Music written by Black composers has often been overlooked in the classical saxophone community regarding study and performance. One piece that is inspired directly by Black culture is Steven Banks' Come As You Are (2020). In this composition, Banks incorporates material directly from classic Negro spirituals and Gospel church hymns. The purpose of this document is to assist in educating classical saxophone pedagogues and performers about a work from an underrepresented composer who is clearly meritorious and whose work is worthy of being added to what might be considered by many as the standard repertoire for the saxophone. Included in this document is a performance guide of Come As You Are, as well as an oral history provided by the composer, Steven Banks.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates the construction of masculinity in the Xhosa initiation school (ulwaluko) in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa from a religio-cultural perspective. This ethnographic study utilized interviews with participants, observations of the initiation school, and is also complemented with documents that are written by Xhosa authors Thando Mqolozana, Nelson Mandela, Peter Mtuze, and A.N.N. Ngxamngxa. The documentary by Mayenzeke Baza and a blog post by Xhosa journalist Luzuko Pongoma were also used. The data collection and analysis was done with the Grounded Theory Approach using Atlas.ti version 7. The ontological and epistemological premise is of the constructivist understanding. The conceptual framework is grounded within the African philosophy of Ubuntu and African religio-cultural underpinnings. A new term, ancestral masculinity, was given to depict the type of masculinity described by the findings. It is marked by participating in a ‘manhood’ rites of passage and adhering to its prescribed processes and procedures, according to the ‘living and dead’ ancestors, in order for one to be accepted and recognized as part of the community. The findings show that ancestral masculinity, in its micro context of ‘boyhood’, is a searching route to acceptance. The initiate longs and finds acceptance in the initiation school through enduring pain and fostering a relationship with his guardian and teacher (ikhankatha). Secondly, ancestral masculinity is seen as the yearning to be African in its macro-context. It was demonstrated by admonishing (ukuyala) that helps the initiated to live an exemplary life of honouring (inhlonipho) those who are living and dead. This honouring is portrayed by doing everything possible to be helpful and to accord respect and care to elders. Inhlonipho also challenges individualist accomplishment and materialist flaunting and any ills that negate relational harmony. The study reveals challenges in the ulwaluko institution and construction of masculinity, such as alcohol abuse; carelessness, neglect, and passivity by elders in the process; exclusivity that discriminates against others; and inflexibility toward other constructions of masculinity. However, opportunities are also present within this institution to encourage dialogue and reconciliation, to create flexibility, and to utilize existing values to promote social cohesion amidst the challenges of the contemporary South African context. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die volgende tesis ondersoek die konstruksie van manlikheid binne die Xhosa inisiasieskool (ulwaluko) in die plakkerskampe en omligende gebiede van Kaapstad, Suid-Afrika. Hierdie etnografiese studie maak gebruik van onderhoude met vrywillige deelnemers, waarnemings binne die inisiasieskool en word ook verder gekomplimenteer deur dokumente wat geskryf is deur Xhosa outeurs onder andere Thando Mqolozana, Nelson Mandela, Peter Mtuze asook A.N.N. Ngxamngxa. Verder word die dokumentêr deur Mayenzeke Baza sowel as ’n “blogpost” deur Xhosa joernalis Luzuko Pongoma ook gebruik. Die versameling van data sowel as die analise daarvan was gedoen deur die Gefundeerde Teorie benadering en Atlas.ti weergawe 7 was gebruik. Die ontologiese sowel as epistemologiese premisse is van die konstruktivistiese paradigma. Die konsepsuele raamwerk is gegrond in die Afrika filosofie van Ubuntu sowel as Afrika godsdiens en kulturele onderbou. ‘n Nuwe term, voorvaderlike manlikheid, was gegee om die tipe manlikheid uit te beeld wat deur die bevindinge beskryf was. Dit word gekenmerk deur deelname in manlikheid rituele van deurgang asook voldoening aan die voorgeskrewe prosesse en prosedures volgens die “lewende en dooie” voorvaders, om aanvaar en erken te word as deel van die gemeenskap. Die bevindinge dui aan dat voorvaderlike manlikheid in sy mikro-konteks van “seunskap” ’n soekende roete tot aanvaarding is. Die persoon wat die inisiasie moet deurmaak smag na en verkry aanvaarding in die inisiasieskool deur pyn te verduur en om ’n verhouding te kweek met sy voog en leermeester (ikhankatha). Tweedens word hierdie voorvaderlike manlikheid aanskou as die hunkering om ’n Afrikaan te wees in sy makro-konteks. Dit was veral gedemonstreer deur vermaning (ukuyala), wat die geïnisieerde help om ’n voorbeeldige lewe te lei wat die lewendes sowel as die dooies vereer (inhlonipho). Die verering word uitgebeeld deur alles moontlik te doen om behulpsaam te wees en om respek sowel as versorging te verleen aan die bejaardes. Inhlonipho stel ook uitdagings aan die individuele prestasies, materialistiese spoggery asook enige euwels wat teenstrydig is met die relasionele harmonie. Die studie openbaar uitdagings in die ulwaluko instelling en konstruksie van manlikheid onder andere alkohol misbruik, roekeloosheid, nalatigheid asook passiwiteit onder die meer ouer en bejaarde geslag in die proses; uitsluiting wat diskrimineer teen andere, asook onbuigsaamheid teenoor die ander konstruksies van manlikheid. Ondanks die uitdagings is daar ook geleenthede in die instelling wat dialoog en versoening aanmoedig om buigsaamheid te skep sowel as die bestaande waardes aan te wend om sosiale kohesie te bevorder te midde van die uitdagings van die huidige Suid-Afrikaanse konteks.

