Faculty of Graduate Studies

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Open Access
French-Canadian newspapers and imperial defence 1809-1914
(York University, 1967) Laxer, James
Open Access
A Collection and Re-creation of Bahamian Traditional Dances
(1992-10-01) Johnson, Roderick Theophilus
This research project provides a collection and re-creation of eleven traditional Bahamian dances. Since the early eighteenth century,Bahamian folk dancing has been an integral part of the native's social life and culture and has been heavily influenced by three cultural groups: African, American and British. People from these three cultures were the first immigrants to the island and their folk dances form the underlying structural base of the Bahamian folk dance tradition. Eventually these cultural elements were synthesised into a distinctive Bahamian folk style. In comparison to the amount of traditional dance information available from other Caribbean countries, the documentation on Bahamian folk dance tradition is sketchy at best. Adding to the lack of documentation is a continued decline in the spontaneous practice and cultural performances of these dances, plus little or no regular instruction to allow for the dances' survival in the culture. A sad consequence of cultural change is the loss or distortion of folk art. This is the present condition of the majority of traditional Bahamian folk dances. New trends in music as well as increased urbanization are causing many Bahamians to ignore or abandon their culture and heritage and as a result the dances which were once an important part of Bahamian society are now dying out. The awareness of the present condition of the dances has given me the necessary incentive to study ,examine and document the Bahamian Folk dance tradition. Central to this research project are two documentary video tape recordings of the Bahamian traditional dances. These tapes provide: necessary historical background,a step by step introduction to Bahamian dance, and important clues to the origins of them. The first tape explores the social,historical and cultural framework from which the Bahamian traditional dances have evolved. The second tape continues with a careful examination and documentation of each of the dances that will enable the viewer to actually recreate them and thus gain an even deeper understanding of the Bahamian folk style. I chose to use the medium of video through which to present my research because of its ability to capture the dances in a way that writing could not. Recording the dances on video allowed for the documentation of each dance as a whole entity in that the mannerisms, gestures, behaviour and steps were simultaneously recorded and preserved. As each dance has experienced a continued erosion of tradition at the hands of progress and increased modernization of the Bahamas,the video format has allowed me to record and thus preserve each dance before it is lost entirely.
Open Access
Corporate law, pension law and the transformative potential of pension fund investment activism
(2002-07) Kodar, Freya; Condon, Mary
Pension funds, the funds held in trust to support occupational pension plans, represent significant funds of capital. Together with other institutional investors such as mutual funds and hedge funds they have become important actors in financial markets - nationally and internationally. They have significant holdings in national and transnational corporations. They are also deeply implicated in the financial instability of global financial markets, and free market globalization. In the past decade some members of the labour movement have sought to have more active involvement in pension fund investment decision-making. They have seen this involvement as a strategy for influencing corporate management and practice, and for encouraging productivity, local and regional development and long-term growth and sustainability. More radically, they have seen it as a means to create new conceptions of ''value" that include factors other than monetary return, and to transform capital by gaining greater social and democratic control over it. They have pursued strategies such as advocating for greater representation on pension plan boards of trustees or investment advisory committees, shareholder activism including proxy voting, investment screening and economically targeted or community investing. This thesis assesses these strategies within the Canadian context and looks at their transformative potential in light of pension law and corporate law principles and practice. It argues that the current strategies of pension fund activists, even if extended to other types of investors - individuals and institutional - are not likely to lead to more democratic and social systems of corporate regulation. It also suggests that pension fund activists have not fully explored the possibilities created by the fact that pension funds have many ''owners" and "beneficiaries" - legal or otherwise. Nor have their strategies adequately considered the suggestion that the uncertainties of corporate law make completing the separation of the corporation from the shareholder, and creating democratic and social systems of corporate regulation, a more appropriate and meaningful political project. In short, they have not challenged the limitations of pension law and corporate law with strategies that recognize the corporation and markets as social institutions that should be democratically and socially regulated. One avenue for doing this appears to be through utilizing the public pension system, particularly by expanding a funded public pension system, and democratizing the fund investment decision-making process.
