title: A molecular-based assessment tool for characterising New Zealand freshwater zooplankton communities

authors: Watson, Nathan Thomas Noble

abstract: The ability to adequately assess ecosystem health is essential for informed resource management. Freshwater zooplankton respond rapidly to environmental changes in pest fish populations and nutrient loads and can therefore be used to monitor ecosystem health and provide a surrogate for lake biodiversity. The Zooplankton Molecular-Based Assessment (ZooMBA) described here is a technique for assessing zooplankton communities using short fragments of DNA sequences and a recently developed, online database of reference sequences ("DNA barcodes"). Users can collect their own zooplankton samples using standard collection techniques and either pre-process samples or send samples directly to appropriate laboratory facilities for molecular analyses. Resulting data can then be used to provide accurate species inventories, or cumulatively, can be used to compute indices of lake trophic status (e.g. rotifer Trophic Level Index).

text: A molecular-based assessment tool for characterising New Zealand freshwater zooplankton communities The ability to adequately assess ecosystem health is essential for informed resource management. Freshwater zooplankton respond rapidly to environmental changes in pest fish populations and nutrient loads and can therefore be used to monitor ecosystem health and provide a surrogate for lake biodiversity. The Zooplankton Molecular-Based Assessment (ZooMBA) described here is a technique for assessing zooplankton communities using short fragments of DNA sequences and a recently developed, online database of reference sequences ("DNA barcodes"). Users can collect their own zooplankton samples using standard collection techniques and either pre-process samples or send samples directly to appropriate laboratory facilities for molecular analyses. Resulting data can then be used to provide accurate species inventories, or cumulatively, can be used to compute indices of lake trophic status (e.g. rotifer Trophic Level Index).

year: 2014

title: Keeping goods moving in the wake of a disaster: A qualitative study of intermodal transport

authors: L'Hermitte, Cécile

abstract: Purpose: This paper examines what facilitates the swift reconfiguration of freight movements across transport modes in the wake of a major disaster. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research approach focussing on the New Zealand (NZ) domestic freight transport operations in the wake of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake is used with data collected through 19 interviews with 27 informants. The interviews are thematically analysed by using the framework method. 
Findings: The paper provides rich and detailed descriptions of the ability of a freight transport system to recover from a disaster through rapid modal shifts. This paper identifies nine factors enabling modular transport operations and highlights the critical role of physical, digital, operational and inter-organisational interconnectivity in the aftermath of a disaster. 
Originality/value: Although the management of freight disruptions has become a prevalent topic not only in industry and policy-making circles, but also in the academic literature, qualitative research focussing on the ability of commercial freight systems to adapt and recover from a disaster through rapid modal shifts is limited. This qualitative study sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the continuity of freight operations in the wake of a disaster and provides a comprehensive understanding of modular transport operations and the ability of freight systems to keep goods moving.

text: Keeping goods moving in the wake of a disaster: A qualitative study of intermodal transport Purpose: This paper examines what facilitates the swift reconfiguration of freight movements across transport modes in the wake of a major disaster. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research approach focussing on the New Zealand (NZ) domestic freight transport operations in the wake of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake is used with data collected through 19 interviews with 27 informants. The interviews are thematically analysed by using the framework method. 
Findings: The paper provides rich and detailed descriptions of the ability of a freight transport system to recover from a disaster through rapid modal shifts. This paper identifies nine factors enabling modular transport operations and highlights the critical role of physical, digital, operational and inter-organisational interconnectivity in the aftermath of a disaster. 
Originality/value: Although the management of freight disruptions has become a prevalent topic not only in industry and policy-making circles, but also in the academic literature, qualitative research focussing on the ability of commercial freight systems to adapt and recover from a disaster through rapid modal shifts is limited. This qualitative study sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the continuity of freight operations in the wake of a disaster and provides a comprehensive understanding of modular transport operations and the ability of freight systems to keep goods moving.

year: 2023

title: "That's the price we pay": Kaupapa Māori Programme stakeholder experiences of external evaluation

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

subjects: Evaluation

abstract: This thesis takes a critical approach to the evaluation of Māori social and health service provision progammes through an in-depth exploration of the dynamics, impacts and politics of such exercises within Māori communities, and upon relationships between Māori and the Crown, and its agents. Since the mid 1980s, New Zealand government devolved responsibilities that heralded a change in economic focus and provided a pathway for targeted service provision, such as social and health programmes, amongst communities. The combined shift to Neoliberal economics and the virtual hegemony enjoyed by right wing economic commentators, policy-makers and business leaders meant that newly anointed Māori service providers were not fully prepared for the subsequent rise in demand for narrowly defined accountability requirements that did not reflect Māori aspirations or values.

This study sought to critically engage with the experiences of stakeholders affected by an external evaluation of “By Māori, for Māori” services. Qualitative data capturing stakeholder narratives, demonstrated the complex relationships and range of emotions experienced by programme stakeholders. Four case studies contain stories that highlight: service provider relationships built on betrayal that contributed to programme tensions and influenced the design of the evaluation; different stakeholder information needs that shaped their expectation of an evaluation; service provider vulnerability when implementing cultural values with their funder, who then seeks financial gain from that knowledge, and; the close links of Kaupapa Māori programmes and their evaluations to socio-cultural and political agendas.

The cases highlight ways Māori evaluators operated from a reflexive approach that recognised two worldviews (Mātauranga Māori and the dominant models of Western social science) and sought to facilitate engaged evaluation relationships with different stakeholders. A proposed Cultural Confluent Evaluation model lays out the dynamics and tensions in an attempt to make visible the underlying agendas, but also the glossed ideologies of power and control attached to conventional evaluations. As existing programmes continue to be examined for their cultural responsiveness, and as new culturally-centred programmes are proposed, the need for culturally embedded evaluation is even more evident.

text: "That's the price we pay": Kaupapa Māori Programme stakeholder experiences of external evaluation This thesis takes a critical approach to the evaluation of Māori social and health service provision progammes through an in-depth exploration of the dynamics, impacts and politics of such exercises within Māori communities, and upon relationships between Māori and the Crown, and its agents. Since the mid 1980s, New Zealand government devolved responsibilities that heralded a change in economic focus and provided a pathway for targeted service provision, such as social and health programmes, amongst communities. The combined shift to Neoliberal economics and the virtual hegemony enjoyed by right wing economic commentators, policy-makers and business leaders meant that newly anointed Māori service providers were not fully prepared for the subsequent rise in demand for narrowly defined accountability requirements that did not reflect Māori aspirations or values.

This study sought to critically engage with the experiences of stakeholders affected by an external evaluation of “By Māori, for Māori” services. Qualitative data capturing stakeholder narratives, demonstrated the complex relationships and range of emotions experienced by programme stakeholders. Four case studies contain stories that highlight: service provider relationships built on betrayal that contributed to programme tensions and influenced the design of the evaluation; different stakeholder information needs that shaped their expectation of an evaluation; service provider vulnerability when implementing cultural values with their funder, who then seeks financial gain from that knowledge, and; the close links of Kaupapa Māori programmes and their evaluations to socio-cultural and political agendas.

The cases highlight ways Māori evaluators operated from a reflexive approach that recognised two worldviews (Mātauranga Māori and the dominant models of Western social science) and sought to facilitate engaged evaluation relationships with different stakeholders. A proposed Cultural Confluent Evaluation model lays out the dynamics and tensions in an attempt to make visible the underlying agendas, but also the glossed ideologies of power and control attached to conventional evaluations. As existing programmes continue to be examined for their cultural responsiveness, and as new culturally-centred programmes are proposed, the need for culturally embedded evaluation is even more evident.

year: 2015