Two personal names in recently found Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions: Sedgeford (Norfolk) and Elsted (West Sussex)

In 2017 two objects carrying runic inscriptions that are identifiable as personal names were found. Both date to the ninth century; both are dithematic (compound) names. The object, identified as a spoon or fork handle from Sedgeford in Norfolk, bears a familiar male name, Biarnferð. This contains a runic graph hitherto unseen, which may, despite the provenance of the find, be interpreted as a representation of the diphthong ia that developed in the Kentish dialect by the middle of the ninth century. There is in fact a historically known individual of this name who witnessed a series of Canterbury charters in the mid-ninth century. The other object, a strap-end from Elsted in West Sussex, carries what can be identified from its final element, flǣd, as a female name, although the whole name cannot be read. What is legible cannot be identified with any previously recorded personal name. Evaluation of these finds emphasizes how Anglo-Saxon runic writing practice continued to adapt to changes in the language and the regularization of roman-script literacy in the ninth century. Finally, the role of literacy within a nexus of cultural relationship involving individuals and artefacts is also highlighted

A glimpse of the heathen Norse in Lincolnshire

A runic inscription on a local lead spindle-whorl found near the coastal site of Saltfleetby in Lincolnshire provides exceptional evidence, not only of the maintainence of the Norse language and Norse runic writing traditions in the early 11th century there, but also a survival of the pre-Christian Norse religion

A Brief History of Quality Improvement in Health Care and Spinal Surgery.

While medical and technological advances continue to shape and advance health care, there has been growing emphasis on translating these advances into improvement in overall health care quality outcomes in the United States. Innovators such as Abraham Flexner and Ernest Codman engaged in rigorous reviews of systems and patient outcomes igniting wider spread interest in quality improvement in health care. Codman\u27s efforts even contributed to the founding of the American College of Surgeons. This society catalyzed a quality improvement initiative across the United States and the formation of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. Since that time, those such as Avedis Donabedian and the Institute of Medicine have worked to structure the process of improving both the quality and delivery of health care. Significant advances include the defining of minimum standards for hospital accreditation, 7 pillars of quality in medicine, and the process by which quality in medicine is evaluated. All of these factors have affected current practice more each day. In a field such as spinal surgery, cost and quality measures are continually emphasized and led to large outcome databases to better evaluate outcomes in complex, heterogeneous populations. Going forward, these databases will be instrumental in developing practice patterns and improving spinal surgery outcomes

Legal forms for common use in Georgia : embracing over four hundred approved precedents, for affidavits, agreements, bills of sale, deeds, notes, etc., etc., also, forms in judicial proceedings, arbitrations, attachments, orders, process, pleading, probate of deeds, rules, wills, etc., etc., with others to guide attorneys, magistrates, justices of the Inferior Court, constables, sheriffs, ordinaries, clerks, etc., etc., in the many duties required of them by law : to which is added an appendix containing the statutory provisions as to county officers, magistrates, and elections, the rules of court, and the Constitution of Georgia

Excerpt from the preface: The object of the present volume is to furnish the legal profession, magistrates, county officers, and private citizens of this State, with a plain, accurate, and complete Form Book, which shall be cheap in price, and convenient in size, and so arranged that any one, however ignorant of such formulas, can use it when the occasion presents itself. Added to the forms, in the body of the work, are such directions and suggestions as it was supposed would be useful. In the Appendix are the statutory enactments of our State in regard to county .officers, magistrates, taxes, and elections, together with the rules of Court and the Constitution of Georgia. As it would have altered the plan of the work to have attempted to digest the laws upon subjects not treated of, or to have added annotations of judicial decisions, it has not been done, although it no doubt would have proven an addition to the work. If need be, this could be added to any future edition. The original edition was published in Macon in 1853, met with a ready sale,- and was soon exhausted. This success led the author of the work to entertain the idea of another edition, and he had prepared some matter for it, but sold the copyright in 1854 to the present proprietor, without finishing the preparation necessary for it. This, and his decease in 1856, made it necessary for the present editor to complete the work. The reader is not expected to care much as to the paternity of the work, and hence no mark has been fixed by which the labors of the two compilers can be separated; the comparison of the two editions will, however, easily distinguish them. The forms given are such as have been approved by our Supreme or Superior Courts, or taken from the best books of precedents, and, in some cases, from models furnished by cases in Court, drawn by practitioners of the best position. Many of them were used in the office of my father for thirty years, in his extensive practice in Milledgeville and Macon, and his correctness and research will no doubt guaranty them in the estimation of the people of Georgia, among whom he he had so many warm personal friends and admirers. Albany, Georgia, July 1st, 1858.https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/historic_treat/1003/thumbnail.jp

A modular, programmable measurement system for physiological and spaceflight applications

The NASA-Ames Sensors 2000! Program has developed a small, compact, modular, programmable, sensor signal conditioning and measurement system, initially targeted for Life Sciences Spaceflight Programs. The system consists of a twelve-slot, multi-layer, distributed function backplane, a digital microcontroller/memory subsystem, conditioned and isolated power supplies, and six application-specific, physiological signal conditioners. Each signal condition is capable of being programmed for gains, offsets, calibration and operate modes, and, in some cases, selectable outputs and functional modes. Presently, the system has the capability for measuring ECG, EMG, EEG, Temperature, Respiration, Pressure, Force, and Acceleration parameters, in physiological ranges. The measurement system makes heavy use of surface-mount packaging technology, resulting in plug in modules sized 125x55 mm. The complete 12-slot system is contained within a volume of 220x150x70mm. The system's capabilities extend well beyond the specific objectives of NASA programs. Indeed, the potential commercial uses of the technology are virtually limitless. In addition to applications in medical and biomedical sensing, the system might also be used in process control situations, in clinical or research environments, in general instrumentation systems, factory processing, or any other applications where high quality measurements are required