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If capitalism and the rise of the bourgeoisie emerged in Europe, as Marx, amongst others, has suggested, then this thesis will show how the symbiotic relationship between 'race', class, and capital - articulated as racial capitalism - can be exemplified within Liverpool's Black community spaces. Liverpool has the oldest settled Black community in Europe thus offering this thesis the opportunity to analyze the first 'Black space' in Europe. Similarly, if England is essential to the development of industrial capital that accelerated the urbanization of the UK's industrial spaces, Liverpool again offers a prima facie example par excellence in understanding how racial capitalism fuelled that development. Racial capitalism as a lens can also be applied to the development of mercantile capital, in terms of Liverpool's legacy as the site of the great leap in relation to the transatlantic trade - a trade fuelled by a legacy of Slavery. The power this legacy brought to bear, shaped the UK's political approach in the development of Imperialism, and colonization and therefore influences the UK's contemporary attitudes towards 'race'. This study will show how the continuity of the psyche of colonial attitudes shapes the institutions and attitudes within Liverpool and beyond. Indeed, the decline of Liverpool, ensured the rise of a new breed of political actions at the forefront of the scramble for Africa, Asia, and the cadastral production of the 'pink map of empire', as the 'reformed' slaver families relocated their power bases to the capital. However, their legacy within Liverpool remains today and is revealed in all its insidiousness across this study. The concept of value - immaterial but objective - and its concatenation to contemporary articulations of Blackness will be exemplified through this study of spatiotemporality in Liverpool. Although the scope of achieving a complete oversight into such a complex and vast history tests the limits of what is possible in one thesis. This study's greatest strength is that it makes an important contribution towards renewing a fresh engagement with the relationship between 'race', space, and capital, and as this study will show - articulated as the racial fix -, the centrality of this trialectic to the development of urbanization of capital has been totally underestimated to date, across debates of racial capitalism and beyond. This thesis presents a study on racial capitalism in the 21st century via the process of racialized space within urban development.

This thesis examines the increasing sophistication of sixteenth-century French literary engagement with Virgil's Aeneid. It argues that successive forms of engagement with the Aeneid should be viewed as a single process that gradually adopts increasingly complex literary strategies. It does this through a series of four different forms of literary engagement with the Aeneid: translation, continuation, rejection and reconciliation. The increasing sophistication of these forms reflects the writers' desire to interact with the original Aeneid as political epic and Roman foundation narrative, and with the political, religious and literary contexts of early modern France. The first chapter compares the methods of and motivations behind all of the sixteenth-century translations of the Aeneid into French; it thus demonstrates shifts in successive translators' interpretations of Virgil's work, and of its application to sixteenth-century France. The next three chapters each analyse adaptation of Virgil's poem in a major French literary work. Firstly, Ronsard's Franciade is analysed as an example of French foundation epic that simultaneously draws upon and rejects Virgil's narrative. Ronsard's poem is read in the light of Mapheo Vegio's “Thirteenth Book” of the Aeneid, or Supplementum, which continues Virgil's narrative and carries it over into a Christian context. Next, Agrippa d'Aubigné's response to Virgilian epic in Les Tragiques is shown to have been mediated by Lucan's Pharsalia and its anti- epic and anti-imperialist interpretation of the Aeneid. D'Aubigné's inversion of Virgil is highlighted through comparison of attitudes to death and resurrection in Les Tragiques, the Aeneid and Vegio's Antoniad. Finally, Guillaume de Salluste du Bartas' combination, in La Sepmaine and La Seconde Sepmaine of the hexameral structure of Genesis with Virgil's narrative of reconciliation after civil war is shown to represent the most sophisticated understanding of and most complex interaction with the Aeneid in sixteenth-century France.

