Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Universidad de Puerto Rico'

El objetivo de la presente investigación es auscultar y problematizar sobre la capacidad del movimiento estudiantil, en el contexto de la huelga de estudiantes de 2010 en la Universidad de Puerto Rico, de producir una normatividad autónoma más allá de la jurídica para garantizar su propio funcionamiento y durabilidad. Se trata de explorar la producción normativa autónoma al margen del Estado como modo alternativo de regulación social, como una experiencia concreta de ese pluralismo jurídico y normativo del que nos habla Jean Carbonnier (1974), entre otros, como objeto de investigación y estudio fundamental de la sociología jurídica en estos tiempos. En el caso específico objeto de nuestro estudio, éste corresponde a un periodo álgido de proliferación de revueltas estudiantiles y juveniles a nivel internacional que se expresaran, además de Puerto Rico en lugares como Chile, California, Nueva York, Quebec, Grecia, Egipto, España, Estados Unidos, entre otros.

El propósito del estudio se enfocó en conocer cómo funcionan los programas de retención. Utilizó un diseño instrumental de caso (Stake, 1995) y se delimitó en su alcance a explorar y describir la experiencia de un programa de retención, en el contexto de una institución universitaria privada en Puerto Rico (PR). Enfatizó en los procesos y experiencias del programa, interesados en mejorar el entendimiento del fenómeno de la retención estudiantil en el entorno de la universidad privada en PR.

Las preguntas fueron dirigidas a explorar y describir: los procesos y experiencias del programa que facilitan la integración de los estudiantes; condiciones que generan una ecología que facilite el éxito de éstos; mecanismos anticipatorios y de adaptación que se observan en ellos, y cómo son incentivados para responder a eventos que les afectan; y, aquellas interacciones en el campus y con el programa que involucran a éstos en su vida académica. La información se recopiló mediante grupos focales, y el análisis e interpretación, mediante triangulación de datos y secuenciación analítica (Stake, 1995), discutiendo y armonizando contrastes sobre la percepción entre los participantes sobre el éxito y contribuciones del programa.

Los hallazgos revelan: a) consensos sobre la contribución del programa para facilitar la integración de los estudiantes, mediante el apoyo para el manejo de la transición, el trato individualizado, la disponibilidad y accesibilidad de los servicios, ambientes de oportunidades, y el compromiso y liderazgo institucional; b) experiencias con influencias positivas en la retención, posibilitadas mediante interacción entre pares, contacto con profesores, involucramiento en actividades extracurriculares, grupos de apoyo e interacciones con el personal del programa; c) fuertes conexiones de los estudiantes con el personal, con profesores y compañeros de grupo para responder a situaciones personales y de riesgo; y, d) testimonios que demuestran las fortalezas del programa para involucrar a los estudiantes académicamente, para mejorar el desempeño académico y retención. Finalmente, se plantean contrastes entre los participantes del programa, acerca de asuntos que les resultan comunes, pero que mantienen apreciaciones discrepantes entre sí, las cuales deben tener consideración futura en el diseño e implantación de los programas similares en otras universidades privadas en PR.

This qualitative research was performed with a deep multiple case study design to inquire the best practices of the faculty of Nursing and Social Work Programs at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. Those practices have become effective in sustaining the professional accreditation for more than twenty years. Also, to determine if their organizational culture of evaluation is according to the collaborative leadership principles. The studied phenomenon was the organizational culture of evaluation of professional or programmatic accreditation, and the study were focused on: higher education institutions, professional accreditation, faculty leadership and collaborative leadership. The research questions were: Which are the best practices related to the regulatory and procedural aspects, the characteristics of programs, academic and administrative faculty styles that are contributing to the sustained professional accreditation?; Which are the characteristics of the organizational culture of evaluation of programs that contribute to sustained professional accreditation and the influence of the collaborative leadership of its faculty?; and, What are the best practices of the academic programs under study that results effective to achieve and maintain the professional accreditation?. Data were collected through focus group, semistructured interview, document review and field notes techniques. The study had two focus groups, one per program, and eight semistructured interview with academic and administrative leaders. Twenty professors with experience in professional accreditation participated in this study. The data were organized according to the research questions, were analyzed with the method of “Miles and Huberman”, and a cross-case analysis was done. It was found that the most effective practices instituted in both Programs were the leadership of the department director and faculty, teamwork, the program’s culture of assessment, comprehensive planning for reaccreditation, continuous faculty development, a system to collect evidence, and continuous communication between professors and leaders. It was concluded that the most effective strategies to keep the accreditation in both Programs were professor leadership and their teamwork. Participants recommend to others higher education institutions the same practices that have been proven effective to them, in addition, the commitment of the professor and institutional support. Both Programs have a culture of external evaluation of professional accreditation.

Actualmente, Puerto Rico está atravesando la transición demográfica, lo que provoca que la población envejecida esté aumentando. Este reto es debido a la reducción en las tasas de natalidad, las altas tasas de migración, las tasas de mortalidad; el mismo tiene diversas implicaciones sociales. La religión, como elemento pro-social, sirve como herramienta para lidiar con los diversos desafíos que atraviesan los adultos mayores; demostrando una influencia positiva en la vida y en la salud de estos individuos. No obstante, la religión como factor en las investigaciones demográficas, no ha sido estudiada en Puerto Rico.

Por consiguiente, existe una necesidad de proveer información sobre las características sociodemográficas de las personas de 60 años o más por grupo religioso, sus características religiosas, sus redes de apoyo y su estado de salud, ya que estas variables influyen en la vida del envejecido. Se utilizó un estudio descriptivo, trabajando con la base de datos “Condiciones de Salud de los Adultos de Edad Mayor en Puerto Rico: 2002-2003” (conocido por sus siglas en inglés, PREHCO). Los resultados y discusión de este trabajo, les proveerán a los lectores un mejor marco para estudiar la influencia de la religión en estos individuos. Además, se espera que esta investigación despierte el interés de profesionales de la salud y líderes religiosos, para así poder realizar distintos planes de acción o políticas públicas para trabajar con esta población vulnerable.

