Digital Commons Network^™

Leaving Home: Investigating Transitioning Challenges Faced By Boarding Students And Their Families, Kate Margaret Hadwen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Transitioning to boarding school during the middle years of childhood impacts upon the social, emotional and academic wellbeing of young people (Bramston & Patrick, 2007; Connell & Wellborn, 1991; Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991; Earls & Carlson, 2001). Students who live at school as boarders, may experience greater transitional changes in all three components of wellbeing due to the extent of change experienced during this transition. While research addressing transitioning to school has indicated the importance of connectedness to school, bonding, friendships and a sense of autonomy (Eccles et al., 1993), there is limited research addressing the transitioning experiences …

Electric Vehicles In Smart Grids: Performance Considerations, Uttam Kumar Deb Nath

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Distributed power system is the basic architecture of current power systems and demands close cooperation among the generation, transmission and distribution systems. Excessive greenhouse gas emissions over the last decade have driven a move to a more sustainable energy system. This has involved integrating renewable energy sources like wind and solar power into the distributed generation system. Renewable sources offer more opportunities for end users to participate in the power delivery system and to make this distribution system even more efficient, the novel "Smart Grid" concept has emerged. A Smart Grid: offers a two-way communication between the source and the …

Education For Sustainability: An Ethnographic Study Of 15 Year-2/3 Rural Western Australian Children’S Attitudes On Sustainability, Cara Payne

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The study occurred in rural Western Australia in 2011, during UNESCO‟s Decade of Education for Sustainability Development, when sustainability became one of three cross-curriculum priorities of the Australian Curriculum. The study involved the development and implementation of a sustainability focused science program embedded in a class of 15 Year-2/3primary participants. The study emphasised a qualitative approach, but also included embedded quantitative data analysis. The aim of the science program focussed on the enhancement of the children‟s attitudes towards sustainability, to equip them with the skills needed to change their behaviours in relation to practicing the principles of sustainability. The …

Fowl Feathered Fox: Monsters, Pipers, Families And Flocks, Michelle Aslett

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Fowl Feathered Fox: Monsters, Pipers, Families and Flocks is a doctoral work consisting of a full-length stage play and an exegesis. An introduction outlines the scope of the doctoral work, while a concluding chapter reflects on research findings and considers staging issues and implications. Appendices include images incorporated into the play’s action as well as photographed excerpts from a series of visual diaries used to document the play’s evolution. The play, Fowl Feathered Fox, explores the nature of delusion, deception and the tragedy of The Beast Within. Borrowing as it does from the traditions of revenge tragedy, comedy and horror, …

Exploring The Benefits Of Attracting, Recruiting And Retaining Mature Age Employees Up To And Beyond The Traditional Age Of Retirement: Perspectives From Western Australia, Jonathan Georgiou

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There has been a recent upsurge in media attention surrounding Australia’s ageing workforce. A review of academic, media and grey literature highlighted inadequacies in existing workplace polices, as well as flaws in financial and social security schemes. Of particular concern were persistent negative attitudes and counterproductive policies regarding mature age employees (MAEs). Poor retention rates among this cohort of workers aged 45 years and over are leading to skilled labour shortages and losses in corporate knowledge. This expected mass exodus of mature cohorts into retirement has been predicted to negatively impact the socio-economic sustainability of ageing societies world-wide and is …

Sexuality, Desire And The Ageing Female Body: An Essay, Lauren Marsh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis consists of a novella, ‘One Night in Hong Kong’, and an essay, ‘Sexuality, Desire and the Ageing Female Body.’ The novella tells the story of an erotic affair between the female narrator and a man in a hotel room in the neon city of Hong Kong. Told in four parts, the story shifts in time, reflecting on earlier events in the narrator’s life and a trip she made to the Sicilian city of Catania in 1954.

