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Focusing on Citizenship Education (CE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within the Key Stage 3 (KS3) Learning for Life and Work (LLW) curriculum in Northern Ireland (NI), this research explores the extent to which 14-15 year old young people (YP) in NI exhibit features of 'sustainable citizenship' (SC) and how CE and other factors influence this. A literature review develops a new characterisation of SC as a pragmatic framework, characterising sustainable citizens (SCs) as those who think about how people interact within environmental, social, and economic aspects of the world and who are critical of how life is lived in order to change the systems that perpetuate unsustainable behaviour. Drawing on a children's rights-based approach, working with an advisory group of YP (n=11), this mixed-methods study included: a survey with YP (n=1136 ) across 26 schools; seven focus groups with YP (n=72); semi-structured teacher interviews (n=7). Statistical analysis indicated that Nature Relatedness (NR) and Competence for Civic Action (CCA) account for the majority of the variance explained for SC, with NR contributing most. Two demographic factors appear to influence SC: being female, which, in terms of explaining the variance for SC, was similar to that of CCA, and, by a lesser degree, attending a Voluntary Grammar school. Findings from thematic analysis suggest that whilst some YP in NI are thinking/acting as SCs, all YP face numerous barriers to SC, including: struggles concerning 'succeeding' in an unsustainable economic system; a lack of connectedness. Possible issues with the KS3 LLW curriculum, including the conflation of Employability and Citizenship and Employability being valued over sustainability, were revealed. In conclusion, the study suggests that to foster collective action towards a sustainable future, the curriculum requires underpinning by Education for Sustainable Citizenship, Ecological Responsibility and Human Rights, Communicative Space, and Outdoor Education and Play.

This thesis looks at potential modifications to silicon wafers to reduce the amount of material required to absorb light energy and increase electron hole pair generation.1,2 To achieve this, the separation of the light absorption and electron hole pair generation is suggested so that the light absorbing component can be optimised independently. This is known as silicon photosensitization. To study this phenomenon light absorbing Langmuir Blodgett films were deposited onto silicon wafers and characterised using time resolved fluorescence techniques to estimate the light harvesting efficiency. Organic absorbing structures which can perform light harvesting were investigated using mixed monolayers of 3,3'-Dioctadecyloxacarbocyanine Perchlorate (DiO) and 1,1'-Dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-Tetramethylindocarbocyanine Perchlorate (DiI) deposited on quartz glass slides in ratios of high donor (DiO) to low acceptor (DiI). Energy transfer was shown from DiO to DiI. An efficiency of 95% was calculated for a donor acceptor ratio of 1-1 and energy transfer was shown to occur up to the 100-1 ratio. Triplet state energy transfer directly to silicon from a Langmuir Blodgett monolayer was then investigated. Langmuir Blodgett monolayers of a Rhenium (ReC18) and Ruthenium (RuC18) complex were both found to transfer energy to unmodified silicon wafer. Using inert stearic acid spacer between the emitting layers and the surface of silicon to alter the distance, the change in phosphorescence emission as a function of distance from the surface on silicon was observed. Following on from this the photoluminescence of silicon wafers was studied. Tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) was mixed in a 1-1 ratio with stearic acid and deposited on silicon passivated with aluminium oxide, the luminescence of silicon and TPP film was observed. Enhancement of the silicon luminescence was shown but was not repeatable. The TPP emission also showed reduction in intensity but enhancement of the lifetime. This thesis provides examples of silicon photosensitization which can be applied directly on the top of silicon wafers and shows the potential for an ultrathin device using sensitization.

This study focused on a summer Internship programme operated by the Careers and Skills department in a university. The main data set was the interns' reflective blogs written with the guidance of a learning and development plan over the duration of their participation in the Internship. The data set covered three iterations over a three year period. Through the use of genre analysis, qualitative content analysis and online email interviews it has explored the following research questions: 1. How are reflection and personal development portrayed through the process of participation in an Internship programme within a higher education careers setting? 2. How does the reflective writing produced for a higher education Internship evolve through this research project and how does the technology affect this? 3. What do the above two questions tell us about career-focused reflection as a genre? This research highlighted how the employability agenda in HEIs and the focus on what skills a graduate must possess (Cook, 2006), has become the centre point of reflective writing in this careers context. Students are being guided to focus on skills and strengths they are developing and how these transfer to the workplace (Bridgstock 2009; Small, Shacklock and Marchant, 2018; Fotiadou, 2020). They are being encouraged to use reflective writing to do so, so that they will be successful in articulating these traits to prospective employers. The key findings were that through the provision of frameworks, features of reflective writing and Personal Development Planning in an HE careers context were seen in the data set. Analysis showed that socially constructed reflection is possible if the appropriate framework is put in place. This included time to reflect and document those reflections, paired with time to consider this face to face with a careers mentor. This scaffolding ensured that the interns engaged with the process of reflection, rather than the production of a final product. Furthermore, the use of ePortfolios and Virtual Learning Environments allowed for a very dialogical type of reflection, something that is unique to using web 2.0 technologies for this purpose.

