The pleasures of being a student at the University of Sheffield.

This thesis investigates the distinctive means by which undergraduate students identify as a group outside the official university agenda of learning and teaching. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2005 and 2008 at the University of Sheffield and is thus an exploration of largely mobile, traditional students at an elite university in a time marked by 'Chicago-school' economic policies, global and post-industrial social change and pervasive technological mediation. Its findings are situated in three contextual narratives: the postwar development of a youth consumer culture, the expansion of Higher Education in the United Kingdom and the intensification of its night-time economy. Student identity is seen to be actuated within the latter, specifically the regular, ritualised activity of 'going out' which is understood, in a student context, as having developed from traditional, carnivalesque behaviours over three definite periods of student culture. The monetisation of these behaviours in the night-time economy is interpreted as having wrought significant temporal and spatial transformations on student life, the University and the city of Sheffield. Going out is seen as both performance and social process, one acting on and enacted by a small group of friends typically formed in student accommodation. Through this dual articulation going out is demonstrated as both propagating and being propagated by the pressures of mediated representation, especially those of the social-networking site Facebook. Going out, and especially the binge drinking that accompanies it, is ultimately understood, via Berardi (2009), as a raw, psychoactive medicine for the very pressures of objectification enshrined in mediated youth culture. Theoretically the research connects Noyes' (1995) formulation of group identity enacted in performance to Paglia's (1991) dichotomy of objectification and dissolution. In turn this is mapped onto Bourdieu's (1984; 1990) writing on sociology, Measham and Brain (2005) and Winlow and Hall's (2006) writing on the night-time economy and Allen and Ainley on Higher Education (2010). The thesis concludes with several recommendations: firstly a minimum price per unit accompanied by enforced social responsibility standards in the night-time economy, secondly the incorporation of the undergraduate first year into degree classification, thirdly a more practical emphasis on community and corporate life in both academic departments and residences and fourthly the pedagogic engagement of students in issues of pleasure, consumerism and culture

Smoking in social housing among adults in England, 2015–2020: a nationally representative survey

Objectives: To analyse associations between living in social housing and smoking in England and to evaluate progress towards reducing disparities in smoking prevalence among residents of social housing compared with other housing types. / Design: Cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative data collected between January 2015 and February 2020. / Setting: England. / Participants: 105 562 adults (≥16 years). / Primary and secondary outcome measures: Linear and logistic regression were used to analyse associations between living in social housing (vs other housing types) and smoking status, cigarettes per day, time to first cigarette, exposure to others’ smoking, motivation to stop smoking, quit attempts and use of cessation support. Analyses were adjusted for sex, age, social grade, region and year. / Results: Adults living in social housing had two times the odds of being a smoker (ORadj=2.17, 95% CI 2.08 to 2.27), and the decline in smoking prevalence between 2015 and 2020 was less pronounced in this high-risk group (−7%; ORadj=0.98, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.01) than among adults living in other housing types (−24%; ORadj=0.95, 95% CI 0.94 to 0.96; housing tenure–survey year interaction p=0.020). Smokers living in social housing were more addicted than those in other housing types (smoking within 30 min of waking: ORadj=1.50, 95% CI 1.39 to 1.61), but were no less motivated to stop smoking (ORadj=1.06, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.17) and had higher odds of having made a serious attempt to quit in the past year (ORadj=1.16, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.25). Among smokers who had tried to quit, those living in social housing had higher odds of using evidence-based cessation support (ORadj=1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.39) but lower odds of remaining abstinent (ORadj=0.63, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.76). / Conclusions: There remain stark inequalities in smoking and quitting behaviour by housing tenure in England, with declines in prevalence stalling between 2015 and 2020 despite progress in the rest of the population. In the absence of targeted interventions to boost quitting among social housing residents, inequalities in health are likely to worsen

Investigation of the fluid behavior of asphaltenes and toluene insolubles by high-temperature proton nuclear magnetic resonance and rheometry and their application to visbreaking

