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Feudal law : a partially neglected theme in post-medieval political thought
Get PDFThe late J.G.A. Pocock’s contribution to the history of political thought was immense, but some elements remain to be fully tapped. While the idea of the ‘ancient constitution’ has become a term of art, less attention has been paid to the feudal law. Yet feudal jurisprudence was a central feature of post-medieval political argument; indeed, some medieval historians have identified the reification of the feudal law as an early modern phenomenon. Nor did the feudal law carry all the pejorative associations which it bears in the present. Early modern commentators recognised both the oppressive and the more positive associations of feudalism, not least with constitutional government and fragmented authority. Anti-feudalist discourse was a prominent feature during the Enlightenment, but a sensitive appreciation of the historic mutations in feudal tenures also underpinned new developments in social theory. Debates over whether feudalism had been an exclusively European phenomenon or was to be found more generally across Eurasia brought feudal institutions into focus as defining elements in European distinctiveness. Feudal jurisprudence played a significant role too in the ways contemporaries understood state sovereignty and international relations. Surprisingly, perhaps, feudalism has become an unexpectedly prominent presence in American historiography.Peer reviewe
Neighbourhood social cohesion, loneliness and multimorbidity : evidence from a UK longitudinal panel study
Get PDFFunding: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Artificial Intelligence and Multimorbidity: Clustering in Individuals, Space and Clinical Context (AIM-CISC) grant NIHR202639. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. This research was funded by the Legal & General Group (research grant to establish the independent Advanced Care Research Centre at University of Edinburgh). The funder had no role in conduct of the study, interpretation or the decision to submit for publication. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Legal & General. This research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Phase 3 of Researching Evidence-based Alternatives in Living, Imaginative, Traumatised, Integrated, Embodied Systems (REALITIES) grant AH/Z505456/1. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the AHRC.In the context of population ageing, multimorbidity is an increasingly prevalent public health issue that has a substantial impact on both individuals and healthcare systems. Alongside the literature looking at risk factors at the individual level, there is a growing body of research examining the role of neighbourhoods in the development of multimorbidity. However, most of this work has focused on physical features of place such as air pollution and green space, while social features of place have been largely overlooked. In this study, we therefore explored neighbourhood cohesion as a social neighbourhood characteristic that could influence multimorbidity risk. Additionally, we analysed how loneliness may help to explain any relationship between neighbourhood cohesion and multimorbidity, given the emergence of loneliness as an important risk factor for multimorbidity in individual-level studies. Using Understanding Society, a UK household longitudinal panel study of approximately 40,000 households, we conducted both multilevel cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to model these relationships. We found that there is a substantial association between greater neighbourhood cohesion and lower multimorbidity risk (odds ratio (OR) for second most cohesive quintile versus least cohesive quintile = 0.75, p < .01), even after controlling for a wide range of socio-economic factors, health behaviours and physical features of place. This cross-sectional result was confirmed by longitudinal analysis of individuals with no health conditions at baseline who moved between neighbourhoods over a nine-year follow-up period. Movers who experienced a decrease in cohesion had greater odds of becoming multimorbid compared to movers who did not experience a decrease in cohesion (OR = 1.68, p = .057). Controlling for loneliness substantially attenuates the odds ratios for neighbourhood cohesion, and in a mediation analysis we found a significant indirect effect of neighbourhood cohesion on multimorbidity risk acting through loneliness, suggesting it is a plausible mechanism through which the social environment influences the development of multiple long-term health conditions.Peer reviewe
Some habits are more work than others : deliberate self-regulation strategy use increases with behavioral complexity, even for established habits
Get PDFFunding: This work was supported through the University of Dundee Strategic Development and Impact Funding pathway.Objective We tested the hypothesis that complex behaviors are commonly supported by self-regulation strategies, even when those behaviors are supported by strong instigation habits. Background Goal-directed and habit-mediated processes arise from separable systems that have been suggested to seldomly interact. Results Self-regulation strategy use was lower for habitually instigated simple behaviors compared to nonhabitually instigated simple behaviors. However, participants' use of self-regulation strategies increased with the increasing complexity of behaviors, even when complex behaviors were habitually instigated. The difference in the extent of strategy use between habitually and nonhabitually instigated actions was absent when behavioral complexity was particularly high. Conclusion These results point to a qualitative distinction—while simple behaviors may progress in a relatively automatic and unthinking manner, complex behaviors receive frequent support from self-regulation strategies, even if they are instigated habitually.Peer reviewe
OLED illuminated metasurfaces for holographic image projection
