The Astronomy of the Kamilaroi People and their Neighbours

The Kamilaroi people and their neighbours, the Euahlayi, Ngemba, and Murrawarri, are an Aboriginal cultural grouping located in the northwest and north central of New South Wales. They have a rich history, but have been missed in much of the literature concerned with sky knowledge in culture. This study collected stories, some of which have not previously been reported in an academic format, from Aboriginal people practicing their culture, augmented with stories from the literature, and analysed the data to create a database of sky knowledge that will be added to the larger body of Aboriginal cultural knowledge in Australia. We found that there is a strong sky culture reflected in the stories, and we also explored the stories for evidence of an ethnoscientific approach to knowledge of the sky.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure

Orientations of linear stone arrangements in New South Wales

We test the hypothesis that Aboriginal linear stone arrangements in New South Wales (NSW) are oriented to cardinal directions. We accomplish this by measuring the azimuths of stone arrangements described in site cards from the NSW Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System. We then survey a subset of these sites to test the accuracy of information recorded on the site cards. We find a preference recorded in the site cards for cardinal orientations among azimuths. The field surveys show that the site cards are reasonably accurate, but the surveyors probably did not correct for magnetic declinations. Using Monte Carlo statistics, we show that these preferred orientations did not occur by chance and that Aboriginal people deliberately aligned these arrangements to the approximate cardinal directions. We briefly explore possible reasons for these preferred orientations and highlight the need for future work.Comment: Australian Archaeology, Volume 75 (December 2012), accepte

Introduction: Performing LatCrit

This introduction examines the four articles in this cluster on LatCrit praxis. The four articles can be seen as case studies that explore different aspects of LatCrit praxis. Pedro Malavet examines the role literature and the arts can play as a form of antisubordinationist practice. Nicholas Gunia focuses on Jamaican music as a particular site of antisubordinationist practice, showing us that resistance comes in many forms and that LatCrit practitioners must have a broad theory for social change that is not limited to legislatures, courtrooms, classrooms, and law reviews. Alfredo Mirande Gonzalez employs personal narrative to tell us how he used narratives in his classroom to better prepare students to work with subordinated groups. In doing so, he presents, obliquely, a pedagogical model for training law students. Sumi Cho and Robert Westley present a case study of U.C. Berkeley\u27s Boalt Coalition for a Diversified Faculty to make the important point that LatCrit praxis must go beyond theory and progressive lawyering to include a third dimension, political organizing. They argue that if we pay sufficient attention to this third dimension and its submerged histories it will reveal that student movements were central to the development of CRT and will expose the limitations of anti-essentialist theorizing. Together, these four articles present a vibrant picture of LatCrit praxis, a project that, as Francisco Valdes notes, is by its very nature perpetually under construction. They also present important questions about narrative responsibility that can help guide future work that employs narrative methodology

Insulating Materials Comprising Polysilazane, Methods of Forming Such Insulating Materials, and Precursor Formulations Comprising Polysilazane

Methods of forming an insulating material comprising combining a polysilazane, a cross-linking compound, and a gas-generating compound to form a reaction mixture, and curing the reaction mixture to form a modified polysilazane. The gas-generating compound may be water, an alcohol, an amine, or combinations thereof. The cross-linking compound may be an isocyanate, an epoxy resin, or combinations thereof. The insulating material may include a matrix comprising one of a reaction product of a polysilazane and an isocyanate and a reaction product of a polysilazane and an epoxy resin. The matrix also comprises a plurality of interconnected pores produced from one of reaction of the polysilazane and the isocyanate and from reaction of the polysilazane and the epoxy resin. A precursor formulation that comprises a polysilazane, a cross-linking compound, and a gas-generating compound is also disclosed

Architecture, ethics and sustainability - an exploration

Globally we are grappling with the concept of sustainability. What does it mean and how should we respond to ensure that the planet and its ecosystems survive? While the problem of living in a sustainable way must be addressed by all sectors of society, architects are arguably in the \u27front line\u27 because of the impact of buildings in terms of resource use and waste generation. Most definitions of sustainability are unhelpful because of their wordiness, lack of detail or ambiguity. Others distort the concept of sustainability to allow business-as-usual (i.e. unsustainable) activity to continue. Using one particular model of sustainability, this paper explores the apparent contradictions between architectural practice in the residential sector, \u27sustainable\u27 housing and the desire to behave ethically. The paper begins with definitions of sustainability and ethics, together with some guiding principles. The literature examining the ethics of sustainable architecture is then reviewed. Two indicators are suggested to make a broad-brush assessment of sustainability. Current practice in Australian residential architectural design, both mainstream and \u27green\u27, is then critiqued against these indicators. Finally, some practical options for a practising architect faced with a client, who wants an \u27unsustainable\u27 house, are briefly explored.<br /

Solstice and Solar Position observations in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions

A major focus of the archaeoastronomical research conducted around the world focuses on understanding how ancient cultures observed sunrise and sunset points along the horizon, particularly at the solstices and equinoxes. Scholars argue that observations of these solar points are useful for developing calendars, informing ritual/ceremonial practices, and predicting seasonal change. This is the foundation of the Eurocentric four-season Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar. Famous examples include Stonehenge, Newgrange, Chichen Itza, and Chankillo. Studies at these and other sites tend to focus on solar point observations through alignments in stone arrangements, and the orientations of monuments. Despite the ongoing study of Indigenous Knowledge in Australia revealing a wealth of information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander observations and interpretations of solar, lunar, and stellar properties and motions, very little has been published about the importance and use of solar point observations. The authors examine this topic through four case studies, based on methodological frameworks and approaches in ethnography, ethnohistory, archaeology, and statistics. Our findings show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people observe the solstices and other significant sunrise/sunset points along the horizon for timekeeping and indicating seasonal change - but in ways that are rather different to the four-season model developed in Western Europe.Comment: Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, Vol. 23(1), in press (2020

Star Maps and Travelling to Ceremonies -- the Euahlayi People and Their Use of the Night Sky

The Euahlayi people are an Australian Aboriginal language group located in north-central New South Wales and south-central Queensland. They have a rich culture of astronomy, and use of the night sky in resource management. Like several other Aboriginal peoples, they did not travel extensively at night, and so were assumed not to use the night sky for navigation. This study has confirmed that they, like most other Aboriginal groups, travelled extensively outside their own country for purposes of trade and ceremonies. We also found that, previously unknown, they used star maps in the night sky for learning and remembering waypoints along their routes of travel, but not for actual navigation. Further research may find that this was common to many Aboriginal groups in Australia.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure

Tracking the rapid loss of tidal wetlands in the Yellow Sea

In the Yellow Sea region of East Asia, tidal wetlands are the frontline ecosystem protecting a coastal population of more than 60 million people from storms and sea-level rise. However, unprecedented coastal development has led to growing concern about the status of these ecosystems. We developed a remote-sensing method to assess change over ∼4000 km of the Yellow Sea coastline and discovered extensive losses of the region's principal coastal ecosystem - tidal flats - associated with urban, industrial, and agricultural land reclamations. Our analysis revealed that 28% of tidal flats existing in the 1980s had disappeared by the late 2000s (1.2% annually). Moreover, reference to historical maps suggests that up to 65% of tidal flats were lost over the past five decades. With the region forecast to be a global hotspot of urban expansion, development of the Yellow Sea coastline should pursue a course that minimizes the loss of remaining coastal ecosystems