Weather phenomena have long been objects of studies in atmospheric and climate science research. Studies on weather phenomena incorporate meteorological data, climate model simulations, and knowledge of physical processes of the Earth’s atmosphere. Understanding of the developing mechanisms, life cycles, and spatiotemporal dependencies of these phenomena requires accurately identifying them in space and time. Moreover, identifying weather phenomena in large-scale climate model simulations is critical for advancing our understanding of the Earth’s climate and risks...

In this thesis, we present our updated determinations for the leading order and higher order hadronic vacuum polarisation contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (a_{\mu}^{had,LOVP}, a_{\mu}^{had,HOVP}), and for the hadronic contributions to the running of the QED coupling at the Z-boson mass (\Delta\alpha_{had}^{(5)}(M_Z^2)). At present the Standard Model (SM) predictions of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon a_{\mu}^{SM} is lower than the experimental measurement a_{\mu}^{exp}$ by about 3 standard deviations. The...

The field of porous liquids is relatively new compared to other porous materials but is rapidly developing and gaining interest. There is a diverse range of strategies in the literature to achieve porosity in the liquid state, including using porous organic cages as either soluble pores or neat liquid hosts. However, there are not enough examples to draw a comparison, so little is known about the design and limitations associated with these systems. In this...

WS1 interviews involved: clinician-researchers (chief, principal or co-investigators) who had a role in leading the design and implementation of ICU studies and patient, public involvement (PPI) advocates who have contributed to the design and implementation of ICU studies as co-investigators, research partners, steering group members or advisors. WS3 interviews involved ICU patients and relatives of ICU patients, including a sub-set of relatives of patients who died whilst in ICU and frontline staff who discuss ICU...

Landfast sea ice is a recurring seasonal feature along many coastlines in the polar regions. It is characterised by a lack of horizontal motion, for at least 20 days, and its attachment to the coast or seabed. It can form as a result of restrictive geometry, such as channels or embayments, or through the grounding of thick ice ridges which add lateral stability to the ice cover. Due to its stationary and persistent nature, landfast...

In this thesis, a number of semi-blind structures are proposed for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based wireless communication systems, with Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO) estimation and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) based equalization. In the first contribution, a semi-blind non-redundant single-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) OFDM system is proposed, with a precoding aided CFO estimation approach and an ICA based equalization structure. A number of reference data sequences are carefully designed and selected from a pool...

Background: Development of ultra-short chemotherapy for tuberculosis (TB) is thwarted by drug-tolerant bacillary persistence and a lack of surrogate endpoints to predict outcome from early clinical studies. Characterising bacillary elimination amongst TB patients may provide important new information. Bacilli harbouring intra-cytoplasmic lipid bodies (LBs) may represent a drug-tolerant phenotype, responsible for delayed bacterial clearance. Methods: Malawian adults with pulmonary TB were treated with standard 6 month therapy. Two quantitative sputum culture methods were used to...

Dental caries is a significant disease world-wide and although a massive reduction in prevalence has occurred over the past 50 years, incidents of this disease persist (particularly on the occlusal or aproximal surfaces and concerning younger demographics). The main reason for the observed reduction is exposure to fluoride either though water fluoridation and delivery by dentifrice. Environmental exposure reduces incidence by incorporation into the mineral phase of the hard tissue and, as a result, increases...

Tropilaelaps mercedesae (small mite) is one of two major honey bee ectoparasitic mite species responsible for the colony losses of Apis mellifera in Asia. Although T. mercedesae mites are still restricted in Asia (except Japan), they may diffuse all over the world due to the ever-increasing global trade of live honey bees (ex. Varroa destructor). Understanding the ecological characteristics of T. mercedesae at molecular level could potentially result in improving the management and control programs....

Emulsions are ubiquitous across the process industries and are often utilised in applications where controlled delivery of a key ingredient (e.g. an oil or water soluble compound) is an important consideration. Their functional properties e.g. the rate of absorption or coverage of a surface is generally determined by the size and size distribution of dispersed domains or microstructure. Control over the formulation, process route and type of equipment all influence the resulting microstructure. The focus...

This thesis critically examines how informal child-care, performed for money, was subject to sustained scrutiny between 1867-1908. This period saw women who took children into their home in exchange for payment being subject to judicial sanction,press comment and legislative intervention. The passage of the 1908 Children Act marked the point at which all women who took in children for money were subjected to legislation for the first time. Existing scholarship on this topic has largely...

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJ) are currently the focus of an intense international research effort due to their unique chemical and physical characteristics. A defining aspect of the plasma jet is the interplay between plasma physics, plasma chemistry, and fluid dynamics which ultimately dictate application efficacy. This project focuses on uncovering the link between the fluid dynamics of the emerging noble gas channel into quiescent ambient air and the chemical reactions induced by the reactive...

Until now, works in the field of tide routing (i.e., optimization of cargo loading and ship scheduling decisions in tidal ports and shallow seas) have omitted the uncertainty of sea level predictions. However, the widely used harmonic tide forecasts are not perfectly reliable. Consequences for the maritime industry are significant: current solutions to tide routing may be made robust through the introduction of arbitrary slack, but they are not optimal. Given the financial implications at...

Abstract This study looks at instructors perceptions of blended learning (BL) at a Medical School (MS) in one of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The study also looks at the effects of instructors perceptions on implementation of BL in the classroom. And the effect of student perspectives on instructors perceptions of BL. The study is important as it looks into the impact and effectiveness of technology in the classroom, from an instructor’s perspective in...