Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Waste Management Behaviour In Care Settings In South West England: A Mixed Methods Study, Sean Manzi

School of Nursing and Midwifery Theses

Introduction - Health and social care sector activities in the United Kingdom have a considerable carbon footprint which impacts on the natural environment. Waste management is one area of focus for the reduction of this environmental impact. Previous research has studied the quantities and compositions of healthcare waste highlighting the potential for recycling. Limited research to date has investigated both health and social care waste management in a holistic study incorporating the behaviour, composition and systems. The current study aimed to investigate waste management behaviour, systems and compositions at four health and social care sites in the South West of …

The Common Agricultural Policy: An Adequate Means Of Supporting Biodiversity And Ecosystem Services Within The European Union?, Annie Martyn

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

This research presents a critical analysis of the 2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms and their ability to support the European Union in reaching its target of halting biodiversity loss by 2020 and to preserve and restore ecosystem services. In light of the link between agriculture and its negative effects on the environment, the role of the CAP will be examined. In particular, this paper will focus on the tension between the ambition set out in the Policy to provide sufficient economic support to farmers and the EU-wide focus to prevent further environmental damage caused by agriculture, and whether, in …

"Nayles Large And Lang": Masculine Identity And The Anachronic Object In The York Crucifixion Play, Daisy Black

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Geomorphological Development Of Ephemeral And Relict River Valley Systems In The North Part Of The Iraqi Western Desert, Waleed Hamed

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

This research project provides a geomorphological and geological analysis of ephemeral and relict river valley systems in the north part of the Iraqi Western Desert. The area surveyed covers approximately 30 000 km2 and is one of the remotest and least studied parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Part of the reason for the lack of research in this area in recent years has been the ongoing security problems and all fieldwork undertaken for this thesis was carried out with the support of armed guards and police. In addition much of the work on the geology and geomorphology of the region …

Foundations In Wisconsin: A Directory [34th Ed. 2015], Mary C. Frenn, Jason Bermender, David Glenn Butner Jr., Brittany Carloni, Clare Mcnamara, Dominic Zappia

Foundations in Wisconsin: A Directory

The 2015 release of Foundations in Wisconsin marks the 34th production of the print directory and the 15th year of the online version. The directory is designed as a research tool for grantseekers interested in locating information on private, corporate, and community foundations registered in Wisconsin. Each entry in this new edition has been updated or reviewed to provide the most current information available. Most of the data was drawn from IRS 990-PF tax returns filed by the foundations. Additional information was obtained from surveys, foundation websites, annual reports, and newsletters.

Wisconsin foundations have shown significant growth in two key …

Experiences Of Place And Change In Rural Landscapes: Three English Case Studies, Rebecca Wheeler

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

This thesis examines how changes to rural places and landscapes are experienced by residents and incorporated into place attachments and identities over time. It does so through exploring findings from seventy-eight qualitative, ‘emplaced’, oral history interviews in three English villages: Mullion (Cornwall); Askam and Ireleth (Cumbria); and Martham (Norfolk). These villages are located near to at least one existing windfarm, which – as an example of rural change - provides a common focus for the research. The research is informed by a ‘middle-ground’ theoretical approach that considers discursive and experiential aspects of people-environment relationships and pays particular attention to how …

"Law Is Coercion": Revisiting Judicial Power To Provide Equality In Public Education, José F. Anderson

All Faculty Scholarship

This article is an attempt to start a conversation about where we find ourselves in the plight to help our most challenged public schools. It is not intended to be a comprehensive solution to the problem, but rather a hard look at how, after decades of many efforts, we are further away from the equal education contemplated by the United States Supreme Court's historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This article does not desire to simply cast blame for the failures of our children, but to send a reminder that, as Frederick Douglass would say, we can hardly …

Euclidean Reconstruction Of Natural Underwater Scenes Using Optic Imagery Sequence, Han Hu

