Journal Articles

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11 views of Auckland: Soft-boiled in Ponsonby: The topographies of murder in the crime fiction of Charlotte Grimshaw and Alix Bosco
(School of Social and Cultural Studies, Massey University, Albany, 2010) Lawn J
11 Views of Auckland stresses a multidisciplinary approach to this most multicultural of New Zealand cities. The serendipitious - complementary rather than contradictory - way the various essays have grouped themselves according to themes during the editing process accents another virtue we've come to value highly during all our years of working together on this clean green suburban campus: collegiality
18O isotopic labelling and soil water content fluctuations validate the hydraulic lift phenomena for C3 grass species in drought conditions
(Elsevier B.V., 2024-02-29) Oliveira BA; López IF; Cranston LM; Kemp PD; Donaghy DJ; Dörner J; López-Villalobos N; García-Favre J; Ordóñez IP; Van Hale R
Hydraulic lift is a functional characteristic observed in some plant species, often associated with their ability to withstand drought conditions. It involves capturing water from deep soil layers and redistributing it to shallower soil layers through the plant's roots. Bromus valdivianus Phil., Dactylis glomerata L., and Lolium perenne L. may perform hydraulic lift at varying rates. Using both direct (isotopic labelling - δ18O) and indirect (soil water content sensors) techniques, the study assessed and validated the hydraulic lift under extreme drought conditions on the soil top layer (below permanent wilting point), maintaining the bottom layer at high (20–25% filed capacity [FC]) and low (80–85% FC) levels of soil water restriction. Above- and below-ground biomass growth and morpho-physiological responses were evaluated. All species displayed some degree of hydraulic lift, with significant differences observed in the isotopic analysis and soil water content (p > 0.05). This illustrates that water was redistributed from the deep to shallower soil layer and validates that the hydraulic lift phenomenon is occurring in these C3 grasses. Bromus valdivianus presented the highest δ18O values (25.05‰) and highest increases in soil water content (µ=0.00626 m3 m−3; five events). Bromus valdivianus had a dry matter ratio of approximately 4:1 (0–20cm:20–40 cm). In contrast, L. perenne and D. glomerata had approximately 6:1 and 5:1, respectively. This difference in root morphology may explain the higher rate of hydraulic lift observed in B. valdivianus relative to L. perenne and D. glomerata. This paper validates the occurrence and provides initial insights into the hydraulic lift process occurrence of temperature grass species.
20.08.14 Kane, Popular Memory and Gender in Medieval England
(The Medieval Studies Institute, 2020-08) McVitty EA
2021 Assessment of New Zealand district health boards' institutional healthy food and drink policies: the HealthY Policy Evaluation (HYPE) study
(Pasifika Medical Association Group (PMAG), 2022-08-19) Gerritsen S; Kidd B; Rosin M; Shen S; Mackay S; Te Morenga L; Mhurchu CN
AIM: To assess adoption of the voluntary National Healthy Food and Drink Policy (NHFDP) and the alignment of individual institutional healthy food and drink policies with the NHFDP. METHOD: All 20 district health boards (DHBs) and two national government agencies participated. Policies of those organisations that had not fully adopted the NHFDP were assessed across three domains: nutrition standards; promotion of a healthy food and beverages environment; and policy communication, implementation and evaluation. Three weighted domain scores out of 10, and a total score out of 30 were calculated. RESULTS: Nine of the 22 organisations reported adopting the NHFDP in full. Of the remaining 13, six referred to the NHFDP when developing their institutional policy and three were working toward full adoption of the NHFDP. Mean scores (SD) were 8.7 (1.0), 6.1 (2.6) and 3.8 (2.2) for the three domains, and 18.6 (4.8) in total. Most individual institutional policies were not as comprehensive as the NHFDP. However, some contained stricter/additional clauses that would be useful to incorporate into the NHFDP. CONCLUSION: Since a similar policy analysis in 2018, most DHBs have adopted the NHFDP and/or strengthened their own nutrition policies. Regional inconsistency remains and a uniform mandatory NHFDP should be implemented that incorporates improvements identified in individual institutional policies.
