French Site Research Articles

A-158 Multi-site verification and performance of body fluids in-between Horiba Medical Yumizen h2500 with Sysmex XN-10 automated hematology analyzers and manual microscopy for morphology assessment

Abstract Background The analysis of body fluids plays an important role in the diagnosis and management of a wide variety of conditions. As standards for method validation and laboratory developed tests evolve, the body fluids analysis is receiving increased attention from both laboratories and regulatory bodies. We present the evaluated result of the validation and clinical performance accuracy of HORIBA Medical Yumizen H2500 analyzers as compared to SYSMEX XN-10 analyzers and to manual slide microscopy examination as a reference method for differential analysis for body fluids samples. Methods Depending on each laboratory collected procedures, synovial samples were collected with Sodium Heparin or K2EDTA or without anticoagulant and the other samples were collected with K2EDTA or without anticoagulant. As recommended, most (94%) of the synovial fluids were treated with the hyaluronidase. For the comparison of Yumizen H2500 versus XN-10 analyzers, the study was performed in 2 US sites and 1 French site collecting 390 samples totally: 138 serous fluids (Ascites, Pleural, Peritoneal, Pericardial), 169 synovial fluids and 83 CSF fluids. Samples were analyzed as soon as possible after collection (with a limit of 24 hours for serous and synovial fluids and 4 hours for CSF) and within 2 hours between both instruments. For the comparison of Yumizen H2500 versus reference method (manual microscopy), the study was performed in 2 US sites collecting 58 samples: 34 serous fluids (Ascites, Pleural, Peritoneal, Pericardial), 12 synovial fluids and 12 CSF fluids. Two qualified morphology examiners made the manual microscopy analysis and the average of the results of the 2 slide readings was used for the analysis. Results Considering all types of body fluids, the H2500/XN results are very well correlated for BFWBC (0.969), BFRBC (0.999), BFMN% (0.912), BFMN# (0.89), BFPN% (0.912), BFPN# (0.97). Similarly, the statistical analysis per body fluids type shows very good correlation. For serous type, all results are higher than 0.876, for synovial type all results are higher than 0.879 and for cerebrospinal fluids type, all results are higher than 0.788. Among all samples, less than 8 samples (<2%) were out of the 95% interval. The comparison Yumizen H2500 versus manual microscopy, all the correlation results (r²) are very good: 0,9705 for Polynuclear and 0,9742 for Mononuclear. The study demonstrated better results of Yumizen H2500 versus manual microscopy than versus XN-10 for BFPN% (0.9705 versus 0.912) and BFMN% (0.9742 versus 0.912). Among 58 samples, only 4 (6.9%) were out of the 95% interval for BFPN% and BFMN%. Conclusions The Yumizen H2500 results for body fluid WBC differentiation (Polynuclear and Mononuclear) are very well correlated with the results from manual slide microscopy evaluation. The comparison of the results analyzed on Yumizen H2500 and on XN does not show any significant difference.

Coupling Different Road Traffic Noise Models with a Multilinear Regressive Model: A Measurements-Independent Technique for Urban Road Traffic Noise Prediction.

Road traffic noise is a severe environmental hazard, to which a growing number of dwellers are exposed in urban areas. The possibility to accurately assess traffic noise levels in a given area is thus, nowadays, quite important and, on many occasions, compelled by law. Such a procedure can be performed by measurements or by applying predictive Road Traffic Noise Models (RTNMs). Although the first approach is generally preferred, on-field measurement cannot always be easily conducted. RTNMs, on the contrary, use input information (amount of passing vehicles, category, speed, among others), usually collected by sensors, to provide an estimation of noise levels in a specific area. Several RTNMs have been implemented by different national institutions, adapting them to the local traffic conditions. However, the employment of RTNMs proves challenging due to both the lack of input data and the inherent complexity of the models (often composed of a Noise Emission Model-NEM and a sound propagation model). Therefore, this work aims to propose a methodology that allows an easy application of RTNMs, despite the availability of measured data for calibration. Four different NEMs were coupled with a sound propagation model, allowing the computation of equivalent continuous sound pressure levels on a dataset (composed of traffic flows, speeds, and source-receiver distance) randomly generated. Then, a Multilinear Regressive technique was applied to obtain manageable formulas for the models' application. The goodness of the procedure was evaluated on a set of long-term traffic and noise data collected in a French site through several sensors, such as sound level meters, car counters, and speed detectors. Results show that the estimations provided by formulas coming from the Multilinear Regressions are quite close to field measurements (MAE between 1.60 and 2.64 dB(A)), confirming that the resulting models could be employed to forecast noise levels by integrating them into a network of traffic sensors.

