The sedimentology of estuarine and coastal plain deposits between Pendine and Wharley Point, Camarthen Bay

Imperial Users onl

Ecological interactions involving plant selenium hyperaccumulation

2010 Summer.Includes bibliographic references.Covers not scanned.Print version deaccessioned 2022.To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document

The influence of documentary methods upon BBC television drama, with particular emphasis upon the years 1946-1962

[From the Preface]:This thesis is an investigation into the influence of documentary methods, both their principles and their practice upon BBC Television Drama between the years 1946-1962 with particular reference to the Dramatised-Documentary and its successor the Documentary-Drama.The first of these, the Dramatised-Documentary was an original form of television writing and production pioneered in the 1940s by Robert Barr and Duncan Ross together with the Documentary Group which worked as a unit until 1955.The second form, the Documentary-Drama was a development of the first, but was by the late 1950s 'fiction based on fact' and the concern of the BBC Television Drama Department.The aims of this thesis - though not necessarily in this order - are to:-1. Show the historical background of Documentary by tracing the origins of the idea and its development from the early 'realist' films; The British Documentary Movement of of John Grierson (and in particular the 'dramatisations' of Harry Watt); to the BBC Sound 'Features' Department underLaurence Gilliam.2. By descriptive analysis to consider the pioneer work of the Television Documentary Group, first under the leadership of Robert Barr (1946) and later Paul Rotha (1952) until its dissolution in 1955.To illustrate the methods and output of that tiny group of writer-producers by an examination of a selection of their Dramatised-Documentaries from scripts, production records and BBC files, and to reveal an emerging form of television writing, supported and developed later by Colin Morris, which culminated in the rise of 'Series' to become the mainstay of the medium.3. As an integral part of this creative side of television, to show throughout, the major technical advances which made so much of the above possible, from the inception of the Service in 1936 to the commencement of Z-Cars in 1962

Supporting Data for a Numerical Investigation of the Implications of Altered Channel-Floodplain Connectivity on Hydrodynamic Flood Wave Processes

With severely altered rivers throughout the developed world, hydrodynamic processes and floodplain connectivity have changed drastically. The research presented here focuses on quantification of two hydrodynamic processes: flood wave attenuation and channel-floodplain fluxes. Objectives of the three research chapters were to (1) evaluate how the ecosystem service of flood wave attenuation has changed with the implementation of river engineering practices as well as contemporary river restoration efforts, (2) describe the sensitivities of flood wave attenuation to contemporary and altered conditions, and (3) characterize channel-floodplain connectivity through lateral flux metrics. All chapter objectives were met using high-resolution, two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling techniques conducted on the Rio Grande, New Mexico, USA. Models were created for historical, pre-restoration, contemporary, and altered conditions. Chapter 1 results indicate that historical conditions provided more attenuation than contemporary conditions. Sudden storage of water creates attenuation and alters flood wave shape. Chapter 2 results suggest that attenuation is most sensitive to total area for flow and area available for water storage while also displaying differences in process between topographic and roughness alterations. Chapter 3 flux results show differences in mass and momentum flux due to anthropogenic impacts and inset floodplain feature types provide greater and more heterogeneous lateral connectivity. Results presented here have implications for both anthropogenic flood control strategies and potential application to a myriad of ecological issues based in river connectivity and process-based science. Contributions of the dissertation include new methods for two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling, improved metrics for attenuation research, and spatiotemporal description of channel-floodplain flux dynamics

