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This dissertation examines the concept of divine sovereignty in Jihadi-Salafism through a study of four of its major proponents. In the subfield of Jihadi-Salafism, scholars have argued that the notion of 'divine sovereignty' is a modern abstraction with little connection to the premodern Islamic tradition. Against this narrative, this thesis argues that divine sovereignty in Jihadi-Salafism is, rather, fundamentally embedded in mainstream, premodern Islamic jurisprudence and theology. In the form of an intellectual genealogical study, it shows how conceptions related to divine sovereignty, such as caliphate and sovereignty (ḥākimiyya), have origins in a diverse range of premodern Islamic traditions. This dissertation engages in an in-depth study of the following four thinkers central to modern Salafī political thought: Sayyid Imām Sharīf, Abū Qatāda al-Filisṭīnī Abū Basīṛ al-Ṭarṭūsī, and ʿAbdullāh ʿAzzām. The concept of 'divine sovereignty' analysed in this dissertation denotes a range of interrelated concepts, centered on the notion of divine, supreme legal authority, and particularly its emphasis on the need for the political implementation of divine law. This thesis traces the origins of divine sovereignty and legitimacy to five currents of thought in the premodern Islamic tradition: (a)the Mālikite and Shāfiʿite 'political jurisprudence' genre of Islamic law developed in the Seljūk Period (11-13th c.); (b)Mamlūk Shāfiʿite jurisprudence and theology developed in response to the Mongol invasions (13th-15th c.); (c)Shāfiʿite-Ashʿarite legal theory as developed by al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) and Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī (d. 1233); (d)Anticolonial Ḥanafite thought in British India as articulated by the School of Deoband (18-19th c.), and; (e)The hermeneutical literalism and 'ijtihād movement' pioneered by Yemeni luminary Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (d. 1839). In the form of an intellectual geneology, this study deconstructs anachronistic narratives of Jihadi-Salafism which portrays it as a contemporary invention that formed on the ideological marginalities of the greater Islamic tradition. Nearly all studies of the subject overemphasize the role of neo-Ḥanbalism - especially that of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb - at the expense of identifying the centuries of ideological development responsible for Jihadi-Salafism today. This thesis thus advances a fundamentally new narrative by undertaking a detailed genealogical study of the historical Islamic tradition and critiques the downplayed continuities prevalent in the subject of study. This dissertation shows that the movement is fundamentally embedded in a variety of premodern Islamic movements, encapsulating both doctrinal and sectarian diversity. On a methodological level, it is argued that the preferred methodology of many studies in Jihadi-Salafism both oversimplify the intellectual history of the movement as well as devalue Muslim narratives and their wider significance in Islamic thought. This dissertation thus follows a critical and deconstrucive approach in challenging existing classifications and dichotomizations, and reconsiders the assumptions that have been used to superimpose anachronisms on complex and multifaceted Muslim narratives. This dissertation thus advances a re-theorization of dominant methodologies in the subfield and emphasizes the importance of questioning the political nature of knowledge production.

In this thesis, we study the geometric origin of discrete higher-form symmetries and associated anomalies of d-dimensional quantum field theories in terms of defect groups via geometric engineering in M-theory and type IIB string theory by reduction on non-compact spaces $X$. As a warm-up, we analyze the example of 7d N=1 SYM theory, where we recover it from a mixed 't Hooft anomaly among the electric 1-form centre symmetry and the magnetic 4-form centre symmetry in the defect group. The case of 5-dimensional SCFTs from M-theory on toric singularities is discussed in detail. In that context, we determine the corresponding 1-form and 2-form defect groups and we explain how to determine the corresponding mixed 't Hooft anomalies from flux non-commutativity. For these theories, we further determine the d+1 dimensional Symmetry TFT, or SymTFT for short, by reducing the topological sector of 11d supergravity on the boundary ∂X of the space X. Central to this endeavour is a reformulation of supergravity in terms of differential cohomology, which allows the inclusion of torsion in the cohomology of the space ∂X, which in turn gives rise to the background fields for discrete symmetries. We further extend our analysis to study the 1-form symmetries of 4-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric quantum field theories that arise from IIB on hypersurface singularities. The examples we discuss include a broad class of N=2 theories such as Argyres-Douglas and D_p^b(G) theories. In our computation of the defect groups of hypersurface singularities, we rely on a fundamental result in singularity theory known as Milnor's theorem which establishes a connection between the topology of the hypersurface and the local behaviour of the singularity. For the D_p^b(G) theories, in the simple case when b=h^v(G), we use the BPS quivers of the theory to see that the defect group is compatible with a known Maruyoshi-Song flow. To extend to the case where b≠h^v(G), we use a similar Maruyoshi-Song flow to conjecture that the defect groups of D_p^b(G) theories are given by those of G^(b)[k] theories. In the cases of G=Aₙ, E₆, E₈, we cross-check our result by calculating the BPS quivers of the G^(b)[k] theories and looking at the cokernel of their intersection matrix.

Conodonts are a group of extinct jawless early vertebrates. They have one of the most abundant and temporally well resolved fossil records, spanning over 300 million years. While their evolutionary significance is well recognised, little is known about their ecology. This is largely due to the absence of extant animals with homologous feeding tools to compare them with. In this thesis, we review previous research into the feeding function and dietary ecology of conodont elements, critically evaluating the analytical power of the methods used. We demonstrate that a new suite of methods, dental topographic metrics, can successfully infer diet between distantly related clades with nonhomologous feeding tools. Application of dental topographic metrics and consideration of biophysical scaling constraints demonstrates that conodont consumer niche breadth was comparable to modern mammals. Conodont dietary niche was found to be closely associated with descriptive morphofunctional categories, grouping them into dietary guilds. Variation in the relative abundance of dietary guilds throughout their fossil record shows a succession of three distinct faunas, a rapid origination of different ecologies in the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, an ecological Devonian Nekton Revolution and little change in ecosystem structure at mass extinction events. High temporal- and ecological resolution analysis of the Hangenberg Crisis extinction event demonstrates that little overall change in ecology across the event was brought about through the selective extinction of hard diets and rapid origination of similar ecologies in the immediate recovery period. This thesis represents a marked change in our understanding of conodont diets. Through the development and application of dental topographic metrics we have unlocked the conodont fossil record for palaeoecological study with an emphasis on diet. We anticipate this to be a starting point for more sophisticated analyses of marine ecosystem structure through time, not only using conodonts but also through the analysis of other enigmatic fossil records.

Current literature has consistently indicated the detriments of high levels of foreign language anxiety on language performance. However, a crucial piece of the puzzle remains missing: how learners may systematically learn to manage their own foreign language anxiety (FLA). The current study was designed with the argument that there lacked theory-driven literature to drive organised research. By drawing on an empirically-validated theoretical model in psychology called the Process Model of Emotion Regulation (Gross, 1998, 2005), the present mixed-methods study investigated the use of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, among a sample of Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a university in Hong Kong. It also examined the relation between emotion regulation and FLA levels, and as a secondary line of inquiry, how emotion regulation influenced the link between FLA and second language motivation. The quantitative questionnaire surveyed 495 learners from different undergraduate years and academic disciplines. Sixteen informants of three levels (high, medium, low) of FLA were then selected for the qualitative research, of which the main component was a stimulated recall interview. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, data collection was conducted online. Results showed that the two emotion regulation strategies were not often used, with cognitive reappraisal being more frequently used than expressive suppression. Cognitive reappraisal was less common and popular among learners with low English proficiency. The likely reason is twofold: a) cognitive reappraisal is complicated and demands cognitive resources; b) the low English proficiency strains cognitive resources. Expressive suppression had a more pervasive positive relation with FLA. Cognitive reappraisal was negatively correlated with FLA but the influence was limited to speaking with native speakers. Three important over-arching conditions were identified to be necessary for effective FLA regulation. Methodological limitations and suggestions on pedagogy and future research are discussed.

