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Understanding Determinants Of Health Service Utilisation Among Asian Migrants In New Zealand: A Quantitative Study.
No full textThe Asian migrant population in New Zealand has been steadily growing, accounting for 17.3% of the total population. Previous research has shown that Asian migrants experience significant health disparities compared to the majority group of European New Zealanders. One factor contributing to these disparities in health is inequitable access to health services. This study investigated factors influencing healthcare utilisation behaviours among Asian migrants in New Zealand. It examined the determinants of unmet need for primary healthcare services, barriers to access, and explored predictors of transnational healthcare utilisation across general practitioner, dental, specialist, and hospital services. Guided by an adaptation of the original Andersen’s Behavioural Model of Health Services Use (1960) and Yang and Hwang’s Immigrant Health Behaviour Model (2016), this quantitative study utilised secondary data from the Immigrant Wellbeing Survey. The sample included 159 Asian migrants aged 30 and older who migrated to New Zealand as adults. Predictor variables were categorised into predisposing factors (age, gender, education status, marital status, work status, visa status and length of residence), enabling factors (economic stability, discrimination experience, vicarious racism, English proficiency, emotional and instrumental support), and need-based factors (self-rated physical and mental health and quality of life). The three primary outcomes assessed included unmet need for primary healthcare services, barriers to access and transnational healthcare utilisation. Key findings revealed that enabling factors, particularly economic stability and experiences of discrimination, had the most influence on healthcare use. Poorer economic stability significantly predicted unmet healthcare needs, particularly avoidance of GP services (OR = 0.58). Personal barriers were more prevalent among recent migrants (OR = 0.95) and those experiencing discrimination (OR = 1.22), while economic stability (OR = 0.38) was linked to structural barriers. For transnational healthcare utilisation, no overall predictors were identified; however, experiences of discrimination strongly predicted transnational dental (OR = 1.40) and specialist service use (OR = 1.50), highlighting the impact of social inequities on healthcare utilisation among Asian migrants in New Zealand. Addressing these disparities requires targeted interventions, including enforcing anti-discrimination policies, promoting cultural competency in healthcare, and enhancing economic stability through subsidised healthcare and employment support. Community engagement initiatives can also empower migrants and reduce reliance on transnational services. These strategies aim to foster equity, mitigate discrimination's effects, and improve healthcare access and well-being for migrant communities.</p
Fares and Future Sustainability: Exploring the Relationship Between Public Transport Pricing and Commuting Practices in Wellington, New Zealand
No full textPublic transport plays a crucial role in promoting sustainable urban mobility and mitigating climate change by reducing private vehicle dependence and lowering carbon emissions. However, changes in fare structures can significantly influence people’s commuting practices, particularly in the context of a cost-of-living crisis. This study examines public perceptions of transport pricing policies in Wellington, New Zealand, and investigates how socio-demographic factors and environmental attitudes are associated with people’s commuting choices following fare changes. Additionally, it explores whether shifts in commuting practices align with more sustainable transport practices, such as increased public transport usage, walking, or cycling.A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative survey analysis with qualitative thematic analysis. The survey collected data on travel habits, perceptions of fare affordability, and socio-demographic characteristics, including age, income, and education levels. Statistical analyses, including logistic regression and descriptive statistics, were conducted using SPSS and Excel, while qualitative responses were manually analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis framework. Consistent with previous studies, findings indicate that fare increases create financial strain for lower-income individuals, students, and retirees, potentially leading to a shift away from public transport towards less sustainable modes of travel.The study is particularly relevant in light of recent public transport funding changes in Wellington, which may even see fare increases of up to 70% coming up this year. These findings contribute to ongoing policy discussions about how fare structures influence transport equity, accessibility, and sustainability. Recommendations include fare subsidies for vulnerable populations, targeted incentives to promote active and public transport use, and improved infrastructure to support multimodal commuting. This research underscores the need for policy interventions that align transport affordability with climate change mitigation goals, ensuring equitable and sustainable mobility options for all.</p
Colony Growth and Development in an Epiphytic Fern Species, Platycerium Bifurcatum.
