University of Bedfordshire Masters by research degree dissertations

Recent Submissions

  • Investigating the issues and core professional for a construction planner competencies

    O'Callaghan, Anthony (University of Bedfordshire, 2023-11)
    The research examines the issues and state of planning within construction in the UK, and associated competencies and skills that should be expected. Project planning does not yet have any assessment criteria or recognised body in place either in the UK or Europe to support or help monitor planning SME’s (Subject Matter Experts), whereas other specialisms that operate alongside planners in project controls or project management offices such as cost engineers have ACostE (Acoste.co.uk, 2013) or risk managers have the Institute of Risk Management (Theirm.org/, 2014) have supporting bodies. This has resulted in planning being saturated with unqualified or poor planners. My research focuses and builds on my BSc (Hons) dissertation and includes the suggested adjustments from the MiPP proposal “How competent planning can effectively influence procurement within the construction sector.” The research incorporated questionnaires, interviews, and relevant literature pertaining to the specialism of planning combining both qualitative and quantitative data. The resultant of this has confirmed that planning indeed has serious issues with regards to qualifications, ability, behaviors, etc. and that this is viewed not just across planning, but also by other disciplines. The research demonstrates and proves there that from the sample of interviewees taken, a significant percentage believe there are issues within the specialism of planning. And if this continues to go on unaddressed it will damage the reputation and value that planning, and a good planner can actually bring to projects when done correctly.
  • A study of Fante-speaking students' learning of academic writing at the Methodist University College, Ghana (MUCG)

    Davis, Regina Atracta (University of Bedfordshire, 2023-09)
    This research study examined Fante-speaking students’ learning of academic writing (L2) at Methodist University College, Ghana (MUCG). For the researcher to narrow the scope of this research study, she chose Fante-speaking students as the population of study because there are over 80 different languages spoken in Ghana. The focus of the research project was to infer ways in which Fante-speaking students’ experiences might be enhanced from their reported experiences of learning academic writing I and II courses. The Academic Writing, I and II courses are university-required courses which are offered to all Level 100 and Level 200 students in MUCG, equivalent to first- and second-year university students in the United Kingdom (UK). The researcher used a mixed-methods approach, which combined qualitative and quantitative methods. The research instruments were designed to allow the researcher to find the answers to the research questions. The university provided Course Outline and Course Content for both Academic Writing I and two courses. Therefore, the researcher designed the research questionnaire questions and the interview questions in line with the Course Outline and the Course Content of the academic writing I and II courses, which can be found in Appendix number 3. The findings are based on a study sample of n=100 participants who were divided into 2 groups, 51 were young students (aged 18-24), and 49 were mature students (aged 25 and above). Both the questionnaire questions and the interview questions investigated each mature and young student’s educational background, qualifications, age, experiences of the difficulties they had before and after taking the two academic writing courses, and how the two courses impacted their learning. The research instruments also inferred ways in which students’ experiences might be improved from their reported perspectives in the two academic writing courses. All Ghanaians have their mother tongue but learn English as a second language so, there was also a question on how the students perceived that Fante their first language (L1) influenced their academic writing in English (L2). The researcher also explored participants’ learning outcomes as well as their suggestions for improvement and their feedback after they participated in the two courses. The course outline was also used as a guideline for both questionnaires and interview questions and was aligned with the research questions. Please refer to the Course Outline in number Appendix 3. Additionally, the features of academic writing that emerged from the course outline and the course content of the two academic writing courses were categorised into four main groups, namely English, grammar, comprehension, paragraph structure and referencing. The study was conducted using mixed methods comprising questionnaires and interviews and the data was repeatedly gathered from the same participants, focusing on the same study population throughout this research project over an extended period. Generally, the research findings highlighted those young students found grammar, comprehension and referencing more difficult than paragraph structures. Furthermore, the feedback from participants also offered important insights into the content of these academic writing courses and has the potential to make positive contributions to the creation of new teaching methods and potential updates to the content of the Department of Language and Communication Studies Course at MUCG. Finally, the researcher hopes that the responses and learnings obtained from this study will be used to improve the experience and learning outcomes of future students partaking in the British Standard English (BSE) academic writing course at MUCG. In this view, it will be important for the institution to consider this feedback and suggestions from the participants as it may help the English department to improve teaching and learning.
  • Effects of bracing and a Futsal-specific fatiguing protocol on muscle reaction time and ground reaction forces

