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Scotland has a set of legislative targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, measured on a territorial basis, introduced by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. In addition, the Scottish Government have adopted as a 'national outcome' target a reduction in the emissions embodied in Scottish consumption activities. These targets differ in terms of whether the emissions embodied in exports are included (territorial) or whether the emissions embodied in imports are included (consumption) in the emissions total. The first area of work in this thesis is quantifying the different emissions totals that can be calculated under both of these accounting principles using the currently available data for Scotland. Using the input-output framework, we explore the construction, and the implications, of this range of measures. We also identify some wider issues that arise in the adoption of different emissions targets for a region within an interdependent national economy. The second area of work focuses on understanding the sectoral level relationships which underpin national output and CO2 emissions in Scotland. It is often the case that the focus of policy and public debate is on 'the number' (i.e. the emissions total) and changes in it. Underpinning this 'number', however, is a series of complex economic relationships at the sectoral level which we want to better understand. We seek to better understand these relationships in Scotland using the tools of linkage and key sector analysis. The final strand of work in this thesis looks to explore the compatibility of the current focus of economic policy in Scotland on increasing export demand, with the environmental objectives of reducing Scottish territorial and consumption emissions. There is great emphasis placed by the Scottish Government on the economic impacts of investing in 'green' industries, while little is said of the environmental impact of more general growth in export demand, even though this is a clear economic policy priority.Using a CGE model framework, we explore the implications on both the territorial and consumption emissions totals of a general increase in export demand with flow migration and no-migration. These two cases provide interesting insights on both the long-run impact on these emissions totals, as well as on the dynamic adjustment to the long-run total. The analysis in this thesis answers a number of interesting research questions, and uncovers some additional questions which will be the focus of future research. It is clear that the economy and the environment are interdependent. What needs to be better understood is which parts of the economy impact on the environment, how trade influences the impact of our economy on the environment, and how economic and environmental policy objectives are interdependent.

This thesis explores decision-making and perceptions of decisional quality in parents whose children have undergone newborn bloodspot screening. Newborn bloodspot screening is the programme through which newborn babies are screened for a variety of conditions shortly after birth. In the UK babies are screened for phenylketonuria (PKU), congenital hypothyroidism (CH), sickle cell diseases (SCD), cystic fibrosis (CF) and medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD), with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) offered as additional screen in Wales. Much has been written about the applicability of consent to newborn bloodspot screening, yet research has tended to revolve around parental knowledge and information provision. These studies say little in terms of actual or perceived decisional quality or whether parents are making an informed choice. Taking an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach, the present study aims to identify and model factors that in fluence parental perceptions of decisional quality within the context of newborn bloodspot screening. The thesis draws on two studies; an exploratory study of parental experiences of newborn bloodspot screening using semi-structured interviews, and a subsequent quantitative phase which analysed data collected through a postal questionnaire. The results of these studies provide significant insights into parental decision-making. Attitudes toward medicine were shown to have a significant causal infl uence on perceived decisional quality through its indirect effect on parental attitudes towards screening. Through the disaggregation of these general and specific attitudes, the significant role of perceived choice is identified. Perceived choice is demonstrated not only to be a significant contributing factor to the perceived quality of decision made, but is also shown to have a strong infl uence on attitudes towards screening through an indirect and positive relationship with perceived knowledge of screening. Both of these elements suggest that the context of screening and its presentation are key determinants of parental decisional quality.

Tree breeders worldwide have highlighted the importance of wood quality within the juvenile core in determining final timber strength. The potential for improving timber strength by estimating genetic parameters of certain wood properties of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) within the outer zone of the juvenile core was investigated. Fifteen trees were sampled from each of 33 families selected from a 20 year old open pollinated progeny trial. A number of wood properties critical to wood strength were measured; namely, density, grain angle, microfibril angle and branching characteristics. Clearwood stiffness and strength along with indirect measures of stiffness using acoustics and density using Pilodyn measurements were assessed. All wood properties were moderately heritable, wood density and acoustic velocity were the most heritable traits (h2 i 0.71 and 0.67 respectively). Genetic correlations showed that wood strength and stiffness were strongly correlated with wood density (0.86 and 1.04 respectively) and microfibril angle (-0.79 and -0.62 respectively). Acoustic velocity was strongly correlated with wood stiffness (0.81) and microfibril angle (- 0.83). The ability to select trees for wood stiffness with the use of acoustics along with the moderate inheritance of this trait should enable improvements in the wood quality of Sitka spruce. Despite the unfavourable correlation between growth rate and some key wood quality traits associated with timber strength, selection of certain families would enable modest gains to be made in both growth rate and wood quality.

