University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

The purpose of this special issue is to highlight recent research on the intersection of immigrants and policing in the United States, a traditional destination since time immemorial for immigrants from disparate parts of the world. The special issue aims to enhance understandings of immigrants and how they interact with police officers and policing in the United States. Instructively, while there is a host of immigration studies conducted in the United States as well as scholarship on the immigration/policing nexus, the body of work surrounding immigrants and policing appears to be limited and thus requires framing in a broader context to capture a wider range of immigrants’ perspectives on the policing of immigrants in the United States. This special issue addresses the existing lacuna by framing immigrants’ intersection with policing in the United States around a wide range of nationalities, including, but not limited to, immigrants from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, as well as on a host of immigrant specific issues, such as U Visa, sanctuary states and immigrants’ willingness to cooperate with the police. Regardless of the gender, nationality, age, and/or ethnicity of the immigrants reported upon in this special issue, the guest editors issue a call to action for organizations with a migration focus as well as scholars in the social sciences to systematically conduct research on immigrants and their interaction with policing as this has implications for immigration, police legitimacy, and social integration.

Immigrant perceptions of the police and policing hold important implications for police departments, police administrators and immigrants. In the aftermath of several police killings of African-Americans and the harsh and oppressive treatment of immigrants during the Donald Trump administration (January 20, 2017 to January 20, 2021), immigrants in the United States are becoming increasingly wary of the police. During the past three to four decades, research on immigrant perceptions of police and policing has proliferated, especially in the United States where a large number of immigrants reside. Despite the proliferation of scholarship on immigrant perceptions of police in host communities, research examining Caribbean immigrants’ perceptions of police and policing is almost non-existent. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the current study utilized a qualitative approach to gather data from 37 Caribbean immigrants in New York City (Boroughs of Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island) between June and July 2023 to ascertain their perceptions of the police in New York City. The findings indicate a lack of confidence, high levels of distrust and avoidance of the police in New York City. Five themes emerged from the dataset, namely: (a) bias, (b) poor treatment of Blacks, people of color, minorities and immigrants, (c) unlikable, (d) caring professionals, and (e) avoidance.

In light of the global shift towards sustainable dietary patterns, this study investigates the influence of income on the consumption of plantbased proteins, namely tofu and tempeh, in Indonesia. This research uses probit regression analysis to examine the probability of consumption relative to income levels and household sizes among diverse demographic segments. Data from a nationally representative survey indicate that income significantly affects dietary choices, with higher-income households exhibiting varied likelihoods of consuming tofu and tempeh. The study finds that household size inversely affects tofu consumption, particularly among the affluent, while tempeh’s consumption is less sensitive to income and household size variations. These results underscore the complex interplay between economic status and food choices, with implications for policy measures to promote nutritional equity. Recommendations include price stabilization for tofu to ensure affordability across income strata and targeted educational campaigns to enhance awareness of tempeh’s nutritional benefits. The study contributes to the discourse on addressing dietary disparities and enhancing public health nutrition in a developing country.

Indonesia’s strategic food refers to a group of food products that are important in meeting national food needs. This strategic food is the focus of government attention because of its significant impact on food security, the economy, and social stability. The research aims to analyze urban household preferences for strategic food, analyze estimates of urban household demand for strategic food, and analyze the impact of price changes and urban household expenditure on strategic food demand. The research uses Susenas data for 2023, specifically for urban households. Strategic Foods are grouped into rice, corn, soybeans, shallot, chilies, poultry meat, poultry eggs, ruminant meat, consumer sugar, and fish. Analysis of household preference data was carried out using expenditure shares. Demand estimates were analyzed using the LA/AIDS model with the SUR approach. The results of the analysis show that the highest share of urban household expenditure is for rice. Beef is still a luxury commodity with elastic price elasticity. Poultry meat, poultry eggs, and ruminant meat are commodities that are substitutes for each other.