Open Access
The significance of corporeal factors and choreographic rhythms in Jamaican popular music between 1957--1981 (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae), with an historical and critical survey of all relevant literature dealing with Jamaican folk, religious and popular musics and dance
(York University, 2007) McCarthy, Leonard Joseph
Most studies of Jamaican Popular Music (JPM)--Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae--only discuss sonic structures as isolated phenomena, with little consideration of correlationships between JPM sonic patterns and those of indigenous Jamaican Folk and Religious Music (JFRM). Most also pay insufficient attention to the role of corporeality in the characteristics, development and performance practices of Jamaican music. This study is in two parts. (1) An historical and critical survey of all relevant literature dealing with JPM and JFRM which examines the applicability of this work to this study's thesis, with new concepts and theories introduced where appropriate. A compendium structure organizes information by historical influences, genre, musicological characteristics, movement orientations and theoretical concerns, with comprehensive citations for each subsection. (2) Part Two consists of original musicological and movement analysis of 878 video performances by 299 JPM and JFRM artists. This research identifies particular couplings of sound and movement patterns, which Agawu (2003) calls choreographic rhythms (CRs). From these findings, this study's thesis emerges in four main points: (1) JPM and JFRM performers share similar, uniquely Jamaican CRs, which appear to account for the idiosyncratic rhythmic feel of most Jamaican music. (2) Jamaican CRs are rooted in neo-African musical traditions, which are themselves rooted in West and Central African musics.(3) Jamaican musical traditions are transmitted/acquired primarily via mimesis. (4) Enactivist research 1 about music perception/cognition and cultural environments explains how growing up in particular cultures develops CRs which shape the musical understanding and performance practices of people within cultural communities. This research explains why people have difficulty perceiving and executing foreign CRs because they intuitively utilize their own indigenous CRs instead. By integrating the material surveyed in Part One with the findings in Part Two, it is concluded that proper understanding Jamaican music requires consideration of corporeal, sonic and other cultural factors as gestalt unities. It follows that this approach could benefit the study of any music. The final chapter features a concordance of topics and themes examined in the entire study which functions as an index. 1 Enactivism is a branch of cognitive science which has emerged since the early 1990s.
Open Access
The stylistic diversity of the concert saxophone
(York University, 2007-07) Rubinoff, Daniel I.
This thesis examines the sonic parameters and musical versatility of the concert saxophone. Invented in 1840, the instrument failed to become a regular member of the symphony orchestra, and is thus underrepresented in classical music. This researcher argues that the saxophone's unique sonic design makes it an effective contemporary instrument in a wide variety of genres. Specifically, the techniques of subtone, harmonics, and false fingerings are examined from both a performance and compositional perspective. Additionally, the instrument's resemblance to the human voice is documented. An examination of five original saxophone compositions highlights the instrument's flexibility as a solo instrument or as a member of an ensemble. This work adds to the number of original compositions for the saxophone and explores the reasons behind the instrument's success in contemporary music.
Open Access
Cuban Piano Music: Contradanza
(2009-10-21) del Monte-Escalante, Glenda
This work is based on research, analysis, studies and performance of Cuban concert piano music. The aim of the paper is to illustrate the historical development of this music from the 19th Century repertoire of contradanzas. This project will involve a paper in support of a recital. It is of great interest to me as a pianist, composer, educator and researcher to promote awareness of such an important part of Cuban music culture, its piano music repertoire and some of its most central composers. This repertoire represents a continuous tradition of Cuban Piano Music dating from the early nineteenth century. It has its origins in England, Spain and France, while its rhythm and syncopated style derive from Africa. In 1871 French colonists were fleeing from Haiti’s slave rebellion. When these Haitians arrived in Cuba they also brought their cultural traditions, in particular the Contredanse. Typical of this music is its consistent binary approach to form and its variously modified tango (“habanera”) rhythm. This rhythm is notated in at least three different ways, which suggests that there is more than one way to express the buoyancy or special lift so essential to this music. Generally, this repertoire has been considered to underlie both classical and popular music in Cuba and to have significantly influenced other music outside of Cuba as well. Given its roots in Spanish musical folklore and its general use of African rhythms, Cuban piano music is an important part of the music history of Cuba. However, it has been relatively neglected by historians, especially in the English language. These Cuban danzas are the source of the rhythm known as Habanera, and they are a result of the fusion of wide and various musical traditions which led to the development of a national expression and “Cuban” identity.