The fluid behavior of asphaltenes at elevated temperatures impacts coke formation in a number of hydrocarbon conversion processes, including visbreaking and delayed coking. In this study, the asphaltenes from a number of sources, namely, a vacuum residue, a petroleum source rock (Kimmeridge clay) bitumen obtained by hydrous pyrolysis, and bitumen products from a sub-bituminous coal and pine wood obtained by thermolytic solvent extraction using tetralin, have been characterized using high-temperature proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), and the results correlated with those from small-amplitude oscillatory shear rheometry. Further for comparison, the coke (toluene insolubles) obtained from visbreaking the vacuum residue was also characterized. All of the asphaltenes became completely fluid by 300 °C, with hydrogen being completely mobile with coke formation, identified as a solid phase, not occurring to a significant extent until 450 °C. Extremely good agreement was obtained between high-temperature 1H NMR and rheometry results, which confirmed that the asphaltenes were highly fluid from 300 °C, with initial signs of resolidification being observed at temperatures of around 450 °C. During softening, extremely good correlations between fluid hydrogen and phase angle were obtained as the asphaltenes softened. The toluene insolubles however did contain some fluid material; thus, it cannot be regarded as strictly solid coke, but clearly, with increasing temperature, the fluid material did convert to coke. Under actual process conditions, this fluid material could be responsible for coke adhering to reactor surfaces

Performance of an environmental test to detect Mycobacterium bovis infection in badger social groups

A study by Courtenay and others (2006) demonstrated that the probability of detecting Mycobacterium bovis by PCR in soil samples from the spoil heaps of main badger setts correlated with the prevalence of excretion (infectiousness) of captured badgers belonging to the social group. It has been proposed that such a test could be used to target badger culling to setts containing infectious animals (Anon 2007). This short communication discusses the issues surrounding this concept, with the intention of dispelling any misconceptions among relevant stakeholders (farmers, policy makers and conservationists)

Chronic otitis media is initiated by a bulla cavitation defect in the FBXO11 mouse model

Auditory bulla cavitation defects are a cause of otitis media, but the normal cellular pattern of bulla mesenchyme regression and its failure are not well understood. In mice, neural-crest-derived mesenchyme occupies the bulla from embryonic day 17.5 (E17.5) to postnatal day 11 (P11) and then regresses to form the adult air-filled bulla cavity. We report that bulla mesenchyme is bordered by a single layer of non-ciliated epithelium characterized by interdigitating cells with desmosome cell junctions and a basal lamina, and by Bpifa1 gene expression and laminin staining of the basal lamina. At P11-P12, the mesenchyme shrinks: mesenchyme-associated epithelium shortens, and mesenchymal cells and extracellular matrix collagen fibrils condense, culminating in the formation of cochlea promontory mucosa bordered by compact non-ciliated epithelial cells. FBXO11 is a candidate disease gene in human chronic otitis media with effusion and we report that a bulla cavitation defect initiates the pathogenesis of otitis media in the established mouse model Jeff (Fbxo11Jf/+). Persistent mesenchyme in Fbxo11Jf/+ bullae has limited mesenchymal cell condensation, fibrosis and hyperplasia of the mesenchyme-associated epithelium. Subsequent modification forms fibrous adhesions that link the mucosa and the tympanic membrane, and this is accompanied by dystrophic mineralization and accumulation of serous effusion in the bulla cavity. Mouse models of bulla cavitation defects are important because their study in humans is limited to post-mortem samples. This work indicates new diagnostic criteria for this otitis media aetiology in humans, and the prospects of studying the molecular mechanisms of murine bulla cavitation in organ culture

