A non-biomineralized arthropod, Protocaris marshi, was described from the lower Cambrian (Dyeran Series 2, Stage 4) of Parker's Cobble in northwestern Vermont in 1884. It represents the first fossil exhibiting Burgess Shale-type preservation to have been discovered. The locality was presumed to have been worked out and was not collected in a significant way for more than 100 years. Rediscovery of productive layers has yielded soft-bodied and lightly sclerotized taxa new to the locality, including the alga Fuxianospora, a possible priapulid, a radiodont, and a specimen tentatively assigned to Herpetogaster. New specimens of the sponge Leptomitus zitteli, the bivalved arthropod Tuzoia, and the chordate Emmonsaspis cambrensis provide additional information on those taxa, and multiple specimens allow a bivalved arthropod, Vermontcaris montcalmi new genus, new species, to be described. The primary mode of fossil preservation is as carbonaceous compressions. The Parker Quarry Lagerstätte complements the Kinzers Formation of Pennsylvania (also Series 2, Stage 4) in revealing the diversity of soft-bodied taxa on the southern margin of the paleocontinent Laurentia.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/2eb3ae7c-6579-403e-a9ab-654c05af4a1b

This was a longitudinal study utilising the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (n 3849 aged ≥ 50 years) and investigated the relationship between blood plasma folate and B12 levels at baseline (wave 1) and incident depressive symptoms at 2 and 4 years (waves 2 and 3). A score ≥ 9 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-8 at wave 2 or 3 was indicative of incident depressive symptoms. B12 status profiles (pmol/l) were defined as < 185, deficient low; 185 to < 258, low normal; > 258–601, normal and > 601 high. Folate status profiles (nmol/l) were defined as ≤ 10·0, deficient low; > 10–23·0, low normal; > 23·0–45·0, normal; >45·0, high. Logistic regression models were used to analyse the longitudinal associations. Both B12 and folate plasma concentrations were lower in the group with incident depressive symptoms v. non-depressed (folate: 21·4 v. 25·1 nmol/l; P = 0·0003; B12:315·7 v. 335·9 pmol/l; P = 0·0148). Regression models demonstrated that participants with deficient-low B12 status at baseline had a significantly higher likelihood of incident depression 4 years later (OR 1·51, 95 % CI 1·01, 2·27, P = 0·043). This finding remained robust after controlling for relevant covariates. No associations of folate status with incident depression were observed. Older adults with deficient-low B12 status had a 51 % increased likelihood of developing depressive symptoms over 4 years. The findings highlight the need to further explore the low-cost benefits of optimising vitamin B12 status for depression in older adults.

Short-term hunter-gatherer residential camps have been a central feature of human settlement patterns and social structure for most of human evolutionary history. Recent analyses of ethnohistoric hunter-gatherer data show that across different environments, the average size of hunter-gatherer bands is remarkably constant and that bands are commonly formed by a small number of coresident families. Using ethnoarchaeological data, we examine the relationship between the physical infrastructure of camps and their social organization. We compiled a dataset of 263 ethnoarchaeologically observed hunter-gatherer camps from 13 studies in the literature. We focus on both the scale of camps, or their average size, structure, and composition, and the dynamics that governed their variation. Using a combination of inferential statistics and linear models, we show that the physical infrastructure of camps, measured by the number of household features, reflects the internal social organization of hunter-gatherer bands. Using scaling analyses, we then show that the variation among individual camps is related to a predictable set of dynamics between camp area, infrastructure, the number of occupants, and residence time. Moreover, the scale and dynamics that set the statistical variance in camp sizes are similar across different environments and have important implications for reconstructing prehistoric hunter-gatherer social organization and behavior from the archaeological record.

