Niche production strategies and shell matrix site variability at Albatross Bay, Cape York Peninsula

2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Morrison
Author(s):  
Michael Morrison

<span>Recent investigations into the role of shell mounds in late Holocene Aboriginal economies in northern Australia have focussed on one of the key constituents in mound sites: the intertidal bivalve, </span><em>Tegillarca granosa</em><span> (formerly </span><em>Anadara granosa</em><span>). Various researchers have suggested that shell mounds were constructed during production activities that were predominantly oriented towards exploitation of estuarine or marine ecosystems, with other resources being of secondary or supplementary importance during these times. Proponents of this model concede that it requires ongoing evaluation in relation to new quantitative data on mound composition, stratigraphy and chronology from shell mound sites across a range of different environmental contexts. At Weipa, in western Cape York Peninsula, recent research has been oriented toward collecting new data necessary for investigating the role of mound sites and the production strategies associated with their formation. In this paper, the results of excavations and analysis of a series of shell mounds at Prunung (Red Beach), to the north of Weipa, are presented. These results support the view that mound construction took place in the context of production activities strategically oriented towards intertidal flats, rather than broadly-based foraging within local site catchments, or a more generalised ‘estuarine’ orientation.</span>


Author(s):  
Anthony Paparo ◽  
Judy A. Murphy ◽  
Robert Dean

In the mid-1950's, fingernail clams virtually disappeared from a 100-mile section of the IL River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, due to unknown causes. A survey of the bottom fauna of the IL River in 1979, revealed that the clams were still absent from the middle reach of the River, where they had been abundant prior to the die-off in the 1950's. Some factor(s) in the River currently prevent the clams from recolonizing areas where they were formerly abundant. Recently, clams exposed to fluoride developed abnormal grooves in the shell matrix. Fluorides are known to be protoplasmic poisons removing essential body calcium by precipitation. Since the shell consists primarily of Ca carbonate, this investigation examines the possible role of fluoride on shell formation and the poisoning of the Ca pump which can directly inhibit lateral ciliary activity on the gill.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-270
Author(s):  
Amy Sargeant

The article addresses debates around the introduction of commercial television in Britain, conducted in Parliament, lobby groups, the advertising trade press and broader cultural commentary. It notes that the boundaries between these interest groups were porous. The article refers to sample advertisements produced by agencies in anticipation of the 1955 launch of ITV in London and other regions thereafter, setting advertisers' initial caution against the bullishness subsequently checked by the 1962 report of the Pilkington Committee. ‘Americanisation’ is identified as a recurrent theme of anxiety, and advertising as a symptom of it, prompting complaints on both sides of the Atlantic. Many of the production strategies anticipated experimentally in the 1950s are with us still, as are concerns regarding differentiation of advertisements from programme content, advertisements' target audiences and commodities advertised on television. For legislators and advertisers alike, print media provided a model for imitation more often than did cinema. Competition between old and new platforms for advertisements – then as now – is identified as an opportunity for mutual advantage rather than displacement.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Scott Padgett ◽  
◽  
Simon E. Engelhart ◽  
Harvey Kelsey ◽  
Robert C. Witter

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 4499
Author(s):  
Xiao Hu ◽  
Samuel Ricci ◽  
Sebastian Naranjo ◽  
Zachary Hill ◽  
Peter Gawason

Electrically responsive biomaterials are an important and emerging technology in the fields of biomedical and material sciences. A great deal of research explores the integral role of electrical conduction in normal and diseased cell biology, and material scientists are focusing an even greater amount of attention on natural and hybrid materials as sources of biomaterials which can mimic the properties of cells. This review establishes a summary of those efforts for the latter group, detailing the current materials, theories, methods, and applications of electrically conductive biomaterials fabricated from protein polymers and polysaccharides. These materials can be used to improve human life through novel drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and biosensing technologies. The immediate goal of this review is to establish fabrication methods for protein and polysaccharide-based materials that are biocompatible and feature modular electrical properties. Ideally, these materials will be inexpensive to make with salable production strategies, in addition to being both renewable and biocompatible.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Cerveau ◽  
Daniel John Jackson

AbstractMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a deeply conserved class of small, single stranded RNA molecules that post-transcriptionally regulate mRNA levels via several targeted degradation pathways. They are involved in a wide variety of biological processes and have been used to infer the deep evolutionary relationships of major groups such as the Metazoa. Here we have surveyed several adult tissues of the freshwater pulmonate Lymnaea stagnalis (the Great Pond Snail) for miRNAs. In addition we perform a shell regeneration assay to identify miRNAs that may be involved in regulating mRNAs directly involved in the shell-forming process. From seven mature tissues we identify a total of 370 unique precursor miRNAs that give rise to 336 unique mature miRNAs. While the majority of these appear to be evolutionarily novel, most of the 70 most highly expressed (which account for 99.8% of all reads) share sequence similarity with a miRBase or mirGeneDB2.0 entry. We also identify 10 miRNAs that are differentially regulated in mantle tissue that is actively regenerating shell material, 5 of which appear to be evolutionarily novel and none of which share similarity with any miRNA previously reported to regulate biomineralization in molluscs. One significantly down-regulated miRNA is predicted to target Lst-Dermatopontin, a previously characterized shell matrix protein from another freshwater gastropod. This survey provides a foundation for future studies that would seek to characterize the functional role of these molecules in biomineralization or other processes of interest.


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