dissertation com aug 2010 (13 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Disrupting Fraternity Culture explores how young men and women perform male and female roles to 'fit in' during the college or young adult years. It is arguable that many young men 'perform' the role of the hegemonic male to fit in among peers, and that performing the hegemonic male is to perform acts of violence against women. This project actively examines university organizations and institutions, such as fraternities and sororities, which can encourage anti-female attitudes. All of the narratives used in this study were given willingly and given primarily by peers. The names of the individuals and the names of the fraternity and sorority houses the individuals belong to will not be revealed in this project. Fraternities and sororities are useful institutions to study because so many young men and women desire to become a part of Greek culture, and in order to fit in, may not realize that they are contributing to and maintaining an institution of violence against women. It is worthy to explore why so many young men and women choose to partake in this elective rite of passage, especially considering the mental and physical hazing men and women endure. Both men and women are telling stories and participating in rituals that objectify women, and the attitudes and behaviors conveyed in these environments are ubiquitously contributing to views on troubling violence.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - International commercial contracts in the context of increasing globalization of the national markets have posed some of the most difficult questions of the legal theory as developed since the emergence of nation states; those are, whether it is possible or desirable to allow international commercial contracts to be governed by the law merchant or, in its medieval name, lex mercatoria, a body of rules which has not been derived from the will of sovereign states, but mainly from transnational trade usages and practices, and to what extent those rules should govern transnational transactions. The traditional approach of legal positivism to the questions maintains that law governing contracts containing a foreign element should be a national law which will be determined according to choice of law rules. However, the particularities of cross border trade yield unsatisfactory results when the rules essentially designed for the settlement of domestic disputes or national laws pertaining to international economic relations, but developed under the influence of a certain legal tradition, are tried to be applied. New solutions are needed to overcome the special problems of international trade between merchants from different legal systems.In that regard, while the international commercial arbitration which has been freed from the constraints of the domestic laws is an important step, the courts generally applying the principle of party autonomy which allows parties to designate the law that will apply to their transactions have proved insufficient due to the positivistic influence on the conflict of laws rules of most countries which has limited parties' choice of law to the national substantive laws. The problems created by those inconsistencies and divergences have been felt more strongly in the European Community which constitutes an internal market by integrating the national markets of Member States into a single one. The present paper is an attempt to search for answers to those questions with a special emphasis on the situation in the European Community on the basis of the idea that law as a servant of social need must take account of the far reaching and dramatic socio-economic changes.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This study attempts to examine the impact of a trade decontrol policy on food output within the Nigerian macroeconomic context. In other words, the study relates trade liberalization to the national food security situation between 1970 and 2000, by employing descriptive statistics and error correction model (ECM) as the research methodologies.Regional and multilateral trade agreements seem to reduce barriers to the flow of commodities across borders, thus fostering a more efficient allocation of scarce resources as well as raising gross output with positive implications for food security at various levels. Though the trend analyses revealed considerable fluctuations, there existed greater improvements during the trade decontrol era than during the period of trade restriction. The production statistics for both agricultural exports and food showed substantial diversity of performance. Deregulation of the exchange rate and abolition of commodity boards were partly responsible for the significantly positive changes in the cash crop market and enhanced farmers' earnings during the trade decontrol era.One positive development during the trade liberalization era is the emerging trend as well as remarkable improvement in the production of agricultural tradables (cocoa, cotton, groundnut, palm kernel, palm oil and rubber), although this was at the expense of the food crop sub sector.Consumer Price Indices recorded high and increasing values during liberalization as compared to before deregulation. That is, the price situation of foods items was particularly more favourable before deregulation than thereafter. By implication, the purchasing power of most Nigerians, especially wage earners, declined, thereby making them to be less food secured.More specifically, beans appeared to be the most expensive of all the selected food items. The price of beans more than doubled that of guinea corn, maize and millet during the liberalization period under study. This made Nigerians more dependent on less nutritious but cheaper food items, such as cassava meals.The EPC analysis showed that food crops enjoyed adequate level of protection even during liberalization. The protection accorded to agriculture during liberalization resulted in a movement of resources to agriculture in general and non-food crops in particular.Since input subsidy and tariffs are crucial ingredients in the computation of EPCs which recorded some differences between the regulated and liberalized periods, Nigerians were less food secured during the liberalization era. The reason adduced for this is that supportive policies and programmes were not put in place to curtail the rising food prices and generally high inflation rate during the period. In view of this, desirable and workable policies are therefore required to reform as well as improve the efficiency of market process, in order to moderate marketing costs and eliminate undue mark ups.