The electronics industry today is one that stands as a multi-billion dollar industry that is increasingly incorporating more and more products that have ever escalating applications in our everyday life. One of the main sectors of this industry, and one that is likely to continue expanding for a considerable number of years are flat-panel displays. Traditionally, the displays market has been dominated by cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) display types. The drawback of such display displays is that they can be bulky, heavy and/or expensive and so there is considerable room for an alternative and superior technology. One possibility is organic semiconductor displays where light-emitting molecules can be dissolved in common solvents before being inkjet printed, spin-coated or even painted onto any surface giving the benefits of simple and cost effective processing. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have recently become ever more evident as a major display type. This thesis focuses on the advancement of light-emitting dendrimers towards flat-panel display applications. The particular interest in dendrimers arises because it has been found they are capable of giving solution-processed phosphorescent devices with high efficiency. Throughout the thesis the benefits of the dendrimer concept are repeatedly shown revealing why this could become the ideal organic material for display applications. The thesis introduces various techniques of electroluminescence and photoluminescence measurements before applying such methods to study a large number of light-emitting dendrimers in order to explore the role of intermolecular interactions, how they are related to molecular structure, and how this determines photophysical and charge transporting properties of the dendrimers. By such studies a number of highly efficient solution-processed phosphorescent light-emitting dendrimers have been identified while the efficiency of devices made from these dendrimers has been improved. This has been demonstrated in each of the three primary display colours of red, green and blue. The work detailed thus brings closer the prospect of dendrimer light-emitting diodes being the future flat-panel display type of choice.

In 1840 all the burgh gaols of Scotland came under the direction of the General Prison Board operating through local county prison boards.  The burgh gaols had been the principal places of incarceration for both criminals and debtors since the Act of 1597.  No bridewells or houses of correction of any importance were established in Scotland until the end of the eighteenth century and then only in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and eventually Aberdeen.   At the same time the burgh gaols were seen as quite unsuited as places of incarceration but the great majority of the burghs did not have the financial resources to undertake major prison building without help from landed proprietors. Between 1815 and 1939 there were a number of initiatives which attempted to redress the situation. This thesis shows that some of these were generally more successful that it was thought except in the northern counties of Scotland, and in so doing touches on some of the major debates and themes of Scotties history like the inflammability or otherwise of the Scots, the role of voluntarism in society, the centre/civil society axis and the Anglicisation and centralisation following parliamentary reform.  Central to the matter are the relationships between burghs and counties and between the local bodies and the centre.  The role of the newly-established prison inspectorate and how the legislation of 1839 came to be passed and what it achieved are considered.

This study uses geomorphic observations from the Basin and Range Province, SW USA, to ground truth dryland sequence stratigraphic concepts in an intra-continental rift setting. Three geomorphic experiments were designed to test the sequence stratigraphic response to changes in the allogenic variables of 1) climate, 2) tectonics and 3) base level. 1) A regional synthesis of the alluvial response to Pleistocene-Holocene acidification has been compiled from case study areas 1000 km apart. This analysis reveals three different alluvial responses, depending on the subtle interplay between sediment supply and discharge. The search for a regionally correlatable alluvial response to climate change may therefore be futile. 2) Morphometric analysis has identified a spectrum of tectonically generated landforms. These include both tectonically immature and mature elements. These observations indicate that ancient continental rifts will also have been prone to the coeval existence of highly contrasting maturity domains. Additionally, in contrast to recently published literature, variable subsidence patterns do not provide the dominant control on alluvial fan size. A holistic re-evaluation of the factors governing fan size indicates that the key variables are: sediment supply (primarily catchment area, but also attitude and gradient) and vertical and horizontal accommodation space (subsidence rates and basin width respectively). 3) Structural sills provide a form of tectonic base level that can partition rift basins. Their potential influence on drainage organisation, and the extent of sequence boundaries has been previously under-appreciated.

