In Harlequin Presents, the recurrence of particular moments of resistance suggests that these structures of events have meaning apart from -and perhaps even antithetical to - the ideological outcome of any specific text. The ideological structures presented in the romance novel are not passively accepted, nor do they simply fulfill a single pre-existing need or desire in their reading public. Romance novels utilize ideologies in a self-consciously playful and ironic way. These texts offer multiple ways of understanding the worlds they depict, the structures of understanding contained within being posited and discarded. This thesis proposes a means of interpreting the romance novel captures the ambivalence of the reading experience. I will show how the paradox of the romance novel - the seemingly limitless potential of a feminine discourse of the private sphere that is set within the conservative confines of repetitive narratives of social integration - is incorporated into the structure of the texts themselves. While the texts in the series manifest standardized outcomes, they also exhibit recurrent patterns of resistance. The serial form of Harlequin Presents dictates that this tension between separate value sets and ideologies is never fully resolved. The appeal of the romance novel must then lie between these competing demands. Each of my chapters examines the ways that this ironic tension functions within a different intellectual space. In considering how the domestic sphere, the body and the nation are overlayed with multiple, contested meanings, this thesis maps out the scope of ideological resistance and adherence throughout Harlequin Presents. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

El presente trabajo ha sido elaborado bajo la identificación de una problemática que enfrentan en su día a día muchas personas, a quienes en adelante se llamará público objetivo. La propuesta de este trabajo es ofrecer al mercado un sitio web donde ellos puedan encontrar paquetes de regalos, los cuales contengan un mix de productos que se adapte a los gustos y preferencias de la persona a quien piensan dirigir el regalo. Se considero los paquetes de regalos pues en la actualidad en el mercado de regalos y/o obsequios los usuarios suelen buscar un mix de productos en un solo lugar pues esto reduce el tiempo de búsqueda de un regalo en tiendas independientes y lo más importante, produce un ahorro en sus bolsillos. Ese fue el motivo por el cual se consideró un mercado atractivo que aún puede mejorar ofreciendo alternativas de compra llamativas que se adapten a los gustos de los interesados. Es por ello que nació Kamari, una tienda de regalos online en la cual se puede elegir entre una serie de distintos paquetes a regalar dependiendo de la ocasión e incluso cambiar ciertos productos del paquete seleccionado, haciéndolo personalizable para el cliente. Cabe mencionar que para corroborar la viabilidad de este proyecto el equipo de trabajo ha elaborado experimentos para la validación del proyecto a pesar de la situación actual que se vive a nivel mundial, logrando como resultado un proyecto viable. / This work has been prepared under the identification of a problem that many people face in their day-to-day life, who from now on will be called the target audience. The proposal of this work is to offer the market a website where they can find gift packages, which contain a mix of products that adapts to the tastes and preferences of the person to whom they plan to direct the gift. Gift packages were considered as currently in the market for gifts and / or gifts, users often look for a mix of products in one place as this reduces the time of searching for a gift in independent stores and most importantly, produces a savings in customer´s pockets. That was the reason why it was considered an attractive market that can still improve by offering eye-catching purchasing alternatives that suit the tastes of those interested. That is why Kamari was born, an online gift store where you can choose between a series of different packages to give away depending on the occasion and even change certain products from the selected package, making it customizable for the client. It is worth mentioning that to corroborate the viability of this project, the work team has carried out experiments for the validation of the project despite the current situation worldwide, achieving as a result a viable project. / Trabajo de investigación

Christmas is generally described as cultural, ritual and sociological phenomena of devotion, community and consumption. The topic of this dissertation concerns a specific stream of research within the general domain of consumer behaviour. The focal objective of this study is to develop a model and generate theory about parental gift giving behaviour at Christmas. My study is unique because it attempts to model parental gift giving at Christmas in a consumer behaviour context. Consumer behaviour theory suggests that parents seek information about possible gifts, set selection criteria for gift purchase, evaluate alternatives and buy the gifts for their children. Following this broad view of theory, parents respond to children's request behaviour, evaluate the suitability of any requests and purchase the approved or appropriate items as Christmas gifts. Children are encouraged to request any gifts that they desire, and these gift requests are often for specific brands. In general Christmas gifts are selected from children's products and brands and there is extensive debate and research relating to television advertising and children's request behaviour at Christmas. However, parents are not exposed to the same sources of advertising as their children and there is little evidence of research into the very important topics concerning motives, strategies, evaluations and the giving of brands that characterize parents' Christmas gift giving to their children. The significance of this dissertation resides in the development and presentation of a comprehensive model for the conceptualisation of parental gift giving at Christmas, based on antecedents to parents' social roles of gift giving and direct and indirect behavioural outcomes of those gift giving roles. Measures for each of these outcomes are developed and gender effects are also explored. The sample frame was described as a parent with at least one child between the ages of 3-8 years and a survey package was delivered to parents of children from participating schools and kindergartens. There were 2560 surveys distributed, with 450 individual responses representing a return rate of 17.6%. The 450 cases available for analysis were factor analysed and formed into composite and latent variables to facilitate statistical analysis via Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression, which is an appropriate procedure when the relationships are unknown or theoretical. The results of the research have two distinct streams. The first stream relates to the creation and validation of measurement constructs for the concept of Christmas spirit, parental gift giving, request communication, brand benefits and use of information sources, as well as involvement in giving gifts and involvement in giving brands as gifts. The second stream relates to the relationships between variables; the results support the relationships antecedent to the parents' social roles of gift giving. There is a significant relationship of Christmas spirit with involvement in giving gifts and with parental gift giving roles. A significant relationship also exists between involvement in giving gifts and parental gift giving roles. However, there is limited support for propositions related to outcomes of parental gift giving roles where there are significant relations between these roles and Christmas request communication, brand benefits and information sources. There is also a significant, indirect relationship between brand benefits and involvement in giving brands as gifts. As part of the second stream, gender differences were examined; the results show that mothers' Christmas spirit has no effect on their gift giving roles and gift giving roles have no significant effect on request communication and information source usage. On the other hand, the results show that the fathers' gift giving activities reflect the relationships outlined in the parental model. The study has academic implications for sociology and consumer behaviour disciplines and commercial implications for manufacturers, advertisers, brand owners and retailers. Further investigations will be necessary to incorporate other elements into the parental gift-giving model and to extend the theory toward a fuller understanding of the parental Christmas gift giving phenomena.

