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Until recently monitoring of the marine environment and its megafauna population relied on field observations and catch or strandings information. However, new approaches are being developed which take into consideration the need for information over whole sea areas over wide spatial and temporal scales for the purposes of marine spatial planning and ecological research. This thesis investigates the use of wide scale predictive species distribution modelling using multiple source sightings information combined with environmental variable data for monitoring marine megafauna. The development of new techniques for marine ecological studies is fundamental to the future of successful marine management and the development of remote sensing techniques and the availability of remotely sensed data has opened up the opportunity to investigate the marine environment on a much wider scale. Remotely sensed data derived from satellites is now widely accessible and available, including sensors for measuring sea surface temperature and productivity within our oceans. Presence-only species distribution modelling approaches were combined with historical species occurrence data alongside environmental predictor variables, including remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a concentration, to explore the importance of predictor variables and to produce predictive maps of marine megafauna occurrence in the Irish Sea. This study found that multiple source presence-only data for marine megafauna commonly found in the wider Irish Sea can be a valuable resource for use in species distribution models to produce ecologically meaningful results.

This thesis comprises my novel Confusion together with a critical piece exploring depictions and uses of the sense of place - in particular architecture and the built environment - in the Gothic, and in the Gothic legacy in contemporary fiction. I have chosen to focus on two key Gothic texts and two novels by Iris Murdoch. My novel Confusion depicts a man's entry into a house in which the inhabitants are each struggling with distinct and 'confusing' moral, sexual, spiritual and emotional problems. John Co le is at first only able to understand the situation in which he finds himself by 'reading' his life - and that of others - as a kind of fiction. The novel's use of third person narration interspersed with diary entries permits an exploration of the distance between John's perception of events (in his role as 'reader') and the events themselves, and the inevitable narrowing of that distance as he enters the 'text' he is at first content merely to 'read'. The novel places particular emphasis on the sense of place evoked through John's perception of what he sees, and, though intended as realist fiction, draws on Gothic motifs of ruin, madness and transgression. The critical component of the thesis sets Confusion within the context of essentially realist contemporary novels which nonetheless appear to exploit Gothic narrative protocols, focusing particularly on the treatment of place in the novels of Iris Murdoch. The Introduction explores the origins of the Gothic, the crucial importance of the sense of place as a Gothic device, and the extent to which realist fiction may make use of Gothic protocols. It emphasises the importance of consciousness - both of character and reader - to the construction and perception of the sense of place.

Aims: The study investigated the association between anxiety and depression and urge incontinence and the direction of causal pathways between these variables. The objective was to produce a psychological model that described the contribution of emotional factors in the development and maintenance of urge incontinence. Methods: In this prospective longitudinal study, a random sample of women aged 40 years or more, registered with a general practitioner in Leicestershire or Rutland, was mailed a postal questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions on general health, urinary symptoms and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). In total, 12, 568 women responded to the baseline postal survey (65.3% response rate) and 9,596 to the first annual follow-up (79.8% response rate). The prevalence and one-year incident rates of these symptoms were compared and contrasted, whilst controlling for confounding variables (e.g. long-term illness, age and other urinary symptoms). Results: A significant proportion of women with urge incontinence reported symptoms of anxiety (56.6%) and depression (37.6%). These symptoms were positively associated with the severity of incontinence and the presence of other urinary symptoms. Anxiety and depression were associated with a number of urinary symptoms and were not exclusive to urge incontinence. Incident cases of anxiety and depression were predicted by the presence of urge incontinence at baseline. Incident cases of urge incontinence were predicted by anxiety at baseline, but not depression. Anxiety, urge incontinence and frequency appeared to interact and exacerbate each other. Conclusion: The findings demonstrated the relevance of emotional factors in the development and maintenance of urge incontinence. Currently, assessment and treatment protocols for urge incontinence concentrate on physical symptoms and toilet behaviours. A more integrated psychological model of urge incontinence is proposed along with how this might be implemented and evaluated in clinical practice.