Soil-structure interaction of a on-shore wind turbine from long term cyclic loading

PhD ThesisOnshore wind turbines are very tall and slender structures that often have shallow foundations. This type of structure is prone to rocking under applied cyclic loading and must withstand millions of cycles over a 20 year design life from the wind and rotation of the blades. Wind loading is complex and highly variable in frequency and magnitude, with storm events causing large increases of horizontal load. In addition to rocking, uplift often occurs under these larger design loads. A prototype wind turbine was designed for numerical and experimental modelling to investigate the behaviour of an onshore wind turbine with shallow foundations in a slightly overconsolidated kaolin soil, subject to cyclic loading at varying wind speeds. The loading patterns applied were designed to model normal operation of the turbine interspersed with storm events. This allowed investigation of the performance of the structure during and after periods of rocking and uplift. The model was considered to be a two-dimensional (2D) scenario, as the cyclic loading was applied in one plane only. The experimental modelling was conducted at the University of Dundee, with five cyclic tests conducted at 1g and one cyclic test at 50g in the 3m beam geotechnical centrifuge. The experimental modelling presented three main behavioural characterised determined from the reaction of the structure, describing changes in the force reaction, foundation profile and foundation-soil contact. The three main behaviours are amplification, constant and recovery, these behaviours express the long term behaviour of the soil-structure interaction and the ability for the structure to regain strength after large cyclic events. The soil-structure interaction was shown to change though recording of the natural frequency of the structure. The natural frequency decreased in all 1g tests, displaying a softening of the soil structure interaction. Numerical modelling was carried out using 2D finite element analysis in which the soil response was described by the Modified Cam-Clay constitutive model, calibrated using data from experimental testing. The numerical simulations captured many of the mechanisms governing the response of the turbine and allowed for prediction and visual representation of the accumulated deviatoric strain and displacement in the soil body. The findings presented in this thesis show that on-shore wind turbines foundations can be slightly under designed using less resources. Where current practices see foundation uplift as a failure of the design, it can be used as structural protection against cyclic loads that can cause structural degradation

Advanced adaptive modelling approaches in the evolution of vector/cell manufacturing processes

PhD ThesisThe field of cell gene therapy has seen significant progress in recent years. The last decade has seen the licensing of the first Cell Gene Therapy (CGT) treatments in Europe and clinical trials have demonstrated safety and efficacy in the treatment of numerous severe inherited diseases of the blood, immune and nervous systems. Specifically, autologous viral vector-based CGT treatments have been the most successful to date. However, the manufacturing processes for these CGT treatments are at an early stage of development, and high levels of complexity, process variability and a lack of advanced process and product understanding in vector/cell manufacturing are hindering the development of new processes and treatments. Here, Multivariate Data Analysis (MVDA) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques, which have not yet been widely exploited for the development of CGT processes, were leveraged to address some of the main hurdles in the development and optimisation of CGT processes. Principal component analysis (PCA) was primarily used for feature extraction to understand the main correlations and sources of variability within the process data, and to evaluate the similarities and differences between batches. Additionally, a sparse PCA algorithm was developed to ease the interpretation of the principal components with a large number of variables present in the dataset. Predictive modelling techniques were utilized to model the relationships between process variables and critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the viral vector and cell drug products. The infectious titres of lentiviral vector (LV) products from both adherent cell cultures and suspension cell cultures were modelled and predicted successfully and critical process variables were identified with statistically significant correlations to this CQA. In cell drug product manufacturing, the LV copy number in the patient’s transduced cells was also modelled and process parameters in LV manufacturing and cell drug product manufacturing were linked to this CQA. Overall, the modelling process recovered valuable information from historical process data from the early stages of process development. This data frequently remains unexploited, due to its commonly truncated and unstructured nature; however, this work showed that MVDA/ML techniques can yield beneficial insights despite less than ideal data structure and features.GlaxoSmithKline and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Counci

Technology at work and domestic labour: A critical exploration of gender, class, and work-life articulation

