Terra Incognita Research Articles

Sentinelese contacts: anthropologically revisiting the most reclusive masters of the terra incognita North Sentinel Island

Sentinelese contacts: anthropologically revisiting the most reclusive masters of the terra incognita North Sentinel Island

Unsettled South Asian Borders: Nepal’s Effort to Reconcile Its Colonial and Non-colonial Borders

While it is commonly accepted that the borders in South Asia are post-colonial borders established by colonial powers, the literature often skips the discussion of the non-colonial borders of the region. Many sources do not even acknowledge the existence of non-colonial borders at all, making such borders some sort of terra incognita. This has created an academic gap which limits the understanding of the borders of the region and sometimes leads towards hasty generalisation on the nature of South Asian borders. Nepal has two types of borders—a colonial border shared with India in the south and a non-colonial border shared with China that lies in the central Himalayan massif. This has resulted in the adoption of two different border policies that do not always align with each other. To delve into the intricacies of this situation, this article focuses on two main inquiries. First, the article studies Nepal’s border policies and approaches by examining the historical context of border delimitation with India and China, as well as the characteristics of these borders. Second, the article examines the extent to which Nepal is successful in reconciling its colonial and non-colonial border policies as well as the challenges it faces in this endeavour. It concludes the discussion by exploring the potential contribution of non-colonial borders to South Asia’s border narratives.

Terra incognita of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM).

The review addresses the central concept of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis, which has become a major framework for analysis of performance-stabilizing motor synergies. The major goals are to summarize the status quo in the field and to ask new questions stimulating new studies. We focus on a few main questions: What is the UCM? What are the likely neural origins of the UCM? How is the UCM reflected in movement patterns? Are properties of the UCM similar in all directions? We contrast experience-based features of movements seen very soon after the movement initiation vs. those based on on-line sensory feedback signals. Further, we address a number of poorly explored issues such as the differences in characteristic times of processes within the UCM and orthogonal to the UCM space, the interplay between movement stability and optimality, the origin of preferred sharing patterns of performance variables across abundant sets of elements and of their inter-trial variability, problems with the UCM-based analysis in different spaces, and likely neurophysiological mechanisms contributing to the UCM formation. In particular, we focus on the UCM in spaces of hypothetical neural control variables, which we associate with the reciprocal and coactivation commands to the effectors. Analysis of performance-stabilizing synergies within the UCM framework in abundant spaces of kinetic, kinematic and electromyographic variables at the selected level of analysis may be practically useful. However, mapping findings in such studies onto neural control mechanisms has been challenging.

Moral responsibility of public servants: the essence and directions of improvement

It is indicated that the moral and ethical side of public servants’ activities is still “terra incognita” for both the national legislator and the scientific community. By comprehending the position of past thinkers, the understanding of the fundamental role of moral and ethical norms in shaping the doctrines of the essence of social responsibility, including such a dimension as moral responsibility, is formed. The choice of one of the ethical norms of behaviour by a public servant is positioned as the quintessence of moral responsibility of public servants. The moral responsibility of public servants is an independent analytical and self-critical activity of a particular public servant based on his/her conscience, as well as on the system of moral and ethical coordinates formed at the level of established and supported by the management practices of daily activities of the staff of a particular public authority, local self-government body, civil society institution, which is embodied in the analysis of their own behaviour and its correlation with the proper moral standard of public servants’ activities. The essence of the moral standard itself is reduced to a model of generally accepted behaviour in Ukrainian society, formed on the basis of administrative and legal legislation, history of the national State-building, moral and ethical values laid down at the level of the principles of public administration, leading trends in scientific and technological progress, acceptable among the population of Ukraine, with due regard for the interests of the main national, racial, linguistic, religious and other minorities. The category of moral and ethical portrait of a public servant is proposed, which is understood as a set of organisational, managerial, institutional, financial instruments and mechanisms for disseminating opinions about a particular public servant and forming social perception at the level of the entire population or a certain part of it (service recipients, representatives of a region, field of activity, organisation) regarding the role, functions, purpose (vocation) and activities of such a public servant in general. In order to introduce high moral standards into the activities of domestic public servants, the following areas of improvement of their activities in the context of moral responsibility are proposed: restructuring of public morality in the context of understanding the activities of whistleblowers; increasing the authority of public authorities; development and adoption of the Code of Ethics for Public Servants at the national level.

The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence: From Assistance to Super Mind of Artificial General Intelligence? Article 2. Artificial Intelligence: Terra Incognita or Controlled Force?

