The Cultural Complexities of Learning and Development in A Post-Modern World

The books under review focus on the role culture plays in studies of childhood socialization, learning, schooling in global contexts, and educational change. Key chapters highlight schooling practices not well known in Western culture. Both books advocate understanding and respecting cultural differences while emphasizing that cultures are dialectally reshaping and reorganizing in response to rapidly changing economic, political, and social forces. The challenge facing societies in the age of global communication is to preserve unique cultural heritages while acknowledging shared human values that may transcend the boundaries of a given world.     

Assessing Recovery from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: An Application of Night‐time Light Data and Vegetation Index

It has been 10 years since the Indian Ocean Tsunami caused serious damage to the coastal areas in South and Southeast Asia. The effects on vegetation and human settlements in the affected areas were enormous. This study presents the results of an analysis estimating the long‐term recovery using two longitudinal remotely sensed dataset: 1. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer enhanced vegetation index (MODIS EVI), a dataset accounting for change in the landscape and vegetation; and 2. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program‐Optical Line Scanner (DMSP‐OLS) night‐time light data in order to estimate the effects on human and economic activities. It is evident from the results of this study that the night‐time light and vegetation index datasets can both be beneficial in identifying changes caused by natural disasters and can be used to track recovery. The results using night‐time light indicates a large loss of lighted area but also a rapid recovery of night‐time light after the tsunami. Already in year 2005–2006, the levels of lighted area and sum of the lighting (SOL) intensity reached the same levels as pre‐tsunami. For MODIS vegetation index, a drop can be observed in 2005/2006 on locations close to the coastline using 1 year temporal resolution; however, when utilizing the 16 day temporal resolution, the impact of the tsunami is illustrated as a dramatic drop, mostly in pixels located within 3km from the coast. Following the drop in vegetation index due to the tsunami, it was observed that most pixels exhibited at least some level of recovery in 2 years after the event.     

Genuine Community Engagement in Remote Dryland Regions: Natural Resource Management in Lake Eyre Basin

Remote dryland regions are characterised by sparse populations and socially marginalised voices which pose particular challenges to natural resource management. This paper considers the issue of how to achieve community engagement in regions with these characteristics. In doing so, the paper contributes to an expanding international research agenda focusing on the distinct characteristics of arid and semi‐arid regions under the heading of ‘dryland syndrome’. The paper draws on government liaison officer and local community perspectives of successful engagement in the case‐study region of Lake Eyre Basin, Australia. The results demonstrate that widely recognised characteristics of successful engagement are required but insufficient for genuine engagement in remote dryland regions. In addition to building trust through community ownership, being inclusive, effective communication, and adequate resources, genuine community engagement in drylands also requires respecting the extreme conditions and extraordinary variability of these areas. Residents of dryland regions seek genuine engagement yet engage opportunistically when seasons are conducive and when tangible outcomes are visible.     

ON THE INTENT TO MAKE CRAMP: AN INTERPRETATION OF VITREOUS SEAWEED CREMATION 'WASTE' FROM PREHISTORIC BURIAL SITES IN ORKNEY, SCOTLAND

Summary.   Vitreous slag-like material, known as 'cramp', from prehistoric cremation burial sites in Orkney is, apart from cremated bone, one of the recurrent remains found within or around Bronze Age burials. Although the suggestion that cramp was formed by the fusing of sand attached to dry seaweed while it was being burnt was first proposed in the 1930s, there has never been a consideration of seaweed's contribution to cremation other than as a potential fuel. Scientific analyses presented in this paper corroborate the use of seaweed. It is suggested that cramp may have been deliberately produced to act as an efficient collector of shattered bone which otherwise could have been lost during the cremation. Far from being a 'waste', cramp could well have been another form of 'human-remains' in its own right.