This thesis explores the political and economic factors that were present when the TFX aircraft contract was awarded. The primary sources used in the study area The official transcript of the Senate investigation of the TFX and the financial reports of the two main competitors, Boeing and General Dynamics.The thesis traces the Air Force's and Navy's roles in picking a contractor and the reasons given by the Secretary of Defense for going against the service's advice. The paper explores these reasons and attempts to show their inadequacy. The thesis then shows that economic considerations played a large role in the decision and that Congress was powerless to stop the administration without ending the whole project. Some suggestions for changing Congressional control over large military contracts to more effectively monitor spending are made at the conclusion of the paper.

It is now over twenty years since the criminal trials of two women caught the attention of the British media. Sandra Craddock (later Smith) and Christine English both raised a successful defence of diminished responsibility based on premenstrual syndrome to a murder charge. In these cases the Court of Appeal apparently determined that PMS is a factor that can limit criminal responsibility. Although this thesis concentrates on the situation as it exists in English law, many of its conclusions are equally relevant to other legal systems, particularly those in common law jurisdictions. / The issues that are likely to arise in a criminal trial in which a defendant wishes to base a substantive defence on premenstrual syndrome can be condensed into five central questions: (i) Does premenstrual syndrome exist at all? (ii) If so, does the defendant suffer from the condition? (iii) Did PMS cause or contribute to the defendant's actions? (iv) If the answer to (iii) is yes, should the act be excused? (v) If so, under what category of excuse? This thesis will discuss the way in which these questions might best be approached. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

A suite of plants from the maize genus Zea L. (Poaceae) and the specialist herbivore Dalbulus maidis (DeLong and Wolcott, 1923) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) were used to test the hypotheses that anti-herbivore defenses are affected by plant life-history evolution and human intervention through domestication and breeding for high yield. The suite of plants included a commercial hybrid maize (Zea mays ssp. mays L.), a landrace maize, two populations of annual Balsas teosinte (Z. mays ssp. parviglumis Iltis & Doebley), and perennial teosinte (Z. diploperennis Iltis, Doebley & Guzman). Leaf toughness and pubescence, oviposition preference, and feeding and oviposition acceptance parameters were compared among the suite of host plants looking for effects of transitions in life history (perennial to annual teosinte), domestication (annual teosinte to landrace maize), and breeding (landrace maize to hybrid maize) on defenses against D. maidis. Observations on leaf toughness suggested that the life history and domestication transitions weakened the plant’s resistance to penetration by the herbivore’s mouthparts and ovipositor, as expected, while observations on pubescence suggested that the breeding transition led to stronger defense in hybrid maize compared to landrace maize, contrary to expectation. Observations on oviposition preference of D. maidis coincided with the expectations that life history and domestication transitions would lead to preference for Balsas teosinte over perennial teosinte, and of landrace maize over Balsas teosinte. A negative correlation suggested that oviposition preference is significantly influenced by leaf toughness. Observations on host plant feeding and iii oviposition acceptance under no-choice conditions suggested that D. maidis equally accepts all host plants considered in this study, thus these observations did not support the hypotheses associated with the life history, domestication, and breeding transitions evident in the herbivore’s host genus. Overall, the results of this study suggested that plant defenses against specialist herbivores are variably affected by plant life history evolution, domestication, and breeding. Additionally, the study’s results suggested that chemical defenses may play a role in Zea antiherbivore defense because the two physical defenses that were evaluated (i.e. leaf toughness and pubescence) only partially explained host preference of D. maidis

Inaug.--Diss--Zürich. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 8-11).

Thesis (LL. M.)--Judge Advocate General's School, U.S. Army, 1966. / "April 1966." Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-56). Also issued in microfiche.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2008. / "March 2008." AD-A479 790. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-121). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Report (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. M.S. 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-97). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-87). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis--Judge Advocate General's School, Charlottesville, Va., 1971. / "March, 1971". Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-95).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Erlangen.