Uncertainty propagation in a modelling chain of climate change impact for a representative French drainage site

ABSTRACT Analysis of the uncertainty propagation along a hydroclimatic modelling chain has been performed by few studies to date on subsurface drainage hydrology. We performed such an analysis in a representative French drainage site. A set of 30 climate projections provided future climatic conditions for three representative concentration pathways (RCPs): RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. Three hydrological models for drainage systems, MACRO, DRAINMOD for DRAINage MODel, and SIDRA-RU for “SImulation du DRAinage - Réserve Utile” in French, on the three different parameter sets were used to quantify uncertainties from hydrological components. Results showed that the RCP contribution to total uncertainty reaches almost 40% for air temperature, does not exceed 15% for precipitation, and is almost negligible for hydrological indicators (HIs). The main source of uncertainty comes from the climate models, representing 50–90% of the total uncertainty. The contribution of the hydrological components (models and parameter sets) to the HI uncertainty is almost negligible too, not exceeding 5%.

Performing Parisian. Gender Performances, Elite Discourse and Multimodality on Instagram

This paper leans on the thematic dimensions of gender, tourism and multimodality to explore how Instagram users construct Parisian narratives at the Café de Flore geotag. Employing a sociolinguistic and social-semiotic framework, the present study discusses a corpus of 75 posts tagged at Café de Flore between 1st January and 31st January 2022. Two research questions were identified for this purpose. The first explores how the notion of “Parisian”, as both a noun and an adjective, is represented linguistically by Instagram users at Café de Flore. As a secondary line of inquiry, we examine how the Parisian themes established in the captions and hashtags of these posts are further elaborated semiotically through the use of multimodal resources. Findings suggest that the terms “Parisian” and “Parisienne” as both nouns and adjectives, are deployed as profitable labels in the networked context of Instagram. We conclude that Instagram users further elaborate on these linguistic representations in their posts by selecting and ordering semiotic resources associated with French cultural tropes. Gendered language and gender display were among the most salient of these resources. Used strategically, these discursive practices aid users in depicting themselves as expert, feminine narrators in an elite sociocultural context. Finally, our data suggest that Instagram users portray Café de Flore as a specifically Parisian (rather than French) site of engagement and a physical resource for the generation of profitable material online.

Debris-flow surges of a very active alpine torrent: a field database

Abstract. This paper presents a methodology to analyse debris flows focusing at the surge scale rather than the full scale of the debris-flow event, as well as its application to a French site. Providing bulk surge features like volume, peak discharge, front height, front velocity and Froude numbers allows for numerical and experimental debris-flow investigations to be designed with narrower physical ranges and thus for deeper scientific questions to be explored. We suggest a method to access such features at the surge scale that can be applied to a wide variety of monitoring stations. Requirements for monitoring stations for the methodology to be applicable include (i) flow height measurements, (ii) a cross-section assumption and (iii) a velocity estimation. Raw data from three monitoring stations on the Réal torrent (drainage area: 2 km2, southeastern France) are used to illustrate an application to 34 surges measured from 2011 to 2020 at three monitoring stations. Volumes of debris-flow surges on the Réal torrent are typically sized at a few thousand cubic metres. The peak flow height of surges ranges from 1 to 2 m. The peak discharge range is around a few dozen cubic metres per second. Finally, we show that Froude numbers of such surges are near critical.