Ph. D. Thesis.This thesis explores how reproductive and other domestic labour is managed in work time through personal internet use at work [PIUW]. For parents, PIUW makes it possible to be available to children during the workday and to receive communications from school and nursery. It allows life projects to be managed across the work-life boundary. Managing life projects in work time has widespread wellbeing benefits. However, it is clear from empirical data that technology is not universally enabling in the contemporary office. Analysis of 44 interviews with office workers and managers reveals a dramatic inequality between those in working-class and middle-class jobs. Overall, this study finds that the PIUW of those in working-class jobs is constrained (limiting their ability to manage life-related tasks) while the PIUW of those in middle-class jobs is enabled (allowing them to manage life-related tasks). Furthermore, women in middle-class jobs are significantly more likely than women in working-class jobs to use PIUW instrumentally, to manage home-related tasks. To explain findings, this thesis develops a realist intersectional comparison of gender and occupational class that supports a critical explanation of the interplay between agency and structure through which observed differences in PIUW, relationships between phenomena such as norms, workplace rules, and individual beliefs are explored. Two elements of Lawson’s ontological framework are drawn on. These are Lawson’s (2012) theory of social positioning and Lawson’s (2003) method of contrastive explanation. As a result, an original theoretical contribution is developed via a theoretical model of positionality created from the abductive analysis. The model makes it possible to explain how class manifests itself through the labour process leading to several contributions. Firstly, an explanation is developed of how it is that one group of workers is relatively disadvantaged regarding PIUW. Secondly, through tracing relationships between labour process conditions and collective rule-following practices, an explanation is developed of how inequality is inscribed at multiple levels through the operation of organisational power. Thirdly, by comparing the work-life experiences of those in different labour market positions this research contributes to debates around work-life and inequality, that are otherwise overly focused on the experience of the middle clas

Exploration of sleep as a specific risk factor for poor cardiometabolic and mental health & the comparison of subjective and objective assessments of sleep

Ph. D. ThesisNumerous studies have attempted to evaluate the impact of sleep on cardiometabolic and mental health, although most of the population-based studies utilised self-reported sleep assessment and health status. Therefore, the main aim of this project is to explore the relationship between accelerometer measured sleep and cardiometabolic and mental health amongst the UK Biobank participants. The UK Biobank collected extensive information of the general UK population. They have also collected accelerometry data allowing the extraction of sleep duration and quality. Disease status was obtained from their primary care record. Out of the 84,411 participants with available processable accelerometry data, 17.3% slept 8 hours/night. Short sleep duration was significantly associated with the male gender, older age, high body mass index, social deprivation and ethnic minority group (p<0.001). A significant ‘U-shaped’ association was found between sleep duration and metabolic disease status. Both short and long sleep durations were also associated with negative mood and worse cognitive performances including slower reaction time and worse visual memory (p<0.001). These findings showed the importance of sleep in maintaining health. However, sleep misperception was found to be common leading to a discrepancy between subjective and objective measurements of sleep. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 28 human participants (11 controls and 17 patients). Sleep was assessed using a paper sleep diary, wrist-worn tri-axial accelerometer and laboratory-based polysomnography. The level of cortisol, melatonin, mitochondrial DNA damage and gene expression was measured using saliva, urine, skin swab and hair samples, respectively. An overestimation of sleep duration was observed in this study which is consistent with the UK Biobank analysis. Patients were found to have a longer sleep duration, but a lower sleep efficiency. Moreover, patients were found to have a lower level of melatonin and cortisol. A ‘U-shaped’ association was found between sleep duration and mitochondrial DNA damage level. Finally, circadian rhythm and mitochondria-related pathways have been identified in the gene expression analysis. However, these associations were not found to be statistically significant. Therefore, it is proposed that larger sample size should be considered in future studies informed in part by further power calculations based upon the findings presented in the current thesis.BBSRC and Unileve

Variation, change, and grammaticalisation in Tyneside teen talk : a sociolinguistic study of intensification and emphasis

