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2017

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Voting Realism, Gilda R. Daniels Jan 2017

Voting Realism, Gilda R. Daniels

All Faculty Scholarship

Since Shelby County v. Holder, the country has grown accustomed to life without the full strength of the Voting Rights Act. Efforts to restore Section 4 have been met with calls to ignore race conscious remedies and employ race neutral remedies for modern day voting rights violations. In this new normal, the country should adopt “voting realism” as the new approach to ensuring that law and reality work to address these new millennium methods of voter discrimination.

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Obesity And Dental Caries In Children In Plymouth, Martha Paisi Jan 2017

Obesity And Dental Caries In Children In Plymouth, Martha Paisi

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Background: Obesity and dental caries are two of the most common conditions affecting children and both have significant implications on children’s wellbeing and future health. Even though research into the relationship between the two conditions has been conducted for many years, results to date remain equivocal. Furthermore, the majority of the studies only examined individual-level determinants of the two conditions. Aim: The current work aimed to examine the nature, direction and effect size of the relationship between obesity and caries in children in Plymouth, United Kingdom. It also aimed to better understand the individual and the broader environmental determinants of …

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Occupational Therapy Intervention Development, For Individuals With A Diagnosis Of Psychosis Living In The Community, To Improve Participation In Activities Of Everyday Life: A Feasibility Study For A Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial., Joanne Inman Jan 2017

Occupational Therapy Intervention Development, For Individuals With A Diagnosis Of Psychosis Living In The Community, To Improve Participation In Activities Of Everyday Life: A Feasibility Study For A Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial., Joanne Inman

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Background: Having a diagnosis of schizophrenia is associated with employment difficulties, high mortality rates, substantial family burden and impoverished quality of life and it costs between 1.5 to 3 per cent of the total expenditure on national health care (Knapp et al 2004). However social functioning and participation can have a protective impact on mental health of people with a diagnosis of psychosis (Stain et al 2013). Method: A systematic and phased approach to complex intervention development was undertaken involving: (1) A systematic review of effectiveness and (2) a feasibility study, designed to explore and test the key uncertainties of …

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Do Superfast Broadband And Tailored Interventions Improve Use Of Ehealth And Reduce Health Related Travel?, Philip Abbott-Garner Jan 2017

Do Superfast Broadband And Tailored Interventions Improve Use Of Ehealth And Reduce Health Related Travel?, Philip Abbott-Garner

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Do superfast broadband and tailored interventions improve use of eHealth and reduce health related travel? Introduction – eHealth has been shown to have promising health outcomes in numerous areas, however many people remain digitally excluded and therefore suffer an inequality in health service provision. Lack of internet infrastructure, personal skills, and service provision have been identified as potential barriers to eHealth but as yet there is no good evidence of the significance of these barriers and the impact of interventions to improve them. This PhD aimed to assess impact on eHealth uptake of three interventions (i) superfast broadband, (ii) a …

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The Risky Side Of Creativity: A Scientific Investigation Of Creativity And Domain Specific Risk Taking, Vaibhav Tyagi Jan 2017

The Risky Side Of Creativity: A Scientific Investigation Of Creativity And Domain Specific Risk Taking, Vaibhav Tyagi

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Previous researchers have often speculated about the role of risk taking in creativity, however this association has rarely been systematically investigated. This thesis explores the association between domain specific risk taking and creativity in human participants. It presents a systematic review of the speculations and scientific studies which aimed at uncovering the association between creativity and risk taking in various populations. This discussion aims to bring together the current knowledge centred around the link between risk taking and creativity and poses two overarching questions – Are creative individuals risk takers and if so, is this association domain specific? In five …

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Foot, Ankle And Lower Limb Somatosensory Dysfunction In Stroke, Terry Gorst Jan 2017

Foot, Ankle And Lower Limb Somatosensory Dysfunction In Stroke, Terry Gorst

Other Faculty of Health Theses

The extent to which sensory impairments in the foot, ankle and lower limb persist into the chronic phase of stroke is unclear. Furthermore, the extent to which these impairments influence walking, balance and falls is not well understood. This thesis investigated the prevalence, functional importance and measurement of lower limb somatosensory impairments in ambulatory people with chronic stroke. Methods This thesis comprised three studies: the first, a qualitative investigation, explored the views and experiences of people with chronic stroke (n=13). This led to the second study: a cross sectional observational study in which the prevalence, distribution and functional relevance of …

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Group Creativity: An Interpersonal Perspective, Pinar Oztop Jan 2017

