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Healthcare provision accounts for a high proportion of public finances worldwide. Therefore, efficiency, quality and value for money are paramount. This thesis focuses on healthcare resource usage in the National Health Service (NHS), in England and Wales where reforms have long sought to ensure value for money and accountability. However, evaluating healthcare performance is complex. Since 1997, the National Reference Cost Index (NRCI) costing system has been applied to generate reliable data for all NHS clinical treatments and to drive improvements to the system. This thesis encompasses three studies. Study 1 Contributes to knowledge in the field of healthcare accounting by presenting an updated mapping of RCIs and an examination of trends within the NHS trusts. The study investigated trends and changes to RCIs, trust1 numbers, trust types and variations between the mean RCI of each group (i.e., region, type and foundation status) from the national average. Descriptive statistics were used, from 1997 (the introduction of the Reference Cost system) to 2016: for 1997 to 2009 data were collected from the National Archives of the Department of Health website; data for 2010 to 2016 were collected from the NHS Reference Costs Collection website. Furthermore, the study's focus is on NHS trusts' characteristics rather than patient characteristics or productivity which have attracted previous research attention, extending our understanding of healthcare costs, trends, patterns figures and differences between foundation and non-foundation trusts over the various regions and trust types, for the first 20 years of NRCI application. Study 2 examines cost variations between 2009 and 2016 by analysing the relationship between specific organisational characteristics (i.e., location, the type of service, foundation status and size), which were taken as individual uncontrollable variables, and RCIs. The National Archives of the Department of Health website provided the data for 2009, while NHS Reference Costs Collection website were used for data from 2010 to 2016. Size data was from England NHS website. Patient classification and gender, collected from NHS Digital website, were taken as control variables. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression technique was used and cost differences across trusts were identified. The study is distinct from previous work in this field as it focuses on trust characteristics and, to the author's knowledge, is the first to analyse the associations between combined trust characteristics and RCIs over an extended time period. Furthermore, the study uses data for all HRGs, rather than selecting specific categories, as previous research has done. Study 2 takes contingency theory as its theoretical framework, since it suggests that applying a single cost system for organisations which differ as to their geography, type, size, ownership and technology may not be appropriate and that variations should be taken into account. Study 3 examines the relationship between RCI reduction and the quality of trust services provided, in the context of the introduction of Payment by Results (PbR) in the NHS to improve the cost efficiency of trust management. The study applied seven quality measures: mortality rates, Same-day Discharge (SDD), infection rates, mean Length of Stay (LOS), emergency and in-patient and out-patient waiting times. Data were collected from three NHS websites for the period 2010 to 2016. Data for RCIs and foundation status were from the NHS Reference Costs Collection website. Data for the dependent and other control variables were extracted from the NHS Digital website and the National Archives of the Department of health. Study 3 uses panel fixed effect regression. This study contributes to the fields of costing and healthcare quality by examining the association between cost and the quality of trust services provided. Study 3 is the first, to the researcher's knowledge, to use infection rates as a measure of quality, or to evaluate quality while making a distinction between trusts at the upper and lower ends of the RCI scale.

The aim of this thesis was two-fold. Firstly, to demonstrate how dendrimers, and internally functionalized dendrimers could be used to speed up the rate of a reaction. Secondly, to develop a new non-covalent methodology towards selective or specific protein binding.

The experience of hallucinations is one of the symptoms used in the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies consistently link hallucinatory experience with abnormalities in brain areas supporting normal processing such language areas in auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and visual sensory areas in visual hallucinations (VH). Hallucinations are not confined to clinical populations, but are also relatively frequent in the general population. Finding that healthy individuals experience hallucinations without distress has led to models proposing that hallucinatory experiences lie on a continuum, which spans healthy and clinical populations. Continuum models (e.g., Baumeister et al., 2017) provide a theoretical framework with testable hypotheses, that predict brain functional activation, morphometrics or microstructural alterations in the healthy hallucinator group from existing data in the clinical group. Healthy hallucinators therefore may be a key resource in informing transdiagnostic research into the neurological cause of hallucinations. The aim of the current study is to test whether hallucination proneness predict a wide range of multi-modal neuroimaging measures in a large, healthy population. The Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale modified by Morrison’s et al. (2000) LSHS(M) scale as well as auditory (LSHS(A)) and visual (LSHS(V)) subscales were used as a regressors in structural (VBM and FreeSurfer based morphometrics), functional (fMRI) and microstructural (DTI diffusivity and tractography) neuroimaging experiments to test whether alterations seen in patients translate into the healthy population. The morphometric analysis of structural data showed a significant positive correlation between brain thickness in the temporal cortex (bilateral transverse temporal gyrus) (TTG) and LSHS(M) scores. Functional activation data shows a significant positive correlation between LSHS(A) scores and activation in irrelevant task activation (audio/visual) in right (inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus). DTI diffusivity analysis showed that reduced mean diffusivity (MD) in the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and occipital lobe (OL), also reduced axial diffusivity (AD) in the bilateral (SLF) and (OL) were linked to higher LSHS(M) scores. The arcuate fasciculus (AF) analysis showed that reduced diffusivity in the left (MD) and left (AD) were linked to high LSHS(M) scores. It is striking that, for this healthy population, the effects observed are the opposite of what might have been expected (continuum theory) for brain pathology and contrasts with previously published data for schizophrenia patients suffering from hallucinations. Finding consistent results using multiple imaging modalities in overlapping brain areas and for a relatively large population makes methodological differences or sampling effects an unlikely explanation for the results. The continuum hypothesis of hallucination assumes that psychotic symptoms, such as AVH and VH, which are experienced in clinical and non-clinical populations, have a common cause. In neuroimaging terms this means that similar functional, structural, and microstructural parameters would be expected for clinical and non-clinical populations show the same direction of differences. Our data does not fit well with this model. However, the results failed to prove that. Studying hallucinatory experiences in a healthy population is attractive because it avoids confounding effects, ranging from childhood trauma, medication or hospitalization. Our data suggests that studies in healthy individuals may not provide data that easily extrapolates to the causes underlying schizophrenic hallucinations.

