EXtensible Markup Language, XML, was designed as a markup language for structuring, storing and transporting data on the World Wide Web. The focus of XML is on data content; arbitrary markup is used to describe data. This versatile, self-describing data representation has established XML as the universal data format and the de facto standard for information exchange on the Web. This has gradually given rise to the need for efficient storage and querying of large XML repositories. To that end, we propose a new model for building a native XML store which is based on a generalisation of vertical decomposition. Nodes of a document satisfying the same label-path, are extracted and stored together in a single container, a Stripe. Stripes make use of a labelling scheme allowing us to maintain full structural information. Over this new representation, we introduce various evaluation techniques, which allow us to handle a large fragment of XPath 2.0. We also focus on the optimisation opportunities that arise from our decomposition model during any query evaluation phase. During query validation, we present an input minimisation process that exploits the proposed model for identifying input that is only relevant to the given query, in terms of Stripes. We also define query equivalence rules for query rewriting over our proposed model. Finally, during query optimisation, we deal with whether and under which circumstances certain evaluation algorithms can be replaced by others having lower I/O and/or CPU cost. We propose three storage schemes under our general decomposition technique. The schemes differ in the compression method imposed on the structural part of the XML document. The first storage scheme imposes no compression. The second storage scheme exploits structural regularities of the document to minimise storage and, thus, I/O cost during query evaluation. Finally, the third storage scheme performs structureagnostic compression of the document structure which results in minimised storage, regardless the actual XML structure. We experiment on XML repositories of varying size, recursion and structural regularity. We consider query input size, execution plan size and query response time as metrics for our experimental results. We process query workloads by applying each of the proposed optimisations in isolation and then all of their combinations. In addition, we apply the same execution pipeline for all proposed storage schemes. As a reference to our proposed query evaluation pipeline, we use the current state-of-the-art system for XML query processing. Our results demonstrate that: • Our proposed data model provides the infrastructure for efficiently selecting the parts of the document that are relevant to a given query. • The application of query rewriting, combined with input minimisation, reduces query input size as well as the number of physical operators used. In addition, when evaluation algorithms are specialised to the decomposition method, query response time is further reduced. • Query evaluation performance is largely affected by the storage schemes, which are closely related to the structural properties of the data. The achieved compression ratio greatly affects storage size and therefore, query response times.

Human activities are increasingly altering ecosystems, and are especially severe in streams where flow modification can affect environments far downstream and can interact with other pressures, such as species invasions. This has led to a disproportionately high number of threatened species in streams (e.g., native galaxiid fishes in New Zealand). I investigated how threatened bignose galaxias (Galaxias macronasus) and upland longjaw galaxias (Galaxias prognathus) were affected by flow-related influences in their habitats. A survey of sub-catchments in the Mackenzie Basin showed that flow regulation played a strong role in influencing fish occurrence; native fishes dominated unregulated rivers and introduced species dominated regulated rivers. Upland longjaw galaxias (ULG) were sparsely distributed and only found in unmodified braided rivers. Targeted surveys in these rivers indicated their habitat selection was weak, and although habitat availability was high, individual habitats were only occupied for short periods because floods frequently reconfigured the river bed. Thus, disturbances played a major role in ULG populations, forcing a strategy of weak habitat selection and frequent movement. This also makes them vulnerable to large-scale flow changes making the habitat more benign and potentially increasing competition (e.g., from invasive trout). Bignose galaxias were only locally abundant in very low discharge habitats lacking other fishes, so were restricted to very small parts of the river network. An experiment manipulating flows showed bignose galaxias moved into slower habitats over the short-term, suggesting a slow-flow preference, but not excluding the competitive influences of other fish like trout. Overall, this work shows these threatened fishes are susceptible to many of the current and future global changes affecting freshwaters like habitat alteration and invaders, but the above knowledge should allow targeted management of these influences for these highly threatened endemic fish.

