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Corrections for agreement in gender in Notonectidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) under Article 31 of the Code
No full textThis paper contains a systematic review of Notonectidae for necessary corrections of gender according to the ICZN Code. Anisops and Buenoa Kirkaldy, 1904, within Anisopinae, and Enithares Spinola, 1837 in Notonectinae have species names with feminine and masculine grammatical endings. Seventeen species-group names were identified as not agreeing in grammatical gender with the genus-group names with which they are combined, and are corrected here. </p
Lost on Purpose: Escapism through cabin architecture amidst climate change
No full textThis thesis explores how the typology of cabins can evolve to address the emotional and psychological impacts of climate change while preserving their intangible essence as spaces of retreat and introspection. Using a design-by-research methodology, the study integrates insights from philosophy, architecture, and environmental science to develop adaptive strategies that respond to both the physical and psychological contexts shaped by climate change. The research focuses on creating designs that balance environmental challenges with the intangible qualities that make cabins meaningful spaces for escape and connection.The cabin design prioritises personalisation and emotional connection, offering warmth, simplicity, and spaces that encourage introspection. It provides users with moments of awareness and reflection, symbolising the subconscious denial of climate change and the importance of engaging with it. The other aspects of design in this thesis; the pathway acts as a narrative of climate change and the pier acts as a tangible representation of it. This thesis has been an exploration of how design can respond meaningfully to the uncertainty of a changing world. It demonstrates that by balancing multidisciplinary insights with personal reflections, architecture can create spaces that resonate with people’s emotional and psychological needs while addressing environmental realities. Cabins, pathways, and piers in this thesis emerge not just as functional designs but as symbols of resilience, introspection, and hope, offering a way to reconnect with nature and ourselves in the face of climate change.</p
Solid Waste Minimisation in New Zealand: A Multi-Methodological Systems Analysis
No full textSolid waste represents a loss of resources and leads to various forms of human and environmental harm. Despite increasing effort being put into waste management solutions, the volume of waste created around the world continues to increase. Waste is commonly perceived to be created when products or packaging are discarded but end-of-life is inevitable for every material that is produced, so the entire lifecycle of products needs to be considered to reduce the harmful effects of solid waste.The purpose of this research was therefore identified to enrich the collective understanding of why and how waste is created throughout New Zealand. A particular focus was directed towards helping understand the structures and characteristics of the system that lead to consumption and, subsequently, waste generation. Two main research questions were developed to address this: 1. What are the structures and characteristics of the system that lead to solid waste generation?2. What are the barriers and opportunities to reduce the amount of solid waste generated?This research adopted a multi-methodology Systems Thinking approach to address these research questions from multiple qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This approach was used to challenge the traditional view that waste is an end-of-life issue, which required an explicit reconsideration of how the boundaries of the solid waste system are defined. Theory of Constraints (TOC) and System Dynamics (SD) methods were used in an abductive process to help understand the drivers behind solid waste generation, complemented by relevant theories and literature. The TOC analysis revealed that policy implementation suffers from an intention-behaviour gap that appears to have evolved from the disparity between economic and environmental drivers. Since the current reality appears to be dominated by economic drivers, this was developed further into a current reality tree with developed causal relationships providing the foundations for subsequent SD analyses. The quantitative aspects of this research were conducted by adopting a case study approach. The case study examined how single-use plastic packaging materials flow into and through the New Zealand economy to eventually become solid waste. An SD stock and flow model was developed to simulate the flow of materials and lifecycle harm generation based on 11 Life Cycle Assessment impact categories. Additional feedback mechanisms were incorporated to generate an endogenous demand for materials based on the effects of marketing, infrastructure lock-in, price, and perceived environmental performance. The efficacy of existing policies and processes are assessed through various policy scenarios, and the TOC evaporating cloud is reintroduced to generate novel possibilities for future policy development.Findings suggest that pre-consumer factors that imbed and reinforce the demand for single-use plastic packaging are dominating the observed growth in these material flows. Additionally, the act of recycling may be responsible for a rebound effect that, perversely, increases the demand for single-use plastic packaging, negating many of the potential benefits of recycling practices. These findings build on the existing literature and the waste hierarchy principles that highlight the issues of using waste management practices to reduce the volume and harm from waste. The identification of rebound effects also highlights the limitations of the waste hierarchy's technical and linear nature, which fails to consider the social dynamics of the system it attempts