ANU College of Asia and the Pacific

Direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of anaerobically preserved plant remains from the Dongan site in New Guinea, combined with assessment of preservation condition, confirms earlier doubts about the antiquity of betelnut (Areca catechu L.) found at the site. A possible sago leaf fragment is also identified as a modern contaminant. The mid-Holocene age of other fruit and nut remains is verified using these methods. The utility of AMS dating in combination with detailed archaeobotanical assessment is demonstrated, thus improving chronometric hygiene and with it knowledge of past plant use in Oceania.

Lapita pottery seems to arrive in the Pacific out of the blue, and signal a new social, economic or ideological network. The authors show that widespread interaction, articulated by obsidian tools and stone mortars and pestles decorated with various motifs, was already in existence in New Guinea and New Britain. These earlier networks provide a preview of the social interaction that was to light up with the advent of Lapita.

In the early 1900s thirteen engraved Conus shell valuables were dug from prehistoric midden mounds in Oro Province. Since the early 1970s nineteen undated surface finds have been found in the northern Massim of Milne Bay Province. When three artifacts became available for AMS radiocarbon dating, provided they were restored after sampling to their original visual appearance, a specialist team was assembled and this paper reports its findings regarding the thirty-two shells. The paper covers sampling and conservation, dating (including new information on the local oceanic reservoir effect), distribution, art, depositional and cultural histories. These distinctive Conus shell valuables are part of the material culture found along the northern coast of the eastern tip of New Guinea and on the islands of the northern Massim during the Expansion Phase c.1000–500 BP. Their decoration is comparable to that produced by Milne Bay Province woodcarvers in historic times. This continuity makes t...

China has embarked on an ambitious and unprecedented programme of energy reform and climate change mitigation. Yet the motivations for this important shift remain unclear. This paper surveys key central government documents and articles by China's leading energy academics to investigate the ideas influencing China's new energy and climate policies. Three key ideas in particular are supportive of greater climate mitigation than in the past. First, domestic energy security concerns have risen on the central government agenda as a result of electricity shortages and rapidly rising energy consumption. Such concerns have deeply influenced China's ambitious and largely successful energy efficiency policies. Second, growing awareness of the environmental constraints on economic growth in general, and the potential damages of dangerous climate change in particular, has prompted stronger official rhetoric in favour of green development. The appearance of targets and policies that specifically target carbon emissions reductions in the 12th FYP for the first time suggests that climate change mitigation is becoming a motivation for policy action in its own right, rather than simply a co-benefit of policies enacted for other purposes. Third, a conviction that the world is moving towards low-carbon energy forms has given rise to the belief that China must become a technological and economic leader in this transition. Large levels of public financing to support the development of China's wind power and solar PV sectors suggests that the Chinese government has strong vested interests in seeing China successfully compete and lead in global low-carbon energy markets. In order to understand the shift in China's approach to climate change since the 11th FYP, it is important to understand how new ideas such as these have reframed and reshaped the Chinese government's interests and objectives.

The Carpentries, a model for teaching "foundational coding and data science skills to researchers worldwide" (https://carpentries.org/), are slowly gaining traction in research institutions in NZ. The short workshops (usually run over two days) aim to provide access to computational skills development in an environment where time constraints on the part of faculty means these skills are mostly left up to individuals to teach themselves. Librarians have also seen the value in this approach to teach their colleagues skills they might not otherwise have the time or opportunity to learn. Enter: Library Carpentry. But how applicable are coding and data science skills to librarians in their day-to-day work? <br>This presentation will introduce Library Carpentry - what it is and how it is taught - and address the question of how it can be connected to real world Librarianship. How can we show transfer of learning to real work situations? How do we follow up workshops to ens...

We present here the results from an extensive scintillation study of twenty pulsars in the dispersion measure (DM) range 3 – 35 pc cm−3 carried out using the Ooty Radio Telescope, to investigate the distribution of ionized material in the local interstellar medium (LISM). Our analysis reveals several anomalies in the scattering strength, which suggest that the distribution of scattering material in the solar neighborhood is not uniform. Our model suggests the presence of a low density bubble surrounded by a shell of much higher density fluctuations. We are able to put some constraints on geometrical and scattering properties of such a structure, and find it to be morphologically similar to the local bubble known from other studies.

十六世紀後期，天主教因利瑪竇等傳教士來華而在中國慢慢傳播開來，甚至獲得明朝某些帝王及官員的歡心。過去亦曾有不少著作記述了這些歷史，但專門從法制史的角度審視天主教在華傳播過程中所引發的衝突與教案，則是過往著作所缺乏的。

　　本書從「以法論教」的研究角度，完整地討論了晚明萬曆到清代嘉慶道光時期，天主教在華面對的法律與政治的互動與挑戰。作者以這段時期的關鍵刑案及事件為經緯，包括晚明南京教案、清初康熙曆獄案等，剖析控辯雙方如何援引中國國法於廷審周旋，試圖指出法律在教案中不僅有重要角色，更是反教及護教雙方對壘的重要場域。此外，本書又以判牘史料解釋了明代後期對澳門的管治，以及廣東士人對傳教士科學傳教的反應，再以清朝刑部相關的司法史料，釐清了在朝廷眼中，這個外來宗教與具顛覆性質並威脅政權的「邪教」有所不同，從中窺探天主教能繼續於地下傳播的空間。同時又以多個案例點明中國本土天主教信徒在堅持信仰時所付出的沉重代價，由此重現基層教眾在禁教令下的具體司法負擔，以突顯中國信徒的真實面貌。

　　本書各章的主題雖然不一，但作者按照時序編排，佈局精密，前後呼應，勾勒出中國在帝制晚期與天主教交涉的輪廓與走向，以及歷朝歷任君臣對天主教的定位及態度的轉變，適合對中國天主教史、中國法制史、明清宗教史有興趣的人士閱讀。

This thesis studies the conceptions and institutions of subjecthood of the early Tang (618-755), a vast empire that extended from the Korean peninsula to present-day Iraq. This empire incorporated in its vast territories many non-Han people from across Asia, including Sogdian merchants, Turk generals, and Indian monks, as well as Japanese noblemen. This thesis explores how the early Tang court defined ‘subjects’ in legal and administrative terms for its cosmopolitan empire and asserted effective rule over its populace.

From this institutional perspective, it illuminates the operational facets of the empire that refreshes our understanding: the distinction between the Hua and Yi – the traditional notion that differentiated the Han from non-Han – was merely rhetoric, and ethnicity played just a minor role in imperial governance; the subordinate prefectures, the jimizhou, were not set up to govern non-Han people as usually believed but to those of whom the court failed to assert direct control. Some of the prefectures could be seen as special taxation districts; the Tang’s openness only extended to the people who came to the empire but not those who wanted to leave. Bans on cross-border activities existed, and Xuanzang, the prominent Tang monk, needed to leave the empire secretly for his pilgrimage to India. All these findings point to what an ‘empire’ meant to be as a political community in medieval East Asia.

Health Initiative pays specialists to integrate services for people with cancer, but continues to rely on incentives for general practitioners to integrate services for people with other chronic illnesses. 4 Only medical practitioners can make an MBS claim for case management and care planning, and there are no mechanisms for federal funding for continued and team-based allied health and other interventions to prevent avoidable hospital admissions.

Reducing inequalities in health and moving away from the competitive market in health care are both important elements of government policy. Health action zones, mentioned in last month's white paper1 but announced beforehand, are one means of implementing these objectives. 2 Is the health action zone initiative likely to succeed in its challenging aims of creating and sustaining partnerships to reduce inequalities and improve the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of services?