The article is devoted to the history of the development of ICT and AI, their current and expected future achievements, and the problems (which have already arisen but will become even more acute in the future) associated with the development of these technologies and their widespread application in society. It shows the close connection between the development of AI and cognitive science, the penetration of ICT and AI into various spheres, particularly health care, and the very intimate areas related to the creation of digital copies of the deceased and posthumous contact with them. A significant part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of ‘artificial intelligence’, including the definition of generative AI. The authors analyse recent achievements in the field of Artificial Intelligence. There are given descriptions of the basic models, in particular the Large Linguistic Models (LLM), and forecasts of the development of AI and the dangers that await us in the coming decades. The authors identify the forces behind the aspiration to create AI, which is increasingly approaching the capabilities of the so-called general/universal AI, and also suggest desirable measures to limit and channel the development of artificial intelligence. It is emphasized that the threats and dangers of the development of ICT and AI are particularly aggravated by the monopolization of their development by the state, intelligence services, major corporations and those often referred to as globalists. The article provides forecasts of the development of computers, ICT and AI in the coming decades, and also shows the changes in society that will be associated with them. The study consists of two articles. The first, published in the previous is-sue of the journal, has provided a brief historical overview and characterized the current situation in the field of ICT and AI. It has also analyzed the concepts of artificial intelligence, including generative AI, changes in the understanding of AI related to the emergence of the so-called large language models and related new types of AI programs (ChatGPT and similar models). The article has discussed the serious problems and dangers associated with the rapid and uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence. This second article describes and comments on the current assessments of breakthroughs in the field of AI, analyzes various predictions, and provides the authors' own assessments and predictions of future developments. Particular attention is paid to the problems and dangers associated with the rapid and uncontrolled development of AI, with the fact that advances in this field become a powerful means of control over the population, imposing ideologies, priorities and lifestyles, influencing the results of elections, and a tool to undermine security and geopolitical struggles.

Rocky Landscape of Gerdekkaya: An overview of the survey project in Çorum Alaca Region

The architectural elements and structure traces located on the rocky landscape, alongside the rock-cut tombs and the extensive illegal excavation activities causing damage, indicate the presence of a significant settlement in Gerdekkaya awaiting archaeological discovery. The settlement of Gerdekkaya can be identified as a fortification settlement from the Hellenistic period. New data regarding Gerdekkaya within the framework of rocky landscape is explored. The settlement, inhabited during multiple periods, was within the boundaries of the Mithradatic Kingdom's geography in antiquity and situated between the Mithradatids and its neighbor Galatia. This study involves the identification and interpretation of the currently available archaeological data from Gerdekkaya. It provides the first information about this settlement, located in the southwestern direction of the Mithradatic Kingdom's geography, referred to in modern literature as terra incognita, or unknown lands. Considering the fortress’s characteristics and location, this study defines an important fortification settlement in Gerdekkaya that will provide data for the Central Black Sea Region’s archaeology. It also offers guiding information for future planned excavations. In this context, information was gathered through archaeological survey and geological prospection

Non-reciprocity in photon polarization based on direction of polarizer under gravitational fields

Unification of gravity with quantum mechanics is still a terra incognita. Photon polarization measurements offer a unique window for probing the interaction between these two fundamental forces. We have revealed that non-reciprocity in the photon polarization angle can arise by tailoring the quantization axis, which corresponds to the direction of polarizer. Due to this non-reciprocity, the measured polarization angle can become ten times larger than that of gravitationally induced frame rotation in both near-Earth and black hole environments. To verify this finding, we propose an astronomical interferometer composed of satellites with the tailored quantization axis, challenging the conventional view of their triviality in closed paths of a photon. Notably, this non-reciprocity can extend to any rotation in the polarization plane, irrespective of the origins, all of which can dictate polarization rotation. Our findings could offer new opportunities for testing fundamental principles in physics.

The complexity of religious land use: Mosques, titling and informality in China (1949–2023)

In considering complex human-land systems, the land use and planning for places of worship is perhaps not an issue that may first come to mind. Simultaneously, however, it has become an increasingly critical and researched topic due to rising ethnic and cultural tensions in the West. Contrarily, the topic is virtually terra incognita for the Chinese context. This article aims to make up for that shortfall, and examines the way how the space for religious sites in China is acquired, planned and governed. It focuses on one of the more prominent places of worships often contested in the West: the mosque, and particularly those belonging to the Hui minority. The study relies on surveys, in-depth interviews, participant observation and rare documents hitherto unavailable in English, such as (informal) contracts, ownership titles, and historical court rulings. A dual finding is reported: 1) over time, the Chinese state’s envisioned ownership for religious property in general, and Islamic property in particular, has evolved into common property slightly comparable to condominium; 2) despite stated intentions to formalize religious planning, mosques’ land use has remained largely informal. Markedly, local planning authorities continue upholding a grey zone in which Hui Muslim sites of worship are tacitly condoned. Although there are caveats, this “tolerance of informality” offers leeway for religious praxis while providing space to a revolutionary past of complex, contested and convoluted property rights.