The human capital accumulation is an important production factor to promote the economic growth of the countries. In this thesis the role of the universities of Puerto Rico in the creation of human capital stock at the regional level is studied, based on a panel data analysis of 15 areas of labor market during the census years 1960 to 2010. The stock of human capital refers to the knowledge generated by the universities through the production of degrees and the R&D activities. Three variables as proxies were designed to measure the rate of accumulation of human capital (HCAP), the rate of new professional degrees (NGRAD) and research and development activities (DRES). The results obtained showed that NGRAD had a positive but very small impact on the rate of human capital stock, while that the R&D did not show any impact. The significant determinants to the growth of HCAP in the regional labor market were the real income per capita and federal tax exemption under Section 936. It's presumed that this incentive promoted by foreign investments generated knowledge spillovers and induced positive externalities for innovation and local economic development. To increase the productivity of the regions it is suggested that universities must be more proactive in the strategic and economic development of the regions in which they are located. This implies that the universities need to reassess their roles so as to actively contribute to the formulation of regional plans of action, promote entrepreneurship activities for professionals who are not being absorbed by the economy, and promote collaboration and knowledge spillovers with regional businesses.

Entre los aspectos más centrales de la racionalidad estética se han encontrado siempre las variables conexiones entre el arte y la política. Estas conexiones son complejas y con muchos más matices de lo que generalmente se asume. En este aspecto, la estética ha contribuido al debate a modo de herramienta clarificadora para examinar la manera en que el arte se introduce en la política o viceversa. El arte, como un espacio privilegiado para pensar y reflexionar sobre el mundo, sobre lo justo y lo injusto, puede contribuir al establecimiento de espacios más democráticos. Partiendo de esta noción del arte político, el objetivo de esta investigación es analizar cómo se dan dichas conexiones durante el periodo del nacimiento, fortalecimiento e consolidación de la cultura nacional en Puerto Rico, así como la conflictiva dimensión social y política que les subyace. El desplazamiento del concepto de puertorriqueñidad y sus sucesivas trasformaciones, a partir del surgimiento de la diáspora neoyorquina, ha producido un espacio esencial para las discusiones sobre identidad nacional y un espacio privilegiado para la creación artístico-­‐política. La aparición de la diáspora supuso una reevaluación del imaginario nacional y sus categorías para poder abarcar de manera convincente las nuevas formas sociales, tanto dentro como fuera de la isla y se ha convertido en un punto de inflexión importante para entender la sociedad puertorriqueña contemporánea. Se examinarán los modos en que ésta subvierte los discursos tradicionales sobre identidad, nación y cultura, a la luz de la teoría poscolonial de Homi K. Bhabha y la teoría de la relación de Édouard Glissant. Por otro lado, para explicar los mecanismos de interacción entre el arte nacional y el aparataje ideológico-­‐político que les subyace, se recurrirá, de manera especial, a los trabajos de Jacques Rancière y Chantal Mouffe. Estos cuatro autores proporcionarán modelos de aproximación al análisis de las prácticas artísticas puertorriqueñas y aportarán a la comprensión de una tradición cultural que responde, en gran medida, a la especificidad del lugar. El imaginario cultural que se produce en la diáspora refleja las complejidades del contexto colonial y transforma el espacio hegemónico en la arena de la contienda política, social, cultural y estética. En esta perspectiva, las prácticas artísticas, y sobre todo las que trabajan la relación entre el arte y la política, contribuyen al desarrollo de nuevas subjetividades y de esferas públicas más democráticas que pueden desembocar en una verdadera transformación de la sociedad.
Among the most important aspects of aesthetic rationality have always contained the variable connections between art and politics. These are complex connections with far greater contrast than what is generally assumed. In this aspect, aesthetics has contributed to the debate as a clarifying tool to examine the ways in which art introduces itself into politics or vice versa. Art, as a privileged space to think and reflect about the world, concerning fairness and unfairness, can contribute to the establishment of more democratic spaces. Starting from this notion of political art, the aim of this research is to analyze how such connections arise during the birth, strengthening and consolidation of the national culture in Puerto Rico, as well as the troubled social and political dimension that underlies it. The shifting concept of “puertorriqueñidad” and its successive transformations, from the emergence of the Puerto Rican Diaspora in New York, has produced an essential space for the discussions of national identity and a privileged space for the artistic-­‐political creation. The appearance of the diaspora promoted a re-­‐evaluation of the national imagery and its categories to be able to convincingly grasp the new social canons, both in and outside the island and it has become an important inflexion point to understand Puerto Rican contemporary society. It will be examined the ways in which the diaspora subverts traditional speech on identity, nation and culture, through the scope of the postcolonial theory of Homi K. Bhabha and Édouard Glissant's theory of relation. On the other hand, to explain the interaction mechanisms between national art and the ideological-­‐ political device that underlies it, it will be resorted, in a special way, to the works of Jacques Rancière and Chantal Mouffe. These four authors will provide the models to approach the analysis of Puerto Rican artistic practices and they will contribute to the understanding of a cultural tradition that answers, to a great extent, to a local specificity. The cultural imagery that takes place in the diaspora reflects on the complexity of the colonial context and transforms the hegemonic space into the arena of political, social, cultural and aesthetic feud. On this perspective, artistic practices, and especially those that discusses the relation between art and politics, contribute to the development of new subjectivities and more democratic public spheres that can culminate in a real transformation of the society.

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Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Anthropology

Thesis (M.A.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2008.
Thesis advisor: Antonio García-Lozada. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Spanish." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-103). Abstract available via the World Wide Web.

Contents -- Preface -- (p. 7) -- Section One: Introduction -- (p. 9) -- Section Two: History of Works, 1931-1998 -- (p. 19) -- Section Three: Toward a Puerto Rican Spiritan Province -- (p. 67) -- Alphabetical Index of Places -- (p. 77)

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1985.
Title from title page screen, viewed June 21, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Jack Hobbs (chair), William Tolone, Fred Mills, Richard Stivers, Max Rennels. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-74) and abstract. Also available in print.

