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This thesis will discuss the 'Polima' cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system (pol) in Brassica napus (Canola) and detailed genetic mapping of the region surrounding restorer gene ( Rfp) for that system This fine mapping of the Rfp region will facilitate efforts to clone the gene that will eventually lead to its characterization. Knowledge of the structure of Rfp will provide insight in the molecular mechanisms governing mitochondrial gene statement as well as pollen production and may lead to the development of alternative methods of pollination control. In addition, it is possible that nuclear restorer genes for other CMS systems in other crops may be similar to that of the 'Polima' system. / Map based cloning requires the identification of DNA markers tightly linked to Rfp. Two PCR based markers which are located on either side of Rfp were developed. These markers allowed facile screening of a large population. / RFLP markers used in this study are based on the synteny between B. napus and the well known crucifer A. thaliana. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

To identify region(s) of the mitochondrial genome that might be involved in specifying the "Polima" (pol) cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) of Brassica napus, transcripts corresponding to 14 mitochondrial genes and DNA clones representing $>$90% of the mitochondrial genome of Brassica campestris were analyzed in nap (male fertile), pol (male sterile) and nuclear fertility-restored pol cytoplasm plants. CMS-correlated transcriptional differences among these plants were detected only with the ATPase subunit 6 (atp6) gene. Sequence analysis of the atp6 gene regions of pol and nap mitochondrial DNAs show that rearrangements in the pol mitochondrial genome upstream of atp6 have generated a chimeric 224-codon open reading frame, designated orfJ224, that is cotranscribed with atp6. In male sterile plants, most transcripts of this region are dicistronic, comprising both orf224 and atp6 sequences. In fertility restored-plants, genes at either of two distinct nuclear restorer loci specifically alter this transcript pattern, resulting in predominantly monocistronic atp6 transcripts. The effect of the restorer locus on orf224/atp6 transcripts does not seem to be tissue or developmental stage specific. orf224 comprises a portion of the mitochondrial gene, orfB, fused to sequence of unknown origin. The pol mitochondrial genome contains an apparently functional copy of orfB. The expression of the atp6 region is developmentally regulated in pol plants such that levels of monocistronic atp6 transcripts are increased in seedlings as compared to the floral tissue. Preliminary data indicate that the chimeric gene, orf224, is expressed at the protein level in pol plants.

Concerns have been expressed about assessment results that report girls outscoring boys on standardized achievement testing in reading and writing and boys outscoring girls in mathematics and science. This study explored how Western Canadian rural farm boys understand and practice multiple literacies in their everyday lives and what it means for them to be literate in todays world. The research was a qualitative ethnographic study of the culture of six rural farm boys. Thick description was used to explain the event and the context of the event. The fieldwork involved collecting print and digital artifacts that depicted the boys literacy practices and conducting interviews and conversations. The boys lead very literate lives. However, their notions of what literacy is are rooted in the ideas of literacy as a technical skill and literacy as school knowledge. The boys, who did not see themselves as readers, engaged in transactional reading and writing outside of school, motivated by personal and group interests and by a curiosity to learn knowledge about the world in which they live, a need to be with their peers, and a desire to build social capital in their settings. The boys used literacy to do the social work of gender, of defining themselves, and of placing themselves in their families and peer groups and among their schoolmates with a gendered identity. A gender-based disconnect in reading and writing activities has emerged from our schools. If we want students to embrace school-based print literacy and to make it part of their lives, then competence is simply not enough. Educators must find ways to help students discover pleasure in reading and writing well by offering them assignments and opportunities to recognize that what brings them pleasure is connected to experience, competence, and challenge. The chasm between school literacy and literacy for personal purposes demonstrates the need for curriculum designers to find ways to utilize the digital mode of communication. Curriculum writers must begin to view at literacy as a social practice rather than as a set of technical skills for these rural male adolescents to see themselves as literate people.

The research is specifically concerned with the notion of the military masque as a projected extension of the history of masqueing behaviour evident in gay men's attire.The creative outcome of the project is a collection of five interchangeable masques, an animated poetic work and a series of photographic images.This exegesis therefore, seeks to contextualise the created artifacts. In doing this it posits a historical and critical framework that considers the hyper-masculine1 and its relationship to gay men's masqueing.21 In this exegesis hyper masculinity is taken to mean an exaggeration of stereotypical male beliefs and behaviors through an emphasis on virility, strength and aggression and dress codification.2 Frye (1957), in his Anatomy of criticism offers a useful definition of masque as I frame it in this thesis. The term may be understood as "a species of drama in which spectacle plays an important role and in which the characters tend to be, or become aspects of human personality, rather than independent characters" (pp. 365-7). In this respect the masque is something donned that presents a decodable identity extra to, or other than the actual personality of the wearer.

