This thesis explores the way three indigenous writers and leaders, in Peru, the US, and Canada, used both their literacy and their Christian faith as a means for protesting the inequalities of colonial rule, to counter settler attempts to denigrate Indigenous culture and history, and to further their own personal agendas.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Crop Science) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2011

Podcast är ett relativt nytt medium som ständigt ökar. Allt fler företag börjat få upp ögonen för podcast som marknadsföringskanal eftersom de kan nå en viss målgrupp. IF Skadeförsäkring var ett av de första företagen i Sverige att använda podcast som marknadsföringskanal genom ett längre sponsringssamarbete. De har sedan 2013 varit huvudsponsor av Alex och Sigges podcast. Samarbetet mellan IF och journalisterna och författarna Alex Schulman och Sigge Eklund handlar till stor del om att budskapet om IF vävs in i innehållet, med så kallad native advertising, till skillnad från många andra podcaster där sponsorerna nämns som inlägg separata från övriga innehållet. I denna studie studeras hur IF arbetar för att bygga sitt varumärke, vilka kärnvärden och mål de har och hur budskapet om IF kommer till uttryck i Alex och Sigges podcast som drivs av för IF externa aktörer. Metoden som används är en semistrukturerad intervju med IF samt en innehållsanalys av totalt 18 podcastavsnitt som analyseras med hjälp av tematisk analys. Resultatet indikerar att IF arbetar utifrån strategier för integrerad marknadskommunikation där marknadsföring och PR kombineras, där de arbetar med både reklam och publicitet. Målet med varumärkesbyggandet är att skapa en känsla för varumärket hos konsumenter, vilket liknar det som Matteo och Dal Zotto (2015) menar är typiskt för postmodern konsumism. Budskapet om IF i podcasten som förmedlas genom native advertising och storytelling liknar IF:s egna budskap utifrån företagets kärnvärden.

<p>The dramatic underrepresentation of Alaska Natives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and professions calls for rigorous research in how students access these fields. Research has shown that students who complete advanced mathematics and science courses while in high school are more academically prepared to pursue and succeed in STEM degree programs and professions. There is limited research on what motivates precollege students to become more academically prepared before they graduate from high school. In Alaska, Alaska Native precollege students regularly underperform on required State of Alaska mathematics and science exams when compared to non-Alaska Native students. Research also suggests that different things may motivate Alaska Native students than racial majority students. Therefore there is a need to better understand what motivates Alaska Native students to take and successfully complete advanced mathematics and science courses while in high school so that they are academically prepared to pursue and succeed in STEM degrees and professions. </p><p> The Alaska Native Science &amp; Engineering Program (ANSEP) is a longitudinal STEM educational enrichment program that works with Alaska Native students starting in middle school through doctoral degrees and further professional endeavors. Research suggests that Alaska Native students participating in ANSEP are completing STEM degrees at higher rates than before the program was available. ANSEP appears to be unique due to its longitudinal approach and the large numbers of Alaska Native precollege, university, and graduate students it supports. ANSEP provides precollege students with opportunities to take advanced high school and college-level mathematics and science courses and complete STEM related projects. Students work and live together on campus during the program components. Student outcome data suggests that ANSEP has been successful at motivating precollege participants to successfully complete advanced high school and college-level mathematics and science courses prior to high school graduation. </p><p> This study was designed to examine the motivations of Alaska Native high school students who participated in the ANSEP Precollege components to take advanced mathematics and science courses in high school or before college. Participants were 30 high school or college students, 25 of whom were Alaska Native, who were currently attending or had attended Alaska Native Science &amp; Engineering Program (ANSEP) Precollege components in high school. Self-determination theory was used as this study&rsquo;s theoretical framework to develop the semi-structured interview questions and also analyze the interviews. A thematic approach was used to analyze the interviews. The results of this study indicated that ANSEP helped the Alaska Native high school students gain a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in order to be motivated to take advanced mathematics and science courses in high school or before college. In particular, Alaska Native high school students described that relatedness was an important element to them being motivated to take advanced mathematics and science courses. More specifically, participants reported that the Alaska Native community developed at the ANSEP Building and the relationships they developed with their Alaska Native high school peers and staff played an influential role in the motivation of these students. These findings are important because research suggests that autonomy and competence are more important elements than relatedness because they generate or maintain intrinsic motivation. Alaska Native high school students reported that ANSEP was more successful in helping them gain a sense of competence and relatedness than at helping them gain a sense of autonomy. More specifically, the reason the participants did not feel ANSEP developed their sense of autonomy was because ANSEP restricted their actions during the ANSEP Precollege study sessions. </p><p> My study implies that Alaska Native students need to feel like they belong in order to be motivated to take and succeed at taking advanced mathematics and science courses. Educators and STEM program leaders should incorporate elements of belonging into the educational environments they develop for their Alaska Native students. Future research should be conducted to determine if other racial minority students need to feel like they belong in order to be motivated to take and succeed at taking advanced mathematics and science courses. </p><p> My study also indicated that Alaska Native students were motivated to take advanced mathematics and science courses by knowing ANSEP would support them in future programming because of its longitudinal approach. Funding agencies of STEM programs should consider funding programs that provide a longitudinal approach to help Alaska Native students&rsquo; sense of competence grow. Future research should include studying other STEM programs to determine if they are motivating their students to take and succeed in advanced mathematics and science courses. </p>

