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Life After Death: How Animated Films Can Bring Life to the Character of Death
No full textThis thesis examines the personification of death within a selection of animated films. Furthermore, it proposes a spectrum on which these varying personifications can be placed, ranging from death personified with a familiar body to its depiction with an unfamiliar shape. Familiarity, in this case, refers to the extent to which the physicality of the character can be recognised from reality.
This is further explained through a comparative visual analysis of the personifications of death in three different animated films, all of which represent different points on the spectrum. The chosen case studies are Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), The Prince of Egypt (1998) and Watership Down (1978). As death is an inherently uncanny topic (Freud 13), all three films are looked at through the lens of Freud’s theory on the uncanny to determine to what extent they convey these feelings.
The Last Wish personifies death as the familiar end of the spectrum through an anthropomorphised animal character. This familiarity offers death in a more comprehensible and less uncanny manner to the audience. Death in The Prince of Egypt resembles the physically unfamiliar end of the spectrum, as it takes the shape of a mist-like spirit that cannot be found in reality. This is possible through animation’s ability to envision the invisible and incorporeal, which is utilised to instil complex emotions and metaphorical qualities within the character’s unfamiliar body. This confrontation with the complexity and inexplicability of death forefronts the uncanny on a stronger level. Watership Down functions within this thesis to illustrate the fluidity of the spectrum, as it personifies death as both familiar and unfamiliar. Within this film, the semi-familiar shape expresses the complex emotions and power dynamics that the unfamiliar shape of death can convey, as well as the accessibility that the familiar physicality can offer. The personification’s uncanniness, therefore, also differs at times. In conclusion, the three case studies reflect on the different ways in which death can be personified and the range of familiarity and uncanniness that this can represent
Corporate Sustainability and Financial Performance as Determinants of Sustainability Assurance Choices
No full textIn response to growing stakeholder expectations and the increasing prominence of sustainability reporting, companies seek to enhance the credibility of their disclosures through external assurance. However, companies have broad discretion in how they obtain such assurance, leading to variation in assurance practices regarding scope, level, and provider type. The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the variation in companies’ sustainability assurance decisions by examining how these choices may be associated with both corporate sustainability performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Drawing on a panel dataset of 2,107 firm-year observations from listed companies in 38 countries between 2019 and 2023, the study analyses the relationship between CSP, CFP, and firms’ selection of assurance scope (broad or narrow), assurance level (limited, reasonable, or hybrid), and assurance provider (Big Four or non-Big Four). The results indicate that firms with higher market-based financial performance are more likely to engage a Big Four provider, providing support in favour of legitimacy theory. No associations are found between CFP and the adoption of broad assurance scope, or reasonable and hybrid assurance levels. This suggests that financial performance is not a driver of more costly assurance decisions.
Keywords: Sustainability assurance, Assurance choices, Big Four accounting firm, Legitimacy theory, CSP, CF
How do young audit employees perceive management control systems and how does this influence their performance in the early years of their profession?
No full textThis study explores how newly hired audit employees perceive management control systems (MCS) and how these perceptions influence their performance during their early career years. Drawing on the enabling and coercive control framework (Adler & Borys, 1996), the research investigates how specific design features of MCS, such as flexibility, internal transparency, global transparency, and repair are perceived, and how these perceptions affect performance dimensions such as audit quality, efficiency, motivation, and innovation. Using a qualitative methodology rooted in the interpretive paradigm, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees at different levels within a Big Four firm. The findings reveal that MCS in the audit profession are conditionally enabling; employee perceptions of control systems shift based on workload compression. During periods of high pressure, such as audit cycles, mechanisms initially perceived as enabling may be experienced as coercive, effectively transforming the nature of control. Critical performance aspects are negatively affected during the busy season. The study contributes to a richer understanding of how MCS are socially constructed and experienced in practice. These insights offer practical implications for redesigning control systems to better support junior staff, and theoretical implications by highlighting the temporal contingency of enabling and coercive controls
