Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Shifting boundaries'

This thesis challenges existing readings of paintings by Alberto Burri which discuss the work in relation to matter or the body or the psyche. The reading of Burri's Ferro, Sacco, Combustione Legno and Grande Legno G59 demonstrates how the work effects a dynamic quality of alternation between the skin and 'brute' matter. The signification of the work shifts between two types of materiality - that of sheet metal, hessian, plastic and plywood and that of the wounded human skin and psyche.It is argued that the ambiguity of the materiality of Burri's paintings effects a dynamic reciprocity between subject and object. The author argues that Burri's painting alerts the viewer to the reciprocities between industrial materials, corporeal surfaces and subjectivities, to the continuities and ambiguities with and between the skin and work
Master of Arts (Hons) (Visual Arts)

Thesis (MA (Hons) Visual Arts) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1998.
"Submitted in part fulfillment for the degree of M(Hons) in Visual Arts, University of Western Sydney, Nepean" Bibliography : p. 40-42.

The artist, Eileen Mayo, D.B.E., was born in Norwich, England in 1906. Educated at the Slade School of Art, University of London (1923-24) and at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (1925-1928), she established a career as an illustrator, painter and printmaker in London in the 1930s. Associated with Claude Flight and the Colour Linocut Movement, her works were exhibited at the Royal Academy and extensively elsewhere, and collected by the Victoria and Albert and the British Museums. Mayo was also active as a model and features in works by leading artists such as Dame Laura Knight and Dod Proctor, another influence on her work. During the 1940s she wrote and illustrated books on natural history, a central theme in her work, as well as expanding her range as a printmaker into wood engraving and lithography. In the early 1950s she undertook a comprehensive study of tapestry design in France, rapidly distinguishing herself in this field. Mayo emigrated to Australia in 1952, becoming established as a leading printmaker, poster and stamp designer. Resident in New Zealand from 1962 until her death in 1994, she continued to develop as a printmaker, stretching the possibilities of relief and silk screen techniques, although she achieved greater recognition as a stamp designer during this period. Mayo's career is characterised by her seamless movement between the fine and applied arts, her Arts and Crafts-inspired belief in the right making of things and her uniformly high level of achievement across a wide range of media and genres. Although early works explore the theatrical world of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, her subject matter is overwhelmingly rooted in meticulous observation of the natural world. Her ability to find underlying patterns in nature links her work to the more conservative strains of British modernism. Mayo was an artist who undertook commercial work in order to support herself. The full range of her output across the diverse media she employed includes illustrations, books, prints, paintings, tapestries, murals, bookplates, posters, tableware, dioramas, stamps and coins and was produced against a background of artistic practice within three countries in which she lived and worked. The artist's working notes and diaries and all known works are documented in a critical catalogue.

In the end of the 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s Europe and the world witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the mid-1990s the member states of the European Union decided to enlarge the Union towards the Eastern Europe. Thus European integration entered into an unprecedented phase. Integration of the Eastern Europeans with the Western Europe contributed to the debates on the notions of European identity and the idea of Europe. Adherence of the East Europeans to the ideals of the Western European civilization brought up some questions about the changing identities and shifting boundaries of Europe. Various theories deal with the problems of identity in general and European identity in particular. However to a great extent they are limited within a rigid description of self-other relationship. They do not intend to investigate the real motives or purposes behind these transformations of the prevailing identities and shifting of the boundaries of Europe. So, it will be argued that, in order to understand construction/reconstruction process of the new European identity, one should also take into consideration the more dynamic effects on changing European identity and shifting borders of Europe.

In this thesis I present a narrative that describes and analyses the contested and moving boundaries in adult social care through the lens of three enduring themes: the health and social care interface; hospital discharge and NHS continuing health care; and eligibility for adult social care. The thesis draws upon a range of my published work undertaken from 2002-2011, and this in turn reflects a wider body of work undertaken from the 1980s onwards. The thesis is developed from my work which comes from a distinctive model of independent research and analysis, combining original empirical fieldwork and evaluation with detailed policy analysis and commentary. The publications are principally derived from research studies and evaluations commissioned from me by the Department of Health; by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), and by the Putting People First Consortium and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). This thesis examines the problematic boundaries between adult social care (particularly in the care of older people), and the NHS which have been in evidence since the creation of the two systems, and the extent to which these boundaries are contested and fluid over time. I argue that the location of the boundary is of great significance because of the consequences not merely for respective organisational responsibilities and budgets, but also - importantly - for individual service users and their families. The thesis was written on the cusp of the introduction of major legislation in social care, with the Care Act 2014 due for phased implementation from April 2015. It is an opportune moment to consider how and to what extent the Act offers the prospect of stabilising the shifting sands of the landscape of adult social care.

In order for democracy to perform as it should, the press must provide citizens with a diverse range of information. The democratic process is enhanced, if the press is independent of both the state and the market. A study of the issues in state-press relations and how these relations may prevent the press from performing its democratic function, lies at the centre of this work. In an authoritarian society in transition such as Taiwan, where the press is subjected to state control, these issues are of central importance. This study aims to examine the democratic relationship between the press and politics in Taiwan and its relevance to the democratic process. It focuses on three areas: (1) what is the nature of state control over the press, (2) how have the boundaries of control shifted as the state is faced with a more vigorous civil society influenced by the development of the democratic movement as well as the growing role of market forces, and (3) to what extent the press has played a role in the development of Taiwanese democracy. A multi-method research design is set out in an attempt to understand the changing political and economic role of the press. Intensive library research and a detailed content analysis of administrative records were conducted in order to examine the mechanisms of press control exercised by the party-state over both the mainstream and alternative media. Moreover, an ethnographic approach is used to enable a study of state-press relations which focuses on the reporting of politics. We conclude that the confrontation between the partystate and civil society has altered the close links between the Nationalist Party, the Kuo Min Tang (KMT) and the press. The transformation of state-press relations marks a change from direct control by the party-state to a form of market censorship, with the party-state manipulation of the press shifting from regulation and censorship to news management. In the years before the rule of martial law, the party-state exercised power over the press by means of its licensing of newspapers, giving financial support to the press industry, and seducing proprietors through the provision of political and economic favours. By the late 1980s, the strategies of public relations had become important for a party-state which was undermined by an increasingly aware populace and was faced with a less manageable press. Finally, we suggest that unless newspaper barons are willing to distance themselves from the party-state and divert power to journalists; and the journalists are willing to rely on professional judgement and to energetically pursue facts, the press will exercise little impact on making the party-state more accountable to the public during Taiwan's transition to a democratic society.

