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A contemporary Pacific village: A proposal
Get PDFThis paper proposes a contemporary Pacific village as a response to the pressing housing issues of Pacific communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. More specifically, the proposal explores this at the scale of a neighbourhood. Three branches are considered in the process of designing such a village: Pacific concepts of tā–vā; Pacific churches as housing partners; and Indigenous partnerships with Māori. These are imagined through hyper-local processes. The proposal is not conceived to be applied directly to other contexts in the South Pacific region. However, the proposal could become a point of reference to where other localities across the South Pacific can begin to shift and change their own direct built environments
Pavement crack classification using deep convolutional neural network
No full textRoad safety is one of the more difficult aspects concerning the field of civil engineering. Manual road inspection and distress detection by a road surveyor is a time-consuming, dangerous, and laborious process. This paper proposes an automated method to classify three common types of road distress; namely crocodile, longitudinal and transverse cracks using a deep convolution neural network. Four processes are involved to include data collection, cracked photo enhancement, cracks classification and performance evaluation. The first process of data collection involves capturing pavement crack images using a digital camera. Secondly, the crack images are labelled according to their group and their contrast further improved using the contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) method. The third process involves training the deep convolutional neural network (DCNN). In this process, two (2) DCNN models are devised which are VGG16 and 9-Layer CNN models. Simulation results show that VGGG-16 with CLAHE enhancement were able to classify pavement cracks with high accuracy, precision, recall and F1-scores of 99.5%, 98.5%, 99.5% and 98.99% respectively. Through deep learning techniques, the VGGG-16 with CLAHE has demonstrated promising potential in classifying pavement cracks
The mycorrhizal communities of Lophomyrtus bullata Burret (Myrtaceae) within three natural forest associations of New Zealand
No full textThe widespread endemic tree Lophomyrtus bullata (ramarama; Myrtaceae) is in serious decline. Lophomyrtus bullata is now considered threatened due to the ongoing spread of Austropuccinia psidii, a rust fungus causing myrtle rust disease. Mycorrhizal communities play an important role in the survival of plant species and have a potential role in disease resistance. Thus, we examined the fungal communities of L. bullata, with special emphasis on the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, together with vegetation and site characteristics in three forest associations in Northern New Zealand. Molecular analyses demonstrated a diverse fungal community, including representatives of nine families of arbuscular mycorrhizae. The family Archaeosporaceae was particularly abundant and diverse. Other fungal phyla (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Zygomycota) were also found to associate with L. bullata. Mycorrhizal species composition across vegetation associations was similar but abundances differed. This is the first study to demonstrate the multiple fungal species associated with L. bullata, which may help in the remediation of this vulnerable plan
Self-reported confidence and knowledge of veterinary nurses in New Zealand in managing exotic companion animals
No full textINTRODUCTION
According to recent data, about twenty percent of New Zealand households own exotic companion animals (Companion Animals New Zealand [CANZ], 2020). To provide veterinary care for exotic companion animals, knowledge of their unique husbandry and disease is required by the veterinary team (Grant et al, 2017). A recent survey from the UK identified a lack of confidence and knowledge of exotic companion animals amongst veterinarians compared with dogs and cats with the concern this compromises the welfare of these species (Wills & Holt, 2020). A lack of confidence was also identified amongst veterinary nurses in the UK compared with nursing of cats and dogs (Crowther & Holt, 2017). This study investigated the self-reported confidence and knowledge of veterinary nurses in New Zealand in managing exotic companion animal species
Effects of family ownership and family management on the performance of entrepreneurial firms
No full textExtending past research, this paper proposes that the quadratic inverse-U relationship between family ownership and the performance of entrepreneurial firms when moderated by the presence of family management and external blockholding. Specifically, it proposes that both factors exacerbate the decline in performance when the proportion of family ownership in entrepreneurial firms remains high. The proposed hypotheses are tested on ten years of panel data from a sample of European firms. Analysis of data supports the hypotheses. Implications for the theory and practice of entrepreneurial firms are discussed
Cycle to cradle: An urban mined, material-recovery exhibit, as a form of circular economy
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION
How can a material recovery exhibit, form a circular economy through urban mining, to support Auckland as a carbon neutral future city?
ABSTRACT
Auckland is an established Smart City which aims at achieving a carbon-zero footprint by 2050. However, there are still major planning deficiencies related to materials and waste management that may hinder that goal. Aotearoa expels approximately 17.49 million tonnes of waste annually, with an estimate of 12.59 million tonnes of that sent to landfill, half of which is made up of construction and demolition waste.
Cycle to Cradle endeavours to frame these specific conundrums through a lens of sustainable material recovery and re-use. A Material Recovery Centre as a form of Exhibit, on the fringe of an arts and cultural sector. This project identifies waste management as a point of order, aiming to locate and extract relevant low carbon materials, to frame solutions in a sustainable modular fashion.
Upcycling is not a new concept, William McDonough and Michael Braungart provide a manifesto detailing various Upcycle and Cradle to Cradle design models. Here, they focus on completely eliminating waste through bio-technical and upcycle principles to achieve biomimetic solutions for sustainability. This project intends to discuss the benefit of Energy Climate Buildings with the goal of relating a cycled model for New Zealand’s future architecture. Understanding various supportive theories related to passive design and material re-use, this project intends to sculpt an innovative, sustainable ‘go-to’ typology meshed to a circular economy. The research aim is to support material recovery, creating an exhibit through specific retrieval processes and, in doing so, framing a cascading material life cycle for architecture.
The site is located at the foot of Parnell, the birthplace of Auckland, a precinct in the Strand which is richly related to trade and industry through century long bicultural relations
Values-based practice for transformative purposes in a tertiary institute in New Zealand
No full textThe change project journey that this research has followed provides an overview of how that change is occurring, the influence of values-based tools and frameworks, and describes the journey of the people leading the change.
Values-based practice for transformative purposes in a tertiary institute in New Zealand is a change project research journey in a mainstream tertiary organisation committed to demonstrable partnership and equity. A project report and recommendations were produced as part of this rangahau, included within my Masters’ thesis, that was completed in 2023.
This rangahau contributes to the change project narrative and provides a data source for further research and analysis. A product of this rangahau is the additional reference point for those who would like to explore and conduct similar, mixed modes research methodology
Anti-social distancing
No full textIn this excerpt from the 2020 iteration of Unitec Institute of Technology's recently re-imagined, peer-reviewed journal, Asylum, Dr. David Turner revisits Auckland's Unitary Plan and explores how the housing density changes implemented by it have affected urban development since 2016.
Asylum article:
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/526
Universal Design for Learning in vocational education in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textOUTLINE:
Te Pūkenga
Unitec - Te Noho Kotahitanga
Background: TEC (Tertiary Education Commission) - Disability Action Plans
Whaikaha ministry (Ministry of Disabled People)
Unitec seizes the opportunity
Unitec Disabiity Strategy, students as partners "Nothing about us without us"
Disability Strategy, 2022-2024
Unitec Disability Action Plan
UDL and inclusive teaching 2021-2022, 2023
Challenges and goal
Te whānau Pā Harakeke: An indigenous artform of community intervention
No full textRaranga and tikanga Pā Harakeke emerge from a worldview in which “the universe is woven”
Tikanga Pā Harakeke: a methodology for wellbeing and sustainability
Raranga whakakura: whakapapa is the connecting bond
Socially engaged art around the world
Historicization of socially engaged art
Differing worldviews or osmos-logics
Wānanga
Papa Hadyn and Mama Mani with pēpi Pikitearero in the wahakura they made for her
Alliances and commonalities
[Tanya White now known as Hinewaimarama Reihana-White