Background: Care Homes Independent Pharmacist Prescribing Study (CHIPPS), hypothesising the benefit to care home residents from medicines management by pharmacist independent prescribers (PIPs), found no impact on the primary outcome measure of falls. This thesis aimed to explain these results from recorded PIP medication review (MR) activities and provide recommendations for enhanced effectiveness of pharmacists with prescribing rights in care homes. An identified lack of MR activities standardised terms resulted in development of an international taxonomy. Aims: 1. Explain CHIPPS outcomes. 2. Explain relationship between PIPs deprescribing activities and context. 3. Create a taxonomy of terms resulting from MR activities. Methods: Quantitative analysis of CHIPPS medication review data relating activity to contextual factors. Secondary qualitative analysis of PIPs interviews within CHIPPS to understand barriers/enablers to deprescribing. Systematic review to identify terms/definitions to describe MR activities. Consensus methodology with international experts to develop MR activity taxonomy. Results: PIPs activities involved 326 (72.6%) CHIPPS participants. A total of 284 (50.2%) clinical activities involved deprescribing, 249 (87.7%) being proactive. There was a 25% reduction in falls risk. The significant predictor for deprescribing was PIP employment by GP. Social influences, beliefs about capabilities, social/professional role and identity, environmental context and resources, and beliefs about consequences were key influencers of PIP deprescribing. Consensus MR activities terms included discontinue, start, dose increase, dose decrease, change timing, change formulation and monitor. Conclusion: Falls was a sub-optimal primary outcome measure for CHIPPS because only a quarter of PIPs activities related to medications likely to reduce falls risk. PIPs in medical practices were more likely to undertake deprescribing activities; barriers/enablers identified from interview analysis explained this relationship. Taxonomy developed in this thesis, based on the consensus of experts across four countries, can be used by researchers to enable a consistent approach to process comparison within trials to identify differences.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are one of the most utilised form of electrochemical energy storage around the world. In recent years, the use of LIBs has extended from portable electronics into electric vehicles (EV). As the number of EVs on the road increases, recycling of these batteries must be addressed. Many of the materials utilised in these batteries have significant monetary and industry value. The cathodes used in commercial LIBs contain critical materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, and aluminium. Cobalt and nickel in particular are of the highest monetary value, but are also widely utilised in many industrial applications. Therefore, it is important that these cathode materials are effectively recovered in order to go back into LIBs or be a feedstock for other applications. This thesis covers the characterisation, dissolution, and recovery of LIB cathodes. Firstly, cathode composite structures are visualised through the use of multi-modal AFM imaging to understand the mechanical properties of the composite. Agglomeration of the binder and conductive carbon was revealed as the binding mechanism for the cathodes studied. This will feed into developing new methods for separation of cathode black mass from the current collectors. In addition, electrochemical dissolution of cathode metal oxides is studied. Selective dissolution using electrochemistry is explored in order to purify cathode waste streams by separation of different metals. This has been studied for several relevant cathode metal oxides in simple electrolytes. Selective dissolution of lithium from LCO and NMC was achieved, demonstrating the ability to purify waste streams of critical metals. Finally, recovery of two critical metals, nickel and cobalt, is reported. This has been done by electrodeposition of the two metals as an alloy. Deposition properties such as morphology and alloy composition have been studied as an effect of factors such as electrolyte additives, metal ratios, and current densities applied. This was done with model electrolyte solutions. Deposition from real leachates was also investigated, and good alloy deposits were obtained that have little influence from manganese present in solution.

Mathematical modelling of riots and protests is now becoming a powerful tool in providing a better understanding of dynamics of social unrest with the eventual goal to ensure a sustainable development of the human society. Currently, however, most of the existing studies in the considered research area are based on either non-spatial or spatially implicit models, whereas in a large number of cases dynamics of social protests clearly exhibit spatial heterogeneity. To bridge the existing gap, here we explore spatial-temporal patterns of social protests using a reaction-diffusion modelling framework. Our model variables are: the number of protesters and the cumulative amount of damage made as an outcome of the protest. The system has been studied analytically as well as by means of extensive numerical simulation in one dimensional and two-dimensional space. We show that the proposed model exhibits a variety of dynamical regimes including stationary patterns with round hot spots as well as complex labyrinthine-like structures. The system also predicts the various types propagating waves of protests with regular and irregular fronts as well as a patchy spread, where protests spread in space via irregular motion and interaction of separate patches of high numbers of protestors without formation of any continuous front, the number of protestors between patches being nearly zero. We reveal the structure of the model's parameter space, identifying the range of key parameters for which particular dynamical regimes are possible. Along with reaction-diffusion model, considering continuous space, we also consider the model of protests on discrete networks of different nature. We find that Turing instability can lead to pattern formation on networks, which opens up an exciting possibility to explore it as a generation mechanism in a large number of social unrest contexts. The networkbased model also shows a variety of non-Turing patterns including both stationary and non-stationary complex dynamics, where different nodes behave differently. Finally, we consider a realistic network to model the yellow vests movement in France.

Background: Adolescents have high rates of social media use and are more likely to experience a variety of mental health and family relationship problems. Parents use various parental mediation strategies to minimize risks and maximise benefits on social media. However, most evidence in this regard has been reported from western countries with limited research being conducted in middle east countries. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between social media use, social media integration, demographic factors, parental mediation strategies, cyberbullying, family relationships and mental health in Saudi Arabia. Three studies have been conducted to achieve the research aim. Study 1 examined the impact of social media use on family relationships and the effect of parental mediation on social media use and family relationships in Saudi adolescents. Study 2 investigated the impact of demographic characteristics and perception of social media on parental mediation and the impact of parental mediation on family relationships in Saudi parents. Study 3 examined the mediating role of family relationships in the association between the use of social media and mental health problems and the impact of the use of social media on cyberbullying in Saudi adolescents. Method: Using a cross-sectional research design, Study 1 (n=349) and Study 3 (n=250) were conducted on adolescents aged between 13-18 years, who completed measures of social media use, social media integration, family relationships, parental mediation strategies, and mental health problems. Study 2 (n=343) was performed on parents who completed measures of parental perception of social media use, parental mediation strategies, and family relationships. Results: The results of Study 1 showed that problematic social media use significantly predicted family relationships and that monitoring mediation and technical mediation significantly predicted the use of Snapchat. The results of Study 2 indicated that parents' social media skills, education level, and monthly income significantly predicted different types of parental mediation. Furthermore, internet safety mediation and active mediation significantly predicted family relationships. The results of Study 3 revealed that the victims of cyberbullying reported greater levels of social media use, poor family relationships, and higher symptoms of mental health challenges, with problematic social media use exacerbating the likelihood of cyberbullying. Family conflict was found to mediate the relationship between the use of social media and mental health problems. Conclusions: The results of this thesis are useful to tailor and implement possible interventions aimed at reducing the adverse effect of the use of social media on family relationships and mental health problems and the effect of parental mediation strategies on social media use and family relationships. The results also highlight the importance of lesser family conflict in mitigating the adverse effect of the use of social media on mental health challenges.

