Review of R and D on Water Hyacinth Utilization in the Philippine Republic

The operations of a Filipino inventor were observed with a view toward determining the technical-economic potential of his hyacinth utilization concepts if the highly fibrous portion of the plant were separated from the other components. Subjects of particular interest include: (1) water hyacinth harvesting techniques, volumes and costs; (2) hyacinth defibering processes; and (3) uses of hyacinth materials for production of animal feeds, paper fibers, particle boards, acoustic and insulation boards, various vitamins and minerals (especially Vitamin A), food products, pesticides, and medicinal and pharmaceutical products

Evaluación de los modelos ultraestructurales y de efectos aleatorios empleados en la recuperación de anillas para estimar las relaciones entre las tasas de supervivencia y las tasas de cosecha en poblaciones bajo explotación

Increased population survival rate after an episode of seasonal exploitation is considered a type of compensatory population response. Lack of an increase is interpreted as evidence that exploitation results in added annual mortality in the population. Despite its importance to management of exploited species, there are limited statistical techniques for comparing relative support for these two alternative models. For exploited bird species, the most common technique is to use a fixed effect, deterministic ultrastructure model incorporated into band recovery models to estimate the relationship between harvest and survival rate. We present a new likelihood–based technique within a framework that assumes that survival and harvest are random effects that covary through time. We conducted a Monte Carlo simulation study under this framework to evaluate the performance of these two techniques. The ultrastructure models performed poorly in all simulated scenarios, due mainly to pathological distributional properties. The random effects estimators and their associated estimators of precision had relatively small negative bias under most scenarios, and profile likelihood intervals achieved nominal coverage. We suggest that the random effects estimation method approach has many advantages compared to the ultrastructure models, and that evaluation of robustness and generalization to more complex population structures are topics for additional research.El aumento en la tasa de supervivencia poblacional ocurrido tras un episodio de explotación estacional se considera como un tipo de respuesta compensatoria por parte de la población. La ausencia de un aumento se interpreta como una evidencia de que la explotación se traduce en una mayor mortalidad anual de la población. Pese a su importancia para la gestión de especies bajo explotación, sólo se dispone de un número limitado de técnicas estadísticas que permiten comparar el apoyo relativo que reciben estos dos modelos alternativos. Para las especies de aves bajo explotación, la técnica más habitual consiste en utilizar un modelo de efectos fijos, de ultraestructura determinista, incorporado a los modelos de recuperación de anillas para estimar la relación entre la tasa de cosecha y la tasa de supervivencia. En el presente estudio explicamos cómo emplear una nueva técnica basada en la razón de verosimilitud, en un marco que asume que la supervivencia y la cosecha son efectos aleatorios que covarían a lo largo del tiempo. Para ello, llevamos a cabo un estudio bajo dicho marco utilizando la simulación Monte Carlo, con objeto de evaluar el rendimiento de las dos técnicas mencionadas. El rendimiento de los modelos ultraestructurales fue bastante deficiente en todos los escenarios simulados, obedeciendo, principalmente, a propiedades distribucionales patológicas. Los estimadores de efectos aleatorios y sus estimadores de precisión asociados presentaron un sesgo relativamente pequeño en la mayor parte de los escenarios, mientras que los intervalos de verosimilitud del perfil alcanzaron una cobertura nominal. Sugerimos que el planteamiento basado en el método de estimación mediante modelos de efectos aleatorios brinda numerosas ventajas en comparación con los modelos ultraestructurales, y que la evaluación de la robustez y la generalización a estructuras poblacionales más complejas constituyen temas para una investigación adicional

Finite-time stabilization of homogeneous non-Lipschitz systems

This paper focuses on the problem of finite-time stabilization of homogeneous, non-Lipschitz systems with dilations. A key contribution of this paper is the design of a virtual recursive Holder, non-Lipschitz state feedback, which renders the non-Lipschitz systems in the special case dominated by a lower-triangular nonlinear system finite-time stable. The proof is based on a recursive design algorithm developed recently to construct the virtual Holder continuous, finite-time stabilizer as well as a C1 positive definite and proper Lyapunov function that guarantees finite-time stability of the non-Lipschitz nonlinear systems

Breeding Birds of Mature Woodlands of Point Pelee National Park Prior to Infestation by Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a wood-boring beetle native to Asia that now infests and kills ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) in North America. Many ecological communities will be dramatically altered by the mortality of ash trees caused by this invasive insect. The EAB recently colonized Point Pelee National Park of Canada in extreme southwestern Ontario, Canada, a site famous for its unusual plant and animal diversity as well as its extraordinary bird migrations. We conducted a census of breeding birds in two ash-rich mature forests at Point Pelee in order to obtain baseline data on the breeding bird communities prior to changes in forest communities that are likely to be caused by the EAB. Here we report the results of the bird census and review possible changes to the breeding bird fauna of Point Pelee that may result from ash tree mortality and the associated disruption of forest communities