No full textCooperation is one strategy that can allow organisms to thrive in often harsh environmental conditions. While it is well understood in animals, it is much less understood in plants. The Australian staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum) is an epiphyte that forms large colonial nests commonly found on the branches and trunks of trees. Recent research has uncovered how the varying frond morphology in colony members facilitates task specialization in staghorn colonies, similar to the task specialization observed in complex animal societies. However, we know nothing about their colony growth and development. Here, I create a graphical model of colony ontogeny based on four model predictions and investigate the patterns in growth and development through a series of four experiments. Key findings support the hypotheses that new colony members establish below older members, apical growth orients upward, and the oldest, largest members are located near the top of a colony. New rhizomes oriented in a moderate downward direction (132°), while growing tips orient upward (20°) over time. Rhizome size (primarily length and volume) and age increased significantly with vertical position in the colony. This research provides evidence for clear patterns in colony growth and development, and offers a foundational understanding on how colonies grow and develop in a structured way. Questions are raised about individual ramet growth patterns, the adaptive nature of observed traits, and the interplay between plasticity and evolution in shaping colony structure.</p
“Every kid’s worth saving. Every kid’s worth investing in.” Restorative practice in New Zealand schools: the challenges and successes.
No full textThis research is situated within New Zealand’s political context of rising tough-on-crime rhetoric and zero-tolerance responses to young people’s misbehaviour. A punitive approach continues to be used in New Zealand schools despite awareness of its ineffectiveness and findings that school attendance may be the most powerful protection against the school-to-prison pipeline. Restorative practice has been presented as an alternative to exclusionary punishment in schools. It can facilitate school attendance by reducing rates of exclusionary punishment such as stand-downs and exclusions. Despite positive results and feedback following the introduction of restorative practice into some New Zealand schools, limited research has investigated its effectiveness since 2016 (Simons & Shanly, 2023). This is surprising given that just prior to 2016, restorative practice was formally promoted and resourced in New Zealand schools, which should warrant ongoing evaluation (Simons & Shanly, 2023). This research was guided by two key questions: (1) what challenges or successes are being experienced by schools implementing restorative practices? And (2) what barriers or enablers do school staff face in the successful implementation of restorative practices? Eleven semi-structured, qualitative interviews with twelve teachers, school counsellors and restorative practice experts investigated their experiences enacting restorative practice in both a proactive and reactive capacity. Participants were asked about their experiences working with young people and the issues and opportunities they face within their schools. This research found that punitive attitudes can act as barriers to effective restorative practice, but that these attitudes can be changed. A Māori cultural perspective was explored, with an unexpected finding of the stance that “from a te ao Māori perspective, that’s what we do anyway.” A list of successful training approaches was shared, and it was found that a key barrier is insufficient time allocation and resourcing. The findings are evidence of the negative impacts of punitive approaches, and an argument in support of increased research into and resourcing towards restorative practice in schools.</p
Student academic help-seeking in higher education: Insights from Bronfenbrenner’s systems
No full textThe academic success of students is influenced by myriad factors, including their health and well-being, family situation, employment status, and university experience. When a factor threatens the academic success of a student, they often reach out to teaching staff for academic help. In recent years, academic help-seeking in higher education has gained significant research attention. Less explored and understood are the reasons that prompt students to seek academic help. This article explores these factors, repurposing Phase 2 of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model to gain insight into the complex challenges students face and contextualise the reasons they provide for academic help-seeking. Survey data were collected from 214 university students studying at one university in Aotearoa New Zealand and analysed using deductive thematic analysis. Our findings showed that students experienced a range of challenges throughout their study, both anticipated and unanticipated, and that they use academic help-seeking as a tool for success-sometimes by requesting advice or extra resources, but most often by requesting extra time, so they can address challenges without deprioritising their studies. We argue that it is important for teaching staff to be aware of the various factors impacting their students, so they can provide proactive and meaningful support. Students described the academic help they received as kindness, and the effect of that kindness as profound. By drawing attention to the complexities that may underlie students’ requests for academic help, we hope to encourage teaching staff to be informed and compassionate in their response
