title: A spatially resolved model of seasonal variations in phytoplankton and clam (Tapes philippinarum) biomass in Barbamarco Lagoon, Italy

authors: Spillman, C.M.

subjects: tapes philippinarum

abstract: Barbamarco Lagoon (area = 7 km²) is in the Po River Delta, adjoining the Northern Adriatic Sea, and supports a commercially valuable clam (Tapes philippinarum) fishery. This study investigated interactions of the lagoon with adjacent coastal waters and inland riverine inputs by modelling both the lagoon and the Northern Adriatic Sea, using a coupled three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic-ecological model (ELCOM-CAEDYM) adapted to include the clam population. The clam model accounted for carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) biomass in the benthos through parameterisations for filtration, excretion, egestion, respiration, mortality, and harvesting. Multiple clam size classes were included in a new population dynamics sub-model. Output from the coupled model was validated against hydrodynamic and water quality data from intensive field sampling and routine monitoring. Time scales of tidal flushing, primary production and clam grazing were investigated with the model to demonstrate that food supply to clam populations is dominated by phytoplankton inputs from the Northern Adriatic Sea. Effects of clam cultivation on nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass in Barbamarco Lagoon were primarily localised, with strong tidal flushing minimising impacts of clam filtration on lagoon-wide nutrient concentrations at current clam stocking levels. Clam populations were found to alter the cycling of nutrients in the system, causing the lagoon to become a net sink for particulate organic matter and to export dissolved organic matter to the adjacent sea via tidal flushing. Ecosystem health and sensitivity of nutrient cycles to clam cultivation are important considerations for the long term sustainable management and potential expansion of the fishery.

text: A spatially resolved model of seasonal variations in phytoplankton and clam (Tapes philippinarum) biomass in Barbamarco Lagoon, Italy Barbamarco Lagoon (area = 7 km²) is in the Po River Delta, adjoining the Northern Adriatic Sea, and supports a commercially valuable clam (Tapes philippinarum) fishery. This study investigated interactions of the lagoon with adjacent coastal waters and inland riverine inputs by modelling both the lagoon and the Northern Adriatic Sea, using a coupled three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic-ecological model (ELCOM-CAEDYM) adapted to include the clam population. The clam model accounted for carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) biomass in the benthos through parameterisations for filtration, excretion, egestion, respiration, mortality, and harvesting. Multiple clam size classes were included in a new population dynamics sub-model. Output from the coupled model was validated against hydrodynamic and water quality data from intensive field sampling and routine monitoring. Time scales of tidal flushing, primary production and clam grazing were investigated with the model to demonstrate that food supply to clam populations is dominated by phytoplankton inputs from the Northern Adriatic Sea. Effects of clam cultivation on nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass in Barbamarco Lagoon were primarily localised, with strong tidal flushing minimising impacts of clam filtration on lagoon-wide nutrient concentrations at current clam stocking levels. Clam populations were found to alter the cycling of nutrients in the system, causing the lagoon to become a net sink for particulate organic matter and to export dissolved organic matter to the adjacent sea via tidal flushing. Ecosystem health and sensitivity of nutrient cycles to clam cultivation are important considerations for the long term sustainable management and potential expansion of the fishery.

year: 2011

title: Tragedy and farce, attending 'violently' to the discipline of the conjuncture

