Spatial data collected over 3 years is presented to assess the extent of morphological variability under seasonal and storm waves at four high-energy macrotidal beaches. A novel approach is adopted to identify and classify the beach response which is used to assess the relative stability of the system to changes in the dominant forcing conditions. Field measurements and modelling simulations using XBeach provide further support for a storm dominated system exhibiting relative stability. Morphologically the beaches range from dissipative to intermediate and are characterised by low tide bar/rip morphology which plays a key role in the nearshore dynamics and beach safety. Located in the north coast of Cornwall the sites are exposed to high-energy waves that dominate the stability and behaviour of beaches in this region. The growing need for marine renewable energy in the UK has led to the deployment of a Wave Hub on the seabed off the north coast of Cornwall, designed to provide grid connection for wave energy devices (WECs). As a unique development much has been done to address concerns over potential impacts cause by arrays of WECs during its construction and operational lifetime; these predicted impacts include changes in the quality of waves for surfing and effects on the beach dynamics which determines beach safety through the presence of bar/rip features. In this thesis three years of monthly topographic surveys were collected from beaches in the proposed Wave Hub shadow zone to assess their morphodynamic variability. Realtime kinematic (RTK) GPS surveys were undertaken using an all-terrain vehicle to measure the three dimensional (3D) morphology at four beaches (Perranporth, Chapel Porth, Porthtowan and Gwithian) situated along a 23 km stretch of the north Cornish coast. In addition nearshore wave data, in-situ hydrodynamic measurements, local tide gauges and Argus video data allowed detailed analysis of process-response mechanisms for long term (yearly); seasonal (monthly); storm (weekly/daily); and tidal (hourly) morphological behaviour. Of particular interest was the degree to which the beaches displayed bar/rip morphology, characterised by the three dimensionality (3D) of beach response, which determines wave breaking and affects beach safety. Using a combination of measured shoreline variability and empirical beach classification schemes, the response to changes in the wave conditions at each beach have been assessed. The sites exhibited net long term accretion derived from the intertidal beach volume. Throughout the survey period intersite similarity in beach response was observed in response to storm waves, yet coupling between the seasonal wave climate and the beach morphology was not evident at any of the sites, due to the dominance of recovery phases following storm events. The role of increased wave conditions (exceeding Hs=4 m) during sustained storm events (> 50 hrs) led to offshore transport from the beach face to the subtidal bar region. Post-storm recovery was characterised by onshore transport and the development of substantial 3D low tide morphology. Under normal wave conditions (Hs=1.6 m) the dominant 3D features smoothed out as channels in-filled and bars reduced over a period of 2-3 months. This cyclicity was observed on ~3 occasions at the northern sites, while Gwithian remained more stable throughout; reflecting the more sheltered position of the beach. Overall the beaches exhibited a significant storm dominated morphological response cycle, unlike the more familiar winter/summer seasonal response. Nearshore bar behaviour at Perranporth and Porthtowan, assessed using ARGUS images, was dominated by offshore migration (ca.20 m/yr) following closely the net intertidal accretion, while bar shape exhibited changes over monthly periods. Intensive field studies of morphological change, nearshore current flows and surf zone wave conditions were undertaken at Porthtowan during small swell dominated waves and large energetic storm conditions in May and October 2010 respectively. The field data highlighted accretionary response under small swell dominated waves, and strong offshore directed undertow flows (0.5 m/s-1) during erosive energetic conditions (>Hs = 4m) which were then related to the monthly surveys. These results were applied to XBeach model simulations which helped further identify the importance of antecedent morphology and the complexities of intertidal geology in controlling beach response. The study provides the longest continuous record of beach morphology dynamics for macrotidal energetic sites and provides a valuable addition to work in this field. The dominance of storm driven morphological response was clear with highly threedimensional morphology developing under post storm conditions and continued beach evolution driven by the seasonal conditions. Antecedent morphology was found to be a key element of beach response with geological control an additional component. The projected reduction in wave conditions due to the Wave Hub and the natural variability observed indicates the sites are unlikely to shift significantly from their current dynamic state in response to the Wave Hub, and as such the potential impact on nearshore and beach dynamics is minimal.

This thesis investigates changes in temperature extremes between 1950-2005, analysing gridded data sets of observations and climate model simulations. It focuses on changes in the frequency of extreme temperatures occurring in single days or over periods of six or more consecutive days. The study aims to quantify the significance of changes in extreme temperature events and answer the following questions. Are external or human-induced forcings together with natural forcings responsible for the observed change in temperature extremes or can these changes be explained due to natural climate variability alone? Are the observed changes consistent with those from climate model simulations? And are the changes in extremes linked only to changes in the mean climate, or only to those in climate variability or both? The analysis concentrates on changes from global to regional scale and from annual mean to seasonal scale. A detection method is applied to assess if changes are significantly different with respect to the internal climate variability. Results show that there has been a significant increase in warm daily extremes and a decrease in cold ones, both on large and small spatial scales. The increase in warm extremes has been found to be highly correlated with the increase in mean temperature. The changes in daily extremes are well represented in climate model simulations. Changes in the persistent extremes show a detectable increase in the frequency of warm and a decrease in cold events and are reproducible by models.

