Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Central to a site-specific approach to performance is the concern for the potential of unconventional spaces. Appearing in multiple mediums, there seems to be little clarity on the parameters of this approach and it appears to have become a flexible term under which a plethora of manifestations have begun to collect. The aim of this thesis is to investigate a personalised site-specific approach to performance in order to provide insight into the role of the director in this approach, as well as to identify possible characteristics that might differentiate a site-specific approach to performance from other outdoor performance genres. Selected visual arts movements of the 1960s and 1970s which contributed towards the gradual development of a site-specific approach are Dadaism, abstract expressionism, minimalism, performance art, happenings, and land art. Artists involved in these movements challenged the traditional idealisation of aesthetic art works by placing importance on the physical experience and creation of art works. Eventually involved artists abandoned the galleries all together, exploring the potential of unconventional spaces through installations and performances. Theatre practitioners such as Artaud, Grotowski, Schechner, Malina and Beck contributed, amongst other things, on the breaking down of the theatre space, removing the stage and seating in order for the performance to engulf the audience in the action. Site-based performance was influenced by the above mentioned practitioners. Possible categories collected under this umbrella term are site-sympathetic, site-adjusted, site-specific and site-generic. Practitioners currently exploring these individual approaches in the Western Cape are amongst others Samantha Prigge- Pienaar, Louise Coetzer and Nicola Hanekom. A practical investigation of a personalised site-specific approach to performance, led to the following conclusions. Firstly, a site-specific approach to creating a performance requires the director to step into the role of facilitator, making decisions in response to the site rather than controlling the site. Secondly, the term site-specific is not fixed, as it expands and develops with the unique needs of every site. Thirdly, it is restrictive to say that elements like music and/or props cannot be brought into the site; however this depends on the nature of the site. Fourthly, while a complete set of characteristics cannot be made absolute for a sitespecific approach to performance two key features of this approach are the centrality of the site and the interactive relationships. Lastly, a site-specific approach to performance asks for a paradigm shift, whereby everything that is considered part of the traditional theatre should be reviewed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die potensiaal van onkonvensionele ruimtes is sentraal tot ’n plek-spesifieke benadering tot performance. Daar blyk egter nie duidelikheid te wees oor die begrensing van hierdie benadering nie en dit lyk asof dit ’n buigsame term is waaronder ’n hele aantal moontlikehede kan voorkom. Hierdie tesis stel dit ten doel om ’n persoonlike plek-spesifieke benadering tot performance te ondersoek ten einde groter insig te verkry ten opsigte van die rol van die regisseur binne hierdie benadering, sowel as moontlike eienskappe te identifiseer wat hierdie benadering tot performance van ander buitelug performance genres onderskei. Gekose visuele kunste bewegings van die 1960s en 1970s wat bygedra het tot die geleidelike ontwikkeling van ’n plek-spesifieke benadering was Dadaïsme, abstrakte ekspressionisme, minimalisme, performance art, happenings en landskap kuns. Kunstenaars wat by hierdie bewegings betrokke was, het die tradisionele idealisering van estetiese kunswerke uitgedaag deur eerder klem te plaas op die skep van en die fisieke belewenis van kunswerke. Op die ou einde is daar wegbeweeg van gallerye en is die potensiaal van onkonvensionele ruimtes deur middel van instellasies en performances ondersoek. Teaterpraktisyns soos Artuad, Grotowski, Schechner, Malina en Beck het onder andere bygedra tot die herkonstruering van die teaterruimte, deur die skeidslyn tussen die verhoog en ouditorium weg te neem en die gehoor in die aksie te dompel. Plek-gebaseerde performance is onder deur bogenoemde praktisyns be nvloed. Moontlike kategorieë wat by hierdie sambreelterm ingesluit word, is plek-simpatiek, plek-aangepas, plek-spesifiek en plek-generies. Praksityns wat tans van hierdie benaderings in die Wes-Kaap ondersoek sluit onder ander in Samantha Prigge-Pienaar, Louise Coetzer en Nicola Hanekom. ’n Praktiese ondersoek van ’n persoonlike plek-spesifieke benadering tot performance het tot die volgende gevolgtrekkings gelei. Eerstens vereis ’n plek-spesifieke benadering tot die skep van ’n performance dat die regisseur die rol van fasiliteerder moet vervul, wat besluite neem in antwoord en reaksie op die ruimte, eerder as iemand wat die ruimte probeer beheer. Die term plek-spesifiek is tweedens buigsaam deurdat dit na aanleiding van die unieke behoeftes van elke ruimte ontwikkel of uitgebrei word. Derdens is dit beperkend om van die veronderstelling uit te gaan dat elemente soos musiek en/of rekwisiete nie in die ruimte ingebring kan word nie, die aard van die ruimte sal dit bepaal. Vierdens, alhoewel daar nie ’n volledige stel eienskappe vasgestel kan word vir ’n plek-spesifieke benadering tot performance nie, is twee hoof kenmerke van hierdie benadering die sentraliteit van die ruimte en die interaktiewe verhoudings. Laastens vereis ’n plek-spesifieke benadering tot performance ’n paradigmaskuif, wat alle elemente wat deel uitmaak van die tradisionele teater in heroorweging neem.

