Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The genetic information of plants is found in the nucleus, the mitochondria, and the plastids. The DNA of plastids is comprised of multiple copies of a double-stranded, circular, prokaryoticallyderived genome of -150 kb. The genome equivalents of plastid organelles in higher plant cells are an attractive target for genetic engineering as high protein expression levels are readily obtained due to the high genome copy number per organelle. The resultant proteins are contained within the plastid organelle and the corresponding transgenes are inherited, in most crop plants, uniparentally, preventing pollen transmission of DNA. Plastid transformation involves the uniform modification of all the plastid genome copies, a process facilitated by homologous recombination and the non-Mendelian segregation of plastids upon cell division. The plastid genomes are in a continuous state of inter- and intra-molecular exchange due to their common genetic complement. This enables the site-specific integration of any piece of DNA flanked by plastid targeting sequences, via homologous recombination. The attainment of homoplasmy, where all genomes are transformed, requires the inclusion of a plastid-specific selectable marker. Selective pressure favouring the propagation of the transformed genome copies, as well as the random segregation of plastids upon cell division, make it feasible to acquire uniformity and hence genetic stability. From this, a complete transplastomie line is obtained where all plastid genome copies present are transgenic, having eliminated all wild-type genome copies. The prokaryotic nature of the chloroplast genetic system enables expression of multiple proteins from polycistronic mRNAs, allowing the introduction of entire operons in a single transformation. Expression cassettes in vectors thus include single regulatory elements of plastid origin, and harbour genes encoding selectable and screenable markers, as well as one or more genes of interest. Each coding region is preceded by an appropriate translation control region to ensure efficient translation from the polycistronic mRNA. The function of a plastid transformation vector is to enable transfer and stable integration of foreign genes into the chloroplast genomes of higher plants. The expression vector constructed in this research is specific for the transformation of the grape chloroplast genome. Vitis vinifera L., from the family, Vitaceae, is the choice species for the production of wine and therefore our target for plastid transformation. All chloroplast derived regulatory elements and sequences included in the vector thus originated from this species. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die genetiese inligting van plante word gevind in die kern, die mitochondria, en die plastiede. Die DNA van plastiede bestaan uit veelvuldige kopieë van 'n ~ 150 kb dubbelstring, sirkulêre genoom van prokariotiese oorsprong. Die genoomekwivalente van plastiede in hoër plante is 'n aantreklike teiken vir genetiese manipulering, aangesien die hoë genoom kopiegetal per organel dit moontlik maak om gereeld hoë vlakke van proteïenuitdrukking te verkry. Hierdie proteïene word tot die plastied beperk, en die ooreenstemmende transgene word in die meeste plante sitoplasmies oorgeërf, sonder die oordrag van DNA deur die stuifmeel. Plastied transformasie behels die uniforme modifikasie van al die plastied genoomkopieë, 'n proses wat deur homoloë rekombinasie en die nie-Mendeliese segregasie van plastiede tydens seldeling gefasiliteer word. As gevolg van die gemeenskaplike genetiese komplement, vind aanhoudende interen intra-molekulêre uitruiling van plastiedgenome plaas. Dit maak die setel-spesifieke integrasie, via homoloë rekombinasie, van enige stuk DNA wat deur plastied teikenvolgordes begrens word, moontlik. Vir die verkrying van homoplasmie, waar alle genome getransformeer is, word die insluiting van 'n plastiedspesifieke selekteerbare merker benodig. Seleksiedruk wat die vermeerdering van die getransformeerde genoomkopieë bevoordeel, en die lukrake segregasie van plastiede tydens seldeling, maak dit moontlik om genetiese stabiliteit en uniformiteit van die genoom te verkry. Dit kan op sy beurt tot die verkryging van 'n volledige transplastomiese lyn lei, waar alle aanwesige plastiedgenome transgenies is, en wilde tipe genoomkopieë geëlimineer is. Die prokariotiese aard van die chloroplas genetiese sisteem maak die uitdrukking van veelvuldige proteïene vanaf polisistroniese mRNAs moontlik, wat die toevoeging van volledige operons in 'n enkele transformasie toelaat. Uitdrukkingskassette in vektore bevat dus enkel regulatoriese elemente van plastied oorsprong, gene wat kodeer vir selekteerbare en sifbare merkers, asook een of meer gene van belang (teikengene). Voor elke koderingsstreek, is daar ook 'n toepaslike translasie beheerstreek om doeltreffende translasie vanaf die polisistroniese mRNA te verseker. Die funksie van 'n plastied transformasie vektor is om die oordrag en stabiele integrasie van transgene in chloroplasgenome van hoër plante moontlik te maak. Die uitdrukkingsvektor wat in hierdie studie gekonstrueer is, is spesifiek vir die transformasie van die druif chloroplasgenoom. Vitis vinifera L., van die familie Vitaceae, is die voorkeur species vir die produksie van wyn, en daarom die teiken vir plastied transformasie. Alle chloroplast-afgeleide regulatoriese elemente en volgordes wat in hierdie vektor ingesluit is, het huloorsprong vanaf VUis vinifera L.

