Articoli di riviste sul tema "Papua New Guinea supply chains"

Price transmission through global–domestic agricultural supply chains is a fundamental indicator of domestic market efficiency and producer welfare. Conventional price-transmission econometrics test for a theory-based spatial-arbitrage restriction that long-run equilibrium prices in spatially distinct markets differ by no more than transaction costs. The conventional approach is ill-equipped to test for price transmission when endogenously unstable markets do not equilibrate due to systematic arbitrage-frustrating frictions including financial and institutional transaction costs and biophysical constraints. We propose a novel empirical framework using price data to test for market stability and price transmission along international-domestic supply chains incorporating nonlinear time series analysis and recently emerging causal-detection methods from empirical nonlinear dynamics. We apply the framework to map-out and quantify price transmission through the global-exporter–processor–producer coffee supply chain in Papua, New Guinea. We find empirical evidence of upstream price transmission from the global market to domestic exporters and processors, but not through to producers.

Many governments and NGOs have argued for using tourism, especially community-based tourism (CBT), as a development tool. While this tourism option is often described as more sustainable in terms of contributions to destination community well-being, there is only a limited understanding of the processes that actually underpin CBT and its outcomes in peripheral destinations. This article argues that one reason for this limited understanding is that research into CBT has typically been conducted from a Western perspective with little consideration given to historical and political contexts of colonization and disempowerment. This article reports on a research study that used an alternative, culturally appropriate research methodology with 12 rural PNG villages that had self-initiated CBT ventures and that specifically sought to give these village communities a voice in understanding how CBT can be developed to be one part of larger sustainable community development processes. Major findings included: a positive view of tourism as an additional source of income that fitted well with existing sustainable livelihoods; strong connection between development decisions and the core Melanesian values of clan identity, leadership, and support from elders, community cooperation and reciprocity in the successful maintenance of tourism activities; the need to manage the entire supply chain and not be limited by the actions and power of external tourism operators and agents; the need for education and training in many aspects of tourism to enhance entrepreneurial approaches and greater returns from the supply chain; and the challenge of gender issues.

The Hides gasfield was discovered by BP, and its Joint Venture Partner Oil Search Ltd, in Petroleum Prospecting Licence No.27 in Southern Highlands Province in late 1987 by the exploration well Hides-1. The well tested gas at rates of up to 15.9 mmscf/d with small volumes of associated condensate from four separate intervals within the Toro Sandstone.Negotiations with Placer Dome, a Vancouver-based mining company, led to an agreement to sell gas to supply electrical power for the Porgera gold mine in Enga Province 70 km North East from Hides. Approximately 10 mmscf/d of gas will be produced from two wells, one being the original Hides-1 discovery well, via an 8 km pipeline, to a gas processing plant in the nearby Tagari valley. The processed gas will be fed to turbines to generate approximately 42 M W of electrical power which will be fed to the Porgera mine by overhead transmission lines.BP has undertaken technical studies relating to the feasibility of producing the gas from Hides. In association with the technical work BP has also undertaken an environmental study of the impact of development and has embarked upon a survey of various local and land-related issues. It is anticipated that construction operations will start in early 1990, leading to first gas production in mid-1991, only 3½ years after the discovery. The Hides gasfield development will constitute the first commercial hydrocarbon production in PNG.

Epilepsy affects up to 1-4% of children living in low income and middle countries, however there are few studies of the problems faced by children with epilepsy in such settings. We aimed to document the situation for children with epilepsy in Port Moresby, an urban area in Papua New Guinea, a low-middle income country in the Western Pacific region. We conducted longitudinal cohort study using mixed methods, with serial data collected over 2 years which assessed seizure control, neurodevelopment, and structured interviews with children and parents. For quantitative data descriptive statistics are reported; for qualitative data common responses, themes, experiences and perceptions were grouped and reported in narrative. Forty-seven children with epilepsy were followed for a median of 18 months. Twenty six (55%) children had some associated neurodevelopmental disability. Children gave detailed and vivid descriptions of their experience of seizures. Most children and parents had a positive view of the future but faced many challenges including financial difficulties, fear of having seizures especially at school, restriction of activity that isolated them from peers, and significant stigma and discrimination. Seizure control improved over time for some children, but inconsistent supply of phenobarbitone hindered better control. Comprehensive care for children with epilepsy requires a good knowledge of the individual patient —including their seizure type and comorbidities, their family, and their strengths and vulnerabilities. Children with epilepsy face many problems that can lead to isolation, discrimination and restricted opportunities.

Ensuring a suitable supply of teachers in a climate of major structural and curriculum reform is not an easy task. It is even more difficult when a teacher education program is being developed simultaneously with the implementation of a new education program. Add to this the challenge of empowering communities to become active contributors in curriculum development and teacher education activities. This paper describes a model of teacher education developed in Papua New Guinea to meet these challenges. It is a cost-effective model which provides an immediate supply of teachers and involves communities in the process. The paper highlights contextual aspects of the teacher education curriculum, assessment processes and facilitation of training activities. The content of the paper is organised into four sections. Presented in the first section, as a background to the paper, is a brief history of Papua New Guinea's education system. This is followed by a description of the Education Reform (including the new Elementary Education Program), as a backdrop to a discussion on the Elementary Teacher Education Program in the third section. Some emergent issues are presented as challenges in the fourth section.

