title: Regional Tourism Organisations in New Zealand from 1980 to 2005: Process of Transition and Change

authors: Zahra, Anne Louise

subjects: Regional Tourism Organisations

abstract: This thesis is a historical case study tracing the establishment and evolution of Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) in New Zealand. It describes their role, structure and functions and the political processes that have influenced how they have operated and changed from 1980 to 2005. RTOs are examined in the context of government policies, local and national politics and tourism private and public sector relationships. RTOs were central to many of the key recommendations of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 (NZTS 2010) released in 2001. The NZTS 2010 attempted to address a range of tourism policy gaps created by a policy vacuum in the 1990s whereby the public and private tourism sectors focused mainly on international marketing. This strategy shaped government policy during this decade. The research findings show that although public and private sector institutional arrangements impacting on RTOs have changed, there remains, as in the past, no uniformity in their role, structure, functions and their future financial and political viability remains insecure. 

The NZTS 2010 raised destination management and its alignment with destination marketing as a major policy issue that needed to be addressed in the decade leading up to 2010 with RTOs having a pivotal role. A generic regional destination management model is presented. Structures and processes incorporated into this model include: a national destination management tourism policy; support for tourism by local government at the national level; a well defined destination management team; community collaboration; and tourism being integrated into the wider planning processes of local government. The model identified requisite building blocks to support regional destination management such as: the provision of staff and financial resources for regional tourism; the building of a high tourism profile in the community; the availability of statistics and research data at the regional level; local government planners acknowledging the impacts of tourism; and the existence of a legal mandate for tourism at the regional and/or local government level. When applying this model to the New Zealand context, it was found that a number of the structures and processes required for effective regional destination management were lacking, such as regional statistics and research data, staffing and financial resources for both RTOs and local government, the ability of council planners to understand and integrate tourism into the wider planning processes and a legislative mandate for tourism. The thesis concluded that a vacuum remains in the alignment of destination marketing and management.

The historical and political processes of RTO change were also examined in the context of chaos and complexity theory. Chaos and complexity theory provided a complementary and different means to view change. This thesis also presented the opportunity to reflect upon the research process which led to the adoption of a multi-paradigmatic and bricoleur research methodology. Further reflexivity and reflection towards the end of the research process articulated ontological and epistemological philosophical investigations that underlay the multi-paradigmatic approach. A model is presented emphasising that a multi-paradigmatic research approach rests on ultimate reality (metaphysics) which informs the ontology. The model then highlights that ontology precedes and directs epistemology and that both inform the multi-paradigmatic research framework.

text: Regional Tourism Organisations in New Zealand from 1980 to 2005: Process of Transition and Change This thesis is a historical case study tracing the establishment and evolution of Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) in New Zealand. It describes their role, structure and functions and the political processes that have influenced how they have operated and changed from 1980 to 2005. RTOs are examined in the context of government policies, local and national politics and tourism private and public sector relationships. RTOs were central to many of the key recommendations of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 (NZTS 2010) released in 2001. The NZTS 2010 attempted to address a range of tourism policy gaps created by a policy vacuum in the 1990s whereby the public and private tourism sectors focused mainly on international marketing. This strategy shaped government policy during this decade. The research findings show that although public and private sector institutional arrangements impacting on RTOs have changed, there remains, as in the past, no uniformity in their role, structure, functions and their future financial and political viability remains insecure. 

The NZTS 2010 raised destination management and its alignment with destination marketing as a major policy issue that needed to be addressed in the decade leading up to 2010 with RTOs having a pivotal role. A generic regional destination management model is presented. Structures and processes incorporated into this model include: a national destination management tourism policy; support for tourism by local government at the national level; a well defined destination management team; community collaboration; and tourism being integrated into the wider planning processes of local government. The model identified requisite building blocks to support regional destination management such as: the provision of staff and financial resources for regional tourism; the building of a high tourism profile in the community; the availability of statistics and research data at the regional level; local government planners acknowledging the impacts of tourism; and the existence of a legal mandate for tourism at the regional and/or local government level. When applying this model to the New Zealand context, it was found that a number of the structures and processes required for effective regional destination management were lacking, such as regional statistics and research data, staffing and financial resources for both RTOs and local government, the ability of council planners to understand and integrate tourism into the wider planning processes and a legislative mandate for tourism. The thesis concluded that a vacuum remains in the alignment of destination marketing and management.

