Ilha Formosa, meaning the ‘evergreen resplendent isle’, today known as Taiwan was named by passing European navigators in the sixteenth century. Although it had never been officially a part of the British Empire, the island – like a large portion of the world, was influenced by Great Britain, its activities, and policies. The aim of this thesis is to explore the development of the British concept, or image, of Formosa through the second half of the nineteenth century. During this period, British influence in Formosa picked-up significantly due to British commercial interests. Under British influence in the second half of the nineteenth century, Formosa started to produce and export famous Taiwanese tea on a much larger scale. The popularity of Oolong tea brought Formosa into the sphere of British public interest and the British community in Taiwan grew as a result. As time went on, more missionaries and their wives, officers, and merchants visited and lived in Taiwan. Their interactions with the Chinese and indigenous populations were carried back to Britain through visitors´ journals, letters, photographs, and stories, all of which effected the British public perception of Formosa. The popularization of Taiwanese tea together with other commercial and political interests played an important role in the British public reflection of Formosa, which evolved from the opening of the Taiwan seaports to foreign trade at the end of the 1850s and the beginning of the 1860s until the end of the nineteenth century, when the Japanese began its colonization of Taiwan.

Bibliography: leaves 87-96. This thesis investigates non-proteinaceous low molecular weight flavonoid and alkaloid compounds in Scurulla oortiana (Korth.) Danser grown on Camellia sinens. Three flavonols are identified in S. oortiana (Korth.) Danser growing on different hosts. The identification and characterisation of these flavonoids are carried out using various chromatographic and spectrometric procedures. Two purine alkaloids are isolated from and identified in S. oortiana (Korth.) Danser parasitizing tea plant, C. Sinensis. The antifungal activity of the phenolic compounds isolated from mistletoe parasitizing tea plant is examined.

Scytalidium thermophilum is a termophilic fungus that effectively produces the extracellular enzyme catalase phenol oxidase (CATPO). The enzyme is distinct among catalases with its bifunctionality of oxidising phenolic compounds in the absence of H2O2. CATPO is capable of oxidizing catechol, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid and catechin which are ortho &ndash / diphenolic compounds. Diphenolic compounds are known as strong antioxidants. Catalase is one of the important antioxidant enzymes. Therefore, in this thesis the effect of CATPO on the final antioxidant capacity of the oxidized products was analysed. Antioxidant capacity measurements of oxidized and unreacted phenolic compounds were done using the two widely used methods TEAC and FRAP. CATPO oxidized catechol showed 2.4 fold increase when compared to its nonoxidized form, which was highest among others. Catechol was followed by caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, and catechin. This finding is new to the literature and may be of importance to the antioxidant mechanism of organisms. Results have also shown that the most well known phenol oxidases, laccase and tyrosinase, do not result in such high increases in antioxidant capacity upon oxidation of the substrates tested. Due to this finding, as a possible means of applying CATPO to increase the antioxidant capacity of products daily consumed, tea was selected. Tea is the second most consumed beverage after water and it is known to possess high amounts of flavanols. Green tea is rich in catechins whereas black tea is a rich source of theaflavins and thearubigins. Fermentation is a critical process for production of good quality tea and is the key step differing between green and black tea production. During this process phenol oxidases catalyze the oxidation of polyphenolic compounds present in tea leaves to their corresponding o-quinones. Utilization of CATPO in tea samples resulted in an increase in antioxidant capacity and its effect was enhanced by an increase in brewing time. Interestingly, the addition of sugar decreased antioxidant capacity. Laccase and tyrosinase were ineffective in increasing the antioxidant capacity of tea samples.

The Tea Party is a highly publicized movement that has been met with both support and opposition but very little objective reporting from the partisan media. In 2009, amidst a financial crisis unlike any in recent history, a war being fought oversees, and a questioning of American values, this movement known as the Tea Party arose. Borrowing from the annals of history and staying true to the foundations set by the Fathers of our country, the Tea Party movement seeks to provide answers to the growing economic and social issues in the United States. The three core values of the movement are fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free market economics. Yet, the Tea Party movement, while seemingly logical and legitimate, was and continues to be, met with much criticism and combativeness. The frequent colonial dress and showmanship which characterizes their protests, the historical reference from which they get their name, and their strict adherence to the Constitution all seem to fuel the frequent trivialization of these self-proclaimed patriots and their movement, resulting in misconceptions and the stereotyping of supporters. But in a time dominated by sound bytes, tweets and headlines, the media can be deceiving. Therefore, as a young Government major intrigued by a movement that had so rapidly gained America’s attention, I set out to discover through interviews with real Tea Party members what the movement is really all about.

