Khovanov-Lauda-Rouquier algebras, or KLR algebras, are a family of algebras known to categorify the upper half of the quantized enveloping algebra of a given Lie algebra. In finite type, these algebras come with a family of standard modules, which correspond to PBW bases under this categorification. In this thesis, we show that there are no non-zero homomorphisms between distinct standard modules and that all non-zero endomorphisms of standard modules are injective. We then apply this result to obtain applications to the modular representation theory of KLR algebras. Restricting our attention to finite type A, we are then able to compute explicit projective resolutions of all standard modules. Finally, in finite type A when alpha is a positive root, we let D be the direct sum of all distinct standard modules and compute the algebra structure on Ext(D, D). This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material.

For each finite dimensional Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ and positive integer $k$ there exists a modular tensor category $\mathcal{C}(\mathfrak{g},k)$ consisting of highest weight integrable $\hat{\mathfrak{g}}$-modules of level $k$ where $\hat{\mathfrak{g}}$ is the corresponding affine Lie algebra. Relations between the classes $[\mathcal{C}(\mathfrak{sl}_2,k)]$ in the Witt group of nondegenerate braided fusion categories have been completely described in the work of Davydov, Nikshych, and Ostrik. Here we give a complete classification of relations between the classes $[\mathcal{C}(\mathfrak{sl}_3,k)]$ relying on the classification of conncted \'etale alegbras in $\mathcal(\mathfrak_3,k)$ ($SU(3)$ modular invariants) given by Gannon. We then give an upper bound on the levels for which exceptional connected \'etale algebras may exist in the remaining rank 2 cases ($\mathcal{C}(\mathfrak{so}_5,k)$ and $\mathcal{C}(\mathfrak{g}_2,k)$) in hopes of a future classification of Witt group relations among the classes $[\mathcal{C}(\mathfrak{so}_5,k)]$ and $[\mathcal{C}(\mathfrak{g}_2,k)]$. This dissertation contains previously published material.

This thesis argues for an analysis of popular television in relation to the dominant political ideas and values of Thatcherism. Examining the power of popular entertainment genres to inscribe and inform public understanding of political debates, the thesis offers an analysis of television realism in relation to genres such as situation comedy and drama serials. Using the work of Antonio Gramsci, Stuart Hall, Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes and the Bakhtin Circle, the methodology concentrates on a discursive model of interpretation which draws on elements of semiotic and discourse analysis. It refers to the field of hermeneutics in order to address some of the problems of textual analysis and considers the ontological problems of television realism, particularly as they relate to the representation of political ideas. The thesis also considers the role of realism as an important ideological feature of dramatic representation on television. The contribution of the thesis to the field of Media Studies lies in its engagement with the sphere of political discourse in relation to popular television programmes over a specific period of intense ideological activity. In choosing to examine Thatcherite discourse in relation to work and unemployment, the thesis considers issues of class and gender in relation to changing attitudes to unemployment as expressed through narrative and other discursive patterns in the medium of television drama. The thesis argues that television drama of the period responded to the dominant rhetoric of Thatcherite politics concerning work and unemployment with a variety of identifiable structures and dramatic strategies. The ideological import of these strategies is assessed through a combination of textual analyses and socio-political appraisal of the phenomenon of Thatcherism.

Let G be a finite group and F a field. The group algebra FG decomposes as a direct sum of two-sided ideals, called the blocks of FG. In this thesis the structure of the centre of a block for various groups is investigated. Studying these subalgebras yields information about the relationship between two block algebras and, in certain cases, forms a vital tool in establishing the non-existence of an important equivalence in the context of modular representation theory. In particular, the focus lies on determining the Loewy structure for the centre of a block, which so far has not been studied in detail but is fundamental in gaining a better understanding of the block itself. For finite groups G with non-abelian, trivial intersection Sylow p-subgroups, the analysis of the Loewy structure of the centre of a block allows us to deduce that a stable equivalence of Morita type does not induce an algebra isomorphism between the centre of the principal block of G and its Sylow normaliser. This was already known for the Suzuki groups; the techniques will be generalised to extend the result to cover the Ree groups of type ^2G_2(q).In addition, the three sporadic simple groups with the trivial intersection property, M_11, McL and J_4, together with some small projective special unitary groups are studied with respect to showing the non-existence of an isomorphism between the centre of the principal block and the centre of its Brauer correspondent. Finally, the Loewy structure of centres of various principal blocks are calculated. In particular, some small sporadic simple groups and groups with normal, elementary abelian Sylow p-subgroups are considered. For the latter, some specific formulae for the Loewy length are derived, which generalises recent results on groups with cyclic Sylow p-subgroups.