The historical and political processes of RTO change were also examined in the context of chaos and complexity theory. Chaos and complexity theory provided a complementary and different means to view change. This thesis also presented the opportunity to reflect upon the research process which led to the adoption of a multi-paradigmatic and bricoleur research methodology. Further reflexivity and reflection towards the end of the research process articulated ontological and epistemological philosophical investigations that underlay the multi-paradigmatic approach. A model is presented emphasising that a multi-paradigmatic research approach rests on ultimate reality (metaphysics) which informs the ontology. The model then highlights that ontology precedes and directs epistemology and that both inform the multi-paradigmatic research framework.

year: 2006

title: An extracellular protease from an extreme thermophile

authors: Cowan, Don A.

abstract: The major extracellular protease of the Thermus-like organism Thermus T-351, has been isolated by Sephadex SP-C25 ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography on CBZ-D-phe-TETA-Sepharose and Sephadex G75 gel filtration chromatography. The purified enzyme, assigned the title “Caldolysin”, was shown to be homogeneous by a variety of electrophoretic techniques. Two other minor extracellular proteolytic enzymes (totally 12% to 25% of initial enzyme activity) were separated during ion exchange chromatography, but have not been studied. The molecular weight and isoelectric point of purified Caldolysin were estimated to be approximately 20,000 Daltons and 8.5, respectively. The presence of 6 disulphide bonds was indicated by the reaction with dithionitro-benzoate. No free sulphydryl groups were detected. 
When tested against a wide range of inhibitors, significant responses to EDTA, EGTA, and iodoacetic acid, but not o-phenanthroline or p-chloromercuri benzoate, were noted. Together with the presence of lytic activity (Caldolysin lysed a broad range of Gram-negative bacteria but only few Gram-positive organisms), this permitted the classification of Caldolysin as a metal-chelator-sensitive lytic protease. A number of similarities with Myxobacter and Sorangium lytic proteases have been noted. 
It was shown that calcium was essential for the stability of Caldolysin, but not for its activity. No evidence was found for the presence of an active site-bound metal ion. This is a significant dissimilarity to Thermolysin, which contains a single catalytic zinc atom.
Casein, albumin, haemoglobin, collagen, elastin, and fibrin were all hydrolysed to varying degrees by Caldolysin. An apparent minimum size requirement for activity (a minimum of 3 or 4 amino acid residues) precluded the use of amino acid and dipeptide substrate analogues for the measurement of proteolytic activity. A preliminary determination of specificity indicated a preference for small neutral aliphatic amino acids on either side of the point of hydrolysis. No esterase activity was detected. Optimal hydrolysis of both casein and albumin occurred at approximately pH 8.
Temperature-activity relationships indicated that Caldolysin underwent conformational changes at 50°C and 92°C. Loss of enzyme activity below the latter temperature was thought to be primarily the result of autolysis while above this temperature denaturation occurred. Arrhenius plots showed a break at about 50°C, above which a reduction in activation energy occurred. The Kₘ at 40°C was considerably higher than that at either 65°C or 85°C.
Caldolysin is one of the most stable enzymes known. Thermostability was greater than that of most other documented proteases (t ¹/₂ (80° C) = 30 hours; t ¹/₂ (85 °C) = 5-6 hours; t ¹/₂ (90°C) = 1 hour; t ¹/₂ (95°C) = 30 minutes; t ¹/₂ (100°C) = 4 minutes) . In the absence of calcium, thermostability was reduced considerably (t ¹/₂ 80°C) = 8 minutes). Other metal ions provided only a slight thermostabilising effect compared with Ca [Ca» Zn>Sr>Mg>Co>Ba>Cu]. Neither the presence of high ionic concentrations nor the presence of non-ionic solutes had any major effect on thermostability. However, high and low pH values significantly reduced thermostability at 75°C and 90°C. At room temperature in solution, little loss of enzyme activity was noted at pH’s from 7-11 during a 95 day period. Activity half-lives at pH 3.6, 5, and 11.8 were 28 days, more than 60 days, and 4 days, respectively. Little activity loss resulted from storage of the enzyme in the frozen or lyophilised state for a period of six months. Caldolysin was shown to be very stable in the presence of denaturing agents (8M urea, 6M guanidine.HC1, 1% sodium dodecylsulphate) at ambient temperatures. At 75°C, a 50% loss of activity occurred within 59 minutes, 53 minutes, and 320 minutes, respectively.
A feature of the Michaelis-Menten kinetics of Caldolysin is marked substrate inhibition (Kₘ (azoalbumin) = 0.028; Kₛ´ (azoalbumin) = 3) which, however, does not occur with small substrates or when the enzyme is immobilised. The enzyme also exhibits an initial activation during incubation at temperatures above 65°C. This effect has been correlated with the ionic strength, the incubation temperature, and the concentration of non-enzyme protein present. The latter causes initial inhibition which is reversed on heating. It is postulated that activation/inhibition and substrate inhibition are related, and are caused by the presence of non-catalytic protein-binding sites in the molecule which are discrete from the active site.
Caldolysin was successfully immobilised to glass beads, CM-cellulose, and Sepharose 4B, with enzyme activity retentions of 1%, 31% and 73%, respectively. The Kₘ of Caldolysin was unchanged in the immobilised state, but the pH optimum of Sepharose-caldolysin was reduced by approximately one pH unit. Thermal stability of both apo-and holo-caldolysin-Sepharose was increased by 3-4-fold.