Group Creativity: An Interpersonal Perspective, Pinar Oztop

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Creativity has received significant interest in variety of fields and disciplines with a major focus on individual level creativity. As more and more achievements started originating from groups, researchers turned their attention to creativity on group level. Current thesis explores the group creativity as well as flow experience in collaboration. It explores the group creativity phenomena and its correlates in different contexts, age groups and cultures. The overarching aim of the thesis is to extend our knowledge on group creativity and contribute to open questions in the field such as - How does (group) creativity develop? Which interpersonal and motivational …

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Controlled And Automatic Processes In Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer, Tina Seabrooke Jan 2017

Controlled And Automatic Processes In Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer, Tina Seabrooke

Other Faculty of Health Theses

The current research aimed to further current knowledge on the psychological processes that underpin human outcome-selective Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) effects. PIT reflects the capacity of a Pavlovian stimulus to selectively potentiate an instrumental response that predicts a common rewarding outcome. PIT effects are often suggested to reflect a relatively automatic S-O-R mechanism, where the stimulus activates the sensory properties of the outcome, which then automatically triggers associated instrumental responses. The current research tested this S-O-R account of PIT against a propositional expected utility theory, which suggests that PIT effects reflect verbalizable inferences about the probability and value of each outcome. …

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Sensory Re-Weighting For Balance Control And The Effects Of Ankle Foot Orthoses And Stance Width: A Comparison Of People With Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy And Healthy Participants, Samuel Glasser Jan 2017

Sensory Re-Weighting For Balance Control And The Effects Of Ankle Foot Orthoses And Stance Width: A Comparison Of People With Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy And Healthy Participants, Samuel Glasser

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is diagnosed clinically as a loss of sensation in the feet and affects over 2 million people in the UK. One of the functional effects of DPN is a decrease in standing stability giving rise to a risk of falls. In an attempt to stabilise in the mediolateral direction, people with DPN frequently walk with a wider base of support and stand with a larger stance width. This is often seen in the elderly and is not always beneficial for stability contributing to falls risk. Standing balance requires the integration of sensory information from somatosensory, …

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Excitotoxic Injury Mechanisms In Central White Matter, Seán P. Doyle Jan 2017

Excitotoxic Injury Mechanisms In Central White Matter, Seán P. Doyle

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Myelinated axons are crucial for rapid information transmission within the central nervous system (CNS). Myelin injury is a common feature of white matter (WM) pathology in a number of disease states, including ischemic stroke. Myelin disruption can lead to a complete failure in saltatory action potential conduction, resulting in devastating neurological deficits. However, the fundamental mechanism of ischemic myelin injury is controversial. Glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity is now recognised as a crucial event in the development of ischemic WM pathology. This thesis investigates the potential mechanisms of glutamate release in central WM and examines the hypothesis that NMDA receptor over-activation mediates ischemic …

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An Investigation On Body Composition, Dietary Intakes And Physical Activity In Girls Aged 8-11 Years In Saudi Arabia, Rabab Bade Alkutbe Jan 2017

An Investigation On Body Composition, Dietary Intakes And Physical Activity In Girls Aged 8-11 Years In Saudi Arabia, Rabab Bade Alkutbe

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Introduction: Obesity has become a major world-wide health issue. Social-economic status, physical activity levels and dietary intake may influence the weight status in children. However, these issues have not been examined together in studies of young girls in Saudi Arabia. Aim: This study aimed to investigate energy and nutrient intakes, physical activity and social economic status of girls aged 8-11 years in western Saudi Arabia according to their BMI. Methods: This study was conducted in two phases, phase one was a pilot study where 32 girls were selected to assess the suitability of body composition, dietary intake (food diary, food …

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Assessment Of Ocular Accommodation In Humans, Nicola Szostek Jan 2017

Assessment Of Ocular Accommodation In Humans, Nicola Szostek

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Accommodation is the change in the dioptric power of the eye altering the focus from distance to near. Presbyopia is the loss of accommodative function that occurs with age. There are many techniques used to measure accommodation, however, there is little consensus as to how clinical data should be collected and analysed. The overarching theme of this thesis is the in vivo examination of accommodation and how lifestyle can affect the onset of presbyopia. An open-field autorefractor with badal adaption was used to examine accommodative dynamic profiles under varying demands of vergence. From this data a new metric for assessing …

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High Dependency Care Provision In Obstetric Units Remote From Tertiary Referral Centres And Factors Influencing Care Escalation: A Mixed Methods Study, Alison James Jan 2017

High Dependency Care Provision In Obstetric Units Remote From Tertiary Referral Centres And Factors Influencing Care Escalation: A Mixed Methods Study, Alison James

