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Suicide In Adults Aged 75 And Over In Cornwall: An Epidemiological And Case Study Analysis, Sarah Buckingham

School of Nursing and Midwifery Theses

Introduction/Background: Suicide in older people is a historically neglected research area. Local audits had suggested that Cornwall had a higher than average suicide rate, and people aged 75 years and over appeared to be at particularly high risk. Heterogeneity between studies and variations in presenting suicide statistics can make comparison of rates difficult. Aims: The study aimed to explore in depth the epidemiology of suicide in elderly people in Cornwall, to develop an understanding of the risk factors (including sources of stress), suicide methods, locations, and warnings, and consequently to identify potential preventive strategies. Methods: A mixed methods approach was …

A Right To A Child Of One's Own? The Legal Justification In Limiting Access To Assisted Reproductive Treatment, Rebecca O'Connor

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

The revolution in IVF treatment in recent years has resulted in the conception of over 4 million babies worldwide prompting stricter legal regulation and control of medical practice. This article explores the demand and availability for IVF, and how international and domestic legislation operates and applies in relation to the notion of 'a right to a child.' It considers whether there is, or should be, an established right to such treatment and the extent to which interferences by the state to prohibit or limit assisted reproductive treatments are legitimately justified.

We Are A Family: Legal Issues For Lesbian And Gay Parented Families In New Zealand, Janette Kelly, Nicola Surtees

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

This article summarises research commissioned by the New Zealand Families Commission to gain a better understanding and awareness of the legal position of gay parented families and donor parents compared to heteronormative families. The research and discussion raise issues about the limits and parameters of legal parenthood rights, responsibilities and liabilities and draws some analogies with English law in this respect.

The Uncertainty Of Article 8 Echr In Relation To The Removal Of Foreign Criminals, Lucy Nash

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

This article highlights concerns regarding judicial interpretations and understandings of the application of Article 8 European Convention on Human Rights to control the deportation of foreign criminals from the United Kingdom. It examines the broad scope of the provision arguing that it is somewhat unclear, vague and unpredictable for those seeking to rely on it.

Distant Relations: A Study Of Identity, Ethics And Power In The Relationship Between Britain And The United Kingdom Overseas Territories, Nichola Harmer

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

This thesis contributes to new understandings of the contemporary relationship between Britain and the fourteen remaining United Kingdom Overseas Territories. By examining the discourse of social and political elites in Britain and in several Overseas Territories it identifies the significance of the role of identity in shaping perceptions and relations between these international actors. The thesis explores how understandings of the Overseas Territories as either part of, external to, or occupying an intermediate position with regard to the British state, shapes power relations and ethical considerations in the relationship between Britain and the territories. The importance of identity in this …

The Poverty Defense, Michele E. Gilman

All Faculty Scholarship

Poverty is correlated with crime, but it is widely assumed that it should not be a defense. In the 1970s, Judge David Bazelon challenged this assumption, proposing a rotten social background defense, that is, how growing up under circumstances of severe deprivation can subsequently impact a criminal defendant's mental state and actions. Relatedly, other theorists have posited that poverty should be a defense to crime based on poverty's coercive aspects or because society forfeits its right to condemn when it tolerates significant economic inequality. Critics counter that a poverty defense should not be adopted because it is not only inconsistent …

Rebuilding Fish Communities: The Ghost Of Fisheries Past And The Virtue Of Patience, Jeremy Collie, Marie-Joëlle Rochet, Richard Bell

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The ecosystem approach to management requires the status of individual species to be considered in a community context. We conducted a comparative ecosystem analysis of the Georges Bank and North Sea fish communities to determine the extent to which biological diversity is restored when fishing pressure is reduced. First, fishing mortality estimates were combined to quantify the community‐level intensity and selectivity of fishing pressure. Second, standardized bottom‐trawl survey data were used to investigate the temporal trends in community metrics. Third, a size‐based, multispecies model (LeMans) was simulated to test the response of community metrics to both hypothetical and observed changes …

Review Of Us And Eu Initiatives Toward Development, Demonstration, And Commercialization Of Lignocellulosic Biofuels, Venkatesh Balan, David Chiaramonti, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Advanced biofuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass offer an exciting opportunity to produce renewable liquid transportation fuels, biochemicals, and electricity from locally available agriculture and forest residues. The growing interest in biofuels from lignocellulosic feedstock in the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) can provide a path forward toward replacing petroleum-based fuels with sustainable biofuels which have the potential to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The selection of biomass conversion technologies along with feedstock development plays a crucial role in the commercialization of next-generation biofuels. There has been synergy and, even with similar basic process routes, diversity in the …

