Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2003. / Appendix includes reprints of five manuscripts, four co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Also partially issued electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks appendix.

Canadians faced an unprecedented threat after the Second World War. Located between two competing superpowers Canada could become the battlefield of a third world war. How did Canadians respond to the nuclear threat? The government of John Diefenbaker warned that millions of Canadians could die in a nuclear war. It strengthened Canada's contribution to the defence of North America and Europe and dedicated more resources to civil defence. Between 1957 and 1963 the domestic issue of nuclear arms acquisition and growing cold war tensions combined to draw attention to the threat. Newly founded anti-nuclear groups as well as Canadian unions, newspapers, magazines, student groups, churches and community organizations confronted nuclear issues. These groups shared a concern about survival but reached different conclusions about how Canada could avoid nuclear devastation. Their attempts to come to terms with the threat of nuclear war highlight broader themes in the history of postwar Canada including the influence of the cold war on the attitudes and behaviours of Canadians and the nation's relationship with the United States. / While more Canadians discussed the nuclear threat in these years the majority did not join the debate. Polls showed the public supported a nuclear defence. They believed few would survive a nuclear attack but did not worry about nuclear war. Economic concerns always ranked higher. The public was, on the whole, not mobilized either in preparation or in protest. Diefenbaker questioned what else he could do to increase public concern about survival. Both the civil defence program and the nuclear disarmament movement struggled. Polls showed that most Canadians did nothing to prepare for a war fought at home. Anti-nuclear groups remained small, divided over their platforms and methods and faced financial constraints. The debate about survival grew in the period between 1957 and 1963 but was dominated by elected officials, civil defence authorities and anti-nuclear activists. Even these groups found it difficult to balance the Soviet threat with the risk of a nuclear war and struggled to achieve policies that would provide security for the nation and its population.

When research was begun on this thesis, the object was to evaluate the British estimates of German military strength and intentions and then to determine the effect of these estimates on British policy. This has proved impossible largely because of the length of time that would be required to complete the study. As a result, the thesis has been strictly limited to an evaluation of British estimates of German military strength and intentions. Wherever possible, the estimates made by Government officials have been compared and contrasted with those made in Parliament and in the British press. [...]

Antipredator defenses are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems. In the widely studied Chaoborus-Daphnia predator-prey system, Daphnia elicit a variety of phenotypically plastic responses to Chaoborus including: morphological, life history, and behavioral responses. While these inducible defenses benefit the prey, metal contaminants have been shown to interfere with chemosensory functions, thereby inhibiting antipredator defenses and decreasing survivorship. However, in lakes with a history of metal contamination, such as Kelly Lake in Sudbury, Ontario, there is evidence to suggest that Daphnia may have adapted to high, ambient copper concentrations. Using seven distinct Daphnia clones that were hatched from resting eggs from Kelly Lake, we examined morphological and life history traits when clones were exposed to either a nominal concentration of copper, kairomone, or a combination of both. As expected, clones displayed a variety of inducible responses in both kairomone-control and kairomone-copper treatments, which was attributed to genetic variability. Expected trade-offs in life history traits were not always observed, suggesting that inducible traits may be coupled. Furthermore, in contradiction to life history theory, one clone exhibited both increased somatic growth and increased reproductive output, indicating that clones likely adopted adaptive strategies to stressors rather than elicitng trade-offs in traditional traits. Our results indicate that environmentally relevant copper concentrations do not inhibit the induction of antipredator defenses in Daphnia from Kelly Lake, and we conclude that Kelly Lake Daphnia have developed an adaptive tolerance to copper. Adaptation to copper contamination may have implications for resilience in natural Kelly Lake populations. / Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-03 19:33:59.137

No description available.

Over the last decade the law of judicial jurisdiction has undergone profound changes in Canada. Chief among the factors that prompted evolution is the recognition of fairness as a guiding principle in the elaboration of jurisdictional rules. This thesis presents the consequences such recognition has already had and should have on the granting of freezing measures, those specific provisional measures aimed at freezing a defendant's assets pending litigation. / Having reviewed the freezing measures that can be obtained from Canadian courts, this thesis shows how concerns of fairness to the parties have questioned traditional grounds of jurisdiction and how it has affected the very availability of freezing measures. However, out of concerns of fairness to the plaintiff, Canadian courts with no jurisdiction to hear the merits of a dispute should be ready to assert jurisdiction for the limited purpose of freezing assets. / Finally, turning to the scope of those measures, this thesis deals with the issue of extraterritoriality. It is argued that out of concerns of fairness to innocent third parties courts should be extremely cautious in granting extraterritorial measures.

