Kinship and politics in the art of plaster decoration
KINSHIP AND POLITICS IN THE ART OF PLASTER DECORATION This thesis explores the flowering of decorative plasterwork in late renaissance Scotland, its main focus being what influenced its development, the motivation of its leading patrons, and its role in the culture of Scotland at this time. The thesis begins by assesses why plasterwork has received much less attention in Scotland compared with other building materials, primarily stone, and whether this is as a result of Scotland’s architectural history being misunderstood in its British context. Early seventeenth-century Scotland was experiencing a building boom, its patrons increasingly benefiting from government positions, better education and foreign travel, exposing them to a wide range of influences at a time when houses and estates, (the main signals of status and rank) were being much transformed and domestically improved. This period heralded a burst of decorative plasterwork patronage throughout the country. This thesis analyses the influences which existed in late renaissance interiors in Scotland and whether a native tradition of decorative plasterwork existed in Scotland, and what influence this had on later decorative plasterwork styles. This thesis also gauges the affect that an absent court had on patronage and whether significant cycles of patronage can be interpreted by a study of seventeenth century plasterwork schemes in Scotland, and the role that decoration played in the culture of Scotland at this time. Finally, this research assesses the evolution of plaster throughout the century and why it may have developed differently from English work, and considers the changing role of decorative plasterwork in the late seventeenth century.
The Architecture of Britain
A political, stylistic and technical history of architecture from 450 AD to the modern day, including a discussion of the architects who created the most significant buildings during this period.
The evaluation of the competency perception of inspectors in using new instructional technology
Abstract The purpose of this study is to find out the evaluation of inspectors in regards to their competency perceptions towards the use of new instructional technologies. This is a qualitative model research. The target population of this study consisted of 25 inspectors serving within the borders of TRNC in 2011. Data was collected by an “interview form” developed by the researcher. The interview form consisted of 6 items. Content analyze, frequency (f) and percentage (%) techniques were used to analyze the data. This research pointed out that: “concerns on falling behind the teacher”, “training needs”, “decreasing training support within the years” and “non existing policy on IT support” are critical factors affecting an inspector's competency perceptions in using new instructional technologies.