Inspired by the work of eminent scholar Richard Kieckhefer, The Sacred and the Sinister explores the ambiguities that made (and make) medieval religion and magic so difficult to differentiate. The ...essays in this collection investigate how the holy and unholy were distinguished in medieval Europe, where their characteristics diverged, and the implications of that deviation.
In the Middle Ages, the natural world was understood as divinely created and infused with mysterious power. This world was accessible to human knowledge and susceptible to human manipulation through three modes of engagement: religion, magic, and science. How these ways of understanding developed in light of modern notions of rationality is an important element of ongoing scholarly conversation. As Kieckhefer has emphasized, ambiguity and ambivalence characterize medieval understandings of the divine and demonic powers at work in the world. The ten chapters in this volume focus on four main aspects of this assertion: the cult of the saints, contested devotional relationships and practices, unsettled judgments between magic and religion, and inconclusive distinctions between magic and science.
Freshly insightful, this study of ambiguity between magic and religion will be of special interest to scholars in the fields of medieval studies, religious studies, European history, and the history of science.
In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume are Michael D. Bailey, Kristi Woodward Bain, Maeve B. Callan, Elizabeth Casteen, Claire Fanger, Sean L. Field, Anne M. Koenig, Katelyn Mesler, and Sophie Page.
This volume brings together thirteen studies by as many experts in the study of one or more ancient or medieval magical traditions, from ancient Mesopotamia and Pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egypt to the ...Greek world, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Energy use due to automobile tires accounts for more than 6% of the world's total energy consumption and ~5% of all carbon dioxide emissions. We designed and fabricated a next-generation, ...energy-saving advanced elastomer (AE) based on a macromolecular assembly strategy. This AE delicately balances rolling resistance, wear resistance and wet-skid resistance, addressing the so-called “magic triangle” that has plagued the tire industry for more than century. This AE crosslinks anionically synthesized hydroxyl-terminated solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene copolymers with highly symmetric isocyanates and polyols to generate a uniform network by macromolecular self-assembly. Remarkably, compared with those of widely commercialized elastomer nanocomposites tailored for “green tires”, the wear resistance, rolling resistance and wet-skid resistance of this AE are improved by 94.6%, 69.8% and 13.8%, respectively. This AE affords a new opportunity for the large-scale application of next-generation high-performance automobile tires that will, in part, resolve a serious global energy and environmental crisis.
In this work, we designed and fabricated a next-generation, energy-saving advanced elastomer (AE) based on a macromolecular assembly strategy. This AE delicately balances rolling resistance, wear resistance and wet-skid resistance, addressing the so-called “magic triangle” that has plagued the tire industry for more than century. This AE affords a new opportunity for the large-scale application of next-generation high-performance automobile tires that will, in part, resolve a serious global energy and environmental crisis. Display omitted
•This advanced elastomer (AE) overcomes the delicate balance between rolling resistance, wear resistance and wet-skid resistance, namely the so-called “magic triangle” that has plagued the tire industry for more than a century.•This AE crosslinks anionically synthesized hydroxyl-terminated solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene copolymers with highly symmetric isocyanates and polyols to generate a uniform network by macromolecular self-assembly.•Compared with those of widely commercialized elastomer nanocomposites tailored for “green tires”, the wear resistance, rolling resistance and wet-skid resistance of this AE are improved by 94.6%, 69.8% and 13.8%, respectively.
In the decades before the U.S. Civil War, the city of Boston evolved from a dilapidated, haphazardly planned, and architecturally stagnant provincial town into a booming and visually impressive ...metropolis. In an effort to remake Boston into the "Athens of America," neighborhoods were leveled, streets straightened, and an ambitious set of architectural ordinances enacted. However, even as residents reveled in a vibrant new landscape of landmark buildings, art galleries, parks, and bustling streets, the social and sensory upheaval of city life also gave rise to a widespread fascination with the unseen. Focusing his analysis between 1820 and 1860, Justin T. Clark traces how the effort to impose moral and social order on the city also inspired many-from Transcendentalists to clairvoyants and amateur artists-to seek out more ethereal visions of the infinite and ideal beyond the gilded paintings and glimmering storefronts.By elucidating the reciprocal influence of two of the most important developments in nineteenth-century American culture-the spectacular city and visionary culture-Clark demonstrates how the nineteenth-century city is not only the birthplace of modern spectacle but also a battleground for the freedom and autonomy of the spectator.
