The following pages are an in-depth study, based upon original sources, into the management of colonial banking companies-- hitherto given relatively minimal coverage in the literature. Their focus is on the underlying strategic opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses of five West Indian colonial banking companies between 1836-1856. The growth of a moneyed economy after the abolition of slavery had given rise, for example, to increased opportunities for discounting, buying and selling bills on London, and intercolonial money transfers. These opportunities however were not without risks such as the speculative and highly vulnerable nature of colonial commerce, the anomalous state of the colonial currency and the ignorance and even prejudices of the colonists as well as those in both the home and colonial government. Particular attention was paid to the strengths and weaknesses endowed by a Royal charter, such as limited liability, the right to issue bank notes, or minimum paid-up captal requirements, etc. Another chapter was devoted to the strengths and weaknesses of multi-branch banking. While synergistic strengths appeared to exist for certain operations, there were clearly diminishing returns in net revenue from an increasingly larger network. This was particularly the case for operations outside the British Empire. Further attention was focused on the strategic control the formal corporate hierarchy, information flows, and the accounting system gave directors over disclosures of bad debt for dividend purposes, for tax purposes, and to instill confidence in the shareholders and the general public. Finally, the last chapter discussed the human strengths and weaknesses, including the inherent weaknesses in the control systems which encouraged various frauds.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université des Antilles et de La Guyane, 1996-1997. / "Juillet 2000"--Colophon. At head of title: Groupe de recherche et d'étude des littératures et civilisations de la Caraïbe et des Amériques noires (GRELCA). Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-412) and index.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université des Antilles et de La Guyane, 1996-1997. / "Juillet 2000"--Colophon. At head of title: Groupe de recherche et d'étude des littératures et civilisations de la Caraïbe et des Amériques noires (GRELCA). Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-412) and index.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Lewcock, Ronald; Committee Member: Bafna, Sonit; Committee Member: Dowling, Elizabeth; Committee Member: Edwards, Jay D.; Committee Member: Nelson, Louis. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-143). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

No description available.

Les forêts côtières inondables (FCI) des régions tropicales et subtropicales remplissent des fonctions écologiques nécessaires aux écosystèmes marins côtiers situés en aval et aux populations humaines vivant à proximité Aux Antilles, les mangroves et les forêts marécageuses à Pterocarpus officinalis sont structurés par des espèces ligneuses qui ont développé des adaptations particulières à la salinité, à l’inondation et aux substrats meubles sur lesquels elles reposent. Dans des contextes climatiques à forte saisonnalité, les saisons sèches prolongées entraînent de fortes variations de la salinité et du niveau de la nappe, que le changement climatique devrait amplifier. Les modèles climatiques de la région Caraïbe prévoient des saisons sèches plus sèches liées à une baisse des précipitations de 20 à 50 %. Or, la question des capacités de résistance et d’acclimatation des espèces ligneuses des FCI à des variations saisonnières marquées de leur environnement édaphique a été peu traitée dans la littérature scientifique.L’objectif de ce travail de thèse a été double. Il s’est agi, d'une part, de caractériser la structure et la croissance de faciès de végétation représentatifs des FCI antillaises et de mettre en évidence leurs déterminants. A cet effet, des individus adultes, des espèces ligneuses dominantes des FCI, (Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa, Pterocarpus officinalis, Rhizophora mangle), dans cinq faciès de végétation sur le gradient terre-mer, ont été suivis sur l'île de Grande-Terre (Guadeloupe). D’autre part, les effets de variations salines extrêmes sur la croissance et l’écophysiologie de ces quatre espèces ont été évalués au stade plantule par une expérience en conditions contrôlées.A travers cette étude, il a été montré que les différences de salinité et de fertilité entre les stationspermettent d’expliquer la composition et la structure des peuplements de FCI. Cette étude a égalementmontré que P. officinalis peut se maintenir dans une gamme de salinité plus large que ne l'indiquait lalittérature.Dans le contexte des Antilles où les marnages sont faibles, la saisonnalité du climat entraine des variations saisonnières importantes d’un ensemble de descripteurs édaphiques tels que le niveau de la nappe, la salinité du sol, le pH et le potentiel RedOx. L’inondation et la salinité des sols sont fortement corrélées aux variations mensuelles des précipitations. Les périodes sèches sont accompagnées de salinités élevées et d’une baisse du niveau de la nappe allant jusqu’à l’exondation des sols dans toutes