American Desi : representation and reproduction in diaspora /

This study explores ~ow South Asian diasporic film represents and reproduces South Asian identity in the diaspora. It commences with a review of the literature in cultural studies and post-colonial theory on identity in the diaspora. A textual analysis of three films: American Desi, Bollywood/Hollywood, and East Is East, helps frame the characteristics of South Asian diasporic film. Theoretical concepts of diaspora and identity are extended to this reading of the films. In-depth, open-ended, semi structured interviews were conducted with eight participants to test the validity of theoretical concepts through participants' own reading of American Desi. Findings indicate that while theoretical concepts of identity can be usefully applied at the level of the text, these perspectives do not always easily explain participants' interpretation of the film in relation to their everyday experiences.

Personality traits and personal values : an investigation into the importance of each in the prediction of behaviour /

Personality traits and personal values are two important domains of individual differences. Traits are enduring and distinguishable patterns of behaviour whereas values are societally taught, stable, individual preferences that guide behaviour in order to reach a specific end state. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relations between self and peer report within the domains of personality traits and values, to examine the correlations between values and traits, and to explore the amount of incremental validity of traits and values in predicting behaviour. Two hundred and fiftytwo men and women from a university setting completed self and peer reports on three questionnaires. In order to assess personality traits, the HEXACO-PI (Lee & Ashton, 2004) was used to identify levels of 6 major dimensions of personality in participants. To assess values, the Schwartz Value Survey (Schwartz, 1992) was used to identify the importance each participant placed on each of Schwartz's 10 value types. To measure behaviour, a Behavior Scale, created by Bardi and Schwartz (2003), consisting of items designed to measure the frequency of value-expressive behaviour was used. As expected, correlations between self and peer reports for the personality scales were high indicating that personality traits are easily observable to other people. Correlations between self and peer reports for the values and behaviour scales were only moderate, suggesting that some goals, and behaviours expressive of those goals, may not always be observable to others. Consistent with previous research, there were many strong correlations between traits and values. In addition to the similarities with past research, the present study found that the personality factor Honesty-Humility was correlated strongly with values scales (with five correlations exceeding .25). In the prediction of behaviour, it was found that both personahty and values were able to account for significant and similar amounts of variance. Personality outpredicted values for some behaviours, but the opposite was true of other behaviours. Each domain provided incremental validity beyond the other domain. The impUcations for these findings, along with limitations, and possibilities for future research are also discussed.

Differentiation of morphology and reproductive traits in the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus): a comparison between native and introduced populations

House Finches (CarpQdacqs mexiCAnuS) were introduced to Long Island, New York from southern'California in 1940. Apparently, an initial sample of less than 100 birds has given rise to a population that now occupies much of the eastern United States. This study was to determine if morphological and reproductive changes have taken place in introduced eastern birds, which have colonized a novel environment. A study area in Goleta, California (CAL) represented the parental population whereas for comparison, House Finches in St. Catharines, Ontario (ONT) represented the introduced population. Interlocality variation in 25 morphometric characters of 100 adult House Finches was examined statistically. Singleclassification analysis of variance revealed significant interlocality differentiation in seven characters of males and nine of females. Females showed differentiation in more limb elements than males. Analysis of character variation using discriminant and principal component analysis distinguished samples on the basis of variation in shape. Compared to CAL, aNT birds (especially females) had smaller extremities relative to certain core parts and weight. Females showed similar patterns of character covariation in each locality on the second principal component, which suggests that differentiation of the ONT population may not be solely environmentally induced. Sexual dimorphism was evident in four charaoters in aNT and five in CAL. Disoriminant analysis distinguished sex on the basis of variation in shape. Males possessed a relatively larger flying apparatus and small.er hind limbs than females. The dearee of sexual dimorphism did not vary sicnifioantly between looalities. 3 Data on reproduotive parameters were oolleoted in 1983 and 1984 in ONT, and 1984 in CAL. In 1984, Bouse Finohes began breedina approximately three months earlier in CAL than in ONT. In ONT, there was no sianifioant differenoe in mean olutoh initiation date between 1983 and 1984. In both looalities most nests oontained either four or five ea",s, and olutoh size differenoes between looalites were not signifioant. Seasonal deolines in olutch size were evident in ONT but not in CAL. Intralooality variation in e.g weight and size was not related to clutch size. E",g weiaht showed no seasonal trend in ONT, but inoreased sianifioantly with breed ina season in OAL. In both looalities e8'''' weiaht increased sipifioantly with order of layina in olutohes of four but not in clutohes of five. Eag's in ONT in 1983 and 1984 were sip.ificantly larser than in CAL in 1984. The modal inoubation period was 13 days and did not vary sip.ifioantly between localites. In both looalities nestling weiaht on the day of hatohing was oorrelated to fresh ega welaht. For muoh of the period between hatohing and 14 days post-hatoh, ONT nestlinas were signifioantly laraer than CAL nestlings in terms of weiaht. bill length, bill depth, and manus length.

