Memoria para optar al t?tulo de Dise?ador Gr?fico / El siguiente proyecto es de car?cter profesional. Consiste en la realizaci?n de un videojuego que sirva para ense?ar a la vez que divierta, es decir, con t?cnicas de Gamification enfocado a ni?os entre 10 y 12 a?os. El videojuego se trata sobre Energ?as Renovables No Convencionales y su prop?sito es ense?ar mediante la interacci?n sobre el funcionamiento de estas, de c?mo es que se produce la energ?a el?ctrica por estos medios y lo beneficioso que pueden ser para el medio ambiente. Se investig? sobre Dise?o de Videojuegos partiendo por sus componentes esenciales y las distintas perspectivas para elaborar uno. Luego se desarroll? cada energ?a comenzando con la definici?n de los contenidos a tratar y c?mo manejarlos, con esto se crearon las mec?nicas de juego y cada uno de los 4 niveles donde se desarrolla la narrativa del desaf?o que se plantea. A la vez se construy? la historia que da contexto para terminar en la elaboraci?n de un Mockup que recoge los atributos esenciales del videojuego.

Submerged arc welding (SAW) is often the method of choice in pressure vessel fabrication. This process features high production rates, welding energy and/or welding speed and requires minimal operator skill. The selection of appropriate parameters in SAW is essential, not only to optimize the welding process in order to maintain the highest level of productivity, but also to obtain the most desirable mechanical properties of the weld.<p> The focus of this study was to investigate the effect of welding speed on the properties of SA516 Grade 70. Plates of SA516 Gr. 70 steel 17 mm x 915 mm x 122 mm were submerged arc welded with a welding current of 700 A and welding speeds of 15.3, 12.3 and 9.3 mm/s. Following the welding; strength, microstructure, hardness and impact toughness of the specimens were examined. Charpy impact testing was performed according to ASTM E 23 on specimens notched in the weld metal (WM) and in the heat-affected zone (HAZ), to measure the impact toughness. Fractography was performed on broken specimens using optical and scanning electron microscopy in order to correlate the mechanisms of fracture with the impact toughness values.<p> The highest hardness values were in the coarse-grained HAZ followed by the WM with the lowest hardness in the parent metal (PM). The HAZ had higher impact toughness than the WM and PM for all welding speeds. The slowest welding speed (9.3 mm/s) obtained complete penetration and therefore produced the most visually sound weld. The fastest welding speed (15.3 mm/s) had the narrowest HAZ and showed good ductile-to-brittle transition behaviour for both the WM and HAZ specimens, but produced incomplete penetration defects. Welding speed had little affect on the notch toughness of the HAZ with only a 9 J rise in upper shelf energy and an 8 °C drop in the impact transition temperature (ITT) with increased welding speed from 9.3 to 15.3 mm/s. However, for the WM, there was a 63 J drop in the upper shelf energy but also a 41 °C improvement of the ITT between the 9.3 and 15.3 mm/s welding speeds.

Submerged arc welding (SAW) is often the method of choice in pressure vessel fabrication. This process features high production rates, welding energy and/or welding speed and requires minimal operator skill. The selection of appropriate parameters in SAW is essential, not only to optimize the welding process in order to maintain the highest level of productivity, but also to obtain the most desirable mechanical properties of the weld.<p> The focus of this study was to investigate the effect of welding speed on the properties of SA516 Grade 70. Plates of SA516 Gr. 70 steel 17 mm x 915 mm x 122 mm were submerged arc welded with a welding current of 700 A and welding speeds of 15.3, 12.3 and 9.3 mm/s. Following the welding; strength, microstructure, hardness and impact toughness of the specimens were examined. Charpy impact testing was performed according to ASTM E 23 on specimens notched in the weld metal (WM) and in the heat-affected zone (HAZ), to measure the impact toughness. Fractography was performed on broken specimens using optical and scanning electron microscopy in order to correlate the mechanisms of fracture with the impact toughness values.<p> The highest hardness values were in the coarse-grained HAZ followed by the WM with the lowest hardness in the parent metal (PM). The HAZ had higher impact toughness than the WM and PM for all welding speeds. The slowest welding speed (9.3 mm/s) obtained complete penetration and therefore produced the most visually sound weld. The fastest welding speed (15.3 mm/s) had the narrowest HAZ and showed good ductile-to-brittle transition behaviour for both the WM and HAZ specimens, but produced incomplete penetration defects. Welding speed had little affect on the notch toughness of the HAZ with only a 9 J rise in upper shelf energy and an 8 °C drop in the impact transition temperature (ITT) with increased welding speed from 9.3 to 15.3 mm/s. However, for the WM, there was a 63 J drop in the upper shelf energy but also a 41 °C improvement of the ITT between the 9.3 and 15.3 mm/s welding speeds.