Open Access
A Close Look at the Hydrolytic Mechanism of OXA-58, a Class D β-Lactamase from Acinetobacter baumannii
(2012-04-25) Amini, Kaveh
OXA-58 enzyme from Acinetobacter baumannii is a carbepenm-hydrolyzing class-D β-lactamase which uses a carbamylated lysine to activate the nucleophilic serine used for β-lactam hydrolysis. The deacylating water molecule approaches the acylenzyme intermediate formed between the enzyme and the β-lactam from the α-face. According to our findings, OXA-58 uses the same catalytic machinery observed in class D β-lactamases such as OXA-10. Comparison of active site shape in OXA-58, OXA-24 and OXA-48 with the OXA-10 β-lactamase suggests that these carbapenem-hydrolyzing class D β-lactamases have gained the capability of hydrolyzing imipenem, an important carbapenem in clinical use, by slight structural changes in the active site. Also, investigation of the kinetics of β-lactam hydrolysis by Phen113A, Phen114A, Met225A, Phen113Tyr, Phen114l1e and Met225Thr shows that penicillin G is hydrolyzed better than amoxicillin and ampicillin which are hydrolyzed with comparable catalytic efficiencies. Carbenicillin was the poorest substrate.
Open Access
Generic on-board-computer hardware and software development for nanosatellite applications
(2012-11) Borschiov, Konstantin; Lee, Regina; Quine, Brendan
This study outlines the results obtained from the development of a generic nanosatellite on-board-computer (OBC). The nanosatellite OBC is a non-mission specific design and as such it must be adaptable to changing mission requirements in order to be suitable for varying nanosatellite missions. Focus is placed on the commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) principle where commercial components are used and evaluated for their potential performance in nanosatellite applications. The OBC design is prototyped and subjected to tests to evaluate its performance and its feasibility to survive in space.
Open Access
Towards an Ontology and Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models: A Systemic Design Science Exploration
(2013-09-13) Upward, Antony; Johnston, David
An ontology describing the constructs and their inter-relationships for business models has recently been built and evaluated: the Business Model Ontology (BMO). This ontology has been used to conceptually power a popular practitioner visual design tool: the Business Model Canvas (BMC). However, implicitly these works assume that designers of business models all have a singular normative goal: the creation of businesses that are financially profitable. These works perpetuate beliefs and businesses that do not create outcomes aligned with current natural and social science knowledge about long term individual human, societal and ecological flourishing, i.e. outcomes are not strongly sustainable. This limits the applicability and utility of these works. This exploratory research starts to overcome these limitations: creating knowledge of what is required of businesses for strongly sustainable outcomes to emerge and helping business model designers efficiently create high quality (reliable, consistent, effective) strongly sustainable business models. Based on criticism and review, this research project extends the BMO artefact to enable the description all the constructs and their inter-relationships related to a strongly sustainable business model. This results in the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Ontology (SSBMO). To help evaluate the SSBMO a practitioner visual design tool is also developed: the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas (SSBMC). Ontological engineering (from Artificial Intelligence), Design Science and Systems Thinking methodological approaches were combined in a novel manner to create the Systemic Design Science approach used to build and evaluate the SSBMO. Comparative analysis, interviews and case study techniques were used to evaluate the utility of the designed artefacts. Formal 3rd party evaluation with 7 experts and 2 case study companies resulted in validation of the overall approaches used and the utility of the SSBMO. A number of opportunities for improvement, as well as areas for future work, are identified. This thesis includes a number of supplementary graphics included in separate (electronic) files. See “List of Supplementary Materials” for details.
Open Access
From Clowns to Computers: Performing Theatrical Interactivity and Pervasive Transmedia Fictions
(2014-07-09) Laviolette, Byron James; Rubin, Donald H.
The Collins English Dictionary defines “Interaction” as “a mutual or reciprocal action or influence”, and “Interactivity” as “allowing or relating to continuous two-way transfer of information between a user and the central point of a communication system”. This study will analyze the range of pre-existing interactive theatre types, using the model of interaction theorized by Gary Izzo in The Art of Play. This model will be used to categorize and problematize the various strategies developed and deployed through seven years of practical interactive research in the theatre. The sites of this research include five productions I worked on as a director, from 2008-2012, with Toronto-based U.N.I.T. Productions, featuring clown duo Morro and Jasp, and an eight-month long, massive, trans- media fiction project called ZED.TO, created by The Mission Business, a local event design company where I worked in 2012 as both writer and narrative designer. The central research question steering this dissertation is twofold. First, what strategies of interactivity already exist and how has the pre-existing theory of audience interaction behind these strategies evolved through the production and performance of these two projects? Second, in what ways have these strategies been proven effective, in real-time or during online encounters, to encourage an audience to believe, trust, share, play and ultimately participate inside an interactive theatre production? To prove the efficacy of these strategies, observations and opinions of both the public and the press are examined. The answers to these research questions trace the sources, evolution and distribution of these strategies from within the established theatre practice (including improvisation and clown) as well as interactive approaches sourced from game design and social media. This multidisciplinary research helps to define what strategies work towards achieving interactivity in the theatre and how, or when, it is appropriate to utilize it during a theatrical production. In essence, this study examines, through a survey of the history of immersive and interactive theatre, the strategies realized by the Morro and Jasp clown series and ZED.TO and how these projects have contributed to the evolving theory and practice of interactivity in the theatre. Analyzing such strategies will create a sourcebook for those seeking to bring theatre into the digital world as well as understand (and perhaps even undertake) the performance of pervasive interactive narratives in the future.
