<p> An open Quercus-dominated vegetation association, known locally as the oak plains, was found at a number of locations in southern Ontario until disturbance by European settlers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Two contrasting theories have been suggested in the literature regarding the origin of the oak plains. One suggests they developed as the result of burning by pre-European natives, while the other considers them to be relics of a warmer, drier mid-Holocene climate. In this paper, the factors which led to the development of the oak plains are examined. The hypothesis that the oak plains resulted from native burning of the natural vegetation was tested by pollen analysis of a 5 m sediment core from Decoy Lake, a small kettle basin near Paris, Ontario located in an area mapped by early surveyors as oak plains. The Decoy Lake record was then compared to those of two nearby lakes supporting mesic forests. This palaeoecological analysis was supported by an investigation of physical factors controlling the historical distribution of the oak plains in a study area between Cambridge and Long Point on Lake Erie. </p> <p> The distribution of the oak plains and other vegetation associations in pre-settlement times, reconstructed from early survey records, correlated fairly well with the texture of soils and underlying Quaternary parent materials. Within the defined study area, the oak plains were restricted almost exclusively to well-drained soils overlying coarse-textured till and sandy outwash and deltaic deposits. Climatic factors and topography varied within the study area, but showed little correlation with the distribution of vegetation associations. <p> <p> The fossil pollen record at Decoy Lake indicates that a QuercusPinus- herb pollen assemblage, unique to southern Ontario, was found from 4000 yr BP until pre-settlement times. This suggests that the oak plains have existed in the area for at least 4000 years. The oak plains replaced an assemblage dominated by Pinus strobus. The warm, dry Hypsithermal appears to have allowed Pinus strobus to remain dominant on the well drained soils around Decoy Lake until after 5000 yr BP, 2000 to 3000 years longer than at other southern Ontario sites. The Picea zone (11,800 yr BP to 10,100 yr B P), Pin us banksiana/resinosa zone ( 10,100 yr BP to c. 9000 yr BP), and the replacement of Pinus banksiana/resinosa by Pinus strobus (c. 9000 yr BP) occurred contemporaneously with other records from southern Ontario. </p> <p> The hypothesis that anthropogenic factors resulted in the development of the oak plains was rejected since this association developed 2500 years before the onset of agricultural activity by natives in southern Ontario. Instead, it appears post-Hypsithermal increases in moisture, perhaps coupled with an amelioration of winter temperatures, led to the replacement of Pinus strobus by the oak plains in some areas of well-drained soils between 6300 yr BP and 4000 yr BP. The pollen record from Decoy Lake provides the first evidence from southern Ontario for substantial vegetation response to mid to late Holocene climatic change. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p> This paper is a descriptive analysis of differences in mortality rates among Canada's 23 Census Metropolitan Areas in 1976. · Life Table output focuses specifically on the life expectancies and standardized mortality rates as a means to identify CMA mortality differences. With mention to relevant cause-specific studies and use of regression analysis an attempt is made to shed some light on the identified mortality patterns. Major findings are (1) that mortality rate variation among CMAs reveals an east-west spatial arrangement - mortality rates in Atlantic, Quebec, and Northern Ontario CMAs are above the Canadian average while the mortality rates of Southern Ontario and Western CMAs are at or below the Canadian average; (2) that Victoria CMA is dominant among the CMAs in 1976 in terms of favourable mortality probability; (3) that male mortality rates are significantly higher than female mortality rates but tend to be positively related; (4) that health expenditures per capita have significant influence on health status but continued research is necessary to study and gain a fuller understanding of the effects of various explanatory variables on mortality. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

The term "Southern Gothic literature" is frequently used in discussions of works of fiction and plays, but poetry is often left out of the conversation. The critical introduction takes into consideration the established definition and traditional elements of Southern Gothic literature as they are applied to fiction and plays in order to find the elements of poetry that constitute the Gothic in American poetry of the South. I discuss the works of Natasha Trethewey and Andrew Hudgins and show how they can be considered modern-day Southern Gothic poets since their poetry contains freakish characters, an obsession with the unchangeable, and violent imagery. Then, I consider how my own work shares with Natasha Trethewey's and Andrew Hudgins's poetry some of these same attributes found in Southern Gothic fiction, thus belonging to the same tradition.