The sixteen works presented in the thesis derive from eleven years as a teacher of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in different secondary high schools in England and in Wales, and as a researcher and teacher educator for twenty-seven years, as first an educator of physics teachers at the University of Wales, Swansea from September 1987 and then of technology and science teachers at The Open University beginning in April 1992. The selected publications provide a unique 33-year arc of development and an interconnected overview of the way that an understanding of the elements of professional knowledge for teachers can be investigated and the results then used in the creation and the on-going development of initial and in-service teacher education programmes. The sixteen publications' contribution to the field and their resulting impact is demonstrated, for example, by their having been cited 479 times. Using and exploiting a range of evaluative research methods that can be described as Research and Development (R&D), this thesis considers publications which address the education of teachers in general, and Design and Technology teachers and STEM teachers in particular. The publications coalesce around three interconnected themes that address three critically important research questions: Theme 1. Teacher Professional Knowledge - Research Question 1 (RQ1): What are the elements of teacher professional knowledge and what is their inter-relationship? • Empirical research conducted, and the resulting development of a general model of teacher professional knowledge (publications 1 - 4). • Exploitation of the model as a 'Graphical Tool' through an international collaboration in the DEPTH Project (Developing Professional Thinking for Technology Teachers) (publications 5 and 6). Theme 2. Developing Teachers of Technology - Research Question 2 (RQ2): In what ways can the suggested elements of teacher professional knowledge support the development of teachers of Technology? • Empirical research on teaching and learning and teacher education in technology education. • Development of approaches and models in technology teacher education including open and distance learning techniques (publications 7 - 10). • Comparative classroom-based research providing international perspectives in teaching technology (publications 10 - 13). Theme 3. Developing Teachers of STEM - Research Question 3 (RQ3): In what ways can the suggested elements of teacher professional knowledge support the development of teachers of STEM? • Empirical studies and a critical analysis of the relationship between science and technology in the UK. • Development of strategies both in teaching and in school organisation that need to be addressed when helping teachers meet the challenge of teaching STEM in the secondary school (publications 14 - 16). Using a research and development (R&D) methodology to evaluate and build on courses to develop teacher professional knowledge and addressing the Research Questions, the key concepts that the thesis contributes to new knowledge are: RQ1: • The discovery, verification, and exploitation of a new way to conceptualise the common aspects of teacher professional knowledge across subject domains. • The development of a graphical tool to explore teacher professional knowledge, and the discovery that teachers can use it to investigate and share professional understandings in their own contexts, demonstrating its applicability across education regimes internationally. RQ2: • The development of new open and distance learning techniques for the professional development of Technology teachers through the use of new technologies. RQ3: • The exploration, and dissemination of in-school strategies that can be used to develop and support secondary teachers of STEM, wherever they are located, by enabling them to collaborate by 'looking sideways' at the work that is done by colleagues in the contributory STEM subjects; and ways in which those developments can be supported by school leaders.

Background: The experience of childhood trauma has been linked with several negative health and behavioural outcomes, one of which is the perpetration of violence. Despite high levels of violence within forensic inpatient services, research within this population is limited. This thesis portfolio aimed to add to the evidence base in this area by conducting a systematic review of the literature exploring the experience of childhood maltreatment as a risk factor for perpetration of institutional violence in forensic settings. Relatedly, a research project was conducted exploring the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and violence whilst examining empathy and symptoms of psychosis as potential mediating factors. Method: A systematic review of studies investigating the relationship between childhood maltreatment and institutional violence in forensic settings was carried out. Comprehensive searches were carried out of relevant databases. Using pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria 10 studies were selected for review and quality assessment and relevant data extracted and synthesised. In the empirical project case-note and database searches were utilised to extract data for N = 343 participants across 10 sites in the Scottish Forensic Network to examine if total ACE score and each of the six included ACE categories predicted inpatient violence whilst controlling for potential covariates. Subsample analyses were conducted to explore positive symptoms, insight, and empathy as potential mediators. Data relating to violent incidents were extracted pseudo-prospectively via the NHS DATIX system. Results: The systematic review found four studies which demonstrated an increased risk of institutional violence following exposure to childhood maltreatment and six studies which did not find this. Studies conducted in prisons were more likely to demonstrate an association than those in forensic mental health settings. There were significant methodological limitations across studies; including smaller sample sizes in some studies which did not demonstrate a positive relationship. Findings of the empirical project demonstrated high rates of ACEs within forensic mental health populations and indicated a significant association between total ACE score and both, any violence and verbal aggression. Total ACE score was found to be significantly associated with an increase in verbal aggression and history of sexual abuse was significantly associated with an increase in violence. Previously completed psychological interventions were associated with a decrease in violence and verbal aggression. Positive symptoms, insight and empathy did not mediate the relationship between ACEs and violence but did predict all types of violence. Discussion: Both the systematic review and the empirical project highlight extremely high rates of childhood trauma experienced by individuals within the forensic mental health system, reinforcing the importance of trauma-informed services. Findings of the systematic review partially support the hypothesis that childhood maltreatment increases the risk of institutional violence perpetration although any potential to draw definitive conclusions is limited by methodological issues and further high-quality research would be of benefit. Similarly, findings from the empirical project partially support the hypothesis that ACEs predict increased violence and indicate a predictive relationship between empathy, positive symptoms of psychosis, insight and all types of violence. Consideration of these key variables in treatment is key in reducing the likelihood of violence perpetration within forensic inpatient services. Limitations of both papers are discussed and recommendations for future research provided.

