This project explored the feasibility of performing swine influenza surveillance in Manitoba using provincial veterinary diagnostic laboratory data and a farm premises identification registry. Diagnoses of swine influenza using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were obtained from the veterinary laboratory database and linked with registry data on farm location and characteristics. Statistical and space-time analyses, including the Cuzick and Edwards test, Kulldorff Spatiotemporal scan, the Knox test and the modified CuSum method, were used to determine the time and spatial patterns of swine influenza in Manitoba. Analysis showed that swine influenza was endemic but also seasonal and that the frequency of diagnosis was increasing in time. Swine influenza was clustered in several regions across the province, including the southeast, and was clustered in time, particularly during the later time periods of the study. This study demonstrated that the farm premises identification registry is a crucial component of disease surveillance in animals.

As the nuclear industry grows around the globe, it brings with it a need for more safeguards and proliferation resistant technologies. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) depends on effective containment and surveillance (C/S) technologies and methods for maintaining continuity of knowledge over nuclear assets. Tags and seals, a subset of C/S technologies, are an area where innovation has been relatively stagnant for the past fifteen years. It is necessary to investigate technologies not previously used in this field in order to defend against emerging threats and methods of defeat. Based on a gap analysis of tags and seals currently being used by the IAEA, completed with the input of several subject matter experts, the technology selected for investigation was ion-exchanged glass. Ion-exchanged glass is relatively inexpensive, has high strength, and can be used in a variety of applications. If identical pieces of glass are exchanged under the same conditions and subjected to the same point load, the fracture patterns produced can be compared and used as a verification measure. This technology has the potential to be used in passive seal applications. Each image was categorized depending on its fracture as a "3 leaf" or "4 leaf" pattern. These two populations were separately analyzed and evaluated. Several methods used to analyze the fracture patterns involve the use of image analysis software such as ImageJ and the MATLAB Control Point Selection Tool. The statistical analysis software Minitab was used to validate the use of facture pattern analysis as verification tool. The analysis yielded a 60% verified comparison for samples demonstrating a "3 leaf" fracture pattern and a 78% verified comparison for samples with a "4 leaf" fracture pattern. This preliminary analysis provides a strong indication of the plausibility for the use of ion-exchanged glass as a verification measure for C/S measures and specifically tags and seals.

Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) information plays a key role in the planning for, and conduct of all military operation. ISR information can be collected from a number of sources such as surveillance aircraft, satellites, human intelligence collectors etc. Once ISR information is collected it is the responsibility of the 'ISR processing system' to collate the information, conduct analysis and processing on the information items in a way that adds value to the information and finally, to move the information items to ISR end-users who are able to make use of the information. Initially, this thesis provides a detailed examination of the information 'need', of ISR end-users, that is fulfilled by an ISR processing system and proposes a technique for examining the way in which that need changes across the broad spectrum of military operations. The environment in which an ISR processing system resides is also examined and a set of attributes are proposed for describing those aspects of the environment which potentially affect the operation of a processing system. In recent times, two distinctly different approaches to the conduct of ISR processing have gained significant attention: Task, Process, Exploit, Disseminate (TPED) and Task, Post Process, Use (TPPU). However, in practice, hybrid ISR processing systems may be built which exhibit some characteristics of both of these approaches. The comparative strengths and weaknesses of these approaches are examined and a framework is proposed for matching the information needs of end-users and the system's operating environment to the most suitable configuration of a hybrid processing system. / Thesis (MEng(SystemsEng))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Information from injury data collections is widely used to formulate injury policy, evaluate injury prevention initiatives and to allocate resources to areas deemed a high priority. Obtaining quality data from injury surveillance is essential to ensure the appropriateness of these activities. This thesis seeks to develop a framework to assess the capacity of an injury data collection to perform injury surveillance and to use this framework to assess the capacity of both injury mortality and morbidity data collections in New South Wales (NSW) Australia to perform work-related or motor vehicle crash (MVC)-related injury surveillance. An Evaluation Framework for Injury Surveillance Systems (EFISS) was developed through a multi-staged process, using information from the literature to identify surveillance system characteristics, SMART criteria to assess the suitability of these characteristics to evaluate an injury data collection, and by obtaining feedback on the characteristics from a panel of surveillance experts using a two round modified Delphi study. At the conclusion of development, there were 18 characteristics, consisting of 5 data quality, 9 operational, and 4 practical characteristics, that were identified as important for inclusion within an EFISS. In addition, a rating system was created for the EFISS characteristics, based on available evidence and reasonable opinion. The evaluation of six injury data collections using the EFISS for their capacity to perform either work- or MVC-related injury surveillance illustrated the inability of any of the data collections to enumerate all cases of either work- or MVC-related injury mortality or morbidity in NSW or to capture all of the data considered necessary for work- or MVC-related injury surveillance. This evaluation has identified areas for improvement in all data collections and has demonstrated that for both work- and MVC-related injury surveillance that multiple collections should be reviewed to inform both work- and MVC-related policy development and injury prevention priority setting in NSW. The development of an EFISS has built upon existing evaluation guidelines for surveillance systems and provides an important step towards the creation of a framework specifically tailored to evaluate an injury data collection. Information obtained through an evaluation conducted using an EFISS would be useful for agencies responsible for injury data collections to identify where these collections could be improved to increase their usefulness for injury surveillance, and ultimately, for injury prevention.

Typescript (photocopy) / 1 v. (various paging) : ill., plans ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Adelaide, 1981

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Texas at Dallas, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106 -110)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 246. Thesis director: Jack A. Goldstone. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 226-245). Also issued in print.

Project report (M. Eng.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 59). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.Phil.) - University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-83). Also available on the Internet.