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White Coal Nation? Resource-making, identity, and hegemony in the struggle over Georgia’s hydropower development
Get PDFThis thesis examines the conflict over hydropower development in Georgia, with a particular focus on three mega-projects — the Enguri, Khudoni, and Nenskra hydropower plants (HPPs). I examine debates over hydropower taking place in Georgia’s spaces of public discourse. My analysis is rooted in resource geography and political ecology, and specifically their subfields of resource-making, critical hydropolitics, studies of resource nationalism, and Gramscian political ecology. The thesis draws on interviews and library research undertaken during eight months of fieldwork in Georgia during October 2018-July 2019, as well as supplementary desk research performed in July 2019-April 2021.
Through a close reading of empirics from textual sources and interviews, I systematically sort through and present arguments mobilized for and against hydropower development in the Georgian national discourse. I also provide detailed background information to situate these arguments within their broader socio-political-economic context. I then analyze this discourse and its relation to broader social context using the academic literature mentioned above.
In so doing, I make several key observations about the conflict over hydropower in Georgia, and about resource-making and resource conflicts more broadly. Specifically, I argue that the concept of a resource is an imaginary constructed for rhetorical purposes in an ‘economy of appearances’; that resources and national identity are mutually reinforcing imaginaries, each of which is (re)defined and contested with reference to the other; and that resource conflicts are Gramscian struggles to articulate and establish a hegemonic national vision, prosecuted by redefining the nation’s socio-natural relations. Finally, I use these conclusions to argue that geographers must pay increased attention to resource-making as a multi-step process, to the material consequences of disjunctures between resource imaginaries and the material world they describe, and to the way resources and other imaginaries are interwoven and therefore simultaneously produced and contested
The Role of Variable Pay Systems and their Effects on Employee Motivation in Saudi Arabian Companies
Get PDFHuman Resources Management (HRM) practices have been evolving across the globe, and in the face of fierce competition for skills and talent, HRM has been looking at ways to attract and retain motivated employees within firms. Variable Pay Systems (VPS) has come a long way from when it was first introduced by HRM managers and has now become central to how majority of organisations are compensating their workforce for services rendered. The dynamics of VPS has taken centre stage as to how firms are being run and its after-effect on the diversity, productivity, and motivation of employees. For scholars and practitioners alike, performance and motivation remain central to a firm’s success which is why VPS has gained momentum in the literature and attracts significant scholarly interest. When it comes to VPS though, most studies are based in western context which has generated theoretical domains and knowledge for scholars. Against such a backdrop, the current study takes the lead and puts together a mixed method study. This study is contextualised in Saudi Arabia (SA) which is at the cusp of transforming its economy through diversifying its operational activities. Despite a flurry of economic revolution and transformation, the country remains ignored in the literature. It offers unique opportunities for scholars especially due to its religious, cultural, and human resources elements. Utilising all of this, this thesis sets out to explore the dynamics of a diverse workforce in SA firms wherein VPS plays an important role in determining the organisational performance and productivity. Multiple data collection methods have been employed to develop a holistic view of the phenomenon under consideration and develop a comprehensive view of VPS in some of the firms determining the overall productivity of the country. The research delivers through its systematic research design and contributions in the form of theoretical framework. Quantitatively, surveys have been used to identify key indicators around the research objectives. Semi-structured interviews have contributed to qualitative investigative approach and have helped build a framework grounded in data. Both sets of findings point to multiple strands determining VPS understanding and adoption amongst SA firms. Cultural and religious notions, which are deeply embedded in the country’s corporate environment, are key determinants and when considering VPS, and these notions impact employee motivation, decision-making and organisational performance. The work overall is an important step towards highlighting VPS in a non-familiar context and, considering the contributions, can open up avenues for further research at both organisation (macro) and individual (micro) level
‘Fruit of Gold’, a Creative Writing Piece with an accompanying Critical Essay
Get PDFA novella-length story, satirically exploring the consequences of big business muscling small enterprises out of the way in their pursuit of global commercial dominance. Set in Italy and Argentina, 'Fruit of Gold' is a comedy-drama chronicle of ordinary people being pushed around by forces beyond their comprehension or control.
