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Several benefits have been brought about by using Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), including faster procedure times, reduction of patient pain, and reductions in complications intraoperatively and postoperatively. However, some new techniques in MIS for colon cancer are technically difficult to perform using currently available instruments. Robotic systems for treatment of cancer in the lower Gastrointestinal (GI) tract have not shown performance that has translated into regular adoption. This thesis describes the creation of soft parallel robots for MIS that provide a different approach to the devices in the literature. To the author's knowledge, this is the first deployable, laser welded, soft, hybrid parallel robot designed for minimally invasive surgery. The field of soft robotics relies on soft materials for the construction of robotic devices and is a growing field of research. A keyword search of soft robotic devices for use in MIS was performed, revealing general trends in the current research. It was found that a majority of devices in research were of continuum type, were moulded with elastomeric materials, and were pneumatically actuated. The literature review helped to shape the manufacturing approach taken in this work, as it had been identified that few devices were low-profile, deployable, or could significantly change their volume when transitioning from an inactive to active state. A laser welding system was designed and built for this purpose, delivering a rapid, low-cost, and adaptable manufacturing method for low-profile, deployable structures and actuators. This thesis describes the first use of this manufacturing technique for creation of soft robotic devices for minimally invasive surgery. A deployable, bimanual, cable-driven parallel robot was manufactured using the laser welding system and showed maximum force exertion capabilities of 8.29 N. A programmatic design approach was used to design the structure of the robot, which highlights the ability to customise the design. The robot was used to successfully perform a procedure with similar steps to Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) with an untrained, novice user. The estimated volume change from the undeployed to the deployed state of the robot was approximately 73%. Novel soft hydraulic actuators were designed for use with deployable soft robots and were tested in a variety of configurations, from one Degree Of Freedom (DOF) to three DOFs. This is the first time, to the author's knowledge, that open loop position control, length estimation based on internal pressure, and collision detection have been demonstrated with this type of actuator. Open loop position control was demonstrated with the soft actuator, achieving RMSE values of 0.47 mm for a single actuator acting against gravity and 0.35 mm when used in an antagonistic configuration. The hysteresis values in each configuration were 0.71 mm and 0.51 mm respectively. The contraction of the soft actuators was estimated based on the internal pressure of the actuators. The RMSE between the estimated contraction and desired contraction was 0.98 mm when applied to the pressure data from the same configuration and 0.76 mm in the hybrid parallel configuration after a correctional offset was applied. The internal pressure in the actuators was used to demonstrate collision detection when the actuators were setup in a hybrid parallel mechanism. 100% of the simulated collisions were detected using a heuristic method that monitored changes in pressure over time and the angle at which the collisions were made could also be estimated. The RMSE between the estimated contact angle and the true angle at which contact was made was 8.22° over a 120° test range, and the method had an R-squared value of 0.95. Finally, a second deployable robot was manufactured that used three of the novel soft actuators to control its end effector. The robot was manufactured rapidly, at low-cost, with the only rigid components being the shaft assembly that delivered the instrument. A user was able to repeatedly trace a circle using the robot and the performance of the robot with a human-in-the-loop to correct its motion online even with the simple construction and control strategy of the robot.

