Evolutionary relationships and systematics of Atoposauridae (Crocodylomorpha: Neosuchia): implications for the rise of Eusuchia

Atoposaurids are a group of small-bodied, extinct crocodyliforms, regarded as an important component of Jurassic and Cretaceous Laurasian semi-aquatic ecosystems. Despite the group being known for over 150 years, the taxonomic composition of Atoposauridae and its position within Crocodyliformes are unresolved. Uncertainty revolves around their placement within Neosuchia, in which they have been found to occupy a range of positions from the most basal neosuchian clade to more crownward eusuchians. This problem stems from a lack of adequate taxonomic treatment of specimens assigned to Atoposauridae, and key taxa such as Theriosuchus have become taxonomic ‘waste baskets’. Here, we incorporate all putative atoposaurid species into a new phylogenetic data matrix comprising 24 taxa scored for 329 characters. Many of our characters are heavily revised or novel to this study, and several ingroup taxa have never previously been included in a phylogenetic analysis. Parsimony and Bayesian approaches both recover Atoposauridae as a basal clade within Neosuchia, more stemward than coelognathosuchians, bernissartiids, and paralligatorids. Atoposauridae is a much more exclusive clade than previously recognized, comprising just three genera (Alligatorellus, Alligatorium, and Atoposaurus) that were restricted to the Late Jurassic of western Europe, and went extinct at the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary. A putative Gondwanan atoposaurid (Brillanceausuchus) is recovered as a paralligatorid. Our results exclude both Montsecosuchus and Theriosuchus from Atoposauridae. Theriosuchus is polyphyletic, forming two groupings of advanced neosuchians. Theriosuchus (restricted to Theriosuchus pusillus, Theriosuchus guimarotae, and Theriosuchus grandinaris) spanned the Middle Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous, and is known from Eurasia and North Africa. Two Cretaceous species previously assigned to Theriosuchus (‘Theriosuchus’ ibericus and ‘Theriosuchus’ sympiestodon) are shown to be nested within Paralligatoridae, and we assign them to the new genus Sabresuchus. The revised phylogenetic placement of Theriosuchus has several implications for our understanding of eusuchian evolution. Firstly, the presence of fully pterygoidean choanae, previously regarded as a defining characteristic of Eusuchia, is not found in some basal members of Eusuchia. However, eusuchians can be distinguished from Theriosuchus and other basal neosuchians in that their choanae are posteriorly positioned, with an anterior margin medial to the posterior edge of the suborbital fenestra. This feature distinguishes eusuchians from Theriosuchus and more basal neosuchians. Secondly, our refined understanding of Theriosuchus implies that this taxon possessed only amphicoelous presacral vertebrae, and therefore fully developed vertebral procoely is likely to have evolved only once in Crocodylomorpha, on the lineage leading to Eusuchia. These and other findings presented herein will provide an important framework for understanding the neosuchian–eusuchian transition

READING BETWEEN THE LOINS: A CURIOUS ANOMALY IN THE PORTRAYAL OF THE MALE PHYSIQUE IN GREEK SCULPTURE

Despite their apparent mastery of the representation of anatomical detail, Greek and Greco-Roman sculptors from the Classical period onwards regularly exaggerated the prominence of the “iliac crest” and its extension into the lower abdomen, creating the so-called cuirasse esthétique. This article explores possible reasons for this phenomenon

Scattering and Iron Fluorescence Revealed During Absorption Dips in Circinus X-1

We show that dramatic spectral evolution associated with dips occurring near phase zero in RXTE observations of Cir X-1 is well-fit by variable and at times heavy absorption (N_H > 10^24 cm^-2) of a bright component, plus an underlying faint component which is not attenuated by the variable column and whose flux is ~10% of that of the unabsorbed bright component. A prominent Fe emission line at ~6.5 keV is evident during the dips. The absolute line flux outside the dips is similar to that during the dips, indicating that the line is associated with the faint component. These results are consistent with a model in which the bright component is radiation received directly from a compact source while the faint component may be attributed to scattered radiation. Our results are also generally consistent with those of Brandt et al., who found that a partial- covering model could explain ASCA spectra of a low-to-high transition in Cir X-1. The relative brightness of the two components in our model requires a column density of ~2*10^23 cm^-2 if the faint component is due to Thomson scattering in material that mostly surrounds the source. We find that illumination of such a scattering cloud by the observed direct component would produce an Fe K-alpha fluorescence flux that is in rough agreement with the flux of the observed emission line. We also conclude that if the scattering medium is not highly ionized, our line of sight to the compact source does not pass through it. Finally, we discuss simple pictures of the absorbers responsible for the dips themselves.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (23 pages, including 11 figures

BITING OFF MORE MAN ONE CAN CHEW: A RECENT TREND IN THE INTERPRETATION OF JUVENAL'S 15TH SATIRE

In his discussion of Juvenal's 15th Satire, entitled "Philosophers and Cannibals", Richard McKim (1986:58) observes that the poem "has traditionally been an object of distaste and neglect".1 He describes the tirade against the Egyptians as "a tissue of hysterical racism, stupid morbidity, and smug self-congratulation" and concludes that "on the traditional assumption of identity between the Satire's first-person bigot and its author, it seems merely another unpleasant document in the history of bigotry". McKim endeavours to give a more palatable interpretation of the Satire's purpose, and scope for this is provided by the dichotomy which the persona-theory postulates between the author and his "speaker". Rejecting the assumption that Juvenal is giving expression to his own views, he suggests that Juvenal is presenting the character of his "speaker" to the reader for critical inspection and that his intention is to direct the reader's scorn "not against the Egyptians whom his speaker is attacking but against the speaker himself for his delusion that Roman society is superior" (McKim 1986:59)

