Introduction.

Given the rich rainforest flora of Papua New Guinea, which includes some 8000 known plant species, it is understandable why this land mass contains such a rich dacine fauna, with the largest number of species of any land mass across the entire Asian/Pacific region. Major collections of Dacini have been obtained, over the past two decades, by male lure trapping and host fruit sampling across large areas of Papua New Guinea. These surveys have provided the specimens for the descriptions of the new species in this book. In particular, the use of vanillylacetone has resulted in the collection of a number of previously unknown species.

Dynamical-Empirical forecast for the Indian monsoon rainfall using the NCEP Coupled Modelling System – Application for real time monsoon forecast

The performance of the National Centre for Environmental Prediction’s (NCEP) operational coupled modeling system known as the Climate Forecast System (CFS) is evaluated for the prediction of all India summer monsoon rainfall (AISMR) during June to September (JJAS). The evaluation is based on the hindcast initialized during March, April and May with 15 ensemble members each for 25 years period from 1981 to 2005.The CFS’s hindcast climatology during JJAS of March (lag-3), April (lag-2) and May (lag-1) initial conditions show mostly an identical pattern of rainfall similar to that of observed climatology with both the rainfall maxima (over the west-coast of India and over the head Bay of Bengal region) well captured, with a signification correlation coefficient between the forecast and observed climatology over the Indian monsoon region (bounded by 50°E-110°E and 10°S-35°N) covering Indian land mass and adjoining oceanic region. Although the CFS forecast rainfall is overestimated over the Indian monsoon region, the land only rainfall amount is underestimated compared to observation. The skill of the prediction of monsoon rainfall over the Indian land mass is found to be relatively weak, although it is significant at 95% with a correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.44 with April ensembles.By using CFS predicted JJAS rainfall over the regions of significant CCs, a hybrid dynamical-empirical model is developed for the real time prediction of AISMR, whose skill is found to be much higher (CC significant above 99% level) than the raw CFS forecasts. The dynamical-empirical hybrid forecast applied on real time for 2009 and 2010 monsoons are found to be much closer to the observed AISMR. Thus, when the hybrid model is used there is a correction not only to the sign of the actual forecast as in the case of 2009 monsoon but also to its magnitude and hence can be used as a better tool for the real time prediction of AISMR.

Folauga mo A'oa'oaga: Migration for education and its impact on Samoa's development as a nation

<p>The first recorded scholarship programme in Sāmoa began in the 1920s under the New Zealand Administration. Since that time, more and more students have travelled abroad for education both through sponsored and privately-funded programmes. This thesis examines the stories of 18 Sāmoan research participants who emigrated from their homes for western education. It examines how their experiences have contributed to the development of Sāmoa as a ‘nation’ “Folauga” is a common Sāmoan term for a “journey” and can be used in different contexts. The most common context for folauga is the literal journey where people travel from and arrive at a particular destination. There are many and diverse motivation ns leading to the decision of the 18 research participants to migrate. However, no decision was made independently. With the support and assistance of their respective āiga (family), they were never alone. From birth they were taught the value of the āiga and fa’a Sāmoa (the Sāmoan way) and when they studied abroad their āiga were at the forefront of their minds, but so too was fa’a Sāmoa. These 18 research participants excelled in both the western and Sāmoan worlds. They gained qualifications and experience that supported their āiga, and ultimately benefited Sāmoa as a ‘nation’. The 18 participants did not all return to Sāmoa to live permanently. Some moved to Fiji and others to New Zealand. This should not be viewed negatively because through transnationalism, Sāmoan migrants are very much connected to their homelands through money, goods of many different kinds, artefacts, ideas and symbols. Their migration often involves individuals, families, groups and institutions. It is important however to define ‘Sāmoa’ in the context of this argument. Sāmoa has two constructions of place and of people: the first is Sāmoa as a land-mass and geo-political-legal jurisdiction that is centred on the land and sea and is vital in acknowledging roots and a place of identity. The second construct acknowledges, due to globalisation and migration facilitated by technology, Sāmoan people are no longer confined to the geographical location of Sāmoa. This research employed talanoa as a method to explore the experiences, attitudes, and reflections of the participants. The interview process involved not only long and wide-ranging conversations, but also a process of relationship building. Records of the discussions were written, checked and negotiated so that the 18 participants and the researcher produced a series of scripts – ‘mini biographies’ – that provided a rich body of data for analysis. The contribution of the stories of the 18 research participants to development as a discourse is significant. The participants have navigated their folauga confidently in a western setting as well as within fa’a Sāmoa. Many other Sāmoans have done the same. I therefore argue that not all earlier conventions of development such as modernisation were wasted on Sāmoa. While there is a place for newer development theories such as post development and indigenous epistemologies, for the 18 research participants, they were able to excel in a world of development much of which was externally defined but some of which could be shaped and adapted. The participants saw the good in modernisation and, coupling it with fa’a Sāmoa, they found a recipe to survive and thrive in both worlds.</p>

