Fiji,rugby and the geopolitics of soft power. Shaping national and international identity

In this century, sport has steadily become a more visible and marketable part of everyday life and of global political significance. States have consequently used sport as a means of soft power in order to develop a positive international presence and, usually to a lesser extent, affirm national identity. Sport diplomacy is usually associated with mega‐events and large states, but Fiji has used its prowess in rugby, and its Sevens victory in the 2016 Olympic Games, to promote itself globally, strengthen its national image and support government claims to legitimacy. The government emphasised Fijian values to construct a banal nationalism, in the face of ethnic divisions, and external concerns over repression of civil society. At least ephemerally, Fiji acquired new international recognition, and the government gained national legitimacy, indicating the expanding role of sport in geopolitics.     

Importance of Internal Biotic Concentrations in Risk Evaluations with Aquatic Systems

Ecological risk evaluations are commonly performed using aqueous concentrations and aqueous toxicity measurements as a starting point. However risk evaluations could be carried out using internal biotic concentrations and the internal lethal or sublethal concentrations. This has several advantages. Firstly, the internal lethal and sublethal concentrations are relatively consistent in groups of chemicals having a similar mode of action. Thus in field situations the internal concentration, in fish and possibly other biota, can be used to evaluate possible biotic effects. Also other histopathological, biochemical, biomolecular and physiological effects can be assessed and used with this information to give an overall assessment. There are, however, several limitations with this approach including sensitivity, health, age and nutritional status of the biota as well as a lack of data on dose/response relationships with internal concentrations.     

Field Study of Soil Vapor Extraction for Reducing Off-Site Vapor Intrusion

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is effective for removing volatile organic compound (VOC) mass from the vadose zone and reducing the potential for vapor intrusion (VI) into overlying and surrounding buildings. However, the relationship between residual mass in the subsurface and VI is complex. Through a series of alternating extraction (SVE on) and rebound (SVE off) periods, this field study explored the relationship and aspects of SVE applicable to VI mitigation in a commercial/light-industrial setting. The primary objective was to determine if SVE could provide VI mitigation over a wide area encompassing multiple buildings, city streets, and subsurface utilities and eliminate the need for individual subslab depressurization systems. We determined that SVE effectively mitigates offsite VI by intercepting or diluting contaminant vapors that would otherwise enter buildings through foundation slabs. Data indicate a measurable (5 Pa) influence of SVE on subslab/indoor pressure differential may occur but is not essential for effective VI mitigation. Indoor air quality improvements were evident in buildings 100 to 200 feet away from SVE including those without a measurable reversal of differential pressure across the slab or substantial reductions in subslab VOC concentration. These cases also demonstrated mitigation effects across a four-lane avenue with subsurface utilities. These findings suggest that SVE affects distant VI entry points with little observable impact on differential pressures and without relying on subslab VOC concentration reductions.     

A numerical comparison of time and frequency‐domain marine electromagnetic methods for hydrocarbon exploration in shallow water

In shallow water the frequency domain controlled source electromagnetic method is subject to airwave saturation that strongly limits the sensitivity to resistive hydrocarbon targets at depth. It has been suggested that time‐domain CSEM may offer an improved sensitivity and resolution of these deep targets in the presence of the airwave. In order to examine and test these claims, this work presents a side‐by‐side investigation of both methods with a main focus on practical considerations, and how these effect the resolution of a hydrocarbon reservoir. Synthetic noisy data for both time‐domain and frequency domain methods are simulated using a realistic frequency dependent noise model and frequency dependent scaling for representative source waveforms. The synthetic data studied here include the frequency domain response from a compact broadband waveform, the time‐domain step‐response from a low‐frequency square wave and the time‐domain impulse response obtained from pseudo‐random binary sequences. These data are used in a systematic resolution study of each method as a function of water‐depth, relative noise and stacking length. The results indicate that the broadband frequency domain data have the best resolution for a given stacking time, whereas the time‐domain data require prohibitively longer stacking times to achieve similar resolution.     

Modelling of anisotropic coal swelling and its impact on permeability behaviour for primary and enhanced coalbed methane recovery

Coal swelling/shrinkage during gas adsorption/desorption is a well-known phenomenon. For some coals the swelling/shrinkage shows strong anisotropy, with more swelling in the direction perpendicular to the bedding than that parallel to the bedding. Experimental measurements performed in this work on an Australian coal found strong anisotropic swelling behaviour in gases including nitrogen, methane and carbon dioxide, with swelling in the direction perpendicular to the bedding almost double that parallel to the bedding. It is proposed here that this anisotropy is caused by anisotropy in the coal's mechanical properties and matrix structure. The Pan and Connell coal swelling model, which applies an energy balance approach where the surface energy change caused by adsorption is equal to the elastic energy change of the coal solid, is further developed to describe the anisotropic swelling behaviour incorporating coal property and structure anisotropy. The developed anisotropic swelling model is able to accurately describe the experimental data mentioned above, with one set of parameters to describe the coal's properties and matrix structure and three gas adsorption isotherms. This developed model is also applied to describe anisotropic swelling measurements from the literature where the model was found to provide excellent agreement with the measurement. The anisotropic coal swelling model is also applied to an anisotropic permeability model to describe permeability behaviour for primary and enhanced coalbed methane recovery. It was found that the permeability calculation applying anisotropic coal swelling differs significantly to the permeability calculated using isotropic volumetric coal swelling strain. This demonstrates that for coals with strong anisotropic swelling, anisotropic swelling and permeability models should be applied to more accurately describe coal permeability behaviour for both primary and enhanced coalbed methane recovery processes.     

DNA identification of the phyllosoma diet of Jasus edwardsii and Scyllarus sp. Z

The development of an effective artificial larval diet has been a major stumbling block for advancing the aquaculture of spiny lobsters internationally. Attempts to determine the natural diet of spiny lobster larvae have been impeded by their small size and sparse distribution in the open ocean, making these larvae difficult to study using conventional methods. Recent advances in molecular genetic techniques have provided a novel route for identifying the natural prey of spiny lobster larvae (phyllosoma). In this study, sequences from zooplankton found associated with phyllosomas, along with sequences from GenBank, were used to design a suite of group-specific primers. These primers were able to amplify via the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) a short (100–200 base pair) DNA fragment from the 16S or COI locus of potential prey but not from lobster. These methods were applied to four wild-caught phyllosomas of Jasus edwardsii and two phyllosomas of Scyllarus sp. Z. Gadiforme, Cnidaria, Gastropoda and Decapoda crustacean (non-lobster) DNA sequences were obtained from the gut contents of these lobster larvae and inferred as prey. These initial results confirm previous studies using other less definitive methods which have indicated that phyllosomas are opportunistic predators of a wide range of zooplankton taxa.     

Pacific islands in the global economy: Paradoxes of migration and culture

Predictions for the future of small islands and island states are invariably pessimistic. Poverty has increased, free trade offers limited possibilities, governance is weak and urban biased, and aid dependence has not declined despite aid fatigue. Populations are contracting from outer islands. One outcome has been increasing migration and remittances, as safety valve and diversification strategy. Selective migration and limited return migration have contributed to skill drain. Yet migration has enabled peripheries to survive through improved welfare and investment, and sustained social structures. Formal development strategies, whether international or national, emphasize 'modernity', with culture to be abhorred and ignored; yet hybridity offers possibilities for more equitable sustainable development. A combination of migration, economic diversification and cultural hybridity provides alternative development trajectories.