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The internet is opening up new spaces for communication between young post-revolutionary urbanites in the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the exiled communities of the diaspora in the United States and elsewhere. While the Lao Government values the internet for its ability to harness the economic potential of these communities, it also exposes young elites in the capital, Vientiane, to critical debates about what a future Laos 'should' be. Such debates are almost non-existent in the tightly controlled authoritarian public sphere within Laos. This article analyses the participation of post-revolutionaries in debates in the online public sphere and argues that it is informed by an ethics of reconciliation and responsibility lacking in the anti-communist politics of exile inspired by the West. The article is the product of extensive fieldwork in Laos and ongoing participation in online communities, discussion forums and messaging networks.

Notions of belonging associated with national borders are being transformed by the diversity of overseas education experienced by urban elites from contemporary Laos. While the earlier educational journeys of colonial subjects inspired a passionate nationalism, this article argues that new pilgrimages reveal a culturally specific passion for exploration among young technocrats that circumvents the boundaries of the post-revolutionary state. The article charts the historical process of accessing, undertaking and returning from study abroad, and demonstrates that the cosmopolitan status of scholars is obtained in the context of a struggle to define Laos as a legitimate worldly space.

Notions of belonging associated with national borders are being transformed by the diversity of overseas education experienced by urban elites from contemporary Laos. While the earlier educational journeys of colonial subjects inspired a passionate nationalism, this article argues that new pilgrimages reveal a culturally specific passion for exploration among young technocrats that circumvents the boundaries of the post-revolutionary state. The article charts the historical process of accessing, undertaking and returning from study abroad, and demonstrates that the cosmopolitan status of scholars is obtained in the context of a struggle to define Laos as a legitimate worldly space.

The internet is opening up new spaces for communication between young post-revolutionary urbanites in the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the exiled communities of the diaspora in the United States and elsewhere. While the Lao Government values the internet for its ability to harness the economic potential of these communities, it also exposes young elites in the capital, Vientiane, to critical debates about what a future Laos 'should' be. Such debates are almost non-existent in the tightly controlled authoritarian public sphere within Laos. This article analyses the participation of post-revolutionaries in debates in the online public sphere and argues that it is informed by an ethics of reconciliation and responsibility lacking in the anti-communist politics of exile inspired by the West. The article is the product of extensive fieldwork in Laos and ongoing participation in online communities, discussion forums and messaging networks.

"This festschrift speaks to the international mana in which Janet is held, her academic impact on (socio)linguistic research about New Zealand and New Zealand English, and her status as a founder in the now thriving field of workplace discourse"--Back cover

AbstractRemote communities alleviate economic hardship by renting their crops to others, and these transactions are often informal and exploitative. Because farmland is an important income source for rural areas, understanding the participation in distress rentals of cashew nut farms is critical for sustainable development. Previous studies have highlighted relationships between socioeconomic factors and participation in land rentals but have failed to examine distress rentals under ethnic contexts. In this study, we interviewed 121 villagers to examine socioeconomic determinants of the participation in distress rentals of farmers with regard to their indigenous culture in two communes in Binh Phuoc province. We found that ethnic identity, land‐ownership, informal training in agriculture, family size, and proximity to markets are statistically significant in explaining the likelihood to participate in distress rentals. Based on these findings, we make several recommendations for how local governments can create better policies to ensure social justice.

Tower-mounted camera-based wildfire detection systems provide an effective means of early forest fire detection. Historically, tower sites have been identified by foresters and locals with intimate knowledge of the terrain and without the aid of computational optimisation tools. When moving into vast new territories and without the aid of local knowledge, this process becomes cumbersome and daunting. In such instances, the optimisation of final site layouts may be streamlined if a suitable strategy is employed to limit the candidate sites to landforms which offer superior system visibility. A framework for the exploitation of landforms for these purposes is proposed. The landform classifications at 165 existing tower sites from wildfire detection systems in South Africa, Canada and the USA are analysed using the geomorphon technique, and it is noted that towers are located at or near certain landform types. A metaheuristic and integer linear programming approach is then employed to search for optimal tower sites in a large area currently monitored by the ForestWatch wildfire detection system, and these sites are then classified according to landforms. The results support the observations made for the existing towers in terms of noteworthy landforms, and the optimisation process is repeated by limiting the candidate sites to selected landforms. This leads to solutions with improved system coverage, achieved within reduced computation times. The presented framework may be replicated for use in similar applications, such as site-selection for military equipment, cellular transmitters, and weather radar. ; Open access funding provided by Hanken School of Economics. ; http://link.springer.com/journal/10694 ; hj2022 ; Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering