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The How and Why of Organisational Ambidexterity: a comparative analysis of multinational organisations
Get PDFOrganisational ambidexterity has been shown to improve organisational outcomes by almost every measure. Unfortunately, becoming ambidextrous is notoriously difficult. This research leverages extensive privileged access to conduct a comparative analysis of established, multinational organisations and finds evidence that ambidexterity is not a singular capability, but rather a composite of multiple attributes within an organisation, which must not only be implemented, but also enabled through key organisational features. A new measure of ambidexterity is also proposed which improves relevancy in a practitioner context
A Statistical Modelling Approach Evaluating Explosive Volcanism as a Trigger of Millennial-Scale Climate Change
Get PDFAlthough millennial-scale climate change events are well documented across an array of globally distributed paleoclimate records, their driving mechanics remain ambiguous; a single coherent theory with concrete evidence providing a comprehensive explanation of the nature and origin of these phenomena remains elusive. Here a statistical model uses explosive volcanism as the sole trigger of millennial-scale climate change to reconstruct the NGRIP δ18O ice core chronology over the last 100 ka BP. The model takes numerous steps to address the inferred undercount in the volcanic catalogue by using a weighted probability Monte Carlo simulation approach to generate statistically grounded ‘missing’ eruptions. The results make a compelling case for the consideration of explosive volcanism as a potential trigger of millennial-scale climate
change. A model using known eruptions generated a modelled δ18O time-series significantly correlated with the NGRIP δ18O time-series (R2 = 0.678, p < 0.001). Another model using both known eruptions and statistically generated ‘missing’ eruptions generated the strongest reproduction of the NGRIP δ18O time-series (R2 = 0.681, p < 0.001), strongly supporting the hypothesis that unknown eruptions could have triggered millennial-scale climate change events that occurred during gaps in the known eruptions catalogue. The results also suggest it is highly likely that the abrupt climate transitions at the onset of the Younger Dryas and GS-20 had volcanic origins, using the recently dated rare supereruption doublet at the onset of GS-20 to underscore the importance of accurately dating eruptions to fully understand the potential climatic impacts of explosive volcanism. Future investigations should focus modelling attempts on shorter windows to adequately investigate the plausibility of explosive volcanism as a trigger of millennial-scale climate change at an individual event level while considering eruption dating uncertainties to address offset issues and maximise correlations between modelled and NGRIP δ18O time-series
A framework to test modified gravity using galaxy surveys
Get PDFWe study the application of the marked correlation function, M, to probe gravity using the large scale structure of the Universe. We focus our efforts on testing the f(R) modified gravity theory introduced by Hu & Sawicki 2007. This model mimics the cosmic acceleration at late times through the introduction of new physics when the curvature terms are replaced by a function of the Ricci scalar R, rather than by invoking the cosmological constant. These modifications to the gravity equations lead to changes in the environments of large-scale structures that could, in principle, be used to distinguish this model from GR. We use data from the LOWZ and CMASS luminous red galaxy samples of SDSS-III BOSS to measure the marked statistic over a range of scales. To compare with the data, we create mock galaxy catalogues using the halo occupation distribution (HOD) prescription, to populate haloes from N-body simulations using GR and f(R) gravity. Using the Monte Carlo Markov Chain algorithm, we extract the number density and two-point clustering from the mock catalogues and compare with the observational measurements to constrain the HOD model parameters. Weights for individual galaxies are based on the local density information, calculated using a Voronoi tessellation, and are used to mark galaxies when computing the marked correlation function. We find that when taking into account the 1-sigma confidence interval for the best fitting HOD parameters, the marked correlation function only marginally distinguishes viable gravity models at the 1-sigma level for separations rp < 1.7 Mpc/h. As part of the process of evaluating the suitability of the N-body simulations to build mock catalogues, we address the question of the mass resolution of the halo catalogue, and introduce a simple scheme to allow the use of marginally resolved halos
Note-taking in consecutive interpreting: An empirical study drawing on eye-tracking, pen-recording, and voice-recording data
Get PDFThis empirical study provides a systematic investigation into the process of note-taking, the product of note-taking, and the process of note-reading, in remotely-conducted and video-mediated consecutive interpreting. With an eye-tracking and pen-recording approach, this investigation collects data from 29 student interpreters and 20 professional interpreters, in an experiment containing four English-to-Chinese interpreting segments with two levels of task difficulty.
