Research Bank
Not a member yet
5195 research outputs found
Sort by
How to grow a culturally responsive career practice
No full textAs a career practitioner working towards opening a career service in South Auckland, I intended to explore the lived experience of Pacific youth in shaping their entry into their careers whilst negotiating the dual expectations of self and community in the backdrop of the Pacific diaspora in Tamaki Makaurau. I investigate the role of existing career practitioners supporting the career pathways of Pacific youth, including unpacking South Auckland's cultural, political, social, and historical landscape in playing a significantly influential role in Pacific youth's career decisions and aspirations.
Collectivist societies of the Pacific diaspora communities of Aotearoa revolve around what is best for the collective. Therefore, the collective inherently influences the career pathway of a Pacific person. The underpinning themes that induce the career decisions of Pacific peoples are the social norms grounded in the bedrock values and beliefs of family, faith and culture (Thomson et al., 2018).
As a process, career development is a practice that intrinsically emphasises the individual's journey to accomplish future career goals. Consequently, the predominant ideology of individualism in Aotearoa governs the landscape of employment and career aspirations. Career management is a process that espouses self-awareness to help individuals become apt at managing their career pathway, which is often measured by their success. But for a Pacific person to motivate their career pathway, one needs to consider the unique experience of the duality of walking in both worlds, the individual pursuit versus the service to family and community. Therefore, the measurement of success is complex for a Pacific person when career aspirations are governed by the collective's social norms and expectations. This thesis reveals layers of challenges for individuals and communities of Pacific peoples; when asking the research participants in a focus group their definition of cultural responsiveness, one participant wrote, "The only reason we discuss cultural responsiveness is because of our colonial history. Cultural responsiveness is needed to try to readdress societal inequality. But is yet another compartmentalised way of addressing inequity." Tackling the provocative topic of colonialism and its impact on the Pacific communities gave me insight into how deeply rooted the hegemonic ideologies are entangled in our ways of being as a diaspora.
This study addresses the complexities of a broader structural change in South Auckland secondary schools, let alone deficit theorising, tokenism, and cultural biases. It is with certainty that the power of the collective, spirituality and indigeneity when working with the Pacific community are solutions and answers to the challenges within. The impact on my professional practice has been profoundly shifted from an Indigenous lens that infuses a collectivist approach that can best be described as a co-design framework that is holistic and distinctly Pacific in my professional practice
Visualising vein pattern using deep learning for forensic investigation
No full textChild sexual abuse is a severe global problem that has gained public attention in recent years. Due to the popularity of digital cameras, many perpetrators take images of their sexual activities. Even though most common biometric traits such as the face, DNA, and fingerprint are employed and well established enough to be reliably considered for personal identification purposes, these traits do not apply to child exploitation images, where criminals usually cover their faces, and non-facial skin is partially observable.
The problem of child exploitation is increasing due to the proliferation of such material electronically and the lack of effective identification technology. Thus, alternative methods and biometric traits are needed for identification purposes.
Recently, a new research area, based on non-facial skin features such as vein patterns, has been developed. However, these methods suffer from several weaknesses across different cases, ranging from skin diversity and hairy bodies to subjects with a high volume of dermis fat in which the vein pattern cannot be uncovered.
To use vein patterns in forensic investigation, the authors proposed a new method to extract features using the sparse auto-encoder algorithm and enhance the robustness of vein visualisation by using the denoising auto-encoder algorithm. A pair of synchronised colour and near-infrared (NIR) images are used to generate the skeletonised vein patterns for verifying the outcome of the proposed method and measuring the length of veins by using mean vein diameter. The proposed algorithm was examined on a database with 650 pairs of colour and NIR images and 50 random internet images collected from different body parts such as forearms, thighs, chests and ankles. The experimental results are encouraging and indicate that the potential of using vein patterns in forensic analysis might be practical for forensic investigations
A New Zealand osteopathic perspective on the choice of working in an integrated care environment alongside other regulated health care providers: A qualitative descriptive study
No full textINTRODUCTION
In the last decade, an urgency to move away from fragmented care into an integrated model of health care delivery has been meaningly pushed. Policymakers worldwide have been developing policies that promote care collaboration to address contemporary health issues. Nonetheless, in New Zealand, limited research is available highlighting the inclusion of osteopaths working in an integrated care environment. Current osteopathic research positions osteopaths alongside other health professionals within diverse health practice environments. Aims: To identify why osteopaths in New Zealand may have chosen to work in an integrated care environment and whether their experience was positive or negative.
METHODS
A descriptive qualitative study of seven registered osteopaths who have previously or currently worked in an integrated care environment was conducted. Osteopaths were interviewed using semi-structured indicative questions. Recordings were transcribed, and transcriptions were thematically analysed.
RESULTS
The three principal themes of ‘knowledge’, ‘operational management’, and ‘individual traits and skills’ were found to significantly influence the experience of an osteopath who chose to continue working in an integrated care environment. Each theme included two or three subthemes. ‘Knowledge’ included education and preparation. Management, time, and cost were the subthemes of ‘operational management’, and ‘individual traits and skills’ included communication, collaboration, and personality. No osteopaths in this study stated making a specific choice to work in an integrated care environment.
CONCLUSION
Although the osteopaths in this study did not choose to entre an integrated care environment to work alongside alternative registered health care professionals, a positive view was held by those osteopaths who continued to work in this environment. However, many inconsistencies in this model of care delivery exist, resulting in several key barriers. This study highlighted the necessity for future research to address multidisciplinary education and operational management within an integrated health care environment
Let us keep together not wide apart = Waiho i te toipoto Kaua i te toiroa: The space between us. A conversation on ambulatory research
No full textWalking in its symbolic form could be considered as humans first aesthetic act, initiating order in chaos or the void (te kore) and transformational of the spaces traversed.
