A main concern in fisheries science has been to identify an accurate index of fish abundance. An underlying paradigm in the science has been that the amount of effort (calculated in hours and standardized for boat size) spent fishing was the best variable to be used to account for the variation in catches. The use of the ratio, catch per unit of effort (cpue), assumes that variations in fish abundance are due to human-controlled processes above the ocean's surface. It does not account for variation due to oceanographic processes that affect fish behaviour and movement patterns below the ocean's surface. This study investigated the possibility that oceanographic factors such as temperature, salinity and depth could have effects on the variations observed in the apparent abundance of a demersal rockfish, Pacific Ocean Perch (Sebastes alutus. Gilbert). Simultaneous monitoring of physical variables and fish abundance estimation was achieved by attaching oceanographic equipment to the fishing gear of commercial vessels, monitoring the acoustic equipment and sampling the fish catch. It was found that Perch prefer a temperature range from 6.7 °C, down to at least 4.8 °C and that their movement patterns are linked to the movement of these temperatures by coastal wind patterns. Perch prefer areas with steep bathymetry, characterized by frontal activity due to interactions between the local bathymetry and tidal currents. Concerns that sampling only from highly successful commercial vessels may have biased abundance estimates, prompted the analysis of historical records of fish catch and government research surveys. Analyses between different boat sizes, different areas and different seasons from the original historical data base and a corrected subset revealed that it was mainly differences between areas that was responsible for the biasing of estimates. Deeper areas predictably produced more fish for all sizes of boats, but were fished more often by the larger boats used in the study. Therefore the field abundance estimates are likely to be biased towards areas of larger perch concentrations. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

The differences among certain physiological changes occurring in response to mirthful laughter, directed relaxation, and verbal speech were investigated. These changes included amount of muscle tension, as measured with surface electromyography, in the forehead and in the upper body as recorded from the forearms bilaterally, peripheral surface skin temperature, heart rate, and respiration rate. The study sought to determine whether the net effect of laughter, as measured on these five variables after a three-minute refractory period, is a more relaxed state than existed before the laughter. Determination of the similarity between the changes following laughter and the changes following directed relaxation was made in comparison with the changes following verbal speech. Factors of prior anxiety, pre- and post-self-esteem levels, humor level, and laughter intensity were examined. Historical and theoretical perspectives were reviewed, as well as the known information on physiological responses to laughter.

