Guillem Fabre, “Pus dels majors” (BdT 216.2); Id., “Hon mais vey, pus truep sordeyor” (BdT 216.1)

The historical circumstances of Guillem Fabre’s two surviving sirventes has given rise to widely divergent views. This essay builds on Parducci’s contextualisation of BdT 216.2 during the War of the Sicilian Vespers and the so-called Aragonese crusade by the French against Pere III of Aragon in 1284-1285. It argues that Guillem is likely to be referring to events say entre nos because Narbonne was the focal point of the gathering French army and preaching of the crusade. All other textual details are compatible with this period and best explained by this context. But while Parducci places the sirventes in May 1285, it must in fact have preceded the death of Martin IV on 29 March, since his speedily-appointed successor Honorius IV could not be blamed for not having preached a crusade against the heathen before the conflict degenerated into further atrocities. Furthermore a slightly earlier timing better explains the allusion to “the best-known man in the world”, the obvious candidate at this time being Charles of Anjou. Guillem probably composed BdT 216.2 during the build-up to war in 1284, before the death of Charles in January 1285, during the period of war preparations and propaganda speeches. It is also argued here that, pace Parducci, BdT 216.1 did not necessarily precede BdT 216.2

Joan d’Albuzon ~ Nicolet de Turin, “En Nicolet, d’un sognie qu’ieu sognava” (BdT 265.2 = 310.1)

The article provides a commentary and a new critical edition of an Occitan tenso between two Italian troubadours, Joan d’Albuzon and Nicolet de Turin. The tenso presents a dream and its interpretation: Joan claims to have dreamt of a terrifying eagle flying through the air, accompanied by a huge ship of fire sailing across the land from Cologne. Nicolet in turn interprets the dream in terms of an emperor sweeping through Lombardy with a great army of German soldiers at his command, paid from his vast supply of treasure. Joan’s dream concludes with a vision of the eagle blowing out the fire, shining a great light over Montferrat, and settling in a high eyrie from which the whole world, now joyful, can be surveyed. Nicolet expounds this as the emperor’s desire for peace after vengeance, the Marquis of Montferrat’s submission, the emperor’s position of supreme command, and the prospect of appropriate rewards. The emperor is Frederick II Hohenstaufen and the author of the article proposes a new dating of the poem: it was probably composed in 1238 when the emperor, after his victory at the battle of Cortenuova in 1237 and subsequent subjection of several cities of the rebellious Lombard League, was arriving in Turin to receive the homage of Boniface II of Montferrat

Fa⋅cil⋅i⋅ta⋅tion: The Road to Effective Meetings

Feeling frustrated with meetings that take a lot of time yet accomplish little? In California, a team of trained Extension professionals conducted Essential Facilitation (EF) workshops to expand this technique among 200 Extension professionals, faculty, and volunteers throughout California. Visit our Web site at to read five case stories illustrating a wide range of scenarios where EF strategies make a difference in meeting effectiveness and how they benefit community efforts. Learn how the Interaction Associates model of meeting facilitation is rapidly becoming the method of choice for more productive and satisfying meetings with University of California Cooperative Extension staff

Evaluation of well designs to improve access to safe and clean water in rural Tanzania

The objective of this study was to examine three well designs: drilled wells (20–30 m deep), closed dug wells (\u3e5 m deep), and hand-dug open wells (\u3c5 m deep), to determine the water quality for improving access to safe and clean water in rural communities. Heterotrophic plate count (HPC), total coliforms (TC), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and turbidity, were used to assess the water quality of 97 wells. Additionally, the study looked at the microflora diversity of the water, focusing on potential pathogens using outgrowth, PCR, and genome sequencing for 10 wells. Concentrations of TC for the open dug wells (4 × 104 CFU/100 mL) were higher than the drilled (2 × 103 CFU/100 mL) and closed dug wells (3 × 103 CFU/100 mL). E. coli concentration for drilled and closed dug wells was \u3c22 MPN (most probable number)/100 mL, but higher for open wells (\u3e154 MPN/100 mL). The drilled well turbidity (11 NTU) was within the standard deviation of the closed well (28 NTU) compared to open dug wells (49 NTU). Drilled and closed wells had similar microbial diversity. There were no significant differences between drilled and closed dug wells. The covering and lining of hand-dug wells should be considered as an alternative to improve access to safe and clean water in rural communities

Health professionals' lack of knowledge of central venous access devices: the impact on patients

Background The literature on patient experience of living with a central venous access device (CVAD) is growing, but remains sparse. It suggests that patients accept CVADs as should reduce episodes of repeated cannulations. However, a recent doctoral study found the reality did not live up to the hope. Aim The aim of this study was to uncover the global, cross-disease experience of patients with CVADs.MethodsAn online survey was sent to an international sample of people living with CVADs.FindingsSeventy-four people from eight countries responded. Respondents corroborated the PhD findings: painful cannulation attempts continued after CVAD insertion due to lack of clinical knowledge. Participants lost trust in clinicians and feared complications due to poor practice.ConclusionClinicians often lack the necessary skills to care and maintain CVADs. This leads to a negative patient experience

Chiral 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles-versatile tools for foldamers and peptidomimetic applications

1,4- A nd 1,5-Disubstituted triazole amino acid monomers have gained increasing interest among peptidic foldamers, as they are easily prepared via Cu- A nd Ru-catalyzed click reactions, with the potential for side chain variation. While the latter is key to their applicability, the synthesis and structural properties of the chiral mono-or disubstituted triazole amino acids have only been partially addressed. We here present the synthesis of all eight possible chiral derivatives of a triazole monomer prepared via a ruthenium-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (RuAAC). To evaluate the conformational properties of the individual building units, a systematic quantum chemical study was performed on all monomers, indicating their capacity to form several low energy conformers. This feature may be used to effect structural diversity when the monomers are inserted into various peptide sequences. We envisage that these results will facilitate new applications for these artificial oligomeric compounds in diverse areas, ranging from pharmaceutics to biotechnology