A political index to the histories of Great Britain & Ireland;

Mode of access: Internet.

Pictures for ... from the Royal Academy and New Gallery.

Mode of access: Internet.

Stanford's Geological Atlas of Great Britain

Mode of access: Internet.

The changing roles of production and operations managers in Britain from the 1970s to the 1990s

This article examines the careers and changing roles of British production and operations managers through three surveys covering the last quarter of the twentieth century. Careers are examined in terms of both their organisational context and the subjective experiences of those who have chosen this field, during a period of great turbulence for manufacturing due to growing global competition. The persistent features of such roles and responsibilities are contrasted with the changes in focus and demands. The managers' sources of satisfaction and frustration are outlined as are their perceptions of their situation in relation to managers in other areas. The article concludes by considering what has changed and what needs to change, in order for manufacturing to gain maximum benefit from the contribution of these managers.

An analysis of fatal accidents in agriculture in Great Britain

The number of fatal accidents in the agricultural, horticultural and forestry industry in Great Britain has declined from an annual rate of about 135 in the 1960's to its current level of about 50. Changes to the size and makeup of the population at risk mean that there has been no real improvement in fatal injury incidence rates for farmers. The Health and Safety Executives' (HSE) current system of accident investigation, recording, and analysis is directed primarily at identifying fault, allocating blame, and punishing wrongdoers. Relatively little information is recorded about the personal and organisational factors that contributed to, or failed to prevent accidents. To develop effective preventive strategies, it is important to establish whether errors by the victims and others, occur at the skills, rules, or knowledge level of functioning: are violations of some rule or procedure; or stem from failures to correctly appraise, or control a hazard. A modified version of the Hale and Glendon accident causation model was used to study 230 fatal accidents. Inspectors' original reports were examined and expert judgement applied to identify and categorise the errors committed by each of the parties involved. The highest proportion of errors that led directly to accidents occurred whilst the victims were operating at the knowledge level. The mix and proportion of errors varied considerably between different classes of victim and kind of accident. Different preventive strategies will be needed to address the problem areas identified.

Community pharmacists' engagement with public health in Great Britain

Objective - The objective of the research was to examine to what extent community pharmacists in Great Britain believed that their job was concerned with local public health issues. Methods - The project (Pharmacy and Public Health)received ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston University. After piloting, in August 2006 a self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to practicing community pharmacists in Great Britain (n=1998), with a follow-up to non-responders 4 weeks later. A final response rate of 51% (n=1023/1998) was achieved. Results - Respondents were asked to indicate their answer to the question “to what extent is your present job concerned with local public health issues?” on a three-point scale – “highly”, “slightly” or “not at all” concerned with public health. They were also asked to indicate whether they were pharmacy owners, employee pharmacists or self-employed locum pharmacists. Less than half (43%,n=384/898) of respondents answering both questions believed that their job was highly concerned with public health. A relationship was observed between employment status and the level to which a respondent believed that their job was concerned with public health (chi-square test with P=0.001). Over half of pharmacy owners (51%, n=68/134) considered that their job was highly concerned with public health compared to44% (n=193/443) of employee pharmacists and38% (n=123/321) of locum pharmacists. Conclusion - This research suggests that community pharmacists in Great Britain are not ‘fully engaged’ with public health. Pharmacy owners may feel more enfranchised in the public health movement than their employees and locums. Indeed, one-in-ten locums reported that their job was not at all concerned with public health which, as locum pharmacists constitute over a third of actively employed community pharmacists, could be limiting factor in any drive to strengthen the public health function of community pharmacists.

Factors influencing students in choosing to study pharmacy in Great Britain

Aim - To produce empirical evidence on the commitment to study pharmacy in terms of what motivates and influences students in their choice of subject and university. Design - Self-completion survey. Quantitative analysis by SPSS. Subjects and setting - Year 1 and year 4 undergraduates in schools of pharmacy in Great Britain. Results - The response rate was 35.2%. Students registered a high desire to study pharmacy; 73% of year 1 and 71% of year 4 placed it first priority at the time of application. Of those for whom it was not first choice, medicine was the preferred option. The two most important factors in choice were reputation of the school of pharmacy and reputation of the university. Conclusion - This study confirms that most applicants to study pharmacy were strongly committed to the subject. In addition, this study has allowed us to put an empirical figure to the proportion of students who at the time of applying for pharmacy would rather study medicine.

