This thesis examines the phenomenon of colour as a means of expression of meaning in spatial contexts. The nature of the underpinning project involved paintings and their integration with an architectural setting. Judgements made-in-situ by users of the building and an expert focus group (architects, designers and fine artists) were comparatively analysed for variance in interpretations of meaning, taking into consideration their experience with colour as a medium of expression. Commonalities and differences in the responses of colour amongst and between the various groups were also analysed. To achieve this a combination of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus group meetings were used as data sources. The researcher used her experience as a painter to create two large paintings (11.5m x 2m each), which were installed in the public space of the Manchester Bridgewater Concert Hall over a period of four months. One painting was predominantly blue and green, the other was predominantly yellow and red. The installation had two phases, in which the respective paintings were each installed separately and accompanied by a corresponding lighting scheme. Colours were separated into two temperature groups - warm and cold. However, previous research findings had indicated that responses to these two groups of colour differ along other dimensions also. What had not been established by previous research, and was examined in this project, was whether these indicative differences would apply when colour is approached as part of an holistic environmental meaning rather than in isolation. The integration of paintings and colour into the architectural setting made it possible for multiple layers of experience to be examined. Meaning was extracted from the relationship between colour and the perception of two dimensions of space - pictorial space depicted in the paintings and the architectural space. The relationship between both was also explored which allowed the confirmation of previous findings and the analysis of the variables which need to be addressed when dealing with colour for paintings in real architectural environments. The thesis describes the author's conceptual model based on a combination of this empirical evidence and theoretical framework developed from the existing interdisciplinary body of knowledge on colour. The thesis also discusses how relationships between the aesthetic and psychological categories were established. It contributes to the field by demonstrating how the subjectivity of the perceptual experience can be translated into the expression of meaning along cognitive and affective dimensions within the context of a real-life application of colour in space. Additional to the written thesis a short audiovisual provided in both video and CD Rom, was created to show both the making of the paintings and their installation at the Bridgewater Concert Hall.

The aim of this research is to contribute to the concept of authenticity for the conservation of historic places. The focus of this work is a development of a set of criteria to assess authenticity in order to contribute towards the conservation of historic places in Western Europe.The purpose is to define a set of authenticity criteria. Firstly, this thesis describes the concern of the concept of authenticity in conservation of the built environment and, based on a review of relevant research and theories on how authenticity criteria fit in conservation in general and how it is important to define a set of authenticity criteria in order to conserve historic places in Western Europe. Based on this review of relevant research and theories, the researcher understood the need to define a set of authenticity criteria in order to facilitate the conservation of historic places in Western Europe. The set of criteria to assess authenticity in the conservation of historic places is based on the spirit of UNESCO criteria to test authenticity with the definitions of the criteria used by the USA Parks Service to evaluate integrity of the property in order to be listed. The initial set of criteria is composed of seven qualities as follows: Location, Settings, Design, Workmanship, Materials, Feelings and Association. Linked to the "state of the art " of Conservation of Historic Places in Western Europe, these criteria were applied to four case studies that showed the evidence in all of them, but strongly demonstrates that Location, Feelings and Association are not important criteria for Western Europe. However Function / Use is an important criteria for all Europe. According to the case studies' conclusions and the review of literature, the model of research created is based on five parameters which define the qualities to assess authenticity in conservation. Four of these parameters (Design, Materials, Workmanship and Settings) are based on USA Parks Service definitions.The fifth parameter (Function / Use) is based on the case studies' conclusions. With the support of a sounding board of experts, the author developed a conceptual model for checking the propositions. This model and the propositions were checked by the Delphi Process with a further group of twenty experts from Western Europe and through a continuous analysis of the data. The set of authenticity criteria established was sent to the Delphi panel of experts in Portugal, the UK and West European organisations involved in the conservation of the built heritage with statements in order to find an agreement on the evidence and definition of each criterion. This procedure was based on the assumption that the achievement of a consensus was possible. Consensus was, in fact, obtained about the criteria. The final criteria achieved highlight the emerging importance of function and use in historic places for the future. The final criteria are: Material Design Workmanship Function/Use Setting DEFINITIONS The physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form an historic property. Combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. The physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. The degree of continuity of original or significant uses in a property. The physical environment of a historic property. Due to the fact that the sounding board of experts and Delphi members were made up of people with different backgrounds, ranging from Academia, Architecture, Construction, Industry of Culture, NGOs (Non Governamental Organizations) and other built heritage organizations (UNESCO, ICCROM, ICOMOS, Europa Nostra and Council of Europe) the final set of criteria to assess authenticity for conservation of historic places in Western Europe has an holistic point of view.