En esta tesis se analizan algunas de las características climatológicas de la precipitación diaria en Puerto Rico, tales como la frecuencia o probabilidad, la intensidad, la concentración, la persistencia y los periodos lluviosos y secos. Para este estudio se ha utilizado los registros pluviométricos diarios de 16 estaciones meteorológicas del conjunto del área de estudio en el periodo comprendido entre 1961 y 2000. Los resultados de los cálculos, destacan, principalmente, las diferencias entre los lugares de mayor y menor elevación del territorio, y en menor medida, entre el este y el oeste del área de estudio. La gran mayoría de los análisis de la precipitación diaria, con la excepción de la concentración, están significativamente correlacionados con la altitud, y además varios de los análisis están inversamente correlacionados con la longitud, como la frecuencia, la persistencia y los periodos lluviosos. Finalmente, sólo en el análisis de la concentración de la precipitación se evidencia una relación inversa respecto a la latitud del territorio.
In this thesis analyzes some of the climatological characteristics of the daily precipitation over Puerto Rico, as the frequency or probabilities, intensity, concentration, persistence and wet and dry periods. For this studies have been utilized daily rain registers of 16 meteorological stations of Puerto Rico over the period 1961-2000. The most notably of the results of the calculations are the differences between the areas of high and low elevation, and a lesser extent, the differences between the eastern and western regions. The great majority of the analyses of the daily precipitation are significantly correlated with the elevation, with the exception of the concentration, and also several of them are inversely correlated with the longitude, as the frequency, persistence and wet periods. Finally, only the concentration of the precipitation analysis is evident an inverse relationship with the latitude.

Much of the economy in Puerto Rico moves through industry-related fashion. In that industry, designers, producers, and sellars or clothing and accessories depend on the media to place their products in the market. For this reason, experts are needed in the field of communications that are specialists on the language or fashion industry. In Puerto Rico, there is not a specialized academic degree in Communication and Fashion Journalism; therefore, there is a need for academically prepared professionals in the field of fashion journalism The purpose of lhe research was to identify the profile of the fashion journalist in Puerto Rico. Also, it pretended to analyze the funcilons and competencies of the present fashion journalist and determine the importance of a specialized curriculum in fashion joumalism. The research was carried out using a mixed approach incorporating quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The population consisted of fashion designers who work in the fashion industry in Puerto Rico and fashion journalists who work or had worked the fashion joumalism in this country. The researcher designed two guides of questions to conduct interviews with the fashion designers and the fashion journalists, and a questionnaire which was administered to fashion designers. The significant findings of this study show that there is a need for ademically prepared professionals in fashion journalism and the fashion journalists who work and had worked on this field in Puerto Rico are self-taught regarding the field of fashion. The contributions of this research were: to identify the profile of the current fashion journalists who exercise or have execised this career in Puerto Rico and the design of a curriculum guide of a higher education degree in Communication and Fashion Journalism.
Gran parte de la economía en Puerto Rico se mueve a través de la industria relacionada con la moda. En dicha industria los diseñadores, productores y vendedores de ropa y accesorios dependen de los medios de comunicación para colocar sus productos en el mercado; por esta razón, se necesitan expertos en el campo de las comunicaciones que sean especialistas en el lenguaje de dicha industria. En Puerto Rico no existe un grado universitario en comunicación o periodismo especializado en moda y los actuales profesionales no han tenido una preparación académica en este campo del periodismo. El propósito de la investigación fue identificar et perfil del periodista de moda en Puerto Rico, analizar las funciones y competencias del periodista de moda actual y determinar la importancia de un currículo especializado en periodismo de moda. La investigación se llevó a cabo utilizando un enfoque mixto incorporando las metodologías cuantitativa y cualitativa. La población estuvo constituida por diseñadores de moda que ejercen esta carrera en Puer1o Rico y periodistas de moda que ejercen o han ejercido el periodismo de moda en el país. Se diseñaron dos guías de preguntas para llevar a cabo las entrevistas a diseñadores y periodistas; y un cuestionario el cual fue administrado a diseñadores de moda. Los hallazgos relevantes en esta investigación demuestran que los actuales periodistas de moda que ejercen o han ejercido esta carrera en Puerto Rico son autodidactas en cuanto al campo de la moda se refieren y que hay necesidad de profesionales académicamente preparados en periodismo de moda. Las aportaciones de es1a investigación fueron: identificar el perfil del actual periodista de moda que ejerce o ha ejercido esta profesión en Puerto Rico y diseñar la guía curricular de un grado académico universitario en Comunicación y Periodismo de Moda

This research investigated the causes and effects of corruption in Puerto Rico. First, it examined incidences of corruption in Puerto Rico in an effort to create a linkage between the historical and contemporary causes of corruption in the island. It used both an agency and a structural approach to further explain the country's contemporary causes of corruption. Its basic finding was that the causes of corruption in Puerto Rico are the blurred boundaries between the private and public sectors, lack of elite competition, lack of elite accountability, weak mass participation, and the mismanagement of material resources. This thesis also examined empirical evidence that demonstrates the effects of corruption. The analysis revealed that corruption in Puerto Rico during the last decade has decreased Puerto Rican socio-economic outputs and investment sources. The study concluded that while anti-corruption measures have improved in the island, they have not adequately focused on the social measures to effectively combat corruption. On that score, the study highlighted the role played by public officials in perpetuating corruption in the island.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2001.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-65).
by Adrianne Hyldahl and Elisha Hopson.
M.Eng.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 31-33).
How does land differentiate itself from other land by the way that it is marked? What implicit power relations are evidenced in these land marking processes? Whose interests are served in the designation of certain places for preservation and others not? What are the strategies for reclaiming marked land? What are the stakes? How does one articulate an ethics of land use? Who decides what is worth preserving and what is worth destroying? Landmark is a working concept as well as an artistic proposition which considers the multiple and complex ways in which land is marked. Focusing on the contested United States Navy Training Facilities in Vieques, Puerto Rico, Landmark: Towards an Alternative Testing Range attempts to create a platform for cross-border exchanges, between local reclamation struggles and global resistance movements. By focusing on the area of greatest destruction, the inner range, as a metaphoric as well as physical ground from which to begin and engage in dialogue, Landmark, considers the possibility of sharing wounds across space and time, through the creation of a transitional geography, one between destruction and recovery.
by Jennifer Allora.
S.M.

