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‘Bon loyal et vray’: The praxis of legitimacy and loyalty in Normandy and northern France during the Lancastrian dual monarchy, 1417-1437
No full textMy thesis explores the relationship between legitimacy and loyalty in the context of the Lancastrian dual monarchy in Normandy and northern France from 1417-1437. It proposes a practice-centred approach to answer what legitimacy and loyalty did for those who ruled, those who submitted, and those who appealed to power. This research predominantly relies upon two chancery archives: the wartime Norman Rolls (The National Archives, C 64/8-17) and the French royal Trésor des Chartes (Archives Nationales, J and JJ series) based in Paris. In these records I explore the extensive evidence of the administration of Lancastrian governance and the ways in which dynastic, constitutionalist, judicial, and legal forms of legitimate authority were constructed according to shared values. Shared values and reciprocal duty also underpinned relationships of political loyalty, and these bonds were regularly registered into the archives in the written form of oaths or promises of oaths. I examine the terms and matrices of these oaths which were taken to retain offices, lands, and properties, to offer surrender, and for amnesty and mercy, imposing obligations on both the swearers to obey as ‘bon loyal et vray’ subjects and the recipients to protect those materially within their hands. In the last two chapters I focus especially on lettres de rémission and the loyal actions supplicants claimed before the crown. Their submission relied on the principle that they had thrown themselves before someone who had the authority to pardon them, and thus by appealing to power the subject contributed towards the construction of a jurisdiction. By analysing how the Lancastrian dual monarchy served as an effective form of alternative government to the Valois kings in their domaine royal my thesis challenges narratives of the centralisation of identity and loyalty around the singular nation in the late Middle Ages
Secret Histories and Hallowed Halls: Dark Academia, the University, and Contemporary Readership
Get PDFThis thesis is the first long-form study of the new literary subgenre and online culture known as “dark academia”. Beginning with Donna Tartt’s The Secret History (1992), the first chapter re-evaluates critical responses to Tartt’s work, suggesting that The Secret History is an overlooked early contribution to the genre turn of the late-twentieth century. I explore how the narrator, Richard Papen’s, fraught relationship with reality and adoration of the elite academic life is an examination of the conservative political turn of the 1990s. In chapter two, I describe and explore fan participation in the online dark academia subculture which emerged from The Secret History’s social media fanbase. I argue that the dark academia community emulates Richard Papen’s romanticisation of the university and the canon while ignoring Tartt’s critique of elitism, and I explore how M. L. Rio’s If We Were Villains (2017) contributed to the adoption of “dark academia” as literary marketing term and subgenre. Chapter three explores how changing attitudes to the university are reflected in dark academia novels from the 2020s. I examine the ways in which R. F. Kuang’s Babel (2022) and other dark academia novels interrogate institutions of knowledge and the power structures they reinforce whilst simultaneously participating in the romanticisation of those institutions. Reading each of these texts in their historical contexts and tracing the development of the genre from the 1990s to the 2020s, this thesis suggests that dark academia and its accompanying subculture reveal a cultural fatigue with the inaccessibility of higher education and rising cultural anti-intellectualism. It explores how attempts at democratising academic practice have been facilitated by the emergence of the digital literary sphere, and how the production of dark academia novels accelerated from 2017 to 2022 in response to re-evaluations of the cultural capital held by traditional universities
Exercise to boost the immune system and optimise immunotherapy responsiveness
Get PDFBackground:
Exercise is known to modulate the immune system, supporting anti-cancer activity. Pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma derive limited benefit from immunotherapy due to their immune-deplete tumour microenvironments (TME). We hypothesised that exercise could enhance immune function and improve immunotherapy responsiveness in these cancers.
Methodology:
Healthy volunteers (n=22) completed a high-intensity cycling session with blood collected pre- and post-exercise. Flow cytometry was used to characterise leucocyte subpopulations, and pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma cell viability, migration, and apoptosis were assessed using pre- and post-exercise serum.
In vivo, C57BL/6 (n=20) and BALB/c (n=24) mice were orthotopically implanted with pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma, respectively. Mice underwent treadmill running and resistance training with anti-Programmed Cell Death Protein 1 (PD1), compared with no exercise and isotype controls. TME immune populations were analysed by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence. Tumour and liver tissues were assessed for necrosis and metastases.
Results:
In healthy volunteers, exercise increased Natural Killer (NK) cells (p<0.0001) and reduced regulatory T cells (Tregs) (p<0.0001). Exercise-conditioned serum decreased cancer cell migration (pancreatic p=0.0313; mesothelioma p=0.0249) and increased apoptosis (pancreatic p=0.0099; mesothelioma p=0.0313).