Ageing is characterized by a gradual decline in tissues and organs' functions, which leads to death over time. The accumulation of senescent cells in different organs is one of the main hallmarks of ageing, resulting in age-related diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, skin ageing and cancer. Consistent with this, studies have revealed that eliminating senescent cells reduces their negative impact on tissue homeostasis and enhances physical health and lifespan in animals. However, current methods of targeting and eradicating senescent cells lack specificity and have off-target consequences due to a lack of unique, universal biomarkers capable of identifying senescent cells. Here, we investigated four potential novel markers of senescence, LANCL1, STX4, MYO1B and SNX9, which were recently identified in a screen of proteins increased in senescent cells, but results were inconclusive. Moreover, we tested novel approaches to target and eliminate senescent cells. First, we used senoblocking, a strategy for preventing the development of senescence before it occurs. For that purpose, we treated a progeroid mouse model with Ibrutinib, a clinically available BTK inhibitor. BTK inhibition has previously been shown to prevent cellular senescence. Our results show that Ibrutinib improves healthspan, extends lifespan, improves skin ageing-related changes and alleviates age-related lung fibrosis by reducing the accumulation of senescent cells. Second, given the involvement of HDACs and the PI3K pathway in senescence, we hypothesized that the dual inhibitor CUDC-907, a drug already in clinical trials for its antineoplastic effects, could have senolytic effects. Here, we show that CUDC-907 was indeed able to selectively induce apoptosis in cells driven to senesce by p53 expression, but not when senescence happened in the absence of p53. Taken together, the results from our research show that Ibrutinib and CUDC-907 are novel promising therapeutic interventions for the elimination of senescent, which could be exploited clinically in future.

This thesis investigates binocular reading performance in individuals with amblyopia and the contribution of motor and sensory functions to reading in amblyopes. Despite a considerable body of research on reading in individuals with amblyopia, little information available about reading performance when measured with standardised logarithmic charts under habitual binocular conditions. Further, there is limited research on the aspects underlying the associated reading difficulties. Therefore, this thesis is a novel investigation into reading in amblyopia and aspects related to this function. The thesis comprises five empirical studies exploring whether reading performance differs between amblyopes and visually normal controls. The comparability of logarithmic reading charts was examined on visually normal participants in study 1. The results suggest that these charts yield comparable outcomes. Study 2 explored reading performance in amblyopia and showed that reading in amblyopia is limited, relative to controls. Study 3 tested the effect of induced monocular blur on reading and revealed that the severity of monocular visual impairment adversely affects reading performance. Study 4 suggests that convergence insufficiency can affect reading but may not be a contributor to reading difficulties in amblyopes. Study 5 indicates impaired eye-movement control during reading in amblyopia, with word-length effect being more pronounced in amblyopes than among controls. Overall, these studies enrich our knowledge of reading performance in adults with amblyopia, shedding light on the visual aspects of this difficulty and highlighting the important areas to be addressed in future research.

Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) can be used to profile, detect, and monitor cancers. Technical advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) strategies to address limitations in ctDNA detection and the precise classification of lymphoid cancers, using mutational features and bioinformatics tools, may help diagnosis and have predictive value for treatment. Despite these advances, application of ctDNA in current clinical practice is absent, with translational studies yet to be carried out in the U.K. for patient stratification. This study describes the development of an effective NGS workflow, comprising design of a pan-lymphoma, targeted panel focusing upon molecular characteristics specific to B-cell and T-cell malignancies for profiling ctDNA, coupled with custom bioinformatic workflow 'Deep-sequencing and Evaluation of Lymphoid Variant Effects' (DELVE). DELVE enables detection of aberrant somatic hyper-mutation (aSHM) sites including immunoglobulin heavy chain locus (IGH), fusions and clonal immunoglobulin repertoire detection. Clinical utility of ctDNA and mutational profiling by pan-lymphoma targeted panel/DELVE were investigated in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), primary cutaneous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PCDLBCL-LT) and peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). A DLBCL discovery cohort of six patients comparing FFPE and baseline ctDNA was followed by a validation cohort and longitudinal analysis during treatment. 14/15 DLBCL exhibited detectable ctDNA at baseline. Sequencing of tissue and plasma revealed significant aSHM, with detectable HMRN and LymphGen classifications. In a case of PCDLBCL-LT, limitations in use of ctDNA to monitor treatment response were evidenced with no detectable ctDNA throughout clinical course, including following 2 systemic relapses and ctDNA was detectable only when the patient was treated with BTKi. Finally, in PTCL (n=6), proof of principle and comparison with Ion Torrent sequencing was performed. This work demonstrated the feasibility of using a pan-lymphoma targeted panel and the DELVE pipeline to profile tumours and monitor residual disease and set the basis for larger scale studies.

Back muscle functionality is important in maintaining stability and balance. This thesis assesses the quality of data that can be obtained from various methods used to examine back muscle function. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to obtain high quality structural images of spinal muscles and from these, cross-sectional areas and volumes can be determined, which are frequently utilised as a direct indicator of muscle strength and functionality. Whether the values obtained varied with the scanning position, and specifically degree of spinal curvature, was examined to determine what impact this might have when undertaking longitudinal measurements. Overall, it was found that spinal muscle volume determinations are robust in terms of their sensitivity to participant position and spinal curvature and these factors should not have a major impact on the results in intervention studies. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to determine the phosphocreatine (PCr) recovery rate constant in the spinal muscles following exercise, as a measure of oxidative capacity. High levels of reliability were found for the parameter when measured using a 3T scanner indicating its suitability for monitoring changes in spinal muscle functionality when undertaking longitudinal measurements. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to determine the deoxyhaemoglobin recovery time constant following exercise. NIRS is a technique which is sensitive to tissue location, and it was found that in approximately 30% of the data sets acquired the signal was of too low quality to undertake fitting of the recovery data. This was most likely because of relatively high levels of subcutaneous fat being present in the back. In those cases where data fitting was possible, however, high reliability was found. Due to Covid-19 restrictions it was not possible to undertake an intervention study using the above techniques to assess their ability to detect muscle functionality changes as originally planned. Therefore, it was decided to investigate whether there were alternative indirect measurements that could potentially be used to assess spinal muscle function. To this end, a pre-existing data set was used to examine the relationship between hand-grip strength (HGS) measurements and spinal muscle functionality, with the latter assessed via cross-sectional area measurements. Although a significant correlation was found between the two, it was determined that HGS was no better a predictor of spinal muscle size than simple anthropometry measures such as age, height, and weight. Such a finding supports the need for more direct measures of spinal muscle function if this is to be accurately monitored.

The study investigates the relation between the phenomenon of pragmatic transfer/failure (Arabic and English) and factors of the amount of L2 social contact, bilingual users' location, and users' strategy to practice English (L2). The first phase was interviewing and conducting role plays for both monolingual Arabic and English groups to explore social practices, pragmatic patterns, and utterances when inviting or invited. An invitation taxonomy and pragmatic patterns were created in this phase about Arabic and English genuine and ostensible invitations. The second phase was relying on these explored similarities and differences between monolingual groups to design a multiple choice DCT (in Arabic and English) and test the performance of monolingual and bilingual participants in the speech act of inviting and replying to invitations. A mathematical equation was introduced to analyse the similarities and differences between monolingual and bilingual choices in social and pragmatic utterances and decisions, and inferential tests were run to test correlations between factors. It was found that pragmatic transfer in both directions happened in EFL settings even for participants who lived in villages which suggested there was no significance for the bilingual location inside or outside the city. Additionally, the amount of social contact in L2 was a significant factor that correlated with the pragmatic transfer in both directions. These findings can be related to in the fields of second language acquisition, pedagogy, and curriculum designing. The findings highlighted the possible effective role that internet and social media can play in improving L2 users' pragmatic competence.

Within the existing literature on chemsex there is little research exploring the phenomenon of problematic chemsex, and whilst some descriptive data on signs of problematic use exists, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to understanding the lived experience of engaging in problematic chemsex. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore the lived experience of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and have experienced problematic chemsex. This was a qualitative study employing Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore and make sense of the lived experience of nine male participants. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews that explored the use of chemsex, when and how they noticed it became problematic, how they stopped and what may have contributed to their problematic use. Subsequently three superordinate themes were identified (1) The Journey to Problematic Chemsex, (2) The Function of Problematic Chemsex and (3) Making Sense of the Self. Problematic chemsex appears to be a phenomenon within the phenomenon of chemsex. Chemsex played particular roles for participants, including fulfilling their physical and emotional needs that were going unmet when sober, and so appealing there was a longing their experiences high could exist when sober. Several used chemsex to face and accept painful parts of the self and find different ways of coping and tolerating emotional distress. Implications for counselling psychology and other healthcare professionals are discussed, with suggestions for future research made.

