title: Dairy farm women in the Waikato 1946-1996: fifty years of social and structural change

authors: Begg, Margaret May

abstract: Research on dairy farm women in New Zealand is minimal. Women have long worked on dairy farms but their contribution remains largely invisible in the literature and documentation. Researchers have failed to duly record the changes and their implications affecting dairy farm women. This thesis examines the important position held by dairy farm women and the nature of the changes that have taken place in the Waikato Region 1946-1996. I investigate changes, including the household and farm strategies which have been brought about by technical, social, economic and political procedures experienced by dairy farm women over a 50 year period.

Structuration and feminist geographic theory provide a framework for the analysis. Methods employed to collect data included telephone conversations and a postal questionnaire. I examine the nature of farm family labour and analyse notions of work, in order to challenge the hegemony of male dominance prominent in dairy farming, and in agriculture more generally. 

An assessment from the field work indicates the dairy farm ‘community’ is conservative. Any change as to the recognition and acknowledgement of the contribution that dairy farm women make towards the farm enterprise and the economy of the country, is slow in coming. This study was not planned to be exhaustive and offers suggestions for further studies in the geography of dairy farming.

text: Dairy farm women in the Waikato 1946-1996: fifty years of social and structural change Research on dairy farm women in New Zealand is minimal. Women have long worked on dairy farms but their contribution remains largely invisible in the literature and documentation. Researchers have failed to duly record the changes and their implications affecting dairy farm women. This thesis examines the important position held by dairy farm women and the nature of the changes that have taken place in the Waikato Region 1946-1996. I investigate changes, including the household and farm strategies which have been brought about by technical, social, economic and political procedures experienced by dairy farm women over a 50 year period.

Structuration and feminist geographic theory provide a framework for the analysis. Methods employed to collect data included telephone conversations and a postal questionnaire. I examine the nature of farm family labour and analyse notions of work, in order to challenge the hegemony of male dominance prominent in dairy farming, and in agriculture more generally. 

An assessment from the field work indicates the dairy farm ‘community’ is conservative. Any change as to the recognition and acknowledgement of the contribution that dairy farm women make towards the farm enterprise and the economy of the country, is slow in coming. This study was not planned to be exhaustive and offers suggestions for further studies in the geography of dairy farming.

year: 2001

title: Ameliorating Systematic Errors in Full-Field AMCW Lidar

authors: Godbaz, John Peter

subjects: Time of Flight

abstract: This thesis presents an analysis of systematic error in full-field amplitude modulated continuous wave range-imaging systems. The primary focus is on the mixed pixel/multipath interference problem, with digressions into defocus restoration, irregular phase sampling and the systematic phase perturbations introduced by random noise. As an integral part of the thesis, a detailed model of signal formation is developed, that models noise statistics not included in previously reported models.

Prior work on the mixed pixel/multipath interference problem has been limited to detection and removal of perturbed measurements or partial amelioration using spatial information, such as knowledge of the spatially variant scattering point spread function, or raytracing using an assumption of Lambertian reflection. Furthermore, prior art has only used AMCW range measurements at a single modulation frequency. In contrast, in this thesis, by taking multiple measurements at different modulation frequencies with known ratio-of-integers frequency relationships, a range of new closed-form and lookup table based inversion and bounding methods are explored. These methods include: sparse spike train deconvolution based multiple return separation, a closed-form inverse using attenuation ratios and a normalisation based lookup table method that uses a new property we term the characteristic measurement. Other approaches include a Cauchy distribution based model for backscattering sources which are range-diffuse, like fog or hair. Novel bounding methods are developed using the characteristic measurement and attenuation ratios on relative intensity, relative phase and phase perturbutation.

A detailed noise and performance analysis is performed of the characteristic measurement lookup table method and the bounding methods using simulated data. Experiments are performed using the University of Waikato Heterodyne range-imager, the Canesta XZ-422 and the Mesa Imaging Swissranger 4000 in order to demonstrate the performance of the lookup table method. The lookup table method is found to provide an order of magnitude improvement in ranging accuracy, albeit at the expense of ranging precision.

text: Ameliorating Systematic Errors in Full-Field AMCW Lidar This thesis presents an analysis of systematic error in full-field amplitude modulated continuous wave range-imaging systems. The primary focus is on the mixed pixel/multipath interference problem, with digressions into defocus restoration, irregular phase sampling and the systematic phase perturbations introduced by random noise. As an integral part of the thesis, a detailed model of signal formation is developed, that models noise statistics not included in previously reported models.

