Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), is an aggressive invader from Asia that has killed millions of trees in North America. Recently EAB has been documented developing in a novel host, white fringetree, Chionanthus virginicus. I evaluated larval performance in two common ash species and white fringetree by infesting excised bolts with emerald ash borer eggs. In addition I evaluated several plant characteristics to determine which most influence larval development. I also conducted choice and no choice assays using the classical biological control agent, Tetrastichus planipennisi (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), to assess its ability to locate larval EAB in the different host plants. I found significantly lower survival rates of EAB larvae in white fringetree compared to white ash, F. americana. Larval phloem consumption and larval growth were lower in fringetree than in both ash tested. In choice and no choice assays T. planipennisi failed to parasitize larvae in fringetree. Failure of T. planipennisi to parasitize larvae within fringetree has implications for the efficacy of this classical biological control agent. Coupled with the use of white fringetree as a reservoir host, the enemy free space provided to EAB through use of this alternate host may have repercussions for EAB invasion dynamics.

<p>Media is one of the most important gateways to the world beyond for most people. Every day we are presented with images of distant places and peoples and the events they are a part of. During the years the way these news events have been presented to the public has changed but still they create images within us of these distant places and peoples.</p><p>This paper discusses how the journalistic narrative is built up based on some theories describing media and how is used and/or uses the society it is a part of. The paper tries to answer questions on how the image of the distant places and peoples is built up, based on these theories and discussions within the journalistic community.</p><p>The process from source to print is complex. Several part takers have an interest in putting out their view of the world to the public. This creates a complex web of dependencies between the media and different groups in society. In the end the image presented is a side effect of how the journalistic text is built up, where the narrative has to be firmly rooted with individuals and places to gain acceptance with the public, and where people and places described often become artifacts, rooted in very specific events.</p>

The objective of this thesis is to explore and analyze some of the major difficulties, challenges, and debates involved with the issue over which status and rights to afford to those detained in the War on Terrorism, in particular the Guantánamo detainees. Unlike conflicts of the past, the War on Terrorism is being waged against very unconventional enemies. Because of this, the Bush Administration, foreign governments, human rights groups, and both governmental and non-governmental organizations are currently engaged in a critical debate over which legal status and rights should be afforded to these enemies upon their detention. If any agreement is to be made regarding the legal status of the Guantánamo detainees, it is important to obtain a basic understanding of the issue itself as well as both sides of the debate. In order to do this, three core issues are explored. Firstly, what are President Bushs strategic reasons for refusing to grant the Guantánamo detainees prisoner of war (POW) status and what are the steps that the Administration has taken to ensure that its strategies in approaching the War on Terror are protected? Secondly, what are the counter arguments to the Bush Administrations position, who is voicing these arguments, and why? Finally, what impact does the Administrations position have on how and to what extent the War on Terror is waged? Once these questions have been explored, the thesis concludes that the Bush Administrations approach to the War on Terror has proven to be reckless. The security threat posed by terrorism should not obscure the importance of human rights. An anti-terrorism policy that ignores human rights is a gift to terrorists. It reaffirms the violent instrumentation that breeds terrorism as it undermines the public support needed to defeat it. A strong human rights policy that respects the detainees right to due process and to not be subjected to torture, cannot replace the actions of security forces, but is an essential complement. A successful anti-terrorism policy must endeavor to build strong international norms and institutions based on human rights, not provide a new rationale for avoiding and undermining them. If the Bush Administration remains on its present path, the rights of the Guantánamo detainees will continue to be violated and, as a result, threaten the rights of others who depend on the fair application of the law.

Sri Lanka har varit skådeplatsen för ett av nutidens blodigaste och längsta uppror. LTTE bedrev ett uppror med en separatistisk målsättning att skapa en egen Tamilsk stat på norra Sri Lanka. LTTE hade segern inom räckhåll 2006, men den Singalesiska regeringen lyckades vända LTTE framgång. En regeringsoffensiv 2008-2009 resulterade i ett totalt militärt nederlag för LTTE. David Galulas teorier kring COIN har influerat författarna till FM 3-24. FM 3-24 tillsammans med författarna Nagl och Kilcullen kan ses utgöra den nutida dominerande teoribildningen kring COIN vilket benämns som people-centric COIN. People-centric har som målsättning att bryta konnektiviteten mellan insurgenten och lokalbefolkningen. Kritiker mot FM 3-24 anser att doktrinen är för tandlös och vill istället fokusera på att nedkämpa insurgenten. Denna teoribildning benämns enemy-centric COIN.

