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Childhood bullying has been associated with longstanding deleterious social, physical, and psychological outcomes, and is increasingly being recognised as a global public health concern. Section one reports a quantitative systematic literature review examining the characteristics and psychometric properties of childhood bullying instruments that measure co-occurring traditional and cyber bullying behaviours. Four databases were searched (PsychInfo, CINAHL, Embase and Ovid) and fifteen studies reporting on fourteen separate instruments met requirements for inclusion. The findings of the review highlighted differences between how each instrument measured childhood bullying. Differences centered around how the instruments scales were constructed, the use of a bullying definition and terminology, referent time frames, and response options. In addition, the instrument's methodological quality and psychometric robustness were also widely inconsistent. The review concluded that no study evaluated all psychometric properties within the three measurement domains: reliability, validity, and responsiveness. Thus, further research is required to comprehensively evaluate the psychometric robustness of the identified instruments. Section two reports on an empirical study examining whether childhood peer victimisation can predict quality of life (QoL) in individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD), when controlling for sociodemographics and clinical covariates. Participants (n=109) completed an online survey. Multiple regression analysis found neither offline nor online peer victimisation to be significant predictors of QoL in individuals diagnosed with BD. Post-hoc mediation analysis indicated depression and anxiety to have a full mediating effect on the relationship between both offline and online peer victimisation and QoL. The findings suggest childhood peer victimisation may play an important role in QoL for individuals with a diagnosis of BD through anxiety and depression. Section three includes a critical appraisal that reflects on the main findings and critically evaluates key decisions made. Considerations for future research are explored and personal reflections of undertaking the work are discussed.

Objectives: The following thesis is presented within two separate pieces of work. A systematic literature review (SLR) aimed to evaluate the individual characteristics and psychometric properties of four dementia screening tools. These were the Dementia Questionnaire for People with Learning Disabilities (DLD) (Evenhuis, 2007), the Dementia Scale for Down Syndrome (DSDS) (Gedye, 1995), the Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (DSQIID) (Deb et al, 2007a) and the Adaptive Behaviour Dementia Questionnaire (ABDQ) (Prasher et al, 2004). The empirical research (ER) aimed to evaluate the clinical utility and longitudinal accuracy of two of these tools; the DLD and the ABDQ in a clinical population with intellectual disability (ID) and Down syndrome (DS). Methods: For the SLR a comprehensive list of electronic academic databases were searched to identify studies which included information relating to the psychometric properties of the DLD, DSDS, DSQIID and the ABDQ. Information within the studies was then extracted and rated using two quality assessment measures. These were the Characteristics of Assessment Instruments for Psychiatric Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (CAPS-IDD) (Zeilinger et al, 2013b) and the Qualsyst (Kmet, 2004). For the ER, a repeated measures MANOVA was used to assess change over time between two groups of people with intellectual disabilities and Down syndrome; one with dementia and one without. Results: In the SLR, 16 studies were identified and rated using the CAPS-IDD and the Qualsyst. Detailed information related to the dementia screening tools and quality ratings of the papers are provided. In the ER both the ABDQ and the DLD demonstrated a clear difference between those who develop dementia and those who do not, with those in the ‘dementia’ group exhibiting increasing scores over time. Conclusions: The SLR concludes that the evidence base for these dementia screening tools remain limited. The largest evidence base was evidenced for the DLD. The ER concludes that the ABDQ and the DLD are useful tools to differentiate between those who develop dementia and those who do not. Further analysis incorporating the exploration of individual component items of tools is recommended.

This thesis interprets The Book of Margery Kempe using a medieval medical approach. Through an interdisciplinary methodology based on a medical humanities framework, the thesis explores the significance of Kempe’s painful experiences through a broad survey of the human life cycle, as understood in medieval culture. In exploring the interplay of humoral theory, medical texts, religious instruction and life cycle taxonomies, it illustrates the porousness of medicine and religion in the Middle Ages and the symbiotic relationship between spiritual and corporeal health. In an age when the circulation of medical texts in the English vernacular was increasing, scholastic medicine not only infiltrated religious houses but also translated into lay praxis. Ideas about the moral and physical nature of the human body were thus inextricably linked, based on the popular tradition of Christus medicus. For this reason, the thesis argues that Margery Kempe’s pain, experience and controversial performances amongst her euen-cristen were interpreted in physiological and medical terms by her onlookers, as ‘pain-interpreters’. It also offers a new transcription of the recipe from B.L. Add. MS 61823, f.124v, and argues for its importance as a way of reading the text as an ‘illness narrative’ which depicts Margery Kempe’s spiritual journey from sickness to health. The chapters examine Kempe’s humoral constitution and predisposition to mystical perceptivity, her crying, her childbearing and married years, her menopausal middle age of surrogate reproductivity, and her elderly life stage. Medical texts such as the Trotula, the Sekenesse of Wymmen and the Liber Diversis Medicinis help to shed light on the ways in which medieval women’s bodies were understood. The thesis concludes that, via a ‘pain surrogacy’ hermeneutic, Kempe is brought closer to a knowledge of pain which is transformational, just as she transforms through the stages of the life cycle.