The project, firstly, examines the effects of interpreter work experience and source speech difficulty on the process and product of note-taking. Results show that the experience and difficulty effects are mainly found in the overt visual attention that the participants pay to the notes and the physical effort of note-writing. These effects are less detected in the cognitive effort, temporal management or note choices during note-taking. In addition, the participants’ note-taking effort is affected by their distorted perception of interpreting difficulty, which is caused by the different sequences of interpreting segments. Secondly, by combining visualization tools of eye-tracking such as heat maps with fixation-related measures, this study identifies a group-based processing pattern and a high level of cognitive load during the process of note-reading. Thirdly, it discovers a positive relationship between the average effort of taking a note and that of reading a note. Meanwhile, it finds a trade-off between various note forms (full words vs. abbreviations) and note languages (Chinese vs. English) in the cognitive effort of note-taking and that of note-reading. Lastly, by looking into the complex associations between the participants’ note-taking behaviour and interpreting performance, it finds that, compared with the note-taking process, the note-reading process is more closely related to interpretation quality. In addition, note quantity is positively correlated with the interpreters’ interpreting scores in the easy segments of interpreting, but not in the difficult ones. These findings provide pragmatic implications for interpreting practice and interpreter training
'Exarcheia doesn't exist': Authenticity, Resistance and Archival Politics in Athens
Get PDFMy thesis investigates the ways people, materialities and urban spaces interact to form affective ecologies and produce historicity. It focuses on the neighbourhood of Exarcheia, Athens’ contested political topography par excellence, known for its production of radical politics of discontent and resistance to state oppression and eoliberal capitalism. Embracing Exarcheia’s controversial status within Greek vernacular, media and state discourses, this thesis aims to unpick the neighbourhoods’ socio-spatial assemblage imbued with affect and formed through the numerous (mis)understandings and (mis)interpretations rooted in its turbulent political history. Drawing on theory on urban spaces, affect, hauntology and archival politics, I argue for Exarcheia as an unwavering archival space composed of affective chronotopes – (in)tangible loci that defy space and temporality. I posit that the interwoven narratives and materialities emerging in my fieldwork are persistently – and perhaps obsessively – reiterating themselves and remaining imprinted on the neighbourhood’s landscape as an incessant reminder of violent histories that the state often seeks to erase and forget. Through this analysis, I contribute to understandings of place as a primary ethnographic ‘object’ and the ways in which place forms complex interactions and relationships with social actors, shapes their subjectivities, retains and bestows their memories and senses of historicity
Design and Development Considerations for a High-Intensity Interval Protocol for use within the School Setting
Get PDFObjective: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is known to be a time efficient method for improving cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), however it is unknown what components would be most useful for an optimal HIIT protocol for use within the school setting. The purpose of this was to determine optimal design considerations from both outcome-oriented and pragmatic implementation perspectives.
Methods: A systematic review was conducted to determine optimal protocol elements as objectively as possible. Searches were conducted across four databases targeted at HIIT studies that incorporated measures CRF as part of their outcomes in school-aged youth. A series of two focus groups were used to assess pragmatic considerations for HIIT implementation by directly engaging with teachers and students of a local primary school.
Results: The systematic review revealed that running based protocols of at least eight weeks in duration using speed-based measures of intensity and work-to-rest ratios of less than one appeared to be optimal to elicit a greater CRF response when compared to protocols with other design features. The focus groups suggested that HIIT could be feasibly implemented in the school setting. Both teachers and students were willing to engage with HIIT. Children preferred novel activities with a strong aversion to running, and would be interested in some sort of monitoring or competition.
Conclusion: HIIT is a viable strategy for use within the school setting. Further research may benefit from further optimizing HIIT protocols for CRF outcomes and liaising with stakeholders to develop an intervention that is sustainable and meets the desires of all parties involved
Towards a Better Understanding of Emotion Communication in Music: An Interactive Production Approach.