Folauga mo A'oa'oaga: Migration for education and its impact on Samoa's development as a nation

<p>The first recorded scholarship programme in Sāmoa began in the 1920s under the New Zealand Administration. Since that time, more and more students have travelled abroad for education both through sponsored and privately-funded programmes. This thesis examines the stories of 18 Sāmoan research participants who emigrated from their homes for western education. It examines how their experiences have contributed to the development of Sāmoa as a ‘nation’ “Folauga” is a common Sāmoan term for a “journey” and can be used in different contexts. The most common context for folauga is the literal journey where people travel from and arrive at a particular destination. There are many and diverse motivation ns leading to the decision of the 18 research participants to migrate. However, no decision was made independently. With the support and assistance of their respective āiga (family), they were never alone. From birth they were taught the value of the āiga and fa’a Sāmoa (the Sāmoan way) and when they studied abroad their āiga were at the forefront of their minds, but so too was fa’a Sāmoa. These 18 research participants excelled in both the western and Sāmoan worlds. They gained qualifications and experience that supported their āiga, and ultimately benefited Sāmoa as a ‘nation’. The 18 participants did not all return to Sāmoa to live permanently. Some moved to Fiji and others to New Zealand. This should not be viewed negatively because through transnationalism, Sāmoan migrants are very much connected to their homelands through money, goods of many different kinds, artefacts, ideas and symbols. Their migration often involves individuals, families, groups and institutions. It is important however to define ‘Sāmoa’ in the context of this argument. Sāmoa has two constructions of place and of people: the first is Sāmoa as a land-mass and geo-political-legal jurisdiction that is centred on the land and sea and is vital in acknowledging roots and a place of identity. The second construct acknowledges, due to globalisation and migration facilitated by technology, Sāmoan people are no longer confined to the geographical location of Sāmoa. This research employed talanoa as a method to explore the experiences, attitudes, and reflections of the participants. The interview process involved not only long and wide-ranging conversations, but also a process of relationship building. Records of the discussions were written, checked and negotiated so that the 18 participants and the researcher produced a series of scripts – ‘mini biographies’ – that provided a rich body of data for analysis. The contribution of the stories of the 18 research participants to development as a discourse is significant. The participants have navigated their folauga confidently in a western setting as well as within fa’a Sāmoa. Many other Sāmoans have done the same. I therefore argue that not all earlier conventions of development such as modernisation were wasted on Sāmoa. While there is a place for newer development theories such as post development and indigenous epistemologies, for the 18 research participants, they were able to excel in a world of development much of which was externally defined but some of which could be shaped and adapted. The participants saw the good in modernisation and, coupling it with fa’a Sāmoa, they found a recipe to survive and thrive in both worlds.</p>

Design of Autonomous Unmanned System for Aerial Operations From Underwater Platforms

Surveillance and reconnaissance play a very important role in military and civil aspects. They are the key factors in military tactics and in the event of civilian calamities. In case of naval warfare, the submarines which are operating under deep water are required to carry out open land mass surveillance in an efficient manner without reaching to the water surface nor revealing their presence and position. This research paper proposes the conceptualized design to develop an autonomous unmanned octocopter system which is capable of being launched from an underwater platform such as submarines, with the help of a tethered launching mechanism known as octopod, to carry out surveillance, reconnaissance and payload delivery. In this paper, we present a novel method for development of UAV with special application on aerial survey from underwater platforms. A variety of design options which are investigated from various trade studies to evaluate the performance along with design configuration to satisfy the specific requirements are also presented in this paper.