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In the last two decades, a concern on how federal forests in the United States are managed has provoked concerns among different stakeholders, including NGOs. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of NGO influence on forest management legislation. Eight aspects were selected and compared in different study cases referring to legislative proposals dealing with forest management in order to define success criteria for a legislative initiative. The study indicates that the following criteria are particularly important to fulfill in order to influence forest management legislation: The issue to address should be on the political agenda and have high public interest. Environmental and social aspects should not be at the expense of economic aspects. The legislative initiative should be prepared in multi-stakeholder processes, including local government and organizations. The supporters of the initiative should take part in all decision-making processes and advise the Government in aspects related to their areas of expertise.NGOs would likely improve their chances of influencing forest management legislation if they hold a flexible position regarding legislative proposals containing similar or even less strict measures than their own initiatives, look at market oriented schemes as alternatives to legislation, and maintain good relationships with other major stakeholders.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Staphylococcus epidermidis is the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections associated with implanted medical devices. Likewise, Proteus mirabilis is one of the leading causes of nosocomial Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and is associated with urinary catheter blockage. Both organisms produce biofilms, which make them less susceptible to antibiotics. Therefore, these infections are often notoriously difficult to treat and in many cases lead to complications. Preventing biofilm formation or killing a pre-existing biofilm would be useful solutions since biofilm formation is a phenomenon commonly observed in these organsims.This study investigated the in vitro efficacy of Bismuth-ethanedithiol (BisEDT) against biofilms produced by P. mirabilis and S. epidermidis. Anti-biofilm activity of BisEDT was evaluated in terms of inhibiting/preventing biofilm formation and eradicating/killing pre-formed biofilm produced by single species S. epidermidis and P. mirabilis.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This work focuses on contemporary Zimbabwean Stone Sculpture - widely known until the early 1990s as 'Shona Sculpture' - from the perspective of a critical anthropological analysis of cultural identity and representation. The analysis frames the inception of this art movement within the colonial socio-historical circumstances of its genesis, where discourse about the producers of this art form ('Shona discourse') was created. Drawing from the social context of inequality and racial (spatial) segregation, and from the concepts of the 'primitive' in art and anthropology, the author aims to show how 'Shona discourse' entails a primitivist construction of the Other (i.e., the sculptors' cultural identity) that is directly linked to modernist primitivism. 'Shona discourse,' as a temporalising discourse, situates the producers of so-called 'Shona sculpture' in an extra-ordinary time, the time of 'primitive' myth, magic and cosmology, constituting in this sense a good example of 'allochronic' discourse. Originating within the colonial politics and ideology of the 1960s, and contested by younger generations of sculptors from the 1990s onwards, this discourse was, paradoxically, appropriated by the cultural politics of 'indigenisation' during the early period of the post-independence Zimbabwean State as part of its national identity and heritage.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This study examines U.S.-Mexico sugar trade with special attention given to the impact of changes in trade and market environments caused by implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the introduction of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). These two factors contributed to shaping sugar markets in the United States and Mexico as well as sugar trade between the two countries. The study includes two sections: (1) a description of the sugar markets from an historic point of view and (2) an empirical study forecasting the market and trade outlook.In section one, characteristics of the sugar industry and transition of the sugar markets brought by the two factors (NAFTA and HFCS) are presented. Adoption of HFCS shaped the U.S. sweetener market in the 1980s and a similar phenomenon appears to be beginning in Mexico. This is explained by not only income growth but also the provisions of NAFTA that facilitate U.S. HFCS to enter the Mexican market and restrict Mexican sugar to the U.S. market. Although Mexico is promised favorable access to the U.S. market under NAFTA, it has not been successful in exporting sugar; rather, the focus has been to suppress HFCS adoption in the domestic market.Next, an empirical study comprised of three analyses is presented. Regression results from the market analysis showed that the estimated price elasticities for both sugar demand and supply are significant and inelastic. These estimates are built into the second model that examines bilateral trade. Results from simulations of the trade analysis indicate Mexico's HFCS adoption rate will determine the magnitude of Mexico's sugar export, which consequently poses a significant influence on U.S. markets. Also the way the U.S. government allocates quotas among exporters will have a significant impact, particularly on the costs of the U.S. sugar program. Game theory analysis is then used to assess what strategies the involved participants will prefer. The results suggest that there will be a conflict of interests and that the U.S. HFCS industry may play an influential role in forming a sugar policy.