Vegetation reclamation in oil-sands requires a consistent and adequate supply of seeds of native shrubs. However, annual seed production is erratic and seeds are usually short lived and insufficient for the reclamation projects. Seeds of six native shrub species including: Prunus virginiana, Prunus pensylvanica, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Shepherdia canadensis, Cornus sericea, and Viburnum edule were used to analyze physiological changes during storage and artificial aging processes. The shrub seeds were studied for one year during storage under eight different combinations of temperature (-20, 4, 22.5 °C), atmosphere (Air / N2) and relative humidity (RH; 7-8 % / 3-4 %). No significant differences were detected among the storage parameters after one year; however, sub-zero and N2 environments showed a potential in maintaining a higher seed vigour during storage. In the artificial aging experiment, seeds were subjected to 45 oC, 60 % RH for 5-25 d. For most shrub species, the seed viability decreased significantly after 10-15 d artificial aging and was down to 0 % after 20 d. The germination percentage declined already after 5 d; therefore, there was a delay in detecting viability loss using the tetrazolium test. Non-aged seeds and aged seeds of most collections showed significantly different seedling lengths, which indicated a negative effect of accelerated aging process on the seedling growth. The electrolyte conductivity, as well as seed dehydrin protein expression, is strongly correlated with the seed vigour, which can be used as seed quality assessment methods in seed longevity predicting. A loss of membrane integrity occurred during the accelerated seed aging processes, as indicated by an increased electrolyte conductivity that was negatively correlated with the seed viability and germination. During artificial aging process, heat stress of Prunus virginiana induced expression of dehydrins with a molecular mass of 27 kDa, which reached a detectable level after 5 d. The storage protocol developed in this study would benefit the adequate supply of viable shrub seeds for reclamation. With species-specific parameters taken into consideration, the artificial aging technique to predict seed longevity can be further expanded to other non-crop species used in reclamation of lands after oil extraction.

<p> The Nahuatl language spoken by Aztec/Mexica continues to be spoken throughout Central Mexico and in the Huasteca region. Variation within the Huasteca has yet to be fully explored, and this study integrates a questionnaire published by Lastra and interviews I conducted with native speakers representing different communities. The data produced from this were used to find features that distinguish different towns and then were analyzed using cladistics, a phylogenetic method used by biologists to propose a hypothesis of the evolutionary relationships among species, and which has also been used by linguists. The output suggests there is a large split between northwest and southeast regions of the Huasteca, and that the northeast villages compose a subregion on their own. One can trace the relationships between communities on the output tree and follow a path backwards towards Central Mexico, suggesting a north-east migration.</p>

The Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) officially came into existence in April of 1980. The program is designed to recognize a unique and distinctive cultural group in Western ,Canada. Students in the programs a,re expected to acquire knowledge and to develop teaching skills responsive to the needs of Native students in urban communities in Saskatchewan. The SUNTEP program therefore is a specialized training in Native Studies and Cross Cultural Education, and as such, has an emphasis on language development and an extended field component. This thesis examines the nature of the specialized training requirements; the historical development and the outcomes of this specialized training. The perceptions are from those who are responsible for delivery of the program, those who teach and oversee the components and those who receive the training. The study reviews the literature pertaining to Native teacher education in Canada and United States up to the present and gives the description of the SUNTEP program as the setting for the study. The study adds to the body of knowledge on the subject of teacher training for Native North Americans. There is a growing realization that more emphasis must be given to this process. Effectiveness of Native teachers in creating an educational system in which Native children will succeed with their unique culture and heritage intact requires more than their "nativeness." To succeed Native teachers must:(1) achieve a sense of self fulfillment (2) develop skills which will meet the needs of the communities they serve (3) acquire certain knowledge which they must pass on. Educators who provide this training must understand the stresses of this particular group and this way, assist Native teachers in understanding these stresses in order to find ways of dealing with them. Educators involved in Native teacher training must acknowledge the aspirations of the communities served by this endeavor and provide the knowledge and skills which Native teachers will require to do their work. Lastly, the educational organizations and systems involved must support Native teachers beyond training and make possible by whatever action is necessary the realization of their impor~ant role in creating an environment where Native children will succeed. In the case of SUNTEP, Saskatchewan and the Native people then should benefit from this special program of training Native teachers.

