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This thesis examines the practice of live action roleplay (larp) in terms of the distributions of power, agency and authority that inhere to it. It asks how experiences and stories are constituted in larping through collaborative participation, and what representations of Others' experiences have to do with their grounds. It addresses these concerns by developing an autoethnographic methodology that utilises practical experiences of larping in analysing the political relationships that become between the player and both their co-players and those whose experiences they represent through their play. This analysis uses aspects of Whitehead's philosophy of organism as a theoretical framework. The research therefore constitutes a practice-led theoretical study into the politics of playing together and of playing the lives of Others. The thesis argues for an interpretation of larping as a 'methektic' performance paradigm as well as a practice of 'listening' to the experiences of Others. Practically, the thesis investigates my experiences of playing in four international larps: La Sirena Varada, College of Wizardry, Inside Hamlet and Legion: Siberian Story. In each case study I look at a different aspect of participation and representation. Firstly, I look at how my experiences are constituted through my togetherness with other players; secondly, how dramaturgy and its playful counterpart, ludaturgy, affect experiences of roleplaying and story-making; thirdly, whether the representation of extreme experience as experience is possible; and finally, whether larped experience can foster empathy with historical others. Through these analyses, the thesis suggests that the most valuable insights larping offers come from participation in the practice rather than the representation of characters and actions, and that participation supersedes representation as a mode of engagement in this practice.

Overdeepenings in the bedrock topography beneath glaciers are commonplace. Despite this, the subglacial processes associated with them remain poorly understood. It has been hypothesized that adverse bed gradients can reduce the efficiency of the drainage system and therefore encourage basal sediment to accumulate. To determine to what extent an overdeepening might influence ice flow and the drainage system, a terminal overdeepening at Findelengletscher, Switzerland was targeted. 9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) surveys were carried out, spread across late August and early September 2016, early July 2017 and early September 2017 along with two Ground Penetrating Surveys (GPR) in February and July 2017. An overdeepening with a bed to surface slope ratio above the threshold for glaciohydraulic supercooling with basal sediment layers on its adverse slope was present. Up-glacier Ice flow velocities and spatial ice loss patterns across the meltseason were consistent with drainage system evolution, whilst a less efficient system was present longer at the overdeepening. Findings indicate that drainage, and thus ice flow, at the terminus of Findelengletscher are strongly influenced by the adverse slope. The presence of a more inefficient distributed system at the terminus leads to a reduction in energy also decreases water velocity and, with it, sedimental transport in this location leading to evidence of englacial thrusting at the terminus. It is recommended that bed topography be given consideration when considering rates of sediment erosion and transportation.

The characterisation of the contemporary creative and cultural industries (CCIs) as ‘cool, creative and egalitarian’ (Gill, 2002) has been unpicked in recent literature (Grugulis and Stoyanova, 2012; Eikhof and Warhurst, 2013, Randle et al, 2015). A growing consensus suggests this is a meritocratic ideal rather than a reality, indicating CCIs are the domain of the white, male and middle-class (Randle, et al, 2015; O’Brien et al, 2016). The thesis is intended to inform a deeper historical understanding of some of the inequalities that persist in the contemporary CCIs. While some CCIs (radio, film and television) originated at the end of the 19th or the beginning of the 20th century, there is very little academic work which investigates the extent of egalitarianism or meritocracy in the film industry during much of the 20th century. The most robust historical study of class and employment in CCIs suggests that is likely that they have always been unequal, but points to a lack of historical data from which to evaluate the past (Banks, 2017). In order to contribute greater historical background to the sociological issue, this thesis therefore draws on an historical qualitative analysis of the film production careers of 37 men, from a mixture of working class origins (WCOs) and middle-class origins (MCOs) most of whose work began in the 1930s and ended in the 1970s. The primary source of data comprises oral history interviews from the British Entertainment History Project (BEHP) archive housed at the BFI Library. The research explores, specifically, work between 1927 and 1947 as the British Studio System emerged and many film occupations developed around the introduction of sound technology. The evidence suggests that certain structural arrangements, unique to the vertically integrated studios, provided some opportunities for working-class men in the past. However, these are shown to be exceptions that need to be qualified by a deeper understanding of the ‘fields’ (Bourdieu, 1984) that emerged around different film occupations within the studio system. To provide a deeper understanding of the ways in which career trajectories were mediated in different occupational settings, a Bourdieusian inspired, historical model of the association between class origins and male career destinations has been designed. Analysis of these careers highlights a long history of class-based inequalities that subsequently became embedded in employment practices and within many film production occupations and departments. Although careers during this period were enacted around different structural arrangements to those today, certain trends and associations between class background and opportunities were being shaped during the 1930s.

This thesis investigates the optimisation of the structural design and manufacture of the fibre-reinforced composite components of the CCell wave energy converter. An innovative solution was required to maximise the power output and strength of the composite paddle (the CCell prime mover), whilst also minimising the mass and cost. The main outputs of this thesis have been the development of bespoke procedures for the design and manufacture of the composite components of the CCell device. These include structural numerical modelling of the paddle laminate and joints; development and optimisation of the resin infusion process for the paddle manufacture; development of fatigue and LCOE models to inform through-life behaviour and minimise lifetime costs. Furthermore, work has been carried out to develop electronic systems to assist the control and monitoring of the system in operation. These systems reduce the loading and therefore allow further optimisation of material usage. These procedures have led to the production of a full-scale prototype device which was deployed in Mexico and seven small-scale devices for laboratory testing. The procedures developed will be used to develop and deploy further iterations of the composite components of the CCell device.

An ever-increasing demand for agriculture while conserving biodiversity, maintaining livelihoods, and providing critical ecosystem services is one of the largest challenges for tropical land management across the Central American Isthmus today. Climatic and anthropogenic drivers currently provide the largest threats to changes in the vegetation cover and composition for this region therefore understanding the dynamics of these systems, their variability across space and through time is important for discerning current and future responses. I utilised a number of palaeoecological proxies (fossil pollen, macroscopic charcoal, microscopic charcoal, Sporormiella, and diatoms) extracted from lake sediment cores, to explore the past drivers of vegetation dynamics across the Central American Isthmus with a focus on two of the most threatened forest biomes: (i) the mixed coniferous forests of upland Guatemala; and (ii) the dry broadleaf forests of lowland Nicaragua. I explored the role of fire and Pre-Columbian civilization in the mixed coniferous forests of upland Guatemala spanning the last 6000 years., followed by the impact of European contact from c.1500C.E. through to 2015C.E.; and in lowland Nicaragua I investigated the vulnerability and resilience of the dry tropical forests to known climatic and anthropogenic perturbations over the past c.1200-years. My results demonstrate the state of knowledge for climate, burning, the spread of agrarian practices and the impacts these drivers have had upon the structure, composition and resilience of vegetation across space and through time. I found that while there were several homogenous climatic shifts most changes in precipitation were spatially and temporally heterogeneous. Increases in burning from 10000 - 2000B.C.E. are largely associated with climate, particularly between 7000-4000B.C.E. The relationship between climate and fire decoupled between 3000 - 2500B.C.E. as humans increasingly impacted land use through agrarian practices and lime production. I present evidence for the anthropogenic use of fire as the dominant driver of structure and compositional change in the mixed pine-oak forests of Guatemala during the Pre-Columbian Era, while domestic bovid grazing and logging was found to have suppressed hard-wood forest taxa recovery and regeneration since European contact. In the dry tropical forests of Nicaragua climate appears to have driven local fire; however, regular disturbance to this vegetation type appears to have made it very resilient against both climatic and anthropogenic disturbance through time, both pre and post European contact. This thesis provides new information on the past ecological responses of two Central American forest types to climatic and anthropogenic disturbances spanning the Middle to Late and Late Holocene 4000B.C.E. - 2015C.E. Changes to the structure and composition of these forests in the past represent a globally important and largely understudied region, for which my thesis offers fundamental insights into its ecology and history.

