archives@tulane.edu / This study presents an analysis of otome, dating simulator games popularized throughout Japan and South Korea, specifically exploring how the fictive relationship formed between the female main character (MC) and various male non-player characters (NPCs) enables the user to adopt the role of sexual and emotional agent. By examining the degree to which player choice influences a game’s plot, character development, and the tenor of the romantic relationship formed between MC and NPC, this research will seek to contextualize otome games as a digital affinity space uniquely positioned to address female fantasy and respond to culturally informed demographic changes relating to dating, sex, and marriage in South Korea and Japan. Using examples of Korean and Japanese otome titles across multiple platforms and related trends in popular culture and media, this paper will conclude with an examination of the gendered, emotional labor necessitated by the typical otome game structure as a method of reframing the commodification of the shojo archetype from a female perspective. / 1 / Meredith Connelly

This strategic compensation model based on contingency theory of organizations proposes that a fit between the organization's business environment and compensation system will affect the firm's performance (Rockmore, 1991; Rockmore and Scarpello, 1994). This proposition was tested with a set of Korean sample data of seventy-five publicly traded companies within thirty-four three-digit Standard Industrial Classification codes. The cluster analysis applied to the 7-item task environment uncertainty components resulted in two group classifications that face relatively ‘more certain’ and ‘more uncertain’ environments. Principal component factor analysis of the 8-item compensation system components resulted in three compensation system factors and subsequent cluster analysis classified firm pay plans into two clusters, which we labelled ‘more traditional’ and ‘more innovative’. Discriminant analysis confirmed the resulting classifications of both task environment and compensation system types. With both ROA and EPS measures, significantly more ‘fits’ (firms in stable environment that use traditional compensation system or firms in uncertain environment that use innovative compensation system) showed financial gains compared with ‘nonfits’. This financial impact of the contingency was more salient for those firms that face uncertain environment. The same results were obtained when ANOVA was performed.

Thesis advisor: Wen Fan / In recent years, South Korea has come to face a national issue of low fertility. The low fertility rate remains on a declining trajectory, and that South Korea is looking at facing a great population reduction. This thesis aims to explore the reasons behind this phenomenon, through examining the relationships between various socio-economic factors and fertility rate. Data analysis of a preexisting data set was conducted. The results showed that physical health, lifestyle factors, education, and safety of environment demonstrated the strongest relationships with fertility rates, whereas mental health, fear of aging, and perception of healthcare showed weaker associations. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

Most scholars who study the transition from authoritarian regimes to democratic ones use an actor-oriented approach, and assume four major actors participate in the negotiated transition. They explain the results of such transitions by analyzing the strategic interactions of these four major actors. If the configuration of actors and their interactions differ from one case to another, then those differences need to be explained. The case of South Korean democratization differs from democratization in other countries in two major respects. First, without significant division within the regime, the opposition bloc can manage to make a transition to democracy by maintaining coordination between the social movements and the moderate opposition party. Second, the U.S. played an important role in the process of negotiation. The negotiated transition model offers no account for the participation of a third party, and it fails to cast light on the participation of the U.S. in the Korean democratization process. This shortcoming can be solved by complementing the negotiated transition model with the mediation model in which the role of a third party can be addressed. Owing to U.S. mediation, the dynamics of negotiated transition changed in the Korean transition to democracy. / Master of Arts

Tension has been the most significant and constant factor in the relationship between North and South Korea over the past sixty years. The differences in the political systems and the economic disparity between the two countries have resulted in what was once one nation moving in two radically divergent directions. These differences have led to a state of imbalance and resulted in constant political instability that has been playing out within the boundaries of the two countries, explicitly in no-man’s land, the demilitarized zone (DMZ). As one of the world’s most heavily militarized borderline, the DMZ embodies a wide range of political and social tensions. Among these is the action-reaction relationship between the Imnam Dam of North Korea and the Peace Dam of South Korea; the Imnam Dam was built as an act of offence to flood Seoul by bombing the dam down, and the Peace Dam was built as an act of defense to prevent overflow of water into Seoul. The historical and present conditions of this relationship maximize the military limitations and the possibilities of greater exchange between the two Koreas in creating a mutually beneficial relationship. In this thesis, this relationship is realized through “faction space”, a specific space situated in a fictional reality that does not reflect on its immediate surroundings, but of its own world, a speculative fictional idea of what it could become. Four different types of borderline conditions are studied to find out how these conditions can be translated into opportunities of creating spaces not only for the military, but also for the public. Each condition focuses on a topic derived from the existing surroundings. The final faction spaces perform as architectural stimuli within the feuding landscape of the two Koreas, striving to relieve or intensify the social and political tension between each other. Conditions of these faction spaces may begin to exist in various places around the DMZ, redefining the borderscape. A time may come when the most heavily militarized zone in the world shifts its focus to become a space for reciprocity.

Tension has been the most significant and constant factor in the relationship between North and South Korea over the past sixty years. The differences in the political systems and the economic disparity between the two countries have resulted in what was once one nation moving in two radically divergent directions. These differences have led to a state of imbalance and resulted in constant political instability that has been playing out within the boundaries of the two countries, explicitly in no-man’s land, the demilitarized zone (DMZ). As one of the world’s most heavily militarized borderline, the DMZ embodies a wide range of political and social tensions. Among these is the action-reaction relationship between the Imnam Dam of North Korea and the Peace Dam of South Korea; the Imnam Dam was built as an act of offence to flood Seoul by bombing the dam down, and the Peace Dam was built as an act of defense to prevent overflow of water into Seoul. The historical and present conditions of this relationship maximize the military limitations and the possibilities of greater exchange between the two Koreas in creating a mutually beneficial relationship. In this thesis, this relationship is realized through “faction space”, a specific space situated in a fictional reality that does not reflect on its immediate surroundings, but of its own world, a speculative fictional idea of what it could become. Four different types of borderline conditions are studied to find out how these conditions can be translated into opportunities of creating spaces not only for the military, but also for the public. Each condition focuses on a topic derived from the existing surroundings. The final faction spaces perform as architectural stimuli within the feuding landscape of the two Koreas, striving to relieve or intensify the social and political tension between each other. Conditions of these faction spaces may begin to exist in various places around the DMZ, redefining the borderscape. A time may come when the most heavily militarized zone in the world shifts its focus to become a space for reciprocity.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 295-316).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-345).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Kansas State University, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toledo, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 325-341).