In recent years, hybrid metal halide perovskites (MHPs) materials have shown great potential application prospects in photovoltaics, catalysis, biomedicine, and quantum information technology due to ...their excellent optoelectronic properties. However, the toxicity and stability of intrinsic MHPs have restricted their development and widespread application. In the MHPs material system, perovskite magic-sized clusters (PMSCs) with extremely fast variations of tiny-aggregated atomic/molecular level polymers ranging from dozens to several hundreds of atoms or molecules, as multi-nuclear aggregates between microscopic atoms/molecules and macroscopic MHPs crystal materials, are the smallest structural system for studying the precise structure construction, electron structure and evolution rules, and related optoelectronic applications of the MHPs materials. At the atomic/molecular level, studying the mesoscale structure and evolution properties, synthesis methods, modification strategies, quantum effects and optoelectronic applications of PMSCs in multi-scale crystal material systems is crucial for exploring the structural evolution mechanism of MHPs, revealing the design principles of MHPs multifunctional coupling materials, and designing and developing new high-efficiency optoelectronic MHPs materials and related prototype devices.
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The digitizing of medical education has been winning more support in recent years. One of the options is the implementation of Augmented Reality to complement or replace conventional methods in ...medical training and to create a more efficient learning environment for medical students and prospective staff in healthcare. In this work a Digital Tutor in Augmented Reality in medical training is evaluated with the aim of finding out whether it offers an additional value compared to conventional learning and teaching methods. Therefore, an application for medical training was arranged and a user survey with (n = 24) students from the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of ANONYMIZED was carried out. The utilized application had two versions. One version included the Digital Tutor, who verbally delivered the instructions, and the other version included a text box with written instructions. The students evaluated these two applications through a questionnaire. Further, to validate this work an expert interview was conducted with a person in charge of designing concepts for the digitizing of education for the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of ANONYMIZED. Through the survey and interview it was concluded that the Digital Tutor has an additional value compared to the text box. In the future the interactivity of the Digital Tutor with the students should be improved and a larger study should be done to further validate this outcome.
The integration of data gloves into Augmented Reality (AR) applications for medical training increases immersion and realism. By using devices with haptic feedback, better and more intuitive control ...can be achieved. This has implications for learning and exam preparation, but also enables new home-based learning and independence from physical models and presence. Smooth integration and connection of devices is essential for this purpose. This work aims to demonstrate native integration between an augmented reality headset, and a pair of data gloves. In the future, the use of AR and data gloves in medicine will continue to grow and technological advances will create even more realistic and immersive learning opportunities. The study will evaluate if the SkillsLab+ AR application and haptic feedback provide value to medical training and if they can be used effectively in medical education. The implementation shows promise, and the technology may have a future in other areas as well.
Purpose
This work aims to evaluate the application of a cylindrical phantom made of dosimetric gel containing alanine pellets distributed inside the gel volume during an end‐to‐end test of a single ...isocenter VMAT for simultaneous treatment of multiple brain metastases. The evaluation is based on the comparison of the results obtained with the composite phantom with the treatment planning system (TPS) dose distribution validated by using the clinical conventional quality control with point and planar dose measurements.
