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The seismic and fumarollic activity of La Soufrière de Gaudeloupe increased in 1992. Continuing unrest led the Observatoire volocanologique et sismologique of Guadeloupe (OVSG-IPGP) to recommend in July 1999 to the authorities that the volcano alert be set to "Vigilance" (yellow). The OVSG-IPGP has been particularly vigilant and reinforced its monitoring following another significant increase of unrest in 2017 that culminated in magnitude 4.1 felt earthquake and a probable failed phreatic eruption. Volcanic activity remains difficult to forecast precisely, so the only way to stay safe, in case of an impending eruption, is to move away from the threatened area. This can be a major problem for the authorities and the population. In the French overseas departments, despite the presence of several volcanoes, there is limited experience in managing volcanic emergencies, especially in areas with a high population density and strategic assets, such as the Basse-Terre region of Guadeloupe. Therefore, it is crucial to devise and assess an emergency management strategy to identify potential problems and dangers that may arise during a mass evacuation. Crisis exercises can be planned to prepare the authorities and the population, but they are rarely carried out due to the human and resource costs involved. A series of evacuation scenarios are evaluated through simulations. The scenarios model staged and simultaneous evacuations with different speeds of individual response times. The aim of this research is to evaluate the two main evacuation strategies defined in the current volcano emergency response plan for La Soufrière of Guadeloupe, revised in 2018 by the authorities. This paper describes a calibrated agent-based model of mass evacuation and its exploration focusing on the potential staged evacuations of the southern Basse-Terre area. The overall objectives of this research are to: (1) test the evacuation strategy of the current emergency plan, and (2) provide relevant information to stakeholders. The results of these simulations suggest that there is no significant difference between the two evacuation strategies. It is estimated that 95% of the population will be evacuated within 20 h with a simultaneous or a staged evacuation. Whatever the scenario, the simulation results show high levels of road congestion. However, the staged evacuation will significantly reduce the number of vehicles on the network during the peak time of the evacuation and therefore reduce dangerous situations and the potential for adding crises within a volcanic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diatom species identification with DNA metabarcoding is an economical, fast and reliable alternative to identification via light microscopy for river quality monitoring. Using a short DNA sequence of the rbcL gene and 'Diat.barcode', a reference barcode library, enables the identification of more than 90% of the environmental sequences to species level in French rivers. But the completeness of this library is much lower in other regions, such as the tropical French overseas departments. A barcode library completion method using high-throughput sequencing data combined with microscopy count data from natural samples (Rimet et al. 2018) was applied and tested in rivers of Martinique and Guadeloupe (West Indies), for which only 45% of the environmental sequences could be identified to species level using Diat.barcode v9. Assigning barcodes to the most abundant species in the islands by this method is illustrated with Ulnaria goulardii and two new species belonging to Nupela and Epithemia, which are also described in this paper. The more complex situation of morphologically similar species is illustrated by reference to Gomphonema designatum and G. bourbonense. Using a combination of molecular and morphological data, their conspecificity, as G. bourbonense, is demonstrated with their reference barcodes. However, when several morphologically similar species and several environmental sequences belonging to the same clade are present, it is not possible to relate the barcodes to corresponding morphological species. Applying this method enabled the Diat.barcode library (v.10) to be updated, with 84% of the environmental sequences from the West Indies now identifiable at the species level. However, many morphological species still lack barcodes. In these cases, more classical methods, such as cell isolation, Sanger sequencing and morphological observations of cultures, must be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of extraordinarily high organic matter content (EHOMC) is beneficial to promote the fine evaluation of shale oil and gas, but so far, there have been few studies on its mechanism. This paper carried out a comprehensive lithological and geochemical analysis of the black shales of the Wujiaping Formation in the Kaijiang-Liangping Trough. The results showed that the black shales of the Wujiaping Formation can be divided into two units (the upper and lower parts), and EHOMC occurs in its upper part. The redox-sensitive trace elements (RSTEs), MoEF-UEF covariation, and Ni/Co correlation showed that the lower part of Wujiaping Formation was a weakly restricted oxidation environment, while the upper part evolved into a sulfidation reducing environment. The productivity indicator elements (BaXS, NiXS, CuXS, P, and Mo) indicated that the upper Wujiaping Formation had higher primary productivity than the lower part. However, rare earth elements ((La/Yb)N) indicated that the deposition rate in the lower part of the Wujiaping Formation was higher than that in the upper part. In general, although the oxygenated water in the lower part of the Wujiaping Formation is not conducive to the preservation of organic matter, the high input of nutrients from land sources and the high deposition rate inhibit the decomposition of organic matter, so the lower part has a certain degree of organic matter accumulation. The sulfidation reducing environment and high paleoproductivity are the main reasons for the enrichment of organic matter in the upper part of the Wujiaping Formation. In addition, the sulfidation reducing environment and high paleoproductivity occurred during the violent upwelling at the end of Guadeloupe, a period of high sea level, these factors have jointly contributed to the enrichment of OM in the upper the Wujiaping Formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic (PV) energy source generation is becoming more and more common with a higher penetration level in the smart grid because of PV energy's falling production costs. PV energy is intermittent and uncertain due to its dependence on irradiance. To overcome these drawbacks, and to guarantee better smart grid energy management, we need to deal with PV power prediction. The work presented in this paper concerns the study of the performance of the fuzzy MPPT approach to extract a maximum of power from solar panels, associated with PV power estimation based on short time scale irradiance forecasting. It is particularly applied to a case study of a tropical insular region, considering extreme climatic variability. To validate our study with real solar data, measured and predicted irradiance profiles are used to feed the PV system, based on solar forecasting in a tropical insular context. For that, a spatio-temporal autoregressive model (STVAR) is applied. The measurements are collected at three sites located on Guadeloupe island. The high variability of the tropical irradiance profile allows us to test the robustness and stability of the used MPPT algorithms. Solar forecasting associated with the fuzzy MPPT technique allows us to estimate in advance the produced PV power, which is essential for optimal energy management in the case of smart energy production systems. Simulation of the proposed solution is validated under Matlab/Simulink software. The results clearly demonstrate that the proposed solution provides good PV power prediction and better optimization performance: a fast, dynamic response and stable static power output, even when irradiation is rapidly changing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guadeloupe and Martinique, two French overseas territories located in the Caribbean, are today facing serious public health crises; particularly, the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world. These crises resulted from the French colonial policy of primitive accumulation, which authorized two decades of the use of a carcinogenic pesticide, chlordecone (a.k.a. Kepone), by French settler farmers to control banana weevil pests. This was despite evidence of its lethal toxicity. Deploying the theoretical arguments of Market Criminology, this paper discusses the current health crises in both islands and the political economy of predation which created them as criminal. This is in sync with a growing body of literature which contextualizes preventable market-generated harms as criminal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospitals in the French Territories in the Americas (FTA) work according to international and French standards. This paper aims to describe different aspects of critical care in the FTA. For this, we reviewed official information about population size and intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity in the FTA and literature on FTA ICU specificities. Persons living in or visiting the FTA are exposed to specific risks, mainly severe road traffic injuries, envenoming, stab or ballistic wounds, and emergent tropical infectious diseases. These diseases may require specific knowledge and critical care management. However, there are not enough ICU beds in the FTA. Indeed, there are 7.2 ICU beds/100 000 population in Guadeloupe, 7.2 in Martinique, and 4.5 in French Guiana. In addition, seriously ill patients in remote areas regularly have to be transferred, most often by helicopter, resulting in a delay in admission to intensive care. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that the health care system in the FTA is unready to face such an epidemic and that intensive care bed capacity must be increased. In conclusion, the critical care sector in the FTA requires upgrading of infrastructure, human resources, and equipment as well as enhancement of multidisciplinary care. Also needed are promotion of training, research, and regional and international medical and scientific cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We unravel for the first time the expression of a low-grade metamorphic event affecting the deepest exposures of the Guadeloupe Island, central Lesser Antilles, Caribbean plate. The work offers a novel insight for the presence of young (<3 Ma) sub-greenschist facies metamorphism in the Lesser Antilles active arc and is consistent with the elevated geothermal gradients measured for the arc axis regionally. Quantitative pressure-temperature constraint (i.e. pseudosection) for this metamorphism as well as fluid/rock ratios are discussed. This paper offers the first report of "ductile" deformation mechanisms (i.e. pressure-solution) operating at shallow crustal levels of the Antilles volcanic arc system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the resolution of smallscale geological density models is improved through the fusion of information provided by gravity measurements and density muon radiographies. Muon radiography aims at determining the density of geological bodies by measuring their screening effect on the natural flux of cosmic muons. Muon radiography essentially works like a medical X-ray scan and integrates density information along elongated narrow conical volumes. Gravity measurements are linked to density by a 3-D integration encompassing the whole studied domain. We establish the mathematical expressions of these integration formulas – called acquisition kernels – and derive the resolving kernels that are spatial filters relating the true unknown density structure to the density distribution actually recovered from the available data. The resolving kernel approach allows one to quantitatively describe the improvement of the resolution of the density models achieved by merging gravity data and muon radiographies. The method developed in this paper may be used to optimally design the geometry of the field measurements to be performed in order to obtain a given spatial resolution pattern of the density model to be constructed. The resolving kernels derived in the joined muon–gravimetry case indicate that gravity data are almost useless for constraining the density structure in regions sampled by more than two muon tomography acquisitions. Interestingly, the resolution in deeper regions not sampled by muon tomography is significantly improved by joining the two techniques. The method is illustrated with examples for the La Soufrière volcano of Guadeloupe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on sociology, geography and law to analyse the exposure of populations to coastal multihazards in a postcolonial and overseas context. The research is based on a case study conducted in two municipalities in Guadeloupe (French Antilles): Deshaies and Capesterre-Belle-Eau. The corpus of data consists of 52 interviews conducted with inhabitants and institutional actors, as well as a set of spatialized data and a regulatory corpus. The analysis underscores how public policies must contend with a complex territorial reality that is still bound to the postcolonial past and legacy of slavery in Guadeloupe. The potential contradictions between regularization policies, hazard prevention policies and policies to curb insalubrious housing tend to expose the most fragile populations to what we refer to here as legal vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian populations in Guadeloupe and Martinique (less than 5%) have been organising numerous large scale cultural events in recent years although their ancestors, historically compelled by socio-political pressure to "creolise", abandoned most of their traditions and languages to fit into a predominantly French Creole society. Despite this, their descendants have kept some Indian customs and have become more organised in keeping alive a sense of identity. This paper explores this resurgence, questions its significance and suggests the need for inquiries into an Indian lingua franca in these islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moored FADs (MFADs) have been a key area for development in Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles) since the late 1980’s. The main objectives underpinning the development of MFADs were to (i) reduce fishing pressure on coastal fishing resources; (ii) boost fishermen’s incomes; and (iii) increase local consumption of locally generated fishery products as a proportion of overall consumption. This paper gives an overview of the current structure of Guadeloupe’s fishing fleet and fisheries, with a specific focus on MFAD fleets in a relatively unstructured environment with regard to regulation, and so how these fleets operate in a context of unrestricted development of private MFADs. In addressing the following key issues, this paper aims to: assess the economic performance of fleets operating on MFADs, understand why the MFAD fishing activity has not developed more than it has, and suggest how better MFAD management could improve the situation. Socio-economic information on a trip and fleet level basis were collected and stored on a fisheries information system to analyse the relative attractiveness of MFAD fishing and assess the overall economic performance of MFAD fleets as compared to other non-MFAD fleets. Non-monetary variables were also tested to explain the degree of dependence on MFADs. In 2008, economic returns from FADs were relatively low, both in terms of wages for the crews and in terms of profit for vessel owners. Earnings were higher than coastal fishing activities, but seem to have been very sensitive to the indicators used in our analysis. MFADs are expected to become much more attractive as a result of MFAD regulation, especially through the establishment of collective MFADs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact that the French principle of laïcité has upon Indian and Hindu associations’ production of messages about Hinduism in Guadeloupe, French West Indies. Laïcité is meant to protect the public arena so that all religious traditions may coexist privately. It is the principle that, for example, has restricted displays of Muslim identity in women by banning the headscarf (foulard) in public spaces such as national schools. In Guadeloupe, Indian and Hindu associations are forced to respond to French public policy in configuring their messages about Hinduism. To fit their messages within the context of laïcité, associations have chosen to present Indian culture and Hinduism as two entities; Indian culture has to do with dances and songs, whereas Hinduism is everything related to the temple. Beyond the appearance of laïcité that Indian and Hindu associations cultivate, however, this paper suggests that they are deliberately creating understandings of Indian culture that are everyday more inclusive of Hinduism. Since the principle of laïcité does not allow this religious minority to exist in a meaningful way, the minority has expanded the notion of laïcité in order to survive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Prototyping methods are useful for designing alternative crop management systems (CMS), but they are usually considered mainly at the field level and are poorly equipped to take into account farm diversity in terms of economic, social and natural constraints. This may limit the likelihood of adoption of alternative CMS. This paper proposes a two-step methodological framework that takes into account the diversity of farms in the prototyping of new CMS. The first step of the framework is to design a farm typology that is able to characterise the diversity of current CMS in terms of their technical nature, farming context, and performance. We define a farming context as a set of characteristics at the farm level that are likely to influence the structure and the biophysical and economic performances of CMS at the field level. The typology is designed from a statistical analysis of a set of descriptive variables collected for a sample of farms. The second step of the framework uses this farm typology in a specific work agenda with a panel of experts in order to design a set of alternative CMS prototypes. Prototypes, and the objectives they are meant to reach, are designed by analysing current CMS performances and by mobilising agro-ecological knowledge to identify technical ways to improve them. The typological characterisation of farm diversity then makes it possible to define a set of constraints (SOC) for each farm type. Once the prototypes are designed, the experts use a compatibility indicator (CI) ranging from zero to one to measure the level of compatibility between each prototype and the SOC of each farm type. We define a prototype as compatible with a farm type if the prototype is not likely to increase the constraints of a farm of that type (CI=1). Using this indicator in a process of iterative improvement of prototype design makes it possible to define a set of a priori compatible prototypes for each farm type. The aim of this paper is to present our methodological framework and its application for prototyping new banana crop management systems in Guadeloupe. The six-class typology we developed corresponded to a great diversity of CMS with contrasting performances and farming contexts. The method led to the prototyping of 16 innovative CMS, involving different modalities of intercropping, patterns of pesticide use, choices of hybrid cultivars, and rotations with cover or cash crops. Finally, we discuss the limits of our methodological framework and its utility for improving prototyping approaches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes housing conditions, and interrogates the role and interests of the French state in the housing policy field, in two French overseas administrative divisions, Guadeloupe and Martinique. The analysis reveals that housing conditions on the two Caribbean islands have been improving since they became integral parts of France in 1974. It is shown that the French state has invested enormously by way of material, financial and intellectual resources in the housing policy field of the islands. The central argument in the paper is that the French state''s role in this policy field has been necessitated by a need to protect its political, economic, ideological and social interests within the French polity in particular and the global politico-economic environment in general. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

SUMMARY We present the result of a 3-D gravity and P-wave traveltime joint inversion applied to the hydrothermal system of La Soufrière of Guadeloupe. The joint inversion process is used here to overcome the different resolution limitations attached to the two data sets. P-wave traveltimes were obtained from three active seismic surveys that were conducted from 2001 to 2007. Gravity data collected during a microgravity campaign is described in a companion paper. We use a joint inversion process based on a Bayesian formulation and a deterministic iterative approach. The coupling between slowness and density is introduced through a supplementary constraint in the misfit function that tries to minimize the distance between parameter values and a theoretical relationship. This relationship is derived from measurements on samples representative of Mt Pelée of Martinique and La Soufrière volcanoes. We chose a grid discretization that leads to an under-determined problem that we regularize using spatial exponential covariance between the nodes parameters. Our results are compared to geophysical electromagnetic results obtained using resistivity and VLF surveys. They confirm the presence of highly contrasted dense/fast and light/slow zones in La Soufrière dome and crater basement. Our images suggest however that some non-conductive zones may be massive andesite bodies rather than argilized zones, and that these bodies may have deeper roots than hypothesized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Koud Zyé, a Kréyòl-language segment that was incorporated into the local nightly news in Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France located in the Caribbean. I argue that the variety of Kréyòl chosen for use in Koud Zyé illustrates a moment in a process of enregisterment. I demonstrate that the variety of Kréyòl used in Koud Zyé consciously draws on elements of basilectal creole and presents many similarities to a written variety developed by language planners for use in schools and in writing, thus distinguishing it from the Frenchified Kréyòl commonly heard in everyday conversation. I suggest that the ideological position that the writers of Koud Zyé hold toward Kréyòl influenced their choice of language on the program and, furthermore, that the program helped to concretize beliefs about and knowledge of the studied variety of Kréyòl that has been introduced into Guadeloupean schools by activists. Travay-lasa ka dékatiyé Koud Zyé, on pati a jounal télévizé lokal ki fèt an lang kréyòl, an Gwadloup, ki sé on dépawtèman a Lafwans ka touvé-y an Karayib-la. Dapré mwen, modèl a Kréyòl-la yo chwazi pou Koud Zyé, ka montré on moman adan évolisyon a 'enregistrement' a lang-la (kivédi ki manyè on moun ka palé on lang ka fin pa rantré adan on larèl). An ka montré istil a lang-la ki adan Koud Zyé, ni détwa éléman a gwo kréyòl-la yo sèvi èvè-y volontèwman, ka sanm on jan a kréyòl maké. Modèl lasa, sé tala yonndé mètamannyòk ka prévwa pou lang kréyòl-la envanté, pou sèvi an lékòl-la, é ki pa ka sanm tala moun ka palé touléjou. An ka pansé pozisyon idéolojik a sé moun-la ki fèémisyon-la, ni on enflians asi chwa a yo. An plis di sa, pwogram lasa rédé mèt déwò sa moun ka pansé asi kréyòl-la, é fè yo pran konésans a modèl kréyòl sé militan-la mété an lékòl-la. [Kréyòl] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological research has made significant contributions to the study of the African Diaspora in the Caribbean, but until recently researchers neglected the French islands. This paper reports on archaeological fieldwork at Habitation La Mahaudière in Guadeloupe, focusing on the economic and social lives of plantation laborers and exploring articulations between local realities at this sugar plantation and broader historical process of the Caribbean region and the French colonial world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological investigation of the Caribbean region has generally incorporated unquestioned assumptions about the nature and scale of the context. Most work has been done in the Anglophone Caribbean, and has implicitly taken the English colonial world as the normative context for comparative analysis. This view leaves out a significant portion of the Caribbean colonial world—that of the French imperial program. The French colonial venture in the Caribbean has, until recently, been overlooked by historical archaeology. Recent survey and excavation of sugar, indigo and coffee plantation sites, as well as urban archaeological work, has begun to shed light upon the nature of French colonial life as distinct from that in the Anglophone Caribbean, and also on the ways that the experiences on specific French islands were different from each other. The individual histories of Martinique and Guadeloupe are contrasted in this paper, with reference to the nature of the archaeological record that has been explored, and that remains to be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes the development and application of an impact model for a future hypothetical sub-Plinian eruption of La Soufrière of Guadeloupe. The model was designed to assess the impact from either a single or multiple eruption scenarios, each defined in terms of a map of the intensity of three volcanic hazards; volcanogenic earthquake, tephra fallout and pyroclastic density currents. The impact from the three hazards can be assessed independently or alternatively the joint impact of the three hazards can be assessed. The outputs that are produced from the model are; the number of buildings with collapsed roofs, and the number of fatal and non-fatal casualties. Two versions of the