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Introduction: Platelets are small a-nucleate blood cells that stop bleeding at vascular injury. Platelets form a haemostatic plug by sticking to exposed extracellular matrix proteins and aggregating at the site of injured vessel. Integrins are transmembrane receptors linked to actin cytoskeleton. Integrin αIIbβ3 activation and clustering is a vital part of platelet activation and is mediated in part through the association of kindlin-3 with integrin β3. Recent studies also revealed the interaction between kindlin-3 and β3 is necessary to regulate and support integrin activation in platelet at the site of injury. ILK is a known effector molecule which recruits kindlin-3 to bind to the cytoplasmic tail of β3. However, the temporal interaction between kindlin-3 - β3 and the mechanisms of αIIbβ3 clustering are not fully understood. The objective of this study was to develop a Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM) method for measuring β3-β3 clustering in human platelets and use this to investigate the time course of integrin β3 clustering, its association with kindlin-3 and the role of ILK in this process. Results: The localization of integrin β3 and kindlin-3 were analysed using the ImageJ plugin ThunderSTORM and a novel cluster analysis method was developed for defining clustering in R. The density of β3 molecules surrounding each β3 molecule (a measure of clustering) showed a biphasic pattern increasing from a low in resting platelets to peak at 60 seconds, falling at 90 seconds, then increasing again by 180 seconds before again declining by 300 seconds. β3-β3 FRET signals were observed in a biphasic fashion and confirmed our initial data presented on β3β3 clustering. The density of β3 molecules surrounding each kindlin-3 molecule showed the opposite trend of β3 clustering for the first 30 seconds (decreasing from a high in resting platelets) and then followed the same pattern as β3 clustering. The kindlin-3 - β3 co-cluster and β3-β3 cluster were positively III associated after 30 seconds stimulation but not in the first 15 seconds. (N-Methyl-3-(1-(4-(piperazin-1-yl) phenyl)-5-(4′-(trifluoromethyl) [1, 1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl) propanamide (22), Cpd-22, a selective ILK inhibitor, was characterised and found to inhibit different platelet functions such as platelet aggregation, fibrinogen binding and alpha granule secretion. Cpd-22 impaired thrombin mediated kindlin-3 - β3 co-clustering over time (in resting and after stimulation). Cpd-22 treated platelets displayed reduction in the percentage of β3 clustering in response to thrombin or CRP-XL. Therefore, real time of rate fibrinogen binding was measured and found to be inhibited and not totally dependent β3-β3 clustering. Cpd-22 impaired thrombin or CRP-XL stimulated integrin β3, Src, and Syk downstream signalling at late time points, corresponding with the second peak of β3 clustering. Conclusion: A STORM microscopy method was developed and used to quantify the temporal changes in the co-clustering of kindlin-3 with integrin β3, and the biphasic clustering of integrin β3 in human platelets following thrombin or CRP-XL stimulation. This was used to show that ILK has a role in platelet activation. Inhibition of ILK reduces kindlin-3 - β3 association. Thus, reduction of kindlin-3 - β3 leads to inhibition of β3-β3 clustering, and inhibition of β3 downstream signalling in late time points, corresponding with the second peak of β3 clustering.

This thesis investigates teachers' and students perceived difficulties in implementing communicative language teaching (CLT) in English language classes in Bangladeshi secondary schools. It examines the extent to which factors both from the teachers and students perspective contribute to these difficulties. This study used multiple methods to explore teacher and student practices and perceptions regarding CLT (Golafshani, 2003), and it was influenced by an ethnographical approach (Denzin, 1994; Jeffrey and Troman, 2004; Hammersley, 2006). Quantitative methods such as statistical analysis of classroom observation 'data have been used alongside qualitative methods such as thematic analysis of interview data. Classroom observation reveals that teachers apply only minimal CL T principles in their classroom practice. Interview data reveal that there were two major perceived difficulties in implementing CLT in the classroom: pedagogical difficulties and environmental and personal difficulties. The factors that contribute to perceived pedagogical difficulties include insufficient training for both pre-service and in-service teachers; low English proficiency; inconsistency between the CLT approach and the national examination system; teachers' orientation- to traditional methods; the role of private tuition; isolated grammar practice; separation of female and male students in the school, and teachers' lack of familiarity with general teaching techniques. Interviews also reveal that environmental and personal difficulties are perceived to inhibit CLT classroom instruction. In order to work towards the provision of quality English language teaching in Bangladesh, this thesis reflects on the significant barriers to implementing CLT in Bangladeshi secondary schools and considers the steps that need to be taken to better prepare teachers for teaching English in this and other similar contexts. A thorough understanding of the multiple pedagogical, environmental and personal difficulties that teachers and students face in the English language classroom will help teacher educators and policy makers understand the complexity of implementing pedagogical change in this context.

