Thistle Complex West

Exterior view of the section of the Thistle Complex west of the Tower.

Thistle West Stairwell

One of the concrete walled stairwells in Thistle Complex adorned with art and production posters.

Thistle West Stairwell

One of the concrete walled stairwells in Thistle Complex adorned with art and production posters.

The human rights dilemma : an east-west encounter : Germany and China in 1996 /

Conflicts over human rights in relations between East Asia and the West have increased since the end of the Cold War. Western governments express concern about human rights standards in East Asian countries. In the East, these expressions have been perceived as interference in internal affairs. Due to dramatic economic development, East Asian nations recently have gained in pride and self-confidence as global actors. Such development is observed with suspicion in the West. Concerned about the decline of global U.S. influence, some American scholars have re-invented the notion of "culture" to point at an alleged East Asian threat. Also East Asian statesmen use the cultural argument by claiming the existence of so-called 'Asian values', which they allege are the key to Eastern economic success. This thesis argues that issues of human rights in East-West relations are not only a consequence of well-intended concern by Western governments regarding the human rights and welfare of the citizens of East Asian nations, but are in fact dominated by and used as a pawn in interplay with more complicated questions of global power and economic relations between East and West. The thesis reviews the relevance of culture in East-West relations. In the West, particularly Samuel P. Huntington with his prediction of the Clash of Civilizations stands out. Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew has been very vocal on the Eastern side. Whereas the West tries to cope with its decrease of global influence, after hundreds of years under Western hegemonism, the East believes in an Asian way of development without interference form the West. Most of this dispute revolves around the issue of human rights. The West claims the universality of rights which in fact emphasizes political and civil rights. Western countries critizise poor human rights standards in East Asia. The East, in return, accuses the West of hypocritical policies that seek global dominance. East Asian governments assert that due to a different stage of development they have to stress first their rights to development in order to assure stability. In particular, China argues this way. The country's leadership, however, shows concern about human rights and has already improved its human rights record over the past years. This thesis analyses the dispute over human rights in a case study on Germany and China. Both countries have a mutual interest in trade relations which has conflicted with Germany's criticism of China's problematic human rights record. In 1996, the two countries clashed after the German parliament passed a resolution condemning China's treatment of Tibet. This caused a lot of damage to the Chinese-German relationship which in the course of the year went back to normality. In the light of these frictions a German human rights policy that focuses on unspectacular grass-roots support of China, for example in strengthening China's legal system, would be preferable. Such co-operation must be based on mutual respect.

Analysis of the feeding behaviour of the mosquito Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) in relation to West Nile virus

The goal ofthis literature review is to inform the reader on several aspects of West Nile Virus (WNV) transmission by its mosquito vector, Culex pipiens and to elucidate how Cx. pipiens and WNV are intertwined. The first few sections of the literature review describe the life cycle and blood feeding behaviours ofmosquitoes so that baseline data ofmosquito biology are established. In addition to explaining how and why a mosquito blood feeds, the section on "Blood Meal Analysis" describes the different methods for determining the vertebrate source of mosquito blood meals and a brief history of these testing methods. Since this thesis looks at the feeding behaviour of Cx. pipiens, it is important to know how to determine what they are feeding upon. Discussion on other mosquito-borne diseases related to WNV gives a broader perspective to the thesis, and examines other diseases that have occurred in Ontario in the past. This is followed by background information on WNV and theories on how this virus came to North America and how it relates to Cx. pipiens. The final sections discuss Cx. pipiens and give background information to how this species of mosquito exists and behaves within North America.

Epidemiology and phylogenetic analysis of West Nile virus in Ontario, Canada, 2002-2003 /

Since the discovery of West Nile (WN) virus in the Western Hemisphere many surveillance programs have been implemented to monitor the epidemiology and genetic variation of WN virus in North America. This project was based on the WN virus Adult Mosquito Identification and Diagnostic Program conducted at Brock University for Ontario, Canada, during the 2002 and 2003 transmission seasons. There are three sections to this thesis. The first section investigated which mosquito species carry WN virus in Ontario, Canada throughout the 2002-2003 transmission seasons. It was found that from the 2002 data, eight mosquito species were detected with WN virus (Aedes vexans, Anopheles punctipennis, Coquilleltidia perlurbans, Culex salinarius, Cx. pipiens, Cx. resluans, Ochlerolalus Irivillalus and Och. Iriserialus) and 7.19% of the total mosquito pools tested were found to be WN virus positive (129 positive poolsll, 793 total pools tested). In 2003, WN virus was detected in only five mosquito species (Ae. vexans, Cx. salinarius, Och. Iriserialus, Cx. pipiens and Cx. resluans) and 1.42% of the total mosquito pools tested were WN virus positive (101 positive poolsl7,1 01 total pools tested). WN virus positive mosquito pools were detected 3-4 weeks earlier in 2002 compared to 2003 data. The second section investigated the actual infection rate (IR) of clearly identified Cx. pipiens and Cx. resluans from the 2002 outbreak. It was found that significantly more ex. resluans were infected with WN virus compared to ex. pipiens. The third section investigated the degree of variability of the WN virus genome. A 879 nucleotide section of the WN virus genome was amplified from 21 American Crows and 20 adult female mosquitoes from Ontario, Canada, and compared to the homologous region of the original New York 1999 Chilean Flamingo sequence (NY99FL). Seventy-two nucleotides from Ontario WN virus sequences showed variability compared to NY99FL with 10 synapotypic changes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a close relationship between Ontario and US WN virus sequences.

