Search

This thesis focuses on the consequences of armed conflict on family-related outcomes. Whilst remarkable efforts have been devoted towards documenting conflict-caused excess mortality, tracing and forecasting migratory responses to war, demographic research has dedicated less attention to events occurring around the family domain in and after wartime. Yet, the family remains a fundamental component of population dynamics, and a crucial institution for individual well-being, community resilience and post-conflict social stability. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap in three empirical Chapters. Each examines the consequences of exposure to armed conflict on aspects of family formation, including fertility and marriage, and issues of family violence. Particular attention is given to experiences of conflict violence in early and young life, understood as key developmental stages and critical periods for later life outcomes. The research questions are examined in the context of the armed confrontations that characterised the former Soviet space, with emphasis on Azerbaijan and its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. The first paper focuses on childbearing transitions. Using birth history data and demographic methods, it retraces fertility trends and patterns in Azerbaijan and examines how these have changed since independence and in relation to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The paper finds that, while conflict exposure had little influence on aggregate fertility trends, it affected differently the transition to different parities. In specific, it shows that exposure to war is associated with a higher risk of transitioning to the average parity level in the population, that in the Azerbaijani context is the second birth. It further documents 'promoting' effects on fertility after the loss of a child during the conflict, suggesting risk-insurance and replacement mechanisms as responses to traumatic conflict events. The second paper addresses the question of whether armed conflict influences the other component of family formation, i.e., the timing of marriage. In particular, it examines female teen marriage dynamics in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan. Exploiting spatial variation in conflict violence and a cohort specification that accounts for the risk of marrying in teen ages iii before and during the war, the paper provides suggestive evidence of declines in adolescent unions for the cohorts longest exposed to the conflict and highlights the role of displacement as a plausible driver. Yet, it also finds that conflict only leads to marriage postponement and is associated with theoretically adverse union characteristics, including wider spousal age and educational differences. This opens questions on how war may influence family intimate relationships. The third paper turns attention to this aspect and asks whether exposure to violence at young ages is correlated with women's adult experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV). This is the first study to integrate theoretically and empirically literature on the long-term consequences of warfare and the scholarship on the determinants of IPV. Expanding the spatial reach of the research to all ex-Soviet states that experienced armed violence after independence (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Tajikistan), and exploiting cohort and geographical variation in conflict exposure, it finds that women affected by conflict in childhood have an elevated probability of being IPV victims, particularly of physical and sexual abuse, compared to not-exposed peers and older women. Analyses of potential pathways show no relationship between war exposure and changing marriage market conditions, or attitudes towards IPV in women. Conversely, men exposed to war in late adolescence (16-19) are more likely to condone violence against partners. Further, women's childhood exposure to conflict correlates with having a violent father. Altogether, the findings advance our theoretical understanding of family formation processes in times of conflict as well as of the long-term consequences of war may have on other forms of violence that hinder family functioning. They are also policy-relevant and serve as inputs for the design of strategies that can foster family well-being and welfare in post-conflict Eurasia, the development of prevention programmes in conflict-prone areas in the region and timely responses where conflict violence is ongoing, like in Ukraine.

In this thesis I present a simplified model for gene regulation, where gene expression is regulated by transcription factors (TFs), which are single proteins or protein complexes. Proteins are in turn synthesised from expressed genes, creating feedback loops of regulation. This leads to a directed bipartite network in which a link from a gene to a TF exists if the gene codes for a protein contributing to the TF, and a link from a TF to a gene exists if the TF regulates the expression of the gene. Both genes and TFs are modelled as binary variables, which indicate, respectively, whether a gene is expressed or not, and a TF is synthesised or not. I consider the scenario where for a TF to be synthesised, all of its contributing genes must be expressed. This results in an "AND" gate logic for the dynamics of TFs. By adapting percolation theory to directed bipartite graphs, in which the nodes representing TFs implement an AND gate logic, I determine the necessary conditions, in the network parameter space, under which bipartite networks can support a non-trivial multiplicity of stable gene expression patterns, under noisy conditions, as required to support multi-cellular life. In particular, the analysis reveals the possibility of a bi-stability region, where the extensive percolating cluster is or is not resilient to perturbations. This is remarkably different from the transition observed in standard percolation theory. In addition, I consider perturbations involving single node removal that mimic gene knockout experiments. Results indicate the strong dependence of the gene knockout cascade on the logic implemented, highlighting in particular that avalanche sizes cannot be easily related to properties of gene-gene interaction networks, since the role of TFs is important to predict the cascade size. Further, I also investigate the dynamic properties of such models, which are out of equilibrium in general. In the case of a directed tree, the dynamic cavity method provides an efficient tool to characterise the dynamic trajectory of the nodes for the linear threshold model. However, because of the computational complexity of the method, the analysis is usually limited to systems where the largest number of neighbours is small. I present an efficient implementation of the dynamic cavity method which substantially reduces the computational complexity of the method for systems with discrete couplings. This approach opens up the possibility to investigate the dynamic properties of networks with fat-tailed degree distribution. I exploit this new implementation to study properties of the non-equilibrium steady-state. I present an extension of the dynamical cavity approach to calculate the pairwise correlations induced by different motifs in the network. The results suggest that just two basic motifs of the network are able to accurately describe the entire statistics of observed correlations. Finally, I investigate models defined on networks containing bi-directional interactions. I observe that the stationary state associated with networks with symmetric or anti-symmetric interactions is biased towards the active or inactive state respectively, even if independent interaction entries are drawn from a symmetric distribution. This phenomenon, which can be regarded as a form of spontaneous symmetry-breaking, is peculiar to systems formulated in terms of Boolean variables, as opposed to Ising spins.

