• Can development initiatives reduce the recruitment of adolescents to organised crime groups? Perspectives of the recipients of the Prospera Conditional Cash Transfer Programme in Mexico

  Morvaridi, Behrooz; Breckin, Edmund F.J. (University of BradfordFaculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022)

  This thesis explores the role of Development policy as an alternative to the traditional public security focused strategies for tackling organised crime violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. To do so, it builds bridges between the academic literature of criminology and development. It examines the public experiences of insecurity in Mexico and the social impacts of a development initiative, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme in two municipalities in Mexico. The thesis poses questions about the impacts of Development initiatives upon organised crime violence from the perspectives of those living within areas affected by violence. The CCT programmes seek to address poverty in the short and long-term and research has begun to explore the potential of these programmes to diminish violence and crime, almost exclusively from a quantitative research approach, whereas this study adopts a qualitative design. This research is based on data gathered through interviews, observations, and focus groups to examine the perspectives and experiences of current and former CCT recipients, CCT administrators, public security officials, members of the public, NGO leads, and ex-gang affiliated individuals. This micro-level qualitative methodology adopted in this research contrasts the almost exclusively macro-level, econometric evaluations which have dominated CCT and organised crime research. The findings demonstrated that respondents perceived CCTs as significant in reducing the propensity of young men participating in organised crime violence in their localities. The perspectives of participants in this study provided enough evidence to overturn a common narrative of ‘prevention doesn’t work’ and suggest that in each of the areas targeted by the study there is potential for a reduction of organised crime rooted in development initiatives according to respondents.
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  FSO-based HAP-assisted multi-UAV backhauling over F channels with imperfect CSI

  Le, H.D.; Nguyen, T.V.; Mai, Vuong; Pham, A.T. (2024-08)

  Non-terrestrial Network (NTN), utilizing highaltitude platforms (HAP)-based free-space optical (FSO) backhaul and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for last-mile access, is a feasible and promising architecture to achieve high data rate and seamless network coverage in the future 6G era. Effective resource allocation emerges as a pivotal concern for such networks. This paper addresses the data allocation issue for FSO backhaul from the HAP to multiple UAV-mounted base stations (BSs) under the constraints of ground users’ requested data rates. We introduce frame allocation schemes (FAS), including rate adaptation with constraints (RAC)- and rate/power adaptation (RPA)-aided FAS. The key idea of these schemes is to allocate data frames effectively based on UAV’s turbulence channel conditions, which aims to (i) guarantee the quality of services (QoS), (ii) retain both latency and throughput fairness, and (iii) minimize the transmitted power. Furthermore, the performance of these schemes is also analyzed under the impact of imperfect channel state information (CSI). We newly derive the channel probability density function (PDF) and the cumulative density function (CDF), considering the imperfect CSI due to channel estimation and quantization errors. Capitalizing on the derived PDF and CDF, different performance metrics are analytically obtained, incorporating combined effects of cloud coverage, transceiver misalignment, Fisher-Snedecor F turbulence, and angle-of-arrival (AoA) fluctuations. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of our design proposals over the state-of-the-art. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations are employed to validate the analysis.
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  Doing the ‘right’ thing: A sociological exploration of pro-social behaviour by independent witnesses

  Walker, Tammi; Horrocks, Christine; Lavis, Victoria J.; Barker, Anna; Sullivan, Paul W.; Beckett-Wrighton, Clare; Spink, Joanna (University of BradfordDepartment of Sociology and Criminology. Faculty of Management, Law, and Social Sciences, 2022)

  Individual pro-social behaviour has been explored by academics and others in a variety of situations and contexts. Why people act selflessly on behalf of strangers is an intriguing topic and has not been studied in the specific context of the Crown courts before. This study has three phases. The first allows independent witnesses to describe their emotions, decision-making and motivations for taking part in the criminal justice process where there is no overt benefit for themselves to do so. The study identifies three key points in the witnesses’ journey through the process and tests the reactions of the witnesses at these points. This approach allows any changes in their thinking to be recorded and analysed. The second phase of the research asks other participants who have not been witnesses to imagine themselves becoming aware of three different scenarios where a violent crime is occurring. These participants are asked to think about their reactions to each scenario, and if they expect themselves to act as witnesses, asks what their motivations would be. The imagining witnesses’ reflections are compared to those of the real witnesses from Phase 1. Finally, phase three disseminates the results from phases one and two to senior professionals working in the criminal justice sector. Their thoughts and suggestions are also applied to the results to identify and encourage best practise.
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  Investigation of a Novel Formulation from Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes and Antioxidant (Selenium) in Malignant Melanoma Cells

  Najafzadeh, Mojgan; Altobalani, Tahera S.H.M. (University of BradfordSchool of Chemistry and Biosciences. Faculty of Life Sciences, 2023)

  Introduction: Malignant Melanoma (MM), caused by UV radiation-induced DNA damage, is the most invasive form of skin cancer and has an increasing incidence worldwide. The hallmarks of MM include the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and excessive proliferation of tumour cells. Many treatments are available or under investigation as anticancer therapeutics such as cell therapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy and nanotechnology-based strategies but they all have severe complications and side effects that limit their wider use. Methods: The present in vitro study has evaluated the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of Se and CBSC-derived exosomes, individually and in combination, on lymphocytes from MM patients and healthy controls, and on the CHL-1 melanoma cell line. The comet assay and cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay were used to measure genotoxicity and cytotoxicity, respectively, in all cell types. Molecular mechanisms underlying the observed effects were explored using transcriptional and protein expression profiling of key cell cycle and apoptosis genes, by employing the RT qPCR and Western blotting techniques. Conclusion: Selenium displays antioxidant and genoprotective effects in human lymphocytes, especially in MM patients. Both Se (10 μM) and CBSC-derived exosomes (120 μL) are well tolerated in lymphocytes, but show significant genotoxicity and cytotoxicity towards the CHL-1 cell line, with combined administration exhibiting a synergistic effect.
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  The Geochemistry of Submerged Marine Landscapes: Lipid, Isotopic and Inorganic composition of Sediment Cores from the Palaeo-landscape of Doggerland

  Stern, Ben; Telford, Richard; Gaffney, Vincent; Ben Sharada, Mohammed A.M. (University of BradfordSchool of Archaeological and Forensic Science. Faculty of Life Sciences, 2022)

  Ten thousand years ago Great Britain was a part of the European continent, where the surface of the North Sea was about 70 metres below present sea level. The large, prehistoric submerged landmass that connected the island of Great Britain to the European continent is now widely known as Doggerland. 85 samples from six different cores, which were collected from this prehistoric landscape, were studied using multi proxy -organic and inorganic- geochemical methods. Thermal analysis determined the organic matter and carbonate content, which were utilized as characterizing indices, dividing each core into various depositional units. In addition, lipid analysis studying three sets of biomarkers (n-alkanes, fatty acids and sterols), was used to distinguish between various depositional environments, especially between terrestrial and aquatic. Furthermore, the cores were mineralogically analysed using the detected clay and non-clay minerals as depositional indicators; significant states such as high and low energy environments, palaeosoil, type of weathering and stone types were identified and used to recognize any mineralogical and thus depositional alteration. Finally, the sulfur isotope analysis identified different sources of sulfur, which were then used as environmental distinguishing proxies. An integration of these analytical results provided a detailed geochemical history of each core; importantly, a Storegga tsunami deposit was detected in core ELF01A. The primary contribution of this thesis was establishing an analytical approach using combined results from a range of analytical methods. The established approach can be used to study the depositional settings for any cored sediments.

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