Before the outbreak of the Second World War Britain had suffered the consequences of uncontrolled industrial development - too highly populated built-up areas and indiscriminate sprawl of houses in the suburbs of industrial cities. Those associated with town planning called for comprehensive national planning. The state of city centres was the microcosm of the lack of such planning - insufficiency caused by traffic congestion and chaotic development of buildings of all kinds, and the absence of social amenities such as civic centres and public open spaces. But the local authorities could do very little, because, for one thing, there was no proper legislation dealing with such highly densely developed areas. The German air raids on several industrial cities in 1940 were thought to have provided a golden opportunity for the local authorities to set to the task of replanning city centres. The Government promised to make up the necessary legislation, and encouraged the blitzed local authorities to plan boldly and comprehensively. City centre replanning had become a symbol of post-war reconstruction as a whole. However, the blitzed authorities soon had to face a wave of pressure to subdue boldness in their city centre plans. This thesis, by exploring the three case studies of Bristol, Coventry, and Southampton, illustrates the development of city centre replanning in the 1940s, and explains why it failed to live up to some of the expectations of its supporters.

The implications of the western financial and economic crisis brought the global financial system into a system-threatening imbalance. Even though a total breakdown of the financial system has been averted, all parties concerned are still confronted with the consequences. Thereby, banking institutes are challenged by a high level of complexity and dynamics introduced by new regulatory frameworks, turmoil in capital markets and cautious customers. All these changes result in the need for banks to draw the necessary conclusions for their individual strategies to survive in a fiercer competition. Against this background and challenges, numerous German savings banks currently re-examine opportunities to optimise their (net commission) earning structure by offering liability derivatives to their clients. The aim of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of such derivative sales in German savings banks by developing a conceptual framework exploring and explaining the critical factors for establishing a business-level strategy for this highly ambivalent business field against the background of the crisis. Taking the ontological and epistemological position of a constructivist, the strategy of inquiry was informed by a (qualitative) grounded theory approach, using semi-structured interviews with experts as data gathering technique. The underlying emphasis on three different German savings banks in relation to size, location and business strategy offered a solid base to meet the set research objectives and to establish new primary findings. Based on an exploration of the institutes’ courses of action, a discussion of the financial crisis’ influences and derived expert views on success and sustainability for the business field, five main categories were elaborated, which differentiate successful from less successful business units. For each main category a partial model was created explaining interdependencies and causalities. By consolidating these findings and partial models, an initial conceptual framework was developed, which supports the implementation of a possible successful and sustainable business-level strategy for derivative sales in German savings banks. The improved understanding and the conceptualisation of derivative sales in savings banks are highly relevant for practice and theory as they offer in-depth-expertise of a market-environment which is swiftly and radically changing but still has high potential for increasing customer loyalty as well as profits and thus can generate competitive advantages for the institutes offering these services.

Throughout the post-war period, Greece has allocated between five and six per cent of her annual Gross Domestic Product to defence. On many occasions she had the highest defence burden in NATO and Europe. There is evidence that the level, form and content of this defence expenditure have been determined by a combination of both external and internal factors. Greek military spending needs to be understood in relation to external security concerns and in particular in terms of her relations with Turkey. Membership of NATO, U.S. foreign policies and internal security factors have also influenced military expenditure. There is no substantial evidence to suggest that military expenditure has so far been used as a tool of economic policy. Dependency on imported weapons systems will not be substantially reduced by domestic arms production. It will merely be replaced by another form of dependency. Neither will domestic arms production generate appreciable backward and forward linkages which could pull the country out of the present economic crisis. The peculiarities of Greek development have created long term dependency on imported technology and capital goods which will not be reduced by arms production. Foreign military transfers have been instrumental in forging these dependency links and keeping the country open to foreign capital to operate under free and unregulated conditions. The links between military expenditure and economic growth are first established at the growth model level. They are then estimated in the context of a growth model directly and indirectly through the effect on savings and investment. The growth rate is treated as a function of both exogenous and endogenous variables and the impact of defence spending is estimated by two stage least squares in a series of equations. The results indicate that military expenditure has adversely affected growth in the period 1953-84 mainly through the crowing out of investment.

Main goal of this thesis is to describe and analyze factors that influence attendance of sport events (matches) of HC Pardubice with the focus on the work with fans as one of the assumed factors of attendance rate. The theory part si focused on theories which refer to this problem. These are: demand for sport and its determinants, theory of sport product and fan definition. At the beginning of practice part, the thesis describes characteristics of the hockey club. Next chapter deals with factors which influence the attendance rate with the goal to determine the significance of particular factors. Subsequently the thesis analyzes the work with fans with special attention to sport product of the club, its price, sales promotion and other elements of club's marketing. Individual chapters are supplemented by the results of the research of HC Pardubice supporters sample that refer to the content of each chapter. In conclusion, the work with spectators is evaluated and possibilities of spectator care development are propounded.

