On June 14th, 1965, Atlantic Acceptance Corporation Limited, a major Canadian finance company failed to meet a $5 million matured short-term secured note and three days later the company was placed in receivership by Montreal Trust Company, the trustee. This thesis represents a study of the growth, development and collapse of Atlantic Acceptance, and the effects of that collapse on the structure of liabilities and the quality of reporting on the activities of finance and consumer loan companies in Canada. From the outset, I would like to bring to the reader's attention the fact that this thesis was completed before the findings of the Ontario Royal Commission on the collapse of Atlantic were made public. The evidence presented to the Commission has been so voluminous and intricate, that after more than two years of study, Mr. Justice Hughes of the Ontario Supreme Court, who served as Chairman of the Ontario Royal Commission on Atlantic, has not yet been able to present his report. It is expected that the above report will be made public later this year (1968). The thesis is divided into three Chapters. Each Chapter is divided into sections which might in themselves have been treated as chapters, except that to do so would have, in my view, broken the continuity of the study. Chapter I serves as an introduction to Atlantic. Here the reader will learn that over the life of the company, especially in the early nineteen-sixties, Atlantic Acceptance Corporation was completely out-performing the Canadian finance industry. In the Appendix to Chapter I, tables are drawn up to trace the growth pattern of Atlantic Acceptance. Chapter I also discusses the general nature of the finance industry, and the methods in which finance companies finance their assets. It concludes by investigating the financing techniques employed by Atlantic Acceptance Corporation. Chapter II is a study of the precipitating factors in the collapse of Atlantic Acceptance. Here, the Haves Lending Model is presented as a normative model for the conduct of the affairs of financial institutions. The rather exhaustive and comprehensive evidence on Atlantic's lending, management and auditing practices presented in this Chapter, indicates that the affairs of Atlantic Acceptance and its subsidiaries were not conducted in accordance with the principles collected and published by Professor Douglas Hayes. In Chapter II it will be learned that Montreal Trust Company, the trustee, brought legal action against the President of Atlantic and members of the accounting firm which audited the subsidiaries, alleging a conspiracy on the part of the defendants and each of them to defraud the plaintiff. In Chapter III the concern is with the effects of the collapse of Atlantic Acceptance on the structure of liabilities and the quality of reporting on the activities of finance and consumer loan companies in Canada. Evidence is presented to show that: (1) as a result of Atlantic's collapse, finance and consumer loan companies in Canada saw a flight of funds out of their short-term paper, and an increase in their use of bank borrowings and advances from parent and associated companies; (2) the collapse of Atlantic has led the finance and consumer loan industry and the Investment Dealers Association of Canada to develop a new improved method of reporting on the activities of finance and consumer loan companies in Canada. Since March 1967, minimum standards of reporting for all finance and consumer loan companies doing business in Canada have been: audited financial statements, appropriate Robert Morris Associates questionnaires, and the Canadian Sales Finance Long Form Report. Since finance companies in Canada are now major intermediaries in both the commercial and financial industries, we conclude that there should be a special Act of Parliament under which their operations are conducted. This Act should be known as the Finance Company Act. There should also be an Inspector of Finance Companies with similar powers to those given the Inspector of Chartered Banks, and finance companies should be brought into a closer working arrangement with the Bank of Canada so that they would be made more responsive to monetary policy. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

