Investigates how the Christian fundamentalist movement
brings Creationism into the mainstream through a Kentucky
museum
In Creating the Creation Museum , Kathleen C. Oberlin
shows us how the largest ...Creationist organization, Answers in
Genesis (AiG), built a museum-which has had over three million
visitors-to make its movement mainstream. She takes us behind the
scenes, vividly bringing the museum to life by detailing its
infamous exhibits on human fossils, dinosaur remains, and
more.
Drawing on over three years of research at the Creation Museum,
where she was granted rare access to AiG's leadership, Oberlin
examines how the museum convincingly reframes scientific facts,
such as modeling itself on traditional natural history museums.
Through a unique historical dataset of over 1,000 internal
documents from creationist organizations and an analysis of media
coverage, Creating the Creation Museum shows how the
museum works as a site of social movement activity and a place to
contest the secular mainstream. Oberlin ultimately argues that the
Creation Museum has real-world consequences in today's polarized
era.
We aimed to evaluate functional outcome following elective brachial plexus decompression by compressive fibrous band resection and limited on-demand bone abnormality resection in patients with ...neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (N-TOS). A retrospective continuous observational study was conducted in 17 patients (15 women and 2 men), with a mean age of 42 years, operated on between 2013 and 2021. Twenty brachial plexus decompressions were performed, for 13 objective and 7 subjective N-TOSs, including 3 recurrent N-TOSs. At last follow-up, outcomes were evaluated in terms of residual pain, paresthesia and hand motor deficit, plus patient-reported assessment and Quick-DASH functional scoring. No postoperative complications occurred. At a median follow-up of 12 months (range 6–48 months), complete pain relief and paresthesia resolution were found in 11/15 and 9/14 cases, respectively. All patients reported that their symptoms had improved. In contrast, hand muscle atrophy persisted in all cases (n = 11). Sensorimotor recovery seemed to be poorer and mean Quick-DASH score better in objective than subjective N-TOS patients. Elective brachial plexus decompression seemed to be a safe procedure, providing constant improvement in subjective symptoms related to lower trunk irritation. However, nerve release did not provide hand muscle recovery in patients with objective N-TOS.
IV.
Notre objectif était d’évaluer les résultats fonctionnels de la décompression sélective du plexus brachial par excision des structures fibreuses compressives et résection limitée des anomalies osseuses chez des patients présentant un syndrome de la traversée thoraco-brachiale d’origine neurogène (STTB-N). Une étude rétrospective observationnelle continue a été menée chez des 17 patients (15 femmes et 2 hommes) d’âge moyen 42 ans opérés entre 2013 et 2021. Un total de 20 décompressions du plexus brachial a été effectué pour 13 STTB-N objectifs et 7 STTB-N subjectifs, dont 3 STTB-N récidivants. Les résultats ont été évalués en fonction de la persistance de douleurs, de paresthésies et de l’éventuel déficit moteur, en association avec une auto-évaluation subjective et un score fonctionnel QuickDASH. Il n’y a pas eu de complication postopératoire. Au recul moyen de 12 mois (extrêmes 6–48 mois), une résolution complète des douleurs a été notée dans 11 cas sur 15 et les acroparesthésies avaient disparues dans 9 cas sur 14. Tous les patients rapportaient une amélioration de leurs symptômes. En revanche, l’atrophie des muscles de la main persistait dans tous les cas (n = 11). La récupération neurologique semblait inférieure et le QuickDASH moyen supérieur en cas de STTB-N objectif. La décompression sélective du plexus brachial semble une technique sûre permettant une amélioration constante des symptômes subjectifs liés à l’irritation nerveuse. En revanche, elle n’a pas permis de régression de l’amyotrophie de la main chez les patients ayant un STTB-N objectif.
IV.
