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Chinese identity is perceived by education researchers is a confluence of deliberations on questions such as who is Chinese, how they are Chinese, how they come to identify as Chinese, and who gets to say who is and is not Chinese. This dissertation's task is, as a result, not to define Chinese identities or Chineseness. Rather, I unpack the multiple discourses that shape Chineseness that impact the decisions that governments, social movements, and schools make to (re)present Chineseness and Asianness. These multiple contestations across space and time sought to stabilize or institutionalize Chinese identities into a single idea, nation-states, such as the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, assert political, social, and cultural power. As well, individuals work to resist these state discourses to further shape their own and communities' understandings of Chinese identity. To analyze the global movements and circulations of Chineseness across contexts, this dissertation uses Asian Critical Race Theory (AsianCrit) and decolonial theory across four discrete articles to center how Chineseness moves through each of the power structures (white supremacy, Han supremacy, [settler] coloniality, and anti-Blackness) operating on its (re)production(s). Across the chapters of this dissertation, I argue for the analytical utility of the concept of Han Supremacy to understand the global and cross-temporal movements of state discourses of Chineseness that shape the lived experiences of Asian Pacific Islander Desi American and Asian (APIDA/A) people and those identifying with Asian diasporic communities cross multiple curricular sites. In the first article, I conceptually disentangle the overlapping and entangled boundaries between Han, "Yellow," Chinese, Asian, and People's Republic of China identities. I historicized the fluid boundaries and institutionalization of ethnic Han norms, ontologies, and logics that became subsumed into Chinese identity. I then show how the concept of Han identity becomes operationalized into a form of supremacy with parallels to other supremacist ideologies and its implications on how Chinese identity moves and is understood in diasporic contexts. Next, in the second article, I use critical race archival analysis and rememory to demonstrate the movements of Chinese identities across nation-state contexts by introducing my expansive conceptualization of curriculum and the analytic possibility of a nomencurriculum, or curriculum of names. I show that, within this framework, names are curricular touchstones by which nation-states can bind and (b)order individuals within a paradigm of white supremacy and empire. I do so by analyzing my own adoption paperwork and namings as an assemblage of ideologies, using critical race archival methods in conversation with AsianCrit Counterstorytelling and rememory. The third article uses critical discourse analysis and critical race archival analysis to analyze the U.S. military's training curriculum for soldiers during World War II. The document I analyze, Educational Manual No. 42 (1944) "Our Chinese Ally," I argue is a window into how the U.S. government at the time mobilized its selective and stereotypical interpretation of the Chinese context to affirm its imperialist ambitions. Using critical race theory archival analysis and critical discursive analyses, I show racialized reverberations of this document across time. Finally, in the fourth article, I use critical textual analysis to show the resistances to these state discourses by conducting a critical ideological textual analysis of Gene Luen Yang's (2006) American Born Chinese. I analyze the text to show the ways Yang engages in deliberate racial rhetorical positioning to destabilize racialized and xenophobic stereotypes mobilized against APIDA/A people and members of Asian diasporic communities. By adapting my methodologies and tuning my application of these two bodies of theory throughout these chapters, I show the contours and facets of Chinese identities as they are institutionalized and resisted. As a result, across these chapters, I argue that repairing these histories means critically examining the ways Chinese identities respond and bend to Han supremacy, Sinophobia, and Sinocentrism across curricular contexts. [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.]

Dams have been built in many parts of the world since the earliest human civilizations, but currently there is a significant program of dam building underway in the tropics. Despite general awareness of the likely detrimental impacts of dams, the limited number of empirical tropical studies means that specific effects of dams on these important but imperilled ecosystems are hard to predict. Although the Functional Flows (FFs) concept is now prominent in the scientific and river management literature, it has been applied only to some very specific cases in tropical areas to guide dam operation (e.g. to support periodic flooding of floodplain areas). In these and many other cases, FFs have been applied retrospectively, to design operational flows for existing dams. The work presented in this thesis concerns development of flow recommendations prior to the construction of a large tropical hydropower dam on Baleh River, Sarawak. Specific objectives of the thesis are to: (i) develop a full statistical understanding of the natural hydrological regime of Baleh River, (ii) identify critical habitat forming discharges (those responsible for coarse sediment entrainment and transport) and relations between discharge magnitude and hydraulic habitat heterogeneity, (iii) to assess the impact of the dam and other land use changes on sediment connectivity, and (iv) provide specific recommendations for dam operation to support sediment entrainment and maintenance of habitat heterogeneity, and for management of lake levels to limit changes in connectivity. The work involved analyses of historical data along with a number of empirical field data collection, modelling and remote sensing approaches. For Objective (i), a 51-year hydrological and hydro-climatological dataset was analysed in order to characterise the natural hydrological regime of the Baleh River. The analyses focussed on understanding the frequency, magnitude, duration, and timing of natural high and low flow events. For Objective (ii), HEC-RAS® models were built for 3 study reaches. These models were used to simulate hydraulic conditions across the range of discharges extending from high to low flows. The output from the hydraulic models was combined with information on critical entrainment thresholds of sediment at the 3 reaches in order to understand which flows are capable of entraining sediment. The focus of these analyses was to understand whether the expected hydropower regime is likely to cause sediment entrainment in the way that occurs currently under the natural regime. The analyses also used HEC-RAS® to evaluate hydraulic habitat heterogeneity at low flow conditions. The HEC-RAS® modelling was integrated with Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT® or ArcSWAT®) to understand flow magnitude in the river under different conditions of hydropower operation and rainfall (which would lead to tributaries downstream from the dam discharging high flows to the mainstem Baleh). In addition, the model coupled with the DEMs was used to look at the extent of exposure of gravel bars during low flow conditions. The SedInConnect model was used to understand patterns of sediment connectivity across the Baleh catchment. This model computes the sediment connectivity index (IC). For the modelling, it was necessary to develop DEMs and collate information on landcover in order to calculate topographic roughness and IC. Information on sediment entrainment was used to make recommendations about flows needed to maintain the geomorphic processes (i.e. bedload transport) post-impoundment that occur currently in the natural river. The low flow analyses were used to understand whether hydraulic conditions became more or less heterogeneous at low flows. The hydrological analyses identified 5 distinct classes of high flow event in the Baleh (defined as 'Event Types'). These types have distinct magnitudes and durations. HEC-RAS® modelling indicated that the smallest of these events led to sediment entrainment of D16 and greater at the study sites, and that larger events resulted in increasing areas of the bed across the study reaches experiencing entrainment. The maximum likely hydropower releases are smaller in discharge magnitude than the smallest of these natural events. The modelling indicated that more or less no sediment entrainment would occur during normal hydropower operations. However, integration of the HEC-RAS® and ArcSWAT® models indicated that when the catchment is wet, tributaries are contributing enough flow to result in sediment entrainment at the study sites that equates to that under some of the higher natural event types. Hydraulic habitat heterogeneity was relatively high during low flows and dropped at moderate and high flows. Moreover, at low flows, gravel bars became exposed at some of the study sites adding to overall habitat heterogeneity. According to the IC models, the impact of historical landcover changes on connectivity between the Baleh and the Rajang has not been pronounced. However, the models predicted that future forest clearance and roads will have observable impacts on the connectivity between the Baleh and Rajang. The models indicated that the construction of the dam would result in a significant impact on connectivity, with the effects of impoundment being greater than those of road and landcover changes, leading to a large portion of the Baleh catchment being almost completely disconnected from the Rajang. The operation of the dam will affect IC upstream of the dam due to the changes in connectivity caused by different lake levels. The HEC-RAS® modelling suggested that over time, in the absence of significant bed entrainment and transport of material, the bed could be expected to become progressively armoured and coarser, as seen in dammed rivers worldwide. However, the modelling also indicated that when the catchment is wet and downstream tributaries are contributing much additional water, flows in the Baleh will greatly exceed turbine releases and appreciable entrainment of bed material can be expected. Recommendations for geomorphic functional flows are made on the basis of these findings. Recommendations are to ensure that hydropower releases using the maximum number of turbines are made during times when the catchment is already wet, to ensure entrainment of bed sediment. Based on analyses of the natural regime, the recommendations include suggestions for timing and duration of such releases. They should last around 20 days, occurring 8 to 15 times per year, predominantly during the wet season. Low flow recommendations were made to occasionally allow dam releases to drop to 1 to 3 turbines to mimic natural low flow events. The recommendation for these events was to allow flow to drop to the natural respective monthly baseflows; these flows should last around 3 days with a frequency of at least 3 times per month during the wet season, and 2 times per month during the dry season. The dam will disconnect a major part of the Baleh catchment from the Rajang. The modelling suggested that the effects of the dam on connectivity will swamp the effects of landcover change and road construction on connectivity. Nevertheless, localised impacts of the road were predicted by the model, with an increase in connectivity on the upslope areas. It is recommended that measures to mitigate this are implemented as part of road construction and management. The model suggested that careful management of lake levels could be used to reduce the impact of the dam on connectivity in the upper part of the basin. The study of functional flows presented in this thesis is of growing importance for sustainable catchment management, particularly in Southeast Asia, where rapid dam construction and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change are prevalent. It is one of few studies globally that has explicitly considered fluvial processes when developing functional flow recommendations. It is also novel in integrating reach scale HEC-RAS® models with catchment scale SWAT® models to help in the design of functional flow recommendations. As far as the author is aware, it is the only study globally to have used the SedInConnect model to understand the combined and interactive effects of damming, landcover change and road construction on structural connectivity at a catchment scale. These approaches can be applied to large rivers in Southeast Asia and other Global South regions, aiding sustainable catchment and water management. It is one of few functional flow studies to have been undertaken before dam closure, allowing us to implement functional recommendations in advance of construction, rather than retrofitting them to a river that has been regulated for some time. It is recommended that a program of monitoring is implemented in the Baleh in order to understand how the river changes in response to impoundment and the success of flow recommendations for maintaining sediment dynamics and habitat heterogeneity. This monitoring will provide the basis for adaptive management.

Epilepsy surgery can be an effective treatment for drug-resistant focal epilepsy, but requires careful selection of appropriate candidates to achieve optimal results and minimise the chance of adverse outcomes, including seizure recurrence. Long-term data on multimodal outcomes and a better appreciation of various factors influencing surgical suitability will help facilitate informed discussions between clinicians and prospective surgical candidates. This thesis includes a comprehensive analysis of a cohort of individuals who had epilepsy surgery at a tertiary neurosciences centre over the last 30 years, supplemented by data on individuals who completed presurgical evaluation at the same centre but did not proceed to surgical resection. An inability to localise the epileptogenic zone (EZ), multifocal epilepsy, or an individual choice not to have either intracranial electroencephalography or surgery were the most common reasons why people referred for presurgical evaluation did not proceed to a definitive resection. A predictive model based on demographic, imaging and electroclinical data was constructed to assist early discussions about surgical suitability. Those with normal MRI, extratemporal epilepsy and evidence of bilateral seizure onsets on video telemetry had an estimated 2.9% chance of proceeding to surgery, and people with a normal MRI brain invariably required intracranial EEG. Frontal lobe epilepsy surgery was safe and effective, with a long-term (median seven years) seizure freedom rate of 27%, and another 11% having auras only. Psychiatric comorbidity frequently improved postoperatively and paralleled seizure freedom. Focal MRI abnormality and fewer anti-seizure medications at the time of surgery could help predict a good outcome. In contrast, the site of resection and intracranial monitoring were not independently significant. Localisation of the EZ should rely on clinical features and multimodal investigation, as in our cohort frontal lobe semiology alone could correctly lateralise the EZ in only 77% and localise to a sublobar level in 52%. For those who completed presurgical evaluation but did not have surgery, under 5% had >12 months of seizure-freedom following the decision not to proceed, although a quarter had substantial improvement with further anti-seizure medication (ASM) or neurostimulation. Evaluation for epilepsy surgery was lengthy for individuals and costly for the public health system. Both duration and cost depended on what investigations were required and varied according to different routes through the presurgical pathway, especially the need for intracranial EEG. The median duration of evaluation was 29.7 months (IQR 18.6-44.1 months), with a median cost per person of £9,138 (IQR £6,984-£14,868). Approximately £123,500 was spent per additional person seizure-free.

The modifiable risk factors, common infections and platelet function, have been shown in conventional observational studies to be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and progression outcomes. However, inferring causality from these observed associations are yet to be fully assessed. In this doctoral thesis, I applied epidemiological approaches to strengthen causal inferences and highlight issues related to conducting disease progression studies. In Chapter Four, four novel genome-wide genetic loci associated with antibodies against common infections were identified, and eight human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) showed strong evidence of replication in the independent cohort, UK Biobank (UKB). These findings suggest that there is a host genetic contribution related to infection susceptibility. In Chapter Five, findings showed that collider bias can arise in conventional observational studies and genetic studies (e.g., genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and Mendelian randomization (MR) studies) when a variable is selected upon based on factors such as disease status (e.g., myocardial infarction (MI) incidence) or medication use. Resultantly, proper consideration to account for this issue is important as otherwise findings may be misleading. In Chapter Six, three observational associations between antibodies against common infections and thrombotic CVD outcomes were identified, although MR analyses showed little evidence for causal effects. However, the MR analyses had insufficient statistical power as it was limited by the number of available instrumental variables (IVs) for each exposure of interest. In Chapter Seven, there was evidence of a causal effect between antibodies against EBV and platelet count (PLT). Although findings require replication as there was only one available IV associated with antibodies against EBV and consequently MR sensitivity analyses were unable to be conducted. In Chapter Eight, findings showed evidence of a causal effect between PLT and all thrombotic CVD outcomes of interest. This suggests that PLT, as a proxy for platelet function, has a causal role in thrombotic events.

