Indian Islands Research Articles

DIURNAL PATTERN OF HUMAN-BITING ACTIVITY AND TRANSMISSION OF SUBPERIODIC WUCHERERIA BANCROFTI (FILARIIDEA: DIPETALONEMATIDAE) BY OCHLEROTATUS NIVEUS (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) ON THE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS OF INDIA

We monitored diel-landing periodicity (biting activity/cycle) of Ochlerotatus niveus and the infection/infectivity pattern through human-landing collections on Teressa Island, which is remotely located in the Nicobar district of the Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands of India, for a period of one year. The biting activity was seen throughout the day, exhibiting a bimodal peak, the first at dawn (4:00-6:00 AM) and the other towards dusk (5:00-6:00 PM). This pattern was similar during all the seasons of the year. Peak biting hours of Oc. niveus coincides with the peak appearance of microfilariae. Overall infection and infectivity rates were 2.65% and 0.5%, respectively. Perennial transmission is evident from the records of vectors with parasites (infection), including infective larvae in all months of the year, although no infective mosquitoes were recorded at a few points. The risk of transmission of filariasis based on parity status of Oc. niveus was maximal at dusk (5:00-6:00 PM) in this region. The issue of control with respect to reducing human-vector contact is discussed.

Empire: a blunt tool for democratization

Daedalus Spring 2005 On its face, using military occupation as a tool to promote democratization is about as intuitive as forcing people to take a self-improvement class to learn how to be more spontaneous. And yet the two most recent U.S. administrations, though on opposite ends of the political spectrum, have used America’s might to try to advance the cause of democracy in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, and, at least nominally, Afghanistan. The Bush administration’s major statement of its strategic policy, known mainly for its justi1⁄2cation of preventive war, dwells on the need to “shift the balance of power in favor of freedom.”1 Scholars and public intellectuals have played a prominent role as drummers on this bandwagon. Historian Niall Ferguson, in a colorful collection of stories that ends with a paean to empire, contends that “without the influence of British imperial rule, it is hard to believe that the institutions of parliamentary democracy would have been adopted by the majority of states in the world, as they are today.”2 Indeed, most of the postcolonial states that have remained almost continuously democratic since independence, such as India and some West Indian island states, are former British possessions. Still, as Ferguson acknowledges, many former British colonies have failed to achieve democratic stability: Pakistan and Nigeria oscillate between chaotic elected regimes and military dictatorships; Sri Lanka has held elections that stoked the 1⁄2res of ethnic conflict; Malaysia has averted ethnic conflict only by limiting democracy; Singapore is stuck in a pattern of stable but noncompetitive electoral politics; Kenya is emerging from a long interlude of one-party rule; and Iraq in the late 1940s flirted with electoral politics that played into the hands of violent radJack Snyder

A CHOLERA EPIDEMIC AMONG THE NICOBARESE TRIBE OF NANCOWRY, ANDAMAN, AND NICOBAR, INDIA

Cholera has not been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India. In October 2002, an outbreak of diarrhea occurred among the Nicobarese tribe of the Nancowry group of islands. The outbreak affected 16 of the 45 inhabited villages of three islands with an attack rate of 12.8% and a case fatality ratio of 1.3%. Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor was isolated from 18 of the 67 patients tested. A study conducted in one of the villages indicated that the outbreak was started there by a person who traveled to a nearby village where an outbreak was occurring. No specific water source could be identified as the source of infection because persons consuming water from all wells were affected. Water samples from 55 sources were tested and 38 of them were contaminated with Escherichia coli. The possible sources of V. cholerae are effluents from ships or poachers from neighboring countries where cholera is endemic.

