CHAPTER 8: DWIGHT READ: TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM: FOLLOWED BY A DISCUSSION BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND DWIGHT READ

Here I report on Dwight Read’s theory for a paradigm change in kinship anthropology which entails kinship terminologies being interpreted as symbolic computational systems based on kin-term products. I also report on how Read argues that different conceptualizations of sibling, either sibling resulting by descent from parent, or sibling viewed in terms of shared parentage, two cultural conceptions that are rendered – here exemplifying the masculine side – by the kin-term products, S o F = B [son of father = brother] or F o B = F [father of brother = father), lead to respectively building up a descriptive or a classificatory terminology. The chapter also deals with how Dwight Read accounts for the relationship between genealogical tracing and the working out of kin terms using kin-term products and how the logic of kin-term products is consistent with the extension of kin terms to kin-type categories beyond the primary ones.The paper also reports on a discussion between Dwight Read and the author, initiated by questions and observations from the latter, regarding different aspects of Read’s reasoning. Not exhaustively, to be mentioned here is the way kin relationships are concretely worked out using kin-term products, the model of the family space and the nuclear family, group marriage,  how the conceptualization of sibling in terms of shared parentage expressed through the kin-term product F o B = F [father o brother = father] relates to ethnographic data, the nature of the logic of kinship terminologies, the status of the structural equation S o F = B [son o father = brother] when used within the context of a classificatory terminology, the axiomatic nature of a number of kin-term products pertaining to specific kin terminologies, the equations pertaining to classificatory kinship terminologies that are  likely to algebraically reduce chains of kin-terms products, mapped from corresponding kin type strings, like “son of son of father of father of father” (S o S o F o F o F) is mapped from the collateral genealogical relations, father’s father’s father’s son’s son (fffss or fffbss) to an irreducible kin term, here father, which is the one native speakers use for the said genealogical connection.The discussion also addresses, taking the example of ancient Chinese dialects, the question of what should be the structural prerequisites for a transition from classificatory (Dravidian) terminologies into bifurcate collateral and descriptive terminologies, a transition that is often posited by a number of linguists and anthropologists. Finally, the discussion deals with the question as to whether the kinship terminologies of the world all ultimately derive from a pre-dispersal African Proto-Sapiens kinship terminology. Throughout these lines of discussion, the central question is raised as to why different cultural choices on how siblings are conceptualized were made that led to different human kinship terminologies and social structures

Unbounded symmetric operators in KK-homology and the Baum-Connes Conjecture

Using the unbounded picture of analytical K-homology, we associate a well-defined K-homology class to an unbounded symmetric operator satisfying certain mild technical conditions. We also establish an ``addition formula'' for the Dirac operator on the circle and for the Dolbeault operator on closed surfaces. Two proofs are provided, one using topology and the other one, surprisingly involved, sticking to analysis, on the basis of the previous result. As a second application, we construct, in a purely analytical language, various homomorphisms linking the homology of a group in low degree, the K-homology of its classifying space and the analytic K-theory of its C^*-algebra, in close connection with the Baum-Connes assembly map. For groups classified by a 2-complex, this allows to reformulate the Baum-Connes Conjecture.Comment: 42 pages, 3 figure

Augmenting the Zachman Enterprise Architecture Framework with a Systemic Conceptualization

The Zachman Framework offers a classification of the models created in an enterprise architecture project. These models form a holistic representation of the organization. Despite the prominent position of the Framework, there is little information publicly available to help designers create exact models that fit each other. In this paper, we propose a conceptualization based on General Systems Thinking. Our conceptualization provides concrete guidelines for creating the models required by the Framework. The proposed conceptualization establishes a better understanding of the models and of their relationships. This facilitates the creation and interpretation of the models. It also improves the traceability between them. We illustrate our approach with the results of a case study

Phase 1 Trials of rVSV Ebola Vaccine in Africa and Europe.

BACKGROUND: The replication-competent recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based vaccine expressing a Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein was selected for rapid safety and immunogenicity testing before its use in West Africa. METHODS: We performed three open-label, dose-escalation phase 1 trials and one randomized, double-blind, controlled phase 1 trial to assess the safety, side-effect profile, and immunogenicity of rVSV-ZEBOV at various doses in 158 healthy adults in Europe and Africa. All participants were injected with doses of vaccine ranging from 300,000 to 50 million plaque-forming units (PFU) or placebo. RESULTS: No serious vaccine-related adverse events were reported. Mild-to-moderate early-onset reactogenicity was frequent but transient (median, 1 day). Fever was observed in up to 30% of vaccinees. Vaccine viremia was detected within 3 days in 123 of the 130 participants (95%) receiving 3 million PFU or more; rVSV was not detected in saliva or urine. In the second week after injection, arthritis affecting one to four joints developed in 11 of 51 participants (22%) in Geneva, with pain lasting a median of 8 days (interquartile range, 4 to 87); 2 self-limited cases occurred in 60 participants (3%) in Hamburg, Germany, and Kilifi, Kenya. The virus was identified in one synovial-fluid aspirate and in skin vesicles of 2 other vaccinees, showing peripheral viral replication in the second week after immunization. ZEBOV-glycoprotein-specific antibody responses were detected in all the participants, with similar glycoprotein-binding antibody titers but significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers at higher doses. Glycoprotein-binding antibody titers were sustained through 180 days in all participants. CONCLUSIONS: In these studies, rVSV-ZEBOV was reactogenic but immunogenic after a single dose and warrants further evaluation for safety and efficacy. (Funded by the Wellcome Trust and others; ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT02283099, NCT02287480, and NCT02296983; Pan African Clinical Trials Registry number, PACTR201411000919191.)

Exploration du rôle de la modulation GABAergique dans la transmission de la douleur chez l'homme : Effet du modulateur allostérique GABAA N-desméthylclobazam sur la sensibilisation centrale; étude pharmacodynamique et pharmacocinétique chez le volontaire sain

Les douleurs neuropathiques affectent jusqu'à 8% de la population générale. Actuellement, seule la moitié des personnes traitées par les médicaments de première ligne sont adéquatement soulagées. Cette thèse présente les données d'une étude clinique de phase I réalisée par le Service de pharmacologie et toxicologie cliniques dans le cadre d'un programme de développement d'une nouvelle approche pharmacologique dans cette indication. Elle inclut une estimation des paramètres pharmacocinétiques (administrations uniques et répétées sur 14 jours) de la nouvelle entité chimique N-desméthylclobazam et un essai clinique randomisé (quatre bras), contrôlé (placebo et comparateur actif) évaluant, chez le volontaire sain, les effets antalgiques et la tolérance de ce modulateur allostérique α2 sélectif GABAA sur le modèle expérimental de l'érythème induit par les UVB. Ce travail contribue à l'exploration de nouvelles cibles thérapeutiques pour le traitement des douleurs neuropathiques et prépare l'étape de validation de l'utilité clinique des modulateurs allostériques GABAA sélectifs chez les patients

États-Unis. Brynn Athyn, deux panneaux de bordure chartrains au Musée Glencairn

Matthey de l'Étang Alain. États-Unis. Brynn Athyn, deux panneaux de bordure chartrains au Musée Glencairn. In: Bulletin Monumental, tome 146, n°2, année 1988. pp. 130-132