In order to improve the work efficiency, we designed for user 1 double chamber vacuum brazing furnace, including heating and cooling chamber, thus shortening the vacuum brazing process, when the first heating furnace after completion of welding, through the drive mechanism, from the heating chamber after welding the parts into the cooling chamber for cooling, then still remain a vacuum heating chamber, and has a high temperature. Parts in the cooling chamber to cool down soon, after again from cold chamber into the furnace to be welding parts, 2 for pumping air into vacuum state, when the vacuum degree reaches a certain value, the components into 2 furnace heating room, is this furnace need not begin from room temperature to heat, but at a high temperature heating, shorten the heating time, heating chamber also don't like a single chamber furnace need cooled to below 100 ℃ (according to the technological requirements set out temperature), so both saving energy and saving time. Vacuum brazing furnace is a mechatronics equipment for brazing in vacuum atmosphere. It consists of vacuum system and heating system. E., when the vacuum degree reaches to vacuum brazing process of heating, heating system parts heating and melting solder, soldering part is finished, the process control by temperature control meter, after the completion of the heating process, for cooling, when the temperature of the furnace to melt temperature, when this is complete the vacuum brazing process.
1. Vacuum brazing mechanism of vacuum brazing is not applied in vacuum atmosphere solder and connection parts of a method of advanced process can use general method to soldering the connection of material and structure, and compact, with excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of braze welding head. This process not only in aviation, aerospace, atomic energy and electrical instrument such as cutting-edge industries become indispensable means of production, and in petroleum, chemical industry, automobile and tools and related machinery in the field of obtained the promotion and popularization. In the process of soldering, solder heated liquid state, through the role of the wetting liquid to solid, and brazing gap capillary effect, make the liquid solder to fully into the compact and fill all the brazing gap, and with the parent metal of each physical chemistry, forming new alloy, after condensing crystallization, get qualified braze welding head. Vacuum plays the role of protection, degassing, purification and evaporation in brazing. Vacuum brazing compared with other brazing method, has the following advantages: a. in all brazing process, by soldering parts under vacuum conditions, there will be no oxidation, carburization, metamorphic phenomenon such as decarburization and pollution; B. During brazing, the whole part is evenly heated with little thermal stress, and the deformation can be controlled to a minimum, which is especially suitable for precision product brazing. C. It is easy to release volatile gases and impurities under vacuum conditions, so as to improve the performance of matrix metals; D. No porosity and inclusion defects in the weld; E. Multiple adjacent welding seams or multiple components can be soldered at one time; F. The heat treatment process can be completed simultaneously in the brazing process; G. Solderable basic metal.
2. The vacuum furnace control system is the necessary equipment to realize the vacuum brazing process, its work performance is good or not, directly affect the brazing quality, especially the reliability of the electric control system of vacuum furnace. The vacuum furnace is a two-chamber furnace, which consists of a heating chamber and a cooling chamber. Think in terms of vacuum brazing process, control the vacuum furnace should possess the following conditions: a. vacuum unit, pneumatic system, pressure regulating system, cooling system and gas system of manual and automatic control. B. Automatic control of heating system. C. Manual and automatic control of workpiece transmission mechanism.
2.1 the vacuum system includes mechanical pump, diffusion pump, main valve, bypass valve, high vacuum valve, hot chamber vacuum valve and cold chamber vacuum valve, etc. Mechanical pump for coarse vacuum unit, it is a kind of variable capacity pump, with the aid of blade continuous operation in the pump cavity suction and the gas compression, and finally by the vent discharge, to achieve the purpose of the extraction, the power source of the mechanical pump is 1 three-phase ac motor, the control system of reach it off and disconnect the ac contactor pump work and stop. High vacuum oil diffusion pump for high vacuum device, it was based on the diffusion pump oil as working medium of high vacuum pump, its former level is equipped with mechanical pump, at the bottom of the diffusion pump is equipped with a certain amount of oil diffusion pump, after diffusion pump electric furnace heating liquid oil into oil, steam, oil vapor by high-speed jet nozzle, the vacuum system of the gas molecules to the oil vapor jet diffusion, and collisions among the oil vapor molecules gain kinetic energy, and the gas molecules is, according to the direction of oil vapor jet from the upper nozzle compressed to the former level by level, and finally reached the outlet, again by the previous level of mechanical pump into the atmosphere, complete extraction. The diffusion pump furnace consists of three sets of resistance wires, which are connected with 220V ac respectively. The power supply is controlled by ac contactor. Heating system is composed of heating power and heating elements, including heating power magnetic voltage regulator, magnetic voltage regulator is a kind of no mechanical transmission, non-contact voltage regulator, can take the load (heating element) smoothly stepless voltage regulation, its voltage regulation by dc excitation control, according to the different control signals to realize closed loop control. Dc excitation power supply is controlled by power regulator (bidirectional thyristor). Temperature controller through the furnace temperature thermocouple detected current value and the difference between the set point, after the PID operation, output 1 4 ~ 20 ma dc signal, to control the bidirectional thyristor conduction Angle, to further control the magnetic saturation voltage magnetic voltage regulator, to achieve automatic control of heating current, the furnace temperature and setting the heating curve is consistent. When the furnace condition changes, there may be the actual temperature and the set value deviation, then by temperature control meter of self-tuning function to correct the deviation vector, make its temperature in strict accordance with the set curve. The heating element is the load of the heating power supply, and its material is made of high-temperature molybdenum belt, which can work at high temperature for a long time. The resistance of the heating element should match the magnetic voltage regulator, otherwise there will be no temperature rise or high magnetic temperature rise. The main circuit of heating power supply is three-phase 380V ac power supply, controlled by ac contactor and controlled by temperature controller.
2.2 control circuit design of two-chamber vacuum furnace circuit design (only PLC control is shown), as shown in figure 2, the PLC adopts omron CQM1 model, in which PA206(CPU unit) and ID213 are input units and OC222 in two groups are output units. To meet the control cabinet panel operation, automatic control, signal detection and alarm, input unit including the front-rear starting, workpiece car movement, hot insulation switch, vacuum unit start-stop, charging valve, fan operation, purge valve, heating, vacuum valves and selection of operating knob switch, and the limit switch and alarm signal; Output unit including heating ac contactor, vacuum unit, artifacts, vacuum valve, hot insulation, air valve, charging valve, pressure valve, relief valve, indicator light and executive components such as sound and light alarm. Manual operation is mainly used to debug and maintain the vacuum furnace. After the input operation, the control is to execute the component action accordingly. The automatic operation is applied to the normal operation of the vacuum furnace. It is controlled automatically by the detected automatic control signal, judged by the CPU, according to the application program. The heating curve is controlled by oulu 818 intelligent temperature controller.