Interest in the use of smart-structure technology for noise and vibration reduction in helicopter applications has been on the rise in recent years. It has been established that significant gains in helicopter performance can be achieved through active rotor blade vibration control. This thesis presents a study of selective structural mode actuation of simple structures by means of surface-bonded piezoelectric actuator patches. The central objective of the study is to establish the potential for the use of piezoelectric actuators in active rotor blade vibration control applications. Theoretical and finite element vibration analyses were carried out, first for a thin flat plate and then for a long, straight, isotropic cantilever box beam. Finally a finite element vibration analysis was carried out for a three-cell hollow helicopter rotor blade structure. In each case, harmonic excitation of the structure by surface-bonded piezoelectric actuator patches is investigated, with the actuator patches in single and multiple configurations. The theoretical models are based on classical elasto-mechanics theory, and include the effect of bonding layer thickness. The finite element analyses were carried out with ANSYS 5.5. All analyses assume the use of readily available PZT4 ceramic piezoelectric actuator patches. The results lead to identification of optimal actuator patch configurations for selective mode excitation of the plate, box beam and helicopter rotor blade structures. Furthermore, the results for the box beam and rotor blade structures indicate that significant attenuation of the first two flapping modes and first two lagging modes can be achieved with practical levels of actuator excitation voltage. However, the results for selective excitation of the twist modes of the structures are inconclusive.

This study investigated the relationship between employees’ perceptions of justice and work attitudes in relation to organisational structure in selected commercial banks in Jordan. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed. Data obtained from 308 participants of the questionnaires and 18 interviewees from ten commercial banks in Jordan suggested centralisation played a minor role in employees’ perceptions of justice and work related attitudes. Participation in decision making was not shown to shape employees’ perceptions of justice and work attitudes. Centralising authority related to performing employees’ own tasks (hierarchy of authority) increased employees’ perceptions of interactional justice and job satisfaction. Formalisation and standardisation accounted for greater perceptions of justice and higher levels of satisfaction with jobs and organisational commitment. Employees’ perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice increased the employees’ job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Irrespective of gender, tenure and age, employees perceived justice similarly. Managers, compared to subordinates, perceived higher levels of procedural and distributive justice. Employees from branches, compared to those from headquarters, reported greater perceptions of justice. The study showed that the more uncertain employees are and the more they seek to avoid ambiguous situations, the stronger the relationships among organisational structure, perceptions of justice, and work-related attitudes. Many of the conditions and reasons, whereby the effects of structural dimensions on perceptions of justice and work related attitudes were more possible, were identified. Similarly, many of the conditions whereby the effects of perceptions of justice on work attitudes were more possible were also identified. Among these conditions were uncertainty avoidance culture, risk avoidance, trust in managers, perceived bank support, and perceived managers’ support

The dynamic of confrontation and conflict that prevails between project team members and organizations in the construction industry can provoke some devastating consequences on project performance (Loosemore, M. 1998). Furthermore, the fragmentation of projects into different phases impacts on the professional relationships between team members and organizations involved (Singh, A. and Johnson, M., 1998). This context invites an investigation into the different factors that condition the execution of a project and the impacts, (human, organizational, institutional, governmental, technological, and others) on the relational dynamics of project team. According to Trompenaars (1996), people and teams are as important as other aspects (technical and organizational) in project success. This study investigates the psychological features of the main players from the different organizations involved in the project, and seeks to understand the influence they have on the performance of multidisciplinary teams. The methodological approach was to undertake in-depth case studies of the teams associated with four recently completed construction projects in Quebec. All the projects involved public clients. The case studies gathered information about the performance of the projects and also the psychological characteristics of the team members. Standard analysis tools were used to draw conclusions on the strengths and weaknesses of the teams and the propensity for these to impact on project performance. The findings of the study show that all the teams had significant weaknesses that could lead to problems with project performance. In some of the cases, the analysis shows that there was a link between project failure and team characteristics. The study concludes by proposing that there is a value to construction clients in evaluating project team characteristics before projects commence. It is argued that weaknesses can be identified and appropriate action taken to avoid potential problems in the execution of the project