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Background Due to technological and medical advances, increasing numbers of pregnant and post natal women require higher levels of care, including maternity high dependency care (MHDC). Up to 5% of women in the UK will receive MHDC, although there are varying opinions as to the defining features and definition of this care. Furthermore, limited evidence suggests that the size and type of obstetric unit (OU) influences the way MHDC is provided. There is robust evidence indicating that healthcare professionals must be able to recognise when higher levels of care are required and escalate care appropriately. However, there is limited evidence …

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The Things You Do: Implicit Person Models Guide Online Action Observation., Kimberley Caroline Schenke Jan 2017

The Things You Do: Implicit Person Models Guide Online Action Observation., Kimberley Caroline Schenke

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Social perception is dynamic and ambiguous. Whilst previous research favoured bottom-up views where observed actions are matched to higher level (or motor) representations, recent accounts suggest top-down processes where prior knowledge guides perception of others’ actions, in a predictive manner. This thesis investigated how person-specific models of others’ typical behaviour in different situations are reactivated when they are re-encountered and predict their actions, using strictly controlled computer-based action identification tasks, event-related potentials (ERPs), as well as recording participants’ actions via motion tracking (using the Microsoft Kinect Sensor). The findings provided evidence that knowledge about seen actor’s typical behaviour is used …

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Presymptomatic Testing For Familial Cancer Syndromes In Young Adults: Considerations, Decision Making And Impact, Lea Godino Jan 2017

Presymptomatic Testing For Familial Cancer Syndromes In Young Adults: Considerations, Decision Making And Impact, Lea Godino

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Background: Presymptomatic genetic testing should always involve a considered choice. Young adults are at a key life stage as they may be developing a career, forming partnerships and potentially becoming parents. Presymptomatic testing may therefore affect the future lives of consultands significantly when testing is undertaken in early adulthood. Aim: To explore presymptomatic testing for hereditary cancer in consultands aged 18-30 years with particular reference to psychosocial impact, the decision-making process and the consequent counselling needs. Methods: A mixed-methods sequential exploratory design was used, comprising a systematic review, a qualitative study and a quantitative study. Results of all phases were …

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Risk Edecisions: Online Behaviour And Decision Making From The Igeneration To The Silver Surfer, Claire May White Jan 2017

Risk Edecisions: Online Behaviour And Decision Making From The Igeneration To The Silver Surfer, Claire May White

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Since the inception of the Internet there has been immense growth in the number of internet users worldwide, and the integration of social media in our daily lives has become commonplace for many. Yet, alongside the many benefits of this global connectivity come numerous risks. Research shows that individuals of all ages are exposed to, and engage in, risky activities online, despite numerous campaigns to highlight the perils of risky online behaviour. Although the rates of victimisation increase year-on-year, surprisingly little is known about the psychological mechanisms underlying online risk-taking. The work in this thesis aimed to address this gap …

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Characterisation Of Pharmacological Mechanisms And Potential Therapeutic Uses Of Fk866, Niketa Ferguson Jan 2017

Characterisation Of Pharmacological Mechanisms And Potential Therapeutic Uses Of Fk866, Niketa Ferguson

Other Faculty of Health Theses

The finding that NAD+ plays a role in a variety of signalling pathways, including gene expression, Ca2+ signalling and DNA repair mechanisms, has sparked interest in the proteins involved in these pathways as potential pharmacological targets for drug development. Recently, FK866, a potent inhibitor of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt) an important enzyme in the NAD+ rescue pathway, has been evaluated in clinical trials against cancer. The aim of this study is to further investigate the mechanisms and therapeutic characteristics of FK866 in different cancer cell lines and to determine if decreasing intracellular NAD+ levels can be used as a co-therapy strategy …

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Protection From Hcv Infection – Identification Of Mechanisms Of Resistance To Hcv Infection In Exposed Uninfected Injection Drug Users., Isaac Thom Shawa Jan 2017

Protection From Hcv Infection – Identification Of Mechanisms Of Resistance To Hcv Infection In Exposed Uninfected Injection Drug Users., Isaac Thom Shawa

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease. In the developed world, injection drug use (IDU) through sharing of infected needles and other paraphernalia remains the principal risk factor for HCV transmission. Effective but expensive treatment is now possible but there remains a pressing need for a vaccine. A proportion of people who inject drugs (PWIDs) remain uninfected despite HCV exposure from a long history of sharing needles and other paraphernalia. These cases are termed exposed but uninfected (EU) and test negative for both HCV antibodies and RNA and exhibit a phenotype of resistance to HCV …

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The Impacts Of Wheat Gluten Products And Short-Chain Fructooligosaccharides On The Health And Production Of Juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss), Samuel W. Voller Jan 2017

