This thesis explores the' civilizing' of the far north of Scotland - defined as the shires of Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness as well as the Outer Hebrides - between 1560 and 1640. 'Civilizing' was part of the broader concept of State formation and integration. The thesis begins with an examination of the context for the relationships between these outlying territories and communities and the institutional authorities in Edinburgh and London, which identifies the multipolarity of power in its location and sources and disentangles the dynamics of clan interaction. It unravels a 'civilizing' model which mixes top-down institutional pressures and discipline and bottom-up self-regulating forces by means of agency and intra- peripheral means and factors. The study then elaborates a typology of clan violence and qualifies the high level of violence traditionally ascribed to Gaeldom. The fourth section delineates legislative and executive measures to remove, control, or channel the excesses of clan violence and underlines the cooperation between the centre and the periphery. The next section analyses the relationships of the far-northern society with the Church. Through social discipline, the Church's 'civilizing' efforts complemented those of the State. A more complex and hybrid faith developed in the locality with an element of individual liberty and the hierarchization of priorities. The [mal chapter disentangles the cultural web of the far- northern image and identity of the so-called barbarians. Central institutions activated this template to justify their actions. The far northerners did so, mutatis mutandis, to adjust their business with the central authorities and to suit their local needs. Besides, cultural fragmentation shatters the view of the area as a monobloc. An active participation of the clan elite in cultural production and consumption uncovers their integration into the wider Scottish and British society and an engagement of a number of far northerners with 'civility'.

Asthma is the commonest chronic disorder of childhood. Although the subject of study for over 4,000 years, the aetiology remains elusive and understanding of the subject is beset with problems of definition and methodology. The prevalence throughout the world varies considerably but is generally higher in countries with a western lifestyle, and appears to be increasing. Of many factors postulated to explain this increase, atmospheric pollution has been one of the most widely cited. The aim of the research presented in this thesis was to describe the epidemiology of asthma in the adolescent population in the Highlands of Scotland, a remote, culturally distinct, mainly rural area that covers one third of Scotland. A cross sectional study was undertaken using a questionnaire, supported by objective data from baseline pulmonary function and exercise testing. The prevalence of parent reported asthma in 12 year old children in 1992 (n=1825) was 14%, current wheeze 19%, eczema 14%, and hay fever 19%. Exercise induced bronchospasm was evident in 9%. The highest prevalence of asthma (17%) and exercise induced bronchoconstriction (30%) was reported on the island of Skye. Having found the prevalence to be as high in the relatively unpolluted Highlands as in urban areas of the UK, possible explanations were sought. Studies were undertaken to explore risk factors including family history, associated atopy, place of birth, indoor environment including maternal smoking, diet (with emphasis on antioxidant and fish intake), and immunisation history (including tuberculin status). Although there were some interesting findings, no specific single environmental component was identified as a major factor in the aetiology of asthma. I hope this thesis will provide a baseline of information, which may be of value to others in the future for as Churchill stated "the longer you can look back, the further you can look forward".

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 1996. / Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, Department of History, University of Glasgow, 1996. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Glasgow, 2004. / Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow, 2004. Includes bibliographical references (p. 269.288). Print version also available.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 1995. / PH.D. thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, Department of History, University of Glasgow, 1995. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 24, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis explores how the people of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland - a rural region of Britain - engaged with the British Empire in a period commonly referred to as the 'Age of High Imperialism'. It does so by exploring civil society activity in the area, and examines how different aspects of domestic life - religion, politics, culture, associational activity - shaped engagement with the Empire or imperial ideas. Scholarship on the place of the Empire back 'home' in Britain has recently stressed the patchwork nature of imperial engagement, with recognition given to the fact that both British society and the Empire itself were never monolithic entities. A 'Four Nations' approach to empire has been one of the most fruitful outcomes of this new focus, and this body of scholarship has explored how each of the four nations of Britain had different relationships with the Empire, and the impact this had on individual national identities. However, both this body of literature and the wider literature on 'imperial Britain' have remained overwhelmingly urban in focus, and have failed to explore whether the models for empire engagement they portray varied outside of Britain's main urban centres. By exploring the place of the Empire in a predominantly rural region, this study therefore breaks new ground, and in 'thinking regionally' about the place of the Empire in British society it provides a clear challenge to much of the conventional literature on the Empire's impact at home in Britain. In particular, by looking at the issue through a regional prism this thesis challenges both the 'Four Nations' and 'British World' models put forward by historians, by showing clearly that local contexts and local factors often mitigated the applicability of these wider ideas. In the former case, Highland contemporaries rarely celebrated the Scottish dimensions of empire, and instead placed to the fore both their local and regional contributions. In the latter case, many individuals rejected the very notion that a Greater Britain existed across the seas, and both class and language emerge clearly as factors separating the region's lower classes from full engagement with this wider idea. Throughout this study it will be shown that local factors were vital to shaping popular engagement with empire, and that often these factors precluded the spread of cultures of empire, or shaped perceptions of empire in highly negative ways.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 2007. / Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Department of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow, 2007. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 1996. / Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, Department of Scottish History, University of Glasgow, 1996. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study with two major objectives, namely to investigate both the cultural and historical developments which took place between c.795 and c.1000 in the West Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Various types of evidence are examined in order to understand the impact of the Norse upon the preexisting population of Western Scotland and vice versa. In Chapter 1, the onomastic evidence is reviewed in order to isolate the total area of Norse settlement, and to find within it areas where this settlement developed in differing ways. In Chapter 2, I survey the archaeological evidence. Chapter 3 examines the linguistic situation pertaining in the west vis a vis Norse and Gaelic, while Chapter 4 reviews the evidence for the survival or otherwise of Christianity. Particular attention is paid to the investigation of the people called Gall-Gaidheil 'Foreign Gael'. Using onomastics and historical sources, the area of their ethnogenesis is isolated and their linguistic and religious affiliation explored. Chapter 5 examines the evidence for their later presence in Galloway. On the historical side, Chapter 6 investigates the Norse raids and settlement and provides a date for these events. Also in Chapter 6, and in Chapters 7 and 8, I focus upon the political links between the West Highlands and Islands and the kingdoms of Scotland and Dublin during the ninth and tenth centuries.