Community-based forest management agreement in the country is a needed instrument in attaining sustainability of mangrove management.Sadly,there is no assurance that the system implemented in the mangrove forest manag...Community-based forest management agreement in the country is a needed instrument in attaining sustainability of mangrove management.Sadly,there is no assurance that the system implemented in the mangrove forest management is sustainable.So,evaluating the mangrove management sustainability of the local tribe is a viable avenue for the appropriate management.In this study,the sustainability of the mangrove management system of the Tagbanua tribe in Bgy.Manalo,Puerto Princesa City,Palawan was evaluated.The study utilized various criteria with relevant indicators of sustainable mangrove forest management in assessing the mangrove forest management system.Focused group discussions were conducted to identify the relevant sustainable mangrove forest management C&I and verifiers.Each indicator was rated using the formulated verifiers in the form of the rating scale.Through household interviews,FGD,KII,mangrove assessment,and secondary data analysis,this study also used a mathematical model on the Sustainability Index for Individual Criteria(SIIC)to evaluate the scores for individual criteria and the Overall Sustainability Index(OSI)of the community.As a result,there are a total of seven relevant criteria,and 35 relevant indicators for Mangrove Management in Barangay Manalo.Based on the individual rating of seven criteria,the overall rating of the sustainable mangrove management system is 1.80,which implies a fairly sustainable mangrove management system.Also,the computed overall sustainability index is 0.26,which is fairly or moderately sustainable.Each criterion has strengths and weaknesses and needs to be improved to have a highly sustainable mangrove management system.展开更多
Older adults with dementia are increasing in Japan. Because of this, “communication robots” are being introduced into nursing settings to substitute for the shortage of nurses and other care workers. Our research gr...Older adults with dementia are increasing in Japan. Because of this, “communication robots” are being introduced into nursing settings to substitute for the shortage of nurses and other care workers. Our research group is currently developing a humanoid nursing robot with caring function (HNR), specifically for the functional and practical use of older adults with dementia. The purpose of this study was to clarify improvement points of the current function of humanoid robot’s (Pepper) (SoftBank Robotics) dialog pattern for improving optimal communication between humanoid robot and older adults. Dialog programs were installed in the humanoid robot Pepper, including the application program Care Prevention Gymnastics Exercises for Pepper (Pepper-CPGE) that was made by Xing Company, Japan. Dialogues between older adults and Pepper-CPGE were recorded by video camera. Data from transcriptions of the conversations captured from video and from field notes were analyzed focusing on human-robot interaction. From the recorded scenes and conversations, the following were points to be improved: 1) Intonation of the words vocalized by Pepper-CPGE was different from that expected by the older adult resulted in inappropriate responses by the older adult;2) The timing between Pepper’s questions and the responses of the older adult were not timely and did not match (differences in the question-response time), which lead to confusion among the older adults;and 3) Other surroundings older adults were interested in the dialogue with Pepper-CPGE. However, Pepper-CPGE cannot communicate with multiple older adults. ImprovingPepper-CPGE’s ability to communicate with multiple older adults as an older adult’s dialogue with Pepper-CPGE can cause other older adults to also interact not only with the older adult that Pepper-CPGE is interacting with but also with Pepper-CPGE. This study shows that transactive relations among humanoid robots and older adults can be facilitated. Improving communication between humanoid robots and the older adults by optimizing a structured dialogue is needed to enhance appropriate engagement and participation. It is necessary to create a “Caring dialogue Database” for HNRs in order to know the patient/client and to share the aesthetic experiences of human-robot interactions. Also, it is important to develop a dialog pattern that enables humanoid robots to sympathize with older adults.展开更多
The height variability of Lake Patzcuaro, in central Mexico, remained constant for several decades, and during that period, the lake maintained its functionality and environmental services. However, in the last twenty...The height variability of Lake Patzcuaro, in central Mexico, remained constant for several decades, and during that period, the lake maintained its functionality and environmental services. However, in the last twenty years, there has been a significant decrease in the variability range. In order to estimate the water balance, in this work, an approach was developed to understand how water moves in time and space, and to determine possible inherent thresholds to lake variability. The historical Lake Patzcuaro height above 2035 masl was correlated with several climatic variables. The correlation with monthly rainfall shows that there is a delay of three months, indicating that the lake volume depends on three factors: precipitation, surface runoff and underground contribution, of