The formation of state borders is often told through the history of war and diplomacy. What is neglected is the tale of how borders of seemingly peaceful and long-extant places were set. In drawing Egypt’s borders, nineteenth-century cartographers were drawing upon a well of knowledge that stretched back into antiquity. Relying on the works of Greco-Roman writers and the Bible itself, cartographers and explorers used the authority of these works to make sense of unfamiliar lands, regardless of any current circumstances. The border with Palestine was determined through the usage of the Old Testament, while classical scholars like Herodotus and Ptolemy set the southern border at the Cataracts. The ancient cartography of Rome was overlaid upon the Egypt of Muhammad Ali. Given the increasing importance Egypt had to the burgeoning British Empire of the nineteenth century, how did this mesh with the influences informing cartographical representations of Egypt? This study argues that the imagined spaces created by Western cartographers informed the trajectory of Britain’s eventual conquest of Egypt. While receding as geopolitical concerns took hold, the classical and biblical influences were nonetheless part of a larger trend of Orientalism that colored the way Westerners interacted with and treated the people of Egypt and the East. By examining the maps and the terminology employed by nineteenth century scholars on Egypt’s geography, a pattern emerges that highlights how much classical and biblical texts had on the Western imagination of Egypt as the modern terms eventually superseded them.

A central theme in Pauline Melville’s novel, The Ventriloquist’s Tale, is the question of endogamy and exogamy, with the opposing alternatives embodied in Melville’s characters. This theme has received much attention in the critical commentaries generated by the novel, with a prevailing number of critics claiming that Melville proposes endogamy as the only option for indigenous communities to remain intact. However, such an argument overlooks the significant fact that Melville’s characters are always already the offspring of exogamous encounters, through which a multiplicity of boundaries have been permeated. Furthermore, the spatial motifs developed in the novel can be seen to undermine commonly accepted delimitations of supposedly homogenous groups, the nation-state constituting the prime example, and this in turn profoundly alters the notion of mixing. Consequently, contending that Melville even enters a debate on endogamy and exogamy stems from a predisposition to see the world in other terms than those Melville sets out in her novel. The nature of boundaries and borders in Melville’s fictitious world are therefore explored using Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities as a framework. This examination shows that the novel undermines the notion of the nation-state as a homogenous entity and reveals a global structure that dictates and drives interaction on a global scale. Consequently, instead of a debate on exogamy, we see in the novel an exploration and dismantling of notions of borders, boundaries and barriers between individuals and groups of people.