The Big Flood

Since the first peopling of Australia and New Guinea (the continent of Sahul) during times of lower sea level more than 60,000 years ago, approximately 2 million km2 of land, roughly one-third of the present continental land mass, has been drowned by sea-level rise. Landscapes encountered and settled by thousands of generations of people throughout the continent have been inundated by rising seas as polar ice and glaciers melted into the world’s oceans. While some archaeological sites formed within these landscapes were no doubt destroyed by the rising seas, many sites are likely to have survived. This submerged archaeological record represents the majority of human occupation in Sahul, spanning the period from initial peopling of the continent to 7000 years BP. As a major frontier in Australian archaeology, investigation of what is now seabed will ultimately lead to revised and enhanced understanding of the continental archaeological record. By reevaluating the coastal zone, submerged landscapes, and continental shelf, consideration for these past cultural landscapes in what is now Sea Country has the potential to profoundly reshape the archaeological discourse of Australia and New Guinea.

Deep vs shallow – two contrasting theories? A tectonically activated Late Cretaceous deltaic system in the axial part of the Danish-Polish Trough; a case study from SE Poland

The Danish-Polish Trough – a large Trans-European sedimentary basin stretching from Denmark, through Germany, to south-eastern Poland and even further to the south into Ukraine, had undergone an uplift during the Late Cretaceous, which in consequence resulted in its inversion and development into the Mid-Polish Anticlinorium. In many existing paleotectonic interpretations, SE Poland, i.e. the subsurface San Anticlinorium and the recent-day Roztocze Hills area was included during the Late Cretaceous into the Danish-Polish Trough, representing its axial and most subsiding part. Such a paleotectonic model was the basis for facies and bathymetric interpretations, assuming that upper Cretaceous sediments deposited close to the axial part of the Danish-Polish Trough (e.g. Roztocze) were represented by the deepest facies. Several studies performed in recent years contradict this concept. The growing amount of data indicates that already from the Coniacian-Santonian times, this area was a land-mass rather than the deepest part of the basin – the same is true for the Campanian and Maastrichtian times. Additionally, recent discoveries of cyclic middle Campanian deposits of shallow deltaic origin, along with a decreasing contribution of terrigenous material towards the NE, have led to the adoption of new facies and bathymetric models, being all in opposite to most of the previous interpretations. The new interpretation implies the presence of a land-mass area in the place where formerly the deepest and most subsiding part of the Danish-Polish Trough was located. Here we document in detail the Late Cretaceous deltaic system, i.e. the Szozdy delta developed in the axial part of the Danish-Polish Trough. The middle Campanian deposits which crop out extensively in the middle Roztocze Hills region, close to the village of the Szozdy, exhibits coarsening-upward tripartite cyclothems. The sequence was deposited in a shallow-water, delta front platform setting. Three facies associations have been distinguished: (1) dark grey calcareous mudstone, deposited in prodelta environment, (2) yellow calcareous sandstone unit, interpreted as prograding delta front lobe deposits of fluvially-dominated though wave/tidally influenced setting, and (3) calcareous gaize unit deposited in areas cut-off from the material supply. The sequence as a whole was accumulated by repeated progradation and abandonment of deltaic complexes. This interpretation is supported by the new sedimentological, palynofacies, and heavy mineral data. The latter is also discussed in the context of their possible source rock provenance, which might suggest a different burial history than thought so far. The development of the Szozdy delta system is placed next to dynamic tectonic processes operating at that time in SE Poland, i.e. the inversion on the one hand, and the generation of new accommodation space for the deltaic deposits by enhanced subsidence. This discovery shed new light on our understanding of facies distribution, bathymetry, paleogeography, and paleotectonic evolution of the south-easternmost part of the inverting Danish-Polish Trough into the Mid-Polish Anticlinorium during the Late Cretaceous times.

