Green Energy in the Caribbean: Influence on Toursim and Economic Development

The green energy agenda has become one of the most important issues in international relations. Many island states of the Oceania have taken the course of green economy construction. The Caribbean states are in some way similar to the Oceania ones and have also made several steps towards greener future. Some of these states are tightly connected with international tourism, leading to the high dependence of their economies from touristic revenues. The article examines this interconnection, including economic component in the analysis. The major question of the article is how does (or doesn’t) tourism influence the development of green energy in the Caribbean states. The two major economies examined in the region are Cuba and Dominican Republic as the two examples of the totally different economic systems and approaches to the development of the green energy. The key findings of the article include such conclusions as the possibility of synergetic interdependence between tourism, economy and green energy and the positive effects this interdependence has. The other finding is that the Cuban method of introducing green energy is less effective than the Dominican one. The novelty of the article includes the comparison of the two economic models in the Caribbean and the development of strategies for the green energy proliferation in the countries.

Medication by Physical Exercise of the Upper Limb in Deforming Spastic Paresis (Stroke); Conventional Physiotherapy Versus Supervised Self- rehabilitation: A Multicentre Prospective, Controlled and Randomized, Single-blind Study over a Period of One Year

Background: Some patients who have had a stroke develop paresis. With time it can become spastic and even distorting. Spastic deforming paresis is often accentuated in the upper limb. It is a real brake in the performance of daily activities, with a psychological impact. The physical therapy of the upper limb today, appears like a real sea snake. Hence the strategies of physical medication must be thought out, studied and developed on a daily basis to overcome this unsightly condition. Objective: Is conventional physiotherapy more effective than supervised self-rehabilitation, in terms of functional recovery in deforming spastic paresis after stroke of the upper limb? This was the major question / objective of this study. Methods: Our study was a multicenter, prospective, interventional, controlled, and randomized, single-blind study. Comparing conventional physiotherapy versus supervised self-rehabilitation over a 12-month period. We recruited 37 patients in France and Spain more than 6 months after their stroke. The judgment tool used during all phases (1st day; 6 months; 9 months and 12 months) of the assessment was the modified Frenchay scale (MFS). Results: The mean age of our cohort was 69 ± 7 years and the mean mounts after stroke was 11,9 ± 5 months. Supervised self-rehabilitation was significantly superior to conventional physiotherapy during the three evaluations carried out on the modified Frenchay scales. At 6 months: 5.99 ± 4.7 Vs 6.97 ± 2.1 (P <0.5). At 9 months: 6.71 ± 9.4; against 7.83 ± 4.1 (P <0.5). Three months after the follow up, we reassessed the patients to see the residual effect, the retention of acquired knowledge and behavioral adaptation after the protocol: 6.57 ± 11, Vs 7.9 ± 6 (P= 0,14). Conclusion: Supervised self-rehabilitation is more effective than conventional physiotherapy. Because from 6 months, and 9 months, a statistically significant difference is demonstrated. this difference persists even 3 months after stopping the follow-up. For the techniques used in the supervised self-rehabilitation group: learning a motor skill could strengthen the circuits of spinal interneurons that facilitate movement. We realized that learning a simple and reciprocating movement, associated with activo-dynamic stretching, done several times a day on target muscles (antagonists were more significant than traditional physiotherapy which, it was rather holistic and nonspecific) would produce an influence in the spinal cord. And, over time, would promote reciprocal inhibition between antagonist and agonist muscles. All the same, further studies with a larger cohort must be carried out in order to conclude on this mentioned neurophysiological hypothesis.

