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1
Colling, Samantha. "The aesthetic pleasures of girl teen film." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2014. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/344193/.
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What is ‘fun’ about the Hollywood version of girlhood? What kinds of pleasure does this version of girlhood invite us to enjoy? Through re-evaluating notions of pleasure and fun, this thesis forms a study of Hollywood girl teen films between 2000-2010. The aesthetic dimensions of commercial girl teen films are particularly underexplored. This study identifies the key aesthetics of girl teen film and articulates the specific types of tactile and kinaesthetic pleasures they are designed to create. Working outside of gendered hierarchies of pleasure and aesthetics, the thesis focuses on ‘look and feel’. The study draws on recent literature that prioritises the relationship between film, the body, and affect, in conjunction with Susanne Langer’s (1953, 1957) concept and Richard Dyer’s (2002) application of ‘embodiments of feeling’, to present a new way of understanding the ‘fun’ in girl teen films. After situating the thesis in a film studies context, the five core chapters each examine recurrent moments of ‘fun’ and fundamental aesthetic pleasures found in these films. The opening chapter explores the influence of ‘Cinderella’s Pleasures’ on girl teen film as a fairy tale framework in which pleasure is the main concern and character visibility is the central reward. I suggest that the Cinderella character-icon is adorned in ways that invite audiences to enjoy the tactile pleasures of accessories and clothing. In the second chapter tactility is also central to the ‘Celebrity Glamour’ that surrounds the girls in these films and, defining glamour, I consider the ways that visibility, space, and place are constructed as appealing. In ‘Sporting Pleasures’ I analyse the ways that the body of the Cinderella character-icon is itself a surface, rendered to generate kinaesthetic pleasures grounded in physical work, perfection, and collective synchrony. This interest in the potential to generate kinaesthetic pleasures continues in the chapter on ‘Musical Address’, which examines how the musical numbers in these films draw on the pleasures and capacities of the body in relation to music and dance. The final chapter brings all of the key moments of ‘fun’ together and I analyse the relationship between music, dance, image, and the body in more detail: exploring how ‘Music Video Aesthetics’ generate the feelings of music and dance to make a spectacle of ‘everyday’, ‘feminine’ activities. This research develops a new way of exploring ‘feminine’ forms of popular culture. It questions the gendered hierarchies of pleasure that scholarship often maintains, articulates the ‘fun’ version of girlhood that Hollywood presents, and offers an understanding of the kinds of physical and affective pleasures that these films invite us to enjoy.
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Griffiths, John Edward. "Masculinities, social capital and men's experiences of chronic ill health." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615949/.
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This thesis draws on theoretical and empirical research on men and masculinities, and on social capital to inform understanding of the experiences of chronically ill men. Levels of chronic illness are increasing in the Western Global North, and this phenomenon has been linked with health-related behaviour (Crossley, 2000a). A growing literature has explored the ways that people experience chronic illness and the implications of that for their health and wellbeing (e.g. Williams, 2000; Bray et al, 2014). There is a need however for further research that seeks a gendered understanding of men’s experiences of chronic illness within a context of social relatedness. Connell’s (e.g. 1995) theoretical description of hegemonic masculinities set within the ‘gender order’ has stimulated much research that moves beyond a simplistic understanding of gender that often characterises work in Health Psychology. Similarly social capital has become widely used to conceptualise aspects of social connectedness and it’s links with health and illness (e.g. Hu et al, 2014). A qualitative, narrative approach has been employed here to explore the experiences of chronically ill men. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty five men to investigate the processes linking social capital, masculinities and experiences of chronic illness. A multi-level narrative analysis (e.g. Murray, 2000) was conducted on the resulting interview transcripts, and both case study and cross-case studies are presented in the thesis. The thesis demonstrates the value of a multi-level analysis (Murray, 2000) that incorporates the examination of personal, interpersonal, positional and ideological facets of men’s illness narratives. Key findings concerned the contestation of meanings of illness in men’s social networks, the gendered context to family conflicts related to illness, and the complexities of reciprocal care and support amongst families over time. Issues around employment and the workplace such as stress, and the negotiation of accommodations in masculinist workplace contexts are also explored. These findings point to the complexity and importance of interdependence and masculine identities, and their links with chronic illness experience. The association of social capital with entirely positive or negative outcomes or experiences amongst chronically ill men oversimplifies the diverse and context specific processes involved. A gender-sensitive approach to family systems and broader social connectedness with community and work contexts however can aid in understanding how the experiences of chronically ill men are shaped. The importance of theories and interventions that do not rest on models of unconstrained individual choice is particularly highlighted. Such work may be useful to health practitioners and in contributing to public discourse around chronically ill men.
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Hilton, John Anthony. "The post-Reformation Catholic community in the North of England." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615950/.
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This thesis demonstrates that I have made a sustained, original, coherent, and significant contribution to scholarly research on post-Reformation English Catholicism by presenting and discussing a series of publications that cover the period from the Elizabethan Reformation to the eve of the Second Vatican Council. The Introduction argues that although English Catholics became a separate recusant community that increased, it was never more than a small minority. The Introduction also outlines my contributions to the field. It goes on to discuss the historiography of the subject: Bossy’s contribution, the emphasis on Church Popery by Walsham and Questier, and the Ultramontane and Liberal approaches to the later modern period. The Critical Essay demonstrates my contribution to the study of the emergence and development of recusancy in much of the North of England. My work was used by other historians of Catholicism. I pioneered and developed the study of popular Catholicism, and made an important contribution to the understanding of the development of its spirituality, using familiar sources to answer new questions. I also argued that the failure of the policies of King James II demonstrated the weakness of English Catholicism after a century of persecution. The Critical Essay then goes on to discuss emancipated Catholicism’s continued growth in the later modern period, subject to the Industrial Revolution and its social effects. It shows that I led the way in the study of the priest and historian, John Lingard, and made a significant contribution to the study of the Catholic congregationalism. Finally, I broke new ground in both Catholic and Ruskin studies by showing how the Catholic community adopted the artistic and social teaching of Ruskin. The Conclusion discusses my work’s limitations in the light of recent research, and goes on to suggest ways in which it might be further developed.
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Ng, Choon Ching. "Face age estimation using wrinkle patterns." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/595499/.
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Face age estimation is a challenging problem due to the variation of craniofacial growth, skin texture, gender and race. With recent growth in face age estimation research, wrinkles received attention from a number of research, as it is generally perceived as aging feature and soft biometric for person identification. In a face image, wrinkle is a discontinuous and arbitrary line pattern that varies in different face regions and subjects. Existing wrinkle detection algorithms and wrinkle-based features are not robust for face age estimation. They are either weakly represented or not validated against the ground truth. The primary aim of this thesis is to develop a robust wrinkle detection method and construct novel wrinkle-based methods for face age estimation. First, Hybrid Hessian Filter (HHF) is proposed to segment the wrinkles using the directional gradient and a ridge-valley Gaussian kernel. Second, Hessian Line Tracking (HLT) is proposed for wrinkle detection by exploring the wrinkle connectivity of surrounding pixels using a cross-sectional profile. Experimental results showed that HLT outperforms other wrinkle detection algorithms with an accuracy of 84% and 79% on the datasets of FORERUS and FORERET while HHF achieves 77% and 49%, respectively. Third, Multi-scale Wrinkle Patterns (MWP) is proposed as a novel feature representation for face age estimation using the wrinkle location, intensity and density. Fourth, Hybrid Aging Patterns (HAP) is proposed as a hybrid pattern for face age estimation using Facial Appearance Model (FAM) and MWP. Fifth, Multi-layer Age Regression (MAR) is proposed as a hierarchical model in complementary of FAM and MWP for face age estimation. For performance assessment of age estimation, four datasets namely FGNET, MORPH, FERET and PAL with different age ranges and sample sizes are used as benchmarks. Results showed that MAR achieves the lowest Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 3.00 ( 4.14) on FERET and HAP scores a comparable MAE of 3.02 ( 2.92) as state of the art. In conclusion, wrinkles are important features and the uniqueness of this pattern should be considered in developing a robust model for face age estimation.
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Alfayez, Fayez. "A wireless sensor network system for border security and crossing detection." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615894/.
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The protection of long stretches of countries’ borders has posed a number of challenges. Effective and continuous monitoring of a border requires the implementation of multi-surveillance technologies, such as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), that work as an integrated unit to meet the desired goals. The research presented in this thesis investigates the application of topologically Linear WSN (LWSNs) to international border monitoring and surveillance. The main research questions studied here are: What is the best form of node deployment and hierarchy? What is the minimum number of sensor nodes to achieve k− barrier coverage in a given belt region? iven an appropriate network density, how do we determine if a region is indeed k−barrier covered? What are the factors that affect barrier coverage? How to organise nodes into logical segments to perform in-network processing of data? How to transfer information from the networks to the end users while maintaining critical QoS measures such as timeliness and accuracy. To address these questions, we propose an architecture that specifies a mechanism to assign nodes to various network levels depending on their location. These levels are used by a cross-layer communication protocol to achieve data delivery at the lowest possible cost and minimal delivery delay. Building on this levelled architecture, we study the formation of weak and strong barriers and how they determine border crossing detection probability. We propose new method to calculate the required node density to provide higher intruder detection rate. Then, we study the effect of people movement models on the border crossing detection probability. At the data link layer, new energy balancing along with shifted MAC protocol are introduced to further increase the network lifetime and delivery speed. In addition, at network layer, a routing protocol called Level Division raph (LD ) is developed. LD utilises a complex link cost measurement to insure best QoS data delivery to the sink node at the lowest possible cost. The proposed system has the ability to work independently or cooperatively with other monitoring technologies, such as drowns and mobile monitoring stations. The performance of the proposed work is extensively evaluated analytically and in simulation using real-life conditions and parameters. The simulation results show significant performance gains when comparing LD to its best rivals in the literature Dynamic Source Routing. Compared to DSR, LD achieves higher performance in terms of average end-to-end delays by up to 95%, packet delivery ratio by up to 20%, and throughput by up to 60%, while maintaining similar performance in terms of normalised routing load and energy consumption.
6
Horne, Maxine. "Care to dance : listening, watching, dancing and reflecting the practice of a community arts and health dance artist working with older people." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615895/.
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The focus of this thesis is community arts and health provision for older people. It presents an ethnography of two community dance for older people groups in North West England, UK. It explores the experience of being a participant in the groups, of facilitating the groups and, additionally, of researching with the groups. I acted as both the researcher and the dance artist facilitating the sessions. Much of the existing arts and health literature focuses on the outcome of an intervention. This thesis instead turns its attention to the processes of community arts, seeking to understand more about the mechanisms that might lead to the studied health and well-being outcomes. The data were collected over a period of 13 months and includes session plans, videos of sessions, recorded conversations with dancers (participants) and reflections of the dance artist/researcher in both text and movement. The findings chapters reflect the modality of collection: Listening to the dancers talk about the sessions, Watching video recordings of the sessions, Dancing a response to the sessions and the process of researching and Reflecting through writing on the process of being a researcher. Using thematic analysis, both the dancers’ and the dance artist’s experiences were interpreted through a framework highlighting the physical, psychological and dimensions of participation. The dance artist’s experience was additionally organised with respect to the session planning. The use of the creative movement as a thinking process further revealed that there is much in community dance that does not translate to text; bodily held knowledge and experiences do not transpose to language easily. My thesis contributes to the arts and health and gerontology literatures by revealing the care flowing between the participants and the artist in the sessions and the work required of all members of the group to facilitate that care. It also contributes methodologically through the richness uncovered by the multi-sensory methods employed.
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Jackson, Veronica Mary. "Metropolitan-Vickers : Arthur Fleming's influence on the origins and evolution of apprentice training and technical education, with particular reference to female college and student apprentices between 1945-1967." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615896/.
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This thesis examines the significance, influence and limitations of the apprenticeship and technical education system which was developed between the 1900s and 1950s by the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Engineering Company under its Director of Research and Education, Sir Arthur P M Fleming. Metropolitan-Vickers was well known in the industry for its highly developed technical skills, industrial research facility and the quality of its technical and vocational education. This thesis argues that this reputation made a significant contribution to the corporate culture which Metropolitan-Vickers fostered within the company and the wider community as an organisation at the forefront of modern engineering training and practices. It assesses the significance of Fleming, the architect of its innovative apprentice training system, which replaced ‘premium’ apprenticeships with a tiered system of trade, college and schools apprentices who were intended to become skilled ‘craftsmen’ and professional engineers. This system continued after Fleming’s retirement in the mid-1950s and the thesis debates its continuing limitations for females operating in a male-dominated engineering industry in which women’s skills and competencies were questioned. Women who trained to become professional engineers faced many difficulties from the First World War until the 1960s and the thesis examines the extent to which a combination of societal pressures, cultural expectations and class issues limited the ambitions of girls who entered grammar schools in the postwar period. It focuses on the implications for the ‘exceptional’ young girls who did gain entry to the level of technical education in which Metropolitan-Vickers took such pride. These experiences are set within the context of the work undertaken by Isabel Hardwich, a physicist, largely neglected in the history of technical education, who was responsible for ‘technical women’ in the company’s research department. Hardwich played a prominent part in the Women’s Engineering Society which developed initiatives to encourage more girls into engineering and the thesis questions the extent to which these measures were, or could be, successful in a period when women’s skills were so strongly defined by broader social and cultural pressures. In so doing the thesis highlights the pressures placed on the small number of women who did develop careers in engineering, even within a company like Metropolitan-Vickers that was so intimately associated with innovative training both within the industry and beyond.
