Climate Change and Tourism Features in the Caribbean

The tourist industry is widely recognised as the key engine of growth in the Caribbean, representing a significant source of foreign exchange earnings and employment. The present study provides an assessment of how climate change could likely impact on regional tourism features. The analysis is undertaken by comparing historical tourism climatic indices to those obtained under the various climate change scenarios. The results suggest that the biggest losers, in terms of deteriorations in their climatic features, are likely to be the Caribbean, Central America and South America.Tourism climate index; Climate Change; Caribbean

Credit Booms and Busts in the Caribbean

Since 1970, private sector credit has grown quite rapidly in the Caribbean. More recently, between 2004 and 2006, total real credit in the Caribbean has risen by a cumulative 55.7 percent, or approximately 19 percent per annum. In some countries, the rate of expansion has even been stronger, which is of concern given the likely negative macroeconomic consequences of credit booms. This paper attempts to identify the factors that have led to credit booms and conversely busts in the Caribbean, employing annual data for 13 Caribbean countries covering the period 1970 to 2006 in the analysis. This study employs a panel count data regression approach. Three key groups of variables are considered: (1) macroeconomic developments; (2) macroeconomic policy, and (3) external shocks. The reported results suggest that macroeconomic developments were the main determinants of credit booms in the Caribbean, with low inflation, high growth in GDP per capita, investment booms as well as less developed financial systems leading to the emergence of credit booms and conversely for busts.Credit Booms, Credit Busts, Caribbean, Count Data Model

The Study of tone and related phenomena in an Amazonian tone language: Gavião of Rondônia

This paper describes the methods used to study the tone and some related phenomena of the language of the Gavião of Rondônia, Brazil, which is part of the Mondé branch of the Tupi family. Whistling of words by indigenous informants was discovered to be a very effective method for obtaining phonetic accuracy in tone and length. Methods were devised to map out the system of tone and length. They were subsequently used in the study of other Amazonian languages, including Karitiana, Munduruku, Zoró, and Surui of Rondônia, with success. Some notes on tone considerations in orthography are offered, as well as notes on procedures that proved useful in the diachronic study of tone in the Mondé languages. Methods for the study of natural whistled speech used for distance communication are also described, with special attention to the whistled speech of the Gavião, including its use, its efficiency, and the whistling techniques used. The relation between some aspects of Gavião instrumental music and the suprasegmental aspects of the language are also discussed and the methods used to study this are described. Audio and video clips illustrate the phenomena being discussed. *This paper is in the series How to Study a Tone Language, edited by Steven Bird and Larry HymanNational Foreign Language Resource Cente

Pessoa na língua dos Gavião de Rondônia

Na língua dos Gavião de Rondônia, todas as classes de radicais (nomes, verbos, adjetivos, auxiliares), com exceção dos radicais de verbos intransitivos, podem receber como marcadores de pessoa clíticos pessoais ou pronomes pessoais livres.  Existem quatro classes de clíticos pessoais e cada radical simples pertence a uma destas. Os clíticos pronominais marcam o possuidor de um radical nominal, o objeto de um radical de verbo transitivo, o sujeito da oração de um auxiliar e o núcleo do sintagma nominal de adjetivo. Marcam também concordância com o sujeito de verbos intransitivos

Climate Change and Tourism Features in the Caribbean

The tourist industry is widely recognised as the key engine of growth in the Caribbean, representing a significant source of foreign exchange earnings and employment. The present study provides an assessment of how climate change could likely impact on regional tourism features. The analysis is undertaken by comparing historical tourism climatic indices to those obtained under the various climate change scenarios. The results suggest that the biggest losers, in terms of deteriorations in their climatic features, are likely to be the Caribbean, Central America and South America

OS ACERVOS E A DOCUMENTAÇÃO LINGUÍSTICA

This article is derived from a conference at the ABRALIN ao vivo, held online, in 2020. The goal is to discuss the benefits and challenges associated with archiving in language documentation considering our accumulated knowledge as scholars who are deeply involved in administering, contributing to, and drawing on language archives, with an emphasis on the indigenous languages of Latin America. We focus in particular on the relevance of language archiving in Brazil, and its significance for scholars, community members, and other stakeholders.Este artigo é oriundo de uma conferência na ABRALIN ao vivo, realizada online, em 2020. O objetivo é discutir os benefícios e desafios associados à documentação e criação de acervos linguísticos considerando nosso conhecimento acumulado como pesquisadores profundamente envolvidos na administração e manutenção de acervos de línguas, com ênfase nas línguas indígenas da América Latina. Focamos na relevância de acervos linguísticos no Brasil e sua importância para a comunidade acadêmica, membros de comunidades indígenas e outras partes interessadas

