Sociability in the Writings of William Godwin, with Special Reference to Thomas Holcroft

William Godwin was a religious dissenter, political journalist, novelist, and author of the philosophical treatise Political Justice. The principal aim of my thesis is to provide a distinctive investigation of Godwin’s theory of sociability, and to consider its development and practical and literary dissemination. Investigating key influences, I will show his intimate friend, the actor, novelist, and playwright Thomas Holcroft, as having a crucial role in shaping Godwin’s whole model of sociability and intellectual exchange. Examining a selection of Godwin’s and Holcroft’s political writings, letters, diaries, early narratives, and novels reveals how each writer was acutely aware of differing types of genre and audience, and establishes how, at a time of political repression, they practised a politicised model of friendship at the very moment government sought to undermine it. Godwin used his model to develop an idea of essential equality: he sought to engage all of mankind in politically inflected friendship in order to achieve moral equality. Working as a virtual and practical partnership, Godwin and Holcroft shared a belief in the written word as a powerful vehicle of influence and modelled friendship in their writings so as to advance social and political reform.Midland 3 Cities AHRC Doctoral Training Partnershi

Dense granular flow in rotating drums: a computational investigation of constitutive equations

The constitutive laws of dense granular flow are investigated. Simulations of a drum, with periodic boundary conditions, rotating at varying speeds are performed. From the resulting data, kinematic and kinetic fields are extracted and used to investigate the validity of constitutive relations proposed in the literature. Two key constitutive assumptions are (a) isotropy and (b) incompressibility. The rotating drum system is found to be largely isotropic for high rotational speeds. For low rotational speeds, anisotropy is observed in the bottom part of the system, where the particles are flowing upwards. A small degree of compressibility is observed in the downward-flowing layer. The friction coefficient for the granular constitutive relations is also investigated. An empirically-derived friction law has a better fit to the data when compared to other friction laws proposed in the literature. Lastly, two scaling laws are investigated: the scaling between the scaled flow-rate (flux) and the thickness of the downward- flowing layer and the scaling between the dynamic angle of repose of the bed and the flux through the downward- flowing layer. The thickness-flux scaling is measured by interpolating the flux over a number of slices through the flowing layer, this is done in a number of different ways. The size of the measured section through the flowing layer is varied. The orientation of the slices is also varied. Also investigated is whether the total velocity or the tangential velocity produce the same scaling. The size of the section of the flowing layer significantly changes the scaling, this shows that the scaling is not constant throughout the flowing layer. The dynamic angle of repose is determined using two methods, one which is determined unambiguously as the repose angle of the ellipse fitted to the equilibrium surface and the other which is the changing angle of the tangent to the equilibrium surface or free surface. The first repose angle is found to be highly dependent on the flux even in the limit of infinite drum length, which is modelled using axial periodic boundary conditions. The second definition results in two sets of repose angles with complex behaviour that may be due to inertial effects. An instability in the system is observed, this is conjectured to be due to a frictional threshold that is breached as the rotational speed of the drum increases. Algorithms for calculating field variables and features of the charge are presented

The Equity Action Spectrum: taking a comprehensive approach. Guidance for addressing inequities in health

This guidance aims to support European policy-makers to improve the design and implementation of policies to reduce inequities in health. It brings together current evidence on how to develop comprehensive policy action plans to identify and address social determinants of health inequities. While great improvements have been made in health across the WHO European Region, there are still striking contrasts in the standards of health enjoyed by different countries within the Region and by different population groups within these countries. Reducing health inequities and improving governance for health and health equity are key strategic objectives of Health 2020 – the European policy framework for health and well-being endorsed by the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region in 2012. This guide seeks to assist European policy-makers in contributing to achieving the objectives of Health 2020 in a practical way. It draws on key evidence, including from the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region. It also provides a framework that policy-makers at national, regional and local levels can apply to their own unique context, in order to consider the processes by which inequities might occur, and to suggest policy interventions that may be helpful in addressing these factors

Complex Hyperbolic Triangle Groups of Type [m,m,0;3,3,2][m,m,0;3,3,2]

In this paper we study discreteness of complex hyperbolic triangle groups of type $[m,m,0;3,3,2]$, i.e. groups of isometries of the complex hyperbolic plane generated by three complex reflections of orders $3,3,2$ in complex geodesics with pairwise distances $m,m,0$. For fixed $m,$ the parameter space of such groups is of real dimension one. We determine intervals in this parameter space that correspond to discrete and to non-discrete triangle groups

halving angels: technology's poem

This article uses half/angel's art and performance practice to analyse the ways in which digital technologies have altered processes of making work. It suggests that technology's impact might be in the poetic transformation of imagination. the article focuses in particular on half/angel's 2004 work 'Spinstren.

Protocol: systematic review of the association between socio-economic status and survival in adult head and neck cancer

Abstract Background Head and neck cancer incidence is increasing worldwide. Despite overall improvements in survival, numerous studies suggest worse survival in more disadvantaged populations; however, this literature has not been systematically reviewed. The aim of this review is to investigate whether lower compared to higher socioeconomic status (SES) influences survival in head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and explore possible explanations for any relationship found. Method A systematic strategy will be used to identify articles, appraise their quality and extract data. Online databases including MEDLINE, Web of Knowledge, ESBCO Host and Scopus will be used to locate observational studies of adults with a primary diagnosis of head and neck cancer in EU15+ countries (15 members of the EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, USA and New Zealand) where the outcomes report associations between SES and survival. This will be augmented by searching for grey literature and through reference lists. Data will be extracted using a standardised form. Study quality will be assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa scale and where possible meta-analysis of the pooled data will be conducted. Discussion This review will quantify the association between SES and survival outcomes for adult head and neck cancer patients in developed countries. The results will help identify gaps in the literature and therefore direct further novel research in the field. Ultimately, this will inform public policy and strategies to reduce the inequalities in HNSCC survival. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42016037019

Growth hormone prescribing and initial BMI SDS: Increased biochemical adverse effects and costs in obese children without additional gain in height

BACKGROUND: Recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) treatment in children is usually prescribed using actual body weight. This may result in inappropriately high doses in obese children. METHODS: Retrospective audit of all paediatric patients treated with rhGH 2010-14 at a tertiary paediatric hospital in the UK. Change in height SDS and IGF-I SDS during the first year of treatment was stratified by initial BMI SDS in a mixed cohort, and a subgroup of GH deficient (GHD) patients. Alternative doses for those BMI SDS ≥2.0 (Obese) were calculated using BSA, IBW and LBW. RESULTS: 354 patients (133 female) received rhGH, including 213 (60.2%) with GHD. Obesity was present in 40 patients (11.3%) of the unselected cohort, and 32 (15.0%) of the GHD cohort. For GHD patients, gain in height SDS was directly related to BMI SDS, except in obese patients (p<0.05). For both the entire cohort, and GHD patients only, IGF-1 SDS was significantly higher in obese patients (p<0.0001 for both groups). Cross sectional data identified 265 children receiving rhGH, 81 (30.5%) with a BMI-SDS ≥1.75. Alternate prescribing strategies for rhGH prescribing in obese patients suggest a saving of 27% - 38% annually. CONCLUSIONS: Gain in IGF-I SDS is greater in obese children, and is likely to be related to relatively higher doses of rhGH. Additional gain in height was not achieved at the higher doses administered to obese children. Alternative dosing strategies in the obese patient population should be examined in rigorous clinical trials