This cross-sectional study investigated nonconventional therapies for COVID-19 in Trinidad, emphasizing the need for documentation supporting future pharmaceutical research. The survey, conducted from June 20 to July 19, 2022, garnered responses from 57 participants aged 18 and above, with 82.46% vaccinated. The majority (81%) utilized both conventional and nonconventional therapies, revealing insights for potential alternatives to traditional treatments. Conventional treatments, including antibiotics, Ivermectin, anti-inflammatories, analgesics, bronchodilators, and cough/flu syrups, were frequently reported. Nonconventional therapies encompassed vitamins, minerals, supplements, and various plant and animal products. When participants used conventional therapies, either alone or in combination with nonconventional ones, 13.21% reported side effects. These included severe thirst, headache, nausea, drowsiness, and one case of weight gain. Conversely, those exclusively using nonconventional treatments reported no side effects. Encouragingly, nonconventional therapies demonstrated promising effects in managing COVID-19, emphasizing the need for meticulous selection, research, and development of their bioactive compounds as potential alternatives to conventional therapies.

Volcano deformation models contribute to hazard assessment by simulating magma system dynamics. Traditional magma reservoir pressure source shape assumptions often fail to replicate irregular, geophysically identified geometries. Uncertainties regarding the influence of reservoir geometry can limit the effectiveness of using deformation models to decipher unrest signals. Here, we aim to determine the feasibility of using a magma reservoir geometry directly derived from a seismic tomography survey in a volcano deformation model for Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat. Three‐dimensional deformation models are created to simulate displacement using a pressure source geometry constrained from a low seismic velocity anomaly, inferred to be a region of partial melt, and contrasted against a traditional ellipsoid reservoir geometry. We also test a “hybrid” model combining a seismically inferred reservoir upper geometry and ellipsoidal base. Results of each model are evaluated against ground displacement observed on Montserrat from 2010 to 2022. Our results show that different reservoir geometries change the horizontal and vertical displacement fields across the island: the ellipsoid reservoir best reproduces vertical displacement magnitude, while the hybrid reservoirs best simulate horizontal displacement vectors and the region of maximum uplift. Overall, the ellipsoid‐shaped reservoir provides our best‐fit to the observed data, but we note this result could be biased due to prior years of optimization helping constrain the ellipsoid shape, size, and location. Our results show the potential for further use of geophysically constrained reservoir geometries in deformation modeling, and our methods could be applied to other deforming volcanoes worldwide.

Appetite for entrepreneurship education (EE) among vocational students has surged dramatically, driven by persistent challenges of unemployment. As a result, vocational institutions are increasingly focused on how much entrepreneurship exposure students receive, particularly how frequently instructors impart core business knowledge and skills to meet growing demand. However, despite this focus, existing measures primarily assess the overall impact of EE by gathering self-reported data on student attitudes with specific metrics for the frequency of exposure to these vital competencies still lacking. To address this gap, the Vocational Education Entrepreneurship Knowledge and Skills (VEEKS) Scale has been developed to assess the extent of exposure that technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions provide to students regarding entrepreneurial competencies. This scale focuses specifically on essential business knowledge and soft skills crucial for entrepreneurial success. With a total sample size of 446, an EFA (n = 180) and CFA (n = 266) determined that business knowledge and soft skills exposure was an acceptable model for measuring VEEKS exposure. Contributing to theory, this measure shifts the focus in EE literature from impact to the exposure of key com-petencies-knowledge and skills. By moving beyond attitude-based assessments, the scale provides valuable practical insights for TVET institutions, supporting curriculum reform, instructor training, and strategic marketing.