Macrophage death is likely to contribute to the transformation of fatty streaks into advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Previous work in the laboratory showed that OxLDL promotes cell death in human macrophages by a mechanism involving intracellular peroxide formation. Here we show that glutathione depletion induced by OxLDL occurs independent of peroxyl radical formation. Our data suggest that the depletion of glutathione is the fundamental defect that renders macrophages susceptible to OxLDL-induced cell injury, but alone is not sufficient to kill macrophages. We indicate that increased protein-Sglutathionylation is involved in OxLDL-induced macrophage death. A potentiation of OxLDL toxicity was observed in macrophages transfected with siRNA directed against either glutathione reductase or glutaredoxin. Our data suggests that OxLDL-induced cell injury in human macrophage is mediated by the depletion of GSH, a decreased in the GSH/GSSG ratio and peroxyl radical formation. All three signals are required for OxLDL-induced macrophage death. Our results also show that the glutathione reductase/glutaredoxin system protects macrophages from OxLDL-induced cell death.

A goal of Natural Sciences education is to ensure that learners become scientifically literate. Scientific literacy refers to learners‟ ability to solve problems that relate to policies and practices that affect the natural world. To achieve this goal, teachers need to ensure that their learners become effective problem solvers. This study explored the nature of teaching and assessment practices for the development of the problem solving skills of Gr 9 Natural Sciences learners and makes recommendations to support teachers in this regard. Quantitative, descriptive, survey research was conducted, by means of a structured questionnaire, with Gr 9 Natural Sciences teachers in the Sedibeng West District (D8) of Gauteng, South Africa. The findings of the study show there is a need for improving teaching and assessment practices for the development of the problem solving skills of Gr 9 Natural Sciences learners. Scientific Inquiry is a process known to develop the problem solving skills of learners. This process requires that learners employ critical and creative thinking as well as Science process skills as they make observations, pose questions, perform research and support the process with experimental evidence obtained from a Scientific Investigation as they search for solutions to problems. Although teachers acknowledge that Scientific Inquiry assists in developing the problem solving skills of learners they appear to have a limited view of the implementation thereof. Instead of using Scientific Inquiry to help learners build scientific theories and models when addressing problems, teachers‟ appear to favour the traditional Scientific Method. This method supports the notion that “doing Science means doing experiments” and problem solving becomes reduced to a sequence of steps performed to reinforce Natural Sciences concept and content objectives. Other problems associated with the implementation of Scientific Inquiry include limited classroom discussions surrounding Scientific Investigations as well as teachers favouring demonstrations instead of learners performing their own Scientific Investigations. Also, resources for Scientific Investigations appear to be in short supply and teachers experience difficulty in managing large class sizes during Scientific Investigations. Gr 9 Natural Sciences teachers invest time and effort in their learners‟ development and show dedication to the task of imparting their Natural Sciences knowledge and skills to their learners. If such