The influence of fluorine substitution on some enzyme mediated reactions

The replacement of a hydrogen or hydroxy group with a fluorine atom is a popular strategy to alter the activity of biologically important molecules, as their similar sizes mean that such a replacement has little steric impact. The effect of fluorine substitution in a number of enzyme mediated processes has been investigated. 3-Fluorocyclohex-l-enylcarbonyl-CoA has been synthesised and the reaction with cyclohexenylcarbonyl-CoA reductase investigated. The fluorinated substrate has a comparable K(_m) value to that of the natural substrate but a V(_max) that is five times greater. A change in the rate-determining step of the reduction was also observed upon fluorine incorporation. The enzyme showed a small but significant stereochemical preference for the production of the axial isomer, consistent with an Anh-Eisenstein model for the transformation. The 6а and 6β isomers of benzyl fluoropenicillanate were synthesised and their methoxide-mediated hydrolyses were investigated. Competitive hydrolysis, using (^19)F NMR spectroscopy, demonstrated that the β isomer was hydrolysed preferentially. A frill kinetic analysis was undertaken, which furnished the rate and equilibrium constants. Monofluorinated enamines were treated in situ with a range a Michael acceptors to afford a variety of novel substituted a-fluoro ketones. 2-Fluorohexanal was synthesised from methyl hexanoate and was demonstrated to be a substrate for the enzyme transketolase with hydroxypyruvate. The enzyme reaction was monitored by (^19)F NMR spectroscopy. The enzyme showed a diastereoselectivity of 9:1 in the condensation of the aldehyde and hydroxypyruvate, and a self-condensation product was also produced. The enzymatic oxidation of the mono- and di-fluoromethylenephosphonate analogues of glycerol-3-phosphate was investigated at neutral pH using a co-factor recycling protocol. The reactions allowed for the first time the identification of the products of oxidation and demonstrated the lability of fluoride via non-enzymatic elimination and stoichiometric defluorination

The morphology and exine ornamentation of fresh pollen from four dipterocarp species in Sabah

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Preliminary results on noncollocated torque control of space robot actuators

In the Space Station era, more operations will be performed robotically in space in the areas of servicing, assembly, and experiment tending among others. These robots may have various sets of requirements for accuracy, speed, and force generation, but there will be design constraints such as size, mass, and power dissipation limits. For actuation, a leading motor candidate is a dc brushless type, and there are numerous potential drive trains each with its own advantages and disadvantages. This experiment uses a harmonic drive and addresses some inherent limitations, namely its backdriveability and low frequency structural resonances. These effects are controlled and diminished by instrumenting the actuator system with a torque transducer on the output shaft. This noncollocated loop is closed to ensure that the commanded torque is accurately delivered to the manipulator link. The actuator system is modelled and its essential parameters identified. The nonlinear model for simulations will include inertias, gearing, stiction, flexibility, and the effects of output load variations. A linear model is extracted and used for designing the noncollocated torque and position feedback loops. These loops are simulated with the structural frequency encountered in the testbed system. Simulation results are given for various commands in position. The use of torque feedback is demonstrated to yield superior performance in settling time and positioning accuracy. An experimental setup being finished consists of a bench mounted motor and harmonic drive actuator system. A torque transducer and two position encoders, each with sufficient resolution and bandwidth, will provide sensory information. Parameters of the physical system are being identified and matched to analytical predictions. Initial feedback control laws will be incorporated in the bench test equipment and various experiments run to validate the designs. The status of these experiments is given

"It always comes down to money" : recent changes in service provision to disabled children, young people and their families in Scotland