to inform. These findings emphasise the need to reframe waste as the inevitable outcome of material throughput, which needs to be addressed throughout the value chain. This has wide-ranging implications for how we promote and invest in initiatives and provides a new perspective on traditional waste management practices.This research provides three distinct theoretical contributions: applying a multi-methodological Systems Thinking approach to the field of solid waste, developing a qualitative dynamic hypothesis for solid waste generation, and creating a quantified system dynamics simulation model for the endogenous control of solid waste generation. These theoretical contributions all help address the identified research gap by answering the developed research questions. They also add to the literature of the separate methodologies as the application of TOC to solid waste issues is underexplored, and SD studies primarily focus on waste management and diversion, as opposed to the drivers of waste generation.This research also provides methodological contributions through the application of a new method, the integration of methods, and the application of methods to a new area. Magic Druids are a new TOC method recently added to the TOC body of knowledge that do not appear to have been reported in an academic context previously. The use of TOC and SD methods have had limited applications together, with only minor overlaps between some of the TOC Thinking Processes and Causal Loop Diagrams. Additionally, TOC has been used to investigate the options for meeting people’s needs while reducing material throughput, which represents an unconventional application of the methodology.Finally, practical contributions are also made through the developed models that can help inform policy development and where efforts should be focused to achieve the greatest impacts. Several of the current policy options appear to have very low leverage in moving the system outputs, and none are directed at changing the underlying growth paradigm.</p
Structural and transport properties of doped CuI
No full textTransparent thermoelectric materials are a group of promising wide band gap semiconductors in which their synergy of intrinsic properties can be used for room temperature energy harvesting. Currently, however, the leading thermoelectric materials are made of toxic and rare constituents, ultimately limiting their scalability. Copper(I) iodide, CuI, is a promising p-type transparent thermoelectric semiconductor that has the potential to overcome these limitations. CuI possesses a wide band gap and can be p-type doped intrinsically with copper vacancies, and extrinsically with chalcogenides, providing it with a unique combination of high transparency, electrical conductivity, and Seebeck coefficient. Because of these factors, it is the leading p-type compound for use in transparent thermoelectric generators and as an electrode for a plethora of optoelectronic applications.It is the combination of the band structure, point defects, and carrier scattering processes within CuI that are the cause for its useful properties, and therefore, technological applicability. Understanding these processes will lead to improvements over its current limitations, which centrally rests in its still-moderate electrical conductivity. This work found that the adverse coupling between transport properties can be overcome by nanostructuring with noble gas ion implantation, while it was also found that oxygen and tellurium do not provide significant improvements for the electrical conductivity of CuI when already heavily-doped with copper vacancies.</p
Essays on Risk Experience, Perception, and Adaptation/Mitigation Strategies
No full textThis thesis includes three essays that examine risk experience, perception, and adaptation/mitigation strategies, which are vital for effective responses to climate change and natural hazards. Chapter 2 investigates how New Zealand farmers perceive future drought risks and how these perceptions influence their climate mitigation and adaptation actions. The data comes from the 2019 Survey of Rural Decision Makers and district-level daily drought data— the New Zealand Drought Index (NZDI) for 2009 and 2018. The findings indicate that droughts have impacted all regions of New Zealand over the past 14 years, particularly the Waikato region in the North Island. Farmers generally expect droughts to become more frequent and intense by 2050, with over 90% believing this will affect their farms. The study highlights age, gender, and education as significant factors shaping these perceptions, with older, college- educated, and female farmers expressing greater concern about future drought risks. Chapter 3 shifts the focus to central Vietnam, asking similar questions. Using panel household data from five waves between 2008 and 2017, combined with monthly high-resolution precipitation and temperature data, the study employs the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to describe drought events at the sub-district level. As in New Zealand, most individuals expect an increase in future drought occurrence. Households prioritize agricultural and environmental actions, focusing on irrigation and infrastructure management. More frequent past drought experiences lead to an increased perception of future drought risk and the adoption of prevention/mitigation strategies. Chapter 4 examines the impacts of the Canterbury earthquake sequence (CES) of 2010-2012 on individual subjective well-being, focusing on life satisfaction, general health, income adequacy, and safety. Using data from the New Zealand General Social Survey and a difference-in-difference-in-difference (DDD) approach, the study matches this data with residential insurance data from the public insurer to identify the most CES-affected areas, investigating earthquake impacts at a micro-level. The findings reveal significant effects on various well-being aspects, with a consistent decrease in life satisfaction in earthquake-affected areas. Specifically, narrowly defined areas, such as severely impacted meshblocks in Christchurch City (CHC), experienced widespread negative effects across all well-being indicators.</p