No full textFunding: This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK, Grant EP/X018067/1. A.D.F acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 819346).Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are thin film optoelectronic devices that feature simple fabrication, light weight and broad tunability, which makes them widely used in mobile phone and TV displays. As a flat and surface-emitting light source, OLEDs are also used in emerging applications such as optical wireless communications, biophotonics and sensing, where the ability to integrate with other technologies makes them good candidates to realise miniaturised photonic platforms. Control of the OLED far-field emission is increasingly important for both displays and these emerging applications. At present, however, studies mainly focus on tuning the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum and emission directionality. Fine-tuning of the far-field emission is particularly challenging and is limited by the low spatial coherence of OLEDs. In this work, we show that it is possible for a single OLED to project a high-resolution image when combined with a holographic metasurface as a compact projection system. The metasurface-OLED projector allows us to directly manipulate the OLED far-field emission and display holographic images on a screen. Here, we further show how the projected image quality relates to the spatial coherence length and the spectrum of the OLED. We believe our demonstration provides a path towards a miniaturised and highly integrated metasurface display.Peer reviewe
Psychometric validation of four-item exercise identity and healthy-eater identity scales and applications in weight loss maintenance
Get PDFFunding: The authors would like to thank the IWCR co-founders Drs. Jim Hill and Susan Roberts, the large team of IWCR investigators and administrative staff, particularly those responsible for the database development and management, James Friedman, and Chia-Ying Chiu. The IWCR was established with grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded to the Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) at the University of Alabama Birmingham (P30DK056336-19, PI: James O. Hill), a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture awarded to Tufts University (USDA/ARS project number 8050-51000-105-00D), a grant from the NIH awarded to the University of Colorado NORC (2P30DK048520-26), and a small, 1-year unrestricted gift to help establish the IWR was received in 2018 from Gelesis, Inc. AC acknowledges funding from the NIH K01HL143039 for support while this study was conducted and manuscript was prepared. Funders did not play a role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data and writing the manuscript.Background: Identifying as someone who engages in health promoting behaviors like healthy eating and exercising may be associated with sustained engagement in those behaviors, but reliable and valid instruments are needed to improve the rigor of this research. Two studies were conducted to (1) examine the psychometric properties of a four-item exerciser identity measure (4-EI) and an adapted healthy-eater identity measure (4-HEI) and (2) examine differences in identity strengths across categories of weight loss success. Methods: Data from 1,709 community dwelling adults in the International Weight Control Registry (IWCR) were used. A random half of the sample was used to assess the proposed unidimensional factor structure of the 4-EI and 4-HEI and examine convergent and discriminant validity using Spearman rank-order correlations. One-way ANOVA was used in the other random half of the sample to compare 4-EI and 4-HEI scores (-3 to + 3) across three self-defined weight loss categories (‘Successful’, ‘Regain’, and ‘Unsuccessful’) and those maintaining ≥ 5% weight loss for > 1 year vs. not. Results: Results support the unidimensional factor structure with all four items (eigenvalue scores > 2.89) as well as convergent and discriminant validity for both measures. Exercise identity was strongly correlated with self-reported physical activity (r (735) = 0.52, p <.001) and measures of autonomous motivation. Healthy eating identity was moderately correlated with cognitive restraint in eating (r (744) = 0.42, p <.001) and other measures predictive of eating behavior. 4-EI and 4-HEI are stronger in Successful (4-EI: M = 0.90, SD = 1.77; 4-HEI: M = 1.56 SD = 1.37) vs. Regain (4-EI: M=-0.18, SD = 1.68; 4-HEI: M =.57, SD = 1.48) and Unsuccessful (4-EI:M=-0.28, SD = 1.62; 4-HEI: M = 0.51, SD = 1.33) and those maintaining ≥ 5% weight loss (4-EI:M = 0.47, SD = 1.78; 4-HEI: M = 1.13, SD = 1.49) vs. not (4-EI:M=-0.27, SD = 1.66; 4-HEI: M = 0.53, SD = 1.47), p’s < 0.001. Conclusions: The 4-EI and 4-HEI have acceptable psychometric properties and can advance understanding of the role of identity in exercise and dietary behaviors and weight loss maintenance. Trial registration: The parent observational study, International Weight Control Registry (IWCR), for these sub-studies is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04907396).Peer reviewe
Remaking lost communities in virtual cultural landscapes
Get PDFCharacters in immersive environments have the potential to enrich user experience, improving engagement with heritage and in so doing benefiting heritage organisations and their communities. Creating authentic digital scenes based upon survey, archaeological and historical data, enables communities and their visitors to understand the past better. Yet often historical reconstructions appear empty, focused on the landscape and architecture, yet omitting animals, people and associated intangible heritage. We demonstrate the potential of enriching these reconstructions with the detail of lives past
Development and validation of a postpartum cardiovascular disease risk prediction model in women incorporating reproductive and pregnancy-related predictors
