and academic experiences of the instructors and administrators involved in these programs. Interview data integrated with the quantitative GIS mapping further linked global programs to environmental conditions as well as personnel-makeup. Overall findings reveal how global studies programs differ from staple programs such as English or political science in that they exist as a function of the right people being at the right place at the right time. As they seem to be somewhat of a personality driven program, the loss of these individuals involved can lead to the loss of global studies at the community college. Based on this research, recommendations are made for academic organizations and groups, community college administrators, and community college faculty so that we can ensure that existing global studies programs continue to thrive and that new programs can get the support that they need as they are developed in community colleges across the United States. [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 purpose of this qualitative case study aimed to identify and describe the use of succession planning found in an educational environment, and the perceptions of administrators and teachers regarding its use. Succession planning was said to be a systematic process to identify, develop, and grow individuals for greater responsibility in the organization and develop leadership capacity. Participants in the study included forty individuals from a large district in North Texas Region 10. The research conducted 11 interviews via face-to-face or phone conference to gain an understanding of the perceptions at the district, administrator, and teacher levels. The researcher transcribed the data from these interviews using Microsoft Word, analyzed the data, and identified five themes. The findings suggested that the district valued growing individuals from within the district and had an implemented plan. However, communication from the district was lacking regarding teacher's understanding of the offerings and personal application to future leadership roles. Implications for this study indicate districts should consider a structured plan that is well-thought-out for employees at all levels, easily accessible, and well communicated to all employees. [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.]

Background: In areas of social disadvantage (SD), high proportions of children have impoverished language skills and poor attention. There is international debate around how best to support this population. Targeting working memory (WM) as an underlying skill may improve these real-world skills. Aims: To develop and test a classroom-based intervention targeting working memory to enhance attention and language skills in 4-5 year olds from areas of SD. Methods: A mixed methods, multi-phase study including: 1) A systematic review of WM interventions applied in children's everyday contexts; 2) A qualitative study that explored health professionals' (HPs) (n= 13) and teachers' (n= 10) perceptions of WM; 3) Coproduction work with HPs (n= 5), teachers (n= 2) and parents (n= 2) of 4-5 year olds; and 4) A cluster randomised feasibility trial of the novel intervention. Findings: Evidence from the systematic review and the qualitative study, synthesised with the experience of HPs, teachers and parents led to the co-production of 'Recall to Enhance Children's Attention, Language and Learning' (RECALL). It is a 6-week intervention that includes direct executive-loaded WM tasks, phoneme awareness training and fantastical play and is delivered to whole classes of children by HPs and teachers. The feasibility trial indicated that the trial processes could be scaled-up into a definitive trial but there were mixed findings about the acceptability of the intervention. In the whole class setting, large group sizes reduced the dose (number of practice items) accessed by individual children, particularly those who may benefit most from RECALL.Outcomes: RECALL should be optimised as a small group intervention (for children at risk of low WM) and tested in a full-scale trial. Teachers require training on the theoretical underpinning of classroom-based interventions. Policy-makers and practitioners in school-based services should reflect on the effectiveness of whole-class interventions, considering the potential dilution of the potency of interventions in this setting.

