Objects are involved in complex overlapping relations of significance and the programme of research examines how the choices and arrangement of significant objects articulates self-identity across discontinuity in life experience. In-depth interviews with migrants and the ancestors of migrants in the living rooms of their homes focus on objects and furniture to examine the role of the object in supporting identity in differing degrees of migratory dislocation. The research investigates the role of the object as both internal and external supports through migration and re-integration through different generations. The investigation draws on key literatures in anthropology, philosophy and creative writing to support issues concerning the transition caused through migration and the structuring of the home in a new cultural environment. The first chapter explores how generic social meaning attached to objects becomes less relevant as the relationship between the individual and the object deepens through the passage of time. The second chapter examines patterns concerning the arrangement and selection of objects in the living room and how the physical interaction with objects structure memory and supports a personal narrative. The third chapter examines how objects and furniture are used to define the life-stages through the process of migration and become indicators of a personal history. A subculture is identified that both assimilates the cultural experience of their country of birth and their migrant ancestry. In conclusion, the relationship between these discussions demonstrates how significant objects are used by the individual to develop and define memories and thoughts. This study contributes to the literature of material culture by identifying the layering of memories attached to significant objects and how objects are used as personal supports through discontinuity caused by cultural dislocation and act as a catalyst for the inter-gene rational transfer of memories and cultural inheritance.

<p>Denna studie har som syfte att undersöka hur den spatiala organisationen av artefakter påverkar överrapportering mellan sjukvårdspersonal på en intensivvårdsavdelning. Syftet äratt kunna förstå överrapporteringsprocessen mellan sjuksköterskor och de artefakter de har tillsitt förfogande och att ge förslag på strukturförbättringar så att dessa överrapporteringar kan effektiviseras både tid- och energimässigt. Det leder till studiens andra syfte, nämligen att ge förslag på hur en gemensam arbetsyta vid överrapporteringar, ett så kallat worktable, skulle kunna arbetas fram. Resultatet av denna studie visar att det inte finns en given struktur för hur överrapporteringar ska genomföras och därför finns det inte heller en bestämd ordning över artefakters spatiala organisation. I slutet av denna rapport ges det förslag på vilka funktioner ett framtida gemensamt arbetsbord borde innefatta.</p>

Denna studie har som syfte att undersöka hur den spatiala organisationen av artefakter påverkar överrapportering mellan sjukvårdspersonal på en intensivvårdsavdelning. Syftet äratt kunna förstå överrapporteringsprocessen mellan sjuksköterskor och de artefakter de har tillsitt förfogande och att ge förslag på strukturförbättringar så att dessa överrapporteringar kan effektiviseras både tid- och energimässigt. Det leder till studiens andra syfte, nämligen att ge förslag på hur en gemensam arbetsyta vid överrapporteringar, ett så kallat worktable, skulle kunna arbetas fram. Resultatet av denna studie visar att det inte finns en given struktur för hur överrapporteringar ska genomföras och därför finns det inte heller en bestämd ordning över artefakters spatiala organisation. I slutet av denna rapport ges det förslag på vilka funktioner ett framtida gemensamt arbetsbord borde innefatta.

In this thesis I use a predictive modelling framework to explore the use of space at nineteenth and early twentieth century Australian sawmills. Sawmills were a key component of early European settlement in heavily forested areas and are often associated with the development of significant infrastructure, such as roads and rail and sea transport networks. Despite their importance and potential for enhancing our understanding of early European communities, few studies have been undertaken on historical sawmills in Australia, particularly in relation to spatial organisation on a comparative level. A dataset of 20 nineteenth and early twentieth century sawmills was analysed and sawmills were found to fall into one of four main types ranging from small scale temporary establishments (Type A) to large, permanent sawmills with multi-faceted settlements and permanent infrastructure and support services (Type D). Analysis also revealed that sawmill features were spatially organised into industrial, intermediate and domestic zones. The model is applied to a case study, the Mill Point sawmill in southeast Queensland and results suggest a general validity of the predictive model and point to directions for further refinement and development. The study has implications for future studies of early industrial enterprises in Australia.