This study follows on previous research published by Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People which examined the use of eligibility criteria and assessment tools in services to disabled children and young people in Scottish local authorities (Lancaster 2012). The Stage One research also aimed to identify whether changing assessment procedures were affecting support to these young people. Based on local authority responses, the study found little evidence of tightening eligibility criteria, reduced levels of support or cutbacks in services. In 2013, the Commissioner’s Office funded further research to gather the views of voluntary sector providers and disabled children, young people and their families. The main aim of this study is to examine changes in the availability and accessibility of publicly funded services for these families over the past two years. This research covers local authority services, voluntary sector service providers, health services and professions allied to medicine. It includes children and young people aged 1-20 with a wide range of impairments including mental distress. The research is broadly based on a social model of disability while also taking account of the day-to-day implications of impairment and the significance of personal experience. The research used five different methods: • An on-line survey of voluntary sector providers: 53 valid responses were returned • 10 focus groups with parents, recruited through nine voluntary organisations and one local authority across Scotland. 56 parents/ carers took part • Five focus groups with young disabled people (aged 12- 20), recruited through voluntary organisations mostly in central Scotland. Eighteen took part • A one to one session with a young person (aged 17) who does not use speech • Three case studies, conducted by telephone interview, with parents and a service provider. The study received ethical approval from the University of Strathclyde Ethics Committee. Careful attention was paid to ethical issues throughout. Three limitations can be identified in this research. The young people’s groups did not include participants with as wide a range of abilities as we had anticipated; the parents in the focus groups and case studies were largely self-selecting and, for the most part, the views of service providers are not represented. However, local authorities’ views were presented in the Stage One research. Fifty-three voluntary service organisations, providing publicly funded services to families with disabled children, responded to the survey. Their range of characteristics indicates that they represent a reasonable cross-section of voluntary sector providers in this field. Seventy-nine per cent offered support, advice and information to parents and many also provided short breaks, leisure activities, education support or support for self-advocacy. Almost all (87%) of respondents had experienced a cut in funding or a change in allocation procedures by public funders which reduced their ability to support families. In some cases, this had led to reduced provision or the closure of some projects. About a third spent less on staff training compared to two years ago, while 19% were employing less qualified or experienced staff. Nine respondents had increased charges for their services. Only 27% of respondents said they had not experienced a cut in funding. Service providers were ambivalent about the impact of changes on their services. While 72% of respondents said that disabled children and their families get as good a service from their organisation now as they did two years ago, responses to other questions in the survey suggest that 81% of them think that there has been some deterioration in their provision. More specifically, compared to two years ago, 48% were limiting the number of people using their services, 47% were unable to offer the same level of support to new service users while 45% could not provide the same level of one-to-one support to users generally. About a third of voluntary service providers reported families had to wait longer for their services while a quarter had seen users withdrawn from their services by local authorities in favour of other forms of support. Nevertheless, many voluntary service providers are having difficulty coping with the level of demand for their services as their own budgets are frozen or reduced. They see the erosion of local authority services by funding cuts creating more demand for the voluntary sector. Voluntary providers are finding ways to maintain their services by reconfiguring services, dropping ‘niceties’ such as providing lunches at carers’ meetings, taking a ‘best value’ approach and seeking out new funding sources. But there is concern that maintaining a good quality service does not solve the problem of waiting lists and excluded families. Some respondents see the current cutbacks by local authorities as undermining developments in policy and practice made in recent years. The right to assessment of need may be being undermined in some local authorities. Although only two respondents mentioned self-directed support (SDS) as a current source of their funding, a number of comments indicated an expectation that SDS will be used as a further means to cut budgets. There is evidence of growing unmet need which is not recorded. Service providers are concerned about families being excluded from any funding or support. 32% of respondents have already experienced changes in local authority eligibility criteria affecting access to their services while 23% were aware of changes planned for next year. Many reported that support was now only funded for the most complex cases, when children were at risk or families in crisis. Service providers fear that cuts in public funding for services, coupled with the recent changes to welfare benefits, will increase the stress and isolation experienced by families and disabled children and the consequent risk of marital and family breakdown. Fifty-six parents/family carers took part in 10 focus group held across Scotland. Between them, these 47 women and nine men were looking after 61 disabled children and young people aged between 2 and 20. Parents in every group reported withdrawals of, and reductions in, the support they receive from a range of services - local authority social work and education departments, FE colleges, voluntary organisations, health services and professions allied to medicine - over the last two years. Many families did not have a social worker, some had never had one. Several had experienced their social worker being withdrawn during the last two years. It seems parents were generally not consulted about this and most were unhappy about it. A few had tried unsuccessfully to get a social worker and been told they did not need one or could not have one due to cutbacks or staff shortages. With some notable exceptions, most parents who did have a social worker received a low level of support, often having to ‘chase’ him/her. There was widespread satisfaction with the quality of short breaks services, with various schemes and units being praised. Parents generally wanted longer and/ or more frequent breaks. In some cases allocated hours had been withdrawn, reduced