The major cell types in the canine colon musculature are interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), circular muscle (CM) cells and longitudinal muscle (LM) cells. In isolated muscle strip studies, spontaneous membrane potential oscillations (slow waves) are generated in the submucosal border of the circular muscle where a gap junctionally well-coupled network of ICC and CM is found. CM devoid of LM and submucosal pacemaker region (CM preparations) are spontaneously quiescent. The research undertaken was to understand the mechanism of slow wave propagation into the circular muscle and to investigate the consequences to the electrical activity in CM after coupling with different electrical activities from different cells types. Our results show that CM cells, although spontaneously quiescent because of high K+ conductance, are excitable and can actively participate in slow wave generation. The electrical oscillations induced in the CM preparations could easily be potentiated by an L-type Ca2+ channel activator, Bay K 8644, and abolished by a L-type Ca2+ antagonist, D600, suggesting involvement of the conductance in the induced activity. The induced oscillations are similar to the SLAPs in the longitudinal muscle which shows that it is not necessary to have a specialized pacemaker cells for generating SLAPs. Using a cross sectioned preparation with all intact muscle layers, we also showed that the heterogeneity in the electrical activity of CM, such as: the resting membrane potential gradient, depolarization of plateau potential in the myenteric border and "apparent" decay in slow wave amplitude, is due to electrical interactions between different intrinsic activities from different cell types. Morphological evidence was obtained for the possible communication pathways in the submucosal and the myenteric borders of the circular muscle. Different coupling mechanisms in different areas were hypothesized. In addition, the 3-dimensional aspects of the submucosal ICC network in the ca.nine colon were clarified. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

Leaders are generally viewed in a positive frame as having the ability to influence and motivate others (Tierney, 2005). They are frequently required to make choices in order to lead their organizations. Those choices are often influenced by the opinions of followers and public opinion in general (McIntosh, Cacciola, Clermont & Keniry, 2001). Understanding the opinion formation process, how leaders formulate opinions and how they make choices in leading their organizations is still at issue (Burns, 1978; Gardner, 1990). One of the goals of higher education is to create student leaders who are contributing members of society and who are able to generate informed opinions. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of student-student interactions on change of opinion among student leaders (SLs) and non-student leaders (NSLs). This study compared differences between student leaders and non-student leaders, and sought to examine which types of discussions with students different from oneself, best predict change in opinion. Data from the 2004 College Student Experience Questionnaire (CSEQ) (Pace, 1984) were used in the study. The CSEQ asks respondents about their involvement with leadership experiences and the degree to which they have influenced others' opinions and been influenced by others' opinions. Participants also report how often they have become acquainted with or had discussions with other students who are different from themselves based on several characteristics. These characteristics referred to individuals who had different interests, philosophies of life or personal values, political opinions, religious beliefs, race or ethnic backgrounds, family backgrounds or were from different countries. Data were analyzed via logistic regression and t-tests. Findings revealed that discussions with other students who are different from oneself in regards to political values and country of origin lead to higher levels of opinion change. Opinion change, then, is influenced by specific types of discussions, and these discussions have an even greater influence on SLs than NSLs. In addition, highly involved SLs engage in discussions with others different from oneself significantly more often than less involved SLs for each of the seven types of discussions. / Ph. D.

This study investigates the rate of reaction of various types of hydrocarbons with chlorosulphonic acid at the temperature 10 degrees Celsius.

<p>This thesis discusses how a historic woman is represented on stage today. The woman in mind is Sabina Spielrein, and she is portrayed in a play called: Name: Spielrein Sabina. She was born in the late 19th century and made a significant impact on the development in psycho-analysis. Since her letters, diaries and fragments was found 1977, and later on in 1982, nu-merous of people have been fascinated regarding her life, especially with her relation to Jung and Freud. One of my arguments is that there could be another story to tell, as she is living in a context when women were organized and struggled for their rights on many levels. It is a period when a new type of women is formulated, with new visions on society, morals and sexuality. This New Woman discourse was intense all over Europe.</p><p>With representation as a theoretical instrument it was possible to see how this play challenges several typical women images. By using the character Sabina I have looked at (stereo) types such as: the good daughter, the mad woman, the genius, the mistress, the wife and the mother. Putting Sabina Spielrein in focus has also made it possible to discuss around cultural power, how it works and the importance of who is in charge.</p>