Popular music education in the UK, and worldwide, has seen a significant expansion in the last two decades. As this new subject matures, scholars are beginning to fashion a new and more student-centred approach to learning and teaching: drawing on the informal learning practice found in popular music. Green (2006) defined the key characteristics of informal learning: allowing learners to choose the music; learning by listening and copying recordings; learning in friendship groups, with minimum adult guidance; learning in personal, often-haphazard ways; and integrating listening, playing, singing, improvising and composing. Informal musical learning is also facilitated through the use of recording as a technique for reflecting on, and improving one's own performance. These novel approaches to music education have begun to be applied by music educators, in a diverse range of contexts. Karlsen (2010) has correspondingly linked informal learning with ideas of authenticity, and communities of practice: social networks that provide individuals with access to learning through interaction with experienced ‘old-timers' as described by Lave and Wenger (1991). This thesis examines the way that seven musicians, teaching in one private UK Higher Education popular music institution, learnt their craft: firstly as musicians and subsequently as teachers. It asks how the way that these individuals acquired their skills and beliefs might impact on the way that they teach their students, and if this impact might be more effective if teachers were encouraged to reflect on their own learning, using that reflection to research, inform, and modify their own teaching practice. This work is particularly situated in small and medium size group teaching rather than the one to one teaching model found in classical music programmes, or in peripatetic music teaching. Furthermore, my work takes a structural-constructivist approach using the ideas of Bourdieu (1977, 1990a, 1993) as a theoretical lens, and drawing on the constructivist learning theory developed from the principles established by Vygotsky in the 1920's and 1930's (1930/1978).1 I argue that a hybrid approach to Bourdieu's notion of habitus (1990a, p.53) or the dispositions we adopt to the social world is crucial to understanding the way that we become musicians. Moreover, that the situatedness of musical and educational practice and the identity practices of learners and teachers are fundamental to the process of learning as a process of becoming (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Ergo, by recognising this process of learning as situated in social, cultural, historical, and technological contexts we may also facilitate metacognition (Flavell, 1979). By metacognition, I mean the ability to be reflexive2 as a learner or teacher; understanding the way that learning works, our beliefs about learning, and how those beliefs affect one's own learning and thus agency. Additionally, that notions of authenticity and creativity are vital to the effectiveness of musical learning practices, and the accumulation of social and cultural capital for popular musicians. My research methods include the use of open ‘semi structured' interviews (Leech, 2002) alongside observation in the classroom3 to generate empirical data. The primary research presented here is an Action Research Study: enabling the teachers in the study to retrieve their own experience of informal learning in order to facilitate informal learning practice in the music classroom. I suggest that these individuals recognise the importance of their own experience and are able to utilise, and learn from those experiences in developing approaches that are relevant, creative, and also authentic to their students. What this work also aims to do is establish links between theory and practice, and to identify potential mechanisms for engaging with our students' entire learning experience, whilst allowing them to understand the social and cultural process of musical learning. 1 This text is a collection of Vygotsky's work originally published in the 1920's and 1930's. 2 Reflexivity is a word used in sociology to describe how much agents are able to recognise the forces of social structure and therefore affect agency. 3 By classroom teaching, I mean small group (10-20 students) and exceptionally, larger group (40-60) teaching, as is the model for delivery at my institution.

The oxidation of carbon monoxide has been investigated in two different systems, Au alloyed with Pd(111) at room temperature and Cu(110) at 90 to 170 K. All experiments were conducted under UHV conditions using mass spectrometry and temperature-programmed desorption to follow the reaction. For the Au/Pd(111) system the intention was to improve the catalytic activity of the pure Pd(111) crystal by alloying with Au, as bimetallic alloys often display enhanced catalytic activities compared to that of the pure metal due to a combination of both ensemble and ligand effects. The ensemble effects being the arrangement of the active atoms and the ligand effects the electronic modifications or charge transfer associated with these active atoms. This was carried out by vapour deposition of various amounts Au on the Pd(111) crystal and annealing to form a surface alloy. Enhanced catalytic activities of up to 27 % was achieved by alloying with Au coverages of 0.2 0.4 ML on the Pd(111) substrate followed by annealing to temperatures 650 – 750 K compared to that of the pure Pd(111) surface. For the Cu(110) system we aimed to assess the catalytic activity of Cu, the objective being to determine the exact kinetic mechanism of the oxidation reaction at 90 to 170 