Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest public health threats and has been conceptualised as a slowly emerging disaster. Studies have suggested that wild birds contribute as a reservoir and dispersal route of AMR, and proximity to anthropogenic activity has been associated with higher prevalence of AMR. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and diversity of extended-spectrum β-lactam (ESBL) resistant coliforms in wild bird populations in Scotland across a gradient of anthropogenic...

This thesis provides a critical reflection on my original contributions to knowledge in the field of nursing practice and nurse education over the last decade. Collectively my eight selected papers demonstrate an ongoing and incrementally developing conceptual approach. This culminates in the presentation, within my final capstone paper, of my original recombinant innovation. In this paper, application of the innovation is articulated through a compassionate craftsmanship relational model, which fuses multivalent ideas from the fields...

The aim of this research is to gain an understanding of the experiences and perceptions of workplace equality and diversity issues amongst digital leaders in higher education. The participants interviewed for this study are digital leaders working in universities in Scotland in 2019. The study provides a snapshot of data which has been interpreted to provide an understanding of the experiences and attitudes towards workplace equality, diversity and inclusion. It is the first study of...

This thesis focuses on the development of original design ‘ideation’ processes (the formation of ideas or concepts) set within the context of both commercial museum and exhibition design contracts and product design pedagogic research. Taken together the published works that accompany this submission explore the impacts on productivity and creative problem solving when working away from a physical fixed studio or office-based environment. They also examine the significance of 'shared place' when working directly with...

Background: Chronic and repeated trauma are well-established risk factors for complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) in adult samples. Less is known about how trauma history and other factors contribute to the development of CPTSD in adolescence. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the potential contribution of trauma history and social factors to CPTSD in adolescents. Method: In a cross-sectional community study of 1299 adolescents aged 12–16 years, PTSD (n = 97) and...

The segregation distorter allele (SD) found in Drosophila melanogaster distorts Medelian inheritance in heterozygous males by causing developmental failure of non-SD spermatids, such that >90% of the surviving sperm carry SD. This within-individual advantage should cause SD to rapidly fix, and yet SD is typically rare in wild populations. Here, we explore whether this paradox can be resolved by sexual selection, by testing if males carrying three different variants of SD suffer reduced pre or...

Efforts to improve urban bus transport systems’ comfort and increase user satisfaction have been made for many years across the globe. Increasing bus users and reducing car users has an economic benefit. Whenever the urban bus share is larger than 25%, there are journey time savings due to lower congestion levels on the network. A driver’s loss of alertness due to fatigue has been recognised to be one of the major factors responsible for road...

Many legacy enterprise systems suffer from a number of common and critical problems. Such systems have often been implemented in the past with hardware and software technologies which are now out of date. Furthermore, they have often been modified in piecemeal so as to allow them to cope with changed requirements, and the need for new functionalities, which have come to light since their initial implementation. Thus, they are often ‘messy’ in their implementations and...

Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) are zoonotic pathogens, which release phage-encoded Shiga toxins (Stx). Stx subtypes stx2a and stx2d are associated with severe human disease. STEC O157 is the most common serotype in human disease although other pathogenic serotypes exist. Cattle, sheep and deer can carry STEC. A recent study found STEC O157 prevalence of 0.34 % (95 % CI = 0.02 – 6.30) in Scottish wild deer; however 69.5 % of faecal samples were...

More than 2.4 billion people live within 100 km of the sea coastline. Between 2016-2019 there has been a rising trend in tropical cyclone’s intensity and the frequency. Such cyclone events irrespective of their hurricane categorisation have persistently triggered coastal flooding such as storm surges of at least 7 ft (2 m). Over this period disaster losses from tropical cyclones have been estimated as US$ 343 billion, with over 3,333 deaths. A review of previous...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is dependent on androgens for growth. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) curtails PCa progression, however this powerful selective pressure leads to aggressive, castrate resistant PCa. One castrate resistant prostate cancer subtype, neuroendocrine (NE) PCa, is characterised by increased abundance of NE cells. Transdifferentiation into androgen independent NE-like cells is thought to allow PCa epithelial cells to escape potent ADT, causing resistance. NE-like cells are thought to promote growth of surrounding tumour cells through...