This thesis demonstrates how security can be provided in dynamic Virtual Organizations (dVOs) for enabling transient collaborations. The problem associated with the provision of security in dVOs is the absence of trust relationships among prospective dVO partners who are potentially strangers. The traditional methods of providing security in a distributed setting and the existing dVO security approaches are inadequate mechanisms in open environments where dVOs prevail. This has led to the use of alternative technologies. In this thesis use of the Trust Management technique that is based on the notion of trust and reputation has been advocated as available jn the social system. So far numerous studies on the formalization of social phenomenon of trust and reputation have been carried out in different environments e.g. P2P (peer-to-Peer), MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc Networks), pervasive computing. However, very little is known about building an architecture for Trust Management in scalable environments such as dVOs. Hence the main emphasis in this thesis has been to establish mechanisms for Trust Management at a global level and to carry out a study of their behaviour in a practical setting. In order to perform the above-mentioned task, there are a number of issues involved which include: handling the problem of naming and identities, devising innovative strategies for trust data placement, establishing reputation and making it available in an efficient way, devising a mechanism for trust assessments that incorporates different parameters through the use of policy management techniques in different collaboration scenarios and the investigation of the phenomenon of reputation evolution. For investigating the above issues, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) methodology has been followed (with some extensions for service modelling) using the Unified Modelling Language CUML). The solution provides a Web Services based Trust Management Framework (TMF) comprising scalable architecture for trust data dissemination and models for trust and reputation to address the above-mentioned issues. In order to validate the hypothesis the evaluation of the proposed system has been carried out in terms of building initial relationships among prospective dVO partners. It was deduced from the above study that the Trust Management Framework (TMF) as proposed in this thesis could improve security in a dVO environment.

The legume podborer, Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is a serious pest of legumes throughout Asia and Africa. Previous workers identified (E,E)-10,12-hexadecadienal (EE10,12-6:Ald), (E,E)-10,12-hexadecadienol (EE10,12-16:OH) and (E)-10-hexadecenal (E10-16:Ald) as sex pheromone components of female M. vitrata. They developed a lure that attracts male moths in the field in Benin but they failed to attract male moths in the laboratory, or to develop a lure that attracts male moths in Asia or the rest of Africa. Synthetic lures also attracted significant number of female moths. The objectives of this study were to re-examine the sex pheromone of female M. vitrata with the aim of developing synthetic lures that attracted male moths in a wind-tunnel and in the field in both Africa and Asia and determining the reason for attraction of female moths to synthetic pheromone lure. Procedures were developed for mass rearing M. vitrata of African and Indian strains using synthetic diet without loss of vigour and reproductive potential. The female sex pheromone was re-examined using gas chromatography linked to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography coupled with electroantennography (GC-EAG). In this study two new components, (E)-10-hexadecenol E10-16:OH and (Z,Z,Z,Z,Z)-3,6,9,12,15-tricosapentaene (ZZZZZ3,6,9,12,15-23:H), were identified as a part of the M. vitrata pheromone blend along with (E,E)-10,12-hexadecadienol (EE10,12-16:Ald). Laboratory windtunnel tests showed attraction of male moths to EE10,12-16:Ald and blends with E10-16:OH or ZZZZZ3,6,9,12,15-23:H equal to that of natural female extract for the first time. Field trials were conducted in West Africa in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Benin and at two locations in India. Although variable trapping results were obtained, in Burkina Faso the major component, EE10,12-16:Ald alone, caught significantly more moths than other synthetic blends consisting major and minor components. A similar result was found in India and the trap catch was significantly increased when E10-16:OH was added to the major component in a ratio of 10:90. Synthetic blends also captured female moths in West Africa but not in India. The role of the newly identified pheromone components and possible reasons for the female moth capture are discussed.

