Knowledge of optimum concentrations and ratios of major nutrients in tree foliage is required to assess the nutrient status of the boreal forest. This thesis aimed at determining foliar nutritional standards for white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss), black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. B.S.P.) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) and to assess the nutrient status of forest stands across Canada for all major nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Mn) using critical values (CVA) and compositional nutrient diagnosis (CND). Trees were sampled at three locations in Ontario and Quebec to cover a gradient of soil fertility levels. A boundary line approach was used in combination with quadratic regression models to assess the relationship between growth and foliar nutrient concentrations or CND scores when free of the effects of interacting environmental factors. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Field studies of a population of Arisaema triphyllum affected by the systemic rust Uromyces ari-triphylli were conducted to examine dynamics of disease transmission and to identify factors influencing plant susceptibility to rust infection. Of undiseased plants that developed foliar infections during the growing season, 55% possessed active resistance to the rust disease, and were able to prevent the foliar infection from becoming a systemic one. Flowering increased the susceptibility of plants to both Mar and systemic infections. A phenotypic selection study was carried out to estimate selection on five plant traits and to determine the role of foliar infections of U. ari-triphylli in mediating selection. Multivariate path analysis suggests that both leaf diameter and a general size factor are under positive directional selection. Pathogen-mediated selection coefficients are small, but comparable in magnitude to overall selection coefficients (15%, on average), indicating the potential importance of diseases as selective agents in nature.

The lack of knowledge about the behaviour of footings for jack-up rigs under storm loads poses a design problem which can be tackled by model testing. The areas of prime concern are the ultimate loads on footings under combined loading, which affects the safety of the rig, and the rotational stiffness, which affects the interaction between the foundation and the structure. A programme of loading tests was performed on model footings on clay, and was divided into two stages: monotonic loading and cyclic loading. The clay samples were obtained by consolidating Speswhite kaolin slurry in cylindrical tanks 450mm in diameter. The strength and compressibility characteristics of the samples were verified by means of standard laboratory tests. The model footings were 50mm and 100mm in diameter and several shapes were tested: circular flat plate, cones of various angles and model spud-cans. Loads and displacements were monitored using appropriate instrumentation and a data logger. A series of central vertical loading tests provided data for comparison with existing bearing capacity theories. Combined loading tests were performed applying a displacement controlled horizontal load at a fixed height above the footing which was also subjected to a fixed vertical load. The main series of tests involved a parametric study of the relevant variables. Special tests allowed the assessment of the effect of embedment of the footing and the interaction of a flexible leg with the foundation. Cyclic loading tests were carried out using a load controlled system which applied a sinusoidal load simulating wave action. Effects of currents were investigated by introducing an offset to the loading cycle. The influence of amplitude and period of loading as well as the influence of vertical load were also investigated. Special tests were carried out to cover some peculiarities of real loading conditions. Fitting of a three-parameter hyperbola to the test results provided a systematic and accurate method of analysis of monotonic loading tests, leading to valuable information involving stiffness and ultimate loads. Analysis of cyclic loading tests yielded useful qualitative information regarding the progress of settlement and the variation of rotational stiffness and damping ratio with the number of cycles.

That marginalized discourse communities practice differing modes of communication is a claim recently argued; critics have focused on the trope of metonymy as a means of signifying a discriminated-against group's silenced status within the mainstream society. What seems to be ignored in this discussion is how differing media--literature, music, painting--constitute texts that cut across discursive space (the site of these media) in a similar fashion. By positing the intertextuality (i.e., the similarity) of psycholinguistic metonymy and jazz phraseology, this thesis demonstrates how literary texts issuing from marginalized discourse communities can speak their subjectivities' full names. In Langston Hughes' "The Blues I'm Playing," metonymy and jazz serve as methods of analysis which show the subject-object relationship in artistic production. Jack Kerouac's On The Road constitutes a narrative subjectivity that, like jazz music, metonymically disrupts itself as silences speak from the realm of an Other. By accounting for the similarities between metonymy and jazz, this thesis asserts that more accurate readings can be derived from literature issuing from discourse communities which use jazz to signify. / Department of English

This essay focuses on gender roles, individualism and collectivism in Jack Kerouac’s classic road-trip novel On the Road. In order to put the discussion into a meaningful context, I look at the novel from a historical perspective and examine how it relates to post-war American society. I argue that the novel is, in many ways, representative of a society existing in a field of tension between individualism and collectivism, and that its notion of individual freedom, at the time revolutionary, can be seen as retrogressive with regard to the book’s portrayal and treatment of women. The essay features a discussion of what kind of individual freedom is presented in On the Road and how this freedom relates to typical American individualism as well as American post-war societal norms, the norm of the nuclear family in particular. This is followed by a brief analysis of how the novel influenced future generations, specifically in terms of sexual liberation. This analysis introduces a discussion of the way in which women are portrayed in the book and how this portrayal both represents collective progress in post- war America—women are often described as financially independent—and a phallocentric type of individualism. I then show that this individualism is connected to an unthinking optimism which, I argue, is one of the key causes of the retrogressive view of women exemplified by the book. My study ultimately demonstrates that the novel’s notion of individualism—an individualism which was highly influential for future generations and is usually viewed as progressive—can arguably be seen as retrogressive in terms of Kerouac's representation of gender roles.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on January 29, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Robert Hampel, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Dennis L. Loftus, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, August, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Mémoire (M.Ress.Renouv.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1998. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU