A New Genus of Lungfish from the Givetian (Middle Devonian) of Central Australia

A new Dipterus−like lungfish, Harajicadipterus youngi, is described from the Givetian (Middle Devonian) Harajica Sand− stone Member of central Australia. The material is comprised of five specimens representing the skull roof, orbital bones, tooth plates, operculo−gular bones, a partial pectoral girdle, centra and scales. Harajicadipterus can be distinguished from other dipnoans by its long postorbital cheek, broad B bone, lack of contact between E and C bones, and radiating tooth rows with some denticles evident between the rows. Results of a cladistic analysis of 81 characters for 33 dipnoan taxa resolved Harajicadipterus below the holodontid clade but as more derived than Dipterus and the chirodipterid clade

Habitat Features and Behavioral Plasticity Promote Barred Owl Presence in Developed Landscapes

Despite extensive accounts in the literature describing Barred Owls (Strix varia) as obligate forest-interior species that are sensitive to development, Barred Owls have increasingly been found in urbanized landscapes. Due to the limited number of studies on Barred Owls within the context of development, our understanding of the processes that facilitate Barred Owls within anthropogenic landscapes is limited. In the Piedmont region of the southeastern United States, South Carolina, the presence of Barred Owls in suburbs and small-town centers precipitated our research team to examine which habitat features facilitate their occurrence near development. We conducted surveys using callbacks and autonomous recording units within a 300 km2 region centered around Clemson, South Carolina. We used detection/nondetection data to model the influence of habitat features on Barred Owl occupancy along a development gradient. Tree height was the best predictor of Barred Owl occupancy, regardless of forest coverage. We did not find Barred Owl occupancy to decline with increasing impervious surface density. To further investigate habitat selection at a finer scale, we deployed GPS transmitters on 20 breeding Barred Owls in our region during a single breeding season. We selected territories containing a variety of development density and habitat types to examine predictors of home range size and habitat selection along an urban-rural gradient. We related nocturnal (foraging) locations to habitat features using resource selection functions (RSFs). We explored differential use along a development gradient by modeling interactions between habitat parameters and measures of development in the home range. After accounting for variation attributable to sex, we found that Barred Owl home ranges expanded significantly in size with increasing forest fragmentation in the landscape. Tree height was one of the most important habitat predictors of foraging selection among the variables we evaluated, thus mature urban canopy could be the key to Barred Owl presence in developed landscapes. Barred Owls exhibited differential use based on development in the home range; owls within zones of higher fragmentation had stronger selection for anthropogenic features, such as roads and forest edges. Although our findings confirm that certain habitat features, such as tall canopy, are integral to supporting a breeding population of Barred Owls within development, our results also demonstrate the plasticity of a forest predator previously described as sensitive to urbanization. The presence of Barred Owls in developed landscapes suggests that retaining key habitat features can promote multi-trophic communities even when other aspects of the habitat are highly altered

Значення фольклору у вивченні виховання дітей в давні періоди вітчизняної історії (до історіографії проблеми)

(uk) У статті здійснюється історіграфічний аналіз джерел тих жанрів фольклору, існування яких у середовищісхідних слов’ян VІ–ХІІІ століть визнано вченими.(ru) В статье предлагается историографический анализ источников тех жанров фольклора, существование которых у восточных славян VІ–ХІІІ веков, признано учеными

The American problem play in the eighteenth century

This item was digitized by the Internet Archive. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universityhttps://archive.org/details/theamericanprobl00cle

The prevalence and distribution of the amyloidogenic transthyretin (TTR) V122I allele in Africa

Transthyretin (TTR) pV142I (rs76992529-A) is one of the 113 variants in the human TTR gene associated with systemic amyloidosis. It results from a G to A transition at a CG dinucleotide in the codon for amino acid 122 of the mature protein (TTR V122I). The allele frequency is 0.0173 in African Americans

Mapping Sound Properties and Oenological Characters by a Collaborative Sound Design Approach -Towards an Augmented Experience

International audienceThe paper presents a specific sound design process implemented upon a collaboration with an important stakeholder of the wine (Champagne) industry. The goal of the project was to link sound properties with oenological dimensions in order to compose a sonic environment able to realise a multisensory experience during the wine tasting protocol. This creation has resulted from a large scale methodological approach based on the semantic transformation concept (from wine words to sound words) and deployed by means of a codesign method-after having shared respective skills of each field (sound and oenology). A precise description of the workflow is detailed in the paper, The outcomes of the work are presented, either in terms of realisation or conceptual knowledge acquisition. Then, future perspectives for the following of the work are sketched, especially regarding the notion of evaluation. The whole approach is finally put in the broad conceptual framework of 'sciences of sound design' that is developed and argued in the light of this study

Effectiveness of the fetal pillow to prevent adverse maternal and fetal outcomes at full dilatation cesarean section in routine practice.