authors: Smith, Thomas

subjects: Conjunctural Analysis

abstract: Beginning with justifying the focus on history as a core part of any analysis of society - this section details how the ‘science’ of social sciences should be viewed/constructed. Further, discussion will shift toward a critique of the Althusserian view of Marx’s method and the notion of an ahistorical and non-ideological ‘true’ Marxist science. The key issue is that Althusser’s ahistorical Marxism fundamentally weakens the Marxist sciences ability to enact social change and develop a historically significant project. This in part is why the left (at least academically) is unable to develop a tangible counter-hegemonic project. Following this I acknowledge the importance of some of the core concepts developed by Althusser (the Problematic, overdetermination, contradiction etc.) Shifting from here into Hall’s analysis of the 1857 introduction to the Grundrisse, a view of Marx’s methodology which I feel is more in line with my intended project will be outlined. This is a historical reading of Marx and cements the importance of history as a tool to understand and analyse the mechanisms of society as it plays out within the long range unfolding of capitalism. Hall’s development from here of a detailed methodology for conjunctural analysis, alongside defining what is meant by conjuncture, introduces a topic important to the following chapters, Thatcherism and the birth of neoliberalism. Following Halls analysis, a reading of Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte is discussed as an exemplar of a historical conjunctural analysis which can still offer key insights into the emerging conjunctural moments of the present, despite the temporal difference from the events of the text. Finally, the lessons of the Eighteenth Brumaire are applied to the present moment of conjunctural crisis in the rise of Trump and his specific brand of Bonapartism. The key comparisons and similarities are discussed with a view to using the example as a springboard for investigating the terrain so as to better understand what is required for a coherent counter-hegemonic movement on the Left.

text: Tragedy and farce, attending 'violently' to the discipline of the conjuncture Beginning with justifying the focus on history as a core part of any analysis of society - this section details how the ‘science’ of social sciences should be viewed/constructed. Further, discussion will shift toward a critique of the Althusserian view of Marx’s method and the notion of an ahistorical and non-ideological ‘true’ Marxist science. The key issue is that Althusser’s ahistorical Marxism fundamentally weakens the Marxist sciences ability to enact social change and develop a historically significant project. This in part is why the left (at least academically) is unable to develop a tangible counter-hegemonic project. Following this I acknowledge the importance of some of the core concepts developed by Althusser (the Problematic, overdetermination, contradiction etc.) Shifting from here into Hall’s analysis of the 1857 introduction to the Grundrisse, a view of Marx’s methodology which I feel is more in line with my intended project will be outlined. This is a historical reading of Marx and cements the importance of history as a tool to understand and analyse the mechanisms of society as it plays out within the long range unfolding of capitalism. Hall’s development from here of a detailed methodology for conjunctural analysis, alongside defining what is meant by conjuncture, introduces a topic important to the following chapters, Thatcherism and the birth of neoliberalism. Following Halls analysis, a reading of Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte is discussed as an exemplar of a historical conjunctural analysis which can still offer key insights into the emerging conjunctural moments of the present, despite the temporal difference from the events of the text. Finally, the lessons of the Eighteenth Brumaire are applied to the present moment of conjunctural crisis in the rise of Trump and his specific brand of Bonapartism. The key comparisons and similarities are discussed with a view to using the example as a springboard for investigating the terrain so as to better understand what is required for a coherent counter-hegemonic movement on the Left.

year: 2019

title: For staff at the Eastern Institute of Technology, is Ōtātara a placeless geography? Or a geography of significance?

authors: Passey, Emma

subjects: Ōtātara

abstract: This thesis explores the experience of place for a group of tertiary employees in a regional area of New Zealand. Staff based at EIT Hawke’s Bay in Taradale, Napier can see the Ōtātara Pā Reserve from several vantage points on campus, and often visit because of its immediate proximity. Originally, joined and now adjacent, the cultural significance of this land for Māori over some centuries prior to Pākehā settlement, is still being uncovered. Through a series of interviews, the historical significance of this place is joined with the experiences of staff in being in this space. A range of meanings including belonging, attachment and sense of location were described by participants, showing the development over time of threads of connection for themselves, family, community and also staff members.

Ideas in the literature of place were considered including attachment to meaningful locations and landscape. A particular interest in the thesis was bringing this more general literature into focus for a New Zealand place, which has substantial Māori history connections including for participants of both Māori and Pākehā backgrounds. Several methodological issues were discussed within a series of interviews including cultural appropriateness and representation. The researchers transition from an English cultural upbringing, to developing and extending indigenous landscape knowledge, illustrates the changing recognition and involvement in an increasingly bi-cultural New Zealand, and demonstrates the implications of this in understanding place attachment.