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron-B.1.1.529 Variant leads to less severe disease than Pango B and Delta variants strains in a mouse model of severe COVID-19

COVID-19 is a spectrum of clinical symptoms in humans caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2. The B.1.1.529 Omicron variant is rapidly emerging and has been designated a Variant of Concern (VOC). The variant is highly transmissible and partially or fully evades a spectrum of neutralising antibodies due to a high number of substitutions in the spike glycoprotein. A major question is the relative severity of disease caused by the Omicron variant compared with previous and currently circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2. To address this, a mouse model of infection that recapitulates severe disease in humans, K18-hACE2 mice, were infected with either a Pango B, Delta or Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 and their relative pathogenesis compared. In contrast to mice infected with Pango B and Delta variant viruses, those infected with the Omicron variant had less severe clinical signs (weight loss), showed recovery and had a lower virus load in both the lower and upper respiratory tract. This is also reflected by less extensive inflammatory processes in the lungs. Although T cell epitopes may be conserved, the antigenic diversity of Omicron from previous variants would suggest that a change in vaccine may be required to mitigate against the higher transmissibility and global disease burden. However, the lead time to develop such a response may be too late to mitigate the spread and effects of Omicron. These animal model data suggest the clinical consequences of infection with the Omicron variant may be less severe but the higher transmissibility could still place huge burden upon healthcare systems even if a lower proportion of infected patients are hospitalised.

Evolutionary Genetics of Crop-Wild Complexes

Since Darwin’s time, the role of crop wild relatives (CWR), landraces, and cultivated genepools in shaping plant diversity and boosting food resources has been a major question [...]

Ecology drives the degree of convergence in the gene expression of extremophile fishes

Convergent evolution, where independent lineages evolve similar traits when adapting to similar habitats, is a common phenomenon and testament to the repeatability of evolutionary processes. Still, non-convergence is also common, and a major question is whether apparently idiosyncratic, lineage-specific evolutionary changes are reflective of chance events inherent to evolutionary processes, or whether they are also influenced by deterministic genetic or ecological factors. To address this question, we quantified the degree of convergence in genome-wide patterns of gene expression across lineages of livebearing fishes (family Poeciliidae) that span 40 million years of evolution and have colonized extreme environments in the form of toxic, hydrogen-sulfide-rich springs. We specifically asked whether the degree of convergence across lineage pairs was related to their phylogenetic relatedness or the ecological similarity of the habitats they inhabit. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we showed that the degree of convergence was highly variable across lineage pairs residing in sulfide springs. While closely related lineages did not exhibit higher degrees of convergence than distantly related ones, we uncovered a strong relationship between degree of convergence and ecological similarity. Our results indicate that variation in the degree of convergence is not merely noise associated with evolutionary contingency. Rather, cryptic environmental variation that is frequently ignored when we employ reductionist approaches can significantly contribute to adaptive evolution. This study highlights the importance of multivariate approaches that capture the complexities of both selective regimes and organismal design when assessing the roles of determinism and contingency in evolution.

REPRESENTATION OF CONREPRESENTASI BUDAYA KONSUMEN DI KOMUNITAS MINIMALIS LYFE WITH LESSSUMER CULTURE IN LYFE WITH LESS MINIMALIST COMMUNITY

The culture of consumerism is almost a pathology for people all over the world. Consumerism culture according to Jean Baudrillard is the fulfillment of the human need for signs. Therefore, it is also necessary to identify a consumerist culture in a minimalist community that has thoughts or principles that are contrary to consumerism. The Lyfe With Less minimalist community or can be shortened to the LWL community is an Indonesian minimalist community. This community is a place for people to learn to be minimalist. Minimalism is closely related to reducing consumption in life, in order to get more happiness. Based on the many programs owned by the LWL community, there is one program that is the hallmark of this community. The programs are cross-linked. The research objective is to answer major and minor questions. The major question is how the interrelationships of consumer culture and processes in the LWL community are interrelated. While the minor question is how the involvement of consumerism culture when the process crosses over. This research method uses a virtual ethnographic qualitative method. The results show that the LWL minimalist community has anti-consumerism thoughts, including cross-linking programs to extend the functionality of goods.