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the behavior of news jobholders managing the blog. There have been lots of researches for the motivation of writing blogs. Based upon past researches, this thesis adds the partial traditional dissemination theory idea to discuss the relation between criticalness of blog presentation and diversified blog topics from the gatekeeper pressure, challenging the point of view of the organization, communication, requirement from the company, and self-presents. The research is conducted by Questionnaire Survey and it is found that the communication, criticalness, and the subject multiplication in the blogs are significantly correlated. In the other hand, the requirement from the company and self-present are only related to diversified blog topics. As a result, the motivation and habit of news jobholders using blogs alter unceasingly. The future study can focus more on addressing this difference of evolving to realize how news jobholders in the traditional media work use new technical blogs.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:10:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvia T Liberatore.pdf: 4575661 bytes, checksum: 50a729debd987c7e3cd5962d13098186 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-04 / When people (or organizations) exchange gifts, there are more meaningful interventions in those acts than actions of offering, accepting and thanking (giving back or not) may seem to express. Concepts related to situations and purposes that are ingrained in the memory of the past and that will determine relationships in the future are created or reinforced. The present work aims at highlighting the simple habit of giving gifts, so common that it passes by unnoticed but which can help build and strengthen bonds. Among different organized social groups there is no survival without support, as there is not a person who is not a giver and a receiver of attention at the same time, either by objective means that can be evaluated directly or by abstract actions, which are less likely to be defined. All in all, there is a wide range of possibilities to find some criteria in writings from different authors in several areas (already defined) of knowledge and others begin to form. The essential reciprocity of the gift is the common element of communication and its equivalent reason for existing: without reciprocity there is no communication, there is no social group that can organize itself and therefore survive. It is in this reciprocity of attention (and of objects) that knowledge is added, new habits are created, and cultures can mingle and integrate: these are the simultaneous experiences and experimentations which establish inclusion amongst common cultural background. In the present research, the foundation for the understanding of rituals of object exchanging as social contracts is laid on the works of authors such as Mauss and Bystrina while the look on the Latin-American reality, especially the Brazilian one, is from Gruzinski, Canclini, and (Viveiros de) Castro, which show what was, is and can be the exchange of gifts as the creation of new contexts that include different cultures. Other authors are important for the course of the research and many are not mentioned here but they are crucial for the beginning and the end of the purpose of this study. Objects which are gifts (bonding celebrations) and presents (that keep their memories in the absence), indicate alterations incorporated in situations of giving presents, hypothesis of this research when analyzing the communication strategy in company cases and real life examples / Quando pessoas (ou organizações) trocam presentes existem mais significados intervenientes do que fazem parecer as ações de oferecer, aceitar e agradecer (retribuindo ou não). São criados, ou reforçados, conceitos vinculados às situações e propósitos que estarão na memória do passado e pautarão o relacionamento no futuro. Está ai o percurso deste trabalho que procura dar destaque ao hábito banal do presentear, tão comum que não chama a atenção, mas que tem importância muito especial para que vinculas se construam e fortaleçam. Entre diferentes grupos sociais organizados, não há sobrevivência sem apoio, como não há pessoa que não seja, ao mesmo tempo, doadora e recebedora de atenção daqueles que a cercam, seja por meio de objetos concretos de possível avaliação direta, ou de ações abstratas, pouco passáveis de configuração ou definição. Entre uns e outros, há uma enorme gama de possibilidades para as quais se fazem aqui indicações de alguns critérios que podem ser encontrados em vários autores de muitos campos dá definidos) do conhecimento e outros que começam a se delinear. A reciprocidade essencial da dádiva é o elemento comum para a comunicação e seu equivalente motivo de existência: sem reciprocidade não há comunicação, não há grupo social que se organize e, portanto, sobreviva. É nessa reciprocidade de atenção (e de objetos) que se acrescentam conhecimentos, criam-se novos hábitos, misturam-se e integram-se culturas: são as experiências e experimentações simultâneas que estabelecem a inclusão entre mútuos repertórios culturais. Nesta pesquisa, a base para o entendimento dos rituais de trocas de objetos como contratos sociais está em autores como Mauss e Bystrina, enquanto o olhar que aproxima a realidade latino-americana, em especial a brasileira, foi encontrado em Gruzinski, Canclini, e (Viveiros de) Castro, que nos indicam o que foi, é, e pode ser a troca de presentes como criação de novos contextos que incluam diferentes culturas. Outros autores são importantes para o percurso da pesquisa, e muitos não estão aqui incluídos, mas são fundamentais para os momentos de partida e de chegada ao propósito deste estudo. Objetos que sejam brindes (comemorações de vinculação) e presentes (que mantenham a memória na ausência), indicam alteridades incorporadas nas situações de presentear, hipótese desta pesquisa ao analisar a estratégia comunicacional das organizações em casos e exemplos reais