Middle Pleistocene hominin teeth from Biache-Saint-Vaast, France

The study of dental morphology can be a very useful tool to understand the origin and evolution of Neanderthals in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene (MP). At present, the earliest evidence, ca. 430 ka, of a pre-Neanderthal population in Europe is the hominin sample from Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos (SH) that present clear dental affinities with Neanderthals while other penecontemporaneous populations, such as Arago or Mala Balanica, exhibit less Neanderthal traits. We present the morphometric study of the external and internal dental structures of eleven hominin dental remains recovered from the MP, ca. 240 ka, French site of Biache-Saint-Vaast (BSV). Our analyses place the BSV hominins within the MP group, together with SH, Fontana Ranuccio, Visogliano, Steinheim or Montmaurin, that show greater morphological affinities with Neanderthals. Moreover, we identified interpopulation variability in the expression of the enamel thickness trait, with BSV hominins sharing the unique combination of thin and thick pattern in the premolars and molars with the SH population. These results further support the coexistence of two or more populations in Europe during the MP that reflect the population and settlement of human groups suggested by the Central Area of Dispersals of Eurasia (CADE) and sink and source model.

Seeing myself in a storefront window

ABSTRACT This publication is a digital comic short story based on autoethnographic research. The story takes as its foundation a photo of an African storefront window in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France in summer 2019. The narrative queries from multiple perspectives and types of information my relationship as an African American woman with several things: the West African jewellery and cloth on display, the window that framed the products for sale, the store, and the neighbourhood that featured a predominately African diasporic population. In this publication, I also address some of the following questions: 1) Can I see myself in this Black, French and African diasporic site of commerce? 2) How does this marketing display relate to American and French marketing and media history’s invisibility of Black women as desired consumers? 3) Has my shared ascribed status of race and increased awareness of West African culture after travels to Ghana and Senegal changed my fit in this Francophone African space?

A myth debunked. The Porosphaera globularis beads and their relation to the onset of symbolic thinking in prehistory

Because of their inherent symbolic significance, personal ornaments gained a key role in the scientific debate regarding the emergence and evolution of symbolic behaviour; the presumed Acheulean beads discovered in the nineteenth century in northern Europe’s sites are considered crucial evidence of this. The fossils of the sponge Porosphaera globularis, because of their morphological characteristics, have been interpreted by some archaeologists as the starting point of this evolutionary path. In this work, the largest collection of Porosphaera globularis specimens is analysed, after remaining unpublished to this day. This was originally found in the French site of Saint-Acheul and preserved at the Civic Museums of Modena. An integrated analysis was carried out to understand whether these fossils were indeed used as beads; results revealed that they were actually not used as ornaments. This suggests the importance of finding strong arguments and evidence to support theories about the development of cognitive abilities in the genus Homo.

It's Not Just the Prices: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing for Initiation of Veno-Venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation at Three International Sites-A Case Review.

The United States spends more for intensive care units (ICUs) than do other high-income countries. We used time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) to analyze ICU costs for initiation of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO) for respiratory failure to estimate how much of the higher ICU costs at 1 US site can be attributed to the higher prices paid to ICU personnel, and how much is caused by the US site's use of a higher cost staffing model. We accompanied our TDABC approach with narrative review of the ECMO programs, at Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière (Paris), and The Alfred Hospital (Melbourne) from 2017 to 2019. Our primary outcome was daily ECMO cost, and we hypothesized that cost differences among the hospitals could be explained by the efficiencies and skill mix of involved clinicians and prices paid for personnel, equipment, and consumables. Our results are presented relative to Los Angeles' total personnel cost per VV ECMO patient day, indexed at 100. Los Angeles' total indexed daily cost of care was 147 (personnel: 100, durables: 5, and disposables: 42). Paris' total cost was 39 (26% of Los Angeles) (personnel: 12, durables: 1, and disposables: 26). Melbourne's total cost was 53 (36% of Los Angeles) (personnel: 32, durables: 2, and disposables: 19) (rounded). The higher personnel prices at Los Angeles explained only 26% of its much higher personnel costs than Paris, and 21% relative to Melbourne. Los Angeles' higher staffing levels accounted for 49% (36%), and its costlier mix of personnel accounted for 12% (10%) of its higher personnel costs relative to Paris (Melbourne). Unadjusted discharge rates for ECMO patients were 46% in Los Angeles (46%), 56% in Paris, and 52% in Melbourne. We found that personnel salaries explained only 30% of the higher personnel costs at 1 Los Angeles hospital. Most of the cost differential was caused by personnel staffing intensity and mix. This study demonstrates how TDABC may be used in ICU administration to quantify the savings that 1 US hospital could achieve by delivering the same quality of care with fewer and less-costly mix of clinicians compared to a French and Australian site. Narrative reviews contextualized how the care models evolved at each site and helped identify potential barriers to change.