The conflicts and disorder in North East India have mostly been explained using the grievance narrative - referring to the alienation of communities in the region due to postcolonial nation making and because of people's poor access to power, resources and opportunities. But these explanations fail to account for the large variance in political outcomes within the North East. An exploration of the political history of the region demonstrates that disorder accompanies a contested and weak authority of state agencies and the fragmentation of society. This state-society reading of politics may help in unraveling the differing success with political order in two States in the region - Manipur and Mizoram. Understanding the differing capabilities of the two States with political order, then, requires delving into history to study the process of state making in colonial and post colonial times and how state elites used political organisations to construct and mobilize collective identities to acquire legitimacy. My research, which is a comparative case study and is based on archival research, study of newspaper reports, use of public and private documents and conduct of in-depth interviews, demonstrates that in Mizoram the process of state making - involving both the establishing of state and political apparatuses that could mobilize State-wide inclusive politics - was such that it consolidated and strengthened the authority of the state and the capability of its agencies to provide services, manage contestations and avoid breakdown. In Manipur, it was traditional centres of authority with their localized manner of organization that characterised state making. Persistence of traditional centres of power has resulted in weak social control on the part of state actors and poor capability of its agencies to provide services and establish order. The crucial difference between Manipur and Mizoram, then, and which has a bearing on conflict outcomes, is the centrality of the state in the lives of people. These findings have implications for both future research - how to enhance the institutional capability of the state in situations of multiple authority systems - and for policy interventions - restoring order demands that, among other things, the state is made the central pillar of society.

Deregulation of the electric utility industry has taken place in many countries. This resulted in the unbundling of the vertically integrated utilities into separate generation, transmission and distribution businesses. Since then, the pricing of the use of transmission system has become one of the major issues. The issue concerns the way the cost of transmission services is satisfactorily allocated among the involved parties. In the context of the transmission utilities, the issue is how the cost of transmission service can be recovered while in the customers of transmission services point of view, the issue is how such services can be offered at the most reasonable price. Several strategies for pricing the use of transmission services have been proposed but there is no clear evidence on which one is better in providing adequate economic signal to the different parties. This thesis introduces a new approach called Negative Flow Sharing Approach to allocate the wheeling transaction charges among the users in transmission services. The proposed approach was developed using the properties of MW-mile method but taking into consideration the economic benefits of both trading parties through analysing their shares in negative power flow or counter flow. This approach is incorporated with the Justified Distribution Factor and an Incremental Absolute Approach to form a better wheeling charge allocation scheme that can overcome the problem that arises due to the allocation method, identification of counterflow users and revenue reconciliation of transmission services. Four case studies which are based on the 5 bus system, 9 bus system, IEEE-14 bus system and the 6 bus system were used in order to evaluate its concept and application. This thesis concludes with discussions on the case studies results by highlighting the merit of the proposed approach over the existing MW-mile approaches in providing sufficient return revenue to the transmission owner as well as a fair charge to the transmission user regardless of transaction arrangements and locations.

Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycles are superior to traditional water-based, air-breathing, direct-fired, open Brayton cycles; or indirect-fired, closed Rankine cycles in terms of efficiency and equipment footprint. They hold great potential in nuclear power production, fossil fuel power plants, concentrated solar power, geothermal power, and ship propulsion. To unlock the potential of sCO2 power cycles, technology readiness must be demonstrated on the scale of 10 – 600 MWe and at the sCO2 temperatures and pressures of 350 – 700 ºC and 15 – 30 MPa for nuclear industries. The lack of suitable shaft seals at sCO2 operating conditions is one of the main challenges at the component level. So far, conventional seals are incapable of handling sCO2 pressure and temperature in one way or another. This study proposes a patented novel Elasto-Hydrodynamic (EHD) high-pressure, high temperature, and scalable shaft seal for sCO2 turbomachinery that offers low leakage, minimal wear, low cost, and no stress concentration. The focus of this paper was to conduct a proof-of-concept study with the help of computer simulations. To this end, a fully coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) modeling approach was adopted, and the simulations were carried out in COMSOL Multiphysics software. The modeling approach was presented thoroughly, the results were discussed, and the subsequent research steps were highlighted. Under the EHD mechanism: the higher the pressures are, the tighter the sealing becomes while sustaining a continuous sCO2 film. a 2" diameter shaft static test rig was designed at Georgia Southern University before the actual dynamic testing at Sandia National Laboratories for proof-of-concept purposes. For simplicity, the working fluid was chosen to be Nitrogen, and the tests were conducted at room temperature. The test rig consisted of a 16.5 MPA N2 tank, steel tubing with compression type fittings, and OMEGA – PX5500C0-2.5KA10E pressure sensor to measure the pressure of the N2 after the pressure regulator from the tank, a chamber housing the 2" steel shaft and EHD seal (two prototype steel seals with seal clearances of 25 μm and 50 μm), a CONAX – K-INC12-U-T3(5FT)-7.5" temperature sensor to collect temperature data in the chamber, and an OMEGA – FMA-1623AI mass flow meter with temperature and pressure measurement capability to evaluate conditions after the test chamber. The pressure, temperature, and mass flow rate data were collected via a National Instruments DAQ – Module NI-9205 and a LabVIEW program. The tests were conducted for an inlet pressure of 0.1 ~ 15 MPa and at two different clearances of 25 μm and 50 μm. The mass flow rate exhibited a quadratic trend with increased pressure, which proved the hypothesis.

Bacillus velezensis is a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) that promotes plant growth, enhances drought stress tolerance, and suppresses plant pathogens. However, little is known about the effects of exogenous pectin or orange peel amendments on plants by B. velezensis PGPR strains. The objectives of the present studies were: (i) to evaluate the combined effects of B. velezensis PGPR strains with exogenous pectin or orange peel amendments in soybean growth promotion and nodulation, (ii) to determine the capacity of B. velezensis PGPR strain with orange peel amendment to enhance drought stress tolerance in peanut (iii) to evaluate B. velezensis PGPR strain with orange peel amendment for their potential biological control of the southern root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita in soybean and cotton. The treatments for objective one included soybean seeds planted in field soil that inoculated B. velezensis PGPR strains amended with or without exogenous pectin or orange peel and untreated control. The treatments for objective two included untreated peanut genotypes planted in field soil mixed with a potting mix that inoculated with B. velezensis PGPR strain amended with or without the orange peel. The treatments for objective three included soybean and cotton seeds planted in field soil that inoculated with cell pellet suspension, culture broth, and cell-free supernatant of B. velezensis PGPR strain grown in orange peel amended media and untreated control. In the greenhouse test, soybean seeds inoculated with B. velezensis PGPR strain AP193 and pectin had significantly increased shoot length, dry weight, and nodulation compared to the same strain without pectin amendment. Orange peel amendment in greenhouse test, with AP193 at 10 mg significantly increased the dry weight of shoots and roots compared to the same strain without pectin amendment. In the field test, pectin with B. velezensis PGPR strain AP193 significantly increased shoot length, dry weight, and nodulation compared to the same strain without pectin amendment. The biological control test results indicate that cell pellet suspension (CPS), culture broth (CB), and cell-free supernatant (CFS) of B. velezensis PGPR strain AP203 significantly reduced M. incognita population compared to M. incognita inoculated positive control at 45 days after planting (DAP) compared to M. incognita inoculated positive control in soybean and cotton. However, there were no significant differences between CPS, CB or CFS of B. velezensis strains grown in orange peel amended media. The specific leaf area (SLA), SPAD chlorophyll meter readings (SCMR), chlorophyll density (ChlD), and root length of B. velezensis strain AP203 with orange peel amendment were statistically significant compared to B. velezensis strain AP203 without orange peel amendment under drought stress tolerance conditions. Significant genotype x drought stress interactions were observed on most of the investigated agronomic traits. Genotype AU 18-33 of B. velezensis strain AP203 with orange peel amendment showed significant plant dry weight compared to B. velezensis strain AP203 without orange peel amendment under both water regimes. These results are significant as they illustrate the potential of B. velezensis PGPR strains to enhance soybean plant growth, peanut drought stress tolerance, and biological control of M. incognita by exogenous pectin or orange peel amendments.

