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Throughout East Africa, cattle play important roles in livelihoods of the rural poor and in supporting urban food security. As a result of low productivity, the dairy sector emits as much as 20 times more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit product than high income countries, while also acting as a leading driver of emissions from land use change. Productivity improvements may contribute to domestic food security and poverty alleviation jointly with GHG reductions for national climate targets. Yet the multi-functional roles cattle play within livelihoods imply mitigation strategies must be designed with care. Using household survey data from Kenya and Tanzania and a system modelling framework, this thesis evaluates options to better align country dairy policy initiatives with GHG targets under nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The thesis includes an empirical chapter (3) informing of variability in GHG emissions and dairy production practices across Kenya and Tanzania to inform mitigation interventions. Two model chapters then assess respectively the potential of feeding efficiency gains (chapter 4) and genetic gains combined with improved feeding (chapter 5) to contribute to GHG reductions consistent with development targets envisaged by the 'dairy roadmap' (part of the 2016 'Livestock Master Plan'). Feeding efficiency gains alone have negligible potential to meet climate targets consistent with growth in milk production (chapter 3). Instead, realising milk production targets with absolute reductions in GHG emissions will depend on reaching ambitious breed adoption targets (chapter 4). Realising such targets could increase milk production to 70% and 100% of the national target with respectively 29.6 ± 13.4% (95% CI) and 13.8 ± 17.1% GHG reductions relative to the baseline. Cost-benefit accounting indicates improved breeds would have net positive welfare impacts, increasing income on average by 195 to 261 USD capita-1 year-1 for producers. Since genetic gains are a central feature of Tanzania's dairy roadmap, the findings demonstrate the likely congruence between climate mitigation and national dairy development initiatives in East Africa, suggesting that improved breeds can deliver both climate and livelihood benefits within high agro-ecologic potential systems of East Africa.

Flax based yarn has been dissolved in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [C2mim][OAc] and the dissolution behaviour studied as a function of time, temperature, co-solvent and anti-solvent concentration. With pure ionic liquid, dissolution is seen to occur from the outside in, with a coagulated outer layer forming and growing around the fibrous core with time. Following dissolution, yarns were coagulated in water and left to dry at room temperature. Three key methods of analysis have been used to study the resultant yarns: optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and mechanical testing- with each method allowing for a distinct means of tracking the amount of dissolution. The resulting data displays an equivalence between dissolution time and temperature, verified by the creation of master curves via the shifting of data sets in the time domain, much like time-temperature superposition in rheological systems. The shift factors used to generate master curves have been plot against the inverse of their respective dissolution temperatures and upon doing so, a linear relation has revealed Arrhenius behaviour in the system. As a result, an activation energy has been calculated describing the energy needed for the dissolution of flax yarns in [C2mim][OAc]. This energy was found to be 100 ± 10 kJ/mol, with agreement across the various experimental techniques. With the introduction of the co-solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), the growth of the coagulated material is again found to follow an Arrhenius equation with a single activation energy of 98 ± 2 kJ/mol. This value is, surprisingly, independent of the weight fraction of DMSO. The addition of DMSO does, however, strongly alter the time-scales taken for dissolution, but interestingly not the temperature dependence of these time-scales. The composition for the peak dissolution rate is determined, which occurs at an equal weight fraction of DMSO and [C2mim][OAc]. The inclusion of small amounts of the anti-solvent water has also been found to drastically alter the time-scales of dissolution, with a sharp exponential decay in the dissolution rate seen as a function of H₂O concentration. Despite the substantial effect of water on the dissolution rate, the activation energy is found to be remarkably constant- within error of the activation energies determined when using both pure ionic liquid and ionic liquid/co-solvent mixtures. As little as 8 % water by weight is shown to be sufficient to halt the dissolution process on experimental time-scales.

This research makes an original contribution to the literature on the relationship between the Conservative Party and trade union movement between 1974 and 1984. Through primary source material I analyse how an emergent New Right within the Conservative Party planned, prepared and enacted industrial conflict with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1984. This conflict was a result of ideological change in the Conservative Party, which saw internal cabinet opposition marginalised through a challenge to One Nation "wets" within the Cabinet. I argue that the government's industrial policy counters statecraft interpretations of the Conservative Party at this time. This is demonstrated in the following key areas: the radicalism of the party's industrial policy; the planning and preparation for industrial conflict; the creation of a recently unclassified "Hit List" of UK pit closures, one that was denied to full Cabinet scrutiny in 1984; and the use of direct government interference with the policing of "The Battle of Orgreave" and its aftermath. These actions fit the remit of The Ridley Report of 1977, a template for ideologically driven reform of which the desire to 'fragment' nationalised industries was a precondition for denationalisation. I argue that a group within the Conservative Party pushed through these changes to construct a new relationship between labour, industry and government.

Prosthetic running feet (referred to as Energy Storing & Returning (ESR) or Running Specific Prostheses (RSP) but better known as ‘blades’) take the form of a carbon fibre leaf spring with a deflecting keel component. Available literature on the subject of their dynamic response is limited but suggests that the amputee with running foot can be considered to act in accordance with Simple Harmonic Motion, but this does not appear to be reflected by the prescription processes currently employed by manufacturers. The research question is asked: ‘Is the current method of prescribing prosthetic ESR running feet appropriate and are there additional factors that should be taken into consideration?’ This thesis aims to first understand the static mechanical characteristics of a single model of prosthetic foot; the Flex Run from Ossur (Reykjavik, Iceland). Previous works carried out (that aim to define the energy return efficiency of the devices but results vary from 63% - 100%) are examined and replicated using a series of fabricated jig fixtures, and the disparity in efficiency results is explained. The running action of an amputee is measured using a wearable measurement system that is developed as well as high-speed video capture. The measured action is then replicated in the laboratory using a rig capable of reproducing the dynamic response of the foot. This rig is subsequently used to manipulate the variables of Simple Harmonic Motion and evaluate the suitability of this assumption to model the running action of an amputee. The research concludes by using the gathered learning to create a tool capable of mathematically replicating the response of a prosthetic foot, and the application of such a tool is discussed. It is found during the course of the research that the available Flex Run feet possess an energy return efficiency of >99% and a variable stiffness along the length of the deflecting keel. As a contribution to knowledge, it was also found that during amputee running the ground contact point (and therefore effective stiffness) of the prosthetic changes significantly from foot strike through to toe-off and the profile of this change is defined. As such the principle of a spring-mass system cannot be applied in such a simplistic manner as previously suggested. Furthermore the relationship between amputee mass, stance length, foot deflection and response timing is defined for the first time. It was also discovered that the passive nature of the prosthetic device (and therefore fixed response) has the potential of limiting the top speed of running of an amputee and as such the current prescription method falls some way short of expectations. Methods of improving the prescription process are discussed and further work is suggested to improve the function of these prosthetic devices and therefore the user experience of the amputee athlete.