In this paper I will recount the main stages of the process of making my thesis film Us Against The World, a narrative short film. In particular, I will focus on the authenticity and verisimilitude that I tried to achieve, as well as the limitations I worked under as a student filmmaker with a limited budget and how we consistently tried to use these limitations to our advantage. Starting from the beginning, I will first discuss my main inspirations and the writing process of the script. Secondly, I will explain how my team of creative collaborators and I prepared the project during pre-production. I will furthermore address all key creative aspects, such as directing, cinematography and production design, and describe how we used these to visually translate my story onto screen. After summarizing the post-production process, I will draw a conclusion to evaluate the final film.

This dissertation examines in detail, the organisation, training and operations of the 27 th and 30th American Divisions during the period of Summer 1917 to the announcement of an armistice in November 1918. Particular emphasis is placed on the two divisions after they were attached to the 11 American Corps. especiallý their experience with the British Expeditionary Force in 1918, and the training received under the supervision of British officers. The 11 American Corps was unique in that it spent its entire service in France in the British sector. Originally it was composed of 10 divisions, but eight of these were removed by the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, Gen. John. J. Pershing. The divisions were transferred to the First American Army and operated entirely independent of 11 American Corps. The týýo American divisions that h, oth remained with the British, the 27t and -3 , relied heavily upon their coalition partners for advice in training, supplies, equipment, food and more importantly, tactical leadership. Although General Pershing forbade American divisions from being th -, oth amalgamated into Allied armies, in reality, the 27 and -) Divisions became part of the BEF, especially the Fourth Arrný during the final campaigns of the war. Despite its attachment to arguably the best fighting force on the Western Front in 1918, the 11 American Corps suffered heavý casualties during its limited operational experience and. in many ways. failed to take advantage of lessons learned by the British Army during its campaigns of 1916-1917. This dissertation concludes that the relationship between the two American divisions and their British ally was in the end result a success. By allowing the 27 th and 30'hDivisions to remain behind with the BEF, Pershing provided the British with more than 50,000 able American troops to use at the front. Thus the tNNo ,a llies became Brothers-in-Arms.

Magister Artium - MA / This study, in contrast to contemporary held views relating to the US policy premises, aimed to look at the inherent disabilities and inconsistencies of the policies of successive Washington administrations. More so, it investigated the US interventionist strategies to perceived threats from communist regimes and their allies, especially in Southern Africa. To be able to embark on such an investigation, Namibia and the Soviet-Cuban involvement in Southern Africa were selected as a special focus of this study. / South Africa

Rapid digitization of enterprise processes and software applications simplifying daily-life routines enhance the need for software arrangements. Based on this growing trend, the underlying thesis discusses revenue recognition for software arrangements under US GAAP, the lingua franca of financial reporting framework in software industry. The thesis examines the first industry-specific guidance - SOP 97-2, its successor ASC 605 and aims at capturing the main implications resulting from the new converged US GAAP/ IFRS revenue recognition standard ASC 606/ IFRS 15 on a case study. The five-step revenue recognition model introduced by ASC 606 is applied to the US-based technology and software seller Apple Inc. and its wide range of product portfolio including software.

Adding a much needed historical and comparative dimension to current debates about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the present thesis provides an analysis of the changing construction and treatment of childhood hyperactivity in Britain and the United States, focusing on the period from 1960 to 2010. The focal point is the historical discrepancy between the two countries in diagnostic and therapeutic practices, and the question of how and why perspectives have increasingly converged over the past 20 years. Whereas British medical and educational professionals continued to rely on environmental explanations and interventions for the vast bulk of disruptive behaviour in school children, the American concept of hyperactivity disorder from the 1960s onwards became increasingly inclusive and biomedical in orientation. This expansion was closely related to the rise of psycho-stimulants as a widely employed treatment for hyperactivity and attention problems in the US. British and other European clinicians, on the other hand, resisted drug treatments up until the mid-1990s, when rates of diagnosis and prescription grew dramatically on both sides of the Atlantic. A key aim of this study is to explore and explain the rise of ADHD and Ritalin in both the American and British contexts, looking at the interplay of political, professional, institutional and socio-cultural factors that have contributed in each case. The study concentrates on three distinct but interconnected spheres which, both separately and in combination, have underpinned and shaped approaches to hyperactivity in the two countries: medicine, education and the wider public arena, represented by parent support groups. While chapters 2, 3 and 4 focus on the medical debates and practices surrounding hyperactivity, and the points of connection and disconnection between the two medico-psychiatric communities, chapters 5 and 6 examine the role of schooling, disability activism, and educational policy, especially that relating to special educational needs. Finally, chapter 7 explores the issue of parent activism which has been an important factor in the growth and critique of ADHD in both settings.

