Social art practices as feminist manifestos: radical hospitality in the archive.

The research presents a practice-based examination of the politics and poetics of the manifesto form, drawing on feminist theoretical writing and activism alongside contemporary iterations of socially engaged art. It offers feminist manifestos as a lens through which to reconsider the form and intentions of socially engaged art, which is reframed in the light of these feminist insights as social art practice (Ross, 2000). To draw feminism alongside social art practice the research occupies the metaphorical territory of the manifesto in order to open up a dialogue with, and directly experience, unfolding forms of social art practice. The thesis is structured in the form of an archive, consisting of three distinct but interrelated concepts “ the manifesto, hospitality and archives. This structure sets out to highlight the relational and political nature of archives suggesting their potential to be reimagined as manifesto forms. In addition the structure reveals how both manifesto and archive function as explicit, politically radical forms of hospitality. These topics are discretely contained in physical form within three archival boxes, one for each concept, and in an online audio archive giving voice to each of the concepts. Taken as a whole the thesis articulates a missing feminist history within current critical discourse around social art practice -­ despite the early presence of important feminist artists like Lacy and Ukeles. This research explores the implications of this absence, seeking to acknowledge the effects it could have not only on feminism as a political and intellectual practice but on the criticality and depth of social art practice. It is possible to encounter the archive as a cartography that can be laid out, navigated and read in any order. This movement between forms of knowledge mirrors the subjects it approaches which are conceived as interstitial forms, negotiating multiple perspectives to produce active subjectivity. Each section juxtaposes knowledge about practice, engaging with history to search for precedents, and knowledge with practice as a generative method, curating events and producing written contributions. Moving between these two methodologies the research sets out to find an appropriate voice to articulate the complexities of social art practice and its feminist histories

Writings between: vulnerability and resistance: the third and final part of a series of correspondences between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke on the politics of hosting and hospitality.

This is the third and final article in the Writings Between series of correspondence between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke. These letters cross formal and informal borders, ‘writings between’ us, and things, marking a moment that has forced us to rethink what it means to be ‘at home’ with one another and in the world

Defences to Murder: A Woman-Centred Analysis

This thesis has developed a woman-centred analytical framework and accompanying court room strategy to critically evaluate the legal construction of abused women who kill and their reactions to abuse in the context of the defences to homicide. This builds upon the existence of extensive empirical evidence which explains the defensive nature of female perpetrated intimate partner homicides. Despite such information, the recognition of abused women’s reactions as reasonable within the context of domestic violence is not reflected within the defences to homicide. Instead, abused women must fall within masculine constructions of appropriate reaction, or else be constructed within a psychological framework premised upon the existence of a mental abnormality. In order to challenge the legal construction of abused women who kill, this thesis evaluated the strategic possibilities apparent within the admissibility of expert testimony concerning domestic violence. It used abused women’s narratives and social contexts to demonstrate the reasonable nature of their reaction. The potential of such testimony was explored when the strategy was applied to the current partial and complete defences to homicide. Upon application, it became clear that the defences to homicide are implicitly gender biased, making the admissibility of such testimony insufficient to challenge prevailing and masculine notions of appropriate behaviour. Therefore, this thesis has argued that it is necessary to implement a partial defence of excessive force in self defence. This would recognise the defensive nature of abused women’s reactions to abuse whilst enabling abused women’s narratives and social contexts to be used as a means of challenging the current legal constructions of abused women who kill. It is hoped that these narratives will be used to facilitate further legal reform until abused women’s reactions to abuse can appropriately be incorporated into the complete defence of self defence

Writings between: bodies of knowledge: part two of a series of correspondences between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke on the politics of hosting and hospitality.

This is the second article in the Writings Between series of correspondence between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke. These letters cross formal and informal borders, ‘writings between’ us, and things, marking a moment that has forced us to rethink what it means to be ‘at home’ with one another and in the world

Writings between: taking time: part one of a series of correspondences between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke on the politics of hosting and hospitality.

