This thesis examines the complex power structures that underscore the migration and employment of Indonesian women as foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Singapore. The main objective is to highlight the power of individual Indonesian FDWs and the collective power of these women in negotiating these structures of power in the context of a migration study as well as a `resistance' study. I argue that Indonesian FDWs are active agents who exercise individual agency and collective `resistance' in the migration system. As labour migrants they exert power in shaping the nature of the migrant institution. One of the means in which they do so is by perpetuating the informal networks of migration. Individual Indonesian FDWs are also capable of exerting power in circumventing elements of exploitation and domination they encounter during their migration process and employment in Singapore. Crucial to this capability is the ability to have access to a network of agents within the migrant institution. Some Indonesian FDWs are also active in exerting power as a group to present a collective resistance against negative stereotyping of their identities as the immigrant other in Singapore. They do so via a formal religious based social group. This group encourages other Indonesian FDWs to portray the image of the disciplined worker couched within the moralising discourse of Islam by participating in productive activities on rest days. The aim of this is so that Indonesian FDWs can be treated with respect and dignity in Singapore. In general, my data show that Indonesian FDWs as active agents of the migration system do not attempt to challenge the overall structures that underscore their subordination and domination as overseas contract workers (OCWs) in Singapore. / The power exerted by individual Indonesian FDWs is focused at ensuring their continued employment as FDWs under more desirable employment conditions. Their individual agency aimed at improving their work conditions is at a personal level and is based on personal goals that are thus too fragmented to challenge the institutionalised structures of employment. Moreover, my case studies reveal that some Indonesian FDWs endure more restrictive work conditions in order to achieve desirable aspects of working in Singapore. Their collective `resistance' against condescending treatment by the host society project an image of the disciplined FDWs desired by employers, maid agents and Singaporeans. Their subjective ambivalence and the ambivalence in their individual and collective acts of `resistance' in challenging aspects of subordination and domination show the complexity of the power relationships in which they are caught. I draw upon two bodies of theory to provide a framework for my analysis and argument. First, I draw upon the `migrant institution' framework espoused by Goss and Lindquist (1995) that is based on Giddens' structuration theory to illustrate the power exerted by individual Indonesian FDWs within the field of migration studies. I also draw upon Foucault's notion of power as a framework to examine collective ,resistance' displayed by Indonesian FDWs in Singapore. The data presented in the thesis are drawn from two sources, ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Singapore as well as relevant newspaper and other media accounts.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis explores the barriers that are preventing large numbers of permanent resident overseas-trained doctors (PROTDs) from working as general practitioners (GPs) in rural New South Wales (NSW). It focuses specifically on doctors from non-English speaking backgrounds who are permanent residents of Australia or Australian citizens, and who migrated to Australia for reasons other than employment. This thesis explores the views and perceptions of PROTDs and does not specifically consider the views of other stakeholders. Archival, qualitative and quantitative research techniques have been used to determine the suitability of the policies and practices governing the appointment and registration of PROTDs in NSW, and to identify any policy changes required. This research demonstrates that the policies governing medical registration in NSW have frequently been driven by political factors, and have, at times, been used to control the size of the medical workforce. As a consequence of these policies, many PROTDs have been prevented from working as a doctor in NSW. Of particular concern is the lack of training or clinical experience available to PROTDs and their difficulties preparing for, and passing, the Australian Medical Council (AMC) examinations. The lack of accurate information regarding the requirements and opportunities for medical practice in NSW is also a major problem. PROTDs in NSW are unable to get the training and support they need to meet the requirements for medical registration in NSW and are rapidly losing their confidence, and their clinical skills. Not all PROTDs are going to have, or be able to acquire, the skills and knowledge required for general practice in rural NSW. However the need for additional doctors is sufficiently great to warrant a proactive approach from governments and relevant agencies. In the seven years it has taken to complete this research, most of the discriminatory aspects of the assessment and registration of PROTDs in NSW have been removed. However the legacy of previous policies and practices remains and a large number of PROTDs remain out of the medical workforce.