Non-metric dental analysis of human interactions around the Pyrenees during the Neolithic and their biological impact

BackgroundInteractions across the Pyreneans during the Middle-Neolithic (V-IV millennium BCE) have been described for a long time. Nevertheless, except for a few examples and attempts to describe them, the biological impact of these interactions on the human groups' make-up is not yet understood. The present work analyzes the biological affinities of different groups from both sides of these mountains that represent the Populations of the Middle- and Late-Neolithic by means of the dental morphology. MethodsWe present novel dental morphological data of 221 individuals from 11 archaeological sites. These data have been analyzed and compared to those from previously published twenty Iberian sites and one French site. Data were recovered following the ASUDAS protocol, and MMD biological measure was calculated between groups. ResultsOur results suggest that there were some differences between the analyzed populations. These differences were observed at each side of the Pyrenees, but also across them. Concretely, the coastal groups across the mountains show more affinities between each other than the inland groups. In addition, the differences between groups decreased by the end of the Neolithic. ConclusionsTherefore, our results indicate that the intense trade activities registered in the coastal area between both sides of the Pyrenees would have had the greatest biological impacts in the homogenisation of the groups. Although less intense, the across mountain network and coastal to mountain area trade networks to the south of Pyreneans, also influenced the biological make-up of the groups.

Cave canem! The earliest Canis (Xenocyon) (Canidae, Mammalia) of Europe: Taxonomic affinities and paleoecology of the fossil wild dogs

Unlike their medium-sized relatives of the genus Canis, whose arrival is dated around 3 Ma, the appearance in western Europe of large-sized hypercarnivorous canids took place at the beginning of the late Villafranchian (ca 2 Ma). Here, we report the earliest occurrence in this part of Eurasia of a Canis (Xenocyon) from the French site of Roca-Neya (Perrier area, recently dated to 2.6 Ma). Although represented only by mandibular specimens, the morphological and morphometric features resemble those of Canis (Xenocyon) falconeri (Forsyth Major, 1877), a large-sized canid with clear dentognathic adaptations to hypercarnivory, yet less developed compared to other later forms of this group. In our analysis, we revised the features of the subgenus Xenocyon and the present knowledge about these enigmatic forms. Following several studies, we performed analyses with the aim of providing the first estimate of the dietary preferences of Canis (Xenocyon) using selected morphometric ratios. The hypercarnivorous diet of this group was supported, while also the results indicate peculiar dentognathic proportions possessed by these fossil canids that differ from modern ones. The stoutness and development of some characteristics in the sample from Roca-Neyra (e.g., the depth of the mandible, the arched lower toothrow, the sturdy teeth) suggest high regimes of stresses in the mandible related to its predatory behavior.

Fully-coupled numerical model for ballasted track analysis – Field measurements and predictions

This paper proposes a three-dimensional fully-coupled numerical model intended for the simulation of the dynamic behavior of ballasted railway tracks under real excitation. It is employed to reproduce the response of a French site located at the high-speed line connecting the two regions Bretagne and Pays de la Loire. The equation of motion is solved in the time domain by means of the finite difference method in which the rails and sleepers are represented by rectilinear beam elements which are rigidly attached to a spatial grid composed of rectangular cuboids. An adaptive meshing scheme based on the creation of load-attached moving nodes is adopted to model the moving train loads which are supposed to be time-independent. To validate the numerical simulations, a measuring campaign is performed in which tow aligned deflectometers are used to measure the displacement of the railway foundation just below the ballast layer under the track centerline. The velocity range of the high-speed passenger trains is covered in which four cases are taken into consideration ranging from 162 to 342 km/h. An excellent agreement between measurements and predictions is found. Therefore, the presented model can be considered reliable for the design of new high-speed lines.

