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This thesis contributes to the development of dinoflagellate cysts as indicators of past environmental change in the Northeastern Pacific coastal ocean, and investigates past variations in sea-surface temperature, salinity and primary productivity encoded in dinoflagellate cyst sedimentary records from the Santa Barbara Basin (SBB, southern California) and Effingham Inlet (Vancouver Island, British Columbia) over the last millennium. The dinoflagellate cyst records extracted from the SBB and Effingham Inlet predominantly laminated sediments and analysed at sub-decadal resolutions, constitute some of the most detailed records of cyst-producing dinoflagellate populations in the world. A two year-long sediment trap study from the SBB documents the seasonality in dinoflagellate cyst production for the first time on the Pacific coast of the United States. The study shows that dinoflagellate cyst data can be used as indicators of changes in sea-surface temperature and primary productivity associated with seasonal upwelling in the SBB. In particular, several dinoflagellate cyst taxa such as Brigantedinium spp. and Lingulodinium machaerophorum are identified as indicators of “active upwelling” (typically occurring in spring and early summer) and “relaxed upwelling” conditions (fall and early winter) at the site, respectively. Analysis of a dinoflagellate cyst record from the SBB spanning the last ~260 years at biannual resolution documents the response of cyst-producing dinoflagellates to instrumentally-measured warming during the 20th century, and reveals decadal scale variations in primary productivity at the site that are coherent with phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The cyst assemblages are dominated by cysts produced by heterotrophic dinoflagellates (in particular Brigantedinium spp.), but the turn of the 20th century is marked by an abrupt increase in concentrations of L. machaerophorum and Spiniferites ramosus, two cyst taxa of autotrophic affinity. Their increasing abundances during the 20th century are interpreted to reflect warmer conditions and possibly stronger stratification during summer and fall. The dinoflagellate cyst data suggest a warming pulse in the early 1900s and provide further evidence that persistently warmer and/or more stratified conditions were established by the late 1920s. The dinoflagellate cyst record from Effingham Inlet, spanning the last millennium, is characterized by the proportionally equal contribution of cysts produced by autotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates in most samples. The cyst data indicate variations in sea-surface temperature, salinity and primary productivity that are associated with local expressions of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (from the base of the record to ~1230), the Little Ice Age (from ~1230 to ~1900) and warming during the second half of the 20th century. Both dinoflagellate cyst records reveal that since the beginning (in the SBB) and mid-20th century (in Effingham Inlet), autotrophic dinoflagellates contribute to a greater portion of the primary production in the region, whereas heterotrophic dinoflagellates, as indicators of diatom populations, decline. Variability in the dinoflagellate cyst data is coherent at both sites and suggest a reduced expression of decadal scale variability associated with the PDO during the 19th century. / Graduate / 0416 / 0427 / mbringue@uvic.ca

Darbe nagrinėjama alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų gyvenimo kokybės kitimas atsižvelgiant į tai, kokius gydimo metodus jie pasirenka šiai problemai spręsti. Didžiausias dėmesys skiriamas AA grupių įtakai gyvenimo kokybei ir jos kitimui. Ši problematika Lietuvoje mažai tyrinėta, tačiau dėl alkoholio vartojimo masto Lietuvoje ir pasaulyje yra pakankamai aktuali. Darbe buvo iškeltas tikslas ištirti AA grupių įtaką alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų gyvenimo kokybės kitimui. Darbo tikslui pasiekti analizuota alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų lankiusių ir nelankiusių anoniminių alkoholikų grupes gyvenimo kokybė, jos kitimas ir vertybių bei gydymo metodo įtaka jai. Manoma, kad alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų, lankiusių anoniminių alkoholikų grupes, gyvenimo kokybė pagerėjo labiau, palyginus su tais kurie tų grupių nelankė arba buvo viena-du kartus ir daugiau nelankė. Darbo tikslui pasiekti naudota PSO gyvenimo kokybės klausimynas (WHOQOL-BREF; angl. The World Health Organization Quality of Life – Bref, 1996), gyvenimo vertybių įvertinimas pagal Goštautą A, Javtoką Z, Žagminą K. (2001) ir gydymo metodo įvertinimas sudarytas pačios darbo autorės. Tyrime dalyvavo aliejų lyčių, nuo 18 iki 69 m. amžiaus, įvairios šeiminės, užimtumo, profesinės padėties ir išsilavinimo, šiuo metu besigydantys lankydami AA grupę, Minesotos programą ir medikamentiniu gydymusi, asmenys. Tyrimas parodė, kad asmenų, nepriklausomai nuo lyties, kurie turi problemų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This Paper deals with changing quality of life of the people with alcohol problems, depending on what treatment methods they choose to tackle this problem. The main focus is made on the impact of AA groups to quality of life and the changes thereof. This problem has been little researched in Lithuania; however, due to the consumed alcohol level in Lithuania and world widely this issue is sufficiently relevant. The objective of the Paper is to examine the impact of AA groups to the change of the quality of life of people who have alcohol-consuming problems. For the purpose of the Objective the quality of life and of the people with alcohol-consuming problems who attended AA groups and who not attended AA groups and the change of their quality of life were analysed, as well as the values and the impact of treatment methods on it were explored. It is estimated that the quality of life of the people with alcohol-consuming problems, who attended alcoholics anonymous groups, improved more in comparison with those who did not attend these groups or those visited them once or twice and did not attend them constantly. In order to reveal the Objective of the Paper, the WHO Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF; in Eng. The World Health Organization Quality of Life – Bref, 1996), the evaluation of the life values according to Goštautas A, Javtokas Z, Žagminas K. (2001) and the evaluation of treatment method, composed by the author herself, were used. The research included persons... [to full text]