impact model were developed, one that uses a spreadsheet and another that is implemented using a Geographical Information System (GIS). Both versions use the same types of hazard inputs and vulnerability functions to derive the number of building collapses and casualties, but have different spatial resolution of the final outputs. The spreadsheet version aggregates the results at a zone level defined specifically for this project whereas the GIS was designed to produce results using 250 m grid-squares. The outputs from the two versions, when using the same eruption scenario, produced somewhat different results, highlighting the importance of defining the appropriate spatial resolution. The vulnerability functions were developed using data on the building stock that was collected by a local survey, in which data on the form of construction, condition, location and types of openings and the variation of these parameters across the affected area were collected. The vulnerability functions incorporated new assessments of fire risks induced by pyroclastic density currents. The model was applied to La Soufrière using a range of input hazard scenarios based on reconstruction of the most recent sub-Plinian magmatic eruption which occurred in 1530 AD. A sensitivity analysis of the model was carried out choosing the inputs from a range of defined input values. The effect on losses and casualties of a range of possible mitigation measures was assessed by running the original model and the modified model using the same input eruption scenario. A separate casualty treatment model was also developed and tested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Before the sixties, the French government did not show any interest in promoting sports in the French West Indies. In fact, sports were firstly promoted by a small native group. Who are they? Which qualities do they look for and find in sports? Which benefits—whether social or symbolic—do they draw from them? This paper presents the relation between the belief in the virtues of sport and the search for identity. Thus, our goal is to examine the importance of the "sporting spirit" in the assimilation process, in relation to the metropolis. The desire to be recognized, the wish to prove an equality, the need to belong to a community—even if it is far away, from a geographic and cultural point of view—are at the heart of a quest, evident in first part of the XX century in Guadeloupe and Martinique. This work is mainly based on the analysis of sports magazines and newspapers articles, as well as biographic approach, in order to outline the sportsman's profile. The ambition in drawing some common characteristics of sport development in the French West Indies, is also to allow a comparative study with other Caribbean countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the first remote measurements of La Soufrière gas emissions since the fumarolic and seismic reactivation in 1992. The chemical composition of the plumes has been measured from May 2003 to September 2004 using an Open Path Fourier Transform InfraRed (OP-FTIR) spectrometer, up to 15 m downwind the South Crater. HCl is clearly detected (concentration between 2.4 and 12 ppmv) whereas SO2 and H2S generally remain below the detection limit of the OP-FTIR. Direct measurements of SO2 and H2S near the South Crater with a Lancom III analyzer show a fast decrease of their concentrations with the distance. Calculated Cl/S mass ratios are high: from 9.4±1.7 at 15 m from the vent to 2.8±0.6 at 140 m. The enrichment in HCl of the gas emitted at La Soufrière, observed since 1998, corresponds to the degassing of a magma enriched in Cl and depleted in S. This result agrees with isotopic measurements which suggest a magmatic origin of the gases. Readjustments inside the volcanic system may have taken place during the seismic activity beginning in 1992 and enhance the transfer of magmatic gases to the summit. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The question of how individual memory fits, or more accurately, does not fit with history is at the heart of this paper on Marysc Condé's novel Heremukhonon about Veronica Mercier, a character who was horn in Guadeloupe, lived in Paris and travels to West Africa in search of an ancestry that was interrupted by slavery. Suggesting that readings that focus on Mercier as a character arc limited in approach, it reads the novel as a staging of time and is attentive to the gaps between thought and speech, between memory and history, between Guadeloupe and Africa, and between women's personal sexual pleasure and the impersonal reproductire body that interrupt the narrative. The central character's personal quest for her African roots for 'niggers with ancestors', for Africa as a singular lost object, which necessarily involves ignoring the subaltern is nuanced by the novel's deployment of heterogeneous time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: COVID-19 is a rapidly spreading and mutating pandemic. In the case of some people the disease can be fatal It has been observed that weight and age are parameters of comorbidity If it is difficult to take into account the uncertainties related to the combination of the two parameters to build up a model of simulation. Therefore, we propose in this article