Amazonia contains the largest expanse of tropical forest in the world and is globally significant as a store of carbon, a regulator of climate and an area of high species diversity. The ability of the Amazonian forests to maintain these important ecological functions is however, increasingly under question in light of recent predictions of climate change. There is currently significant uncertainty in model predictions of how Amazonian forests will respond to predicted future climate change. This thesis reports the finding of two field studies, targeted at understanding the responses of two tropical forest carbon fluxes which are poorly simulated in vegetation models, and two modelling studies, which aim to better quantify uncertainty on model predictions of the effects of current and future climate change on the ecological function of Amazonian forests. The responses of forests to varying magnitudes of seasonal changes in climate which occur across Amazonia can give an important insight into the sensitivity of these forests to climate perturbations and changes. Testing the sensitivity of an Amazonian forest in Tambopata, Peru, to seasonal variations in precipitation and temperature, I find that the stem diameter growth of tropical trees is more sensitive to water availability than temperature changes. The vulnerability of trees to reduced soil water varied between tree classes with different functional traits, including wood density, tree height, tree diameter and tree growth rate. Similarly, I find that the respiration flux from tropical dead wood, at a second site in French Guiana, is highly sensitive to variations in water content. I show that these variations in respiration fluxes can be modelled successfully using seasonal variations in soil water content. To date there are few studies which have comprehensively tested vegetation models using ecological data from Amazon forests. Using data assimilation and nine sources of ecological data I estimate the certainty with which we can parameterise a carbon cycle model to represent the effects of a strong dry season on tropical forests. Using this technique I find, that the carbon balance of Amazonian forests can be very sensitive to reductions in water availability, and that these seasonal changes need to be accurately simulated across models to correctly predict annual carbon budgets. The variability in model responses caused by differences in the way processes are structured and parameterised in vegetation models requires better quantification. Using a model inter-comparison I demonstrate that the relative sensitivity of modelled climate-vegetation feedbacks to changes in ambient air temperature and precipitation is highly variable. I find that although the models showed similar directional responses at both the leaf and canopy scale some models showed a greater sensitivity to temperature and others to drought. I therefore demonstrate the need for greater constraint on modelled responses of Amazonian forests to changes in temperature and precipitation. The impact of climate change on Amazonian forests is an important global issue, yet our knowledge is reliant on our ability to understand the uncertainties on our predictions. Using field data to evaluate and to develop model predictions is a valuable way to reduce the uncertainty associated with modelling future change. This thesis presents an investigation of how tropical forests respond to changes in climate and with what certainty we can model these changes in order to predict the response of Amazon forests to predicted future climate change.

This is the report of a case study which was an investigation of how a group of long-established, in long-term and close working relationships, academic Computer Scientists working at a 1990's Scottish university have understood the many changes that have taken place in their field over their careers. It is a study that was performed by one of these Computer Scientist who had found it increasingly difficult to keep a grasp of the expanding, evolving and transforming knowledge-base that is a the core of being a Computing teacher in academia today, in the hope that performing the study would shed some light upon the nature of these changes, the forces that cause these changes, and how other Computer Scientists handle their changing field. The study was primarily performed through open conversations that took place in the group, one-to-one between the author and his then colleagues. As such, the study is based on analysis of subjective expressions of the personal experiences of the academics involved. As teachers in a new university, previously a Scottish Central Institution (akin to an English polytechnic), their teaching was applied Software Engineering rather than theoretical Computer Science, but a part of the group were originally educated as Computer Scientists. The study reviews the growth of Computer Science as an academic field in Scotland and compares the participants' experiences with those in other changing academic fields. The principal findings of the study are that knowledge in applied Computer Science originates entirely from outwith the academy. Commercial companies, philanthropic groups, end users and students all bring Computer Science knowledge into the academy. In order to teach the subject, these Computer Scientists must actively seek to gather in this knowledge, filter it and apply it in their teaching. The knowledge is volatile, difficult to provenance, only partially knowable, and time-stamped. It is not be found in books or other traditional academic sources. The one role that these Computer Scientists bring to knowledge creation in the field is in their formulation of new degree programmes which produce the field's new graduates and so affect the renewal and direction of the applied field of CS.

British higher education faces a conflict between increasing societal and governmental demands, commercialisation and decreasing institutional resources.  Innovation through strategic change in business education often occurs in the form of intra-institutional mergers into business schools against the backdrop of enhanced administrative efficiency and escalating accountability.  This dissertation explores the challenges confronting universities with a view to further informing organisational theorists, practitioners and policy makers about this dramatic change.  It is primarily concerned with investigating what academic staff in two business schools perceived to be effective or ineffective strategies and actions deriving from a management endorsed multi-level merger initiative.  It was undertaken to shed light on a perspective rarely pursued: the direct views of higher education employees on what constituted their fundamental concerns surrounding the change and how they proceeded to resolve them.  These data were analysed in a rigorous systematic way in the development of new substantive theory.  This doctoral dissertation claims significance in four main areas, namely: contextual sensitivity, research methodology, theory development and the management of academic identity.  Data from the research generated concepts that were used to develop the emergent theory of identity deconstructing. This study represents the first iteration of the substantive theory of identity deconstructing in British business schools and as such, produces a new source of empirically grounded concepts.  Findings also shed light on the management of academic identities and the implications for policy makers and practitioners in the area of higher education administrative change.