This study aims at ascertaining via a cross-country/cross-city comparison why different national contexts characterized by allegedly opposite ideologies concerning the incorporation of immigrants (namely, the British Race Relations/multicultural model and French republicanism) have led to the adoption of similar policy tools in the prevention of forced unions amongst young people of ethnic minority background. In order to do so, the study will examine French republican and British multicultural rhetoric and policies aimed at the prevention of forced marriage at different institutional levels, with a focus on the preventive role played by the educational sector and within a historical institutionalist theoretical framework. The comparison begins with a consideration of French and British national rhetoric and policies against forced marriage from 1997 to 2008 to develop an adequate framework for the analysis of the preventive role attributed to educational policies in four major localities (the capital cities, Paris and London, and the second two largest cities per population size, Lyon and Birmingham). Despite differences in the policies and rhetoric adopted by multicultural Britain and republican France to tackle forced unions, the study hypothesizes a common trend in the ways French and British public authorities conceptualize the practice of forced marriage - intended mainly as the product of cultural difference. Similarities in the conceptualization of the practice, in turn, have contributed to the identification of similar policy tools despite dissimilar institutional contexts. Such a hypothesis contrasts with one of the key claims of historical institutionalism, according to which dissimilar institutions lead to different policy outcomes across different countries. The study will introduce the role of ideas – in the form of frames (Bleich 2003) – as a tool to explain the reasons why French and British policies aimed at the prevention of forced unions have led to similar policy outcomes despite dissimilar institutional contexts.

Dans cette étude de trois lacs sujets aux efflorescences de cyanobactéries, nous avons examiné la diversité des bactéries diazotrophes et des cyanobactéries toxiques. Nous avons tenté de définir les facteurs environnementaux influençant la composition des communautés phytoplanctoniques, la concentration ainsi que la composition des microcystines (MCs). Nous avons émis l’hypothèse que l’azote jouerait un rôle majeur dans le façonnement des communautés cyanobactériennes et influencerait la concentration et composition des MCs. Des concentrations de cette toxine ainsi que le gène mcyE codant pour l’enzyme microcystine synthétase ont été détectés à chaque échantillonnage dans tous les lacs. L’azote, particulièrement sous sa forme organique dissoute (AOD) ainsi que la température de l’eau étaient les facteurs environnementaux expliquant le mieux les concentrations des MCs, tandis que la biomasse de Microcystis spp. était globalement le meilleur prédicteur. Le gène nifH codant pour l’enzyme nitrogénase (fixation d’azote) a aussi été détecté dans chaque échantillon. Malgré les concentrations faibles en azote inorganique dissous (AID) et les densités importantes d’hétérocystes, aucun transcrits du gène n’a été détecté par réverse-transcription (RT-PCR), indiquant que la fixation d’azote n’avait pas lieu à des niveaux détectables au moment de l’échantillonnage. De plus, le pyroséquençage révèle que les séquences des gènes nifH et mcyE correspondaient à différents taxons, donc que les cyanobactéries n’avaient pas la capacité d’effectuer les deux fonctions simultanément. / In this study of three eutrophic lakes prone to cyanobacterial blooms, we examined the diversity of diazotrophic bacteria and toxic cyanobacteria. We evaluated the environmental factors effects on the community composition, the concentration and composition of the family of toxins microcystins (MCs). Since the assimilation of nitrogen and the synthesis of MCs in cyanobacteria are thought to be under the same control of the NtcA transcriptor, we hypothesised that nitrogen played a major role in shaping cyanobacterial communities and influenced indirectly the concentration and composition of MCs. The mcyE gene coding for the microcystin synthetase enzyme and MCs concentrations were detected at each sampling date in all lakes. Nitrogen, particularly under its organic dissolved form (DON) as well as water temperature were the environmental factors explaining the most variation in MC concentration although Microcystis spp. biomass was overall the best predictor. The nifH gene coding for the nitrogenase enzyme (N2-fixation) was also detected at all times. Even though the concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen were relatively low, and that heterocysts were present in high densities, no nifH transcripts were detected by RT-PCR, indicating that no N2-fixation was going on at detectable levels at the time of sampling. Moreover, pyrosequencing revealed that sequences of the genes nifH and mcyE corresponded to different taxa, thus cyanobacteria did not have the capacity to perform both functions simultaneously.