The Eastern Caribbean region experiences at least one major disaster yearly. Since 1990, the approximate cost of all disaster-related damage is an estimated US$160 billion. These disasters produce heightened concerns about the Caribbean and the importance of building disaster awareness and resilience, using integrated and systematic approaches for risk management, including analysing the perceptions of disaster. This multi-dimensional study analyses the perceptions of hazards, risks, and early warning systems across the Caribbean. A 40-item questionnaire was distributed in Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago to 600 persons; 416 completed questionnaires were collected. The results identified a gap between the high perception of risk and the lack of self-protective measures. This high perception, threat, and impact of disasters are not translating into sufficient disaster preparedness or mitigation measures, especially those related to creating a household emergency plan, building an emergency kit, heeding advisory warnings, and adopting other preparedness activities. One notable finding was that most respondents reported having greater confidence in disaster communications and information shared by university institutions compared to information received from government agencies. Additionally, there is a concerning dependence on social media for distributing disaster advisories, which may impact the effectiveness and reliability of the information being disseminated. Further, the data analysis offers recommendations to address the weaknesses of the current early warning system (EWS) in the Caribbean and proposes more integrative community-based outreach initiatives, coupled with media campaigns to underscore the significant value of non-economic measures for safeguarding lives and livelihoods.

Flexible and navigable suction ureteral access sheath (FANS) is a potential game changer in flexible ureteroscopy (FURS). The influence of sheath size on outcomes needs research. The primary aim was to analyze 30-day single stage stone free status (SFS), zero fragment rate (ZFR) and complications when using 10/12Fr sheaths vis a vis other sheath sizes. The global FANS research group published the 30-day outcomes in patients who underwent FANS and reasoned this can be a potential game changer. We included 295 patients from this anonymized dataset with division into two groups: Group 1 (Smaller sheath) – 10/12Fr FANS, and Group 2 (Larger sheath) – 11/13Fr or 12/14Fr sheaths. Stone volume was similar between both groups (median 1320 mm³, p = 0.88). Ureteroscopy and total operative time was longer in the smaller sheath group (35 vs. 32 min, p = 0.02 and 50 vs. 45 min, p = 0.001, respectively). While 30-day computed tomography SFS (100% stone free or single residual fragment ≤ 2 mm) were not significantly different (96% vs. 95%, p > 0.99), ZFR (100% stone-free) was better with smaller sheaths (68% vs. 53%, p = 0.02). There was no difference in postoperative complication rates, and no sepsis in both groups. Urologists should consider individualizing appropriate sheath size in normal adult kidneys. Sheath size did not affect complication rates, risk of perioperative injury to the pelvicalyceal system or ureteric injury, but smaller FANS sheaths had similar high SFS. The ZFR with smaller sheaths was better, but this needs to be validated. These smaller sheath outcomes need to be balanced with longer ureteroscopy time, operative time, reach to the lower pole, ease of suction and visibility during lithotripsy. Large volume studies in different types of pelvicalyceal anatomy can determine if indeed smaller FANS is the best choice in FURS.

Introduction This study aims to assess the prevalence of visual impairment and refractive error among learners who are deaf or hard of hearing in schools for Deaf students in Ghana. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to assess the distance visual acuity with the logMAR “E” chart, and ocular health was assessed with an ophthalmoscope and handheld slit lamp with a 90 D lens. Results A total of 1,914 learners were examined in six schools for Deaf students in Ghana. Their ages ranged from 5 to 43 years ( M = 15.18 ± 4.53 years). There were more males (55.5%) than females (44.5%) in the study. Among the learners, 91.1% were deaf, followed by mild hard of hearing (4.0%) and profound hard of hearing (1.8%), among others. Also, 94.8% of the learners had typical vision, followed by moderate visual impairment (2.5%), mild visual impairment (1.4%), and blindness (1.3%) before the provision of spectacles. There was no association between visual impairment (i.e., blindness and visual impairment) and sex among the learners ( p < .05). The leading causes of visual impairments were refractive error and cataracts, while the leading cause of ocular morbidity was allergic conjunctivitis. The prevalence of visual impairment was reduced by almost 2-fold after the provision of spectacles. Discussion The prevalence of deafblindness was low among the learners, with uncorrected refractive errors as the leading cause of mild and moderate visual impairment. If these learners had not been identified through this study, they would have continued to struggle to access the curriculum visually. Implications for Practitioners There is a need to assess hearing and visual functions among learners with disabilities in developing countries like Ghana.

