Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) populations from Alberta river drainage systems were compared using molecular techniques. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP's) within the NDI and ND5/6 regions of the mitochondrial genome were observed. In addition, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA profiles (RAPD's) from total genomic DNA extracts were compared. Interdrainage comparisons using mtDNA revealed significant population heterogeneity among Alberta bull trout. Percent sequence divergence in mtDNA ranged from 0.14% to 0.92%. Most fish in each population were composed of a small number of common haplotypes, and the remaining fish displayed rare or locally unique haplotypes. RAPD profiles were used to calculate genetic distance values for Alberta, Canada and Montana, U.S.A. populations. Both Nei and Cavalli-Sforza distance values were used to generate neighbor-joining, FITCH and KITSCH distance trees. Two genetically distinct groups of bull trout were revealed by the RAPD analysis and the possiblity that post-glacial bull trout populations are derived from two separate refugia is suggested. / xvii, 161 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

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The Cape parrot (Poicephalus robustus) is South Africa's only endemic parrot. It has become increasingly rare in recent years, with fewer than 500 birds left in the wild, and is now regarded as endangered. Possible factors contributing to this rapid decline in numbers include habitat loss, food shortage, disease and illegal trafficking and trading in the species. Habitat loss and food shortage have been brought about by the rapid destruction of the yellowwood trees in the afromontane forests in South Africa and have played a role in reducing the population numbers. The Psittacine beak and feather disease virus (PBFDV) has also contributed to the loss of some individuals, however it is the illegal trafficking of this rare and valuable species that has become of great concern. As the Cape parrot is becoming increasingly rare and therefore highly sought after, its commercial value has multiplied to the extent that illegal black market trapping is on the rise. The industry involved in breeding and conservation of endangered bird species, has a need for the proper establishment of studbooks, containing all available information on captive as well as tagged birds. Most of the information found in studbooks is based on morphological attributes of individual birds. Although this is useful, there is a need to add molecular information in order for complete identification of individuals, particularly in a species threatened by illegal trading and theft. A preliminary analysis of the amount of variation present in the population of interest is therefore required so that appropriate methods and techniques can be developed to identify individual birds. A RAPD analysis was conducted to assess the amount of variation in the Cape parrot and lay the foundations for the establishment of individual identification in the species. Blood samples from 30 parrots, consisting of both related and unrelated individuals, were obtained from three separate locations: Amazona in Assagay, Rehoboth Farm in Dargle, as well as from the Eastern Cape. 15 random primers were selected and used to conduct a randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. RAPDs are extremely useful in situations where relatively inexpensive first approximations of the genetic variation are needed, such as in rare and endangered species. After successful optimisation of the technique in the species, the 15 primers were screened for all 30 individuals and the individual DNA fingerprints, analysed. Clear, distinctive and reliable DNA fingerprints were obtained for all individuals however, it was interesting to note despite the analysis of 85 loci using the 15 primers almost identical DNA fingerprints were produced between the individual birds. A population analysis into the amount of variation present between and within the three populations, as well as for the representative population as a whole, was conducted. Using various statistical programmes such as POPGENE and ARLEQUIN, heterozygosities, genetic distance measures, diversity indices, Wright's fixation index and AMOVAs were estimated. The amount of polymorphism detected in this investigation was 33 % and the heterozygosity, 0.37, which is a relatively high value for the uniformity displayed in the DNA profiles. The high GC content of the primers however, could be a possible explanation thereof. Relationship and kinship determination, sex determination as well as population assignment was possible despite not being able to identify each individual based on unique DNA fingerprints. The AMOVA analysis indicated significant variation on both the between (5.59 %) and within (94.41 %) levels of analysis. Little variation or differentiation was observed between the three subpopulations, which was confirmed with an FST value of 0.056. The variation experienced within each subpopulation was analysed using Shannon's index of phenotypic diversity. The Amazona population displayed the most variation with a value of 0.286 and the Rehoboth population, the least with 0.195. This was expected, with the individuals from the latter population comprising one extended family. Nei's measures of genetic identity revealed that the individuals from Amazona were more similar to the Eastern Cape population, which was again expected with regular exchanging of chicks between the two breeders. RAPD technology was successful in laying the foundations for individual identification in the Cape parrot. It was also successful in producing reproducible DNA fingerprints in the species that were able to determine relatedness to some extent, determine the sex of individuals and identify individuals from a particular subpopulation. Furthermore RAPD analysis gave a good indication of the variation found in the Cape parrot population, which is important for conservation purposes. In order to maximize conservation efforts and strategies in an endangered species, determining the level of genetic diversity and variation found in the remaining individuals of the population is of great importance. This information could provide powerful insight for conservation purposes and depending on the level of diversity detected, appropriate breeding programmes could be set up in order to increase the genetic variation and thereby reduce the chance of extinction of the species. The following important findings emerged from this investigation: • RAPD technology, once optimised for the species of interest, is successful in producing clear and reliable DNA fingerprints, provided the same protocol is followed carefully throughout the investigation. • An optimised protocol for fingerprinting the Cape parrot using RAPDs was established. • Possible sex identification, population assignment and a degree of kinship determination was determined using RAPDs. • Little variation was found within the representative Cape parrot population as a whole due to small population size and possible inbreeding. • As expected for an avian species, little genetic sub-division or differentiation was observed between the three populations analysed. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

