This thesis explores structures of melancholy in five of Kurt Vonnegut's early novels, Player Piano, The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. The thesis attempts to give new readings to each of the novels by drawing on critical approaches to melancholy and by viewing each text as being subject to contemporary cultural influences. In particular, the thesis maps how each of the novels comments on human progress through a combination of historical, scientific, cultural, social and political paradigms. In the chapters on The Sirens of Titan and Mother Night the protagonist is seen as suffering from a number of melancholic complaints that are closely related to schizophrenia, while the narratives as a whole exploit this splintering of the self to suggest a variety of allegorical readings. The chapters on Player Piano, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions discuss how the Puritan foundations of American culture play a major part in the construction of the self through the establishment of the Protestant work ethic. These chapters also attempt to expose how many of the ideological concepts that adhere to work, progress and capitalism have melancholic consequences for all involved. Throughout the thesis the relationship between reality and representation, language and authority is seen as being crucial to understanding the depth of Vonnegut's early novels and the way in which each novel deconstructs established values and subverts readers' expectations. Occasionally, the thesis discusses the novels' poststructural concerns as appearing to precipitate melancholy within both readers and characters. However, the thesis also explores how melancholy has been seen historically to galvanise the soul and build up, from the depths of depression, a renewal of spirit. Overall, the thesis shows how melancholy is a constituent part of Vonnegut's novels, connecting his work to the tradition in American melancholic writing created by the founders of the nation. This thesis traces the persistence of this melancholic note within selected Vonnegut novels and its connections with other themes identified within his work.

Background - Falls are a major cause of disability and the leading cause of mortality due to injury in people over 75 years living in the UK. Falling in hospital is a significant problem, with falls rates almost three times higher than community-dwelling populations. Interventions effective in the community are not necessarily transferable to an in-patient setting. Aims - The primary aim of the research was to facilitate changes to in-patient rehabilitation services for older people, with a focus on improving falls prevention by exploring patients’ experiences and collaborating with NHS staff. Method - This qualitative action research study had two cycles. In the first cycle, semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of the experiences of in-patients who had fallen. In the second cycle, ward staff participated in educational focus group sessions. Findings - The adherence to patient safety and risk management after a fall formed a priority for ward staff which affected the promotion of patients’ independent functioning. The consequences of falling, particularly psycho-social issues such as low self-efficacy and reduced confidence, and restrictions to mobility due to fear were reinforced by the actions of the staff. This resulted in a change in the expected pathway of patients receiving rehabilitation, which prevented them from achieving optimal functioning. Staff identified that inadequate staffing levels affected the rehabilitation ethos. This was compounded by poor relationships and team-working practices. Discussion/Conclusion - The patients’ and staff’s voices of experience demonstrated a range of attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that were either in harmony (resonance) or opposition (dissonance) to each other. Increasing the resonance offered opportunities for service improvement. This study was unique in its focus on two areas of falls research where there is a lack of evidence: patients’ experiences of falling in hospital and interprofessional collaboration for service improvement for in-patient falls prevention. Recommendations to improve Trust practice included greater involvement of patients in decision-making and falls management; adherence to effective team-working practices; and engaging in opportunities to enhance professional learning through falls documentation and monitoring.

This doctoral thesis explores a range of issues within the development of the offence of incitement to genocide. It examines how the 'notorious Jew-baiter' Julius Streicher, was prosecuted in 1945/46 before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) for 'the incitement of the persecution of the Jews'. The newly defined category of 'crimes against humanity' under Article 6( c) of the Nuremberg Charter, classified 'persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds' as a new criminal offence. In 1945, the prosecution alleged that Streicher's anti­Semitic propaganda had paved the way for Hitler's extermination policy, leading to the mass murder of approximately six million Jews. On October I, 1946, the Tribunal held that Streicher's actions of 'incitement to murder and extermination' were classified as 'persecution' and found him guilty of crimes against humanity. This thesis asks the question how was it that 'words used as persecution' became recognised as an international criminal offence as a sub set of crimes against humanity, without being directly or expressly criminalised by the Charter? In order to provide an answer to this question, this thesis conducts the first in-depth analysis and comprehensive reconstruction of how the prosecution's case against Streicher developed during the various phases of the pre-trial and trial process. This detailed reconstruction, based on archival sources not previously discussed in the academic literature on Nuremberg, forms the most original element of the thesis. The present study critically examines the factual evidence raised and dropped during different stages in the development of Streicher' s case. It explores the various strategies and tactics deployed by the prosecution, and evaluates the success and weaknesses, along with the counterarguments submitted by Streicher' s defence counsel. The aim in explicating and discussing these issues and conflicts of strategic interpretations and reinterpretations is to provide an original perspective that effectively explores the process 'behind the scenes'. This study suggests that it was this process of selective interpretation and decision-making that resulted in the emergence, or 'birth', of a new offence, 'incitement to genocide' that today would be recognised as 'direct and public incitement to commit genocide', under Article III( c) of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