With the development of micro-LIBS imaging, the ever-increasing size of datasets (sometimes >1 million spectra) makes the processing of spectral data difficult and time consuming. Advanced ...statistical methods have become necessary to process these data, but most of them still require strong expertise and are not adapted to fast data treatment or a high throughput analysis. To address these issues, we evaluate, in the present work, the use of an artificial neural network (ANN) for LIBS imaging spectral data processing for the identification of different mineral phases in archaeological lime mortar. Common in ancient architecture, this building material is a complex mixture of lime with one or more aggregates, some components of which are of the same chemical nature (
e.g.
calcium carbonates). In this study, we trained an artificial neural network (ANN) for automatic detection of different phases in these complex samples. The training of such a predictive model was made possible by building a LIBS dataset of more than 1300 reference spectra, obtained from various selected materials that may be present in mortars. The ANN parameters (pre-treatment of data, number of neurons and of iterations) were optimized to ensure the best recognition of mortar components, while avoiding overtraining. The results demonstrate a fast and accurate identification of each component. The use of an ANN appears to be a strong means to provide an efficient, fast and automated LIBS characterization of archaeological mortar, a concept that could later be generalized to other samples and other scientific fields and methods.
With the development of micro-LIBS imaging, the ever-increasing size of datasets (sometimes >1 million spectra) makes the processing of spectral data difficult and time consuming.
The NeoArabia project tries to understand how environmental, social, economic and technological factors work in concert to influence settlement and abandonment along a latitudinal transect of 1200 km ...from UAE to southern Oman. This region was affected by wide north–south variations in the Indo‐Arabian monsoon, marine upwelling activity and eustatic variations in the Mid‐Holocene. On the local settlement scale, this transect is based on fine stratigraphic excavations and permits the reconstruction of the site formation processes and site catchment analysis. A large number of studies have been conducted on the Ruways‐1 site, focusing on a deep stratified sequence corresponding to three millennia of occupation. These studies include on‐site climate‐environmental signal analysis, local palaeogeography and environmental reconstruction, reservoir effect studies, typo‐technological studies, palaeoeconomic strategies, anthropological studies, sclerochronological studies and, finally, site formation processes, the understanding of which makes it possible to explain the potential and limits of the archaeological excavation. The first results confirm the richness of these archaeological archives for documenting the socio‐environmental dynamics, but also the richness of its complex sedimentary structure and the importance of conducting fine and multidisciplinary excavations to answer questions about the rhythms and functions of occupations and the causalities of socio‐environmental changes.
The forearm is composed of the radial and ulnar shafts, which are linked by the interosseous membrane and intercalated between the elbow and wrist. The radius and ulna are connected by three joints, ...the proximal, middle, and distal radioulnar joints. The forearm ensures pronation/supination and longitudinal load transfer. The biomechanical and clinical relevance of the proximal and distal radioulnar joints is well established. In contrast, the middle radioulnar joint was considered relatively unimportant until studies published in the last decade showed that it fulfils crucial biomechanical functions and is of considerable clinical significance. We believe the conventional concept in which the forearm is viewed as part of either the elbow or the wrist is outdated and that a more relevant concept describes the forearm as a triarticular complex that functions as a full-fledged entity. In this concept, the three forearm radioulnar joints (proximal, middle, distal) work together to provide stability, mobility and load transfer. Here, we will argue for the relevance of the triarticular complex concept based on published data about forearm biomechanics and pathological conditions.
A volcanic ash layer, called MF1, was recently identified in Holocene sediments from the Gourgon and Molhiac peat bogs (Monts du Forez, French Massif Central). This ash layer consists of colorless ...shards with a heterogeneous trachytic to rhyolitic composition. The trace elements analyzed by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) attest to a local origin. Radiocarbon dating of peat samples taken within and below the ash layer indicates the best age at 6339±61calyrBP, i.e. an age contemporaneous with the volcanic activity of Montchal, Montcineyre and Pavin volcanoes from the Chaîne des Puys volcanic field. These volcanoes are characterized by basaltic and trachytic products, thus the rhyolitic composition of MF1 tephra suggests that it is likely originated from an unknown eruption. These results again confirm the interest of studying the distal volcanic ash fallouts in order to establish or specify records of past eruptions of volcanic fields. Identification of this new tephra layer also provides an additional tephrochronological marker for Eastern French Massif Central.