How to hold elections safely and democratically during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic poses major challenges for those charged with overseeing electoral processes, but the innovative ways in which practitioners are addressing these challenges indicate that elections can be safely held even under pandemic conditions. These innovations also represent opportunities for strengthening electoral practices and making them more resilient to a variety of other risks. This briefing draws on existing experience of elections held during the COVID-19 pandemic and previous health crises to address five areas of vulnerability: inclusive and accountable electoral management, poll worker safeguarding, interinstitutional collaboration, feasible and effective election observation, and the risk of electoral violence. The analyses indicate that there are a large number of things that electoral practitioners can do to hold elections safely under pandemic conditions. Most of these are techniques that have been employed previously in some form, and we caution against the introduction of entirely new and untested approaches at the current time. The most useful innovations are those such as widening poll-worker recruitment, inter-institutional coordination and hybrid election observation that build on existing practice. The analyses also highlight the importance of not losing track of the need to bolster the transparency, accountability and security of electoral practices. Far from there being a trade-off between making elections safe in pandemic conditions and achieving these other aims, we argue that efforts to maximise electoral integrity and to preserve electoral peace will also help to ensure that democratic elections can be safeguarded from the risks associated with COVID-19. Our principal recommendations fall into three categories: those targeted at electoral administrators, those aimed at election observation organisations, and general recommendations that are relevant to administrators, observers and electoral assistance providers

Culling-Induced Changes in Badger (Meles meles) Behaviour, Social Organisation and the Epidemiology of Bovine Tuberculosis

In the UK, attempts since the 1970s to control the incidence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle by culling a wildlife host, the European badger (Meles meles), have produced equivocal results. Culling-induced social perturbation of badger populations may lead to unexpected outcomes. We test predictions from the ‘perturbation hypothesis’, determining the impact of culling operations on badger populations, movement of surviving individuals and the influence on the epidemiology of bTB in badgers using data dervied from two study areas within the UK Government's Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT). Culling operations did not remove all individuals from setts, with between 34–43% of badgers removed from targeted social groups. After culling, bTB prevalence increased in badger social groups neighbouring removals, particularly amongst cubs. Seventy individual adult badgers were fitted with radio-collars, yielding 8,311 locational fixes from both sites between November 2001 and December 2003. Home range areas of animals surviving within removed groups increased by 43.5% in response to culling. Overlap between summer ranges of individuals from Neighbouring social groups in the treatment population increased by 73.3% in response to culling. The movement rate of individuals between social groups was low, but increased after culling, in Removed and Neighbouring social groups. Increased bTB prevalence in Neighbouring groups was associated with badger movements both into and out of these groups, although none of the moving individuals themselves tested positive for bTB. Significant increases in both the frequency of individual badger movements between groups and the emergence of bTB were observed in response to culling. However, no direct evidence was found to link the two phenomena. We hypothesise that the social disruption caused by culling may not only increase direct contact and thus disease transmission between surviving badgers, but may also increase social stress within the surviving population, causing immunosuppression and enhancing the expression of disease

Fructose transport-deficient Staphylococcus aureus reveals important role of epithelial glucose transporters in limiting sugar-driven bacterial growth in airway surface liquid.

Hyperglycaemia as a result of diabetes mellitus or acute illness is associated with increased susceptibility to respiratory infection with Staphylococcus aureus. Hyperglycaemia increases the concentration of glucose in airway surface liquid (ASL) and promotes the growth of S. aureus in vitro and in vivo. Whether elevation of other sugars in the blood, such as fructose, also results in increased concentrations in ASL is unknown and whether sugars in ASL are directly utilised by S. aureus for growth has not been investigated. We obtained mutant S. aureus JE2 strains with transposon disrupted sugar transport genes. NE768(fruA) exhibited restricted growth in 10 mM fructose. In H441 airway epithelial-bacterial co-culture, elevation of basolateral sugar concentration (5-20 mM) increased the apical growth of JE2. However, sugar-induced growth of NE768(fruA) was significantly less when basolateral fructose rather than glucose was elevated. This is the first experimental evidence to show that S. aureus directly utilises sugars present in the ASL for growth. Interestingly, JE2 growth was promoted less by glucose than fructose. Net transepithelial flux of D-glucose was lower than D-fructose. However, uptake of D-glucose was higher than D-fructose across both apical and basolateral membranes consistent with the presence of GLUT1/10 in the airway epithelium. Therefore, we propose that the preferential uptake of glucose (compared to fructose) limits its accumulation in ASL. Pre-treatment with metformin increased transepithelial resistance and reduced the sugar-dependent growth of S. aureus. Thus, epithelial paracellular permeability and glucose transport mechanisms are vital to maintain low glucose concentration in ASL and limit bacterial nutrient sources as a defence against infection