PNG is a unique environment and culture that presents some intriguing risks and challenges in project delivery. Clough has delivered 68 projects in PNG over the past 26 years and is recognised as one of the most experienced contractors in the region. The company has been involved in all major PNG upstream gas developments including Hides, Kutubu, Moran and Gobe. Clough is currently delivering the upstream infrastructure for ExxonMobil’s US$11 billion PNG LNG project. This paper will use case studies from Clough’s 26-years of experience in PNG to review the key challenges and define strategies used to overcome these challenges in order to deliver PNG’s largest ever resource project. Key challenges include: Logistics—most of the gas reserves in PNG are difficult to access and located at very high elevations. For example, the Hides wellpads for PNG LNG are located approximately 2,700 m above sea level and accessed by a rough and dangerous road. Security—overcoming security risks including community unrest and the existence of armed bandits on key supply routes.Landowner issues—how to work with PNG’s local communities to ensure they are happy with project outcomes to reduce landowner issues. Training local labour—equipping the local workforce with the skills required to deliver the project to Australian standards, which provides life changing skills for the local community. Key to Clough’s continued success in PNG has been its ability to effectively capture lessons learned on all completed projects and apply this knowledge to improve future project outcomes. Critical lessons will be communicated during this presentation.

Analytical studies on the supply response of growers in the major crop sectors in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are scarce. For this reason, De Silva, Kiele and Lagap (DKL, 1987) must be congratulated for their pioneering attempt at analysing the pro­duction response to changes in prices in the coconut sector of the country. However, in their analysis there are several short‑comings of a methodological and empirical nature. The purpose of this note is to highlight these shortcomings and offer altemative estima­tions and interpretations about the nature of production response to price changes in the coconut sector.

In the highlands of Papua New Guinea, rain-fed subsistence farming has been the main source of food and small cash earnings for the majority of the rural population. Consequently, as a result of elongated period of drought, reduction in food and water supply bring forth starvation / malnutrition led sickness and death, especially when authorities fail to intervene because inaccessibility and remoteness of the highly dissected terrain, as a result relief and basic services don’t reach the hungry mouth on time. Such conditions were reported recently in many parts of Papua New Guinea especially prevalent in coastal regions and uplands of the highlands region. In this study, GIS and Remote Sensing (RS) technology were employed in highlighting and demarcating potential drought risk zones in Western Highlands Province. Basically, several environmental factors like; soil types, NDVI, rainfall, terrain, population demography and surface temperature were prepared and integrated in GIS environment through multi-criteria evaluation techniques where risk areas were identified. The final output generated from factors integration were then assessed and reclassified to indicate levels of drought risk zones from Low, Medium and High. Hence, several built-up areas where then marked on each risk zones in an attempt to highlight the location, distribution and accessibility in respect to the risk areas identified.

AbstractThe international trade in wildlife is currently one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. One group, the turtles, has experienced far-reaching population declines and extinctions because the majority of animals are sourced from the wild. The island of New Guinea has the highest diversity of freshwater turtles (Chelidae) in the Australasian region and large numbers are harvested from the Indonesian province of Papua to supply the international pet trade. A total of 264 of these turtles representing six species were recorded between December 2010 and March 2011 while gathering information about wildlife trade in the Indonesian province of Papua. Most were juveniles, although a substantial number of large adults were also harvested. None of the species recorded are CITES-listed. Despite one species not being allocated an annual harvest quota, it was observed being traded. Illegal and unregulated trade coupled with a lack of basic ecological data for these species can have a severe impact on wild populations. We present recommendations for law enforcement and conservation of these species.

This paper presents two innovations in the clause chaining system of the Sogeram languages of Papua New Guinea. In the first, chain-final morphology was reanalyzed as chain-medial morphology with different-subject switch reference meaning. In the second, common collocations of two verbs in a clause chain were reanalyzed as constituting a single compound verb stem. Previously, scholars held that increased structural integration of clauses necessarily results in structural asymmetry (that is, subordination), but the Sogeram data show that this need not always be the case. The cross-linguistic impulse towards increased integration is realized in both innovations, but the impulse towards asymmetry is only realized in the first. This paper thus argues that with coordinate source constructions such as these clause chains, one clause may become subordinate to the other, but the clauses may also retain their coordinate relationship as they become more integrated.