The continuing incidence of costly disputes in the construction industry has led to a common interest of researchers in different countries to identify the generic aspects of conflicts, claims, disputes and their resolution. This thesis undertakes an extensive review of literature in the field of construction disputes examining the current understanding of the causes of disputes, as identified by other researchers in the field, and attempts made to minimize them. An analysis of the literature helps identify important themes for particular investigation: procurement methods, risk allocation, claims management and dispute resolution methods. A preliminary examination of 20 projects in Lebanon confirmed the existence and revealed the extent of disputes on Lebanese projects. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews with practitioners actively involved in construction projects in Lebanon at the project management level are conducted, from which a set of dispute influencing areas emerge. Fifty cases of disputes occurring on four live case study projects in Lebanon are also analysed to examine the risk allocation and occurrence, the behavioural attitudes of key stakeholders, and the factors which lead to disputes between the parties. The findings demonstrate the relationship between those risks which are addressed in the contract and their interaction (when they eventuate) with the behavioural traits of the project participants involved. Furthermore, the dispute factors encountered in these fifty cases are categorized into dispute influencing areas to establish any correlation with the areas raised in the twenty-four interviews. Following comparison of the evidence gained from the literature, the interviews and the case studies, a set of provisional recommendations to minimize disputes is proposed and organized under three themes: a pre-contract award workshop; the drafting of general and particular conditions of contract; and the potential for improvement based behavioural on compliance of project participants. The validity of the provisional recommendations is tested by the reviews of five experts in the field of construction disputes, in accordance with which the recommendations are amended.

The challenges arising from the changing demographic profile and the rapid increase in the older population in the UK promotes the development of a range of models of housing and support that allow elderly individuals to live independently for as long as possible. Over half a million elderly individuals live in rented, sheltered housing in England. Sheltered housing is purpose built accommodation for elderly individuals who want to live independently in an environment that provides support and is secure. It is a common view that knowledge sharing plays an important role in the success of businesses and organisations. This study proposes to identify the critical success factors (CSF) of knowledge sharing that should improve the provision of floating support services (FSS) to the elderly in sheltered housing. Literature demonstrates that the success of knowledge sharing is influenced by factors including trust, management support, communication, team networking, technology, structure and organisational culture. Knowledge sharing covers a wide variety of functionalities and supports different sets of activities within an organisation. Therefore, to achieve the research aim, both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies are used to gather data. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with thirty (30) participants and survey questionnaires engaging ninety (99) respondents across six organisations in Greater Manchester. The findings suggest that trust and relationships, team networking, strong leadership support and information technology are the CSFs that can improve knowledge sharing between floating support workers and adult social service workers; and play an important role in the decision to share knowledge. Based on these findings, a framework for improving knowledge sharing in the provision of FSS was developed. The framework will be of benefit to policy makers and regulators such as housing associations and providers of floating support services. The findings from this research contribute valuable new knowledge to both researchers and practitioners in both housing associations and the adult social service sectors by developing a holistic approach and in turn increasing their chances of improving knowledge sharing between teams providing floating support services.

