On the type species of Aubignyna and a description of A. hamblensis, a new microforaminifer from temperate shallow waters

The genus Aubignyna Margerel, 1970 (type A. mariei) was originally described from the upper Pliocene of NW France. Examination and re-illustration of topotypes of A. mariei Margerel, 1970, the holotype of Buccella planidorso Atkinson, 1969 (from the Recent of Cardigan Bay, Wales) and syntypes of Rotalia perlucida Heron-Allen and Earland, 1913 (from the Clare Island Survey, western Ireland) shows them to be conspecific. Consequently, the type-species of Aubignyna becomes R. perlucida, for which a lectotype is chosen. A new species of microforaminifera formally described here is assigned to Aubignyna and shown to occur in a wide range of intertidal - shallow subtidal, brackish - normal marine estuaries and lagoons in Europe and North America

ESTIMATION OF WHEAT ACREAGE RESPONSE FUNCTIONS FOR THE NORTHWEST

Acreage response functions for wheat are fitted to aggregate data and pooled time-series and cross-sectional data for the Northwest. It was hypothesized that the pooled data approach provides a useful alternative to using aggregate data since it requires fewer timer-series observations for reliable parameter estimation and it does not require the assumption of constant acreage response elasticities throughout the region. The results of this study verify this hypothesis as well as indicate that regional response elasticities for Northwest wheat acreage may differ greatly from national estimates.Crop Production/Industries,

Eurosystem debts do matter

Since September 2015, the European Central Bank has been publishing Target2 balances of the eurozone national central banks. But this presents an incomplete picture of intra-eurosystem debts because it does not include those arising from the issue of banknotes. The ECB also plays down the importance of Target2 debts as a “normal feature of the decentralised implementation of monetary policy in the euro area”. But if Greece were to leave the euro and its eurosystem debt (currently €114bn) were written off, other eurozone countries would bear the loss, in addition to losses on official loans. There is no effective mechanism for limiting eurosystem debts. And exit risk – the risk that Greece or some other eurozone country with large eurosystem debts will leave the euro – will always be present

Financial support for Italy will be costless

Loans to Italy from other eurozone countries will not increase their risk exposure, irrespective of the method of financing. This is because loans will displace an equal amount of Italy’s Target2 debt, leaving unchanged the total claim of the eurozone creditors. Italy currently has Target2 debt of €513bn to other eurozone countries through its central bank. If Italy receives grants, this will amount to forgiveness of some of its Target2 debt, which will be no loss to the creditors because its Target2 debt is unlikely ever to be repaid at full value

Studies on the auchenorrhyncha (hemoptera – insecta) of Pennine moorland with special reference to the ceropidae

Notes on the autecology of 32 species of Auchenorrhyncha from the Moore House National Nature Reserve are given. Studies were made of the microclimates of the common vegetation types on which these occur and it is shown that the size and function as a temperature regulator of the spittle (produced by nymphs of the cercopidae) is associated with these gradients. Cercopid nymohs are shown to change feeding sites after moulting. The need to change host plants and thus leave protective spittle is thought to result in an increased mortality of nymphs (up to 3 per cent per day). Overall nymphal mortality is not dependent on population density. In two cercopids (Neophilaenus lineatus and Neophilaenus exclamationis), there are marked changes in population density in each year (1961 to 1963) and these are partly attributed to climatic factors. The hatch of cercopidae is delayed, and development is retarded at high altitides. Nymphal mortality rates in a cicadellid (macrosteles sexnotatus) and a delphacid (conomelus anceps) did not differ from those of the ceropidae studied, although they have no protective spittle. It is concluded that cercopid spittke is of some survival value at moore House by enabling the nymph to avoid parasites, if not predators, and unfavourable climatic conditions encountered whilst remaining stationary on the host plant during feeding. These advantages are not sufficient to give the Cercopidae a significantly higher survival rate than other Auchenorrhyncha at Moor House. Non-density dependent factors are thought to be responsible for a major part of the changes in population density. A compensatory mechanism at other stages of the life cycle has not been demonstrated. Local extinction at the edge of the range is a result of climatic factors. The population studied is probably below the density level at which regulating mechanisms may occur

Teaching Bones from my Garden

Abstract Faunal analysis, or zooarchaeology, is an important subfield that provides information on human ecology, economy, culture, and society. Few of my students have much experience with hunting, farming, anatomy, or even eating meat these days, so faunal analysis labs in an Archaeological Field Methods class present some difficulties. Faunal assemblages from archaeological sites are often small, fragile, and too valuable for class use. They require good comparative collections, and it may be difficult for students to relate to unfamiliar animals and cultures. These problems can be overcome by producing a faunal teaching assemblage from home meat consumption. For over 20 years I have composted all organics from my kitchen, and subsequently collected bone from my garden. A useful assemblage can be created in a much shorter time if the bones are prepared by maceration instead of composting. With simple instructional materials, the students can recognize the bones, collect the data, and perform simple quantification like MNI and NISP. The assemblage is then interpretable in terms of most of the issues approached by contemporary faunal analyses, such as preparation techniques, meat preferences, formation processes, and socio-economic status. My classes always find it engaging to analyze their professor’s garbage and use it to interpret his life

The Impact of the State Constitutional Convention of 1917 on State Aid to Higher Education in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention of 1917 marked a turning point in the development of higher education in the state. An amendment adopted at the convention put an end to a long tradition of direct state appropriations to support the development of private colleges and to proposals for cooperative efforts between various state agencies and private institutions. After that time, only state institutions would receive state support. This decision resulted from an attempt to resolve an intense debate over the use of public funding for sectarian and other private institutions, which reflected the intense religious and class conflict inherent in Massachusetts politics at the beginning of this century. The 1917 amendment had the indirect effect of laying some of the groundwork for later expansion of the state public higher education system. The state legislature could now expand opportunities for access to higher education only through appropriations to state institutions. Private institutions in Massachusetts could grow only through securing funds from sources outside state government. It is possible that without the 1917 constitutional change, Massachusetts might have developed a system of higher education involving greater cooperative effort between the public and private sectors

Analysis of multiple SNPs in a candidate gene or region.

We consider the analysis of multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within a gene or region. The simplest analysis of such data is based on a series of single SNP hypothesis tests, followed by correction for multiple testing, but it is intuitively plausible that a joint analysis of the SNPs will have higher power, particularly when the causal locus may not have been observed. However, standard tests, such as a likelihood ratio test based on an unrestricted alternative hypothesis, tend to have large numbers of degrees of freedom and hence low power. This has motivated a number of alternative test statistics. Here we compare several of the competing methods, including the multivariate score test (Hotelling's test) of Chapman et al. ([2003] Hum. Hered. 56:18-31), Fisher's method for combining P-values, the minimum P-value approach, a Fourier-transform-based approach recently suggested by Wang and Elston ([2007] Am. J. Human Genet. 80:353-360) and a Bayesian score statistic proposed for microarray data by Goeman et al. ([2005] J. R. Stat. Soc. B 68:477-493). Some relationships between these methods are pointed out, and simulation results given to show that the minimum P-value and the Goeman et al. ([2005] J. R. Stat. Soc. B 68:477-493) approaches work well over a range of scenarios. The Wang and Elston approach often performs poorly; we explain why, and show how its performance can be substantially improved