Salads are prone to microbial contamination and have been reported as one of the common vehicles for foodborne pathogens that can cause foodborne diseases. Following the ban on chemical disinfectants to wash ready-to-eat (RTE) salads, the current multiple wash method, relies on its efficiency in the removal of pathogens instead of killing them. Therefore, enhancing its efficiency would be a significant achievement that would improve the microbiological safety and shelf life of RTE salads. In this thesis, the two main types of ultrasonic cleaning methods were compared, i.e. ultrasonic cleaning bath that cleans with inertial cavitation and ultrasonically activated stream (UAS) devices that clean with bubbles hosting surface wave activities. The cleaning performances of these ultrasonic cleaning devices and their potential in extending the shelf life of salads were evaluated by comparing microbial load remaining on treated salad leaves on day 0 and day 6. The effects of ultrasonic cleaning on leaf quality were examined to ensure that their cleaning mechanisms would not damage the leaf surface and leaf quality. Cleaning using ultrasonic bath achieved around 0.5 log reduction on day 0, and it did not improve shelf life because the cleaning action damaged the leaf surface. Such damage led to rapid proliferation of bacteria over shelf life, making the cleaning mechanism of ultrasonic bath unfit to be scaled up for industrial implementation. On the other hand, cleaning with UAS achieved around 1.2 and 1.5 log reduction on day 0 and the leaf samples cleaned with UAS also had significantly lower microbial load as compared to samples cleaned without ultrasound on day 6 post cleaning. The cleaning mechanism employed in UAS devices did not cause surface damage that could affect the leaf quality and shelf life. These findings highlighted the potential of UAS systems to be scaled up for industrial implementation in improving the microbiological quality and shelf life of salad.

The cooperative network, e.g. relay network and RIS network, is known to improve significantly the reliability in wireless communications. However, the upcoming Sixth Generation (6G) wireless networks requires not only high reliability, but also low-latency and high security. This challenge brings high-complexity in designing a proper optimization for future cooperative networks. As an emerging technology, deep learning plays an important role in solving complicated optimization problems in wireless communications. Compared with the conventional approaches, deep learning has remarkable power to deal with complicated optimization problems with low-complexity. Therefore, this thesis utilizes deep learning technologies to design the proper resource allocation such as relay selection, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) coefficients optimization, power allocation and hybrid orthogonal multiple access (OMA)/non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) selection in cooperative networks. First, to maximize the throughput with delay and secrecy constraint, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is used to optimize the relay selection strategy in buffer-aided relay networks. To further improve the outage performance, a novel decision-assisted DRL method is proposed based on the a-priori information in the buffer-aided relay system. Compared with traditional DRL methods, the proposed novel algorithm reduces the exploration dimension and the impact of bad actions in the training. Moreover, the proposed algorithm can be used to solve more complex problems such as joint relay selection and power allocation, joint relay selection and OMA/NOMA selection in cooperative networks. Second, this thesis investigates the performance of deep learning-based RIS optimization in RIS-assisted cooperative networks. To solve the low convergence efficiency problem in DRL-based RIS optimization methods, a novel deep cascade correlation learning (DCCL) method is proposed to optimize the RIS coefficients. Compared with DRL methods, the DCCL has higher sample efficiency to find a solution. Third, both DRL and DCCL are considered in the optimization for hybrid relay and RIS networks. The DCCL can solve the optimization problem with higher sample efficiency in hybrid relay and RIS networks, compared to the DRL. On the other hand, the DRL-based method achieves superior secrecy performance with delay constraint in buffer-aided cooperative networks as it learns to maximize the long-term benefit.

As one of the world's largest palm oil producers, Malaysia encountered a major disposal problem as vast amount of oil palm biomass wastes are produced. To overcome this problem, these biomass wastes can be liquefied into biofuel with fast pyrolysis technology. However, further upgradation of fast pyrolysis bio-oil via direct solvent addition was required to overcome it's undesirable attributes. In addition, the high production cost of biofuels often hinders its commercialisation. Thus, the designed solvent-oil blend needs to achieve both fuel functionality and economic targets to be competitive with the conventional diesel fuel. In this thesis, a multi-stage computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) framework was employed for bio-oil solvent design. In the design problem, molecular signature descriptors were applied to accommodate different classes of property prediction models. However, the complexity of the CAMD problem increases as the height of signature increases due to the combinatorial nature of higher order signature. Thus, a consistency rule was developed reduce the size of the CAMD problem. The CAMD problem was then further extended to address the economic aspects via fuzzy multi-objective optimisation approach. Next, a rough-set based machine learning (RSML) model has been proposed to correlate the feedstock characterisation and pyrolysis condition with the pyrolysis bio-oil properties by generating decision rules. The generated decision rules were analysed from a scientific standpoint to identify the underlying patterns, while ensuring the rules were logical. The decision rules generated can be used to select optimal feedstock composition and pyrolysis condition to produce pyrolysis bio-oil of targeted fuel properties. Next, the results obtained from the computational approaches were verified through experimental study. The generated pyrolysis bio-oils were blended with the identified solvents at various mixing ratio. In addition, emulsification of the solvent-oil blend in diesel was also conducted with the help of surfactants. Lastly, potential extensions and prospective work for this study have been discuss in the later part of this thesis. To conclude, this thesis presented the combination of computational and experimental approaches in upgrading the fuel properties of pyrolysis bio-oil. As a result, high quality biofuel can be generated as a cleaner burning replacement for conventional diesel fuel.

Task scheduling is a significant problem for parallel and distributed systems. As a mature and important topic, scheduling has attracted much attention among scholars. How to examine this topic in depth has become interesting and challenging. In this thesis, the author discusses it from three different aspects. Firstly, as a core question in high-performance computing, the scheduling algorithms are the main concern. The author proposes a novel algorithm called `the look-forward algorithm'. Different from other algorithms, the look-forward algorithm provides a novel way of task allocation, which fully considers the DAG structure and incoming and outgoing communications. Experimental results show that the look-forward algorithm can get up to 40\% improvement compared to the benchmark HEFT algorithm \cite{Topcuoglu2002}, especially when the number of tasks increases. Secondly, the author considers scheduling using a communication contention model \cite{Sinnen2005,Sinnen2004,Choudhury2012}. Research has shown the contention model has more stability and accuracy than the classic model in describing communication but it is also more complicated than the classic model because of the communication contention. The author extends the look-forward algorithm for contention model scheduling so that the algorithm can appropriately consider communication. Thirdly, after this algorithm and scheduling model, the author focuses on communication data. A new problem, the identical data problem, is proposed. Identical data means that exactly the same data is sent from one task to other tasks, which can be used to reduce the communication among processors. Taking this into account, a new algorithm based on the look-forward algorithm is proposed. All three algorithms in this thesis are evaluated using simulation.

This thesis establishes the neologism 'Imaginal Travel' and asks how it might constitute a methodology in fine art practice. Tropes of travel can engender a framing in terms of fixing and 'othering' people and places so as to facilitate exploitation and degradation and continue neocolonial inequalities. 'Imaginal Travel' brings the term together with notion of the imaginal, characterised by Corbin, Castoriadis, Hillman, and Bottici as fluidity, a blurring of boundaries, and flux, to show how each can provide unique perspectives on the other. How might 'Imaginal Travel' provide perspectives and possibilities to observe, model, and contest aspects of political and ecological life that traverse the material and spiritual, modes of interiority and exteriority, and the individual and collective? The author's own fine art practice is set out as instances which are rooted in her own visual myopia and ideas of near and far, through which to navigate. The reader/viewer is positioned as one element in a cosmology of objects, moments, participants, and experiences. This research is based around an individual methodology of fine art practice, but in addition it is one which manifests with and through social practices that engender change in the way that organisations and institutions can work with collecting, commissioning, remembering, conserving, and making meaning with audiences and artists. Other artists working with institutions take object-based approaches, such as Matt Smith who makes queer lives manifest in collections or those who work with politically charged materials, such as Susan Stockwell. Image-based approaches include artists that explore modes of categorisation and display, such as Helmut Völter. This research is unique in focusing on participation and interiority, which are developed through a contingent, dispersed, embodied, and expanded notion of photographic practice to act within and against histories of oppression associated with photography and the museum in strategies of decolonisation. This research asks how interventions in museums, galleries, institutions, and the public realm can question and challenge their acquisitions, modes of public participation, and the status of objects and collections and the ecologies in which they sit. 'Imaginal Travel' points to propositional attitudes in travel that involve thinking, making, and doing in the world as ritual and immanent acts in collaboration and in contemplation of inner life.

In this thesis, we study three applications of the noncanonical Hamiltonian formalism to fluid dynamics and the kinetic theory of gases and polymers. The first application is in polymer kinetic theory. A common model for a polymer solution is a suspension of multibead-chains in a Newtonian fluid. The configuration of the chains is described by a kinetic distribution function. We consider a double bracket formulation for the dynamics of this suspension. The reversible part is governed by a semidirect Lie--Poisson bracket, and the irreversible part is governed by a symmetric dissipation bracket. The Poisson bracket captures the kinematics of the beads being advected as Lagrangian markers. We find that chains with three or more beads can transmit angular momentum by bending, which produces an asymmetric couple stress. These terms support couple stress boundary layers at rigid boundaries. Finally, we derive closed macroscopic models that describe suspensions of Hookean multibead-chains. The second application is in gas kinetic theory. An ideal gas is described by the Boltzmann equation, which becomes a noncanonical Hamiltonian system if we neglect collisions. A long-standing problem in gas kinetic theory is the derivation of reduced hydrodynamic descriptions. We analyse some of these reductions using Poisson geometry. In particular, we give a manifestly Hamiltonian derivation of the compressible Euler equations from kinetic theory using a Poisson map and an approximation to the Hamiltonian. We extend these results to electrostatic plasmas described by the Vlasov--Poisson system. The final application is to active matter. We consider the ideal dynamics of a suspension of active rod-like swimmers. We establish a novel analogy between the active suspension and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in a nonlinear media. The magnetic field becomes the orientation field for the swimmers. Its magnitude then becomes a gauge degree of freedom, which we describe using Poisson geometry. The active suspension shares the noncanonical Hamiltonian formulation with MHD. Using the energy-Casimir and energy-momentum methods, we find force-free fields and finite amplitude Alfven waves in the active suspension.

Liver disease is a growing clinical burden worldwide. International rates of obesity and the incidence of alcohol abuse in Europe contribute significantly to chronic liver disease. Approximately a quarter of the world's population is estimated to have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and alcohol abuse is the most common cause of liver failure in many European countries. At present, the only cure for chronic liver failure is liver transplantation. However, the mismatch between patient demand and donor supply is widening. Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering including cell therapy and lab-grown mini-livers offer an exciting alternative to liver transplantation. Currently, two significant limitations in these fields are the immaturity of lab-grown hepatocytes and mini-livers, and the sub-optimal biomaterials available for tissue engineering and cell delivery. For example, Matrigel is the most commonly used matrix in hepatocyte differentiation from pluripotent stem cells and liver organoid culture, even though Matrigel is prohibited from clinical use. The work for this Doctor of Philosophy was aimed to address the limitations of current biomaterials. The primary objective was to explore proteins within the hepatocyte niche and develop a novel hydrogel that can replace Matrigel in the three-dimensional differentiation of liver tissue from pluripotent stem cells for liver tissue engineering. The secondary objective was to explore its potential for clinical translation in murine models of transplantation to help address the unmet clinical need. To achieve these objectives, a high throughput imaging platform was first developed to identify critical extracellular matrix proteins involved in the maintenance of stem cell pluripotency and hepatocyte differentiation. Next, a selection of hydrogel-forming natural proteins was investigated for their suitability as a polymeric backbone to conjugate candidate proteins. Hydrogels comprising candidate-backbone conjugates were then characterised and evaluated for their ability to support the tri-lineage three-dimensional differentiation of pluripotent stems into hepatic, cardiac, and neural lineages. Finally, the biocompatibility and utility of this novel hydrogel were evaluated in murine models. Results herein firstly show the high discriminatory ability of the developed high-throughput imaging platform. Subsequently, several Laminin sub-types that contributed to stem cell pluripotency and hepatocyte differentiation were successfully identified by screening the hepatocyte niche proteins. Next, the conjugation of selected laminins to serum-derived proteins led to the discovery of a novel albumin-based hydrogel with potential in bone engineering and a fibrin-based hydrogel (termed "Alphagel") with a strong potential for clinical translation. Alphagel was shown to support three-dimensional stem cell differentiation and, therefore, could be utilised in whole organ tissue engineering. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that Alphagel, being made of clinical-grade components, was biocompatible in vivo and could be loaded with liver-specific proteins (termed "Hepatogel") to achieve better cellular phenotypes. In conclusion, this work has demonstrated that Alphagel is a viable alternative to Matrigel for three-dimensional stem cell differentiation, tissue engineering, and cell or tissue transplantation. In addition, tissue-specific hydrogels like Hepatogel are likely to produce better cellular phenotypes than generic hydrogels like Matrigel. Therefore, future work will focus on developing tissue-specific hydrogels and investigating their utility in large animal studies and human disease modelling.

