A escola ocupa um lugar central na sociedade, propondo-se realizar tanto o desenvolvimento cognitivo como afetivo, além de preocupar-se com a formação integral dos alunos, sendo também responsável pela formação moral, transmitindo valores, princípios e normas. Como um espaço privilegiado de trabalho com as relações, oferece oportunidades de autoconhecimento e conhecimento do outro, portanto, exige ações que promovam a construção da atmosfera sociomoral cooperativa e da personalidade moral, o que, no contexto atual, representa um grande desafio. Os comportamentos de transgressão, mesmo quando não violentos, permeariam o cotidiano escolar e expressam a maneira singular do jovem relacionar-se com o mundo. Portanto, é necessário refletir sobre as relações da obediência e da transgressão com a constituição das regras, a organização institucional, os valores da sociedade e a personalidade dos alunos. A presente pesquisa teve como propósito investigar as questões da obediência e da transgressão escolar sob a perspectiva dos jovens, sendo organizada em torno de três eixos: relações do aluno com o ambiente escolar e com os pares; relação do aluno com a autoridade e concepção de projetos de vida. Para isso, foram realizadas observações e entrevistas individuais, com o objetivo de verificar se a perspectiva ética faz parte do projeto de vida dos adolescentes, que razões os jovens identificam para obedecer e transgredir e a presença de motivações para os comportamentos de obediência e transgressão no ambiente escolar. Participaram desta pesquisa 151 alunos, de 10 a 15 anos, ambos os sexos, de escolas públicas e particulares. As questões da obediência e transgressão foram equacionadas na convergência das referências teóricas de Piaget, Arendt, Sennett, Fromm e La Taille, sempre procurando manter uma postura dialógica e de complementaridade, sustentando os conceitos de obediência e transgressão como parte do desenvolvimento da moralidade. Os resultados apontam para a supervalorização do ambiente familiar e da vida privada por parte dos jovens, para uma percepção de si mais relacionada às experiências individuais do que em conexão com outrem, tendo como consequência uma maior dependência, o fortalecimento da heteronomia e o distanciamento da vida pública. Assim como indicam a ausência do professor na mediação e no processo de solução dos conflitos o que leva o jovem à desejar um maior protagonismo do professor, e revelam a frequente prática escolar autoritária centrada no poder dos adultos e no uso de recompensas e punições que está criando dificuldades para o desenvolvimento de uma moralidade autônoma. Além disso, identificamos que o jovem faz uma valorização extrínseca, instrumental e idealizada do papel da escola, sendo necessário que os professores equalizem as exigências feitas aos alunos, sem subestimar ou superestimar suas capacidades, propondo interações sociais e trocas de pontos de vista entre eles, favorecendo a descentração, a cooperação e a reciprocidade. Por fim, e, principalmente, notamos que as atitudes transgressoras dos alunos não são, em sua maior parte, dirigidas ao professor / The school plays a central role in our society, as it proposes to be responsible for the students cognitive and affective development as well as their moral education, conveying values, principles and standards. As a privileged place to work with relationships, it provides the opportunity for self-knowledge and knowledge of the others, therefore, it requires actions that promote the construction of a sociomoral cooperative atmosphere and of a moral personality, which, in the present context, represents a major challenge. Transgressive behaviour, even when nonviolent, underlies school daily life and expresses the singular way in which young people relate to the world. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on how obedience and transgression are connected to the creation of rules, the school organization, society values and students personalities. The present study was designed to investigate the issues of obedience and transgression in the school context from the perspective of young people. It is organized around three areas: how young people relate to the school environment and their peers); how students relate to school authority; and how they view their life projects. 151 male and female students between the ages of 10 and 15 have participated in this study, both from public and private schools. Observations and interviews were conducted in order to check whether an ethical perspective is part of the adolescents life projects, what reasons may lead them to obey or transgress and to what extent school environment contributes to obedient or transgressive behavior. The discussion of the issues of obedience and transgression was based on a theoretical framework that included concepts and ideas from the work of Piaget, Arendt, Sennett, Fromm and La Taille, and looked at the way they relate to and complement each other in order to provide support to the idea that the concepts of obedience and transgression are part of moral development. The results show that young people overestimate the importance of family and private life and that they have a perception of themselves which is more influenced by individual rather than group experience. This results in greater dependency and it strengthens heteronomy and detachment from social life. They also show the teacher is usually absent in the process of mediation and conflict resolution, which makes students wish teachers would play a greater role in this process, and reveal that frequent authoritarian practices centered around adult power and based on punishment and reward make it difficult for students to develop autonomous moral behaviour. In addition, we observed that young people have an extrinsic, instrumental and idealized view of the role of the school, which requires teachers to make appropriate demands on students, without underestimating or overestimating their abilities, and by providing different kinds of social interaction and debate and by encouraging decentration, cooperation and reciprocity). Last but not least, we noticed that students transgressive behavior is mostly directed towards teachers