text: An extracellular protease from an extreme thermophile The major extracellular protease of the Thermus-like organism Thermus T-351, has been isolated by Sephadex SP-C25 ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography on CBZ-D-phe-TETA-Sepharose and Sephadex G75 gel filtration chromatography. The purified enzyme, assigned the title “Caldolysin”, was shown to be homogeneous by a variety of electrophoretic techniques. Two other minor extracellular proteolytic enzymes (totally 12% to 25% of initial enzyme activity) were separated during ion exchange chromatography, but have not been studied. The molecular weight and isoelectric point of purified Caldolysin were estimated to be approximately 20,000 Daltons and 8.5, respectively. The presence of 6 disulphide bonds was indicated by the reaction with dithionitro-benzoate. No free sulphydryl groups were detected. 
When tested against a wide range of inhibitors, significant responses to EDTA, EGTA, and iodoacetic acid, but not o-phenanthroline or p-chloromercuri benzoate, were noted. Together with the presence of lytic activity (Caldolysin lysed a broad range of Gram-negative bacteria but only few Gram-positive organisms), this permitted the classification of Caldolysin as a metal-chelator-sensitive lytic protease. A number of similarities with Myxobacter and Sorangium lytic proteases have been noted. 
It was shown that calcium was essential for the stability of Caldolysin, but not for its activity. No evidence was found for the presence of an active site-bound metal ion. This is a significant dissimilarity to Thermolysin, which contains a single catalytic zinc atom.
Casein, albumin, haemoglobin, collagen, elastin, and fibrin were all hydrolysed to varying degrees by Caldolysin. An apparent minimum size requirement for activity (a minimum of 3 or 4 amino acid residues) precluded the use of amino acid and dipeptide substrate analogues for the measurement of proteolytic activity. A preliminary determination of specificity indicated a preference for small neutral aliphatic amino acids on either side of the point of hydrolysis. No esterase activity was detected. Optimal hydrolysis of both casein and albumin occurred at approximately pH 8.
Temperature-activity relationships indicated that Caldolysin underwent conformational changes at 50°C and 92°C. Loss of enzyme activity below the latter temperature was thought to be primarily the result of autolysis while above this temperature denaturation occurred. Arrhenius plots showed a break at about 50°C, above which a reduction in activation energy occurred. The Kₘ at 40°C was considerably higher than that at either 65°C or 85°C.
Caldolysin is one of the most stable enzymes known. Thermostability was greater than that of most other documented proteases (t ¹/₂ (80° C) = 30 hours; t ¹/₂ (85 °C) = 5-6 hours; t ¹/₂ (90°C) = 1 hour; t ¹/₂ (95°C) = 30 minutes; t ¹/₂ (100°C) = 4 minutes) . In the absence of calcium, thermostability was reduced considerably (t ¹/₂ 80°C) = 8 minutes). Other metal ions provided only a slight thermostabilising effect compared with Ca [Ca» Zn>Sr>Mg>Co>Ba>Cu]. Neither the presence of high ionic concentrations nor the presence of non-ionic solutes had any major effect on thermostability. However, high and low pH values significantly reduced thermostability at 75°C and 90°C. At room temperature in solution, little loss of enzyme activity was noted at pH’s from 7-11 during a 95 day period. Activity half-lives at pH 3.6, 5, and 11.8 were 28 days, more than 60 days, and 4 days, respectively. Little activity loss resulted from storage of the enzyme in the frozen or lyophilised state for a period of six months. Caldolysin was shown to be very stable in the presence of denaturing agents (8M urea, 6M guanidine.HC1, 1% sodium dodecylsulphate) at ambient temperatures. At 75°C, a 50% loss of activity occurred within 59 minutes, 53 minutes, and 320 minutes, respectively.
A feature of the Michaelis-Menten kinetics of Caldolysin is marked substrate inhibition (Kₘ (azoalbumin) = 0.028; Kₛ´ (azoalbumin) = 3) which, however, does not occur with small substrates or when the enzyme is immobilised. The enzyme also exhibits an initial activation during incubation at temperatures above 65°C. This effect has been correlated with the ionic strength, the incubation temperature, and the concentration of non-enzyme protein present. The latter causes initial inhibition which is reversed on heating. It is postulated that activation/inhibition and substrate inhibition are related, and are caused by the presence of non-catalytic protein-binding sites in the molecule which are discrete from the active site.
Caldolysin was successfully immobilised to glass beads, CM-cellulose, and Sepharose 4B, with enzyme activity retentions of 1%, 31% and 73%, respectively. The Kₘ of Caldolysin was unchanged in the immobilised state, but the pH optimum of Sepharose-caldolysin was reduced by approximately one pH unit. Thermal stability of both apo-and holo-caldolysin-Sepharose was increased by 3-4-fold.