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In the 1980s, Asian energy markets expanded at a rapid rate to meet the surge in demand from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. This demand boom coincided with an increase in non-OPEC oil production in the region. As oil production stabilizes, demand looks set to rise sharply, this time in the new Newly Industrialized Countries of Southeast Asia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Natural gas will play a key role in this expansion of energy use and could start to lead rather than follow oil markets. The leading role of natural gas will be especially strong if gas starts to make inroads in the high and middle ends of the barrel with oxygenated gasoline and compressed natural gas for trucks. At the bottom of the barrel, natural gas could increasingly usurp the role of residual fuel oil for environmental reasons. At the same time, regional refiners could find that residual oil is their leading source of additional feed for the new process units currently under discussion or planning. The supply outlook for natural gas is increasingly fraught with uncertainties as more of the region's supplies must come from distant areas. In particular, LNG supplies from Malaysia and Indonesia will need to be replaced by the early part of the next century as rising domestic demand eats into the exportable gas production. New sources include China, Siberia, Sakhalin Island, Papua New Guinea, and Canada. There will be intense competition to supply the Northeast Asian markets as the gas production in Southeast Asia is increasingly used within ASEAN.

Abstract In this study, the authors carried out a detailed analysis of the technologies required for successful implementation of a sustainable renewable energy household power supply in Papua New Guinea or PNG (PNG is a Pacific Island nation, North of Australia) to free the country from fossil fuel dependency. The role of renewable energy sources in the recent PNG National Energy Policy covering 2018 to 2050 (unveiled at the 2018 March Energy Summit in Port Moresby by the PNG Minister of Energy) was also analysed. From the outcome of our recently concluded SERI 2018 Renewable Energy conference, we assembled into a single hypothetical ‘energy basket’ all the varied renewable ‘green’ energy sources within PNG (as estimated by our energy research groups). This paper estimates that there is sufficient renewable energy in PNG and advocates that these available green energy sources should be tapped, for they can go a long way in the quest for climate change mitigation. This research paper will articulate that shifting PNG’s and other Pacific Island nations’ energy reliance from fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources to renewable green and environmentally sustainable sources is not only achievable, but feasible within a reasonable time.

This paper considers emerging challenges to balancing gas supply and demand in Australia’s domestic market in the context of the global demand for Australian gas exports. Based on a major 2004 study by Wood Mackenzie, a series of scenario forecasts assessed the balance of gas allocation to domestic and export gas demand to 2020.Australia is destined to become an increasingly significant global supplier and exporter of gas, primarily as LNG. The recent emergence of major new LNG customers in China and (west coast) north America seeking to secure supplies has ignited a global gas demand-pull on Australia’s gas reserves that is competing with domestic demand.The States of Western Australia (WA) and the Northern Territory (NT) hold more than 130 Tcf or 90% of Australia’s total remaining gas reserves. For many years industry and politicians have proposed major transnational pipelines to transport gas out of the remote northwest or from Papua New Guinea to feed the energy-hungry southeast, and supplement existing gas production from the Cooper Basin and Bass Strait.Striking the right balance between export and domestic gas resource allocation and meeting the needs of producers, customers and policy-makers is emerging as a major challenge within Australia’s domestic gas market.

IntroductionEarly infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV and timely initiation of antiretroviral therapy can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality among HIV-positive infants. Access to EID is limited in many low-income and middle-income settings, particularly those in which standard care involves dried blood spots (DBS) sent to centralised laboratories, such as in Papua New Guinea (PNG). We conducted a qualitative exploration of the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a point-of-care (POC) EID test (Xpert HIV-1 Qualitative assay) among health workers and key stakeholders working within the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programme in PNG.MethodsThis qualitative substudy was conducted as part of a pragmatic trial to investigate the effectiveness of the Xpert HIV-1 Qualitative test for EID in PNG and Myanmar. Semistructured interviews were undertaken with 5 health workers and 13 key informants to explore current services, experiences of EID testing, perspectives on the Xpert test and the feasibility of integrating and scaling up POC EID in PNG. Coding was undertaken using inductive and deductive approaches, drawing on existing acceptability and feasibility frameworks.ResultsHealth workers and key informants (N=18) felt EID at POC was feasible to implement and beneficial to HIV-exposed infants and their families, staff and the PMTCT programme more broadly. All study participants highlighted starting HIV-positive infants on treatment immediately as the main advantage of POC EID compared with standard care DBS testing. Health workers identified insufficient resources to follow up infants and caregivers and space constraints in hospitals as barriers to implementation. Participants emphasised the importance of adequate human resources, ongoing training and support, appropriate coordination and a sustainable supply of consumables to ensure effective scale-up of the test throughout PNG.ConclusionsImplementation of POC EID in a low HIV prevalence setting such as PNG is likely to be both feasible and beneficial with careful planning and adequate resources.Trial registration number12616000734460.

