Bryophyte (SL) growth and environmental factors along an altitudinal gradient on Cerro Gaital, El Valle, Coclé, Panamá

Research on bryophytes (SL) in the tropics has been lacking compared with the high number of species found there and the potential benefit of bryophytes (SL) as indicators of pollutants and other forms of human disturbance. This study investigated whether or not bryophyte (SL) growth patterns showed relation when compared with environmental factors on the mountain Cerro Gaital in El Valley, Panamá. Whether or not bryophytes (SL) are present, extent of the area covered by their growth, and height of their growth are all aspects of bryophyte (SL) growth that were used. In this study, these three aspects are compared with three environmental factors – substrate type, altitude, and canopy cover. Data were collected along transects at four sites at different altitudes along a trail ascending the mountain. Hypothesis tests were run on each of the nine comparisons between the three bryophyte (SL) growth aspects and the three environmental factors. The results very strongly suggested that there were positive associations between bryophyte (SL) presence and substrate type, as well as presence and altitude and growth height and altitude. They also strongly indicated associations between bryophyte (SL) cover and substrate, bryophyte (SL) cover and altitude, and growth height and substrate. Canopy cover only showed an association with growth height and failed to show one for either presence or bryophyte (SL) cover. In general, the results of the tests involving substrate types and altitudes resembled results from other studies done in the tropics and elsewhere. However, the results for canopy cover did not match with other results and the one test that passed showed a negative association between canopy cover and growth height which is the opposite of what other findings indicate

ACRP Design Competition -- Eagle Eye

This report outlines the concept generation, design, testing, and implementation process of a drone-based automated inspection system. This project was completed for submission in the ACRP Design Competition and for the University of Rhode Island Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Course. Throughout the course of the year the team was sponsored by their Professor and faculty advisor, Dr. Nassersharif, and worked closely with their airport sponsor, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. Capstone Design Team 11 was chosen to participate in the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) National Design Competition. The aim is to plan, design and create innovative approaches to resolve problems experienced by airports and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The team was able to choose between four main categories in which to compete. The category chosen for the competition is the “Airport Management and Planning” category and the “planning for the integration and mitigation of possible impacts of drones into the airport environment” subcategory. The team addressed this subcategory with a solution that automates the daily inspections for runway and taxiway lighting as well as airport perimeter and security of a General Aviation (GA) airport using a drone. The final design was created and validated using Westerly State Airport to complete calculations and perform flight tests. The design is scalable and transferable with the ability to adapt to other GA and private airports, and potentially larger airports. The team demonstrated the adaptability and versatility of the design by also testing the system at Newport State Airport. The design requirements include automating aspects of the daily airfield inspection process and significantly reducing the required man hours to complete the respective inspection tasks. Typical perimeter and security inspections and lighting inspections take approximately one hour to complete. The automated inspection process demonstrated in this project completes each inspection in under 20 minutes. The system uses a video recording feature attached to the drone so that inspections can be logged and archived as well as used as evidence in the event of an incident such as a crash. The design allows for ease of use with a low learning curve to implement and operate the system for different airports. The costs for implementing the system are $4,017. After implementation, airports will save$23,233.5 the first year of operation and $27,250.5 each year thereafter

New Technology for Managing the Formosan Subterranean Termite

Methods for discouraging termites include the basaltic termite barrier and metal mesh barriers under foundations, baiting systems, removable baseboards, and resistant building materials

Theory of change for the delivery of talking therapies by lay workers to survivors of humanitarian crises in low-income and middle-income countries: protocol of a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: There is a severe shortage of specialist mental healthcare providers in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) affected by humanitarian crises. In these settings, talking therapies may be delivered by non-specialists, including lay workers with no tertiary education or formal certification in mental health. This systematic review will synthesise the literature on the implementation and effectiveness of talking therapies delivered by lay workers in LMICs affected by humanitarian crises, in order to develop a Theory of Change (ToC). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies assessing the implementation or effectiveness of lay-delivered talking therapies for common mental disorders provided to adult survivors of humanitarian crises in LMICs will be eligible for inclusion. Studies set in high-income countries will be excluded. No restrictions will be applied to language or year of publication. Unpublished studies will be excluded. Seven electronic databases will be searched: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycEXTRA, Global Health, Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrials.gov. Contents pages of three peer-reviewed journals will be hand-searched. Sources of grey literature will include resource directories of two online mental health networks (MHPSS.net and MHInnovation.net) and expert consultation. Forward and backward citation searches of included studies will be performed. Two reviewers will independently screen studies for inclusion, extract data and assess study quality. A narrative synthesis will be conducted, following established guidelines. A ToC map will be amended iteratively to take into account the review results and guide the synthesis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Findings will be presented in a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated through a coordinated communications strategy targeting knowledge generators, enablers and users. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42017058287