References to particular historical moments can be a powerful tool of persuasion in political discourse. This project interrogates the uses of two historical moments in heritage sites and political discourse: the 1215 first writing of Magna Carta and the 1683 breaking of the Siege of Vienna. The thesis explores how Magna Carta is used as a means of asserting British (or, more precisely, English) national identity against a European other, particularly in the context of the Brexit referendum. The breaking of the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683, meanwhile, is used by right-wing populist and extremist European groups to assert a notional 'European' identity against a migrant and Muslim other. I follow the use of these moments across heritage sites, political discourse in legacy media, and through their use on Twitter. In doing so, I focus on constructions of British, Western and European shared identity and history in right-wing populist and extremist discourse. The thesis proposes the concept of the moving moment. This views historical moments as constantly in movement, temporally and spatially. In political discourse, particular actors 'pull' these moments into the present, giving them new relevance for their political purposes. These historical moments are also viewed as having the power to move us emotionally. This emotional movement is key to the successful use of these pasts by political groups. Through developing an understanding of how right-wing groups use historical moments to foster a politics of division, this thesis seeks to contribute to decision-making among other political activists and heritage organisations. It argues that heritage sites and museums need to acknowledge, if not interact with, the divisive uses of the pasts in question. In doing so, such sites can better engage actively in a politics of inclusion.

First established in Britain during the latter months of 1915, Military Service Tribunals worked diligently throughout the last three years of the Great War coexisting alongside conscription. For a generation unaccustomed to compulsion, the Government envisioned an egalitarian system of tribunals across the country, providing appeasement for any individual who opposed their conscription. Gaining legal status in March 1916, tribunals worked diligently to evaluate Britain's manpower needs; either allowing conscription to take its course, alternatively, permitting the possibility of a claimants' exemption. While the Government sought to protect the country's major industries and extensively exempting large groups of men based on their occupation, it became the responsibility of the tribunals to evaluate cases within their localities by considering the suitability of an individual for exemption. During the subsequent decades following the war, historical research into the work of the tribunals was thought to be seriously hindered. Ostensibly, a notion resulting from an edict issued from the Ministry of Health in early 1922, announcing to all local councils the opportunity for them to dispose of the accumulated and vast amount of tribunal paperwork. However, some fifty years after the war and following the discovery of a small number of surviving tribunal documents, scholars began to question their original assumption. Today, aware of the potential for more surviving tribunal documents, surveys have been conducted around the country discovering an abundance of paperwork scattered in local archives. Protected from destruction by prudent individuals, it is these tribunal documents which are currently being studied for the first time, papers which improve the academic understanding of conscription and the exemption process. Explored in this thesis are these tribunal documents, new discoveries which record the applications of claimants living in the Derbyshire and Staffordshire area. These case papers are used in conjunction with the officially saved directives contained in the MH47/MH10 files which allow for a unique and extensive understanding of the tribunals working in the north midlands region. Claimant case files have been compiled into a database, supplemented by information acquired from newspapers, directories and online repositories. Combining these sources has assisted in producing a detailed and focused analysis of statistics regarding the north midland tribunals, evidencing their competencies, highlighting their altruism and demonstrating their successes in accurately following their assigned responsibilities. Of particular focus are the constitution, function and procedures of the tribunals, considering both their directives and the measures taken to accurately and effectively follow closely their mutable instructions. Often disparaged for their war work, tribunal members are reconsidered and reassessed, creating a uniquely detailed analysis of their individuality, motivations and the nature of their professional working relationship with others. Furthermore, this work considers claimant statistics, utilising these figures to contemplate tribunal successes and impartiality of work. Lastly, a consideration is explored regarding the efforts of tribunals in sustaining enough workers for vital regional industries. This thesis is a distinctive inspection of the Local and Appeal Tribunals working in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, examining their accomplishments in pacifying the people and impeding what could have been the overwhelming loss of manpower through conscription upon industry in their locality.

