Aristocratic female inheritance and property holding in thirteenth-century England

This thesis explores aristocratic female inheritance and property holding in the thirteenth century, a relatively neglected topic within existing scholarship. Using the heiresses of the earldoms and honours of Chester, Pembroke, Leicester and Winchester as case studies, this thesis sheds light on the processes of female inheritance and the effects of coparceny in a turbulent period of English history. The lives of the heiresses featured in this thesis span the reigns of three English kings: John, Henry III and Edward I. The reigns of John and Henry saw bitter civil wars, whilst Edward’s was plagued with expensive foreign wars. The heiresses discussed here inherited the lands of some of the most important honours in England and the partition of these patrimonies between female coheirs undoubtedly had an effect on landholding and political society. There were numerous instances when the property rights of female coheirs were negotiated and compromised. Nonetheless, the property rights of women with regard to inheritance, marriage portion and dower were protected by law and remained important to the crown. As wives and widows, these women had an interest in the lands they had inherited and regularly participated in the legal disputes surrounding them. An examination of the roles these heiresses played in these suits and more generally in English society demonstrates the different avenues by which noblewomen could exercise agency in the thirteenth century

Isabella de Forz: a woman in the age of baronial reform and rebellion, 1237-1293

Isabella de Forz (1237-1293), countess of Devon and Aumale and lady of the Isle of Wight, was the wealthiest noblewoman in thirteenth-century England. Isabella, who was of impressive lineage, became the heiress to the earldom of Devon following the death of her brother in 1262. Existing records provide a wealth of evidence regarding Isabella's life especially the years of her widowhood (1260-1293) and the extent of her power and influence within English politics. Isabella’s allegiance was of great importance and she was very much involved in the events surrounding the Barons’ War of 1263-1267. Much of the extant evidence relates to Isabella's defence of her lands and rights, a necessity for all noblewomen. In addition to this we find the countess engaged in numerous other activities, including intercession and religious patronage. A reconstruction of the countess' affinity not only offers insights into her position within society as well as her sense of self, but also informs us of the strength of the ties of lordship within thirteenth-century England. The chapters that form this thesis are designed to highlight the varying ways in which noblewomen were able to participate in politics and to discuss the activities, role and importance of one of the most influential women of this period. In doing so, this research will add to the existing scholarship on aristocratic women

The Transfer of Hydrogen in the Reduction of Progesterone

Experimental female rats were given daily injections of synthetic estrogens for six months. The effect on rat ovarian 20α-OH-SDH was not definitive. Diethylstilbestrol and 17α-ethynylestradiol caused a significant drop in activity as compared with controls while mestranol caused a slight increase in activity. A synthetic progestin, medroxyprogesterone, had no apparent effect on the activity of the enzyme. Rat ovarian 20α-OH-SDH was purified fivefold by ammonium sulfate fractionation and chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The homogeneity of the enzyme was checked by means of disc gel electrophoresis. At pH 8.2 no significant contamination appeared in the electrophoretic pattern, but at pH 9.0 five distinct bands appeared in the pattern. The irregularity of the pattern indicated that the additional bands were due to impurities rather than to different forms of the enzyme. Thin-layer gel chromatography was used to obtain an estimate of the molecular weight of the enzyme. Human hemoglobin and bovine serum albumin were used as standards. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated at 75,000. The stereospecificity of 20α-OH-SDH with respect to TPN was determined. Tritium on the A side of TPNH was stoichiometrically transferred to progesterone when the reduction of progesterone was catalyzed by 20α-OH-SDH. Tritium on the B side of TPNH was stoichiometrically retained on the TPN molecule under the same conditions. These data indicate that 20α-OH-SDH is a Class A dehydrogenase

Soil Health and the Response of the Soil Microbial Community to Disturbances across Western North America

Temperate coniferous forests, such as those that cover vast areas of the western US and Canada, have evolved to depend on cycles of disturbance for succession of species and overall ecosystem maintenance. Many of these forest systems are managed, often for timber production, where disturbances are of anthropogenic origin and implemented to create space for regeneration of a single species. Forest soils control many ecosystem functions which enable and support primary forest productivity. Therefore, maintaining the health of the soil is critical to sustainable forest management. The concept of forest soil health relies on the interactions between chemical, physical, and biological soil properties to retain an environment conducive to the function and maintenance of an ecosystem. Many soil health attributes are dynamic and largely controlled by the soil microbial community. The motivation of this thesis was to investigate how soil health and the microbial community are impacted by forest disturbances of all types and specifically, how these properties respond to harvest management practices. The first objective of this research was to determine the current state of knowledge about how soils change following an array of forest disturbances, including both natural and anthropogenic. This was achieved through a thorough review of the published literature and synthesizing findings related to changes in microbial community structure, activity, and related soil health properties in response to disturbance. Overall, it was determined that disturbances are largely detrimental to the soil biological community, although the extent of this was determined by the severity, continuity, and duration of the disturbance event. Some disturbances, such as wildfire and harvesting, directly impacted the microbial community; others, such as insect infestations, were more likely to indirectly impact soil microbes by disrupting flows of carbon and nutrients involved in microbial processes. This synthesis also illuminated some of the gaps in knowledge which exist in regard to the response of the soil microbial community to disturbance, including a lack of longitudinal studies and studies that combine phylogenetic data with activity and soil health property data, for a comprehensive understanding of how the entire soil system responds to the perturbation. The second objective of this research was to measure soil properties related to both soil nutrient pools (total C and N, active C) and microbial-activity related processes (mineralization, enzymatic activity) in order to investigate whether the manipulation of organic matter and compaction would have apparent effects despite 15-25 years having passed since the initial disturbance. For this experiment, we took advantage of Long-term Site Productivity installations already in place across the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. We sampled locations with a range of unique site attributes, including soil texture, dominant vegetation, and climate. This allowed us to compare the response of soil properties to treatments in a variety of ecosystems and gain insight into whether treatment effects were unique to a site, or universal. Overall, we found little effect of management treatments on either nutrient pool status or microbial activity indicators. One exception being treatment plots where the forest floor was removed, in which a decline was observed across nearly all soil measurements. In many cases, sites responded differently to management and therefore few common trends in soil response were observed. Depending on overall site characteristics and severity of the disturbance event, the microbial community appears resilient, and recovery may be possible within a few decades subsequent to disturbance