The channel capacity of multilevel linguistic features constrains speech comprehension

Humans are expert at processing speech but how this feat is accomplished remains a major question in cognitive neuroscience. Capitalizing on the concept of channel capacity, we developed a unified measurement framework to investigate the respective influence of seven acoustic and linguistic features on speech comprehension, encompassing acoustic, sub-lexical, lexical and supra-lexical levels of description. We show that comprehension is independently impacted by all these features, but at varying degrees and with a clear dominance of the syllabic rate. Comparing comprehension of French words and sentences further reveals that when supra-lexical contextual information is present, the impact of all other features is dramatically reduced. Finally, we estimated the channel capacity associated with each linguistic feature and compared them with their generic distribution in natural speech. Our data point towards supra-lexical contextual information as the feature limiting the flow of natural speech. Overall, this study reveals how multilevel linguistic features constrain speech comprehension.

Excavations on the Coral Mosques of the Maldives

This report presents the results of an archaeological mission done in the Maldives archipelago located to the south-west of India, in the Indian Ocean. In November 2017, we carried out archaeological excavations and surveys as well as collected oral traditions on two sites, the Fandiyaaru Mosque and Koagannu Cemetery in Hulhumeeddhoo town on Addu Atoll and the Friday Mosque of Fenfushi on Alifu Dhaalu Atoll. Two outcomes were expected from our mission: first, to provide new scientific data on the coral mosques of the Maldives in order to improve the chances of success of nomination of the mosques on the World Heritage List of UNESCO; then to support the conservation project of the Maldivian government and international organisations such as UNESCO and the World Monuments Fund (WMF). One major question during our excavation was the continuity of the settlements from pre-Islamic cultures and influences from Buddhist architecture on local Islamic architecture.

The emergence of ecotypes in a parasitoid wasp: a case of incipient sympatric speciation in Hymenoptera?

Background To understand which reproductive barriers initiate speciation is a major question in evolutionary research. Despite their high species numbers and specific biology, there are only few studies on speciation in Hymenoptera. This study aims to identify very early reproductive barriers in a local, sympatric population of Nasonia vitripennis (Walker 1836), a hymenopterous parasitoid of fly pupae. We studied ecological barriers, sexual barriers, and the reduction in F1-female offspring as a postmating barrier, as well as the population structure using microsatellites. Results We found considerable inbreeding within female strains and a population structure with either three or five subpopulation clusters defined by microsatellites. In addition, there are two ecotypes, one parasitizing fly pupae in bird nests and the other on carrion. The nest ecotype is mainly formed from one of the microsatellite clusters, the two or four remaining microsatellite clusters form the carrion ecotype. There was slight sexual isolation and a reduction in F1-female offspring between inbreeding strains from the same microsatellite clusters and the same ecotypes. Strains from different microsatellite clusters are separated by a reduction in F1-female offspring. Ecotypes are separated only by ecological barriers. Conclusions This is the first demonstration of very early reproductive barriers within a sympatric population of Hymenoptera. It demonstrates that sexual and premating barriers can precede ecological separation. This indicates the complexity of ecotype formation and highlights the general need for more studies within homogenous populations for the identification of the earliest barriers in the speciation process.

Spatial Causalities in Geographies of Scientific Knowledge

This paper tries to discuss the efforts of geographers of science to put science in its geographical contexts. Geographers of science have studied the socio-spatial settings in which scientific knowledge has been generated, displayed, and legitimated. For them, science is socially constructed in “spatialities” and “temporalities”. The major question of this study is how “spatialities” construct scientific knowledge via its “causalities”. The fundamental idea is that geography of science does not only deal with places, locations, and regions where scientific knowledge is produced or distributed; it also deals with a variety set of spatial causalities through which scientific knowledge can be formed and transformed. This means that the development of innovative knowledge and ideas take place not only within a spatial context but also occur due to the spatial causalities associated with the myriad interlinkages and interdependencies among places. These imperatives of spatial significance operate across many spatial scales from body/local to the planet/global. Hence, in our increasingly globalized world, we must seek knowledge in spatial encounters and in-between places, not merely within spaces and places. In addition, when we are living in an unprecedented transformation period which transfers the terrestrial spatial causalities to the virtual spatial causalities via intelligent and digital technologies, we should be more aware of the difference that new algorithms make in our daily life through hacking virtual spatial causalities.