K. This was done initially by pre-adsorbing O2 on the Cu(110) substrate surface at various coverage, followed by CO and monitoring for CO2 production. The experiment was then reversed with CO pre-dosed followed by O2. The catalytic oxidation reaction was found to proceed by a hot-precursor mechanism when O2 was dosed on a CO pre-covered surface above 130 K. Below this temperature any O2 dosed prior to or after the CO uptake would tend to physisorb molecularly and only reacted during dissociation while the O atom remained in a reactive transient. Here, the atomic O reacted directly with adsorbed molecule CO transiently prior to adsorption to the Cu substrate a catalytic reaction akin to that of an Eley-Rideal mechanism. We have studied the wetting properties, autocatalytic dissociative adsorption and the reactivity of the hydroxyl species originating from the co-adsorption of water and oxygen on Cu(110) at 200 to 300 K. Experiments were conducted by two separate methods; using molecular beam uptakes and by varying the static H2O pressures from 1.0 x 10 11 up to 5.0 x 10 7 mbar in conjunction with LEED and TPD. It has been hypothesized that the strong attractive interaction between mixed OH and H2O slows down the desorption kinetics of H2O sufficiently to produce H2O-OH structures that are stable up to RT. As a result the main focal point of the research was to gain some insight into the bonding mechanisms at elevated water pressures and ambient temperatures, whilst assessing the stability of the H2O-OH species. In addition to the 1H2O:1OH chains structures and dimers observed previous at these temperatures we also observed an additional stable structure during the TPD experiments. This structure appeared particularly when H2O was adsorbed with low (0.06 ML) atomic O coverages and became increasingly prominent when the uptake temperature was increased from 200 up to 240 K. The origin of this structure is discussed in the context of the structure proposed by earlier investigators.

This is a study of work place counselling. It responded to four key stimulants: (1) the paucity of workplace counselling evaluations; (2) the need to more fully incorporate the client and organisation into evaluations; (3) the call for an increased qualitative focus in counselling research; (4) the need for practitioners to become research-minded. The site was the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade's (NIFB) external counselling service. The study was inspired by the concept of the workplace counselling triangle - of client, counsellor and organisation. It explores the degree of congruence across the aims, needs, expectations and evaluations of each of the three facets; the aim being to ascertain whether the NIFB 's counselling provision meets the needs of its three primary stakeholders? A qualitative methodology was adopted, with stakeholder perspectives captured by semi-structured interviews. Counselling process assessments, sick absence analysis and a workforce awareness survey were also conducted. The counselling service was dramatically effective from the client perspective. Counsellors, while satisfied with their client work had reservations about organisational links. Their wish for greater primary intervention was matched by the NIFB being surprised that they were not more proactive at this level! A need for effective organisational induction and terms of engagement were identified, so as to allow counsellors to move beyond the personal counselling role. The observed reduction in absenteeism post-counselling was a dividend for the organisation. Although the NIFB counselling service does not currently meet all stakeholder needs, it has been shown to be significantly effective in both human and financial terms. The service is needed, period.

The portrayal of the divine character in a literary context shows the God in the narrative as he is perceived by the narrator. The chapters which follow focus on the pericopes within the narrative which are concerned with the portrayal of God as a character in the story. The present study reveals a unique image of the God of Israel as portrayed in the narrative. I have devoted chapters 1,2, and 6 to the three pericopes, labelled within the text as "visions of God" (chs. 1: 4-3: 15; 8: 1- 11: 24; 40-48) because they create the ground work for the divine character's activity revealing the narrator's portrayal of the God in the narrative. These three "visions" are strategically arranged at the opening, middle and closing of the narrative. The first "vision" shows God's encounter with Ezekiel while he is in exile. The second "vision" shows the reason for God's activity in the opening "vision" and the basis for all the activity within the narrative. The third "vision" shows that God's actions have not been in vain but will culminate in a reordering of God's place within the cultus. Ezekiel 37 contributes to the narrator's portrayal of the divine character and for this reason I have included it within my analysis in chapter 5. Likewise, in chapter 3, I have included the "divine oracle" of Ezekiel 16 which reveals the depth of the bond of the covenant and its effect on the God of the narrative. Furthermore, in chapter 4,1 have focused on the "divine oracles" in Ezekiel 20 and 36 because of the narrator's emphasis on the profanation and vindication of the name of God. That the narrator has carefully crafted his portrayal of the divine character is evident, and attested to in the construction of the pericopes. My reading and analysis of the text are a critical attempt to show, at least in portions of the text, that the narrator's portrayal of the divine character is an anomaly.