L’aluminium (Al) est le métal le plus abondant de notre environnement. Il est naturellement présent dans les sols, les roches, les minéraux, l’air, l’eau, et son utilisation pour la fabrication de produits de consommation courante n’a cessé d’augmenter de façon exponentielle dans les pays industrialisés. Durant les dernières décennies, la biodisponibilité de l’Al a fortement augmenté par l’activité humaine et les populations sont exposées quotidiennement à de multiples sources et doses d’Al, notamment par la voie orale. En se basant sur la description des effets toxiques et délétères de l’Al dans diverses pathologies ainsi que sur les doses d’Al ingérées, nous avons montré que l’Al pouvait participer à l’aggravation de l’inflammation intestinale, diminuer la cicatrisation muqueuse et le renouvellement cellulaire (Pineton de Chambrun et al., 2014).Dans le but de comprendre les mécanismes par lesquels l’Al perturbait l’épithélium intestinal, nous avons évalué la toxicité de l’Al sur la cellule épithéliale intestinale. Nous avons montré dans cette étude que l’Al diminuait la viabilité cellulaire, favorisait l’apoptose et perturbait le cycle cellulaire. L’Al avait également des effets pro-carcinogènes et pro-inflammatoires sur les cellules épithéliales intestinales. Ainsi, nous avons démontré que l’Al pouvait avoir des effets toxiques sur la muqueuse intestinale.Nous avons ensuite étudié les effets de l’Al sur la sensibilité viscérale chez le rongeur. Nous avons montré que l’ingestion d’une dose d’Al cohérente avec l’exposition humaine induisait une augmentation de la sensibilité viscérale chez le rat et la souris. Cette hypersensibilité induite par l’Al était persistante et exacerbée lors d’une nouvelle intoxication, indiquant ainsi qu’il n’y a pas de phénomène de tolérance. De plus, les femelles étaient plus affectées par l’hypersensibilité induite par l’Al que les mâles. Nous avons montré que les mécanismes impliquaient une augmentation de la perméabilité et étaient dépendants de la dégranulation des mastocytes et du récepteur aux protéases 2. Ces résultats sont pertinents avec la description des mécanismes observés dans la pathogénèse du syndrome de l’intestin irritable (SII). En effet, les malades présentent le plus souvent une hypersensibilité viscérale, une augmentation de la perméabilité intestinale, une altération du microbiote et une inflammation intestinale à bas grade. Les causes de cette maladie sont inconnues mais les facteurs environnementaux sont fortement suspectés. Ainsi, l’Al pourrait être un nouveau facteur de risque environnemental impliqué dans le développement du SII.En conclusion, ces résultats nous ont permis de démontrer la toxicité de l’Al sur le tube digestif et de mettre en avant un nouveau facteur de risque environnemental dans la physiopathologie des maladies intestinales telles que les maladies inflammatoires chroniques de l’intestin et le syndrome de l’intestin irritable. / Aluminium (Al) is the most abundant metal in our environment. Al naturally occurs in soils, rocks, minerals, air, water and its use in consumer products increase exponentially in industrialized countries. During last decades, human activities led to an increase in the bioavailability of Al and populations are exposed daily to multiple sources and doses of Al, including the oral route. Based on the description of toxic and deleterious effects of Al in various pathologies as well as ingested doses of Al, we showed that Al could participate in the exacerbation of intestinal inflammation, decrease mucosal healing and cell renewal (Pineton de Chambrun et al., 2014).In order to understand the mechanisms involved in the perturbations of the intestinal epithelium, Al toxicity was evaluated on intestinal epithelial cells. This study showed that Al decrease cell viability, promote apoptosis and disturb cell cycle. Al had also pro-tumorigenic and pro-inflammatory effects on intestinal epithelial cells. Thus, we demonstrated that Al could promote toxic effects on intestinal mucosa.Then, we evaluated the effects of Al on visceral sensitivity in rodents. We have demonstrated that currently ingested amounts of Al, in humans, induced in mice and rats a dose dependent increase of colorectal sensitivity. Al-induced hypersensitivity persists over time so that intoxication was arrested, and appears again when Al intoxication resumes, dismissing any tolerance phenomenon. Moreover, female gender was more affected by Al-induced hypersensitivity than male gender. Mechanisms involved an increased permeability and were dependent on mast cell degranulation and protease activated receptor 2. These results are relevant to the mechanisms observed in the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Indeed, patients usually exhibit visceral hypersensitivity, increased permeability, impaired microbiota and low inflammation degree of the gastrointestinal tract. Causes of the disease remain unknown but environmental factors are strongly suspected to be involved in the pathogenesis. Thus, Al could be a new environmental risk factor involved in the development of IBS.In conclusion, these results demonstrate the toxicity of Al on the digestive tract and highlight a new environmental risk factor in the physiopathology of intestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases and irritable bowel syndrome.