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Goldstraw, Katy. "Operationalising love within austerity : an analysis of the opportunities and challenges experienced by the voluntary and community sector in Greater Manchester under the Coalition government (2010-2015)." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615915/.
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The British voluntary and community sector (VCS) is currently experiencing unprecedented funding cuts. Many small voluntary groups are ceasing to exist under the strain of increasing demand for services and simultaneous funding cuts. As a consequence, the VCS is in transition, experiencing new challenges and opportunities. This thesis is an analysis of the opportunities and challenges experienced by the adult social care VCS in Greater Manchester under the Coalition government 2010-2015. I have developed a reflexive feminist ethnography, using participatory approaches within the adult social care VCS of Greater Manchester and one adult social care homelessness VCS organisation. The thesis begins by considering the historical, ideological and policy background to the VCS before exploring the challenges and opportunities that the VCS of Greater Manchester experience. I then focus on the experiences of one adult social care homelessness VCS organisation in depth. Gender is considered throughout the thesis comparing the experiences of women within the VCS and reflecting on my gendered role as a researcher. As a piece of feminist emancipatory participatory research, my thesis has implications for VCS policy and practice. Part of my participatory focus has included the development of a Sustainable Livelihoods Toolkit for VCS organisations. This toolkit supports VCS organisations to carry out an assets based organisational evaluation. The toolkit empowers small community and voluntary groups to focus on organisational assets and supports groups to develop strategy based upon these assets. The adaptation of SLA for VCS groups and my addition of a sixth sustainable livelihoods capital, love, forms my contribution to original knowledge.
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Jones, Dawn Anita. "Teachers' professionalism, self-identity and the impact of continuing professional development (CPD)." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615916/.
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This research explores the impact of changes in government policy on teachers’ professionalism, self-identity and practice in the context of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Initial data was gathered through the use of evaluations, impact data and interviews from conferences and courses undertaken as part of professional development programmes. This data provided a range of background information which then informed a second stage of research where in-depth case studies of three secondary school science teachers was conducted. Thus the first stage data helped identify, and focus the later research themes and questions. The case-study research consists of semi-structured interviews which explores the contexts, experiences and viewpoints of the three teachers involved. This research draws attention to the potential damage being done to teachers’ professionalism and self-identity as a result of central government policy, and the impact that this has on their ability to carry out their roles effectively. It also considers the extent to which teachers’ professionalism is influenced by the process of engaging with CPD. This research adds knowledge to the field through the provision of a fresh perspective, from the teachers’ viewpoint, in the field of research of teacher professionalism and that of teachers CPD. The research gives teachers a forum within which to voice their thoughts and share their concerns about the struggles they face, and the conflicts they experience between their personal values and pressures to conform. At the heart of the problem, encountered by teachers, is the fact that professional standards and CPD activities predominately focus on the behavioural component of professionalism. The failure to consider the teachers’ intellectual or attitudinal development is what threatened their identities, ideologies and aspirations to meet their goals. It also affects the way they felt about themselves and education as a whole. An alternative model to illustrate effective professional development is proposed as a consequence of this research which highlights the complexities of the processes and practices affecting teachers’ engagement with CPD and the potential for external policies to impact adversely on classroom practices.
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Mohammed, Muna Saeed Fareh. "Nursing services and training in South Arabia during the late British colonial period, 1950-1967." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615918/.
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The history of nursing in South Arabia (SA) during the late colonial period has not been well researched. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive account of nursing services and training in the region from 1950 to 1967, against the background of the colonial context and the local setting. This research was conducted through the gathering of first-hand accounts. These were carried out in the form of oral history interviews with both South Arabian nurses and British nurses who worked as nurses in SA. In addition, the research draws on data obtained through documentary and archival research. The study found that, although nursing services were enhanced and amplified in SA between 1950 and 1967 by the British colonial administration, there was a lack of government and institutional planning, and the provision of nursing services was variable and uneven. Nurse training was basic and variable, with males tending to receive more professionalised training than females. Furthermore, the benefits of colonial nursing services brought to the population as a result of the colonial presence was as much by individual endeavor and the work of charitable organisations (such as the British Red Cross), as it was by any sort of overall intention on the part of the colonial authorities. This research has shown that in addition to the absence of overall planning of the nursing services during the period of the administration, the colonial dominance was extended through nursing in many ways: the colonial nurses dominated the nursing workforce; the local expertise was undervalued; and nursing management positions were limited to the colonial nurses. This study contributes to our understanding of the history of South Arabia and should also be of particular interest to scholars who have an interest in the history of nursing during the colonial period.
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Thomas, Richard Gough. "Scepticism and experience in the educational writing of William Godwin." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615947/.
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This thesis focuses on the educational thought of William Godwin (1756-1836) and how it is expressed through his essays and fiction. Attention here focuses on the Account of the Seminary (1783), The Enquirer (1797), and the preface to Bible Stories (1803). Godwin’s key argument is that the imagination must be developed through reading. In this, Godwin saw the potential for subsequent generations to live wiser and happier lives than their predecessors, with reading offering a place for young people to learn without being forced to conform to the models offered by previous generations under the authority Godwin saw as inherent to conventional pedagogy. This thesis argues that Godwin’s education writing represents the convergence of the author’s epistemology, his passion for literature, and his vision of the continuous improvement of humanity. Godwin’s ideas are rooted in a profoundly sceptical theory of knowledge, and this rejection of certainty contributes both to Godwin’s principled rejection of authority and his acknowledgement of its utility in education. The author’s search for an ethical solution to this conflict is seen in the contrast between his rejection of Rousseau’s Émile (1762) and his affection for Fénelon’s Telemachus (1699), culminating in his own novel Fleetwood (1805). Godwin’s writing for children, exemplified by his Fables Ancient and Modern (1805), shows the author attempting to create texts that teach children to think for themselves – books that reject the mantle of literary authority.
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Mansfield, Laura. "The island as a model for the interpretation and development of exhibitions of contemporary art beyond a gallery setting." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615951/.
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The written thesis is presented in conjunction with a documented body of curatorial practice that together seek to examine and develop a proposed notion of ‘the island’ as a conceptual model for the staging and analysis of exhibitions of art beyond a gallery setting. The initial conception of ‘the island’ as model follows from a discussion of the function of the setting of islands in literature that identifies and abstracts their unique spatial and structural properties before reapplying them in a different context. On both a practical and discursive level, the ensuing research arrives at a thesis that puts forward the island model as an innovative and productive tool for contemporary curatorial practice. The initial research presents the literary island as a contained site where subversive, fantastical or critical alternatives to a dominant norm are enacted. Appearing unexpectedly through the event of storm, shipwreck or loss at sea, the literary island interrupts the intended trajectory of the castaway who finds himself severed from the customs and routines associated with a homeland. In doing so, the setting of the island in literature often comes to figure as a test-site for new possibilities upon which a blurring between the real and the imaginary readily occurs. Retaining the identified properties of the literary island but divorcing it from its geographical setting, the proposed notion of the island as curatorial model conceives a space located within, yet always at the slightest remove from, the everyday itself – disrupting the familiar to facilitate a playful or subversive alternative to the status quo. Here, the structural effect of the island no longer depends on its physical distance to a ‘mainland’, but describes a spatial practice that facilitates a process of distancing from familiar norms. Occurring outside of the confines of a gallery, the presented curatorial practice stages artworks that are physically situated within a given location whilst simultaneously providing an experience of the virtual possibilities for its transformation. In so doing, the thesis argues, these and similar artworks invite a re-imagination of familiar and everyday culture by blurring the distinction between the real and the imaginary in a manner that reflects - and can thus be productively modelled upon - the function of the literary island. In proposing an alternative strategy for the discussion and development of curatorial practices beyond the gallery, as well as putting into play a new mode of analysis and an innovative space of discourse, the thesis presents an original framework for contemporary curatorial practice.
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Rosenburgh, Angus Ewan. "Restoration and recovery of Sphagnum on degraded blanket bog." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615952/.
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1. The blanket bogs of the southern Pennines and Peak District are severely degraded, attributed to centuries of poor land management, wildfire and atmospheric pollution. Restoration efforts have focussed on the revegetation of bare and eroding peat surfaces, with considerable success. 2. Sphagnum mosses provide the form and function of blanket bog, with their remains making up the majority of the peat body. These species were lost from the region and remain largely absent, despite restoration efforts. 3. As a keystone species of peatlands, their return is essential to the continued provision of ecosystem services derived from these uplands. Hence, their reintroduction is of great importance. 4. Preliminary trials determined Sphagnum can be reintroduced to numerous degraded conditions found on blanket peat, with S. fallax the best performing species. Water availability was strongly implicated as a significant factor, with drought proving fatal to propagules. In areas of dense vegetation, flailing has the potential to increase establishment, but requires further verification. 5. Growth trials indicated the legacy of atmospheric pollution was still exerting influence upon the growth of Sphagnum. Peat from the southern Pennines region was shown to contain elevated concentration of numerous pollutant heavy metals and nutrients. A comparative study of some UK bogs demonstrated the consequences of biogeochemical characteristics, whilst further implicating the importance of water availability in degraded sites. 6. The potential of Sphagnum reintroduction to degraded sites was demonstrated, within the constraints of shorter time scales. Over longer periods, with increased experimentation and subsequent monitoring, further understanding will undoubtedly be gathered. It is essential this knowledge is shared, updated and applied by conservation agencies and parties conducting such work.
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Oh, Yim-Taek. "Passive and active drag of paralympic swimmers." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615953/.
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The aim of this thesis was to contribute to the development of an objective, evidence-based international classification system for para-swimmers by quantifying the effect of physical impairment on passive and active drag. The thesis comprises five studies. Study 1 identified a significant relationship between normalised passive drag and the para-swimmers’ International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Class, but an inconsistent difference in normalised passive drag between adjacent classes. High within-class variability in passive drag indicates that the current classification system does not always differentiate clearly between swimming groups. Study 2 found that anthropometric features of para-swimmers, such as height and body mass, differed significantly between IPC Classes, whereas Shoulder Width, Chest Depth, Shoulder Girth and Torso Girth did not. A weak correlation existed between para-swimmers’ anthropometry and their passive drag, which indicates that other factors, such as impairment type, may be more important predictors of passive drag than anthropometry. Study 3 revealed that certain impairments, such as double-leg amputation above knee level, may predispose a para-swimmer to a relatively high passive drag which disadvantages them in competition. Study 4 compared two methods of estimating active drag during front crawl swimming: the Naval Architecture Based Approach (NABA) and the Active Towing Method (ATM). The means were not statistically different. Using a sensitivity analysis, the NABA was identified as the more reliable method of assessing active drag. Study 5 found that active and passive drag of elite para-swimmers are highly correlated but no relationship existed between active drag and International Paralympic Committee S Class (IPC S Class), indicating that factors other than impairment level may be more important in determining active drag. The relationships discovered between drag, IPC Class, anthropometry and impairments will contribute to the development of the future IPC Classification system.
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Wilkinson, Kenneth Anthony. "Risk management in Chinese supply." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2017. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/619404/.