This study examined the role and characterization of the Indian depicted in the western comic book using the research method, content analysis. The sample of 44 comic books contained two Indian characters, one with a major speaking part. The guidelines of Berelson (1952) were used to develop the categories utilized and the procedures and categories applied by Agogino (1950), Katz and Braly (1933), and Spiegleman, et al. (1953) were modified to suit the purposes of this study. The pictorial and verbal data stated as the greatest percentage of attributable characteristics, were analyzed by the application of 141 items. Validation preceded the study; the percentage coder and intercoder agreement was 75% to 100%. The Indian; clad in loincloth, leggings, and moccasins, subsisting in a raiding and hunting economy was depicted as cowardly and having an evil character. He was grim expressioned, treacherous, sneaky, cruel, dependent and untrustworthy. His stature was medium as was his physique; his skin was pink, bordering on red. His hair was shoulder length, adorned with a few feathers or full headdress. Wrist and arm bands, necklaces, and war paint were worn. Bows and arrows, tomahawks, knives, and guns were evident. The Indian occupied a tipi and was transported by horse. He most often instigated acts of violence, primarily shooting and beating. In a historical time set in a domestic locality he was rarely the main character and hero but largely the submajor character and villain. Vengeance, hatred and revenge, and solution to immediate problems were the Indians' dominant goal orientation; his methods of attainment were physical violence or threats of physical violence and dependence, 'deceit, cunning and trickery. Barriers to his achievement were interpersonal violence or personal industry on the part of others. "Injun," "redskin," "squaw," "savage," and "warrior" denoted the Indian. The comic books analyzed depicted the Indian in a negative role perpetuating common stereotypes and generalizations.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a framework for the discussion of Aboriginal women's oppression, one which will reflect Indigenous women's perspectives. It is suggested here that feminism often assumes that all women, cross-culturally, share the same oppression and that this assumption may be false. The writer believes that the Indigenous "Circle of Life" philosophy more appropriately embodies Aboriginal women's conceptions of human nature, their political philosophy, and their strategy for social change and liberation.

<p> The Toltec Mounds site (3LN42) (A.D. 700-1050) in central Arkansas has intrigued archaeologists for decades. Although it dates well within the Woodland Period and has many features characteristic of a Woodland Period site, including grog-tempered pottery and a reliance on hunting and gathering, its mound-and-plaza layout is an architectural design suggestive of the later Mississippi Period (A.D. 1000-1500). This confusion is addressed in this thesis by examining two ceramic assemblages from different building stages of Mound D, the last mound to be altered at the site. The ceramics show an affiliation with northeastern Arkansas that has been underemphasized in the past, and that may provide more information on Toltec's relationships with its neighbors through the end of the Woodland Period.</p>

This thesis examines the role played by European-made glass beads and other manufactured goods in first contact of Europeans with Native American Indian populations in Oregon, California and Washington. Utilising both the historical and archaeological record, the activities of the Spanish in Alta California, the Russians in Northern California, the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Pacific Northwest Coast companies are examined, highlighting their use of beads in gift giving and exchange with the Indians. The sources of the large volume of glass beads are presented and their method of manufacture discussed. The way In which different European nationalities and organisations progressed geographically and in the intensity of their interactions with the native populations is reflected in the archaeological assemblages, whilst processes of exchange and the use of trinkets such as beads in subjugation and pacification are clarified by study of the historical sources. Different European groups used such materials through the mission system, by pacification of groups to ensure access and safe passage and by the fur companies use of the beads as items of exchange for pelts of otters and other animals. The native Indian groups showed different preferences for specific coloured beads which then became part of their own wealth base and exchange system. The effects of such transactions, whether used deliberately as a form of subjugation or inadvertently as barter items, was to transform the economic systems of the native populations and specifically the way In which conspicuous consumption was carried out in potlatch ceremonies. The effect of both the introduction of new material items and the novel form of economic transactions bolstered other effects of the Europeans which transformed Native American cosmology and society permanently.

This study explores the ways that native speakers are represented in different discourses. It combines the personal with the empirical by starting with narratives of professional development, followed by a corpus analysis of how native speakers are defined, and ending with a critical discourse analysis of the roles allocated to native speakers in academic discourse. First, the use of narrative inquiry speaks to the lived experience of three native English speaking language teachers as they develop their professional identity and seek professional development. Their narratives uncover the tensions between their personal goals and external perceptions. In order to situate these narratives in the field, a corpus analysis identifies the difference between how native speakers are defined in general discourse and within academic literature. These different definitions demonstrate distinct patterns of usage that differentiate the concept of the native speaker, the native speaker of English, and the native speaker of English as a language teacher. Finally, a critical discourse analysis illuminates the dominant representations of native speakers in academic literature. An interpretation of six academic articles, drawing on van Leeuwens network of role allocation, highlights: 1) how native speakers are differentiated from non-native speakers; 2) how native speaking language teachers are objectified or excluded from the discourse. The analysis reveals how representations of native speakers influence the participation of native English speaking language teachers in the field of TESOL. The implications indicate that the current representations of native speakers detract from professional development by perpetuating static identities rather than encouraging professional development.