title: Management to facilitate compliance with global conventions during hazardous and toxic waste cleanup projects in Asia

authors: McDowall, Ron Laurence

abstract: The management of hazardous and toxic waste projects in Asia (especially that related to intractable chemicals) has had a less than acceptable performance profile during the last 20 years. There have been numerous documented cases of management and systems failures in intractable chemical recovery projects, despite the establishment of global conventions designed to avoid such problems. 
A research programme was undertaken with the aim of producing a management model for companies to help prevent such failures in the future. The research began in the field with an exploration of management culture and its impact on project management. This involved multiple visits to five Asian countries and interviewing people involved in intractable waste management at both strategic and operational levels and reviewing project records. Personnel in government departments, particularly the "competent authority", were interviewed to gain insights into the applied management culture within the five countries studied. 
The various international conventions or regulations regarding hazardous waste and its management, were researched for their interdependence and effectiveness. The research concentrated on the "Management Plans" or "Environmental Management Systems" that reside within these conventions in order to establish a benchmark of expectation concerning standards of management and organisation that would be required of a member state to discharge its obligations under the conventions. This work involved the author attending several meetings and conferences of the parties to the UNEP Basel Convention, as well as attendance at many Technical Working Groups over several years.
Complexity theory and uncertainty theory, along with emergent theory and innovation adoption theory were researched. The outcome of this research clearly suggested that a multidimensional matrix-based approach could be successful in providing companies with a strategic management model that, if applied, could enable them to manage large scale intractable projects effectively in compliance with the conventions. The hypothesis of this work is that Duncan's matrix model can be reverse applied to the external environmental elements and components, combined with the mutual adaptation model (i.e.: technology/organisational mutual adaptation), therefore establishing an integrated multidimensional model of adaptation. 
The mutual adaptation approach was subsequently used to frame a series of questions that formed the basis of four field surveys. These surveys were applied at different times over a five year period, covering ten projects in China and Taiwan, and involving interviews with a total of 100 executives, who were asked a total of 96 questions across the four surveys, resulting in 9600 responses. The first two surveys were conducted close together in time with the third and fourth later in the process and thus could be considered retrospective. The respondents included project managers, engineers, technicians, company accountants, marketing managers and site leaders.
The data collected validated the hypothesis and established that complexity management was an element of those companies that successfully adopted external technology and systems and in fact were also engaged in reversing the technology back to the originators. The data also indicated that those companies not engaging in complexity management were not reversing technology adoption. An integrated mutual adaptation model was developed from the characterisation matrices and consequently a two-dimensional model of singularity. The final singularity model can be applied at an organisation's strategic level, so as to provide an organisational capacity for compliance with environmentally sound management practices as demanded by the international hazardous waste conventions.

text: Management to facilitate compliance with global conventions during hazardous and toxic waste cleanup projects in Asia The management of hazardous and toxic waste projects in Asia (especially that related to intractable chemicals) has had a less than acceptable performance profile during the last 20 years. There have been numerous documented cases of management and systems failures in intractable chemical recovery projects, despite the establishment of global conventions designed to avoid such problems. 
A research programme was undertaken with the aim of producing a management model for companies to help prevent such failures in the future. The research began in the field with an exploration of management culture and its impact on project management. This involved multiple visits to five Asian countries and interviewing people involved in intractable waste management at both strategic and operational levels and reviewing project records. Personnel in government departments, particularly the "competent authority", were interviewed to gain insights into the applied management culture within the five countries studied. 
The various international conventions or regulations regarding hazardous waste and its management, were researched for their interdependence and effectiveness. The research concentrated on the "Management Plans" or "Environmental Management Systems" that reside within these conventions in order to establish a benchmark of expectation concerning standards of management and organisation that would be required of a member state to discharge its obligations under the conventions. This work involved the author attending several meetings and conferences of the parties to the UNEP Basel Convention, as well as attendance at many Technical Working Groups over several years.
Complexity theory and uncertainty theory, along with emergent theory and innovation adoption theory were researched. The outcome of this research clearly suggested that a multidimensional matrix-based approach could be successful in providing companies with a strategic management model that, if applied, could enable them to manage large scale intractable projects effectively in compliance with the conventions. The hypothesis of this work is that Duncan's matrix model can be reverse applied to the external environmental elements and components, combined with the mutual adaptation model (i.e.: technology/organisational mutual adaptation), therefore establishing an integrated multidimensional model of adaptation. 
The mutual adaptation approach was subsequently used to frame a series of questions that formed the basis of four field surveys. These surveys were applied at different times over a five year period, covering ten projects in China and Taiwan, and involving interviews with a total of 100 executives, who were asked a total of 96 questions across the four surveys, resulting in 9600 responses. The first two surveys were conducted close together in time with the third and fourth later in the process and thus could be considered retrospective. The respondents included project managers, engineers, technicians, company accountants, marketing managers and site leaders.
The data collected validated the hypothesis and established that complexity management was an element of those companies that successfully adopted external technology and systems and in fact were also engaged in reversing the technology back to the originators. The data also indicated that those companies not engaging in complexity management were not reversing technology adoption. An integrated mutual adaptation model was developed from the characterisation matrices and consequently a two-dimensional model of singularity. The final singularity model can be applied at an organisation's strategic level, so as to provide an organisational capacity for compliance with environmentally sound management practices as demanded by the international hazardous waste conventions.

