16168 research outputs found
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Sweet as – the [ADJ + as] intensifier construction in Māori English/ Aotearoa English.
No full textWe introduce the Waikato Māori English Conversation (MEC) corpus, which consists of 43 dyadic conversations between 49 young adults who self-recorded informal conversations with close friends, in their own homes, with no topic of conversation specified (83 hours of dialogue; nearly 800,000 words). The resulting materials are colloquial and unstructured, capturing a wider range of pragmatic and stylistic modes than is possible in a standard sociolinguistic interview. Here, we report on one such feature, the [ADJ + as] construction, for example: ‘sorry some of the questions are like awkward as’ and ‘that caused a big as drama eh’. This intensifier construction has been identified as a distinctive New Zealand English (NZE) innovation, yet little has been written about this it. However, the Waikato MEC corpus presents the opportunity to analyse the construction in a more systematic manner and to fill existing gaps in analyses of Māori English grammar
Responding to the writing of children in a Health School: Developing an appreciative approach
No full textResponding to writing is a crucial component of writing pedagogy, with teachers frequently engaging in this as part of their daily teaching practice. However, extensive research indicates that teachers' feedback is often framed in terms of deficits, emphasising what is lacking in students' writing or what needs improvement. Students who are perceived to be at risk of failing or struggling to meet predetermined writing standards typically experience responses to their writing that focus on surface features and include marginal comments and empty praise. Underpinned by sociocultural, critical theories and qualitative research methods, this study investigated teachers' experiences in a New Zealand Health School as they inquired into an approach that mitigates the narrow and predominantly negative responses some students previously received.
This research followed five Health School teachers who inquired into and adopted appreciative pedagogical practices and focused on responding to their students’ writing through an asset-based lens. Through this lens, diversity is valued and encompassed as a resource. All students, irrespective of their health condition or other dimensions of diversity, are positioned as capable and knowledgeable writers. The Health School teachers collaboratively inquired into appreciatively informed strategies, implemented these while discussing shared samples of students' writing, and adopted the new strategies when they responding to the writing of their Health School students (aged 5-19).
Evidence was drawn from focus groups, learning inquiry group sessions, and individual interviews, and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that when teachers collaborate to reflect on the perspectives that inform education policies and practices, particularly those around standardised assessments, they become more aware of how these factors may lead them to inadvertently reproduce harmful responses. When teachers employed appreciative strength-based strategies, they became less focused on predetermined standards and surface-level features (e.g., spelling, grammar and punctuation), instead looking at how students integrated literacy knowledge they had learnt outside of school into their writing. Teachers became curious about students' writing and asked students more questions about their writing processes. As a result, participants’ response practices became more student-centred, allowing students to maintain authority over their writing.
Findings suggest that high-stakes assessments have a powerful effect on how teachers view themselves as teachers and their students as learners. However, talking appreciatively about students and their writing was infectious; when teachers collaboratively discussed student writing strengths, participants stopped looking for conformity in students’ writing and instead began considering differences in students’ writing as assets. This research contributes to the body of literature aimed at shifting discourses that position students in deficit ways towards more appreciative stances. Further, with limited past research looking into writing teachers' experiences during times of curricular and assessment change in New Zealand and practices of Health School teachers in general, this study provides a valuable contribution to the literature. Implications for teachers and educators are discussed
AI-enabled automated common vulnerability scoring from common vulnerabilities and exposures descriptions
No full textWith the sheer amount of vulnerabilities, manually evaluating the impact of them is challenging. This paper proposes employing artificial intelligence models as substitutes for humans or as aides to human experts in estimating vulnerabilities. We compare the precision, recall, and F1 score amongst the Universal Sentence Encoder, Generative Pre-trained Transformer, and Support Vector Machine, trained on 118,000 vulnerabilities and tested on 51,000 vulnerabilities, with human experts on mean estimation error and variance for each type of vulnerability from the state of the art work in estimating vulnerability severity scores. The Universal Sentence Encoder demonstrates superior performance with results (72/77 % accuracy on severity level prediction) that significantly outperform human experts in assessment tasks for various types of vulnerabilities with high efficiency for memory consumption and low running time. Additionally, we examine the efficacy of our models in predicting the components of vulnerability evaluation metrics and the severity level of vulnerabilities. The findings highlight the potential of artificial intelligence agents to assist cybersecurity experts in this task which in the current state of the art is entirely manual
Perceptions of warmth and competence conveyed by hard sell and soft sell voices: A cross-cultural study
No full textWe assess the reactions of Generation Z consumers to hard and soft sell vocal styles in two countries (France and New Zealand) to understand whether the association of warmth and competence personality traits differs across countries. Results reveal commonalities and differences that advertisers should take into consideration when designing advertising vocal strategies. In both countries, the soft sell vocal style conveyed significantly more warmth than the hard sell style. Our study also reveals differences between countries with French participants having a clear preference for soft sell voices, which they rated very high in both warmth and competence, whereas participants from New Zealand found the hard sell voices significantly more competent than French participants did
Defining and deploying the concept of 'precarious employment': Valuable idea or empirical fallacy?
