‘Under Our Protection, That of the Church and Their Own’- Papal and Secular Protection of the Families and Properties the Crusaders Left Behind, c.1095-1226.

'Ill-defined and incomprehensible to contemporaries': these are two of the charges scholarship has levelled at the papal protection privilege for crusaders. Major innovations in this field have been attributed to Innocent III (1198-1216), yet many of these ideas can be identified as having developed much earlier. This thesis will demonstrate the profound originality of the protection initiated by Urban 11 in 1095, and discuss the role of the protection in recruitment as an added attraction or, at least, was a way for the pope to negate obstacles to taking the cross. Under Eugenius III (1145-53) this privilege took on a new formula that dominated papal missives beyond Innocent III's pontificate. In essence, crusaders were differentiated from pilgrims, and that protection sharply delineated crusaders' wives, families and possessions from those of the men-at-arms who did not take the cross. During the Second Crusade (I 145-49), the metaphor of the two swords of government took on a new centrality within the crusading context. This connection between secular and spiritual authority has not received adequate attention from scholars. Protected status is the starting point of the discussion of papal and secular guardianship over the crusaders' lands and possessions. Crusaders and those remaining in the West were well aware of their status from the outset. This secular experience is determined through detailed discussion of the charters issued by crusade regents. The crusades have been interpreted as 'windows of opportunity' for wives otherwise excluded from politics, however demonstrably the women chosen for these roles were, in fact, already experienced in government. This thesis also compares and contrasts the effectiveness of papal and secular measures in protecting the crusader's interests, and assesses the political impact of the crusaders' departure on those they left behind. Invasion, rebellion and usurpation could and did occur during the crusaders' long-term absence, but secular and papal protection might, in unison, combat exploitation by the crusaders' enemies or other opportunists.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Using Raman Spectroscopy to Study Fouling Mechanisms in Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Despite an increased focus on alternative approaches, the dominant technology for desalination remains reverse osmosis (RO). However, like all membrane-based separation processes, RO suffers from membrane fouling, resulting in higher operating costs and energy consumption. Inorganic fouling, usually known as scaling, is a common form of fouling observed in RO-based membrane desalination of high-salinity seawaters and brackish waters. The presence of a variety of inorganics in brackish and seawater feeds, along with high spatial dependence of the concentration polarization-driven scale-formation process, necessitates a high spatial resolution, sensitive, and real-time fouling detection scheme with chemical identification of the foulants. This is crucial for devising an efficient scale removal and prevention strategy. Without real-time local scaling and chemical metrics, scale-control processes can rely on trial-and-error iterations, which can waste valuable resources in the form of energy and capital.Raman spectroscopy is a nondestructive, in situ (local), real-time methodology based on inelastic light-matter interactions. Raman spectra can provide the chemical fingerprint of the fouling species with spatial resolution (on order of microns) and a rapid temporal response (on the order of seconds). To demonstrate the capability of this technique, I designed and built a bench-scale flat sheet RO system capable of performing multi-day crossflow experiments. The custom flow cell of the RO system featured optical access to the membrane, interfacing with a Raman microscope. Chapters 1 defines the scope of the work and describes the organization of the dissertation. Chapters 2 and 3 present important technical background on reverse osmosis desalination and Raman spectroscopy. In Chapter 4, real-time Raman detection and monitoring was applied to the deposition and removal of gypsum scale. This study showed that Raman spectroscopy could provide crucial real-time chemical composition and spatial distribution information during membrane cleaning, which can inform more effective antiscaling and cleaning strategies. In Chapter 5, a new RO system and in-house Raman system were designed and assembled to enable the study of lateral scaling progression of calcium carbonate (i.e., scaling as a function of axial position) during longer scaling experiments. The limitations of the prior RO flow cell, namely nonuniform channel height and small, fixed optical window were resolved. The time evolution of the downstream and upstream calcium carbonate Raman signal was evaluated with respect to computed values of local concentration at the membrane surface, revealing a statistically significant dependence (p&lt;0.001). The real-time Raman data were bolstered by results of post-mortem analysis (scanning electron microscopy, gravimetric measurements, laser interferometry), which additionally revealed that the employed technique was capable of detecting crystals with characteristic lengths &lt;50 &mu;m. Chapter 6 addressed real-time Raman detection of two-component scaling using calcium sulfate and calcium carbonate as model scalants (components). First, the limitations of a single-point sampling strategy were demonstrated using the RO flow cell and system presented in Chapter 4. The average dimensions of the two scaling components and the Raman laser beam spot size were identified as important Raman sampling parameters. Flux decline as low as 0.4% and 0.5% was observed at the time of gypsum and calcium carbonate Raman detection, respectively. This supported the Raman sensor&rsquo;s early detection capability and utility as a real-time decision-making tool during plant operation. Additionally, the spatial distribution of the crystals was quantified using a normalized formulation of Ripley&rsquo;s K function. Results indicated that crystal distribution pattern was a critical design driver in the optimization of Raman sampling strategy. Chapter 7 summarizes the conclusions of the dissertation work and with recommendations for future work.</p

