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Sustainability Assurance in Different Institutional Contexts: Evidence from the UK and China
Get PDFThe literature on sustainability assurance calls for an extension of current theorising, more engagement in research exploring sustainability assurance practice within organisations, and a more nuanced understanding of sustainability assurance within different national contexts. This thesis contributes to this field and develops theoretical extensions of institutional theory by exploring the adoption, pattern, and quality of sustainability assurance in the UK and China. The principal objective of the thesis is to interpret how different institutional contexts influence sustainability assurance practice. A conceptual framework is formulated, built upon neo-institutional theory, a framework by Smith et al. (2011) and previous literature, to capture relevant factors explaining the institutionalisation of sustainability assurance within a certain organisational field.
Empirically, this thesis consists of three components. First is a qualitative content analysis of 118 UK and 40 Chinese sustainability assurance statements (158 in total) issued in the years 2008, 2012, and 2016; Second is survey research strategy with two questionnaires; third is 33 semi-structured interviews with CSR reporting directors/managers, CSR consultants, sustainability assurance providers, and sustainability/CSR experts in the UK and China. The key findings indicate that the development of CSR reporting influences the adoption of sustainability assurance at the country level. Increased reporting regulations and societal expectations cause coercive isomorphism in the CSR reporting field over time and further drive UK companies to seek sustainability assurance even though they are not required. In comparison, the limited adoption of sustainability assurance in China is related to the formative phase of CSR reporting. The Chinese government plays an essential role in promoting CSR reporting and awareness. Chinese companies publish CSR reports in response to relevant governmental and listing requirements (an element of coercive isomorphism). However, most Chinese companies are reluctant to adopt sustainability assurance due to the absence of relevant regulatory requirements. Notably, some Chinese companies adopt a Chinese CSR report rating service as a substitute for sustainability assurance, revealing how they ceremonially use a (so-called) credibility-enhancing mechanism of CSR reporting while decoupling themselves by a more economically efficient practice. The empirical evidence also highlights the role of CSR consultancy firms in educating reporting companies and influencing their decision to seek sustainability assurance.
The findings further reveal that the type of assurance provider influences the quality of sustainability assurance. Non-accounting assurance providers are associated with higher assurance quality. However, accounting assurance providers (Big-four firms) dominate the sustainability assurance market in both the UK and China contexts. Their assurance approach features considerable influence from financial auditing methodology, which tends to undermine the quality of sustainability assurance. Moreover, the findings indicate a significant degree of managerial capture during the assurance process in both the UK and Chinese contexts, which also undermines the assurance quality. Sustainability assurance largely remains an exercise of legitimation for CSR reporting companies and fails to enhance organisational transparency and stakeholder accountability.
The initial conceptual framework was revisited and applied to the Chinese context based on the empirical evidence. This ex-post revisit produced a novel framework conceptualising the institutionalisation of sustainability assurance practice in China, which is suitable for the formative phase of Chinese CSR reporting. Future research investigating sustainability assurance in China can apply and improve this conceptual framework. This thesis further contributes to the extant literature by providing evidence of the under-researched sustainability assurance practice in China, comparing the sustainability assurance practice within different institutional contexts, and responding to the call for engagement research. Moreover, this thesis expands neo-institutional theory framing of sustainability assurance. The proposed conceptual framework improves Smith et al. (2011)’s framework and adds “the qualities of completeness and thoroughness to theoretical work” (Whetten, 1989, p. 493). Elements adding little additional value to our understanding were deleted. Several elements were added to ensure that the proposed conceptual framework fully captures the relevant factors explaining the institutionalisation of sustainability assurance. Particularly, the addition of the CSR reporting process reorganised causal maps while investigating the dynamics of the interactions between the various field participants in the sustainability assurance field. The sustainability assurance engagement should not be viewed as a separate practice but as part of the reporting process. Further, unlike Smith et al. (2011)’s framework which is limited to the UK context, the proposed conceptual framework can be applied to the UK, Chinese, and other national contexts. The novel framework exemplifies the Chinese context by specifying field participants and isomorphic forces. Thus, this thesis offers the prospect of revealing insights into sustainability assurance in different institutional contexts