There is little doubt that social and interpersonal processes are key factors in the development and maintenance of, as well as recovery from, psychosis. Many aspects of the social world have been researched in relation to psychotic experiences and much learnt about the impact of early family life, difficulties in social cognition and the importance of social support, rejection and stigma. However, little is understood about the lived experiences of these interpersonal processes from the point of view of those with psychosis themselves. The aim of the following study was to explore how people with psychosis experience other people and make sense of their interpersonal experiences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two men and five women experiencing psychosis. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the verbatim transcripts, from which three master themes emerged. These were: 'Finding a place in society', 'Interpersonal mistrust' and 'Undermined by inner/outer disturbance'. These findings are discussed in relation to the literature on interpersonal processes and psychosis along with the limitations of the current study. Implications and suggestions for future research and clinical practice are also discussed.

This thesis evaluates the usefulness of post-nationalist theory in developing and understanding existing debates around national cinemas in film studies. Whilst a great deal of research has focused on the significance and importance of national cinemas, changes in the international landscape have offered challenges to the value of national cinema as a concept. To date, these challenges have been primarily addressed within discussion of transnational cinema which, although useful, has yet to fully interrogate the power relationships between nations. The importance of post-nationalist theory in this regard is that it deliberately seeks out texts which explore these power structures and often focuses on contact zones in which the dominant nationalism, and therefore national cinema, is being overtly opposed and undermined. The central question addressed by this thesis is ‘How can post-nationalist theory advance cinematic debates concerning national and transnational cinemas?’ In order to address this, the films of several migrant, exilic and diasporic filmmakers will be discussed as case studies. This is because their hyphenated identities offer access to a greater number of nationalisms, and also highlight a state of rootlessness in which oppositional positions can be more easily adopted. The filmmakers discussed are: Fatih Akin, whose work offers representations of migrant figures and literal border crossings; Ferzan Ozpetek, who expands these migrant representations to include issues of sexuality and class as non-official nationalisms; Atom Egoyan, whose cinematic style opposes cinematic forms, conventions and nations; Michael Haneke, whose films engage in an overtly oppositional style; and Gurinder Chadha, as a filmmaker who not only uses gender to advance these debates, but also enters them into discussion with mainstream cinema. The thesis will apply close textual analysis to each of the directors’ work in order to illustrate how post-nationalist theory can be used to understand the oppositional spaces they create in relation to nations and national cinemas. This will demonstrate not only the relevance of post-nationalist theory to cinema, but also develop current understanding of the strengths and limitations of the conceptual and theoretical work associated with national and transnational cinemas.

Remission is synonymous within cancer care and with other physical disorders, but less known and utilised in relation to people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Following work by Andreasen et al (2005) the idea of remission in schizophrenia became more widely utilised as symptomatic remission and was employed as an outcome measure primarily addressing medication efficacy. Whilst remission may or may not be a useful concept, the language, perception and social construction of remission for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia is also of high importance. To date, there has not been any published material with respect to consultation with service users who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia regarding their personal interpretations and possible concern of the concept of remission. This study explores and conceptualises the possible introduction of the concept of remission into the process of recovery for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Therefore raising the question; “Is remission a useful concept to facilitate transition back into primary care for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia?”