Nucleic acids are complex macromolecules that can store and transfer information for generations; they are an integral part of the central dogma of molecular biology. Structural determination of nucleic acids is crucial to learn about their characteristics and functions. However, there are two problems in determining the structure of a nucleic acid: the phasing problem and the crystallization problem. Selenium modification of nucleic acids is an ideal way to counter both issues. This thesis paper focuses on the synthesis of 2’-SeMe-arabino modification of uridine and cytidine as they both may enhance the crystallization capabilities of B-form DNA. Advances in these studies may lead to the discovery of new drugs and therapeutics designed to target diseases with minimum dosage and highest precision possible.

Public transit demand modelling typically considers two main aspects, namely: mode choice and transit assignment. In such a framework of modelling transit users’ behaviour, three important decisions are considered: choice of mode, choice of access to a stop and choice of a route. The literature argues that transit users may evaluate different strategies such as minimising travel time, travel cost or number of transfers while choosing transit stop or route. Furthermore, there are other important aspects regarding the behaviour of users like how to model individual behaviour in making decisions based on the behavioural theories like random utility maximisation (RUM) or random regret minimisation (RRM), and the influence of users’ socioeconomic, demographics, and trip attributes on these decisions. This study addresses all these aspects using different discrete choice modelling formulations to evaluate the appropriateness of these specifications for access stop choice and route choice modelling. In this study, it is found that models based on the RUM theory generally show a better fit to the data which is used in this thesis. However, a hybrid RUM-RRM specification shows better prediction capability. Particularly for the transit route choice models in this study, models with smaller choice set sizes work better than the model based on larger choice sets. However, the prediction capability is better in models with larger choice sets. Another finding of this thesis is that accounting for different strategies in modelling the behaviour of transit users is quite important. This thesis also examines the effectiveness of the widely used simple random sampling technique in different discrete choice formulations in the route choice modelling context and proposes approaches to improve the quality of the choice modelling specifications. The use of the proposed sampling mechanisms can be expanded to other contexts like destination choice, housing search, and route choice, where sampling of alternatives is inevitable. Finally, the findings of this thesis research can provide insightful modelling methods to be used by transport/transit planning professionals to improve the quality of their demand models.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and other beneficial bacteria are increasingly used as biofertilizers for enhancing crop production. After PGPR-treated seeds are planted, root colonization is considered to be an essential first step in plant growth-promotion. Plant roots exude diverse organic compounds, including sugars, and successful bacterial colonization hinges on nutrient uptake from the host plants through extracellular enzymatic activity. Strains of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantarum (Bap) colonize plant roots, and many have been used as PGPR during the past decades. Pectin is a complex structural polysaccharide found in the middle lamella and primary cell wall of plant cells. Little is known about the possible role of pectin in root colonization and plant growth-promotion. It is possible that Bap strains obtain some carbon via production of extracellular pectate lyase enzymes that degrade pectin in plant root cells. Bacterial genes are involved in degradation and transport of the pectin-associated compounds D-glucuronate and D-galacturonate which can be used as energy and carbon sources. Pectin is broken down by a series of pectinolytic enzymes of soil and rhizosphere bacteria. Some pectinolytic bacteria are plant pathogens which over-produce pectinolytic enzymes, thereby causing plant cell death. Other nonpathogenic soil and rhizosphere bacteria