This study gathered information about the training of teachers and the application of computers in education in Puerto Rico. The information for the study was assessed mainly by two questionnaires designed by the researcher and distributed to 229 teachers in public and private schools who were using computers as a teaching tool and 21 college professors who were teaching or had taught the Computer Literacy course in Teacher Education Programs. The syllabi of the computer courses were also consulted. Results of the study indicated that higher education institutions meet, at least at a satisfactory level, the standards of the International Society for Technology in Education. The computer is used in a variety of tasks as an instructional tool (CAI) and in some managerial tasks (CMI). It is recommended that higher education institutions adopt the competencies presented by the International Society of Technology in Education. It is also important that the universities collaborate with the Department of Education, providing the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable teachers to use the new technologies properly, without forgetting the human part involved in the educational process.

Thesis (M. Arch.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2004.
Thesis research directed by: School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Thesis (M. Arch.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2005.
Thesis research directed by: School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Architecture. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Reef-building corals are subject to high amounts of stress, including pollution and rising sea surface temperatures due to climate change. These factors can affect the ability of corals to produce their calcium carbonate skeletons. Evaluation of the effects of climate change may be facilitated by evaluation of records of coral skeletal growth over a long period of time. The aim of this study was to evaluate skeletal growth of the coral Orbicella faveolata in La Parguera, Puerto Rico over a 32-year period. For this, 14 Orbicella faveolata core samples were collected from corals at two reefs (1.2 km apart) in southwestern Puerto Rico. Coral cores were used to obtain skeletal growth data. Average skeletal extension, density, and calcification was determined for subannual and annual periods, and compared between sites. Time series and growth master chronologies were constructed and compared between corals at the two reef sites. In addition, sea surface temperature (SST) data was obtained and summarized into time series, and correlated with coral growth chronologies for the 32-year period. Results showed that two Orbicella faveolata, growth parameters (extension and calcification) were similar between Turrumote and Pinnacles reefs, while density was non-significantly greater on Pinnacles Reef between 1973 and 2004. SST had a weak, and non-significant correlation to growth parameters over time.

This dissertation examines the long term effects of population control initiatives brought to the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico to reveal the connections between insular reform programs and the constraints placed on reproductive autonomy for Puerto Rican women in a colonial setting. The history of these interventions exposes how various interest groups including mainland reformers, the Catholic Church, Puerto Rican nationalists and socialists, and colonial intermediaries obscured the damage done to Puerto Rico through poor colonial management during the first thirty years of U.S. occupation by shifting the blame for Puerto Rico’s problems to the supposedly dangerous reproductive habits of poor and working class Puerto Rican women. In all cases, overpopulation discourse and the production of knowledge claims regarding Puerto Rican sexuality, reproduction, population control as a tool of modernization contributed heavily to these pressure groups’ appeals to legitimacy of rule over the island throughout the century. In less than fifty years the conflation of birth control practices, eugenic ideology, and population control legislation would transform Puerto Rico into a social science/contraceptive laboratory, having such a profound impact on the trajectory of birth control culture that a 1981 fertility survey showed that over one third (39%) of the island’s women were sterile. By analyzing the production of this distorted representation of insular conditions and reproduction trends in Puerto Rico during this early phase of U.S. control over the island, this dissertation explores how the convergence of modernizing reform initiatives, population control policy, social science, and overpopulation discourse contributed to the colonial domination of Puerto Rican women’s reproductive autonomy and transformed their into sites of colonial encounters despite living in a nation which denies its own colonial status and history.

Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2018.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 114-125).
This thesis seeks to understand how different groups of people in Puerto Rico and the diaspora deploy internet memes for political critique. In this work, I analyze three case studies focused on how Puerto Rican groups and individuals use internet memes to express political discontent, make calls to action, engage in catharsis, and seek political change. The cases explore critical political meme production under varying circumstances on the island. The first case study, La Junta de Control Fiscal, is a group that uses Facebook to satirize the fiscal control board that was imposed on the island by the US Congress; they do this by making use of satirical socialist realist meme aesthetics, and visual vocabulary. The second case study, Puerto Rican vaporwave, explores the local deployment of an ironic, anti-capitalist aesthetic form of meme production and its transformation into a method of critique of colonialism and recovery of national identity. The third case study, Huracan Maria memes, focuses on how people use internet memes with varying aesthetics to express their frustrations and anger towards federal and state governmental disaster response before, during, and after the 2017 hurricane event. In each case, I gathered an archive of relevant internet memes, conducted content analysis, and interviewed key meme culture participants to get insight into the development process.Together, these case studies showcase the ways that Puerto Rican people make use of memes to tackle issues like climate change, colonialism, disaster response, and austerity measures. This thesis also develops new insights into the collective meme production process. In particular, the work demonstrates that participation within internet meme culture takes different forms. Meme culture participants perform four different types of engagement: original creation, remixing, curation and sharing. Furthermore, this work proves that internet meme production should be seen as a collective storytelling process where the distinct participation patterns shown above play a major role in expressing catharsis, ideas, sensations, and feelings. I conclude with thoughts about how to extend the communicative capabilities of political memes through new media technologies, and suggest new avenues for meme research.
by Aziria D. Rodríguez.
S.M. in Comparative Media Studies

