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Can Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) interventions support positive change in the wider school?
Get PDFPhD ThesisEmotional literacy (EL) is defined within this research as a process of people interacting with each other in a way that supports a shared understanding of our own and other’s emotions, which can then be used to build relationships, support decision making and support wellbeing. UK government legislation and policy are increasingly emphasising the need to support the social and emotional development of children and young people in schools. Research suggests that developing EL can support the social and emotional development of children and young people including aspects of: Wellbeing (Roffey, 2008); mental health (Weare, 2004); a positive self-view (Tew, 2007); academic outcomes (Sharp, 2003) and learning capacity (Elias et al., 1997).
Chapter 1
This chapter reports a systematic literature review (SLR) exploring how effective EL interventions are for supporting the development of children and young people. Government guidance has prompted a renewed focus on how education can support the wellbeing of children and young people. One aspect to supporting wellbeing may include the development of EL, as this can enhance the development of relationships and communication to support emotional expression and connection with others. Six quantitative studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and therefore a meta-analysis was chosen. Three studies obtained significant results with small to medium effect sizes. All studies cited a range of other factors which appeared to impact upon results positively and negatively and influenced the effectiveness of interventions. These factors became the focus of discussion within this review, as this appeared to offer greater insight into effectiveness. An exploration of how the conceptualisation of EL impacts upon how it is measured was discussed. It was concluded that quantitative approaches are less likely to provide the rich detail required to understand EL and capture the role of relationships, school environment and conceptualisations of EL to understand change effectively.
Chapter 3
This chapter details the empirical research which explores how the implementation of ELSA can support change within the wider school. ELSA (Burton, 1999) is an intervention delivered by EPs and is prominent across the UK. Gaining an understanding of how ELSA supports wider change is likely to support further steps to enhance training planning and delivery, supervision and when sharing ELSA information with schools. Two focus groups of 11 ELSAs were conducted with thematic analysis completed. Findings suggest that ELSA interventions support the EL of schools. The ELSAs shared that school readiness, the community of ELSA and the development of relationships were key supportive factors to this change. It was discussed that ELSA training groups could be a community of practice, whereby they learn and develop together with the support of supervision and the wider ELSA community. The key changes and supportive factors shared by the ELSAs may demonstrate the development of a community of EL practice which facilitates learning, reflection and change within organisations. It is proposed that communities of EL practice could be harnessed further by EPs to support this change effectively using the models proposed by Wenger, McDermott and Snyder (2002)
The relationship between connectome structure and cognition
Get PDFPh. D. Thesis.Cognition consists of many abilities, designed to allow the animal to interact effectively
with the environment. In this thesis, we explore the relationship between cognition and
the network of connections within the brain, known as the connectome.
Firstly, we assess the spatial organisation of the macaque monkey connectome. We
ask whether regions are arranged so as to minimise the total wiring length, a theory
known as component placement optimisation. We find that the total wiring length of
the connectome can be reduced by repositioning brain regions, suggesting the presence
of alternative constraints on brain connectivity. We subsequently construct a model of
neural dynamics to obtain a mechanistic understanding for why the brain is sub-optimally
arranged with respect to its wiring configuration.
Next, we explore spatial optimisation in the human connectome. We find that the human connectome can be spatially rearranged to reduce the total length of all connections,
and that regions differ in their contribution towards this reduction. We find evidence
to suggest that this sub-optimal spatial arrangement of brain regions supports healthy
dynamics by encouraging greater fluctuations in global synchrony throughout the brain.
We also explore connectome structure in the context of impaired cognition, specifically in
subjects with schizophrenia, where we identify a link between symptom severity and the
spatial organisation of the frontal lobe.
Lastly, we investigate the relationship between connectome structure and intelligence,
performing numerous spatial and topological analyses on the human connectome alongside
measures of fluid and crystallised ability. We find evidence suggesting that fluid ability,
rather than crystallised, is linked to spatial features of the connectome, and, in particular,
with connectivity that is closer to being spatially optimised.
