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THE ART OF POLLINATOR PATHS A suburban journey of wayfinding with pollinator insects
No full textAbstract Grounded in the suburban neighbourhood of Whitby/Pāuatahanui, through the seasons of two years, this art-science thesis narrates a journey on foot visiting backyards, berms, plots and parks creating a growing dialogue of wayfinding with self and others. Stories from moths, bees, butterflies and flies connect with stories held in the landscape and in the past and intermingle with those of human neighbours, beekeepers, entomologists, artists, butterfly rearers, horticulturalists, landscape architects, the local mayor and council staff.This thesis is situated at the intersection of socially engaged art and practice-based art research drawing on environmental humanities, anthropological, ethnographic and feminist perspectives including Anna Tsing, Donna Haraway, Thom van Dooren and Deborah Bird Rose. The work also travels alongside art-science projects which seek to critically engage with our more-than-human and multisensory worlds through creative methodologies. The imaginative project explores pollinator pathways through ecologically centred, embodied techniques and aesthetic, sensory experience and fact. In the role of artist as researcher, catalyst and pollinator, the researcher uses the practices of close observation, journaling, photography, videography, drawing and mapping, and weaves them within the outputs of a multi-media blog, an eco-art berm creation and expressions of wider environmental goals with the community.The work narrates tales of unfolding reflection and insight into ordinary, day to day encounters with life-giving pollinator insects. Created in the context of the worldwide decline of insects and mindful that cities are becoming increasingly common habitat areas, this work contains a series of vignettes of wonder, unknowns and uncertainties that argue with the progress narratives of the human world and its preset logic. These are also tales of companioning and reciprocity within our shared times of precarious futures.</p
Improving Genetic Programming for Image Classification
No full textImage classification is a fundamental task in computer vision. Due to the high dimensionality of the image data and high variations across images such as rotation, scale, illumination, and background variations, developing a good image classification method is challenging. Moreover, it is typically difficult and expensive to collect a large number of labeled images/instances in some computer vision applications, increasing the difficulty of training models to achieve high generalization performance. In addition to improving the classification performance, reducing the computational cost of an image classification method is crucial as many existing methods tend to take a long time to train a model.Genetic programming (GP), an evolutionary computation technique, has a flexible representation of variable length and powerful global searchability and can produce potentially interpretable models. GP has been used for image classification. However, the potential of GP in image classification has not been comprehensively investigated in terms of GP representations, i.e., program structures, functions, and terminals. Furthermore, most existing GP-based methods usually require a long computation time for fitness evaluations, posing a challenge to real-world applications.The overall goal of this thesis is to address the above issues and further explore the potential of GP in image classification. This goal is achieved by developing GP-based approaches with new representations, new fitness functions, and new genetic operators to improve classification performance and developing new surrogate models to reduce the computational costs of GP-based methods.Firstly, this thesis proposes a GP approach with a new program structure, new functions, and new terminals for image classification. These new designs enable GP to perform feature extraction and feature construction, automatically select a suitable classification algorithm from a set of classification algorithms instead of relying on a fixed classifier like in most GP methods, and conduct classification using a single program. Additionally, this thesis develops a new mutation operator for dynamically adjusting the size of the GP programs. The experimental results on eight benchmark datasets show that the new approach achieves significantly higher classification accuracy than almost all compared methods.Secondly, this thesis proposes a new image classification approach using GP with a new program structure to achieve flexible feature reuse. The new method can automatically learn various useful image features based on the new functions and terminals. Moreover, the new method is flexible in learning global and/or local features because of the region detection functions. The experimental results on 12 benchmark datasets suggest that the new approach achieves better classification performance than state-of-the-art methods in almost all comparisons.Thirdly, this thesis proposes a new ensemble construction approach based on multi-tree GP (i.e., one individual contains multiple trees) for image classification with limited training data. One GP individual forms an ensemble, and its multiple trees are base learners. The new approach assigns different weights to multiple trees using the idea of AdaBoost and performs classification via weighted majority voting. The new approach out performs a large number of benchmark methods including ensemble-based, convolutional neural network (CNN)-based, and GP-based methods on eight image classification datasets containing small training sets.Fourthly, this thesis proposes a GP approach with a new fitness function for image classification with small training data. In addition to classification accuracy, the new fitness function containing distance measures can simultaneously minimize the within-class distance and maximize the between-class distance, improving generalization performance accordingly. This thesis also develops a new crossover operator based on the nichingtechnique, which enables better exploitation of the global and local search space. The new approach achieves significantly better generalization performance than almost all comparison methods on eight image classification datasets containing a few training instances.Finally, this thesis proposes a new surrogate-assisted GP approach including global and local surrogate models to accelerate the evolutionary learning process of GP methods for image classification. Furthermore, a new surrogate training set is constructed to assist in establishing the relationship between the GP tree and its fitness, and surrogate models can be built accordingly. Experimental results on eleven datasets show that the new approach significantly reduces the computational cost of GP methods without sacrificing the classification accuracy.</p
