This study extends research on the information content of qualified audit opinions in more developed markets to the emerging capital market in China. It investigates the market reaction to audit opinions of listed Chinese companies on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. A sample of 3128 company/year observations was included, with 386 modified audit opinions and 2742 unqualified audit opinions during the investigation period 1999 to 2003. The variable of interest is audit opinions. Control variables include those used in studies of developed countries, such as earnings surprise, concurrent bad news disclosure, audit report delay, leverage, the presence of loss and firm size. Also included are variables controlling for specific Chinese institutional characteristics, such as ???special treatment???, as well as bull and bear market indicators. When all modified audit opinions are combined, this study does not find evidence that the modified audit opinions have significant information value to Chinese investors. However, when modified audit opinions are classified by type, the market is found to significantly react to qualified audit opinions with explanatory notes and disclaimer audit opinions, which are the severest audit opinions investigated in this study. When the entire sample is partitioned by year, a significant stock price revision to modified audit opinions is documented in 2003. This study also examined in the Chinese context the Melumad and Ziv (1997) model of stock price response to avoidable and unavoidable modified audit opinions. Consistent with Melumad and Ziv (1997) predictions, the market reaction to avoidable audit reports is unclear, while investors view unavoidable audit reports as necessarily negative information. In conclusion, this study finds mixed evidence in support of the notion that the Chinese stock market views audit opinions as valuable information.

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of vascular occlusive disorders such as atherosclerosis and restenosis, in part due to its regulation of smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotype. The molecular mechanisms regulating the expression of PDGF-receptor-?? (PDGF-R-??), which binds all known dimeric forms of PDGF except PDGF-DD, are poorly understood. Here it is demonstrated that PDGF-R-?? protein and transcriptional regulation in SMCs is under the positive regulatory influence of the zinc finger nuclear protein, Sp1. An atypical G-rich Sp1-binding element from -61 to -52 bp (-61G10 - 52) upstream of the transcriptional start site, was identified in the PDGF-R-?? promoter via electrophoretic mobility shift, competition and supershift analysis. Mutation of this sequence ablated endogenous Sp1 binding and activation of the PDGF-R-?? promoter. In addition to Sp1 regulation of PDGF-R-??, it was shown that fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) represses PDGF-R-?? transcription, mRNA and protein expression in SMCs. The FGF-2-induced inhibition of PDGF-R-?? was rescued by block of extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling. Interestingly, mutation of the aforementioned novel Sp1-response-element blocked FGF-2-induced repression of PDGF-R-?? transcription. FGF-2 was also shown to stimulate Sp1 phosphorylation in an ERK1/2-dependent manner, enhancing its interaction with the PDGF-R-?? promoter. Further analysis revealed that mutations of residues Thr453 and Thr739 in Sp1 resulted in loss of FGF-2-mediated repression of PDGF-R-?? transcription. These findings demonstrate that FGF-2 stimulates ERK1/2- dependent Sp1 phosphorylation, thereby repressing PDGF-R-?? transcription via Sp1 binding the -61/-52 element in the PDGF-R-?? promoter. Thus, phosphorylation triggered by FGF-2, switches Sp1 from an activator to a repressor of PDGF-R-?? transcription, a finding previously unreported in any Sp1-dependent gene. It is also shown in this thesis that the proto-oncogene Ets-1 controls PDGF-R-?? transcription and mRNA expression in SMCs. Mutational, electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed the existence of a reverse Ets binding motif (-45TTCC-42) in the proximal region of the PDGFR- ?? promoter which bound both recombinant and endogenous Ets-1. Ets-1- inducible PDGF-R-?? expression was dependent upon the integrity of both the - 45TTCC-42 motif and the previously identified -61G10 -52 element, which resides upstream of -45TTCC-42 and mediates Sp1 induction. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at nanomolar concentrations, stimulated levels of Ets-1 and increased PDGF-R- ?? transcription and mRNA expression without affecting Sp1 expression. Disruption of the -45TTCC-42 motif or -61G10 -52 element blocked H2O2 activation of the PDGF-R-?? promoter. These studies identify a functional Ets motif in the PDGF-R-?? promoter which plays a pivotal role in agonist-inducible PDGF-R-?? transcription. The interplay between transcription factors such as Sp1 and Ets- 1 in the promoter of genes can exert profound influences on gene regulation. Modulating gene expression affects biological processes such as SMC proliferation and phenotype changes, which contributes to changes in vessel integrity, a hallmark of atherosclerosis. This study provides a greater insight in the functional consequences of Sp1 and Ets-1 interplay in PDGF-R-?? gene regulation and in general, provides a greater understanding of the functional regulation of cooperating transcription factors.