2.3 the block diagram of automatic control program according to the requirements of vacuum brazing technology, the vacuum furnace shall automatically complete the work piece transmission, vacuum extraction, heating, inflation, cooling, etc. Automatic control procedure 1 – vacuum unit; 2 — cooling chamber; 3 – gate; 4 — heating chamber; 5 – magnetic voltage regulator; 6 — electric control cabinet.
3.1 daily maintenance a. Check whether the sealing ring of the furnace door is damaged. If there is any dirt on the sealing ring, clean it in time. B. Check whether the heating elements (molybdenum belt), furnace bed and molybdenum screen in the furnace are in good condition, and repair and replace the damaged parts in time. C. When there is pollution in the furnace, vacuum the dust with a vacuum cleaner and wipe the reflector screen and heating elements of the heating chamber with a silk cloth dipped in alcohol; If the inside wall of furnace body has smeary, dip in gasoline with cotton cloth first remove smeary, dip in alcohol with cotton cloth again wipe. D. when the furnace is finished, it should be vacuumed to a certain degree. E. Check the oil level of the mechanical pump, and add new oil to 1/2 of the oil mark when the oil level is lower than the mark line; When found mechanical pump oil emulsion (oil-water mixture, thick and white) phenomenon, to replace the old oil in time, the method is unscrewed the mechanical pump oil drain pressure cap, let out the old oil, put some new oil from the oil hole, flush the pump cavity 2 ~ 3 times, then tighten the mechanical pump oil drain pressure cap, inject new oil from oil hole to the 1/2 (shoulds not be too much), tighten the mechanical pump gas pore pressure cap. During this process, the gassing/discharge hole seal ring should be prevented from being damaged and replaced immediately if there is any damage. F. After each shift, clean the outside of the furnace with cotton cloth to remove dust and grease from the mechanical and diffusion pumps.
3.3 general failure cause analysis and treatment vacuum furnace after fault occurs, the first thing to the main reason for the failure analysis judgment, and the point of failure may exist, and then make a deal, the last is the concrete maintenance. The most common general fault such as vacuum pump, analysis and processing according to the following ideas: a. analysis judgment vacuum pump will not come up, is due to the loss of vacuum suction unit itself, or the vacuum system leakage points, using segmentation method for judgment. B. In a vacuum unit, is it a mechanical pump or a diffusion pump? C. In a vacuum system, it is difficult to analyze and determine the air leakage point, because there are many sealing parts, but the air leakage point is often prone to occur in places where people have moved. Vacuum furnace in the process of the work, the position of regular exercise and frequently open parts, such as the oven door to open and close, often in the process, may have sundry paste on the oven door seal, sealed oven door is bad, produce oven door air leakage. D. Gradually reduce the scope, and when the scope is reduced, it is easy to make accurate judgment and shorten the maintenance time. E. In the specific maintenance process, especially for devices unfamiliar to you, remember the sequence and process of disassembly, and prevent the damage caused by human factors.


text:
Tony Dungy Unfairly Attacked
BY RAYNARD JACKSON, NNPA Columnist
The homosexual mafia has struck again. This time, however, they have picked the wrong target. Beloved former Tampa Bay and Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy has been under a vicious assault for honestly answering a reporter's question.
In an interview with the Tampa Tribune, Dungy was asked if he would he have drafted Michael Sam, the University of Missouri football player who has come out of the closet as a homosexual. Dungy's replied, "I wouldn't have taken him, not because I don't believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn't want to deal with all of it [the media circus]…It's not going to be totally smooth … things will happen.''
There's nothing hate-filled or anti-homosexual about Dungy's response. Practically everyone knows Dungy is serious about his Christian faith. But more importantly, he lives his Christian faith in his everyday life.
Dungy, the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl (2007), was born in Jackson, Mich. to Wilbur Dungy, a science teacher at Jackson College, and Cleomae Dungy, who taught Shakespeare at Jackson High School. His father, who earned a doctorate degree, was also a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
With that background, I find it incredulous that White liberals began to attack Dungy for his comments and commenced to try to lecture him on civil rights and racism. Can you imagine the arrogance it takes for a White person to lecture any Black, let alone Dungy, on anything involving race and discrimination? For many years, Dungy was denied a head coaching job in the NFL because of his race; and he was reared by a mother and father steeped in the Civil Rights Movement. Yet, White liberals are going to lecture him about race and discrimination?
Blogger, Matt Walsh, who is White, nails this point: "Meanwhile, the inevitable hyperbole comparing gays in 2014 to Jim Crow era blacks came pouring in. As one commenter put it, Dungy's remarks were 'Jim Crow era awful. Yes, because racial segregation and lynching can be appropriately compared to some guy saying he wouldn't draft another guy into the NFL. Surely, it's impossible to find any significant difference between those two things."
Dan Wetzel at Yahoo Sports extrapolated on this idea, employing all of the self-righteous hyperbole you might expect. He lectured Dungy about civil rights, and sermonized about how Dungy's attitude mirrors that of whites who didn't want to share schools or public restrooms with black people."
These rabid White liberals should have pointed the finger at Sam, not Tony Dungy. It was Sam who unilaterally decided that the world had a constitutional right to be made aware of his sexual preference. At Sam's press conference, he said: "Well, heck yeah, I just wish you [the media] would just say, 'Hey, Michael Sam, how's football going?' I would love to give the answer to that question. But it is what it is. I just wish you guys will see me as Michael Sam the football player, instead of as Michael Sam the gay football player."
Well, he was Sam, the football player, when he kept his personal life personal. But when he decided to make the personal public, it was only natural that he would become known as Sam, the gay football player.
Training camp started last week and the mere fact we are talking about Sam's homosexuality proves Dungy's point – he is a distraction. Since Sam "only wants to play football," let's remember that he is the same person who signed a secret deal with Oprah Winfrey to do a reality show centered on his being drafted by the St. Louis Rams. Sam was so unprofessional that he never told the Rams about the deal. Rams management was ticked off, to say the least, when he showed up with a trail of cameras in tow. The secret deal with Winfrey explains Sam brazenly kissing his White lover and allowing it to be videotaped by ESPN.