Scaling biological pretreatment from the bench scale to the production scale may be more economical if unsterilized feedstock are used, however these allow for microbial competition from contaminates. An accurate and rapid method for identifying the desired biological pretreatment organism is necessary to confirm the presence of the desired organism when contaminates are morphologically similar to the target organism. Traditional methods, such as visual identification, sequencing, and selective plating can be time consuming and are sometimes still inconclusive. Based on methods described in the literature, plasmid DNA containing the marker genes gus (�-glucuronidase), LacZ, and gfp (green fluorescence protein) incorporated into the lignin-degrading basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium would result in a rapid genetic test for the desired organism. The presence of these genes can be confirmed either through an X-Gluc (cyclohexylammonia salt), X-Gal histochemical assay or observing the gfp’s fluorescence by a specially equipped confocal microscope. Each reporter systems will allow for rapid, reliable identification of the target species. This study will report on the success of the transformation methods in creating a transformed fungus to be used in the context of a large-scale fermentation operation. Additionally, a novel in-harvest lignocellulose feedstock biological pretreatment inoculation trial was performed comparing lignolytic performance between fungal inoculum application techniques. Optimization of carbohydrate availability for enhanced saccharification was determined by analyzing glucose release by treated and non-treated unsterilized switchgrass. This study also focused on identifying parameters to enhance saccharification efficacy at the farm-scale.

XML is a widely used data exchange format. The verbose nature of XML leads to the requirement to efficiently store and process this type of data using compression. Various general-purpose transforms and compression techniques exist that can be used to transform and compress XML data. More compact alternatives to XML data have been developed, namely JSON due to the verbosity of XML data. Similarly, there is a requirement to efficiently store and process SMILES data used in Chemoinformatics. General-purpose transforms and compressors can be used to compress this type of data to a certain extent, however, these techniques are not specific to SMILES data. The primary contribution of this research is to provide developers that use XML, JSON or SMILES data, with key knowledge of the best transformation techniques to use with certain types of data, and which compression techniques would provide the best compressed output size and processing times, depending on their requirements. The main study in this thesis, investigates the extent of which using data transforms prior to data compression can further improve the compression of XML and JSON data. It provides a comparative analysis of applying a variety of data transform and data transform variations, to a number of different types of XML and JSON equivalent datasets of various sizes, and applying different general-purpose compression techniques over the transformed data. A case study is also conducted, to investigate data transforms prior to compression to improve the compression of data within a data-specific domain.

Based upon fieldwork in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, South East Mexico, this thesis is about how mestiza women in a low-income barrio become mothers. As such, it is an engagement with theories of embodiment, maternal subjectivity, transformation of self and gendered modernities. The chapters are intended to evoke discussion around the roles that mestiza women, the wider Mexican society and the state play in simultaneously embracing and rejecting constructed notions of the good mother. Competing notions of good motherhood come about through local practices and ideals, and also through discourses of risk and global health. The thesis is structured so that the corporeal processes of maternity (pregnancy, birth and nurturing) provide a common and interlinking theme which also demonstrate maternal transition as a life event akin to others. In doing so, this thesis is ultimately about the way in which gendered beings experience change. I intend this thesis to be both a political and theoretical project which highlights the lives of a community of women in a particular moment in their history. This thesis provides further evidence for the need to formulate new global theories of change that foreground gender in global processes. The women I met during fieldwork, and whose narratives have shaped the direction of this thesis, show that when individuals have recourse to a mixed economy of health care and are not reliant on state intervention, it can result in an outcome that better meets with the woman’s expectations. Women’s combined use of lay and clinical services reveal ways in which they make active attempts to avoid negative pre and postnatal experiences. In doing so, they embody a maternal identity that is deeply rooted in local ways of being-in-the-world. By managing the process of maternity more akin to local ways of thinking about gendered personhood, the women reveal how social change is both assimilated and contested in daily life.