La finalització de les aliances estratègiques ha atret l’atenció dels investigadors durant dècades. Des dels inicis de la recerca en matèria d’aliances, els estudis han reconegut el caràcter flexible i temporal dels acords entre empreses. La finalització d’una aliança representa una fase important del cicle de vida de l’aliança i una activitat bàsica de la reestructuració del portfolio d’aliances. La recerca realitzada s’ha centrat en estudiar els motius de la finalització, però són pocs els estudis que han analitzat les seves conseqüències. Aquest és un fet sorprenent donada la flexibilitat de defineix les aliances així com la freqüència de les finalitzacions d’aliances. Si bé és valuós saber per què les empreses abandonen les aliances, les organitzacions també necessiten entendre les conseqüències de la finalització i quina relació tenen amb les condicions que defineixen l’aliança, per tal de gestionar millor les estratègies col·laboratives. En conseqüència, l’objectiu general d’aquesta tesi doctoral és estudiar empíricament les implicacions de la finalització d’una aliança des de la perspectiva de l’organització. Per assolir aquest objectiu, s’ha fet una recollida àmplia de dades d’aliances formades entre els anys 1990 i 2005 en el sector de les ciències de la vida. L’historial de les aliances i les seves finalitzacions al llarg de l’any 2015 ha estat analitzat a traves de notes de premsa de diverses bases de dades. A més, la revisió de la bibliografia ha evidenciat que manquen recerques empíriques sobre finalitzacions que no corresponguin a JV, així com la importància de diferenciar entre dues formes destacades de finalització: la dissolució i la internalització (és a dir, l’adquisició després de l’aliança), cosa que ha portat a incorporar la governança de les JV i la manera com s’ha fet la finalització a tots els estudis. Atesa la importància de les aliances en l’accés a recursos externs valuosos (tàcits) i la reconfiguració dels recursos que suposa qualsevol finalització d’una aliança, aquesta tesi es basa predominantment en la concepció de l’empresa basada en els recursos (RBV) i basada en el coneixement (KBV). Concretament, s’han dut a terme tres estudis a fi d’examinar els resultats organitzatius relacionats amb (1) el rendiment de l’empresa, (2) la innovació i la construcció de coneixement i (3) la necessitat d’entendre la finalització de les aliances per la via de la internalització. Per entendre’n millor les conseqüències sobre el rendiment de l’empresa, en el primer estudi s’utilitza l'anàlisi d'esdeveniments i de regressió per tal d’examinar la relació existent entre les formes de finalització, els motius d’aquesta, així com la governança JV i la reacció del mercat davant els anuncis de finalització de l’aliança. Els resultats demostren que la dissolució de l’aliança té un efecte generalment negatiu sobre el valor de mercat de l’empresa, mentre que la internalització de l’aliança presenta uns coeficients positius, per no significatius. La interacció significativa entre la forma de finalització de l’aliança i els seus motius explica, a més, que la internalització crea valor de mercat quan la finalització és motivada pel creixement i per un reajustament, mentre que la dissolució en aquestes condicions té un efecte negatiu. Els motius de finalització relacionats amb el rendiment i el creixement de les condicions externes tenen un efecte negatiu sobre el valor de l’empresa en les dues formes de finalització, mentre que la governança de la JV no té influència en aquestes relacions. Al segon estudi, s’analitzen les repercussions de la finalització d’una aliança sobre la innovació i la construcció de coneixement aplicant el mètode DD i l’estimació coincident a una mostra d’aliances d’R+D dissoltes i no dissoltes. Les conclusions mostren que la finalització de les aliances redueix significativament el rendiment de la innovació, que la construcció de coneixement és menys diversa, des del punt de vista tecnològic, i, sorprenentment, menys orientada internament després de la finalització. No obstant això, els resultats no mostren un impacte significatiu de la finalització en la construcció de coneixement entre empreses, ni tampoc cap efecte moderador de la governança de la JV, de la proximitat geogràfica, d’altres aliances similars en el sector i de l’R+D interna. Per altre banda, la mida del portfolio d’aliances redueix significativament l’efecte negatiu sobre el rendiment de la innovació, la diversitat tecnològica i l’orientació interna. En relació als diferents efectes de la internalització de l’aliança que s’han demostrat al primer estudi i, en base a les escasses recerques inicials que s’han localitzat sobre el tema, el tercer estudi desenvolupa una revisió sistemàtica de la internalització de l’aliança, per oferer una visió panoràmica de la transició de l’aliança entre empreses a l’organització interna. La revisió presenta un model de condicions que guien la internalització de l’aliança i analitza les evidències de les implicacions de la internalització sobre el rendiment. A més de les limitacions de l'estudi, la tesi conclou amb la discussió integrada dels resultats, dels que destaca la importància de l'anàlisi de la finalització de les aliances pel desenvolupament de les teories de l'organització i la col·laboració de forma més global.
La terminación de las alianzas estratégicas ha atraído la atención de los académicos durante décadas. Desde los inicios de la investigación en materia de alianzas, los estudios han reconocido el carácter flexible y temporal de los acuerdos entre empresas. La terminación de una alianza constituye una fase importante del ciclo de vida de la misma y una actividad básica de la reestructuración del portfolio de alianzas. Investigaciones previas se han centrado en descubrir los motivos de la terminación, pero son pocos los estudios que han analizado sus consecuencias. Esto resulta sorprendente teniendo en cuenta la flexibilidad que define las alianzas estratégicas y la frecuencia de las terminaciones. Si bien es valioso saber por qué las empresas abandonan las alianzas, las organizaciones también deben entender las implicaciones de la terminación y cómo se relacionan con las condiciones que definen la alianza para abordar mejor las estrategias de colaboración. En consecuencia, el objetivo general de esta tesis doctoral es estudiar empíricamente las implicaciones de la terminación de una alianza desde la perspectiva de la organización. Para alcanzar este objetivo, se ha efectuado una recogida expansiva de datos sobre alianzas formadas entre 1990 y 2005 en el sector de las ciencias de la vida. El historial de las alianzas y sus terminaciones a lo largo de 2015 ha sido analizado a partir de notas de prensa de varias bases de datos. Además, la revisión de la literatura ha revelado que escasean las investigaciones empíricas sobre terminaciones que no correspondan a JV, así como la importancia de distinguir entre dos modos destacados de terminación: la disolución y la internalización (es decir, la adquisición tras la alianza), impulsado la incorporación de la gobernanza de las alianzas (JV-noJV) y del modo de terminación en todos los estudios. Dada la importancia de las alianzas para acceder a valiosos recursos externos (tácitos) y la reconfiguración de recursos inherentes a la terminación de las mismas, esta tesis se fundamenta en la concepción de la empresa basada en los recursos (RBV) y en el conocimiento (KBV). En concreto, se han