Apparatus has been designed and developed for determining the response of the plankton Crustacean Simocephalus serrulatus (Koch) to horizontal gradients of light and temperature. These factors were varied independently or combined under standardized conditions. The temperature preferendum for this organism, cultured in a constant environment, was found to be 19.13°C, for animals previously held at 19°C. for 14 hours. The steepness of a temperature gradient was shown to influence the rate of aggregation at a preferendum temperature. At a constant temperature (temperature preferendum) reactions to light were then studied. Light intensity, gradients of light intensity, light quality, and gradients of light quality were considered. Animals were positively phototactic to the range of visible light intensities considered, but became indifferent to light on the addition of chemical substances to the water medium. An absolute optimum light intensity was demonstrated, at which the response to light is greatest in magnitude. The rate of rise of light intensity was shown to be directly related to the magnitude of the response and indirectly related to the time for the response to reach a peak up to the absolute optimum light intensity. The intensity of illumination was inversely related to the time for adaptation to occur. The magnitude of the light response was inversely related to the intensity of a pre-adaptation light stimulus. Wave lengths in the region of 3000 to 3500 Å, with a mean value of approximately 3300 Å, were shown to reverse the primary sign of the phototactic response. The spectral sensitivity curve for the positive phototactic response to visible light extended from 4000 to 6400 Å. Finally, light factors were applied to the animals in a temperature gradient and quantitative data on the response obtained. The interaction of the two factors produced a response which is the resultant of the factors acting in opposition. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

This study was undertaken to determine and compare the rates of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide elimination during normal and hyperventilated breathing at progressive work rates. Three subjects stepped at 18, 24, 30, 36 and 40 steps per minute on an eighteen inch bench for a duration of ten minutes or until exhaustion. All exercises were performed inside a 6,900 liter closed circuit respirometer. The volume of each subject obtained from hydrostatic weighings was subtracted from the chamber volume as was the volume of the bench. Net volume was corrected to STPD. The respirometer was equipped with Beckman oxygen and carbon dioxide analyzers, an internal cooling system as well as wet and dry thermocouples on three sides . Oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations were continuously analyzed and automatically recorded against time. A resting metabolic rate was established prior to each work task. Completion of the exercise was followed by a fifteen minute recovery period. Curves of cumulative oxygen consumption (VO₂) and carbon dioxide elimination (VCO₂) were plotted against time. By determining the gradients of these curves at different points it was possible to plot the corresponding velocity curves [formula omitted]. The acceleration curves [formula omitted] were derived from the velocity curves. An IBM computer program was used to determine the velocity and acceleration values. When compared to normal breathing, hyperventilating at the higher work loads increases the VO₂ and VCO₂ during the early phase of exercise. This is generally followed by decreased VO₂ during the recovery period. There are well defined differences in the derivative curves between normal and hyperventilated breathing. Implications for athletic performance are indicated. Derivative curves of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide elimination appear to be highly individual. Their use as a fitness criterion is indicated. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Experiments were conducted in controlled-environment cabinets to show the effect of temperature and light intensity on the growth and fruiting of snap beans. Leaf weights varied inversely with the temperature, but stem weights and numbers of nodes were not greatly affected by day temperature in the range of 75° to 95°F. Blossoming and pod set were similar at day temperatures of 75° and 85°F but were reduced at 95°F. When day temperature was 95°F, a 60°F night temperature resulted in increased blossoming and pod set compared to 80°F. When pods were harvested at marketable maturity, blossoming in bush beans was cyclic. Plants grown at a light intensity of 1900 foot-candles had a lower fresh and dry weight of leaves, stems, and pods, and fewer blossoms and pods set than plants grown at 2700 and 4000 foot-candles. Field experiments showed that planting dates after May 29 reduced the yield of pods in pole beans. Nitrogen level and row direction did not affect yield of pods in pole beans. Number of pods per plant in pole beans increased directly with the row spacing. Chemical sprays at blossoming caused no increase in yield of pods in pole beans, and only a slight increase in the yield of pods in bush beans. Differences in yields of pods between varieties of bush beans were due differences in the number of pods per plant. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