Open Access
"Talking About Down There": The Development of a Public Discussion of Cervical Cancer in the Twentieth Century
(2014-07-09) Hadenko, Mandy Lee; Rutherdale, Myra
This dissertation emerged from personal and political concerns and aims to fill a historiographical lacuna. This thesis is a study of how Canadian women learned about cervical cancer and its prevention in the twentieth century. In particular, this thesis seeks to understand how, when and in what forms did a public discussion of cervical cancer prevention develop in late twentieth century Canada. Cervical cancer is significant in terms of its place in disease history. When discovered in the pre-cancerous stage, cervical cancer is quite preventable. Since the 1960s, the medical community has been aware that Pap smears can be used to recognize pre-cancerous lesions and that deaths from cervical cancer were avoidable. Its uniqueness as a “preventable” cancer provides an example of the relationship between scientific knowledge, public health, and popular practice. The public dialogue about cervical cancer prevention, I argue, was complex. There were numerous groups that were part of this public discussion including medical doctors, the medical profession, medical educators, women’s health activists, women’s organizations, newspapers, women’s press, individual women and support groups, and the municipal, provincial and state agencies. This thesis demonstrates that while dialogue among these historical actors was rarely in conflict, tensions did emerge as medical practitioners, women’s health activists and public health officials debated how best to link biomedical knowledge with preventive health policies.
Open Access
Black Diasporic Disasters and the Africanization of Poverty in Western Print Media: a Case Study of Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian Earthquake in the New York Times
(2014-07-09) Saisi, Boke; Robinson, Danielle
Thousands of poor, mainly black Americans were plastered across the news in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Correspondingly, after the devastating Haitian earthquake in January 2010, images and readings of black impoverishment were rife. I argue during both disasters, news media depicted both populations as Africanized, discursively linking blackness and black African-ness with impoverishment. I conducted a critical discourse analysis of eighty New York Times articles, comparing both cases and found that black subjects were homogenously depicted as both threatening and helpless, as “others from within” in coverage of Hurricane Katrina and “others from without” in coverage of the Haitian earthquake; the former being black others who pose an immediate threat by proximity to white majority populations, and the latter as black others whose implied inferiority helps bolster a sense of superiority amongst whites. I conclude that depictions of these essentialized and denigrated black others are problematic as they may inform the mistreatment and management of black populations worldwide.
Open Access
Dynamics and Control of Smart Structures for Space Applications
(2014-07-09) Orszulik, Ryan Russell; Shan, Jinjun
Smart materials are one of the key emerging technologies for a variety of space systems ranging in their applications from instrumentation to structural design. The underlying principle of smart materials is that they are materials that can change their properties based on an input, typically a voltage or current. When these materials are incorporated into structures, they create smart structures. This work is concerned with the dynamics and control of three smart structures: a membrane structure with shape memory alloys for control of the membrane surface flatness, a flexible manipulator with a collocated piezoelectric sensor/actuator pair for active vibration control, and a piezoelectric nanopositioner for control of instrumentation. Shape memory alloys are used to control the surface flatness of a prototype membrane structure. As these actuators exhibit a hysteretic nonlinearity, they need their own controller to operate as required. The membrane structures surface flatness is then controlled by the shape memory alloys, and two techniques are developed: genetic algorithm and proportional-integral controllers. This would represent the removal of one of the main obstacles preventing the use of membrane structures in space for high precision applications, such as a C-band synthetic aperture radar antenna. Next, an adaptive positive position feedback law is developed for control of a structure with a collocated piezoelectric sensor/actuator pair, with unknown natural frequencies. This control law is then combined with the input shaping technique for slew maneuvers of a single-link flexible manipulator. As an alternative to the adaptive positive position feedback law, genetic algorithms are investigated as both system identification techniques and as a tool for optimal controller design in vibration suppression. These controllers are all verified through both simulation and experiments. The third area of investigation is on the nonlinear dynamics and control of piezoelectric actuators for nanopositioning applications. A state feedback integral plus double integral synchronization controller is designed to allow the piezoelectrics to form the basis of an ultra-precise 2-D Fabry-Perot interferometer as the gap spacing of the device could be controlled at the nanometer level. Next, an output feedback linear integral control law is examined explicitly for the piezoelectric actuators with its nonlinear behaviour modeled as an input nonlinearity to a linear system. Conditions for asymptotic stability are established and then the analysis is extended to the derivation of an output feedback integral synchronization controller that guarantees global asymptotic stability under input nonlinearities. Experiments are then performed to validate the analysis. In this work, the dynamics and control of these smart structures are addressed in the context of their three applications. The main objective of this work is to develop effective and reliable control strategies for smart structures that broaden their applicability to space systems.