REFLECTIONS ON A MIRROR: POSSIBLE EVIDENCE FOR THE EARLY ORIGIN OF THE CANONICAL VERSION OF THE ROMAN FOUNDATION LEGEND

T.P. Wiseman (1991: 115-124) suggests that the whole story of the twins - and in particular the life and death of Remus - was progressively invented between the Lex Licinia Sextia in 367 and the battle of Sentinum in 295, a period which "saw the establishment of a new mythology, a new way of making sense of Rome and her destiny in an era of cataclysmic change".1 Wiseman has not beel) the only scholar to postulate a relatively late development of the Romulus and Remus legend: H. Strasburger (1968) argued that it was created during the last decades of the 4th century or, more probably, during the first decades of the 3rd. Furthermore, he maintained that, because the tale contained elements - notably that of fratricide - which did not reflect favourably on the image of Rome, it was essentially the product of anti-Roman propaganda. Wiseman, on the other hand, suggests that Remus represents the Roman plebs and that the twins actually symbolise the "power-sharing" between patricians and plebeians brought about by the Licinio-Sextian laws. The starting point of Wiseman's thesis is that the plebs' "lateness" in coming to power is reflected in the name "Remus", which signifies "slowness"; and he cites the etymology given in the Origo Gentis Romanae (21.5), where "Romulus" is derived from "rhome" ("strength") and "Remus" from "remores", because that is what the ancients called people who were "slow" by nature

Development of the PsAQoL: a quality of life instrument specific to psoriatic arthritis

Background: Patient reported outcome measures used in studies of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have been found to be inadequate for determining the impact of the disease from the patient’s perspective. Objective: To produce the PsAQoL, a PsA-specific quality of life (QoL) instrument, employing the needs based model of QoL that would be relevant and acceptable to respondents, valid, and reliable. Methods: Content was derived from qualitative interviews conducted with patients with PsA. Face and content validity were assessed by field test interviews with a new sample of patients with PsA. A postal survey was conducted to improve the scaling properties of the new measure. Finally, a test-retest postal survey was used to identify the final measure and to test its scaling properties, reliability, internal consistency, and validity. Results: Analysis of the qualitative interview transcripts identified a 51 item questionnaire. Field test interviews confirmed the acceptability and relevance of the measure. Analysis of data from the first postal survey (n = 94) reduced the questionnaire to 35 items. Rasch analysis of data from the test-retest survey (n = 286) identified a 20 item version of the PsAQoL with good item fit. This version had excellent internal consistency (a = 0.91), test-retest reliability (0.89), and validity. Conclusions: The PsAQoL is a valuable tool for assessing the impact of interventions for PsA in clinical studies and trials. It is well accepted by patients, taking about three minutes to complete, is easy to administer, and has excellent scaling and psychometric properties

Family Experiences Related to Early Hearing Intervention Guidelines in Washington State

Undiagnosed hearing loss can have an especially devastating effect on young children. Without proper assessment, a child may have limited access to language and auditory input, and their speech and language skills may be negatively impacted. Research has shown that early intervention is related to positive developmental outcomes in children with hearing loss. Therefore, it is beneficial for these children and their families to receive support as early as possible. The present study has two main goals. Firstly, this study seeks to examine the implementation of three major national goals of early hearing intervention in Washington State, focusing primarily on the time that passes between each of these three recommended steps for individual families. Secondly, this study is concerned with parent perspectives on potential barriers along the path to intervention that may limit the family\u27s return for services. In an attempt to reveal what obstacles impact a family’s pursuit of early intervention in Washington State, an online survey was developed for parents of children diagnosed with permanent hearing loss in Washington State. Participants will be linked to a secure and anonymous online survey that was developed using a survey building program licensed through Western Washington University. The link will be distributed via email and on the website of Washington State Hands and Voices. The format will consist of approximately 20 questions and is estimated to take 15 minutes to complete. The content is focused on the experience of the parents or guardians of the child with hearing loss during the detection, diagnosis, and intervention periods. The survey will ask about their child’s progression through the intervention process, collecting data on the amount of time it took to progress from one step to the next, as well as data on which factors parents believe to have negatively impacted their experience

Spectral Evolution of Circinus X-1 Along its Orbit

We report on the spectral analysis of Circinus X-1 observed by the ASCA satellite in March 1998 along one orbital period. The luminosity of the source (in the 0.1-100 keV band) ranges from $2.5 \times 10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$ at the periastron (orbital phase 0.01) to $1.5 \times 10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$ at orbital phase 0.3. From the spectral analysis and the lightcurve we argue that Cir X-1 shows three states along the orbital evolution. The first state is at the orbital phase interval 0.97-0.3: the luminosity becames super-Eddington and a strong flaring activity is present. In this state a shock could form in the inner region of the system due to the super-Eddington accretion rate, producing an outflow of ionized matter whose observational signature could be the prominent absorption edge at $\sim 8.7$ keV observed in the energy spectrum at these phases. In the second state, corresponding to the orbital phase interval between 0.3 and 0.7, the accretion rate is sub-Eddington and we observe a weaker outflow, with smaller hydrogen column: the absorption edge is now at $\sim 8.3$ keV with an optical depth a factor of 2.5 to 6 smaller. The third state corresponds to the orbital phase interval 0.78-0.97. In this state the best fit model to the spectrum requires the presence of a partial covering component, indicating that the emission from the compact object is partially absorbed by neutral matter, probably the atmosphere of the companion star and/or the accreting matter from the companion.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by Ap