Strengthening of concrete columns with pseudo-ductile hybrid FRP

Abstract not currently available

Investigating cognitive-motor function in younger and older adults, using multimodal MRI

Abstract not currently available

Dramaturgy of exile: an autopoietic exploration

This thesis presents a practice-led, dramaturgical inquiry into autopoiesis in exile. It provides a methodology for the recreation or the autopoiesis, of the (writing) self in exile by presenting the emergence of a new languaging of the exilic condition within the exile but, more importantly, outwith the exile, and within the host. Through the researching and crafting of three works of theatre and film the thesis examines the poetic self in exile through written language. The subject is vast and much discussed by many, from classical Greek and Roman antiquity to modernity and postmodernity. The innovation this work offers emerges from writing under the condition of existential peril against “authoritarian and fascist threat” (Stanley, 2024). Through dramatisation, it explores what can happen when language is instrumentalised, decontextualised and turned against its former emancipatory function. Within the chronological impetus of less than one hundred years, there is presently a virulent re-emergence of all five conditions of fascism as set out by philosopher Jason Stanley alongside numerous studies by Arendt, Snyder, Klemperer, Bertrand Russell, Ecco and many others. Exposure to this “descent to fascism” (Snyder, 2025) is taking place through traditional but also technological and complex digital means. In that sense, we are all exiles. As the writer in exile, I have thus addressed a gap in the scholarship by foregrounding the method of autopoiesis as an embodied, dramaturgically situated and performative practice of resistance under contemporary conditions of linguistic, ontological and material exclusion. This work on autopoiesis has been designed as a philosophical pentagon of a Contract of Vulnerability constructed around the wound of exile and its potential for transforming vulnerability into a new language. The first play, LESBOS, examines the term Wound. By exposing the wound, the timing of the wound and the invulnerability of the Antigonian drama, it examines constitutive exclusion and dramatizes the conditions of exilic presence and how these may be regenerated and reimagined. The second play, A Seafarer’s Elegy, is an absurdist piece which examines the condensation of political language. Led by Martin Esslin’s 1960 study on the theatre of the absurd, it considers the sloganification of language and the potential for remaking meaning in a time of depletion of traditional codes of signification. The final piece, A Poetic Constitution for Scotland revisits Scotland as a repository of trauma and contestation and a scene of political resistance. The thesis further examines the function of literature in exile as a precondition of writing and, lastly, problematises translational and extractive poiesis in a moment when the exilic writer is mined for cultural and linguistic capital while simultaneously re-languaging, resisting and producing new dramaturgies in exile

Exploring the global majority and racially minoritised women’s experiences of miscarriage and maternity services

Abstract not currently available

Practical and theoretical considerations for working with emotions in autonomous systems: applying the appraisal theory of emotion to guide methodological design

Abstract not currently available

If war is the answer, what is the question? A genealogy of ideas in the Greek Just War tradition

Just War theories are shaped by distinct cultures, collective mentalities, and historical developments. However, the existing International Relations literature on Just Wars has not effectively integrated the role of ideas in how actions acquire meaning and legitimacy. Even within the literature on the Just War tradition, there has been a predominant focus on the evolution of Roman ‘Ciceronian’ concepts through the Western medieval system, which became ingrained in Western thought as part of the collective mentalities and experiences of recent centuries. My study tried to address this gap by examining the genealogy of the Greek Just War tradition. The central question of my research is: how did the concept of Just War develop within Greek thought from antiquity to the establishment of an independent Greek state in the 19th century, and can we trace a distinct (Greek) Just War tradition shaped by unique collective experiences, norms, and ideas? References to the Greeks are not ethnological; they refer to the Mediterranean culture centred on the Greek language, concepts, and way of life, which leads to a precise analysis on ideas and practices that construct Just War mentalities. My study demonstrated that the origins of Western Just War traditions can be traced back to Ancient Greek thought and examined how these ideas contributed to the Greco-Roman and Christian synthesis. I explored how Christianity, alongside factors such as geopolitical circumstances, interactions with other cultures, and pre-existing ideas and norms, shaped Eastern Roman practices and created a distinct normative environment, i.e., a different Just War tradition. This environment influenced the evolution of Modern Greek thought, particularly among the Greek diaspora, during the Greek War of Independence, and in the social constructions that legitimised armed conflict as a core element of Greek identity and future Greek security discourses on various domains. Analysing Just War traditions as part of the evolution of ideas across different cultures is both methodologically and ontologically significant. Such an approach enables a deeper understanding of how communities justify warfare, how ideas give meaning to action, and ultimately challenges the positivist view prevalent in modern International Relations, which often treats war merely as a strategic manoeuvre in the game of international politics, rather than as a reflection of diverse cultures. In a globalised interdependent world, the understanding of how warfare is an extension of different communities’ mentality and how ideas legitimise practice is crucial for any aim to improve security discourses, multilateral strategy, and crisis management

