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I sought to find out whether this was a tension between artistic and commercial in the career of visual artists, and if so, how this tension was managed. In attempting to uncover information which could address the research question I undertook in-depth career history interviews with artists which covered their time at art school through to their current practice. The career history method was deliberately chosen in order to address the research question at a tangent as both the literature, and my own personal experience of the field of contemporary visual art, had suggested that the topic of artistic and commercial was a sensitive one. By framing the interviews around the experiences the artists had through the time period of their training and career, I was able to approach the research questions indirectly from the perspective of the artists. Through analysis of the interview transcripts the framework of Bourdieu's capitals arose as one that would capably explain the activities which the artists were undertaken and I used this as a framing device for the empirical chapters in the thesis. In exploring ideas of cultural, social and economic capitals in relation to how artists describe the activities they undertake during their career it became apparent that the broad structures of cultural capital needed further refinement in their application to the careers of visual artists. In the thesis I chose to elaborate further on the concept of artistic capital which has, until now, been unexplored by scholars. I have developed an understanding of artistic capital as a subcategory of cultural capital with particular application to the field of contemporary visual art – with the potential for wider application beyond the thesis. The three capitals of artistic, social and economic proved a capable structure for understanding whether there was a tension between artistic and commercial and how artists managed this. Through this research I have found that artists come to believe, during their early career and training through art school, that there is a tension between artistic and commercial as this is perpetuated by institutions and art world participants through their exclusion or dismissal of commercial aspects of the visual art field. Through their careers they come to realise that this tension is less prevalent than they thought and that they are able to manage these two aspects of artistic and commercial more effectively. However, artists continue to be faced with instances where this tension is imposed upon them by other art world players who perpetuate the belief that there is an inherent, unresolvable tension between artistic and commercial. These individuals attempt to shield artists from this perceived tension later in their careers when artists are already adept at managing the competing priorities of artistic and commercial without the two creating tension.

The emigration of the Scots from the 18th to the 20th century has produced a diaspora. The thesis outlines how many diasporas are involved in the nationalist projects of their homeland. However, over the chronology of this study and beyond, whilst there were active movements to amend or end the Union of 1707, it has been found that the Scots were not. The thesis then proposes some explanations for this. Chapters one and two introduce methods, research material and context; they describe the Union, the emigrations and diasporas. The study uses for comparison purposes the Irish and Norwegian diasporas. Lines of enquiry such as nationalism, the use of soft power and gatekeeping behaviour are presented, with a discussion of Scottish nationalism. The study examines the approach to involving the diaspora of five groups; both SHRAs, the International Scots Home Rule League, the National Convention and the NPS/SNP. The response of Scottish MPs in the diaspora in England to the many attempts to legislate for home rule is also examined. The approach to the diaspora was found to be badly executed and targeted. Few visits were made, and only to the US and Canada. Communication was unfocussed and spasmodic. The Scottish associational clubs were frequently used as a conduit. A small part of the whole diaspora, these acted as gatekeepers, selectively mobilising for themselves as an elite which had no need of nationalism as they could succeed without it. Comparing the Irish, whose diaspora successfully supported its nationalist causes at home, is instructive. The study concludes that the spasmodic and amateurish nature of contact, the nature of the Associations and that of the diaspora itself were the main culprits in this case of a diaspora indifferent to the fate of nationalism in its home land.

The desire to enhance and make ourselves better is not a new one and it has continued to intrigue throughout the ages. Individuals have continued to seek ways to improve and enhance their well-being for example through nutrition, physical exercise, education and so on. Crucial to this improvement of their well-being is improving their ability to remember. Hence, people interested in improving their well-being, are often interested in memory as well. The rationale being that memory is crucial to our well-being. The desire to improve one’s memory then is almost certainly as old as the desire to improve one’s well-being. Traditionally, people have used different means in an attempt to enhance their memories: for example in learning through storytelling, studying, and apprenticeship. In remembering through practices like mnemonics, repetition, singing, and drumming. In retaining, storing and consolidating memories through nutrition and stimulants like coffee to help keep awake; and by external aids like notepads and computers. In forgetting through rituals and rites. Recent scientific advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and information technologies, present a wide variety of technologies to enhance many different aspects of human functioning. Thus, some commentators have identified human enhancement as central and one of the most fascinating subject in bioethics in the last two decades. Within, this period, most of the commentators have addressed the Ethical, Social, Legal and Policy (ESLP) issues in human enhancements as a whole as opposed to specific enhancements. However, this is problematic and recently various commentators have found this to be deficient and called for a contextualized case-by-case analysis to human enhancements for example genetic enhancement, moral enhancement, and in my case memory enhancement (ME). The rationale being that the reasons for accepting/rejecting a particular enhancement vary depending on the enhancement itself. Given this enormous variation, moral and legal generalizations about all enhancement processes and technologies are unwise and they should instead be evaluated individually. Taking this as a point of departure, this research will focus specifically on making a case for ME and in doing so assessing the ESLP implications arising from ME. My analysis will draw on the already existing literature for and against enhancement, especially in part two of this thesis; but it will be novel in providing a much more in-depth analysis of ME. From this perspective, I will contribute to the ME debate through two reviews that address the question how we enhance the memory, and through four original papers discussed in part three of this thesis, where I examine and evaluate critically specific ESLP issues that arise with the use of ME. In the conclusion, I will amalgamate all my contribution to the ME debate and suggest the future direction for the ME debate.