This thesis describes developments in atomic vapour loading in hollow core photonic crystal fibre (HC-PCF) for fabrication of atomic vapour loaded photonic microcells (PMC). These developments have been targeted at addressing some of the issues associated with loading atomic vapours in confined waveguiding geometries such as increased dephasing and physio-chemical wall absorptions. Atomic vapour loaded HC-PCF and PMC’s have applications in laser metrology, coherent optics and magneto optical spectroscopy. State of the art HC-PCF have been fabricated for loading with atomic vapour including both photonic bandgap (PBG) guiding and inhibited coupling (IC) hypocycloidal core shape Kagome HC-PCF. Record loss of 70 dB/km has been achieved in IC hypocycloid core shape Kagome HC-PCF in the spectral region centred at 800 nm. This fibre retains excellent single mode propagation combined with large core and increased optical bandwidth in comparison with specialist PBG HC-PCF optimised for operation around 800 nm. Aluminosilicate sol-gel coatings have been developed and successfully applied to the inner core wall of HC-PCF’s to reduce the atomic vapour surface interaction. Confining atomic vapours in micron scaled HC-PCF results in increased dephasing rates because of the frequent atom wall collisions. Anti relaxation coating materials have been applied to the inner core wall and the longitudinal relaxation time has been measured in coated and uncoated fibres utilising a magneto optical technique. Additionally sub Doppler transparencies are investigated in anti relaxation coated and uncoated HC-PCF.

This thesis includes four empirical studies on the effects of bank behaviour on bank performance in European and North American countries up to the 2007-08 financial crisis. First, we investigate the effects of non-traditional bank activities, i.e., off-balance-sheet (OBS) items and traditional activities, i.e., loans, on bank performance, and then considering a risk-based capital requirement show an optimal bank portfolio. Second, we examine the impact of interbank lending on bank risk-taking, considering the consequence of “Too big to fail” (TBTF) and show differences in bank activities and risk-taking between large and small banks. We then study the effect of changes in bank behaviour on the determinants of interest margins. Finally, we identify the reasons of individual bank failure towards understanding the mechanism of the recent financial crisis. Our empirical findings provide following results. First, the negative effect of OBSs on bank performance is found and banks prefer moving away from OBSs, given the risk-based capital requirement. Second, interbank lending increases the large banks’ risk level under TBTF. Third, product diversification has a negative impact on interest margins. Finally, the housing price index has a significant impact on the probability of bank failure in the context of the recent financial crisis.

The essence of globalisation has been its influence on every aspect of post-modern social reality. However, little empirical research has considered how globalisation affects people’s perception of their national attachments. This study explores the interrelation between the international business environment and international business travellers’ understanding and construction of their national identity. By using data from 60 qualitative interviews with British (English and Scottish) and Russian business people actively involved in international business travel, the nature of their national belonging is compared and contrasted. The research identifies what constructs are employed in the research participants’ national identity claims and analyses differences and similarities in their articulations of their national belonging. Particular attention is paid to the role of the increasingly globalising international business environment in shaping the respondents’ local and cosmopolitan orientations. The study suggests that globalization affects the international business travellers’ perception of national self in two ways: while becoming more cosmopolitan they also grow more aware of their national belonging.

The focus of this study is centred upon intellectual activity in the period from 1750 to c1840 in Shropshire, an area that for a time was synonymous with change and innovation. It examines the importance of personal development and the influence of intellectual communities and networks in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge. It adds to understanding of how individuals and communities reflected Enlightenment aspirations or carried the mantle of ‘improvement’ and thereby contributes to the debate on the establishment of regional Enlightenment. The acquisition of philosophical knowledge merged into the cultural ethos of the period and its utilitarian characteristics were to influence the onset of Industrial Revolution but Shropshire was essentially a rural location. The thesis examines how those progressive tendencies manifested themselves in that local setting. The study therefore explores contemporary knowledge acquisition and dissemination, both within and beyond the industrial environment for which the county has become historically known. Comparisons are made with similar processes in other localities and conclusions drawn on local specificity in the context of economic and agricultural improvement and the enhancement of infrastructure. It acknowledges in the process, the cultural change effected in the lives of many individuals across the social spectrum.

This thesis investigated three industries which were largely Birmingham and Black Country trades. Four-fifths of the work is concerned with the brass trades and their trade unions. This work filled the gap of knowledge of the past and present labour conditions in Birmingham and Black Country trades by doing research on written sources and conducting personal enquiry.

Providing access to finance to the poor has been proposed as a tool for economic development and poverty reduction. Our research aims to provide a deep analysis of how to enhance access to finance on a sustainable basis, focussing on rural Vietnam. It analyzes four main areas: (i) why access to financial markets by low-income households is severely constrained; (ii) how policy makers deal with the absence of financial markets for the poor; (iii) who are actually excluded from formal financial system; and (iv) the relationship between access to finance and poverty reduction. It is demonstrated that market imperfections (such as asymmetric information and transaction costs) can explain the lack of access for the poor. However, the development of financial technologies, such as joint-liability group lending or lending through partnership with social/information intermediaries may enhance information availability and reduce transaction costs. The poverty reduction approach that many policy makers have been following has failed to generate finance for the poor on a sustainable basis. We suggest that a mixed approach which combines the poverty reduction with financial systems approach (i.e. recognises a balance between social and financial goals) may be appropriate. This proposition is supported by empirical evidence from rural Vietnam where it is shown that the poverty reduction approach that the government has followed has not enabled financial institutions to achieve financial-self-sufficiency and this has reduced the outreach capacity. Moreover, we find that under the poverty reduction approach, the better-off households, rather than the very poor households, are more likely to gain access to formal financial sector. We also find that having access to finance has a positive impact on poverty reduction; but this impact is very small, suggesting that it may not be cost-effective.