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The development of maritime applications require monitoring, studying and preserving of detailed and close observation on the underwater seafloor and objects. Stereo vision offers advanced technologies to build 3D models from 2D still overlapping images in a relatively inexpensive way. However, while image stereo matching is a necessary step in 3D reconstruction procedure, even the most robust dense matching techniques are not guaranteed to work for underwater images due to the challenging aquatic environment. In this thesis, in addition to a detailed introduction and research on the key components of building 3D models from optic images, a robust modified quasi-dense …

Factors Associated With Stiff Knee Gait In Cerebral Palsy, Eleanor Frances Compton

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Stiff knee gait (SKG) is one of a few classified walking patterns which people with cerebral palsy (pwCP) can present with. The characteristic for SKG is delayed and/or reduced peak knee flexion during swing phase, which can reduce walking ability and result in functional restrictions. Through the use of both clinical and laboratory based measures this cross-sectional study aimed to identify the factors associated with SKG, suggest possible treatment options and propose potential directions for future research. The impact of five variables on knee flexion amplitude during the swing phase of gait was assessed. Data was gathered from a group …

Brain Inspired Approach To Computational Face Recognition, Joao Paulo Da Silva Gomes

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Face recognition that is invariant to pose and illumination is a problem solved effortlessly by the human brain, but the computational details that underlie such efficient recognition are still far from clear. This thesis draws on research from psychology and neuroscience about face and object recognition and the visual system in order to develop a novel computational method for face detection, feature selection and representation, and memory structure for recall. A biologically plausible framework for developing a face recognition system will be presented. This framework can be divided into four parts: 1) A face detection system. This is an improved …

The Influence Of Engineering Design Considerations On Species Recruitment And Succession On Coastal Defence Structures, Juliette Elizabeth Jackson

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Engineering design considerations of artificial coastal structures were tested to resemble as far as possible the nearest natural equivalent habitat, ecologically valuable rocky shores, as a potential management option. Coastal areas around the world attract urbanisation but these transitional areas between sea and land are inherently vulnerable to risk of flooding and erosion. Thus hard structures are often built in sensitive coastal environments to defend assets such as property and infrastructure (roads, railways, ports) against rising and stormy seas. The design, construction and maintenance of hard defences should wherever possible incorporate ecological considerations to enhance biodiversity, including maintaining or restoring …

Deoxynivalenol: Toxicological Profile And Potential For Reducing Cereal Grain Contamination Using Bacterial Additives In Fermented Animal Feed., William Vevers

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination of grain destined for animal feeds is a major toxicological risk to monogastrics and is suspected of restricting productivity in ruminants. Whereas bacterial additives have been developed that can detoxify DON in the rumen and lower intestine, there are currently no commercial inoculants able to perform this task in crimped grain (CG) silage, a regionally important method of moist grain preservation based on homo- and heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria or chemical additives. Determining whether this ensiling process alongside the action of detoxifying bacteria has the potential to remove DON in CG prior to ingestion, was explored in …

The Effect Of Dynamic Mobilisation Exercises On The Equine Multifidus Muscle And Thoracic Profile, Gillian Tabor

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Introduction: A relationship between spinal musculature and back pathology has been established in human and equine studies. Exercises to increase Multifidus cross sectional area (CSA) have been shown to reduce the amount and reoccurrence of back pain in humans. Similarly dynamic mobilisation exercises (DME) have led to an increase Multifidus CSA in horses on box rest. The effect of DME on the Multifidus muscle of thoroughbred racehorses in training was investigated and two measurement methods, that can be used to evaluate the outcome of a treatment or exercise programme on Multifidus, were compared. Methods: Ultrasound imaging was used to measure …

Improved Composability Of Software Components Through Parallel Hardware Platforms For In-Car Multimedia Systems, Andreas Knirsch

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Recent years have witnessed a significant change to vehicular user interfaces (UI). This is the result of increased functionality, triggered by the continuous proliferation of vehicular software and computer systems. The UI represents the integration point that must fulfil particular requirements for usability despite the increased functionality. A concurrent present trend is the substitution of federated systems with integrated architectures. The steadily rising number of interacting functional components and the increasing integration density implies a growing complexity that has an effect on system development. This evolution raises demands for concepts that aid the composition of such complex and interactive embedded …