Reproduction in the temperate crayfish, Orconectes rusticus: intermale aggression, copulatary behaviour, and sperm competition

The chelipeds of Orconectes rusticus are sexually dimorphic; males possessing the larger. Males use their chelae in intermale aggressive interactions, both to threaten, and assault opponents. In dyadic interactions males with larger chelae were dominant over otherwise physically similar opponents. A high frequency of attack behaviour, coupled with a low frequency of threats during these interactions indicates that actual physical contact is required for opponent assessment. Large clawed males oriented females into the copulatory position faster than small clawed males. Females more frequently escaped the precopulatory-grasp attempts of small clawed males. Additionally, male-female pairs that included a large clawed male remained in copula longer than pairs that included a small clawed male. Sperm of the second male to mate took precedence over the sperm of the primary male. Sperm precedence was incomplete; about 900/0 paternity accrued to the second male.

Sexual behavior and factors affecting female reproduction in house and field crickets

The objective of this investigation was to clarify the adaptive significance of female sexual behaviours in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus, and the Texas field cricket, Gryllus integer. Experiments were focussed primarily on: nutritional factors affecting female reproductive success; the ontogeny of female sexual behaviours; female mating frequency and progeny production; and the pattern of sperm competition. Reproduction of singly mated female A. domesticus assigned to 3 nutritional regimes was compared . Females fed a vitamin and protein-enriched mouse chow, cannibalistic females, and starved females produced on the average, 513 , 200 and 68 offspring, respectively. Cannibals probably could not obtain the same amounts of essential nutrients as females fed mouse chow. Reabsorption of oocytes was likely the major factor contributing to the decreased reproduction of starved females. In addition, female !. domesticus fed mouse chow, but allowed constant access to males produced 11 times as many offspring than did females fed corn meal. Females fed corn meal probably could not absorb or synthesize enough dietary lipids, thus resulting in poor ovariole growth. Female !. domesticus first mate at an average adult age of 7 days, closely corresponding to when they first exhibit positive phonotaxis. Females mate repeatedly and often consume the externally attached spermatophore. In ~. domesticus, females allowed constant access to males produced significantly more offspring than did single maters. Similarly, doubly mated G. integer females produced more offspring than did single maters. This difference resulted largely from the failure of many single maters to reproduce. Remating by female crickets partly functions in offsetting the possibility of a failed initial mating. Nymph production increased significantly with the time the spermatophore was attached in singly mated ~. domesticus. Spermatophore consumption by the female was not affected by male guarding behaviour, and the interval between mating and eating of the spermatophore may often be shorter than the time required for maximum insemination. Some degree of sperm depletion in singly mated !. domesticus and G. integer may have occurred. The patterns of daily offspring production of singly and multiplymated females suggests that a factor provided by a male during mating stimulates female oviposition and/or egg production. Female crickets also might acquire nutrition from spermatophore consumption, a benefit that is augmented by female multiple mating. The electrophoretic examination of various allozymes in ~. integer did not permit determination of a pattern of sperm competition. However, the possibility of last male sperm predominance is related to male guarding behaviour.

Behavioural and neural correlates of emotion recognition as a function of psychopathic personality traits

Psychopathy is associated with well-known characteristics such as a lack of empathy and impulsive behaviour, but it has also been associated with impaired recognition of emotional facial expressions. The use of event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine this phenomenon could shed light on the specific time course and neural activation associated with emotion recognition processes as they relate to psychopathic traits. In the current study we examined the PI , N170, and vertex positive potential (VPP) ERP components and behavioural performance with respect to scores on the Self-Report Psychopathy (SRP-III) questionnaire. Thirty undergraduates completed two tasks, the first of which required the recognition and categorization of affective face stimuli under varying presentation conditions. Happy, angry or fearful faces were presented under with attention directed to the mouth, nose or eye region and varied stimulus exposure duration (30, 75, or 150 ms). We found that behavioural performance to be unrelated to psychopathic personality traits in all conditions, but there was a trend for the Nl70 to peak later in response to fearful and happy facial expressions for individuals high in psychopathic traits. However, the amplitude of the VPP was significantly negatively associated with psychopathic traits, but only in response to stimuli presented under a nose-level fixation. Finally, psychopathic traits were found to be associated with longer N170 latencies in response to stimuli presented under the 30 ms exposure duration. In the second task, participants were required to inhibit processing of irrelevant affective and scrambled face distractors while categorizing unrelated word stimuli as living or nonliving. Psychopathic traits were hypothesized to be positively associated with behavioural performance, as it was proposed that individuals high in psychopathic traits would be less likely to automatically attend to task-irrelevant affective distractors, facilitating word categorization. Thus, decreased interference would be reflected in smaller N170 components, indicating less neural activity associated with processing of distractor faces. We found that overall performance decreased in the presence of angry and fearful distractor faces as psychopathic traits increased. In addition, the amplitude of the N170 decreased and the latency increased in response to affective distractor faces for individuals with higher levels of psychopathic traits. Although we failed to find the predicted behavioural deficit in emotion recognition in Task 1 and facilitation effect in Task 2, the findings of increased N170 and VPP latencies in response to emotional faces are consistent wi th the proposition that abnormal emotion recognition processes may in fact be inherent to psychopathy as a continuous personality trait.