Primary prevention of CV events in people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) needs to improve as they are at risk of CV events. A major problem in T2DM is the high incidence of silent and potentially lethal cardiac disease. Cardiac target organ damage (CTOD) in T2DM, namely myocardial ischaemia (MI), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD), left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD), left atrial enlargement (LAE) all independently predict CV events and mortality. To date there has not been a comprehensive phenotypic assessment of CTOD in patients with T2DM. The aim of my MD project (4P Study, ISCRTN 12700399) was firstly to determine the disease burden in a cohort of patients with well-controlled T2DM and blood pressure (BP) who are asymptomatic, with no known CV disease. Secondly, my MD project was to determine if a simple blood biomarker can be used to predict the presence of CTOD in lieu of complex and expensive cardiac imaging tests. The MD project was a cross-sectional study of randomly selected patients with T2DM with no known CV symptoms or disease, clinic BP or average 24-hour BP ≤140/80mmHg, and HbA1c ≤64mmol/mol. Patients with renal impairment, atrial fibrillation, echocardiographic evidence of moderate to severe valvular disease were excluded. All participants underwent transthoracic echocardiogram, electrocardiogram and dobutamine stress echocardiogram (DSE). Those who did not tolerate DSE or whose DSE was inconclusive, a myocardial perfusion scan or computed tomography coronary angiogram was done. Biomarkers such as BNP, NT-proBNP, high-sensitivity cardiac Troponin I (hs-TnI), high sensitivity cardiac Troponin T (hs-TnT) and Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF-15) were measured. Of the 246 patients (median age 67 years, 36% female) who consented and participated in the 4P Study, 101 (41%) had CTOD. 71 (29%) had 1 CTOD, 21 (9%) with 2 CTOD and 9 (4%) had 3 CTOD. The most prevalent CTOD was LVH, n=71 (29%), followed by LAE, n= 46 (19%); LVDD, n= 11 (4%), MI, n= 8 (3%), LVSD, n=4 (2%). There was statistically significant rise in all biomarker levels corresponding to cumulative number of CTOD, although there was no statistically significant difference in all biomarker levels between presence and absence of both MI and LVSD, owing to the very low prevalence of these 2 CTOD. Both NT-proBNP and hs-TnI performed best in logistic regression testing to detect any out of 5 CTOD. In analysis of NT-proBNP and hs-TnI to detect Stage B cardiomyopathy, i.e. diabetic cardiomyopathy, hs-TnI performed the best in detecting LVH, LAE and LVDD. When classified in tertiles, increasing hs-TnI levels corresponded with increasing prevalence of LVH (p<0.001), LAE (p=0.013) and LVDD (p=0.022). The AUC of hs-TnI in detecting at least 2 of LVH, LAE and LVDD was 0.72 (p<0.001). The findings of my MD project suggest that in a cohort of patients with well-controlled T2DM and hypertension who are asymptomatic, hs-TnI can be used to identify individuals with silent CTOD, especially those associated with diabetic cardiomyopathy. This may be implemented as a screening tool to risk-stratify such patients who may require further specialist investigation and intensification of therapy to reduce future CV risk.

Human skin is a complex ecosystem that supports a diverse population of microorganisms. Variation in the physiological and topological conditions of the skin gives rise to diverse niches dependent upon the distinct local environment. Staphylococcus species are common residents of the human skin and in some locations form a major part of the microbiota, including the scalp. The human scalp boasts a unique microbial community primarily arising from the host physical conditions, including follicular density, sebum content, moisture, and pH. Several scalp studies from different human populations have revealed an association of dandruff with bacterial and fungal dysbiosis. The factors that select for the frequency of certain species in different niches are poorly understood and the mechanisms that structure each community remain to be determined. Metagenomic sequencing of scalp samples from UK volunteers exhibiting high and low dandruff profiles were used to explore the role of the scalp microbiome in dandruff presentation. The study identified the presence of known key scalpassociated taxa, such as Malassezia, Staphylococcus and Cutibacterium spp. No genera displayed altered frequency correlated with the presentation of dandruff. Bioinformatic analysis revealed the enrichment of KEGG orthologs linked to the bacterial cell wall and regulatory processes such as biofilm formation, nitrogen metabolism and quorum sensing on dandruff and dandruff healthy scalps. Comparative genome analyses of S. capitis were undertaken to study the key scalp resident species and to expand current knowledge of the species. A highly recombinogenic population structure was revealed, with genomes including the presence of a range of described staphylococcal virulence factors, cell wallassociated proteins, mobile genetic elements, and two-component systems. Genomic differences between S. capitis subspecies were explored and reveal determinants associated exclusively with each. The subspecies ureolyticus could be distinguished from subspecies capitis by their gene differences in antimicrobial resistance genes, gene clusters linked to survival on the skin, and phage content. Investigation of Pda, an S. aureus putative carbohydrate deacetylase revealed that the target of its activity is not peptidoglycan but may act together with described bacterial cell wall modification activities such as oatA and tagO. The regulation of pda appeared linked to genes implicated in biofilm formation, lipoteichoic acid synthesis and extracellular protease production, and the function enhances staphylococcal species competition. The study utilises significant advances in DNA sequencing technologies to provide new insight into S. capitis, dandruff linked metagenomes and a staphylococcal putative surface modification enzyme. The data therein increases our understanding of staphylococcal mechanisms that enable them to colonise, compete and persist are essential for informing pathogenesis, epidemiology, and therapeutics.

This thesis incorporates three papers related to the topic of bribery or corruption, which are in a format suitable for publication in peer review journals. Each of them constructs hypotheses from different theoretical perspectives (resource dependency theory; the behavior theory of a firm; institutional theory), uses different databases (the World Value Survey, the World Bank Enterprises Survey, and the unique datasets I complied on China's anticorruption and OFDI), and implements different statistical techniques (regressions; instrumental variables; propensity score match; difference-in-difference; triple differences) to reflect my understanding about this topic. The respective abstracts for the three papers are as follows. Paper 1: The pervasiveness of bribery has generated much interest in its causes, and our current understanding is limited to the demand side of corrupt government officials based on the logic of the institutional theory. Different from the existing literature, this paper adopts a resource dependence perspective to explore the supply side of bribery, arguing that managers are motivated to use illegal non-market strategies to counterbalance their position confronting to resource constraints. In addition, if the channel of legal tactics is at play, the positive relationship between resource constraints and bribery will be mitigated. Specifically, utilizing data from the World Value Survey covering 18,223 managers from 55 countries across 4 years, we find that the regulatory efficiency of a nation has a negative effect on managers' willingness to justify bribery. Strong political rights of a nation strengthen the above negative relationship, but this effect is less significant if managers work in the private sector. We intend to contribute to the existing literature by offering a more subtle perspective that accounts for the possibility that bribery can be an active strategy to overcome resource constraints imposed by power imbalance. Paper 2: Why might an innovative strategy trigger illegal behavior? This study proposes that firms will resort to problemistic search according to the anticipated negative feedback of a strategy rather than actual outcomes. Using data from the World Bank Enterprises Survey, we find that investing in R&D will lead to bribery in developing countries where unfavorable factors will diminish the expected returns, confirming that the discrepancy between the expectation of innovation and the estimation of its actual achievement is a source of illegal behavior. To extend the boundary of the behavior theory of the firm (BTOF), we borrow ideas from the general strain theory (GST), which identifies the other two mechanisms of illegal behavior of organizations: the discrepancy between aspirations and expectations; and the discrepancy between fair outcomes and unfair outcomes. The results support the hypotheses that aspirational strain and unfair strain intensify the positive relationship between R&D input and bribery. However, when a firm has the experience of R&D output, it will mitigate a firm's tendency to bribe since it has accumulated the relevant knowledge. Our intended contribution is to extend the focus of research from behavior changes after the exact negative feedback to behavioral changes based on the anticipated negative feedback. Shedding lights on a sociological theory, we enrich the definition of negative feedback that not only drives from the discrepancy between expectation and actual outcomes, but also stems from the discrepancy between aspiration and expectation, fair outcomes and unfair outcomes. Paper 3: While research on the determinants of firm internationalization from emerging markets increasingly recognizes the influence of government as a significant institutional force, little attention has been paid to the fact that institutional pressures can be fragmented and institutional logics on firms' OFDI strategy can be contending. There are two institutional explanations for China's booming OFDI over the last decade: institutional support and institutional escapism, based on external legitimacy and internal efficiency. Given institutional complexity and dynamics, how a change in one facet of institutions influences joint institutional forces and hence firms' OFDI decisions largely unknown. In this study we argue that while institutional support remains promoting aggregate OFDI from China, the recent anticorruption campaign negatively affects private enterprises' OFDI as it mitigates the escapism motivation. The anticorruption campaign plays the role in impeding OFDI through the mechanisms of improving financing efficiency and breaking down local protectionism. Our intended contribution is to integrate the perspective of institutional complexity and institutional dynamics. Using the recent anticorruption campaign in China as an exogenous shock, we test how change one facet of institutions radically influences the firms' OFDI decisions under the co-existed institutional logics with different directed forces.

This research involves the real-live investigation of a family business and its managing-owners' reluctances to detach from day-to-day operational work. This subjects the family business to the on-going risk of operational dependency on family-managers and the loss of strategic direction due to inadequate managerial attention by the owner-managers. As the aim of the study is to address this specific workplace problem, action research (AR) was elected as the primary mode of inquiry in gathering data from the participants engaged in reflective learning, social development, and workplace intervention. This is in line with the ontological and epistemological direction of the study, given that the research is context-bound and problem-focused. In other words, AR aligns with the principles of relativism and social constructivism as the pursuit of reality is shaped by meaning and only accessible through the co-creation of its participants. From the preliminary findings gathered from the researched site, it is suggested that familyownership is the main source of influence impacting management's approach to the business. In fact, this had led to multiple role conflicts and dysfunctional confusion amongst the managingowners that limited them from carrying out their leadership duties. The inclination to pursue nonfinancial goals such as retaining familial control, advocating family succession, and preserving emotional attachment to the firm has directly influenced management to maintain operational focus on day-to-day business activities. Hence, owner-managers are reluctant to delegate operational responsibilities and authority to non-family employees due to the perceived risk and uncertainty towards external agents. The legitimate desire to improve this workplace situation was led by a group of managerial participants and an insider-researcher within the organisation with an aim to undertake the change process of AR. Confronted with the economic implications of pre-existing practices, AR participants were compelled to reveal their genuine fears of principal-agent threats, sense of family commitment to the business and reasonable concerns of declining organisational performance incurred by the prospective idea of delegating operational work to non-family employees. Nevertheless, the methodical process of action research empowered the AR group to evolve beyond prevailing ideologies, co-construct new perspectives and identify opportunities for actionable intervention within the planning action stage. The implementation of planned actions resulted in a new delegation process that detached familymanagers from administering day-to-day account payables within the finance department. In fact, this led to the reduction in operational work previously administered by the owner-manager by relieving approximately 27% of her managerial capacity to attend to other areas of the business. This change in management practice has also improved the workplace situation in other aspects including job alignment, the trust between family and non-family employees, and managerial capacity for change while protecting the interests of family-ownership. Despite the successful implementation, this research was still limited in gathering data from non-family employees during the AR process due to the legitimate sensitivity within the family business. Nevertheless, the study concluded with the possibility for subsequent AR cycles that could further relieve managing-owners of their day-to-day duties in other operational scopes and respective functions.

Introduction: Understanding what a 'good death' in children might look like is important, as it impacts all stakeholders and promotes tailored support. Existing research indicates that opportunities for play, peer support and assent may be crucial. Our integrative review found meeting needs and managing control instrumental. The influence of disease type, location of death and access to palliative care is still unclear. Aim: To explore how a good death in a child with life shortening illness can be achieved in the real-world context and the key factors that shape it. Method: A qualitative multiple-case study design. The case was defined as family and professional caregivers of children who died. Cases were identified from a single institution in Singapore, stratified according to disease categories (cancer or non-cancer) and whether specialist palliative care was received. Participants included parents, and healthcare providers from a hospital and a community palliative care service. Data collection included (1) interviews, (2) artefacts, (3) clinical notes, focusing on the month before death. Framework Analysis was used to facilitate within and across case analysis, involving pattern matching and theoretical replication. Results: Five cases were formed, with eight parents and fourteen professionals as respondents. Eight common and five contingent themes were identified. Common themes are universal in salience; contingent themes, though equally relevant, apply in a subset. Based on their relationship with a child's death, all themes are sub-categorised under three headings. (1) Antecedents: Common - Letting go, Acknowledging the child, Closure; Contingent - Doing everything possible, Miracle hope, Different levels of awareness. (2) Determinants: Common - Suffering, Control, Systems and processes; Contingent - Being home, Palliative care. (3) Attributes: Common - Comfort, Dying not prolonged. An ecologically sound and holistic conceptual framework is represented. Conclusion: Elements critical to a good death in a child are revealed, particularly around personal attitudes and service at a systemic level.

This study explores the possibility that using the internet for learning mitigates the inequality of occupational mobility between rural migrant workers, a disadvantaged group in cities, and their advantaged counterparts, urban resident workers, in urban China. To investigate the mitigation of unequal occupational mobilities, this study examines, a) the extent to which using the internet for learning offers greater labour market benefits for the disadvantaged - rural migrant workers, and b) the extent to which rural migrant and urban resident workers have equal use of the internet for learning. This study uses quantitative and qualitative data in a complementary manner, with the quantitative analysis (data from China Family Panel Studies) being used to offer more rigorous results of comparison and the qualitative findings (data from 24 additional semi-structured interviews) being used to enrich explanations to interpret the observed comparative results. The results show a 'negative selection' phenomenon in using the internet for learning. That is, while rural migrant workers seem to be able to get more labour market benefits from learning online, they are actually less likely to use the internet for learning in the first place. As such, the results do not show that using the internet for learning mitigates the inequality of occupational mobility between the two groups. Structural inequalities cause rural migrant workers more excluded from using the internet for learning in the first place. The stronger 'learning-mobility' relationship for rural migrant workers merely reflects their deprivation of skill- and non-skill-related resources for occupational attainment in the urban labour market. The 'negative selection' phenomenon in using the internet for learning demonstrates the way that pre-existing structural inequalities are constantly being reproduced with new manifestations in an ever-changing world.

