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The published work and case for support which comprises this PhD thesis examines the field of self-guided trails and in particular addresses the research question: How do self-guided trails contribute to the creation of tourist spaces? The publications have been produced over a 13 year period and constitute a collection of conceptual and applied studies in the area. The body of work examines trails within the wider concept of the socio-cultural construction of place and their contribution to the formulation of static, themed settings is contrasted with their potential to encourage a more fluid and embodied approach to space where visitors are engaged with the places they visit. The case for support discusses the approach and methodology applied to the research, in particular the method of content analysis. It then goes on to examine the impact of the publications submitted, concluding that they have made a useful and original contribution to the tourism studies literature, in particular by exploring the experiential potential of trails and through the use of content analysis and typology-building to better understand this diverse sector.

Organizational ecologists have always argued for the need to take account of the whole industry while studying how certain characteristics might affect the mortality of organizations. They argued that concepts such as legitimacy and competition were the driving forces behind organizational dynamics. Recently, researchers have started to pay more attention to a usually ignored topic: audience perceptions. Legitimacy, for example, is no longer modeled as the number of organizations in a population. It is now thought to be dependent on how audience members perceive these organizations. By bringing audience members into the picture, the topic of identity has become of central importance. This thesis seeks to study how identities affect the life chances of organizations within the context of the Lebanese newspaper industry.

This study experimentally investigated methyl chloride (MeCl) purification method using an inhouse designed and built volumetric adsorption/desorption rig. MeCl is an essential raw material in the manufacture of silicone however all technical grades of MeCl contain concentrations (0.2 - 1.0 % wt) of dimethyl ether (DME) which poison the process. The project industrial partner had previously exhausted numerous separation methods, which all have been deemed not suitable for various reasons. Therefore, adsorption/desorption separation was proposed in this study as a potential solution with less economic and environmental impact. Pure component adsorption/desorption was carried out for DME and MeCl on six different adsorbents namely: zeolite molecular sieves (types 4 Å and 5 Å); silica gels (35-70 mesh, amorphous precipitated, and 35-60 mesh) and granular activated carbon (type 8-12 mesh). Subsequent binary gas mixture adsorption in batch and continuous mode was carried out on both zeolites and all three silica gels following thermal pre-treatment in vacuum. The adsorbents were tested as received and after being subjected to different thermal and vacuum pre-treatment conditions. The various adsorption studies were carried out at low pressure and temperature ranges of 0.5 - 3.5 atm and 20 - 100 °C. All adsorbents were characterised using Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDXA) to investigate their physical and chemical properties. The well-known helium (He) expansion method was used to determine the empty manifold and adsorption cell (AC) regions and respective void volumes for the different adsorbents. The amounts adsorbed were determined using Ideal gas laws via the differential pressure method. The heat of adsorption for the various adsorbate-adsorbent (A-S) interactions was calculated using a new calorimetric method based on direct temperature measurements inside the AC. Further adsorption analysis included use of various empirical and kinetic models to determine and understand the behaviour of the respective interactions. The gas purification behaviour was investigated using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MC) analysis. Binary gas mixture samples were syringed from the manifold iii and AC outlet before and after adsorption/desorption analysis through manual sample injections into the GC-MS to detect and quantify the presence of DME and ultimately observe for methyl chloride purification. Convincing gas purification behaviour was confirmed using two different GC columns, thus giving more confidence on the measurement reliability. From the single pure component adsorption of DME and MeCl on the as received zeolite 4A subjected to 1 h vacuum pre-treatment, both gases exhibited pseudo second order adsorption kinetics with DME exhibiting a rate constant nearly double that of MeCl thus suggesting a faster rate of adsorption. From the adsorption isotherm classification both DME and MeCl exhibited Type II and I adsorption isotherm classifications, respectively. The strength of bonding was confirmed by the differential heat of adsorption measurement, which was found to be 23.30 and 10.21 kJ mol-1 for DME and MeCl, respectively. The former is believed to adsorb heterogeneously through hydrogen bonding whilst MeCl adsorbs homogenously via van der Waal’s (VDW) forces. Single pure component adsorption on as received zeolite 5A, silica gels (35-70, amorphous precipitated and 35-60) resulted in similar adsorption/desorption behaviour in similar quantities (mol kg-1). The adsorption isotherms for DME and MeCl on zeolite 5A, silica gels (35-70, amorphous precipitated and 35-60) and activated carbon 8-12 exhibited Type I classifications, respectively. Experiments on zeolite 5A indicated that DME adsorbed stronger, faster and with a slightly stronger strength of interaction than MeCl but in lesser quantities. On the silica gels adsorbents, DME exhibited a slightly greater adsorption capacity whilst adsorbing at a similar rate and strength of interaction compared to MeCl. On the activated carbon adsorbent, MeCl exhibited the greater adsorption capacity at a faster rate but with similar heats of adsorption. The effect of prolonged vacuum (15 h), thermal pre-treatment (150 °C) and extended equilibrium time (15 min) were investigated for the adsorption behaviour of DME and MeCl on both zeolites 4A and 5A, respectively. Compared to adsorption on as received adsorbents subjected to 1 h vacuum the adsorption capacities for DME and MeCl were found to increase by 1.95 % and 20.37 % on zeolite 4A and by 4.52 % and 6.69 % on zeolite 5A, respectively. In addition the empirical and kinetic models and differential heats of adsorption resulted in more definitive fitting curves and trends due to the true equilibrium position of the adsorbate with the adsorbent. Batch binary mixture adsorption on thermally and vacuum pre-treated zeolite 4A demonstrated purification behaviour of all adsorbents used for MeCl streams containing DME impurities, with a concentration as low as 0.66 vol. %. The GC-MS analysis showed no DME detection for the tested concentration mixtures at the AC outlet after 15 or 30 min, whereas MeCl was detectable in measurable amounts. Similar behaviour was also observed when carrying out adsorption in continuous mode. On the other hand, similar studies on the other adsorbents did not show such favourable MeCl purification behaviour. Overall this study investigated a wide range of adsorbents (zeolites, silica gels and activated carbon) and demonstrated for the first time potential to purify MeCl streams containing DME impurities using adsorption/desorption separation under different adsorbent pre-treatment and adsorption operating conditions. The study also revealed for the first time the adsorption isotherms, empirical and kinetic models and heats of adsorption for the respective adsorbentsurface (A-S) interactions. In conclusion, this study has shown strong evidence to propose zeolite 4A for adsorptive purification of MeCl. It is believed that with a technical grade MeCl stream competitive yet simultaneous co-adsorption of DME and MeCl occurs with evidence of molecular sieiving effects whereby the larger DME molecules are unable to penetrate through the adsorbent bed whereas the smaller MeCl molecules diffuse through resulting in a purified MeCl stream at the AC outlet. Ultimately, further studies are recommended for increased adsorption capacities by considering wider operating conditions, e.g. different adsorbent thermal and vacuum pre-treatment and adsorbing at temperatures closer to the boiling point of the gases and different conditions of pressure and temperature.