This thesis studies a potential method for constructing the Rozansky--Witten TQFT as an extended (1+1+1)-TQFT. A monoidal 2-category consisting of schemes, complexes of sheaves and sheaf morphisms is constructed, and it is shown that there are (1+1)-TQFTs valued in the truncation of this category, whose state spaces agree with the Rozansky--Witten TQFT. However, it is also shown that if such a TQFT is based on a reduced Noetherian scheme, it cannot be extended upwards to a (1+1+1)-TQFT.

Post-emergence selective herbicides are an important part of the management of competitive weed species within crops, with delivery through the use of formulation being a key factor in their effective use. As a result of increasing environmental concern and stricter regulation on herbicide usage, there is a progressive move away from solvent based herbicide formulations to more environmentally friendly water-based systems, such as suspension concentrates (SC). Effective delivery of the active ingredient is often a major limitation to SC formulations, being highly dependent on chemical additives known as adjuvants. In this project we have examined the effect of varying the adjuvant chemistry on the delivery of SC formulated herbicides using wheat (Triticum aestivum) as the crop and blackgrass (Alopecurus myosuroides) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) as the weeds targeted for control. The herbicides selected for the study were cyhalofop-butyl, diuron, metolachlor, flufenacet and propyzamide. Several biomarkers of primary herbicide delivery were assessed, including stress-inducible genes as determined using qPCR, and absorbed active ingredient and immediate detoxification products, monitored by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectroscopy (LCMS). Changes in the expression of the stress-responsive genes catalase, GST23, GSTF1, gstu2, HSP90, RGA4, and ATP synthase over the timescales of interest (0 - 16 hours post treatment) proved unreliable. Instead, emphasis was placed on identifying primary detoxification products of herbicides effectively formed spontaneously on uptake in planta. Of the five herbicides tested, metolachlor and flufenacet proved the most tractable, as both undergo spontaneous conjugation with glutathione when taken up into plant cells, with the conjugates being readily detectable by LCMS. With further refinement of the analytical technology, this approach focussed on flufenacet, a herbicide of increasing importance in grass weed control, which following its glutathionylation is then processed into a sequential series of catabolites of the conjugate notably glutamyl-cysteine, cysteinyl-glycine and cysteine flufenacet conjugates. By monitoring the levels of these flufenacet metabolites over time, it proved possible to measure the uptake, bioavailability, and metabolism of the herbicide as a dynamic process. Wheat, blackgrass, and ryegrass were treated with flufenacet formulations containing 10% (w/w) of a "Tween" and "Tween L" series of adjuvants. Herbicide uptake and metabolism were greater in both blackgrass and ryegrass than in wheat with all adjuvants tested. Whereas varying adjuvant type had little effect on flufenacet uptake in wheat, with the weeds, the Tween series showed a step-wise change in uptake rate correlating with the level of ethoxylation, with Tween 22 (8 repeat units of polyethylene glycol) resulting in the greatest uptake and Tween 20 (20 repeat units of polyethylene glycol) resulting in the least. To explain these results, the droplet properties of the applied formulations were observed by looking at contact angle, surface tension, dry down distribution, and drying time, to determine influence on uptake. Additionally, the surface characteristics of leaves of each plant were explored looking at the composition of the waxy cuticle by gas chromatography coupled mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and gas chromatography couple flame ionisation (GCFID). Wheat tended to have higher chain length compounds composing the waxy cuticle, giving rise to a more hydrophobic surface and a reduced contact angle of applied herbicides. Both blackgrass and ryegrass shared several similarities in waxy chemical composition, such as 1-Hexacosanol being the predominant chemical within each, giving rise to similar levels of contact angle regression on herbicide application. Using metabolite formation as a highly sensitive marker of the initial stages of herbicide uptake our studies demonstrate that varying Tween adjuvant chemistry can enhance delivery in grass weeds, while having no significant effects on the crop. This differential uptake can be explained by differences in the formulated herbicide's behaviour on the surface of these grasses, which are in turn dependent on surface hydrophobicity. Further refinements in adjuvant chemistry show new potential in enhancing grass weed control in wheat using existing selective herbicides. With further study these results could be applied to additional actives and weed species to best optimise herbicide formulations for delivery and control.

This study examines how the aims and principles of psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy (PPIP) are translated into the words used by the therapist to address the infant in the specific modality of parent-infant psychotherapy treatment (PIP) developed at the Anna Freud Centre. Literature Review. The literature review appraises different modalities of PPIP. It looks at the similarities in their theoretical and treatment frameworks and shows how the way in which the infant is understood in these different frameworks produces a differences in theory and technique. Empirical Paper. The empirical study is a naturalistic observational study of the therapist’s talk when in direct communication with the infant. The aim is to deepen our understanding of the what the therapist actually says and does in a therapy session. The results show that the therapist talks for a significant amount of time directly to the baby, and on a specific number of themes. Even though this is small single case study the findings contribute to our understanding of what therapists do in therapy. Reflective Commentary. The reflective commentary considers the process of engaging with doctoral research around a pre-verbal infant in treatment. It reflects on the personal experience of doing the research and considers how this experience has contributed to my development as a researcher and a child and adolescent psychotherapist.