Superconductivity in high temperature superconducting materials arises due to the constituent electrons becoming strongly correlated. In particular, in the Iron based family of superconductors, antiferromagnetic fluctuations of the electron spins and charge fluctuations of the Iron d-orbitals are thought to be important. The strong correlations of the electrons in an Iron based superconductor lead to the electronic ground state adopting a lower symmetry than the crystal lattice. Transport studies of these systems under the application of uniaxial strain show a strongly anisotropic response of the materials to straining along different lattice directions, suggesting that the electronic correlations are in fact coupled to the lattice. In this thesis I present a study of the response of the magnetic and superconducting states of these Iron based materials to changes of their crystal structure induced by applying uniaxial strain or through doping. I first examine the response of the magnetism in Fe1+xTe, the parent compound of the Iron chalcogenides, to the change that occurs in the crystal structure as the system is doped with Iron. I present a spin polarized STM study of the magnetism throughout the phase diagram of Fe1+xTe using in-situ prepared magnetic tips to measure the spin structure. By using the STM tip to remove excess Iron atoms from the surface I show that it is possible to decouple the effects of the excess Iron atoms from the change of crystal structure. Therefore showing the effect of the structural change on the magnetism. Next I present an STM study of how the superconductivity in the tetragonal LiFeAs system responds to the application of uniaxial strain deforming the crystal structure. I describe the construction of a modifed STM sample holder that allows for the in-situ application of a variable Strain to the LiFeAs sample. I present the resulting impact of this straining process to the superconductivity of LiFeAs on an atomic scale and report the formation of a strain induced charge density wave state that coexists with the superconductivity. In the final chapter I report a quasiparticle interference study of the superconducting state of Sulphur doped FeSe and discuss the results in comparison of those from the literature for the undoped FeSe system.

Sensitive and specific visualisation of biomolecules in living models is highly challenging because of the complexity of cellular systems. Raman spectroscopy provides chemical contrast based upon molecular vibrations within a sample. It is therefore a powerful approach in biomedicine for disease diagnosis, owing to its potential to provide a spectroscopic fingerprint of biological species. However, Raman scattering is a weak process, and therefore novel approaches are required in order to improve the detection sensitivity for biomolecular imaging in living systems. Here, novel approaches for biomolecular visualisation based upon stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy are reported. Spectroscopically bioorthogonal functional groups, those which produce spectrally isolated Raman peaks distinct from endogenous cellular Raman peaks, are utilised as a general strategy for small-molecule visualisation. A key issue in the pharmaceutical industry is the lack of available techniques which can probe drug uptake and retention in living cells. Spontaneous Raman spectroscopy and SRS imaging are used for the selective intracellular visualisation of small-molecule inhibitors using a spectroscopically bioorthogonal approach in Chapter 2. Ponatinib and erlotinib are tyrosine kinase inhibitors used in clinical cancer treatment. The spectroscopically bioorthogonal alkyne group present within each drug is used as a specific marker to visualise the uptake and distribution of these two compounds in relevant cellular models. However, only a limited number (~2%) of regulatory approved drugs contain spectroscopically bioorthogonal Raman functional groups. Hence, a general strategy for the design of novel bioorthogonal Raman labels would allow SRS microscopy to be fully exploited in the drug discovery process. Therefore, density functional theory (DFT) is utilised as an in silico screening technique for the design of novel Raman labels, which is presented in Chapter 3. A library of bioorthogonal Raman-labelled analogues of the natural product, anisomycin, have been synthesised in order to validate the DFT screening approach. The effects of labelling upon the biological activity of anisomycin is also assessed. Spectroscopically bioorthogonal Raman imaging of several biomolecules was performed using SRS imaging and the results of which are reported in Chapter 4. The intracellular detection of de novo DNA synthesis was investigated using SRS imaging through metabolic incorporation of alkyne-containing nucleosides. Secondly, the intracellular detection of the Raman-labelled anisomycin analogues is reported using both spontaneous Raman spectroscopy and SRS imaging. This approach has enabled the rate of drug uptake to be assessed in real-time. Furthermore, combining multi-colour SRS imaging and fluorescence imaging in a dual-modality approach, enabled the analysis of drug uptake to be visualised across intracellular structures, and to be correlated with markers of cell-cycle status. These studies represent novel approaches for the direct intracellular visualisation of the uptake and retention of small-molecule inhibitors in live cells.

One of the primary goals of the CERN Large Hadron Collider is to search for new physics. Many such searches have been carried out, in particular searches for supersymmetry, yet no new physics beyond the Standard Model has been found. With a large number of free parameters introduced by frameworks such as supersymmetry, it can be difficult to interpret the null results of searches. The first analysis presented in this thesis attempts to tackle this difficulty head-on, and gives a summary of the constraints from the Run-1 ATLAS searches. A combination of 22 searches were used, with integrated luminosities of up to 20.3 inverse femtobarns of 7 and 8 TeV data. The results are interpreted in the context of the 19-dimensional phenomenological MSSM, and are presented in terms of the masses of supersymmetric particles. Constraints from dark matter, heavy flavour and precision electroweak measurements were incorporated, and results are also interpreted in terms of these observables. Properties of models missed by the Run-1 searches are also shown. The second analysis presented in this thesis documents a direct search for new physics, using 18.2 inverse femtobarns of 13 TeV data collected during 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector. The search targets final states with large jet multiplicity (at least 7 to at least 10 jets), which can arise from the pair production of gluinos decaying via a cascade. Further requirements are imposed on the sum of masses of reclustered large-radius jets. No evidence for new physics is found, and the results are interpreted in both a model-independent way and in terms of two simplified supersymmetric models, one of which was inspired by the results of the first study. Limits on the gluino mass of up to 1600 GeV are set at the 95 % confidence level, extending previous limits.

