Nanoparticles (particles less than 100 nm in at least one dimension) exhibit chemical properties that differ from their bulk counterparts. Furthermore, they exhibit increased potential for systemic toxicities due to their deposition deep within pulmonary tissue upon inhalation. Thus, standard regulatory assays alone may not always be appropriate for evaluation of their full spectrum of toxicity. Systems biology (e.g., the study of molecular processes to describe a system as a whole) has emerged as a powerful platform proposed to provide insight in potential hazard, mode of action and human disease relevance. This work makes use of systems biology to characterize carbon black nanoparticle-induced toxicities in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tissues (i.e., liver and heart) in mice over dose and time. This includes investigations of gene expression profiles, microRNA expression profiles, tissue-specific phenotypes and plasma proteins. The data are discussed in the context of potential use in human health risk assessment. In general, the work provides an example of how toxicogenomics can be used to support human health risk assessment.

A Veritable Press is a collection of six short stories, focusing on the troubled relationships of its characters, exhibited both internally and externally. While the characters in these stories experience the effects of their own decisions, they are generally more affected by forces outside their control, whether those are the choices of others, or the inexplicability of nature. Most characters seek redemption, though they are denied the means to deliver themselves as they move towards an end that seems inevitable. This feeling of inevitability represents the arbitrary and seemingly unsystematic nature of circumstance. Through the use of distinct voices, multiple narratives, and metafiction, each piece works to exhibit an entirely realistic portrait of its places and characters, endeavoring to force its reader to face what is most unpleasant and appalling, in order to understand it. / You and I -- Violet in blue, swimming -- Mole hunt -- We three make up a solitude -- Savages -- Other books. / Department of English

The objective of this creative project is to develop a series of paintings in oil on canvas that focus on the issue of mankind's crumbling relationship with the natural world. The paintings will be produced through a process that begins with an intuitive abstract approach and will later develop layered representational imagery. My technique of painting involves initially choosing and mixing colors without regard to the finished painting, allowing the subconscious to determine the direction that the painting will take. Upon completion of the under painting, I begin creating stencils and layering imagery that provoke thought concerning nature and our place in it. This collection of paintings is representative of the process I have developed through a wide variety of influences, and is a means of communicating my concern for the ever dwindling natural environment and our connection to it. / Department of Art

No description available.

Love Poem with Exiles is a collection of poems with a critical preface. The poems are varied in terms of subject matter and form. In the critical preface, I discuss my relationship with poetry as well as the idea that we inherit poems, and that if we are inspired by them, we can transform them into something new.

The concerto enjoys a position of centrality within the oeuvres of many contemporary Nordic composers: the genre often functions as a vehicle for the exploration of advanced compositional techniques and aesthetic preoccupations, and the resulting works are well-represented on recordings and in the concert hall. Yet this repertory has largely been neglected in scholarship. Through detailed analysis of works by Per Nørgård, Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, this thesis develops analytical technologies for a genre which has received less musicological attention than it deserves. Placing a particular emphasis on the theatrical aspects of concerto performance, the project explores the application of three lines of enquiry, each of which has been theorised in some detail: agency (Cone, Maus, Cumming), physicality (Clarke, Cox, Larson), and space (Brower, Williams). Each of these lines of enquiry has been directed at the concerto sporadically, if at all – even though concertos make particularly compelling and potentially enriching case studies for the theoretical models in question. This thesis represents the first sustained attempt to explore the concerto with reference to these bodies of literature. The analytical models developed have wider applicability, to concertos both within and without the Nordic arena. I draw attention at numerous points to ways in which they can illuminate works by Ligeti, Birtwistle, Musgrave, Berio, and Lutosƚawski, among others. The project also has wider implications for our understandings of Nordic identity, virtuosity, and musical modernism at the turn of the twenty-first century.