This thesis aims to clarify the role of AI technology as an innovation agent and explore what the future holds for humans with AI. Although innovation management literature has extensively researched AI and its impact on innovation processes and outcomes, relatively little is known about the precise role of AI as an organisational actor, in particular, as an innovation agent. Using conceptual development and qualitative methods in the format of three standalone papers, this thesis explores three research questions to study knowledge creation with AI, innovation agency, and the future of the human with AI. The thesis' main contribution is to the literature on innovation management as it challenges the implicit assumption that innovation comes from humans. Each paper engages human-AI interactions from different, yet similar, perspectives to better understand innovation that is now being co-created by humans and AI. By taking the relational view, the first study conceptualises knowledge creation between humans and ChatGPT, and approaches knowledge creation as the product of relations between humans and technology. This provides a missing link in understanding AI agency and in explaining how AI can become a team member. The second study reconstructs the concept of innovation agency such that innovation agency is jointly constituted by both human and AI. From the relational perspective, this study empirically observes a sequence of actions that characterise the emergence of joint innovation agency. Finally, the third study explores the future of humans with AI using the concept of social imaginaries. This study challenges the static view of human capabilities and explores what humans are imagining themselves in the future when associated with AI. The study addresses the importance of understanding people's imaginations for studying the future, which can become speculative sources of organisational knowledge. The three papers generate insights on topics relevant to innovation management and direct towards interdisciplinary areas for future research on AI.

Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) has a significant impact upon a person's life, and access to appropriate therapeutic support is imperative for this population. Despite this, DID has been the source of controversy for many years and people with these experiences can face professionals and a healthcare system that are ill equipped to support them. Research into treatment approaches for DID suggests that while therapy can be helpful it doesn't always result in reduced dissociation, and attrition is high. This study seeks to give voice to those with DID by exploring their lived experience of therapy and in the process develop a deeper understanding of psychological treatment for this population. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with eight people who identified as having DID, and data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Five Group Experiential Themes emerged from the analysis: 'Therapy as "the hardest thing that I have ever, ever done"', 'Therapy can harm', 'The therapeutic relationship makes it possible: "one person can just change your life"', 'The therapy process as "life changing": now there is "a fighting chance"', and 'Conflicted feelings towards therapy'. These findings illuminate the additional challenges that multiplicity can bring to therapy, suggesting that it can be a long and painful process. They also suggest that therapy can feel reminiscent of previous abuse, with short-term approaches sometimes causing more problems than they resolve. Participants conveyed various ways in which the therapeutic relationship changed their lives, inviting possibilities for previously unimaginable progress, and described how the therapy process can lead to real, sustainable change. Importantly, the findings also captured the intense ambivalence that those with DID can feel toward therapy, which can be simultaneously wanted and deeply feared. These findings are considered in relation to existing literature, and potential implications for clinical practice and future research are drawn.

The biosphere plays a significant role in climate mitigation. In the course of photosynthesis, plants sequester approximately a third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that humans release into the atmosphere each year. The protection of terrestrial ecosystems is therefore essential for the global carbon, water, and energy cycles, as well as for offsetting atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions. In order to better preserve and restore global ecosystems for endangered biodiversity, species, and human well-being, it is imperative to accurately measure the ecosystem-atmosphere mass (e.g., carbon) and energy exchanges - i.e., fluxes. The limitations of current observational and/or estimation techniques, however, make it difficult to quantify fluxes for terrestrial ecosystems, particularly those under management. Accordingly, it remains unclear what the exact values of global ecosystem carbon fluxes are and how they vary over time. Eddy covariance (EC) is a micrometeorological method that provides continuous and direct flux measurements. However, these measurements are only representative of the tower footprint, which ranges in radius from hundreds to several kilometres. It is common to upscale or extrapolate eddy covariance fluxes by integrating satellite remote sensing data in order to determine fluxes over a larger area. It should be noted, however, that many current flux upscaling studies focus on gross primary productivity rather than the net exchange, which necessitates deducting ecosystem respiration from the estimates. In addition, present flux upscaling estimations have a relatively coarse spatial resolution for the purpose of monitoring field-scale fluxes and assessing management activities. The goal of this thesis is to fill the knowledge gaps and develop continuous field-scale flux estimates for ecosystems under management practices such as livestock grazing. In order to accomplish this goal, the thesis will answer three major questions: 1) What factors determine the performance of flux upscaling; 2) How can flux gaps of different lengths be filled reliably; 3) Can field-scale estimates accurately reflect livestock grazing's effects on ecosystem fluxes? Chapter 2 examines the feasibility of consistently estimating global carbon, water, and energy fluxes with the flux upscaling technique. This 'consistent upscaling' means using the same machine learning algorithm as well as satellite and meteorological data over the course of the flux upscaling. According to the results, the consistent flux upscaling explains 70 % of the daily variability of carbon, water, and energy fluxes. Furthermore, this chapter analyses the effects of algorithms, predictor sets, and eddy covariance itself on flux upscaling performance, concluding that the spatiotemporal sampling density of eddy covariance towers is critical to the flux upscaling accuracy. The eXtreme Gradient Boosting (Xgboost) outperforms other machine learning algorithms with at least 14 % higher accuracy and an average of 90 % shorter run time. Using different predictors results in a difference in flux upscaling accuracy of less than 4 %. The spatial sampling density of eddy covariance towers, however, can affect the flux upscaling accuracy to a degree larger than 50 %. This chapter lays the technical foundation for the entire thesis. Chapter 3 improves the method for filling in eddy covariance data gaps since incomplete data may compromise the accuracy of both eddy covariance and flux upscaling. In this chapter, a study at more than a hundred eddy covariance towers around the world demonstrates that the random forest algorithm can fill gaps even longer than a month. Depending on how many environmental drivers are used, random forest has a 15 % to 30 % improvement in gap-filling accuracy over the research standard method. Random forest exhibits greater stability in filling long gaps, as the gap length increases from one day to a month, its accuracy drop is 81 % less than the standard research method. In Chapter 4, the gap-filling study from the previous chapter is extended to methane fluxes and ecosystems under various management practices (e.g., livestock grazing). The random forest method is 29 % to 54 % more accurate than the standard method when it comes to gap-filling methane fluxes. When using modelled environmental drivers, random forest maintains 90 % of gap-filling accuracy compared to using measured drivers. By doing so, it is possible to promote the use of eddy covariance applications when measured environmental drivers are not available. When gaps exceed three months, the R2 of random forest gap-filling remains 0.7. In addition, the random forest is found to preserve environment-flux responses well in the filled gaps. Chapters 3 and 4 contribute to the aim of this thesis - i.e., reliable field-scale flux estimation - by providing complete eddy covariance time series. Chapter 5 examines how satellite spatial resolution affects the extrapolation of eddy covariance fluxes from tower footprints to the entire field. It also evaluates the proposed field-scale flux estimates in light of the performance of reproducing flux spatial variability and recognising grazing periods. According to the results, satellite spatial resolution has little impact on the estimated flux sum of the whole field (R2 difference ≪ 0.1), but it has a great impact on the estimated flux spatial variability. It is observed that the flux estimates are highly consistent with measurements (R2 = 0.7 and annual bias < 2 Mg ha-1 yr-1 for carbon fluxes), and they clearly distinguish between fluxes occurring during grazing periods and those occurring during non-grazing periods. Since Sentinel-2's imagery textiles are of greater clarity, it is superior to other satellite platforms in extrapolating tower-based fluxes (in southwest England). In conclusion, this thesis accomplishes its goal of filling the knowledge gap in reliably estimating ecosystem fluxes with multi-source observation and machine learning. The results confirm that eddy-covariance carbon, water, and energy fluxes can be scaled up in a consistent manner. Specifically, this research emphasises the importance of spatially well-distributed towers for upscaling eddy covariance fluxes, particularly in tropical regions and/or ecosystem types such as evergreen broadleaf forests. This research also identifies the validity of the random forest algorithm in gap-filling - random forest is effective in filling varying-length gaps while maintaining relationships between fluxes and environmental variables. Furthermore, this research highlights the importance of satellite platform selection in quantifying the spatial variability of field-scale flux estimates. As a final note, it validates machine learning algorithms for obtaining fluxes that are resistant to disturbances caused by management activities such as livestock grazing. There are important implications of this research for climate mitigation efforts that are supported by the management and protection of terrestrial ecosystems. Findings from this research are beneficial for pinpointing carbon uptake capacity of global land ecosystems, for determining where to install future eddy covariance towers, and for evaluating the effects of other management activities on ecosystem fluxes.

