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Fractures are extremely common and can take months to heal. Bone graft material is used to stimulate healing and fill voids in reconstructive surgery. Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) has been used clinically to stimulate fracture healing and arthrodesis; however inefficient delivery methods necessitated the use of high doses which resulted in significant side effects. Materials currently used for bone grafting such as: autograft, allograft and synthetic bone products all have significant limitations. These studies have investigated the ability of Laponite, a synthetic clay, to facilitate growth factor delivery to enhance fracture healing and improve the osteogenicity of graft material produced using additive manufacture. Initial studies culturing cells with Laponite demonstrated the biocompatibility of this material. Subsequently, the ability of Laponite to deliver and localise active growth factor was shown using Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells and Myoblast cell cultures. Feasibility of combining Laponite with Additive Manufacturing techniques to produce bone graft material was assessed in vitro. In murine studies Laponite was observed to enhance the osteogenic effect of BMP applied to allograft and, furthermore, reduce the dose of BMP required to mediate ectopic bone formation within collagen sponge. Finally, in an ovine femoral defect Laponite was observed to convey active BMP. The in vitro and in vivo evidence for the ability of Laponite to deliver BMP presented in this thesis demonstrates the exciting potential of Laponite to accelerate fracture healing and enhance the osteogenicity of graft material.

Although time is a critical factor for most projects, the majority of construction projects encounter delay. Conventional methods for managing time tend to use static medium, which can make understanding delay challenging. This can result in reactive management, which contributes to inappropriate mitigation measures, untimely and insufficient claims, and failures to award extensions of time. These consequences are common causes of dispute, which have a negative effect on the construction industry. The likelihood and severity of disputes on construction projects are increasing but it is suggested that Building Information Modelling (BIM) has the potential to reduce the number of delays and disputes in the industry. However, literature directly addressing how to achieve this appears limited. To contribute research to this knowledge gap, this EngD aims to improve the understanding of delay on construction projects through BIM. This is addressed through five objectives, which gather data through a case study, workshop, simulation, questionnaire, focus group, content analysis and the available literature. The findings of each objective contribute to the next stage of research and led to the proposed interactive exhibit, which integrates VARK modes of presentation with 4D modelling technology developed to support BIM. The rationale behind this proposal is supported by five journal publications, which are appended to this document.

The board of directors at a company usually comprises both executive and non-executive directors. Their role is to run and direct the company for its benefit since it is incapable of acting by itself. Where there is a separation of ownership and control it is recognised that there is a risk that those in control may use their power for self-interested means. Attention is often focused on the executive directors and how legal controls and governance mechanisms can reduce the possibility of self-interest in the performance of their functions. However, seldom are non-executives the focus of this problem yet they are playing an increasingly important role in the running and governance of the company. This thesis is an investigation in to whether the legal rules and governance mechanisms are suitable in reducing the possibility of self-interest amongst non-executive directors. The study uses multiple directorships as a proxy for non-executive self-interest to demonstrate whether the controls and incentives are suitable. It begins by examining the nature of a nonexecutive’s fiduciary liability to the company focusing on the nature and purpose of the duty to identify when and why the duty is owed. Identifying the nature and purpose of the duty will allow the thesis to demonstrate that existing authority and academic literature on the scope of a non-executive’s fiduciary duty is an unsuitable interpretation based on the company’s current objects and reanalyses it from the perspective of the non-executive’s undertaking on the board. Whilst the analysis concludes that this interpretation would offer a suitable scope in deterring self-interest the thesis continues by examining the enforcement of fiduciary duties by considering the new statutory derivative claim. This analysis reveals that enforcement is low and may reduce the deterrence the fiduciary duties themselves might have. With low levels of enforcement the thesis turns its attention to ex ante incentives, particularly corporate governance mechanisms, which can “nudge” the non-executive in to acting for the benefit of the firm. This analysis contains a review of the corporate governance theories and an empirical study to identify the ways non-executive self-interest may be reduced. The theoretical analysis considers the ways boards may be structured to reduce the potential for self-interested behaviour. Using multiple directorships as a proxy for self-interest the empirical analysis provides evidence as to whether they are in fact perquisite consumption and identifies possible means of control. It is considered herein that there are insufficient controls and incentives on non-executive behaviour, which may lead to increased self-interest to the detriment of the company.

The purpose of this thesis is to design and build an improved control loop for a piezoelectric actuated scanning mirror system. A control system has been built having zero steady state position error and an 80 Hertz bandwidth. This was achieved by placing the piezoelectric actuator in the feedback path of an operational amplifier and placing series cascaded notch filters and lead compensators in the forward path of the control loop. A prototype system, including compensation and feedback, is developed. Its performance compares favorably with that of the system model. It is capable of plus and minus 1.7 degrees of angular deflection.

This dissertation examines the role played by Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) groups in contributing to the governance of sustainable development. The research involves an intensive case study of VCS groups in Hull and East Riding, East Yorkshire, focusing upon Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs), Local Biodiversity Partnerships (LBPs) and Service Delivery Mechanisms (SDMs) such as Compacts. Drawing on approaches to governmentality and scalar politics, it investigates the VCS-state governance relationship, tensions around local sustainability governance, and the scalar political processes by which VCS groups promote sustainable development. Research methods are based on secondary data sources and semi-structured interviews.The study seeks an integration of approaches to 'governmentality', communicative action, partnership, power, networks and scales. It finds that state-regulated spaces of governance in the form of LSPs offer VCS groups limited recourse in which to promote their own particular discourses surrounding sustainable development. This is because VCS membership of such spaces is led by local government, who favour public service delivery and socio-economic discourses over environmental ones. As such, certain VCS groups only have regulated freedom and limited support in such spaces. VCS groups find it difficult to align their developmental aims with the objectives of local stateregulated governance spaces. This is exemplified through a tension between autonomy and capacity building within the VCS, with the state continually encroaching upon the legitimacy of an autonomous VCS, free from state interference. On one hand, some VCS groups seek to deliver particular sustainability objectives and win favour with local government by adapting to the public service delivery modus operandi of a 'congested state'. Through strategically aligning themselves with state-influenced networks of sustainability governance, these groups forfeit some of their independence surrounding sustainability objectives.On the other hand, other VCS groups form external, non-state controlled governance networks. In this process, they engage with higher scales of state territoriality and governance, particularly the region, to pursue their own independent sustainability objectives at the local level. Conversely, the regional state scale serves as a buffer, whereby central government can regulate 'at distance' how VCS groups promote sustainability. These findings contribute new insights into the ways in which local spaces of sustainability governance are produced and contested within wider state modernisation and rescaling processes.