Digital Commons Network^™

'As You Were': Military-Bureaucratic Control And The Employment Relationship In The British Armed Forces, Margaret Prior

Plymouth Business School Theses

Service in the British armed forces has not previously been considered a subject for employment and industrial relations research, but military personnel are in an employment relationship and thus worthy of such study. Drawing on an extensive literature review, documentary analysis and a qualitative survey and interviews with ex-service personnel, this study adopts a critical realist philosophy and retroduction to examine how the military employment relationship is regulated, experienced and contested, with particular reference to discipline and voice. It also compares military service with civilian employment, noting that the two, once similar, have diverged. The study uncovers a complex web …

Hidden In Plain Sight-An Analysis Of The Influence Of Strategic Leadership Characteristics And Styles Of The Chair, Chair/Ceo, Ceo And Cfo In Banking Failure, Recapitalisation Or Bailout (1999-2017). A Grounded Theory Approach, Alison Louise Miles

Plymouth Business School Theses

The global financial crisis (2007-2009) caused the most severe global economic downturn since the Great Depression and in the 10 years since, the global banking sector has witnessed an onslaught of banking scandals such as: LIBOR, FOREX, money laundering, and tax avoidance. In the wake of these ongoing issues, there is a clear need to explore alternative methods to tackle failures and scandals in the banking sector. A key weakness in the current discourse is the lack of analysis of the leadership characteristics and styles of board members of leading banks. This study responds to this weakness, contributing in three …

Identifying Key Topics Bearing Negative Sentiment On Twitter: Insights Concerning The 2015-2016 Zika Epidemic, Ravali Mamidi, Michele Miller, Tanvi Banerjee, William Romine, Amit Sheth

Publications

Background To understand the public sentiment regarding the Zika virus, social media can be leveraged to understand how positive, negative, and neutral sentiments are expressed in society. Specifically, understanding the characteristics of negative sentiment could help inform federal disease control agencies’ efforts to disseminate relevant information to the public about Zika-related issues.

Objective The purpose of this study was to analyze the public sentiment concerning Zika using posts on Twitter and determine the qualitative characteristics of positive, negative, and neutral sentiments expressed.

Methods Machine learning techniques and algorithms were used to analyze the sentiment of tweets concerning Zika. A supervised …

Hydrogen Storage In Formic Acid As A Renewable Energy Source Using Heterogeneous Catalysis, Obaid Aldosari

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

One of the most vital chemicals, which is not only found naturally but can also be synthesized in the laboratory, is formic acid (FA). FA is a key byproduct of several second-generation biorefinery processes as well, and it is used in several pharmaceutical and industrial applications. Recently, another significant use of FA that is taking the lead is as a form of fuel. This could either involve reformation, as a possible form of chemical hydrogen storage, or be done without reformation in the form of FA fuel cells, in particular because FA fuel cells are much more effective than other …

Amperometric Urea Biosensor Based On Immobilized Urease On Polypyrrole And Macroporous Polypyrrole Modified Pt Electrode, Maliheh Hosseinian, Ghasem Najafpour, Ahmad Rahimpour

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Biosensing of urea by a biosensor as a direct detection method at ambient temperature and pressure instead of chromatography leads to a significant reduction in processing costs. Amperometric biosensors based on urease immobilization on macroporous polypyrrole (MPPy) and pyrrole on the surface of a Pt electrode were developed. Applying cyclic voltammetry (CV), we demonstrated the synthesis of MPPy using monodispersed polystyrene spheres (460 nm) as a template. CV and chronoamperometric studies were conducted to evaluate the electrochemical current of the modified electrodes. For the electrode with polypyrrole (PPy), the biosensor response was linear in the range of 1.67--8.32 mM (R$^{2}$ …

Synthesis Of Smz Derivatives And Investigation Of Effects On Germination, Root, And Plant Growth Of \Textit{Arabidopsis Thaliana} L., Tuğba Güngör, Ferah Cömert Önder, Fati̇h Sezer, Aslihan Özbi̇len, Kemal Meli̇h Taşkin, Mehmet Ay

