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This thesis explores causal attribution statements on performance outcomes given in annual reports of UK listed rms. The objectives are three-fold. First, it analyses the nature and extent of attribution statements provided. Second, it explores corporate governance factors and rm-speci c characteristics that are related to the provision of attribution statements. Finally, it investigates the economic consequences of providing attribution statements by examining their association with the rm's cost of equity capital. Using data drawn from a sample of 142 UK rms listed on the London Stock Exchange, content analysis was used to measure the extent of attributions in the annual reports for the year 2006. The results show that the volume of attribution statement provision is generally low and variation across rms is low. Firms also show a strong tendency to explain performance with internal rather than with external reasons. The results from regression analysis show that the volume of attribution statements and the space given to internal and external attribution statements is associated with the proportion of non-executive directors, director share ownership, audit committee size, market value, gearing, pro tability and new share issues. With respect to the relationship between the attribution statements and the cost of capital, the PEG model was employed to estimate the cost of equity capital. The ndings indicate an association between attribution statement provision and the cost of equity capital, but only for rms with low analyst following. For these rms, more extensive performance explanations and more extensive internal explanations are associated with a higher cost of equity capital. However, attribution statements are unrelated to the cost of equity capital for rms with high analyst following. The thesis makes two contributions in the area of attribution determinants. First, it measures attribution provision with a measure that has not been previously applied in the literature to measure attribution statements. Second, it provides evidence on how rm-speci c characteristics and the rm's corporate governance mechanisms in uence the extent and the type of performance explanations provided by rms. The thesis makes four contributions regarding the e ect of attribution statements on the cost of capital. First, it uses a quantitative approach to directly estimate the cost of capital e ects of attribution statements. Second, it provides evidence that the association between attribution statements and the cost of equity capital is in uenced by an interaction between attribution statements and analyst following. Third, the thesis provides the rst evidence of the relationship between attribution statements and the cost of equity capital in a UK setting. Fourth, it provides evidence that the relationship between disclosure and the cost of equity capital is complex and is in uenced by interactions between disclosure and information intermediaries.

Neuroscience is a relatively small and emerging clinical pharmacy specialism focusing on drug therapy for neurological disease. Against a professional momentum for specialist practice within pharmacy, there is paucity both of relevant research, and a clearly defined role for specialist pharmacy practice in neuroscience. A qualitative research study was undertaken, using constructivist grounded theory method, to explore how hospital based pharmacists practicing in neuroscience define and develop their role and specialism. Data were concurrently generated and analysed, through verbatim transcription of telephone interviews with fourteen pharmacists. Data analysis resulted in the identification of three processes: (1) Acquiring and utilising knowledge in practice; (2) Gatekeeping access to drug therapies; (3) Integrating into the neuroscience service. The key findings within each process are: (1) Pharmacists utilise different forms of knowledge and there can be barriers to gaining knowledge. Pharmacists identify strengths in their breadth of clinical knowledge and holistic consideration of patients’ drug therapy. (2) Pharmacists act as barriers to drug therapy but also act to expedite and secure access to drug therapy. (3) Pharmacists act as an organisational nexus between pharmacy and neuroscience services and identify the importance in practice of forming working relationships within neuroscience services, underpinned by trust. The study identified a basic social process: Maintaining an overview of drug therapy for patients with neurological disease. This process conceptualises the tensions experienced by the pharmacists between their role as near-patient facing clinical specialists, but also as pharmacist generalists. The study findings have implications for supporting pharmacy practice in neuroscience.

Adopting an inside out perspective to city branding, this doctoral thesis examines the significance of residents and their relationship towards cities in terms of association, identity and ownership of the physical environment, in the context of city branding. This is important because the growing interest towards city branding not only challenged the traditional understanding of branding concepts but also forced academics and practitioners to seek ways to mould and shape existing concepts to the context of city branding. This qualitative study was undertaken within a constructivist grounded theory methodology and uses Leeds, UK and Istanbul, Turkey as deliberately contrasting case studies. In accordance with grounded theory, the literature was only used to inform rather than direct the research design. The sampling design involved initial and theoretical sampling and in total of 22 residents interviewed from both cities. The emergent place brand identity mosaic comprises of four main categories of social process (SP), place attachment (PA), sense of place (SoP) and built environment (BE), and the most significant feature of the place identity mosaic is that it is processual, dynamic, and time and context specific. In terms of contribution to knowledge, the present study bridges the gap in between the subject fields of branding (brand management) and urban studies by proposing an inside out approach to branding cities. The findings indicate that the place brand identity mosaic elements provide a platform to explain how residents make sense of where they live and to begin to understand the concept of the city brand identity. Moreover, in regards to practice, it brings a new perspective to the existing city managements by highlighting a focal point of “keeping the existing customers happy” through investigating and understanding the role and significance of residents, their attachment to where they live and how this insight can be cooperated into creating and developing a sustainable city brand.