The Southern Ocean is widely thought to play an important role in atmospheric CO2 change over glacial-interglacial cycles. It has been suggested that as the region that ventilates the majority of the world's carbon-rich deep waters today, reduced exchange between deep waters and the atmosphere in the Southern Ocean acted to draw down CO2 over glacial timescales. However, direct evidence of the Southern Ocean's role in glacial CO2 drawdown has been lacking thus far. Here I apply the boron-isotope pH-proxy to foraminifera from the Antarctic Zone sediment core PS1506 over the last glacial cycle. The low boron concentrations in these polar foraminifera makes these samples particularly sensitive to boron blank and so a close examination of the sources of blank, and an assessment of the precision of blank measurements, has been made. The ratios of trace elements to calcium in foraminiferal shells are widely applied as proxies for palaeoenvironmental parameters such as temperature. As Southern Ocean carbonate sediments are particularly prone to dissolution, which can affect trace element concentrations, an assessment of dissolution has been made. Firstly, dissolution experiments were conducted to constrain the impact of dissolution in a controlled setting, and secondly, shell mass and trace elements were evaluated for the downcore record. Imaging reveals similar etching textures in both experimentally dissolved samples and deglacial intervals, when shell mass is also low and several trace elements exhibit an excursion to lower values. Boron isotope data for PS1506 show that during the penultimate interglacial, surface water pH was low. At the onset of atmospheric CO2 drawdown, pH increased, indicating low CO2 surface waters. This is consistent with the signature predicted for a more stratified Southern Ocean, and is evidence that stratification in the Antarctic Zone acted to contribute to CO2 drawdown early in the transition to a glacial state.

Physically based deformable models (PBDMs) in computer graphics (CG) simulate how virtual solid bodies respond under external loads in computer applications that must be computationally efficient enough so as to be user-interactive. Balance laws from the continuum mechanics theory govern the behaviour of solids. The modelling and simulation of this behaviour is traditionally performed using the finite element method (FEM), which solves to full accuracy and is therefore computationally expensive. This typically makes it unsuitable for IVEs and so different PBDMs are researched that are less expensive. These PBDMs make modelling assumptions that simplify the theory and their numerical results are less accurate than FEM. In this thesis we present a novel software framework that allows us to quantify the accuracy of any deformation history of any PBDM as a result of its modelling simplifications. In the majority of previous studies, validation is qualitative (through visual plausibility), which is necessarily user subjective. We develop a novel, objective, quantitative validation of deformation histories procedure (QVDH) to quantify the accuracy of any PBDM with an error between 0 and 1. We test QVDH in 3D cantilever and cloth scenarios, both of which are popular scenarios in the CG literature. The framework is shown to yield a high accuracy score for a simplified model that can be analytically derived from the reference model, indicating that the framework is reliable. We then extend the framework to optimise the model properties of PBDMs (that determine the material response) by minimising the error measured by QVDH. Results are in good agreement with analytically derived results, showing the effectiveness of the procedure. Finally, we use the framework to explore adaptive PBDMs - in particular PBDMs that switch to other PBDMs at runtime - and demonstrate how switching can successfully be implemented to increase the accuracy of a deformation according to QVDH. The software framework is sufficiently general to be applicable to a wide variety of deformation scenarios. It has replaceable components that can help to improve the quality of the QVDH procedure. We believe that QVDH has many uses beyond those explored in this thesis.

In this thesis, we investigate the formation of atomic and molecular states with mul- tiple core electrons missing. These multiple-core-hole (MCH) states are of interest due to their sensitivity to their chemical environment. These MCH states are formed by successive single-photon ionisations of core electrons. This can be achieved by x-ray photons and a sufficiently large intensity such that the photo-ionisation rate competes with the Auger decay rate of core-hole states. To understand the pathways that lead to the formation of MCH states, we study the interaction of free-electron laser (FEL) pulses with atoms and molecules. These lasers are capable of producing short, high-intensity pulses with high photon en- ergy, which make them ideal for forming MCH states. In order to understand the interaction of an FEL with an atom or molecule, we model these interactions com- putationally. We construct rate equations and track how the population of an atom or molecule transitions between different states. These rate equations involve single- photon ionization processes and Auger transitions. To account for these processes, we compute photo-ionisation cross-sections and Auger decay rates. We develop a computational model that allows us to calculate the ion yields produced when an atom or molecule interacts with an FEL pulse. Further, by calcu- lating how the population transitions via different pathways of intermediate atomic and molecular states, we determine the proportion of the population which accesses MCH states. We also compute electron spectra, which provide measurable observ- ables indicating the formation of MCH states.

