Tracking "Yuwaan Gageets" : a Russian fairy tale in Tlingit oral tradition

Tracking "Yuwaan Gageets" has involved many levels of the collaborative process in folklore transmission and research. The borrowing and development of "Gageets" as a story in Tlingit oral tradition, as well as its discovery and documentation by folklorists, offer complex examples of collaboration. Neither the process of borrowing nor of documentation would have been possible without the dynamics of collaboration.Note: Dedicated to the Memory of Anny Marks / Shkaxwul.aat (1898-1963); Willie Marks / Keet Yaanaayi (1902-1981); Susie James / Kaasgeiy (1890-1980); Robert Zuboff / Shaadaax' (1893-1974). Issue title; "Native American Oral Traditions: Collaboration and Interpretation.

Seven hundred million to one: Personal action in reversing language shift

The paper considers what influence a single person can have on language survival and transmission of knowledge, comparing and contrasting the situation of large languages such as Putonghua (traditionally called Mandarin Chinese, with 700 million speakers) and small languages such as Eyak with as few speakers as one. It examines the delights and dilemmas of such work, the practical results (such as texts and documents) and the spiritual rewards (mostly satisfaction), drawing examples from our own work of the last 35 years with Tlingit, and from the work of colleagues, especially Michael Krauss, in the context of a volume celebrating his 70th birthday and 45 years of work on behalf of Alaska Native languages and endangered indigenous languages around the world, especially in the circumpolar north. The paper is by design an informal and non-technical address to the general reader, especially members of communities whose indigenous languages are endangered.L’article considère l’influence qu’une personne peut avoir sur une langue qui lutte pour sa survie linguistique et sur la transmission de cette langue, en comparant et contrastant la situation des langues répandues, telles que le putonghua (plus traditionnellement appellé le chinois mandarin, avec 700 millions de locuteurs) et des langues peu répandues, telles que la langue eyak que seulement une personne parle. L’article examine les joies et les dilemmes qu'apportent de tels travaux, les résultats pratiques (i.e. textes et documents) et les récompenses spirituelles (principalement des satisfactions) tirés d’exemples de nos propres travaux des dernières 35 années à étudier la langue tlingit, et des travaux de nos collègues, spécialement Michael Krauss, dans le contexte d’un volume célébrant son 70e anniversaire et aussi ses 45 ans de travaux au nom des différentes langues des Autochtones de l’Alaska et des langues indigènes en voie de disparition autour du monde, spécialement autour du cercle polaire de l’hémisphère nord. L’article a un but non-formel et non-technique et s’adresse à tous les lecteurs, spécialement aux membres des communautés dont les langues indigènes sont en voie de disparition

SOGERV Market Assessment

The Sustainable Off-grid Electrification of Rural Villages (SOGERV) Project seeks to create sustainable energy supply businesses in remote communities in Chikwawa District by deploying appropriate/affordable renewable energy technologies and applications. Little data is readily available in this context to guide the choice of technology and type and level of application. This study describes the market assessment approach taken to determine the viability of specific renewable energy technologies prior to implementation. The objective of the market assessment will provide a means for business planning and technology choice for those businesses

Microexplosions in the Upgrading of Biomass-Derived Pyrolysis Oils and the Effects of Simple Fuel Processing

The development of biofuels produced from biomass-derived pyrolysis oils (bio-oil) requires a deeper understanding of the bio-oil vaporization required for catalytic hydrodeoxygenation, reforming and combustion processes. Through the use of high-speed photography, bio-oil droplets on a 500 °C alumina disk in nitrogen gas were observed to undergo violent microexplosions capable of rapidly dispersing the fuel. High speed photography of the entire droplet lifetime was used to determine explosion times, frequency and evaporation rates of the bio-oil samples that have been preprocessed by filtering or addition of methanol. Filtration of the oil prior to evaporation significantly reduced the fraction of droplets that explode from 50% to below 5%. Addition of methanol to bio-oil led to uniform vaporization while also increasing the fraction of droplets that exploded. Experiments support the necessity of dissolvable solids for the formation of a volatile core and heavy shell which ruptures and rapidly expands to produce a violent bio-oil microexplosion