The single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) transformation factors as tabulated in John Biggs’ textbook (Biggs 1964) are accepted as the equivalent factors for simplifying and analyzing a component's response to blast. The study validates the stiffness and mass transformation factors through multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) numerical methods. After validating the transformation factors, the MDOF numerical method is used to create new stiffness and mass transformation factors for loading cases not already included in Biggs’ textbook. The validated factors, as well as the newly developed factors are used in SDOF analyses. The deflections from the SDOF responses accurately predict the MDOF responses as long as the component behaves elastically; however, the deflections diverge when inelastic behavior is involved. The diverged deflections indicate that the SDOF inelastic response analysis method can be improved.

Die Hypothese geht davon aus, dass der Lernprozess mit der Anwendung eines Modells der Didaktik einer formalen Analyse zugänglich wird und die Anwendung des Modells didaktische Veränderungen nachvollziehbar unterstützt. Die Arbeit untersucht Möglichkeiten, Schriftsprache zu fördern und bedient sich dabei E- und Blended-Learning Konzepten, die mit der Lernplattform OPAL umgesetzt wurden. Zunächst erinnere ich an hochschuldidaktische Methoden und zwei Hochschuldidaktiker: Bloom entwickelte Taxonomiestufen, Biggs das Constructive Alignment. Ich vereine diese beiden Ansätze und schließe damit eine Forschungslücke. Das entwickelte didaktische Modell wende ich später in drei Szenarien an: Lesen, Organisieren und Schreiben. Beim Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten und wissenschaftlichen Schreiben unterliegen Forschende (gesetzlichen) Normen und etablierten Voraussetzungen, die zunächst verstanden werden müssen. Ich zeige anschließend die Rahmenbedingungen auf, in denen ein Schreibender agiert. Nach einem Geschichtsabriss des Lesens, eine Voraussetzung, um wissenschaftlich Schreiben zu können, werden verschiedene Lesetechniken vorgestellt. Die Anwendung des Modells erfolgt exemplarisch an der Speed Reading Technik, die in einem Online OPAL Kurs integriert ist und mit einem zeitaufwendigeren Speed Reading Workshop verglichen wird. Schließlich werden in drei Papers der Aufbau eines Online OPAL Kurses „Selbstmanagement und Selbstorganisation“ erklärt und der Kurs evaluiert und ausgewertet. Die Pomodoro-Technik als eine Methode der Selbstorganisation der Lerninhalte des Kurses dient als Analysebeispiel des Modells. Über die Annäherung von Literacy Skills in Ingenieurswissenschaften und einer evaluierten Stichprobe des Wissenschaftlichen Schreibenlehrens erfolgt die Anwendung des Modells auf das Belegschreiben im Hochschulkontext. Ich verifiziere die Hypothese und stelle im Ausblick mit dem Modell, einer programmierten Pyramide, weitere Möglichkeiten der Nutzung und Umsetzungen der Anwendbarkeit vor.