Burbuchá will be a local, innovative and new concept located at the biggest private university in Central America where its students have an income between US$600 and US$1,200 providing a high quality product with locally produced and imported goods in order to provide the traditionally recognized Taiwanese drinks adjusted to the local taste. Burbuchá expects to open two kiosks during the first year at the two most important universities in the country and it also expects to penetrate 7% of the market by using among other strategies social media and vibrant promotions to foster trial and boost sales. Burbuchá will set a price below the ones of the coffee shops mainly because the main purpose is to increase the willingness of a market that is a coffee consumer to shift and try the tea based beverages. The initial investment required is US$ 61,390.00 which is going to be funded from the owner’s capital and a bank loan. Burbuchá kioks has a positive Net Present Value which indicates that the project is feasible. Burbuchá expects to expand to other markets in a period of 3 to 5 years through the franchise system. Its priority markets in the region are El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama.

My main question in this essay is that if it is possible for an object to cause a universal feeling (widely accepted by the majority of people) and, at the same time, if it can connect to personal memories deeply. Can the same object stimulate a universal feeling and yet belong to a particular individual, after he recognized his personal history in such object? I chose “cup” as my main object through witch to investigate my subject. In each chapter, I investigate the object cup from different points of view to see how a cup’s definitions vary. I firstly analyze the object cup according to its shape and remarkable features / elements, then I look into people´s recognition of objects according to the phenomenology. Other important perspectives are the bodily and spatial communication between cups and people, the linguistic activity related to “cup”, my own and other´s private experiences / considerations regarding cups and finally the tea culture which has faithfully penetrated in our lifeThe concept which above all struck and inspired me for my work, was the potential of empty space. The blank space which is offered to viewers/users to fill in with their imagination use “cup” as my main subject to investigate how to communicate with people as an artist, by creating objects that entail an empty space open for interpretations. This essay is an exploration to find out the reason for my creation work as an artist.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the rise of the Tea Party movement in the United States. By using a known theory within social movement studies, the political process theory, this thesis look into the factors that could have played a role in the rise and fast mobilization of the Tea Party movement. The political process theory consists of three parts and hence looks into both the political structure of, in this case, the United States, how mobilizing structures have been used and into the cultural framing used by the Tea Party to create their identity. In order to bring structure to the thesis, the three theory parts have been transformed into analysis models. These give a very good idea of all the factors that could have played a part and therefore also a good way to describe the rise of the Tea Party movement. The research confirm what the political process theory says, that the Tea Party movements rise came at a time when there were a mix of factors at play, both structural and cultural, creating an opportunity that the Tea Party took. The Tea Party’s fast mobilization can be seen as a result of the combination of factors present at the time. The methods used in this thesis are qualitative data analysis and process tracing.

There is an increase in bombing assaults in recent years in our country. Determining the explosive material used in these cases by the quick and correct analysis of the evidence obtained after the explosions, is an important starting point for the investigations which are done to reach the perpetrators. The forensic chemistry investigations have to be correct, exact and rapid in order to reach the right criminal. In this study, the Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Gas Chromatography-Thermal Energy Analyser (GC-TEA) methods which are being used for the determination of the explosive materials&rsquo / residues used in bombing attacks are optimized with the standard solutions of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazocyclohexane (RDX) and standard mixture solution. The two methods were compared by analysing the postexplosion soil samples. Also an efficient and applicable sample preparation procedure was developed. The results showed that both methods are efficient and sensitive for the postexplosion investigations. It is seen that GC-TEA has lower detection limit and simple chromatograms due to its selectivity against only nitro group containing explosives. However it is concluded that there is a need for a reliable and sensitive method like GC-MS which provides identification and library search, for the determination of the organic components which can not be identified with GC-TEA

published_or_final_version / Pharmacology and Pharmacy / Master / Master of Philosophy

The Best PhD Thesis in the Faculties of Architecture, Arts, Business &Economics, Education, Law and Social Sciences (University of HongKong), Li Ka Shing Prize, 2008-2009 / published_or_final_version / Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy