A Petition Written by Ricardus Franciscus

This article identifies Ricardus Franciscus as the scribe of Kew, The National Archives, C 49/30/19, a petition seeking the exoneration of the late Duke Humphrey of Gloucester. (d. 1447). The authors provide a palaeographical analysis of the "flamboyant, spiky script" of the well-known scribe Franciscus in this document, which support the identification, as well as the linguistic features. The authors situate the petition within what is known about this scribe's life, patrons, and his written output. The article sheds more light on the scribes of medieval petitions which had hitherto been lacking

Impact of Merger/Ringdown on SMBHB Parameter Estimation with LISA

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will measure gravitational waves from the inspiral and merger of supermassive black hole bina ries (SMBHBs) at high redshift with large signal to noise. These meas urements will allow extraction of the SMBHB parameters (component mas ses, spins, binary orbital parameters, sky location, and distance) wi th exquisite accuracy. Here we present a study of the impact on measu red parameter precision from the inclusion of accurate waveforms for the merger/ringdown portion of the signal. we focus specifically on s ky-position and luminosity distance, the most important parameters fo r constraining searches for potential electromagnetic counterparts to SMBHB merger events

Phylogenetics, intersterility and host specialization of Ceratocystis fimbriata from Brazil and the family Araceae

Ceratocystis fimbriata is a complex of many cryptic, host-specialized species that causes wilt and canker of woody species and rot diseases of storage roots and corms of many economically important plants worldwide. Araceae is the only monocotyledonous family with confirmed hosts of C. fimbriata. Analyses of sequences of rDNA indicate that Araceae isolates and herbarium specimens represent three different groups: a Xanthosoma/Syngonium group on corms of Xanthosoma spp. from the Caribbean region and on ornamental Syngonium podophyllum from greenhouses in Florida, Hawaii, Australia and Brazil; an inhame group on corms of Colocasia esculenta in Brazil; and a distantly-related taro group on C. esculenta in Hawaii and China and on X. sagittifolium in Fiji. Inoculations of three species of Araceae (Caladium bicolor, S. podophyllum, and Colocasia esculenta) showed that all Araceae isolates are pathogenic to these three hosts. It is hypothesized that the three groups of C. fimbriata on the Araceae are native to the Caribbean, Brazil, and Asia, respectively, but they have been spread elsewhere by humans. In the Lower Amazon and Mata Atlântica regions of Brazil, C. fimbriata infects a large number of diverse crops including Gmelina arborea, Eucalyptus spp., Mangifera indica, Ficus carica, and Colocasia esculenta, which are exotic to Brazil. Analyses of sequences of rDNA found substantial variation in ITS-rDNA sequences, but ITS sequences of isolates from a given host did not group together in phylogenetic analyses. Mating studies indicated that all isolates, excluding those from Gmelina, were fully interfertile, suggesting that the Brazilian isolates represent a single biological species. Inoculation experiments on the five exotic hosts suggested that only isolates from Gmelina and Eucalyptus were specialized to infect Gmelina (Verbeneaceae) and Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) plants, respectively. There was little evidence of host specialization to the native Brazilian hosts from the same families as the exotic hosts. There is not enough evidence provided by these experiments to state that speciation has occurred with the Brazilian biological species. However, isolates from Gmelina may be in the beginning stages of speciation based on strong host-specialization and the appearance of pre-zygotic barriers to fertilization by the Mata Atlântica isolates

The Detection and Determination of Drugs and Their Metabolites in Biological Fluids

This thesis is concerned with the detection, identification and estimation of drugs and their metabolites in body fluids. The principal drugs studied were the halogenated drugs chlorbutanol and chloral hydrate. One widely used technique for the detection of chloral hydrate and its metabolite, trichloroacetic acid, is the Fujiwara test. This test was also known to be capable of detecting chlorbutanol. The reaction conditions were studied to determine the optimum conditions for the detection of chlorbutanol. As part of the investigation into the optimum conditions an investigation was carried out into the mechanism of the Fujiwara reaction. Previously this test was thought to detect only a series of halogenated compounds. This investigation showed, however, that this is not correct. A positive reaction can be obtained if the reaction conditions lead to the attachment of an electrophilic group to the nitrogen atom of a pyridine ring if this group, in the presence of base, gives rise to a conjugated system which can give rise to an ionised species. A modification of this test was also used for quantitative estimation of the metabolites of chloral hydrate. For the identification of the drugs in body fluids gas chromatography was found to be the most suitable technique. A number of possible systems were investigated and the most suitable chosen for the routine identification and estimation of these drugs. This technique was preferred to the Fujiwara test for estimations as more than one drug can be readily estimated in the same sample. The Fujiwara test was used to study the excretion of chlorbutanol by racing greyhounds, in conjunction with a comprehensive study designed to assess all aspects of the drug's effects on these animals. A similar study was carried out using phenobarbitone. The gas chromatographic technique was used to investigate the effectiveness of the Fujiwara technique developed, and also a number of aspects relating to the handling of samples thought to contain chlorbutanol. Both the Fujiwara and gas chromatographic techniques were employed in the routine analysis of samples. A study was also carried out into the rapid detection of phenylbutazone and contraceptive steroids. Existing techniques were found to be satisfactory for the detection of phenylbutazone and its metabolites, and these substances were characterised using these techniques. However a simple, speedy technique is not practical for the detection of contraceptive steroids in urine samples. The technique of gas chromatography was also used to identify and estimate a number of volatile materials. This was originally carried out to detect contaminants in the reagents used for the Fujiwara test, but also found an application in a post-mortem analysis. One of the column packings found to be unsuitable for the identification of chlorbutanol was found to be capable of separating a wide range of volatile materials. This range included ethanol and trials were carried out in conjunction with a test of the effect of orally administered fructose upon ethanol metabolism. This column packing was found to be a useful supplement to the standard packing used for the determination of blood and urine ethanol concentrations

Hidden Morbidity following Colorectal Resection: postoperative evaluation

Introduction: The implementation and evaluation of Enhanced Recovery after Surgery programmes over the past 15 years has ensured the accurate reporting of inpatient morbidity post colorectal resection. However, there is a paucity of audit or research examining post-operative morbidity in the early discharge period. Method: 142 consecutive patients undergoing elective (n= 98) or emergency (n=44) colorectal resection over a three- month period were invited to attend a nurse-led outpatient clinic at 30 days post-discharge. Audit data were collected at two time-points, discharge from hospital and at clinic. Audit templates were developed using the Postoperative Morbidity Survey (Grocott et al, 2007), Clavien-Dindo classification criteria (Dindo et al, 2004) and modified to include additional colorectal surgery-specific outcomes. Results were recorded and analysed using SPSS. Results: Unanticipated findings relating to post-discharge morbidity identified through the audit included: 35% (n=32) of infection-free inpatients developed surgical site infections following discharge. 34% (n=47) of all patients had significant urinary symptoms when seen in clinic. Dietary implications at 30 days post-discharge included an appetite of half or less than usual intake in 27% of patients (n=37) and moderate to major changes in dietary intake compared to their pre- operative diet in 30% (n=42). 27% (n=38) of patients had an ileostomy; of those without an ileostomy, 20% (n=21) had four or more daily bowel movements, with 22% (n=23) describing their stool consistency as watery, loose or unsettled. 45% (n=46) of those without an ileostomy reported one or more problematic bowel symptom related to their surgical experience at 30 days post-discharge. Conclusion: These audit findings suggest that individuals undergoing colorectal resection experience significant levels of post-discharge morbidity, extending the burden on them and the services required to support them for longer than may have been previously anticipated. Nurse-led follow-up using auditable documentation templates facilitates the recognition and reporting of complications following discharge and provides valuable support for patients. References: Dindo, D. et al (2004) Classification of Surgical Complications: a new proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey. Annals of Surgery 240(2):205-213 Grocott MPW et al (2007) The Postoperative Morbidity Survey was validated and used to describe morbidity after pelvic surgery. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 60: 919-92

Sky localization of complete inspiral-merger-ringdown signals for nonspinning massive black hole binaries

We investigate the capability of LISA to measure the sky position of equal-mass, nonspinning black hole binaries, combining for the first time the entire inspiral-merger-ringdown signal, the effect of the LISA orbits, and the complete three-channel LISA response. We consider an ensemble of systems near the peak of LISA's sensitivity band, with total rest mass of 2\times10^6 M\odot, a redshift of z = 1, and randomly chosen orientations and sky positions. We find median sky localization errors of approximately \sim3 arcminutes. This is comparable to the field of view of powerful electromagnetic telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, that could be used to search for electromagnetic signals associated with merging massive black holes. We investigate the way in which parameter errors decrease with measurement time, focusing specifically on the additional information provided during the merger-ringdown segment of the signal. We find that this information improves all parameter estimates directly, rather than through diminishing correlations with any subset of well- determined parameters. Although we have employed the baseline LISA design for this study, many of our conclusions regarding the information provided by mergers will be applicable to alternative mission designs as well.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

System and method for tuning adjusting the central frequency of a laser while maintaining frequency stabilization to an external reference

A method and system for stabilizing a laser to a frequency reference with an adjustable offset. The method locks a sideband signal generated by passing an incoming laser beam through the phase modulator to a frequency reference, and adjusts a carrier frequency relative to the locked sideband signal by changing a phase modulation frequency input to the phase modulator. The sideband signal can be a single sideband (SSB), dual sideband (DSB), or an electronic sideband (ESB) signal. Two separate electro-optic modulators can produce the DSB signal. The two electro-optic modulators can be a broadband modulator and a resonant modulator. With a DSB signal, the method can introduce two sinusoidal phase modulations at the phase modulator. With ESB signals, the method can further drive the optical phase modulator with an electrical signal with nominal frequency OMEGA(sub 1) that is phase modulated at a frequency OMEGA(sub 2