desarrollado tres estudios con el fin de examinar los resultados organizativos relacionados con (1) el desempeño de la empresa, (2) la innovación y la construcción de conocimiento y (3) la necesidad de comprender la terminación de las alianzas por la vía de la internalización. Para comprender mejor las repercusiones sobre el desempeño de la empresa, en el primer estudio se ha utilizado el análisis de eventos y de regresión con el fin de examinar la relación existente entre el modo de terminación, el motivo del mismo, así como la gobernanza JV y la reacción del mercado ante el anuncio de la terminación. Los resultados demuestran que la disolución de la alianza tiene un efecto generalmente negativo sobre el valor de mercado de la empresa, mientras que la internalización de la alianza presenta unos coeficientes positivos, pero no significativos. La interacción significativa entre el modo de terminación de la alianza y el motivo de la terminación explica, además, que la internalización crea valor de mercado cuando la terminación viene motivada por el crecimiento y por una reestructuración, mientras que la disolución en estas condiciones tiene un efecto negativo. Los motivos de terminación relacionados con el desempeño y el aumento de las condiciones externas tienen un efecto negativo sobre el valor de la empresa en los dos modos de terminación, mientras que la gobernanza JV no influye en estas relaciones. En el segundo estudio, se analiza las repercusiones de la terminación de una alianza sobre la innovación y la construcción de conocimiento, aplicando el método DD y la estimación coincidente a una muestra de alianzas de I+D disueltas y no disueltas. Las conclusiones revelan que la terminación de una alianza reduce significativamente el desempeño de la innovación, que la construcción de conocimiento resulta menos diversa desde el punto de vista tecnológico y, contra todo pronóstico, menos orientada internamente tras la terminación. Sin embargo, los resultados no muestran un impacto significativo de la terminación en la construcción de conocimiento entre empresas, ni tampoco un efecto moderador de la gobernanza JV, la proximidad geográfica, las alianzas en el sector y la I+D interna. Por otro lado, el tamaño del portfolio de alianzas parece reducir significativamente el efecto negativo sobre el desempeño de la innovación, la diversidad tecnológica y la orientación interna. Con relación a los distintos efectos de la internalización de la alianza que se han evidenciado en el primer estudio y dadas las escasas investigaciones previas encontradas sobre el tema, el tercer estudio lleva a cabo una revisión sistemática de la internalización de la alianza para ofrecer una visión panorámica sobre la transición de las alianzas entre empresas a la organización interna. Esta revisión presenta un modelo de condiciones que guía la internalización de la alianza y analiza las evidencias de las implicaciones de la internalización sobre el desempeño. Además de las limitaciones del estudio, la tesis concluye con la discusión integrada de los resultados, sobre los que destaca la importancia del análisis de la terminación de las alianzas para el desarrollo de las teorías de la organización y la colaboración de forma más global.
Strategic alliance exit has drawn scholarly attention for decades. Since the inception of alliance research, studies have recognized the flexible and temporal character of interfirm agreements. Alliance exit constitutes an important phase of the alliance life cycle and a key activity in alliance portfolio restructuring. Previous research has largely focused on uncovering the motives for alliance exit while scarce research has examined the implications of exit. This is surprising given the frequency of exit and considering flexibility is a defining feature of alliances. While it is valuable to know why firms exit alliances, organizations also need to understand the implications of exit, and how they relate to alliance, exit, and firm conditions to better inform collaborative strategy. Accordingly, the overarching objective of this PhD Thesis is to empirically investigate alliance exit implications from an organizational level perspective. To achieve this objective, an expansive data collection effort was undertaken on alliances formed from 1990-2005 in the Life Science industry. Alliance histories and exits were tracked through 2015 using press releases from various databases. Additionally, literature reviews revealed a lack of empirical research on non-JV exit and the important distinction between two prominent exit modes: dissolution and internalization (i.e. post alliance acquisition), prompting the incorporation of JV governance and exit mode throughout the studies. Provided the importance of alliances for accessing valuable external (tacit) resources, and the resource reconfiguration inherent in alliance exit, this thesis builds predominantly on the resource-based and knowledge-based views of the firm. Specifically, three studies were conducted to examine organizational outcomes related to (1) firm performance, (2) innovation and knowledge building, and (3) to nuance the understanding of alliance exit via internalization. To better understand firm performance implications, the first study employs an event-study methodology and regression models to examine the relationship between exit modes, motives, and JV governance and the market reaction to alliance exit announcements. The results demonstrate that alliance dissolution has an overall negative effect on firm market value while alliance internalization shows positive but non-significant coefficients. A significant interaction between alliance exit mode and motives further explains that internalization creates market value when exit is motivated by growth and refocusing, while dissolution under these conditions has a negative effect. Exit motives related to performance issues and external conditions growth have a negative impact on firm value under both exit modes while JV governance did not influence these relationships. To study the innovation and knowledge-building implications of alliance exit, the second study applies a difference-in-differences and matching estimation to a sample of exited and non-exited R&D alliances. The findings reveal that alliance exit significantly reduces innovation performance, knowledge building becomes less technologically diverse, and unexpectedly, less internally oriented after exit. However, the results do not show a meaningful impact of exit on interfirm knowledge building, nor a moderating effect of JV governance, geographic proximity, same industry alliances, and internal R&D. To the contrary, alliance portfolio size is shown to significantly reduce the negative effect on innovation performance, technological diversity, and internal orientation. Related to the distinct effects of alliance internalization revealed in the first study and the scarce initial research found on the topic, the third study, a systematic review on alliance internalization, offers cumulative insight on the transition from interfirm alliance to internal organization. The review presents a model of conditions driving alliance internalization and discusses the evidence on the performance implication of internalization. The thesis concludes with an integrated discussion of the findings and limitations and highlights the importance of alliance exit for comprehensive organizational and collaboration theory.