Get PDFFunding: This work is funded by the Strategic Priority Fund “Tackling multimorbidity at scale” programme (grant number MR/W014432/1) delivered by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council and in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. SW PhD studentship is funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre (BHF grant number SP/19/3/34678, awarded to Health Data Research (HDR)). His PhD is also supported through the HDR-UK-Turing Wellcome PhD Programme. RR and KS are supported by funding from the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Birmingham.Background Each year, over 700,000 pregnancies occur in the UK, with up to 10% affected by complications such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus. Pregnancy-related complications and reproductive factors are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) later in life. Our aim was to determine whether adding pregnancy factors to a prediction model with established CVD risk factors improves 10-year risk prediction of CVD in postpartum women, using QRISK®-3 as a benchmark model. Methods We used a population-based retrospective cohort of women aged 15 to 49 who had been pregnant from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) primary care database. Women who were CVD-free were followed from 6 months postpartum. We evaluated the performance of QRISK®-3 and updated the risk prediction model using established risk factors for CVD from QRISK®-3 and additional risk factors specific to pregnancy. Models were developed using Cox-proportional hazards regression for CVD within 10 years. Models were evaluated and compared using measures of overall model fit, calibration, discrimination and clinical utility. Results Among 567,667 eligible women, 2175 (0.38%) experienced a CVD event within 10 years. The median follow-up was 4 years. Of the additional pregnancy factors, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, miscarriage, stillbirth, postnatal depression, gravidity, endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome remained associated with CVD after adjusting for other established risk factors of CVD. Adding pregnancy factors to those from QRISK®-3 led to marginal improvements in model performance (QRISK®-3 C-statistic: 0.703 (95% CI 0.687 to 0.718), updated model C-statistic: 0.726 (95% CI 0.711 to 0.740) Although calibration did not improve overall, subgroup analysis showed better calibration in women with a history of pre-eclampsia, postnatal depression and preterm birth using the updated model. The clinical utility was improved for updated models. Conclusions The updated risk prediction models resulted in marginal improvement in discrimination and calibration compared to QRISK®-3 in postpartum women. This could be due to the known association of pregnancy-related complications with established risk factors of CVD. Although the overall predictive performance and calibration of the updated models was similar, the updated model resulted in better clinical utility.Peer reviewe
Quantifying when and where strong magnetic skew forms in a data-driven global non-potential model of the solar corona I : production and persistence of skew
Get PDFFunding: JR and DHM gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) through Consolidated Grants ST/S000402/1 and ST/W001195/1 to the University of St Andrews. LAU was supported by NASA Heliophysics Living With a Star grants NNH16ZDA010N-LWS and NNH18ZDA001N-LWS, and by NASA grant NNH18ZDA001N-DRIVE to the COFFIES DRIVE Centre managed by Stanford University.Strong magnetic skew characterizes several non-potential structures in the solar corona, including filaments, which can erupt, producing major geomagnetic effects. Magnetic skew is thus a useful property in understanding locations of free magnetic energy in, and making forecasts from, global coronal magnetic field models. We develop a new technique for analysing the formation, evolution, and persistence of magnetic skew systematically in such models. This technique is applied to data-constrained magnetofrictional simulations, which include flux emergence in magnetic bipolar regions as observed on the Sun. Magnetic skew in the model is analysed, both globally and within the Earth-bound field of view. The latter is considered as these simulations have an observational bias: magnetogram observations can only be made along the Sun–Earth line. Results show that small patches of strong skew form incrementally, especially around recently emerged bipolar regions. However, large areas of strong skew, of sizes typical of filaments, take approximately two weeks to form after the emergence of new flux. Because of this observational bias in including new bipolar regions, most areas of strong skew in the model form on the far side of the Sun. Once formed, these areas may persist over long periods of time, comparable with the time-scale for solar rotation, and reproduce long-lived solar phenomena. Therefore, most strongly skewed regions in the model on the Earth-facing side of the Sun rotate into the field of view and do not form there. This illustrates a limitation of any global data-driven model that dynamically builds non-potentiality and skew through surface motions and flux emergence, with emergence based solely on observations from the Sun–Earth line.Peer reviewe
A state-space model for estimating pinniped pup production from serial counts at breeding colonies
Get PDFFunding: The surveys, EKJ and DJFR were funded by NERC National Capability - National Public Good funding (NE/R015007/1 and NE/Y006194/1) . MRG was supported by a University of St Andrews St Leonard’s College Doctoral Scholarship .Estimating pinniped abundance is difficult because they are highly mobile and widely distributed, and spend the majority of time at sea. Abundance estimates are typically based on counts on land or ice. In species that breed colonially, such as the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), monitoring is largely focused on the breeding season, and pup production (number of pups born in a season) is used as an index of the total population size. At any one colony, grey seals give birth over several months, so not all pups are present at the colony at any one time. Pups are born white and moult into an adult-like coat before leaving the colony. At most key UK breeding colonies, over the course of a breeding season, a series of digital photographic aerial surveys are conducted and analysts count the numbers of white and moulted seal pups photographed. We developed a flexible state-space model to estimate pup production using these count data. The model is comprised of a deterministic process model for birth, moult, and leaving, and a stochastic observation model that allows for imperfect detection and classification. We implemented this model in Template Model Builder (TMB) and fit it using maximum likelihood. We show that our model performs well on simulated and real datasets. This model could be applied to other taxa for which successive counts of different life stages are collected, and used to investigate key ecological questions including, for example, the impact of climate change on phenology.Peer reviewe
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