DNA analysis is now a sufficiently sensitive technique to enable identification of an individual from an extremely small amount of biological material. Exhibits are routinely submitted to forensic laboratories for recovery and analysis of ‘touch DNA’, in order to link an offender to the crime scene. One such exhibit type is spent cartridge cases, where DNA transferred from the handler to the exterior surface of the casing may be the only evidence available for identification of the handler. Alternatively the firearm itself may be recovered, which could also have potential for uncovering the identity of the shooter by means of ‘touch DNA’ profiling. However, the analysis of minute amounts of DNA introduces additional interpretational challenges. The ability to identify the source of a low level DNA sample and the relevance of a recovered DNA profile to the crime scene are not comprehensively understood. The variations in DNA deposition, recovery, transfer and persistence were examined, through a series of controlled laboratory experiments. Volunteers were asked to take part in DNA deposition studies that involved handling items for set periods of time, to determine the variability in the quality of DNA deposited. They were also asked to take part in handshaking studies, where the persistence of DNA, as well as the primary and secondary transfer of DNA, was studied. Additional variables were considered in relation to DNA recovered from spent cartridge cases, including the effect of firing and gunshot residue on DNA quality. DNA was extracted using QIAamp® DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen) and Chelex® (Bio-Rad) protocols and amplified with the AmpFlSTR® SGM Plus® Kit and the AmpFlSTR® Identifiler® Kit (both Applied Biosystems). DNA profiles were analysed on the ABI PRISM™ 310 Genetic Analyser and the ABI PRISM™ 3500 Genetic Analyser (both Applied Biosystems). It was possible to recover a usable DNA profile from a handled item and the quality of DNA deposited after repeated contacts was comparable. The quality of DNA recovered from ‘touch DNA’ samples from different individuals varied, and specific methods for recovery based on surface type were found to increase the likelihood of generating a successful DNA profile. Where an item was handled by more than one individual, the major contributor to the profile was not always that of the final handler. Furthermore, secondary transfer of DNA was observed to some degree in every test sample. This research also highlighted the challenges of interpreting mixed profiles, especially with low levels of DNA present. Identification of the handler of a spent cartridge case was not possible using DNA profiling techniques, due to the increased DNA degradation as a result of conditions experienced during the firing process. However, where a higher yield of DNA was present prior to firing, there was the possibility of recovering an interpretable DNA profile from this type of evidence. The findings of this research should be considered when submitting items for DNA analysis, when considering best practice for recovery of ‘touch DNA’ samples and when attempting to interpret ‘touch DNA’ evidence profiles.

Background: While much research has been conducted with single mothers, comparatively little has been undertaken with single-father families. Research done with this minority group has tended to focus on the ways in which this family structure is associated with disadvantage and poorer psychological outcomes for fathers and children, where gender tends to be discussed in individualistic or simplistic terms. Therefore, little is known about how these contexts affect single fathers’ day-to-day experiences and their experiences of parenting children who present with psychological distress. Method: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with eight men identifying as single fathers and parenting children accessing mental health services. Thematic analysis of the data was guided by Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phase approach and was underpinned by a critical realist epistemology. Results: Five themes showed issues pertinent to this group as; a) negotiating gendered representations of single-fathering; b) feeling excluded by these and isolated and lonely in the context of finding it harder to socialise and form romantic relationships; c) feeling the ‘weight’ of responsibility for children and negotiating the role of the father in the context of single-parenthood and children’s distress; d) (struggling to) make meaning of and manage distress and not coping; and e) experiences with children’s services that prevent or enable access and the ways in which the power of professionals transcends this issue to define ‘good’ parenting. Conclusions: Findings are discussed with reference to the gender and parenting literature and their implications for future research and clinical practice.