Indirect Effects Of Conservation Policies On The Coupled Human-Natural Ecosystem Of The Upper Gulf Of California, Hem Nalini Morzaria-Luna, Cameron H. Ainsworth, Isaac C. Kaplan, Phillip S. Levin, Elizabeth A. Fulton

Marine Science Faculty Publications

High bycatch of non-target species and species of conservation concern often drives the implementation of fisheries policies. However, species- or fishery-specific policies may lead to indirect consequences, positive or negative, for other species or fisheries. We use an Atlantis ecosystem model of the Northern Gulf of California to evaluate the effects of fisheries policies directed at reducing bycatch of vaquita (Phocoena sinus) on other species of conservation concern, priority target species, and metrics of ecosystem function and structure. Vaquita, a Critically Endangered porpoise endemic to the Upper Gulf of California, are frequently entangled by finfish gillnets and shrimp driftnets. We …

Combining Angular And Spatial Information From Multibeam Backscatter Data For Improved Unsupervised Acoustic Seabed Segmentation, Alexandre C. Schimel, Yuri Rzhanov, Luciano E. Fonseca, M Mayer, Dirk Immenga

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

No abstract provided.

Reflector Magazine, Georgia Southern University, Student Media

Reflector Magazine

• Hollywood Lights up Georgia
• From Waves to Wheelchair
• Grad Stats
• Behind the Mask of #GSUProblems
• Make the Pedestrian Your Runway
• Beginnings of a Dynasty
• Sober Side of the Bottle
• You're Lifting Weights. Who's Lifting Your Stuff?
• Sweeping Together 'Clean House'

Clinical Reasoning And Causal Attribution In Medical Diagnosis, Linda Adams

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Forming a medical diagnosis is a complicated reasoning process undertaken by physicians. Although there has been much research focusing on clinical reasoning approaches, there is limited empirical evidence in relation to causal attribution in medical diagnosis. The research on which this thesis is based explored and examined the social process of medical diagnosis and provides an explanation of the clinical reasoning and causal attribution used by physicians. The research was undertaken in an Emergency Department within an acute hospital, the data were collected using mixed method approach including one to one semi-structured interviews with individual physicians; observation of their medical …

The Adoption Of Disabled Children, Sarah Bunt

Other Faculty of Health Theses

The research has set out to examine the motives that contribute towards the decision to adopt a disabled child. Increased knowledge about placing disabled children for adoption is particularly important as they are regarded as the category hardest to place (Adoption Register 2009). Despite the wide gaps in knowledge, the negativity associated with the social construction of disability has been seen as a cause of disabled children’s disadvantage (Cousins 2009). Synthesising a Critical Realist framework with Grounded Theory methods; to examine both the efforts of local authorities to place a disabled child for adoption, as well as the narratives of …

Developmental Timing In Aquatic Embryos: Linking Intraspecific Heterochrony And Evolution, Oliver Tills

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The main aim of this thesis is to understand the extent to which intraspecific variation in developmental event timing might provide the raw material from which heterochronies may originate. To this end I studied the timing of a suite of both morphological and physiological events in the embryonic development of Radix balthica, a species of aquatic snail known to exhibit event timing variation during the embryonic period (Tills et al. 2010; Rundle et al. 2011) and that sits within an evolutionary clade, in which extensive heterochrony has been documented (Smirthwaite et al. 2007). I found that variation in embryonic developmental …

Mechanisms By Which Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy May Resolve Inflammation In Chronic Wounds, Anwar J Al-Mzaiel

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy is the intermittent inhalation of 100% oxygen at a pressure greater than one atmosphere absolute. It is an effective treatment for various inflammatory conditions, including chronic wounds which are characterized by an excessive influx of neutrophils and their prolonged persistence at the wound site. Neutrophil apoptosis and clearance have been shown to be required for resolution of inflammation. The mechanisms by which HBO aids wound healing are well documented, but its effects on cellular inflammatory response are not well understood particularly with respect to neutrophils. The hypothesis presented in this thesis is that increased oxygenation via …

The Effects Of Oxygen And Reactive Oxygen Species On Antibiotic Resistance And Microbial Communities In Chronic Wounds, Lindsey Glew

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Infection is one of the factors that may contribute to non-healing of chronic wounds; the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria serves to exacerbate the problem due to limited treatment options. Bacteria utilise several mechanisms to survive exposure to antibiotics, including synthesis of deactivating enzymes, target modification or substitution, changes to membrane permeability, upregulation of efflux pumps and the formation of a biofilm. Quorum sensing is a density-dependent mechanism of bacterial cell to cell communication that can be instrumental in co-ordinating biofilm initiation. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is an option offered to some patients with chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers. …