Female superintendents across the nation comprise approximately 27% of the population (Finnan et al., 2015), while female teachers account for approximately 75% of the population (Robinson et al., 2017). In Ohio, the gender gap between male and female superintendents is more pronounced with 16.8% of superintendents identifying as female at the time of this survey (Buckeye Association of School Administrator, 2020). Research has shown that superintendent responsibilities have shifted from a managerial focus to a focus on curriculum and instruction (Kowalski et al., 2010; Leithwood et al., 2013; Maeroff, 2010). This study sought to further explore the gendered difference of superintendents by exploring the instructional competencies needed to be a superintendent in the 21st century as well as the pathway taken to the position.This mixed methods study used an electronic survey with quantitative questions as well as qualitative open-response questions. Findings revealed that there is a gendered difference in superintendent competencies, and females rate themselves higher in the curriculum and instruction competencies of the NELP standards. In Ohio, there is also a gendered pathway to the superintendency, and females were more likely to hold positions that provide background and experience in curriculum and instruction responsibilities. This research provides evidence to support that females have the background to be strong curricular superintendents that can directly impact both district and student success.

Men continue to outnumber women in public school superintendent roles by a 4:1 ratio. However, women outnumber men by a 4:1 ratio in teaching roles in public school districts. In addition, more women than men hold superintendent certificates and educational doctorates. Due to this puzzling discrepancy, it is important to understand possible factors in the form of gendered barriers to access that could lead to the unequal representation of women in superintendent positions. In this study, I examined how these barriers manifested in the experiences of female superintendents participating in the study, how they influenced the hiring experiences of these participants, and how they impacted these female leaders throughout their careers. With this study, I investigated barriers associated with holding mechanisms, gendered norms, and gendered filters that may limit women's access to superintendent roles. Women's experiences of the origins and effects of gender normative perceptions and hiring practices have potential for contributing to the study of gender equity in the field of education and beyond. Findings could provide implications for increasing women's opportunities to serve beyond central office positions in public school districts. Possibilities exist for identifying practices in organizations that have hired women to serve at the highest level of school district leadership; that of the superintendent of schools.

Securities crowdfunding is premised on two core policy goals: inclusivity and efficiency. First, crowdfunding is conceived as an inclusive system where all entrepreneurs are given a chance to pitch their idea to the "crowd." Second, crowdfunding is supposed to be an efficient way to channel funds from public investors to promising startup companies. There is a fundamental tension between these two policy goals, however. A totally inclusive system would ensure that platforms list any and every company that wants to participate. But platforms need to curate and select the companies they list in order to establish a reputation as a reliable market for investors. This gatekeeping function aids efficiency, but is exclusive by its nature. Hence, the tension between inclusive and efficient crowdfunding. This Article provides a theoretical and an empirical analysis of inclusivity versus efficiency in crowdfunding. It also compares the American crowdfunding system with its counterpart in New Zealand using original research collected by the author during a six-month residency in that country. This research reveals that crowdfunding in New Zealand is much more financially successful than in the United States. This Article explains this outperformance on the basis that New Zealand's system is focused solely on efficiency, even at the expense of inclusivity. In the United States, by contrast, we closed our eyes to the tension between efficiency and inclusivity and tried to achieve both at the same time. In practice, and perhaps as could have been expected, this has led to only minor success on both fronts. Broadening the analysis out, we see that inclusive crowdfunding is a luxury that only certain countries can manage, depending on their existing systems for entrepreneurial finance. The United States has a huge and sophisticated venture capital industry and thus can afford to sacrifice some efficiency in our crowdfunding system in order to advance inclusivity. But New Zealand has long had very little venture capital investment and hence a real need to develop crowdfunding as an effective new means for efficiently channeling capital to the country's startup companies. The need to consciously trade off inclusivity and efficiency is an important lesson from the present research.