Depuis plusieurs années, une attention toute particulière a été portée à la conception de biocapteurs. Divers types ont été développés (ex. optiques, électriques) et ont mené à une multitude d’applications. On en retrouve désormais dans des champs d’applications aussi variés que la détection d’explosifs et de toxines, la sécurité alimentaire, la détection et le dosage de polluants environnementaux ou la santé. Le développement de telles technologies se base sur l’union de deux domaines scientifiques très différents. D’un côté, la partie « capteur » est conçue en utilisant des méthodes de microfabrication. Ces dernières font appel à l’emploi de composés inorganiques (ex. métaux, matériaux semi-conducteurs, verre et autres). De l’autre côté, on retrouve un assemblage de molécules organiques, protéines, enzymes ou récepteurs issus du domaine biologique. L’un des grands défis est d’unir la portion biologique au capteur (c.-à-d. substrat) sans altérer les propriétés de ces deux composants. Plusieurs méthodes sont envisageables pour arriver à coupler le matériel biologique au substrat. L’objectif de la recherche de cette thèse est d’étudier la liaison de molécules sur un substrat et de créer un système biologique servant comme système de détection pour un biocapteur. Le modèle choisi pour établir le concept de base est l’affinité variable entre l’avidine et la 2-iminobiotine. Il est connu que l’affinité de l’avidine à l’iminobiotine peut être modifiée en changeant les conditions de pH. La liaison formée en milieu basique sera affaiblie en milieu acide menant à la séparation de la protéine et du ligand. Contrairement à l’iminobiotine, la biotine possède un lien fort et stable avec l’avidine impossible à briser dans des conditions non dénaturantes. L’avidine étant une protéine tétramérique, quatre ligands peuvent s’y lier. On profite donc de cette propriété pour lier l’avidine à un bras polymérique, une chaine de polyéthylène glycol (PEG) comprenant une biotine, lui-même attaché à la surface. Ce bras, maintenant fonctionnalisé, devra permettre de garder près de la surface une avidine, lui permettant de se lier à des iminobiotine aussi attachées en surface ou s’en délier selon les conditions de pH. La première partie de cette thèse est consacrée à la fonctionnalisation des surfaces. La première étape de la construction a été de faire un attachement pour créer une couche de molécules qui serviront de support et d’ancrage au mécanisme moléculaire du biocapteur. L’attachement de molécules étant réalisable sur les surfaces désignées, une construction a été testée. La stratégie proposée consistait en l’utilisation d’une molécule bifonctionnelle en forme de « Y ». Cette molécule a été synthétisée spécifiquement pour l’attachement en deux étapes successives des deux composantes du système moléculaire modulable en pH. Sur la première branche se trouve une iminobiotine. La seconde a été prévue afin d’y attacher le bras polymérique. Cette construction a été faite et testée par SPR. Enfin, une seconde stratégie de construction a été étudiée. Celle-ci impliquait l’utilisation d’une protéine (albumine de sérum bovin, BSA) modifiée comme base de la construction. Une première BSA a été modifiée avec de l’iminobiotine tandis qu’une seconde avec le PEG. Ces deux protéines modifiées ont été mises ensemble en solution et déposées sur un substrat SPR. Elles constituent ensemble les deux morceaux du système précédemment mentionné. L’objectif de cette stratégie était de contrôler la quantité relative des espèces nécessaires en surface de façon à obtenir un signal SPR optimal. De plus, la présence de ces protéines en surface devait bloquer l’adsorption non spécifique sur cette dernière d’espèces non désirées.

