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Supporting Drug-using Individuals on Probation Through the Lens of Vulnerability Theory and an Ethics of Care
Full text linkThis thesis is concerned with the role of vulnerability and how it can be operationalised within the probation service to strengthen support for drug users. Currently, it is an ambiguous concept, with no universal understanding or consistent approach. When considering the position of the drug user under supervision, support is inadequate, and drug treatment is rooted within coercive measures. Vulnerability Theory (VT) has been adopted as a conceptual tool to challenge the position of the probation service and the role it plays in responding to vulnerability. The probation service is equipped with the necessary skills and experience, providing support across social welfare and the community, occupying a space where they can make meaningful change to negate the life-threatening consequences for the drug user under supervision. To do so, there must be a widespread acknowledgement of vulnerability, facilitated by a more expansive government that takes responsibility for both the drug user under supervision and the strain on the probation service that hinders their ability to individualise responses. This thesis analyses the lack of clarity within policy, which reinforces problematising assumptions around the liberal subject. Policy must appreciate the differences in embodiment and respond based on the individual. Producing the vulnerable subject in this context requires adaptation to VT, integrating an ethics of care which embeds therapeutic practice and is built upon a person-centred collaborative model. This requires joint working, a focus on whose voice counts and ultimately reinforcing the probation services' foundational values ‘advise, assist, befriend’. This thesis highlights the value in problem-solving models, finding that they can adopt both VT and an ethics of care if they remove the coercive measures and emphasise agency and collaboration. This directs attention to the individual, contributing to the growing literature calling for better support for drug users under supervision
Assessing garment durability; physical, emotional and sustainability factors to facilitate circular fashion
No full text
Computational Protein Design and Analysis: From Nature to Novel Light-Harvesting Systems
No full textAddressing the global food and climate crises necessitates a deeper understanding of photosynthetic processes and the development of innovative photosynthetic biotechnologies. A key, yet largely untapped, area in photosynthetic biotechnology is the design of organisms capable of capturing a broader spectrum of photosynthetically active radiation through de novo designed proteins. While most organisms are limited to distinct spectral niches, it is theoretically feasible to engineer organisms to harvest the entire solar spectrum. This endeavour requires easily expressible and spectrally tuneable light-harvesting molecules, for which bilins are an exemplary candidate. Chapter 3 of this thesis addresses the transmembrane chlorophyll biosynthesis enzyme, chlorophyll synthase, as a demonstration of applying novel protein structure analysis tools to a transmembrane chlorophyll protein. Chapters 4 through 6 will then detail the design of novel bilin-binding proteins, and assembly of these proteins into a phycobilisome-like structure to achieve a light-harvesting protein with a relatively large spectral span. Specifically, chapter 4 outlines the use of the novel protein backbone generation tool, RFDiffusion All-Atom, and the sequence design tool, LigandMPNN, to generate de novo bilin binding proteins based on the CXRD motif of light-harvesting bilin binding proteins. Chapter 5 shows the use of ESMFold and LigandMPNN to design interfaces between monomeric bilin binding subunits to generate a mini phycobilisome-like structure, the structure of which was solved with cryo-EM to 3.3 Å resolution. Chapter 6 uses a LigandMPNN-AlphaFold-Rosetta relax pipeline to redesign one of the biliproteins designed in chapter 4 to improve its stability and fluorescence properties. This thesis contributes to the fundamental understanding of photosynthetic protein engineering and lays the groundwork for developing next-generation bio-solar energy conversion systems
Transcriptomic characterisation of cardiovascular disease associated with diabetes mellitus
No full textCultural Translation as Curation: Renditions Journal as a Curator of Printed Peritexts on Sinophone Hong Kongness
No full textHepatectomy risk assessment with functional magnetic resonance imaging
No full textBackground
Post hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) occurs when there is insufficient future liver remnant (FLR) left behind to sustain vital physiological functions following oncological liver surgery. This is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and as such development of a robust measure of FLR function to allow better (PHLF) risk stratification during the preoperative decision making process is of the utmost importance.
Methods
HEPARIM was an observational cohort study to evaluate a new DGE- MRI techniques’ ability to measure regional liver function and predict PHLF risk in patients having major liver resections. Patients underwent pre-operative MRI and Indocyanine Green (ICG) testing and then ICG testing was repeated post-operatively. Primary outcome was correlation between FLR function as measured by regional MRI Gadoxetate clearance (mL/min/kg) and post-operative whole liver function as measured by repeat ICG.
Results
40 patients were recruited over 17 months, mean age was 61 (SD 8.8), 38% of whom were female (n=15) and the commonest pathology was colorectal metastasis (91.3%). Nineteen of these patients successfully underwent major liver resection and were included in final analysis. A positive HEPARIM primary outcome was observed with statistically significant correlation between post-operative ICG and both MRI estimated FLR volumetry (r=0.778) and functional parameters; Normalized FLR-Gadoxetate clearance (r=0.64) and Normalized FLR-
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uptake function (r=0.65). Using multivariant linear regression a more accurate prediction model was obtained (r= 0.871).
Conclusion
This provides further evidence of the accuracy of DGE-MRI in measuring regional FLR function. Future studies should move away from comparisons to other tests such as ICG which have their own shortcomings and focus on actual PHLF prediction which is the outcome of clinical significance. These trials should be conducted in less conservative centers with more experience operating on patients with established chronic liver disease and have a higher PHLF incidence in their practice as a result
Resilient Control of Microgrids Utilising Inverter-Based Resources
No full textThe integration of renewable energy resources, energy storage systems, and controllable loads into large-scale power systems has become a cornerstone of modern energy transitions, with microgrids emerging as a practical and scalable solution. A key enabler of this transition is the widespread deployment of inverter-based resources (IBRs), which integrate with the grid via power-electronic converters. However, their lack of inherent inertia, fast response dynamics, and software-defined control introduce distinct operational challenges, necessitating specialised analytical and design approaches to ensure stable operation.
Simultaneously, the growing integration of information and communication technologies with modern power systems has led to cyber-physical microgrids, where physical components---such as smart inverters---are interconnected with computational and communication layers. While this convergence enhances flexibility, it also exposes microgrids to cyber threats, particularly attacks targeting the cyber layer.
This thesis develops cyber-resilient control schemes for microgrids and IBRs within a hierarchical control structure, focusing on primary and secondary control layers. At the primary level, adaptive resilient current control strategies for grid-following IBRs are designed to mitigate the effects of false data injection attacks---ensuring accurate current tracking, despite manipulated measurements and control inputs. At the secondary level, resilient frequency control strategies are introduced to ensure operational stability and compliance with secondary control objectives despite cyberattacks. These schemes effectively constrain frequency deviations within permissible limits while ensuring proportional active power sharing.
Rigorous stability analyses grounded in Lyapunov theory confirm the bounded-input bounded-output stability or uniform boundedness of the closed-loop control system. Additionally, the efficacy of these proposed control schemes is thoroughly evaluated through comprehensive MATLAB simulations and experiments. The results highlight their effectiveness and demonstrate significant performance improvements over conventional---and, in some cases, even other advanced---control strategies under realistic operating conditions and attack scenarios
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