Abstract. The tropical Pacific exerts a major effect on the global climate system and might have driven large extra-tropical climate change. We present a 320 kyr high resolution UK'37-sea surface temperature (SST) record from core MD052928 (11°17.26' S, 148°51.60' E, water depth 2250 m) located off southeastern Papua New Guinea (PNG), in the western tropical Pacific. The age model of the core is based on AMS 14C dating of planktic foraminifers and correlation of benthic to the LR04 stack. The UK'37-SST ranges from 26.5 to 29 °C, showing glacial–interglacial and millennial variations. We assess the phase of the MD052928 UK'37-SST as part of a synthesis of five other SST records from the tropical Pacific at the precession, obliquity, and eccentricity bands. The SST records can be separated into two groups when considering SST phase relative to changes in orbital forcing, ice volume and greenhouse gases (GHGs). SST maxima at open-ocean sites within primary equatorial current systems occur between obliquity maxima and methane (CH4) maxima but early relative to ice volume minima and CO2 maxima at the obliquity band. In contrast, SST maxima at continental margin sites change are in phase with ice minima and CO2 maxima, likely influenced by the slow response of continental ice sheets and GHGs. At the precession band, the early group located on the Warm Pool area indicates a direct influenced by the local insolation, and with the similar phase progress as the obliquity band. These results indicate that the decreased high-low latitudes insolation gradient and increasing low latitude local insolation resulting in tropical Pacific SST rise. Higher SST would supply more moisture resulting in increased CH4 in the tropical wetlands. This promotes increasing CO2 and deglaciation leading to increase continental and continental margin surface temperatures.

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures (δ13C and δ15N) of Cannabis sativa were assessed for their usefulness to trace seized Cannabis leaves to the country of origin and to source crops by determining how isotope signatures relate to plant growth conditions. The isotopic composition of Cannabis examined here covered nearly the entire range of values reported for terrestrial C3 plants. The δ13C values of Cannabis from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Thailand ranged from –36 to –25‰, and δ 15N values ranged from –1.0 to 15.8‰. The stable isotope content did not allow differentiation between Cannabis originating from the three countries, but δ13C values of plantation-grown Cannabis differed between well-watered plants (average δ13C of–30.0‰) and plants that had received little irrigation (average δ13C of –26.4‰). Cannabis grown under controlled conditions had δ13C values of –32.6 and –30.6‰ with high and low water supply, respectively. These results indicate that water availability determines leaf 13C in plants grown under similar conditions of light, temperature and air humidity. The δ13C values also distinguished between indoor- and outdoor-grown Cannabis; indoor-grown plants had overall more negative δ13C values (average –31.8‰) than outdoor-grown plants (average –27.9‰). Contributing to the strong 13C-depletion of indoor-grown plants may be high relative humidity, poor ventilation and recycling of 13C-depleted respired CO2. Mineral fertilizers had mostly lower δ15N values (–0.2 to 2.2‰) than manure-based fertilizers (7.6 to 22.7‰). It was possible to link δ15N values of fertilizers associated with a crop site to soil and plant δ15N values. The strong relationship between soil, fertilizer, and plant δ15N suggests that Cannabis δ15N is determined by the isotopic composition of the nitrogen source. The distinct d15N values measured in Cannabis crops make δ15N an excellent tool for matching seized Cannabiswith a source crop. A case study is presented that demonstrates how δ13C and δ15N values can be used as a forensic tool.