The current application of logistics in the construction industry is relatively inefficient when compared with other industries such as retail and manufacturing. The factors attributed to this inefficiency include the fragmented and short-term nature of construction process and inadequate tracking facilities on site. The inefficiency of construction logistics creates inter alia loss of materials and equipment, waste, construction delay, excessive cost and collision accident on site. Meanwhile, several information and communication technologies (ICT) have been proposed and developed by researchers to improve logistics functions such as tracking and monitoring of resources through the supply chain to the construction site. Such technologies include global positioning system (GPS), radio frequency identification devices (RFID), wireless sensors network (WSN) and geographical information system (GIS). While considerable research has been undertaken to develop the aforementioned systems, limited work has so far been done on investment justification prior to implementation. In this research, a framework has been developed to assess the extent of construction logistics problems, measure the significances of the problems, match the problems with existing ICT-based solutions and develop a robust ready-to-use multi-criteria analysis tool that can quantify the costs and benefits of implementing several ICT-based construction logistics systems. The tool is an integrated platform of related evaluation techniques such as Fault Tree Analysis, Decision Tree Analysis, Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Multi-Attribute Utility Theory. Prior to the development of this tool, data was collected through questionnaire survey and analysed by means of statistical analysis in order to derive some foundational parameters of the tool. Quantitative research method was adopted for data collection because the processes of the tool for which the data was required are quantitative. The implementation of this tool is novel given the integration of the analytical techniques mentioned above and the application of the tool for selecting ICT-based construction logistics systems. The tool takes in data such as cost and quantities of materials for a building project and quantifies the cost and benefits of alternative ICT-based tracking systems that can improve the logistics functions of the project. The application of the tool will eliminate guesswork on the benefits of ICT-based tracking systems by providing an objective platform for the quantification of cost and benefits of the systems prior to implementation.

Group I introns are catalytic RNAs with the ability to splice out of RNA transcripts, often without the aid of proteins. These self-splicing introns have been reengineered to create ribozymes with the ability to catalyze reactions. One such ribozyme, derived from a Pneumocystis carinii group I intron, has been engineered to sequence specifically remove a targeted segment from within an RNA substrate, which is called the trans excision-splicing reaction.The two catalytic steps of the trans excision-splicing reaction occur at positions on the substrate known as the 5' and 3' splice sites. Strict sequence requirements at these sites could potentially limit the target choices for the trans excision-splicing ribozyme, so the sixteen possible base pair combinations at the 5' splice site and the four possible nucleotides at the 3' splice site were tested for reactivity. All base pair combinations at the 5' splice site allow the first reaction step (5' hydrolysis) to occur and several combinations allow the second step to occur, resulting in trans excision-splicing product formation. Moreover, we found that non-Watson-Crick base pairs are important for 5' splice site recognition and prevent product degradation via hydrolysis at other sequence positions. The sequence requirement at the 3' splice site is absolute, as guanosine alone produced complete product.To date, the experiments with the trans excision-splicing ribozyme have been conducted in vitro. The further development of this ribozyme as a biochemical tool and as a potential therapeutic agent requires in vivo reactivity. Thus, a prokaryotic system was designed and tested to assess the catalytic potential of the trans excision-splicing ribozyme. We show that the ribozyme successfully excised a single, targeted nucleotide from a mutated green fluorescent protein transcript in Escherichia coli. On average, 12% correction was observed as measured by fluorescence and approximately 1.2% correction was confirmed through sequence analysis of isolated transcripts.We have used these studies to further characterize trans excision-splicing ribozymes in vitro and to pave the way for future development of this ribozymereaction in vivo. These results increase our understanding of this ribozyme and advance this reaction as a biochemical tool with potential therapeutic applications.