<p>The social organization of animal societies has important implications for several fields of biology, from managing wild populations to developing new ecological and evolutionary theory. Although much attention has been given to the formation and maintenance of societies of group living individuals, less is known about how societies of solitary individuals have been shaped and maintained. Traditionally, the evolution of social organizations in the mammalian order Carnivora has been regarded as a directional selection process from a solitary ancestry into progressively more advanced forms of sociality. In this thesis, I tested this model against an alternative model, assuming radiation from a socially flexible ancestry. I further explored sociality, resource use and dispersal of a solitary carnivore, the wolverine (<i>Gulo gulo</i>), in the light of these two evolutionary models. Phylogenetic reconstruction generally supported that carnivore social organizations evolved through directional selection from a solitary ancestor. However, results from captive wolverine females indicated that they might have rudimentary social tendencies, which rather support that sociality in carnivores radiated from a socially flexible ancestry. Wild wolverines in northwestern Brooks Range, Alaska, adhered to the commonly found ecological niche as a largely ungulate dependent generalist carnivore. Lack of sexual asymmetry in dispersal tendencies indicated that resource competition among wolverine females probably was high. I suggest that wolverines have latent abilities to aggregate, but that their phylogenetic legacy in terms of morphology has constrained them into an ecological niche where resource abundance and distribution generally inhibit aggregations. Due to contradictory results, I suggest further research to test evolutionary theory regarding carnivore social evolution, and particularly to explore new avenues into social evolution that better explain intra-specific variation in sociality, as well as formation and maintenance of solitary social systems.</p>

The social organization of animal societies has important implications for several fields of biology, from managing wild populations to developing new ecological and evolutionary theory. Although much attention has been given to the formation and maintenance of societies of group living individuals, less is known about how societies of solitary individuals have been shaped and maintained. Traditionally, the evolution of social organizations in the mammalian order Carnivora has been regarded as a directional selection process from a solitary ancestry into progressively more advanced forms of sociality. In this thesis, I tested this model against an alternative model, assuming radiation from a socially flexible ancestry. I further explored sociality, resource use and dispersal of a solitary carnivore, the wolverine (Gulo gulo), in the light of these two evolutionary models. Phylogenetic reconstruction generally supported that carnivore social organizations evolved through directional selection from a solitary ancestor. However, results from captive wolverine females indicated that they might have rudimentary social tendencies, which rather support that sociality in carnivores radiated from a socially flexible ancestry. Wild wolverines in northwestern Brooks Range, Alaska, adhered to the commonly found ecological niche as a largely ungulate dependent generalist carnivore. Lack of sexual asymmetry in dispersal tendencies indicated that resource competition among wolverine females probably was high. I suggest that wolverines have latent abilities to aggregate, but that their phylogenetic legacy in terms of morphology has constrained them into an ecological niche where resource abundance and distribution generally inhibit aggregations. Due to contradictory results, I suggest further research to test evolutionary theory regarding carnivore social evolution, and particularly to explore new avenues into social evolution that better explain intra-specific variation in sociality, as well as formation and maintenance of solitary social systems.

The discovery of the prokaryotic cytoskeleton has revolutionized our thinking about spatial organisation in prokaryotes. However, the roles different bacterial cytoskeletal proteins play in the localisations of diverse biomolecules are controversial. Bacterial chemotaxis depends on signalling through large protein clusters and each cell must inherit a cluster on cytokinesis. In Escherichia coli the membrane chemosensory clusters are polar and new static clusters form at pre-cytokinetic sites, ensuring positioning at new poles after cytokinesis and suggesting a role for the bacterial FtsZ and MreB cytoskeletons. Rhodobacter sphaeroides has both polar, membrane-associated and cytoplasmic, chromosome-associated chemosensory clusters. This study sought to investigate the roles of FtsZ and MreB in the partitioning of the two chemosensory clusters in R. sphaeroides. The relative positioning between the two chemosensory systems, FtsZ and MreB in R. sphaeroides cells during the cell cycle was monitored using fluorescence microscopy. FtsZ forms polar spots after cytokinesis, which redistribute to the midcell forming nodes from which gradients of FtsZ extend circumferentially to form the Z-ring. The proposed node-precursor model might represent a common mechanism for the formation of cytokinetic rings. The MreB cytoskeleton continuously reorganizes between patchy and filamentous structures, and colocalises with FtsZ at midcell. Membrane chemosensory proteins form individual dynamic unit-clusters with mature clusters containing about 1000 CheW₃ proteins. These unit-clusters diffuse randomly within the membrane but have a higher propensity for curved regions like cell poles. Membrane clusters do not colocalise with FtsZ and MreB and appear excluded from the Z-ring vicinity. The bipolar localisation of membrane clusters is established after cell division via random diffusion and polar trapping of clusters. The cytoplasmic chemosensory clusters colocalise with FtsZ at midcell in new-born cells. Before cytokinesis one cluster moves to a daughter cell, followed by the second moving to the other cell. FtsZ and MreB do not participate in the positioning of cytoplasmic clusters. Therefore the two homologous chemosensory clusters use different mechanisms to ensure partitioning, and neither system utilizes FtsZ or MreB for positioning.

