History Database Research Articles

CrossEWT: Cross-Medial Analysis of World War II Eyewitness Testimonies

The CLARIAH research pilot project ‘CrossEWT’ entailed an inventory of interviews with eyewitnesses of the Second World War as published in newspapers, television documentaries and oral history databases. The aim was to analyse the topics of these interviews, and how these may have differed per medium and over time since 1945. The Media Suite facilitates comparative research into collections of different media types that traditionally are studied separately. Especially for oral history research, this is innovative and promising, in at least two ways. First, it potentially stimulates the re-use of interviews, not only by media scholars who might accidentally discover this material, but by (oral) historians as well. Second, a video annotation tool is provided that enables analysing the visual, non-verbal and performative aspects of oral history interviews, while traditional oral history research often heavily relies on the transcript.

Detecting Adverse Drug Events Through the Chronological Relationship Between the Medication Period and the Presence of Adverse Reactions From Electronic Medical Record Systems: Observational Study.

BackgroundMedicines may cause various adverse reactions. An enormous amount of money and effort is spent investigating adverse drug events (ADEs) in clinical trials and postmarketing surveillance. Real-world data from multiple electronic medical records (EMRs) can make it easy to understand the ADEs that occur in actual patients.ObjectiveIn this study, we generated a patient medication history database from physician orders recorded in EMRs, which allowed the period of medication to be clearly identified.MethodsWe developed a method for detecting ADEs based on the chronological relationship between the presence of an adverse event and the medication period. To verify our method, we detected ADEs with alanine aminotransferase elevation in patients receiving aspirin, clopidogrel, and ticlopidine. The accuracy of the detection was evaluated with a chart review and by comparison with the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM), which is a standard method for detecting drug-induced liver injury.ResultsThe calculated rates of ADE with ALT elevation in patients receiving aspirin, clopidogrel, and ticlopidine were 3.33% (868/26,059 patients), 3.70% (188/5076 patients), and 5.69% (226/3974 patients), respectively, which were in line with the rates of previous reports. We reviewed the medical records of the patients in whom ADEs were detected. Our method accurately predicted ADEs in 90% (27/30patients) treated with aspirin, 100% (9/9 patients) treated with clopidogrel, and 100% (4/4 patients) treated with ticlopidine. Only 3 ADEs that were detected by the RUCAM were not detected by our method.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate that the present method is effective for detecting ADEs based on EMR data.

Intelligent approach for accurately predicting fatigue damage in overhead highway sign structures

Full-span overhead sign support structures can be found along any major highway across the US. Such structures experience different wind loading scenarios varying with time. As a result, these structures start to build up fatigue cracks within their members near the end of their fatigue life. Due to economic realities, the needed routine fatigue inspections on such highway structures can not be performed regularly. This paper is intended to present a comprehensive tool to accurately predict the remaining fatigue life of full-span overhead highway sign support structures subjected to a long and sustained wind fluctuation. Synthetic wind time histories were developed by superimposing cosine waves over a range of frequencies of 3–300 Hz and randomly generated phase angles. Kaimal spectrum was utilized to build a database of wind time histories for each daily mean wind speed along a period of 45 years in the State of Kansas. Moreover, each wind time history was modified to capture both the mean speed and high speed in each given day. After that, the wind speed vs. the number of cycle relationship, for a given time span, was extracted from the synthetic wind time history using the Rain Flow counting technique. Fatigue evaluations were conducted using axial truss member stresses extracted from a finite element solution corresponding to each wind speed in any given time range. Potential fatigue failure was assessed for each structural member after amplifying the stress range using an average dynamic amplification factor generated by integrating the frequency-response curve of harmonic excitations. These assessments evaluate the ratio of consumed fatigue cycles to ultimate fatigue cycles using Miner’s rule to estimate the fatigue life. A computationally affordable simulation package was developed to carry out the generation of wind time histories, cycle counting, structural modeling, and fatigue life calculations. This package was used to evaluate the fatigue life of a non-cantilever sign structure in Wichita, Kansas. The software predicted the end-of fatigue life of two members in this structure. Accordingly, inspections of these two members revealed the existence of unnoticed severe fatigue cracks while other members did not show any sign of distress.