This thesis is a compilation of six published journal articles on assessment feedback in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing classrooms and a commentary discussing findings and materials in these six publications. Findings and materials in these publications, which focus on ESL learners in secondary school (Grade 7), community college, and university, are synthesized in the commentary using a three-dimensional conceptual framework, student feedback literacy (Chong, 2020). Feedback, which is defined as a sense-making process of students to turn assessment information into action to improve their learning process or quality of their work, is one of the most powerful means to improve students' learning. In ESL writing classrooms, a quintessential feedback process includes students' active engagement with feedback provided by their teachers, peers, or other sources (e.g., from automatic writing evaluation software). Such engagement would, in turn, enable students to utilize formative information in the feedback to improve their written texts. In the feedback literature, while there has been much discussion on the mechanical aspect of feedback, that is, how teachers should go about giving feedback to facilitate students' uptake of formative information (e.g., by engaging students in feedback dialogues), there is a dearth of research on understanding factors which affect students' engagement with feedback. Recently, Carless and Boud (2018) proposed a conceptual framework of feedback literacy which conceptualizes types of student engagement with feedback (cognitive, emotional, and behavioural engagement). Drawing upon Carless and Boud's (2018) feedback literacy framework and sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978; 1981), this thesis presents and discusses six of my articles published in international refereed journals with reference to two research questions: (1) How is feedback conceptualized by ESL learners?; and (2) how can feedback activities develop feedback literacy of ESL learners? These articles are anchored on a coherent theme related to assessment feedback and students' engagement with feedback. Among the six, two articles (Chong, 2017a; 2019b) are primary studies, two are conceptual papers (Chong, 2017b; 2018b) and 'theory-into-practice' papers (Chong, 2018a; 2019a) respectively. Adopting an exploratory practice research approach and grounded within a qualitative, interpretivist research paradigm, data of the two primary studies were collected from content analysis of students' peer feedback (Chong, 2017a), openended questionnaire (Chong, 2019b), and semi-structured, focus group interviews (Chong, 2019b). Adopting grounded theory and phenomenology as the methodologies, thematic analysis was conducted through inductive and deductive coding to analyze data in the two primary studies. Regarding the conceptual papers and 'theory-intopractice' papers, narrative literature review techniques were used to summarize and critically interpret major findings. Finally, qualitative research synthesis was employed as the methodology of the commentary to bring together findings and materials in the six publications, categorizing major insights by referring to the proposed student feedback literacy framework. The findings suggest three sources of feedback (teacher, peer, and computer) and three feedback orientations (assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning). Moreover, written corrective feedback, peer feedback, and the use of exemplars were discussed in relation to their affordances to empower ESL learners to be more feedback literate. This thesis is a unique contribution to the feedback literature base because of its complementary focus on theory and practice. Moreover, in bringing together an interpretation of findings and recommendations of feedback practices, I have adopted an interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon feedback literature in the fields of language education and assessment in higher education.

Three iron-base hard-facing alloys (Nitronic 60, Tristelle 5183 and RR2450) and one cobalt alloy (Stellite 6) are studied to examine their deformation behaviours at the microstructural level. Three-point beam testing is employed to introduce progressive straining and deformation is investigated with high resolution DIC and EBSD to provide quantitative characterization of the deformation mechanisms. A distribution of fine precipitates is found to promote more homogeneously distributed slip, work hardening and potentially better resistance with respect to galling. Crystal plasticity finite element modelling is developed to represent the four differing hard-facing alloys. The general nature of the observed deformations, including spatial strain distributions, influence of hard phases, and frequency distributions of slip magnitude are shown to be consistent with the experimental observations, and to capture the very differing behaviours demonstrated by the four alloys. The models have then been employed to investigate the galling response of the differing alloys. The role of the hard particles, and interfacial decohesion in particular, are investigated as drivers for the onset of galling. Both the experimental and simulation results suggest precipitate decohesion significantly affect the alloys' galling resistance. Simulations based on characteristic normal load and contact area methods have been carried out. However, cohesive zone CPFE modelling was shown to be necessary for the precipitate alloys, and suggested that a uniform distribution of fine precipitates and harder matrix gives better resistance to decohesion and galling. These findings are potentially important for the design of new hard-facing alloys with enhanced galling resistance.

Industry 4.0 refers to the fourth industrial revolution, which has boosted the development of the world. An important target of Industry 4.0 is to maximize the asset uptime so to improve productivity and reduce the production and maintenance cost. The emerging techniques such as artificial intelligence (AI), industrial Internet of things (IIoT) and cyber-physical system (CPS) have accelerated the development of data-orientated application such as predictive maintenance (PdM). Maintenance is a big concern for an automobile fleet management company. An accurate maintenance prediction can be helpful to avoid critical failure and avoid further loss. Deep learning is a type of prevailing machine learning algorithm which has been widely used in big data analytics. However, how to establish a maintenance prediction model based on historical maintenance data using deep learning has not been investigated. Moreover, it is worthwhile to study how to build a prediction model when the labelled data is insufficient. Furthermore, surrounding factors which may impact automobile lifecycle have not been concerned in the state-of-the-art. Hence, this thesis will focus on how to pave the way for automobile PdM under Industry 4.0. This research is structured according to four themes. Firstly, different from the conventional PdM research that only focuses on modelling based on sensor data or historical maintenance data, a framework for automobile PdM based on multi-source data is proposed. The proposed framework aims at automobile TBF modelling, prediction, and decision support based on the multi-source data. There are five layers designed in this framework, which are data collection, cloud data transmission and storage, data mapping, pre-processing and integration, deep learning for automobile TBF modelling, and decision support for PdM. This framework covers the entire knowledge discovery process from data collection to decision support. Secondly, one of the purposes of this thesis is to establish a Time-Between-Failure (TBF) prediction model through a data-driven approach. An accurate automobile TBF iv Abstract prediction can bring tangible benefits to a fleet management company. Different from the existing studies that adopted sensor data for failure time prediction, a new approach called Cox proportional hazard deep learning (CoxPHDL) is proposed based on the historical maintenance data for TBF modelling and prediction. CoxPHDL is able to tackle the data sparsity and data censoring issues that are common in the analysis of historical maintenance data. Firstly, an autoencoder is adopted to convert the nominal data into a robust representation. Secondly, a Cox PHM is researched to estimate the TBF of the censored data. A long-short-term memory (LSTM) network is then established to train the TBF prediction model based on the pre-processed maintenance data. Experimental results have demonstrated the merits of the proposed approach. Thirdly, a large amount of labelled data is one of the critical factors to the satisfactory algorithm performance of deep learning. However, labelled data is expensive to collect in the real world. In order to build a TBF prediction model using deep learning when the labelled data is limited, a new semi-supervised learning algorithm called deep learning embedded semi-supervised learning (DLeSSL) is proposed. Based on DLeSSL, unlabelled data can be estimated using a semi-supervised learning approach that has a deep learning technique embedded so to expand the labelled dataset. Results derived using the proposed method reveal that deep learning (DLeSSL based) outperforms the benchmarking algorithms when the labelled data is limited. In addition, different from existing studies, the effect on algorithm performance due to the size of labelled data and unlabelled data is reported to offer insights for the deployment of DLeSSL. Finally, automobile lifecycle can be impacted by surrounding factors such as weather, traffic, and terrain. The data contains these factors can be collected and processed via geographical information system (GIS). To introduce these GIS data into automobile TBF modelling, an integrated approach is proposed. This is the first time that the surrounding factors are considered in the study of automobile TBF modelling. Meanwhile, in order to build a TBF prediction model based on multi-source data, a new deep learning architecture called merged-LSTM (M-LSTM) network is designed. Abstract v Experimental results derived using the proposed approach and M-LSTM network reveal the impacts of the GIS factors. This thesis aims to research automobile PdM using deep learning, which provides a feasibility study for achieving Industry 4.0. As such, it offers great potential as a route to achieving a more profitable, efficient, and sustainable fleet management.

Building on a philosophical reconstruction of Aristotle, this dissertation argues for a non-intellectualist account of virtue education and practical deliberation. This dissertation will first examine the notion of habituation. It argues that habituation consists in immersing into a certain cultural context, through which one will develop one's unique ethical sense and will know what is noble and fine. This rules out two intellectualist positions: that habituation gives us a firm understanding of eudaimonia, and that habituation itself involves the exercise of the practical intellect. The non-intellectualised account of habituation is further supported by a topic-specific study of Aristotle's conception of children. In cultivating the seeds of virtues that are accessible even to children, one forms evaluative appearances about what is and what is not worth-pursuing by generalising from particular evaluative experiences. These experiences may come from early private education, perceptions, emotions, imitation of others' attitudes and behaviour, and understanding one's friends' decisions. These experiences help shape one's ethical sense. Developing friendship (philia) appears to be ethically important, since we learn about values through friendship, and since practical deliberation is more like imagining conversations between individuals we are familiar with. This is in stark contrast to the intellectualist account of excellent deliberation, which consists in deliberating through a comprehensive conception of human values. But ultimately, friendship is ethically indispensable because, as a form of intimate relationship between agents of equal status, it epitomises an Aristotelian ideal: an egalitarian ethical community. Arguably, this community constitutes the context for habituation (immersion). This dissertation shows how opposing positions concerning a variety of particular issues become an opposition between two philosophical packages, one of intellectualist and one of non-intellectualist, and why the non-intellectualist one is closer to the truth.

In healthcare, measurement of the photoplethysmogram (PPG) can be used for diagnosing diseases (e.g. hypoxaemia, vascular and heart diseases) and measuring a patient’s physiological parameters (blood oxygen saturation and heart rate). For measuring PPG signals, the contact force between the skin and the sensor plays an important role since both insufficient and too high contact pressure will distort the PPG signal. It would therefore be advantageous to develop a sensor that could measure contact pressure and PPG simultaneously. In this research, a novel optical fibre based pulse oximeter probe was developed that combines the measurements of heart rate (HR), blood oxygen saturation (SPO2) and capillary refill time (CRT) whilst recording the contact pressure under ambient conditions. The probe consists of three 45° angle-tipped plastic optical fibres (POFs) used to deliver and collect light for pulse oximetry and CRT measurement along with dual fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) inscribed in silica fibre to measure the applied contact pressure. Compared to previous studies of using numerous POFs to measure SPO2 values, this research has reduced the number of fibres applied by increasing the coupling efficiency in order to avoid challenges of manufacturing difficulties associated with large numbers of optical fibres. The coupling efficiency increase of POFs applied in the developed probe was achieved via cleaving the optical fibre tip at 45°. All optical fibres were housed in a biocompatible epoxy patch that reduces motion artefacts in the PPG and transduces transverse loading into an axial strain in the FBG. Meanwhile, the sensitivity of the pressure sensing FBG was increased according to the surrounding material’s low Young’s modulus. A reference FBG written on the silica fibre was protected by a stainless steel tube which was applied to compensate the effects of temperature on the pressure sensing FBG. It was found that the designed non-invasive sensor could continuously detect the PPG signals for SPO2 measurement from a subject’s finger during repeatable 5 minute recording sessions. The recorded PPG signals were assessed by utilising suitable signal quality indices (SQIs) applied in this research, and then the qualifying PPG signals were used to calculate SPO2. This SPO2 test result was validated against the output of the commercial pulse oximeter (Masimo Radical-7), which demonstrated the SPO2 measurement capability of the designed sensor. By comparing the SPO2 data of 10 volunteers obtained from the sensor under different contact pressures (2 to 45kPa), it was found that a contact pressure ranging from 5 to 15kPa generated the optimal PPG signal, and provided the best SPO2 measurement performance. Data recorded by the sensor also demonstrated the ability of the sensor to detect changes in contact pressure and blood volume in the finger. Since the designed sensing probe is capable of detecting the reflected light intensity and the contact pressure from a subject, the probe was applied to measure 10 volunteers’ CRTs from their index fingers. The CRT was calculated from the detected light intensity and contact pressure data via signal processing (i.e. refilling signal extraction, normalisation and exponential curve fitting process) whilst poor quality capillary refill signals were rejected if they had a positive gradient for the blood refilling region or had an excessive gradient for the baseline region. By comparing the calculated CRT and the indices of exponential fitting curves, an exponential-like relationship was found between them. Further investigation on using indices of exponential fitting curves to assess the reliability of calculated CRT is highly recommended.

This dissertation reports on the experience of using mobile learning among different stakeholders during the clinical practicum in a local university in Hong Kong. It aims to explore a sustainable mobile learning model for clinical learning in Hong Kong. A semi-structured interview guide based on the Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile Education (FRAME) model was used for the individual interviews to collect the opinions and experience on using mobile learning from the perspectives of nursing students, university staff and clinical tutors. Sixteen final year nursing students in two cohorts, two Clinical Tutors, two Clinical Course Coordinators, two Technical Support Staff and the Head of the Division of Nursing and Health Studies at a local university in Hong Kong participated in this study. The rationales for the introduction of mobile learning from the university staff were explored. Core elements and factors affecting the use of mobile learning from the device (D) aspect, learner (L) aspect and social (S) aspect of the FRAME model were identified. Through the participants’ critiques and utilization of the mobile device, different intersections of the FRAME model were also verified. However, the important role of the university staff and the learning environment could not be reflected from the FRAME model. Applying critical and reflective thinking on the use of mobile learning was also essential, and this should also be indicated in the mobile learning model. To conclude, mobile learning is applicable for the nursing students as a learning support intervention. In respect of the FRAME model, it partially covers mobile learning in the local clinical practicum context. With the information from the cognitive presence, teaching presence and social presence of the Community of Inquiry Framework (CoI), it supplemented with the FRAME model in facilitating clinical learning in Hong Kong.