Accompanying this fiction piece is a long essay on the 'nostalgic-Utopian' worldview, which entails viewing history as a succession of degradations, and that the world is getting worse with the passing of time. This essay is split into three chapters. The first focuses on a general understanding of nostalgic-Utopianism, principally looking at the writings of Paul Kingsnorth, Fredric Jameson, and Thomas Pynchon. The second chapter focuses in on Pynchon, analysing the nostalgic-Utopian framework employed in his novels. The final chapter looks at language and nationality, where they fit in to the economistic perception of the world advanced by the nostalgic-Utopians, and how they factor into James Joyce's 'Ulysses'
Investigating the use of literary texts in a pedagogy to teach intercultural communicative competence in an EFL Master’s course in Algeria
Get PDFThis thesis addresses a significant question of how literary texts can be used in an EFL classroom to teach intercultural communicative competence. It investigates students’ learning of intercultural communicative competence and their experience of a pedagogy that introduces literary texts for this objective.
The research is interdisciplinary in nature and adopts theories from the field of teaching literature and the field of intercultural education from a global perspective to frame the study, taking into account the local social context.
Adopting an interpretive approach based on social constructionism, this study is based on qualitative data elicited during an action research project, and presents an analysis of the students’ learning and their awareness of their learning experience according to data collected from different sources and perspectives.
The empirical study shows the application of theoretical models from interdisciplinary fields of study to pedagogical practices. In addition, it offers theoretical conceptualizations of key concepts specific to the context of this study taking into account the different political, social and linguistic tensions, especially that the intercultural dimension is emerging in the educational context of this study, Algeria.
Overall, the study shows that, using a specific teaching approach, literary texts have great potential in teaching intercultural communicative competence as well as for intercultural citizenship education. However, the degree to which the students themselves were conscious of their learning outcomes varied. The majority of the students enjoyed their learning experience with literary texts, but some students highlighted some challenges they faced that have significant implications for future research and scholarship.
The study provides valuable insights for teachers and researchers in the area of intercultural education, especially for those in Algeria, or other similar contexts, where the students have limited exposure to diversity within their society. It also has implications to be taken into consideration for syllabus designers who attempt to include the intercultural dimension in their syllabus. Finally, the implications of this study are relevant for teachers of literature or EFL teachers who attempt to introduce literary texts into their pedagogical practices
Testing Post M&A Innovation and Share Price Performance in Chinese MNEs: Implications for Emerging Market MNE Theorizing
Get PDFThe initial primary motivation driving this research was to test empirical evidence relating to the ‘catch up’ assumption of EMNEs’ strategic asset seeking outwards FDI activities, as per (for example) Luo and Tung (2007)’s springboard perspective and Mathews (2006a)’s LLL model. Specifically, researchers still know very little about whether EMNEs fulfil their firm-level catch-up purposes in terms of post-acquisition innovation performance and how these firms can absorb acquired technologies and other strategic assets, thus leading to acquiring firms’ improvement of innovation performance from a combination of resource-based and knowledge-based view with special attention to the impact of home country effects. While it is argued MNEs from emerging markets acquire strategic assets by conducting cross-border M&As with a
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view to strengthening their domestic innovation capacity, this presents a paradox, as EMNEs are often considered to lack both the knowledge, resources and absorptive capacity to integrate and exploit such acquisitions by engaging in reverse knowledge transfer. In this thesis, the first part applies resource and knowledge-based views to consider, in particular, how domestic market business group affiliation, prior international experience and state-ownership affect these domestic innovation outcomes. At a theoretical level, factors such as business group affiliation have been considered important and potentially distinguishing characteristics that may make emerging market MNEs somewhat different to developed market MNEs. Empirically, this study applies the propensity score matching (PSM) and difference-in-difference (DID) methods on a sample of 99 international strategic asset seeking motivation M&A deals, plus a control group of 1686 firms. The first section does find evidence of positive impacts of SAS CM&A on patent counts and citations. This first paper also finds firms with international experience and affiliated with business groups perform better, and privately-owned firms outperform state-owned firms in terms of quality of innovation outputs (i.e., patent citations). Application of resource and knowledge-based perspectives helps shed further light on the types of MNEs from emerging markets that may successfully undertake strategic asset seeking acquisitions that may lead to firm-level catch-up.
