Cold Tolerance, Diapause and Winter Survival of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (\u3ci\u3eHalyomorpha halys\u3c/i\u3e)

The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is native to eastern Asia and is an invasive pest in the United States. Limited research has been done regarding the factors influencing this species’ winter survival within invaded northern regions. Cold tolerance has been previously evaluated in the eastern United States, bot nut within western populations. Winter diapause. Along with any potential links between diapause and cold tolerance remain unstudied. I examined characteristics of cold tolerance, diapause and overwintering sites to evaluate the factors contributing to the winter survival and, ultimately, persistence of this pest within central Washington. This study measured seasonal changes in cold tolerance of H. halys by determining its cold tolerance strategy and supercooling ability via the supercooling point (SCP). Metabolic suppression (as measured by flow-through respirometry) indicated that diapause was induced by a critical photoperiod of 11h:13h (L:D), indicating a process potentially influenced by multiple environmental factors. Also at this time, females no longer had developed eggs in the ovaries, indicating reproductive arrest. Overwintering sites monitored with temperature dataloggers measured daily minimum temperatures at an outdoor enclosure and naturally-selected overwintering site. We verify that populations of H. halys are chill-intolerant (i.e. a portion of individuals die prior to freezing) with minimum cooling temperatures between -10 °C and -15 °C causing survival rates to drop in field and lab populations by 73% to 6% and 86% to 14%, respectively. Cold tolerance significantly differed by light-hour regime (F(3) = 4.55, p-value = 0.0048), sex (F(1) = 9.49, p-value = 0.0026), and mass (F(2) = 4.62, p-value = 0.033). The mean supercooling point (± SEM) of individuals in central Washington was -12.6 ± 0.2 °C. Diapause was observed to be a prerequisite to achieving maximum levels of cold tolerance and must also involve a subsequent period of cold acclimation. Given their extent of cold tolerance, I conclude that under natural conditions, H. halys cannot effectively survive winters within Central Washington State, a conclusion supported by the 100% mortality in an outdoor population. To persist in this region, H. halys will likely need to rely on human-built thermally-insulated refugia

Family Relational Experiences During Major Transitions with a Chronic Illness

Although health care transitions have received some attention in the literature, few researchers have emphasized family relational experiences and communication during major changes while living with a chronic illness. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of parents and their adult children while transitioning from pediatric to adult care of a chronic illness. The bio-psychosocial theory, family systems theory, and attachment theory established the context for this study. A criterion-based sampling technique and snowball sampling were used to recruit 7 parents and 6 of their adult children aged 18 to 30 years who were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis or congenital heart disease, and who had either completed or were in the process of completing the transition from pediatric to adult healthcare. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and content analysis was used to code and analyze themes that emerged from the experiences of participants. The themes that were identified included that parents were instrumental in maintenance of treatments during high risk periods of adolescence, healthy parent and child relations included collaboration that accommodated autonomy, and that early coaching helped reduce parental anxiety about non-adherence while increasing the self-efficacy of the child. This study contributes to positive social change by informing the design of current procedures to transition young adults with chronic illness by recommending flexibility in negotiations, early education, shadowing between facilities, and incorporating evidence-based practice based on feedback from each family member

Ilokano Lessons

Humanities Open Book Program, a joint initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon FoundationThe Philippines series of the PALI Language Texts, under the general editorship of Howard P. McKaughan, consists of lesson textbooks, grammars, and dictionaries for seven major Filipino languages. Ilokano is an Austronesian language. It ranks third among the major languages of the Philippines, being spoken by just over 12 percent of the population. Widely spoken throughout the Philippines, Ilokano is the dominant language of most of the provinces of Northern Luzon and is used as a lingua franca by non-Ilokano speakers in this area. Settlers have also carried the language to Mindoro and to several areas in Mindanao. Ilokano Lessons was developed under the auspices of the Pacific and Asian Linguistics Institute (PALI) of the University of Hawaii, and accompanies the Ilokano dictionary and the Ilokano reference grammar. The lessons in this text are supplemented by a series of appendixes consisting of vignettes of Ilokano life, songs, a glossary, and vocabulary lists

Reparaciones en la producción oral: un estudio sobre aprendices de español en Filipinas