Mathematical modelling of active fluids in a channel

Active fluids, such as active nematics, consist of self-driven units that convert energy into directed motion. Examples include suspensions of cytoskeletal filaments, motor proteins, bacteria, schools of fish, cellular layers, and cell tissues. This thesis presents a theoretical and computational study of active nematics using an adapted Ericksen-Leslie dynamical theory, with a focus on understanding how activity, external fields, and geometry influence flow and director patterns in confined systems. In one dimension, we investigate the effects of an orienting field on extensile and contractile nematics under planar and homeotropic anchoring. Extensile systems with planar anchoring exhibit minimal director distortion, whereas contractile systems display significant distortion when the orienting field exceeds a threshold from the initial homeotropic alignment. A kickback effect is observed in contractile nematics, which diminishes in extensile systems as activity increases. Nonlinear analyses reveal uniform, symmetric, and antisymmetric states, with activity enhancing flow and inducing bistability in contractile systems. In two-dimensional channels, we analyse the influence of activity and non-constant boundary conditions. Under inlet/outlet normal flow conditions, low activities produce localised flows, while higher activities generate spatial fluctuations in contractile systems. Extensile nematics at high activity exhibit transitions from unidirectional to bidirectional flow. For inlet/outlet periodic conditions, the system behaviour is similar to that under normal flow conditions. Variation in the splay-to-bend elastic constant ratio leads to transitions from positive to negative flux, demonstrating that active stresses can dominate elastic forces and produce unidirectional flow with positive flux for extensile systems. We also explore time-dependent boundary conditions as a conceptual demonstration of object sensing, showing that the speed of anchoring transitions affects flow patterns: slower transitions delay system activation, while faster transitions reduce bidirectional flows. These results indicate that small local disturbances can produce large-scale flows. In a biological context, such as wound healing, the tissue edge acts as a dynamic boundary where cells actively migrate and reorganise. Our findings on time-dependent boundary anchoring and activity-driven flows suggest that localised changes at wound margins can trigger large-scale tissue flows, mimicking the collective migration observed during wound closure. Overall, this work provides a theoretical framework for understanding how activity and confinement can be harnessed in systems that respond sensitively to local perturbations, highlighting potential applications for active-nematic-based sensing

Synthesis of PfCLK1 inhibitors

Despite international efforts to deal with malaria, it remains a serious health concern on a global scale, contributing to a considerable number of deaths worldwide, especially in LEDCs (less economically developed countries) on the African and Asian continents. Unfortunately, a lack of research has resulted in no new antimalarial drugs being introduced into the market since 1996. Current treatment strategies against malaria have been seen in the form of artemisinin; however, due to constant usage, this drug has become compromised, as the most virulent malaria parasite strain, Plasmodium falciparum, has developed resistance. As a result, significant efforts must be targeted towards the development of new antimalarial drugs that target not only the symptomatic blood stage of infection, but all stages of the parasite life cycle to prevent transmission and hopefully allow the eradication of malaria. In recent times, a four-membered protein kinase family known as ‘Plasmodium falciparum cyclin-like kinase’ (PfCLK1-4) has been identified as an essential eukaryotic protein for the survival of the parasite during the ‘blood stage’ of its lifecycle. Studies have shown these kinases to be pivotal in regulating RNA expression throughout the asexual and sexual stages of the parasite lifecycle, which are important in parasite survival. As a result, efforts have been made to focus on this protein kinase family to see if targeting these protein kinases could offer a novel therapeutic strategy to treat malaria. Henceforth, this project aims to validate one of these family members ‘PfCLK1 as a new therapeutic target against malaria by synthesizing tool compounds that selectively inhibit PfCLK1. As this project is still in the early ‘hit to lead’ stage of the drug discovery process, the focus so far has been on developing a synthetic route towards the ‘hit’ molecules identified from a HTS (high throughput screen) that showed biological activity against PfCLK1. As a result, the main discussion of this report will outline the synthetic route used to synthesize two of the four hit molecules, compounds A & B

Micro-optics: From wormholes to medical applications

Lying within the overarching boundaries of micro-optics, this thesis begins by exploring two different “pixelated” approaches to medical spectacles. The first was aimed as a treatment alternative to surgical corrections for torsional diplopia (double vision due to a relative eyeball rotation around the back-to-front axis). To do this, the spectacles were designed to approximately rotate the view seen through them. In the very basic design consisting of simple wedges (each of which we call a pixel), the component does not actually perform imaging leading to a reduced visual acuity of about 6/420. This was worse than desired, which is why the latter half of the chapter was designated to implementing methods that may improve the visual acuity, consisting of a pupil restriction and a new approach we call derivative control. Using this, the visual acuity was improved to a value of about 6/35, but at the cost of added complexity and bulkiness. The second spectacle pair was designed to help with uncorrected refractive errors by permitting patients to adjust the focusing power of the spectacles through simply rotating two cylindrical lens spirals relative to one another. The combination yields an equivalent Fresnel lens, which is the reason we call these adaptive Fresnel lenses. These were simulated in the ray optical limit, yielding an expected feasible variable range of ±2 diopters. Several configurations were explored where the distances and spiral types were varied, with ray trace simulations confirming the expected view through the adaptive lens. The other half of the text is dedicated to an extension of the previously published ideal lens cloak. The cloaking principles were explored, yielding conditions for which a light ray within the cloak must remain within the cloak and hence travel in a closed ray trajectory. These were used in the theoretical creation of a novel “extreme omnidirectional ideal lens cloak” which hides an object within from all viewing directions. Furthermore, attractor-like properties were found within the cloak, trapping some light rays entering from the outside. These properties were also found in a more realizable cloak we call the “shifty cloak”, which suggests significant similarities between the two cloaks. The shifty cloak was used to construct a Janus device and an optical wormhole, the latter of which was adversely affected by the attractor properties

Mitochondrial targeting for inhibition of fumarate hydratase

Abstract not currently available