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The last two decades have seen major interventions in naturalisation legislation across much of the ‘industrialised’ world, with successive UK administrations introducing and refining citizenship tests, language proficiency requirements, and ceremonial performances in an explicit bid to elevate the acquisition of citizen-status from a ‘right’ to a ‘privilege’ (Home Office, 2013a). In this thesis, I draw on theorisations of the border as a geopolitical, a biopolitical, and a ‘neuropolitical’ (Isin, 2004) phenomenon, and thus conceptualise these newly-instituted ‘citizenisation’ (Fortier, 2017) processes as a political project, as part of an assemblage of bordering practices through which to heighten and manage the anxieties of the neurotic subject within the securitised state, and to realise the nation state in domopolitical terms as a home (Walters, 2004). While discourse researchers have certainly provided much important empirical insight into the strategies employed in contemporary citizenship documentation, and in the broader discursive contexts in which these citizenship regimes are situated (e.g. Wodak et al, 2009; Löwenheim and Gazit, 2009), I argue that the citizenship regime cannot be understood as wholly constituted through the linguistic practices of élite policy and media actors, but should instead be conceptualised more broadly as discursive practice: as a complex set of linguistic, material, and symbolic practices. From this premise, I situate my research within a particular local context, drawing together a data set which takes into account policy documents and testing materials, observations of testing and ceremonial rituals, and interviews with twenty actors involved in the production of the citizenship regime, including citizenship officials and recent and prospective citizens. Articulating themes across the data set, I look to the ways in which both the state and the Good citizen-subject are performed and secured within this discursive landscape, and find important moments of disruption and contestation to this dominant discursive formation.

Whilst there have been a number of studies into amine degradation at laboratory scale few have investigated this phenomenon at pilot plant scale. The aims of this thesis were to use a variety of analytical techniques to analyse both primary and blended amine solvents from pilot plants in the UK and North West Europe. The results from the analyses were correlated in an effort to present a comprehensive overview of solvent behaviour at this scale. The analytical methods used were Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS), Gas Chromatography Flame Ionisation Detection (GC-FID), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICPMS), Ion Chromatography (IC), and 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The corrosive effects of the solvents were investigated using electrochemical testing. The data from GC-MS and GC-FID was correlated in order to quantify the major degradation products found in amine solvents. ICPMS was used to quantify the metals in the solvents and was correlated with IC data. The use of 13C NMR spectroscopy had previously been used to monitor the speciation of amines in solvent systems, but had not been correlated to any other data. This work used 13C NMR spectroscopy to quantify the amine species in the solvent and correlated this data to GC-MS results. From the electrochemical testing it was shown that corrosion only increases when oxygen is present in the system but is negligible at low temperatures (40°C). The use of continuous cationic exchange resins to remove metals was shown to be an effective method of mitigating degradation in primary amine solvents. It was also shown that 13C NMR spectroscopy can be used for the rapid analysis of the extent of degradation and can be used in conjunction with other analytical methods to monitor amine degradation.

Given the limited empirical evidence to guide support for romantic functioning in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this research aims to explore how closeness is managed in romantic relationships when one member is diagnosed with ASD. 8 participants, 3 couples and 2 individuals aged between 26 and 80 took part in the study. Of these 5 (3 male and 2 female) were autistic and 3 (1 male and 2 females were non-autistic). Participants were recruited using a specialist nationwide organization and they were interviewed individually or conjointly, as well as observed during a 15- minute interaction. Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyse the data and a framework was produced to describe processes of managing closeness in ASD. The core concept to emerge from the analysis was entitled “reaching towards the unknown”. It consisted of three categories, termed “encountering the other”, “reaching for understanding” and “managing uncertainty”. The framework captured processes of joining with and adapting to someone very different, of stretching beyond familiar bounds in order to understand the other and manage uncertainty. This research offers an inter-subjective perspective of ASD. It frames socio-emotional reciprocity and adaptability within romantic relationships as relational phenomena, which are contingent upon factors outlined within the framework. The model considers pre-existing theories about romantic closeness in order to assist counselling psychologists in accommodating ASD within their couple therapy practice.

This thesis explores the provision of services for people with multimorbidity in general practice. It considers 3 broad research questions: how services are organised; why they are configured in this way; and the impact this organisation has on service delivery. At present, there is no formalised system for managing multimorbidity in general practice. Current arrangements reflect the wider organisation of care for chronic conditions which typically involves managing individual chronic conditions. The needs of people with multimorbidity are often complex and require a number of services from several providers. Coordinating these services is challenging, not least because of the fragmented system within which professionals and providers are situated. Different clinical, managerial and funding arrangements complicate this situation, creating as it does a number of parallel work streams. Effective healthcare for people with multimorbidity requires different providers to work collaboratively to promote linkage across professional and service boundaries. Information flows and administration play an important role in promoting continuity and coordination within and across work streams that span primary, secondary and tertiary care. In some instances, inefficiencies in services can be linked to the lack of integrative working between the clinical and administrative aspects of care. At present, fragmented systems are perpetuated by the lack of a whole systems approach that would align clinical, managerial and financial aspects of service provision across organisations. This thesis demonstrates that, services in general practice are increasingly determined by factors external to it. Most notably the division of care across multiple providers and the financial and contractual arrangements which require an organisation of services that promotes a division of labour and a routinsation, aimed at optimising the daily through put of patients. If the present and future needs of people with multimorbidity are to be effectively met, changes to the way services are provided in general practice must be considered as part of a whole system of healthcare, whereby collaborations between different professionals and services are intentionally organised and actively managed. Although the evidence base for managing multimorbidity is limited, there is a growing recognition that in terms of improving outcomes for people with multimorbidity, improving clinical care alone is not as effective as simultaneously improving the organisation or design of services across the whole system of provision.