3D Printing of Textured Soft Hybrid Meat Analogues
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2022-02-06) Wang T; Kaur L; Furuhata Y; Aoyama H; Singh J; Mirade PS
Meat analogue is a food product mainly made of plant proteins. It is considered to be a sustainable food and has gained a lot of interest in recent years. Hybrid meat is a next generation meat analogue prepared by the co-processing of both plant and animal protein ingredients at different ratios and is considered to be nutritionally superior to the currently available plant-only meat analogues. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology is becoming increasingly popular in food processing. Three-dimensional food printing involves the modification of food structures, which leads to the creation of soft food. Currently, there is no available research on 3D printing of meat analogues. This study was carried out to create plant and animal protein-based formulations for 3D printing of hybrid meat analogues with soft textures. Pea protein isolate (PPI) and chicken mince were selected as the main plant protein and meat sources, respectively, for 3D printing tests. Then, rheology and forward extrusion tests were carried out on these selected samples to obtain a basic understanding of their potential printability. Afterwards, extrusion-based 3D printing was conducted to print a 3D chicken nugget shape. The addition of 20% chicken mince paste to PPI based paste achieved better printability and fibre structure.
40Ar/39Ar geochronology of Neogene phreatomagmatic volcanism 3 in the western Pannonian Basin, Hungary
(Elsevier, 2007) Németh, Károly; Wijbrans, Jan; Martin, Ulrike; Balogh, Kadosa
Neogene alkaline basaltic volcanic fields in the western Pannonian Basin, Hungary, including the Bakony–Balaton Highland and the Little Hungarian Plain volcanic fields are the erosional remnants of clusters of small-volume, possibly monogenetic volcanoes. Moderately to strongly eroded maars, tuff rings, scoria cones, and associated lava flows span an age range of ca. 6 Myr as previously determined by the K/Ar method. High resolution 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages on 18 samples have been obtained to determine the age range for the western Pannonian Basin Neogene intracontinental volcanic province. The new 40Ar/39Ar age determinations confirm the previously obtained K/Ar ages in the sense that no systematic biases were found between the two data sets. However, our study also serves to illustrate the inherent advantages of the 40Ar/39Ar technique: greater analytical precision, and internal tests for reliability of the obtained results provide more stringent constraints on reconstructions of the magmatic evolution of the volcanic field. Periods of increased activity with multiple eruptions occurred at ca. 7.95 Ma, 4.10 Ma, 3.80 Ma and 3.00 Ma. These new results more precisely date remnants of lava lakes or flows that define geomorphological marker horizons, for which the age is significant for interpreting the erosion history of the landscape. The results also demonstrate that during short periods of more intense activity not only were new centers formed but pre-existing centers were rejuvenated.
50 Years of the steric-blocking mechanism in vertebrate skeletal muscle: a retrospective
(Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2023-09) Parry DAD
Fifty years have now passed since Parry and Squire proposed a detailed structural model that explained how tropomyosin, mediated by troponin, played a steric-blocking role in the regulation of vertebrate skeletal muscle. In this Special Issue dedicated to the memory of John Squire it is an opportune time to look back on this research and to appreciate John’s key contributions. A review is also presented of a selection of the developments and insights into muscle regulation that have occurred in the years since this proposal was formulated.
A 'Good Employer' perceptions and practice in small enterprises
(Victoria University, ) Coetzee DT; Foster AB; Laird I
A 0.8 V 0.23 nW 1.5 ns full-swing pass-transistor XOR gate in 130 nm CMOS
(Hindawi Publishing Corporation, 2013-03) Ahmad N; Hasan SMREZAUL
A power efficient circuit topology is proposed to implement a low-voltage CMOS 2-input pass-transistor XOR gate. This design aims to minimize power dissipation and reduce transistor count while at the same time reducing the propagation delay. The XOR gate utilizes six transistors to achieve a compact circuit design and was fabricated using the 130 nm IBM CMOS process. The performance of the XOR circuit was validated against other XOR gate designs through simulations using the same 130 nm CMOS process. The area of the core circuit is only about 56 sq · µm with 1.5659 ns propagation delay and 0.2312 nW power dissipation at 0.8 V supply voltage. The proposed six-transistor implementation thus compares favorably with other existing XOR gate designs.
