http://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace The DSpace digital repository system captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material. 2013-06-18T11:15:48Z http://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/666 Title: Researching workplace bullying:the benefits of taking an integratedapproach Authors: Lewis, Duncan. O Abstract: This paper explores the difficulties encountered by researchers attempting tomeasure the prevalence of negative workplace behaviours and how these might beovercome. Drawing on the first stage of a major ESRC-funded study of workplacebehaviours in Britain, we demonstrate the importance of improved sampling anddata collection methods. We show how judicious use of qualitative data derivedfrom cognitive testing of survey questions can improve substantially the reliabilityand validity of data. In particular, we explain how a battery of questions devisedby social psychologists and used as a standard measure in surveys was tested andrevised following a series of 60 in-depth interviews. These revisions ranged fromfairly minor changes in wording, in order to make questions better understood, tothe elimination of questions which our qualitative work persuaded us were notcapturing data in the way that other researchers might have assumed they did. 2013-06-03T23:00:00Z http://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/665 Title: The roles of festivals and special events in rural areas: the Welsh Experience Authors: O'Sullivan, Diane; Pickernell, David G. Abstract: This paper explores the potential roles of festivals and events in economic and social development activities in Wales, examining in particular rural/urban differences. The potential use of festivals and events in economic and social development processes is then explored, both in the literature, and via a survey of the activities of the 22 Unitary Authorities in Wales regarding festivals and events. The results highlight that the vast majority of festivals and events are local in scope, and focus on social capital building. They are also strongly correlated with self employment and rurality. In terms of resourcing local (entrepreneurial) resources may also be supplementing or replacing those from unitary authorities. There is a need to evaluate festivals and events in more sophisticated ways than the traditional economic impact or marketing focus. It may be possible to develop approaches to maximize the social capital building aspects which are most suited to social and general entrepreneurial activity. 2013-06-03T23:00:00Z http://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/664 Title: The development of unfired clay building materials for sustainable building construction Authors: Oti, Jonathan E. Abstract: Currently there is a growing pressure on energy efficiency for new buildings in the UK and worldwide. This has arisen partly due to the increasing awareness of the public for sustainable building construction. In addition, there is pressure on building materials manufacturers, due to new government regulations and legislations that are targeting energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions in new buildings. This research work reports on unfired clay building materials (unfired clay bricks) technology for sustainable building construction. The technology aims at the reduction of the high energy input, especially that arising from firing clay bricks in kilns. The research has investigated the use of lime or Portland cement as an activator to an industrial by-product (Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag-GGBS) to stabilise Lower Oxford Clay (LOC). Portland cement was used in the formulation of the unfired clay brick tests specimens predominantly as a control. The development of an unfired clay brick in this current work is considered by the researcher as a significant scientific breakthrough for the building industry. Another breakthrough is the fact that only about 1.5% lime was used for GGBS activation. This is a very low level of usage of lime that is not comparable to, or sufficient for, most road construction applications, where far less strength values are needed and where 3-8% lime is required for effective soil stabilisation. Hence, the final pricing of the unfired clay brick is expected to be relatively low. Industrial scale brick specimens were produced during two separate industrial trials. The first trial was at Hanson Brick Company Ltd, Bedfordshire, UK, while the second was carried out at PD Edenhall Ltd, Bridgend, South Wales, UK. The results clearly demonstrate that all key parameters such as compressive strength, thermal properties and durability were within the acceptable engineering standards for clay masonry units. From the environmental and sustainability analysis results, the unfired clay material has shown energy-efficiency and suggests a formidable economical alternative to the firing of clay building components. This study is one of the earliest attempts to compare fired and unfired clay technology, and also to combine energy use and CO2 emission for unfired clay bricks relative to those bricks used in mainstream construction. This is an attempt to come up with one parameter rating. The overall results suggest that the spinoff from this technology is an invaluable resource for civil engineers and other built environment professionals who need quick access to up-to-date and accurate information about the qualities of various building and construction materials. 2013-04-30T23:00:00Z http://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/663 Title: Towards an aesthetics of theatre technology Authors: D'Arcy, Geraint Abstract: This thesis establishes groundwork for producing an aesthetic language for theatre technology by creating and testing a model for looking at theatre technologies in a critical manner. This model has several functions: Firstly it identifies theatre technology as something which can have a specific or a psycho-plastic scenographic effect. Through processes of re-invigoration and diversification the model allows a device to be regarded in its own context while historiologically allowing for precedent technologies to be acknowledged and compared. Lastly, because the model is ouroboric, self-consuming, it accounts for theatre technologies to be able to interpolate (and be interpolated by) other technologies whilst maintaining its own aesthetic integrity. This allows a critic to treat technology as a text rather than as a medium, and therefore enables it to be closely "read" as a text of the stage affording the technology a content of its own. Through problematising this model against theories of media and remediation, the thesis observes that the common critical position in theatre and performance studies is to treat theatre technology merely as a theatrical technē -- a tool or craft of the art. The arguments presented in the thesis reposition theatre technology from the position of craft to a position of art -- as alētheia, an artistic truth revealed through poiētic means. In the repositioning of attitudes towards technology, and by identifying theatre technologies as separate alētheuein, this thesis is then able to investigate theatre technologies aesthetically. Examining the contexts of technologies through the ouroboric model, and then critically studying their content, usage and meaning textually, this thesis is able to take a theatrical technological effect and begin to identify its affect. It posits that technology as an art in its own right can be aesthetically criticised and awarded meaning of equal weight to other elements of performance and theatre art. 2013-04-30T23:00:00Z