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Drainage systems which developed during the initiation of Large Igneous Provinces were subjected to dynamic volcanic and tectonic activity. However, even during periods of intense volcanic activity, terrestrial drainage systems had the capacity to recover and ingress into volcanic terrains which allowed for the re-establishment of ecological communities. This study compares and contrasts the Skye Lave Fields (Selandian, 61-59Ma) which were emplaced within an exhumed, extensional basin in the Sea of Hebridies [sic], NW Scotland; with the sediments intercalated with the Columbia River Basalts (Miocene, 16.6-6Ma) which were emplaced within a back-arc setting and prograded into an ancient drainage basin known as the Clearwater Embayment, Idaho, NW USA. Hyaloclastite sequences dominate the lower succession of the Skye Lava Fields. The Northern Skye region was deprived of large feeder catchments which restricted sedimentary interbeds, composed of fine grained, tuffaceous and carbonaceous sediment, to thicknesses of < 5m. Tabular sheet flows dominate the lower succession of the Columbia River Basalts. However on the margins of the province, thick (average 20m, up to 70m) fluvio-lacustrine sediments intercalated with lava flows. Eruption of high volume lavas caused ponding of the fluvial systems, which were supplied with coarse grained sediment by large, elevated drainage basins. Although very different from a sedimentological perspective, comparable palynological trends were observed in each case study. The lower most deposits in each case were dominated by mature, late successional swamp vegetation. Eruptive episodes resulted in destruction of these early forests, but then recovery of the drainage systems allowed for the establishment of riparian corridors with diverse floodplain communities. Due to the contrasting volcanic and depositional styles, the development of a generic model for LIP initiation which can be applied universally is challenging and individual models should be produced from the detailed understanding of local factors and processes.

The thesis explores the importance of connotation within English as a lingua franca (ELF) and the implications for teaching ELF. The importance of such research is that should connotative meaning be shown to be of crucial importance, this must be taken into account in the development of a methodology for ELF. This is particularly important as tìie understanding of ELF is only now emerging, together with a related pedagogy. As a starting point the thesis explores the views of high school teachers and university lecturers in Thailand aâ an example of a country where ELF is an important issue for pedagogy. The focus is on issues related to the teaching and use of ELF, including linguistic imperialism. The literature on intercultural communication is then discussed with particular reference to English as a lingua franca. From this discussion a hypothesis is developed for testing, that "successful intercultural communication using ELF cannot take place without a substantial similarity in connotative meaning between interlocutors in relation to key words and phrases used in discourse”. Given that there has been no previous attempt to explore connotative meaning within ELF, one of the contributions of this thesis is the development of the research instruments designed to test the hypothesis. Research instruments used were questionnaires; recorded interviews based on the responses to the questionnaires; video-recorded dialogues between informants; separate tape- recorded "stop-start" interviews of informants whilst viewing the video recordings of the dialogues; semantic differential testing of key words and phrases selected from the dialogues; and word association testing of such key words and phrases. The thesis explains the rationale behind such instruments and their application in a research pilot with subsequent refinements for the main study. The analysis showed that overall, 81% of the communication events that were able to be categorized provided some form of support for the hypothesis, compared to 19% of such events providing evidence tending to contradict the hypothesis. The conclusion reached was therefore that connotative meaning was indeed, extremely significant in successful communication in ELF and the implications of this finding for theory, research methodology and practice are considered.

Software interfaces are often defined as a layout of the controls for an application through which user interaction is performed. One of the fundamental concepts of this report requires a slightly different definition. A software interface is considered to be a well-defined algebraic specification of the inputs and outputs of a system. From this specification, interface representations can be generated that define the layout of the controls. With this view, a system has only one software interface but may have many distinct interface representations. This research builds on this concept to develop an approach to interface specification that allows algebraic reduction, optimization, and translation into desired representations. The approach is based on the software engineering concept of Feature Oriented Programming (FOP), which relies on composition of features to build software systems. This research defines software interfaces as features of a system in terms of properties and actions. Properties are attributes of the system that have a single known value at any time, which can be monitored or modified by the user. Actions are defined for each property as the means for monitoring and modifying the property. This report presents an approach to interface synthesis that relies on domain analysis, product-line analysis, interface generation, and interface translation. Domain analysis and product-line analysis are performed by a domain expert to specify the features of the domain in an Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF). An algebraic specification of the interface components, from which the interface to a particular product can be generated, is inferred from the EBNF specification. Interface generation involves feature composition, interface reduction, and interface optimization. These steps are defined based on the algebraic specification of the interface components and a supplementary specification of semantic relationships between properties and actions. Lastly, interface translation is performed to produce the desired interface representation from the interface specification for a product. The approach is demonstrated with a robotics domain example. The example covers a relatively complex system with thirteen properties, forty-two property values, and twenty-three actions that span system control, motion control, tool control, and various types of feedback. Also, twelve features were identified for the product family. Six of the features are composed to demonstrate interface generation and translation. The composition results in an interface represented by 49 algebraic statements with several redundancies. Interface reduction removes the redundancies and results in a syntactically complete interface with 28 algebraic statements (43% reduction). However, the effectiveness of the interface can be improved by applying semantic criteria to modify the syntax as is done during interface optimization. This semantics based optimization leads to a reduction of possible action combinations from 4096 to 1152. Lastly, interface translation is demonstrated via a sequential approach and a hierarchical approach. The first results in a C++ representation and the second results in a XML schema representation. Much of this work is conceptual, but the groundwork has been laid for future research into these areas

The research question was to determine if it is possible to develop a systematic approach to the managed entry of new drugs into a National Health Service( NHS), using Malta as a case study. In early 1999, Malta had major problems with the managed entry of new drugs into the NHS. Some essential processes such as medicines registration did not exist, and the processes that existed were not systematic. The policy for the introduction of new drugs resulted in a large number of non-formulary requests for individual patients, with such applications rising to 14,129 by 1998. There were no set criteria for assessing these applications and this together with internal and external influences led to inequity of access to drugs within the NHS. A case study was conducted. A descriptive evaluation was undertaken and a logic model was used to represent the case as in June 1999 (baseline). Areas for change were planned and prioritised. An action evaluation was undertaken and action research was implemented as an intervention for change. A second descriptive model was developed to represent the processes at the end of the action evaluation (December 2001). An outcome evaluation described the changes that took place during the action evaluation. A number of improvements supporting a more systematic approach were achieved. Several policies were revised and new policies developed where appropriate. The outcome was that new drugs were to be approved on the formulary for groups of patients (rather than individuals) that met specific criteria. Due to limited NHS resources inequity remains. However, the approach is now systematic which has made the processes more transparent. Recommendations for further development of the systematic approach were made with the aim of further reducing inequity.