No full textThe definition.
We define precarious employment as work for remuneration that is deemed more-or-less precarious based on three indicators explicitly related to the regularity of the employment contract:
- the job can be terminated with little or no prior notice from the employer
- working hours and/or earnings are uncertain/irregular
- a contract for ongoing employment is non-existent.
Across different typologies and definitions, job insecurity is the core/essential element (or common denominator) of precarious employment.
Precarious employment, so defined, will be experienced differently by heterogeneous workers who possess different buffers against its insecurity.
Regardless of the subjective experience, workers can objectively be said to be (or not) in precarious employment
Examining neuroplasticity as a function of errors during motor learning
No full textProficient motor learning is important for both athletes looking to improve their performance and patients learning daily living skills. Research has identified different methods for learning motor skills, focusing on two types: implicit and explicit learning. Implicit learning happens with little awareness, while explicit learning requires more conscious thought. Studies show that implicit learning is often more effective because it uses less mental effort and is more reliable under stress. This might be due to stronger neural connections in the brain formed during implicit learning. However, it is unclear whether implicit learning leads to more brain changes, known as neuroplasticity, than explicit learning. Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to adapt and form new memory networks in response to experiences. This study aims to investigate differences in neuroplastic changes resulting from implicit versus explicit learning of a traditional Dutch shuffleboard game (Sjoelbak). We used baseline electroencephalography (EEG) to measure changes in brain activity before and after practice to assess neuroplasticity. We examined the effects of errorless and errorful learning protocols on task performance and neural connectivity. Both strategies improved accuracy from pretest to posttest, indicating effective skill acquisition. However, participants struggled to transfer skills to new contexts, as shown by decreased performance in the transfer test. Despite expectations of greater neuroplastic changes as a function of errorless learning, resting-state beta connectivity analyses showed no significant interactions. However, no significant differences were evident in the overall error rates between the groups during the learning phase, suggesting that implicit motor learning may not have occurred for the errorless learning condition. This suggests that neural adaptations are more complex than initially hypothesized
Connecting the dots: Enhancing curriculum through STEAM integration
No full textThere’s a growing buzz around integrating STEAM (Science, Technology, Environmental Studies, the Arts, and Mathematics) into the curriculum for junior secondary school students. This future-focused approach aims to spark curiosity and innovation. To explore the potential of STEAM programmes, a dedicated group of teachers from two schools embarked on a short-term research intervention. This blog shares on some of their findings, which could help to shape the future of science education.https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2025/03/20/connecting-the-dots-enhancing-curriculum-through-steam-integration
Gut structure and diet adaptability of yellowbelly flounder: A step towards integrating Rhombosolea leporina into New Zealand aquaculture
No full textAquaculture is a rapidly expanding industry as wild fish stocks decline due to overfishing, climate change, and increased seafood consumption. Flatfish, being highly prized, have faced significant declines in the wild, but several species are now being cultivated in land-based recirculating aquaculture systems to meet market demand. Flatfish are low-trophic feeders and thrive in relatively simple farming setups, making them viable candidates for sustainable aquaculture.
