architects have the capacity to make invaluable connections between the present and the past - connections which can potentially fortify and enrich contemporary culture. carefully considered subtle and substantial interventions can infuse seemingly defunct existent constructions with a new vitality and provide the contemporary world with a rich and intricate new architecture. / Master of Architecture

This thesis investigates the relationships between projects in the form of resistance. The thesis is accompanied by a series of projects that investigate a number of resistances. These resistances spur relationships to other works in progress; descendents. The projects are a testing ground for the ideological content in an architects work. Each project we undertake is a part of a much larger whole that may or may not be a life's work, but is, certainly, an influence in the creation of coherence as we move forth in our practice. This is not to say that everything must look alike, rather it is to keep one involved in the fundamental aspects of a project that may give clues as to what you as an architect stand for. It is itself a resistance to the problems facing us as we attempt to build. Those problems that may begin to bog us down and force us to lose sight of architecture. There are many things on one's plate as a project proceeds, it is not easy to keep focus. The architect must seek aspects that put us into dialogue with those things outside that inevitably influence the specific work at hand. A way of arriving at conclusions that do not confound an architecture. I see it as being analogous to Hertzberger's discussion of warp and weft, a defined structure into which possibilities may be woven creating relationships between the elements of the architecture. This asserts a set of rules that an architect learns how to work with, and even violate. This formulation creates multiple possibilities within and outside a framework of the architect's order. The architect learns to question within the boundaries of his times, and perhaps beyond those bounds with that understanding. He learns what to ask and what not to ask; which resistances offer stimulus and which do not. The work, through time, acts as an analogue to history itself. The designer may then create with a better grasp of the full potentiality of Architecture. / Master of Architecture

As a young student, I enjoyed a passion for the studio arts and an interest in art history. I ardently pursued these areas in college, continuing their exploration in graduate school in the field of Industrial Design. For the thesis project, my objective is to foster in children an appreciation for art and, possibly, to help them develop a critical and appreciative eye toward their environment. In my research, I find inspiration in child psychology and the toys of child's play, in 15th-century Islamic art and 20th-century Abstraction, and in naturally occurring events such as ivy twisting up a knotty tree trunk and soft ripples in a pond. The assimilation of these elements, together with the ideas that they generate, evolve into the foundation for my project. My intent is to design a toy which provides children ages six to twelve years with insight into both the world of nature and the realm of art. Further, the toy will heighten each child's visual vocabulary to acknowledge the organic, natural line that exists in nature and which is, perhaps, represented in abstract art. These goals are the guiding principles for my work. / Master of Science

Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2014

This research was designed to determine the relationship between articulated credits and performance of graduates in the Office Systems Technology program at Mountain Empire Community College. Specifically, the study was designed to examine student performance as measured by curricular grade point average (GPA) and the number of articulated credits and other selected explanatory variables, including age, marital status, high school GPA, math placement scores, English placement scores, and reading placement scores. The subjects for the study were 134 females, predominantly white, with less than 1% of other races, who were graduates of the Office Systems Technology program at Mountain Empire Community College for the 1989-1992 academic years. Data for the study were gathered from the College’s Admissions Office and the Data Processing Center, the 1990 Census Bureau records, and the Virginia Employment Commission. The analytical tools were descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the population of the service area from which the subjects were drawn as well as the subjects of the study. The study was correlational in nature, using standardized regression to examine the relationship between a series of independent variables, including articulated credits, and student curricular GPA performance. It was also predictive in nature, using metric regression to provide formulas for estimating the dependent variable, curricular GPA. The standardized regression results revealed that with the exception of articulated credits, each explanatory variable was significantly related to curricular GPA. The metric regression results revealed that as each explanatory variable increased, the curricular GPA increased, excluding articulated credits that virtually remained the same. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to review state and federal court cases from 1982 through February 1998 in which tenured public school teachers were terminated for incompetence. This study provided a current analysis of judicial opinions of teacher incompetence as a follow-up to Shackleford's (1982) study in which she reviewed state and federal termination cases from 1958 through 1981. Four research questions guided the study based on the examination of 107 court cases. The study provided a current judicial definition regarding the term "incompetency" and also provided a legal frame of reference from which one could imply teacher incompetence. The following conclusions were derived from the analysis of court cases examined in this study. 1. The term "teacher incompetency" does not have a decisive judicial definition. Consequently, teachers may be terminated for multiple reasons of incompetency. 2. Courts have indicated that teachers should not be terminated for arbitrary or capricious reasons, but for just and reasonable cause. 3. The foremost purpose of teacher evaluation is remediation, not termination. Courts have indicated that teachers should be provided adequate time to 'find a solution to a problem. 4. Teachers must be provided adequate notice of the intent to terminate with a sufficiently detailed statement to inform the teacher of the allegations and charges so the teacher can prepare an adequate defense. 5. Teachers have a due process right to a fair hearing in which school officials must be able to exhibit a preponderance of evidence that the teacher is incompetent. 6. During hearings, teachers must be given an opportunity to crossexamine witnesses, testify, and present testimony of other witnesses and other relevant evidence. 7. A school board's termination of teachers for incompetence will not be sustained if a teacher's rights, guaranteed by the United States Constitution or state laws, are violated. 8. Teacher incompetency must be measured by the same standards required of others performing the same or similar duties. / Ph. D.

