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Comparisons of thermal tolerance limits of organisms living across environmental temperature gradients represent a valuable means by which to study physiological adaptation. Intertidal organisms are subject to variation in levels of thermal stress both across latitude and shore height. However, our current understanding of how this variation relates to thermal adaptation is largely based on comparisons between species, and we lack a clear picture of the degree to which different populations from the same species display local adaptation along these temperature gradients. In this thesis, I investigate the extent and nature of intraspecific local adaptation of thermal tolerance across shore height and latitude in the widely distributed, direct-developing intertidal periwinkle Littorina saxatilis. First, I characterise thermal tolerance differences in two ecotypes of L. saxatilis vertically segregated along an intertidal gradient to determine whether they exhibit local thermal adaptation in line with temperature differences across shore height. Second, I assess thermal tolerance and performance in four populations of L. saxatilis across a latitudinal gradient to study the extent of local thermal adaptation across latitude. Finally, I compare methodological approaches for quantifying thermal tolerance limits, to address controversy regarding how the use of different approaches may affect our ability to assess intraspecific differences across latitude. This thesis demonstrates that: 1) vertically segregated ecotypes show divergence in thermal tolerance in line with their shore position, and these differences have a developmental basis; 2) upper thermal limits of cardiac activity are greatest in populations from higher latitudes, which appears to be a maladaptive consequence of metabolic cold adaptation; and 3) the use of different methodological approaches can substantially affect both measured upper tolerance limits and our ability to interpret trends across latitude. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that local adaptation of thermal tolerance limits in L. saxatilis is substantial across shore height, but conversely is less pronounced across latitude. This suggests more broadly that thermal selection across a few metres of shore height may have as great an effect on intraspecific thermal adaptation as large-scale climatic variation across latitude. At the same time, compensation of metabolic rate appears to be significant component of local adaptation across latitude in this species. This thesis also demonstrates the importance of utilizing methodological approaches which can assess changes in temperature sensitivity in response to different thermal conditions in intertidal organisms.

There is little research in sport that assesses a strengths-based approach, despite research in mainstream psychology showing multiple benefits of such an approach. A strengths-based approach refers to identifying and using an individual's existing strengths to improve their overall functioning. In mainstream psychology, research and interventions adopting such an approach only occurred after a common language, and increased conceptual clarity, was established as a result of the development of strengths-based questionnaires that allowed the identification of strengths. Existing questionnaires are, however, mostly general scales and do not capture the complexity of strengths required in specific contexts. These have, therefore, been criticised as not being applicable to sport, and thus the lack of research into strengths-based approaches in sport may stem from a lack of a common language, and assessment method, for sport-specific strengths. As a result, this thesis aimed to investigate sport-relevant psychological strengths that provided the basis for the development, and initial validation, of a sport-specific psychological strengths questionnaire. To do this, four studies were conducted. Study 1 utilised a systematic review to identify the positive qualities, traits, or characteristics that could potentially be classed as psychological strengths within the current sport psychology literature. After a pre-defined search strategy was used, 78 full-text articles were analysed, and 115 terms were extracted and synthesized into 13 overarching psychological strengths. The overarching strengths identified suggested new strengths that were not part of previous questionnaires, thus potential psychological strengths specific to the sporting domain. Study 2 aimed to further investigate the qualities identified in Study 1 and to specifically examine the positive qualities, traits, and characteristics of athletes through the lens of a strengths-based approach. An expert panel took part in a three-round Delphi method that generated qualities that were considered relevant psychological strengths, rated the relevance of these qualities along with those from Study 1, and then agreed upon a set of sport-relevant psychological strengths. As a result of this process, a consensus was reached on 29 qualities as being relevant psychological strengths within sport. This provided a set of sport-relevant psychological strengths that was developed by specifically examining positive qualities of athletes in sport through the lens of a strengths-based approach, in conjunction with rating the qualities identified in Study 1. Based on the findings from Studies 1 and 2, Study 3 then developed a questionnaire to assess sport-specific psychological strengths in athletes and explored the underpinning structure of this tool. This study developed an online questionnaire comprised of 90 items. Data from 411 participants was subjected to principal component analysis which identified a seven-component structure that retained 41 of the initial items. In line with questionnaire development recommendations, further work was required to confirm the underpinning structure. This occurred in Study 4, which conducted confirmatory factor analysis on a new sample of 348 participants. The proposed seven-factor model was confirmed, with a 25-item questionnaire showing acceptable fit. The seven factors were interpreted to relate to psychological strengths relevant in the context of sport, and were named as Commitment, Emotional Control, Competitiveness, Coachability, Embrace New Experiences, Passion, and Personal Responsibility. Each sub-scale assessing the individual strengths were also found to have acceptable levels of internal reliability. Study 4 therefore supported the underpinning structure and psychometric properties of the questionnaire – known as the Sport-Specific Psychological Strengths Questionnaire (SSPSQ) – and demonstrated initial validity and reliability. Through a robust evidence-based process this thesis has identified relevant psychological strengths within the sporting context and provided initial validity and reliability for a sport-specific psychological strengths questionnaire – something that has been lacking within the sports literature. This thesis has therefore made a significant and original contribution to the literature as it has addressed a gap within this area, providing research into an approach which has previously received limited attention. Findings have identified psychological strengths specific to the context of sport and highlight the importance of examining psychological strengths within specific contexts. The findings from this thesis have theoretical, applied, and methodological implications and provide a questionnaire that can form the basis of further research and intervention work in this area. It is hoped that, whilst adding to the current literature, this thesis can provide the foundations on which further work can build to establish a strong evidence base for a strengths-based approach within sport.