    Lilly, Oliver (University of Bedfordshire, 2020-11)
    Context: Futsal is a rapidly growing sport, with a high prevalence of ankle injuries. It has been found that ankle bracing during sporting activity reduces the incidence of injury, however, research assessing its acute effects on muscle reaction time and ground reaction forces has provided mixed results. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to analyse the effects of bracing on muscle reaction times (MRT) during a simulated lateral ankle sprain, and ground reaction forces (GRF) during a 90-degree cutting manoeuvre, both before and immediately after a futsal-specific fatiguing protocol (FIRP). Participants: Four male participants aged 19-22 who all played for the same University futsal team took part in the study. Methods: Muscle reaction times of the PL, PB and TA were analysed during a simulated lateral ankle sprain, and ground reaction forces during a 90-degree cutting manoeuvre, both before and immediately after the FIRP, when both braced and unbraced. Results: Significant main effects (P < 0.05) were reported during the ANOVAs of lower (improved) MRT of the PL and PB when braced vs. unbraced. A significant main effect was found for increased (worsened) MRT of the tilted PB post-fatigue vs. pre-fatigue (P = 0.032). No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found during post-hoc paired samples t-tests. No significant effects (P > 0.05) regarding GRF were reported between limbs during the 90-degree cutting manoeuvre, when braced and unbraced, pre-, and post-fatigue. Conclusion: Although significant effects were not found, strong trends, supported by large effect sizes (ɳp2 = 0.14>), of improved MRTs when braced, and worsened MRTs post-fatigue were apparent and warrant further research that incorporates a similar study-design and larger sample size.
  • Presence Aware Power Saving Mode (PA-PSM) enhancement for IoT devices for energy conservation

    Saleem, Abdul (University of Bedfordshire, 2022-09)
    The smart home is gradually captivating worldwide and provides the best services to human life. It wipes traditional houses by turning them into smart homes; nowadays, numerous energy-efficient devices lead to optimal energy exploitation. It enhances the inhabitant's lifestyle, safety, and comfort since it is suitable for all users of diverse incomes and ages. It is essential to exploit the technology to develop energy-efficient smart homes. The design and implementation of energy-efficient smart homes are proposed in this research work. It is a proposed model that controls home appliances, monitors energy usage and sends low priority devices in switch OFF mode to save energy. The system uses a combination of a central controller, sensors, modules and PA-PSM algorithm proposed by this research work. The PIR sensor locates the human within the home, brings the nearby appliance in active mode, and sends the rest in switch OFF mode, the LDR (light dependent resistor) to sense the intensity of the light to decide if the light is needed else stays in switch OFF mode. The Arduino manages all the sensors, modules, home appliances including scheduling, and energy consumption of individual home appliances. The system automates the process and accepts the commands from end-user through mobile applications to use home appliances. It is a novel approach that has several experiments that help to reduce 20.34% of energy consumption. The rapidly growing industry has already reached $92bn and has a growth rate of 16% each year, reaching $192bn by the year 2025; so far, the US is the most significant share of using the smart home application. However, it also has entered the European market, especially in voice-controlled applications. This industry is growing rapidly and currently has 21bn active connections. These smart devices will produce substantial data along with the increment of energy consumption significantly. The significant use of energy puts pressure on the energy producer and leading to energy scarceness. The researchers and IT industries are focusing mainly on this area and expect 1tn of sensor interconnects by 2025; even if these sensors have ten years of battery life, it still requires replacing 275mn batteries every day. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce energy consumption in the smart home. "Presence Aware Power Saving Mode (PA-PSM) Development for IoT devices for energy conservation" is a novel approach proposed with the help of the proposed algorithm to reduce power consumption up to 20.34% in the smart home.
  • The investigation into the use of YOLO on overlay images for the purpose of privacy protection

    Biel, Arkadiusz Stanislaw (University of Bedfordshire, 2021-12)
    Human Detection is an important issue from the development of autonomous cities. That technology is used not only by cars but also by CCTVs which use that in event prevention. One of the most significant issues of human detection is privacy safety. Most conventional methods allow not only for detection but also for the recognition of humans, which introduce big concern about privacy protection. This is reason why challenge ChaLearn LAP Challenge @FG2020 "Identity-preserving Human Detection (IPHD)" was initiated, which focus on providing more accurate solution for alternatives types of cameras, which provide better privacy than classic types of cameras. That can be achieved by using different types of of detectors such as You look only Once (YOLO), Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (RCNN). As YOLO detectors is one of best performing all experiments are focused on improvi-ng detection based on different version of this detector family and determining the most promising version of YOLO for this use case. As provided datasets are synchronised, work also is investigating values for overlays, created by overlapping images. Thermal overlay is done by covering depth image with partially transparent layer made from corresponding thermal image. Similar process is done for depth overlays. Goals of project are to find best version of detector and narrow down possible ranges for overlay. Achievement of improvement within 4-10 percent points on each dataset using v4 and 10-18 percent points for v5 and finding narrowed parameters ranges to [0.35,0.70] for depth overlay and [0.70,0.85] for thermal overlay allows me to conclude that all aims of the project were accomplished.
  • An evaluation of the benefits of participating in a dementia-friendly golf programme for people with dementia and their informal caregivers

