The Development of a model program for the effective management of biomedical waste in the Caribbean. A Review of barriers within public hospitals in the Caribbean.

When biomedical waste is improperly managed it poses a health hazard and risk to healthcare workers, sanitation workers and the general public in contracting infectious/dangerous diseases. Biomedical waste is also generated from individuals in their homes from the use of syringes or diagnostic lancets that are not properly managed. Biomedical waste is considered special waste and has a health and environmental hazard that can result in infections and diseases such as HIV/AIDs. Discarded sharps pose a health risk to the public particularly solid waste workers who may suffer a needle stick injury if they are not properly packaged for disposal. Needle stick injuries can require very expensive testing and treatment and can increase the risk of exposure to infectious blood borne diseases such as Hepatitis and HIV from contaminated needles. Within the Caribbean region there are many factors influencing the effective management of biomedical waste. This paper will provide a review of these factors and their impacts (risks) base on the current management practices and systems for biomedical waste in three Caribbean islands. These major influencing factors include, government environment health and safety regulations for the healthcare industry, risks associated with biomedical waste management in public hospitals, public healthcare services vs private hospitals services, training of healthcare staff, public hospitals operating standards and guidelines and biomedical waste disposal

Can coercive formulations lead to fast and accurate solution of the Helmholtz equation?

A new, coercive formulation of the Helmholtz equation was introduced in [Moiola, Spence, SIAM Rev. 2014]. In this paper we investigate $h$-version Galerkin discretisations of this formulation, and the iterative solution of the resulting linear systems. We find that the coercive formulation behaves similarly to the standard formulation in terms of the pollution effect (i.e. to maintain accuracy as $k\to\infty$, $h$ must decrease with $k$ at the same rate as for the standard formulation). We prove $k$-explicit bounds on the number of GMRES iterations required to solve the linear system of the new formulation when it is preconditioned with a prescribed symmetric positive-definite matrix. Even though the number of iterations grows with $k$, these are the first such rigorous bounds on the number of GMRES iterations for a preconditioned formulation of the Helmholtz equation, where the preconditioner is a symmetric positive-definite matrix.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure

Andrea Spence McKane in a Senior Voice Recital

This is the program for the senior voice recital of soprano Andrea Spence McKane. Pianist Terri Pierce Lucas assisted the performance. The recital took place on March 1, 1993, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall

Affiliative Behaviors in Pairbonded Red Titi Monkeys (Callicebus Discolor)

Adult titi monkeys (Callicebus spp.) form strong pairbonds and reside in socially monogamous groups. In addition, adult males are heavily involved in infant care, exhibiting a degree of direct investment unusual even among primate species with paternal care. Most of the research exploring the nature of these social bonds has focused on captive populations, and data on wild titi populations are limited. In particular, data quantifying the pairbond and exploring the costs of infant care are rare for wild titi monkeys. I analyzed data from two groups of titi monkeys (Callicebus discolor) in Yasuní National Park and Biosphere Reserve and quantified the affiliative social interactions between the adult male and the adult female in the group to determine 1) the frequency and type of affiliative behaviors exhibited by pairmates, 2) whether there is evidence for sex differences in maintenance of affiliative behaviors and proximity, and 3) whether there is evidence of social costs within a pair during the period when infant care is provided. The most frequent affiliative behaviors involved pairmates resting in close proximity to each other. In addition, males and females spent significantly less time within five meters of each other when they were providing direct infant care, consistent with the prediction that infant care may correlate with a decrease in affiliative behaviors between pairmates. Although no solid conclusions can be drawn from this preliminary study given the small sample size, this research provides data suggesting that the presence of a dependent infant may influence the quality of the relationship between pairmates

Acoustic transmission problems: wavenumber-explicit bounds and resonance-free regions

We consider the Helmholtz transmission problem with one penetrable star-shaped Lipschitz obstacle. Under a natural assumption about the ratio of the wavenumbers, we prove bounds on the solution in terms of the data, with these bounds explicit in all parameters. In particular, the (weighted) $H^1$ norm of the solution is bounded by the $L^2$ norm of the source term, independently of the wavenumber. These bounds then imply the existence of a resonance-free strip beneath the real axis. The main novelty is that the only comparable results currently in the literature are for smooth, convex obstacles with strictly positive curvature, while here we assume only Lipschitz regularity and star-shapedness with respect to a point. Furthermore, our bounds are obtained using identities first introduced by Morawetz (essentially integration by parts), whereas the existing bounds use the much-more sophisticated technology of microlocal analysis and propagation of singularities. We also recap existing results that show that if the assumption on the wavenumbers is lifted, then no bound with polynomial dependence on the wavenumber is possible.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figure

Spurious Quasi-Resonances in Boundary Integral Equations for the Helmholtz Transmission Problem