The debate concerning the legitimacy of artistic research that has taken place over the last two decades is notable for the way in which it has drawn attention to rival 'representational' and 'performative' conceptions of thought. In the early stages of the debate, critics such as Durling, Friedman, Elkins and Biggs employed broadly representational arguments in a quasi-legal context of judgment to suggest that processes of artistic research were in some sense unrecognisable when attempts were made to see them through the conceptual lens of 'research'. In contrast to this, advocates of artistic research, such as Haseman, Bolt, Sullivan and Slager proposed that research arising out of artistic practice possessed distinctive qualities - conjoining interests in the experimental, the experiential, and the non-representational, with a set of predominantly transformative aims. Haseman et al have likewise suggested that the concerns of the practitioner-researcher, at least in the context of the arts, are mainly ontological as opposed to epistemological in character - seeking to explore, reframe, or contest existing states of affairs in a broadly performative fashion. Whilst supporters of artistic research often stress the requirement for new ways of thinking to accommodate the specificities of practice-led research, many of the concepts that are employed in an attempt to understand the aims and concerns of artistic research have a long 'process-philosophical' lineage. Process philosophy has been present as a minor current in Western philosophy since as early as 540 BC and through the influence of luminaries such as Dewey and Langer, it has long been associated with education in the arts. Process philosophers typically emphasise both the ontological priority of change and the relational constitution of entities. From the perspective of process philosophy, the world of stable and enduring things arises out of a differential play of interacting forces that admit of multiple and contingent patterns of relation. With this in mind, the contemporary anti-essentialist arguments that are often utilised in the defense of artistic research are positioned in this thesis as examples of process-philosophical thinking, paving the way for an application of the post-structuralist, process-philosophical thought of Gilles Deleuze to the debate concerning the legitimacy of practice-led research. An interesting and long running feature of the legitimacy debate has been the failing of participants on both sides of the discussion to critically engage with their opposition - preferring instead to construct rather idealised, ghostly positions, which ultimately sidestep the specificities of the situation. In an attempt to address the lack of sustained critical confrontation between oppositional voices in the discussion, this thesis attempts a close qualitative engagement with a prominent skeptical position. To this end, the work of Michael Biggs and Daniela Büchler is interrogated from a conceptual, aesthetic and relational perspective, revealing its Wittgensteinian and Kantian roots, and subjecting them to critical scrutiny from the perspective of Deleuzian thought. Biggs and Büchler, have developed a markedly critical voice in the legitimacy debate, importing the early hostility towards practice-led research that arose out of a predominantly North American design community into the context of UK, Dutch and Australian discussion. Biggs and Büchler are much cited within the literature on artistic and practice-led modes of research and they have been influential in the framing of policy. The critique of Biggs and Büchler that is developed in this thesis begins from the observation that their work embodies a broadly conservative emphasis upon representation and recognition, and that it is expressive of what Deleuze describes as the 'dogmatic image of thought'. It is argued here that Biggs and Büchler's resistance to the affective and the performative is pervasive, serving to colour their approach to philosophy, art and aesthetics and to place them at odds with the largely material-experiential, and transdisciplinary interests of many artistic researchers. With this in mind, a series of aesthetico-conceptual strategies are employed in order to problematise Biggs and Büchler's position and to stage an encounter between a process-pragmatism of the left (as typified by the philosophy of Deleuze), and a linguistic-pragmatism of the right (as typified by the philosophy of Wittgenstein). This thesis makes a number of claims to knowledge. Primarily it aims to demonstrate that the justification of artistic research need not be separatist or isolationist in character, but that in demonstrating the overlap between traditional and non-traditional forms of research we need not dispense with artistry or neglect the artefact's performative work. In this sense it aims to show how characteristics sometimes considered specific to practice-led research have a more generalised, if somewhat understated presence in the context of more traditional modes of enquiry. In a similar vein, it aims to demonstrate how a broadly traditional, written thesis might be explored in the spirit of practice-led enquiry - drawing attention to a range of textual, imaginative, conceptual and speculative devices that might enable us to explore the intensities of a problem space, and to investigate the ways in which aesthetic devices might also perform active work in the context of an argument. Ultimately this results in a questioning of the separation of artefact and argument that is characteristic of much discussion of practice-led research. Methodologically the thesis is distinctive in its sustained critical engagement with a single oppositional voice, which is also intended, through a process of extrapolation, to problematise a more generalised positivistic current of thought emanating primarily from the discipline of design. Lastly, the philosophical critique of the Wittgensteinian underpinnings of Biggs and Büchler's position also facilitates a contribution to Deleuze studies - addressing the breadth of Deleuze's concept of relation and critically interrogating the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein - the philosopher for whom Deleuze seemed to harbour the strongest antipathy, but of whom he was also the most reticent to speak. Whilst it is clear that there has been much interest in the potential application of Deleuze since the inception of the legitimacy debate, and whilst it is clear that the employment of Deleuze as primary theorist in practice-based-research projects is in the ascent, to date there has been little work that is explicitly focused upon the resonance of Deleuzian thought with respect to the productive context, or the legitimacy of the practice-based PhD.

