The Role of Municipalities in Redistribution in Ontario: A Study on Ontario Works

This paper examines the role of Ontario municipalities in redistribution in an effort to understand the values behind welfare policy, the policy process, and the service provision model. Interviews with 15 Ontario Works stakeholders – including two members of municipal council, three senior level managers of a social services department, four members of community-based organizations, and six Ontario Works recipients – from a mid-sized municipality in Southwestern Ontario were conducted. The findings reveal that with regards to redistribution, municipalities can play an active role in policy implementation at the local scale, while policymaking can be left to the province

Effective leadership behaviours of private secondary school principals in Hong Kong

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Interview by Kwok Ming Fung

Mr. Sung in interviewed with me at 3/F conference room, General Education Building, Lingnan College on 19th April. He talks with a great deal of feeling about his childhood. It sounds interesting. He has 7 brothers and lives with his parent and his grandmother during his childhood. His father is work in business field and his mother is housewife and his grandmother is very traditional women. Thus his family is not poor. His mother and his elder brothers do not care the finical support of his family so that Mr. Sung and his brothers no need to work outside when they were small can only focus on their studying. When he was studing primary school, he had been changed from original scholl to a new one because his academic result is not good. It is quite difficult for him to adopt the new environment. Forunately, he familars with his classmate no longer via playing basketball and feeding little animal such as rabbit. After promoting secondary school, he felt that there are quite great pressure came from assessment and serious teacher. On the other hand, the good academic result of his elder brother is one of the major sources of pressure. He gradually looks after and concern about his smaller brothers when he was growing

Phenomenological Modeling of Infrared Sources: Recent Advances

Infrared observations from planned space facilities (e.g., ISO (Infrared Space Observatory), SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility)) will yield a large and uniform sample of high-quality data from both photometric and spectroscopic measurements. To maximize the scientific returns of these space missions, complementary theoretical studies must be undertaken to interpret these observations. A crucial step in such studies is the construction of phenomenological models in which we parameterize the observed radiation characteristics in terms of the physical source properties. In the last decade, models with increasing degree of physical realism (in terms of grain properties, physical processes, and source geometry) have been constructed for infrared sources. Here we review current capabilities available in the phenomenological modeling of infrared sources and discuss briefly directions for future research in this area

小說《青蛇》中小青的性格分析

白蛇故事，家傳戶曉。這個浪漫淒美的傳奇故事，以各種不同的文學形式流傳下來，一直為人們所歌頌。這個古老的傳說源遠流長，自宋、元以來流傳不衰，並衍生各類的民間故事。1 有說其淵源可追溯自唐，2 或見於宋代的話本，其實有關白蛇故事的最重要記載，應是明馮夢龍(1574-1646) 的《警世通言》中〈白娘子永鎮雷峰塔〉一卷，之後陸續有不同版本的話本、小說、彈詞、京劇、講唱等出現。無論白蛇故事是以何種形式出現，故事的情節總離不開遊湖借傘，訂親贈銀、發配蘇州、戲弄道士、瑰服招禍、發配鎮江、水漫金山、法海收妖、被鎮雷峰等基本骨榦。 人們慣於將焦點放在幾個方面：1. 稱讚白娘子對愛情的執著、熱情、專一、堅持和爭取的精神；2. 認為許仙寡情薄倖、怯弱畏縮；3. 怪法海身為佛門高僧，不但沒慈悲為懷的善心，倒反要拆散許白二人的姻緣。往往被忽略了的，是一直對白娘子忠心耿耿，為許白二人盡力盡心的青蛇。其實在整個白蛇故事裏，青蛇是一個不可缺少的重要角色，若沒有她，可能整個白蛇故事都要改寫。 第一次看李碧華所寫的小說《青蛇》，挺佩服作者的獨特創見，嘗試以小青的角度，重看整個白蛇故事。既能保留一般白蛇故事的情節，但又能以一個嶄新的角度去側寫詐白二人的感情。從前，青蛇一直是許白二人的侍俾、紅娘、朋友，而在李碧箏的筆下，小青終被釋放出來，成為一個突出獨立而性格鮮明的角色。這讓人發現到，小青一角其實同樣有值得研究的價值。後來《青蛇》改編成電影，在李碧華任編劇的情況下，大刀闊斧的將故事情節刪減，加重了小青在故事裏的重要性，亦著墨於她的性格描寫，為這角色賦予了生命。本論文並不妄想能為小青平反或確定些甚麼，只嘗試對這角色加以發掘及研究。 在撰寫論文的過程中，遇到不少困難。因為李氏的《青蛇》及一九八六年出版的坊間流行小說，在短短幾年間，並沒有太多關於此本小說的分析或研究資料，故在資料搜集上有一定的困難。而前人對白蛇故事加以研究時，亦偏重在白素貞、許仙、甚至法海身上，有關小青的研究實在不多，尤其是關於性格及心理描寫的文章，就更是乏善足陳。 本論文共分五個部分，首先是追溯一些關於白蛇故事的原始素材及重要素材；然後是交代李碧華筆下的白蛇故事；第三部分將集中探究小青的身份及替這角色加以定位；從而進一步分析這個角色的性格；最後更會就《青蛇》小說改編成電影後，小青一角性格上的分野作進一步研究

In vivo visualization of CaMKII activity in ocular dominance plasticity

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references.Alterations in sensory experience can persistently modify the responses of cortical neurons. Ocular dominance (OD) plasticity, a process in which alternation of visual input induces a shift in cortical responsiveness, is an extensively studied model of such experience-dependent plasticity. However, the synaptic mechanisms underlying OD plasticity are not well understood. Recent studies revealed that both Hebbian and homeostatic mechanisms play a role in OD plasticity. Therefore, we were interested in monitoring the process of rapid plasticity at individual synapses in vivo to gain insight into the interplay of these two mechanisms. Ca2+/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a major component of the postsynaptic density. Activation of CaMKII is necessary and sufficient for LTP induction, is required for OD plasticity, and its expression pattern coincides with the site of rapid plasticity in the supragranular layers II/III of the visual cortex. Moreover, CaMKII can convert transient Ca2+ influx into a prolonged biochemical process via autophosphorylation that renders CaMKII activity Ca2+ independent. Hence, CaMKII is well suited as a reporter of synaptic activity. We previously engineered a probe, Camui, which utilizes the optical phenomenon of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), to monitor CaMKII activation. This thesis embodies the work done to improve Camui to be a better tool for in vivo reporting of CaMKII activity, as well as the use of this improved probe for in vivo detection of CaMKII activity in single spines before and after 4 hrs of monocular deprivation (MD) in the ferret visual cortex.(cont.) We found that after only 4 hrs of MD, the overall CaMKII activity in spines, and adjacent dendritic regions, of neurons in the deprived eye domain increased significantly. This increase was also seen in the binocular eye domain. In the open eye domain, however, this overall increase in CaMKII activity was absent. These observations were specific to MD as control experiments did not show such changes. Moreover, detailed analysis revealed that spines that were eliminated after 4 hrs of MD had a low level of basal CaMKII activity. Our results lend support to the model that both Hebbian, as well as homeostatic compensatory mechanism can subserve OD plasticity.by Show Ming Kwok.Ph.D