Abstract. Southern Asia, extending from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, is one of the most heavily populated regions of the world. Biofuel and biomass burning play a disproportionately large role in the emissions of most key pollutant gases and aerosols there, in contrast to much of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, where fossil fuel burning and industrial processes tend to dominate. This results in polluted air masses which are enriched in carbon-containing aerosols, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons. The outflow and long-distance transport of these polluted air masses is characterized by three distinct seasonal circulation patterns: the winter monsoon, the summer monsoon, and the monsoon transition periods. During winter, the near-surface flow is mostly northeasterly, and the regional pollution forms a thick haze layer in the lower troposphere which spreads out over millions of square km between southern Asia and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), located several degrees south of the equator over the Indian Ocean during this period. During summer, the heavy monsoon rains effectively remove soluble gases and aerosols. Less soluble species, on the other hand, are lifted to the upper troposphere in deep convective clouds, and are then transported away from the region by strong upper tropospheric winds, particularly towards northern Africa and the Mediterranean in the tropical easterly jet. Part of the pollution can reach the tropical tropopause layer, the gateway to the stratosphere. During the monsoon transition periods, the flow across the Indian Ocean is primarily zonal, and strong pollution plumes originating from both southeastern Asia and from Africa spread across the central Indian Ocean. This paper provides a review of the current state of knowledge based on the many observational and modeling studies over the last decades that have examined the southern Asian atmospheric pollutant outflow and its large scale effects. An outlook is provided as a guideline for future research, pointing out particularly critical issues such as: resolving discrepancies between top down and bottom up emissions estimates; assessing the processing and aging of the pollutant outflow; developing a better understanding of the observed elevated pollutant layers and their relationship to local sea breeze and large scale monsoon circulations; and determining the impacts of the pollutant outflow on the Asian monsoon meteorology and the regional hydrological cycle, in particular the mountain cryospheric reservoirs and the fresh water supply, which in turn directly impact the lives of over a billion inhabitants of southern Asia.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants in experimental plots in Beaumont, TX developed symptoms on leaf blades similar to white leaf streak caused by Mycovellosiela oryzae (Deighton & Shaw) Deighton (synonym Ramularia oryzae Deighton & Shaw) (1,3,4) during the late summer of 2009. Symptoms were observed on several rice cultivars and breeding lines including Cocodrie, Cypress, and Lemont. Lesions usually appeared on lower leaves and were approximately 2 to 7 mm long and linear with whitish or grayish centers surrounded by a narrow brown-or-dark brown margin. Symptoms were similar to narrow brown leaf spot caused by Cercospora janseana (Racib.) O. Const. (synonym C. oryzae Miyake) (3,4), but the centers of lesions were slightly wider (up to 2 mm). Symptoms were visible on the upper and lower leaf surfaces. Some lesions on heavily infected leaves were long (10 to 15 × 0.5 to 2 mm) whitish streaks parallel to the midrib. Leaves with typical symptoms were collected and incubated in a petri dish lined with moistened filter paper for 3 to 4 days at room temperature under a 12-h fluorescent photoperiod. Conidiophores were produced on external mycelium growing out through stomata on the lesion surface. Conidiophores were hyaline, straight, and 7 to 22 μm long and 2 to 3 μm wide with conidial scars. Conidia were washed from the lesions, diluted in sterilized distilled water, and placed on acidified potato dextrose agar. After 6 to 7 days of incubation at room temperature, slow-growing colonies were transferred onto potato dextrose agar (PDA). Three isolates were obtained from single-spore cultures. The colonies of these isolates grew similarly and very slowly on PDA and their radial growth averaged 0.8 mm/day at room temperature. The colonies were dense, grayish, and did not produce any pigments. Conidia were formed singly or in chains and measured 12 to 30 μm long. They were hyaline, straight, cylindrical, typically with no or one septum, a few with two to three septa, and had a hilum and tapered ends. Pathogenicity of these three isolates was assessed in greenhouse tests by spraying a conidial suspension (105 conidia/ml) onto 12 plants of each of the cvs. Cocodrie, Cypress and Lemont at the late tillering stage. Inoculum was obtained by harvesting conidia from the colonies grown on PDA for 3 weeks at room temperature under a 12-h fluorescent photoperiod. Plants sprayed with sterilized distilled water served as the controls. All plants were maintained in a humid chamber for 2 days and then grown in a greenhouse at 20 to 31°C. After 15 days, early lesions appeared on inoculated leaf blades; after 4 weeks, typical symptoms similar to those observed in the field developed. Control plants did not exhibit any symptoms. M. oryzae was reisolated from symptomatic plants, confirming that the disease was caused by this pathogen. To our knowledge, this is the first report of white leaf streak on rice in Texas and the second report after Louisiana (2). This disease has been reported in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, North Borneo, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria (3,4). References: (1) F. C. Deighton and D. Shaw. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 43:515, 1960. (2) A. K. M. Shahjahan et al. Plant Dis. 82:1282, 1998. (3) B. C. Sutton and A. K. M. Shahjahan. Nova Hedwigia 25:197, 1981. (4) R. K. Webster and P. S. Gunnell. Compendium of Rice Diseases. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1992.

White leaf streak, caused by Mycovellosiella oryzae (Deighton and Shaw) Deighton (syn. Ramularia oryzae), was found in Louisiana rice. The symptoms closely resemble those of narrow brown leaf spot caused by Cercospora janseana (Racib.) O. Const. (syn. C. oryzae (Miyake)), and it is difficult to distinguish between these two diseases. Initially both produce similar elongated light brown lesions, but later the lesions of white leaf streak become wider with a whitish center and are surrounded by a narrow light brown margin (2,3). The disease was first observed at the Rice Research Station, Crowley, LA, in 1996 on older leaves of the cultivar Lemont at maturity. Leaves containing the unusual lesion types were placed in a moist chamber and incubated at 28°C for 5 days. Abundant conidia were produced and the fungus was isolated on acidified potato dextrose agar (APDA) by single spore isolation and by plating infected tissues after surface sterilization in 40% Clorox for 10 to 15 min. The colonies grew slowly on APDA and were dark gray in color. The conidia formed in branched chains or singly. They were hyaline, cylindrical with tapering ends and a thick hilum; 0 to 3 septate, and 15 to 35 m long (1,3). Pathogenicity tests were conducted in the greenhouse on the Lemont and Cypress rice cultivars by spraying a conidial suspension (103–4 conidia per ml) onto leaf blades at boot stage. Conidia were produced by growing the fungus on PDA for 10 to 14 days. Inoculated plants were placed inside a humid chamber in a greenhouse and maintained for 4 to 5 weeks. Many elongated lesions similar to those observed in the field were produced 3 to 4 weeks after inoculation. Reisolation from these lesions yielded M. oryzae. With the same methods, 45 cultivars and lines were inoculated to determine their reactions to this disease. Most of the cultivars grown in the southern United States were moderately susceptible or susceptible to white leaf streak. Foreign cultivars tested, including BR-7, BR-11, Cica-4, Cica-6, Cica-7. Cica-8, Cica-9, Oryzica llanos, Rax clear, Teqing, and Tetep, were resistant. In 1997, the disease was found prevalent on many cultivars grown at the Rice Research Station, Crowley, LA. As symptoms of both white leaf streak and narrow brown leaf spot were sometimes observed on the same leaf; it is possible that the disease has been present, but not identified as a separate disease because of the similarity of the symptoms of the two diseases. A thorough survey is necessary to determine the extent of its occurrence and further studies are necessary to determine its yield loss potential. At present it appears to be a minor problem for Louisiana rice. White leaf streak has previously been recorded from Papua New Guinea on cultivated Oryza sativa, and from the Solomon Islands, Sabah, Nizeria, and Sierra Leone on cultivated O. glabberima Steudel and on wild perennial rice O. berthii A. Chev. (2). This is the first report of white leaf streak on cultivated rice in the United States. References: (1) F. C. Deighton. Mycol. Pap., CMI 144:1,1979. (2) F. C. Deighton and D. Shaw. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 43: 515, 1960. (3) B. C. Sutton and A. K. M. Shahjahan. Nova Hedwigia 25:197, 1981.

