title: John Allan Dobson: a Te Aroha mine manager

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Born in 1830, Dobson was a life-long miner, first in Victoria and then Otago, Coromandel, Te Aroha (notable in the Tui district), and on other Hauraki fields. In 1882 he erected a boarding house in Te Aroha, on temperance principles, but probably his wife did most of the day-to-day management before her premature death after only 12 years of marriage. He was a miner and mine manager in several claims in the Te Aroha district, but after his wife’s death and the decline of local mining he worked on several Hauraki fields. After struggling with some of the examinations, he was awarded a certificate as a mine manager.
Dobson was prominent in both the Coromandel and Te Aroha communities. In the latter, he encouraged the development of the district through being a member of numerous committees, including being chairman of the town board. After retirement, he suffered from miners’ complaint, the cause of his death. He was remembered as being a man of great integrity.

text: John Allan Dobson: a Te Aroha mine manager Born in 1830, Dobson was a life-long miner, first in Victoria and then Otago, Coromandel, Te Aroha (notable in the Tui district), and on other Hauraki fields. In 1882 he erected a boarding house in Te Aroha, on temperance principles, but probably his wife did most of the day-to-day management before her premature death after only 12 years of marriage. He was a miner and mine manager in several claims in the Te Aroha district, but after his wife’s death and the decline of local mining he worked on several Hauraki fields. After struggling with some of the examinations, he was awarded a certificate as a mine manager.
Dobson was prominent in both the Coromandel and Te Aroha communities. In the latter, he encouraged the development of the district through being a member of numerous committees, including being chairman of the town board. After retirement, he suffered from miners’ complaint, the cause of his death. He was remembered as being a man of great integrity.

year: 2016

title: Refinement for user interface designs

authors: Bowen, Judy

subjects: refinement

abstract: Formal approaches to software development require that we correctly describe (or specify) systems in order to prove properties about our proposed solution prior to building it. We must then follow a rigorous process to transform our specification into an implementation to ensure that the properties we have proved are retained. Different transformation, or refinement, methods exist for different formal methods, but they all seek to ensure that we can guide the transformation in a way which preserves the desired properties of the system. Refinement methods also allow us to subsequently compare two systems to see if a refinement relation exists between the two. When we design and build the user interfaces of our systems we are similarly keen to ensure that they have certain properties before we build them. For example, do they satisfy the requirements of the user? Are they designed with known good design principles and usability considerations in mind? Are they correct in terms of the overall system specification? However, when we come to implement our interface designs we do not have a defined process to follow which ensures that we maintain these properties as we transform the design into code. Instead, we rely on our judgement and belief that we are doing the right thing and subsequent user testing to ensure that our final solution remains useable and satisfactory. We suggest an alternative approach, which is to define a refinement process for user interfaces which will allow us to maintain the same rigorous standards we apply to the rest of the system when we implement our user interface designs.

text: Refinement for user interface designs Formal approaches to software development require that we correctly describe (or specify) systems in order to prove properties about our proposed solution prior to building it. We must then follow a rigorous process to transform our specification into an implementation to ensure that the properties we have proved are retained. Different transformation, or refinement, methods exist for different formal methods, but they all seek to ensure that we can guide the transformation in a way which preserves the desired properties of the system. Refinement methods also allow us to subsequently compare two systems to see if a refinement relation exists between the two. When we design and build the user interfaces of our systems we are similarly keen to ensure that they have certain properties before we build them. For example, do they satisfy the requirements of the user? Are they designed with known good design principles and usability considerations in mind? Are they correct in terms of the overall system specification? However, when we come to implement our interface designs we do not have a defined process to follow which ensures that we maintain these properties as we transform the design into code. Instead, we rely on our judgement and belief that we are doing the right thing and subsequent user testing to ensure that our final solution remains useable and satisfactory. We suggest an alternative approach, which is to define a refinement process for user interfaces which will allow us to maintain the same rigorous standards we apply to the rest of the system when we implement our user interface designs.

year: 2009

title: Book review:  Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy

authors: Hicks, Brendan J.

abstract: This article reviews the book : “Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy”, by RM McDowall.

text: Book review:  Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy This article reviews the book : “Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy”, by RM McDowall.

year: 2012