The Native Territories Penal Code (NTPC) was passed by the Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope in 1886. It was part of the administrative machinery of the Cape colonial authorities for the Xhosa speaking people who occupied the area between the Great Kei and the Mtamvuna Rivers. However, it became the criminal code applicable to all people living in the Transkeian Territories regardless of race or colour. The Code was enacted ■following the recommendations of the Cape Government Commission on Native Laws and Customs (1883). Quite unexpectedly this Code exerted a great deal of influence on South African criminal law especially after union was formed in 1910. This was because the code was a document readily available to judges and magistrates in South Africa, and when a difficult question of law arose it was all very easy to say that the South Africa law on the point was as laid down in a particular section of the Code. In this way the Code also assisted in the importation of English law into South African lav;. Text book writers like Gardiner and Lansdown also contributed to the influence of the NTPC on South African criminal law. As time went on, however, South African jurists saw the mistake of the NTPC being recorded as a correct reflection of South African law in particular areas and set out to correct the position. Prominent among these are De Wet & Swanepoel and P.M.A. Hunt. They achieved a great measure of success in watering down the influence of NTPC on South Africa law , although it cannot be said that they eradicated it. So strong was Che influence of this Code that it was felt even as far away as Rhodesia and Bechuanaland (as they then w e r e ). / Criminology and Security Science / D.LI. (Criminology)

<p> Barren-ground caribou herds are part of social-ecological systems that are of critical importance to northern Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic, contributing to nutritional, cultural, and spiritual well being that are today undergoing significant changes. This dissertation uses multiple disciplinary lenses to understand the dynamics of these systems and to clarify methods for studying them. Chapter 1 focuses on a prediction of summer (June 1- August 31) mosquito activity and potential insect harassment of caribou in response to a changing climate. The Mosquito Activity Index (MAI) was based on daily ambient temperature and wind velocity obtained from the North American Regional Reanalysis dataset (NARR) from 1979 to 2009 for summer ranges of Alaska&rsquo;s four Arctic herds: Western Arctic Herd (WAH), Teshekpuk Caribou Herd (TCH), Central Arctic Herd (CAH), and Porcupine Caribou Herd (PCH). Mean MAI was lowest for TCH, followed by WAH and PCH and highest for CAH. Over 31 years there was an increasing trend in MAI that affected the summer habitat of TCH and PCH, but a decreasing trend for WAH. Intra-annual patterns in MAI among herds differed in peak MAI. Chapter 2 presents a novel method of participatory videography to document the knowledge and experiences of Caribou People. Ninety-nine interviews were videoed in six arctic communities of North America in the summer of 2008 as part of the International Polar Year. Chapter 3 presents &ldquo;Voices of Caribou People,&rdquo; a composite film of those interviewed, portraying the range of topics reported. Chapter 4 presents the results of an open-coding content analysis of a sample of 34 of the Voices Project interviews. Interviews described people&rsquo;s rich memories of the past, aspects of their traditional knowledge and practices, the changes they have observed, the challenges they face, and what they perceive as their needs to meet present and future challenges. A key finding of the analysis is that while the research community and funding agencies are highly focused on climate change, Caribou People expressed greater concern about their social, economic, and political challenges. Caribou people noted that more studies undertaken in full partnership with caribou user communities along with community authority in decision-making are needed to sustain their human-caribou systems.</p>