Settlement and Growth of Marine Organisms on Artificial Habitats
No full textCoastal marine habitats are some of the most productive environments in the world. These habitats are also highly important for the economic, social, and cultural functioning of numerous countries, and are therefore vulnerable to stressors from the increasing level of human activity at the interface between land and sea. Many major urbanised coastal environments, including Wellington, have manipulated over half of their shorelines to support and protect coastal cities and towns, and their continuing growth. Temperate rocky reefs are some of the most affected habitats facing the highest levels of cumulative human impacts.Artificial marine habitats are becoming a more frequent feature in coastal environments, contributing to numerous recent ecosystem management strategies around the world. It is crucial to understand factors that influence their performance as viable habitats for a range of species in order to effectively implement them as environmental mitigation or restoration strategies. Marine reef organisms typically exhibit complex life cycles defined by a period of pelagic larval development before recruiting to benthic habitat where they will continue to develop until they reach adulthood. In this thesis, I evaluated the effects of additional-three dimensional structure, proximity of an artificial reef to a natural reef, and time on the communities recruiting to artificial habitats. In Chapter Two, I conduct a Before-After-Control-Impact-Paired Series (BACIPS) design to study the establishment of subtidal communities on two small artificial islands. I addressed the questions: 1) Does the addition of three-dimensional structure increase the densities of fish and invertebrate species across trophic groups on an artificial marine habitat? 2) Does the addition of three-dimensional structure on an artificial marine habitat shape community assemblages?3) How does size structure of fish and invertebrate communities vary between an artificial habitat with additional three-dimensional structure and an artificial habitat without additional structure?My results, from surveys conducted across a nine-month period, revealed no relationship between either treatment and any of the metrics studied, elucidating the lack of effect that additional structure seemed to have on the communities on these artificial habitats. However, I highlight the potential for alternative factors to be driving changes in these communities. In Chapter Three, I evaluated the recruitment dynamics and community assemblages of the 24 artificial reef units I constructed under varying treatments. I investigated the questions: 1) Does the presence of supplemental structure and the location of an artificial marine habitat increase the abundance of fish and invertebrate species?2) Does the placement of an artificial reef and the presence/absence of additional structure shape community composition?3) Does the placement and design of artificial reefs influence the growth of a common species occupying them?The effects of either structure or reef proximity were significant in shaping recruitment dynamics for a range of species including spotty wrasses (N. celidotus), variable triplefins (Forsterygion varium), kina (Evechinus chloroticus), cat’s eye snails (L. smaragda), and top-shells (Trochidae spp.). Species diversity on artificial marine habitats were not significantly influenced by any treatment. Despite this, communities on bare substrate units were found to be significantly dissimilar to units on the natural reef edge by principal coordinates analysis. Size distributions of five focal species exhibited varying responses to each treatment, highlighting the species-specific nature of responses to structural complexity. I found no obvious relationship between structure or reef proximity on the growth of the F. lapillum individuals collected. This could demonstrate the potential of artificial reefs to provide viable habitats that support healthy populations of a common rocky reef species. However, given the limited sample size, further study is required in this area on a broader range of species to understand ecosystem-wide effects.Overall, this thesis emphasizes the array of responses that marine reef organisms can have to artificial habitats based on their life history traits. It highlights the species- and spatial scale-specific nature of such responses, and the importance of acknowledging these factors when implementing environmental mitigation and/or restoration strategies that include the use of artificial reefs. Recruitment dynamics and community assembly are highly complex processes, and my research contributes to a meaningful increase in understanding of these procedures in the context of artificial marine habitats within temperate environments.</p
Preventing intrusive grief journalism: legal, policy and practical measures
No full textThis article is about how law and wider society might minimise the negative impacts of media interest on those who are grieving in the aftermath of tragedy. It looks at how law, disaster responders and media ethics can help protect grieving individuals against intrusion. Part I examines existing legal protections for bodily integrity, property and privacy found in actions for trespass, harassment, and the privacy torts. The need for free, fully competent consent to media encounters, and the impact that shock can have upon it, are discussed in this section. Part II explains how good logistical decision-making by disaster responders and active support for family members can help protect bereaved individuals from negative interactions with the media. Part III turns to the media, identifying protections for grieving individuals within existing media self-regulatory codes (particularly the ‘privacy’ and ‘fairness’ standards) and highlighting media ethical discourse which reinforces them