Toward a robot swarm protecting a group of migrants

Different geopolitical conflicts of recent years have led to mass migration of several civilian populations. These migrations take place in militarized zones, indicating real danger contexts for the populations. Indeed, civilians are increasingly targeted during military assaults. Defense and security needs have increased; therefore, there is a need to prioritize the protection of migrants. Very few or no arrangements are available to manage the scale of displacement and the protection of civilians during migration. In order to increase their security during mass migration in an inhospitable territory, this article proposes an assistive system using a team of mobile robots, labeled a rover swarm that is able to provide safety area around the migrants. We suggest a coordination algorithm including CNN and fuzzy logic that allows the swarm to synchronize their movements and provide better sensor coverage of the environment. Implementation is carried out using on a reduced scale rover to enable evaluation of the functionalities of the suggested software architecture and algorithms. Results bring new perspectives to helping and protecting migrants with a swarm that evolves in a complex and dynamic environment

Cognitive behavioral therapy for the management of multiple sclerosis–related pain: a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Pain is a common and often debilitating symptom among persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Besides interfering with daily functioning, pain in MS is associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety. While cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for pain has been found to be an effective treatment in other populations, there has been a dearth of research in PwMS. METHODS: PwMS with at least moderate pain severity (N = 20) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: CBT plus standard care (CBT/SC) or MS-related education plus standard care (ED/SC), each of which met for 12 sessions. Changes in pain severity, pain interference, and depressive symptom severity from baseline to the 15 week follow-up were assessed using a 2×2 factorial design. Participants also rated their satisfaction with their treatment and accomplishment of personally meaningful behavioral goals. RESULTS: Both treatment groups rated their treatment satisfaction as very high and their behavioral goals as largely met, although only the CBT/SC group's mean goal accomplishment ratings represented significant improvement. While there were no significant differences between groups post-treatment on the three primary outcomes, there was an overall improvement over time for pain severity, pain interference, and depressive symptom severity. CONCLUSIONS: CBT or education-based programs may be helpful adjunctive treatments for PwMS experiencing pain.Accepted manuscrip

Development of a tailored, telehealth intervention to address chronic pain and heavy drinking among people with HIV infection: integrating perspectives of patients in HIV care.

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain and heavy drinking commonly co-occur and can infuence the course of HIV. There have been no interventions designed to address both of these conditions among people living with HIV (PLWH), and none that have used telehealth methods. The purpose of this study was to better understand pain symptoms, patterns of alcohol use, treatment experiences, and technology use among PLWH in order to tailor a telehealth intervention that addresses these conditions SUBJECTS: Ten participants with moderate or greater chronic pain and heavy drinking were recruited from a cohort of patients engaged in HIV-care (Boston Alcohol Research Collaborative on HIV/AIDS Cohort) and from an integrated HIV/primary care clinic at a large urban hospital. METHODS: One-on-one interviews were conducted with participants to understand experiences and treatment of HIV, chronic pain, and alcohol use. Participants’ perceptions of the infuence of alcohol on HIV and chronic pain were explored as was motivation to change drinking. Technology use and treatment preferences were examined in the fnal section of the interview. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and uploaded into NVivo® v12 software for analysis. A codebook was developed based on interviews followed by thematic analysis in which specifc meanings were assigned to codes. RESULTS: A number of themes were identifed that had implications for intervention tailoring including: resilience in coping with HIV; autonomy in health care decision-making; coping with pain, stress, and emotion; understanding treatment rationale; depression and social withdrawal; motives to drink and refrain from drinking; technology use and capacity; and preference for intervention structure and style. Ratings of intervention components indicated that participants viewed each of the proposed intervention content areas as “helpful” to “very helpful”. Videoconferencing was viewed as an acceptable modality for intervention delivery CONCLUSIONS: Results helped specify treatment targets and provided information about how to enhance intervention delivery. The interviews supported the view that videoconferencing is an acceptable telehealth method of addressing chronic pain and heavy drinking among PLWH.UH2 AA026192 - NIAAA NIH HHSPublished versio

A Reconnaissance of the Deeper Jamaican Coral Reef Fish Communities

A submersible was used to make repetitive dives in Jamaica to depths of 25 m, 50 m, and 100 m. With increasing depth there was a decline in both species and the number of individuals. The territorial damselfish and mixed-species groups of herbivorous fishes were conspicuously absent at 100 m. Few unique species appeared with increasing depth and thus the deep community resembled depauperate versions of the shallower communities. Twelve species were shared between the 3 depths but there was no significant correlation in ranked relative abundance. Thus increasing depth also influenced community organization