Based on a review of educational research and informal teacher inquiry suggesting that students could benefit from instruction to improve organizational skills, this action research project examined the effects of teaching selected organizational skills on the study habits and achievement of third and ninth graders. Participating in the study were 44 third graders from 2 classes (including 6 students with learning disabilities and 1 enrolled in the gifted program) and 24 honor level ninth graders from 2 middle class communities in northern Illinois. Student problems with organizational skills were documented by means of teacher and student surveys and observational checklists. The 3-month intervention was comprised of instruction on effective listening skills, time and material management, note-taking strategies, and metacognitive journaling incorporated into the regular classroom curriculum. Target behaviors included turning work in on time, gathering materials, following procedures, presenting finished work, and maintaining condition of materials. Post-intervention data indicated an improvement in organizational skills in the selected target areas, which suggested a possible improvement in study habits and student achievement. One exception was that ninth graders did not involve parents in checking their homework, even after intervention. Parents noted a 65 percent increase in the amount of time their child spent studying in the 9 weeks following the implementation period. Evidence of improved organizational skills was found in checklists detailing observation of student on-task behavior and surveys completed by teachers, parents, and students. (Fourteen appendices include data collection instruments, permission forms, and sample materials. Contains 13 references.) (KB)

Primary focal hyperhidrosis (PFHH) is a medical condition characterised by overactivity of the eccrine sweat glands, primarily occurring on palmar, plantar and axillary regions. PFHH can have a significant adverse impact on a patient’s quality of life. Multiple intradermal injections of a commercial formulation of botulinum toxin A (BTX A) (Botox®) is the most effective non-surgical treatment currently licensed in the UK for cases of severe PFHH. Although effective, intradermal BTX A injections are associated with considerable pain and discomfort for the patient and are time-consuming for the administering clinician. This study aims to evaluate the potential of using pocketed microneedle devices for minimally invasive intradermal delivery of BTX A, as a liquid formulation, into human skin. Pocketed microneedles, metallic 700 μm-long needles containing a cavity within the needle shaft, were selected as an appropriate and relatively untested intradermal delivery device. Pocketed microneedle devices (PMDs) were liquid loaded by immersion into a ‘Botox® like’ formulation that mimicked the composition of the commercial Botox® formulation, with the exception of BTX A, which was replaced by the model macromolecular protein β-galactosidase (~465 kDa). A water-soluble dye was also included to enable visualisation. Microneedles were assessed for loading uniformity by light microscopy and the formulation residency time was evaluated by monitoring evaporation using a digital camera. The microneedle loading capacity was determined using an established quantitative assay for β-galactosidase. Studies using excised human breast skin, maintained in organ culture, examined delivery of the model β-galactosidase from liquid loaded PMDs and the time-dependent diffusion of the protein within the dermal tissue. A more clinically representative model of BTX A, formaldehyde inactivated BTX A, i.e., botulinum toxoid, was used to determine the deposition pattern of the therapeutic within the skin. Following skin delivery the toxoid was detected by immnohistochemical staining and fluorescence imaging, following its conjugation to an appropriate fluorophore. Immersion of the PMD into a ‘Botox® like’ formulation resulted in successful uptake and retention of the model protein solution. Quantitative studies indicated that nanogram quantities (~100 ng/microneedle array) of the β-galactosidase model can be loaded and retained on individual microneedles, in a liquid state. These results suggest that the loading capacity of the microneedle device is appropriate for therapeutic botulinum toxin formulations, although loading uniformity will need to be addressed. Histological analysis revealed effective delivery of the model β-galactosidase from a PMD to the epidermal and the dermal layers of the skin. Rapid and extensive diffusion of the protein within the deeper dermis was also demonstrated. Further, immunohistochemical and fluorescence studies indicated effective PMD loading and successful delivery of botulinum toxoid to the dermis of human skin. These data suggest that it should be possible for BTX A to access its therapeutic target (the eccrine sweat glands) following delivery via PMDs. This study has demonstrated for the first time that pocketed microneedles represent a viable, minimally invasive alternative, for the intradermal delivery of botulinum toxin A (Botox®). Future pre-clinical and clinical studies are now required to test and optimize a microneedle-based delivery system that is most suited to clinical practice.

Restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests (RRBIs) are a broad and heterogeneous class of behaviours that are present in a number of neuro-developmental conditions, such as, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), but also feature in early typical development. The management of maladaptive RRBIs may present a considerable challenge to parents and the behaviours themselves may hamper the acquisition of new skills in affected individuals. Despite early research being fraught with lack of consensus in terminology and item overlap on standardised measures, the past decade has seen a resurgence of research in the area. Most systematic research, however, has been conducted in children with ASD and there are few studies that attempt to make links across disorders. Furthermore, debate over the structure of RRBIs and the use of domain scores in research has led to inconsistencies in studies attempting to identify their neuro-cognitive correlates. The collection of studies in this thesis attempt to move away from domain scores of repetitive behaviour by using factor analysis to parse the RRBI domain into homogeneous behavioural factors. These factors form the basis of studies in later chapters examining the relationship between RRBIs and executive functions (EF) in ASD, PWS and typical development. Results show that there is a differential pattern of association between different types of EF and specific RRBIs and findings across groups indicate possible common executive correlates of behaviour.

This thesis examines the organisation of innovative activities at the firm level by proposing a conceptual framework that is built upon a survey of the recent economic literature on technical change and by applying this framework to the computer software and services industry. The objectives of the study were the following: to analyze the nature of technical change in the software industry, the sources of firms' innovation and the competencies used in the innovative activities; to focus on the relationship between internal competencies and external sources of innovation~ and to give a picture of the division of labour among firms in the innovative activities. This work proposes a conceptual framework that takes into account the interactions between technical and organisational innovations at the firm level and focuses on the innovation process as a 'division of knowledge' that involves different types of actors: individuals, with different skills, working in the same organisation, firms specialising in substitute or complementary products, users and academic research centres. The empirical analysis employed qualitative data drawn from interviews with both large a.nd small firms, and quantitative data on corporate changes of large firms (e.g., creation or shut-down of subsidiaries, launch of new producis, set up of cooperative agreements). The main results of the research can be summarised as follows. First, software firms show a cumulative, incremental pattern of product innovations and an increasing commitment to process innovations. The research shows the linkages between technical and organisational changes. Process innovations affect the retraining of software analysts-programmers and project managers, encounter obstacles in the transmission of new software engineering knowledge from the R&D department to business departments, and shape the division of tasks throughout the firm. The second research result concerns the correlation between internal skills and the firms' propensity to set up linkages with external sources of innovation. The use of generic-abstract capabilities (mathematical skills) in innovative activities make firms more open towards external channels of technical change. On the contrary, the use of context-specific capabilities (experience with the development of software applications) reduces finns' propensity to interact with external sources of technical change. Finally, there is evidence of an increasing division of labour among firms in the software industry, as indicated by the large and rising number of inter-firm cooperative agreements stipulated during the period between 1984 and 1 ?92. The analysis of inter-firm linkages and internal restructuring also points to the importance of organisational change as one dimension of the general corporate change.

Accelerating materials design & discovery will be critical to reducing society's dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sources. Computational methods such as density-functional theory, high-throughput workflow automation, and machine learning help to enable the understanding, discovery, and optimization of functional energy materials. I will demonstrate how these broad classes of tools may be applied to various important problems in the computational study of catalysts in three case studies. First, I will explain how computational probes of mechanical stability and catalytic suitability can be used to discover new forms of two-dimensional CO2 reduction photoelectrocatalysts. Second, I will show how random forests combined with feature engineering can be used to automate materials characterization efforts from X-ray absorption spectroscopy and discover new interpretable fingerprints in transition metal oxide K-edge spectra. Finally, I will detail ongoing efforts in developing a benchmarking dataset which can be used to probe the sensitivity of varying levels of theory for machine learning based interatomic potentials, which may then be used to study the stability of transition metal catalysts on experimentally relevant timescales.