year: 2004

title: Quantitative characterisation of near and subsurface defects using active thermographic techniques

authors: Kopf, Larissa

subjects: line scanning thermography

abstract: A mobile Line Scanning Thermography (LST) setup combined with a novel post-processing method that can autonomously characterise different defect types across different materials has been developed and validated. This newly developed system facilitates a more complete inspection of large structures than currently available by removing subjectivity from data analysis, minimising operator input and reducing cost.
Inspection of large structures for defects is increasingly challenging due to the demand for complete evaluation. While a more complete evaluation is possible although likely time consuming, many non-destructive evaluation techniques and their data analysis require highly trained operators, making large scale inspecting costly. Automation is critical to improve inspection speed and reliability while reducing human error. Active thermography relies on a difference in thermal properties between defective and non-defective areas to locate defects by monitoring the surface temperature of the sample with an infrared camera after thermal excitation. Particularly LST is promising as it offers rapid, non-contact inspection, however, typically uses lasers, leading to bulky equipment and increased safety measures.
An elliptical reflector was designed using optical simulation to provide a compromise between maximum intensity, line width and acceptable variations for out of focus measurements. A thermal model, validated with experimental data, investigated the effect of different scanning parameters on defect visibility and can be used to tailor inspection parameters for the experimental setup. A polished aluminium reflector and halogen light were used which greatly reduced safety requirements compared to traditional laser based systems and demonstrating applicability towards real world inspection scenarios. Using the developed LST system and a proposed novel processing method, flat bottom holes in acrylic were autonomously detected and characterised with a minimum detected diameter to depth ratio of 3.2. The processing estimated depths with an accuracy of 0.1 mm for near and subsurface defects and lateral sizing had a median error of less than 4%. The Fourier-based filtering was introduced as an additional term to the post-processing method to allow accurate defect identification in composite samples, such as carbon fibre reinforced polymers. Artificial delamination defects were successfully identified at a maximum depth of 1.97 mm with diameter to depth ratios ranging from 10 to 3.8. Limitations were observed for deeper defects and in areas with surface non-uniformities, highlighting opportunities for further work to fully understand the detection limits of LST.
When combined with the post-processing method the developed LST system allowed for a more complete inspection of large areas by reducing subjectivity and operator time thereby lowering costs. This work extends the applicability of LST with an elliptical reflector to a variety of materials and defect types, while the rule based post-processing enables reliable defect characterisation across multiple scenarios without extensive training datasets, advancing the technique for a wide range of industrial applications.

text: Quantitative characterisation of near and subsurface defects using active thermographic techniques A mobile Line Scanning Thermography (LST) setup combined with a novel post-processing method that can autonomously characterise different defect types across different materials has been developed and validated. This newly developed system facilitates a more complete inspection of large structures than currently available by removing subjectivity from data analysis, minimising operator input and reducing cost.
Inspection of large structures for defects is increasingly challenging due to the demand for complete evaluation. While a more complete evaluation is possible although likely time consuming, many non-destructive evaluation techniques and their data analysis require highly trained operators, making large scale inspecting costly. Automation is critical to improve inspection speed and reliability while reducing human error. Active thermography relies on a difference in thermal properties between defective and non-defective areas to locate defects by monitoring the surface temperature of the sample with an infrared camera after thermal excitation. Particularly LST is promising as it offers rapid, non-contact inspection, however, typically uses lasers, leading to bulky equipment and increased safety measures.
An elliptical reflector was designed using optical simulation to provide a compromise between maximum intensity, line width and acceptable variations for out of focus measurements. A thermal model, validated with experimental data, investigated the effect of different scanning parameters on defect visibility and can be used to tailor inspection parameters for the experimental setup. A polished aluminium reflector and halogen light were used which greatly reduced safety requirements compared to traditional laser based systems and demonstrating applicability towards real world inspection scenarios. Using the developed LST system and a proposed novel processing method, flat bottom holes in acrylic were autonomously detected and characterised with a minimum detected diameter to depth ratio of 3.2. The processing estimated depths with an accuracy of 0.1 mm for near and subsurface defects and lateral sizing had a median error of less than 4%. The Fourier-based filtering was introduced as an additional term to the post-processing method to allow accurate defect identification in composite samples, such as carbon fibre reinforced polymers. Artificial delamination defects were successfully identified at a maximum depth of 1.97 mm with diameter to depth ratios ranging from 10 to 3.8. Limitations were observed for deeper defects and in areas with surface non-uniformities, highlighting opportunities for further work to fully understand the detection limits of LST.
When combined with the post-processing method the developed LST system allowed for a more complete inspection of large areas by reducing subjectivity and operator time thereby lowering costs. This work extends the applicability of LST with an elliptical reflector to a variety of materials and defect types, while the rule based post-processing enables reliable defect characterisation across multiple scenarios without extensive training datasets, advancing the technique for a wide range of industrial applications.