Expanding and Enriching the LncRNA Gene-Disease Landscape Using the GeneCaRNA Database.

The GeneCaRNA human gene database is a member of the GeneCards Suite. It presents ~280,000 human non-coding RNA genes, identified algorithmically from ~690,000 RNAcentral transcripts. This expands by ~tenfold the ncRNA gene count relative to other sources. GeneCaRNA thus contains ~120,000 long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs, >200 bases long), including ~100,000 novel genes. The latter have sparse functional information, a vast terra incognita for future research. LncRNA genes are uniformly represented on all nuclear chromosomes, with 10 genes on mitochondrial DNA. Data obtained from MalaCards, another GeneCards Suite member, finds 1547 genes associated with 1 to 50 diseases. About 15% of the associations portray experimental evidence, with cancers tending to be multigenic. Preliminary text mining within GeneCaRNA discovers interactions of lncRNA transcripts with target gene products, with 25% being ncRNAs and 75% proteins. GeneCaRNA has a biological pathways section, which at present shows 131 pathways for 38 lncRNA genes, a basis for future expansion. Finally, our GeneHancer database provides regulatory elements for ~110,000 lncRNA genes, offering pointers for co-regulated genes and genetic linkages from enhancers to diseases. We anticipate that the broad vista provided by GeneCaRNA will serve as an essential guide for further lncRNA research in disease decipherment.

Dismantling the anti-politics machine in aid: political mētis and its limits

ABSTRACT In a recent article in NPE, Rajesh Venugopal (2022. Can the anti-politics machine be dismantled? New political economy, 1–15) concluded that the anti-politics machine was still in operation. He argued that development planners held a cognitive divide between the realm of political dynamics – an unknowable terra incognita – and the realm of operational technical knowledge. This article revisits and expands that argument. It takes a particular kind of adaptive project as an analytical entry point, arguing that their focus on political practice reimagines the ontology of politics as a kind of expert mētis which is situated, relational and emergent. Such projects hold out hope that the anti-politics machine can be dismantled by displacing the cognitive frames of the development planner from the centre stage and emphasising political practice during implementation. However, shifting attention to implementation reveals other elements of the anti-politics machine’s operation. Drawing on interviews with policy advocates, the article shows that the anti-politics machine does not simply work through the cognition of the planner: it also acts through bureaucratic resistance to political practice during project implementation, produced through operational, accountability and financing processes that shackle practice, particularly in spaces with heterogeneous interests and values.

The Social History of a Village: The Terra Incognita

The Social History of a Village: The Terra Incognita

Understanding the Spatial Narratives of Puzzle Films Using Cognitive Maps

Spatial narratives are becoming increasingly significant in contextualizing geographical phenomena. Whereas many studies focus on spatial narratives of real spaces projected from the Earth’s surface, this article examines the imaginary spaces in the narrative of Hollywood puzzle films, arguing that cognitive maps are more effective in understanding and navigating these spaces. Through an analysis of well-known puzzle films, the article demonstrates how cognitive maps can encode imaginary spaces, draw the audience’s attention to key landmarks, and guide both the filmmaker and the audience through the film’s narrative. Beyond films, this study underscores the potential of cognitive maps in decoding complex space–time relationships in real-world context. By bridging the gap between cinematic imagination and geographical exploration, this article aims not only to inspire filmmakers but also to encourage geographers, cartographers, and GIScientists to look beyond their own fields and draw inspiration from other areas, such as cinematography, to envision a terra incognita that extends beyond the real world.

The Syntax of the Jewish Arabic Dialect of Wad-Souf (Saharan Algeria)

Abstract Jewish dialects of Algerian Arabic remain terra incognita within Arabic dialectology. This paper addresses this lacuna and examines specific syntactic aspects within the critically endangered Jewish dialect of Wad-Souf. The study selectively focuses on the topics relevant to the ongoing discussions in the field of Arabic dialectology and the sub-field of Judaeo-Arabic. This research builds on my prior work concerning the phonology and morphology of Jewish Wad-Souf, emphasising linguistic traits that align with Bedouin dialects and showcasing historical connections to sedentary Jewish dialects. The article includes glossed text samples and analytical sections exploring noun, verb and pronoun syntax. While presenting tendencies rather than rigid rules, this research lays the groundwork for future studies on the Jewish dialect of Wad-Souf and on Algerian Judaeo-Arabic in general, forming a basis for a deeper understanding of its syntax and linguistic nuances. The data were obtained during three periods of fieldwork in Israel between March and December 2022.

Archaeal actins and the origin of a multi-functional cytoskeleton.