Findings from this research were organised in three main chapters. The first, recounted historical material about Ōtātara, Māori and Pākehā times, exploring ideas of place and belonging. It also provided a natural anchor for the second and third chapters, which reported the findings of EIT staff enjoying being within, and feeling the presence of that history. Several themes emerged and were summarised as embodied landscape experiences, and the intriguing dimensions of social relationships and place for these tertiary staff.
Place is important across the social sciences as it is for other disciplines. It evokes on the one hand aspirations and ideals of an aesthetic and spiritual nature but at the same time, reminds human beings of their literal and biological being in time and space. The present study has contributed to this wider narrative by looking at one example and in one national bi-cultural setting.

The question posed at the start of the thesis considered whether EIT staff view Ōtātara as a place of significance or a geography which does not matter. The historical connections and physical closeness between EIT and Ōtātara, mean that the Institution and the landscape are inextricably linked. People are equally bonded to this place through culture and lived experiences. Often unconscious or incidental associations are handed down through the generations, within the organisation and throughout the wider community.
How we now occupy this place in a modern world, how we share the (hi)stories and become authors of new ones, will have a profound influence on the ways that staff continue to connect and develop feelings of belonging. Related to this, an idea about an institutional-wide hīkoi around the boundaries of the campus and Ōtātara is offered as an addendum. Our responsibility as educators is to signal to future generations that this is a landscape of significance ensuring that Ōtātara continues to be acknowledged as a taonga for EIT employees, and that it is nurtured in the same way as it nurtures us.

text: For staff at the Eastern Institute of Technology, is Ōtātara a placeless geography? Or a geography of significance? This thesis explores the experience of place for a group of tertiary employees in a regional area of New Zealand. Staff based at EIT Hawke’s Bay in Taradale, Napier can see the Ōtātara Pā Reserve from several vantage points on campus, and often visit because of its immediate proximity. Originally, joined and now adjacent, the cultural significance of this land for Māori over some centuries prior to Pākehā settlement, is still being uncovered. Through a series of interviews, the historical significance of this place is joined with the experiences of staff in being in this space. A range of meanings including belonging, attachment and sense of location were described by participants, showing the development over time of threads of connection for themselves, family, community and also staff members.

Ideas in the literature of place were considered including attachment to meaningful locations and landscape. A particular interest in the thesis was bringing this more general literature into focus for a New Zealand place, which has substantial Māori history connections including for participants of both Māori and Pākehā backgrounds. Several methodological issues were discussed within a series of interviews including cultural appropriateness and representation. The researchers transition from an English cultural upbringing, to developing and extending indigenous landscape knowledge, illustrates the changing recognition and involvement in an increasingly bi-cultural New Zealand, and demonstrates the implications of this in understanding place attachment.

Findings from this research were organised in three main chapters. The first, recounted historical material about Ōtātara, Māori and Pākehā times, exploring ideas of place and belonging. It also provided a natural anchor for the second and third chapters, which reported the findings of EIT staff enjoying being within, and feeling the presence of that history. Several themes emerged and were summarised as embodied landscape experiences, and the intriguing dimensions of social relationships and place for these tertiary staff.
Place is important across the social sciences as it is for other disciplines. It evokes on the one hand aspirations and ideals of an aesthetic and spiritual nature but at the same time, reminds human beings of their literal and biological being in time and space. The present study has contributed to this wider narrative by looking at one example and in one national bi-cultural setting.

The question posed at the start of the thesis considered whether EIT staff view Ōtātara as a place of significance or a geography which does not matter. The historical connections and physical closeness between EIT and Ōtātara, mean that the Institution and the landscape are inextricably linked. People are equally bonded to this place through culture and lived experiences. Often unconscious or incidental associations are handed down through the generations, within the organisation and throughout the wider community.
How we now occupy this place in a modern world, how we share the (hi)stories and become authors of new ones, will have a profound influence on the ways that staff continue to connect and develop feelings of belonging. Related to this, an idea about an institutional-wide hīkoi around the boundaries of the campus and Ōtātara is offered as an addendum. Our responsibility as educators is to signal to future generations that this is a landscape of significance ensuring that Ōtātara continues to be acknowledged as a taonga for EIT employees, and that it is nurtured in the same way as it nurtures us.

year: 2021