can also degrade pectin in plant rhizospheres without causing damage to plants. Hence, understanding the expression of pectin-associated genes and their involvement in pectin degradation, transport, and utilization by PGPR is critical. The overall objective of this study was to determine the potential role of pectin degradation and utilization in root colonization and plant growth-promotion of soybean by specific PGPR strains. Experiments were designed to evaluate the potential effects of pectin degradation and utilization by Bap strains on root colonization and plant growth-promotion using pectin amendment to soil. Objective 1 consisted of two parts: a) to identify Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantarum strains with gyrB primers (UP-1 & UP-2r), and b) to identify exuT and uxuB genes with exuT and uxuB primers in the Bap strains. The hypotheses for objective 1 were i) gyrB primers (UP-1 & UP-2r) will identify Bap strains, and ii) exuT and uxuB primers will identify exuT and uxuB genes in Bap strains for utilization of sugars derived from pectin. Of 79 Bacillus species strains screened via gyrB universal primers, 59 were confirmed as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. Plantarum, and the remaining 20 were identified as B. mojavensis, B. sonorensis, B. tequilensis, Bacillus subtilis, and B. pumilis based on the gyrB phylogenetic tree. None of the strains was found to cluster together with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. amyloliquefaciens. The Bap strains were then screened for the presence of the exuT and uxuB genes. Out of 59 Bap strains, 57 were found to contain exuT and 52 contained uxuB. Objective 2 had two parts: a) to screen a large collection of Bap strains for pectin degradation and utilization as a sole carbon source, b) to conduct a comparative genomic analysis that includes Bap strains that lack the capacity for pectin utilization. The hypotheses for objective 2 were a) pectin degradation capacity of Bap strains is linked to utilization of D-Glucuronate of D-galacturonate as an energy source, and b) whole genome sequence analysis will reveal all the pectin-associated and defective genes by RAST and CLC genomics software. Pectin degradation and utilization activity of 59 Bap strains were tested in vitro on Pectate Agar (PA) and Tris-Spizizen Salts (TSS) medium. The highest pectate lyase activities were observed in Bap strains AP193, AP203, AP299, AP80, AP102, and AP52, while the lowest activities were with Bap strains AP 194, AP214, AP215, and AP305. Twelve Bap strains (AP67, AP71, AP77, AP78, AP85, AP102, AP108, AP135, AP143, AP189, AP192, and AP193) grew vigorously on TSS medium. Six Bap strains (AP194, AP204, AP214, AP216, AP219, and HD73) had lower growth compared to other Bap strains on TSS medium. The whole genome sequence was determined for Bap strains AP194 and AP214 using an Illumina MiSeq sequencer based on in vitro test results. Objective 3 was to evaluate the effect of pectin amendments to soil, together with selected pectinolytic Bap strains, for potential enhancement in root colonization, and the magnitude of Bap-induced plant growth of soybean plants. The hypothesis was that bacterial utilization of D-Glucuronate as a carbon source will improve root colonization and increase root and shoot biomass. Rifampicin-resistant mutants of AP143, AP193, and Btk strain HD73 were selected and used to evaluated effects of pectin supplement on root colonization and plant growth-promotion of soybean in greenhouse tests. The combination of Bap rifR strains with pectin amendment resulted in enhanced nodule formation and weights of soybean shoots and roots weights, compared to the same Bap rifR strains without pectin amendment. In contrast, Btk rifR strain did not exhibit plant growth-promotion activity when used with or without pectin amendment. In summary, inoculation of selected pectinolytic Bap rifR strains together with pectin amendments to soil enhanced root colonization and plant-growth promotion of soybean plant. In the greenhouse tests using nonsterilized field soil, pectin amendment with Bap rifR strains also enhanced formation of nodules of indigenous Bradyrhizobium japonicum on soybean roots. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that the combination of selected pectinolytic Bap strains and soil amendment with pectin enhanced plant growth and nodulation by indigenous symbiotic N-fixing bacteria.

