The well-preserved record of glacial sediment-landform assemblages in Scotland provides an excellent opportunity to reconstruct the extent and style of former glaciation. Despite a concerted research effort, there remain areas where glacial events are poorly constrained. This is exemplified by the Gaick, a dissected plateau in the Central Grampians, which has proven to be an enigmatic and controversial area. Previously-proposed models fail to adequately explain glacial events in the area, partly due to a paucity of detailed geomorphological, chronological and sedimentological investigations. This thesis presents the results of systematic studies of the sediment-landform record in the Gaick. These investigations, combined with the application of morphostratigraphic principles, have elucidated sediment-landform signatures indicative of multiple glacier fluctuations, specifically (i) interactions of local and regional ice lobes following unzipping during ice sheet deglaciation, (ii) a major stillstand of an extensive pre-Younger Dryas plateau icefield, and (iii) spatiallyrestricted plateau icefield glaciation during the Younger Dryas. The sediment-landform record also suggests a two-phased Younger Dryas advance, as has been found elsewhere in Scotland. The sediment-landform evidence was used to produce palaeoglaciological reconstructions for the three glacial phases. The clarity and completeness of the geomorphological record relating to the Younger Dryas, combined with ice surface profile modelling, allowed the three-dimensional reconstruction of a ~42 km2 plateau icefield. This reconstruction yielded an equilibrium line altitude value of 751 ± 46 m, which was used to derive a sea-level equivalent precipitation estimate of 826 ± 331 mm a-1. Taken together with glacier-derived precipitation estimates from across Scotland, this indicates a strong west-east precipitation gradient during the Younger Dryas. This thesis arrives at a more nuanced understanding of former glaciation in the Gaick, resolving discrepancies with previous conceptual models. In particular, this thesis demonstrates that the Gaick was an important ice dispersal centre throughout the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition.

No description available.