Treballs Finals del Màster de Formació de Professor d'Espanyol com a Llengua Estrangera, Facultat d'Educació, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2010-2011, Tutor: Elisa Rosado VillegasEsta tesina presenta un estudio sobre la interlengua española de aprendices filipinos adultos, en una clase conversacional en la Universidad de Filipinas, mediante el análisis de sus autorreparaciones inducidas y no inducidas. Si bien que los errores indican progreso en la interlengua (Corder, 1981), las reparaciones de dichos errores, aparte de indicar progreso, representan el límite máximo del mismo sistema interlingüístico (van Hest, 1996). Las cinco transcripciones analizados, con una duración de 50 minutos cada una, se han examinado a partir de cuatro criterios: según el tipo de error, el tipo de corrección del profesor, las incorporaciones de la corrección por parte del alumno y los tipos de autorreparación. Los resultados incluyen la frecuencia y distribución de autorreparaciones inducidas—tanto las que se han realizado con éxito como las fallidas—en relación con los errores más frecuentes. También se ha observado que los alumnos, con la ayuda del profesor, pueden autocorregir exitosamente los errores «biopcionales» (por ejemplo: subjuntivo-indicativo, ser-estar). Asimismo, los alumnos son capaces de detectar y reparar satisfactoriamente sin la ayuda del profesor los errores de concordancia nominal y verbal, y el uso inadecuado de lexemas del mismo campo semántico. Otros errores que aparecen tan frecuentemente como estos, sin embargo, no reciben la misma atención. El análisis sugiere que la extrema atención a la forma funciona siempre y cuando tanto el profesor como los alumnos coincidan en la conveniencia de incorporar esa retroalimentación correctiva en la práctica y uso de la L2.This Master’s thesis presents a study of the Spanish interlanguage of adult Filipino students in a conversational class in the Philippines by examining their prompted and unprompted selfrepairs. It is known that errors indicate progress in one’s interlanguage (Corder, 1981), however, repairs of such errors not only indicate progress, but represent the maximum limit of the same interlinguistic system as well (van Hest, 1991). Transcripts of five 50-minute long sessions were analyzed into four parts: according to error types, corrective feedback types, uptake moves, and types of self-correction. Results include the frequency and distribution of successful and unsuccessful prompted and unprompted self-repairs related to most frequently committed errors. The findings are twofold: on the one hand, errors that are binary in nature (e.g. subjunctiveindicative, ser-estar) are successfully repaired by the students with the aid of the professor; on the other, errors on verbal and nominal agreement, as well as inadequate use of terms belonging to the same semantic group, are not only detected independently but also successfully repaired by the students. These brought about the awareness of errors as frequently committed but not as often detected. Furthermore, observations suggest extreme focus on form effective for as long as both the teacher and the students agree on the importance of corrective feedback in their practice of correct usage of the target language

Foreign Language Policy and Pedagogy in the Philippines: Potentials for a Decolonial Approach

The implementation of the Department of Education’s Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) marked the beginnings of the nationwide institutionalization of a range of foreign languages (FL) in the Philippines, stimulating new sites of inquiry for the field of critical language studies. Many of the languages offered under the SPFL do not share the historical and social grounding of the country’s official languages. However, they find common ground with English in the extant colonial framings of language teaching and learning, which have often impeded local agency in structuring or reimagining encounters with the “foreign.” As such, this paper aims to explore decolonial approaches to issues that have emerged alongside the promotion and teaching of foreign language classes across all levels of education in the Philippines by drawing inspiration from the decoloniality movement in Latin America and related efforts to de-center knowledge and digress from extant canons. First, it problematizes the implicit reinforcement of the one-nation one-language habitus, paying particular attention to assumptions that guide foreign language policies, materials, and teaching methods that reinforce global linguistic hierarchies and assumptions in favor of “competitiveness.” Second, considerations for alternative foreign language teaching approaches and materials are put forward, factoring in the Philippines’ sociolinguistic and historical features that have guided its framing of the “foreign,” as well as extant challenges in promoting intercultural reflection in an increasingly neoliberal educational setting. Challenges in integrating a decolonial perspective in institutional conceptualizations and policies on foreign language teaching in the Philippines conclude this paper to stimulate reflection on how language teaching may offer opportunities to rethink our relationship to language and interlingual/intercultural encounters

Potential of alternate wetting and drying irrigation practices for the mitigation of ghg emissions from rice fields: Two cases in central luzon (philippines)

