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Bourdieu and Brand-Me: Agri-food Higher Education students’ experiences of securing industrial placements and employment, and through personal branding strategies
Get PDFThis thesis relates to the field of student placement and explores the strategies that higher education (HE) students use to secure industrial placement employment in the agri-food sector. Brand-Me is the collective of a person’s online and offline presence. Digital technologies and how students choose their self-presentations online has blurred the lines between personal and professional. This presents a challenge for HE students in managing their digital footprint. A Bourdieusian lens (Bourdieu, 1977) and conceptual tools of habitus, capital and field was used to shed light on the practice of placement seeking and the ownership of students in shaping their Brand-Me. The role the Placement Manager plays as ‘referee’ is a vital link in assisting the students seeking placements and the transition of student to placement employment. Qualitative in-depth interviews with students, university staff, and employers (n= 15, 7, and 2 respectively) were undertaken using Rich Pictures to support the interviews. This visual qualitative approach provided a close generation of insights and semiotic resources for data analysis and framework for self-reflection. Students showed differing approaches to consideration of Brand-Me based on their concern for managing their digital footprint and showed a desire to convey a ‘hardworking’ and neoliberal self for the social logic of the field. The research uncovered how family habitus influenced placement seeking, career envisioning and geographical mobility with the misleading conceptualisations of a student as being freely single. Female students showed how the masculine dominated habitus and hegemony in the agricultural rural sector had shaped their consideration of Brand-Me. This provides a contribution to the conceptual construction of rural gender identities and how students adopt chameleon like strategies to fit-in with their surroundings. The use of Rich Pictures with individuals also provided a novel structure of reflection for employability in career support services and in consideration of Brand-Me
Multiscale Modelling of Self-assembly in Soft Matter
Get PDFThis thesis presents all-atom molecular dynamics simulations and the development of coarse-grained models for various classes of liquid crystals. The overall aim was to parametrise chemically specific models, propagating information between different resolutions through multiscale modelling approaches, to investigate hierarchical self-assembly in soft matter systems. Common coarse-graining methods were assessed in terms of their representability
and transferability for applications involving thermotropic calamitic and discotic mesogens, and lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals.
Extensive all-atom simulations were performed on: bent liquid crystal dimers, such as CB7CB; ionic cyanine dyes in aqueous solution (PIC, PCYN, TTBC and BIC); a chromonic
perylene bisimide dye (PER); and its thermotropic discotic analogue (PEROEG). These serve as references to parametrise/validate lower resolution models and to provide insights into these systems at the molecular level. For CB7CB, the twist-bend nematic (NTB) phase is observed and characterised. The self-assembly of cyanine dyes and chromonic mesogens was studied by calculating , and for the association of -mers (where = 2, 3 or 4). Structures of H-aggregate stacks, with shift and Y junction defects, and J-aggregates with a brickwork arrangement were detected.
Coarse-graining approaches including iterative Boltzmann inversion (IBI), multiscale coarse-graining (MS-CG) in the form of hybrid force matching (FM) and the Martini 3 force field were utilised for the aforementioned systems. A FM model of CB7CB demonstrates high representability and transferability; the NTB phase is captured and the full
phase diagram can be explored via heating or cooling. An optimised Martini model correctly exhibits the chromonic nematic and hexagonal phases for PER at the expected concentrations. For PEROEG, an IBI model was found to be superior in modelling the columnar-hexagonal phase. This thesis discusses, in detail, the successes and failures of
the various coarse-graining strategies. While successful coarse-graining of liquid crystals remains a challenge, this thesis demonstrates that, with the right choice of method,
high-quality coarse-grained models can be developed for both thermotropic and lyotropic systems
Point-of-use Drinking Water Purification: Chromium(VI) Capture and Beyond
Get PDFMillions of people around the world are at risk of exposure to polluted water. According to the United Nations, unsafe water claims more lives each year than all forms of violence put together. Particularly in developing countries, where the population has no access to centrally treated tap water, point-of-use water purification techniques are important to mitigate the risks of consuming ground- or surface waters. Many such techniques already exist and are in use today, but they mostly target bacteria and macroscopic contaminations that can be removed due to size. Dissolved ions are significantly more difficult to remove, especially because they can be harmful even at extremely low concentrations. Some of the most dangerous heavy metals polluting drinking water around the world today are chromium, arsenic, and lead. In this thesis I first highlight the impact of these pollutants before presenting filter materials I synthesized that can efficiently remove chromium(VI) oxoanions from drinking water. By attaching functional molecules such as a dimethylaminomethyl-calixarene and N-butylimidazole to non-woven cloth via a pulsed plasma polymer linker layer, I created filters that can capture chromium(VI) at neutral pH, from solutions with low starting concentrations, in the presence of competitive anions, and even from real wastewater samples. Moreover, these filters can be easily recycled many times. In the last results chapter, I present new findings regarding the epitaxial growth mechanism of the metal–organic framework MOF-508. These materials are attractive candidates for filtration applications due to their vast internal surface. The discovery that they can be grown on untreated polymer surfaces, as well as the presented method for simple MOF film transfer, can aid future developments in this field
The Nature, Consequences and Controls of Deformation During Superimposed Rifting: the Inner Moray Firth Basin
Get PDFThe Inner Moray Firth Basin (IMFB) is a superimposed sedimentary basin that experienced a complex structural history with many deformation episodes of regionally or local extent. Strictly, the IMFB rift forms the western arm of the North Sea trilete rift system that initiated mainly during the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, with the widespread development of major NE-SW-trending faults. However, the basin overlies older Caledonian basement, the pre-existing Devonian-Carboniferous Orcadian Basin, and part of a regionally developed Permo-Triassic basin system in the wider North Sea region. The IMFB also experienced later episodes of uplift and fault reactivation during the Cenozoic. The resulting superimposed structures can be challenging to separate and characterise.