    Poynter, Charlotte (University of Bedfordshire, 2023-05)
    Physical activity has been shown to provide benefits for people with dementia and their caregivers, in relation to physical health, psychological well-being, function, and cognition. The aim of this evaluation is to explore the current literature through a scoping review on the effect of golf on people with dementia and their caregivers, to carry out a qualitative study of caregivers of people with dementia playing golf, and outline protocol for a quantitative study. The resulting thematic analysis concluded a beneficial effect of a dementia-friendly golf programme on people with dementia and their caregivers, particularly through the provision of respite for the caregivers and promoting and providing well-being.
  • Employees’ perceptions of work engagement: a study of Nigeria’s private and public universities

    Ajulo, Adesina Adewale (University of Bedfordshire, 2023-02-08)
    Employee engagement is an important concept that has immense links with other intrinsic organisational factors and has been said to have the potential to increase organisational success. This study examined employee perceptions of work engagement and how it may influences the feeling of being engaged within the workplace. In this study, two different types of organisations, private and public universities were examined with a view to understanding how employee perception towards work engagement may influence the feeling of being engaged at work. This study adopted a qualitative research method in examining perceptions towards engagement at work and feeling of being engaged at work using in-depth interviews. Data was gathered from employees across six south-western private and public Universities in Nigeria and was analysed. Samples in the study were selected based on random purposeful sampling and the data gathered were analysed using NVIVO qualitative analysis software. In all, the study employed thirty In-depth interviews with revealing findings about employees’ perceptions as well as their engagement at work. Findings revealed new perspectives of work engagement that creates a clearer conception of employee engagement, it discovered that employees’ understanding and perspective about engagement at work differs from existing notions of work engagement i.e., academics and practitioner’s perspectives. More findings revealed that employee perception towards engagement may not necessarily reflect their actual engagement at work as against the popular believe in literature which suggest that a happy employee is a productive or engaged employee. In addition, result showed that employee engagement relates with organisational performance with a relationship that could occur in various ways. The study concluded that employee engagement is a significant concept within the organisation with effects on overall organisational success. However, employees’ perceptions of engagement may not necessarily determine how engaged an employee will be; it is important to note that employee viewpoint of their engagements at work is crucial and must be actioned into planning of engagement practices.
  • The effect of singular and combined ice vest and neck collar cooling used pre-match and at half-time, during a soccer specific simulation in the heat

    Murphy, Charlotte (University of Bedfordshire, 2021-07)
    The globalisation of soccer has seen matches during international tournaments being played at hot environments, where key physical performance variables including high-speed running and sprinting are decreased, due to an elevation in both actual and perceived body temperatures. The singular use of cooling modalities including ice vests and neck cooling collars have been shown to favourably alter these body temperatures when used throughout a simulated soccer match. However, to not interfere with the laws of soccer, these cooling modalities can only be used within a warm-up pre-match and down-time during half-time. Therefore, the current study explored the singular and combined utilisation of these practical cooling modalities, throughout a soccer specific warm-up, downtime before kick-off and at half-time on simulated soccer performance using an environmental chamber at 28°C Wet Bulb Globe temperature (WGBT). Ten male University level soccer players volunteered for this study, completing the Level 1 Yo-Yo Intermittent recovery test, two non-motorised treadmill-based familiarisations, one peak speed assessment and four randomised, counterbalanced, experimental trials of intermittent soccer performance test (iSPT) using (1) Ice vest (VEST); (2) Neck collar (NECK); (3) combination of ice vest and neck collar cooling (MM) and (4) No-cooling (CON). Physical performance (total, high-speed and sprint distance covered), physiological (rectal, skin (Tsk) and neck (NECKtsk) temperature and heart rate (HR) and perceptual (thermal sensation (TS), thermal comfort (TC), rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and neck thermal sensation (NECKTS) responses were all measured during the first (0-45 min) and second (60-105 min) half of each experimental trial. From 0-15 min, both SD (P < 0.05) and HSD (P < 0.05) covered were significantly increased in NECK and MM compared to CON. These occurred in association with a significant dampening (P = 0.01) of thermal sensation and skin temperature following the warm-up until the first 15-min in MM (3.30 ± 1.11) compared to CON. During the second half, both SD (60-105 min) and HSD (75-105 min) covered in MM were significantly increased (P < 0.05) by a large effect size (d =1.03) compared with CON. Furthermore, there was a significant increase (P < 0.05) to HSD (90-105 min) and SD covered (75-105 min) by a small effect size (d = 0.3) during the second half in NECK compared with CON. Half-time cooling significantly decreased (P < 0.05) Tsk, TNECK TS, NECKTS, however, these were not maintained throughout the second half. The VEST showed no significant improvement (P > 0.05) to physical performance throughout the iSPT. Overall, mixed-methods pre-match applied throughout a soccer specific warm-up and downtime before kick-off and at half-time cooling enhanced physical performance and reduced physiological and perceptual strain in the heat (WBGT: 28°C).
  • Policy refinement with genetic algorithms for job-shop scheduling problems