In Spring, Caroline and Jen planned to produce and publish a short dialogue for an exhibition by artists Juliane Foronda, Kirsty Russell and Tako Taal, A Spoon is the Safest Vessel, hosted by the Look Again Project space in Aberdeen. Working with Caroline, a Development worker for Programming and Curating at Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL), the artists had made new work in response to GWL’s archive, and the Domestic Science School in the Art and Heritage collection at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen; taking into consideration the hosting practices of both GWL and Look Again. In response to COVID 19 and the lockdown, the work changed form, finding a place online. The dialogue with Jen, a lecturer at Gray’s School of Art, became an expanded series of letters, that cross formal and informal borders, ‘writings between’ us, and things, marking a moment that has forced us to rethink what it means to be ‘at home’ with one another and in the world

Building information model implementation for existing buildings for facilities management: a framework and two case studies

This paper presents the process of implementation of a building information model for managing an existing building, identifying a development framework and documenting the difficulties that occurred during the implementation of the initial stages. The use of building information modelling (BIM) for the design and construction phase of a building has been thoroughly looked into by researchers and practitioners and there is evidence to support that it is beneficial for reducing cost, time and improving communication. A single shared building information model results in a greater accuracy, clarity and consistency of the information available during the life cycle compared to traditional 2D/3D drawings. Yet the potential use of BIM for the operational and management phase (facilities management), besides maintenance schedules and equipment information and location, is still not clearly identified. The UK Government, institutional clients and major private owners are now demanding BIM for new construction and major refurbishment, but given that 70–75% of the UK building stock that will exist and be in use in 2050 has already been built, a significant part of the existing facilities will not have a building information model till the next major refurbishment. This creates a major gap in the built environment, when it comes to having BIM for existing buildings. This paper presents the initial findings of two case studies, where building information models were developed for two existing buildings using a new framework and concludes that minimal BIM skills are sufficient to construct a base building model that can be implemented over time by facilities managers

The effectiveness of cognitive analytic therapy for borderline personality disorder : utilizing a withdrawal experimental design to improve sensitivity to abandonment

Objectives A primary methodological weakness of the single‐case experimental design (SCED) outcome studies conducted of the treatment of personality disorder with cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is that they have failed to employ a withdrawal phase or cross‐over design and so are deemed quasi‐experimental. This study sought to implement a withdrawal design, in order to improve the internal validity of the study to make it a true SCED, and also in order to enable the patient to explore abandonment dynamics. Design The study employed an A1/B1/A2/B2 with extended follow‐up SCED with a female patient treated with CAT meeting diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Following the 6‐week baseline period ‘A1’, treatment occurred in two phases (21 sessions ‘B1’ and 24 sessions ‘B2’) sandwiching a 12‐week treatment withdrawal phase (‘A2’) and a 24‐week structured follow‐up phase. Seven idiographic daily measures were collected that created a N = 698 day timeline. Nomothetic outcome measures were collected at baseline and at the end of each phase of the study, and the Session Impact Scale was completed after each treatment session. Results There was a significant increase in the task focus of treatment sessions. Ideographically, CAT was an effective treatment for improving the participant’s self‐to‐self relationship, as their self‐hate reduced and their sense‐of‐self increased. There was a broad pattern of deterioration during the second treatment phase (B2) and follow‐up phase across the ideographic measures, and CAT was ineffective for BPD ideographic emotional or self‐to‐other measures. Reliable change occurred on the primary BPD nomothetic outcome measure from baseline to end of first treatment phase. Conclusions The study suggests that the CAT intervention was partially successful and that it is possible to integrate good research practice with clinical innovation. The methodological strengths and limitations of the design and the clinical implications of the results are discussed. Practitioner points Cognitive analytic therapy was partially effective in the treatment of BPD in a case that had been unresponsive to other psychological interventions. Therapists need to complete lengthy and structured follow‐up to capture any emerging relapse. Therapists need to discuss the patient’s thoughts and feelings about termination regularly in a relationally informed manner

Industrially-safe, Nitrogen-buffered Graphene CVD and its Application in Sensing Devices

