Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 102 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-87).

Zugl.: Paderborn, Universiẗat, Diss., 1999.

Darmstadt, Techn. University, Diss., 2000.

Braunschweig, Techn. University, Diss., 2000.

Duisburg, Essen, Universiẗat, Diss., 2003.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2001--Braunschweig.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (May 15, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study is to examine the language of literary texts based on the pragmatic theories; Cooperative Principle and Grice's maxims. The researcher collected data from a science fiction novel, The Giver by Los Lowry. The findings reveal that most of the time, Lowry made the characters disobey Grice's maxims and the Cooperative Principle. Observance of the maxims was less than failure to observe the maxims. Lowry had her characters fail to observe the maxims for specific purposes such as generating new implicatures, hiding the truth for a period, or persuading and convincing the readers about a message Lowry wanted to convey.

During the period 1994 to 2004, the Registrar of Co-operatives, situated in Pretoria (South Africa), considered applications and subsequently de-registered 102 agricultural and non-agricultural South African co-operatives, which then converted to alternative business forms. This research was conducted to determine the strategies driving co-operatives to convert to alternative business forms in South Africa, and to evaluate the level of success achieved in a specific case. During the research, the changing legislation relating to co-operatives was identified as one of the main drivers to convert, although during pilot testing, the respondents submitted capital forming or growth restrictions as main drivers for conversions. The main concerns about the impact of changing legislation were about voting rights changing to a one-person-one-vote, which, according to the respondents, could affect control within the co-operative. Financial ratio analysis to determine liquidity, debt management and profitability of a specific converted case was conducted by disseminating and processing data by means of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. In the selected case the conversion did not guarantee success, and the financial figures showed that a conversion did not have immediate impact, although the last three years of the 10-year period analysed showed signs of a positive growth on the return on total assets (ROA). External influences, especially legislation in the broad sense, and specifically regarding Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), Employment Equity and Labour practise may have serious impact on the choice of business form the prospective entrepreneur decides upon, or the existing enterprise bases its decisions on as to its future business form.