Air pollution can lead to environmental impacts. Over the past decades there have been some success stories reducing pollutant emission, namely sulphur dioxide (SO2). However, impacts on ecosystems from atmospheric nitrogen (N) pollution are still seen as a major threat for European biodiversity. Across Europe over 70% of Natura 2000 sites are at risk for eutrophication with over 70% of the Natura 2000 area in Europe (EU28( exceeding critical loads for nutrient nitrogen deposition. Agricultural ammonia is a key contributor to the threat to these sites due to the close proximity of agricultural activities and protected sites. Source attribution modelling using an atmospheric transport model showed that agricultural livestock production in the UK is the dominant nitrogen source for N disposition across the UK Natura 2000 network. Nearly 90% of all sites had livestock as their dominant source, contributing 32% of the total nitrogen deposition across the whole network. 76% of all Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) sites exceeded their critical load for nutrient nitrogen, representing 74% of the entire SAC area. The extent of exceedance is also notable with many sites experiencing depositions of >50 kg N/ha/yr over the critical load. the situation for acidity critical load exceedance is less sever, by 51% of sites are still exeeded. Legislation to regulate pollutant emissions to air and protect biodiversity are often not integrated, and there has been no common European approach for determining the impacts of nitrogen deposition on individual Natura sites, or on conservation status. Off-site sources of air pollution present difficulties in assessing and attributing impacts, because deposition can result from local sources (1-2 km), or very far away sources (>1000 kms). Managing nitrogen losses on the farm and improving the efficient use of nitrogen are key components for overall reduction in NH3 emissions. Many nitrogen management options are available to abate ammonia from agricultural activities. On the one hand, technical and management measures include controlling emissions from manure storage and spreading, livestock feeding strategies, and improving housing systems. Trees, on the other hand, are effective scavengers of both gaseous and particulate pollutants from the atmosphere, making tree belts potentially effective landscape features to support ammonia abatement strategies. Using a coupled deposition and turbulence model the recapture efficiency of tree planting around ammonia sources was estimated. Using different canopy structure scenarios, tree depths and differing leaf area density (LAD) and leaf are index (LAI) were adjusted for a main canopy and a backstop canopy. Recapture efficiency for ammonia ranged from 27% (trees planted around housing systems), up to 60% (under-story livestock silvopastoral systems). Practical recapture potential was set at 20% and 40% for housing and silvopastoral systems respectively. Model results from scaling up to national level suggest that tree planting in hot spot areas of ammonia emissions would lead to reduced N deposition on nearby sensitive habitats. Scenarios for on-farm emission control through tree planting showed national reductions in nitrogen deposition to semi-natural areas of 0.14% (0.2 kt N-NHx) to 2.2% (3.15 kt N-NHx). Scenarios mitigating emissions from cattle and pig housing yielded the highest reductions. The afforestation strategy showed national-scale emission reductions of 6% (8.4 kt N-NHx) to 11% (15.7 kt N-NHx) for 25% and 50% afforestation scenarios respectively. Increased capture by the planted trees also generated an added benefit of reducing long-range transport effects, including a decrease in wet deposition of up to 3.7 kt N-NHx (4.6%) and a decrease in export from the UK of up to 8.3 kt N-NHx (6.8%). Agroforestry measures for ammonia abatement were shown to be cost-effective for both planting downwind of housing and in silvopastoral systems, when costs to society were taken into account. Planting trees was also cost-effective from a climate change perspective. Comparing the cost per kg of NH3 abated showed that planting trees is a method of ammonia emission mitigation comparable with other (technical) measures. The costs for planting trees downwind of housing were calculated at €2.6-7.3/kg NH3. Agroforestry for ammonia abatement offers multiple benefits for the farmer and synergistic effects for society as a whole including i) carbon sequestration. ii) visibility screening around housing units, iii) imporved animal welfare for silvopastoral systems, iv) reducing critical load exceedance on protected sites, v) price advantage of 'woodland chick' productions, vi) supporting the Industrial Emission Directive (IED) requirements for emission reduction, vii) supporting national afforestation policies. The results of this work support the notion that in the emerging discussion about the values of ecosystem services and the role of nature-based solution to tackle persistent environmental challenges, tree planting has a large potential in rural and urban environments.

This thesis examines the overarching theme of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) dose response effects on a variety of asthma outcome measures; with further importance placed on the application of these findings to personalising ICS dosing for the individual asthmatic. The introduction provides a detailed summary of the current recommendations for the treatment of adult asthma, with particular reference to the mechanism of action and clinical utility of ICS for the treatment of asthma. Current methods of assessing ICS dose response are presented, as well as the common influences that affect these responses. Novel therapeutic theories and the identification of specific asthmatic phenotypes are also introduced, in order to demonstrate the shift towards personalising treatment for asthma. The first two studies examine the dose response of ICS on two specific factors that influence asthma. The third study presents an examination of pharmacological manipulation of the ICS dose response using an additional agent. The following two studies address: how asthma outcomes relate to each other in patients receiving ICS; in addition to an overall assessment of the ICS dose response across a broad range of both ICS moieties and outcome measures. The final study examines for any detrimental effect of an ICS dose ramp on bone metabolism, an important potential long-term adverse effect of higher ICS dosing. The discussion draws together all the results obtained in relation to ICS dose response in asthma, and how these apply to current clinical practice for the individual patient. Furthermore, hypotheses are generated for areas of future study based on the findings from this work.

The work here presented is a reaction to a number of issues within contemporary turntablism. Firstly, the perceived disparity between the turntable traditions of hip-hop and the avant-garde has been analysed, and a number of new works created in order to explore the possibilities for greater hybridity between these two playing styles. Secondly, the rapidly changing landscape of turntable technology has been addressed, and conclusions drawn concerning both the new technical and sonic opportunities afforded by the new technology and the influence of these changes on existing playing styles and techniques. Finally, one of the defining characteristics of the instrument – the need to choose source material before playing – has been explored, in order to make judgements concerning the interplay between technique, style and the chosen sonic materials. These different strands of practice-led research all feed into an overarching discussion of idiomatic playing, and the findings of these projects help to define what that phrase might mean for contemporary turntablists.

The purpose of this work is to present a reframing and repositioning of films made by Derek Jarman via in-depth textual analysis (rarely seen previously) and attention to relevant theoretical connections (such as heritage, pastiche, camp, adaptation). These discussions are anchored to a consistent contextual grounding within the British film industry/culture, which includes consideration of the history and role/s of the BFI, dialogues with debates of national cinema and heritage, an assessment of Channel 4’s impact and influence, and an investigation into the function of British Film Year and its lists of acknowledged films. The first chapter addresses shortcomings and problems of previous framing, and gives an example of my textual analysis and methodology using previously ignored filmic texts Queen is Dead and Paninaro. With the stifling and dominant biographical/auteur approach removed from application (and the label Jarman accounted for as a categorising structure of the text rather than a reference to an external figure), the thesis considers the films as cultural texts which examine representation and heritage. The next three chapters explore Jubilee, The Tempest, and Caravaggio respectively, addressing the films’ uses of history, cultural heritage and style via facets such as temporal layering, punk and camp modalities, pastiche approaches, adaptation, appropriation, and allusion. The thesis opposes arguments that can be reductive, monolithic, and totalising (like auteur, biographical, and heritage frames of analysis), and instead makes central the operations of the specific filmic text. Rather than allowing texts (in terms of content and meaning) to be subsumed into an examination of the life and personality of the director (as has so often been the case with Jarman films), the filmic texts are observed, analysed and discussed via attentiveness to the particular properties of the text (style; representations; framing), and connected to the British cinema context of the period.