PhD ThesisThis project examines features of teenagers’ spoken discourse in Tyneside (North East of England), using data from the Diachronic Electronic Corpus of Tyneside English (DECTE) (Corrigan et al. 2012a) and new sociolinguistic interviews with younger speakers (aged 12-18). The study provides novel insights into two areas: (i) intensifiers, with a particular focus on preadjectival boosters (really, so, very, proper, dead, as well as other, less frequent variants); and (ii) emphasisers, including epistemic stance adverbs (actually, really, definitely, and obviously), style stance adverbs (literally, genuinely, honestly), intensifiers in non-pre-adjectival positions (really, proper, absolutely, completely, and totally), and other emphatic devices (clause-final like and right dislocation). The analysis of boosters uses quantitative methods and multivariate analysis, whereas emphasisers are studied qualitatively in terms of their frequency, position, and functions. The project addresses the following research questions: 1. What is novel in the Tyneside teenagers’ use of intensifiers and emphasisers in comparison with speakers analysed in previous studies and other locales? 2. What evidence, if any, is there of synchronic age-grading patterns during the period of adolescence —as defined in this project— or for diachronic language change with respect to previous studies in the same region? 3. What can the patterns in Tyneside teen talk tell us about the grammaticalisation patterns of intensifiers and emphasisers in the region? 4. What can the study of the spoken discourse of Tyneside teenagers reveal about teenage language in general? Results generally concur with what has been found in teenage cohorts in London and studies of Scottish, American, and Canadian English varieties: really and so are the favourite boosters, really is also the most common emphasiser, and other emphasisers like definitely, obviously, and literally are gaining in frequency thanks to their new delexicalised discourse-pragmatic functions. Features that index local identity, such as proper, canny, clause-final like, and right dislocation, are rarer, as found in studies of dialect levelling, and only frequently used by male speakers, as attested in previous work on northern Englishes. Findings suggest both age-grading and diachronic change. The range of boosting and emphatic resources is wider in the older cohort, with younger speakers having an almost exclusive predilection for really. On the other hand, change in Tyneside English is attested by the decline of very, dead, and clause-final like, and the rise of really, so, proper, definitely, obviously, and literally. The features on the rise also evidence advanced grammaticalisation. Girls generally lead in these changes. The teenagers’ use of boosters and emphasisers suggests a conversational style that is highly expressive and cooperative. Also, the particular patterns of their discourse can be seen not only to reflect but also to drive processes of language change and grammaticalisation. These findings should help emphasise the uniqueness and value of teen talk more generally, which can be used to challenge aspects of linguistic discrimination aimed at this particular social group amongst wider publics

Computational Approaches to Generating Diverse Enzyme Panels

Ph. D. ThesisMotivation Enzymes are complex macromolecules crucial to life on earth. From bacteria to human beings, all organisms use enzymes to catalyse the many thousands of chemical reactions occurring in their cells. Enzyme functions are so diverse that the use of enzymes in industries like pharmaceuticals and agriculture has gained popularity over recent years as ”biocatalysts”. Unfortunately, the confident laboratory-based characterisation of enzyme function has lagged behind a massive increase in sequencing data, slowing down initiatives that look to use biocatalysts as part of their chemical processes. Computational methods for identifying biocatalysts do exist, but often falter due to the complexity of enzymes and sequence bias, leaving much of the catalytic space of enzymes and their families undiscovered. This thesis has two major themes: the development of in silico approaches for curating diverse panels of novel enzyme sequences for experimental characterisation, and of tooling that integrates in silico panel creation and in vitro enzyme characterisation into a unified and iterative framework. Contributions of this thesis The contributions of this thesis can be divided into the two larger themes, starting with the diverse panel selection of sequences from an enzyme family: • A novel type of protein network based on patterns of coevolving residues that can be used to identify functionally-interesting groupings in enzyme families. • The automatic sampling of functionally diverse subsets of enzyme sequences by solving the maximum diversity problem. - i - • A study into the viability of artificially increasing enzyme family diversity through neural networks-based generation of synthetic sequences. The second theme, which deals with built tools for bridging the gap between the in silico and in vitro side of enzyme family exploration: • A platform that integrates the panel selection process and resulting characterisation data to promote an iterative approach to exploring enzyme families. • A repository for storing the metadata generated by the major steps of characterisation assays in the lab.EPSRC and Prozomix Limite