This study uses detailed field observations of key onshore outcrops across the entire IMFB, coupled with U-Pb dating of syn-faulting calcite-mineralised veins to constrain the absolute timing of faulting events. These findings are then integrated with the offshore interpretation of 2D and selected 3D seismic reflection data to constrain the absolute timing of fault populations and decipher the kinematic history of the superimposed basin development.
This holistic approach allows up to six deformation events to be identified and characterised regionally: Devonian rifting associated with the older Orcadian Basin; Variscan inversion and regional uplift/exhumation; Permo-Triassic thermal subsidence with evidence of only minor fracturing (e.g. no clear evidence for rift-related faulting at this time); Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous rifting; possible Upper Cretaceous rifting, and Cenozoic strike-slip-dominated faulting and reactivation of older syn-rift faults
Can nature-based solutions improve quality of life?
Get PDFAbstract
In the wake of the global climate, biodiversity and health crisis, cities are increasingly looking for solutions to help them ‘build back better’ to create a more sustainable and resilient future that improves the quality of life of urban inhabitants. Against this backdrop, Nature-based solutions have emerged, promising to tackle a multitude of different societal challenges by using urban nature to create, manage and restore ecosystems to provide quality of life. This thesis asks does the concept of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) relate to concepts that underpin the quality of life by unpacking the interconnected and dynamic relationship between the management and governance of NBS, socio-economic and socio-political factors at a macro and mesoscale. To achieve this aim, this thesis presents a novel mixed-method approach that integrates exploratory data analysis, geometric data analysis, thematic mapping, and quantitative text analysis to untangle these complex phenomena.
The thesis presents three empirical chapters: the first examines how the distribution of the characteristics of NBS relates to different socio-economic conditions across European Regions, and the second examines how changes to nature conservation paradigms that underpin NBS have influenced the interaction between governance, participation, citizen involvement, and in turn quality of life. Finally, the last empirical chapter examines how different types of green and blue space and ecosystem services influence adverse health outcomes at a population level.
By examining the interactions between different characteristics that influence the practice and implementation of NBS with different social and economic determinants of ill-health, this thesis highlights the lack of consideration of entrenched, social, and economic conditions that adversely affect urban QoL in the design, planning, implementation, and monitoring of NBS despite the repeated reference to the importance of NBS for good QoL in the scientific literature. The design, planning and implementation of NBS are rarely influenced by factors such as the ageing structure of the population, lack of good quality housing with access to salutogenic or the loss of urban biodiversity, or the interactions between these phenomena and their impact on QoL despite the urgency of the climate challenge and the imperative for cities to transition to sustainability. Furthermore, this thesis finds that while pathways influence the implementation of NBS at different scales, they are deeply entwined and contested, often hindering the potential of NBS to positively influence the upstream social and economic determinants of ill health and unjustly distribute their benefits
Bayesian Uncertainty Analysis and Decision Support for Complex Models of Physical Systems with Application to Production Optimisation of Subsurface Energy Resources
Get PDFImportant decision making problems are increasingly addressed using computer models for complex real world systems. However, there are major limitations to their direct use including: their complex structure; large numbers of inputs and outputs; the presence of many sources of uncertainty; which is further compounded by their long evaluation times. Bayesian methodology for the analysis of computer models has been extensively developed to perform inference for the physical systems. In this thesis, the Bayesian uncertainty analysis methodology is extended to provide robust decision support under uncertainty.