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This research investigates how, in the context of China supply management, the relationship between supplier and buyer influences risk, and how non-Chinese companies manage Chinese suppliers to minimize risk. Four streams of literature were reviewed. Themes emerged when the four were aggregated. A qualitative, interpretivist, phenomenologically-housed research methodology was applied. Data was obtained through case and key informant studies, principally via literature-informed semi-structured interviews with managers at China-sourcing companies. Most key informant interviews were undertaken to enrich and validate case study findings. The two case studies and two of the key informant studies were of global MNEs; four key informants were managers at UK SMEs, one key informant interview was with a Chinese MNE (for perspectival comparison). Non-industry key informant interviews were also conducted: two were supply chain academics, three were China-specialising consultants, and two were managers at UK SMEs who both sell and source in China. The experiences of various supply chain and procurement professionals were acquired through an online discussion. Transcripts and forum messages constituted the data obtained from key informants; transcripts and internal and external documentation constituted the case study data. All data was subjected to thematic coding and analysis via NVivo. Themes and sub-themes were quantified to identify dominance. Risks and their corresponding countermeasures were compiled in tabular form, exposing similar patterns and approaches. Five theoretical outputs were produced – two main and three minor. Output #1 shows the commonality in the methods of China supply risk management reported – MNE and SME meta-processes. Output #2 articulates the triadic nature of risk, China presence, and the interfirm relationship. The three minor outputs derive from Output #1: (a) three pairs of variables characterise China supply risk factors unique to global MNEs; (b) the relatedness of risk and relationship quality/formality; and (c) the relatedness of risk and buyer status/ supplier perspective. Two practitioner outputs were also developed: a global MNE risk assessment tool, and a UK SME risk assessment tool. Essential findings: in the context of China supply management, buyer risk is lower if the buyer-supplier relationship is strong. Buyer-supplier relationships are strengthened by interfirm integration and China-side presence of the foreign partner. Non-Chinese MNEs minimize Chinese supply risk by operating China offices; SMEs by utilising key China people. MNEs and SMEs can earn risk-reducing favoured buyer status through placing significant orders, building trust relationships, and working collaboratively with their Chinese partners.
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Mann, Rachel. "The representation of fecundity and barrenness in the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, and the Bible : a critical and creative interrogation of a Christian-feminist poetics." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2017. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/619438/.
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This thesis analyses the language of fecundity and barrenness in the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti, as well as producing original poetry in critical conversation with their poetics. Concentrating on key Barrett Browning and Rossetti texts, Aurora Leigh and Goblin Market, I shall explore how their language of fecundity and barrenness make available a poetics which is simultaneously feminist and Christian in character. This interrogation will be contextualised in Romantic and Victorian theories of women’s writing which claim that women’s poetry cannot escape conceptions of femininity as bodily fecundity; that is, theories which suggest that women’s bodies are suitable to produce children, but lack the character and strength to produce the acme of cultural production, poetry. By analysing Barrett Browning and Rossetti’s language of fecundity and barrenness in conversation with feminist literary theory and Christian feminist theology, I shall explore how these critical partners make available fresh readings of femininity as fecundity. I will interrogate how it is possible to argue for interpretations of Barrett Browning and Rossetti’s poetry which re-work fecundity as femininity in creative, liberative directions as disruptive excess. The creative aspect of this thesis, The Priest in the Kingdom of Love, is a sixty-six section poem. It attempts to create a monological, multivalent voice which investigates its relationships with imagined hearers, gender, faith, and bodily fecundity. The critical chapter which precedes it attempts to interrogate continuities and aporia with the work of Barrett Browning and Rossetti generated by my gender and religious poetic performances.
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Coucill, Laura Suzanne. "Tensions between theory and practice in sustainable architectural design." Thesis, Birmingham City University, 2013. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/615956/.
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Architectural practice is often criticised for being contingent on a plethora of standards, regulations and commercial pressures. Such contingency is concerning given that the objectives for architectural and urban sustainable design are based on a reductive epistemology that places ‘zero-carbon’ design at the centre of what is really a hydra-headed paradigm. In the context the rising commercial interest in the accreditation of sustainable architecture through assessment methods such as BREEAM, the thesis indicates that the skills of architects and the morals embedded in the profession diffuse the focus of objectives in order to establish the best all round design outcome. The thesis explores the different ways in which designers diffuse the focus of objectives through a series of qualitative ex post facto studies of the design work of novice designers and new professionals, and a series of semi- structured interviews with established practitioners. The findings reassert recurring discourses in the architectural profession about the commensurability of pedagogy and practice and the value of architecture. The conclusions indicate that at the root of these issues, is a fracture between the production of assessment method criteria and the implementation of it. Consequently, the thesis suggests that practice-based research has the potential to reconcile this fracture, by feeding knowledge directly to the source of contingency.
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Davys, Deborah. "Siblings of adults who have a learning disability : personal wishes, reality and parental expectations for future support." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2013. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/315693/.
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Sibling relationships are significant in the lives of people who have a learning disability. They usually form a major part of their social network and there is an expectation at government, social and family level that siblings will provide some degree of support in the event of parental decline. A mixed methodological approach was taken, utilizing a survey in Stage one and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) at Stage two. In the latter, 15 face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted to support the research aim of listening to the voices of adult siblings of people who have a learning disability, regarding their personal wishes or preferences in relation to a future support role. Three overarching themes were identified from nine superordinate themes: impact of learning disability, services, and sibling needs and recommendations. Key messages raised were that learning disability has a significant impact upon sibling lives throughout the life course; although the areas and degree of impact varies widely between individuals, most participants voiced concern about the future, particularly when older parents would no longer be able to provide care. Service issues were raised, as was the difference in role and function between families and service providers. In order to better meet sibling needs and recommendations for lifelong support, information and advice, more productive partnerships need to be established, particularly in the area of futures planning. This research presents the clear perspective that tangible benefits may be available as a direct result of association with learning disability. It also provides a deeper insight into parental response to learning disability alongside further rational for a lack of futures plans and why siblings may not want to co-reside with a learning disabled person. These findings have relevance to service providers, siblings of learning disabled people, students in the field of health and social care and wider society.
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Rushton, Ian. "Acting like teachers : re-thinking educational identities in the lifelong learning sector." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2014. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/332117/.
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This thesis is a story and the research that underpins it is intended as a significant contribution to an under-researched body of knowledge concerned with the pedagogical encounters of trainee teachers in the English Lifelong Learning Sector. The research emerged from my interest in the values and individual dispositions that trainee mature teachers bring with them to the teaching role from myriad lived and vocational experiences, why those values are held and how they are embodied in pedagogical acts in the sector. Yet the particular nuances of the sector, imbued as it is with governmentally and institutionally-inscribed politics, tensions and contestations axiomatic of the neo-liberal agenda that drives the sector, surface in trainees’ sites of practice and threaten to expunge their values from them. Therefore, as an Initial Teacher Educator in the sector, I have an emancipatory interest in attempting to make sense of these sites of political struggle in order to better prepare future generations of teachers for the sector. Data collection included questionnaire responses from 156 second year trainee teachers, 81 of whom were observed teaching and subsequently engaged in dialogue in order to examine what occurs in the transaction between dialogue and pedagogy in relation to their sites of teaching practice as a critically reflexive emancipatory endeavour. Here, the political and critical theoretical works of Jacques Rancière were central in attempting to interpret how trainees’ perceived values and discourses sit alongside the realities and sites of pedagogical practice as concepts that can be worked with, rather than simply identified. The findings of the research amount to a plethora of shifting individual identities, localised political acts and the emergence of new political subjectivities which sometimes work in powerful ways to both unsettle reified sectoral norms and occasionally allow the voice of otherness to be heard. In doing so, the thesis builds on much of the available literature and research in the sector and offers teacher educators tangible ways in which they can engage and work with trainees’ potential for personal and pedagogic skill growth.
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Shukur, Ali. "The influence of nanomaterial uptake on small arterial function." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617112/.
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The emergence of nanomedicine, involving the intravenous injection of tracking agents (such as dyes and nanoparticles) and drug-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes may display a biosafety concern specifically to the circulating blood and the vascular system. Dye-encapsulated silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) are one of the most popular NPs recently being explored for medical intervention. However, there are limited studies investigating their biocompatibility and biosafety with regards to blood vessels. Our group’s previous findings suggest that SiNPs of 100 and 200 nm in size have no detrimental effect on conduit arterial function. However, their direct effect on small size arteries, which play an important role in controlling blood flow into tissues, has not been investigated previously. Aim To investigate the direct influence of SiNPs on small arterial function and contractility. Methodology Mono-dispersed dye-encapsulated SiNPs of defined diameters (98 nm) were fabricated using a modified Stöber method and characterised using the Malvern Zetasizer and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). NP characteristics (size and charge) were monitored over a 15-month period in various media. Small mesenteric arteries (MAs) (150-300 μm in diameter) from male Wistar rats were isolated, mounted between two glass cannulae and superfused in gassed physiological salt solution (PSS) at 37℃. Vasoconstrictor (high potassium [KPSS], Phenylephrine [Phe]) and vasodilator (Acetylcholine [ACh], Sodium nitroprusside [SNP] and papaverine [PAPA]) responses were assessed using pressure myography before and 30 minutes after the intravascular infusion of SiNPs under static conditions at intravascular pressure of 60 mmHg. SiNPs were also injected intravenously and mesenteric vessels isolated after a 2-hour period, for assessment of vascular reactivity. Results and Conclusion Our findings show that SiNPs are rapidly taken up into ECs lining small mesenteric arteries and were freely localised in the cytoplasm, with no evidence of uptake into the nucleus or the smooth muscle cell layer. SiNPs (calculated at 5.32 x 1011 NP/mL) attenuated Phe contractile responses, but did not alter the responses to KPSS ex vivo, suggesting that the contractile machinery is unaffected by SiNP uptake. There was an attenuated endothelium dependent (ACh) dilator response following the incubation with SiNPs ex vivo. In contrast, the lower dose of SiNPs (at 1.01 x 1011 NP/mL) had no overall effect on ACh responses. The endothelium-independent (SNP) vasodilator responses were unaffected by the incubation in SiNPs. When injected intravenously in vivo, SiNPs only had a detrimental effect on constrictor (Phe) and endothelial dependent (ACh) dilator responses, at the lower agonist concentrations. At high agonist concentrations, however, the injected SiNPs did not seem to alter the constriction or dilation response, suggesting that possible corona formation may have been protective in vivo. SiNPs injected in vivo, significantly reduced SNP-induced dilator responses at a lower dosage. This may have clinical implications on the use of SNP drugs for patients with heart disease. A small fraction of the SiNPs administered in vivo (6%) were localised within various tissues including; lungs, heart, aorta, mesentery, liver, spleen and kidney, with the MA accounting for the majority of uptake (approximately 5% of total injected SiNPs). Inhibition studies (using L-NNA and potassium channel blockers), demonstrated that both nitric oxide (NO) and endothelial-derived hyperpolarising factors (EDHFs) contribute to the vasodilator component in MAs. The co-incubation of SiNPs in the presence of L-NNA completely abolished the dilator responses to ACh, suggesting the direct effect of SiNPs on the EDHF pathway. The co-incubation in SOD did not reverse the actions of the SiNPs, indicating that a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-independent mechanism may mediate SiNPs actions in small arteries. The reduction of ERK and Akt phosphorylation ex vivo may underpin the mechanisms of SiNPs effects on rat mesenteric arteries. Depending on their dosage, we demonstrate that SiNPs uptake and accumulation in ECs have detrimental effects on the function of small arteries.
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Alshoweir, Noorah. "The effect of cold water immersion on recreationally active young adults and the recovery of elite rugby players after intense eccentric exercise." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617119/.
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Background Exercising at different levels of intensity is associated with an acute inflammatory response as a result of muscle damage, which consequently leads to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Cold-water immersion (CWI) has shown the potential to reverse exercise related muscle inflammation and enhance post-exercise recovery following sport activities. Several studies have investigated the effect of CWI on muscle recovery, however, their results are controversial. The purpose of the current study was to examine the physiological response of CWI on healthy participants and explore the physiological and psychological effect of CWI on athletes compared with controls. Methods Phase one observed the physiological response of 9 healthy active volunteers immersed in 12-13° for 15 minutes. Heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) and O2 consumption were measured and monitored. Inflammatory biomarkers and muscle strength were observed prior to immersion, 30 minute and 24 hour following CWI. Phase two used a randomized crossover trial to study the effectiveness of CWI [15 minutes of CWI at 12-13°C] compared to passive recovery [15 minutes sitting] post delayed onset muscle soreness in 8 elite male rugby players. Inflammatory biomarker, muscle strength, were measured prior to the intervention and 30 minutes, 24 and 48 hour post intervention. Muscle soreness [VAS and pain pressure threshold] was measured 20 minutes, 24 and 48 hours post intervention. Phase three explored the psychological effect of CWI using a focus group and self-administered questionnaire. Result In Phase one, CWI produced no significant changes in cardiovascular function, oxygen consumption, muscle strength and hormone concentration levels. In Phase two, CWI reduced immediate quadriceps muscle soreness by (5 unit) compare to passive group by (15 unit) (P=0.006). No effect on strength or inflammatory cytokines compared to passive recovery. In Phase three, athletes reported a perception of improved performance and reduction in pain when using CWI. Conclusion CWI has positive effects for the treatment of DOMS. Physiologically it reduces immediate muscle tenderness, but does not affect muscle strength. Psychologically athletes perceive an improvement in performance and reduction in pain.
