Rangahau Aranga: AUT Graduate Review
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Reclaiming the golden calf: Ritual design as creative genre
Get PDFThis presentation summarises how I am progressing an experimental genre of creative writing – ritual design. My project draws upon a surprisingly strong reaction I had to reading the story of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32. I am creatively engaging and changing this story. In the traditional version, while Moses receives stone tablets with God’s commandments, the Israelites, encamped at the base of Mount Sinai, celebrate around a golden calf. God is furious and plans to destroy the entire community, but Moses intercedes. Moses then passes along God’s order to the priestly tribe, the Levites: Take your swords and kill your family and neighbours who celebrated around the calf. The Levites obey and massacre about three thousand people. My project deconstructs and re-envisions this myth, as I believe this is one of the worst stories ever told, a story about slaughtering family and neighbours for heterodox expressions of religiosity. My thesis creatively engages three frameworks – amythia, death anxiety and ritual – while pursuing this driving question: How might re-envisioning the golden calf story be conceived and designed as (1) a ritualised symbolic immortality project that (2) redresses amythia and (3) regulates death anxiety? Considered together, amythia and death anxiety may foster anxiety and related psycho-social challenges, while creative symbolic immortality projects and ritualisation may mitigate these challenges. Speculatively, re-envisioning myth engages these regulatory factors; rituals of creation and rituals of engagement may help to regulate death anxiety, while the re-envisioning effort may serve as a symbolic immortality project. My methodology applies ritual design as a genre of creative writing that encourages readers to reconsider and personalise their own received mythologies and rituals. The creative component of my thesis portrays a community of priests who are changing the golden calf story and leveraging the above frameworks to inform their religious practice
Intergenerational knowledge as a form of peer review
Get PDFPart of my PhD project Diffracting Indigenous Practices, Quantum Theory, Electronic Art and the Anthropocene involves bringing Indigenous Practices into dialogue with Western Science. It turns out that this remains problematic, as the knowledge types are heavily weighted in favour of Western knowledge sources. Smith has pointed out that “‘research is inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism” in the process of decolonising method (2021, p.1). However, in order to be published in international mainstream academic publications, the very process of peer review currently recolonises method. Indigenous researchers have presented strategies for “encouraging a new era of scholarship founded within the principle of “for Mā’ohi, by Mā’ohi” as opposed to research on Mā’ohi1 (Reynolds & Wheeler, 2022). Chang recognised the internalisation of colonial boundaries (2019, p.95) promoting a method based in Mo’oku’auhau (whakapapa or geneology). Escaping the immense gravitas of the words ‘epistemology’ and ‘ontology’ when discussing knowledge is problematic, as these concepts also contain embedded Western notions around how knowledge is accumulated and sorted into categories. Indigenous systems recognise interconnected energy flows rather than proposing bounded categories. Here I will argue that the movement that needs to occur in terms of knowledge recognition – also needs to occur inside Western academic structures. I propose four knowledge dimensions as keys to unlocking Indigenous forms of knowledge so that Western academic structures such as peer review can acknowledge these accordingly. Recently I incorporated into an art work the words ‘the history of knowledge has been colonised just like Moana islands and their peoples.’ From the context of knowledge dimensions I am able to provide an argument for intergenerational Moana knowledge to be seen as a form of peer review, opening the Western academic system to accepting such knowledge. This is crucial to combating the Anthropocene.  
Development of a digital gym instructor to improve movement patterns during gym-based exercises for women
Get PDFIn New Zealand the number of gym and fitness training related injuries dominate over every other sport. In 2020 it was reported they surpassed the number of claims for NZ’s national sport, rugby [1]. A recent Accident Compensation Corporation [ACC] report showed an 18% increase in gym injuries in the period between 2015-2020 with the cost of support rising by 43% [2]. An epidemiology analysis of 10 years of ACC injury data found that the exercises which led to the greatest number of injuries were the bench press, deadlift, and shoulder press [3]. The aim of this doctoral research is to trial the feasibility of a digital system to coach technique. We are recruiting 200 female inexperienced gym-users for an initial biomechanics screening using motion capture software to assess participants’ technique during bench press, deadlift, and shoulder press resistance exercises conducted using free weights, resistance machines and a TONAL strength training device. A survey assessment will be carried out concurrently to understand the participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours (KAB) towards strength training and injury. Based on the biomechanics screening, 30 participants with poor technique will be identified and invited to participate in a 4-week study to understand the feasibility of a digital system to coach strength training and improve their technique. The knowledge gained in the study will enable education of gym users to prevent further injury via the ACC SportSmart program, with the potential to integrate digital gym instruction by development of a mobile application. In this poster presentation, I will present the findings of my epidemiology analysis and outline the practical aspects of the project, including the biomechanics screening, tools and follow-up study. There will be an opportunity for visitors to the symposium to find out more information about the study and express their interest to participate.  
