This thesis is a study of the Laozi zhongjing, an early medieval Chinese text, preserved in the Daoist Canon (Daozang) in two versions. In the first chapter, I compare the extant versions, inquiring into the relationship between them, and then establish the interval for the text's possible dates of composition. In the second chapter, I argue that the text was deliberately written as an esoteric scripture and analyze the techniques which the text uses to create an atmosphere of secrecy; I then suggest that the best way to approach an esoteric scripture consists in scrutinizing the text in order to unravel its understanding of the categories which underlie its lifeworld. The third chapter is an investigation of the practices described in the Laozi zhongjing; I aim to demonstrate that their main goal, immortality, is consistent with the text's cosmological model and is achieved via nurturing the Red Child, a numen residing within one's body that is associated with one's self. / Cette thèse est une étude du Laozi zhongjing, un texte chinois datant du début du Moyen Âge, préservé dans le Canon taoïste en deux versions. Dans le premier chapitre je compare les versions existantes et examine la relation entre les deux; ensuite j'établis un intervalle approximatif de la date de composition de ce texte. Dans le deuxième chapitre, je soutiens que le texte a été délibérément conçu comme une écriture ésotérique et j'analyse les techniques utilisées dans le texte afin de créer une atmosphère secrète; ensuite je propose que la meilleure façon d'approcher une écriture ésotérique est d'examiner minutieusement le texte afin de discerner sa compréhension des principales catégories de son monde vécu. Le troisième chapitre est une investigation des pratiques décrites par le Laozi zhongjing; mon but est de démontrer que leur l'objectif principal, l'immortalité, est en accord avec le model cosmologique de ce texte, et qu'il est atteint en entretenant l'Enfant rouge, un numen qui réside à l'intérieur du corps et qui est associé avec le soi humain.

Yukata, a casual form of kimono, has undergone transformation in terms of both its associated meanings and its material forms in the post-WWII period in Japan. During this period, it changed from attire for private use to dress for events in public and became connected with various ideological notions. Tracing changes in the scale of the yukata industry in the postwar period, this thesis examines transitions in consumption patterns of yukata as a case study and compares it with observations on Japanese consumption culture by other scholars in the context of other commodities. In illustrating the transformation of yukata, I focus on its changing relations with everyday life, with discourses, and with other commodities. From these perspectives I attempt to describe how a commodity is consumed in relation with other social factors and how the consumption affects the commodity, in terms of both its meanings and its forms. / Durant la période suivant la Deuxième guerre mondiale, le yukata japonais, une forme de kimono porté dans un contexte informel, a subit des transformations à la fois en terme des significations qui lui sont associées, et dans ses formes matérielles. Il passe en effet d'un vêtement principalement porté à la maison à une tenue de sortie en public, et en est venu à être relié à une variété de notions idéologiques. Traçant les changements dans la dimension de l'industrie du yukata dans la période d'après-guerre, ce mémoire prend comme étude de cas les changements des tendances dans la consommation du yukata, et les compare avec les observations de différents auteurs sur la culture de consommation japonaise dans le contexte d'autres marchandises. En dépeignant la transformation du yukata, je mets l'emphase sur les changements survenus dans sa relation à la vie de tous les jours, aux discours qui l'entourent et à d'autres marchandises. À partir de ces perspectives, je tente de décrire comment une marchandise est consommé en relation avec d'autres facteurs sociaux et comment la consommation affecte la signification et la forme des marchandises.

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This thesis provides a translation and transliteration of a late Meiji period martial arts text, Moral Instruction in Budo (1912), together with a study of its author, Chiba Chosaku (1861-1935). The aim is to contextualize Chiba's thinking in the framework of historical events and ideological currents of his time, in order to facilitate better understanding of his contribution. Chiba argued that martial arts practice (budo) is the way to maintain and transmit martial religious ethics (bushido) in the modern condition of Westernized Japan. The importance of Chiba's study lies in his claim that bushido is not a legacy of the medieval samurai class, but a due faith based on loyalty to the Emperor and patriotism toward the Japanese nation, which provides the foundation for budo practice. Chiba submits that the implementation of budo instruction at the level of national education would prevent the slackening of morals and contribute to strengthening of the Japanese national character and military institution. Chiba's career and writings demonstrate that the militarist slant in the budo ideology of Japan did not occur in the 1930s, as is generally accepted, but began at least two decades earlier. As the earliest example of a narrative that blends budo and bushido ideologies, Moral Instruction in Budō remains a crucial text for understanding the historical impact of martial arts in Japan. / Cette thèse offre une traduction et une translittération d'un texte datant de la fin de l'ère Meiji sur les arts martiaux, Moral Instruction in Budo (1912), ainsi qu'une étude sur l'auteur, Chiba Chosaku (1861-1935). L'objectif visé consiste à conceptualiser la pensée de Chiba dans la perspective des événements historiques et des courants idéologiques de son époque, en vue de faciliter une meilleure compréhension de sa véritable contribution. Chiba défendait l'idée que la pratique des arts martiaux (budo) soit la manière de maintenir et de transmettre l'éthique religieuse martiale (bushido) dans la condition moderne du Japon occidentalisé. L'oeuvre de Chiba prend toute son importance lorsqu'il affirme que le bushido ne découle pas d'un héritage issu de la classe des samouraïs médiévaux, mais plutôt d'une foi récompense basée sur la loyauté en l'Empereur et sur le patriotisme envers la nation japonaise, laquelle fournit les fondements de la pratique du budo. Chiba soumet l'idée que la mise en application de l'enseignement du budo au niveau de l'éducation nationale préviendrait contre le relâchement de la morale et contribuerait au renforcement du caractère national japonais et de l'institution militaire. La carrière et les écrits de Chiba démontrent que la tendance militariste de l'idéologie budo n'a pas fait son apparition dans les années 1930, comme il est généralement accepté, mais qu'elle a débuté au moins deux décennies plus tôt. Comme il s'agit du tout premier exemple d'une narration fusionnant les idéologies budo et bushido, Moral Instruction in Budo ne laisse pas d'être un texte crucial dans la compréhension de l'impact historique des arts martiaux au Japon.