And he wants us to believe that he only wants to be known as Sam, the football players?
The sad part about all of this is that the NFL has declared it open season on Christianity and people of faith. When former NFLer Tim Tebow was constantly criticized for talking about his Christian faith in interviews, Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, never made any statements about the NFL being tolerant; he never said the NFL is about inclusion; he never said he was proud of Tebow's expression of faith and nor did he applaud Tebow's courage. Yet, the commissioner bent over backward (pardon the imagery) to publicly support Sam, the gay football player.
At the very least, those who characterize Sam's decision to reveal his sexual orientation as courageous should summon the courage to applaud Dungy for truly being courageous – and correct.
Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his website, www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223.
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text:
Hartnett's controversial album banned as book released
1 March, 2015 2 March, 2015 Adam Lowe
TW: Article deals with allegations of abuse.
It seems there are differing publication standards in the publishing world when it comes to books and music. Acclaimed gay author Peter Paul Hartnett – known for his photography of the LGBT community and his hard-hitting books published by St Martin's Press and Gay Times – has released his highly controversial book, Child R*** Photos, a month early on Lulu.com, while Tunecore has apparently banned the spin-off album for its unflinching lyrics and difficult subject matter.
As we discovered in our recent chat with Hartnett, his book deals with allegations of historic child abuse at a fictional Ealing school. The author draws upon his own experiences, and presents them as a transcript from a fictional documentary – again apparently based on a real-life documentary that was allegedly pulled by producers before being broadcast because of the revelations it contained.
According to Hartnett, Tunecore was set to distribute the album by punk band Child R*** Photos, named after the book, but pulled it at the 11th hour because of the title of the band, the titles of the songs, and the lyrics. The same lyrics, however, are published in the back of the book.
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'The book is only available as a PDF at the moment. It's an early Easter egg,' Hartnett says, adding that additional formats will be available at a range of online retailers from 30 March 2015.
It is unknown whether the book will be rejected by ebook distributors too, although Hartnett thinks this is likely. 'The book is all about censorship in one form or another,' he explains.
In a conversation with Bent Magazine, Hartnett said, 'My new work is a punk protest upon decades of blind eyes, deaf ears. Negligence, from Diocese of Westminster to Vatican City State. One Pope after another … decades of skilled denial, strategic evasion, cunning concealment. Will Pope Francis and his newly-appointed "red hats" do anything more than put a PR spin upon the legacy of abuse? Broken vows, betrayals of trust. Such a way of life makes a religious order appear to be an unholy disorder.'
The book's cover has already caused a stir on social media. It is, as Hartnett says, 'a moral work about immoral acts' that lays the blame at the feet of men and women of God. Hartnett has dedicated it to Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols, for his punk energy, and Pope Francis, for his more open stance on the topic of Catholic abuse allegations.
Hartnett's new Tumblr has a range of alternate covers for the book, plus the cover of the banned album in question.
Visit Lulu.com to buy an advance copy of the book. (Additional formats will be available elsewhere from 30 March 2015.)
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album book hartnett johnny rotten pope francis punk
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Mecca, August 19: More than 2 million Muslims from around the world, including India, today began the annual hajj pilgrimage at first light in Saudi Arabia, circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca that Islam's faithful face five times each day during their prayers.
"We are very blessed by Allah to be in this place, and we pray to Allah to make the Islamic nations from the West to the East in a better situation," said Essam-Eddin Afifi, a pilgrim from Egypt.
Muslims believe the hajj retraces the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as those of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail Abraham and Ishmael in the Bible.
Muslims believe God stayed the hand of Ibrahim after commanding him to sacrifice his son, Ismail. In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.
After prayers in Mecca, pilgrims will head to an area called Mount Arafat tomorrow, where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon. From there, pilgrims will head to an area called Muzdalifa, picking up pebbles along the way for a symbolic stoning of the devil and a casting away of sins that takes place in the Mina valley for three days.
At the hajj's end, male pilgrims will shave their hair and women will cut a lock of hair in a sign of renewal for completing the pilgrimage. Around the world, Muslims will mark the end of hajj with a celebration called Eid al-Adha.
Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, the spokesman of the Saudi Interior Ministry, told journalists yesterday that over 2 million Muslims from abroad and inside the kingdom would be taking part in this year's hajj.
Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family stakes its legitimacy in part on its management of the holiest sites in Islam. King Salman's official title is the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," at Mecca and Medina.
Other Saudi kings, and the Ottoman rulers of the Hijaz region before them, all have adopted the honorary title The kingdom has spent billions of dollars of its vast oil revenues on security and safety measures, particularly in Mina, where some of the hajj's deadliest incidents have occurred.
The worst in recorded history took place only three years ago. On September 24, 2015, a stampede and crush of pilgrims in Mina killed at least 2,426 people, according to an Associated Press count.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia also faces threats from Al-Qaeda militants and a local faction of the Islamic State group. Days earlier, the Interior Ministry acknowledged arresting a Saudi wearing an explosive vest in the kingdom's central al-Qassim region who shot at security forces.


I got Halo 5 today and just about to start mission 6 and so far, so good. Hope some of you pick it up for Warzone and maybe to do the SP in CO-OP.
I'll be grabbing that on Tuesday fo sho!
How have you got on with Halo Drunka since 5 as I remember you picked up some of the 360 ones?
I've read a couple more novels and I've picked up some of the films, but I've not actually gotten on to playing Wars or Reach yet. They're definitely on the agenda!
So you've done 1 to 5 and ODST? I'm curious what you think about Reach as to me it was the last great Halo and Bungies swansong of the series.


I have viewed and used different webtools and I found particularly interesting Rewordify and Snappy Words. Rewordify is a free online reading comprehension software which helps you understand what you read. Infact the language has its levels from easy and beginners level to the complex kind for the grownups. There are always some phrases, words or paragraphs that cannot be deciphered easily. Rewordify is useful when we need the dictionary. The website is simple, just paste the difficult sentence that you are having difficulty in understanding in the yellow box and press "Rewordify text" below the box. Snappy Words is an easy-to-use online interactive English dictionary. It provides the meanings of words or phrases, generates synonyms, and draws connections to associated words. Simply type a word in the search box and click "GO." Instantly you will see a word map. As with most online tools, teacher monitoring is strongly advised. Children can then create a list of synonyms and their own word "maps" for new vocabulary words.