Individuals and organisations need to do much more if sustainable development is to be achieved. Appropriate environmental vocational education and training (EVET) is essential for current decision makers. Crucial decisions need to be made before the present generation of school and college students achieve significant positions of authority. An increasing range of EVET courses and course providers are available within the UK. However, availability is not synonymous with suitability for either the attendee and/or his/her (future) employer. Previous research indicates that, as a component of lifelong learning, EVET courses should and the methods used to evaluate them should be student-centred. This thesis describes the development and validation of a new studentcentred evaluation framework. Preliminary literature reviews identified six fundamental issues which needed to be addressed. Existing academically productive evaluation models were examined and critically appraised in the context of these problems. The output from this process was used to develop a bespoke research methodology. Empirical research on four commercial EVET programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors which influenced course attendance, individual learning and subsequent organisational learning. Modified versions of Biggs¿ 3P model and Kirkpatrick¿s Four level Evaluation Model were shown to provide an effective student-centred evaluation framework for EVET courses. Additional critical elements pertaining course utility and the student¿s long(er) term ii retention of knowledge/skill were derived from previous research by Alliger et al (1997). Work-based presage factors and the student¿s return on expectation were added as a direct consequence of this research. The resultant new framework, the Presage-Product Evaluation Framework, was positively received during an independent validation. This confirmed inter alia that the framework should also be capable of adaption for use with other VET courses. Recommendations for additional research focus on the need to demonstrate this through further empirical studies.

Individuals and organisations need to do much more if sustainable development is to be achieved. Appropriate environmental vocational education and training (EVET) is essential for current decision makers. Crucial decisions need to be made before the present generation of school and college students achieve significant positions of authority. An increasing range of EVET courses and course providers are available within the UK. However, availability is not synonymous with suitability for either the attendee and/or his/her (future) employer. Previous research indicates that, as a component of lifelong learning, EVET courses should and the methods used to evaluate them should be student-centred. This thesis describes the development and validation of a new studentcentred evaluation framework. Preliminary literature reviews identified six fundamental issues which needed to be addressed. Existing academically productive evaluation models were examined and critically appraised in the context of these problems. The output from this process was used to develop a bespoke research methodology. Empirical research on four commercial EVET programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors which influenced course attendance, individual learning and subsequent organisational learning. Modified versions of Biggs' 3P model and Kirkpatrick's Four level Evaluation Model were shown to provide an effective student-centred evaluation framework for EVET courses. Additional critical elements pertaining course utility and the student's long(er) term ii retention of knowledge/skill were derived from previous research by Alliger et al (1997). Work-based presage factors and the student¿s return on expectation were added as a direct consequence of this research. The resultant new framework, the Presage-Product Evaluation Framework, was positively received during an independent validation. This confirmed inter alia that the framework should also be capable of adaption for use with other VET courses. Recommendations for additional research focus on the need to demonstrate this through further empirical studies.

This study considers industrial society and development in the East Tennessee Copper Basin from the 1890s through World War II; its main focus will be on the primary industrial concern, Tennessee Copper Company (TCC 1899), owned by the Lewisohn Group, New York. The study differs from other Appalachian scholarship in its assessment of New South industries generally overlooked. Wars and increased reliance on organic chemicals tied the basin to defense needs and agricultural advance. Locals understood the basin held expanding economic opportunities superior to those in the surrounding mountains and saw themselves as participants in the nation’s industrial and economic progress, and a vital part of its defense. The study upends earlier scholarship contending local industrial concerns acted proactively to challenges from farmers harmed by industrial pollution; investigation shows firms hesitated to initiate new production processes and manipulated local elections. Partisan developments woven amid all this underscore errors in assuming ancient regional affinity for Republicans. Confederate heritage gave Democrats an historic advantage that fractured before New Deal progressivism and expanding basin Republican power. Markets forced basin firms to merge and embrace technological change affecting working people’s relationships, forcing workers to improve skills or settle for low-skill jobs. Excepting TCC managers and supervisory staff, provincialism ruled; suspicions and competitiveness among workers grew as most miners lived a few scattered villages and most managers and craftsmen settled in the basin’s “Twin-cities” district. Early union efforts collapsed before union mismanagement, rational management and a company union based upon Sam Lewisohn’s ideals. Management managed to wrest control of its industrial relations despite the effects of Depression and the New Deal’s empowerment of workers. Workers’ infighting, reflecting neighborhood demographics and ideological differences, benefitted TCC; it convinced locals TCC could best protect industrial peace. The submissive AFL union installed fit of ownership’s nationally recognized program for industrial relations reliant on federal power. After competition crippled local industry, locals continued their reliance on government: to investigate the medical consequences of extraction work and coordinate environmental restoration. Recent regional anti-government populism makes the basin’s peculiar historic reliance on federal help engaging.