Description of an Electric Vehicle Charge Station Network using Knockoff Filters
Get PDFIn this work we analyse the utilisation of Electric Vehicle (EV) public charging stations in the Netherlands to understand and describe their usage as a function of surrounding premises (such as hospitals, casinos and schools, among others) and population. Also, we analyse the charging performance of such charging stations taking into account temporal values and charging measures taken from transactions registered within the years 2012 and 2016. In order to identify the (potentially) explanatory variables that are meaningful, we will use a False Discovery Rate (FDR) control approach known as Knockoff filters. Results reveal that charging stations located close to Kindergartens, Fuel stations and Car sharing points are more likely to be used more frequently and for the longest time; whereas those users who charge their vehicles either on a weekend or in July between 12 AM and 6 AM are expected to charge their vehicles faster than in other configurations
The hero’s role in the polis: The evolution of Homeric iconography and literary archetypes in classical tragedy
Get PDFThis dissertation examines adaptations of the themes and archetypes of Homeric epic in fifth century tragedy. It will propose that Athenian playwrights often highlight the contrast between the themes of individualism and monarchism inherent to these narratives and their own democratic states. Athens reinterpreted the figureheads of Pan-Hellenic mythology to comment on its own state or bolster its legacy across Greece.
The first chapter will explore the core traits of the ἥρως in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, as identified in scholarship. It will then compare them against later literature including lyric poetry and philosophical texts which either homage or discuss epic. Through this, one can gauge the reception of heroism within classical Athens, especially by setting it against the rise of hero cults in the sixth century onwards and identifying where this new mould of heroism resembled and differed from what came before. This will form the framework of how an ancient Athenian audience would understand heroism when they began watching a tragic play.
The rest will explore interpretations of different heroic characters on a case-by-case basis. Each chapter will examine portrayals of a specific mythological hero. This involves comparing portrayals of the same character in different plays by different authors. Each chapter will follow the same basic structure, breaking down how the ἥρως is characterised, how they relate to the people around them, and how their actions impact the surrounding πόλις. The thesis will conclude that tragedy’s response to heroism encapsulates how any art form responds to its earlier traditions, maintaining what is still relevant, changing what is not, and developing a springboard to create something that resonates with a new audience
Corpus-Based Critical Discourse Analysis of Women’s Representation in Shen Bao (1872-1949) and People’s Daily (1950-2012)
Get PDFThis thesis aims to explore and analyse women’s representations in Shen Bao (1872-1949) and
People’s Daily (1950-2012) in China over a period of 140 years (1872-2012). Combining the
quantitative corpus analysis of 1.9 million words of data with qualitative analyses using critical
discourse analysis (CDA), it examines four distinctive historical eras in the press portrayal of
women: late imperial Qing (1872–1911), Republican (1912–1949), socialist (1950-1978) and
the post-socialist (1979-2012). During these 140 years, China experienced dramatic sociocultural shifts and political transformations under the guidance of different ideologies over this
crucial historical time. Women were placed right in the centre of this turmoil, and women’s
roles have continuously been renewed, recreated, defended and modified (Williams, 1977).
Women were deemed inferior to men were nothing more than the result of social constructions.
Women’s representations are embedded in ideological frameworks supported by existing
power relations in the patriarchal society. They operated in the symbolic world through
discursive construction that defines women in ways that shape the social understanding of their
role, status and identities. This construction of women by the dominant forces in society serves
to sustain the existing patriarchal power relations. The thesis focuses on newspapers because
of its central role in shaping public opinions, setting agendas, and maintaining power structure
Broadsheet newspapers have the power to define key issues, topics, and situations which gives
them ideological power.