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

A series of sulfonamide derivatives were synthesized by reactions with various functional groups containing benzenesulfonyl chlorides and aniline derivatives under different substitution reaction conditions. The structures of SMZ derivatives were confirmed with melting point, FT-IR, $^{1}$H NMR, $^{13}$C NMR, and LC-MS/MS techniques. In order to investigate the cytotoxic effects of these derivatives, we used a model plant species. The synthesized compounds (S1-S5) and sulfamethazine (SMZ) as a positive control were applied to Arabidopsis thaliana seeds. Our results indicated that S3 and S4 induced shorter roots and lower wet weight in plants. Plants treated with S2 and S5 showed no growth …

Novel Voltammetric Investigation Of Dipyridamole At A Disposable Pencil Graphite Electrode, Iulia Gabriela David, Lorelei Iordache, Dana Elena Popa, Mihaela Buleandra, Victor David, Emilia-Elena Iorgulescu

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

The present paper describes the voltammetric analysis of dipyridamole (DIP) at a cheap, disposable pencil graphite electrode (PGE). The working conditions were optimized with regard to the electrode material and the supporting electrolyte. Cyclic voltammetric investigations emphasized that DIP is irreversibly oxidized at the PGE. The electrode process is pH-dependent and controlled by both diffusion and adsorption. For DIP quantitative determination a differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) method in phosphate buffer solution pH 7.00 was developed. DIP's oxidation peak current varied linearly with the analyte concentration, presenting two linear ranges, namely 5.00 $\times $ 10$^{-7}$-2.50 $\times $ 10$^{-5}$ M and 2.50 …

Determination Of N-Acetylcysteine In The Presence Of Ciprofloxacin Or Levofloxacin In Microparticulate Dry Powder Inhalers, Yağmur Akdağ Çayli, Selma Şahi̇n, Emi̇rhan Nemutlu, Levent Öner

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

A fast and easy method was validated for simultaneous determination of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride monohydrate (CP), levofloxacin hemihydrate (LV), and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in samples. The analysis was performed on a C$_{18}$ column (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) (Inertsil ODS-3V) using an isocratic elution method with a mobile phase composed of 25 mM KH$_{2}$PO$_{4}$ (pH 3.0) and methanol (72:28, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. UV detection was performed at 214 nm for NAC and 293 nm for CP and LV. The method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision (repeatability and reproducibility), specificity, sensitivity, and stability. The calibration study …

Synthesis And Spectroscopic Characterization Of New Phthalocyanine Derivatives: Application As Photocatalysts For The Degradation Of Orange G, Yusuf Yilmaz, Kayode Sanusi

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

New derivatives of 2(3),9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetrakis-(6-methylpyridin-2-yloxy)phthalocyanine (Pc) (2b, 2c, and 2d) were synthesized and their structures were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, $^{1}$H NMR, and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The spectral results were in line with the proposed structures. The photodegradation of Orange G (OG) dye in DMSO by the Pc derivatives was investigated. The compounds showed relatively high photodegradation rates that increased with increasing size of the central atoms. The Pc photodegradation rates showed fair correlation with the singlet oxygen generation efficiencies (${\Phi }_{{\Delta }})$. The observed rate constants were higher than the values already reported for other Pcs in the literature …

Prologue [To Conversations With Leading Academic And Research Library Directors: International Perspectives On Library Management], Hermina G.B. Anghelescu

School of Information Sciences Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Youth-Adult Community Partnerships: Student Voice And Choice In Addressing Racism, Sarah Ranco

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Researchers have documented many benefits of youth engagement, however there is a need for more systematic research on participation in different contexts. This study has investigated how a youth-adult partnership addressed racism within a high school, as well as the experiences of participants during this process. This project was a case study of a school-based, youth-adult partnership consisting of eight (N = 8) participants. Five participants were students in Grades 11 and 12, two were school/school board staff, and one was the author; I directly participated in the partnership as a facilitator. Qualitative data were collected through field notes, interviews …