The thesis considers the development of new reagents which could transport transition metal salts in extractive hydrometallurgy and addresses the ligand design features which are needed to control the strength and selectivity of binding of both a particular metal cation and its attendant anions(s). Extractive metallurgy of base metals is surveyed in chapter 1 and suggests that more efficient recovery processes are needed. One new approach, which could lead to much better materials balances in many cases, is to use hydrometallurgical techniques which involve co-extraction and transport of metal cations and their attendant anion(s). The problems in obtaining the selective extraction of anions makes the development of such a process very challenging, especially for hydrophilic anions such as sulphate which would be present in many pregnant solutions generated in processing sulfides ores. The rapidly emerging field of anion coordination chemistry and approaches to the development of selective ligands are discussed. Chapter 2 focuses on the pH dependence of sulfate-loading from an aqueous solution into chloroform solutions of a selection of zwitterionic ditopic ligands containing two 3-dialkylaminomethylsalicylaldimine units. These “salen-type2 ligands have quadridentate N2O22- binding sites for divalent metal cations and the cis-coordination of the phenolate aligns the pendant protonated 3-dialkylaminomethyl groups to bind to a sulfate dianion. Studies of the pH dependence of sulfate-loading confirm that sulfate binding is enhanced significantly by the incorporation of a divalent cation such as Cu2+ in the salen N2O22- site. Metal dication loading is very dependent on the nature of the bridging group between the two imines in the “salen” unit; Cu2+ loading follows the order ortho-phenylene > 1,2-ethane > 2,2’-biphenyl. The ethane-bridged ligand, 4,4’-di-tert-butyl-6,6’-bis(dihexylaminomethyl)-2,2’-(ethylenedinitrilodimethylidyne) diphenol, was found to have a nearly ideal loading profile for CuSo4. Stability to hydrolysis and oxidation is a key requirement for commercial metal solvent extractants. The stability of the imine bond in the “salen-type” extractants investigated in chapter 2 was tested in a two phase chloroform: water systems under conditions likely to be used for loading or stripping of metal salts. Stability is dependent on the nature of the bridging unit between the two imines varying in this order 2,2’-biphenyl > ortho-phenylene > 1,2-ethane. Two new ligands, 4,4’-di-tert-butyl-6,6’-bis(dihexylaminomethyl)-2,2’-(ethylenedinitrilo-1,1’-phenyldimethylidyne) diphenol and N,N’-dimethyl-N,N’-bis(2-hydroxy-3-[(E)-phenyliminomethyl]-5-tert-butylbenzyl)hexane-1,6-diamine, which exhibit improved stabilities at low pH are also discussed.

This dissertation seeks to increase our understanding of the factors that lead to student success at community colleges. Using data on a cohort of students enrolled at a two-year college, this dissertation presents the results of a longitudinal analysis. Citing the results of several persistence studies as well as the literature on sub-baccalaureate job markets, this dissertation constructs a hybrid model of student persistence. This model combines Tinto's theory of student dropout behavior with human capital theory to derive a benefit/cost model of student enrollment behavior. Several hypotheses are developed regarding the relationship between various benefits and costs and students' likelihood of achieving each of three different outcomes: dropping out, transferring to a four-year institution, or completing an associate's degree. An event history analysis was conducted to find out whether these relationships actually existed. Results of this analysis are used to derive implications for theory and practice. [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.]