The Torres Strait tropical rock lobster Panulirus ornatus (TRL) fishery is of immense social, cultural and economic importance to the region’s Indigenous fishers from both Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic indirectly impacted this fishery as well as a number of other fisheries reliant on international export markets. The TRL fishery is managed using an empirical (data-based) Harvest Control Rule (eHCR) to rapidly provide a recommended biological catch (RBC), based on catch, fishery-independent survey indices and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE). Here, we summarize the impacts of COVID-19 on each of these critical data inputs and discuss whether the eHCR was considered adequately resilient to this unprecedented disruption to the system. Next, we use a quantitative supply chain index to analyze the impact of disruptions to the supply chain, and inform on potential adaptation strategies. The catch and CPUE data were impacted to varying degrees by external constraints influencing fishing effort, but the fishery-independent survey wasn’t affected and hence there remains an unbroken survey time-series for the fishery extending back to 1989. The eHCR was shown to be reasonably robust because it incorporates longer-term trends over a 5-year period, and accords substantially more weighting (80%) to the fishery-independent survey rather than CPUE data which can be affected by trade and other disruptions. Despite the eHCR not having been tested for scenarios such as a global pandemic, this robustness is a positive given the types of disruptions we will likely face in future climate. The weak links identified in the supply chain were the same as those previously highlighted as sensitive to climate change disruptions. Our supply chain analysis quantifies the impact on system resilience of alternative paths connecting producers to consumers and reinforces that supply chains may be particularly vulnerable to external disruptions if they are not sufficiently diverse.

The research describe about surface water ecosystem study in Merauke Papua by using multisource and multistage remote sensing data which was splitted into two parts based on the study areas. First, it is for micro scale spatial analysis focusing on the Rawa Biru – Torasi watershed, while the second is for macro scale spatial analysis for Transfly ecoregionin the floodplain areas of Merauke. Multispectral approach was adopted for Landsat image analysis, followed by field survey on the selected areas. Auxilary data used are maps, secondary documents in order to improve understanding of the areas. Interview and discussion with related institutions (Wasur National Sanctuary, Potable Water Services, Internal Affairs Government, Forestry Service) accordingly were carried out. The research result showed that remote sensing imagery are usefull for surface water resources study. Physical condition of the Rawa Biru – Torasi watershed, vegetation analysis by using multitemporal data, wetland type, hydrological process in the floodplain were presented. Rawa Biru watershed as a resource for drinking water supply environmentaly decreased considerably due to the species invasion, with successively dominated by hydrophilla, tebu rawa, rumput pisau, dan Mellaleuca and sedimentation took place in the main body of swamp. Upper part of the watershed is actually included in the Papua New Guinea, in long water resources development scheme, it need administratively belong to one recharge areas for the watershed.

The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, conducted an independence referendum in 2019, which resulted in the region seeking a pathway to complete independence. One of the requirements in establishing independence is ensuring “good governance,” an important facet of which is establishing a stable and adequate food supply. This is framed globally as achieving Sustainable Development Goal Two (SDG #2) to end hunger and malnutrition. This article seeks to assess the measures that government and major donors have taken to implement SDG #2 in Bougainville using a pressure-state-response framework and desktop-based risk assessment to identify areas for further work. The investigation aims to identify effective policy focus areas in order to better implement SDG #2, namely, prioritising civil conflict avoidance, facilitating adaptation planning for climate regime shifts, and ensuring sustainable agricultural intensity and fisheries extraction. Based on these, recommendations for good governance include sustainable and equitable long-term interventions that reduce the risk of political disturbance and environmental degradation. As a result of engaging in this case, readers will be able to apply similar methodologies to inform development decisions in postconflict contexts. Bougainville faces similar challenges to many Pacific islands, including the impacts from climate change, food insecurity, conflict, population growth, and changing land tenure. This case can be extrapolated to these greater contexts.

