Livelihood Resources, Practices and Values of Aetas in Mid-Baytan—Implications to Education and Community Development

The study describes the livelihood resources, practices and values of Aetas in midBaytan, Botolan, Zambales, located in Central Luzon, Philippines. It aimed to provide a basis for an indigenous development program and drew implications on education and community development. Specifically, this study described 1) the characteristics of the residents, 2) livelihood resources and practices, 3) cultural practices and values,and 4) their problems. Participants and key informants were interviewed during fieldworks. Documents were gathered from pertinent offices. Data were analyzed drawing patterns and categories. Participants were 21 to 76 years old, mostly women, married, with elementary education and 2-5 members per household. Livelihoodresources were family-owned or communal. Livelihood practices included enterprise combinations, production and marketing processes. Majority of the participants is into farming, gathering mountain products, and hired labor. Family roles and traditions were well-defined. Prominent values are sharing, trust in God and determination. The g-string and arrows symbolized their practical philosophy and open-mindedness.Low prices for products and inadequate capital resulted to low income that led to poor health, abseentism and early marriage. The study concludes that the Aetas of mid-Baytan possess the needed resources, skills and values to break the cycle of poverty. Family culture keeps their marriage and community peaceful. It is, therefore, recommends that 1) formative IPED emphasize the role of the Aetas in Philippine history and study their way of life; 2) an indigenous development program be drawn encompassing leadership, local governance, livelihood enhancement, gender sensitivity integrating culture and cohesiveness; and, 3) line agencies collaborate for more directional impact. jae. Keywords: Aeta, community development,culture, indigenous education, livelihoo

Recent trends on glacier area retreat over the group of Nevados Caullaraju - Pastoruri (Cordillera Blanca, Peru) using Landsat imagery

The Cordillera Blanca, located in the central zone of the Andes Mountains in Peru, has shown a retreat in its glaciers. This paper presents a trend analysis of the glacier area over the groups of Nevados Caullaraju-Pastoruri from 1975 to 2010 using Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery. In the case of the Nevados Pastoruri/Tuco, the study period was extended back to 1957 by using an aerial photograph taken that year. The extent of clean glacier ice was estimated using Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) thresholds. Moreover, the estimation of debris-covered glacier ice was retrieved by means of a decision tree classification method using NDSI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). Area estimations derived from Landsat imagery were compared to the glacier ground-truth data in 1975 and 2010. Results show a statistically significant (p < 0.05) decreasing trend over the whole study area. Total glacier area decreased at a rate of 4.5 km2 per decade from 1975 to 2010, with a total loss of 22.5 km2 (58%). Lower decreasing rates were found for the period 1987–2010: 3.5 km2 per decade with a total loss of 7.7 km2 (32.5%). In the case of the Nevados Pastoruri/Tuco, decreasing rates of clean ice extent were constant for the periods 1957–2010, 1975–2010 and 1987–2010, with values close to 1.4 km2 per decade and a total loss between 1957 and 2010 estimated at about 5 km2 (54%). This work shows an evident area decrease in the Caullaraju-Pastoruri tropical glaciers, which needs to be included in a future hydrological scenario of local adaptability and water management

Evaluating metallic artefact of biodegradable magnesium-based implants in magnetic resonance imaging

Magnesium (Mg) implants have shown to cause image artefacts or distortions in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Yet, there is a lack of information on how the degradation of Mg-based implants influences the image quality of MRI examinations. In this study, Mg-based implants are analysed in vitro, ex vivo, and in the clinical setting for various magnetic field strengths with the aim to quantify metallic artefact behaviour. In vitro corroded Mg-based screws and a titanium (Ti) equivalent were imaged according to the ASTM F2119. Mg-based and Ti pins were also implanted into rat femurs for different time points and scanned to provide insights on the influence of soft and hard tissue on metallic artefact. Additionally, MRI data of patients with scaphoid fractures treated with CE-approved Mg-based compression screws (MAGNEZIX(®)) were analysed at various time points post-surgery. The artefact production of the Mg-based material decreased as implant material degraded in all settings. The worst-case imaging scenario was determined to be when the imaging plane was selected to be perpendicular to the implant axis. Moreover, the Mg-based implant outperformed the Ti equivalent in all experiments by producing lower metallic artefact (p < 0.05). This investigation demonstrates that Mg-based implants generate significantly lower metallic distortion in MRI when compared to Ti. Our positive findings suggest and support further research into the application of Mg-based implants including post-operative care facilitated by MRI monitoring of degradation kinetics and bone/tissue healing processes

PhiGO 2020 stakeholder workshop : information dissemination and data portal design

This report presents the summarised responses from participants at two stakeholder workshops, held in Iloilo and Pampanga, between 28th January and 5th of February 2020. The workshop focus centred on how stakeholders access hydrological information relevant to their jobs, and the required format that this data needs to take. Participants were asked about their current access routes to information, and their ideal access platform/web portal for hydrological data. This was so that the outputs of the PhiGO project could be tailored to meet as many stakeholder requirements as possible. Stakeholders clearly identified several common points for data access and formats across a number of sectors, and both in their professional and personal environments. Stakeholders required that data is predominantly visual, with a strong focus on maps, figures, and graphs, but backed up by information that can be interrogated, whether that be tabular data or summarised reports. Stakeholders desired a web portal that needed to be clean and easy to use, with guidance for navigation and explanation of complex terms. Detailed information must also be readily available, and the data should be available for offline downloading. The feedback from these stakeholders will feed directly into the final design of the PhiGO data portal

Radiofrequency induced heating of biodegradable orthopaedic screw implants during magnetic resonance imaging