According to climatic models, future drought conditions are expected to increase in severity and frequency. Drought is often cited as the most severe stressor of urban trees. It decreases planting survival rates and increases tree stress, resulting in increased susceptibility to biotic pathogens and reduced lifespan. Selecting trees for increased drought tolerance is thus critical for improving their performance within the urban environment. Drought tolerance is a highly desirable trait, particularly in urban areas where limited rooting space, interception of precipitation and urban heat islands accentuate drought stress. Current information on drought tolerance is imprecise, highly variable and, in some cases conflicting, with some studies reporting a tree species to be drought tolerant whilst other studies contradict this. In addition, cultivar-level tolerance is frequently not reported. The purpose of this thesis is to assess the current state of amenity tree selection and suggest how the process could be improved by utilising quantitative in vitro and in vivo trials to evaluate genotypic drought tolerance. The drought tolerance of species and cultivars within the same genus is frequently inferred to be very similar, however, this is known to be untrue. Detailed evaluations of drought tolerance are therefore required in order to cover a wide range of species and cultivars. Eight cultivars from Acer platanoides, A. campestre and A. pseudoplatanus were used in this study. The photosynthetic response to drought and desiccation was evaluated using chlorophyll fluorescence. Continuous excitation chlorophyll fluorescence parameters F0, PIABS and FV/FM, together with additional less often measured parameters, 1-Vi, Vj, T fm, Sm, V0(Bo) and M0, were used to compare whole-tree response to drought, with foliar dehydration. Double-normalised differential kinetics (Vt, ΔVt, ΔWOJ and ΔWOK) were also utilised to evaluate the underlying reasons for parameter response. Whole-tree chlorophyll fluorescence response to drought was found to be similar to the response to foliage desiccation; however, some differences were observed in differential induction kinetics which require further study to elucidate. The parameters PIABS, Fo/Fm and V0(Bo) are recommended for identifying and monitoring drought stress. In vitro methods (with potential to rapidly evaluate drought tolerance) were compared to whole tree methods. The methods tested include measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence during foliar dehydration and measurements of water potential at turgor loss point. The latter were undertaken using the classical, but time-consuming, pressure-volume curve method as well as more rapid, direct methods, calculating the turgor loss point from measurements of the water potential at full turgor via a previously devised regression equation. All methods were able to identify drought tolerance differences, with the exception of the pressure-volume curve method which was unable to identify significant differences within species. Another advantage of rapid in vitro methods is that they facilitated the evaluation of drought tolerance variation by season. Relative tolerance ranking was shown to be consistent between summer and autumn but not spring. This research demonstrates screening methods for tree drought tolerance which are especially relevant to tree selection in urban environments, where droughts occur during both spring and summer. There is considerable potential for tree selectors to save time and money if they have an increased ability to select trees that are fit for purpose. This research demonstrates that the estimation of water potential at turgor loss point, measured by consistent use of an osmometer or psychrometer, is sufficiently sensitive to correspond with findings from a controlled drought trial. Furthermore, this research also defines and identifies a number of reliable chlorophyll fluorescence parameters suitable for monitoring drought stress in vitro and in vivo.

Background: Social protection is increasingly used by governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as a strategy for alleviating poverty "in all its forms". People with disabilities are frequently targeted as key beneficiaries due to high levels of poverty and marginalisation. Little is known, however, on whether people with disabilities are accessing existing programmes, and whether these programmes adequately meet their needs. Aim: To explore the need for, access to and adequacy of social protection amongst people with disabilities in LMICs. Methods: Systematic reviews were used to compile and evaluate evidence from across LMICs on 1) the link between monetary poverty and disability, and 2) access to and impact of social protection amongst people with disabilities. Case studies were then undertaken in the districts of Cam Le, Vietnam and Tanahun, Nepal in 2016 to explore in-depth the need for, access to and adequacy of social protection amongst people with disabilities in these areas. Data was collected through population-based surveys (n=12,397, across both settings), with nested case-control studies of people with and without disabilities (n=359, each) matched by age, sex and location. Further, qualitative research was conducted with people with disabilities recruited from the surveys and key informants involved in the design or implementation of social protection. Need for social protection was assessed using monetary and multidimensional indicators of poverty amongst people with disabilities ages 15+. Access to social protection was measured through participation in disability-targeted and non-targeted programmes. Adequacy of social assistance was then evaluated by measuring levels of monetary and multidimensional poverty amongst social assistance recipients. All analyses compared indicators between people with and without disabilities, and amongst people without disabilities (e.g. recipients versus non-recipients). Key findings: Evidence from the systematic review and research in Nepal and Vietnam indicate a high need for social protection among people with disabilities. In the systematic review, 80% of the 150 included studies found a link between disability and economic poverty. In both Vietnam and Nepal, people with disabilities were more likely to be living in both monetary and multidimensional poverty compared to people without disabilities, and faced high disability-related extra costs. People with disabilities in Vietnam and Nepal were more likely to access social assistance compared to people without disabilities (Vietnam: aOR 9.6, 5.6-16.5; Nepal: aOR 3.0, 1.6-5.3). However, evidence from the case studies and from the systematic review indicate that many people with disabilities are not accessing social protection benefits for which they are eligible. Factors affecting access included the accessibility of the application process, complexity of disability assessment procedures, awareness of programmes and their eligibility requirements and the perceived utility of benefits. Further, the systematic review and research in Vietnam and Nepal indicated that social protection is often inadequate to protect many recipients with disabilities from poverty. For example, a quarter to a third of social assistance recipients with disabilities were living in monetary poverty and half were multidimensionally poor in Vietnam and Nepal. Social protection was particularly insufficient at promoting social inclusion amongst people with disabilities, as well as ensuring sustainable livelihoods. Conclusion: People with disabilities face a substantial need for social protection, given high levels of monetary and multidimensional poverty, in both absolute terms and relative to people without disabilities. However, many people with disabilities were not accessing programmes for which they were eligible, indicating a need to increase awareness of programmes and address barriers encountered during the application process. Further, evidence from this research indicates that more transformational approaches to social protection design and delivery are necessary, such as providing meaningful coverage for disability-related extra costs and addressing drivers of social exclusion.