Our work contributes towards an understanding of the spatial and topological features
of the connectome, and offers novel insights into the mechanisms that underpin cognitionNewcastle Universit
The effect of NucB on the prevention and dispersal of biofilms of clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis from prosthetic joint infections
Get PDFPh. D. Thesis.Total hip and knee replacements are one of the most common elective operations.
Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating and challenging complication. Often current
antibiotic treatment is ineffective because PJI is commonly associated with biofilm
formation. Prevention of biofilm attachment as well as disruption of established biofilms may
therefore allow more effective treatment of such infections. NucB is a novel marine bacterial
endonuclease, which degrades extracellular DNA, a structural component of biofilms and has
shown promise in being able to degrade bacterial biofilms. The aim of this project was to
investigate the effect of NucB on prevention of biofilm formation as well as dispersal of
biofilms of clinical isolates of two important pathogens in PJI, Staphylococcus aureus and
Staphylococcus epidermidis. In addition, enzyme activity against biofilms attached to
surgically relevant surfaces such as titanium, polyethylene and cobalt chrome was quantified
in order to understand how this enzyme would work on biofilms grown on surgically relevant
surfaces. Biofilms were grown in microtiter plates and on metal and polyethylene discs and
quantified using crystal violet staining as well as confocal microscopy. High purity NucB
(>95%) was used. In the presence of low concentrations of NucB (1µg/ml), we observed
between 34 and 76% inhibition of biofilm formation. NucB could also effectively disperse
between 38 to 96% of biofilm attached to cobalt chrome, polyethylene, stainless steel and
titanium surfaces. We also observed an increase in the ability of antibiotics to kill bacterial
cells in the presence of NucB compared to controls. NucB can therefore successfully prevent
the formation, and can disperse biofilms of clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and
Staphylococcus epidermidis. These results demonstrate a new approach to biofilm prevention
and dispersal, and provide the foundation for the further development of NucB into a
therapeutic product which could improve the treatment of PJI in the futureOrthopaedic Research UK (ORUK
Visibility and acceptance of discrete-sampling artifacts in visual displays
Get PDFPh. D. ThesisDigital visual displays are aimed to provide an illusion of a continuous reality through a
discrete presentation of visual information. This thesis explored three topics on (i) angular, (ii)
spatial, and (iii) temporal sampling characteristics, related to distortion visibility, acceptance,
and discomfort. In the first topic, we addressed the issue of optimizing the view density
in continuous parallax visualization by replicating the changing views of a 3-D object for
a moving observer. We measured the visibility of the related artifacts and evaluated the
performance of full-reference visual quality metrics. We found that the state-of-the-art metrics
can indirectly characterize artifact visibility and established a quantitative relationship for
threshold estimation on varying conditions. The second topic addressed the relation of the
contrast sensitivity function (CSF) to adaptation luminance and specifically its asymptotic
behavior at high light levels essential to modern high-luminance displays. Using a custombuilt system, we measured the CSF at relatively high luminance levels and spatial frequency
range, integrating our dataset to the existing research. We found a gradual transition among
the linear to DeVries-Rose to Weber regions with steeper slopes for higher frequencies and
lower luminance. A further decreasing region was located at low to intermediate frequencies.
Following this construct, we adopted a model consisting of central elements in the visual
signal processing and proposed an eight-parameter form for the CSF in the luminance domain.
