The teneurin C-terminal associated peptides (TCAPs) are a newly-elucidated family of four bioactive peptides that were found during a screen for novel corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-like peptide families. The predicted peptide sequences have the characteristics of a bioactive peptide and are 40 or 41 amino acid residues long. One of the peptides in the family, TCAP-1, has numerous in vitro effects, where it modulates cAMP accumulation, neuronal proliferation, neurite outgrowth, brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, and possesses neuroprotective effects under alkalotic or hypoxic conditions. However, little is known about TCAP-1’s in vivo effects. Given the structural similarity of TCAP-1 to the CRF family, it is expected that these peptide systems may interact in vivo. The aims of this research were to 1) investigate the role of TCAP-1 on CRF- and stress-induced behaviours in rats, and determine if intracerebral TCAP-1 could modulate stress-induced anxiety-like behaviours; 2) determine the areas of the brain where TCAP-1 is taken up and is active; and 3) investigate the role of TCAP-1’s cytoskeletal modulation on stress-sensitive areas of the brain so as to determine a mechanism for long-term behavioural changes in the brain. I have established that TCAP-1 modulates anxiety-like behaviour in exploratory tests of anxiety, and that TCAP-1 is particularly active in the limbic system, including the hippocampus, amygdala, septum, and medial prefrontal cortex, and that TCAP-1 increases the dendritic spine density in the hippocampus, a brain area important for anxiety, learning, and memory. These studies have confirmed that TCAP-1 indeed plays a role in stress-like behaviours and modulates stress-related processes in the brain.

The teneurin C-terminal associated peptides (TCAPs) are a newly-elucidated family of four bioactive peptides that were found during a screen for novel corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-like peptide families. The predicted peptide sequences have the characteristics of a bioactive peptide and are 40 or 41 amino acid residues long. One of the peptides in the family, TCAP-1, has numerous in vitro effects, where it modulates cAMP accumulation, neuronal proliferation, neurite outgrowth, brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, and possesses neuroprotective effects under alkalotic or hypoxic conditions. However, little is known about TCAP-1’s in vivo effects. Given the structural similarity of TCAP-1 to the CRF family, it is expected that these peptide systems may interact in vivo. The aims of this research were to 1) investigate the role of TCAP-1 on CRF- and stress-induced behaviours in rats, and determine if intracerebral TCAP-1 could modulate stress-induced anxiety-like behaviours; 2) determine the areas of the brain where TCAP-1 is taken up and is active; and 3) investigate the role of TCAP-1’s cytoskeletal modulation on stress-sensitive areas of the brain so as to determine a mechanism for long-term behavioural changes in the brain. I have established that TCAP-1 modulates anxiety-like behaviour in exploratory tests of anxiety, and that TCAP-1 is particularly active in the limbic system, including the hippocampus, amygdala, septum, and medial prefrontal cortex, and that TCAP-1 increases the dendritic spine density in the hippocampus, a brain area important for anxiety, learning, and memory. These studies have confirmed that TCAP-1 indeed plays a role in stress-like behaviours and modulates stress-related processes in the brain.

The Mackenzie Mountains of NW Canada contains a superb record of biotic evolution through the late Ediacaran-early Cambrian that is ideal for studying the biological, ecological, behavioural, and environmental innovations that occurred during the Ediacaran and basal Cambrian. Newly discovered Ediacara-type megafossils in the uppermost Blueflower Formation at Sekwi Brook include tubes possibly attributable to suspension-feeding annelids, the preserved top of a large frond holdfast, and several problematica. These fossils represent the youngest and shallowest Ediacaran fossils known from NW Canada, and differ significantly from the communities of deep-water rangeomorphs preserved lower in the succession. Behavioural evolution of the infauna through the Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian can be observed in the rich trace fossil records of the Blueflower and Ingta formations. Trace fossils in the lower part of the Blueflower Formation are characterized by millimeter-diameter, simple, horizontal burrows of microbial grazers and deposit feeders that demonstrated very primitive and inconsistent two-dimensional avoidance strategies. Upper Blueflower trace fossils additionally include three-dimensional avoidance burrows and oblique burrows of filter-feeders or predators, reflecting new behavioural innovations and increased three-dimensional use of the substrate. The Cambrian strata of the Ingta Formation further include probing, U-shaped, and radiating burrows, irregular networks, and arthropod trails. These new feeding strategies were accompanied by increasingly more systematic grazing burrows. The development of more diverse feeding styles upwards through the succession both caused and reflected the spatial and temporal disappearance of Proterozoic matgrounds and their replacement by Phanerozoic mixgrounds. Avoidance strategies among grazing burrows became more consistent and complicated upward throughout this succession, increasingly resembling the guided meanders of Phanerozoic trace fossils. This implies that, while the first avoidance burrows probably reflected the responses of individual burrowers to individual stimuli, genetically-coded programmed behaviour developed and became dominant in the earliest Cambrian. These observations imply that increases in sensory and neural capacity accompanied skeletonization as a major factor in the Cambrian explosion of animal life. / Thesis (Master, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-01-27 12:37:17.741