Lafer!Lichter!Funny! (English) - Thomas Anders Online - Die offizielle Fanpage!
Only one week after the fantastic 25th International Fanday in Coblence the next show was stepping in. The German television cooks Johann Lafer and Horst Lichter, a funny, officially sworn in Duo on the German television channel ZDF, invited our "Gentleman of Music", Thomas Anders and the latest winner of Germanies next Topmodel, Stefanie Giesinger to their double kitchen in Hamburg-Altona. The multifunctional production studio from the Fernsehmacher company on the Phoenixhof in Hamburg is always worth it, to make a visit. No sooner said than done, short time later I sat in the InterCity train, direction Hamburg Main Station on that windy Friday. On time and I repeat it…ON TIME, I reached my goal and got some time to take a nice breakfast in the beautiful Hanseatic City. After that I took a cab to go to the studio. After a welcome drink at the bar in the entrance hall, Thomas rushed upstairs on his way backstage and afterwards to talk about the day plan and the recipes."Here is the ice machine, here lays the beater, lemons are over there and the peaches you can find in that bowl", explained Thomas' cooking partner Johann Lafer. Thomas had to make the desert. "Caramelized vineyard peaches, curd cheese ice and Bellini Sabayon", sounds very fruity ;-) Meanwhile Horst Lichter was explaining the same things to his partner, the German model Stefanie Giesinger. Thomas was very concentrated on everything and he was trying to feel the quality of the products. So Thomas, which lemon felt tastier? ;-) Recipe: Check! Working equipment: Check! Ice machine: Check! Now, quickly shooting some photos for twitter and then some makeup and hair styling for looking good on TV.
Meanwhile the people outside started to enter the studio and took their seats. So relaxed, that the entrance only lasted 20 minutes. The Warm-Upper praised the audience for being the best-looking audience ever and for their applause in the beginning. Such a yes-person. ;-) Than the show started, cameras in position, lights in initial."It's not unusual" from Tom Jones was hearable and Johann Lafer started his moderation. The audience still doesn't know which artists are cooking together until they come in. This caused a real "ahh" and "ohh" effect."Do you know Bernd Weidung?" Yes, of course ."Would you believe me, if I tell you that Bernd Weidung sold over 125 Mio. records? Suuuuure . But I was the only one until they heard the name Thomas Anders. Than the audience murmured understanding.
Thomas and Stefanie came in, in a good mood and not stressed. But Thomas had any reason to be stressed, because his return flight was so close to the ending of the show that he has to hurry a bit with the press photographers. While Thomas froze his ice down to lower temperatures, cut his peaches into filigree pieces and moved his pan slowly over the cooking plate, there was much talking and much laughing throughout the whole show. The detailed progress of the show? Just funny, entertaining and informative. From Sotschi to the Kremlin Palace, from depilatory to the new Duo "Modern Cooking", from the casting of saddle of lamb to the catwalk. Also very funny, the way Claudia always calms down Thomas, when he is coming home from a Russian tour and is still in the 7th heaven. All that later, at 16:15 local German time, on channel ZDF, on Lafer!Lichter!Lecker.
Enjoy yourself while watching and reproducing from Andreas Unterberg.
Recipes from Johann and Thomas can be downloaded beneath.


text:
Swiss Journal of Palaeontology
The long bone histology of Ceresiosaurus (Sauropterygia, Reptilia) in comparison to other eosauropterygians from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland/Italy)
Jasmina Hugi1
Swiss Journal of Palaeontology volume 130, Article number: 297 (2011) Cite this article
Ceresiosaurus is a secondarily marine reptile that lived during the Middle Triassic (Ladinian–Anisian) in a subtropical lagoonal environment with varying open marine influences. The genus comprises two species, Ceresiosaurus calcagnii and C. lanzi, and represents one of the largest vertebrate of up to 3-m snout-tail length from the UNESCO World Heritage site Monte San Giorgio, which is settled along the Swiss–Italian border. Earlier morphological studies identified this genus as basal sauropterygian still possessing many similarities with the plesiomorphic ancestral terrestrial condition. Interspecific morphological variation was interpreted as indicator for different habit(at) preferences by ascribing two locomotion types for each of the species. In this study, detailed data on the microstructure of the long bones are given and findings were put into a palaeoecological and phylogenetic context in comparison to other sauropterygians from Monte San Giorgio. Results showed that both Ceresiosaurus species retain a calcified cartilaginous core in the medullary region in at least young individuals. They both exhibit cyclical bone growth of lamellar to parallel-fibred bone matrices with undulating incremental growth marks and low to moderate vascularisation (lamellar-zonal bone tissue type). Interspecific variation comprises differences in the distribution of differently organised bone matrices and the size, orientation and number of vascularisation. The vascularisation pattern (abundance and orientation of the canals) of the pachyosteosclerotic long bones of C. calcagnii mostly resembles the histotype of the stratigraphically youngest pachypleurosaurid from Monte San Giorgio, Neusticosaurus edwardsii (except for the presence of primary osteons in the cortex of the former). The bone sample of C. lanzi is only osteosclerotic and most similar to young Nothosaurus (except for the irregular presence of fibrolamellar bone in the latter). The slightly different growth pattern already at young ontogenetic stages might be linked to a different mode of life within the restricted lagoonal basin for Ceresiosaurus, which supports previous studies on the morphological data that ascribed two different locomotion types.
