Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Running Fence, begun 1972 and installed in 1976, and Niki de St. Phalle’s Queen Califia’s Magical Circle, dedicated 2003, in northern and southern California respectively, reexamine the ways landscape art historically shaped ideological constructs, lived experience, and cultural economics. Christo, Jeanne-Claude, and St. Phalle draw on well known representations of the frontier and American West from the nineteenth century including, antebellum landscapes such as Thomas Cole’s The Oxbow, 1836 and Emmanuel Leutze’s Westward the Course of Empire, 1862 as well as Reconstruction Era landscapes including Andrew Russell’s The Golden Spike, 1869 and John Gast’s American Progress, 1872. When Christo, Jeanne-Claude, and St. Phalle’s West Coast art are viewed together, questions about history and tradition, the relationship of economics to cultural production, and aesthetics informed by place and environment, emerge as salient. Through the artists’ interest in time, place, and environment, as well as sustained engagement with community, Running Fence and Queen Califia’s Magical Circle construct representations of the local and interpret the histories and cultures of Sonoma and Marin Counties and Escondido. Running Fence and Queen Califia’s Magical Circle critically engage with artistic convention, state construction, capitalism and cultural production, and the construction of race, gender, and sexuality. As art historian William Truettner explained historical representations of the western frontier as “national pictures,” so too Running Fence and Queen Califia’s Magical Circle reinterpret historical images of the American West through an emphasis on community and place rather than nation-building and nationalism.

This study looks at the linkages between incorporation models and public opinion. The intention of the study is to determine if a state’s incorporation model shapes public opinion or if public opinion shapes the incorporation model. Using Canada, France, and Great Britain as case studies, I explore the question of policy responsiveness to shifts in public opinion, as influenced by immigration, security, and economic concerns. By examining comparative polling data, major events timelines, and single state polling information, I determine that both incorporation models and public opinion have largely been stable over the past decade in Canada and France. In contrast, shifting public opinion in Great Britain has resulted in major changes to the incorporation model in place and relations between state and society. This suggests that there are major differences between the three states in the ways in which public opinion is incorporated into the decision- and policy-making process.

La poly(A) polymérase (PAP) est une enzyme essentielle pour le métabolisme de la cellule qui catalyse l'ajout d'une longue séquence de polyadénosines à l'extrémité 3' des ARNm. Cet ajout, effectué par un large complexe multi-protéique de clivage et de polyadénylation est nécessaire pour la stabilité, le transport et la traduction des ARNm. L'ATP est la molécule qui sert de source d'énergie à la PAP et représente aussi son unique substrat pour la réaction de polyadénylation. La PAP est une enzyme hautement conservée de la levure à l'humain et est même encodée dans le génome de certains virus. En effet, elle est aussi retrouvée chez les eucaryotes inférieurs, comme les levures, et même certains virus à ADN encodent une enzyme jouant le même rôle. Le champignon Candida albicans , source d'infections sévères surtout chez les patients immunodéprimés, encode sa propre PAP. L'étude de cet organisme tantôt levure unicellulaire, tantôt champignon mycellaire demeure essentielle en raison de la perte d'efficacité des antibiotiques actuellement disponibles découlant de l'émergence de souches multi-résistantes. La PAP représente une nouvelle cible thérapeutique fort intéressante due à son implication directe dans les étapes de maturation des ARNm, processus essentiel à tout organisme eucaryote. L'étude présentée dans ce mémoire se concentre sur l'étude du site actif de la PAP de C. albicans , plus précisément au niveau des interactions moléculaires associées à la sélection du substrat par l'enzyme. Le but final est de déterminer les groupements fonctionnels favorisant la reconnaissance de l'ATP au niveau du substrat nucléotidique, mais aussi de déterminer les acides aminés de la protéine qui sont potentiellement impliqués dans cette sélection moléculaire. Pour ce faire, une gamme d'analogues de nucléotides, principalement de purines, a été testée pour évaluer la capacité de ceux-ci à compétitionner avec le substrat pour le site actif de l'enzyme. Du côté de la protéine, plusieurs mutants ponctuels ont été produits afin d'évaluer la discrimination de ces mutants envers les différents nucléotides et/ou analogues de nucléotides. La sélection des acides aminés mutés s'est basée sur le modèle bioinformatique de la PAP de C. albicans généré à partir de la radiocristallographie de la PAP d'un autre organisme eucaryote effectué en présence d'ATP et d'ARN, Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Les résultats ont en effet démontré que la présence d'un groupement donneur de pont hydrogène en position 6 d'une purine permet sa liaison au site actif de l'enzyme et son transfert subséquent sur le brin d'ARN. En effet, ceci explique en grande partie la discrimination entre l'ATP et le GTP par la protéine. Aussi, l'apport de certains acides aminés tels Asn-222, Met-306 et Cys-307 dans ce mécanisme de distinction des nucléotides a été démontré. De manière insoupçonnée, certains analogues se sont avérés de bons substrats pour la PAP malgré leur modification chimique, donnant lieu à une queue poly(A) modifiée chimiquement. L'impact de cette modification sur la stabilité et l'efficacité de traduction d'ARNm portant divers types de modification sur la queue poly(A) a donc été évalué en cellules. Il s'avère que la stabilité semble négativement affectée de manière générale alors que l'efficacité de traduction s'est vu être dépendante du type de modification chimique.

Historically the practice of conservation planning has occurred in an ad hoc manner in areas that have no economic or agricultural value. When systematic conservation planning has been implemented it has ensured the identification of priority areas that contain species, habitats, and processes essential to achieving conservation targets and goals set out by government. In the recent past a number of authors within the conservation planning fraternity have started questioning the actual impact of conservation plans. Only one third of the conservation plans (globally) published between 1998 and 2000 resulted in actual implementation. Prendengast et al. (1999) described this gap between conservation plans and conservation action as the ‘research–implementation–gap’. The same phenomenon is experienced in local government conservation planning, in South Africa. This has led to a lack of conservation planning and implementation. By using the Gauteng provincial Conservation Plan (C–Plan), that is considered the strategic conservation planning document for the province government, a critical evaluation of the extent to which environmental aspects are considered in strategic level municipal decision making was done. Six local and two district municipalities within the Gauteng Province were selected to ascertain, through a comparative and objective analysis, to what extent their strategic documents (Integrated Development Plan, Spatial Development Framework and Environmental Management Framework) reflect the conservation planning done on a provincial sphere (C–Plan). An analysis was done of the selected documentation and spatial maps to determine whether incorporation occurred either explicitly and/or implicitly. The expectation is that municipalities within the Gauteng Province, should, as part of their Integrated Development Plan process, integrate the Gauteng C–Plan with their Integrated Development Plans. The research found that all the municipalities fully incorporated the C–Plan within their Environmental Management Frameworks indicating that local government conservation planners do consult and incorporate provincial conservation plans when they are generating their own plans. The Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans did not reflect this strong connection with regards to conservation planning. There is a lack of integration between the different documents and an inability to bring a planning aspect(s) to delivery and implementation. There is no problem with the incorporation of the C–Plan into the Environmental Management Frameworks, thus future research or conservation initiatives should focus on the effective incorporation of the Environmental Management Frameworks into other strategic municipal documentation (Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans) and promote the integration that occurs between the municipal documents themselves. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Historically the practice of conservation planning has occurred in an ad hoc manner in areas that have no economic or agricultural value. When systematic conservation planning has been implemented it has ensured the identification of priority areas that contain species, habitats, and processes essential to achieving conservation targets and goals set out by government. In the recent past a number of authors within the conservation planning fraternity have started questioning the actual impact of conservation plans. Only one third of the conservation plans (globally) published between 1998 and 2000 resulted in actual implementation. Prendengast et al. (1999) described this gap between conservation plans and conservation action as the ‘research–implementation–gap’. The same phenomenon is experienced in local government conservation planning, in South Africa. This has led to a lack of conservation planning and implementation. By using the Gauteng provincial Conservation Plan (C–Plan), that is considered the strategic conservation planning document for the province government, a critical evaluation of the extent to which environmental aspects are considered in strategic level municipal decision making was done. Six local and two district municipalities within the Gauteng Province were selected to ascertain, through a comparative and objective analysis, to what extent their strategic documents (Integrated Development Plan, Spatial Development Framework and Environmental Management Framework) reflect the conservation planning done on a provincial sphere (C–Plan). An analysis was done of the selected documentation and spatial maps to determine whether incorporation occurred either explicitly and/or implicitly. The expectation is that municipalities within the Gauteng Province, should, as part of their Integrated Development Plan process, integrate the Gauteng C–Plan with their Integrated Development Plans. The research found that all the municipalities fully incorporated the C–Plan within their Environmental Management Frameworks indicating that local government conservation planners do consult and incorporate provincial conservation plans when they are generating their own plans. The Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans did not reflect this strong connection with regards to conservation planning. There is a lack of integration between the different documents and an inability to bring a planning aspect(s) to delivery and implementation. There is no problem with the incorporation of the C–Plan into the Environmental Management Frameworks, thus future research or conservation initiatives should focus on the effective incorporation of the Environmental Management Frameworks into other strategic municipal documentation (Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans) and promote the integration that occurs between the municipal documents themselves. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The thesis is about children's experience of the induction to Reception class and the transitions that they make through Key Stage One. It draws on the work of van Gennep (1960), Vygotslcy (1978), Laevers (1997) and Bruner (1996) to explore rites of passage, well-being and acculturation that take place during induction and transitions. The data is gathered mainly by semi-structured interviews to gain the perceptions of fifty children, their parents and teachers about the process of the children's (and their parents') induction at two schools in a town in Shropshire. Children are admitted to the schools in the term before their fifth birthday, thus there are three intakes a year. Children from each of the groups in both schools are included in the study. The research began just before the children started their induction programme in the term before they entered full-time schooling in the academic year 1994/1995. It explores preparations and concerns before starting school and as the children become incorporated into school life. The study goes on to examine the views of twenty-four of these children, their parents and teachers, about the transitions that the children make from the end of their reception class until they leave Key Stage One in July 1997. It also looks at the changes made to the induction programmes during this time. This is a relatively unresearched area and the study uncovered a number of critical factors that have not been brought together or presented in this way before. The main findings identify that the amount, and nature of, information given to parents and children is crucial before and during induction and transitions. If it is right then anxieties about the unknown are reduced, resulting in children's and parents' emotional well-being. The importance of a supportive friend during transitions is also highlighted. A further finding discloses that, far from parental partnership building throughout children's time in school, it decreases due to a lack of clarity about what it entails.