O tema central desta Tese é a problematização dos modos de circulação da palavra na escola. Para tanto, a pesquisa fundamenta-se teoricamente na Psicanálise freudo-lacaniana, basicamente afirmando que a palavra é a revelação do sujeito, o meio por excelência de este ser reconhecido. As questões que o sujeito se faz e, ao mesmo tempo, endereça ao Outro: “Quem sou? O que desejo? O que me move?” atrela-se à pergunta “O que o Outro quer de mim?”, pois o sujeito deposita nesse Outro sua verdade e o constitui como um lugar de suposto saber sobre ele, saber desconhecido de nós mesmos. Essa interrogação endereçada ao Outro marca um enigma e uma falta, já que aponta para incompletude, inclusive, desse Outro. Ao mesmo tempo em que é o Outro que permite a função simbólica e apóia o sujeito, oferecendo um fundamento aos seus discursos e uma nomeação, também é essa falta do Outro que abre a possibilidade de uma certa liberdade do sujeito, num eterno deslizamento entre significantes, sem nenhuma garantia e sempre na busca pelo seu ser no desejo – e na falta – do Outro, numa impossibilidade de encontro e, também, numa permanência de movimento. Com tal referencial teórico de base, investigamos nesta pesquisa de que modo se configuram os espaços e as experiências na escola, quanto à circulação da palavra e à própria “tomada” da palavra, no sentido de propiciar o advento do sujeito e a construção de uma experiência coletiva. Partimos do pressuposto de que a escola se constitui como um espaço social fundamental, no qual circulam diferentes formas assumidas pelo discurso social contemporâneo. Nossas indagações referem-se, também, às formas pelas quais estaria se dando a circulação dos discursos vigentes, nesse espaço específico. Os dados foram coletados em situação de trabalho, no Colégio de Aplicação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, no qual atuei como orientadora escolar das séries iniciais, nos anos de 2008 e 2009. Para a análise dos dados, centrei minha atenção a respeito daquilo que experienciei – a partir do que vi ou ouvi e a partir do circuito de transferência que se criou entre mim, as crianças e os professores. Para tanto, valho-me dos conceitos freudo-lacanianos, e narro histórias que colocam a “palavra em movimento”, em experiência, de forma a produzir uma possibilidade de reflexão em torno das práticas escolares e do lugar do sujeito. Por fim, elaboro novos questionamentos, buscando problematizar tanto as minhas certezas como diferentes enunciados do senso comum, a respeito da criança em situação escolar. Para além de afirmar verdades e conclusões, acrescento ao final, outros pontos de interrogação. E, a partir da dúvida, sugiro o instigante caminho do movimento permanente, na procura de outras possibilidades de trabalho com crianças em idade escolar. / The central theme of this thesis is the problematization of modes of circulation of the word in school. To this purpose, the research is theoretically based on the Freudian- Lacanian psychoanalysis, basically affirming that the word is the revelation of the subject, the means par excellence for his recognition. The questions that the subject asks himself and, at the same time, addresses to the Other: "Who am I? What do I want? What makes me function?" are connected to the question "What does the Other want from me?", for the subject deposits his truth in the Other and constitutes it a place of supposed knowledge about himself, a knowledge unknown to ourselves. This question addressed to the Other exposes an enigma and a lack, as it refers to incompleteness, including that in the Other. While it is the Other that yields the symbolic function and supports the subject, offering a foundation for his speeches and a nomination, it is also this lack in the Other that opens the possibility of a certain liberty of the subject, in a perpetual shifting among signifiers with no guarantees and always in search for his being in the Other’s desire - and lack, in an impossibility of encounter and also in a permanence of movement. With this theoretical base, this research investigated how the spaces and experiences in school are configured, regarding the circulation of the word and the assumption of the word, in order to promote the advent of the subject and the construction of a collective experience. We presuppose that the school is a fundamental social space in which different forms created by the contemporary social discourse circulate. Our questions also refer to the ways the existing discourses circulate, in this specific space. The data were collected at the Colégio de Aplicação school of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), in which I worked as school counselor for the early grades, in the years 2008 and 2009. In respect to data analysis, I focused my attention on what I experienced – what I saw or heard and the transference circuit created among the children, the teachers and me. For that, I utilize Freudian-Lacanian concepts, and I narrate stories that put the word “in movement”, in experience, in order to produce a possibility of reflection on the school practices and the role of the subject. Finally, I formulate new questionings, seeking to problematize both my certainties and different common sense statements regarding the child in the school situation. In addition to asserting truths and conclusions, I present other question marks, in the end. And, stemming from doubt, I suggest the intriguing path of constant movement in search of other opportunities to work with school-age children.

