La thèse propose trois questions critiques du rôle politique et de mouvement des associations. Premièrement le fonctionnement associatif : mobiliser l’engagement (des salariés, des usagers et leurs proches, des bénévoles) en sortant d’une forme d’impensé suppose de réarticuler une conception alternative en sciences de gestion (pour avoir prise sur le managérialisme) et les apports de la sociologie des associations. Deuxièmement la culture politique : la capacité à contribuer à la reconstruction de références collectives et de médiations instituées, à promouvoir une culture alternative au référentiel économiste et marchand dominant, suppose d’analyser et de concevoir, de se situer dans l’histoire longue des idées, de revisiter le socle humaniste. Troisièmement l’action collective au niveau méso : pour peser dans les mécanismes institutionnels et à avoir prise sur la réalité, la remobilisation des travaux sur l’action collective et les mouvements sociaux, avec leur extension récente aux liens avec l’économie solidaire, est essentielle. / The research opens to three central criteria for an effective role on policy and social movement. The first one covers the operating mechanisms, which are deeply influenced by the managerial trend: it seems determinant to link an alternative design in management science and researches about sociology of associations (with, for instance, the ideal type of a « solidary enterprise »). The second one has to do with political culture as a kind of nodus, from which a possible role oncommon sense (about society, public policies, economy and market, actors capabilities, citizenship), and a possible process rebuilding collective references and positive experience of a link to institutions, seem to depend. Such a perspective requires to refer to a long-term history of ideas, which is necessary to study how the humanist foundations of occidental democracies are questioned. The third one covers collective mobilization at the meso level, as documented by the researches about collective mobilizations and social movements, including the recent researches about social movements and solidary economy.

Le projet de recherche s'est concentré sur les rôles des associations féminines en Tunisie depuis l’indépendance du pays au lendemain de la révolution de janvier 2011. Sur le plan conceptuel, je reprends la notion de « agency » en tant que cadre d’analyse pour étudier l’engagement et les moyens de mobilisation des individus qui militent dans les associations féminines. Dans la mesure où ce concept de « agency » indique un engagement dans la société, cette notion se prête parfaitement aux démarches épistémologiques dans mes enquêtes auprès des personnalités des associations féminines. Cette notion de « agency » me donne un cadre pour penser à la fois les actions des femmes et des hommes qui agissent au sein des associations étudiées mais aussi au niveau de l’influence qu’elles/ils laissent dans la société de par leurs actions. J’ai cherché à comprendre si l’agency, en tant que capacité individuelle de s’imposer dans des domaines de la vie sociale, politique ou économique pour apporter des innovations et modifications, pourrait s’appliquer à un groupe et donc pourrait être utile pour comprendre un pouvoir collectif. En analysant les entretiens que j’ai conduits avec les membres des associations féminines, j'ai cherché à suivre l’histoire de ces organisations et leur impact dans la société tunisienne durant le dernier demi-siècle depuis l’indépendance de la Tunisie à nos jours, et cela dans les domaines économique, social, politique et légal afin de répondre à ma question principale : quel est le rôle des associations féminines en Tunisie postcoloniale, notamment avant et après la révolution de 2011, surtout à l’égard du processus de la démocratisation dans le pays ? / The research project focused on the rôle of the feminist associations since the indipendence of Tunisia until the revolution of 2011, analyzing the context of the creation and the process, putting the accent on different women's associations which engaged themselves in order to ensure that the gained women's rights are respected and diffused in all country with the intention to improve women to became « fully citizens ».Every time I went to Tunisia, I had some interviews with the members of the organisations during the years before and after the revolution, in order to observe the evolution of their involvement in the association and in the society.The objective of this thesis is to contextualize the socio-political rôle occupied from the four associations in the history of the country, since their creation until the present day.On the conceptual plan, I included the « agency » notion, in order to analyse the involvement and the ressources of mobilisation of the people who participate in the work of the feminist associations.I tried to understand if « agency », as individual ability to impose on the domaines of the social, political and economic life to change something, it could be a collective ability, then a collective power. Analyzing the interviews with members of the associations, I attempted to track the history of the feminist tunisian organisations and their impact on the social life of the country, to answer to a final question : which is the rôle of the feminist associations in the postcolonial Tunisia, especially before an dafter the revolution of january 2011, mainly in relation to the democratic process of the country ?

