title: Evaluation of land in Wairoa District for potential horticultural development

authors: Rau, Johnathon Taukiri

subjects: land suitability

abstract: The Wairoa District, on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand has less horticultural development than areas to the north and south. The objective of this study was to provide information to help inform landowners who may wish to invest in horticulture which could improve the economic situation of the district.
Field work involving local scale climate mapping and soil characterisation of areas with potential for horticulture in Wairoa District was completed in 2017. Constructed climate and topographical maps with existing soil maps were evaluated against known crop growth requirements to produce crop potential maps identifying areas with potential for crop production. Horticultural crops included in this study include kiwifruit, apples, cherries. Alternative crops include hemp and poppies.
Between mid-April – 31 October 2017, 45 portable iButton temperature loggers were deployed throughout Land Use Capability classes 1-3 in the Wairoa District and were set to record hourly temperature. When regressed against nearby climate stations, long term (18 -26 years) temperature datasets were derived from the short term iButton datasets. MODIS satellite images were also analysed to help identify areas prone to frost. From the long-term datasets local scale chill hour, growing degree days and October frost risk maps were constructed for the Wairoa District. For the central area from Wairoa to Frasertown, chill hours were estimated to range between 600 – 900, growing degree days 1300 – 1400 and October frost risk less than 25%.
From four representative soil types, horizon samples were taken to determine the soils physical properties including each horizons Total Available Water Holding Capacity (TAWHC). Horizon TAWHC for each soil type were summed to give TAWHC to 1 meter which along with 21 years of estimated daily rainfall and potential evapotranspiration were used in a soil water balance model to estimate seasonal crop irrigation requirements. Irrigation estimates for kiwifruit compared well against published values ranging between mean 204 – 247 mm.
The crop potential maps with seasonal crop irrigation estimates can enhance a land owner’s ability to make informed decisions resulting in economic benefit to whanau, community and the Wairoa District.

text: Evaluation of land in Wairoa District for potential horticultural development The Wairoa District, on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand has less horticultural development than areas to the north and south. The objective of this study was to provide information to help inform landowners who may wish to invest in horticulture which could improve the economic situation of the district.
Field work involving local scale climate mapping and soil characterisation of areas with potential for horticulture in Wairoa District was completed in 2017. Constructed climate and topographical maps with existing soil maps were evaluated against known crop growth requirements to produce crop potential maps identifying areas with potential for crop production. Horticultural crops included in this study include kiwifruit, apples, cherries. Alternative crops include hemp and poppies.
Between mid-April – 31 October 2017, 45 portable iButton temperature loggers were deployed throughout Land Use Capability classes 1-3 in the Wairoa District and were set to record hourly temperature. When regressed against nearby climate stations, long term (18 -26 years) temperature datasets were derived from the short term iButton datasets. MODIS satellite images were also analysed to help identify areas prone to frost. From the long-term datasets local scale chill hour, growing degree days and October frost risk maps were constructed for the Wairoa District. For the central area from Wairoa to Frasertown, chill hours were estimated to range between 600 – 900, growing degree days 1300 – 1400 and October frost risk less than 25%.
From four representative soil types, horizon samples were taken to determine the soils physical properties including each horizons Total Available Water Holding Capacity (TAWHC). Horizon TAWHC for each soil type were summed to give TAWHC to 1 meter which along with 21 years of estimated daily rainfall and potential evapotranspiration were used in a soil water balance model to estimate seasonal crop irrigation requirements. Irrigation estimates for kiwifruit compared well against published values ranging between mean 204 – 247 mm.
The crop potential maps with seasonal crop irrigation estimates can enhance a land owner’s ability to make informed decisions resulting in economic benefit to whanau, community and the Wairoa District.