In this dissertation I explore the ways in which foreign cultural products have been legitimized as acceptable products in a country. I examine the history of Asian films theatrically released in the United States as a case which can show some influences on the acceptance of foreign cultural products. In my analysis, there are two main factors in the legitimization of Asian films in the United States: 1) the changing opportunity space, which includes social, economic, and cultural context of American society; 2) and the roles of gatekeepers, which are engaged to increase the accessibility, familiarity, and popularity of Asian films. The case of Asian films highlights the changing acceptance of foreign cultural products in a country and the mechanism involved in the legitimization of foreign cultural products. The history of Asian films may show common features in legitimizing foreign cultural products in a country.

To approach the lesser known topic of the temple administration in the post-exilic period (539-333 BCE), we have examined specific passages in the book of Chronicles that create a portrait of the temple administration. This portrait focuses on gatekeepers (1 Chr 9:17-32; 26:1-19); treasurers (1 Chr 9:26-28; 26:20-32); and tax collectors (2 Chr 24:5-11; 34:9-13). The first two sets of texts belong to what this work will call "David's Installation Block" which provides the major framework for the relevant material of the Chronicler, who authored the book of Chronicles around between the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. The third set of texts shares the Chronicler's characteristic redactional traits in common with "David's Installation Block." These three sets of texts communicate the Chronicler's ideal image of the temple administration. The guiding question in the present work is whether these selected passages can be used as a source to reconstruct the temple administration in the post-exilic period. We conclude that the Chronicler's description of the temple administration, especially his incorporation of non-priestly cultic personnel among the Levites, must be considered to comprise an argument for an ideal temple administration. The Chronicler's ideal was grounded in his creative exegetical approaches to Pentateuchal traditions and his responses to the contemporary debate about the legtitimate priesthood among different priestly circles; his ideal is not simply a projection of the administrative reality of his own time. For this purpose, we have expounded on the selected passages through a series of literary analyses. These analyses have enabled us to identify, building on the work of other scholars, the Chronicler's literary methods by which he built his sophisticated arguments. Furthermore, we have compared the Chronicler's presentations of the temple gates, the temple revenue, the temple tax, imperial taxes, and the temple staff with other post-exilic biblical and non-biblical data. This comparative approach successfully shows that the Chronicler's treatments of those topics deviated, to a greater or lesser extent, from his contemporaries, while the Chronicler's work displayed the linguistic and sociocultural peculiarities of Persian era Yehud. Although the book of Chronicles does not provide straightforward data to reconstruct the actual realities of the temple administration in the post-exilic period, the work done in this dissertation illuminates how the Chronicler engaged ancient traditions and contemporary situations to develop his image of the ideal future temple administration.

This dissertation integrates theories of social influence, communication, groupthink, and cognitive dissonance to explain the role of a knowledge gatekeeper within an organisation during a period of organisational change. Relatively little research has been conducted on how the elements of social influence, groupthink, cognitive dissonance and communications potentially converge to enable the emergence of power during organisational change events. Of great importance during organisational change is the concept of the knowledge gatekeeper being instrumental in acting as a communication channel between individuals, groups and departments and the influence over what type of information, its quality, currency and pertinence passes through that channel. The change in this instance is the implementation of a new electronic document and records management system and the investigation describes how staff perceived the redistribution of power amongst staff members and the changing perception of the knowledge gatekeeper. Grounded theory methodology, informed by phenomenology and the Technology Acceptance Model form a framework to explore the acceptance of change in the form of a new information system. Literature relating to information systems implementation is examined and related to the organisational change issues of resistance and counter-culture. The discussions are situated in the context of how concepts of communication, groupthink and cognitive dissonance relate to a framework for the acceptance of change and how this framework then relates to the situational analysis of the knowledge gatekeeper’s role. Stakeholder perceptions of an information system and the subsequent change within the organisation enabled the construction of a more complex model which incorporates the relevance of social influences for change acceptance. This dissertation proposes the Social Influence and Change Acceptance Model (SICAM) as a means of conceptualising how a knowledge gatekeeper influences colleagues’ perceptions of events during organisational change. Insight into the dimensions of power, the use of workthink as a resistance strategy, and the effect of miscommunication during system requirements elicitation are offered for consideration. The main research findings can facilitate understanding of the issues that surround organisational change and knowledge gatekeepers, in particular the impact of information systems implementations on broader organisational changes. When seeking to understand how stakeholders react to social situations affecting change, SICAM can be transferred to broader situations, not just located within the information systems research arena.