Bridges and Bonds: An Applied Study on the Importance of Friendship for Successful Resettlement and Educational Resilience of Former Refugee Youth in Aotearoa
No full textAotearoa New Zealand has been resettling refugees for over 100 years. Yet, there is limited understanding about the diverse histories and resettlement success of this group, especially Youth from Refugee Backgrounds (YRB). Past field work has demonstrated that children and youth are most susceptible to the impact of war since they are still in their developmental years. While education is crucial for all young people, particularly for refugee youth, education protects from sexual exploitation and violent extremism. However, access to education during conflict is rare. As a result, YRB arriving to post-resettlement countries, like Aotearoa, have disrupted learning histories and complex learning needs. However, once in Aotearoa, the structural violence YRB face within the education system (e.g., being invisible in the system) exacerbates the negative effects of their pre-existing challenges. Refugee-background families rely on education as a primary pathway to success; yet it is unclear if and how YRB are achieving educational success in Aotearoa. This thesis sought to fill this gap by using a mixed-method approach to illustrate the experiences that contribute to the educational, and broader resettlement success of this group.In Study 1, I aimed to explore the school-based experiences, quality of relationships, and well-being of YRB in comparison to their Pākehā peers, the majority group in Aotearoa. To do this, I used the largest adolescent health data set available, Youth19, that surveyed YRB (n = 87) and Pākehā (n = 3094) predominantly between 12-19 years living in the North Island of Aotearoa. Quantitative analysis showed that YRB reported positive experiences in school (e.g., increased school connectedness and care from teachers), comparable to their Pākehā peers. However, they also experienced relatively poorer quality familial relationships and friendships, and increased depressive symptomology. Additional findings showed that these less supportive relationships, partially explained poor well-being. Together, findings from this study demonstrated that YRB were generally doing well in school, but relational factors were negatively impacting their mental health.In Study 2, I aimed to explore Study 1 findings further by exploring the school-based experiences that facilitated educational success for YRB. I conducted interviews with eight female YRB between the ages of 19-24 years from diverse ethnic backgrounds who had spent at least one year enrolled in a high school in Aotearoa. To understand educational success through a holistic perspective, I inquired about experiences in their native countries, during transmigration, and finally in Aotearoa. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), I developed three main themes: Determination for an education, The nature of refugee-background families, and Connection as a precondition to successful resettlement. Together, these themes illustrated the educational resilience of YRB, the complexities present in their familial relationships because of migration, and the importance of ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ relationships in educational achievement, mental health, and a sense of belonging to Aotearoa. These themes highlighted that educational achievement was only one part of the more significant concern of resettlement success, and that acquiring supportive relationships, above all, were instrumental in ensuring successful resettlement for YRB. Finally, in Study 3, I developed and tested a card game resource that was based on my primary findings from Study 1 and 2: supportive relationships effected positive outcomes for YRB. This resource was based on intergroup contact theory and aimed to build awareness, empathy, and connection between migrant youth (the broader category YRB belong to in Aotearoa) and their non-migrant peers. Quantitative and qualitative preliminary evaluation of the game indicated promising results. That is, by playing the game migrant youth and their non-migrant peers showed an awareness of each other’s unique backgrounds, extended empathy towards their personal and shared struggles, and ultimately felt connected. While only future research could confirm the longevity of these positive outcomes, this study showed that resources like the card game, when played in the right contexts, could encourage cross-cultural friendships. This is important as the card game demonstrated the potential to aid the host community in supporting the integration of migrants in Aotearoa.Together, the studies that comprised this thesis provided substantial evidence for the importance of supportive relationships (bonding and bridging) in facilitating positive resettlement outcomes for YRB. Within a context like Aotearoa where there is a severe lack in national policy that supports YRB’s resettlement, these relationships become far more important. Therefore, migration researchers along with the host community must support the well-being of resettling young people by developing evidence-based local services while also advocating for policy reform. Ultimately, only through micro- and macro-level changes will YRB find true refuge in Aotearoa.</p
Learning from Offline and Online Experiences: A Hybrid Adaptive Operator Selection Framework
No full textNo description supplie
Clumsy Solutions For Complexities Within Professional Healthcare Regulation: Navigating Plurality Of Policy Instruments For Expanded Entry & Practice Rights Of Healthcare Professionals.
