In recent decades, rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and diabetic complications have reached epidemic proportions among Canadian Aboriginal people. Evidence in several populations suggests that abnormal birth weight, particularly low birth weight (LBW) and possibly high birth weight (HBW) may be linked to the development of T2DM. LBW often reflects poor maternal health/ nutritional status which may interfere with normal pancreatic development. HBW is a frequent complication of diabetic pregnancies which are associated with obesity and carbohydrate intolerance in adulthood. Since Saskatchewan Aboriginal newborns historically had higher rates of LBW, and more recently have experienced higher HBW rates, it follows that sub-optimal maternal/ fetal health may be important in the epidemic of T2DM in this population.<p> This thesis describes a case-control study that used Saskatchewan Health databases to determine the relationship between birth weight and T2DM. A sample of 846 adult diabetic Registered Indians (RI) were age and sex matched to three control groups: 1) non-diabetic RI, 2) diabetic general population (GP) subjects, and 3) non-diabetic GP subjects. RI subjects were identified as such by the provincial Health Insurance Registration File.<p> The results of this study show a significant association between HBW (> 4000 grams) and T2DM for RI people [odds ratio (OR) 1.63; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20, 2.24]. This association increased in strength from the middle to the latter part of this century and was found to be stronger for RI females than RI males. The comparison of birth weights within the four study groups revealed that diabetic RI (16.2%) were significantly more likely (p<0.05) than controls (10.7%,10.0%, 7.5% respectively) to have HBW. An association between LBW and T2DM (< 2500 grams) was not evident within either RI or GP sample populations.<p> The findings of this study support the hypothesis that HBW and its causes may be risk factors for T2DM among RI people. Programs to prevent gestational diabetes, and to diagnose and optimally manage diabetes during pregnancy could help to reduce rates of diabetes in future generations of Aboriginal peoples.

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“Ambassadors of Pleasure” examines the social and cultural history of ‘sin’ in the Detroit-Windsor border region during the post-World War II period. It employs the interrelated frameworks of “borderlands” and “vice” in order to identify the complex ways in which illicit economies shaped—and were shaped by—these border cities. It argues that illicit economies served multiple purposes for members of local borderlands communities. For many downtown residents, vice industries provided important forms of leisure, labor, and diversion in cities undergoing rapid changes. Deeply rooted in local working-class communities, prostitution and heroin economies became intimately intertwined in the daily lives of many local residents who relied on them for both entertainment and income. For others, though, anti-vice activities offered a concrete way to engage in what they perceived as community betterment. Fighting the immoral influences of prostitution and drug use was one way some residents, particularly those of the middle class, worked to improve their local communities in seemingly tangible ways. These struggles for control over vice economies highlight the ways in which shifting meanings of race, class, and gender, growing divisions between urban centers and suburban regions, and debates over the meaning of citizenship evolved in the urban borderland. This dissertation subsequently traces the competing interests brought together through illicit vice activities, arguing that they provide unique insight into the fracturing social lines developing in the postwar North American cities.

Recovery is a ubiquitous theme in Native North American literature, as well as a repeated topic in the criticism on this literature, but the particulars of its meaning, mechanics, and ideological implications have yet to be explored by critics in any detail. Other than natural/ized telos, what precisely is recovery as it is constructed in Native literature? How might we describe the recovered subject(s) of this literature? To what ends is recovery, as both literary genre and discourse of Native identity, enacted and re-enacted? The Im/possibility of Recovery in Native North American Literatures explores classic and counter recovery narratives, a genre the study coins, and highlights how recovery, defined as homecoming by the genre, is characteristically im/possible. Providing in depth readings of four representative recovery narratives, Jeannette Armstrongs Slash, Sherman Alexies Indian Killer, Tomson Highways Kiss of the Fur Queen, and Joseph Boydens Three Day Road, as well as an overall survey of the recovery narrative tradition, Im/possibility argues that recovery is re-formulated through its melancholic introjection of those for whom recovery is impossible. The study is divided into four main sections: the first explores the historical production of recovery as literary tradition in the late 1960s and 70s in the wake of termination and relocation policies in Canada and the United States. The second section brings together trauma theory rooted in Holocaust Studies with indigenous literary articulations of the trauma of displacement to argue that recovery narratives craft a distinctly Native North American understanding of trauma as trans/historical. The third section turns to the question of agency, re-evaluating the subversive potential of colonial discourses of subjection. Rather than continuing to perceive such discourses as repressive of authentic Native identities, Im/possibility uses poststructuralist analyses of subject formation to focus on the productive aspects of subjectification. The final section fleshes out recoverys mechanics, the way recovery works--that is, both operates and succeeds--returning via a psychoanalytic analysis of discourse to theorize its melancholic composition. / English

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No description available.