This research aims to assess the strategic tool of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) within the UK four and five star hotel industry by developing a strategic framework incorporating CSFs within the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach. Success in the hotel industry at all market levels and locations is determined by the ability to clearly formulate and implement a coherent strategy. Considering the importance of the hotel industry for the UK economy, it is essential to enhance overall strategic understanding within the hotel sector in order to increase efficiencies, performance and overall success. A major factor in identifying and understanding what needs to be done comes in identifying CSFs. This concept combines the strategic aims of the company and condenses them into a number of manageable factors that are absolutely critical to success. In addition, the BSC approach as a strategic tool that utilises CSFs to measure the performance and success of businesses is utilised. For the three stages of primary data collection, a mix of quantitative techniques, questionnaires and Delphi rounds, were used. The first stage included 33 questionnaires with hotel managers to update the existing list of CSFs; followed by three Delphi rounds with hotel industry experts to reduce the number of CSFs. These final factors were then ranked in importance by 61 general managers and owners of UK four and five star hotels. Confirmatory factor analysis identified a total of 19 CSFs for the UK four and five star hotel industry. Overall, there are four to five factors within each of the four BSC categories. Out of these, yield maximization, hygiene and cleanliness, staff friendliness and customer loyalty were identified to be the most important CSFs of each BSC category. A key finding is that even within a relatively homogenous set of hotels there are distinct differences in CSFs importance based on hotel characteristics such as size, location, star rating and ownership structure. Therefore, a significant result of this study is the creation of a framework for business strategy incorporating CSFs and the BSC for UK four and five star hotels for a coherent strategy formulation and implementation. Overall, the research also provides academia and the UK four and five star hotel industry with a tool for the prioritisation of strategy creation and implementation.

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An important question in development is how far can the contemporary global context create industrial development opportunities for the South, particularly for Low Income Countries? In an important sense, this can only be answered in non-abstract terms, since the institutional conditions facing particular industries at particular times are highly specific. In this research, a configuration of four regimes- the structural regime on production and trade in apparel, the labour regime, the neo-statist European Union regime on production and trade in apparel and the neo-statist United States regime on production and trade in apparel- creates a window of opportunity for a Kenyan export oriented apparel industry. However, we must ask whether this industry is autonomous from these regimes to the extent that its gains can be sustainably embedded within Kenya, notably in terms of product and labour upgrading, or is it, rather, subservient to them? My theoretical discussion shows that the Global Value Chain (GVC) approach presents lead firms as the primary governors in GVCs, while International Relations theory presents regimes as the primary governors in issue areas. The discussion gives a Dependency interpretation of regimes, subsuming the GVC approach in that interpretation, and arguing that, as far as issue areas are concerned, 'external' control-emergent regime governance of the GVC overrides 'internal' control lead firm governance. My empirical discussion shows that the upgrading of the Kenyan apparel industry has been insignificant, and that the governance of regimes on production and trade in apparel, while not a necessary condition, was a sufficient condition to undermine it. Nonetheless, the Kenyan Government and social movements can exploit systemic weaknesses, the former by negotiating for a single transformation of fabric and promoting export of folklore/ hand loomed/handmade products, the latter by demanding for the full implementation of minimum labour conditions.

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