Cette thèse est l'étude visant la fondation métaphysique de l'évolution naturelle. La recherche fondationnelle est motivée par l'effort d'analyse et de synthèse en vue de dégager un concept intégrateur autant que signifiant pour tout aspect créatif de l'évolution. Ce concept procède de la recherche et de la confrontation des auteurs de la Monadologie et de l'Évolution créatrice, dont les œuvres représentent une approche privilégiée pour contribuer à élucider cette thématique. Ce discours soulève également le problème téléologique dont la critique Kantienne offre le passage pour signifier et délimiter le sens d'un télos de la substance de l'évolution. Enfin, nous montrons ce que peut signifier le grand mouvement ascendant qui porte -- au niveau de la conscience humaine-- celui-là à se dépasser dans la contemplation et dans l’action.

Master of Architecture

The design process is a means to an end. It is the vehicle one uses to reach a destination. It is driven by past experiences, the advice from others or intuition. The thesis is a journey. For some, the destination is known before the journey even begins. For others, the destination is found somewhere along the way. For me, the destination is in sight, yet it constantly moves just out of reach. Each new discovery demands further exploration. In the journey, the project represents all the discoveries made along the way. Each step forward is an attempt to reinforce that which the traveller has already discovered or to inform the traveller to change directions. Thus, what is important about a journey is not only how one gets there, but also what is discovered along the way. / Master of Architecture

La question de l’autonomie des finances publiques de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, petite île du nickel dans l’océan Pacifique sud, est fondamentale pour cette collectivité sui generis inscrite au titre XIII de la Constitution de 1958. En effet, disposer d’une autonomie renforcée avec de larges compétences (à l’exception des régaliennes), un gouvernement local, des lois de pays, un régime fiscal autonome et un régime propre de sécurité sociale et de santé, n’a de sens juridique et financier que dans le contexte où la collectivité d’outre-mer dispose à la fois de structures administratives publiques et privées fiables, de ressources humaines compétentes et expérimentées mais surtout de ressources financières pérennes et suffisantes pour assumer ses nouvelles responsabilités à partir d’une meilleure gestion du temps.Or entre 2014 et 2019, la baisse des transferts de l’Etat en valeur courante avec environ 1088 M euros en 2010, la réduction progressive des interventions de l’Etat et le financement exclusif de l’Etat pour ses compétences régaliennes vont constituer des hypothèses de fonds à solutionner pour les finances publiques de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Par ailleurs, il s’agira dans le même temps pour la collectivité de prendre en charge financièrement les transferts de compétences non régaliennes même si un dispositif d’accompagnement de l’Etat est mis en œuvre.Dès lors, la présente thèse se propose d’examiner en première lieu les pratiques pour préparer à l’autonomie financière entre 2000 et 2010. Le constat reste mi-figue mi raisin. En effet, si les politiques publiques menées ont permis de dégager des taux de croissance économiques de 3 % par an avec la construction de trois nouvelles usines de nickel de niveau mondial, il faut constater que plusieurs chantiers de finances publiques ont été reporté sine die. D’une part, la réforme de la dépense publique reste à engager en raison du report implicite des transferts de compétences non régaliennes. D’autre part, la réforme de la fiscalité et des participations industrielles du nickel ne peut plus être mise à l’écart en raison du fort potentiel industriel et fiscal existant. Ainsi, il sera étudié en second lieu le changement de dynamique et de structures des finances publiques. En d’autres termes, l’autonomie renforcée reste à inventer sans doute entre 2014 et 2024.Toutes ces mutations doivent nous conduire à imaginer une Nouvelle-Calédonie du consensus, de la maturité et de l’équilibre au moins des finances publiques. / Pas de résumé en anglais.