Esta dissertação tem como tema central as figuras de autoridade segundo o olhar infantil. O objeto de pesquisa constitui-se a partir da pergunta “Quais as figuras de autoridade para as crianças nas relações de poder que permeiam o ambiente escolar e familiar?”. O referencial teórico principal abarca os conceitos de autoridade, de Hannah Arendt, e de relações de poder, de Michel Foucault, estabelecendo um diálogo com os campos da filosofia, história e da psicanálise. Como metodologia de pesquisa foram realizadas entrevistas abertas com crianças de seis a onze anos do Colégio de Aplicação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (CAp/UFRGS). Para suscitar o diálogo, foram utilizados três filmes de animação e tiras de histórias em quadrinhos. No total, foram realizadas vinte intervenções, das quais participaram setenta e seis crianças, divididas em cinco grupos. Levou-se em consideração os discursos acerca da crise na educação e de autoridade que se multiplicam em diferentes meios e se fazem presentes em nossa sociedade. O trabalho abrange ainda uma breve definição dos conceitos de infância, imagem e representação; e a ligação do conceito de autoridade com a tradição e a transmissão. Podemos concluir, a partir do referencial teórico utilizado e das análises das falas dos entrevistados, que as crianças percebem e distinguem figuras de autoridade em sua vida cotidiana; observamos, porém, que tais figuras têm se construído discursivamente de modos mais sutis em relação às formas de autoridade experimentadas pelas gerações anteriores às de nosso tempo. Observamos também o quanto as crianças assumem estratégias de resistência nas relações entre pais e filhos, o que faz supor que também o poder dos pais e conseqüentemente dos professores se mantém, mas de formas menos visíveis e num campo de disputa e negociações muito intenso com os filhos e alunos. Supomos que entre os fatores que têm participado de tais modificações, nos âmbitos familiar e escolar, estejam as variadas formas de socialização a que as crianças estão sujeitas atualmente, bem como a fragilidade dos modos de transmissão entre as gerações, que tem reforçado para as crianças a autoridade parental como algo negativo e complexo. Ainda assim, a distinção entre as idades infantil e adulta aparece de forma bem delimitada para as crianças entrevistadas. Salientamos a forte ligação das figuras de autoridade com as funções de cuidado, proteção e sustento (no caso da mãe, do pai e das avós) e de cuidado, organização e disciplinamento (no caso das professoras e do diretor); não havendo ligações explícitas formuladas em torno do saber que estas figuras poderiam deter e da relação deste com a autoridade por eles exercida. Concluímos que as figuras de autoridade fixas e estavelmente legitimadas de outras décadas apresentam-se sob novas configurações e estabelecem-se por movimentos transitórios, passíveis de mudanças. / This dissertation is focused on authority figures on the vision for children. The object of research is from the question "What are the authority figures for children in the power relations that permeate the school environment and family?". The theoretical framework encompasses the main concepts of authority, Hannah Arendt and power relations, Michel Foucault, establishing a dialogue with the fields of philosophy, history and psychoanalysis. As research methodology were conducted open interviews with children aged six to eleven years of the Colégio de Aplicação from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (CAp/UFRGS). To stimulate the dialogue, we used three animated films and strips of comics. In total, we do twenty interventions, attended Seventy-six children were divided into five groups. We took into account discourses about the crisis in education and authority that are multiply in different ways and are present in our society. The work also covers a brief definition of the concepts of childhood, image and representation, and the connection of the concept of authority with tradition and transmission. We can conclude from the theoretical reference and analysis of the interviews, that children perceive and distinguish authority figures in their daily lives; noted, however, that such figures have been discursively constructed in ways more subtle about the ways authority experienced by previous generations to our time. We also observed how the children take strategies of resistance in the relationship between parents and children, which would mean that also the power of parents and consequently of teachers therefore remains, but in ways less visible and a playing field and very intense negotiations with children and students. We suppose that among the factors that have been involved in such changes, in family and school scope, are the varied forms of socialization that children are currently subject, as well as the fragility of transmission between generations, which has reinforce to children the parental authority as something negative and complex. Nevertheless, the distinction between child and adult ages, it is clearly defined for the children interviewed. We emphasize the strong connection of authority figures with the duties of care, protection and support (for the mother, father and grandparents) and care, organization and discipline (in the case of the teachers and director), there is no explicit link made in around to know that these figures could hold and its relationship with the authority they exercised. We conclude that the fixed authority figures and legitimated stably of other decades have occurred in new settings and settle down by transitional movements, subject to change.