Get PDFIt has been well established that composers and performers are able to encode certain emotional expressions in music, which in turn are decoded by listeners, and in general, successfully recognised. There is still much to discover, however, as to how musical cues combine to shape different emotions in the music, since previous literature has tended to focus on a limited number of cues and emotional expressions. The work in this thesis aims to investigate how combinations of tempo, articulation, pitch, dynamics, brightness, mode, and later, instrumentation, are used to shape sadness, joy, calmness, anger, fear, power, and surprise in Western tonal music. In addition, new tools for music and emotion research are presented with the aim of providing an efficient production approach to explore a large cue-emotion space in a relatively short time. To this end, a new interactive interface called EmoteControl was created which allows users to alter musical pieces in real-time through the available cues. Moreover, musical pieces were specifically composed to be used as stimuli. Empirical experiments were then carried out with the interface to determine how participants shaped different emotions in the pieces using the available cues. Specific cue combinations for the different emotions were produced. Findings revealed that overall, mode and tempo were the strongest contributors to the conveyed emotion whilst brightness was the least effective cue. However, the importance of the cues varied depending on the intended emotion. Finally, a comparative evaluation of production and traditional approaches was carried out which showed that similar results may be obtained with both. However, the production approach allowed for a larger cue-emotion space to be navigated in a shorter time. In sum, the production approach allowed participants to directly show us how they think emotional expressions should sound, and how they are shaped in music
Entropy Generation Rate for Profiled Endwall Design in Turbines
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the use of entropy generation rate as a design variable for Profiled Endwalls (PEW) to reduce secondary loss in turbines. Entropy generation rate is a measure of the local loss production in the machine, therefore any reduction in this variable leads to a reduction of the losses at their source. To that end, a numerical investigation was conducted to calculate the entropy generation rate via Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations (RANS) in three dimensions, for the so-called Durham Cascade. This was part of a PEW Design System optimisation that used the entropy generation rate as a design variable in a Genetic Algorithm (GA) coupled with CFD validated against experimental measurements. After 3000 evaluations and 48000h CPU using the Hamilton High Performance Computing Service, the result was a new PEW denominated E2 that reduced the predicted entropy generation rate by 9.7% compared to the planar case (P0). An experimental campaign that consisted of axial traverses using a 5-hole probe, confirmed that the E2 reduced the stagnation pressure loss coefficient by 0.0241 compared to P0. Two loss reduction mechanisms were identified: reduced vortex interaction of the suction side horseshoe vortex (SSHV) with the pressure side horseshoe vortex (PSHV); and delayed blade suction side boundary layer separation. The first use of entropy generation rate as a design variable for iterative design optimisation has been explored and its use recommended for PEW design
The dynamics of self-interacting dark matter in galaxy clusters
Get PDFThis thesis presents three different but connected projects related to the study of the nature of dark matter (DM) using galaxy clusters. In particular, in the first two projects I use cosmological simulations to investigate how DM particles that interact through forces other than gravity affect galaxy clusters as a whole as well as the galaxies that reside inside them.
First, I compared the mass loss of galaxies accreted unto simulated clusters ran with both cold dark matter (CDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) physics. Due to the additional interactions between the DM haloes of the galaxies and of the clusters, we expect there to be additional mass loss in SIDM galaxies on top of the tidal mass loss due to the gravitational field from the cluster. Indeed, I find that on average not only do SIDM galaxies lose more mass, they are also more susceptible to total disruption.
Second, I investigated the effects of SIDM on major mergers of galaxy clusters. In such events, the gas is offset from the collisionless galaxies due to ram pressure. If the SIDM cross-section is non-zero, the DM can be offset from the galaxies as well. By comparing the offsets of the gas, DM, and stars in simulations ran with different SIDM cross-sections, I found that the DM offset increases with cross-section as expected from analytical models.
The third project was undertaken for the upcoming balloon-borne telescope SuperBIT, whose main science goal will be to map out the DM in and surrounding galaxy clusters. To keep up with SuperBIT's (and any possible successor's) relatively high data rate, we have developed a toolkit of hardware and software that would allow us to physically downlink data mid-flight. I wrote software predicting the trajectories of the system, given the location and time of the release. The system was successfully tested from beginning to end during the SuperBIT 2019 test flight.
In essence, all three projects are based around simulations to predict the trajectories of some form of matter falling into some other form of matter, i.e. DM into clusters, or parachutes into the Earth's atmosphere. The intention was to bring the three projects together and use the SuperBIT hardware that I have helped develop to measure the behaviour of DM and calibrate it against the cosmological simulations. Unfortunately SuperBIT's first science flight was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I did not get to measure the DM effects on real astronomical data. I intend to do so in the future
Cyril of Alexandria's Trinitarian Exegesis
Get PDFCyril of Alexandria’s scriptural exegesis is markedly Trinitarian in scope and Christological in focus throughout his writings. In the following thesis, I explore how Cyril reads Scripture as speaking about the Son of God both as God and as incarnate. While I focus on his Dialogues on the Trinity (dial. Trin.), Cyril’s vision of partitive exegesis permeates his entire corpus. Early Christian reading culture consists of more than simply how one reads, but also considers who reads and to what end. Accordingly, Cyril envisions that an ideal reader undertakes partitive exegesis with certain Nicene commitments. Partitive exegesis is a reading strategy whereby interpreters identify some texts as speaking of the Son qua divine and others as qua human. This method of reading does not speak of there being two Sons, nor does it intend to divide the unity of the single incarnate Word. I identify two modes of Cyril’s Christological exegetical framework to describe the single prosopon: (1) epochal exegesis (in which Cyril identifies any given text as speaking about one of the three stages in the Son’s economy) and (2) partitive exegesis (in which Cyril subsequently identifies whether texts speak about the Son qua divine Word, or Son as incarnate Word during His oikonomia with the flesh)
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