teachers were to align their teaching and assessment practices with the process of Scientific Inquiry then a high degree of success would be achieved in developing the problem solving skills of Gr 9 Natural Sciences learners. / MEd (Learning and Teaching), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Preterm birth remains a major challenge in obstetrics. It complicates up to 13% of all pregnancies and accounts for approximately 80% of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) is associated with a 1.4-fold increased risk of preterm birth. Due to ineffectiveness of antibiotics in preventing preterm labour, probiotics have been proposed to serve as an alternative for treatment of BV and prevention of preterm birth. The objectives of this thesis were to determine 1) the effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 (L. rhamnosus GR-1) supernatant on cytokine profile and prostaglandin (PG)-regulating enzyme expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human chorion and placental trophoblast cells from human placentae, 2) the potential signaling pathways through which lactobacilli act and 3) the potential role of immune and placental trophoblast cells in initiating a response to LPS and L. rhamnosus GR-1 treatments. Primary cultures of human placental trophoblast cells were pre-treated with lactobacilli supernatant and then with LPS. In addition, immune cells were removed from cell suspensions using a magnetic purification technique to determine their role in modulating cytokine levels. The expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and prostaglandin-regulating enzymes was then determined. We found sex-specific differences in the ability of LPS to increase the output of TNF-α, IL-10, and PTGS2. We also showed that L. rhamnosus GR-1 is able to act through the JAK/STAT and MAPK pathways to increase IL-10 and G-CSF, and independently down-regulates PTGS2 and TNF-α and up-regulates PGDH. The increase in G-CSF and PGDH were only observed in women carrying a female fetus. L. rhamnosus GR-1 may serve as an alternative to antibiotics in preventing some infection/inflammation-mediated cases of preterm birth.

Submitted by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2016-01-12T17:16:00Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 22974 bytes, checksum: 99c771d9f0b9c46790009b9874d49253 (MD5) juliao_ribeiro_lessa_couto.pdf: 304364 bytes, checksum: 8f02ddbb4cf99ed8ffdcea725d7c4170 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2016-01-12T17:16:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 22974 bytes, checksum: 99c771d9f0b9c46790009b9874d49253 (MD5) juliao_ribeiro_lessa_couto.pdf: 304364 bytes, checksum: 8f02ddbb4cf99ed8ffdcea725d7c4170 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-12T17:16:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 22974 bytes, checksum: 99c771d9f0b9c46790009b9874d49253 (MD5) juliao_ribeiro_lessa_couto.pdf: 304364 bytes, checksum: 8f02ddbb4cf99ed8ffdcea725d7c4170 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES) / Objetivou-se avaliar o desempenho produtivo e econ?mico de bovinos alimentados com diferentes n?veis de ponta de cana de a??car, em substitui??o ? cana de a??car, recebendo uma dieta de alto concentrado. Dezesseis bovinos machos, n?o castrados, da ra?a Nelore, com idade m?dia de 24 ? 3 meses e peso m?dio inicial de 360 ? 