Abstract Background Timely diagnosis and early initiation of life-saving antiretroviral therapy are critical factors in preventing mortality among HIV-infected infants. However, resource-limited settings experience numerous challenges associated with centralised laboratory-based testing, including low rates of testing, complex sample referral pathways and unacceptably long turnaround times for results. Point-of-care (POC) HIV testing for HIV-exposed infants can enable same-day communication of results and early treatment initiation for HIV-infected infants. However, complex operational issues and service integration can limit utility and must be well understood prior to implementation. We explored and documented the challenges and enabling factors in implementing the POC Xpert® HIV-1 Qual test (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) for early infant diagnosis (EID) as part of routine services in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Methods This sub-study was part of a randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number 12616000734460) designed to investigate the impact of POC testing for EID in Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. Infants recruited during the intervention phase underwent POC testing at the participating hospitals as part of routine care. Semi-structured interviews with 23 caregivers, 12 healthcare providers and 10 key informants were used to explore experiences of POC-EID testing. The research team and hospital staff documented and discussed implementation challenges throughout the study. Results Overall, caregivers and healthcare workers were satisfied with the short turnaround time of the POC test. Occasional delays in POC testing were mostly attributable to late receipt of samples by laboratory technicians and communication constraints among healthcare staff. Hospital staff valued technical assistance from the research group and the National Health Laboratory. Despite staff shortages and infrastructure challenges such as unreliable electricity supply and cramped space, healthcare workers and caregivers found the implementation of the POC test to be feasible at pilot sites. Conclusions As plans for national scale-up evolve, there needs to be a continual focus on staff training, communication pathways and infrastructure. Other models of care, such as allowing non-laboratory-trained personnel to perform POC testing, and cost effectiveness should also be evaluated.

