Search

This thesis assesses the learning process of the British Expeditionary Force by its participation in The Battle of Festubert 15 - 25 May 1915.The study of this battle offers an important insight in the development of the BEF during this period, despite it being neglected in much of the historiography concerning the British Army in the First World War. It focuses on how well the BEF's First Army, commanded by General Haig, was organised and equipped upon entering the battle. It draws upon First Army's experience of two previous battles, one in March 1915 and another only six days before commencing offensive action again, to determine what knowledge had been gained and used in developing their battle tactics. Its central argument is that there was very much to learn from this previous action and great effort was made to modify the tactics at Festubert, particularly from the obvious failure on 9 May. The thesis relies on primary source material created by the units at the time, such as army and divisional records and battalion war diaries. It also examines some secondary literature and personal memoirs of key political figures and those that took part, to examine the effect of both coalition and national strategy and the pressure that placed on the shoulders of the BEF's commander Sir John French as Festubert was taking place. This thesis argues that this pressure interfered with the ability of General Haig to fully realise the lessons of combat gained at Festubert, as he was pushed soon afterwards to launch in an even larger attack in the Battle of Loos (25 September - 8 October 1915), using tactics that contradicted what had just been learnt at Festubert. It will argue that some of the contribution to the learning process by key figures, such as Sir William Robertson and Major General Richard Haking has been missed in the historiography. This thesis asserts that despite not achieving any type of significant breakthrough at Festubert, the experience served the BEF well in that it supported the French Army as it fought in the Second Battle of Artois and it trialled new methods which would be further developed as the war progressed. Unfortunately for the BEF, by the time of the next Anglo-French offensive, the Battle of the Somme, German countermeasures had largely negated some of the lessons of Festubert and this has played a part its lack of examination in modern studies of the BEF's operational development.

In this study, an integrated antenna-battery was explored. Studying the systems separately allowed information to be obtained relating to the materials' performance and feasibility of an integrated system. Conducting polymers are promising in modern day lithium ion batteries. With high electrical conductivity as well as good ionic conductivity, they are now becoming more widely used. Here, we present a study of a co-block polymer (PEDOT-PEG) in which a polymer with high electrical conductivity is linked to a polymer with lithium ion conductivity, using a combination of atomistic simulations and experiments. Simulations showed that the diffusion and ionic conductivity for PEDOT-PEG agreed well with experiments. A trend was identified as a function of lithium salt concentration, in which the ionic conductivity decreased with increasing concentration. This was identified to be down to the significant ion pairing occurring in the system between lithium and the counterion. Requirements for the antenna were the ability to be mounted easily onto a battery substrate without a significant loss in efficiency and bandwidth. Studies were undertaken in which a slot dipole antenna was modified so as to incorporate properties more closely associated with battery materials i.e. permittivity and dielectric loss. An ultra-thin Mylar prototype was also synthesised and mounted onto a variety of surfaces, to assess how the antenna performed in different environments. Results for the antenna showed usable bandwidths and efficiencies when the antenna structure was modified to closely resemble a solid state battery. Despite a reduction seen in certain cases, these losses were not significant, and showed promise with regards to designing an integrated system. The Mylar prototype showed a good match between simulation and experiment in free space and when mounted on surfaces such as polymers, indicating that an ultra-thin antenna-battery is feasible.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the representation of students with disabilities participating in distance education courses. Corollary research questions investigated perceptions, beliefs and expectations of secondary school principals and special education teachers, and determine the existence of statistically significant differences in efficacy of secondary school principals and special education teachers related to location and size of the school site. A secondary school principal survey and a special education teacher survey were mailed to 469 secondary school sites identified by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activity Association classification methods. Surveys identified schools by size and location with ten questions designed to gain insight to the perceptions, beliefs and expectations of secondary school principals and secondary school principals. Secondary school principals provided additional school site information related to school enrollment and special education enrollment based on the First Quarter Statistical Report required by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Data were statistically measured by descriptive statistics, two-tailed independent t-tests, and two-factor Analysis of Variance. Bonferroni correction was used to ensure a Type I error was not created by multiple comparisons. With a p less than 0.005, outcomes indicate no statistically significant difference in the percentage of students with disabilities participating in distance education courses and the general education population participating in distance education. Secondary school principals and special education teachers responses indicated areas of agreement in their perceptions, beliefs and expectations of students with disabilities enrolling in distance education. No statistically significant difference exists related to secondary school site location or size. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The general object of the work was the detection and measurement of electrical effects induced in solutions by irradiation from short duration gaseous discharges. for this work a medium intensity gaseous discharge lamp and several novel conductance cells were constructed. Some new experimental techniques were investigated and their application to certain photolytic reactions studies. The techniques employed included the measurement of Radio Frequency Conductance and Capacitance and the recording of small changes in these factors over periods ranging from hours to 10[-4] seconds. The photolytic reactions chosen for study involved heterolytic fission, homolytic fission, free radical decomposition and geometric rearrangement, and in each case an attempt was made to record the electrical changes occurring with both time and irradiation. A discussion is included on difficulties encountered in these measurements and on the general interpretation of Radio frequency conductance values. A new method for the preparation of the trans-isomer of the benzene diazocyanides and a possible new method for the molecular weight estimation of conjugated polymers were evolved. Incidental to the general work, the spectra of some thiourea complexes and two organic free radicals are recorded.

Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGVs) are increasingly being used in more complex, harsh and remote environments because of their ability to replace a human driver, removing them from danger. However, the environments that are being targeted for the application of AGVs frequently occur in areas that have unstructured, uneven and non-uniform terrain. Safe and accurate navigation through such environments requires reliable terrain perception methods capable of identifying friction characteristics and an accurate system model, both are required in order to reduce the system uncertainties. Currently, methods for reducing these uncertainties are not well established. This thesis researched the sources of uncertainty that an AGV is subject to whilst moving through an unstructured and non-uniform terrain. A number of key sources of uncertainty were identified, with changes in terrain type and thus the coefficient of friction being one key component, as well as the dynamic behaviour of the tyre interacting with the terrain, especially during cornering maneuvers. Furthermore, it develops a novel terrain perception method which utilises purely non-semantic spatial information. The Extended Range Texture Analysis (ERTA) method is capable of providing an accurate terrain model that accounts for the identified terrain frictional and geometric characteristics, which reduces the uncertainties in terrain frictional characteristics that exists in the system model. The ERTA method can provide a solution for classifying the terrain types in an environment even in the absence of visual or semantic spatial features in a scene. Two novel tyre models were also developed in this thesis: a simplified Friction Dependant tyre model, and a 3D Analytical Dynamic tyre model. The purpose of developing these models is to enable the incorporation of the sources of uncertainties, including both frictional characteristics provided by the terrain model and tyre dynamic effects. The simulation results of both the developed tyre models were compared against the widely accepted experimentally derived Magic Formula tyre model. Following on from this research, control system designers can incorporate the developed tyre models and perception method to reduce the uncertainties in the system parameters and disturbances to design significantly improved controllers.

This thesis examines the question: How has the Sime Darby land grab impacted on livelihoods, power, identity politics and access to land from the perspective of residents of Senjeh District in Liberia, and how are they responding to those impacts? Strategies to mitigate major global crises around food, energy/fuel, climate change and financial crisis have led to an increase in the demand for and acquisition of large swathes of land in the Global South and Africa in particular. Supporters and critics of the phenomenon each present oversimplified dichotomous narratives about the impacts of the phenomenon. They also present rural people affected by the phenomenon as collectively experiencing and responding to the phenomenon. Supporters say large-scale land deals are good for rural development and critics say that they have entirely negative impacts on livelihoods, power, land rights and identity politics. Building on the growing body of literature challenging the oversimplification of the impacts of the phenomenon, this project brings fresh perspectives to the debate from Liberia in West Africa. The project utilised a case study framework and employed qualitative interviews with affected residents of the Sime Darby land grab in Senjeh District in Liberia to develop the key argument that the nature of the impacts of the Sime Darby land grab on livelihoods, power, identity politics and access to land for Senjeh residents is complex and multifaceted. It led to mostly negative experiences for residents with some experiences more severe than others; yet residents were not merely passive actors but demonstrated resilience including political reactions from below to the hardships and negative outcomes of the transfer of control over the land to Sime Darby.

