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This research dissertation deals with issues of gender representation in contemporary film Westerns. The classic view of the Western as a male genre that marginalizes women has been contested in the last twenty-five years. A trend of films has challenged the idea of the feminine as inferior to the m...
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This research dissertation deals with issues of gender representation in contemporary film Westerns. The classic view of the Western as a male genre that marginalizes women has been contested in the last twenty-five years. A trend of films has challenged the idea of the feminine as inferior to the masculine within the Western landscape. Reversal of roles, violence, and the exposure of oppression are used as strategies in order to allow the Western to accommodate feminist discourse. It can be argued that the impact of this research can be found within the current political and social debates around feminism, the necessity to equal women´s rights to men´s, and the pervasiveness of masculine gender violence. Proving a feminist reversal in a traditionally masculine film genre would help it to maintain social relevance, on the one hand; and, on the other hand, could result in some valuable dissemination of feminist ideology.

In 1988, Sino-India security cooperation was restored after decades of deep hostility following the 1962 China-India border war. Yet, in 1998, security cooperation between the two countries came to collapse such that Indian nuclear test, Pokhran II, was specifically targeted against China. What has ...
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In 1988, Sino-India security cooperation was restored after decades of deep hostility following the 1962 China-India border war. Yet, in 1998, security cooperation between the two countries came to collapse such that Indian nuclear test, Pokhran II, was specifically targeted against China. What has determined the rise and fall of Sino-India cooperation from the late 1980s onwards? How far can Sino-India security cooperation be re-established in the twenty-first century? My research builds on the International Relations theorizing on the security dilemma and costly-signalling, and the Political Psychology literature on enemy images. It adopts a mixed-method approach to originally investigate the causal mechanisms promoting Sino-India security cooperation from 1988 to 1998, showing how far these are replicable in the light of the demise of security cooperation from 1998 onwards. It envisages a scope for peaceful interactions between two states whose relationship will be a key determinant of 21st century international security.

My research addresses how the international community goes about trying to prevent conflict-related sexual violence. With much of the focus on international law, I examine the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, put forth by the UK Government in 2012. I assess the legalistic approach to preventio...
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My research addresses how the international community goes about trying to prevent conflict-related sexual violence. With much of the focus on international law, I examine the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, put forth by the UK Government in 2012. I assess the legalistic approach to prevention and the progress that has been made over the last few decades.

Mental stress often increases our blood pressure, and makes us feel anxious, stressed and unhappy. Large increases in blood pressure and psychological responses to stress can lead to cardiovascular disease and psychological disorders. Exercise is proposed to potentially reduce these blood pressure a...
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Mental stress often increases our blood pressure, and makes us feel anxious, stressed and unhappy. Large increases in blood pressure and psychological responses to stress can lead to cardiovascular disease and psychological disorders. Exercise is proposed to potentially reduce these blood pressure and negative emotional responses experienced during mental stress. Forty individuals completed a 10-minute mental stress task on two separate occasions: once on its own, and once after 10-minutes of moderately high intensity cycling. Results showed blood pressure during stress was lower after exercise. However, participants also experienced greater anxiety, feelings of stress, and negative emotions such as tension and depression, during the stress following exercise. Therefore, exercise before stress may be good in reducing our blood pressure response to stress and thus reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, but bad for our psychological health by causing more negative thoughts and emotions.

My research will ask how, and why, the meaningful participation of children in transitional justice should be facilitated in post-conflict environments. This will involve the first review of existing provision for children in transitional justice, and the bringing together of perspectives in develop...
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My research will ask how, and why, the meaningful participation of children in transitional justice should be facilitated in post-conflict environments. This will involve the first review of existing provision for children in transitional justice, and the bringing together of perspectives in development studies and law. The lens through which the work will be presented is through the experience of ‘ex-children’ (those adults who, as children, grew up in the shadow of protracted conflict and the transition period that followed). Through interweaving a ‘golden thread’ by way of international child rights, specifically the “right to be heard” (as presented in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child), the project will look at two focus countries with a history of protracted conflict, asking new questions about the way children and youth were affected, and ‘make the case’ for supporting child participation in transitional justice.

In the world, both the ecological balance and the health of the people are endangered with the increase of environmental problems and disasters. At the bottom of the environmental problems lies the use of energy resources far from sustainability and without consideration of nature. However, the need...
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In the world, both the ecological balance and the health of the people are endangered with the increase of environmental problems and disasters. At the bottom of the environmental problems lies the use of energy resources far from sustainability and without consideration of nature. However, the needs of today must be met without jeopardizing for the needs of the next generation, which is achieved through the provision of environmental sustainability. Avoiding depletion in the natural sources and ensuring environmental sustainability is possible with saving energy and protecting natural resources. Buildings play an important role in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Therefore, disaster relief housing with district scale solutions is considered to be potential area to increase energy efficiency and decrease environmental impacts throughout their life span.