CDA pays attention to both the macro-level of context through a top-down approach, and the
micro-level by analysing how ideologies, dominance and power relations are expressed in
language. In contrast, Corpus Linguistics (CL) deals with large amounts of text by providing
detailed information of the micro-level. CL is basically a bottom-up approach, allowing the
data generated in a corpus to take the lead, and thereby limits bias. The data generated by
corpus analytical tools in CL is not handpicked data selected by the analyst, it is typical and
representative linguistic patterns that have been extracted from a large amount of data.
Women’s representations have undergone significant transformations across the four historical
eras in China as some women gain more economic independence and could challenge the
power hierarchies. In the late Qing era, women were not described as the opposite gender of
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men, but are represented as the weak, incompetent, decadent, and pathological symbol of premodernity in Shen Bao. Articles in Shen Bao promoted representations of women as “Mothers
of the Nation” and “Heroines”, which are variations of traditional “good wife and mother” and
“devoted to husband and son” sugar-coated with modern nationalism. In the socialist era,
women were mostly represented as strong, masculine, selfless, and ideologically correct
workers in the labour force, and as emotionally and physically the same as men. Women lived
and breathed for the state, and were willing to devote their lives, youth and efforts to
communism and socialism. In the post-socialist era, women’s representations in the People’s
Daily are more diverse. Discourses on women throughout the 140 years acted as a tool to
legitimize various national agendas.
This study offers empirical evidence and provides a macro level picture of the transformation
of women’s representations in the 140 years of history, underpinning the drive behind; also a
micro level analysis of detailed discussion on the confliction and consistencies of women
discourse over the four historical eras. Women’s studies have their origin outside of China, in
the west. I hope this study will shed some light onto the many components of the scarcely
researched localization of west women theories into Chinese terms, which I believe is the next
important issue and the next biggest challenge in women’s studies in China
Assessing the Geothermal Potential of the Lower Carboniferous Fell Sandstone
Get PDFAfter a hiatus of more than two decades, there is now a renewed interest in the exploration of deep geothermal resources in the UK as the country strives towards reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The Lower Carboniferous Fell Sandstone Formation (Mississippian) and laterally equivalent strata beneath Newcastle Upon Tyne was postulated to be one such deep geothermal system, heated by the inflow of high temperature brines along the Ninety-Fathom Fault and several of its footwall splay faults. In 2011 a consortium led by Newcastle University commenced with the drilling and testing of the Science Central Deep Geothermal Borehole (Science Central Borehole, recently renamed Helix) to examine whether low enthalpy geothermal energy might be recoverable from the Fell Sandstone. The Science Central Borehole proved the presence of the Fell Sandstone and a temperature of 73.3oC at 1740m however, low hydraulic conductivity within the formation did not allow for commercial production (Younger et al., 2016).
The findings of Younger et al. (2016) highlight the need to gain a better understanding of the reservoir properties of deep geothermal aquifers like the Fell Sandstone. This study further investigates the Fell Sandstone Formation across northern England, comparing petrographic data obtained from both outcrop and borehole samples. Well logs, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis and statistical analysis are utilised to identify lateral changes in both the lithology and diagenetic history of the Fell Sandstone and examine what impacts these variations have had reservoir quality. An estimate of the geothermal resource within the Fell Sandstone Formation has been calculated based on these findings.
A lateral trend of decreasing net to gross down the paralic palaeo-river system combined with diagenetic compaction and pervasive cementation has resulted in significantly reduced porosities and permeabilities within the subsurface Fell Sandstone, compared to values obtained from outcrop. Despite these poor porosities and permeabilities the high temperatures recorded at Science Central prove that if future endeavours are able to intersect the Ninety-Fathom Fault, then there is still the opportunity for geothermal resource development
Quantifying co-seismic and post-seismic slip on fault scarps and their erosional modification using high-resolution Pleiades optical satellite data and repeat Terrestrial Laser Scanning: the 2016 Mw 6.6 Norcia earthquake (Central Italy)
Get PDFFault scarps are a topographical expression of sharp gradients in ground movements in an active tectonic region. However, inferences of slip history and causative earthquake sizes may be biased by co-seismic slip gradients, near-fault deformation, afterslip and erosional processes.