Abstract: In recent years, there has been considerable interest in gaining a fundamental understanding of nanoparticle (NP) synthesis and reactivity due to their wide applicability in the fields of biomedicine, optoelectronics and catalysis. Although metal NPs with a small and narrow size distribution tend to have high performance, their inherent heterogeneity generally results in less reactivity compared to their homogeneous counterparts. Hence, it is crucial to develop support systems, which not only permit the synthesis of uniform sized NPs and improve their solubility, but also provide a system suitable for “Green” catalysis. Towards the effort of developing green catalysts, we have designed water-soluble, biocompatible rosette nanotube (RNT) supported Pd NPs composites. The RNT is a biocompatible tubular architecture that is self-assembled under aqueous conditions from a self-complementary guanine-cytosine (G∧C) DNA hybrid molecule. The hierarchical self-assembly process involves the initial formation of hexameric rosettes through intermolecular H-bonding interactions. These hydrophobic macrocycles then π-π stack to form the RNT. The in-situ formation of the M NPs occurs within 1 minute upon mixing the corresponding metal salt with the RNTs at ambient temperature in the absence of a reducing agent. On our quest to investigate the origin of the M NP formation, it was determined that water oxidation is responsible for the M0 formation. Further studies on the kinetics of the M NPs formation showed that their nucleation and growth are very rapid and occur through a step-wise process. The intellectual design of the surface functionalization and their well-defined structural features allow for the growth of the M NPs to be controlled to a certain size and prevent their further agglomeration. The studies showed that once the nucleation takes place, the NPs continue to grow until each nucleation pocket restricts further growth. Followed by the complete growth, a new nucleation takes place in an empty nucleation site. Based on the success of the developed synthetic protocol, we then applied our M NPs/RNTs catalyst (M = Au, Pd and Pt) for olefin hydrogenation and Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions. The results showed that we could perform such catalytic reactions smoothly under environmentally benign and mild conditions with a wide range of functional group tolerance. The utility of our Pd NPs/RNTs catalyst was also evaluated for the synthesis of a drug intermediate, an agrochemical, and various organic materials for solar cell, OLED and sensor applications. As the supramolecular chirality of the RNT is also translated in the presence of the M NPs on its surface, the asymmetry induction of the Pd NPs/RNTs catalyst was investigated. Unfortunately, only poor chirality induction was observed under the optimized conditions of the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. The M NPs/RNTs catalysts were characterized by using standard materials characterization techniques including spectroscopy as well as microscopy. To conclude this work, further research directions of this thesis work are also briefly discussed and suggested.

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This dissertation examines the lack of a noticeable indigenous labor movement in the contemporary Gulf Arab countries of Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar; it focuses on the emergence, after the discovery of oil, of an industrial Gulf labor force, and on the evolution of the British policy towards oil and Gulf oil workers from 1932 until 1956. The period examined in this dissertation begins with the discovery of oil in Bahrain in 1932; this was the first such discovery on the Arab side of the Gulf, and ends with the Suez Crisis of 1956. The latter is a watershed event in Gulf history. This dissertation argues that the Suez Crisis was in large part responsible for the long-term defeat of the indigenous labor movement in the Gulf. In this dissertation attention is given to the parts played by the British Government of India, the Foreign Office, the local Shaikhs, the Gulf nationalists, and by the workers themselves. During the period a remarkable transformation in British policy took place with a noticeable shift in the methods and purpose of the British attitude towards oil and workers. These policies towards workers passed through two different periods. In the first, 1932-1945, the Government of India had no direct interest in the Gulf labor situation; in the second, 1946-1956, the Foreign Office took increased interest in the welfare of local oil workers. This growing interest was a direct result of the increasing importance of oil to the reconstruction of the British economy after the war. The Foreign Office thus began to form a long range policy to stabilize the labor situation in the Gulf region. Finally, this dissertation asks how far the British were willing to go in order to secure their interest in the oil industry? This dissertation shows that the British initially were willing to support a liberal labor law conceding to workers the right to form independent trade unions. This was the case in Bahrain during the 1950's when the nationalist movement became a major force. Unfortunately, the Suez Crisis convinced the British to withdraw their support for the workers, and as a result, the Shaikhs were able to erase the labor movement's previous gains.