The politics of self-organisation and the social production of space in urban community gardens

Urban community gardens have been characterised as important sites of struggle for urban public space, where radical democratic processes and community-self organisation can emerge and flourish. This thesis contributes to the body of critical literature that examines the social and political potentials of urban agriculture and urban community gardens. Specifically, this research project draws on the idea of the right to the city, first proposed by Henri Lefebvre, to examine how processes of community self-organisation, collective learning, and community narrative creation at the level of the garden relate to social, economic, and political processes at the city-level. This research draws on two processes of participatory video-making, qualitative interviews, ethnography, auto-ethnography conducted in Seville in the south of Spain between 2015-17. The research project comprised two distinct cycles. The first cycle focuses on two contrasting urban community gardens: Huerto del Rey Moro and Miraflores Sur. The second cycle focuses on a collective of urban gardeners, La Boldina, which emerged from Huerto del Rey Moro in 2017 and now works in sites across the city. This research finds that some urban community gardens in Seville represent specific concentrations of transformative social and political potential, and that Lefebvre’s spatial ontology, which underpins the right to the city, enables us to better characterise the dialectical relationship between the social dynamics within the gardens and their material development. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates how the processes and approaches developed within urban community gardens can have significant impacts at the city-level

Silicon micromachined waveguides for millimeter-wave and submillimeter-wave frequencies

The development of micromachining techniques to create silicon-based waveguide circuits, which can operate up to high submillimeter-wave frequencies, is reported. As a first step, a WR-10 waveguide has been fabricated from (110) silicon wafers. Insertion loss measurements on a gold-plated silicon waveguide show performance comparable to that of standard metal waveguides. It is suggested that active devices and planar circuits can be integrated with the waveguides, solving the traditional mounting problems

Silicon micromachined waveguides for millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths

The majority of radio receivers, transmitters, and components operating at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths utilize rectangular waveguides in some form. However, conventional machining techniques for waveguides operating above a few hundred GHz are complicated and costly. This paper reports on the development of silicon micromachining techniques to create silicon-based waveguide circuits which can operate at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. As a first step, rectangular WR-10 waveguide structures have been fabricated from (110) silicon wafers using micromachining techniques. The waveguide is split along the broad wall. Each half is formed by first etching a channel completely through a wafer. Potassium hydroxide is used to etch smooth mirror-like vertical walls and LPCVD silicon nitride is used as a masking layer. This wafer is then bonded to another flat wafer using a polyimide bonding technique and diced into the U-shaped half wavelengths. Finally, a gold layer is applied to the waveguide walls. Insertion loss measurements show losses comparable to those of standard metal waveguides. It is suggested that active devices and planar circuits can be integrated with the waveguides, solving the traditional mounting problems. Potential applications in terahertz instrumentation technology are further discussed

Metformin Use beyond Diabetes: Reducing Cardiovascular Events in the Healthy Elderly

As the global ageing population rises, there is increasing interest and demand for research evaluating anti-ageing strategies. One such strategy involves investigating a drug that may have additional mechanisms and pathways of action to combat ageing - metformin. This common glucose-lowering agent for diabetes has been safe, effective and globally affordable for over 60 years. Research into the use of metformin and its beneficial influence on healthy ageing is currently emerging. Although metformin’s effect on clinical ageing outcomes may be speculative, findings from studies into cellular and animal models and from observational and pilot human studies support its potential beneficial effects on ageing. Ageing has a significant impact on the cardiovascular system and is the leading non-modifiable risk factor for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). The incidence and prevalence of CVD increases with advancing age, and CVD is the leading cause of death for populations over 65 years of age. However, most CVD prevention research has focused on development of interventions that target “traditional” CV risk factors such as hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and diabetes. Metformin has been proposed to be an “anti-ageing” drug, based on preclinical experiments with lower-order organisms and numerous retrospective data on beneficial health outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes. At present, randomised clinical trials to evaluate metformin’s clinical impact on healthy ageing are limited. Here, we review the role of metformin and its potential to reduce cardiovascular events in the healthy elderly

Pathways to Urban Equality through the Sustainable Development Goals: Modes of Extreme Poverty, Resilience, and Prosperity

There has been a tendency for debates around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to focus on particular Goals or Targets. What tends to get lost, however, is the bigger picture. In this paper we ask: to what extent and under what conditions do the SDGs offer a pathway to equality? Specifically, we focus on the potentials of the SDGs as a pathway to urban equality in the decade of delivery. We focus on the ways that three key interrelated development agendas, eradicating extreme poverty, promoting prosperity, and building resilience, are mobilised through the SDGs. Together these agendas reveal tensions and opportunities in the relationship between the SDGs and urban equality. In discussion, we reflect on the potentials of an urban equality lens to read the SDGs, and the conditions under which they might contribute to the realisation of fairer and more equal cities

Completing a genomic characterisation of microscopic tumour samples with copy number

Background: Genomic insights in settings where tumour sample sizes are limited to just hundreds or even tens of cells hold great clinical potential, but also present significant technical challenges. We previously developed the DigiPico sequencing platform to accurately identify somatic mutations from such samples. Results: Here, we complete this genomic characterisation with copy number. We present a novel protocol, PicoCNV, to call allele-specific somatic copy number alterations from picogram quantities of tumour DNA. We find that PicoCNV provides exactly accurate copy number in 84% of the genome for even the smallest samples, and demonstrate its clinical potential in maintenance therapy. Conclusions: PicoCNV complements our existing platform, allowing for accurate and comprehensive genomic characterisations of cancers in settings where only microscopic samples are available

Molecular and Electronic Structures and Single-Molecule Magnet Behavior of Tris(thioether)-Iron Complexes Containing Redox-Active α-Diimine Ligands

Incorporating radical ligands into metal complexes is one of the emerging trends in the design of single-molecule magnets (SMMs). While significant effort has been expended to generate multinuclear transition metal-based SMMs with bridging radical ligands, less attention has been paid to mononuclear transition metal–radical SMMs. Herein, we describe the first α-diiminato radical-containing mononuclear transition metal SMM, namely, [κ2-PhTt tBu]­Fe­(AdNCHCHNAd) (1), and its analogue [κ2-PhTt tBu]­Fe­(CyNCHCHNCy) (2) (PhTt tBu = phenyltris­(tert-butylthiomethyl)­borate, Ad = adamantyl, and Cy = cyclohexyl). 1 and 2 feature nearly identical geometric and electronic structures, as shown by X-ray crystallography and electronic absorption spectroscopy. A more detailed description of the electronic structure of 1 was obtained through EPR and Mössbauer spectroscopies, SQUID magnetometry, and DFT, TD-DFT, and CAS calculations. 1 and 2 are best described as high-spin iron­(II) complexes with antiferromagnetically coupled α-diiminato radical ligands. A strong magnetic exchange coupling between the iron­(II) ion and the ligand radical was confirmed in 1, with an estimated coupling constant J \u3c −250 cm–1 (J = −657 cm–1, DFT). Calibrated CAS calculations revealed that the ground-state Fe­(II)−α-diiminato radical configuration has significant ionic contributions, which are weighted specifically toward the Fe­(I)-neutral α-diimine species. Experimental data and theoretical calculations also suggest that 1 possesses an easy-axis anisotropy, with an axial zero-field splitting parameter D in the range from −4 to–1 cm–1. Finally, dynamic magnetic studies show that 1 exhibits slow magnetic relaxation behavior with an energy barrier close to the theoretical maximum, 2|D|. These results demonstrate that incorporating strongly coupled α-diiminato radicals into mononuclear transition metal complexes can be an effective strategy to prepare SMMs