The connection between Sigmund Freud and modernism is firmly established and there is an increasing (though still limited) body of scholarship that adopts methods of literary analysis in approaching Freud's texts. This thesis adds depth and specificity to a broad claim to literariness by arguing that Freud can be considered a practitioner of modern literary impressionism. The claim is substantiated through close textual analysis of key texts from James Strachey' s Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, alongside theory and fiction by significant impressionist authors Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Richardson. The authors' respective approaches to various aspects of literary impressionism are considered, such as the methods of textual development, the instability of genre, and the stylised techniques utilised to convey the impression. This research illustrates that whilst each of the chosen novelists engages with literary impressionism differently, Freud's texts share common practice with each, facilitating the reassessment of the analyst as a specifically 'impressionist' author.

Volume I thesis consists of a systematic literature review, empirical research paper, and public dissemination document. The main finding of the systematic review was that sensation seeking is a significant predictor of alcohol use in adolescence, but does not always directly predict problem drinking and related problems. The empirical showed, among a sample of young males who have not attended university, impulsivity and negative consequences are directly related to alcohol use, but that it important to consider mediating and moderating variables that may impact the nature and direction of these relationships. The public dissemination document provides succinct and accessible summaries of both the systematic review and the empirical research paper. Volume II serves as a compilation of five Clinical Practice Reports (CPRs) conducted throughout the course of the Doctorate programme. This includes case studies, a single case evaluation design, a service evaluation and formulation of one case from two different models.

This thesis explores how government policy impacts everyday support settings in UK-based learning disability social care. The empirical research took the form of an ethnography conducted within two learning disability social care provider organisations based in the South West of England. I spent time with people with learning disabilities and staff members in a range of settings, including home and day services. I also spent time with independent community organisations, including an advocacy service and a café supporting people with volunteering opportunities. Contemporary social care policy aims to reduce the exclusion and inequalities that people with learning disabilities experience by empowering them, as much as possible, with independence and equal access to community life. Within this, a range of social, political and economic philosophies have come to shape policy objectives, constructing different identities for people with learning disabilities. Yet, despite this, across the decades, services have continued to be plagued by cases uncovering fundamental failings, which at worse, have led to terrible abuses of people with learning disabilities. To unpick further the complexities of empowering people with learning disabilities, I used ethnography to understand the ways that policy objectives were experienced in everyday practice. The key findings from my research challenge current empowerment approaches which aim to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities. The expectation is that aspirations of independence and community living are possible to achieve if the necessary resources are made available. However, for people with learning disabilities, their intellectual – and for some physical – impairments meant that they tended to experience difficulty in meaningfully assuming the rights and responsibilities that accompany these aspirations. Yet, the focus within policy that these are aspects of a ‘normal’ life is such that, in everyday settings, people were compelled to partake in a performance, which sustained the notion that these are realistic expectations. Ultimately, these factors undermined relationships between people with learning disabilities and the people supporting them, alienating them from each other.