The limited research that has been undertaken into occupational fraud has focused on the offender and why he or she does it. This thesis focuses on the situation of the crime, the organisation. Some organisations acquiesce to internal fraud whilst others robustly confront it. The research employs a mixed-method strategy to explore the structures, social influences and cultural characteristics of organisations which lead either to active prevention or passive tolerance. The first stage of the research examines the nature of the occupational fraud threat. The prevalence of the crime indicates that low value, occasional offending has become normalised behaviour. However the greatest financial threat comes from a small number of habitual offenders dominated by high greed sociopaths. The difficulties in tackling fraud flow from the ambiguities in its definition, not least because it is contingent on circumstances, local rules, contractual terms and the role of the transgressor. Subjectively labelling observed behaviour as fraudulent is thus in itself a major challenge. The second stage of the research employs interview, case study, documentary data and ethnographic methods to explore how organisations respond to the challenges. An important focus of the research is the comparison of two large organisations, one with a very strong counter-fraud culture, the second seemingly indifferent to the threat. The thesis identifies ethical climate as a key variable. It proposes a five stage organisational ethical development model and identifies some of the characteristics associated with each stage, characteristics which suggest that situational crime prevention is an important component of a progressive ethical climate. A key emergent theme is the range of excuses and justifications that are deployed to avoid tackling occupational fraud. These rationalisations mirror the rationalisations constructed by offenders to justify their actions. The thesis posits differential rationalisation as a new criminological theory, an addendum to differential rationalisation.

Coevolutionary interactions change across landscapes, leading to the formation of geographic selection mosaics. Analyses of coevolutionary dynamics have so far focused on interactions between two trophic levels. The tritrophic interactions between the pierid butterfly Anthocharis cardamines (the orange-tip), its brassicaceous host-plants Cardamine pratensis (lady's smock) and Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard), and primary parasitoids Phryxe vulgaris (Tachinidae) and Cotesia saltator (Braconidae), are known to vary across mainland Britain and Continental Europe. In Britain, northern A. cardamines populations tend to utilize C. pratensis and southern ones A. petiolata; the primary parsitoid in this country is P. vulgaris. In Sweden, the butterfly does not show a strong preference for any brassicaceous hostplant, and the primary parasitoid is C. saltator. In this thesis, I investigate likely selection pressures operating on these interactions in a single study site on the Wirral peninsula in northern England. Host use affects the emergence timing and dispersal of A. cardamines males; specimens utilizing C. pratensis emerge earlier than those utilizing A. petiolata, and are also smaller. Since small size is linked with depressed dispersal, utilization of C. pratensis results in an "emerge early and wait" mate seeking strategy; conversely, utilization of A. petiolata is associated with an "emerge late and rove" strategy. These alternative strategies are likely adapted to the varying density of locally emerging females across the landscape, with high density populations tending to be associated with C. pratensis and low density ones with A. petiolata. In dense populations, late emerging males will be at a disadvantage since females mate only once; in the study population, their predicted fitness always declines to < 1 in late season. This is coupled with a 'stay-or-go' response, in which a proportion of late emerging males immediately emigrate to a low density continuum outside the study area, where early emergence is less critical for fitness. Such a response could help maintain sink populations by averting Allee effects (decreased population growth due to low mate encounter rates). Late instar A. cardamines larvae are heavily parasitized by P. vulgaris. This could select for early vacation of the host-plant at small larval size, whereas the size-fecundity relationship in females should select for prolonged growth to larger size. Mathematical models indicate that high rates of parasitization are sufficient to overturn the fecundity benefit of large size, but fall short of maintaining strong stabilizing selection for an optimal winglength. The tendency of some larvae to move off their host-plant before the final instar resting phase is probably a direct evolutionary response to parasitism risk. A. cardamines larvae are pre-dispersal seed-predators; an early flowering ecotype of C. pratensis has likely been selected to avoid egg-laying A. cardamines females. In turn, the butterfly appears to be invading this host-plant's phenological space, with selection favouring small, early emerging females which oviposit on it. This cautions against interpreting the recent advance in A. cardamines' phenology solely in terms of a response to climate change. Spatio-temporal variation in the intensity of these effects likely contributes to the ongoing coevolutionary dynamics within this tritrophic system.

The current design of mass transfer systems for gas bubbles absorbing into a liquid is mainly restricted to the use of empirical relations which involve a high level of uncertainty. This is due to a lack of understanding of the interactions of gas bubbles and the liquid phase, and of how this affects the mass transfer. This work set out to enhance our understanding of the mass transfer of CO2 from concentrated sources such as flue gases into the aqueous phase, for use in applications such as micro-algal biomass cultivation systems. Bubble characteristics were observed using high speed imaging for single bubbles and optical fibre sensors for bubble swarms. These techniques were combined with gas chromatographic analysis of input and output gas samples to obtain a mass balance and measurements of the mass transfer. The mass transfer rate in bubble swarms was observed to be greater than that of single bubbles. For larger bubble sizes, this is partly due to the increased bubble rise velocity in bubble swarms. This was observed to increase, in part, due to the reduced drag a bubble experiences when it follows in the wake of a preceding bubble. Smaller bubbles within bubble swarms did not experience the same inhibition of mass transfer as was evident for single bubbles. This inhibition of the gas-liquid interface of single bubbles is due to the accumulation of surfactants which attach to the bubble surface, transforming the properties of the gas-liquid interface and reducing the mass transfer rate. The reduced mass transfer in single bubbles compared to bubble swarms was more apparent at lower input concentrations of CO2. This suggested a possible reduction in the internal circulation within the bubble, due to surfactant accumulation which reduces the gas-side resistance to mass transfer and is more apparent at a dilute gas concentration. Finally the experimental results from this work were compared with a simple finite difference model which analysed the mass balance of a rising bubble. The mass transfer coeffcient of single bubbles with a mobile gas-liquid interface could be approximated by the penetration theory of Higbie (1935), while with sufficient surfactant accumulation to transform the bubble surface to an immobile gas-liquid interface the rigid particle theory by Frossling (1938) provided a good approximation. In bubble swarms, however, the theory for a mobile gas-liquid interface based on Higbie (1935) provided a reasonable approximation throughout the range of bubble sizes studied in this work.

Electromagnetic sensors provide information about the environment around us. Historically, THz has been used for astronomy and other scientific insturments. Within this thesis, the aim is to investigate a variety of technologies that have the potential to bring THz technology to a wider market, by creating either low cost devices or technologies that can been monolithically integrated. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to THz and definitive material equations that underpin the simulations undertaken throughout the thesis. This is necessary as THz engineers and scientists come from a broad range of backgrounds where different definitions are deemed standard. Chapter 2 looks at the use of plasmonic devices for THz. Initatilly, the proposed spoof plasmon structure is investigated as a benchmark for simulation comparison and, secondly, the use of semiconductor surfaces is studied to create frequency tuneable sensors with highly confined fields. Chapter 3 moves towards more conventional quasi-optical metal mesh filters for low cost manufacture, comprising a single ultra thin metallic layer on a thick substrate. The chapter concludes with the initial design and simulations of a THz stress sensor based on the metal mesh filter. Chapter 4 looks into the use of photonic crystal technology. Several state-of-the-art devices are demonstrated: resonators, switches and attenuators. These devices have the potential to provide the building blocks for a future monolithically integrated THz architecture.