•We find a young tephra layer in Forez Mountains (Eastern French Massif Central).•We analyze the chemical composition of glass shards.•We obtain a rhyolitic chemical composition unknown in the Chaîne des Puys history.•Analyses of Rare Earth Elements exclude an Icelandic origin.•We attribute this ash layer to a new eruption in the last volcanic activity phase.
Skin defects over the lower one-fourth of the leg and over the foot are difficult to cover. Two types of pedicled fasciocutaneous flaps used to cover such defects were studiedthe lateral ...supramalleolar flap and the distally based sural neurocutaneous flap. The series consisted of 27 and 36 cases, respectively. The lateral supramalleolar flap was used 27 timesfor skin defects over the ankle (4), foot (16), and leg (7). The distally based sural neurocutaneous flap was used 42 timesover the foot (24), ankle (13), and leg (5). Fourteen of these patients were 65 years of age or older, and local vascularity was diminished in 16 cases. The flaps were evaluated clinically twicein the immediate postoperative period for survival or for partial or total flap necrosis, and again to determine the presence of pain at the donor or recipient sites and the cosmetic appearance. Thirty-nine patients (62 percent) were reviewed subsequently, with a mean follow-up of 5 years for the supramalleolar flap and 2 years for the sural neurocutaneous flap. The results were evaluated for the presence or absence of pain, the appearance of the flap, the disability due to the insensate nature of the flap, and the presence or absence of secondary ulceration. Painful neuromata were noted in three cases with the sural neurocutaneous flap, whereas complete necrosis of the supramalleolar artery flap occurred in three patients. The distally based sural neurocutaneous island flap is very reliable, even in debilitated patients. Though the lateral supramalleolar artery flap offers the possibility of covering the same areas as the sural neurocutaneous flap, it is much less reliable in the presence of diminished local vascularity (18.5 percent failure rate as compared with 4.8 percent for the sural neurocutaneous flap). Because the procedure can cover extensive defects and is easy to perform, the distally based sural neurocutaneous flap was the method of choice for covering skin defects over the foot, heel, ankle, and the lower one-fourth of the leg. The lateral supramalleolar artery flap is indicated only when the sural neurocutaneous flap is contraindicated. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 107383, 2001.)
Le schéma pentadactyle est commun à tous les tétrapodes, même en cas de phénomènes adaptatifs (le schéma à cinq doigts est retrouvé au cours de l'ontogénèse) ou en cas de convergence fonctionnelle. ...Le schéma carpien à deux rangées est également commun, à la disparition près des os centraux chez l'homme mature. La forme sellaire de l'articulation trapézométacarpienne, trop souvent attribuée à l'homme et à son seul pouce, est en fait présente sur toutes les articulations carpométacarpiennes et chez des primates fossiles primitifs. Certains caractères discontinus chez l'homme (canal entépicondylien) sont la règle dans d'autres espèces (carnivores). Rarement présents chez l'homme, ils peuvent déterminer exceptionnellement une pathologie réelle.
The pentadactyl scheme is common to all tetrapods, even in case of adaptative phenomenon (five digits are observed during ontogenesis), or in case of functional convergence The carpal organization with two rows is common too, if we take into account the desappearing of the central bones in mature man. The sellar shape of the trapeziometacarpal joint of the thumb, to often attributed to Man and his only thumb, is in fact the regular shape of all carpometacarpal articulations and present in very ancient primitive primate fossils. Some discontinuous caracters in Man (entepicondylar tunnel) are present in all individuals of some species (carnivors). Rarely present in Man, it can exceptionally produce a real pathology.
PDF