Disability is a common phenomenon in the UK and year on year there are more disabled graduates graduating and entering the labour market. Despite the relevance of disability to contemporary society, research that focuses on disabled graduates is notability absent in the wider equality and diversity literature. In order to address this lacuna, the research focuses on how disabled graduates manage and navigate the UK labour market. Five key stages in the graduates’ journey into the labour market are addressed in the research, the process of job searching, how disabled graduates negotiate the workplace environment, which includes management relations, how reasonable adjustments are secured, and engagement with external bodies for advice and support and welfare. The wide range of topics covered in the thesis allowed the totality of the experience of disability to be addressed. The thesis used an inductive, qualitative methodology to uncover the lived experience of the disabled graduates. Several key themes emerged from the thesis, firstly disabled graduates were active agents in managing their situation. They often had plan ‘A’ along with various alternative plans to allow them to achieve their desired career path. In addition the graduates were excellent at executing coping strategies to deal with the negative situations in which they found themselves; they did not allow their suffering to negatively deter them. Thirdly, the data showed it was very important to consider issues around impairment because impairment impacted many of the disabled graduates’ experiences. If issues around impairment are ignored then only a partial understanding of disability is achieved. Finally, the data indicated that disabled graduates still experienced unfairness and discrimination in the workplace. This discrimination manifested itself in numerous ways from failure to be recruited to employers failing to make reasonable adjustments.

High throughput electrochemical screening and rotating ring disc electrode measurements have been used to investigate carbon, titania and niobium doped titania as supports for platinum electrocatalysts. The effect of support and catalyst loading on the surface redox behaviour, CO stripping, methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction activity of the platinum has been investigated. TEM has been used to characterise the morphology of the platinum on these supports at several different loadings. With platinum supported on carbon, general trends with decreasing loading of platinum were found. These included a negative shift of the platinum oxide reduction peak potential, a positive shift of the CO stripping peak potential and peak broadening, and a negative potential shift of the oxygen reduction curve. The negative shift of the platinum oxide reduction peak was found to coincide with a decrease in platinum particle size. The CO stripping peak shifted significantly positive at loadings where layers of platinum began to break up into particles, and became broader as the particle size decreased. The overpotential need for oxygen reduction appeared to increase with decreasing particle size and correlated well with the shift of the platinum oxide reduction peak. This suggests that the origin of the overpotential for platinum oxide reduction is the origin for the overpotential for oxygen reduction. With platinum supported on titania and niobium doped titania, with decreasing loading of platinum, the platinum oxide formation and reduction reaction appeared to become less reversible (i.e. slower electron transfer). The irreversibility of the reaction increased as the particle size of platinum decreased. This irreversibility may account for the increasing overpotential seen for the CO stripping peak and eventual disappearance of the feature with decreasing platinum loading and the loss in methanol oxidation activity. It may also account for the significant increase in overpotential for the oxygen reduction reaction seen as particles (rather than a continuous layer) of platinum begins to form on the support material.

This thesis looks at the ideas behind the weaving of greenery into the urban fabric, expressed in the form of parks, gardens and walks. It underlines just how important urban attitudes are and the urban environment has been in shaping our experience and perceptions of the natural world. In turn, the thesis traces the influence of these perceptions on the topographical and cultural landscape of the town. Representations of urban parks, gardens and walks reflect and respond to the intimacy of nature and the town meeting face to face, trading off the different images and associations that these environments summon. This research draws the two fields of urban history and garden/landscape history together, allowing for a more holistic approach that opens up ground for the ways in which the town and the wider landscape were mutually interactive and influential. Furthermore, this thesis backdates the usual recognition of urban greening as a nineteenth and twentieth century phenomenon in tracing its significance and extent in the period 1660-1760. These sites were not just a feature of the capital, illustrated by focusing on Bath, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, and Shrewsbury as case study towns as well as St James's Park and Vauxhall Gardens in London. Following an introductory chapter situating the subject within contemporary issues and research, the thesis proceeds with chapters on the representation of nature in the town; the design and lay-out of town parks, gardens and walks; the bodies responsible for this layout and ordering; the considered importance of urban greening with regards the physical and moral welfare of the town and its residents/visitors; the contesting of access to urban parks and gardens; and gender, sexuality and nature in the town, concluding with an epilogue expanding on the central theme of boundaries within this thesis.