Physical, Chemical And Functional Properties Of Tiger Nuts (Cyperus Esculentus) Selected From Ghana, Cameroon And Uk Market (Spain), Thomas Adjei-Duodu

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Physical, chemical and functional properties of tiger nuts selected from Ghana, Cameroon and UK (market (Spain) Abstract The tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus) has attracted a lot of unsubstantiated health claims, yet there is a dearth of research investigation within Ghana specifically in the area of food product development. This study addresses the development of ‘functional bread and biscuit’ from tiger nuts obtained from UK market (Spain). The chemical constituents; carbohydrate, lipid, protein, dietary minerals and antioxidants, the functional properties of three varieties of tiger nuts obtained from Ghana (black and brown), Cameroon (yellow) and UK market (Spain) (brown) were investigated …

The Effects Of Probiotics, Prebiotics And Synbiotics On Gut Flora, Immune Function And Blood Characteristics Of Broilers, Rebin Aswad Mirza Akoy

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Abstract The microbial populations in the gastrointestinal tracts of poultry play an important role in normal digestive processes and in maintaining animal health. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics on the growth parameters, gut ecosystem, histology and immune function. In this study, four experiments one in vitro and three in vivo were conducted using specific pathogen free (SPF) and Hubbard broiler chickens. The first experiment was designed to determine the influence of inulin as an effective prebiotic on lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, and to screen LAB for selection as a …

Optimisation Of Rebreeding Strategy In Uk Holstein Dairy Cattle- A Multifactorial Study, Richard Michael Miller

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Dairy production in the UK has undergone a period of sustained increase both in number of cows held in each unit and yields per cow. Whilst much of this yield increase can be attributed to nutritional science, the production capacity of individual animals has also contributed significantly through both higher peak yields and greater persistency of production throughout lactation. This additional production has not come without cost which has manifested itself as a general decrease in reproductive performance. Although the associated lengthening of the calving interval has led to an increase in herd average days in milk, the question arises …

Natural Phenolic Extracts From Cardamom (Elettaria Cardamomum), Sumac (Rhus Coriaria) And Pomegranate (Punica Granatum)- Potential Application To Control Pathogenic Bacteria In Foods, Abass Fadhil Razoki Aal-Tay

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Abstract Food-borne disease is still a concern for both consumer and food industry in spite of the use of various preservation techniques. Plant extracts are becoming more popular as naturally occurring antibacterial agents. Antibacterial activity of cardamom, sumac, pomegranate, star anise and cranberry extracts and their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes and Clostridium perfringens were determined using agar well diffusion and broth dilution methods. Sumac and pomegranate alcoholic extracts and cardamom oleoresin showed strong antibacterial activity, and their MIC range were: for sumac (3-10 mgml-1), for pomegranate (6-12 mgml-1) and …

Art In The Public Realm And The Politics Of Rural Leisure: Access And Environment, Alex Murdin

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Exploring both political aesthetics and the politics of aesthetics to outline an environmental ruralism for art in public spaces, this practice lead research project postulates a “complemental practice”, outlining its methodology and contexts for operation, the rural, spaces of leisure and the public realm. It is a response to threats to spatial and environmental commons from heritage, place-making and nostalgia, psychological inhibition such as a sense of global contingency and widespread economic exploitation. Responses by artists to this situation can be characterised as a binary of dialogism (Kester, 2004) and relational antagonism (Bishop, 2004), i.e. consensual/collaborative or antagonistic/autonomous practices. Informing …

The Legal Regimes Governing Marine Renewable Energy In England And Wales, Victoria Jane Hamlyn

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis involves an examination of the main international, regional and national legal regimes regulating marine renewable energy in England and Wales. Deriving from a complex patchwork of law and policy, developments have ensued in the absence of a distinct governing ‘legal regime’ and within a number of competing paradigms. This original synthesis attempts to identify lacunae, conflicts and connections within and between the span of legal genres that MRE evokes. Against a backdrop of climate change mitigation, the key findings show that despite the presence of political will for offshore renewable energies, MRE development faces a number of legal …