The final topic addressed the effects of frame rate on distortion acceptance and its impact on
visual discomfort during regular display use. We assessed the perceived symptoms, preference,
and task performance under varying conditions. The measurements indicated that for nondemanding everyday tasks, the frame rate could be reasonably reduced without severe effects
on the observer; however, this tolerance diminished under more dynamic content. A potential
association of discomfort with the blinking activity was also discussedThe European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 676401,
European Training Network on Full Parallax Imaging and Huawei Technologies Co., Lt
Succulence and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism in the Genus Clusia
Get PDFPh. D. Thesis.Succulent plants can be found across the world in semi-arid and seasonally dry
ecosystems. Succulent anatomy exists in different forms; either via large chlorenchyma cells,
specialised water-storage tissue called hydrenchyma, or some combination of the two. In
addition, succulent chlorenchyma tissue is often accompanied by Crassulacean acid
metabolism (CAM); an altered form of photosynthesis which minimises transpirational water
loss.
By comparing the hydrenchyma to the large photosynthetic chlorenchyma cells, it was
shown that only succulence in the hydrenchyma provides capacitance to the leaf. In addition,
the degree to which succulence and CAM contribute to leaf turgor loss point (TLP) was
explored. The presence of hydrenchyma drives the TLP up, whereas the presence of CAM does
not. To develop this, the ecological significance of hydrenchyma and CAM was tested, by
investigating how these adaptations affect species’ climatic niches. CAM, and not
hydrenchyma, is an important adaptation for species ability to inhabit arid environments. As
hydrenchyma and CAM were deemed to be playing discretely different, non-overlapping roles
in both the physiology and ecology of CAM, it was expected that they would have different
impacts on the vascular architecture of Clusia. Vein density was significantly lower in CAM
leaves, whilst hydrenchyma has no impact, suggesting that the lower diel stomatal
conductance of CAM plants requires less hydraulic conductance to replace lost water, but that
the capacitance generated by hydrenchyma does not have this effect. Finally, as CAM plays
an ecologically important role in species distributions, but does not affect the TLP, it was
hypothesised that the relevance of this adaptation lies outside of maintaining cell turgor
during drought. Accordingly, the CAM drought response was characterised by higher
photosynthetic assimilation and mitochondrial respiration rates, suggesting that the purpose
of CAM is to sustain metabolic rates during drought, rather than prevent drops in water
potential
Bayesian inference for models of collective behaviour
Get PDFPh. D. Thesis.The study of collective behaviour—broadly defined as the formation of macro-level
structures from the interactions between individuals—has in recent years become
a thriving topic of multi-disciplinary research. Under consideration of biological-
tness the scientist has been able to reason about why these structures form, and
the advantages which the collective can afford the individual. However, much less
is known about how these structures are formed and maintained in the first place.
Much work has been invested in the development of mathematical models which
seek to explain the formation and maintenance of animal aggregations. Research
has shown that behaviour reminiscent of real flocking events can arise from simple
mathematical models which describe how individuals interact with one another.
However,much of this modelling relies on aprioristic assumptions about how individuals
behave and interact, with little-to-no verification against real observation.
In this work we examine mathematical models popular in the literature and suggest
modifications motivated by considerations of biological-realism. In particular we
advocate adoption of continuous interaction rules, and consider how behavioural
and biological variation can be accounted for by imposing hierarchical structure.
We proceed to fit these models of collective behaviour to observations of real and
simulated flocking events. Model tting is performed in a Bayesian framework,
allowing the quantification of parameter uncertainty. Fitting models to simulated
data provides opportunity to assess the e ectiveness and accuracy of our inference
schemes, before attempting the same inference on real observation. Multiple competing
models are fit to the same data, with the predictive performance of these
models ranked using ideas from the model-selection literature. We are then able to
recommend a subset of the candidate models as providing the best performance.
Finally, consideration is made for datasets which exhibit missing observations.
