Abstract Language planners are increasingly aware of the importance new speakers (individuals acquiring a language outside home, typically later-on in life) for revitalisation minority languages. Yet, little is known about speakers’ activation (the process by which they become active and habitual users). This article presents questionnaire-based investigation (n = 264) use West Frisian Fryslân,...

In this study, quantitive characteristics and chemical composition of in roach (Rutilus rutilus caspicus) sperm were investigated. Sperm traits included sperm movement duration, percentage of motile spermatozoa, sperm density, spermatocrit and sperm volume. Some seminal plasma characteristics (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and chloride) were investigated. In addition, some metabolites o...

INTRODUCTION The sturgeons of the Caspian Sea are considered highly valuable species. The Caspian Sea has traditionally been regarded as the sea of sturgeon since it produces more than 90 percent of the world’s caviar. Despite a remarkable decline of sturgeon numbers over recent years, the Caspian Sea still continues to be of considerable importance in sturgeon fisheries. In 1997, the global la...

Steroidal estrogens, originating principally from human excretion, are likely to play a major role in causing widespread endocrine disruption in wild populations of the roach (Rutilus rutilus), a common cyprinid fish, in rivers contaminated by treated sewage effluents. Given the extent of this problem, risk assessment models are needed to predict the location and severity of endocrine disruptio...

* The author is employed at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Office for Europe. The paper is presented by the author in her personal capacity, however, and opinions expressed in this paper should be attributed to the author. They are not meant to represent the positions or opinions of UNEP or the State Parties to the Framework Convention on the Protection of the Marine Enviro...

The Dutch Folktale Database contains fairy tales, traditional legends, urban legends, and jokes written in a large variety and combination of languages including (Middle and 17th century) Dutch, Frisian and a number of Dutch dialects. In this work we compare a number of approaches to automatic language identification for this collection. We show that in comparison to typical language identifica...

The negative impact of anthropogenic noise on marine animals is receiving increasing attention. In order to study the effect of motorboat noise on foraging behaviour in fish, we chose 2 species with different hearing abilities. The roach Rutilus rutilus has a better developed sense of hearing than the Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis. The study took place in an inlet of the Bothnian Sea where b...

Efforts to taxonomically delineate species are often confounded with conflicting information and subjective interpretation. Advances in genomic methods have resulted in a new approach to taxonomic identification that stands to greatly reduce much of this conflict. This approach is ideal for species complexes, where divergence times are recent (evolutionarily) and lineages less well defined. The...