14,7 kg, foram mantidos em confinamento por 84 dias, recebendo uma dieta de alto concentrado. A rela??o concentrado:volumoso foi de 80:20. Quatro n?veis de substitui??o foram avaliados: T0 = sem adi??o de ponta de cana; T33 = substitui??o de 33% da cana de a??car por ponta de cana; T66 = substitui??o de 66% da cana de a??car por ponta de cana; e T100 = substitui??o total da cana de a??car por ponta de cana. O delineamento experimental empregado foi em blocos casualizados, com quatro repeti??es em cada tratamento. Um modelo linear contemplando os efeitos fixos de bloco (peso vivo inicial) e tratamento (dieta) foi usado nas an?lises. Os consumos de mat?ria seca, mat?ria org?nica, mat?ria mineral, prote?na bruta, fibra em detergente neutro, ganho de peso, convers?o alimentar e efici?ncia alimentar foram avaliados como indicadores de desempenho produtivo, e como indicadores econ?micos, a receita total, custo operacional total, custo operacional efetivo, margem bruta e margem l?quida. N?o houve efeito (P>0,05) de dieta para nenhuma das vari?veis estudadas. Os valores m?dios de ganho de peso total, ganho m?dio di?rio, convers?o e efici?ncia alimentar foram 102 ? 10,0 kg/animal, 1,2 ? 0,12 kg/dia, 8,6 ? 0,72 e 0,12 ? 0,010, respectivamente. Ao contr?rio dos demais tratamentos, a margem l?quida do T100 foi positiva, devido ao menor custo de aquisi??o da ponta de cana em rela??o ? cana de a??car. A substitui??o parcial ou total de cana de a??car por ponta de cana em dietas de alto concentrado n?o afetou o desempenho de bovinos confinados. No entanto, a inclus?o da ponta de cana diminuiu os custos de produ??o, apresentando margem l?quida positiva quando substituiu totalmente a cana de a??car. Assim, a ponta de cana pode ser utilizada pela ind?stria sucroalcooleira e por produtores artesanais de cacha?a como fonte de volumoso de baixo custo na alimenta??o de bovinos de corte. / Disserta??o (Mestrado) ? Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Zootecnia, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, 2014. / ABSTRACT The objective was to evaluate the productive and economic performances of beef bulls fed different levels of sugarcane tops, as a substitute of sugarcane, provided with a high-concentrate diet. Sixteen Nellore bulls, with average age of 24 ? 3 months and initial weight of 360 ? 14.7 kg, were kept in a feedlot for 84 days, receiving a high-concentrate diet. The concentrate:roughage ratio was 80:20. Four levels of substitution were evaluated: T0 = no addition of sugarcane tops; T33 = 33% substitution of sugarcane by sugarcane tops; T66 = 66% substitution of sugarcane by sugarcane tops; and T100 = total substitution of sugarcane by sugarcane tops. The experimental design was a randomized block with four replications for each treatment. A linear model considering fixed effects as block (initial weight) and treatment (diet) was utilized in analyzes. Dry matter, organic matter, mineral matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fiber intake, body weight gain, feed conversion and feed efficiency were evaluated as productive performance parameters, and as economic indicators, total revenue, total operating expenses, gross margin, and net margin. No effect (P>0.05) of diet was found for the studied variables. Average values of total body weight gain, average daily gain, feed conversion, and feed efficiency were 102 ? 10.0 kg/animal, 1.2 ? 0.12 kg/day, 8.6 ? 0.72 and 0.12 ? 0.010, respectively. Unlike other treatments, the T100 net margin was positive, due to the lower cost of acquiring sugarcane tops compared with sugarcane. Partial or total substitution of sugarcane by sugarcane tops in high-concentrate diets did not affect performance of feedlot bulls. However, the inclusion of sugarcane tops reduced production costs, with positive net margin when totally substituting sugarcane. Therefore, sugarcane tops can be utilized by the ethanol industry and producers of handicraft sugarcane-rum as a low-cost roughage source in diets for beef bulls.

