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The thesis focuses on the relationship between self-esteem, self-criticism, self-reassurance and suicidality. Paper one describes a systematic literature review and meta-analyses of the available research on self-esteem and suicidality. The review aimed to examine the relationship between self-esteem and suicidality, and whether there were any key moderators or mediators of this relationship. The findings indicate that there is an overall moderate negative relationship between global self-esteem and suicidality with an r=-0.42. Where studies examined levels of contingent self-esteem (i.e. self-esteem based upon external factors such as academic achievement and appearance) there was a stronger relationship with suicidal ideation and behaviours. Implicit self-esteem was measured by one study, which showed no relationship to suicide, however the combination of high implicit and low explicit self-esteem was significantly related. The review illustrated the need for further investigation of the relative contingency of self-esteem to suicidality, along with differences in implicit and explicit self-esteem and suicidality. Further longitudinal and experimental studies are also warranted to explore causality. Paper two describes an investigation into the role of self-criticism, specifically feelings of inadequacy and self-attacking, self-reassurance and suicide risk. A total of 101 participants from mental health inpatient and community mental health settings completed questionnaires for this study. Results indicated that self-attacking was significantly associated with suicide risk, when hopelessness and depression were controlled for in the analysis. Entrapment, hopelessness and self-attacking were significant predictors of suicide risk, above depression, which was non-significant. Inadequacy was not a significant predictor of suicide risk. Self-reassurance, whilst negatively related to both self-attacking and inadequacy, did not moderate the relationship between self-attacking, inadequacy and suicide risk. The theoretical, clinical and research implications, along with limitations are discussed within this paper. Paper three provides a critical reflection of papers one and two, including an exploration of the challenges of defining and measuring self-esteem, self-criticism and suicide. Personal reflections and recommendations for good practice in future suicide research are included in this paper.

The thesis investigates the processes by which works of ancient literature, directly or indirectly, make themselves important on the modern stage. Using the Royal Shakespeare Company's work as the basis, three case- studies are explored in order to look closely and sequentially at the work of the director, the actor and the audience in creating performance. First, however, there is consideration of what is done to the ancient literary texts to remake them as modern English-language theatrical scripts ready for the early decisions of a director and design team. These decisions are in turn negotiated and developed in the individual work of actors preparing and presenting the character each will embody. Finally, aided by music and lighting, the audience makes its response to the combined creative processes exercised so far. The presence and contributions of an audience complete the performance. The texts on which these performances are based highlight the differing times through which the ancient work is filtered. The first is a modern translation of Euripides' ancient tragedy, Phoenician Women; the second, Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, is an Early Modern re-working of material drawn partly from the Iliad but also from later medieval sources; the third is a modern physical theatre script closely based on the contemporary translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses by Ted Hughes. Three very different originating performance conventions underlie the case- studies. The conclusion pursues the question 'what's Hecuba to him?' into its sister question: 'what's he to her?' This second question focuses on the ways in which Hamlet's different practitioners - directors, actors and audience- impose themselves upon the ancient.

This dissertation examines the development of synthetic organic chemistry in academic laboratories in nineteenth-century Germany. By studying the laboratory practice of chemists including Justus Liebig, August Hofmann and Albert Ladenburg, I show that early synthetical experiments were undertaken with primarily analytical goals, and that construction did not become the dominant purpose of organic synthesis until around 1880. I argue that successful constructive synthesis depended on a new glassware based practice whose unprecedented scale and intrinsic danger drove the construction of purpose-built chemical laboratories from the 1860s onwards. I therefore propose both a revised historiography of nineteenth-century organic chemistry, and a reinterpretation of the institutional revolution in late-nineteenth century physical sciences. I re-examine Liebig's motives for tackling the analysis of alkaloids, using his 1830 laboratory notebook to reconstruct Liebig's experimental approach to this technically demanding task, including his development of a new apparatus for the determination of carbon — the Kaliapparat. I show that incorporating analysis using the Kaliapparat into a reliable, pedagogically stable method involved the labour of the entire Giessen research school. Liebig, his students and assistants produced new chemical knowledge from indeterminate analytical data by a combination of theoretical and practical expertise acquired through disciplined laboratory training, and I argue that a similar philosophy of practice was equally essential in synthetic organic chemistry. Synthesis made chemical identity a focus of chemists' practical concern and I demonstrate that purity, transformation and identity were central to Hofmann's constitutional analysis and Ladenburg's eventual synthesis of the hemlock alkaloid coniine. I explore the origins of what I term the glassware revolution, and its role in resolving the question of chemical identity. Finally, I show how Ladenburg's synthesis depended on glass and glassblowing, and I argue that this new chemical practice both produced and depended on highly organised, specialised laboratory spaces.

Property markets are frequently disaggregated into regions that commonly form the basis for property portfolio diversification strategies. However, these regions are defined geographically, rather than on the basis of functionality. Each region comprises heterogeneous local property markets. This thesis focuses on the retail sector. Specifically, temporal and spatial differences in rents are examined. Rental levels are determined in the user market, by the interaction of demand and stock. Demand is a function of rental and economic factors and, in the retail sector, local and national economic factors influence rental determination. These factors are examined. Two issues are addressed. First, given the long-standing call for property diversification strategies to move away from the regional classification and towards a grouping of functional local markets on the basis of the underlying drivers of performance, this thesis examines the development of a new classification of local retail property markets. This classification is developed using retail rental growth rates, one of the drivers of total returns. Second, the development of models of rental levels, for example, is essential to further our understanding of the drivers and structure of property markets. These models can also play a vital part in the management of property and property portfolios. Thus, this thesis seeks to develop a model of rental levels in local retail property markets. Cross-sectional analysis is used to examine a large sample of the major retail investment markets in the UK. These markets are diverse in terms of geographical location, size, position within the retail hierarchy and the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the catchment population. This thesis concludes that, despite the diverse and heterogeneous nature of local retail markets, classifications can be developed to provide an input into the development of sophisticated diversification strategies.