This thesis explores the ability of data visualisation to enable knowl-edge discovery in digital collections. Its emphasis lies on time-based visualisations, such as timelines. Although timelines are among the earliest examples of graphical renderings of data, they are often used merely as devices for linear storytelling and not as tools for visual analysis. Investigating this type of visualisation reveals the particular challenges of digital timelines for scholarly research. In addition, the intersection between the key issues of time-wise visualisation and digital collections acts as a focal point. Departing from authored temporal descriptions in collections data, the research examines how curatorial decisions influence collec-tions data and how these decisions may be made manifest in timeline visualisations. The thesis contributes a new understanding of the knowledge embedded in digital collections and provides practical and conceptual means for making this knowledge accessible and usable. The case is made that digital collections are not simply represen-tations of physical archives. Digital collections record not only what is known about the content of an archive. Collections data contains traces of institutional decisions and curatorial biases, as well as data related to administrative procedures. Such ‘hidden data’ – information that has not been explicitly recorded, but is nevertheless present in the dataset – is crucial for drawing informed conclusions from dig-itised cultural collections and can be exposed through appropriately designed visualisation tools. The research takes a practice-led and collaborative approach, work-ing closely with cultural institutions and their curators. Functional prototypes address issues of visualising large cultural datasets and the representation of uncertain and multiple temporal descriptions that are typically found in digital collections. The prototypes act as means towards an improved understanding of and a critical engagement with the time-wise visualisation of col-lections data. Two example implementations put the design principles that have emerged into practice and demonstrate how such tools may assist in knowledge discovery in cultural collections. Calls for new visualisation tools that are suitable for the purposes of humanities research are widespread in the scholarly community. However, the present thesis shows that gaining new insights into digital collections does not only require technological advancement, but also an epistemological shift in working with digital collections. This shift is expressed in the kind of questions that curators have started seeking to answer through visualisation. Digitisation requires and affords new ways of interrogating collections that depart from putting the collected artefact and its creator at the centre of human-istic enquiry. Instead, digital collections need to be seen as artefacts themselves. Recognising this leads curators to address self-reflective research questions that seek to study the history of an institution and the influence that individuals have had on the holdings of a collection; questions that so far escaped their areas of research.

Building designs in countries like the United Kingdom are currently checked manually against a frequently changing and increasingly complex set of building regulations. It is a major task for designers and those bodies that are charged with enforcing building regulations. As a result, there can often be ambiguity, inconsistency in assessments and delays in the overall construction process. This scenario indicates the need for automated building regulation compliance checking, which is an easier and valid option. As part of this, a critical review is carried out of the building code compliance checking related efforts undertaken in different countries, including Australia, Singapore, Australia, Norway and USA. Furthermore, it is determined that the use of Building Information Models (BIM) and the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) standard is imperative for automated compliance checking in England and Wales. Most of the initiatives mentioned above focuses on creating object based rules and mapping the entities encapsulated within them to the international building model schema. The schema is designed to support the needs of an international user and takes little consideration of national semantics (e.g. UK practice and culture). Hence, the research focuses on creating UK building regulation specific data model schema. The analysis of Part-B1 through knowledge formalisation has resulted in identification of over 120 semantic entities. Using the output, a Part-B1 data model schema has been developed using EXPRESS-G language. Thus, an England and Wales building regulation specific, semantically rich, object model schema appropriate for the requirements of automated compliance checking has been developed. The data model schema development results into a document modeling method. This method was developed in a manner such that it would be applicable to model any building regulation technical document. The development of a document modeling method acts as a contribution to the knowledge as building experts, rule authors and computer programmers can use it for data modeling. The said methodology was implemented on a sample legislative document to validate its usefulness. Also through the research work, concepts such as knowledge formalisation and a clause filter system were coined and successfully utilised to overcome the issues related to unsuitability of building regulations. This work accounts as a contribution to knowledge due to its novelty. A clause filter system was developed primarily to extract appropriate information suitable for automated compliance checking. On the basis of various key findings, a detailed framework for automated compliance checking of the UK building regulations is delivered through the research work.