abstract: This dissertation consists of two essays. The first measures the degree to which schooling accounts for differences in industry value added per worker. Using a sample of 107 economies and seven industries, the paper considers the patterns in the education levels of various industries and their relative value added per worker. Agriculture has notably less schooling and is less productive than other sectors, while a group of services including financial services, education and health care has higher rates of schooling and higher value added per worker. The essay finds that in the case of these specific industries education is important in explaining sector differences, and the role of education all other industries are less defined. The second essay provides theory to investigate the relationship between agriculture and schooling. During structural transformation, workers shift from the agriculture sector with relatively low schooling to other sectors which have more schooling. This essay explores to what extent changes in the costs of acquiring schooling drive structural transformation using a multi-sector growth model which includes a schooling choice. The model is disciplined using cross country data on sector of employment and schooling constructed from the IPUM International census collection. Counterfactual exercises are used to determine how much structural transformation is accounted for by changes in the cost of acquiring schooling. These changes account for small shares of structural transformation in all economies with a median near zero. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Economics 2011

abstract: This dissertation explores the interrelationships between periods of rapid social change and regional-scale social identities. Using archaeological data from the Cibola region of the U.S. Southwest, I examine changes in the nature and scale of social identification across a period of demographic and social upheaval (A.D. 1150-1325) marked by a shift from dispersed hamlets, to clustered villages, and eventually, to a small number of large nucleated towns. This transformation in settlement organization entailed a fundamental reconfiguration of the relationships among households and communities across an area of over 45,000 km2. This study draws on contemporary social theory focused on political mobilization and social movements to investigate how changes in the process of social identification can influence the potential for such widespread and rapid transformations. This framework suggests that social identification can be divided into two primary modes; relational identification based on networks of interaction among individuals, and categorical identification based on active expressions of affiliation with social roles or groups to which one can belong. Importantly, trajectories of social transformations are closely tied to the interrelationships between these two modes of identification. This study has three components: Social transformation, indicated by rapid demographic and settlement transitions, is documented through settlement studies drawing on a massive, regional database including over 1,500 sites. Relational identities, indicated by networks of interaction, are documented through ceramic compositional analyses of over 2,100 potsherds, technological characterizations of over 2,000 utilitarian ceramic vessels, and the distributions of different types of domestic architectural features across the region. Categorical identities are documented through stylistic comparisons of a large sample of polychrome ceramic vessels and characterizations of public architectural spaces. Contrary to assumptions underlying traditional approaches to social identity in archaeology, this study demonstrates that relational and categorical identities are not necessarily coterminous. Importantly, however, the strongest patterns of relational connections prior to the period of social transformation in the Cibola region largely predict the scale and structure of changes associated with that transformation. This suggests that the social transformation in the Cibola region, despite occurring in a non-state setting, was governed by similar dynamics to well-documented contemporary examples. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2011