An increasing number of multinational corporations (MNCs) have set up subsidiaries in emerging markets like China to implement their internationalisation strategy. Acknowledging the criticality of subsidiaries to corporations’ global success, international business scholars have attempted to address the question concerning “how can the performance of multinational corporations’ subsidiaries be enhanced?”. In headquarters–subsidiary relations, as subordinate within the hierarchy of decision-making, subsidiaries are susceptible to the work responsibilities that are imposed on them by their headquarters. Yet, a review of the international business literature reveals that relationship studies have not captured performance outcomes of subsidiary job stressors stemming from their headquarters’ demands (see table 2.1). It is important to address this omission because subsidiary managers may substantially susceptible to imposed work stress. In the light of work on group/team-level stress effects, imposed stress can be experienced collectively by a subsidiary’s top management team. Thus, the present study addresses a lacuna in research on the effects of subsidiary job demands within headquarters–subsidiary relationships. Research data were collected through online (Qualtrics) survey with 238 Chinese manufacturing subsidiaries and the performance outcome of operating revenue was measured using secondary data from OSIRIS database. The respondents were acquired through phone calls and emails. The study results confirm that challenge stressors are positively, and hindrance stressors are negatively related to subsidiary top management team’s work engagement. In turn, work engagement is positively linked to operating revenue and local responsiveness. Institutional dependence strengthens the link between challenge stressors and work engagement, but it weakens the association between work engagement and local responsiveness. The current study makes several contributions to existing knowledge in international business. First, it addresses an important lacuna in this literature by unveiling that subsidiary top management teams face imposed stress emanating from the headquarters’ demands and that this affects their work engagement and ultimately subsidiary performance. Second, the study explains inconsistent findings in the work on job stressors’ outcomes in international business by showing that challenge and hindrance stress types have positive and negative outcomes, respectively. Third, this study is novel in developing an extensive model of the conditionalities of work stress outcomes, combining the three complementary theories of transactional stress, JD-R, and neo-institution. From a managerial perspective, the present study suggests that MNCs should assess job stressors for subsidiary TMTs in terms of work challenges and hindrances that they encounter in working with/for headquarters. It is equivalently imperative for subsidiary managers to interpret institutional constituents’ expectations to acquire and utilise valuable resources in host country. Finally, subsidiary managers must proactively explore and exploit knowledge and resources beyond meeting local institutional constituents’ expectations in order to fast respond to local market changes. Hence, on the one hand, they must keep local institutional constituents satisfied, on the other hand, they should identify differences between institutional constituents’ expectations and local market demands to be ambidextrous in terms of meeting expectations from different parties.

In response to the concerns regarding environmental pollution and energy security, renewable energy has been perceived as a solution. As liquid fuel is the most consumed form of energy in the world, much attention has been paid to pyrolysis for the production of bio-oil. Bio-oil may be derived from biomass and is a potential fuel supplement and source of chemicals. However, lignocellulosic biomass-derived bio-oil is generally highly acidic and highly oxygenated than crude oil. Consequently, the bio-oil is unstable and has a comparatively low energy density. Hence, bio-oil has to be upgraded in order to use directly as fuel and other applications. One of the upgrading methods is catalytic pyrolysis using non-acidic oxides. The current project investigated the effects of calcium oxide (CaO), magnesium oxide (MgO), and zinc oxide (ZnO) on the upgrading of palm empty fruit bunch fibre (EFBF)-derived bio-oil. Apart from that, cellulose was used as feed to study the effects of the oxides on lignocellulosic biomass at its simplest form upon intermediate pyrolysis. The possible reaction pathways involved upon the utilization of the oxides were also summarized. Thermogravimetric studies revealed that the addition of MgO and ZnO did not affect the degradation behaviour of both cellulose and EFBF. However, because CaO is prone to adsorb moisture and carbon dioxide (CO2), an additional weight loss stage was observed. Even though the oxides did not affect the activation energy and mechanism of EFBF devolatilization, the amount of volatiles released reduced due to the restriction posed by the oxides. Despite the catalytic effects posed by the oxides, the reaction of the oxides with CO2 and water categorizes CaO, MgO, and ZnO as catalytic additives, rather than catalysts. Based on the results obtained when cellulose was used as feed, the reaction pathways involved in the catalytic upgrading of bio-oil were compiled. Nevertheless, upon comparing the results of the results with literature, it was concluded that the results may be used as a reference of the reactions involved during catalytic pyrolysis of biomass but it may not exactly reflect the absolute effects of the oxides on the physical properties of all bio-oils. All three oxides showed evidence in enhancing the physical properties of cellulose and EFBF-derived bio-oil, in terms of reducing the amounts of acids and oxygenated compounds. However, the oxides reacted with carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. Hence, the oxides may be considered as catalytic additives rather than as catalysts. Among the three oxides, CaO exhibited the best performance in the matter of reducing the acidity for both cellulose and EFBF-derived bio-oils, without affecting the bio-oil yield substantially. CaO also showed potential in stabilizing the EFBF-derived bio-oil without influencing the surface structure of the bio-oil.

The battery in conventional standalone photovoltaic (PV) system frequently undergoes deep cycles and irregular charging patterns, which can significantly reduce the battery lifetime and increase the replacement cost of the system. Battery-Supercapacitor Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) is the most promising solution to prolong the lifespan of the battery. The control strategy is implemented to distribute the resources of the HESS based on the real-time operating conditions. Despite the intelligent control strategy, such as Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC), is more effective than the classical control strategies, there is limited studies on intelligent control strategy that is optimized based on predicted power demand. Also, it is challenging to integrate the intelligent control strategy with high computation complexity into an actual system with commercial non-programmable charge controller. Therefore, two intelligent control strategies, namely Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) optimized FLC (PSO-optimized FLC) and PSO-optimized Power Distribution Algorithm (PSO-PDA), are proposed to prolong the battery lifespan in a standalone PV system with Battery-Supercapacitor HESS. The objectives of this research work are the development of prediction models for very short term prediction of power demand using basic features, the development of PSO-optimized FLC and PSO-PDA, as well as the implementation of PSO-PDA in actual standalone PV system with Battery-Supercapacitor HESS. The PSO-optimized FLC is novel in terms of its structure as a moving average filter is used to first extract the high frequency power from the power demand then subsequently a FLC decides the sharing ratio of the supercapacitor and the battery. The membership functions of the FLC are optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based on predicted power demand to reduce the battery peak power. It outperforms conventional systems in terms of battery lifetime improvement (12.81 %) and peak power reduction (64.26 %). However, this system is impractical for real-life implementation as optimizing the membership functions requires high optimization complexity. An alternative novel control strategy, PSO-PDA, is developed to achieve the research aim. The parameters of power distribution algorithm are optimized every minute based on predicted h-mins (h=30, h=60, and h=90) ahead power demand and state-of-charge of the supercapacitor to mitigate peak demand in battery power. With short optimization interval, it can compensate for the prediction error of power demand from basic prediction models and adapt to the varying power demand. The PSO-PDA outperforms the PSO-optimized FLC, in term of battery lifetime improvement (up to 22 %) and battery peak demand reduction (up to 57 %) and requires significantly shorter optimization time per optimization (not more than 20.647 s) than PSO-optimized FLC. Moreover, the PSO-PDA requires only one day of pre-training to be fully implemented in an actual 2-kW rated standalone PV system with Battery-Supercapacitor HESS. Also, it can be tuned to work with the commercial non-programmable charge controller. The experimental results show that the PSO-PDA can improve the battery lifetime by 16.50 % and reduce the battery peak power by 58.58 %. Moreover, the experimental results are compared with simulation results where the findings highlight that the results of the Simulink model only overestimate the battery lifetime improvement by 7.66 %.

This thesis is a collection of four discrete essays on the topic of political resistance. While the contents of the individual essays are disparate, they are nonetheless connected by substantive and methodological themes. I discuss these issues, and the broader framing of the thesis, in the Introduction. The first essay, Clarifying Our Duties to Resist, examines a prominent argument according to which the moral principles that ground individuals’ duties to comply in just conditions also ground their duties to resist injustice in unjust conditions. I argue that this argument does not apply to conditions where injustice is entrenched and normalised. The second essay, Differentiating Disobedients, considers the question of the ways in which morally motivated individuals should differentiate themselves from criminals when they engage in political resistance or disobedience. I argue that the category of morally motivated disobedients is potentially more inclusive than has been commonly assumed. The third essay, The Legitimate Targets of Political Disobedience, address the question of what individuals can legitimately target during their acts of political disobedience. I defend a novel principle that allows us to make fine-grained differentiation between legitimate and illegitimate targets. The fourth essay, Vandalising Tainted Commemorations, adjudicates a contemporary disagreement about what we should do about commemorations of people or events implicated in injustice. I offer a qualified defence of vandalising tainted commemorations, as a strategy that adjudicates the demands of the two dominant yet opposing views on the issue. In a final note, In Lieu of A Conclusion, I review the work that has been done, and identify several areas for future work.

Assessment for Learning has been a popular topic in higher education. However, it appears challenging for teachers and students in Hong Kong to adopt this concept. Given the opportunity of a top-down rubric policy in one university in Hong Kong, this thesis explores the perceptions and actualisations of Assessment for Learning and rubrics of students, educators and managers in this context. It offers a model of a holistic assessment policy that refocuses on the stakeholders, content and processes. The study is rooted in an interpretivist paradigm and qualitative data are generated through two focus groups of student participants and fourteen semi-structured interviews of educator and manager participants. This research demonstrates that measurement is the major function of assessment and rubrics in this context due to the Confucian-heritage culture, the dominant assessment discourse and suboptimal assessment literacy, while practical knowledge of learning features exist as a result of the participants' applied-discipline backgrounds. This research delves into the barriers and opportunities of actualising Assessment for Learning and rubrics under a mandatory policy. Interestingly, pragmatic and contextual issues are key challenges that create tensions in the actualisation, rather than the concept itself or the disagreement on having a policy. This research somewhat concurs with suggestions from the contemporary literature that assessment practice change is complex and should consider institutional and cultural uniqueness. Based on the familiarity and acceptance of features of Assessment for Learning because of the applied-discipline background, the thesis therefore offers a context-specific model that engages stakeholders in various processes. It also includes the policy content necessary for improving the enactment of this policy. Other institutions that share similar cultures and backgrounds can benefit from the model when initiating an assessment policy.

With the strong on-going interest and effort to push investment in the implementation of Electronic healthcare record (EHR), understanding the factors that will drive the use of the system has important scientific and practical significance. However, there is sparse literature on understanding what influence healthcare professionals (i.e. doctors, paraprofessionals and administrative personnel)'s motivation to learn and use EHR. Against this backdrop, the key objective of this thesis is to examine the factors that influence healthcare professionals' behavioural intention to adopt and actual use of electronic healthcare record in Malaysia. The research questions for this thesis are 1) Can Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) factors predict healthcare professionals' motivation to learn and the behavioural intention to adopt and accept EHR? 2) Can the extended model of UTAUT that includes goal attainment, perceived velocity and team learning behaviour better predict healthcare professionals' motivation to learn and the behavioural intention to adopt and accept EHR? and 3) Is there a significant relationship between motivation to learn EHR and EHR behavioural intention to adoption and acceptance of EHR among Malaysian healthcare professionals? The key theoretical underpinning this research is based on UTAUT. UTAUT is extended in this research by integrating theories from goal pursuits (i.e. perceive goal attainment and perceived velocity) and team learning behaviour. Furthermore, the role of motivation to learn EHR in influencing behavioural intention and actual use of EHR was also studied. Working together with a Malaysian medical group that has more than 200 clinics, longitudinal data was collected from doctors, paraprofessionals and administrators in three waves over 6 months periods during pre-implementation of the EHR (T1), 2-3 months (T2) during implementation, and 4-5 months (T3) after sustained continuous implementation. Overall, 520 surveys were collecting during pre-implementation at T1, 210 during implementation in month 2-3 at T2, and 182 in sustained implementation in month 4-5 at T3. The data were analysed using PLS-SEM. The results showed that while UTAUT can partially explain healthcare professionals' behavioural intention and actual use of EHR, while the extended model with new variables introduced in this thesis significantly explain the mechanisms leading to EHR adoption. Furthermore, the results show that the adoption factors vary in their relationships with behavioural intention and actual use of EHR at different implementation stages. This thesis contributes to previous EHR adoption studies as well as UTAUT literature by replicating UTAUT in this research to test if UTAUT's can be replicated in an Asian context, as well as providing an improved UTAUT to study EHR adoption. Besides integrating UTAUT with theories related to goal pursuit, team learning behaviour and motivation to learn information systems, the new model was also tested with longitudinal data, which has an advantage over cross-sectional data, in that it is able to test the model from implementation stage to adoption. This thesis also informs practice by providing guidelines and strategies to healthcare companies that plan to implement EHR. Contrary to many previous practices employed by organizations, rather than having a one size fits all training programme, companies can highlight on the features (e.g. performance expectancy) or easiness to learn the system (e.g. effort expectancy) to different user groups. Clinics and hospitals that are implementing EHR should note that motivation to learning EHR will lead to better actual use of the system in the early stage of EHR implementation. Therefore healthcare professionals should be provided with the necessary facilities and training to motivate them to learn. Given that team learning behaviour influence users' motivation to adopt EHR, companies can also consider forming small group, need-based trainings so that learning can be fun with strong group dynamics. These groupings can also be based on task or job functions so that users can learn from each other and keep motivation level high. Lastly, in the early stage of EHR implementation, companies should continue to ensure that employees are motivated to learn how to use EHR and to provide support when needed so that staff are encouraged and motivated to continue using the system.

This dissertation comprises of three essays and that seeks to contribute new evidence and address critical gaps in hedge fund governance literature. The first paper address a critical gap in prior literature of hedge fund board of directors, an emerging topic of importance in hedge fund governance literature. We study investor reaction to removal of independent and jumbo directors in hedge fund board of directors. The second paper investigates the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) on the investor fund flow of US-based medium-sized hedge fund advisers (MSA). The third paper study seeks to contribute to several critical gap in the SDI literature, and contribute new evidence regarding the correlation risk-adjusted performance of funds with high strategy distinctiveness indexes (SDIs).