The ecology of Cheimophila salicella Hbn. (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae), a blueberry leaf-tier was studied on high-bush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L., in Richmond, British Columbia. The females frequently laid their eggs in the lichen Xanthoria sp., an oviposition site not previously reported for this species. The possible microclimatic advantages of such behaviour are discussed. In the Field, females required longer than males to complete their 6th instar, so females were usually bigger than males in that instar. The leaf shelter made by the larvae modified their microenvironment in the field. On clear and sunny days, measurements of shelter temperature were 6-7°C above those of ambient air. The shelter temperature remained warmer than the air as long as the incoming radiation levels were high. As the radiation levels dropped, the shelter temperature fell to, or a little below, air temperature. On cloudy days, there was no significant difference between the daily maximum shelter and air temperatures. Under clear skies, the daily amplitude of temperature fluctuations was greater inside the shelter than outside. A laboratory investigation of the effects of such fluctuations on development showed that a large amplitude increased the developmental rate of the lst-4th instars. This increase in rate of development was probably due to an accumulation of extra thermal units (Yeargan 1980) occurring in the large-amplitude regime. However, the high temperature of this regime retarded pupation, and the later instars required longer to complete their development. Overall, larvae in the small and large amplitude regimes required the same amount of time to develop from hatching to pupation. A third regime, "medium amplitude", slowed larval development, probably because the length of its thermophase was longer than that which the insect normally encountered in the field. Fifth- and sixth-instar females took longer than males to complete their development, both in the laboratory and in the field. The larger amplitude regime produced heavier pupae; females were, on average, 12.7 mg heavier than males. The microclimate of the shelter provides the larvae with more degree-days than if they were subjected to ambient air and therefore promotes faster development. Without the extra degree-days provided by the shelter, C. salicella would not be able to complete its larval development before the first lethal autumn frost. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

The conversion gain of GaAs MESFET mixers is known to be dependent on the impedances seen by the applied signals and the resulting mixing products at all ports of the device. For an accurate representation, all these loading conditions should be considered; however, the design of gate and drain networks then becomes rather difficult. As a result, no sufficiently accurate and yet usable design procedures exist for MESFET mixers; instead, a few simple rules involving short- and open-circuit terminations have been given by various authors. Unfortunately, these rules are often inappropriate, particularly in upconverter applications. In this thesis, the conversion efficiency dependence on the drain loading at the local oscillator frequency has been studied for a gate upconverter; the local oscillator signal is by far the most dominant in terms of its influence on mixer performance. It has been found that the conversion gain can significantly deteriorate for a narrow range of load values. In addition, the local oscillator drain termination resulting in highest gain has been found to be generally different from the short-circuit recommended in the literature. Based on these findings, a novel FET upconverter design procedure has been developed that incorporates the local oscillator loading phenomenon in the FET equivalent circuit by means of a load dependent mixing transconductance. It allows the optimization of the drain network for an acceptable match at the selected sideband and desired local oscillator rejection while avoiding impedance values in the local oscillator frequency range which would otherwise cause severe degradation in conversion gain. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

This study examined the relationship between expired non-metabolic CO₂ (EX CO₂) and the accumulation of blood lactate, while emphasis was placed on the ventilatory (EX CO₂ and VE/VO₂) and lactate threshold relationship. Twenty-one elite cyclists (15 males, 6 females) performed a progressive intensity bicycle ergometer test (PIT) during which ventilatory parameters were monitored on-line at 15 second intervals, and blood lactate sampling occured on each minute. Threshold values were determined for each of the three indices; excess CO₂ (EXTT), VE/V0₂ (VVTT), and blood lactate (LATT). The three threshold values (EXTT, VVTT, LATT) all correlated significantly (P<0.001) when each was expressed as an absolute VO₂ (1/min). A significant RM ANOVA (F=8.41, P<0. 001) and post hoc correlated t-tests demonstrated significant differences between the EIXTT and LATT (P<0.001) and the EXTT and VVTT values (P<0.025). The LATT occured at an average blood lactate concentration of 3.35 mmol/1, while the mean expired excess CO₂ volume at the EXTT was 14.04 ml/kg/min. Over an 11 minute range across the threshold values (EXTT and LATT), which were used as relative points of reference, the expired EXC02 volume (ml/kg/min) and blood lactate concentration (mmol/1) correlated significantly (r=0. 69, P<0. 001). Higher individual correlations over the same period of time <r=0.82 - 0.96, P <0.001) stress the individual nature of this relationship. Expired EXCO₂ volume appeared to track blood lactate levels over this 11 minute period when the significant threshold difference (1.35 min.) was taken into consideration. These results indicate a strong relationship between the three threshold values, although changes and expired EXCO₂ precede changes in blood lactate concentration and the ventilatory equivelant (VE/VO₂). Although changes in expired EXCO₂ volume appear to track changes in blood lactate concentration, blood lactate concentration can not be accurately predicted from expired EXCO₂ volume as the nature of this relationship varies between individuals and. appears to be influenced by gender. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy produces a wide range of abnormalities in the offspring. The major objectives of this thesis were to investigate (1) the correspondence between prenatal ethanol-induced alterations in behavior and in hypothalamicpituitary- adrenal (HPA) activity, (2) the ability of early postnatal handling as an environmental manipulation to attenuate at least some of the adverse behavioral and physiological consequences of prenatal ethanol exposure, and (3) possible mechanisms mediating the HP A hyperresponsiveness to stressors observed in animals prenatally exposed to ethanol and the possible influence of postnatal handling on those mechanisms. Sprague-Dawley rats from prenatal ethanol (E), pair-fed (PF) and ad libitum fed control (C) treatment groups were tested as young adults (-35-120 d of age) or mid-aged adults (13-14 months of age). The first study investigated the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure (E) and postnatal handling (H) on behavior and HPA activity during a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) task. We tested the hypothesis that E animals which underwent postnatal handling would show improved conditioned aversion learning and reduced HPA activity compared to E animals that did not experience handling (nonhandled, NH). We found that prenatal ethanol exposure and postnatal handling independently resulted in an increased rate of consumption of a saccharin solution over five preexposure days. In addition, we found that handling differentially affected posttoxicosis consumption of the conditioned solution as well as corticosterone (CORT) levels in E, PF and C animals. H-E animals showed increased posttoxicosis intake compared to H-PF and H-C animals during reexposure under non-deprived conditions; CORT levels were lower in PF and C than E males compared to their N H counterparts during reexposure under food- and waterdeprived conditions. Thus, E animals were less able to utilize environmental cues in the present study, displaying a more rapid reduction in neophobia compared to PF and C animals and, following postnatal handling, showing a decreased acquisition of conditioned aversion and an increased CORT response during reexposure to the conditioned solution. The second study examined spatial learning and memory in young adult (2 months) and mid-aged (13-14 months of age) H and N H E and control animals utilizing a Morris water maze. We investigated the hypothesis that postnatal handling would improve spatial navigation in E animals compared to E animals that did not experience handling and/or attenuate differences among E and control animals, and that this effect might be age-dependent. We also examined whether performance deficits in mid-aged animals would correspond to increases in CORT levels on the last day of testing. Young E males showed impairments in spatial navigation compared to young PF and C animals, taking longer to find the hidden platform over the course of testing and displaying an alteration in search pattern when the platform was removed. Interestingly, differences in young E, PF and C animals in escape latency and in distance traveled prior to finding the platform were apparent in H but not in N H animals. There were no differences in performance on the Morris water maze in mid-aged E, PF and C animals, but CORT levels were elevated in mid-aged E compared to C animals, supporting previous data indicating that E animals demonstrate HPA hyperresponsiveness to stressors. Lastly, although mid-aged animals had longer escape latencies and an altered search pattern compared to young animals, handling did not appear to attenuate impairments associated with aging. The third study investigated the hypothesis that postnatal handling might attenuate stress-induced ACTH and/or CORT differences among E, PF and C animals. Furthermore, the ability pf postnatal handling to modulate HPA feedback deficits in E animals was examined during exposure to a restraint stressor following dexamethasone (DEX) administration. Both E females and males showed increased ACTH and CORT compared to PF and/or C animals following saline administration. Administration of DEX to block HPA activity significantly suppressed both plasma ACTH and CORT in all animals. However, E females exhibited increased and/or prolonged elevations in ACTH and CORT compared to PF and C animals following DEX blockade. These data suggest that the insult of prenatal ethanol exposure affects both male and female offspring, but that there may be a sex-specific difference in sensitivity of the mechanism(s) underlying HPA hyperresponsiveness. Postnatal handling reduced ACTH levels in both females and males following saline administration. Following DEX administration, H males had lower CORT than NH males. Postnatal handling resulted in a more rapid decrease in stress-associated CORT elevations in C females, and attenuated differences in CORT between PF and C females. However, postnatal handling did not attenuate deficits in negative feedback inhibition in E females; E females in both the H and N H treatments showed elevated CORT compared to their C counterparts, and H-E females also showed elevated CORT compared to H-PF females. Thus, postnatal handling did not attenuate the typical HPA hyperresponsiveness to stressors observed in E animals (saline condition), nor did it eliminate deficits in HPA feedback inhibition in E females (DEX condition). The fourth study examined whether the mechanisms resulting in HPA hyperresponsiveness in E animals are similar to those underlying the effects of postnatal handling. Differences in HPA responsiveness between H and NH animals appear to be dependent upon basal CORT activity and not stress-induced elevations in CORT. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that differences in HPA activity among E and control animals would not occur following adrenalectomy (ADX) but could be reestablished following replacement with basal levels of exogenous CORT. In the absence of a CORT feedback signal or in the presence of a constant, basal CORT feedback signal, E, PF and C animals did not significantly differ in their abilities to regulate ACTH secretion, indicating that during the trough of the circadian rhythm, E, PF and C animals are equally capable of regulating HPA activity utilizing either CORT-independent feedback or feedback mediated through basal CORT activity. Thus, the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on HPA function do not appear to be dependent upon the feedback signal provided by basal CORT levels. In conclusion, handling did not attenuate the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure examined in the present experiments. This may be because the effects of postnatal handling and prenatal ethanol exposure on HPA function are mediated through different mechanisms as well as the finding that handling is, at least partly, mediated through mother-pup interactions. Therefore, postnatal handling might exert differential effects on litters in which pup behavior has already been altered by prenatal treatments, underscoring the enduring effects of prenatal ethanol exposure. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Excitatory glutamatergic inputs from limbic regions such as the hippocampus and the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and dopaminergic inputs from the ventral tegmental area converge in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). It has been proposed that interactions between these glutamatergic and dopaminergic pathways play an important role in adaptive behaviors. The present thesis employed a multidisciplinary approach to study these interactions, with a specific emphasis on the importance of mesoaccumbens dopamine (DA) transmission, in order to obtain a better understanding of the neural mechanisms by which the NAc transforms signals from the temporal lobes into behavior. The experiments of Chapter 2 utilized extracellular single-unit recordings of individual NAc neurons in combination with electrochemical measures of DA efflux in the NAc. Recordings from NAc neurons which received input from the hippocampus but not the BLA revealed that increased efflux of mesoaccumbens DA, evoked by tetanic stimulation of the fimbria, potentiated hippocampal-evoked neural activity in these cells. These effects were mediated by both DA and NMDA receptors. Similar recordings from neurons which received converging input from both the hippocampus and the BLA revealed tetanic stimulation of the fimbria again potentiated hippocampal evoked spiking activity, while concurrently suppressing BLA-evoked spiking activity in the same neurons. The suppression of BLA-evoked spiking activity was activity-dependent, and was mediated by both D, and adenosine A, receptors. Chapter 3 showed that random foraging on a radial-arm maze, which is dependent on a neural circuit linking the hippocampus to the NAc, was correlated with an increase in mesoaccumbens DA extracellular levels, as measured with microdialysis. In Chapter 4, pharmacological blockade of DA or NMDA receptors in the NAc, or selective disruption of dopaminergic modulation of ventral subicular inputs to the NAc (using an asymmetrical infusion procedure) significantly disrupted random foraging. These effects were mediated by the Dl receptor. In Chapter 5, the present data are integrated with previous research to formulate a model of ventral striatal function. It is proposed that the NAc mediates behavior through distinct patterns of activity and inactivity driven by excitatory limbic input projecting to different groups of neural ensembles. Mesoaccumbens DA transmission plays an essential role in regulating the synchrony ensemble activity, augmenting activity in one ensemble while suppressing activity in another. It is argued that the modulatory effects of DA appears to be essential when an organism must switch from one form of adaptive behavior to another in response to a constantly changing environment. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study attempted to determine if an excessive amount of 1,1,1 - Trichloroethane was released into the air, the acute effects of exposure and the cause(s) of excessive use. The types of degreasing equipments which were tested in this study are straight vapor and the vapor spray machines. The instruments utilized to obtain the data for this study are Gastech Haline Detector, Organic Vapor Monitor Badge and Personal Sampling Pump. Readings were taken on three different tanks. The data accumulated by this study were obtained during actual cleaning operation. During testing, increased exposure was detected due to exceeding the rate of removal, downward drafts were blowing right over the top of a degreaser and, in some cases, poor general ventilation caused solvent vapor to be blown out of the tank and into the workers' breathing zone, affecting excessive vapor drag out and solvent loss. The results show that, since the characteristics of solvent 1,1,1 - Trichloroethane are well suited to vapor degreasing requirements, by using proper procedures and maintenance, 1,1,1 - Trichloroethane emission during vapor degreasing can be controlled at levels well below the industrial hygiene standard established by OSHA for safe and healthful conditions.

Thirty-one rats were trained on a differential reinforcement of low rate schedule. After responding had stabilized, animals were injected with methylphenidate, twice weekly, presession. Methylphenidate produced dose-dependent increases in response rates and decreases in reinforcements. Repetition of these doses produced a reduced drug effect, and a third administration of the 10 mg/kg dose further reduced the drug effect. Subsequently, the effects of daily and intermittent administration were determined for this dose. Daily methylphenidate, pre-session, produced tolerance to the behavioral effects of methylphenidate and cross-tolerance to the amphetamines. Twice-weekly methylphenidate, pre-session, produced partial tolerance to methylphenidate and partial cross-tolerance to the amphetamines. Thus, periodic exposure to the behaviorally disruptive effects of a drug of the amphetamine class reduces the effects of subsequent exposure.