Naturalisation procedures through which states symbolically and legally recognise noncitizens as citizens offer the most secure legal status for migrants and a means for them to evade global inequalities in the world system of nation-states. This study critically examines contemporary citizenship admission procedures in the UK and Germany following the introduction of citizenship tests, courses and ceremonies in the early 2000s. Based on a multi-sited state ethnography of both countries, this thesis argues that naturalisation does not simply separate citizens by discretionary application from citizens by automatic right of birth. Rather, citizenship admission procedures suggest a specific subjectivity, the Super Citizen, insofar as ‘new’ German and British citizens are expected to become a political, economic and cultural asset to the state. This study thus conceptualises naturalisation processes as a specific subject-formation regime created through particular problematisations, rationalities, authorities and techniques as institutionalised by the state. The analysis begins with a brief reconstruction of the genealogy of naturalisation in Britain and Germany, focussing on the emergence of the distinction between nationals and ‘aliens’ or ‘foreigners’, respectively, as well as on the legal mechanisms put in place to differentiate their access to full membership. Using a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews, observations and official documents, the study then tracks contemporary citizenship applications in four research locations in the two countries. It visits ceremony halls, classrooms and naturalisation offices and considers the perspective of a range of actors involved in citizenship admission procedures. This includes those who implement naturalisation on behalf of the state such as officials, legal advisers, teachers, politicians, and guest speakers, as well as the lived experience of the citizenship applicants themselves. The thesis concludes that naturalisation procedures in both the UK and in Germany produce the Super Citizen as a particular, neoliberal and neonational subjectivity that holds newly naturalized citizens responsible for developing a new nationalism.

Over recent years much research has been conducted which examines the consequences of economic and social restructuring on different localities. Arguably, few places have experienced these processes to such detrimental affect as the Vauxhall ward in north Liverpool, which possesses one of the highest levels of unemployment in the country. During 1990 I was employed by the Eldonian Development Trust to conduct a skills survey of the population of Vauxhall, as a community led attempt to redress this situation. This thesis combines detailed analysis of the skills audit, entitled the Vauxhall Job Link Survey, with the results of a complementary, qualitative research approach, in an attempt to understand why such a large proportion of the area's population are excluded from paid employment. To develop its arguments the research also draws extensively on a variety of secondary data sources. The findings of the research are related to existing labour market and social polarisation theories. The thesis reveals that the dual processes of deindustrialisation and counterurbanisation have led to a small, residual population remaining in Vauxhall, which is poorly placed to compete for the limited number of job opportunities arising in the city. Detailed analysis by gender reveals that the position of many women is particularly poor. It is propounded that one reason for this is the particular patriarchal relationship that has developed in the area over the last two centuries, with very clearly defined roles of male and female economic activity.

