Digital Commons Network^™

The Photosynthesiser - A Methodology For Mapping Environmental Conditions, Pivotal To The Speed Of Photosynthesis In Plants, Through Sonification., Oliver Brand

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Traditionally, the close inspection of data requires visual guidance in the form of displays depicting numeric or graphical representations over time. Sonification offers a way to convey this data through auditory means, relinquishing the need for constant display monitoring. To enable horticulturists to continue to move and work around their environment a proposed sonification mapping system for the key environmental conditions, vital for optimum levels of photosynthesis, has been developed. The outcome of this research was to provide a monitoring system that was both musical and meaningful with regards to data fluctuations and most importantly, could be interpreted by a …

Saltram House: The Evolution Of An Eighteenth-Century Country Estate, Katherine R Norley

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis examines the evolution of Saltram House in Devon as a country estate from the years 1743 to 1819, with a focus on the impact of two eighteenth-century generations of the Parker family. These dates have been chosen because Saltram’s architecture, interior design and parkland underwent the most drastic changes during this time. It will argue that Saltram conforms to the existing models of country house scholarship on the form, function and meaning of the country estate during the eighteenth century. This thesis will bring new knowledge to this picture however, by placing Saltram firmly within this scholarship. It …

The Representation Of The Outlaw Biker In California, 1953-1969: Film, Counterculture And Commodity, Stacey Masters

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

My thesis is an exploration of the representation of the outlaw biker from 1953-1969. I will use three films to anchor my work: Easy Rider (1969), The Wild One (1953), The Wild Angels (1965). Each of these films will be the anchor of its own chapter, but I will also be using various imagery to explore the tensions surrounding the depictions presented, and subsequent social themes. Each film addresses different aspects of the biker, making them all important, therefore the thesis will be a visual exploration into the social and cultural history of the biker. Easy Rider is the defining …

Poor Copy: Fan Practices And Producerly Art Making, Beth Emily Richards

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis includes a body of artworks including performance, video, photography and audio installation, a zine, and textile artwork, documentation of which is presented via a YouTube channel, also titled Poor Copy. This research explores methodological similarities between fan and art practices, and analyses how fans, artists, and their methods of making engage with extant narratives. Two histories act as a narrative throughline for this investigation: a 1999 Michael Jackson concert in Barnstaple, North Devon, where the performer may or may not have been a tribute artist; and a day in 2002 when Michael Jackson visited Exeter City Football Club, …

Trace And History: An Investigation Of Kurdish Banner-Making Through Contemporary Art Practice., Rostam Hakeem

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Abstract Author: Rostam Abdulazeez Hakeem Title: Trace and history: an investigation of Kurdish banner-making through contemporary art practice. This practice-led research project considers the culture of banner-making in Iraqi Kurdistan. The research is trans-disciplinary in character, combining artistic, historical, and sociological research. The calligraphers’ workshops of the city of Sulaymaniyah in Kurdish Iraq are a focal point. Here the backing-boards to banner-making have absorbed traces of slogans written on banners for many different purposes over extended periods of time. The permitted appropriation of these backing-board palimpsests provides material for the development of an innovative genre of abstract painting, deploying calligraphy …

Digital Porosity And Its Impact On The Mediation Of Networked Images, Claudia Pilsl

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This doctoral research examines digital porosity and how this effect of the Internet influences the mediation of networked images. This practice research is informed by the hypothesis that digital porosity affects the communication of data with it the perception of context and chronological order of events. Digital porosity, intended as a loose analogy to the kind of porosity depicted by Benjamin and Lacis (1925) in their description of everyday life in ‘Naples’, is a neologism that I devised to describe one of the consequences of the Internet since web 2.0. As the area afflicted by digital porosity is potentially large, …

Thermal Efficiency Of Courtyards For Residential Buildings In Iraq, Omar Al-Hafith

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This thesis investigates adopting the courtyard pattern in Iraq to provide a thermally efficient architectural solution that contributes towards solving the housing challenges in the country. As a result of more than three decades of wars and instability, the country suffers from having a large housing shortage and a major production shortfall. This shortage is estimated at around 1.0 million housing units, which is equivalent to one-quarter of the total housing stock in the country. The current housing production is around 30000 housing units per annum only, which, therefore, does not alleviate the housing needs in the country. The country …

Collage In The Posthuman Era: Gender And Becoming, Margaret Hart

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This thesis researches collage as a tool to address gender in a posthuman framework and was designed to examine one question: How can collage contribute to a posthuman understanding of gender? This investigation strives to get beyond the pitfalls of binary gender identification prevalent within humanistic approaches to gender studies in the liberal arts through the creation of a body of artworks which visually depict posthuman tenets (variation, multiplicity, non—hierarchical relations, fluidity, interconnectedness and transformation) through interactions between human and non—human agents. Developed by a practicing artist who embraces becoming and working within a posthuman framework, this project defines a …