Terrestrial carbon storage and sequestration potential of institutionally managed estates

Ph. D. ThesisMany institutions have declared a climate emergency and are committed to ambitious net-zero carbon aims. However, few institutional carbon management plans consider the terrestrial carbon store of the estate in a quantitative or qualitative way. Using Newcastle University as a case study, this research demonstrated ways to quantify and potentially augment the soil and tree carbon stocks of institutional estates by changes in land management. The terrestrial carbon store of Newcastle University’s estate was quantified with field work, and scenarios of the off-setting of institutional carbon emissions were derived by considering alternative land management. Additionally, the application of wheat straw biomass and its biochar to urban soil was investigated for carbon sequestration. To quantify the current carbon storage baseline of the institutional estate, soil and tree carbon was surveyed for two research farms, campus green spaces, and a sports field. The total terrestrial carbon stock of Newcastle University’s estate was found to be 17 times greater than the annual institutional CO2 equivalents-C emissions in 2019-20. Newcastle University could off-set half of its institutional CO2 equivalents-C emissions over a period of 40 years by converting its farms into woodland. Reverting farm management to practices shown on old maps from 1900 with more permanent grasslands could off-set 64 percent of institutional CO2 equivalents-C emissions over a period of 5 years. Other measure such as doubling the number of free-standing trees on the farms, converting all lawns on the central campus into urban woodland, or amending the Newcastle Helix brownfield reclamation site soil with 2% biochar would off-set less than 3 percent of institutional emissions over 40 years. Interviews with estate, farm and carbon managers revealed reluctance to accept the dramatic land management changes which would be needed for tangible off-setting of institutional emissions, but it will be difficult to achieve net-zero carbon emission aims without serious consideration of off-setting opportunities in Newcastle University’s estate.UKCRI

Crisis management, reinvention and resilience in museums : the Imperial War Museum during the Second World War Era, 1933-1950

PhD ThesisThis thesis is about museums and crisis. Through research on the Imperial War Museum, known today as IWM, during the Second World War era, 1933-1950, it reveals how crises disrupt museums, and the contrasting defensive and revolutionary strategies which museums must adopt when mitigating crisis situations. The thesis is situated in a small but emergent literature concerning museums and crisis. Existing work comprises contemporary case studies on difficult museum experiences, predominantly financial difficulty, wherein crisis has been applied to describe an institution’s general state of organisational malaise. This thesis, by contrast, is innovative in that it comprises a historical case study on a museum facing wholesale physical and ideological collapse, and deploys newly developed crisis concepts to analyse different critical situations that can impact museums and to analyse the pathology underlying them. It draws on methodology informed by various case study, archival and historical theorists, and is produced using data extracted principally from documentary sources researched at the IWM museum archive and The National Archives. Through investigating the experience of the Imperial War Museum during the Second World War era, this thesis finds that museums can be harmed by two crisis types. The first comprises a surface-defensive crisis, where the impacted museum must rebut the crisis effects. This type was conceived through considering the impact of the wartime aerial attacks against London on the Imperial War Museum. The second type comprises a deep-revolutionary crisis, where the museum must transition from its existing crisis-ridden state to some new, more sustainable paradigm. This type was conceived through considering the threats posed by cultural irrelevancy, perceived during the war, against the Imperial War Museum after the conflict. Delivered via an original synthesis of historical, museological and crisis research, the outcome of these findings comprises a novel understanding of crisis in the museum context.Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership and Newcastle University. Administered via the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership, the Arts and Humanities Research Counci

Investigating Problem-Orientated Patient Pathways, Toothache to Treatment: ImPacT Study

