Capacity building and disaster response : a case study of NGOs' response to Cyclone Evan in Samoa : a research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of International Development at Massey University, New Zealand

With natural disasters increasing both in number and economic impact, the challenge for governments is to effectively respond to the needs of affected communities. In difficult conditions, and often with resource constraints, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have contributed to meeting the needs of affected communities during disaster responses. NGOs usually have flexible structures, which enable them to respond to a rapidly changing environment. They also often have strong links to the communities in which they work, which creates good synergies when responding to disasters. The involvement of NGOs in a disaster response has been discussed widely in the international community. The challenge is to ensure that NGOs have the capacity to respond effectively when the need arises. This report has a particular focus on Samoa and uses a capacity building lens to investigate a disaster response. It looks closely at the ability of NGOs to assist the Samoan government in a disaster response. The report used a document analysis and semi-structured interviews, with representatives from NGOs involved in the response to Cyclone Evan in 2012, to investigate capacity building in NGOs with a view to enabling them to respond effectively in disaster. The key finding of the report is that the ability of NGOs to form relationships with other stakeholders and to maintain those relationships between disaster responses is important to building partnerships that contribute to the effectiveness of a response

Exploring the boundaries of formulaic sequences : a corpus-based study of lexical substitution and insertion in contemporary British English.

This thesis presents an investigation into formulaic sequences; namely multi-word prefabricated phrases of either literal (e.g. good morning) or non-literal (e.g. kick the bucket) reading. A property of such sequences is variation. Formulaic sequences can be subject to varying degrees of lexical substitutions, grammatical variations, and insertions. This thesis investigates the boundaries of variation: the limits of lexical substitution and insertions for formulaic sequences, i.e. how much variation can occur before the sequence stops being fixed and becomes context-dependent. The boundaries between one formulaic sequence and another and the boundaries between a literal and non-literal reading are also explored. The formulaic sequences for investigation were chosen from The Longman Idioms Dictionary (1998) and were explored using the British National Corpus (BNC). To investigate the limits of variation, I developed and used a technique that I term the chaining process. This is a systematic method of searching for sequences to find the maximum lexical substitutes and insertions. The frequencies of variant forms found during the study were recorded and analysed to highlight both so that both common and rare lexical substitutions and insertions could be examined, and their limits explored. A result of using the chaining process was that sequences could be seen to "link" together. Formulaic sequences with the same underlying meaning and similar lexical set were found to form groups. Use of the chaining process showed how different formulaic sequences with similar meanings could link together in networks via common lexical substitutes, e.g. flip your lid and blow your top link viaflip your wig - lose your wig -w lose your temper and blow your temper. The use of the chaining process shows that formulaic sequences are more similar than different in terms of semantics as well as construction. Sequences are not autonomous; networks show that the boundaries of sequences are not as fixed as idiom dictionaries may lead us to believe. These phrasal networks formed via the chaining process provide a regular method of grouping formulaic sequences. This technique and analysis contribute to lexicography and inform cognitive models of storing and organizing language

Beyond Afrocentricism and Orientalism contemporary representations of transnational identities in the works of Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko and Tracy Payne

South African photographer Nontsikelelo “Lolo” Veleko and South African painter Tracy Payne explore different ways of communicating African realities. The visual imagery of these two artists focuses a lot on movement, challenging the rigidity of boundaries set by Western social constructs. In their work, Veleko and Payne critique the limitations of terms such as “authenticity.” It is extremely difficult to portray shifting notions of contemporary African identity in light of the stain of colonial philosophies which have, in times past, exoticised and appropriated the African body and ascribed conventions of “authenticity” to African representations. Undermining the burden of Western boundaries1, Veleko and Payne redefine what it means to operate in Africa today. Veleko seeks additional cultural realities to complicate her identity as a woman living in Africa while Payne uses concepts of movement to question the validity of structures which advocate an either/ or binary such as “East” and “West” and “masculinity” and “femininity”. By subtly merging aspects of these binaries in their representations, Veleko and Payne bring transnational possibilities to light by undermining the restrictions inscribed in the social and political history of (South) Africa with regard to collective and individual identities. Constructs of gender have contributed to a heightened sense of “African” “masculinity,” forming a stereotype of the African body which is difficult to break free from. Considering the notion of transnationalism and the issue of moving beyond boundaries, borrowing aspects of different cultures in attempt to better define a sense of self, Veleko and Payne engage in the sampling of different lifestyles and perspectives to better define their individualities. This thesis seeks to provide an analysis of the visual language used by Veleko and Payne to promote fluid “African” identities