Why did many ‘black’ anti-imperial thinkers and leaders articulate projects for colonial freedom based in transnational identities and solidarities? This thesis excavates a discourse of anti-imperial globalism, which helped shape world politics from the early to late 20th century. Although usually reduced to the anticolonial nationalist politics of sovereignty and recognition, this study interprets ‘anti-imperialism globalism from below’ as a transnational counter-discourse, primarily concerned with social justice, social freedom, and equality. Anti-imperial globalism emerged and changed in response to developing world events, but it was also shaped by boundary-crossing discourses. One discourse understood global progress as dependent on the ability of different societies to unite through large-scale organisation and political integration. These political visions – which were often articulated as ‘federation’ – were enabled, but ultimately limited, by a second dominant discourse of racial hierarchy and race development. I argue that anti-imperial strategies changed throughout the 20th century not because the hierarchical relations of empire were defeated, but because empire was able to rehabilitate itself according to more ethno-culturally inclusive principles of global governance. This thesis makes two contributions to existing literature. Firstly, it builds on recent debates concerning empire, decolonisation, and world order. Empire is usually conceptualised as one polity’s alien rule over another, or, along with nation-states and international institutions, another type of unitary actor. This effectively flattens imperial relations into a coloniser/colonised binary, and relegates them to a distant, deniable past which predated the post-1945 nation-state system. Tracing the histories of men and women who struggled against empire reveals it as a productive and adaptable form of transnational power, which created stratified yet lasting social identities. Secondly, in pursuing this historical-relational approach to empire and race, this study offers an alternative to sovereignty and recognition based models of state, political community, and world order.

In recent years a significant effort has been devoted to the study of more energy efficient aircraft that will meet the environmental goals set out in initiatives such as Vision 2020 and Flight Path 2050. Some of these studies have considered the implementation of new aircraft concepts that can provide enhanced performance in terms of overall aircraft efficiency and noise. One such concept is the truss-braced wing aircraft, which has been shown to provide an overall benefit to aircraft mass and fuel-burn by virtue of its high-aspect ratio wing and efficient structural design. However aeroelastic phenomena such as flutter and gust loads place a limit on the practical efficiency savings that can be achieved by adopting a braced-wing design, therefore any mechanism by which these negative aeroelastic effects can be mitigated will be a key enabler for the success of this concept. This thesis investigates the possibility of achieving gust loads alleviation and flutter suppression in a truss-braced wing via passive vibration control. A full-scale aircraft model based on the NASA/Boeing SUGAR concept aircraft is used to run a series of studies where a vibration suppression device is included in the truss structure and the device properties are optimised in order to suppress flutter and minimise gust loads. Different device layouts are considered including devices that can be frequency-tuned to target specific modes of the structure. The results for the SUGAR-inspired model demonstrate that improvements in flutter speed between 1 - 6% and reductions in gust loads of approximately 4% are achievable with an almost negligible mass penalty from the device. It is also noted that further benefits could be realised if the design of the device was included as part of a wider structural optimisation. Finally, the methods used in this thesis can be used to model a generic vibration absorber attached to any generic finite element model, fundamentally enhancing the scope for vibration suppression devices to be considered in the design and optimisation of large and complex systems.

