This thesis argues that the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels have been wildly misinterpreted and mischaracterized in the contemporary field of political theory. By comparing Marx and Engels’s original writings with multiple contemporary Marxist perspectives, I find that contemporary Marxist theory bears little resemblance to that of Marx and Engels. I prove that the popular characterizations of Marxism as teleological and Marx as an idealist are incorrect, finding that most critics neglect to consider the possibility of a scientific, non-teleological determinism. In place of the contradictory interpretations proposed by contemporary theorists, I illuminate several overlooked elements of Marx’s work and present a more accurate model for understanding communism. With it, I make the case that Marxism is not teleological or prophetic, but has also not been disproven by history. Unless they are someday proven wrong, Marx and Engels’s work alone stands as a coherent and factual scientific analysis of the current mode of production—and is the only way out of it.

No description available.

Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable (EPI) was a drug-fueled rock concert-cum-multimedia art event where layers of mediation mixed with immediate experience: The Velvet Underground performed their innovative music in front of films of themselves performing, Factory Superstars danced and performed poetry, various Warhol films projected on the walls, flashing lights flickered on mirrored surfaces, and a crowd of spectators – both famous and unknown – packed in to see and be seen, to dance and trip into the early hours of the morning. The experience of the EPI was a potent combination of alienation, mediation, and commercialization. The EPI was a promotional vehicle for Warhol, Warhol's Factory crew, and the Velvet Underground, but is also a complex example of spectacle that has been under-analyzed in recent scholarship. The EPI's unabashed emphasis on marketing, packaging, consumer goods, and empty celebrity are all manifestations of fears of late capitalist excess, but beneath the veneer of vapidity was an undercurrent of counterculture political activism and social awareness. Original contributions include cultural analysis, interpretation of contemporary reviews and reports, examination of the event's lack of art historical presence, and incorporation of music scholarship into the Warhol historical canon.

This study examines the impact of U.S. states’ staggered adoption of the inevitable disclosure doctrine (IDD) on rival companies’ auditor choice. I posit that, in states where the IDD limits employee mobility among rival companies, the IDD adoption exogenously increases the costs of disclosing proprietary information through other channels. I find that on average peer companies do not show any changes in the probability of audit office sharing after the companies’ headquarter states adopt the IDD. I also find that companies with trade secrets respond to IDD adoption by avoiding audits conducted by the same audit office as their competitors’ audit office, supporting the proprietary cost hypothesis. The results are robust not only in various levels of auditor sharing but also after I incorporate factors including Mergers and Acquisitions, SOX, and differentiations of IDD adoption and rejection. Cross-sectional results related to Big N auditors suggest that peer companies with trade secrets that hire Big N auditors increase audit office sharing because Big N auditors’ higher levels of reputation, higher litigation costs, and deep pockets alleviate concerns of potential information leakage through audit office sharing in the post IDD adoption periods. My cross-sectional results related to audit committee experts show that peer companies with trade secrets respond to IDD adoption by engaging in more frequent audit office sharing when they have industry experts and accounting financial experts on audit committees. Supervisory financial expertise on audit committees of peer companies with trade secrets does not seem to affect the probability of audit office sharing after the IDD adoption. To my knowledge, this study is the first to document the causal effect of proprietary information costs on audit office choices of U.S. companies with trade secrets. / Business Administration/Accounting

The title of this thesis Extra Ordinary is intentionally ambiguous. Depending on how you read it, it can refer to either the very ordinary or to that which is outside of the ordinary.The works described within these pages functions similarly. From person to person and with time they move from the ordinary to beyond and back again. How can something be both mysterious and understood at the same time? How can I as a painter create a space where diametrically opposed forces can coexist and what is the effect of viewing such an object? This thesis addresses these issues with personal anecdote and through description of artwork and the art making process