The Ursinus Weekly, December 8, 1966

Two new soloists to appear in Messiah • Tiffany jewels dazzle Prom-goers • Agency brings Odetta to U.C. campus: Contralto to appear here Saturday • Career center • Seasonal festivities include Xmas banquet • Esso foundation grant • Curtain Club scores with The Crucible • Scholarships • Focus prints • Editorial: The Ursinus meal • Go you Bears! Or, glimpses into the rich and varied past of Grizzlies • Letter to the editor: Chapel examined • Book review: Is Bokonon dead? • The Crucible: A play for all seasons • Recent school blaze injures two Ursinus volunteer firemen • Project Earth turnabout is new Ursinus plan to stop Red missiles • Bears top Delval, Campbell scores 25 • Bear Gridders split last two contests; End season 2-5-1 • Wrestling coach Gibson goes for second winning season • Basketball team looks for improvement on 10-6 1965-66 record • Swimming preview • Joan Moser named All-American: Ursinus fares well at hockey tournaments; Linda Nixon and Kim Brown make U.S. Reserve Team • Basketball preview • Perk pollution becoming critical, asseverates Lehigh investigator • Psi Chi - new frat? • Greek gleaningshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1194/thumbnail.jp

First draft genome sequence of a UK strain (UK99) of Fusarium culmorum

Fusarium culmorum is a soilborne fungal plant pathogen that causes foot and root rot and Fusarium head blight on small-grain cereals, in particular on wheat and barley. We report herein the draft genome sequence of a 1998 field strain called FcUK99 adapted to the temperate climate found in England

OMA 2011: orthology inference among 1000 complete genomes

OMA (Orthologous MAtrix) is a database that identifies orthologs among publicly available, complete genomes. Initiated in 2004, the project is at its 11th release. It now includes 1000 genomes, making it one of the largest resources of its kind. Here, we describe recent developments in terms of species covered; the algorithmic pipeline—in particular regarding the treatment of alternative splicing, and new features of the web (OMA Browser) and programming interface (SOAP API). In the second part, we review the various representations provided by OMA and their typical applications. The database is publicly accessible at http://omabrowser.org

Autocompensating Quantum Cryptography

Quantum cryptographic key distribution (QKD) uses extremely faint light pulses to carry quantum information between two parties (Alice and Bob), allowing them to generate a shared, secret cryptographic key. Autocompensating QKD systems automatically and passively compensate for uncontrolled time dependent variations of the optical fiber properties by coding the information as a differential phase between orthogonally-polarized components of a light pulse sent on a round trip through the fiber, reflected at mid-course using a Faraday mirror. We have built a prototype system based on standard telecom technology that achieves a privacy-amplified bit generation rate of ~1000 bits/s over a 10-km optical fiber link. Quantum cryptography is an example of an application that, by using quantum states of individual particles to represent information, accomplishes a practical task that is impossible using classical means.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Submitted to the New Journal of Physic

The expression of caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase in two wheat genotypes differing in lodging resistance

Stem lodging-resistance is an important phenotype in crop production. In the present study, the expression of the wheat COMT gene (TaCM) was determined in basal second internodes of lodging-resistant (H4564) and lodging-susceptible (C6001) cultivars at stem elongation, heading, and milky endosperm corresponding to Zadoks stages Z37, Z60, and Z75, respectively. The TaCM protein levels were analysed by protein gel blot and COMT enzyme activity was determined during the same stem developmental stages. TaCM mRNA levels were higher in H4546 from elongation to the milky stages and in C6001 the TaCM mRNA levels decreased markedly at the heading and milky stages. The TaCM protein levels and COMT activity were also higher in H4564 than that in C6001 at the heading and milky stages. These results corresponded to a higher lignin content measured by the Klason method and stem strength and a lower lodging index in H4564 than in C6001 at the heading and milky stages. Therefore, the TaCM mRNA levels, protein levels, and enzyme activity in developing wheat stems were associated with stem strength and lodging index in these two wheat cultivars. Southern analysis in a different population suggested that a TaCM locus was located in the distal region of chromosome 3BL, which has less investigated by QTL for lodging-resistant phenotype