Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2718. Adviser: Michael Ewald. Includes a finding aid for Claude Gordon's Personal Papers and Music Instrument Collection at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music (leaves 127-201). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-94) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

This thesis explores some of the central problems confronting policymakers and planners in local government. These problems are seen to stem from a view of planning which is characterised as top-down. Previous attempts to apply cybernetic ideas to these problems - characterised as the 'systems approach' - have failed partly on account of their failure to question this view. Cybernetics, it is argued, offers a fundamentally different perspective on planning, which emphasises the importance of processes, whereby the plans and policies of different organisations are mutually adjusted to each other - from the bottom up. The dynamics of this process are examined and cybernetics, most notably the work of Ashby, is shown to offer a number of insights into how it can be facilitated. Such a radical re-assessment of the nature of planning requires, at the same time, a much wider conception of the role of policy. Policies, it is suggested, are all too often thought of as purely prescriptive. A policy framework must instead be regarded as incorporating also a complex hierarchy of values, aims, goals and objectives, whose inter-relationships can be compared to that between the various components of a body of scientific knowledge. Such a perspective on planning and policy-making points towards a novel conception of government. Instead of imposing order from above, its primary function would become that of facilitating and encouraging the mutual adjustment process and collaboration between local organisations.

There is a long history of criticising the construction industry for its lack of innovation as a source of competitive advantage. However, through a critical literature review, it was found that the problem with managing innovation in construction has its roots in a misconception of innovation and indeed the industry is a source of new ideas. This thesis draws on prior publications in the field of innovation management, organisational narratives and sensemaking theory and aims to analyse innovation perception within the construction industry, focusing on the meanings attributed by the industry’s practitioners and policy makers. In contrast to the dominant positivist and rationalistic approach in studying construction innovation, this research employs a qualitative, interpretative, social constructionist perspective. Data is incorporated through twenty semi-structured interviews with practitioners who work within the UK construction firms as well as UK government reports published regarding the progress review of performance of the construction industry. The findings of the study indicated that there is a disconnection between managerial frameworks of innovation and practitioners’ action and their narratives. Through the viewpoint of sensemaking theory, this study argues that the construction of meaning of innovation is a dynamic process that can be changed constantly over a period of time. In narrating innovation, the practitioners draw on their own real-world experiences of a situation and the characteristics of the organisations which they work in. Moreover, individuals’ stories often are associated with the dominant popular examples of innovation mobilised with the organisational strategic settings and government initiatives in order to provide a shared perspective. This study demonstrates a discursive model of innovation, assigning the individuals’ innovation within an organisation as ‘situational innovation’ and ‘contextual innovation’ and the government report and policy makers’ innovation as ‘rhetorical innovation’. There has been limited application of a narrative approach to innovation in the domain of the construction industry. This thesis has provided theoretical and practical contributions through the application of narrative and innovation within the context of the construction industry. It has also demonstrated the value of the narrative approach to understanding innovation perception within a construction industry context, while identifying its limitations as a research method. The findings of the research further recommend implications for construction industry policy makers. Policy makers can tap into the ‘situational innovation’ and ‘contextual innovation’ to promote government programmes and policies, especially those concerned with change and innovation in the industry.

Les fablabs sont des laboratoires de fabrication digitale composés de machines à commande numérique (imprimante 3D, découpe laser, etc.) propices à l’essor d’une forme de production locale à partir de l’information partagée sur des plateformes open source par des makers répartis à l’échelle mondiale. Ce modèle de fabrication distribuée s’est montré efficace dans le contexte de la pandémie, en ce sens qu’il a permis à ces acteurs de mettre en place des projets de collaboration pour élaborer et distribuer du matériel sanitaire tout en se conformant aux restrictions de mobilité imposées par les gouvernements pour limiter la propagation du virus. La visibilité ainsi gagnée par le making auprès du public et des institutions témoigne de la pertinence d’explorer le potentiel de ce modèle d’activité productive, attaché aux valeurs de collaboration plutôt qu’aux règles de la concurrence. Cette thèse propose une réflexion historique et ethnographique à ce sujet, à travers l’exemple des rapports de collaboration entamés au sein du réseau de fablabs au Pérou ainsi qu’entre ses membres et d’autres alliés stratégiques (les entrepreneurs) en vue de configurer « une nouvelle réalité industrielle en Amérique Latine ».