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Chryssoulakis, Michael. "Resuming the narrative : the presence of romantic ideals in modern jazz piano." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617158/.
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This Practice-as-Research PhD suggests ways in which nineteenth-century Romantic musical forms and textures can be implemented in contemporary solo jazz piano performance. In order for solo piano narratives to be expanded without negotiating their location within jazz, the enquiry engages with an examination of the possible ways in which narrative techniques of nineteenth-century Romantic pianism may have found their way into certain modern jazz piano strands. The discussion focuses on Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett because of their educational background and of the frequency in which the two pianists are associated by critics and scholars. One aim of this project is explanatory: to elucidate what are those features in the styles of the particular modern jazz pianists that have contributed to labeling them as ‘romantics’. To achieve this, the thesis begins first with an observation of how Romantic ideology is projected onto these artists. Following, the analyses of their performances draw their vocabulary from the conceptual territory of musical narrative, since Narrative is largely connected with Romanticism. The other aim is paradigmatic: the appropriation of formal and textural models taken from nineteenth-century Romantic pianism, and their application to contemporary solo jazz piano. Through this practice, the narrative possibilities of contemporary solo jazz piano styles are expanded, via the stylistic dialogism between jazz and romanticism. Specifically, the troping of jazz codes with romantic textures, allows the transformation of themes, through the combination of textural topics with chromatic transpositions. The resulting ‘shifts in musical discourse’ are akin to the spirit of nineteenth-century Romantic musical narratives.
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Flynn, Judith Margaret. "Teachers' pedagogic discourses around bilingual children : encounters with difference." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617161/.
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This thesis seeks to open up a professional context in relation to practice around teaching bilingual children to seek further insights for myself and other educational professionals. It can be argued that the only differences between bilingual or monolingual children are those of linguistic and cultural repertoire. Therefore understandings were sought about how these differences were understood within education. This qualitative study loosely adopted a grounded theory approach, involving note taking and observations within a large multi ethnic primary school in the North West of England where the large majority of children were developing their English as an additional language. To gain further insights into the basis of educational practice, six primary school teachers were interviewed in relation to their teaching of bilingual children. The researcher also reflexively engaged with the inquiry throughout so that there was a relational engagement with the data and knowledge construction. The usefulness of Foucauldian insights into power being dispersed and embedded in discourse became evident and this was explored within the teachers’ discourses using generative rather than reductive theorising. It was realised that language was integral to the social construction of any perceived reality around bilingual children. The study became to centre upon discursive contexts and the social, political and historical aspects that were implied. Within these contexts I was able to situate my own professional experience alongside those of the teachers in a critical exploration of practice. The emergence of the themes of invisibility and inaudibility of the languages of bilingual children became evident in the school discourses. Within a further level of poststructural analysis, Ricoeur’s wider and philosophical understandings of language together with Rancière’s insightful link of sensory perception to politics, leads to a new interpretation. This is one that depicts how perceptions of those involved in education may coalesce to avoid genuine linguistic and cultural encounters within school and education. It is suggested that many perceptions are upheld by questionable assumptions. These assumptions include notions such as language separation which are inscribed within narrow curricula with limited educational aims. The thesis concludes by indicating that a broader social acceptance is consequent upon meaningful linguistic and cultural encounters within the school experience, including special educational contexts, which seek to help children to translate (in a philosophical sense) their home and school identities. Innovative use of theory supports a reappraisal of pedagogy around bilingual learners that seeks to reconnect professionals to a research-based pedagogy that perceives children in local, national and international contexts.
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Ramos, Jorgelina. "Mechanisms underlying the age-related changes in muscle contractile properties." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617184/.
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Changes in isometric fore and power output in old age have been extensively studied for but less attention has been paid to eccentric contractions where, paradoxically, there are suggestions that eccentric strength is maintained with ageing. Decreased isometric force and relatively increased eccentric strength are feature of permeabilised single fibres developed in the presence of high inorganic phosphate (Pi) and it is possible that there may be a connection between the changes in contractile function seen with ageing and the actions of Pi. The work described in this thesis involved mouse soleus fibres and had two major aims. The first was to understand more about the nature of the response to stretch and the role of Pi, especially concerning the rate of stress relaxation which may provide information about cross bridge kinetics. The second aim was to study to what extent changes in cross bridge function account for the age related changes in contractile characteristics. In the first study, three features of the force response to stretch, peak force at the end of the ramp stretch, the stress relaxation and the residual force enhancement were observed in young mouse single fibres at different velocities of stretch. Stress relaxation was analysed as a double exponential decay with a constant component, force enhancement (FE). The speed of the fast exponential component increased with speed of stretch and the proportions of the fast component (A2) relative to the slow component (A1) also increased with speed of stretch. FE was independent of speed. Addition of Pi slowed stress relaxation and increased the proportion of the slow component. One explanation is that the slow component represents the detachment of attached cross bridge states that generate little or no force while the fast component is due to detachment of cross bridges in a high force state. FE is probably due to stretching of a series compliance such as titin. The response to stretch varied with age in complex ways. In mice aged 3, 10 and 18-month-old there were small but non-significant increases in the force sustained during stretch relative to the isometric force together with a similar stress relaxation. However, with 32-month-old fibres the stress relaxation was faster than seen with young fibres consistent with an increase in the proportion of the fast A2 cross bridge intermediate state. Adding Pi to the oldest fibres changed the proportions of A1 and A2 to those seen in young fibres in the absence of Pi. The results largely contradict previous reports of the relative preservation of eccentric force with age, which may be due to simple change in fibre type composition of whole muscles, but do indicate possible changes in cross bridge kinetics affecting the transition from low to high force states.
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Kratz, Martin Ulrich. "Touching the untouchable : the language of touch in the poetry of Michael Symmons Roberts." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617189/.
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This thesis analyses the language of touch in the poetry of Michael Symmons Roberts. A single-author study, it uses key tropes in Roberts’s poetry (shell/spark, ghost/machine, body/soul) as points of engagement with the wider concerns of contemporary poetry discourse. The mechanics of contact are explored through the investigation of the limit of the conceit and the trope of the ‘edgelands’. The thesis concludes with four case studies in which touchable touches on untouchable in Roberts’s work (‘voice-print’, care, contamination, ‘metaxu’). The tactile textual analysis of Roberts’s poetry is read in relation to the writings on touch of Jean-Luc Nancy and Jacques Derrida in order to explore the various aspects in which touch is meaningful as a critical and poetical concept. Specifically, this thesis draws on their writings to demonstrate the insistence on separation as a condition of contact in Roberts’s poetry, an emphasis which allows Roberts to create alternatives to traditional, Cartesian binaries of the touchable and untouchable. Furthermore, the language of touch draws attention to the shared concerns in Roberts’s poetry and different poetic traditions, in particular Metaphysical poetry and Modernism. A central concern of this thesis is the extent to which Roberts’s poetry represents a metaphysical poetry of the twenty-first century. This thesis contributes to the existing discourse on Roberts’s writing, by extending and critiquing the engagement with his work to date. This thesis ultimately suggests that Roberts is a model poet of the contemporary period for the way his poetry negotiates contemporary events and social developments, and for the way his underlying poetics resonate with contemporary thinking in other disciplines such as theology and philosophy.
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Davidge, Gail. "For 'getting it' : an ethnographic study of co-operative schools." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2014. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/843/.
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The marketisation of the educational sector continues to shape educational provision, policy and practice on a worldwide scale (Apple, 2001; Ball, 2008; Giroux, 2004), ostensibly providing ‘freedom’ through the conflation of consumer ‘choice’ and ‘equality of opportunity’ via the invisible hand of the market. The assumption that competitive markets will produce better schools and outcomes for their students veils the extent to which a large proportion of the world’s population are positioned as marginal actors, unable to ‘compete’ or ‘choose’ as equals, as they engage on a significantly uneven playing field (Mills & McGregor, 2014; Reay, 2012). Historical and global (cf. Fielding & Moss, 2011; Neill, 1990; Wrigley et al., 2012) examples of democratic alternatives to the traditional institution of ‘the school’ have provided rich evidence of the radical possibilities for social change in the form of case studies and academic critique. However, the absence of a cohesive platform which allows a multiplicity of voices and diverse contexts to collaborate together and develop a more effective voice, risks positioning these more radical models at the fringe of educational reform. This represents a significant challenge for extending democracy within educational contexts. The co-operative movement represents a possible solution to this, especially in terms of developing its capacity to create a powerful alliance of partners which can reorient the means and ends of public education towards social justice. Indeed, in just six years co-operative schools have come to represent the third largest grouping within the English public education system (Munn, 2013) and in January 2014, there were just over 700 schools in the UK which have committed to adopting co-operative values (self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, solidarity, openness and honesty, social responsibility and caring for others) within the very heart of their school’s ethos (Shaw, forthcoming, 2015). Although the first English co-operative trust school opened in 2008, sustained analysis of this model has not been undertaken to date. Therefore, this research project attempts to offer the beginnings of a critical conversation that considers the possibilities and challenges that such a model of schooling might have to offer by undertaking a systematic examination of the recent emergence of a ‘co-operative’ model of public schooling from within the socio-historical context of decades of neoliberal educational ‘reforms’. This piece of research maps out how this model is variously conceived as a more ethical brand by some, and as a radical project which creates the necessary conditions for democracy and social justice to flourish by others. This research therefore, seeks to understand how tropes of “getting it” both constitute and confuse readings of freedom and equality in education as nascent understandings of co-operative school membership become slippery subjects of cooperative school discourse. By undertaking a critical discursive analysis of claims that co-operative school governance structures allow everyone to ‘have a say’, this thesis develops a theoretical engagement and provocation of ‘voice’ in education as it becomes increasingly troubled with and by attempts to answer the question, ‘what is a co-operative school?’ and ‘what can it do?’ In order to answer these questions, data drawn from critical ethnographic fieldwork undertaken at three co-operative trust and academy schools during 2012-13 was considered alongside discourse analysis of an emerging body of ‘texts’ that sought to inform and promote ‘co-operation’ in school. As a result of exploring the accounts of Others who offered a range of narratives that reflect the ‘making up’ (Hacking, 1990) of the co-operative subject, these different versions of events brought into view both the challenges and the possibilities that ‘cooperative’ schools and their members face; as the values and principles of cooperation are also shaped (but not necessarily determined) by claims made for equality which reflect the messiness of everyday school life. Furthermore, this piece of research highlighted the extent to which students’ experiences of “getting it” (cooperative schooling) troubled corresponding rights to be included in decision-making processes as the conditions of co-operative school membership are intersected by multiple axes of difference and inequality, both within educational discourse and in wider society. This research suggests that despite the promising emergence of a model of schooling that places a collective approach to civil society at its core, historical asymmetries of power and entrenched marketisation of educational provision and practice tended to prevail. This severely limited the extent to which schools were able to create the conditions of possibility for everyone to “get it” and ‘have a say’. I thus argue that, in order for co-operative schools to resist the neo-liberal appropriation of freedom through the lens of the ‘rational’ individual consumer of education, significant restructuring of governance arrangements is required alongside considerable advocacy work that addresses students’ rights to be included and protected as full members of the school community. This thesis closes with a number of observations and recommendations that contribute to reinvigorating the debate about what cooperative schooling can do, in addition to highlighting how this research project offers further insight about the conceptual and methodological dilemmas that work to shape the construction of children’s agency and subjectivities as students are variously positioned as heterogeneous subjects of co-operative education and educational research.
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Atkin, Susan. "Loose fit? : the impact of the Manchester music scene on youth fashion 1986 to 1996." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617010/.
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This thesis questions the stereotype of the loose fitting silhouette of the Mancunian music scene from 1986 to 1996, exploring the links between the city’s music scene and local youth fashion. It establishes the important contribution of fashion to culture in the music scene and the distinct local “looks” that resulted. The thesis explores the literature of subculture and identity, enriched by the concepts of bricolage and local fashion. The contributory influence of the Manchester music scene is investigated in its public and private sites of creation and consumption. Combining cultural studies, dress history and fashion theory, the research is based on oral evidence in the form of active interviews, supported by analysis of contemporary images. Interviewees were pre-identified for their role in Mancunian fashion and music. These revealed previously unidentified aspects of Mancunian dress, which inform a discussion of the nature and context of local fashion in the period. Salient findings included the eloquence with which men can talk about clothes, and the sources and methods of the quest for authenticity through “looks”. The thesis repositions subculture, in the light of the shift toward more mutable groupings, and affiliations that can change with site. These formed a multi-faceted movement that was able to embrace both mainstream culture and its subversions. The contribution to knowledge centres on: (1) the importance of authenticity in subcultural movements; (2) identification of the several looks co-existing under the banner of Madchester; (3) establishing that these looks were understood differently from inside the movement because experiences shared by participants depended on tacit understandings rather than purely visual judgements; and, (4) the concept of fashion in motion to describe the interrelationship of garment and wearer in movement and its connection with identity. This led to (5) the addition of “attitude” to Brake’s practical aspects of subcultural style. Attitude is the outward expression of the inward state produced by dress upon the body, sometimes visually sensed (as swagger on the Madchester scene) but also encompassing less tangible projections.
