NHBC Foundation: improving recruitment of young people into home building : a literature review

This literature review was undertaken to support research into young people's attitudes to careers in house building. The review is based on database searches supplemented by the evidence gathered during stakeholder interviews and through requests made to the wider careers and home building sectors. In order to fully answer the main research questions, the literature mapping the barriers faced by young people to working within the sector was explored. Based on the review a set of criteria for analysing and categorising industry sector initiatives will also be developed. The criteria will be presented as a separate compendium of opportunities.National House Builders Council Foundatio

The Diasporic Sublime in the Works of Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The doctoral research aims to redefine the theory of the sublime within the transcultural identities through the works of Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The involvement and elevation of Indian American women in migration has not been emphasised enough in the discussion of indentured labour, globalization and effects of cultural appropriation. Considering the German traditions of aesthetics, specifically Immanuel Kant’s theorization of the sublime in his Observations on the Feeling of the Beauty and the Sublime (1790/2011), the dissertation focuses to challenge the specific Kantian notion of female inability to be the sovereign and elevated (sublime) subject. ‘Diasporic sublime’ hence highlights the journey of Indian immigrant women in the United States of America and facing the conflicts to reach the sublime state of body and mind. The dissertation structures the conceptualisation of the postcolonial fear, power and agency through the changes of body, food and home to evince the manifestation of the sublime. Following the contemporary works of Christina Battersby, Bonnie Mann and Barbara Claire Freeman, the dissertation renegotiates the term sublime as a process to confront the submissive identity, dehumanised socio-economical state of immigrant women

Evaluation of Current Methods of Soft Tissue Removal From Bone

The removal of soft tissues from skeletal remains (defleshing) is a common practice in many fields, however, no formal standards exist, even in forensic fields where small bony features and trauma marks must be preserved as evidence. Due to a lack of empirical research, little is known of the effects of defleshing methods on bone tissue or on trauma marks. This study evaluated the efficiency, effectiveness, and destructiveness of 6 common defleshing methods on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virgineanus) hind limbs exhibiting cut and saw marks. Methods assessed were the use of dermestids, maceration, plain water boil, household bleach (Clorox®), sodium perborate, and enzymatic laundry detergent (Biz®). The 3 methods involving chemical or enzyme solutions were tested in low, medium, and high concentrations. The dermestid samples were cleaned within a week, while maceration required over a month. A Kruskal-Wallis test compared the mean ranks of time-to-completion (TTC) for the heated treatments. The sodium perborate methods were significantly faster than the Biz® methods. There was no other significant difference in TTC. Maceration, plain boil, and Clorox® samples were completely cleaned of all soft tissues, but all 5 dermestid samples, 3 low concentration sodium perborate, and 4 Biz® (2 low, 1 medium, 1 high concentration) samples had remnant ligaments after processing. No method altered the trauma marks, but damage in the form of holes through the bone was observed on 2 dermestid and 1 plain boil samples. Cortical bone exfoliation was observed on 1 sample cleaned with a high concentration of Clorox®. Paired t-tests comparing pre- and post-processing values from the confined compression tests revealed that dermestids and high concentrations of Clorox® significantly decreased the stiffness of the bone and maceration significantly increased the compressibility of the bone. This study found that bone tissue can be damaged macroscopically and altered microscopically by the defleshing method used. Therefore, one must consider the resulting effects on bone rather than just the ease of the method if skeletal remains are to be preserved for research or forensic evidence

Incivility in Congressional Communication

Incivility is a significant feature of the contemporary Congress. In this dissertation, I treat incivility as a form of strategic behavior that members of Congress use, under certain circumstances, to pursue their goals. I examine incivility in three distinct venues of congressional communication. I begin by measuring and explaining incivility in campaign communication. I find evidence indicating that members of Congress strategically violate norms of civility in response to the type of electoral threat they face. Members who face the greatest electoral threat from within their own party target uncivil campaign messages to people who are relatively likely to participate in primary elections, while members who face the greatest electoral threat from the other party target uncivil campaign messages to a broader audience. Next, I turn to incivility in floor speeches. I find evidence indicating that minority party and ideologically extreme members respond to their disadvantaged position in the policymaking process through being particularly likely to violate norms of civility in floor speeches. I then examine incivility on partisan cable news networks, which are known for abandoning norms of civility. I find evidence indicating that ideologically extreme senators and party leaders tend to appeal to party activists in the mass public through violating norms of civility during interviews. Finally, I find that the more senators appear on cable news, the more they gain their campaign funds from outside of their state. This indicates that party activists respond favorably to members who appear frequently on uncivil media, through providing these members with key campaign resources. I conclude that incivility in Congress is a form of a collective action problem. Incivility damages the collective reputation of Congress, but my dissertation identifies numerous instances in which individual members use incivility in attempting to achieve their own individual goals.Doctor of Philosoph