This article reviews aspects of the development of animal husbandry in Roman Britain, focusing in particular on the Iron Age/Roman and Roman/early medieval transitions. By analysing the two chronological extremes of the period of Roman influence in Britain we try to identify the core characteristics of Romano-British husbandry by using case studies, in particular from south-eastern Britain, investigated from the perspective of the butchery and morphometric evidence they provide. Our aim is to demonstrate the great dynamism of Romano-British animal husbandry, with substantial changes in livestock management occurring at the beginning, the end, and during the period under study. It is suggested that such changes are the product of interactions between different cultural and social traditions, which can be associated with indigenous and external influences, but also numerous other causes, ranging from ethnic origins to environmental, geographic, political, and economic factors.

In the open Southern Ocean (SO), both modern and past size changes of the diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis appear to be strongly controlled by iron availability. Conversely, sea surface temperatures (SST) and sea ice seasonal dynamics take over in the seasonal sea-ice zone where iron is not limiting. No information exists on F. kerguelensis biometry from the subtropical SO, on the other extreme of the thermal and nutrient gradients. We present here new data on mean valve area of F. kerguelensis (FkergArea) from a sediment core covering the last ~42 cal kyrs from the southern Subtropical Front (SSTF) of the Indian sector of the SO, where iron and silica stocks are thought to have been consistently low over this period. Our results suggest that larger F. kerguelensis valves occurred during the Last Glacial period, and declined during the Holocene period. These findings indicate that more favourable SST, within the F. kerguelensis ecological range, during the Last Glacial period may have enabled F. kerguelensis to make better use of the low silica stocks prevailing in the subtropical zone leading to larger valves. Conversely, declining FkergArea during the deglacial and the Holocene periods may have been a result of higher SST which hampered the utilization of silica.

This article shows how John Maynard Keynes's lifelong commitment to eugenics was deeply embedded in his political, economic, and philosophical work. At the turn of the century, eugenics seemed poised to grant industrial nations unprecedented control over their own future, but that potential depended on contested understandings of the biological mechanisms of inheritance. Early in his career, Keynes helped William Bateson, Britain's chief proponent of Mendelian genetics, analyze problems in human heredity. Simultaneously, Keynes publicly opposed the efforts by Francis Galton and Karl Pearson to study inheritance through statistical biometry. For Keynes, this conflict was morally laden: Mendelism incorporated the only ethical theory of uncertainty, while biometry rested on false and dangerous concepts. This early study of heredity shaped Keynes's visions of industrial democracy after 1918. Liberals looked for a system of societal and economic management to engineer an escape from the postwar Malthusian trap. Britain's economic plight, Keynes argued, was rooted in the hereditary weaknesses of its leadership. Successful technocratic liberalism would depend on control over the quality as well as quantity of human beings. Ultimately, in his essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” Keynes predicted that effective eugenic management would bring about capitalism's end.

Here we analyze the outcomes of unlimited access to a low-energy (LE) diet in dams and their offspring. At 3 weeks’ gestation, pregnant Wistar rats were divided into two groups: (1) the control group received a normoenergetic diet; and (2) the experimental group received the LE diet. In dams, lactation outcomes, food intake, body weight, plasma IGF-1, prealbumin, transferrin and retinol-binding protein levels were evaluated; in offspring, biometric and biochemical parameters and food intake were evaluated. No differences were observed during pregnancy. However, after lactation, dams that received the LE diet demonstrated significant reductions in body weight (P<0.05), plasma IGF-1 (P=0.01), prealbumin and visceral fat (P<0.001). Pups born to dams that received the LE diet demonstrated reduced body length and weight at weaning (P<0.001) and were lighter than the control animals at the end of the experimental period. Pups also demonstrated reduced plasma, low-density lipoprotein (P=0.04), triglycerides (P=0.002) and glucose levels (P<0.05), and differences were noted in visceral fat. These results indicate that feeding dams with LE diet during the reproductive period induces acute malnutrition and impairs the growth and development of offspring, as well as certain metabolic parameters.

Five colonies of the rare pennatulacean Crassophyllum thessalonicae were recently collected from Thermaikos Gulf (north-east Mediterranean), which allowed a study of their biometry; accordingly, new features are added to the original description of the species. Based on these data the morphological characters that distinguish C. thessalonicae from its congeners are reviewed.

This study defined the body weight/length relationship and an equation for body mass estimation using morphometric measurements on Amazonian manatees Trichechus inunguis (Mammalia: Sirenia). Total length (TL), maximum girth (MG) and body mass (M) were obtained from 91 captive Amazonian manatees (46 males and 45 females) of different ages, and TL and M were obtained from eight free-ranging Amazonian manatees (6 males and 2 females). The data were analysed by linear and multiple linear regressions. The maximum length and mass measured were 266.5 cm and 379.5 kg, respectively. The equation for body weight/length relationship was M = 0.00001070 * TL3.122 (r2 = 0.984) (Equation I) and no differences between sexes and between captive and free-ranging animals were found (P > 0.05). We calculated two more equations for mass estimation (Equation II: M = 0.00003284 * TL1.857 * MG1.106, r2 = 0.992; and Equation III: M = 1.506 + 0.00003477 * TL * MG2, r2 = 0.995), and the best equation (high correlation coefficient and low percentage of residues) was Equation III. Equation I provides the body condition of manatees, whereas Equation III is more accurate for estimating body mass. Both equations are important tools for management of captive and free-ranging Amazonian manatees.

