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For the prescription of insole/orthoses a vast range of materials are available to clinicians and with the limited scientific evidence available on their effectiveness material choice is often based on the clinician’s personal experience. Similarly therapeutic footwear play a major role in the prevention and treatment of diabetic ulcers and recommendations on suitable insole materials and construction are needed. The aim of the work undertaken in this thesis was to extend the current knowledge in the area of orthoses and prescription footwear in order to aid clinicians in patient treatment. Chapter 2 examined literature to date into materials used in footwear orthoses, concluding that at present recommendations for appropriate materials for different patient requirements are not possible. Chapter 3 examined the prescription procedures involved in the provision of foot orthoses by clinicians with an emphasis on material choice and highlighted the diversity in opinion among clinicians with regards to the available materials. Chapter 4 examined the characteristics of orthosis materials and how they affect gait providing information for a clinician to draw an evidence-based orthosis prescription centred on material properties. Two systematic reviews (Chapters 5 and 6) provide a concise review of research to date in the area of diabetic footwear, highlighting the dearth of information in the area, the limitations of the reviewed studies and providing recommendations for future research. The repeatability of a new pressure measurement system was examined in Chapter 7 with favourable results for the new system when compared to an established pressure measurement system. This research has contributed to clinical practice through the provision of valuable information on the performance of footwear materials and has led to the development of recommendations for future research in the area of prescription footwear.

Background. The many health benefits of physical activity are well established. In response to the low levels of activity in Sandwell, UK, the ‗Walk to Beijing‘ (WTB) intervention aimed to increase lifestyle physical activity using financial incentives (in combination with a health assessment, pedometer and brief advice). Aim. To examine the benefits of a financial incentive scheme to promote physical activity, specifically walking, in sedentary adults. Methods. A mixed methods evaluation comprised: (1) outcome evaluation employing a pre-post intervention design to measure three- and six- month changes in physical activity, physiological and self-reported health; (2) process evaluation using semi-structured interviews to explore participant experiences, motivations towards physical activity, incentivised health schemes and WTB participation; and (3) mixed methods case-study approach using data at collected at six- and 12-month follow-up to further explore sustainability of behaviour change. Results. Three-month data were available for 1082 participants (64.5% of baseline sample). A statistically significant positive change from baseline to three-month follow-up was observed for stage of change (p<.001, d=.63), which was maintained (but not further improved) at six-months (p<.001, d=.64). Significant three- and six-month improvements were also found in objective (e.g., BMI, waist-hip ratio, waist circumference and blood pressure) and subjective (e.g., EQ-5D, SF12v2 and Theory of Planned Behaviour constructs) measures of health status. At baseline, 41.7% of participants cited the financial incentive as influencing their decision to take part. Qualitative data also identified that the financial incentive was the primary motivator for some, but not all, individuals; other intervention components were also motivators. Conclusion. Data suggested that financial incentives may promote participation in lifestyle physical activity through aiding uptake and sustaining engagement, however, other intervention components were also important. This research is the first to conduct an evaluation of a financial incentive scheme to promote physical activity comprising a combination of quantitative, qualitative and longitudinal case study methods to gain a unique and detailed insight into the area. Important implications for future research and practice were identified.

This research focused on pre and post-disaster planning in Malaysia since the adoption of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005–2015 and national Vision 2020. A review of the existing research and practice in Malaysia including the structure and attitude of government officers at central and local authorities to risk was the starting point. The regulatory compliance to the Malaysia National Security Council MNSC Directive 20 programme is a key focus. The MNSC Directive 20 exists as the important core of disaster regulation in Malaysia but the implementation is not according to plan and regulatory compliance was low. Failures in regulation and compliance were identified as the key vulnerability and disaster causes in Malaysia. The beneficiaries were actually unaware of non-compliance that exposed them to hazard. In general, the more developed Asian economies, of which Malaysia is one, have not devoted much attention to pre-disaster planning despite a rapidly growing capital stock of buildings including public and private housing. Although the Asian Development Bank has provided templates for pre-disaster planning, the uptake has been slow. This Malaysian case study is an important example, not just for the country but the region. The aim of this research is to highlight shortfalls in provision, training and awareness, and to recommend ways of improvement. Gathered actors’ perspectives in the implementation of regulatory compliance in all level of emergency management system in Malaysia helps to explain the reason of regulatory compliance failures. Measuring their attitudes towards regulatory compliance reveals actual commitment because regulatory compliance would require making changes to existing barriers in the administrative environment. These changes would have to be based, to a large extent, on how actors’ perceived and judged the benefits of regulatory compliance implementation. The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods together that involved 484 respondents. They have broadly negative general attitudes towards regulatory compliance, arguing that currently too many barriers are present in department levels to make regulatory compliance implementation straightforward. They need informative advice and guidance to enable them to see the very probable societal benefits that can lead towards regulatory compliance development. The research concludes by categorising obstacles that need to be overcome, to encourage actors to accept regulatory compliance and recommends changes to department structures, systems and practices prior to regulatory compliance implementation.

This thesis investigates the use and significance of X-ray crystallographic visualisations of molecular structures in postwar British material culture across scientific practice and industrial design. It is based on research into artefacts from three areas: X-ray crystallographers’ postwar practices of visualising molecular structures using models and diagrams; the Festival Pattern Group scheme for the 1951 Festival of Britain, in which crystallographic visualisations formed the aesthetic basis of patterns for domestic objects; and postwar furnishings with a ‘ball-and-rod’ form and construction reminiscent of those of molecular models. A key component of the project is methodological. The research brings together subjects, themes and questions traditionally covered separately by two disciplines, the history of design and history of science. This focus necessitated developing an interdisciplinary set of methods, which results in the reassessment of disciplinary borders and productive cross-disciplinary methodological applications. This thesis also identifies new territory for shared methods: it employs network models to examine cross-disciplinary interaction between practitioners in crystallography and design, and a biographical approach to designed objects that over time became mediators of historical narratives about science. Artefact-based, archival and oral interviewing methods illuminate the production, use and circulation of the objects examined in this research. This interdisciplinary approach underpins the generation of new historical narratives in this thesis. It revises existing histories of the cultural transmissions between X-ray crystallography and the production and reception of designed objects in postwar Britain. I argue that these transmissions were more complex than has been acknowledged by historians: they were contingent upon postwar scientific and design practices, material conditions in postwar Britain and the dynamics of historical memory, both scholarly and popular. This thesis comprises four chapters. Chapter one explores X-ray crystallographers’ visualisation practices, conceived here as a form of craft. Chapter two builds on this, demonstrating that the Festival Pattern Group witnesses the encounter between crystallographic practice, design practice and aesthetic ideologies operating within social networks associated with postwar modernisms. Chapters three and four focus on ball-and-rod furnishings in postwar and present-day Britain, respectively. I contend that strong relationships between these designed objects and crystallographic visualisations, for example the appellation ‘atomic design’, have been largely realised through historical narratives active today in the consumption of ‘retro’ and ‘mid-century modern’ artefacts. The attention to contemporary historical narratives necessitates this dual historical focus: the research is rooted in the period from the end of the Second World War until the early 1960s, but extends to the history of now. This thesis responds to the need for practical research on methods for studying cross-disciplinary interactions and their histories. It reveals the effects of submitting historical subjects that are situated on disciplinary boundaries to interdisciplinary interpretation. Old models, such as that of unidirectional ‘influence’, subside and the resulting picture is a refracted one: this study demonstrates that the material form and meaning of crystallographic visualisations, within scientific practice and across their use and echoes in designed objects, are multiple and contingent.