This thesis aims to contribute to Senegal's progress towards sustainable development planning. It presents how Senegalese planning system is structured as well as its potential and its limits to change. Senegal is a West African country classified as a least developed country. Senegalese decision-makers seek to provide economic and social well-being to their population, while ensuring a rational and sustainable use of ecological resources. They have demonstrated their commitment to sustainable development in official planning documents and several development programs. However, the process towards sustainability faces several constraints. The structure of the development planning system is complex and rigid; involving a plurality of state agencies, local entities, advisory bodies, citizens, and parliamentarians whose work is uncoordinated and inefficient. Furthermore, a tension exists because the political organization is based on a social vision, while development actions are derived from a liberal policy. In addition, planners and decisions-makers do not share the same understanding of sustainable development. The situation is made more complex by international influences on the concept of sustainability that call for the integration of principles such as gender equality and universal education, making it difficult to establish a clear and commonly understood approach to sustainability. While Senegal seeks human, technical, and financial resources from international donors, the conditions of financial foreign partners further complicates the development planning system. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

<p> This dissertation examines my investigation of the experiences of participants of university-based health research. My primary research questions were: (1) Why do people participate in health research, despite its risks? (2) Why are people asked to participate in health research? (3) What factors influence local research environments? I employed a critical-interpretive medical anthropology framework to investigate and describe three studies: a Phase 2a asthma drug study, a Phase 1 oncology drug study, and a muscle regeneration study. I followed each of these studies, conducting hundreds of hours of participant observation and interviewing 31 participants multiple times during the course of their enrolment. To learn about the organization and governance of university-based health research I also interviewed researchers, research coordinators, and ethics experts. In addition, I conducted participant observation at three different research ethics boards (REBs) and two industry conferences. Participant enrolment was significantly influenced by: belief in the "good" of medical research, the enjoyment they experienced as former participants, and desire to receive benefit, including remuneration and possible health benefits. Participation often entails long hours, and much of this time is spent socializing with the research team. Participants often develop trusting relationships with the research team, and learn to adopt its scientific language, in addition to its interests and perspectives. Thus, participants rarely question how research is funded and who ultimately benefits from research. They also do not identify as participants, but rather as volunteers or guests. This is a significant obstacle for participant organization. Since they are not organized to voice their interests collectively, REBs are responsible for protecting their interests. Research ethics board focus almost exclusively on reducing risk and rarely address increasing the potential benefit of researcher to the participants. I conclude my analysis with recommendations for REBs, policy makers, and researchers.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Federal Government spends $40 billion dollars a year maintaining its facility portfolio. As a result of the size of investment and current economic conditions, the government and other institutional owners are facing increased pressure to optimize their investment in their portfolios. Green design offers a way for owners to accomplish this. Part of the definition used by the General Services Administration (GSA) for sustainable or green design is minimizing the total life-cycle ownership cost of a facility. Many tools, such as BUILDER or IMPACT, are available to aid institutional owners in this task; however, most do not take into account non-rational behavior since they apply a strict rational logic. In order to develop tools that take non-rational behavior into account, a framework needs to be developed for identifying which actors are worth studying or modeling. This research seeks to fill this gap by developing a framework that can be applied to public sector institutional owners. The framework is based on prior work done in the fields of stakeholder theory and engineering management, and it uses research methodologies from the social sciences as its building blocks. / Master of Science