1. The aim of this work was to study the etioplasts and developing chloroplasts. The conclusions reached are interpreted in the context of plastid autonomy and biogenesis. 2. I have shown that isolated etioplasts and developing chloroplasts use added ATP as an energy source for amino acid incorporation into protein. Developing chloroplasts isolated from leaves after a minimum of 3 hours greening in continuous white light can also use light as an energy source for protein synthesis. 3. The relationship between ATP and light as an energy source for in vitro plastid protein synthesis has been studied in plastids isolated during greening. 4. The characteristics of amino acid incorporation in rapidly isolated etioplast preparations exclude the possibility that incorporation occurs on cytoplasmic ribosomes, in whole cells, nuclear bacteria and are consistent with the known characteristics of in vitro plastid protein synthesis. 5. It has been shown that less than 3% of the amino acid incorporation into protein in etiolate suspensions is associated with mitochondria which contaminate the preparations. 6. The conditions for optimum incorporation of amino acids into protein were order to facilitate the identification of the polypeptides synthesized. 7. The products of in vitro protein synthesis were analysed by electrophoretic separation on SDS urea polyacrylamide gels. 8. Using ATP as the energy source and either L-(35S) methionine, L-(3H) leucine or L-(3H) phenylalanine, as the protein precursor it has been shown that etioplasts synthesize seven major polypeptides. 9. These polypeptides electrophorese coincidentally with the products of protein synthesis in isolated chloroplasts. 10. As in chloroplasts of these polypeptides is present in a 150,000g etioplast supernatant fraction. This product has been identified as the large subunit of Fraction I protein. Identity was established by comparing the tryptic and chymotryptic peptide map of the in vitro etioplast product labelled with L-(35 S) methionine with the tryptic and chymotryplic peptide map of authentic large subunit of Fraction I protein labelled with L-(35S) methionine in vivo. 11. The same gel pattern of seven polypeptidesis seen when plastids isolated from greening leaves are incubated with either added ATP or light as the energy source. The products of in vitro protein synthesis in developing chloroplasts also co-electrophorese with those synthesized in isolated chloroplasts. 12. The rates of synthesis of particular polypeptides are different in plastids isolated at different stages of the etioplast to chloroplast transition. 13. The results support the idea that plastid ribosomes synthesize only a small number of proteins and that the number and molecular weight of these proteins does not alter during the formation of chloroplasts from etioplasts. 14. The results are discussed in the context of plastid autonomy and biogenesis. The use of the plastid as a developmental system for studying the controls exerted upon the synthesis of particular polypeptides during differentiation is considered. Possible areas of research which might be undertaken as a result of the work described are outlined.

A vertical pin on horizontal disc machine has been used to conduct a series of experiments in air under dry and lubricating sliding conditions. For dry sliding low load and speed combinations were chosen to correspond to the mild wear region below the Welsh T1 transition. Lubricated tests were conducted under flooded conditions using Esso Technical White Oil alone and with a 0.1% stearic acid additive, for load and speed ranges that produced substantial amounts of asperity contact and thus a boundary lubricated regime of wear. The test material in all cases was AISI 52100 steel, for unlubricated sliding subjected to loads from 5 to 50 N and a range of speeds from 10-3 to 1.0 ms-1, and for lubricated sliding loads of 50 to 123 N and for speeds of 10-2 to 1.0 ms-1. Unlubricated wear debris was found to be a mixture of -Fe_2O_3 and -Fe. Unlubricated wear was found to occur via a thin film logarithmic oxide growth followed by agglomeration into thicker oxide plateaux 2 to 10 m in thickness. Lubricated wear occurred via thick film diffusion controlled oxide growth producing homogeneous oxide plateaux 0.1 to 0.2 m in thickness. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy identified the presence of a surface film on pins worn in White Oil with stearic acid, which is thought to be iron stearate. A model has been developed for unlubricated wear based upon the postulated growth of thin film oxides by a logarithmic rate law. The importance of sliding geometry and environment to the dominant wear mechanism has been illustrated.

