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Can Universities Be Considered Queer Institutions?
No full textUniversities have Queer staff and students and conduct Queer research, so are they Queer institutions
themselves? Can universities be ‘safe spaces’ for Rainbow Communities? Unfortunately, there is
insufficient data in Aotearoa/New Zealand to be able to conclusively test that, so the historical and
contemporary relationships with and treatment and experiences at university of women, Māori and
Pacific Peoples are considered as alternatives for those with Rainbow Communities. For each of these
marginalised groups, similar patterns of oppression and discrimination present through consistent lack
of career progression, pay equity and representation in senior leadership, short-term and precarious
employment, harassment and violence, and sidelining into small and out-of-the-way departments and
disciplines held in lower validity to ‘traditional’ subjects. However, scholars from these communities
are forming their own research and support networks which are inclusive, intersectional and
interdisciplinary. Within this framework of bottom-up initiatives, universities could be Queer institutions
in the same way that they could be feminist and Indigenous institutions. It is entirely possible—but may
involve rebuilding our institutions from the ground up rather than applying a new coat of paint
Bromate removal in water through electrochemical reduction using Magnéli phase titanium oxide electrode
No full textThis study demonstrates the effective electrochemical degradation of bromate, achieving over 95% removal, using both sheet electrodes and reactive membranes fabricated from Magnéli phase titanium oxide (Ti n O2n-1, n = 4-10). Increasing the applied voltage and electrolyte concentration, as well as decreasing the pH, significantly enhanced bromate reduction efficiency. Experimental results suggest that both direct and indirect pathways contribute to the overall degradation process. The impact of coexisting ions was also evaluated. At 1 mM, their inhibitory effect was negligible, whereas, at 10 mM, the inhibition became pronounced in the order SO4 2- > CO3 2- > Cl- ≈ NO3 - ≈ NO2 - > ClO4 -. When applied to secondary effluent wastewater, this electrochemical approach achieved 70% degradation of bromate within six hours. Moreover, the Magnéli phase titanium oxide electrodes exhibited excellent stability and reusability, highlighting their potential for real-world water and wastewater treatment applications
An Apt Investigation: Exploring the Impact of Symptom Tracking Apps for People with IBS
No full textFrom smart watches to apps, technology has transformed how people track their health. Although this technology aims to improve health, research has found that health tracking can increase symptom reporting. The current study investigates the impact of health tracking apps on people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a group often recommended to track food and symptoms to identify triggers.
Ninety-seven participants with IBS were randomised to use one of three versions of a symptom tracking app for four weeks. The versions differed in the number and type of
symptoms participants tracked: low tracking (bowel movements, mood and energy); gastrointestinal (GI) symptom tracking; GI and non-specific symptom tracking. The primary outcome was the number of symptoms reported, along with symptoms attributed to IBS, symptom attribution scores, GI symptom-specific anxiety, and state anxiety. Outcomes were measured at baseline and two-week, four-week and three-month follow-ups.
Contrary to our expectations, the number of symptoms reported by participants dropped from 13.5 to 11.3 after using the app for four weeks (p = .006). This reduction occurred regardless of the version of the app used or the frequency of usage (p = .973, p = .404, respectively). Symptoms attributed to IBS and GI-specific anxiety also decreased (p < .001, p < .001, respectively). Changes in state anxiety varied based on the app version (p = .003). For the low-tracking group, state anxiety increased at two weeks, while there were no significant changes for the other groups. By the three-month follow-up, these differences were no longer significant.
Several factors can likely explain the reduction in symptoms. The app itself likely helped by accurately identifying symptom triggers. Additionally, tracking IBS symptoms alongside more general symptoms may have reduced anxiety towards symptoms through exposure. The placebo effect may have also contributed, as participant’s positive expectations of the app may have reduced symptoms. The placebo effect may also explain why participants’ symptoms decreased even if they did not use the app frequently.