The internal magnetic field of Earth is generated by dynamo processes in the fluid outer core, variations in flow resulting in the constantly changing form of the magnetic field. The rapid dynamics of the core are largely unknown; the mantle and crust filter and mask small-scale spatial and temporal features and field sources external to the Earth contaminate the limited observations. Geomagnetic jerks represent the most rapid observed variations of the internal field, on the scale of months, and are poorly understood. Jerks are sharp changes between periods of an otherwise linear rate of change of the field. The main aims of this thesis are: to systematically catalogue observations of jerks, focussing on 1957–2008, and to quantify their characteristics; to assess how representative observations of jerks are through synthetic field modelling; and to evaluate what the results of these analyses inform us about the nature of the source of jerks in the core. I identify jerks in observations via a two-step method, removing contaminating external signal before identifying possible times at which a simple jerk model produces a good fit to data. I quantify the properties of the model and fit, providing uncertainty estimates, all with minimal prior information on the occurrences of jerks. Jerks are found to be frequent, regional and not globally contemporaneous. Jerks are identified every year but with relative abundance in 1968–71, 1973–74, 1977–79, 1983–85, 1989–93, 1995–98 and 2002–03. The amplitudes of jerks in Europe are seen to vary periodically, suggesting a regular generation mechanism. Limited observations preclude a global assessment of this. I create stochastic synthetic field models to assess the significance of observations and to infer compatible jerk characteristics. These models reinforce the view that jerks occur in localised patches at the Earth's surface without a consistent temporal or spatial distribution. Spherical harmonic (SH) analysis of the synthetic and observed jerks suggests that despite the localised nature of jerk signals, they can be represented by a potential field with most power below SH degree 4. A lag time of 6 months between variations in Earth's rotation and geomagnetic jerks suggests that sufficiently electrically conductive material must be present in the lower ~130 km of the mantle. At the core-mantle boundary, the power spectrum of the SH jerk models and the demonstrated ability to model jerks with a stochastic process, indicates a chaotic, turbulent core-surface flow regime is a likely generation mechanism.

The role of seabirds as indicators of marine conditions is widely acknowledged. As top predators they are vulnerable to environmental change. The study of spatial ecology has been identified as critical to the conservation of seabirds. The studies described within this thesis have for the first time explored in detail the spatial distribution of breeding fulmars. A combination of geolocation (GLS) and GPS tracking during incubation and chick rearing found that fulmars ranged further and for longer during incubation, with little difference between the sexes (Chapter 2). GLS tracking data from this period suggested that some birds were foraging at the Mid Atlantic Ridge, far surpassing the assumed maximum foraging range of this species whilst breeding. This was confirmed from the GPS track of one bird. Search behavior during the trip suggests that this bird exploited prey resources associated with fronts at the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone (Chapter 4). Whilst foraging far from the breeding site may allow birds to avoid competition and exploit predictable prey patches, this wide ranging behaviour may expose birds to threats such as fisheries bycatch. The majority of female fulmars tracked during the pre laying exodus foraged within the Norwegian Sea (Chapter 3), where it is estimated that 20,000 fulmars die annually on longlines. A double-tagging study, the first in the North Atlantic region and the first on a petrel species, used a state-space model to estimate the error in GLS data from fulmars and reconstructed the most probably route travelled. These data indicate that during this early period of the breeding season when distribution was virtually unknown, fulmars from a Scottish colony were foraging widely within three broad biogeographical regions. Meanwhile, fine-scale GPS tracking data was collected at three colonies during the chick rearing period. When combined with environmental and fisheries data within a model this facilitated investigation into the habitat preference of fulmars, finding associations between fulmar presence and fisheries activity, as well as oceanography (Chapter 5). This thesis describes how the use of telemetry has for the first time linked breeding season foraging characteristics with spatial distribution and habitat. Tracking has revolutionized our knowledge of fulmar distribution, behavior and habitat preference during the breeding season.

This thesis is an ethnographic micro-study of the production of place in late medieval Bishop's Lynn and South Lynn in Norfolk. Imaginatively juxtaposing a wide range of cultural artefacts (including visual and sculptural art, literature, documentary texts, architecture, and material culture) it explores how they acted, jointly and severally, as agents within the spatial habitus of Lynn to generate meaning in places that were inscribed with social, religious, economic, and gendered ideologies of power. Place, paradoxically, is always going somewhere, and it is always ideological about how it gets there. The accretive intensification of space through practice, place is more than a site of architectural accumulation: the investment of cultural, social, and political capital marks the narrative acculturation of a site. For the very reason that place maps its informing ideologies in the arc of its trajectory, it spatialises time, looking in all directions. This is true even, and indeed especially, of those places that exist to monumentalise the past: instantiating tradition, they draw out the past, inscribing it in order to colonise it. Accordingly, this thesis seeks to address the way in which place functioned as the engine for the desires of the social and political elite in Lynn, considering how the codes of "virtue" that were imbedded in the function and use of place provided the justification and means for the wider regulation of the social space of the town.

By comparing the instances of the Māra mytheme in the narratives of the prajñāpāramitā-sūtras with those found in non-Mahayana texts, this thesis explores how this vitally important persona, one central to the narrative account of the bodhisattva quest for awakening, developed from earlier mythic prototypes. Pali sources identify a number of alternative identities for Māra the most significant of which being Namuci, an asura who took control over the mind of Indra. Using linguistic ideas originally developed by Saussure, the storylines of the Māra and Namuci myths can be reduced to a simple, common narrative statement or syntagm. Adopting this approach demonstrates how apparently new narratives can be derived through the application of paradigmatic changes within that syntagm. Furthermore, drawing upon the findings of historical linguistics, it was possible to interpolate potential Proto-Indian-European origins for the Māra mytheme. Rather than supporting the traditionally accepted view of Māra as an allegory for death, this enabled the signification of the actual name Māra to be seen as pointing towards a ‘grinding-away’ or oppression of the mind. This was achieved by relating the Māra of Buddhist mythology with the mare-hag common to a number of Indo- European folklores. Support for this argument is also found in Pali narratives which depict Māra entering the thoughts of others engaged in meditation during the night in order to induce feelings of fear and uncertainty. Finally, based upon these findings, it was possible to scrutinize the narrative and nested tales of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñā-pāramitā-sūtra in its earliest recension, the Dàoxíng Bōrě Jīng, and identify how the original Māra myth underwent structured, paradigmatic modifications that reflect a bodhisattva’s progress towards final awakening.