Within the body of scholarly interpretation of the British Civil Wars (1642-1651), there is an absence of research into the politicisation of rituals of power and the struggle between monarchy, parliament, and the army to command these symbolic forms of authority. My thesis examines the performances of rituals as the methodical enforcement of political authority during the First Civil War (1642-1646). In synthesising notions of court culture and performances of political discourse, it traces the constriction of royal ritual, parliamentary subversion of monarchical rituals, and the rise of politico-military ritual, culminating with Charles I’s surrender on 5 May 1646. Situated within existing interdisciplinary research that explores the communication and image of power, this thesis examines (1) the battle to control symbols of political power, (2) polemical interpretations of the conflicting use and ownership of these performatives, (3) the efficacy of these performative acts among a divided public. It highlights the ways in which such performances limited the public to the role of audience, despite the apparent inclusiveness of many ritualised events. This enables a close reading of ritual performances and the subsequent literature produced around the events. It also calls upon the close reading of literary and non-literary texts that can be described as ‘virtual performances’ of ritual, most notably Charles’ royal entry into London (1641), and the funeral of the third Earl of Essex (1646).

Este trabalho busca inspiração na teoria política de Hannah Arendt com vistas a formular uma noção de política da psicanálise de orientação lacaniana. Os conceitos da teoria arendtiana que servem, especialmente, a esse diálogo são: ação política, estabelecimento de compromissos e pluralidade política. Do aporte teórico de Jacques Lacan comparecem, com especial destaque: o ato psicanalítico, a transmissão e a lógica da sexuação feminina. O princípio que reuniu ambos os autores foi o de que a ação é o dispositivo máximo de superação da repetição seja no âmbito político, seja no do sujeito do inconsciente. Ao localizar a ação política no espaço público, Arendt chama a atenção para o fato de ela ser realizada pelos homens, no plural, e em condições de igualdade; e, ainda, de ser lócus da liberdade enquanto capacidade de iniciar. Em contrapartida, a autora postula que aquilo que foi fundado pela ação conjunta adquire permanência no corpo político a partir do compromisso que se estabelece entre os indivíduos políticos, o que dá origem ao mundo. Em suma, temos que a concepção arendtiana de política tem em seu centro as noções de ação e de mundo. Do lado da psicanálise, encontramos no ato um dispositivo capaz de promover um novo início na vida subjetiva. Contudo, o ato em si mesmo não é capaz de constituir uma dimensão política, já que nem implica uma coletividade, nem o engendramento do mundo. Nesse sentido, nossa tese propõe que seja preciso acrescentar a noção de transmissão à de ato para se formular uma política da psicanálise. Isso requer que, juntamente com a categoria da verdade, seja levada em conta a do saber, já que, ao contrário da primeira, é o último que carrega uma exigência de transmissibilidade. A noção de transmissão, ainda, se mostra fundamental para nosso argumento, ao colocar em jogo uma transferência de trabalho entre vários sendo esse o significante com o qual nomeamos a coletividade que é engendrada pela dimensão política da psicanálise. Assim, ato e transmissão se colocam como categorias capazes de sustentar uma noção de política da psicanálise. Além disso, aproximamos a pluralidade política arendtiana da lógica da sexuação feminina lacaniana, com vistas a situar o tipo de coletividade que decorre dessa concepção de política em relação a outras que prezam pela unificação do corpo político. Nesse debate, consideramos como mecanismos que causam a unificação do corpo político o antagonismo e a representação, tal como encontrada na soberania e no populismo. Destacamos, ainda, que esse percurso de investigação nos permitiu refletir diretamente sobre dois importantes temas da teoria política, a partir de uma perspectiva