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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-84).

This thesis conducts a legal analysis of the Duchy of Cornwall and how its perceived status has changed over the centuries. The roots of the Duchy date back nearly a thousand years therefore an understanding of the roots of the Duchy and its evolution, focussing on the significant legal issues, over time is necessary to comprehend its present position. The thesis concludes by exploring issues surrounding the contemporary legal status of the Duchy and identifies areas in which there is a convenient ambiguity. In doing so it establishes that while the Duchy and Government describe it as a “private estate” it enjoys privileges and rights which are unique to a “private estate”. In addition it has a significant role in supporting the United Kingdom’s Head of State, the Sovereign, and the heir to the throne. The associated research undertaken in connection with this thesis presents new information which challenges the arguments of those who claim via the Duchy a special constitutional status for Cornwall. The evidence also suggests that the Duchy is not, despite claims to the contrary, publicly accountable in way that is expected in the 21st Century. The possibilities suggested by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been utilised and the experience gained will be of value to future researchers. As a consequence of the refusal of public authorities to provide information five complaints have been made to the Information Commissioner and there have been, at the time of writing, four cases in front of the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). The material contained within the National Archives has been comprehensively investigated for the first time by anyone with any interest in the Duchy. This has revealed significant new information which although publicly available was not generally known and casts new light on the status of the Duchy. An exploration of the Parliamentary Archives, not previously undertaken, raises questions about the basis of the privileges enjoyed by the Duchy. A similarly detailed review of the legal material, including important court cases challenges the “rights” claimed for the Duchy.

Ce travail a pour but d' analyser la facon dont deux romancieres africaines, Veronique Tadjo et Calixthe Beyala, reussissent a rendre leurs romans plus proches de leurs experiences personnelles en tant que femmes. En exploitant des formes innovatrices, elles arrivent a depeindre les complexites de la condition de la femme. Pour mieux comprendre ces nouveaux procedes d' ecriture, nous montrerons l' importance de la forme ainsi que le rapport entre la forme et le contenu dans les romans A Vol d'oiseau (1986) et Le Petit Prince de Belleville (1992). Nous commencerons en situant le moment litteraire ou elles ecrivent dans le courant de la litterature africaine. Dans le premier chapitre, nous examinerons la forme des deux romans en nous basant, en partie, sur quelques concepts tires de Esthetique et theorie du roman de Mikhail Bakhtine. Le deuxieme chapitre portera sur le rapport entre la forme et son contenu. Nous pourrons conclure qu' a travers deux formes differentes l' une de l' autre, Veronique Tadjo et Calixthe Beyala proposent une solution originale pour l' emancipation des femmes africaines dans une ecriture variee et dynamique.

The school library resource centre and the collection of trade books that classroom teachers gather in their classrooms were the focus of an exploratory, descriptive study designed around the first stages of an action research model. Little research had been done on how effective classroom teachers have been at acquiring trade books for their classroom collections, and on how teacher-librarians, working in partially or fully integrated school library resource centre programs, helped make trade books accessible to elementary teachers and students. One instrument, The Survey of Elementary Classroom Collections. was designed to examine four descriptive areas: the contents and size of classroom collections, the source of trade books for these collection, the organization and management of classroom collections, and the use classroom teachers make of these trade books. The 205 elementary English language classroom teachers in one school district were sent a Survey and 80% responded. The series of interviews that followed were conducted with a stratified random sample of 30 classroom teachers, nine principals and seven teacher-librarians. The stratification was organized by Phases 1, 2 or 3 of school library program development, which were determined by the score on a second instrument. The Profile of School Library Resource Centre Programs. and from information on staffing, resources and teacher-librarian experience. Results were analyzed under the four areas explored in the Survey, by grade level and by Phase. A detailed description of the classroom collections led to the development of the Independent, Interactive and Integrated models for classroom collections. Each reflected a different concept of the classroom collection, its role in the literacy program and its relationship with the school library resource centre program. Indications were that a collaborative approach to trade book provisioning emerged in schools where the school library resource centre program was more fully integrated into the school curriculum. Details on a school-based/district-wide strategy to build a collaborative approach were given, as well as suggestions for a plan of action for individual schools and for further research to explore questions raised by this study.

This research explored whether Statistics Canada’s religiosity index is an adequate measurement tool to capture the degree of young adults’ (aged 15-29) religious engagement in contemporary Canada. The impact of the agency’s four religiosity dimensions (affiliation, attendance, importance and private practice) on the index by age group was analyzed using Cycle 25 of the General Social Survey. Next, quantitative data was collected using a cross-sectional web-based survey of young adults (aged 18-29) in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (N=634). This survey examined the differences in representation of religious engagement based on either traditional or personalized dimensions. In conclusion, my findings suggest that Statistics Canada’s religiosity index does not measure religiosity consistently across age groups, nor does it assess important personalized dimensions of young adults’ religiosities. Consequently, the current religiosity index provides only a partial understanding of young adults’ degree of religious engagement and should be considered for revision.

The introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web has been one the most significant developments of the last decade. Many historians have approached the Web with reluctance, hesitant to use it to conduct their traditional scholarly tasks of researching, publishing, and teaching history. Communication theorists such as Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan foretold many aspects of the Web’s impact in their analyses of past communication media. Applied to the Web, their ideas provide a deeper understanding of what a new medium of communication might mean for scholars in humanities disciplines. Indeed, in the last decade the term “Humanities Computing” has been coined to describe efforts to apply computer methods to humanities data. This thesis explores some of the processes and potential of Humanities Computing as it pertains to the presentation of primary documents on the Web. It takes the form of a case study using the correspondence of eighteenth-century Prince Edward Island land proprietor John MacDonald (1742-1810), a central figure in the conflict between the Island government and the land proprietors. MacDonald took an active interest in his land on the Island and became the voice of landowners making their case to the British crown. Digitized letters drawn from his correspondence will be featured on the Web as part of the Atlantic Canada Virtual Archives, making use of the Web as an alternative to print in presenting, analyzing, and interpreting history. The digitization of the MacDonald letters is an exercise in Humanities Computing through the application of current Web and digital technology to primary source material, which, in turn, demonstrates the benefits of doing research on the Web.

The boundaries of opera, as in all art forms, are constantly being re-evaluated. This analysis examines one of the most recent developments in opera-the use of film as source material, and connections to the film world- through analyzing three operas: Austrian composer, Olga Neuwirth’s opera, Lost Highway, Chinese-American composer, Tan Dun’s opera, The First Emperor, and acclaimed American film composer, Rachel Portman’s opera, The Little Prince. Each of these works exemplifies the modern relationship of opera and film in different ways. To classify these newly film-influenced works, the term cinemopera is used in describing operas connected to or influenced by film. Analytical techniques and historical perspectives, as well as revealing how these three operas are associated with the film world through their composers, source materials, and styles are the tools utilized to establish the characteristics of cinemopera as an operatic subcategory. Also, a definition and discussion of intertextuality in these operas reveals not only their cinematic features, but their ties to common practices in music history. Lost Highway is one of the most intertextual works containing sound effects, electronic music, and drawing heavily upon the David Lynch film of the same name as its source material. The First Emperor is an interesting study in modern ethnomusicology and contains many links to film in its source material as well. The Little Prince has a different kind of intertextuality than the preceding two operas because its source material is a French children’s book. However, since its composer, Rachel Portman, is a very distinguished film composer, it represents many elements of style commonly found in cinemopera. Finally, opera as a business is changing due to its convergence with film. The visual aspect of opera productions is of increasing importance, as is a singer’s credibility in the role they are portraying. Singers must look their parts much more so now than even two decades ago. As cinemopera is explored herein and its effects on the business are discussed, so are the elements of style which clearly serve to classify an opera as cinemopera.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

This study was a replication of Fitzpatrick and Rubin's study of response strategies used in crisis communication. It differed though, in the type of crisis analyzed. While Fitzpatrick and Rubin studied cases of sexual harassment, this study examined oil spills of two supertanker groundings. Both the Exxon Valdez and the Sea Empress groundings, and especially Acomarit and Exxon, the companies responsible were examined by using content analysis. Units of analysis were statements by each company's spokesperson covered in either four American or four Norwegian newspapers. These statements were then categorized as one of four response strategies defined by Fitzpatrick and Rubin which were as follows: (1) The traditional public relations strategy, (2) The traditional legal strategy, (3) Mixed strategy, and, (4) Diversionary strategy.On behalf of these response strategies the study stated two hypotheses:H1: The spokespersons of Acomarit used the traditional public relations strategy significantly more than the traditional legal strategy, as defined by Fitzpatrick and Rubin, in Norwegian newspapers.The hypothesis was accepted.H2: The spokespersons of Exxon used the traditional legal strategy significantly more than the traditional public relations strategy, as defined by Fitzpatrick and Rubin, in American newspapers.The hypothesis was partially accepted.The study used an American and a Norwegian coder to secure reliability. Holsti's coder reliability test yielded eighty percent for the American statements, and seventy percent for the Norwegian statements.The study also indicated that the traditional public relations strategy was the most used response strategy. This was different to what Fitzpatrick and Rubin found in their study. They found the traditional legal strategy was used the most in cases of sexual harassment.However, both Exxon and Acomarit used the traditional public relations strategy more than the traditional legal strategy, but differed significantly in their use of mixed strategy and diversionary strategy. Exxon was found to have used the diversionary strategy significantly more than Acomarit. The researcher indicated that this may have been one of the contributing factors which lead to Exxon's public relations nightmare. In addition, Exxon was found to have used more spokespeople than Acomarit, which in turn may have made it difficult to centralize the information flow. / Department of Journalism