In New Zealand, the yellowbelly flounder (Rhombosolea leporina), or pātiki, is a sought-after species in commercial and recreational fisheries. Introducing this species into aquaculture could support the local seafood market and aid in replenishing wild stocks. However, limited research exists on yellowbelly flounder compared to other flatfish, particularly regarding its digestive system and dietary needs. Feed costs are a significant challenge in aquaculture, especially when striving to reduce reliance on unsustainable ingredients like fishmeal and oil while maintaining low feed conversion ratios. Understanding the digestive tract structure and function of the yellowbelly flounder is critical for developing sustainable, species-specific diets.
This study examined the gut structure and function of wild-caught adult and juvenile yellowbelly flounder, as well as juveniles fed a mussel-based diet, a fishmeal-based pellet diet, or subjected to starvation. The histological analysis examined the muscularis externa, mucosal folds, and goblet cell distribution throughout the alimentary canal, while qPCR assessed the expression of the cholecystokinin hormone paralogs (ccka and cckb).
Unexpectedly, findings suggested that yellowbelly flounder may be agastric, differing from other flatfish. Consistent gut tissue patterns, goblet cell presence, and ccka and cckb expression throughout the canal supported this conclusion. The pellet diet did cause higher ccka expression compared to the mussel diet, but overall, the results suggested the yellowbelly flounder is adaptable to varying feeds. While limited by a small-scale study, these results provided a basis for further exploration of yellowbelly flounder digestive capabilities in hopes of facilitating this species into the New Zealand aquaculture industry
Comparative study of novel cold-formed steel sections for pedestrian bridges under varying structural configurations
No full textThe use of Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) in bridge engineering has received considerable interest due to its favorable properties, including a lightweight structure, a high strength-to-weight ratio and affordability. As an innovative alternative to traditional materials such as hot-formed steel, timber, and reinforced concrete, CFS shows significant potential in pedestrian bridge construction. The research investigates the performance of CFS pedestrian bridges, with the aim of advancing lightweight, prefabricated, and environmentally sustainable infrastructure in New Zealand.
The research primarily focuses on evaluating the feasibility of using CFS for pedestrian bridges by investigating deflection behavior, stress distribution and overall structural performance under standard loading conditions via finite element analysis (FEA). In total, six types of bridge models --Flat Pratt Truss, Box Truss, Tub Girder, Flat Foot, Box Bridge, and the Modular Panel Bridge-- were thoroughly analyzed under a 5 kPa load. The mesh sensitivity study was conducted to ensure that the simulation results were independent of mesh size, achieving numerical convergence without excessive computational cost, and the simulation procedure is validated by comparing with experimental data sourced from an existing Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) pedestrian truss bridge. In this study, six Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) pedestrian bridge models were investigated under identical 5 kPa loading, a span/200 deflection criterion as defined by the SNZ-HB-8630:2004 code, consistent boundary conditions, and a yield stress limit of 550 MPa, but with varying spans and geometries. (1) For the Flat Pratt Truss bridge spanning 6 meters, the effect of span on deflection and stress was investigated, revealing a maximum deflection of 0.8 mm and a maximum stress of 77.14 MPa, both well within allowable limits; however, the extremely low stress utilization indicates material overconsumption. (2) For the Modular Panel bridge spanning 7.2 meters, the influence of modular assembly on load distribution was examined, resulting in a higher deflection of 65.88 mm and stress levels reaching 639.4 MPa, exceeding the yield strength. (3) For the Box Truss bridge spanning 6.7 meters, the impact of closed-section geometry on stiffness was studied, demonstrating minimal deflection of 20.3 mm and uniformly distributed stress around 535 MPa. (4) For the Tub Girder bridge spanning 15 meters, the effect of large span on flexural performance was analyzed, identifying significant midspan deflection of 37.5 mm with stresses exceeding the yield strength. (5) For the Flat Foot bridge spanning 30 meters, the influence of extreme span on structural integrity was evaluated, showing excessive deflection of 58.92 mm, though still within the serviceability limits, while the maximum stress of 582.4 MPa surpassed the material yield strength. (6) For the Box Bridge spanning 10 meters, the effect of simple box-section design on structural efficiency was assessed, resulting in a deflection of 13.9 mm and stresses exceeding 550 MPa, demonstrating full material utilization. Among all, the Box Truss bridge was found to offer the most favorable balance between satisfying the deflection serviceability limit and achieving a more uniform stress distribution