Abundance and seasonal growth of epiphytic ferns at three sites along a rainfall gradient in Western Europe

Vascular epiphytes in temperate zones are allegedly rare due to climatic constraints, such as drought and freezing temperatures during winter. Here, we investigate how abundance and seasonal growth of epiphytic polypod ferns in Western Europe are influenced by annual rainfall and temperature. We recorded abundances and growth of epiphytic polypod ferns over two years at three sites along a rainfall gradient from Southwest Ireland to Northwest Germany, spanning a two-fold difference in annual rainfall. We also investigated plant maturation and recorded key climate characteristics (rainfall and temperature). Abundance of epiphytic polypod ferns strongly decreased from the wetter end of the rainfall gradient in Ireland towards the drier end in Germany. Yet, frond turnover was equally high at all study sites during summer months, and equally low during winter. Plants showed only little to no expansive growth during the study period, except for the study site in France in the middle of the gradient, where the total number of fronds strongly increased. Similarly, we found an increase in the proportion of spore-bearing fronds at the French study site, whereas there was hardly any change between years at the other two sites. The observed growth patterns are inconsistent with the current differences in abundance of epiphytic ferns. We suggest that these differences are due to poor germination of spores under drier conditions and that small differences in annual growth have contributed to the current abundances over an extended time period. Surprisingly, seasonal frond productivity appeared to be unaffected by the amount of annual rainfall and average temperatures, although it seems likely that these factors do play a role during gametophyte establishment.

Sentinel-2 remote sensing of Zostera noltei-dominated intertidal seagrass meadows

Accurate habitat mapping methods are urgently required for the monitoring, conservation, and management of blue carbon ecosystems and their associated services. This study focuses on exposed intertidal seagrass meadows, which play a major role in the functioning of nearshore ecosystems. Using Sentinel-2 (S2) data, we demonstrate that satellite remote sensing can be used to map seagrass percent cover (SPC) and leaf biomass (SB), and to characterize its seasonal dynamics. In situ radiometric and biological data were acquired from three intertidal meadows of Zostera noltei along the European Atlantic coast in the summers of 2018 and 2019. This information allowed algorithms to estimate SPC and SB from a vegetation index to be developed and assessed. Importantly, a single SPC algorithm could consistently be used to study Z. noltei-dominated meadows at several sites along the European Atlantic coast. To analyze the seagrass seasonal cycle and to select images corresponding to its maximal development, a two-year S2 dataset was acquired for a French study site in Bourgneuf Bay. The potential of S2 to characterize the Z. noltei seasonal cycle was demonstrated for exposed intertidal meadows. The SPC map that best represented seagrass growth annual maximum was validated using in situ measurements, resulting in a root mean square difference of 14%. The SPC and SB maps displayed a patchy distribution, influenced by emersion time, mudflat topology, and seagrass growth pattern. The ability of S2 to measure the surface area of different classes of seagrass cover was investigated, and surface metrics based on seagrass areas with SPC ≥ 50% and SPC ≥ 80% were computed to estimate the interannual variation in the areal extent of the meadow. Due to the high spatial resolution (pixel size of 10 m), frequent revisit time (≤ 5 days), and long-term objective of the S2 mission, S2-derived seagrass time-series are expected to contribute to current coastal ecosystem management, such as the European Water Framework Directive, but to also guide future adaptation plans to face global change in coastal areas. Finally, recommendations for future intertidal seagrass studies are proposed.

Progressive Invasion of Aedes albopictus in Northern Spain in The Period 2013-2018 and A Possible Association with the Increase in Insect Bites.

(1) Background: Aedes albopictus has rapidly expanded throughout Europe, becoming a public health concern in the Mediterranean Basin. (2) Methods: Following the detection of Ae. albopictus in the southwestern French region of Aquitaine in 2012, an entomological surveillance programme was implemented in the Basque Country (Northern Spain) in 2013. (3) Results: Ae. albopictus eggs were first detected in 2014 in a transited parking area in the northeastern sampling point, 22 km away from the nearest French site with recorded presence of tiger mosquito. At this site, eggs were found throughout the study (2014–2018). Other western and southern municipalities became positive in 2017 and 2018. Ae. albopictus adults were first captured in 2018 by aspiration of the vegetation in an area where eggs had been detected since 2015, suggesting a progressive establishment of a self-sustained population. Incidence of insect bites in humans was roughly constant over the study period except for a significant increase in 2018 in the Health County where eggs had been detected since 2014. Densities of Ae. albopictus eggs in positive areas remained at similar levels over the years. (4) Conclusion: Multiple approaches and standardized methods are necessary to successfully control this vector.