Ph. D. ThesisAlmost one-third of adults will only seek professional dental care when suffering with acute dental pain rather than engaging in routine preventive dental care, so called problem-orientated dental attenders. These individuals can wait a long time before seeking care resulting in: greater impacts on everyday activities, and greater potential for serious adverse events. They can present to a range of services including emergency dental services, medical emergency departments, and general medical practitioners (GMPs). The reasons for this attendance pattern and care pathway are under-researched. To encourage these patients to engage in routine dental care it is important to build an understanding of: (1) why they only attend when symptomatic, (2) where they present and why. The aim of this thesis was to build an understanding of problem-orientated attendance to subsequently develop an intervention to encourage regular dental attendance. This thesis involved four studies. The first was a retrospective observational study examining dental attendances at Welsh GMPs. The second and third were qualitative studies exploring: (1) problem-orientated attenders’ perspectives and experiences of seeking repeated emergency dental care (2) adolescents’ experiences of dental care and their future plans for dental attendance. The final study co-designed an intervention to prevent problem-orientated dental attendance. Dental attendance rates at GMPs varied over the study period and appeared to relate to key policy change dates. Predictors of being a repeat dental attender included deprivation, residential area, and appointment outcome. Reasons for problemorientated attendance were complex and multifactorial, with overarching reasons related to knowledge and dentist characteristics. Adolescents faced multiple barriers to dental care-seeking as they transitioned to independence subsequently affecting decision-making to continue to seek regular care. Finally, an intervention was developed targeted at adolescents and young adults to encourage continued regular dental attendance as they transitioned to independence, hence preventing problemorientated attendance.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), European Society of Endodontolog

Socio-ecological indicators for sustainable management of global marine biodiversity conservation using sharks as a model species

Ph. D. ThesisGlobal biodiversity is disappearing at an unprecedented rate; sharks are currently among the most threatened vertebrate groups with widespread overexploitation leaving 31% of all species at risk of extinction. Since 2009, 17 coastal nations have adopted a precautionary approach banning all commercial shark fishing. However, evaluating effectiveness of these ‘shark sanctuaries’ is impeded by a lack of robust data. Evidence-based conservation urgently requires data against which socio-ecological change can be measured to assess efficacy of policy and management interventions. This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to advance understanding of the complexities of shark conservation within one of the world’s principal shark sanctuaries - the Maldives. Historical abundance trends derived from fisher Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK, 87 interviews) showed substantial declines in shark population abundance (>65%) and distribution (>60%) between 1970-2019. Validation of contemporary spatial LEK using Baited Remote Underwater Videos (BRUVs, 50 hours of footage) highlighted the potential of LEK to provide fine-scale distribution data for shark populations in data poor regions. Analysis of BRUVs (464 hours of footage) and citizen science data (2,024 dives) over a 5-year period (2016-2020) revealed historical population declines have now been halted and suggests species abundances are stable following sanctuary implementation. However, positive correlations between prey and reef shark abundance raises uncertainty over the long-term efficacy of sanctuaries, which still permit exploitation of prey species. Interviews with fishers (n = 103) identified correlations between fisher characteristics, perceptions, and support for the Maldives shark sanctuary. Findings identified several management actions that could increase support: increasing stakeholder participation and representation (voice to capture local knowledge); mitigation of the costs associated with fisher-shark interactions and increasing transparency in management decision making. The potential severity and inequity in livelihood costs associated with shark sanctuaries was also highlighted revealing that small-scale reef fishers were disproportionally impacted compared to pelagic tuna fishers. This thesis highlights the importance of integrating human and ecological dimensions into shark conservation to tailor measures more likely to be effective in specific contexts and suggests that low support for sanctuary regulations, fisher-shark conflict and overexploitation of reef resources, could hinder long-term population recovery. Findings outline rapid, cost-effective approaches towards generating priority data to provide a basis for evidence-based management that will help define future efforts to enhance shark conservation in the context of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.Newcastle University’s Institute for Sustainabilit