Eventually these early human journeys became rituals, processions, sacred paths, pilgrimages and narratives, taking on a functionality or purpose separate from what we consider arts practice toda
Affected by covid-19: Investigating how to improve the resilience of existing parks
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION
How can public parks be more resilient to epidemic crises through their design?
ABSTRACT
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019, for the whole world, life has changed. This disease is currently spread by mucus or body fluid, making it hazardous for people to stay in poorly ventilated places and gather together in high numbers. However, pandemics are not new. Before COVID-19, the world suffered from infectious diseases many times in history, and each pandemic had a significant effect on human lives and the living environment.
Because parks play an essential role in people's daily lives, the design of public parks needs improvement to adapt to the pandemic. As one of the critical elements in the urban environment, public parks provide multiple benefits in different aspects. In particular, the open-air atmosphere can reduce the risk of exposure to the infectious virus and help reduce stress for humans. Developing public spaces that have a positive impact on human life and increase resilience to epidemiological crises is necessary. However, many existing parks can not accommodate the safe social distancing and spatial needs required by COVID-19 prevention measures. This research aims to develop a set of design strategies for public parks, to respond to the challenge of an epidemiological crisis.
The research employs research by design (RbD) as the methodology. RbD consists of three phases: pre-design, the design stages, and post-design. From the literature review, I summarise the existing theories and case studies relevant to the topic and develop the design concept as an outcome of studying and improving previous work. Grey Lynn Park was chosen as the site to present the final design, while the final idea and concept can also be used as a design toolkit for different types and scales of public parks worldwide.
The research outcomes include a design toolkit and strategies to safeguard people's activity in public parks during or after the pandemic by improving public space's practicality and safety through proper design and planning. In a medical sense, design can also become a factor that promotes better control of the virus.
While the design was conducted in Grey Lynn Park, the proposed design toolkit and strategies can be applied to other parks in Auckland and other cities. The further implementation also needs to consider different site environments, regions, and policies, among other factors
Tears, fears, sacrifices, courage & resilience: The COVID-19 stories of female Pacific business students
Get PDF◦ Why this research?
◦ Covid 19 as a disruptor Imagine…
◦ The Research Framework - Fonofale
◦ Pacific research methodology -Talanoa
◦ Data analysis grounded theory approach
◦ The value of this researc
Understanding supply chain resilience: An application of the network configurational approach
Get PDFWhy supply chain resilience
Literature review
Research highlights
Supply chain disruptions
Disruption 1 – Fire at Aisin’s plant
Disruption 2 – Fire at Philips plant
Disruption 3 – Battery recall Nokia Global
Findings and analysis
Academic and practical contributio
Values-based politics and new structural social work: Theory for a post-neoliberal age?
Get PDFThe mission of social work includes implementing positive changes in the structures of society to enhance social justice, not simply assisting individuals and families to achieve personal growth and better adaptation to our existing society. This theoretical article explores a basis for social workers in Aotearoa to implement this mission in the current political context of our country. It aligns with the values-based politics promoted by author Max Harris in his recent book The New Zealand Project (2017), and draws on structural social work as a specific social work theory that can inform this mission. The election of a more progressive government may provide the social work profession with an alliance that can implement positive social change
The impacts of internal marketing: A case study of a New Zealand enterprise
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION
What are the impacts of Internal marketing in a hospitality company in New Zealand?
ABSTRACT
Internal marketing (IM) is a contemporary concept that brings the marketing tools to the internal environment treating the employee as clients to promote the organisation's mission, culture and strategy. The purpose is to sell the business towards the employees, so they feel more engaged, brand-aware, and consequently, satisfied and motivated. The research seeks to explore the impacts of internal marketing in the hospitality business in New Zealand. Through a mixed-methods exploratory case study design, the theme is investigated from managers' and employees’ perspectives. The results illustrate that the internal marketing impacts are mainly employee satisfaction, motivation, and performance. They are examined and how it could benefit the company and improve business performance in the external market. The findings support that business culture and values are essential to job satisfaction and are part of the internal marketing approach. Furthermore, the results recognised organisation support, training and development and internal communication as the most important internal marketing practices that influence and impact satisfaction. This paper contributes to the industry helping companies with new perceptions and how to manage their people in favour of the business. The field of the research could be expanded in how the marketing concept can be used internally with the employees, impacting their satisfaction and engagement, consequently, in quality service and business performance
Immersed: Case studies in art and ecology
No full textClimate change and biodiversity loss are cultural as much as scientific events, and art can play a role in exploring and debating the current climate crisis. Observational drawing is used as a way of paying careful attention to what is here and now, to produce multiple responses to my lived experience and interconnectedness with my environment. Drawing forms a key part of my praxis, as I learn through a combination of reflection and action in art and in gardening.
In seeking sustainability and an ecological civilization we need to first rewrite old ways of thinking and feeling. This thesis examines and critiques the predominant western conceptualisations of the non-human world. Ideas of nature, landscape and wilderness are considered, and how the duality between humans and the non-human they imply can be part of the colonial project. Current ideological models of ecology and new materialism are examined as to how they seek to dissolve this binary, and for what they might offer to the practices of gardening and art. Acknowledging the agency of the non-human world and the coexistence of humans within a web of relationships can lead to art that is ecological. Māori and other indigenous ways of thought and practice are considered, and are seen have many correlations with this ecological thinking.
Two case studies are presented; the Nature of the National Parks, and nature in the suburban garden. I examine how art can reveal and critique these ideas and assist in moving towards a new understanding of the place of people in the world. In creating an exhibition presenting my interaction in the ecology of the garden, the intellectual and political labour of the artworks may provide a cognitive and reflective experience to the gallery audience