Techno-economic and environmental analysis for grid interactive solar photovoltaic power system of Lakshadweep islands

The Lakshadweep group of islands in Arabian Sea is one of the two major groups of islands in India. In these islands the main source of electricity is diesel generators, the diesel being transported from the main land to produce over 9 MW of electricity. Considering the remoteness of the island and the polluting nature of the existing plants, it is desirable to adopt a strategy to utilize available potential of non-polluting renewable energy sources for these ecologically sensitive islands. A techno economic and environmental analysis for grid interactive solar photovoltaic power system of Union Territory of Lakshadweep islands is presented. This paper also examines the pollution aspect of power generation through Diesel Generator set and highlights the environmental benefits in using solar energy. Experiences of grid interactive solar photovoltaic power system installed recently in different islands are discussed and suggestions have been made for improving its efficiency and performance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Did Crypteroniaceae Really Disperse Out of India? Molecular Dating Evidence fromrbcL,ndhF, andrpl16 Intron Sequences

Biogeographical and paleontological studies indicated that some ancient Gondwanan taxa have been carried by the rafting Indian plate from Gondwana to Asia. During this journey, the Indian island experienced dramatic latitudinal and climatic changes that caused massive extinctions in its biota. However, some taxa survived these conditions and dispersed “out of India” into South and Southeast Asia, after India collided with the Asian continent in the Early Tertiary. To test this hypothesis, independent estimates for lineage ages are needed. A published rbcL tree supported the sister group relationship between the South and Southeast Asian Crypteroniaceae (comprising Crypteronia, Axinandra, and Dactylocladus) and a clade formed by the African Oliniaceae, Penaeaceae, and Rhynchocalycaceae and the Central and South American Alzateaceae. Molecular dating estimates indicated that Crypteroniaceae split from their West Gondwanan sister clade in the Early to Middle Cretaceous and reached Asia by rafting on the Indi...

The politics of food aid: John F. Kennedy and famine in China

The horrific famine China experienced during the early 1960s not only highlighted the failures of Communist Parry policies, but also sparked a debate within the administration of John F. Kennedy over possible US reactions. Several of Kennedys closest advisors argued for sending American surplus food, while others were adamant that no change should be made in US policy. The final decision to ignore pleas for assistance from the United Nations and other sources was influenced by many issues, including China's relationship to the UN, its aggression toward India and offshore islands, and its role in Southeast Asia.

Geographic Origins of Medicinal Plants in Montserrat, West Indies, Pre-1632 to Present

This paper examines the origins of medicinal plants used on the West Indian island of Montserrat, focusing on circumstances surrounding the introduction of exotic species. Most of the exotic species that became part of the folk pharmacopoeia were introduced within 100 years of English settlement. Despite the early, severe, and continuing disturbance of the island ecosystem, and despite its permanent settlement by Old World peoples, 72% of the species used medicinally are of New World origin. While the population has been dominantly of African derivation since 1700, few plants used medicinally are of African origin.

Volcanic ash and respiratory symptoms in children on the island of Montserrat, British West Indies

Background: In July 1995 the volcano on the West Indian island of Montserrat erupted after being inactive for several hundred years. Since then, clouds of ash have been released intermittently...

From Nansemond to Monacan: The Legacy of the Pochick-Nansemond among the Bear Mountain Monacan