COMPARISON OF MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY IN DECENTRALIZED AND CENTRALIZED SYSTEMS

This article describes and investigates the difference between a decentralized and a centralized information system. The efficiency of use and introduction of new technologies in production is studied. The construction of blockchain-based systems and their efficiency in solving the tasks are analyzed. Conclusions are formed about the tendency that the introduction of decentralization proves the need for digital management systems. At a time when the implementation of blockchain technology has greatly simplified the construction of new decentralized systems, which is a current trend in the world. The basis of blockchain technology is in a distributed information storage. It allows you to store important information simultaneously on many servers, and therefore keep them open and safe. For example, on the basis of this technology it is possible store both the history of customers’ bank transactions, voting results, and database of contracts, fingerprints or medical histories. And the information that stored simultaneously in many places, it is impossible to steal it, because in any case they can be restored from the original sources. As already mentioned, a blockchain, a block of transactions, is a structure for writing transaction groups. Transactions are carried out only when it is considered confirmed. It is reliable and convenient when it comes to making payments or the transfer of confidential data. So that the transaction is considered confirmed, its format and signatures must be verified. After that, the group transactions are recorded in a special block. In these blocks, all data is fast to verify. And in each subsequent information about the previous is stored. For example, in transactions on cryptocurrencies, the chain contains blocks information about all actions ever performed with bitcoins. The block includes a header and a list of transactions. The title of the block has its own hash, previous block hash, transaction hash and other additional official information. The first thing that is specified in the transaction block is getting a commission that will be as a reward, so the user who actually and will create this block. For transactions in the block tree hashing was used.

Creating a National Biodiversity Database in Gabon and the Challenges of Mobilizing Natural History Data for Francophone Countries

Language is a major barrier for researchers wanting to digitize and publish collection data in Africa. Despite being the fifth most spoken language on Earth and the second most common in Africa, resources in French about digitization, data management, and publishing are lacking. Furthermore, French-speaking regions of Africa (primarily Central/West Africa and Madagascar) host some of the highest biodiversity on the continent and therefore are of great importance to scientists and decision-makers. Without having representation in online portals like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio), these important collections are effectively invisible. Producing relevant/applicable resources about digitization in French will help shine a light on these valuable natural history records and allow the data-holders in Africa to retain the autonomy of their collections. Awarded a GBIF-BID (Biodiversity Information for Development) grant in 2021, an international, multilingual network of partners has undertaken the important task of digitizing and mobilizing Gabon’s vertebrate collections. There are an estimated 13,500 vertebrate specimens housed in five institutions in different parts of Gabon. To date, the group has mobilized >4,600 vertebrate records to our recently launched Gabon Biodiversity Portal (https://gabonbiota.org/). The portal also hosts French guides for using Symbiota-based portals to manage, georeference, and publish natural history databases. These resources can provide much-needed guidance for other Francophone countries⁠—in Africa and beyond⁠—working to maximize the accessibility and value of their biodiversity collections.

Combining Remote-Sensing-Derived Data and Historical Maps for Long-Term Back-Casting of Urban Extents.

Spatially explicit, fine-grained datasets describing historical urban extents are rarely available prior to the era of operational remote sensing. However, such data are necessary to better understand long-term urbanization and land development processes and for the assessment of coupled nature–human systems (e.g., the dynamics of the wildland–urban interface). Herein, we propose a framework that jointly uses remote-sensing-derived human settlement data (i.e., the Global Human Settlement Layer, GHSL) and scanned, georeferenced historical maps to automatically generate historical urban extents for the early 20th century. By applying unsupervised color space segmentation to the historical maps, spatially constrained to the urban extents derived from the GHSL, our approach generates historical settlement extents for seamless integration with the multitemporal GHSL. We apply our method to study areas in countries across four continents, and evaluate our approach against historical building density estimates from the Historical Settlement Data Compilation for the US (HISDAC-US), and against urban area estimates from the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE). Our results achieve Area-under-the-Curve values > 0.9 when comparing to HISDAC-US and are largely in agreement with model-based urban areas from the HYDE database, demonstrating that the integration of remote-sensing-derived observations and historical cartographic data sources opens up new, promising avenues for assessing urbanization and long-term land cover change in countries where historical maps are available.

