In many postcolonial societies, the language of the former occupier typically enjoys overt prestige and dominance relative to local languages. Such linguistic power asymmetry may endure long after a country has gained its independence. This is troubling because speakers of dominant varieties enjoy socio-economic advantages over those who do not (Labov, 1966; Bernstein, 1971).

Vanuatu was jointly colonised by England and France until its independence in 1980. Since then, English and French persist as high status postcolonial languages in Vanuatu public institutions, both public and private. This paper examines the suitability of English usage in professional contexts, particularly as compared to Bislama, a widely spoken lingua franca that is native to Vanuatu. A key objective is to test whether well-educated ni-Vanuatu people understand spoken English as well as they understand spoken Bislama. The investigation is supported by opinion and comprehension test results which suggest that Vanuatu citizens have much more exposure to Bislama than to native varieties of English; they prefer Bislama to English, and feel more confident about understanding it; and they do indeed respond more accurately to Bislama test sentences, as compared to English test sentences. The paper discussesthe implications of these results for professional contextssuch as education, business, and particularly the legal system, where English continues to dominate. The paper concludes by suggesting modest but achievable strategies for giving Bislama greater prominence in professional domains.

The experiment tested the effect of four extended transport treatments on sensory and objective meat quality in beef. A total of 343 steers (88 steers from each of three properties and 79 from a fourth property) were allocated to four treatments including a 12 hour transport time (T12), 24 hour transport time (T24), 24 h as 12 hour transport time, a 12 hour rest, with a further 12 hour transport (T12 ~ T12), 36 hour transport treatment (T36). Within property departure times of treatments were staggered to arrive at the abattoir together. There were no significant transport effects (P > .05) on live animal, carcass traits, consumer sensory scores, and objective meat quality of the longissimus lumborum. There was large between property variation in the proportions of carcasses excluded from grading on the basis of low ribfat, high ultimate pH and dark meat color scores. Variation in these traits was not associated with transport treatments and was likely related to variation in on-farm factors.

Interactions of rising powers and established powers and their implications in peacebuilding and security remain underexplored in existing literature. This paper aims to explore inferences of the behaviour of Brazil, China and India in peacebuilding and security, their contention and cooperation with the US and European powers, and implications for the global south. It analyses their interactions in the light of democratic peace propositions, adhered to by established powers, and the regional security complex theory pertinent to the ascendancy of new powers. Though liberal countries are co-opting emerging actors, the responses of rising powers to international security issues appear inconsistent and unpredictable. With increasing material capabilities, rising powers have been creating a patron–client relationship with conflict-affected states, because of which this article disconfirms possibilities of a sometimes anticipated pro-south world order.

Islands are critically important sites for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity because they are home to a disproportionate amount of the world’s biodiversity and are often free from many of the causes of species decline found on mainlands (Myers et al. 2000; Courchamp et al. 2014; Tershy et al. 2015). Although there have been substantial conservation gains on small uninhabited islands (Jones et al. 2016; Moro et al. 2018), islands of substantial size are typically inhabited. Wildlife conservation management on inhabited islands thus entails both ecological and socio-economic dimensions.