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with the utilization of preadjudicatory detention among juveniles in the United States. Specifically, this study identified: (a) the philosophical basis associated with the utilization of the preadjudicatory detention of juveniles, (b) the legal origins of the preadjudicatory detention of juveniles, (c) a number of theoretical perspectives associated with the use of preadjudicatory detention of juveniles, and (d) whether legal (i.e., prior record, offense, etc.) or extralegal factors (i.e., race, gender, etc.) were associated with the detention of juveniles in the juvenile justice system. The study utilized a quantitative method design in which secondary data were employed. A total of 7,135 juveniles were analyzed from secondary data gathered by the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in 1998. Various types of statistical analysis (bivariate cross-tabulation, binary logistic regression) provided clarification and differentiation concerning factors associated with the preadjudicatory detention of juveniles. With respect to extralegal factors, the results from this study indicate that race was associated with the detention of juveniles. Specifically, African American juveniles were likely to experience preadjudicatory detention. The results also reveal that certain legal factors were associated with the preadjudicatory detention of juveniles. For instance, a juvenile's relationship with the juvenile court at the time of intake and the juvenile's prior arrest record were associated with preadjudicatory detention. In addition, the juvenile's total number of charges as well as the specific charges of burglary, robbery and assault were associated with the preadjudicatory detention of the juvenile. This study underscores the need for creating and developing objective assessment tools during the intake process for juveniles. Future investigative studies should include the attitudes of certain legal practitioners and the use of qualitative data when researching juvenile court decisions.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Pyrene, a four-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), was identified as the chemical that requires the largest land area for soil bioremediation due to the slow rate of biodegradation at the Libby, Montana Superfund site. Prepared bed land treatment is the specific bioremediation technology that is currently employed at this site. Although bioremediation has been widely accepted for treatment of contaminated soil due to its low cost, the effective application of bioremediation is often hindered by the lack of information related to: 1) biochemical pathways, 2) enzymatic mechanisms, and 3) effects of amendments.Mycobacterium sp. KMS is a new strain isolated from the land treatment units of the Libby site and has been found to utilize pyrene as a carbon and energy source. The genome of Mycobacterium sp. KMS was sequenced by Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and is publically available in the NCBI database.This dissertation is comprised of seven chapters. Chapter I provides information concerning PAH characteristics, the Libby Superfund site, accelerated bioremediation approaches, and the hypotheses for this dissertation. Chapter 2 addresses the pyrene degradation pathway used by Mycobacterium sp. KMS based on isolating and identifying pyrene degradation intermediates. Chapter 3 describes the enzymatic mechanism of pyrene degradation by Mycobacterium sp. KMS.Chapter 4 presents the effect of Elliott soil HA (ESHA) amendment on pyrene solubility in soil slurry systems and pyrene mineralization in unsaturated soil microcosms. Chapter 5 describes the overall effect of ESHA amendment on pyrene distribution in a soil slurry system.Chapter 6 addresses the engineering significance of this study and future research recommendations. Chapter 7 summarizes the dissertation. The main theme of this dissertation is to provide the basic scientific information and knowledge for better understanding, better control, and improvement of the bioremediation process at PAH-contaminated sites.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This dissertation presents a study on the acquisition of telicity by Spanish and English native speakers. In addition to the study of acquisition, it investigates the syntactic and semantic properties of locatum constructions (e.g., the water filled the bucket), which are sentences that contain two internal arguments and whose subject is non-agentive. This dissertation explores the syntactic and semantic properties of elements of the verb phrase that had not been previously considered in the interpretation of telicity, such as the role of non-agentive subjects and the type of movement that takes place in the checking of the verb's telic features.Contrary to the assumption that only the direct internal argument of the verb can delimit an event, I argue that objects generated in the lower verb phrase, by virtue of being an internal argument of the verb can delimit an event. An object delimits an event by checking the verb's telic features in spec-AspP, either by covert or overt movement. If a predicate contains one internal argument (e.g., the boy filled the bucket) the checking of the verb's telic features takes place via covert movement. That is, only the NPs specific quantification features move covertly to check the verb's telic features in spec-AspP. However, if the predicate contains two internal arguments (e.g., fill the bucket with water), the surfaced subject (e.g., the water filled the bucket) by virtue of being an internal argument of the verb, checks the verb's telic features as the category and its features move overtly to subject position.The study shows that young children understand telicity when the verb's telic features are checked via overt movement, but have difficulties understanding telicity when the verb's telic features are checked via covert movement. I propose that predicates whose telicity involves overt movement should be acquired earlier than predicates whose telicity involves covert movement because overt movement is an operation that happens between D-structure and S-structure before the sentence is pronounced. Predicates whose telicity involves covert movement might be acquired at a later age of development because covert movement happens between S-structure and LF after the sentence is pronounced.