Actin and actin-like proteins form filamentous polymers that carry out important cellular functions in all domains of life. In this review, we sketch a map of the function and regulation of actin-like proteins across bacteria, archaea, and eukarya, marking some of the terra incognita that remain in this landscape. We focus particular attention on archaea because mapping the structure and function of cytoskeletal systems across this domain promises to help us understand the evolutionary relationship between the (mostly) mono-functional actin-like filaments found in bacteria and the multi-functional actin cytoskeletons that characterize eukaryotic cells.

Венецыянская Біблія – „Бивлия руска” Францыска Скарыны: механічнае прытрымліванне ці творчая перапрацоўка?

The article is devoted to some features of the translation technique used by the famous forerunner of Belarusian printing Francysk Skaryna when translating the Holy Scriptures. Francysk Skaryna is one of the greatest figures of Belarusian Renaissance. Numerous scientific investigations have been devoted to his work, but his legacy still remains terra incognita. One of the questions concerns the original he used when translating the Holy Scriptures – the ancient Hebrew Masoretic text, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Czech translation of the Bible, or the Bible in the Church Slavonic language? The article presents the results of the textual analysis of the Book of Job, the Book of the prophet Daniel, and the Book of Ecclesiastes, as well as numerous examples of Skaryna’s use of the Czech translation of the Bible. It should be noted that in some cases when translating well known passages, he used the Church Slavonic translation of the Holy Scriptures. Frequent lexical elements and collocations from the Old Church Slavonic canon entered Skaryna’s translation of the Bible. The article concludes that it was the archaic of Church Slavonic text of the Bible that prompted Skaryna to reach for another, more modern version – the Czech translation. As a result, a hybrid text was created, in which both Church Slavonic and Czech elements were presented at the lexical level.

Canada as Terra Incognita

Canada as Terra Incognita

Lease with Option to Purchase: Terra Incognita of Russian Civil Law

Lease with Option to Purchase: Terra Incognita of Russian Civil Law

Assessing turbulence and mixing parameterizations in the gray-zone of multiscale simulations over mountainous terrain during the METEX21 field experiment

Multiscale numerical weather prediction models transition from mesoscale, where turbulence is fully parameterized, to microscale, where the majority of highly energetic scales of turbulence are resolved. The turbulence gray-zone is situated between these two regimes and multiscale models must downscale through these resolutions. Here, we compare three multiscale simulations which vary by the parameterization used for turbulence and mixing within the gray-zone. The three parameterizations analyzed are the Mellor-Yamada Nakanishi and Niino (MYNN) Level 2.5 planetary boundary layer scheme, the TKE-1.5 large eddy simulation (LES) closure scheme, and a recently developed three-dimensional planetary boundary layer scheme based on the Mellor-Yamada model. The simulation domain includes complex (i.e., mountainous) terrain in Nevada that was instrumented with meteorological towers, profiling and scanning lidars, a tethered balloon, and a surface flux tower. Simulations are compared to each other and to observations, with assessment of model skill at predicting wind speed, wind direction and TKE, and qualitative evaluations of transport and dispersion of smoke from controlled releases. This analysis demonstrates that microscale predictions of transport and dispersion can be significantly influenced by the choice of turbulence and mixing parameterization in the terra incognita, particularly over regions of complex terrain and with strong local forcing. This influence may not be apparent in the analysis of model skill, and motivates future field campaigns involving controlled tracer releases and corresponding modeling studies of the turbulence gray-zone.

Exemplary centre and "terra incognita"; Excursions, diplomacy, and appropriation of colonial knowledge in Belu, Timor

Exemplary centre and "terra incognita"; Excursions, diplomacy, and appropriation of colonial knowledge in Belu, Timor

Sensitivity of simulated wind power under diverse spatial scales and multiple terrains using the weather research and forecasting model

During the process of grid refinement and downscaling in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, the horizontal grid resolution inevitably enters the realm of uncertainty known as the Terra Incognita. Within this region, conventional mesoscale Planetary Boundary Layer schemes fail to achieve the desired optimized outcomes following grid refinement. This study conducted a series of sensitivity analyses to explore the performance of the WRF model in simulating wind speed and direction at different spatial scales under various conditions. By comparing 10 min mean values for flat and complex terrains and then evaluating the performance of the model using statistical scoring. The results indicate that for wind resource assessment, the mesoscale boundary exceeds the height of the atmospheric boundary layer during the simulation period. For flat terrains, nesting is not recommended. Instead, nesting into Terra Incognita and microscale is preferred for complex terrains. The model demonstrates overall accuracy in wind direction estimation but tends to underestimate wind speed. Notably, the accuracy of simulations at 70 m above ground is higher than that at 10 m. The assessment of wind speed and direction exhibits distinct patterns across various wind speed ranges, wind direction, and atmospheric stabilities.