To address these biases, I investigate co-seismic and continuing post-seismic deformation of near-fault areas and degradation of fault scarps, using high resolution Pleiades optical satellite images and repeat Terrestrial Laser Scans (TLS). The study area is Monte Vettore in the Apennines, Cental Italy, which has extensive surface ruptures associated with the Mw 6.6 30th October 2016 Norcia earthquake, part of the Central Italy Earthquake Sequence.
I combine image correlation techniques with novel median-based filtering to effectively de-noise the Pleiades data, creating Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from before and after the Norcia earthquake. Those DEMs are then differenced horizontally and vertically. The results identify detail of near-fault co-seismic surface deformation. I jointly invert those data with far-field InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) datasets to model co-seismic slip at depth. My model reveals detail of slip transfer from the Monte Vettore fault at shallow depth. This provides insights into the distribution of near-fault co-seismic slip in an area of complex faulting by slip being partitioned onto minor near-surface hanging wall structures, with slip vectors diverging from those at greater depth.
The causes of post-seismic alteration or degradation of fault scarps are expected to be tectonic-related after-slip and/or erosion. Combining careful alignment of repeat TLS, use of an ICP (Iterative Closest Point) algorithm, filtering and detrending techniques, I characterise post-seismic deformation at 6 individual sites at ~centimetre scale. This provides insights into how individual factors (e.g. underlying geology, topography, and co-seismic slip gradients and distribution) influence which causes dominate and how degradation develops spatially and temporally. I show that fault scarps are highly variable records of a fault’s slip history. Any assessment of previous slip history using fault scarps as evidence needs to have regard to all those factors.
Sin and the Vulnerability of Embodied Life: Towards a Constructive Development of the Idea of Social Sin within the Catholic Tradition
Get PDFThe idea of ‘social sin’ remains a contentious topic within Catholic thought. By drawing on diverse thinkers from both within and outside of the Catholic tradition, this thesis seeks to discern what sin is and how it impacts human life. It explores why unjust social situations can properly be called sin from a Catholic theological perspective, and how this sin can be understood to impact one’s agency, freedom, and historical condition vis-à-vis God. The first chapter explores the controversy in the twentieth century concerning the language of ‘social sin’ through a critical appraisal of John Paul II’s theology. It suggests that the Pope’s theology of sin is problematic, being both individualistic and moralistic in emphasis, and leaves many issues unresolved. The second chapter seeks to show how the theologies of Jon Sobrino, Ignacio Ellacuría, and José Ignacio González Faus can help resolve some of these salient issues. It draws on their definitions of sin, as well as their ideas concerning sin’s blinding effects and the historical mediation of God’s self-communication, revelation, and grace. The third chapter explores the precedent within the Catholic tradition for expanding the concept of sin beyond exclusive focus on individual acts and attitudes for which we can be found morally culpable. It does this by analysing the theologies of original sin presented by Thomas Aquinas and the Council of Trent, and their explanations of how original sin shapes the human situation. The final chapter seeks to nuance the concept of selfhood which underlies accounts of social sin by examining Judith Butler’s theory of human vulnerability and the ‘constitutive sociality of the self’. This chapter proposes one way we can understand the complex relation between the personal and social dimensions of sin. It does this by situating acting individuals as embodied, interdependent, relational beings whose subjectivities and agency are vulnerable to being misshapen by their social and cultural environments in ways that harm both themselves and others
Cudgels Against Indifference: Buddhism, Post-Secularism, and the Orient in the New York School of Poets; Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary: A Creative Portfolio