Depuis une dizaine d’années, à la faveur des bouleversements accompagnant la transformation numérique, une nouvelle famille de phénomènes a fait son apparition dans le catalogue des préoccupations académiques légitimes. Citons pêle-mêle les makers, les hackers, les fablabs, hackerspaces et autres tiers-lieux. Un nombre croissant d’études leur est consacré, leur visibilité médiatique est incontournable et une partie des acteurs et structures de cet environnement est engagée dans un processus d’institutionnalisation. Plutôt que d’essayer de faire accéder ces notions à la dignité de catégories sociales objectives, nous avons entrepris dans ce travail de déconstruire leur apparente cohérence en nous appuyant sur l’analyse d’une immersion de plus de 15 ans dans l’écosystème des TPE innovantes. Nous avons par lasuite établi un parallèle entre la dynamique historique de développement du numérique et une dynamique collective d’émergence de nouvelles formes de solidarité. Cette approche nous invite à considérer ces phénomènes comme un symptôme et une étape du processus de transformation des organisations appelé « innovation », au cours duquel les questions relatives aux nouvelles technologies produisent des mobilisations collectives et atteignent ainsi un seuil de politisation aboutissant à l’émergence d’institutions de régulation conjointe. / With the social upheaval engedered by the digital transition, a new class of phenomena has entered the realm of established academic concerns. These include Makers, Hackers, Fablabs, Hackerspaces and other third places. An ever-increasing number of studies are devoted to them. Their media visibility is unavoidable. And some actors within this environment are now engaged in institutionalization. Our aim is not to elevate these notions to the rank of objective social categories. Instead, relying on a fifteen year field immersion within the innovative SME ecosystem, we undertake here thedeconstruction of their apparent coherence. We subsequently draw a parallel between the historic dynamics of digital transition and the collective dynamic that has yielded the emergence of new forms and structures of solidarity. This perspective leads us to consider these objects as a peculiar step in organizations’ transformation process, the digital transition, during wich technoloy related issues tend to produce collective mobilizations. In turn, these pass a threshold of politicization, which leads to the emergence of arenas of « joint regulation ».