    Ogur, Emin (University of Bedfordshire, 2020-11)
    Evolutionary approach has been a well known and widely used method in solving scheduling problems besides other soft computing techniques. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is a popular evolutionary approach in solving various complex real-world problems. However, it is required that a careful attention is to be paid to the contextual knowledge as well as the implementation of genetic material and operators. On the other hand, job-shop scheduling (JSS) problem remains as challenging NP-hard combinatorial problem, which attracts researchers since its very beginning of its invention. Similar to other metaheuristic approaches, GA has not been so successful in solving this sort of problems due to instant decision making process needed in solving this type of problems. Heuristic procedures so called Priority Rule or Dispatching Rules are more useful for this purpose, but, depending on the properties and purpose of use of each, the same performance is not expected from these instant decision making operators. A policy refinement approach is proposed to optimise a sequence of Dispatching Rules (DRs) for a time-window of scheduling process in which a GA algorithm evolves the sequences towards an optimum configuration. The preliminary results provided in this paper seem very encouraging. In other words, the set of dispatching rules are considered as policies for allocation of jobs to a number of resources (machines) and these policies are refined through evolution with use of GA for optimisation. The objective of this research is to refine scheduling policies to gain better results for solving job-shop scheduling problems. The criterion considered to be optimised in this research are makespan and mean tardiness in single and multi-objective context.
  • The role of the Anglican Church in English education from the perspective of clergy and educationalists

    Clubb, Gordon (University of Bedfordshire, 2022-07)
    This research investigated: The perceived role of the Church of England within the English state education system. Whether the Church should be raising people's awareness of its involvement in education. Whether there were any moral issues related to funding streams used for expansion. It commenced in 2011, a time when Church of England educational provision was reaching the end of 10 years of rapid expansion and was adjusting its provision following government changes to the Academies school programme in 2010, and the introduction of Free schools. The study was conducted in three stages with a six-year hiatus between stages two and three. A mixed-methods approach was employed with semi-structured interviews conducted with a small group of Anglican clergy occupying various positions in diverse parishes in England, and questionnaires distributed to all headteachers of Church of England schools. An interpretive paradigm, a constructivist grounded theory and reflexive approach were adopted, as these frameworks best fitted both the research focus and analysis of the data collected to address the main research question. The thesis uses the first person to reflect the reflexive approach taken to the study. This is a small-scale study and the conclusions reached are not assumed to be generalisable beyond the sample. Key findings, albeit from the small participant set, are that: Service to the community is perceived by participants to underpin the role of the Church of England in the state education system; There are differences in interpretation, of the Church’s role, between clergy in different conurbations; Church involvement in education is considered by participants to be very important; The Church appears unwilling to advertise its educational work. Church involvement in education is deemed to underpin the parochial role of service, and to support community cohesion. However, a Diocese Board of Education was perceived to be acting outside the parochial model of service expounded by the clergy, and there is a concern that the Church is becoming more Congregationalist, putting at risk the parochial service model. At a local level the Church receives recognition for the work of its schools, but it fails to receive national recognition for its commitment to education. The consensus was that the Church of England should expand its educational provision; however, participants in both rural and suburban areas expressed concern over the availability of human resource to cope with any expansion, and argued that the Church should adopt a pragmatic approach to sourcing the costs of any future expanded educational provision. A particular contribution to knowledge of this study is that clergy, in the same sample of participants in different conurbations and in areas of more or less advantageous demographics, have different views about the role of the Anglican church in education. This particular point deserves further investigation to explore its wider significance. This small-scale study has the potential to provide an informed basis for wider scale research in the use of school Chaplaincy Teams, offering their services to secular schools, to help address issues of mental health and advise on the teaching of religious education, as advocated by some participants.
  • The perceptions and use of cooling modalities by athletes, coaches, and support staff in endurance-based sports.