Sediments of the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located along the Swiss and Italian borders, have yielded eight excellently preserved specimens of a rather large secondarily aquatic reptile with the genus name Ceresiosaurus, 'the lizard of Lugano' (Peyer 1931, 1932). The genus Ceresiosaurus comprises different ontogenetic stages of two species, C. calcagnii PEYER (Peyer 1931) and C. lanzi HÄNNI (Hänni 2004), which are both known from the Lower Meride Limestone (Peyer 1931; Bürgin et al. 1989; Furrer 1995; Hänni 2004). Ceresiosaurus calcagnii has been found in the Cava superiore and Cava inferiore beds, whereas C. lanzi has been preserved only in the stratigraphically younger Cassina beds (Peyer 1931; Bürgin et al. 1989; Furrer 1995; Hänni 2004). Ceresiosaurus spp. are basal sauropterygians (e.g. Rieppel 2000; Müller et al. 2010; Fig. 1) that lived in subtropical marine environments of the Tethys (e.g. Parrish et al. 1982; Röhl et al. 2001). Facies analyses revealed decreasing open marine influences based on an increasing restriction of the basin towards the open sea during the sedimentation of Cava superiore, Cava inferiore beds and Cassina beds (e.g. Parrish et al. 1982; Röhl et al. 2001). Morphological differences studied by Hänni (2004) accredited an evolutionary trend of two locomotion types for each species, interpreted as different habitat preferences within the restricted lagoonal environment. The stratigraphically older C. calcagnii is described as an axial to paraxial swimmer based on a massive pectoral girdle, a long tail with high neural arches in the anterior caudal vertebrae and pachyostosis in the ribs of the trunk. The adult morphology of the stratigraphically younger C. lanzi was proposed to be a quicker pelagic swimmer based on the development of solely paraxial locomotion, which is indicated by the absence of pachyostotic ribs of the trunk and a shorter tail with vertebrae without high neural arches (Hänni 2004). Therefore, C. calcagnii moved using a combination of axial undulation and propulsion with the paired appendages, whereas the locomotion of the stratigraphically younger C. lanzi was exclusively based on the latter. The investigation of the morphology of the microstructure of the bone (bone histology) might reveal further support for these two different modes of life in the two Ceresiosaurus species.
Phylogeny of eosauropterygia (after Sander 1989; Rieppel 2000). The species names and in one case the genus name are given for eosauropterygians included in the study
Bone histology is a comparative approach to study the life history of extant and extinct vertebrates. It is based on the individual's growth record and can indicate the life history by reflecting function (e.g. locomotion), ecology (e.g. habitat) and/or phylogeny (e.g. Castanet et al. 1993; Wiffen et al. 1995; Sheldon 1997; Cubo et al. 2005; Cubo et al. (2008); Klein 2010; Scheyer et al. 2010). There are several trends in the bone microstructure, which are shared in secondarily aquatic tetrapods with similar lifestyles (e.g. Buffrénil and Schoevaert 1988; Germain and Laurin 2005; Canoville and Laurin 2010; Houssaye 2010). Tetrapods which secondarily adapted to shallow marine environments often show very dense long bones (Ricqlès and Buffrénil 2001) in which they are considered to play the functional role of ballast for hydrostatic regulation of the body trim (Taylor 2000). An increased bone density can be achieved by the inhibition of resorption processes along the inner wall of the cortex and/or a continuous deposition of primary bone material along the outer wall of the cortex that leads to a hyperplasy of the cortex (i.e. pachyostosis). Pachyostosis is also visible from an external view as already observed in the ribs of C. calcagnii. The medullary region can reveal higher bone density by an incomplete endochondral ossification (i.e. retention of a calcified cartilaginous core in the medullary region) and/or by remodelling processes (i.e. osteosclerosis; after Ricqlès and Buffrénil 2001; Houssaye 2010). The combination of pachyostosis and osteosclerosis is summarised as pachyosteosclerosis, which has been noted for "Ceresiosaurus" by Ricqlès and Buffrénil (2001) without further specific or histological information. Another trend in bond histology of secondarily aquatic tetrapod taxa is developed in quick pelagic swimmers in open marine environments, as exemplified by extant cetaceans (e.g. Buffrénil and Schoevaert 1988) and extinct ichthyosaurs (e.g. Buffrénil and Mazin 1990; Kolb et al. 2011). They display an osteoporotic-like condition that results from an inner reduction in bone volume due to a higher primary vascularisation and/or more remodelling processes in the cortex (Ricqlès and Buffrénil 2001). Osteoporotic-like bones are also observed in adult individuals of some sauropterygians, whereas their younger ontogenetic stages show (pachy)osteosclerosis (Wiffen et al. 1995; Krahl et al. 2009; Klein 2010). Quick swimming pelagic sauropterygians (pistosauroids) that survived into the Jurassic all show fibrolamellar bone tissue type in the cortex, which might be equalised with their successful global radiation (Klein 2010). Fibrolamellar bone tissue type is, in contrast to the lamellar-zonal bone tissue type, accompanied with increased growth rates and presumably even with increased metabolic rates (Ray et al. 2004; Ricqlès et al. 2008; Stein and Langer 2009). However, a recent study on the bone histology in eosauropterygians pushes the origin of fibrolamellar bone in Sauropterygia back to the early Middle Triassic (early Anisian), with abundant fibrolamellar bone throughout the cortex of not only pistosauroids, but also of one pachypleurosaurid A. heterodontus. An irregular deposition of fibrolamellar bone has also been preserved in Nothosaurus (Klein 2010).
In this study, detailed data on the microstructure of the long bones is given for the rare material of the genus Ceresiosaurus for placing the findings in a palaeoecological and phylogenetic context with comparison to Nothosaurus and the pachypleurosaurids from Monte San Giorgio (Fig. 1).
Five isolated long bones of three specimens of Ceresiosaurus were used for thin sectioning (Table 1). One element is assigned to C. lanzi and two elements belong to C. calcagnii, whereas the rest is of uncertain species relationship (Table 1). The material which was available for processing thin sections is housed in the Paleontological Institute of the University of Zurich (PIMUZ). Thin sections of the mid-shaft region of the long bones were processed and documented at the PIMUZ, following standard petrographic preparation techniques (e.g. Chinsamy and Rath 1992). The diaphyseal region of the limb bones is known to yield the strongest ecological signal (Canoville and Laurin 2010) and generally preserves the most complete growth record of the bones among vertebrates (Francillon-Vieillot et al. 1990). The comparison of rib bones and limb bones is problematic because rib growth mainly involves drift which absorbs the previously deposited growth record. The bone histology based on rib samples is therefore more reluctant to sampling bias. However, the study by Waskow and Sander (2011) showed that ribs revealed the most complete growth record near the rib head. Histological data comprise the description of bone tissue types that are composed of bone matrices with a specific vascularisation pattern and organisation of the crystallites. The bone density was also quantitatively analysed (Table 2) using the PC Version of the program Bone Profiler (Girondot and Laurin 2003). The images were prepared using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Illustrator CS3 (Fig. 1).