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Davison, Adrian Keith. "Micro-facial movement detection using spatio-temporal features." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617106/.
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Micro-facial expressions are fast, subtle movements of facial muscles that occur when someone is attempting to conceal their true emotion. Detecting these movements for a human is di�cult, as the movement could appear and disappear within half of a second. Recently, research into detecting micro-facial movements using computer vision and other techniques has emerged with the aim of outperforming a human. The motivation behind a lot of this research is the potential applications in security, healthcare and emotional-based training. The research has also introduced some ethical concerns on whether it is okay to detect micro-movements when people do not know they are showing them. The main aim of this thesis is to investigate and develop novel ways of detecting micro-facial movements using features based in the spatial and temporal domains. The contributions towards this aim are: an extended feature descriptor to describe micro-facial movement namely Local Binary Patterns on Three Orthogonal Planes (LBP-TOP) combined with Gaussian Derivatives (GD); a dataset of spontaneously induced micro-facial movements, namely Spontaneous Activity of Micro-Movements (SAMM); an individualised baseline method for micromovement detection that forms an Adaptive Baseline Threshold (ABT); Facial Action Coding System (FACS)-based regions are proposed to focus on the local movement of relevant facial areas. The LBP-TOP with GD feature was developed to improve on an established feature and use the GD to enhance the facial features. Using machine learning, the method performs well achieving an accuracy of 92.6%. Next a new dataset, SAMM, was introduced that improved on the limitations of previous sets, including a wider demographic, increased resolution and comprehensively FACS coded. An individualised baseline method was the introduced and tested using the new dataset. Using feature di�erence instead of machine learning, the performance increased with a recall of 0.8429 on the maximum thresholding and a further increase of the recall to 0.9125 when using the ABT. To increase the relevance of what is being processed on the face, FACS-based regions were created. By focusing on local regions and individualised baselines, this method outperformed similar state-of-the-art with an Area Under Curve (AUC) of 0.7513. The research into detecting micro-movements is still in it's infancy, and much more can be done to advance this �eld. While machine learning can �nd patterns in normal facial expressions, it is the feature di�erence methods that perform the best when detecting the subtle changes of the face. By using this and comparing the movement against a person's baseline, the micro-movements can �nally be accurately detected.
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Skritsovali, Konstantina. "Corporate social responsibility : a critical case study in the UK electricity industry." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617117/.
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The aim of this thesis is to gain an in depth understanding of the CSR discourses that take place between organizational and stakeholder actors in the UK electricity industry. Despite the controversial nature of the industry and the constantly increasing pressures that emerge from a dynamic group of stakeholders to integrate CSR actions across the organization, there is a paucity of empirical research that examines how actors attribute meaning to CSR. Acknowledging the variety of interpretations being attributed to the concept, this research seeks to investigate how the order of CSR discourse practice supports the creation of shared value between organizational and stakeholder actors. This thesis puts emphasis on the dichotomy of CSR discourses between electricity Distribution Network Operator and their stakeholders. First, the study concentrates on how organizational actors produce CSR. Second, it explores how stakeholders make sense of and interpret CSR discourses. Third, it looks to shed light on the negotiations and the relations of power that dominate the distribution and consumption of CSR. In doing so, this research employed multiple tools to capture data and embraced Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis approach to understand the socio-political, economic and cultural dimensions that shape CSR as a meaningful reality. This research contributes to the academic literature and CSR practice by exploring an area which was previously under-investigated. It contributes to the literature by visiting, examining the applicability of and updating Porter & Kramer’s (2002) framework of the convergence of interests by reflecting on organizational and stakeholder perceptions. Accordingly, the updated framework aims to serve as a tool for CSR decision-makers in the UK electricity industry when planning their CSR stakeholder engagement activities and, presents the original contribution to practice this ideographic research project makes.
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Ruowei, Li. "The temporal control of load-dependent anabolic and catabolic pathways in human extensor muscles." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2013. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617181/.
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Skeletal muscle displays a remarkable plasticity to loading and unloading. Such load-dependence is illustrated by the remodelling of metabolic and myofibrillar protein composition. To date the earliest documented molecular adjustments in unloaded human skeletal muscle consists of pre-translational alteration in the expression of factors regulating protein degradation and synthesis and mitochondrial metabolism. In project one I set out to investigate the changes in protein expression in the soleus and vastus lateralis muscle, muscles involved in posture and movement, after three days of unilateral limb suspension. My findings suggest that early unloading alters FAK-pY397 and metavinculin content, and deregulate the expression of factors that set the slow-oxidative phenotype. The underlying mechanisms governing disuse atrophy have not been characterized. Therefore, in the second project I examined muscle fibre morphology and potential factors associated with anabolic signalling as well as markers representative of the catabolic pathways in response to a chronic unloading period of 21 days in humans. Our findings support the proposition based on animal studies that mechanisms responsible for muscle atrophy involve a decrease in protein synthesis accompanied by an increase in protein degradation. It is well known that adjustments in muscle size are driven by changes in the content of myofibrils. However, how such myofibrillar alterations are integrated at the molecular and the architectural level in muscle fibres that undergo adaptive changes has not been resolved. Thus in project 3 I have examined changes in the content of costamere components with increased and reduced loading of human antigravity muscle in relation to changes in muscle size and molecular parameters of muscle size regulation. The findings suggest that load-dependent plasticity of muscle size is integrated through costamere remodelling via a load-regulated process that involves level alterations of FAK and KAK-pY397 concentration.
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Batunlu, Canras. "Thermal characterisation and reliability analysis of power electronic devices in wind and solar energy systems." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617153/.
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Power electronic converters (PECs) are used for conditioning the flow of energy between renewable energy applications and grid or stand-alone connected loads. Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are critical components used as switching devices in PECs. IGBTs are multi-layered devices made of different coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) based materials. In wind and solar energy applications, IGBT’s reliability is highly influenced by the operating conditions such as variable wind speed and solar irradiance. Power losses occur in switching transient of high current/voltage which causes temperature fluctuations among the layers of the IGBTs. This is the main stress mechanism which accelerates deterioration and eventual failures among IGBT layers due to the dissimilar CTEs. Therefore, proper thermal monitoring is essential for accurate estimation of PECs reliability and end lifetime. Several thermal models have been proposed in literature, which are not capable of representing accurate temperature profiles among multichip IGBTs. These models are mostly derived from offline modelling approaches which cannot take operating conditions and control mechanisms of PECs into account and unable to represent actual heat path among each chip. This research offers an accurate and powerful electro thermal and reliability monitoring tool for such devices. Three-dimensional finite element (FE) IGBT models are implemented using COMSOL, by considering complex heat interactions among each layer. Based on the obtained thermal characteristics, electro thermal and thermo mechanical models were developed in SIMULINK to determine the thermal behaviour of each layer and provide total lifetime consumption analysis. The developed models were verified by real-time (RT) experiments using dSPACE environment. New materials, such as silicon carbide (SiC) devices, were found to exhibit approximately 20°C less thermal profile compared to conventional silicon IGBTs. For PECs used within wind energy systems, PECs driving algorithms were derived within the proposed models and by adjusting switching frequency PECs cycling temperatures were reduced by 12°C which led to a significant reduction in thermal stress; approximately 27 MPa. Total life consumption for the proposed method was calculated as 3.26x10-5 which is approximately 1x10-5 less compared to the other both methods. Effects of maximum power tracking algorithms, used in photovoltaic solar systems, on thermal stress were also explored. The converter’s thermal cycling was found approximately 3 °C higher with the IC algorithm. The steady state temperature was 52.7°C for the IC while it was 42.6 °C for P&O. In conclusion, IC algorithm offers more accurate tracking accuracy; however, this is on the expense of harsher thermal stress which has led to approximately 1.4 times of life consumption compared to P&O under specific operating conditions.
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Baylis-Green, Caroline. "Queer subjectivities, closeting and non-normative desire in nineteenth-century women's poetry and life writing." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617012/.
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This thesis aims to elucidate previously obscured aspects of nineteenth-century women’s writing, through the development of original approaches to the reading of gender ambiguity, queer subjectivities and non-normative desire. It challenges the removal of the closet from feminist, historicist scholarship and constructions of female sexuality based on an adherence to romantic friendship and lesbian continuum models. This research proposes original work, which breaks the links between Michel Foucault’s dating of the disciplinary coding of homosexuality and the assumed relationship with the closet. New readings are proposed which acknowledge, define and foreground multi-functional closets, inside and outside of texts. In refusing this removal this study also aims to open up a space for the consideration of closets as protective and supportive spaces as well as symptoms of oppression. Underexplored links between literary form, the repelling of social restriction and the relationship between literary conventions and non-binary positions are also highlighted to emphasise the radical potential of performative subjects in women’s writing. This project proposes the recovery of queer selves and subjective forms of identification in the work of seven/eight women writers Anne Lister, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Christina Rossetti, Adelaide Anne Procter, Michael Field and Amy Levy, spanning the long nineteenth century. It also offers new approaches by combining cross-genre analysis of poetry and life writing. Using activist language largely in advance of academic discourse, it asks questions about the changing significance of queerness as language and metaphor. This thesis uses diverse social, religious and literary bodies to illustrate the strength of same-sex communities and their role in providing safe spaces for queer, desiring interactions in the nineteenth century.
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Shaheen, Noshina. "The impact of dysfunctions in telomere capping on ageing and cellular senescence." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617276/.
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There is increased evidence of the important roles of telomere capping proteins Cdc13 and Stn1 for cell survival in budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Dysfunctional telomeres due to alterations in telomere capping proteins activate DNA damage response and genomic instability causing cellular senescence and eventually cell death. The main aim of this study was to investigate the roles of Cdc13 and Stn1 in ageing and cellular senescence. Based on the phenomenon of non-essentiality of CDC13 gene in the absence of EXO1 gene, CDC13 full gene deletion and its N-and C-termini disrupted variants were generated using target oriented PCR based approach and verified by automated DNA sequencing. Loss of Cdc13 and/or Stn1 or the presence of defective Cdc13 with truncated N- or C-termini, manifested heterogeneous telomeric DNA profiles with various sizes of unique telomeric bands comparable to type I and type II survivors. The mutants with telomere capping dysfunctions in the absence of Cdc13 and/or Stn1 disclosed significant differences in survival time under different metabolic conditions. The reduction in viability of the combined deletion mutants (cdc13Δ and stn1Δ) was much slower in water at 4°C compared to synthetic complete (SC) medium at 30°C, and a similar mortality rate observed at day 6 in (SC) medium was only observed at day 35 in water. The dramatic loss of viability in combined deletion mutant highlighted additive effects of the two capping proteins on chronological survival. The Stn1 deletion mutants (stn1::HIS exo1 LEU2 rad24::TRP) showed significantly reduced lifespan as compared to Cdc13 deletion mutants. However, the N- and C-truncated variants of Cdc13 manifested large differences in ageing as compared to WT, indicating different roles of the Cdc13 domains in cell survival. The strong inhibition of cellular growth of combined deletions mutants of cdc13 and stn1 (in the absence of EXO1 and RAD24 genes) in responses to genotoxic agents (UV, MMS and HU) suggest the interaction of cdc13Δ and stn1Δ cooperatively. However, the absence of Stn1 protein made cells highly resistant to H2O2-mediated oxidative stress as compared to the combined deletion and cdc13Δ mutants. Different extent of growth inhibition was observed for cdc13Δ mutants, and its N- and C-terminus truncated variants with the allele dosage effect in N/C-heterozygous diploids. In conclusion, this study highlighted the significance of Cdc13 and Stn1 in the integrity of telomeres and revealed their important roles in preventing senescence and in cellular responses to oxidative and genotoxic stress. The previously unknown role of Stn1 in chronological lifespan and in cellular responses to oxidative stress observed in this study warrants further investigations about Stn1 in genetic stability, checkpoint control and cellular senescence in the integrated scenario of ageing.
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Mertena, Ilze. "Tourists' embodied transport experiences of travelling by train." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617320/.