    Bousfield, Emily Jane (University of Bedfordshire, 2019-10-14)
    The study aimed to investigate what, when and how modalities are used by endurancebased athletes/support staff. Understanding current knowledge of modalities and prevalence of exertional heat illnesses and other heat prevention strategies. Athletes (n = 65) and support staff (n = 12) completed a questionnaire regarding: general participant information; training and competition in the heat; heat illnesses; cooling modalities; and perceptions of cooling modalities and exercise in the heat. Only 12% of athletes reported being diagnosed with exertional heat illness, although 61% reported had experienced one or more symptoms. Cold-water ingestion was the most reported for pre-competition (22%), pre-training (~14%), per-competition (23%) and per-training (26%), likely as it was accessible and easy to administer. However, support staff suggested a more varied use of cooling modalities throughout compared with athletes. Further, athletes suggest short application of cooling time both pre- (35%) and per-exercise (74%), aligning with cold-water ingestion application. Athletes and support staff presented good knowledge, all support staff and the majority of athletes agreeing that cooling is helpful when exercising in the heat. Future research should address the relationship between exertional heat illnesses and type of cooling modalities, which target physiological or perceptual responses.
  • Water quality monitoring drone

    Lloyd-Davies, Christian (University of Bedfordshire, 2019-01)
    Water, a vital substance on earth, and all living things depend on it. This makes it very important to the quality of all life forms on earth. This project intends to focus on researching a cheaper and easy means to help make it easier for water quality sampling and monitoring to be done efficiently and with accuracy as this is a significant part of living things, we need to develop ways to monitor it efficiently. A lot of practices and processes are involved in water quality testing, and this contributes to most of the inaccuracies in test results. To prevent this and minimizing the process, other way needs to be adopted to cut down the time involved and avoid inaccuracies. With the many testing processes available and, with its challenges. Technicians may spend days collecting and running tests on samples of water collected, this causes an increase in the spatial time affecting the results. The author is focus on researching ways to better solve this problem. Getting to hard areas to collect samples of water by technicians for test in the Lab takes a lot of effort and some are impossible to access. Swamps and marsh can also present a challenge. This research work is to develop and implement a drone system which is designed with a “mini laboratory” which houses sensors needed such as PH sensor, temperature sensor, turbidity sensor, infrared camera, and dissolved oxygen concentration sensor. These sensors will make up the “mini laboratory” of the drone for analysing and monitoring the water by using the Arduino as the brain to allow inserting the test devices into the water while hovering to collect data, it can also float on the water to save battery life and transmit the test results to a mobile device accessed by the user. It will analyse the water temperature, the PH level of the water, the Oxygen concentration, turbidity and process the data collected from water test, send results to the user. This can be done by one person controlling the drone remotely while the data collected by the drone is sent via GSM network to a mobile device in the form of a SMS. The drone will also be equipped with an infrared camera which takes aerial photography in infra-red of the water surface to help identify contaminant and it saves the image on an SD card which can be retrieved by the user. There are many challenges involved in such method, of which the author has not ignored during this research work. Some of the challenges to be overcome include weather conditions, battery capacity, drone reliability, GSM signal and accuracy of test results. During the research work, all undocumented problems that may arise will be noted and recorded to help better the system in the near future. As previously stated, the idea is to reduce cost and save time involved in collecting the data and the results availability. This will allow more effective monitoring of a wider range of water resources; it will also give lab technicians the opportunity to access acute areas that are inaccessible and dangerous. All data collected by the drone is used to analyse the quality of the water and can be used to monitor water over a period of time to study the contaminant flow and effect of climate change on the water body over a period of time. This system will undergo an extensive testing procedure and usage, the time frame for the project is short hence, it will be handled according to the duration involved and every step will be noted down for future continuation, upgrade or improvement making the system much better and reliable as it may not be fully completed as the author might have plan to due to the time.
  • Structure, function and phylogeny of zinc-α2-glycoprotein in health and disease