Behavioral Study of Bajulmati Dam Deformation Through Dam History Database-based Assessment

Dam will experience pressure from its own load up to the effect of loading reservoir water. As a result of this pressure force, the dam body will be deformed. The behavior of dam deformation needs to be monitored to know the vertical and horizontal deformation that occurs. This paper discusses the deformation behavior of bajulmati dam during the construction stage, first filling, and post-construction. The purpose of this analysis is to determine "normal" deformation behavior so that case studies showing "abnormal" deformation can be identified early and can then be further analyzed. Evaluation results of Bajulmati Dam deformation behavior based on the acceptance criteria from a similar dam history database showed that most instruments meet the criteria of deformation acceptance so that it is considered normal. Only a small percentage do not meet the acceptance criteria because the value is outside of the requirements. These results may be a concern and initial recommendation for further analysis of abnormal deformation behaviors occurring.

Experiences With Internet Triaging of 9498 Outpatients Daily at the Largest Public Hospital in Taiwan During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Study.

BackgroundDuring pandemics, acquiring outpatients’ travel, occupation, contact, and cluster histories is one of the most important measures in assessing the disease risk among incoming patients. Previous means of acquiring this information in the examination room have been insufficient in preventing disease spread.ObjectiveThis study aimed to demonstrate the deployment of an automatic system to triage outpatients over the internet.MethodsAn automatic system was incorporated in the existing web-based appointment system of the hospital and deployed along with its on-site counterpart. Automatic queries to the virtual private network travel and contact history database with each patient’s national ID number were made for each attempt to acquire the patient’s travel and contact histories. Patients with relevant histories were denied registration or entry. Text messages were sent to patients without a relevant history for an expedited route of entry if applicable.ResultsA total of 127,857 visits were recorded. Among all visits, 91,195 were registered on the internet. In total, 71,816 of them generated text messages for an expedited route of entry. Furthermore, 65 patients had relevant histories, as revealed by the virtual private network database, and were denied registration or entry.ConclusionsAn automatic triage system to acquire outpatients’ relevant travel and contact histories was deployed rapidly in one of the largest academic medical centers in Taiwan. The updated system successfully denied patients with relevant travel or contact histories entry to the hospital, thus preventing long lines outside the hospital. Further efforts could be made to integrate the system with the electronic medical record system.

Dataset of 1 km cropland cover from 1690 to 1999 in Scandinavia

Abstract. Spatially explicit historical land cover datasets are essential not only for simulations of climate and environmental dynamics but also for projections of future land use, food security, climate, and biodiversity. However, widely used global datasets are developed for continental- to global-scale analysis and simulations. Their accuracy depends on the verification of more regional reconstruction results. This study collects cropland area data of each administrative unit (parish/municipality/county) in Scandinavia from multiple sources. The cropland area data are validated, calibrated, interpolated, and allocated into 1 km×1 km grid cells. Then, we develop a dataset with spatially explicit cropland area from 1690 to 1999. Results indicate that the cropland area increased from 1.82×106 ha to 6.71×106 ha from 1690 to 1950 and then decreased to 5.90×106 ha in 1999. Before 1810, cropland cover expanded in southern Scandinavia and remained stable in northern Scandinavia. From 1810 to 1910, northern Scandinavia experienced slight cropland expansion. The cropland area increased rapidly in the southern part of the study area before changing slightly. After 1950, the cropland areas began to decrease in most regions, especially in eastern Scandinavia. When comparing global datasets with this study, although the total Scandinavia cropland area is in agreement among SAGE (Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment), HYDE (History Database of the Global Environment ) 3.2, PJ (Pongratz Julia), and this study, the spatial patterns show considerable differences, except for in Denmark between HYDE 3.2 and this study. The dataset can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.926591 (Wei et al., 2021).

