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In a world fascinated by tales of redemption and retribution alike, it is perhaps unsurprising that the question 'why punish?' remains challenging to answer satisfactorily even in the 21st Century. Yet money, time and even lives continue to be sacrificed to the endeavour of responding to crime, and so it is vital that the imposition of criminal justice interventions can be defended as both justifiable and useful. By deconstructing the question 'why punish', Chapter 1 identifies the goal of freedom enhancement as central to criminal justice, and so proposes the concepts of justice and desistance as a route to establishing a theoretically sound foundation for those interventions. Chapters 2 and 3 analyse these two wide-ranging literatures, identifying a set of hallmarks for each. Finally, Chapter 4 seeks to bring the two foundational concepts together, highlighting the unexpected compatibility of two concepts traditionally perceived as contradictory, while seeking to reconcile their more divergent aspects. By analysing the interplay of each of the justice and desistance hallmarks, the chapter argues that legitimacy and usefulness can be achieved through a genuine collaboration between the two concepts, albeit a collaboration that would demand undeniably radical reform across the criminal justice system and wider social structures. As such, it is acknowledged that the thesis holds up an ideal, challenging the current system of highly punitive sanctions leading to high recidivism rates, rather than accepting or defending it. Ultimately the conclusion of this theoretical study shows that criminal justice interventions must rest on a basis of both legitimacy and utility, responding appropriately to the past facts of offending, and providing an evidence-based contribution to reducing incursions into freedom caused by reoffending. This thesis argues that underpinning criminal justice interventions with ideas of justice and desistance could present a route to such a system, but that in so doing a new question is raised as to the type of system that would be needed to achieve it. The final part of Chapter 4 therefore speculates that understanding criminal justice in the context of a service paradigm might be necessary in order to achieve true legitimacy and usefulness in intervention.

Although the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is increasing, children are less likely to be identified with ASD in schools compared to clinical settings. Moreover, Latino children are less likely to receive an identification of educational autism than non-Latino peers. This research explores the identification of educational ASD and other disabilities for Latino children with clinical ASD. Medical records of 131 Latino children who received a clinical diagnosis of ASD were reviewed to determine their educational disability identification. Results indicated that just 15% of Latino children with clinical ASD were also identified with educational ASD in schools and children from families with limited English proficiency were less likely to be identified than their peers. Seventy percent of participating children were identified with an educational disability other than ASD. The study demonstrates that Latino children experience a trend of disability misidentification in schools. Conclusions, implications, and future directions are discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Collegiate churches were founded for two essential aims: the augmentation of divine worship, and the salvation of souls. This thesis brings to light just how important material and aesthetic enrichments were in regards to these functions. The vast majority of collegiate churches in Scotland were substantially augmented around the time of their foundation. Patrons undertook significant building programmes and provided a variety of furnishings and ornaments to facilitate and enrich the services their body of clergy performed. Precise statutes were laid down in order to ensure that clergy were skilled singers and organists. Many founders also made provision for their burial within their collegiate churches so that they could garner the maximum spiritual benefit from the organisations that they had founded. To the author's knowledge, this is the first in-depth account of the art and architecture of Scottish medieval colleges. This thesis looks closely at the architecture, furnishings, rituals, music, imagery, and commemorative functions of the forty-nine collegiate churches founded in Scotland. A close concentration on this institutional form has meant that buildings, artworks, and practices which have hitherto not received significant scholarly attention have been carefully scrutinised. Furthermore, by looking at so many aspects of collegiate churches, the present study enriches an understanding of these institutions by providing a more holistic picture of their functions and significance. Ultimately this thesis examines why physical and aesthetic enrichment went hand in hand with the founding of a college, and what role this material culture had in regards to how collegiate churches functioned.

Familial clustering of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) suggests the existence of a genetic predisposition towards the development of the disease. DKD continues to be the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide. The identification of factors associated with a higher risk of DKD is an important scientific goal. Novel biomarkers associated with DKD may prove useful for the clinical prediction of DKD. At the beginning of this project the key research theme was to explore the genome-wide association study (GWAS) data generated by the GEnetics of Nephropathy, an International Effort (GENIE) consortium. The GWAS dataset was derived from -2.4 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped in a large case-control collection with multi-centre replication (n>12,OOO individuals). This initial project was promising, stimulating several additional projects assessing both mitochondrial and telomere-related genes and their associations with DKD. Genetic variation in the form of SNPs does not explain all of the inherited component of DKD so DNA methylation, was considered using data from an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS). This too was conducted on mitochondrial and telomere-related genes. The final stage of research within this thesis was to comprehensively evaluate genetic polymorph isms within the mitochondrial genome using next generation technology employing the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) and Illumina TruSeq Genome Analyser (GAll).

The design of responsive optical cellular probes remains a key challenge for biology and medicine. Luminescent lanthanide complexes are well suited for this purpose, with their information-rich emission profiles, and long luminescence lifetimes which allow gating out of interfering background signals. In order to design complexes for in cellulo applications, it is important to gain a greater understanding of the cellular behaviour of such complexes. This thesis describes work performed to this end. The studies described herein utilise a broad range of complexes synthesised in Durham. These complexes comprise a Eu(^3+) or Tb(^3+) ion encapsulated in a cyclen macrocycle to which is attached a sensitising chromophore and two or three amide- or carboxylate-based pendant arms. The synthesis and characterisation of one set of such complexes is described. Modification of the pendant arm was shown to result in considerable variation of the complex helicity and structure, but with no alteration in the cellular behaviour. This thesis also describes work which was performed to explore various aspects of cellular behaviour. The range of observed sub-cellular localisations are described, structure-localisation relationships presented and the observation of nucleolar localisation in some cases investigated. Studies of uptake mechanisms indicated that all complexes are transported across the cell membrane by a common pathway of macropinocytosis. Examples of various sub-cellular speciation states are presented, with detailed investigation of one case of reversible protein binding which induces a helicity change in the complex in an enantioselective fashion. Finally, the effect of the complexes on the cellular homeostasis is discussed, with the finding that complexes do not generally perturb the normal function of the cell. This work therefore demonstrates that most luminescent lanthanide complexes do exhibit behaviour which makes them suitable for use as cellular probes. They are generally non-toxic, readily internalised and localise to specific organelles, and have demonstrated utility in reporting on the sub-cellular environment.