Prior work on the mixed pixel/multipath interference problem has been limited to detection and removal of perturbed measurements or partial amelioration using spatial information, such as knowledge of the spatially variant scattering point spread function, or raytracing using an assumption of Lambertian reflection. Furthermore, prior art has only used AMCW range measurements at a single modulation frequency. In contrast, in this thesis, by taking multiple measurements at different modulation frequencies with known ratio-of-integers frequency relationships, a range of new closed-form and lookup table based inversion and bounding methods are explored. These methods include: sparse spike train deconvolution based multiple return separation, a closed-form inverse using attenuation ratios and a normalisation based lookup table method that uses a new property we term the characteristic measurement. Other approaches include a Cauchy distribution based model for backscattering sources which are range-diffuse, like fog or hair. Novel bounding methods are developed using the characteristic measurement and attenuation ratios on relative intensity, relative phase and phase perturbutation.

A detailed noise and performance analysis is performed of the characteristic measurement lookup table method and the bounding methods using simulated data. Experiments are performed using the University of Waikato Heterodyne range-imager, the Canesta XZ-422 and the Mesa Imaging Swissranger 4000 in order to demonstrate the performance of the lookup table method. The lookup table method is found to provide an order of magnitude improvement in ranging accuracy, albeit at the expense of ranging precision.

year: 2012

title: Unpacking media narratives: Racism and problematic reasonings

authors: Tan, Kyle K. H.

abstract: In this research brief, we present summaries of four case studies of racism in mainstream and social media in Aotearoa. Through a series of carefully selected datasets sourced from TV episodes (Police TEN 7), print media such as news articles (including Northland checkpoints), and tweets (Three Waters reform), we outline how Māori are represented across these mediums. With an expert in language modelling on our team, we analysed large datasets that give us sufficient statistical power to infer specific Māori discourses on respective platforms. Further, we examined key themes that characterise how Māori are represented in the media and signal the scale of anti-Māori attacks. For instance, we found that the predominant discussion on Three Waters reform on Twitter focused on ‘conflict’ (distrust towards government; 33%) and ‘capability’ (questioning the credibility of the reform; 23%) rather than its core intention of promoting water ‘safety’ (7%). The modelling analysis was supplemented by in-depth qualitative analysis that integrates anti-Māori themes (Moewaka-Barnes et al., 2012) and problematic reasoning tactics (Sturgill, 2021) to elucidate how false, deficit-based rhetoric about Māori is deployed to fuel racism and disinformation. In summary, our findings reinforce Kupu Taea’s call for new media sectors to integrate Te Tiriti o Waitangi into their practices to safeguard Māori and other minoritised groups who are likely to be at the fore of racist attacks.

text: Unpacking media narratives: Racism and problematic reasonings In this research brief, we present summaries of four case studies of racism in mainstream and social media in Aotearoa. Through a series of carefully selected datasets sourced from TV episodes (Police TEN 7), print media such as news articles (including Northland checkpoints), and tweets (Three Waters reform), we outline how Māori are represented across these mediums. With an expert in language modelling on our team, we analysed large datasets that give us sufficient statistical power to infer specific Māori discourses on respective platforms. Further, we examined key themes that characterise how Māori are represented in the media and signal the scale of anti-Māori attacks. For instance, we found that the predominant discussion on Three Waters reform on Twitter focused on ‘conflict’ (distrust towards government; 33%) and ‘capability’ (questioning the credibility of the reform; 23%) rather than its core intention of promoting water ‘safety’ (7%). The modelling analysis was supplemented by in-depth qualitative analysis that integrates anti-Māori themes (Moewaka-Barnes et al., 2012) and problematic reasoning tactics (Sturgill, 2021) to elucidate how false, deficit-based rhetoric about Māori is deployed to fuel racism and disinformation. In summary, our findings reinforce Kupu Taea’s call for new media sectors to integrate Te Tiriti o Waitangi into their practices to safeguard Māori and other minoritised groups who are likely to be at the fore of racist attacks.

year: 2025