Vervoersarmoede en visuele beperkingen
No full textVervoersarmoede is een wereldwijd en nationaal probleem waarbij mensen niet voldoende kunnen deelnemen aan de samenleving. Voor mensen met visuele beperkingen, van wie het aantal blijft toenemen, is vervoersarmoede een aanzienlijk risico vanwege het beperkte aantal vervoersmiddelen dat zij kunnen gebruiken. Deze scriptie verslaat een onderzoek naar het verband tussen visuele beperkingen, barrières bij het gebruik van en de toegang tot privé- en openbaar vervoer, en vervoersarmoede. Dit is onderzocht met behulp van focus groups waaraan visueel beperkten uit middelgrote plaatsen deelnamen en hun ervaringen gepeild werden. Deelnemers gaven aan dat zij, ondanks dat veel zaken rondom vervoer goed geregeld waren, op een groot aantal barrières stuiten, wat ervoor zorgt dat men minder vervoersmiddelen ter beschikking heeft en veel extra moeite, tijd en energie kwijt is aan reizen. Dit is in lijn met bestaande theorie: de beschreven problemen leiden tot een vergrote kans op vervoersarmoede onder blinden en slechtzienden. Toekomstig onderzoek naar toegankelijkheidsarmoede kan voor extra duidelijkheid zorgen rondom de energie die men nodig heeft om te reizen. Ook is het raadzaam toekomstig onderzoek te doen op plaatsen waar meer vervoersopties beschikbaar, zodat respondenten geen last hebben van algemene vervoersarmoede
Ons dagelijks brood - de praktijk en betekenis van maaltijd in oecumenische leefgemeenschappen
No full textIn dit onderzoek wordt gekeken naar geleefde religie op het snijvlak van sacramentele ritualiteit en alledaagse sacramentaliteit door de lens van maaltijdpraktijken. In deze studie staat de casus van oecumenische leefgemeenschappen centraal, met als centrale vraag: Wat is de praktijk en betekenis van maaltijd in oecumenische leefgemeenschappen? Naast een theoretische verkenning van relevante kernbegrippen is verkennend veldonderzoek verricht bij drie oecumenische leefgemeenschappen door middel van participatieve observatie en collegiale diepte-interviews. Hieruit is gebleken dat de maaltijdpraktijk een brandpunt is van ambivalentie die kan worden uitgesplitst in negen aspectparen, te weten traditie-eigenheid, symboliek-materialiteit, structuur-spontaniteit en handeling-taal binnen de dimensie ‘praktijk’ en delen-ontvangen, verbinding-vervreemding, verlangen-realiteit, vieren-lijden en intimiteit-openheid binnen de dimensie ‘betekenis’
How does cycling as a daily activity contribute to enhancing the sense of belonging of international students in Amsterdam and Nijmegen
No full textThe Netherlands - which is known worldwide as a cycling country - receives many international students yearly. These students come into contact with cycling quickly, and therefore the research question of this study is as follows: How does cycling as a daily activity contribute to the sense of belonging of international students in Amsterdam and Nijmegen? To research this, sixteen interviews were conducted about three dimensions through which cycling could have a positive influence on the sense of belonging of international students in the Netherlands. Through its comparative research design, this thesis examines whether city size has an impact on the extent to which an international student takes up cycling. The central dimensions to this research are physical, social and cultural belonging. The results showed that cycling affects all three dimensions positively. By cycling, international students get to know the physical environment of a city better, deepen friendships and feel more a part of Dutch culture. City size was found to cause differences in some areas, but ultimately not to affect the effect of cycling on sense of belonging. Recommendations were made to universities and international student organisations to focus more specifically on accommodating bicycle use among international students
Closing loops, opening horizons: navigating the Circular Economy journey in Noord-Limburg's manufacturing industry
Get PDFThere is an urgent societal need to transition away from traditional ‘take-make-dispose’ economic models to circular ones that prioritise resource efficiency, reduced environmental impact and long-term sustainability. The manufacturing industry in the region of Noord-Limburg can play a crucial role in this transition regionally, since this particular industry is responsible for 33% of the Gross Regional Product. However, despite the increasing recognition and advocacy for circularity (particularly given the establishment of the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive), moving towards it has demonstrated to be very complex and multifaceted. Manufacturing companies face persistent barriers to circular economy integration, while the impact of those external influences remains underexplored. By investigating how external barriers and drivers influence the internal integration of circular economy principles within the manufacturing industry in Noord-Limburg, this study aims to inform both academic understanding and practical strategies for accelerating the circular transition in this key economic sector. Through a qualitative case study, a thematic analysis of the data serves as a cornerstone for identifying, analysing and documenting significant patterns within it, consistently linking them back to the study’s theoretical framework and the broader literature on circular economy. Consequently, the findings open up several avenues for practice, policy and research.