An Investigation Of The Mechanism(S) Of Hyperoxia-Induced Cilial Epithelial Loss In Mammalian Bronchial Tissue, Hanady Abd Al-Sahib

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Hyperoxia is an essential aid to life support in patients with severe respiratory failure. However, it is recognised as a contributor to the pathological consequences of oxidative stress including oxidative tissue damage, inflammation and cell death resulting in acute or chronic lung injury. The specific mechanisms behind this type of injury are still not completely understood. This study was undertaken with two main aims. Firstly, to evaluate the adverse effects of hyperoxia on the ciliary coverage using a novel large animal model. For the first time, an in vitro bronchus bovine tissue culture model was developed and used to quantify …

Energy Based Control System Designs For Underactuated Robot Fish Propulsion, Daniel Roper

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

In nature through millions of years of evolution fish and cetaceans have developed fast efficient and highly manoeuvrable methods of marine propulsion. A recent explosion in demand for sub sea robotics, for conducting tasks such as sub sea exploration and survey has left developers desiring to capture some of the novel mechanisms evolved by fish and cetaceans to increase the efficiency of speed and manoeuvrability of sub sea robots. Research has revealed that interactions with vortices and other unsteady fluid effects play a significant role in the efficiency of fish and cetaceans. However attempts to duplicate this with robotic fish …

Predictable Feeding In Zoos: Research Methods And Behavioural Effects, Joanna Newbolt

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The behaviour of zoo animals can come to anticipate temporally predictable feeding times. However, there is a lack of consensus over the effects of such routines on behaviour and welfare. Few studies have been published in this area, perhaps in part due to methodological challenges. The current programme of work therefore aimed to extend knowledge on the effect of predictable feeding routines, and to develop a suitable methodology to overcome challenges. Prior to predictable feeding, tigers showed patterns of increased ‘active’ behaviours such as locomotion and pacing, and decreased inactivity. Geckos also showed increased ‘active’ behaviours such as locomotion and …

Defining Neurochemical Properties And Functions Of Primary Sensory Neurons In The Rat Trigeminal Ganglion, Joceline Triner

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The trigeminal ganglion (TG) is a complex sensory structure and multiple lines of evidence suggest that significant differences exist in anatomical, neurochemical and physiological properties between it and its equivalent structure in the somatosensory system, the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). This is likely to be a reflection, first on the unique areas of tissue innervation of the TG and second, on the unusual responses to injury which give rise to distinct pain symptoms such as toothache, migraine and temporomandibular joint disorders. In an attempt to address this disparity in knowledge, we have carried out an in-depth in vivo study investigating …

Mesofaunal Recolonisation Of Degraded Soils, Jennifer Williams

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The degradation of soil quality due to anthropogenic causes is globally important, both in terms of ecosystem services and ecological biodiversity. Soil quality reduction is stated to be detrimental for population densities and species diversity of soil invertebrates, including the mesofauna (Acari and Collembola). Within the soil food web, mesofauna occupy several trophic levels and as such facilitate nutrient turnover, fulfilling vital ecosystem functions and services. Understanding soil invertebrate population dynamics not only during degradation, but equally upon ecosystem restoration, is vital to identify possible losses or benefits to healthy ecosystem functioning. Prior to this investigation the Highfield site, Rothamsted …

Cymodocea Nodosa As A Bioindicator Of Coastal Habitat Quality: An Integrative Approach From Organism To Community Scale., Vasillis Papathanasiou

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) has encouraged considerable research on the development of water quality bioindicators. Seagrasses, that are highly sensitive to direct and indirect anthropogenic stress, and specified as quality elements from the WFD, have been at the center of this effort. In this study the use of Cymodocea nodosa, a widely distributed angiosperm in the Mediterranean Sea, as a bioindicator of anthropogenic stress was tested. Key biotic features of two meadows growing in locations of contrasting ecological status in the N. Aegean Sea, Greece, were sampled and analysed following a hierarchical designed approach. Plants from the degraded …

An Investigation Into The Effects Of Traditional Neuromuscular Training Vs Rider Specific Training On Novice Rider Position, Eleanor Boden

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The equine industry and within it, the competition rider community, is increasingly acknowledging that rider strength and fitness is vital in achieving the best results in competition. The sport of horse riding is described as unique in its posture and motion patterns and cannot be easily be compared to the actions of any other athletic endeavour. There are several factors that cause a horse to not move correctly, the most common being an unbalanced rider. Other sporting disciplines are more aware of the potential of the utilisation of additional methods to improve performance, for example Pilates is commonly used to …