The objective of this thesis is to explore and analyze some of the major difficulties, challenges, and debates involved with the issue over which status and rights to afford to those detained in the War on Terrorism, in particular the Guantánamo detainees. Unlike conflicts of the past, the War on Terrorism is being waged against very unconventional enemies. Because of this, the Bush Administration, foreign governments, human rights groups, and both governmental and non-governmental organizations are currently engaged in a critical debate over which legal status and rights should be afforded to these enemies upon their detention. If any agreement is to be made regarding the legal status of the Guantánamo detainees, it is important to obtain a basic understanding of the issue itself as well as both sides of the debate. In order to do this, three core issues are explored. Firstly, what are President Bushs strategic reasons for refusing to grant the Guantánamo detainees prisoner of war (POW) status and what are the steps that the Administration has taken to ensure that its strategies in approaching the War on Terror are protected? Secondly, what are the counter arguments to the Bush Administrations position, who is voicing these arguments, and why? Finally, what impact does the Administrations position have on how and to what extent the War on Terror is waged? Once these questions have been explored, the thesis concludes that the Bush Administrations approach to the War on Terror has proven to be reckless. The security threat posed by terrorism should not obscure the importance of human rights. An anti-terrorism policy that ignores human rights is a gift to terrorists. It reaffirms the violent instrumentation that breeds terrorism as it undermines the public support needed to defeat it. A strong human rights policy that respects the detainees right to due process and to not be subjected to torture, cannot replace the actions of security forces, but is an essential complement. A successful anti-terrorism policy must endeavor to build strong international norms and institutions based on human rights, not provide a new rationale for avoiding and undermining them. If the Bush Administration remains on its present path, the rights of the Guantánamo detainees will continue to be violated and, as a result, threaten the rights of others who depend on the fair application of the law.

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-132).

Media is one of the most important gateways to the world beyond for most people. Every day we are presented with images of distant places and peoples and the events they are a part of. During the years the way these news events have been presented to the public has changed but still they create images within us of these distant places and peoples. This paper discusses how the journalistic narrative is built up based on some theories describing media and how is used and/or uses the society it is a part of. The paper tries to answer questions on how the image of the distant places and peoples is built up, based on these theories and discussions within the journalistic community. The process from source to print is complex. Several part takers have an interest in putting out their view of the world to the public. This creates a complex web of dependencies between the media and different groups in society. In the end the image presented is a side effect of how the journalistic text is built up, where the narrative has to be firmly rooted with individuals and places to gain acceptance with the public, and where people and places described often become artifacts, rooted in very specific events.

Soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura, is an important pest of North American soybean. This dissertation identifies and addresses knowledge gaps, and integrates existing knowledge regarding distribution and abundance of this species. Early summer soybean colonization patterns by A. glycines were examined relative to landscape parameters, including density of overwintering hosts (buckthorn). An information-theoretic model selection approach was used to determine which landscape parameters were most influential in the distribution of colonizing aphids. Though buckthorn abundance best explained aphid colonization and population density, a density-dependent effect was observed. When aphid populations were low, more aphids were found in the vicinity of buckthorn, when aphid populations were higher, more aphids were found farther from buckthorn. Suction trap captures of migrating populations of A. glycines from 2005-2009 from a suction trap network covering much of central North America were examined. A model selection approach was used to determine the environmental triggers of summer and fall aphid flights, and spatial analysis and modeled wind trajectories were used to examine patterns in the abundance of alates. Two alate activity peaks were observed in fall. In summer, formation of alates was a function of field infestation. A tritrophic population model was built using DYMEX, a mechanistic lifecycle based modeling software package. The model incorporated soybean, A. glycines, and three natural enemy species, interacting based on phenological, physiological and functional response data available in the literature. The model was validated using Ontario field data, and several simulations were performed and are discussed. An evaluation of proposed control strategies for efficacy and impact on natural enemies and the environment was conducted. Two novel concepts are presented: the natural enemy unit, a standardization of the impact of predator guild on prey populations by the number of prey an individual predator can eat, and the selectivity index, where the selectivity of a pesticide is a function of the change in ratio of natural enemy units to prey before and after treatment. The selectivity index was inversely correlated with the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ), a theoretical measure of impact, validating EIQ's field applicability. / Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; The Keefer family trust; the Mary Edmunds Williams trust, the family of Fred W. Presant, and the University of Guelph provided scholarship and fellowship funds. Research was funded by a grant to Rebecca Hallett and Art Schaafsma from the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Pest Management Centre’s Pesticide Risk Reduction Program.

The degree to which biotic interactions influence invasion success may partly depend on the evolutionary relationship between invaders and native species. In particular, since host-use by enemies such as invertebrate herbivores and fungal pathogens tends to be phylogenetically conserved, exotic plants that have close native relatives in the invaded range should be more likely to interact with enemies. In this thesis, I explore this idea using a series of experiments and field surveys at nested taxonomic levels. My results indicate that exotics from multiple plant families experience lower damage if their average phylogenetic distance from locally co-occurring native family members is higher. I then demonstrate that within the Asteraceae, foliar and capitular damage are lower on exotic compared to native species. Both damage types had a relatively large phylogenetic component, but did not decline with phylogenetic distance to native or exotic confamilials. Finally, I show that communities with versus without close relatives are unlikely to differ in resistance to the novel invader, Solidago virgaurea: biotic resistance imposed by competitors, generalist vertebrates, and specialist invertebrates resulted in similar patterns of damage and mortality regardless of the presence of congeneric natives. In some cases, effects of biota were positive: growth of S. virgaurea seedlings in soils collected near congeneric natives was enhanced more than in soils from communities where congenerics were absent. Overall, these results suggest that biotic interactions between exotic and native species can be phylogenetically structured, although trends based on distance measures tend to be weak. In some cases, damage does decline with phylogenetic distance to native species; however this trend is unlikely to be a strong force limiting invasion or structuring plant communities. These results have significant implications for current theories of invasion biology including the "Enemy Release Hypothesis" and "Darwin's Naturalization Hypothesis", as well as for community phylogenetics.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-241).