Trigger Point Theory As Aesthetic Activism, Aviva Rahmani

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Trigger Point Theory as Aesthetic Activism: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Environmental Restoration Aviva A. Rahmani This dissertation presents a new approach to addressing environmental degradation based on transdisciplinary ecological art. Transdisciplinarity is defined here as merging art and science to discover new insights. Ecological art is defined as an aesthetic practice that promotes environmental resilience. This writing will describe why those approaches are essential to restoring resilient bioregionalism. It introduces the author’s own heuristic perspectives and methodologies and demonstrates how they may be integrated with technology and science. The problems of accelerated loss of coastal (littoral) zone biodiversity, degraded water …

Every Frame Counts: Creative Practice And Gender In Direct Animation, Kayla Parker

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis interrogates the ways in which the body-centred practices of women film artists embrace the materiality of direct animation in order to foreground gendered, subjective positions. Through the researcher's own creative practice, it investigates how this mode of film-making, in which the artist works through physical engagement with the film materials and the material processes of film-making, might be understood as feminine and/or feminist. Direct animation foregrounds touch as the primary sense. Its practices are process-based and highly experimental, because images are made through the agency of the body operating within restrictive parameters, making results difficult to predict or …

An Ontology Of Space: Methodological Recursiveness And The Diagram, Rita Cachao

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Current debates on space reveal a dichotomy between two apparently conflicting understandings of space: on the one hand, space is understood as a physical, tangible entity that has an impact on how we perceive, feel and emotionally inhabit the world, and on the other hand, space is conceived as an abstract entity, suggesting that space has no active role (a productivity) within everyday life, being solely a conceptual product of intellectual reasoning. As a result, the commonly used word: ‘space’, will be discussed as an ontologically paradoxical, ambiguous and elusive concept; a concept that cannot be captured within a single …

Polyphibianism: Evolving Transdisciplinarity Into An Imaginary Organism Of Living Knowledge, Ziva Ljubec

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Transdisciplinarity emerged from the urge to grasp the elusive knowledge in the most fertile zone in between and beyond disciplines that escapes even the most elaborate interdisciplinary operations. While interdisciplinary protocol enables experts to operate within foreign disciplines, in the extreme case as diverse as art and science (by inviting artists into scientific departments and vice versa), the production of knowledge remains confined to particular domains. To transcend these confinements and access the knowledge that evades institutionalisation Basarab Nicolescu’s Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity sets up conditions for an open structure to be grown outside the current compartmentalisation into a living knowledge. …

Machine Performers: Agents In A Multiple Ontological State, Louis-Philippe Demers

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

In this thesis, the author explores and develops new attributes for machine performers and merges the trans-disciplinary fields of the performing arts and artificial intelligence. The main aim is to redefine the term “embodiment” for robots on the stage and to demonstrate that this term requires broadening in various fields of research. This redefining has required a multifaceted theoretical analysis of embodiment in the field of artificial intelligence (e.g. the uncanny valley), as well as the construction of new robots for the stage by the author. It is hoped that these practical experimental examples will generate more research by others …

Soils And Interventions, Linus Lancaster

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

Linus Lancaster Soils and Interventions Dissertation Abstract The problem that I have identified during my research for this dissertation is the quantifiable depletion and exhaustion of large percentages of the world's soils through human activity in agriculture and other industrial practices. In the course of researching this problem I have looked closely at some of the primary causes, and a range of proposed and applied solutions in the field of ecology. The primary focus of the research has been in looking at how artists have responded to ecological issues and have engaged in environmental activism in their practices. Integral to …

The Application Of Ocean Front Metrics For Understanding Habitat Selection By Marine Predators, Kylie Lisa Scales