Visual information is processed by the brain in a large number of functional sites across a network of anatomically separate areas. In order to guide coherent behaviour, visual attention is required to select and integrate information regarding the spatial and perceptual attributes of separate objects from the numerous areas involved in their representation. The empirical work reported in this thesis investigates the role of spatial information in guiding this process and considers the different types of representation that may be involved. Using an experimental paradigm designed to disambiguate priming in egocentric and allocentric coordinates, the thesis contrasts the predictions of location and object-based models of attention across a series of experiments that manipulate the way attention is oriented to the location or identity of objects in the visual scene. Initial chapters investigate the distinction between exogenous and endogenous attention and its implication for the coordinate frame in which selection occurs. Subsequent chapters investigate the role of non-spatial attributes such as colour differentiation and grouping in determining the nature of spatial representation underlying shifts of attention as well as spatial-temporal constraints on object-based priming. The results across the thesis are inconsistent with the distinction imposed by space and object-based models of attention and instead support a more flexible account in which attentional mechanisms activate representations that combine non-spatial and spatial information about localised objects at a number of levels of spatial description.

This submission draws together six publications and a covering document to set out an original contribution to knowledge in the field of learning disabled performance. Critical attention has been relatively scarce in this field, and the publications gathered here offer the only extended study of learning disability and performance that covers a range of artists across the artforms of theatre and music. Following an initial provocation which outlines the emergence of theatre and learning disability, the publications focus mostly on detailed studies of specific artists, exploring their aesthetic practice along with discursive and audience responses to their work. The article on Heavy Load considers how the integrated band, in its negotiation of punk’s anti-aesthetic, reappropriates the image of learning disability already inherent in the form. Two publications on Susan Boyle explore how her successful audition for Britain’s Got Talent contradicts medical and discursive attempts to contain learning disabled people, and also reveals the traditional place of learning disability in what Slavoj Žižek (following Jacques Lacan) calls the symbolic order. A chapter on Mind the Gap critically assesses the company’s various projects and explores the notion of the learning disabled actor. The final article on Back to Back theatre opens up post-Brechtian dialectics operating in key productions by the ensemble. The covering document sets out the core arguments that underpin my publications, forming a cohesive approach to reading learning disabled performance with significance for the social and aesthetic understanding of cognitive impairment. I contest a dominant approach that positions learning disabled people as non-performative and singularly non-dialectical. My original readings draw particularly on Theodor Adorno’s negative dialectics and I propose a specific dialectic of stasis and dynamism. In doing so, the combined research generates new possibilities for understanding such performance encounters beyond the historically sedimented constructions of learning disability.

This project examines texts from a body of work which numbers fifteen performed across the country. The accompanying commentary identifies the ways in which 'Be My Baby' and 'The Thrill of Love' tell female-centred stories in a popular dramatic voice which explore aspects of women's lived experience. It engages with feminist theory and practice to identify the diffuse and sometimes contradictory feminisms within the plays. Dramatic structure is considered with close reference to realist and expressionist forms. The exegesis investigates their engagement with popular culture, the importance of music in the narratives and the methods by which they seek to reclaim women's history. The commentary brings together academic mainstream sources to contextualize the study. Playtexts are examined with reference to a broad range of theorists, practitioners and cultural commentators including Eileen Aston and Geraldine Harris, Erin Hurley, Angela McRobbie, Graham Saunders, Lucy O'Brien, Carol Ann Lee and Lyn Gardner. The distinctive aspects of affective solidarity and feeling are identified as unifying elements of the play's personal and political concerns.