Apophenoesis & The Origins Of Creativity: Virtual Pattern Recognition, Error, Paths To Consciousness & Augmenting The Evolution Of Self, Max B. Kazemzadeh

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This research defines apophenoesis as a convergent practical tool that can enhance one’s creative process by introducing deviations from the familiar in such a way to allow new creative pathways to form and result in new innovations. With foundations in Roy Ascott’s technoetics, which is defined as a “convergent field of practice that seeks to explore consciousness and connectivity through digital, telematic, chemical or spiritual means, embracing both interactive and psychoactive technologies, and the creative use of moistmedia” (Ascott, 2008, p. 1), apophenoesis more specifically provides a framework to demonstrate the value of disruption within technoetic art while demonstrating the …

Application Of Business Process Management For Corporate Sustainability, Felicitas Johanna Breitenbach

Plymouth Business School Theses

In the light of the current debate on climate change and its ever-growing impact on the corporate world this thesis deals with the integration of sustainability into corporations. Its focus lies on the integration of sustainability through business process management (BPM). A comprehensive literature review on both corporate sustainability and BPM has been carried out. Research still fails to establish a link between sustainability and the strategic and operational management. Even though the integration of sustainability into business process management is explicitly recommended, no framework has yet realized this goal. In the light of the identified research gap one main …

Black Male Representations In Non-Urban Settings In The Uk, Nathaniel Turner

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Inspired by Frantz Fanon’s assertion ‘the Black man has no ontological resistance in the eyes of the White man’ (Fanon,1982:110) this research project analyses the ways in which representation has affected the performativity of Black masculinity in non-urban settings in the UK. Framed by a Practice as Research methodology, this project utilises auto-biographic as well as auto-ethnographic methods aiming to construct alternative Black masculinity narratives which can counter hegemonic approaches in both academic and digital platforms. This work examines my own lived experience in a city with a low ethnic diversity in order to explore the ways in which Black …

To The Wall: London's Murals And 'The Left', 1975-1986, Ben Wiedel-Kaufmann

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between Left-wing politics and a body of exterior murals made in London between 1975 and 1986. Across this period approximately three hundred murals were made on the walls of London’s streets. Funded by a complex amalgam of predominantly state patronage, many of these murals gave form to the politics of the radical and oppositional Left. While murals featured briefly in art critical debates of the late 1970s and have since been included within broader histories of community and public art, this is the first extended study centred upon this remarkable moment of cultural production. Applying …

Bone Painting, A Novel, With Critical Dissertation On The Ekphrastic Practices Of Natsume Sōseki And Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Jamie Edgecombe

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This novel and critical dissertation explore one of the central characteristics of Japanese aesthetics, that of suggestion and how suggestion can interconnect with ekphrasis. Although Bone Painting is a complex work, one with two distinct view point characters – the doctor, Seichiro, and the artist, Kasumi – my writing of it was very much influenced by my understanding of the Japanese aesthetic category of yūgen. Yūgen, the kanji of which can be directly translated as dark and dim, is often considered one of the most recondite and ineffable categories of Japanese aesthetics. Often translated as ‘subtlety and depth,’ or ‘mystery …

The Festival In The Meta-System Of Culture, Nadezhda Krasteva

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Crossing the borders of various disciplines – anthropology, cultural studies, cultural theory, sociology of culture, sociology of art, art history, art criticism, events management and tourism – festival studies are slowly attracting academic attention in their search for independent status among the social sciences. Culture, defined by Juri Lotman as a self-descriptive mechanism, is the structure from which perspective I approach the contemporary artistic festival in an attempt to determine its position as an element in the meta-system of culture. The semantic notion of culture proposed by the scholar refers to a dynamic system of signs organising and preserving information …

Imagining And Remembering The Soldier At The Imperial War Museum (1980-1995), Jayne Buchanan

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This research addresses the contemporary representation of the soldier in art by focusing on the work commissioned by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) over the period 1980-1995, which includes Linda Kitson (b. 1945), for the Falklands War in 1982, John Keane (b.1954) in the Gulf War in 1991, and Peter Howson's (b. 1958) work in Bosnia between 1992–1994. From a foundation of existing academic research on the representation of the soldier in art, which has informed a framework of investigation into imagery of the soldier as hero, as masculine ideal and as a symbol of nationalism, I examine how the …

Recording Project: Original Compositions Based On Historic Analysis And Authentic Jazz Performance Reproductions Fused With Modern Electronica, Johan Eriksson

University Grant Program Reports

This project ... culminated in the album “Emulation”. The project was successful in creating a jazz/electronica album based on analysis and performance of historically important jazz artists from the 1930s to present time.