A 6 GHz Integrated High-Efficiency Class-F−1 Power Amplifier in 65 nm CMOS Achieving 47.8% Peak PAE
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-10-09) Ali SMA; Hasan SMR; Ebrahimi A
This paper reports a “single-transistor” Class-F−1 power amplifier (PA) in 65 nm CMOS, which operates at the microwave center frequency of 6 GHz. The PA is loaded with a Class-F−1 harmonic control network, employing a new “parasitic-aware” topology deduced using a novel iterative algorithm. A dual-purpose output matching network is designed, which not only serves the purpose of output impedance matching, but also reinforces the harmonic control of the Class-F−1 harmonic network. This proposed PA yields a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 47.8%, which is one of the highest when compared to previously reported integrated microwave/millimeter-wave PAs in CMOS and SiGe technologies. The amplifier shows a saturated output power of 14.4 dBm along with an overall gain of 13.8 dB.
A behaviour and disease transmission model: incorporating the Health Belief Model for human behaviour into a simple transmission model.
(The Royal Society, 2024-06-05) Ryan M; Brindal E; Roberts M; Hickson RI
The health and economic impacts of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 affect all levels of a community from the individual to the governing bodies. However, the spread of an infectious disease is intricately linked to the behaviour of the people within a community since crowd behaviour affects individual human behaviour, while human behaviour affects infection spread, and infection spread affects human behaviour. Capturing these feedback loops of behaviour and infection is a well-known challenge in infectious disease modelling. Here, we investigate the interface of behavioural science theory and infectious disease modelling to explore behaviour and disease (BaD) transmission models. Specifically, we incorporate a visible protective behaviour into the susceptible-infectious-recovered-susceptible (SIRS) transmission model using the socio-psychological Health Belief Model to motivate behavioural uptake and abandonment. We characterize the mathematical thresholds for BaD emergence in the BaD SIRS model and the feasible steady states. We also explore, under different infectious disease scenarios, the effects of a fully protective behaviour on long-term disease prevalence in a community, and describe how BaD modelling can investigate non-pharmaceutical interventions that target-specific components of the Health Belief Model. This transdisciplinary BaD modelling approach may reduce the health and economic impacts of future epidemics.
A better start national science challenge: supporting the future wellbeing of our tamariki E tipu, e rea, mō ngā rā o tō ao: grow tender shoot for the days destined for you
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-02-22) Maessen SE; Taylor BJ; Gillon G; Moewaka Barnes H; Firestone R; Taylor RW; Milne B; Hetrick S; Cargo T; McNeill B; Cutfield W; Moton TM; King PT; Dalziel S; Merry S; Robertson S; Day A
The majority of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) experience good health and wellbeing, but there are key areas where they compare unfavourably to those in other rich countries. However, current measures of wellbeing are critically limited in their suitability to reflect the dynamic, culture-bound, and subjective nature of the concept of ‘wellbeing’. In particular, there is a lack of measurement in primary school-aged children and in ways that incorporate Māori perspectives on wellbeing. A Better Start National Science Challenge work in the areas of Big Data, Healthy Weight, Resilient Teens, and Successful learning demonstrates how research is increasing our understanding of, and our ability to enhance, wellbeing for NZ children. As we look ahead to the future, opportunities to support the wellbeing of NZ young people will be shaped by how we embrace and mitigate against potential harms of new technologies, and our ability to respond to new challenges that arise due to climate change. In order to avoid increasing inequity in who experiences wellbeing in NZ, wellbeing must be monitored in ways that are culturally acceptable, universal, and recognise what makes children flourish.
A better start to literacy for bilingual children in New Zealand: Findings from an exploratory case study in te reo Māori and English
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-04-09) Denston A; Martin R; Gillon G; Everatt J
This article details findings from an exploratory case study that examined the efficacy of a phonological awareness and vocabulary programme with children educated in a bilingual immersion context of English and te reo Māori (Māori language) in Aotearoa New Zealand. The current paper discusses changes in the development of early literacy skills in English and te reo Māori in two groups of children aged from 5 years 0 months to 7 years 5 months. Twenty-six children from two bilingual classrooms in a rural school participated in a programme implemented by teachers over 15 weeks. The programme included explicit instruction in phonological awareness and vocabulary. One classroom was from Level 1 te reo Māori immersion, and one was from Level 3 te reo Māori/English. Results were analysed at cohort and class levels. Analyses indicated that both groups of children significantly improved in phonological awareness skills, non-word reading, and expressive vocabulary. Correlational analyses indicated that growth in te reo Māori skills was positively associated with growth in English skills. These findings suggest that further investigation into how the explicit teaching of te reo Māori can benefit the development of phonological awareness and print-related skills in English.