International volunteering has become an increasingly common activity where gap year students, diaspora communities, retirees and faith groups travel oversees to experience another culture and play a role in addressing global poverty. A growing number of academic, practioner and public audiences are analysing this practice, yet despite the notable exceptions of Baillie-Smith et al (2013) and Hopkins et al (2015), Christian international volunteering has received less attention than its nonfaith counterparts. This thesis addresses the knowledge gaps of how faith motivates individuals to participate in international volunteering programmes and how these programmes influence understandings of, and commitments to address, poverty, injustice and inequality. During a threemonth fieldwork placement in Tanzania, I volunteered with a Christian international development organisation and collected data through ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews with international volunteers, host organisations and local missionaries. Volunteers feel called by God to help other Christians overseas and desire to grow in their faith; whereas host organisations hope to build relationships, develop their skills and secure financial support. Volunteers understand poverty holistically, having both religious and material dimensions. The shared faith of the hosts and volunteers create genuine friendships that transcend cultural differences and the volunteers reassess their own internal biases and stereotypes of Africa as poor, barren and homogenous. The volunteers develop global citizen and cosmopolitan tendencies and become active in addressing global poverty and inequality through prayer. Yet, some volunteers overlook the material poverty in the host communities due to a perceived spiritual richness. Further, some fail to acknowledge their privileges, attributing these to luck and blessings from God and remaining unaware of the systems of oppression that have caused global poverty and inequality. This thesis shows the need for Christian international volunteers to develop a greater understanding of the root causes of global poverty and inequality in order to shape their own values, lifestyles and social advocacy, on and beyond the volunteer programmes.

Background: Oral cancer is the sixth most frequent cancer worldwide. Ninety percent of the newly diagnosed oral cancers (+400,000/ year) are characterized as squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). SCC, which develops in the cells of the oral epithelium, is a highly aggressive and destructive cancer with a propensity for invasion of surrounding tissues and recurrence. Consequently, little is known about the preventive factors that modulate the risk of oral carcinogenesis. Recently however, two epidemiological studies investigating the predictive factors of cancer, found their strongest association between low levels of vitamin D and oro-pharyngeal cancer. It is our labs goal to further investigate this matter in a cellular model that parallels human oro-pharyngeal carcinogenesis. Recently, our lab identified a novel interaction between Cyclin D1 and a nuclear hormone receptor that modulates gene expression, known as the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Objectives: The objective of our research is to investigate the effect of vitamin D treatment on human keratinocytes engineered to overexpress an oncogene (Cyclin D1) commonly amplified in SCC. We intend to explore vitamin D's effect by monitoring changes in the localization of key components in both the VDR and Cyclin D1 pathways. Our findings should begin address the question of whether the interaction of Cyclin D1 and VDR has any impact on key components in either pathway. Methods: Transgenic keratinocytes over expressing cyclin D1 (OKF6-D1) will be used to examine the relationship between the VDR and Cyclin D1 pathways. Immuno-staining of key pathway components will be used to localize these components to nuclear or cytoplasmic compartments that can be visualized by immunofluorescence (IF) . Lastly, western blot analysis of fractionated lysates (cytoplasmic and nuclear) from transgenic and control keratinocytes will be used to confirm any IF findings . Results: Immunohistochemistry points toward a difference in the localization of VDR when transgenic cells are ligand treated. Lastly, reduced levels of VDRs heterodimeric partner (RXR) were identified when transgenic keratinocytes were treated with vitamin D.

In recent years, dramatic levels of pollinator decline have captured the attention of scientists, policymakers and wider publics. This precipitous drop in honey bees and other pollinators threatens food security and biodiversity. Recent policy initiatives call upon multiple, diverse stake holders to work together for pollinator wellbeing, and wider ecosystem health. Many of these initiatives forefront beekeepers, whose role in both monitoring and ensuring bee health is recognised as paramount. This thesis investigates beekeepers’ knowledge of both honey bees, and the wider environment. Using archival analysis, interviews and participant observation, I demonstrate that long-term beekeepers generate and use Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK) through their beekeeping practice. Their knowledge incorporates wide understanding of both the environmental factors that have affected pollinator health since the mid-20th century, as well as the socioeconomic and political drivers behind the physical deterioration of much of the environment that we, and pollinators, rely upon. This research project explores beekeepers’ knowledge within the context of debates on TEK, and Citizen Science. I explore the relationship between formal scientific research and other methods of environmental inquiry and engagement. While there has been a dramatic increase in media, public and scientific attention to pollinator and bee decline, this thesis documents a worrying dissonance between the knowledge and recommendations of long-term beekeepers, and the wider public’s understanding and actions, in response to this environmental challenge. Although beekeepers’ tacit understanding is often deeply infused with wider scientific knowledge, resulting in a uniquely hybrid knowledge, this research finds a hegemonic prioritisation of objectivist epistemologies, which results in a failure for the scientific and policy communities to fully engage with the observations and concerns of beekeepers. While TEK is recognised as supporting environmentally sustainable practices, this epistemological tension limits the capacity for the knowledge of TEK holders, and beekeepers, to be fully utilised.