psicanalítica, nomeadamente: a liberdade e a autoridade. Por fim, demarcamos que a pesquisa toma alguns princípios da teoria psicanalítica como fundamento de sua metodologia, a saber: a leitura e a escrita enquanto atos que concernem ao real; a consideração da dimensão transferencial da investigação e a noção de inspiração enquanto guia para posicionar os parceiros nessa interlocução sendo a última uma recomendação de Lacan quando trata da política de sua Escola / This work seeks inspiration in Hannah Arendts political theory in order to formulate a notion of politics of Lacanian psychoanalysis. The Arendtian concepts that are mainly used in this dialogue are: political action, compromise, and political plurality. From Lacanian theory, we especially use: psychoanalytic act, transmission, and the feminine logic of sexuation. Arendt and Lacan have a common ground on considering that action overcomes the repetition, in political or in the unconscious subject spheres, respectively. The Arendtian political action is performed by men in the plural, and it is the locus of freedom as new beginnings. Besides promoting new beginnings, the action is supposed to assure the existence of what was brought into life, being the latter the function of compromise between political individuals. Arendt calls the world a space created between men through the action of compromise. In sum, the Arendtian conception of politics is based on the notions of action and world. In its turn, psychoanalysis affirms that the act performs new beginnings in subjective life. However, the act itself is not able to constitute a political dimension since it neither implies a collectivity, nor creates a world between individuals. In this sense, we propose that it is necessary to put together the notions of act and transmission (of knowledge) in order to formulate a psychoanalysis notion of politics, since the latter brings people together, in causing the work transference. Thus, act and transmission sustain the politics of psychoanalysis. Moreover, we put together the Arendtian political plurality and the Lacanian feminine logic of sexuation for the sake of formulating a conception of politics that works against the unification of the political body. So, we contrast this conception of politics with the ones that lead to the political bodys unification. In this debate, we consider antagonism and representation, as we found in the sovereignty the populism, to be ways of political bodys unification. This investigation also addresses two major political theory topics from the psychoanalysis point of view, namely, freedom and authority. Finally, the research considers some psychoanalytical propositions as guidelines to its methodology, namely, reading and writing as operations concerning the Real, the transferential level of the research process, and the notion of inspiration as a principle to guide the dialogue between theories

O objetivo da tese é mostrar, através da análise dos textos da obra Contra Academicos de Agostinho, o estamento da verdade: a sua situação e o seu valor. Para isso começamos por contextualizar a obra, fazendo uma divisão em três momentos importantes que a retórica usa na construção do discurso e que encontrariam uma certa correspondência com o percurso da vida de Agostinho. Deste modo, chegamos a compreender a importância de sua análise da verdade e o porquê da argumentação usada contra os acadêmicos, destacando a tríade Filosofia e Sabedoria, Razão e Autoridade, Platão e Cristo. / On the basis of a textual analysis of Contra Academicos, this thesis seeks to show the role of truth: its status and its value for Augustine. To accomplish that goal, I will, first of all, present the work in its context, dividing it into the three most important components which rhetoric utilizes in the construction of a discourse - components which to some degree correspond to the stages of Augustine\'s life. In that way, this thesis will seek to understand the importance of his analysis of truth and the reason for the kind of argumentation he follows, highlighting, as he does, the triad of Philosophy and Wisdom, Reason and Authority, Plato and Christ.