Kahikatea tū i te uru. Exploring connections between trees, people, culture, biodiversity, and climate change in Ōtaki
No full textThis poster includes highlights from the two Master’s research projects at the heart of this project. Katerina Armstrong (Ngāi Tuhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) completed a Master of Design at Toi Rauwhārangi, College of Creative Arts, Massey University. She explored how spatial design can be used to reveal the importance of conserving and reconnecting ngāhere (the forest) through a Te Ao Māori lens. Vicky Gane completed a Master of Science (Science in Society) from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Her research focused on better understanding and communicating the biodiversity and carbon held in and around trees near the Ōtaki River.While these may sound quite different, the two projects interwove like a braided river, or the roots of a kahikatea tree, especially entangled whenever we met with local kuia and kaumātua to better understand the land, people, trees and stories where this work was being carried out.In 2024, boxes containing a summary of this research and the two theses were gifted to key local individuals, iwi representatives and institutions as a way of ensuring that the knowledge was shared back. We remain in conversation with the local community about the best way to share these ideas further.</p
Exploring the inclusion of Mātauranga Māori into Japanese language teaching in secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand: A case study of first-language Japanese teachers’ perspectives, practices, and opportunities for growth.
No full textThis study explores how first-language Japanese teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand understand and engage with mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge and ways of knowing) in the context of teaching Japanese as an Additional Language (JAL) at the secondary school level. In line with education policy shaped by Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi), the New Zealand Curriculum, and recent National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) changes, teachers are expected to incorporate Māori perspectives in their teaching (Ministry of Education, 2023). However, how this is interpreted and enacted varies widely, particularly among teachers who are themselves cultural and linguistic minorities.Building on the work of Alansari et al. (2022), who explored teacher responses to the integration of mātauranga Māori through recent NCEA changes, and Wang (2023), who examined Chinese language teachers’ engagement with related policy, this study extends the research by focusing specifically on Japanese language education and the broader classroom context. Using interviews, classroom observations, and a collaborative workshop, it examines the perspectives and practices of three first-language Japanese teachers.Findings indicate that while all participants valued the inclusion of mātauranga Māori, they often felt underprepared to integrate it meaningfully. Nevertheless, their teaching demonstrated culturally responsive and relational practices—such as affirming student identity, fostering inclusive relationships, and drawing on students' lived experiences—which provide a strong foundation for future integration once teachers have the necessary knowledge and confidence. The study highlights the need for subject-specific professional development and collaborative opportunities to support this learning. It also raises important questions about the sustainability of current approaches, particularly the ongoing reliance on Māori staff to lead this work and the equity implications of that burden.By foregrounding the experiences of migrant teachers working across cultural and linguistic boundaries, this research offers new insights into how Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) can support more inclusive and bicultural language education in Aotearoa New Zealand.</p
Stories from the Shoreline: An Exploration of Sea Level Rise and Storytelling Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textThis thesis combines creative non-fiction writing about sea-level rise and critical consideration of storytelling about sea-level rise with a specific focus on Aotearoa New Zealand. It is inspired by Ursula Le Guin’s 1989 essay ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,’ which is widely referenced in the environmental humanities – including by Anna Tsing and Donna Haraway – as an approach to storytelling in the Anthropocene. It features my own creative non-fiction essays and poems, interviews with sea-level rise storytellers (including scientists and science communicators), and reflections on other writers’ sea-level rise stories, all in conversation with the wider what of sea-level rise and the how of storytelling. In some parts of this thesis the critical and creative components are woven together, in other parts of the thesis they stand as separate sections. I put scholarship from science communication into dialogue with approaches from the environmental humanities. I argue that calls to harness the power of storytelling to help us understand the magnitude and impacts of the climate crisis are not enough, instead consideration must also be given to the aforementioned how of storytelling. I suggest that a carrier bag approach to storytelling can be used to explore the infinite facets of sea level rise without limiting ourselves to a fruitless search to tell the “right” story. I explore the boundaries and margins between land and sea, my own and other people’s connections to places both near and distant, how to shift a hero story into a human story, intergenerational responsibility, and the importance of joy and hope in the face of the climate crisis. The creative sections contain experimental writing taking Le Guin’s approach as the framework and applying it to the task of telling sea level rise stories. My creative writing was informed by walking, swimming and travelling along different Aotearoa coastlines, thinking about the global processes driving sea level rise, including climate change and the impact of the warming ocean on Antarctica, and my own personal responses to learning about sea-level rise. The result is a collection of stories that seeks to both trouble and sooth without offering up simplistic resolution.</p