Introduction: "Imaging biomarkers" (IB) are radiological measurements that predict outcomes. Although IBs have been validated for primary colorectal cancer none are available for predicting disease relapse in colorectal or anal cancer. The aim of this thesis was to develop and implement IBs for relapse in colorectal and anal cancer. Methods: A systematic review assessed the completeness of reporting of IB publications in colorectal liver metastases. Potential IBs for anal SCC and mrTRG response assessment in rectal cancer were tested retrospectively. Finally IB implementation was tested by retrospectively and then prospectively assessing the potential role of DW-MRI as a screening tool for synchronous liver metastases in colorectal cancer. Results: Systematic review (n=30) found no IB studies adhered to REMARK but there were areas of good practice. mrT staging and mr-derived depth of extramural spread (DEMS) both predicted for outcome in 131 anal SCC patients, but when combined DEMS >12mm was the only predictor of outcome. mrTRG response in 338 patients predicted for recurrent or metastatic disease (OR 3.6) and described patterns of disease. Retrospectively DW-MRI detected more synchronous liver metastases in high-risk rectal cancer than CT (OR 8.065, P=0.018) with poorer 3 year OS (p<0.05). This led to the multicentre SERENADE study which aimed to validate screening DW-MRI in 262 patients; interim analysis showed DW-MRI detected 5% more synchronous liver metastases than CT. Conclusions and Future Work: REMARK should be required by journals publishing IB work. DEMS is a novel potential IB for anal SCC which could result in a change to TNM staging but first requires external validation against outcomes. Findings related to mrTRG and the timing and site of metastases should be considered when planning follow-up. Risk-adapted screening for liver metastases with DW-MRI has been validated and should be adopted in clinical practice for high-risk patients.

This study investigates the validity of the Concealed Information Test (CIT), considered as the most accurate polygraph test able to discriminate guilty from innocent suspects (e.g. Ekman & O'Sullivan, 1991; Bull et al., 2004; Grubin & Madsen, 2005). Despite scientific support for the use of the CIT, the test is currently rarely employed, due to the lack of demonstration for its applicability within real forensic contexts (Kraphol, 2011). This thesis aims to provide further evidence of the CIT mechanisms and demonstrate new potential applicability as an investigative and preventative tool. This study addresses these aims by evaluating certain aspects of the validity of the CIT which have received less attention in literature: the effect of visual stimulation, the ability to detect criminal intentions and the application of the CIT in a group setting.

Background: Changes in societal culture, demographics and illness patterns have necessitated a reorientation in approaches to care of those with life limiting illness. Present systems of care predicated on professional input are unsustainable and have been associated with limits in access to services and a fragmentation of care processes. A public health approach to palliative care (PC) that re-orientates care towards the public, as drivers in identifying care priorities and partners in finding solutions to care issues, is widely advocated. A central tenet of such a collaborative approach is a consensus as to the meaning and remit of PC. Research to date looking at public knowledge and attitudes to PC has measured levels of knowledge focusing on older populations. There has been a lack of studies gauging the understanding of PC by younger adult populations. Investigating this population will help to tailor education and policy interventions aimed at empowering young people as citizens, advocates and mediators in the care of those with life limiting illness. Aim: To examine young people’s knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of palliative care within the context of a public health approach. Methods: An explanatory mixed methods two-phased design study was undertaken with university students aged 18-29 years and was based on a broad socioecological perspective. Phase one, an online survey (n=859), underpinned by the Theory of Planned Behaviour and a review of the literature, measured attitudes and perceptions of PC, knowledge was also measured using a validated scale (PaCKS). Phase two further explored perceptions of PC and employed semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of survey respondents who agreed to be interviewed (n=24). Findings: Phase One: Just over eight in ten respondents (83%, n=710) had heard of the term PC. Sixty-eight per cent wanted to know more about PC with only 36% (n=313) reporting that they knew where to find relevant information. Phase Two: qualitative exploration demonstrated issues relating to terminology, with participants relating PC with end of life care and a subject for consideration later in life. Participants rarely recounted the benefits of early initiation of PC and the rehabilitative aspects of PC. Prior experience and exposure to PC was an important factor in shaping attitudes and, while welcoming the opportunity to discuss PC, protective subjective norms prohibited more open discussion. Conclusions: Young people in the study demonstrated a readiness to engage with PC. They suggested future public health approaches to PC aimed at engaging young people should ensure the dissemination of early and accurate information relating to populations that may require PC, the timing, delivery and outcomes of care. The results of this study suggest how public health initiatives can target the societal norms that, in aiming to protect young people, fail to recognise their potential as assets in positively influencing the environment in which people with life limiting illness live and die.