Le thème général de cette thèse est l’identité linguistique: la relation qui fait que différents éléments linguistiques comptent comme "un même élément" ou comme “identiques” même s'ils sont hétérogènes d'un point de vue interne ou présentent des propriétés de surface différentes. Je traite de six questions sur ce thème.Le chapitre 1 concerne les segments phonétiques. La phonétique traditionnelle modélise la parole continue comme une concaténation de segments discrets de durées temporelles non spécifiées. Cependant, au cours des dernières années, les idéalisations segmentales de la parole ont été remises en question par des approches éliminativistes à l’égard des segments phonétiques. Le chapitre tente de justifier la phonétique segmentale face aux arguments éliminativistes.Le chapitre 2 concerne les objets phonologiques. Les énoncés phonologiques quantifient sur les phonèmes, qui sont des entités controversées. Aucune ontologie standard n'accepte de les faire figurer parmi l’“ameublement du monde”. Par conséquent, se pose la question suivante: comment les énoncés de règles phonologiques parviennent-ils à recevoir les valeurs de vérité attendues ? Le chapitre propose d'aborder la question en appliquant le non-factualisme de Stephen Yablo aux objets phonologiques.Le chapitre 3 traite du problème type-token. Il existe plusieurs théories concurrentes de la relation spécifique désignée par le prédicat “est un token de”, tel qu’on l'emploie dans le domaine linguistique. La théorie dominante est que les tokens instancient les types, mais cette thèse fait face à plusieurs difficultés conceptuelles. S'appuyant sur des travaux antérieurs de Zoltan Szabó, le chapitre propose une nouvelle approche du problème type-token, basée sur l'idée que les sons et les inscriptions du langage représentent des formes phonologiques et orthographiques.Le chapitre 4 traite du comptage de mots. Selon certains, l'identité des mot-types dépend de leur similarité en matière d'attributs structurel-fonctionnels. Selon d'autres, l'identité des mot-types dépend de leur lignée historique-causale. Les deux cadres donnent lieu à des manière différentes de compter les mots. Lequel d'entre eux est métaphysiquement adéquat ? Le chapitre propose une théorie quiétiste du comptage de mots, en soutenant qu'il n'y a pas de réponse factuelle et non-théorique à la question de “combien de mot-types existent” dans un monde ou scénario linguistique.Le chapitre 5 porte sur un problème dans la théorie de l'anaphore. On pense habituellement que l'anaphore implique la coréférence. Ce principe général, cependant, semble être contredit par des phrases où un pronom non lié hors-citation dépend d'un antécédent dans une citation. Le chapitre soutient que les phrases présentant les caractéristiques décrites ci-dessus n'invalident pas le principe général, et articule une analyse des cas problématiques axée sur la notion de "saillance".Le chapitre 6 porte sur la coréférence de jure. La coréférence de jure est un type particulier de relation de coréférence qui a attiré beaucoup d'attention dans la littérature récente. Cependant, son autonomie par rapport à d'autres variétés de coréférence (notamment la coréférence accidentelle) et ses propriétés distinctives font l'objet de controverses. Le chapitre fournit une présentation systématique des motivations sous-jacentes à l'introduction de la notion de coréférence de jure et défend une approche conservatrice de sa relation avec la grammaire de la phrase: la distinction entre coréférence accidentelle et coréférence de jure est réelle mais invisible du point de vue de la structure linguistique. / The overarching theme of this dissertation is linguistic sameness: the feature by which different bits of language are able to count “as a unit” or as “the same” even if they are internally heterogeneous or exhibit different surface properties. I pursue six issues within this theme.Chapter 1 is about phonetic segments. Mainstream phonetics models continuous speech as a concatenation of discrete, letter-sized segments of unspecified temporal duration. In recent years, however, segment-based idealizations of speech have been called into question by eliminativist approaches to phonetic segments. The chapter attempts to vindicate segmental phonetics in face of the eliminativist arguments.Chapter 2 is about phonological objects. Phonological statements quantify over phonemes, which are controversial particulars. No standard ontology accepts them as part of the furniture of the world. Hence, the question arises of how phonological statements manage to exhibit their perceived distribution of truth values. The chapter proposes to address the issue by applying Stephen Yablo’s non-factualism to phonological objects.Chapter 3 is about the type-token problem. There are competing accounts of what specific relation is designated by the predicate “is a token of” as applied to the linguistic domain. The mainstream view is that tokens instantiate types, but this thesis presents several conceptual difficulties. Building on previous work by Zoltan Szabó, the chapter proposes a novel approach to the type-token problem, one based on the notion that speech sounds and inscriptions represent phonological and orthographic forms.Chapter 4 is about word counting. According to some, word type identity is established by similarity in structural-functional attributes. According to others, word type identity is established by sameness of causal-historical lineage. The two frameworks yield competing word counting policies. Which of them is metaphysically adequate? The chapter articulates a quietist take on word counting, one arguing that there is no non-theoretical fact of the matter about “how many word types exist” in any given language-infused world or scenario.Chapter 5 is about a puzzle in the theory of anaphora. Anaphoric dependency is commonly thought to entail coreference. This mainstream principle, however, appears to be violated by sentences where an off-quote unbound pronoun depends on an antecedent within closed quotation marks. The chapter argues that sentences exhibiting the described pattern do not invalidate the mainstream principle, and articulates a salience-based analysis of the problematic cases.Chapter 6 is about de jure coreference. De jure coreference is a peculiar kind of coreference relation that has attracted much attention in recent research. However, its autonomy from other varieties of coreference (most notably, accidental coreference) and its signature properties are the subject of controversy. The chapter provides a systematic presentation of the motivations underlying the introduction of de jure coreference, and defends a conservative account of its relationship to sentence grammar: the de jure vs. accidental divide is real but invisible from the standpoint of linguistic structure.

