The fungal pathogen S. sclerotiorum (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) impacts production and yield in one of Canada’s number one crops, canola (Brassica napus). Unfortunately, few cultivars show any tolerance to this devastating fungal pathogen. Thus, understanding how the plant responds to this aggressive fungus at the cellular level will facilitate the identification of genes and gene products responsible for improved plant performance. While our understanding of the host pathogen interaction is becoming clearer, there is remarkably little information available for Sclerotinia, especially its pathogenicity in canola. Moreover, we know nothing about how this interaction is specified at the cellular, physiological or molecular level directly at the site of infection in mature leaves following petal inoculation. Thus, we compared differences in plant structure, antioxidant response, and genes involved in the salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene defense pathways in a susceptible cultivar, Westar, and a previously described tolerant cultivar, Zhongyou821 (ZY821). Our data showed that at the cellular level, ZY821 was able to suppress the Sclerotinia penetration. The ascorbate-glutathione pathway and resistant signaling pathways were all associated with the canola defense response to S. sclerotiorum, while stronger antioxidant and signaling pathways responses were observed in ZY821 leaves at the site of infection. Also, transcriptional regulators not previously associated with plant defense in the Arabidopsis- S. sclerotiorum pathosystem were identified through bioinformatics approaches. By comparing plant susceptibility to S. sclerotiorum between Arabidopsis wild type and seven loss-of-function mutants, I found transcription factor JAM2 might be involved in plant tolerance to S. sclerotiorum. / October 2014

This report examines the place of non-citizen soldiers, veterans, and their families in U.S. political and civil life. Historically, military service has allowed marginalized groups to earn their social and political status as equal citizens. Part one of this report explores why, despite this history, recent legislative changes, and a 2002 Executive Order eliminating the legal and bureaucratic barriers to naturalization, less than forty percent of the non-citizen servicemen and women today actually acquire U.S. citizenship while on active duty. Part two examines the political and policy context surrounding a soldier's decisions to naturalize. It suggests that some soldiers may be “undocumented”; they forgo naturalization to protect themselves and their families. Part three discusses the legal, political, and normative implications of current policy. Some practices, such as the deportation of alien veterans, challenge the foundations of the American political order. The place of undocumented soldiers and veterans raises important issues about civic obligation, the cultural narratives that define membership in and service to the state, and the ruling political collations in which these narratives find support. / text

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The emergence of pathogens resistant to available drug therapies is a pressing global health problem. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) may potentially form new therapeutics to counter these pathogens. AMPs are key components in the mammalian innate immune system and are responsible for both direct killing and immunomodulatory effects in host defense against pathogenic organisms. This thesis describes computational methods for the identification of novel natural and synthetic AMPs. A bioinformatic resource was constructed for classification and discovery of gene- coded AMPs, consisting of a database of clustered known AMPs and a set of hidden Markov models (HMMs). One set of 146 clusters was based on the mature peptide sequence, and one set of 40 clusters was based on propeptide sequence. The bovine genome was analyzed using the AMPer resources, and 27 of the 34 known bovine AMPs were identified with high confidence and up to 69 AMPs were predicted to be novel peptides. One novel cathelicidin AMP was experimentally verified as up-regulated in response to infection in bovine intestinal tissue. A chemoinformatic analysis was performed to model the antibacterial activity of short synthetic peptides. Using high-throughput screening data for the activities of over 1400 peptides of diverse sequence, quantitative structure-activity relation (QSAR) models were created using artificial neural networks and physical characteristics of the peptide that included three-dimensional atomic structure. The models were used to predict the activity of a set of approximately 100,000 peptide sequence variants. After ranking the predicted activity, the models were shown to be very accurate. When 200 peptides were synthesized and screened using four levels of expected activity, 94% of the top 50 peptides expected to have the highest level of activity were found to be highly active. Several promising candidates were synthesized with high quality and tested against several multi- antibiotic-resistant pathogens including clinical strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli. These peptides were found to be highly active against these pathogens as determined by minimal inhibitory concentration; this serves as independent confirmation of the effectiveness of high-throughput screening and in silico analysis for identifying peptide antibiotic drug leads.