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Marine predators such as seabirds, cetaceans, turtles, pinnipeds, sharks and large teleost fish are essential components of healthy, biologically diverse marine ecosystems. However, intense anthropogenic pressure on the global ocean is causing rapid and widespread change, and many predator populations are in decline. Conservation solutions are urgently required, yet only recently have we begun to comprehend how these animals interact with the vast and dynamic oceans that they inhabit. A better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie habitat selection at sea is critical to our knowledge of marine ecosystem functioning, and to ecologically-sensitive marine spatial planning. The collection of studies …

Investigation Of Microplastic Debris In Marine Surface Waters Using Different Sampling Methods, Saeed Seyed Sadri

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

‘Microplastics’ are pieces of plastic debris <5mm in diameter. They are introduced into the marine environment directly for example via release of small pieces of plastics used as abrasives and indirectly through the fragmentation of larger items. The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC (MSFD) regards microplastics as an emerging issue of concern and calls for more data on the quantity, distribution and composition of this debris. This thesis examines the amount, composition and distribution of buoyant microplastic debris in marine waters using different sampling devices and methodologies. To investigate the spatial distribution, abundance and composition of microplastic debris between nearshore and offshore marine subsurface waters a subset of samples from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey were examined. Abundance was generally higher in nearshore coastal waters than the offshore oceanic samples, with the highest mean concentrations observed in the UK’s coastal waters of the northeast Atlantic and the southern North Sea. To validate the accuracy of the presence/absence of microplastic debris reported in the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) samples by analysts at the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS) a subset of data was formally analysed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. This analysis indicated a good level of accuracy (~66%) in the ability of the SAHFOS’ analysts to detect visually microplastic fragments during their normal processing of plankton samples. To compare quantity and composition of buoyant microplastic debris collected by two different approaches (CPR vs. Manta net) samples were collected from a similar body of coastal waters. The results showed significantly higher abundance of microplastic in samples collected by the manta net per unit of distance but no significant difference once the results were standardised per cubic volume of water. To assess the susceptibility of each method to ‘procedural contamination’, repetitive controlled tests were conducted to quantify the amount and composition of contaminants before, during and after the sampling programme. In both methods the highest number of contaminants was found on the net and prior to the deployment to sea. The semi synthetic Rayon fibres were the most abundant type of contaminants in both cases. To compare the abundance and composition of buoyant plastic debris in estuarine waters according to daily and lunar tidal cycles a mensurative experiment was conducted in a macrotidal Estuary. Microplastics comprised 82% of the debris and there was a significant difference in size frequency distribution between the spring and neap tides with more fragments of larger size observed during spring tides. In conclusion, this study shows further evidence of the spatial heterogeneity of microplastic debris distribution in marine waters and therefore also highlights the need for more comparable data from different marine habitats using standardised methodologies.

An Investigation Of Accidental Falls In People With Multiple Sclerosis, Hilary Gunn

School of Health Professions Theses

More than 50% of people with MS fall in any six-month period. The importance of developing a suitable falls management programme has been identified by people with MS and professionals. This thesis aimed to develop a model for an MS falls intervention. The studies employed a systematic approach to evaluate the risk factors for falls and to identify the optimal programme content, format and structure. Methods The thesis comprises two sections; the first involving a systematic review and an observational study of falls risk factors (n=148). Part two included a second systematic review to inform programme content, and a nominal …

Distributions Of Glycine Betaine And The Methylamines In Coastal Waters: Analytical Developments And A Seasonal Study, Charlotte Cree

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

A novel technique comprising solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography has been developed to analyse the three methylamines (monomethylamine, dimethylamine and trimethylamine) at the concentrations expected in seawater. The volatility of the methylamines was exploited and allowed the headspace pre-concentration and gas chromatographic separation of the analytes. This method achieved limits of detection of 0.43 nmol dm-3, 2.50 nmol dm-3 and 0.37 nmol dm-3 for monomethylamine, dimethylamine and trimethylamine, respectively, which are lower than any previously reported for seawater. This technique was applied to natural samples collected from the Western English Channel (WEC) and the methylamines were successfully quantified. A …