Three centuries of Myanmar monsoon climate variability inferred from teak tree rings

Asian monsoon extremes critically impact much of the globe's population. Key gaps in our understanding of monsoon climate remain due to sparse coverage of paleoclimatic information, despite intensified recent efforts. Here we describe a ring width chronology of teak, one of the first high-resolution proxy records for the nation of Myanmar. Based on 29 samples from 20 living trees and spanning from 1613-2009, this record, from the Maingtha forest reserve north of Mandalay, helps fill a substantial gap in spatial coverage of paleoclimatic records for monsoon Asia. Teak growth is positively correlated with rainfall and Palmer Drought Severity Index variability over Myanmar, during and prior to the May-September monsoon season (e.g., r = 0.38 with Yangon rainfall, 0.001, n 68). Importantly, this record also correlates significantly with larger-scale climate indices, including core Indian rainfall (23°N, 76°E; a particularly sensitive index of the monsoon), and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The teak ring width value following the so-called 1997-98 El Niño of the Century suggests that this was one of the most severe droughts in the past ~300 years in Myanmar. Evidence for past dry conditions inferred for Myanmar is consistent with tree-ring records of decadal megadroughts developed for Thailand and Vietnam. These results confirm the climate signature related to monsoon rainfall in the Myanmar teak record and the considerable potential for future development of climate-sensitive chronologies from Myanmar and the broader region of monsoon Asia

Rohingya Muslims : Myanmar's forgotten people

The stateless Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar have been discriminated and excluded by consecutive governments since the 1960s, causing an exodus to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries. The mounting jihadist propaganda of today may push the desperate ones among the Rohingyas toward extremism. To defuse a future problem, international action and support may be necessary

Political economy of development of Myanmar under the military regime

53 p.The decline of the Myanmar economy in the late 1990s and well into the 21st century is one of the most significant stories for students of economic growth and Southeast Asia. When the military regime transformed the economy into a marketoriented system from a command system and opened up its trade regime in the late 1980s, hopes were high for future growth of the Myanmar economy. Indeed, the reforms bore fruit initially with the economy growing up significantly from one with negative growth rates to positive ones. However, the economy happened to decline in the late 1990s and well into the 21st century. This paper seeks to understand this decline and explain why it happened by pinpointing four major factors which must have caused it, namely lack of economic freedom, mismanagement of the macroeconomy, existence of rampant corruption and negligence of human resource development.Master of Science (International Political Economy

Unpacking the Presumed Statelessness of Rohingyas

10.1080/15562948.2017.1330981Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies153269-28

The Myanmmar Nargis aftermath: a disaster in governance

Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, which made headline news across the globe, triggered denunciations of the military regime in delaying the international humanitarian relief efforts. The cyclone-struck country suffers from bad governance that has turned a natural disaster into a looming public health crisis

Myanmar's rising buddhist nationalism : impact on foreign investors

Amidst rising Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar, domestic tension is beginning to affect foreign investment. The call to shun Qatar-based Ooredoo’s telecommunication services in Myanmar displays economic nationalism that should worry risk analysts

Adulteration of Pure Native Blood by Aliens? Mixed Race Kapya in Colonial and Post-Colonial Myanmar

10.1080/13504630.2018.1499223Social Identities253345-35

Investigation of spectral nulls using convex geometry in OFDM systems

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) offers spectral efficiency and low power consumption to the communication system. the major impairment encountered in OFDM system is the multipath fading in the communication channel; which leads to loss of data. OFDM also offers immunity form the multipath fading nature of communication channels.Master of Science (Signal Processing