Table 1 Measurements of the bone samples of Ceresiosaurus calcagnii and C. lanzi, which were available for processing thin sections
Table 2 Compactness parameters given by the program Bone Profiler (Girondot and Laurin 2003), global analysis
Histological abbreviations
Calcified cartilaginous core
ed.:
Endosteal infilling of vascular canals in the medullary region
efs:
External fundamental system (Horner et al. 2001)
flb:
Fibrolamellar bone tissue type
Medullary region
lags:
Lines of arrested growth (Francillon-Vieillot et al. 1990)
Lamellar bone matrix
lzb:
Lamellar-zonal bone tissue type
O.c.:
Observed compactness (Girondot and Laurin 2003)
pfb:
Parallel-fibred bone matrix
Primary osteon
Secondary osteon
svc:
Simple primary vascular canals
Woven-fibred bone matrix
Long bone histology of Ceresiosaurus
Ceresiosaurus shows the plesiomorphic lamellar-zonal bone tissue type in the cortex of the long bones. The bone matrix consists of lamellar and parallel-fibred bone, which is vascularised by a low to moderate number of simple radial and longitudinal vascular canals, as well as primary osteons of the same orientation. The growth cycles are regularly distributed and consist of undulating bone layers that are bordered by lags, which are in some cases subannually deposited (i.e. supernumerary lags; Zug and Rand 1987). One layer of embryonic woven-fibred bone is deposited as the innermost cortical region adjacent to the calcified cartilaginous core in the limb bone samples, whereas the rib samples exhibit no comparable inner layer. The layer of woven-fibred bone is opaque in polarised light and characterised by a high number of simple longitudinal primary vascular canals and a high abundance of round osteocyte lacunae. The innermost periosteal growth layers are entirely preserved, as no or only minor resorption occurs along the border between the cortex and the medullary region (Fig. 2). In all long bones of Ceresiosaurus, the medullary region is entirely filled with calcified cartilage that persists as the main component in at least juvenile to subadult individuals and results in high minimal compactness values ranging from 0.76 to 0.80 (Fig. 2; Table 2). All samples show remodelling processes in the calcified cartilage, which are either erosion cavities or widened simple vascular canals that are refilled with centripetally deposited endosteal lamellar bone layers (Fig. 2). The global analysis of the compactness displays high and constant compactness profiles based on the persistence of the calcified cartilaginous core and minor remodelling of the inner wall of the cortex (Table 2). The compactness values are only locally lowered by erosion cavities and vascular canals in both the medullary and cortical region. None of the bone samples shows an indicator that sexual maturity (i.e. a change in the organisation of the bone matrix and vascularisation pattern, thickness of the growth cycles after Castanet et al. 1993) was reached or that the growth of an individual was terminated (efs sensu Horner et al. 2001).
The microstructure of the long bones of Ceresiosaurus. Transverse mid-shaft section of a the pachyosteosclerotic femur of C. calcagnii (T5622) and b the osteosclerotic trunk rib of C. lanzi (T5454). c Higher magnification of the femur of C. calcagnii. The inner periosteal cortical region comprises a layer of embryonic bone that is composed of woven-fibred bone (wb). The thick cortex consists of lamellar-zonal bone tissue type (lzb) with undulating growth zones, annuli and lags. d–f Higher magnifications of the rib sample of C. lanzi. d The medullary cavity is filled with a calcified cartilaginous core (cc) that is remodelled by resorption and deposition of endosteal bone (ed). e, f The crystallites around the vascular canals are aligned in funnel-shaped arrangements (e in normal light and f in polarised light with lambda compensator). Further abbreviations: po primary osteon, svc simple vascular canal
Differences in the bone samples that were identified to species level are expressed through: variation in the (1) abundance and orientation of the vascular canals of the cortex, and in the (2) amount of the two preserved bone matrices (lamellar bone matrix vs. parallel-fibred bone matrix). Ceresiosaurus calcagnii shows a rather thick cortex contrary to the thinner cortex with a relatively large medullary region of C. lanzi of approximately equivalent ontogenetic age. C. lanzi, in contrast, shows slightly higher bone compactness values than C. calcagnii (Figs. 2, 3; Table 2). The stratigraphical older C. calcagnii predominantly shows long, radial simple vascular canals and primary osteons and less longitudinally orientated vascularisation (Figs. 2, 3). The bone matrix of C. lanzi, in contrast, consists of a higher amount of parallel-fibred bone tissue with a higher number of scattered, but relatively wide, longitudinally orientated simple vascular canals, primary osteons and at least one isolated secondary osteon in the cortex (Fig. 2).
Black and white sketches of the transverse mid-shaft sections of the long bones of several sauropterygians from Monte San Giorgio. a femur of Serpianosaurus mirigiolensis (T105, O.c.: 0.984 from Hugi et al. 2011), b femur of Neusticosaurus edwardsii (T3437, O.c.: 0.958 from Hugi et al. 2011), c femur of Ceresiosaurus calcagnii (T5622; O.c.: 0.938), d rib of Ceresiosaurus lanzi (T5454; O.c.: 0.942), e femur of Nothosaurus (AIII 0001; O.c.: 0.299). Stippled line reconstructed outline of the outer wall of the cortex (co); red, continuous line outline of the medullary region/cavity (med); O.c. observed compactness (see Table 2)
Comparison to other Nothosauria: Nothosaurus of the Upper Muschelkalk
Ontogenetically old Nothosaurus specimens show very thin cortices of predominantly lamellar-zonal bone tissue type surrounding a large medullary cavity filled with trabeculae as remains of the resorption process of the inner cortical growth record during the ontogeny (Krahl et al. 2009). The bands of the lamellar bone and parallel-fibred bone matrices are irregularly intercalated with phases of fibrolamellar bone tissue type in Nothosaurus (Figs. 4, 5). The spacing pattern of the lags is variable (Klein 2010). Ontogenetically young individuals show a calcified cartilaginous core that often infills the entire medullary region (Krahl et al. 2009). Therefore, Nothosaurus from the Germanic Basin shows an ontogenetic shift from an osteosclerotic to a lighter, "osteoporotic-like" bone structure that is interpreted as an adaptation to an increasingly pelagic habitat with paraxial locomotion in more open marine environments (e.g. Krahl et al. 2009). The bone compactness value of 0.299–0.354 of the global analysis achieved by Bone Profiler (Table 2; Fig. 3; Germain and Laurin 2005) further supports a quick swimming mode. The bone sample of the ontogenetically young Ceresiosaurus lanzi resembles the histotype of young Nothosaurus. Nothosaurus bones are only fragmentarily preserved in the sediments of Monte San Giorgio (e.g. Rieppel 2001), which might be linked to the fact that they presumably lived in open marine environments as also indicated by morphological and histological data.