In 1948, Library of Congress scholar William Gilbert wrote: "Indian blood still remains noticeable in our eastern States population in spite of the depletions arising from over 300 years of wars, invasions by disease and white men from Europe and black men from Africa."1 Noting that Virginia's surviving Indian groups tended to retain traditions of their Native origin, Gilbert identified several Indian groups along the Blue Ridge and Piedmont zones of the state. Stating these concentrations "beginning with Rappahannock County in the north and continuing southward along the Blue Ridge through Rockbridge and Amherst counties and striking directly southward to Halifax County on the North Carolina border," he gave definition to the geographical occupation of these interior Virginia tribal groups.2 Specifically he identified five hundred to six hundred mixed-bloods in central and the extreme western end of Amherst County near Bear Mountain and Tobacco Row Mountain of the Blue Ridge. Known locally as "issues," he describes these people as having "a very rich brunette with straight black hair and Caucasian features."3 Acknowledging a second group northwest of Amherst County, he further identified a population of over three hundred "Brown people" exhibiting "a mixture of white, Indian, and occasionally Negro blood." While self-identified as American Indians, these groups were locally considered to be "mulattos" but acknowledged as "a group apart from both whites and Negroes."4 Before proceeding with this history of a Pochick-Nansemond band among the Monacans, we would do well to acknowledge the derogatory nature of the racial epithets, such as "issues," "brown people," and "mulattoes" as they were inappropriately applied to these Native people. The [End Page 781] term mulatto, however, does have a legal history in the confines of Virginia law. As early as 1705, Virginia law held that "the child of an Indian and the child, grand child, or great grand child of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a mulatto."5 The legislative intention was clearly to include Indians among the colony's colored population, thereby creating a biracial—white and colored—society. The mulatto definition inclusive of Indians was re-affirmed in the subsequent racial codes including the racial integrity acts of 1822 and 1924. Under the authority of Walter Ashby Plecker, M.D., registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, "there were only two races in Virginia: white and 'colored,' which to him and to most people meant black."6 As a consequence of this legislation, all Indians became legally mulattos, an ambiguous racial category in colonial folklore reflecting admixtures of race, including black-white, Indian-white, Indian-black. American Indians were, nonetheless, classified mulatto regardless of racial admixture, so that Virginia's full-blood Indians could be deemed mulatto under the terms of the racial codes. Mestizo, the Spanish folklore for Indian-white admixtures was never in use in Virginia.7 Consequently when one finds reference to a mulatto in a known Virginia Indian community, one cannot immediately assume that the mulatto referenced is a racially mixed person and by no means should one conclude that the possible admixture is solely black. In fact, evidence suggests that mulatto admixtures among the Virginia Indians were largely white beginning presumably with Thomas Rolfe. While the preceding brief summary exhausts the information supplied by Gilbert, it does not begin to manifest the social history and cultural significance of these surviving Virginia Piedmont and Blue Ridge Indian groups. In recent years, the scholarly consideration of the central Blue Ridge Indian communities has advanced considerably thanks to the work of Peter Houck. Houck's Indian Island in Amherst County (1984) manifests significant scholarly efforts in exploring and explicating the mystery and history of the Rockbridge-Amherst Indian communities that Gilbert noted in 1948.8 Indeed, Houck's work served as the benchmark for the state's formal...

Status and Distribution of Macaca fascicularis umbrosa in the Nicobar Islands, India

We surveyed the distribution and status of the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosa) in the Nicobar Islands of India. Long-tailed macaques live on 3 islands: Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and Katchal. There are a total 788 groups. Group size ranged from 25 to 56 individuals with a mean size of 36. Long-tailed macaques are a multimale-multifemale society. Adult males, adult females and immatures constituted 9.7 per cent, 43.2 per cent and 47.1 per cent of the population, respectively. A fairly high ratio of immatures to adult females indicates a healthy population turnover. Vegetation parameters including tree density, canopy cover, canopy height and basal area indicated a still healthful habitats on all the 3 islands. We observed a few threats to the macaques. Measures should be undertaken to ensure survival of the Nicobar subspecies.

Employing the Local: A Penobscot Modern in the Federal Writers' Project

N 1939, the oral history project of the Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration recorded the life story of exactly one Native in New England-a Penobscot man living on Indian Island, near Old Town, Maine.' Totaling fiftyone typescript pages, Henry Mitchell, Indian Canoe Maker was never published, though a transcription of it now appears on the American Memory website of the Library of Congress.' The selection of an Indian canoe maker, and only one, was both a predictable approach and a happy accident. As a national, and nationalizing, project, the WPA trafficked in familiar notions about vanishing races, particularly the strangely tenacious conviction that Indians had long before disappeared completely from New England.3 Still, the WPA had an inchoate and