Master Thesis Analysis of Old-age Pension Schemes provides comparison of pay-as-you-go system and funding pensions from the theoretical point of view. Comparison is made assuming constant population and population under demographic crisis as well. Next issue is a demographic development of the Czech republic. The thesis answers the question whether demographic crisis in the Czech republic occurs. The last part of the thesis analyses the current pension system of the Czech republic assuming analysed development of population growth.

The theme of this diploma thesis is the manipulation in literature as a dialog between the I and the You or the I and the It. This I has a different position in each of the two types of manipulation. In the first type the I is the subject of manipulation - that is a manipulator. In the second one the I becomes the object of manipulation - thus a victim of a manipulator because the power over the I has been overtaken by other character's consciousness. The I and the You type is represented by an outside dialog (between characters), whereas the I and the It type is demonstrated in an inside dialog which does not occur between the hero and another character but between the hero and a voice of other character's consciousness. The opening part which deals with the manipulation in different contexts (philosophical, political and psychological) is followed by a part where I interpret the manipulation's representation in literature, especially in the works of Dostojevskij (The Double, The Village of Stepanchikovo, Notes from Underground, The Eternal Husband). With the characters of this author we can view the dark side of the human mind and also have a close look at various forms of arbitrariness, especially at the manipulation with the others.

This master thesis investigates the possibility to create a machine vision solution for the automation of earth-moving machines. This research was done as without some type of vision system it will not be possible to create a fully autonomous earth moving machine that can safely be used around humans or other machines. Cameras were used as the primary sensors as they are cheap, provide high resolution and is the type of sensor that most closely mimic the human vision system. The purpose of this master thesis was to use existing real time object detectors together with transfer learning and examine if they can successfully be used to extract information in environments such as construction, forestry and mining. The amount of data needed to successfully train a real time object detector was also investigated. Furthermore, the thesis examines if there are specifically difficult situations for the defined object detector, how reliable the object detector is and finally how to use service-oriented architecture principles can be used to create deep learning systems. To investigate the questions formulated above, three data sets were created where different properties were varied. These properties were light conditions, ground material and dump truck orientation. The data sets were created using a toy dump truck together with a similarly sized wheel loader with a camera mounted on the roof of its cab. The first data set contained only indoor images where the dump truck was placed in different orientations but neither the light nor the ground material changed. The second data set contained images were the light source was kept constant, but the dump truck orientation and ground materials changed. The last data set contained images where all property were varied. The real time object detector YOLOv3 was used to examine how a real time object detector would perform depending on which one of the three data sets it was trained using. No matter the data set, it was possible to train a model to perform real time object detection. Using a Nvidia 980 TI the inference time of