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65 days in Pirongia
No full textAs Covid-19 gripped New Zealand in March 2020, field recordist Kent Macpherson began documenting his surroundings. Making field recordings in his back yard for 65 consecutive days. From Lockdown level 3 through 4 then back again to level one, these recordings document the sounds of a rural village in the Waikato region of the north island. It is interesting to note the slow fade of the cicadas as the days become colder in May. Then the native New Zealand bird, the Tui begins its courtship song. The absence of human din means the fauna are allowed a certain freedom. The native wildlife begins to communicate with a clarity not known in its generation. Then as the quarantine lifts, the modulating white noise of motor vehicles once again cuts through that freedom
TOTEM & ORE
Get PDFFeature Film Documentary
Movie • 1 hr 37 min 40 sec • Feature Documentary
Completed March 2019
A feature documentary about the effects of Nuclear weapons & testing. In Australia, the tragedy of uranium exploration, mining and British atomic testing in 1950’s Aboriginal Australia. Starting at the Hiroshima bomb and ending at the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima. The historic tragedies and fear told by atomic bomb witnesses, activists, filmmakers, artists, actors, writers composers, doctors, professors....Aboriginal Actress, Ursula Yovich reflects on her visit to Hiroshima, her appeal that “No place in the world for Nuclear weapons!
Virtual tour of DFNZ
Get PDFThis session is for anyone interested in our DFNZ space.
This session will introduce DFNZ staff and students to the global network. It will show our space, our values, our key areas within our (small) space and introduce the staff that work within there.
There will be a short intro, followed by the tour and finish up with a Q & A.
DFNZ looks forward to hosting you so see you there
Inaction is also action: Attempting to address Pākehā paralysis
Get PDFAs a Pākehā creative arts tutor and practice-led researcher working for the regional polytechnic Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), I have often been aware of what Tolich (2002) calls ‘Pākehā paralysis’— which is the tendency by Pākehā not to engage with Māori, because it is ‘too hard’ due to an inability “to distinguish between their role in Māori-centred research and their role in research in a New Zealand society, which involves Māori among other ethnic groups.” (Tolich, 2002, p. 176). The default position is often one of avoidance, or worse, positioning Māori within a ‘mainstream’ education framework that frequently makes universalist assumptions in a manner that has been called “whitestreaming” (Denis, 1997, as cited in Milne, 2013, p. 3). Intellectually being aware of these issues, is however, quite different to doing something about it as a Pākehā schooled and practising within the same liberal humanist traditions one is attempting to be critical of
Security in Cloud-based IoT
No full textCLOUD-BASED INTERNET-OF-THINGS (IoT) is one of the emerging topics in IoT and Cloud Computing (CC). In addition to those found in CC and IoT, a Cloud-based IoT infrastructure inherits pros and cons of several other technologies and computing approaches. The distributed nature of a Cloud-based IoT infrastructure is prone to different threats and vulnerabilities related to technological and human-centric factors as well as strategic decisions in design and implementation of a Cloud-based IoT. This chapter explores Cloud-based IoT from security perspective. The technologies and design issues for Cloud-based IoT are explored in initial discussion. The security threats for a Cloud-based IoT infrastructure is addressed afterwards. Since CC plays a major role in Cloud-based IoT scenario; threats, security concerns, and vulnerabilities of CC are considered, which are then mapped into security threats and vulnerabilities for Cloud-based IoT. The security issues and threats are considered through three key factors, namely, technological, human, and governance. This chapter concludes by summarising �findings and reflecting on key insights from the fi�ndings
Days crossing: Inside the process of creating dramatic ELT video content
Get PDFThis is a brief article in a professional magazine describing the process behind the development of a video series for language teaching
Just married: The musical
No full textThis is the second original musical produced by Hood Street Fishing Club and follows a similar structure as their first show, Hood Street: The Musical. The comedy musical presents a "classic Kiwi wedding" and all of the characters one meets during the ceremony and reception. With support from a Creative NZ, the draft script and demo recordings were created and presented on Saturday 26 September 2020 at Creative Waikato, Hamilton.
Lyrics: Nick Braae, Kyle Chuen, Courteney Mayall, Nick Wilkinson
Music and arrangements: Nick Braa
The impact of the performance-based research fund on accounting academics’ life in universities in New Zealand
No full textThis thesis explores the impact of the Performance-Based Research Fund’s (PBRF) system on accounting academics’ work lives in New Zealand. The study first explores the perception of line managers (Heads of schools/Departments) towards the PBRF experiences of accounting academics. This study then provides the viewpoints of the accounting academics themselves regarding their PBRF experiences. The PBRF was established in 2003 with an objective to encourage and reward excellent research in the tertiary education sector. To date, the PBRF has conducted four cycles of assessment in New Zealand; the latest round was in 2018. Thirty-six tertiary education organisations (TEOs) participated in the fourth PBRF round in 2018. Over NZ$1 billion worth of funds was allocated to the tertiary education sector during that 6-year funding period (TEC, 2019). Prior studies internationally have raised concerns regarding the negative impact that performance-based research funding systems have on academic life. The studies in New Zealand have explored the impact of PBRF in the education, nursing, design, humanities and social sciences departments in universities. However, no study has been conducted on the accounting schools in New Zealand universities.
This thesis uses institutional theory to analyse the findings in this study. The findings point towards the conclusion that the coercive, mimetic, and normative forces of isomorphism are at work in New Zealand universities in response to the PBRF requirements. Universities and accounting schools believe that they have little choice but to respond to the rules imposed by the government through the PBRF. A mixed methods approach was adopted to provide an in-depth understanding of the impact of the PBRF on accounting academics’ lives in New Zealand. The study employed a sequential exploratory strategy. This strategy involved two phases: the first phase involved qualitative data collection and analysis, while the second phase involved quantitative data collection and analysis that built on the results of the first phase. The qualitative (interview) findings were used to develop the questionnaire instrument for the quantitative data collection.