les stations suivies. Les stress environnementaux liés à la saisonnalité entrainent une baisse de la production primaire. L’accroissement cambial mensuel des individus est fortement corrélé avec les précipitations et l’intensité du vent. Dans les stations de mangrove, la sècheresse édaphique régule la production primaire des palétuviers. En forêt marécageuse, la part de la sècheresse atmosphérique semble plus importante pour expliquer la production de P. officinalis. Aussi, les sècheresses édaphique et atmosphérique doivent être prises en compte toutes deux pour modéliser efficacement la croissance des peuplements des FCI.Lors de la saison sèche, le stress le plus important est le stress hydrique, lié à la diminution de la teneur en eau du sol et à l’augmentation de la salinité, qui entraine des contraintes physiologiques sur les palétuviers (ajustements stomatiques, pertes de surface foliaire et de conductivité hydraulique). Le stress ionique, lié à la toxicité des ions Na+ et Cl-, permet aussi d’expliquer une partie de la contrainte sur l’assimilation en carbone. En saison sèche, l’aération des sols ne se traduit pas par une amélioration des performances de croissance chez toutes les espèces. Aussi, la croissance cambiale maximale de toutes les espèces de FCI est réalisée en saison des pluies lorsque la salinité est faible et les niveaux d’inondation élevés. / In tropical and subtropical regions, flooded coastal forests provide essentials goods and services to local communities. In the Antilles, mangrove forests and the Pterocarpus officinalis swamp forest host tree species that are adapted to salinity, flooding and loose substrates. In areas were climatic seasonality is strong, dry seasons lead to strong fluctuations of soil salinity and water table level ; that climate change is likely to make stronger again. Climate model for the Caribbean project drier dry seasons with a decease of 20 to 50 % in annual rainfall amounts. However, resistance and acclimation ability of flooded coastal forest’s species to strong environmental fluctuations still remain poorly studied.This thesis aims two objectives. On the one hand, it aims to characterize the forest structure and monthly growth of vegetation structures representative of the Antillean flooded coastal forests and to highlight their determinants. In this respect, adult trees of the four dominant species of local flooded coastal forest (Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa, Pterocarpus officinalis, Rhizophora mangle), in five stations along a sea – land gradient were monitored on the Grande-Terre island (Guadeloupe). On the other hand, the effects of salinity variation patterns and salinity levels on growth performances and physiology of seedlings from the four same species were investigated through a greenhouse experiment.This study shows that differences among average salinity and soil fertility explain the vegetation structure of flooded coastal forest. It also extents, in the literature, the range of salinity in which P. officinalis can stand at the tree stage.In the Antilles were tidal range is small, climate seasonality lead to strong edaphic seasonal variations in water table level, soil salinity, pH and RedOx potential. Flooding and soil salinity are strongly correlated to monthly rainfall amounts: dry periods lead to high salinity and to a decrease in water table level under the soil surface. Seasonal environmental stresses lead to a decrease of primary production. Cambial growth was strongly correlated to monthly precipitation and average wind speed. In mangrove stations, edaphic drought determines primary production of mangrove trees, when, in swamp forest stations, atmospheric drought determines an important part of P. officinalis’ primary production.During the dry season, water stress is the more important environmental stress, both by the decrease in soil humidity and the increase in soil salinity, and leads to physiological strains (stomatal adjustment, loss of leaf area and hydraulic conductivity) for mangrove trees. Ionic toxicity of ions Na+ and Cl- also explains a part of the strain on carbon assimilation. During the dry season, re oxygenation of soils via low water table level does not lead to an increase of physiological traits. Thus, maximum cambial growth of all species is observed during the rainy season, when salinity is low and water table level is high.Flooded coastal forest’s species do not have the same ability to recover after a dry episode. In all the studied stations, A. germinans’ cambial growth rises back as soon as the rainy season starts, when, for one station, cambial growth of L. racemosa and R. mangle stay null during the three first month of the rainy season. This low ability to recover after a dry episode is correlated to a stronger impact of the dry season on the physiological traits of these two species.The greenhouse experiment shows that salinity variation patterns are to be taken into consideration for explaining seedlings’ growth and salinity tolerance. A stronger salinity increase impacts the growth of all the studied species; a punctual drop of salinity highlights that flooded coastal forest’s species differ in ability to take advantage of a low salinity episode. These results are coherent with field observations as cambial growth was fairly explained by monthly precipitation.