People with chronic low back pain (CLBP) move differently and display changes in the activity of their back muscles, which may have implications for ongoing symptoms. Utilising a novel method to measure the distribution of back muscle activity, we investigated whether people with CLBP engage differe...
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People with chronic low back pain (CLBP) move differently and display changes in the activity of their back muscles, which may have implications for ongoing symptoms. Utilising a novel method to measure the distribution of back muscle activity, we investigated whether people with CLBP engage different regions of their back muscles during a sustained contraction. Back muscle activity was recorded from 13 people with CLBP and 13 healthy control participants as they completed a timed back extension endurance test until task failure. People with CLBP sustained the contraction for 95.6s less than the control participants. During the task, CLBP participants showed a lower level of activation of their back muscles and a lower level of redistribution of muscle activity over the task duration. These results show that the CLBP group used a different muscle strategy to perform the task, which may have relevance for ongoing pain and more rapid fatigue.

They traversed continents, grew up bilingual, experienced family separations, were socially mobile, and crossed racial and cultural barriers; yet children of missionaries are seldom mentioned in general or religious histories. This project moves children's experience centre-stage to recover these ma...
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They traversed continents, grew up bilingual, experienced family separations, were socially mobile, and crossed racial and cultural barriers; yet children of missionaries are seldom mentioned in general or religious histories. This project moves children's experience centre-stage to recover these marginalized voices through an interdisciplinary approach that includes history, anthropology, and human geography. Through archival research and oral history, it will increase our understanding of these global actors praised as 'great humanitarians' by some and accused as 'cultural imperialists' by others - and explore the role of children as cultural mediators with their own perspectives that intersect with issues of migration, race, culture, politics and faith.

One of the major concerns of oral medicines is patient's ability to swallow. It was reported that 4 of 10 of adults struggle to swallow medicines. Notably, in the older populations this difficulty is often enhanced by dysphagia or dry mouth. Coating oral medicines with polymers is a common method to...
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One of the major concerns of oral medicines is patient's ability to swallow. It was reported that 4 of 10 of adults struggle to swallow medicines. Notably, in the older populations this difficulty is often enhanced by dysphagia or dry mouth. Coating oral medicines with polymers is a common method to improve swallowing of the tablets. We carry out the clinical study to examine swallowability of tablets with different coatings in comparison with uncoated tablets. Moreover, our research looks into the texture and overall mouthfeel of the tablets. The study was designed according to the standard rules of sensory analysis. We aim to compare the influence of variables like time to swallow or amount of used water, on the swallowability of the tablets. Additionally we try to evaluate the attributes of mouthfeel and use them to predict the acceptability of bespoke tablets.

In the context of the so-called "refugee crisis" starting in 2015, the European Union (EU) has had a rather inconsistent approach to refugee inflows. The EU simultaneously stressed its commitment to offering protection to people fleeing wars and persecutions as well as developed cooperation with non...
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In the context of the so-called "refugee crisis" starting in 2015, the European Union (EU) has had a rather inconsistent approach to refugee inflows. The EU simultaneously stressed its commitment to offering protection to people fleeing wars and persecutions as well as developed cooperation with non-European countries, such as Turkey or Afghanistan, in order to constrain migrants within countries where they are from or which they are crossing on their way to Europe. Researching these cooperation policies matters, not only because they have huge impacts on migrants' lives and might lead to further persecutions, torture or even death by preventing these people to reach Europe and thus, the protection that they deserve according to international treaties. It also matters because these policies are used by the EU to impose the burden of refugees on the poorest countries in the world, rather than sharing it with developed countries.

In spite of a move to democracy in Spain, immigrant female representation in recent cultural publication is still predominantly that of the exotic, pathetic or visually fetishistic and specters of paternalism remain in the sociological mind-set. My research reflects on Spanish immigration law, postm...
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In spite of a move to democracy in Spain, immigrant female representation in recent cultural publication is still predominantly that of the exotic, pathetic or visually fetishistic and specters of paternalism remain in the sociological mind-set. My research reflects on Spanish immigration law, postmillennial literature and film, discourse analytics, gender history and women's writing in Spain, with a view to establishing how the liminal immigrant female is imagined and represented in an EU-minded postmodern Spain and whether notable indications of progress are visible. In my thesis I consider: contrasting filmic/ literary representations of female immigrants from China, Latin America and Africa; gender space, identity and social capital; and the limitations of maternity, sexuality and 'otherness.' To set this against the current socio-literary milieu, I explore how key philosophical interpretations may be applied or contradicted in relation to specifically female immigration works.