"The 'Eighth o' Style": Black Nationalism, the New Deal, and The Emperor Jones

ANNA SIOMOPOULOS "The 'Eighth o' Style": Black Nationalism, the New Deal, and The Emperor Jones Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, journalists and intellectuals asserted that Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones was a scathing critique of the black nationalist movement in the U.S., and that the play's corrupt ruler was inspired by Marcus Garvey.1 Like Garvey , Jones embodies a charisma lacking in the more traditional African American leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois, and, like Garvey, who was often introduced as "His Highness, the Potentate," Jones's character fashions himself and his followers as members of a new black aristocracy (Draper 51).2 Garvey himself denounced the play for its implication that he was a political opportunist who used his nationalistic political organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, for his own financial gain.' By the time the film version of The Emperor Jones appeared in 1933, however, Garvey had been deported for alleged financial misdeeds and no longer occupied a central place in African American politics. This essay will argue that, in relation to the 1933 film, it is not Garvey, Du Bois, or any other historically significant black nationalist who provides a relevant reference point for Jones's character while he holds his regal title, but rather Franklin Delano Roosevelt, insofar as FDR represented a new kind of imperial president, and the welfare state represented a new kind of feudalism to millions of African Americans. The changes to the play evident in the film encourage the implicit comparison between the U.S. president and the island dictator , and between the racism of the New Deal in the U.S. and the tyranArizona Quarterly Volume 58, Number 3, Autumn 2002 Copyright © 2002 by Arizona Board of Regents issN 0004-1610 58Anna Siomopoulos nical reign ofJones on the island, a comparison validated by letters that African Americans sent to the White House during the early years of the Depression. In addition, this essay will contend that the film version of The Emperor Jones differs from the play insofar as it places the weight of black national sentiments not on the character ofJones, but on the islanders who overthrow him. In the 1933 film, Jones's fall and the native rule that replaces him represent a historical shift in the thought and practice of black nationalism during the Depression. By the 1930s, black nationalism was associated not with the Napoleonic costumes and regal persona of Garvey, but with grass-roots activism and the political philosophy of Du Bois, who had begun to promote the idea of self-segregation . Following Du Bois's political thought, the film suggests that Jones comes to represent the black nationalist principles of racial solidarity and self-determination only after he has abandoned the trappings of royalty and provided the context for the natives to reclaim control of their island. By the end of the film, Jones becomes a symbol of popular sovereignty and the exemplary representative of his race that he was previously only pretending to be, a transformation encouraged by the lead performance of Paul Robeson. As portrayed by Robeson, an icon of both African American mass culture and radical politics, Jones symbolizes both the failings of a discriminatory welfare state, and, after he has disavowed his oppressive rule, the hopes for a new kind of mass democratic black nationalism. The protagonist of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones is Brutus Jones, a pullman porter who becomes ruler of a West Indian island by convincing the natives that he has supernatural powers. The play begins when Jones awakens one morning to the sound of distant drums and discovers that the islanders have abandoned his palace to conduct the rituals that they believe will help them hunt him down. While attempting to flee the island, Jones becomes lost in the jungle, where he meets and fires his pistol at a number of supernatural phenomena, including forest spirits that O'Neill describes as "the little formless fears," as well as apparitions of both a friend he had murdered for cheating at a dice game, and the prison guard that he had killed to escape jail. Jones also encounters and shoots...

Marshy and Friends: Informality, Deformalisation and West Indian Island Experience

In 1973 Jamaica was one of the most prosperous independent states in the Caribbean, but by 1990 it was bankrupt -- 'effectively in receivership' to its foreign creditors with an external debt of 4.5 billion US dollars. The intervening years have seen a decline in the ability of successive governments to promote social welfare and development. Formal control over economic policy has shifted to Washington and the IMF, while informal networks have emerged subverting state regulation. This article revisits Keith Hart's analysis of the informal economy through a description of Marshy, a Jamaican street vendor who specialises in steamed fish and bammy . It examines the experience of people caught between an unravelling state apparatus and global market interests indifferent to expectations of social justice. For Marshy and his friends, involvement in transnational informal networks involves a synthesis of the social and the economic that the 'free market' ideology denies: these networks represent a significant stake in a just global political economy.

The Good, the Bad and the Anonymous: A Preliminary Survey of Scots in the Dutch East Indies 1612-1707