Influence of dietary nutrients on life history-related traits of black flies and mosquitoes

The sugar-feeding ecology of dipteran vectors has recently been targeted because it presents opportunities to inoculate common food sources for these dipterans with entomopathogenic bacteria as a means of controlling the population of host-seeking adult dipteran vectors. Whereas this approach to vector control holds some promise, differences in the nutrient composition and concentration in sugary food sources can influence the food selection pattern of dipteran vectors and potentially confound the outcomes of field trials on the efficacy of entomopathogenic bacteria as vector control agents. Further, nutrient components of bacteria-inoculated artificial diets may present unintended effects of extending the survivorship or fecundity of the target population and potentially render the whole approach counterproductive. The present study investigated the diet-specific factors that influence the foraging decisions of female Simulium venustum/verecundum (Diptera: Simuliidae) and female Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae) on artificial nectar and honeydew. Paired choice experiments showed that the black flies forage more frequently from high calorie diets, which contained melezitose, or those diets that contained amino acids, compared to low calorie melezitose-free diets or amino acid-free diets. The mosquitoes however displayed a more random diet selection pattern. The effects of sugary diets on certain life-history traits considered to be important to the ecological fitness of the black flies and mosquitoes were also investigated. Sugary diets had no significant effect on the survivorship and fecundity of the black flies, but they influenced the resistance of Leucocytozoon-infected flies to the parasite. Amino acid-containing diets appeared to extend the survival of mosquitoes, and also allowed them to take more vertebrate blood when they blood fed.

Psychopathic Traits and Endocrine Function as Predictors of Costly and Non-Costly Reactive Aggression

I investigated factors of psychopathy (fearless dominance, self-centered impulsivity) and hormones (testosterone, cortisol, estradiol) in predicting costly and non-costly reactive aggression. I hypothesized that whereas self-centred impulsivity (SCI) would promote costly aggression, fearless dominance (FD) would promote non-costly aggression. Costly aggression was measured using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm and noncostly aggression was measured using one-shot dictator games. In women (n = 97; M age = 19.86 years), greater SCI and lower baseline estradiol predicted greater costly aggression; also, greater FD predicted greater non-costly aggression, particularly among women with lower SCI. In men (n = 104; M age = 20.15 years), psychopathy and endocrine function did not predict costly aggression; however, greater FD and greater increases in testosterone were associated with greater non-costly aggression. Thus, there are sex-specific links between psychopathic personality traits, hormones, and aggressive behaviour, and psychopathic traits and endocrine function predict aggressive behaviour independently of each other.

