title: Designing for Inaccessible People and Places

authors: Bowen, Judy

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: New Zealand forestry has the highest number of accidents and fatalities than any other NZ industry. Worker fatigue, work environment, and worker demographics all contribute to these high numbers. We have been investigating ways of tackling these problems using wearable and sensor-based technology. Two of the challenges faced by this project are: the personal nature of data collected by wearable technology and the lack of regular access to workers to take part in user-centered design activities. In this paper, we describe the use of Lean UX methods with proxy participants and proxy technology to explore key aspects of a proposed technical solution. We show that from these experimental studies, we were able to draw appropriate conclusions on which to base the development of a prototype designed to support forestry worker safety.

text: Designing for Inaccessible People and Places New Zealand forestry has the highest number of accidents and fatalities than any other NZ industry. Worker fatigue, work environment, and worker demographics all contribute to these high numbers. We have been investigating ways of tackling these problems using wearable and sensor-based technology. Two of the challenges faced by this project are: the personal nature of data collected by wearable technology and the lack of regular access to workers to take part in user-centered design activities. In this paper, we describe the use of Lean UX methods with proxy participants and proxy technology to explore key aspects of a proposed technical solution. We show that from these experimental studies, we were able to draw appropriate conclusions on which to base the development of a prototype designed to support forestry worker safety.

year: 2021-01-01

title: The whole-plant compensation point as a measure of juvenile tree light requirements

authors: Lusk, Christopher H.

subjects: forest dynamics

abstract: 1.	Although ‘shade tolerance’ has featured prominently in the vocabulary of foresters and ecologists for a century, we have yet to agree on a standardized method for quantifying this elusive property. The ‘whole-plant compensation point’, interpolated from stem growth measurements across a wide range of light environments, has been proposed as a simple, robust measure of species shade tolerance. Others have argued that shade tolerance is primarily a function of differential ability to survive periods of slow growth (‘suppression’), implying that measurements of survival are vital.
2.	We measured growth of juveniles (500–1000 mm tall) of five evergreen trees over 12 months in a cool-temperate rain forest in New Zealand, to determine whether whole-plant compensation points predicted species differences in occupancy of understorey light environments, which were quantified using hemispherical photography.
3.	The five species encompassed 3•5-fold variation in whole-plant compensation points. Compensation points of most species fell within the first quartile of the distribution of light environments occupied by juveniles; they were also correlated with low-light mortality rates of juveniles, estimated from permanent plot data archived in the National Vegetation Survey Databank. Compensation points were also significantly positively correlated with height growth rates in high light, confirming the presence of the growth vs. shade tolerance trade-off detected in many other forest tree assemblages.
4.	Results show that, in temperate evergreen forests, the whole-plant compensation point distinguishes reliably between species of differing shade tolerance. Excepting situations involving parameterization of demographic models, shade tolerance can therefore be assessed without survival measurements. However, estimating whole-plant compensation points may prove more difficult in deciduous forests, where seasonal variation in understorey light transmission poses additional challenges.

text: The whole-plant compensation point as a measure of juvenile tree light requirements 1.	Although ‘shade tolerance’ has featured prominently in the vocabulary of foresters and ecologists for a century, we have yet to agree on a standardized method for quantifying this elusive property. The ‘whole-plant compensation point’, interpolated from stem growth measurements across a wide range of light environments, has been proposed as a simple, robust measure of species shade tolerance. Others have argued that shade tolerance is primarily a function of differential ability to survive periods of slow growth (‘suppression’), implying that measurements of survival are vital.
2.	We measured growth of juveniles (500–1000 mm tall) of five evergreen trees over 12 months in a cool-temperate rain forest in New Zealand, to determine whether whole-plant compensation points predicted species differences in occupancy of understorey light environments, which were quantified using hemispherical photography.
3.	The five species encompassed 3•5-fold variation in whole-plant compensation points. Compensation points of most species fell within the first quartile of the distribution of light environments occupied by juveniles; they were also correlated with low-light mortality rates of juveniles, estimated from permanent plot data archived in the National Vegetation Survey Databank. Compensation points were also significantly positively correlated with height growth rates in high light, confirming the presence of the growth vs. shade tolerance trade-off detected in many other forest tree assemblages.
4.	Results show that, in temperate evergreen forests, the whole-plant compensation point distinguishes reliably between species of differing shade tolerance. Excepting situations involving parameterization of demographic models, shade tolerance can therefore be assessed without survival measurements. However, estimating whole-plant compensation points may prove more difficult in deciduous forests, where seasonal variation in understorey light transmission poses additional challenges.

year: 2013

title: Culture is our business: Issues and challenges for forensic and correctional psychologists

authors: Tamatea, Armon J.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Psychology has made significant advances in the development of more empirical, standardized, and consistent approaches to the prediction, assessment, and treatment of offending behaviour. However, crime occurs in a cultural context. Similarly, forensic and correctional psychology derive from a cultural basis that privileges certain types of knowledge and promotes certain forms of practice that are incommensurate with the outlook and realities of some offenders and their communities. While there is an emerging literature on ethnicity and race in criminal justice psychology, very little research that addresses culture is published. The reasons for this knowledge gap are complex, not least because the worldviews of indigenous and diverse communities do not superimpose neatly onto current best-practice models of risk assessment or offender rehabilitation. Given Australia and New Zealand’s commitment to the involvement and wellbeing of indigenous peoples as well as the shared experience of progressively more pluralistic societies, it is argued that there is a critical need to bring the somewhat disparate domains of forensic psychology and culture into conversation with a view to informing policy and practice. The example of risk assessment is used to illustrate some of the complexities of working with cultural difference. Central to this article is a call for a culturally-engaged and proactive philosophy of practice that embraces the needs of diverse offenders, victims and communities.

text: Culture is our business: Issues and challenges for forensic and correctional psychologists Psychology has made significant advances in the development of more empirical, standardized, and consistent approaches to the prediction, assessment, and treatment of offending behaviour. However, crime occurs in a cultural context. Similarly, forensic and correctional psychology derive from a cultural basis that privileges certain types of knowledge and promotes certain forms of practice that are incommensurate with the outlook and realities of some offenders and their communities. While there is an emerging literature on ethnicity and race in criminal justice psychology, very little research that addresses culture is published. The reasons for this knowledge gap are complex, not least because the worldviews of indigenous and diverse communities do not superimpose neatly onto current best-practice models of risk assessment or offender rehabilitation. Given Australia and New Zealand’s commitment to the involvement and wellbeing of indigenous peoples as well as the shared experience of progressively more pluralistic societies, it is argued that there is a critical need to bring the somewhat disparate domains of forensic psychology and culture into conversation with a view to informing policy and practice. The example of risk assessment is used to illustrate some of the complexities of working with cultural difference. Central to this article is a call for a culturally-engaged and proactive philosophy of practice that embraces the needs of diverse offenders, victims and communities.

year: 2017