Empowering small and medium-sized enterprises in public procurement

With SMEs playing a vital role in the economy and society, and public procurement representing substantial market opportunities, governments increasingly recognise the importance of facilitating SME participation in public procurement. However, the design of supportive measures, referred to as SME-friendly measures, remains contested, particularly regarding their effectiveness in achieving the intended objectives and their potential trade-offs with other objectives, such as value for money, efficiency, non-discrimination, and competition in a public procurement system. This thesis examines such measures in public procurement law, analysing the barriers hindering SME participation, how effectively different measures address these barriers, and what trade-offs arise in practice. The analysis focuses on four legally binding SME-friendly measures: dividing large contracts into lots, managing the qualification process, bid preferences, and reserved contracts. Examples are drawn from four jurisdictions where these measures have been most extensively developed: the European Union, the United States, Brazil, and South Africa. These measures are distinguished by their nature, with the first two representing facilitative approaches that reduce barriers without granting competitive advantages, whilst the latter two are preferential measures that explicitly favour SMEs in procurement procedures. The findings reveal that whilst SME-friendly measures can effectively address certain entry barriers, their success depends critically on careful legal design and robust implementation. The thesis demonstrates that the selection and combination of measures depend on specific jurisdictional objectives and market dynamics: facilitative measures prove more effective where SMEs face procedural barriers to entry, whilst preferential measures may be more effective in markets where SMEs struggle to compete despite participation. Furthermore, this thesis establishes that SME-friendly measures do not necessarily compromise other objectives of public procurement and may enhance competition and value for money when calibrated carefully. Accordingly, the thesis identifies key considerations for legislators and policymakers, offering guidance on selecting, combining, and calibrating SME-friendly measures within specific public procurement systems

Do prisoners in so-called Supermax prisons suffer a “psychic death”? A Nietzschean solution

This thesis examines the experience of prisoners in prolonged solitary confinement in so-called Supermax prisons in the United States of America. The philosophical study of the Supermax prison is an emerging area particularly in relation to the psychological welfare of prisoners incarcerated in such an environment. Most psychiatric and psychological studies indicate that Supermax confinement harms the prisoner. This psychological harm is recognised in the American judiciary but the Supreme Court has not declared the punishment to constitute a violation of the ‘cruel and unusual’ clause in the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Consequently, several philosophical theories have developed that argue that prolonged solitary confinement not only harms the prisoner but amounts to a psychological or ‘psychic’ death. The inceptual and foremost of these theories is argued by Colin Dayan. Dayan draws on the psychiatric studies into the Supermax and John Locke’s philosophy on memory and personal identity to argue that Supermax inmates experience a ‘psychic death.’ This thesis argues that there are flaws in Dayan’s Lockean ‘psychic death’ argument. Instead, I argue that it is more defensible to argue that Supermax prison results in what Friedrich Nietzsche would term a ‘negation’ of psychological life. Crucially, I argue that the psychiatric evidence indicates that inmates do not suffer a psychological death but rather their psychological life is negated and ‘stifled’ in the sense in which Nietzsche uses those terms. For Dayan, the term ‘death’ implies that the inmate’s psychological life is permanently lost. By exploring the psychiatric studies into the Supermax through a Nietzschean lens, I argue that in fact the inmate’s psychological life is not permanently lost. Rather, the inmate’s original psychological life collapses and re-emerges as a violent and destructive one due to the austere Supermax environment. From this Nietzschean framework, my thesis intends to further advance Justice Kennedy’s ‘workable alternatives’ solution in Davis v. Ayala [2015] 576 U.S. 257 and the recommendations made by Jules Lobel. Despite Justice Kennedy’s solution and Lobel’s recommendation to limit the use of prolonged solitary confinement, both perspectives fail to recognise the harm that Supermax confinement has on a prisoner’s psychological life. This thesis aims to develop their positions by acknowledging the psychological harm that Supermax confinement has on inmates and why this punishment should be limited. One major objective of this thesis is to provide an incentive for penal regimes to restrict their use of Supermax confinement because the re-emergence of a violent psychological life presents a threat to the penal order and to the safety of correctional officers

The politics of parking: disabled people's experiences of everyday oppression through encounters with strangers in accessible parking spaces

