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Tōia Mai guest lecture at University of Waikato 27th March 2019
Get PDFCopy of lecture notes as presented at the University of Waikato as part of Dean Ballinger's 'Digital Aesthetics' paper
"We Don’t Know Lucky We Are: Masculine Humour in New Zealand Popular Music." In The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor. Edited by Thomas Kitts and Nicolas Baxter-Moore, 346-353. Routledge: New York, 2019.
No full textIn the mainstream of New Zealand popular music, one can often identify a dry sense of humour that is closely connected with other comedic art forms in this country (e.g. television, stand-up) and with ideals of New Zealand masculinity (Bannister 2005). This essay surveys the manifestations of this humour in a variety of popular songs, before concluding with an extended discussion of Flight of the Conchords, “the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand”, and arguably the country’s most successful musical export in the area of comedy music.
The predominant source of humour in such New Zealand comedy songs stems from lyrical content. In Fred Dagg’s “We Don’t Know How Lucky We Are”, the “epic” stories of each verse (e.g. the legend of Maui fishing up the North Island) are deliberately underplayed—says Maui simply upon landing his catch, “I think I’ve found something substantial.” In Netherworld Dancing Toys’ “New Zealand Love Song”, it is the emotional content that is underplayed—“This is a New Zealand love song // understated and quite unsure.”
Such examples, and those by others including the Topp Twins, essentially poke fun at New Zealand characters (typically male) through the medium of song. In the case of Flight of the Conchords, both Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement retain these character traits but add elements of specifically musical humour through pastiche and the incongruous juxtaposition of lyrical content and musical style (Covach 1997). Their humour, therefore, is much more accessible to a wider audience given listeners do not necessarily need to be aware of the “New Zealand” characteristics of their songs. I suggest this may be one reason why the duo has enjoyed significant success outside of their homeland
Supporting community engagement through teaching, student projects and research
Get PDFThe Education Acts statutory obligations for ITPs are not supported by the Crown funding model. Part of the statutory role of an ITP is “... promotes community learning and by research, particularly applied and technological research ...” [The education act 1989]. In relation to this a 2017 TEC report highlighted impaired business models and an excessive administrative burden as restrictive and impeding success. Further restrictions are seen when considering ITPs attract < 3 % of the available TEC funding for research, and ~ 20 % available TEC funding for teaching, despite having overall student efts of ~ 26 % nationally.
An attempt to improve performance and engage through collaboration (community, industry, tertiary) at our institution is proving successful. The cross-disciplinary approach provides students high level experience and the technical stretch needed to be successful engineers, technologists and technicians.
This study presents one of the methods we use to collaborate externally through teaching, student projects and research
Accurate approach in simulating the electronic absorption cross section of small to medium molecules
Get PDFSulfuric acid (H2SO4) is the dominant form of atmospheric sulfur in the stratosphere and plays an important role in terms of aerosol formation.The Absorption spectrum of sulfuric acid is simulated. Also in this work three photodissociation mechanisms of H2SO4 are calculated and found significant
A double-edged sword: Use of computer algebra systems in first-year Engineering Mathematics and Mechanics courses
Get PDFMany secondary-level mathematics students have experience with graphical calculators from high school. For the purposes of this paper we define graphical calculators as those able to perform rudimentary symbolic manipulation and solve complicated equations requiring very modest user knowledge. The use of more advanced computer algebra systems e.g. Maple, Mathematica, Mathcad, Matlab/MuPad is becoming more prevalent in tertiary-level courses.
This paper explores our students’ experience using one such system (MuPad) in first-year tertiary Engineering Mathematics and Mechanics courses.
The effectiveness of graphical calculators and computer algebra systems in mathematical pedagogy has been investigated by a multitude of educational researchers (e.g. Ravaglia et al. 1998). Most of these studies found very small or no correlation between student use of
graphical calculators or exposure to computer algebra systems with future achievement in mathematics courses (Buteau et al. 2010).
In this paper we focus instead on students’ attitude towards a more advanced standalone computer algebra system (MuPad), and whether students’ inclination to use the system is indicative of their mathematical understanding.
Paper describing some preliminary research into use of computer algebra systems for teaching engineering mathematics
Research controversy and publication success
Get PDFIn addition to the large volumes of published research in journals, there are numerous articles that go unpublished. These articles may never get published for a variety of reasons. A researcher may provide a well-developed hypothesis, and a scrutinised method may be used, but results must be accepted by the research community. To merit publication, the research should also provide something that is significant to the field of knowledge. To be accepted and disseminated to the community, the results must be accepted by the existing research paradigm that is held by reviewers. Without support or with contradictory support of the existing paradigm, a researcher lacks evidential support for the theory or model, and consequently lacks a valid reason to submit the research for publication. This article provides illustrations of what takes place in research, with the aim to provide constructive criticism of the publication process
Porosity and Micro-Hardness of Shrouded Plasma Sprayed Titanium Coatings
Get PDFTitanium and its alloys are often used as key materials for corrosion protection. A promising approach to optimize both mechanical properties and corrosion resistance is the use of
coating technologies. In this paper, shrouded plasma spray was used as a useful technology to produce low oxide containing titanium coatings. A solid shroud was used to plasma spray titanium coatings to reduce the oxide content. The titanium coatings were assessed by optical microscope, scanning electron microscopy and Vickers microhardness testing. The results showed that the shrouded titanium coatings exhibited an enhanced microstructure. The presence of the shroud and
shroud gas flow led to a significant reduction in coating porosity because the reduction in air entrainment with the shroud resulted in better heating of the particles. The shrouded titanium coatings had a lower value of Vickers microhardness and a relative lower standard deviation than the air plasma sprayed titanium coatings
Embedding Māori achievement: An innovative example
Get PDF“Let’s embed ako, tikanga and te reo in our teaching & learning”, but how? We strive to increase Māori engagement & achievement, but the tikanga to reach these goals can be difficult. A novel project has engaged students & staff from across Wintec faculties as well as iwi, businesses, Council and funding agencies from the Waikato rohe to collaborate in a culturally appropriate way. The outcome will be not just a lasting public artwork for our community, but increased understanding for participants of how to embed Māori achievement into teaching & learning
Performance of Hood Street: The Musical
No full textPerformance of Hood Street: The Musical, composed by Nick Braae, and written by Kyle Chuen, Nick Wilkinson, and Courteney Mayall.
This performance followed the premiere season of the show at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival, 20-22 February 2019, based on its initial commercial and critical success.
The performance featured Wilkinson and Mayall in the lead roles, with direction from Kyle Chuen, and featured a seven-piece band (led by Nick Braae as Musical Director and Pianist) comprised predominantly of Wintec students
Southern Celts: A narrative inquiry
Get PDFSouthern Celts: A narrative inquiry
A participative session exploring lives as ‘lived and told stories,’ using three frames of narrative analysis: time (past, present and future) place, and sociality (or the intersection between the individual and society). An opportunity for individuals or groups to focus on a narrative linked to their cultural backgrounds, to analyse and reflect on why and how to tell it