The thesis is concerned with some of the properties of positive and negative ions in liquid Helium, and in particular with the passage of ions, which are generated inside the liquid, through the free liquid surface into vapour. It was found, for negative ions, that this process was inhibited by an energy barrier, in agreement with other workers who have examined this problem, although there is considerable disagreement as to the magnitude of the barrier. It has been observed in the present work that the energy barrier depends upon the field, the position of the liquid surface in an ion cell, and the nature of the ion cell itself. The dependence of the barrier on these three parameters probably explains why diverse values for it have been reported. It was originally intended to use the ions as probes to examine dissipation mechanisms in the mobile superfluid Helium film. It had been reliably reported that ions preferentially travelled in the film. This was observed not to be the case however. The negative ion currents sin the film were found to be extremely small, when they existed at all, and no real positive ion currents in the film could be detected. This has been interpreted as being due to the combination of the large image potential binding the ion to the substrate, and the intrinsic roughness of the substrate. The present work has revealed that what appears at first sight to be a current of positive ions crossing the liquid surface can be attributed to a current of photoelectrons due to photoelectric emission from the surface of the collector. Such photoemission can arise from the uv radiation produced largely by ionic recombination in the region close to the a-emitting source. Screening the collector from the direct view of the a-source greatly reduced the photoelectron current. In order to extend the temperature range available, for the study of ion currents, a vortex refrigerator was designed and constructed. This enabled measurements to be extended down to 0.8K. Since there has been only one publication on the vortex refrigerator, which appeared during the building of the present one, its properties and operation with various design parameters were studied in detail.

Enabling access to energy has been recognised as vital in addressing many of the present global development issues which affect people's economic, health and social well-being as well as the ability to meet the goal of reducing carbon emissions through clean energy use. Lack of access to energy, termed energy poverty, in the developing world has several key aspects - lack of access on demand to electricity is one aspect, but lack of access to clean cooking fuels is also a critical factor that leads to continued use of solid fuels. Yet, in spite of increased attention from multiple agencies and governments on the energy poverty issue, the strong praise for action, and the deployment of largescale energy programs and interventions, lack of access to clean cooking fuels continues to be an overlooked aspect of the energy poverty. Currently, over 2.8 billion people lack access to clean energy for cooking. However, despite this, few studies have shed light on the barriers to, the enablers of, and the impacts of inaccessibility to clean cooking alternatives on development outcomes, using rigorous methodologies. This thesis addresses this recent strand of research. The contributions of this thesis are multi-fold. Firstly, it performs and presents the results of the first quantitative analyses which examine the impacts of household use of solid fuels on the economic and social pillars of sustainable developments: in the most impoverished countries. Secondly, it provides evidences of the effects of current non-energy policies and interventions on addressing the issue. Lastly, it reviews the trends of and barriers to household accessibility to clean cooking fuels. The results obtained from the analyses vary across the countries investigated but generally speaking, it is observed that the household use of solid fuels significantly affects aspects of sustainable development such as education and life expectancy.

Gray leaf spot of maize (Zea mays L.), caused by Cercospora zeae-maydis (Tehon & Daniels), can greatly reduce grain yield worldwide. This study evaluated a novel source of resistance to C. zeae-maydis in the US Corn Belt and the Republic of South Africa (RSA), linked molecular markers to resistance loci using selective genotyping, and examined the components of resistance, sporulation, lesion length and number of lesions. The resistant maize inbred, VO613Y, was crossed to the susceptible inbred, Pa405, to obtain a population of 144 F2:3 progeny lines. These lines were evaluated at Wooster, Ohio, USA, and Cedara, RSA, for resistance to C. zeae-maydis based on percent leaf area affected (PLAA). A selected F3:4 population, derived by self-pollination of resistant and susceptible F2:3 lines, was evaluated at two Ohio locations over two seasons and at Cedara. Simple sequence repeat, restriction fragment length polymorphisms and resistance gene analog molecular marker data were obtained and analyzed based on F2:3 and F3:4 PLAA means across all environments by Kruskal-Wallis and ANOVA single factor analyses and composite interval mapping. Lesion length measurement, lesion counts and lesion sporulation data were taken on 4 resistant F3:4 progeny lines, 4 susceptible F3:4 progeny lines, and the parents. Quantitative trait loci located on two chromosome arms, 2L and 4L, together explained 47% of the variance in the F2:3 generation and 55% in the F3:4 generation across environments. Spearman rank correlations demonstrated that genotypes retained their relative ranks across environments. VO613Y-derived resistance extended the incubation period, resulted in the presence of fewer lesions and shortened the length of lesions. Taken together, this resulted in a lower percent leaf area affected by gray leaf spot. VO613Y and its resistant progeny did not inhibit spore production compared to Pa405 and its susceptible progeny, but resistant maize genotypes should contain fewer lesions capable of producing spores. The total number of spores produced on resistant maize genotypes should therefore be less than that produced on susceptible ones. These results indicate that VO613Y possesses QTL that may be introgressed into elite maize lines and deployed effectively in both southern Africa and the US Corn Belt.

