In surveying the cultural context of modern-day Turkey it must be acknowledged that, historically, there have been critical problems between different ethnic (Turkish and Kurdish) and religious groups in Turkey arising from prejudice, intolerance and leading to hatred and conflict. One way of easing the tension between these groups could be by challenging prejudice through developing empathy, understanding and respect. Among a number of ways this could be done, researchers in the field of literacy and children’s literature have stressed the positive effects of reading books that emerge from the transaction between the reader and the text which have the potential to raise awareness about prejudice (Arizpe et al., 2014b; Farrar, 2017). However, research suggests that young people’s amount of reading books is low in Turkey (OECD, 2009; OECD, 2012); in addition, the Board of National Education in Turkey (BNET) and education policies in Turkey have not paid attention to young people’s reading interests or their reading for pleasure (BNET, 2011a and b). Based on the theoretical tenet that reading fiction can affect readers’ thoughts and emotions, the wide aim of this study was to explore the potential of reading fiction for developing empathy and understanding. Given that young people’s reading interests have not been considered in Turkey in detail, this thesis had to begin by investigating what kind of books were preferred and what effects they had on adolescent readers in that country. In order to accomplish this, a case study method with a mixed method design was employed and it was decided that an approach using the Transactional theory of reading as well as Cognitive Criticism would help to achieve this goal. In total, 381 students (aged between 16 and 18) responded to an online questionnaire and 10 of these students participated in interviews and reading activities. The data was analysed using the IBM SPSS 22 statistical analysis program and NVivo qualitative analysis software. The findings of the study identified the significant impact that gatekeepers and facilitators (government, publishers and social community) have on Turkish adolescents’ reading attitudes and choices. It was also found that, although young people liked reading contemporary fiction and online texts, so far this has not been taken into account in the Curriculum and in the promotion of reading in Turkey. The study has identified a major gap between what schools offer and what students read (or between in-school and out-of-school practices), a key aspect in reducing students’ interest in reading books and therefore a missed opportunity for raising awareness about prejudice. Finally, this study provides strong evidence about the potential of reading and discussing books with a small group of adolescent readers, an activity that enabled them to express their thoughts about serious issues and thus supported them in developing self-understanding and understanding of others.

In today’s increasingly digitised world, we communicate both locally and globally across different languages, modes and media. Since the New London Group’s (1996) seminal ‘Pedagogy of Multiliteracies’ some twenty years ago, there have been further significant developments in the way we communicate, with the 21st century considered ‘the great age of translation’ (Bassnett 2014:1). Yet despite the increasing number of multilingual, multimodal texts we encounter, classrooms continue to teach traditional, monolingual print-based models of literacy. This research is therefore primarily in response to this rapidly evolving context, with a curiosity as to how international picturebooks might develop the skills learners need to succeed both now and in the future. The research process has been a journey comprising two separate phases of empirical study as I have sought to find out the best way to approach this topic. My initial focus, Phase One, was exploring the visual literacy skills of EAL learners and I completed a project in a primary school in Glasgow. As a result of the emerging findings, the research then changed in two ways – to a whole class approach comprising both bilingual and monolingual learners, and to a focus on translation. Phase Two comprised two whole class projects in the Scottish Borders, with my overarching question: How can translating both the verbal and visual in international picturebooks develop the multiliteracies learners require in the 21st century? In my discussions of multiliteracies, I have focused on four different areas: visual, critical, digital and intercultural literacies. Learners’ visual literacy skills were developed through their recognition of the cultural codes in visuals. Their critical literacies were developed through the recognition of power in texts, through deconstructing and reconstructing texts and seeking multiple perspectives. Digital literacies were improved through the critical retrieval of information online and through using tools such as Google Translate and, like Gilster (1997), I have suggested a key component of digital literacies is having an open mind as to the possibilities of emerging technologies. I also argue that intercultural literacy should be included under the umbrella of multiliteracies, in order to provide learners with the tools to navigate the increasingly multilingual, multicultural spaces they are likely to encounter, and offer tentative findings which show how translating international picturebooks has helped to develop these skills and attitudes. Prior to concluding the thesis, I briefly consider alternative lenses for the research, in particular Critical Race Theory, identity and translingualism. I then sum up the project in Chapter 11 and make some key recommendations, including the need for multiliteracies to be explicitly acknowledged in the curriculum and for international picturebooks, including those in the first languages (L1s) of the bilingual learners, to be introduced into classrooms to challenge the dominance of English and ‘what counts’ as reading. Alongside a discussion as to the limitations of the research and possible future directions, the thesis concludes with a call for both academics and educators to consider how the gap between research and practice might be reduced, to enable research such as this to have an impact on today’s literacy learners.