Propolis is a natural product collected by bees from plants to seal their hives for defence against external contamination, and a range of microorganisms and parasites including the protozoal species Crithidia. Propolis has been used as a folk medicine due to its therapeutic properties; thus, it is more likely that active components would be found in propolis rather than from random screening of plants. Ethanolic extracts of four samples from the UK (S224, S225, D6, D7), one from Poland (P) and two from Saudi Arabia (SB, T2) were profiled by high-resolution LC-MS and tested against a wide range of microorganisms including T. brucei, L. mexicana, C. fasiculata, S. aureus. Additionally, cell-based assays for cytotoxicity activities were evaluated. Several compounds were isolated, which are related to the three groups: flavonoids, phenylpropanoids and triterpenes. In total fifteen isolated compounds were obtained as follows: twelve from the UK samples most of which were flavonoids including 3-Acetoxypinobanksin (1), 7-Methoxychrysin (2), Kaempferol (3), Pinocembrin (4), 4’-Methoxykaempferol (5), Galangin (6), Chrysin (7), Apigenin (8), Pinostrobin (9), Cinnamic acid (10), Coumaric acid cinnamyl ester (11a) and Coumaric acid benzylester (11b). Two compounds were isolated from Polish propolis namely 4’, 7-Dimethoxykaempferol (12) and Naringenin 4', 7-dimethyl ether (13), and three compounds from a Saudi propolis sample: Hesperetin-7-methyl ether (14a), Sakuranetin (14b) and Lupeol (15). Both the crude extracts and isolated compounds displayed variable activity against the range of microorganisms which were tested against including S. aureus, T. brucei, C. fasiculata, T. congolense and L. mexicana.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the leading material for self-cleaning applications due to its unique properties¸ including the fact that it exhibits high photocatalysis, mechanical robustness, chemical inertness, low cost, environmentally friendliness and abundance. The bandgap of TiO2 is relatively large, and this limits its outdoor applications. Another obstacle for its use as a photocatalyst is the high level of electron-hole recombination and low rate of photoreaction with reactants. There have been great efforts to improve the photocatalytic properties of TiO2. These have involved searching for ways of decreasing the bandgap structure and recombination rate, as well as improving the electronic structure to enhance its functional properties under visible light. One useful approach for achieving a suitable bandgap and improving electron-hole separation is combining or doping TiO2 with anionic and/or cationic species. In this study, Cu-doped TiO2 films were deposited via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD). The Cu-doped TiO2 films system in both phases (anatase and rutile) were specifically investigated for improved photocatalytic and antimicrobial properties of TiO2 under UVA compared with pure TiO2 thin films. Interactions between substitutional (replacing oxygen sites) and interstitial (sitting in the TiO2 lattice) Cu in the anatase lattice may also explain the enhancement in exciton lifetimes. A range of copper concentrations (2, 5, 10 and 20%) was investigated so that the photocatalytic and antibacterial abilities (vs. S. aureus and E. coli) could be determined. Effective dopant selection and concentration control is key to providing the maximum efficiency in terms of carrier lifetimes for migration to the surface for the necessary reactions to take place in photocatalysis and antibacterial activity. Interestingly, the AACVD system could be used to deposit TiO2 in rutile form on a thin layer of ZrO2 at 500°C. Cu-doped rutile-TiO2 films using a range of copper concentrations (2, 5, 10 and 20%) were investigated as well. The films showed surface plasmon resonance (SPR). In addition, these films exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation, which could have been due to SPR. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the brookite thin film form has been deposited by AACVD; in using AACVD to deposit the brookite TiO2 thin films, the band structure and photocatalytic properties were investigated. The brookite films grown by AACVD showed a direct bandgap of 3.4 eV. It was found that the photocatalytic properties of the brookite form, in comparison with degradation of stearic acid, were greater than the activity of anatase TiO2 thin films, as well as active glass. In addition, transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) measurements showed that the hole-electron recombination dynamics are similar in both phases. The high surface area of the brookite form compared with the surface area of the anatase thin film could be the primary reason for the super-photocatalytic properties. Surprisingly, the brookite film exhibited superhydrophilic properties prior to any irradiation. The addition of Zn and nitrogen into the matrix of TiO2 films by AACVD was studied most extensively to improve the functional properties of TiO2 and achieve its activity under visible light. The oxygen atom in TiO2 lattice can be replaced by a nitrogen atom, which is called Ns (substitutional doping) in this case; alternatively, nitrogen atoms can be set in the TiO2 lattice, and this is called Ni (interstitial doping). These approaches create NHX and NOX surface species, which were observed using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results in this research. Transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) was used to investigate the addition of (N + Zn) on the charge carrier dynamics of TiO2. Heterojunction systems of semiconductor materials are employed in different applications, such as water splitting, catalysis and electronic devices. These systems strengthen the synergistic effect, electron tunnelling and electron transfer, thereby leading to improved performance compared with the individual components. By using AACVD and APCVD processes with heterojunction systems, TiO2/Fe2O3 films were deposited, and different thicknesses of TiO2 were used on the Fe2O3 films. The resulting TiO2/Fe2O3 films exhibited enhanced performance in terms of the photocatalytic properties for the degradation of stearic acid under white light, as well as better photocurrent density and stability of the TiO2/α-Fe2O3 heterojunction. The TAS measurements showed the extent of its lifetime photogenerated charges.