Cardiovascular research in France: Evolution of scientific activities and production over the last decade

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death worldwide, and fruitful research is needed for future advances in this field. To analyse the scientific production and vitality of French cardiovascular clinical research, and its evolution over the last decade. We first used Lab Times online data obtained through the Web of Science (Thomson-Reuters, Toronto, ON, Canada), then the PubMed database (National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], Bethesda, MD, USA), for studies published between 2005 and 2015 in the multidisciplinary and cardiology journals with the highest impact factors. French abstracts submitted and accepted at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress were provided directly by the ESC. The number of cardiovascular projects was analysed through the http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov database and the French site for government-funded projects, over the decade from 2008 to 2017. Overall, France was ranked fifth in Europe and eighth worldwide for CVD publications. During the 10-year period from 2005 to 2015, French publications accounted for 0.2-0.3% of articles in top multidisciplinary journals and 2% of articles in top cardiology journals. We observed a steady decrease in French abstract submissions at the ESC congress (from 5% to 3.5% in 10 years), and in 2017, France was ranked eighth in Europe. Across European countries, France has been ranked first for declared cardiovascular research on http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov over the last 3 years, for both interventional and observational studies. Regarding the Hospital Programme of Clinical Research, heart ranked second after neurosciences. France is very well represented in terms of new CVD projects, but actual French scientific production scores poorly. Investing in CVD research is a priority to increase the level of publication and to compete with other leading countries.

Feeling through the screen: memory sites, affective entanglements, and digital materialities

ABSTRACT In this article we advance geographies of commemoration by focusing on digital screens, a common element of museum displays and other official memory sites, arguing that screens are crucial in how people not only think, but feel in and about such places. As a part of the ‘texture’ of memory sites, we will discuss how understandings of the content displayed on digital screens can mingle with screens’ material and immaterial qualities to constitute a range of powerful ways of ‘feeling’ this texture, in affective, material and sensory terms. By interrogating the experience of visitors to the Camp des Milles, an official French national memory site, we will consider how digital screens can thicken the experience of such sites by framing them as bodily and intimate – but also how encounters with such technologies can disappoint, disrupt or puncture the atmospheres of such sites, and draw out feelings of frustration or annoyance that might pull against the official aims of such places. We use in-depth visitor accounts to show how digital screens afford affective resonances for visitors and intensely shape how state-sponsored histories are encountered, understood and felt.