L’objectif de cette thèse est l’étude expérimentale et la modélisation des évolutions microstructurale et des cinétiques de transformation de phase α + β → β → αII dans l’alliage de titane Ti-6Al-4V dans des conditions isothermes et non-isothermes. Dans cette optique, diverses techniques ont été utilisées (DSC, MEB, microscopie optique, résistivité électrique in-situ et DRX). L’équation de KM-JMA a été utilisée pour décrire les cinétiques de transformation de phase en conditions isothermes. Une approche basée sur le principe d’additivité est proposée pour adapter l’équation de KM-JMA pour les transformations de phases non-isothermes et est comparée à celle utilisant la notion de temps fictif. Les paramètres de cinétique de transformation de phase (n, k et Q) sont ainsi déterminés et interprétés sur la base des résultats de l’analyse métallographique réalisée. Les mécanismes des différentes transformations de phase ont été discutés en tenant compte de l’analyse microstructurale et des paramètres de cinétiques déterminés. Enfin la cinétique de transformation de phase βm → αII en condition isotherme a été simulée à l’aide du logiciel MatCalc et modélisée en utilisant la théorie de germination – croissance ainsi que l’équation de KM-JMA. / The aim of this thesis is to experimentally study and to model the kinetics of α + β → β → αII phase transformations in Ti-6Al-4V alloy for isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. To this purpose, several technics have been performed (DSC, SEM, optical microscopy, in-situ electrical resistivity and XRD). The KM-JMA equation has been used to describe the kinetics of phase transformations during isothermal holdings. An approach based on the additivity rule has been developed to adapt the KM-JMA equation to non-isothermal phase transformations and is compared to the one using the fictitious time. Kinetics parameters (n, k and Q) have been determined using this approach and discussed based on the microstructural analysis. Mechanisms of the α + β → β → α phase transformations have been discussed by considering the microstructural analysis and the kinetics parameters already determined. Finally, the βm → αII phase transformation kinetics in isothermal conditions has been simulated with the MatCalc software and modelled using both the nucleation – growth theory and the KM-JMA equation.

Digital Transformation is the integration of digital technology into all business areas, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. The purpose of this research is to explore to what degree has IT solution sector companies have digitally transformed during the past few years. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze the literature and the empirical data and make the assumptions required. The results indicate that DT is a procedure that involves integrating technology in all business areas and companies in the IT Sector choose to start the procedure to become more efficient and able to make frequent changes in order to satisfy their market and keep up with competition. The main barriers found are, in company communication, Hierarchy Financial requirements and unclear digital transformation strategy. The impact of failing to digitally transform is losing market share due to inability to keep up with the competition.

American college and university chaplaincy has historically reflected the spiritual demographic of college students in each progressing generation. This project explores the history of American college chaplaincy, the current spiritual demographic of millennial emerging adults, and proposes that college chaplains embrace the arts to creatively meet the needs of the diverse religious and nonreligious students populating today’s college campuses. Grounded in research which reveals that emerging adults widely affirm participation in the arts as spiritual practice, the project proposes three aspects of emerging adult spirituality as starting points for situating the arts as central to chaplaincy.  By recognizing the spectra between process and product, the secular and sacred, and word-based and experiential learning, college chaplains will be effective in engaging the spiritual needs of millennials with meaning and purpose.

abstract: This dissertation examines the influential relationships between popular culture depictions of superheroes and the substantive, malleable, and real possibilities of human body transformation. Cultural discourses condition and constrain the ways in which identity and bodies are formed and expressed. This includes popular culture texts that, through their evocative narratives, provide guidance or solutions for dealing with real world problems. From the perspective of communication studies, this project involves examining ways people project and perform fantastic future versions of humanity in relation to popular culture artifacts, like superheroes, but also examines how such projections are borne out of and get expressed through our everyday, less than extraordinary experiences. Key theoretical tensions regarding identity and culture are elucidated. These tensions are then developed discursively into a genealogy of body transcendence that features the historicizing of social functions to determine from where such tensions and changes manifest, and how they ultimately affect us. Several key artifacts are introduced to help inform the investigation, including eight specific superhero body types that provide an ideal perspective through which transformative power can be observed. The superhero discourse is particularly relevant because it offers a utopian/dystopian tension regarding how the splendor and seduction of the discourse materializes in both liberating and problematic ways. Another aspect of this embodied approach involves adopting the alternate superhero persona of Ethnography Man. By undertaking my own identity transformations, I am better able to investigate spaces that encourage such identity slippage and play, such as the annual San Diego Comic Con International. The once strongly held perception that our bodies are fixed and stable is fast disappearing. In bridging the body with culture through a genealogy, it becomes much more apparent how body transformations will continue to manifest in the future. Therefore, from the experiences and analysis contained herein, implications regarding powerful discursive conditions and constraints that influence our ability to change take form in revealing, problematic, and sometimes unexpected ways. More specifically, implications of who has power, how it is exercised, and the effects of power will materialize and indicate whether or not everyday humans have the potential to become superheroes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication Studies 2012