WORK: hybridity and endurance within solo dance practice and performance

David Bowie: dancing with madness and proselytising the socio-political in art and life

A longstanding, successful and frequently controversial career spanning more than four decades establishes David Bowie as charged with individual agency. The notion of ‘agency’ here refers particularly to the ‘ability of people, individually and collectively to influence their own lives and the society in which they live’ (Germov and Poole, 2007: 7). That Bowie has influenced many lives is undeniable to his fans. He has long demonstrated an avid curiosity for the enduring patterns of social life which is reflected in his art. Bowie’s opus contains the elements of ideological narratives around sexual (mis)adventure, expressivity, and; resistance to ‘normative’ behaviour. He requisitions his audiences, through frequently indirect lyrics and images, to critically question sanity, identity and essentially what it means to be ‘us’ and why we are here. Here, in this context, ‘dancing with madness’ assumes an intimate relationship, even if brief, where ideas and emotions come passionately together for the purpose of creative expression much like the intertwining and energetic performance of the partner dance Tango. As such, ‘dancing’ is argued here to be an appropriate descriptor for how Bowie has engaged with creative cultural forms but not meant to be self-conscious nor indicate superficiality or ignorance. The idea of madness for its part is a theme in many of his compositions, for example the original album cover for The Man Who Sold the World (1971)  depicts an asylum and includes the song ‘All The Madmen’ and Aladdin Sane (1973)—a lad insane--are but two examples. This paper argues that Bowie’s frequently astute contemplations, manifest through his art over a period now spanning more than forty years, continues to draw fans of like mind to his work with the result that he has a legitimate claim to influence and affect.

Valuation and performance of firms in complex ownership structures : an application to Korean chaebols

We propose several new metrics to describe the complex ownership structure of business groups, and provide simple formulas and algorithms to compute these metrics. We use these measures to describe in detail the ownership structure of Korean chaebols in the period of 2003 to 2004. In addition, we validate the usefulness of our new metrics by showing empirically that they are important for understanding the valuation and performance of group firms. In particular, we show evidence that firms that are central to the control structure of the chaebol (central firms), firms in cross-shareholdings, and firms that are placed at the bottom of the group (i.e., with lower ultimate ownership) have lower profitability than other group firms. The valuation results suggest that central firms and firms in cross-shareholding loops have lower valuations than other public Chaebol firms. The lower valuation of these firms is not explained by variation in measures of ownership concentration and separation between ownership and control.

Education and the labour market in Latin America: why measurement is important and what it tells us about policies, reforms and performance

Includes bibliography

Digital proficiency and digital inclusion: Comparison between students of computer science, public relations and engineering

New information and communication technologies may be useful for providing more in-depth knowledge to students in many ways, whether through online multimedia educational material, or through online debates with colleagues, teachers and other area professionals in a synchronous or asynchronous manner. This paper focuses on participation in online discussion in e-learning courses for promoting learning. Although an important theoretical aspect, an analysis of literature reveals there are few studies evaluating the personal and social aspects of online course users in a quantitative manner. This paper aims to introduce a method for diagnosing inclusion and digital proficiency and other personal aspects of the student through a case study comparing Information System, Public Relations and Engineering students at a public university in Brazil. Statistical analysis and analysis of variances (ANOVA) were used as the methodology for data analysis in order to understand existing relations between the components of the proposed method. The survey methodology was also used, in its online format, as a research instrument. The method is based on using online questionnaires that diagnose digital proficiency and time management, level of extroversion and social skills of the students. According to the sample studied, there is no strong correlation between digital proficiency and individual characteristics tied to the use of time, level of extroversion and social skills of students. The differences in course grades for some components are partly due to subject 'Introduction to Economics' being offered to freshmen in Public Relations, whereas subject 'Economics in Engineering' is offered in the final semesters of Engineering and Information Systems courses. Therefore, the difference could be more tied to the respondent's age than to the course. Information Systems students were observed to be older, with access to computers and Internet at the workplace, compared to the other students who access the Internet more often from home. This paper presents a pilot study aimed at conducting a diagnosis that permits proposing actions for information and communication technology to contribute towards student education. Three levels of digital inclusion are described as a scale to measure whether information technology increases personal performance and professional knowledge and skills. This study may be useful for other readers interested in themes related to education in engineering. © 2013 IEEE.