We consider the Helmholtz transmission problem with piecewise-constant material coefficients, and the standard associated direct boundary integral equations. For certain coefficients and geometries, the norms of the inverses of the boundary integral operators grow rapidly through an increasing sequence of frequencies, even though this is not the case for the solution operator of the transmission problem; we call this phenomenon that of spurious quasi-resonances. We give a rigorous explanation of why and when spurious quasi-resonances occur, and propose modified boundary integral equations that are not affected by them

Explicit bounds for the high-frequency time-harmonic Maxwell equations in heterogeneous media

We consider the time-harmonic Maxwell equations posed in $\mathbb{R}^3$. We prove a priori bounds on the solution for $L^\infty$ coefficients $\epsilon$ and $\mu$ satisfying certain monotonicity properties, with these bounds valid for arbitrarily-large frequency, and explicit in the frequency and properties of $\epsilon$ and $\mu$. The class of coefficients covered includes (i) certain $\epsilon$ and $\mu$ for which well-posedness of the time-harmonic Maxwell equations had not previously been proved, and (ii) scattering by a penetrable $C^0$ star-shaped obstacle where $\epsilon$ and $\mu$ are smaller inside the obstacle than outside. In this latter setting, the bounds are uniform across all such obstacles, and the first sharp frequency-explicit bounds for this problem at high-frequency

Final Report: Condensate Collection

The Condensate Collection Group had two main deliverables that it addressed throughout the year. The first deliverable was to verify the functionality of an existing condensate calculator. This calculator has the ability to predict the amount of water condensation that can be captured from an air conditioning system in a building such as a hotel. The second deliverable was to design a condensate recycling system that will be installed at a Drury Hotel facility, near the San Antonio Airport. For both deliverables detailed plans were developed to accomplish the required tasks. However, because of time-constraints, the system has yet to be built at the Drury hotel. Also, data [h]as not been collected to verify the calculator. Nevertheless, the group is confident that when the system is installed according to plan, it will be fully functional. Furthermore, pursuing the plans to collect data to verify the SAWS calculator will complete the second deliverable and allow evaluation of the calculator

Responses of two Sericoda Kirby, 1837 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) species to forest harvesting, wildfire, and burn severity

Forest fires are among the most important natural disturbances in the boreal region, but fire-initiated succession is increasingly often interrupted by salvage logging, i.e., post-fire removal of burned trees. Unfortunately, very little is known about the ecological effects of this practice. To address this knowledge gap and to examine other factors affecting the abundance of two fire-associated carabid species (Sericoda quadripuntata and S. bembidioides) we conducted three field studies based on pitfall trapping in recent burns in Alberta, Canada. The results suggest that the abundance of both species drastically decreased from the first to the third post-fire year and that fire severity was positively associated with abundance of both species. The combined effects of wildfire and forest harvesting were associated with higher catches of S. quadripunctata, but lower catches of S. bembidioides. We discuss these findings in the contexts of salvage logging and species ecology

Olfactory Communication, Mate Choice, And Reproduction In A Pair-Bonded Primate (aotus Spp.)

Primates are typically considered microsmatic (i.e., having a relatively less developed sense of smell) when compared to other mammals, yet it is becoming increasingly clear that olfaction is an important sense involved in communication in numerous primate taxa, including humans. Still, compared to other social and mating systems, little is known about olfactory communication in strictly monogamous non-human primates. Here, a comprehensive approach using chemical, behavioral, and hormonal data is used to explore how putative olfactory signals may mediate the formation and maintenance of the social and sexual relationship between mates in a socially and genetically monogamous New World primate, the owl monkey (Aotus spp.). This dissertation couples data collected from a captive population of A. nancymaae, and from a wild population of A. azarae as part of the Owl Monkey Project, a long-term project in Formosa, Argentina. Chapter 2 includes a robust chemical analysis of volatile components in the glandular secretions of captive and wild owl monkeys, and identified sex, age, gland of origin, and possibly individual identity as biologically relevant information encoded in these secretions. Chapter 3 investigates potential chemosignals of relatedness. Captive owl monkeys differentially responded to odors based on the relatedness to scent-donor, suggesting a chemosignal of relatedness. Wild pairs showed greater estimates of genetic relatedness than expected with random mating, suggesting individuals in this population do not avoid inbreeding, and likely use some mechanism to recognize kin. Chapter 4 explores female fecundity as a potential chemosignal. Captive males discriminated between the reproductive phases of females using olfactory cues alone. However, behavioral and olfactory behaviors of both captive and wild breeding pairs showed these cues are of limited significance. Finally, chapter 5 takes a broader perspective, considering the role of sexual selection on olfactory communication in owl monkeys. Owl monkey olfactory traits are dimorphic, and this, coupled with the potential role chemosignals may play in reproduction and mate choice, suggest sexual selection has influenced chemical communication in owl monkeys. Still, the degree of dimorphism is reduced compared to other primates. This dissertation expands our knowledge of how olfactory communication may vary with social and mating patterns