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This thesis argues that corporations are blameworthy moral agents. It advances the view that blaming corporations for their wrongdoing has an instrumental value insofar as blaming practices incentivise actions that are socially valuable, and disincentivise actions that are socially costly. The true value of blaming corporations is to be found in its non-instrumental value, however. This is to do with maintaining the dignity and self-respect of those who are doing the blaming. Blaming corporations is a vital way in which we hold powerful and destructive entities to account. Blaming corporations takes them, what they do and ourselves seriously. This thesis adopts a non-standard approach to the moral responsibility question by connecting the question of moral responsibility to the power of corporations as much as to their agential capacities. It also adopts a non-standard approach to the agency question by raising important questions about the rational capacity paradigm which underpins traditional accounts of individual and corporate moral responsibility. A key feature of corporations is their long horizon. This thesis discusses the role of blaming practices in addressing their role in historic acts of injustice. Consequently this thesis's historical texture provides a unique perspective on this topic. It also considers whether we can forgive corporations for their wrongdoing in a way that goes beyond what is normally found in the relevant literature.

Sensing and imaging at the nanoscale using fluorescence based techniques has advanced the fields of biology and medical science. However there remain shortfalls with currently used fluorescent probes. One such problem is the lack of biologically inert fluorophores which emit in the red regime of the visible spectrum with good brightness. A class of newly developed fluorophores which have shown promise in fitting the required criteria are protein encapsulated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs). They have been shown to be non-toxic, red emitting, long-lived fluorophores however their low brightness has hindered their widespread use. The complexity of protein encapsulated AuNCs' fluorescence mechanism also remains poorly understood. Fluorescence based techniques, Molecular Dynamics simulations and physicochemical characterisation techniques have been employed to uncover important information critical to improving the fluorescence characteristics of protein encapsulated AuNCs. The AuNCs nucleation site within Human Serum Albumin (HSA) has been discovered which will allow for the intelligent modification of the fluorophores with the aim of improving their fluorescence intensity and low quantum yield. The effects of AuNCs on natural protein function have also been studied; indicating that the major drug binding site of HSA is blocked upon AuNCs synthesis. Further studies of the physicochemical changes in HSA upon AuNCs synthesis uncovered that the protein adopts a dimer state which could lead to complications when using as an in vivo sensor. Lysozyme encapsulated AuNCs displayed similar behaviour, forming dimers after AuNCs synthesis. Interestingly, the isoelectric point of this fluorophore was found to be the same as HSA encapsulated AuNCs, suggesting that protein encapsulated AuNCs share common features. Lysozyme encapsulated AuNCs displayed similar adsorption properties as native lysozyme; suggesting that in the future, unmodified AuNCs could be used to observe the formation of lysozyme fibrils which are a major bio-marker for currently incurable brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

A number of industries generate by-products containing naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). Such materials must be characterised prior to re-use, for example, in building materials or for sentencing as waste. In the UK, industries producing NORM are subject to the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2018 (EPR 2018). As a result, such industries have a duty to accurately characterise the radioactivity content of NORM to determine if they are within regulation. The work in this thesis supports this in a variety of ways. Firstly, this work supports accurate radionuclide measurement by increasing the number of reference materials available for NORM industries, by processing and characterising blast furnace slag for the steel industry and pipeline scale for the oil and gas industry. A global comparison exercise was undertaken for the characterisation of the blast furnace slag, resulting in two peer-reviewed publications, and plans have been put in place for an International comparison exercise of the pipeline scale led by NPL along with other National Measurement Institutes. Reference materials are a key requirement for validating radioanalytical methods for accurate measurement and to demonstrate compliance, and the variety of matrices and principal radionuclides encountered in NORM mean that having industry-specific reference standards is vital. Secondly, a method for total dissolution of solid samples by lithium borate fusion has been improved by increasing the sample size that can be processed. This allows for various complex sample matrices, such as those encountered in nuclear decommissioning or NORM, to be entirely dissolved. Dissolution of increased sample sizes provides confidence that quantitative recovery of low activity levels from complex matrices is routinely achievable. This work, the outcomes of which have been peer-reviewed and published, supports the accurate characterisation of the significant NORM and nuclear decommissioning activities now and in the future, as well as in the development of reference materials that provide the underpinning metrology to such programmes. Thirdly, the measurement of decay data which underpins all radioactive analysis has been reviewed and enhanced. A method has been developed for atom counting of long-lived radionuclides using tandem inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the first time. In some cases, decay data are outdated and/or significant uncertainties remain. Half-life measurements of long-lived naturally occurring radionuclides in need of updating have been identified and measurement techniques compared, a summary of which has been peer-reviewed and published. The novel application of tandem inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in this field, which can be combined with primary counting to give a half-life measurement, has been investigated in this work. Initially applied to 238U and combined with defined solid angle counting measurement, this method is applicable to a range of long-lived radionuclides such as 151Sm, 93Zr, 237Np and 129I with the benefit of online separation. In summary, this work has contributed to the field of radiochemistry by improving the accuracy of measurements of naturally occurring radionuclides. This can be applied to characterisation of naturally occurring radioactive materials and environmental monitoring and can also be extended to nuclear decommissioning.