Mortality in tuberous sclerosis complex

We studied mortality in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) by analyzing data from the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance Natural History Database of 2233 patients from 18 United States TSC centers. Among 31 decedents with data; mean age of death was 29 years. Cause of death could be determined in 26 cases: 11 definitely related to TSC, 14 possibly related to TSC, and 1 unrelated to TSC. Causes of death included SUDEP in 11 (35.5%; Definite (5), Probable (4), Possible (2)), respiratory conditions in 6 (23.1%; lymphangiomyelomatosis in one), tumors in 3 (11.5%), suicide in 2 (7.7%), cardiopulmonary in 2 (7.7%), shunt malfunction in one, and drowning in one. For SUDEP cases, mean age of epilepsy onset was 7 months and 10/11 were treated with multiple anti-seizure medications (ASMs) at death; 7 had intractable epilepsy and 3 were controlled with ASMs. Patients with TSC and their families should be counseled about ASM adherence and lifestyle factors, and the potential role of nocturnal supervision or seizure detection devices to prevent SUDEP.

From nose to nuisance: A collaborative approach to assess the odour problem in an oilseed plant

Odour nuisance is an ignored environmental problem, an invisible face of air quality analysis and monitoring in Portugal. Local and governmental authorities have been receiving odour complaints, but only in recent years this issue is seen as a growing concern and not just a matter of licensing and inspection. This fact and the lack of specific ambient air odour regulation in Portugal originated a bottom up approach focused on citizens and their contribution to a more comprehensive analysis.Despite the existence of odour measuring instruments, the human nose is a universal sensor with higher sensitivity that allows to assess the impact of discomfort on sensitive receptors. From this point of view, a sensorial method has been conducted with community neighbours of an odour emission source as an integrative approach to the problem and a complementary vector to a quantitative analysis. The human nose used as a “tool”, allows to address the issue instantly and at a local level, which is not always possible with other methodologies, even in situations where the detection limit is reduced and therefore not measurable with certain equipment. It should be noted that this olfactory evaluations are the ones responsible for triggering formal complaints to the authorities whether it is the National Guard, the municipality or the environmental regulators. But the lack of a unified form to register the complaints is a mandatory issue to help addressing the correct odour sources and better understand the problem. So, this sensorial approach also aims to develop a tool to aggregate the needed elements to a valid form, to ensure that the complaints can be verified and validated. This would help to make a comparison and create a record history database, at the odour emitter level or at local and national scale.The results obtained with this approach have led to the application of several actions such as the real knowledge of the problem from an industrial operator perspective, inclusion of public stakeholders, and the design and implementation of an odour management plan with the purpose of the establishment of mitigation measures.

A system-wide implementation and evaluation of the Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS)

PurposeTo evaluate the province-wide implementation of the Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS) in British Columbia, Canada. MethodsProbation officers (PO) audio recorded a sample of their supervision sessions with probationers prior to and after receiving STICS training. Training involved teaching POs to apply cognitive-behavioral interventions to address the criminogenic needs of their clients. Both the general and violent recidivism rates of probationers were measured using a national criminal history database. Recidivism was defined as a new conviction. ResultsAfter training, audio recordings showed clear improvements in the content of discussions and the intervention techniques used by POs. Compared to a random sample of probationers supervised prior to STICS training, clients of STICS-trained POs had significantly lower 2-year general recidivism rates (43.0% vs. 61.4%; OR = 0.48, 95% CI [0.37, 0.61]) and violent recidivism rates (14.9% vs. 21.2%; OR = 0.65, 95% CI [0.48, 0.89]). ConclusionsTraining POs in how to address criminogenic needs using cognitive-behavioral interventions was associated with significant reductions in client recidivism. This project demonstrated that a community corrections agency can benefit from an evidence-based approach to supervision.