Mental Health for Sustainable Development: A Topic Guide for Development Professionals

While many development professionals recognise the need to do more for mental health, they do not always know where to begin. This topic guide is intended as a primer for development professionals interested in learning more about the basics. Mental health affects us all. Mental health is a continuum, ranging from good mental health and wellbeing at one end, to substantial personal suffering and impairment at the other. Everyone has mental health, and mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) conditions can affect anyone. Together, MNS conditions are the number one cause of years lived with disability (YLDs) worldwide and are responsible for at least 10% of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). One in four people will develop a mental health condition in their lifetime, and one in six is living with a neurological condition. The number of people living with MNS conditions is expected to increase dramatically in coming years as population sizes and life expectancies rise, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). People with MNS conditions are often in vulnerable situations. Many people around the world believe that MNS conditions are the result of personal weakness or supernatural forces, and that people with MNS conditions pose a danger to society. This can result in harmful treatment practices, exclusion from family, community, work, and civic life, inequitable access to health and social services, and ultimately social and economic deprivation, as well as injury, poor health – even death. It is society’s negative response to MNS conditions that makes them so profoundly disabling. Yet the voices of people with psychosocial disabilities are often left out of the disability movement. In many LMICs especially, people with psychosocial disabilities have little control over their own lives and few opportunities to take a stand against stigma, discrimination, and abuse

Tackling the Matrix Multiplication Micro-kernel Generation with Exo

The optimization of the matrix multiplication (or GEMM) has been a need during the last decades. This operation is considered the flagship of current linear algebra libraries such as BLIS, OpenBLAS, or Intel OneAPI because of its widespread use in a large variety of scientific applications. The GEMM is usually implemented following the GotoBLAS philosophy, which tiles the GEMM operands and uses a series of nested loops for performance improvement. These approaches extract the maximum computational power of the architectures through small pieces of hardware-oriented, high-performance code called micro-kernel. However, this approach forces developers to generate, with a non-negligible effort, a dedicated micro-kernel for each new hardware. In this work, we present a step-by-step procedure for generating micro-kernels with the Exo compiler that performs close to (or even better than) manually developed microkernels written with intrinsic functions or assembly language. Our solution also improves the portability of the generated code, since a hardware target is fully specified by a concise library-based description of its instructions.Comment: 11 pages, 18 figures. Presented at CGO 2024. It includes a software artifact step-by-step executio

Trait Anxiety Is Associated with Negative Interpretations When Resolving Valence Ambiguity of Surprised Faces

The current research examines whether trait anxiety is associated with negative interpretation bias when resolving valence ambiguity of surprised faces. To further isolate the neuro-cognitive mechanism, we presented angry, happy, and surprised faces at broad, high, and low spatial frequency and asked participants to determine the valence of each face. High trait anxiety was associated with more negative interpretations of broad spatial frequency (i.e., intact) surprised faces. However, the modulation of trait anxiety on the negative interpretation of surprised faces disappeared at high and low spatial frequencies. The current study provides evidence that trait anxiety modulates negative interpretations of broad spatial frequency surprised faces. However, the negative interpretation of low spatial frequency surprised faces appears to be a robust default response that occurs regardless of individual differences in trait anxiety

Median-based seasonal adjustment in the presence of seasonal volatility

Philippine seasonal time series data tends to have unstable seasonal behavior, called seasonal volatility. Current Philippine seasonal adjustment methods use X-11-ARIMA, which has been shown to be poor in the presence of seasonal volatility. A modification of the Census X-11 method for seasonal adjustment is devised by changing the moving average filters into median-based filtering procedures using Tukey repeated median smoothing techniques. To study the ability of the new procedure, simulation experiments and application to real Philippine time series data were conducted and compared to Census X-11-ARIMA methods. The seasonal adjustment results will be evaluated based on their revision history, smoothness and accuracy in estimating the non-seasonal component. The results of research open the idea of using robust nonlinear filtering methods as an alternative in seasonal adjustment when moving average filters tend to fail under unfavorable conditions of time series data

Median-based seasonal adjustment in the presence of seasonal volatility

Philippine seasonal time series data tends to have unstable seasonal behavior, called seasonal volatility. Current Philippine seasonal adjustment methods use X-11-ARIMA, which has been shown to be poor in the presence of seasonal volatility. A modification of the Census X-11 method for seasonal adjustment is devised by changing the moving average filters into median-based filtering procedures using Tukey repeated median smoothing techniques. To study the ability of the new procedure, simulation experiments and application to real Philippine time series data were conducted and compared to Census X-11-ARIMA methods. The seasonal adjustment results will be evaluated based on their revision history, smoothness and accuracy in estimating the non-seasonal component. The results of research open the idea of using robust nonlinear filtering methods as an alternative in seasonal adjustment when moving average filters tend to fail under unfavorable conditions of time series data