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`Like a Raging Lion': Richard the Lionheart's Anger during the Third Crusade in Medieval and Modern Historiography
Get PDFHistorians have almost universally characterised King Richard I of England, otherwise known as ‘the Lionheart’, as an intemperate hothead, whose anger was both uncontrollable and socially dysfunctional. This article seeks to test the evidential foundations of this longstanding view, and to explain its genesis, by analysing descriptions of Richard I’s anger in the narratives of the Third Crusade—narratives which have been foundational in formulating such assessments. It does not argue that Richard was a meek or tranquil king, or even that he was always in control of his passions. Rather, it contends that there exists a disparity between how most medieval chroniclers perceived Richard’s wrath and the evaluations of modern historians. The main conclusion reached is that the nature of the source material, which was not only polarised between the king’s supporters and detractors but also witnessed the incorporation of legendary material from an early stage, curtails any attempt to reconstruct the ‘reality’ of Richard’s temperament. After mapping the evolution of attitudes towards anger in the Middle Ages and scrutinising the twelfth- and thirteenth-century narrative accounts of the Lionheart’s wrath, the article seeks to explain why scholars have persisted in casting Richard as an individual who was unusually susceptible to irrational fits of rage and, in so doing, calls for greater sensitivity to the role of memory in future studies of medieval emotions
Disaster Management System as an Element of Risk Management
Get PDFRecently, we have witnessed son many natural catastrophies such as earthquakes in Japan, severe floods in the UK, US and many other parts of the world. In addition businesses have been losing tens of billions of dollars because
there have been various natural and man-made disasters. However, the Disaster Management System (DMS) and system that have been put in place have proven important means of reducing the risk of damages to businesses, in particular. The DMS can minimize and in some cases, eliminates the risks through technical, management or operational solutions (risk management effort). However, it is virtually impossible to eliminate all risks. Information technology systems, for
example, are vulnerable to a variety of disruptions (e.g. short-term power outage, disk drive failure) from a variety of sources such as natural disasters to terrorist actions. In many cases, critical resources may reside outside the organizations control (such as telecommunications or electric power), and the organization may be unable to ensure their availability. This study proposes a model for Disaster Management System as an Element of Risk Management using the PESTLE framework. Thus, an effective Disaster Management System in the form of contingency planning, execution and testing are essential to mitigate the risk of
system and service availability. We have developed a global model for Disaster recover planning and management based on the PESTLE framework which can be customized and applied to a variety of disasters prone systems such natural,
emergency, IT/Network/Security, Data recovery, and incident-response systems. The main aspect of this model has been currently used and evaluated
Islamophobia, racism and critical race theory
No full textCritical race theory (CRT) in today’s multi-cultural society seems somewhat of a difficult concept to appreciate. The notion that racism and inequality exists regardless of any group formation advocating racism in the 21st century illustrates race and inequality play a significant role in western society. Many critical race theorists in the field suggest that racism transcends across white elites and working class white individuals, regardless of any motivations proposed at government policy level and local level to eradicate racism becomes inept and difficult to implement. Studies by critical race theorists such as Saeed (2007) have argued that the fundamental assumptions made about an unjust and unequal society are dominated by White Eurocentric’s. Colour blindness within a multicultural society where Black Minority Ethnic (BME) individuals are targeted for their religious ethical and moral beliefs, with the growing tensions of Islamaphobia. Today the general impression of Islam in the West is one that of a sectarian and fundamentalist religion. A religion which oppresses women, advocates values which are outdated and medieval and supports violence. However, on the contrary, in Islam, there is no concept of ‘Fundamentalism’ BME individuals struggle to be accepted throughout life and are undermined in every aspect of their life. Critical race theorists believe that race should occupy the focal positioning within legal, educational or social policy, Gilborn (2006). This paper will begin with the concept that critical race theorist purport with the view that macro and micro aggressions exist within society are ignored regardless of the macro and micro level policy implementation at government and local level. The paper will explore, the belief that Black Minority Ethnic individuals are discriminated against regardless of a white individuals desire not to be racist unconsciously in essence signifies the understanding that critical race theory constructs are embedded in society and racism is at the heart of western society and culture. Finally, the paper will demonstrate how to build good relationships between people in society in general and develop a better understanding of the Islamic society in the west