Public sector reform has involved both a re-negotiation of the boundary between managerial and professional work and a re-thinking of the relationships between practising professionals and managerial professionals. This thesis is concerned with the nature of the boundary work that has led to a greater integration between professional and managerial expertise in public services. It is argued that management and professional discourses are organized around the central principles of “costing” and “caring”, respectively. “Costing” is the key focus for managers as they grapple with resource constraints; whilst “caring” is the fundamental concern for professionals in their work with clients/patients. Any integration must address “costing” and “caring” as the entry points to the domains occupied by managers and professionals. The aims of the thesis are first, to understand how the boundary between professional and managerial work in the public sector has been constituted (including an exploration of how that boundary is changing) and, second, to trace at the interface between professional and managerial domains the impact of boundary work through budgets. The empirical work on which this thesis is based was carried out in two different areas of the UK public sector: health and social services. The thesis concludes that boundary work has been achieving integration primarily through the devolution of budgets that create boundary roles (e.g. care managers, GP fundholders and clinical directors). It is argued that budgets, money and numbers can be powerful integrators across the boundary between professional and managerial expertise in public services.

This study examined the racial identification of biracial Asian children by their parents, in a sample (N=9,513) drawn from 2000 Public Use Microdata Series Census data (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series 2009). I used competing theories of Asian assimilation to examine how characteristics of the child, the Asian parent, the non-Asian parent, and the local Asian community influenced the likelihood of a childâ s being identified as Asian, non-Asian, or biracial. Findings showed that childâ s, both parentsâ , and community characteristics significantly influenced the childâ s racial classification. While the effects of greater assimilation significantly increased the likelihood of an Asian classification for third-generation children, in contrast, it decreased the likelihood of an Asian identification for first- and second-generation children. Findings showed that children with a black parent were less likely than children with a white parent to be identified as Asian instead of non-Asian. However, inconsistent with past findings, children with a Hispanic parent were more likely than those with a white parent to be identified as Asian rather than non-Asian. Exploratory analyses concerning a biracial classification indicate significant relationships with factors previously found to increase the likelihood of an Asian identification, including the effects of greater Asian assimilation and size of the local Asian community. Moreover, the relationship between parentâ s and childâ s gender on the childâ s racial classification may be more complicated than previously theorized, as I found evidence of â gender-matchingâ which meant that boys were more likely to be identified like their fathers, and girls more like their mothers.
Master of Science

This thesis is an ethnography of the Italian-Slovenian border. The data presented in this thesis have been collected during one year of fieldwork (August 2008 - August 2009) that took place in the Province of Gorizia, the smallest of the region Friuli Venezia Giulia in the North-East of Italy. To be more specific, I conducted my fieldwork in the two areas of this Province that straddle the international border between Italy and Slovenia: the main town of Gorizia and the wine area of Collio that stretches North West of the town. I chose these areas because the town has been portrayed by some locals as a divided town as the Italian-Slovenian border straddles its peripheries and the peripheries of the Slovenian town of Nova Gorica, and the wine growers that live and/or work in the Collio area remove and replace the boundary according to their business. This thesis is about the making and marking of the Italian-Slovenian border now that both Italy and Slovenia are part of the European Union and, more importantly in this context, the Schengen Space. In fact, within the Schengen area the physical structures of the border have been erased; because of this erasure locals discussed the border as having ‘disappeared’, hence putting emphasis on the border structure as an object of demarcation. This thesis is an ethnographic example of how such a combined erasure (of borders within the EU) and simultaneous maintenance of state borders is being experienced on an everyday basis. This research aims to be an example of how Gorizia and the Collio area are shaped by the local residents’ narratives and perceptions of the political processes of bordering and de-bordering: an example of border theory from the local perspective. This work wants to be an example of border as a quality -as ongoing activity-, rather than as a fixed object. As such this thesis is looking at borderworks: the multiple qualities of borders, and how those qualities constantly change.

This thesis provides in-depth analysis of my practice-led PhD and the methods used to focus on key areas of research - namely exploring the shifting perceptual parameters revealed when analogue films are transferred to digital formats. With this process audio-visual content previously locked inside film’s decaying form is resurrected as immaterial code within a malleable frame. My work utilised this spectral quality to examine different layers of film representation, observing its inner structure, while also stepping back to contemplate its content from a self-reflexive distance. These multiple viewpoints introduced unique spaces within which to study the analogue past from a digital perspective: The filmstrip’s mechanically regulated motion seamlessly combines still images, sound and light into analogue interpretations of space-time. My work digitally desynchronised these elements, revealing the structural gaps between them while also suggesting their merger with a new perceptual model. Moving beyond internal film worlds to the boundaries they share with the physical viewing space, another layer of disjointed separation was introduced by producing screens that struggled to contain film content within their frames. Stepping back further, these screens occupied a space caught between the fixed viewpoint of a cinema and the multiple perspectives allowed by gallerybased installations. The shifting frame of these hybrid spaces created an oscillation between passive submersion within, and analytical distance from mediated worlds. By unmooring and offsetting the precise alignment between film structure, screens and viewing spaces, my practice revealed overlapping edges and disjointed spaces within which media from different eras interacted. This opened up new areas of research that fed directly into my theoretical studies (the thesis layout itself shifts outwards, from media structures to viewing spaces). This approach enabled me to produce a substantial body of work, iii offering an original contribution to this field.

This research explored the nursing role in the Indonesian ED setting through a social constructivist lens. The emergency department (ED) nursing role in Indonesia is considered strategic in achieving quality outcomes and yet the nursing role in this context lacks clarity and visibility. This study generated two key analytical concepts: shifting boundaries and lacking authority. The interrelationship of these concepts constructed a core category, securing legitimate power, which reflects the social structural processes underpinning the development of the ED nursing role. The findings of this research pose a theoretical explanation of the ways in which the interplay of gender, society, knowledge and power has positioned nursing within the Indonesian health care system and society more broadly. The findings contribute to the development of a body of knowledge that challenges the status quo of nursing in Indonesia and that will ultimately enhance the professional status of this sector.

