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Infrastructure such as transportation networks improves the condition of everyday lives by facilitating public services and systems necessary for economic activity and growth. However, constructing and maintaining transportation infrastructure poses safety hazards and risks to those working at the sharp end, leading to serious injuries and fatalities. Therefore, the identification of hazards and managing the risks they create is integral towards continually improving safety levels in Infrastructure Management. This work seeks to fully understand this problem and highlight past, present and future issues concerning safety in a comprehensive literature review. A decision support tool is proposed to improve the safety of transportation workers by facilitating hazard identification and management of associated control measures. This Tool facilitates the extraction of safety knowledge from real paper-based safety documents, capturing existing worker’s knowledge and experiences from industrial ‘corporate memory’. The Tool suggests the most appropriate control measures for new scenarios based on existing knowledge from previous work tasks. This is achieved by classifying work tasks using a new method based on unilateral UK legislation (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences (1995) Regulations) and the innovative use of Artificial Intelligence method Case Based Reasoning. Case Based Reasoning (CBR) allows transparency in the Tool processes and has many benefits over other safety tools which may suffer from ‘black box’ stigmatism. The Tool is populated with knowledge extracted from a real transportation project and is hosted via the internet (www. Total-Safety.com). The end product of the Tool is the generation of bespoke method statements detailing appropriate control measures. These generated paper documents are shown to have financial and quality control benefits over traditional method statements. The Tool has undergone testing and analysis and is shown to be robust. Finally, the overall conclusions and opportunities for further research are presented and progress of the work against each of the five research objectives is assessed.

This thesis covers the development of nuclear propulsion in the Royal Navy from the first proposal in 1946 to the start-up of the last core improvement for the first submarine reactor power plant PWR 1 in December 1974. There are three topics: Political, what problems were encountered in transferring nuclear knowledge from the US in the post-war period and what support was there for the development of nuclear propulsion? Militarily, what was the requirement to develop nuclear propulsion and why submarines in particular? Technical, were the problems associated with nuclear energy fully appreciated, did the UK have the technical and engineering capability to develop nuclear propulsion? Primary research concentrated on the National Archives; research was also conducted on unreleased files relevant to the period held by Director Nuclear Propulsion. A number of retired naval officers involved in the early stages of nuclear propulsion development gave interviews, copies of their papers and were generally enthusiastic to assist with any queries. Visits were paid to the archives of CND at the London School of Economics and the Broadlands (Mountbatten) Archives at Southampton University. Secondary research was conducted at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the British Library, Plymouth Central Library, Plymouth University Library and using accredited online resources. Information pertaining to, the Royal Navy's Naval Nuclear Propulsion Programme (NNPP) is covered by the Official Secrets Act and the Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA) 1958. Due to the nature of the subject matter very little has been written on the topic of the Royal Navy's development of nuclear propulsion. Having recently written a history of the submarine service since World War II, Peter Hennessy and James Jinks naturally included a chapter on the Royal Navy's adoption of nuclear propulsion in The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service since 1945, (2015). However, the chapter, 'A New Epoch': Towards the Nuclear Age, is focussed on UK attempts during the 1950s to secure US collaboration. There is no technical investigation of the Royal Navy's nuclear reactor programme during this era nor of the reactor core improvements that resulted from the purchase of the S5W reactor under the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement. The Silent Deep contains no references to any United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority files held at the National Archive and perpetuates the errors contained in Philip Ziegler's biography of Mountbatten which stem from Mountbatten's draft (MB1/K208A) which he forwarded to Captain (Rear Admiral) Peter Hammersley for comment; see Mountbatten Corrections in chapter four. Apart from the political considerations and military motives for developing nuclear propulsion in the Royal Navy, this thesis primarily focusses on the technical problems to be overcome by all participants in the Royal Navy's development of nuclear propulsion. Therefore, this thesis adds considerably to the historiography of nuclear propulsion and of Royal Navy submarines in particular.

Condensation on banks of tubes is of considerable interest in the power, refrigeration and process industries, where large scale condensers form a significant proportion of plant capital costs. Since the pioneering paper by Nusselt in 1916, numerous investigations, both experimental and theoretical, have made great inroads into the understanding of the important physical factors effecting performance, including effects of vapour shear and condensate inundation on heat-transfer performance. Despite this there are still significant gaps in the knowledge and no single recognised design approach exists for condensers under all conditions. Purely theoretical models have shown some success in modelling condensation on single tubes under high shear regimes, but these have not been successfully extended to full tube banks. The present work begins by drawing together a comprehensive data base of experimental results from those available in the literature. This includes assessing the experimental accuracy of the data and organising it into a consistent format to allow detailed comparison with existing and future models. The resulting data base comprises 13 tube bank geometries, 7 test fluids and over 4000 individual data points. The data base was used to evaluate existing theoretical and empirical models, and highlighted the weaknesses therein. In particular, it was found that empirical approaches were limited to application (ie refrigeration or steam condensers), with development and validation being based on experimental data for single fluids or groups of fluids. When these models were compared to the more comprehensive data base described above their performance was poor. Consequently there is limited confidence in their extension to applications outside those they were developed for. A new empirical based model was then developed. The approach involved identifying relevant dimensionless groups to account for the various physical factors which may affect heat transfer during condensation on a bank of tubes and formulating these into an equation involving a number of initially unknown but empirically obtainable constants. An iterative scheme was then employed to eliminate those groups having little effect on the result while retaining those which proved to be more important. The resulting model predicted the majority of the experimental data base to around 12%. A subsequent parametric study 3 showed the correct dependence of heat transfer coefficient on factors such as vapour velocity and tube row. The thesis concludes with some suggestions for future work.

Visual communication (VC) resources can be seen as playing an increasingly important role in delivery and learning systems in today s design and technology education. The performance of current tools and resources is the primary concern of this research, and particularly whether they take full advantage of VC when delivering technological information to industrial design (ID) and engineering design (ED) students. This thesis sought key principles behind the visual communication of technology (VCT) and its association to designing, creativity and innovation through a literature survey. The findings concluded that there were many such assertions made with little evidence concerning the associations suggested. Some guiding sources and key emerging principles (KEPs) for good VCT practices were established. A miniature-kite-designing exercise was conducted as a case study for the purpose of examining the links between VCT, designing and creativity and/or innovation. Kite-technological-information posters were used as the VCT tool for the kite-designing case. A comparative study of kite-designing was conducted in Malaysia to check the reliability of the study, and another validation study was carried out for the purpose of establishing the validity of the data gathering. Visual technological information (VTI) for kite design (or a kite-poster) was refined accordingly to the KEPs established from the literature review, and its visual impact was tested through the use of eye-tracking technology. Some selected current and historical visual tools, which have been used in design and technology communication and were recognised as having positive impacts were analysed and articulated in order to reveal a deeper understanding of the KEPs. These were further validated through eye-tracking of reading patterns of participants on those selected visuals. The perceptual responses toward those visuals were also recorded and analysed. A theoretical research framework was established to investigate VTI representation used in books by Ashby (1999) and Ashby and Johnson (2002), in new authors scholarly papers (METU, 2010), and of the author s analysis and redesign of some of those studied VTIs based on the KEPs emerging from the research. A questionnaire survey was conducted within a number of higher education institutions in 3 regions around the world in order to achieve reliable data gathering. This third case study was validated through experts discussion of the findings and related issues. Within these three case studies, a mixture of scientific (using the eye-tracker device) and conventional methods (questionnaires, interviews, discussion group and comparative studies), and also others methods such as design workshops, analysing existing resources, using own practice of design-and-redesign activities were conducted to provide quantitative and qualitative measurements to empirically validate the literature search. Evidence of links between VCT, designerly activities which involved knowledge, skills and values within the technological communication, and of facilitating creativity was obtained. Empirical evidence showed that VTIs were effective in communicating knowledge, skills and values; where the KEPs criteria had played essential roles in enriching the visual emphasis of VTIs. The redesigning exercise using the author s own practice, which articulated the KEPs through the redesign of the existing VTIs for the purpose of more effective VCT, again obtained significant evidence of visual effectiveness and easy understanding capability. Evidence from the analysis of 2 books on materials technology for ID and ED students, views from the 2 materials experts, and the literature review suggested that ID and ED students require difference types of representational models and graphical strategies of VCT in their learning. However, the empirical data from the research, which was supported by one of the materials experts, suggested that ID and ED students even with different cultural backgrounds did not require different VTIs or the use of different VCT strategies for effective communication.