Overall, the study suggests that this symptom tracking app did not increase symptom reporting or anxiety in people with IBS. However, research must continue to investigate the impacts of digital health tools as their usage becomes more integrated into daily life
Addition of In-Clinic Cone-Beam CT Imaging to a Public Hospital Rhinology Clinic: Early Experience
No full textCone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) offers low radiation, cross-sectional imaging that is a suitable alternative to conventional fan-beam computed tomography (FBCT). The initial experience using in-clinic CBCT in the Rhinology outpatient clinic at Waikato Hospital, New Zealand, is described. The first 5 months of CBCT use for Rhinologic imaging was compared to FBCT use in the equivalent 5-month period one year prior. Data relating to 61 CBCTs and 115 FBCTs was analysed. We compared the time and number of hospital visits required for a confirmed treatment decision (CTD) to be made and the duration of the clinic appointment at which the scan was requested between the two groups. The CBCT group required significantly less time (171 vs. 316 days, p < 0.001) and fewer hospital visits (1.5 vs. 3.2 visits, p < 0.001) before a CTD was made, but a longer appointment duration (86 vs. 53 min, p < 0.001). The use of in-clinic CBCT in Rhinology was therefore associated with reduced time and fewer hospital visits before definitive management was decided, but longer clinic appointments were observed. Increased access to CT imaging may result in increased demand. Expertise is required to optimise the quality of imaging, and we recommend that a dedicated Radiographer be allocated
Late Holocene Sedimentary Processes of Doubtful, Dagg, and Dusky Sounds, Fiordland, New Zealand
No full textFiordland (45° - 47°S), the southwest coast of the South Island, New Zealand, act as large
efficient traps preserving high-resolution sediment archives, often deposited without
disruption. A rich and wide variety of sedimentary gravity flow processes have shaped the
submarine sediment archives in Fiordland throughout the Holocene. This study demonstrates
that a fjord is composed of various subdivided sections (whether it is the outer basin near the
fjord entrance, intermediate fjord basin, or fjord head), each represents an unique
environment, with sheltered water and generally high sedimentation rates, making them to be
ideal depositional environments for preserving continuous records for climate, landslides, and
earthquakes.
This study focuses on four gravity cores DBT032-1GRV, DAG037-1GRV, DAG040-1GRV,
and DUS089-1GRV retrieved from the deepest basin seafloor (91 – 269 m water depth),
spanning Doubtful Sound – Patea, Dagg Sound – Te Rā, and Dusky Sound – Tamatea, in
concert with high-resolution sedimentological grain size analysis, end-member modelling
analysis (EMMA), and multi-proxy analysis. These provide an opportunity to develop an
understanding of Holocene sedimentary gravity flow processes, their possible provenance,
and the depositional patterns of New Zealand fjords. The facies model summarises: Facies 1:
muddy hyperpycnites. Facies 2: cohesive debris flow. Facies 3: consists of two types of
sedimentary gravity flows: type 1 – Bouma Ta-d type turbidites, type 2 – coarser grained
hyperpycnites. Facies 4: non-cohesive debris flow associated with hyperpycnal flow
processes. Core DBT032 retrieved from Doubtful Sound represents the fjord head proximal
depositional environment (radiocarbon-dated age ranges from AD 1981 to AD 1005 near the
bottom, suggesting the highest sedimentation rate, recorded the most sedimentary gravity
flows in a total of 8 events). Core DAG037, DAG040 retrieved from Dagg Sound represent
the central fjord basin depositional environment (recorded the most and thickest landslide
event deposits). Core DUS089 retrieved from Dusky Sound represents the most distal fjord
basin depositional environment (radiocarbon-dated ages suggest the slowest sedimentation
rate, recorded visibly traced background sedimentation).
The results of this thesis show that depositional patterns of four retrieval gravity cores
representing different sections of depositional environments across three fjords, with the
dominance of event deposits: floods, landslides and earthquakes; almost without hiatuses
Spaceportopia: A Primer For Successful Launch Site Planning
No full textSpaceport site selection is a complex process that involves a range of considerations to ensure long-term success, including some well-defined operational parameters and other less certain variables. This paper suggests that “spaceportopian” ambitions to claim a piece of the growing global space industry should be grounded by the practical realities of what a spaceport might bring to a host region’s long-term economic, social, and environmental well-being, while future-proofing launch capacity and ensuring continued success for all stakeholders
Diffusing knowledge: Reoptimizing redistribution for growth and inequality