The effect of green belts on wave absorption is a critical aspect of coastal protection strategies. The effectiveness of green belts in wave absorption is influenced by factors such as the type of vegetation used, the density and width of the green belt, and the topography of the coastline. The current study aims to explore the performance of various intelligent tools, including SVM (Support Vector Machine), ABR (Ada Boost Regression), ETR (Extra Trees Regression), GBR (Gradient Boosting Regression), and RF (Random Forest), to forecast drag coefficients of coastal trees (CD). In this direction, four dimensionless parameters of relative wave height (H/d), vegetation density (D), coastal shoreline slope (S), and wave propagation velocity (u/$\sqrt{\xi E/\rho }$) were assumed as input parameters, and CD was considered as the target. To evaluate the performance of developed soft computing models, various statistical indicators and graphical plots including Violin, Tylor, and Scatter were applied. The results revealed that the ETR method outperforms existing machine learning techniques with statistical results of R² = 0.996, RMSE = 0.003, MAE = 0.002, and SI = 0.014. In addition, the Tylor diagram indicates that the distance index obtained using the ETR model exhibited a high alignment with actual data, especially in comparison with alternative tools.

Objective This systematic review and meta-analysis assess the efficacy and safety of rituximab (RTX) in treating idiopathic inflammatory myositis (IIM). Methods PubMed and Embase were systematically searched for trials and observational studies involving RTX use in IIM. Data were analyzed using a random-effects model to generate pooled estimates for overall response, complete remission, partial response, and adverse events, with subgroup analyses by myositis type and RTX dosage (PROSPERO registered number CRD42022353740). Risk of bias assessments were done using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies and risk of bias 1 tool for trials. Results Seventeen studies (1 randomized controlled trial and 16 observational studies), encompassing 362 patients, were included. The overall pooled response rate was 70% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 57%–82%; I ² = 74%, p < 0.001). Complete remission occurred in 13% (95% CI: 3%–25%; I ² = 79%, p < 0.001) and partial response in 48% (95% CI: 30%–67%; I ² = 87%, p < 0.001), both with significant heterogeneity. Subgroup analysis revealed high response rates across all myositis types: polymyositis 69%, dermatomyositis 67%, antisynthetase syndrome 70%, juvenile dermatomyositis 60%, and immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy 86%. Response rates were similar between RTX induction doses of 1 g IV on days 0 and 14 (68%) and 375 mg/m ² weekly for 4 weeks (71%). Reported adverse events totaled 120, including infusion reactions (18.5%) and infections (12.4%). Conclusions RTX shows a favorable clinical response in IIM treatment, though response rates vary. There was a significant heterogeneity in treatment effect estimates that are based on a small number of patients. The incidence of infusion reactions and infections highlights the need for careful monitoring. Further controlled trials are essential to refine treatment protocols and evaluate long-term outcomes for RTX's role in IIM.

Background: Standard irrigating protocols during root canal treatment call for the use of sodium hypochlorite during chemo-mechanical preparation, followed by final irrigation with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). This study determined the effectiveness of a new irrigant, Triton (Brasseler, USA), on smear layer removal during root canal treatment compared to that of 5.25% sodium hypochlorite and CanalPro EDTA 17% (Coltene). Methodology: Twenty-one extracted anterior teeth were prepared for root canal treatment. The teeth were divided into three groups: five teeth were used as control with saline as the irrigant, eight teeth with sodium hypochlorite and 17% EDTA as irrigants, and eight teeth with Triton as the irrigant. Root canal preparation was done using the XP-3D shaper and finisher files (Brasseler, USA) for all teeth with respective irrigants. A single operator performed all root canal treatment procedures. The teeth were prepared for scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and analysis was performed by a second investigator. The smear layer removal was qualitatively assessed to determine the effectiveness of irrigants. Results: Smear layer removal was most effective for teeth irrigated with 5.25% sodium hypochlorite, followed by 17% EDTA (Group B). Teeth irrigated with Triton (Group A) showed a similar appearance to the hypochlorite/EDTA group but with isolated instances of inter-tubular debris. Conclusion: Sodium hypochlorite use followed by a final rinse with EDTA remains the gold standard for the removal of the smear layer created during canal instrumentation.