Magnesium (Mg)-based implants have re-emerged in orthopaedic surgery as an alternative to permanent implants. Literature reveals little information on how the degradation of biodegradable implants may introduce safety implications for patient follow-up using medical imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) benefits post-surgery monitoring of bone healing and implantation sites. Previous studies demonstrated radiofrequency (RF) heating of permanent implants caused by electromagnetic fields used in MRI. Our investigation is the first to report the effect of the degradation layer on RF-induced heating of biodegradable orthopaedic implants. WE43 orthopaedic compression screws underwent in vitro degradation. Imaging techniques were applied to assess the corrosion process and the material composition of the degraded screws. Temperature measurements were performed to quantify implant heating with respect to the degradation layer. For comparison, a commercial titanium implant screw was used. Strongest RF induced heating was observed for non-degraded WE43 screw samples. Implant heating had shown to decrease with the formation of the degradation layer. No statistical differences were observed for heating of the non-degraded WE43 material and the titanium equivalent. The highest risk of implant RF heating is most pronounced for Mg-based screws prior to degradation. Amendment to industry standards for MRI safety assessment is warranted to include biodegradable materials

Measurement of illumination exposure in postpartum women

BACKGROUND: Low levels of light exposure at critical times are thought to cause seasonal affective disorder. Investigators, in studies demonstrating the usefulness of bright light therapy, also have implicated light's role in non-seasonal depression. The precise cause of postpartum depression has not been delineated, but it seemed possible that new mothers would spend reduced time in daylight. The goal of this study was to examine the levels of illumination experienced by postpartum mothers and to discover any relationship between light exposure and mood levels experienced during the postpartum period. METHODS: Fifteen postpartum women, who did not have any baseline indication of depression, wore a wrist device (Actillume) for 72 hours to measure their exposure to light. At the end of the recording period, they completed a self-reported measure of mood. The mean light exposure of these postpartum women (expressed as the 24-hour average logarithm of illumination in lux) was compared with that of a representative sample of women of comparable age, residence, and seasonal months of recording. Mood levels were then rank-ordered and tested for correlation with light exposure levels. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the amount of light [log(10)lux] experienced by postpartum (1.01 SD 0.236) and control women (1.06 SD 0.285). Mood was not correlated with illumination in the postpartum sample. CONCLUSIONS: Postpartum women in San Diego did not receive reduced light, nor was low mood related to low illumination

Personality preference influences medical student use of specific computer-aided instruction (CAI)

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that personality preference, which can be related to learning style, influences individual utilization of CAI applications developed specifically for the undergraduate medical curriculum. METHODS: Personality preferences of students were obtained using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. CAI utilization for individual students was collected from entry logs for two different web-based applications (a discussion forum and a tutorial) used in the basic science course on human anatomy. Individual login data were sorted by personality preference and the data statistically analyzed by 2-way mixed ANOVA and correlation. RESULTS: There was a wide discrepancy in the level and pattern of student use of both CAI. Although individual use of both CAI was positively correlated irrespective of MBTI preference, students with a "Sensing" preference tended to use both CAI applications more than the "iNtuitives". Differences in the level of use of these CAI applications (i.e., higher use of discussion forum vs. a tutorial) were also found for the "Perceiving/Judging" dimension. CONCLUSION: We conclude that personality/learning preferences of individual students influence their use of CAI in the medical curriculum

Ethnicity, sleep, mood, and illumination in postmenopausal women

BACKGROUND: This study examined how ethnic differences in sleep and depression were related to environmental illumination and circadian rhythms. METHODS: In an ancillary study to the Women's Health Initiative, 459 postmenopausal women were recorded for one week in their homes, using wrist monitors. Sleep and illumination experience were estimated. Depression was self-rated with a brief adjective check list. Affective diagnoses were made using the SCID interview. Sleep disordered breathing was monitored with home pulse oximetry. RESULTS: Hispanic and African-American women slept less than European-American women, according to both objective recordings and their own sleep logs. Non-European-American women had more blood oxygen desaturations during sleep, which accounted for 26% of sleep duration variance associated with ethnicity. Hispanic women were much more depressed. Hispanic, African-American and Native-American women experienced less daily illumination. Less daily illumination experience was associated with poorer global functioning, longer but more disturbed sleep, and more depression. CONCLUSIONS: Curtailed sleep and poor mood were related to ethnicity. Sleep disordered breathing was a factor in the curtailed sleep of minority women. Less illumination was experienced by non-European-American women, but illumination accounted for little of the contrasts between ethnic groups in sleep and mood. Social factors may be involved

Ethnic Label Use in Adolescents from Traditional and Non-Traditional Immigrant Communities

Understanding adolescents’ use of ethnic labels is a key developmental issue, particularly given the practical significance of identity and self-definition in adolescents’ lives. Ethnic labeling was examined among adolescents in the traditional immigrant receiving area of Los Angeles (Asian n = 258, Latino n = 279) and the non-traditional immigrant receiving area of North Carolina (Asian n = 165, Latino n = 239). Logistic regressions showed that adolescents from different geographic settings use different ethnic labels, with youth from NC preferring heritage and panethnic labels and youth from LA preferring hyphenated American labels. Second generation youth were more likely than first generation youth to use hyphenated American labels, and less likely to use heritage or panethnic labels. Greater ethnic centrality increased the odds of heritage label use, and greater English proficiency increased the odds of heritage-American label use. These associations significantly mediated the initial effects of setting. Further results examine ethnic differences as well as links between labels and self-esteem. The discussion highlights implications of ethnic labeling and context