With the continuous growth of scientific literature, it is becoming increasingly challenging to discover relevant scientific publications from the plethora of available academic digital libraries. Despite the current scale, important efforts have been achieved towards the research and development of academic search engines, reference management tools, review management platforms, scientometrics systems, and recommender systems that help finding a variety of relevant scientific items, such as publications, books, researchers, grants and events, among others. This thesis focuses on 'recommender systems for scientific publications'. Existing systems do not always provide the most relevant scientific publications to users, despite they are present in the recommendation space. A common limitation is the 'lack of access to the full content of the publications' when designing the recommendation methods. Solutions are largely based on the exploitation of metadata (e.g., titles, abstracts, lists of references, etc.), but rarely with the text of the publications. Another important limitation is the lack of time awareness. Existing works have not addressed the important scenario of recommending the most recent publications to users, due to the challenge of recommending items for which no ratings (i.e., user preferences) have been yet provided. The 'lack of evaluation benchmarks' also limits the evolution and progress of the field. This thesis investigates the 'use of fine-grained forms of citation knowledge', extracted from the full textual content of scientific publications, to enhance recommendations: citation proximity, citation context, citation section, citation graph and citation intention. We 'design and develop new recommendation methods' that incorporate such knowledge, individually and in combination. By conducting offline evaluations, as well as user studies, we show how the use of citation knowledge does help enhancing the performance of existing recommendation methods when addressing two key tasks: (i) recommending scientific publications for a given work, and (ii) recommending recent scientific publications to a user. Two novel evaluation benchmarks have also been generated and made available for the scientific community.

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer that affects women in the United Kingdom (UK). Autologous free tissue transfer using abdominal tissue remains an excellent option for breast reconstruction following mastectomy, given greater availability of tissue and lower donor site morbidity associated with muscle-sparing approaches (perforator-based). This research evaluated microvascular anatomy of Deep Inferior Epigastric Artery Perforator (DIEP) flaps, the role of linking vessels on dynamic perfusion in bilateral breast reconstruction and strategies to augment flap vascularity. For the ex-vivo anatomical studies, three and four-dimensional computed tomographic angiography (CTA) were used to evaluate patterns of the microvascular blood supply of individual perforators and corresponding perfusion patterns in the hemi-abdomen. This was combined with an in-vivo clinical study of women undergoing bilateral DIEP breast reconstruction following mastectomy, where both preoperative CTA and intra-operative Laser-Assisted Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Angiography (LA-ICGFA) were used to evaluate perforator anatomy and dynamic perfusion zones of individual perforators. Finally, an experimental in-vivo animal model was used to investigate strategies of pretreatment of perforator flaps with negative pressure wound therapy to augment vascularity of perforator flaps prior to flap harvest. The vascular territories of individual perforator within hemi-DIEP flaps demonstrated variable patterns with unique patterns of perfusion. Concepts including early capture of large calibre direct linking vessels to adjacent perforators or the superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) territories, mostly found in the supra-scarpa’s and subdermal layers of the flap, played a key role in defining overall perfusion area and dynamic perfusion patterns not previously described. In conclusion, this work reported the characterization of the microvasculature within abdominal based perforator flaps to better understand the variation in dynamic perfusion. It also explored the potential role of non-invasive negative pressure treatment to augment flap perfusion that may be translated into the clinical setting.