Echoing Edward Said’s Orientalism, and Homi Bhabha’s notion of the stereotype as mimicry (camouflage), this research project investigates the recent construction of a Muslim male identity as the Other and Self-Othering following the destruction by al- Qaeda of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, referred to colloquially as ‘post-9/11’. The fear of a bearded Muslim terrorist, of attacks from Muslim fundamentalist organizations, the distrust leading to extreme security measures and the subsequent laws contributing to the discrimination and radicalization of the Muslim community are analysed. This research identifies and explains the myths surrounding the Muslim cultural and religious practices relating to the traditional appearance of a Muslim male, specifically the beard and marks of prostration, along with associated imagery derived from the prayer rug, Muslim worship, Salat, and the mosque. Beehive metaphors in Western and Muslim art, history, literature and media are explored. The dualistic concepts surrounding the stereotypes and personifications that result in ‘otherness’ are the key aspects of this research. Using the binary nature of beehive metaphors, as well as both cultures’ propaganda about the West’s Crusade and Islam’s Jihad, the making of a post-9/11 Muslim identity as jihadi, martyr and terrorist are investigated, culminating in artworks comprising of self-portraiture, sculptures, prints, drawings and installation art. These express layers of interpretation of the clash of international political entities alongside the cultural contestations and religious belief systems within the Muslim culture, and reflections upon my own identity as a Muslim man divided between the East and the West. Due to its conceptual yet allegorical content, this research is descriptive, and is intended to lay the ground for future research aimed at examining the compounded variables of potential cultural clashes, religious conflicts, and political action.

Human sexual behaviour is highly variable and not tightly linked to biological reproduction. However, it has not been studied as social behaviour until the last 40 years and until recently it is largely deviant behaviour that has gained the attention of sociologists. Sociology has adopted an unnecessarily antibiologistic position and consequently neglected the body. In reviewing sociological approaches to sex I draw on social constructionism, particularly the work of Gagnon and Simon (1974) and their notion of scripts; these can be interpreted as discursive structures defining sexual acts and sexual actors at both the individual and societal level. I outline a range of social constructionist positions in relation to sexuality and adopt a moderately radical but realist one that concedes some place for the physiology of arousal linking the elements of the discursive realm of the sexual in social life. Finding the basic assumptions of symbolic interactionism a fruitful base from which to approach sexual conduct I reject the concept of 'desire' as too complex and obscure to serve as a starting point in understanding the social organisation of sex. A review of the ethnographic observational studies of settings in which men have casual sex shows that beats (public places such as parks and toilets) operate in a similar manner in many countries. Commercial sex venues are more varied. They are safer and more comfortable than beats and may offer private rooms and facilities for esoteric sex such as bondage. Sex in such settings is impersonal and anonymous, costs little effort, time or money, and offers a variety of partners. Interaction is largely nonverbal. Interview studies of men who have casual sex with other men tend to undersample men who are not gay-identified, but they offer insights into men's motivations and understandings. Both kinds of research are necessary. The empirical component of the thesis is a thematic analysis of transcripts from three interview studies of gay men in Sydney done between 1993 and 1997: Negotiating Sex (n = 9), the Sites study (n = 21) and the Seroconversion study (n = 70). All involved detailed narratives of sexual encounters. The analysis takes a situational interactionist approach with a specific focus on practice. Central questions asked are: how does the setting (beat, sex venue, home) affect what happens? What does sex mean to the men, and how does this affect what they do? How do men's sexual skills, tastes and experience relate to their practice? How do men's bodies and their understandings of the body affect their practice? What do different sexual practices mean and how are they organised and negotiated within the encounter? How (if at all) do men integrate considerations of safe sex into their practice? Physical surroundings were found to have a profound effect on practice. Sex venues as cultural institutions enable patterns of practice that do not occur elsewhere. Physical arrangements within beats and venues encourage or enable particular practices, such as oral sex or group sex. Motivations for and meanings of sex to the participants varied widely; these were related to practice within the men's own accounts but not in any clear predictive way. Men's sexual skills, tastes and preferences, which were also very varied, related to their practice. Men made trade-offs between risk and pleasure. Men looked for a range of features in casual partners. Suppression of social cues restricted the range of criteria on which partners were selected, enabling wider choice. Men's bodies affected their practice most strikingly in the issue of erection or the lack of it. Understandings of the body and physiological processes affected men's interpretations of information about HIV risk. These men have a vocabulary of sexual practices within which some common practices are less salient. These practices are socially patterned in ways that benefit men with certain tastes and abilities and frustrate those with others. Safe sex considerations are routinely integrated into sexual practice but in a way that leaves room for considerable risk of HIV transmission. In conclusion I argue that conceptualising sex between men exclusively in terms of gay identity and culture is inappropriate. The outcome of the empirical work confirms the theoretical analysis that found it necessary to incorporate some physiological notions, such as 'libido', into a social constructionist view of sex. The findings and their interpretations have important implications for framing effective HIV prevention programs. Some specific suggestions are made for how this might be done.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Also available in print.