Increased signal to noise ratio in ultra high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has allowed the development of quantitative imaging techniques and new contrast mechanisms, such as Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) to be probed. The development of CEST contrast imaging has involved overcoming a number of technical challenges associated with ultra high field MRI. The B1 transmit field was, and still is, a major challenge. Presented in this thesis, the B1 transmit field in regions of low B1 are improved with the use of dielectric pads and a simulation study shows that the overall B1 transmit field homogeneity is significantly improved when multi-transmit slice-selective RF spokes pulse sequences are used. Multiple methods have been developed to quantify the chemical exchange from slow exchanging proton pools seen in CEST contrast imaging. However, magnetisation transfer (MT) from the macromolecular bound pool contaminates current quantification methods, and presented in this thesis is a method whereby the CEST and MT are simultaneously saturated using dual frequency saturation pulses, allowing the CEST contrast in z-spectra to be separated from the MT and to enhance visualisation of the CEST effects. Despite the considerable interest in CEST, only one study has probed the CEST effects in blood, and interestingly high levels of CEST signals can be observed from the superior sagittal sinus. To investigate these effects, z-spectra from ex vivo blood samples considering the effects of oxygenation, haematocrit levels and cell structure were quantified. Quantification shows that the main source of the CEST signals was from the cells within the blood.

This thesis addresses changes in the supraspinatus muscle and tendon architecture, the relationship to fat infiltration and the effect of tear propagation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional biomechanics testing using human tissues. The first hypothesis tests the relationship between the anterior and posterior portions of the supraspinatus and the central tendon when normal with no tear (NT), and pathological full thickness tears (FTT) groups. The changes in the pennation angles and central tendon associated with a FTT and the magnitude of the tear size were all statistically significant. The central tendon was found to lie anterior to the long axis of the supraspinous fossa as it passed laterally towards its insertion in the NT group. This relationship was reversed in the FTT group with the tendon lying more posteriorly or in the long axis. The second study hypothesis was that the degree of fatty infiltration of the supraspinatus is positively correlated to the maximal degree of central tendon retraction (CTR) from its insertion seen on the same MRI. The results found this relationship to be statistically significant. The aims of the cadaveric study were to establish the influence on abduction moments of full thickness tears with specific reference to tears to the central tendon. A new method of testing the biomechanics of in-vitro rotator cuff tears was developed through specimen-specific loading protocols through the use of a musculoskeletal dynamics model. A pair-wise comparison of the sections then revealed that the sectioning of the central tendon, regardless of whether the tear starts anteriorly or posteriorly, does the most significant damage to the moment producing capacity of supraspinatus. The overall contribution of this thesis is a clear understanding of the functional biomechanics of the central tendon of the supraspinatus in rotator cuff tears.

This thesis explores how the carrier dynamics within semiconductor nanocrystals can be directly engineered through specific core-shell design. Emphasis is placed on how material characteristics, such as strain or alloying at a core-shell interface, can influence the exciton energies and the recombination dynamics within semiconductor nanocrystals. This study synthesises type-II heterojunction ZnTe/ZnSe core-shell nanocrystals via a diethyl zinc-free synthesis method, producing small size distributions and quantum yields as high as 12%. It was found that the 7% lattice mismatch between the core and shell materials places limitations on the range of structures in which coherent growth is achieved. By developing compositional and strained atomistic core-shell models a variety of physical and optical properties could be simulated and has led to a clear picture of the core-shell architecture to be built. This characterisation provides evidence that the low bulk modulus ZnTe cores are compressed by the higher bulk modulus smaller lattice constant ZnSe shells. Further studies show how strain is manifested in structures with 'sharp' core-shell interfaces and how intentional alloying the interface can influence the growth and exciton energies. A (2-6)-band effective mass model was able to distinguish between the as-grown 'sharp' and 'alloyed' interfaces which indicated that strain accentuates the redshift of the excitonic state whilst reduced strain within an alloyed interface sees a reduced redshift. Single nanocrystal spectroscopy investigations of brightly emitting single graded alloyed nanocrystals and of a size series of commercially available CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals showed almost no fluorescence intermittency (nearly 'non-blinking'). These investigations also identified trion recombination as the main mechanism within the blinking 'off' state. Ultimately this thesis adds to the growing understanding of how specific core-shell architectures manipulate the electronic structure and develops techniques to identify specific material characteristics and how these characteristics influence the physical and optical properties within semiconductor nanocrystals.