The pathetic cry 'Who is my father?' has been asked time and again the world over. Discovery of paternity, linked as it is with the processes - legal and scientific - of establishing the alleged father's relationship on a balance of probabilities is a very real problem in the field of family law in South Africa. Blood tests have proved to be one aid in its solution. However, the application of such tests carry with them their own specific difficulties, most notable from the point of view of the lawyer is the extent of the authority of the court to order such tests, the interpretation of the test results and the role and emphasis that should be given to the results of the blood tests in the final determination of each case. Lawyers have to be wary and avoid falling into the trap of the layman who has the distinct tendency to accept unquestionably anything backed by scientific authority. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Durban-Westville, Durban, 1994.

The work reported here was done at the Wheeler Orchid Collection and Species Bank and the Department of Biology at Ball State University. We have developed a research teaching program with two applied research goals: genetically transforming and DNA fingerprinting orchid tissue. As part of their molecular biology education, students have investigated the genetic transformation of orchids for mitigating viral symptoms and the identification of unknown orchids by DNA fingerprinting. In a second application of the technology, DNA fingerprinting has been used to determine evolutionary relationships and to quantify genetic diversity among orchids.This dissertation details the background and need for this project and the research that was done to start it. As the early work has, developed and students have added their contributions, the data have developed into two papers formatted for submission to scientific journals. They are included as results.The first is a project designed to insert exognenous DNA into orchid tissue. The soil microbe Agrobacterium tumefaciens causes crown-gall tumors to develop in its plant hosts by inserting DNA into their cells which then controls the biosynthesis of development-controlling hormones. A. tumefaciens which has been disarmed has been routinely used to bioengineer dicotyledonous plants but its use has been rare on monocotyledons. In this paper, we report that A. tumefaciens transformed embryonic orchid tissue and caused alteration in its normal developmental course.The second paper details the DNA fingerprinting of tissue from Aplectrum hymale, a terrestrial orchid native to this climate. Three populations of A. hymale have been sampled and DNA extracted from the tissue samples. RAPD primers were used to prime PCR amplifications of random sequences of the DNA and the amplified DNA was visualized by gel electrophoresis. Loci of the resulting bands were treated as potentially multiallelic gene loci and heterozygosity between and within subpopulations was calculated. We report that the three populations could be partially differentiated by this procedure and that the two populations located nearest to each other yielded the least between -ubpopulation heterozygosity. We report very high levels of genetic diversity between individuals within small subpopulations in spite of the fact that these subpopulations are considered to be primarily clonal in reproductive nature. / Department of Biology

Today, positioning with GPS and the advantages this entails are almost infinitive, which means that the technology can be utilized in a variety of applications. Unfortunately, there exists a lot of limitations in conjunction with the signals from the GPS can’t reach inside e.g. buildings or underground. This means that an alternative solution that works indoors needs to be developed. The report presents the four most common radio-based technologies, Bluetooth,Wi-Fi, UWB and RFID, which can be used to determine a position. These all have different advantages in cost, accuracy and latency, which means that there exist a number of different applications. The radio-based methods use the measurement techniques, RSSI, TOA, TDOA, Cell-ID, PD or AOA to gather data. The choice of measurement technique is mainly dependent of which radio-based method being used, since their accuracy depends on the quality of the measurements and the size of the detection area, which means that all measurement techniques have different advantages and disadvantages. The measurement data is processed with one of the positioning methods, LS, NLS, ML, Cell-ID, WC or FP, to estimate a position. The choice of positioning method also depends on the quality of the measurements in combination with the size of the detection area. To evaluate the different radio-based methods together with measurement techniques and positioning methods, accuracy, latency and cost are being compared. This is used as the basis for the choice of positioning method, since a general solution can get summarized by finding the least expensive approach which can estimate an unknown position with sufficiently high accuracy.