Dementia is a clinical state caused by neurodegeneration and characterized by a loss of function in cognitive domains and behavior. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Although the amyloid β (Aβ) protein and hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates in the brain are considered to be the key pathological hallmarks of AD, the exact cause of AD is yet to be identified. In addition, clinical diagnoses of AD can be error prone. Many previous studies have compared the clinical diagnosis of AD against the gold standard of autopsy confirmation and shown substantial AD misdiagnosis Hippocampal sclerosis of aging (HS-Aging) is one type of dementia that is often clinically misdiagnosed as AD. AD and HS-Aging are controlled by different genetic architectures. Familial AD, which often occurs early in life, is linked to mainly mutations in three genes: APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2. Late-onset AD (LOAD) is strongly associated with the ε4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene. In addition to the APOE gene, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in or close to some genes associated with LOAD. On the other hand, GRN, TMEM106B, ABCC9, and KCNMB2 have been reported to harbor risk alleles associated with HS-Aging pathology. Although GWAS have succeeded in revealing numerous susceptibility variants for dementias, it is an ongoing challenge to identify functional loci and to understand how they contribute to dementia pathogenesis. Until recently, rare variants were not investigated comprehensively. GWAS rely on genotype imputation which is not reliable for rare variants. Therefore, imputed rare variants are typically removed from GWAS analysis. Recent advances in sequencing technologies enable accurate genotyping of rare variants, thus potentially improving our understanding the role of rare variants on disease. There are significant computational and statistical challenges for these sequencing studies. Traditional single variant-based association tests are underpowered to detect rare variant associations. Instead, more powerful and computationally efficient approaches for aggregating the effects of rare variants have become a standard approach for association testing. The sequence-kernel association test (SKAT) is one of the most powerful rare variant analysis methods. A recently-proposed scan-statistic-based test is another approach to detect the location of rare variant clusters influencing disease. In the first study, we examined the gene-based associations of the four putative risk genes, GRN, TMEM106B, ABCC9, and KCNMB2 with HS-aging pathology. We analyzed haplotype associations of a targeted ABCC9 region with HS-Aging pathology and with ABCC9 gene expression. In the second study, we elucidated the role of the non-coding SNPs identified in the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP) consortium GWAS within a systems genetics framework to understand the flow of biological information underlying AD. In the last study, we identified genetic regions which contain rare variants associated with AD using a scan-statistic-based approach.

Cette thèse porte sur l’action de deux types d’associations de femmes, présentées dans quatre régions rurales et urbaines de l’Algérie : Alger, Oran, Blida et Tipaza, dont la création est entre 1991 et 2002. Leur histoire est étroitement liée aux dynamiques des mouvements sociaux et politiques algériens durant cette période.Cette recherche s’inscrit dans une perspective féministe et se distingue par la mobilisation du concept d’empowerment introduit par Wiliam Ninacks. À travers les entretiens semi directifs et des compléments d’informations recueillis lors de l’observation participante, méthodologie utilisée pour la première fois pour étudier les associations de femmes en Algérie, deux types d’associations ont été ont été examinés. Le premier inclut deux associations intervenantes en faveur des femmes victimes de violences. Elles font en outre un travail de pression au niveau des trois pouvoirs : politique, législatif, et juridique, pour changer les lois sur la famille et celles relatives à la violence contre les femmes. Le deuxième type d’associations étudié vient en aide aux femmes rurales et artisanes.Cinq associations ont été ainsi observées. Cette thèse contribue à la connaissance des nombreux défis auxquelles elles font face dans l’établissement de pratiques et actions permettant aux femmes rurales et citadines en situation de violence, de besoin, et d’exclusion de se constituer en actrices collectives pour agir ensemble en vue de changements de leur statut social et économique / This dissertation focuses on the action of two types of women's associations, presented in four rural and urban areas of Algeria: Algiers, Oran, and Tipaza, whose creation is between 1991 and 2002. Their history is closely linked to the dynamics of Algerian social and political movements during this period.This research is part of a feminist perspective and is distinguished by the mobilization of the concept of empowerment introduced by William Ninacks.Through the semi-directive interviews and additional information gathered during the participant observation, methodology used for the first time to study women's associations in Algeria, two types of associations were Examined. The first includes two associations for women victims of violence. They also exert pressure on the three powers : political, legislative, and legal, to change family laws and those relating to violence against women. The second type of association studied supports rural and artisanal women.Five associations have been observed. This thesis contributes to the knowledge of the many challenges they face in the establishment of practices and actions enabling rural and urban women in situations of violence, need, and exclusion to establish themselves as actresses to act together in order to change their social and economic status

