Chapter 1: A Population Aging Analysis for Canada Using the National Transfer Accounts Approach: This analysis develops a new data set for Canada using an accounting methodology called National Transfer Accounts (NTA). NTA permits building an accounting system that introduces age into national accounts. NTA is consistent with the conventional national accounts and allows the estimation of lifecycle patterns for labour income and consumption from private and public sources. It also allows the calculation of per capita and aggregate lifecycle deficits (LCD) or surpluses (LCS) in an economy. In this chapter we calculate Canada’s per capita and aggregate LCD for 2006. Using demographic projections for the next five decades, we present the aggregate LCD in Canada for the period 2006 to 2056 assuming a constant per capital LCD during this time horizon. The projection results show that labour income needs to increase rapidly or consumption needs to be cut significantly to compensate for the pressure on the aggregate lifecycle deficit as a result of population aging. Chapter 2: An Overlapping Generations Computable General Equilibrium (OLG-CGE) Model with Age-dependent Rates of Time Preference: This analysis develops a methodology to introduce an age-dependent rate of time preference to calibrate an OLG-CGE model with per capita age profile consumption path derived from the NTA framework of Chapter 1. The results show that the economic impact from an aging population will be significant. The living standard will decline by 15% from the present to 2050 and decline by 20% by the year 2105. To reduce such a decline, the Canadian government may introduce policies that could encourage labour force participation. We analyze the impact of: a) an increase in the general labour force participation rate for age 20 to 64; b) an increase in the labour force participation rate for workers aged 50 to 64; c) late retirement. Our results suggest that maintaining the current standard of living will be extremely difficult after 2026. Nevertheless, this would help reduce the economic pressure from population aging. Chapter 3: 9/11 Security Measures and North American Security Perimeter: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis: The objective of this analysis is to assess the impact of the North American Security Perimeter (NASP) on both the Canadian and the U.S. economies. The NASP is a change in Canada-U.S. security paradigm that would allow the liberalization of the post 9/11 security measures at the Canada-U.S. border. This study applies a multi-sector and multi-region general equilibrium model together with econometric analysis. After simulating the NASP, Canada’s capital market was found to become more attractive. Under the NASP, the welfare of Canada is estimated to increase by $19 billion or 1.8% of GDP, and that of the U.S. is estimated to increase by $32 billion or 0.3% of GDP.

The main target of my thesis is to examine the recent integration development in North America from the point of view of three member countries of NAFTA. I examine their strategies towards this agreement and their impact on the three economies and on north american integration as a whole.

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This study focuses on how the cross-language perception of German vowels by native speakers of North American English differs based on various levels of classroom instruction and experience in a German-speaking country. Of special interest is whether more advanced students and those with target country experience have a different cross-language perception of German vowels from naive or less-experienced listeners. It further examines how English-speaking learners perceive German sounds that are not found in English, namely the front-rounded vowels. Study participants were students at Brigham Young University, divided into four groups: those 1) without knowledge of German; 2) in their 3rd semester of German without stay abroad; 3) in their 5th semester of German or above without stay abroad; and 4) in their 5th semester or above with at least 12 months in a German-speaking country. The subjects performed two tasks. While listening to German words, they first selected the English word with the vowel that most closely matched the German vowel heard from a list of English words on the computer screen; and secondly, they rated how much alike the German vowel sounded like the English vowel they chose. The results indicate that level of instruction does indeed affect how subjects perceive German vowels. Moreover, perception of the vowels was to some degree affected by the consonant environment. Finally, it was found that all groups rated the similarity of vowels in a similar manner regardless of experience.

A total of 17 samples were collected for OSL dating from a Swift Creek archaeological site, known as Harrison Ring, which lies on the Tyndall Air force peninsula in northwest Florida. High-resolution vertical sampling conducted at 10 cm intervals from the surface was performed in order to determine the timing of occupation at the site, and to look for patterns in radiation dosimetry and post-depositional disturbance that can compromise OSL results. We find OSL ages determined using both 0.5 mm aliquots and single grains at the archaeological levels (approximately 1751 ± 339 years ago) to be consistent with the timing of early Swift Creek cultures on the Florida Gulf Coast. The ages we report are both consistent with radiocarbon dates taken at Harrison Ring, and those taken at other Swift Creek sites on the Gulf Coast. In general, we find OSL equivalent doses that show high overdispersion and skewness that we attribute to beta-microdosimetry and possible bioturbation in the profiles. We also present results from a test with a novel dosimetric technique employing Al2O3:C chips. By using Al2O3:C dosimeters, we find that large variability in beta dose rates exist in the sedimentary profile at Harrison Ring. By testing a combination of dosimetric techniques in a site with a well-constrained age, we find that the best agreement with independent age control exists when calculating ages using a beta dose rate from NAA/DNC and gamma dose rate from Al2O3:C dosimetry. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