Medusozoan jellyfish (Classes Scyphozoa and Hydrozoa) have gained a degree of worldwide notoriety in the last fifteen years, particularly as anthropogenic influences such as climate change and overfishing push some ecosystems toward their advantage (Lynam et al. 2005, Purcell and Arai 2001, Purcell et al. 2007, Purcell 2012, Flynn et al. 2012, Dawson et al. 2014). Accordingly, both the lay and scientific media have paid a good deal of attention to jellyfish bloom phenomena and their impacts on human activities, but the bulk of this attention has been devoted to larger, visually obvious species of Class Scyphozoa. Only recently have their smaller cousins, the hydrozoans, come to be recognized as potentially problematic. This thesis examines population ecology of hydrozoan medusae (hydromedusae) and their implications for salmon aquaculture in Scotland. My review of available literature has found hydrozoans to be a recognized - though under- studied - problem for Scottish salmon (Chapter 1, Prospective monitoring of hydromedusa populations at salmon aquaculture facilities). Typically, hydrozoan populations at salmon farms have been discussed in the scientific literature only in the context of extremely dense visible blooms or in the wake of major mortality incidents. This retrospective, rather than prospective, approach has left a dearth of knowledge pertaining to hydromedusan interactions with farmed fish, with both fish welfare and industry economics vulnerable to future blooms. This thesis sought to build a basis for the goals of prediction, avoidance, and mitigation of harmful hydrozoan jellyfish blooms. First and foremost, this required the development of a prospective time-series dataset of hydromedusan occurrences at salmon farms (Chapter 2, Bacterial genera biodiversity in three medusozoan species in Shetland). To this end, four farms were recruited as participants across a three-year survey. Weekly plankton tow-based sampling at these sites identified which hydrozoan species could be expected to produce blooms, the seasonality of such blooms, and the pathological sequelae that could be expected in salmon after exposure to such blooms. Following one particularly dramatic bloom, a spike in gill pathologies in salmon was observed, followed by a spike in overall mortality and the eventual loss of up to £2.5 million value as the fish were humanely culled. This survey also demonstrated that hydromedusan blooms are usually spatially and temporally patchy, limiting the opportunities for geographically-encompassing predictive power. Instead, individual aquaculture facilities may require site-specific risk assessment and planning frameworks to monitor and cope with blooms. Potential methods for continued basic monitoring and a mitigation strategy based on minimizing contact between fish and high-density blooms are suggested. A second mitigation goal examined the theory that medusae may act as vectors for microbial pathogens, particularly Tenacibaculum maritimum (Ferguson et al. 2010, Delannoy et al. 2011; Chapter 3). Sampling methods designed to target T. maritimum were employed with the aim of determining its distribution and role as a symbiont in various life stages of medusozoan species. While T. maritimum itself was not observed, a number of other fish pathogens were found in close association with several species. This included Aeromonas salmonicida, known to cause furunculosis in aquaculture of both salmon and trout (Nomura et al. 1992). Further work is required to piece together the nature of these associations. Finally, Chapter 2 identified a particular hydrozoan genus, Obelia, as a likely significant contributor to blooms at salmon aquaculture sites. One of its species, O. geniculata, has a widely distributed and well-recognized benthic colonial life stage (called the hydroid stage) in Scottish nearshore sublittoral environments. In attempting to sample these hydroids from previously well-colonized sites in Shetland in late 2012, it became apparent that a severe local reduction in the benthic population was taking place. This allowed for the opportunity to study phylogeographic population structure - i.e. the boundaries of its gene pool(s) in Scottish waters and its potential for dispersal during one seasonal reproductive period - using a molecular study of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene (Chapter 4, Phylogeographic analysis of Obelia geniculata populations in the north of Scotland). In sampling immediately after the observed dieback, O. geniculata was found to follow a south-to-north pattern of genetic grouping, as well as a confirmed dieback. However, this pattern disappeared in samples collected after the population had recovered, probably due to the immigration of genetically novel individuals. This finding, in conjunction with the spatial-temporal patchiness found in the medusa bloom stage, suggests the importance of the larval stage as the primary stage for dispersal in the plankton. This study was also able to compare present population genetic data with a set of O. geniculata mtCOI data collected between 1998 and 2002. The combined data potentially show a high degree of mixing across a number of North Atlantic regions, including Icelandic and North American sites. Further investigation will be required to discern whether this pattern is temporally based (i.e. artefact of 15 years' elapsed time in opportunities for population mixing), or whether ecological, anthropogenic, or combined mechanisms are facilitating rapid transport of propagules to yield a well-mixed population. Further work in refining prediction and mitigation is still needed, as are effective veterinary interventions in the event of blooms. Continued study into the ecological patterns of colonization and dispersal may help to minimize exposure to blooms, by helping to assess site-based risks. This research forms the basis for such studies into hydrozoan interactions with salmon farms in Scotland, and how the industry might seek to minimize their impacts.

The main purpose of this thesis is to expound the notion that the fourteenth-century poet John Barbour used a loose framework of standard chivalric ideals and tropes to explain and in some cases legitimise the actions of his heroes and that Blind Hary adopted a similar approach when composing The Wallace around a century later. It will explore the idea that both writers did this in order to present their heroes in a way that their audiences would recognise and also to influence the behaviour of these audiences, insofar as the audience of these works in their immediate historical context can be reconstructed. This thesis will not attempt to deal with whether or not they were successful in affecting change in the behaviour of the audiences, as this would require a significant broadening of the scope of this study and it is doubtful whether this may even be possible to assess even in a much wider study. However, in addressing the major themes of both poems with regards to chivalry, this thesis will draw on the historic a l contexts in which each source was written in order to better explain why these authors adopted the attitudes they did and why the notions they espouse might have been apposite at the time of writing. In particular, it will consider the way each author explores themes of prudence, friendship and loyalty as expressed through oath-making for what these themes tell us about Barbour and Hary’s engagement with chivalry. These themes will then be drawn together in a final chapter on what constitutes ‘acceptable’ behaviour for each of these writers.