The Smc5/6 complex is a member of the SMC family of protein complexes, comprising cohesin, condensin and Smc5/6. However, in comparison to cohesin and condensin, the cellular role of the Smc5/6 complex is much less understood. Smc5/6 in essential in yeasts and its absence in mice is embryonically lethal. Studies in fission and budding yeast have reported roles for Smc5/6 in homologous recombination repair, and the maintenance of replication fork stability. Recent studies in human cells identified two different syndromes resulting from mutations in distinct SMC5/6 subunits, NSMCE2 and NSMCE3. Both syndromes are characterised by chromosomal instability and failure to recover from replication stress. To further examine the requirements for human SMC5/6, we took advantage of a T-REx Flp-In cell line, which allowed for an inducible downregulation of a specific gene of interest. The endogenous SMC5/6 subunit, NSMCE4a, was first complemented with a regulatable NSMCE4a-Strep-6xHis cDNA, and subsequently knocked out. Additional removal of the ectopic NSMCE4a in the knock out cell line demonstrated that NSMCE4a is essential in human cells. We took advantage of a bottom up proteomics approach to purify the SMC5/6 complex using NSMCE4a-Strep-6xHis and search for its interactors during an unperturbed cell cycle, upon replication fork stalling and after fork collapse. In parallel, we found that downregulation of ectopic NSMCE4a destabilises the SMC5/6 complex in T-REx Flp-In 293 cells, similarly to the NSMCE3 patient cells. SMC5/6 destabilisation results in aneuploidy, genome instability, an increase in DNA damage markers and replication stress. The cells are capable of homologous recombination as evidenced by Rad51 foci and display elevated non-allelic homologous recombination. Interestingly, we found that the depletion of SMC5/6 by NSMCE4a shut off leads to strong sensitivity to PARP inhibition. Our data suggest that this is due to a failure to protect replication fork and/or misregulation of homologous recombination.

Language use is variable, such as we can call the same object umbrella or brolly. But what determines this variability? This thesis aimed at better understanding how speakers vary the words they use during dialogue, by investigating the mechanisms underlying lexical entrainment, or the tendency for a speaker to reuse a word that their partner has used before (e.g., using brolly after your partner used brolly; Brennan & Clark, 1996). Interestingly, speakers entrain to their partner’s word even when that means using a word that is not their speech community’s preference (e.g., using brolly instead of umbrella in British English; Branigan et al., 2011). There are two main accounts of how lexical entrainment works. Unmediated accounts explain it as the result of priming effects, in that a partner’s use of brolly made its lexical representation accessible from memory, thus enhancing its retrieval and reuse (Pickering & Garrod, 2004). In contrast, mediated accounts feature speakers’ beliefs in entrainment, with some such accounts suggesting that entrainment is aimed to enhance mutual comprehension (Clark, 1996) and others arguing that it is aimed to enhance our social affiliation (van Baaren et al., 2003). Critically, lexical retrieval, audience design, and social affiliation may vary both across situations and individuals, positioning lexical entrainment as a good candidate to inform how individual, interpersonal, and community-level influences affect language use. Thus, in four studies, we investigated individual, interpersonal, and community-level influences in lexical entrainment. The first research study examined the test-retest reliability of an online, webbased lexical entrainment task. Experimental items were objects with both a favoured name (umbrella) and a disfavoured but acceptable name (brolly), and we measured lexical entrainment as participants’ reuse of their partner’s disfavoured name (i.e., using brolly after their partner used brolly). Across two studies, we found that the task reliably elicited entrainment at the individual level both in the short- and the long-term, clearly suggesting that the tendency to reuse a partner’s lexical choice is stable within individuals and thus suggesting that individuals’ tendency to lexically entrain can be underlain by stable individual traits. The second study thus used this lexical entrainment task to test whether entrainment was predicted by schizotypy and age, which both correlate with individual differences in lexical retrieval, audience design, and social affiliation skills. Although entrainment was not predicted by schizotypy, it was positively predicted by age, suggesting that at least some mechanisms of lexical entrainment may undergo changes across the lifespan. The third research project investigated the causal relationship between social affiliation and lexical entrainment. Based on previous evidence that ostracism increases social affiliation as a compensatory strategy to recover social acceptance, we examined (i) the effects of ostracism on lexical entrainment, (ii) whether such effects were targeted to repairing a particular social relationship or increasing affiliation more generally, and (iii) whether ostracism effects were moderated by personality. Across two experiments, we found that lexical entrainment was positively affected by ostracism, but ostracised participants were as likely to entrain to a partner who had ostracised them as to a new partner; moreover, post-ostracism lexical entrainment was predicted by individual differences in neuroticism. Critically, these results suggest a social affiliation component to lexical entrainment. The fourth research project moved beyond looking only at lexical entrainment with a particular partner, to examine how speakers extrapolate community-level lexical knowledge from single linguistic encounters. Across three experiments, we found that participants generalised names across two partners depending on their community membership. These results suggest that social information is encoded during lexical processing, thus enabling the creation of community-level knowledge from single linguistic encounters. In sum, this research has important implications for understanding the variability of lexical choices. First, our individual differences findings indicate that lexical entrainment has potential to reveal what drives individual variation in how speakers make referential choices. Second, our group-comparisons findings indicate that the mechanisms of language processing are not encapsulated within the language system, thus suggesting that speakers vary their referential expressions based not only on linguistic processing but also on their beliefs and social dispositions. Taken together, these results suggest that the variability of language use is shaped by individual, interpersonal, and community-level influences, and by their interplay.

