This thesis is an investigation of various sources of animal health data used in disease surveillance for the swine industry in Ontario, Canada. Health data derived from veterinary diagnostic laboratory submission rates, veterinary diagnostic test results, an abattoir, and swine sentinel herds are examined. Based on data from 1998 to 2009, the rate of submissions to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory are dependent on economic variables associated with the swine industry and include: the price paid to swine producers for pigs, the cost of feed (corn), the United States/Canadian dollar exchange rate, and lean-hog futures. An outbreak of porcine circovirus-associated disease (PCVAD) that occurred in the Ontario swine industry from 2004-2006 increased the rate of diagnostic submissions despite the poor economic state of the swine industry at the time. The positivity of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests ordered by veterinary practitioners decreased during the PCVAD outbreak. There was a strong seasonal and yearly affect in the model influencing the positivity of PRRSV PCR tests. However, there was no association between the positivity of PRRSV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and the PCVAD outbreak. These findings suggest that the results of tests ordered by veterinarians at diagnostic laboratories have the potential to be used as a form of syndromic surveillance. Swine tonsils (n=395) were collected from a federally-inspected abattoir to determine the prevalence of porcine pathogens, and the most predominant bacterial pathogens isolated were Streptococcus suis (53.7%), Arcanobacterium pyogenes (29.9%), Pasteurella multocida (27.3%), and Streptococcus porcinus (19.5%). Tonsils collected from the held-rail were more likely to be positive for, Staphylococcus hyicus, Streptococcus porcinus, and Streptococcus suis. PRRSV and porcine circovirus-2 were detected in 22.0% and 11.9% of the samples, respectively. Stored serum samples (n=500) from 50 Ontario swine sentinel herds and samples from 2 case herds with clinical disease suggestive of pestivirus infection were tested for Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) to determine the prevalence of BVDV on Ontario swine farms. The prevalence of BVDV on Ontario swine farms was negligible and the presence of cattle on the same farm was not an identified risk factor.

This research examines loyalty marketing as an empirical case study of consumer surveillance. Focusing on the Canadian context, the research investigates the relationship between the personal information economy and loyalty marketing through several interrelated perspectives. These are marketing and business literature, theoretical frameworks of surveillance, the branding of consumers and corporations, consumer ambivalence towards surveillance and privacy issues, and the mutual shaping of consumers and these programs. These interrelated yet distinctive perspectives provide different means to understand loyalty programs as information portals in the increasingly monitored, measured and marketed lives of consumers. They are a means of surveillance through which corporations systematically collect consumption data in order to influence, manage, entitle, or control consumers (Lyon 2001). The research is based on interviews with loyalty program executives, international survey results, and focus groups to both describe the relationship between corporate information processing and consumers as well as the current and potential social effects and issues embedded in this relationship. Loyalty programs are seen as an important means for conceptualizing contemporary marketing practices, the use of personal information, and personal identity in an information oriented society. They are a complex manifestation of a ‘knowing capitalism’ (Thrift 2005) that has implications far beyond the accumulation of points and the ‘reward yourself’ appeal of participation by contributing to a cultural consumption circuit that perpetuates and reinforces already existing socio-economic differences. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2008-04-24 10:19:22.99

Surveillance has long been used as an enforcement tool to detect conventional crimes and identify and punish offenders. However, its watchful gaze has been strategically directed away from the area of corporate crime. Corporate crime has long been under-studied and under-researched, despite the fact that the damages it causes amount to millions, even billions, of dollars. Its omission from the surveillant gaze, however, has been no accident. Because corporate offenders hold higher positions in society and possess greater political and economic resources than conventional street criminals, corporate offenders have often been able to resist the regulatory attempts against them. This thesis explores the underuse of surveillance as an enforcement tool in corporate crime, but also examines the regulatory climate that perpetuates this. It explores the main tools for addressing criminal and regulatory violations that are used by law enforcement agencies charged with enforcing corporate crime. This thesis identifies and examines five barriers—cultural, political, economic, legal, and technological—that have acted to limit and even prevent surveillance as a tool of regulation against corporate crime. Through an analysis of academic literature and public sources, this thesis assesses the small number of initiatives where surveillance strategies have been attempted in the field of corporate crime and investigates the reasons the attempts have been limited in number, scope and effect. The aim of this thesis is to draw attention to underuse of surveillance in corporate crime and question the current regulatory framework. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2011-04-26 14:38:11.581