The seasonal variation of anammox is yet to be comprehensively studied, unlike denitrification, the more traditional sink for fixed nitrogen. A seasonal study of anammox, denitrification and benthic oxygen consumption using the revised isotope pairing technique is presented in Chapter 2. Experimental temperature and NO3- concentration were kept constant throughout so that the capacity of the sediment for anammox could be estimated. Similar seasonal variations in the rates of anammox, denitrification and oxygen consumption suggest that anammox is controlled by the availability of organic carbon. Furthermore the effect of tidal inundation by overlying water rich in NO3- was investigated by measuring rates of anammox, denitrification and oxygen consumption at three tidal elevations throughout the year. A significant relationship between anammox and denitrification was established at each tidal elevation, which increased in strength as length of inundation decreased. To complement this seasonal study, additional experiments were undertaken, which are described in Chapter 3, to determine how anammox, denitrification and sediment metabolism responds to variations in experimental NO3- concentration and temperature. There were significant increases in rates of anammox, denitrification and sediment metabolism with temperature until 20oC when rates of anammox began to reduce. Furthermore there was significant variation in the response of all three processes to temperature in samples collected at different dates, which suggested that reduced bioavailability of organic carbon in the winter months was limiting the response to temperature. In addition to exploring how inorganic N is cycled in estuarine sediments, the ability of estuarine sediments to oxidize urea via nitrite was examined using 15N and 13C labelled substrates. Results, which are presented in Chapter 4, indicate that urea added to anaerobic sediment slurries was rapidly hydrolysed to ammonium before being oxidized via the anammox pathway.

Many studies of the interrelation of literature and science are content to ignore Science Fiction (sf), a genre whose very name appears to locate it on the fault-line between the two. This thesis seeks to redress this deficiency by examining early examples of sf in the material contexts of their first publication, drawing out correspondences between imaginative writing and the other forms of fiction and non-fiction alongside which it appeared. Following on from Gillian Beer's notion of 'two-way traffic' as an ameliorative means of understanding the constructive (and constructed) relationships between science and fiction, this project considers popular magazines an enabling form whose commercial insistence on diversity of content maintained discursive possibilities between different kinds of writing. The illustrated monthlies which formed the vanguard of the New Journalism in Britain - the Strand Magazine, the Idler, Pearson's Magazine, and Harmsworth's Magazine, for instance - were a natural home for sf because of the heteroglossia they evinced: popular science, interviews, curiosity pieces, essays, editorials, and advertisements rubbed shoulders with many species of fiction. Editorial efforts to reconcile these disparate voices into a publication with a stable, saleable 'personality' often emphasised connections at a time when increasing professionalization was fragmenting much scientific and literary discourse. This thesis re-establishes some of those connections by placing these writings back into conversation with each other, close reading magazines' correspondences with four topical science-fictional themes - x-rays, interplanetary communication, polar exploration, and future-prediction - to emphasise harmonies which the construction of specialised and isolated narratives for disciplinary history has tended to occlude. This approach not only shows more fully the emergence of sf in its cultural and material context, but also challenges the present-day conception of absolute and essential dyadic division -between modes of writing, between academy and public, and, of course, between literature and science.

For large-scale Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations it is often necessary to divide the domain into a mesh of discrete points or volumes. However, the domain can also be split into a set of zones separated by interfaces, allowing the zones to be meshed individually. Discontinuous or nonmatching mesh spacing across the zonal interfaces offers many advantages, particularly in terms of easing the mesh generation process, reduction of required mesh densities, and relative motion between mesh zones. However, accurate data transfer across the interfaces is required for global solution accuracy to be maintained. A more versatile data transfer method for discontinuous interfaces has the potential to reduce both the complexity of, and constraints place on, the process of discretising complex domains. This research was motivated by work on large-scale parallelised CFD simulations using high quality structured multiblock meshes. For such tasks the accuracy of the final result has a significant dependence on the quality of the mesh used to discretise the domain. The mesh is split into separate zones for parallel computation but must be generated as a topographically consistent whole, rather than individually for each zone. The objective therefore was to create a new method of discontinuous interface data transfer that does not place topographic limitations on the mesh, simplifying the mesh generation process. To this end, the fields of flow solution, high accuracy interpolation and mesh generation have been investigated with the aim of formulating and assessing a new data transfer approach. A new data transfer method based on Radial Basis Function (RBF) interpolation is developed and presented. Strategies for the construction of the interpolation data set are compared and a new more advanced approach developed. A series of analytical tests are used to assess the properties of the new method: Both the order of accuracy of the method and the ability to accurately model the full range of frequency content are considered. The method is applied to both finite difference and finite volume numerical solutions. For the latter both multi-grid discretisation and parallelised solution have been ,j ABSTRACT implemented as part of integration into an existing parallel, multiblock, multi grid compressible flow solver. Additionally, the relative merits and cost of localised and global forms of the method are assessed. The method has been applied to a series of aeronautical test cases including a subsonic and transonic aerofoil. The results show that the method is both effective and robust, providing accurate transmission for well and poorly conceived interface geometries. One great success is that in generic form the method remains applicable to all iterative solution methods with similar domain discretisation requirements; as a result there are many opportunities for further work.

With the unprecedented cultural changes that have swept late twentieth- and early twenty first century Western society, the notion of "masculinity" has been increasingly subjected to critical scrutiny. This thesis explores how the deconstruction of an idealized, monolithic masculinity that has, arguably, resulted from such scrutiny is represented and performed in contemporary men's fiction in French. Mixing textual analysis with attention to aesthetic codes and socio-political context, it follows a tripartite structure, apportioning its chapters to "gay literary masculinities", "black literary masculinities" and "white heterosexual literary masculinities", in each case focusing specifically on the work of one principal author, namely Herve Guibert, Dany Laferriere and Michel Houellebecq respectively. In addition to Judith Butler's analyses of the performative nature of gender identities, this thesis is informed by a range of scholarly interventions in the areas of masculinity, gender, feminist, gay, queer, African-American and postcolonial studies. Engaging with these interventions - historical, sociological and theoretical - it examines how contemporary men's fiction, and its performative modes of representing men, intervene in current debates about masculinity. Specifically, it interrogates how contemporary male-authored narratives engage with masculinity through performative strategies of representing men that draw attention to masculinity's discursive limits and dramatise its deconstruction. And, conscious that gender is always performed to be read in certain ways by a certain audience, this thesis also examines what such performances might feasibly seek to achieve in terms of impact on their readership, addressing the relationship between narrator and reader and renewing the question of the politics of literature. In so doing, it sets out to redress the remarkable lack of critical attention devoted to French-language literary masculinities.

This research examines the change in resource deployment through the introduction of the Demand Management and Tasking Unit (DMTU) within Gwent police. It analyses the work carried out by the DMTU in its attempt to rationalise the delivery of policing services to the public. With increasing pressure being placed on already finite policing resources, it has become increasingly difficult for Gwent police to attend each call by deploying a physical resource such as police officers or police community support officers (PCSOs). In light of this need to change, Gwent police have developed the DMTU to investigate a specific and limited number of crimes by telephone, in the anticipation that they can reduce pressure on 'front line' police staff. The study assesses the impact of this change on policing services, police officers and the public. This is achieved through a variety of research methods employed throughout the course of this study, spanning a three year period. Methods included interviewing and spending time within the DMTU at Gwent police headquarters, along with utilising questionnaires to gauge perceptions and opinions of the unit's introduction and implementation. Ethical considerations, strengths and weaknesses and operational difficulties whilst researching an organisation such as the police are also discussed. Results indicate that there seems a healthy and directed focus on customers within the DMTU, with contact procedures and processes designed in a way that is convenient and offers the maximum flexibility to victims of crime. Positively, the creation of the DMTU has also improved resource allocation and the implications of this is noteworthy for Gwent police, as financially alone, there are significant savings to be considered without the need to compromise the quality of service provided to customers. Disappointingly, however, it must be noted that there is little evidence of a partnership approach being adopted routinely within the DMTU. Considering that the DMTU is in contact with over 20% of all crime victims across Gwent, the impact of training and intelligence sharing shortcomings may be significant and should be of a major concern to those overseeing the future of police/customer relations. Consideration of the future landscape of contact management for policing across Britain also considered.

