<p>Although low temperature plays an important role in determining agricultural yield, little is known about the effect on the underlying biochemical and physiological processes that influence plant growth. Photosynthesis and respiration are central to plant growth and both processes are heavily affected by temperature. However, many plants have the ability to cope with low temperature and resume growth by cold acclimating.</p><p>We have shown that enhancement of carbon fixation, an increased flux of carbon into sucrose and the recovery of diurnal export is crucial for the recovery of functional carbon metabolism at low temperature in Arabidopsis thaliana. The recovery of efflux is governed by increased expression of sucrose transporters along with changes in vascularisation. We also demonstrate the importance of controlling the flux of metabolites between the chloroplast and the cytosol by regulating the expression of AtTPT.</p><p>We further investigated the difference in response between leaves developed at low temperature but originating from warm grown Arabidopsis and leaves from plants grown from seed at low temperature. We were able to distinguish factors that respond specifically to low temperature from those that are connected to the actual stress. Substantial difference could be seen in the different metabolomes. One conclusion drawn is that the increase in sucrose reported at low temperature is an essential feature for life in the cold. </p><p>In an extended study we were able to transfer some of the key factor of cold acclimation in Arabidopsis to other species. The study included forbs, grasses and evergreen trees/shrubs showed that there are striking similarities in the extent and biochemical changes that underpin acclimation among the different functional groups.</p><p>Low temperature does not only influence growth of the leaves, perennial organs such as the corm of the ornamental plant Crocus vernus is also affected. However in these plants low temperature has a positive effect on the final size of the corm. We were able to show that this enhanced growth was an affect of increased cell size and thus increased sink capacity, which ultimately delays leaf senescence</p>

Cold seeps are areas of high biomass in the deep-sea, the impacts of these food-rich environments upon the sediment community is unknown in the Gulf of Mexico. The structure and function of benthic communities was investigated at food-rich and food-limited sites on the northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope. Cold seeps were richer in macrofauna densities and total sediment respiration, but were poorer in biomass and taxa diversity than normal slope communities. Decreased diversity is seen at most chemosynthetic communities and suggests a competition for resources. The spatial extent of these results at seeps is unknown and may be a localized, bioenhancement effect caused by seeping fluids.

Although low temperature plays an important role in determining agricultural yield, little is known about the effect on the underlying biochemical and physiological processes that influence plant growth. Photosynthesis and respiration are central to plant growth and both processes are heavily affected by temperature. However, many plants have the ability to cope with low temperature and resume growth by cold acclimating. We have shown that enhancement of carbon fixation, an increased flux of carbon into sucrose and the recovery of diurnal export is crucial for the recovery of functional carbon metabolism at low temperature in Arabidopsis thaliana. The recovery of efflux is governed by increased expression of sucrose transporters along with changes in vascularisation. We also demonstrate the importance of controlling the flux of metabolites between the chloroplast and the cytosol by regulating the expression of AtTPT. We further investigated the difference in response between leaves developed at low temperature but originating from warm grown Arabidopsis and leaves from plants grown from seed at low temperature. We were able to distinguish factors that respond specifically to low temperature from those that are connected to the actual stress. Substantial difference could be seen in the different metabolomes. One conclusion drawn is that the increase in sucrose reported at low temperature is an essential feature for life in the cold. In an extended study we were able to transfer some of the key factor of cold acclimation in Arabidopsis to other species. The study included forbs, grasses and evergreen trees/shrubs showed that there are striking similarities in the extent and biochemical changes that underpin acclimation among the different functional groups. Low temperature does not only influence growth of the leaves, perennial organs such as the corm of the ornamental plant Crocus vernus is also affected. However in these plants low temperature has a positive effect on the final size of the corm. We were able to show that this enhanced growth was an affect of increased cell size and thus increased sink capacity, which ultimately delays leaf senescence

Ti2AlC coatings have been fabricated by cold-spray deposition. The microstructure evolution as a function of basic spray parameters temperature and pressure onto AA6060 aluminium alloy and 1.0037 steel substrates has been studied. Adherent and dense 50–80 μm thick Ti2AlC coatings were deposited on soft AA6060 substrates under gas temperature and pressure of 600 °C and 3.4 MPa, respectively, whilst comparable results were obtained on harder 1.0037 steel by using higher temperature (800 °C) and pressure (3.9 MPa).

This thesis provides a summary of the laser system constructed in the Quantum Degenerate Gases Laboratory for laser cooling and trapping of 85/87Rband 6Li as well as of experiments that have been pursued in our lab to date. The first chapter provides an overview of the experimental focus of the QDG lab. The second and third chapters provide the fundamental theory behind laser cooling and trapping. The fourth chapter provides details of the laser system. The fifth chapter describes an experiment performed on the subject of dual-injection, performed in collaboration with Dr. James Booth of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) involving the dual-injection of a single slave amplifier. The last chapter describes the progress made on the experimental setup needed for the study of Feshbach resonances between 85/87Rb and 6Li and the photoassociative formation of molecules.