Although previous examinations of the failed 1698-1700 Company of Scotland initiative to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama have emphasized its impact on the political future of Great Britain, the endeavor also intruded into a broader spectrum of geography, commercial enterprise and sociopolitics. The thesis examines the wider reverberations of the effort across four continents. Ranging from interruption of the lucrative slavetrade to the creation of an unintentional diaspora to opportunities for new alliances among European powers to ramifications for the indigenous Cuna, the Company of Scotland intruded into events on the eve of the seventeenth century in ways far beyond those previously considered.

This thesis explores the extent to which medical and scientific knowledge developed in Scotland and the manner of the transference, exchange and circulation of ideas from one of the intellectual cores of early modern Europe to the (supposed) periphery of Europe. It examines where Scottish medical students received their education demonstrating that Scots attended universities offering a practical medical education. Scottish medical students chose Padua in larger numbers than Leiden in the early‐seventeenth century contrary to views, widely held in the existing historiography, suggesting an enduring Italian influence in Scotland. Additionally, attendance at other universities (Paris and Leiden) acted as a conduit for Italian approaches. Provenance information from Scottish medical practitioners’ libraries exposes the presence of editions and authors as indicators of the reception of Italian ideas. Following the reception of this knowledge, its impact on Scottish practice is examined. Medical and scientific practice is explored through teaching in Scotland’s universities, the reception of Italian visitors to Scotland, vernacular medical publication and by proposing the concept of regional models of medical professionalisation. In discussing medical education at Scottish universities this thesis argues that medical teaching was more sustained and significant than previously acknowledged. The development of medical and scientific practice in Scotland is surveyed against the backdrop of three intertwined intellectual forces emanating from the Continent: the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. In doing so it makes the case for an early reception of Renaissance humanism within Scottish universities. It argues that the Reformation led to the secularisation of medicine within Scottish society and presented little difficulty to the dissemination of ‘Catholic’ knowledge recognised to be useful. It also makes the case that the innovations associated with the Scientific Revolution in anatomy, botany and astronomy were adopted in Scotland in line with timescales across Europe.

The aim of this research is to fill the gap in the current historiography of the labour process and industrial relations on the impact of new technology on the work process. Invariably, when considering mechanisation in the coal industry, the existing literature usually glosses over the topic referring to the numbers of machines in use and the percentage of output produced. Little in-depth research has been undertaken into the way these new processes changed the work of the miner, the effect on safety undergroundand the effects that these innovations had on labour relations in the industry. The thesis probes the way mechanisation affected the work of the miner. Consideration is given to deskilling, loss of control at the point of production, intensification of the work process and employment. The findings show that although some mineworkers increased their skills the vast majority experienced a downgrading in skill. Employers used new technology to erode the control miners had in the mines. Mechanisation led to an intensification of work effort. Mechanisation proved a doubled-edged sword for employment opportunities. Employment increased in the earlier period, but the move to mechanical conveying in the inter-war years had the opposite effect on job opportunities. Regarding mine safety the evidence indicates that mechanisation led to an increase in the risk of death and injury for Scottish mineworkers. New technology also impacted on industrial relations. Mines, which were highly mechanised generally witnessed a high degree of industrial unrest. It is not suggested that mechanisation was a direct cause of conflict but it has been demonstrated that it did produce potential grievances which may have been translated into industrial conflict.