<p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1998, Härtill 4 uppsatser.</p> / digitalisering@umu

The Pentagon career of Charles E. Wilson, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Secretary of Defense from 1953-1957, is a neglected, yet important, field of study for studentsof the Eisenhower Presidency. Therefore, a study of Wilson's controversial tenure as Secretary of Defense is necessary for at least three reasons. First, Wilson served as Secretary of Defense for four and a half years, more than twice as long as any of his predecessors. Only Robert McNamara, who administered the Defense Department from 1961-1967, served longer than Wilson as the chief Pentagon official. Furthermore, Wilson became the Defense Department's civilian leader at a time when the agency was in its infancy.. His longevity as Secretary of Defense enabled him to make a significant impact upon the government's largest operation.Second, Wilson left a considerable store of personal papers, which are conveniently arranged at Anderson College in Anderson, Indiana. A serious examination of those materials gives one an additional measure of insight into the workings and concern of the Eisenhower Administration.Third, Wilson deserves study because he was a major figure in an important Administration. He has, however, been overlooked by virtually every chronicler of the Eisenhower Presidency. The prevailing view of Wilson maintains that he was an able administrator in the automobile industry, but woefully miscast as a political figure. That interpretation may not be totally wrong, but it is incomplete.More significantly, a study of Wilson enables the historian to challenge two views of the orthodox interpretation of the Eisenhower years. The first view maintains that the figures in the Eisenhower Cabinet were dull, unimaginative representatives of the business community. Indeed, one writer characterized the President and his advisers as "the bland leading the bland." That statement is misleading, at least in reference to Wilson.Charles E. Wilson was a wealthy industrialist, but he was hardly bland. He was many things; robust, blunt, energetic, sometimes simplistic, sometimes politically unskillful, but never bland. Furthermore, he possessed a down-to-earth intelligence which enabled him to direct the government's largest agency for almost a half-decade.A second view of the orthodox interpretation contends that the Eisenhower years were largely devoid of partisanship and a sense of political purpose. That, too, is misleading, especially regarding the issue of national defense. An examination of the debates over defense policy during those years reveals a high degree of partisanship with Wilson Persistently defending the Administration programs while the political opposition consistently sought to alter them. Furthermore, Wilson and his Democratic critics in the Senate were hardy rivals, with influential Democrats calling for Wilson's resignation at regular intervals. Wilson's encounters with Richard Russell, Lyndon B. Johnson, Stuart Symington and others may have lacked the drama of Harry Truman's lambasting of the "do-nothing, good-for-nothing" 80th congress during the 1948 presidential campaign. Yet the encounter between Wilson and his Senate critics were genuinely partisan and both Administration and Congress fought tooth-and-nail for political victory.I should like to state the purpose of this study. It is not an attempt at a biography of Wilson or even a summary of his career at the Pentagon. Instead, I have tried to examine the theme of conflict between Wilson and his Senate critics. The emphasis, and hopefully not the bias, is on Wilson's role as the Secretary of Defense in advocating his policies before skeptical groups of Senators. Hopefully, the study will succeed in a larger objective of shedding additional light on the inner workings of the Eisenhower Administration.

This thesis has three parts which can be briefly described as the nature of the threat, the instrument of response and the method of response. Before discussing the military system of the Roman empire, it is necessary to examine its enemies, to see how and why they fought. The first part of the thesis looks at the limitations of the evidence concerning barbarians. It then discusses the social and economic basis of barbarian life, showing their potential for war and the type of threat presented to the Roman empire. The next section deals with the types of conflict between Rome and the barbarians and the reasons for it. There then follows a detailed discussion of barbarian armies and their equipment, strategy and tactics when fighting the Romans. The second section discusses the Roman army. Initially, the organisation of the army is examined, then its troop types and their equipment. This is done with regard to both land and naval forces. Then the sources of soldiers and the problem of barbarization are discussed in some depth. Lastly, the types of fixed defences are briefly examined. Having examined the instrument of response, the third section discusses how it was used. It starts by examining the conditions affecting decision-making at this period, then discusses foreign policy, i.e. whether to use force or alternative methods, with regard to both barbarians and internal enemies. Strategy, i.e. the type of operation employed to defeat the enemy, is then discussed with regard to defence against barbarians, attack against barbarians and against internal enemies. The following part, on operations, discusses how the army performed in the field and analyses tactics for fighting field battles, naval battles and sieges.

Plant-herbivore interactions play a significant role in the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Co-evolutionary theory suggests that plant defenses evolved due to herbivores and herbivore pressure can shape the genetic composition of their food resources. We used interactions between North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) and trembling aspens ( Populus tremuloides) as a system to investigate this theory's important assumption that herbivores select food sources based on genetically controlled traits. We confirmed that porcupines exhibit intra-specific food selection and that this is linked to the genetic composition of the aspens. We also demonstrated that variation in phenolic glycosides and condensed tannins are strong components of this selection, thereby creating an important link between genetics, plant chemistry, and mammalian herbivory. We investigated potential impacts of porcupine herbivory on aspen using fluctuating asymmetry, however we did not detect any stress on heavily eaten trees, thereby questioning the validity of this tool for this study system.