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This dissertation examines the movement for political union that existed in Canada and the United States between 1885 and 1896. During this period the Dominion was plagued by economic malaise, “racial” tension, and regionalism, all of which hindered national growth and the creation of a distinct Canadian nationality. The Republic, meanwhile, experienced substantial economic growth thanks to increasing industrialization, and many Americans sought to expand the territory of their nation. It was in this atmosphere of Canadian political and economic uncertainty and American expansionism that the idea of forming one grand continental republic re-emerged. To provide a more complete understanding of the movement for political union this study examines its emergence, development, and ultimate failure. Although at no time did it become a mass or popular movement, political unionism became an important element in the public discourse in both Canada and the United States. Furthermore, this dissertation shows that political unionism was not only an English-speaking phenomenon, as several of the core group of advocates identified herein were French Canadian, and there was a serious debate about French Canada’s future in North America. Many previous studies that have explored this era in Canadian-American relations have overlooked the significance of the movement for political union, largely by focusing on the tense economic relationship and the debate over free trade. However, as this dissertation argues, economic considerations for political union were secondary amongst its proponents. They did not support political union for personal gain. Rather, supporters of the movement shared a conviction in the need to unite the continent due to a sense of shared racialism and the belief in the superiority of republicanism. This dissertation also offers a new perspective on the core group of advocates of political union. They were not “traitors” who had turned their back on Canada and wished to “sell out” the Dominion to the United States. These figures did not want “annexation”; they desired a true political union.

The purpose of this dissertation is to compare the attitudes of the anonymous authors of the four commentaries or glosses on the Reineke-Fuchs poem, the first of these, the only pre-Reformation gloss, being written in Middle Low German and printed in 1498 in Lübeck, the second, again in Middle Low German, in 1539 in Rostock, the third, in High German, in 1544 in Frankfurt, and the fourth in 1650 again in Rostock, and to investigate how far these commentators' treatment of the work reflects the cultural history of the period. The three main cultural influences ,on sixteenth-century writers were, in the literary field, that of moral-didactic literature - where so-called Speculum, "Spiegel" or "Mirror" works were common - and that of Humanism, and, in the area of religion, that of the Roman Church initially and later that of Luther. Taking into consideration the socio-historical background against which the individual glosses were written, the attempt is first made in Chapter 1., based on the authors' prefaces to their glosses, to establish their intention in writing these and the audience they were probably addressing. This is followed in Chapter 2. by a comparison of glosses from all four editions on the same chapters in the narrative text, showing how the 1498 commentator reveals his dependence on his Dutch source for many of his general remarks, and, with regard to religious interpretation, on contemporary works printed in Lübeck in the same decade; how the 1539 commentator, while embodying most of his predecessor's general commentary in his own, illustrates this with material from a range of different sources, mostly High German; how the 1544 commentator, for his part, eschews literary illustrations and appears to be drawing from his own personal experience in what he writes, and how the 1650 commentator, on the other hand, embroiders his gloss with both Biblical quotations and tales from folklore. The main part of the investigation, however, comprises a comparison of the chapter-glosses under subject-headings: in Chapter 3. that of Government, where their content is compared with that of contemporary Humanist works dealing with the instruction of princes and with princely courts -the so-called "Fürstenspiegel" and "Curials" - and also with Luther's teaching regarding temporal authority and the obedience due to this, and, too, of Law, where attention is drawn particularly to the reflection in the glosses of how the practice of Roman law was superseding that of customary law at that time; in Chapter 4. that of Church, where, based primarily on Luther's writings, an investigation is first made of the difference between the teaching of the Roman Church and that of Luther regarding Church practice - confession, the ban, indulgences, veneration of the saints and pilgrimages - and the status and conduct of the clergy - both of the religious orders and the secular clergy - and of how far both the differences established here and other concerns voiced in contemporary documents are reflected in the glosses; in Chapter 5. that of Society, where the attitude of the individual commentators to the social structure, to women and the family and to the economic conditions of the time are examined against the background of Humanist writing and that of Luther and the glosses considered as "Ständespiegel"; in Chapter 6, that of Literary Influences, where those of Humanism and of moral-didactic literature are given special study and the glosses assessed as "Sittenspiegel." Finally, in Chapter 7., a comparison is made between each commentator's attitude to the fox-figure and consideration given to how far this attitude reflects his outlook on life and his social status. / Arts, Faculty of / Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of / Graduate

South Africa is a biologically diverse but technologically less advanced economy. Like many other developing countries in the world, its biodiversity is exposed to danger due to certain human activities. Among these, patents are charged as the easiest routing for misappropriation of indigenous biological resources and traditional knowledge associated therewith. Being member of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, South Africa is under obligation to ensure that its patent system supports the Convention's objectives including biodiversity conservation and sustainable use rather than its destruction and decline. The purpose of this dissertation is not only to dilute this misconception about South African patent system but to prove that with an access and benefit sharing mechanism it is an effective tool for biodiversity conservation, capacity-building and industrial development in the country. To make the system more protective of the rights of the indigenous communities, various modifications have also been proposed in the existing stature of the Act.