My research concentrates on conditions including autism, intellectual disability and mental health. I explore the ways they are used to establish the divisions required by diagnostic criteria in the separated health and social approaches to care. Defining conditions rather than performances has resulted in a neglect of the consideration of connectivity. My project employs Actor-Network-Theory, and Latour's and Baudrillard's philosophy, to reconsider the specific metaphysical and ontological issues of how, when and why we judge hidden dis/ability as a universal and essential thing, rather than one constantly formed and performed (perFormed), solved and dissolved (disSolved), produced and reproduced (reProduced) by diverse human and non-human actors in complex webs of connections. I composed the 6D material-semiotic network practice to offer a new ontological 'seeing' of how the associations and significations of hidden dis/ability are produced, represented and thus consumed. I found that exploring the everyday performances of hidden dis/ability with the 6D material-semiotic network practice might not verify the apparently universal, fragmented and permanent notions that the distinct categories imply. I conclude that hidden dis/ability can be considered as in a constant state of transformation which, when people are left to their own devices, composes capacities for shared cultural experiences and practices dismantling long-held ideas, and will be one of the benefits giving opportunities to rethink how we provide apposite care, services and inclusion for the conditions.

Due to an increase in consumer awareness on environmental and health problems that can arise with synthetic materials and processes used within the textile industry there is a need for novel 'green' textiles. The rise in antibiotic-resistant microorganisms within recent years has led to 30,000 deaths in the EU every year, this has led to an increased need for novel antimicrobials (Cassini, Alessano et al., 2016). Synthetic biocides like triclosan and silver have been extensively used in the textile industry but new regulations by the EU Directive 98/8/EC, have now enforced the elimination and withdrawal of many commonly used biocides which are toxic and harmful to humans and the environment (Gao and Cranston, 2008; Gouveia, 2010; Kramer et al., 2006). Plant derived antimicrobials like essential oils (EOs) are therefore an attractive eco-friendly alternative for use in textile finishing (Alihosseini, 2016). Although EOs have regained popularity in recent years, with many studies dedicated to the antimicrobial potentials, (especially citrus-based EOs), few have been focused on their use in blends and encapsulation methods for their application on textiles. Due to EOs physicochemical properties, their development of functional fabrics is met with formulation challenges such as volatility and oxidative degradation and must therefore be protected before they can be used functionally. Screening of ten EOs by disk diffusion and subsequent evaluation of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and fractional inhibitory concentrations (FICs) showed that a 1:2 blend of L. cubeba (litsea) and Citrus Limon (lemon) EO respectively had the most efficacy in synergy, being inhibitory against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Trichophyton rubrum compared to the individual EOs. The litsea-lemon EO blend was encapsulated (30% concentration) with natural biopolymers chitosan (0.05-1% w/v) and sodium alginate (0.1 % w/v) by using an emulsification method, without the presence of a surfactant. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis revealed citral and limonene to be the major compounds found in the EOs, their presence also confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis. In vitro, the release of citral and limonene from the emulsion was examined using a dissolution method and the release profiles were characterised by initial burst release, followed by a slow controlled release of citral and limonene from emulsions; 70.11% of limonene was released within 10 min for a 1% w/v chitosan emulsion, whilst only 4.91% of citral was released within the same time. Fresh 1% chitosan-EO blend emulsions were then used to treat cotton and polyester using a soak-pad-dry method. Promising results were observed when time-kill assays were carried out on the treated fabric using the plate count method adapted from BS EN ISO 20743:2013, with 100% reductions observed at zero contact time (CT) for S. epidermidis, at 5 min for S. aureus and E. coli. Mosquito repellency was also assessed for EO-emulsion treated cotton which demonstrated 71.43% repellency to female mosquito Aedes aegypti compared to a repellency of 52.94% by neat EO-impregnated cotton. EOs show promise in their application as antimicrobials for the development of natural and eco-friendly functional textiles and should be further explored as alternatives to current synesthetic based finishing.