A vast amount of gene expression data is available to biological researchers. As of October 2010, the GEO database has 45,777 chips of publicly available gene expression pro ling data from the Affymetrix (HGU133v2) GeneChip platform, representing 2.5 billion numerical measurements. Given this wealth of data, `meta-analysis' methods allowing inferences to be made from combinations of samples from different experiments are critically important. This thesis explores the application of localized pattern-mining approaches, as exemplified by biclustering, for large-scale gene expression analysis. Biclustering methods are particularly attractive for the analysis of large compendia of gene expression data as they allow the extraction of relationships that occur only across subsets of genes and samples. Standard correlation methods, however, assume a single correlation relationship between two genes occurs across all samples in the data. There are a number of existing biclustering methods, but as these did not prove suitable for large scale analysis, a novel method named `IslandCluster' was developed. This method provided a framework for investigating the results of different approaches to biclustering meta-analysis. The biclustering methods used in this work involve preprocessing of gene expression data into a unified scale in order to assess the significance of expression patterns. A novel discretisation approach is shown to identify distinct classes of genes' expression values more appropriately than approaches reported in the literature. A Gene Expression State Transformation (`GESTr') introduced as the first reported modelling of the biological state of expression on a unified scale and is shown to facilitate effective meta-analysis. Localised co-dependency analysis is introduced, a paradigm for identifying transcriptional relationships from gene expression data. Tools implementing this analysis were developed and used to analyse specificity of transcriptional relationships, to distinguish related subsets within a set of transcription factor (TF) targets and to tease apart combinatorial regulation of a set of targets by multiple TFs. The state of pluripotency, from which a mammalian cell has the potential to differentiate into any cell from any of the three adult germ layers, is maintained by forced expression of Nanog and may be induced from a non-pluripotent state by the expression of Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc. Analysis of cMyc regulatory targets shed light on a recent proposition that cMyc induces an `embryonic stem cell like' transcriptional signature outside embryonic stem (ES) cells, revealing a cMyc-responsive subset of the signature and identifying ES cell expressed targets with evidence of broad cMyc-induction. Regulatory targets through which cMyc, Oct4, Sox2 and Nanog may maintain or induce pluripotency were identified, offering insight into transcriptional mechanisms involved in the control of pluripotency and demonstrating the utility of the novel analysis approaches presented in this work.

This thesis analyzes the institutional development of the Sudanese police between 1924 and 1989, focusing in particular on its role in governing Sudanese society and its relationship with the state at large. It seeks to challenge the static picture which represents the police as servile tools of ruling colonial and post-colonial regimes in Africa and a simple extension of the political executive. It contends that the police cannot be understood as the passive tools of the state, since both colonial and post-colonial states have been highly divided. The competing factions included legal and professional groups that wanted to develop a strong, united and institutionalized police force so as to exercise a systematic governance of Sudanese society, and political and administrative factions that sought to make the police serve the narrower political agendas of the regime. Central ruling factions, such as the Sudan Political Service in the colonial era and the military in the post-colonial era, have often seen a strong and institutionalized police force as a potential threat to their status, and have thus sought to weaken the police by conferring police authority to a number of parallel bodies. It will be seen that this conflict at the centre of the state helped to exacerbate the rift between the urban core and rural peripheries, as the various colonial and post-colonial governments sought to prevent the development of a united police force by dividing it along regional lines – and that the police came to serve, in some respects, as the state’s tools for enforcing this divide. Yet at the same time the thesis will seek to rehabilitate the police as actors within their own right, demonstrating the agency they exercised both as an institution and on behalf of various religious, ethnic and political groups to which they were affiliated.

Seabirds are wide-ranging apex-predators and useful bio-indicators of marine systems. Nevertheless, changes are occurring in the marine environment, and seabirds require protection from the deleterious effects of climate change, fisheries, pollution, offshore development, introduced predators and invasive species. The UK supports internationally important populations of seabirds but also has vast wind and wave resources, therefore understanding how seabirds use the marine environment is vital in order to quantify the potential consequences of further exploiting these resources. In this thesis I first describe the range of wave energy converting devices operational or in development in the UK, and review the potential threats and benefits these developments may have for marine birds. I then synthesise data from colony-based surveys with detailed information on population dynamics, foraging ecology and near-colony behaviour, to develop a projection model that identifies important at-sea areas for breeding seabirds. These models show a positive spatial correlation with one of the most intensive at-sea seabird survey datasets, and provide qualitatively similar findings to existing tracking data. This approach has the potential to identify overlap with offshore energy developments, and could be developed to suit a range of species or whole communities and provide a theoretical framework for the study of factors such as colony size regulation. The non-breeding period is a key element of the annual cycle of seabirds and conditions experienced during one season may carry-over to influence the next. Understanding behaviour throughout the annual cycle has implications for both ecological theory and conservation. Bio-logging can provide detailed information on movements away from breeding colonies, and the analysis of stable isotope ratios in body tissues can provide information on foraging during the non-breeding period. I combine these two approaches to describe the migration strategies of northern gannets Morus bassanus breeding at two colonies in the north-west Atlantic, revealing a high degree of both winter site fidelity and dietary consistency between years. These migratory strategies also have carry-over effects with consequences for both body condition and timing of arrival on the breeding grounds. Finally, I investigate the threats posed to seabirds and other marine predators during the non-breeding period by collating information on the distributions of five different species of apex predator wintering in the Northwest African upwelling region. I describe the threat of over-fishing and fisheries bycatch to marine vertebrates in this region, and highlight the need for pelagic marine protected areas to adequately protect migratory animals throughout the annual cycle. In summary, the combination of colony-based studies, bio-logging, stable isotope analysis and modelling techniques can provide a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between individuals and the marine environment over multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Dispersal is a fundamental process that shapes many aspects of population ecology and evolution. Dramatic local population declines brought about by anthropogenic-driven changes to ecological processes are unfortunately becoming ubiquitous and increasing the urgency to understand dispersal behaviour in many species. For species where direct methods of tracking movement and dispersal are unsuitable, other indirect methods need to be employed to understand and characterise these behaviours. The steep population decline, due to predation, at the largest EU population of Leach’s storm-petrels Oceanodroma leucorhoa (St Kilda, Scotland), and the potential part immigrant birds have in buffering this threat, highlighted the need to understand dispersal and connectivity of widely spaced colonies in this species. The implications for the persistence of local colonies and the wider population of Leach’s storm-petrels could then be assessed. A population genetic analysis of 9 colonies across the North Pacific and Atlantic distribution, using two DNA markers (mtDNA control region and microsatellites), revealed ocean basin differentiation (Global ST = 0.32 P <0.0001, Global FST = 0.04, P <0.0001) but also identified a migrant individual in the Pacific population (STRUCTURE migrant assignment). The Atlantic population was found to be genetically homogenous, with patterns of historical and contemporary gene flow, indicating that long-distance effective dispersal is prevalent in Leach’s storm-petrels within the ocean basin. Bayesian stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen (13C & 15N) provides evidence for natal dispersal as an important dispersal mechanism, and reveals movement of immature birds between colonies during the breeding season as a likely mechanism to promote inter-colony exchange and gene flow. Stable isotope comparison also identified mixing on wintering grounds as another possible influence on dispersal. The potential for immigrant birds to offset the loss caused by predation at the St Kilda colony is supported by these studies, and will likely help the persistence of the colony in the short-term. However, future viability is debateable considering the evidence for both avian and mammalian predation. This research provides a better understanding of the extent and mechanism of dispersal in the Leach’s storm-petrel, which is important to predict the potential impact of environmental change and, where possible, implement effective population management for this species.

