The Earls of Desmond in the Fourteenth Century

The Desmond Geraldines, earls of Desmond after 1329, were a prominent Anglo- Irish family in the English lordship of Ireland in the fourteenth century. Their landholdings included lands in Counties Kerry, Limerick, Waterford, Cork and Tipperary, as well as the liberty of Kerry. This substantial lordship crossed cultural borders to include Gaelic regions as well as Anglo-Irish controlled areas and the Desmond Geraldines were able to exert influence and, in some cases, overlordship over the semi-autonomous Irish kingdoms beyond their borders. The earls of Desmond seem to have been particularly adept at operating in both English and Irish spheres of influence, making them crucial to the stability of southwest Ireland. The substantial ambition and drive which had led the Desmond Geraldines to carve out this lordship did not end with the creation of the earldom of Desmond: the earls continued to attempt to bring more lands and men under their control. Their ambition brought them into conflict not just with the gentry and absentee landholders whom they were attempting to dominate but also with other powers who were trying to expand into the same areas. These conflicts, in turn, brought the earls of Desmond into conflict with the crown government and the king of England, at times jeopardising their position within the lordship. However, they also gained a substantial affinity drawn from the region; both drawn from their own lands and recruited from bordering lands. This thesis explores these ambitions and relationships. It looks at the complex, sometimes violent, relationships between the earls of Desmond and local gentry, neighbouring magnates, absentee landholders, the royal government and the English crown as well as with the Irish. įt also explores the extent of the Desmond lordship and the methods used to expand it as well as their administration and exploitation of that lordship

Outside Forces: "Autumn Leaves" in the 1960s

Is there a problem of form in the jazz tradition? Does the reliance upon repeated 32-bar frameworks create an unavoidable formal, harmonic, and metric redundancy? How do jazz improvisers transcend or evade this cyclic regularity? These are crucial questions. Jazz players have extended privilege to the 32-bar AABA and ABAC song form (along with 12-bar blues structures) since at least the 1930s, when the 32-bar song form replaced the 16-bar sectional forms of ragtime and early jazz. Yet repeated cycles of thirty-two bars result in a hypermetric consistency on several levels: single measures group into four-measure units, which then combine into eight measure sections; the four eight-measure sections comprise the 32-bar form, which becomes repeated, normally for the duration of the composition. In the Western European tradition (with the occasional exception of the theme and variations genre and dance forms) form is typically not generated by regularly repeating structures, structures that are consistently built from measure groups of 4, 8, 16, and 32 bars. Yet this formal model, with its foursquare regularity and its repeated harmonic and metric organization, has been one of the primary vehicles for jazz improvisers and composers. Historically, jazz players have kept the structure, merely renovating it periodically through stylistic change. Thus, while stylistic development and evolution has rapidly taken place in the area of instrumental technique, harmony, and rhythm, the domain of form has remained relatively static

Electric Power System Studies for a Multi-MW PV Farm and Large Rural Community with Net Zero Energy and Microgrid Capabilities

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are currently being deployed at an accelerated rate because of their cost-competitiveness and environmental benefits, which make them a prime candidate for local renewable energy generation in communities. Microgrids can help accommodate for the problems that accompany PV systems, such as intermittency due to weather, by coordinating different distributed energy resources (DERs), while islanded or by drawing power from the utility while in grid-connected mode. An islanding option is also important for resilience and grid fault mitigation, even if other DERs are not present within the system. This paper studies the potential benefits that a multi-MW utility-scale PV farm may yield for a large rural community when installed within a grid-connected microgrid structure. The PV system was optimally sized based on net present cost (NPC) with a net zero energy (NZE) goal. With local solar PV generation and a connection to the grid to transmit overgeneration through, the community can be NZE by having a PV farm power rating that is much greater than the peak load demand. This may lead to cases of increased transient severity during mode transitions and may require substantial curtailment of PV. A control scheme is proposed to smooth system transients that result from the switching between the two modes of operation in order to avoid system damage or unreliable load service

A Comparison of E-book and Print Book Discovery, Preferences and Usage by Science and Engineering Faculty and Graduate Students at the University of Kansas

See below for the accompanying dataset and the survey instrument used to collect the data.The availability of science and technology e-books through the University of Kansas Libraries is growing rapidly through approval plans, e-book packages, and electronic demand-driven acquisitions. Based on informal conversations with faculty, questions still lingered as to the acceptance of books in the electronic format by faculty and graduate students in the STEM disciplines. To learn more about book format preferences, a survey was distributed via e-mail to 1,898 faculty and graduate students in science and technology at the University of Kansas. The survey included questions focused on print book use, e-book use, format preferences, and demographics. A majority of the 357 respondents indicated a preference for print books indicating many of the oft-repeated comments about the disadvantages of reading books on a computer. Patrons using tablets were more inclined to access e-books. The survey indicated a continuing need to purchase books in both print and electronic formats, and to market the availability of e-books to University of Kansas patrons

Diversity, Trends, Opportunities and Challenges in Australian Grasslands–Meeting the Sustainability and Productivity Imperatives of the Future?

