The origins of the birth control movement in England in the early nineteenth century

The origins of the birth control movement in England in the 19th cen tury are discussed. The impact of Malthus's "Essay on the Principle of Population" and the activities of such thinkers and reformers as Jermy Bentham, James and John Stuart Mill, Francis Plance, Richard Carlile, Robert Dale Owen, and Charles Knowlton are discussed. The social debate that arose during the century is discussed.     

The first fossil avian egg from Brazil

Marsola, J.C.A., Grellet-Tinner, G., Montefeltro, F.C., Sayão, J.M., Hsiou, A.S. & Langer, M.C., 2014. The first fossil avian egg from Brazil. Alcheringa 38, 563–567. ISSN 0311-5518.

In contrast to the rich record of eggs from non-avian dinosaurs, complete eggs attributable to Mesozoic birds are relatively scarce. Nevertheless, several well-preserved specimens have been discovered over the last three decades revealing functional and phylogenetic characters that shed light on the breeding strategies of extinct birds. Here we report the first fossil avian egg from Brazil, which was discovered in Upper Cretaceous strata of São Paulo in the southeastern part of the country. The taxonomic identity and structural features of the biomineralized tissues were determined using a combination of Scanning Electron Microscopy, Wave Dispersion Energy analyses and Computed Tomography. These show that the 125.5-μm-thick shell of the 31.4?×?19.5?mm egg incorporates three structural layers of similar thickness with both prismatic and aprismatic boundaries. Close similarity between the Brazilian bird egg and those of enantiornithines from the Upper Cretaceous Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Río Colorado Subgroup) of Argentina advocates affinity with basal Ornithothoraces. Furthermore, coherency of their depositional contexts might imply a compatible preference for breeding and nesting environments.

Júlio Cesar de A. Marsola [juliomarsola@gmail.com], Annie Schmaltz Hsiou [anniehsiou@ffclrp.usp.br] and Max C. Langer [mclanger@ffclrp.usp.br], Laboratório de Paleontologia de Ribeirão Preto, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo state, 14040-901, Brazil. Gerald Grellet-Tinner [locarnolugano@gmail.com], Centro Regional de Investigaciones La Rioja—Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Entre Ríos y Mendoza s/n, 5301 Anillaco, Argentina; Orcas Island Museum, PO Box 134, 181 North Beach Road, Eastsound, WA 98245. Felipe C. Montefeltro [felipecmontefeltro@gmail.com], Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24A 1515, Rio Claro, São Paulo State, 13506-900, Brazil. Juliana M. Sayão [jmsayao@gmail.com], Laboratório de Diversidade do Nordeste, Núcleo de Biologia, Centro Acadêmico de Vitória, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Rua do Alto do Reservatório s/n, Bela Vista, Vitória de Santo Antão, Pernambuco state, 52050-480, Brazil. Received 18.12.2013; revised 30.4.2014; accepted 18.5.2014.     

Babinski's Anosognosia for Hemiplegia in Early Twentieth-Century French Neurology

In 1914, Babinski first described “anosognosia”; a term he coined for a phenomenon involving unawareness of disability in hemiplegia. Historical roots of contemporary perspectives on anosognosia after stroke may be found in early discussions among French neurologists. Current notions and debate regarding the roles played by cognition, emotional factors, sensory loss and somatosensory neglect in anosognosia, and the distinctness of anosognosia as a symptom echo the theoretical dilemmas of an earlier past. Historical overview of the development of perspectives on anosognosia enriches our understanding of unawareness of disability.     

New dinosaur remains from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil (Candelária Sequence,Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone)

Pretto, F.A., Schultz, C.L., Langer, M.C. 4.02.2015. New dinosaur remains from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil (Candelária Sequence, Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone). Alcheringa 39, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

The oldest unequivocal dinosaurian records come from Upper Triassic strata, mostly from Argentina and Brazil. Recent fieldwork in the Brazilian deposits of Ischigualastian age (late Carnian–earliest Norian) have resulted in the collection of a new specimen (UFRGS-PV-1240-T) identified as dinosaurian by the presence of a concave emargination on the ventral surface of the femoral head and a well-developed deltopectoral crest on the humerus, which extends for ca 40% of its estimated proximodistal length. Although fragmentary, the material increases the dinosaurian record from the Late Triassic of Brazil, which is still modest when compared with coeval Argentine strata. Additionally, UFRGS-PV-1240-T augments the dinosaurian diversity at the ‘Sítio Janner’ site, which was until now restricted to the sauropodomorph Pampadromaeus barberenai. The new specimen is larger than most early dinosaurians (except for herrerasaurids), implying that members of the group were already occupying niches otherwise explored by other larger-bodied taxa in the ‘Sítio Janner’ palaeofauna, and Late Triassic palaeoenvironments in general.

Flávio A. Pretto [flavio_pretto@yahoo.com.br] and Cesar L. Schultz [cesar.schultz@ufrgs.br] Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Instituto de Geociências, Setor de Paleovertebrados, Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500—Bloco J, Prédio 43127, Campus do Vale, Agronomia?Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, CEP 91540-000; Max C. Langer [mclanger@ffclrp.usp.br] Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Biologia, Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, CEP 14040-901, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.     