Though largely overlooked in academia, Manhattan public access television became a forum that allowed a variety of behaviors, sexualities, and genders to invade a highly controlled hegemonic apparatus in the 1970s and early 1980s. In this thesis, I argue that Anton Perich’s Anton Perich Presents (1973-c.1978) and Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party (1978-1982) worked to actively queer the form and content of television. Since these shows grew from rather exclusive underground communities, I argue that the broadcasting of these fringe personalities, genders, sexualities, and behaviors to a broader, cable-viewing public formed unique queer counterpublics. I situate Anton Perich Presents and TV Party in relation to the norms of broadcast television in order to establish the limits, norms, and codes of these diverse genres and in order to ascertain viewer’s expectations of them. By positioning Anton Perich Presents and TV Party in conversation with mainstream television shows, I identify a queerness these public access shows lent to television and its viewers through their deliberate manipulations of the medium. / text

This thesis investigates the Swedish Veteran’s day as celebrated in Stockholm in 2018. This is investigated in relation to a theoretical background of nationalism and through a lens of ritual theory.The study finds that the formal definition of the veteran that is presented during the Swedish Veteran’s day is not strictly defined. Instead, veteranship is defined by ideological traits such as peace and the nation, and experience-based traits such as risk of violence, suffering or competence. The study finds that different actors put emphasis on different traits. In the ceremony possible paradoxes of some of the traits are hidden in the ritual form. Veteranship occurs in the ceremony in a close relationship to the idea of the nation ofSweden. At times, the nation is depicted as an actor bearing the desirable traits of the veteran.The day in full is furthermore interpreted as a part of a social drama which balances therelationship between the veterans and the nation.

Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-04T12:36:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009 / Este trabalho propõe analisar o fenômeno da terceirização desenvolvido ao longo das duas últimas décadas em Bio-Manguinhos. Trata-se de um estudo de caso realizado na unidade de produção de vacinas e reagentes para diagnóstico da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Inicialmente foi realizado um estudo de cenário, analisando a política de gestão do trabalho desenvolvida pelo Estado brasileiro para as instituições públicas. A seguir, a análise passou a verificar a inserção da Fiocruz nessas políticas, desde a sua criação e no decorrer de vigência de diferentes formas de contratação, alternando da extrema rigidez para a total flexibilidade sempre com foco na gestão do trabalho, e, como essas políticas se refletiram no desempenho de Bio-Manguinhos. Baseado no contexto da conformação do Estado e na análise do desempenho da unidade, o trabalho critica a falta de planejamento e de prospecção dessas políticas, que favoreça a inovação de processos, produtos e procedimentos e o desempenho pleno de uma unidade de produção de insumos para a saúde, tão necessários ao atendimento das necessidades da população brasileira. Critica também, a ausência de um modelo de Estado consolidado que sirva de arcabouço à formulação dessas políticas. Devido às fortes críticas dos órgãos de controle acerca da extrapolação dos limites da terceirização praticada nas últimas duas décadas e à falta de definição clara desses marcos legais, o trabalho apresenta uma metodologia baseada nas atribuições dos cargos do plano de carreiras da Fiocruz e culmina com a apresentação de uma matriz de atribuições passíveis de serem realizadas por contratação indireta. Conclui pela necessidade de convivência de dois quadros de trabalhadores: um permanente formado por servidores, estáveis e de carreira e outro flexível, executado por contratação indireta, de caráter eventual, temporário ou de apoio às atividades relacionadas à missão de Bio-Manguinhos. O trabalho ainda sugere a aplicação da mesma metodologia às demais unidades da Fiocruz e que a instituição afirme, frente aos órgãos de controle, quais atividades que ela precisa manter no quadro de servidores permanente e quais ela quer delegar a terceiros sem contudo, ferir a legislação vigente. Por fim, constata-se que a metodologia apresentada ameniza, mas não resolve o problema, dessa forma, recomenda-se à Fiocruz buscar mecanismos que altere o modelo de gestão pelo qual está submetida a fim de viabilizar as duas formas de incorporação de mão-de-obra.