Biodiesel is rapidly growing as a fuel of interest due to the various advantages it has over conventional diesel fuel. While the pros – non-toxic, biodegradable, low green house gas emissions seem advantageous, the major issue that plagues the use of biodiesel is its cold weather operability. Biodiesel can present challenges in cold-weather operation, because certain of its constituent compounds can form precipitates in the fuel. These precipitates can cause undesired effects like plugging of fuel filters and deposits. This issue has been attributed to the presence of impurities (mostly saturated monoglycerides, di-glycerides, soap etc) in biodiesel and has been discussed in the literature. There is a move by users and standards associations to implement more stringent norms and quality control to avoid problems in the widespread use of biodiesel. This study involves ways to reduce MG’s in biodiesel by mitigating to a greater extent the possibility of side reactions (formation of soap). The effect of selective transesterification of oil as a function of alcohol, temperature and catalyst concentration was also studied. Although saturated MG’s with high melting points are a greater source of deposits, it can be hypothesized that the polymorphic nature of unsaturated Monoglycerides could also be contributing to cold flow issues. It is hence vital to make sure the biodiesel is free from all forms of monoglycerides. It was also seen that there is very little specificity of selection of fatty acid types in the transesterification reaction and that the amount and type of MGs present in the biodiesel is reflected by the relative amount of fatty acids types present in the oil. In biodiesel derived from Canola oil, a preponderance of monoolein was found for all runs. The initial runs carried out as a two stage process using the membrane followed by batch reactor gave very low MG concentrations, well below ASTM standards.

It is well known that photosynthetic health impacts the overall fitness of the mature plant. This study aims to determine photosynthetic vigour of spring wheat cultivars during field development as well as their biomass composition at maturity to determine which cultivars/varieties would be optimum for cellulosic ethanol production. Additionally, specimens were grown at non-acclimating (20˚C), cold acclimating (5˚C), non-acclimating high CO2 (20˚C/750 µmol mol-1 CO2) and cold-acclimating high CO2 (5˚C/750 µmol mol-1 CO2) to resolve photosynthetic responses to different environments. Plants were photoinhibited under high irradiance (5 fold growth irradiance) and low temperature (5˚C) while photochemical efficiency of PSII was monitored throughout using chlorophyll fluorescence imaging. Vegetative production was monitored using normalised difference vegetation index. De-epoxidation of xanthophyll photoprotective pigments were also recorded using HPLC and photochemical reflectance index. Additionally, carbon assimilation rate was recorded with infra-red gas analysis methods. It was discovered that no one wheat cultivar demonstrated any photosynthetic advantage in the field or under photoinhibitory conditions. However, photosynthetic differences were observed between wheat grown in different environments. Plants that were cold-acclimated or grown under high CO2 were more resilient to photoinhibitory stress. This was also reflected by most cold-acclimated cultivars having increased triose phosphate utilization, electron transport and zeaxanthin induction. Plants acclimated to high CO2 at room temperature also displayed increased electron transport and triose phosphate utilization but had decreased zeaxanthin induction. It is hypothesized increased excitation pressure in cold acclimated and high CO2 cultivars allowed for their increase in the development of photoinhibitory tolerance.

Several studies were designed to investigate effect of cold winter transportation on broiler meat quality and physiological parameters. The first study assessed the effect of microclimate environment during winter transportation (-27 to +11ºC) from farm to the processing plant (3-4 h) on core body temperature (CBT) and breast meat quality parameters of 522 broiler chickens using an actively ventilated transport vehicle. Temperatures below freezing during transportation resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) higher ultimate pH (pHu) and darker color breast meat, which led to 8% incidence of dark, firm and dry (DFD) breast meat (pH > 6.1; L*< 46).<p> The effects of extreme cold conditions (-18 to -4ºC) along with age (5 and 6 wk), gender and lairage (0 and 2 h) on physiology parameters, breast muscle metabolites and meat quality of 360 birds using a simulated transport system were investigated. Five and 6 wk birds exposed to temperatures below -8 and -14ºC, respectively, showed significantly (P < 0.05) lower CBT and blood glucose and higher live shrink with breast meat that was darker in color, higher in pHu, water holding and water binding capacity compared to breast meat of birds exposed to warmer temperatures. A high incidence of DFD breast meat (> 50%) was observed for 5 and 6 wk birds exposed to temperatures below -8 and -14ºC respectively. Lairage following acute cold exposure caused an increase of up to 20% in DFD breast meat following exposure of the birds to temperatures below -8ºC.<p> Characteristics of cold-induced DFD breast meat were investigated in broiler chickens. DFD breast meat was significantly darker, redder, and less yellow in color and had higher pH, water binding capacity, processing cook yield and lower thaw and cook loss compared to normal meat. However, no significant difference in initial energy reserves was observed between DFD and normal breast meat.<p> Effect of extreme cold-stress (-15 to -9ºC) was further assessed on thigh meat quality and incidence of DFD from 160 male broilers. A greater impact of cold stress was observed on muscle metabolites and pH of thigh compared to breast meat, with 85% DFD incidence in thigh compared to 42% in breast meat of cold-stressed birds.<p> Biochemical basis of cold-induced DFD breast and thigh meat was investigated by measuring muscle metabolites at different times post-mortem. Lack of energy reserves at slaughter clearly explained the incidence of DFD thigh meat, but other factors might contribute to DFD breast meat aside from glycogen reserve at slaughter. However, the factors leading to DFD breast meat still remain unresolved and association of post-mortem enzyme activity and development of DFD breast meat merits further investigation.