Regression-based normative techniques account for variability in test performance associated with multiple predictor variables and generate expected scores based on algebraic equations. Using this approach, we show that estimated IQ, based on oral word reading, accounts for 1–9% of the variability beyond that explained by individual differences in age, sex, race, and years of education for most cognitive measures. These results confirm that adding estimated “premorbid” IQ to demographic predictors in multiple regression models can incrementally improve the accuracy with which regression-based norms (RBNs) benchmark expected neuropsychological test performance in healthy adults. It remains to be seen whether the incremental variance in test performance explained by estimated “premorbid” IQ translates to improved diagnostic accuracy in patient samples. We describe these methods, and illustrate the step-by-step application of RBNs with two cases. We also discuss the rationale, assumptions, and caveats of this approach. More broadly, we note that adjusting test scores for age and other characteristics might actually decrease the accuracy with which test performance predicts absolute criteria, such as the ability to drive or live independently. (JINS, 2009, 15, 1012–1022.)

To determine whether central communication of retinal signals is necessary for the development of an experimentally induced myopia, tree shrews were exposed to monocular deprivation (MD) while the action potentials of retinal cells in the deprived eye were blocked with intravitreally injected tetrodotoxin (TTX-MD animals). TTX injections (0.6 μ 3 μL) and MD began about 15 days after eye opening, at the start of the susceptible period for the development of lid-suture myopia. Six injections were given, one every second day to produce 12 days of MD and TTX-blockade. Control TTX animals (TTX-open) received TTX in one eye, but not MD, on the same injection schedule and were always found to be behaviorally unresponsive to visual stimuli through the injected eye indicating that TTX blocked central communication of action potentials. Other control animals received intravitreally injected saline in either an open eye (saline-open), or an MD eye (saline-MD). A sham-injected group (sham-inj-MD) received MD and all anesthetic and surgical manipulations except for penetration of the sclera. In all groups, one eye in each animal was an untreated control.

Two effects were found. All MD groups, including the TTX-MD animals, developed a significant vitreous chamber elongation in the deprived eye, indicating that an experimental myopia developed despite ganglion cell blockade. Thus, retinal mechanisms in tree shrew can detect the presence of a degraded visual image and produce an experimental myopia that does not depend on the receipt of visual messages by central neural structures. In addition, eyes in which the sclera was punctured had smaller vitreous chamber depths than comparable uninjected eyes, indicating that puncturing the sclera reduced the normal elongation. These data suggest that forces within the eye normally contribute to its expansion and may be resisted by the choroid and/or the sclera.

The biochemical composition and biometry of different Artemia salina stages were determined in four ponds of increasing salinity (M1, M2, M3 and B1) in the Sfax solar saltern (Tunisia). Results showed the dominance of saturated fatty acids, which made up 48 to 57% of total fatty acids (FAs). Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) 22:6(n-3) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and 20:5(n-3) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) represented on average only 3.1 and 4.0% of total FAs respectively. A. salina nauplii, cysts and metanauplii, in ponds M1, M2 and B1 respectively, were found to have optimal DHA/EPA ratios (>2) for use as live feed for invertebrate and fish larvae. Significant inter-pond variation in DHA/EPA levels was also recorded. The predominant FAs in Artemia were negatively correlated with both temperature and salinity. FA and protein contents were strongly affected by high temperatures (>30 °C) and probably by food sources (e.g., Dunaliella salina) (r = 0.9, n = 27). The density of Artemiasalina was positively correlated with protein content in pond B1. The high DHA/EPA ratios (1 to 3.3) found in this study indicate that Sfax Artemia could be a valuable food source for larvae in large marine hatcheries and also for some aquarium species.

Les caractéristiques biologiques des civelles (Anguillaanguilla) ont été étudiées entre novembre et mars lors dedeux campagnes d'échantillonnage successives (1996–1997 et1997–1998) dans l'estuaire de l'Adour. Une diminution de lalongueur (en moyenne de 73,5 à 67,4 mm) et du poids (en moyenne de 3,5à 2,6 dg) des civelles durant la saison de migration est observéecomme sur les autres estuaires. Différents groupes de civelles peuvent êtreidentifiés au cours de chaque saison étudiée. Les variations ducoefficient d'allométrie statique et de l'indice de similaritéindiquent l'arrivée successive de différents flux dans le bas estuaire. Cesgroupes sont bien différenciés lors de la première campagne alorsqu'ils se chevauchent dans le temps lors de la seconde. La conjonction deforts débits fluviaux et de faibles coefficients de marée induit desconditions de migration défavorables pour les civelles qui pénètrenten estuaire. Après accumulation des bancs de civelles dans la partie basse del'estuaire, quand les conditions hydrologiques redeviennent favorables, les bancsmélangés remontent vers l'amont par « vagues »successives, au rythme des marées.