Get PDFThe Cold War saw American politics shift to an increasingly religious footing, with the US conceiving of itself as, in the words of a 1950 Cold-War document NSC 68, a ‘spiritual counter-force’ to the godless Communist threat. The influx of Zen Buddhism in the 1950s, in particular the socially engaged form of Buddhism that was enthusiastically taken up by artists of liberal or left-wing sympathies, posed some difficult questions for a country that wished to be seen as a haven for religious freedom. Scholarship on the Beats’ open identification with Buddhism has been substantial, but the first-generation New York school of poets, who were characteristically evasive, as John Ashbery declared, in their ‘avoidance of anything like a program’, performed an indifference to Zen that has slipped under the radar of criticism. My thesis considers the works of John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, Kenneth Koch, and Frank O’Hara to study their more circumspect engagement with Buddhism during the Cold War. The circumspection, as I will demonstrate, is the corollary of tensions between art and religious ideology, given that Buddhism was both an aesthetic as well as a vehicle for countercultural sentiments. At the same time, the poets were mindful of the modernist tendency to secularize art and the dangers of decontextualising a historical ethical practice, and so they presented a range of attitudes towards religion, wilfully, often begrudgingly, embodying—and even denying having inadvertently embodied—Buddhist meditative forms. I do not wish to recast the New York poets’ aesthetic as committedly Buddhist but, instead, show how they related to contemporary Buddhist evangelism, denying overt influences by excluding cultish tones, and complicating how Buddhism was being received in the West at the time
Measuring the distribution of stars and dark matter in galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses: lessons from an automated approach
Get PDFIn this thesis, I constrain the distributions of mass and light of the largest sample of galaxy-scale strong lens systems modelled using an automated approach to this date. New surveys will soon observe hundreds of thousands of galaxy lenses requiring reliable automated methods to be exploited. With this in mind, I present not only the successful model fit results, but also the reasons why some lenses failed initially and the strategies we adopted to ultimately fit all the galaxies with minimal intervention. I discuss what we can learn from this process that could benefit future large scale studies.
I propose and evaluate a likelihood cap method to avoid the underestimation of errors due to noisy likelihood evaluations that appear in pixel-based source reconstruction methods. I test the method on a large sample of mock galaxies which significantly improves the coverage probabilities on all of the model parameters. With this approach to error estimation I find that the Einstein radius is typically constrained to and the errors on the model parameters including density profile slope do not degrade with redshift. This will be beneficial for studies of galaxy evolution.
I measure an average mass density slope of with little intrinsic scatter for the (typically) early-type galaxies acting as lenses in our sample. This is consistent with those measured using an independent lensing and dynamics approach. More generally, this result supports the empirical coincidence that the total mass profiles of early-type galaxies can be well described by a single power law -- known as the `bulge-halo conspiracy'. However, I reveal a disagreement between our measurements of the coefficient describing the relationship between slope and surface mass density and that inferred for the slopes measured using the independent method. This can potentially be explained by finer structure in the mass density profile. Finally, I demonstrate that the `external shear' parameters commonly adopted in strong lens models can not be assumed to represent perturbations only external to the mass model. Instead, they highlight the inability of the power law to fit the distribution of mass in these types of galaxies. Future strong lensing studies will require more complex mass models to appropriately describe the lens galaxy, and avoid biases on high precision measurements of galaxy masses, cosmological parameters , and dark matter substructures
Grammatical Complexity in the Sanctuary Engravings at Les Trois-Frères
Get PDFThe figurative depictions from the Magdalenian parietal art of Les Trois-Frères cave have been used as a small investigative sample to analyse the presence of grammatical structures that may underpin the 97 animal representations from the four panels studied. A database of measurements was created for the anatomical dimensions of each representation and their respective categories of species, orientation, behaviour, panel and completeness. Very few combinations of co-occurrences that would have constituted a grammatical structure were found through a panel-by-panel analysis of the data. The dominant trends overall were that most were engraved by artists/authors who had a dominant right hand. This included both instances of anthropomorphs (one of which being the famous ‘sorcerer’) and dangerous or powerful beings depicted throughout the panels (bear and rhinoceros). Because grammar could not be found through statistical analysis, an alternative hypothesis as to what produced variations in the cave’s art was put forward, examining the engravings from a more aesthetic perspective. This introduced the idea that the negative space of a ‘central animal’ was being appropriated and respected by multiple depictions around it, putting forward the case that aesthetic interactions between animals were effecting multiple dimensions of their depictions
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