Nigeria is a mono-economy nation depending on the petroleum sector for her foreign exchange earnings. Its oil industry faces a major challenge of vandalism of oil pipelines, where recorded incidents have varied between 3 and 10 every day during the last 15 years. The aims of this research were to examine the problem of petroleum products pipelines vandalism in Nigeria and make recommendations for improving the national response to the problem, with the specific objectives of examining the nature and extent of the problem, identifying the strategies and tactics being employed to address the problem, and examining the strengths and limitations of the current measures. The extant literature indicates that vandalism of oil pipelines is a global phenomenon, against which most oil and gas producing countries deploy equipment and technologies in conjunction with security forces to protect their oil and gas facilities. The methodology adopted for this study was qualitative in nature, comprising semi-structured interviews with ten NSCDC anti-vandalism personnel from Niger Delta states’ commands and headquarters; twelve other critical stakeholders encompassing the security joint-task force (JTF) personnel, multi-national oil companies’ senior managers, leaders of oil-producing host communities, NGO managers, senior personnel in private security companies (PSCs) and other physical security experts. The participant accounts suggest that vandalism of oil pipelines in Nigeria is multifaceted, requiring a combination of methodologies and tactics to combat it. They included details of a massive deployment of security forces to the Niger Delta region to combat oil pipelines vandalism, reporting positive results from NSCDC personnel deployment to Niger Delta region in the form of arrests of the perpetrators and foreign collaborators, and seizures of their vessels. At the same time, however, it was reported that the militarization of the oil producing communities increases tension, escalates violence and leads to human rights abuses. The research recommendations include evolving alternatives away from the current measures which emphasise security forces deployment to combat vandalism of oil pipelines; investment in the deployment of physical security in combination with the security forces in a more integrated manner, provision of social amenities in the oil producing communities, seeking international collaboration, provision of job opportunities for the youths of the Niger Delta region, identification and apprehending of the sponsors of oil pipelines vandals, and also learning best practices from other oil and gas producing countries.

Proteolysis targeting chimeras (Protacs) are heterobifunctional small molecules which induce targeted protein degradation by hijacking the natural intracellular quality control mechanism, the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Protacs simultaneously bind both a target protein and an E3 ubiquitin ligase, forming a ternary complex. The close proximity of the target protein and the E3 ligase allows transfer of the post-translational modifier ubiquitin onto the target protein, which allows the protein to be recognised and degraded into small peptidic fragments by the proteasome. The Protac approach offers several advantages over small-molecule inhibition alone as efficacy can be driven from low drug concentrations, extended duration of action can be achieved, and scaffolding functions of the target protein can be removed. In this thesis, the application of Protac technology towards a series of disease-relevant proteins is explored. In Chapters 2 and 3, Protacs targeting the kinase ActR2B and the thyroid hormone receptor were developed as potential treatments for sarcopenia and hyperthyroidism, respectively. However, in both cases, no target degradation was observed. Given the lack of degradation with the initial empirically selected targets, a distinct, non-selective approach to protein degradation was considered in Chapter 4. Protacs based on a highly promiscuous kinase inhibitor were designed and synthesised, then profiled using proteome-wide expression proteomics. This strategy allowed identification of several novel degradable targets, and also indicated proteins that may be more challenging to degrade. The opportunity for degradation selectivity in the absence of binding selectivity was also highlighted. Having identified Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) as one of these degradable targets, selective BTK Protacs were then studied in Chapter 5. Protacs based on the covalent inhibitor Ibrutinib led to the surprising discovery that covalent inhibition prevents Protac-mediated degradation of BTK. Protacs developed from a selective, reversible BTK inhibitor allowed rapid interrogation of the kinase as a prototypical Protac target.

The research presented within this thesis aimed to contribute to the understanding of the structure of, and reactivity in, self-organised ionic liquids (ILs). This thesis comprises of three studies. The first relates to the local, short-range ordering in both pure and binary mixtures of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imides ([CnC1im][Tf2N]). Following the synthesis of selectively deuterated materials, in order to provide the necessary contrast, small-angle neutron scattering data were collected and fit to a range of scattering models. It was found that pure ILs with short alkyl chain lengths (n = 2, 4, 6) have no alkyl chain ordering, while longer alkyl chained ILs (n = 8, 10, 12) displayed bicontinuous (percolated) structures, where one network consists of alkyl chains and the other of imidazolium head groups and [Tf2N]- anions. The bilayer separations were related directly to chain length. Neutron data were also collected for two series of binary IL mixtures, namely [C2C1im]x-1[CnC1im]x[Tf2N] and [CmC1im]x-1[C12C1im]x[Tf2N] (n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, m = 2, 4, 6, 8). Analysis of the data revealed that several fitting models could be used and the most appropriate often depends on the composition of the mixture. The mixtures can be described as either having no alkyl chain structure, consisting of small alkyl chain aggregates, or as a bicontinuous network, depending upon the mixture, mole fraction, and alkyl chain length. The second study reports on the effect of the long-range order present in liquid-crystalline ILs (LCILs) to influence the rate of an aza-Claisen rearrangement. Ex situ 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy indicated that a small rate change occurs through a cubic-to-columnar transition, while no change is observed through a cubic-to-isotropic transition. The third study reports on the thermal properties of fan-shaped, stilbazolium-based salts, in the search for new LCILs. Polarising optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry experiments determined that the stilbazolium-based salts were not liquid-crystalline.

