A Re-Examination of the Validity of the “Separative and Exclusive Conservation Model”: Insights from an Ethnobiological Study in Maluku, East Indonesia

This chapter aims to examine the validity and desirability of “separative conservation model,” a conservation model, which tries to separate human use areas from wildlife habitats to protect “intact nature.” In mountain areas of central Seram, East Indonesia, local people have created and maintained various types of human-modified forests (HMFs) through arboriculture. Among them, some of damar forests and forest gardens are distributed inside the Manusela National Park in central Seram. Principally, the Indonesian national park management authority has adopted the “separative conservation model” and basically forbids local arboricultural activities for creating HMFs by cutting wild trees inside a national park. In this chapter, I first describe how the locals have formed HMFs through arboricultural and how resources provided from those HMFs support local livelihood. After that, I describe local knowledge on behavior of a flagship species of Wallacea Moluccan cockatoo and its habitat utilization. Then, I evaluate how some types of HMFs function as habitats for the Moluccan cockatoo by analyzing transect survey data. Finally, I provide implications for future conservation and research

Indigenous Resource Management Practices and the Local Social-Cultural Context: An Insight towards Self-Directed Resource Management by People who ‘Coexist’ with Supernatural Agents

In recent arguments in the governance of natural resource management, effectiveness and desirability of collaborative management among various stakeholder including indigenous people has been recognized. In the context of Indonesia, the reformation movement has stimulated the growth of a new perception of indigenous people’s rights to their land in the country. This recent transition presents a growing opportunity for indigenous people who live in nature-rich areas (national parks, etc.) to collaborate with ‘outside stakeholders’ such as governmental agencies, scholars and environmental NGOs in natural resource management. In such situations, it is necessary to deeply understand the value of indigenous resource management (IRM) practices to promote self-directed and effective resource management. This chapter focuses on local forest resource management and its suitability in the local social-cultural context in central Seram, east Indonesia. First, I describe how the well-structured forest resource use is constructed and maintained through the indigenous resource management practices based on ‘supernatural enforce mechanism’. After that, I investigate what social-ecological roles the IRM in Amanioho has, and how IRM practices relate to the social-cultural context of an upland community in central Seram. Then, I discuss the possible future applications for achieving self-directed resource management by people who ‘coexist’ with supernatural agents

Geometrical Structures of Native Hawaiʻian Kōkō Nets

To improve the transportation of valuable resources, Hawaiians developed kōkō nets. These nets were bags of netted cords in the shape of an elongated cone above the lower hemisphere composed of natural fibrous materials. The proposed work analyzes the various lengths, structures, and connections of cord segments between knots. Tensile strength will be measured experimentally using structural stress measurements. The distributed weight load on segments will be calculated using engineering mechanics principles. The developed mathematical models will explain how the net, consisting of 1D string made in the 2D plane, can carry 3D volumetric heavy objects without geometrical mismatches between dimensions in proper balances of forces and torques. After matching the experimental and theoretical results, the proposed work will provide an in-depth understanding of the engineering aspects of the kōkō nets as an essential component of the Hawaiian lifestyle being inherited to the present. The convergence of modern engineering principles and Hawaiian cultural living methods will provide a holistic insight into designing more nature-friendly engineering practices

Suitability of Local Resource Management Practices Based on Supernatural Enforcement Mechanisms in the Local Social-cultural Context

Environmental anthropological studies on natural resource management have widely demonstrated and thematized local resource management practices based on the interactions between local people and supernatural agencies and their role in maintaining natural resources. In Indonesia, even though the legal status of local people's right to the forest and forest resources is still weak, the recent transition toward decentralization presents a growing opportunity for local people to collaborate with outsiders such as governmental agencies and environmental nongovernmental organizations in natural resource management. In such situations, in-depth understanding of the value of local resource management practices is needed to promote self-directed and effective resource management. Here, we focus on local forest resource management and its suitability in the local social-cultural context in central Seram, east Indonesia. Local resource management appears to be embedded in the wider social-cultural context of the local communities. However, few intensive case studies in Indonesia have addressed the relationship between the Indigenous resource management practices closely related to a people's belief in supernatural agents and the social-cultural context. We illustrate how the well-structured use of forest resources is established and maintained through these interactions. We then investigate how local resource management practices relate to the social-cultural and natural resources context of an upland community in central Seram and discuss the possible future applications for achieving conservation

Mesoscopic Physics of Phonon Transport in Carbon Materials

We give a theoretical review of recent development of the mesoscopic physics of phonon transport in carbon nanotubes, including the quantization of phonon thermal conductance, phonon Anderson localization, and so on. A single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) can be regarded as a typical one-dimensional phonon conductor and exhibits various interesting phenomena originating from its one dimensionality. For example, a pristine SWCNT without any defects shows the quantization of phonon thermal conductance at low temperature. On the other hand, a defective SWCNT with randomly distributed carbon isotopes shows the phonon Anderson localization originating from the interference between phonons scattered by isotope impurities

Synthesis and Catalytic Activity of Surfactant-Templated Nanoporous TiO(2)

Nanoporous TiO(2) were synthesized via hydrolysis of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) in HCl acidic conditions using sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) as a templating agent. The order of the nanostructure of samples before calcination was improved with increasing the SDS/TTIP molar ratio. The calcined samples presented uniform mesopore structure with the average diameter of 4-5 nm and considerably large surface areas over 200m(2)/g, although the periodicity of the nanostructure was exceedingly reduced by the removal of the template. The prepared TiO(2) exhibited exceedingly higher activities on the catalytic oxidation of benzene compared to the commercial TiO(2), probably due to the difference of their pore suructures

Balance Confidence and Fear of Falling Avoidance Behavior Are Most Predictive of Falling in Older Adults: A Prospective Analysis

Background: Evidence suggests that there are several fall predictors in the elderly population, including previous fall history and balance impairment. To date, however, the role of psychological factors has not yet been thoroughly vetted in conjunction with physical factors as predictors of future falls. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine which measures, physical and psychological, are most predictive of falling in older adults. Design: This was a prospective cohort study. Methods: Sixty-four participants (mean age=72.2 years, SD=7.2; 40 women, 24 men) with and without pathology (25 healthy, 17 with Parkinson disease, 11 with cerebrovascular accident, 6 with diabetes, and 5 with a cardiovascular diagnosis) participated. Participants reported fall history and completed physical-based measures (ie, Berg Balance Scale, Dynamic Gait Index, self-selected gait speed, Timed “Up & Go” Test, Sensory Organization Test) and psychological-based measures (ie, Fear of Falling Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire, Falls Efficacy Scale, Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale). Contact was made 1 year later to determine falls during the subsequent year (8 participants lost at follow-up). Results: Using multiple regression, fall history, pathology, and all measures were entered as predictor candidates. Three variables were included in the final model, explaining 49.2% of the variance: Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (38.7% of the variance), Fear of Falling Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (5.6% additional variance), and Timed “Up & Go” Test (4.9% additional variance). Limitations: Falls were based on participant recall rather than a diary. Conclusions: Balance confidence was the best predictor of falling, followed by fear of falling avoidance behavior, and the Timed “Up & Go” Test. Fall history, presence of pathology, and physical tests did not predict falling. These findings suggest that participants may have had a better sense of their fall risk than with a test that provides a snapshot of their balance