Census of Active Commercial Fishermen in Puerto Rico: 2008

The implementation of Puerto Rican Regulation No. 6768, which overhauled the existing fishery management framework, generated considerable hostility towards local managers. Among the controversial management measures adopted in 2004 were the assignment of fishing licenses based on fishing income, the establishment of closed seasons, and new minimum size restrictions for commercially valuable species. Though tensions have subsided, considerable opposition to these regulations remains. This paper provides a characterization of the current population of active small-scale fishermen, discusses their perceptions about the biological and socio-economic condition of the fishery, and describes their attitudes towards the new management framework. This study revealed that the number of active fishermen decreased from 1,731 in 1988 to 868 in 2008. Although a declining resource base was one of the main drivers behind these waning participation statistics, rising fuel costs and burdensome regulations exacerbated the rate of attrition. The majority of the fishermen were middleaged men (50 years) with moderate levels of formal education and high levels of fishing dependence which limited their employment opportunities outside the fishery. Most of the vessels were small (20 ft) and outfitted with a single outboard engine (80 hp). Hook and line and SCUBA were dominant gears because of their versatility and cost effectiveness. Fishermen suggested that their opposition to the regulations would continue unless they were afforded greater regulatory flexibility and provided with a larger role in the decision-making process. Fishermen were adamant about the need to reconsider the income reporting requirements to secure a fishing license because of the potential for losing public assistance benefits. They also objected to increasing the minimum size of many deepwater snapper (Lutjanidae) and grouper (Serranidae) species because it forced them to discard dead fish, a practice they consider wasteful since these species do not survive the ascent to the surface once hooked

Controversias en el tintero: La retórica del "fundamentalismo religioso" entre musulmanes de Barcelona y Madrid

En las últimas dos décadas, el fundamentalismo ha sido abordado en las Ciencias Sociales como un estilo de creencia mediante el cual algunos fieles— asediados por la modernidad y la secularización—intentan preservar su identidad como pueblo ‘escogido’ (ver Bruce, 2000; Marty & Appleby, 1991, 1995; Ruthven, 2004). Sin embargo, este análisis resulta determinista y esencialista, en tanto que encajona la diversidad religiosa e ignora las variables políticas, éticas, culturales e históricas. Por tal motivo, en esta comunicación presentaré algunos hallazgos de mi reciente trabajo de campo en Barcelona y Madrid y expondré las maneras en que diversos grupos musulmanes han formado sus propias nociones del concepto. Después de todo, para comprender el significado de este concepto, es menester atender los modos en los que distintas personas manejan y reformulan las nociones del fundamentalismoOver the last two decades, fundamentalism has been approached in the Social Sciences as a style of belief through which some of the faithful – besieged by modernity and secularisation – try to preserve their identity as the ‘chosen’ people (see Bruce, 2000; Marty & Appleby, 1991, 1995; Ruthven, 2004). However, this analysis is deterministic and essentialist, in that it circumscribes religious diversity and ignores political, ethnic, cultural and historical variables. To this end, this report presents some findings from my recent fieldwork in Barcelona and Madrid and I will set forth the ways in which different Muslim groups have formed their own ideas of this concept. After all, to understand the meaning of the concept, it is necessary to study the ways in which different people manage and reformulate the ideas of fundamentalis

SNAPP - WPI SNAP Services Assistive Application

SNAP is a Student Government Association funded transportation service offered to WPI community members. As it is a popular campus service it experiences heavy usage which slows its service times. For students awaiting service their safety is sacrificed when they must wait long periods of time unsure if and when their request will be fulfilled. The goal of the project is to create an application, SNAPP, to enhance SNAP services and increase student safety on campus through increased awareness and communication with SNAP services. The results of this project demonstrated a strong desire for this application from students, with this also came suggestions for SNAPP. SNAPP is currently still in the process of being developed and will be continued by an MQP team for the 2018-2019 academic year

Electrify Atwater Kent

The Electrify Atwater Kent project aims to breathe new life into the dull, dreary building of Atwater Kent. LED stairs, bringing a modern look to the front stairwell, as well as the RasPiano, with customizable filters and visualizations to demonstrate the discipline of signal processing, will be installed in the building. With a full installation the project aimsto make Atwater Kent not just a more welcoming space that students feel comfortable studying in, but an inspiration for future engineers as well

Applying the random variable transformation method to solve a class of random linear differential equation with discrete delay

