Review of periodical articles

[First Paragraph] There is only one true city, wrote St Augustine, and it is not of this world. The pessimistic Christian response to the fall of Rome in AD 410, epitomized in Augustine's City of God, affected the development of the later medieval city to a degree which has yet, even now, to be fully appreciated. In the Christian city of the Middle Ages the divinity was normally confined to the sanctuaries of his churches, whose topographical prominence and harmonious proportions made manifest an otherwise hidden spiritual order. Outside the cloister gates, disorder reigned: a general lack of planning revealed the meaninglessness of the outward, secular life. This dichotomy between an inner world of spirit and a public world of transient matter was embodied in the recurrent tensions between spiritual and secular space which ran as a motif throughout the history of medieval towns. Modern studies which have emphasized (not, of course, without reason) the secular political and economic power of ecclesiastical institutions in the medieval city have perhaps distracted attention unduly from the real differences of ethos which, within the town, distinguished religious space from that of the surrounding lay world

Fluoroether modified epoxy composites

Addition of controlled amounts of perfluorinated alkyl ether diacyl fluoride to epoxy resin systems prior to cure results in a formulation which, exhibits improved energy absorbing properties

Review of periodical articles

One of the attractions of medieval urban history is the fact that major conceptual problems in the field continue to be debated. In a stimulating review article by J.H. Mundy, ’Philip Jones and the medieval Italian city-state‘, J. of European Economic History, 28 (1999), 185–200, one distinguished scholar is taxed for holding views now dismissed by some, but of which he is by no means a unique surviving representative. One of these views assumes a clear distinction between the antique city, supposedly a bureaucratic centre with limited economic functions, and the medieval city, as the home of industrious artisans and nascent capitalism. The image of the non-profit-making ancient town may be overly indebted to the nature of the literary sources and to the prevalent interests of classicists; but, although many would now agree that both the elements in the above equation need qualifying, a more focused comparison is presently lacking, and a fine book is still waiting to be written on the transition from the ancient world to the middle ages in urban history

Preparation of crosslinked 1,2,4-oxadiazole polymer

New crosslinked 1,2,4-oxadiazole elastomers were prepared by thermally condensing a monomer having the formula H2N(HON)C-R-Q, wherein Q is a triazine ring-forming group such as nitrile or amidine or a mixture of such group with amidoxime, or a mixture of said monomer with R C(NOH)NH2 sub 2 with R in these formulas standing for a bivalent organic radical. In the monomer charge, the overall proportions of amidoxime groups to triazine ring-forming groups varies depending on the extent of crosslinking desired in the final polymer

Bifunctional monomers having terminal oxime and cyano or amidine groups

The preparation of crosslinked 1,2,4-oxadiazole elastomers is described. The technique involves thermally condensing (1) a monomer having the formula H2N(HON)C-R-Q, wherein Q is a triazine ring-forming groups such as nitrile or amidine or a mixture of such group with amidoxime, or (2) a mixture of the same monomer with R(C(NOH)NH2)2, with R in these formulas standing for a bivalent organic radical. In the monomer charge, the overall proportions of amidoxime groups to triazine ring-forming groups varies depending on the extent of crosslinking desired in the final polymer

Preparation of heterocyclic block copolymer from perfluoroalkylene oxide alpha, omega-diamidoximes

Diamidoxime monomers are intermolecularly and thermally condensed to form a heat and chemical resistant polymer containing 1,2,4-oxadiazole linkages with identical bivalent organic radicals or any combination of bivalent organic radicals selected from the group consisting of -(CX(sub 2))p-, wherein P ranges from 2 to 8 when X is fluorine and 2 to 18 when X is hydrogen, chlorine, nitro or aryl; arylene; and an oligometric or polymeric radical prepared by reacting a dicarboxylic acid halide with a fluorinated epoxide and having the formula: (CFY(OCF(sub 2)CFY)sub m)O(CX(sub 2))(sub p)O(CFYCF(sub 2)O)(sub n)CFY wherein Y is flourine or tryifluoromethyl, X is nitro, aryl, hydrogen, chlorine or fluorine, preferably the latter, p ranges from 1 to 18 and m+n ranges from 2 to 7

Characterizing medical and nursing student communication using verbal listening behaviors and closed loops in simulated health care delivery