Ph. D. ThesisGraphene is a two-dimensional carbon material, which has been suggested for use within many next-generation electronic applications due to its outstanding electronic and mechanical properties. Copper-catalysed chemical vapour deposition (Cu-CVD) is currently the most promising method for upscaling graphene production. However, there are safety and cost aspects which have not yet been fully explored and which are desirable to have in place prior to moving graphene production from batch- to industrial-scale production. This thesis presents research aimed at the development of Cu-CVD graphene growth recipes, using processes which mitigate against explosive risk and reduce cost via the dilution of precursor species within nitrogen, rather than the almost universally used argon. Process development is presented for graphene growth within a nitrogen-buffered atmosphere, which demonstrates that graphene growth follows the same trends with nitrogen as is observed within argon and also provides a guideline for others wishing to develop their own graphene CVD processes. Investigation of graphene films grown within nitrogen-buffered and argon-buffered atmospheres via Raman Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Time-ofFlight Secondary Ion Spectroscopy are presented, demonstrating that atomic nitrogen does not become incorporated within the graphene film when CVD is carried out within an N2 atmosphere, within spectroscopically detectable limits. The use of nitrogen, rather than argon, within CVD opens possibilities for significant cost reduction, particularly within mass-production which is likely to require high volumes of process gases. The electronic properties of the CVD graphene is explored via analysis of graphene field effect transistor (GFET) where it is shown that graphene grown via nitrogen-buffered CVD and argon-buffered CVD is indistinguishable. GFETs are used as the basis for gas-sensing devices, operating on a basis of resistance change due to charge-transfer. Decoration of GFETs with catalytically active nanoparticles to improve device sensitivity is explored, but quality variation of graphene layers is shown to be a limiting factor.Newcastle University SAgE DT

An econometric investigation of the relationship between the price of oil and U.K. macroeconomic performance

The objective of this thesis is to conduct an econometric investigation of the relationship between the price of oil and U.K. macroeconomic performance. For this purpose, quarterly seasonally-adjusted time series have been collected which extend from 1972 to 2008. Empirical results are obtained from the estimation of unrestricted and restricted vector autoregressive models. The conclusions which are reached in this study are founded upon both within- and post-sample analyses of the data. A considerable amount of research has already been devoted to the subject of the relationship between the price of oil and macroeconomic performance. Within the empirical literature, much attention has been paid to whether the macroeconomic consequences of an increase in the price of oil are symmetrical to those of a decrease. However, a largely neglected issue has been whether or not the effects of an oil price shock are subject to variation over time. The fundamental contribution which is made by this thesis is to rectify this situation through applying suitable extensions to two existing vector autoregressive models. From the empirical analysis which is subsequently undertaken, it is apparent that spurious results can arise from failing to allow for both the change in the status of the U.K. to a significant exporter of crude oil and the reduction in the intensity with which this commodity is utilised in the production process. In particular, without the recommended augmentations, the importance of past movements in the price of oil to macroeconomic performance would be seriously understated.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Discretionary household consumption expenditure in the UK: measurement and evaluation

The current cost-of-living crisis which is afflicting several countries has hastened the need to be able to distinguish between essential and inessential items of spending. Hence, the principal purpose of this paper is to develop a series on UK discretionary household consumption expenditure through making maximum use of publicly available data that are provided by the Office for National Statistics. The Family Spending workbooks offer information on the weekly consumption patterns of the ten income deciles, while the publication, Consumer Trends, contains quarterly time-series data on the expenditure by the entire household sector on different goods and services. From an analysis of both types of data, we identify 28 three-digit COICOP categories of consumption as being discretionary, constituting, on average, approximately 20% of total domestic household expenditure over the interval, 1985Q1 – 2019Q4. Our approach towards constructing a series on discretionary consumption receives vindication from subsequent empirical results, which show that this variable enjoys a more significant and stable relationship with a reputable measure of consumer confidence than each of the traditional aggregates to be found within Consumer Trends, i.e. spending on durable goods, semi-durable goods, non-durable goods, and services