Open Access
Synthesis of Electron Deficient N-heterocyclic-carbenes and Activity of Imidazol-2-imine Thioureate Ligand on Group 10 Transition Metals
(2014-07-09) Harkness, Michael Byron; Lavoie, Gino G
Previous work in the Lavoie group has resulted in the synthesis of new imidazol-2-imine ligands that have low activity towards ethylene polymerization due to their electron rich nature. In an attempt to alleviate this an electron poor naphthalene-1,4-dione-IMes imidazol-2-imine ligand (L) was synthesized in 90% yield (14a) and coordinated to titanium (LTiCpCl2, 15). The resulting complex successfully polymerizes ethylene at a rate of 75 kg PE mol catalyst–1 h–1. A separate study focused on the coordination of functionalized imidazol-2-imine thioureate ligands (L’) to late transition metal. Three complexes were synthesized. Ni(methylallyl)L’ (7), Pd(allyl)L’ (8), and NiL’2 (9) were isolated in 85, 85, and 61% yields, respectively and all spectroscopically characterized. The X-ray crystallographic structure of 9 shows the unexpected N^S binding mode for the ligand. Complexes 7 and 8 have sparing activity towards ethylene polymerization, neither having productivity above 2 kg PE mol–1 h–1.
Open Access
Kewekapawetan: Return After the Flood
(2014-07-09) Dysart, Jennifer Faye Leigh; Hoffman, Philip J
The people of South Indian Lake Manitoba are slowly leaving behind a long period of social crisis brought on by the damming of their namesake lake in the 1970’s. The environmental devastation still exists, but the community returns to their original village site once a year for a gathering called Kewekapawetan, meaning “going back” or “looking back” in the Cree language. My film documents my interactions with family members at this gathering in 2008, and uses archival and found footage spanning fifty years, to show how this yearly event represents a positive cultural change for the community. As the filmmaker, I am not only documenting these subtly monumental events; I am also tracing my own disconnected personal history to this place. Central to the story is my father’s unwillingness to return to his family home that he left a long time ago, and my own desire to forge new bonds with this “home” where I have never resided. For the community, revisiting the place where our grandparents lived brings hope for the future after a long period of despair. In parallel, my film documents my personal hope that I will be one day be able to unite my family.
Open Access
Buffalo Death Mask
(2014-07-09) Hoolboom, Mike; Schwartz, Judith
The thesis essay has arrived in six parts. It opens with a discussion of my method, and closes with a detailed look at Buffalo Death Mask, the short digital movie I made in 2013 about AIDS. In between are a pair of what moviemakers like to call establishing shots. There are a couple of chapters on emotional establishing shots narrating fear and death. And there is a chapter that tries to approach the simple and complicated question of what artists might be doing when making experimentalist movies. Why all this need to trouble the form?
Open Access
AMP- Activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) Activation for the Treatment of Mitochondrial Disease
(2014-07-09) Green, Alexander Edward; Hood, David A.
