The need for support: Young people living through a family health crisis

Young people living with a family health crisis are found to experience high levels of distress, anxiety, low mood and depressive symptoms and are at risk of becoming disengaged with education, socially isolated and uncertain regarding what the future will hold for them. A body of research indicates that practical intervention, including youth work, engagement with other young people and targeted support can have a significant impact upon a young person’s capacity to cope with a complex family health crisis and develop self-reliant behaviours. Despite the plethora of evidence to indicate the need for systems of support for children and young people experiencing a family health crisis, current provision across the UK is inconsistent, inequitable and not clearly underpinned by policy intervention. This study sets out to indicate the extent and nature of need of children and young people who are living with a family health crisis in Britain, the type of support they require and the ways in which Hope Support meets those needs

Microtheories for SDI - Accounting for diversity of local conceptualisations at a global level

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.The categorization and conceptualization of geographic features is fundamental to cartography, geographic information retrieval, routing applications, spatial decision support and data sharing in general. However, there is no standard conceptualization of the world. Humans conceptualize features based on numerous factors including cultural background, knowledge, motivation and particularly space and time. Thus, geographic features are prone to multiple, context-dependent conceptualizations reflecting local conditions. This creates semantic heterogeneity and undermines interoperability. Standardization of a shared definition is often employed to overcome semantic heterogeneity. However, this approach loses important local diversity in feature conceptualizations and may result in feature definitions which are too broad or too specific. This work proposes the use of microtheories in Spatial Data Infrastructures, such as INSPIRE, to account for diversity of local conceptualizations while maintaining interoperability at a global level. It introduces a novel method of structuring microtheories based on space and time, represented by administrative boundaries, to reflect variations in feature conceptualization. A bottom-up approach, based on non-standard inference, is used to create an appropriate global-level feature definition from the local definitions. Conceptualizations of rivers, forests and estuaries throughout Europe are used to demonstrate how the approach can improve the INSPIRE data model and ease its adoption by European member states

Modernism and non-fiction: place, genre and the politics of popular forms

This thesis considers the hitherto unexplored question of modernism and non-fictional genres. Although modernist studies have long been attentive to the implications of modernism’s “manifestos”, and recent work on modernist magazines has shed new light on forms beyond poetry and fictional prose, little attention has been afforded to other non-fictional writing. Similarly, although a growing school of criticism has emphasised the significance of “the everyday” in modernist texts, few have examined non-fiction concerned with leisure or daily life – a particularly unusual omission given the rich possibilities such texts offer for our understanding of how everyday lives relate to wider society. This thesis examines instructional texts which make radical interventions in the social and political upheavals which follow the First World War. Contra to the well-debunked yet still pervasive narratives which typify the modernist text as a work of disinterested – even isolated – genius, these examples demonstrate a broad-ranging, complex engagement with popular venues. Surveying examples of popular genres such as cookbooks, travel guides and radio programs written by a range of canonical and lesser-known modernist writers, it demonstrates how modernist writers re-appropriated the common features of such mainstream forms in order to stage various (and varied) interventions in local and national affairs. Its reading of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Somerset (1949) and Scottish Scene: The Intelligent Man’s Guide to Albyn (1934), by Hugh MacDiarmid and Lewis Grassic Gibbon, shows how adopting the “textual codes” of travel guides provided authors with a means of writing back against the over-simplistic narratives of region and nation popular in other examples of the genre. Likewise, The Alice B Toklas Cook Book (1954) and F.T. Marinetti’s The Futurist Cookbook (1932) are read as divergent examples of texts which stage radical interventions in food practices as they relate to nationhood and conflict. Comparable interventions are also unearthed in the media. Flann O’Brien’s Cruiskeen Lawn columns (1940-66), published under the name Myles na gCopaleen, are often read in studies of Irish political and cultural consciousness. This thesis argues that they must also be read in terms of genre, demonstrating how a subversive use of headlines, bylines and other page architecture signals O’Brien’s use of the newspaper form itself to pass comment on the cultural and political life of the Republic of Ireland. Finally, this thesis turns to broadcast culture, with a chapter on radio and documentary films. Through readings of Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Bowen's radio broadcasts, and the GPO Film Unit collaboration of Benjamin Britten and W.H. Auden, this chapter shows how irony and experiment allowed writers to turn state-sanctioned media to their own ends during the interwar years – suggesting that literary readings are crucial to understanding modernism's engagement with new media. Through these different readings, this thesis highlights the sheer diversity of modernist genres which have either received little critical attention, or whose formal specifics have been under-acknowledged. As a result, it is able to reframe modernism’s approach to several areas of twentieth-century life, approaching anew pressing areas of concern in the field – for instance, space and place, the circulation of texts, the everyday, and the commercial, lowbrow and domestic – demonstrating the critical importance of instructive genres to understanding literary modernism.Arts and Humanities Research Counci