Accurately predicting surface ground motions is critical for many earthquake engineering applications. Equivalent-linear (EQL) site response analysis is a numerical technique used to compute surface ground motions from input motions at bedrock using the site-specific dynamic soil properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the accuracy of EQL site response analysis for stiff soil sites by comparing computed and observed transfer functions and response spectral amplification. The Kiban Kyoshin network (KiK-net) in Japan is a seismograph network consisting of downhole array sites with strong-motion accelerometers located at the ground surface and at depth. Recorded motions and shear wave velocity profiles are available for most sites. Observed transfer functions and response spectral amplification were computed for 930 individual seismic recordings at 11 stiff soil KiK-net sites. Computed transfer functions and response spectral amplification were calculated from EQL site response analysis by specifying the KiK-net base sensor motion as the input motion. Sites were characterized using the measured shear wave velocity profiles and nonlinear soil properties estimated from empirical models. Computed and observed transfer functions and response spectral amplification were compared at different levels of strain for each site. The average difference between the observed and computed response spectral amplification across the 11 sites were compared at different levels of strain. Overall, there is reasonable agreement between the computed and observed transfer functions and response spectral amplification. There is agreement between the computed and observed site periods, but with over-prediction of the computed response at the observed site periods. Higher modes often computed by the theoretical model were not always observed by the recordings. There is very good agreement between the computed and observed transfer functions and response spectral amplification for periods larger than the site periods. There is less agreement between the computed and observed transfer functions and response spectral amplification for periods less than the site periods. There is mostly over-prediction of the response spectral amplification at these periods, although some under-prediction also occurred. Across all 11 sites the predicted spectral amplification is within +/-20% at shear strains less than 0.01%. At shear strains between approximately 0.01 and 0.03%, the spectral amplification is over-predicted for these sites, in some instances by as little as 5% and in other instances by a factor of 2 or more. / text

<p>Antibodies are proteins capable of specific interactions to a wide range of molecules. These interactions are facilitated by the complementary determining regions (CDR).</p><p>Carcinomas are the most common of human cancers and they release significant amount of cytokeratins (CK) in the necrotic areas of the tumors. The CKs stay in the tumor, since they have low solubility. The antibody studied in this thesis, the anti-CK 8 antibody TS1, has shown to be effective in tumor targeting and is proposed to be useful in therapy.</p><p>Single-chain antibodies (scFv) are recombinant antibodies which are much smaller than the intact IgG. This is an advantage when used in tumor therapy, since they can penetrate the tumors more easily than the larger IgG. Moreover, they are expressed by one single gene which make them easy to modify, for example by site-directed mutagenesis.</p><p>The anti-idiotypic antibody αTS1 can be used to clear the TS1 form the circulation and thereby clear the body from non-tumor bound TS1 in therapy. To be able to modify the binding of an antibody to its antigen and or anti-idiotype, these interactions must be studied. In this study this is accomplished by chemical modifications of the IgGs TS1 and αTS1 and the antigen CK 8. Guided by these results, amino acid residues were mutated by using site-directed mutagenesis in the TS1-218 scFv and the effects were studied. From mutational study results, the functional epitope could be mapped and it was found that there are mainly tyrosines, but also charged residues, serine and a tryptophan that are important for both interactions. The binding of TS1-218 to both αTS1 and CK 8 could be improved by changing the negatively charged side-chains by mutations to their corresponding amide or alanine.</p><p>Both the IgG and scFv versions of TS1 were administered in vivo. The IgG αTS1 was used to clear the TS1 from the circulation by forming immune complexes. The immune complexes, consisting of four or more antibodies, were mainly metabolized by the liver. The scFv TS1-218 could localize to the tumor in a tumor xenograft mouse model, although a higher uptake would be desired in a therapeutic strategy. The scFv was cleared rapidly by the kidneys, but the clearance could be slowed by pre-formed immune complexes with anti-TS1 scFv in vitro, prior to administration in vivo.</p>