The Impacts Of Wheat Gluten Products And Short-Chain Fructooligosaccharides On The Health And Production Of Juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss), Samuel W. Voller

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The impacts of wheat gluten products and short-chain fructooligosaccharides on the health and production of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Samuel W. Voller Through the implementation of in vivo feeding trials, the efficacy of three wheat gluten (WG) products, vital (Amytex®), hydrolysed (Merripro®) and soluble hydrolysed (Solpro®) wheat gluten as replacement of soy protein concentrate, and scFOS prebiotic (Profeed®) supplementation were analysed to assess their impacts on intestinal health and production of juvenile rainbow trout. Microbial community analysis in experiment one revealed a degree of diet based modulation with 7.5% and 15% inclusions of wheat gluten (WG) products. Bacterial species …

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Developing An Integrated Strategy For The Assessment Of Hazardous Substances In Kuwait’S Marine Environment, Hanan Ahmad Alsarawi Jan 2017

Developing An Integrated Strategy For The Assessment Of Hazardous Substances In Kuwait’S Marine Environment, Hanan Ahmad Alsarawi

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Kuwait is undergoing rapid economic growth involving substantial developments along its coastal shores and the marine environment. Many of the activities in the region are associated with oil industry, which can pollute the shores leading to contamination from oil residues, tar balls and trace metals. About 2 million barrels of oil are spilled annually from routine discharges into the Gulf, which derives mainly from dirty ballast waters and tank washing. The comprehensive literature review of hazardous substances in Kuwait’s marine environment has concluded that for the majority of these pollutants, contamination is localized around industrialised areas, and elsewhere is generally …

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An Investigation Into The Usefulness Of The British Equestrian Federation Futurity Programme, Lauren Brown Jan 2017

An Investigation Into The Usefulness Of The British Equestrian Federation Futurity Programme, Lauren Brown

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Sport horse genetic evaluations are used throughout Europe to inform breeding practices. In England specifically, British Equestrian Federation Futurity evaluations are used to assess horse potential and to inform British breeding. Futurity premium scores are allocated to represent performance potential based on horse’s component traits (primarily conformation and locomotion). This study demonstrated that over half (61/106) questionnaire respondents believe that Futurity premium scores influence horse training decisions and monetary value. This is highly relevant to the industry as premium scores can therefore have economic and welfare implications. Therefore horse premiums must be reliable and indicative of future competition performance. Retrospective …

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Data Communication Signals Of Opportunity For Navigation, Thomas Oliver Mansfield Jan 2017

Data Communication Signals Of Opportunity For Navigation, Thomas Oliver Mansfield

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Mobile devices with wireless networking capabilities are used in a wide range of environments. Geolocation information increases the value of the data generated by a device and is vital in the development of a wide range of applications from autonomous vehicles to the Internet of things. Systems that generate signals specifically for geolocation have become widely adopted but, due to fundamental constraints, lack coverage and accuracy in complex urban and indoor environments. In addition to this, the reliance on a single signal source is not desirable in many applications that value the integrity of the geolocation estimate. A direction of …

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Self-Lubricating Non-Cyanide Silver-Polytetrafluoroethylene Composite Coating For Threaded Compression Fittings, Raymond Sieh Jan 2017

Self-Lubricating Non-Cyanide Silver-Polytetrafluoroethylene Composite Coating For Threaded Compression Fittings, Raymond Sieh

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Silver is a precious metal that has traditionally been used for jewellery and money. It also possesses desirable properties such as being corrosion resistant and having good electrical conductivity, resulting in its use for industrial applications. Furthermore, it is also recognised for its tribological properties in non-cost prohibitive applications. Silver can be used as a surface coating and can be deposited using an electroplating process. The utilisation of silver as a surface coating is advantageous and sustainable, as the substrate material properties are enhanced while usage of silver is kept to a minimum. On the other hand, electroplating has been …

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How Does The Analysis Of Structural Violence Help To Explain The Persistence Of The Israel-Palestine Conflict? A Case Study Of The Barrier, Aneta Brockhill Jan 2017

How Does The Analysis Of Structural Violence Help To Explain The Persistence Of The Israel-Palestine Conflict? A Case Study Of The Barrier, Aneta Brockhill

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

The Israel-Palestine conflict constitutes one of the longest standing conflicts in modern times. Its continuation has often been attributed to the very nature of the conflict: two peoples pursuing an incompatible goal-ownership of the same piece of land. Violence has constituted a characteristic feature of this struggle, widely employed by the two peoples. The analysis of violence, however, has often been limited to acts of direct and physical violence that can be attributed to an individual subject. This thesis investigates violence in the conflict going beyond this traditional conceptualisation of violence. It employs Johan Galtung’s conceptual and theoretical framework, in …

