Digital Commons Network^™

Bully Me: A Graphic Novel; The Return: A Graphic Novel; Comakademix: A Comics Anthology; Leadbetter: A Comic; Laundry: A Minicomic -And- The Erotics Of Comics: An Exegesis, Bruce Roberts Mutard

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Beholding a comic is ideally, a pleasure. The work informs, entertains and stimulates the mind in some way. There is no gainsaying which works will affect which beholders howsoever it does, yet the expecta­tion of pleasure from a work of comics makes behold­ers seek it. Making the comic is also a pleasure, even if the process can be long-winded, winding and dif­ficult. The maker wants to give others the same plea­sure they drew from beholding comics, but in their way, making their vision of Batman, Lieutenant Blue­berry or, their own story worlds. What this research seeks to explain are many …

Evaluating The Relative Importance Of Stormwater For Nutrient And Metal Contamination To The Urban, Groundwater Dependent Yellagonga Wetlands, Through Wetland Budgeting, Jonas Polifka

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Wetlands provide numerous ecosystem services and can be utilised as pollutant sinks, however excessive contamination of wetlands can induce adverse effects to wetland ecology and lead to degradation of its values. Runoff from precipitation mobilizes contaminants from impervious surfaces which are, in some case, transported directly to wetlands through stormwater drainage. Urban stormwater can be a significant source of contaminants to wetlands, although its overall importance needs to be assessed for each wetland individually. Wetland budgeting is a management tool used to evaluate the relative importance of contaminant sources to wetlands, by comparing contaminant loads. Environmental management of the Yellagonga …

Power, Perspective And Affordance In Early Childhood Education, Amelia Ruscoe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The position of a young child beginning school is unique and precarious. Children are capable of making their own decisions about what to participate in and contribute to, but often guided by adults charged with the responsibility of their education and care. The beliefs and values of these adults are pivotal to what a child may experience but are seldom examined to ascertain what they may or may not afford young children in their early education.

Through examination of the literature, neoliberal reform, developmentally appropriate practice and the quality agenda have surfaced as particularly strong discourses influencing early childhood education. …

Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Manchester Consensus, Ra Dunne, D Aarsland, Jt O’Brien, Et Al

Peninsula Medical School

Given considerable variation in diagnostic and therapeutic practice, there is a need for national guidance on the use of neuroimaging, fluid biomarkers, cognitive testing, follow-up and diagnostic terminology in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI is a heterogenous clinical syndrome reflecting a change in cognitive function and deficits on neuropsychological testing but relatively intact activities of daily living. MCI is a risk state for further cognitive and functional decline with 5–15% of people developing dementia per year. However, ~50% remain stable at 5 years and in a minority, symptoms resolve over time. There is considerable debate about whether MCI is a …

Psychiatry And Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Experts By Experience, Clinical Care And Research, Rt Alexander, Pe Langdon, J O'Hara, A Howell, Et Al

Peninsula Medical School

People with neurodevelopmental disorders often present with challenging behaviours and psychiatric illnesses. Diagnosis and treatment require patients, families and healthcare professionals to work closely together in partnership, acknowledging their respective areas of expertise. Good treatment outcomes should also be underpinned by robust research evidence. Key research priorities are highlighted.

The Mediating Effects Of Theory Linked Process Measures On 12 Month Accelerometer Recorded Physical Activity Within The E-Coacher Rct Involving Primary Care Exercise Referral Participants, A Taylor, A Streeter, W Ingram, J Lambert, S Dean, R Taylor, K Jolly, N Mutrie, C Greaves

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Valproate Prescribing Practices For Women With Intellectual Disability Across Europe, Lance Watkins, Markus Reuber, Bhathika Perera, Ken Courtenay, Roger Banks, Emma Murphy, H Angus‐Leppan, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Abstract Background Valproate (VPA) is a known teratogen associated with greater risk of major congenital malformations and other neurodevelopmental sequelae than all other licensed antiepileptic medicines. To reduce the potential for VPA-related teratogenicity, the European Medicines Agency issued recommendations in 2018. Over two-thirds of women/girls with intellectual disability (ID) may have treatment-resistant epilepsy that could benefit from VPA treatment. Aims This investigation compared VPA prescribing practice for women/girls with ID between European countries, specifically evaluating the practice in the UK with that in other countries. Methods An expert working group with representation from key stake-holding organizations developed a survey for …

The Social Infrastructure Of The Smart City: How Can "Smart Cities" Be More Inclusive?, K Willis