本論文以「黃牧甫生平及篆刻藝術之研究」為題目，旨在對其生平及篆刻藝術作系統整理和討論。黃牧甫（1849-1908/1909），安徽黟縣人，為晚清最重要的篆刻家之一。由於家庭濡染，自幼便對篆學產生興趣，八、九歲始習刻印。後因太平軍與清軍戰，家園被毀，困苦失學，雙親亦相繼離世，為補生計，被迫離鄉到江西南昌謀生，曾於照相館工作，後遷廣州，改以鬻書治印自給。黃牧甫為晚清集大成的印人，尤對廣東印壇產生源遠的影響，故被譽為「嶺南派」之初袓。 / 黃牧甫初宗「鄧派」鄧石如（1743-1805）、吳讓之（1799-1870），後服膺於趙之謙（1829-1884）的印學主張，取徑「印外求印」，故面貌多樣，印文體勢獨特。又取法漢印模式，講究完整光潔，運以衝刀，不作斷續刻劃，點劃乾淨俐落。尤精於章法，平正而不落呆板，自創一格，繼「鄧派」後於晚清印壇上別樹一幟。 / 在黃印的整理方面，本研究主要以「摹擬期」、「蛻變期」、「成熟期」作為分期，以便探討其不同時期的篆刻特質。據本研究所搜集，黃氏存世印蛻約有二千四百方。它們被整合分析，編成年譜，建構一個系統、完備的資料庫。其中印款資料更提供了珍貴的第一手資料，增補了歷史文獻上的不足。 / 黃牧甫一生治印不斷，作品極豐，然卻失散各地，難以匯集。幸而，其印譜的流傳卻相對豐富，最重要的要數黃氏生前自輯《般若波羅蜜心經印譜》、《黃牧甫自存印譜》及《黃穆甫印存續補》，故印貌得以保存，為後世留下重要的研究資料。當中《黃穆甫印存續補》所錄印拓，更對研究黃氏「成熟期」印風非常重要。由於此譜為海外孤本，且尚未見世，所以目前有關黃牧甫的著述，均未能涵蓋這部重要資料。然在此論文發表前，因得機緣而認識收藏家林章松先生，得其不吝嗇借出此譜作研究之用，確為本研究提供有力依據和借鑒。 / 黃牧甫為晚清重要的篆刻家，具相當高的研究價值，更是探究流派篆刻由傳統走向當代的關鍵人物，惜至今其系統研究卻極之匱乏。本論文將綜合歷史、文化、社會及藝術等不同角度，並借鑒相關學術領域的研究方法和成果，透過文獻及視覺分析，對黃牧甫的生平和篆刻藝術作全面考述，從而建立一份可靠的研究資料，令篆刻藝術史有更大的發展空間。 / Entitled “A Study of Huang Mufu’s Life and Seal Engraving Art, this paper aims to investigate his life and art of seal engraving. Huang Mufu (1849-1908/1909), born in Anhui Province, was one of the most important seal engravers in the late Qing dynasty. / Huang Mufu first learned from Deng Shiru (1743-1805) and Wu Rangzhi (1799-1870) of the Deng school, and later followed the thinking of “seeking artistic links for seal making of Zhao Zhiqian (1829-1884). Therefore, his seals took on various forms and his seal inscriptions were unique. He also drew on the pattern of seals of the Han dynasty, which pursued tidiness and smoothness and applied Swift knife to create clean and neat strokes. He created his own style that was peculiar in the late Qing dynasty and had far-reaching influence on the seal engraving community of Guangdong Province, so he was renowned as the originator of the Lingnan school. / Huang made seals throughout his life and left over rich works. According to the information collected from this research, Huang has about 2,400 seals, which have been analyzed, integrated and chronicled into a systematic and complete database. Many of his seal impressions and colophons provide rare firsthand information for this paper, and hoped to serve as important materials for later studies. Based on the collected sources, this study divided Huang’s career into the imitation, transmutation and maturation stages, in order to discuss his seals’ characteristics in different periods. / There has been an extreme scarcity of studies on this topic. Therefore, this paper made a comprehensive study which involved a survey of the primary and secondary literature on Huang Mufu’s life and career. An analysis of the relevant sources enables his career to be reconstructed on a sound chronological basis, and allows his work to be seen in its proper context. / This study also made an important contribution to a relatively little-studied area of the history of Chinese art. It corrected a number of misconceptions in previous studies and make up literature deficiencies. The aim is to provide a set of reliable data that allows further development of the history of seal engraving art. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 劉浩敏. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-191) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Liu Haomin. / Chapter 第一章 --- 導言 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二章 --- 晚清文化和黃牧甫的早年生活 / Chapter 第一節 --- 清代美學觀念的轉化 --- p.11 / Chapter 第二節 --- 晚清以前印壇概況 --- p.20 / Chapter 第三節 --- 黃牧甫早年生活考證 --- p.34 / Chapter 第三章 --- 黃牧甫篆刻特質和他僑寓廣州的生活 / Chapter 第一節 --- 黃牧甫篆刻的師承淵源 --- p.51 / Chapter 第二節 --- 名流關係對黃牧甫印風形成的影響 --- p.60 / Chapter 第三節 --- 黃牧甫成熟期印風的主要特色 --- p.90 / Chapter 第四章 --- 黃牧甫晚年生活及其印跡流佈和遺存 / Chapter 第一節 --- 晚年生活和卒年考證 --- p.110 / Chapter 第二節 --- 黃牧甫印壇角色 --- p.118 / Chapter 第三節 --- 存世印跡資料彙整 --- p.130 / Chapter 第五章 --- 黃牧甫存世印譜匯考 --- p.146 / Chapter 第六章 --- 結語 --- p.171 / 參考書目 --- p.175 / Chapter 附錄一 --- 參考圖錄 --- p.192 / Chapter 附錄二 --- 黃牧甫篆刻作品全集 --- p.293

The purpose of this research was to determine if presentation format, given a particular task to be performed, would affect the decision-making process of financial decision makers. The problem motivating this study is the potential for managers to make inefficient decisions when they use reports which are presented inappropriately for a given task.