or failed to materialise. There was evidence of short breaks increasingly being used as a form of crisis intervention rather than a preventative service. Previous research has shown that disabled children and young people, like most young people, value opportunities to take part in social and recreational activities and make friends. A huge shortage of suitable social clubs and opportunities for young people was reported, the summer holidays being a particularly challenging time. Parents reported closure of holiday play schemes and a reduced number of hours for the young person to attend social clubs. There were concerns about staff not being trained to work with disabled children. In three areas, charges had been introduced for some social or play activities. Many positive comments were made about the schools the children and young people attended. However, parents also described reductions in the level of support and, in some cases, the quality of education available in some schools. In their view, reduced staffing levels were resulting in inadequate physical care, decreased learning support, less one-toone support including for some children assessed as needing it and a reluctance in some schools to develop Co-ordinated Support Plans. A minority of parents expressed concerns about the health and safety of their children. Three young people had been out of school for six or seven months without satisfactory alternative arrangements in place for their education. These situations were the culmination of complex and protracted difficulties but parents believed that insufficient training and experience among staff was a significant contributory factor. Parents reported reduced availability of occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. Whereas therapists used to make routine ‘maintenance’ visits to children at school or at home, now they only came out in response to a specific problem or need. There were long waiting lists for appointments and for aids and equipment. Staff shortages were reported in CAMHS, a wheelchair and seating service and among nurses on children’s hospitals. A small number of parents reported an increase in services, sometimes due to an increase in their child’s challenging behaviour or following intervention by politicians they had contacted after experiencing long delays. Only a handful of parents had signed up for direct payments or (in three pilot areas) selfdirected support. While enjoying the flexibility and choice these brought, acting as an employer was felt to be demanding and ‘scary.’ The wider introduction of SDS, from April 2014, was widely seen as a money-saving exercise. Many services had long waiting lists, with some families also facing delays in securing an assessment of their child’s or their own needs. Parents attributed the bulk of changes they were experiencing to financial cutbacks. Increased demand and higher numbers of children being diagnosed on the autistic spectrum were additional factors. There was little evidence of parents being consulted about reductions in service provision and, when they were, parents generally felt their views had not been taken on board. Changes were often made without re-assessment or review of the child’s or family’s needs or, if re-assessments did take place, parents were not aware of it, although they and their children should be actively involved. Often parents were informed about changes by letter or telephone. While some professionals were singled out for high praise, many parents thought that staff, especially within local authorities, did not understand or listen to them. Most groups reported examples of insensitive comments or actions by professionals. Changes in service provision were often highly stressful for parents, sometimes causing or increasing anxiety, depression and relationship difficulties between partners. For children and young people, reductions in service provision variously led to disappointment, isolation, disrupted routines and, in a few cases, loss of skills. In some cases, stress caused by changes in support also affected siblings and grandparents. Although not directly asked about this, many parents raised the issue of poor information provision, adding that they generally found out about services from other parents and their own sleuthing efforts. Some had a view that, due to scarce resources, authorities withheld information or even gave out disinformation. There was great anxiety about the future, both in terms of further financial cutbacks and ‘welfare reform’ and the perceived ‘void’ of support and opportunities for young people when they leave school. Five focus groups were held with a total of 18 young people plus a one-to-one interview with a participant who used little speech. The age range was 12-20. Fifteen males and four females took part: the reason for the gender disparity is not fully explained by the higher ratio of disabled males to females. The participants were recruited through voluntary sector organisations including three catering for young people with learning disabilities. The young people’s views about services differed in tone and focus from parents’ accounts. Parents were generally responsible for arranging and liaising with services: young people had little direct involvement of that kind. They discussed their use of services within the wider context of their everyday lives. Most had experience of using a service whose input had come to an end. Some did not know the reason; others related it to their increasing age, changing needs or interests or other personal circumstances. A few reported that a service (such as speech and language therapy or physiotherapy) had been withdrawn which they felt they still needed. One young person identified financial constraints, shortage of social workers and greater priority being given to work with children as the reasons she had lost her social worker. In several cases, professionals had suggested finding a befriender for the young person but this had not materialised, apparently because alternative supports were identified or no befriender was currently available. The participants attended and enjoyed a wide range of social and recreational activities and had more to say about these than other services. There was some evidence that young people were offered more choices within these services than other forms of provision. At the same time, there were a couple of examples of individuals feeling less included. One young woman was not involved in swimming sessions with the social club she attended while another person was unable to meet up with friends outside school and service settings. The young people identified various services they used and staff they knew, generally expressing satisfaction with both. At the same time, there was often a sense of the young people being ‘provided’ with support, for example, through referral from other services. While they were involved in everyday choices about activities and entertainment, they seemed to have little say in more significant decisions about which services they used, why they used them or how they used them. With some exceptions, family members, particularly mothers, were identified as a key source of support in the everyday