This thesis provides the first cultural history of the family history 'phenomenon' of the late twentieth century. Rather than conceptual ising such pursuits solely as popular interest in the past, however, it examines family history and genealogy on their own tenns - both tracing their growth, extent and nature, and their diversity and cultural work. The extent of this phenomenon, its precursors and subsequent expansion are thus tracked and a close examination of the practices of family historians reveals that it is inadequate to refer to a unified family history 'phenomenon'. Rather, hidden underneath a purely quantitative account of the growth of, say, record office use, are a series of stages of growth based upon different practices, and the different categorisations that are given to them. Indeed, a range of cultural uses of family history are identified in tenns of cultural capital and what I call 'professional-amateur' status. Crucially important in this regard is the identification of the late-1970s as a period of disjuncture of ideas concerning family history. The emergence of family history societies, a shift in attitudes amongst archive professionals and the appearance of family history on television screens all articulated a shift towards a more democratic genealogy which had the potential to tell practitioners 'who they are' . Furthennore, diverse practices have enabled a 'lack' of rootedness to be redressed through a search for identity that allows practitioners to at once construct their own identities whilst nonetheless retaining the primordialism of blood-ties. In addition, existential questions may also be addressed through such practices, which can provide a site for the stretching of longevity beyond the limits of death, without recourse to the eternal memory of God. Such analysis of family history on its own terms thus challenges any overly simplistic dismissal of family historians as undifferentiated 'amateurs'.

Powered passenger train door unreliability is a major source of in-service delay and cancellation to passenger train services. This unreliability costs UK Train Operating Companies significant amounts of money through Railtrack charges, customer compensation payments and loss of revenue as well as door maintenance and repair procedures. The successful and reliable identification of incipient powered door faults could therefore help to reduce these charges and subsequent maintenance costs, increase train reliability and potentially reduce safety-related incidents. This thesis presents the research and development of an off-line condition monitoring tool for electric powered passenger train doors, the Door Analysis Tool. The Door Analysis Tool was developed through a two-year, collaborative TCS project between Sheffield Hallam University and Interfleet Technology, an international railway engineering consultancy. The project was partly funded by the Department of Trade and Industry. This thesis focuses on a number of primary areas of work, namely: Introduction to powered train doors and condition monitoring in the railway industry; Identification of suitable data collection and condition monitoring equipment forpowered train doors; Development of suitable data analysis and interpretation algorithms; Development of a commercially viable prototype condition monitoring product forpowered passenger train doors, the Door Analysis Tool; Validation of the Door Analysis Tool through theoretical and practical testing; Identification of further development opportunities and further future work. The Door Analysis Tool uses clamp-on current probes to measure the door motor current characteristic and traction interlock status during opening and closing cycles to monitor the performance of train doors. It offers a range of opportunities to different parties within the railway industry to help reduce the impact of powered train door unreliability and thereby improve train performance through the identification of faulty train doors prior to costly in-service failures. The practical testing of the prototype Door Analysis Tool showed that it functions as intended in a train maintenance depot environment and that it is capable of collecting, analysing and classifying data relating to train door performance. The theoretical tests presented the prototype Door Analysis Tool with nine different sets of data, each representing a range of faulty and fault-free door operations. The Door Analysis Tool was able to correctly classify six of the nine tests. Three of the tests incorporating minor fault conditions were not highlighted by the door performance classification, however all of the theoretical faults were identifiable through inspection of the analysis parameters, which can be stored after each test. The sensitivity of the Door Analysis Tool analysis routines can be adjusted to tailor the tool to different systems.

The synthesis of a variety of novel chiral annulated cyclopentadienyl ligands and the preparation of novel chiral metallocene complexes of zirconium, titanium and rhodium is described. The novel complexes are evaluated as catalysts in asymmetric reductions and carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the research, outlining the methodology and stating the aims of the project. A literature review of chiral annulated cyclopentadienyl ligands and of the use of Group IV metallocenes in asymmetric catalysis is presented. Chapter 2 deals with the synthesis of Group IV metallocenes derived from camphor. Chapter 3 introduces the use of a double-Michael addition reaction to access a variety of elaborate chiral (but racemic) cyclopentadienyl ligands, and their diastereoselective complexation to titanium and zirconium is investigated. In Chapter 4 an enantioselective double-Michael addition reaction is developed, to provide a novel cyclopentadienyl ligand derived from carvone. Titanium and zirconium complexes of the carvone-derived cyclopentadienyl ligand are prepared, and the resulting metallocenes are evaluated in asymmetric catalysis. Chapter 5 describes the synthesis of novel rhodium cyclopentadienyl complexes and their application to catalytic asymmetric hydrogenations. Full experimental details are given in Chapter 6, including complete characterisation of all novel compounds.