Critical literacy is widely acknowledged as a crucial component of 21st century literacies, with a growing number of researchers providing inspirational examples of what can happen when teachers create critically literate ‘niches’ or spaces in their classrooms (O’Brien 1994; Leland et al 2005; Souto-Manning 2009). Despite this increase in scholarly interest, schooling’s traditional focus on code-breaking and comprehension-type literacy practices (Leland et al 2005) has meant that critical literacy still remains on the margins of many classrooms and curricula, as a buzzword, add-on or extension task that is often reserved for the eldest or most able (Comber 2001). Consequently, researchers have found that a critical stance still does not come “naturally” to readers within schooled contexts (Ryan & Anstey 2003; Scull et al 2013), a situation that cannot be remedied until critical literacy is widely used and valued by readers both inside and outside of schools (Carrington & Luke 1997). Responding to this context and motivated by an absence of research into the critically literate practices of families, a key aim of this study has been to find ways of making space for more critical “ways with words” (Heath 1983) to emerge in places other than classrooms. Underpinned by a theoretical understanding that a powerful and productive relationship exists between the effects of metafiction and the broadly-agreed aims of critical literacy, this thesis is an account of what happened when a group of eight parents and their eight primary school-aged children encountered the complex, surprising and disruptive demands of metafiction in picturebooks. Discussions about the picturebooks were located across a range of school-based and out-of-school settings and the resulting qualitative, analytical inquiry focused specifically on the literacy resources that dominated these readers’ responses when they engaged with metafiction. Key findings included the fact that comments with a ‘critical edge’ always emerged in direct response to the provocations of metafiction. More specifically, this study has identified the ability of metafiction to provoke resistance as a reader response; an experience that made it possible for some readers to interrupt and question their ‘natural’ literacy practices. In addition, the effects of metafiction made it possible for readers to develop metaliterate understandings, a term used here to describe a heightened awareness of language in use and of reading as an active, social process of meaning-making. In both cases, the effects of metafiction helped to foreground the often invisible dispositions that give shape to understandings about words - and pictures - and, simultaneously, about the world (Freire 1985).

Inhibitory GABAergic neurons in the parafacial zone (PZGABA) are essential for slow wave sleep (SWS). Since existing literature about the heterogenous population of PZ neurons is lacking, questions remain regarding the non-GABAergic sleep active PZ neurons. This study seeks to determine if glutamatergic PZ neurons expressing the transcription factor Phox2B (PZPhox2B) participate in sleep-wake control. Phox2B-IRES-Cre mice received injections of adeno-associated virus containing Cre-dependent diphtheria toxin subunit A (DTA) DNA into the PZ (PZPhox2B-DTA). Analysis of injection sites revealed transfection covering the PZ and the locus coeruleus, also known to express Phox2B. We recorded the sleep-wake cycle of PZPhox2B-DTA mice and compared them with control mice, analyzing their sleep-wake quantity, fragmentation, and power spectral distribution. We found total amounts and cortical power for wakefulness, SWS, and REM sleep of PZPhox2B-DTA mice were unaffected. There was fragmentation in wakefulness during the active period for PZPhox2B-DTA mice, seen as a significant reduction in the amount of time and number of episodes spent in the longest bout; however, wakefulness during the rest period was not significantly altered. No significant change was found in the bout numbers and amounts for SWS and REM sleep of PZPhox2B-DTA mice. I was unable to confirm targeted ablation of PZPhox2B-DTA neurons due to a lack of reliable antibody staining. Therefore, it remains possible that ablation of PZPhox2B neurons was incomplete and the wakeful fragmentation is due to neuronal ablation outside of the PZ, such as in the neighboring LC.

