Moving Houses: Residential Mobility and the Mobility of Residences in Longana, Vanuatu

A key to understanding the mobility of residence patterns in Oceania can be found in the movement of houses themselves. In this article I explore the processual dynamic of residence over a 12-year period in Longana and document the high frequency with which people moved houses and households while maintaining a strong preference for virilocality. For example, more than 80% of the buildings changed households, underwent major physical changes, or both between 1978 and 1982. The reasons why houses change hands and move about relate to the domestic cycle and highlight competition between the requirements of renovation and plans to construct new buildings. Further, the impermanence of local building materials gives rise to a contradiction between rootedness and transience that defines the meaning of place. Finally, houses serve as symbols of kinship that articulate land and people and that express a link between matrilineal and patrifilial groups.     

Elucidating the Population Histories and Transmission Dynamics of Papillomaviruses Using Phylogenetic Trees

Using gene genealogies constructed from gene sequence data, we show that both the mucosal and cutaneous papillomaviruses (PV)—supergroups A and B—appear to have been transmitted through susceptible populations faster than exponentially. The data and methods involved (1) examining the PV database for phylogenetic signal in an L1 open reading frame (ORF) fragment and an E1 ORF segment, (2) demonstrating that the same two fragments have evolved in a way consistent with a molecular clock, and (3) applying methods of phylogenetic tree analysis that test different scenarios for the dynamics of viral transmission within populations. The results indicate increases in PV populations of both supergroups A and B in the recent past. This form of the increases, which fit a null model of population growth with an exponent increasing in time, is compatible with the fact that human populations have grown at a faster than exponential rate, thus increasing the numbers of susceptible hosts for HPVs. There are, however, indications that the population of supergroup A has now stopped increasing in size. Received: 4 June 1996 / Accepted: 12 August 1996     

Dynamics of phytoplankton growth in the Waikato River,North Island,New Zealand

The Waikato River (latitude 38°S, longitude 176°E, North Island, New Zealand) is overwhelming y dominated by diatoms (mainly Melosira species) while blue-green and green algae are of minor importance. Both laboratory and in situ nutrient enrichment experiments showed enhanced growth of natural and index blue-green and green algae by addition of phosphate and nitrate. These algae were also shown to require higher temperature and light intensity than the diatoms. On the other hand, Waikato River with its higher silica content, moderate range of temperature and running water habitat was more favourable an environment for diatoms.     

North American Green and European Atlantic Sturgeon: Comparisons of Life Histories and Human Impacts

Green and European Atlantic sturgeon are listed as a vulnerable and a critically endangered species, respectively. These anadromous species inhabit different continents but have many similar life history traits and demographic characteristics, including wide geographic ranges, similar migratory and foraging behavior, age and size structures of reproductive stocks and, historically, diverse population structures. The differences are limited to tetraploid genome and much larger egg size and lower fecundity in green sturgeon, reflecting the adaptations to different geomorphology and biota of the Pacific region. Both species have been affected by over-harvest and habitat losses but the severity of these impacts have been greater and lasted longer for the European Atlantic sturgeon, resulting in loss of diversity and extirpation of all but one stock. From the comparison of human impact on two species we conclude that preventive actions should be taken at the early warning signs of changes in population and recruitment. These should mitigate multiple factors of human activity affecting sturgeon stocks and their habitats.     

An Analysis of Waste Flakes from Sites in the Upper Knife-Heart Region,North Dakota

Abstract

An analysis of lithic debitage from seven archaeological sites was undertaken with the assumption that itcould provide insights into the technological and behavioral background of the craftsman. The analysis describes lithic debitage in terms of six categories. The sites are grouped into two phases: the Heart River phase (about A.D. 1675-1780) and the Knife River phase (about A.D. 1780-1845). The use of Chi-Square and Difference of Means statistics indicates that the present categorization of archaeological units (phases), based on ceramic analysis, is substantiated by an analysis of lithic debitage. Differences between the phases are related to the increasing loss of native material culture after White contact.     

The Photograph and the Malanggan: Rethinking images on Malakula,Vanuatu

From the recent efflorescence of anthropological engagements with photography we are by now aware that photography is an embodied practice and that photographs are complex materialisations of the subjective and experiential as well as the objective and evidential. Despite discussions of ‘visual repatriation’ (e.g. Brown and Peers 2006 ), and of local responses to colonial photography and other kinds of archival images in the Pacific, little has been discussed regarding the status of photographs as particularly ‘Pacific’ artefacts—objects that make sense in indigenous terms as well as being understood in terms of the connections to other places that their production and circulation might signify. Following Wright’s exhortation to recognise ‘the provincial nature of Eurocentric notions of photography and … suggesting that a certain corporeality and materiality constitute elements of its identity’ (2004: 74) , I discuss the resonance of historical photographs in Vanuatu, building an analogy with Malanggan—funerary carvings from Northern New Ireland. I do not mean to suggest that photographs are complex ritual artefacts, but rather follow the ways in which Malanggan have been used as anthropological conceits, in order to discuss the representational efficacy and materiality of Melanesian images in facilitating the crystallisation of memory and history ( Küchler 1988 ), the enchantment of technology ( Gell 1998, 1999 ), and the consolidation of certain kinds of property relations ( Strathern 2005b ). As my title suggests, I draw on Strathern’s combination of Malanggan and Patents to rethink the potential utility of Malanggan as a ‘way to think’ about the meanings of photographs in Pacific communities.     