An Essential Clinical Dataset Intervention for Nursing Documentation of a Pediatric Admission History Database

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to improve nursing documentation efficiencies and satisfaction of a pediatric admission history workflow. Secondary aims determined if defining essential data elements was associated with decreased pediatric admission history documentation time, increased dataset completion rate, and increased satisfaction. Design and methodsA quasi-experimental between-group difference comparison was conducted for a nurse-led quality improvement study that included implementation of a pediatric essential clinical dataset (ECD) tool for pre/post-intervention analysis of nursing admission history documentation time, dataset completion rate, and satisfaction. A survey was administered to nurses pre- and post-intervention to compare documentation satisfaction. ResultsNursing admission history documentation time decreased by 1 min 31 s and the number of clicks decreased 38%. Dataset utilization increased 8% indicating improved nursing documentation of essential questions within a pediatric admission history form. Nursing documentation satisfaction with the pediatric admission history form was minimally impacted by the pediatric ECD study intervention. ConclusionsDefining what is essential for nurses to document positively influenced nursing documentation time, dataset completion rate, and satisfaction. Practice implicationsThe study contributed to EHR content standardization, optimization, and documentation efficiencies for nurses within a pediatric organization with implications for clinical and informatics collaboration to create real-world evidence, leveraging an intervention that decreased documentation burden and increased time for children and families.

Frequency, Progression, and Current Management: Report of 16 New Cases of Nonfunctional Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and Comparison With Previous Reports.

Background: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic condition that causes benign tumors to grow in multiple organ systems. Nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) are a rare clinical feature of TSC with no specific guidelines outlined for clinical management at this time. Our purpose is to calculate the frequency of nonfunctional PNETs as well as characterize the presentation, current clinical management, and assess the impact of systemic mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) on nonfunctional PNETs in TSC.Methods: This retrospective chart review was performed by a query of the TS Alliance's Natural History Database and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital TSC Database for patients with nonfunctional PNET. Clinical data from these two groups was summarized for patients identified to have a nonfunctional PNET and compared to previously reported cases with TSC and nonfunctional PNETs.Results: Our calculated frequency of nonfunctional PNETs is 0.65%. We identified 16 individuals, nine males and seven females, with a median age of 18.0 years (interquartile range: −15.5 to 25.5). Just over half (56.3%, n = 9) of the patients provided results from genetic testing. Six had pathogenic variants in TSC2 whereas three had pathogenic variants in TSC1. The average age at PNET diagnosis was 15.0 years (range: 3–46 years). Almost all individuals were diagnosed with a PNET during routine TSC surveillance, 56.3% (n = 9) by MRI, 12.5% (n = 2) by CT, 25% (n = 4) by ultrasound, and 6.2% (n = 1) through a surgical procedure. Follow up after diagnosis involved 68.8% (n = 11) having serial imaging and nine of the sixteen individuals proceeding with surgical removal of the PNET. Eight individuals had a history of using systemic mTOR inhibitors. Tumor growth rate was slightly less in individuals taking an mTOR inhibitor (−0.8 mm/yr, IQR: −2.3 to 2.2) than those without (1.6 mm/yr; IQR: −0.99 to 5.01, p > 0.05).Conclusions: Nonfunctional PNETs occurred at younger ages in our TSC cohort and more commonly compared to ages and prevalence reported for the general population. PNETs in patients on systemic mTOR inhibitors had lower rates of growth. The outcome of this study provides preliminary evidence supporting the use of mTOR inhibitor therapy in conjunction with serial imaging as medical management for nonfunctional PNETs as an alternative option to invasive surgical removal.

A Machine Learning Approach for Micro-Credit Scoring

In micro-lending markets, lack of recorded credit history is a significant impediment to assessing individual borrowers’ creditworthiness and therefore deciding fair interest rates. This research compares various machine learning algorithms on real micro-lending data to test their efficacy at classifying borrowers into various credit categories. We demonstrate that off-the-shelf multi-class classifiers such as random forest algorithms can perform this task very well, using readily available data about customers (such as age, occupation, and location). This presents inexpensive and reliable means to micro-lending institutions around the developing world with which to assess creditworthiness in the absence of credit history or central credit databases.

Australian and New Zealand contribution to Plastic Surgery.