In mice, exercise/anti-PD1 was feasible from Day 2 post-implantation. In pancreatic cancer, exercise reduced myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and Tregs in the TME (p=0.0426 and p=0.0115, respectively), decreased liver metastases, and increased tumour necrosis (p=0.0286 and p=0.0244). Exercise/anti-PD1 also enhanced CD8+PD1+ T cell infiltration in both pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma (p=0.0247 and p=0.0316, respectively).
Conclusions:
Acute aerobic exercise in healthy volunteers promoted systemic cytotoxicity (NK cell expansion) and reduced immune tolerance (Treg suppression). Exercise-conditioned serum exerted direct anti-tumour effects on pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma cells. In mouse models, reduced-intensity exercise elicited anti-tumour activity, and exercise combined with anti-PD1 improved tumour control and reduced metastases in pancreatic cancer. These findings demonstrate the potential of exercise to enhance immunotherapy efficacy across cancer types
The acoustic and psychoacoustic characteristics of barbershop singing
Get PDFFor a cappella singing groups to produce a memorable listener experience they need to be able to generate a broad palette of sounds. This capability requires an understanding of the key factors which affect their acoustic output. The advent of computers capable of rapid real time analysis has enabled the development of objective metrics for identifying and classifying sounds. In parallel, perceptual descriptions of sounds have evolved so practitioners can communicate their intent to performers and listeners can describe their experiences. Having these two ways of delineating sounds raises the question of whether the acoustic metrics and the perceptual descriptions correlate and what are the key variables affecting their values.
This thesis describes investigations into the objective acoustic metrics and the perceived acoustic features of Barbershop singing. A research programme comprising an analysis of published quartet recordings, the development of a computer model to simulate a Barbershop quartet, live testing with a Barbershop quartet in an audio laboratory and perception tests with a panel of Barbershop judges identified the primary influences of compositional choices (chord structure, chord pitch and vowel sung) and singing characteristics which affected the acoustic metrics and the perceptual features. The distinctive qualitative properties of Barbershop have been described as Lock, Ring and Expanded Sound. From the research it is concluded Lock correlates with intonation accuracy. Ring correlates with a high spectral centroid in the frequency domain and Expanded Sound does not correlate with spectral spread, nor is it a result of combination tones, but is more likely to correlate with increasing spectral amplitude as a result of vocal efficiency. The effects can be enhanced in sustained chords as the singers make real time adjustments to their vocal techniques. Practical applications of the research which could help practitioners achieve these performance goals are presented
Epigenetic Methylation and One-Carbon Metabolism in Human Motor Neuron Disease
No full textTDP-43 proteinopathy is a histopathological hallmark of a class of neurodegenerative disorders termed ‘TDP-43 proteinopathies’, including motor neuron disease (MND) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). MND is an invariably fatal disorder involving the progressive degeneration of motor neurons, leading to loss of motor function and eventual death by respiratory failure. FTLD involves degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, resulting in cognitive, behavioural, and memory changes. Within disease-affected CNS regions, nearly all MND patients and half of all FTLD patients feature TDP-43 proteinopathy – nuclear loss, mislocalisation, and aggregation of the TDP-43 protein.
This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between TDP-43 proteinopathy and epigenetic methylation processes, with a focus on DNA methylation in MND. Immunohistochemical analysis finds consistent significant relationships between TDP-43 proteinopathy and hypomethylation of two epigenetic methylation markers (5mC for DNA methylation, and H3K27me3) across different TDP-43 proteinopathy-vulnerable CNS regions post-mortem.
This study also explores the metabolic pathways influencing methylation – one-carbon metabolism (composed of the methionine cycle, folate cycle, and transsulfuration pathway), finding evidence of dysregulation of two core metabolites in MND brain tissue post-mortem: s-adenosylmethionine and cystathionine.
A cellular model of inducible TDP-43 proteinopathy was developed for further mechanistic exploration of these relationships, which recapitulated the relationship between DNA hypomethylation and TDP-43 proteinopathy. Treatment of this cell model with s-adenosylmethionine and cystathionine showed prevention of TDP-43 proteinopathy formation.