Notes and Comments

Notes and Comments Paul Kollman C.S.C. Nelson H. Minnich Prize The Nelson H. Minnich Prize for Best Article in the Catholic Historical Review in 2018 is awarded to Brian R. Larkin, professor of history, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University, Minnesota. His article "Beyond Guadalupe: The Eucharist, the Cult of Saints and Local Religion in Eighteenth-Century Mexico City" appeared in the Spring issue (Volume 104, No. 2). In this groundbreaking article, Professor Larkin demonstrates that the Virgin of Guadalupe was not the preeminent Marian devotion of colonial Mexico. The Guadalupan devotion was rising, but always second in preference to Our Lady of Sorrows. He also proposes that Mexican devotion to local virgins, saints, and Christ images never exceeded devotion to such universal Catholic devotions as the Eucharist. He proposes that otherworldly concerns such as eternal salvation and release from purgatory be considered important motivations for religious gifts and bequests. Professor Larkin's contribution lies in his argument for greater balance in examining colonial Mexican piety. He finds a presentism in considering the colonial past, first by imposing on that era the Guadalupan domination that later generations produced, and second by focusing on the local/exotic/particular over the universal in developing an understanding of colonial Mexican piety. While Robert Morgan's Spanish American Saints and the Rhetoric of Identity, 1600–1810 emphasizes American discontinuities, this author balances that attention to the unique with equal attention to the more commonplace or universally recognized. Thoroughly grounded in primary sources, the author uses tables to demonstrate the range of devotions present in the minds of devotees as they wrote their last wills and testaments. In acknowledging evidence that does not support his arguments; he admits that further study is needed on the widespread popularity of Our Lady of Sorrows or St. Anthony of Padua. He places the Mexican experience in wider contexts: Tridentine reforms of Catholicism, papal declarations, Spanish piety, official sponsorship of particular devotions, and others. This strengthens the emphasis on the importance of universal devotions in relationship to local Mexican novelties. On account of its outstanding research and original contributions, "Beyond Guadalupe: The Eucharist, the Cult of Saints and Local Religion in Eighteenth-Century Mexico City" deserves recognition of the Nelson H. Minnich Prize for 2018. [End Page 401] Newberry Library The Newberry Library's Center for Renaissance Studies proudly launches a new digital resource devoted to Italian paleography, sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Paleography, the study of the history of handwriting and scripts in books, manuscripts, and other documents, is essential for scholarly research in the humanities for the premodern period. Created and edited by Isabella Magni (Newberry Library), Lia Markey (Newberry Library), and Maddalena Signorini (Università di Roma-Tor Vergata) in collaboration with the University of Toronto Libraries Information Technology Services and the Walter J. Ong S.J. Center for Digital Humanities at St. Louis University, this new website provides pedagogical tools for the study of Italian vernacular handwriting from 1100 to 1700 using manuscripts in the Newberry collections as well as other US institutions. The new paleography site complements a resource devoted to French paleography launched in 2016, also funded by the Mellon Foundation and designed in partnership between the Newberry, Toronto, and St. Louis. Like the French site, the intended audience of the Italian site is varied: scholars preparing to conduct research in Italian archives; students studying Italian language, history and culture; curators, librarians, and archivists who work with manuscripts; calligraphers and graphic designers interested in historical scripts; and anyone who would like to experiment with transcribing early Italian documents. The site features 102 digitized manuscripts representing 7 different types of scripts and 3 difficulty levels. Each manuscript is paired with a transcription and a scholarly entry written by a specialist in the field. These background essays provide the historical, cultural, and at times codicological context for the manuscripts. Using the Ong Center's transcription tool, T-PEN, users of the site can transcribe the documents and save their transcriptions online. The site includes a handbook describing the various types of scripts and providing the history of the vernacular in medieval and Renaissance Italy. The...

Status and first results from the ARCA and ORCA lines of the KM3NeT experiment

KM3NeT is a network of submarine Cherenkov neutrino telescopes under construction in two different sites in the Mediterranean Sea [1]. The detector at the Italian site, close to the Sicilian coast and named ARCA, will be devoted to the detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos coming from sources in the Universe, while the detector at the French site, in the Toulon bay and named ORCA, will exploit atmospheric neutrinos to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. The telescopes are an array of flexible strings anchored to the sea floor and held close to vertical by submerged buoys. The strings are instrumented with digital optical modules hosted within pressure-resistant glass spheres, each housing 31 3” photomultipliers tubes and the readout electronics. The geometry of the detectors has been adapted to their physics goals. The first calibrations and results of ARCA and ORCA are presented.

Context‐dependent conservation of the cavity‐nesting European Roller

To maximize the effectiveness of conservation interventions, it is crucial to have an understanding of how intraspecific variation determines the relative importance of potential limiting factors. For bird populations, limiting factors include nest‐site availability and foraging resources, with the former often addressed through the provision of artificial nestboxes. However, the effectiveness of artificial nestboxes depends on the relative importance of nest‐site vs. foraging resource limitations. Here, we investigate factors driving variation in breeding density, nestbox occupation and productivity in two contrasting study populations of the European Roller Coracias garrulus, an obligate cavity‐nesting insectivorous bird. Breeding density was more than four times higher at the French study site than at the Latvian site, and there was a positive correlation between breeding density (at the 1‐km2 scale) and nest‐site availability in France, whereas there was a positive correlation between breeding density and foraging resource availability in Latvia. Similarly, the probability of a nestbox being occupied increased with predicted foraging resource availability in Latvia but not in France. We detected no positive effect of foraging resource availability on productivity at either site, with most variation in breeding success driven by temporal effects: a seasonal decline in France and strong interannual fluctuations in Latvia. Our results indicate that the factors limiting local breeding density can vary across a species' range, resulting in different conservation priorities. Nestbox provisioning is a sufficient short‐term conservation solution at our French study site, where foraging resources are typically abundant, but in Latvia the restoration of foraging habitat may be more important.