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) can trace its origins as far back as 3000 BC. Despite this, it remained a relatively rare and unestablished branch of surgery until the devastating injuries of the World Wars necessitated reconstruction. Returning wartime surgeons used the skills they had learned on the battlefield to continue PRS in Australia and New Zealand. This article examines the significant contributions of Australian and New Zealand surgeons to the founding of PRS as a global specialty and provides an account of the strenuous dedicated competition that led to the development of microsurgery and advances in reconstruction. A comprehensive review of medical, medical humanities, and history databases (PubMed; MEDLINE; Web of Knowledge; Anthropology; Encyclopaedia of ancient history) and non-digital printed texts was conducted using multiple search terms and filters including Reconstruction; Plastic Surgery; Burns; Flaps; and Microsurgery). The search was restricted to publications that focused on the period between 1818 CE to current. Significant contributions of surgeons from the Antipodes occurred during several periods including the Industrial era, World Wars, Post-war and in the modern age. Stirred by their wartime experience, surgeons from Australia and New Zealand laid the foundations of the global success of Plastic Surgery in the modern age and helped establish it as a specialty in its own right.

Plastic surgery in antiquity: an examination of ancient documents

Though the industrial era (1750 to 1914 AD) and the world wars (1914 to 1945 AD) were the catalysts for the establishment of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as a specialty in its own right, a careful examination of ancient texts and literature reveals that those conditions generally attributed to the craft were recognised and treated as early as 3000 BC. This article examines the remarkable medical documents of ancient civilisations as they pertain to our specialty and their legacies in the modern world. A comprehensive review of medical, medical humanities, and history databases (PubMed; MEDLINE; Web of Knowledge; Anthropology; Encyclopedia of ancient history) and non-digital printed texts was conducted using multiple search terms and filters including Reconstruction; Plastic Surgery; Ancient Surgery; Burns; Flaps; Sutures; and Dressings. The search was restricted to publications that focused on the period between 3100 BC and 476 AD. Additional information was sought from an eminent scholar of the Vedic period as well as the chief librarian of the Kaiser Library to aid in the identification of provenance. Five ancient periods and associated manuscripts were identified. Our specialty draws its earliest roots from antiquity. Reconstructive procedures used today were described in ancient eras indicating that the practice of plastic surgery is as old as surgery itself. Level of evidence: Not ratable.

Movement Control of Smart Mosque’s Domes using CSRNet and Fuzzy Logic Techniques

Mosques are worship places of Allah and must be preserved clean, immaculate, provide all the comforts of the worshippers in them. The prophet's mosque in Medina/ Saudi Arabia is one of the most important mosques for Muslims. It occupies second place after the sacred mosque in Mecca/ Saudi Arabia, which is in constant overcrowding by all Muslims to visit the prophet Mohammad's tomb. This paper aims to propose a smart dome model to preserve the fresh air and allow the sunlight to enter the mosque using artificial intelligence techniques. The proposed model controls domes movements based on the weather conditions and the overcrowding rates in the mosque. The data have been collected from two different resources, the first one from the database of Saudi Arabia weather's history, and the other from Shanghai Technology Database. Congested Scene Recognition Network (CSRNet) and Fuzzy techniques have applied using Python programming language to control the domes to be opened and closed for a specific time to renew the air inside the mosque. Also, this model consists of several parts that are connected for controlling the mechanism of opening/closing domes according to weather data and the situation of crowding in the mosque. Finally, the main goal of this paper has been achieved, and the proposed model has worked efficiently and specifies the exact duration time to keep the domes open automatically for a few minutes for each hour head.

In memoriam Kilián István

This obituary commemorates a scholar who dedicated his entire career to the research of 16th-18th century Hungarian drama and theatre history. István Kilián created a research team that formed significant international connections so that the results of Hungarian scholarship could take their rightful place within a European context. István Kilián led the work of the research team for almost forty years, he compiled multiple theatre history databases concerning Minorite, Piarist and Jesuit school theatre traditions, and published dozens of old Hungarian plays in Hungarian and Latin.

Epilepsy and TSC-Associated Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Investigators from multiple institutions (Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital Leuven, ZOL Genk, Kempenhaeghe and Maastricht UMC+, and Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota) used the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Natural History Database (TSCNHD) to evaluate the relationship between epilepsy and neuropsychiatric disorders in individuals with TSC, along with any potential influence of genotype.