As a central component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the anterior pituitary corticotrophs play an important role in the regulation of HPA axis function and the neuroendocrine response to stress. Pituitary corticotrophs integrate stress-induced stimulatory signals (CRH and AVP) from the brain together with the negative feedback control from circulating glucocorticoid hormones to coordinate adrenocorticotrophin hormone (ACTH) secretion. Previous studies have classified pituitary corticotrophs as both endocrine and electrically excitable cells with a number of ion channels and signaling pathways implicated in the control of their electrical properties and ACTH secretion. However, the mechanisms involved in native corticotrophs are poorly understood partly due to the current limitations of identifying physiological intact corticotrophs. To address the electrophysiological properties of native murine corticotrophs, a lentiviral transduction system was developed, using a minimal pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) promoter to drive the expression of enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP), to allow highly efficient and specific labeling and identification of corticotrophs in vitro. This approach, with patch clamp electrophysiological investigations, revealed metabolically intact native murine corticotrophs displayed spontaneous action potentials with highly heterogeneous firing patterns including single spikes and variable “pseudo plateau bursting” action potentials. The resting membrane potential of native murine corticotrophs was maintained by a TTXresistant background sodium conductance. Physiological concentrations of CRH/AVP rapidly depolarized native murine corticotrophs resulting in a sustained increase in the frequency of action potentials. Native murine corticotrophs express multiple outward potassium conductances with two major components mediated by intermediate-conductance calcium-activated (SK4) potassium channels and A-type potassium channels. Inhibition of SK4 channels with TRAM-34 lead to an increase in corticotroph excitability with firing pattern transition from single spikes to “pseudo plateau bursting”. When A-type potassium channels were blocked, the afterhyperpolarization amplitude of single spikes was decreased in some corticotrophs. In native murine corticotrophs, outward potassium current carried by large conductance calcium- and voltage- activated potassium (BK) channels was very low, which is in contrast with that in the mouse pituitary adenoma cell line (AtT20 cell line). Corticotroph cells from wild type (WT) mice and mice with a genetic deletion of the BK channel (BK-/-) were compared. The only potassium current that showed significant difference between WT and BK-/- corticotrophs was carried via the barium-sensitive inwardly rectifying (Kir) potassium channel. However, the blockage of Kir channels displayed no clear effect on corticotroph cell electrical excitability. Similar heterogeneous spontaneous firing patterns were found in WT and BK-/- corticotrophs. Taken together, the lentiviral-mediated expression of eYFP, driven by a minimal POMC promoter, provides an efficient method to identify physiological intact native murine anterior pituitary corticotrophs. These findings demonstrate that native murine anterior pituitary corticotrophs are spontaneous excitable cells that display significant heterogeneity of firing patterns. Results also reveal an important role of a background TTX-insensitive sodium conductance in controlling spontaneous and CRH/AVP evoked action potentials. Furthermore, an unexpected role for SK4 calcium-activated potassium channels in corticotroph excitability was revealed. In all, these studies give new insight into the physiology of corticotroph excitability and ACTH secretion, and provide the basis for understanding the roles of these ion channels in HPA axis function.

<p> The Western film presents its viewers with a supposed historical depiction of America&rsquo;s &ldquo;Great West,&rdquo; set during the period of the United States&rsquo; westward expansion in the nineteenth century. However, the Western film reiterates a mythologized version of the American West that relies on archetypal themes, events, and characters through the synthesis of story, image and music. This paper examines the Western&rsquo;s most problematic archetype, the &ldquo;Indian.&rdquo; The Indian&rsquo;s liminal role in American mythology will be examined through the analysis of the aural recoding and obscuring of authentic Native American auralities according to the sonic power structures of the Euro-American soundscape, and subsequently, how this aural recoding informs the role of the &ldquo;Indian&rdquo; in three successful Western films from the Western&rsquo;s heyday, <i>Red River </i> (1948), <i>Broken Arrow</i> (1950), and <i>The Searchers </i> (1956).</p>

This research examines the manifold forms of support that shape and influence Post-9/11 Native American Student Veterans to enter, persist, and graduate from a mainstream institution of higher education. Moreover, it is a qualitative assessment that explores how Post-9/11 Native American Student Veterans navigate the collegiate environment and balance their military and indigenous identities within the context of higher education. Through the individual voices of five Post-9/11 Native American Student Veterans, the results of this study illustrate their decision-making processes, weighing of options, and reasons for sacrifice. Each individual had unique experiences, situations, and circumstances to consider before committing and transitioning into higher education. The confluences of situations and circumstances often determine the ability of Native American Student Veterans to engage, persist, and complete their academic endeavors; therefore, support systems are vital in helping them navigate and overcome obstacles. Respectfully, the experiences of Post-9/11 Native American Student Veterans have the power to influence future generations and to clarify their options when transitioning from a military environment to a university environment. Moreover, the findings from these experiences can inform mainstream universities and Student Veteran Centers to strategically respond and develop support systems specifically designed to recruit, retain, and graduate Post-9/11 Native American Student Veterans.