Trichomonosis

In 2005, trichomonosis emerged as a new cause of substantial mortality in United Kingdom (UK) greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) and chaffinch (Fringella coelebs) populations. Similar to the UK, in the summer and fall of 2007–2009 and 2011, mortalities due to trichomonosis occurred in the Canadian Maritime provinces’ purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus) and American goldfinch (Cardeuelis tristis) populations consistent with emergence of trichomonosis in this region. Trichomonosis is caused by Trichomonas gallinae, a protozoan parasite infecting the upper digestive tract of birds. Trichomonosis causes slow death from emaciation and dehydration due to lesions preventing ingestion of food and water. This disease is reported by the public at their backyard feeding and watering stations. Therefore, this study’s goal was to better understand the epidemiology of trichomonosis in this region through collaboration with the Maritime bird feeding public. Through use of molecular tools and field techniques this study was able to conclude that (1) rock pigeons (Columba livia) can act as a reservoir for T. gallinae in the Canadian Maritime provinces, (2) the same T. gallinae strain that caused the United Kingdom epidemic is present in Canadian Maritime wild avifauna, (3) moist birdseed can possibly act as a fomite in the transmission of T. gallinae and (4) climate is a potential contributing factor in the emergence of T. gallinae in the Canadian Maritime provinces. Finally, this study provided the first scientific approach to assess the role of birdfeeders and watering stations as fomites facilitating transmission of trichomonosis. The information obtained from this project resulted in general recommendations on trichomonosis prevention for the concerned bird feeding public, thus protecting the health and welfare of birds frequenting birdfeeders

Robust Wireless Communication for Multi-Antenna, Multi-Rate, Multi-Carrier Systems

Abstract Today's trend of migrating radio devices from hardware to software provides potential to create flexible applications for both commercial and military use. However, this raises security concerns, as malicious attackers can also be generated easily to break legitimate communications. In this research work, our goal is to design a robust anti-jamming radio framework. We particularly investigate three different aspects of jamming threats: high-power jammers, link attacks on rate adaptation, and jamming in multicarrier systems. The threats of high-power jamming to wireless communications today are realistic due to the ease of access to powerful jamming sources such as the availability of commercial GPS/WiFi/cellular devices on the market, or RF guns built from microwave ovens' magnetron. To counter high-power jamming attacks, we develop SAIM which is a hybrid system capable of resisting jammers of up to 100,000 times higher power than legitimate communication nodes. The system robustness relies on our own antenna structure specially designed for anti-jamming purpose. We develop an efficient algorithm for auto-configuring the antenna adaptively to dynamic environments. We also devise a software-based jamming cancellation technique for appropriately extracting original signals, which is more robust than traditional MIMO approaches, as pilot signals are not required in SAIM. In spite of the robustness of SAIM, our design is more appropriate for malicious environments with powerful jammers, where mechanical steering is feasible, e.g., military applications. Residential and commercial wireless communication systems are still vulnerable to even limited-power jamming, as in today's standard wireless protocols, rate information is exposed to adversaries. Rate-based attacks have been demonstrated to severely degrade the networks at very low cost. To mitigate rate-based attacks, we develop CBM, a system capable of hiding rate and -at the same time -increasing resiliency against jammers up to seven times higher than regular systems, where rate is exposed. We achieve the resiliency boost by generalizing Trellis Coded Modulation to allow non-uniform codeword mapping. We develop an efficient algorithm for finding good non-uniform codes for all modulations in {BPSK, QPSK, 8-PSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM}. To conceal rate information, we devise an efficient method for generating cryptographic interleaving functions. In recently deployed communication networks such as WiFi and LTE systems, MIMO and OFDM are the two main techniques for increasing bandwidth efficiency. While MIMO increases the channel capacity by spatial processing on multiple received signals, OFDM mitigates impacts of dynamic variations in wide-band channels and allows frequency reuse with overlapping carriers. Synchronization is a key for high-throughput performance in MIMO and OFDM systems. In this work, we study impacts of jamming attacks specifically targeting to control channels in WiFi and LTE networks. Our study focuses on efficient techniques for both jamming and anti-jamming in multicarrier systems