What does driving a sports car have to do with a first kiss, shopping in New York or purchasing a pair of designer shoes? These comparisons were used in a recent ad campaign for the Alfa Romeo Spider and are prime examples of an experiential analogy. The predominance of experiential analogies in recent advertisements suggests that they are persuasive. Yet understanding what comes to mind when consumers process these comparisons remains to be investigated. By drawing on analogy and consumption experience literatures, an important moderator of analogical persuasiveness is identified, preference for the base experience, and the influence of emotional knowledge transfer on consumer attitudes is explored. Substantial focus has been devoted to understanding how consumers learn and are persuaded by functional analogies. Digital cameras have been compared to computer scanners, personal digital assistants to secretaries and off-line web readers to VCRs. These functional analogies differ substantially from experiential analogies where consumers are encouraged to compare two experiences. Three studies were conducted to investigate what contributes to the persuasive effect of an experiential analogy. Study 1 explored how base preference moderates the effect of emotional knowledge transfer on consumer attitudes. The findings suggest that an analogy is maximally persuasive for those who like the experience that an advertised product is compared to and cognitively associate a high number of emotions with the advertised product. In Study 2, a cognitive load manipulation was used to provide additional support for the effect of emotional knowledge transfer and base preference on consumer attitudes. Study 3 explored another important moderator, emotional soundness, specific to the persuasiveness of an experiential analogy. The findings from Study 3 further replicated the effect of base preference and emotional knowledge transfer on consumer attitudes and demonstrate that there needs to be sufficient underlying similarities in order for one to infer that the comparison experience and the advertised target product would have emotions in common with one another. The role of affect in the processing of an experiential analogy was also investigated.

x, 183 leaves : ill., maps, photos, tables ; 31 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Zoology, 1979

132 leaves : ill., graphs, tables, maps ; 29 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Zoology, 1981

Doctor of Philosophy / The genus Poltys C.L. Koch is revised for Australia and partly examined for the wider Australasian region. Five of the ten species originally described from Australia are found to be synonymous with South East Asian species, a further three are synonymous with an Australian species and four which were previously overlooked are newly described, resulting in a total of eight current species recorded from Australia. Poltys coronatus Keyserling, P. keyserlingi Keyserling, P. multituberculatus Rainbow and P. penicillatus Rainbow are synonymised with P. illepidus C.L. Koch; P. microtuberculatus Rainbow is synonymised with P. stygius Thorell; P. bimaculatus Keyserling, P. mammeatus Keyserling and P. salebrosus Rainbow are synonymised with P. laciniosus Keyserling; P. sigillatus Chrysanthus from New Guinea is synonymised with P. frenchi Hogg. Five new species are described, four from Australia, P. grayi sp.nov., P. jujorum sp.nov., P. milledgei sp.nov. and P. noblei sp.nov., and P. timmeh sp.nov. from New Caledonia. A checklist of all Poltys types described from the region, including illustrations, is included. The delimitation of the Australian species is aided and confirmed by DNA sequencing. Sequences from two genes and morphological characters are used to reconstruct a phylogeny of the Australian species. The generic relationships of Poltys are examined in the context of the putative tribe Poltyini (Simon, 1895). No firm conclusions about the relationships of Poltys can be made, however the results indicate that the Poltyini is polyphyletic. The results of field studies are presented; these indicate that P. noblei is less likely to move between web sites than diurnal taxa referenced from other studies. Specimens were shown to sometimes occupy the same, or a closely adjacent web site, for over eight months. Spiders most often move during spring and summer but often remain in the same site throughout winter. Specimens of Poltys noblei are also shown to be unevenly distributed on trees and bushes in respect to aspect and position. It is suggested that these observations indicate the importance of camouflage to deter wasp and bird predators. Specimens of several Poltys species were reared from egg sacs, confirming male–female identification and showing the variation in abdominal shape between siblings. Growth data indicate that sibling males and females cannot normally interbreed; males mature after 2–4 moults, females after 8–11 moults. Field and cage observations of general aspects of Poltys biology are presented including preferred habitat, prey capture and handling, courtship and mating, competition and web construction.

Thesis (Dip.App.Psych.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1977.

Thesis (B.A. Hons. 1976) from the Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide.

Thesis (B.A. Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1977.