The English Civil War represents a liminal period within the history of the nation, one that offered many opportunities for experimentation with gender roles in social institutions. This historical episode had no universally legitimate authority, in either the government or the church, and the population had to deal with the resulting confusion individually. In comparing the writings and actions of women during this period with the popular publications of men that described and prescribed women's behavior, I argue that a significant number of men and women disregarded prescribed gender roles out of necessity. The major themes of this thesis involve the relationship between power and gender, as seen through contemporary language and writing that reveal how English culture viewed women acting in "masculine" endeavors in a time of crisis. Any perceived threat to the social order or the gender hierarchy of early modern England caused anxiety, but the actual challenges to this social organization posed by the Civil War provoked a substantial backlash. However, the women who acted in the war in public developed an identity independent of their culturally subordinate status. In order to substantiate this argument, this thesis discusses the fluid nature of gender, including the significant changes that resulted within the decades of the Civil War, as it was depicted in seventeenth-century England. Using primary documents, including letters, pamphlets, diurnals, and diaries, I show how the gender roles created by the church, state, and society were contradicted by the reality of the behavior exhibited by the participants in the English Civil War. I examine both women who acted within the traditional confines of femininity and those who transgressed these boundaries. Close attention is paid to women's activities in the areas of defense, religion, and politics. In conclusion, the thesis examines the ways in which historians have sought to interpret this period and place the actions of women within a patriarchal context. Possible challenges to the gender hierarchy caused great anxiety amid early modern England, but actual transgressions of gender roles, which occurred during the English Civil War, prompted a reevaluation of femininity.

博士
國立東華大學
族群關係與文化學系
102
This study illustrates how activists of the Amis Indigenous nation in Taiwan, whose traditional lands are located in Karowa in Hualien County, have physically and politically embodied their views in order to rewrite boundaries in accordance with their rights to traditional lands. The research framework consists of three parts. The first part analyses Karowa Amis social movement strategies and develops an appropriate research methodology based on the views possessed by the Karowa people on their traditional lands. The second part situates the research in current geographical theories related to Indigenous traditional land rights. The final part explores the history of Taiwan's Indigenous traditional land rights movements and for comparative purposes examines native title settlement in South Australia. The study finds that through a combination of commodity economics and colonialism, sugar industry capitalists have developed near-exclusive power to inscribe repeatedly a variety of epistemological, aesthetic and symbolic tropes—based on their preference for economic gain—that have superimposed new mental and physical landscapes over Karowa Amis’ traditional lands. Even after the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law was implemented in 2005, Taiwan Sugar Corporation has continued to use various forms of afforestation in plains areas—such as the creation of Tanong-Tafu Forest Park—to construct landscapes inscribed with spatial discourses implying that Karowa lands are “terra nullius”, where Indigenous- peoples “don’t exist” or “have been assimilated”. These new boundaries purport that the lands belong to the State and are not traditional Indigenous territory. The implementation of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law recognizes the possibility of restructuring rights and creating special land boundaries. This has inspired Taiwanese Indigenous nations attempting to transform power structures, using the new conditions of acknowledged rights. In this light, the experience of the Karowa Amis—as in other cases in Taiwan—illustrates that “tribal mapping” represents a truly significant watershed for the Taiwanese Indigenous land rights movement. Unfortunately, Indigenous cultures in Taiwan have lacked the opportunity to exercise their rights fully. The only basis for the legitimacy of their rights is the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law, which affirms their right to traditional use. However, the lack of territorial rights and autonomy renders difficult the full practice of these rights to use traditional lands in everyday life. Therefore, Indigenous peoples have been frustrated when attempting to exercise their rights under the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law, due to such hegemonic political structures. Reflecting on the native title settlement process in South Australia, we found that Taiwan lacks not only a constitutional, comprehensive settlement structure encompassing social, administrative and legislative aspects of State-Indigenous relations, but also a means of understanding how the process of settlement is dependent upon the practice of Indigenous autonomy. This research suggests the need to produce a variety of erasing and re-writing tools in legal systems, administration, education, symbols, and everyday life practices for the attainment of spatial decolonization. Legal reform is not the only way to promote Indigenous traditional land rights. We suggest that erasing and re-writing colonial territorial tropes will also help bring about the long-term recognition of Indigenous traditional land rights.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New School for Social Research, 2004.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 329-367). Also available in electronic format on the World Wide Web. Access restricted to users affiliated with the licensed institutions.

While Canada is often called a pluralist state, there are no sustained studies by political scientists in which aboriginal self-government is discussed specifically in terms of the analytical tradition of pluralist thought. Aboriginal self-government is usually discussed as an issue of cultural preservation or national self-determination. Aboriginal identity is framed in terms of cultural and national traits that are unique to an aboriginal community and selfgovernment is taken to represent the aboriginal communal desire to protect and preserve those traits. Is such an understanding of what motivates aboriginal self-government accurate, or does it yield an incomplete understanding of the complex phenomenon that aboriginal selfgovernment in Canada represents? The political tradition of pluralism allows for analysis of aboriginal self-government that addresses questions left unattended by the cultural and nationalist frameworks. Pluralism is often viewed as a public arrangement in which distinct groups are given room to live side by side, characterized by mutual recognition and affirmation. At the same time, there are different faces of pluralist theory and each addresses questions about the recognition and affirmation of aboriginal self-government in different ways. Those three contemporary faces can be distinguished by the labels communitarian, individualist, and relational. The major hypothesis advanced is that aboriginal self-government is better understood if an "identification" perspective on aboriginal identity is adopted as opposed to a "cultural" or "national" one and if that perspective is linked to a relational theory of pluralism as opposed to a communitarian or individualist one. The identification approach examines aboriginal identity not in terms of cultural and political traits, but in terms of identification with, and political commitment to, an aboriginal community. Relational pluralism in turn, examines the challenge of aboriginal self-government in terms of power differences within aboriginal communities and between aboriginal and Canadian governments. Applying these approaches to aboriginal politics in Canada confirms their suitability. Contrary to what previous scholarship has assumed, aboriginal self-government should not be seen primarily as a tool to preserve cultural and national differences as goods in and of themselves. The politics of aboriginal self-government should be seen as involving demands to equalize current imbalances in power so that aboriginal communities and the individuals within them can construct aboriginal identities according to their own design.