Forgiveness as potentiality in criminal justice

To explore the problematic of forgiveness in criminal justice we argue for and utilise the deep homologies that exist between the continental philosophical tradition and approaches to complexity theory (the potential to realise new dynamical states). Through taking a hermeneutical narrative approach we argue that studied together they provide us with new insights into questions of punishment, retribution and rehabilitation and enable us to better understand the connections that exist between victims of crime, perpetrators and the community through examination of the content of dominant narratives that emerge in the historical relationship between theology and law; gain insight into an increased path lock (entropic justice) with respect to retribution in liberal democracies such as the USA and UK based upon decomposition of the Judaeo-Christian message; and examine what contemporary stories of forgiveness reveal with respect to accessing new dynamical states and new ways of doing justice that challenge dominant and reductionist narrative

Does climate policy make the EU economy more resilient to oil price rises? A CGE analysis

The European Union has committed itself to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% in 2020 compared with 1990 levels. This paper investigates whether this policy has an additional benefit in terms of economic resilience by protecting the EU from the macroeconomic consequences due to an oil price rise. We use the GEM-E3 computable general equilibrium model to analyze the results of three scenarios. The first one refers to the impact of an increase in the oil price. The second scenario analyses the European climate policy and the third scenario analyses the oil price rise when the European climate policy is implemented. Unilateral EU climate policy imposes a cost on the EU of around 1.0% of GDP. An oil price rise in the presence of EU climate policy does impose an additional cost on the EU of 1.5% of GDP, but this is less than the 2.2% of GDP that the EU would lose from the oil price rise in the absence of climate policy. This is evidence that even unilateral climate policy does offer some economic protection for the EU.JRC.J.1-Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transpor

Brainjacking: Implant Security Issues in Invasive Neuromodulation

The security of medical devices is critical to good patient care, especially when the devices are implanted. In light of recent developments in information security, there is reason to be concerned that medical implants are vulnerable to attack. The ability of attackers to exert malicious control over brain implants (“brainjacking”) has unique challenges that we address in this review, with particular focus on deep brain stimulation implants. To illustrate the potential severity of this risk, we identify several mechanisms through which attackers could manipulate patients if unauthorized access to an implant can be achieved. These include blind attacks in which the attacker requires no patient-specific knowledge and targeted attacks that require patient-specific information. Blind attacks include cessation of stimulation, draining implant batteries, inducing tissue damage, and information theft. Targeted attacks include impairment of motor function, alteration of impulse control, modification of emotions or affect, induction of pain, and modulation of the reward system. We also discuss the limitations inherent in designing implants and the trade-offs that must be made to balance device security with battery life and practicality. We conclude that researchers, clinicians, manufacturers, and regulatory bodies should cooperate to minimize the risk posed by brainjacking

New marine ΔR values for the South Pacific subtropical gyre region

This paper presents 31 new ΔR results of known-age, pre-AD 1950 shells from the South Pacific subtropical gyre region, spanning from the Tuamotu Archipelago in the east to New Caledonia in the west. This doubles the number of available ΔR values for the Oceania region. These values indicate that the regional offset (ΔR) from the modeled radiocarbon marine age has remained relatively constant over the last 100 yr prior to 1950. Variation from the norm can be attributed to various influences including localized upwelling around islands, the presence of a hardwater effect, direct ingestion of old carbon by the live shellfish, or enhanced exchange with atmospheric CO2 as a consequence of photosynthetic activity or increased aeration