This thesis focuses on the implementation of state-administered integration exams as part of the naturalization and settlement process in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Through analysis of key government documents and interviews with public servants and the experts involved, I argue that the actualization of the exam is a critical point in the policy process through which to understand how particular norms become embedded in not only the content, but the different requirements of each exam. In particular, I consider the role language-education experts, settlement experts, and the notable absence of migrants in the actualization of the exams under consideration. More importantly, I argue that while the state employs expert advice as a means through which to depoliticize the issue, the mechanisms through which this is done can in fact create spaces for the contestation of ideas. Drawing on the governmentality literature I argue that the British and Dutch borders are constructed and reified through the developing of test content, while also pointing to the ways in which non-state actors can mobilize their expertise to push for alternative, more open imaginings of the border. Through my comparison I also consider how integration has been framed as a problem with immigrants who do not have the right kind of orientation toward their ‘host’ community. The solutions to issues within immigrant communities (i.e. unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes) rest in individuals moving from outsider to insider because these problems stem from the community’s position on the periphery of society. I argue that the immigrant’s affective orientation towards society becomes viewed as the source of these problems, and not the community's or society's orientation towards them. I then argue that the integration exam becomes a suitable solution because it solves multiple problems at once. The exam works as the mechanism through which desire is manufactured by making tangible the object of desire in the first place and by making society itself more exclusive. In this sense, the exam not only seeks to “ensure that those who desire ‘us’ are desirable to ‘us’” (Fortier, 2013, 3) by making immigrants prove themselves worthy, but also serves as a mechanism through which the state reasserts its authority over society. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Externalization agreements have become more common in Europe after 2015, and one of the mostrecent ones is the Migration and Economic Development Partnership agreement between the UnitedKingdom (UK) and Rwanda. According to that agreement people who are seeking safety from theUK are going to be transferred to Rwanda where their asylum claim is assessed and if they are grantedrefugee status they are going to be settled in Rwanda. This study conducted a critical discourse analysis on documents about the partnership agreement thatwere published on the GOV.UK website. The study used postcolonialism and the concept ofexternalization as theoretical framework. Through critical discourse analysissix discourses were uncovered. These were: partnership discourse,safe third country discourse, the UK as a safe haven discourse, we versus they discourse,securitization discourse and innovation discourse. These discourses revealed that colonial timesstereotypes are still affecting the way that refugees are presented in the documents. And that whilethe documents aim to create a picture of collaboration and equality, the agreement itself is part of aworld that is affected by colonial times power relations, which affects Rwanda’s abilities to bargainthe agreement and how the roles of the agreement have been created. Therefore, the agreementfollows and recreates colonial discourses and power structures. The study also found that thepartnership agreement can be seen as externalization agreement as it externalizes refugee protectionto Rwanda and is justified by similar arguments that are common in externalization practices.

Pharmaceutical supply chains are susceptible to disruptions which impact on the operational and financial performance of firms as well as patient safety. This study aimed to explore why the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (PSC) in the UK is susceptible to the impact of dynamic disruptions and examine how resilience strategies have were employed to reduce the effects of these disruptions. The Complex Adaptive System (CAS) theory was used as a framework in an exploratory research design using mixed-methods. The qualitative data were gathered through 23 semi-structured interviews with key supply chain actors across the PSC in the UK to explore their experiences. The findings from these semi-structured interviews were used to develop a survey which was distributed to a broader spectrum of supply chain actors where the final sample from the survey was (n=106). The data were triangulated to discuss the research findings. The initial results revealed power, conflict and complexities as drivers of vulnerabilities in the PSC. Antecedents for building resilience strategies included visibility, flexibility and joint decision making as recovery strategies and resource sharing as the resistance strategy. CAS provided a systemic approach to understanding PSC resilience rather than in parts. In doing so, it took into consideration the various elements that make up the entire system. Thus, vulnerabilities and resilience strategies were outcomes of the interactions between supply chain actors. The findings demonstrated that CAS, as a theory, provided a framework that was beneficial in exploring and gaining insights into PSC resilience. Also, by combining the two datasets (interviews and survey), an original output was proposed -the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Resilience Framework (PSCRF)- which was used to recommend resilience strategies suitable for mitigating disruptions in the PSC.

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Yes / This briefing paper is the second in a series to be published during 2007 and 2008 as part of the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre¿s programme on Nuclear-Armed Britain: A Critical Examination of Trident Modernisation, Implications and Accountability.

The HIV pandemic has affected millions of people around the world both medically and socially, since there is a stigma associated with this disease. Common methods of transmission include sexual intercourse and sharing needles, but there are other lesser known methods through which people can contract this disease. One such way is mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), in which a mother could transmit the virus to her child either during pregnancy, childbirth, or through breastfeeding. This paper focuses on the role of breastfeeding in the transmission of HIV from mother to child. Many studies have investigated how breastfeeding results in the transmission of the virus, and effective common treatment methods have been established. However, the issue of MTCT of HIV still exists even though it can easily be eradicated with the proper techniques. This suggests that there are still factors that contribute to HIV transmission from mother to child that have yet to be eliminated. Thus, this paper reviews the breastfeeding rates and breastfeeding practices of three different countries: South Africa, India, and the United Kingdom. This paper analyzes epidemiological data, studies from medical journals, and studies from anthropology journals to determine what social influences surround breastfeeding practices in each of these countries to see how these may contribute to MTCT of HIV via breastfeeding. While there were no apparent trends between child HIV prevalence rates and breastfeeding rates in these countries, there were some social and cultural factors that were similar across all three nations. This information may be useful in creating more effective treatment plans that are conducive to the social environments in these countries.