title: Tephrochronology

authors: Lowe, David J.

abstract: Tephrochronology is the use of primary, characterized tephras or cryptotephras as chronostratigraphic marker beds to connect and synchronize geological, paleoenvironmental, or archaeological sequences or events, or soils/paleosols, and, uniquely, to transfer relative or numerical ages or dates to them using stratigraphic and age information together with mineralogical and geochemical compositional data, especially from individual glass-shard analyses, obtained for the tephra/cryptotephra deposits. To function as an age-equivalent correlation and chronostratigraphic dating tool, tephrochronology may be undertaken in three steps: (i) mapping and describing tephras and determining their stratigraphic relationships, (ii) characterizing tephras or cryptotephras in the laboratory, and (iii) dating them using a wide range of geochronological methods. Tephrochronology is also an important tool in volcanology, informing studies on volcanic petrology, volcano eruption histories and hazards, and volcano-climate forcing. Although limitations and challenges remain, multidisciplinary applications of tephrochronology continue to grow markedly.

text: Tephrochronology Tephrochronology is the use of primary, characterized tephras or cryptotephras as chronostratigraphic marker beds to connect and synchronize geological, paleoenvironmental, or archaeological sequences or events, or soils/paleosols, and, uniquely, to transfer relative or numerical ages or dates to them using stratigraphic and age information together with mineralogical and geochemical compositional data, especially from individual glass-shard analyses, obtained for the tephra/cryptotephra deposits. To function as an age-equivalent correlation and chronostratigraphic dating tool, tephrochronology may be undertaken in three steps: (i) mapping and describing tephras and determining their stratigraphic relationships, (ii) characterizing tephras or cryptotephras in the laboratory, and (iii) dating them using a wide range of geochronological methods. Tephrochronology is also an important tool in volcanology, informing studies on volcanic petrology, volcano eruption histories and hazards, and volcano-climate forcing. Although limitations and challenges remain, multidisciplinary applications of tephrochronology continue to grow markedly.

year: 2015-06-18

title: A little birdie told me: People will consider ambiguous utterances from parrots when making judgements of guilt.

authors: Lawrie, Callum Daniel

subjects: Psychology

abstract: How much would you trust a parrot as an eyewitness? The question is not hypothetical: lawyers have tried to use “testimony” from animals. We asked two questions: First, had a court allowed a parrot’s utterance to be entered as evidence how credible would people believe the parrot is? And second, when parrots give evidence that is ambiguous, what does that evidence do to people’s judgements of guilt? To answer these questions we ran three experiments. Subjects were presented with a vignette describing a husband returning home to find his wife murdered and were informed that either a parrot or a three-year-old child was repeating an ambiguous utterance following the murder. We found that people rate a parrot as less credible than a three-year-old child but do not dismiss the parrot entirely. We also found that people can be persuaded by a parrot’s ambiguous utterance when making a judgement of guilt. These results suggest that people will consider ambiguous utterances made by less than credible sources when making judgements of guilt.

text: A little birdie told me: People will consider ambiguous utterances from parrots when making judgements of guilt. How much would you trust a parrot as an eyewitness? The question is not hypothetical: lawyers have tried to use “testimony” from animals. We asked two questions: First, had a court allowed a parrot’s utterance to be entered as evidence how credible would people believe the parrot is? And second, when parrots give evidence that is ambiguous, what does that evidence do to people’s judgements of guilt? To answer these questions we ran three experiments. Subjects were presented with a vignette describing a husband returning home to find his wife murdered and were informed that either a parrot or a three-year-old child was repeating an ambiguous utterance following the murder. We found that people rate a parrot as less credible than a three-year-old child but do not dismiss the parrot entirely. We also found that people can be persuaded by a parrot’s ambiguous utterance when making a judgement of guilt. These results suggest that people will consider ambiguous utterances made by less than credible sources when making judgements of guilt.

year: 2020

title: Māori and the [potential] demographic dividend

authors: Jackson, Natalie

subjects: demography

abstract: This paper outlines a recently articulated concept in the demographic literature known as the ‘demographic dividend’, and connects it with key features of Māori and non- Māori demography. The dividend arises – or has the potential to arise - as each population passes through a particular point in its demographic transition. During these years, the maximum proportion of the population moves into the key working and income-earning age groups, and the minimum (comprised of youth and the elderly) is notionally dependent. With proactive and timely investment in the youthful base of the population, there is potential to convert the demographic dividend into two economic windfalls, the first arising as fertility decline causes youthful dependency to fall and the last large waves of young adults flood into the working age population, the second as the latter age and move on into the higher income earning age groups. However the window of opportunity to invest in the first dividend is fleeting, while failure to invest in that stage seriously compromises the second. This paper shows that for the Māori population, despite its relative youth, the first opportunity is already coming to an end and with it the potential gains of the second. But it also argues that there is a third window of opportunity which holds particular promise for Māori. This period will also be fleeting, but is arising in both absolute and relative terms as the relatively youthful Māori population co-exists alongside its structurally older counterpart, and together (with other New Zealanders) comprise an ‘economic dividend system’ that produces the potential for a ‘collateral dividend’.

text: Māori and the [potential] demographic dividend This paper outlines a recently articulated concept in the demographic literature known as the ‘demographic dividend’, and connects it with key features of Māori and non- Māori demography. The dividend arises – or has the potential to arise - as each population passes through a particular point in its demographic transition. During these years, the maximum proportion of the population moves into the key working and income-earning age groups, and the minimum (comprised of youth and the elderly) is notionally dependent. With proactive and timely investment in the youthful base of the population, there is potential to convert the demographic dividend into two economic windfalls, the first arising as fertility decline causes youthful dependency to fall and the last large waves of young adults flood into the working age population, the second as the latter age and move on into the higher income earning age groups. However the window of opportunity to invest in the first dividend is fleeting, while failure to invest in that stage seriously compromises the second. This paper shows that for the Māori population, despite its relative youth, the first opportunity is already coming to an end and with it the potential gains of the second. But it also argues that there is a third window of opportunity which holds particular promise for Māori. This period will also be fleeting, but is arising in both absolute and relative terms as the relatively youthful Māori population co-exists alongside its structurally older counterpart, and together (with other New Zealanders) comprise an ‘economic dividend system’ that produces the potential for a ‘collateral dividend’.

year: 2011-06