Delays are a common feature of construction projects and frequently lead to disputes between the parties. In resolving these disputes it is essential to have a robust methodology for analysing delays. It is argued that current understanding of available delay analysis methodologies is inadequate and hindered by taxonomic confusion. There is a need for guidance on available delay analysis methodologies and an explanation of how these are implemented, and, as a result, models have been proposed that aid practitioners in the selection of a defendable and most appropriate delay analysis method under the specific circumstances of a project. This suggests an element of choice over the method to be selected: for example, the Society of Construction Law recommended the Time Impact Analysis methodology for undertaking a retrospective delay analysis. The question is whether this or any such methodology is necessarily appropriate. There is general confusion over the selection of delay analysis methodologies. Here, it is proposed that this confusion can be reduced and delay analysis improved by an analysis of the latest research on the status of delay analysis in the UK, an analysis of common law guidance on methodology, an assessment of professional and research literature on delay analysis and research into what is being currently undertaken by experts in the field of delay analysis. This has been done using a mixed methods approach that included: (i) analysis of a questionnaire survey by the CIOB to understand the current state of time management in the UK construction industry; (ii) analysis of the industry guidance on delay analysis methodologies; (iii) a comprehensive review of related English Case Law; and (iv) an analysis of 27 case studies comprising programming expert reports that were presented as evidence in arbitrations. These multiple sources enabled the researcher to ascertain, in the case of each delay analysis methodology: (a) the dominant method actually used in disputes; (b) the details of its application; (c) the reasons for its selection; and (d) its level of accuracy and subsequent acceptability. The research demonstrates that when time claims are accompanied by cost claims there is a dichotomy in the choice of appropriate methodology. There is a clear preference for prospective analysis of time issues, but a retrospective approach for claims that involve finance. At the same time, when a claim contains both elements, the courts appear to prefer a single approach, namely, the retrospective approach. This has resulted in the recommended method of undertaking delay analysis by the Society of Construction Law being not supported by English common law and ultimately to an increase in confusion within the Industry. Given the courts’ fundamental opposition to a method that better accords with forensic logic, it is expedient to recommend a ‘best of the rest’ method for delay analysis rather than adopt a formulaic approach to selecting the appropriate delay analysis methodology. Case study reviews have shown the Windows Analysis methodology is widely used and this is also widely accepted as the most accurate and appropriate methodology, although less well known than other less appropriate delay analysis methodologies. Apart from its theoretical significance, the research should improve construction practitioners’ understanding of delay analysis, and provide clarity on the evidence required to support a claim for an extension of time. It has the potential to reduce disputes over selection criteria and promote harmony between the construction and the legal professions over the appropriate method of resolving delay claims.

The National Chlamydia screening programme in England screens only half the number of men compared with women, and the places men are being screened for chlamydia differ from that of women (NCSP, 2012). There is a wealth of data which shows that men are being screened in non-clinical settings, such as educational establishments, or that they are choosing to self-request screening via the internet as opposed to seeking alternative health service provision. However, we are unsure of the reasons for their choice. Furthermore, it is unclear what the impact of a positive or negative diagnosis for chlamydia has on subsequent sexual behaviour. By adopting a situational, qualitative methodology, this study aimed to understand the complex factors involved in men’s sexual health decision making following a request for a home testing kit for chlamydia. The focus for this study was young men aged 20 to 24 years who have a high rate of chlamydia infection, and who have been screened through the National Chlamydia screening programme in the North East of England. Data was collected through ten in-depth interviews, and seven follow up interviews after 12 months. Follow up interviews were primarily used to gauge any long term behaviour change. Patients’ sexual health records provided additional data which was used for triangulation. Data was analysed with the use of framework analysis. Findings from the research were presented to a focus group of professionals and the outcomes from that discussion have been implemented in sexual health provision locally. This research has also fed into a national working group which reviewed chlamydia testing guidelines for positive patients. Findings show that the decisions the young men made about sexual partners and sexual practice are based on a number of factors: pre-influencing factors, which were based on the men’s perceptions and beliefs about women, categorising them as “risky” with a sexually transmitted infection or “clean” with no infections, alcohol use and contraception vs STI prevention . Situational factors including sexual gratification and sexual arousal and post rationalisation factors such as peer pressure and masculinity. Factors influencing decisions to seek testing were triggered by unprotected sex with casual partners, strengthened by catalytic influences including media campaigns. The findings suggest a negative chlamydia test result gives respondents a clean bill of health allowing them to engage in further unprotected sex. A positive diagnosis resulted in the intention to change behaviour and modify sexual practice. After follow up interviews, intention did not lead to actual behaviour change and many became re-infected within 6 months. A conceptual model based on the study findings has been developed for use in professional practice. This model identifies the variables which influence the men’s decision making at different stages in the decision making process. This study has shown that the factors that influence young men’s sexual decision making and the impact of diagnosis on subsequent sexual behaviour have major implications for public health in terms of reinfection and further transmission.