There are four goals to this study. The first is to investigate the diet of prehistoric dogs (Canis familiaris) in the Northeast region of North America using stable isotope analysis. The second goal of this study is to generate independent data concerning the presence or absence of C4 resources, such as maize, in the diets of dogs. Third, this study investigates the use of dog bone as a proxy for human bone in studies assessing the presence of C4 resources at archaeological sites. The fourth goal of this study is to provide a check on existing interpretations of the material, macro- and micro-botanical records as it concerns the presence or absence of C4 resources at the sites involved in this study. Stable isotope analysis is a science that allows the measuring of the abundance ratio of two stable isotopes of a particular element. Stable isotope analysis can differentiate C4 and C3 plants, as well as terrestrial and marine resources in material such as bone where the chemistry of diet becomes recorded. Given the importance of C4 plants to many prehistoric populations, in the absence of direct evidence identifying their presence at archaeological sites, an alternate method for identification is needed. Maize played an important role in changing human behaviors during prehistory including: decisions to increase sedentism, abuse of power structures, and stratification of gender roles within human populations. Additionally, an overall decrease in health is seen in prehistoric populations who focused their subsistence practices on maize. Dogs were chosen as the focus of this study because related research suggests that their diet tends to mimic human diet. Prehistoric dogs were scavengers, but they were also intentionally fed companions. The suggestion that dog diet in some way mimics human diet means that stable isotope ratios from their bone will reflect the type of resources available for consumption by their human counterparts. As such, this investigation may also indirectly inform on the diets of the American Indian inhabitants of the settlements in which these dog remains originate. Thirty samples of dog bone, dating from the Early Ceramic Period, ca. 3000 B.P. to the Late Woodland and Early Historic Period, were obtained from museum and personal collections, and from ongoing archaeological excavations throughout the Northeast region of North America. Stable isotope analysis was conducted at Notre Dame's Center for Environmental Science and Technology. The results of this analysis indicates that these prehistoric dogs consumed the types of resources represented in the archaeological record with one important exception: consumption of C4 resources, possibly maize, was occurring at several sites where no other evidence of C4 exploitation exists. Of the dogs sampled ten were from pre-agricultural sites in Maine and their stable isotope ratios indicated a diet of marine and terrestrial resources. Nineteen dogs were excavated from components dating to the Late Woodland or Historic Period. During the Late Woodland and Historic Period the C4 plant maize was exploited by many human groups in the study region. Interpretation based on stable isotopes from bone collagen indicates that six of these dogs had isotopic signatures within the range of significant C4 resource consumption. Stable isotope ratios from the remaining dogs indicate a smaller contribution of C4 resources to diet. According to 13C ratios from carbonate three dogs, two from New Jersey (DB2, DB8) and one from Maryland (DB11), had a significant C4 plant component to their diet. The remaining Late Woodland and Historic period dogs most likely consumed minor amounts of C4 resources. In addition to identifying C4 resources in the diet of dogs, the value of assessing isotope data from both collagen and carbonate is investigated. The sample size for this study was small in comparison to the size of the region assessed. Despite the small sample size, this analysis contributes to our knowledge of past dog and human subsistence patterns. Our understanding of the utility of stable isotope studies of human companion species has also expanded. In addition to investigating the presence of C4 resources in the diet of prehistoric dogs, this research provides an alternate line of inquiry to re-assess current interpretations, especially in areas where direct evidence of isotopically identifiable C4 plants, such as maize are currently lacking. The results of this study are applicable first and foremost to the consumption patterns of the individual animals sampled. However, that these dogs were consuming particular resources provides at least a clue of what was under consideration by their human counterparts. / Anthropology