Since a massive decline of computer science graduates in 2002, computer science departments have been unable to reach previous graduation rates. In wake of this dramatic loss of graduates, researchers have been searching for the reasons students are avoiding computer science and choosing other majors. To combat this decrease in computer science graduates, the CloudSpace environment pro- vides additional context to entry level computer science courses. This shift in context re- moves boring assignments from the early computer science curriculum and replaces them with more engaging web centric assignments. The CloudSpace environment presents a model that maintains student's focus on core computer science competencies while providing a highly simplified web development toolkit to develop feature rich AJAX web applications. This the- sis includes the rational and implementation of a cloud based hosting service and a highly abstracted web tool kit that enables students to replicate modern web applications.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the representation of students with disabilities participating in distance education courses. Corollary research questions investigated perceptions, beliefs and expectations of secondary school principals and special education teachers, and determine the existence of statistically significant differences in efficacy of secondary school principals and special education teachers related to location and size of the school site.

Rural change and the ability of farming communities to respond and withstand change is a topic of ongoing concern in the current research agenda. ‘Rural community resilience’ is a concept that has become a core theme of academic, policy and lay discourses discussing dynamics of rural change, widely associated with community studies and allied to notions of social capital. This work reviews approaches to community relations developed within community studies and social capital scholarship, and suggests that the relational agency of the network ties might also be explored through the application of an assemblage approach. However, and unlike many previous approaches to community resilience that use the concept in a normative way and which understandably highlight agency of social relations, this research has been constructed in such a way that network ties established through day-to-day community practices are characterized both vital and far from passive. Developing this current line of thinking in rural studies, this project argues that more-than-social agency evoked by relations between human and non-human components of the rural assemblage is an important factor affecting community resilience. The empirical research feeds from two case studies and gathers evidence from two distinctive agricultural communities of Hungary and Wales, whilst also recognizing similarities in the context of globalization. It argues that rural community resilience lies in relations between the humans, the land and the agricultural commodities.

Taking the case study of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show, the largest event of its kind in Europe, this thesis examines the role that agricultural shows have in the modern-day countryside. Agricultural shows are a key fixture in the rural calendar. In recent years these events have changed from being a social and competition space, purely aimed at rural residents, to today displaying the finest livestock, mechanical, technological, and skills innovations serving a wide number of economic, social, cultural and environmental features targeted at the wider population. Despite their significance to rural society, agricultural shows remain largely unexplored in geography. Taking a mixed methods approach, and by undertaking an in-depth study of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show, this thesis investigates the role that agricultural shows have in (re)imagining and (re)presenting their host communities. The thesis continues by examining the manner in which large-scale rural events can be seen as a nexus for knowledge exchange and innovation, before considering how large scale rural events influence the politics and governance of rural areas. This thesis suggests that agricultural shows are an important means of collective identity for rural people, and that these events reimagine their host communities. It also finds that agricultural shows are vital sites for the development of social capital in rural areas, have significant roles in knowledge exchange, and the development of rural buzz. Finally, it is concluded that agricultural shows inhabit a powerful, but extraordinary location within the political landscape of their host communities, having an influence on their politics and governance.