a SIR/SIH model with fuzzy parameters which allows us to simulate the pandemic in the absence of barrier actions and vaccines. In this paper, we propose a multi-group SIR to simulate the spread of COVID-19 in an island context. The multi-group aspect enables us to modelize transmissions of the virus between non-vaccinated individuals within an age group as well as between different age groups. In addition, fuzzy subsets and aggregation operators are used to account for the increased risks associated with age and obesity within these different groups. From a conceptual point of view, the model emphasizes the notion of Hospitalization which is the major stake of this pandemic by replacing the compartment R (Removed) by compartment H (Hospitalization). The experimental results were carried out using medical and demographic data from the archipelago, Guadeloupe (French West Indies) in the Caribbean. These results show that without the respect of barrier gestures, a first wave would concern the elderly then a second the adults and the young people, which conforms to the real data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a region already plagued by food insecurity and challenges to the sustainability of the agricultural sector, the COVID-19 pandemic was a brutal shock in the Caribbean with immediate and significant socio-economic consequences. In this paper, we assessed what are the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the agricultural and food systems of the Caribbean. To this end, we conducted online surveys among farmers, households and experts of the region. We assessed the nature, strength and reversibility of the impacts but also the factors of resilience in the face of the crisis. Our study shows that the COVID-19 crisis has had strong impacts on Caribbean farmers and has weakened agricultural systems. The main impacts identified were a drop in income, production losses due to difficulties in marketing through conventional channels, but also difficulties in managing the farming systems due to reduced access to inputs and labor. In order to cope, farmers have adapted to be more self-sufficient: reduction in the size of cultivated areas, search for short marketing channels, diversification of production and reorientation towards the needs of the local market, recourse to mutual aid between farmers. If these effects appear to be non-irreversible in an island like Guadeloupe, the situation is different in other islands of the region where farmers have had to sell livestock, seek new off-farm income and sometimes sell land to cope. In terms of impacts on food systems, the crisis has led to strong constraints such as a reduction in food intake and diversity and increased reliance on family and social mutual aid. Our study also shows that the crisis has had an impact on consumer behavior and their perception of the importance of the agricultural sector: reduction of food waste, return to fresh and local products, adaptation of the diet, consumption of new products, and cultivation of food gardens. Finally, our study shows that the crisis has had an effect of strengthening the links between farmers and the rest of the population. Thus if the crisis has had seriously damaging consequences, it can also be the trigger and catalyst for an agro-ecological transition and the development of a circular and territorialized bio-economy to strengthen the resilience of Caribbean agricultural and food systems and facilitate the achievement of sustainability and food security objectives. [Display omitted] • Online surveys on a sample of farmers, consumers and experts was performed to assess the impacts of COVID-19 crisis on agricultural and food systems. • For farmers: lower revenue, production losses and reduced access to input and labor. • For household: reduction in food diversity and increased reliance on external support. • Resilience factors: reduced farm size, short marketing channels, production diversity. • The COVID-19 crisis had strong impacts on Caribbean agricultural and food systems but reinforced mutual assistance between farmers and population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multi-objective energy management system (EMS) to manage the power dispatch of a hybrid power plant (HPP), consisting of a grid-connected wind farm and a Li-ION battery storage system on the island of Guadeloupe's electrical grid. Via a controller based on Model Predictive Control (MPC), the EMS solves the problem of optimization by considering the production forecast data and managing several operation rules, which ensures meet energy targets considered for a sustainable power dispatching plan. The proposed strategy is tested in a PowerFactory/MATLAB co-simulation environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xanthomonas sacchari , was first identified as a pathogenic bacterium isolated from diseased sugarcane in Guadeloupe. In this study, R1 was first isolated from rice seed samples from Philippines in 2002. The antagonistic ability against several rice pathogens raises our attention. The genomic feature of this strain was described in this paper. The total genome size of X. sacchari R1 is 5,000,479 bp with 4315 coding sequences (CDS), 59 tRNAs, 2rRNAs and one plasmid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]