abstract: United States and Mexico population statistics show clear evidence of return migration. This study uses qualitative data collected in a municipality in the State of Mexico during the summer of 2010 from families comprised of Mexican nationals and United States-born children post-relocation to Mexico. Using Portes and Zhou's theoretical framework on modes of incorporation, this study illustrates the government policy, societal reception and coethnic community challenges the first and second generation face in their cases of family return migration. This study finds that the municipal government is indifferent to foreign children and their incorporation in Mexico schools. Furthermore, extended family and community, may not always aid the household's adaptation to Mexico. Despite the lack of a coethnic community, parents eventually acclimate into manual and entrepreneurial positions in society and the children contend to find a place called home. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Sociology 2011

This dissertation consists of three essays on director compensation, CEO compensation, executive dismissal, and Delaware incorporation. Delaware incorporation is popular among publicly traded firms. However, the question of whether Delaware incorporation favors shareholders is an on-going debate. In the first essay, if Delaware incorporation indeed favors shareholders, it is expected that directors in Delaware firms are more likely to be encouraged to perform monitoring roles than those in non-Delaware firms. By using a sample of 620 Delaware firms and 437 non-Delaware firms from 2002 to 2005 in ExecuComp, we first find that Delaware firms pay their directors more compensation than non-Delaware firms. Second, Delaware firms tend to hold more meetings per year than non-Delaware firms. Finally, pay-performance sensitivities of cash compensation, equity compensation, and total compensation to shareholder wealth in Delaware firms are greater than those in non-Delaware firm. Therefore, Delaware incorporation appears to encourage effective board monitoring. This essay is the first attempt to examine director compensation by considering the role of state of incorporation. The findings support the view of "race to the top" (Winter, 1977) on Delaware incorporation. The second essay examines the impact of Delaware incorporation on how effectively directors monitor CEOs and protect the interests of shareholders. If directors do effectively monitor CEOs, the excess CEO compensation is expected to be positively related to firm performance. Following the method described in Brick et al. (2006), we find evidence that director excess compensation is significantly and positively related to CEO compensation in both Delaware and non-Delaware firms. However, unlike excess CEO compensation in Delaware firms, excess CEO compensation in non-Delaware firms is negatively associated with firm performance. Therefore, director compensation in non-Delaware firms may not be a more effective incentive for these directors to monitor CEOs than that in Delaware firms. The dismissal decision that a firm makes may be affected by state corporate law. The third essay examines the impact of Delaware incorporation on a firm's choice of top management dismissal decisions. If Delaware incorporation indeed favors shareholders, we expect Delaware firms are more likely to dismiss their management members than non-Delaware firms when firms experience poor performance. We use the classification of top management dismissals defined in Boeker (1992). Our sample includes 388 firms that dismiss neither CEOs nor any lower-level executives (Type 1), 55 firms that dismiss CEOs but let lower-level executives stay (Type 2), 134 firms that dismiss lower-level executives but let CEOs stay (Type 3), and 59 firms that dismiss both CEOs and lower-level executives (Type 4) from 1993 to 2005. First, we find that a Delaware firm is more