Emotion regulation is a complex cognitive ability wherein conscious or non-conscious processes in an individual result in a change of experienced affect. The work in this dissertation involves advanced fMRI analyses to elucidate the connectivity of the neurobiological mechanisms of emotion regulation. We investigate the temporality of activation and functional connectivity in a form of explicit emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal), as well as the effective connectivity of a form of implicit emotion regulation (affect labeling). We also investigate resting state functional connectivity in a subset of the emotion regulation network. Finally, these approaches are applied to euthymic individuals with bipolar disorder, a serious psychiatric illness in which the ability to regulate emotion is a cyclical and fundamental difficulty. The aim of this work is to identify system-level biomarkers to someday assist the diagnostic process and the tracking and treatment of therapeutic interventions.

Positioned in the literature related to academic professional development, this study makes a contribution to the understanding of academics’ blended practices by exploring how various factors influence academics’ use of technology with face-to-face teaching. The primary research question addressed by the study is ‘Why do some academics tend to use technology together with their face-to-face teaching to achieve blended teaching strategies to support learning, while others do not?’ The study arises from a context in which a growing number of universities are investing considerable resources in blended learning, as an institutional strategy to respond to the pressures of uncertain economies, increasing globalisation, and the changing expectations of cohorts of digitally savvy students. However, the success of blended learning as an institutional strategy is firmly grounded in the widespread adoption of effective blended teaching practices, which has generally failed to happen. Currently, the adoption of effective blended teaching practices is limited to a minority of academics. The premise underlying this study is that understanding the factors shaping academics’ blended learning practices is fundamental to the provision of the professional support needed to facilitate the uptake of effective blended practices on a larger scale. Unfortunately, existing blended learning literature provides meagre insight into academics’ blended practices. This study stems from the urgent need to better understand academics’ blended teaching practices.

This thesis explores the application of two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and single layer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) which are produced by liquid phase exfoliation for use in printed electronics and energy composite applications. In Chapter 2 I give a broad overview of the electrical, mechanical and optical properties of 2D materials among other nanomaterials that were used in the thesis such as carbon nanotubes and conductive polymers. Additionally I review the techniques and theory behind the exfoliation and dispersion of functional layered materials. In Chapter 3 I present the coating and printing techniques which were used in this thesis along with the experimental techniques and methods which I use to characterise my inks, films and devices. Chapter 4 is the first experimental chapter of the thesis and demonstrates the printing of 2D material heterostructures to create fully printed dieletrically gated field effect transistors with 2D materials on textile and polymer substrates. In this chapter I also demonstrate reprogrammable volatile memory, p and n type inverters, complementary inverters, and logic gates which pave the way to fully printed integrated circuits, operational at room temperature and pressure with 2D materials processed in liquid. In Chapter 5, I review spray coating (a highly industrial scalable printing technique), in terms of the optimisation of its parameters to achieve thin films of nanomaterials on three-dimensional (3D) surfaces. I then demonstrate that it is possible to create large area (∼750 cm2) transparent conducting films around curved surfaces with spray coating enabling a semi-transparent (around 360°) spherical touch sensor for interactive devices. Chapter 6 explores printed photonics for applications in terahertz (THz) frequencies. Here I demonstrate the feasibility of liquid phase exfoliated graphene to create THz saturable absorbers (SAs) which could enable many applications in THz frequencies such as tomography or time-resolved spectroscopy that require mode-locked (i.e. enabling a train of short pulses to be derived from continuous-wave operation) THz pulses. I also demonstrate that these SAs can be inkjet printed on demand providing unprecedented compactness in a quantum cascade laser system. Finally in Chapter 7, I look at the application of graphene in microbial fuel cells (MFC). I demonstrate that enhanced MFC output arises from the interplay of the improved surface area, enhanced conductivity, and catalytic surface groups of a graphene based electrode. As a final step graphene based anodes and cathodes which were entirely platinum free were combined to create an environmentally sustainable energy source.