Adventures In Time And Space: What Shapes Behavioural Decisions In Drosophila Melanogaster?, Heather Malek, Tristan Af Long Dr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Variation in behaviour can be observed both between individuals, based on their condition and experience as well as between populations due to sources of heterogeneity in the environment. These behavioural differences have evolved as a result of natural and sexual selection where different strategies may be favoured depending on the costs and benefits associated with those behaviours. In this thesis I examine two sources of heterogeneity within the environment and their behavioural consequences: how spatial complexity mediates sexual selection over time, and how inter and intraspecific signals and individual condition influence social oviposition behaviour. By increasing spatial complexity, we were …

Characterization Of Wssf; A Putative Acetyltransferase From Achromobacter Insuavis And Pseudomonas Fluorescens, Cody Reese

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Biofilms are a survival mechanism commonly employed by communities of bacteria for adherence and protection. Bacteria produce a matrix of polymers (e.g. exopolysaccharides, such as cellulose) that allow them to exert control on their local environment. In the case of cellulose biofilms, acetylation (addition of acetate on carbohydrates) is paramount for polymer integrity and in some cases virulence. For this research, the wrinkly spreader (WS) genotype of the emergent human pathogen Achromobacter insuavis facilitates infections of the eyes of contact lens wearers and the lungs of Cystic Fibrosis patients (CF). Chronic infections have created a growing concern for the protective …

Understanding Motor Vehicle-Based Travel: Examining The Experiences Of Yukon Tourists, Natalia Wegrzyn

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In the past several decades, scholarly research has simultaneously expanded in three research areas: northern tourism, drive tourism and the tourist experience. This study used an exploratory approach to understand the relationship between those three areas through a case study of the Yukon. Lead by four guiding questions 1) what are motor vehicle-based tourists’ expectations of Yukon? 2) how do Yukon tourists’ expectations influence their motor vehicle travel? 3) how does the motor vehicle influence tourists’ experience in the Yukon? and 4) how is Yukon reflected in the narratives of motor vehicle-based tourists? a mixed methods approach was used to …

Towards Secure And Fair Iiot-Enabled Supply Chain Management Via Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts, Amal Eid Alahmadi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Integrating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) into supply chain management enables flexible and efficient on-demand exchange of goods between merchants and suppliers. However, realizing a fair and transparent supply chain system remains a very challenging issue due to the lack of mutual trust among the suppliers and merchants. Furthermore, the current system often lacks the ability to transmit trade information to all participants in a timely manner, which is the most important element in supply chain management for the effective supply of goods between suppliers and the merchants. This thesis presents a blockchain-based supply chain management system in the …

Explainable Neural Attention Recommender Systems, Omer Tal

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Recommender systems, predictive models that provide lists of personalized suggestions, have become increasingly popular in many web-based businesses. By presenting potential items that may interest a user, these systems are able to better monetize and improve users’ satisfaction. In recent years, the most successful approaches rely on capturing what best define users and items in the form of latent vectors, a numeric representation that assumes all instances can be described by their respective affiliation towards a set of hidden features. However, recommendation methods based on latent features still face some realworld limitations. The data sparsity problem originates from the unprecedented …

Governing Chinese Engagement With The Hydrocarbon-Rich Countries; Examining Chinese Investment In The Hydrocarbon Sector Of Canada And Russia, Anastasia Ufimtseva

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

China’s global quest for energy has been one of the most fascinating developments of the past twenty years. As Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have increasingly gone ‘global’ in search of energy resources, scholars have explored the rationale and implications of China’s investment abroad. However, existing studies have yet to examine the ability of Chinese SOEs to complete the intended investment projects. Several studies that have noted this gap suggest that researchers should examine the ability of Chinese SOEs to adapt to different institutional environments (Smith and D’Arcy 2013) and to analyze the responses of local stakeholders to Chinese SOEs’ engagement …

The Examination Of News Media Representation Of Indigenous Murder Victims In Canada: A Case Study Of Colten Boushie’S Death, Latasha Vanevery