Traditionally, scholarship has focused its study on contact between the Roman world and the East by relying primarily on literary evidence written by the Roman authors. For this reason, regions that are given vague treatment in the extant written sources continue to be overlooked in modern scholarship, especially the case of the area of modern-day Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the Eastern region in general which included India and the land located across the Bay of Bengal was often seen not only as a place that consumed large resources such as gold and silver from the Roman economy, but also as a cause of moral decay destroying the well-being of the Roman society. This thesis aims to explore Rome's long-distance connections with the East in a different light, by critically investigating a wider range of available evidence, with particular focus on the collation of archaeological finds from Southeast Asia. This includes examining detailed case-studies from Thailand and Vietnam, comparative analysis with relevant Indian contexts, and the critical re-appraisal of other sources of historical evidence. As one of the first dedicated explorations of the full extent of Southeast Asia's role within the Eurasian world between the first and fifth centuries AD, the results of this study challenge the traditional view that the connection between the Roman world and the East simply stopped in India. In particular, the results underline Southeast Asia as an avid consumer of a steady trickle of Roman goods, whose quality and value ranged from valuable items such as gemstones and intaglios, to glass fragments, with a range of products likely travelling in the opposite direction to the Mediterranean. While a direct connection between the Roman world and Southeast Asia was possible, the easiest and most practical way for contact to have occurred is more likely to have been indirectly, via connections already well-established through the circulation of prestige objects such as body adornments, rare jungle products and precious minerals between Southeast Asia and its neighbouring regions of India and China - the same regions that also had differing levels of connection with the Roman Empire.

Spinning from the charm of voice as acknowledged in the Ancient Greek mythos of the Siren song, this voice-based practice-research contributes a new sub-field of voice studies. The myth of the Sirens' irresistible song suggests that attraction (and enchantment, charm etc.) can be performed through voice. Most studies on vocal attraction in performance are opera-based and solely written from the listener's perspective. Following the suggestion that voice is co-shaped between the voicer and the listener (Thomaidis, 2019), my research is the first study to investigate the co-creation of attraction from a voice practitioner's perspective, and using an ecofeminist lens. While the opera scene is at the centre of discussions on vocal attraction, most references to attractive vocal power are found offstage in stories. Analysis of this literature reveals theorisations of the attractive force of voice as mostly 'leading astray', often in nature and especially through women's voices, creating an ideological association linking attractive female sound with danger, an important aspect of patriarchal culture (Carson, 1995). This patriarchal portrayal of voiced women's attraction as misleading has edged itself deep into history and the imaginary, limiting its configuration, and this has had severe repercussions. My project endeavours to disrupt this mis-imagining by asking where non-patriarchal listening to women's vocal attraction might lead us. What else is there to learn from our surrender or resistance to different versions of vocal "pulling"? Which phenomenological aspects of the voicing of attraction can practice-research unveil once taking voicer, listener and environment into account? My vocal exploration is framed by the Ancient Greek concept of 'thelxis' (θέλξις), translated as 'enchantment' (and 'charm', etc.). Greek poets used this term to describe the powerful effect mythological figures and admired public speakers had on their audiences. Examining vocal 'thelxis' through archival research, ethnographic fieldwork and embodied experimentation, this thesis is structured around three practice-research projects that span different cultural contexts, and that all centre around vocal practices associated with women: 1. Interspecies vocal attraction in the practice of Kulning, a Nordic tradition of herding-calling. 2. Intergenerational vocal attraction in the practice of lulling an infant. 3. The creation of attraction in practical iterations of the Siren song myth, focusing on changing parameters within the Ancient Greek myth towards ecofeminist paths. Combined, these three projects perform a crucial act of re-storying that extends women's 'thelxis' towards its greater potential: celebrating ethical practices of voicing 'thelxis' that are attuned to the earth.

Many new theories and methods have been developed for identifying dynamical models of nonlinear engineering structures during the last decades, yet it is still challenging to create accurate nonlinear mathematical models from measured vibration data that are validated experimentally and offer reasonable computational cost for simulations. The main objective of this study is to introduce new data-driven identification approaches that are able to discover and construct reduced-order mathematical models of nonlinear structures directly from measured time-domain data. The first part of this thesis concerns defining nonlinear identification problem for engineering structures assuming the locations of the nonlinearities are known. For this purpose, the identification problem is initially defined based on finite difference formulation and the NARX model. Its application to identify a series of numerical example problems is studied and afterwards the lessons learned are used to develop a new nonlinear system identification method based on nonlinear optimisation with two different cost functions: algebraic-based and simulationbased. Its emphasis is on physics-informed identification that takes into account initialisation strategies using observed data and information from the structures' underlying linear dynamics, as well as penalty schemes, bounds for the model parameters, and constraint equations that consider what is physically feasible. The second part of this thesis extends the proposed nonlinear system identification method to include nonlinear model selection for the multi-degree-offreedom cases. Two sequential model selection routines are employed and their application on numerical and experimental examples are studied. The third part examines different optimisers to solve the identification problem based on their accuracy and efficiency. In its final part, this thesis explores scaling up the proposed nonlinear model identification method to be applicable for cases with multiple nonlinear elements using virtual sensing. The application of this extension is presented on a beam structure with frictional bolted joints and it is shown that the proposed method is capable of discovering a reduced order model for weakly nonlinear systems with localised nonlinearities.

This thesis offers a study of the previously unexplored interplay between the writing of Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) and Anne Sexton (1928-1974) and the scientific and technological advancement of their time. Their writing, habitually characterised by its personal tone of voice and, in the case of Plath and Sexton, by its confessional structure, has been assumed to be contained from contemporary enthusiasm about the dazzling developments of new technologies and scientific advancements in the mid-twentieth century. So far, in general, enquiry into science and technology has been believed to be the territory of avant-garde projects, or of other kinds of poems that are expected to have more distance from personal feeling. My aim here, however, is to illuminate the role played by the technical dimensions of post-war American life in the three poets' rich experiments in writing within the decidedly personal or confessional modes. This thesis consists of six chapters, and in each chapter I discuss how in my chosen poets' works the lyric subject is conceived as inevitably, and sometimes intimately, conditioned by scientific and technological circumstances. In doing so, my primary focus is on the ways in which the lyric 'I' reveals its unstable boundaries through its preoccupation and negotiation with the vigour of material, cultural and geopolitical realties of the Cold-War era. In Chapter One, I aim to establish a new argument for the relevance of the poetry of Plath to the principles and discourses of modern physics, particularly in the Cold-War contexts of the nuclear arms race and space exploration. In Chapter Two, I continue to examine Plath's permeable subject in the light of technology and Cold-War ideology, particularly the manifestation of the containment ideology in the transformation of childbirth. Chapters Three and Four demonstrate specific relations between the poetic texts and the material and affective circumstances consequential of the revolution of modern physics. Taking as their foci the development of medical imaging technology and the discovery of human DNA respectively, these chapters offer new readings of the works of Plath and Sexton. Chapters Five and Six further the discussion of the complexity of mid-century lyric subjectivity by situating the poetry of Bishop and Plath in the increasingly mobile and interconnected society of the time. Chapter Five considers their engagement with the aesthetical implications of ubiquitous technologies of flight. Chapter Six concludes this thesis by discussing the pervasive presence of 'foreign bodies' in Bishop's late poems as the signs of her lyric engagement with the technological conditions of the Cold-War era. Throughout my thesis, I reveal how the knowledge of and interest in contemporary scientific and technological advances offered new possibilities for the fluid and permeable conceptions of the lyric 'I' in the works of the three poets.