Although the identification of humans by fingerprints is a well–known technique in practice, the identification of an audio sample by means of a technique called audio fingerprinting is still under development. Audio fingerprinting can be used to identify different types of audio samples of which music and advertisements are the two most frequently encountered. Different audio fingerprinting techniques to identify audio samples appear seldom in the literature and direct comparisons of the techniques are not always available In this dissertation, the two audio fingerprinting techniques of Avery Wang and Haitsma and Kalker are compared in terms of accuracy, speed, versatility and scalability, with the goal of modifying the algorithms for optimal advertisement identification applications. To start the background of audio fingerprinting is summarised and different algorithms for audio fingerprinting are reviewed. Problems, issues to be addressed and research methodology are discussed. The research question is formulated as follows : “Can audio fingerprinting be applied successfully to advertisement monitoring, and if so, which existing audio fingerprinting algorithm is most suitable as a basis for a generic algorithm and how should the original algorithm be changed for this purpose?” The research question is followed by literature regarding the background of audio fingerprinting and different audio fingerprinting algorithms. Next, the importance of audio fingerprinting in the engineering field is motivated by the technical aspects related to audio fingerprinting. The technical aspects are not always necessary or part of the algorithm, but in most cases, the algorithms are pre–processed, filtered and downsampled. Other aspects include identifying unique features and storing them, on which each algorithm’s techniques differ. More detail on Haitsma and Kalker’s, Avery Wang’s and Microsoft’s RARE algorithms are then presented. Next, the desired interface for advertisement identification Graphical User Interface (GUI) is presented. Different solution architectures for advertisement identification are discussed. A design is presented and implemented which focuses on advertisement identification and helps with the validation process of the algorithm. The implementation is followed by the experimental setup and tests. Finally, the dissertation ends with results and comparisons, which verified and validated the algorithm and thus affirmed the first part of the research question. A short summary of the contribution made in the dissertation is given, followed by conclusions and recommendations for future work. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer and Electronical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Although the identification of humans by fingerprints is a well–known technique in practice, the identification of an audio sample by means of a technique called audio fingerprinting is still under development. Audio fingerprinting can be used to identify different types of audio samples of which music and advertisements are the two most frequently encountered. Different audio fingerprinting techniques to identify audio samples appear seldom in the literature and direct comparisons of the techniques are not always available In this dissertation, the two audio fingerprinting techniques of Avery Wang and Haitsma and Kalker are compared in terms of accuracy, speed, versatility and scalability, with the goal of modifying the algorithms for optimal advertisement identification applications. To start the background of audio fingerprinting is summarised and different algorithms for audio fingerprinting are reviewed. Problems, issues to be addressed and research methodology are discussed. The research question is formulated as follows : “Can audio fingerprinting be applied successfully to advertisement monitoring, and if so, which existing audio fingerprinting algorithm is most suitable as a basis for a generic algorithm and how should the original algorithm be changed for this purpose?” The research question is followed by literature regarding the background of audio fingerprinting and different audio fingerprinting algorithms. Next, the importance of audio fingerprinting in the engineering field is motivated by the technical aspects related to audio fingerprinting. The technical aspects are not always necessary or part of the algorithm, but in most cases, the algorithms are pre–processed, filtered and downsampled. Other aspects include identifying unique features and storing them, on which each algorithm’s techniques differ. More detail on Haitsma and Kalker’s, Avery Wang’s and Microsoft’s RARE algorithms are then presented. Next, the desired interface for advertisement identification Graphical User Interface (GUI) is presented. Different solution architectures for advertisement identification are discussed. A design is presented and implemented which focuses on advertisement identification and helps with the validation process of the algorithm. The implementation is followed by the experimental setup and tests. Finally, the dissertation ends with results and comparisons, which verified and validated the algorithm and thus affirmed the first part of the research question. A short summary of the contribution made in the dissertation is given, followed by conclusions and recommendations for future work. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer and Electronical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

In this thesis, we address the problem of digital intellectual property (IP) protection for the field programmable gate array (FPGA) designs. Substantial time and effort is required to the design complex circuits; thus, it makes sense to re-use these designs. An IP developer can sell his design to the companies and collect royalty. However, he needs to protect his work from security breach and piracy. The legal means of IP protection such as patents and license agreements are a deterrent to illegal IP circulation, but they are insufficient to detect an IP protection breach. Watermarking provides a means to identify the owner of a design. Firstly, we propose a watermarking technique that modifies the routing of an FPGA design to make it a function of the signature text. This watermarking technique is a type of constraint-based watermarking technique where we add a signature-based term to the routing cost function. Secondly, we need a method to verify the existence of the watermark in the design. To address this we propose a digital signature generation technique. This technique uses the switch state (ON/OFF) of certain switches on the routing to uniquely identify a design. Our results show less than 10% speed overhead for a minimum channel width routing. Increasing the channel width by unit length, we could watermark the design with a zero speed overhead. The increase in the wire length is negative for majority of the circuits. Our watermarking technique can be integrated into the current routing algorithm since it does not require an additional step for embedding the watermark. The overall design effort for routing a watermarked design is equivalent to that of routing a non-watermarked design.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.