Faced with fewer employment opportunities at home, more British and American university graduates are moving abroad to teach English as ‘native speakers’. In 2013 Japan’s JET Programme employed over 4000 ‘native speaker’ ‘Assistant Language Teachers’ (ALTs)1. While ALT’s primary professional responsibility is widely considered to be teaching English to elementary, junior high and high school students, this study reveals they frequently provide their Japanese co-workers with English language help. After collecting around 80 hours of audio-recordings from two Japanese high school staffrooms, this study underwent a Conversation Analytic examination of English language learning encounters between ALTs and their Japanese co-worker English teachers. There is a considerable body of Conversation Analytic research examining Second Language Acquisition processes in formal educational environments. However, with second language users engaged in formal learning constituting but a small fraction of the global L2-user community, “[w]hy, then, are the doors of classrooms still locked?” (Wagner, 2004: 615). This study considers English language learning processes occurring outside the classroom - in Japanese high school staffrooms. Analysis reveals these language learning encounters invariably consist of three distinct actions: the English L2 user requests help, the English L1 user provides help and the sequence is closed. Within this basic structure, however, various phenomena occur. Rather than considering learning in the teachers’ “frontstage” setting of a classroom, this study examines learning occurring in the “backstage” (Sarangi & Roberts, 1999) setting of school staffrooms. Staffrooms are considered an important site for identity construction (Richards, 2007). Indeed, this analysis of language learning processes reveals complex identity negotiations. ALTs and their co-workers show themselves to be particularly resourceful communicators - utilizing different multilingual competencies, and dealing with various interactional ‘troubles’ and ‘hesitancies’. This study adds to the body of SLA research using a ‘social’ approach - thus contributing to a redressing of an imbalance in the field (Firth & Wagner, 1997), and examines language learning in an under-researched site. Furthermore, the findings indicate that language learning is interwoven with identity work related to knowledge. This utilizes and informs Heritage’s recent influential work on ‘epistemics’ (2012a, 2012b), applying it to L2 interaction.

