The Obituary Index Project: A Collaborative Gateway to Local History

Genealogists and local historians are converging on libraries and information repositories in record numbers, armed with questions and determined to locate answers buried in the documentary annals of the past. This crusade is sometimes met with the same confounding and perplexing problems that challenge library genealogy and local history professionals - a proliferation of information resources, the questionable accuracy and validity of certain sources and the daunting and repetitive task of instructing end users in meaningful inquiry and research. In response to these changes, the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) and The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) are collaborating on an effort to computerize and then upload to their institutional web sites NOPL’s Louisiana Biography & Obituary Index, the primary local history reference tool card file index of biographical information found in New Orleans newspaper obituaries from approximately 1804 to 1972. Currently, fourteen aging metal file cabinets on the third floor of the Louisiana Division of the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) contain over 650,000 index cards of information, some with multiple citations that have been described by researchers as a treasure trove and remarkable historical chronicle of local characters and color

Adaptation in a heterogeneous environment II: To be three or not to be

We propose a model to describe the adaptation of a phenotypically structured population in a $H$-patch environment connected by migration, with each patch associated with a different phenotypic optimum, and we perform a rigorous mathematical analysis of this model. We show that the large-time behaviour of the solution (persistence or extinction) depends on the sign of a principal eigenvalue, $\lambda_H$, and we study the dependency of $\lambda_H$ with respect to $H$. This analysis sheds new light on the effect of increasing the number of patches on the persistence of a population, which has implications in agroecology and for understanding zoonoses; in such cases we consider a pathogenic population and the patches correspond to different host species. The occurrence of a springboard effect, where the addition of a patch contributes to persistence, or on the contrary the emergence of a detrimental effect by increasing the number of patches on the persistence, depends in a rather complex way on the respective positions in the phenotypic space of the optimal phenotypes associated with each patch. From a mathematical point of view, an important part of the difficulty in dealing with $H\ge 3$, compared to $H=1$ or $H=2$, comes from the lack of symmetry. Our results, which are based on a fixed point theorem, comparison principles, integral estimates, variational arguments, rearrangement techniques, and numerical simulations, provide a better understanding of these dependencies. In particular, we propose a precise characterisation of the situations where the addition of a third patch increases or decreases the chances of persistence, compared to a situation with only two patches

Does one size fit all? An update on chronic ventilatory support in different respiratory illnesses

Home noninvasive ventilation (HNIV) improves outcomes in different disease categories. In this article, we discuss indications for when and how to initiate HNIV in COPD, obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) and neuromuscular disorders (NMD). While in COPD, significant diurnal hypercapnia and high-intensity HNIV are essential ingredients for success, in NMD and OHS, early respiratory changes are best detected during sleep through oxy-capnography associated (or not) with respiratory polygraphy. In COPD and OHS, it is crucial to consider the coexistence of obstructive sleep apnoea because treatment with continuous positive airway pressure may be the simplest and most effective treatment that should be proposed even in hypercapnic patients as first-line therapy. In NMD, the need for continuous HNIV and eventual switching to tracheostomy ventilation makes this group’s management more challenging. Achieving successful HNIV by improving quality of sleep, quality of life and keeping a good adherence to the therapy is a challenge, above all in COPD patients. In OHS patients, on top of HNIV, initiation of other interventions such as weight loss management is crucial. More resources should be invested in improving all these aspects. Telemonitoring represents a promising method to improve titration and follow-up of HNIV

Influence of dispersal processes on the global dynamics of Emperor penguin, a species threatened by climate change