Association of apolipoprotein B and adiponectin receptor 1 genes with carcass, bone integrity and performance traits in a paternal broiler line

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Public Monuments and the Development of Siamese Nationalism, 1908-1945

A careful study of Siam's public monuments is the key to understanding the development of the Siamese nation in its formative period, from 1908 to 1945. As Siam's elites attempted to modernize the state in order to compete with the more developed powers of the West, they recognized that nationalism could potentially be used as a force to increase popular unity, consolidate modernization programs, legitimize their own authority, and protect the country from foreign conquest. The problem they faced, however, was how best to communicate nationalism to the people. Different factions throughout this era had their own idea of what it meant to be Siamese, and all of them wanted to control the national image. But literacy in Siam was extremely low, and art too expensive for most individuals to possess. Public political monuments, the focus of this thesis, therefore became the primary means of manifesting and propagating the underlying tenets of the new Siamese nation. Public monuments express the changing imaginings of the Siamese nation in this period of enormous transformations and turbulence, through the motives behind their commissioning, the political messages they convey, and popular reactions to the monuments. Three primary strains of Siamese nationalism emerged during this period: royalist nationalism, republican nationalism, and military nationalism. These three imaginings of the nation continually developed and interacted with each other, but each was particularly dominant at a given time in Siamese history. Monuments of the royalist period (1908-1925) embody the desire of Siam's kings to not only promote national pride amongst the Siamese people, but also advocate an image of nation and king as one. Monuments of the republican period (1925-1939) express the changing and sometimes contradictory events of their times, as they demonstrate new national values based on the sovereignty of the people, the value of the constitution, and the growing power of the military. And monuments of the military period (1939-1945) espouse an assertive and militaristic national image of warfare, patriotism, authority, and vigor. This thesis explores the nationalistic themes expressed in these monuments, and how these themes played out in the course of Siam's wider history.

What's Happening? Allan Kaprow and Claes Oldenburg Argue About Art And Life

In 1961 Allan Kaprow (1927–2006) and Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929) exchanged a number of letters in which they argued about the definition of their avant-garde practices as Happenings. Kaprow, who first introduced this "root-metaphor," as he would later call it, describes with it the necessity of the respective activity to be as far removed as possible from all motives, materials, and formats conventionally connected to art. Oldenburg, who at the time of this exchange was just as active in the New York performance scene as Kaprow, disagrees with his colleague's removal of their practice from the artistic sphere. Oldenburg is also dissatisfied with the fact that Kaprow, through his writings, launches a critical discourse that follows his own definition of the Happening. The two artists thus argue just as much about the positioning of their practices with respect to art as over the authority to establish such a position. This essay traces their argument through their written conversation and in doing so exposes the immense influence Kaprow's rhetoric had on the subsequent art-historical canonization of their respective practices: Oldenburg's more ambivalent position is today amalgamated with Kaprow's theoretical stance.

Using negotiated budgets for planning and performance evaluation: An experimental study : an experimental study

Budgets are often simultaneously used for the conflicting purposes of planning and performance evaluation. While economic theory suggests that firms should use separate budgets for conflicting purposes this contrasts with existing evidence that firms rarely do so. We address two open questions related to these observations in an experiment. Specifically, we investigate how a planning task that is in conflict with the performance evaluation task affects behavior in budget negotiations and their outcomes. Additionally, we analyze whether a single budget can be effectively used for both purposes compared to two separate budgets. We develop theory to predict that adding a planning task that is in conflict with the superior’s performance evaluation task increases the subordinate’s cooperation in and after the negotiation of a performance evaluation budget. Moreover, we predict that subordinate cooperation increases even more when the superior is restricted to use a single budget for both purposes. Our results broadly support our hypotheses. Specifically, we find that when budgets are used for both planning and performance evaluation, this increases the subordinate’s budget proposals during the negotiation and his performance after the negotiation. These effects tend to be even larger when the superior is restricted to a single budget rather than separate budgets for planning and performance evaluation, particularly with respect to subordinate performance. In our experimental setting, the benefits of increased subordinate cooperation even more than offset the loss in flexibility from the superior’s restriction to a single budget. The results of this study add to the understanding of the interdependencies of conflicting budgeting purposes and contribute to explain why firms often use a single budget for multiple purposes.