Such missingness occurs naturally owing to the fixed-location recording equipment
used to record flocking events. We argue that this missingness cannot be
ignored, and must be accounted for during any model- fitting process. Techniques
are outlined which allow the researcher to account for missingness. Simulation
studies are performed which demonstrate the eficacy of the outlined approach,
before the techniques are demonstrated on a real dataset exhibiting missingness.EPSR
Integrated assessment of soil erosian processes and policy in Oguta Lake watershed IMO state South East Nigeria
Get PDFPhD ThesisSoil erosion is one of the most severe environmental problems in Nigeria, especially in the south east region of the country. Oguta Lake watershed is one of the affected watersheds in the region because of various human activities in the area. This thesis presents a thorough assessment of soil erosion processes and policy analysis which simultaneously integrates the physical condition, socio-economic context, institutions, and policy reforms in which stakeholders are embedded. Remote Sensing (RS), reconnaissance survey, two modelling assessment techniques (RUSLE and MPSIAC models) were applied to produce land use/land cover dynamics maps and spatial map of soil erosion, and key factors responsible for soil erosion in the location. Review of environmental regulations, semi-structured interview and focus group discussion were applied and analysed using Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. Land use and land cover changes were significant during the period 1990 – 2014 as 17% of the watershed was shifted to unstable zones and, thus, contributed to soil erosion by water in the watershed. Human activities like sand mining, deforestation, overgrazing and poor crop farming practice contributed significantly to land use/cover dynamics. Consequently, 14% of the forest and pastureland cover was lost due to human activities in the watershed. The spatial soil erosion map showed that severe soil erosion class was 25-36 tonnes/h/year and covered about 18% of the watershed. On the other hand, two (2) focus group discussions and forty-four (44) semi-structured interviews were conducted with the relevant stakeholders. It was observed that poverty and unemployment were the key drivers of land misuses and environmental degradation in the watershed. Based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) result. For the land ownership and allocation, this study proposes that the powers and influence of the traditional leaders and local government staff in land allocation and ownership in the watershed should be recognised by the government to increase land use compliance as stipulated in the Land Use Act 1978. For the sand mining, this study proposes an alternative arrangement that empowers the state government to have a shared management responsibility of managing sand mining activity in the watershed. For agricultural practice, this study proposes that operational level organisations should be domiciled in the local community where soil erosion is dominant. Women should be empowered with land and have an improved official representation in agricultural management. This would eliminate the barrier of poor communication channel and promote on the ground monitoring of farming activities and compliance among farmers.Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO
Scalable Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling with application in genomics
Get PDFPh. D. Thesis.Hierarchical modelling can be applied to data organised in groups, for which we are interested
in describing the within and between group variability. This type of model is very
useful for a broad range of statistical problems. However, due to the complex nature of
some data and the continuously increasing volume of datasets, using current methodologies
for Bayesian hierarchical modelling can be challenging. The algorithms currently utilised,
such as the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) family, can be computationally intensive
and difficult to parallelise, often leading to extended processing times, limiting exploration
of different models, especially in cases of \Big Data" applications. These algorithms can be
deployed using various programming paradigms, such as object-oriented, probabilistic and
functional. The latter has been gaining ground in academia and industry over recent years.
