Adding a much needed historical and comparative dimension to current debates about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the present thesis provides an analysis of the changing construction and treatment of childhood hyperactivity in Britain and the United States, focusing on the period from 1960 to 2010. The focal point is the historical discrepancy between the two countries in diagnostic and therapeutic practices, and the question of how and why perspectives have increasingly converged over the past 20 years. Whereas British medical and educational professionals continued to rely on environmental explanations and interventions for the vast bulk of disruptive behaviour in school children, the American concept of hyperactivity disorder from the 1960s onwards became increasingly inclusive and biomedical in orientation. This expansion was closely related to the rise of psycho-stimulants as a widely employed treatment for hyperactivity and attention problems in the US. British and other European clinicians, on the other hand, resisted drug treatments up until the mid-1990s, when rates of diagnosis and prescription grew dramatically on both sides of the Atlantic. A key aim of this study is to explore and explain the rise of ADHD and Ritalin in both the American and British contexts, looking at the interplay of political, professional, institutional and socio-cultural factors that have contributed in each case. The study concentrates on three distinct but interconnected spheres which, both separately and in combination, have underpinned and shaped approaches to hyperactivity in the two countries: medicine, education and the wider public arena, represented by parent support groups. While chapters 2, 3 and 4 focus on the medical debates and practices surrounding hyperactivity, and the points of connection and disconnection between the two medico-psychiatric communities, chapters 5 and 6 examine the role of schooling, disability activism, and educational policy, especially that relating to special educational needs. Finally, chapter 7 explores the issue of parent activism which has been an important factor in the growth and critique of ADHD in both settings.

In the UK, the debate surrounding energy production lies at the forefront of the political agenda, with growing emphasis on achieving an increasingly sustainable energy mix into the future. The nuclear option is especially debatable - issues such as waste management and decommissioning receive much attention. In addition, the many stakeholders interested in nuclear power display very divergent views on its sustainability. Since the turn of the century, nuclear power has received much attention globally, with many nations’ governments taking consideration of the potential benefits of new nuclear adoption. Conversely, the Fukushima nuclear disaster has led to new nuclear resistance in other nations, such as Germany, where plans have been made to stop nuclear power generation completely. This research aims to help inform the debate on nuclear power and the future UK electricity mix. A multi-criteria decision support framework (developed by the SPRIng Project) has been used for these purposes, taking into account technical, economic, environmental and social criteria.The methodology used in this work has involved: stakeholder consultation; use of future electricity scenarios; sustainability assessment of current and future electricity options (Pressurised Water Reactor, European Pressurised Reactor, European Fast Rector, coal, gas, solar and wind power, and coal carbon capture and storage [CCS] power); assessment of future electricity scenarios based on both sustainability impacts and stakeholder (expert and public) preferences for the sustainability indicators and electricity technologies. The sustainability assessment of future nuclear power options and coal CCS power have been carried out here for the first time in a UK-specific context.Based on the public and expert opinions on the importance of different sustainability indicators, results of the scenario analysis suggest that the scenario with a high penetration of low-carbon technologies (nuclear [60%] and offshore wind power [40%]) is the most sustainable. For the sample considered in this study, this finding is not sensitive to different stakeholder and public opinions on the importance of the sustainability indicators. However, when the stakeholder preferences for individual technologies are considered, scenarios with high penetration of renewables (26-40% solar and 20-48% wind) become the preferred options. This is due to the favourable stakeholder opinion on solar and wind power. In that case, the scenario with high penetration of nuclear is never the preferred option due to the low to moderate stakeholder preference for nuclear power.Therefore, the results from this research suggest that the ‘sustainability’ of different electricity options and scenarios is highly dependent on stakeholder preferences and priorities. Thus, for successful future deployment of these options and implementation of energy policy measures, transparency of information on the impacts of electricity options is key in ensuring that stakeholder opinions are founded in the actual rather than the perceived impacts of these options.

Mediation has been regarded as one of the effective dispute resolving techniques. However, the issues pertaining to the development of mediation have been overlooked and are therefore less well known. There has been limited discussion about mediation and some of the theoretical explanations about its development in the construction industry were not well investigated or documented. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the development of mediation by focusing on investigating the barriers which impede the use of mediation in resolving construction industry disputes in the UK. Gaps in the literature were identified in the research but no hypothesis was generated. The interpretive research model was an ideal paradigm for this research as it assisted in structuring the whole process of the investigation. A grounded theory strategy was adopted as it helped to capture the overall mediation phenomenon in a construction environment. Semi-structured interviews, with sixteen leading mediators from around the UK, were used for this study. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The interview transcripts were analysed using grounded theory analysis, through manual coding techniques. From the findings, two categories of barriers were identified: barriers arising from the public (lack of social awareness, disputatious culture, process barrier, insufficient planning, security and the introduction of adjudication) and barriers caused by the disputants’ legal advisors (ignorance, personal agendas and the conventional method of resolution). The study also explores some information on the mediation system such as financial issue was the main dispute in construction industry; facilitative mediation is the most appropriate mediation process and in appointing the mediator, excellence in mediating skills is more important than his or her professional background; also it is inappropriate/ counterproductive to impose mandatory mediation on construction disputes. The limited amount of literature dealing with mediation in the UK construction industry is one of the limitations of the research, as it complicated the process of designing the interview questions. Some potential sources of bias for the research are identified through the areas of data presentation and data interpretation. This research has provided theoretical and practical contributions to mediation development within the context of the UK’s construction industry. Further research is suggested to validate the research findings and to evaluate the quality of the mediation process, based on the gender and professional background of the mediator.

