Graveyards and cemeteries around the world are increasingly being designated as full. There is growing requirements to identify burial space or to exhume and re-inter if necessary. Near-surface geophysical methods offer a potentially non-invasive target detection solution, with additional soil sampling analysis to provide ground truth information; however there has been lack of research to identify optimal detection methods. This study has collected multi-frequency (225 MHz – 900 MHz) ground penetrating radar, electrical resistivity, electromagnetic induction and magnetic susceptibility surface data over different burial scenarios (ancient, old and modern burials). Surveying ancient burial sites revealed they can be geophysically detectable even after 650+ years of burial, given optimum local soil type and depositional environment conditions. Surveying old and modern burials indicate that progressively older burials are more difficult to detect but complicated by local soil type. Different geophysical techniques were optimal in different sites, which therefore suggests a multi-technique approach should be utilised by survey practitioners. Graveyard geophysical targets included the grave soil above graves themselves, the grave contents, brick-lining (if present) and grave soil water that can be all detectable from background levels. Grave markers were also identified not to always be located where burials were positioned. Buried cadaver decomposition releases elements into the surrounding soil, which can significantly change the local site geochemistry. Resulting elevated element levels, associated with cadaver decomposition, can assist in identifying burial location(s), when compared to background levels and temporally vary. These included inorganic elements, pH and conductivity. Potassium, sulphate, sodium and phosphate were also identified as potential grave markers, which also showed strong correlation coefficients with grave soilwater conductivity values. Background elemental concentrations were consistently low and were controlled by rainfall.

This research seeks to understand the Chernobyl accident at the material level and this is achieved through a sustained engagement and use of Latour’s Actor-Network Theory. The primary research question asks how has the accident travelled through various worlds: impacting upon them, reorienting their structure, and at times, creating new nuclear worlds in its wake. The ambiguous nature of the question is designed to allow the research to approach the expansive topic from several angles, thus accounting for the very real material spread radioactive fallout and, crucially, the material action engendered by the agency of RBMK no4, the central actant in the network in question. The nature of this work is quasi-scientific; that is, the majority of the empirical data is the discourses of the ‘hard sciences’, the disciplines tasked with understanding and mitigating one of the worst accidents the world has ever witnessed, and safeguarding against another similar occurrence. The reassembling of RBMK no4’s network, and its travels, hence ‘renders visible’ the lessons learnt by the nuclear industry in the wake of the event of April 1986. The spectre of Chernobyl has loomed over the industry for 3 decades. This research attempts to create a pragmatic context. It is not interested in the epistemological ‘sensationalist’ representations of the accident. Instead it embraces the complex intricacies of the physics, engineering and radiological sciences — the very essence of the materiality of RBMK no4, and its risky network.

The best methods for processing a positioning solution vary between the positioning technologies. The main methods are examined and the best are chosen and used in the final implementation. The path-loss modelling is the faster method when using BLE. It is slightly more advantageous, although slightly less accurate, when compared with the very laborious Fingerprinting alternative. For an UWB system, the accurate timing method is the better option over the signal strength measures. These sensor subsystems produce the positioning solutions that are of different quality. The fusion filter is then the motor, where the information fusion of these subsystems happens. For the fusion, multiple methods exist. Accuracy and computational efficiency are the driving factors in this process of continuous development of an ultimate seamless navigation system. A truly seamless navigation system uses the best available sensors and methods in the derivation of the most accurate positioning solution. This acquisition relies on the context inference process. The system adapts to all contexts throughout the navigation process. The developed novel seamless positioning system in this thesis was implemented successfully and was proven to operate correctly. The accuracy of the implemented system reaches a level below 4 metres (95%), outdoors. Indoors, the accuracy reaches a level below 2 metres. The availability, the deployment and the existing infrastructure are an issue to be tackled in the future. The thesis work was conducted as a part of the Marie Curie Initial Training Network project, named Multi-Pos. This project consisted of 15 researchers at different locations in Europe. Part of the thesis is a result of the cooperation between the project partners. Especially the parts of the work done on context detection and the literature review were completed with common effort.

This research examines the process of knowledge commercialisation in a fledging national innovation ecosystem. The thesis investigates the Omani biosciences sector and its attempts to leverage its contribution to the national economy through knowledge-based activities. It focuses on the commercialisation actors and the transformation to the entrepreneurial paradigm since mid-1990s. More specifically, it seeks to understand the knowledge commercialisation in the context of the national systems of innovation and considers three main components: actors and institutions, networks, and the national support mechanisms. Theoretically, this study draws on three strands of theory, which are the National Innovation Systems (NIS), the Triple Helix (TH) model of innovation and Network Theory (NT). These theories are advanced by considering the institutional setting of the bio-sector and the social and cultural dimensions of the actors. Empirically the thesis is informed by mixed methods of questionnaire, semi-structured interviews that were conducted in Muscat in 2014, and the analysis of policy documents. This thesis indicates that the Omani bio-sector represents a significant emerging setting for knowledge commercialisation process that involves the connection and co-development of actors, knowledge, and networks between the existing domains of practice (academia, government and industry). It contributes to understanding the extent of the influence of the entrepreneurial culture and the social dimension of the actors. It shows that the locus of innovation and knowledge production is the academic sphere and knowledge exchange between the actors is phase-dependent. The thesis suggests that geographic co-location is not the key prerequisite for effective interaction whereas innovation intermediaries play an important role based on their position and situation. Within the embryonic setting of knowledge entrepreneurship in the bio-sector, small-scale government initiatives have proven to be more efficient. Finally, the thesis concludes that the actors for commercialisation should develop a more sophisticated understanding of the concept and settings in which technical and tacit knowledge is formed, and of the means and mechanisms through which commercialisation practices might be enhanced.