Older female protagonists and their sexuality are rarely depicted in contemporary Australian fiction. Where representations do exist, they act as ‘interventionist’ texts, …

Measuring Transnational Human Rights, Cortelyou C. Kenney

Fordham Law Review

Over the past three and a half decades, hundreds of transnational human rights civil suits—i.e., suits seeking monetary compensation for atrocities committed abroad ranging from torture and extrajudicial killing to forced labor and human trafficking—have been filed in the United States. Exhaustive qualitative research chronicles plaintiff “successes” and “failures” as defined by how frequently plaintiffs win, the magnitude of judgments and settlements they obtain, and the extent to which judgments and settlements are enforced. The prevailing wisdom is that while some cases have proven runaway successes along these axes, in general, transnational human rights suits constitute “a modest enterprise akin …

Coupled Techniques For Arsenic Speciation In Food And Drinking Water: A Review, Bashdar Sadee, M. E. Foulkes, S. J. Hill

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Crustal‐Scale Degassing Due To Magma System Destabilization And Magma‐Gas Decoupling At Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, T. E. Christopher, J. Blundy, K. Cashman, P. Cole, M. Edmonds, P. J. Smith, R. S.J. Sparks, A. Stinton

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

AbstractActivity since 1995 at Soufrière Hills Volcano (SHV), Montserrat has alternated between andesite lava extrusion and quiescence, which are well correlated with seismicity and ground deformation cycles. Large variations in SO2 flux do not correlate with these alternations, but high and low HCl/SO2 characterize lava dome extrusion and quiescent periods respectively. Since lava extrusion ceased (February 2010) steady SO2 emissions have continued at an average rate of 374 tonnes/day (± 140 t/d), and incandescent fumaroles (temperatures up to 610oC) on the dome have not changed position or cooled. Occasional short bursts (over several hours) of higher (∼ 10x) SO2 flux …

Modelling Container Logistics Processes In Container Terminals: A Case Study In Alexandria, Hebatallah Mohammed Elmesmary

Plymouth Business School Theses

This study aims to optimize the logistics processes of container terminals. Potentially powerful pipe-flow models of container terminal logistics processes have been neglected to date and modelling of terminals is rare. Because research which adopts a pipe flow and dynamic operational perspective is rare, a case application in Alexandria, Egypt collated empirical container and information flows using interviews and company records to describe its logistics processes and model container and information flows. The methodology used includes qualitative and quantitative methods and a descriptive methodology proceeds sequentially. Primary and secondary data were presented as a pipe flow model to show interrelations …

The London Exercise And Pregnant Smokers (Leap) Trial: A Randomised Controlled Trial Of Physical Activity For Smoking Cessation In Pregnancy With An Economic Evaluation, Michael Ussher, S Lewis, Paul Aveyard, Isaac Manyonda, Robert West, B Lewis, Bess Marcus, Muhammad Riaz, Adrian H. Taylor, Pelham Barton, Amanda Daley, Holly Essex, Dale Esliger, Tim Coleman

Peninsula Medical School

BackgroundSmoking during pregnancy is the main preventable cause of poor birth outcomes. Improved methods are needed to help women to stop smoking during pregnancy. Pregnancy provides a compelling rationale for physical activity (PA) interventions as cessation medication is contraindicated or ineffective, and an effective PA intervention could be highly cost-effective.ObjectiveTo examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a PA intervention plus standard behavioural support for smoking cessation relative to behavioural support alone for achieving smoking cessation at the end of pregnancy.DesignMulticentre, two-group, pragmatic randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation with follow-up at the end of pregnancy and 6 months postnatally. Randomisation …

European Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing Research Priorities: An E-Delphi Study, Joke M. Wielenga, Lyvonne N. Tume, Jos M. Latour, Den Hoogen A Van

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

Psychometric Evaluation Of The Newcastle Satisfaction With Nursing Scales, Michela Piredda, Ercole Vellone, Giovanni Piras, Roberta Fida, Jos M. Latour, Maria Matarese, Rosaria Alvaro, Marinis Mg De