year: 2025

title: Tīhei Mauri Ora: Negotiating primary school teachers' personal and professional identities as Māori

authors: Gilgen, Renée

subjects: Professional Learning and Development for teachers

abstract: Colonial attitudes that positioned Māori language, knowledge and pedagogy as inferior and deficient continue to impact on 21st century primary school contexts in Aotearoa/New Zealand. They continue to impact particularly on the personal and professional identities and experiences of Māori teachers in contemporary English-medium schools. Just as, historically, Māori students were expected to leave their language and culture at the 19th century colonial school gates, so too are many contemporary Māori teachers in mainstream schools expected to set aside their language and culture and engage with the curriculum and pedagogy of the school where they work. Ironically, at the same time, these teachers are often expected to guide and assist their school to meet its requirements under Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi to ensure that its Māori students will succeed as Māori.

This thesis sought to understand how a small cohort of experienced Māori teachers, positioned within 21st century English-medium primary schools, perceived and negotiated the challenges to their personal and professional identities as Māori, and as Māori teachers. The thesis employed a qualitative participant narrative methodology, framed with kaupapa Māori theory. The teachers participated in individual interviews and in a series of hui kōrero (focused conversations) that assisted them to reflect critically on sociohistorical and educational factors that influenced the formation and maintenance of their identities as Māori.

The teachers’ narratives that emerged from individual and collaborative hui kōrero revealed that (1) being raised within urban environments and being themselves educated in monocultural schools during the 1960s and 1970s strongly impacted on how their Māori identities were shaped and, (2) their teaching experiences within English-medium primary schools and classrooms were culturally isolating and destructive, and largely unsupportive of the diverse realities that exists for some Māori teachers.

I offer two key strategic responses to these findings. Firstly, I offer a self-identity continuum that seeks to respect and affirm Māori identity by taking into account the different levels and contexts of experience some Māori teachers may have with Māori cultural concepts and practices. Secondly, I assert the need for a culturally located and relational space within English-medium school contexts for Māori teachers to engage with, and draw on the support of other Māori teachers in order to affirm their varying personal and professional identities as Māori. Meeting this need is understood as a Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty-honouring response, required of all schools.

text: Tīhei Mauri Ora: Negotiating primary school teachers' personal and professional identities as Māori Colonial attitudes that positioned Māori language, knowledge and pedagogy as inferior and deficient continue to impact on 21st century primary school contexts in Aotearoa/New Zealand. They continue to impact particularly on the personal and professional identities and experiences of Māori teachers in contemporary English-medium schools. Just as, historically, Māori students were expected to leave their language and culture at the 19th century colonial school gates, so too are many contemporary Māori teachers in mainstream schools expected to set aside their language and culture and engage with the curriculum and pedagogy of the school where they work. Ironically, at the same time, these teachers are often expected to guide and assist their school to meet its requirements under Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi to ensure that its Māori students will succeed as Māori.

This thesis sought to understand how a small cohort of experienced Māori teachers, positioned within 21st century English-medium primary schools, perceived and negotiated the challenges to their personal and professional identities as Māori, and as Māori teachers. The thesis employed a qualitative participant narrative methodology, framed with kaupapa Māori theory. The teachers participated in individual interviews and in a series of hui kōrero (focused conversations) that assisted them to reflect critically on sociohistorical and educational factors that influenced the formation and maintenance of their identities as Māori.

The teachers’ narratives that emerged from individual and collaborative hui kōrero revealed that (1) being raised within urban environments and being themselves educated in monocultural schools during the 1960s and 1970s strongly impacted on how their Māori identities were shaped and, (2) their teaching experiences within English-medium primary schools and classrooms were culturally isolating and destructive, and largely unsupportive of the diverse realities that exists for some Māori teachers.

I offer two key strategic responses to these findings. Firstly, I offer a self-identity continuum that seeks to respect and affirm Māori identity by taking into account the different levels and contexts of experience some Māori teachers may have with Māori cultural concepts and practices. Secondly, I assert the need for a culturally located and relational space within English-medium school contexts for Māori teachers to engage with, and draw on the support of other Māori teachers in order to affirm their varying personal and professional identities as Māori. Meeting this need is understood as a Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty-honouring response, required of all schools.

year: 2016