Eating identity: challenging narratives of Canadianness through culinary identity building

This MRP will examine how food can be used as a tool for challenging traditional nation stories and growing notions of what it means to be Canadian. There is an opportunity to write and shape a Canadian narrative that is inclusive of its evolving demography while simultaneously reconciling its violent history by developing a Canadian culinary identity. Food is political, social and cultural. Food can bring people together and can provide a platform to have compelling discussions about what it means to be Canadian; who is included in the definition of Canadian; and, how we can develop a sense of Canadianness that speaks to an evolving population. Historically and at present, Canada’s story has often excluded or minimized the cultural, political and social contributions of Indigenous peoples and racialized immigrants. There remains a prevailing sense of Canadian identity being tethered to whiteness despite over a century of global immigration. However, the very idea of what defines Canadianness is relatively tenuous one. There are few traits, markers, or qualities that are seen as characteristically Canadian. This is even more true for Canada’s culinary identity. What exactly is Canadian food? Canada, as a nation, is a relatively new country without a clear culinary identity. Further, Canada is an expansive land mass covering different time zones, geographic regions, and climates. To further complicate matters, it is place for people from all over the world to immigrate. Nowhere is the impact of immigration and the diversity of people more evident than in Toronto. How the city has changed demographically is reflected in the diversification of it’s culinary landscape. The wide range of available foods reveals and affirms how the appetites and desires of those that live here have also changed. International foods, restaurants and markets are not only ubiquitous, but a defining characteristic of the city. Where, what and how people eat can provide insight into how historical systems of inequality and colonial narratives persist. Growing and developing Canadian culinary identity is a way of challenging the idea of whiteness as a prerequisite for being Canadian. It is a potential way to acknowledge and include immigrant contributions. Food is wrapped up in politics of inequality and injustice, just as much as it is in pleasure and desire. Mapping how food is used as a tool that furthers colonization and racist dogma is key for shifting food to a tool for education and understanding. Food has the power to open up conversation and reshape understandings of Canadian identity through developing and defining a distinct Canadian culinary position. If an understanding about Canadian culinary identity is inclusive of its complex and divergent cultural and political history, then perhaps there is an opportunity to rethink Canadian identity as a whole. The goal of this MRP is to establish that food can be used as an ideological intervention that examines, challenges and reimagines Canadian identity.

Eating identity: challenging narratives of Canadianness through culinary identity building

This MRP will examine how food can be used as a tool for challenging traditional nation stories and growing notions of what it means to be Canadian. There is an opportunity to write and shape a Canadian narrative that is inclusive of its evolving demography while simultaneously reconciling its violent history by developing a Canadian culinary identity. Food is political, social and cultural. Food can bring people together and can provide a platform to have compelling discussions about what it means to be Canadian; who is included in the definition of Canadian; and, how we can develop a sense of Canadianness that speaks to an evolving population. Historically and at present, Canada’s story has often excluded or minimized the cultural, political and social contributions of Indigenous peoples and racialized immigrants. There remains a prevailing sense of Canadian identity being tethered to whiteness despite over a century of global immigration. However, the very idea of what defines Canadianness is relatively tenuous one. There are few traits, markers, or qualities that are seen as characteristically Canadian. This is even more true for Canada’s culinary identity. What exactly is Canadian food? Canada, as a nation, is a relatively new country without a clear culinary identity. Further, Canada is an expansive land mass covering different time zones, geographic regions, and climates. To further complicate matters, it is place for people from all over the world to immigrate. Nowhere is the impact of immigration and the diversity of people more evident than in Toronto. How the city has changed demographically is reflected in the diversification of it’s culinary landscape. The wide range of available foods reveals and affirms how the appetites and desires of those that live here have also changed. International foods, restaurants and markets are not only ubiquitous, but a defining characteristic of the city. Where, what and how people eat can provide insight into how historical systems of inequality and colonial narratives persist. Growing and developing Canadian culinary identity is a way of challenging the idea of whiteness as a prerequisite for being Canadian. It is a potential way to acknowledge and include immigrant contributions. Food is wrapped up in politics of inequality and injustice, just as much as it is in pleasure and desire. Mapping how food is used as a tool that furthers colonization and racist dogma is key for shifting food to a tool for education and understanding. Food has the power to open up conversation and reshape understandings of Canadian identity through developing and defining a distinct Canadian culinary position. If an understanding about Canadian culinary identity is inclusive of its complex and divergent cultural and political history, then perhaps there is an opportunity to rethink Canadian identity as a whole. The goal of this MRP is to establish that food can be used as an ideological intervention that examines, challenges and reimagines Canadian identity.