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In the Journal of Roman Studies of 2015, I argued that the evidence in Tacitus for a state-directed punishment of Christians in Rome in 64 ce was too weak to sustain the historical interpretation of it as a persecution. In a reply in this journal last year, Christopher Jones argued that knowledge of Christians under that name could well have reached Rome by the mid-60s, that the vulgus of the city could well have accused such persons, and that the Tacitean account is therefore generally credible. While admitting the justice of some of his criticisms, I attempt in this reply to clarify some of my arguments and to restate my original claim that a persecution of Christians by the emperor Nero in connection with the Great Fire of 64 seems improbable given the context of the relations between officials of the Roman state and Christians over the first century ce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brent Shaw has recently argued that the Neronian persecution never occurred. In fact, there are no grounds for doubting Tacitus’ report of the persecution. Sources later than Tacitus (Melito, Dionysius of Alexandria) date the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul to the reign of Nero, but those reports have no bearing on the veracity of Tacitus’ account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how essentializing ideologies of language and identity in Toronto's Portuguese ethnic market, constructed as monolingual and monocultural within the larger mainstream market of English-speaking Canada, provide the background for humorous sociolinguistic performances that playfully acknowledge, reproduce, and challenge ethnolinguistic stratification. After more than sixty years, the dominant spaces of the local Portuguese market continue to exclude most Portuguese-Canadian youth by rarely legitimizing the use of English, bilingual code-switching, or ‘broken’ or ‘Azorean’ Portuguese. By choosing YouTube as a space in which to engage audiences in ideologies of language and identity through performances of sociolinguistic caricatures, three young Portuguese-Canadian amateur comedians negotiate sociolinguistic boundaries with an ambivalent agency. The mocking performances are legitimized by the performers' in-group status and reveal, among other things, how a stigmatized variety of Azorean Portuguese and certain ethnolinguistic stereotypes can be reappropriated and reinforced relative to sociolinguistic hierarchies. (Language ideologies, ethnic humor, performativity, heteroglossia)* [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ObjectiveThere are no percentile curves for BMI, waist circumference (WC) or waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) available for Portuguese children and adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to develop age- and sex-specific BMI, WC and WHtR percentile curves for a representative sample of adolescents living in the Portuguese islands of Azores, one of the poorest regions of Europe, and to compare them with those from other countries.DesignCross-sectional school-based study. Weight, height and WC were objectively measured according to standard procedures. Smoothed percentile curves were estimated using Cole's LMS method.SettingAzores, Portugal.SubjectsProportionate stratified random sample of 1500 adolescents, aged 15–18 years.ResultsResults showed some sex differences in the shape of the BMI curves: in girls, the upper percentile values tend to decrease by the age of 16 and 17 years; whereas in boys, the upper percentiles tend to be flat between 15 and 16 years and then increase until the age of 18 years. In both sexes, the upper percentile values of both WC and WHtR decreased slightly by the age of 16 years and then increased steeply. In both sexes, the Azorean values for the 50th and 90th WC percentiles were higher than those reported for adolescents from the majority of other countries.ConclusionsThe reference curves presented herein provide baseline data for the long-term surveillance of Azorean adolescents, as well as for national and international comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The genus Usnea is a conspicuous component of the macrolichen vegetation in Macaronesia. Ten species are recognized in the Azorean archipelago: Usnea cornuta Kdrb., U. esperantiana P. Clerc, U. flammea Stirt., U. geissleriana P. Clerc sp. nov., U. krogiana P. Clerc sp. nov., U. macaronesica P. Clerc sp. nov., U. rubicunda Stirt., U. silesiaca Motyka, U. subflaninzea P. Clerc sp. nov., and U. subscabrosa Motyka. All these species occur in the Canary Islands as well. Descriptive, chemical, ecological and distributional data for each species are provided. Species that have been recorded once for the Azores but not seen, or that are doubtful or excluded in this work, are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]