The development of drug resistance, notably multidrug resistance (MDR) and adverse side effects due to treatment with current anticancer drugs are considerable obstacles in cancer therapy and together with dose-limiting toxicity lead to therapeutic failure in the cancer clinic. The aim of this study is to design and deliver new anticancer agents selectively to the tumour site to increase efficacy and reduce toxic side effects to normal cells, thereby increasing the therapeutic index; this would...

Current research highlights change of the leader as the new normal as organisations respond to austerity measures forced by changes in the global economy, shifting markets, mergers and acquisitions and rapid technological advancement. The Caribbean is not immune from these dynamics as many companies are foreign owned and led and as such, experience similar predicaments. Yet, there is a lack of understanding on how these changes affect employee engagement and more so, how employees should...

This study explores aspects of the Organizational Project Management (OPM) Continuum consisting of Project Management, Program Management and Portfolio Management domains of practice as well as the Project Management Office (PMO). The purpose of this research is to understand the OPM Continuum’s domains of practice and its interconnecting relationships; and to explore where in the process the interconnection is lost or the relationship is broken, subsequently closing the research loop by identifying possible improvement and...

This thesis explores the symptomatology of fatigue based on interviews conducted with seven people who are diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. The thesis starts by examining how a biomedical view of fatigue — the dominant perspective in contemporary Western society — is underpinned by aporetic divisions, such as mind/body and individual/society. In pursuit of a more rigorous approach to fatigue, which explores rather than disavows division, the interview transcripts are analysed through the lens...

The research presented in this paper provides an insight into the behavioural ecology of mountain hares on heather moorland in the Lammermuir Hills of south east Scotland. We examine the seasonal and diel activity patterns using camera traps over a period of 12 months. The rate of camera detections was calculated for the different divisions of the 24h cycle (daylight, dusk, night and dawn). During autumn and winter (October – February), the activity pattern was...

Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis, are chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Genetic studies have identified strong association between genes involved in autophagy, ER-stress/unfolded protein response (UPR) and IBD. Stimulating autophagy may be beneficial for the treatment of IBD, and thiopurines, a class of drugs in clinical use for IBD, have been shown to induce autophagy. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of...

The purpose of this study is to expand the current conceptualisation of knowledge brokering and consider how it can be used as a lever for dynamic capabilities within the specific context of a business process outsourcing company based in Mauritius. In spite of the increasing phenomenon, there is a lack of understanding around knowledge brokering and no established strategic approach to deploy knowledge brokering process across the functional areas of organisations. Though practiced haphazardly in...

Background: Chronic and repeated trauma are well-established risk factors for complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) in adult samples. Less is known about how trauma history and other factors contribute to the development of CPTSD in adolescence. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the potential contribution of trauma history and social factors to CPTSD in adolescents. Method: In a cross-sectional community study of 1299 adolescents aged 12–16 years, PTSD (n = 97) and...

The research presented in this paper provides an insight into the behavioural ecology of mountain hares on heather moorland in the Lammermuir Hills of south east Scotland. We examine the seasonal and diel activity patterns using camera traps over a period of 12 months. The rate of camera detections was calculated for the different divisions of the 24h cycle (daylight, dusk, night and dawn). During autumn and winter (October – February), the activity pattern was...

Electric mobility is enabling overall decarbonisation-targets by shaping a new, sustainable mobility. Related mobility behaviours are evolving rapidly and lead to fundamental changes within the respective infrastructure approaches. In doing so, public electrical charging is becoming a key prerequisite for the ramp-up of electric mobility. Yet there is still a lack of a nationwide public supply infrastructure in Germany because, at present, a profitable operation is not possible due to the volatile framework and low...

Female participation in regular sport activities has increased in recent years, yet their representation in the sports and exercise science literature remains low. Therefore, an understanding of the effects different phases of the menstrual cycle (MC) have on exercise responses is important due to the practical and theoretical implications. The aim of this study was to compare performance, physiological and perceptual differences when performing a running repeated sprint ability (RSA) during the early-follicular (EF), and...