Biophysical characterization of electron transfer proteins containing multiple metallocofactors: investigation of the AdoMet radical and cytochrome c peroxidase enzyme superfamilies

Metallocofactors are ubiquitous in nature, serving multiple purposes in proteins. These metallocofactors typically act as the site of catalysis or as an electron relay to move electrons within the protein, or within the cell, and are very energetically costly to manufacture. Yet, in nature it can appear that supernumerary, or ‘auxiliary’ cofactors are apparent, with no clear function. In this thesis, I address the question of what roles additional cofactors play, and why they are retained. The radical S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) enzyme superfamily has displayed great diversity in the cofactor requirements for its members. Some members of this family contain only the canonical [4Fe-4S] cluster, which reductively cleaves AdoMet to initiate chemistry, while others have additional [2Fe-2S] or [4Fe-4S] clusters. Even greater cofactor complexity is seen with the B12-dependent subclass, featuring a cobalamin-binding domain in addition to the canonical FeS cluster. The majority of this thesis has focused on using the technique of protein film electrochemistry (PFE) to study members of various subclasses of this superfamily: a dehydrogenase: BtrN, two methylthiotransferases: MiaB and RimO, as well as OxsB and TsrM, two B12-dependent enzymes. By evaluating the redox properties of members of different subclasses, we have been able to shed light on the redox properties of this superfamily, in general, and observed that the redox properties of auxiliary clusters can differ widely between subclasses (e.g. BtrN versus MiaB). PFE has also been used to evaluate five ferredoxins that are possible electron donors for MiaB from Thermotoga maritima. Additionally, bacterial cytochrome c peroxidases (bCCPs) are diheme enzymes catalyzing the detoxification of hydrogen peroxide; however, a novel subclass of bCCPs containing a third heme-binding motif has been identified in enteric pathogens. Protein film electrochemistry has been used to study the redox properties of Escherichia coli YhjA, a member of this subgroup. Further characterization of this novel bCCP was achieved with electron paramagnetic resonance, optical spectroscopy, and steady-state kinetics. Through characterizing YhjA and members of the AdoMet radical enzyme superfamily, we have shed light on the role these additional cofactors play in the mechanism and how these enzymes are tuned for their specific chemistries.2018-08-11T00:00:00

Establishing a high risk CKD cohort: cross-sectional analysis and early outcomes

Introduction Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) are at increased risk of both cardiovascular disease and progression to end-stage kidney disease; our understanding of the factors that determine these poor outcomes is incomplete. The study reported in this thesis has been designed to address some of these shortfalls. Methods I established a prospective, observational cohort study of patients with high risk CKD as defined by i) declining kidney function and/or ii) proteinuria and/or iii) advanced (stage 4 and 5) CKD. Participants undergo repeated detailed bio-clinical assessment over a follow up period of ten years and are tracked for clinical outcomes. The baseline data are presented in this thesis along with some data form the six-month visit. Results I report cross-sectional data from the first 500 participants; mean age is 65 years, 60% were male and 72% white ethnicity. Mean eGFR was 27mL/min/1.73m2 and median urine ACR was 26.9 mg/mmol. Detailed analyses demonstrated important associations between i) quality of life and unemployment, male gender, deprivation, co-morbidity and inflammation ii) arterial stiffness, inflammation and renal and cardiovascular outcomes iii) periodontitis and arterial stiffness iv) mortality, inflammation and arterial stiffness. Conclusions This thesis reports important new findings from patients with CKD and establishes a resource that will provide future insights that should contribute to improving clinical outcomes

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SYSTEMIC AND CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM MONOCYTE/MACROPHAGE INFECTION IN SIMIAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS ENCEPHALITIS