Radio Pictures: Grounding Theory in Image Data
Get PDFThis presentation explores the use of image-data in a grounded theory study of radio listening for company among older listeners. The use of photographs in grounded theory is unusual, but not unheard of, and not without methodological support (Clarke, 2014). In spite of this methodological congruence, there is little work to date on analyzing visual data in grounded theory. “Analysing photographic data in qualitative research, as with textual data, is a series of inductive and formative acts carried out throughout the research process” (Prosser & Schwartz, 1998, p. 125). Analysis of the photographs in this research was three-fold: I recorded & transcribed memos describing photos and what I had captured – the relation of objects to one another, the location of the radio within the home, the uses and function of the objects around the radio; I used grounded theory coding techniques described for use with word-data to explore the images; I reviewed these codes and form categories, and used these to inform theory development. Without a single word, the location of your radio and the objects that surround it carry a lot of information about your relationship with the device itself and the noise it makes. “Where data sets centre around both narrative and visual data, and where the subjective construction of experience becomes the focus of analysis, grounded theory analytic techniques that emphasise reciprocity with participants can help to generate explanations for patterns of behaviour” (Liebenberg et al., 2012, p. 59). The composition of the scene, the way the objects pictured relate to each other in space and their location in the home, is the work of the participant. This presentation offers an example of how a grounded theory analysis of image-data is undertaken and develops over the course of the study
'Asi - The presence of the Unseen
Get PDFIn 1993, Wolfgramm referred to the climax in faiva as ‘asi (the presence of the unseen). This spirit of artistic expression is an agent sometimes identified when Oceanic people work together to bring artistic works to their apotheosis. This thesis asks, “What occurs when young Oceanic people work together creatively in a group, drawing on values from their cultural heritage, to create meaningful faiva?” The thesis seeks to understand how within this process, ‘asi might bring forward a powerful sense of expression rooted in a relationship between involvement and a sense of belonging. Emanating from a critical consideration of faiva and ‘asi, the research considers the dynamics of collective development and performance. Video, sound, drawing, poetry, performance and talanoa (every day conversations where the people involved share their personal experiences) are collected and analysed through a process of artistic and analytical reflection. The research considers two bodies of work. The first is a co-created work called Lila. This was developed by a team of research participants in 2019. The second is the development and performance of the researcher’s experience and synthesis of thinking in a faiva called FAIVA | FAI VĀ. The significance of the research lies in its contribution to an understanding of ‘asi, so we might identify and consider its potential agency for resourcing creativity and belonging inside the development and performance of faiva. The presentation will: outline what ‘asi and faiva are, discuss the methodology used, consider the findings from the two bodies of work, and discuss benefits for young Oceanic people
Creating a Holistic Model of Heterosexual Marriage Wellbeing Mechanisms
Get PDFThe links between marital relationship well-being and multiple life outcomes, including health, finances, career, living conditions, and happiness, are repetitively endorsed in academic studies. These outcomes are far-reaching and broadly representative, so it is perhaps surprising that there are limited publicly available, evidence-based models of marital wellbeing mechanisms to aid couples in trouble or to educate families, professional helpers, or policy makers in their decision-making processes. The goal of this study was to isolate the generic properties of marital health and understand their operation - investigating the precedents, antecedents and maintenance of adult romantic relationship happiness, stability and general marital well-being, including how these constructs self-organise and co-relate, how outcomes emerge, and how we might therefore potentially alter these outcomes. Over the last 40 years thousands of studies have been carried out to determine the factors that contribute to marital satisfaction and endurance. Nonetheless, to this point in history little has been done to synthesise these multiple factors into an overarching model of marital wellbeing. For this study, pre-existing theories and research findings pertinent to marriage and relationships were sought out using a scoping review, collating more than 24,000 research articles. The multi-grounding process extricated categories from the scoping review for the model development. Prominent pertinent theories were discovered, and their premises were explored, compared, and inter-relationships were considered in the model development process. Given the prevalence and primacy of marriage partnerships across most societies and given the individual importance and the societal impact that these partnerships have, this model has significance for individuals, therapists, family therapy lecturers and researchers, policy makers and even societal and business leaders
Destination Management Systems and Community Participation: Indonesia Case
Get PDFDestination Management Systems (DMS) are Information Communication Technology (ICT) based tools that were first created with a marketing and booking focus. DMS functions mainly focus on relaying destination images and providing relevant booking information through destination websites as their front end. More recently, policymakers and researchers have seen the potential for DMS to foster sustainable tourism outcomes through effective destination management. This research argues that DMS can help to empower local communities to engage in tourism development and create stakeholder networks that can facilitate more sustainable forms of tourism development. This research will investigate how DMS worldwide, specifically in Indonesia, can empower community participation in tourism development. A major contribution of this work will be the development and provision of a set of criteria for a community-focused DMS. This research is divided into two stages. The first stage focuses on investigating community dimensions in DMS practice globally and in Indonesia. The Motivation – Opportunity – Ability (MOA) model will be used to identify the DMS functions that can empower the community to participate in tourism development. The second stage of the research has two objectives: investigating the strategic reasons behind DMS design and formulating evaluation criteria of the study cases that emerge from the prior stage. Semi-structured interviews and the Delphi Method will be utilised to address the objectives, respectively. This research contributes to the academic discourse on the interrelation between Tourism, ICT and sustainable community-focused development. From a practical perspective, the outcomes of this research will enhance destination management practice by providing a new avenue to foster community participation in tourism development processes. In the upcoming presentation, I will present the research methods and early research findings, which mainly come from the web evaluation process in the first stage of this research. The presentation will also share the following process of the research
