Yoruba folk operas

In this traditional age, we see already emerge the first representatives of a new African culture. Anybody interested in the future of Africa must take an interest, and give encouragement to these pioneers, who give expression to the new age. One such new development is the growth of a folk opera in Yoruba country in Western Nigeria. This development is less than a decade old, yet today there are about half a dozen “theatre parties”, as they call themselves, who perform musical plays all over the country

The talking drums of the Yoruba

The most common type of Talking Drum among the Yoruba is called “Dundun” (see Plate I). Europeans sometimes refer to it as an hourglass-drum, because of its shape. It has two membranes, of which only one is beaten, however. The leather strings connecting the membranes are gripped by the drummer’s left hand, and by tightening them, he can raise the pitch of the drum. There are many kinds of Dundun drums, but the most important one is called “Lya-Ilu” (mother of the drums) which has a range of about an octave - the exact range depending on the strength of the drummer

ECLAIRE: Effects of Climate Change on Air Pollution Impacts and Response Strategies for European Ecosystems. Project final report

The central goal of ECLAIRE is to assess how climate change will alter the extent to which air pollutants threaten terrestrial ecosystems. Particular attention has been given to nitrogen compounds, especially nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ammonia (NH3), as well as Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) in relation to tropospheric ozone (O3) formation, including their interactions with aerosol components. ECLAIRE has combined a broad program of field and laboratory experimentation and modelling of pollution fluxes and ecosystem impacts, advancing both mechanistic understanding and providing support to European policy makers. The central finding of ECLAIRE is that future climate change is expected to worsen the threat of air pollutants on Europe’s ecosystems. Firstly, climate warming is expected to increase the emissions of many trace gases, such as agricultural NH3, the soil component of NOx emissions and key BVOCs. Experimental data and numerical models show how these effects will tend to increase atmospheric N deposition in future. By contrast, the net effect on tropospheric O3 is less clear. This is because parallel increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations will offset the temperature-driven increase for some BVOCs, such as isoprene. By contrast, there is currently insufficient evidence to be confident that CO2 will offset anticipated climate increases in monoterpene emissions. Secondly, climate warming is found to be likely to increase the vulnerability of ecosystems towards air pollutant exposure or atmospheric deposition. Such effects may occur as a consequence of combined perturbation, as well as through specific interactions, such as between drought, O3, N and aerosol exposure. These combined effects of climate change are expected to offset part of the benefit of current emissions control policies. Unless decisive mitigation actions are taken, it is anticipated that ongoing climate warming will increase agricultural and other biogenic emissions, posing a challenge for national emissions ceilings and air quality objectives related to nitrogen and ozone pollution. The O3 effects will be further worsened if progress is not made to curb increases in methane (CH4) emissions in the northern hemisphere. Other key findings of ECLAIRE are that: 1) N deposition and O3 have adverse synergistic effects. Exposure to ambient O3 concentrations was shown to reduce the Nitrogen Use Efficiency of plants, both decreasing agricultural production and posing an increased risk of other forms of nitrogen pollution, such as nitrate leaching (NO3-) and the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O); 2) within-canopy dynamics for volatile aerosol can increase dry deposition and shorten atmospheric lifetimes; 3) ambient aerosol levels reduce the ability of plants to conserve water under drought conditions; 4) low-resolution mapping studies tend to underestimate the extent of local critical loads exceedance; 5) new dose-response functions can be used to improve the assessment of costs, including estimation of the value of damage due to air pollution effects on ecosystems, 6) scenarios can be constructed that combine technical mitigation measures with dietary change options (reducing livestock products in food down to recommended levels for health criteria), with the balance between the two strategies being a matter for future societal discussion. ECLAIRE has supported the revision process for the National Emissions Ceilings Directive and will continue to deliver scientific underpinning into the future for the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution

ECLAIRE third periodic report

The ÉCLAIRE project (Effects of Climate Change on Air Pollution Impacts and Response Strategies for European Ecosystems) is a four year (2011-2015) project funded by the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7)

Culture and identity in Oceania : The role of the University of the South Pacific

"Unpublished report produced by Ulli and Georgina Beier for the University of the South Pacific

Culture and identity in Oceania : The role of the University of the South Pacific

"Unpublished report produced by Ulli and Georgina Beier for the University of the South Pacific

Decolonising the Mind : The Impact of the University on Culture and Identity in Papua New Guinea, 1971-74

An unusual memoir that tells the story of Ulli and Georgina Beier's experiences in Papua New Guinea during the 1960s and '70s. Ulli Beir was employed as a lecturer in New English Writing at UPNG and, in partnership with Georgina, they established a centre of art and literature in Port Moresby that stimulated the careers of some of the region's most celebrated artists and writers

Voice of independence : New black writting from Papua New Guinea

xvi, 251 p.; 22 cm