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

Europeana Sounds And Copyrights: The Need For And Challenges In Licensing Archival Materials, S Schroff

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gap Between Academics And Policy Makers: Crime And Punishment: Gypsies, Travellers And Roma In The Criminal Justice System, M Greenfields, Zc James, J Berlin

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Subject And Aesthetic Interface - An Inquiry Into Transformed Subjectivities, Kathrine Elizabeth Lorena Johansson

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

The present PhD-thesis seeks new definitions of human subjectivity in an age of technoscience and a networked, globalized, Information Society. The perspective presented relates to Philosophy of Science, which includes the Human, the Natural, the Social and the Life Sciences. The project is directed at addressing, and aims to participate in, the further development of Philosophy of Science, or rather, the philosophy of knowing, which leaves a perspective broader than that of science. Methodologically, I combine readings of technoetic artworks, which I approach from a hermeneutical-semiotic perspective, with transdisciplinary research into existing theory concerning the human subject. These readings form …

A Postcolonial Critique Of Industrial Design: A Critical Evaluation Of The Relationship Of Culture And Hegemony To Design Practice And Education Since The Late 20th Century., Taslima Begum

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

A Postcolonial Critique of Industrial Design: A critical evaluation of the relationship of culture and hegemony to design practice and education since the late 20th century. This thesis specifically focuses on the professional practices and training of Western industrial designers using postcolonial theory to inform working practices in a complex global ecology. It investigates the culturally hegemonic construction of design solutions in man-made products. By adopting key ideas from postcolonial and cultural studies as a lens to evaluate fields of industrial design discourse, practice and pedagogy, the work proceeds from the premise that design is not intrinsic to a product …

Wireless Interactive Sonification Of Large Water Waves To Demonstrate The Facilities Of A Large-Scale Research Wave Tank, Alexis Kirke, Samuel Freeman, Eduardo Reck Miranda

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Interactive sonification can provide a platform for demonstration and education as well as for monitoring and investigation. We present a system designed to demonstrate the facilities of the UK's most advanced large-scale research wave tank. The interactive sonification of water waves in the “ocean basin” wave tank at Plymouth University consisted of a number of elements: generation of ocean waves, acquisition and sonification of ocean-wave measurement data, and gesture-controlled pitch and amplitude of sonifications. The generated water waves were linked in real time to sonic features via depth monitors and motion tracking of a floating buoy. Types of water-wave patterns, …

A Decision Support Framework For Selecting Innovative Sustainable Technologies For Delivering Low Carbon Retail Buildings, Syeda Dangana

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

There is an urgent need to adopt innovative sustainable technologies (ISTs) to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions whilst improving process efficiency of existing retail buildings, due to rising energy prices and the impacts of retail buildings on the environment. Despite their reported advantages, exhibited performance and numerous policies and legislations that encourage their adoption, there is a slow uptake of ISTs in the retail sector. This is due to the fact that the majority of stakeholders consider the task of selecting ISTs as a complex multi-attribute, multi-valued problem involving a large number of stakeholders with numerous, often conflicting objectives. …

Music-Induced Emotions Can Be Predicted From A Combination Of Brain Activity And Acoustic Features, Ian Daly, Duncan Williams, James Hallowell, Faustina Hwang, Alexis Kirke, Asad Malik, James Weaver, Eduardo Miranda, Slawomir J. Nasuto

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Real-Time Hallucination Simulation And Sonification Through User-Led Development Of An Ipad Augmented Reality Performance, Alexis Kirke, Joel Eaton, Eduardo Miranda

School of Art, Design and Architecture

The simulation of visual hallucinations has multiple applications. The authors present a new approach to hallucination simulation, initially developed for a performance, that proved to have uses for individuals suffering from certain types of hallucinations. The system, originally developed with a focus on the visual symptoms of palinopsia experienced by the lead author, allows real-time visual expression using augmented reality via an iPad. It also allows the hallucinations to be converted into sound through visuals sonification. Although no formal experimentation was conducted, the authors report on a number of unsolicited informal responses to the simulator from palinopsia sufferers and the …