The Parental Authority Questionnaire is a widely used measure of parenting style that assesses Baumrind’s parenting prototypes, including authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting styles. After the original validation on a sample of 108 high school students and 171 undergraduate students, few published studies have validated the factor structure of the Parental Authority Questionnaire across various regions, gender dyads, and ethnicities. Because research has shown that Southern states encompass characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status, rural nature, lower education attainment, emphasis placed on religious beliefs) that may uniquely affect parenting styles and practices, the current study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on the Parental Authority Questionnaire on 4,859 emerging adult college students attending a large Southern university to determine if such regional characteristics compromise the original factor structure of the Parental Authority Questionnaire. Further, given differences found in parenting across parent-child gender dyads and ethnicity, the current study also examined the factor structure of the Parental Authority Questionnaire across gender and ethnicity using confirmatory factor analyses.

This study examines the ideology of white southern opposition to the civil rights movement in order to recognize the transformation of white concepts of race in the midst of racial change and how those changes impacted the emergence of new conservative political principles in the post-civil rights era. The recognition of a new racial consciousness informs historical appraisals of the significance of white resistance and suggests that this opposition made a vital contribution to the political realignments of the 1960s and 1970s. The foundation of this study rests upon the Citizens’ Council Forum, a television and radio program that aired from 1957-1966. Forum’s sponsor, the Citizens’ Council of America, has been consistently recognized as the most highly-organized and active of white resistance organizations in the South. Forum was the Council’s effort to place its organizing principles of states’ rights and racial integrity among a myriad of other pressing political problems in order to sell its campaign to preserve segregation to an audience that extended beyond the borders of the South. This effort required guests of the show to subvert questions of racial equality to broader concerns of federal power, liberal politics and foreign policy. Attention to these topics in addition to Forum discussions of the civil rights movement reveals that in the process of opposing racial change, white resistance helped usher in a new era of racial consciousness that concealed race within conservative ideas. Race became a powerful insinuation within these issues. The “colorblind” tactics of Forum guests eschewed direct denunciations of the black race but ensured that race would remain a firm component of public political discussions. This study highlights the importance of reaction to historical change as a way to understand the evolution of ideas. As the civil rights movement instigated new, more equitable ideas about race, its opponents acted in parallel ways to repackage the principles of white supremacy. They did so by leveraging principles against the actual conditions that the system of racial discrimination wrought. Less visible forms of racialized rhetoric replaced the raw language of segregation and gave segregationists and their sympathizers a home in conservative politics.

Southern pine (SP) lumber, the primary softwood lumber in the United States, has been popular since early colonization of the U.S.A. and remains a preferred choice for today’s lumber construction professionals. SP trees, as the major commercial softwood forest in South region, are largely grown, managed, and harvested on privately owned plantation forests. In the United States, softwood lumber consumption as a percentage of total lumber consumption has remained around 83% since the 1960s. Most softwood lumber is used for housing construction. SP comprises the primary softwood lumber products in the United States due to its superior mechanical properties, rapid drying capability, versatility, and availability. SP lumber also has long been the preferred species for pressure treatment because of its unique cellular structure that permits deep, uniform penetration of preservatives. However, as a natural material, the mechanical and physical performance of SP lumber has changed over the past decades according to the intensive lumber plantation management and dynamic market consumption. As a result, visually graded lumber products contain a large portion of juvenile wood and a lack of large cross section became two main issues in the most recent SP lumber marketing activities. According to the recent United States timber production statistic report, the South has given up its position as the largest softwood lumber-producing position in 2011. The total U.S. softwood lumber production in 2011 was about 26.8 × 109 bf, with 13.3 × 109 bf produced from West region and 12.0 × 109 bf produced from South region (Howard and Westby 2013). In this study, research that attempts to develop better and higher value SP lumber has been conducted for lumber construction marketing purpose. Five chapters are included in this study to fulfill the research purposes. Two lumber composite products made with low grade SP lumber were fabricated and evaluated for market purpose. A prototype in-grade testing plan to assess the actual design values of visually graded southern pine lumber from the gulf south region in the USA was developed. For comparison purpose, nondestructive tests (NDT) with four commercial techniques on on-grade No.2 SP lumber were conducted.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that increased numbers of waterfowl are remaining at northern latitudes throughout winter in the Mississippi Flyway. A calculated weather severity index (WSI), based on temperature and snow data, determined that local mallard abundance decreases when a WSI of 8 is reached. In mapping the WSI 8 line, mallard movement can be estimated. A fifty year trend analysis of the climatic factors driving duck migration for various locations within the Mississippi Flyway was used to determine whether climatic shifts have occurred, finding that although there are sinusoidal temperature trends throughout those years, the past decade has a longer and overall warmer trend. In examining the role of El Niño Southern Oscillation, it was found that in La Niña there is a more severe WSI, and El Niño correlates with a less severe WSI. A neutral Oceanic Niño Index caused a very high or very low WSI (was inconclusive).

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