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This thesis examines tourists’ embodied experiences of railway travel by analysing how tourists inhabit, (co)produce and practice time-space while being ‘on the move’. It responds to an under-researched aspect in tourism studies, tourists’ experiences of travel to/from a destination and its role in the total holiday experience. Although transport has been recognised as an integral part of the tourist experience, existing research mainly examines transport experiences from the traditional transport economics perspective with an aim of discovering the positive utility of travel. Moving beyond economically-productivist studies, this thesis adopts an explicitly interdisciplinary research approach to uncover the multifaceted nature of the tourist transport experience. Empirical research, employing a combination of qualitative research methods (self-reflexive observation, passenger observation, rhythmanalysis and ethnographic interviews on the move) and three data collection tools (time-space diary, photo/video camera and audio recorder), produces rich ethnographic data – written accounts, photographs, videos, ambient sound recordings and forty-six interview transcripts – which are analysed using multisensory research analysis techniques. Empirical findings make an original contribution to knowledge in four main ways. Firstly, this study demonstrates that the tourist transport experience is not a self- contained experiential phase that is always perceived as a cost. There is a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between the experience of travelling to/from a destination and experiences at the destination. Moreover, tourists’ lifestyles, interests and life-stage influence the mobile experience and the meanings that tourists attach to train travel. Secondly, this thesis conceptualises travel time as a ‘time frame’ that is filled with diverse time dimensions, practices, travel routines and unreflexive habits, embodied sensations, and rhythmicity of the journey. Thirdly, this study shows that social rhythms, different affective atmospheres inside a carriage and travel companions constitute important elements of the tourist transport experience. Finally, this thesis reveals that the mobile experience is explicitly multisensory, which is pronounced through sensing the transport mode itself, its mechanical rhythms, the built form of a train carriage and the railway route. In summary, this thesis presents new ways of considering the mobile experience and, by doing so, the present study makes an original contribution to knowledge in tourism, transport and mobilities research.
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Frost, Mark Stuart. "Multifunctional nanomaterials designed for the detection and removal of priority contaminant substances from waste and drinking water." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617333/.
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Heavy metal pollution in waste water and drinking water is a growing concern, with the European Commission producing the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Drinking Water Directive (DWD) to set ‘acceptable’ levels for priority chemicals in water systems. Taking into account the innovative work being carried out in the area of nanosensors, this research has produced several methods for the quantitative analysis of some aqueous metal ions. This study explored the use of citrate functionalised Au and Ag NPs and CuS nanoclusters Citrate functionalised Au and Ag NPs were synthesised to develop for a localised surface plasmon absorption spectroscopy analysis technique, to determine the concentration of a Pb and Hg, respectively. This study concentrated on the molecular interactions of the surface-bound citrate molecules with the nanomaterial surface, and the metal ions in solution. Computational simulations into these interactions were also carried out as a comparison. The citrate speciation for the AuNPs and AgNPs was significantly different, showing single and double carboxylate coordinated molecules respectively. There were also differences in the heavy metal/citrate interaction. Notably, Pb2+ ions produced a rapid coagulation of the AuNPs, which was not observed when using AgNPs, demonstrating that the noble metal used for the fabrication of the nanomaterial has an effect on the nature of the metal/citrate bonding interactions. This coagulation produced a unique, very broad UV-Vis absorption spectrum, due to plasmon coupling. The Hg2+/AgNP sample also produced localised surface plasmon absorption spectra that were unique when compared to all of the other metal ion/NP solutions. The citrate functionalised AuNP were also incorporated into a SERS-based technique for the detection of Pb. This technique provided good results, with a low limit of detection (~25 ng/l) and a low relative standard deviation of 0.147%, over a wide range of practical concentrations (~25 ng/l to 25000 ng/l). Although this method is non-selective, this technique would be highly useful for analysis of solutions after a Pb2+ ion-selective preconcentration step has been employed. The most useful and impressive results, for any of the nanomaterial based chemical sensors produced in this study, were those obtained for the CuS cation-exchange nanosensor. The material was found to not only be sensitive to the concentration of Hg2+ ions in aqueous form, but also highly selective to Hg2+ ions in a solution containing several different metal ions commonly found in water samples (comparing the results from a solution containing just Hg2+ ions and the CuS nanoclusters, and the mixed metal solution containing the CuS nanoclusters produced a correlation coefficient of 0.9985). The data clearly shows that CuS cation-exchange nanosensor is extremely useful for the selective detection and accurate quantification of Hg2+ ions at low concentrations between 525 ng/l to 5250 ng/l. Therefore, this method is exceptionally suitable for the detection of Hg2+ ions at levels set by the DWD as ‘acceptable’. Ultimately, this method entirely achieves the aims and objectives set for this research project, for the DWD.
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Allen, Maria Lucy. "Employee voice, equal opportunities and workplace outcomes : an analysis of UK workplaces." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617411/.
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Equal opportunity (‘EO’) policy, practice and legislation has existed for a long time in the UK. Diversity Management (‘DM’), seeing diverse workforces as a competitive strength, covering everyone in the workforce, being more gender neutral and inclusive of those traditionally excluded from organisations, has also come to the fore. However, discrimination within companies continues. Amongst the groups most affected are women, those from a BME background, and disabled people. This thesis draws on an analytical framework that enables a holistic approach to studying the links between voice and EO and DM policies. This thesis incorporates four main types of voice workplace – minimal voice, dual voice, direct voice and indirect voice. It also disaggregates two of these four main types of voice workplace. Within the minimal voice category, this thesis distinguishes between the ‘bleak house’ approach and the ‘limited approach’ and within the dual voice category, this research differentiates between the ‘co-existence approach’ and the ‘partnership approach’. This enables this thesis to take a fine grained analytical approach of the links between voice and EO and DM policies, as well as the links between EO and DM and workplace outcomes, measured by absenteeism and voluntary labour turnover (quits), on the other, within the various types of voice workplace. Voice is relevant to the debate because it hasn’t been explored before and they could be an important means to covey employees preferences to employers, and can therefore potentially help to explain variation in the uptake of EO and DM in different workplaces. To ensure that the results of this research reveal the attitude of workplaces to EO and DM policies this thesis will analyse EO and DM policies at a disaggregated level, covering not only a more diverse set EO and DM policies, but also examining a range of workplaces, not only large organisations, as previous studies have often done. The study focuses on three groups that are commonly discriminated against: women, BME groups and those with a disability. Such discrimination can take direct and indirect forms, therefore, policies monitoring recruitment and selection, and promotions for direct and indirect discrimination, and relative pay rates will be examined, for each of the three groups. This study draws on data from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2011), the largest, most comprehensive study of workplace practices in the UK. The survey covers EO and DM policies in detail, enabling a nuanced analysis of both the voice factors and the workplace outcomes that they may be associated with. The thesis relies on the management survey in order to capture as many workplaces as possible. The analysis of the data relies on logistic regressions, as the outcome variables in both sets of regressions are dichotomous. The first key finding from this research is that voice is associated with the greater adoption of EO and DM policies in workplace: the more voice a workplace has the more likely it is to have a range of EO and DM policies. For instance, workplaces with direct voice, indirect voice, and dual voice are more likely to have a range of policies compared to those workplaces with minimal voice. In addition, dual voice workplaces are frequently more likely to adopt EO and DM policies compared to all other types of workplace. The second key finding of this research is that EO and DM policies are, on the whole, not associated with higher or lower levels of absenteeism and quits, indicating that, in most instances, EO and DM neither help nor harm establishments to any great degree. This suggests that existing theories could be amended. The third important finding is that any statistically significant associations between EO and DM policies, on the one hand, and absenteeism and quits, on the other, depend upon the type of workplace within which the policies operate. For instance, the relationship between policies and outcomes is sometimes positive and statistically significant (albeit often only at the 10-per-cent level) amongst minimal voice workplaces. It is occasionally negative and statistically significant (at the one-per-cent level) amongst dual voice workplaces. This justifies the approach taken here; it also highlights key areas for future research. The fourth key finding of this research is that there is a connection between high levels of labour turnover, amongst minimal voice workplaces, and the use of EO and DM policies. Again, this highlights areas that future research could examine.
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Al, Saleh Ahmed Youssef. "Developing a model to predict the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises : the case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/257/.
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The small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector is becoming increasingly important in the economic and social development of nations. In view of the essential nature of SME activity, the overall aim of the present research is to develop a model that is able to predict SME performance in the Saudi context. One of the reasons for embarking upon this study is that the number of SMEs that have ceased to operate in the Saudi context has recently increased, and their contribution to the economy has been reported to be low. Therefore, it is an essential to increase these SMEs’ contributions, thus enabling them to play a more central role in the Saudi Arabian economy. This can be done by identifying the factors most closely associated with their performance in order to increase their probability of success and decrease their failure rate. The research’s aim has been reached through focusing on the various different factors, produced both from inside businesses and in the external environment, which are associated with SMEs’ performance in the Saudi context. Success and failure definitions were then used to measure SMEs’ performance based on their profits. Data were collected using a quantitative method. Questionnaires were distributed to SMEs in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and the responses were analysed. First, a descriptive analysis was conducted to identify the owners/managers and their businesses’ characteristics. Second, an exploratory factor analysis was performed to find relationships in which variables were maximally correlated with one another and minimally correlated with other variables, and the variables were then grouped accordingly. Third, the results of a logit regression analysis were examined in order to predict SMEs’ performance and classify it as successful or not in the Saudi context. The main findings of the present research indicate that the full model containing all the predictors is statistically significant. Looking at the individual factors, it found that five factors add a unique, statistically significant contribution to the model; these are: owner/managers’ experience, planning, intensity of competition, the regulatory environment, and terrorism risk. The present research is among only a few researches focusing on the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that have provided a study relating to SME performance from the perspectives of the owner/managers themselves. The findings of the present research could also be applied in other, similar contexts, such as other Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC).
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Hobbs, Georgina. "Wellbeing : a theoretical and empirical study." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617318/.
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There is mounting theoretical evidence that wellbeing has been mobilised within a personal responsibility agenda (PRA). However, there is little empirical evidence to support this. Additionally, little is understood about the role of historical/linguistic factors in this mobilisation and their influence on mainstream representations of wellbeing. Research indicates current representations of wellbeing assign primacy to academic/professional conceptualisations neglecting lay conceptualisations. This thesis examines wellbeing through complementary theoretical and empirical investigations. This responds to a need to explore: the mobilisation of wellbeing through empirical investigation; how and why historical and linguistic factors contribute to this mobilisation; whether this mobilisation is assimilated into lay conceptualisations. This is important given wellbeing is a central focus of international and national healthcare policy, an influential concept in health discourse and widely utilised to underpin health and social care services. Three research strategies were utilised: a synthesis of theoretical evidence; a historical/linguistic contextualisation of wellbeing and qualitative analysis of participant data. Data were collected from existing literature, historical/linguistic sources and semi-structured interviews. Findings illustrated that historical/linguistic associations between wellbeing and personal responsibility have facilitated its mobilisation within a PRA. Findings also identified that participants rarely associated wellbeing with personal responsibility, which was primarily perceived as the responsibility of the state, despite widespread dissemination of agentic representations of wellbeing. Findings suggest that wellbeing has been mobilised within a PRA for governance purposes. This has been achieved primarily through the promulgation of agentic representations of wellbeing. However, findings indicated a disjunction between participant and academic/professional conceptualisations of responsibility for wellbeing. This contributes to the revitalised debate about representations of wellbeing and the division of responsibility for wellbeing between the individual and the state.
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Sinclair, Malcolm David. "The identification of fundamental law and its basic principles." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617330/.
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This thesis argues that the doctrine of absolute Parliamentary Sovereignty does not have a proper legal basis and is a political doctrine. The most superior form of law is Fundamental Law which, contrary to the existing legal view, does have a legal basis for its existence. Fundamental Law is that body of law which expressly or by implication states in its rules the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. These fundamental rights and freedoms are intrinsically linked to a concept which can be properly called Fundamental Justice. A principle inherent within a rule of Fundamental Law is natural equity. When a rule of Fundamental Law is properly operative then a specific form of Justice is created or the same form of injustice is prevented. Research has been undertaken dating back to the 17th. century with particular emphasis upon the period around the English Civil War and the charges brought against King Charles I. This research continued through to the Second World War and onwards to modern times. There is particular analysis relating to the Nuremburg War Crimes trials and the judgments of the Tribunal; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the European Convention on Human Rights and the recognized concept of Compelling Law or Jus Cogens. The methodology used during this thesis is the same as that which is applied throughout the courts in the UK legal system. It applies a combination of ‘black letter’ law; documentary analysis; identification at various stages of the distinction between political and legal issues; establishing facts from the evidence and most importantly drawing proper and reasonable inferences from those established facts and factual situations. This being in accordance with the accepted practice of all the courts in the UK. Evidence is provided of a number of specific rules which can properly be called rules of Fundamental Law. These rules are identified by analysing existing recognized rules of Compelling Law and certain specific rules found in Human Rights Law and demonstrating the common factors between them. This thesis accepts that the doctrine of Fundamental Law is not recognized as a legal concept in the UK legal system but provides compelling evidence that such a failure has little to do with the fact of its existence, as a question of law, but is simply a refusal to recognize it, apparently based on political expediency. This thesis further demonstrates the benefits to individuals by the proper recognition of Fundamental Law.
