This chapter gives an overview of the embryonic development and morphological characteristics of the Little Owl. We first look at how the egg develops, with special attention paid to the temporary asymmetric ears, then zoom in on owlet development as they grow and the plumage of adult birds and how molt takes place. The eyes are special and the species has retinal cells similar to diurnal birds of prey. While Little Owls can differentiate several colors, the species does not see infra-red rays. It has an auditory sensitivity to locate small rodents with an accuracy of up to 1%. The bill is yellowish and its color functions as a signal for the fitness of both juveniles and adults. The Little Owl has differential biometrical measures (such as length of wing, tail, tarsus) according to the subspecies or according to the sex (such as weight - females are heavier close to the breeding time). We finally examine the voice. The species has a large vocal repertoire, including 40 acoustic signals and combinations with regional specificities. The chapter concludes with specific characteristics for flight and the anatomy.

Different owl species and subspecies were defined in the early days of taxonomy uniquely based upon morphological features like size and color in specific geographical regions across the world. Recently, more differentiators are taken into account to define new species to avoid upgrading them from a subspecies based upon limited aspects. We consider the biological species concept that takes biological characteristics into account, morphological concept studies, especially morphometrics and coloration of the bird, the phylogenetic concept, using mitochondrial DNA studies to establish a lineage that eventually leads to a common ancestor, complemented by fossil evidence for the evolution of species. Vocalizations of Little Owls across the range are increasingly documented and taken into account as well. The last approach considers the geographical distribution and the use of validated, geocoded, high-quality photographic input. In this chapter we present the current fossil evidence for ancestors of the species. We describe the historical context in which subspecies have been defined. We illustrate the way the subspecies were described, for which we now have evidence for their relevance. We consider 14 subspecies of Little Owl for which we have found substantial evidence. This means that we have one more subspecies.

Borrowings in informal American English exhibit various modifications. Phonological changes involve the modification of their pronunciation to conform to the phonological rules of American English. Orthographical changes feature the change in spelling of borrowed expressions, with various stages of respelling or other modifications. Morphological changes include addition or removal of lexical material via standard wordbuilding processes such as lengthening or shortening. Semantic changes involve figuration and accompanying semantic shifting. Grammatical changes involve conversion in the part of speech. Finally, stylistic changes involve modification in the original register of informal borrowings which may shift their stylistic status in American English; while most borrowings exhibit no such change and retain their informal status, there are several exceptions.

This chapter provides an organized ranking and a discussion of expressives in Breton. Expressives are defined as expressions whose morphophonology is not entirely arbitrary, but partly iconic. I provide an inventory of them in Breton, a Celtic modern language spoken in Western France in a bilingual context with French. I discuss the productivity of the operations of expressive morphology, their exclusive use for expressive means, and their degree of iconicity. I show for each category in turn what operations or structures might be exclusive to expressive words.

Spectacular progress in the therapeutic management of patients with severe male infertility was obtained with the implementation of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and has opened avenues to treating previously untreatable cases of infertility. However, it must be recognized that in the vast majority of ICSI cycles, the selection of the spermatozoon followed by the intracytoplasmic injection is done very quickly at low magnification and without detection possibilities for potential pathological morphological anomalies of spermatozoa. Strong correlations between sperm morphological characteristics and male fertility have been demonstrated. Thus, it seems reasonable to implement optimized non-invasive sperm selection techniques in ART based on morphological ’normalcy’ of spermatozoa. Almost 20 years ago, ’motile-sperm organelle morphology examination’ (MSOME) was introduced by Bartoov et al. Using Nomarski differential interference contrast optics (DIC) an improved three-dimensional view of the head and midpiece became available. This chapter will describe different aspects of sperm selection by morphology.

Limitations to embryo culture techniques in the early years of human in vitro fertilization (IVF) required transfer and/or cryopreservation of early cleavage-stage embryos on day 2 and day 3. Embryo quality scoring systems for these early cleavage-stage embryos were simplistic as the number of blastomeres, evenness of blastomere size, placement of blastomeres and extent of fragmentation were very evident. Extended culture of embryos to the blastocyst stage effectively doubled the time these embryos were maintained in vitro. Observations were commonly made at fertilization determination, mid-culture (day 3) and again at the end of the culture period (days 5 and 6). Evaluations of embryos on days 2 and 4 were then skipped in many laboratories. Qualitative selection protocols for morula-stage embryos rely on metrics associated with timing of compaction, extent of compaction, morphology of blastomeres and nuclei, extent of fragmentation and cavitation, if present. This chapter will touch on developmental details integrated into the suggested grading protocol, as well as providing evidence that morulae are overlooked as a viable clinical choice for transfer and for cryopreservation.

This chapter describes a simple and reproducible procedure for oocyte retrieval, revealing the method to employ and important points to keep in mind to provide optimal conditions in oocytes care.

Historically, embryo transfer was performed during the cleavage stage, either on day 2 or day 3. With advancements in embryo culture, many in vitro fertilization (IVF) programmes have moved towards blastocyst transfer. The recent development of pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS), metabolic profiling of conditioned media and time-lapse microscopy provide additional information on embryo selection. However, the assessment of cleavage-stage embryos remains crucial in that the information provides embryologists with a preview of embryo implantation potential. This is especially critical for patients with a limited number of embryos, who do not have the luxury to carry on to blastocyst culture for transfer. At this point, embryo morphology remains the sole selection criterion for choosing embryo(s) for transfer. This chapter discusses embryo assessment with the intention of being a quick guideline for embryo selection/grading with respect to symmetry, multi-nucleation and degree of fragmentation.