[cat] Les condicions de salut estudiades en aquest estudi estan directament relacionades amb la nutrició, amb els propietaris o administradors, els empleats de servei i de cuina i els menús dels establiments d'aliments i begudes de Puerto Rico. Els comensals i els hostes, amb condicions de salut cròniques, relacionades amb l’alimentació o amb restriccions alimentàries, necessiten esser atesos d’una manera correcta. La informació nutricional i de salut que es proveeixi a les cartes de menús als comensals i hostes és important. En aquest estudi s'investiguen dotze (12) condicions nutricionals i quatre (4) restriccions alimentàries. Aquest estudi mesura i presenta el nivell de coneixement que tenen els administradors, els empleats de línia i els que dissenyen els menús en relació a aquestes condicions i restriccions cap els comensals i els hostes. Sota la categoria del sistema immunològic, es va estudiar la intolerància a la lactosa, la celiaquia, les hipersensibilitats alimentàries i les al·lèrgies alimentàries. Sota la categoria del sistema endocrí, la diabetis com a condició general que es va estudiar també. Sota la categoria del sistema circulatori, s’estudiaren la hipertensió i la hipercolesterolèmia. Sota la categoria del sistema gastrointestinal, s’estudiaren la malaltia de Crohn, la colitis ulcerosa, la malaltia inflamatòria intestinal. De les restriccions alimentàries, s’estudiaren el vegetarianisme, les restriccions per raons de religió, l’obesitat i la nutrició per als atletes. Totes aquestes condicions estan directament relacionades, comparades i estudiades amb cinc (5) categories d'operacions d'aliments i begudes. (1) “chinchorros”, fondes, quioscos, camions de menjar i cafeteries (2) restaurants de menjar ràpid limitat (3) restaurants de servei complet (4) hotels i altres llocs comercials turístics (establiments d'aliments i begudes dins d'un hotel, serveis a domicili o “càtering” i el departament de banquets) (5) establiments d'aliments i be- gudes especialitzats en menjar saludable i línies aèries. Conclusions: Els resultats varen posar d’evidència empírica que les petites i les grans empreses de servei d'aliments i begudes participants a Puerto Rico, àdhuc necessiten oferir un servei més especialitzat i individualitzat als comensals i hostes amb condicions cròniques de salut, relacionades amb l'alimentació i la nutrició. Les al·lèrgies alimentàries segueixen essent una prioritat. Altres condicions que es varen estudiar aquí, en general, són desconegudes àdhuc per a la població porto-riquenya. És just dir que no es compleix adequadament amb una atenció alimentària especial cap als quals necessiten alimentar-se correcta i adequadament.
[spa] Las condiciones de salud estudiadas en esta investigación están directamente relacionadas con la nutrición, con los propietarios o administradores, los empleados de servicio y de cocina y los menús de los establecimientos de alimentos y bebidas participantes en Puerto Rico. Los comensales y huéspedes, con condiciones crónicas de salud, relacionadas con la alimentación o con restricciones alimentarias, necesitan ser atendidos de una manera correcta. La información nutricional y de salud que se provea en las cartas de menús a los comensales y huéspedes es importante. En este estudio se investigan doce (12) condiciones nutricionales y cuatro (4) restricciones alimentarias. Este estudio nos mide y nos proporciona el nivel de conocimiento que tienen los propietarios o la administración, los empleados de servicio o de cocina y los que diseñan los menús en relación con estas condiciones y restricciones hacia los comensales y huéspedes. Bajo la categoría del sistema inmunológico, se estudió la intolerancia a la lactosa, la celiaquía, las hipersensibilidades alimentarias y las alergias alimentarias. Bajo la categoría del sistema endocrino, la diabetes como condición general se estudió también. Bajo la categoría del sistema circulatorio, se estudiaron la hipertensión y el alto colesterol o la hipercolesterolemia. Bajo la categoría del sistema gastrointestinal, se estudiaron las enfermedades de Crohn, la colitis ulcerosa, la enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal. De las restricciones alimentarias, se incluyeron y se estudiaron el vegetarianismo, restricciones por razones de religión, obesidad y nutrición para atletas. Todas estas condiciones están directamente relacionadas, comparadas y estudiadas con cinco (5) categorías de operaciones de alimentos y bebidas. (1) “chinchorros”, fondas, kioscos, camiones de comida y cafeterías (2) restaurantes de comida rápida limitada (3) restaurantes de servicio completo (4) hoteles y otro lugar comercial turístico (establecimientos de alimentos y bebidas dentro de un hotel, servicios a domicilio o “catering” y el departamento de banquetes) (5) establecimientos de alimentos y bebidas especializados en comida saludable y líneas aéreas. Conclusión: Los resultados nos dieron evidencia empírica para concluir que las pequeñas y grandes empresas de servicio de alimentos y bebidas participantes en Puerto Rico aún necesitan ofrecer un servicio más especializado e individualizado a los comensales y huéspedes con condiciones crónicas de salud y relacionadas con la alimentación y nutrición. Las alergias alimentarias siguen siendo una prioridad. Otras condiciones que se estudiaron aquí, en la gran mayoría de los casos, son desconocidas incluso para la población puertorriqueña y, en general, no se cumple adecuadamente con una atención alimentaria individualizada, en especial hacia los que necesitan alimentarse correcta y adecuadamente.
[eng] The health conditions studied in this investigation are directly related with nutrition, proprietors or managers, service and kitchen personnel, and the menus from the food and beverage establishments in Puerto Rico. The diners and hotel guests with chronic disease, related with nourishment or with nutritional restrictions, need to be attended the best way and in a correct manner. The nutritional and health information provided in the menus towards diners and hotel guests is important. In this study, twelve (12) nutritional conditions and four (4) nutritional restrictions were investigated. This study measured and gave the knowledge level that food service operation’s management, line personnel and menu designers had in relation to these conditions and restrictions towards the diners and hotel guests. Under the immunology category, the lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance, celiac disease, food hyper-sensibilities, and food allergies were part of the research. Diabetes as a general condition was among the endocrine category’s condition researched as well. Hypertension and high cholesterol, under the circulatory category, were part of the research. Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome, all under the gastrointestinal category, were investigated simultaneously. Vegetarianism, “religious beliefs” food restrictions, obesity, and athletic nutrition were included as part of the nutritional conditions studied. All these nutritional conditions were directly related, compared, and studied within five (5) classifications of food and beverage operations. (1) “Chinchorros” or small food shops, “fondas” or small inexpensive restaurants, food kiosks, food trucks, and cafeterias (2) Fast service restaurants/limited (3) Full-service restaurant (4) Hotels or other tourist operation (food and beverage operations inside a hotel, catering service, and banquets departments) (5) Food and beverage operations specialized in healthy food, and airlines. Conclusions: The results gave empirical evidence to conclude that small and big food service enterprises in Puerto Rico still need to offer a specialized and individualized service towards diners and hotel guests with chronic health conditions that are related to sustenance and nutrition. Food allergies still are a priority. Other conditions studied in this study, in general, are yet unknown for some of the Puerto Rico’s participants. It is worth mentioning to say that a special food attention is not offered towards those who must eat correctly and in an adequate manner.