The findings in this study indicate that the PBRF has caused an increase in research outputs especially in universities where that had very little research focus prior to the introduction of PBRF exercise. Research quality has also increased in terms of an increase in academic publication in A*, A and B journals. PBRF has helped increase the status and reputation of New Zealand universities and academics nationally and internationally. Academics are also more experienced in applying for external research grants and working in research teams.
However, the negative consequences of the PBRF system seem to far outweigh its benefits. There is evidence that academics are hard pressed for time to complete their tasks, leading to stress and illness. Academics are working long hours into the evenings and at weekends to complete all their tasks. Under the PBRF regime, the time allocated to academics for research is higher than for teaching. Academics have less time available to develop innovate teaching. Academics are working under immense pressure to research and publish in high-ranked journals; for those who do not, they may be asked to leave. Many academics who could not cope with the increasing demands of conducting both teaching and research tasks or who were research inactive, left academia in the earlier rounds; more plan or might be ‘coerced’ to leave. The new work environment in universities has no place for research-inactive academics. Further, academics have restricted freedom to pursue their own research interests. Staff recruitment policies in universities have been aligned to meet PBRF requirements. Potential candidates must show evidence of a good potential PBRF profile. Even HoDs are apprehensive that new and emerging researchers will be unable to cope with the research, teaching, and administrative/service expectations when they start their careers in universities. Therefore, universities are reluctant to hire new and emerging researchers because doing so may risk their university rankings. Instead, there is evidence of gaming practices. Prolific researchers are more likely to be hired to boost university scores. Research-active academics are able to negotiate reduced teaching hours. The additional teaching loads seem to be passed to teaching-only staff, a practice that has negative consequences because there are no expectations for teaching-only staff to be research productive. The hiring of teaching-only staff has multiple consequences; it restricts research-informed teaching, weakens the teaching–research nexus, and conflicts with the Education Act 1989 which suggests that teaching staff must be actively involved in research activities. Academics criticise the PBRF and suggest that, if its aim was to increase the focus on research, it has done that, but at the expense of other activities. Academics suggest that PBRF should be abolished.
This study provides important insights on the impact on accounting academics life by the PBRF regime imposed on policy makers, university senior management, and HoDs. This study, generally offers valuable information on the consequences that the PBRF has on the work life of an academic. Further, the study will benefit senior management and HoDs by providing insights that can help in their decision-making processes. While this study had a New Zealand context, managers globally at universities need to ensure that academics are supported so that they can fulfil all their academic roles. Decision makers in the university must give attention to other functions in the university such as teaching excellence, student supervision, learning support, and quality of assessment.
The main limitation of this study is that, because of the low response rate from the academics, meaningful quantitative analysis was restricted. Future research could focus on the impact that the PBRF has on teaching quality and student learning. For instance, the impact on teaching developments and innovations were perceived to be negative because of the PBRF. This area needs to be explored, because there is a perception that the PBRF has impacted negatively on teaching in that academics have a lack of time to innovate in their teaching because of research pressure and commitments. To gain more insights into the academic responses, undertaking a study that used in-depth interviews with academics at all levels would add value to the literature on the teaching experiences of academics. Furthermore, there needs to be more research on the costs and benefits of conducting the PBRF exercise. It appears there are many hidden costs, especially in terms of human costs involving the long work hours that academics are putting in to cope with their role in academia. Hidden costs that include stress, impaired well-being, and job dissatisfaction ultimately impact on the quality of teaching and student learning and experience in higher education. Such a perceived serious consequence need to be researched
Plasma sprayed titanium coatings with/without a shroud
Get PDFAbstract:
Titanium coatings were deposited by plasma spraying with and without a shroud. The titanium coatings were then assessed by scanning electron microscopy. A comparison in microstructure between titanium coatings with and
without the shroud was carried out. The results showed that the shroud played an important role in protecting the titanium particles from oxidation. The presence of
the shroud led to a reduction in coating porosity. The reduction in air entrainment with t he shroud resulted in better heating of the particles, and an enhanced
microstructure with lower porosity in the shrouded titanium coatings were observed compared to the air plasma sprayed counterpart
Repeated menthol mouth swilling affects neither strength nor power performance
Get PDFThis study aimed to assess the effects of repeated menthol mouth swilling upon strength and power performance. Nineteen (10 male) participants completed familiarisation and experimental trials of repeated menthol mouth swilling (0.1% concentration) or control (no swill) in a randomised crossover design. Participants performed an isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP; peak and mean force; N), vertical jump (peak; cm) and six second sprint (peak and mean power; W) under each condition. Participants completed three efforts per exercise task interspersed with three-minute recoveries. Mean best values were analysed via a two-way mixed repeated measures ANOVA, and differences reported as effect sizes ± 95% confidence intervals, with accompanying descriptors and p values. Differences in peak IMTP values were unclear between familiarisation and experimental trials, and between menthol and control conditions. Mean IMTP force differed between familiarisation and control (0.51; −0.15 to 1.14; p = 0.001) and familiarisation and menthol conditions (0.50; −0.15 to 1.14; p = 0.002) by a small degree, but were unclear between control and menthol conditions. Unclear differences were also noted on vertical jump performance compared to familiarisation and between experimental conditions, with repeated six second peak and average power performance also showing unclear effects across all comparisons. We conclude that repeated menthol mouth swilling does not improve strength or power performance