‘CROSSING BORDERS': CULTURAL-GEO-POLITICS OF RAPPROCHEMENT TOURISM BETWEEN CHINA AND TAIWAN

This thesis is concerned with the cultural-geo-politics of rapprochement tourism between China and Taiwan in the era of warming cross-strait relations. By moving away from state-centric approaches to the study of cross-strait tourism, it interrogates themes surrounding the concepts of ‘border’, ‘identity’ and ‘materiality’, in an attempt to offer a more nuanced understanding of the everyday micro-politics at play. More specifically, the thesis considers different taming strategies engaged by the authorities on both sides in dealing with sensitive histories and difficult heritages, and how their practices are materialised in the tourism landscape. In doing so, this study probes the often assumed processes of rapprochement that result from and animate the cross-border exchanges by providing powerful examples of how tourists respond to attempts to manipulate their opinions, how they interpret ideologically loaded materials on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also of the genuine curiosity and good will that can result. This showcases the everyday experiences of tourists and the various bordering practices they enact and encounter during their travel. Discussions on tourists’ subjectivities show that far from being passive ‘numbers’ or ‘flows’ as often assumed by economic-centric studies, cross-strait tourists are actively shaping the rapprochement landscape. Furthermore, inquiries into the material cultures of memory and identity provide novel insights that go well beyond the state-led ‘peace through tourism’ initiatives to look at how commercial culture is shaping and responding to memories and cross-strait movements. Empirical findings are able to unpack how the border is experienced through a range of artefacts – from border controls to travel documents and cross-border purchases that extend beyond the literal border. Additionally, this research also broadens the sensorium by looking beyond ‘sight’ seeing to incorporate the olfactory, tactile, auditory and gustatory senses in discussing knives made from artillery shells, music events in a defunct military tunnel, and foods offered by local entrepreneurs. Finally, in acknowledging that tourists are not the only subjects of tourism, the thesis examines the roles played by ghosts and deities in their participation of cross-strait rapprochement tourism. In doing this, it demonstrates that rapprochement tourism is more about ‘interactions along the side’ rather than state-level diplomatic exchanges. Forays into consumption practices, identity construction (both national and self), and border (un)making could prove to be significant in the advent of unprecedented tourist exchanges between China and Taiwan

Tourismentality: Power and Politics of Battlefield Tourism in Kinmen, Taiwan.

Master'sMASTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

Automated Evaluation of Medical Software Usage: Algorithm and Statistical Analyses

Evaluating the correctness of medical software usage is critically important in healthcare system management. Turf is a software that can effectively collect interactions between user and computer. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to compare the recorded human-computer interaction events with a predefined path. Based on the pass/fail results, statistical analysis methods are proposed for two applications: to identify training effects and to compare products of the same functionality

Efficacy of some selected neo-adjuvant chemotherapy regimens in the treatment of advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma, and their effects on immune function

Purpose: To investigate the clinical efficacy of different neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) regimens in the treatment of advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and their influence on immune function of the patients.Methods: Advanced OSCC patients (n = 94) who received NACT served as subjects in this study. They were assigned to 2 different treatment groups. Forty patients received docetaxel and fluorouracil regimen (DF group), while 54 patients received taxotere, cisplatin and fluorouracil regimen (TPF group). Surgery was performed after NACT. Changes in clinical efficacy and immune function were monitored in both groups. The clinical baseline data of patients were assessed prior to the treatments. Independent indicators of prognosis were determined using Cox regression analysis (CRA).Results: Clinical treatment efficacy was higher in TPF group than in DF group (p < 0.05). Objective remission rate (ORR) in DF group was lower than that in TPF group (p < 0.05). After chemotherapy, both groups had increased levels of CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+, and reduced level of CD8+, when compared with pre-chemotherapy values, with higher levels of CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ ratio, and lower level of CD8+ in TPF group than in DF group (p < 0.05). Multivariate CRA revealed that the independent factors for prognosis of oral carcinoma (OC) were tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage and lymph node metastasis.Conclusion: These results indicate that TFP regimen improves clinical efficacy and immune function in patients with advanced OSCC