This thesis explores the impact of disabled people’s encounters with strangers, in the context of Blue Badge accessible parking spaces in England. In documenting how these everyday interactions shape disabled people’s experiences of access to public space, I build on understandings of disability as social-relational phenomenon (Reeve, 2008; Thomas, 1999a). By focussing on supposedly ‘accessible’ spaces, I also contribute to critical perspectives on what constitutes ‘accessibility’. I consider how the UK’s political context of austerity has led to the surveillance and constant questioning of the ‘legitimacy’ of disabled people who are perceived to be receiving ‘perks’. I also explore the impact of the negative affects which circulate in parking spaces and the emotion work required to navigate encounters. My methodology brings together critical disability studies with feminist, queer, and postmodern approaches to challenge harmful binaries about disability and access, in favour of mapping the complexity of encounters. To do this, I employ a two-stage mixed-methods approach. The first stage encompasses a content analysis of newspaper representations of the Blue Badge scheme, alongside a survey of over 300 Blue Badge holders. The second phase consists of 20 semi-structured interviews with disabled people. My findings expose the Blue Badge bay as a microcosm of the negative attitudes held about disability in an ableist society, meaning accessibility is always contingent on the ‘goodwill’ of others. Impossible stereotypes about what a disabled person should look and behave like lead to considerable anxiety in using accessible parking spaces. I also highlight the possibilities for solidarity and positive disabled identities in resisting these stereotypes. Encounters emerge not just as an individual experience, but as a communal one shared by and between many Blue Badge holders. Ultimately, my research highlights that while ableism and stigma against disability are pervasive, no space can ever be truly accessible

Power, politics and the potential of private hospitality: volunteer experiences of the UK community sponsorship scheme

In 2024, over 120 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced, with the majority seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. This unprecedented increase of global displacement has driven the exploration of alternative solutions to the global refugee situation. Attention has been paid to refugee sponsorship, which involves collaboration between Governments and private actors to facilitate resettlement in communities. Initiated in Canada in the late 1970s, sponsorship has gained traction in the last decade, with over 20 countries piloting national programmes. The UK introduced Community Sponsorship (CS) in 2016, the second of its kind globally. Despite growing popularity, research on sponsorship, especially concerning volunteer experiences and their broader political implications, remains limited. This gap is notable given that refugee sponsorship relies heavily on volunteers. If national sponsorship programmes are to be developed and sustained they must recruit, motivate and retain volunteers. Bringing together scholarship on sponsorship and critical and volunteer humanitarianism, this study addresses knowledge gaps around the role of volunteers focusing specifically on how volunteers’ engagement in CS influences relationships with sponsored refugees and ongoing voluntary activity. Employing a qualitative methodology, I utilise walking interviews and online photo- elicitation interviews to explore volunteer experiences across three timepoints of the CS process: before, during and after the arrival of sponsored families. Through the lens of hospitality, this study’s conceptual framework encompasses a broad understanding of power and political action. Findings indicate that volunteers engage with power dynamics in complex ways over the two-year resettlement support period. Volunteers awaiting the arrival of a family exhibit a paternalistic perspective on power. However as relationships developed, by the second timepoint they began to engage with diverse forms of power, involving both dominant and more empowering dynamics, including recognition of refugee agency in the resettlement process. By the end of the two-year formal support period, volunteers in the final timepoint demonstrated increased political engagement to advocate for refugees. This engagement took place overtly, through direct political advocacy, but also in a more micropolitical form, through forms of quiet, everyday politics. Overall, while dominant power dynamics persist in some volunteer/refugee interactions, CS demonstrates the potential to foster more balanced, reciprocal relationships and increased engagement in political support for refugees, which evolved from initial, humanitarian acts of care. Though community-based resettlement models face critique, these findings underscore the importance of motivating and sustaining volunteer involvement in CS and similar national schemes, as they offer a pathway towards more reciprocal refugee resettlement

The adolescent social network: an investigation of social tie variables as predictors of developing economic decision-making and perspective-taking