A better start to literacy learning: findings from a teacher-implemented intervention in children’s first year at school
(Springer Nature B.V, 8/01/2019) Gillon G; McNeill B; Scott A; Denston A; Wilson L; Carson K; Macfarlane AH
This study investigated the feasibility of a teacher implemented intervention to accelerate phonological awareness, letter, and vocabulary knowledge in 141 children (mean age 5 years, 4 months) who entered school with lower levels of oral language ability. The children attended schools in low socioeconomic communities where additional stress was still evident 6 years after the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011. The teachers implemented the intervention at the class or large group level for 20 h (four 30-min sessions per week for 10 weeks). A stepped wedge research design was used to evaluate intervention effects. Children with lower oral language ability made significantly more progress in both their phonological awareness and targeted vocabulary knowledge when the teachers implemented the intervention compared to progress made when teachers implemented their usual literacy curriculum. Importantly, the intervention accelerated children’s ability to use improved phonological awareness skills when decoding novel words (treatment effect size d = 0.88). Boys responded to the intervention as well as girls and the skills of children who identified as Māori or Pacific Islands (45.5% of the cohort) improved in similar ways to children who identified as New Zealand European. The findings have important implications for designing successful teacher-implemented interventions, within a multi-tier approach, to support children who enter school with known challenges for their literacy learning.
A binding global agreement to address the life cycle of plastics
(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1/07/2021) Simon N; Raubenheimer K; Urho N; Unger S; Azoulay D; Farrelly T; Sousa J; van Asselt H; Carlini G; Sekomo C; Schulte ML; Busch PO; Weinrich N; Weiand L
A bio-economic modelling comparison of a Friesian Bull-Beef system and a New Generation Beef system with Friesian bulls slaughtered at 10–14 months old
(Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2024-02-05) Farrell LJ; Morris ST; Kenyon PR; Tozer PR
Finishing of dairy-origin calves in an accelerated ‘New generation beef’ (NGB) beef finishing system for slaughter up to 14 months of age has potential co-sector benefits. These include production efficiencies and a reduced number of dairy calves slaughtered at a very young age. In the present study, a NGB system and an 18-month Bull-Beef system were first modelled separately, both purchasing three-month-old Friesian bull calves. Then Mixed systems with varying proportions of both NGB and Bull-Beef animals were modelled. Production, feed balance and profitability were compared, using cash operating surplus (COS) as a profit indicator. In the NGB scenario, double the number of animals were finished compared with the Bull-Beef scenario; however, monthly feed demand was less synchronous with predicted pasture supply, requiring more feed transfer via pasture baleage. The COS for the NGB system was $−571/ha, with less income and greater costs than the Bull-Beef system (COS = $2026/ha). Break-even prices for NGB animals were up to 74% above current prices, but break-even prices were less in Mixed systems with a greater proportion of Bull-Beef animals. Without high price premiums, challenges remain for the NGB systems appeal to beef finishers due to their low slaughter weights and sale prices.
A Bioeconomic Model for the Thoroughbred Racing Industry-Optimisation of the Production Cycle with a Horse Centric Welfare Perspective
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2023-01-30) Legg KA; Gee EK; Breheny M; Gibson MJ; Rogers CW
The Thoroughbred racing industry faces new and competing pressures to operate within a modern, changing society. Three major moderators drive the focus and productivity of the industry worldwide: economic sustainability, horse biology and social licence to operate. This review proposes that despite the apparent homogeneity in the structure of racing across jurisdictions due to international regulation of the sport, there are significant differences within each jurisdiction in each of the three moderators. This creates challenges for the comparison of injury risk factors for racehorses within the industry across different jurisdictions. Comparison of the relative distribution of racing and gambling metrics internationally indicates that the Asian jurisdictions have a high focus on gambling efficiency and high economic return of the product, with a high number of starts per horse and the highest relative betting turnover. In contrast, the racing metrics from the USA have proportionally low racing stakes and fewer horses per race. These differences provide insight into the sociology of horse ownership, with a shift from the long-term return on investment held by most jurisdictions to a short-term transitional view and immediate return on investment in others. Wastage studies identify varying risks influenced by the predominant racing culture, training methods, production focus and environment within individual jurisdictions. Increasing societal pressure to maintain high racehorse welfare and reduce the negative impact of gambling poses fluctuating risks to each jurisdiction's social licence to operate. Based on the data presented within this review, the authors propose that the use of a bioeconomic model would permit consideration of all three moderators on industry practice and optimisation of the jurisdiction-specific production cycle with a horse-centric welfare perspective.