The Dutch Governor of Ambon, Anthonio van den Heuvel, once wrote 'wild men such as those of Scotland and Ireland are also found throughout the islands of India, especially on Ceylon and many other islands within the territory of the Tarnatan King, namely on the coast of Batochina'.1 Van den Heuvel was obviously comparing dwellers of the islands mentioned with Gaels from Scotland and Ireland as opposed to suggesting that the East Indies were awash with Gaelic settlers. However it is interesting that he had an impression of the Gaels by which he, and the recipient of the letter, would be able to judge the local tribesmen he mentioned. Van den Heuvel could easily have met Scotsmen either in The Dutch Republic or, indeed, in the East Indies, whether working for the English, Dutch or Portuguese. One Scot approached the Honourable East India Company [EIC] with some information in 1614 having apparently returned to Britain after 32 years service for the Portuguese in the Indies.2 The EIC records did not name him on that occasion, but a later reference lets us know that his name was William Carmichael. That man had spent four years in The Hague between 1614-1618 fighting the Dutch for compensation for goods they had taken from him while he worked with the Portuguese in the Mollucas in 1612. Carmichael argued that since he was a subject of James VI his goods could not be considered 'legitimate prize' in the Portuguese-Dutch conflict. The case was not resolved, and so Carmichael wrote to James VI in 1622 seeking 'letters of reprisal' against any Dutch shipping found in British waters in order that he could recoup his fortune.3 The service of other Scots in the Dutch East Indies is more easily traced (and of a happier nature) than that of William Carmichael. Harry Shanks, for instance, died in Batavia in Java in 1629. He was aged about 60 years old and was in the employ of the EIC working out of their Batavian factory. He left a will in which, through his fellow Scots John Wedderburn and George Brown, both EIC colleagues, Shanks expressed his desire to leave his fortune to the Trinity House Hospital in Leith, Scotland.4 This was not the first institution to have benefited in this way. The Aberdonian, Reverend Patrick Copeland (c. 15 80-1651), had travelled to the East Indies (albeit not the Dutch Indies) as the chaplain to the tenth voyage of the EIC in 1613. On his return, and after subsequent trips, he donated several sums of money totalling 6,000 merks Scots for the establishment of a Chair of Divinity at Marischal College in Aberdeen.5 Throughout the early seventeenth century, many other men bearing Scottish names arrived in the East Indies, but outwith the control of the Portuguese trading company or the EIC. Due to the nature of record keeping at the time, it is often impossible to tell if all these men were Scots, or Dutchmen of Scottish parentage. In any case, foreign born Scots frequently acted as a conduit by which Scottish kin

Speciation in the Acugutturidae (Nematoda: Aphelenchida)

AbstractEctoparasitic nematodes (Acugutturus, Vampyronema and Noctuidonema) of the family Acugutturidae from 13 species of Lepidoptera (moths) and one species of Blattodea (cockroaches) were collected, measured and analysed by discriminant analysis in order to identify conspecifics and to determine which morphological characters were useful in defining differences between nematodes on different host species. The position of the excretory pore posterior to the metacorpus clearly differentiates Acugutturus parasiticus from Noctuidonema and Vampyronema. Two populations of A. parasiticus on Periplaneta americana from the West Indian islands of St Lucia and Guadeloupe are conspecific. Nematodes resembling Vampyronema, collected from two genera of Sphingidae in Guadeloupe are characterised by extremely long stylets, equal to ca 37% of the body length, and may represent a new genus. Noctuidonema from four species of Spodoptera (Noctuidae) are conspecific. However, a somewhat different Noctuidonema from the noctuid Pseudaletia unipuncta may represent a new species, based primarily on its shorter stylet length. Simple spicule structure, a smaller V percentage, and a shorter stylet in Vampyronema are characters that best define its differences from Noctuidonema. Nematodes on the noctuids Anicla infecta and Eulepidotis addens probably represent two new species of Vampyronema. There was no clear differentiation between nematodes on the noctuids Mocis disseverans, M. latipes, Agrapha oxygramma and Orthodes crenulata, and they are all probably conspecific with V.dibolia. Thus far, Noctuidonema has been found only on the trifine noctuids Spodoptera and Pseudaletia, whereas Vampyronema has been found on both trifine and quadrifine noctuids. We found evidence for sequential evolution, but not co-evolution, between these ectoparasitic nematodes and their lepidopteran hosts.