This thesis asks three questions: Do directed and dyadic social tie variables predict adolescent decision-making in economic games? If so, does the strength of this prediction alter with age? If so, what are the cognitive mechanisms driving this development? We combine social network methods and game theory to investigate these three questions in four studies. In study 1, we use the Trust Game to test whether adolescent trust and expected reciprocity is predicted by directed and dyadic social tie variables (N = 169, Nnetworks = 11, range = 16-19). In study 2, we test whether adolescent cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma is predicted by directed and dyadic social tie variables, and whether this association alters with age (N = 169, Nnetworks = 11, range = 16-19). In study 3, we employ social network methods to investigate whether late adolescents predict the strength of their relationships more accurately than early adolescents (N = 918, nNetworks = 58, age range = 12-18). Finally, in study 4, we use a novel Dictator Game to test whether directed and dyadic social tie variables predict adolescent giving and expected receiving, whether this association alters with age, and whether late adolescents predict the allocations of their peers more accurately than early adolescents (N = 292; Nnetworks = 24; age range = 12 – 18). We found that directed and dyadic social tie variables were robust predictors of economic decision-making in the Trust Game, Prisoner’s Dilemma, and Dictator Games. The strength of this association altered with age in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and Dictator Game, but in the opposite of the hypothesised direction. Finally, we found that late adolescents more accurately predicted the strength of their social relationships than did early adolescents, but no evidence was obtained for a difference when predicting the allocative decisions of classmates in the Dictator Game. This thesis advocates for the utility of the social network approach as a tool for understanding adolescent decision-making at the level of the most integral unit of social interaction: the dyad

Coaches’ encouragement: athletes’ and coaches’ perception of performance strategies use in practice and competition

The aim of this thesis was to investigate athletes' and coaches' perceptions of coaches’ encouragement of performance strategies in practice and competition, underpinned by revised model of coaching efficacy. This thesis consists of six chapters, with the three empirical studies. Chapter 1 is a review of the literature on performance strategies and its measuring tools, and the role of coaches in developing performance strategies, and elements of coaching efficacy such as sources of coaching efficacy information, coach’s efficacy belief, coach behaviour, athletes’ perceptions of coach efficacy, athletes’ characteristics, and athlete outcomes. Chapter 2 examined athletes' perceptions of coaches’ encouragement of performance strategies and whether there were differences between genders, sport type, and levels of competition. This chapter also examines the significant variables that positively predict coach satisfaction and confidence in athletes' physical and mental preparation in the revised model. Following a similar study design to Chapter 2, Chapter 3 explored the similar variables within the practice by comparing athletes' own use and coaches' encouragement of performance strategies. This chapter also examines the significant predictors of coaching satisfaction and quality of training as athlete’s outcomes. After examining athletes' perceptions of coaches' encouragement in Chapter 2 and 3, chapter 4 examined which study variables are predicting direction of anxiety symptoms while controlling athletes’ characteristics, cognitive anxiety intensity and coaching behaviour dimension in practice and competition. However, Chapter 5 explored which study variables are predicting athlete’s motivation of coachability while controlling coaches’ characteristics, coaching qualification, and encouragement of PS in practice and competition. This chapter also examined whether motivation efficacy was the significant predictor of performance strategies. Overall, this thesis makes new contributions to the sport psychology literature by adding new psychological variables to the revised model of coaching efficacy, testing the individual elements of coaching efficacy, and highlighting the role of coaches in encouraging performance strategies for their athletes in different settings

The relevance of relevance: a theoretical, doctrinal, and empirical review of evidential relevance in the criminal courts

This thesis examines the requirement that all pieces of criminal evidence must be regarded as ‘relevant’ before being admitted in criminal trials. This research is a wide-ranging review of evidential relevance and an important foundation towards a normative debate on what relevance is and how it is applied in the criminal courts. To do this, this thesis analyses relevance on three distinct levels: theoretical, doctrinal, and empirical. The theoretical investigation of relevance explores academic framings of relevance and the different representations of relevance in decision-making processes. An analysis of appellate case law then informs an investigation of relevance on a doctrinal level, to consider the ways in which relevance has been conceptualised and operationalised in the appellate courts. An empirical insight into relevance is then drawn from primary data gathered as part of this project, from interviews conducted with 20 criminal barristers on their views and approaches to decision-making on evidential relevance in criminal trials, and their understanding of relevance in practice. This wide-ranging review of evidential relevance is the first research endeavour of its kind, and the first to engage directly with barristers on their decision-making on this fundamental and consequential evidential device. Keith Hawkins’ theoretical framework of ‘Surround, Field and Frame’ is adopted as an analytical tool throughout this thesis, permitting the analysis of multi-layered approaches to decision-making, and the examination of the multitude of factors that impact interpretations of relevance. The thesis demonstrates how relevance is a highly dynamic and innately relational concept that is far more complex and nuanced than is typically appreciated by academics and practitioners alike. The review of relevance undertaken here shows that the ways relevance is understood and used can be highly internalised, rather than deliberative, making the decision-making processes susceptible to a range of legal and non-legal influences. Relevance as an evidential concept is highly impactful in the trial process and it is imperative that we have as comprehensive an account of relevance as is possible. This thesis provides context, substance, and detail to that important end