the model was around 22 ms, which is more than enough to be able to classify videos running at 30 fps. All three data sets converged to a training loss of around 0.10. The data set which contained more varied data, such as the data set where all properties were changed, performed considerably better reaching a validation loss of 0.164 compared to the indoor data set, containing the least varied data, only reached a validation loss of 0.257. The size of the data set was also a factor in the performance, however it was not as important as having varied data. The result also showed that all three data sets could reach a mAP score of around 0.98 using transfer learning.

Prior literature focuses on the causes and effects of ownership concentration between significant blockholders and minority shareholders. Anecdotal evidence shows that it is also important to look at the causes and effects of ownership concentration within controlling families as family ownership can become diffused after generations. Family trust is a popular vehicle for holding family ownership. It allows a founder to concentrate firm ownership on a long-term basis, preventing control loss after he/she steps down. Family members can enjoy control benefits such as preservation of their family intangible assets. However, there is tradeoff. Family members cannot resolve their conflicts by acquiring and selling off shares among them, since they are no longer the legal owners of the shares. / Using a sample of 216 family firms listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with time series data spanning 1990--2008, I investigate the causes and effects of ownership concentration by means of family trust. I fmd that when family control is important (when there exists a large amount of family intangibles), there is a higher propensity that family trust is used to concentrate ownership and secure control, provided that the cost of using it is low (small family size hence low family conflict). However, when there are more and more family members after generations, the benefit of preserving the intangibles may not be high enough to cover the cost of potential family conflict, leading to firm value loss. Moreover, the cost of using trust magnifies during difficult periods such as financial distress, economic downturn and leadership succession. Hence, firms with high potential family conflict have poorer performance during difficult time if family trust is used for holding the firm's controlling stake. Family trust also induces common pool problem. Family members tend to extract resources from the family firm as much and as early as possible, leading to higher payout and slower firm growth. / Leung, Siu Ching. / Adviser: Joseph P. H. Fan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 58). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學. / Manuscript. / Includes bibliographical references(leaves 314-326). / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue. / Chapter 一 --- 緒論 / Chapter 二 --- 官辦時期 / Chapter ´¡　 --- 漢陽鐵廠創辦的目的和經過 / Chapter 1 --- 張之洞創辦漢陽鐵廠的目的 / Chapter 2 --- 鐵廠創辦的經過 / Chapter ´Ł　 --- 燃料問題 / Chapter ´Ø　 --- 機器問題 / Chapter ´Ð　 --- 廠址問題 / Chapter 三 --- 官督商辦時期 / Chapter ´¡　 --- 鐵廠改歸官督商辦的經過 / Chapter ´Ł　 --- 燃料問題的解決´Ð萍鄉煤礦的開採 / Chapter ´Ø　 --- 與日本簽訂預借生鐵礦石價值合同的經過和影響 / Chapter ´Ð --- 機器設備的改良和擴充 / Chapter ´Þ --- 新廠址的建議 / Chapter 四 --- 商辦時期 / Chapter ´¡　 --- 清末 / Chapter 1 --- 漢治萍煤鐵廠研的合併 / Chapter 2 --- 股本的籌集 / Chapter 3 --- 經營概況 / Chapter ´Ł　 --- 民初 / Chapter 1 --- 中中合辦的問題 / Chapter 2 --- 省有問題 / Chapter 3 --- 國有問題 / Chapter 4 --- 官商合辦的問題 / Chapter ´Ø　 --- 歐戰時期 / Chapter 1 --- 歐戰對漢治萍公司的影響 / Chapter 2 --- 廿一條與漢治萍公司 / Chapter ´Ð　 --- 歐戰以後 / Chapter 1 --- 漢治萍公司的波落 / Chapter 2 --- 波落後的漢治萍公司 / Chapter 五 --- 漢治萍公司失敗的原因 / Chapter ´¡　 --- 計畫不周 / Chapter ´Ł　 --- 經營不善 / Chapter ´Ø　 --- 用人不當 / Chapter ´Ð --- 環境不良 / Chapter ´Þ --- 成本高昂 / Chapter 六 --- 總結