The thesis critically and empirically examines the development of manufacturing in Zimbabwe, through a case study of the metal engineering sector, following the introduction of the structural adjustment programme (ESAP) in 1990/91. Original field research of manufacturing firms and supporting organisations was conducted in Zimbabwe during 1995 and 1996. A theoretical framework is applied using concepts of institutional legacy and path dependency. This provides an alternative approach to use of neo-classically based analytical frameworks. It is concluded that orthodox economic approaches are inadequate as a basis for improving the prospects for successful industrial development, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a need to improve the understanding of a country's changing social relations, in their historical context. This includes analysing patterns of agency within and between institutions and the individuals that comprise them. In part this can be accomplished by examining class and power relations and conflicts. Zimbabwe's structural adjustment programme was not followed by industrial rejuvenation and expansion. Firm performance varied in ways that cannot be explained using conventional economic approaches. Overall, there has been: a lack of technological and organisational improvements and industrial investment; a decline in real wages and industrial employment; and, a lack of skills improvement across firms and supporting organisations. Zimbabwean industrial development suffers from a dislocation of interest between those owning most of the productive industrial capital and those formulating policies that affect industry. The capitalist class is fragmented between historically established white capitalists, and emergent indigenous or black interests. Explanations are offered for the observed weaknesses of supporting institutions, including government ministries, training organisations and workers' and employers' organisations. The findings make a strong case that without better data collection from firms and an improved understanding of historical contexts and constraints, policy shifts to promote industrial development will not have the desired results. Even though the research collects a better data set than previously available, it is difficult to draw the types of definite conclusions and recommendations presented by most commentators on the same questions.

This thesis describes the expression of two anti-potyvirus single-chain Fvs in planta. The work was done with a view to obtaining functional single-chain Fv protein which could be used in virus diagnostics, and also which could possibly mediate plant virus resistance. The project aimed to achieve expression using two different approaches. In the first a potato virus X expression vector was used. The inclusion of single-chain Fv sequence did not appear to greatly influence the potato virus X infection process. Western blot analysis of vector-infected tissue showed single-chain Fv protein which migrated at an apparent molecular weight of 30 kDa. An apoplast targeting signal sequence was shown to significantly increase single-chain Fv accumulation levels. A single-chain Fv diabody, with a shortened variable domain linker, was also expressed in this way. In antigen binding tests single-chain Fv protein, expressed by the potato virus X vector, bound virus antigen with the same specific as the parental monoclonal antibodies. An association between the single-chain Fvs and negative control cucumber mosaic virus was detected. Further analysis however, indicated that this was not an antibody-antigen interaction. The second approach to obtaining single-chain Fv expression was to use Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated plant transformation. A number of the resulting transgenic lines were shown to accumulate functional single-chain Fv protein. This accumulation was higher in those lines which included apoplast or chloroplast targeting sequences. However, chloroplast targeted single-chain Fv protein was not functional. Virus resistance tests, performed using both manual and aphid inoculation, showed that the accumulation of single-chain Fv protein in the transgenic plants produced no detectable potyvirus resistance effect.