Predictive analysis of fracture and fatigue in polymer gear teeth: a new theory for preventing failure

This research focuses on solving wear-related challenges in involute gear-tooth polymer materials, enhancing Buckingham's and Merritt's equations, particularly in the context of elevated frictional temperatures resulting from kinematic contact behaviour. The Mason Institute of Tribology laboratory study employs the MARK II testing machine to underscore the significant consequences of erosion and wear, leading to weight reduction and wear size increase, ultimately culminating in tooth cracking. Detailed observations of the tooth surface reveal kinematic gear contact behaviour attributed to factors such as involute gear geometry failure, changing of vibration, frictional temperature issues, tooth deflection, and bending stress, particularly under extended machine cycles and heavy work loading. The study applies four distinct coefficient theories - Buckingham, Merritt, Benedict & Kelley, and Drozdov & Gavrikov - to determine frictional coefficients through theoretical analysis and experimental testing, establishing a correlation between these coefficients and resulting gear power losses. The research focuses on polymer gears constructed from various Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK) grades, adhering to industrial standards. Simulated designs consider temperature variations, mechanical load conditions, and changes in polymer material stiffness, examining critical factors such as load-sharing ratio, tooth bending stress, and frictional temperature between gear pairs. The structural and thermal-dynamic geometries are analyzed using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to predict parameters including contact pressure interface, stress distribution, and tooth bending deformation behaviour. Additionally, the study explores the impact of fluctuations in frictional coefficients on actual gear power losses, emphasizing the predictive capability of power loss in polymer gears. The research rigorously compares theoretical frictional coefficient and power loss results with experimental data to validate theoretical models. Crack propagation analysis reveals alterations in approach lengths and recess along the un-normal contact path, leading to increased wear on tooth flanks and the onset of initial cracks. The research emphasizes the importance of Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) analysis, focusing on Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) critical for evaluating fatigue crack growth, influenced by factors including coefficient of friction, strain responses, tooth wear, and stress-induced bending deformation. In conclusion, this comprehensive thesis contributes significantly to solving wear-related issues in involute gear-tooth PEEK gears, providing valuable insights into optimizing gear design and improving the efficiency of polymer gear systems

The role of evidence based prosopography in the digital study of past human lives

The Semantic Web presents an opportunity to study Past Human Lives (PHL) and their relationships. Information about PHL resides largely in the physical records in the archives and in digital representations on genealogical platforms. Information about PHL is not Born Digital, so to study PHL digitally, physical information in its original form must first be digitally represented. This is challenging because information about PHL is mostly unstructured, messy and incomplete, and therefore largely unsuitable for digital study as data. This thesis addresses the problematic relationship between ‘information’ (physical) and ‘data’ (digital) and the lack of comprehensive infrastructure provision for researchers into PHL in digital form. This concern is addressed by showing how extending digital infrastructure to embrace Evidence Based Prosopography (EBP), organised in a National Authority Indexing system and based on Unique Identifiers (NAI-UIDs), ensures that information about PHL is represented digitally in a structured and useful format, thus enabling researchers to take full advantage of the Semantic Web. Issues such as fixity, affixedness and provenance tracking are addressed. The EBP system is based on linking existing data matching practices in genealogy, and existing catalogue and finding aids in academia, and it utilises UID structures common to both. Current Digital Humanities (DH) infrastructure is shown to be sufficiently mature to now extend its provision by adopting the EBP and NAI system. This study is informed by a digital research project that models relationships between 3000 activists from 1830 to 1870, with 600 Quakers among them. This included design and build of a Human Data Digital Toolkit (HDDT) to organise and manage an EBP dataset combined from several archival sources in a variety of data formats. This ‘Independent Researcher’ project was compared with five other contemporaneous (larger and well resourced) research affordances taken from different countries, to show how the Independent Researcher model is not impaired when compared to much larger projects, and that the Independent Researchers needs bridge the gap between academia and genealogy. The study concludes by demonstrating how the extension of infrastructure provision to include the EBP system will provide significant improvement to infrastructure support for researchers, from large well-resourced down to Independent Researcher projects, across academia and genealogy, and across society. The EBP system addresses key issues in data management, especially the three essential relationships between information and data – fixity, affixedness and provenance. It also provides a structured infrastructure which supports data interoperability and sustainability. The practical next steps necessary to develop the EBP system are set out

Selective extraction and upcycling of LiMn2O4 cathode material from first-generation lithium-ion batteries