Two surveys were conducted at the University of Canberra in 1992 to seek the views of faculty on issues regarding academic writing. The first survey sought to ascertain what criteria faculty employ when marking student writing. It asked faculty to indicate the importance of certain key features in the writing of university students. These key features were: Content, Argument, Style, Organisation, Communicative Ability, Vocabulary, Use of Literature and Punctuation. Faculty were requested to rank the importance of aspects of each of the nine key features. The second survey asked faculty to assess an actual assignment written by an overseas student, using the structure of the nine key features of writing as above. Faculty were invited to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the assignment which they were assessing. The aim of the surveys was to better inform teachers of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes, who prepare overseas students for study at university. EAP teachers need to know the expectations of faculty, in order to give overseas students a realistic view of what faculty expect from their assignments and the kinds of. weaknesses which faculty find in overseas students' writing. The survey found that content-related features such as Content, Argument, Organisation and Communicative Ability were considered more important than form features such as Punctuation, Grammar, Style and Vocabulary. Use of Literature was found to be a very important feature in some faculties but not in all. Surprisingly, Style was the feature which evoked the greatest variety of responses from faculty; however, in general faculty agreed that Style had to be appropriate to the topic or task, rather than there being a set format for academic writing. From a factor analysis of data, four underlying principles for academic writing were derived. These principles were: relevance, appropriacy, accuracy and clarity. Thus, academic writing, according to the faculty surveyed, should be: 1) relevant to the topic and to the internal argument of the assigment; 2) appropriate in the style, tone and use of literature; 3) accurate in its vocabulary, grammar and referencing system. 4) clear in its argument and organisation of ideas. For the most part, faculty responded favourably to the overseas student assignments, which were assessed in the second questionnaire. Faculty indicated that the main weakness in overseas student writing was in their argument. The surveys also found differences between different Faculties in the importance they place on these key features. It was postulated that the Science Faculties (Applied Science, Environmental Design and Information Science and Engineering) would be fairly similar in their views on writing, as would the Humanities Faculties (Communication, Education and Management). This was found to be only partly true. The views of Information Science and Engineering faculty were found to be more similar in many of their attitudes to the views of the Humanities faculty. However, in some ways, their views were unique and unlike any other Faculty. In particular. Information Science and Engineering faculty place little emphasis on writing as a method of assessment and, perhaps as a consequence, even less on the use of literature in writing From the survey, it also appeared that, in general, faculty make some allowances for the fact that overseas students are L2 speakers. They tend to overlook mechanical errors so long as the content is acceptable.

The present study attempted to investigate the usage of libraries by overseas students. The research was carried out in two universities in the ACT, namely, the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Canberra (UC). The study investigated two main aspects: the use of institutional as well as other libraries in the ACT, and the difficulties encountered in utilising institutional libraries. These two aspects were also treated as the dependent variables. Relationships between these two dependent variables and the following characteristics, which were regarded as the independent variables, were tested: the institution attended (ANU or UC), having had library orientation in the institution attended, previous use of libraries, mediums of instructions in previous educational institutions, level of study, year of study, period of time spent in Australia, gender, and age. The research used survey methodology. A questionnaire was sent to a sample of 521 overseas students and a response rate of 72 percent was obtained. With regard to the use of institutional libraries, it was found that most students visited their libraries more than once a week. The three most used library facilities were borrowing books, use of library staff for assistance and the short loan service, while the three least used facilities were inhouse information sheets, abstracts and indexes, and CD-ROM databases. The three most used libraries in the ACT in descending order were the ANU library system, the National library of Australia, and the University of Canberra library. Difficulties encountered in utilising institutional libraries included difficulty in utilising library facilities, difficulty with library rules and regulations, difficulty in looking for required materials in the libraries, unsuccessful library visits, difficulties as a result of English being a second language, difficulty following the layout of the libraries and perception of the libraries' atmosphere. Relationships were found between some of the independent variables and the dependent variables. In some cases, the findings were expected while in other cases they were unexpected. With the unexpected findings, it is possible that one or more independent variables, other than the ones under consideration, influenced the findings thus leading to surprising results. The study concludes with recommendations and suggestions for further research.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Logos Evangelical Seminary, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-144).

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilken inställning kadetter och deras anhöriga har tillutlandstjänst och diskutera möjliga orsaker till de olika åsikterna. Andra frågor som belyses är omde som genomfört utlandstjänst innan de börjat utbildningen upplevt några men efter sintjänstgöring och hur de anhöriga sett på denna tjänstgöring. Då tidigare forskning rörandekadetters och deras anhörigas syn på utlandstjänst saknas, utgör uppsatsen ett begränsat menviktigt empiriskt bidrag. Kring denna empiri förs ett resonemang om hur den nya sortensofficerare kan tänkas fundera i dessa frågor.Bland de resultat som kan utläsas är att kadetterna i OP 08-11 ser sina anhörigas åsikt som enviktig del i sin motivation för att göra utlandstjänst. Större delen av de svarande ser också självapositivt på en framtida utlandstjänst. Bland de anhöriga är inte bilden lika positiv, och enövervägande del av kadetternas anhöriga har en negativ inställning. / What this paper aims to investigate is what attitude cadets and their families have for overseasservice and what this may be due to. Other issues presented is if those who performed serviceabroad before they started officers training had experienced any negative personality changes(after their service and if their relatives have seen any changes after the service). There is noprior research in the area that focus on cadets and their relative’s stance on overseas servicehence this essay is a limited, but an important contribution. A discussion concerns how thenew kind of officers is likely to reflect on these issues.The findings indicate that the cadets in OP 08-11 view their relatives' as an important part oftheir motivation for service abroad, and that most of the cadets welcome a future overseasservice. The relatives on the other hand, does not share this positive view, in fact, the vastmajority of the cadets relatives have an attitude that is negative.