© The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Biological Conservation 212 (2017): 63-73, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.05.017.Species endangered by rapid climate change may persist by tracking their optimal habitat; this depends on their dispersal characteristics. The Emperor Penguin (EP) is an Antarctic seabird threatened by future sea ice change, currently under consideration for listing under the US Endangered Species Act. Indeed, a climate-dependent-demographic model without dispersion projects that many EP colonies will decline by more than 50% from their current size by 2100, resulting in a dramatic global population decline. Here we assess whether or not dispersion could act as an ecological rescue, i.e. reverse the anticipated global population decline projected by a model without dispersion. To do so, we integrate de22 tailed dispersal processes in a metapopulation model|specifically, dispersal stages, dispersal distance, habitat structure, informed dispersal behaviors, and density-dependent dispersion rates. For EP, relative to a scenario without dispersion, dispersal can either offset or accelerate climate driven population declines; dispersal may increase the global population by up to 31% or decrease it by 65%, depending on the rate of emigration and distance individuals disperse. By developing simpler theoretical models, we demonstrate that the global population dynamic depends on the global landscape quality. In addition, the interaction among dispersal processes - dispersion rates, dispersal distance, and dispersal decisions - that influence landscape occupancy, impacts the global population dynamics. Our analyses bound the impact of between-colony emigration on global population size, and provides intuition as to the direction of population change depending on the EP dispersal characteristics. Our general model is flexible such that multiple dispersal scenarios could be implemented for a wide range of species to improve our understanding and predictions of species persistence under future global change.S. Jenouvrier acknowledges support from WHOI Unrestricted funds and Mission Blue / Biotherm; J. Garnier and L. Desvillettes acknowledge respectively the NONLOCAL project (ANR-14-CE25-0013) and the Kibord project (ANR-13-BS01-0004) from the French National Research Agency

Sharing Resources in the World of Downsizing: A Dialog

During this age of shrinking resources and escalating demands, downsizing can affect cultural agencies as well as businesses. In the process, seemingly disparate organizations sometimes form an alliance that creates the elusive quality called synergy, which the dictionary defines as a mutually advantageous conjunction of distinct participants or elements. The Ursuline Sisters of New Orleans Louisiana and The Historic New Orleans Collection, very different institutions that nonetheless share a commitment to documenting New Orleans and Louisiana history, established just such a conjunction when the Ursuline Sisters began refocusing their resources on their core mission in the 1990s

Monoclinic superstructure in the orthorhombic Ce10W22O81 from transmission electron microscopy

International audienceA complex rare earth tungstate structure, present in a two-phased powder, was solved by electron diffraction, precession and high resolution electron microscopy. The orthorhombic space group Pbnm and the atomic positions deduced from X-rays diffraction experiments were confirmed for Ce10W22O81. A C2/c monoclinic superstructure, with cell parameters a = 7.8 Å, b = 36.1 Å, c = 22.2 Å and β = 100.2°, was evidenced and attributed to a partial oxidation of Ce3+ leading to interstitial oxygen ions

Bilan de la productivité des petits ruminants dans la région de Kaolack de juillet 95 juin 97 et restitution auprès des éleveurs

Menée dans le cadre des activités du Projet de Développement des Espèces à Cycles Courts (PRODEC), cette mission a pour but de fournir une aide à la décision dans le choix de programmes d'amélioration de la productivité animale dans la région de Kaolack (Sénégal). La collecte et l'analyse des données relatives aux troupeaux (taille et structure des troupeaux, paramètres de reproduction, mortalité et taux d'exploitation) montrent que les élevages de l'Agropov ne sont pas semi-intensifs. Les performances zootechniques sont similaires à celles du projet villageois. La différence entre ces deux systèmes ne tient qu'à la production arachidière, à la taille des effectifs des troupeaux et à la spéculation sur les brebis Tabaski. L'intensificatio n de la conduite des troupeaux nécessite une meilleure maîtrise de l'alimentation, le contrôle et la synchronisation des chaleurs et enfin, la conception d'un plan sanitaire d'élevage. L'Agropov peut être le point de départ de l'organisation de la filière ovine au Sénégal. La commission de commercialisation doit trouver des débouchés pour la vente des animaux de boucherie alors que le vétérinaire doit conforter la production en assurant un suivi zootechnique et sanitaire régulie

Organic livestock farming systems in the Massif Central: evolution (2008-2011) and analysis of the technical and economic performances and drivers

The “Organic Farming Massif Central” hub and fifteen partners lead a program on sustainability and on the technical and economic operation of OF livestock systems in the Massif Central. This systemic and multi-year study (2008-2011) is based on data from a constant sample over four years, from 56 farms comprising four types of products: cattle and sheep, dairy and meat. Over 4 years, the technical and economic results are quite stable, and at a good level, but with great variability inter-farms. With lower labor productivity, but with a more diversified crop rotation, a good food self-sufficiency and good technical skills, the farms with the highest income get an income more than four times higher than the farms with the lowest income