INTRODUCTION:The fetal pillow has been suggested to reduce maternal trauma and fetal adverse outcomes when used to disimpact the fetal head at full dilatation cesarean section. MATERIAL AND METHODS:We performed a retrospective cohort study of the use of the fetal pillow device at full dilatation cesarean section between September 2014 and March 2018 at Liverpool Women's Hospital, a large UK teaching hospital. RESULTS:There were 471 cases of full dilatation cesarean section during the study period and 391 were included for the analysis; 170 used the fetal pillow and 221 cases were delivered without. We did not demonstrate any benefit in the significant maternal outcomes of; estimated blood loss >1000ml or >1500ml, need for blood transfusion or duration of hospital stay, from the use of the fetal pillow. We did not demonstrate any improvement in fetal outcome following use of the fetal pillow; arterial pH <7.1, apgar score <7 at 5 mins or admission to the neonatal unit. For deliveries undertaken at or below the level of the ischial spines there was likewise no benefit from fetal pillow use except in a reduced risk of an arterial pH <7.1 (0.39 (0.20 - 0.80), 0.0094) however admission to the neonatal unit was unaffected. CONCLUSIONS:This is the largest study to date on the use of the fetal pillow at full dilatation cesarean section. We did not demonstrate any statistically significant benefit from the use of the fetal pillow to prevent any of maternal or fetal adverse outcomes at full dilatation cesarean section in routine clinical use. Further randomised studies are required to prove clinical benefit from this device prior to more widespread use

Recent water mass changes reveal mechanisms of ocean warming

Over 90% of the build up of additional heat in the earth system over recent decades is contained in the ocean. Since 2006 new observational programs have revealed heterogeneous patterns of ocean heat content change. It is unclear how much of this heterogeneity is due to heat being added to and mixed within the ocean leading to material changes in water mass properties or due to changes in circulation which redistribute existing water masses. Here we present a novel diagnosis of the ‘material’ and ‘redistributed’ contributions to regional heat content change between 2006 and 2017 based on a new Minimum Transformation Method informed by both water mass transformation and optimal transportation theory. We show that material warming has large spatial coherence. The material change tends to be smaller than the redistributed change at any geographical location, however it sums globally to the net warming of the ocean, while the redistributed component sums, by design, to zero. Material warming is robust over the time period of this analysis, whereas the redistributed signal only emerges from the variability in a few regions. In the North Atlantic, water mass changes indicate substantial material warming while redistribution cools the subpolar region due to a slowdown in the Meridional Overturning Circulation. Warming in the Southern Ocean is explained by material warming and by anomalous southward heat transport of 118 ± 50 TWdue to redistribution. Our results suggest near termprojections of ocean heat content change and therefore sea level change will hinge on understanding and predicting changes in ocean redistribution

Trajectory of increased iceberg kill-off in West Antarctica’s shallows [Correspondence]

Compared with low latitude coasts, many polar latitudes are still little impacted by intense and direct anthropogenic stressors. Climate forcing is now bringing rapid physical change to nearshore polar realms. In the shallow coastal waters adjacent to the United Kingdom’s Rothera Research Station in the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), 225 seabed markers at 5–25 m depth have been surveyed and replaced every year from 2002–2023 (75 markers at each of 5, 10 and 25 m). This is one of the longest continuously running marine disturbance experiments in the world, in one of Earth’s fastest changing environments. Different categories of sea ice are recorded (including when the sea surface freezes into fast ice) at Rothera since the 1980s, and losses of marine ice in both polar regions are one of the striking responses to a warming planet. Five to ten years of seabed marker hit rate data (marker broken or moved) showed that reduced sea ice cover is correlated with disturbance and mortality on the seabed