Further, as an additional study and component of this thesis, the second paper explores another question related to Chinese MNE expansion. During the research process a separate but related phenomenon caught the author’s attention. When looking at the sample of CM&As, some of the international deals of CMNEs were found to be in unrelated industries. For example, Fosun Group acquired a travel group (Club Med),
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Wanda Group acquired a yacht maker (Sunseeker), while Midea Group acquired an unrelated leader in robotics (Kuka, from Germany). In these cases, the target firms had little relation, in terms of product market characteristics, with the acquiring groups activities. The technology gap between developing and developed market firms is significant and such unrelated product/technologies would make such deals seem even more complicated and difficult to undertake successfully. Indeed, the dominant trend within DMNEs has been moving in the opposite direction: internationally ‘horizontal’ deals within the same sectors are a growing trait of DMNE internationalization. This has created greater focus on ‘core competencies’ (UNCTAD, 2013). International divestments of unrelated business, moreover, have led to the dismantling of the remaining iconic Western conglomerates. Siemens and General Electric, for example, as well as lesser-known examples like Maersk, are rapidly shedding non-core businesses (Gapper, 2017). In a second study of this thesis, the author uses event study and buy and hold abnormal return (BHAR) methodology to explore stock market reactions to the international acquisition of unrelated businesses. Interestingly, the results show unrelated international diversification deals perform better than related ones in the long-term but worse in the short-term. Such performance, moreover, is positively modified by diversified business group affiliation and especially in those groups that have R&D capabilities, and mostly magnified when the acquiring firms are affiliated with diversified business groups and at the same time have a strategic-asset-seeking (SAS) motivation. Thus, suggesting that the nature of diversified business group and the SAS motivation play an important role in the success or otherwise of Chinese unrelated international deals.
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In sum, this thesis uses several established methodologies to explore some novel questions that are central to better understanding EMNEs (and Chinese MNEs in particular). In doing so, the thesis contributes to better understanding new theories of emerging market MNE by showing that Chinese MNEs are able to derive benefit from international deals. This suggests that they are able to ‘catch up’, as stated by Luo and Tung (2007), by acquiring strategic assets in foreign, often developed markets. Being affiliated to a business group supports firms with valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources and may provide an excellent environment for organizational learning. Prior international experience, moreover, may provide essential knowledge for acquirers to overcome the liabilities of foreignness they face and achieving performance improvement. While state-owned firms provide sufficient resources, the lack management skills may offset such advantages in improving firm innovation performance.
What emerges across both studies is, first, the role of strategic asset seeking motivation. Both studies show an SAS motivation helps increase Chinese acquiring firms’ performance, even when the target products are unrelated. Domestic complementary local resources together with the purpose of bringing such strategic assets back for exploitation and development in the domestic market explain why and how Chinese firms apply SAS CM&A to catch-up. In addition, the salient impacts of business group affiliation on post-acquisition performance are highlighted in these studies. The first study shows business group affiliation enhances innovation performance when compared with those non-affiliated firms when they undertake SAS related CM&As. Furthermore, the second study shows that even the deals are unrelated, business group affiliated firms with an SAS orientation perform better. These results shed further light
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on the distinct home country effects within China and how these may influence the ability of Chinese MNEs to exploit and reap value from acquired target firms. In particular, they highlight the apparently important role that business group affiliation may play when it comes to post-acquisition performance. Finally, the negative impacts of state-ownership in both studies point towards the potentially darker side of government involvement in international deals
The Design and Use of Supramolecular Gels as Crystallisation Media
Get PDFThe solid-state of pharmaceuticals is a critical area of research for pharmaceuticals companies, primarily due to the impact the solid form can have on the physicochemical properties of a drug. Some of these forms can be challenging to isolate experimentally, thus new techniques to screen for unidentified forms and to control crystallisation outcomes are required to reduce the risk of forms being identified late in product development. This work focuses on the design and use of supramolecular gels to crystallise pharmaceutical compounds and attempt to control the crystallisation outcomes. The work builds on previous studies by the Steed group.