L’euchologe Barberini grec 336 de la bibliothèque Vaticane est le témoin le plus ancien et le plus important du rite byzantin. Les prières du baptême que cet euchologe contient constituent un rite complet du baptême, de façon à ce que l’officiant puisse célébrer le rite du baptême. L’ordre et le contenu des prières lues par l’officiant sont en général les mêmes à ceux qui sont actuellement en usage dans les églises de l’orient qui suivent le typique constantinopolitain : i. la prière pour faire un catéchumène, ii. les exorcismes, iii. les prières de renonciation et adhésion, iv. la litanie diaconale, v. la prière faite par le prêtre qui va baptiser, vi. les prières pour la bénédiction de l’eau, vii. les prières pour l’onction pré-baptismale, viii. les prières pour l’immersion baptismale, ix. les prières pour l’onction post-baptismale, x. la prière pour les ablutions, xi. la prière pour la tonsure d’enfant. Dans l’euchologe, il y a aussi une autre prière pour le renoncement – adhésion sous le titre «Renoncement et adhésion, qui se font sous la présidence de l’archevêque à la sainte Préparation de Pâques» qui est très important parce qu’il provient de l’époque de Chrysostome. En ce qui concerne le credo baptismal qui se trouve dans l’euchologe Barberini gr.336, il s’agit du Credo de Nice-Constantinople. En général, les prières pour le baptême de l’euchologe Barberini grec 336 concernent des candidats adultes. Néanmoins, on ne peut pas exclure le baptême des enfants. Dans la prière pour la tonsure des enfants, ceux-ci sont considérés comme déjà baptisés. En ce qui concerne les enfants, l’euchologe contient deux prières qui paraissent symboliser leur inscription dans les ordres des catéchumènes. Les enfants sont considérés en tant que personnes. L’analyse des prières du baptême concernant la personne divine évoquée par le célébrant aide à distinguer les prières qui précèdent les controverses christologiques. Les prières qui s’adressent simplement à Dieu sont considérées comme plus anciennes (avant le Vème siècle) puisque là, ce n’était pas nécessaire que la divinité de la personne du Fils soit discriminée. Dans l’euchologe, il y a aussi des prières qui concernent le retour des hérétiques. On les distingue en trois catégories : a) ceux qui sont acceptés dans l’église en libelles et en onction au saint myron, b) ceux qui sont acceptés en libelles et c) ceux qui sont acceptés en baptême. Le critère qui distinguait ceux qui seraient acceptés en libelle ou en chrismation à ceux qui seraient baptisés dès le début c’était leur baptême précédent en une ou en trois immersions. Par ailleurs, la distinction est liée à l’acceptation ou non du dogme pour la Sainte Trinité de la part des hérétiques. Il est remarquable que en VIIIème siècle l’église montrait une tolérance aux hérétiques qui étaient reçus en libelle et en chrismation, parce qu’elle estimait qu’ils acceptaient le dogme pour la Sainte Trinité mais qu’ils l’interprétaient incorrectement. Enfin, à l’époque du codex Barberini gr.336, le rite du baptême était indissolublement lié à la divine liturgie suivant la tradition antérieure. Les baptisés, juste après l’immersion baptismale et l’onction au myron, devenaient participants du corps et du sang du Christ. / The Euchologion Barberini gr. 336 of the Vatican Library is the oldest and most important witness of the Byzantine rite. The prayers for the baptism that this Euchologion contains, constitute a full rite of baptism, so that the celebrant can easily celebrate the rite of the baptism.The order and the content of the prayers read by the celebrant are generally similar to those currently in use in the churches of the East following the typical of Constantinople : i . prayer for a catechumen, ii. exorcisms, iii . prayers for the renunciation and the adhesion, v. prayer by the priest who will baptize, vi. prayers for the blessing of the water, vii . prayers for the pre-baptismal anointing, viii. prayers for the baptismal immersion, ix. prayers for the post-baptismal anointing, x. prayer for the ablution, xi. prayer for the child’s tonsure. Inside the Euchologion , there is also another prayer for the renunciation and the adhesion of the candidates by the Archbishop at the holy preparation of the Easter, which is very important because it comes from the time of Chrysostom. Concerning the baptismal creed that it is contained in the Barberini Euchologion gr.336 , it is about the Creed of Nice-Constantinople. In general, the prayers for the baptism of the Barberini Euchologion gr.336 relates candidates. However, we can not exclude the infant’s baptism. In the prayer for the children’s tonsure, them, are considered as baptized already. Concerning the children, the Euchologion contains two prayers that seem to symbolize their enrollment in the orders of the catechumens. The children are considered as indegrated personalities.The analysis of the prayers for the baptism for the divine person referred to by the celebrant helps to distinguish the foregoing Christological controversies prayers. Prayers simply turn to God are considered older (before the fifth century), since there was not necessary that the divinity of the person of the Son to be discriminated. Inside the Euchologion, there are also prayers concerning the return of the heretics. They are divided into three categories: a) those who are accepted into the church with a libel and an anointment with holy myron, b ) those that are accepted only with libels and c) those who are accepted with a baptism from the beginning. The criterion that distinguish those who were accepted with a libel or Chrismation from those who be baptized from the beginning was their previous baptism in one or three immersions . Moreover, the distinction is related to the acceptance or rejection of the dogma for the Holy Trinity from the side of the heretics. It is remarkable that in the eighth century the church showed tolerance to heretics who were received with libel or Chrismation, because she thought that they accepted the dogma for the Holy Trinity but they interpreted it incorrectly. Finally, at the time of the Codex Barberini gr.336, the rite of the baptism was inextricably linked to the divine liturgy following the earlier tradition.