Thesis (M.M. (ICT Policy and Regulation))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / In the year 2004, before the advent of competition in the South African subscription television broadcasting market the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) identified various potential barriers to enter this market. Then, in January 2006 ICASA issued an invitation to apply for commercial satellite and cable subscription television broadcasting licenses. Eighteen applications were received and five were licensed during November 2007. The purpose of this qualitative study is to assess how effective the regulatory approach has been in addressing the identified entry barriers and in promoting competition and convergence in this market. The findings from the research study indicate that there is lack of effective and sustainable competition and convergence in the market, and that the applicable light-touch regulatory approach is preferred for this market but needs to be intensified. This may seem contradictory, but it is not if the regulator is regarded as absconding from its responsibilities. A significant finding is that ICASA is viewed as a weak regulator that is absconding from its regulatory obligations in this market. Some of the important negative findings include: there are extensive barriers to entry which have created an uneven playing field that favours the dominant operator; ICASA and the Department of Communications have been captured by the dominant operator; there is monopoly in the ownership of content rights which stems from abuse of content exclusive rights and lack of relevant regulations; and the regulatory framework and licensing regime should be modified in the context of the migration to the Digital Terrestrial Television transmission, the urgent need to promote competition in this market and the creation of a converged communications industry in the country.

Today's society has developed a reliance on networking infrastructures. Health, financial, and many other institutions deploy mission critical and even life critical applications on local networks and the global Internet. The security of this infrastructure has been called into question over the last decade. In particular, the protocols directing traffic through the network have been found to be vulnerable. One such protocol is the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol. This thesis proposes a security extension to OSPF containing a decentralized certificate authentication scheme (DecentCA) that eliminates the single point of failure/attack present in current OSPF security extensions. An analysis of the security of the DecentCA is performed. Furthermore, an implementation of DecentCA in the Quagga routing software suite is accomplished.

La formule «narrateur non crédible » apparaît sous la plume du théoricien américain Wayne C. Booth, au début des années Soixante. Par-là, il entend rendre compte de situations dans lesquelles le lecteur repère une distance entre le récit que rapporte le narrateur et ce que le texte donne à entendre par ailleurs. Cet effet de distance repose sur la détection, par le lecteur, d’indices textuels corroborant son sentiment. Le problème principal est alors celui de l’interaction entre l’« interface » que constituent le texte et le lecteur qui l’actualise. Au-delà du pacte de lecture noué entre l'œuvre et son lecteur, entrent également en ligne de compte certaines attentes correspondant à l’expérience commune ou façonnées par la culture littéraire. L’objectif de cette thèse est ainsi d’élaborer une synthèse des travaux passés et actuels sur la notion de narrateur non fiable. Un premier axe décline les différentes hypothèses et méthodes d’approche des textes permettant d’expliquer que certains narrateurs apparaissent moins fiables que d’autres. Un deuxième axe s'inscrit dans une perspective typologique et présente différentes formes de non fiabilité, invitant en outre à repérer les indices présents au sein des textes. Une troisième partie se concentre sur la question de l’interaction entre données textuelles et choix interprétatifs du lecteur. Elle propose pour cela l’étude de plusieurs œuvres contemporaines aux pactes de lecture ambigus ou indécidables. Un dernier temps du travail interroge les enjeux esthétiques et anthropologiques des narrations non fiables, le procédé étant symptomatique des tensions et des interrogations qui traversent notre société. / The term « unreliable narrator » has been coined by the American theorist Wayne C. Booth, in the early Sixties. By this word, he intends to account for situations when the reader finds discrepancies between the narrative reported by the narrator and what the text suggests elsewhere. This distance effect is based on the reader’s detection of textual indices corroborating his feeling. The main problem is that of the interaction between the « interface » that constitutes the text and the reader who gives it an existence. Beyond the reading pact knotted between the work and its reader, there are also some expectations corresponding to the common experience or shaped by the literary culture. The aim of this thesis is to develop a synthesis of the past and actual studies about unreliable narrator. A first axis outlines the different hypothesis and the methodes of textual approach making it possible that some narrators appear less reliable than others. A second time is part of a typological perspective and present different forms of unreliability, inviting in addition to identify the clues present in the texts. A third part focuses on the interaction between textual data and the reader interpretative choices. For this purpose, it proposes the study of several contemporary works with ambiguous and indecidable reading pacts. A final part of work examines the aesthetic and anthropological issues of unreliable narratives, the process being symptomatic of the tensions ans questions that cross our society.