Methods
A cylindrical MAGIC‐f gel phantom containing alanine dosimeters (composite phantom) was used to design the VMAT plan in the treatment planning system (TPS). The alanine dosimeters were pellets with radius of 2.5 mm and height of 3 mm, and played the role of brain metastasis inside the gel cylinder, which simulated the cerebral tissue. Five of the alanine dosimeters were selected to simulate five lesions; five planning target volumes (PTVs) were created including the dosimeters and irradiated with different doses. Conventional quality assurance (QA) was performed on the TPS plan and on the composite phantom; a phantom containing only gel (Gel 1 phantom) was also irradiated. One day after irradiation, magnetic resonance images were acquired for both phantoms on a 3T scanner. An electron spin resonance spectrometer was used to evaluate alanine doses. Calibration curves were constructed for the alanine and the gel dosimeters. All the gel only measurement was repeated (Gel 2 phantom) in order to confirm the previous gel measurement.
Results
The VMAT treatment plan was approved by the conventional QA. The doses measured by alanine dosimeters on the composite gel phantom agreed to the TPS on average within 3.3%. The alanine dose for each lesion was used to calibrate the gel dosimeter measurements of the concerned PTV. Both gel dose volume histograms (DVH) achieved for each PTV were in agreement with the expected TPS DVH, except for a small discrepancy observed for the Gel 2 curve of PTV1 and the Gel 1 curve of PTV5. In a 3D gamma analyses performed for each PTV volume independently, comparing both the gels' measurements to the TPS and using 3%/3 mm, 5%/2 mm, and 7%/2 mm, more than 90% of the points were approved for all the PTVs, except for the PTV5 comparison in the Gel 1 measurement and for the PTV2 comparison in the Gel 2 measurement. A 3D gamma analysis was also applied for each PTV independently, to compare both gel measurements in order to evaluate the consistence of repeated gel measurements of the same plan, and more than 94.5% of the points were approved.
Conclusions
The composite Gel‐Alanine phantom can be used for the end‐to‐end test of a single isocenter VMAT for simultaneous treatment of multiple brain metastases. The use of the alanine as the lesion cores for the treatment planning provided the precise dose measurements inside each lesion and allowed the conversion of the gel R2 values based on an accurate dose measurement inside the target.
Background:
Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are used for recreational, spiritual, self-development and therapeutic purposes. However, physiologically relatively nontoxic, adverse reactions are ...occasionally reported.
Aims:
This study investigated the 12-month prevalence and nature of magic mushroom-related adverse reactions resulting in emergency medical treatment seeking in a global sample of people reporting magic mushroom use.
Methods:
We use data from the 2017 Global Drug Survey – a large anonymous online survey on patterns of drug use conducted between November 2016 and January 2017.
Results:
Out of 9233 past year magic mushroom users, 19 (0.2%) reported having sought emergency medical treatment, with a per-event risk estimate of 0.06%. Young age was the only predictor associated with higher risk of emergency medical presentations. The most common symptoms were psychological, namely anxiety/panic and paranoia/suspiciousness. Poor ‘mindset’, poor ‘setting’ and mixing substances were most reported reasons for incidents. All but one respondent returned back to normality within 24 h.
Conclusions:
The results confirm psilocybin mushrooms are a relatively safe drug, with serious incidents rare and short lasting. Providing harm-reduction information likely plays a key role in preventing adverse effects. More research is needed to examine the detailed circumstances and predictors of adverse reactions including rarer physiological reactions.
In addition to seeing objects that are directly in view, we also represent objects that are merely implied (e.g., by occlusion, motion, and other cues). What can imply the presence of an object? ...Here, we explored (in three preregistered experiments; N = 360 adults) the role of physical interaction in creating impressions of objects that are not actually present. After seeing an actor collide with an invisible wall or step onto an invisible box, participants gave facilitated responses to actual, visible surfaces that appeared where the implied wall or box had been—a Stroop-like pattern of facilitation and interference that suggested automatic inferences about the relevant implied surfaces. Follow-up experiments ruled out confounding geometric cues and anticipatory responses. We suggest that physical interactions can trigger representations of the participating surfaces such that we automatically infer the presence of objects implied only by their physical consequences.
