No abstract included. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1981.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Australian National University, 2001. / Title from PDF title page (viewed May 8, 2005). Consists of reprints of thirteen published papers, some co-authored with others, plus an introductory chapter, two unpublished manuscripts, and a conclusion. Includes bibliographical references.

Master of Arts / Department of History / Bonnie Lynn-Sherow / Joseph LaFramboise’ life was the product of a rich milieu of ethnicities working, trading, and living together in the first half of the nineteenth century. His was a multi-cultural experience on the fur trade frontier. Born in 1805 and living through the first half of the nineteenth century, LaFramboise utilized multiple identities and strategies drawn from Odawa, Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, and French Canadian cultures while integrating into the developing American identity. He maneuvered socially and economically during an unstable political period along the shifting margins between native and Euro-American cultures. His life-long vocation in the fur trade, and more specifically with the American Fur Company, was influenced by his family’s successful Michigan fur trade business, his friendships within the Company, and his experience as part of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota community. The fur trade afforded him both relational and economic ties to the Eastern Dakota bands of Minnesota and to the other trade families of the American Fur Company. The trade also placed him on the cusp of American exploration into the continent’s mid-section allowing his local knowledge, built up by years of traveling the interior, to inform the explorations and writings of people like George Catlin, Joseph Nicollet, and John C. Fremont. By mid-century, ironically, LaFramboise, who had spent a lifetime building multi-ethnic relationships, found himself increasingly bound by rigid ideas about race, brought on by expanding American settlement. His business decisions and his familial ones became driven more by the expectations of an advancing Euro-American society. Even so, those decisions carried the distinctive character of a man used to living in a culturally complex world.

No description available.

This thesis examines the history of the fur trade in the American northwest during the first half of the nineteenth century.

In this thesis I describe the complex uses and symbolic resonances of fur clothing in Krakow. During my fieldwork, fur emerged as an object that was at once quotidian and evocative of an uncommonly weighty set of associations. I describe fur industry workers’ ideas about how the production and consumption of fur changed throughout the twentieth century, from its status as a nationalized industry under socialism to its status in post-European Union accession Poland. Informants rely heavily on fur’s physical features, its materiality, when discussing the ways in which fur is an object to be passed through families. I demonstrate the ways in which beliefs about inheritance are heavily contingent upon the local understanding of work as a practice that creates adult personhood. The sections of the thesis which focus on the employment trajectories of furriers show, when placed alongside chapters that explore how fur is passed through generations, that whilst informants value highly both material and intangible inheritances from older kin, they also emphasise the importance of individual action, such as entrepreneurialism. I use the multiple ways in which fur can be interpreted: as part of a dead animal and as a valuable ‘textile’ amongst other meanings, to unpack local understandings of difference and social stratification, taking into account that ‘class’ is a term seldom used in Krakow. ‘Generation’ has a specific function and meaning within Krakowian society as a type of difference that is naturalized and easily spoken of. This contrasts with differences in religion and in class, local understandings of both of which are elucidated by fur due to its associations with, firstly, both Polish Judaism and Polish Catholicism and, secondly, bourgeois ways of being and ideas about poverty in Krakow.

The Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) population has displayed a relatively slow rate of recovery since being hunted by commercial sealers during the early 19th century. Despite this, population abundance doubled in the past 2 – 3 decades, indicating that the population growth rate has recently increased. Yet, the factors influencing the population’s dynamics are poorly understood, primarily because basic demographic rates are unknown. / Female age, survival, fecundity, breeding and physiology were studied at Kanowna Island, Bass Strait, Australia, between 2003 – 2006 by conducting censuses and captures (n = 294). Mark-recapture estimates of pup production were used to validate direct pup counts, allowing a 9-year dataset to be used for calculation of the population growth rate (2.2% p.a.) and investigation of environmental influences on reproductive success. Annual pup production (x = 3108) was synchronous, with 90% of births occurring within 28 days of the median birth date of 23 November. Births occurred earlier in years when pup production and female body condition were high and these factors were correlated with local oceanographic indicators, suggesting that reproductive success is constrained by environmentally-mediated nutritional stress. / Pregnancy was assessed by blood plasma progesterone radioimmunoassay and the pupping status of the same females was observed during breeding season. Despite high mid-gestation pregnancy rates (x = 84%), the birth rate was lower than in other fur seals (x = 53%), suggesting that late-term abortion is common. Lactating females were less likely to pup, indicating that nutrition may be insufficient to support concurrent lactation and gestation. / Age and morphometric data were used to construct body growth, age structure and survivorship models. Adult female survival rates were similar to those of other fur seals (x = 88.5%). A life table was constructed and its age-specific survival and fecundity rates used in a Leslie-matrix model to project the population growth rate (2.2% p.a.) and determine the relative influence of each parameter. The abundance of female non-pups was 6 times greater than that of female pups, which is approximately 50% higher than previous conversion factors used to extrapolate population abundance from pup censuses in Australian fur seals. However, if the non-pup sex ratios of other otariids are considered, the pup:population conversion factor is 4.5. / Compared to a study performed before the recent population increase, the modern population displays similar body growth and fecundity rates but higher survival rates. This suggests that recent population growth resulted from a relaxation of hunting and/or predation mortality rather than from increased food availability. The low population growth rate is attributed to a low birth rate associated with nutritional stress, yet despite this, body growth occurs rapidly. Such characteristics are typical of sea lions rather than fur seals, perhaps because Australian fur seals employ the typical sea lion strategy of using benthic foraging to exploit a continental shelf habitat. The effect of ecological niche on population dynamics in the Otariidae is discussed.

