Carabid beetle communities of Northern heath: their response to management practices

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The myth of independence: British Bahraini relations in the nineteenth century

This thesis considers the period from the establishment of regular contact between Britain and Bahrain in 1806 until the deposition and criminalisation of Muhammed bin Khalifah, the incumbent Sheikh of Bahrain, in 1869. During this period Britain attempted to supervise regional affairs through a mediating layer of independent Arab Chieftains who it recognised by concluding a General Treaty with them in 1820. This system, however, identified here as a distinct paradigm, had several fundamental weaknesses. The practical organisation of this system was not only unable to effect the ambitions of peace, stability and the preservation of a dominant British influence, it acted negatively against the fulfilment of these ambitions and inhibited the very aims that it had been designed to secure. In sitting the General Treaty, the Al Khalifah were formally recognised as sovereign rulers, but they did not have the means and the resources to exercise this right, and were still subject to aggressions from their neighbours. Britain was thus obliged to guarantee the tenure of the Al Khalifah as rulers of Bahrain, or accept the overthrow and destruction of the system of independent rulers. If the Al Khalifah were to avoid attack from hostile parties, they were obliged to offer submission, and repeatedly did so, although such acts compromised their independence and Britain’s position in the Persian Gulf Under the terms of the General Treaty, however, the British had forfeited their opportunity actively defend their interests by restraining the Sheikh. In recognising the Al Khalifah as independent chiefs, Britain was committed to non-intervention in the affairs of the Persian Gulf This withdrawal from the internal affairs of Bahrain transformed the independent sheikhs into agents for instability that compromised Britain's authority in the Gulf It also allowed the Al Khalifah to indulge in oppressions that not only destabilised the tranquillity of the Persian Gulf but destroyed the internal cohesion of the ruling tribe and precipitated Civil War. As the nineteenth century progressed, Britain was obliged in response to these reoccurring and irresolvable tensions to increasingly ignore its own paradigm and disregard the independence of the Al Khalifah in order to preserve its essential interests. Incrementally, starting with discussions in 1839, Britain considered alternative options for the organisation of the Gulf and began to refashion its relationship outside of the nineteenth century paradigm. This process culminated in the assumption under an Order-in-Council of protectorate status, although the abandonment of this unworkable paradigm was indicated by the deposition and criminalisation of the Sheikh of Bahrain in 1869. Bahrain's independence was ultimately sacrificed to the exigencies of British policy. In point of fact, however, it had been conceived as a mask for British domination of the region. This thesis examines the ambiguity implicit in the General Treaty and the reasons behind the failure of British attempts at domination in the Persian Gulf in the nineteenth century. The diktats of the General Treaty precluded intervention in regional affairs while due attention to British strategic interests demanded the exercise of a degree of control

EFFECT OF REPETITION ON TIME TO DON AND ADJUST A FALL PROTECTION HARNESS

A major concern in the field of occupational safety and health is the fatalities resulting from falling from heights. In the construction industry, a common approach for protecting workers is the use of a fall protection harness connected to a secure anchor. To be effective, harnesses must be fitted and adjusted to the individual. This requires training on adjusting the straps of a harness, and the training must include practice to ensure the worker has the skills to make a secure fit. It would be useful for those who conduct training on harness fitting to know if trainees would benefit from more than one practice donning a harness and adjusting the straps. The broad hypothesis for this study is that the repetition times for donning a harness to attain a satisfactory fit will be, after proper training and familiarity with the harness, longer on the initial repetition, and reduced each subsequent repetition. The reduction pattern is expected to follow the common learning curve model. The specific aim of this project was to experimentally characterize how the time to don and adjust a harness changes with number of repetitions. A secondary intent was to obtain qualitative feedback about usability of harness fitting straps. The time to properly adjust the straps was used as an indicator of how skill level changes with additional repetitions. A repetition was defined for this project as donning and adjusting the harness with coaching by the trainer. General donning strap guidelines and visual observations by the trainer were used to help each trainee fit their harness according to the manufacturers’ guidelines. Twenty-five college students participated in a study by performing each of five steps in a harness-donning repetition. Each participant repeated the process four times while being timed. After each repetition the participant received tips from the experimenter. This approach was used to mimic the harness-fit training used in the construction company where the investigator interned. Results showed reduced donning times with each repetition. The largest mean decrease was from the first to second repetition. Times continued to decline each repetition, with time reductions getting smaller with each repetition. The pattern of declining time followed a learning curve based on a power model. According to the fitted model the time will decrease 20.6% with each doubling of repetitions; thus, the second repetition will take 20.6% less time than the first, and the fourth repetition will take 20.6% less time than the second

Building resilience in the UK water sector: a systems based approach to emergency management

The ability to achieve resilience to extreme events requires a shift away from the traditional risk management approach and a progression towards understanding resilience as a dynamic process operating within a complex socio-ecological-technical emergency management system. Taking a systems based approach this research applied quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how resilience to water supply failure is achieved within the UK emergency management system. This was supported through the application of the Safe and SuRe intervention framework. Semi-structured interviews with emergency management professionals revealed that the Civil Contingencies Act, 2004 is not aligned with current operational practices to enable effective collaboration between Category 1 and Category 2 responders. This is further constrained by a lack of government funding and a lack of understanding with regard to organisational culture and how this influences the operational delivery of multi-agency emergency response. The attitudes and perceptions of individuals to water supply failure was examined through individual householder questionnaires and the analysis of Facebook comments during the ‘Beast from the East’. Individuals expressed a high level of confidence in the ability of Water Service Provider’s to provide a reliable, continuous and safe supply of water. While the majority of individuals do not prepare for a failure of the water supply they actively respond during an incident to achieve resilience by purchasing water from the supermarkets, staying with relatives or attending water distribution stations. However, the ability to achieve resilience requires the provision of accurate, timely and consistent information from the Water Service Providers. Resilience to emergencies can also be strengthened at the local level through the development of collaborative working partnerships. The integration of community groups within the emergency management system enables resilience through the sharing and exchange of information to understand capabilities available for effective emergency response. This research demonstrates how the application of a systems based approach enables a greater understanding of the complex interdependencies between different parts of the emergency management system. These were explored and developed into recommendations identifying where resilient based strategies and interventions are required at the government, inter-organisational and community level

Review of trace toxic elements (Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Sb, Bi, Se, Te) and their deportment in gold processing. Part 1: Mineralogy, aqueous chemistry and toxicity

A literature review on the deportment of trace toxic elements (Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Sb, Bi, Se, and Te) in gold processing by cyanidation is presented which compiles the current knowledge in this area and highlights the gaps. This review, together with further research on the gaps in the thermodynamics and kinetics of these systems, aims to support the development of computer models to predict the chemical speciation and deportment of these elements through the various stages of the gold cyanidation process. The first part of this review is a collation of the relevant information on trace element mineralogy, aqueous chemistry and toxicity, together with a comparison of two available software packages (JESS and OLI) for thermodynamic modelling. Chemical speciation modelling can assist in understanding the chemistry of the trace toxic elements in gold cyanidation solutions which remains largely unexplored. Many significant differences exist between the predicted speciation of these trace elements for different types of modelling software due to differences in the thermodynamic data used, the paucity of data that exists under appropriate non-ideal conditions, and the methods used by the software packages to estimate thermodynamic parameters under these conditions. The toxicity and environmental guidelines of the chosen trace element species that exist in aqueous solutions are discussed to better understand the health and environmental risks associated with the presence of these elements in gold ores

Mr. and Mrs. Cross with the Artist John Wharlton Bunney in Venice, June 1880

The dramatic incident in Venice on the morning of 16 June 1880, when the newly married John Walter Cross jumped into the Grand Canal from his hotel room\u27s balcony, has attracted much curiosity and speculation. Understandably Mrs. Cross (George Eliot) was reticent about the happening in her journal and letters, and also wrote little about her stay in Venice before and after the event. But there is another source of information about the couple\u27s Venetian experiences - the personal recollections and correspondence of the English artist John Wharlton Bunney (1828-82). Bunney, described by Marian as \u27an excellent painter and an interesting man\u27 in a letter to her husband\u27s sisters Mary, Eleanor, and Florence on 13 June,\u27 had lived with his family in Venice since June 1870. He received the Crosses at his apartment in Castello, showed his pictures, lent his copy of Ruskin\u27s Stones of Venice, and also left his work to escort them round some of the city\u27s delights. There surely would have been other excursions if the canal incident had not happened. Bunney pointed out several things that \u27we should not have seen without his aid\u27, Marian told her sisters-in-law. Bunney noted a conversation with Marian at her hotel on 22 June, the day before she and her husband left Venice for Verona on the next stage of their honeymoon, but discreetly left unrecorded anything he knew about John\u27s jump. So nothing Bunney wrote in his journal sheds new light on what triggered John Cross\u27s extraordinary behaviour that hot day more than 130 years ago. But the artist\u27s recorded conversations with Marian, before 16 June and on the twenty-second, certainly enlarge the story of the Crosses\u27 time in Venice, as also do four letters - one each from Marian and John Cross to Bunney in Venice, one from Marian to Bunney\u27s wife Elizabeth from Baden in July 1880, and a fourth from John to Bunney from London in March 1881, all previously unpublished and generally unknown

Employability Skills in the Master of Professional Accounting: One School’s Journey

This paper describes the efforts made by the School of Accounting, Finance and Economics at Edith Cowan University (ECU) to address concerns expressed by the accounting profession, employer groups, higher education reviews and universities regarding the employability of accounting graduates and the need for accounting graduates to demonstrate a higher level of competence in non-technical skills. A comprehensive review of the twelve core units of the Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) program at ECU was undertaken in order to investigate this issue. The initial stage of the review involved the identification of the key ‘employability skills’ required of accounting graduates and the next stage involved the determination of the extent to which these employability skills are currently being addressed in the program. The findings are based on the examination of unit plans, interviews with unit coordinators, the results of surveys as well as meetings with other key stakeholders. Evidence from the review indicated that there was no coordinated approach towards addressing employability skills in the MPA program; strategies currently employed are inconsistent and lack appropriate content, assessment and feedback; and there is inadequate consultation with other stakeholders. A proposed framework for the embedding and scaffolding of employability skills across all twelve core units of the MPA is presented along with a number of strategies for the implementation of this framework