Participation in physical activity (PA) during childhood, particularly PA of a moderate to vigorous intensity, is important for many aspects of physical and psychological health. Numerous barriers can prevent children from engaging in PA during their free time. Therefore, schools are important settings for providing children with opportunities to engage in health enhancing PA. There is a need for school-based PA strategies which can be ‘self-sustained’ by schools. The main aim of this thesis was to explore intervention approaches which had no or limited financial cost and were implemented by existing school staff structures with the aim of promoting primary school PA in a low socio-economic status community. Chapter 4 (Study 1) established that PA levels were low and school-based PA strategies are warranted. Furthermore, the use of multilevel analyses established a range of child- and school-level factors which predict PA participation during segmented school time. Initially, single-component school-based PA strategies were implemented in Chapter 5 (Study 2). Implementation challenges related to space within the school environment, and competing demands of teachers and other members of staff, such as timetable constraints and other additional responsibilities. The active classroom break and daily Born To Move video interventions indicated positive effects on levels of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST). Adaptations to the intervention strategies outlined in Chapter 5 (Study 2) were made based on the study findings. They were then combined with four other school-based PA strategies in Chapter 6 (Study 3) in order to implement and evaluate a pilot multi-component school-based PA clustered randomised controlled trial. The Active Schools: 5 Skelmersdale (AS:Sk) multi-component intervention had a significant effect on school day ST (significantly less for intervention children by nine minutes per day compared to control group). Chapter 7 (Study 4) explored how the AS:Sk intervention was implemented in participating schools. Implementation differed between schools and study findings advocate school-based PA strategies that are flexible and adaptable in nature. This thesis contributes to the understanding of feasible and acceptable PA strategies in the school setting. Future research is needed to establish school-based strategies that are effective at increasing MVPA levels.

Dental pain from pulpal infection and inflammation are the common cause of dental emergencies. Therefore, evaluation of modalities to treat them would be beneficial. This work aims to characterise and validate the previously developed ex vivo pulp infection model and make it reliable and reproducible in terms of quantifying cell viability, area of bacterial colonisation and expression of inflammatory markers. The method developed and used in this work demonstrated that SAG infection reduced cell viability and IL-10 levels. SAG infection also Increased area of SAG colonisation of pulp,expression of IL-β, TNF-a and IL-18 in a time depended manner compared to uninfected control pulp. These findings were consistent with clinical observations, making it a reliable model for the observed characteristics. There were differences in the response to two SAG strains, with similar overall trends, but with greater response to S. constellatus. Differences in response to the two strains was confirmed by evaluating the effect of the SAG supernatants using the model. The response observed confirmed the deleterious effects of the supernatant on cell viability, and increase in expression of inflammatory markers, with a greater response of pulp observed to S. constellatus. Analysing the supernatants of SAG strains revealed the difference could be due to hyaluronidase produced by S. constellatus. Triclosan’s anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory effect in the treatment of pulpal infection was demonstrated using the SAG model through increased cell viability, reduced area of colonisation and inflammatory marker expression levels form triclosan treatment. Triclosan showed no anti-hyaluronisase activity. A poly-microbial infection model was developed with E. faecalis and S. anginosus on tooth slices. It was observed that E. faecalis perpetuated S. anginosus growth in mixed culture and caused greater cell-death compared to S. anginosus mono-infection. The proportion of E.faecalis and its affinity to blood vessels could influence the response of the model.

Major changes to the role of the pharmacist in the past decade include an increased prevalence of pharmacist independent prescribing and a shift towards multi-disciplinary working. In 2011 the GPhC accreditation criteria for schools of pharmacy also changed significantly, moving to a more outcomesbased education. Little is known about the preparedness of post-2011 graduates for modern practice in both hospital and community pharmacy settings. This study aimed to explore perceptions of this. Semi-structured one-to-one interviews were conducted to determine current perceptions of graduate preparedness for pre-registration training, what schools of pharmacy do well and areas for improvement. Fourteen members of academic staff (including teacher practitioners) from the Cardiff School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, twenty-five employers (individuals involved in the supervision/training of pre-registration trainees) from hospital and community pharmacies, and seventeen recent pharmacy graduates from both hospital and community pre-registration training programmes were interviewed. A range of themes and subthemes were created through thematic analysis. The time between graduation and the early weeks of pre-registration training was identified as an important period in the transition from student to healthcare professional. This transition was eased by a graduate’s prior exposure to the workplace (specific training site and more generally). All three stakeholder groups were supportive of enhancing spirality in MPharm curricula such that material learnt at university may be contextualised in pharmacy experiential placements. Students’ exposure to patients improved their confidence and communication skills whilst their interactions with pharmacist role models informed their expectations of practice. While stakeholders perceive graduates to have sufficient knowledge, their ability to apply this may be improved, suggesting post-2011 graduates are not as prepared for pre-registration training as they could be. The need for enhanced student exposure to practice, patients and pharmacists as part of the undergraduate degree has been identified.

Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) forms part of the established treatment for heart failure, but individual response is variable. Deformation imaging permits assessment of myocardial mechanics. Echocardiography-based techniques are unable to refine patient selection for CRT, although can identify preferential late mechanically activated (LMA) targets for lead placement. Feature-tracking (FT) is a rapid cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) deformation technique performed on standard acquisition, overcoming the limitations of myocardial tagging (MT). This work aims to validate FT-CMR against MT and establish its role in patient selection and left ventricular (LV) lead deployment in the context of CRT.A validation study performed on healthy volunteers and cardiomyopathy patients demonstrated good intra- and inter-observer variability, and reasonable agreement compared with MT. In a retrospective observational study of CRT recipients, greater baseline dyssynchrony did not predict LV reverse remodelling (LVRR) or symptomatic response at 6 months, but low strain was associated with a high risk of cardiovascular mortality. Furthermore, lead deployment over non-scarred, LMA myocardium, assessed using late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and FT-CMR was associated with better LVRR and long term survival. FT-CMR showed no ability to enhance patient selection for CRT but, coupled with LGE CMR, has a role in guiding LV lead deployment.

Sarcopenia can have serious consequences for health and quality of life. As the main drivers of anabolism, resistance exercise and protein ingestion may potentially be targets for interventions to alleviate these effects. Hence, two systematic reviews were conducted. Results of Chapter 2 indicated no augmentation of the effects of RET when older adults were supplemented with protein. Chapter 3 aimed to assess the effects of protein timing and distribution, but identified only six studies indicating a lack of research in the area. In Chapter 4, habitual protein intake in older adults was assessed to identify potential areas for improvement. While total intake was sufficient, distribution across meals was highly skewed, which is suboptimal according to current thinking. Chapter 5 compared effects of even and uneven protein distributions, alongside two weeks of resistance exercise, in women ≥65 years. A stable isotope protocol (deuterated water) was used to measure muscle protein synthesis. There was no significant difference in MPS between even (trained leg 1.02%.day-1) and uneven (1.16%.day-) diets, or in muscle strength change. These results do not support the theory of an optimal protein distribution based on the maximal MPS threshold dose, although there is potential for future research.

The Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) is a serious pest of rice in Asia. Development of novel control strategies can be facilitated by a comparison of BPH feeding behaviour on varieties exhibiting natural genetic variation, and then an elucidation of the underlying mechanisms of resistance. We began by understanding BPH feeding behaviour on 12 rice varieties with different resistance background using Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) and honeydew clock experiments. Seven feeding behaviours (waveforms) were identified and could be classified into two phases, feeding and non- feeding. Cluster analysis has separated the 12 varieties into 3 main groups, resistant, moderate and susceptible. Then, we undertook microarray analysis on all varieties to identify candidate genes which may contribute to resistance. The results reveal the difference between resistant and susceptible varieties. The data agree with EPG and honeydew clock experiments. A total of 21556 probes passed filter in statistical analysis using quantile method (in Genespring) and 239 probes significantly contributed to the difference between resistant versus susceptible (Volcano analysis). Some of them were found to be highly correlated with EPG data and could therefore be potential resistance candidate genes against BPH such as gene encoding hexose transporter, protein kinases, Alpha-DOX2 and peroxidases.