Reducing energy demand and carbon emissions from the UK housing stock through efficiency improvements is the focus of policy interest. The 2008 UK Climate Change Act set legally binding targets of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions against a 1990 baseline. The majority of emissions in the residential sector are carbon dioxide emissions arising from energy used for heating homes and water, cooking, lighting and electrical appliances. The sector s contribution to total UK emissions is significant and therefore reducing energy use in homes is an important factor if the UK is to meet its targets. In this research an initial survey of studies of the residential sector has been conducted to review factors considered to influence energy use and related emissions in UK housing. Further review identified energy and climate change policy instruments and structural change in the energy supply sector between 1970 and the present. A subsequent time-line of policy and events describes the changing, historical policy landscape related to energy efficiency improvements in the sector. As a result of these reviews, a need to better understand how householders have responded to technical energy efficiency improvements in housing, and the influence of social and economic factors, was identified as a research gap. In order to model householders historical behaviour Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was identified as an innovative approach for this field of research as a potential means to measure sector efficiency in a new way. The analysis has two stages. In the first, DEA is used to measure the relative efficiency with which the UK housing sector has managed its energy use and related emissions to deliver energy services such as space heating and lighting to householders. In the second stage, multiple regressions are used to examine whether the variability over time in the efficiency measure can be explained by policy interventions, energy market developments, and economic and social factors. DEA is a method for modelling the relative performance efficiency with which an observed sample converts measurable inputs to quantitative outputs. In this research, samples consist of annual observations of the UK housing stock, using data largely taken from DECC s UK housing energy fact file. An efficiency frontier of performance enveloping the observed sample points as closely as possible is constructed through DEA mathematical programming. The core of the analysis lies in identifying relevant quantitative input and output measures from available data. A range of measures of comfort and energy service levels to represent energy service outputs, and household energy and emissions data to represent inputs are examined in the analysis. The result is a timeline of efficiency performance that can be related to socio-economic change and the history of policy interventions. The analysis shows that the efficiency of the UK housing stock to manage its energy use and related emissions has not followed the steady upward trend that might have been expected from technical innovation. There is evidence of rebound effects over time, with householders behaviour in response to technical efficiency improvements acting to raise comfort levels rather than lower energy usage. Nevertheless, statistically significant roles can be identified for factors such as income, price and tenure which have implications for policy design and control and lead to a number of policy recommendations.

From 1971 UK has committed herself to the new brand name of Europeanism. Since that time Britain is continuously forced to adjust itself to the EEC regulations. The questions brought up in this thesis are about an outcome from the EU membership as well as reflection on Britain's regional policies. The work is streamed towards better understanding of main roles and activities that Britain was, is and will consign to the European Union. Moreover, there are several issues which bringing up a point of having some disadvantages from EU member. But with a time people could be concerned of more benefits that EU membership brought as an effective economic strategy is proved.

The recent revival of urban living in the UK has been stimulated by many different factors, including life style choices and government policies. This has led to a rapid increase in the number of apartments in the UK cities. This increased density living has also brought about various changes in the city infrastructure, including the way energy is supplied to residential buildings. The recent trend of ‘electrification of heat’ represents one of these changes, whereby electricity rather than natural gas is now typically being used for space and water heating as well as for cooking. Further growth in electricity demand has been predicted in the governments Carbon Plan with the increased use of all-electric systems including heat pumps for domestic heat. This will in turn impact the environment since electricity supplied in the UK is predominantly based on fossil fuels and contributes to significant greenhouse gas (GHG) and other emissions. However, greater penetration of renewable sources in the future would be expected to reduce GHGs. This would also help to improve the security of supply through diversification of energy sources. On the other hand, there are concerns that increasing reliance on electricity could lead to fuel poverty for a greater section of society. Thus, it is not immediately clear whether the change from gas to electricity would contribute to the sustainability or otherwise of energy supply in the UK residential sector. Therefore, this research has set out to understand better the implications of the electrification of heat in the urban residential sector by examining the trade-offs between environmental impacts, techno-economic costs and social aspects. This work therefore goes beyond the previous research that has typically focused solely on GHG emissions and energy pay-back times of different energy options. This is also the first time as far as the author is aware that the sustainability of the electrification of heat in cities are analysed in depth. Various tools have been used for these purposes, including life cycle assessment (LCA), indoor air quality monitoring (IAQ), life cycle costing (LCC), social surveys (SS), scenario analysis (SA) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA).Assuming all sustainability aspects considered here to be equally important, the most sustainable option is the district heating system. All-electric heat-providing systems (electric panel, electric storage, and air source heat pumps) have on average 2.5 times higher environmental impacts than gas-based systems (individual gas boiler, solar thermal and gas, district heating and community CHP systems). The techno-economic costs of all-electric systems are 80% that of the district heating system – however, fuel cost and demand changes increase substantially all-electric system cost vulnerability. Gas-based systems are widely accepted and valued - all-electric systems while a ‘good fit’ for particular city homes - have greater social impacts including affordability. If the proposed decarbonisation of electricity generation is realised, the global warming potential from electric heat-providing systems could be reduced to a 1/10th of present emission levels by 2050 increasing electrification of heat sustainability. Therefore, the choice of the most sustainable heat-providing options in the future, including that of the ‘electrification of heat’, will depend on the extent of the decarbonisation of the UK electricity supply and the relative importance placed on sustainability impacts by different stakeholders.

