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The Diocese of Durham and the Appropriated Churches of St Albans: A Lawsuit from 1327
(2025) McDonald, Peter
A record of a lawsuit at Durham in 1327, preserved in the private library of the abbots of St Albans, sheds light on diocesan administration under Bishop Beaumont (1317–1333) and on the application of canon law. Beaumont had tested his authority over five parishes appropriated to the exempt abbey of St Albans (Coniscliffe, Eglingham and Hartburn) or to its dependent cell at Tynemouth (Tynemouth and Woodhorn) by summoning the abbot and convent to a diocesan synod as the nominal rector. The proceedings before the diocesan Official, William of Quickham, concluded that the perpetual vicars of the parishes, not the abbey, should attend. This was not, however, just a practical compromise: it provides an early example of the local application of a decree of the Council of Vienne (1311) in a manner which eventually became the norm.
Beyond Augmented Reality, Towards Augmented Physicality: Gaming with Tangible Embodied Interactions
(Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2025-09-25) Yan, Qingxuan; Adiwangsa, Michelle; Ozdowska, Anne
As Augmented Reality (AR) continues to advance and permeate everyday life, the importance of designing effective and engaging AR experiences is increasingly important. This study explores the augmentation of everyday objects as embodied interfaces in a tower defense game played using the Meta Quest 3. We compared player experiences using hand gestures in AR, with playing using a Tangible Embodied Interface (TEI). A 3D-printed cube with magnetically attached codes was created to prototype the combined AR/tangible interaction modality. Ten participants played both versions of the AR game and then took part in an interview. We found that the use of tangible objects significantly enhanced players' sense of control, engagement, and overall experience. Participants reported that the use of tangible interfaces in AR facilitated more intuitive and natural interactions which resulted in increased immersion and enjoyment. These findings contribute to the understanding of tangible AR interactions and potential implications for game design.
The decline of child stunting in 122 countries: A systematic review of child growth studies since the 19th century
(2026-02-18) Schneider, Eric B.; Jaramillo Echeverri, Juliana; Purcell, Matthew; A’Hearn, Brian; Arthi , Vellore; Blum, Matthias; Brainerd, Elizabeth; Capuno, Joseph; Lopez Cermeño, Alexandra; Challú, Amílcar; Cho, Young-Jun; Cole, Tim; Corpuz, Jose; Depauw, Ewout; Droller, Federico; von Fintel, Dieter; Floris, Joël; Galofré-Vilà, Gregory; Harris, Bernard; Hatton, Tim; Heyberger, Laurent; Hurme, Tuuli; Inwood, Kris; Jaadla, Hannaliis; Kok, Jan; Kopczynśki, Michał; Lordemus, Samuel; Marein, Brian; Meisel-Roca, Adolfo; Morgan, Stephen; Öberg, Stefan; Ogasawara, Kota; Ortega, José Antonio; Palma, Nuno; Papadimitriou, Anastasios; Pistola, Renato; Quanjer, Björn; Rother, Helena; Saaritsa, Sakari; Salvatore, Ricardo; Staub, Kaspar; van der Eng, Pierre; Roberts, Evan
Introduction Child stunting, a measure of malnutrition, is a major global health challenge affecting 148.1 million children in 2022. Global stunting rates have declined from 47.2% in 1985 to 22.3% in 2022; however, trends before the mid-1980s are unclear, including whether child stunting was previously prevalent in current high-income countries (HICs). We conducted a systematic review of child growth studies before 1990 to reconstruct historical rates of child stunting.
Methods We included reports of mean height by age and sex for children up to age 10.99 years. We excluded studies that were not representative of the targeted population and data for children under age 2. Stunting rates were computed by converting the means and SDs of height to height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) using the WHO standard/reference, combining the HAZ distributions for all ages and measuring the share of the combined distribution below the stunting threshold.
Results We found 923 child growth studies at the community, regional and national level covering 122 countries from 1814 to 2016. We supplemented these historical studies with stunting estimates from the 1990s onward from the Joint Malnutrition Estimates database. Many current HICs had high levels of child stunting in the early 20th century, similar to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) today. However, there was heterogeneity: stunting rates were low in Scandinavia, the European settler colonies and in the Caribbean, higher in Western Europe and exceptionally high in Japan and South Korea. Child stunting declined across the 20th century.
Conclusion The global child stunting rate was substantially higher in the early 20th century than in 1985, and the reduction of child stunting was a central feature of the health transition. The high stunting rates and subsequent reduction of stunting in HICs suggest that current HICs provide lessons for eradicating child stunting and that all LMICs can eliminate stunting.
Acute behavioral effects of styrene exposure: a further analysis
(1981) Cherry, N.; Rodgers, B.; Venables, H.; Waldron, H. A.; Wells, G. G.
Studies were carried out on two groups of men exposed to styrene-based resin. Early morning urinary mandelic acid concentrations after two days without exposure correlated with reaction time measured on arrival at work. Men were found to differ considerably in their rate of clearance of mandelic acid - those with slow clearance having slow reaction times. After some months at reduced exposure, a small group of men with previously high mandelic acid concentrations has speeded up on the reaction time task.
The ethics of experimental heroin maintenance
(1993) Ostini, R.; Bammer, G.; Dance, P. R.; Goodin, R. E.
In response to widespread concern about illegal drug use and the associated risk of the spread of HIV/AIDS, a study was undertaken to examine whether it was, in principle, feasible to conduct a trial providing heroin to dependent users in a controlled manner. Such a trial involves real ethical issues which are examined in this paper. The general issues examined are: should a trial be an experiment or an exercise in public policy?; acts and omissions; countermobilisation; termination of a trial, and payment for drugs and for a trial. The specific issues examined are: selection of trial participants; privacy; issues for staffworking on a trial; coupling the trial with other treatment, and issues for researchers. A number of alternative approaches to the various ethical issues are presented and discussed.