The implications of internet auctions for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Great Britain

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Re-modelling clay: ceramic practice and the museum in Britain (1970-2014)

This thesis analyses how the dialogue between ceramic practice and museum practice has contributed to the discourse on ceramics. Taking Mieke Bal’s theory of exposition as a starting point, it explores how ‘gestures of showing’ have been used to frame art‑oriented ceramic practice. Examining the gaps between the statements these gestures have made about and through ceramics, and the objects they seek to expose, it challenges the idea that ceramics as a category of artistic practice has ‘expanded.’ Instead, it forwards the idea that ceramics is an integrative practice, through which practitioners produce works that can be read within a range of artistic (and non-artistic) frameworks. Focusing on activity in British museums between 1970 and 2014, it takes a thematic and broadly chronological approach, interrogating the interrelationship of ceramic practice, museum practice and political and critical shifts at different points in time. Revealing an ambiguity at the core of the category ‘ceramics,’ it outlines numerous instances in which ‘gestures of showing’ have brought the logic of this categorisation into question, only to be returned to the discourse on ‘ceramics’ as a distinct category through acts of institutional recuperation. Suggesting that ceramics practitioners who wish to move beyond this category need to make their vitae as dialogic as their works, it indicates that many of those trying to raise the profile of ‘ceramics’ have also been complicit in separating it from broader artistic practice. Acknowledging that those working within institutions that sustain this distinction are likely to re-make, rather than reconsider ceramics, it leaves the ball in their court.

Women, workplace militancy and political subjectivity in Britain, 1968-1985

This thesis examines the experiences and political subjectivity of women who engaged in workplace protest in Britain between 1968 and 1985. The study covers a period that has been identified with the ‘zenith’ of trade-union militancy in British labour history. The women’s liberation movement also emerged in this period, which produced a shift in public debates about gender roles and relations in the home and the workplace. Women’s trade union membership increased dramatically and trade unions increasingly committed themselves to supporting ‘women’s issues’. Industrial disputes involving working-class women have frequently been cited as evidence of women’s growing participation in the labour movement. However, the voices and experiences of female workers who engaged in workplace protest remain largely unexplored. This thesis addresses this space through an original analysis of the 1968 sewing-machinists’ strike at Ford, Dagenham; the 1976 equal pay strike at Trico, Brentford; the 1972 Sexton shoe factory occupation in Fakenham, Norfolk; the 1981 Lee Jeans factory occupation in Greenock, Inverclyde and the 1984-1985 sewing-machinists’ strike at Ford Dagenham. Drawing upon a combination of oral history and written sources, this study contributes a fresh understanding of the relationship between feminism, workplace activism and trade unionism during the years 1968-1985. In every dispute considered in this thesis, women’s behaviour was perceived by observers as novel, ‘historic’ or extraordinary. But the women did not think of themselves as extraordinary, and rather understood their behaviour as a legitimate and justified response to their everyday experiences of gender and class antagonism. The industrial disputes analysed in this thesis show that women’s workplace militancy was not simply a direct response to women’s heightened presence in trade unions. The women involved in these disputes were more likely to understand their experiences of workplace activism as an expression of the economic, social and subjective value of their work. Whilst they did not adopt a feminist identity or associate their action with the WLM, they spoke about themselves and their motivations in a manner that emphasised feminist values of equality, autonomy and self-worth.

Great Britain's Olympians with generalised joint hypermobility have a higher prevalence of knee osteoarthritis.

Purpose: Individuals with generalized joint hypermobility (GJH) are reported, in the clinical setting, to be at greater risk of developing musculoskeletal related joint pain, joint dislocations and tendinopathies. It is hypothesized that impaired static and dynamic neuromuscular movement control in those with GJH is responsible for contributing to an increased risk of injury and subsequent knee osteoarthritis (OA). Yet, to date, it remains unproven if there is an association between GJH and knee OA.

The ferns of Great Britain:

Mode of access: Internet.