Institution specific risk factors for 30 day readmission at a community hospital: a retrospective observational study

Background: As of October 1, 2012, hospitals in the United States with excess readmissions based on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) risk-adjusted ratio began being penalized. Given the impact of high readmission rates to hospitals nationally, it is important for individual hospitals to identify which patients may be at highest risk of readmission. The objective of this study was to assess the association of institution specific factors with 30-day readmission. Methods: The study is a retrospective observational study using administrative data from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010 conducted at a 257 bed community hospital in Massachusetts. The patients included inpatient medical discharges from the hospitalist service with the primary diagnoses of congestive heart failure, pneumonia or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The outcome was 30-day readmission rates. After adjusting for known factors that impact readmission, provider associated factors (i.e. hours worked and census on the day of discharge) and hospital associated factors (i.e. floor of discharge, season) were compared. Results: Over the study time period, there were 3774 discharges by hospitalists, with 637 30-day readmissions (17% readmission rate). By condition, readmission rates were 19.6% (448/2284) for congestive heart failure, 13.0% (141/1083) for pneumonia, and 14.7% (200/1358) for chronic obstructive lung disease. After adjusting for known risk factors (gender, age, length of stay, Elixhauser sum score, admission in the previous year, insurance, disposition, primary diagnosis), we found that patients discharged in the winter remained significantly more likely to be readmitted compared to the summer (OR 1.54, p = 0.0008). Patients discharged from the cardiac floor had a trend toward decreased readmission compared a medical/oncology floor (OR 0.85, p = 0.08). Hospitalist work flow factors (census and hours on the day of discharge) were not associated with readmission. Conclusions: We found that 30 day hospital readmissions may be associated with institution specific risk factors, even after adjustment for patient factors. These institution specific risk factors may be targets for interventions to prevent readmissions

Dislodged Endovascular Heat-Induced Thrombus Resulting in Pulmonary Embolus Following Post-Operative Ultrasound Compression

Introduction: Venous insufficiency and consequent varicose veins are common problems faced by many patients. Fortunately, there are many treatment options available including a minimally invasive method known as radiofrequency ablation (RFA). RFA is not without complications; amongst those are endovascular heat induced thrombosis (EHIT). This rare complication is typically managed conservatively; however, in rare occasions, the thrombus can detach and embolize causing further issues for patients. Case Description: A 48-year-old male underwent an uneventful RFA procedure for a CEAP 4a venous insufficiency. On the post-operative ultrasound venous duplex evaluation, the patient was found to have EHIT type 2 in the right greater saphenous vein extending to the sapheno-femoral junction. During compression and release of the ultrasound probe by the ultrasound technician, the thrombus detached from the venous wall and embolized to a right lung subsegmental branch. Discussion: This case report focuses on the possibility of secondary sequela that may arise from EHIT affecting other organ systems from the RFA procedure, the classification system of EHIT, and management options

Mean curvature interface limit from Glauber+Zero-range interacting particles

We derive a continuum mean-curvature flow as a certain hydrodynamic scaling limit of a class of Glauber+Zero-range particle systems. The Zero-range part moves particles while preserving particle numbers, and the Glauber part governs the creation and annihilation of particles and is set to favor two levels of particle density. When the two parts are simultaneously seen in certain different time-scales, the Zero-range part being diffusively scaled while the Glauber part is speeded up at a lesser rate, a mean-curvature interface flow emerges, with a homogenized `surface tension-mobility' parameter reflecting microscopic rates, between the two levels of particle density. We use relative entropy methods, along with a suitable `Boltzmann-Gibbs' principle, to show that the random microscopic system may be approximated by a `discretized' Allen-Cahn PDE with nonlinear diffusion. In turn, we show the behavior of this `discretized' PDE is close to that of a continuum Allen-Cahn equation, whose generation and propagation interface properties we also derive.Comment: 65 page

Domain Adaptation for Time Series Forecasting via Attention Sharing

Recent years have witnessed deep neural networks gaining increasing popularity in the field of time series forecasting. A primary reason of their success is their ability to effectively capture complex temporal dynamics across multiple related time series. However, the advantages of these deep forecasters only start to emerge in the presence of a sufficient amount of data. This poses a challenge for typical forecasting problems in practice, where one either has a small number of time series, or limited observations per time series, or both. To cope with the issue of data scarcity, we propose a novel domain adaptation framework, Domain Adaptation Forecaster (DAF), that leverages the statistical strengths from another relevant domain with abundant data samples (source) to improve the performance on the domain of interest with limited data (target). In particular, we propose an attention-based shared module with a domain discriminator across domains as well as private modules for individual domains. This allows us to jointly train the source and target domains by generating domain-invariant latent features while retraining domain-specific features. Extensive experiments on various domains demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art baselines on synthetic and real-world datasets.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

Children's biobehavioral reactivity to challenge predicts DNA methylation in adolescence and emerging adulthood.