In its annual report, "How Are We Doing?", British Columbia's Ministry of Education assesses Aboriginal students' participation and graduation rates, both of which have been consistently below those of non-Aboriginal students. In addressing the question, "How are we doing?", this thesis examines the visual images and representations of Aboriginal peoples in British Columbia's secondary Social Studies textbooks as well as the Aboriginal programs offered in the Surrey School District. The implications affect both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students as the study hopes to encourage and improve cross-cultural responsiveness between and among them and to promote public discourse in the education for and of Aboriginal peoples. Negative portrayals and representations of Aboriginal peoples were common in textbooks of the past as documented by various studies. In reviewing the Surrey School District's currently recommended Social Studies textbooks, four main concerns continue to exist and persist: Aboriginal peoples continue to be marginalized, essentialized, seen as a problem, and decontextualized. However, one of the ministry's approved courses, BC First Nations Studies 12, attempts to address these inequities. Its recommended textbook is based on Aboriginal knowledge and epistemology, empowering and giving voice to Aboriginal peoples. Through the interviews of eight educators who assist Aboriginal students in the Surrey School District, this study offers some of their insights to improve student "success". Aboriginal students need to accept and embrace their identity, not only to build their self-esteem but also to honour their own cultures. Educators need to redefine "success" beyond academic achievement to include Aboriginal knowledge and epistemology within their teaching and evaluating practices and become more cognizant of and sensitive to the challenges and triumphs of their students, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. Universities need to re-address the training of future educators to include Aboriginal issues in order for them to gain greater historical understanding and, in turn, empathy and compassion. These practical initiatives reflect the progress and movement in addressing the challenges and hopes of Aboriginal peoples in their journey toward real self-determination and decolonization. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

In Chapter One, in the first three of six sections, I trace aspects of my professional journey - processes of experience, reflection and formation - which woven together have brought me to create this document. This doctoral study is the culmination of my professional life and in the first section I show how my professional growth and development has evolved naturally to this point. The second aspect has felt quite different, and more like a sudden forced hothouse growth. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would read neuropsychology to understand and enjoy them, but the evidence is there! As I wrote up my experience of the professional seminars in the third section I realised how effectively they had provided a strong organic framework - a cumulative support and stimulation as I was ready for it, complementing and permeating my thinking. In section four I outline the work I have achieved and sustained at doctoral level. In section five I set out the effect my work might have both in the profession of psychotherapy and for others in their lives and relationships. The final section looks at the limitations in my work and future possibilities for further research. In CHAPTER TWO I describe how I used the agency that employed me as an external trainer along with my private counselling and supervision practice and various contacts outside my work, to set up experiential learning projects for others through which I could collect the evidence I needed to study the symbols, metaphors and themes in the dreams of disabled people, and compare them with those of non-disabled people, including my own. I became deeply involved in the research process. I hope I convey my amazement in the discovery I made that the physically able self-representation in the dreams of disabled people which I and many others before me had thought to be an odd phenomenon, is as it is because it is exactly the same as that of non-disabled dreamers! Along the way towards that discovery I found other fascinating dream features that I have illustrated throughout the chapter. CHAPTER THREE looks at the relationships - the professional context in which dreams are explored. Few reports gave evidence that dreams had been discussed in them, but that in itself was not essential for my study. I wanted to understand what would be likely to happen to such relationships in this area of diversity, and what more might be needed for them to be safe enough for dream exploration. This chapter is a catalogue of pain and struggle, in total contrast to the delight and surprise of chapter two. It is a record of what others told me of their experience in counselling and supervisory relationships where there were disabled and non-disabled people working together. I found what I suspected I would find, and because I dreaded finding it and then revealing it to others, I set out to be sure of my facts. I looked at the issue from several sides, and by including visualisation I encountered it also in depth. The record combines and analyses material from twelve different data sets. My findings are in the area of the effects of the differing body image on the dyadic partner and the working relationship, and in the contrast between the practice of those with long experience in working in this field with those new to it. From these I draw the conclusion that this area of diversity in our profession needs much more help than is currently given in training courses. I set out what I believe are essential areas for exploration and growth for all who choose to work in this field, and trust that those who supervise practice in our profession will take them on board.

This thesis is an analysis of the representations of Deaf identity in a major English Canadian newspaper, the Toronto Star. A qualitative case-based discourse analysis was used to examine a documented interaction between the Toronto Star and eleven Deaf community leaders and allies. This research found that the most frequent use of ‘deaf’ is metaphorical and of the non-metaphorical uses, ‘Deaf’ identity is predominantly constructed from a pathological paradigm. The findings of this research provide a valuable perspective from a non-dominate cultural group, the Canadian Deaf community, on the representation of Deaf identity in mainstream print news media. It also makes linkages between the representations of Deaf identity and the experiences of these representations by Deaf people, and links the perspectives of this cultural group to the broader body of research related to minority identity negotiation in mainstream media.