Extracellular interactions between cell surface receptors are necessary for signaling and adhesion but identifying them remains technically challenging. We describe a cell-based genome-wide approach employing CRISPR activation to identify receptors for a defined ligand. We show receptors for high-affinity antibodies and low-affinity ligands can be unambiguously identified when used in pools or as individual binding probes. We apply this technique to identify ligands for the adhesion G-protein-coupled receptors and show that the Nogo myelin-associated inhibitory proteins are ligands for ADGRB1. This method will enable extracellular receptor-ligand identification on a genome-wide scale.

The image blurring that results from moving a camera whilst the shutter is open is normally regarded as undesirable. However, the blurring of the images contains hidden information which can be extracted to give information about the captured scene. Information encapsulated within this blur allows the light rays present within the scene to be recovered. Given the correct recovery of the light rays that form a blurred image, a sharp image of the scene can be generated for an arbitrary camera location. Therefore, rather than resharpening an image with motion blur, the goal of the work contained within this thesis is to recover the light rays within the scene Recovery of the light rays within the scene is achieved by using a layer based model to represent objects within the scene as planes at discrete depths, and by using an extension to the level set method, to segment the blurred image into planes at different depths. Knowledge of the layer boundaries is then used to recover the surfaces of the layers, and hence a model of the scene in three dimensions. The algorithm described in this thesis has been successfully tested on real and synthetic images constructed from fronto-parallel planes, with the scene being recovered accurately from all positions within the original path of the camera.

Attaching micro-channel heat sinks operating under flow boiling conditions on heat sources of electronic components is an efficient cooling technique which still requires further improvements of designs. When developing this system, the efficient heat transfer performance is essential, however, this development often entangles with difficulties. The difficulties arise as existing prediction approaches are underdeveloped and inadequate to perform the accurate prediction in wide ranges of operating conditions. This inadequacy persists due to incomplete discoveries of involved mechanisms that involve fluid and dynamics for the heat transfer during the flow boiling. Also, the mechanisms involved in the flow boiling process are complicated, hindering the development of more reliable approaches. By addressing this issue, this study explores and investigates the relating mechanisms. The mechanisms of fluids during the flow boiling of subcooled liquids in micro-channel heat sinks immediately before and during the nucleation of first bubbles were explored in this study. This study then addressed the mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement of flow boiling. Later, this study repeated with different substrate materials of micro-channel heat sinks and working fluids. This study serves the purpose to better understand the involved mechanisms during the flow boiling of subcooled liquids in micro-channel heat sinks for the development of more reliable approaches to predict the heat transfer. This study regarding the mechanisms during the flow boiling in micro-channel heat sinks implemented the numerical model associated with the Volume of Fluid (VOF) in which corresponding governing equations were solved using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this model, computational domains of micro-channel heat sinks in three dimensions that include the sub-domains of solids and fluid were created to consider the conjugate heat transfer for better estimation of data. The data collected in this study were from operating parameters of heat flux, mass flux, and inlet temperature of the micro-channel at 500-3197 kW/m2, 115-389 kg/m2 s, and 23-53°C, respectively. The micro-channel heat sinks operated at the atmospheric pressure, and the corresponding substrate materials chosen were steel, silicon, aluminium and copper, and working fluids selected were water and ethanol. The numerical results agree well with the experimental data from the previous study. The results show that although the bubble nucleation is absent, the heat transfer mechanisms in micro-channels possesses the nucleate boiling characteristic involving the transient conduction with the existence of the phase change process. The heat transfer mechanisms from the phase change process with the incomplete evaporation induce the ascending and descending flows and liquid-vapour mixture on the heating surfaces. From the results, four different modes of heat transfer mechanisms from the phase change process associated with ascending and descending flows and liquid vapour mixture become apparent. The ascending and descending flows on the heating surfaces appear with local increases of pressure gradients near to the heating surfaces facilitating the heat transfer enhancement due to phase change. On the other hand, the liquid-vapour mixture produced from the phase change process impeding the heat transfer. In overall, the heat transfer enhancement due to the phase change at the side surfaces in the micro-channel is more extensive as compared to the bottom surface for each condition tested in this study. Meanwhile, the amount of the liquid-vapour mixture accumulating on the bottom surface is more massive as compared to the side surfaces, leading to the impedance of the heat transfer. These heat transfer mechanisms also persist during flow boiling in micro-channels. The heat transfer enhancement due to phase change from the side and bottom surfaces also varies when employing different operating conditions before and during flow boiling. This study provides better insights for researchers and designers in industries regarding the local mechanisms for the heat transfer during the flow boiling in micro-channel heat sinks. These understandings assist the researchers to develop the more reliable prediction methods to design new and better heat transfer performance of micro-channel heat sinks and avoid repeating experiments which are costly and tedious in procedures.

Graphene-based materials have attracted great interest to develop ultra-thin and high performance membranes due to their unique 2D structure, one-atomic thickness and high mechanical strength. While many studies have shown excellent performance of graphene-based membranes in fluid separations, scaling up of the membranes is still challenging. In addition, the transport mechanism in the membranes, especially in graphene oxide (GO) membranes is still not well understood. In this study, graphene-based membranes were fabricated on hollow fibre substrates as a step forward to scaling up. High performance stainless steel-ceramic hollow fibres were developed while exploring suitable membrane substrates. GO and graphene membranes were fabricated on ceramic hollow fibres using two different approaches: solution-processing to produce GO membranes and chemical vapour deposition for graphene membranes. GO membranes were found unstable on hollow fibre substrates due to drying-related shrinkage. The stability problem was overcome by introducing a sacrificial layer during membrane synthesis. A post-treatment modification was carried out to improve the water permeation of GO membranes by creating extra microstructural defects in the membranes. Meanwhile, multi-layer graphene membranes were successfully synthesized on the nickel-plated ceramic hollow fibres. The graphene layer was exceptionally inert and could serve as an excellent protection layer against corrosive chemicals. The water transport mechanisms in GO membranes in two different modes: pressure-driven filtration and pervaporation, were also studied. During filtration, GO membranes experienced a severe reduction in water permeation which was caused by the compaction of the loosely packed hierarchical microstructure. GO membranes showed a low steady state permeation flux because of the long transport path in the membranes. However, the water permeation was 1-2 orders of magnitude higher in pervaporation. The higher flux was due to the large capillary pressure in the interlayer space, which was induced by evaporation on the permeate side surface. In addition, an interface-related resistance was observed at the pore entrance of GO membranes when tested with water-ethanol mixture in pervaporation, which enabled the measurement of effective interfacial tension of miscible liquids using GO membranes.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-directedness in learning (SDL) and self-perceived employability (SPE), ambition, and university commitment (UC) of students at a private university in Dubai, UAE (University 1). Built on quantitative research approach, participants were requested to complete a questionnaire survey consists of the 25-items Personal Orientation in Self-directed Learning Scale (PRO-SDLS) by Stockdale (2003); 30-items Self-Perceived Employability Scale for University Students (SPESUS) by Rothwell et al. (2008) and the newly developed 30 items Self-Perceived Employability Factors Scale (SPEF). A sample of 90 final year University 1 students participated in this study. Further exploration and validation of research findings from University 1 were conducted by comparing with additional data gathered from University 2 (based in Leicester, UK; N: 48) using the same measuring instruments and research methodologies. Descriptive, correlational and inferential statistical analyses were carried out for data collected from both University 1 and 2 to realise the research objectives and hypotheses testing of this study. PRO-SDLS, SPESUS and SPEF were found to be reliable and valid measuring instruments. Other significant findings were positive and significant relationship found between SDL, SPE and ambition. The study also established that SDL of university students positively predicts their SPE, ambition and UC. Besides, intellectual skills and soft skills were perceived to be the core competencies that need to be an integral component of increasing the success of students’ transition from education to work. Statistical analyses also revealed significant differences between age, academic performance (measured by CGPA) and working experience with research constructs. Theoretical, methodology and practical implications of findings were suggested for educators, academics and university management. In conclusion, as evidenced by this study, it is possible to improve students’ employability through SDL interventions.

Previous missions to Venus have revealed that encounters with plasma irregularities of atmospheric origin outside the atmosphere are not uncommon. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to discuss their origins. One such mechanism involves an ionopause with a wavelike appearance. Extensive research on this characteristic of the ionopause is crucial in understanding the atmospheric evolution of Venus. This thesis implemented an approach to identify potential boundary crossings resulting from ionospheric boundary waves. Coupled with Minimum Variance analysis, this approach was able to demonstrate whether or not the boundary crossings are `smooth' or `rippled'. By utilising the magnetic field and plasma data from Venus Express (VEX) over its entire mission from 2006 to 2014, this work presents the first observational statistical analysis of the ionospheric boundary waves at Venus. The average estimated ionospheric boundary thickness is 57~$\pm$~4~km. This value which is estimated during solar minimum is roughly 1.5 times more than those estimated during solar maximum period. Further analysis shows that the boundary is thicker for weaker pressure and at higher altitudes. On the other hand, the boundary is thinner for stronger pressure at lower altitudes. In the northern polar region of Venus, the normal directions of the rippled ionospheric boundary crossings lie mainly in the terminator plane with the largest component predominantly along the dawn-dusk ($Y_{VSO}$) direction. The average estimated wavelength of the boundary wave is 212~$\pm$~12~km and the average estimated velocity difference across the ionopause is 104~$\pm$~6~km~s$^{-1}$. The consistency shown between these results and the results from previous simulation studies of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI), suggests that the rippled boundary is a result of KHI. Furthermore, the magnetic field orientation in the barrier region is found to be quasi-perpendicular to the terminator plane, which is a favourable condition for the excitation of KHI along the dawn-dusk direction. Analysis reveals a correlation between the normal directions and the locations of the boundary wave with respect to Venus. This indicates the draping of magnetic field lines appear to play a role in enhancing the plasma flow along the dawn-dusk direction, which could subsequently set up a velocity shear that favours the excitation of ionospheric boundary wave by the KHI along the dawn-dusk direction. Two other previously proposed boundary wave excitation mechanisms are also explored. In addition, flux ropes are also identified using a similar approach. The average estimated flux ropes diameter is 90~$\pm$~6 km and they have axial orientations which lie mainly along the Venus-Sun ($X_{VSO}$) direction. The consistency in the sizes, locations and orientations shown between the identified flux ropes and boundary wave events suggest that these flux ropes are created as a result of the boundary waves reaching a turbulent stage. In summary, this statistical study reveals that the ionopause of Venus does not always appear to be smooth, but often exhibits a wavelike appearance. Further analysis suggests that this wavelike appearance of the Venus ionopause is likely to be excited by the KHI, which arises as a result of the velocity shear across the ionopause driven by the draping pattern from the magnetic field. This study also shows that flux ropes can form and populate inside the ionosphere as a result of turbulent boundary wave. On the other hand, atmospheric bubbles can also form in similar manners and exist outside the ionosphere. Continuous scattering and the subsequent convection of atmospheric bubbles downstream and away from Venus over a prolonged period of time plays an important role in atmospheric loss from Venus.

For many years, commercial 9Cr-1Mo steels have been used for components in the UK advanced gas cooled reactors operated by EDF Energy. The selection of 9Cr-1Mo steel for power plant applications is based on its relatively low cost, resistance to high temperature oxidation and excellent high temperature creep strength. However, degradation occurs in service due to thermal aging and exposure to the CO2-based coolant gas. Under some circumstances, rapid oxidation can occur, known as “breakaway oxidation”. The degradation of the mechanical and corrosion properties has prompted study of the mechanisms of concurrent oxidation and carburisation in a high-temperature CO2-based atmosphere. Here, experimental finned tube samples with ferritic and martensitic microstructures exposed to simulated in-service environments have been analysed using several techniques to understand the triggers of breakaway oxidation.

Generally, reservoir simulation is used to predict field performance and analyse uncertainties for assistance in decision making, while history matching is a key step in reservoir simulation, which is a process of model adjustment and simulation runs with different reservoir parameter settings until the differences between simulated data and historical data reach minima. An efficient reservoir simulation model must be the one that can predict reservoir performance and update history matching results continuously by modifying the reservoir model as long as new data become available. However, reservoir simulation can be very time consuming, depending on the complexity of the reservoir model, and history matching is even more computationally expensive, since it requires many simulation runs. Recently, intelligent technology advances in the oil and gas industry, have initiated a new era of big data. As different varieties of data have been integrated to make better decisions, together with the generation of high frequency data streams, a major concern for petroleum engineers is how reservoir simulation should be calibrated in line with the real time data without compromising the simulation time. In the seismic history matching (SHM) workflow this may be a more obvious issue than in the conventional well production history matching. In order to address this problem, many studies have been undertaken. Besides increasing computational power, various types of research have focused on speeding up the reservoir simulation process, especially history matching, by either implementing optimisation algorithms or generating efficient proxy models. Nevertheless, there has not yet been a standard method recognized in reservoir simulation. In this study, a novel method has been proposed as an attempt to investigate the possibility of achieving efficient seismic history matching by data-driven proxy models. This thesis essentially involves detailing background motivations, proxy model building, followed by its testing and application in SHM. Comparisons of proxy models with conventional simulators have been made from different aspects. The objective is mainly focused on examining the capability of the proxy models as a simplification of the conventional physics-based simulators in SHM. According to the simulation results, the feasibility of the combination of proxy models has been proven to be successful and efficient. Importantly, huge amounts of time and effort have been saved in the reservoir simulation process. In addition, it is suggested that other challenges of SHM, such as multi-domain comparison and multi-field communication, could be tackled by using the proxy method.