In this thesis I argue that the modern collocation - blush-pink-embarrassment - is not one that can be presumed to have made equal sense in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. This is because when Shakespeare was writing his plays, the word pink referred to a range of meanings that did not include colour, and the word embarrassment, as an expression of emotional feeling, did not enter the English vernacular until the later part of the seventeenth-century. The one constant in this triad of associative concepts between then and now is the blush. Using the blush as a lens and with Shakespeare as a major focus, I consider the difference that the absence of pink as a named colour, and embarrassment as a named emotion, makes to readings of selected episodes from drama produced for the early modern professional stage. In Chapter One, I present the blush as a mid-way agent for the body-mind equation and establish the blush as providing a method for exploring pink in its Shakespearean permutations in Chapter Two (cloth) and Chapter Three (a flower). In Chapter Four, I consider the gap that is left if we assume that a colour term was not yet coined yet I suggest that the 'birth' of pink-colour in drama may rest with John Marston and therefore I offer a pre-history for the colour pink. In the final chapter, I use the blush as a mode of enquiry for early modern embarrassment before the word entered the English vernacular in the Restoration. Overall, I adopt an anachronistic nexus of associations (blush-pink-embarrassment) to present a non-anachronistic study of distinct yet interrelated areas that are usually studied in isolation.

BRCA1 associated protein 1 (BAP1) is a tumour suppressor that is commonly inactivated in a plethora of hereditary and sporadic human malignancies including malignant pleural mesothelioma. However, the biological function and impact of BAP1 disruption in cancer remains poorly defined. The goal of this thesis is to characterize the function of BAP1 in regulating BRCA1 protein stability and reveal the consequence of its loss in mitosis in mesothelioma cells. First, we reveal that BRCA1 regulates spindle assembly checkpoint proteins and controls mitotic progression in response to vinorelbine in mesothelioma cells. Second, we report that BAP1 controls BRCA1 stability in mesothelioma cells with depletion of BAP1 protein inducing proteasomemediated degradation of BRCA1. Hence, BAP1 loss phenocopied the loss of BRCA1 not only in promoting spindle assembly checkpoint failure but also causing centrosome amplification and chromosome segregation errors. However, loss of BAP1 led to additional mitotic defects that were not observed upon BRCA1 loss, including an increase in spindle length and enhanced astral microtubules. Intriguingly, these consequences were explained by loss of expression of the KIF18A and KIF18B kinesin motors in response to BAP1 depletion. Finally, we showed a significant correlation in expression of BAP1 and BRCA1 in tumour samples taken from mesothelioma patients. Hence, we demonstrate both BRCA1-dependent and -independent roles for BAP1 in mitotic progression. Our findings also suggest that BAP1 may predict response to therapeutic agents such as vinorelbine and may be used as a novel biomarker for stratified treatment in mesothelioma.