Patterns of faunal change at an upper Cambrian trilobite extinction event, Nolichucky Formation, Tennessee and Virginia

During the Upper Cambrian there were three mass extinctions, each of which eliminated at least half of the trilobite families living in North American shelf seas. The Nolichucky Formation preserves the record of one of these extinction events at the base of the Steptoean Stage. Sixty-six trilobite collections were made from five sections In Tennessee and Virginia. The lower Steptoean faunas are assigned to one low diversity, Aphelaspis-dominated biofacies, which can be recognized in several other parts of North America. In Tennessee, the underlying upper Marjuman strata contain two higher diversity biofacies, the Coosella-Glaphyraspis Biofacies and the Tricrepicephalus-Norwoodiid Biofacies. At least four different biofacies are present in other parts of North America: the Crepicephalus -Lonchocephalus Biofacies, the Kingstonia Biofacies, the Cedaria Biofacies, and the Uncaspis Biofacies. A new, species-based zonation for the Nolichucky Formation imcludes five zones, three of which are new. These zones are the Crepicephalus Zone, the Coosella perplexa Zone, the Aphelaspis buttsi Zone, the A. walcotti Zone and the A. tarda Zone. The Nolichucky Formation was deposited within a shallow shelf basin and consists largely of subtidal shales with stormgenerated carbonate interbeds. A relative deepening is recorded In the Nolichucky Formation near the extinction, and is indicated In some sections by the appearance of shale-rich, distal storm deposits above a carbonate-rich, more proximal storm deposit sequence. A comparable deepening-upward sequence occurs near the extinction in the Great Basin of southwestern United States and in central Texas, and this suggests a possible eustatic control. In other parts of North America, the extinction IS recorded In a variety of environmental settings that range from near-shore to slope. In shelf environments, there is a marked decrease in diversity, and a sharp reduction in biofacies differentiation. Although extinctions do take place in slope environments, there IS no net reduction in diversity because of the immigration of several new taxa.

The relationship between stem-form, stand-closure and site -conditions : the influence of environmental conditions on tree allometry and forest structure in west-central Alberta

Changes in the configuration of a tree stern result insignificant differences in its total volume and in the proportion of that volume that is merchantable timber. Tree allometry, as represented by stem-fo~, is the result of the vertical force of gravity and the horizontal force of wind. The effect of wind force is demonstrated in the relationship between stem-form, standclosure and site-conditions. An increase in wind force on the individual tree due to a decrease in stand density should produce a more tapered tree. The density of the stand is determined by the conditions that the trees are growing under. The ability of the tree to respond to increased wind force may also be a function of these conditions . This stem-form/stand-closure/site-conditions relationship was examined using a pre-existing database from westcentral Alberta. This database consisted of environmental, vegetation, soils and timber data covering a wide range of sites. There were 653 sample trees with 82 variables that formed the basis of the analysis. There were eight tree species consisting of Pinus contorta, Picea mariana, Picea engelmannii x glauca, Abies lasiocarpa, Larix laricina, Populus tremuloides, Betula papyrifera and Populus balsamifera plus a comprehensive all-species data set. As the actual conformation of the stern is very individual, stem-fo~was represented by the diameter at breast height to total height r~tio. The four stand-closure variables, crown closure, total basal area, total volume and total number of stems were reduced to total basal area and total number of stems utilizing a bivariate correlation matrix by species. Site-conditions were subdivided into macro, meso and micro variables and reduced in number 3 using cross-tabulations, bivariate correlation and principal components analysis as screening tools. The stem-fo~/stand-closure relationship was examined using bivariate correlation coefficients for stem-fo~ with total number of stems and stem-fo~ with total basal area. The stem-fo~/site-conditions and the stand-closure/site- conditions relationships were examined using multiple correlation coefficients. The stem-form/stand-closure/site-conditions relationship was examined using multiple correlation coefficients in separate analyses for both total number of stems and total basal area. An increase in stand-closure produced a decrease in stem-form for both total number of stems and total basal area for most species. There was a significant relationship between stem-form and site-conditions and between stand-closure and site-conditions for both total number of stems and total basal area for most species. There was a significant relationship between the stemform and site-conditions, including the stand-closure, for most species; total number of stems was involved independently of the site-conditions in the prediction of stem-form and total basal area was not. Larix laricina and Betula papyrifera were the exceptions to the trends observed with most species. The influence of both stand-closure (total number of stems in particular) and site-conditions (elevation in particular) suggest that forest management practices should include these- ecological parameters in determining appropriate restocking levels.

The Canada Southern Railway, extending from Detroit and Toledo to Buffalo and Niagara Falls, forms the quickest and most attractive route between the west and the east.

Includes routes and rates: p.33-64.

Message from the President of the United States, in relation to the claim of Virginia, an account of interest paid by that State, on moneys borrowed for the payment of the militia thereof, for services rendered the United States.--

April 13, 1824. Printed by order of the Senate of the United States.