This thesis examines the adversarial roles of nuclear physicists Hans Bethe and Edward Teller as political advisors during the first three decades of the nuclear era and the part each played in the shaping of US nuclear weapons policy. It focuses on four episodes - post-war arms control, the development of the hydrogen bomb, the banning of nuclear weapons testing and the deployment and subsequent banning of a limited system of missile defence, and in each episode, it contrasts the scientists’ individual motives, political agendas, means of affecting policy and respective degrees of success. Thereafter, it assesses the pair as Cold War political advisors by considering the validity of their advice as regards the Soviet nuclear program. Whereas a number of scholarly works have been devoted to the political career of Teller, these have typically focused on his role in the hydrogen bomb controversy. In contrast, very little has been written about Bethe’s political role, despite its obvious significance. Interestingly, no work to date has focused specifically on the openly confrontational roles of these two scientific advisors, who remained at the forefront of the decision-making process over nuclear weapons policy for many years. This thesis meets this objective by providing an historical voice to Bethe, a largely overlooked historical figure, while offering fresh insight into Teller, a contentious Cold War character. In doing so, it utilizes a range of recently declassified sources to shed further light on previously documented episodes, such as the hydrogen bomb affair, while chronicling largely untold episodes, including the pair’s involvement in the debate over missile defence. At the same time, it challenges a commonly-held conception that Teller, by utilizing his connections to influential Washington conservatives, was able largely to dictate the course of nuclear policy throughout this period. Indeed, a central contention of this study is that Bethe, by effectively employing both his personal and professional reputation, was able to moderate the influence of his well-placed colleague. Finally, through the use of recently published sources on the Soviet nuclear progam, this study assesses the validity of the political advice of the two scientists, concluding that both men were hindered to a certain extent by the rigidity of their respective positions. Specifically, it argues that Bethe’s advice was characterized by an unduly benign view of Soviet intentions, and Teller’s by an exaggeration of Soviet capabilities.

This thesis examines the adversarial roles of nuclear physicists Hans Bethe and Edward Teller as political advisors during the first three decades of the nuclear era and the part each played in the shaping of US nuclear weapons policy. It focuses on four episodes - post-war arms control, the development of the hydrogen bomb, the banning of nuclear weapons testing and the deployment and subsequent banning of a limited system of missile defence, and in each episode, it contrasts the scientists’ individual motives, political agendas, means of affecting policy and respective degrees of success. Thereafter, it assesses the pair as Cold War political advisors by considering the validity of their advice as regards the Soviet nuclear program. Whereas a number of scholarly works have been devoted to the political career of Teller, these have typically focused on his role in the hydrogen bomb controversy. In contrast, very little has been written about Bethe’s political role, despite its obvious significance. Interestingly, no work to date has focused specifically on the openly confrontational roles of these two scientific advisors, who remained at the forefront of the decision-making process over nuclear weapons policy for many years. This thesis meets this objective by providing an historical voice to Bethe, a largely overlooked historical figure, while offering fresh insight into Teller, a contentious Cold War character. In doing so, it utilizes a range of recently declassified sources to shed further light on previously documented episodes, such as the hydrogen bomb affair, while chronicling largely untold episodes, including the pair’s involvement in the debate over missile defence. At the same time, it challenges a commonly-held conception that Teller, by utilizing his connections to influential Washington conservatives, was able largely to dictate the course of nuclear policy throughout this period. Indeed, a central contention of this study is that Bethe, by effectively employing both his personal and professional reputation, was able to moderate the influence of his well-placed colleague. Finally, through the use of recently published sources on the Soviet nuclear progam, this study assesses the validity of the political advice of the two scientists, concluding that both men were hindered to a certain extent by the rigidity of their respective positions. Specifically, it argues that Bethe’s advice was characterized by an unduly benign view of Soviet intentions, and Teller’s by an exaggeration of Soviet capabilities.

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