Post-combustion capture using amine-based solvents has been considered as the most viable technology for carbon capture, to mitigate industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions; but the solvents show a number of shortcomings. Recently, ionic liquids (ILs) are suggested as possible alternative to amine-based solvents, for they can be molecularly engineered to match various target thermophysical properties. This work focused on the development of systematic approaches to design IL-based solvents for carbon capture purpose. The first focus of this work is to develop an insight-based based visual approach to determine potential IL solvents as substitute to conventional carbon capture solvents. This approach allows visualisation of high-dimensional problem to be visualised in two or three dimensions, and assist designers without mathematical programming background in IL design. Following that, a mathematical optimisation approach to design optimal IL solvent for CO2 capture purpose was developed as second focus of this thesis. This has been done by formulating the IL solvent design problem as mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) optimisation problem. The abovementioned approaches were developed to design task-specific ILs with high CO2 absorption capacity as substitute to common carbon capture solvents. However, studies show that such ILs are relatively more expensive and have higher viscosities. To reduce the cost and viscosity of solvent, task-specific IL can be mixed with conventional IL, ensuring CO2 solubility remains high, while viscosity and cost are acceptable. Hence, the previously developed visual approach was extended to design pure ILs and IL mixtures, specifically to capture CO2. In order to ensure the designed IL is performing at its optimum (highest CO2 solubility in this case), the operating conditions of the carbon capture process shall be considered because they will affect the thermophysical properties and CO2 solubility of ILs. Therefore, the forth focus of this work will be incorporation of operating temperature and pressure into design of IL solvents. Similarly, the design problem was formulated as MINLP problem and solved using mathematical optimisation approach, where operating temperature and pressure were defined as variables through disjunctive programming. Replacing solvent for carbon capture system to IL-based solvent or installing carbon capture system will affect the overall process, as this will affect the utilities consumption of carbon capture system. Therefore, process design has been integrated with IL design in this thesis, to study how the solvent substitution affects the entire process, and followed by retrofitting of the entire process including carbon capture system accordingly. The design problem was formulated and solved as MINLP problem. Finally, this thesis concludes with possible extensions and future works in this area of research work.

Discoveries of antibiotic resistant pathogens and failure in some conventional modern cancer treatments have led to the re-evaluation of ancient therapeutic remedies such as honey. In recent years, Malaysian Tualang honey (MTH) had been proven scientifically to possess many beneficial properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and wound healing potential. However, little scientific evidence about its immunomodulatory property has been published, therefore this study aimed to investigate the immunomodulatory effect of MTH. Initially, human monocytic cell lines (THP-1 and U-937) were first cultured and tested against MTH as part of methodology optimization before proceeding to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from healthy donors. PBMCs were used in this study because these cells can mimic the in vivo system of immune responses more closely. The cytotoxic effect of MTH on THP-1, U-937 and PBMCs was determined using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5,diphenyltetrazolim bromide (MTT) assay. It was found that the combination of 0.125 % to 2 % MTH and incubation durations 16, 24 and 48 hours yielded at least 90 % cell viability in PBMCs (except 2 % MTH for 48 hours of incubation). Hence, 0.125 % MTH was selected to treat the PBMCs in subsequent experiments. Using microarray approach, the gene expression profile in MTH-treated PBMCs were studied and it was found that 361 genes were significantly regulated by at least two fold changes (p < 0.05). Among these genes, the expression of immunorelated genes such as IFNG, IL10, IL20, IL24, CXCL1, CXCL3, CXCL9, IL2 and IL4 were validated using reverse transcription quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Functionally, these genes play crucial role in wound healing by facilitating the recruitment of leukocytes to sites of infection, supporting the wound healing activity in honey. Using flow cytometry, the immunomodulatory effect of MTH in activating PBMCs subpopulations was also determined using cell surface marker cluster of differentiation (CD) 69. It was found that MTH did not possessed any immunosuppressive effect in regulating cell activation in helper T cells (CD3+ CD4+), cytotoxic T cells (CD3+ CD4-) and B cells (CD3- CD19+). The production of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin (IL)-10 from mitogen-stimulated and non-stimulated PBMCs after MTH treatment were also quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). IL-10 (immunoregulatory cytokine) and IFN-γ (pro-inflammatory cytokine) production were found elevated significantly (p < 0.05). These results suggested that MTH involved in early immunoregulation and late pro-inflammatory responses, supporting the antimicrobial activity of honey. This is the first study ever conducted to investigate the gene expression profile in PBMCs treated with MTH. Overall, present findings showed that MTH possessed immunomodulatory effect by regulating the expression of immune related genes, leading to significant increase in the production of type 1 cytokine (IFN-γ) and type 2 cytokine (IL-10) in PBMCs. This suggested that MTH possessed immunomodulatory effect that can potentially contribute to the antimicrobial and wound healing activities in honey. These findings can further justify the application of MTH as topical dressing especially in wound management potentially by eliminating wound infection as well as promoting wound healing process.

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is defined as constant or intermittent lower, cyclical or non-cyclical abdominal pain of at least six months’ duration. In the United Kingdom, over 1 million women suffer from CPP, with an estimated annual healthcare cost above £150 million. The aetiology of CPP is unknown in up to 50% of women, and in the remainder, the symptoms of CPP is associated with endometriosis, pelvic adhesions, irritable bowel syndrome or painful bladder syndrome. CPP is often accompanied by painful periods, pain during sexual intercourse and defaecation. Fatigue, sleep disturbances and depression are also common among this group of women. CPP asserts a heavy emotional, social and economic burden. Standard treatments such as hormonal and analgesic regimens are often associated with unacceptable side effects, even if helpful for the pain, underlining an urgent need for a satisfactory treatment. The meridian balanced method (BM) electro-acupuncture (EA) treatment (acupuncture needling + traditional Chinese medicine health consultation [TCM HC]) may be effective in managing CPP symptoms. Thus, I have completed a pilot study comprising of a three-armed randomised controlled trial (RCT), using a mixed methods research (MMR) approach, to assess the feasibility of a future large-scale RCT to determine the effectiveness of the meridian BMEA treatment on CPP in women. My hypothesis is that it is feasible to conduct such a large-scale RCT for CPP in women. The primary objectives were to determine recruitment and retention rates. The secondary objectives were to evaluate the, acceptability of the methods of recruitment, randomisation, interventions and assessment tools and any signals of effectiveness of the interventions. Thirty (30) women with CPP were randomised into three groups: BMEA treatment, TCM HC, or National Health Service standard care (NHS SC) group. The effects of my interventions were assessed by validated pain, physical and emotional functioning questionnaires, completed at weeks 0, 4, 8 and 12 of the study. Semi-structured telephone interviews and focus group discussions to explore participants’ experience of the study were conducted. Of the 59 women who were referred to the study, 30 women (51%) were randomised. There was a statistically significant difference in retention rates between the three groups. The retention rates were 80% (95% CI 74-96), in the BMEA treatment group, 53 % (95% CI 36- 70) in the TCM HC group and 87% (95% CI 63-90) in the NHS SC group. (Chi-square test, p=0.08) The attendance rates of the BMEA treatment group were 90% compared to 56% in the TCM HC group. There was a statistically significant difference (Mann-Whitney test, p=0.023) in attendance between the two intervention groups. Telephone interviews regarding the acceptability of the methods of recruitment, randomisation, assessment tools and interventions were positive. No adverse effects that were directly related to BMEA treatments were reported or observed. A higher proportion of the BMEA treatment group achieved clinical significance in the VAS-pain, BPI-pain severity, interference, and sleep scores, when compared to the other two groups. Due to small sample sizes, there was insufficient power to show statistically significant difference. (Fishers Exact Test, p=1.0) Analyses of the questionnaire data per group showed statistically significant differences in the following: the BMEA treatment group experienced less in pain at weeks 4 (p=0.01) and 8 (p=0.005); less helplessness (p=0.03) and their anxiety and depression scores declined at week 4 (p=0.04). The NHS SC group also reported less pain at week 4 (p=0.04). However, this group scored higher in anxiety and depression at weeks 8 and 12 (p=0.04). No statistically significant differences were achieved between the three groups at baseline, weeks 4, 8 and 12 in all scores. The therapeutic benefits gained by the TCM HC group were less compared to those of the BMEA treatment group, but better when compared to the NHS SC group. The BMEA treatment and TCM HC groups showed lower scores in anxiety and depression while the NHS SC group showed higher scores in anxiety and depression. The NHS SC group also tended to ruminate and magnify their problems as well as feeling more helpless than the other two groups. The three key themes that emerged from thematic analysis of focus group discussions were the “whole person effects” where participants reported an improvement in pain, sleep and a general sense of wellbeing in the two intervention groups; the “experience of standard care” and “impact of living with CPP”. In conclusion, the results of my pilot study are supportive of the feasibility of a future large-scale study. There were signals of effectiveness of interventions but the sample size was too small to make a definitive conclusion.

Metabolic flexibility is defined as the ability of an organism to adapt from fuel oxidation to fuel availability. It is well established that obesity results in loss of metabolic flexibility, however, the exact mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, it is critical to understand the mechanism underlying metabolic flexibility to tackle the epidemic of obesity. An energy-restricted diet will lead to weight loss. However, little is known regarding the mechanisms behind the improvement in metabolic flexibility with weight loss following an energy-restricted diet. In investigation 1, I compared the effects of an energy-restricted diet and a control diet over 12 weeks on overweight and obese volunteers to elucidate the underlying mechanism of metabolic flexibility. The results demonstrated that weight loss is associated with significant reductions in body fat composition, waist circumference, hip circumference, visceral fats, blood pressure, and an improvement in postprandial insulin sensitivity. This translates into an improvement in metabolic health and metabolic flexibility. However, the underlying mechanism remained unclear. Furthermore, dietary modification using short chain fatty acids provides an attractive avenue to improve metabolic flexibility. However, the evidence for the role of short chain fatty acids in improving human metabolic flexibility is lacking. In order to investigate the effects of short chain fatty acids on metabolic flexibility, I used encapsulated sodium propionate, which is a novel method to explore its effects on glucose homeostasis. Investigation 2 consists of two parts. The first part of the study was to demonstrate the pharmacokinetic profile of encapsulated sodium propionate. The results demonstrated no significant changes in serum propionate concentrations following ingestion of encapsulated sodium propionate. The second part of the study was designed to establish the most effective dose of sodium propionate in improving glucose homeostasis. Results from this part of the study demonstrated no significant change in beta cell function.

In this thesis, three important topics in actuarial science and nancial mathematics are investigated, namely, optimal reinsurance design, risk measures, and forward performance processes. For the first topic, two general problems of optimal reinsurance design are solved. The first one is the minimization of a general functional of the expectation, Value-at-Risk, and Tail Value-at-Risk of the total retained loss with the convex order preserving premium principle and the budget constraint. Karlin-Noviko - Stoyan-Taylor (multiple) crossing conditions are applied to solve the first general problem. The second problem is the minimization of a general law-invariant coherent risk measure of the total retained loss with the law-invariant coherent premium principle and the budget constraint. Representations in terms of distortion functions, application of the mini-max theorem in the in nite dimensional space, and Neyman-Pearson argument are applied to solve the second general problem. For the second topic, the forward entropic risk measures are investigated. Under the stochastic factor market model, by making use of the ergodic backward stochastic differential equation representation of the exponential forward investment performance process, a finite horizon backward stochastic differential equation representation of the forward entropic risk measure is obtained. By utilizing the finite horizon backward stochastic differential equation representation of the forward entropic risk measure, the large maturity behavior of the forward entropic risk measure for the risk positions that are deterministic functions of the stochastic factor processes is studied. Specifically, the forward entropic risk measure converges to a constant, which is independent of the initial value of the stochastic factor processes, with an exponential convergence rate. An example with numerical illustrations are demonstrated. For the third topic, under the stochastic factor market model, an infinite horizon backward stochastic differential equation representation of the exponential forward investment and consumption performance process is obtained.