By elucidating the origins of the banlieue rouge, a belt of communist-dominated suburbs surrounding Paris that arose during the interwar years and reached its apogee under the Fourth Republic, this thesis addresses the problem of why twentieth-century France was home to a pro-Soviet communist party with mass support. Specifically, a local study of the PCF in Arcueil and Cachan, two neighbouring communes south of Paris with divergent political evolutions since World War I, is used to discern how and why the Parti communiste fran??ais (PCF) came to exert hegemony in the working-class suburbs of Paris. After surveying the historiography of communism in France and beyond, this thesis concludes that the communist banlieue rouge was born of working-class alienation from bourgeois society that was nourished by a communist counter-society that was contingent upon the PCF???s capacity to adapt and respond to local circumstances. Using archival sources and statistical analysis, it demonstrates that in Arcueil and Cachan rapid suburbanisation and an attendant proletarianisation created the pre-conditions for the rise of the PCF. This study finds that during the interwar period the PCF rapidly emerged as an electoral force in both suburbs as it set about laying the foundations of a communist counter-society, especially in Arcueil where it won control of local government in 1935. In Arcueil, the PCF spearheaded the local Resistance movement during World War II and then under the Fourth Republic went on to consolidate a nascent communist communal identity, while in Cachan its influence fell victim to Cold War politics. The pre-conditions for the rise of communism were apparent earlier and to a greater degree in Arcueil, an industrialised, working-class suburb with long-standing radical traditions, than in the traditionally conservative Cachan. In Arcueil, the PCF was more successful than its counterpart in Cachan at exploiting an alienation that was not only part of the deep-seated historical traditions of the French working class but was also part of everyday life f or workers forced to live in miserable conditions. In suburbs such as Arcueil, suburban working-class pride at being a social outcast was conflated with communism to create a durable communist communal identity.

Introduction: In previous decades, the basis of child health and survival strategy in the developing countries has been the promotion of breastfeeding. However, transmission of HIV through breast milk to infants in the postnatal period has caused uncertainty over the best feeding technique. Previous policies in Uganda promoted breastfeeding even among HIV positive mothers without offering an informed choice of feeding mode. Consequently, the Ugandan Ministry of Health developed and adopted policy guidelines on feeding of infants and young children in the context of HIV/AIDS in 2001. However, little is known about their impact on infant feeding behaviour in Bushenyi district. Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted in Bushenyi district, Uganda, compared 94 HIV positive and 100 HIV negative mothers with infants aged less than 12 months on infant feeding practice, on the predictors of the different modes of infant feeding practice, and adherence to Ugandan infant feeding guidelines. Results: All HIV negative and 55% of HIV positive mothers were breastfeeding their infants aged less than 12 months. Among breastfeeding mothers, 85% of the HIV negative were breastfeeding non-exclusively. Of concern to the possibility of HIV transmission, 61% of the HIV positive mothers who were breastfeeding were doing so non-exclusively. Adherence to Ugandan infant feeding guidelines was higher in HIV positive mothers (67%) than in HIV negative mothers (41%). HIV negative mothers were more likely to be adherent if the mothers??? youngest infant was not a first-born (OR= 0.30, 95% CI = 0.10 ??? 0.88) and if they were aware of HIV transmission during pregnancy (OR = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.02 ??? 6.66). The single most predictive factor of adherence among HIV positive mothers was attendance at an infant feeding counselling session (OR= 5.63, 95% CI = 2.15???14.73). Conclusions: Counselling support is necessary for mothers to make infant feeding choices that are viable and sustainable. The self-reported method of assessing adherence in our study could have been sub-optimal and may therefore overestimate the adherent proportions reported here. Addressing development of better assessment methods and methods for improving adherence to guidelines is crucial for preventive strategies. Recommendations: Increase coverage of infant feeding counselling by introducing peer counsellors in the community.