Essential oil composition of Syzygium aromaticum leaf from Little Andaman, India

AbstractThe cloves are grown as plantation crops in the agroclimatic conditions of the Indian island of Little Andaman. The dried leaves, on hydrodistillation, gave 4.8% of the oil. GC and GC–MS analysis of the oil resulted in the identification of 16 compounds. The major compound was eugenol (94.4%) followed by β‐caryophyllene (2.9%). The clove oil from Little Andaman was found to be comparable with the best oil produced in south India in terms of its eugenol content. It is suggested that clove can be grown as an economically viable crop in the Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshdeep islands. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

HUMESIANA, A REMARKABLE NEW CUMACEAN GENUS FROM THE CARIBBEAN SEA

Abstract Most nannastacid cumaceans collected from tropical waters belong to just a few genera, among them the nearly ubiquitous genus Cumella. A new nannastacid genus is described from the West Indian island of Guadeloupe. Members of the genus possess a very long and robust pleonite 6 and short and stubby uropods and share the loss of the ischium on pereiopod 2 and maxilliped 2. This new genus is clearly allied to three species within the genus Cumella, all of which have elongate pleonite 6 and short, but not robust, uropods. These three species are known from the Caribbean Sea, Red Sea, and Gulf of Thailand.

Rain Height in Relation to 0°C Isotherm Height Over Some Indian Tropical Locations and Rain Attenuation for an Indian South Coastal Station for Microwave and Millimeter Wave Communication Systems

There is a dearth of results on rain height over Indian tropical stations.The results on rain height in relation to 0°C isotherm height over four stations having different latitudes are presented in this paper. Four stations have been chosen in such a way that all have different latitudes and are located in different geographical regions having different local weather conditions. The seaonal variation of rain height in relation to 0°C isotherm height has been found to be appreciable over the station located in Indian east coast and Gujarat region, while seasonal variation is not significant at lower and intermediate probability levels over the stations located in Indian south-east coast and island. The prevailing local weather conditions over different stations also have been discussed. Based on observed rain heights and rain rates, the attenuation of radio wave at different frequencies lying in the range from 10 GHz to 150 GHz for different probability levels over Indian south-east coastal station have been deduced and presented in this paper.

Humesiana, a Remarkable New Cumacean Genus from the Caribbean Sea

Most nannastacid cumaceans collected from tropical waters belong to just a few genera, among them the nearly ubiquitous genus Cumella. A new nannastacid genus is described from the West Indian island of Guadeloupe. Members of the genus possess a very long and robust pleonite 6 and short and stubby uropods and share the loss of the ischium on pereiopod 2 and maxilliped 2. This new genus is clearly allied to three species within the genus Cumella, all of which have elongate pleonite 6 and short, but not robust, uropods. These three species are known from the Caribbean Sea, Red Sea, and Gulf of Thailand.

Biological control of the snail hosts of schistosomiasis in areas of low transmission: the example of the Caribbean area

The biological control of schistosomiasis has already proven its efficiency in several habitats in the Caribbean area. Two main types of biological control agents, either trematode parasites or competitor snails have been studied and tested against the snail hosts of schistosomiasis in this region. The first one, Ribeiroia guadeloupensis, a trematode sterilizing Biomphalaria glabrata was successfully tested in a Guadeloupean pond housing a natural population of B. glabrata. The second agent involves several species of competitor snails belonging to the Ampullariidae ( Pomacea glauca, Marisa cornuarietis) and Thiaridae ( Tarebia granifera, Melanoides tuberculata) families. Ampullarid snails were tested with success in several West Indian islands such as Guadeloupe. Thiarid snails have also proven their efficiency but also their limits in several types of habitats in Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia and Venezuela. Competitor snails have also proven to be useful in preventing the recolonization by the snail hosts after molluscicide treatments. The case of the rivers of the littoral central part of Venezuela is particularly relevant to this issue. The island of Martinique also constitutes a good example of the importance of competitor snails in a post-transmission phase of schistosomiasis control. This island is a well-developed country where schistosomiasis transmission was interrupted in the 1970s. However, the reactivation of some transmission sites was observed in the 1980s. The introduction of M. tuberculata into these sites resulted in the interruption of transmission and the near total disappearance of the snail hosts. Presently, the thiarid snails have colonized the whole Martinican hydrographic system and maintain dense populations preventing an eventual recolonization by the planorbid snails and thus are maintaining a sustainable control.