The Influence of Male Diet on Life History Traits of Female Mosquitoes

In the field, mosquitoes characteristically feed on sugars soon after emergence and intermittently during their adult lives. Sugar meals are commonly derived from plant nectar and homopteran honeydew, and without them, adults can only survive for a few days on larval reserves. In addition to sugar, females of most species rely on blood for the initiation and maintenance of egg development; thus their reproductive success depends to some extent on the availability of blood hosts. Males, on the other hand, feed exclusively on sugars. Consequently, their sexual maturation and reproductive success is largely dependent upon access to sugar sources. Plant nectar and homopteran honeydew are the two main sugar sources utilized by mosquitoes in the wild. Previous laboratory studies had shown that differences between nectar sources can affect the survivorship and biting frequency of disease vectoring mosquitoes. However, little is known on how sugar composition influence the reproductive processes in male mosquitoes. Male mosquitoes transfer accessory gland proteins and other hormones to their mates along with sperm during mating. In the female, these seminal fluid constituents exert their influence on reproductive genes that control ovulation and vitellogenesis. The present study tests the hypothesis that the mates of males consuming different sugar meals will exhibit varying levels of induction of vitellogenin (a gene which regulates the expression of egg yolk precursor proteins). Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to investigate how each sugar meal indirectly influences vitellogenin mRNA abundance in female Anopheles stephensi following mating. Results indicate that mates of nectar-fed males exhibit 2-fold greater change in vitellogenin expression than the mates of honeydew-fed males. However, this response did not occur in non-blood fed controls. These findings suggest that the stimulatory effect of mating on vitellogenesis in blood meal-reliant (i.e. anautogenous) mosquitoes may only be synergistic in nature. The present study also sought to compare the potential fitness costs of mating incurred by females that do not necessarily require a blood meal to initiate a reproductive cycle (i.e., exhibit autogeny). Females of the facultatively autogenous mosquito, Culex molestus were allowed to mate with males sustained on either nectar or honedyew. Mean lifetime fecundity and survivorship of females under the two different mating regimes were then recorded. Additionally, one-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to verify the transfer of male accessory gland proteins to the sperm storage organs of females during mating.While there was no significant difference in survival between the test treatments, the mates of nectar-fed males produced 11% more eggs on average than mates of honeydew-fed males. However, additional data are needed to justify the extrapolation of these findings to natural settings. These findings prompt further investigation as the differences caused by diet variation in males may be reflected across other life history traits such as mating frequency and insemination capacity.

Personality traits and individual differences predict changes in postural control under conditions of height-induced postural threat

This thesis explored whether individual characteristics could predict changes in postural control in young adults under conditions of height-induced postural threat. Eighty-two young adults completed questionnaires to assess trait anxiety, trait movement reinvestment, physical risk-taking, and previous experience with height-related activities. Tests of static (quiet standing) and anticipatory (rise to toes) postural control were completed under conditions of low and high postural threat manipulated through changes in surface height. Individual characteristics were able to significantly predict changes in static, but not anticipatory postural control. Trait movement reinvestment and physical risk-taking were the most influential predictors. Evidence was provided that changes in fear and physiological arousal mediated the relationship between physical risk-taking and changes in static postural control. These results suggest that individual characteristics shape the postural strategy employed under threatening conditions and may be important for clinicians to consider during balance assessment and treatment protocols.

Morphophysiological traits in crop improvement case study-sorghum [by] Ratikanta Maiti; ed. [by] Pedro A. Wesche-Ebeling, Manuel Rojas Garcidueñas [and] Paul R. Earl

UANL

Grammaire des grammaires ou analyse raisonneé des meillerus traités sur la langue francaise

UANL

Quelques réflexions sur le rôle de l’histoire dans la détermination des droits ancestraux ou issus de traités

La jurisprudence portant sur les droits ancestraux ou issus de traités des peuples autochtones fait peu de place aux ordres juridiques antérieurs à la création de colonies françaises ou anglaises. Les tribunaux s’accordent d’ailleurs une très grande discrétion dans l’utilisation de ces normes ; ils assurent également la prééminence du système juridique canadien. Ils ménagent toutefois un meilleur accueil aux récits traditionnels qui sont susceptibles de constituer des éléments de preuve. Par ailleurs, antérieurement au XIXe siècle, les peuples autochtones jouissent de droits de nature internationale ; les traités conclus avec eux résultent souvent de négociations orales. Les droits qui en résultent sont maintenant constitutionnalisés, ce qui écarte certaines conceptions de l’époque comme celle voulant que les gouvernements étaient libres de faire abstraction de ces engagements. Par ailleurs, les litiges actuels soulèvent des questions qui n’étaient pas susceptibles de se poser il y a deux siècles. Dans ces conditions, l’histoire ne peut fournir de réponses définitives ou univoques.

Validation des modèles de pharmacologie de sécurité et évaluation de la valeur thérapeutique de l'oxytocine dans le traitement de l'infarctus du myocarde