In this thesis, multiple-response sequences (MRSs) are examined. These are a language classroom practice in which two or more students respond to a teacher???s question or other elicitation. The study uses tools of Conversation Analysis to investigate over 38 hours of classroom talk- in-interaction in TESOL classes comprising monolingual adult Korean learners. Classes were recorded on audio and video in Seoul, South Korea and Sydney, Australia. About 1050 cases of MRSs were found and analysed. In the study, four distinct major types of multiple responses (MRs) are identified. These are: the identical MR, in which two or more students provide the same response; the complementary MR, in which two or more students??? responses provide essent ially the same meaning, but in different forms; the collaborative MR, in which two or more students collectively provide various parts of the response in the construction of a single response; and the competitive MR, in which two or more students provide responses that diverge from one another. The study also examines complex MRs, which are combinations of the basic four types, and expanded sequences, in which MRs occur in preparatory stage or post-expansion sequences. It was found that the teacher and students can produce highly complex, co-ordinated and orderly talk in the course of MRSs. The study also considers MRSs as a potential locus for second language learning. The relevance of this study to some major theories of second language acquisition is discussed, in particular in relation to social interaction in the classroom.Finally, some suggestions for future research in the area are presented.

This thesis investigates the impact of insider trading regulation and its enforcement on bid-ask spreads, information asymmetry proxies, volatility, trade frequency and trade sizes. It employs an exclusive intra-day market-microstructure data-set for 29 countries and 32 exchanges and utilizes structural simultaneous equations models with distributed geometric lags estimated with GMM, controlling for market architecture, trading demand, minimum tick size and Fama-French factors. This thesis finds that enforcement of insider trading regulation in a country, rather than the strictness of written insider trading law, reduces information asymmetry and bid-ask spreads, increases volatility, and has an overall positive impact on traded value. The positive impact is mostly concentrated in the smallest stocks in the sample. The regulation of disclosure requirements has similar, but not identical, beneficial externalities in the market. The results support the prediction by Bhattacharya and Daouk (2002) that the fall in the cost of equity that results from insider trading prosecution in a country is due to a reduction in adverse selection. This thesis also find some support of the free inside information scenario of Medrano and Vives (2004), where volatility increases when insiders are forced to disclose the inside information before legally trading on it, if insider trading is not permitted and the regulation is enforced.

This thesis concentrates on identifying and examining ambivalence and contradictions in the discourse of moral education within mid-nineteenth-century British literature. Through an analysis of contemporary women???s advice literature and the fiction of two authors I locate the discourse within the larger ideologies of femininity (which defined women as different from men based on their gender) and domesticity (which assigned women to the domestic sphere because of gender) and analyse its fundamental features. The mother was a representation of the ideal woman and thus the measure for standards of behaviour within the discourse of moral education, and, indeed, within the ideologies of femininity and domesticity for all women. I focus on the inconsistencies that the discourse of moral education attempts to mask in its representations of women. Part I (Chapters One, Two and Three) examines the social standards of behaviour for mothers established in women???s advice literature and the literature???s simultaneous resistance to these standards. Chapters Four and Five are dedicated to Anne Bront?????s two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; in particular, Chapter Five examines how Helen Huntingdon???s attempts to be the perfect moral mother are constantly open to conflicting ideological interpretation exposing ambivalence within the discourse of moral education and in the novel???s approach to the discourse. Chapters Six, Seven and Eight focus on many of Gaskell???s short stories as well as her novel Ruth. The inherent conflict within the discourse of moral education results in three separate images of motherhood for Gaskell???s fiction: traditional mothers who gain their moral influence through an association with death, the ideologically contradictory moral mother, and women who use maternal traits to live in communities of women without men. I conclude that none of the texts are categorically resistant to or complicit with the ideals within the discourse of moral education but are internally contradictory. In particular, the fiction simultaneously promotes conventional ideals of womanhood and moral mothers as self-sacrificing and nurturing and offers a vision of women either in unhappy compliance with or otherwise defying these ideals, for example, by living in unconventional relationships without men.