Fondée par Darius Ier (522-486 av. J.-C.), Persépolis constituait une des résidences royales temporaires des souverains de l’Empire achéménide (550-330 av. J.-C.). Elle était également un centre administratif et économique, capitale d’une vaste province, la Perse, située au cœur de l’Empire. L’organisation de Persépolis reste largement méconnue de même que celle du vaste territoire, la plaine environnante, qu’elle contrôlait.Notre étude vise à mieux comprendre d’une part l’occupation du site de Persépolis qui va de la terrasse monumentale à la nécropole royale à 6 km au nord, d’autre part la mise en valeur de la plaine, en replaçant la période achéménide dans le contexte plus large du Ier millénaire av. J.-C. Dans un premier temps, l’étude prend en compte les dynamiques environnementales de la région. Les recherches sont fondées sur les méthodes de prospections archéologiques (reconnaissances à vue et méthodes géophysiques). Elle aboutit à une reconstitution d’une ville répartie en plusieurs blocs de fonctions différentes (habitats ordinaires, zones artisanales, résidences de l’élite et bâtiments de prestige) séparés les uns des autres par de vastes espaces non-bâtis mais probablement aménagés.Pour la plaine (100 km par 30 km), la prospection des sites achéménides a dû prendre en compte les graves destructions liées à la modernisation (agriculture, urbanisation, voies de communication) et s’est concentrée sur quelques sites préservés et des zones de piedmonts sélectionnées. Ces recherches ont montré une occupation très distendue essentiellement localisée dans la partie nord de la plaine et incluant la zone de Persépolis. La partie sud de la plaine était beaucoup moins exploitée. Cependant cette reconstitution doit tenir compte de la réduction sévère du potentiel archéologique, tout particulièrement dans le cadre de l’étude de l’occupation à la période achéménide, lorsque l’exploitation du sol reposait sur des installations rurales de dimensions modestes. / Founded by Darius I (522-486 BC), Persepolis represented one of the seats of the kings of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC). Moreover, the site served as an administrative and economic centre and acted as capital for the vast province, named Persia, situated in the heart of the Empire. The spatial character of both the royal site as well as the wider hinterland it controlled, the vast surrounding plain, are however largely unknown.The study aims at providing better insight in both the occupation of the site of Persepolis, stretching from the monumental terrace to the royal necropolis 6 km farther north, along with that of the supporting plain. It therefore frames and evaluates the Achaemenid period within the context of the first millennium BC. At the outset, the study integrates the environmental dynamics of the region. The research was based on the methods of archaeological survey (field survey and geophysical methods) and allowed to reconstruct a ‘city’ composed of different functional zones (common housing, industrial quarters, elite residences, and royal monuments) separated from one another by large areas, presumably unbuilt though exploited.For the plain (100 by 30 km), the survey of Achaemenid sites was biased by the important destructions by recent development (industrialised agriculture, urbanism, transport and communication). Research has therefore been focussed on a number of preserved sites on the one hand and on selected piedmont areas on the other. These surveys brought to light a scattered occupation, predominantly situated in the northern part of the plain, also encompassing the Persepolis zone, while the southern region of the plain was less occupied. Nonetheless, this reconstruction should take into account the important reduction of archaeological potential, particularly in the case of a study focussing on the Achaemenid occupation since settlement in the wider Persepolis area was first and foremost of rural natural and of rather modest size.