Preliminary Report on the Torngat Archaeological Project

The Torngat Archaeological Project conducted two seasons of field work in northern Labrador in 1977-78. Surveys by boat and ground crews ranging from Nain to the Button Islands located nearly 350 archaeological sites and gathered data from many geological and botanical stations. Cultures represented in this region include all of the known arctic groups (Pre-Dorset, Dorset, Thule, and Labrador Inuit) and northern Indian cultures (Maritime Archaic, Saunders, and Point Revenge) known from the central Labrador coast. In addition to contributing to knowledge of 6000 years of culture history in this environmental and cultural frontier, the project is investigating environmental relationships and processes of culture change which have affected Eskimo, Indian, and European settlement. This paper presents a project overview and discusses TAP goals, physical setting, analytical orientation, field methods, and preliminary conclusions

The effect of restricted homogeneous visual input upon exploratory behavior of the hooded rat

During the last decade increasing attention has been paid to the effects of the perceptual variables in the environment of an organism upon the behavior of that organism. The importance of deprivation of exteroceptive stimulation is shown by the study of Bexton, Heron, and Scott (1954). Human Ss were placed in an isolated cubicle and wore equipment restricting visual and tactual stimulation. The Ss reactions included hallucinations, deterioration of intellectual abilities, and inability to tolerate the treatment for extended periods

Ship to Shore: Inuit, Early Europeans, and Maritime Landscapes in the Northern Gulf of St. Lawrence

Recent research at Hare Harbor on the Quebec Lower North Shore in the northeastern Gulf of St. Lawrence reveals great potential for archaeological and historical research on Basque and other early European activities in the northwestern North Atlantic. Although considerable data have been retrieved from Red Bay, Labrador, and a few other sixteenth-century sites in the Strait of Belle Isle and Gulf of St. Lawrence, archaeological knowledge of the early European phase of North American history in this region is limited, and information about post-sixteenth-century Basque occupations is nearly nonexistent. This chapter reports on a multicomponent site with late sixteenth-century Basque and late seventeenth/ early eighteenth–century European (possibly Basque) and Inuit occupations at Hare Harbor, Petit Mécatina Island, 200 km west of the Strait of Belle Isle. The later historic occupation includes hearths, middens, and ballast piles from adjacent land and underwater sites. In addition to domestic cooking hearths and ballast piles associated with the sixteenth-century Basque occupation, the site’s later component contains two structures with paved stone floors, one interpreted as a cookhouse and the other as a blacksmith shop. The ethnic/national origin of these structures, which in earlier reports was designated as Basque on the basis of coarse earthenwares and large amounts of roof tiles, is now equivocal. Excavations in 2009 revealed a sixteenth-century Basque component adjacent to and deeper than the cookhouse (Structure 1) paved floor, raising the possibility that the cookhouse and blacksmith deposits may have a north Biscayan or Channel origin. Excavation also revealed a Labrador Inuit settlement that may be contemporary with the later European occupation. Information recovered from the European and Inuit contexts documents changing economic, social, and political conditions, including the appearance of Inuit in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and their participation in a European cod fishery at Hare Harbor. Given the breadth of activity, changes in technology and economy, and complex international and ethnic relations, a maritime landscape approach that links shore deposits with those from the underwater site over a period of more than 100 years provides a useful framework for interpreting the many strands of evidence from this small but fascinating site situated at the interface of European and Native nations, cultures, and traditions. Utilization of the landscape concept for interpreting maritime anthropology and archaeological sites is relatively novel. Landscape archaeology has traditionally been applied at terrestrial sites to link archaeological components with their broader ecological and social settings, including subsistence resource zones, site hierarchies, settlement patterns, and regional economic networks. Recently, this concept has been extended to maritime anthropological studies in circumpolar and subantarctic settings, but it has rarely been a component of underwater archaeological inquiry. The fortuitous adjacency of both land and marine components at a Basque/European/Inuit site makes Hare Harbor an ideal case study for exploring the utility of the landscape approach in a maritime archaeology context

Life History Parameters of Gulf Flounder (Paralichthys albigutta) From Northwest Florida

Age, growth, natural and total mortality, a length-weight relationship, reproductive seasonality, sex ratio, maturity, and reproductive potential by size were estimated for gulf flounder, Paralichthys albigutta, from northwest Florida. The study used a fishery-independent approach during three annual migratory spawning seasons to sample gulf flounder offshore (spearing by divers) and inshore (multipanel trammel nets). We found gulf flounder to be slightly smaller at L∞ than other paralichthids (using either von Bertalanffy or damped growth functions), but gulf flounder obtained larger sizes and older ages than previously thought for this species [females to 575 mm total length (TL) and age 7, males to 373 mm TL and age 11], probably due to offshore sampling targeting more of the adult component of the stock. Given the older age structure than previously noted for this species, gulf flounder maturity and mortality estimates were similar to values reported for other U.S. paralichthids. Gulf flounder exhibited fall-winter gonad development with all evidence pointing to spawning occurring offshore. We estimated batch fecundity and spawning frequency, but it was apparent that there was a seasonal effect for both of these parameters, with increased oocyte density and nearly daily spawning occurring by late October to November, the peak period of development, also reflected in the gonadosomatic index

Mosaic Analysis of Precursors of Nerve, Bone and Vasculature in Caudal Body and Fin of Zebrafish

This project focuses on the specific developmental origin and formation of pre-osteoblasts, vascular cells and sensory neurons in the caudal region and tail of zebrafish. Our objective is to generate genetically marked clones using transposon microinjections and to analyze fluorescent protein markers in deep body and tail cell populations. If clones are shared between the fin and deep body it is suggestive that these cells share a common progenitor cell. Zebrafish fins can serve as a model for human organogenesis because conserved genes and cell types are found in human limbs

Health-enhancing Physical Activity During Practice Among Student Football Managers at a Division I University

Objective: Student football managers have demands on their time that may pose barriers Received 5 April 2018 to meeting recommended current physical activity (PA) guidelines. The study sought to assess the amount of PA obtained by student football managers at a NCAA Division I Football university. Participants: Subjects were student football managers (n¼14) with data collected in the fall 2015. Methods: Participants wore an Omron HJ-720ITFFP pedometer for seven consecutive days during football activities only, while self-reporting their overall PA on day 7. Measures were analyzed using repeated measures and mixed-design Athletics; epidemiology; ANOVAs. Results: Managers averaged 8474 steps/day for each practice/game. All PA health education; measures significantly varied by day and manager experience. Overall PA equated to physical activity 78 hours of walking. Conclusions: Student football managers easily met and surpassed the recommended aerobic health-enhancing PA guideline. While their manager-related PA was 140 minutes per week, other PA allowed them to easily reach significantly healthy levels of PA