Considerable numbers of exceptionally preserved conodont apparatuses with hyaline elements are present in the middle-upper Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician, Whiterockian) Winneshiek Konservat-Lagerstätte in northeastern Iowa. These fossils, which are associated with a restricted biota including other conodonts, occur in fine-grained clastic sediments deposited in a meteorite impact crater. Among these conodont apparatuses, the common ones are identified as Archeognathus primus Cullison, 1938 and Iowagnathus grandis new genus new species. The 6-element apparatus of A. primus comprises two pairs of archeognathiform (P) and one pair of coleodiform (S) elements. The 15-element apparatus of I. grandis n. gen. n. sp. is somewhat reminiscent of the prioniodinid type and contains ramiform elements of alate (one element) and digyrate, bipennate, or tertiopedate types (7 pairs). Both conodont taxa are characterized by giant elements and the preservation of both crowns and basal bodies, the latter not previously reported in Ordovician conodont apparatuses. Comparison of the apparatus size in the Winneshiek specimens with that of the Scottish Carboniferous soft-part-preserved conodont animals suggests that the Iowa animals were significantly larger than the latter. The apparatus of A. primus differs conspicuously from the apparatuses of the prioniodontid Promissum from the Upper Ordovician Soom Shale of South Africa although the apparatus architecture of I. grandis n. gen. n. sp. shows some similarity to it. Based on the Winneshiek collections, a new family Iowagnathidae in Conodonta is proposed.

The Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) Winneshiek Lagerstätte of northeast Iowa is preserved in a meteorite crater. Besides conodonts, the fossils are dominated by arthropods, particularly eurypterids and phyllocarids. Here we describe the bivalved forms, which include at least seven different taxa. The small phyllocarid Ceratiocaris winneshiekensis, new species, is the most abundant; it is the oldest representative of the Ceratiocarididae. A single incomplete abdomen and telson bearing furcal rami is reminiscent of notostracan branchiopods but its affinities are unknown. Decoracaris hildebrandi, new genus and species, is a rare form with a shield that extends anteriorly into a swollen horn and reaches lengths of 9 cm: it may represent a thylacocephalan crustacean but this cannot be confirmed without soft parts. Iosuperstes collisionis, new genus and species, is represented by suboval valves 10–25 mm long: its affinities are unknown. A probable leperditicopid, which ranges in length from 8 to 18 mm, is commonly preserved in a ‘butterflied’ configuration. It does not preserve the scars and sinuses characteristic of three-dimensionally preserved leperditicopids from elsewhere. Finally the fauna includes at least three ostracods, including a palaeocope with a granular surface and relief similar to Lomatopisthia, and a smooth ?podocope. The Winneshiek fauna differs from those of other Ordovician Lagerstätten from restricted settings such as Airport Cove and William Lake in Manitoba (Katian) where, apart from ostracods, bivalved arthropods are absent, and Silurian examples such as Brandon Bridge (Telychian), which lacks eurypterids, and the Williamsville Member of the Bertie Formation (Pridoli) where conodont assemblages are absent.

Ronald Mason’s hypothesis from the 1960s that the southeastern United States possesses greater Paleoindian projectile-point diversity than other regions is regularly cited, and often assumed to be true, but in fact has never been quantitatively tested. Even if valid, however, the evolutionary meaning of this diversity is contested. Point diversity is often linked to Clovis “origins,” but point diversity could also arise from group fissioning and drift, admixture, adaptation, or multiple founding events, among other possibilities. Before archaeologists can even begin to discuss these scenarios, it is paramount to ensure that what we think we know is representative of reality. To this end, we tested Mason’s hypothesis for the first time, using a sample of 1,056 Paleoindian points from eastern North America arui employing paradigmatic classification and rigorous statistical tools used in the quantification of ecological biodiversity. Our first set of analyses, which compared the Southeast to the Northeast, showed that the Southeast did indeed possess significantly greater point-class richness. Although this result was consistent with Mason’s hypothesis, our second set of analyses, which compared the Upper Southeast to the Lower Southeast and the Northeast showed that in terms of point-class richness the Upper Southeast > Lower Southeast > Northeast. Given current chronometrie evidence, we suggest that this latter result is consistent with the suggestion that the area of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee River valleys, as well as the mid-Atlantic coastal plain, were possible initial and secondary “staging areas” for colonizing Paleoindian foragers moving from western to eastern North America.