Surrealistically Speaking: Translating Joyce Mansour
No full textABSTRACT Is translating Surrealism a contradiction in terms? Translation is a logical rational process, and Surrealism seeks to break through logic and reason. This could mean that Surrealism can’t be properly translated, but one would hope that this is not the case, and so a more productive question must be: how can one translate surrealistically? This thesis explores experimental techniques for translating the works of French-Egyptian Surrealist poet Joyce Mansour. I employ a surrealistic method of curation inspired by theorists Fred Moten and Robin D.G. Kelley and use the translation strategy Skopostheorie. By choosing a Surrealist poet as case study, I hope to show that through this curation process it is possible to translate a Surrealist in way which respects the poet’s own aims and methods.</p
Lipid mediators and a new HOPE in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis
No full textOxylipin lipid signalling could be a potential mechanism for inter-partner recognition and homeostasis regulation in the cnidarian–dinoflagellate symbiosis, which forms the ecological basis of coral reefs. Oxylipins have also been proposed as mediators of coral symbiosis breakdown under elevated seawater temperatures, which are continuing to increase due to anthropogenic climate change. Until now, however, these hypotheses lacked analytical evidence to elucidate the synthesis, metabolism, and signalling pathways of oxylipins and other lipid mediators. In this thesis, I explore lipid signalling pathways in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis by combining different analytical techniques to characterize and quantify lipids and oxylipins in both the host cnidarian and dinoflagellate symbiont in response to symbiotic state and elevated temperature. This approach enabled the building of a conceptual model that describes the universal role of specific oxylipin stereoisomers as agonists and antagonists of receptors that might regulate symbiosis homeostasis and dysbiosis via the activation or deactivation of the cnidarian host immune system and inflammation transcription factors. My specific objectives were to: 1) characterize and monitor lipids and photosynthetic pigments in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis using the Aiptasia-Breviolum minutum model system; 2) determine how octadecanoid profiles and their potential regulatory signalling pathways influence symbiosis homeostasis, using the same cnidarian host colonized with the native B. minutum and the non-native Durusdinium trenchii; and 3) to determine how elevated temperature can lead to dysbiosis and thermal bleaching via alterations in octadecanoids, eicosanoids and docosanoids synthesis and lipid signalling pathways, in both Aiptasia and B. minutum.Chapter 2 describes the development of a semi-quantitative untargeted analytical platform for the characterization and monitoring of the lipidome and photosynthetic pigments in this model system to establish a baseline for the proceeding chapters. Important analytical aspects for compound annotation and method reproducibility and sensitivity are discussed with suggestions for good practices for generating high quality datasets and for allowing comparison between different studies. The platform allowed the monitoring of 107 analytes with coefficients of variation below 30% across distinct sample batches. The anemone host tissue uniquely presented plasmalogen phospholipids and ceramide aminoethylphosphonate sphingolipids. Glycolipids characteristic of chloroplast membranes and betaine lipids with diacyl chains were exclusively found in the symbiont. Symbiosis increased omega-3 fatty acids abundance in Aiptasia tissues, mainly in the free-form, but also in the acyl chains of membrane and storage lipids. In B. minutum, symbiosis was marked by increased abundance of free fatty acids and storage lipids and an up to 40-fold increase of betaine lipids. Significantly, because oxylipin synthesis is universally regulated by fatty acid substrate availability, these findings explored different complex membrane lipids as substrates for oxylipins synthesis that were monitored in Chapters 3 and 4.The chloroplast membranes of the symbiont were enriched with C-18 fatty acids, which in Chapter 3 were explored as precursors of 84 different octadecanoid stereoisomers, which were reported in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis for the first time. Distinct stereochemistry specificity for the synthesis of R and S octadecanoids enantiomers was seen in aposymbiotic anemones (i.e., symbiont-free) and both free-living cultured dinoflagellate symbiont species (i.e., the native B. minutum and the non-native D. trenchii), respectively. These data showed that the symbiont derived 13(S)-hydroxy-octadecatetraenoic acid (13(S)- HOTE) serves as a potential agonist of host nuclear receptors that downregulates inflammatory transcription. Only symbiosis with the native symbiont B. minutum decreased the abundance of pro-inflammatory 9(R)-hydroxy-octadecadienoic acid (9(R)-HODE) in the host. In contrast, symbiosis with the non-native