Social Work Students Managing Emotions: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Utilising Poetry And Prose As An Autoethnographic Turn, Beth Moran

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

This thesis reports on research exploring how student social workers experience, express and manage the emotional content of practice learning in a relational context. It considers how social/supervisory support promotes emotional management for student social workers. Student respondents reflect on a variety of placement experiences ranging from a third-sector advice centre; a service supporting people who are homeless; local authority child protection services; a hospital discharge team and statutory adult mental health teams. Their responses reveal organisational interventions with a wide range of people from children and families to adults engaging with health and social care services. New knowledge is …

Quantum Cascade Laser-Based Reflectance Spectroscopy: A Robust Approach For The Classification Of Plastic Type, Anna P.M. Michel, Alexandra E. Morrison, Beckett C. Colson, William A. Pardis, Helen K. White

Chemistry Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Toward Best Practice Methods For Delirium Biomarker Studies: An International Modified Delphi Study, Ingrid Amgarth-Duff, Annmarie Hosie, Gideon Caplan, Meera Agar

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

Background: Delirium is a serious and distressing neurocognitive condition common in people with advanced illness. The understanding of delirium pathophysiology is limited and largely hypothetical. To accelerate empirical understanding of delirium pathophysiology, robust scientific methods for conducting and reporting delirium biomarker studies are urgently needed. The aim of this study was to develop international consensus on the core elements of high‐quality delirium biomarker studies.

Methods: A three‐round modified Delphi survey was conducted from February to August 2019. Participants were international researchers experienced in conducting delirium studies from a range of settings (hospital, university, research centres). Round one commenced with open‐ended …

Exploring Enablers And Barriers To Accessing Health Services After A Fall Among People With Intellectual Disability, Portia Ho, Caroline Bulsara, Shane Patman, Jenny Downs, Anne-Marie Hill

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

Background: Adults with intellectual disability experience high rates of falls making falls prevention an important health need. The purpose of the study was to seek perspectives of older adults with intellectual disability and their caregivers to (a) explore the experiences of older adults with intellectual disability when seeking healthcare services after a fall and (b) identify enablers and barriers when taking up evidence-based falls recommendations.

Method: A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken as part of a prospective observational cohort study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample. Data were analysed thematically using Colaizzi's method.

Results: Seventeen interviews were conducted …

Delirium Point Prevalence Studies In Inpatient Settings: A Systematic Review, Binu Koirala, Bryan R. Hansen, Annmarie Hosie, Chakra Budhathoki, Stella Seal, Adam Beaman, Patricia M. Davidson

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

Aims: To examine the delirium point prevalence studies conducted in different inpatient settings and to discuss the implication of the findings for delirium screening, assessment, prevention and management.

Background: Delirium—a common and distressing condition manifesting as an acute decline of attention and cognition—is frequently overlooked, misdiagnosed or treated inappropriately. This neuropsychiatric syndrome manifests as changes in attention, cognition and awareness, with resultant impact on behaviour, function and emotions. Delirium is recognised as a patient management challenge in the inpatient setting, and there is a need to understand the current point prevalence and assessment practices of delirium.

Design: A systematic review …

Development And Content Validation Of A Questionnaire Measuring Patient Empowerment In Cancer Follow-Up, Nanna Bjerg Eskildsen, Lone Ross, Caroline Bulsara, Susanne Malchau Dietz, Thora Grothe Thomsen, Mogens Groenvold, Susanne S. Pedersen, Clara Rubner Jorgensen, Anna Thit Johnsen

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and ensure the content validity of a new patient-reported outcome measure, the Cancer Patient Empowerment Questionnaire (CPEQ), to measure the level of, desire for, and enablement of empowerment among cancer patients in follow-up.

Methods: An iterative process based on: (i) empowerment theories by Zimmerman and Tengland, (ii) a systematic review of questionnaires measuring empowerment or related concepts among cancer patients, (iii) qualitative data from 18 semi-structured interviews with Danish cancer patients in follow-up, (iv) input from a group of eight cancer patients involved as co-researchers and from an expert steering group, …

Enhancing Access To Parenting Services Using Digital Technology Supported Practices, Elaine Bennett, Wendy Simpson, Cathrine Fowler, Ailsa Munns, Jane Kohlhoff

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

Background: Early parenting services (EPS) in Australia provide a range of expanding and rapidly changing services, including innovative digital technologies to improve service access for metropolitan and rural families.

Aim: This research aims to provide comprehensive information required for the planning, implementation and evaluation of the use of digital technologies for service delivery with parenting/child and family services in Australia and New Zealand in metropolitan and rural settings.

Methods: An interpretive descriptive approach was applied using semi-structured interviews from 23 EPS practitioners and managers in five sites.