Precision healthcare, also known as personalised medicine, is based on our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of biological systems, with the ultimate aim to clinically identify the best therapeutic strategy for each individual. Genomics and sequencing technologies have brought this to the foreground by enabling an individual’s entire genome to be mapped for less than a thousand dollar in just one day. Recently, metabolomics, the quantitative measurement of small molecules, has emerged as a field to understand an individual’s molecular profile in terms of both genetics and environmental factors. This is crucial because a genome could only indicate an individual’s susceptibility to a particular disease, whereas a metabolome provides an immediate measurement of body function, enabling a means of diagnosis. However, the current approach of measurements depends on large-scale and expensive equipment such as mass spectroscopy and NMR instrumentation, which does not offer a single analytical platform to detect the entire metabolome. This thesis describes the development of an integrated CMOS sensor array technology as a single platform to quantify different metabolites using specific enzymes. The key stages in the work were: to construct instrumentation systems to perform enzyme assays on the CMOS sensor array; to establish techniques to package the CMOS sensor array for an aqueous environment; to implement and develop a room temperature Ta2O5 sputtering process on CMOS sensor array for hydrogen ion detection; to collaborate with a chemist and investigate an inorganic layer on top of the CMOS ISFET sensor to show an improvement of sensitivity towards potassium ion; to test several different enzyme assays electrochemically and optically and show the functionalities of the sensors; to devise microfluidic channels for segregation of the sensor array into different compartments and perform enzyme immobilisation techniques on CMOS chips; and integrate the packaged chip with microfluidic channels and enzyme immobilisation using 2D inkjet printer into a complete system that has the potential to be used as a multi-enzyme platform for detection of different metabolites. Two CMOS sensor array chips (1) a 256×256-pixel ISFET array chip and (2) a 16×16-pixel Multi-Corder chip were fully understood. Therefore, a high-speed instrumentation system was constructed for the ISFET array chip with a maximum readout speed of 500 frames per second, with 2D and 3D imaging capability, as well as single pixel analysis. Follow by that, a miniaturised measurement platform was implemented for the Multi-Corder chip that has three different sensor arrays, which are ISFET, PD and SPAD. All the sensor arrays can be operated independently or together (ionic sensor and one of the optical sensors). Several post-processing steps were investigated to allow suitable fabrication process on small 4×4 mm2 CMOS chips. Post-processing of the CMOS chips was first established using room temperature sputtering process for Ta2O5 layer, achieving Ta:O ratio of 1:1.77 and a surface roughness of 0.42 nm. This Ta2O5 layer was then fabricated on top of CMOS ISFETs, which improves the ISFET pH sensitivity to 45 mV/pH, with an average drift of 6.5 ± 8.6 mV/hour from chip to chip and a working pH range of 2 to 12. Furthermore, a layer of POMs was drop casted on top of Ta2O5 ISFET to make ISFET sensitive to potassium ions. This was investigated in terms of potassium ions sensitivity, hydrogen ions sensitivity and sodium ions as interfering background ions. The POMs Ta2O5 ISFET was found to have a net potassium sensitivity of 75 mV/pK, with a linear range between pH 1.5 to 3. Moreover, the POMs ISFET has -5 mV/pH in pH sensitivity, showing that it is selectivity towards potassium ions and not hydrogen ions. However, sodium ions were found to produce a large interference towards the pK sensitivity of POMs ISFET and reduced the pK sensitivity of POMs ISFET. Hence, further work is still required to modify POMs layer for better selectivity and sensitivity. Besides that, microfluidic channels were fabricated on top of the CMOS chips that could provide segregation for multiple enzyme assays on a single chip. In addition, a PDMS and a manual dam and fill method were developed to encapsulate the CMOS chips for wet biochemistry measurements. The CMOS sensor array was found to have the ensemble averaging capability to reduce noise as a function of √N , where N is the number of sensors used for averaging. Several enzyme assays that include: hexokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, urease and lipase were tested on the ISFET sensor array. Moreover, using an optical sensor array, namely a PD on the Multi-Corder chip and using LED illumination, quantification of cholesterol levels in human blood serum was demonstrated. Enzyme kinetics calculations were performed for hexokinase and cholesterol oxidase assays and the results were comparable to that obtained from a bench top spectrophotometer. This shows the CMOS sensor array can be used as a low cost portable diagnostic device. Several enzyme immobilisation techniques were explored but were unsuccessful. Alginate enzyme gel immobilisation with a 2D inkjet printer was found to be the best candidate to bio-functionalise the CMOS sensor array. The packaged chip was integrated with microfluidic channels and alginate enzyme gel immobilisation into a complete system, in order to perform an enzyme assay with its control experiments simultaneously on a single chip. As a proof-of-concept, this complete system has the potential to be used as a multiple metabolite quantification platform.

Global demand for road travel is likely to double by 2050, creating serious environmental and human health risks. Forms of transport that are more sustainable should, therefore, be encouraged. This research aimed to generate a better understanding of personal transport decisions to contribute towards improving interventions and policies for reducing car use with four studies. The first reviewed psychological theories applied to understanding car use. These theories have evolved to become more comprehensive, however, some mechanisms of car use choice remain unaccounted for. Thus, the CAUSE framework was developed with the review’s findings to provide an integrated conceptual overview of potentially modifiable antecedents of car use. The second is a quantitative analysis exploring the relationships between public transport connectivity, commuting and two aspects of wellbeing: life satisfaction and mental distress. Life satisfaction was related to mode choice and mental distress was related to public transport connectivity. The study highlights the role of connectivity when understanding the psychological effects of travel. The third is a cross-cultural interview study investigating transport decisions and experiences among two culturally different cities. Accessibility, affordability and comfort were common transport decision considerations. However, distinct differences were observed in the attitudes and perceptions of private vehicles due to the different transport policies in both cities. The fourth is a quantitative analysis exploring the considerations of environmental factors during car purchases. Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours were found related to environment-related consideration during car purchases in general. However, the extent of the consideration and profile of these individuals differed significantly across sociodemographic and regions, possibly as a result of different policies. Overall, this research summarises the complexity of car use behaviour both at the theoretical and experiential levels. The implications of these findings for interventions and policies are discussed further in the final chapter of the thesis, alongside future directions for research in this area.

Complex multicellular organisms are composed of at least 200 cell types, which contain the same DNA "black box" of genetic information. It is the precise regime according to which they express their genes, exquisitely controlled by gene regulatory circuits, that defines their cellular identity, morphology and function. We have developed an in vivo biotinylation method that uses genetically encoded components in zebrafish, termed biotagging, for genome-wide regulatory analysis of defined embryonic cell populations. By labelling selected proteins in specific cell types, biotagging eliminates background inherent to analyses of complex embryonic environments via highly stringent biochemical procedures and targeting of specific interactions without the need for cell sorting. We utilised biotagging to characterise the in vivo translational landscape on polysomes as well as the transcriptional regulatory landscape in nuclei of migratory neural crest cells, which intermix with environing tissues during their migration. Our migratory neural crest translatome presented both known and novel players of the neural crest gene regulatory network. An in depth look into the active nuclear transcriptome uncovered a complex world of non-coding regulatory RNAs that potentially specify migratory neural crest identity and present evidence of active bidirectional transcription on regions of open chromatin that include putative cis-regulatory elements. Analysis of our transcribed cis-regulatory modules functionally links these elements to known genes that are key to migratory neural crest function and its derivatives. We also identified a novel cohort of circular RNAs enriched at regions of tandem duplicated genes. Last but not least, we recovered developmentally regulated long non-coding RNAs and transcribed transposable elements. To functionally dissect the biological roles of these factors, we have built two Ac/Ds-mediated in vivo toolkits for efficient screening of putative enhancers and for CRISPR/Cas9-based transcriptional modulation. Overall, our methods and findings present a comprehensive view of the active coding and non-coding landscapes of migratory neural crest on a genome-wide scale that refine the current regulatory architecture underlying neural crest identity.

This thesis describes the preparation and study of acyclic, macrocyclic and mechanicallyinterlocked host molecules (MIMs) exploiting halogen and chalcogen bonding interactions for anion recognition and sensing. Chapter 1 introduces the field of anion supramolecular chemistry and interlocked structures, with emphasis on halogen and chalcogen bonding receptors, as well as their applications in catalysis, molecular recognition and nanotechnology. Chapter 2 explores the methodology development and synthesis of novel neutral and cationic macrocyclic and interlocked host molecules containing stable triazole-based halogen and chalcogen bonding motifs. The thermodynamic anion binding properties of these novel host molecules in wet and dry organic solvents are determined and compared. Chapter 3 details the applications and influences of halogen and chalcogen bonding interactions for electrochemical anion sensing. The ability of ferrocene-based halogen bonding receptors to enhance the sensitivity of redox anion sensing compared with hydrogen bonding host analogues is demonstrated. Chapter 4 investigates the unprecedented applications of halogen and chalcogen bonding interactions in enantioselective binding and sensing of chiral anions. The use of chiral [2]- and [3]rotaxanes for chiral anion discrimination is also demonstrated for the first time. Chapter 5 describes the exploitation of hydrophilic polyether-based cationic halogen bonding receptors for anion binding and sensing in water. In particular, the halogen bondingmediated recognition of oxoanions such as perrhenate and biologically-relevant phosphate species are discussed. Chapter 6 summarises the main conclusions of this thesis. Chapter 7 details the experimental procedures employed in this work, including synthetic protocols and characterisation data for novel compounds. Additional information pertaining to crystallographic data, electrochemical measurements and computational modelling procedures are provided in the Appendices.

This thesis describes developments towards incorporating spiropyran functionality into metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Chapter 1 outlines the reported literature concerning the study of photochemistry with respect to MOFs; such materials have demonstrated potential as both alternative environments for the study of photoactivated processes and platforms to integrate photosensitive moieties. Incorporation of photoactive groups into MOFs has enabled these supramolecular materials to be altered chemically and physically via photo-initiated processes. Existing studies into reversible photoswitching groups are largely focussed on azobenzene. The chronological development of azobenzene incorporation into MOFs reflects the evolving strategies of exploiting this functionality to achieve photocontrol over the properties of MOF materials. These advances in accommodating photoswitching azobenzene into MOFs have been applied in reported studies with other photochromic groups and taken into consideration with the work described herein concerning spiropyrans. Chapter 2 focusses on the preparation of a carboxylic acid functionalised salicylaldehyde 3-formyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (H2L1), a key precursor in the synthesis of carboxylic acid functionalised spiropyrans. The serendipitous outcome in solvothermal reaction of H2L1 and copper nitrate in dimethylformamide affords {Cu2L12·(DMF)2(H2O)}n (1-Cu-DMF) which has been crystallographically characterised and is further described in this chapter. Channels run through the direction of the crystallographic a-axis of 1-Cu; its connectivity and porosity is retained upon solvent exchange of the single crystals with ethanol and tetrahydrofuran. Gas sorption experiments show 1-Cu exhibits type I adsorption behaviour with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 948 ± 1 m2 g−1. Notably, 1-Cu adsorbs negligible quantities of methane compared to carbon dioxide and other C2Hn hydrocarbons; the selectivities are confirmed by analysis via the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) and Henry’s law. Of particular importance, 1-Cu demonstrates exceptional selectivity for acetylene, which has applicability in separation technologies for the isolation of acetylene. Chapter 3 details the design and synthesis of a series of carboxylic acid functionalised spiropyrans and bisbenzospiropyrans. These compounds serve as ligand precursors for MOFs but also have interesting photophysical properties as organic compounds, which are studied in this chapter. Condensation of prefunctionalised fragments, H2L1 and carboxylic acid functionalised Fischer’s base 5, afforded a novel dicarboxylic acid functionalised spiropyran H2L2. A second synthetic route to extended ligand precursors, via Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling of ethyl ester functionalised boronic acids to dibrominated photoactive cores and subsequent hydrolysis, is described. Crystallographic characterisation of the ethyl esters indicates flexibility of the core moieties around the spiro carbon. Comparison of the UV-visible absorption spectra shows the properties of related spiropyrans and bisbenzospiropyrans to be influenced by electronic effects arising from both the type and positioning of the functional groups. The fluorescence quantum yields of novel spiropyrans 13, 15 and H2L5 have been determined as 0.025, 0.032 and 0.068 respectively. Cyclic voltammetric experiments show the electrochemical behaviour of spiropyrans to be influenced primarily by electronic effects related to the type of functional group attached, whereas the electrochemical properties of bisbenzospiropyrans is dominated by electronic effects arising from the positioning of the functional groups. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the spectroscopic properties are described and are consistent with experimental observations. Chapter 4 describes investigations to incorporate the carboxylic acid compounds prepared in Chapter 3 into framework materials. To mitigate potential instability problems from using solely photoresponsive and highly flexible components, co-crystallisation with pillaring agents was considered. Reaction of H2L2 with zinc nitrate and a dipyridyl terephthalamide pillaring agent L7 affords coordination network 2 Zn. Two isomers, {Zn(L2)(syn-L7)·(DMF)3(H2O)}n (2-syn-Zn) and {Zn(L2)(anti-L7)·(DMF)3.5(H2O)1.5}n (2-anti-Zn), have been crystallographically characterised; their differences rest upon the conformations adopted by ligand L7. The structure of the 2 anti Zn isomer has higher potential porosity, appearing as rhomboid channels running down the direction of the crystallographic b-axis. The two dimensional sheets of both 2-syn-Zn and 2-anti-Zn are linked in a third dimension through hydrogen bonding interactions between the carboxylate of (L2)2− and amide moiety of L7 in adjacent layers. UV irradiation (325 nm) of single crystals of both forms of 2 Zn initiates a growth in fluorescence of the material observed in situ on a Raman microscope. In situ monitoring of the fluorescence using a 785 nm laser shows a decay over 23 hours to recover the original Raman spectrum of the material. The fluorescence decay can be fitted to a biexponential process; the faster process (13 270 s−1 and 1290 s−1, 2-syn-Zn and 2-anti-Zn respectively) is approximately an order of magnitude greater than the slower process (3980 s−1 and 350 s−1 respectively). DFT calculations suggest the theoretical spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of (L2)2− are not significantly changed by coordination to zinc in 2-Zn. The structures 2-syn-Zn and 2-anti-Zn are the first known examples of spiropyran functionality being incorporated into frameworks.

This thesis chronicles the development of Henri Fantin-Latour’s identity as a peintre-mélomane. Its purpose is to investigate how his multi-sensory impressions of music, particularly during performances of Richard Wagner’s operas and Hector Berlioz’s musical-dramatic works, would materialize into an aesthetic of vagueness. I examine the manner in which the scenic, acoustic, and acousmatic conditions in his physical environment heightened his awareness of a poetic and palpable sense of vagueness. I postulate that he aspired to simulate the sensorial aspects of his musical experiences in his operatic interpretations, lieder-inspired images, and allegorical fantasies. Through his inventive experimentation with lithography and his adaptation of painting techniques by his favorite old masters (most notably Eugène Delacroix), he developed a distinct facture that imbued his atmospheric prints, pastels, and paintings with an ineffable quality of vagueness. The correspondence between the auditory sensation, visual perception, and formal expression of the vague is also reflected in the picturesque language and musical nomenclature invoked by the contemporary criticism. The elusive sense of the musically vague in Fantin’s imaginative genre was a conspicuous leitmotif in the Salon reviews. An intertextual comparison between the musical discourse of the time and the critical reception of his artworks reveals absolute music to be a model of emulation. In light of music’s centrality in Fantin’s artistic enterprise, the conclusion explores the extent of Berlioz’s and Wagner’s aesthetic influence on his theory and practice.