No full textGiven the historically acute shortages in human health resources and the onset of health crises, such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic, global health bodies advocate for expanding entry and practice rights within the health professions. While regulation, a key macro influence within the health professions, has great normative appeal, policy scholars know little about how regulation operationalises in reality. Moreover, establishing relevant links between the regulatory tools and approaches within health policy is fairly new scholarship and remains an underdeveloped area of study. Further, a need is felt to break up the jurisdictional and professional silos present within the professional healthcare regulation literature and transcend the zero-sum notions of policy instruments (good versus evil, market versus state, carrot versus stick).By exploring and interrogating the role of regulation in both organising and expanding entry and practice rights, this thesis focuses on the content, choice, and effects of policy instrument mixes within the health professions. This research is one of the first to systematically study policy instruments’ implementation in professional healthcare regulation using a theoretical framework that blends different strands of literature. Useful lessons are proposed for both governments and health professions so they do not have to start from scratch when developing and implementing regulations to determine entry and practice rights and their expansion within the health professions.Designed as qualitative case studies involving four regions of England, Scotland, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, the thesis relies on a detailed literature review, a historical process tracing exercise, and 45 semi-structured interviews conducted across the four cases. These approaches focus on understanding the ease and challenges with which role expansion occurs within the health professions. The thesis synthesizes findings in a comparative fashion to show how professional healthcare regulation highlights regulatory pluralism. Further, the current landscape represents a case for smart regulation and enforced self-regulation, especially as the relationship between the state and health professions has continued to metamorphosise over the last two decades. By applying a cultural theory framework, the thesis further shows the hybrid nature of policy instruments being embraced by regions, reinvention of hierarchy as a form of control, and the desire to achieve uniformity in regulation as evidenced by the cycling or rotating nature of policy instruments within the health professions. The role of risk as a neutral criteria and other variable criteria, including dominance of a profession, lobbying by professional groups, and economic conditions in a region, are further explored to understand the factors influencing the choice of policy instruments within the health professions. Finally, by capturing stakeholders’ perceptions, the thesis examines which instrument mix and regulatory approach is associated with the values of effectiveness, efficiency, and equity for both the health professions and the government.The thesis concludes that while regulation has a strong link with the overall organising and management of entry and practice rights within the health professions, its link with the expansion of rights remains rather bleak. By studying the reforms that the Covid-19 pandemic triggered, the thesis further identifies positive avenues for role expansion within the health professions. However, given that several of these reforms were necessitated by a crisis and are now being rolled back, the thesis concludes that Covid-19 has not emerged as a critical juncture in the regulatory reforms within the health professions. Going forward, the thesis advocates for more policy impetus towards developing and strengthening the existing regulatory approaches and instruments in order to redirect the focus on role expansion within the health professions.</p
Enzyme-mediated approaches for the biological control of Phytophthora agathidicida
No full textPhytophthora spp. are globally important pathogens of both crop and forest plants. As part of their complex lifecycle, Phytophthora spp. make oospores—long-term survival spores that are key for the success, persistence, and spread of Phytophthora diseases. Oospores are relatively understudied as a research focus and an antimicrobial target. The longevity and treatment-resistant nature of oospores are thought to be due to their thick, complex, and multi-layered cell wall, the components of which represent valuable and underexplored targets for pathogen control. The goal of this research was to explore the potential of cell wall-degrading enzymes, and microorganisms that produce them, as biological control tools against Phytophthora oospores. The causal agent of kauri dieback disease in Aotearoa New Zealand, P. agathidicida, was used as a case study.In the first part of this thesis, I show that targeting two components of the oospore cell wall (β-1,4-glucan and β-1,3(1,6)-glucan) leads to measurable degradation of oospore cell walls and to changes in oospore cell wall permeability. This confirms the importance of these glucans in oospore cell wall integrity, which was not previously known for P. agathidicida. Based on this knowledge, I then screened environmental bacteria, isolated from a New Zealand green seaweed, for their ability to produce enzymes that target β-1,4-glucan (cellulases) and β-1,3(1,6)-glucan (laminarinases). From this, a cellulase-producer and a laminarinase-producer were chosen for further study.Next, I bioinformatically identified and biochemically characterized two cellulases (a secreted endo-β-1,4-glucanase, CellA, and an intracellular β-glucosidase, CellB) from one seaweed-derived bacterial isolate (Rhizobium sp. C1). I show that CellA and CellB have significant effects on oospore