Search

In this thesis, we explore three methods that are commonly used to describe the movement of chemicals in-vivo. We employ a number of techniques to include parameters and features to account for the complex physiology of the system we model. In Chapter 2, we investigate a micro-scale model, to describe the distribution of chemicals applied to the skin topically using histology images. Due to the complex, heterogeneous nature of the skin, the model which is dependent on both space and time is solved using the finite element method. It is shown, that the model can predict the in-vitro distribution of chemicals with differing physico-chemical properties. In Chapter 3, employ a physiologically-based-pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model, to account for the systemic delivery of the percutaneous absorption of compounds. The output from the model described in Chapter 2 is then paired with this PBPK model in order to describe the distribution of xenobiotics at all stages of percutaneous absorption. The model is then used to understand how properties such as skin thickness, vehicle concentration, as well as the skin condition atopic dermatitis affect plasma concentration. Finally, Chapter 4 describes a model for the permeation and uptake of polymersomes into spheroids. Model physiological parameters are derived from in-vitro data, which is then used to understand which binding parameters have the greatest contribution to the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment. Furthermore, optimal polymersome radii are derived for a range intracellular pore sizes.

This practice-led research examines ideas surrounding the interpretation of place; the representation and experience of place are explored in my practice and throughout the thesis. The practice and thesis develop an interdependent relationship where one informs the other and each provides a critical platform whereby existing beliefs are brought into question and new ideas emerge. During the research period the practice is tested against different circumstances in a variety of situations and novel responses are generated. The thesis critically analyses approaches to interpreting place through a number of formats and a variety of sources. Both practice and theory are examined through peer-reviewed conference papers, artist-in-residence programmes and publications allowing new ideas to be explored and scrutinized by the academy. A working method that recognizes the importance and usefulness of serendipity and sagacity is established, bringing together my practice and the theoretical scope of the research. My primary focus is to understand and develop critical responses to the experience and representation of place within the realm of contemporary art practice. The work of W.G. Sebald and the secondary literature surrounding his work plays a significant role in providing ways of dealing with the entanglement of knowledge. Period Drama is both the name of an artwork and the name I have given to a conference paper. Both explore the convoluted and complex methods involved in realizing a site-specific work that challenges fiercely-held beliefs about place. My intention throughout the research has been to examine a variety of approaches that explore the representation and experience of place within contemporary art practice. Prominent within this examination has been the highlighting of the need to belong to a particular place and the sense of displacement generated when this need to belong is challenged or the nature of this connection is questioned.

My thesis examines the early and middle periods of Neil M. Gunn’s writing career in the context of contemporaneous debates and discourses emergent in Scottish political and cultural nationalism. I locate my thesis within a new, broad development in Scottish Studies which is adopting more rigorously analytical, interdisciplinary and theorised models of interpretation. The first chapter examines Gunn’s own nationalism in the light of other contemporaneous Scottish nationalisms and assert that it is moderate in tone but radical, being based on a model of cultural repression / resistance. I examine current theoretical approaches to the study of nationalism and adopt the analytical methods of Anthony D. Smith’s ethno-symbolism. The second chapter examines Gunn’s used of racial figures of speech and concludes that he carefully constructs a politicised account of Scotland’s early history. This account is predicated on a theory of racial essentialism communicated through the visual clue of race. The third chapter examines Gunn’s racial tropes alongside those of D. H. Lawrence and fellow Scottish novelist James Leslie Mitchell (Lewis Grassic Gibbon). I demonstrate how they share an interest in aesthetic primitivism. All three writers adopt radical political positions based on the rejection of ‘whiteness’ and modernity. The last chapter examines Gunn from the perspective of current landscape theory, and analyses how his use of what Denis E, Cosgrove calls ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ positions is figured in his novels, and in his contribution to the Highland Hydro-Electric debates of the 1930s and 1940s. I conclude that Gunn is a profoundly political writer and urge a reassessment of his oeuvre in this light.