This project suggests that the exclusion of children from social discourse has been naturalized, and remains largely unchallenged in the West (Salisbury and Styles, 2012, p. 113). While some didactic picturebooks and pedagogies construct and perpetuate this exclusion, I will explore the potential of critical picturebooks and critical pedagogy to counter it. Critical picturebooks and critical pedagogy, I propose, can help to build and support the critical consciousness of readers, transforming their social relations. Specifically, this project is concerned with the exclusion of children from discourse on colonialism in Canada, and it highlights the need for critical consciousness in this area. I suggest that critical picturebooks can play a role in unsettling settler relations, or shifting Canada-Aboriginal relations towards more ethical ones. I therefore offer an anti-colonial pedagogy for picturebooks to facilitate these aims. This pedagogy is generated through putting theory on picturebooks, critical pedagogy, Indigenous methods, as well as local pedagogy in Alert Bay into an interdisciplinary conversation. I begin by asking ‘how can picturebooks function as transformative texts?’ Drawing on picturebook theory, I present five elements of critical picturebooks that make them conducive to transformative social discourse: 1) flexibility of the form (enabling complex, cross-genre narratives); 2) accessibility of composite texts (allowing for multiliteracies); 3) textual gaps in composite texts; 4) their dialogical nature (often being read and analyzed aloud); and, 5) their ability to address content silenced in many educational settings. I hold that “the plasticity of mind” which Margaret Mackey suggests is engendered by the picturebook’s flexible form (explicated by these five elements) also fosters a plasticity of mind in terms of the reader navigating social issues or complex problems presented in its content (as cited in Salisbury and Styles, 2012, p. 91). This dual plasticity positions the picturebook as a valuable and empowering discursive or dialogical tool. If, as Paulo Freire asserts, “it is in speaking their word that people, by naming the world, transform it, dialogue imposes itself as the way by which they achieve significance as human beings”, then it is crucial that children are included in social dialogue that has been typically reserved for adults (Freire, 2000, p. 69). I then discuss the ways in which my participatory action research (PAR) in the community of Alert Bay, British Columbia, illustrates the transformative potentials of picturebooks, and helped to form an anti-colonial pedagogy for picturebooks. Workshops with local children, young adults and adults examined the unique form and content of picturebook narratives. In following with Freire, the aim was not only to explore the pedagogical promise of existing texts, but also to co-develop tools with which participants generate their own self-representations. We focused on developing narratives on food, an important generative theme that connects many facets of life including experiences of colonialism. Through additional conversations and embodied learning activities, I was introduced to local anti-colonial pedagogical methods. I put these experiences into conversation with theories of critical pedagogy put forth by Freire, Ivan Illich, bell hooks and Henry Giroux and a discussion of Indigenous research and pedagogical methods offered by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Sandy Grande, Leanne Simpson, Lynn Gehl, and curricular resources. This research culminated in making Grease, a picturebook on the importance of oolichan oil to Alert Bay, told from a visitor’s perspective. In creating Grease, I have aimed to practically apply my proposed pedagogy, and make my work available to both Alert Bay and (in the future) to readers farther afield. This is an effort to address the dearth of anti-colonial literature and education available to children in Canada and elsewhere. The final chapter of my thesis serves as an annotative guide to be read alongside Grease. The pedagogy and picturebook combined present tenable ways in which picturebooks can engage children in critical discussions of colonialism and function as transformative texts.

This thesis considers the works of six major literary figures in the context of their engagement with the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. These writers are, in order of analysis, Edwin Morgan, J.K. Rowling, Liz Lochhead, Alasdair Gray, Kathleen Jamie, and John Burnside. Each has produced a significant literary oeuvre which is examined here in relation to each other's work and to the Referendum debate. The multifaceted relationship between literature and politics is investigated through the lens of the Referendum, utilising these six figures as interrelated case studies. Chapter One explores Edwin Morgan and J.K. Rowling in relation to each other and the concept of nationalism as manifested in the Referendum period. Chapter Two focuses on postcolonialism and the work of Alasdair Gray and Liz Lochhead in that same context. The third and final chapter is concerned with Kathleen Jamie's and John Burnside's preoccupation with ecopoetics, and how that concern overlapped with Referendum discourse. This thesis provides new readings of these six writers in the context of the Referendum. It sets out to establish that, while their published literary works are often connected to the spectrum of stances these writers took regarding the Referendum, these works need to be considered with respect to the nuanced attention all six had previously given to key themes of the Referendum debate in the decades leading up to that political moment.