Keywords: Circular Economy integration, barriers and drivers, CSRD, manufacturing industry Noord Limburg, case study, in-depth interviews, thematic analysi
Timely transactions The impact of board composition on firms sequential patterns of acquisitions and divestments
No full textThis study investigates how the rhythm of sequential acquisitions and divestments affects long-term financial performance, and examines how board composition moderates this relationship. Drawing on a temporal perspective in combination with agency theory, this research examines the moderating role of board independence, board size, and CEO duality. The analysis is based on fixed effects regression using panel data from 128 high-tech firms over a 17 year period (2005-2021). It was hypothesized that firms following a regular rhythm of sequential acquisitions and divestments would achieve higher performance due to reduced managerial overload, increased absorption capacity, and enhanced learning from previous experiences. Additionally, the effectiveness of a regular rhythm was expected to depend on board composition. Where firms with stronger governance structures would better be able to monitor and guide the individual decisions of acquisitions and divestments within this sequence pattern. Therefore, it was expected that board composition moderates this relationship in a way that firms with less agency problems are better able to benefit form this. Although no statistically significant relationships were found, the results question the benefits of regular rhythms which may enhance long-term financial performance in dynamic environments. This highlights the need for a more nuanced view of regularity and how board composition interacts with the temporal structuring of corporate restructuring activities such as acquisitions and divestments. In Addition to traditional agency theory, future research could benefit from different theories which assume more alignment between the board and the CEO, potentially offering alternative explanations for the role of board structures in shaping strategic rhythms
A Becoming Methodology. Introducing a Phenomenological Alternative to Lab-based Ichthyology.
No full textWithin the animal sciences and the field of ichthyology, there exists a tension concerning the reliance on lab-based research. I contend the philosophical perspective of phenomenology allows for a valuable perspective on this reliance on lab-based research. More specifically, it contains illuminating insights on the interrelation between subject and world, and the distortion of fish cognition, observed within the field of ichthyology. The main focus of this thesis will be the possibility of an alternative, or complementary methodology for researching the fish subject, deriven from a phenomenological interpretation of the infamous quote of Jacques Cousteau, that 'the best way to observe a fish, is to become a fish'. A becoming methodology allows for a new way to interpret the fish subject, starting from lived experience and kinaesthetic empathy, rather than objectification, measurement and control
Erotic, Metaphoric, Empowering: The Representation of Physical Disability in Surrealist Paintings from 1925 to 1960
No full textAs opposed to the representation of mental disabilities, the representation of physical disabilities and illnesses in Surrealism has barely been examined in academic literature. Therefore, in this thesis, I have analyzed the representation of physical disabilities in Surrealist paintings from 1925 to 1960, the first 35 years of the Surrealist movement. I focused on three aspects of the representation of physical disabilities: the eroticization of women with physical disabilities, the use of disability as a metaphor, and Surrealist artists who represent their own disability. To analyze these three aspects, I used theories from feminism, disability studies, and feminist disability studies.
In Chapter 1, I propose five reasons why Surrealists depicted women with physical disabilities erotically, even though people with physical disabilities are often considered asexual in daily life. Throughout this chapter, I argue that there was a larger group of Surrealists that depicted physically disabled women as erotic by both objectifying and aestheticizing them. In Chapter 2, I argue that Surrealist artists used physical disability metaphors that mainly rely on negative stereotypes of disability. In Chapter 3, I argue that Surrealism, with its focus on the unconscious, can be eminently useful as a movement to depict the artist’s own disability; by exploring their unconscious feelings and experiences regarding their physical disability, artists with physical disabilities can create artworks that create a deeper understanding of what their disabilities mean to them. Lastly, throughout my thesis, I focused on the difference between female and male Surrealists. Following Whitney Chadwick’s argument that female Surrealists often depicted their personal narratives, while male Surrealists often depicted Sigmund Freud’s erotic theories, I argued that this also influenced how female and male Surrealists depicted physical disabilities