A free-fall oceanographic instrument has been used to measure vertical microstructure scale gradients of horizontal velocity, temperature and electrical conductivity. The velocity gradients, or shears, were measured at scales between 3 and 40 cm by an airfoil shear probe whose specifications and calibration procedure are discussed. Data collected in the equatorial Atlantic in July 1974 indicated a consistent pattern of turbulence near the velocity core of the Atlantic Equatorial Undercurrent. (The velocity core is the region of maximum speed. ) The most intense turbulence was found above the velocity core of the undercurrent. Turbulence in the velocity core was weak and intermittently spaced. Below the core, near the base of the thermocline, moderately intense turbulence was found. The rate of viscous dissipation of turbulent energy has been estimated from the shear measurements, and typical values were 3x10 ⁻³ cm² sec ⁻³ above the velocity core. Spectra of the shears have been computed. At small wavelengths the measured spectral coefficients fall below the universal Kolmogoroff spectrum. This discrepancy between the two spectra is attributed to spatial averaging of velocity fluctuations by the shear probe. The estimates of viscous dissipation include a correction for this spatial averaging. An energy balance has been determined for the turbulent velocity fluctuations. Above and below the core the basic balance is local production of turbulent energy equals local dissipation, and this balance gives a vertical eddy viscosity of order 10 cm² sec ⁻¹ above the core. The equation of the energy balance of the average motion has been vertically integrated at the equator where meridional terms are assumed small. In the South Equatorial Current the rate of energy gain from the average zonal wind stress is balanced by the rate of energy loss to the zonal pressure gradient plus the rate of dissipation. In the undercurrent, above the core, the rate of energy gain from the zonal pressure gradient equals the rate of dissipation within the uncertainty of the measurements, and the advection term is small but not negligible. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

Magister Scientiae (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology) / 2022-01-31

The role of heterotrophic bacteria in the carbon and nitrogen flux of the pelagic food web was investigated during laboratory and field-based studies of the temporal development of the planktonic community after upwelling. Bacterial community structure, activity and production were closely coupled to the upwelling cycle and to the dynamics of the phytoplankton community. The initial bacterial population (<l x 10⁶ cells ml⁻¹, 20 to 40 μg C l⁻¹) was metabolically dormant. Increased availability of phytosynthetically produced dissolved organic carbon (PDOC) stimulated bacterial growth (0.016 h⁻¹) and abundance (8 to 10 x 10⁶ cells ml⁻¹, 140 to 200 μg C l⁻¹). Rapid successions in the dominant plateable strains were attributed to substrate preferences and substrate availability. Significant correlations of bacterial biomass with total standing stocks of phytoplankton and particulate carbon provided evidence of close coupling between bacteria and PDOC, and between bacteria and recalcitrant substrates available during phytoplankton decay. These relationships were best described by power functions, suggesting that bacterial biomass was relatively reduced at high levels by predation. A microcosm study indicated that zooflagellate predation could control bacterial biomass. Low net growth yields (34 to 36%) of flagellates suggested inefficient transfer of carbon to higher trophic levels, but considerable nitrogen regeneration (ca 6 to 7 μg N mg dry weight⁻¹ h⁻¹). Thymidine-measured bacterial production (TTI, <0.1 to 1.25 mg C m⁻³ h⁻¹) was linearly related to phytoplankton growth. Non-uniform response of bacteria to added tracer substrates may result in underestimates of bacterial production by 2 to 34 times by TTI, particularly in deep or oligotrophic waters, or during phytoplankton decay. Close coupling of copepod (Calanoides carinatus) production to the upwelling cycle suggested co-existence of the microbial food web and the classical diatom-copepod food chain. Recently upwelled water was dominated by phytoplankton. Assuming that all phytoplankton carbon was available for utilisation, copepods and bacteria were calculated to consume approximately 12 and 22% of primary production respectively. As the bloom declined the planktonic community was increasingly dominated by bacteria, detritus and mesozooplankton. On average, copepods consumed 60% of primary production, while bacteria consumed 49%. Carbon consumption requirements of both bacteria and copepods were satisfied by resource partitioning and carbon cycling. Under food-limiting conditions herbivorous copepods may switch to omnivory, ingesting microzooplankton of the microbial food web, and stimulating enhanced remineralisation to further sustain primary production. A generic size-based simulation model of the dynamics of the plankton community indicated that bacteria and the microbial food web increase the overall productivity of the planktonic food web, and that heterotroph predation in the smaller size classes (<200 μm) is an important mechanism in nutrient recycling.