<p>During 40 years of industrial production, from the end of the 1890’s until the end of 1930’s, coal and wood distillation products were manufactured in AB Carbo’s tar factory along the River Gimån in Grötingen, in the county of Jämtland, Sweden. In accordance with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s Methods for Inventories of contaminated sites, MIFO, the site in Grötingen has been identified as a potentially contaminated site. In order to determine whether toxic substances pose a threat to human health and ecological systems in the area, there was a need to investigate the presence of contaminants, their levels and potential for migration. Sensitivity and protection value regarding exposure of man and the environment at the site is high, since people live next to the site and River Gimån is a part of the Natura 2000 network.</p><p>The initial phase of the MIFO method includes a preliminary survey. Information regarding AB Carbo’s activities and production has been obtained by studying map and archive material, as well as by interviews and site inspections. Potential point sources have been identified around the factory forge, storage cellar, distillation building and the wooden channel for the discharge of tar and other condensates into the River Gimån.</p><p>Guided by the information gathered in MIFO phase 1, a preliminary site investigation was carried out at the site. It included sampling of soil, sediment, groundwater and surface water together with sample analysis of heavy metals and organic pollutants. The result of the analysis shows that very high levels of the contaminants PAH, aromatics and lead are found in both soil and groundwater. The sediment contamination level is high while that of surface water is very low. The distribution of contamination levels among the samples indicates a likely point source close to the distillation building due to very high contamination levels in soil and groundwater close to that point. The point source may represent a larger spillage or dumped waste products.</p><p>Two of the contaminants present at the site, phenantrene and phenol, were studied by using the model CHEMFLO-2000. The analysis focussed on mobility in unsaturated soils under conditions that prevail at the site in Grötingen. The adsorption of phenantrene is significantly higher in comparison to that of phenol.</p><p>Comprehensive assessment and risk classification results in risk class 2 for the site in Grötingen, which implies a need for further investigations and measurements. The risk of human exposure could be reduced by removing contaminated soil around the factory forge. Additional studies should focus on finding the location of the point source around the distillation building as well as contaminant migration from the wooden channel and the geographical spreading of heavy metal contamination.</p> / <p>Från slutet av 1890-talet och fram till slutet av 1930-talet tillverkades träkol och trädestillationsprodukter vid AB Carbos kolugnsanläggning i Grötingen, Jämtlands län. En undersökning enligt MIFO-modellen motsvarande fas 1 och fas 2 har genomförts på området med syfte att fastställa vilka föroreningar som förekommer på området, föroreningsnivå, spridningsförutsättningar och sammanfattningsvis bedöma föroreningssituationen på området utifrån de miljö- samt hälsorisker som området ger eller kan ge upphov till. Objektsområdet har hög känslighet och högt skyddsvärde då människor bor permanent alldeles intill objektsområdet samt att det intilliggande vattendraget Gimån ingår i Natura 2000-nätverket.</p><p>Genom de orienterande studier som genomfördes i MIFO fas 1 har kart- och arkivstudier samt intervjuer resulterat i information om kolugnsanläggningens verksamhet samt tillverkade produkter. På fabriksområdet identifierades potentiella punktkällor vid fabrikens smedja, källare, reningsverk samt vid den träränna varigenom spilltjära släpptes ut till Gimån.</p><p>Utifrån den information som erhölls i den orienterande fasen genomfördes en riktad provtagning enligt MIFO fas 2 i såväl mark och sediment som grund- och ytvatten. Bedömning av uppmätta föroreningshalter baseras på riktvärden och skattas från mindre allvarliga till mycket allvarliga. Analysresultaten påvisar allvarliga till mycket allvarliga halter av PAH, aromater och bly i jorden och grundvattnet. Andra föroreningar som påvisas i högre halter på området är alifater och koppar. Föroreningsnivån med avseende på PAH i sedimenten bedöms som allvarlig medan analysresultaten från ytvattenprovtagningen påvisar mycket låga föroreningsnivåer. Provtagningsresultaten påvisar ett mycket förorenat grundvattenflöde från reningsverket, där en punktkälla i form av större spill eller nedgrävda förvaringskärl kan vara lokaliserad. Eventuell spridning av föroreningar från trärännan går inte att fastställa då föroreningsspridning även kan ske från det intilliggande området där kolugnar och kondenseringshus har varit lokaliserade.</p><p>Föroreningarna fenantren och fenol studerades genom modellering i CHEMFLO-2000 med avseende på deras rörlighet i omättad jord under de geohydrologiska förhållanden som råder på objektsområdet i Grötingen. Resultatet visar att fenantren adsorberas i marken i betydligt större grad än fenol. Koncentrationen fenantren i porvattnet minskar nästan lika mycket som den totala koncentrationen fenantren i marken, vilket tyder på att fenantren binds starkt genom adsorbtion i marken.