There are multiple copies of mtDNA per cell and each mtDNA molecule contains the information to encode 13 electron transport chain (ETC) proteins. When mtDNA is depleted, there is a decrease in ETC activity. 5' AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a kinase that can initiate mitochondrial biogenesis and mitophagy. We hypothesized that treating cells harbouring low numbers of mtDNA with an AMPK activator (5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside; AICAR) would ameliorate the decrease in ETC activity and improve mtDNA copy number. We developed myoblasts (C2C12 cells) depleted of mtDNA with long-term ethidium bromide treatment. We treated selected clones for 24 hours with 1 mM AICAR to activate AMPK. AICAR treatment decreased markers of mitochondrial biogenesis, mitochondrial function (e.g. maximal cellular respiration), and mitochondrial degradation. Thus, failing to increase the energy producing capacity of the cell, activation of AMPK may have induced an energy sparing mechanism.
Open Access
Law, the American Corporation, and Society
(2014-07-09) Stewart, Fenner Leland; Zumbansen, Peer
This book explores how American legal scholarship treats the corporation by providing a history of American corporate legal theory, a history of corporate (social) responsibility from the perspective of the Berle–Dodd debate, an analysis of how legal scholars understand corporate lawmaking in America, and an initial inquiry into how the prevailing opinions about the corporation are realized in the context of a critical assessment of whether or not this resulting corporate governance holds the potential to compliment the efforts of new governance regulators. This book consists of four essays about American corporate governance. Three essays trace how three particular presumptions about the corporation came to become part of the dominant narrative about the corporation within the American academic context. The first presumption is that the American contractarian theory of the corporation most accurately frames an understanding of the corporation. This presumption underpins much of Delaware’s corporate law. Second is the notion that shareholder value maximization provides the necessary precondition for effective corporate governance. The modern incarnation of this presumption was inadvertently inspired by the early 20th Century work of Adolf A. Berle. Third is the idea that there is market competition for incorporations between states, and this competition creates a “race to the top.” Such presumptions help shape the dominant narrative about the American corporation. In the final chapter, the elements of these presumptions, and the narratives they weave, are reconsidered within the context of new governance, which encourages private actors, like corporations, to play larger roles within the administrative functions of governments. It is explained how new governance thought presumes that corporations are becoming more imbued with a sense of public spiritedness. This presumption is closely examined and then ultimately rejected as dangerously optimistic considering the narratives that dominate corporate legal thinking—at least in the American context. Each of the four chapters has been published in U.S. law reviews, creating a portfolio of essays regarding the American corporation and its place in society.
Open Access
Conditions Variable: Assemblage Theory and Systems Theory in Creative Practice
(2014-07-09) Ouellette, Troy David; Couroux, Marc G.
This dissertation will situate the twenty-first century phenomenon of Assemblage theory, which originated in the field of philosophy, within the last 100 years of creative practice. Drawing from Manuel DeLanda’s application of Assemblage theory, I will devise a means to discuss creative practice without reducing its analysis to ‘structured fields’ or ‘closed systems’. Rather, comparisons will be made between a system and an assemblage to illustrate how the two part ways, and find common ground. To better understand the way in which systems have been applied in artistic practice, an investigation of two major twentieth-century paradigm shifts will be examined. The first example is the Bauhaus school and its post-European formal offshoot in America, the New Bauhaus, and how it adapted its European predecessor’s principles of design. The second is the technological revolution, which engendered Jack Burnham’s Systems Esthetics, Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In light of these developments, I argue that a flexible, descriptive, Assemblage theory is needed to better articulate how art (the work and its making) functions within an expanded field of practice as it now exists. The adaptable and transmutable nature of Assemblage theory is also illustrated through example. In the process this dissertation will offer new ways to articulate and understand creative practice and propose a new strategy for art to be understood. Finally, I will employ Assemblage theory to analyze my own creative endeavours.
Open Access
Characterization of PRD-1 Mutation in Neurospora crassa
(2014-07-09) Firoozi, Ghazaleh; Lakin-Thomas, Patricia
In Neurospora crassa, rhythmic conidiation is controlled by several oscillators such as FRQ/WCC and FLO. The frequency (frq) gene and white collar genes (WC-1 and WC-2) are the most important components of the FRQ/WCC oscillator and prd-1 and prd-2 genes could be important components of the FLO. This project aims to characterize the prd-1 mutation. This involved mapping the mutation using PCR analyses based on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. After determining a minimal interval, candidate genes were sequenced, and knockout mutants were screened in this interval for prd-1 phenotype. A candidate gene was found to have a mutation that affects the splicing of the mRNA. The identity of the gene was confirmed by complementing the prd-1 mutant with a wild type copy of the identified candidate gene. The prd-1 gene is identified as an RNA helicase.