Firm-level strategic orientation and performance: a synthesis and extension of the knowledge base on entrepreneurial, market and learning orientation

Should a firm stay focused or should it rather adopt a broader strategic perspective? This dissertation summarizes and extends the existing knowledge base on entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientation. Building on multiple theoretical perspectives, empirical evidence from prior studies, as well as on survey and archival data collected in two economic contexts, performance effects from individual orientations, their dimensions and combinations are explored. Results reveal that the three strategic orientations are highly interrelated and that their relationship to firm performance is more complex than previously assumed.

Productivity Growth and Efficiency in Indian Banking: A Comparison of Public, Private, and Foreign Banks

India's public sector banks (PSBs) are compared unfavorably with their private sector counterparts, domestic and foreign. This comparison rests, for the most part, on financial measures of performance, and such a comparison provides much of the rationale for privatization of PSBs.In this paper, we attempt a comparison between PSBs and their private sector counterparts based on measures of productivity that use quantities of outputs and inputs. We employ two measures of productivity: Tornqvist and Malmquist total factor productivity growth. We attempt these comparisons over the period 1992-2000, comparing PSBs with both domestic private and foreign banks. Out of a total of four comparisons we have made, there are no differences in three cases, PSBs do better in two, and foreign banks in one. To put it differently, PSBs are seen to be at a disadvantage in only one out of six comparisons. It is difficult, therefore, to sustain the proposition that efficiency and productivity have been lower in public sector banks relative to their peers in the private sector.

Trauma care capacity and performance in Texas: Regional comparisons

Objective. The study reviewed one year of Texas hospital discharge data and Trauma Registry data for the 22 trauma services regions in Texas to identify regional variations in capacity, process of care and clinical outcomes for trauma patients, and analyze the statistical associations among capacity, process of care, and outcomes. ^ Methods. Cross sectional study design covering one year of state-wide Texas data. Indicators of trauma capacity, trauma care processes, and clinical outcomes were defined and data were collected on each indicator. Descriptive analyses were conducted of regional variations in trauma capacity, process of care, and clinical outcomes at all trauma centers, at Level I and II trauma centers and at Level III and IV trauma centers. Multilevel regression models were performed to test the relations among trauma capacity, process of care, and outcome measures at all trauma centers, at Level I and II trauma centers and at Level III and IV trauma centers while controlling for confounders such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, injury severity, level of trauma centers and urbanization. ^ Results. Significant regional variation was found among the 22 trauma services regions across Texas in trauma capacity, process of care, and clinical outcomes. The regional trauma bed rate, the average staffed bed per 100,000 varied significantly by trauma service region. Pre-hospital trauma care processes were significantly variable by region---EMS time, transfer time, and triage. Clinical outcomes including mortality, hospital and intensive care unit length of stay, and hospital charges also varied significantly by region. In multilevel regression analysis, the average trauma bed rate was significantly related to trauma care processes including ambulance delivery time, transfer time, and triage after controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, injury severity, level of trauma centers, and urbanization at all trauma centers. Transfer time only among processes of care was significant with the average trauma bed rate by region at Level III and IV. Also trauma mortality only among outcomes measures was significantly associated with the average trauma bed rate by region at all trauma centers. Hospital charges only among outcomes measures were statistically related to trauma bed rate at Level I and II trauma centers. The effect of confounders on processes and outcomes such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, injury severity, and urbanization was found significantly variable by level of trauma centers. ^ Conclusions. Regional variation in trauma capacity, process, and outcomes in Texas was extensive. Trauma capacity, age, gender, race/ethnicity, injury severity, level of trauma centers and urbanization were significantly associated with trauma process and clinical outcomes depending on level of trauma centers. ^ Key words: regionalized trauma systems, trauma capacity, pre-hospital trauma care, process, trauma outcomes, trauma performance, evaluation measures, regional variations ^