Academic failure among hypopituitary children has been explained by three conflicting theories: cognitive underfunctioning secondary to low self-concept; commensurate with low ability; and , secondary to specific cognitive deficits. This study examined achievement in hypopituitary children relative to these theories. All 41 idiopathic hypopituitary children were school aged and receiving growth hormone replacement therapy; 27 had isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD), 14 had multiple hormone deficiencies (MHD). There was a high incidence of neonatal trauma (50%), delayed development (30%) and grade retention (39%). Cognitive functioning was assessed using Verbal and Performance Scales and Kaufman Factors: Verbal Comprehension (VCF), Perceptual Organization (POF), Freedom From Distractibility (FFDF) from the WISC-R and the developmental score from the Bender Gestalt. Self-concept was measured with the Piers-Harris. Achievement was assessed with the sight-word recognition and math segments of the WRAT and reading comprehension segment of the PIAT. Maternal attitudes of restrictiveness and overpossessiveness were measured with the Parent Attitude Research Instrument. Analyses employed the t-test, Chi-Square test, bi-variate and multiple linear regression. The IGHD group had average ability on the WISC-R VCF and POF; significantly lower ability on the FFDF and a high incidence of Verbal-Performance difference scores (GREATERTHEQ)18 points. The MHD group had below average ability on the VCF and the FFDF. Both groups were below average on the Bender. Self-concepts were not different from normal children; mothers were not more restrictive or overpossessive. Both groups were below average in reading comprehension and math. The FFDF best predicted achievement for the IGHD group. Full Scale IQ best predicted achievement for the MHD group. Self-concept and maternal attitude measures were not significant predictors. The findings suggest that achievement in IGHD children is best explained by the cognitive deficit theory, while the low ability theory best explains achievement for MHD children. This interpretation remains tentative without further investigation of hormone treatment effects on cognition, self-concept, and achievement. In addition to group phenomena, individual children had highly variant profiles. Therefore, explication of individual differences should be completed. The question of maturational delay versus actual deficits necessitates developmental exploration.

As a result of the political events in the mid-1990s, the compulsory schooling in Turkey was extended to 8 from 5 years. Cohorts who were at the fourth grade or lower had to continue 8 years of compulsory education. This reform generated a natural experiment, and therefore, enables researchers to obtain endogeneity-robust estimates of market and non-market returns of education. In this thesis, I used this reform to investigate some nonmarket returns of education. Chapter 2 is the first study to investigate the causal impact of maternal schooling on childhood immunisation rates. I used the exposure to the Compulsory Education Law (CEL), enacted in Turkey in 1997, by date of birth and the differentiation in its implementation across regions as an instrument for the schooling of young mothers. CEL generated an exogenous change in compulsory education from 5 to 8 years for women born after 1986. Using the CEL as an instrument, this chapter finds that an increase in the education of mothers significantly increases the coverage of the third (full) dose of DPT and Hepatitis B for their children. Furthermore, the chapter investigates the causality between maternal education and a range of channels affecting immunisation rates suggested in the literature. I find that education increases the age of first marriage and birth, changes women`s and their spouse`s labour market status and significantly effects women`s attitude towards spousal violence against women and gender discrimination in a manner that empowers women. Chapter 3 provides empirical evidence regarding the causality between education and mental health in the context of a large emerging economy, Turkey. I exploit differentiation in the exposure to the Compulsory Education Law (CEL) change by the date of birth as an instrument for schooling of young women. When the CEL is used as an instrument for schooling of women, I find that schooling increases the incidence of some mental health disorders. These findings seem quite robust to alterations in the regression definitions and to the inclusion of additional individual-level control variables such as having one`s own income, employment status, marital status, occupation, domestic abuse history in the family, and rural/urban status. I also find a heterogeneous effect of the CEL on educational attainment of women depending on residence status and whether their birth mother had been abused by her partner. Moreover, heterogeneous effect tests also indicate that the effect of education differs by personal income and labour market status of women. Chapter 4 is the first study to investigate the causal effect of the husband`s education on violent and abusive behaviour against their wife. To do this, I use a natural experiment, an education reform increasing compulsory schooling from five to eight years in Turkey, as an instrument to obtain endogeneity-robust estimates. I find that the husband`s education lowers the probability of suffering physical, emotional and economic violence as well as experiencing socially unacceptable behaviour. The only aspect of violence not affected by the spouse`s education is sexual violence. I also find that women whose mothers or whose husbands’ mothers experienced domestic violence are more likely to suffer violence themselves.