When thinking about finding the face of a friend in a crowd, albeit challenging, most of us would be relatively certain we would be successful in finding them. However, if the same task were applied to an unfamiliar face, e.g. based on a photo, this would seem like an impossible task. Although the field of face recognition is very active across multiple disciplines, and there is a wealth of research on face recognition and the difference between familiar and unfamiliar faces, it still remains unclear what internal face representations we use. The aim of this thesis is to investigate what internal representations of faces we have and how these are different between familiar and unfamiliar faces. A better understanding of this internal representation will allow for the development of tasks that measure face processing abilities in more detail and increase our understanding of the visual information needed to identify a face, either familiar or unfamiliar. In the behavioural part of this thesis, I focused on exploring the relationship between image-based and perceptual similarity. In the computational part, I explore the concept of familiarity in deep neural networks. This thesis can be summed up in four major findings: there is a linear relationship between image-based spaces and perceived similarity that can be used to explore the effect of face image transformations; familiar faces are perceived as more similar overall compared to unfamiliar faces; the increase in sensitivity for greater changes between pairs is larger for familiar faces than for unfamiliar faces; and the effect of familiarity can be found at the representational level (in DNNs). Although many questions remain open, it should be evident from this thesis that a computational cognitive approach to face recognition, although technically challenging and on many occasions laborious, will progress our understanding of human face recognition.

There was little concern in seventeenth-century England for establishing a canonical list of composers of 'old' music. Yet this ambivalence to England's musical past did not go unnoticed by a small number of musicians and antiquarians, scattered over decades, who feared that without receiving the preservation it deserved, early music and its composers would slip irretrievably into oblivion. This thesis identifies those resolute scholars and places them in the context of their roles in the development of English musical antiquarianism during the Long Eighteenth Century, ranging over a period from Elias Ashmole, the seventeenth-century collector and founder of the Ashmolean Museum, to the eighteenth-century musical antiquarian, Johann Christoph Pepusch and the Academy of Ancient Music. These exemplars did not work in isolation, however, but were influenced by the religio-political and sociological undercurrents that prevailed during their times. Some of these underlying trends were less veiled, as with the general need for compliance within the strictures of a contemporary political climate. In contrast, others were quite subtle, notably, the influences on musical antiquarian thought deriving from the ancient Hermetic traditions of alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry. This thesis brings together those disparate undercurrents, personalities and events, and demonstrates that the ultimate result of this mosaic of collective forces was that the Academy's musical antiquarians were able to attain their primary objective of securing the acceptance of 'old' music alongside 'new' music into repertoire. Moreover, while the Academy did not succeed in its secondary objective of preparing an inventory of 'best masters', due to shifting priorities during its seventy-six-year existence, it nonetheless provided sufficient data through its surviving concert programmes to complete its objective in this thesis of preparing the first canonical list of 'best masters' of classical music in England. As a result of the pioneering contribution of these early English musical antiquarians, the avenue was prepared for future music historiographers to craft their respective period canons of composers and their quintessential masterpieces that now represent the classics of Western art music.

This PhD submission is comprised of a portfolio of seven works, a commentary on these works, and a critical essay focused on the music of Esa-Pekka Salonen with an overview of Finnish Contemporary Classical Music as context. This music has had perhaps the greatest impact on my compositional practice during the PhD course. My own scores are provided as separate documents.

Dark matter (DM) is a well-known but as-of-yet unidentified phenomenon that constitutes more than a quarter of the universe. It is dark in that it neither absorbs nor emits light; it is electromagnetically inert. Its effects, however, are observable: spiral galaxies behave in such a way that their rotation is more like what is expected in the presence of substantially more mass than that which is visible. In the Bullet Cluster, where two galaxies are colliding, gravitational lensing techniques show how the centre of mass of these galaxies is consistent with that of two large bodies of DM-dominated mass. A high energy environment such as that of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN would be ideal to produce DM particles with a mass O(TeV), where proton-proton collisions take place and purpose-built detectors such as the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector can record the collisions and reconstruct the particles produced. One of the primary aims in the current frontier of high energy physics is to detect DM directly, although so far this has not been achieved. In the LHC, efforts to discover DM rely on production from standard model (SM) particles, including via models where the Higgs boson acts as a mediator. With the CMS detector, 165 fb⁻¹ data has been recorded across the periods 2011-2013 (Run 1) and 2015-2018 (Run 2), with which in light of the absence of DM discovery limits are set on the branching fraction β(H→inv), the probability of decays of Higgs bosons to invisible particles not detected in the CMS detector. In the standard model, given the only invisible decays of the Higgs boson are to neutrinos, β(H→inv) is approximately 0.12%. Using 2016-2018 data, β(H→inv) is set at 54% observed (39% expected) at the 95% confidence level (CL) in the combined ttH and VH channel. Using both Run 1 and Run 2 data from the CMS detector, this is set at 15% observed (8% expected) at the 95% CL, from a combination of channels in which a Higgs boson is produced in association with another or other particles.

The introduction of species to areas outside of their native range has had wide reaching impacts on global biodiversity. The impacts of introduced species are driven by causal mechanisms which can range across all levels of biological organisation, from the genetic (i.e. hybridisation) to the ecosystem level (i.e. eutrophication). Behavioural interactions underpin many of these causal mechanisms and investigating behavioural interactions between introduced and native species can help us to better understand the success and impact of invasive species. In this thesis I explore the role of behavioural mechanisms in the success and impact of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), a cichlid species with a pan-tropical non-native distribution. Negative impacts have been reported in many ecosystems across the non-native range of Nile tilapia, however, in many cases there is still a poor understanding of the mechanisms which drive these negative impacts. In Tanzania, introduced populations of O. niloticus exist in sympatry with a range of functionally similar and closely related native tilapia species, which is expected to increase the prevalence of interspecific interactions and potentially exacerbate negative outcomes resulting from O. niloticus introduction. In chapter two I investigate interference competition over shelter between O. niloticus and native tilapia. In chapter three I investigate how naivete might shape interactions between O. niloticus and native tilapia during initial encounters. In chapter four, I investigate how grouping with O. niloticus affects the social behaviour and group decision making of native tilapia and explore the benefits that O. niloticus might derive from grouping with native species. In chapter five I investigate the growth rate of wild caught O. niloticus and a native species, to investigate competition induced outcomes on the fitness of these sympatric populations and their hybrids. Overall, my research highlights how behavioural interactions with O. niloticus may threaten native tilapia in Tanzania, and how the behavioural responses of naïve native tilapia during early encounters may shape these interactions. I also highlight the role of ecological context and multiple stressors in shaping the prevalence and outcome of such behavioural interactions in situ.