This thesis examines the key question: can voluntary associations enhance democracy? It tests critical claims made by Habermas and others that voluntary associations have the potential to reinvigorate a public sphere in a state of atrophy. The thesis outlines the major theoretical arguments pertaining to these areas and then presents the results of empirical work within voluntary organisations. Specifically the thesis: Critically examines the concept of the public sphere, being a sphere between the state and civil society and investigates why theorists have advocated voluntary associations, claimed to be the core institutions of civil society, as sites where democratic ideals can be secured; Goes on to examine the concept of civil society and reviews the recent literature that has attempted to define and analyse the role of voluntary associations in contemporary society; Tests empirically the normative ideals that have been advocated on behalf of voluntary associations through the presentation of data obtained using qualitative methodology. The analysis of the data collected during interviews with key employees and members of six voluntary associations in Melbourne, Australia allows for a more informed knowledge regarding the key concepts and themes of the thesis. The thesis ends by directly addressing the following points: whether or not the public sphere is in a state of atrophy; the particular nature of voluntary associations contemporary engagement in the public sphere; and whether voluntary associations can indeed, be sites where democracy can be enhanced and democratic ideals be secured. It is concluded that voluntary associations operate within Habermasian public spheres, counterspheres, and postmodern public spheres and that unitary notions of the public sphere, such as those Habermas proposes, do not adequately explain voluntary associations engagement in the public sphere. Accordingly, it is concluded that voluntary associations have the potential to invigorate public spheres, though not in ways that many theorists writing on the subject suggest.

In this thesis, I examine some of the relationships between hierarchy and community that exist in institutions. Within institutions, individuals are separated from one another and organized hierarchically based on arbitrary inequalities. In general, I discusses inequalities based on race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, etc. Institutions organized based on arbitrary inequalities cannot create and sustain a whole community since such inequalities result in hostile or coercive treatment of individuals based on characteristics or criteria over which they have no control. If it is true that people want and/or need community, then it matters a great deal for us to know whether or not community can exist in hierarchical institutions, since certain kinds of hierarchies interfere with building and sustaining community. I explain how the concept of "whole community" allows for the unity of unequal beings, provided that the inequalities are based on merit. Furthermore, I describe two fictitious institutions. One, Cloister University is organized on the basis of arbitrary inequalities. The other, Mores University is a whole community, organized on the basis of merit. / Graduation date: 2004

The irrigation organizations have been organized in Taiwan for more than 400 years and set the foundation of Taiwan¡¦s agricultural development. This dissertation analyzes the 17 Taiwan irrigation associations¡¦ financial statements and discusses how the members of advisory board of irrigations associations interact with resources, rules and communication from the agency theory. The conclusions in the dissertation are as follows: 1.The type of city irrigation associations sold their useless assets and got the money to maintain and operate the associations. The type of country and fragmentary irrigation associations still irrigate the farms, but they have no unused assets to sell. The finance of these two types irrigation associations are not so sufficient, they should take actions to improve their finance by themselves or by the government. 2.Those factors as the levels of educations, the vocation, the types of associations-attending, the number of the types of associations-attending, the major cadres in the associations, the time to be a member of irrigation association, and be a politician or not, will influence with the members of advisory board of irrigations associations to communicate with members, know about the rules, constitute the irrigation association, and make the commitments to the associations. 3.The members of advisory board of different types of irrigation associations have different attitudes toward the constitutions of irrigation associations and the commitment of organizations. Especially the members of advisory board in the type of fragmentary irrigation associations, they are more concerned about the constitution of the irrigation associations, and the commitments of organizations are stronger. The suggestions have been addressed as follows: 1.The government should set up a system to monitor the finance of the irrigation associations. 2.The government should bring the new thoughts of business management to the irrigation associations. 3.The irrigation associations should operate more diversely. 4.The government should subsidize farming. 5.The government should support the irrigation associations to enlarge the irrigation areas.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2009

Universiẗat, Diss., 2007--Köln.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2005. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 387-428.