A Multi-Agent Emotional Society Whose Melodies Represent Its Emergent Social Hierarchy And Are Generated By Agent Communications, Alexis Kirke, Eduardo Miranda

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Capturing The City: Part Of The Portfolio Memory City, B Momchedjikova, I Rae, T Milbrandt

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Introduction to the book Capturing the City translated by Jorge De La Barre, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio, Brazil Antropolítica: Revista Contemporânea de Antropologia, n. 38 (2015) http://www.revistas.uff.br/index.php/antropolitica/article/view/333/pdf

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 …

Time-Lapse Thermography For Building Defect Detection, Matthew Fox, David Coley, Steve Goodhew, Wilde P De

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Icts And Technical Agency: A Case Study Of A Rural Brazilian Community, Lorena Melgaço, Katharine S. Willis

School of Art, Design and Architecture

This paper explores the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in rural, marginalised communities. We explore Feenberg's concept of technical agency in order to understand the ways in which technological capacity might contribute to community development. We discuss three conditions of technical agency as outlined by Feenberg: power, knowledge and appropriate occasion. We consider how this framework might enable an approach to understanding the role of ICTS in the particular socio-spatial contexts in marginalised communities. In order to test Feenberg's approach, we discuss a case study of a village in rural Brazil: Noiva do Cordeiro. The community is recognised …

The Artist’S Book As Vehicle For Knowledge, Sm Black

School of Art, Design and Architecture

This paper will propose that that the artists’s book is capable of carrying an academic argument in a demonstrative and experiential manner, and will explore some of the benefits and pitfalls for the practitioner-researcher arising from this. The rationale for this topic’s contemporary relevance lies in the shift within universities towards digital submissions for research outputs and access to scholarship through digital repositories. Against this backdrop of stringent regulations and layout requirements that do not embrace the possibilities offered by digital submissions, I shall be arguing for the continued opportunity to embrace the strengths of digital outputs within physical forms. …

Effect Of Ownership Structure On Firm Stock Returns And Financial Performance:Evidence From The Egyptian Stock Market, Amal Elghouti

Plymouth Business School Theses

The effect of institutional ownership and ownership concentration on the firm’s stock returns and volatility and financial performance has long been an interesting issue in the international business literature. A lot of debate has been going on regarding the relationship between institutional ownership, ownership concentration, returns, volatility and financial performance. The objective of this thesis is to study the effect of institutional ownership and ownership concentration on firm stock returns and financial performance of the listed companies in the Egyptian Stock Exchange. For this purpose, panel data model is employed. The results from the analysis show that institutional ownership has …

The Relational Geographies Of Policing And Security, Richard Yarwood, Till Paasche

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

AbstractThis paper considers the roles of policing and security in the geographies of everyday public and semi‐public space. We contend that while security is concerned with territory, policing relates to place. We consider the relationship between security and territory before examining the relationship between policing and place. In the final section, we argue that a relational view of space is needed to understand how practices of policing and security shape space and, in turn, the lives of people using it.

Lessons Learned From Recruiting Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Smokes Into A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial To Explore The Role Of Exercise Assisted Reduction Then Stop (Ears) Smoking., Tom P. Thompson, Colin J. Greaves, Richard Ayres, Paul Aveyard, Fiona C. Warren, Richard Byng

Peninsula Medical School

Background Research is needed on what influences recruitment to smoking reduction trials, and how to increase their reach. The present study aimed to i) assess the feasibility of recruiting a disadvantaged population, ii) examine the effects of recruitment methods on participant characteristics, iii) identify resource requirements for different recruitment methods, and iv) to qualitatively assess the acceptability of recruitment. This was done as part of a pilot two-arm trial of the effectiveness of a novel behavioral support intervention focused on increasing physical activity and reducing smoking, among disadvantaged smokers not wishing to quit. Methods Smokers were recruited through mailed invitations …