The scientific and socio-political dimensions of volcanic hazards have been realigned since the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, and have highlighted the need for volcanic activity to be studied from interdisciplinary perspectives. By focussing on communication, adaptability and resilience, this research explains the links between hazard management and social constructivism. The research question asks how Iceland’s networked approach to managing volcanoes can be understood by analysing the development of communication channels between human stakeholders and non-human technical devices and systems. Fieldwork was conducted in both Iceland and the UK, and a mixed methods approach was used to engage with the network. Research methods consisted of semi-structured interviews, participant observations and archival research. Findings explain the evolution of knowledge exchange, the value of technical innovation, and the need for interactions between local, national and international stakeholders. The study concludes that actors are increasingly empowered by the use of participatory technologies within hazard management, and the development of collaborative engagements between stakeholder communities from scientific and socio-political backgrounds. This research is relevant as it illustrates how the adaptive capacity of hazard networks can be expanded, potentially influencing the approaches that are taken to manage volcanic hazards in less economically developed contexts. In addition, this study can encourage continued interaction between scientists, at-risk communities and the aviation industry in multi-hazard environments such as Iceland.

Art has a potentially influential part to play in science communication, assisting in the process of making information more accessible and more effective. It supports education, serves as a universal language and can help us imagine and hypothesize. However, beyond the practical application of art as visual illustrator, there is something more mysterious and the possibility of a potential yet un-tapped. Art has a reputation for influencing human emotions and behaviour, although the exact mechanics of this process is presently unknown. An effective collaboration between artists and scientists might depend upon a more prescriptive approach and a meeting of minds towards clear objectives. Artists might be inclined to take up such a challenge but to what degree would scientists share their conviction? This research explores whether art and science can collaborate effectively to influence behaviour in the environment towards climate change adaptation and how this might be approached. As part of an empirical mixed method approach to field research, an experimental test-kit was developed by science-trained practicing artist Rhian Field. Experiments were set up in a selection of locations in Wales during 2014 and 2015, to explore the opportunities for the role of visual art in the face of climate change impacts and the need for adaptation. This field research, underpinned by knowledge from a broad range of disciplines, examines the factors that potentially influence public engagement with visual art within a context of climate change, and considers the opportunity for art-science within climate change adaptation.

This PhD investigates the complexities of modern day citizenship for groups on the margins. This thesis is situated within feminist geopolitics and feminist countertopographical literatures and investigates the way in which migrant women understand and in turn practice citizenship. Outlined by TH Marshall in 1950, citizenship in its most basic form is understood as belonging to a community, and having rights and responsibilities within that community. With increased communication and transport technology we have seen a burgeoning of mobility and increased migration around the world. Coupled with the scaling back of the state in the national imagination, we are left with an ever more complicated understanding of citizenship. This thesis is therefore centred on three key elements of citizenship: as belonging to a community, as emotionally laden, and as a practice and performance through the everyday and the mundane. I draw together the literatures on migration, identity and citizenship to investigate what a real, lived citizenship is for female migrants. The thesis focuses on two main case study sites of Cardiff, UK and Singapore. Through these, I examine the different citizenship identities of migrant women, connecting the stories across time and through space. In focusing on two case study sites I examine the context of the individual migrant, seeking to highlight how there may be similarities and differences between different groups of migrant women. This thesis seeks to answer questions of what a modern day citizenship identity looks like: how might citizenship, and a citizenship identity, be seen as something which is at once multiple, complex, situated and dynamic? How can citizenship therefore be relational, tied to specific experiences in, and of, place? Finally, how might this alter future directions in citizenship research?

Investigating the (possible) emergence of a ‘New Squirearchy’ in rural England, this research considers the extent of a practical appropriation of the discourse of the country gentleman within the milieu of a specific community in the South East. A process commonly attributed to the middle class, this study engages with those debates on class and class analysis which continue to play out as a key theme in rural studies, and argues for the incorporation of concepts of performance in providing more nuanced accounts of society in the countryside. Drawing on theories of embodiment as developed in the wider disciplines of sociology and geography, and considering them in direct relation to consumption and cultural capital, this research details the existence of the ‘New Squirearchy’ as a discernable community of practise at work in – and dependent upon – the routine operations of other collectives in rural space. Mapping out the movements of those seeking to fulfil the roles and lifestyle historically accredited to the landed elite in detail, this empirically driven enquiry comes out of an intensive tract of in-situ ethnography. Centred on the act(s) of ‘gentryfication’ in the fabric of ‘village England’ and ‘Eamesworth’ more specifically, this story questions the apparent becoming of the ‘New Squirearchy’ through such institutions as the public house, the Parish Council and the village fete.