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In this research, the author analyzes Derrida's understanding of the way society is created out of a collection of individuals, how the individuals preserve their singularity and freedom within a social system and the meaning of ethics, as it comes out in his early writings. In this work, the researcher used a phenomenological method of research and Cassirer's way of analyzing the symbolic forms as a framework to analyze the early writing of Derrida. Although it is not a common approach to combine Derrida's philosophy with that of Cassirer's, the researcher found that Cassirer's ideas help to show Derrida's unique position.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This thesis investigates the issues of implementing multi-sensor imaging system for surveillance applications. Three topics for the fusion of infrared and electro-optic images are studied, i.e. registration, fusion, and evaluation. The first topic is the image registration or alignment, which is to associate corresponding pixels in multiple images to the same physical point in the scene. A trajectory-based method for registering infrared and electro-optic video sequences is proposed in this study. The initial registration parameters are derived from matching the trajectories across the consecutive video frames. Further refinement can be carried out by applying a maximum mutual information approach. The frame difference, from which the feature point is detected, is found with an image structural similarity measurement. The second topic is the implementation of pixel-level fusion. Two applications are considered in this study. Motivated by the adaptive enhancement, a modified pixel-level fusion scheme is proposed to implement the context enhancement. A visual image is first enhanced with the corresponding infrared image. Then, the enhanced image is fused with the visual image again to highlight the background features. This achieves a context enhancement most suitable for human perception. As the application of multi-sensor concealed weapon detection (CWD) is concerned, this thesis clarifies the requirements and concepts for CWD. How the CWD application can benefit from multi-sensor fusion is identified and a framework of multi-sensor CWD is proposed. A solution to synthesize a composite image from infrared and visual image is presented with experimental results. The synthesized image, on one hand provides both the information of personal identification and the suspicious region of concealed weapons; on the other hand implements the privacy protection, which appears to be an important aspect of the CWD process. The third topic is about the fusion performance assessment. In this study, the evaluation metrics are developed for reference-based assessment and blind assessment respectively. An absolute measurement of image features, namely phase congruency, is employed. Future work should include the reliability and optimization study of multiple image sensors from applications' and human perception-related perspectives. This thesis is a contribution to such research.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This dissertation examines the phonological patterning as well as phonetic characteristics of transparent vowels in Hungarian palatal vowel harmony. Traditionally, these vowels are assumed to be excluded from participating in harmony alternations. The experimental data presented in this dissertation run contrary to this assumption. The data show that transparent vowels in Hungarian are articulated differently depending on the harmonic domain in which they occur. Based on this observation, the central claim defended and formalized in this dissertation is that continuous phonetic details of all stem vowels including the transparent vowels are relevant for the phonological alternation in suffixes.The dissertation proposes an integrated model that relates phonetic and phonological aspects of vowel harmony using the formal language of non-linear dynamic. The advantage of this approach is in its potential to capture both qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of the same pattern in a unified way. Crucially, a dynamic approach allows one to express both phonological and phonetic generalizations while maintaining the essential distinction between them. Hence, the dynamic approach provides a feasible research strategy in the quest for understanding one of the continuing challenges in the study of speech: the relation between phonology - the mental or symbolic aspects of our speaking competence, and phonetics - continuous physical manifestations of this competence.Applied to the particular case of transparency in Hungarian vowel harmony, the premise of interdependency between the phonetic properties of the stem vowels and the phonological patterns of suffix selection allows for an explanation of a broad range of data. Most importantly, it provides a motivation for the cross-linguistic generalizations related to transparent vowels in palatal vowel harmony systems. In addition, the effects of tongue body height, lip rounding, and surrounding vocalic context on the suffix selection in Hungarian receive a natural and lawful explanation.To summarize, this dissertation presents novel experimental data from the production of transparent vowels in Hungarian. The proposed integrated model, relating phonetics and phonology using the formal language of non-linear dynamic, achieves a unified explanation of both the phonetic and phonological generalizations observed in the data and the literature.