Juvenile largemouth bass C annually. Water level increase could be used to stimulate largemouth bass spawning in systems where water temperature is suitable. CPUE of age-1 largemouth bass was positively correlated with water levels of the previous year and negatively correlated with water level fluctuations. The effect of these hydrological variables on largemouth bass recruitment appeared to be exponential rather than linear. Age-1 largemouth bass comprise the majority of the fishable stock in Lucchetti Reservoir, and the stock is typically below carrying capacity. Thus, the potential exists to adopt a water level management plan during the spawning period of largemouth bass to ensure successful largemouth bass recruitment into the next year?s fishable stock.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2004.
"June 2004."
Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-121).
The donning of camouflage gear by military forces is uniformly understood to be an attempt to dissolve into a background matrix in order to deceive an enemy in combat, or in a combat simulation. This thesis examines the landscape of Vieques, Puerto Rico, to disprove such notion and move towards proving the opposite: that the military assembled the background matrix according to its own set of interests. Through different communication channels and agents, the military arranges the retrospective gaze into the landscape, recasting the past in the service of its future stratagems. The military communicates to visitors that they gaze at original, primeval nature, when in fact it is a successional vegetation misrepresented as primordial. This scenography proves nearly unquestionable when it is adopted by corporate tourism marketing at the end of the 20th century, but does not appeal to the leisure audience only. It also seduces all those that opposed the military, perpetuating an idea of Vieques without people in the process.
by Javier Arbona.
S.M.

This thesis contributes to modeling the dynamics of forest community response to environmental gradients and disturbances over a mountain landscape. A gap model (FACET) was parameterized for species of various forest types (Tabonuco, Colorado, Dwarf and Palm), for many terrain conditions and was modified and extended to include species response to excess soil moisture and hurricanes. Landscape cover types were defined by dominance of species of each forest type and canopy height. Parameters of the landscape model (MOSAIC) were calculated from multiple runs of FACET. These runs were determined by combining terrain variables (elevation and soil) and hurricane risk. MOSAIC runs were analyzed for distribution patterns. Geographic Information Systems software was used to process terrain variables, hurricane risk and MOSAIC model output.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with substantial healthcare utilization costs, resulting in a public health priority. In this study, the relationship between the demographic characteristics of age, gender, and type of health insurance; the presence of comorbidities of older Puerto Rican residents diagnosed with AD; and their healthcare utilization patterns (i.e., medical office and emergency room visits and hospital admissions) was examined using Andersen’s behavioral model. Data from the 2013 Puerto Rico Health Study was used in this retrospective cohort design study. All AD cases aged ≥ 60 years were extracted using systematic random sampling. One-way ANOVA-WELCH, Mann-Whitney U test, and negative binomial regressions determined if there was a relationship between independent and dependent variables. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between age, gender, health insurance type, and presence of comorbidities factors and healthcare utilization patterns among older Puerto Ricans with AD. From the results, opportunities were identified for further research and changes in professional practices in order to initiate discussions and action plans to improve services coordination for older Puerto Ricans with AD. Findings might impact social change by inspiring modifications to the public health infrastructure. These modifications may lead to enhanced disease management support, promoted social justice, and increased resources to improve healthcare access and quality of care, and overall enhancement of health outcomes, for Puerto Ricans living with AD.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with substantial healthcare utilization costs, resulting in a public health priority. In this study, the relationship between the demographic characteristics of age, gender, and type of health insurance; the presence of comorbidities of older Puerto Rican residents diagnosed with AD; and their healthcare utilization patterns (i.e., medical office and emergency room visits and hospital admissions) was examined using Andersen's behavioral model. Data from the 2013 Puerto Rico Health Study was used in this retrospective cohort design study. All AD cases aged -?¥ 60 years were extracted using systematic random sampling. One-way ANOVA-WELCH, Mann-Whitney U test, and negative binomial regressions determined if there was a relationship between independent and dependent variables. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between age, gender, health insurance type, and presence of comorbidities factors and healthcare utilization patterns among older Puerto Ricans with AD. From the results, opportunities were identified for further research and changes in professional practices in order to initiate discussions and action plans to improve services coordination for older Puerto Ricans with AD. Findings might impact social change by inspiring modifications to the public health infrastructure. These modifications may lead to enhanced disease management support, promoted social justice, and increased resources to improve healthcare access and quality of care, and overall enhancement of health outcomes, for Puerto Ricans living with AD.

Floods are a significant threat to communities around the world and require substantial resources and infrastructure to predict. Limited local resources in developing nations make it difficult to build and maintain dense sensor networks like those present in the United States, creating a large disparity in flood prediction across borders. To address this disparity, I operated the Iowa Flood Center Top Layer model to predict floods in Puerto Rico without relying on in-situ data measurements. Instead, all model forcing was provided by satellite remote sensing datasets that offer near-global coverage. I used three datasets gathered via satellite remote sensing to build and operate watershed streamflow models: elevation data obtained by the Space Shuttle Endeavour through the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), rainfall estimates gathered by a constellation of satellites through the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM), and evapotranspiration rate estimates collected by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors aboard the Aqua and Terra satellites. While these satellite remote sensing datasets make observations of nearly the entire world, their spatiotemporal resolution is coarse compared to conventional on-the-ground measurements. Hydrologic models were assembled for 75 basins upstream of streamflow gages monitored by the United States Geologic Survey (USGS). Model simulations were compared to real-time measurements at these gages. Continuous simulations spanning 58 months achieve poor Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency and Klinge Gupta Efficiency of -112.0 and -0.5, respectively. The sources of error that influence model performance were investigated, underlining some limitations of relying solely on satellite data for operational flood prediction efforts.