which precipitation over the lake surface is the least significant. In the long term, using annual data, there is a remarkable memory of precipitation extending beyond five years, seen as a correlation with the accumulated precipitation anomaly (r<sup>2</sup> = 0.76). This behavior should be explained by understanding relationship between the lake and its aquifer. Also important is the population growth, which affects the lake level in two ways: water extraction and water discharge. The models pointed out a nonlinear relationship between water level and the aforementioned variables, and suggest that the carrying capacity of the basin is around 90 thousand people, under current patterns of water consumption. It also indicates that, in order to allow lake recovery or to maintain system resilience, the anomaly of precipitation accumulated during several years should exceed 1000 mm. Although a correlation with land use was attempted, historical data do not reflect a trend that could be associated with water balance.展开更多
Illicit drug use is a critical and challenging issue globally,but there is a lack of thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms of drug use,which is essential for policy interventions,in many threatened place...Illicit drug use is a critical and challenging issue globally,but there is a lack of thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms of drug use,which is essential for policy interventions,in many threatened places.This study aims to explore the socioeconomic determinants of drug use to support policy design in Hong Kong and other regions with similar issues.Multiple linear regression models and fixed-effects models are employed to examine the socioeconomic determinants of drug use based on the most comprehensive data on drug use and population in Hong Kong from 1991 to 2016.The estimates show that demographic and socioeconomic characteristics are important predictors of illicit drug use.The highest rate of drug use is observed for people aged between 20 and 30,as well as for those with primary education.Compared with males,the female drug use rate is 15(or 46)per 10,000 people lower for the newly(or previously)addicted cases.A 10%increase in monthly income is associated with a 14%drop in drug use rate at the district level.The average annual expenditure on drug use is USD 32.6 million in Hong Kong.Drug policies shall pay more attention to these at-risk groups,and shall consider more financial support to lower the drug use rates.展开更多
Shifting to negativity is more and more prevalent in online communities and may play a key role in group polarization.While current research indicates a close relationship between group polarization and negative senti...Shifting to negativity is more and more prevalent in online communities and may play a key role in group polarization.While current research indicates a close relationship between group polarization and negative sentiment,they often link negative sentiment shifts with echo chambers and misinformation within echo chambers.In this work,we explore the sentiment drift using over 4 million comments from a Chinese online movie-rating community that is less affected by misinformation than other mainstream online communities and has no echo chamber structures.We measure the sentiment shift of the community and users of different engagement levels.Our analysis reveals that while the community does not show a tendency toward negativity,users of higher engagement levels are generally more negative,considering factors like the different movies they consume.The results indicate a fitting-in process,suggesting the possible mechanism of group identity on sentiment shift on social media platforms.These findings also provide guidance on web design to tackle the negativity issue and expand sentiment shift analysis to non-English contexts.展开更多
文摘Community-based forest management agreement in the country is a needed instrument in attaining sustainability of mangrove management.Sadly,there is no assurance that the system implemented in the mangrove forest management is sustainable.So,evaluating the mangrove management sustainability of the local tribe is a viable avenue for the appropriate management.In this study,the sustainability of the mangrove management system of the Tagbanua tribe in Bgy.Manalo,Puerto Princesa City,Palawan was evaluated.The study utilized various criteria with relevant indicators of sustainable mangrove forest management in assessing the mangrove forest management system.Focused group discussions were conducted to identify the relevant sustainable mangrove forest management C&I and verifiers.Each indicator was rated using the formulated verifiers in the form of the rating scale.Through household interviews,FGD,KII,mangrove assessment,and secondary data analysis,this study also used a mathematical model on the Sustainability Index for Individual Criteria(SIIC)to evaluate the scores for individual criteria and the Overall Sustainability Index(OSI)of the community.As a result,there are a total of seven relevant criteria,and 35 relevant indicators for Mangrove Management in Barangay Manalo.Based on the individual rating of seven criteria,the overall rating of the sustainable mangrove management system is 1.80,which implies a fairly sustainable mangrove management system.Also,the computed overall sustainability index is 0.26,which is fairly or moderately sustainable.Each criterion has strengths and weaknesses and needs to be improved to have a highly sustainable mangrove management system.