</p><p>Den samlade riskbedömningen av objektet resulterar i att objektet bedöms tillhöra riskklass 2, vilket innebär att objektet ger upphov till en stor risk för människa och miljön. Fortsatta undersökningar på området i Grötingen bör fokusera på att hitta den punktkälla vid reningsverket som bedöms vara orsaken till de höga föroreningsnivåer som uppmättes i grundvattenrör V1. Den geografiska utbredningen av de ytliga föroreningarna som påträffades där smedjan har stått bör också utredas vidare och eventuellt avlägsna förorenad jord eller vidta åtgärder för att minska exponeringen. Vidare undersökningar bör även klarlägga spridningen från trärännan samt orsakerna till de höga föroreningsnivåer av bly som uppmättes på området.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: Interactive marketing and Internet - A study of Radi Medical Systems’ educational site (Interaktiv marknadsföring och Internet - En studie utifrån Radi Medical Systems webbplats för kundutbildning)</p><p>Number of pages: 43 (including enclosures 47)</p><p>Author: Daniel Palmgren</p><p>Tutor: Mats Lind</p><p>Course: Media and Communication Studies C</p><p>Period: Spring 2008</p><p>University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University</p><p>Purpose/Aim: The aim of this thesis is to examine if Radi Medical Systems’ educational site has the potential to create value for the company’s customers, and by that promote improved customer relations. Questions asked are: What kinds of visions does the company have for the site? Which services are offered to the customers through the site? How do the customers experience these sInervices?</p><p>Material/Method: Information from interviews with representatives from Radi Medical Systems and their customers, observations of the webpage and information from an internal Radi document concerning the educational site has been collected and analyzed through the use of a theoretical framework, in order to provide an understanding for the questions asked. The visions were discussed and analyzed by general concepts of interactive marketing and Internet. The concepts of need, adaptation, understanding and time, functionality and trustworthy were used to create a theoretical framework regarding customer experience and customer value on a webpage.</p><p>Main Results: Radi sees the educational site as an important mean to create value for their customers, which is a first step towards being able to provide the customers with relevant and functional services. The services offered through the educational site are information about Radi’s products and the clinical areas they represent in so called modules. Other services offered are multiple choice tests and storage of the customer’s results of the tests. These services constitute a complete training-course for the customers. The customers’ experiences of the services show that the modules mainly have the potential to fulfill the needs of the customers looking for elementary information, and that the multiple choice tests and storage of the results, for the most part, could function as value added activities when the hospitals recruit new doctors and nurses. The customers have the understanding and time necessarily to use the educational site, and the customers who were familiar with Radi as a company didn’t ap rehend any problems regarding the trustworthiness of the site. However, the lack of adaptation makes the site less useful for those customers who consider themselves as advanced users of Radi’s products. Imperfections regarding the functionality of the site were also recognized.</p><p>Keywords: Interactive marketing, Internet, Webpage, Educational site, Customer relations, Customer value</p>

<p>Initiation is the first step in protein biosynthesis representing a fundamental event in cell life which determines fidelity, efficiency and regulation of gene expression. In addition to the ribosome and mRNA, three protein factors IF1, IF2 and IF3 are involved in the initiation of translation in prokaryotes. Several minor functions have been attributed to the smallest of these factors, IF1. However, the main function of IF1 remains to be elucidated.</p><p>In order to investigate the role of this protein in the initiation process we have mutated the corresponding gene infA. Using a high-copy plasmid and site-directed mutagenesis, the six arginine residues of IF1 were separately altered to leucine or aspartate. Another set of plasmid-encoded IF1 mutants with a cold-sensitive phenotype was collected using localized random mutagenesis. This strategy was followed by deletion of the chromosomal infA gene. All variants with a mutated infA gene on a plasmid and a deletion of the chromosomal infA copy were viable, except for an R65D alteration. Several of the mutated infA genes were successfully recombined into the chromosome thereby replacing the wild-type allele. Some of these mutants displayed reduced growth rates and a partial cold-sensitive phenotype.