In order to integrate organic fertilisers into mainstream agriculture, it is necessary to be able to predict with reasonable accuracy the supply of nutrients from a given product. This will allow organic fertilisers to be applied to the soil at correct rates (on their own and in combination with inorganic fertilisers) to meet the crop nutrient requirements and avoid any excess supply that might harm the environment. The focus of the research within this thesis was on the supply of plant available nitrogen (PAN) from recycled organic (RO) wastes and its prediction. The research documented in this thesis addressed the following four hypotheses; • Hypothesis 1 – The NLBAR (i.e. Nitrogen Limited Biosolids Application Rate) formula (New South Wales biosolid guidelines) and its percentage organic N mineralisation assumptions provide an accurate prediction of the mineral N supply from biosolids in the first year of a crop. • Hypothesis 2 – RO waste composition affects the proportion of its organic N mineralised in the soil. • Hypothesis 3 – Certain composition characteristics of RO wastes can provide a reliable prediction of the mineral N supply from RO wastes under controlled conditions. • Hypothesis 4 – Near-infrared spectrometry can be used to accurately predict the mineral N supply and recalcitrant C pools from RO wastes applied to the soil, under controlled conditions.

Nonlinear magneto-optical processes are a rich source of interesting and useful phenomena, with both practical and fundamental-physics applications. Theoretical modeling is helpful for understanding and visualizing the mechanisms for nonlinear magneto-optical effects (NMOE), and for analyzing and optimizing devices based on these effects. Part I of this Thesis describes Bloch-equation methods and visualization techniques that can be used to model a wide variety of NMOE in atomic vapors. Part II presents several applications of the methods, including the investigation and visualization of a specific effect involving radio-frequency fields, a study of the general consequences of hyperfine structure on NMOE, and modeling and optimization of systems for laser guide stars. Appendices present additional mathematical material and describe a Mathematica package used for density-matrix calculations.

A plant has a cleanroom HVAC system which is known to be a large energy user. This study found that the current cleanroom operation is indeed wasteful, and stands to benefit from improved controls and operation protocols. Proper data collection is instrumental in understanding how the system is operating. After analyzing data, the real cleanroom operation is thought to be different than the assumed cleanroom operation, a significant finding. Data on cleanroom conditions, power draw for both dedicated cleanroom chillers, and power use of all five air handling units are collected. It is revealed that cleanroom chiller and reheat power cost is approximately $103,000/yr, much higher than necessary, but also much less than the original estimate of $385,000/yr. During the data collection process, changes to the cleanroom operation were made, and some of them are seen to have desirable results, but there are also very negative unintended consequences, seen in the data collected. To be more specific, the cleanroom reheats are now seen to be hyper-sensitive to times of high humidity, using an average of 200 kW of electric strip reheat when the dew point is above 50°F. These consequences stem entirely from an inadequate control system. Whether it is the case that each of the five air handling units have no idea about what the other units are doing, or whether the control over incoming and outgoing air is not as complete as it was originally thought is unknown. The data collected from this project forces the plant to take a second look into how completeness and accuracy of its control setup. Also notable is the finding that chiller power draw is heavily influenced (>100 kW) by daily fluctuations in outside temperatures, even though there is very little internal load placed on the chillers due to outside air infiltration (

Not Included

In response to local and national drivers for improvements in quality of hospital nursing care an acute care NHS Trust developed an innovative ward based Clinical Accreditation Scheme (CAS). The scheme aims to assure quality of care and encourage quality improvements. This study aimed to identify changes in the quality and outcomes of care associated with the CAS, to explore the contextual factors and processes by which any effect is achieved and explore how the CAS is embedded into routine clinical practice by examining key participant perspectives on the feasibility and utility of the CAS. A controlled before-and-after study design explored outcomes from three matched pairs of adult general medical and surgical wards over a twelve month period. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and Nursing Practice Environment Scale were administered to all study ward staff at study commencement and as follow up at study end. There was no evidence of an association between participation in the CAS and a change in ward culture. Statistical process charts were used to identify changes over time for rates of hospital acquired infections, pressure ulcers and falls but no clear trend emerged. Findings from staff interviews suggest that staff value the assurance and sense of recognition the accreditation process gives. The process of preparing for self-assessment has potential to promote immediate quality improvements but a number of dysfunctional effects and behaviours, and contextual factors such as constant change, were identified as hindering embedding of the process into routine practice. This study provides new knowledge demonstrating how an accreditation scheme is operationalised at the microsystem level. The scheme appears to assure quality of care and promote short term quality improvement but it is a resource intensive scheme and a number of structural changes are required to promote ongoing participation in quality improvement activities.