This thesis aims to investigate the performance of different types of franchisees, in terms of perceived market share and profitability, are affected by constrains defined by the theories of franchise selection and contractual terms. The two different types of franchisees researched include novice and parallel. This begins by examining how the constraints defined by the Resource Base, Social Exchange and Equity theories of franchise selection are applicable to entrepreneurs who want to become franchisees, and by examining the differences in the attitude of franchisees toward contractual terms. The main contribution is that the research broadens and extends other franchising and entrepreneurship studies by exploring external and internal factors to examine perceived franchisee performance. Therefore, this study relates the criteria used by franchisees in the selection of potential franchisors and contract clauses, to their performance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Sultanate of Oman in the food and beverage sector. Moreover, existing research has primarily focused on the perspective of franchisors and has not adequately explored the franchisee's perspective on determining success. Therefore, this study contributes to franchising literature by broadening the scope of existing theories. The study has adopted a multi-methodology strategy, employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Qualitative data was collected through 11 face-to-face interviews, 5 franchisees in Oman, and 6 in Saudi Arabia; using semi-structured questionnaires. Quantitative data was collected via a survey. A self-administrated questionnaire was designed, translated, piloted and distributed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data analysis was conducted on a sample of 123 responses. Factor analysis was implemented to test the scale, followed by the Mann-Whitney U test, regression, and moderation analysis. The qualitative findings show that constraints defined by the resource-based theory are applicable to novice franchisees. However, franchisor training and support were found to be exceptional resources, applicable to both novice and parallel franchisees. Constraints defined by the social exchange theory are applicable to both novice and parallel franchisees; whereas constraints defined by the equity theory are applicable only to parallel franchisees. The quantitative findings indicate that both types of franchisee have different attitudes toward training clauses; support clauses; contract duration clauses; territorial exclusivity clauses; tying arrangement clauses and franchise fees clauses. However, both types of franchisees have similar attitudes toward termination clauses. Moreover, the results show that franchisor brand reputation, technical know-how and high franchise fee factors will increase the franchisee perceived market share. Additionally, franchisor brand reputation and higher franchise fees, will increase franchisee perceived profitability. Furthermore, parallel franchisees believe that a franchisor's local market knowledge will decrease their performance in terms of perceived profitability. Alternatively, novice franchisees believe long contract duration will help them increase their perceived profitability. In addition, imposing higher franchise fees on novice franchisees will increase their perceived profitability more than that of parallel franchisees. Finally, the results show that contract clauses such as: extensiveness of support; long contract duration, and stricter termination clauses, will affect franchisee perceived market share positively. Finally, contract clauses such as extensiveness of support and short contract duration clauses, will affect franchisee perceived profitability positively; whereas extensiveness of training clauses will affect franchisee perceived profitability negatively.