Little research has been devoted to studying the interconnections between the ambiguous border identities along the so-called ‘Celtic fringe’ in the UK. It is important to explore whether, in the new context of the devolved Welsh and Scottish states, people resident in the border areas of Wales and Scotland will increasingly come to identify with the Welsh or Scottish “nation” and with its official “nationality”. Using the sociological approach advocated by Robert K. Yin, this thesis draws on ethnographical research to explore the precise nature of the relationship between contemporary national identity, nationalism, borderlands and football fandom. It examines supporters in three border towns: Oswestry (Shropshire), Hay-on-Wye (Powys), and Berwick-upon-Tweed (Northumberland). Focus groups were conducted with match-going supporters of Welsh league champions The New Saints of Oswestry Town, Scottish League Two side Berwick Rangers and Hay St. Mary’s Football Club, who compete in both the Herefordshire and Mid Wales leagues. Examining football fans’ expressions of identity, this study discusses national sentiment and explores identity – local, regional and national – in the England-Wales and England-Scotland border regions from a theoretical and comparative perspective. A detailed and grounded study of national identity and nationalism amongst fans in the borderlands of Wales and Scotland will appeal to academics and students of sports history and with interests in ethnography, the sociology of sport, football fandom, debatable borderlands and contemporary national identities.

This thesis , through critical discourse analysis and thirty - eight in - depth interviews, examines the discursive construction of UK Kosovo Albanian D iaspora iden tity by Kosovo Albanians in both the UK and Kosovo. S imultaneously , I explore how identity and national and cultural belonging are multidirectional and shaped by both a diasporic host society and a homeland context . Although s cholarshi p on migration and diasporas is prolific, t hi s thesis argues that due to prev ious predominant scholarly focus on host context s over homeland contexts , current scholarship is limited and limiting. The analysis highlights the ‘Neither Here Nor There’ phenomenon, which suggests that Kosovo Albanians in the UK do not passively identify with a homeland identity or necessarily with a host society identity, and that this identity is multiple and context bound. The empirical chapters demonstrate that homelands are not passive distant and ‘imagined’ places but politically active agents who seek to tap into their diasporas through opaque power and what I term distance based biopolitics to construct and benefit from the diaspora . My analyses also demonstrate s that ‘othering’ discourses are not exclusive to host societies but are also present in the discourses of Kosovo Albanians in Kosovo and within the diaspora communities . I explore h omeland stereotypes such as the ‘Schatzi’ phenomenon , which are embedded discursively and ideologically in Kosovo and function to construct and ‘other’ the Kosovo Albanian Diaspora, especi a lly in Germany and Switzerland. Whilst, the UK - based diaspora is often attributed with a cultural sophistication and ‘mentality’ th at makes them more accepted in Kosovo . Therefore this research suggests that to understand diaspora complexities also requires focus on the imagined diaspora and its relationship(s) with the homeland . This thesis also provides an original contribution by extending current debates and theories about migration , diaspora and identity and by highlighting how Kosovo Albanians already settled in the UK view and discursively construct their position and identities with the UK. Coupled with all these elements, my work contribute s to migration, diaspora and identity studies as well as to studies about Kosovo Albanians in the UK, which are still lacking.

This study is an investigation of how cultural traditions can militate against the education of women in Zambia with a focus on the Tumbuka tribe. Ethnographic methods were employed over a period of three months in a village in the Eastern Province of the country. Data were collected through participant observation, focus group and in-depth interviews, narratives, and documents. A total of 47 participants comprised the sample. This research cuts through multidisciplinary fields such as social sciences, education and anthropology. Through thematic analysis data were analysed. Evidence in this research demonstrates that patrilineal groupings are strongholds of the patriarchal predisposition and that patriarchal attitudes and cultural traditions do not recognize women as equal partners with men. The Tumbuka women‟s experiences and beliefs reflect socio-cultural traditional norms that tend to limit gender equality, and compel women to accept and justify male domination at the expense of their own status and to regard consequent inequalities as normal. Evidence demonstrates that the initiation rites, an active institution for girls of pubescent age, interfere more with the school-based education of girls. The women are active social agents as well as passive learners who will not allow the girls they are coaching to question the reason or purpose for some traditional practices that are oppressive and directly cause them to fail to complete their schooling successfully. The strong hold that the cultural traditions has on the locals has further resulted in conflicts with modern schooling, which is viewed as disseminating „white‟ man‟s culture and values. Established in this research is the fear and suspicion that the locals have on the outcome of their children learning these values that they see as alien to their own. The modern education provided in school is perceived as a force that undermines cultural values. It is viewed as presenting an inherent challenge to the cultural traditional control measures that are in place. Arguably, while ethnic traditions should be respected and sustained because they define one's identity, aspects of culture which are discriminatory, restrictive and tend to devalue women‟s physical, emotional and psychological development should be eliminated because they are retrogressive. Therefore the argument that deep seated socio-cultural traditions play a significant role in encumbering female education is proven.

