Some Middle English Sermon Verse and its Transmission in Manuscript and Print

Special volume: Preaching the Word in Manuscript and Print in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Susan Powell, ed. by Martha Driver and Veronica O’MaraSpecial volume: Preaching the Word in Manuscript and Print in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Susan Powell, ed. by Martha Driver and Veronica O’MaraSpecial volume: Preaching the Word in Manuscript and Print in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Susan Powell, ed. by Martha Driver and Veronica O’Mar

Group size and visitor number predict faecal glucocorticoid concentrations in zoo meerkats

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is freely available from Royal Society via the DOI in this record.Measures of physiological stress in zoo animals can give important insights into how they are affected by aspects of their captive environment. We analysed the factors influencing variation in glucocorticoid metabolites in faeces (fGCs) from zoo meerkats as a proxy for blood cortisol concentration, high levels of which are associated with a stress response. Levels of fGCs in captive meerkats declined with increasing group size. Compared to data from wild meerkats, this contrasts with the patterns seen in large stabile groups but matches the pattern seen in dispersing coalitions. In the wild, very small groups of meerkats are at a higher risk of predation, while in larger groups there is increased competition for resources. Indeed, group sizes in captivity tend to be closer to those seen in unstable coalitions in the wild, which may represent a stressful condition to meerkats in captivity and predispose them to chronic stress, even in absence of natural predators. Individuals in large enclosures showed lower levels of stress, but meerkat density had no effect on the stress measures. In contrast to data from wild meerkats, neither sex, age, nor dominance status predicted physiological stress levels in captivity, which may reflect less food stress owing to more equal access to resources in captivity versus wild. Median number of visitors at the enclosure was positively correlated with fGC concentrations on the following day, with variation in the visitor numbers having the opposite effect. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that there is an optimum group size which minimises physiological stress in meerkats, and that zoo meerkats at most risk of physiological stress are those kept in small groups and small enclosures and are exposed to consistently high numbers of visitors.Funding was provided by a European Social Fund studentship and a Society for Endocrinology grant awarded to K.S., and by NERC grant awarded to M.A.C. (NE/J010278/1)

Trowbridge College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 102/98)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record contains such report for the period 1997-98

'Tableau poétique': a recently discovered manuscript by the Flemish painter-poet Lucas D’Heere (1534–84)

At the library of Arbury Hall in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, a manuscript from the Ghent painter-poet Lucas D'Heere is treasured. The manuscript has not been published before and is not mentioned in publications on Lucas D'Heere. The discovery and study of the manuscript reveals important new information on the background, life, and work of the migrant painter and his surroundings. This article describes the material data of the manuscript and discusses the highlights of the document. Three core issues are stressed therein: the life of Lucas D'Heere as an exile, his professional activities as a painter, and his social network as revealed by the manuscript

Andrew Fletcher, England, Europe and the Search for a New British Polity

The purpose of this paper is to locate the actions and activities of Andrew Fletcher in a wider British and European context as this is essential to understanding the main thrust of his intellectual assault on the incorporating Union of 1707