    Allen, Samantha Jayne (University of Bedfordshire, 2021-09)
    Zinc-α2-glycoprotein (ZAG) is a 42kDa non-classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I adipokine excreted around the body that regulates body mass through lipid metabolism. Abnormal expression of ZAG occurs in diseases such as cachexia and obesity, with studies suggesting that ZAG has a potential use as a biomarker in the identification of cancer. Recent literature has identified binding sites within the groove of the α1α2 domain and, unexpectedly, in the α3 domain when bound in a tetramer. To identify these sites and investigate the α3 domain’s ability to form a β-barrel, recombinant ZAG was expressed from a pET-23a(+) plasmid in a BL21 DE3 Star pRARE E.coli host. Whilst this investigation was interrupted due to COVID-19, other characteristics of ZAG were investigated. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ZAG was more closely related to non-classical MHC class I related proteins MICA, MICB, HLA-A, -E, -F, -G and MR1, and evolved linearly with placental mammals, where marsupial mammalian ZAG is more diverged. An interactive ZAG database allowing for the observational analysis of variant mutations in ZAG from cancer patients was developed, revealing that mutations in the RGD triad and lipid binding residues may cause metabolic changes that are required for the progression of cancer.
  • 'Kurdistan' today: a study of perceived legitimacy

    Kaynar, Saniye (University of Bedfordshire, 2021-07)
    This research focuses on the legitimacy of the Kurds (an ethnic group with Indo-European origins) in Turkey that aims to create an independent nation-state. The study highlights the gaps and disputes between Turkey and the European Union and how they perceive and represent 'Kurdistan' and their matter of legitimacy. The contributions to knowledge are firstly outlining the gaps and disputes of Turkey and the EU to relate this to the legitimacy of the Kurds. Then the interpretive findings will provide insight into the Kurdish legitimacy since 2002 with the Justice and Development Party) in Turkey. Moreover, this research will build this study on other authors' work based on Kurdish legitimacy, nationalism, and identity. By conducting interpretive methodological research, the researcher endeavored to extend the understanding of Turkey, the EU, and the Kurds themselves. The study was investigated with semi-structured interviews conducted among experts from Turkey, the EU, and the Kurds. The generated data was from thematic analysis and the examination outcome from semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis performed themes: nationhood, Treaty of Lausanne, EU support/against Kurdistan, PKK, and Kurdish Ethnicity. The research findings illustrated the gaps and disputes in how Turkey and the EU understood and approached meanings connected with nationalism, political legitimacy, and political identity. Overall, the Kurdish people understand their identity being tied to Turkey and having a legitimate claim to nationhood and feeling discriminated against. Moreover, the EU supports this, acknowledging that they were once a nation and had a separate history, making the situation politically challenging. Although EU members seem to view the Kurds as a subset of the Turkish population and not as independent or legitimate political entities, this creates disagreements about identity and legitimacy and how Kurdish lands should be pitiably addressed and formally organised. IV The dispute is twofold: whether or not 'Kurdistan' should have legitimacy and, second, who is in the place to provide it. To the EU, Turkey should individually recognize Kurds by providing democratic representation in Turkey and the EU. Turkish perceptive, this will undermine Turkish unity and power. Finally, Kurdish perspective, Kurds will gain legitimacy either through political means or by force. However, this has resulted from conflicts between the Kurdish representation in different political parties, so the methods used by those organizations escalate, deepening the lines of the dispute and moving all parties away from resolution. Turkey, the EU, and Kurds have in common that they recognize the geographic borders of Kurdistan related to Turkey and not to a larger geographic area. Kurdish position is the recognition of Kurdistan as an ancestral government, while the EU position is unique. After all, it takes not personal approach by Kurdistan description because it recognizes historical significance. Moreover, to Turkey, the Kurdish claim is terroristic, and the EU desires to support it because the EU does not understand why it is impossible. The EU sees PKK as a legitimate political organization. Thus, there is much descent and a considerable gap between Kurds and Turkish perspectives, and no easy solution to the legitimacy issue in the current politics.
  • Could a nurse initiated fast track system reduce the door-to-needle-time for thrombolysis to twenty minutes or less?

