Universidad Eugenio María de Hostos

Investment participation in the Philippines remains limited, and decisions to invest are shaped not only by financial capacity but also by evaluative beliefs, risk appraisal, institutional trust, and perceived readiness to engage with capital markets. Guided by an extended Theory of Planned Behavior, this study examined correlates and predictors of investment decision among 483 respondents from Calamba City, Santa Rosa City, and Biñan City, Laguna. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was implemented using an online questionnaire that measured risk tolerance, attitude toward capital markets, knowledge on capital markets (financial literacy), government trust/political climate, attitude toward investment, and self-reported investment decision using a six-point scale. Descriptive results indicated relatively high ratings for risk tolerance (M = 4.81, SD = 1.19) and attitude toward capital markets (M = 4.60, SD = 1.23), moderate capital market knowledge (M = 4.10, SD = 1.32), and comparatively lower government trust (M = 3.85, SD = 1.33). Investment decision differed significantly by sex (p = .002) and by monthly salary bracket (p < .001). Investment decision also showed positive associations with capital market knowledge (r = .210, p = .001) and attitude toward investment (r = .179, p = .003). Stepwise regression identified attitude toward investment (coefficient = 0.345) and monthly salary (coefficient = 0.368) as significant predictors, explaining 16.2% of the variance (R² = 0.162, p < .001). The findings suggest that investment-readiness initiatives should integrate capability-building in capital market knowledge with attitude-focused interventions, while addressing socioeconomic constraints that shape the feasibility of investing.

The invasive, white-spotted jellyfish Phyllorhiza punctata is reported from the Dominican Republic for the first time, representing a range expansion in the Caribbean region. A specimen was sighted and photographically documented in Gina’s Bay, Miches on 20 February, 2024. We compiled 222 existing records of P . punctata in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico between 1965 and 2023, revealing a distinct seasonal pattern with most observations occurring from May to October (summer season). The earliest record of P . punctata in the Atlantic dates back to 1940, but sightings became more frequent starting in the 1990s. The introduction and spread of this Indo-Pacific species is attributed to vectors like ballast water discharge, aquarium releases, and oil rig movements. Once established, P . punctata can rapidly proliferate due to its life cycle involving asexually produced medusae. The presence of this invasive jellyfish can potentially impact native species through competition and predation on fish and crustacean larvae, as well as impact fisheries through gear entanglement and pose risks to human activities from stinging incidents. Continuous monitoring and close regional collaboration are needed to evaluate the distribution, abundance, and ecological impacts of this invasive species and, furthermore, to develop appropriate management strategies to mitigate the possible effects of this invader in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean region.

Coral restoration has been targeted as one of the major priorities to cope with the rapid loss of shallow coral reefs in tropical oceans. For years coral restoration has focused on developing techniques and technologies aimed at rapid and cost-effective production of corals and ways to outplant to cover wide spatial scales. While this approach is valid, it does not only represent the scope of coral restoration research as other important aspects in this field have received less attention. For example, little attention has been paid into the experimental framework needed to show impact beyond the number of corals/recruits produced and or transplanted, growth rates and other indicators. Furthermore, we still struggle to show how these interventions improve ecosystem indicators of reef structure and function. Here we propose a series of indicators different to the traditional ones based on the use of pertinent comparisons in space and time and indexes of association that have been used by ecologists for decades. We propose this framework to facilitate the design of specific evaluation criteria for donors and other stakeholders that are in charge of evaluating restoration success.

We document the first observation of predation by the cowfish Acanthostracion polygonium on the jellyfish Aurelia sp. in the Dominican Republic. This trophic interaction expands the known dietary breadth of A. polygonium and highlights the potential for reef fishes to supplement their nutrition through opportunistic jellyfish predation.

Abstract Sloths were among the most diverse groups of land vertebrates that inhabited the Greater Antilles until their extinction in the middle-late Holocene following the arrival of humans to the islands. Although the fossil record of the group is well known from Quaternary deposits in Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, remains from older units are scarce, limiting our understanding of their evolution and biogeographic history. Here we report the oldest known fossil ground sloth from Hispaniola, represented by an unassociated partial tibia and scapula that are recognized as a single taxon from the late Miocene-early Pliocene of the Dominican Republic. The combination of characters observed on the tibia suggests a close relationship with Megalocnus, otherwise only known from the Pleistocene–Holocene of Cuba. These fossils fill a temporal gap between those previously known from the early Miocene of Cuba and those from Pleistocene–Holocene deposits in the region and provide additional support for a continuous presence of the group in the Greater Antilles since the Oligocene.