Findings: These are presented as five main themes – preparing the way, practitioner …

Older Persons’ And Their Caregivers’ Perspectives And Experiences Of Research Participation With Impaired Decision-Making Capacity: A Scoping Review, Annmarie Hosie, Slavica Kochovska, Nola Ries, Imelda Gilmore, Deborah Parker, Craig Sinclair, Caitlin Sheehan, Aileen Collier, Gideon A. Caplan, Mandy Visser, Xiaoyue Xu, Elizabeth Lobb, Linda Sheahan, Linda Brown, Wai Lee, Christine R. Sanderson, Ingrid Amgarth-Duff, Anna Green, Layla Edwards, Meera R. Agar

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

Background and Objectives: Human research ethics statements support equitable inclusion of diverse groups. Yet older people are under-represented in clinical research, especially those with impaired decision-making capacity. The aim of this study was to identify perspectives and experiences of older persons and their caregivers of research participation with impaired decision-making capacity.

Research Design and Methods: Scoping review of literature and online sources in January-February 2019 (updated June 2020) according to Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews. English-language peer-reviewed research articles and Australian online narratives were included. Data were tabulated and narratively synthesized.

Results: From 4171 database …

Combination Of Platelet Rich Fibrin And Carbonate Hydroxyapatite Alloplastic Bone Graft As Periodontal Tissue Engineering In Management Of Chronic Periodontitis: A Case Report, Arni I. Djais, Nurfaisah Nurfaisah

Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Science

No abstract provided.

Trauma Exposure And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Regional Journalists In Pakistan, Sayyed Fawad Ali Shah, Faizullah Jan, Tamar Ginossar, J. Patrick Mcgrail, Danish Baber, Rahman Ullah

Research, Publications & Creative Work

This study sought to examine work-related exposure to trauma and predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms among regional journalists in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a conflict-ridden area in northwest Pakistan. We recruited 216 KP journalists. Analysis of the surveys revealed a high prevalence of trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms. All of the participants had covered at least one trauma inducing event. Exposure to work-related trauma, active emotional coping and avoidant emotional coping were statistically significant factors associated with PTSD symptoms. This study is the first to highlight the severity of the impact of trauma on regional journalists in …

Comparing The Perceptions Of Interprofessional Socialization Among Health Profession Students, Karen Aul, Jody Long

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Introduction: Based on a review of literature, there is a gap of knowledge on how students perceive the professional roles and responsibilities of other disciplines. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of interprofessional socialization among health profession students. Subjects: Participants included 300 undergraduate and 114 graduate students from eight health disciplines: nursing, communication disorders, physical therapy, social work, radiological science, occupational therapy, clinical lab science, and nutritional science. Methods: Data were collected using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS-21). The participants rated 21 items about their beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes of interprofessional socialization on a …

Extrinsic Ricci Flow On Surfaces Of Revolution, Vincent E. Coll, Jeff Dodd, David L. Johnson

Research, Publications & Creative Work

An extrinsic representation of a Ricci flow on a differentiable n-manifold M is a family of submanifolds S(t), each smoothly embedded in Rn+k, evolving as a function of time t such that the metrics induced on the submanifolds S(t) by the ambient Euclidean metric yield the Ricci flow on M. When does such a representation exist? We formulate this question precisely and describe a new, comprehensive way of addressing it for surfaces of revolution in R3. Our approach is to build the desired embedded surfaces of revolution S(t) in R3 into the flow at the outset by rewriting the Ricci …

Flipped-Small Private Tuition Online Course In Learning English For Rural Students, Siti Hajar Halili, Hamidah Sulaiman

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

There is still a lack of studies to implement a Small Private Online Course for learning communities. This study aimed to identify the teaching and learning (T&L) process carried out when using an English Flipped-Small Private Tuition Online Course (EESPtoc) based on Gagne's theory. Using purposive sampling, respondents were selected among rural primary school students. The respondents were introduced to the EESPtoc, which is a free tuition online platform for 4 sessions. A questionnaire and interview were used to collect data. SPSS software was used for data analysis in the form of descriptive statistics. Findings show that students have positive …

The Probable Effects Of The Modernization Of The Customs Union Upon The International Road Transportation Sector: Izmir Region Example, Ulviyye Aydin, Ahmet Ucar, Rasim Akpinar

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This study aims to detect the probable effects of the modernization of the European Union (EU) - Turkey Customs Union upon the international road transportation sector. Izmir region has been selected as a research area. Izmir is located in the Aegean region, which is the third biggest city and second biggest port of Turkey. With its developed industry due to the region’s raw material resources, qualified labor force, and wide range of transportation opportunities, Izmir is one of the important trade centers, ranking second after the Marmara Region in terms of industry. Closeness to the landlocked centers with high processing …