School of Art, Design and Architecture

The smart city promises a new model of integrated urban design bringing together people, urban spaces and smart technologies. The quote above highlights the question of not only who owns the frameworks of the smart city but also more importantly who has access and what does this access enable them to do. We need to ask carefully who is included and recognise that the smart city often excludes the very people, communities and place it claims to help. The key is to establish how marginalised or excluded groups may benefit – or not – in these initiatives. In order to …

The Interacion Between Humans And Buildings For Energy Efficiency: A Critical Review, T Harputlugil, P De Wilde

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Buildings consume energy for different purposes. One core function is to provide healthy and comfortable living conditions for the humans that inhabit these buildings. The associated energy use is significant: taken together, buildings are responsible for roughly 40% of the world's total annual energy consumption. This large percentage makes the built environment an important target for researchers, policy makers, innovators and others who aim to decrease energy consumption and the associated emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). Unfortunately, the significant body of research on energy efficient buildings conducted since the 1970s has had only a limited impact on the overall energy …

3d Printing System For Earth-Based Construction: Case Study Of Cob, Mohamed Gomaa, Wassim Jabi, Reyes A Veliz, Veronica Soebarto

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Despite the dramatic development in digital manufacturing technologies in the recent years, 3D printing of earth materials, such as cob, still presents several challenges to the market-available 3D printing systems. This paper describes the development process of a 3D printing system for cob that fits the contemporary requirements of digital construction. The study first described the methodology of producing a revised cob recipe for the purpose of 3D printing. Then, the study conducted thorough investigations into the properties of three types of extrusion systems using both electromechanical and pneumatic methods, leading eventually to the development of a new bespoke dual-ram …

Delivering A Low Carbon Energy Transition Through Planning: Monitoring Outcomes In Plymouth, Luke Jones, Jon Selman, Stephen Essex, Olivia Wilson

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Given the urgency presented by climate change and global warming, local planning authorities have become active agents in the low carbon energy transition. This transition has been defined as “a radical, systemic and managed change towards a ‘more sustainable’ or ‘more effective’ patterns of provision and use of energy” (Rutherford and Coutard, 2014, p.1354). It is associated with a shift from centralised fossil fuel production and distribution of energy (such as coal, gas and oil) to more decentralised renewable energy production (such as solar and wind), which is consumed on-site or locally. Alongside other government policy interventions, such as carbon …

The Pregnant Pause, Sarah Blissett

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Wrap Your Ad Around Media Multitasking: Understanding The Factors That Inhibit And Amplify Advertising Effectiveness While Media Multitasking, Shikhar Bhaskar

Plymouth Business School Theses

This thesis presents that not all media multitasking is detrimental to the advertising messages, by identifying situations when advertising can have a positive effect on the advertising outcomes. The contemporary research in media multitasking posits that media multitasking results in poor memory and higher evaluation of advertisements while media multitasking; however, there are contexts when the memory of advertisements is higher while media multitasking. Building on these contexts, this thesis presents three different experiments to test the effect of media multitasking on advertising memory and attitude. In the first study, the past literature is tested by comparing single-tasking with media …

Developing Port Sustainability Awareness And Management: Systems, Processes And Planning, Ridvan Anil Karacay

Plymouth Business School Theses

The Port Sustainability Management System (PSMS) is a well-known sustainability management system for smaller ports. Attempting to update and modify the PSMS for more global use, involves standardising requirements and needs and addressing certain areas where necessary. The primary aim of this thesis is to review the suitability of an existing bespoke PSMS with a view to facilitating additional applications in the port industry to enable wider perspectives for self-evaluation in terms of port size, type and governance. In addition, it aims to address the lack of a holistic approach in port sustainability management systems. The potential impact of this …

Five Steps For Astronomers To Communicate Climate Change Effectively, Alison Anderson, Gina Maffey

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Shifting Sands: The Reconfiguration Of Neoliberal Youth Penality, P Gray, R Smith

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

This article begins by tracing the emergence of ‘therapeutic surveillance’ as a new formula for neoliberal disciplinary power. It maps and interrogates the reconfiguration of a hybrid array of neoliberal rationalities and technologies for the penal governance of young people who offend. It then engages with the challenges posed by critical realists to the governmentality position by questioning how human agency can contest, subvert and resist the dystopian reach of ‘therapeutic surveillance’ in action. While ‘therapeutic surveillance’ is steeped in a disciplinary logic of individualization and responsibilization, we argue that it also opens the space for a more transformative youth …