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Healthy Performance - A Case Study On Performance Management, Jeremy Walding Jan 2017

Healthy Performance - A Case Study On Performance Management, Jeremy Walding

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

The following thesis has set out to identify the current gaps in knowledge, literature and research surrounding performance management within the English National Health Service (NHS). A literature review and qualitative case study were conducted on the factors associated with organisational and strategic performance management within the English NHS. The study sets out to close the gaps in knowledge surrounding performance management to identify an alternative approach towards delivery. Current literature indicates that performance management frameworks within the NHS that may have been influenced by the impact of New Public Management movement approaches are very much based on a ‘command …

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Greenies, Growlers And Goffers: The Development Of The Royal Navy Habitus, Russell Andrew John Roy Shobrook Jan 2017

Greenies, Growlers And Goffers: The Development Of The Royal Navy Habitus, Russell Andrew John Roy Shobrook

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis applies the theoretical perspective of Bourdieu to investigate the development of a Royal Navy habitus. It is one of the first studies to uncover distinct social processes within the Royal Navy that otherwise would have largely remained unknown to a wider academic audience. An ethnographic methodology was used to investigate the attitudes of serving members of the Royal Navy using an approach that was informed by the Biographical Narrative Interview Method (Wengraf 2001). In my analysis, I constructed a complex picture of how individuals develop a particular habitus, showing how the interplay between the institutional and individual habitus …

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The British Labour Party And The German Social Democratic Party: Changing Attitudes Towards The Welfare State, Annabelle Wolff Jan 2017

The British Labour Party And The German Social Democratic Party: Changing Attitudes Towards The Welfare State, Annabelle Wolff

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Placing politics in time can greatly enrich our understanding of complex social dynamics. The question this thesis tries to answer is which mechanism led to the change in attitudes of the German Social Democratic Party and the British Labour Party towards the welfare state during the period from 1990 to 2010 and which effects in consequence these changes had on the existing welfare states. This thesis builds on the welfare state categorization work done by the Danish sociologist Gosta Esping-Andersen ("Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism"). However, the thesis focuses its in- depth analysis on Germany and the United Kingdom as …

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'The Proust Of Painting': Jacques-Émile Blanche, The Neurasthenic Portrait And The Nervous Elite Of Paris 1900, Siobhan Sexton Jan 2017

'The Proust Of Painting': Jacques-Émile Blanche, The Neurasthenic Portrait And The Nervous Elite Of Paris 1900, Siobhan Sexton

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861-1942) is rarely included in histories of late nineteenth-century French art, despite his prolific career as an artist who produced over 2,000 paintings. A portraitist, Blanche’s upbringing as the son of an eminent psychiatrist provided him with a wealth of sitters connected to his father’s fashionable clinic and, I argue, a distinctive approach to their representation. These relatively unstudied portraits of famous Parisian intellectuals and socialites deserve our attention as works of ‘psychological impressionism’. Combining penetrating observation with painterly execution, Blanche’s methods emphasised the ‘nervous’ disposition of his sitters. Blanche’s practice as a portraitist is one of the …

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The English Settlement Of St Christopher, 1624 - 1629, Mark Edward Millard Jan 2017

The English Settlement Of St Christopher, 1624 - 1629, Mark Edward Millard

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis provides a detailed study of the initial English settlement of St Christopher in the Leeward Island chain of the Lesser Antilles from 1624 - 1629. This activity has been largely overlooked in the historiography, where the focus in this period falls primarily on the English colonies of North America. A considerable weakness of imperial history lies in the lack of representation of the indigenous inhabitants of the West Indies during this time. By incorporating approaches from the Atlantic perspective and also pan-Caribbean historians, including the use of ethnographical evidence combined with English and French primary source data, a …

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Laughter, Inframince And Cybernetics - Exploring The Curatorial As Creative Act, Edith M. Doove Jan 2017

Laughter, Inframince And Cybernetics - Exploring The Curatorial As Creative Act, Edith M. Doove

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis identifies and responds to a contemporary impasse in the curatorial, which is thought of as the realm that encompasses curating as a complex action and interaction; a verb that includes the conceiving, organising and executing of exhibitions as well as critical thinking around curation as a discipline. The current impasse in curation the thesis responds to is caused, on the one hand, through its rapid expansion since the late 1980s and, on the other, through its mainstream and populist appropriation, which confuses understandings of it. The thesis proposes a strategy for the recovery for curating’s most basic work …

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