Technical education has received little attention in the literature of Scottish education. This research aims to remedy this deficiency. Its prime focus is on a major college of technology, examining its origins in the socio-economic context of the West of scotland of the 19th century and relating its development to the form of provision of technical education which evolved nationally during the 20th century. Within the overall research particular study is made of certain aspects: the central Institution System peculiar to Scotland, of which the College eventually became part; government policy for technical education especially post world War II culminating in the Robbins Report with its implications for the public sector; and the College's relationship with industry and its responses to changes in that relationship. Its primary sources are paisley college records and archives, those of comparable institutions, local authority records and the archives of the Scottish Record Office, complemented by oral evidence from individuals with close knowledge of the College and covering the period 1920-80. The research makes an original contribution to scholarship in the account of the College's development from its 19th century origins, in the examination of its recognition as a central Institution and in the appraisal of the role of the scottish Education Department in the development of technical education. The research concludes that the College was a product of its time but that support from the community and indigenous industry was not on a scale to sustain it adequately, and that it was saved from collapse by its relationship with two major industrial firms and its eventual recognition as a central Institution. Greater security and confidence allied to changes in the government policy brought growth and diversification and change to full time degree provision. Local industry remained limited in its demands and relationships with commerce came only late in its existence, but the college successfully devised a range of special services related to wider industrial and commercial needs.

The Cambrian clastic sediments of northwest Scotland crop-out along the line of the Moine Thrust Zone between Skye in the south and Loch Eriboll in the north and form the basal 250m of a broadly transgressive Cambro-Ordovician sequence of clastic and carbonate sediments. These sediments were deposited on the passive western margin of the lapetus Ocean. The clastic stratigraphy consists of four members; the Lower Member, Pipe Rock, Fucoid Beds and Salterella Grit. The Lower Member consists of 100-125m of mature, cross-bedded quartzarenites which have been subdivided into three facies associations. The lowest association is a 10m thick series of cross-bedded channel sands interpreted as mesotidal barrier inlet deposits. This association is erosively overlain by 10m of thinly bedded, cross-bedded and parallel laminated sands interpreted as lower shoreface sediments. The remainder of the Lower Member comprises compound cross-bedded cosets 1-10m thick interpreted as tidal sandwave deposits. The sudden appearance of numerous Skolithos burrows at the Lower Member-Pipe Rock boundary is interpreted as an evolutionary event representing the colonisation of the Cambrian shelf by suspension feeding annelids. The Pipe Rock is an 85-100m thick sequence of mature, highly burrowed quartzarenites considered to have been deposited in a tidal shelf to outer shelf tempestite setting. The Fucoid Beds consists of 20m of a mixed clastic-carbonate sequence of thinly bedded wave rippled tempestites interbedded with fairweather echinoderm grainstones. The Salterella Grit is a 0-15m thick coarsening upwards sequence of muds and quartzarenites interpreted as having been deposited as tidal sandridges which went through active and moribund stages of development before being buried under carbonate platform sediments. The dominant controls on the facies developed in this sequence were thermal subsidence, eustatic sea level rise and tidal resonant effects. Two rapid shallowing events, in the middle of the Pipe Rock and at the top of the Fucoid Beds, may have been produced by variations in the spreading rate of the lapetus Ocean.

There have been a number of influences on arrangements for CME for GPs in the UK since the NHS was launched in 1948, the most profound being the 1990 introduction of the Postgraduate Education Allowance. This massively increased the market for GP education, but no mechanism was put in place to ensure quality or fulfilment of individual need. Despite increasing interest in self-directed learning. the PGEA appeared to discriminate against reflection and planning as part of the adult learning cycle. The PGEA also discriminated against GPs who did not enjoy easy access to the evolving market. In 1994, money was released by SCPMDE to increase the number of GP Associate Adviser sessions in North-East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland. This opportunity was used to appoint a team of CME Advisers to work with GPs to help increase elements of reflection and planning in their learning. In defining and developing their role, an opportunity arose to research four different facets of their work, ie: 1. A description of how the CME Advisers came to be doing what they eventually did, their tools and their operational and support systems. 2. An analysis of participation, or participants views on the work of CME and the work of developing a Personal Learning Plan. 3. A cost analysis of the process. 4. The views of GP Educators nationally on the future of CME for GPs, examining the context into which the work in North-East Scotland would fit. The research showed that it was possible to develop acceptable, effective and enduring tools and systems to support the process, which did not diminish ownership or self-direction. The participants valued periodic review and planning meetings with a trusted peer. The process was cost efficient and largely achievable within existing budgets. The concept was commensurate with GP educators' views of how CME should develop nationally.