The thesis explores the state of European foreign conflict reporting by public sector broadcasters, post-Cold War and post-9/11. It provides a comparative analysis of the news values of three television news providers from three differing public systems: BBC’s News at 10, representing a British public service broadcaster, nominally independent of government control; Russia’s Vremya on Channel 1, a state-aligned broadcaster used, to a large extent, as a mouthpiece for the government; and France 2’s 20 Heures, a public service broadcaster, from a media system with a long history of state intervention. By investigating their reports, the study identifies and analyses the differing roles of public and state-aligned broadcasters. It examines the priority they place on certain values leading to particular aspects of a news story becoming news in one part of the world but not in others. The case study under investigation is a two-year period (2006-2008) from the ongoing Middle East conflict which both pre-dates the change in East-West relations and the events of 9/11 and provides a meeting point of many of the geo-political and post-imperial global struggles facing the three selected news reporting countries. The analytical chapters examine a peace conference, Israeli-Palestinian fighting and intra-Palestinian fighting, which reflect discrete aspects of this conflict and enable the broadcasters’ overarching and specific narratives to be considered. The thesis uses these events to assess relations between state and broadcaster and the attendant associations with the war on terror which emerge in the foreign conflict coverage. It investigates possible imbalances in the reports to the detriment of one of the warring parties and contributes to understanding how the broadcasters perceive their own and other countries. The study examines the broadcasters’ news values and agenda-setting techniques. By focusing on these two areas, which influence the shaping, length and positioning of broadcasts, news reports are analysed both quantitatively (e.g. running order, airtime, number of items per programme and subject matter) and qualitatively (e.g. the portrayal of news values and agenda-setting attributes displayed). The overarching argument illustrates that the hierarchy in news values is never arbitrary but can be explained, in part, by the structure of the broadcasters and by events occurring within, or associated with, the reporting country. As a result, the thesis investigations help identify nationally differentiated perceptions of conflict throughout the world and, in a broader context, contribute to studies in the areas of media, foreign conflict and Middle East conflict reporting.

The diploma thesis focuses on doing business in dentistry in the UK on the expamle of an unnamed dental practice, which currently consists of three dental practices. The aim of the thesis is to map and describe the characteristic of operating dental practices in the UK. Using available literature, the first part defines theoretical principles of doing business with emphasis on the specifics of dentistry and the region of the UK. This part is followed by the practical part, which puts these principles into practice and describes how the activities and processes are performed in the dental practices from the point of setting out the business by Dr. Jane Smith to their performance today. In order to write the thesis internal data from dental practices were used with addition of information obtained from the owner and a manager of the company.

This research explored the understanding of coronary heart disease among the South Asian Migrant men in the UK. The objectives of this study are: • To explore migrant South Asian men's understanding of the risks involved with coronary heart disease in the UK • To relate their understanding in the context of current health care policy • To suggest ways to provide culturally sensitive health promotion programs to these groups. A phenomenological perspective using qualitative research methodology and focus group interviews were used to obtain a more precise and in-depth understanding of the risks involved with coronary heart disease. In total 83 men were recruited. 13 focus groups were conducted in three different areas across the country which had a significant South Asian population. Three themes emerged from the analysis of the interviews: Psychosocial factor, conventional risk factors & health care experiences. These themes reflected the men's understanding of the risks Involved with coronary heart disease In the UK. According to Williams et al, (2007 & 2009), information about psychosocial risk profiles in UK South Asians is limited and that there is an increased possibility that psychosocial related factors contribute to increased vulnerability to coronary heart disease in South Asian in the UK. This study concludes with the importance of recognizing that not all South Asians are the same and that health professionals should look beyond the context of religious, and ethnic background and focus on individual men.

No description available.