The global nursing shortage created opportunities for registered nurses from less developed countries to improve their working and living conditions through migration to more progressive and affluent nations. In the Philippines, this phenomenon left the country devoid of the much needed health care professionals. In this research study, I described the lived experiences of eleven indigenous Filipino nurses who migrated to the United States. Through the phenomenology approach, I was able to probe into the meaning of the migration as the participants lived through it, approaching it from a humanist perspective and using Abraham Maslow's theory on the hierarchy of needs as the framework. The study was intended to illustrate how the economic, social, and political characteristics of both countries impacted the Filipino nurses' behavior and thought processes while in pursuit of personal goals. Ultimately, this study could be used as a guide in the development of employment and health care policies that are more responsive to the current state of the nursing profession.

Many Taiwanese multinational corporation (MNC) increase the proportion of their foreign direct investment in R&D activities year by year. The companies investing in the advanced nations operate R&D activities in the local market obviously. Through this thesis, we desire to know the status of overseas R&D sites in these cases and their motives. Futhermore, we also want to discuss how they build up and operate these R&D sites. Due to much more innovative knowledge resources outside the parent country, Taiwanese companies need to globalize their R&D sites to acquire the R&D results; in addition, establish the network of overseas R&D sites makes MNCs to promote their products in the global market smoothly. However, MNCs have to disperse their corporate resources in diffirent locations, and give each site diffirent roles and tasks. Other important issues among these MNCs are how to manage these dispersed R&D sites to achieve the efficiency and the flexibility and what the strategies they consider. Overseas R&D activity of Taiwanese MNCs is still evolving, and Taiwanese companies have their particular background. In order to find out the causes of this situation, we used the case study approach. We selected the cases which had the complete building process of overseas R&D activities, and interviewed the top managers who had the experiences in the process to gather the materials. Besides, other second-hand materials are also providing us more information to comprehend our sample cases. We found that Taiwanese MNCs had diffirent motives in each stage. They need to respond to local market, and provide the commercial products rapidly. In addition, local technology and human resource are also the important wealth to strengthen headquarters¡¦ R&D capabilities. Under the consideration of speed, cost and competition, MNCs integrated the R&D resources of parent and host countries aggressively, and they had to think how to match the corporate strategy. Further, they tried to manage organizational information flows and coordinate these R&D activities. Moreover, using several kinds of communication patterns helps headquarters to understand and control overseas R&D activities, and makes R&D knowledge and experiences circulate inside the organization to stimulate organizational innovative capacity.

Recently, tourism has become one of the most potential industries in the world. According to preliminary results presented by the United Nations specialized agency, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) the number of international tourist arrivals recorded worldwide grew by 5.5% and exceeded 800 million for the first time ever. However, under the competitive environment, the best way to keep competitiveness is to make customer satisfaction and loyalty. This study focuses on the relationships among self-congruity, functional congruity, customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, different from past researches which collect data only after actual travel without considering other possible factors, present study incorporated the concept of ¡§ex-ante¡¨ and ¡§ex-post¡¨ self-image congruity and probed their effects on tourism satisfaction. Ex-ante self-image congruity are formed before actual travel; and after travel, tourist¡¦s perception will become ex-post self-image congruity. The author applied a two-stage research design collecting relevant data before and after travel. The empirical results showed that both ex-post self-image congruity and functional congruity have direct positive effect on satisfaction, and functional congruity also partially mediated self-image congruity¡¦s effect. The author also found multiple roles of ex-ante self-image congruity on satisfaction. As a kind of expectation, ex-ante self-image congruity has negative relationship with satisfaction; and possesses moderating effect as a possible motivation driver. Theoretical discussion and managerial implications are supplied.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Joseph C. Beckham, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Feb. 26, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.