The curriculum for ICT in UK schools was discontinued in September 2012 and replaced by a 'rebranded' subject of Computing, divided into three sub domains: Computer Science; Information Technology; and digital literacy. The latter was positioned as basic technical skills. There were concerns in the education community that the new curriculum promoted programming and computer science topics to the detriment of digital literacy and applied uses of technology. Much of the Computing education literature perpetuates the hegemony of the logical and abstract, and implies computational thinking and rationality are synonymous with criticality. During the same period, a maker culture was growing rapidly in the UK, and discourses around these activities promoted an entirely different notion of digital literacy, aligned with the wide body of literacy literature that focuses on notions of empowerment and criticality rather than basic functional skills. A digital maker tool called the Raspberry Pi was released with the intention of supporting the development of computer science and digital making competence, and thus sat at the boundary of the academic and maker communities. This thesis argues that developing 'criticality' is a vital component of Computing education and explores how learning activities with the Raspberry Pi might support development of 'criticality'. In setting the scene for the investigation, I will first explore the notions underpinning discourse around both computational and critical thinking and digital literacy, suggesting that the frictions would be best overcome by abandoning abstract constructs of knowledge and assumptions that it is possible to separate theory and practice. I show how the term 'critical' is itself problematic in the literature and I look to Wenger's social theory of learning to avoid the individualistic limits of Papert's constructionism, a popular learning theory in Computing education. Wenger's constructs of knowledgeability and competence help tell a different story of what it means to be a learner of the practice of Computing, both in learning for academic purposes and with intentions towards becoming a practitioner. In concert with learning citizenship, these constructs offer a more ethical framing of 'criticality'. Informed by this theoretical position, I suggest an original, exploratory implementation of Q methodology to explore learning with technology in school settings. I qualitatively compare 'before' and 'after' Q studies that represent perspectives at the individual and collective level, with reference to observations of classroom learning. The methodology facilitates a nuanced and complex investigation and the findings of the project suggest that where pupils are already predisposed to the subject, working with the Raspberry Pi develops a broader knowledgeability, but where there is no such predisposition, a pedagogy of expressibility influences how participation in Raspberry Pi learning activities may impact knowledgeability.

Cancer therapeutics are limited in efficacy by poor penetration into tumour tissue. This doctoral thesis aims to explore how changing the density of a therapeutic could influence its ultrasound-mediated delivery and penetration depth, thereby testing the hypothesis that increasing particle density increases penetration depth of nanoparticles under ultrasound exposure. Density-enhanced transport in the presence of ultrasound-induced cavitation is studied utilising a combination of numerical simulations, in vitro and in vivo experimental models. The penetration depth of nanoparticles of different densities was first predicted using a computational model to assess the magnitude of acoustic and fluid dynamic forces on a spherical nanoparticle in the presence or absence of a cavitating microbubble. This simulation showed that a denser particle will be transported further when exposed to ultrasound. Furthermore, cavitation was identified as fundamental for enhanced transport, with forcing due to microstreaming dominating the transport behaviour. These predictions were validated and supported experimentally using an in vitro model, where a fivefold increase in particle density resulted in a 43 % increase in peak particle penetration depth. To form a closer analogue to the tumour environment, a three-dimensional flow-vessel phantom was then implemented, where the penetration depths of three density-contrasting nanoparticles with unique fluorescent tags - co-delivered with either a micro- or a nano-scale cavitation agent - were studied. A trend between nanoparticle density and extravasation depth was again discernible, with the densest particles penetrating the furthest. However, the choice of cavitation agent often had a greater influence on particle transport. Finally, experiments were performed in a tumour-bearing mouse model, where the bio-distribution of fluorescent nanoparticles was assessed after ultrasound exposure. A bistatic HIFU setup was used to activate cavitation agents, and passive acoustic mapping was implemented to detect cavitation activity within the tumour site. Density-contrasting fluorescent nanoparticles were used as mock therapeutics, and were successfully detected in ex vivo tumours through IVIS imaging. However, due to experimental limitations, the influence of nanoparticle density on ultrasound-mediated drug delivery in vivo could not be determined, and so recommendations are made for how the hypothesis can be further validated.

Understanding strongly coupled systems is an important area of theoretical physics, and has wide ranging applications from quantum chromodynamics to condensed matter physics. This thesis uses holographic methods to understand two particular aspects of strongly coupled systems - linear response and phase transitions. Firstly, we consider a general class of electrical black holes in Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theory, that are holographically dual to conformal eld theories at nite charge density and explicitly break translational invariance. By considering the linearised perturbations of these background black holes, we show that the DC thermoelectric conductivity of these systems can be determined by solving a set of linearised Navier-Stokes equations on the event horizon of the dual black hole. We demonstrate how to apply this framework in practice with several examples. Next, we consider this framework in the hydrodynamic limit, for the simpler case of Einstein gravity. We show that the full stress-energy response, rather than just the thermal conductivity, can be determined in this limit, and compare the results with the uid/gravity correspondence. We then consider more general hydrodynamics, and demonstrate that periodically deformed eld theories exhibit thermal back ow when a DC thermal source is applied Finally, we study black hole solutions of type IIB supergravity that describe N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma with an anisotropic spatial deformation. We show that, by preserving additional scalar modes from the consistent truncation of IIB supergravity on the ve-sphere, these black holes have low temperature instabilities. We construct new thermodynamically preferred black hole solutions, and show that the phase transition between these black hole solution has unusual critical exponents that is not captured by the normal Landau-Ginzburg exponents. We consider various extensions to this, such as introducing a chemical potential, and construct a more complete phase diagram for the theory.