For all their efforts to avoid a nuclear North Korea, the Clinton and Bush administrations failed to achieve this goal, the most important policy objective of the United States in its relations with North Korea for decades, mainly because of inconsistencies in U.S. policy. This dissertation seeks to explain why both administrations ultimately failed to prevent North Korea from going nuclear. It finds the origins of this failure in the implementation of different U.S. policy options toward North Korea during the Clinton and Bush administrations. To explain the lack of policy consistency, the dissertation investigates how the relations between the executive and the legislative branches and, more specifically, different government types—unified government and divided government—have affected U.S. policy toward North Korea. It particularly emphasizes the role of Congress and partisan politics in the making of U.S. policy toward North Korea. This study finds that divided government played a pivotal role. Partisan politics are also central to the explanation: politics did not stop at the water’s edge. A divided U.S. government produced more status quo policies toward North Korea than a unified U.S. government, while a unified government produced more active policies than a divided government. Moreover, a unified government with a Republican President produced more aggressive policies toward North Korea, whereas a unified government with a Democratic President produced more conciliatory policies. This study concludes that the different government types and intensified partisan politics were the main causes of the inconsistencies in the United States’ North Korea policy that led to a nuclear North Korea.

My dissertation investigated business cycle effects on US sectoral stock returns. The first chapter examined the relationship between the business cycle and sectoral stock returns. First, I calculated constant correlation coefficients between the business cycle and sectoral stock returns. Then, I employed the DCC GARCH model to estimate time-varying correlation coefficients for each pair of the business cycle and sectoral stock returns. Finally, I ran regression of sectoral returns on dummy variables designed to capture the four stages of the business cycle. I found that though sectoral stock returns were closely related to the business cycle, they did not share some of its main characteristics. The second chapter developed two models in order to discuss possible asymmetric business cycle effects on US sectoral stock returns. One was a GARCH model with asymmetric explanatory variables and the other one was an ARCH-M model with asymmetric external regressors. In the second model, square root of conditional variance of the business cycle proxy was characterized as positive or negative risk, depending on the algebraic sign of past innovations driving the business cycle proxy. I found that some sectors changed their cyclicities from expansions to recessions. Negative shocks to business cycles had most power to influence sectoral volatilities. Positive and negative parts of business cycle risk had same effects on some sectors but had opposite effects on other sectors. A general conclusion of both models was that business cycle had stronger effects than own sectoral effects in driving sectoral returns. The third chapter discussed Chinese business cycle effects on US sectoral stock returns at two horizons. At a monthly horizon, the third lag of Chinese IP growth rate had positive effects on most sectors. The second lag of US IP growth rate had positive effects on almost all sectors. At a quarterly horizon, besides the extensive positive effects of the first lag of Chinese IP growth rate, the third and fourth lags also had effects on some sectors. The US IP growth rate had the same pattern, namely positive first and fourth lag effects and negative third lag effects. Using a 5-year rolling fixed window, I found that these business cycle effects were time-varying. The major changes in parameters resulted from the elimination of quota on textiles by WTO, the terrorist attacks on the US, and the 2007 financial crisis.