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The power of media outlets such as newspaper and televised news coverage could shape public perception and influence our policies on issues addressed in the news. More specifically, the media representations of Indigenous people in Canada often include racism, stereotypical assumptions, power struggles, and inaccurate accounts of the event being captured (Johnson, 2011). As a result, the western dominant perspective of Indigenous people would not be challenged resulting in the public perceiving Indigenous people as a group to be overlooked upon. To date, existing research on the media representations of Indigenous murder victims in Canada has focused solely on missing …

Moral Development In The Online Context, Sarah Mitchinson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Past research has found strong evidence that individuals behave differently when they are online compared to when they are in face-to-face interactions. These differences may be caused by factors such as anonymity, remoteness from interactions and reduced empathy. The current study attempts to expand on these past research findings by examining moral development and specifically the relationships between moral emotions, moral identity and antisocial behaviour in the online context. In total, 392 participants were placed into three separate age groups: early adolescence (n = 99, aged 12.42-14.33), late adolescence (n = 180, aged 17.17-22) and early adulthood (n = 113, …

Processing Youth Adventure Wellness Experiences: Poetic Representations Of Youth’S Peace Bus Experiences, Ty Th Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This narrative inquiry explored how youth are processing their Peace Bus program experiences two and a half years after program completion. The purpose was to gain an understanding of (1) what program components the participants reflect on, (2) how they conceptualize their program experiences, and (3) what factors contribute to their reflection processes. This research sought to address the gap in literature where little is understood about the ongoing experiences of program participants of adventure wellness programs and the processes that lead to positive changes. As the researcher, I conducted a qualitative study using narrative inquiry and poetic representation methods. …

“Waha Ehsa Tha, Idhar Ehsa Hai” (It Was Like That Back Home, But It Is Like This Here): Family Violence Experiences Of Indian And Pakistani Immigrant Women In The Greater Toronto Area, Dhwani Joshi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There is a paucity of qualitative scholarship on Indian and Pakistani immigrant women’s experiences of family violence. Further, existing scholarship on this topic seldom explores the unique experiences of distinct South Asian groups such as Indian and Pakistani immigrant women. This thesis addressed this gap in the literature by qualitatively examining family violence among immigrant Indian and Pakistani women in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). A case study methodology was used to explore two research questions: 1) What are the cultural specificities of family violence as experienced by Indian and Pakistani immigrant women in the GTA? and 2) How are …

Policy, Plans And Processes For Developing And Improving The Use Of Hazard Maps In Climate Change Adaptation For Yukon Communities, Stephanie Pike

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Climate change has quickly become one of the most commonly discussed topics in northern Canada. Communities located in Canada’s north are facing impacts to every aspect of life. Hazard mapping is one of the tools used to predict risk from climate change impacts and thus assist communities in adaptation planning. The Northern Climate ExChange in Yukon has developed hazard maps for seven communities across Yukon. While hazard maps are a useful tool, in order for them to reach their maximum potential, users need to be well educated and trained to use them. Capacity and communication are arguably the most significant …

The Social Construction Of A Disaster Typology To Enhance Operational Emergency Planning For K-8 Public Schools In Southern Ontario, Patricia Martel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation outlines the development of a disaster typology that could be used as a tool for developing operational emergency plans for K-8 public schools with the potential to be applied more generally to other facilities that host vulnerable groups. The theoretical framework used to inform this study is the theory of the social construction of disasters. This theory conceptualizes disasters as being the result of the interaction between social factors, such as risk perception and vulnerability, and the hazards.The author of this dissertation is an emergency management practitioner and brought a perspective informed by both theory and practice of …

What Are The Sohbet Experiences Of Turkish Canadian Men In Ontario?, Engin Sezen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Sohbets are spiritual, conversational and reading circles of a faith-based social group, called the Gülen movement. These circles are one of the most critical and common practices of this particular movement since its inception in the late 1960s in Turkey, and the practice now continues in Canada. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 14 men in the Waterloo Region in order to explore lived experiences of Turkish Canadian Muslim participants in the Sohbets in Canada. The researcher argues that the Sohbets create alternative spaces for the participants, which affect their personal and social lives, spiritually and psychologically, and support them …