The research conducted in this thesis studies the business risks considered as critical by construction contractors in the public housing construction industry in Hong Kong and the risk management methods adopted by these contractors. There is an inherent weakness in the public housing construction procurement in which price has been the overriding factor in the award of contracts and this has led to poor quality. A quantitative research method was adopted. The data for analysis included share price of listed construction contractors and other listed companies in Hong Kong. In addition, annual turnover of listed construction contractors from its company reports and available public housing projects to be tendered versus the number of prospective contractors were analysed. A main survey and a supplementary survey were also conducted after a qualitative initial study was launched to find out themes for the questions in the main survey. It is suggested that business risks of construction industry in Hong Kong are high when compared with non-construction business. As a consequence, risk premium from stocks of listed construction contractors should be higher than stocks of non- construction business. It is further suggested that risk premium of stocks of listed public housing construction contractors should be lower than other listed non- residential public buildings construction contractors due to adoption of subcontracting as risk management in the public housing construction industry. All these were being verified using share price, number of available public housing construction projects and company reports. / The main survey was conducted to find out the perceptions of the public housing construction contractors on the business risks of its business due to: (a) its client, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, (b) statutory requirements, (c) penalty from poor performance and its ramifications, (d) suppliers and (e) staffing. The main survey also sought public housing construction contractors’ perception on the relative effectiveness of risk management proposals and quality improvement proposals. The supplementary survey looked at reasons for subcontracting in the Hong Kong construction industry. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out initially, which reduced the 47-item main survey questionnaire to 40 items with 8 factors and the 22-item supplementary survey to 20 items with 3 factors. In the main survey, for each of the factor identified, t-test of the mean on each of the item and of the summated items under each factor indicated the perceived business risks of public housing construction were: (a) critical due to "client" (the Hong Kong Housing Authority) - 7 critical items out of 9 items; (b) not critical due to "statutory requirements" -none of the 5 items is critical; (c) critical due to "poor performance ramifications" - all 2 items are critical; (d) critical due to "suppliers" - all 4 items are critical; (e) not critical due to "staff' -none of the 4 items is critical. For effectiveness of risk management measures to mitigate business risks due to suppliers and staffing, t-test of the mean was carried out. Risk management methods to mitigate business risks from: (a) "suppliers" were not perceived as effective - 1 effective item out of 3 items; (b) "staffing" were perceived as effective - 5 effective items out of 7 items. For effectiveness of quality improvement proposals, t-test of the mean indicated there were 3 effective items out of 6 items. / Overall the quality improvement proposals were perceived as effective. For the supplementary survey to find out reasons for subcontracting in the Hong Kong construction industry, from the subcontractors' point of view, the business practice of main contractors was perceived as critical to the operation of subcontractors (all 7 items). On the other hand, relevant reason for further (secondary) subcontracting from subcontractors was due to lack of expertise (1 item out of 5 items). For quality improvement proposals, 6 items (workers registration, strengthen supervision by contractors on subcontractors, strengthen supervision by client, registry of subcontractor, award contract based on quality and treat subcontractor as business partners) were perceived as effective. Regression was carried out for the main survey and it was found that various statutory requirements were not significant predictors for the extent of pecuniary fines due to violations of statutory requirements. However site safety obligations were found to be a significant predictor to predict the period of suspension from tendering which would be considered as critically affecting the business of the contractor. For the supplementary survey, the regression was centred on relevant reasons for subcontracting (as independent variables) and extent of subcontracting (as dependent variable). The tests indicated that subcontracting to reduce risk of over expansion and price could be significant factors to predict the extent of subcontracting. To supplement what has been proposed as a possible solution (partnering) in improving the adversarial relationship amongst contracting parties in the construction industry, a case study was carried out to see how a local non-government organisation managed an underground transit system construction project by using "partnering". / The case study indicated partnering could be useful to improve the inter-organisation co-operation in the construction industry. From the main survey, supplementary survey and the subsequent analysis as well as the case study, the most significant implication of this research is the need to have equitable terms in the contract between clients and its construction contractors. In the competitive public housing construction industry in Hong Kong, award of contract by price alone to the lowest bidder would not induce quality performance from construction contractors. To cater for fluctuating workload and risk of over- expansion, subcontracting is a form of risk management practiced by construction contractors. Subcontracting cannot be stamped out and to induce quality performance from construction contractors and subcontractors, what is essential between clients and construction contractors (equitable terms) is equally applicable between construction contractors and its subcontractors.