This research exposes to examination and understanding the law governing procurement of construction and engineering works and services. The thesis captures both development of common law and judicial determination of statutory law. It takes the form of published journal articles and conference papers which discuss legal issues relevant to construction procurement and conclude with recommendations for clients and construction project managers on how to better manage the procurement process. The work reveals, inter alia, the extent to which contract law regulates the tendering phase of construction procurement and places the client under an obligation to the tenderer characterised as 'fair dealing' or 'good faith'. Chapter 1 is of an introductory nature. Chapter 2 sets the crime of manslaughter arising out of construction site fatality as a procurement issue. The author notes the UK government's intention to introduce the new offences of reckless killing, killing by gross carelessness and corporate killing. Chapter 3 discusses cases where disaffected parties to the tendering process have made private law challenges of that process seeking compensation for the other party's alleged irregularities. The client is generally obliged in law to treat all tenderers equally and fairly and to refrain from evaluating tenders and awarding contracts other than in accordance with the rules set down in the tender conditions. Chapter 4 addresses the question: do traditional tendering processes encourage, or merely permit, contractor innovation? Several tender codes are reviewed to establish whether these codes provide for, or encourage, innovative proposals from competing bidders. Chapter 5 provides updating case material for the period 1999-2000 which helps to underpin the conclusions and recommendations set out in Chapter 12. Chapter 6 is a criticism of the NJCC's Code of Procedure for Single Stage Selective Tendering and the CIB's Code of Practice for the Selection of Main Contractors. Suggestions are made as to what a new tender code might include in the light of selected decisions of the common law courts. It is argued that a set of 'standard' tender rules should become the terms of a 'tender contract'. Those rules would properly reflect decisions of the courts and would be accepted by all parties to the process as a tender contract document. Chapter 7 discusses how the common law protects the integrity of construction procurement by imposed or assumed contractual obligations. Procurement of subcontract works is also considered. The author concludes that the tendering contract operates between main contractor and subcontractor as it does between owner/ developer and main contractor, and that the 'two contract' analysis provides the best basis for upholding integrity of the bidding process. Chapter 8 sets out advice for quantity surveyors and project managers derived from the decisions of the common law courts. The author argues that practice should be shaped to reflect the obligations assumed by parties in common law so as to avoid claims from aggrieved bidders. In Chapter 9 the focus shifts from private to public law. A Scottish court denied a remedy to the unsuccessful bidder on the grounds that the contract award process was unfair, unreasonable and in breach of natural justice. The author argues that a successful case might have been made out in private law and concludes with recommendations as to how the tender process might be better conducted. Chapter 10 deals with public procurement under the rules of the European Union (EU), noting a particularly important decision by the European Court of Justice that contracting authorities are obliged to treat all tenderers equally and fairly, a duty that parallels that found in common law and discussed in Chapters 2 through 8. Chapter 10 concludes with an article on Rv Portsmouth City Council (1996), reviewing both decisions at first instance and in the English Court of Appeal. Chapter 11 considers the risks of developers and contractors by examining the effectiveness of 'controls' imposed by common law when the usual statutory controls are temporarily withdrawn. It can be seen that the common law has not evolved to protect the interests of neighbours and local residents from the perils and hazards of property development which result in environmental degradation. This chapter concludes with recommendations as to how developer and constructors might minimise their impact on adjacent property owners. Chapter 12 presents a summary of the conclusions drawn from the completed research project and the author's recommendations for further research within the procurement topic.