Virgin, bride and lover [microform]

The spirituality portrayed in AncreneWisse and the texts associated with it is rooted in the anchoress' own situation: a female solitary enclosed within the four walls of her anchorhouse. The images used to express that spirituality are tied to her experience of enclosure and to her gender. These two elements come together in the matrix of anchorhouse/body/heart, in which the anchoress' female body becomes identified with the anchorhouse in which it is enclosed. The spirituality of these texts is thus deeply grounded in the anchoress' sexuality and her perception of her own body. The images of enclosure and female sexuality which dominate these texts are expressed in terms of the paradox of the virgin who is at the same time the lover and bride of Christ. The female body enclosed within the anchorhouse is sealed by physical chastity, just as the anchoress is sealed within her anchorhouse. Physical purity is itself an image or symbol of the purity of heart and soul which is an essential prerequisite for theanchoress' goal of union with God. It is for this, and this alone, that she has turned from the world and enclosed her body and heart in the confines of her anchorhouse. The union with God which the anchoress seeks is also described in images which are governed by both her enclosure and her gender. The spiritual quest of the anchoress is unequivocally the search of a female devotee for a male God, who approaches her in very human terms. The enclosed chamber of her heart which she prepares for his coming is the arbour or bower in which she greets her beloved, and the nest or womb in which she nurtures her God. Her union with God is described in terms both sensual and sensuous, combining erotic imagery with imagery of motherhood and fertility. The erotic union with Christ available to the anchoress in her enclosure transforms and redeems, as the body which is vulnerable to lust (her own and other's) becomes the vessel which bears Christ through imitation and union.5 microfiches. University Microfilms order no. UMI0042786

Histology of the striped bass

David B. Groman

The 'Arte de Bien Morir'

J1: Dissertation Abstracts International; M3: DissertationSource type: Electronic(1

Cosmopolitan affinities [microform]

This dissertation is a study of cosmopolitanism in early nineteenth-century Britain, and it approaches cosmopolitanism as an alternative and often overlooked approach to the question of nation in the early nineteenth century. Building out of enlightenment political philosophies such as that of Kant, cosmopolitanism does not mean the absence of national attachment and national limitations but rather involves the co-existence of national demarcations and universal belonging, and in early nineteenth century Britain, it appears alongside romantic nationalism in the struggle to represent the nation. I am interested in how cosmopolitanism in this period offers a non-unified formulation of the nation that stands in contrast to more unified models such as Edmund Burke's which found nationality in, among other things, language, history, blood and geography. The dissertation traces this alternative formulation not only in representative fictions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century (e.g. Edgeworth's Irish tales, Byron's 'Childe Harold' and 'Don Juan', Maturin's 'Melmoth the Wanderer') but also in British political thought of the period (e.g. Smith's 'Wealth of Nations', Price's ' Discourse on the love of our country', and the discourse of the ' Edinburgh Review'). Each chapter examines a different romantic inflection of cosmopolitan ideals and is intended to establish continuities between enlightenment philosophy and the idea of the nation as it unfolds within the British context. The question of balance between trans-national disinterest and national interest is a fundamental one for each of the writers studied in the dissertation, and it has also become paramount in our contemporary struggle to create alternative, non-unified ways of thinking about nationness. The dissertation thus intersects with present debate over the relationship between cosmopolitanism and nationalism, drawing on notions such as Bruce Robbin's 'situatedness-in-displacement,' Julia Kristeva's 'nations without nationalism,' Edward Said's 'critical thinking,' and James Clifford's 'pilgrimage.'Includes bibliographical references. 3 microfiches. AMICUS No. 24739763http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0019/NQ48120.pd

Parallelism in "Paradise Lost" [microform]

3 microfiches (214 fr.

The new model of Cautious Processing

Recent work in the area of risk and evaluations of transgressions and ambiguous events determined that relationship length appeared to moderate people's judgments of these incidents. Essentially, this study demonstrated that when short-term daters (i.e., relationships of 4 to 24 months) were exposed to the risks inherent in romantic relationships, they evaluated a subsequent relational event significantly more negatively than short-term control participants