year: 2018

title: An evaluation of Kaupapa Māori in Psychology at the University of Waikato

authors: McAllister, Sue

abstract: The University of Waikato’s (UOW) reputation has been built on its unique commitment to Māori aspirations and the educational success of Māori students (The University of Waikato, n.d.-c). Kaupapa Māori has made a significant contribution to this commitment, including in the School of Psychology. Kaupapa Māori prioritises Māori values and a Māori worldview which is necessary in educating culturally aware practitioners. In addition, the inclusion of kaupapa Māori within the School ensures Māori psychology students are valued and their beliefs and worldviews are acknowledged and included. Through this evaluation we aspired to gain insight into how the UOW maintains its commitment to Māori aspirations and the educational success of Māori students.
This evaluation was conducted at the request of the Māori and Psychology Research Unit (MPRU). The aim of this evaluation was to investigate the presence and practice of kaupapa Māori within the School of Psychology at the UOW. Presence and practice refers to the ways in which kaupapa Māori is included, and actively engaged in, within the School of Psychology. This might include, public notices in the School of Psychology, tutorials, workshops, laboratories, support programmes, training, or the inclusion of kaupapa Māori material in the teaching curriculum. The vision for this evaluation was to help assist in shaping practitioners who are able to engage with Māori clients in a culturally appropriate way.
Our evaluation was guided by three objectives:
(1) to consider the experiences of psychology staff in integrating kaupapa Māori into their teaching and administration,
(2) to explore the barriers experienced by Māori psychology students during their programmes of study (both undergraduate and graduate level), and
(3) to identify the practices and structures that support the implementation of kaupapa Māori in the School of Psychology, and ways of expanding these. This evaluation adds to three previous evaluations of kaupapa Māori within the School (Masters & Levy, 1995; Hunt, Morgan & Teddy, 2002; MacLennan, Namwinga, Taylor, & Theodorus, 2013). In this evaluation we investigated outcomes of the past evaluations while exploring ways to further develop kaupapa Māori within the School.
Drawing on the UOW’s Charter, Strategy, Investment Plan, and Māori Advancement Plan, which all set out specific goals and commitments to provide culturally responsive research and education that meets the needs of Māori communities, this evaluation investigates whether the goals and commitments outlined in these documents are being met. In order to do this, this evaluation has aspired to provide significant information regarding the importance and experiences of kaupapa Māori for staff and students (both current and former) within the School of Psychology.
The evaluators conducted four focus groups and 13 semi-structured qualitative interviews with current undergraduate and graduate Māori students, former Māori students, and current and former Māori and non-Māori UOW staff. In total, the voices of 23 participants are reflected in this report.
The analysis of our findings resulted in the following themes relating to staff experiences integrating kaupapa Māori into their teaching and administration: inconsistent integration of kaupapa Māori across the School, cultural incompetence, and harmful University politics. Barriers that were identified by our participants were: lack of kaupapa Māori visibility, navigating two worlds, and financial and practical barriers experienced by Māori students. Various supports for kaupapa Māori were identified and suggestions were given on ways of expanding these. These supports, which included structures and people, were: the MPRU, Te Aka Matua (a mentoring service within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS, now the DALPSS)), kaupapa Māori tutorials, specific staff in the School of Psychology, integration of kaupapa Māori into papers, support of Māori peers, the importance of role models, and the importance of kaupapa Māori in preparing students for the workforce. Ideas often overlapped due to the interrelated nature of experiences, barriers, and supports.
Overall, participants advocated their support for increasing kaupapa Māori support and content within the School of Psychology through the recognition of Māori worldviews. However, it is clear that there is room for development and expansion of the ways kaupapa Māori is currently supported.
Based on the evaluation findings, the recommendations are:
● Recruit more Māori staff
● Further develop kaupapa Māori Tutorials
● Re-establish the Kaupapa Māori Student Advisor position
● Implement discussion of psychology pathways
● Include more bicultural knowledge in paper content
● Include workforce preparation
● Implement kaupapa Māori training for staff
● Incorporate cultural practices into teaching
● Appoint a cultural advisor for staff
● Offer scholarships to alleviate financial barriers
● Invite a kaumatua on site
● Create a whānau space
● Increase the marketing of all Māori services within FASS (DALPSS) and the School of Psychology
● Allocate funding to all Māori support services
● Incorporate more Māori culture visually on campus

text: An evaluation of Kaupapa Māori in Psychology at the University of Waikato The University of Waikato’s (UOW) reputation has been built on its unique commitment to Māori aspirations and the educational success of Māori students (The University of Waikato, n.d.-c). Kaupapa Māori has made a significant contribution to this commitment, including in the School of Psychology. Kaupapa Māori prioritises Māori values and a Māori worldview which is necessary in educating culturally aware practitioners. In addition, the inclusion of kaupapa Māori within the School ensures Māori psychology students are valued and their beliefs and worldviews are acknowledged and included. Through this evaluation we aspired to gain insight into how the UOW maintains its commitment to Māori aspirations and the educational success of Māori students.
This evaluation was conducted at the request of the Māori and Psychology Research Unit (MPRU). The aim of this evaluation was to investigate the presence and practice of kaupapa Māori within the School of Psychology at the UOW. Presence and practice refers to the ways in which kaupapa Māori is included, and actively engaged in, within the School of Psychology. This might include, public notices in the School of Psychology, tutorials, workshops, laboratories, support programmes, training, or the inclusion of kaupapa Māori material in the teaching curriculum. The vision for this evaluation was to help assist in shaping practitioners who are able to engage with Māori clients in a culturally appropriate way.
Our evaluation was guided by three objectives:
(1) to consider the experiences of psychology staff in integrating kaupapa Māori into their teaching and administration,
(2) to explore the barriers experienced by Māori psychology students during their programmes of study (both undergraduate and graduate level), and
(3) to identify the practices and structures that support the implementation of kaupapa Māori in the School of Psychology, and ways of expanding these. This evaluation adds to three previous evaluations of kaupapa Māori within the School (Masters & Levy, 1995; Hunt, Morgan & Teddy, 2002; MacLennan, Namwinga, Taylor, & Theodorus, 2013). In this evaluation we investigated outcomes of the past evaluations while exploring ways to further develop kaupapa Māori within the School.
Drawing on the UOW’s Charter, Strategy, Investment Plan, and Māori Advancement Plan, which all set out specific goals and commitments to provide culturally responsive research and education that meets the needs of Māori communities, this evaluation investigates whether the goals and commitments outlined in these documents are being met. In order to do this, this evaluation has aspired to provide significant information regarding the importance and experiences of kaupapa Māori for staff and students (both current and former) within the School of Psychology.
The evaluators conducted four focus groups and 13 semi-structured qualitative interviews with current undergraduate and graduate Māori students, former Māori students, and current and former Māori and non-Māori UOW staff. In total, the voices of 23 participants are reflected in this report.
The analysis of our findings resulted in the following themes relating to staff experiences integrating kaupapa Māori into their teaching and administration: inconsistent integration of kaupapa Māori across the School, cultural incompetence, and harmful University politics. Barriers that were identified by our participants were: lack of kaupapa Māori visibility, navigating two worlds, and financial and practical barriers experienced by Māori students. Various supports for kaupapa Māori were identified and suggestions were given on ways of expanding these. These supports, which included structures and people, were: the MPRU, Te Aka Matua (a mentoring service within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS, now the DALPSS)), kaupapa Māori tutorials, specific staff in the School of Psychology, integration of kaupapa Māori into papers, support of Māori peers, the importance of role models, and the importance of kaupapa Māori in preparing students for the workforce. Ideas often overlapped due to the interrelated nature of experiences, barriers, and supports.
Overall, participants advocated their support for increasing kaupapa Māori support and content within the School of Psychology through the recognition of Māori worldviews. However, it is clear that there is room for development and expansion of the ways kaupapa Māori is currently supported.
Based on the evaluation findings, the recommendations are:
● Recruit more Māori staff
● Further develop kaupapa Māori Tutorials
● Re-establish the Kaupapa Māori Student Advisor position
● Implement discussion of psychology pathways
● Include more bicultural knowledge in paper content
● Include workforce preparation
● Implement kaupapa Māori training for staff
● Incorporate cultural practices into teaching
● Appoint a cultural advisor for staff
● Offer scholarships to alleviate financial barriers
● Invite a kaumatua on site
● Create a whānau space
● Increase the marketing of all Māori services within FASS (DALPSS) and the School of Psychology
● Allocate funding to all Māori support services
● Incorporate more Māori culture visually on campus

year: 2018

title: A data mining approach to evaluate suitability of dissolved oxygen sensor observations for lake metabolism analysis

authors: Muraoka, Kohji

subjects: computer science

abstract: Despite rapid growth in continuous monitoring of dissolved oxygen for lake metabolism studies, the current best practice still relies on visual assessment and manual data filtering of sensor observations by experienced scientists in order to achieve meaningful results. This time consuming approach is fraught with potential for inconsistency and individual subjectivity. An automated method to assure the quality of data for the purpose of metabolism modeling is clearly needed to obtain consistent results representative of collective expertise. We used a hybrid approach of expert panel and data mining for data filtration. Symbolic Aggregate approXimation (SAX) treats discretized numerical timeseries segments as symbolic indications, creating a series of strings which are literally comparable to human words and sentences. This conversion allows established text mining techniques, such as classification methods to be applied to timeseries data. Half‐hourly frequency surface dissolved oxygen data from 18 global lakes were used to create day‐long segments of the original time series data. Three hundred sets of 1‐d measurements were provided to a group of seven anonymous experts, experienced in manual filtering of oxygen data for metabolism modeling studies. The collective results were treated as expert panel decisions, and were used to rank the data by confidence level for use in metabolism calculations. While considerable variation occurred in the way the experts perceived the quality of the data, the model provides an objective and quantitative assessment method. The program output will assist the decision making process in determining whether data should be used for metabolism calculations. An R version of the program is available for download.

text: A data mining approach to evaluate suitability of dissolved oxygen sensor observations for lake metabolism analysis Despite rapid growth in continuous monitoring of dissolved oxygen for lake metabolism studies, the current best practice still relies on visual assessment and manual data filtering of sensor observations by experienced scientists in order to achieve meaningful results. This time consuming approach is fraught with potential for inconsistency and individual subjectivity. An automated method to assure the quality of data for the purpose of metabolism modeling is clearly needed to obtain consistent results representative of collective expertise. We used a hybrid approach of expert panel and data mining for data filtration. Symbolic Aggregate approXimation (SAX) treats discretized numerical timeseries segments as symbolic indications, creating a series of strings which are literally comparable to human words and sentences. This conversion allows established text mining techniques, such as classification methods to be applied to timeseries data. Half‐hourly frequency surface dissolved oxygen data from 18 global lakes were used to create day‐long segments of the original time series data. Three hundred sets of 1‐d measurements were provided to a group of seven anonymous experts, experienced in manual filtering of oxygen data for metabolism modeling studies. The collective results were treated as expert panel decisions, and were used to rank the data by confidence level for use in metabolism calculations. While considerable variation occurred in the way the experts perceived the quality of the data, the model provides an objective and quantitative assessment method. The program output will assist the decision making process in determining whether data should be used for metabolism calculations. An R version of the program is available for download.

year: 2018