The Devils Lake defection of 2005 demands a re-evaluation of the venerable Boundary Waters Treaty (BWT) between Canada and the United States. Why was the long-successful water agreement unable to solve this relatively minor dispute? More importantly, given irregularities between theoretical assertions and institutional history, what theory of international relations best explains a cooperative agreement that spans a near-century? Due to the complexities of shared river systems, any theory that seeks to explain international cooperation must adequately encompass three separate sources of state motivation. First, it must explain the technical, basin-position-driven realities that affect state attitudes towards negotiations. Second, it must explain the longer-term strategic factors that can inspire states to accept immediate losses for subsequent gains. Finally, it must acknowledge domestic sources of influence and understand how these forces constrain the state vis-à-vis others. This paper argues that liberalism, as defined by Andrew Moravcsik, is the best theoretical candidate. This is proven by comparing interpretations of the BWT history through realist, neoliberal, constructivist, and liberal lenses. After identifying and examining each theory's strengths and weaknesses, liberalism emerges as the most holistic view and should be favoured as a primary explanatory theory. Liberalism's theoretical underpinnings – interest group politics – best handles the technical, strategic, and domestic influences that affect Canada-US water relations. Whether examining what prompted efforts to initiate a water-sharing agreement, explaining the agreement's final structure, determining the impetus for continued cooperation, or identifying the incentives to finally break from treaty obligations, liberalism provides the most satisfying solutions. Though derived from the Canada-US border relationship, liberalism's superiority is not limited to the North American watershed. Because the factors examined are common to all shared international river systems and the paper's results are scalable, this suggests that liberalism will continue to be the appropriate primary IR theory to employ when examining state decision-making regarding water-sharing agreements. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Through an analysis of the presence and nature of international monetary flows of non-declared origin and their relation to deviant knowledge, the thesis determines that both terrorism and organised crime are nurtured by a constant trickle from minor sources rather than by large financial transfers; and that anti-money laundering provisions are misapplied, taken too far, too expensive, and incapable of demonstrating their effectiveness. In lieu of more traditional policy recommendations, the thesis develops a complexity-theory based intelligence function, capillary intelligence, to improve the present information-gathering systems and generate consistent and context-relevant intelligence for the consideration of policy-makers. The intelligence function takes into account also the concept of self-organised criticality. The thesis fully adheres to the principle that efficiently applied intelligence-led approaches for detection of organised crime are demonstrably superior to a 'follow the money' approach. An extended concept of deviant knowledge is developed and five methodological techniques employed: Complexity theory, network theory, self-organised criticality, scaling theory, and intelligence treatment. The thesis is multidisciplinary and calls on contributions from International Law, Economics, Criminal Justice Studies, and Governance and Ethics. Its approach is illustrative and fits Baudrillard's 1981 methodological principles known as bricolage. Using five methodologies and six major case studies, the thesis reaches four conclusions. First, the rapid expansion in the currency component of the US money supply (M1) has no domestic explanation and can best be explained by an increase in overseas illegal traffics of various sorts. Second, terrorism and major organised crime are, for a large part, nurtured by a constant trickle of funds originating from minor crime, such as, respectively, smuggling of tobacco product and retail fencing, and sale of counterfeit luxury goods. Third, calculation of the cost of the application of anti-money laundering shows these to be cost-inefficient, apart from being highly intrusive. The thesis' calculations as well as prior literature makes it certain that such provisions, although inefficient, are enforced in a forceful exemplification of the deviant knowledge concept. Fourth, the thesis demonstrates the importance of organised crime in resource depletion and emphasises the nefarious consequences of such criminal behaviour, in particular as regards deforestation, since organised crime can apply the necessary pressure on the local population - in conjunction with extensive corruption of police or military personnel - and provide the managerial expertise to have the trees felled, transported internationally by ship and sold in another country often with false documentation as to the origins of the forest product. In a final case study, the tragic concept of resource curse is considered, in casu the island of Bougainville, PNG.

This thesis addresses the growing privatization of the US forces through the Revolution in Military Affairs and the War in Iraq and its implications for the purpose of mobilization and individual military commitment conceptualize by the US warrior ethos. Creating a dialogue between the literature on Private Military Companies and the US warrior ethos, this thesis aims at providing a comprehensive understanding of the values sustaining the warrior ethos and how they are jeopardized by the emergence of new actors in the battlespace. I argue that this commercial turn in the US military erode the warrior ethos by placing business consideration ahead of great personal risk and ultimately raises doubts about civic responsibilities and democratic control of US military affairs.