El eje central de la presente Tesis Doctoral ha sido la conexión existente entre la capacidad infectiva de Salmonella typhimurium y el mantenimiento de sus concentraciones intracelulares óptimas de hierro y zinc. El estudio de la relación entre el hierro y la virulencia se realizó mediante la construcción y caracterización de un mutante fur. La proteína Fur es el regulador de los sistemas vinculados con la captación, transporte y almacenamiento de este elemento. La desregulación de estos sistemas en la cepa mutante provoca el aumento de la concentración intracelular de Fe2+ libre, lo que incrementa la actividad de algunas enzimas como la 3',5'-cAMP fosfodiesterasa codificada por el gen cpdA. Este hecho determina una disminución de la concentración de cAMP intracelular y, por consiguiente, una reducción de aquellos genes y regulones que están bajo el control del complejo CRP-cAMP, entre los que se encuentra el sistema de síntesis y ensamblaje de flagelos. Así mismo, se ha demostrado que existe una vinculación adicional entre la proteína Fur y la síntesis flagelar a través del control por parte de ésta del promotor flhDC, conocido también como master operon, y que se encuentra en la cúspide de la cascada de activación de todo el regulón. La reducción de la concentración intracelular de cAMP puede ser la causa de la menor virulencia de los mutantes fur cuando son inoculados intraperitonealmente en ratones BALB/c o Swiss.La vinculación entre el zinc y la capacidad infectiva de S. typhimurium se abordó mediante la construcción de mutantes que tuvieran afectado el gen zur, que codifica el regulador transcripcional relacionado con este elemento, o el gen znuC, que forma parte de un sistema de transporte de alta afinidad. En el primer caso, cuando los sistemas de transporte de zinc de la cepa mutante están desregulados, se observa un ligero descenso de la capacidad infectiva cuando se inocula por vía intraperitoneal dicho mutante en ratones BALB/c. Sin embargo, es la inactivación del sistema de alta afinidad la que comporta una reducción más drástica de la virulencia de la cepa cuando se inocula ya sea por vía oral o intraperitoneal en el huésped. De acuerdo con estos datos, la cepa ZnuC- es excluida por la salvaje a lo largo del proceso infectivo cuando se lleva a cabo una inoculación conjunta con ambas. Finalmente, y mediante la construcción de una cepa mutS de S. typhimurium así como de otra portadora de un plásmido con los genes umuDC de Escherichia coli, se ha comprobado que el incremento de la frecuencia de mutagénesis, tanto espontánea como inducida, no confiere una ventaja selectiva a lo largo del proceso infectivo. En concordancia con ello, también se ha podido constatar que el DNA de las células de S. typhimurium no sufre un nivel de lesiones lo suficientemente elevado como para inducir el sistema de reparación de emergencia durante la infección.Los artículos que se adjuntan en los anexos I, II y III de la presente memoria de Tesis Doctoral contienen los resultados en los que se basa este trabajo.Anexo I: Campoy, S., A. M. Pérez de Rozas, J. Barbé e I. Badiola. 2000. Virulence and mutation rates of Salmonella typhimurium strains with increased mutagenic strength in a mouse model. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 187:145-150Anexo II: Campoy, S., M. Jara, N. Busquets, A. M. Pérez de Rozas, I. Badiola y J. Barbé. 2002. Intracellular cyclic AMP concentration in decreased in Salmonella typhimurium fur mutants. Microbiology 148:1039-1048Anexo III: Campoy, S., M. Jara, N. Busquets, A. M. Pérez de Rozas, I. Badiola y J. Barbé. 2002. Role of the high-affinity zinc uptake znuABC system in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium virulence. Infect. Immun. 70:4721-4725. / In this work we pretend to elucidate the relation that could be established between Salmonella typhimurium virulence and the zinc or iron intracellular concentrations.The Fur protein is involved in either iron-uptake or iron-storage regulation. In a fur mutant these systems are deregulated, giving raise an increased free Fe2+ concentration. In this situation the enzymic activity of some proteins like 3',5'- cAMP phosphodiesterase, encoded by cpdA gene, may be stimulated, decreasing the fur mutant final cAMP intracellular concentration. This lower cAMP level altered the expression of all the genes that are under the CRP-cAMP regulation like flagellar system. In this work, we also demonstrate that there is a direct relationship between Fur protein and the flagellar synthesis, in fact, Fur can regulate this system by controlling the expression of flhDC operon, also called master operon, which is the starting point of all the activation cascade.The reduction of the cAMP intracellular concentration could be the responsible of the lower fur mutants virulence when this strain is inoculated in BALB/c or Swiss mice.To study the relation between zinc and virulence two mutants were constructed a zur and a znuC mutant. The first one has its zinc-uptake systems deregulated, and we observed that in this case the virulence was lower when this strain was intraperitoneally inoculated in BALB/c mice. But is in the znuC mutant, where the high-affinity zinc uptake system was affected, when it was, either in an oral or an intraperitoneal inoculation, the greatest reduction of virulence capacity.Finally, the relation of mutation rates and virulence was also tested. To do that, two strains of S. typhimurium presenting increased mutation rates, either spontaneous or mediated by DNA damage have been constructed. One of the strains carries a null mutS mutation, while the other harbours a plasmid which contains the Escherichia coli umuDC operon. The virulence of these strains has been determined by inoculated in BALB/c or Swiss mice. Strains with either increased spontaneous or DNA damage mediated mutation rates have the same LD50 than the wild type strain. Moreover, our work point out that the DNA damage level during mouse infection it is not enough to activate the S. typhimurium SOS response. The papers that are included in anexos I, II and III contained the main results that are the basis for this work.Anexo I: Campoy, S., A. M. Pérez de Rozas, J. Barbé e I. Badiola. 2000. Virulence and mutation rates of Salmonella typhimurium strains with increased mutagenic strength in a mouse model. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 187:145-150Anexo II: Campoy, S., M. Jara, N. Busquets, A. M. Pérez de Rozas, I. Badiola y J. Barbé. 2002. Intracellular cyclic AMP concentration in decreased in Salmonella typhimurium fur mutants. Microbiology 148:1039-1048Anexo III: Campoy, S., M. Jara, N. Busquets, A. M. Pérez de Rozas, I. Badiola y J. Barbé. 2002. Role of the high-affinity zinc uptake znuABC system in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium virulence. Infect. Immun. 70:4721-4725.