Much of the literature in reliability and survival analysis considers failure models indexed by a single scale. There are situations which require that failure be described by several scales. An example from reliability is items under warranty whose failure is recorded by time and amount of use. An example from survival analysis is the death of a mine worker which is noted by age and the duration of exposure to dust.

This paper proposes an approach for developing probabilistic models indexed by two scales: time, and usage, a quantity that is related to time. The relationship between the scales is described by an additive hazards model. The evolution of usage is described by stochastic processes like the Poisson, the gamma and the Markov additive. The paper concludes with an application involving the setting of warranties. Two features differentiate this work from related efforts: a use of specific processes for describing usage, and a use of Monte Carlo techniques for generating the models.

The Tetraconodontinae Lydekker, 1876 are a subfamily of pigs (Suidae) with a great variety of dental adaptations, such as greatly enlarged or reduced premolars, enlarged posterior molars, hypsodonty, enlarged incisors etc. The essence of most of these adaptations can be described very well by simple biometry. Size increase of the last molars has proved to be of importance in African biostratigraphy. However, it appears that members of different lineages have been mixed up.

Tendencies in relative premolar size indicate that the 21 species known can be grouped in three tribes: (1) the Tetraconodontini, with very large or even extremely enlarged premolars and, in one of the lineages, a tendency to enlarge the posterior molars; (2) the Nyanzachoerini new tribe, characterised by moderately enlarged or even reduced premolars and with a tendency to increase the length of the posterior molars by the addition of distal cusps; and (3) the Parachleuastochoerini new tribe, with relatively long but narrower premolars. Both Nyanzachoerini and Tetraconodontini include species that were placed previously in Conohyus and Nyanzachoerus.

A very long gradually evolving lineage in the Nyanzachoerini, spanning 13 Ma, is documented. In the last 5 Ma of this lineage, M3 length increased at such a rate that a (sub)species can be recognised about every 0·7 Ma. Slightly lesser rates of evolution are found in some other lineages, but still others experienced apparently long periods of stasis or very slow evolution. In a single case there is a period of stasis combined with a sudden evolutionary jump as in the punctuated equilibria model.

In the cases of intercontinental dispersal events combined with cladogenesis, where the ancestor in the continent of origin could be identified, the cause of cladogenesis seems to have been geographical isolation. Two tetraconodont lineages were restricted to Eurasia for about 5 Ma. During the Late Miocene, members of these lineages dispersed repeatedly to Africa. The Vallesian is a period of profound climatic changes which are reflected in changes in biogeography of many taxa. It is assumed that these and later climatic changes enabled the dispersal of Tetraconodontinae to Africa.

In this paper we establish a characterization theorem for a general class of life-testing models based on a relationship between conditional expectation and the failure rate function. As a simple application of the theorem, we characterize the gamma, Weibull, and Gompertz distributions, since they have many probabilistic and statistical properties useful in both biometry and engineering reliability.

Anthraconaia lived on clay grade sediments. In highly variable life assemblages of the A.prolifera group of the E German Wettin Shales (Stephanian C) organic carbon percentage of the host sediment correlates with wu/m and A/L ratios of the shell (where wu is the maximum width ventral to the line of maximum growth, m, L the maximum length measured parallel to the line of the hinge, and A the length anterior to the umbo). Decrease in the organic carbon of the sediment is associated with decrease in umbonal development, elongation of the shell along the m axis, and straightening and reflection of the ventral margin; the latter becomes subparallel to the dorsum or to the m axis with a concomitant decrease in size. These results confirm and amplify earlier work on Anthraconaia in the Appalachian coalfields. The same morphological trends in relation to organic carbon characterise the Anthraconaia modiolaris group of Britain, both within a single succession in upper Westphalian A sediments in Yorkshire, and also in three shell bands of Lower Westphalian B age in S Wales, Yorkshire and central Scotland. In the last named, above the Musselband Coal, statistical formulae (of Leitch 1940) for the species A.salteri are shown to define neither the type assemblage nor its stratigraphical position. The shell-shape/organic carbon relationship has been broadly confirmed on other horizons of lower Westphalian B age in the Scottish and Pennine coalfields. Far from embarrassing the stratigrapher, the relationship, which reflects ultimately trophic level of deltaic palaeoenvironments, contributes to our understanding of non-marine bivalve faunas, especially of the apparent regional distribution of ‘species’ of Anthraconaia.

This article is a review of the technique of matching as it applies to epidemiological investgations of the etiology of disease. It is written for researchers who wish to use twins as the matched pairs in studies of this type.