Woven World: Neotraditional Symbols of Unity in Vanuatu

The importance of kastom to national identity in Vanuatu has been recognized. In this paper I identify plaiting technology in general and basketry in particular — which once served to distinguish ethnic groups in Vanuatu — as emerging symbols of ni-Vanuatu unity. I argue that unlike these kastom traditions often discussed in the literature, plaiting and basketry need not be reinvented. Plaiting is a customary practice which has rich contemporaneous expressions. Plaited products may be fully elaborated in local detail and yet, as shared productions of a technology with common features, can simultaneously represent ni-Vanuatu identity.     

Leftamap Kastom: The Political History of Tradition on Tanna,Vanuatu

The history of evaluation and definition of kastom on Tanna exemplifies its utility in attempts to reformulate social groups by reworking group charter myths, and its manipulation in political events by rival organizations seeking a customary legitimacy. On Tanna, where political prestige and authority depend heavily on the control and communication of knowledge, kastom knowledge as political capital enjoys enhanced status following the rehabilitation of kastom at the national level. Pro-kastom groups on Tanna, such as the John Frum cultists, have benefited from this positive evaluation of kastom, but some anomalies and sources of conflict remain in the fusion of kastom with Christianity and modernism. People argue over their respective domains and the fields of their application. Alternate definitions and uses of kastom invoke disunity and political competition at the local level, in contrast to national emphases on kastom as symbol of political unity and shared identity.     

Agta Foragers: Alternative Histories,and Cultural Autonomy in Luzon

This paper looks at how the Agta are perceived by non-Agta and the relevance such perception has on Agta involvement in logging, environmental conservation, evangelical Christianity, and hosting their admirers: the anthropologists. We focus on two groups of Agta: (1) the people of the municipality of Palanan, site of the World Bank and Dutch government funded Sierra Madre Wilderness Park, and (2) the people of Maconacon north of Palanan, the location of a defunct logging operation, missionary effort, and Armed Forces Philippines/New People's Army struggle. While inundated with outside pressures, the Agta people are increasingly asserting their own identity and becoming active players in a global and post-colonial context. We suggest that the Agta are not completely subordinate to their petty capitalist and farming neighbours. While the Agta are participants and consumers of global culture, they have retained a degree of cultural autonomy and an ability to create their own history.     

Dynamics and predictive modelling of Vibrio spp. in the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, USA

Vibrio spp. are naturally occurring bacteria in marine and estuarine environments around the world. The genus includes several human and animal pathogens that can negatively impact human health, seafood and aquaculture. Vibrio spp. populations are capable of rapid adaptation in response to changing environmental conditions, making them dynamic over short-term and seasonal scales. Temperature, vertical mixing, tidal flushing, climate, precipitation and nutrient loading can change the estuarine environment and subsequently alter microbial community structure, including Vibrio spp., affecting estuarine water quality and public health. To describe these dynamics, Vibrio spp. concentrations and a range of microbial, physical and chemical measures were monitored every 2 weeks and after storm events for 19 months in the Neuse River Estuary (NRE). Results showed clear seasonal and geographic trends in Vibrio spp. abundance. Multiple regression analysis revealed a strong relationship to temperature and salinity, with additional minor influences of chlorophyll a and dissolved organic carbon. Similar models based on easily measured environmental parameters should be pursued for individual Vibrio species in the NRE and other estuarine environments. Predictive models provide useful information for managers, researchers and modellers of estuarine ecosystems.     

Rotamer Dynamics: Analysis of Rotamers in Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Proteins

Given by χ torsional angles, rotamers describe the side-chain conformations of amino acid residues in a protein based on the rotational isomers (hence the word rotamer). Constructed rotamer libraries, based on either protein crystal structures or dynamics studies, are the tools for classifying rotamers (torsional angles) in a way that reflect their frequency in nature. Rotamer libraries are routinely used in structure modeling and evaluation. In this perspective article, we would like to encourage researchers to apply rotamer analyses beyond their traditional use. Molecular dynamics (MD) of proteins highlight the in silico behavior of molecules in solution and thus can identify favorable side-chain conformations. In this article, we used simple computational tools to study rotamer dynamics (RD) in MD simulations. First, we isolated each frame in the MD trajectories in separate Protein Data Bank files via the cpptraj module in AMBER. Then, we extracted torsional angles via the Bio3D module in R language. The classification of torsional angles was also done in R according to the penultimate rotamer library. RD analysis is useful for various applications such as protein folding, study of rotamer-rotamer relationship in protein-protein interaction, real-time correlation between secondary structures and rotamers, study of flexibility of side chains in binding site for molecular docking preparations, use of RD as guide in functional analysis and study of structural changes caused by mutations, providing parameters for improving coarse-grained MD accuracy and speed, and many others. Major challenges facing RD to emerge as a new scientific field involve the validation of results via easy, inexpensive wet-lab methods. This realm is yet to be explored.     

National Identity and the Problem of Kastom in Vanuatu

Vanuatu's transformation into a predominantly Christian country entailed the loss of much traditional culture and the devaluation of the pre-contact era. In the 1970s the growing independence movement used kastom as a rallying cry to evoke a distinctive non-European national identity. In promoting unity and solidarity, the movement's leaders promulgated kastom on a safe ideological plane, avoiding any definition or differentiation of the concept, whereas the populace attempted to interpret kastom pragmatically. This led to confusion and difficulties because kastom is so ambiguous; its capacity to unite at one level is offset a t others by its political utility in defining difference and in marking boundaries. For Christians, a major problem has been to reconcile the new positive view of kastom with long- entrenched negative attitudes. For the nation-builders, the challenge has been to uphold the virtues of kustorn-within-Christianity while avoiding as much as possible its inclusion in legal codes or in structures and strategies associated with Vanuatu's functioning as a Pacific republic.