The extensional Pannonian Basin is set within the convergent arc of the Alpine-Carpathian mountain system in central Europe. Various models have been proposed as mechanisms to drive extension within this collisional setting. As part of the Carpathian Basins Project(CBP), a temporary network of 56 broadband seismometers was deployed. With a further 44 permanent broadband seismometers, tomographic inversion of P and S-wave relative arrival-time residuals from teleseismic earthquakes, reveal the velocity structure of the mantle to a depth of 850 km throughout the Carpathian-Pannonian region. The tomographic models reduce the P-wave rms residual by 71% from 0.446 s to 0.130 s, and the S-wave rms residual by 59% from 1.513 s to 0.624 s. The effect of applying a deterministic crustal correction on the relative arrival-time residuals is tested using a crustal velocity model derived from previous crustal seismic experiments, but I show that the use of a station term parameter in the inversion provides a robust method of correcting for near-surface velocity variations in this experiment. At shallow sub-lithospheric depths several localised slower regions are imaged, which correlate with extensional depocentres and regional volcanics, and are interpreted as upwelling asthenosphere. Beneath the Eastern Alps, I image a high velocity structure, which continues east beneath the Pannonian Basin with depth and into the mantle transition zone (MTZ). The fast anomaly in the MTZ is distributed laterally as far as the Carpathians, the Dinarides and the Eastern Alps. The high velocity mantle material linking the structure beneath the Pannonian Basin with the Eastern Alps indicates a once continuous continental collision zone. Eastward extrusion from the Adria collision and detachment of the continental lithosphere beneath the Carpathians resulted in asthenospheric upwelling, which may have provided the driving force for extension of the Pannonian Basin.

The Derbyshire Dome is thought to have been a stable uplifted area since at least Lower Carboniferous times. This project is principally concerned with four 30km seismic refraction lines which crossed the limestone outcrop of Derbyshire and N. Staffordshire in order to investigate the Dome's upper crustal structure, using quarry blasts as seismic sources. A time-term analysis of refracted arrival data defined basement structure more complicated than implied by the surface geology. The interpretation of these data was complicated by high (5.6-5.8km/s) velocity refractions from dolomitic horizons within the limestone sequence; the mean overburden velocity was determined to be about 5.2 km/s. The Dome could be divided into two pre-Carboniferous geological units separated approximately by the line of the NNW trending Bonsall Fault. To the north a broadly domal refractor of velocity 5.5-5.55km/s was mapped, and thought to correlate with both the shallow pre-Carboniferous volcanics encountered by the Woo Dale borehole and"the Ordovician shales encountered by the Eyam borehole below 1.8km of limestone. This refractor accordingly deepens beneath the Carboniferous sedimentary basins flanking the Dome. To the south of the Bonsall Fault zone, the Carboniferous was found to be underlain by a refractor of velocity 5.63-5.7km/s, thought to be of Precambrian material similar to the rocks of Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, some 40km south. By analysing later arrivals, this refractor has been mapped to the north of the Bonsall Fault at a depth of 2.5-3.5km. The shallower Lower Palaeozoic refractor is thought to be no more than 500m thick, and underlain by lower velocity, possibly Cambrian, material. This interpretation is consistent with the Bouguer anomaly map of the region, and sheds light on the structural control of Carboniferous sedimentation. The basement fault dividing the two pre-Carboniferous units is thought to have been active during the Dinantian as the northern unit tilted eastwards.