Grassland production systems contribute 40% to Australia’s gross agricultural production value and utilise over 50% of its land area. Across this area a broad diversity of systems exist, but these can be broadly classified into four main production systems: 1. Pastoral grazing of mainly cattle at low intensity (i.e. \u3c 0.4 DSE/ha) on relatively unimproved native rangelands in the arid and semi-arid regions of northern and central Australia; 2. Crop-livestock systems in the semi-arid zone where livestock graze a mixture of pastures and crops which are often integrated; 3. High rainfall permanent pasture zone in the coastal hinterland and highlands and; 4. Dairy systems covering a broad range of environments and production intensities. A notable trend across these systems has been the replacement of wool sheep with beef cattle or meat sheep breeds, which has been driven by low wool prices. Although there is evidence that most of these systems have lifted production efficiencies over the past 30 years, total factor productivity growth has failed to match the decline in terms of trade. This has renewed attention on how research and development can help increase productivity. In addition, these industries are facing increasing scrutiny to improve their environmental performance and develop sustainable production practices. We propose several areas in which grasslands research and development might help provide gains in system productivity and sustainability. In particular, pasture productivity might be improved by filling gaps in the array of pastures available either through exploring new species or improving the adaptation and agronomic characteristics of species currently sown. Meanwhile there is a need to maintain efforts to overcome persistent and emerging constraints to pasture productivity. Improving livestock forage feed systems and more precise and lower cost management of grasslands would translate into improved utilisation and conversion of forage produced into livestock products. There is significant scope to capture value from the ecological services grasslands provide and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production. Multi-purpose grasslands provide not only grazing for livestock but produce other food products such as grain which may also have potential to integrate livestock with cropping. However, reduced human research capacity in pasture science will challenge our ability to realise these potential opportunities unless efforts are made to attract and support a new generation of pasture scientists

Variation by ethnic group in premature mortality risk following self-harm: a multicentre cohort study in England

Background: Incidence and risk factors for self-harm vary according to ethnicity. People who self-harm have been shown to have increased risk of premature death, but little is known about mortality following self-harm in ethnic minority groups. Methods: A prospective cohort study of self-harm presentations to three English cities (Derby, Manchester, Oxford) between 2000 and 2010. We linked to a national mortality dataset to investigate premature death in South Asian and Black people in comparison with White people to the end of 2012. Results: Ethnicity was known for 72 % of the 28,512 study cohort members: 88 % were White, 5 % were South Asian, and 3 % were Black. After adjusting for age, gender and area-level socioeconomic deprivation, the risk of all-cause mortality was lower in South Asian (hazard ratio [HR] 0.51, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.42 – 0.62) and Black people (HR 0.46, 95 % CI 0.39 – 0.55) versus White people. Suicide risk was significantly lower in Black people (HR 0.43, 95 % CI 0.19 – 0.97) than in White people. Prevalence of risk factors for premature death, such as previous self-harm, psychiatric treatment or concurrent alcohol misuse, was lower in South Asian and Black people than in White people. Conclusions: The risk of death following self-harm is lower in South Asian and Black people than White people in the UK, and they also have lower prevalence of risk factors for premature death. Awareness of both protective and risk factors might help to inform clinical decisions following assessment.</p

Incidence and general hospital costs of self-harm across England: Estimates based on the multicentre study of self-harm

AimsThe aim of this study was to estimate incidence of self-harm presentations to hospitals and their associated hospital costs across England.MethodsWe used individual patient data from the Multicentre Study of Self-harm in England of all self-harm presentations to the emergency departments of five general hospitals in Oxford, Manchester and Derby in 2013. We also obtained cost data for each self-harm presentation from the hospitals in Oxford and Derby, as well as population and geographical estimates from the Office for National Statistics. First, we estimated the rate of self-harm presentations by age and gender in the Multicentre Study and multiplied this with the respective populations to estimate the number of self-harm presentations by age and gender for each local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area in England. Second, we performed a regression analysis on the cost data from Oxford and Derby to predict the hospital costs of self-harm in Manchester by age, gender, receipt of psychosocial assessment, hospital admission and type of self-harm. Third, the mean hospital cost per age year and gender were combined with the respective number of self-harm presentations to estimate the total hospital costs for each CCG in England. Sensitivity analysis was performed to address uncertainty in the results due to the extrapolation of self-harm incidence and cost from the Multicentre Study to England.ResultsThere were 228 075 estimated self-harm presentations (61% were female) by 159 857 patients in 2013 in England. The largest proportions of self-harm presentations were in the age group 40-49 years (30%) for men and 19-29 years (28%) for women. Associated hospital costs were approximately £128.6 (95% CI 117.8-140.9) million in 2013. The estimated incidence of self-harm and associated hospital costs were lower in the majority of English coastal areas compared to inland regions but the highest costs were in Greater London. Costs were also higher in more socio-economically deprived areas of the country compared with areas that are more affluent. The sensitivity analyses provided similar results.ConclusionsThe results of this study highlight the extent, hospital costs and distribution of self-harm presentations to hospitals in England and identify potential sub-populations that might benefit from targeted actions to help prevent self-harm and assist those who have self-harmed. They can support national as well as local health stakeholders in allocating funds and prioritising interventions in areas with the greatest need for preventing and managing self-harm