This thesis examines the reproductive biology of red-tailed phascogales, an obligate male semelparous dasyurid species, which is part of a captive breeding colony at Alice Springs Desert Park. The red-tailed phascogale belongs to a group of dasyurids that shows an unusual reproductive strategy amongst mammals, one which provides opportunity for understanding means by which individuals maximise their reproductive success and the role of sperm competition. The broad aim was to gain an understanding of the reproductive biology of red-tailed phascogales and explore means by which individuals can affect their reproductive success. Examination of the red-tailed phascogale reproductive biology showed that females mated with multiple males and were capable of storing sperm in their oviducts for at least a five day period. Captive female red-tailed phascogales showed greater plasticity in their breeding season than has been observed in Antechinus, which exhibits the same life history strategy. Females were observed to invest heavily into the production of young, producing almost twice as many ova (15.1 ± 1.9) as young they can raise and 76% of females filling six to eight of the eight available teats in a breeding attempt. A 63% male bias was observed in young attaching to the teats, which could be produced through differential attachment of the sexes to teats at birth. Of the 846 young born in the captive breeding colony, 68% were weaned, with weaning occurring between 90-110 days of age and a 53% female bias observed in young being weaned. By weaning, a litter of young weighed 380% of the mothers mass with male young tending to be heavier than females by weaning. No relationship was observed between maternal weight and either litter sex ratio or sex biased growth of young. A positive relationship between maternal body mass and body mass of offspring at weaning was observed, with the body mass of young at weaning correlated with its body mass at maturity. Multiple paternity was observed in more than half of the litters examined, with heavier males having increased siring success compared to lighter males. Genotyping showed that the effective population size for the captive colony was 1.9x that observed from the group managed studbook. Male reproduction was also not as tightly constrained as in Antechinus, with spermatogenic failure not occurring in captive populations until after mating had occurred, meaning males are not reliant on epididymal stores alone for successful breeding. Scrotal diameter showed a positive relationship with testis and epididymal mass across male life, although this relationship was not evident when analysis was restricted to the time of peak sperm production. Captive males showed the opposite pattern of testosterone fluctuations to that observed in wild animals, with lowest levels occurring during the mating period. Captive animals were able to survive up to five years in captivity, in contrast to the obligate semelparity observed in wild males. Although most captive females can survive to breed in a second year and females are known to breed in a second year in the wild, the reproductive strategy of females appears to be aimed at maximising the returns on their first breeding attempt. In males, the need to maximise the investment into the first breeding season is amplified through the complete absence of opportunity to breed again; either through post-mating mortality in the wild or spermatogenic failure in captivity. The results of this study have implications for captive breeding of red-tailed phascogales, with their reproductive biology; spermatogenic failure, restricted breeding season, teat number limiting the number of young raised, high lactational investment into young, sex biases, the need to maintain genetic diversity and biases in siring success; providing challenges for the maintenance of a captive population. The results of this study also provide comparative information that contributes to understanding the unusual life history strategy of Phascogale and Antechinus, and contributes to the growing body of knowledge about mating strategies in marsupials. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1330358 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2008

Thesis (MEd (Human Resource Studies)) -- University of South Australia, 1994

593 leaves : photos, tables, graphs ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.1977) from the Dept. of History, University of Adelaide