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Bagley, Liam John. "Adaptations to sprint interval training and comparisons of gender response." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617413/.
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Physical activity helps maintain health, promotes adaptations of the cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems to increase uptake, transport and utilisation of oxygen for aerobic energy production and improve fatty acid metabolism. Emerging evidence suggests sprint interval training (SIT) may be as effective as endurance exercise. The overall aim was to measure physiological effects of SIT in males and females from the general population. The first objective was to recruit males and females from the general population to complete 12 weeks cycling SIT and monitor changes relating to health and physiological function. The primary outcomes were changes in body fat mass, VO2max, FATmax, knee extensor muscle size, strength, power, fatigue resistance, circulating concentrations of lipoproteins and inflammatory markers. The secondary outcome was a comparison of results between males and females. The second objective was to recruit Masters sprint and endurance runners to complete measurements of health and physiological function. The primary outcomes were peak power output and VO2peak in one and two-leg cycling. After 12 weeks SIT, females showed higher increases (18.7%) in VO2max (ml/kg/min) than males (6%) (gender comparison: p=0.009), males exhibited greater body fat (%) reductions (1.5%) than females (0.1%) (gender comparison: p=0.015). Males and females had similar increases in knee extensor fatigue resistance (4.0% and 8.9% respectively, gender comparison: p=0.221) and muscle cross sectional area (CSA) (cm2) (4.1% and 5.8% respectively, gender comparison: p=0.895). Neither gender showed changes in circulating inflammatory proteins, but LDL decreased in males (7.8%) and females (3.7%) (gender comparison: p=0.161) and the ratio of cholesterol:HDL improved in females (13.1%) and males (19.6%) (gender comparison: p=0.523). Master sprint athletes had 22% higher peak power output (W/Kg) than endurance athletes (discipline difference: p=0.045), but endurance master athletes have 17% higher VO2peak (ml/kg/min) (p=0.012) and 30% higher FATmax (mg/kg/min) (discipline difference: p=0.041). The inverse relationship between VO2peak, FATmax and peak power with age was similar (10-12% per decade) for sprint and endurance athletes. It is concluded that males and females adapt positively to SIT, although gender differences in VO2max and changes to body fat were found. Despite differences between masters endurance and sprint athletes in FATmax, VO2peak and peak power, age related decline is similar in both disciplines.
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Han, Dai-In. "The development of a quality function deployment (QFD) model for the implementation of a mobile augmented reality (AR) tourism application in the context of urban heritage tourism." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617458/.
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Technology has been widely implemented in tourism to enhance the tourism product and tourist experience. However, it remains a challenge for many tourism businesses in urban heritage areas to identify technological solutions and successfully implement them into their business strategy. Particularly for urban heritage sites, it is often challenging to provide information within and around a heritage site without disturbing or destroying the heritage image. Augmented Reality (AR) was identified as a suitable technology to overcome this challenge. However, while AR is not considered a new technology in many industries, and mobile tourism applications with AR functions exist, it has provided limited benefits to tourists due to the lack of using AR functions meaningfully. In addition, the development of wearable devices is increasingly focused on the use of augmented and virtual reality to enhance the user experience. Therefore, there is a need to explore methods of meaningful implementation of such technologies for the tourism industry. This study will investigate current standards of AR technology and tourist requirements in order to examine how to develop meaningful mobile AR tourism applications. For the development of a beneficial product, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), as a tool within Total Quality Management (TQM) was identified as the suitable theoretical background for the purpose of this study. QFD was developed in the theory of quality management, in particular TQM. QFD has since been employed across many industries including the hospitality and tourism sector in a number of studies. However, it has not yet been implemented in the urban heritage tourism context, presenting a knowledge gap. As QFD is designed to incorporate the customers’ view into the product design stage, the aim is to design a meaningful product that is valuable for the visitor and benefit the destination. Therefore, this research aims to eliminate the gap by generating a QFD model for the development of mobile AR tourism applications in the context of urban heritage tourism. Dublin was selected as the research site due to its rich urban heritage. After Dublin’s re-branding strategy in 2013, it has marketed itself with the brand image of ‘Digital Dublin’ in order to encourage the implementation of technology for the purpose of promoting urban heritage tourism. Therefore, Dublin was considered as the suitable research site for the purpose of this study. To achieve the research aim, a mixed method approach was employed for the primary research including semi-structured interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. The study was divided into three research phases. Research phase 1 investigates requirements of tourists, mobile AR application developers and industry experts from Dublin’s tourism industry for the development and use of mobile AR tourism applications in urban heritage tourism. 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with international tourists visiting Dublin in addition to 9 interviews with mobile AR application developers and industry experts from Dublin. Findings were analysed using thematic analysis, providing the knowledge base for Research Phase 2 – focus groups. The second research phase was conducted with tourists as a post-experience study. It aimed to confirm identified tourist requirements from the literature and Research Phase 1, and examine additional findings to design the questionnaire for the quantitative Research Phase 3. Research Phase 3 was conducted with domestic and international tourists in Dublin and provided an importance rating of identified tourist requirements for the development of the final QFD model for mobile AR tourism applications in the urban heritage tourism context. The outcomes from the quantitative research were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to reduce tourist requirements for the final QFD model. By identifying tourist requirements and translating them into respective technical characteristics, this study provides a set of technological elements in hierarchical order for the design of meaningful mobile AR tourism applications in urban heritage tourism. The final 18 requirements are in close alignment with the outcomes of the qualitative research of this study highlighting the need of immediate access to information regardless of time and place, while being able to filter the available information to the tourists’ interest and needs. The final QFD model for the development of mobile AR tourism applications in urban heritage tourism was presented as the outcome of this research. The main contribution to theory is the extension in the identification process of customer requirements for the QFD model. While previous studies in QFD have mainly focused on product functions, such as software and hardware capabilities, the QFD model in this study aims to provide a balance between functional requirements and behavioural characteristics of tourists that are driven by psychological aspects. This study not only explored tourist requirements as in previous studies, but furthermore user resistance factors that would result in avoiding mobile AR tourism applications in urban heritage tourism. Including these criteria as customer attributes in the HOQ, the QFD model was extended to include behavioural and psychological attributes of customers, which is valuable for further implementation of QFD particularly in social studies. This research will furthermore contribute to professionals, Destination Marketing Organisations (DMO) as well as mobile AR application developers alike, by providing a model for the development of mobile AR applications in the context of urban heritage tourism that has incorporated tourist requirements as well as mobile AR application developer considerations. Furthermore, it needs to be acknowledged that the requirements are not limited to mobile AR applications, but are considered particularly valuable for further research in the area of mobile application development for tourism purposes and are expected to be partially transferable to other technology implementations for tourism products.
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Petrovic, Milos. "Biomechanics and the metabolic cost of walking in people with diabetes." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617459/.
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Diabetes mellitus is a serious worldwide disease characterised by pathological metabolism of sugars. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes involving dysfunction of peripheral nerves. Diabetes is known to alter a number of biomechanical aspects of gait, but it remains unknown as to whether these alterations could impact upon the metabolic cost of walking (CoW). The aim of this thesis was to investigate the CoW in people with diabetes and examine biomechanical factors that could contribute to explaining any potential differences. Data were generated from three groups: patients with DPN (n=14), patients with diabetes but without peripheral neuropathy (DM, n=22), and controls without diabetes (Ctrl, n=31). Gait assessment was performed using a Vicon motion analysis system and Kistler force plates while participants walked at a range of matched speeds (between 0.6 and 1.6 m/s). Oxygen consumption was measured continuously whilst participants walked on a motor-driven treadmill at the range of matched walking speeds. Ultrasonographic imaging data from the plantarflexor muscle-tendon complex (MTC) were collected in vivo during walking to determine MTC properties. Magnetic resonance imaging of the ankle joint in the standing position was used to quantify the internal leverage around the ankle. Isometric plantarflexor maximal voluntary contraction strength was measured using a dynamometer. The CoW was significantly higher in the DPN group across a range of matched walking speeds and also in the DM group at selected speeds, compared to Ctrl. Despite the higher CoW in patients with diabetes, concentric lower limb joint work was significantly lower in DM and DPN groups compared to Ctrl. A greater value for the effective mechanical advantage (EMA) at the ankle joint was found in the DPN and DM groups compared to Ctrl, meaning that the ankle plantarflexor muscles developed relatively lower forces to generate a given joint moment compared to Ctrl. The increased EMA was mainly caused by a smaller external moment arm of the ground reaction force in the DPN and DM groups compared to Ctrl. The DPN group reduced the joint moment at the ankle during walking by applying the ground reaction force more proximally on the foot, or at an angle directed more towards the ankle, thereby reducing the external moment arm and increasing the EMA around the ankle. The DPN group demonstrated significantly less Achilles tendon elongation during walking, higher stiffness and higher hysteresis compared to Ctrl. These properties mean that the Achilles tendon would store and release less energy in the DPN group during walking, requiring more work from the plantarflexor muscles. Vertical displacement of the centre of mass during walking was not different between groups and is therefore unlikely to be a factor in itself that contributes towards the increased CoW in people with diabetic neuropathy. A higher cumulative joint work resulting from an increased cadence may contribute to the higher CoW in patients with diabetes, along with a reduced elastic energy contribution from the Achilles tendon.
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Jones, David. "An exploration of embodied narrative in ceramic vessels." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617239/.
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In this exegesis it is argued that the development of ideas explicated through selected works from my artistic practice, and supported by the contextualisation offered by my two books, constitutes a new contribution to the field. This commentary charts the development of a language of making, developed through the process and writing about raku and high-fired ceramics; it then evolved through installation practice and appropriation to frame a new personal expressive direction to the work. The main methodological approach is an analysis through the practice itself as a tool of research. This fits the paradigm of Practice as Research (PaR) as an analytical tool that can provide revelatory insights into artistic output; the revelations derived from this analysis are read through the lens of phenomenology. This philosophical perspective is developed, through the critical tool of PaR, into a metaphoric concern, where the clay body of a ceramic vessel can also be read as a human body. The argument is developed through a critique of the narratives embodied in the work that have become evident to me through the interwoven activities of making and reflective writing. To this end, a trajectory is charted through significant submissions; this narrative commences by examining individual vessels, via an analysis of related pieces in exhibitions to an emergent installation-practice that reveals new insights and a new reading of the work as by a second-generation Holocaust survivor.
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Gredecki, Neil. "'Crafting time' : constructions of the staff-prisoner relationship." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617473/.
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The broad aim of this research was to understand how prisoners and prison officers construct the staff-relationship, using positioning theory to explore these relationships within the prison context. Taking a more dramaturgical notion of prisons and the prison environment, this study was one of positioning and discourse, with particular consideration being given to the relationships that this discourse was either enabling or disenabling. Engaging with both prisoners and prison officers provided a sound understanding of the ways in which both parties were constructing the one relationship. The findings of this research suggest that prisoners and prison officers seek to find ways of ‘crafting’ time within prison in order to enable this time to be ‘easy’. As such, this research leads us to a point of thinking whereby prisoners and prison officers are constructed as interdependent groups whereby one cannot exist without the other. Although the staff-prisoner relationship represents an imbalance of power, this research suggests that it is nonetheless an intimate relationship due to their collective and collaborative performances. According to this research, prisoners and prison officers have moved towards a process of collusion in their performance of ‘easy time’. This seemingly undermines the aims of the Prison Service, with ‘formal compliance’ being favoured over ‘substantive compliance’ and rehabilitation. However, this is problematic in terms of criminal justice policy and practice. The research informs us that in order to address the shortcomings of the staff-prisoner relationship; as outlined through the participants’ talk; more needs to be done to better articulate and understand the remit of the ‘modern’ Prison Service and the roles of the prison officer and the prisoner within this system. This involves challenging the notion of ‘easy time’, and supporting prisoners and prison officers to ‘craft’ prison in a productive way.
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Reifenstein, Tilo. "On the graphic in writing-drawing practice." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2017. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/619769/.