Corn requires the most nitrogen (N) of cereal grain crops and N supply is correlated with grain yield.  Canopy reflectance has been used to assess crop N needs and to derive optimum application rates in mid-season corn.  Canopy reflectance has not been useful for N rate determination in early season corn because of low biomass and the sensing background can interfere, or overwhelm crop canopy reflectance measures.  Widespread adoption of canopy reflectance as a basis for generating in-season corn N rates would be more likely if N rate recommendations could be made early, i.e. by the V6 growth stage.  The objectives of this research were to: i) examine the influence of soil color, soil moisture, surface crop residues, and sensor orientation on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) readings from corn from planting through the V6 growth stage; and ii) evaluate the effect of sensor orientation and field of view at early corn growth stages on the relationship between NDVI and corn biomass, N uptake, and chlorophyll meter readings.  Soil color, soil moisture, crop residue type, and sensor orientation influenced reflectance and these factors were much more influential when sensing plants with low biomass.  Canopy reflectance was capable of differentiating between N rates in the field and altering sensor orientation did not minimize sensing background influence or improve the ability of the sensor to distinguish plant N status.  Even when canopy reflectance detected differences in crop N status, N rate prescription based on NDVI was consistently below the profitable estimated sidedress N rate. / Master of Science

Bibliography: pages 147-155. / 92 cytheracean species, representing 44 genera are recorded from the Palaeogene Agulhas Bank and west coast margin of South Africa. 11 genera and 3 species are common with the Upper Cretaceous faunas. 12 genera (18 species) are left in open nomenclature. The following genera are represented:- Bythoceratina, Incongruellina, Ruggieria, Eucythere, Krithe, Parakrithe, Eucytherura, Cytheropteron, Ambostracon, Urocythereis, Muellerina, Leguminocythereis, Loxoconcha, Schlerochilus, Poseidonamicus, Bradleya, Agrenocythere, Australileberis, Chrysocythere, Costa, Echinocythereis, Haughtonileberis, Henryhowella, Parvacythereis, Phacorhabdotus, Soudanella, Stigmatocythere, Togoina, Trachyleberis, Veenia, Atlanticythere, Xestoleberis. Data on South African Cretaceous and Palaeogene ostracod faunas are discussed in terms of: faunal associations for the South African Palaeogene JC-1, Agulhas Bank and west coast provinces; characteristic species of Upper Eocene and Upper Eocene to Oligocene strata; generic variations across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Palaeo-environmental trends from a Cytheracea, Cypridacea + Bairdiacea, Cytherellidae (CCBC) plot indicate a sea level change from <100m (Palaeocene- Eocene), to shallower water with restricted circulation (Upper Eocene) to moderate depth, 100 - 200m (Lower Oligocene). South African faunas are compared with those from adjacent Palaeogene ostracod faunal provinces. Strong generic links occur with West Africa (8 genera in common) and Pakistan (9 genera in common) with only 3 genera in common with Australia and 3 with Argentina.

The dissertation examines the significant yet historically marginalized Backtime Religion of the Danish West Indies (present-day United States Virgin Islands), an African Heritage religion that established spiritual connections between regions and peoples of Sub-Saharan West Africa and the enslaved people of the Caribbean. The timeline encompassed in the dissertation is 1700-1880, a period which includes the era of slavery and the post-slavery or estate serfdom era, which ended following the Fireburn labor revolt. During that time, most African-descended people in the Danish West Indies lived in slave villages on the sugar estates. Using musical improvisation as an investigative methodology, this dissertation argues the Backtime Religion was a distinct African heritage religion and included a musical/performance repertoire drawn from numerous West African traditions, a communopathic and spirit-centered pharmocosm or folk medical complex administered by Weed Women, Moravian and other Christianities adopted by enslaved people for their own spiritual benefit, and divination and related material cultures from the African Caribbean discourse called Obeah. This religion was centered within the slave villages established on each sugar estate, and grew to include churches, weekend markets, and other spaces that were useful to the enslaved population of the Danish West Indies.

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