Detta examensarbetet har utförts i samarbete med företaget BXB Industrial Fittings och med handledning från Jönköpings Tekniska Högskola. Uppdraget ändrades under projektets gång, därför beskrivs genomgörandet i rapporten i två delar då vissa moment gjordes två gånger. Från början bestod uppdraget i att utveckla ett lås för maskinskyddsgaller, men ändrades till att istället utveckla adaptrar för oval- och PZ-cylindrar så att de enkelt kan monteras i det tidigare nämnda låshuset. Ovalcylindern är den låscylinder som är vanligast i Skandinavien, medan PZ-cylindern är den cylinder som är vanligast i övriga Europa. Problemet med dessa två låscylindrar är att de har olika dimensioner vilket gör att de inte kan monteras i samma låshus. Eftersom BXB:s lås säljs över hela Europa och kunder efterfrågar lås med samma funktion, men med olika låscylindrar anses en adapter som en bra lösning på detta problem. Då författarna inte tidigare hade någon erfarenhet av konstruktion av lås gjordes en grundlig patent- och marknadsundersökning för att skapa en bra grund för fortsatt arbete. Efter undersökningen startade författarna idégenereringsprocessen som resulterade i ett stort antal skisser på olika lösningsförslag. Efter idégenereringen gjordes en sållning för att få fram det slutliga förslaget, detta förslag måttsattes och justerades sedan i CAD. Arbetet resulterade i två adaptrar med samma utvändigt mått som utvinner en identisk rörelse och kraft. Adaptrarna underlättar vid konstruktionen av lås eftersom de medgör att både PZ-cylindern och ovalcylindern kan monteras i samma låshus. Adaptrarna har konstruerats på ett användarvänligt sätt genom att hänsyn har tagits till de personer som kommer i kontakt med dem. Antalet komponenter har minimerats och enkla mekanismer har använts, vilket gör adaptrarna enklare att montera under tillverkningen. Detta leder i sin tur till att tillverkningskostnaderna minimeras och att adaptrarna både genom sitt pris och sin användarvänlighet anses vara konkurrenskraftiga på dagens marknad. Adaptrarnas konstruktion och inre mekanik beskrivs i rapporen utifrån CAD-bilder.

<p>Detta examensarbetet har utförts i samarbete med företaget BXB Industrial Fittings och med handledning från Jönköpings Tekniska Högskola.</p><p>Uppdraget ändrades under projektets gång, därför beskrivs genomgörandet i rapporten i två delar då vissa moment gjordes två gånger. Från början bestod uppdraget i att utveckla ett lås för maskinskyddsgaller, men ändrades till att istället utveckla adaptrar för oval- och PZ-cylindrar så att de enkelt kan monteras i det tidigare nämnda låshuset.</p><p>Ovalcylindern är den låscylinder som är vanligast i Skandinavien, medan PZ-cylindern är den cylinder som är vanligast i övriga Europa. Problemet med dessa två låscylindrar är att de har olika dimensioner vilket gör att de inte kan monteras i samma låshus. Eftersom BXB:s lås säljs över hela Europa och kunder efterfrågar lås med samma funktion, men med olika låscylindrar anses en adapter som en bra lösning på detta problem.</p><p>Då författarna inte tidigare hade någon erfarenhet av konstruktion av lås gjordes en grundlig patent- och marknadsundersökning för att skapa en bra grund för fortsatt arbete. Efter undersökningen startade författarna idégenereringsprocessen som resulterade i ett stort antal skisser på olika lösningsförslag. Efter idégenereringen gjordes en sållning för att få fram det slutliga förslaget, detta förslag måttsattes och justerades sedan i CAD.</p><p>Arbetet resulterade i två adaptrar med samma utvändigt mått som utvinner en identisk rörelse och kraft. Adaptrarna underlättar vid konstruktionen av lås eftersom de medgör att både PZ-cylindern och ovalcylindern kan monteras i samma låshus. Adaptrarna har konstruerats på ett användarvänligt sätt genom att hänsyn har tagits till de personer som kommer i kontakt med dem. Antalet komponenter har minimerats och enkla mekanismer har använts, vilket gör adaptrarna enklare att montera under tillverkningen. Detta leder i sin tur till att tillverkningskostnaderna minimeras och att adaptrarna både genom sitt pris och sin användarvänlighet anses vara konkurrenskraftiga på dagens marknad. Adaptrarnas konstruktion och inre mekanik beskrivs i rapporen utifrån CAD-bilder.</p>

