Advanced electrochemical technology Semiannual report, 1 Jul. - 31 Dec. 1967

Gas diffusion advanced fuel cell and related electrochemical system

Earth resources data acquisition sensor study

The minimum data collection and data processing requirements are investigated for the development of water monitoring systems, which disregard redundant and irrelevant data and process only those data predictive of the onset of significant pollution events. Two approaches are immediately suggested: (1) adaptation of a presently available ambient air monitoring system developed by TVA, and (2) consideration of an air, water, and radiological monitoring system developed by the Georgia Tech Experiment Station. In order to apply monitoring systems, threshold values and maximum allowable rates of change of critical parameters such as dissolved oxygen and temperature are required

From asset in war to asset in diplomacy: Orkney in the medieval realm of Norway

The island province of Orkney played a crucial role in Norway’s overseas expansion during the Early- and High-Middle Ages. Located just offshore from mainland Scotland, it provided a resort for westward-sailing fleets as well as a convenient springboard for military forays into Britain and down the Irish Sea. The establishment of a Norwegian-Scottish peace and the demarcation of fixed political boundaries in 1266 led to a revision of Orkney’s role in the Norwegian realm. From that point until the its pledging to the Scottish Crown in 1468, Norway depended on Orkney as a hub for diplomacy and foreign relations. This paper looks at how Orkney figured in Norwegian royal strategies in the west and presents key examples which show its transition from a tool of war to a forum for peace

The Earldom of Orkney, the Duchy of Schleswig and the Kalmar Union in 1434

In August 1434, Erik VII, king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, confirmed William Sinclair as earl of Orkney, thus ending a decade-long dispute over the hereditary nature of that island fief. Although surviving sources pertaining to Orkney tell us little about Erik VII’s motives, historians have traditionally pointed to circumstances in and around the isles to explain the king’s acknowledgement of William’s claims. In this article, it is argued that the events must be interpreted in light of a concurrent dispute over counts of Holstein’s hereditary claims to the duchy of Schleswig, which were vigorously denied by Erik VII. It can be concluded that the latter dispute influenced the debate over Orkney by making the hereditary enfeoffment of William Sinclair a strategic impossibility for Erik VII, who could not acknowledge one claim without opening the door for another. The king’s acquiescence of William’s claim in 1434, we contend, reflected changing conditions in Schleswig, where the king was forced to recognize the counts’ hereditary rights. The contribution offers a new take on Orkney’s late-medieval development and encourages that island principality’s inclusion in pan-Scandinavian events

Bonde og borgerkrig

Historians have traditionally treated peasant unrest in late twelfth- and early thirteenth-century Norway as part of a wider challenge to royal authority, as kings struggled to suppress political adversaries and rival claimants to the throne. This article seeks to shed greater light on this assumed correlation by analysing changing patterns of peasant mobilization. To do so, it proposes a terminological distinction between ‘peasant resistance’ (bondemotstand), when peasants allied with kings in opposition to those kings’ adversaries, and ‘peasant uprising’ (bondeopprør), when peasants acted alone against an established royal authority. Through analysis of four conflicts (1183; 1200; 1213; 1217), it reveals a shift from the former to the latter, and concludes that the gradual cessation of succession struggles in the thirteenth century increasingly limited peasants ability to forge alliances against oppressive rulers. Although peasants were not entirely isolated, alliances with outside partners became a secondary recourse

Bart Holterman: The Fish Lands. German trade with Iceland, Shetland and the Faroe Islands in the late 15th and 16th Century

Bart Holtermans bok, The Fish Lands. German trade with Iceland, Shetland and the Faroes in the 15th and 16th Century, handler om et lite utforsket kapittel av hanseatisk historie. I det femtende århundre begynte nordtyske, gjerne hanseatiske kjøpmenn å styre unna Bergen, som da var sentrumet for den nordatlantiske handelen, og drive direktehandel med Norges krones skattland Island, Færøyene og Hjaltland. Denne handelen undergravet Bergens stapel og svekket dermed øyenes gamle økonomiske og politiske bånd med Norge. Samtidig brakte den en viss materiell velstand til de insulære samfunnene, som takket være tilreisende kjøpmenn fra Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck og Oldenburg fikk mer direkte adgang til nye og rikholdige nordvesteuropeiske markeder. Men overraskende lite har blitt skrevet om den tyske skattlandshandelen. Det finnes riktignok noen enkeltstudier av tyske virksomheter i individuelle skattland, i første rekke Island. Inntil nylig har imidlertid ingen, i hvert fall ingen faghistoriker, våget å studere fenomenet fra et bredt, regionalt perspektiv. Heldigvis har Holterman gjort nettopp det i denne omfangsrike, velskrevne og fascinerende monografien