The most important rights, which state such a balance between these two parties, are the rights of intellectual property. Thus, an important question is to what extent 3D-printing conflicts with intellectual property rights. In general, intellectual property balances the rights between the owners of genuine products and their use through third parties. On the one hand the intellectual property rights give exclusive rights to the genuine owners, on the other hand they give as well some important exceptions for the use of third parts material. Hence, the purpose of this work is to examine, which intellectual property rights are affected by the production of a 3D-printed object. In each of the following chapters I will look at the different categories of intellectual property rights. I will examine in how far the creators of a CAD, the uploaders who upload a CAD on a website for a free or commercial download, the website owners who facilitate that uploads and the printers, whether private or with a commercial purpose, may be in conflict with any intellectual property rights. The most important intellectual property rights, which could be affected, are copyright, patents, registered designs, trade marks and passing off. For the present investigation it will be necessary to have a closer look at the different steps of the developing process of a 3D-printed product. More precisely, we have to differentiate between the creation of the CAD, the uploading of a CAD and finally the home-printing or the printing on demand through a specialised company. The aim of this work is to show how these single steps conflict with intellectual property rights and how the different actors in this process are liable for any infringing activity and in how far their activity is covered by any exception. Furthermore, we will also examine whether current legislation and jurisdiction appropriately address issues brought about by this new technology. Because of the reason, that the issue of 3D-printing in relation to intellectual property is quite a new one, this work will occasionally have a look abroad to other jurisdiction how they already dealt with similar problems. With this in mind, especially the US, European and German jurisdiction and laws will be regarded.

Lawyers and businessmen work closely together every day. Despite the increasing value of patents and trademarks for companies, it is important to keep in mind that Intellectual Property law and contractual law provide for much more types of protection than statutory rights (patents, trademarks, copyright). Business and company developments are no longer linear. Flexibility plays a key role in the journey a company has to travel to reach success, especially in the case of entrepreneurs and sole proprietorship companies. New businesses going through the "death valley"1 will need to be as flexible as possible to succeed. It is only fair for their attorneys to meet such flexibility standard. For these purposes, understanding different industries, stages of business developments, and Intellectual Property contractual and statutory rights becomes an essential matter to properly asses which kind of protection should and can be used for a particular scenario, on a specific time and on a limited budget. In general terms, Intellectual Property literature presents different types of Intellectual Property management schemes making use of patents, trademarks, design models, copyright, etc. individually considered and mainly referring to statutory or agency granted rights. These mainly and usually refer to case law and /or jurisprudence (as applicable) and international conventions. However, despite the ever increasing number of articles addressing each of these rights, little reference is made to their strategic use within the context of a specific company's business development stage or business needs they are aiming to protect. When reflecting on success cases, not many details are published regarding the "partnership agreements", "employment contracts", "services agreement" entered into by a company, or the Intellectual Property policies implemented by it while developing its business. On the other hand, when addressing the Intellectual Property portfolio, authors seem to refer to patents, trademarks and copyright as the big (or even core) concerns. Consequently, what matters should an entrepreneur identify and address from an Intellectual Property standpoint when starting a business? The most common answer has been: I am just starting and not anywhere near to a patent, so that is not for me. Each Intellectual Property statutory right functions independently, notwithstanding the possibility of using a combination of them. However, these rights can be used for more than one purpose. This dissertation describes the legally granted privileges (focused on patents, trademarks, copyright) and the role these play, just as one of the tools entrepreneurs have to protect their Intellectual Property business. It describes and explains other available contracting tools as part of a comprehensive Intellectual Property protection and business development strategy.

This thesis traced the development of the concept of creativity from the earliest works in the intellectual history of Western civilization to the late twentieth century. This historical perspective on the concept of creativity served as a backdrop to current views of the concept and as a reference source for recurrent views of the concept and as a reference source for recurrent and essential themes in the progressing debates concerning this issue.

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Background: Adults with Intellectual Disability (ID) experience health disparities that may be attributable to high sedentary behavior (SB). The levels and patterns of SB among U.S. adults with ID have received little attention. Purpose: To examine levels and patterns of SB in adults with ID. Method: The sample included 52 adults with ID who wore an accelerometer on the hip for 7 days. We determined total sedentary time, percent of wear time spent sedentary, number and duration of sedentary bouts, and breaks in sedentary time. We used t-tests and 2×2 ANOVA to evaluate the effects of sex or age-group and day of the week. Result: Adults with ID spent about 8-8.5 hours per day in SB and they primarily accumulated sedentary time in bouts 1-30 min in duration. Conclusion: Apart from small differences in SB, people with ID appear to have near uniform SB levels and patterns throughout the week.

No / Purpose ¿ The purpose of the paper was to examine whether, and in what way, managers perceive that the level and shape of intellectual capital (IC) within firms influences management accounting practice, specifically, performance measurement, planning and control, capital budgeting, and risk management. It also explores whether such firms are better able to respond to unanticipated economic and market changes and achieve relatively higher performance within their sector. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The paper is based on the results of a study conducted in Malaysia through a questionnaire survey in 119 large companies with varying levels of IC and selected interviews with both accounting and non-accounting executives in a subset of them. Findings ¿ The findings in the paper suggest some evolution in management accounting practices for firms investing heavily in IC. The findings are discussed and further explored through interviews in some of the firms analysed. Research limitations/implications ¿ The limitations of survey research in this paper are acknowledged, however these are ameliorated by confirmatory insights from the interviews. Further research could be carried out using more extensive case studies in companies, perhaps longitudinally, or undertaken using sector focused surveys. Practical implications ¿ It is important to show in the paper that management accounting systems reflect the strategic orientation of the companies concerned. Where a greater focus on intangibles and intellectual capital occurs it may require a different emphasis on management accounting practices compared to companies where they do not feature strongly. It is important that management recognise and act on this in order to improve corporate performance. Originality/value ¿ The paper shows that it is widely recognised that (IC), whether in the form of knowledge, experience, professional skill, good relationships, or technological capacity is a major source of corporate competitive advantage. Whilst the literature places considerable attention on the valuation, measurement and reporting of IC for external reporting purposes, far less attention has so far been given to the implications of IC for managerial accounting practice. This paper addresses this omission.