La Casa Blanca (The White House) is the old fortress house of Juan Ponce de Leon’s family, located in the city of San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico also known as Old San Juan. The house was originally built in the early 1500s as one of the first permanent constructions on the islet of San Juan. Both the house and its grounds have undergone several physical changes through their almost 500 years of existence. The house (which today is a museum) has been restored and documented, including the surrounding buildings which were built during the 17th and 18th Centuries and which form the Casa Blanca building complex.Today several garden areas exist on the grounds of Casa Blanca. These gardens have the potential to enhance the site more than they do presently, not only in the aesthetic experience that the visitor to Casa Blanca could have because of the beauty of the place, but also in the experience of history and legend associated with Juan Ponce de Leon.Lamentably, with the possible exception of the Hispano-Moorish garden located next to the central patio of Casa Blanca, the remaining garden areas have not been formally documented for purposes of correct design development or so that the visitor may appreciate and understand their history. In this creative project the author has documented all the information available on Casa Blanca and its gardens from written sources, plans, and from oral interviews obtained in Puerto Rico and the United States.The original intent of the author was not only to document the gardens and grounds of Casa Blanca, but also to create a restoration/rehabilitation design for the best use of this area. This scheme would be in accordance with their historic, legendary, and aesthetic relationship to Casa Blanca and Old San Juan as part of the total cultural heritage of Puerto Rico. Instead, this research of Casa Blanca's gardens' history in itself became the focus of the creative project due to the large amount of time and effort necessary to locate and compile the information. A rehabilitation design plan was not possible in the time frame for this project. However, this investigation opened new areas of study, as it dealt with the overall unrecorded garden history of Puerto Rico which was essential to document before a restoration/rehabilitation plan could be made. The author hopes that this study, as the first documentation of a Puerto Rican garden, will initiate the recording of the total garden history of Puerto Rico.
Department of Landscape Architecture

This thesis explores the development of Puerto Rican public health institutions and policy from 1898 to 1917. I ground the research in the major constitutional legislative actions (Foraker Act of 1900, Jones Act of 1917) taken by the United States to highlight both the key political moments in the colonial relationship between the metropole and colony and the accompanying ramifications for the public health institutions on the island. Case studies of epidemic disease outbreaks - smallpox, hookworm disease, and bubonic plague - facilitate an assessment of how political partisanship, international philanthropic groups, and interest group politicking affected the execution of campaigns responding to these diseases. I show that the circulation of personnel, philosophies, materials, and technologies within the American sphere of influence alone resulted in a sanitary imperialism that was a unique and cosmopolitan amalgamation of the latest medical and public health science of the day. I contend that the annexation and administration of Puerto Rico was above all haphazard in the early years of the twentieth century. The narrative that emerges from other historians who argue that highly specific themes or debates were the central issue does not fit the archival record. Such single-factor explanations as race, gender, sexuality, religion, or economic expansion mask the importance of highly particular factors on the ground. This thesis demonstrates that an understanding of the Puerto Rican context requires a more nuanced and even-handed approach than previous literature has provided. Health policy and institution building from 1898 to 1917 is a story of the continuous attempt to disentangle public health from partisan politicking. In large part, public health and disease campaigns were conceptualized as a means of enhancing commercial ties with the international community and improving the economic outlook of the island.

Cette thèse vise à décrire les transformations en matière de discours et de pratiques sociales survenues dans le cadre d’une reformulation de la situation coloniale de l’île vis-à-vis des États-Unis. L’ethnographie au cœur de ce travail, fut réalisée dans la municipalité rurale d’Orocovis. Elle offre un regard nouveau sur les expériences quotidiennes de la vulnérabilité rurale, produites par les changements politiques et économiques survenus au cours du XXe siècle avec le statut du Commonwealth, la réforme agraire et l'industrialisation. Pour saisir au mieux cette situation actuelle, un dialogue est établi entre les données ethnographiques et les archives policières et journalistiques. En mobilisant notamment la perspective de la gouvernance de Michel Foucault, Orocovis s’offre à nous comme un exemple paradigmatique de la présence de l’État dans le quotidien et le corps des individus – un État présent par son absence. L’usage de drogue, l’expérience de la violence, la dépression et le suicide sont alors des sujets récurrents dans les discours et les échanges quotidiens. C’est pourquoi, dans un second temps, nous appréhendons cette intériorisation du politique au travers du fonctionnement d’une institution publique de santé mentale dont la principale solution apportée aux patients est celle de la médication de la souffrance. Enfin, cette ethnographie nous fait découvrir l’envers d’une autre institution – cette fois-ci privée : une « communauté thérapeutique » (modèle de la ‘‘réhabilitation sociale’’ issu des États-Unis). En prenant comme fer de lance une ethnographie du parcours de vie, ou de mort, à Orocovis, nous découvrons comment l’État gouverne nos corps
This thesis aims to describe the transformations in discourse and social practices that have taken place as part of a reformulation of the colonial situation of the island due to its relation to the United States. Ethnography, at the heart of this work, was carried out in the rural municipality of Orocovis. It offers a new perspective on the daily experiences of rural vulnerability, as a product of political and economic changes with the Commonwealth status and the agrarian and industrialization reforms throughout the twentieth century. To better understand this current situation, a dialogue is established between the ethnographic data and the police and journalistic archives. By using, in particular, the perspective of the government of Michel Foucault, Orocovis is presented as a paradigmatic example of the presence of the State in the daily life and the body of people; a State present through its absence. The use of drugs, the experience of violence, depression, and suicide are recurrent topics in the speeches and daily exchanges with the people. That is why, in a second part of this thesis, we apprehend this internalization of politics through the administration of a public mental health institution whose main solution for patients is that of the prescription of painkillers. Finally, this ethnography reveals rural vulnerability from another institution, this time private, a “therapeutic community” (social rehabilitation model of the United States). Taking as a spearhead for this ethnography the fate for life, or death, in Orocovis, we discover how the State governs our bodies
Esta tesis tiene como objetivo describir las transformaciones en el discurso y las prácticas sociales que se han producido como parte de una reformulación de la situación colonial de la isla con respecto a su relación con los Estados Unidos. La etnografía, corazón de este trabajo, se llevó a cabo en el municipio rural de Orocovis. La misma ofrece una nueva mirada sobre las experiencias cotidianas de la vulnerabilidad rural, como producto de los cambios políticos y económicos—con el estatus del Estado Libre Asociado, la reforma agraria y la industrialización—que se han sucedido a lo largo del siglo XX. Para comprender mejor esta situación actual, se establece un diálogo entre los datos etnográficos y los archivos policiales y periodísticos. Al movilizar, en particular, la perspectiva del gobierno de Michel Foucault, Orocovis se nos presenta como un ejemplo paradigmático de la presencia del Estado en la vida cotidiana y el cuerpo de las personas; un Estado presente por su ausencia. El uso de drogas, la experiencia de violencia, la depresión y el suicidio son temas recurrentes en los discursos e intercambios diarios con los interlocutores. Es por esto que, en un segundo término, aprehendemos esta internalización de la política a través del funcionamiento de una institución pública de salud mental cuya solución principal para los pacientes es la de la prescripción de sedantes. Finalmente, esta etnografía revela la vulnerabilidad rural desde otra institución, esta vez privada, una “comunidad terapéutica” (modelo de rehabilitación social de los Estados Unidos). Tomando como punta de lanza para esta etnografía el curso de la vida, o de la muerte, en Orocovis, descubrimos cómo el estado gobierna nuestros cuerpos