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Problem. Oppressive cultural and social representations are inscribed on the body and intersect with women's subjective identity. / Objective. The present study explores the use of the body as a vehicle for resistance against such inscriptions. / Method. The practice of martial arts is investigated as one of the means of empowerment for women. Quantitative methods were used to compare the levels of empowerment in a group of women who practice martial arts versus a comparison group of women who do not practice martial arts. / Results. Quantitative analysis revealed that while no differences were found in overall empowerment scores between the two groups, differences were found on the subscales of empowerment. Women who practice martial arts demonstrated lower levels of Righteous Anger on the empowerment scale than women who do not practice martial arts. Closely reaching statistical significance, women who practice martial arts demonstrated higher levels of Control on the empowerment scale.

In recognition of the fact that communications commonly are considered to be essential to effective disaster preparedness and response, the present study addresses several related themes concerning the role of communications infrastructures--i.e., equipment facilities on the one hand, and established patterns of interpersonal relationships among government decision-makers and industry representatives on the other--in peacetime emergency communications planning and response processes. Its investigative tasks include the choice to apply the implicit guiding model in North American emergency management, namely, the "command-and-control" theoretical model, to a specific single-country peacetime disaster context: the Canadian case. That choice rests upon a recognition of the methodological difficulties and challenges in dealing with an emerging and highly dynamic configuration of multiple institutional players, new technologies and residual government policies respecting the telecommunications sector. / The study's findings suggest an appreciation of the complexity and nuanced context within which multiorganizational and especially multijurisdictional peacetime crisis management occurs, sometimes understood as the emergence of other frameworks. This investigation contributes to the disaster literature by providing the first exhaustive study of Canada's national emergency communications structure and capabilities. It therefore can perhaps best be seen as a prologue or preliminary discourse to a broader international comparative effort of addressing questions related to communications preparedness in regard to peacetime disasters.

mPIP is a mouse homologue of human PIP/GCDFP-15 which is an established marker of both malignant and benign pathological conditions of the mammary gland. mPIP gene expression has been identified in both lacrimal and salivary glands of healthy mice and the mPIP protein has been detected in saliva. The mPIP protein has been found to bind oral bacteria, showing the highest affinity for streptococci, suggesting a potential function of mPIP in the non-immune host defense in the mouse oral cavity. Since the exact functions of mPIP are still unknown, we examined the roles of mPIP through both in vitro and in vivo studies, specifically to address the possible role of this protein in non-immune host response through modulating the oral flora. The in vitro studies were primarily focused on elucidation of the consequences of interaction between mPIP and oral bacteria, in particular to examine whether mPIP plays a role in bacterial aggregation. The in vivo studies addressed the roles of mPIP through the analysis of an mPIP knockout mouse model generated in our laboratory. Following confirmation of the null mutation, the delineating the phenotype of this model was pursued through morphopathological analysis as well as examination of the impact of the lack of mPIP on the mouse oral flora. The null mutation in the mPIP knockout mice was confirmed by both the gene and protein analysis. Histological analysis revealed lymphocytic proliferation in both the submaxillary and prostate glands of the mPIP knockout mice. In addition, both quantitative and composition differences in the oral flora of mPIP knockout mice were identified when compared with wild-type controls. Specifically, a higher proportion of the oral bacteria of mPIP knockout mice were found to belong to genus Streptococcus and certain genera were found to be absent from the oral cavity of these mice. The effect of knockout mouse saliva, which lacks mPIP, on the aggregation of oral bacteria was compared to wild-type mouse saliva. Our data suggests that mPIP contributes to saliva-induced bacterial aggregation. While oral flora has multiple functions, including protection against infection, mPIP might play a role in the non-innate host defense through modulating the resident oral flora in the mouse. The identification of lymphocytic proliferation in submaxillary and prostate glands of mPIP knockout mice suggests that mPIP might also interfere with lymphocyte activity, playing a possible immunomodulatory role.