文摘Older adults with dementia are increasing in Japan. Because of this, “communication robots” are being introduced into nursing settings to substitute for the shortage of nurses and other care workers. Our research group is currently developing a humanoid nursing robot with caring function (HNR), specifically for the functional and practical use of older adults with dementia. The purpose of this study was to clarify improvement points of the current function of humanoid robot’s (Pepper) (SoftBank Robotics) dialog pattern for improving optimal communication between humanoid robot and older adults. Dialog programs were installed in the humanoid robot Pepper, including the application program Care Prevention Gymnastics Exercises for Pepper (Pepper-CPGE) that was made by Xing Company, Japan. Dialogues between older adults and Pepper-CPGE were recorded by video camera. Data from transcriptions of the conversations captured from video and from field notes were analyzed focusing on human-robot interaction. From the recorded scenes and conversations, the following were points to be improved: 1) Intonation of the words vocalized by Pepper-CPGE was different from that expected by the older adult resulted in inappropriate responses by the older adult;2) The timing between Pepper’s questions and the responses of the older adult were not timely and did not match (differences in the question-response time), which lead to confusion among the older adults;and 3) Other surroundings older adults were interested in the dialogue with Pepper-CPGE. However, Pepper-CPGE cannot communicate with multiple older adults. ImprovingPepper-CPGE’s ability to communicate with multiple older adults as an older adult’s dialogue with Pepper-CPGE can cause other older adults to also interact not only with the older adult that Pepper-CPGE is interacting with but also with Pepper-CPGE. This study shows that transactive relations among humanoid robots and older adults can be facilitated. Improving communication between humanoid robots and the older adults by optimizing a structured dialogue is needed to enhance appropriate engagement and participation. It is necessary to create a “Caring dialogue Database” for HNRs in order to know the patient/client and to share the aesthetic experiences of human-robot interactions. Also, it is important to develop a dialog pattern that enables humanoid robots to sympathize with older adults.
文摘The height variability of Lake Patzcuaro, in central Mexico, remained constant for several decades, and during that period, the lake maintained its functionality and environmental services. However, in the last twenty years, there has been a significant decrease in the variability range. In order to estimate the water balance, in this work, an approach was developed to understand how water moves in time and space, and to determine possible inherent thresholds to lake variability. The historical Lake Patzcuaro height above 2035 masl was correlated with several climatic variables. The correlation with monthly rainfall shows that there is a delay of three months, indicating that the lake volume depends on three factors: precipitation, surface runoff and underground contribution, of which precipitation over the lake surface is the least significant. In the long term, using annual data, there is a remarkable memory of precipitation extending beyond five years, seen as a correlation with the accumulated precipitation anomaly (r<sup>2</sup> = 0.76). This behavior should be explained by understanding relationship between the lake and its aquifer. Also important is the population growth, which affects the lake level in two ways: water extraction and water discharge. The models pointed out a nonlinear relationship between water level and the aforementioned variables, and suggest that the carrying capacity of the basin is around 90 thousand people, under current patterns of water consumption. It also indicates that, in order to allow lake recovery or to maintain system resilience, the anomaly of precipitation accumulated during several years should exceed 1000 mm. Although a correlation with land use was attempted, historical data do not reflect a trend that could be associated with water balance.
基金funded by the Beat Drugs Fund Association(170062).
文摘Illicit drug use is a critical and challenging issue globally,but there is a lack of thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms of drug use,which is essential for policy interventions,in many threatened places.This study aims to explore the socioeconomic determinants of drug use to support policy design in Hong Kong and other regions with similar issues.Multiple linear regression models and fixed-effects models are employed to examine the socioeconomic determinants of drug use based on the most comprehensive data on drug use and population in Hong Kong from 1991 to 2016.The estimates show that demographic and socioeconomic characteristics are important predictors of illicit drug use.The highest rate of drug use is observed for people aged between 20 and 30,as well as for those with primary education.Compared with males,the female drug use rate is 15(or 46)per 10,000 people lower for the newly(or previously)addicted cases.A 10%increase in monthly income is associated with a 14%drop in drug use rate at the district level.The average annual expenditure on drug use is USD 32.6 million in Hong Kong.Drug policies shall pay more attention to these at-risk groups,and shall consider more financial support to lower the drug use rates.
文摘Shifting to negativity is more and more prevalent in online communities and may play a key role in group polarization.While current research indicates a close relationship between group polarization and negative sentiment,they often link negative sentiment shifts with echo chambers and misinformation within echo chambers.In this work,we explore the sentiment drift using over 4 million comments from a Chinese online movie-rating community that is less affected by misinformation than other mainstream online communities and has no echo chamber structures.We measure the sentiment shift of the community and users of different engagement levels.Our analysis reveals that while the community does not show a tendency toward negativity,users of higher engagement levels are generally more negative,considering factors like the different movies they consume.The results indicate a fitting-in process,suggesting the possible mechanism of group identity on sentiment shift on social media platforms.These findings also provide guidance on web design to tackle the negativity issue and expand sentiment shift analysis to non-English contexts.