No full textWe examine the effects of income redistribution on output and welfare by generalizing Bénabou’s (2022) economy to incorporate two new elements: physical capital and social knowledge externalities. Income inequality, sustained by unequal privileges to private education and parental networking in the absence of a credit market, interacts with these added features. These interactions theoretically link four seemingly unrelated global trends: increased capital share in production due to automation, rising income inequality, slower knowledge diffusion, and declining productivity growth, offering new insights into growth- and welfare-enhancing redistributive policies. Automation, reflected in the growing importance of physical capital in production, and capital-ownership concentration worsen unequal educational opportunities and, in turn, income inequality, which slows productivity growth through two underexplored channels. First, we provide empirical support for the idea that higher inequality hampers knowledge diffusion to lower the economy’s social knowledge stock, thereby hindering children’s learning from the existing know-how through the knowledge externality channel. Second, greater heterogeneity in knowledge absorption due to more unequal access to education reduces average human capital accumulation because of diminishing returns to investment. Progressive redistribution helps counteract these adverse effects, pushing the economy’s productivity frontier outward, especially for countries with lower social cohesion, going beyond Bénabou’s (2022) finding of reduced resource misallocation. Optimal redistribution balances these benefits against potential distortions to labor supply and savings. Simulations using OECD data show sizable gains in output, aggregate efficiency (as defined in Bénabou’s, 2022), and welfare from moving toward optimal redistributive rates, though with varying effects across countries
Marcescence and prostrate growth in tree ferns are adaptations to cold tolerance
No full textCold tolerance strategies in plants vary from structural to biochemical permitting many plants to survive and grow on sites that experience freezing conditions intermittently. Although tree ferns occur predominantly across the tropics, they also occur in temperate zones and occasionally in areas that experience sub-zero temperatures, and how these large ferns survive freezing conditions is unknown. Many temperate tree fern taxa are marcescent – retaining whorls of dead fronds encircling the upper trunk – or develop short or prostrate trunks, possibly to insulate against frost damage to their trunks and growing crowns. We asked the following questions: 1) do global growth patterns and traits of tree ferns respond to freezing conditions associated with latitude and elevation, 2) do growth patterns of tree ferns in New Zealand vary along a temperature-related gradient, and 3) do marcescent tree fern skirts insulate the growing crown from sub-zero temperatures? To establish what morphological adaptations permitted the Cyatheales to occur in biomes that experience intermittent sub-zero temperatures and frost, we 1) reviewed the global distributions of these structural and morphological traits within the tree ferns (Cyatheales); 2) assessed the patterns of tree fern marcescence, and other traits potentially associated with cold tolerance (no trunk, prostrate, short-trunked) of nine taxa of the Cyatheales along environmental gradients across New Zealand; and 3) conducted a field experiment to assess the thermal insulation properties of tree fern marcescent skirts. We identified significant trends among growth forms, marcescence, and environmental gradients consistent with our hypothesis that these are adaptations to tolerate cold. Our field experiments provide quantitative evidence that marcescent skirts have a strong insulating effect on tree fern trunks. The Cyatheales have evolved several strategies to protect the pith cores of their trunks from extreme cold temperatures in temperate forests allowing them to capture niche space in environments beyond the tropics
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Propeller Noise
No full textThis paper gives an overview of work investigating the noise produced by the propellers used on small multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which has been recently undertaken at the University of Auckland. There are a number of different physical mechanisms by which these propellers generate noise and these have been studied using computational and analytical modelling and experimental measurements. Sources of noise which are covered in this paper are: steady loading and thickness noise sources for isolated and shrouded propellers; unsteady blade motion; turbulent inflow for isolated and shrouded propellers; unsteady loading due to propeller-strut interaction; and the unsteady loading on the blades of a contra-rotating propeller. The paper also describes some recent work undertaken to develop a standardised method for measuring noise from UAVs which includes assessing the suitability of ground-board mounted microphones for outdoor noise measurements and identifying appropriate metrics for quantifying UAV noise. The paper concludes with suggestions for future work
Converting New Zealand Slash into S-doped Electrode Materials for High-performance Supercapacitors
No full textSlash is a waste product generated from commercial forestry operations. In 2022, flooding slash caused devastating damage when Cyclone Gabrielle directly impacted the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand. This study addresses the dual challenges of waste management and sustainable materials development by converting forestry slash into high-performance carbon electrodes through an innovative in-situ sulfur doping process. Building upon prior research involving waste-derived materials, we developed a hydrothermal sulfurization technique that transforms New Zealand slash into sulfur-doped, highly graphitized carbon materials with excellent energy storage properties. The hydrothermally sulfurized slash-derived electrode material (C-HS-NZS) exhibits a high specific capacitance of 148 F·g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A·g-1. A supercapacitor device assembled with the C-HS-NZS electrode achieves a capacitance of 440 F·g-1 at the same current density. The energy density reaches 15.3 W·h·kg-1 at a power density of 250 W·kg-1. Furthermore, the C-HS-NZS-based device delivers a maximum capacitance of 384 F·g-1 and retains 360 F·g-1 after 10,000 cycles, demonstrating excellent capacity retention and long-term electrochemical stability