symbiont D. trenchii was marked by higher abundance of autoxidation-derived octadecanoids, corroborating previous evidence for cellular stress in this association.The lipidome and octadecanoids profiling were subsequently integrated with the monitoring of eicosanoids and docosanoids in Chapter 4 to determine which oxylipin stereoisomers and potential signalling pathways were altered by elevated temperature in the Aiptasia-B. minutum model. A total of 244 oxylipins were monitored in combination with 107 lipids. This study reported stereoisomers of hydroxy-octadecapentaenoic acid (HOPE) for the first time in any biological system, with the 13(S)-HOPE enantiomer being suggested to have the same bioactivity as the 13(S)-HOTE reported previously. Both were symbiosis biomarkers that could potentially contribute to symbiosis homeostasis via binding with nuclear receptors that might trigger the suppression of the host’s immune system. No signs of dysbiosis were reported for the host, but abrupt changes marked by an up to 92-fold drop in the abundance of epoxides and diols from cytochrome P450-derived enzymes were reported for the symbiont, which also exhibited a decrease in chlorophyll-a content and photosynthetic efficiency. This indicates that the symbiont might be the initiator of the thermal bleaching cascade, consistent with previous hypotheses. Prostaglandin 1 series might have their fatty acid substrate oxylipin precursor i.e., dihomo-gamma linolenic acid (DGLA, 20:3 n-6) translocated to the host from the symbiont. The symbiont derived downstream DGLA product i.e., PGE1 might compete at the substrate level with the host derived PGE2 for the binding with symbiosome membrane receptors and consequently inhibit the activation of the host immune system. This chapter provided strong evidence that symbiosis homeostasis, including under elevated temperature, might be mediated by the fine spatial and temporal tuning of oxylipins.Overall, this study provides foundational knowledge of regulatory lipid signalling in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, highlighting potential links with immuno-regulation in particular. Moreover, it reveals potential target pathways for supporting the development of conservation and restoration tools, which have been widely proposed for enhancing the survival of coral reefs in warmer future oceans. Structural and comprehensive phenotypic screening might be combined with reverse genetics in future studies, to validate and further describe the enzymatic candidates involved in the signalling pathways suggested here. There should also be increased effort to understand oxylipin formation, endogenous levels, and host-symbiont signalling, as such information could be hugely valuable for informing the bioengineering and selective breeding of more optimal and thermally resilient host-symbiont pairings.</p
Measuring and Modelling Building Amplification Using Seismological Data
No full textGround motion produced by earthquakes induces a dynamic response in buildings, which can vary depending on the characteristics of the ground motion, as well as the building’s structural properties. The interaction between these factors determines the amplification of ground motion acceleration within the building. Specifically, the building’s response modifies the period content of the ground motion, amplifying periods that are near to the building's natural periods of vibration, which causes acceleration to be perceived differently at each floor of the building. Understanding the amplification of acceleration within a building is a key aspect of assessing the forces imposed on nonstructural components. Despite ongoing advances in structural earthquake resilience, the understanding and demonstration of building amplification and the resulting demands on nonstructural components is limited. This was demonstrated in the 2010 & 2011 Canterbury, 2013 Cook Strait, and 2016 Kaikōura earthquakes where the potential for nonstructural damage was highlighted, and has since prompted review on the current understanding of acceleration demands and nonstructural performance as described in the New Zealand building code. In this study, over a decade of structural array data from the GeoNet Building Instrumentation Programme is compiled and processed to examine the response of three instrumented mid- to high-rise buildings in Wellington to over 800 earthquakes in New Zealand with a focus on how ground motion is amplified within buildings. Fourier based analysis techniques are employed to observe and determine relationships between ground motion intensity and building amplification on a floor by floor basis. Additionally, real records of building response data are used to verify and evaluate newly proposed amplification models. Key findings reflect building behaviour varies significantly under weak versus strong ground motions, with structural properties observed to respond dynamically with increasing ground motion intensity. Both temporary and permanent elongation of the building's natural periods are observed during and following records of strong ground motion, such as during the 2013 Cook Strait and 2016 Kaikōura earthquakes, suggesting a reduction in structural stiffness. Existing amplification models based on modal superposition are tested using real ground motion data, and a new model is proposed that operates within the Fourier domain. The proposed model is evaluated using residual modelling techniques to compare the influence of structurally related parameters on model performance.</p
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