Credit Booms and Busts in the Caribbean

Since 1970, private sector credit has grown quite rapidly in the Caribbean. More recently, between 2004 and 2006, total real credit in the Caribbean has risen by a cumulative 55.7 percent, or approximately 19 percent per annum. In some countries, the rate of expansion has even been stronger, which is of concern given the likely negative macroeconomic consequences of credit booms. This paper attempts to identify the factors that have led to credit booms and conversely busts in the Caribbean, employing annual data for 13 Caribbean countries covering the period 1970 to 2006 in the analysis. This study employs a panel count data regression approach. Three key groups of variables are considered: (1) macroeconomic developments; (2) macroeconomic policy, and (3) external shocks. The reported results suggest that macroeconomic developments were the main determinants of credit booms in the Caribbean, with low inflation, high growth in GDP per capita, investment booms as well as less developed financial systems leading to the emergence of credit booms and conversely for busts

Point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 serological assays for enhanced case finding in a UK inpatient population.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global pandemic. Case identification is currently made by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) during the acute phase and largely restricted to healthcare laboratories. Serological assays are emerging but independent validation is urgently required to assess their utility. We evaluated five different point-of-care (POC) SARS-CoV-2 antibody test kits against PCR, finding concordance across the assays (n=15). We subsequently tested 200 patients using the OrientGene COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Cassette and find a sensitivity of 74% in the early infection period (day 5-9 post symptom onset), with 100% sensitivity not seen until day 13, demonstrating inferiority to PCR testing in the infectious period. Negative rate was 96%, but in validating the serological tests uncovered potential false-negatives from PCR testing late-presenting cases. A positive predictive value (PPV) of 37% in the general population precludes any use for general screening. Where a case definition is applied however, the PPV is substantially improved (95·4%), supporting use of serology testing in carefully targeted, high-risk populations. Larger studies in specific patient cohorts, including those with mild infection are urgently required to inform on the applicability of POC serological assays to help control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and improve case finding of patients that may experience late complications

Localised versus Regional Adaptation in Limpet Shell Morphology across the Iberian Peninsula

The climate envelope approach to predicting climate-induced species range shift is limited. There are many possible reasons for this, but one novel explanation is that species adapt to changes in temperature at the expense of adaptation to other stressors. Here we test this hypothesis using the limpet, Patella depressa (Mollusca, Patellidae), over a large geographical area covering most of the Atlantic coast of Iberian Peninsula, known to consist of a genetically inter-connected population. We examine limpet shell morphology on four shores in each of three regions, from northern Spain to southern Portugal. Within each region, shell morphology (measured as maximum shell profile to length ratio) varied between shore types differing in their insolation, wave action, microhabitat availability and biological factors. However, this ratio, which is known to be an adaptive response to heat stress, was found to be consistently higher in more southern latitudes, despite differences between shore types being found in all regions. This implies that localised adaptation to shore type (most likely through phenotypic plasticity) is compromised by factors which change over latitudinal or regional scales, or which could occur in response to climate change. Even though such climate-induced changes may initially be localized, compromised adaptation (through plasticity or genetic) may result in altered community interactions and potentially large shifts in community structure

Scaling of olfactory antennae of the terrestrial hermit crabs Coenobita rugosus and Coenobita perlatus during ontogeny

Although many lineages of terrestrial crustaceans have poor olfactory capabilities, crabs in the family Coenobitidae, including the terrestrial hermit crabs in the genus Coenobita, are able to locate food and water using olfactory antennae (antennules) to capture odors from the surrounding air. Terrestrial hermit crabs begin their lives as small marine larvae and must find a suitable place to undergo metamorphosis into a juvenile form, which initiates their transition to land. Juveniles increase in size by more than an order of magnitude to reach adult size. Since odor capture is a process heavily dependent on the size and speed of the antennules and physical properties of the fluid, both the transition from water to air and the large increase in size during ontogeny could impact odor capture. In this study, we examine two species of terrestrial hermit crabs, Coenobita perlatus H. Milne-Edwards and Coenobita rugosus H. Milne-Edwards, to determine how the antennule morphometrics and kinematics of flicking change in comparison to body size during ontogeny, and how this scaling relationship could impact odor capture by using a simple model of mass transport in flow. Many features of the antennules, including the chemosensory sensilla, scaled allometrically with carapace width and increased slower than expected by isometry, resulting in relatively larger antennules on juvenile animals. Flicking speed scaled as expected with isometry. Our mass-transport model showed that allometric scaling of antennule morphometrics and kinematics leads to thinner boundary layers of attached fluid around the antennule during flicking and higher odorant capture rates as compared to antennules which scaled isometrically. There were no significant differences in morphometric or kinematic measurements between the two species