This study focused on the perceptions of six superintendents regarding the state of the profession as of 2012, and it reports their thoughts and suggestions as to what preparation is needed by superintendents for the 21st century. The participating superintendents, who were all members of the Western States Benchmarking Consortium, were employed in six school districts in five states. Data were collected through surveys and telephone interviews. The findings of this study clearly indicate a lack of cohesion between what superintendents learned in their university professional preparation programs and what they practice in their day to day activities. The superintendents involved in this study tended to favor a hybrid approach – rigorous theoretical insight grounded in real world practice. Since superintendents typically spend a good deal of their time solving challenging problems including funding shortfalls, competition from other educational institutions, and the constant scrutiny of the media; their preparation needs to provide opportunities to develop their leadership skills and solve real world problems in an environment where they can take risks. Mentoring and participation in professional consortiums were recommended as key elements for the preparation of the twenty-first century superintendent. This study contributes to the discussion of how to best prepare school leaders for the current and future demands of superintendency.

This thesis, titled ‘Hide: A 21st century woman’s response to the first person in poetry’ is a creative and critical examination of the challenges and benefits of the first-person approach in poetry. It is in two parts, consisting of a collection of sixty poems and a critical investigation into the research leading to, and engendered by, the poems. Hide is a place from which to observe, hide is skin, hide is deliberate concealment; all of these meanings can be seen to reflect some of the concerns examined in both the creative and critical parts of the thesis. ‘Hide’s’ layers of meaning directly engage with what 'I' we choose to conceal and what 'I' we choose to show, as well as residing on the boundaries between privacy and exposure. The poems spring from investigations of my central concerns of autobiography, family history, the workings of memory, and ancestral knowledge in the form of ‘cunning’. The poems are an active investigation into the challenges and benefits of the ‘I’; the approaches and techniques for using it as well as the reasons for, and strategies involved in, avoiding the ‘I’. The critical part of the thesis is an auto-ethnographic study of the poems in the collection, together with examination of the difficulties faced by women writing in the first-person. The research includes thematic analysis of published reviews, and examination of the critical landscape within which women are writing.

The primary objective of this study was to describe and analyze visions of 21st century education articulated by prominent individuals involved with current school reform and restructuring efforts. A second objective was to describe and analyze those images of the most likely educational scenario in the 21st century and the perceived barriers that would prevent realization of those idealized visions.

Research report submitted to the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science in Development Planning, 2016 / In South Africa, the promotion of economic zones by government is marked by a paradox. The Department of Trade and Industry promote economic zones in the promise of “regional development” (Department of trade and industry 2014). However, scholars including Chinguno (2009, 2011) and Robbins (pers. communication 2015) have argued that economic zones are not designed for this purpose. In particular, economic zones have been criticised for having minimal positive economic impact on adjacent communities (ibid.). This research as a result is located under the broad theme of economic impact or effects of economic zones, with a specific focus on induced economic effects of the Coega mega-project on businesses in Motherwell. In this research induced economic effects are understood in the context of income spending that result from direct effects (employment) of the Coega mega-project. Income spending as a lens has been used to investigate the manner in which workers employed at Coega mega-project spend their income, with a particular interest on whether these workers do or not spend their income on businesses that are operating in Motherwell. Motherwell is one of the adjacent communities - to the Coega mega-project - that have been targeted by the Coega mega-project for development (Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality 2010a). This community as a choice or area of study is interesting since the existence of the Coega mega-project is encourage by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality because of its potential to create jobs and foster economic growth in Motherwell (see Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality 2010a, 2010b, 2014b). Primary data resulting from a survey that involved 30 workers demonstrates that there is about 10 different ways in which workers at Coega spend their income. This include renting accommodation - buying food, clothing/cosmetics, fuel - paying for medicine/doctor visits, child care, education, recreation and transportation. Moreover, workers at Coega who participated in this research also spend their income by sending it to family members and they also save their income with banks. This research reveals that none of the workers who do not stay in Motherwell are spending their income on businesses that are operating in Motherwell. Moreover, this research also reveals that most of the income from the workers who stay in Motherwell is spent on businesses that are not operating in Motherwell. As a result of these challenges amongst other challenges for Motherwell - identified in this research - I have concluded this research by providing an intervention of what could be done to address issues of poverty and unemployment in Motherwell through income spending of workers at Coega. I have suggest that Motherwell should be developed to offer a safer and accessible urban structure/environment, characterised by mix of land uses at specific nodes that responds to income spending of workers at Coega. / MT2017