year: 1980

title: New Zealand’s indigenous forests – their status and drivers of change

authors: Allen, Robert

abstract: New Zealand’s remaining indigenous forests and shrublands are of immense cultural, environmental, and economic significance. A representative plot-based sample of these forests and shrublands has recently allowed an unbiased depiction of their composition
and structure. This is necessary for international reporting, performance assessment and management prioritisation. Their composition, structure, and function are driven by a diverse array of factors, many of which are complexly interrelated. The imprint of disturbances is pervasive and it is necessary to understand disturbances to interpret human-related impacts. For example, understanding impacts of exotic browsing mammals is only possible within a context of forest ecosystem development and tree demographic processes. There are now extensive areas of shrublands successional to forest, often composed of mixtures of indigenous and exotic species. These shrublands expand the pportunities for ecosystem services from, for example, carbon sequestration to water quality. An increasing area of indigenous forests and shrublands are managed for distinctive Māori aspirations that include sustainable use.

text: New Zealand’s indigenous forests – their status and drivers of change New Zealand’s remaining indigenous forests and shrublands are of immense cultural, environmental, and economic significance. A representative plot-based sample of these forests and shrublands has recently allowed an unbiased depiction of their composition
and structure. This is necessary for international reporting, performance assessment and management prioritisation. Their composition, structure, and function are driven by a diverse array of factors, many of which are complexly interrelated. The imprint of disturbances is pervasive and it is necessary to understand disturbances to interpret human-related impacts. For example, understanding impacts of exotic browsing mammals is only possible within a context of forest ecosystem development and tree demographic processes. There are now extensive areas of shrublands successional to forest, often composed of mixtures of indigenous and exotic species. These shrublands expand the pportunities for ecosystem services from, for example, carbon sequestration to water quality. An increasing area of indigenous forests and shrublands are managed for distinctive Māori aspirations that include sustainable use.

year: 2015