近年來頻傳科技業高階主管跳槽到競爭對手，而我國於二〇一三年增訂營業秘密的刑事責任，營業秘密的保護與人才流動兩者之間的關係，越來越受到關注，特別是台積電與梁孟松案，智慧財產法院於二〇一二年三月台積電訴梁孟松案假處分裁定採納不可避免揭露原則，在後續的判決中亦論及不可避免揭露原則，使此一原則開始受到國內智慧財產權法實務及學術界之相當關注。 不可避免揭露原則係源自美國法上之司法實踐，本文首先介紹美國法上不可避免揭露原則的理論基礎，透過五個重要判決（Allis-Chalmers v. Continental案、PepsiCo v. Redmond案、Bimbo v. Botticella案、Whyte v. Schlage案和EarthWeb v. Schlack案）介紹不可避免揭露原則的發展，分析不可避免揭露原則的要素，包括兩間公司的競爭程度、營業秘密之認定、員工職務的近似程度、違反誠信的行為和與保密協議、競業禁止條款的關係，並且整理出四種不同的適用類型即完全適用、擴張適用、限縮適用和拒絕適用，繼而以之分析美國各州的適用情形。最後，回歸到我國台積電訴梁孟松案，分析該案是否適合導入或參考美國法之不可避免揭露原則之各項考量因素，並評析法院對於不可避免揭露原則的見解包括採納不可避免揭露原則的適用類型，輔以我國目前實務發展，探討不可避免揭露原則是否應該引入我國，包括是否違反我國法律規定、與美國法制的差異是否影響不可避免揭露原則的適用和價值衡平與政策考量。 / In recent years, hi-tech companies in Taiwan occasionally need to cope with crisis where their executives decide to join competitors’ firms. Along with the 2013 amendment in Trade Secrets Law, which crminizlized trade secrets infringemenet, the relationship between the trade secret protection and job mobility has drew wide attention from IP practitioers and academia. In the case of TSMC v. Liang, the Intellectual Property Court first applied the inevitable disclosure doctrine in an injunction relief. Since the inevitable disclosure doctrine originates from the judicial development of the United States (U.S) trade secret law, the thesis first introduces the basic idea of the inevitable disclosure doctrine in the U.S., and then through five representative cases, including Allis-Calmers v. Continental, PepsiCo v. Redmond, Bimbo v. Botticella, Whyte v. Schlage, and EarthWeb v. Schlack. It then investigates the overall development of the inevitable disclosure doctrine in the U.S.. Based on the case-law development, the thesis further analyzes the essential factors of the inevitable disclosure doctrine incluing the competition between rivals, indentification of trade secrets, job similarity, dishonest act and the relationship with non-disclosure agreement and covenant not to compete. It also catalgorizes four types of judicial application of the inevitable disclosure doctrine, including the original, extended, limited and rejected type. Furthermore, the thesis analyzes the type of application of the inevitable disclosure doctrine in each state in the U.S.. Last but not least, back to TSMC v. Liang, the thesis analyzes if the above-mentioned factors of the inevitable disclosure doctrine fit in the case, and reviews the court ruling about the inevitable disclosure doctrine. In conclusion, based on the current development of judicial practice, the thesis assesses the application of inevitable disclosure doctrine in Trade Secrets Law in Taiwan with the polict goal to balance various interests.

No description available.

The desire to enhance and make ourselves better is not a new one and it has continued to intrigue throughout the ages. Individuals have continued to seek ways to improve and enhance their well-being for example through nutrition, physical exercise, education and so on. Crucial to this improvement of their well-being is improving their ability to remember. Hence, people interested in improving their well-being, are often interested in memory as well. The rationale being that memory is crucial to our well-being. The desire to improve one’s memory then is almost certainly as old as the desire to improve one’s well-being. Traditionally, people have used different means in an attempt to enhance their memories: for example in learning through storytelling, studying, and apprenticeship. In remembering through practices like mnemonics, repetition, singing, and drumming. In retaining, storing and consolidating memories through nutrition and stimulants like coffee to help keep awake; and by external aids like notepads and computers. In forgetting through rituals and rites. Recent scientific advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and information technologies, present a wide variety of technologies to enhance many different aspects of human functioning. Thus, some commentators have identified human enhancement as central and one of the most fascinating subject in bioethics in the last two decades. Within, this period, most of the commentators have addressed the Ethical, Social, Legal and Policy (ESLP) issues in human enhancements as a whole as opposed to specific enhancements. However, this is problematic and recently various commentators have found this to be deficient and called for a contextualized case-by-case analysis to human enhancements for example genetic enhancement, moral enhancement, and in my case memory enhancement (ME). The rationale being that the reasons for accepting/rejecting a particular enhancement vary depending on the enhancement itself. Given this enormous variation, moral and legal generalizations about all enhancement processes and technologies are unwise and they should instead be evaluated individually. Taking this as a point of departure, this research will focus specifically on making a case for ME and in doing so assessing the ESLP implications arising from ME. My analysis will draw on the already existing literature for and against enhancement, especially in part two of this thesis; but it will be novel in providing a much more in-depth analysis of ME. From this perspective, I will contribute to the ME debate through two reviews that address the question how we enhance the memory, and through four original papers discussed in part three of this thesis, where I examine and evaluate critically specific ESLP issues that arise with the use of ME. In the conclusion, I will amalgamate all my contribution to the ME debate and suggest the future direction for the ME debate.