This work investigates the volatilities of amine solvents used in post-combustion CO₂ capture from coal-fired power plants. Amine volatility is one of the key criteria used in screening an amine solvent for CO₂ capture: (1) amine losses up the stack can react in the atmosphere to form ozone and other toxic compounds; (2) volatility losses can result in greater solvent make-up costs; (3) high losses will require the use of bigger water wash units, and more water, to capture fugitive amines prior to venting - these translate to higher capital and operating costs; (4) volatilities need to be measured and modeled in order to develop more accurate and robust thermodynamic models. In this work, volatility is measured using a hot gas FTIR which can determine amine, water, and CO₂ in the vapor headspace above a solution. The liquid solution is speciated by NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance). There are two key contributions made by this research work: (1) it serves as one of the largest sources of experimental data available for amine-water volatility; (2) it provides amine volatility for loaded systems (where CO₂ is present) which is a unique measurement not previously reported in the literature. This work studied the volatility of 20 alkanolamines in water at 0.5 - 1.1 molal (m) in water (< 1.5 mol% amine) at zero loading (no CO₂) from 40 ° - 70 °C. An empirical group contribution model was developed to correlate H[subscript 'amine'] to molecular structures of both alkylamines and alkanolamines. The model incorporated additional functional groups to account for cyclic structures and to distinguish between different types of alkyl groups based on the attached neighboring groups. This model represented the experimental H[subscript 'amine'], which spanned five orders in magnitude, to well within an order of magnitude of the measured values. The second component of this research involves upgrading the AspenPlus® v.7.3 model of MDEA-PZ-CO₂-H₂O system primarily by improving MDEA thermodynamics for MDEA-H₂O, MDEA-CO₂-H₂O, and MDEA-PZ-CO₂-H₂O. A key modification was made to include the carbonate (CO₃²⁻) species into the model chemistry set which greatly improved the fit of CO₂ solubility for MDEA-CO₂-H₂O at ultra lean loading ([alpha]) for 0.001 < [alpha] < 0.01. With MDEA-PZ-H₂O, no MDEA-PZ cross interaction parameters were needed to match the blend volatility. Ultimately, both the blend volatility, at unloaded and loaded conditions, along with speciation were adequately represented by the upgraded model. The final component of this research involves screening the volatilities of novel amines at unloaded and nominal lean loading condition from 40 ° - 70 °C (absorber operating conditions). The volatility of tertiary and hindered amines, such as MDEA and AMP, respectively, is not a strong function of loading because these amines are unable to form stable carbamates. Conversely, the volatility of mono-amines and of diamines decreases by ~3 and 5-20 times, respectively, due to a much greater extent of carbamate-forming speciation. PZ or a blend having a diamine promoted by PZ would be favorable for CO₂ capture due to the low volatility of the diamines in loaded solution. . Finally, in order of increasing degree of salting out as reflected by the increasing magnitude of the system asymmetric amine activity coefficient, 7 m MDEA < 4.8 m AMP ~ 7 m MDEA/2 m PZ < 8 m PZ < 7 m MEA. / text

Absorption-stripping with aqueous, concentrated piperazine (PZ) is a viable retrofit technology for post-combustion CO2 capture from coal-fired power plants. The rate of thermal degradation and oxidation of PZ was investigated over a range of temperature, CO2 loading, and PZ concentration. At 135 to 175 °C, degradation is first order in PZ with an activation energy of 183.5 kJ/mole. At 150 °C, the first order rate constant, k1, for thermal degradation of 8 m PZ with 0.3 mol CO2/mol alkalinity is 6.12 × 10-9 s-1. After 20 weeks of degradation at 165 °C, 74% and 63%, respectively, of the nitrogen and carbon lost in the form of PZ and CO2 was recovered in quantifiable degradation products. N-formylpiperazine, ammonium, and N-(2-aminoethyl) piperazine account for 57% and 45% of nitrogen and carbon lost, respectively. Thermal degradation of PZ likely proceeds through SN2 substitution reactions. In the suspected first step of the mechanism, 1-[2-[(2-aminoethyl) amino]ethyl] PZ is formed from a ring opening SN2 reaction of PZ with H+PZ. Formate was found to be generated during thermal degradation from CO2 or CO2-containing molecules. An analysis of k1 values was applied to a variety of amines screened for thermal stability in order to predict a maximum recommended stripper temperature. Morpholine, piperidine, PZ, and PZ derivatives were found to be the most stable with an allowable stripper temperature above 160 °C. Long-chain alkyl amines or alkanolamines such as N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine and diethanolamine were found to be the most unstable with an allowable stripper temperature below 120 °C. Iron (Fe2+) and stainless steel metals (Fe2+, Ni2+, and Cr3+) were found to be only weak catalysts for oxidation of PZ, while oxidation was rapidly catalyzed by copper (Cu2+). In a system with Fe2+ or SSM, 5 kPa O2 in the inlet flue gas, a 55 °C absorber, and one-third residence time with O2, the maximum loss rate of PZ is expected to 0.23 mol PZ/kg solvent in one year of operation. Under the same conditions but with Cu2+ present, the loss rate of PZ is predicted to be 1.23 mole PZ/kg solvent in one year of operation. Inhibitor A was found to be effective at decreasing PZ loss catalyzed by Cu2+. Ethylenediamine, carboxylate ions, and amides were the only identified oxidation products. Total organic carbon analysis and overall mass balances indicate a large concentration of unidentified oxidation products. / text