The aim of this thesis was to examine changing representations of men and masculinities in a particular historical period (“The Sixties”) and to explore the impact that this had in a period of rapid social change in the UK and the legacy of that impact. In order to do this, a multi-method study was developed, combining documentary research with a set of eleven semi-structured interviews. The documentary research took the form of a case study of The Beatles, arguing that their position as a group of men who became a global cultural phenomenon, in the period under study, made theme a suitable vehicle through which to read changing representations of masculinities in this period and to reflect on what this meant for men in UK society. The Beatles’ live action films were chosen as a sample of Beatle “texts” which allowed for the Beatles to be looked at at different points in the “The Sixties” and for possible changes over that time period to be tracked. Textual analysis within discourse analysis (based on a framework suggested by van Dijk [1993], Fairclough [1995] and McKee [2003]) was used to analyse the texts. Ideas advanced by the Popular Memory Group (1982) about the interaction of public representations of the past and private memory of that past were influential in the decision to combine this piece of documentary research with interviews with a sample of men, in an age range of 18 to 74. The interview stage was designed to elicit data on the perception of the participants of the role of representation (with particular reference to the Beatles) of masculinities on them as individuals and their ideas about how this may have had an impact in terms of longer term social change. Ehrenreich’s (1983) notion of a male revolt in the late 1950s, an emergence of a challenge to established ideas about men and masculinity, was also influential, particularly as it is an idea at odds with the “crisis in masculinity” discourse (Tolson, 1977; Kimmel, 1987; Whitehead, 2002) at work in a number of texts on men and masculinity. Examining further Inglis’ (2000b : 1) concept of The Beatles as “men of ideas” with a global reach, the chosen Beatle texts were examined for discourses of masculinity which appeared to be resistant to the dominant. What emerged were a number of findings around resistance, non-conformity, feminised appearance, pre-metrosexuality, the male star as object of desire and The Beatles as a global male phenomenon open to the radical diversity of the world in a period of rapid social change. The role of popular culture within this process was central to the thesis, given its focus on The Beatles as a case study. However, broader ideas about the role of the arts also emerged with a resultant conclusion that “the sixties” is where a recognition of the importance of representation begins as well as a period where representations of gender (as well as class and race) became more accessible due to the rise in popularity of TV in the UK and a resurgence in British cinema. The thesis offers a number of ideas for further research, building on the outcomes of this particular study. These include further work on the competing crisis/ revolt discourse at work in the field of critical men’s studies, ascertaining female perspectives on representations of masculinities and their impact, further work on the Beatles through fans and an application of some of the ideas at work in the thesis to other periods of British history.

Cement production is responsible for around 7% of the global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. More than half of these emissions are due to the unavoidable release of carbon dioxide upon thermal decomposition of the main raw material limestone. Many different options for carbon capture are currently being investigated to lower emissions, and one potential route to facilitate carbon capture could be the implementation of an electrified separate calcination step. However, potential effects on the phase composition of cement clinker need to be investigated, which is the aim of the present study. Phases of special interest are alite, belite, aluminate, ferrite, calcite, and lime.  The phase composition during clinker formation was examined through HT-XRD lab-scale experiments, allowing the phase transformations to be observed in situ. Two different methods of separate calcination were investigated, one method in which the raw meal was calcined separately, and one method where the limestone was calcined separately. The former yielded an alite amount similar to that of the reference experiments, whereas the latter method yielded a lower amount. It could, unfortunately, not be excluded that the difference was due to poor experimental conditions, and additional experiments are needed to investigate the matter further. The study does, however, indicate that a calcined raw meal might be used to produce a clinker of similar phase composition concerning major phases belite, aluminate, ferrite, alite, and free lime. A raw meal containing calcined limestone might, however, need longer residence time at clinkering temperature too obtain similar phase composition. In addition, a raw meal containing calcined limestone was observed to be carbonated to a greater extent upon reheating than a calcined raw meal. Further experiments are needed to fully understand the effects on clinker composition of an electrified separate calcination step, and several improvements to the experimental method are given in the study.