To conclude, this thesis presents evidence of a relationship between TDP-43 proteinopathy and hypomethylation of epigenetic methylation, and evidence for one-carbon metabolism dysregulation that may contribute to this. Additionally, this thesis highlights the possible therapeutic avenues of manipulating one-carbon metabolism and epigenetic methylation to target TDP-43 proteinopathy
The Last Vow: Narratives of Social Change and Identity Among Irish Catholic Nuns in the Aftermath of the Religious Abuse Scandals
No full text
Surviving the summer as the climate changes: Investigating drivers and costs of aestivation in earthworms
Get PDFEarthworms are vital ecosystem engineers, with important implications for soil structure, fertility and productivity. However, their reliance on soil water makes them vulnerable to the increasing frequency and severity of droughts predicted under climate change. A key survival strategy employed by some species is aestivation, a state of reduced metabolic activity during which earthworms coil up and seal themselves into chambers until favourable conditions return. Despite its ecological importance, the environmental thresholds that induce aestivation and the consequences for earthworm fitness and community dynamics remain poorly understood. This thesis investigates the drivers, costs and ecological implications of aestivation through controlled laboratory experiments involving Allolobophora chlorotica (Savigny, 1826), one of the most common UK earthworms, and year-long field surveys with molecular analyses. Laboratory studies demonstrated that aestivation is environmentally induced, triggered between 18-13 wt% soil moisture, with 100 % mortality below 10 wt%. Soil type modulated responses, with water potential (pF) a stronger predictor for the onset of aestivation than gravimetric moisture. While aestivation protected individuals against desiccation, repeated droughts reduced body mass, induced regression of reproductive characters, and diminished cocoon production and viability. Nonetheless, mass losses were largely transient, with rapid rehydration and compensatory growth enabling recovery once favourable conditions returned. Field surveys confirmed that aestivation was common both during dry (50 vol%) conditions, highlighting its role as a general stress response. During drought, earthworm communities became less diverse and were dominated by a few aestivating, burrowing species, while litter-dwellers largely disappeared. Populations demonstrated resilience, likely through migration and drought-resistant cocoons, but recovery potential is constrained by land use and the frequency of climatic extremes. Overall, this thesis establishes soil moisture as the primary driver of earthworm aestivation, identifies thresholds critical for survival and reproduction, and demonstrates both the resilience and vulnerability of earthworm populations to climate change
Towards Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Mental Healthcare via Social Media
Get PDFMental health challenges present significant global, social, and economic concerns. Mental health conditions may lead to serious consequences, including self-harm, and suicide. In today’s interconnected society, social media platforms provide valuable insight into individuals’ thoughts and emotions. This dissertation explores the use of platforms for the mental disorder assessment. Although existing AI-based methods can identify mental disorders, they often overlook explainability, which limits their practical adoption.
Initially, we propose AttentionDep, a domain-aware attention model that drives explainable depression severity estimation by fusing contextual and domain knowledge. Our experiments demonstrate that AttentionDep outperforms state-of-the-art baselines by over 5% in graded F1 score across datasets, while providing interpretable insights into its predictions. This work advances the development of trustworthy AI systems for mental health assessment from OSM. Further, we develop RedCoM, a new Reddit dataset for analysing contributors to mental health challenges; and MDCNet an innovative multi-class learning framework. Through extensive evaluations on existing benchmark datasets, MDCNet outperforms state-of-the-art methods, achieving significant improvements across all evaluation metrics. These results highlight MDCNet's ability to enhance the contextual understanding of contributors to mental disorders and stress, allowing for more effective screening methods. Lastly, we develop a theoretical framework for XAI in MH applications. We introduce the MentalXAI model for explainable mental health assessment via textual social media data. This contribution allows us to investigate the factors that influencing the model's decision. The evaluation of MentalXAI model has been conducted based on the common mental health conditions. The model consistently outperforms state-of-the-art explainability baselines, demonstrating robust performance across all metrics.
To the best of our knowledge, this dissertation proposes the first comprehensive explainability framework for mental health that covers disorder severity, contributors, and the key features that influence the model’s decisions which play a vital role in developing responsible data-driven systems for assessing mental disorders
Plastic packaging in the circular economy
Get PDFPlastic waste in the natural environment is a global concern, leading to calls for the
adoption of a circular economy for plastics. Whilst attempts to achieve this have
primarily focused on recycling, the work presented in this thesis asks: ‘What is
required to make reusable packaging systems mainstream?’ for consumer goods,
and ‘Is going packaging-free the answer to the plastics waste problem?’ for fruit
and vegetables.
First, an online survey was used to investigate the factors that influence what people
are willing to reuse, and an LCA was conducted on different food takeaway options.
Building on this, behavioural analysis, environmental assessment and materials
technology were integrated to assess the viability of a real-world returnable
takeaway bowl system. Using yogurt as a case study, semi-structured interviews
were then analysed to examine the socio-technical transition from single-use to
return systems. Finally, progress in the removal of single-use packaging from fruit
and vegetables was investigated, alongside an analysis of plastic packaging and
food waste policies.
Key findings are:
1) Container and system design, customer acceptance of wear, and the return rate
of the containers all affect the viability of a returnable packaging system. 2) Plastic
is a good material choice for reuse as it is lightweight and inexpensive, although
further work to understand contamination and the generation of microplastics is
recommended. 3) The transition from single-use to reuse is currently at a standstill;
cost and convenience are key. 4) A tension exists between plastic and food waste
policies, with food waste policies taking precedence. 5) Going packaging-free is
only part of a wider solution for plastic packaging waste from fresh produce.
Finally, legislation will drive change, however any future initiatives to reduce
single-use plastic packaging should be implemented using an evidence-based
approach to ensure progress on other sustainability goals is not compromised
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