Includes bibliographical references.2015 Fall.Few issues are more unsettling than the persistent threats to patient safety from medical errors; communication failure among providers is among the leading causes for medical errors (The Joint Commission, 2012). Significant reduction of medical errors is constrained by a lack of understanding for the causes of communication failure; the bulk of knowledge about communication failure is known after such failures result in medical errors. The problem addressed in this dissertation is the lack of tools to study provider-provider communication in progress. The study included here aims to demonstrate one means by which provider-provider communication can be successfully characterized. Few studies of provider-provider communication during care delivery have been conducted. Some understanding of information exchanges has been provided from studies by communication and listening scholars in health care and in other fields where precise communication is essential. However researchers lack the ability to recognize the specific components in an information exchange between two or more providers that indicate communication has succeeded or failed. These conditions leave new studies without testable theories and offer no reasonable basis for hypotheses about communication failure. This study employed an exploratory inquiry strategy and leveraged verbal listening behaviors in closed loop communication (CLC) to identify characteristics of communication. Observations were conducted of medical (MD) and nursing (RN) student teams managing Emergency Medicine (EM) simulations. Observers accessed the videotaped EM encounters at the Center for Advancing Professional Excellence (CAPE) at the University of Colorado Denver's Anschutz Medical Campus (UC/AMC). Students' verbal listening behaviors were used to characterize their exchanges of information; CLC provided a framework to identify and position the listening behaviors in exchanges of information. This study had three goals, which were revised based on learning gained from the study. 1. To identify specific steps in provider-provider exchanges of information where communication succeeds and fails--is revised to--To characterize the exchanges of information among the MD and RN student teams during simulated care delivery. 2. To describe the characteristics of communication sufficiently to assess outcomes of communication loops not being closed--is deleted as data gathered did not support this goal and the goal was determined to exceed the scope of the study. 3. To recommend hypotheses to study to inform providers' communication curriculum, professional development, and subsequent research--The exploration and data supported this goal and it was retained. Hypotheses for future studies are detailed. Competencies and decision-making: Hypothesis One. There is a negative correlation between students' demonstration of specific communication competencies and specific clinical decision-making competencies in the same simulation of care delivery. Researchers should consider study participants' level of communication education and/or practice experience when deciding the type and number of competencies to be evaluated in the study. Level of communication skill and competencies: Hypothesis Two. There is no relationship between IP teams whose members are closely matched with respect to their level of acquired communication skill and their ability to demonstrate communication competencies. The data suggests that researchers should minimize disparities among study participants' education and/or practice experience. Nonverbal behaviors: Hypothesis Three. There is no relationship between nonverbal behaviors and the ability to more thoroughly identify the contributing factors for successful and unsuccessful communication. This study and the literature make a case for nonverbal behaviors to supplement, expand, and give clues to underlying issues in the associated verbal behaviors. Hypothesis Four. There is no relationship between increasing acuity of the care delivery encounter and the number of information exchanges that end in closed loops. Provider-provider observational studies demonstrate as acuity of the condition being treated increases participants' listening behaviors increase and, in some cases, communication competency declines. Educators and providers need precise understandings of communication failure to confidently advise changes to curriculum and practice and produce the health professions work force to deliver that care

An investigation of the spring and summer diet of feral mink (Mustela Vison Schreber) in Riparian and coastal habitats

A total of 375 mink scats were collected from two riparian areas in Northumberland and a coastal site in Galloway during the period from April to July in order to investigate the composition of spring and summer feeding of mink. In the riparian habitat, the initial order of importance was:- fish, mammal, bird and amphibian; during the summer, though, the mammal group doubled in importance. At Galloway, a temporal variation in the diet was indicated with lagomorph increasing in importance whilst fish and crab decreased. It was postulated that whilst the riparian diet was largely determined by prey availability coupled to some extent with preference for particular species the variation in the coastal diet may have been due to the varying requirements of a female and kits. The radio-tracking of a juvenile male highlighted the unreliability of using scats and tracks as indicators of mink activity. The tagged animal exhibited a mainly diurnal activity pattern with much exploratory behaviour^ and it was suggested that the former may have been the result of maternal influence whilst the latter indicated attempts at territory establishment or the initiation of dispersion. There was apparently no competition between mink and otter in the riparian habitat; but it is a distinct possibility in the coastal habitat and merits further investigation

Expression of membrane-associated proteins within single emulsion cell facsimiles

MreB is a structural membrane-associated protein which is one of the key components of the bacterial cytoskeleton. Although it plays an important role in shape maintenance of rod-like bacteria, the understanding of its mechanism of action is still not fully understood. This study shows how segmented flow and microdroplet technology can be used as a new tool for biological in vitro investigation of this protein. In this paper, we demonstrate cell-free expression in a single emulsion system to express red fluorescence protein (RFP) and MreB linked RFP (MreB–RFP). We follow the aggregation and localisation of the fusion protein MreB–RFP in this artificial cell-like environment. The expression of MreB–RFP in single emulsion droplets leads to the formation of micrometer-scale protein patches distributed at the water/oil interface