and an interface or mediator with services. Mothers were often described as the main decisionmakers when it came to using services and the young people expressed confidence in the decisions taken. Other participants reported that professionals made decisions about the support they should have: they did not mention being consulted. One view was that, while professionals seek young people’s views about topics which they (the professionals) considered important, they do not ask young people what matters to them. Loss of certain supports was an issue for some older participants no longer eligible for children’s services. Some also expressed wider concerns about the move to adult life, including insufficient careers advice, support to prepare for job interviews and difficulties learning to drive. One young person felt she was being discriminated against at college while another believed that young disabled people face discrimination in the labour market. Three case studies were carried out focusing on two boys and a girl aged 7, 10 and 15 respectively. The three young people all had complex needs including challenging behaviours. Their mothers each took part in a telephone interview and were invited to nominate a service provider whom we could also interview. This led to one voluntary service provider taking part. The parents gave detailed accounts of mostly unwelcome changes made to their service provision over the preceding two years. Although all had their own experiences, some common themes emerged. All had experienced withdrawal, reduction or breakdown of services in the last two years, in one case with no alternative being offered, in others, with what parents saw as inadequate or inappropriate alternatives offered. In two cases, the substitute services proposed did not match assessed need. One family had been offered three alternative services; one never materialised and the other two were not available. Two parents stated there had been no review or re-assessment of need prior to the loss of service or subsequently. All three had been involved in protracted negotiations (between one and two years) with the local authority to secure better support. While some professionals were seen as trying to be helpful, others were not. Each parent had a sense of ‘changing goalposts’ in the local authority, two believing they had been deliberately misinformed on some matters. In all three cases, there was a lack of transparency in the way decisions to change or reduce services were made. Two had reached Stage 31 in the complaints procedure. The absence of adequate support, coupled with the young people’s challenging behaviour, placed huge stress on families, including siblings. The voluntary service provider interviewed, whose input to the family had not changed, acknowledged the increased stress to the family and empathised with their frustration. Equally, she understood the limited resources available to the local authority and questioned its ability to provide personalised support to young people with complex needs. While some findings from this study coincide with local authorities’ accounts in the Stage One research, significant differences have also emerged. There is evidence of reductions in local authority budgets and services for disabled children, tightening eligibility criteria, support being removed without review or reassessment, and a lack of consultation with disabled children and young people. There is a real danger that children and young people’s entitlements under international conventions and UK and Scots law are being and will continue to be eroded, alongside the undermining of established good policy and practice. Reduced levels and quality of support and widespread deterioration in various aspects of service provision have led to less choice, long waiting lists and increased unmet need, with a shift away from preventative work to crisis intervention. There has been a small increase in charging for services, both in terms of increased rates and introduction of new charges. The uptake of direct payments and SDS by these parents, on behalf of their children, was low. There were mixed feelings about their benefits. The wider implementation of SDS from April 2014 was widely viewed as a money saving exercise. There was a widespread view that disabled children, young people and their families were being ‘discriminated against by services’ and ‘treated like second class citizens’. Next steps - proposed actions for public bodies Local authorities, health boards and voluntary organisations must ensure they are observing disabled children’s legislative rights and entitlements. Specifically: • Under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, local authorities must consult with children and young people, using accessible formats, and take their views into account when making decisions. Parents also have a right to be consulted. • Under the same Act, local authorities must formally assess a child’s needs when a parent asks them to do so. • If a child is assessed as needing certain named services, such as aids and equipment, practical help in the home, travel or recreational facilities, and is eligible for them, then under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Scotland) Act 1972, the local authority must provide them. • Local authorities should be aware that it is not good practice, and a previous judicial review2 shows it can be unlawful, to reduce or withdraw services from disabled children or young people without proper re-assessment or review of their needs. • Under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, public bodies should publish information about available services: it would be helpful if practitioners actively disseminated such information, explaining how it applies to individual children. Accessible materials should be also available for children and young people In relation to specific issues: • Local authorities and health boards should ensure that budgets and staffing levels for disabled children’s services are sufficient to meet assessed need as well as the increasing number of service users and complexity of some cases. • Waiting lists should be actively managed and regularly monitored, with families being kept informed of progress and offered advice and information as appropriate. • Local authorities should inform disabled young people and their families about the benefits and the underlying principles of SDS and ensure practical assistance with the organisation and administration of direct payments is available. In relation to specific services: • There is a need for far more social and recreational opportunities for disabled children and young people, including those with life-limiting conditions. Local area co-ordinators, who have a capacity building remit, could support mainstream organisations to include disabled children and young people. • Professions allied to medicine (specifically, occupational theory, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy) should be more readily available to those disabled children and young people who would benefit from treatment on an on-going basis. • Local authorities should have arrangements in place for emergency care of disabled children and young people w