This thesis is concerned with examining an approach that will harness the benefits of functional
programming and aims to provide valuable insights on whether MCMC algorithms,
and in particular the Gibbs sampler, implemented in a functional style, can scale better
whilst remaining accurate. More specifically, we implement a Gibbs sampler in Scala to
t a Bayesian hierarchical two-way Anova model that includes interactions and accounts
for various levels of asymmetry in the e ects. We incorporate variable selection on the
interaction e ects through exploration of two techniques, an indicator variable approach,
and the Horseshoe prior. In addition, we investigate under which model speci cations
parallelism can a ect speed-up. After comparing the e ciency of the methods developed
to the results deriving from some already existing libraries that automate and facilitate
the modelling and inference processes, we explore their application on a yeast genome
case study. The identi cation of gene complexes that genetically interact with telomere
capping defects is of great importance in cell biology, as research has shown that telomeres
can be related to ageing and various diseases. A Bayesian hierarchical model is developed
to highlight and estimate the strength of potential epistatic relationships between genes
of interest. However, the methodology developed has a wider range of applications and is
not limited to the yeast genome case study.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Counci
The Impact of Bioactive Collagen Peptides on Promoting Cutaneous Wound Healing
Get PDFPh. D. Thesis.Chronic wounds continue to be a major clinical and financial burden to healthcare
providers worldwide with increased prevalence associated with an ageing
population and systemic diseases such as diabetes. An acute unmet need for
innovative therapies for effective wound repair thus remains. Recent studies using
bioactive collagen peptides report their ability to promote cellular differentiation,
proliferation and migration in animal models of cutaneous wound healing, leading
to the present study aimed at defining the potential for and the mechanistic action
of porcine-derived collagen peptides (Peptan P) to increase cutaneous healing in
primary human keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts in vitro and in wounded full
thickness ex vivo skin equivalents, in an age dependent context. Results
demonstrated Peptan P significantly promoted wound closure of both dermal
fibroblasts and keratinocytes derived from young or aged individuals by enhancing
cellular proliferation, with additional studies demonstrating the ability for Peptan P
to also promote keratinocyte and dermal fibroblast wound closure in a
hyperglycaemic environment. Mechanistic studies revealed Peptan P induced
significant increase of both integrin α2 and β1 subunit expression by both
keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts, promoting activation of an ERK-FAK signalling
cascade during keratinocyte wound closure, whilst integrin ligation most likely
activates other downstream signalling pathways to promote dermal fibroblast wound
closure. These observations were further supported by studies showing diminished
Peptan P-induced wound closure of keratinocytes and fibroblasts following siRNAmediated knockdown of the integrin β1 subunit. Studies in optimised 3D human skin
equivalent models subjected to punch biopsy-induced wounding further revealed
Peptan P promoted wound closure through enhanced re-epithelialisation.
Collectively, these data highlight the translational and clinical potential for Peptan P
as a viable topical therapeutic to promote re-epithelialisation of superficial
cutaneous wounds
Investigation into Non-Aqueous Aluminium-ion Battery Electrolyte and Cathode Materials for Enhanced Power and Capacity
Get PDFPhD ThesisEnergy storage is one of the most important resources in today’s society. Developing this resource
to be more efficient and sustainable is one of the biggest challenges to overcome. For decades,
lithium has been at the forefront of energy storage, powering our technology from mobile phones
to electric vehicles. The dwindling amount of available lithium left in the world signals that it’s
time for the next battery material. Aluminium is not only substantially more abundant across the
world, making it cheaper with a lower carbon footprint, but due to its trivalency it possesses a larger
capacity than monovalent lithium which could result in smaller, higher capacity and more
affordable batteries.
This work investigated different electrolyte compositions of aluminium-ion batteries (AIB), a
eutectic melt of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride with AlCl3 and its impact on
electrochemical stability, anode and cathode performance, and battery coulombic efficiency,
degradation, and capacity. The anodic limit of the electrolyte increased with increasing AlCl3
content due to formation of Al2Cl7
-
species. Electrolyte degradation studies revealed electrolyte
oxidation produces chlorine gas which was detected as HCl. Several carbon-based and metal oxide
cathode materials were investigated for AIBs. Cathode potential, mechanism of reaction,
coulombic efficiency, specific capacity, and degradation rates were recorded. Charged and
discharged cathode material characterisations were carried out using XRD, STM, and Raman
spectroscopic techniques. The dominant two mechanisms were found to be chloroaluminate
intercalation or electro-adsorption.
Cell tests were performed to study the interplay between the Al metal anode, cathodes, and varying
electrolyte compositions on charge/discharge. Battery performance was assessed using key
performance indicators: specific capacity, specific energy, and coulombic efficiency. Carbonbased materials displayed the greatest performance with graphite giving a specific capacity of 295
mAhg-1 with an energy density of 500 Whkg-1
. A hybrid lithium-aluminium cell using an NMC
811 positive electrode resulted in a capacity of 58 mAhg-1