</p><p>The influence of the leucine group of mutants in IF1 on the expression of two reporter genes with different initiation and/or +2 codons has been investigated. Our results do not indicate any involvement of IF1 in recognition of the +2 codon immediately following the start codon, thus representing the A-site. In addition, this group of mutants has no changed efficiency of decoding at the near-cognate initiation codons UUG and GUG. However, one cold-sensitive IF1 mutant shows a general overexpression of both reporter genes, in particular at low temperatures. Overall, the results do not support the hypothesis that IF1 could possess codon discriminatory functions while blocking the A-site of the ribosome.</p><p>In this study we also identify that IF1 has RNA chaperone activity both in vitro and in vivo. The chaperone assays are based on splicing of the group I intron in the thymidylate synthase gene (td) from phage T4. Some of the IF1 mutant variants are more active as RNA chaperones than the wild-type. Both wild-type IF1 and mutant variants bind with high affinity to RNA in a band-shift assay. It is suggested that the RNA chaperone activity of IF1 contributes to RNA rearrangements during the early phase of translation initiation.</p>

The thesis is a study about the usage of BIM in construction projects in relation to how the software can support the site manager in the building production. The goal is to analyze the barriers and drivers to integrate BIM into the site manager’s work. The compositions of questions which are the basis for the thesis are “What obstacles does the site manager experience in his daily work routine and how can BIM be an option?” And “What mechanisms and factors is needed for BIM to be applied in the activities of site managers in construction projects?” For the answer to the first question, the daily work routine of a site manager has been studied in relation to today’s obstacle that is the basis for the production stoppages and how BIM can be an option. With information from the first matter as basis the study analyzes external and internal forces against the introduction of BIM. The study also clarifies the implementation problem and how it can be eliminated to thereby give rise to a change of the software in a conservative industry. In order to answer the question two scientific methods have been used; literature study and interviews. The Literature study reports the facts that may lead to the development of the construction process in its entirety. The interviews have given a reality perspective on the facts linked to the literature study. The results show that good planning with good coordination between the various disciplines t is the fundamentals for a successful production. The study demonstrates current shortcomings due to the disciplines inadequate coordination and information loss in an industry with high growth potential. With software that allows synchronization between different disciplines at the same time stands as the source for storing relevant information about a project would solve many of the daily obstacles in the production. The conclusion of this work is to BIM as new software minimizes the current barriers in relations to the site manager and production where information storage and synchronization of disciplines is a great advantage towards the elimination of obstacles in the production. To eliminate barriers that lead to minimization of production downtime and good balance in the daily operations there is a demand for change in the view towards new technology and work routines in the industry.

Teotihuacan was founded in a side valley of the Basin of Mexico during the first centuries of the common era and at its height reached a size of approximately 20 square kilometers. During A. D. 400-700, the Middle Classic period, architecture and portable artifacts in the Teotihuacan style are distributed throughout Mesoamerica. The distribution of Teotihuacan style material culture is often cited as evidence that Teotihuacan had the social and political complexity characteristic of early expansionistic states, and was in fact the first empire of highland Mexico. This study traces patterns of Teotihuacan influence in Gulf Coast ceramic assemblages in order to reconstruct relationships between Teotihuacan and various Classic period Gulf Coast polities. Here influence is defined as all archaeological indications of contact between two culturally or ethnically distinct populations. Variation in the timing and patterning of influence indicates variation in the nature of the relationships sustained between the two populations. To control for temporal and geographic variation, ceramic sequences and assemblage descriptions currently in use both at Teotihuacan and on the Gulf Coast are discussed and evaluated. Patterns of Teotihuacan influence in the ceramic assemblages of the Gulf Coast are shown to vary considerably from area to area and reflect clear differences in the timing and duration of Teotihuacan contact. Variation also occurs in the fidelity with which local imitations adhere to Teotihuacan stylistic conventions, the depositional context in which Teotihuacan imitations occur, and the range and types of Teotihuacan ceramic artifacts copied. The resulting patterns are interpreted to be meaningful in terms of past relationships between Teotihuacan and various Gulf Coast polities. The existence of Teotihuacan imperial control over part of the Gulf Coast is suggested.