We present the results of an approximately 6 100 deg2 104–196 MHz radio sky survey performed with the Murchison Widefield Array during instrument commissioning between 2012 September and 2012 December: the MWACS. The data were taken as meridian drift scans with two different 32-antenna sub-arrays that were available during the commissioning period. The survey covers approximately 20.5 h < RA < 8.5 h, − 58° < Dec < −14°over three frequency bands centred on 119, 150 and 180 MHz, with image resolutions of 6–3 arcmin. The catalogue has 3 arcmin angular resolution and a typical noise level of 40 mJy beam− 1, with reduced sensitivity near the field boundaries and bright sources. We describe the data reduction strategy, based upon mosaicked snapshots, flux density calibration, and source-finding method. We present a catalogue of flux density and spectral index measurements for 14 110 sources, extracted from the mosaic, 1 247 of which are sub-components of complexes of sources.

Significant new opportunities for astrophysics and cosmology have been identified at low radio frequencies. The Murchison Widefield Array is the first telescope in the southern hemisphere designed specifically to explore the low-frequency astronomical sky between 80 and 300 MHz with arcminute angular resolution and high survey efficiency. The telescope will enable new advances along four key science themes, including searching for redshifted 21-cm emission from the EoR in the early Universe; Galactic and extragalactic all-sky southern hemisphere surveys; time-domain astrophysics; and solar, heliospheric, and ionospheric science and space weather. The Murchison Widefield Array is located in Western Australia at the site of the planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA) low-band telescope and is the only low-frequency SKA precursor facility. In this paper, we review the performance properties of the Murchison Widefield Array and describe its primary scientific objectives.

Digital signal processing is one of many valuable tools for suppressing unwanted signals or inter-ference. Building hardware processing engines seems to be the way to best implement some classes of interference suppression but is, unfortunately, expensive and time-consuming, especially if several miti-gation techniques need to be compared. Simulations can be useful, but are not a substitute for real data. CSIRO’s Australia Telescope National Facility has recently commenced a ‘software radio telescope’ project designed to fill the gap between dedicated hardware processors and pure simulation. In this approach, real telescope data are recorded coherently, then processed offline. This paper summarises the current contents of a freely available database of base band recorded data that can be used to experiment with signal processing solutions. It includes data from the following systems: single dish, multi-feed receiver; single dish with reference antenna; and an array of six 22 m antennas with and without a reference antenna. Astronomical sources such as OH masers, pulsars and continuum sources subject to interfering signals were recorded. The interfering signals include signals from the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and its Russian equivalent (GLONASS), television, microwave links, a low-Earth-orbit satellite, various other transmitters, and signals leaking from local telescope systems with fast clocks. The data are available on compact disk, allowing use in general purpose computers or as input to laboratory hardware prototypes.

Potential fecundity, number of oocytes in the mature ovary, and realized fecundity, number of eggs extruded and attached to the pleopods of female Nephrops, caught at the start of the incubation period were estimated for females from the eastern and western Irish Sea grounds. Potential fecundity was found to differ significantly between eastern and western Irish Sea stocks, while realized fecundity did not differ between areas. Inter-year comparison of realized fecundity, and effective fecundity (the number of mature eggs on the pleopods of females at the end of the incubation period) in the western Irish Sea stocks revealed no significant variation over time. Egg loss during the transition from oocytes in the ovary to mature eggs increased with female size, ranging from 40% at 25 mm carapace length (CL) to 65% at 40 mm CL. No relationship was found between egg diameter or volume and female size.

We present a very unusual case of an acoustic neuroma involving the left cochlea and internal auditory canal of a 24-year-old man. Clinical suspicion was aroused when the patient presented with a left total sensorineural hearing loss and continuing vertigo. The diagnosis was made pre-operatively with MRI after initial CT scanning was normal. The tumour was removed via a transotic approach. This case report demonstrates the MRI features of an intracochlear schwannoma and emphasizes the importance of MRI in patients with significant auditory and clinical abnormalities with normal CT scans of the relevant region.