An additional basal sauropodomorph specimen from the Upper Triassic Caturrita Formation,southern Brazil,with comments on the biogeography of plateosaurids

Bittencourt, J.S., Leal, L.A., Langer, M.C. & Azevedo, S.A.K., June 2012. An additional basal sauropodomorph specimen from theUpperTriassic Caturrita Formation, southern Brazil, with comments on the biogeography of plateosaurids. Alcheringa, 1–10. ISSN0311-5518.

We describe an additional saurischian specimen from the Caturrita Formation (Norian) of the Parana Basin, southern Brazil. This material was collected in the 1950s and remained unstudied due to its fragmentary condition. Detailed comparisons with other saurischians worldwide reveal that some characters of the ilium, including the low ventral projection of the medial wall of the acetabulum and its concave ventral margin, together with the short triangular shape of the pre-acetabular process and its mound-like dorsocaudal edge, resemble those of sauropodomorphs such as Plateosaurus and Riojasaurus. This set of traits suggests that MN 1326-V has affinities with basal Sauropodomorpha, probably closer to plateosaurians than to Saturnalia-like taxa. Previous records of this clade in the Caturrita Formation include Unaysaurus, which has been related to Plateosaurus within Plateosauridae. Alternative schemes suggest that plateosaurids include Plateosaurus plus the Argentinean ‘prosauropods’ Coloradisaurus and Riojasaurus. Both hypotheses raise biogeographic questions, as a close relationship between faunas from South America and Europe excluding Africa and North America is not supported by geological and biostratigraphical evidence. Additionally, the absence of plateosaurids in other continents suggests that the geographical distribution of thistaxon is inconsistent with the geological history of western Pangaea, and this demands further investigations of the phylogeny of sauropodomorphs or improved sampling.

J.S. Bittencourt* [sigmaorionis@yahoo.com.br] Laboratório de Paleontologia, Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 1404901, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Fellow FAPESP; L.A. Leal, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Rua José Moreira Sobrinho, s/n, 45206-190, Jequié, BA, Brazil; M.C. Langer, Laboratório de Paleontologia, Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 1404901, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; S.A.K. Azevedo, Laboratório de Processamento de Imagem Digital, Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista s/n, 20940-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Received 29.7.2011; revised 10.10.2011; accepted 18.10.2011.     

Are All Policy Decisions Equal? Explaining the Variation in Media Coverage of the UK Budget

A country's budget is one of the most important public policy instruments, as it establishes the government's policy priorities and has the potential to determine winners and losers. The budget, however, is a mixture of different components and these get varying degrees of attention in the media. Drawing on sociology of news research, this paper seeks to explain this heterogeneous coverage of a budget's policy decisions. To do so, it uses a unique data set of over 5,000 articles of press coverage of six UK budgets (2008–2012). These articles are coded for the presence/absence of each of the budget's policy decision, via automated content analysis. On the basis of a multivariate negative binomial model, we find that the salience of a policy decision in the coverage is determined by its cost, whether it is negative (i.e., tax hikes and spending cuts) or positive, the income group that is the most affected by it, and the level of attention given to it by the government.     

The Preemptive Power of State Supreme Courts: Adoption of Abortion and Death Penalty Legislation

We offer a theory about public policy adoption that depicts a game between state supreme courts and state policymakers. We hypothesize that court ideological hostility or friendliness operates to discourage or encourage policy enactment, with the likelihood of subsequent court intervention magnifying the relationship. To test the argument we examine the influence of court ideology on the enactment of state abortion and death penalty laws since the 1970s. Empirical analyses provide strong support for our theory, indicating that court ideological hostility or friendliness significantly influenced state abortion and death penalty policy enactments. In addition, the likelihood of court intervention conditioned this relationship, with the most pronounced effect occurring where subsequent court review was mandatory. The findings reveal courts exert important preemptive influence on law without hearing a case. This facet of judicial influence expands the traditional view of actors involved in the policymaking process.     

Verzeitlichungs- und Historisierungstendenzen in der frühen Geologie und Paläontologie

Steno described in 1669 geological sections which were interpreted as the result of a series of earlier events. Steno used actuogeological methods. This was the first step towards temporalizing nature. Steno was succeeded by a lot of other researchers from different European countries. It is amazing to see, that “actualism” was widespread during the 18th century. The next step was the discovery that fossils are extinct beings (Ray, Hooke and others). Using methods of comparing anatomy W. Hunter (forerunner of Cuvier) could prove in 1769 that the Mastodon is an extinct vertebrate. The work of Soulavie in France (1780) is stressed. He held in his hand the key for solving the problem of index-fossils. About 1800 the importance of fossils for stratigraphy and describing a history of the earth was recognized. Theories and hypotheses were needed to explain the fossil documents (strange shells in older strata and higher developed mammals in younger strata). All these theories couldn't propose a feasible mechanism for the change of beings during the history of the earth. But it could be said, that all fossils proove a history of life and the earth i. e. a progressive development in one sense, a development which is not reversible.