碩士
國立清華大學
社會學研究所
103
People have different opinions on the idea of indie music, and this dissertation starts with the various opinions, hoping to redefine and illustrate the complicity and the ambiguous boundary of Taiwanese indie music. In my observation, I discover that there are three elements of Taiwanese indie music, which are the “Do it yourself” (as known as DIY), the orientation of participating in social movement, and the orientation of intense nationalism. With these elements, they form the unique structure of Taiwanese indie music. Also, the complicity and the vividly recognized identity within Taiwanese indie music are further established through different interpretations and practices by different artists. In order to capture the complicity and the flexibility in the image of Taiwanese indie music, I use “identity boundary” as my methodology by interviewing ten groups of indie music artists, a total of 19 people, through in-depth interviews and focus group interviews about three questions. First, how is the identity boundary in Taiwanese indie music communities formed? Second, what is the indie music artists’ experience during the formation, the shift, and the ambiguity of boundary and how do they react to the gradually established nature and ideology of Taiwanese indie music? Last but not least, how could the indie music artists come up with the claim that “music can intervene the society” and how could they put it into practice? Therefore, the core of this dissertation lies in discussing the definition of indie music and the reaction of the indie music artists to the already defined images of indie music through their subjective point of view to examine how they fortify and deconstruct their ideas of indie music so that we can reunderstand and redefine the indie music. The ultimate answer for me is finding the reason why indie music is indie music. Finally, I find out that the identity of Taiwanese indie music relies on the local music environment, which means that the recognition and imagination of “guà” (a group of people with the same belief) have influence on the practice and the formation of music producing of the indie music artists. Therefore, the indie music evolved into different styles based on the understanding of “guà.” Furthermore, I believe that Taiwanese indie music artists’ interpretation of “authenticity” lies in the center of their own identity formation. Therefore, they can identify themselves from others through the process of reinterpreting and imagining the authenticity.

The concept of borders and boundaries receives growing attention in recent years from diverse ranges of academic disciplines (Lamont, 2002). According to the sociologist Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Symbolic Boundaries are “the lines that include and define some people, groups, and things while excluding others” (1992: 232). The aim of the research is to examine shifting of the symbolic boundary between genders as a political act intended toward challenging the social order. The Israeli cultural sphere serves as the most suitable field for the study of boundaries, thanks to the “Israeli border paradox”: on one hand, due to the conflicts with its neighboring countries, the borders of Israel are yet to be completed. On the other hand, the Israeli society is characterized by multiple inner- boundaries which split it into different sub-groups that hold much tension between them (Zubeidah and Lipshitz, 2017). Drawing on culture studies, border studies and performative studies, this research wishes to create a meeting point where different forms of knowledge production come into dialogue. By doing so, the research observes the function of the most central division within all human societies - the one between the sexes (Epstein, 2007). According to Elizabeth Cherry (2010) shifting of symbolic boundaries is both a strategy and main goal for social movements. The research examines three examples from Israeli cultural field, which points to the symbolic boundary between genders, and challenge its existence at the same time; by doing so, they open new subversive and creative possibilities to imagine and do gender identities.

