Wing venation and relationships of the order Glosselytrodea (Insecta)

Herrera, Y., Fernández, M.S. &; Gasparini, Z., 2013. Postcranial skeleton of Cricosaurus araucanensis (Crocodyliformes: Thalattosuchia): morphology and palaeobiological insights. Alcheringa 37, 1–14. ISSN 0311-5518.

The metriorhynchid crocodyliform Cricosaurus araucanensis (Gasparini &; Dellapé) has been documented from Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) strata of the Vaca Muerta Formation exposed in the Neuquén Basin, northwest Patagonia, Argentina. Postcranial components of this species were mentioned but not described in the original analysis. Subsequently, other authors described the forelimbs. The postcranial elements of metriorhynchids are poorly documented in comparison with their skulls, but new data from C. araucanensis reveal delayed ossification of the caudal neurocentral sutures indicating skeletal paedomorphosis affecting not only the appendicular skeleton but also the posterior region of the vertebral column. The morphology of the caudal region (transverse processes of the first caudal vertebrae ventrally deflected) and the reduction in the femur of the fourth trochanter suggest a reduction of the hypaxial musculature allowing increased epaxial musculature. This pattern of musculoskeletal arrangement is consistent with the swimming style and propulsion by lateral undulation of the tail, as proposed by previous authors.

Yanina Herrera [yaninah@fcnym. unlp.edu.ar], Marta S. Fernández [martafer@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar] and Zulma Gasparini [zgaspari@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, W1900FWA La Plata, Argentina, CONICET. Received 23.7.2012; revised 16.10.2012; accepted 22.10.2012.     

Classical Biography: An Ancient Literary Art

The contradictory and distorted portrayal of certain female attributes in Pablo Neruda's Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada is an attempt to understand and unveil, from an adolescent's point of view, the mystery of the "beloved." The lack of knowledge about the female explains the ambivalence and insecurity in the representation of the woman, which resolves itself through a strategy of metamorphosis and textual dissection. Nevertheless, to discover and possess these female attributes is an illusion, a mirage created by masculine desire that only succeeds in approaching the beloved through a series of metamorphoses and fragmentation that actually obscures her further. But the effort is not in vain. The desire to understand (and love) makes possible the pursuit of the female who always is the same, although somehow different: the unknown stranger.     

Journalists,Social Scientists and Public Affairs

Grossman, Michael B., and Martha J. Kumar, Portraying the President: The White House and the News Media. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981. Pp. x, 358. $26.50 hard-bound; $9.95 soft-bound. Hess, Stephen. The Washington Reporters. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1981. Pp. 173.. $17.95 hard-bound; $6.96 soft-bound. Paletz, David L., and Robert M. Entman, Media Power Politics. New York: The Free Press, 1981. Pp. xii, 308. $16.95 hard-bound; $9.95 soft-bound. Robinson, Michael J., "Three Faces of Congressional Media," in Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, eds., The New Congress. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1981. Pp. 400. $9.50 soft-bound.     

The Symbol of Orpheus in the Sturm und Drang Period

The handling of gender in the Old French Roman de Silence has caused considerable scholarly conflict because the poem simultaneously endorses two competing and mutually irreconcilable gender ideologies. Asserting that gender is essential and its boundaries inviolate—even as its eponymous heroine freely crosses gender boundaries to become supremely successful in male roles—the poem creates a radically unstable conception of gender that has implications not only for its portrayal of social gender roles but also for its use of gendered language. The heroine's name, Silence, becomes emblematic of language's inability to fully represent its subject, as neither Latin nor the vernacular proves adequate to the task of depicting an ambiguously or multiply gendered character. Gendered language and gendered behavior emerge as mutually dependent sources of paradox that point to the limitations of both language and narrative.     

A Review of “Remaking the Presidency: Roosevelt,Taft, and Wilson, 1901–1916”

Binder, Sarah A., and Steven S. Smith. Politics or Principle: Filibustering in the United States Senate. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1996. Pp. xvi, 247. $38.95 hardbound, $16.95 softbound.

DeGregorio, Christina A. Network of Champions: Leadership, Access, and Advocacy in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1997. Pp. xii, 185. $39.50 hardbound.

Frantzich, Stephen and John Sullivan. The C-SPAN Revolution. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. Pp. xiv, 433. $24.95 hardbound.

Rozell, Mark J. In Contempt of Congress: Postwar Press Coverage on Capitol Hill. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996. Pp. ix, 144. $49.95 hardbound.

Gerhardt, Michael J. The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996. Pp. xiii, 233. $29.95 hardbound.