Embryo quality assessment and grading are major procedures in in vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratories and determining factors for clinical outcome success. Transferring in vitro cultured embryos at the blastocyst stage (generally day 5 to 6 after insemination), including elective single-embryo transfer (eSET), allows better embryo selection and has been associated with higher implantation rates and better clinical outcomes. Blastocyst transfer has become the preferred choice, replacing cleavage-stage (days 2 to 4) embryo transfer, among IVF laboratories worldwide. Recent advancements in embryo culture media, culture conditions and equipment, trophectoderm (TE) biopsy for pre- implantation genetic testing (PGT) and the concept of selecting only a few high-implantation-potential embryos for cryopreservation have contributed to more clinics practicing extended embryo culture to the blastocyst stage. Therefore, blastocyst quality assessment has become an essential and important protocol. This chapter discusses essential steps for blastocyst assessment as a quick guideline and lists blastocyst grading criteria based on three commonly used scoring systems in the reference protocol.

This chapter focuses on morpho-syntactical phenomena that are typically brushed off with labels such as ‘archaism’ or ‘colloquialism’ (e.g. siet; medio-passive infinitives ending in -ier; med; familiai; absence of subordinator ut; absence of subject accusatives). These labels provide neither an explanation nor an assessment that takes their functions and distributions into account. The analysis of distribution patterns shows whether a type of scansion, a morpheme, or a construction that stands out from the angle of an Indo-Europeanist or that of a classicist is in fact normal in early Latin, or marked in some way. For example, the discrepancy between the different conjugations shows that Plautus and Terence do not pick forms in -ier and then try to fit them into the line; rather, they write their lines and only pick forms in -ier if it cannot be helped. This has implications for assessing the stylistic value of forms in -ier in contemporary inscriptions or in Lucretius. This analysis, in turn, can help us to understand early texts in their own right, and aids us in reconstruction or understanding how a Roman of the classical period would have felt about a specific phenomenon.

This chapter examines the language of Lucilius’ hexametrical satires, discussing aspects of vocabulary, morphology, syntax and versification. The varied typology of Lucilius’ supposedly early lexicon (obsolete words; words tied to genre, whether high-style or comic; evidence of seemingly spoken usage in various registers) demonstrates that whatever characteristics of earlier diction Lucilius retains are largely motivated by literary purposes, and often innovated upon. Morphological and syntactical features which Classical Latin will discard are also few and coexisting with diachronic or diastratic variants. Pronounced alliteration, synonymic pairs, and persistent reduction of final -s place firmly Lucilius in pre-neoteric poetic diction - but this too is stylised, marked language. The answer to the question ‘How early Latin is Lucilius?’ is, not very much, if we are looking for evidence of a superseded variety of Latin rather than deliberate literary choices for the sake of register, style or genre.

The discovery of eleven bronze rams belonging to war-ships off western Sicily, near the Egadi Islands, has produced an invaluable addition to our record of 3rd century BC Latin inscriptions. The archaeological and historical background as well as the palaeography and language of the Latin texts have been examined by J. Prag in three exemplary discussions (2014; 2017), which are expanded in this chapter. The question informing the present inquiry is whether these texts contribute to our knowledge of early Latin, or merely confirm what we know already about early pronunciation, morphology or syntax. The answer is not simple. Palaeographically and orthographically, the texts are very much in line with what one might expect of inscriptions of that time period. The many abbreviations mean that we cannot say much about their morphology. In principle, we should be able to say more about their pronunciation; but again, results are inconclusive. The texts are neither excessively archaic in appearance, nor excessively modern, and already at this early stage it is difficult to deduce pronunciation from orthography. But that in itself is a worthwhile result.

This chapter analyzes how languages are acquired in multilingual contexts and focuses on the development of phonological competence, morphosyntactic skills, and vocabulary. We discuss the differences and similarities that monolingual and bilingual children may show in language development, as well as possible advantages and disadvantages related to bilingualism. We explain that simultaneous exposure to two (or more) languages does not cause confusion or developmental delays, as is often feared by caregivers. We demonstrate that simultaneous bilinguals generally reach language milestones at the same age as monolinguals.

Abstract: Lava flow and lava dome growth are two main manifestations of effusive volcanic eruptions. Less-viscous lava tends to flow long distances depending on slope topography, heat exchange with the surroundings, eruption rate, and the erupted magma rheology. When magma is highly viscous, its eruption on the surface results in a lava dome formation, and an occasional collapse of the dome may lead to a pyroclastic flow. In this chapter, we consider two models of lava dynamics: a lava flow model to determine the internal thermal state of the flow from its surface thermal observations, and a lava dome growth model to determine magma viscosity from the observed lava dome morphological shape. Both models belong to a set of inverse problems. In the first model, the lava thermal conditions at the surface (at the interface between lava and the air) are known from observations, but its internal thermal state is unknown. A variational (adjoint) assimilation method is used to propagate the temperature and heat flow inferred from surface measurements into the interior of the lava flow. In the second model, the lava dome viscosity is estimated based on a comparison between the observed and simulated morphological shapes of lava dome shapes using computer vision techniques.