A crise da PrevidÃncia Social configura atualmente uma das maiores preocupaÃÃes das naÃÃes. Os dÃficits dos sistemas previdenciÃrios pÃblicos estÃo a exigir dos Governos o repensar da estrutura e do regime de financiamento como imperativo para assegurar a solvÃncia dos mesmos. Esta dissertaÃÃo traz uma breve discussÃo sobre aspectos teÃricos relacionados ao regime de financiamento e, especificamente, sobre aspectos histÃricos e legais da PrevidÃncia Social brasileira, procurando destacar os impactos de variÃveis macroeconÃmicas e demogrÃficas que modelam o regime de repartiÃÃo simples como forma de financiar o sistema, apontando, na seqÃÃncia da anÃlise, os objetivos das reformas constitucionais de 1998 e 2003, as quais, embora nÃo tenham ocasionado uma mudanÃa estrutural do regime de financiamento, promoveram alteraÃÃes na legislaÃÃo previdenciÃria brasileira que visam tornar o Regime Geral de PrevidÃncia Social viÃvel no horizonte de longo prazo. / Nowadays the crisis of the Social Welfare is a major concern worldwide. The deficits of social security state systems are to demand rethinking of the structure of the Governments and of the financing regime as imperative to assure the solvency of the same ones. This dissertation brings a brief discussion on theoretical aspects related to the financing regime and, specifically, on historical and legal aspects of the Brazilian Social Welfare trying to highlight the impacts of macro-economical and demographical variables that they make the Pay-As-You-Go as form of financing the system, pointing, in the sequence of the analysis, the objectives of the one of the constitutional reforms of 1998 and 2003, the ones which, although they have not caused a structural change of the financing regime, they promoted changes in the Brazilian legislation system that they seek to turn the General Social Welfare Regime make feasible in a long-term run.

This thesis is composed of a collection of twelve short stories, varying in length from 2 to 14 pages. Each story contains its own discrete theme, but fits as well within the overarching theme of the collection as a whole. This overarching theme is what gives the collection its cohesiveness. The main theme of the larger work can be found in the title of the collection, People on the Edges of Dreams. In many of the stories dreams, or dream-states, figure in the lives of the protagonists. In addition to the dream-state theme there is a less obvious theme, which has to do with the extent to which most or all of the main characters in the stories are faced with a kind of inescapable compassion for others. For example, the selfinvolved, self-gratifying protagonist in Matador cannot help but feel compassion first for Pearl, the woman he insults, and second for the "bums" on whom his livelihood depends. The theme of inescapable compassion can, I believe, be found to varying degrees in each of the stories in this collection.

This dissertation traces lesbian portrayals on network television from the 1960s through the 1990s. A focus on episodic dramas and situation comedies reveals a concise representation of the mediated lesbian image. Building on existing research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender images on television, this work focuses exclusively on the lesbian image broadcast free of charge over the air during prime-time on commercial networks in the United States. Using a postmodern feminist framework, this textual analysis examines the images and texts portraying lesbian characters in episodic dramas and situation comedies. Furthermore, applying a semiotic lens to the analysis dissects the voice and actions of lesbian characters illustrating the ways production techniques and narrative scripting work together to represent a lesbian image on television.