Exploring The Cost Of Elearning Within The Field Of Health Professions Education: Scoping Review, Edward Meinert, S Reeves, Jessie Eerens, Christina Banks, Stephen Maloney, George Rivers, Dragan Ilic, Kieran Walsh, A Majeez, Josip Car

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Background: Existing research on the costs associated for design and deploying eLearning in health professions education is limited. The way in which these learning platforms compare in cost to face-to-face learning is also not well understood. The lack of pre-defined costing models used for eLearning cost data capture has made it difficult to complete cost evaluation. Objective: The key aim of this scoping review is to explore the state of evidence concerning cost capture within eLearning in health professions education. The review explores what data exists to define cost calculations related to eLearning. Methods: Scoping review using a search strategy …

Design Recommendations For Socially Assistive Robots For Health And Social Care Based On A Large Scale Analysis Of Stakeholder Positions, Hannah Louise Bradwell, Noury Ge Aguiar, Katie Jane Edwards, Rhona Winnington, Serge Thill, Ray B. Jones

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

Exenatide Once Weekly Over 2 Years As A Potential Disease-Modifying Treatment For Parkinson’S Disease: Protocol For A Multicentre, Randomised, Double Blind, Parallel Group, Placebo Controlled, Phase 3 Trial: The ‘Exenatide-Pd3’ Study, Nirosen Vijiaratnam, Christine Girges, Grace Auld, Marisa Chau, Kate Maclagan, Alexa King, Simon Skene, Kashfia Chowdhury, Steve Hibbert, Huw Morris, Patricia Limousin, Dilan Athauda, Camille B. Carroll, Michele T. Hu, Monty Silverdale, Gordon W. Duncan, Ray Chaudhuri, Christine Lo, Din S Del, Alison J. Yarnall, Lynn Rochester, Rachel Gibson, John Dickson, Rachael Hunter, Vincenzo Libri, Thomas Foltynie

Peninsula Medical School

IntroductionParkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with substantial morbidity. No disease-modifying treatments currently exist. The glucagon like peptide-1 receptor agonist exenatide has been associated in single-centre studies with reduced motor deterioration over 1 year. The aim of this multicentre UK trial is to confirm whether these previous positive results are maintained in a larger number of participants over 2 years and if effects accumulate with prolonged drug exposure.Methods and analysisThis is a phase 3, multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of exenatide at a dose of 2 mg weekly in 200 participants with mild to moderate PD. Treatment duration …

Preconception And Diabetes Information (Padi) App For Women With Pregestational Diabetes: A Feasibility And Acceptability Study, Chidiebere H. Nwolise, Nicola Carey, Jill Shawe

School of Nursing and Midwifery

AbstractDiabetes mellitus increases the risk of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Preconception care is vital to minimise complications; however, preconception care service provision is hindered by inadequate knowledge, resources and care fragmentation. Mobile health technology, particularly smartphone apps, could improve preconception care and pregnancy outcomes for women with diabetes. The aim of this study is to co-create a preconception and diabetes information app with healthcare professionals and women with diabetes and explore the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effects of the app. A mixed-methods study design employing questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was used to assess preliminary outcome estimates (preconception care knowledge, …

Where Are The Children? An Autoethnography Of Deception In Dementia In An Acute Hospital, G Hodge

School of Nursing and Midwifery

An acute hospital environment is a confusing place for many patients requiring admission, especially when they are presenting as acutely unwell. This can be particularly difficult for people living with dementia. As cognition changes it is not uncommon for people living with dementia to have difficulties with their ability to orientate to time, place and person. These disorientating moments can lead to personal distress, and at times behavioural changes. As well as being distressing for the person living with dementia, it can also be emotionally and ethically challenging for acute hospital staff; including nurses. One area found to be particularly …

Light Dance: Beyond The Dichotomy Of Light And Vision, Seth Riskin

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

ABSTRACT Light Dance: Beyond the Dichotomy of Light and Vision Seth Riskin This practice-based dissertation focuses on Light Dance, an original artistic practice developed by the author that, in reducing light to its core elements in a setting devoid of other sources of illumination, centers the equivalence of light and vision in experience. Moving with projection instruments attached to his body, the artist articulates geometrically elemental light forms on the boundaries of the room. Through unique artistic technologies and methods, Light Dance creates a visual environment in which light is perceived as a reflexive experience of vision, an inversion of …