The thesis aims to formulate a technical instrument for the conservation of urban tissues consolidated throughout the twentieth century, but which are in the process of obsolescence. We named it Reuse Master Plan, well understood as a mechanism for valuing the built heritage in its physically and socially. The empirical basis of the research represents an area of So Paulo downtown (the Axis Arouche -Praa Ramos de Azevedo), established between the 1930s and 1970s, and known for the quality of its buildings and public spaces. Methodologically, it involves two different stages: the diagnosis of its constitution and obsolescence cycle, and the formulation of reuse criteria that may contribute to future urban projects. It is noted that this approach is still little explored in the international debate: despite the consensus around the need to modernize cities in a sustainable way, with the preservation of their cultural and natural wealth and due social protection, is notable the scarcity of overviews that favor the formulation of reuse strategies on a large scale. It is an approach that deserves greater attention since it contributes to the creation of new forms of integration between design and urban planning practices, as well as articulation between academic activities and the offices of architecture and urbanism.

Abstract Coral reefs worldwide are degrading due to climate change, overfishing, pollution, coastal development, bleaching and diseases. In areas where natural recovery is negligible or protection through management interventions insufficient, active restoration becomes critical. The Reef Futures symposium in 2018 brought together over 400 reef restoration experts, businesses, and civil organizations, and galvanized them to save coral reefs through restoration or identify alternative solutions. The symposium highlighted that solutions and discoveries from long-term and ongoing coral reef restoration projects in Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean and Eastern Tropical Pacific were not well known internationally. Therefore, a meeting of scientists and practitioners working in these locations was held to compile the data on the extent of coral reef restoration efforts, advances and challenges. Here, we present unpublished data from 12 coral reef restoration case studies from five Latin American countries, describe their motivations and techniques used, and provide estimates on total annual project cost per unit area of reef intervened, spatial extent as well as project duration. We found that most projects used direct transplantation, the coral gardening method, micro-fragmentation or larval propagation, and aimed to optimize or scale-up restoration approaches (51%) or provide alternative, sustainable livelihood opportunities (15%) followed by promoting coral reef conservation stewardship and re-establishing a self-sustaining, functioning reef ecosystem (both 13%). Reasons for restoring coral reefs were mainly biotic and experimental (both 42%), followed by idealistic and pragmatic motivations (both 8%). The median annual total cost from all projects was $93,000 USD (range: $10,000 USD - $331,802 USD) (2018 dollars) and intervened a median spatial area of 1 ha (range: 0.06 ha - 8.39 ha). The median project duration was 3 years; however, projects have lasted up to 17 years. Project feasibility was high with a median of 0.7 (range: 0.5 - 0.8). This study closes the knowledge gap between academia and practitioners and overcomes the language barrier by providing the first comprehensive compilation of data from ongoing coral reef restoration efforts in Latin America.

We report late Quaternary fossils of the hind limb (tibiotarsus, tarsometatarsus, hallux, pedal phalanges) of an extinct species of eagle (Accipitridae) from Hispaniola (Haiti, Dominican Republic). We are unable to refer these 24 fossils with confidence to any Accipitrid genus, living or extinct. Among living genera, the Hispaniolan fossils are most similar in nonquantitative characters to leg elements in Geranoaetus Kaup 1844, as represented in our comparisons by the South American species Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle (G. melanoleucus Vieillot 1819). Although it may be that Geranoaetus eventually will be found to accommodate the Hispaniolan eagle and perhaps other large, extinct species of West Indian eagles (from Cuba and Bahamas), the fossil material available at this time is inadequate. Generic assignment is complicated further by uncertain generic limits among surviving New World buteonine/buteogalline hawks and eagles, which themselves also are not well represented in scientific collections. Measures of the tibiotarsus suggest the Hispaniolan eagle was 15–30% larger than the extant Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). It is likely that the large Hispaniolan eagle went extinct along with, and potentially as a consequence of, the extinction of most endemic species of large- and medium-sized mammals (primates, rodents, and sloths) that once served as prey.