Poisoning caused by pesticides is widely recognized as a major public health problem among smallholder farmers and rural communities, including in the Caribbean. However, a lack of quality data impedes understanding of the problem and hampers the development of effective strategies for its management. To better understand the prevalence of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning (UAPP) in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica and the pesticides and practices involved, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 197 and 330 vegetable farmers in Trinidad and Jamaica, respectively. The findings from this study revealed a high incidence of self-reported health effects from occupational pesticide exposure, with 48 and 16% of respondents, respectively, experiencing symptoms of UAPP within the previous 12 months. Furthermore, the substantial proportion of UAPP incidents were associated with a few highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs), particularly lambda-cyhalothrin, acetamiprid, and profenofos in Jamaica, and alpha-cypermethrin, paraquat and lambda-cyhalothrin in Trinidad. Given the well-documented adverse effects of these chemicals on human health, the results of this study should be of significant concern to health authorities in Jamaica and Trinidad. This clearly indicates an urgent need for improved regulation and safer alternatives to the use of HHPs, as well as the promotion of alternatives. We provide policy recommendations and identify alternatives to HHPs for tropical vegetable production.

The circumscription of Odontadenieae (Apocynaceae) and its constituent genera (including the infrageneric classifications for Odontadenia ) are tested here based on the phylogenetic analyses of 33 nuclear and 164 chloroplast sequences from 33 species, 84 available for the first time. As currently circumscribed, Odontadenieae is monophyletic, with the genera divided into three main clades. However, Odontadenia and the subgenera and sections of its three earlier infrageneric classifications are all non‐monophyletic. Secondatia is nested within Odontadenia , and O. laxiflora is nested in Pentalinoninae. In order to achieve a monophyletic Odontadenia , we propose the recognition of Codonechites and its transfer to Pentalinoninae. Secondatia species are transferred to Odontadenia , and Angadenia is reduced to a synonym of Pentalinon . Our results support the inclusion of Elytropus in Mesechiteae and the recognition of three sections in Odontadenia . The status of O . sect. Anomalae cannot be evaluated at this time, and is treated as incertae sedis. Eight genera and 39 species are recognized in the tribe here. In addition to the previously published Pentalinoninae, two new subtribes, Cycladeniinae and Odontadeniinae, are published here to accommodate the taxa in the corresponding clades recovered in this study.

Background POT is a relatively newly described benign odontogenic tumor with very few cases registered to date. We present the 1st case of Primordial odontogenic tumor (POT) from Sub-Saharan Africa with unique clinicopathological features; also, this is the first case to report POT’s existence as a Hybrid Odontogenic lesion (HOL), with a pertinent review of the literature. Case presentation This was a 17-year-old patient who presented with slow-growing, painless posterior mandibular swelling. The imaging revealed a well-defined, unilocular, expansile, lytic lesion with internal calcific foci surrounding an impacted #36, indicating a calcifying odontogenic cyst. The incisional biopsy revealed the presence of POT. The tumor was excised along with the involved tooth. Conclusion POT is predominantly a non-aggressive and mostly affects the pediatric population. Hence, clinicians must be updated on all the aspects of this tumor to diagnose it appropriately and avoid any undue over—or under-treatment.

Burkholderia cepacia BCTT , isolated from chronically polluted soil in Trinidad, shows a capacity to survive in crude oil as a sole carbon source. Here, we report its high-quality draft genome sequence and highlight those pathways and genes involved in xenobiotic degradation. These data give a clearer insight into this organism’s biotechnological potential.