En février, 2009 un rapport de PHRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) confirmait que plus de 300 médicaments pour le traitement des maladies cardiaques étaient en phase d’essais cliniques ou en révision par les agences règlementaires. Malgré cette abondance de nouvelles thérapies cardiovasculaires, le nombre de nouveaux médicaments approuvés chaque année (toutes indications confondues) est en déclin avec seulement 17 et 24 nouveaux médicaments approuvés en 2007 et 2008, respectivement. Seulement 1 médicament sur 5000 sera approuvé après 10 à 15 ans de développement au coût moyen de 800 millions $. De nombreuses initiatives ont été lancées par les agences règlementaires afin d’augmenter le taux de succès lors du développement des nouveaux médicaments mais les résultats tardent. Cette stagnation est attribuée au manque d’efficacité du nouveau médicament dans bien des cas mais les évaluations d’innocuité remportent la palme des causes d’arrêt de développement. Primum non nocere, la maxime d’Hippocrate, père de la médecine, demeure d’actualité en développement préclinique et clinique des médicaments. Environ 3% des médicaments approuvés au cours des 20 dernières années ont, par la suite, été retirés du marché suite à l’identification d’effets adverses. Les effets adverses cardiovasculaires représentent la plus fréquente cause d’arrêt de développement ou de retrait de médicament (27%) suivi par les effets sur le système nerveux. Après avoir défini le contexte des évaluations de pharmacologie de sécurité et l’utilisation des bio-marqueurs, nous avons validé des modèles d’évaluation de l’innocuité des nouveaux médicaments sur les systèmes cardiovasculaires, respiratoires et nerveux. Évoluant parmi les contraintes et les défis des programmes de développements des médicaments, nous avons évalué l’efficacité et l’innocuité de l’oxytocine (OT), un peptide endogène à des fins thérapeutiques. L’OT, une hormone historiquement associée à la reproduction, a démontré la capacité d’induire la différentiation in vitro de lignées cellulaires (P19) mais aussi de cellules souches embryonnaires en cardiomyocytes battants. Ces observations nous ont amené à considérer l’utilisation de l’OT dans le traitement de l’infarctus du myocarde. Afin d’arriver à cet objectif ultime, nous avons d’abord évalué la pharmacocinétique de l’OT dans un modèle de rat anesthésié. Ces études ont mis en évidence des caractéristiques uniques de l’OT dont une courte demi-vie et un profil pharmacocinétique non-linéaire en relation avec la dose administrée. Ensuite, nous avons évalué les effets cardiovasculaires de l’OT sur des animaux sains de différentes espèces. En recherche préclinique, l’utilisation de plusieurs espèces ainsi que de différents états (conscients et anesthésiés) est reconnue comme étant une des meilleures approches afin d’accroître la valeur prédictive des résultats obtenus chez les animaux à la réponse chez l’humain. Des modèles de rats anesthésiés et éveillés, de chiens anesthésiés et éveillés et de singes éveillés avec suivi cardiovasculaire par télémétrie ont été utilisés. L’OT s’est avéré être un agent ayant d’importants effets hémodynamiques présentant une réponse variable selon l’état (anesthésié ou éveillé), la dose, le mode d’administration (bolus ou infusion) et l’espèce utilisée. Ces études nous ont permis d’établir les doses et régimes de traitement n’ayant pas d’effets cardiovasculaires adverses et pouvant être utilisées dans le cadre des études d’efficacité subséquentes. Un modèle porcin d’infarctus du myocarde avec reperfusion a été utilisé afin d’évaluer les effets de l’OT dans le traitement de l’infarctus du myocarde. Dans le cadre d’un projet pilote, l’infusion continue d’OT initiée immédiatement au moment de la reperfusion coronarienne a induit des effets cardiovasculaires adverses chez tous les animaux traités incluant une réduction de la fraction de raccourcissement ventriculaire gauche et une aggravation de la cardiomyopathie dilatée suite à l’infarctus. Considérant ces observations, l’approche thérapeutique fût révisée afin d’éviter le traitement pendant la période d’inflammation aigüe considérée maximale autour du 3ième jour suite à l’ischémie. Lorsqu’initié 8 jours après l’ischémie myocardique, l’infusion d’OT a engendré des effets adverses chez les animaux ayant des niveaux endogènes d’OT élevés. Par ailleurs, aucun effet adverse (amélioration non-significative) ne fût observé chez les animaux ayant un faible niveau endogène d’OT. Chez les animaux du groupe placebo, une tendance à observer une meilleure récupération chez ceux ayant des niveaux endogènes initiaux élevés fût notée. Bien que la taille de la zone ischémique à risque soit comparable à celle rencontrée chez les patients atteints d’infarctus, l’utilisation d’animaux juvéniles et l’absence de maladies coronariennes sont des limitations importantes du modèle porcin utilisé. Le potentiel de l’OT pour le traitement de l’infarctus du myocarde demeure mais nos résultats suggèrent qu’une administration systémique à titre de thérapie de remplacement de l’OT devrait être considérée en fonction du niveau endogène. De plus amples évaluations de la sécurité du traitement avec l’OT dans des modèles animaux d’infarctus du myocarde seront nécessaires avant de considérer l’utilisation d’OT dans une population de patients atteint d’un infarctus du myocarde. En contre partie, les niveaux endogènes d’OT pourraient posséder une valeur pronostique et des études cliniques à cet égard pourraient être d’intérêt.