Patterns of Consumption: Wallpaper in 19th Century New Zealand
No full textWallpaper was ubiquitous in interiors throughout the 19th century British world, yet its history in New Zealand is largely unwritten. In the absence of local manufacture, wallpaper was imported, yet little is known about where this came from, how it was traded, the patterns available, and how consumers selected these. This thesis addresses these gaps by tracing the journey of wallpaper from its point of manufacture to its purchase and use in New Zealand, situating wallpaper within international and local networks of consumption.Applying a consumption history approach, this study investigates wallpaper as a discrete product rather than a component of interiors. A diverse range of written, visual, and physical sources were used to uncover patterns of supply, trade, consumer selection, and patterns of the wallpapers themselves. Sources included trade statistics, business records, first-hand accounts, historic photographs, and surviving wallpapers. Where possible, these consumption patterns were explored using a New Zealand-wide lens, with detailed case studies of the Otago and Wellington regions allowing for a granular exploration of its local trade. The structure of this thesis follows a methodological framework which traces wallpaper through its chain of consumption, from importation, distribution, regional trade, and selection by consumers.Findings reveal that British wallpapers dominated the New Zealand market, imported directly from the United Kingdom or via Australian suppliers, highlighting Imperial and Antipodean networks. From its first recorded arrival in 1839, quantities imported grew steadily throughout the century, driven by population expansion, falling prices, and advances in transport and communication technologies. The local trade developed in tandem, with general stores and auction houses selling wallpaper before specialist decorating shops and furnishing suppliers increasingly engaged in the trade from the late 1850s and 1870s respectively. Methods of selling wallpaper were largely transplanted from Britain, where this had become an affordable and fashionable commodity.In terms of patterns and styles, New Zealand’s wallpaper consumption closely mirrored trends in Australia, which in turn reflected British and American influences. Early preferences leaned towards conservative designs, but by the later decades of the century a growing engagement with international design discourses saw the adoption of more modern and artistic wallpapers. At this time, the first wallpaper designs were produced by students at the emerging Schools of Art in New Zealand, although there is no evidence of their commercial production to date.By reconnecting wallpapers found in New Zealand’s 19th century buildings to their origins, trade networks, and locations of use, this research provides the basis for identifying, dating, and contextualising New Zealand’s wallpapers within local and global contexts, offering new insights into historic New Zealand interiors and demonstrating wallpaper’s role as a decorative and practical commodity.</p
Ka Hanga Tātou - Homes That Grow with Whānau
No full textKo te whare e hanga te tangata, ko te tangata e hangaia e te whare.The whare builds the people and the people build the whare.For Māori, notions of home extend beyond the physical dwelling. It is multidimensional and includes concepts of whānau, safety, security, and wellbeing (Boulton et al., 2022). Home transcends a mere physical structure; it centres on how whānau adapt within that space and carry out daily life. However, colonisation has changed and shaped Māori views and perceptions of home, into a Western, one-size-fits-all housing paradigm that often overlooks cultural needs and values. This research aims to empower whanau Māori in the Wellington region (defined here as families with at least one parent of Māori descent and at least one child under 18) to reclaim culturally grounded ways of inhabiting their homes. This study integrates tikanga and mātauranga Māori with modern architectural solutions to support Māori-centred small home solutions. By exploring whānau views on small homes (in this case, homes with a footprint of less than 60m²), alongside global examples of functional, compact living, this research develops design principles that can be tailored to the specific needs of each whānau and support Māori ways of living. This research will fill a critical gap in New Zealand on how to make small homes work with whānau Māori. A Kaupapa Māori methodology guides the research, uplifting Māori in having a voice in the process of design in allowing the coalescing of user and technical facets within the design approach, giving a purposeful and pragmatic consideration to every design outcome. The principle of kaua e takahia te mana o te tangata (humility) is salient in this research through Kaupapa Māori methodology. Comprehensive thinking beyond academic means with a humancentric approach opens a world of knowledge through perceptive understanding. This allows research to be richer and more robust as the “data” gained is not through standard research conventions but through whanaungatanga. Ultimately, this study aspires to challenge mainstream assumptions about Māori housing needs and contribute to the decolonisation of architectural design practice in Aotearoa.</p
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