In 1934, a child's construction toy - Meccano - was used to build the first differential analyser in the UK. Initially intended as a proof-of-concept model, the original Meccano differential analyser proved so successful at resolving equations that many subsequent Meccano and non-Meccano analogue computers were built in the UK. These machines were used before, during, and after the Second World War as research instruments and teaching devices. Despite this, the part of the original Meccano differential analyser that has sat in the Science Museum since 1949 has been used to tell a Whiggish history of computers that focuses on digital machines at the expense of analogue mechanisms. While historians of computing today define their work in opposition to this linear-progressive account of computing, this approach featured prominently in academic literature until the turn of the millennium. This thesis explores Hartree and Porter's original Meccano differential analyser as an analogue computer, using it as a case study to explore the complex relationships between Meccano, play, science, and engineering. In doing so, it considers the object as an assemblage of its Meccano materiality, its instrumentality as an analogue computer, and its career as a collected object in the Science Museum. It deconstructs these different elements of the assemblage and explores how they are part of wider, external assemblages that have their own public histories. The thesis considers the changing materiality of Meccano as an object from 1901 to the present day, analysing marketing materials, the Meccano Magazine, and the voices of the Meccanomen to challenge the conventional, synchronic history of the toy as an unchanged engineering tool. It uses the Meccanomen's popular publications together with archival sources and interviews to historicise the 'alternative' version of the Meccanomen's movement, making it possible to see how individuals attached a variety of personalised meanings to their Meccano hobby. It also explores the object's instrumentality as an analogue computer, beginning with a detailed 'nuts and bolts' comparison of how the original Meccano differential analyser worked with how it was presented in academic and popular publications in 1934. It then brings together the stories and applications of other differential analysers constructed in Britain during this period, to provide further case studies about the role of these computers during the Second World War, and how they have been displayed in museums. The thesis then draws on these analyses by telling the story of the 'Trainbox' object that was collected by the Science Museum in 1949. The 'Trainbox' was comprised of parts of the original Meccano differential analyser that Hartree used to teach the principles of differential equations and integration after the Second World War. Through exploring how the public history and voices of the object have been changed in different exhibits in the museum, this thesis demonstrates the complex relationship between different parts of object's assemblage in a variety of contexts over time. The final part of the thesis builds on these deconstructed elements by reconstructing the original object as the Kent machine, a historical reproduction designed to recover elements of the tacit knowledge used to build it in 1934. It finishes by exploring how these new understandings of Meccano and analogue computers were used to co-curate a new public history for this curious object, using the 'shared authority' of myself, the Meccanomen, and audiences we engaged with the Kent machine.

Whilst Roman architecture has long stood as a discrete branch of classical studies, investigated for its artistic merit and cultural importance, the technical details of Roman construction have only recently started to receive considerable attention. This thesis contributes to a growing trend in Roman scholarship, that of the investigation of the processes, materials, and technologies behind the Roman built environment. The most prestigious buildings of the Empire often remain the focus of many of these studies, and so this thesis turns to explore the use of more everyday buildings and building materials, seeking a Romano-British vernacular, and investigating the processes of construction, building material production, and transport. It is argued, through using theoretical calculations of building material quantities, that even for relatively minor constructions, considerations of building material supply must have represented highly significant economic and logistical investment. To comprehend fully the subject it is asserted that building materials should not be treated, as they often are, as disparate artefacts, divided by substance into stone, ceramic, mortar, metal, etc., but rather they should be considered as related fragments of a building. They require synthetic analysis, through which a far truer understanding of the incredible effort involved in construction in the ancient world can be gained. The built environment of Roman Oxfordshire, and the Roman building material assemblage from Dorchester on Thames, are used as case studies. Primary analysis of building materials is carried out using an integrated analytical approach, combining thin section petrography with scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The outcomes of these analyses are interpreted against a background of archaeological and historical evidence for construction and material supply, in both the Roman and later periods, in the region and beyond.