Approximately ¼ of AIDS patients develop HIVE, the pathologic entity associated with cognitive, motor, and behavioral deficits attributed to synaptic damage and neuronal loss. It still remains unclear why only a subset of HIV-infected individuals develops abundant central nervous system (CNS) macrophage/microglia infection that characterizes HIVE. The overarching hypothesis of this body of work is that simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) encephalitis (SIVE) is the CNS manifestation of a systemic increase in SIV infection and activation of monocyte/macrophage elements. Specifically, we examined the relationship of infected and activated monocyte/macrophage elements outside of the CNS during the evolution of lentiviral encephalitis to the presence of infected macrophages in the CNS. We studied three models of SIV infection: SIV-infection of rhesus and pigtailed macaques and SIV-infection of CD8+ T cell depleted macaques. Antibody-mediated CD8+ T cell depletion did not increase the incidence of SIVE in infected rhesus macaques. In SIV-infected rhesus macaques, we examined whether presence of activated macrophages or SIV-infected macrophages is associated with the presence of neuronal damage. The presence of abundant infected macrophages in the CNS is related to postsynaptic neuronal damage in macaques with SIVE. At the same time cerebrospinal fluid viral load increased in SIV-infected CD8-depleted rhesus and non-depleted pigtailed macaques that developed encephalitis, monocyte-derived macrophages produced more virus ex vivo than macaques that did not develop encephalitis. Compared to pigtailed macaques that did not develop SIVE, the monocyte associated SIV-DNA load of monocytes was elevated in macaques that developed SIVE. Pigtailed macaques with SIVE had more infected macrophages in peripheral organs, with the exception of lymph nodes, than macaques without SIVE. Longitudinal analysis of phenotypic markers of monocyte activation show that increases in proportion of CD14+/CD16+ monocytes is associated with chronic disease. Brains with SIVE have greater numbers of T cells with cytotoxic potential. In conclusion, these findings suggest that inherent differences in host macrophage viral production or immune response to macrophage infection are associated with development of encephalitis. Further understanding of the differential role monocyte/macrophages have in the development of lentiviral encephalitis will identify therapeutic targets to halt this public health epidemic

Assessing Scotland's Progress on the Environmental Agenda

For good reasons the environment has a high political profile in Scotland. This report is concerned with three important components of the environmental agenda and the way in which they are being taken forward by the responsible authorities in Scotland. The delivery of environmental outcomes on agricultural land by means of a range of current policies, including agri-environment schemes, cross-compliance conditions on direct payments to farmers and implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.The selection and management of a new network of Marine Protected Areas.Policy measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate climate change.Each of these topics is addressed individually in three separate chapters, aiming to identify some of the leading questions and the policy responses that have been adopted. The progress that is being made in meeting the objectives and aspirations set out in legislation and other key policy documents is then considered. Some of the objectives under review are determined entirely by the Government and by more local authorities in Scotland. Others arise primarily from obligations under EU legislation

Private Speech and Inner Speech in Typical and Atypical Development

Children often talk themselves through their activities: They produce private speech to regulate their thought and behaviour, which is internalised to form inner speech, or silent verbal thought. Private speech and inner speech can together be referred to as self-directed speech (SDS). SDS is thought to be an important aspect of human cognition. The first chapter of the present thesis explores the theoretical background of research on SDS, and brings the reader up-to-date with current debates in this research area. Chapter 2 consists of empirical work that used the observation of private speech in combination with the dual task paradigm to assess the extent to which the executive function of planning is reliant on SDS in typically developing 7- to 11-year-olds. Chapters 3 and 4 describe studies investigating the SDS of two groups of atypically developing children who show risk factors for SDS impairment—those with autism and those with specific language impairment. The research reported in Chapter 5 tests an important tenet of neoVygotskian theory—that the development of SDS development is domain-general—by looking at cross-task correlations between measures of private speech production in typically developing children. Other psychometric properties of private speech production (longitudinal stability and cross-context consistency) were also investigated. Chapter 6, the General Discussion, first summarises the main body of the thesis, and then goes on to discuss next steps for this research area, in terms of the methods used to study SDS, the issue of domain-general development, and the investigation of SDS in developmental disorders