Verticillium wilt, caused by the soil-borne Verticillium dahliae Klebahn is a serious problem in the production of sunflower worldwide. To date, information on sunflower resistance to Verticillium spp. is very scarce, although it is critical for an effective management of this pathogen. In this study, two highly aggressive (Vd1396-9 and Vd1398-21) and two weakly aggressive V. dahliae isolates (Vs06-07 and Vs06-14) were used to inoculate moderately resistant (IS6111) and susceptible (IS8048) sunflower hybrids. VdNEP (V. dahliae necrosis and ethylene-inducing protein), an elicitor from V. dahliae, was also used to infiltrate sunflower plants. Our results indicate that VdNEP has a dual role in the interaction between sunflower and V. dahliae. VdNEP acted not only as a pathogenicity factor on sunflower by inducing wilting symptoms such as chlorosis, necrosis and vascular discoloration, but also as an elicitor triggering defense responses of the host. VdNEP induced the hypersensitive cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves and sunflower cotyledons. Moreover, VdNEP activated the production of reactive oxygen species and the accumulation of fluorescent compounds in sunflower leaves. Pathogenesis-related genes (Ha-PR-3, and Ha-PR-5), two defensin genes (Ha-PDF and Ha-CUA1) and genes encoding Ha-ACO, Ha-CHOX, Ha-GST and Ha-SCO were up-regulated by VdNEP, suggesting that multiple signaling pathways are involved in this interaction. Two SA-related genes (Ha-PAL and Ha-NML1) were slightly suppressed after infiltration with VdNEP, suggesting a possible involvement of VdNEP in affecting sunflower defenses.

Bacterial endosymbionts can have profound impacts on their host’s ecology. Notably, endosymbionts can protect their hosts against natural enemies and influence host plant interactions. The endosymbiont Candidatus Arsenophonus infects a wide taxonomic range of arthropod hosts, and is suspected of an uncharacterized mutualistic role in hemipterous insects. In the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, an introduced pest of soybeans in the United States, Arsenophonus is the sole facultative endosymbiont. The focus of this dissertation is to characterize the role of Arsenophonus in the aphid, with an overall emphasis on its impact on aphid management strategies. I first used diagnostic PCR to determine Arsenophonus infection frequency and strain diversity for native and introduced soybean aphids. I found that Arsenophonus infection is a uniform strain that is highly prevalent in soybean aphid. I then determined if Arsenophonus was a defense symbiont by curing two genotypes of soybean aphid of their natural Arsenophonus infection, resulting in infected and uninfected isolines within the same genetic background. I subjected these isolines to assays with three parasitoid species and a common aphid fungal pathogen, Pandora neoaphidis. I did not find differences in parasitism or fungal infections within the treatments. These results indicate that, although Arsenophonus is widespread, the symbiont should not interfere with biological control efforts. I next examined the influence of Arsenophonus on the ability of soybean aphid “biotypes” to colonize resistant Rag plants. I cured three additional soybean aphid biotypes. All isolines were subjected to growth rate assays on resistant Rag versus susceptible soybean. My results indicate that Arsenophonus infected soybean aphids have an increased population growth compared to uninfected aphids regardless of soybean plant type Finally, I induced soybean plants with jasmonic acid (JA) or salicylic acid (SA) to determine the effective plant defense against soybean aphid feeding. I also used Arsenophonus infected and uninfected aphids to determine any interaction between Arsenophonus and plant defense. I found SA treatment decreased soybean aphid population growth for one experiment, but had no effect when replicated. JA treatment had no effect, and there were no interactions between Arsenophonus infection and plant treatments.