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This dissertation is concerned with surveillance, which refers to the monitoring and supervision of populations for specific purposes. Of special interest we the ways in which new technologies are augmenting the power of surveillance in the late twentieth century, and therefore influencing the privacy debate. Three things are noted about this. First, large-scale surveillance by bureaucratic organizations is a product of modernity, not of new technologies. This is evident from Part I of the dissertation, which argues that increased surveillance capacity comes as a result of specific economic and political circumstances that favour the use of technological systems of particular kinds, which invariably feature enhanced capacities. Second, surveillance has two faces; advantages appear alongside serious disadvantages. This is also evident in Part I of the dissertation which suggests that much surveillance theory is dystopian and therefore, an incomplete paradigm. Finally, new technologies facilitate some major magnification of surveillance power; some even argue that they change its character qualitatively. As such, privacy features prominently alongside discussions of electronic surveillance. This is evident in the final two parts of the dissertation which evaluate privacy as a strategy for limiting electronic surveillance. In this regard, Part II examines technical challenges to electronic surveillance, expressed through privacy law in particular, and Part III analyses mobilization challenges, which have to do with the role played by social movements in attempting to bring about broader-based change than mere legislation. Throughout the dissertation, the argument is made that surveillance has become a central feature of contemporary advanced societies and as such, it should be a major concern of both social analysis and political action. This is why the dissertation is divided into distinct, but overlapping, parts, with the first part focusing on social and critical

Building on Critical Art Ensemble’s initial formulation of the data body, and on Kevin Haggerty and Richard Ericson’s concept of surveillant assemblages, my thesis explores a further articulation of digital subjectivity by examining ‘data body’ as a referent for the various data connections and layers that a neoliberal subject is presumed to gather and generate over the course of a day. The flesh is bound to and by this data, as many examples indicate data’s ability to expand, spread, “go viral” and have a discernible effect on a user’s practical existence. My thesis deals with the ways that disciplinary and security logics are at work in these digital spaces and how they establish a tertiary regime, as outlined by Foucault. By considering the work of Lauren Berlant and Sara Ahmed to support my assertion of bodies as situated and institutionally validated by technology, I discuss the modulation of affects such as fear and threat to establish modes of conduct mediated by the data bodies of their users.

This paper examines the history of electronic surveillance for national security purposes within the United States and relates the statutory and constitutional law to the current, post September 11th practices. An extensive examination of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the recently leaked, classified Terrorist Surveillance Program shows that the FISA Court, within its narrow jurisdiction, adequately accounts for constitutional standards, yet the TSP—including recent reforms—is in clear violation of constitutional and statutory law.

Cette thèse défend l’idée que, dans la lignée des événements qui ont suivi les attentats terroristes du 11 septembre 2001, le paradigme de la gestion du risque est devenu central dans les études de sécurité et dans les analyses de relations internationales. Dans le climat de risque engendré par les actes de terreur, le discours politique a mis en œuvre une biopolitique de la peur dans le but de normaliser les populations. Conséquemment, la surveillance est devenue une méthode de gouvernance de la société du risque, elle-même née d’une culture de la peur et du risque. Cette société du risque est construite politiquement et véhiculée par des récits précis qui ont pour but de gouverner un monde qui se gère de plus en plus difficilement, comme le montre l’ambiguïté des interprétations données aux attentats du 11 septembre 2001 et des différents langages pour les expliquer.

The thesis represents the research in the domain of modern video tracking systems and presents the details of the implementation of such a system. Video surveillance is a high point of interest and it relies on robust systems that interconnect several critical modules: data acquisition, data processing, background modeling, foreground detection and multiple object tracking. The present work analyzes different state of the art methods that are suitable for each module. The emphasis of the thesis is on the background subtraction stage, as the final accuracy and performance of the person tracking dramatically dependent on it. The experimental results show the performance of four different foreground detection algorithms, including two variations of self-organizing feature maps for background modeling, a machine learning technique. The undertaken work provides a comprehensive view of the actual state of the research in the foreground detection field and multiple object tracking and offers solution for common problems that occur when tracking in complex scenes. The chosen data set for experiments covers extremely different and complex scenes (outdoor environments) that allow a detailed study of the appropriate approaches and emphasize the weaknesses and strengths of each algorithm. The proposed system handles problems like: dynamic backgrounds, illumination changes, camouflage, cast shadows, frequent occlusions and crowded scenes. The tracking obtains a maximum Multiple Object Tracking Accuracy of 92,5% for the standard video sequence MWT and a minimum of 32,3% for an extremely difficult sequence that challenges every method.