The legibility of the digitized copy is limited due to the quality of the original document. McMaster Digitization Centre, 18 March 2019. / The original document does not provide an abstract. McMaster Digitization Centre, 18 March 2019. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis, I undertake an extensive overview of a range of language activities that foreground the materiality of language, and that require an active reader oriented towards the text as a producer, rather than a consumer, of meaning. To this end, performance, as a function of both orality and print texts, forms an important focus for my argument. I am particularly interested in the effect that the disruption of language has on the position of the subject in language, especially in terms of the dialogic exchange between local and global subject positions. Poetry is a language activity that requires a particular attention to form and meaning, and that is licensed to activate and exploit the materiality of language. For this reason, I have focused on the work of a selection of North American poets, the Language poets. These poets are primarily concerned with the performative possibilities of language as it appears in print media. I juxtapose these language activities with those of a selection of contemporary South African poets whose work is marked by the influence of oral forms, and reveals telling interplays between media. All these poets are preoccupied with the ways in which the sign might be disrupted. In my discussion of the work of the Language poets, I consider how examples of their print poetics present the reader with language fragments, arranged according to non-syntactic principles. Confronted by the lack of an individuated lyric subject around whom these fragments might cohere, the reader is obliged to make his/her own connections between words, sounds and phrases. Similarly, in the work of the performance poets, I identify several aspects in the poetry that trouble a transparent transmission of expression, and instead require the poetry to be read as an interrogation of the constitution of the subject. Here, the ―I‖ fleetingly occupies multiple, shifting subject positions, and the poetic interplay between media and language tends towards a continuous destabilising of the poetic self. Poets and performers are, to some extent, licensed to experiment with language in ways that render it opaque. Because the language activities of poets and performers are generally accommodated within the order of symbolic or metaphoric language, their experimentation with non-communicative excesses can be understood as part of their framework. However, in situations where ―communicative‖ language is expected, the order of literal or forensic language cannot accommodate seemingly non-communicative excesses that appear to render the text opaque. Ultimately, I am concerned with exploring the manner in which attention to the materiality of language might open up alternative understandings of language, subjectivity and representation in South African public discourse. My conclusion therefore considers the consequences when the issues opened up by the poetry – questions of self and subject, authority and representation – are translated into forensic frameworks and testimonial discourse. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: My proefskrif bied ‘n breedvoerige oorsig van ‘n reeks taal-aktiwiteite wat die materialiteit van taal sigbaar maak. Hierdie taal-aktiwiteite skep tekste wat die leser/kyker noop om as vervaardiger, eerder as verbruiker, van betekenis in ‘n aktiewe verhouding met die teks te tree. Die performatiewe funksie van beide gesproke sowel as gedrukte taal vorm dus die hooffokus van my argument. Ek stel veral belang in die effek wat onderbrekings en versteurings in taal op die subjek van taal uitoefen, en hoe hierdie prosesse die die dialogiese verhouding tussen lokale en globale subjek-posisies beïnvloed. Poëtiese taal-aktiwiteite word gekenmerk deur ‘n fokus op vorm en die verhouding tussen vorm en inhoud. Terwyl die meeste taalpraktyke taaldeursigtigheid vereis ter wille van direkte kommunikasie, het poëtiese taal tot ‘n mate die vryheid om die materaliteit van taal te gebruik en te ontgin. Om hierdie rede fokus ek selektief op die werk van ‘n groep Noord-Amerikaanse digters, die sogenaamde ―Language poets‖. Hierdie digters is hoofsaaklik met die performatiewe moontlikhede van gedrukte taal bemoeid. Voorts word hierdie taal-aktiwiteite met ‘n seleksie kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse digters se werk vergelyk, wat gekenmerk word deur die invloed van gesproke taalvorms wat met ‘n verskeidenhed media in wisselwerking gestel word. Al hierdie digters is geïnteresseerd in die maniere waarop die inherente onstabiliteit van linguistiese aanduiers ontgin kan word. In my bespreking van die werk van die Language poets ondersoek ek voorbeelde van hul gedrukte digkuns wat die leser voor taalfragmente te staan bring wat nie volgens die gewone reëls van sintaks georganiseer is nie. Die gebrek aan ‘n geïndividualiseerde liriese subjek, waarom hierdie fragmente ‘n samehangendheid sou kon kry, noop die leser om haar eie verbindings tussen woorde, klanke en frases te maak. Op ‘n soortgelyke wyse identifiseer ek verskeie aspekte wat die deursigtige versending van taaluitinge in die werk van sekere Suid-Afrikanse performance poets belemmer. Hierdie gedigte kan eerder gelees word as ‘n interrogasie van die proses waardeur die samestelling van die subjek in taal geskied. In hierdie gedigte bewoon die ―ek‖ vlietend ‘n verskeidenheid verskuiwende subjek-posisies. Die wisselwerking van verskillende media dra ook by tot die vermenigvuldiging van subjek-posisies, en loop uit op ‘n performatiewe uitbeelding van die destabilisering van die digterlike ―self.‖ Digters en performers is tot ‘n mate vry om met die vertroebelingsmoontlikhede van taal te eksperimenteer. Omdat die taal-aktiwiteite van digters en performers gewoonlik binne die orde van simboliese of metaforiese taal val, kan hul eksperimentering met die nie-kommunikatiewe oormaat van taal binne hierdie raamwerk verstaan word. Hierdie oormaat kan egter nie binne die orde van letterlike of forensiese taal geakkommodeer word nie. Ten slotte voer ek aan dat ‘n fokus op die materialiteit van taal alternatiewe verstaansraamwerke moontlik maak, waardeur ons begrip van die verhouding tussen taal, subjektiwiteit en representasie in die Suid-Afrikaanse publieke diskoers verbreed kan word. In my slothoofstuk oorweeg ek wat gebeur as die kwessies wat deur die bogenoemde performatiewe taal-aktiwiteite opgeroep word – vrae rondom die self en die subjek, outoriteit en representasie – binne ‘n forensiese raamwerk na die diskoers van getuienis oorgedra word

This thesis asks why the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) continues to exist and remain relevant in the defence of North America following the disappearance of the threat of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. This thesis argues that NORAD’s binational nature is key to understanding the command’s continued role in continental defence. By employing the international relation theories of functionalism and neoliberal institutionalism as a lens of analysis to understand binational defence cooperation, NORAD’s origins as a binational defence command tasked with the air defence of North America, and its acquisition of its responsibilities for drug interdiction, the continental interior, and for maritime warning are analyzed. NORAD’s longevity and continued relevance can be attributed to the command’s binational nature, which has allowed the command to focus on and institutionalize specific functional-technical solutions to select issues of mutual concern in continental defence and security for Canada and the U.S. / May 2016