Glaser, James M. Race, Campaign Politics, and the Realignment in the South. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. Pp. xv, 229. $39.95 hardbound, $19.95 soft bound.

Hall, Richard L. Participation in Congress. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. Pp. xiv, 293. $37.50 hardbound.

Maltzman, Forrest. Competing Principals: Committees, Parties and the Organization of Congress. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. Pp. xvi, 197. $39.50 hardbound.

Poole, Keith T. and Howard Rosenthal. Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp. xi, 297. $85.00 hardbound.

Rom, Mark Carl. Public Spirit in the Thrift Tragedy. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. Pp. ix, 326. $49.95 hardcover, $22.95 softcover.

Sinclair, Barbara. Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1997. Pp. xiv, 257. $39.95 hardbound, $19.95 softbound.     

Country Music and the South: A Cultural Geography Perspective

Cultural geographers have failed to examine one of the most significant culture items unique to the American South— country music. Examination of the history, folklore, and sociology literature provides data on the area of origin and diffusion routes of the vocal and instrumental characteristics of early country music. The mixing of musical cultures in the South led to the origin and evolution of seven substyles of country music during the twentieth century: traditional, singing cowboy, western swing, honky tonk, bluegrass, country pop, and country rock. Despite recent cultural homogenization in the United States, country music continues to maintain its regional association with the American South.     

Detached from Their Homeland: The Latter-day

Over the past few decades, the homeland concept has received an ever-increasing amount of attention by cultural geographers. While the debate surrounding the necessity and applicability of the concept continues, it is more than apparent that no other geographic term (including culture areas or culture regions) captures the essence of peoples' attachment to place better than homeland. The literature, however, provides few examples of the deep-seated loyalty people have for a homeland despite being physically detached from that space. Employing land use mapping and informal interviews, this paper seeks to help fill that gap by exemplifying how the daily lives of Mormons living in Chihuahua, Mexico reflect their connection to the United States and the Mormon homeland. Our research revealed that, among other things, the Anglo residents perpetuate their cultural identity through their unique self-reference, exhibit territoriality links reflected in their built environment, and demonstrate unconditional bonding to their homeland through certain holiday celebrations. It is clear to us, as the Anglo-Mormon experience illustrates, that the homeland concept deserves a place within the geographic lexicon.     

Western North Carolina: Culture Hearth of Bluegrass Music

This study explores the long-debated question concerning the geographic origins of bluegrass music. Using the Sauerian culture hearth concept, western North Carolina is identified as the source area for the distinguishing elements of the bluegrass sound. Western North Carolinians pioneered the innovative instrumental sounds of bluegrass on the five-string banjo, fiddle, and guitar as well as the harmonies and repertoire of bluegrass vocals. A music culture infrastructure emerged in western North Carolina based on a network of local musicians and social institutions, including fiddle contests, music festivals, radio stations, and recording studios.     

Origins of Molecular Neurobiology: The Role of the Physicists

The revolution in the foundations of physics at the beginning of the twentieth century suggested to several of its most prominent workers that biology was ripe for something similar. In consequence, a number of physicists moved into biology. They were highly influential in initiating a molecular biology in the 1950s. Two decades later it seemed to several of these migrants, and those they had influenced, that the major problems in molecular biology had been solved, and that it was time to move on to what seemed to them the final problem: the nervous system, consciousness, and the age-old mind-body problem. This paper reviews this “double migration” and shows how the hopes of the first generation of physicist-biologists were both realized and dashed. No new physical principles were discovered at work in the foundations of biology or neuroscience. On the other hand, the mind-set of those trained in physics proved immensely valuable in analyzing fundamental issues in both biology and neuroscience. It has been argued that the outcome of the molecular biology of the 1950s was a change in the concept of the gene from that of “a mysterious entity into that of a real molecular object” (Watson, 1965 Watson, JD. 1965. The Molecular Biology of the Gene, New York: Benjamin.  [Google Scholar], p.6); the gates and channels which play such crucial roles in the functioning of nervous systems have been transformed in a similar way. Studies on highly simplified systems have also opened the prospect of finding the neural correlatives of numerous behaviors and neuropathologies. This increasing understanding at the molecular level is invaluable not only in devising rational therapies but also, by defining the material substrate of consciousness, in bringing the mind-body problem into sharper focus.     

CROSSING BOUNDARIES: MAKING CONNECTIONS Presidential address to the ISHN,Lausanne, 1999

This Presidential address to the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences was given at Lausanne in September 1999. It reviews some of the contributions given at that conference and provides a brief overview of the history of the mind-brain problem in Western neuroscientific thought.