The completion of History as Theatrical Metaphor, now submitted for consideration for the award of the degree of Doctor of Letters, represents an integration and culmination of a number of related strands arising from both my practice as a playwright over the last five decades and my relevant academic research. Susanne Kries has summarised a key approach underlying my writing of history plays as ‘deconstructing the ideological intent behind the very endeavour of writing history and of revealing the ways by which mythologies are formed’. Much of my related academic research shares this interest. A recurring theme of both playwriting and scholarly writing, central to the work submitted, is the significance of the interaction of drama, language – especially Scots and English – and history. The initial phase in exploring such themes was in my developing professional playwriting practice. In 1967, I wrote the first draft of Mary, eventually produced by the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company in 1977. In this first version I sought to address the theme of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, but in a revisionary way. The play’s first acts, before Mary arrives on stage, involved an unlikely affair between Mary of Guise, Queen Regent in Mary’s absence in France, and her Secretary of State, Maitland of Lethington, conceived as a cross between a Chief Minister and a Mafia consigliere, a relationship in which Mary of Guise achieved some form of Lawrentian ‘authentic’ sexual release and self-fulfilment through her relationship with a powerful Scots leader. This motif was developed when Mary arrived and proceeded to fall under the magnetic spell of the even more Lawrentian Bothwell, a transformation of her sexuality and identity marked by the fact that about half way through her scenes she stopped speaking in French-inflected English and started to speak in Scots. The play’s tendentiousness was further marked by its being written in Scots-language free verse. The decision to write in Scots was consciously, if superficially, ideological. It sought to reflect the vibrant language amongst which I grew up on a council scheme, although in my home the dominant language was Standard Scottish English. I also sought to take a revisionary view of Scottish history, seeking to avoid what I saw as the sentimentalisation of that history in plays by an older generation like that of Robert McLellan. What I was concerned to do was later outlined explicitly by Tom McGrath in a 1984 interview, talking of his own practice: I suppose at that time we were coming up with a different ideology. We were coming up with a different approach after all that work, work that had been done [by writers like MacDiarmid and McLellan] in Scots language. We were coming up with this street level sound of existentialist man in the street, "black man in the ghetto" type of writing. It just upset the applecart. (Later I would develop a contextual interpretation of the shift McGrath refers to, and which I sought to be part of, in arguing that the use of Scots on stage was key to supporting and enhancing the cultural prestige of Scots in the 2011 chapter, ‘Drama as a Means for Uphaudin Leid Communities’. This – in a continuing conscious intention to assert the potential and status of Scots – while academic in content, was written entirely in Scots.) In short, from the beginning of my professional playwriting, a key strand was experiment in and exploration of the relationship of drama, Scots language, community identity and history, particularly the interrogation of accepted versions of ‘history’. The first draft of Mary came by the early 1970s to seem to me to be unsatisfactory in its exploration of the interaction of drama, language and history. By then, it appeared in its sensationalist version of Scottish history to have fallen into a parallel trap to the earlier one of a sentimental and romanticised view of that history. It certainly had moved away from conventional treatments of Scotland’s past, but was rather tending to a simplistic dramatic interpretation pour épater les bourgeois. Indeed, its attempts at sexual directness made it unacceptable at that time, 1968-69, to the management of the Royal Lyceum. While its Literary Manager Alan Brown spoke positively of the play, he still felt the company could not present it. Within very few years my own view came to be that, while it might substitute a certain late-adolescent