The regulation of the serum triglyceride responses to fat ingestion have been examined in normolipidemic men. To evaluate the existing methods for comparing chylomicron-triglyceride clearance, the oral and intravenous fat tolerance tests and a steady state duodenal perfusion method were compared. Good correlations (r > 0.8) were found between each of these methods. Since the intravenous fat tolerance test is independent of fat absorption, these data suggested that the serum triglyceride response to fat feeding was largely determined by the rate of chylomicron-triglyceride clearance. To determine the influence of the quantity and type of meal fat on postprandial serum triglyceride concentrations, the serum triglyceride responses to three different doses of dairy cream, and to standard doses of olive and sunflower oil were examined. For a given type of fat, the magnitude of postprandial lipemia (the integrated serum triglyceride excursion) varied directly with the quantity of fat in the meal. This finding suggested that the chylomicron- triglyceride clearance system(s) did not become saturated even after large fat meals. In addition, it appeared that the hormonal factors released in response to fat ingestion (some of which are known to increase lipoprotein lipase activity in vitro) did not increase the rate of chylomicron-triglyceride clearance. If the quantity of fat in a meal was fixed, then postprandial lipemia increased with increasing saturation of the triglyceride fatty acids. These differences did not appear to reflect differences in triglyceride absorption. Since acute fat feeding per se did not appear to stimulate chylomicron-triglyceride clearance, the effects of dietary proteins and carbohydrates were studied. The addition of up to 35g protein to a standard test meal did not affect postprandial lipemia. These results were supported by the observation that protein ingestion did not affect intravenous fat tolerance. Postprandial serum triglyceride concentrations were significantly influenced by carbohydrate ingestion. Fructose (50g) and sucrose (100g) markedly increased postprandial lipemia, although glucose ingestion did not. In agreement with earlier studies, glucose ingestion decreased serum triglyceride concentrations 2 hours after the meal. This effect was abolished by intraduodenal fat administration and by substituting starch for glucose in the test meal. The effects of glucose could be reproduced by iso-osmotic quantities of urea, however. These findings suggested that glucose ingestion did not increase chylomicron -triglyceride clearance. It is more likely that glucose delayed the absorption of triglycerides by slowing gastric emptying, and that this effect was partly related to the increased osmolarity of glucose- containing meals. The effects of chronic exercise on postprandial lipemia and chylomicron-triglyceride clearance were determined in endurance- adapted athletes. The serum triglyceride responses to large and small fat meals were lower in athletes than in sedentary men with comparable fasting triglyceride concentrations. These differences were not eliminated by a single bout of acute exercise in the sedentary men. The clearance of intravenously administered lntralipid, and chylomicron -triglyceride clearance assessed from steady state chylomicron-triglyceride concentrations during duodenal fat perfusion were faster in athletes than in the sedentary men. These data suggested that the low postprandial lipemia in athletes reflects increased chylomicron-triglyceride clearance caused by increased activity of the triglyceride clearing system(s). Given these considerations. it appears that the pathway(s) for chylomicron triglyceride clearance are extremely efficient in normal men and that these pathways are not subject to acute physiological regulation.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>Holistic processing has been deemed a crucial part of human face processing. There are three tasks that are indexes of holistic processing and each is used by many researchers for the purposes of demonstrating that either their participants have intact holistic processing or that holistic processing is impaired or missing. The tasks that demonstrate holistic processing are the face inversion, composite face, and the whole-part tasks. In this dissertation, I evaluate the hypothesis that holistic processing is important for face identification. A secondary hypothesis that is evaluated is whether the three indexes of holistic processing are related and whether they are tapping the same underlying process. Chapter 2 tests the first hypothesis in a large group of young adults and shows that the composite face effect (an index of holistic processing) is not related to accuracy on two identification tasks. Chapter 3 tested both hypotheses and showed that none of the holistic indexes are related to one another and they are unrelated to face identification accuracy. In Chapter 4, a large group of older adults are tested on the composite face task and a face identification task, similar to Experiment 2 from Chapter 2. Unlike the results for young adults, older adults show a significant positive correlation between the composite face effect and identification accuracy even though older adults perform worse on the identification task.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Five experiments, involving 265 subjects, were performed with the objective of extending the analysis of response probability as a determinant of the practice effect in tachistoscopic word recognition. The results showed that the response probabilities of words may be manipulated and act as a determinant of the practice effect under certain limited experimental conditions. A more powerful determinant appears to be a general skill in tachistoscopic recognition which improves as a function of the number of stimuli recognized and transfers to the recognition of different stimuli. This skill was examined in the final experiment. The overall results were discussed in terms of both response probability and a general tachistoscopic skill. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Functional and pathological responses of larval, juvenile, and adult Asiatic clams (Corbicula sp.), juvenile and adult fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), and egg, larval and juvenile Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) to chrysotile asbestos were investigated in 96-hour to 91-day tests. Chrysotile significantly reduced siphoning activity and shell growth of adult clams and siphoning, shell growth, and weight gain of juveniles at 10⁵ fibers/liter during 30-day tests. Larval Corbicula suffered significantly greater mortality and lower release by brooding adults at 10²-10⁸ fibers/liter. Adult and juvenile Corbicula exposed to 10⁸ fibers/liter for 30 days exhibited deteriorated gill tissue and significantly greater tissue water content. Corbicula accumulated up to 1000 fibers/mg in visceral tissue at 10⁸ fibers/liter. Clams collected from the California Aqueduct System exposed to 10⁹ fibers/liter accumulated up to 10⁵ fibers/mg in viscera. Corbicula can be used as a monitor for chrysotile contamination due to its ability to concentrate fibers. Adult and juvenile fathead minnows did not suffer acute toxicity at 10¹² fibers/liter and differential mortality relative to controls up to 10⁸ fibers/liter for 30 days. At the conclusion of the 30-day tests the length, weight, and swimming performance of adult minnows exposed to asbestos were not significantly affected relative to controls. Juvenile minnows exposed to 10⁶-10⁸ fibers/liter had significantly lower weight. Fish exposed to 10⁸ fibers/liter for 30 days accumulated up to 390 fibers/mg in kidney tissue. Egg and larval Medaka were exposed to 0-10¹⁰ fibers/liter of chrysotile until hatching and for thirteen weeks, respectively. Eggs responded erratically to asbestos exposure and no conclusive trends could be drawn. Larval Medaka exposed to 10⁶-10¹⁰ fibers/liter had reduced growth by 14 days. Fish exposed to 10¹⁰ fibers/liter suffered 100% mortality by 60 days. Fish exposed to asbestos developed epidermal tumors, thickened epidermal tissue, increased mucous cell density in the intestinal tract, constricted kidney tubules, and abnormal levels of lipid and endoplasmic reticulum in the liver. Maximum asbestos uptake occurred in fish exposed to 10⁸ fibers/liter for 91 days (400 fibers/mg). The extent of damage to fish and clams at levels greater than 10⁴ fibers/liter in the laboratory suggests that aquatically transmitted asbestos is a potential hazard to these species in the field. / Ph. D.

No description available.

No description available.