Reducing methane (CH$_{4}$) emission from paddy rice production is an important target for many Asian countries in order to comply with their climate policy commitments. National greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory approaches like the Tier-2 approach of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are useful to assess country-scale emissions from the agricultural sector. In paddy rice, alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is a promising and well-studied water management technique which, as shown in experimental studies, can effectively reduce CH$_{4}$) emissions. However, so far little is known about GHG emission rates under AWD when the technique is fully controlled by farmers. This study assesses CH$_{4}$) and nitrous oxide (N$_{2}$)O) fluxes under continuous flooded (CF) and AWD treatments for seven subsequent seasons on farmers’ fields in a pumped irrigation system in Central Luzon, Philippines. Under AWD management, CH$_{4}$) emissions were substantially reduced (73% in dry season (DS), 21% in wet season (WS)). In all treatments, CH$_{4}$) is the major contributor to the total GHG emission and is, thus, identified as the driving force to the global warming potential (GWP). The contribution of N$_{2}$)O emissions to the GWP was higher in CF than in AWD, however, these only offset 15% of the decrease in CH$_{4}$) emission and, therefore, did not jeopardize the strong reduction in the GWP. The study proves the feasibility of AWD under farmers’ management as well as the intended mitigation effect. Resulting from this study, it is recommended to incentivize dissemination strategies in order to improve the effectiveness of mitigation initiatives. A comparison of single CH$_{4}$) emissions to calculated emissions with the IPCC Tier-2 inventory approach identified that, although averaged values showed a sufficient degree of accuracy, fluctuations for single measurement points have high variation which limit the use of the method for field-level assessments

OpenMutt - 3D Printed Robotic Quadruped Educational Controls Platform

The OpenMutt project is an innovative open-source initiative aimed at creating an educational quadruped robot, designed as a multidisciplinary research platform for students and faculty. Powered by 12 brushless motors, each equipped with a custom 3D-printed cycloidal gearbox featuring a 13:1 gear ratio and an O-Drive S1 motor controller, it offers powerful actuation and precise control. With the assembly now complete, the project\u27s focus has shifted to software development, leveraging a Raspberry Pi for motor control via CAN communication and utilizing ROS gazebo simulations for gait testing. 85% of OpenMutt\u27s components are manufactured using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Stereolithography (SLA) printers, with materials such as Polylactic Acid (PLA), Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), and Formlabs Rigid resin. This choice of manufacturing techniques underscores the project\u27s dedication to accessibility, ease of construction, and rapid design iteration. OpenMutt emphasizes these principles, significantly lowering the barriers to robotics research and offering a practical learning experience that merges theoretical knowledge with hands-on application, thereby advancing the fields of robotics education and control research

Predilections of Allied Healthcare Professionals toward an Ideal Interprofessional Education Program via Conjoint Analysis

To shape competent healthcare professionals, a working educational system that facilitates multiprofessional and interprofessional partnership should be in place to foster and deliver better outcomes efficiently, enhancing the quality of healthcare education. Interprofessional Education (IPE) is learning and teaching approach where two or more healthcare professions learn with, from, and about each other. To meet the objective, academic reform that encompasses silos and profession centrism has to be instituted. This study delved into the proclivity of medical and paramedical professionals towards a curricular program that concretizes and strengthens interprofessional collaboration in practice via Conjoint Analysis. Orthogonal Array was employed to elucidate validity and applicability of the five attributes namely Content, Participants, Setting, Teaching Methods, and Format. One hundred allied healthcare professionals representing 25 countries from three international universities participated in the study. Results revealed that setting was the major factor considered when choosing an IPE program with a relative importance of 43.7%.  It was followed by content with a relative importance of 15.8%.  Trailing behind were teaching methods (14.5%) and participants (13.1%), respectively. The stakeholders’ perspectives will serve as a benchmark for a program to be implemented on the Philippine context in line with the ASEAN integration which is currently being embraced

Effectiveness of individualized training based on force–velocity profiling on physical function in older men

The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of an individualized power training program based on force–velocity (FV) profiling on physical function, muscle morphology, and neuromuscular adaptations in older men. Forty-nine healthy men (68 ± 5 years) completed a 10-week training period to enhance muscular power. They were randomized to either a generic power training group (GPT) or an individualized power training group (IPT). Unlike generic training, individualized training was based on low- or high-resistance exercises, from an initial force–velocity profile. Lower-limb FV profile was measured in a pneumatic leg-press, and physical function was assessed as timed up-and-go time (TUG), sit-to-stand power, grip strength, and stair-climbing time (loaded [20kg] and unloaded). Vastus lateralis morphology was measured with ultrasonography. Rate of force development (RFD) and rate of myoelectric activity (RMA) were measured during an isometric knee extension. The GPT group improved loaded stair-climbing time (6.3 ± 3.8 vs. 2.3% ± 7.3%, p = 0.04) more than IPT. Both groups improved stair-climbing time, sit to stand, and leg press power, grip strength, muscle thickness, pennation angle, fascicle length, and RMA from baseline (p < 0.05). Only GPT increased loaded stair-climbing time and RFD (p < 0.05). An individualized power training program based on FV profiling did not improve physical function to a greater degree than generic power training. A generic power training approach combining both heavy and low loads might be advantageous through eliciting both force- and velocity-related neuromuscular adaptions with a concomitant increase in muscular power and physical function in older men.publishedVersio