Several studies were designed to investigate effect of cold winter transportation on broiler meat quality and physiological parameters. The first study assessed the effect of microclimate environment during winter transportation (-27 to +11ºC) from farm to the processing plant (3-4 h) on core body temperature (CBT) and breast meat quality parameters of 522 broiler chickens using an actively ventilated transport vehicle. Temperatures below freezing during transportation resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) higher ultimate pH (pHu) and darker color breast meat, which led to 8% incidence of dark, firm and dry (DFD) breast meat (pH > 6.1; L*< 46).<p> The effects of extreme cold conditions (-18 to -4ºC) along with age (5 and 6 wk), gender and lairage (0 and 2 h) on physiology parameters, breast muscle metabolites and meat quality of 360 birds using a simulated transport system were investigated. Five and 6 wk birds exposed to temperatures below -8 and -14ºC, respectively, showed significantly (P < 0.05) lower CBT and blood glucose and higher live shrink with breast meat that was darker in color, higher in pHu, water holding and water binding capacity compared to breast meat of birds exposed to warmer temperatures. A high incidence of DFD breast meat (> 50%) was observed for 5 and 6 wk birds exposed to temperatures below -8 and -14ºC respectively. Lairage following acute cold exposure caused an increase of up to 20% in DFD breast meat following exposure of the birds to temperatures below -8ºC.<p> Characteristics of cold-induced DFD breast meat were investigated in broiler chickens. DFD breast meat was significantly darker, redder, and less yellow in color and had higher pH, water binding capacity, processing cook yield and lower thaw and cook loss compared to normal meat. However, no significant difference in initial energy reserves was observed between DFD and normal breast meat.<p> Effect of extreme cold-stress (-15 to -9ºC) was further assessed on thigh meat quality and incidence of DFD from 160 male broilers. A greater impact of cold stress was observed on muscle metabolites and pH of thigh compared to breast meat, with 85% DFD incidence in thigh compared to 42% in breast meat of cold-stressed birds.<p> Biochemical basis of cold-induced DFD breast and thigh meat was investigated by measuring muscle metabolites at different times post-mortem. Lack of energy reserves at slaughter clearly explained the incidence of DFD thigh meat, but other factors might contribute to DFD breast meat aside from glycogen reserve at slaughter. However, the factors leading to DFD breast meat still remain unresolved and association of post-mortem enzyme activity and development of DFD breast meat merits further investigation.

Communist Stardom in the Cold War: Josip Broz Tito in Western and Yugoslav Photography, 1943-1980 Nikolina Kurtovic Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto 2010 Abstract This dissertation examines the iconographic and ideological aspects of the public image of Josip Broz Tito, the communist leader of Socialist Yugoslavia and one of the major historical personalities of the twentieth century. By studying the specific historical, political, and cultural contexts of Tito’s changing iconography between 1943 and 1980, I considers a dynamic relationship between the Western and Eastern perspectives on his leadership style, personality, and role, as communicated in the idiom of Western photojournalism and celebrity photography, as well as the style of official presidential photography in Yugoslavia. I analyze photo-essays on Tito published in Life, Time, and Picture Post, and in the official Yugoslav magazines, Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Review, as well as his portraits by Yousuf Karsh and by Ivo Eterovic in his photo-book Tito’s Private Life. I engage the issues of image reception by studying fundamental stereotypes within the canon of Tito photography, exploring their relation to the popular and political discourses on war heroism, resistance myth, masculinity, leadership, communism, disease, romance, family, leisure and celebrity in the U.S. during World War Two and the Cold War. Tito’s photographs are compared with relevant examples in modern portrait photography, photojournalism, and European painting, thereby situating Tito’s example in the tradition of Western political image making, but also in relation to local traditions. My dissertation shows that the practical role of the cult of Tito in the American press during the Cold War was to render him and Yugoslavia as examples for the satellite countries, and to enlist popular support for U.S. policy. It also helped Tito navigate a political crisis following his 1948 break with Stalin. The iconography created in this context contributed to the genesis and modernizing of Yugoslav presidential photography in the 1950s. Appropriating the rhetoric and formal devices of Western celebrity and glamour photography, Yugoslav photographs created a set of presidential stereotypes and their photographs were bearers of the conventional narrative of Tito’s presidency in Yugoslav magazines and books addressing Western audiences between 1960 and 1980. My dissertation underscores the role of cross-cultural contacts and contexts for developing, maintaining, and understanding of Tito’s publicity and celebrity in the West.