wall permeability and oospore germination. I also bioinformatically identified and described three candidate glucanases (an endo-β-1,3-glucanase, GlucA, an endo-β-1,4-glucanase, GlucD, and a large exo-β-1,3/1,4-glucanase, GlucE), which may contribute to the degradation of intact oospore walls, from a second seaweed-derived bacterial isolate (Shewanella sp. C6).Finally, I consider a different cohort of microorganisms—this time soil-dwelling—as producers of β-glucanases and as direct biocontrol agents of Phytophthora. I do this by exploring the relationship between genomic β-glucanase abundance, in vitro β-glucanase activity, and anti-Phytophthora effects, and comparing this with the seaweed-associated bacteria already studied. I show that the genomes of certain soil taxa encode very high numbers of β-glucanases, and that this abundance translates to higher in vitro cellulolytic activity, and to greater antagonism of P. agathidicida. Overall, the work described in this thesis lays the foundations for a biological approach to Phytophthora control, based on the actions of cell wall-degrading enzymes on oospores. The findings provide novel insights into the localization and nature of β-glucans in the walls of live, intact Phytophthora oospores, suggesting that cellulose forms an important structural and protective component of the outer oospore cell wall layers, and that the noncellulosic β1,3(1,6)-glucan is likely protected by cellulose in inner layers. Future work should focus on optimizing wall-associated β-glucan degradation, then on understanding and targeting the other unique components and properties of the oospore cell wall, in order to move toward developing highly effective, and highly specific, anti-Phytophthora tools.</p
High Speed Superconducting Machine for Turbo-Generator Applications
No full textCompact, lightweight, high-efficiency generators capable of direct coupling to turbo-generators are needed, in the multi megawatt class. Alternating current (AC) homopolar machines are a compelling choice for these applications as they enable relatively high rotational speeds that permit direct coupling to the power turbine. Here we present design concepts for a high-speed homopolar generator featuring dual stationary superconducting field coils, one at each end of the machine. Magnetic flux is more concentrated along the active length, reducing the amount of iron required and improving power density. Furthermore, since the field coils are not trapped at the centre of the machine, they can be easily accessed for servicing or replacement. </p
Slow Tourism
No full textSlow tourism uses primarily slow modes of transport and engages for an extended time with the local, natural, and/or built environment, culture, and people in such a way that tourists’ experiences are enriched. See full entry at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_839-1</p
Te Paepae o Te Rātū: He whāinga takahanga waewae nō tuawhakarere
No full textThis internship project focuses on establishing the provenance of Rongowhakaata taonga collected by Lt. James Cook and the crew of the HMS Bark Endeavour during its journey of discovery from 1768-1771. The project presents evidence to support Rongowhakaata's claims to taonga, specifically a set of hoe kōwhaiwhai (painted paddles) presented to Cook and the Endeavour crew. It reveals a significant miscarriage of due diligence and failure to consult or engage with Rongowhakaata in this matter, resulting in a false narrative and exclusionary orthodox perspective. The project involves determining the provenance of taonga, locating Rongowhakaata ancestors who were present during the collision, and reconciling the events of the Cook collision with the maramataka lunar calendar. Through textual analysis and comparison of primary, secondary, and tertiary literary sources, the project aims to establish Rongowhakaata's narrative and the extent to which the iwi was involved during Cook's arrival. The project contributes to the decolonization of time and knowledge by locating the events of the Cook collision within the maramataka lunar calendar; utilising months recorded by Tairāwhiti tohunga for 1769.</p
Thermal properties, density, and porosity of Rakaia Terrane, Torlesse Composite Terrane, New Zealand
No full textNew Zealand geological literature is, until now, yet to include a study of the thermal properties of its most common rock type. Rakaia Terrane is the largest constituent of the Torlesse Composite Terrane and represents the basement rock for much of South Island and lower North Island. It comprises an assortment of argillite, greywacke and metamorphosed equivalents. In this study, 89 samples were cut into 4 cm cubes and thermal properties, porosity, density and chemistry were measured. A portable electronic divided-bar apparatus (PEDB) was used to measure thermal properties and portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF) was used to measure chemistry. Elemental ratios show that 82 of the 89 samples cluster, i.e. they have a chemistry typical for a Torlesse rock, and an argillite-greywacke index (AGI) is formulated that quantifies how sandy each typical sample is: mean argillite has AGI=0; and greywacke has AGI=1.Porosity of typical Rakaia Terrane rocks is low (generally Atypical rocks (7 samples analysed) provide anecdotal insights into the effects of volcanic, biogenic, and hydrothermally-altered components. Biogenic calcium carbonate slightly increases thermal conductivity of argillite to 2.5-3.1 W m 1 K 1. Anomalously-coloured argillite with variable volcanic components has conductivity 2.1-2.9 W m 1 K 1, which is indistinguishable from typical argillite. Hydrothermal alteration can leach potassium and dissolve mica, resulting in higher thermal conductivities of 3.1-3.7 W m 1 K 1; however, one measurement of 2.3 W m 1 K 1 shows that hydrothermal alteration can also lower thermal conductivity.</p
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