We randomize the following class of linear differential equations with delay, x 0 τ (t) = axτ(t) + bxτ(t − τ), t > 0, and initial condition, xτ(t) = g(t), −τ ≤ t ≤ 0, by assuming that coefficients a and b are random variables and the initial condition g(t) is a stochastic process. We consider two cases, depending on the functional form of the stochastic process g(t), and then we solve, from a probabilistic point of view, both random initial value problems by determining explicit expressions to the first probability density function, f(x, t; τ), of the corresponding solution stochastic processes. Afterwards, we establish sufficient conditions on the involved random input parameters in order to guarantee that f(x, t; τ) converges, as τ → 0 +, to the first probability density function, say f(x, t), of the corresponding associated random linear problem without delay (τ = 0). The paper concludes with several numerical experiments illustrating our theoretical findings.Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadJunta de Andalucí

An Open Source Cyberinfrastructure for Collecting, Processing, Storing and Accessing High Temporal Resolution Residential Water Use Data

Collecting and managing high temporal resolution residential water use data is challenging due to cost and technical requirements associated with the volume and velocity of data collected. We developed an open-source, modular, generalized architecture called Cyberinfrastructure for Intelligent Water Supply (CIWS) to automate the process from data collection to analysis and presentation of high temporal residential water use data. A prototype implementation was built using existing open-source technologies, including smart meters, databases, and services. Two case studies were selected to test functionalities of CIWS, including push and pull data models within single family and multi-unit residential contexts, respectively. CIWS was tested for scalability and performance within our design constraints and proved to be effective within both case studies. All CIWS elements and the case study data described are freely available for re-use

Neonatal hemophagocytic syndrome. Case report

Introducción: el síndrome hemofagocítico o linfohistiocitosis hemofagocítica se caracteriza por una activación patológica del sistema inmune mediada por linfocitos T citotóxicos, natural killers y macrófagos, que finalmente fagocitan las células hematopoyéticas. Presentación de caso: recién nacido a término, peso adecuado para la edad gestacional, hijo de madre multípara, abortadora habitual, con antecedentes patológicos personales de hipermovilidad articular y gastritis crónica. Nació en buenas condiciones y en su evolución presentó distrés respiratorio, exantema, fiebre, pancitopenia, hepatomegalia marcada y ferritina sérica elevada con empeoramiento clínico-analítico y rápida progresión a la disfunción múltiple de órganos, con estudios virológicos negativos y sin crecimiento bacteriano ni micótico. Se diagnosticó síndrome hemofagocítico con prescripción de tratamiento específico: dexametasona e inmunoglobulina a dosis inmunosupresora. El neonato tuvo una evolución tórpida y fallece con 27 días de vida.Conclusiones: el síndrome hemofagocítico en el período neonatal es difícil de diagnosticar y se comporta como un simulador de muchas enfermedades con rápida progresión al fallo multiorgánico e implicaciones  pronósticas muy desfavorables para el paciente.Introduction: hemophagocytic syndrome or hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is characterized by a pathological activation of the immune system mediated by cytotoxic T lymphocytes, natural killers and macrophages, which finally phagocytize hematopoietic cells. Case presentation: term newborn, appropriate weight for gestational age, son of a multiparous mother, habitual aborter, with a personal pathological history of joint hypermobility and chronic gastritis. He was born in good condition and in his evolution presented respiratory distress, exanthema, fever, pancytopenia, marked hepatomegaly and elevated serum ferritin with clinical-analytical worsening and rapid progression to multiple organ dysfunction, with negative virological studies and no bacterial or fungal growth. Hemophagocytic syndrome was diagnosed and specific treatment was prescribed: dexamethasone and immunoglobulin at immunosuppressive doses. The neonate had a torpid evolution and died at 27 days of life.Conclusions: hemophagocytic syndrome in the neonatal period is difficult to diagnose and behaves as a simulator of many diseases with rapid progression to multiorgan failure and very unfavorable prognostic implications for the patient

Mathematical methods for the randomized non-autonomous Bertalanffy model

In this article we analyze the randomized non-autonomous Bertalanffy model x 0 (t, ω) = a(t, ω)x(t, ω) + b(t, ω)x(t, ω) 2/3, x(t0, ω) = x0(ω), where a(t, ω) and b(t, ω) are stochastic processes and x0(ω) is a random variable, all of them defined in an underlying complete probability space. Under certain assumptions on a, b and x0, we obtain a solution stochastic process, x(t, ω), both in the sample path and in the mean square senses. By using the random variable transformation technique and Karhunen-Loève expansions, we construct a sequence of probability density functions that under certain conditions converge pointwise or uniformly to the density function of x(t, ω), fx(t) (x). This permits approximating the expectation and the variance of x(t, ω). At the end, numerical experiments are carried out to put in practice our theoretical findings

Morse decomposition of global attractors with infinite components

In this paper we describe some dynamical properties of a Morse decomposition with a countable number of sets. In particular, we are able to prove that the gradient dynamics on Morse sets together with a separation assumption is equivalent to the existence of an ordered Lyapunov function associated to the Morse sets and also to the existence of a Morse decomposition -that is, the global attractor can be described as an increasing family of local attractors and their associated repellers