The lithium-ion battery scrap pool is set to grow extensively in volume as first-generation electric vehicles reach their end-of-life in upcoming years. There are many key environmental and socioeconomic drivers for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion batteries, or LIBs) and methods to extract and process solid-state electrode materials are an essential part of the recycling process. Some electrode materials from first-generation cells, such as lithium manganese oxide spinel, or LiMn2O4 (LMO), are no longer extensively used in current-generation vehicle cells. Therefore, in this thesis, experiments investigating the “upcycling” of LMO from lithium-ion battery cathode material are outlined, from quality control-rejected and end-of-life cathodes, in an array of experiments. In the first results chapter LMO is selectively extracted from quality control-rejected (QCR) and end-of-life (EOL) cathode material followed by interconversion into an array of upcycling products. The experiments outlined highlighted the effectiveness of a selective leaching process for the extraction of LMO from spent cathode material and the success of the interconversion explored. The LMO, Mn oxalate dihydrate, Mn2O3 and Mn3O4 products formed with structures Fd3 ̅m, C12/c1, Pcab and I41/amd respectively, across the pristine and leached QCR and EOL samples in all cases, with minimal contamination that did not jeopardise the material structure, indicating this success. In the second results chapter, upcycling experiments are conducted with QCR and EOL-derived Mn oxalate to generate MnO─C nanocomposite conversion anodes. In the first section synthetic conditions are investigated to manufacture nanosized MnO suspended in a carbon matrix to ensure that intrinsic issues seen for conversion electrodes, that lead to poor capacity retention, are minimised for optimal electrochemical performance. The conditions chosen for this synthesis involved a mechanochemical route followed by an inert atmosphere heat treatment step, whereby the mechanochemical product was heated to 600 °C and held at this temperature for 4 hours under nitrogen. These conditions gave rise to the desired nanoMnO─C composite for subsequent electrochemical analysis, which was then applied to generated nanosized carbon composite Mn (II) oxide electrodes from lithium-ion battery-derived Mn-based precursors. The electrochemical performance of these leached nanocomposites highlights the upcycling opportunity for redundant LMO leached from QCR and EOL cathodes, with capacities of 777 (±12), and 916 (±37) mAhg-1 reached after 15 cycles, respectively. These capacities exceed the theoretical capacity for MnO, at 755 mAhg-1, significantly in the EOL case, highlighting the potential for upcycled products from leached cathode materials. In the final chapter Mn oxalate, generated from pristine and leached material in the first chapter, is studied as a conversion anode. Though this anode material has been investigated in the literature, this chapter outlines innovative experiments to develop an electrochemical understanding of Mn oxalate anodes and to determine whether upcycled QCR and EOL Mn oxalate exhibit enhanced electrochemical behaviour when compared to the performance of pristine material. Firstly, electrochemical conditions are tailored to probe the anode material’s fascinating capacity behaviour, by cycling the anode to a 2 V and 3 V voltage maximum. By the 100th cycle, the discharge capacity of the 2 V max cells averaged out at 160 (± 7) mAhg-1 and the 3 V max cells averaged out at 723 (±8) mAhg-1 at 14% and 70% of their first discharge capacity, respectively, indicating the effect of the 3 V maximum voltage on capacity retention. Furthermore, redox activity was much more significant out to 100 cycles for the 3 V max than the 2 V max anode, as exhibited in differential capacity analysis, which indicates that the 3 V max cell undergoes additional redox activity through increased oxidation state of Mn, or even through anionic redox of the oxalate group within the polyanion. In-situ pair distribution function (PDF) analysis gave additional insights into the origin of the interesting electrochemical behaviour, indicating that the conversion product at the end of the first cycle does not resemble Mn oxalate. This structure at the end of charge has been hypothesised to match with a zincblende-structured MnO with space group F4 ̅3m, countering the reports of the reversible conversion reaction outlined extensively in the literature for Mn oxalate, but providing more insights into the electrochemical deviation between the 2 V and 3 V max half-cells. Finally, the electrochemical behaviour of Mn oxalate derived from pristine and leached QCR and EOL LiMn2O4 has been explored to determine the success of upcycling LMO into Mn oxalate conversion anodes. After 100 cycles the capacity recovery of the 3 V max cycled half-cells remained as high as 650 mAhg-1 for the QCR and 475 mAhg-1 for the EOL sample, proving to be highly successful in upcycling the interconverted LiMn2O4 into Mn oxalate material. Though the capacity retention after 100 cycles was lower with an increased degree of contamination from the leached samples, the capacity still outperforms the expected capacity based on the theoretical calculation, at 375 mAhg-1