FROM ECONOMY TO EXCLUSIVITY: A HISTORY OF THE DEVORE TEXTILE 1880 TO 1940.

This thesis creates a contextual historical analysis of the development of chemical and devore manufactured textiles, relating methods of construction and intended use to existing textile design and social histories. The initial investigation of devore practice, whether used in association with woven, knitted and stitched textiles, includes a comprehensive examination of the historical textile patent record from 1840 to 1940, which formed an extensive part of the historiography. The aim of the research was to establish a credible narrative of woven devore, through its design and its manufacture. The methodology is interdisciplinary. In the course of my research and material evaluation I have considered evidence that is normally considered to be chemical and fibre analysis, design and art history review, dress textile and interior textile analysis, social and economic history and object analysis. This study in particular focuses on the peculiar dichotomy of woven devore: that is its growth as a manufacturing method of affordable textiles for the mass market contrasted with its most common deployment, as an ornate decorative textile. This study also challenges the conventional view that the aforementioned decorative woven devore textiles were developed in response to periods of economic depression

The mechanism of neuropathy in peripheral myelin protein 22 mutant mice

Mutations in the gene for peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) are associated with peripheral neuropathy in mice and humans. PMP22 is produced mainly in Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system where it is localised to compact myelin. The function of PMP22 is unclear but its low abundance makes it unlikely to be a structural myelin protein. I have studied the peripheral nerves of two different mouse models with alterations in the pmp22 gene. (1) The Trembler-J (TrJ) mouse which has a point mutation [L16P] in the first transmembrane domain of PMP22. (2) PMP22 overexpressing transgenic mice which have 7 (C22), 4 (C61) and 2 (C2) copies of the human PMP22 gene in addition to the mouse pmp22 gene. In the nerves of adult TrJ mice there was considerable evidence of abnormal Schwann cel1-axon interactions. Abnormal features were reproduced in the early stages of regeneration following crush injury. This demonstrates that the abnormalities are a result of an intrinsic abnormality of TrJ Schwann cells and not secondary changes related to demyelination. In the initial stages of postnatal development the number of axons that were singly ensheathed was the same in all the mutants examined, indicating that PMP22 does not function in the initial enclosure of groups of axons and subsequent separation of single axons. All strains examined had an increased proportion of fibres that were incompletely surrounded by Schwann cell cytoplasm indicating that this step is disrupted in PMP22 mutants. Increasing the number of copies of PMP22 resulted in an increasing severity of phenotype. In C22 (7 copy) animals myelin formation was delayed or non-existent in many fibres whereas in C61 animals myelination initially appeared normal with abnormality appearing later in a small population of fibres. The C2 strain appeared relatively unaffected. It is concluded that PMP22 functions in the initiation of myelination and most probably involves the ensheathment of the axon by the Schwann cell, and the extension of this cell along the axon. Abnormalities are most likely to result from defective interactions between the axon and the Schwann cell

Honesty, social presence, and self-service in retail

Retail self-service checkouts (SCOs) can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff. Recent research indicates that the lack of presence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on dishonest user behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. Our hypotheses were partially supported by the results. We conclude that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study

Gold standard or fool's gold: the pursuit of certainty in experimental criminology

This article assesses some of the claims made for experimental research in the field of rehabilitation of offenders. It suggests that both policy officials and evaluators have tended to over-invest financially and intellectually in a technocratic model of reducing reoffending that emphasizes programmes for offenders, and to under-invest in models that see the process as a complex ‘people changing’ skill. It argues that the complexity of this process renders it hard to evaluate using experimental methods of evaluation such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RCTs provide strong internal validity, but in complex settings offer weak external validity, making it hard to generalize from the experimental setting to other settings. The article suggests that the proper role for evaluative research in this field should be seen as building and testing middle-level theories about how best to change offenders’ behaviour

Investigating the future of self-service technology

In this paper we describe an ongoing research project between NCR Dundee and Abertay University to investigate the future of self-service technology for entertainment. The aim was to assess how future technologies may be utilized in building a new system or improving current approaches to content distribution. We designed a web-based survey to determine the likelihood with which users would interact with future services. The findings suggested a strong preference for internet based technologies and the implications for further usage technologies are discussed