The cortical growth pattern of Serpianosaurus mirigiolensis (a, b), Neusticosaurus edwardsii (c, d) from Monte San Giorgio and Nothosaurus (e, f) from the Germanic Basin. All show lamellar-zonal bone tissue type (lzb) with a varying growth pattern. The bone matrix of the cortex of S. mirigiolensis comprises lamellar bone (lb) with simple vascular canals (svc). N. edwardsii shows parallel-fibred (pfb) and lamellar bone (lb) with the same vascularisation like S. mirigiolensis, whereas the cortex of Nothosaurus is classified as lamellar-zonal bone (lzb), which is irregularly interrupted by bands of fibrolamellar bone (flb). The vascularisation comprises primary (po) and secondary osteons (so)
Summary of the results of the bone histological analysis: Eusauropterygia and Pachypleurosauria revealed similar trends within their branches, which are indicated by arrows. The pachypleurosaurids decrease the (1) organisation of the crystallites (bone tissue organisation), as well as the (2) bone compactness values with stratigraphical age (Hugi et al. 2011). Bone compactness values only decrease slightly with stratigraphical age based on the greater number of simple vascular canals in the cortex (vascularisation pattern). The orientation of the vascularisation (vascularisation pattern) changes from predominantly longitudinally orientated ones in S. mirigiolensis to predominantly radially orientated ones in the cortex of N. edwardsii (Hugi et al. 2011). A similar trend is observed in Nothosauria: the cortex of C. calcagnii shows an overall higher organisation of the bone matrix with a higher number of radially orientated simple vascular canals and primary osteons, whereas C. lanzi shows a higher amount of less organised bone matrix (pfb) with a greater number of longitudinally orientated primary osteons and simple vascular canals of wider diameter. The bone compactness value of ontogenetically young C. calcagnii and C. lanzi is slightly higher in the latter in relation to the bone samples of the former. The compactness values of Nothosaurus are lower based on a wider diameter of the medullary cavity and a higher abundance of vascularisation in the cortex (simple vascular canals, primary osteons and secondary osteons). The bone matrix of the cortex additionally consists of fibrolamellar bone tissue type in relation to the exclusive presence of lamellar-zonal bone tissue type in the other eosauropterygians from Monte San Giorgio
Comparison to Pachypleurosauria from Monte San Giorgio
Four pachypleurosaurid species have been found in sediments of Monte San Giorgio ranging from 25 to approximately 120 cm snout-tail lengths in adults. The stratigraphically oldest taxon Serpianosaurus mirigiolensis is exclusively found in sediments of the Besano Formation (former Grenzbitumen beds; e.g. Carroll and Gaskill 1985). The stratigraphically younger genus Neusticosaurus is preserved in the same beds as Ceresiosaurus spp., the Cava inferiore, Cava superiore, as well as the Cassina beds (Sander 1989; Rieppel 1989). They all show osteosclerosis and a varying degree of pachyostosis in the long bones (Zangerl 1935; Ricqlès 1976; Hugi et al. 2011). During the ontogeny, the calcified cartilaginous core is partially, or in one species even entirely, replaced at the diaphyseal and/or metaphyseal region by endosteally deposited bone (e.g. Hugi et al. 2011). The stratigraphically well separated pachypleurosaurid species show similarities, but also differences in their long bone histology most possibly reflecting different modes of life (S. mirigiolensis and N. edwardsii: quicker swimmer; N. pusillus and N. peyeri: slower swimmer, but more demersal?; Hugi et al. 2011). All pachypleurosaurids show plesiomorphic lamellar-zonal bone tissue type throughout the cortex (Figs. 4, 5). The cortex of the bones of S. mirigiolensis consists of alternating bands of lamellar bone, whereas these bands comprise both parallel-fibred and lamellar bone matrices in the Neusticosaurus species, with the stratigraphically youngest pachypleurosaurid N. edwardsii showing the highest amount of parallel-fibred bone in its cortex. The crystallites around the simple vascular canals show a funnel-shaped arrangement in N. edwardsii and locally overlap with each other, producing the impression of a patchy presence of woven-fibred bone (Hugi et al. 2011; Fig. 4). This impression is also present in the Ceresiosaurus samples (Fig. 2f). Long bones of C. calcagnii resemble the histotype of N. edwardsii regarding the thick cortex and the predominant presence of radially orientated vascular canals. Contrary to the exclusive simple vascularisation in N. edwardsii, the long bones of C. calcagnii further contain primary osteons, but the number of vascularisation is lower than in N. edwardsii (Fig. 3). Ceresiosaurus lanzi shares the abundant presence of parallel-fibred bone with N. edwardsii, but differs in the vascularisation pattern from both N. edwardsii and C. calcagnii. In young C. lanzi, the simple vascular canals and primary osteons are predominantly longitudinally arranged and wider in size than in C. calcagnii and N. edwardsii. The young ontogenetic stage of the only C. lanzi sample shows no pachyostosis, but osteosclerosis.
Comparison to basal Pistosauroidea
All of the discussed eosauropterygians are Nothosauroidea which show lamellar-zonal bone tissue type and in one case the irregular presence of fibrolamellar bone tissue type (Figs. 4, 5). In contrast, in basal and derived members of the Pistosauroidea, fibrolamellar bone is the dominating bone tissue type (e.g. Wiffen et al. 1995; Klein 2010). The presence of lamellar-zonal bone tissue type generally reflects slow growth rates and, therefore, might also indicate low metabolic rates, whereas the frequent presence of fibrolamellar bone tissue type is a result of quick growth rates in vertebrates of higher metabolic rates (e.g. Horner et al. 2000; Padian et al 2001). As indicated by Klein (2010), continuous higher metabolic rates might be responsible for the ability of pistosauroids to spread over the Tethys by also conquering colder sea regions.
Data on the long bone histology partly support the evolutionary trend of two different modes of locomotion in C. calcagnii and C. lanzi based on morphological studies (Hänni 2004). The bone sample of C. calcagnii shows pachyosteosclerotic long bones similarly to N. edwardsii. The orientation, size and abundance of vascular canals of C. calcagnii are also similar to the data of N. edwardsii (except for the fact that the former further displays primary osteons in the cortex). The rib sample of C. lanzi is osteosclerotic and reveals a different growth pattern with wider vascular canals in an overall less organised bone matrix. However, compactness profiles of both Ceresiosaurus spp. are high and the minimal values range between 0.76 and 0.80, which does not indicate a quick swimming mode for any of the two species at this presumably juvenile stage of ontogeny (Germain and Laurin 2005). Further information on the growth pattern during the subsequent ontogeny of Ceresiosaurus remains unknown. It is reported that at least the rib bones of C. calcagnii remain pachyostotic. However, based on the close resemblance of the histotype of N. edwardsii, it is likely that the adult histotype also retains the osteosclerotic condition. The adult histotype of C. lanzi could either remain osteosclerotic or become osteoporotic as in adult Nothosaurus.
