Out of the wilderness : a fourteenth-century English drawing of John the Baptist

London, British Library, MS Royal 10 B XIV contains a large drawing of St. John the Baptist that is both exceptional for its quality and iconographically unique. Not previously noticed by art historians, it constitutes an important addition to English art of the early to mid-fourteenth century. This paper explores the physical nature of the drawing, its bibliographical context (in a book of natural philosophy), the nature and meaning of its imagery, and its artistic context and associations, within the broader framework of its ownership and use by Benedictine monks of Saint Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. The drawing is considered a symptom of a wider interest in the acquisition of manuscript illumination at the abbey during the first half of the fourteenth century. It can be dated to about 1335-40 and is thought to have been executed in southeast England or East Anglia, where the works of art to which it is closest in stylistic and iconographic terms were produced. The iconography includes a number of motifs rare or unparalleled in images of John the Baptist, including a figure of Salome beneath the saint's feet and, most remarkably, a monumental Gothic arch composed of living oak trees, which frames the saint. The detail and semantic richness of this imagery make it practically certain that the drawing was made as a focus of devotion, probably for the manuscript's first recorded owner, the Oxford scholar-monk John of Lingfield.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A microprocessor application to a strapdown laser gyro navigator

The replacement of analog circuit control loops for laser gyros (path length control, cross axis temperature compensation loops, dither servo and current regulators) with digital filters residing in microcomputers is addressed. In addition to the control loops, a discussion is given on applying the microprocessor hardware to compensation for coning and skulling motion where simple algorithms are processed at high speeds to compensate component output data (digital pulses) for linear and angular vibration motions. Highlights are given on the methodology and system approaches used in replacing differential equations describing the analog system in terms of the mechanized difference equations of the microprocessor. Standard one for one frequency domain techniques are employed in replacing analog transfer functions by their transform counterparts. Direct digital design techniques are also discussed along with their associated benefits. Time and memory loading analyses are also summarized, as well as signal and microprocessor architecture. Trade offs in algorithm, mechanization, time/memory loading, accuracy, and microprocessor architecture are also given

The relics of Thomas Becket in England

While Becket’s relics are likely to have been owned by institutions and individuals throughout much of later medieval England, the reliable surviving evidence for them is limited. Without pretending to anything like completeness, the present essay assesses a range of sources in order to determine (or at least suggest) their usefulness for constructing a historically rooted understanding of the definition, distribution, appearance, and housing of Becket-relics. The approach taken arises partially from an ambition to cover as much ground as possible in the available space, and partially from misgivings about the value of documents whose original contexts cannot be satisfactorily reconstructed. The analysis is intended to contribute to scholarship on the cult of Becket generally in later medieval England: to this end, evidence has been sought widely and Canterbury receives less attention than the reader might expect, although the essay turns to the cathedral priory at the end.PostprintPeer reviewe

A projected pilgrimage from Suffolk to St Ninian, c. 1500

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‘First, do no harm’: shifting the paradigm towards a culture of health

Over the past 17 years since the release of the Institute of Medicine report ‘To Err is Human’,1 health services and agencies around the world have increasingly focused on improving the safety and quality of health care. Historically, the commitment by health care professionals to ‘first do no harm’ has produced a focus on the absence of interventions that may cause adverse outcomes. This clinical approach links to the Hippocratic Oath which includes the promise to abstain from doing harm . The Oath reminds clinicians to first consider the possible harm that any intervention might do. This approach to interactions with patients leads to an emphasis on the ‘absence of harm’ rather than a focus on the ‘creation of health’. To improve the care of patients, a paradigm shift is required in the health care services from a ‘disease-based intervention’ model to a supportive ‘health’ model. Just as ‘health’ is not the absence of illness, preventing patient harm is not simply avoiding interventions. To ‘first do no harm’ health services need to actively improve their focus on health and the entire patient experience

Intelligent by design : the manuscripts of Walter of Whittlesey, monk of Peterborough

This article examines two important fourteenth-century manuscripts containing historical and other texts from Peterborough Abbey, both made for a monk named Walter of Whittlesey (Add. MS. 37958 and Add. MS. 47170). It reviews the biographical evidence for Whittlesey, the muddied issue of his role in the manuscripts' production, and also the textual and iconographic constitution of these manuscripts. As such, it is essentially a study of the exercise and effects of personal monastic book-patronage. As its objects show, this patronage was heavily inflected by institutional culture, oriented in practical ways towards specific goals, and intelligently implemented. Particular emphasis is placed here on subtleties of design, and how these contributed to the utility of the manuscripts. Although the evidence for Walter's patronage is unusually clear (at least where illuminated manuscripts are concerned), opportunities for similar analysis exist elsewhere, and this study offers a model for how such work might proceed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Ridware cartulary and the Great Seal of England

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What is the proper scope of the power of an arbitral tribunal to issue an order restraining a party from pursuit of parallel proceedings in a national court?

The proper scope of tribunal-ordered anti-suit injunctions to combat parallel proceedings has been subject to much debate. Some have argued that arbitrators’ use of the injunctions requires restriction, while others argue that existing conditions and limitations are sufficient. This paper provides an outline of the sources from which arbitrators are empowered to order anti-suit injunctions, the development of the injunctions through cases, and the recent European Court of Justice decision in Gazprom. It briefly touches on court-ordered anti-suit injunctions, and the implications of the Brussels I Regulation for tribunal-ordered anti-suit injunctions. It concludes that the scope of anti-suit injunctions does not require further restriction. Reasons for this conclusion include the 2006 amendments to the UNCITRAL Model Law; commercial reasons; the need to prevent conflicting decisions; and the nature of arbitration as arising from private commercial arrangements between parties

The history and development of the choice principle

“The History and Development of the Choice Principle” is split into different categories of Australian and New Zealand cases in relation to the choice principle: dividend stripping, tax loss grouping provisions, inflated deductions, and income splitting. It considers the official position of the Inland Revenue Department on the choice principle, and sets out arguments for and against the advantages of adopting the principle in New Zealand