title: Quaternary research in New Zealand since 2000: an overview

authors: Bostock, Helen C.

abstract: With the AQUA milestone of 30 years it seems an appropriate time to review the progress and achievements of Quaternary research in New Zealand. This article highlights some of the major achievements since the formal review of New Zealand’s Quaternary record by Newnham et al. (1999). The focus here is on paleoclimate and geochronology and is by no means a comprehensive review. We encourage members to write future articles for Quaternary Australasia (QA) about their exciting projects to keep the wider Australasian community informed. 
One of the main differences between Australian and New Zealand Quaternary science is the wide use of tephrochronology to correlate and date deposits and events across the landscape, helping to link terrestrial and marine records, especially in the North Island. There have been significant advances using glass-based fission-track dating, corrected for annealing, and the use of the electron microprobe and laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry for obtaining major- and trace-element analyses, respectively, to chemically fingerprint individual glass shards in tephras to aid their correlation (Shane, 2000; Lowe, 2011). Also the identification and analysis of cryptotephras (concentrations of glass shards not visible as a layer) have greatly expanded the geographic range of many tephras, allowing the application of tephrochronology as a stratigraphic and dating tool across much wider areas than previously possible (Gehrels et al., 2008).

text: Quaternary research in New Zealand since 2000: an overview With the AQUA milestone of 30 years it seems an appropriate time to review the progress and achievements of Quaternary research in New Zealand. This article highlights some of the major achievements since the formal review of New Zealand’s Quaternary record by Newnham et al. (1999). The focus here is on paleoclimate and geochronology and is by no means a comprehensive review. We encourage members to write future articles for Quaternary Australasia (QA) about their exciting projects to keep the wider Australasian community informed. 
One of the main differences between Australian and New Zealand Quaternary science is the wide use of tephrochronology to correlate and date deposits and events across the landscape, helping to link terrestrial and marine records, especially in the North Island. There have been significant advances using glass-based fission-track dating, corrected for annealing, and the use of the electron microprobe and laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry for obtaining major- and trace-element analyses, respectively, to chemically fingerprint individual glass shards in tephras to aid their correlation (Shane, 2000; Lowe, 2011). Also the identification and analysis of cryptotephras (concentrations of glass shards not visible as a layer) have greatly expanded the geographic range of many tephras, allowing the application of tephrochronology as a stratigraphic and dating tool across much wider areas than previously possible (Gehrels et al., 2008).

year: 2012

title: Modeling of inundation dynamics on Banda Aceh, Indonesia during the great Sumatra tsunamis December 26, 2004

authors: Prasetya, Gegar Sapta

subjects: Tsunami

abstract: The tsunami inundation flows on Banda Aceh, Indonesia reached 5 km inland during the December 26, 2004, event and devastated most of the houses, buildings, and infrastructure along the coast and killed more than 167,000 people. The overland flows from the northwest coast and the west coast collided at Lampisang village approximately 3.7 km from Ulee Lheue (northwest coast) and 6.8 km from Lhok Nga (west coast) as reported by survivors. Inundation modeling based on the nonlinear shallow-water wave equations reproduces the inundation pattern and demonstrates a colliding of the overland flows. The model suggests that wave characteristics on the northwest coast of Banda Aceh were different from those on the waves that impacted upon the west coast. The areas, which experienced higher inundation levels, did not always experience greatest overland flow speeds, and the damage areas mostly coincide with the flow speed distribution rather than the runup and inundation depth.

text: Modeling of inundation dynamics on Banda Aceh, Indonesia during the great Sumatra tsunamis December 26, 2004 The tsunami inundation flows on Banda Aceh, Indonesia reached 5 km inland during the December 26, 2004, event and devastated most of the houses, buildings, and infrastructure along the coast and killed more than 167,000 people. The overland flows from the northwest coast and the west coast collided at Lampisang village approximately 3.7 km from Ulee Lheue (northwest coast) and 6.8 km from Lhok Nga (west coast) as reported by survivors. Inundation modeling based on the nonlinear shallow-water wave equations reproduces the inundation pattern and demonstrates a colliding of the overland flows. The model suggests that wave characteristics on the northwest coast of Banda Aceh were different from those on the waves that impacted upon the west coast. The areas, which experienced higher inundation levels, did not always experience greatest overland flow speeds, and the damage areas mostly coincide with the flow speed distribution rather than the runup and inundation depth.

year: 2011

title: Cultural identity and academic achievement among Māori undergraduate university students

authors: Bennett, Simon T.

subjects: Maori

abstract: Cultural identity and academic achievement were investigated among a nonrandom
sample of 72 undergraduate Māori university students studying at Massey
University. Student problems were examined to identify the types of difficulties
most prevalent among this population. The degree to which cultural identity
moderates the relationship between student problems and academic achievement
was then examined. Major findings were that (a) there is a consistent negative
relationship between student problems and academic achievement; and (b) cultural
identity moderates the effect of student problems on academic achievement, in that:
a high degree of problems were associated with decreases in grade point average
among respondents with low cultural identity; while among respondents with high
cultural identity, high levels of student problems had little negative effect on grade
point average. Despite the study having limitations, the findings have important
implications for Māori students, deliverers of tertiary education, tertiary education
providers, and those involved in the development and implementation of tertiary
education policy.

text: Cultural identity and academic achievement among Māori undergraduate university students Cultural identity and academic achievement were investigated among a nonrandom
sample of 72 undergraduate Māori university students studying at Massey
University. Student problems were examined to identify the types of difficulties
most prevalent among this population. The degree to which cultural identity
moderates the relationship between student problems and academic achievement
was then examined. Major findings were that (a) there is a consistent negative
relationship between student problems and academic achievement; and (b) cultural
identity moderates the effect of student problems on academic achievement, in that:
a high degree of problems were associated with decreases in grade point average
among respondents with low cultural identity; while among respondents with high
cultural identity, high levels of student problems had little negative effect on grade
point average. Despite the study having limitations, the findings have important
implications for Māori students, deliverers of tertiary education, tertiary education
providers, and those involved in the development and implementation of tertiary
education policy.

year: 2003