"Better for everybody": Student-parent experiences of higher education
Get PDFThe second half of the twentieth century witnessed a successful campaign to increase accessibility of higher education in many industrialised countries. Therefore, the system that was once reserved primarily for the traditional white, middle to upper-class, young adult male, with a well-educated and politically connected father, is now more accessible to a diverse non-traditional student population that includes women, racial and ethnic minorities, and older adult students (Pearce 2017). Research indicates that, for many non-traditional students, financial, social, and emotional complexities that accompany maintaining the roles of parent and student simultaneously can impair their abilities to obtain a degree and, therefore, impair their socio-economic standing (Hoffer & Welch, 2006). These complexities may also affect family. This study explores the experiences of six mature Higher Education (HE) students with dependent children. Using semi-structed interviews the study asks students three research questions: (a) what led the participant to decide on HE while in a caring role, (b) what internal or external criticism or praise has the participant experienced by taking on a dual role of both parent and HE student, and (c) how does the participant deal with the internal, external criticism, praises – the unique challenges of being a mature student and parent? A descriptive interpretive approach connects ideas from different participants to understand their stories (Smythe, 2012). Findings indicated participants’ motivation to undertake HE were: seeing study as a prized possession; their mature age being an advantage; and sufficient support for childcare. Praise from family and staff encouraged them, whereas societal expectations for mothers staying home with very young children was a criticism. Once they decided to study, they gained support from personal and institutional sources to succeed. They also offered advice on how to better support mature student parents. The findings will help develop support for mature-aged students in higher education
Towards a more sustainable feed for New Zealand farmed abalone: Inclusion of insect meal and grape pomace as alternative ingredients
Get PDFAbalone, locally called pāua, is a valuable export product in New Zealand, contributing between NZD $50-60 million annually towards the country’s export economy [1]. Generally, one of the most significant bottlenecks of land-based abalone aquaculture is the high cost of the feed, which can be up to 50% of the production cost [2]. The high price has been attributed to fish meal, which is a key ingredient used in aquaculture feeds due to its excellent amino acid profile and palatability. However, fish meal use has been questioned due to the utilisation of wild fish to feed farmed fish and the exacerbation of overfishing marine resources [3]. Alternative ingredients, such as insects and winery waste products, are potential candidates as protein replacements due to their suitable nutritional profile and more sustainable production. This study aims to 1) develop and characterise alternative formulated feed for pāua (Haliotis iris) using insect meal and grape pomace and 2) evaluate the nutritional and growth alterations in juvenile pāua receiving different formulated feeds for 6 months. Proximate analysis is used to identify nutritional variations in body and faecal matter, and liquid/gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/GC–MS) analyses are utilised to characterise amino acid and fatty acid profiles in tissue samples. Results show a high animal survival rate of 95% and increased seawater stability of experimental diets compared to a commercial feed. Nutritional analyses show no significant variations in animal tissues in terms of protein proportions and amino acid profiles, but differences were found in the lipid proportions and fatty acid profiles. This research will present the evidence to support the potential use of insect meal and grape marc as fishmeal replacements in abalone feeds, leading to a more sustainable aquaculture. 
Evaluation of osteoarthritic features in peripheral joints by ultrasound imaging: A systematic review
Get PDFThe role of ultrasound imaging for osteoarthritis (OA) diagnosis in peripheral joints has not been clearly defined. To further understand this role, the objectives of this study were to determine how structural and inflammatory OA features in peripheral joints are assessed, defined and graded by ultrasound imaging. MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane and SPORTDiscus databases were systematically searched in March 2021. To be eligible, studies needed to (1) include participants with peripheral joint OA, and (2) use grey scale and/or power Doppler ultrasound imaging to assess one or more ultrasound features in peripheral joints of the hands and feet. Methodological quality of all included studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program tool [1]. A total of 159 citations were identified for screening. Thirty-two articles were included for final analysis and were of good methodological quality. Thirty articles evaluated ultrasound features of hand OA and two assessed ultrasound OA features in the foot. There were inconsistencies between studies in terms of what ultrasound features were assessed, how these features were defined and what grading system was applied to determine degree of osteoarthritic change. The review found inconsistencies in the definition of synovial pathology. Consequently, it is unclear whether synovial pathology is best represented as separate entities or combined as a single domain, termed “synovitis”. How OA ultrasound features were defined and graded has largely been extrapolated from recommendations originally constructed for populations with rheumatoid arthritis. Given the prognostic value of synovitis for OA progression and that inflammation associated with OA is fundamentally different from that in rheumatoid arthritis [2, 3], the validity of applying definitions, grading systems and atlases originally developed for rheumatoid arthritis needs consideration. This review strengthens the case for further refinement and validation of OA definitions, grading systems and ultrasound atlases specific to peripheral joints