Chapter One focuses on the design of bis(urea) supramolecular gels using a 4,4-methylenebis(2,6-diethylphenyl) spacer group, which has previously been the core structure of numerous versatile molecular gelators, with the aim to build on our understanding of the structural factors that may promote or prevent gelation for this system. A methodical stepwise approach to crystallise these gelators successfully yielded the first reported crystal structure of a bis(urea) derived from the 4,4-methylenebis(2,6-diethylphenyl) spacer, providing valuable insight to the molecular conformation and intermolecular interactions formed. The findings corroborate the results of previous computational crystal structure prediction studies on gelators derived from the 4,4-methylenebis(2,6-diethylphenyl) spacer.
A further study investigates the development and use of API-mimetic supramolecular gelators as crystallisation media for two polymorphic AstraZeneca active compounds (AZD-6140 and AZD-2281) to influence the crystallisation outcomes. Whilst a new nitrobenzene solvated of AZD-2281 is reported, the gels failed to influence crystal factors, such as the polymorphic form, crystal habit or size. This is despite an extensive screening procedure using a wide range of solvents and gelator/substrate concentration ratios. An initial proof of concept is also reported to demonstrate the gelation capability of free and pinacol protected boronic acid gelators. This provides the foundations for further work to investigate whole molecule API-mimicking gelators by exploiting reversible covalent bond formation between diol groups and boronic acid functionalities.
The final two studies investigate the self-assembly behaviour of novel bis(acyl-semicarbazide) compounds. A series of aliphatic and aromatically spaced bis(acyl-semicarbazides) with chiral 1-R-phenylethyl/1-S-phenyl ethyl and achiral benzyl end groups are synthesised and characterised. A crystallisation screening of these compounds, including racemic mixtures of the pure R,R and S,S enantiomers, resulted in thirteen single crystal structures of these compounds being determined. The resulting structures provide insight to their self-assembly behaviour. The aromatic-spacer compounds exhibit dimer assembly without infinite unidirectional hydrogen bond synthons that may promote anisotropic assembly. This lack explains their poor gelation profile. Two distinct conformations (linear and folded conformations) were observed in the structures for malonyl- and succinyl-spaced compounds. The linear conformations assemble via urea α-tape synthons, which are thought to give rise to gelation behaviour. The folded conformers, which are stabilised by an intramolecular hydrogen bond, assemble into bilayer arrangements with hydrophilic cores and hydrophobic surfaces. Ultrasound is required in many solvents to induced gelation of the malonyl and succinyl-spaced compounds and this is attributed to the requirement to disrupt the intramolecular hydrogen bond and induce a conformational change. Only linear conformers and urea α-tape assembly were identified for the oxalyl- and adipic-spaced compounds with both spacers yielding highly versatile gelators. The impact of chirality on gelation behaviour is also described, with chiral compounds exhibiting superior gelation behaviour to their achiral counterparts. Racemic mixtures of R,R and S,S enantiomers also exhibit significantly reduced gelation behaviour compared to the enantiomerically pure components, likely due to enabling crystallisation in centrosymmetric space groups. The sensitivity of gels to anions were explored, with most gels undergoing a gel-sol upon the addition of trace amounts of anionic salts. However, the chiral oxalyl-spaced gelators are highly resistant to anion-disruption, maintaining gelation upon addition of up to 10 molar equivalents of anions. This was shown to be useful in the crystallisation of the salt procaine hydrochloride, with the oxalyl-based gelator the only compound able to form stable gels in the presence of the API salt and facilitate API crystallisation. The bis(acyl-semicarbazide) gels were also used to crystallise a range of pharmaceuticals to influence the crystallisation outcomes, including via an API-mimetic approach and attempts to achieve chiral resolution of chiral APIs. Whilst in most cases the crystallisation outcomes were not influenced by the presence of gel fibres, one new form of polymorphic RMOY was successfully isolated from chlorobenzene gels of chiral adipic-spaced bis(acyl-semicarbazide) gelators
Coherent Manipulation of Rydberg Polaritons