Puerto Rico, the smallest island of the Great Antilles , has an area of 3,400 square miles. Its major language is Spanish and it is a Commonwealth of the United States of America. The population is approximately 3.6 millions and historically had an agricultural-based economy. However, today, because of its geographic location and tropical environment , the major economic industry is tourism. Thousands of people visit the island annually to enjoy the natural scenery and experience the rich cultural heritage that it offers.Studies have shown that the majority of tourists stay in the northern part of the island where the main attractions are Old San Juan, El Yunque National Rain Forest, and the Luquillo Beach. There has been limited tourism in the southern region, where a different climatic environment prevails. As a result, a different variety of natural scenery and ecological systems exists. The most popular tourist attractions in the south are: Ponce, the second largest city; San German, the second oldest town; and, the Phosphorescent Bay in Guanica. These towns are located in close proximity to each other and, thus, a need exists to spread tourism to the rest of the southern coast.One strategy to attract tourists to this area is to rehabilitate sugar plantations that are within the region. It is on the southern coast where most of the sugar industry was established, including the two largest ones. Although this industry is presently suffering a recession, at one time it was the country's leading export. This rehabilitation will allow tourists, as well as islanders, the opportunity to experience how the sugar industry used to be. As a paradox, I am proposing a new economic boom via tourism that focuses -on a "once major income producer."Central Aguirre, in the town of Salinas, will be used as a case study for this rehabilitation plan. It is located five miles southwest of the town of Guayama, a district under consideration for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. This center of sugar production used to be the second largest in the country. The complex itself is a miniature town,built in approximately ninety-five acres. It serves as one of the best examples of the physical and social hierarchy established between the owners and the laborers. The factory closed abruptly operations in January 1991. The proposed rehabilitation intend to offers the visitor an interpretation of the way this community used to be. It will provide lodging facilities by the rehabilitation of existing cottages and laborers housing, and hotels. The historic railroad system, which the government is committed to restore, will serve as the major transportation system to the interior of Central Aguirre.The author believes that a country's heritage must be used to promote tourism. But there must be a comprehensive plan that establishes tourist trade as a vehicle for enhancing restoration and protection of historic sites and monuments. This project proposes such a plan.
Department of Architecture

The marine ornamental fishery (MOF), in which fish and invertebrates are harvested for the live aquarium trade, has been growing in the last years. It is a worldwide market where species are mainly harvested directly from coral reefs in tropical countries. In the island of Puerto Rico, in the US Caribbean, resource managers have little information about the impact of this harvest on the stock populations of the species in the trade. Due to concern about the potential for over-exploitation of the fishery, a regulation was passed in 2004 limiting the permitted species to be harvested and exported. This action caused significant conflict with ornamental fishers and exporters. In order to better manage the resource, more precise ecological and market information was needed, as well as a regulation that more accurately reflected the status of the resource. This study analyzed the marine ornamental trade in Puerto Rico, in order to provide baseline information and public policy recommendations. It evaluated management needs, enforcement, fishers' perspectives and practices, market forces, ecological assessment of the species, as well as explored a management tool for the commercial (edible species) fishery involving the ornamental trade. The findings of the study are split into two broad topics, a) socio-economics and b) ecology. a) The number of dedicated ornamental fishers on the island is quite small, possibly allowing for the trade to become a seasonal alternative to commercial fishers during closed seasons for edible species. Certifications that promote correct harvesting and handling of the species were found to be of interest to fishermen and managers. b) Reef surveys of fish and invertebrates around Puerto Rico found associations of fish species with habitat characteristics including depth and rugosity. Fish and invertebrate richness and abundance did not vary markedly between different sites and regions around the island, and no evidence could be detected of ornamental fishing impacts. It is suggested that more species of fish could be added to the permitted species list, without damaging their population densities. From both ecological and market perspectives, MOF in Puerto Rico is a viable and sustainable small industry that could be expanded to benefit local people and international traders alike.