La CLD est un composé toxique qui (i) pollue plus de 15% des surfaces agricoles de la Guadeloupe et de la Martinique, (ii) résiste à la dégradation biotique et abiotique, (iii) s’accumule le long de la chaine alimentaire et dont la disparition des sols par lessivage est estimée à plusieurs centaines d’années. Les animaux de rente originaires de ces zones polluées sont contaminés et l’état de l’art a révélé un manque d’information évident sur le comportement de la CLD dans l’organisme de ces animaux et moins de dix publications sur leur décontamination. Deux protocoles expérimentaux ont été conduits sur des caprins mâles en croissance afin de caractériser le comportement de la CLD dans l’organisme des ruminants non lactants et de développer des méthodes optimisant leurs processus de décontamination. Les résultats ont montré que (i) les chevreaux éliminaient plus de 70% de leur CLD tissulaire après 3 à 4 semaines de décontamination et (ii) ni leur état d’engraissement initial ni l’ajout de charbon actif ou d’huile de paraffine dans leur alimentation ne modifiaient ces taux d’excrétion. Ces études ont également montré que la CLD se comportait différemment des autres polluants lipophiles car sa concentration tissulaire (exprimée sur la base de la matière grasse) était plus importante dans le foie et les muscles des animaux contaminés que dans leurs tissus gras. Ces résultats soulèvent des questions sur les mécanismes à l'origine de la distribution tissulaire de la CLD, son métabolisme et sur l’interaction de ce dernier avec le cycle entéro-hépatique. La compréhension de ces processus permettra de mieux ajuster les stratégies de décontamination pour les rendre plus efficaces / Chlordecone (CLD) is a toxic molecule which (i) contaminates more than 15% of agricultural land in Guadeloupe and Martinique islands, (ii) resists to biotic and abiotic degradation, (iii) accumulates along the food chain and whose the disappearance by soil leaching is estimated at several hundred years. The contamination of livestock in polluted areas is a health, social and economic issue. A literature review on CLD revealed a crying lack of information on its behavior in livestock’s organism and currently, there are less than ten studies which deal with livestock’s decontamination. Two experimental protocols were developed to characterize the behavior of CLD in ruminants’ organism and to evaluate methods that can optimize the decontamination processes of these animals. Results showed that all animals have eliminated more than 70% of Chlordecone in 3 to 4 weeks and neither the initial kids’ body fatness nor the addition of activated carbon or the addition of paraffin oil in the diet during the decontamination period altered these rates of excretion. Following these studies, the lipophilic behavior of CLD in animals is, also, questioned because the results showed that the concentrations of this pollutant, expressed on the fat matter basis, were higher in the liver and the muscles than in the peri-renal fat. These results raised new questions: firstly, on the mechanisms which control the CLD tissue distribution and secondly, on the role of the CLD metabolism and its interaction with the entero-hepatic cycle. The understanding of these processes should help to better adjust the decontamination strategies in order to make them more efficient

The Caribbean Island Biodiversity Hotspot is the largest insular system of the New World and a priority for biodiversity conservation worldwide. The tribe Adeliae (Euphorbiaceae) has over 35 species endemic to this hotspot, representing one of the most extraordinary cases of speciation in the West Indies, involving taxa from Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. These species form a monophyletic group and traditionally have been accommodated in two endemic genera: Lasiocroton and Leucocroton. A study based on: (1) scanning electron microscopy of pollen and trichomes, (2) macromorphology, and (3) molecular data, was conducted to reveal generic relationships within this group. Phylogenies were based on parsimony and Bayesian analyses of nucleotide sequences of the ITS regions of the nuclear ribosomal DNA and the non-coding chloroplast DNA spacers psbM-trnD and ycf6-pcbM. One species, Lasiocroton trelawniensis, was transferred from the tribe into the genus Bernardia. Of the remaining species, three major monophyletic assemblages were revealed, one was restricted to limestone ares of Hispaniola and was sister to a clade with two monophyletic genera, Lasiocroton and Leucocroton. Morphological, biogeographical, and ecological data provided additional support for each of these three monophyletic assemblages. The Hispaniolan taxa were accommodated in a new genus with four species: Garciadelia. Leucocroton includes the nickel hyperaccumulating species from serpentine soils of Cuba, while the rest of the species were placed in Lasiocroton, a genus restricted to limestone areas. The geographic history of the islands as well as the phylogenetic placement of the Leucocroton-alliance, allows the research to include the historical biogeography of the alliance across the islands of the Caribbean based on a dispersal-vicariance analysis. The alliance arose on Eastern Cuba and Hispaniola, with Lasiocroton and Leucocroton diverging on Eastern Cuba according to soil type. Within Leucocroton, the analysis shows two migrations across the serpentine soils of Cuba. Additional morphological, ecological, and phylogenetic analyses support four new species in Cuba (Lasiocroton gutierrezii) and Hispaniola (Garciadelia abbottii, G. castilloae, and G. mejiae).