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The work presented in this thesis focusses on developing a high-energy all-organic membrane-free redox flow battery. Redox flow batteries are promising energy storage devices due to the decoupling of energy capacity and power. Low energy densities owing to using aqueous electrolytes, alongside costly inorganic redox materials and ion-exchange membranes hinder their mass commercialisation. Organic redox active materials and non-aqueous electrolytes are promising pathways to realising high energy density redox flow batteries at an affordable price. Additionally, manipulation of the liquid/liquid interface that forms between high concentration water-in-salt electrolytes and non-aqueous electrolytes presents a method of removing the expensive, and lifetime limiting membranes. The main body of this work concentrates on a novel redox active molecule for the negative half-cell, octafluoro-9,10-anthraquinone. Octafluoro-9,10-anthraquinone shows promising redox properties, with a highly negative redox potential, rapid mass transfer, and rapid kinetics. Instability of the highly reactive charged states when in high concentrations leads to rapid decomposition and passivates the electrode. Typical stabilisation techniques, such as hydrogen bonding, protonation, and more strongly supporting electrolytes did not stabilise the reduced states. The instability of the charged states of novel redox materials is a constant challenge in this field, as capacity loss is present in every non-aqueous organic redox material to date. Low concentrations of the quinone show promising battery performance in a membrane-free device. The membrane-free devices separate the half-cells by a liquid/liquid interface that forms from the spontaneous partitioning of high concentration water-in-salt electrolytes and acetonitrile. Through studying a selection of inorganic and organic catholyte materials, this study demonstrates a novel organic membrane-free water-in-salt based static battery. However, incomplete separation and subsequent reactions of the organic materials limits the system to only static function. Flowing the membrane-free device perturbs the interface and propagates self-discharge reactions, which destroys the promising performance seen in the static systems. The second focus of this work involves a separate study covering organic redox active, high concentration deep eutectic solvent-based electrolytes. The study discovers a redox active novel benzophenone/(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl deep eutectic solvent with a lower viscosity and density than previously reported systems. The work highlights the challenges of using highly concentrated electrolyte solutions for redox flow battery applications.

In education policy, the term 'disadvantaged' is used to label young people who face socio-economic inequity and thus, in schools where policy is enacted. This thesis argues that the 'disadvantaged' label is problematic as it implies that young people are the problem to be fixed in an otherwise well-functioning education system and fails to acknowledge the role wider social inequalities play in their socio-economic disadvancement - a construct and alternative term to 'disadvantaged' that the thesis proposes to use as a lens through which to view the reality of the setbacks young people face. Using a socially critical approach, the study seeks to develop understandings of how being labelled in education policy as 'disadvantaged' is perceived by the young people who are labelled as such. Based on qualitative research in an English secondary school utilising semi-structured interviews and participatory tools, this study explores how the 'disadvantaged' label is understood from the perspectives of young people who are very often the subjects of 'disadvantaged' policy rather than valued agents. The voices of the young people involved offer important insights into how the 'disadvantaged' label may confer shame and stigma on to them, including implying that they are to blame for their own marginalisation through deficit narratives. The study proposes that opportunities should be created for young people to have agency in how they are described and also offers understanding on the implications the 'disadvantaged' label has for schools that are enacting policy.

The cannabinoid type one receptor (CB1R) is one of the most abundant G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in the central nervous system. CB1R activation at the presynaptic terminal by ligand released retrogradely from the postsynapse dampens down neurotransmitter release. Consistent with its presynaptic role, CB1R is only stably surface expressed in axons. How this tightly regulated axonal surface polarity is established and maintained is unclear. To address this question, I applied retention using selective hooks (RUSH) to visualise the trafficking of CB1R from biosynthesis to mature polarised localisation in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. I show that axonal surface polarity is initially established through axonally biased delivery of newly synthesized CB1R by the secretory pathway. Axonal surface polarity is subsequently enhanced and maintained by selective removal from the dendritic membrane and stable retention at the axonal surface. This dual mechanism is mediated by the CB1R C-terminus and involves the Helix 9 (H9) domain. Removal of the H9 domain (CB1RΔH9) both increases secretory pathway delivery to dendrites and decreases surface stability. Furthermore, CB1RΔH9 is more sensitive to agonist-induced internalisation and less efficient at downstream signalling than CB1RWT. A screen for H9 interacting proteins highlighted SH3-containing GRB2-like protein 3-interacting protein 1 (SGIP1), a protein linked to clathrin-mediated endocytosis. SGIP1 stabilises CB1R at the surface, likely through interaction with the H9 domain. Together, these results shed new light on how polarity of CB1R is mediated and indicate that the C-terminal H9 domain plays key roles in this process. This is important because defining the trafficking pathways and protein interactions that mediate axonal CB1R localisation could provide novel targets to enhance or reduce ECS signalling without the need to directly activate or block the receptor.

This thesis examines disability in the literature of three coalfields: South Wales, North East England and Scotland. This focus on disability, informed by the growing field of disability studies, offers new perspectives on coalfields literature and, in particular, the relationship between the working class body and the industrial environment. Disability was a commonplace experience in coalfields communities, where injuries and occupational diseases were almost an expected consequence of employment in the life course. Thus coalfields writing offers a potentially rich source of literary engagement with disability. The period in questions, 1880-1948, is important in disability history and coalfields writing. The late-nineteenth century saw the emergence of realist fiction from the coalfields and it was a time of major shifts in the relationship between workers and health, concluding in the late 1940s with the foundation of the National Health Service and nationalisation of the coal industry. In the first part of this study, representations of disability are explored in relation to the body in society, and with reference to the intersecting categories of age, gender, class, work and sexuality. The final chapters focus on four specific themes that emerged as central concerns of the literature: war, religion, medicine and humour. Conditions in the mines and the injuries experienced by colliers are often pictured with reference to the first world war in the literature of the 1930s, whilst Christianity provides another important framework of references, imagery and moral interpretations of disability throughout the period. Increasing medical scrutiny of the body of the industrial worker characterises the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, which is reflected in politicised and class-inflected portrayals in coalfields writing. Finally, the thesis considers the function of humour in coalfields literature, and the ways in which we can read and interpret the experience and social relations of disability through humour.