likely to dismiss at least one executive, either its CEO or a lower-level executive, than to dismiss neither the CEO nor any lower-level executive in a poorly performing year. However, this result only holds if we compare Type 1 firms with Type 3 firms. Second, Delaware firms are not more likely to dismiss their CEOs than non-Delaware firms. The results suggest that Delaware firms do not act significantly differently from non-Delaware firms on the choice of top management dismissal decisions when the firms experience poor performance. Therefore, Delaware incorporation alone may not be an effective external corporate governance mechanism to discipline poorly performing executives.

Gumuz is a Nilo-Saharan dialect cluster spoken in the river valleys of northwestern Ethiopia and the southeastern part of the Republic of the Sudan. There are approximately 200,000 speakers, the majority of which reside in Ethiopia. This study is a phonological and grammatical analysis of two main dialects/languages: Northern Gumuz and Southern Gumuz. The study provides an overview of the Gumuz people and culture, including historical accounts of the language(s) and migration patterns. Most major aspects of the language are described and analyzed in detail: phonology, nouns, pronouns, demonstratives and other noun phrase constituents, verbs and verbal morphology, noun incorporation, verbal classifiers, noun categorization, basic clauses, and subordinate clauses. Northern and Southern Gumuz varieties are contrasted throughout. Gumuz tone has two levels, High and Low, with tonal downstep of High. The tonal melody on bound pronominals on verbs indicates transitivity. Nouns are divided into two basic types: relational and absolute. Relational nouns have an inherent relationship with another nominal element, either within a noun-noun compound or with a (historical) possessive affix. Two sets of relational nouns --attributive and relator nouns-- obligatorily take an inherent possession suffix if not in a compound. Gumuz has two noun-noun constructions: the Associative Construction and the Attributive Construction. The first is left-headed with `noun of noun' semantics. The second is right-headed with the initial noun expressing an inherent quality of the second. Certain body part terms have grammaticalized as a variety of other morphosyntactic categories, in particular as relator nouns, verbal classifiers, and class morphemes, the final two of which are noun categorization devices. Many of these same body part terms can be incorporated into the verb or form part of lexicalized verb-noun compounds. Deverbal nominalizations with /ma-/ are found throughout the language structures. These /ma-/ nominalizations serve as both subject and object complements. They are also commonly found in other subordinate clauses such as relative and adverbial clauses. Purpose clauses are formed with the dative preposition plus a /ma-/ nominalization. Finite purpose clauses take pronominal inflection and have further grammaticalized as future tense main clause verbs in Southern Gumuz.

Data warehouses (DWs) have become one of the largest investments in the past years for organisations, and incorporating external data into a DW can give organisations huge possibilities. Organisations that successfully manage to incorporate external data into a DW have an advantage over those who do not, but there are problems with incorporating data acquired from outside the organisation, and there is a lack of research aimed at these problems. The comprehensive aim of this dissertation is to characterise and categorise problems with incorporating external data. The available literature was scanned to find problems and an interview study was conducted to validate the problems found in the literature. Respondents from five well-known organisations in Sweden participated and the result is a list of problems backed up by both literature and empirical findings