Tardive dyskinesia (TD), first appearing in humans after introduction of the phenothiazine class of antipsychotics in the 1950s, is now recognized as an abnormality resulting predominately by long-term block of dopamine (DA) D2 receptors (R). TD is thus reproduced in primates and rodents by chronic administration of D2-R antagonists. Through a series of studies predominately since the 1980s, it has been shown in rodent modeling of TD that when haloperidol or other D2-R antagonist is added to drinking water, rats develop spontaneous oral dyskinesias, vacuous chewing movements (VCMs), after ~3 months, and this TD is associated with an increase in the number of striatal D2-R. This TD persists for the duration of haloperidol administration and another ~2 months after haloperidol withdrawal. By neonatally lesioning dopaminergic nerves in brain in neonatal rats with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), it has been found that TD develops sooner, at ~2 months, and also is accompanied by a much higher number of VCMs in these haloperidol-treated lesioned rats, and the TD persists lifelong after haloperidol withdrawal, but is not associated with an increased D2-R number in the haloperidol-withdrawn phase. TD apparently is related in part to supersensitization of both D1-R and serotoninergic 5-HT2-R, which is also a typical outcome of neonatal 6-OHDA (n6-OHDA) lesioning. Testing during the haloperidol-withdrawn phase in n6-OHDA rats displaying TD reveals that receptor agonists and antagonists of a host of neuronal phenotypic classes have virtually no effect on spontaneous VCM number, except for 5-HT2-R antagonists which acutely abate the incidence of VCMs in part. Extrapolating to human TD, it appears that (1)5-HT2-R supersensitization is the crucial alteration accounting for persistence of TD, (2) dopaminergic-perhaps age-related partial denervation-is a risk factor for the development of TD, and (3) 5-HT2-R antagonists have the therapeutic potential to alleviate TD, particularly if/when an antipsychotic D2-R blocker is withdrawn.

Dopamine receptor supersensitivity (DARSS) often is invoked as a mechanism possibly underlying disordered thought processes and agitation states in psychiatric disorders. This review is focused on identified means for producing DARSS and associating the role of other monoaminergic systems in modulating DARSS. Dopamine (DA) receptors, experimentally, are prone to become supersensitive and to thus elicit abnormal behaviors when coupled with DA or a receptor agonist. In intact (control) rats repeated DA D1 agonist treatments fail to sensitize D1 receptors, while repeated D 2 agonist treatments sensitize D2 receptors. D2 RSS is attenuated by a lesion with DSP-4 (N-(2-chlorethyl)-N-ethyl-2- bromobenzylamine) in early postnatal ontogeny, indicating that noradrenergic nerves have a permissive effect on D2 DARSS. However, if DSP-4 is co-administered with 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine to destroy serotonin (5-HT) nerves, then D2 RSS is restored. In rats treated early in postnatal ontogeny with the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine to largely destroy DA innervation of striatum, both repeated D1 and D2 agonists sensitize D1 receptors. 5-HT nerves appear to have a permissive effect on D1 DARSS, as a 5-HT lesion reduces the otherwise enhanced effect of a D1 agonist. The series of findings demonstrate that DARSS is able to be produced by repeated agonist treatments, albeit under different circumstances. The involvement of other neuronal phenotypes as modulators of DARSS provides the potential for targeting a variety of sites in the aim to prevent or attenuate DARSS. This therapeutic potential broadens the realm of approaches toward treating psychiatric disorders.