The importance of fish for the medieval and early modern economy in the Baltic Sea is known through separate studies by historians and archaeologists. This article aims to combine zooarchaeological data with account books from castles in Kastelholm (Åland Islands) and Raseborg (south-western coast of Finland) in order to understand the processing and transport of fish in the area. Fish was paid as tax by the peasants but was also fished by the castle fishermen and brought to the castles to be consumed there. Here, the preserved fish products are primarily studied through pike and cod, which represent the main economically important larger fish species in the Baltic Sea. The study reveals some differences between the castles studied and the importance of fish for the castle economy.

Medical issues facing the aging population are of growing concern with consequences for patients and their caregivers. This study determined the indirect and out-of-pocket costs incurred by the caregivers of elderly patients in Canadian Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Primary family caregivers were surveyed capturing out-of-pocket costs, hours of work, and hours of leisure forgone in providing patient care while the patient was in the ICU. Total costs of care per month were reported across caregiver sex, age, and geographic region. Average out-of-pocket costs were $791 (2016 Canadian dollars) in the first month of ICU care. The mean total cost to family caregivers per patient was $162 per day. Male primary caregivers had higher mean out-of-pocket costs than female caregivers. Subsidization programs covering expenses such as travel, meals, accommodation, and parking are needed to support family caregivers of elderly ICU patients who are incurring considerable out-of-pocket costs.

This paper studies the rise of professors of economics and business studies in the second half of the 20th century in Switzerland. It focuses on three types of power resources: positions in the university hierarchy, scientific reputation and extra-academic positions in the economic and political spheres. Based on a biographical database of N = 487 professors, it examines how these resources developed from 1957 to 2000. We find that professors of economic sciences were increasingly and simultaneously successful on all three studied dimensions – especially when compared to disciplines such as law, social sciences or humanities. This evolution seems to challenge the notorious trade-off between scientific and society poles of the academic field: professors of economics and business increased their scientific reputation while becoming more powerful in worldly positions. However, zooming in on their individual endowment with capital, we see that the same professors rarely hold simultaneously a significant amount of scientific and institutional capital.

In modern populations, inequalities in oral health have been observed between urban and rural communities, but to date the impact of the place of residence on oral health in archaeological populations has received only limited attention. This meta-study analyses dental palaeopathological data to examine the relationship between place of residence and oral health in Roman, early medieval, and late medieval Britain. Published data on ante-mortem tooth loss, calculus, caries, dental abscesses, and periodontal disease were analysed from cemeteries in urban and rural locations from each period. The results indicate that the place of residence influenced oral health in Roman and late medieval times, with urban populations enjoying better oral health than rural populations in Roman Britain, but poorer oral health in the late Middle Ages. These findings may reflect changes in the nature of urban settlements and in their relationship with their rural hinterlands over time.

This article investigates the production of textiles in Thrace during the first millennium BC. It presents a functional analysis of textile-production tools from three towns in Thrace: Koprivlen, Adzhiiska Vodenitsa near Vetren, and Seuthopolis, and from Kastanas in Macedonia. The analysis shows that over the course of the Iron Age, textile production became more diversified and intensive. This process unfolded parallel to the emergence of opulent elite burials and urban communities. By examining a wider range of archaeological, iconographic, and textual data, the article contributes to our understanding of how the demand for textiles, and their consumption in different socially meaningful ways, connects to changes in production.

In recent years, scientific methods of bio- and geoarchaeology have become increasingly important for archaeological research. Political changes since the 1990s have reshaped the archaeological community. At the same time environmental topics have gained importance in modern society, but the debate lacks an historical understanding. Regarding medieval rural archaeology, we need to ask how this influences our archaeological research on medieval settlements, and how ecological approaches fit into the self-concept of medieval archaeology as a primarily historical discipline. Based mainly on a background in German medieval archaeology, this article calls attention to more complex ecological research questions. Medieval village formation and the late medieval crisis are taken as examples to sketch some hypotheses and research questions. The perspective of a village ecosystem helps bring together economic aspects, human ecology and environmental history. There are several implications for archaeological theory as well as for archaeological practice. Traditional approaches from landscape archaeology are insufficient to understand the changes within village ecosystems. We need to consider social aspects and subjective recognition of the environment by past humans as a crucial part of human–nature interaction. Use of the perspective of village ecosystems as a theoretical background offers a way to examine individual historical case studies with close attention to human agency. Thinking in terms of human ecology and environmental history raises awareness of some interrelations that are crucial to understanding past societies and cultural change.

The Australasian Merino population has declined significantly over the last 15 years in response to a decline in the price of apparel wool, both in absolute terms and relative to the price of sheep meat. Over the same period, a national genetic evaluation system based on BLUP methods has been introduced, that is achieving steady growth in adoption by breeders. Genetic parameter estimates for the population provide evidence for considerable genetic diversity for all recorded traits, providing ample opportunity for genetic improvement. More recently, there is considerable evidence for increasingly rapid progress, both in fleece traits and a range of meat production and adaptation traits. The Merino population is evolving towards two broad types – one focused on high quality apparel wools finer than 19 µm and used in enterprises with a wool/meat income ratio of about 3:1, and the other a more dual-purpose animal producing 19–21 µm wool and an enterprise wool/meat income ratio between 1.5:1 and 1:1. Underlying these trends is a growing focus on adaptation traits including worm resistance; reduced need for veterinary interventions; and increased early growth, fertility and mothering ability. Together these trends point to increasingly ‘easy-care’ sheep and exploitation of the available genetic diversity to rapidly increase profitability.

Production of channel catfish (Icta1urus punctatus), the most widely cultured foodfish in the United States, is confined for the most part to the southern states. The states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi account for more than 95% of total commercial production and processing. Mississippi accounts for more production and processing than the rest of the United States combined. Channel catfish are native to the United States. However, the farm-raised catfish, processed into many different consumer products, is considered to be a newly developed fish for marketing purposes.Production methods include intensive tank culture, raceway culture, and open pond systems. The open pond method accounts for almost all of the commercial production because it is more profitable. The other methods usually represent special situations as opposed to general cost effective systems. The culture of catfish in North America attained industry status in 1974 as production methods were adopted to provide fish for processing throughout the year. This development enhanced market development and tremendously contributed to the growth of the industry over the past 20 years. The industry is still in its infancy and shows much potential for continued growth in the United States. This potential is based upon the following: products from farm-raised catfish are widely accepted by consumers; the resources required are available for expansion on an economically efficient basis; and institutional support in terms of research, education, and market development is available to the industry.