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I would like to thank all the members of the Sánchez' laboratory and especially T. Scheyer and M. Sánchez-Villagra for the helpful discussion on earlier versions of the manuscript. This work would have never been possible without the permission of H. Furrer for processing the thin sections of the sampled Ceresiosaurus specimens. K. Stein and M. Laurin who reviewed the manuscript helped to improve the quality. I am especially thankful to M. Laurin, because he helped with the interpretation of the parameters of Bone Profiler and reanalysed the data. This project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation Grant No. 31003A-133032/1 to MRS-V.
Paleontological Institute and Museum, University Zurich, Karl-Schmid Straße 4, 8006, Zurich, Switzerland
Jasmina Hugi
Correspondence to Jasmina Hugi.
Hugi, J. The long bone histology of Ceresiosaurus (Sauropterygia, Reptilia) in comparison to other eosauropterygians from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland/Italy). Swiss J Palaeontol 130, 297 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13358-011-0023-6
Eosauropterygia
Switzerland/Italy
Bone histology


After the excitement of the reunion with friends in Bethlehem, the reality of Naomi's poverty pressed hard upon her. She was sustained by Ruth's love; this was real and had practical expression. It was the time of barley harvest and Ruth asked Naomi, 'Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter', Ruth 2. 2. There is no such thing in scripture as academic or theoretical truth. If matters are real and true they are real and true in their demonstration. Love can only exist in its demonstration. At the commencement of the journey from Moab, Ruth asserted her love for Naomi; in accompanying Naomi to Bethlehem and in her request to glean in the fields surrounding Bethlehem she demonstrated the reality of that love.
Gleaners were often belittled and poorly treated. Ruth was a stranger from a nation hated and despised by the Israelites. Morality of the day allowed everyone to do as they pleased. Ruth was vulnerable and could easily have been drawn into a situation that brought compromise and disaster. Gleaning was Ruth's service for Naomi. Her love for Naomi and for Jehovah sustained, guided and blessed her but also protected her. God's hand guided her to the field of Boaz who was a kinsman of Elimilech. He was an honourable man who also loved and served Jehovah. Thus, in their shared devotion and service, mutual affection was born and grew into deep love.
Peter presents believers as a 'holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ', 1 Pet. 2. 5. This was foreshadowed by the Levitical priesthood and speaks of worship and appreciation of what God has done. He also writes of believers functioning as a 'royal priesthood' who 'shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light', 1 Pet. 2. 9, which refers to service and testimony. The two are complementary. Worship is integral to service and is the only true motivation for service and testimony. It is only our love for Christ and appreciation of what He has done that encourages and sustains in difficult situations and arduous service. Effective service is attainable only in what God has prepared in His love and within which His servants labour faithfully. Service engineered by us withers and fades no matter how enthusiastically we commence engagement in it. The service is His; we are but channels and His bond slaves.
As we labour for the Lord, particularly within the local assembly, we do well to remember the principle brought before us in this example of Ruth and Boaz. The nature of the environment determines the quality of that which is produced. Best fruit comes from good seed grown in the best environment. If we compromise in the things of God and His word we must not be surprised if the results of our labours reflect this compromised character.
Note again that the love of Boaz and Ruth for each other grew out of love for Jehovah. In the words spoken by Boaz we see his appreciation of Ruth's faithful service, 2. 12. Ruth's words to Boaz show that she recognized a similar commitment in him, 2. 13. Ruth's gleaning became less arduous as she enjoyed Boaz' company, protection, 2. 9, generosity, 2. 15, 19, and affection, 2. 14. We see how God was honouring, caring for and leading His faithful children.
If we are to understand the narrative in this section we must know something of the two Old Testament laws upon which the narrative is based.
The first relates to the possession of land and we read about it in Leviticus chapter 25. In Israel it was only the lease on land that was sold. The value of the lease related to the proximity of the year of jubilee when the lease ran out and the land reverted to the original owner. Sometimes the lease was sold because of poverty in which case there was provision for redemption before the year of jubilee. This is the situation we have before us here. In chapter 4 verse 3 we read, 'Naomi . . . selleth a parcel of land', but Young's Literal Translation renders the phrase as 'Naomi hath sold'. What was for sale and could be redeemed by a kinsman was not the land itself but the outstanding period of the lease on land that had been 'sold' because of poverty. The sale was initiated by Naomi as surviving head of the family, but also involved Ruth who was the widow of Naomi's elder son Mahlon.
The second law relates to marriage within the closely-knit Jewish family. When a male died without a male heir, it was the obligation of the male next of kin, as and when possible, to marry the widow to continue the family line. We read of this in Deuteronomy chapter 25. The two laws are separate in the Pentateuch but in the Book of Ruth they are linked. Social custom could have brought this about or it may have been the result of a specific decision taken by Naomi.
It is this background that gives an insight into the narrative. Harvest time was a demanding time and landowners like Boaz would supervise the reaping of the grain from early morning. Towards the end of the day, grain would be threshed by beating it to separate the kernel from the husk. Later, in the evening breezes, the grain would be winnowed by tossing the kernel and husk in the air thus allowing the lighter husk to be blown away leaving the valuable kernel. The weary landowner would eat his evening meal on the threshing floor and then sleep there to be available to supervise the next day's early morning reaping.
Naomi instructed Ruth to observe where Boaz lay down to sleep; then, when he slept, to remove the coverlet from his feet, lie down at his feet and replace the coverlet over them both. It was a symbolic act, in keeping with the custom of the day requesting Boaz to accept and implement the obligation of a near kinsman. The response of Boaz when he awoke at midnight to find a woman sharing the coverlet and lying at his feet was that of surprise. 'Who art thou?' he exclaimed, 3. 9. Boaz understood what was taking place but at that time did not know who was making the approach. Ruth then speaks and Boaz' response reveals his love for her and his acceptance of the request being made, 'Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter . . . now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman', 3. 10, 11.


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