Get PDFThis thesis contains a statistical analysis of the resonant transmission of photons through an ensemble of cold Rubidium 87 atoms \textit{in-vacuo}, where the resonant excited state is coupled to one or two highly-excited Rydberg states via optical and microwave fields. Transient emission with decay rates far below the excited state decay rate are observed. Analysis of the second-order auto-correlation statistic reveals Rydberg-mediated anti-bunching of transient photons, a signature of Rydberg blockade. The application of resonant microwave fields creates strong resonant interactions between Rydberg atoms. This presents a new, transient regime for the study of interaction-induced dephasing and blockade physics in cold atomic ensembles. A demonstration of a collective Rydberg qubit is presented. Quantum information is encoded into a superposition of Rydberg polariton states with a direct photonic interface suitable for applications in quantum networking. The coherence of Rydberg qubits is demonstrated through Ramsey interferometry. Sensitivity to AC and DC electric fields through differential Stark shifts of the qubit states is confirmed through a study of interferometric fringe shifts and dephasing. Controlled removal of atoms from the collective qubit under the action of a resonant scattering beam is shown to diminish readout fidelity but have little effect upon coherence due to the collective nature of the encoding. Theoretical models of the effect of photon scattering and electrical noise on the Rydberg qubit are confirmed experimentally. Ramsey fringe visibility is observed to scale with the fourth power of an applied noise field, matching a theoretical model
Side-Splitting: Humour and National Identity in Contemporary Spanish Cinema (1970-2020)
Get PDFThrough close-readings of sagas, moments, and movements in Spanish film comedy across the past half-century (1970-2020), this thesis investigates how overtly “national” humour, explicitly depicting homeland idiosyncrasies and deficiencies, variously mirrors, shapes, mollifies and intensifies sociopolitical anxieties in Spain’s ongoing transitions from dictatorship to democracy. Problematising the very notion of ‘nation(al)’ in case-studies from Luis García Berlanga, Juan Antonio Bardem (1970-1977), ‘early’ Pedro Almodóvar (1980-1984), Bigas Luna (the ‘Iberian Trilogy’, 1992-1994), Álex de la Iglesia (Muertos de risa/Dying of Laughter, 1999), Santiago Segura (Torrente, 1998-2014), Emilio Martínez-Lázaro (the Apellidos/’Spanish Affair’ saga, 2014-15), and Javier Ruiz Caldera (Superlópez, 2018), it scrutinises the widespread supposition of a characteristically Spanish – or self-consciously, self-mockingly “Spanish” – humour, reconfigured and hyperbolised both domestically and for international spectators, fabricating the mutable ‘Spanish look’. Unveiling how Spain sniggers as vital anthropological clue, seven chapters cover comedy’s response to pivotal historical moments, including late-Francoism, desarrollismo, Transition desencanto, Movida, Spain’s entry into Europe, clashes between 2000s Aznarismo (centralised, castizo ‘Spanishness’) and mounting immigration, post-ETA trauma, separatist anxieties, and party-political fragmentation (e.g. the expansion of far-right Vox). Analysing visual gags through advanced Humour Theory, problematising genre, self-image, historical memory, and nation-branding, I connect questions of cultural identity to evolving comedic styles (sex-comedy, corpse-comedy, road-movies, parody, pastiche, clowns, irony, ‘simulacra slapstick’, romantic comedy, superhero spoofs, and coinages ‘comic-kazi counterhumour’ and ‘premature ejokulation’) that sprout during different sociopolitical eras. This reveals wider geopolitical concerns with gender norms, family models, and democratic consolidation, interrogating which relations of power, offence, and violence both license and emerge from humour. Transitioning out of Franco, national film comedy emerged as a vibrant, fecund, conflictual and resistant discourse, a vernacular through which models of ‘home’, citizenship, patriotism, heroism, and masculinities were (re)imagined and (re)enacted. Mirroring and moulding civic change through varied laughingstocks, film comedy ultimately broadened conceptualisations of modern-day ‘Spanishness’
Fluctuations of mountain glaciers in northern Norway throughout the Holocene
Get PDFMountain glaciers are an intrinsic part of the cryosphere and their short response times make them crucial indicators of climate change. Comprehensive investigations into long- and short-term glacier fluctuations are essential in developing reliable reconstructions of past climate variability and play a fundamental role in underpinning numerical models for the predictions of glacier behaviour in a changing climate. This thesis presents changes of mountain glaciers in central Troms and Finnmark County northern (Arctic) Norway, since the recession of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS; 14,000-11,000 cal. yrs BP), throughout the Holocene, and during the 20th and early-21st century.