Human capital production is central to economic wellbeing from a national perspective: it improves productivity, spurs technological innovation, and promotes sustainable economic growth over time. Equally important, investments in human capital are central to economic wellbeing at the individual level. College graduates tend to earn more money, are more employable, are better able to manage economic downturns, and have even been shown to have better health. Moreover, for many students, the college experience is an important lesson in living independently, developing social and professional networks, and generally taking on more responsibility in one's life. It has been said that pursuing a degree in higher education is the largest investment one can make for the future. This work employs a variety of empirical strategies to better understand how students make choices regarding college: where to attend, what to study, and whether to work during college or not, for example. Chapter 1 provides background on two contentious issues in American higher education: the changing structure of financial aid and the longstanding trend of lengthening time to baccalaureate degree in the United States. Traditional financial aid has included subsidized and non-subsidized loans, need-based financial aid (e.g., Federal Pell Grant Program), and targeted merit-based financial aid, such as academic or athletic scholarships. However, the early 1990s saw the advent of a new type of financial aid: broad-based, state merit-based aid scholarships. I provide background information on how such scholarships are generally structured, paying special attention to New Mexico's program, the New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship (NMLLS). Chapter 1 then discusses longstanding trends in the time it takes undergraduate students to earn bachelor's degrees in the United States. Focus is targeted at the potential costs of this phenomenon to state budgets, institutions, and the students themselves. Chapter 1 concludes by discussing responses to this trend by lawmakers and higher education officials, and whether such responses are warranted. Using a rich administrative data set from New Mexico's flagship university, Chapter 2 examines whether the NMLLS resulted in any meaningful change in 4-, 5-, and 6-year completion rates comparing qualified resident students to nonqualified nonresident students before and after the program became effective. Propensity score matching is performed to mitigate any observable differences between resident and nonresidents. We find no overall completion effects in the aggregate, but do find economically meaningful divergent completion effects by academic preparation. It appears that results may be driven by students from families whose financial constraints are binding. Chapter three investigates whether college graduates suffer a wage penalty in the labor market for taking longer than traditional standards to complete an undergraduate degree. We view this as a test of whether employers view time to degree as a productivity signal in the labor market. According to human capital theory, there should be no wage penalty if students are accumulating the same amount of credits at a slower rate. However, if employers view lengthened time to degree as a negative productivity signal, then one would expect a wage penalty. Previous literature has found large and statistically significant wage penalties associated with lengthened time to degree, but we are not convinced they have adequately addressed the endogeneity of time to degree in the student wage equation. When we address endogeneity by controlling for institutional quality, student ability, and instrumenting for the student's own time to degree with the average time to degree at their institution, we find no evidence that employers view lengthened time to degree as a negative productivity signal. Chapter 4 uses the same data set and methods as Chapter 2, but examines students' choice of majors. I argue that one potential unintended consequence of broad-based merit scholarships is to discourage students from attempting more difficult majors, such as STEM, in order to maximize the likelihood of scholarship retaining. This may be particularly true for marginally academically prepared students. I find no evidence that either the likelihood of first majoring in a STEM field or earning a degree in STEM is affected in the aggregate by the enactment of the NMLLS. Statistically significant effects emerge when disaggregating by academic preparation, however---academically less prepared students are less likely to pursue a STEM major as a result of the NMLLS, while more academically prepared students are more likely to first major in a STEM field. This is in accordance with the previous literature as well as the theoretical model offered in the paper. Chapter 5 concludes, with a summary of main results from Chapters 2 through 4, with special attention being paid to the policy implication of these findings. Chapter 5 also offers suggestions for future work. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Over the last forty years, the use of electronic controls within the automotive industry has grown considerably. In-vehicle network technologies such as the Controller Area Network (CAN) and Local Interconnect Network (LIN) are used to connect Electronic Control Units (ECU) together, mainly to reduce the amount of wiring that would be required if hardwired integration were used. Modern passenger cars contain many networks, which means that for the architecture designer, there is an almost overwhelming number of choices on how to design/partition the system depending on factors such as cost, weight, availability of ECUs, safety, Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) etc. Despite the increasing role played by in-vehicle networks in automotive electrical architectures, its design could currently be described as a “black art”. Not only is there an almost overwhelming number of choices facing the designer, but there is currently a lack of a quantifiable process to aid decision making and there is a dearth of published literature available. NetGen is a software tool used to design CAN/J1939, LIN and FlexRay networks. For the product to remain competitive, it is desirable to have novel features over the competition. This report describes a body of work, the aim of which was to research in-vehicle network design processes, and to provide an improvement to such processes. The opportunities of customer projects and availability of customer information resulted in the scope of the research focusing on the adoption of LIN technology and whether the adoption of it could reduce the cost and weight of the target architecture. The research can therefore be seen to address two issues: firstly the general problem of network designers needing to design in-vehicle network based architectures balancing the needs of many design targets such as cost, weight etc, and secondly the commercial motivation to find novel features for the design tool, NetGen. The outcome of the research described in this report was the development of design processes that can be used for the selection of low cost and weight automotive electrical architectures using coarse information, such as that which would be easily available at the very beginning of a vehicle design programme. The key benefit of this is that a number of candidate networked architectures can be easily assessed for their ability to reduce cost and weight of the electrical architecture.

Background: Traditionally, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has been considered to be a predominantly white matter (WM) disease. More recent studies have revealed considerable grey matter (GM) involvement in the brain. However there is a paucity of literature examining GM pathology in the spinal cord. Objectives and methods: We use human post-mortem material to explore various aspects of spinal cord GM pathology in MS including (i) the extent and pattern of spinal cord demyelination, (ii) the relative contributions of GM and WM volume loss to spinal cord atrophy, (iii) the extent of neuronal pathology within the spinal cord and (iv) the sensitivity of post-mortem MRI for detecting spinal cord GM plaques. Results: Within the spinal cord, GM demyelination is more extensive than WM demyelination with many lesions showing a novel morphological pattern whereby the plaque borders maintain a strict respect for the GM/WM boundary. Demyelination is more extensive in the spinal cord GM than in other brain regions examined. Post-mortem MR imaging at 4.7 Tesla is highly sensitive for detecting the spinal cord GM plaques. We demonstrate substantial neuronal loss in the spinal cord in MS, observing reductions in both interneuron and motoneuron numbers. This neuronal loss occurs predominantly within GM plaques. We also observe reductions in interneuron size, both within plaques and in the myelinated GM. Despite this, we find no evidence of spinal cord GM atrophy. Conclusions: This study represents the first detailed examination of spinal cord GM involvement in MS. We demonstrate substantial GM pathology in the spinal cord, further challenging the concept that MS is a predominantly WM disease. A greater understanding of this pathology may provide important insights into MS pathogenesis and mechanisms of disability in the disease.