Early watermills: an archaeological indication of taxation?

The introduction of watermills in Southern Scandinavia has often been linked to the advent of the Cistercian Order and regarded a kick-starter for the so-called medieval revolution. In the present article, the archaeological evidence for watermills predating the religious order will be investigated and an earlier and alternative origin laid out. Here, the increased specialisation and centralisation pertaining to the Late Iron Age and Viking Age will be introduced as a significant cause for the initial construction of watermills, and the extensive excavations at Viking Age Omgaard, Denmark, will figure as case in point. Also, essential social mechanisms such as taxation and elite privileges will be highlighted as overlooked triggers in the Viking Age employment of watermills

Towering above: an interpretation of the Late Iron Age architecture at Toftum Næs, Denmark

The newly excavated sites of Toftum Næs, Jutland (Denmark), will be presented, and the special features that have been registered here will be discussed. In particular, the conspicuous architecture will figure prominently; a very sturdily built and thus high structure that can only be interpreted as a tower placed along with a succession of larger hall-type buildings, and a possible ritual building. This ‘aristocratic quarter’ is in direct contact with another area characterized by a larger pit-house cluster of more the 100 units, and placed in the vicinity of two conjoining streams. The different structures mentioned and their internal, topographical distribution as well as architectural features will be incorporated as the main base for a functional interpretation of and motive behind the buildings and the activities pertaining to the site in general. The topic of commercial control and what type of influence the aristocracy had on the early development on these types of sites will be included. Furthermore, the structural fluctuation of the site at Toftum Næs, and in particular the changes that seem to have taken place during the main use-phase both at the site in question and with regard to the overall development of aristocratic sites with production areas and at the Viking Age towns, will be debated in this paper

Use of serum C-reactive protein as an early marker of inflammatory activity in canine type II immune-mediated polyarthritis: case report

BACKGROUND: Monitoring systemic inflammatory activity during steroid therapy of canine immune-mediated polyarthritis (IMPA) is difficult and mainly relies on clinical signs. CASE PRESENTATION: Canine serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured serially and blinded during a 27-week follow-up period of a case of Anaplasma phagocytophilia induced type II immune-mediated polyarthritis. CONCLUSION: WBC was, as expected, observed not to reflect the inflammatory activity during steroid treatment in a clinical useful manner, whereas, CRP is suggested a valuable unbiased marker of inflammatory activity during steroid treatment in this case

Kompetencebehov i fremtidens blå Danmark 2013

For at styrke kompetenceniveauet i de maritime erhverv i Danmark er 10 partnere, bestående af relevante uddannelsesinstitutioner og maritime interesseorganisationer, gået sammen om projektet ’Danmarks Maritime Klynge’ (DKMK). Med et særligt fokus på kompetenceudvikling inden for den maritime sektor udvikles og oprettes der i projektet flere maritime uddannelsesforløb i form af fag og kurser på bachelor- og kandidatniveau, der arbejdes på at skabe nemmere afkørsler til kandidatuddannelser for professionsbachelorer, og der udarbejdes relevante maritime efteruddannelsestilbud. Som en indledende del af projektet har projektets partnere via en række analyseaktiviteter set nærmere på, hvilke udfordringer, muligheder og behov de maritime erhverv i Danmark står over for i relation til uddannelse, kompetence og arbejdskraft. Ligeledes er der i inspirationsøjemed blevet set på, hvordan andre førende maritime nationer har valgt at støtte op om udviklingen af deres maritime klynger. Analyserne er foretaget på et overordnet niveau og mere uddannelsesspecifikke analyser vil blive foretaget af de enkelte partnere i den resterende projektperiode