Bonde og borgerkrig - Lokalkonflikter og de norske innbyrdesstridene

Published version available at: http://ojs.novus.no/index.php/CM/article/view/1764 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Historians have traditionally treated peasant unrest in late twelfth- and early thirteenth-century Norway as part of a wider challenge to royal authority, as kings struggled to suppress political adversaries and rival claimants to the throne. This article seeks to shed greater light on this assumed correlation by analysing changing patterns of peasant mobilization. To do so, it proposes a terminological distinction between ‘peasant resistance’ (bondemotstand), when peasants allied with kings in opposition to those kings’ adversaries, and ‘peasant uprising’ (bondeopprør), when peasants acted alone against an established royal authority. Through analysis of four conflicts (1183; 1200; 1213; 1217), it reveals a shift from the former to the latter, and concludes that the gradual cessation of succession struggles in the thirteenth century increasingly limited peasants ability to forge alliances against oppressive rulers. Although peasants were not entirely isolated, alliances with outside partners became a secondary recourse

Determination of Mercury in an Assortment of Dietary Supplements Using an Inexpensive Combustion Atomic Absorption Spectrometry Technique

The concentrations of mercury in forty, commercially available dietary supplements, were determined using a new, inexpensive analysis technique. The method involves thermal decomposition, amalgamation, and detection of mercury by atomic absorption spectrometry with an analysis time of approximately six minutes per sample. The primary cost savings from this approach is that labor-intensive sample digestion is not required prior to analysis, further automating the analytical procedure. As a result, manufacturers and regulatory agencies concerned with monitoring lot-to-lot product quality may find this approach an attractive alternative to the more classical acid-decomposition, cold vapor atomic absorption methodology. Dietary supplement samples analyzed included astragalus, calcium, chromium picolinate, echinacea, ephedra, fish oil, ginger, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, goldenseal, guggul, senna, St John's wort, and yohimbe products. Quality control samples analyzed with the dietary supplements indicated a high level of method accuracy and precision. Ten replicate preparations of a standard reference material (NIST 1573a, tomato leaves) were analyzed, and the average mercury recovery was 109% (2.0% RSD). The method quantitation limit was 0.3 ng, which corresponded to 1.5 ng/g sample. The highest found mercury concentration (123 ng/g) was measured in a concentrated salmon oil sample. When taken as directed by an adult, this product would result in an approximate mercury ingestion of 7 μg per week

Determination of mercury in an assortment of dietary supplements using an inexpensive combustion atomic absorption spectrometry technique

The concentrations of mercury in forty, commercially available dietary supplements, were determined using a new, inexpensive analysis technique. The method involves thermal decomposition, amalgamation, and detection of mercury by atomic absorption spectrometry with an analysis time of approximately six minutes per sample. The primary cost savings from this approach is that labor-intensive sample digestion is not required prior to analysis, further automating the analytical procedure. As a result, manufacturers and regulatory agencies concerned with monitoring lot-to-lot product quality may find this approach an attractive alternative to the more classical acid-decomposition, cold vapor atomic absorption methodology. Dietary supplement samples analyzed included astragalus, calcium, chromium picolinate, echinacea, ephedra, fish oil, ginger, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, goldenseal, guggul, senna, St John's wort, and yohimbe products. Quality control samples analyzed with the dietary supplements indicated a high level of method accuracy and precision. Ten replicate preparations of a standard reference material (NIST 1573a, tomato leaves) were analyzed, and the average mercury recovery was 109% (2.0% RSD). The method quantitation limit was 0.3 ng, which corresponded to 1.5 ng/g sample. The highest found mercury concentration (123 ng/g) was measured in a concentrated salmon oil sample. When taken as directed by an adult, this product would result in an approximate mercury ingestion of 7 µg per week