Gravitational waves are a form of radiation, generated from the largest astrophysical bodies in the Universe, which were first postulated by Albert Einstein in 1915 as part of his general theory of relativity. A century after this the gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger were measured on the 14th of September 2015, by the LIGO scientific community. This was the first measurement of its kind and has heralded a new form of astronomy. Gravitational waves are measured by laser interferometry, where light is reflected from a mirror over two 4 km arm cavities, in the case of aLIGO, and combined to form an interference condition. As the displacement caused by a gravitational wave passing through the Earth are so small (~ 10ˉ18 m) the detectors can be subject to strict sensor noise budgets, with sources of such noise ranging from earthquakes on the other side of the planet to thermal fluctuations of the very molecules in the detector. The thermal fluctuations in the detector associated with the highly reflective coatings used on the interferometry mirrors, can be characterised as coating Brownian thermal noise. This source of noise is at its highest between 50 Hz - 150 Hz, the most sensitive band of the detector. As such there is a large effort in the community to reduce this noise source significantly for the next generation of gravitational wave detectors. This thesis focuses on the use of ion beam sputtering deposition, the current method used to produce gravitational wave detector mirrors, to create low optical and mechanical loss coatings for the next generation of gravitational wave detector. The materials chosen to be studied optically, mechanically, compositionally and structurally were amorphous silicon and silicon nitride due to their desirable optical and mechanical properties for gravitational wave detectors. Chapter 1 describes the nature of gravitational waves, confirmed and unconfirmed Cosmic sources of such waves and methods used, both historically and currently, to detect them. Fundamental limits to the detectors are discussed with an explanation to the methods used to mitigate such limits. Notable gravitational wave detections are explained in addition to the current generation of detectors. Finally an overview is given of the next generation of detectors. Chapter 2 describes Brownian thermal noise, both its origins and methods currently used by gravitational wave detectors to mitigate its effects on observational reach. Chapter 3 details the coating techniques which have been used, either as part of research or production, for optical mirror coatings of gravitational wave observatories. Specifically ion beam deposition is described in more detail, both from a theoretical and experimental standpoint. Chapter 4 describes the metrology used in this research to characterise the thin film coatings optically, mechanically, compositionally and structurally. Chapter 5 and 6 details the research conducted on amorphous silicon and silicon nitride coatings and the evaluation of such coating use for gravitational wave detectors both as deposited and after heat treating at increasing temperatures.

Claudian, whose surviving works in Latin date from 394 to 404, wrote a variety of poems, including the first traditional epic for three hundred years, De Raptu Proserpinae. His most substantive works other than that are the ten political poems, known as the Carmina maiora, that describe current events; one other poem is relevant, the Epithalamium, composed to celebrate the wedding of Honorius and Maria, daughter of Stilicho, in early 398. The political poems fall into three types: panegyrics especially of Stilicho, the effective ruler under the child-emperor Honorius; vituperations of their opponents, Rufinus and Eutropius; and two short mini-epics. These poems are the subject of my thesis. It has been argued, notably by Cameron in 1970, that Claudian should be viewed primarily as a propagandist for Stilicho. More recently there has been a concentration on the poet’s role as heir of the epic tradition. Claudian is a politically engaged poet rather than a propagandist; his success in this role was rewarded by a statue awarded by the decree of the Senate and the two emperors; only the base has survived where the inscription declares him to be the equal of Homer and Virgil. As a poet writing within the epic tradition, he was remarkably innovative. I begin with an examination of his epic heritage and then his new creation (chapters 2-3). The poet shows a detailed knowledge of the different types of epic, which he adapts to create a new type, panegyrical epic. Next, I move to analyse various elements of his poetics, in terms of structural changes such as his use of verse prefaces (chapter 4), and his use of similes (chapter 5), both those adapted from his predecessors and his own inventions. I then examine his creation of the goddess Roma (chapter 6), and his treatment of heroes and villains (chapter 7): Roma is his most enduring creation and it is clear that the goddess had a special meaning for the poet. His characters, both good and evil, lack the moral complexity of the creations of his epic predecessors. I conclude with a separate analysis, to allow an evaluation of Claudian as an historical source; here I suggest that neither Claudian nor his audience were especially interested in accuracy. Throughout the thesis I show that the effectiveness of his adaptations to epic is shown by his influence on his successors.

This critical-creative thesis explores how several rap artists from key eras in hip hop culture have utilised the techniques of literary allusion and intertextuality to impact their work in multiple meaningful ways. The creative component of the thesis (comprising a trilogy of rap LPs) provides a template/framework for future research in these areas through a practice-based, creative-led focus on the use of intertextuality in rap to identify and artistically illustrate the sophisticated uses of these techniques. Case studies included in this thesis focus on: Nas's use of creative patrilineage (Higgins, 2007) to form modes of lyrical transcendence, epistolic legacy, and religious and thematic allusion (Ch. 1); Kendrick Lamar's engagement with intertextuality to explore loss and trauma, and his revision of the postmortem sampling trope (Williams, 2013) (Ch. 2); and the technique of lyrical performative stylistic allusion through the lyrics of J.I.D., Kemba, Saba, Earl Sweatshirt, and MIKE and Navy Blue (Ch. 3). Whilst intertextuality in hip hop has been defined in recent years (e.g., Williams, 2013; Diallo, 2015), academic research into how it (alongside literary allusion specifically, and the innovative technique of lyrical performative stylistic allusion) is employed artistically to translate modes of vulnerability such as trauma and grief and affect methods of personal and communal catharsis is limited. Using my own understandings and experiences of loss and trauma, I extend this research by providing a critically-informed personal artistic reflection into universal aspects of the male experience, men's mental health, and masculinity in contemporary society.

Gastropod-borne parasitic diseases are a significant concern for public health all over the world, but particularly in developing countries. Many species of terrestrial and freshwater gastropods serve as the intermediate host for various parasites with medical and/or veterinary significance. One such example is the intravascular trematode species, Schistosoma mansoni (Digenea: Schistosomatidae), which is the leading cause of intestinal schistosomiasis globally. The obligatory intermediate host of S. mansoni is the freshwater snail genus, Biomphalaria (Gastropoda: Planorbidae). The vast majority of intestinal schistosomiasis cases occur in sub-Saharan regions of Africa, with countries in East Africa suffering from a high prevalence of S. mansoni in and around the Great African Lakes. The hyper-endemic nature of intestinal schistosomiasis at Lake Albert and Lake Victoria is a significant public health concern. In addition to trematodes, other gastropod-borne parasites such aslungworms (Strongylida) are common causes of disease in humans and companion animals. Unlike digenetic trematodes, lungworms do not specialise in their choice of obligatory intermediate host and can use numerous species of both terrestrial and freshwater gastropods to infect their definitive host, typically through consumption. The parasitic nematode genus, Angiostrongylus(Chromadorea: Angiostrongylidae) for example, contains species that cause angiostrongyliasis in humans (An. cantonensis) and dogs (An. vasorum). Despite being endemic to tropical regions, an An. cantonensis infection was recently reported in France as the first ever autochthonous human case of angiostrongyliasis in mainland Europe. Conversely, An. vasorum is found globally. In the UK, it is most prevalent in Southern England and Southern Wales, though there have been reports of the parasite as far north as Scotland. Chapter 3 "Comparing shell size and shape with canonical variate analysis of sympatric Biomphalaria species within Lake Albert and Lake Victoria" utilises landmark-based geometric morphometric techniques to differentiate the conchological characteristics of four Biomphalaria species inhabiting the Great African Lakes of Uganda. The study found that it was possible to accurately discriminate and identify all Biomphalaria species present at the Great African Lakes in Uganda (B. choanomphala, B. pfeifferi, B. stanleyi and B. sudanica) using a canonical variate analysis (CVA) of the apical and apertural angles of the shell. Chapter 4 "Schistosoma mansoni infection in Biomphalaria snails at the Ugandan shorelines of Lake Albert and Lake Victoria" uses PCR-based molecular infection detection methods to quantify the prevalence of S. mansoni infection among the Biomphalaria species present at the Ugandan shorelines of Lake Albert (B. pfeifferi, B. stanleyi and B. sudanica) and Lake Victoria (B. choanomphala). It also measures prevalence of infection for each of the wet and dry seasons over a two year period for both lakes. The study found that the mean prevalence of S. mansoni infection was higher at Lake Albert (12.5%) than Lake Victoria (5%), with B. stanleyi (15%) having the highest mean infection prevalence of the four species tested. In addition, the wet seasons at both lakes had a higher mean prevalence of infection than the dry seasons, though this difference was not statistically significant. Chapter 5 "Schistosoma mansoni infection and population genetic structure of Biomphalaria choanomphala snails in Lake Victoria" uses PCR-based molecular infection detection methods to quantify the prevalence of S. mansoni infection across the Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan shorelines of Lake Victoria. Additionally, several abiotic (temperature, pH, physiochemical etc.) and biotic (snail genetic diversity) factors were measured to investigate which factors are involved in schistosomiasis transmission. The study found the mean prevalence of S. mansoni infection among B. choanomphala snails across Lake Victoria was 9.3%, with the Tanzanian shoreline having the highest prevalence, followed by the Ugandan and Kenyan shorelines. There was a significant positive relationship with infection prevalence and B. choanomphala abundance, calcium, and magnesium concentrations. Conversely, there was a significant negative correlation between infection prevalence and increasing water alkalinity. Lastly, populations of B. choanomphala where S. mansoni infection was present had a higher mean haplotype diversity score and less private haplotypes than populations without infection present. Chapter 6 "Nematodes and trematodes associated with terrestrial gastropods in Nottingham, England" implements traditional parasitological and molecular identification techniques to survey the terrestrial gastropod populations in and around the city of Nottingham, with the intention of finding medical (or veterinary) important parasites. The study found the mean infection prevalence of terrestrial gastropods was 28.3%, with slugs and snails having similar prevalence of infection. Of the gastropod-borne parasites extracted, seven nematode species and four trematode species were identified. No medical or veterinary important parasites were discovered in or around the city of Nottingham.