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Dr. Harry Benjamin leant medical legitimacy to transsexualism with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon in 1966. Using Benjamin's published works and extensive private correspondence with patients, this thesis examines some aspects of the development of transgender medicine and the relationship between transgendered people and the medical establishment in parts of the twentieth century. It argues that Benjamin's background in European sexology and sex reform, combined with his determination to consider his patients' expressed needs first, put him in the perfect position to develop new treatments for transgendered people. It demonstrates that his patients actively sought medical assistance and concludes that it was ultimately Benjamin's willingness and ability to work outside the bounds of accepted medicine coupled with his patients' drive to live in the gender of their choice that contributed to a significant shift in how the American medical establishment responded to transgendered people in the twentieth century.

Vegetation dominated by heather and bracken, two common species of the UK uplands, is often nutrient limited and heavily influenced by climate. Thus, changes in climate or nutrient availability might be expected to have pronounced effects on growth and competition between these species. Mature heather and bracken turfs, transplanted from the field into 1 x 1 by 0.5 m deep plots, were subjected to factorial experimental treatments of root competition, shoot competition, summer drought, increased nitrogen supply and increased temperature for four consecutive years. The effects of root competition on the growth of heather and bracken were as great as those caused by the environmental treatments alone. Shoot competition had little effect on the growth of the two species, and thus, competition was concluded to occur predominately for below ground resources. Heather, in the building phase, was a superior competitor to bracken due to its extremely fine and invasive root system. Heather was able to compete with and deplete water from the roots of established bracken plants. Measurement of integrated of water use efficiency () and water use by droughted heather and bracken showed that the predicted environmental change scenarios are likely to cause an increase in the intensity of competition for water. There was no evidence of competition for nitrogen, despite nitrogen clearly limiting the growth of both species. The effects of the treatments on shoot phenology, morphology, photosynthetic physiology, biomass and below ground biomass have been examined. Above ground, heather was more responsive to the treatments imposed than bracken, having greater increases in shoot growth in favourable conditions, but greater decreases in shoot growth, and greater physiological acclimation, in stressed conditions, particularly drought in combination with increased nitrogen supply. Below ground, growth of bracken was extremely responsive whilst that of heather was not. However, even when bracken below ground growth was most stimulated, by increased nitrogen supply, it was still held in check by heather.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate soil and environmental factors which influence the adsorption of DOC in upland, moorland soils. In Chapter 1 climate change, the greenhouse effect and the global carbon cycle are discussed briefly. A more detailed discussion of carbon cycling in the plant-soil-water system focuses on DOC retention in podzols and the review concludes with a summary of the aims of this thesis. A peaty podzol has greater potential to retain DOC than the other major soil types within the Glen Dye catchment, N.E. Scotland. Retention of DOC by physico-chemical surface interactions occurred in the mineral horizons of the soil where locally high concentrations of amorphous Fe and Al were present. Laboratory experiments using potassium hydrogen phthalate as a source of DOC showed that DOC retention is favoured by longer contact times between soil and solution. Net retention of DOC in the podzol profile is decreased by increasing the solution pH and by repeated wetting/drying and freezing/thawing cycles. As temperature and reaction time increased, respiration becomes more important as a mechanism for depleting solution phthalate DOC concentrations. Annual fluxes of DOC in precipitation, podzolic O, E and Bs soil horizon solution and stream water were estimated for the Burn of Waterhead catchment to be 35, 121, 83, 37 and 48 kg C ha-1yr-1 respectively. The DOC fluxes and the concentrations of related elements varied seasonally, with the largest DOC fluxes produced in the autumn and lowest in the summer. The annual DOC flux from the Burn of Waterhead was lower than fluxes from other catchments at Glen Dye. Results from the field site supported laboratory experimental results which suggested that climate change will result in an increase in the DOC flux from results which suggested that climate change will result in an increase in the DOC flux from peaty podzolic soil.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis seeks to determine how the naval shipyards could better implement mission funding after having worked extensively under a Working Capital Fund structure. Several principles exist in current management literature that can be applied to this change at the naval shipyards. Of these principles, six recurring guidelines for successful change management and an organizational open-systems framework are used to provide guidelines for shipyard change managers. The transition of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard provided a case study for applying this managerial theory. The six guidelines of change management were found to have applications for the case study, revealing the need for a clear vision statement, a leadership core, communication on multiple levels, attention to change inertia, and rewards for change behavior during a transformation. Furthermore, six key factors for success at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard provided additional guidelines for future transitioning shipyards, promoting command-level attention to mission funding issues, making a commitment to best practices, developing a specific timetable of milestones, seeking alternative sources of funding, performing functional area assessments, and developing and employing desk procedures. / Lieutenant, United States Navy