The main aims of the investigation conducted here are to draw out important debates in theory and in the South African social context over the concepts of responsibility and accountability for human rights abuse, and to look at how these were present within, and impacted on, discussions within and around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The TRC did not specifically discuss or define theoretical concepts of responsibility or accountability. However, I argue that it is possible to draw out some important features of its implicit approach ??? particularly in terms of its emphasis on collective responsibility and social context (in addition to individual responsibility), and its emphasis on moral arguments for individuals and collectives to accept responsibility and hold themselves accountable by contributing to future change. This ambitious and complex approach raised some important theoretical issues, which have been discussed and debated in the theoretical literature. These include: the relationship between individual responsibility, collective responsibility and the influence of ???the system???; the nature of collective responsibility; the nature of morality; the distinction between moral and political responsibility; and how individuals and collectives can or should be held accountable. In South Africa, these theoretical debates inter-mingled with a range of other factors, including individual and collective interests, motives and political perspectives. From an analysis of the existing literature on the TRC and original interviews conducted with key informants, I draw out three main opposing views which I argue arose in the South African social context about responsibility and accountability, and what the TRC could and should have done to address these. In a detailed analysis of the TRC???s hearings and Final Report, I draw out how theoretical debates, and these three opposing views, were present within and impacted on the TRC???s work. I argue that it was impossible for the TRC to satisfy everyone and resolve these debates, and that its approach led to unrealistic expectations of its work and its role more generally. This has impacted negatively on how the TRC was and is perceived.

With the rapid growth in the development of economic reform in the People???s Republic of China since the late 1970s, China???s legal system has also been undergoing major reform and development. This has seen the emergence of a major effort to draw upon the law reform experiences of other countries, especially in the area of economic law reform. As the securities industry is a key component of an increasingly corporatised market economy, it has been necessary to adopt an effective body of securities laws. Disclosure is the fundamental issue of securities laws as it exists in market transactions and the conduct of market participants. As such, the development of an appropriate body of disclosure law and practice is vital to the integrity of securities law and ultimately to the market economy. It is for this reason that this dissertation looks at the development of China???s securities market and corporate disclosure laws, and identifies the forces that have led to its current form and content. This dissertation argues that China???s legal system must be seen as a product of China???s distinctive history and local circumstances. It analyses the current nature of China???s corporate disclosure laws and notes that China???s law reformers have relied heavily upon the US model which may not necessarily suit China. Based upon a number of theoretical understandings of the transplantation and development of law, this dissertation argues that China???s approach to law reform in this area has not always produced a body of law that is appropriate to China???s particular circumstances. It suggests that valuable insights can be gained from a comparison of the methods of corporate disclosure law reform that were followed in Australia. The Australian experience is relevant to China as Australian lawyers and regulators have played an important role in fashioning securities regulation in Hong Kong and as Hong Kong has sometimes been seen as providing useful models for China itself.

The iron content of industrial minerals can be reduced by physical and chemical processing. Chemical processing is very efficient to achieve a high degree of iron removal at minimum operating cost. Both inorganic acids and organic acids have been used for clay refining. However, due to environmental pollution and contamination of products with the SO42- and Cl-, inorganic acids should be avoided as much as possible. This research investigated the use of oxalic acid to dissolve iron oxides and the dissolution characteristics of natural iron oxides. The dissolution of iron oxides in oxalic acid was found to be very slow at temperatures ranging from 25??? to 60???, but increased rapidly at a temperature above 90oC with increasing oxalic acid concentration, whereas the pH caused the reaction rate to decrease at pH&gt2.5 and improved the rate from pH 1 to pH 2.5. The iron oxides such as goethite (??-FeOOH), lepidocrocite (??-FeOOH) and iron hydroxide (Fe(OH)3) can be dissolved faster at the presence of magnetite which exhibits an induction period at the initial stage and showed the bell-shaped curves for the dissolution. In titration tests, however, the increase of temperature causes an increase in solubility of the oxalate complexes, resulting in an increased stability of ionized species in solution. During the addition of NaOH, NaHC2O4???H2O was precipitated without forming Na2C2O4???H2O, but it was re-dissolved at pH&gt4.0. On the other hand with NH4OH, NH4HC2O4???H2O and (NH4) 2C2O4???H2O co-precipitated at pH 0.93, but also re-dissolved at over pH 2.03. The reaction temperature was found not to affect the removal of iron from the ferric oxalate complex solution using lime. Iron is removed as iron hydroxide and calcium oxalate is then precipitated during the iron removal step. The formation of Fe(OH)3 in the solution was affected by the dissociation of Ca(OH)2. The thermodynamics of sodium, ammonium and iron oxalate complexes were investigated and the standard free energy, ??Go was calculated using thermodynamic data and solubility products. The dissolution of pure hematite by oxalate was found to follow a shrinking core model of which the kinetic step of the reaction is the controlled mechanism.