By the 12th century, coffee was extensively cultivated in Yemen, and qawha and cahveh, hot beverages made from roast and ground coffee beans, became popular in the Islamic world over the next 300 years. Commercial production of coffee outside Yemen started in Sri Lanka in the 1660s, Java in the 1700s, and Latin America in 1715, and this production has associations with histories of colonial expansion and slavery. Introduced to Europe in the 17th century, coffee was described by Robert Burton in the section of his 1628 Anatomy of Melancholy devoted to medicines as “an intoxicant, a euphoric, a social and physical stimulant, and a digestive aid” (quoted in Weinberg and Bealer xii). Today, more than 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed each year. Coffee is also an ingredient in a series of iconic dishes such as tiramisu and, with chocolate, makes up the classic mocha mix. Coffee production is widespread in tropical and sub-tropical countries and it is the second largest traded world commodity; second only to oil and petroleum. The World Bank estimates that more than 500 million people throughout the world depend on coffee for their livelihoods, and 25 million of these are coffee farmers. Unfortunately, these farmers typically live and work in substandard conditions and receive only a small percentage of the final price that their coffee is sold for. The majority of coffee farmers are women and they face additional challenges, frequently suffering from abuse, neglect, and poverty, and unable to gain economic, social, or political power in either their family’s coffee businesses or their communities. Some farm coffee under enslaved or indentured conditions, although Fair Trade regimes are offering some lessening of inequalities. At the opposite end of the scale, a small, but growing, number of high-end producers market gourmet sustainable coffee from small-scale, environmentally-aware farming operations. For many in the West today, however, coffee is not about the facts of its production; coffee is all about consumption, and is now interwoven into our contemporary cultural and social habits. Caffeine, found in the leaves, seeds, and fruit of the coffee tree, is an addictive psychoactive substance, but has overcome resistance and disapproval around the world and is now unregulated and freely available, without licence. Our gastronomic sophistication is reflected in which coffee, brewing method, and location of consumption is chosen; our fast-paced lifestyles in the range of coffee-to-go options we have; and our capitalist orientation in the business opportunities this popularity has offered to small entrepreneurs and multinational franchise chains alike. Cafés and the meeting, mingling, discussions, and relaxing that occur there while drinking coffee, are a contemporary topic of reflection and scholarship, as are the similarities and differences between the contemporary café and its earlier incarnations, including, of course, the Enlightenment coffee house. As may be expected from a commodity which has such a place in our lives, coffee is represented in many ways in the media—including in advertising, movies, novels, poetry, songs and, of course, in culinary writing, including cookbooks, magazines, and newspapers. There are specialist journals and popular serials dedicated to expounding and exploring the fine grain detail of its production and consumption, and food historians have written multiple biographies of coffee’s place in our world. So ubiquitous, indeed, is coffee, that as a named colour, it popularly features in fashion, interior design, home wares, and other products. This issue of M/C Journal invited contributors to consider coffee from any relevant angle that makes a contribution to our understanding of coffee and its place in culture and/or the media, and the result is a valuable array of illuminating articles from a diverse range of perspectives. It is for this reason that we chose an image of coffee cherries for the front cover of this issue. Co-editor Jill Adams has worked in the coffee industry for over ten years and has a superb collection of coffee images that ranges from farmers in Papua New Guinea to artfully shot compositions of antique coffee brewing equipment. In making our choice, however, we felt that Spencer Franks’s image of ripe coffee cherries at the Skybury Coffee Plantation in Far North Queensland, Australia, encapsulates the “fruitful” nature of the response to our call for articles for this issue. While most are familiar, moreover, with the dark, glossy appearance and other sensual qualities of roasted coffee beans, fewer have any occasion to contemplate just how lovely the coffee tree is as a plant. Each author has utilised the idea of “coffee” as a powerful springboard into a fascinating range of areas, showing just how inseparable coffee is from so many parts of our daily lives—even scholarly enquiry. In our first feature article, Susie Khamis profiles and interrogates the Nespresso brand, and how it points to the growing individualisation of coffee consumption, whereby the social aspect of cafés gives way to a more self-centred consumer experience. This feature valuably contrasts the way Starbucks has marketed itself as a social hub with the Nespresso boutique experience—which as Khamis explains—is not a café, but rather a club, a trademarked, branded space, predicated on highly knowledgeable and, therefore, privileged patrons. Coffee drinking is also associated with both sobriety and hangover cures, with cigarettes, late nights, and music. Our second feature, by Jon Stewart, looks at how coffee has become interwoven into our lives and imaginations through the music that we listen to—from jazz to blues to musical theatre numbers. It examines the influence of coffee as subject for performers and songwriters in three areas: coffee and courtship rituals, the stimulating effects of caffeine, and the politics of coffee consumption, claiming that coffee carries a cultural and musicological significance comparable to that of other drugs and ubiquitous consumer goods that are often more readily associated with popular music. Diana Noyce looks at the short-lived temperance movement in Australia, the opulent architecture of the coffee palaces built in that era, what was actually drunk in them, and their fates as the temperance movement passed into history. Emma Felton lyrically investigates how “going for a coffee” is less about coffee and more about how we connect with others in a mobile world, when flexible work hours are increasingly the norm and more people are living alone than any other period in history. Felton also introducess a theme that other writers also engage with: that the café also plays a role in the development of civil discourse and civility, and plays an important role in the development of cosmopolitan civil societies. Ireland-based Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire surveys Dublin—that tea drinking city—and both the history of coffee houses and the enduring coffee culture it possesses; a coffee culture that seems well assured through a remarkable win for Ireland in the 2008 World Barista Championships. China has also always been strongly associated with tea drinking but Adel Wang introduces readers to the emerging, and unique, café and coffee culture of that country, as well as some of the proprietors who are bringing about this cultural change. Australia, also once a significant consumer of tea, shifted to a preference for coffee over a twenty year period that began with the arrival of American Servicemen in Australia during World War II. Jill Adams looks at the rise of coffee during that time, and the efforts made by the tea industry to halt its market growth. These strong links between tea and coffee are reflected in Duncan Barnes, Danielle Fusco, and Lelia Green’s thought-provoking study of how coffee is marketed in Bangladesh, another tea drinking country. Ray Oldenberg’s influential concept of the “third place” is referred to by many authors in this collection, but Anthony McCosker and Rowan Wilken focus on this idea. By using a study of how Polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki, worked in his local café from 9 in the morning to noon each day, this article explores the interrelationship of café space, communication, creativity, and materialism. Donna Lee Brien brings us back to the domestic space with her article on how the popular media of cookery books and magazines portray how coffee was used in Australian cooking at mid-century, in the process, tracing how tiramisu triumphed over the trifle. By exploring the currently fashionable practice of “direct trade” between roasters and coffee growers Sophie Sunderland offers a fresh perspective on coffee production by powerfully arguing that feeling (“affect”) is central to the way in which coffee is produced, represented and consumed in Western mass culture. Sunderland thus brings the issue full circle and back to Khamis’s discussion, for there is much feeling mobilised in the marketing of Nespresso. We would like to thank all the contributors and our generous and erudite peer reviewers for their work in the process of putting together this issue. We would also like to specially thank Spencer Franks for permission to use his image of coffee cherries as our cover image. We would lastly like to thank you the general editors of M/C Journal for selecting this theme for the journal this year.References Oldenburg, Ray, ed. Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories about the “Great Good Places” At the Heart of Our Communities. New York: Marlowe & Company 2001.Weinberg, Bennett Alan, and Bonnie K Bealer. The World of Caffeine. New York and London: Routledge, 2001.