Arsenic taken up by plants and fungi from contaminated soils can subsequently be introduced into food chains. Given the toxic properties of some arsenic compounds, this may be a cause for concern. Much remains to be learned about how these compounds are transformed and distributed in terrestrial organisms. Radishes, white button mushrooms, fur, and feather samples were thus investigated to gain a better understanding of arsenic biotransformations in terrestrial organisms. In this study, we utilized two analytical techniques for the detection and identification of arsenic compounds (“arsenic speciation analysis”). High performance liquid chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) provided a highly sensitive method for detecting low levels (ng•g-1) of methanol:water extractable arsenic compounds. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) techniques provided direct arsenic speciation analysis of tissues, resulting in a more representative arsenic profile of the original organisms, without the need to extract arsenic first. Overall, the results for speciation analysis underline the complementary nature of the HPLC-ICP-MS and XAS techniques. Mushrooms contained organic arsenic compounds which were not identified in the radish. In particular arsenobetaine (AB), which is usually found as a minor constituent of terrestrial organisms, was a predominant arsenic compound found in mushroom extracts. How AB is synthesized in the environment remains unclear; however, results presented here suggest it was a product of fungal biotransformation and we speculate it may play a role in osmoregulation. In radish, fur and feather samples, direct analysis identified arsenic(III)-sulphur compounds not observed using HPLC-ICP-MS. In plants, these compounds are likely to be metal/metalloid binding phytochelatin proteins the formation of which has yet to be confirmed in planta. In radish plant vasculature, XAS imaging revealed segregation of pentavalent and trivalent arsenic compounds, suggesting differences in arsenic transport. In hair and feathers the formation of arsenic(III)-sulphur compounds may be evidence of arsenic binding to keratin proteins which has been hypothesized to occur, and may contribute to the observed reduction of exogenous arsenic contamination. / Thesis (Ph.D, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2007-05-30 11:55:40.157