Cette thèse porte sur l'étude théorique et pratique d'un système de typage appliqué à la preuve de programmes de style fonctionnels. Le système de base est le système ST créé par C.Raffalli; il comporte, outre le polymorphisme, du sous-typage et de l'omission de contenu non-algorithmique. Nous étudions tout d'abord les modèles de la théorie définie par le système de types, en construisant une axiomatique basée sur les treillis permettant de modéliser le calcul et la logique. Nous étudions sur cette base le système de types, montrons la réduction du sujet, et la possibilité de définir en interne la normalisabilité et la réductibilité des programmes. Dans la suite de la thèse, plus appliquée, nous étudions des codages de types de données riches inspirés des langages fonctionnels - y incluant notamment un système de modules du premier ordre- dans le Lambda-Calcul, et montrons qu'ils s'intègrent harmonieusement dans le système; la méthodologie développée dans cette partie permet d'étendre le langage de types et le langage de programmation en conservant un critère de consistance assurant la sûreté du code typé.

La théorie des types est une discipline au croisement de la logique, des mathématiques et de l'informatique. Elle peut servir de support au développement de programme "zéro faute". L'objet de cette thèse est d'étudier l'extension d'un système aux types dépendants UTT (comprenant notamment des types inductifs) par une relation de récriture concernant un fragment du calcul, à savoir les types finis. Nous nous assurons d'abord que les propriétés de normalisation forte, de confluence et de préservation du type sont toujours préservées malgré l'ajout de la réduction. Ensuite nous enrichissons ce système par la notion de sous-typage coercitif vue comme un mécanisme d'abréviation et effectuons la preuve de conservativité pour le système enrichi du sous-typage par rapport au système de base. L'intérêt d'un tel système est qu'il améliora l'efficacité des assistants à la preuve et offrira un bon cadre pour l'étude des problèmes faisant intervenir des ensembles finis (combinatoire, manipulation de graphe etc).

This thesis discusses how a historic woman is represented on stage today. The woman in mind is Sabina Spielrein, and she is portrayed in a play called: Name: Spielrein Sabina. She was born in the late 19th century and made a significant impact on the development in psycho-analysis. Since her letters, diaries and fragments was found 1977, and later on in 1982, nu-merous of people have been fascinated regarding her life, especially with her relation to Jung and Freud. One of my arguments is that there could be another story to tell, as she is living in a context when women were organized and struggled for their rights on many levels. It is a period when a new type of women is formulated, with new visions on society, morals and sexuality. This New Woman discourse was intense all over Europe. With representation as a theoretical instrument it was possible to see how this play challenges several typical women images. By using the character Sabina I have looked at (stereo) types such as: the good daughter, the mad woman, the genius, the mistress, the wife and the mother. Putting Sabina Spielrein in focus has also made it possible to discuss around cultural power, how it works and the importance of who is in charge.

Nous étudions les propriétés, en particulier la terminaison, des systèmes de types dépendants pour le lambda-calcul et la réécriture.