Scots-language raunchiness for earlier playwrights’ Scots-language sentimentalities, it was itself somewhat naïve and sentimental. Further, the use of Scots in a free verse form, rather than adding anything to the dramatic potential of Scots language, seemed to remove it from the everyday discourse which inspired me to use it in the first place. This change of critical perspective and creative intention arose from two related developments in my dramaturgy. One was the impact of a variety of late 1960s theatrical experiments which impressed me in dealing with historical and political material in a post-Shavian and post-Brechtian way. These included the 1964 film version of Peter Brook's production of Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade, which I saw in 1968, John Spurling's MacRune's Guevara (1969) and Peter Nichols's The National Health (1969) in the programme of the National Theatre in London, New York’s Negro Ensemble Company's version of Peter Weiss's The Song of the Lusitanian Bogey, which is concerned with Portuguese colonial exploitation, presented in the 1969 London World Theatre Season, and John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy's version of Horatio Nelson’s life and reputation, The Hero Rises Up, presented by Nottingham Playhouse at the 1969 Edinburgh Festival. I was further impressed by the theatrical techniques of the New York-based LaMama troupe, by its version of Paul Foster's Tom Paine (1967) and the popularised and commercialised exploitation of those techniques in Hair (1967). I had also read Foster's Heimskringla! Or The Stoned Angels (1970), written for LaMama and derived from Norse sagas. All employed varying metatheatrical techniques to deconstruct received versions of history and politics which extended my own understanding of what was creatively possible. The second development was that, as those plays affected my understanding of theatrical possibilities in exploring historically based themes, I was researching and beginning to draft my next play on a historical theme. This explored the life, business ethics and politics of Andrew Carnegie. On top of all of this, at this time, having showed Max Stafford-Clark, Artistic Director of the Traverse Theatre, a first draft of Carnegie, begun during the autumn of 1969, I was invited by him to work, in my first professional theatre role, as a writing assistant on the first Traverse Workshop Theatre Company production, Mother Earth (1970), directed by Stafford-Clark when he ceased to be director of the Traverse itself. With his new company, he was developing the deconstructionist and improvisational rehearsal techniques that would later be more widely thought of as the creative method of his Joint Stock Theatre Company, into which the Traverse Workshop Company morphed in 1974. The dramaturgical lessons learned from the examples cited above and by working with such a creative and methodologically innovative director as Stafford-Clark were allied to my own quizzical view of Carnegie’s reputation. This was partly derived from the fact that my great-grandfather was a first cousin of Carnegie’s. There were family stories which, if they did not fully undermine his philanthropic reputation, suggested there were other sides to his career.

This thesis argues that henges, stone circles and ring cairns form a 'spectrum' of monuments with origins in the earlier Neolithic. In that context it is suggested that some of the structures located beneath long cairns were originally free standing foci. How the monuments might reflect contemporary society is discussed and it is shown that some standing stones might have been the focus for gatherings of people as large as those suggested for henges and stone circles. Evidence is presented showing that there appears to have been a continuity of traditions and world view from the Early Neolithic into the Late Neolithic and beyond. Similarly the distribution of later monuments appears to relate to Early Neolithic core areas which continued to be important and linked to 'status'. The relationship of the monuments to particular aspects of the environment is explored and it is shown that wetland environments, including floodplains, are a major feature in the location of the early foci. It is concluded that these would have been important resource areas in the Mesolithic as well as Early Neolithic with implications for our understanding of the Mesolithic -Neolithic transition.