Predicting the targeting of tail-anchored proteins to subcellular compartments in mammalian cells
Get PDFTail-anchored (TA) proteins contain a single transmembrane domain (TMD) at the C-terminus that anchors them to the membranes of organelles where they mediate critical cellular processes. Accordingly, mutations in genes encoding TA proteins have been identified in a number of severe inherited disorders. Despite the importance of correctly targeting a TA protein to its appropriate membrane, the mechanisms and signals involved are not fully understood. In this study, we identify additional peroxisomal TA proteins, discover more proteins that are present on multiple organelles, and reveal that a combination of TMD hydrophobicity and tail charge determines targeting to distinct organelle locations in mammals. Specifically, an increase in tail charge can override a hydrophobic TMD signal and re-direct a protein from the ER to peroxisomes or mitochondria and vice versa. We show that subtle changes in those parameters can shift TA proteins between organelles, explaining why peroxisomes and mitochondria have many of the same TA proteins. This enabled us to associate characteristic physicochemical parameters in TA proteins with particular organelle groups. Using this classification allowed successful prediction of the location of uncharacterized TA proteins for the first time
A case controlled study examining the bladder microbiome in women with Overactive Bladder (OAB) and healthy controls
Get PDFObjective: To characterise the microbiome in healthy women with no bladder symptoms and to compare this to the bladder microbiome in patients with overactive bladder syndrome (OAB).
Study design: MSU specimens from 63 women with OAB were compared to urine from 35 controls. Urine was centrifuged and the resulting sediment pellet was re-suspended in supernatant and plated under aerobic conditions for 48h and anaerobic conditions for 7days. Each morphologically distinct colony was purity plated. Bacterial colonies were lysed and polymerase chain reaction undertaken to amplify the 16s ribosomal RNA gene. This DNA was purified and sequenced allowing identification of bacterial genera.
Results: The mean number of different bacterial genera was 5.0 in both controls and OAB patients (p=0.99). The uropathogenic bacteria Proteus (P=0.01) was more commonly isolated from women with OAB. The genus lactobacillus was present less commonly in urine from OAB patients when compared to urine taken from controls (p=0.02). Overall the most commonly grown bacteria were staphylococcus (grown in 59% of samples), streptococccus (51%), corynebacterium (37%) and lactobacillus (28%). A total of 95 different genera were identified from the urine samples.
Conclusion: The female human bladder has a diverse microbiome with stastistically significant differences between bacterial species present in OAB patients and controls.
Keywords: Microbiome; Overactive bladder; Urinary incontinence; Women
Review of Church and Belief in the Middle Ages: Popes, Saints, and Crusaders, ed. Kirsi Salonen and Sari Katajala-Peltomaa (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016)
No full textA framework that uses sensitivity analysis to select multi criteria decision making methods
No full textA new structured framework is proposed to select an appropriate group of candidate Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods for a decisional problem. The research is revealing factors to be addressed when selecting a MCDM method, including problem characteristics and method characteristics. Mathematical approaches are applied to candidate methods to select the method that will provide the most robust output. Problem characteristics considered in the framework will address the nature of alternative sets, type of input set, nature of the information being considered, type of decision problem being addressed and type of preference mode being considered. MCDM methods, characteristics will address the type of ordering of alternatives, the measurement scale, the type of preference structure and ease of use. By addressing these factors, this framework can provide decision makers with a suggested group of candidate MCDM methods that are appropriate for their MCDM problem. Finally, sensitivity analysis and mathematical approaches will be applied to the suggested group of candidate methods to automatically select a MCDM method that delivers the most robust outcome. This will be achieved by calculating the minimum percentage change in criteria weights and performance measures required to reverse the ranking of any two alternatives