Aim: Only few existing studies focus on Motherhood and the absence of maternal support. This research investigated the life experiences of Asian women who had given birth to their first-born child at a time when they did not have maternal support. Design: Baby clinics were targeted and Health Visitors selected candidates that fulfilled the criteria to participate in the research. Ten participants comprising of Asian women were recruited and participated in an interview about their experience of giving birth to their first child at a time when they were not in contact with their maternal family. Method: Interviews were transcribed, analysed and categorised using the qualitative method of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). A meeting was set up for the participants to review the transcripts and the data was coded into themes. Key findings: Results highlighted four themes which emerged that affected the wellbeing of the mother and baby. The first theme was the cultural expectation of support and these findings were of significant interest from the viewpoint of inbuilt parental relationships and the way they develop as well as the discovery of feelings of inadequacy arising because of communication difficulties. The second theme was the newness of being supported by their husband which was a new experience for them and questioned their role as a mother and their ideas about the assumed responsibilities for women in an Asian culture. The third theme was the emotional and physical impact of having a baby which was an area that appeared to be out of their awareness and came as a surprise to them in the aftermath of the baby's arrival. The fourth theme was pre and post-natal experiences of having a baby in the NHS and this identified a number of strategic changes which could be implemented to identify women at risk due to the absence of maternal support. Conclusion: The potential significance of my results, which considered Asian women in this context, indicates that the NHS could adopt preventative measures to ensure these women are identified as vulnerable and do not continue to fall short of maternity services. In order for professionals to 'signpost' their patients appropriately they need to be skilled up to understand the needs of these women. This research highlights the need for women from other cultures to be able to expect a level of understanding from Healthcare professionals in relation to their specific situations and to have an awareness of the particular difficulties that women face when they do not have maternal support.

Alpha radiation detector technology lags behind gamma and beta due to difficulties presented by the short travel of alpha particles in environments complicated by mixed radiation fields, complex geometries, areas of high dose, and limited operator access. Yet, it is vital in nuclear decommissioning, safety and security operations. Recent developments focus on alpha-induced radioluminescence as a mechanism for long-range alpha detection. Detection in the 300-400 nm wavelength range has been achieved in special lighting conditions, but interference from background light hampers detection in daylight. This thesis looks at the viability of detecting ultraviolet C (UVC, 180 - 280 nm) radioluminescence photons, focusing on characterising a flame sensor (UVTRON, Hamamatsu) sensitive to photons only in this wavelength range. UVC is already used in the detection of fires and corona discharge as Earth's atmosphere absorbs UVC from the sun and artificial lighting does not produce UVC. UVC radioluminescence from a 6.95 MBq 210Po sample was detected in normal lighting conditions using the UVTRON, with very low background counts found in all environments. As the UVC radioluminescence signal is small, gas flows of Ar, Xe, Ne, N2, Kr and P10 were directed over the 210Po sample to enhance radioluminescence with positive effect. In one instance Xe doubled the count in relation to an air atmosphere. Tests showed that the UVTRON reacts to the presence of gamma and beta radiation. However, it may be possible to identify alpha radioluminescence by separating the gamma and UVC parts of the signal. Research presented herein shows it is possible to use a UVC flame sensor to detect alpha radiation through radioluminescence, and therefore an approach which uses the UVC portion of the radioluminescence spectrum may be successful in the development of a stand-off alpha detector, which would overcome many of the difficulties affecting traditional alpha detection methods.

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how K-12 teacher perceptions about Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) influenced their use towards non-white students, students with disabilities, lower socioeconomic students, and limited English proficiency students. With the well documented suspension disproportionality of these students, the long- and short-term negative outcomes associated with suspensions, and the achievement gap of these students, it is important to explore how educators can divert these student demographics from suspensions so that the discipline and achievement gap can be decreased. While much data is available about how PBIS has decreased school ODRs, research is still emerging on the impact of this process on suspensions and on teacher perceptions. This study explored how teacher perceptions regarding PBIS influences how they use the process in school and classroom settings towards these students and what factors influence these perceptions from K-12 teachers in a southern rural Louisiana school district. Results of the study showed that teacher perceptions directly influenced how teachers used PBIS practices and identified teacher perceived enablers that successfully helped them use PBIS practices as well as teacher perceived barriers that prevented them from using PBIS practices. Understanding these perceptions may help in improving the PBIS process to better serve the behavioral needs of the non-white, special education, lower socioeconomic, and limited English proficiency student populations. [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.]