Ideas Exchange: Design And The Post Bio-Tech-Body, Agatha Haines

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This thesis situates speculative design as a valuable tool for thinking about design issues and the body. Bringing together historical, theoretical criticism and practice to show that speculative design is intimately linked with the body. The thesis’ arguments build on the basis that both the body and design have gone through a processes of anatomisation: they have been dissected, separated and segmented into parts and terms. Those parts and terms are then ordered in a fashion which may not necessarily be advantageous intra-disciplinarily, that is for collaborations and discussions within a discipline. A different anatomisation is proposed for more contemporary …

Sense And Sensing: A Critical Enquiry Into Relations Between Hearing-Impaired Children, Vision And Photography, Kevin Robinson

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This thesis explores and critiques attitudes and assumptions related to hearing-impaired, school-level students and their engagement with the educational discipline of photography. It is not uncommon to find that hearing-impaired children are described as visual learners. This thesis argues that the conceptualisation of children as visual learners merely reflects a wider discourse that aims to legitimise a certain practice of schooling as normative. In appearing as common-sense and value neutral, the discourse has the tendency to perpetuate the marginalisation of those senses deemed less noble and the pedagogical insistence on a premise that posits a link between looking, seeing and …

Guanxi 2.0: Social Capital Within A Cultural Context Revealed By The Use Of Social Media By Chinese International Students, Xu Zhang

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

The group of Chinese overseas students has become a very important part of the cross-border communication group. The number of Chinese students studying in the UK continues to increase. For foreign students from other countries, constructing a new social network is a key step for them to obtain necessary help and support to carry out their new study and life. This thesis takes Chinese international students studying at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom as an example, using the ethnographic research methods of participatory observation and in-depth interviews to explore the process of Chinese international students building their …

Place And Identity In Italian Photography Through A Study Of The Town Of Lugo, Luca Nostri

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This research is framed by the specific context of Italian photography since the late 1970s, which has defined its own aesthetic and cultural identity in relation to the idea of place. The definitive reference point for this context is the group project Viaggio in Italia conceived and curated by photographer Luigi Ghirri and presented in 1984, when an exhibition of three hundred photographs was held in Bari and a catalogue for the project was published. Viaggio in Italia brought together a generation of photographers who were creating a new cultural atmosphere around photography in Italy: they shared a new and …

Deciphering The Silence: A Literary Journey To Alice E. Kober, Regina Dürig

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

On Thursday, 28 September 2017, I embarked upon my Journey to Alice Kober: 48 hours in trains taking me from New York City, where she had lived all her life, to Austin, Texas, where everything that she left behind is stored today. 48 hours of shades of green and mustardy yellow, 48 hours of train whistles, drip coffee and blunt panic attacks from being tucked away under the plastic roof of the compartment at night. 48 hours of hope and expectations regarding the archive material, of finding what has been lost. My journey to Alice Kober’s archive, to her still-existing …

A Relational Ecology Of Photographic Practices: Towards A Non-Anthropocentric Approach To Photography, Jacqueline Knight

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This thesis argues that as photography’s technological basis has become more complex and increasingly detached from human vision, a thicker account of photographic practice that moves away from humanist discourse and single authorship can assist in demonstrating a continuity between film and new technological photographic practices. It revisits key concepts in documentary photography such as the ‘decisive moment’ through the filter of particular historical, technological and philosophical ideas that have informed the critical engagement with photography as a media of representation. It reconsiders some orthodox assumptions about photography including the idea that photography is fundamentally a human-centred practice and that …

The Liminal Event And Its Symbols: On The Intersection Of Human And Technology, Blanka Deroko

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This thesis is an exploration of practical and theoretical modes of constituting hybrid subjectivities on the intersection of human and technology. Taking as a point of departure the posthuman and postphenomenological perspectives, I develop an approach to articulating hybrid subjectivities, where the distributed human and nonhuman entities come together in a relational way, expressing hybrid agencies. This thesis explores an emergent affective dimension in technological spaces, which provide a sensory stimulation to the human enabling a sense of presence in the distributed and virtual space. Further, I demonstrate a systematic manner, in which an integrated liminal event between the human …

Social Sculpture: A Plastic Process Of Mutual Transformation, Veronica Marina Fazzio Welf

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

Joseph Beuys, the originator of the term ‘Social Sculpture’, stated that the objects he made were stimulators for the formation of thoughts, i.e. that they were intended to mold or to shape thoughts. Beuys believed that the essence of Social Sculpture was to shape and mold the world by working with invisible materials to make new thoughts. His aim was to develop an evolutionary process to share his ideas about the universal nature of plasticity, and thus the ability we all have to constantly transform. This practice as research Ph.D. explores Social Sculpture as a contemporary process of transformation. The …