A Capra hircus chromosome 19 locus linked to milk production influences mammary conformation
(BioMed Central Ltd, 2022-02-11) Jiang A; Ankersmit-Udy A; Turner S-A; Scholtens M; Littlejohn MD; Lopez-Villalobos N; Proser CG; Snell RG; Lehnert K
Background Economically important milk production traits including milk volume, milk fat and protein yield vary considerably across dairy goats in New Zealand. A significant portion of the variation is attributable to genetic variation. Discovery of genetic markers linked to milk production traits can be utilised to drive selection of high-performance animals. A previously reported genome wide association study across dairy goats in New Zealand identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) located on chromosome 19. The most significantly associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker for this locus is located at position 26,610,610 (SNP marker rs268292132). This locus is associated with multiple milk production traits including fat, protein and volume. The predicted effect of selection for the beneficial haplotype would result in an average production increase of 2.2 kg fat, 1.9 kg protein and 73.6 kg milk yield. An outstanding question was whether selection for the beneficial allele would co-select for any negative pleiotropic effects. An adverse relationship between milk production and udder health traits has been reported at this locus. Therefore, a genome wide association study was undertaken looking for loci associated with udder traits. Results The QTL and production associated marker rs268292132 was identified in this study to also be associated with several goat udder traits including udder depth (UD), fore udder attachment (FUA) and rear udder attachment (RUA). Our study replicates the negative relationship between production and udder traits with the high production allele at position 19:26,610,610 (SNP marker rs268292132) associated with an adverse change in UD, FUA and RUA. Conclusions Our study has confirmed the negative relationship between udder traits and production traits in the NZ goat population. We have found that the frequency of the high production allele is relatively high in the NZ goat population, indicating that its effect on udder conformation is not significantly detrimental on animal health. It will however be important to monitor udder conformation as the chromosome 19 locus is progressively implemented for marker assisted selection. It will also be of interest to determine if the gene underlying the production QTL has a direct effect on mammary gland morphology or whether the changes observed are a consequence of the increased milk volume.
A case of bovine dystocia secondary to congenital mesothelioma in a calf.
(2022-03) Hammond I; Weir A; Lawrence KE; Aberdein D
A Casual Video Game With Psychological Well-being Concepts for Young Adolescents: Protocol for an Acceptability and Feasibility Study
(JMIR Publications, 2021-08-12) Pine R; Mbinta J; Te Morenga L; Fleming T
BACKGROUND: Many face-to-face and digital therapeutic supports are designed for adolescents experiencing high levels of psychological distress. However, promoting psychological well-being among adolescents is often neglected despite significant short-term and long-term benefits. OBJECTIVE: This research has 3 main objectives: (1) to assess the acceptability of Match Emoji, a casual video game with psychological well-being concepts among 13-15-year-old students in a New Zealand secondary school; (2) to identify the feasibility of the research process; and (3) to explore the preliminary well-being and therapeutic potential of Match Emoji. METHODS: Approximately 40 participants aged 13-15 years from a local secondary college in Wellington, New Zealand, will be invited to download and play Match Emoji 3-4 times a week for 5-15 minutes over a 2-week period. Participants will complete 4 assessments at baseline, postintervention, and 3 weeks later to assess psychological well-being and therapeutic changes. Statistical analysis will be used to synthesize data from interviews and triangulated with assessment changes and game analytics. This synthesis will help to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the Match Emoji. RESULTS: The key outputs from the project will include the acceptability, feasibility, and therapeutic potential of Match Emoji. It is anticipated that participants will have finished playing the recommended game play regimen by August 2021 with analysis of results completed by October 2021. CONCLUSIONS: Data from the study are expected to inform future research on Match Emoji including a randomized controlled trial and further adjustments to the design and development of the game. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/31588.

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