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Horses were an important, and almost ubiquitous, component of many British Late Pliocene and Pleistocene ecosystems. Study of them has, however, been hampered by their highly convoluted taxonomy. This research describes horse fossils of the genus Equus from their first entry into the British mainland (over 2.6 million years ago) until approximately 12 thousand years ago. The earliest British Pliocene finds of stenonoid ('zebra-like') horses appear to pre-date first appearance records in many areas of Eurasia. Unlike several previously proposed biostratigraphical schemes for fossil European Equus, the earliest British material represents not one, but several species. Several species also continue to occur throughout the Early Pleistocene and early Middle Pleistocene, and this is likely to reflect an adaptive radiation of stenonoid horses subsequent to their entry into the Old World. Caballoid ('true' horses) first appear in Britain during the early Middle Pleistocene and, with the exception of very rare occurrences of the 'European ass', Equus hydruntinus, replace the stenonoid horses throughout the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. All of the British material studied is compared with samples from major mainland European localities, and this study confirms the presence of several species previously named using continental material. However, several significant differences between the British and European forms are also identified in this analysis, possibly due to the environmental conditions experienced by horses at the extreme north-west of their European distribution. The study also identified apparent gaps in the occurrence of horses in Britain. Some of these may be due to hiatuses in the stratigraphical sequence, but others appear to be due to factors such as very harsh environmental conditions during glacial stages and changes in sea level preventing their entry. Several possible reasons for the observed changes in size and form are presented. Additionally, forms that differ from the continental horses are described, including in the Late Pliocene deposits and around 200,000 years ago. The work concludes with suggestions for extending this research and for combining its findings with those from other fields.

Throughout the hydrocarbon supply chain, process optimisation is driven by the desire to maximise profit margins. In the global refining marketplace, the biggest cost is crude oil and to improve margins increasing use of non-conventional crude oils (also called opportunity crudes) lowers the cost of the crude blend. Opportunity crudes are selected based on market forces, for example in North America, the production booms in shale oil and tar sands have provided ample amounts of new low-cost oils which refineries are buying and processing. However, as these oils are new to the marketplace many refineries have never processed them before which brings about challenges. These are mainly a lack of understanding of the quality of the crude oil being processed (shale oils for example can come from many thousands of wells) and how these oils interact with the more conventional refinery feedstocks (such as Brent or West Texas Intermediate). The Eng.D project was carried out in collaboration with Intertek Group plc, a multinational corporate organisation consisting of more than 42,000 employees in over 1,000 locations in over 100 countries across the globe, and was aimed at developing solutions to address crude oil processing problems. The issues covered over the course of the project fall into the areas of: enhancing understanding of crude oil quality, addressing issues of hydrocarbon blend stability because of blending and better utilisation of process data to promote efficiency and facilitate process troubleshooting. As such, the Eng.D project was firstly concerned with developing a robust chemometric model, based on Near Infrared spectra, for use in a major Asian refinery. Once built and tuned this model was ultimately used to predict physical properties (such as density, sulphur content and distillation properties) of every crude oil delivery and also online in the refinery for frequent prediction of crude oil blend properties. The second project was then aimed at solving refinery issues of the deposition of undesirable material (such as wax and asphaltenes) in pipes and process units. The research carried out during the course of the Eng.D project resulted in a patented approach to characterise these issues and provide refineries strategies to mitigate the problems. This approach is not just limited to crude oils but can be applied to any blended hydrocarbon streams and detects the precipitation of undesirable material using Near Infrared spectroscopy and microscopy. This ii approach has now been applied to solving problems of blending crude oils in refineries and offshore, heavy fuel oils, shale oils and marine fuels. Finally, the application of smart data analytics in an upstream installation was investigated. The objective of this application was to provide a customer with process troubleshooting for a historical recurring pump failure issue. To achieve this, the root cause of the issue first needed to be identified and then a solution developed.

This thesis aims to compare the words and governing ethical pattern of thought in the catalogue of virtues and vice in Colossians 3:5, 8, 12-17 to Greco-Roman and Jewish texts that are antecedent to, or contemporaneous with the writings of the apostle Paul and the Epistle to the Colossians. In carrying out this study, I will interact with and critique the arguments of scholars who have proposed that Paul and the author of Colossians are operating from a Stoic, Cynic or Aristotelian governing ethical pattern of thought. I will demonstrate that such positions are called into question in light of the lack of both central Greco-Roman ethical terms, and the lack of essential ethical concepts in both the generally agreed upon genuine Pauline epistles and in the Epistle to the Colossians in particular. Lastly, I will combine the results of the comparative studies of Colossians and the Greco-Roman and Jewish sources with an exegesis of Colossians in order to propose that: (i) the ethical terms of Colossians - while incidentally and peripherally influenced by the various Hellenistic ethical schools of thought - are most directly influenced by words found in the texts of the Jewish traditions, (ii) several of the ethical terms used by the author of Colossians are largely absent from and certainly uncommon in the Greco-Roman sources surveyed but widely attested in the Jewish sources, and that (iii) the author of Colossians presents his ethical material through an inherited binary format derived from the Jewish Two Ways tradition that is driven by a governing pattern of thought which focuses on Christlike transformation through the enactment and reception of cruciform love.

Bladder cancer is one of the commoner malignancies in humans and current treatments for invasive disease typically give a five year survival rate of around fifty percent. Current chemotherapeutic agents increase survival by a small amount; clearly there is the need for improved treatments and for this, novel targets need to be identified. One putative target is the Fos family member Fos-related antigen-1 (Fra-1), which form part of the AP-1 transcription factor complex. Fra-1 is elevated in numerous human malignancies and regulates the transcription of genes involved in many aspects of the malignant process, such as migration and invasion. Regulatory control of Fra-1 has been incompletely studied to date; it is known that MAP Kinase dependent signalling can influence Fra-1 accumulation but other aspects of control are only now being elucidated. This thesis demonstrates that Fra-1 is present in the majority of bladder cancers, that it is regulated by the structure of the C-terminus and MAP Kinase dependent phosphorylation of the amino acids Ser[superscript 252] and Ser[superscript 265], and undergoes proteasomal degradation. This highlights the potential role of Fra-1 as a novel therapeutic target and provides more information on the regulation of Fra-1 which may be targeted with novel agents.

The portfolio compositions examine the effects of using differing textures and colour within original musical concepts. The portfolio includes the results of research into methods of composition using two forms of the brass family - a reduced combination (Quintet) and the standard brass band configuration. The use of a combination of keyboard with solo brass, a combination of wind instruments with a solo wind instrument, and a combination of an orchestra with choir (SATB) is as a result of developing compositional techniques in hitherto unfamiliar areas. The works also attempt to reflect the influences of a number of recognised composers - Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, John Ireland, John Rutter, Leonard Bernstein, Lalo Schiffren and George Butterworth. My portfolio contains a wide diversity of moods and styles and is presented as a result of serious artistic endeavour. My work has been produced under the supervision of Professor Peter Graham - Chair of Composition. The portfolio contains the following original compositions:- 1. Psalm 23 - a setting for Orchestra and choir 2. Caprice for Alto Saxophone and Wind Band 3. Sonata for Tuba and Piano 4. The Well of Eternity - Variations on Abbots Leigh for Brass band 5. Petite Suite for Brass Quintet 6. The Bridestones - A Rhapsody for Brass Band.