Long-Chain Fatty Acids And Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress In Pancreatic Beta-Cells: The Role Of Protein Kinase R (Pkr), Angie Cooper

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a growing health-care and economic burden. Obesity is a risk factor for developing T2D, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. However, mechanisms such as lipotoxicity, endoplasmic reticulum stress and inflammation are becoming increasingly well-recognised in obesity, and may underlie the development and progression of T2D. A central player in these mechanisms is Protein Kinase R (PKR), proposed to have a role within nutrient- and pathogen-sensing pathways, and is activated by ER stress and lipotoxicity. A small molecule inhibitor Compound-16, adenoviral vectors and RNAi techniques in BRIN-BD11 rodent pancreatic β-cells, were used to …

The Effects Of Ageing, Individual Differences And Limited Resources On Consumer Decision Making, Jennifer Marie Kerss

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

This thesis presents six original experiments investigating the relationship between age-related gains and losses in cognitive and emotional abilities and consumer decision making. Novel tasks designed to closely resemble real consumer decisions were used to assess how older and younger adults fare when making everyday decisions. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the relationship between consumer decision making and measures of fluid intelligence, crystallised intelligence and numeric ability in older and younger adults. The data revealed that numeric ability and fluid intelligence independently predicted consumer decision making in older adults. In Experiment 1, participants made factual and inferential decisions about utility …

Interactions Between Porphyromonas Gingivalis And Macrophages In Oral Pathology, Louise A Belfield

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Macrophages play a fundamental role in driving both inflammatory and immunosuppressive conditions of the oral mucosa. Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory condition affecting the supporting structures of the teeth, is widely prevalent, affecting a large proportion of the global population, and has been linked to the development of systemic inflammatory diseases. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is placed sixth in the WHO rankings of cancer incidence worldwide, and despite continuing research into underlying mechanisms, incidence is on the rise. Aberrant macrophage function has been implicated in the pathogenesis of both diseases. On recruitment to sites of inflammation, macrophages become polarised within …

Investigation Of Baroclinic Tides In The Northern South China Sea, Chuncheng Guo

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Baroclinic tides result from the interaction of barotropic tides with topography in stratified oceans. They play an important role in driving deep ocean mixing. In this research, investigations of the dynamics of baroclinic tides and internal solitary waves (ISWs) in the northern South China Sea (SCS) are conducted, mainly by means of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm). Firstly, simulations of internal wave generation at the Luzon Strait (LS) are carried out. By conducting three-dimensional (3D), high-resolution experiments, it was found that the generated wave field features a multi-modal structure: large, pronounced ISWs of first mode (amplitude …

The Dynamics Of Suspended Particles In A Seasonally Stratified Coastal Sea, Jaimie Cross

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

A comprehensive investigation into the relationship between physical forcing and sus- pended particles in the shallow shelf region of the Western English Channel has been conducted, in order to evaluate the temporal dynamics of suspended particle populations. Measurements were taken across tidal cycles and seasons at station L4, part of the Western Channel Observatory (WCO), using the combination of a free-fall microstructure profiler and holographic imaging. Confirmation that L4 is weakly stratified is given, and that the formation of the seasonal thermocline is substantially altered by the spring-neap cy- cle. Stratification is variable and prone to periodic and partial erosion …

The Hybronaut And The Umwelt: Wearable Technology As Artistic Strategy, Laura Maria Beloff

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This dissertation explores the use of irony in networked wearable technology art as a strategy to emphasise the complexity of conjunction between techno-organic human and the techno-organic world. The research addresses the relationship between technologically enhanced human and networked hybrid environment, and speculates on the impact of technological enhancements to the subjective construction of Umwelt through ironic interventions. The project employs both artistic practice and critical theory. The practice-based part of the dissertation is comprised of three wearable technology artworks produced during the study. These concrete artefacts employ irony as a means to expose the techno-organic relationship between humans and …

Toward A Female Clown Practice: Transgression, Archetype And Myth, Margaret J Irving

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Women who learn to clown within Western contemporary theatre and performance training lack recognizably female exemplars of this popular art form. This practice-as-research thesis analyses my past and present clowning experiences in order to create an understanding of a woman-centered clown practice which allows for the expression of material bodies and lived experiences. It offers a feminist perspective on Jacques Lecoq’s pedagogy, which revolves around a notion of an ‘inner clown’ and is prevalent in contemporary UK clown training and practice. The thesis draws on both the avant-garde and numerous clown types and archetypes, in order to understand clowning as …