This research is concerned with mobility related planning and policy making processes in the context of sustainable urban development. Understanding and assessing integration approaches within these planning processes is the objective of this thesis. The research focuses at the local planning level. As spatial and transport planning is covered by national and European policy regulation, the impact of higher political and planning levels in a multi-level governance system has been taken into consideration. The research strategy applied is a case study approach; specifically, the city of Leipzig which is located in East Germany. Since the late 1980s, in the context of the emerging sustainability debate and the end of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), a special planning environment has developed in East Germany. It is characterised by a crossparty and population wide request for environmental objectives in planning agendas. The research aims to make a contribution to integration debates in planning processes, investigates whether and how integration works, and moreover how this contributes to sustainable urban development. The research focuses on three integration approaches prominent in current debates on urban planning and explores how they influence local level planning processes that are related to mobility. The three integration approaches are environmental policy integration (EPI), departmental integration (DI) and stakeholder integration (SI). The objective of this research project is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the fields of environmental policy integration, departmental integration in planning, and sustainable urban development. The research will help to understand whether and how these integration approaches can encourage a stronger focus on environmental objectives, more long term solutions in planning, and a focus on eco-mobility. The strategy of enquiry applied to this research is a case study. The analytical framework is formed by a multi-methods approach. In order to answer the research questions the following methods are applied: semi-structured expert interviews and the analysis of secondary qualitative and quantitative data. The data is collected at different political and planning levels to be able to reflect on the variety of influences. The mix of multiple sources of evidence (triangulation) enhances the validation of the results. The thesis provides an in-depth analysis of planning policies and planning processes with respect to EPI at the local level. It demonstrates that high levels of EPI, DI and SI can be achieved within mobility related planning, but that various supporting elements as well as obstacles have a significant influence on the level of the three integration approaches.

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Most adults are able to take some control over where they live and are able to reflect on their migration histories, those places where they have lived and worked, and those places where they might aspire to live in the future. These life altering decisions have been negotiated either autonomously or in conjunction with significant others in their lives. For some adults, most notably those with learning disabilities, these life decisions are partially, if not wholly, made for them by others. It is therefore the aim of this thesis to uncover more about the decision-making opportunities afforded to people with learning disabilities regarding their home-spaces as they navigate ‘moving landscapes’ which they have perhaps not envisaged for themselves. Through the themes of decision-making, movement and belonging, this thesis works towards an up-close and in-depth study of residential spaces for people with learning disabilities as they traverse landscapes not always suited to their physical, mental and political needs.

This thesis examines the ways in which Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can be used, together with documentary sources, to advance the study of enclosure and landscape. The study proposes that the much researched subject of enclosure has been the focus of economic and social history and that the importance of its effects upon landscape has been under-appreciated. The study area is the historic county of Northamptonshire, an exceptionally well documented county, with one of the highest percentages of land enclosed in the parliamentary period. Enclosure from all periods is studied, with the focus on the parliamentary period as having the most extensive sources. The primary source is the historic map, from which the landscape has been digitally reconstructed in GIS using the techniques of landscape archaeology. First the methodology is defined which provides a definition of terms and explores the range and uses of the source materials. Then the process of enclosure, with the key elements of chronology, density and determinants, is explored within the context of previous studies. There follows chapters on the pre and post-enclosure landscapes which examines the influence of land owners and land use. It will be demonstrated that before enclosure it was the agricultural system that created and defined the landscape, while afterwards the landowners were the most influential factor. A final chapter uses case studies to establish a methodology for using GIS in landscape conservation and management. This has shown that GIS is essential for identifying historic features in the complexity of the modern landscape. Furthermore, the use of GIS in this study has enabled important new issues to be identified: the unenclosed landscape was not dominated by arable but was, by the mid-eighteenth century, predominantly pasture; there was no distinct enclosed landscape, it was far more nuanced than has been recognised; some features associated with enclosure, dispersed buildings and simplified road networks, were in fact associated with period rather than process.

Brazil is growing economically and, as one of the BRICs, claims to have created 40 million new middle-class persons during the past decade. Participation among lower-income neighbourhoods has been a part of politics in Porto Alegre since the early 1990s, and in most neighbourhoods basic needs have now been met. Middle-class identities unite people across space and different neighbourhoods, and identity politics is emerging, focused on issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation. This means that individual identities can be explored and provided for. The result is the growth of more vocal identity-based groups, while governments have a greater capacity to engage with their needs. Políticas Públicas engages with more groups than ever. Locally, more globalised cultural models and identity classifications have emerged, adapted to the cultural specificities of Rio Grande. LGBT identities are integral to this. These groups seem to be riding the wave of middle-class power, nationally. Locally, they are building on the cultural receptivity of the State as being liberal and cosmopolitan with which to engage. This is a heartland for LGBT political mobilisation and of public engagement with participatory politics. This research explores how participatory spaces are used, asking what they are; their claims; who uses them; what sort of identities are invoked in them; and what social and institutional relationships of knowledge and voice/power are at play. In answering these questions, the research utilises a range of methods including an ethnographic suite of tools to engage with a range of local groups, both within and outside of participatory settings. This establishes the world views and motives of different groups and individuals within these groups, revealing diversities among those defined as LGBT. In turn, this has enabled understanding of the minutiae of the local social worlds and through so-doing makes an original contribution to the furtherance of existing academic knowledge.

No description available.