Cette thèse comporte quatre fichiers vidéo. This thesis comes with four video files.
L'industrie chimique mondiale est en pleine mutation, cherchant des solutions pour rendre la synthèse organique classique plus durable. Une telle solution consiste à passer de la catalyse chimique classique à la biocatalyse. Bien que les avantages des enzymes incluent leur stéréo, régio et chimiosélectivité, cette sélectivité réduit souvent leur promiscuité. Les efforts requis pour adapter la fonction enzymatique aux réactions désirées se sont révélés d'une efficacité modérée, de sorte que des méthodes rapides et rentables sont nécessaires pour générer des biocatalyseurs qui rendront la production chimique plus efficace. Dans l’ère de la bioinformatique et des outils de calcul pour soutenir l'ingénierie des enzymes, le développement rapide de nouvelles fonctions enzymatiques devient une réalité. Cette thèse commence par un examen des développements récents sur les outils de calcul pour l’ingénierie des enzymes. Ceci est suivi par un exemple de l’ingénierie des enzymes purement expérimental ainsi que de l’évolution des protéines. Nous avons exploré l’espace mutationnel d'une enzyme primitive, la dihydrofolate réductase R67 (DHFR R67), en utilisant l’ingénierie semi-rationnelle des protéines. La conception rationnelle d’une librarie de mutants, ou «Smart library design», impliquait l’association covalente de monomères de l’homotétramère DHFR R67 en dimères afin d’augmenter la diversité de la librairie d’enzymes mutées. Le criblage par activité enzymatique a révélé un fort biais pour le maintien de la séquence native dans un des protomères tout en tolérant une variation de séquence élevée pour le deuxième. Il est plausible que les protomères natifs procurent l’activité observée, de sorte que nos efforts pour modifier le site actif de la DHFR R67 peuvent n’avoir été que modérément fructueux. Les limites des méthodes expérimentales sont ensuite abordées par le développement d’outils qui facilitent la prédiction des points chauds mutationnels, c’est-à-dire les sites privilégiés à muter afin de moduler la fonction. Le développement de ces techniques est intensif en termes de calcul, car les protéines sont de grandes molécules complexes dans un environnement à base d’eau, l’un des solvants les plus difficiles à modéliser. Nous présentons l’identification rapide des points chauds mutationnels spécifiques au substrat en utilisant l'exemple d’une enzyme cytochrome P450 industriellement pertinente, la CYP102A1. En appliquant la technique de simulation de la dynamique moléculaire par la force de polarisation adaptative, ou «ABF», nous confirmons les points chauds mutationnels connus pour l’hydroxylation des acides gras tout en identifiant de nouveaux points chauds mutationnels. Nous prédisons également la conformation du substrat naturel, l’acide palmitique, dans le site actif et nous appliquons ces connaissances pour effectuer un criblage virtuel d'autres substrats de cette enzyme. Nous effectuons ensuite des simulations de dynamique moléculaire pour traiter l’impact potentiel de la dynamique des protéines sur la catalyse enzymatique, qui est le sujet de discussions animées entre les experts du domaine. Avec la disponibilité accrue de structures cristallines dans la banque de données de protéines (PDB), il devient clair qu’une seule structure de protéine n’est pas suffisante pour élucider la fonction enzymatique. Nous le démontrons en analysant quatre structures cristallines que nous avons obtenues d’une enzyme β-lactamase, parmi lesquelles un réarrangement important des résidus clés du site actif est observable. Nous avons réalisé de longues simulations de dynamique moléculaire pour générer un ensemble de structures suggérant que les structures cristallines ne reflètent pas nécessairement la conformation de plus basse énergie. Enfin, nous étudions la nécessité de compléter de manière informatisée un hémisphère où l’expérimental n’est actuellement pas possible, à savoir la prédiction de la migration des gaz dans les enzymes. À titre d'exemple, la réactivité des enzymes cytochrome P450 dépend de la disponibilité des molécules d’oxygène envers l’hème du site actif. Par le biais de simulations de la dynamique moléculaire de type Simulation Implicite du Ligand (ILS), nous dérivons le paysage de l’énergie libre de petites molécules neutres de gaz pour cartographier les canaux potentiels empruntés par les gaz dans les cytochromes P450 : CYP102A1 et CYP102A5. La comparaison pour les gaz CO, N2 et O2 suggère que ces enzymes évoluent vers l’exclusion du CO inhibiteur. De plus, nous prédisons que les canaux empruntés par les gaz sont distincts des canaux empruntés par le substrat connu et que ces canaux peuvent donc être modifiés indépendamment les uns des autres.
The chemical industry worldwide is at a turning point, seeking solutions to make classical organic synthesis more sustainable. One such solution is to shift from classical catalysis to biocatalysis. Although the advantages of enzymes include their stereo-, regio-, and chemoselectivity, their selectivity often reduces versatility. Past efforts to tailor enzymatic function towards desired reactions have met with moderate effectiveness, such that fast and cost-effective methods are in demand to generate biocatalysts that will render the production of fine and bulk chemical production more benign. In the wake of bioinformatics and computational tools to support enzyme engineering, the fast development of new enzyme functions is becoming a reality. This thesis begins with a review of recent developments on computational tools for enzyme engineering. This is followed by an example of purely experimental enzyme engineering and protein evolution. We explored the mutational space of a primitive enzyme, the R67 dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), using semi-rational protein engineering. ‘Smart library design’ involved fusing monomers of the homotetrameric R67 DHFR into dimers, to increase the diversity in the resulting mutated enzyme libraries. Activity-based screening revealed a strong bias for maintenance of the native sequence in one protomer with tolerance for high sequence variation in the second. It is plausible that the native protomers procure the observed activity, such that our efforts to modify the enzyme active site may have been only moderately fruitful. The limitations of experimental methods are then addressed by developing tools that facilitate computational mutational hotspot prediction. Developing these techniques is computationally intensive, as proteins are large molecular objects and work in aqueous media, one of the most complex solvents to model. We present the rapid, substrate-specific identification of mutational hotspots using the example of the industrially relevant P450 cytochrome CYP102A1. Applying the adaptive biasing force (ABF) molecular dynamics simulation technique, we confirm the known mutational hotspots for fatty acid hydroxylation and identify a new one. We also predict a catalytic binding pose for the natural substrate, palmitic acid, and apply that knowledge to perform virtual screening for further substrates for this enzyme. We then perform molecular dynamics simulations to address the potential impact of protein dynamics on enzyme catalysis, which is the topic of heated discussions among experts in the field. With the availability of more crystal structures in the Protein Data Bank, it is becoming clear that a single protein structure is not sufficient to elucidate enzyme function. We demonstrate this by analyzing four crystal structures we obtained of a β-lactamase enzyme, among which a striking rearrangement of key active site residues was observed. We performed long molecular dynamics simulations to generate a structural ensemble that suggests that crystal structures do not necessarily reflect the conformation of lowest energy. Finally, we address the need to computationally complement an area where experimentation is not currently possible, namely the prediction of gas migration into enzymes. As an example, the reactivity of P450 cytochrome enzymes depends on the availability of molecular oxygen at the active-site heme. Using the Implicit Ligand Sampling (ILS) molecular dynamics simulation technique, we derive the free energy landscape of small neutral gas molecules to map potential gas channels in cytochrome P450 CYP102A1 and CYP102A5. Comparison of CO, N2 and O2 suggests that those enzymes evolved towards exclusion of the inhibiting CO. In addition, we predict that gas channels are distinct from known substrate channels and therefore can be engineered independently from one another.

Recent literary and cultural histories have refined our understandings of the categories that created identity in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries---the period leading up to the solidification of the modern concept of the self. Drawing on this scholarship, my thesis investigates the ways that Aphra Behn explores the categories of gender and status (both in transition during the Restoration period) as they relate to the physical body. Through readings of two pieces of short fiction, a play, and a three-part novel, I trace the ways in which Behn creates different situations to explore the complex interactions between gender, status, and the body in order to expose the often dramatic ways that these categories inflect one another. Ultimately, I argue that the potential for the disembodiment of female identity as it is portrayed in Behn's works (as opposed to the fully embodied identity of the male) allows for a radical re-imagining of female identity that is bound by neither traditional concepts of gender nor status.