Over the decades, the question why did neural organisation emerge in the way that it did? has proved to be massively elusive. Whilst much of the literature paints a picture of common ancestry the idea that a species at the root of the tree of nervous system evolution spawned numerous descendants the actual evolutionary forces responsible for such changes, major transitions or otherwise, have been less clear. The view presented in this thesis is that via interactions with the environment, neural organisation has emerged in concert with the constraints enforced by body plan morphology and a need to process information eciently and robustly. Whilst these factors are two smaller parts of a much greater whole, their impact during the evolutionary process cannot be ignored, for they are fundamentally signicant. Thus computer simulations have been developed to provide insight into how neural organisation of an articial agent should emerge given the constraints of its body morphology, its symmetry, feedback from the environment, and a loss of energy. The first major finding is that much of the computational process of the nervous system can be ooaded to the body morphology, which has a commensurate bearing on neural architecture, neural dynamics and motor symmetry. The second major finding is that sensory feedback strengthens the dynamic coupling between the neural system and the body plan morphology, resulting in minimal neural circuitry yet more ecient agent behaviour. The third major finding is that under the constraint of energy loss, neural circuitry again emerges to be minimalistic. Throughout, an emphasis is placed on the coupling between the nervous system and body plan morphology which are known in the literature to be tightly integrated; accordingly, both are considered on equal footings.

The overall aim of this work was to investigate the synthesis of Laves phase-related BCC solid solution Ti V Mn based alloys for use in hydrogen storage and hydrogen compression applications. In particular, for Ti0.5V0.5Mn-based alloys, the effect of composition, microstructure, and crystallography on the hydrogen sorption properties, were investigated. After investigating seven novel compositions based on Ti-V-Mn, (i.e. Ti\(_{0.5}\)V\(_{0.4}\)TM\(_{0.1}\)Mn, where TM = Nb, Cr, Mo, Ta and Ti\(_{0.5}\)V\(_{0.5-x}\)Nb\(_x\)Mn, where x = 0.05, 0.2 and 0.5) it was found that small amounts (0.05 - 0.1 at%) of Nb substituted for V resulted in smaller hysteresis between absorption and desorption as well as higher hydrogen dissociation pressures. This finding led to the successful development of a two-stage metal hydride compressor utilising one of the novel composition (Nb = 0.05), which is capable of pressurising a cylinder up to 650 bar from an input pressure of less than 10 bar at 0.5 g H\(_2\)/min In summary, these findings confirm that it is possible to tailor the plateau pressure and enthalpy of a metal hydride system formed by alloying Ti-V-Mn with other transition metals.

Between 1850 and 1922, agriculturalists built 1,700 kilometers of levees to convert 250,000 hectares of tidal marsh to farmland where the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers enter the San Francisco Bay (the Delta). Drained, farmed and isolated from the water channels, the organic soils behind the levees subsided to elevations as low as 8 meters below sea level, turning "levees" into "dams" that hold back water constantly. Engineers built water transfer projects in the mid-20th century, transferring water from the south Delta to 25 million Californians who now rely on the "dams" accidentally converted into supply channels. In 1972, however, a levee failure caused a salt-water intrusion into the Delta, raising the prominence of the polemic Peripheral Canal which, if built would replace the levees in the trans-Delta water transport role. Levee failures in 2004 (the Delta) and 2005 (New Orleans) have re-ignited the debate, fueled by comments made by public officials who warned that the Delta levees posed more risk of failure than did the pre-Katina Louisiana levees. This background motivates two research questions: What are the social perspectives regarding levee failures of the experts managing the Delta; and what is the history of levee failures that might support their perspectives? The research employed Q-Method to identify and describe four social perspectives: Delta Sustainers, Abandon the Levees, Levee Pragmatists, and Multi-Purpose Levee Advocates. A critical element underlying differences among the perspectives revolved around the perceived history of failures of Delta levees. This dissertation employed semi-structured interviews, archival record searches, and historic map and aerial photograph comparisons to compile a history of 265 levee failures since 1868, many of which are referenced to location, segment, and levee type. In addition, the dissertation compiled a list of emergency repairs and successful flood-fights. The history of failures indicates that important levees of the Delta have performed significantly better than previously identified. Sharing these social perspectives and research results among the key actors addressing Delta issues may lead to improved consensus decisions.

Habilitationsschrift--Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät--Bamberg--Universität, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 369-420. Index.