Analysis of three body decays in quasi-real photoproduction

This thesis presents preliminary measurements of the moments of angular distribution for the K∗K + mesonic final state using a quasi-real, linearly polarised photon. Two of the main points of focus for this analysis were the development of the formalism for photoproduced vector-pseudoscalar decay and the tools by which the analysis was carried out. The formalism described how the moments of angular distribution could be extracted from the angular decay variables, and how they related to resonance decays in terms of partial waves. In extracting the moments, it was found that adapted Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods proved to be more effective in terms of extracting results from the data compared to the sole use of gradient descent based fitting algorithms. These measurements are complementary to other decay channels and production mechanisms, with the global aim of probing the existence of exotic mesons. Data from this analysis was taken by the CLAS collaboration at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) by scattering from a liquid hydrogen target using a 10.6 GeV electron. This work was done within the MesonEx program at CLAS12 that aims to map the spectrum of mesons, and in doing so, gain a greater understanding of Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD) and the strong force

'Hard Times are Coming' : Architectures of Cultural Revitalization

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Architectures of domestication : on emplacing human-animal relations in the North

Acknowledgements. This fieldwork and discussions which led to this article was sponsored by ERC Advanced Grant 295458 Arctic Domus and ESRC grant ES‐MO110548‐1 JPI Climate Humanor. We would like to thank Rob Losey, Bente Sundsvold, and Konstantin Klokov for their comments on the manuscript. We would also like to thank that particularly engaging and constructive comments from three anonymous reviewers.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Access to transport and life opportunities

This report presents the findings from a study conducted by NatCen and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) to investigate how access to transport affects the life opportunities and wellbeing of people living in England. This has provided new evidence that access to public and private transport has wide-ranging positive impacts on people’s lives. The study involves analyses of two national longitudinal data sets: Understanding Society and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Overall, the study reveals that having personal car access opens up life opportunities including, employment, access to services and social participation. The majority (69%) of the population have personal access to cars and a larger proportion (87%) of the population often use cars (at least once a week). The study also highlights the risk of economic and social exclusion for those with no personal car access and no access to good public transport. Nearly a third of the population do not have personal access to a car and this is more common amongst young adults, those in BME groups, those with impairments, unemployed people and those with low incomes. Given the benefits of personal car access, it is important that barriers to car access are not disproportionate for those who are more reliant on cars, particularly people living in small towns and rural areas, people with mobility impairments and people on low incomes

Developmental Regulation of an Adhesin Gene during Cellular Morphogenesis in the Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Recombinant Incretin-Secreting Microbe Improves Metabolic Dysfunction in High-Fat Diet Fed Rodents

peer-reviewedThe gut hormone glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 and its analogues represent a new generation of anti-diabetic drugs, which have also demonstrated propensity to modulate host lipid metabolism. Despite this, drugs of this nature are currently limited to intramuscular administration routes due to intestinal degradation. The aim of this study was to design a recombinant microbial delivery vector for a GLP-1 analogue and assess the efficacy of the therapeutic in improving host glucose, lipid and cholesterol metabolism in diet induced obese rodents. Diet-induced obese animals received either Lactobacillus paracasei NFBC 338 transformed to express a long-acting analogue of GLP-1 or the isogenic control microbe which solely harbored the pNZ44 plasmid. Short-term GLP-1 microbe intervention in rats reduced serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides and triglyceride-rich lipoprotein cholesterol substantially. Conversely, extended GLP-1 microbe intervention improved glucose-dependent insulin secretion, glucose metabolism and cholesterol metabolism, compared to the high-fat control group. Interestingly, the microbe significantly attenuated the adiposity associated with the model and altered the serum lipidome, independently of GLP-1 secretion. These data indicate that recombinant incretin-secreting microbes may offer a novel and safe means of managing cholesterol metabolism and diet induced dyslipidaemia, as well as insulin sensitivity in metabolic dysfunction