A new method for identifying and mapping very small glaciers from remotely sensed imagery is developed; implementing this new approach has enabled the identification of an additional 78 ice bodies not included within prior glacier inventories. Subsequent remote sensing over the period 1989-2018 reveals considerable glacier recession, when glaciers (n = 219) shrank by 35 km2 (-35%). A subset of 15 glaciers reveals them to have lost ~69% of their area between LIA maxima and 2018 (from 10 km2 to 3.1 km2 respectively). The corollary of this is that, given 90% of the studied glaciers were <0.5 km2 in 2018, it is likely that many will melt completely before the end of the 21st century.
By combining extensive glacial and periglacial geomorphological mapping with calibrated and relative age dating, the first moraine chronology within the Rotsund Valley (Kåfjord Alps) has been established. This Holocene chronology is one of the most extensive records of small mountain glaciers across mainland Troms and Finnmark county, filling a critical gap in our knowledge on the patterns of Holocene glacier fluctuations in an area particularly susceptible to rapid climatic changes. Mountain glaciers in this region likely reached their maximum extent between ~12,000 and ~10,500 cal. yrs BP, roughly corresponding with the end of the Younger Dryas (YD; 12,900-11,700 cal. yrs BP). Subsequently glacier recession was however, interrupted by a major moraine forming event ~8,200 cal. yrs BP. Maximum Neoglacial regrowth/readvance occurred ~4,600 cal. yrs BP with the most recent glacial maximum achieved during the Little Ice Age (LIA), in the early- to mid-19th century (1814-1877)
The Ecuador transform-fracture system and its role in the evolution of the Costa Rica and Ecuador spreading systems
Get PDFFracture zones are intraplate continuations of transform faults that, according to plate tectonic theory, are tectonically inactive. These systems, and their relationship with spreading centres, are poorly understood. The Ecuador Fracture Zone (EFZ) is an example of a complex tri-strike-slip fault system. In this study, multiple geophysical datasets were used to model and investigate the structure of the EFZ, using ODP borehole 540B as a geological ground-truth. Previous modelling along the Costa Rica Rift was also used to inform modelling in this study. A 25-30 km-wide region of low density and ∼3 km thick crust is modelled beneath the EFZ. This anomalous structure contrasts with the surrounding crust, which exhibits characteristics of ‘normal’ oceanic crust extending right to the edge of the transform-fracture zone, suggesting a magma supply to the Ecuador Rift ridge tip. The anomalous crustal structure is thought to represent highly fractured basaltic and gabbroic crust, while the anomalous abrupt thinning is proposed to be due to a transtensional stress regime, resulting from past plate readjustment of the Panama Basin. In addition, the thermal edge effect caused by the ∼4-5 Myr age contrast across the ridge-transform boundary is also thought to contribute. An anomalously low density block is also observed in the upper mantle, consistent with the presence of a 40-50% serpentinised mantle peridotite region. This is suggested to be caused by the ingress of seawater through a highly fractured crust, and its flow along low-angle, basement-cutting normal faults to the mantle. This is thought to be the primary control on the observed vertical tectonism, in addition to thermal conduction across the fracture zone. However, the transverse ridge is thought to be a flexural response of the lithosphere to normal faulting, caused by the aforementioned changes in spreading direction. However, the transverse ridge located adjacent to the EFZ, is thought to be a flexural response of the lithosphere to normal faulting, as a consequence of changes in the spreading direction. This study also finds evidence of potential recent uplift at the EFZ, opposing the idea of fracture zones being tectonically inactive locked systems. Supported by heat flow measurements taken along the EFZ, residual serpentinisation by the continued hydrothermal circulation of seawater is proposed to potentially control this present activity
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