    Flisher, Denise (University of Bedfordshire, 2003-02-05)
    In context of this study, the focus was to examine the appropriateness of the diagnosis and the use of the correct drug therapy. Close scrutiny of the nurse and her decision making process focused on her/his competency to correctly diagnose an AMI on the electrocardiogram (ECG) and ultimately choose the appropriate thrombolytic drug. The study looked all patients with chest pain who had a primary diagnosis of AMI presenting with 'classic' electrocardiographic evidence, representative of acute myocardial infarction. It was deemed appropriate to use twenty patients as the sample because the patients all had suffered an acute myocardial infarction. Having undertaken a critical review of the theoretical framework and an in-depth literature review, it gave the researcher an insight into the problem of slow door-toneedle-tirnes. The research study was experimental type in its design and fell within the boundaries of the quantitative approach. The particular research design, with the use of questionnaires enabled data to be collected from facts and opinions. The main method of data collection was questionnaires as the appropriately trained nurse assessed the patient with AMI, made a diagnosis and administered the appropriate drug. Decker and Blecke (1994) suggested that adopting a particular methodology is essential. It could be argued that in order to generate scientific knowledge, it must emerge from the application of logical principles and reasoning. The design chosen was therefore appropriate to the problem, as it systematically tested the hypothesis nurses could help reduce the door-to-needle-times for thrombolysis to 20 minutes or less. The overall findings were that nurses did reduce the door to needle times to below 20 minutes, an average of 18.2 minutes and a median time of 18 minutes. In all 20 cases, 100%, the correct diagnosis was made and the appropriate thrombolytic drug administered. Seventy five percent received the thrombolysis in less than twenty minutes and 95% within 30 minutes. Overall the conclusion was that this system did work and the nursing staff made a huge difference in reducing the door-to-needletime. Ultimately, it will have a huge impact on nursing practice and will require extra resources if this system or similar is to remain successful.
  • Muscle activity and kinematic differences between a range of hip dominant resistance exercises

    Maddams, George John Michael (University of Bedfordshire, 2022-04)
    The purpose of this study was to compare four commonly used hip extension exercise from a kinematic and muscle activation perspective to try and identify the best lift for posterior chain (PC) development. Twelve males (age: 19 ± 2 years; height: 1.81 ± 0.81 m; body mass: 85.64 ± 10.87 kg) who were injury-free for the previous six months where included in the study. Ten participants (four aged 17 years old: six aged 18 years old) were selected from a 1 XV Rugby Union scholar athlete training group at Oundle School, and were resistance trained (> 1 years’ experience). Two participants (21 years old) where considered experienced at resistance training (> 3 years). All participants took part in a repeated measure, study design, in which they performed four hip extension exercises: conventional deadlift (CDL), sumo deadlift (SDL), hex bar deadlift (HBD) and hip thrust (HT) at 90% one repetition maximum (1 RM) for three repetitions, and 100% 1 RM for one repetition. A 4 x 2 x 2 ANOVA compared muscle activation, knee and hip kinematics and load lifted at two lifting intensities. Results indicated for 100% 1 RM lifting the erector spinae (ES), rectus femoris (RF), vastus medialis (VM), muscle activity and knee peak joint flexion and joint range of motion (ROM) was significantly greater in the HBD compared to the HT. In 90% 1 RM, ES muscle activation was greater in HBD, and RF, for the HBD, CDL, SDL, compared to the HT. Knee joint ROM was significantly larger in the three styles of deadlift for all lifts compared to the HT. Hip joint peak flexion and ROM was significantly greater in the HT compared to the HBD. Lifting at 90% 1 RM showed a greater global muscle activity when compared to 100% 1 RM. In conclusion, the CDL, SDL and HBD would seem favourable for PC development over HT. The HBD would appear to be the superior lift in regarding muscle activation of the PC, however further evidence is needed.
  • How do leaders respond to crisis? a narrative inquiry