Computer software is developed through software engineering. At its most precise, software engineering involves mathematical rigour as formal methods. High integrity software is associated with safety critical and security critical applications, where failure would bring significant costs. The development of high integrity software is subject to stringent standards, prescribing best practises to increase quality. Typically, these standards will strongly encourage or enforce the application of formal methods. The application of formal methods can entail a significant amount of mathematical reasoning. Thus, the development of automated techniques is an active area of research. The trend is to deliver increased automation through two complementary approaches. Firstly, lightweight formal methods are adopted, sacrificing expressive power, breadth of coverage, or both in favour of tractability. Secondly, integrated solutions are sought, exploiting the strengths of different technologies to increase automation. The objective of this thesis is to support the production of high integrity software by automating an aspect of formal methods. To develop tractable techniques we focus on the niche activity of verifying exception freedom. To increase effectiveness, we integrate the complementary technologies of proof planning and program analysis. Our approach is investigated by enhancing the SPARK Approach, as developed by Altran Praxis Limited. Our approach is implemented and evaluated as the SPADEase system. The key contributions of the thesis are summarised below: • Configurable and Sound - Present a configurable and justifiably sound approach to software verification. • Cooperative Integration - Demonstrate that more targeted and effective automation can be achieved through the cooperative integration of distinct technologies. • Proof Discovery - Present proof plans that support the verification of exception freedom. • Invariant Discovery - Present invariant discovery heuristics that support the verification of exception freedom. • Implementation as SPADEase - Implement our approach as SPADEase. • Industrial Evaluation - Evaluate SPADEase against both textbook and industrial subprograms.

This thesis, focusing on Dickens' early work ('Our Parish'to The Old Curiosity Shop), explorers the nature and fictional expression of the author's faith and the historical ecclesiastical elements of his writing. Dickens passionately believed that the Church was failing in its Christian responsibility to the poor. Contrary to contemporary religious thought, he neither accepted that the appalling depravation endured by the poor esulted from their personal sin, or that the imperative of spiritual redemption negated the Church's responsibility to ease their physical distress. He also realised that among his predominately London-based middle-class readership there was genuine ignorance of the reality of the suffering endured by the poor. In his early fiction Dickens used a two stage approach to communicate his personal beliefs about the poor. The first, adopted in 'Our Parish' and the first seven chapters of Oliver Twist, involved the graphic description of the suffering endured by the poor and the exposure of the inadequacies of the parochial system upon which they depended. Next, Dickens introduces his readers to a series of characters who embody his perception of Christian charity. Mr Pickwick, Mr brownlow and Charles Cheeryble (collectively referred to in this thesis as 'Charitable Angels')are, contrary to parochial officials and those who participate in charitable activity for their own selfish ends, shown to make a difference in the lives of those they assist. Dickens hoped that his readers would be inspired to emulate their actions.

Toward the end of the millennium social class became subject to increasingly sustained and forceful claims that it had been wiped from the social landscape. Within this outpouring of anti-class sentiment, however, three writers highlighting similar processes spelling the end of class have been particularly influential yet, surprisingly, only cursorily or inadequately examined by faithful defenders of the much-maligned concept hitherto.

Evidence of a mitochondrial abnormality in PrP-null mice was sought by extensive assessment of the morphological and functional characteristics of isolated brain mitochondria. Study of isolated mitochondrial suspensions by electron microscopy revealed that PrP-null mitochondria were larger and, when cristae density was quantitatively measured using a novel technique, to have a reduced cristae density when compared to controls. A significant increase in respiratory capacity was detected in PrP-null mitochondria when metabolising Complex I substrates, but not when electrons entered downstream of complex 1. This implicates Complex 1 as a site for pathological change. As recent studies of the Mecp2-null mouse model of Rett syndrome detected increased transcription of Uqcrc1 (a core subunit of Complex III), mitochondrial morphology and respiration were studied in Mecp2-null mice. Whilst electron microscopy did not reveal any gross alterations in mitochondrial size or cristae density, respiration measurements revealed a severe phenotype in symptomatic, but not presymptomatic, Mecp2-null mice. Mitochondrial coupling was considerably reduced in isolated brain mitochondria from Mecp2-null mice indicating reduced mitochondrial efficiency. This effect was accompanied by an increase in respiratory capacity through Complex III. In order to determine if the overexpression of Uqcrc1 was causative in the production of the observed increase in respiratory capacity, the respiration rates of N2A cells overexpressing Uqcrc1 were measured. As transfected N2A cells showed significantly increased respiration rates through Complex III, the up-regulation of Uqcrc1 may be causative in producing the respiratory capacity increase observed in the animal model. These results enhance the evidence for dysfunctional mitochondria in both PrP-null and Mecp2-null mouse models and are discussed in relation to other investigations of prion disease, Rett syndrome and other models of neurodegenerative disease.

There are approximately 8,000 wrought iron bridges throughout the U.K. that were all constructed in the latter half of the 19th century. Network Rail commissioned this research as many of the bridges require some degree of strengthening to allow their continued safe use. The use of fibre reinforced polymer composites as an externally bonded reinforcement system is common practice for steel, concrete and cast iron structures. An extensive testing program of the mechanical properties of a single source of wrought iron has been conducted. Many laboratory tests were carried out in conjunction with numerical modelling to provide an informed assessment of the behaviour of wrought iron. Tests were also carried out to investigate how the wrought iron reacted when reinforced with a pultruded carbon fibre composite. A number of specimens were exposed to a variety of aggressive environments that simulated typical conditions found throughout the country. The testing procedure proved that the grain of slag fibres within wrought iron leads to a large degree of variability when carrying out small-scale laboratory tests. A number of specimens from the structure are required to provide representative mechanical properties. Network Rail's greatest concern was that if the composite was bonded to the structure and loaded the outer layer of wrought iron would fail by de-bonding. Tests were carried out to prove that the inter-laminar shear strength of the wrought iron was greater than the shear strength of the adhesive bond. This guarantees that the adhesive bond is the weakest component of the reinforcement system. The laboratory testing program and the numerical modelling showed that, in theory, wrought iron can be reinforced with fibre reinforced polymers. A wrought iron bridge needs to be reinforced, instrumented and studied to provide conclusive evidence of the applicability of the technique.