A growing body of research has documented associations between adverse childhood environments and DNA methylation, highlighting epigenetic processes as potential mechanisms through which early external contexts influence health across the life course. The present study tested a complementary hypothesis: indicators of children's early internal, biological, and behavioral responses to stressful challenges may also be linked to stable patterns of DNA methylation later in life. Children's autonomic nervous system reactivity, temperament, and mental health symptoms were prospectively assessed from infancy through early childhood, and principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to derive composites of biological and behavioral reactivity. Buccal epithelial cells were collected from participants at 15 and 18 years of age. Findings revealed an association between early life biobehavioral inhibition/disinhibition and DNA methylation across many genes. Notably, reactive, inhibited children were found to have decreased DNA methylation of the DLX5 and IGF2 genes at both time points, as compared to non-reactive, disinhibited children. Results of the present study are provisional but suggest that the gene's profile of DNA methylation may constitute a biomarker of normative or potentially pathological differences in reactivity. Overall, findings provide a foundation for future research to explore relations among epigenetic processes and differences in both individual-level biobehavioral risk and qualities of the early, external childhood environment

A Forward Genetic Screen for Molecules Involved in Pheromone-Induced Dauer Formation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Animals must constantly assess their surroundings and integrate sensory cues to make appropriate behavioral and developmental decisions. Pheromones produced by conspecific individuals provide critical information regarding environmental conditions. Ascaroside pheromone concentration and composition are instructive in the decision of Caenorhabditis elegans to either develop into a reproductive adult or enter into the stress-resistant alternate dauer developmental stage. Pheromones are sensed by a small set of sensory neurons, and integrated with additional environmental cues, to regulate neuroendocrine signaling and dauer formation. To identify molecules required for pheromone-induced dauer formation, we performed an unbiased forward genetic screen and identified phd (pheromone response-defective dauer) mutants. Here, we describe new roles in dauer formation for previously identified neuronal molecules such as the WD40 domain protein QUI-1 and MACO-1 Macoilin, report new roles for nociceptive neurons in modulating pheromone-induced dauer formation, and identify tau tubulin kinases as new genes involved in dauer formation. Thus, phd mutants define loci required for the detection, transmission, or integration of pheromone signals in the regulation of dauer formation. © 2016 Neal et al.1

p120-catenin prevents multinucleation through control of MKLP1-dependent RhoA activity during cytokinesis.

Spatiotemporal activation of RhoA and actomyosin contraction underpins cellular adhesion and division. Loss of cell-cell adhesion and chromosomal instability are cardinal events that drive tumour progression. Here, we show that p120-catenin (p120) not only controls cell-cell adhesion, but also acts as a critical regulator of cytokinesis. We find that p120 regulates actomyosin contractility through concomitant binding to RhoA and the centralspindlin component MKLP1, independent of cadherin association. In anaphase, p120 is enriched at the cleavage furrow where it binds MKLP1 to spatially control RhoA GTPase cycling. Binding of p120 to MKLP1 during cytokinesis depends on the N-terminal coiled-coil domain of p120 isoform 1A. Importantly, clinical data show that loss of p120 expression is a common event in breast cancer that strongly correlates with multinucleation and adverse patient survival. In summary, our study identifies p120 loss as a driver event of chromosomal instability in cancer

Association of Left Atrial Function Index with Atrial Fibrillation and Cardiovascular Disease: The Framingham Offspring Study

BACKGROUND: Left atrial (LA) size, a marker of atrial structural remodeling, is associated with increased risk for atrial fibrillation (AF) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). LA function may also relate to AF and CVD, irrespective of LA structure. We tested the hypothesis that LA function index (LAFI), an echocardiographic index of LA structure and function, may better characterize adverse LA remodeling and predict incident AF and CVD than existing measures. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 1786 Framingham Offspring Study eighth examination participants (mean age, 66+/-9 years; 53% women), we related LA diameter and LAFI (derived from the LA emptying fraction, left ventricular outflow tract velocity time integral, and indexed maximal LA volume) to incidence of AF and CVD on follow-up. Over a median follow-up of 8.3 years (range, 7.5-9.1 years), 145 participants developed AF and 139 developed CVD. Mean LAFI was 34.5+/-12.7. In adjusted Cox regression models, lower LAFI was associated with higher risk of incident AF (hazard ratio=3.83, 95% confidence interval=2.23-6.59, lowest [Q1] compared with highest [Q4] LAFI quartile) and over 2-fold higher risk of incident CVD (hazard ratio=2.20, 95% confidence interval=1.32-3.68, Q1 versus Q4). Addition of LAFI, indexed maximum LA volume, or LA diameter to prediction models for AF or CVD did not significantly improve model discrimination for either outcome. CONCLUSIONS: In our prospective investigation of a moderate-sized community-based sample, LAFI, a composite measure of LA size and function, was associated with incident AF and CVD. Addition of LAFI to the risk prediction models for AF or CVD, however, did not significantly improve their performance