Bayesian emulators are employed as a fast and efficient statistical approximation for computer models. We establish a hierarchical Bayesian emulation framework that exploits known constrained simulator behaviour in constituents of the decision support utility function. In addition, novel Bayesian emulation methodology is developed for computer models with structured partial discontinuities. We advance the crucial uncertainty quantification methodology to perform a robust decision analysis developing a technique to assess and remove linear transformations of the utility function induced by sources of uncertainty to which conclusions are invariant, as well as incorporating structural model discrepancy and decision implementation error. These are encompassed within a novel iterative decision support procedure which acknowledges utility function uncertainty resulting from the separation of the analysts and final decision makers to deliver a robust class of decisions, along with any additional information, for further consideration. The complete toolkit is successfully demonstrated via an application to the problem of optimal petroleum field development, including an international and commercially important benchmark challenge
Mathematical Explorations in Modern X-ray Crystallography
Get PDFIn this thesis, we explore crystallography through a mathematical lens. We review the basics of crystallography with a mathematical focus, and expand into contributions on two specific areas of the crystallographic refinement process. The first of these is the detection of twin components within crystals using the effect of twinning on detected diffraction peaks. We focus on using the information of particularly underestimated peaks along with the lattice structure to intelligently search for the most viable twin laws. The second contribution concerns the use of non-spherical form factors in crystallographic refinement, and testing of the impact of setting the form factor derivative to zero within the least-squares refinement process. We utilise numerical differentiation to approximate this derivative more exactly, and evaluate the impact of these choices for modelling the derivative through three test molecules to find that, within the current bounds of uncertainty, modelling the form factor derivative as zero has insignificant impact on the results of refinement. Additional curiosities encountered within our investigations of crystallography are also documented, such as the implementation of extinction parameters
Reconstructing the queen’s household, 1485-1547: a study in royal service
Get PDFThis thesis examines the queen’s household in England and the careers of its servants from 1485 to 1547. Reconstructing the offices they held in the queen’s Chamber and Privy Chamber, and their relationships with the queen, their mistress, the king, their sovereign, and the wider court and kingdom, it reassesses and redefines our understanding of the nature of royal service. This thesis builds upon the wider historiography on queenship, politics and women in this period. It demonstrates that the study of monarchy must constitute the sovereign and their consort, and reiterates the importance of studying servants, and women, reinstating them as central to the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. In order to conceptualise fully the political, religious, and cultural significance of the court, not strictly the king’s servants, but the queen’s servants too, must be studied. Six women served as queens consort during Henry VIII’s reign, and their households were situated at the centre of their rise and fall. This thesis investigates the impact of Henry VIII’s marital instability, which saw the queen’s household discharged, its servants disbanded, and many of their careers cut short on no less than five occasions between 1527 and 1547. Requiring new and extensive archival research to reconstruct the households of Henry VIII’s queens, this thesis constructs a database of servants for prosopographical study, and integrates them into the master narrative of court studies. Rethinking and reflecting upon royal service more broadly as a career, this thesis provides a framework through which to interpret the evidence of service more sensitively, and accurately. It recommends ongoing and in-depth research into their individual careers, with a more nuanced understanding of the nature of royal service, and of the Tudor court from 1485 to 1603
What makes a good funeral?
Get PDFThis thesis explores what makes a good funeral in contemporary Britain today. Situated within the discipline of practical theology, it examines the funeral from anthropological, psychological and historical perspectives. This provides the context for the qualitative study which involved interviews with ten bereaved people who have arranged a funeral within the last two years and ten funeral officiants including clergy, humanist and civil officiants. The methodological framework was provided by mutual critical correlation and the findings analysed using thematic analysis.
The findings of this study suggest that funerals are generative and as such bring new life in the midst of death. Previous research has highlighted the life motif present in many funeral ceremonies. This research adds to earlier studies by identifying many ways in which funerals can be generative. In this study the role of the officiant is perceived as one involving considerable professional skill. The marks of a good funeral were identified as compassionate care, tailored rituals, ceremonial expertise and death containment. This is the first study that applies the concept of compassionate care, widely researched within the health profession, to the work of the funeral officiant. Within this study the psychological concept of containment is applied to funerals for the first time, arguing that through providing containment, the funeral ritual can prevent death being overwhelming to the bereaved. Christian ceremonies were seen to offer a unique aspect of Christian hope whilst Humanist ceremonies may offer hope in a different form
Representational presence in the context of isolation: The missiology of priests in The Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda.
Get PDFThis thesis seeks to establish the missional self-understanding of priests in The Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda (The Society). The overarching argument of this thesis is that the participant-priests have a missiology of representational presence that operates within a context of isolation. This is argued by viewing the participant-priests within the wider contexts of a historical narrative of isolation, in addition to a recent shift in missional approach within the Church of England, as represented by the Mission-Shaped Church report.
The participant-priests’ missional approach can be characterised by a cumulative scale of presence. While this approach addresses a shortcoming within Mission-Shaped Church, the missiology is underdeveloped by the participant-priests, thus preventing it from being gifted to the wider Church of England. The development of this missiological approach is therefore proposed.
The project’s data suggest that the participant-priests’ narrative of isolation is false and self-serving while having a detrimental effect on the missional practice of priests in The Society. The thesis argues that this narrative is perpetuated by both The Society and the wider Church of England and therefore proposes that the current practice of Alternative Episcopal Oversight be adjusted to bring both conservative Evangelicals and traditionalist Anglo-Catholics under the same bishop based on geographical area rather than church tradition. Finally, this thesis points to signs of life among the younger participant-priests that offer hope to both The Society and the wider Church of England
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