Single-atom dopants in silicon have been a topic of high interest since the Kane quantum computer was first proposed in 1998. Much work has since been dedicated toward the single-atom doping of lighter group 15 atoms into silicon with atomic-scale precision, with notable success, though significantly less toward heavier dopant atoms owing to the lack of readily available precursor molecules. This thesis investigates two novel potential precursor molecules for atomic bismuth: triphenylbismuth (TPB) and bismuth trichloride (BiCl3). Bismuth is a promising heavy dopant species in silicon-based electronic devices thanks to its high quantum information storage capacity, but currently lacks a suitable precursor. Neither of these molecules has previously been studied on the Si(100) surface. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), we demonstrate that TPB partially dissociates on Si(100) at room temperature, with bismuth atoms forming ad-dimers while phenyl remains on the surface. Annealing the surface causes complete molecular dissociation, followed by bismuth diffusion into the bulk. Phenyl desorption is not observed. We show that prior to dissociation, TPB bonds to the surface in a variety of configurations; using density functional theory calculations, we propose favorable bonding structures for the TPB molecule on Si(100). We also show that BiCl3, contrastingly, undergoes complete and spontaneous dissociation on Si(100) at room temperature, with some bismuth atoms forming ad-dimers while others remain as monomers constrained by adjacent chlorine atoms. We pro- pose key steps in the reaction pathway for room-temperature BiCl3 dissociation. We also demonstrate the molecule's post-dissociation chemical behavior on Si(100) at higher temperatures, at varying levels of surface coverage. Our results demonstrate that BiCl3 is a promising candidate for a single-atom bismuth precursor, while TPB is less likely to be suitable. In combination with chlorine lithography, this paves the way for single-atom doping of bismuth in silicon devices.

The primary aim of this thesis is to explore negative representations of Arabs and Muslims through an analysis of Hollywood films released pre- and post-9/11 in the context of contemporary theories and concepts, such as neo-Orientalism, postcolonialism and Islamophobia. Pre- and post-9/11 Hollywood films are analysed in relation to their sociohistorical contexts and the argument that Islamophobia could be generated from the latest transformation of Orientalism or as a response to multiculturalism and transnationalism. The approach employs textual methods to study the use of language and power in the form of social practice. This includes employing context, critical discourse, and thematic and semiotic methodologies. This thesis is guided by a discourse on theoretical approaches in performing a cultural analysis of the films selected. Moreover, this analysis is interpreted through a critical theoretical framework within a sociological and historical context. Through an examination of past research papers, the researcher identified several aspects of specific films that had a major effect on the presentation of Arabs and Muslims in Hollywood, including the emergence of new discourses about self-identity and negative representations of Arabs and Muslims, the re-emergence of Orientalism and the portrayal of Islamic fundamentalism in Egyptian cinema. Furthermore, the researcher identified that these films link Muslims to the issue of terrorism and portray them in a negative light, especially in U.S., Europe and the Middle East. Additionally, the study investigates how Islamophobia said to be promoted in Hollywood and Egyptian cinema and explores discourses related to broader social processes. The study analyses a selection of films that represent Arabs and Muslims in terms of their cinematic, structure, philosophy, and conceptual framework.

Employment is recognised as an important aspect in a person's life. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 supports this by providing a mechanism for past cautions or convictions to be confined to history as being spent. This thesis considers the evolution of this legislation, its implementation and interaction with employment. This is contrasted against the disclosure legislation, spawned from the Police Act 1997, which is designed to protect vulnerable groups. The nature of the competing aims of these two interlinked statutes undermines employment opportunities for both ex-offenders benefitting from the ROA 1974 and those without any proven criminal history or otherwise. A criminal record or other recorded non-criminal or unproven behaviour is of a deeply personal nature. For many years the domestic courts held that pre-employment background checks failed to fall within the confines of Article 8 ECHR. This position morphed in the early 2000's, with disclosure being recognised as a privacy matter. This brought into question the domestic legislative frameworks, where incompatibility with Article 8 remains. This interaction with Article 8, in terms of legality and necessity, form much of the research as does questioning the fairness of the disclosure legislation. The thesis further highlights the many inconsistencies between the ROA 1974 and the disclosure legislation. Progress to rebalance rehabilitation, privacy, and disclosure, to support employment has moved at a glacial pace, often being stalled by political will. This thesis provides recommendations to support all those involved in the rehabilitation, disclosure, and employment process. The proposals would simplify a complex system and include, spent meaning spent, limiting the powers of the police when considering enhanced disclosure, and increasing the use of professional bodies whilst removing outsourced decision making by employers. The thesis concludes that without fundamental change, disclosure will continue to dominate and the barrier to employment will remain.

Continuing declines in human male reproductive health are of increasing concern. Many believe low-dose exposure to vast numbers of chemicals through the environment, particularly during fetal development, are a contributary factor in this decline. To address limitations with traditional, component-based methodologies of assessing chemical mixtures, this research utilised a unique, ovine based, whole-mixture exposure model. This model was used to investigate the impact of gestational exposure to realistic numbers of chemicals, at appropriately low doses, on male reproductive development. The research detailed herein characterises exposure-induced changes to the testes of neonatal, pre-pubertal, and adult male offspring of mothers exposed to an environmental chemical mixture prior to and during pregnancy. A testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS)-like phenotype was described in neonatal and prepubertal testes. This TDS-like phenotype was complemented by transcriptomic analyses which showed an extremely high degree of similarity between the testicular transcriptome of the affected pre-pubertal male offspring and those of human TDS patients. While this phenotype was not apparent in the same manner by adulthood, morphological and transcriptomic alterations were still apparent. This both exemplifies the potential for xenobiotic exposure during fetal development to impact reproductive health in later life, despite the cessation of exposure at birth, and indicates periods of post-partum vulnerability to xenobiotic exposure crucial to the persistence of or recovery from the TDS-like phenotype. Further investigations following transcriptomic analyses identified perturbations in the transcription, activation, and/or nuclear localisation of various transcription factors. Of these, there is supporting evidence that one (HIF1α) may have an important role in the pathogenesis of the TDS-like phenotype, while another (CREB1) may facilitate an amount of post-exposure recovery and might also be important in determining susceptibility or resistance to developing the TDS-phenotype. Overall, these findings strengthen the increasing evidence that gestational exposure to realistic levels and mixtures of environmental chemicals can have a negative impact on male reproductive health and provides leads for future investigations into the pathogenesis of TDS.