The implicit aim in this kind of study, especially within developing countries, is to provide a tool that allows an economic decision maker to stand on solid ground and to reduce the problems that arise from the stochastic decisions in such countries. One of most effective tools, in this regard, is the econometric model. Accordingly, in pursuit of achieving this aim, this study constructed a small econometric model for the Libyan economy with a view to assessing the existing and alternative economic policies, specifically fiscal and monetary policies, and then aimed to explore their transmission mechanisms and interaction. Therefore, the model is designed to capture the main characteristics of the economy whilst also exploiting the developments in economic theory and econometric analytical tools. The model consists of six blocks, namely, the aggregate demand, the aggregate supply, the balance of payments, the government, the monetary, and the price. The model has been estimated utilizing time-series data spanning the period from 1970 to 2006. Also, the single equation of the model was estimated by using the ‘Gets’ technique which involves the formulation of a ‘general’ unrestricted model ‘GUM’ that is congruent with the data and the application of a ‘testing down’ process, eliminating variables with coefficients that are not statistically significant leading to a simpler ‘specific’ congruent model that encompasses rival models. This step achieves the first objective of the use of econometric models which is the structural analysis. In addition, this study has carried out the remaining two objectives of econometric studies, namely forecasting and policy analysis. Accordingly, in order to fulfil this aim the model of the study has been solved as a whole, simultaneously using the dynamic simulation technique. It is evident from the dynamic simulation of the model that the model’s performance is, generally, quite satisfactory, whereby the model tracking behaviour clarified a good fit, and this is realized for most of the equations which performed much better than would be expected for a model of a developing country such as Libya. The evaluation of the forecast accuracy of the model using the (MAPE), (RMSPE), and the Theil inequality coefficient (U) asserted the relatively good performance of the model. The simulations’ experiments in this study have evaluated the potential influences of the two major policy options, fiscal policy and monetary policy. As expected, with regard to the analysis of the monetary policy scenario and compared with the fiscal policy scenario, it can be concluded that monetary policy is less efficient compared to fiscal policy, according to this proposed model for the analysis of economic policy in Libya. In addition, also, it is evident that fiscal policy should play a key role in the management of the Libyan economy and the role of monetary policy should be confined to supporting fiscal policy.

The purpose of the study is to identify the tourism potential, examine the significance of tourism to the national economy and evaluate the marketing of Libya as a tourist destination. The effects of tourism development on several countries including Libya are considered. Concepts of tourism development including policies, planning and marketing for tourism are used to provide a theoretical basis for the study. Policy recommendations are produced to encompass a strategy framework to improve the performance of the tourism sector in Libya.

The construction industry is very much fragmented and the concept of interoperability and integrated model based engineering is now becoming an industrial need, to address the difficulties of information exchange at all stages and between all parties involved in the construction life cycle. The lAI's IFC (common building information model standard) is now maturing in supporting the various phases of the construction life cycle. In addition, the industry is beginning to use geographic information systems (GISs) in various stages of the construction life cycle. Geospatial representations of building information models can be required when working with geographic information systems in the construction life cycle. On the other hand, geographic information systems are commonly used information systems to plan and manage the urban built environment. Some urban management tasks such as disaster management, delivery of goods and services, detailed cityscape visualisation require a high amount of geometrical and non-geometrical information about buildings. In fact, the lack of integration between Building Information Models and the Geospatial Information Domain, creates a technological barrier to, automation of some industrial processes in construction life cycle and urban management domains. In order to find a solution to this integration problem, this study aimed to assess the applicability and benefits of an implementation of a building information model in geospatial context. In light of the aim, the research assesses how a technological innovation (an implementation of a building information model in a geospatial context) can improve the process in related areas of the construction life cycle and urban management domains. The research started with a background literature review that is concerned with the trends and visions of construction information technology, in order to determine the main research directions. Major industrial trends and visions of, computer integrated construction were investigated and, building and geospatial information modelling are selected as two main research directions. The next phase of the background study aimed to investigate the building information modelling knowledge domain. In this context Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP), STEP based methods for information exchange, file and database implementations of STEP, STEP based building information modelling efforts, the structure of industry standard building information model- Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)-, several industrial projects that implement IFC model are investigated. The final stage of the background study investigated the modelling and management of geospatial information. This stage of the research started with investigating the role of geospatial information in construction and urban management knowledge domains. The research continued with investigating the geospatial data modelling efforts in two and three dimensions, and also looked at the use of three dimensional geospatial