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This study puts into practice a form of critical thinking that promotes the intricate and inseparable entwining of the graphic processes of drawing and writing. It does so by examining the graphic marks of collocated drawing and writing in order to disturb any neat separation of 'the verbal' and 'the pictural'. The graphic mark that is structural to both the practice of writing and drawing is shown to displace and deconstitute the dichotomous and often hierarchical assignation of word and image, intelligible and sensuous, and conceptual and material. The study is positioned at the junction of practice-led enquiry and philosophical art history, and explores drawings by Raymond Pettibon and Michael Borremans. It engages the processes, materials, forms and institutions that shape the relations between drawing and writing as graphic practices through the development of a philosophical discourse that draws on post-structuralist French thought, German media philosophy, Anglo-Saxon art writing and practice reflections. Imbedded in a millennia-old discourse on the relations of images and texts, the thesis works against the persistent conflations of writing and language, and drawing and image that routinely separate writing from its graphic instantiation and reading from seeing. It draws on Jacques Derrida's iterability and Jean-Francois Lyotard's figure to demonstrate how the medial capacity of the line repeats itself differently in the drawn and written mark yet is indivisible between them. An examination of the material, gestural and iconic characteristics common to both drawing and writing identifies the affordances and exigencies of the graphic mark of both practices and shows how they facilitate yet exceed notions of signification. The thesis does neither propose a unified word-image theory, nor aims to offer the graphic as a centre through which new boundaries concerning the inside and outside of drawing and writing can be established. Rather, it recognizes its own entanglement in the subject as an artifact of critical thinking produced in the intervolved practices of the graphic mark and maintains their mutability and resistance to closure. It thus responds self-reflexively to the conventions of academic discourse that are inadequate for the subject and a priori impose on and limit the recognition of the picture in writing and writing in the picture by traversing these divides.
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Goldring, John E. "There is more to health than HIV : social capital and health in the gay community." Thesis, University of Salford, 2007. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/621099/.
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The legal climate for gay men in the UK has undergone enormous change since the decriminalisation of 'homosexuality' in 1967 with changes in the social climate following. Bringing together concepts of 'social capital' and 'reflexive individualisation', the research explores how the changes have helped shape the gay experience, especially in terms of health and well-being. In recent history, gay men's health has been located within the HIV discourse, assuming a homogeneous gay identity and community. Yet gay men have various identities and a full spectrum of health needs, well beyond HIV and AIDS alone. The research pursues ethnography as method to provide 'thick description' of gay men's lives in context. After immersion in the context, access was gained to 24 gay men whose ages ranged from 17 to 73 years old. There were also five non-gay participants and six representatives of gay themed organisations. Participant observation, field notes and Internet data complemented semi-structured and unstructured interviews. The data were analysed using the thematic and grounded theory approach. This identified generational variations within the experience of gay men characterised by how the law defined them. The findings indicated that the social capital framework does not account for the experiences this minority group or the variations within it. Gay men displayed different styles of embeddedness, and ways of developing trust in others. Self-censorship hindered the development of these important skills. It also seemed plausible that these same conditions promoted reflexivity through the need to manage multiple identities in various social settings. With respect to health, it was HIV that structured much of their accounts, although they did vary across generations. Generation also structured the experience and practice in other areas of health. The project demonstrates the importance of both sexual orientation and masculinity in the construction of all men's health.
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Brownbridge, Kathryn. "Development of a conceptual model for anthropometric practices and applications regarding complete garment technologies for the UK women's knitwear industry." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2012. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/459/.
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To create garments that fit the body, anthropometric data must be utilised within the product development process. When producing woven garments a relationship between the garment and the body is determined at various different stages. This includes the construction of the basic block, the pattern making process and fit trials. The utilisation of anthropometric data within the manufacture of knitwear constructed and shaped on flat-bed machinery is not well documented. Because knitted fabric is extensible knitted garments have the ability to stretch and mould around the body. Determining the dimensions of these garments therefore must be considered specifically. The methods used to manufacture fully fashioned garments are also completely different and practitioners have to work within a limited set of parameters when creating the garment shape. Traditional fully fashioned garments are knitted as panels and then constructed. Advanced complete garment technology can knit, shape and construct a garment three dimensionally. Those at the forefront of technology development claim it provides the manufacturer with many benefits including improved fit. The utilisation of new technologies has been advocated as a way for UK knitwear manufacturers under threat from cheap imports to remain competitive. However the pace at which the technology has advanced has led to concerns about whether designers and technicians have the skills to fully exploit the machine capability and realise the potential benefits. Certainly to produce knitted garments with improved fit implies that the development process must utilise anthropometric data. Potential improvements in the knitted garment will only be of benefit if they are recognised and appreciated by the consumer An investigation to evaluate the utilisation of anthropometric data within the development of complete garments and the impact of complete garment technology on product development was conducted. Mapping the UK industry provided a sampling frame for case studies with manufacturers utilising complete garment technology. The research employed qualitative strategies of data collection, including interviews and case studies. An analysis of consumer preferences regarding complete garments was also conducted using focus groups with women between the age of 40 and 55. This informed the development of a theoretical framework for female fit preferences relating to knitwear. The results revealed that seven companies were utilising complete garment technology within the UK. Case study analysis provided evidence to show that anthropometric data is not utilised within the development of complete garments but pre-established garment measurement is applied instead. The relationship between the garment and the body is only evaluated and determined during fit trials. Practices were heavily influenced by outdated methods and information which impeded the ability to design and develop complete garments autonomously. In addition designers and technicians do not have the skills to conceptualise and develop the 3D garment in relation to the body. Consequently they are reliant on the machine builders as the only providers of garment templates and skills support. The ability to create garments with fit improvement was also found to be hindered by this evident skills gap. In terms of garment fit, focus group analysis revealed that female consumers had very specific preferences that related to their body size and shape. They demanded garments that provided flattering fit and the theoretical framework reveals how this flattering fit is defined. Finally data from all the stages of the research was triangulated to develop a conceptual model for anthropometric practices and applications regarding complete garment technologies for the UK women's knitwear industry.
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Struller, Carolin Franziska. "Next generation vacuum deposited ALOx clear barrier coatings for flexible food packaging materials." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2013. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/336476/.
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In the field of packaging, barrier layers are functional films, which can be applied to polymeric substrates with the objective of enhancing their end-use properties. In the case of food packaging applications, the packaging material is required to preserve packaged foodstuffs and protect them from a variety of environmental influences. Amongst others, the impermeability of the packaging material to substances including water vapour, oxygen and aromas is an important requirement for successful food packaging. Polymer films, vacuum coated with thin transparent barrier layers of aluminium oxide or silicon oxide, are very attractive candidates for food packaging applications due to the oxide film imparting attractive properties, including good barrier performance, transparency, microwaveability and recyclability. In this project, aluminium oxide barrier layers were deposited onto various commodity grade BOPP films via reactive evaporation of aluminium, using a modified industrial ‘boat-type’ roll-to-roll metalliser. Optimisation of the deposited coating, in some cases together with potential surface modifications of the BOPP films, was the main focus of the work. The effects of different film treatments (in-line and off-line); surface properties of the polymer film, such as topography and chemistry; coating stoichiometry and thickness; as well as conversion processes; on barrier properties were investigated using a broad variety of analytical techniques. Furthermore, critical parameters for the convertibility of vacuum coated films, including coating adhesion and coating surface energy, were assessed. This project has demonstrated that the barrier performance of aluminium oxide coated BOPP is heavily dependent on the plain film surface and the growth/nucleation conditions of the deposited film, both of which can vary to a large extent on standard packaging grade BOPP film. Whilst acceptable oxygen barrier levels were achieved on some of the standard BOPP film types, others did not match the requirements, despite investigating a wide range of coating parameters. This was found to be due to the presence of defects (permeation pathways) in the coating, which were reproduced from defects in the underlying polymer film surface. With regards to the barrier performance after aluminium oxide coating, the polymer film surface chemistry was identified as an important parameter. Furthermore, oxygen barrier performance was significantly enhanced when a high surface energy polymer skin layer was co-extruded onto the BOPP film. Nevertheless, water vapour barrier improvement for aluminium oxide coated BOPP films was only achieved through the use of different polymer skin layers or via depositing coatings with reduced oxygen content, thus obtaining grey coatings that can no longer be classified as transparent. Peel tests indicated very high levels of adhesion of the aluminium oxide coating to the BOPP film, with cohesive failure taking place within the polymer, rather than adhesive failure at the coating-substrate interface. Examination of the time related change of surface energy revealed a distinct decay with ageing time, most probably due to transfer of polymeric material and film additives from the reverse side of the film onto the coating and also migration through defects in the coating. Finally, the application of acrylate under- and topcoats, as well as adhesive lamination, was found to have the capability to significantly enhance the barrier performance of the aluminium oxide coated BOPP film. In the case of acrylate undercoats, this was attributed to the change in surface chemistry, whilst for topcoats and lamination processes, the barrier properties of the acrylate/adhesive play an important role, together with a possible ‘pore filling’ effect.
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Tupikovskaja-Omovie, Zofija. "Consumer perceived benefits and value in apparel m-retail." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/618824/.
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Within the UK retail sector, fashion shopping via mobiles is one of the fastest developing forms of online retail, yet recent research has shown that apparel retailers have been slow to implement appropriate mobile platforms into overall marketing strategies, thereby failing to satisfy consumer expectations and missing opportunities emerging through this channel. This research analyses mobile apparel retail from the consumer’s perspective. The aim is to understand fashion shopping experiences via smartphones. Research questions relate to the benefits fashion consumers are seeking through mobile shopping channels, how consumers shop, why they use smartphones and what influences their decision-making process. Consequently, a theory of interactive relationship between m-retail and consumer purchase behaviour has been developed. A mixed methods approach was adopted guided by Grounded Theory methodology complemented by experimental work. It applied 200 questionnaires, 1,313 mobile app reviews, 23 eye tracking experiments involving websites, mobile apps and mobile websites, 6 focus group discussions and 8 case studies. A conceptual model of Essential Features of Mobile Channel (EFMC) was developed by triangulating data gathered from a range of sources: eye tracking experiments, mobile app reviews and focus groups. Case studies of commercial platforms, implementing 43 features of EFMC, were used to evaluate mobile websites and apps developed by apparel retailers. This research contributes to knowledge by developing a Benefits-Value Theory (BVT), which addresses the relationship between levels of benefits and their influence on shopping involvement, by examining the ways consumers perceive mobile platforms and respond with distinctive behaviours and attitudes. This conceptual framework devotes what companies are doing on mobile and what consumers think about it. BVT provides a base for fashion consumer segmentation. Consumer profiles have been developed to account for shifts in consumer behaviour led by mobile technologies. This research proposes a model for diagnosing the strengths and weaknesses of mobile platforms. Shopping journey and behaviour models establish how to segment the consumer base, capturing a complexity of their behaviours, by assigning value to fashion retail. This research helps apparel retailers to develop appropriate marketing strategies in m-retail focusing on maximizing customer benefits and satisfaction by fulfilling retailers’ value creation and delivery.
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Evans, Jeffrey G. M. "The criminal prosecution of inter-male sex, 1850-1970 : a Lancashire case study." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/618363/.
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The thesis addresses two related issues. Firstly, the lack of an accurate longitudinal reading of the incidence of indictable prosecutions predicated on the criminalisation of sexualised behaviours between males for the period 1850-1970; that is, consensual conducts (including 'victimless' behaviour discriminately criminalised) together with coercive behaviours. The results of the enumerative part of this investigation demonstrate significant variations in the frequency of prosecutions during what was a seminal period of criminalisation of such conduct. The rarity of cases of the later nineteenth century, followed by a slow, and sometimes erratic, increase during the inter-war years (1919-1939) preceded a more energetic period of prosecutions in the two decades about the publication of the government commissioned 'Wolfenden' Report (1957). The primary sources used to produce this accurate longitudinal count of the criminal prosecutions and, in particular, the Calendars also provided the evidential basis for the second task of this investigation. To date, there has been no in-depth longitudinal reading of the treatment of such cases by the four main constituent 'players' within the Criminal Justice System that were charged with the practical realisation of Parliament's abstract criminalisation. This thesis provides both a quantitative and qualitative reading of the sometime consistent and divergent attitudinal relationship between these four 'players' in the prosecution of sexualised conduct between males: the prosecution, defence, adjudication and presiding judiciary. The practical criminalisation of inter-male sex 1850-1970: A Lancashire case study. These two complimentary readings are contextualised within a number of contingent realities of the period that suggest the criminalisation of sexualised behaviours was not a major policing priority for much of the period. Further, that when such cases did come to trial the success rate and, therein further prosecutions, was heavily reliant on the role of the defendant cooperating with their own conviction. Finally, the choice of these investigatory goals was in large part addressed by a reading of the specialised historiography within this relatively new field of study and thereby in part an attempt to light-up previously unexplored territory.