Exploring Profiles Of Lgbtq Social Wellbeing In Waterloo Region, Canada, Kendra Hardy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Literature on the wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people has predominantly examined the negative experiences associated with LGBTQ identity; however, a growing body of literature explores the positive wellbeing of LGBTQ people. The present study examines social wellbeing as the connections across six elements identified in previous literature: discrimination, sense of safety, outness, social support, sense of belonging, and community acceptance. Latent profile analyses (LPA), a person-centered approach, was used to explore these elements of social wellbeing with cisgender LGBQ (n = 406) and transgender (n = 110) participants from a sample of LGBTQ …

Happy Or Hangry Families: Does Kinship Mediate Cooperation And Cannibalism In Drosophila Melanogaster Larvae?, Lucas Khodaei

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has a long history as a research model for studies on behaviour and group dynamics. When individuals are grouped in an environment and resources decrease, then they may behave co-operatively with one another or antagonistically compete. Hamilton’s Law states that if the benefit of helping a related individual out-weighs the cost to its direct fitness, then the individual’s indirect fitness will increase when they help their kin compared to helping an unrelated stranger. Yet it is unknown whether kinship mediates larval behaviour to encourage co-operation and/or lessen antagonistic behaviours between consanguineous individuals. In this thesis …

Host Community Impacts: Learning From The Experience Of Hosting International Volunteers In El Barrial, Suchitoto, Getsemani And San Miguel, El Salvador, Mike Boylan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous exploration of International Experiential Learning (IEL) programs has generally focused on the experience of Northern volunteers, without considering the outcomes in Southern host communities. Contemporary scholars raise serious concerns about potential harm being done in Southern host communities as a result of IEL programs that resemble historical colonialism. This study contributes to the growing body of research that addresses this gap in the understanding of Southern host community experiences. The results tell us that the host community members do not articulate negative experiences in the way that post-colonial scholars predict. The analysis of 23 interviews including host community members, …

Characterization Of The Red Complex Bacterial Biofilm, Alena Pratasouskaya

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Commonly associated with severe inflammation and destruction of the tooth-supporting tissue is bacterial consortia Treponema denticola, Tannerella forsythia, and Porphyromonas gingivalis, collectively referred to as the red complex. The red complex uses the common bacterial strategy of producing and embedding itself in extracellular polymeric substance, which contributes to the recalcitrance of periodontitis and was therefore of interest in this study. The red complex static cultures were grown in combination with different chemicals in order to establish what changes accompany these chemical challenges. This research established that extracellular polymeric substance carbohydrate yields increased with time. Interestingly, carbohydrate composition …

The Legitimation & Networked Unification Of #Nodapl: Diverse Discourses Of Value Validate A Collective Identity, Jacqueline Marie Ouellette

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

NoDAPL was, first and foremost, an Indigenous-led resistance against the construction of a pipeline in North Dakota. It was also a movement that built solidarity, bridging networks between international Indigenous peoples, Black Lives Matter activists, veterans, and feminists. This discourse analysis of social media and digital texts addresses the networked publics, collective identities, social capital, and intersectionality in applying Van Leeuwen’s (2007) understanding of legitimation. In doing so, the practice of reproducing and extending the values, themes, and images of various algorithmic imaginaries will be explored, as they relate to network homophily, identity construction, and mobilization. This study will argue …

Heterogeneous Chemistry Of Iron At The Liquid/Solid And Air/Solid Interfaces, Mohammad Aminur Rahman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Hematite is one of the common and stable phases of iron oxide that is ubiquitous in nature. It is involved in many heterogeneous reactions through liquid-solid and gas-solid interfacial interactions in aquatic geochemical systems. Moreover, the interfacial chemistry of metal-oxide and organic matter plays a significant role in the mobility and bioavailability of iron and other components such as arsenic in the soil and aquatic systems. The interactions of organic matter with metal oxide surfaces occur through several mechanisms in aquatic environment. Chapter 2 of this thesis describes the interactions of low molecular weight model organics that include citric acid …