    Goalby, Peter (University of Bedfordshire, 2017-10)
    Rare and previously thought of as improbable events by some are becoming more complex interconnected and cascading in nature (Helbing, 2013; Hsu, 2012; Ball, 2011; Perrow, 2011; Coleman, 2006; Beck, 2003). This research aims to learn more about how leaders respond to crisis by using a case study approach and a narrative inquiry methodology. It further binds the findings and analysis by postulating the idea of fluid observations in organisational theory, grounded in narratives. A narrative corpus of nineteen semi-structured interviews were collected and inductive analytical methods applied to the data. The researcher adheres to a social constructionist paradigm and takes a critical approach towards the literature in leadership studies and crisis management. This study provides narrative empirical data from a manufacturing organisation that had been affected by a cascading anthropogenic crisis and natural disaster. Several leadership actions prevented the organisation from entering administration and large-scale investment was attracted. The organisation was considered by some to have recovered from crisis in certain areas. Convergent and divergent narratives were then analysed looking for perceptions of the interpretation of crisis and leaders’ actions. Boje’s (2011) antenarratives were also analysed looking at classifications of antenarratives present in the narrative corpus. The research found multiple examples of convergent and divergent narratives on both leaders’ actions and crisis. Implications for theory were emergent from narrative empirical data relevant to implicit leadership, social identity, diglossic linguistics, psychosocial, social information processing and antenarrative theories. The research is subjective in nature and provides insights based on narratives permeating all strata of the organisation.
  • Game sense, a theoretical model for a practical reality, a discussion with performance and community rugby union coaches

    Hall, James (University of Bedfordshire, 2022-03)
    The study seeks to discover the extent of understanding, opinions, and the utilisation of Game Sense by current senior rugby union coaches’. GS was developed in the mid-1990’s by Thorpe and the Australian Sports Commission (Light, 2013). The Game Sense coaching model places an emphasis on players developing knowledge and skills through the playing of conditioned games (Light, 2006), and incorporates questioning and discussion between players and coaches’ as a key learning tool (Light and Evans, 2013). Six coaches were interviewed for the study. The interviews involved discussions on their backgrounds in coaching, their coaching philosophies, their current practice, their learnings as a coach and their opinions, understanding and utilisation of GS. The Coaches agree that Game Sense is a vital coaching model, but it must be balanced out with other forms of practice, The coaches highlight that both players and coaches may not have the knowledge and ability to perform in a GS session, further, that environment does not enable them to utilise Game Sense. Coaches suggest that coaching does not work with using one model or another and that instead, practice must suit the environment they are in, this results in the coaches adopting the Cafeteria Coaching approach.
  • The role of hedgehog signalling in the biology of eosinophils

    Lochhead, Lewis Jake (University of Bedfordshire, 2021-10)
    Eosinophils are central to T-helper 2 (Th2) immune responses and allergy and asthma pathogenesis. Their degranulation in response to allergen is a cause of airway hypersensitivity and remodelling in allergic airway disease. Previous work showed active Hedgehog/Gli Signalling via Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) in the lungs of asthmatic murine models. Murine eosinophils can transduce SHH signals, however functional effects of SHH signalling on eosinophils remain unclear. The aim of this project is to elucidate these effects. Therefore, the HL60 myeloid cell line was differentiated into a human eosinophilic population (HL60-eos) via Sodium Butyrate treatment. HL60-eos cells were cultured in the presence or absence of (1) recombinant SHH ligand or (2) GANT61, a Gli antagonist and therefore Hh signalling inhibitor. Cellular phenotype and genotype were studied via qPCR, ELISA, Flow Cytometry, and cytochemical staining. We found that culture with SHH upregulates EPX and TGF-β expression in HL60-eos cells. EPX encodes Eosinophil Peroxidase, a constituent of eosinophilic granules and responsible for cell damage during degranulation. TGF-β1 encodes the cytokine TGF-β, important for lymphocyte regulation, eosinophil chemotaxis, fibrosis, and wound healing. Further investigation is needed to characterise the eosinophilic response to SHH/GANT61 when immunostimulated, as they would be in vivo during an immune response.
  • Incorporation of Bulgarian folklore traditions and culture into the urban fantasy genre

    Dimitrov, Kiril (University of Bedfordshire, 2020-10)
    In The Soul Beneath I explore the elevated importance of setting in the urban fantasy (UF) genre. My work is based on creative research of the UF genre carried out by reading works of authors such as Cassandra Clare, Ben Aaronovitch and Ilona Andrews. Upon examination of the novels I’ve read, it has become clear that many published UF texts are set in a surprisingly limited number of large cities such as New York in City of Bones or London in Rivers of London. This begs the following question, which forms the basis for the thesis accompanying the creative element: what if an urban fantasy work was set in a non-typical for the genre city? This project aims to present how Bulgarian setting and culture can be incorporated into UF and the effect that can have on the story. Rituals such as fire-walking and spirit scaring were crucial inspirations for the magical element in the creative piece. Throughout the thesis, I discuss what Anastenaria is and how I’ve moulded this folklore tradition into a magic practice. The overarching results of my work reaffirm the great importance of setting, particularly cultural when it comes to an urban fantasy text.

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