Education and training, in Australia, has experienced unprecedented levels of change in recent times. Government educational policies are now dominated by economic discourses that point to the need for all educational systems to contribute to economic development, by increasing the knowledge and skill levels of the present and future workforce. The twin discourses of new vocationalism and economic rationalism have now transformed Australian educational systems. But the effects of this transformation on the identities of teachers working in this changed environment have not been adequately examined. This study examines the impact of government policies on teachers' identities by investigating a particular group of teachers working in Technical and Further Education (TAFE) in Australia. The study has chosen teacher identity as its focus, because much of recent research has involved investigating the new knowledge and skills required of teachers working in this changed environment. However, this can be seen as making an overly instrumental means-ends connection between teachers' knowledge and skills and the professional practice of teaching. It fails to appreciate that when teachers are asked to 'do things differently' in their everyday teaching practices they are also being called on to become different teachers. That is, to have different understandings of their role in education, to have different relationships with students, to conceptualise their professional and vocational knowledge differently. In short, to change their identity. In order to investigate the impact of the policies and discourses of VET on TAFE teachers' identities the study locates itself, in part, within the interpretivist tradition of social research and uses the methods and methodologies of critical policy analysis, phenomenology and ethnography to investigate the research questions. It then uses a number of diverse theoretical perspectives to challenge and interrogate the interpretation made of the data gathered. The study undertakes a critical analysis of contemporary VET policies utilising a 'policy -as-discourse' approach to the analysis and draws on the methods of phenomenology and ethnography in order to generate situated discourses that are often overlooked in critical policy analysis. The study also uses the perspective offered by poststructuralism, which foregrounds the power of discourse in the formation of both the social world and individual identity. The conclusions reached suggest that TAFE teacher identity is an ambiguous discursive achievement constructed out of the multiple, historical organisational and individual discourses that all circulate in teachers' life worlds. These discourses now interact in complex and contradictory ways with the contemporary policies and discourses of vocational education and training resulting in teachers experiencing a degree of doubt and uncertainty concerning their identification with the new institution of TAFE.

This study draws on multiple modes of expression in texts that have been generated by my experience of midwifery development since I moved from England to Australia in early 1997. The Professional Doctorate in Midwifery at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) has enabled me to produce and study my work as a midwifery practitioner, researcher, educator, writer and activist and to engage in a process of scholarship that both informs and is generated by practice. This has allowed me to analyse the complex issues that I, and other midwives in Australia, face as we strategise to narrow the gap between our ideals and the realities of the professional and political constraints that challenge midwifery. The study analyses the rhetorical communications I have employed as both carriers of 'vision' and 'means of persuasion' and the deliberate strategies to make changes that I believe will benefit childbearing women. My portfolio challenges me and others, to explore how we are able to identify, enact, and convince others of the emancipatory potential of midwifery. Rhetorical innovations are therefore linked to the exposition of woman centred midwifery care; an overall goal being to enable situations in which women can experience the potential power that transforms lives, through their experiences of childbirth. In the process, I aim to produce new knowledge that will equip midwives to understand practice, policy and political situations and see new possibilities for responding and taking action. I have analysed and explained my work using a framework appropriated from rhetorical theory and drawing on a range of feminist perspectives. This involves identifying and critiquing the rhetorical innovations that I have used when trying to create possibilities and persuade others of the value of midwifery and the need to make changes happen in practice, education and regulation. My study analyses the rhetorical nature of my own work as presented in my portfolio in a range of carefully selected texts that I have authored during my candidature. These include journal and newsletter articles, conference papers, research activities, policy submissions, education and training materials, the development of midwifery standards, formal and informal communications, and other documents, all aimed in one way or another at the rhetorical strategy of stimulating interest and action. The portfolio texts that arise from this work form the empirical data that is studied. However, in varying ways these texts elicit understandings about the rhetoric and reality of Australian midwifery and the deliberate strategies that are employed by midwives to make changes that will benefit childbearing women. They therefore stand in their own right as contributions to the thesis with their own discursive and epistemological intent. The reflexive process employed in this thesis highlights comparisons between what is being positioned as the potential of midwifery with what is also presented as the reality played out in contemporary Australian maternity service provision and in midwifery education and regulation. The thesis weaves its way around the portfolio documents, attempting to bring to life and discuss the culture in which rhetorical innovations and intentional strategies are aimed at narrowing the gap between 'rhetoric and reality'.

[Abstract]In the 1990s Australia’s poetry milieu was enlivened by the emergence of a number of new poets and their poetry. This study groups these poets together under the title of ‘new nineties poets and poetries’. For the purposes of this study ‘new nineties poets and poetries’ refers to poetry written for the page by poets who published their first collection between 1990 and 2000 and who continue to write into the twenty-first century. New nineties poets and their poetry are not a new ‘movement’ or ‘school’ of poets; the poetry is characterised by diverse forms, styles, approaches and practices. Within these eclectic poetic practices emerge shared concerns with the issues of embodiment, language, cultural difference and violence. As John Leonard discusses, the “new poets evade categorization” (New Music xv) and it is the premise of this study that appropriate poetry criticism needs to respect and celebrate the eclecticism of new nineties poetries by resisting the convenient application of categories and divisive labels. This study attends to the critical question of what type of poetry criticism is appropriate for new nineties poetries. One answer to this question emanates from what Leonard describes as the “spirit of eclecticism” that characterises this new poetry (New Music xv). Criticism that works with this “spirit of eclecticism” will be as eclectic as the poetry itself. Antithetical to critical approaches that homogenise poetry with unifying frameworks, this study advocates multiple critical approaches. Working respectfully in relation and in conversation with new nineties poets, the eclectic critical engagements of this thesis are connected by the equally eclectic theories of postmodernism.