title: Societal expectations for functional recovery of primary and secondary school buildings

authors: Boston, Megan

abstract: In the ongoing investigation of functional recovery requirements, the spectrum of functional requirements for different facility types is necessary to ensure buildings are designed, constructed, and maintained to meet society's expectations. Schools are essential to communities, providing education and shelter to children. Education facilities that remain functional enable the community to recover quickly as parents can return to work or focus on rebuilding. However, functional recovery levels and expectations for schools could be better defined. Using interview responses, this pilot study, focusing on Hamilton, New Zealand, has constructed a five-level functionality continuum for school buildings addressing the societal expectations of community members, including parents, teachers, principals, civil defence, and the ministry of education. The five levels of functionality include life safety, reoccupancy, partial functionality, mostly functional, and fully functional. Each level has been defined in terms of available teaching and community expectations, acceptable damage and infrastructure requirements, and expectations for achievable timelines.

text: Societal expectations for functional recovery of primary and secondary school buildings In the ongoing investigation of functional recovery requirements, the spectrum of functional requirements for different facility types is necessary to ensure buildings are designed, constructed, and maintained to meet society's expectations. Schools are essential to communities, providing education and shelter to children. Education facilities that remain functional enable the community to recover quickly as parents can return to work or focus on rebuilding. However, functional recovery levels and expectations for schools could be better defined. Using interview responses, this pilot study, focusing on Hamilton, New Zealand, has constructed a five-level functionality continuum for school buildings addressing the societal expectations of community members, including parents, teachers, principals, civil defence, and the ministry of education. The five levels of functionality include life safety, reoccupancy, partial functionality, mostly functional, and fully functional. Each level has been defined in terms of available teaching and community expectations, acceptable damage and infrastructure requirements, and expectations for achievable timelines.

year: 2023

title: Navigating the noise: evaluating the occurence of vessels and cetaceans within tamatea/dusky sound

authors: Bassett, Oliver

subjects: marine acoustics

abstract: Vessel use associated with recreation and tourism is currently increasing without limits in Dusky Sound. Passive acoustic monitoring was used to investigate spatiotemporal presence and potential cooccurrence of vessels with the endangered resident subpopulation of Fiordland bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and migratory humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) within Tamatea/Dusky Sound, Fiordland Marine Area (FMA). Hydrophones were deployed between February 2022 and November 2023 at three recording sites to collect soundscape data within Dusky Sound. The internal coastline of Five Fingers Peninsula, inside Taumoana Marine Reserve, was identified as a previously unrecognised area of significant usage for Fiordland bottlenose dolphins. Detected humpback whale presence coincided with peaks in migration, and though identified by previous visual surveying efforts, the extent of their presence in the area during their northward migration was previously unreported. Humpback whale presence was significantly higher in June compared with other months, which is consistent with their described increased vocalisation behaviour during the northward migration. 

Vessel presence detected by passive acoustic monitoring was primarily dictated by usage patterns of tourism and recreational vessels and was greatest in the channel south of Anchor Island, a highly utilised access into Dusky Sound from the outer coast. Monthly equivalent continuous sound levels (LEqs), produced using Automatic Identification System vessel records and sound propagation modelling, illustrated that sound exposure levels regularly reached ~150 dB re 1 µPa2.s within the study area. Cruise ship transits were the major contributor to these high levels, with noise levels exceeding the recommended behavioural exposure threshold for continuous sound in much of the area during the late spring and summer months. Proactive management strategies including vessel limits, speed restrictions (slowdowns) and exclusion zones (dolphin protection zones) are likely required in the future to protect these species before the potential impacts from increased tourism is seen in Tamatea/Dusky Sound.

text: Navigating the noise: evaluating the occurence of vessels and cetaceans within tamatea/dusky sound Vessel use associated with recreation and tourism is currently increasing without limits in Dusky Sound. Passive acoustic monitoring was used to investigate spatiotemporal presence and potential cooccurrence of vessels with the endangered resident subpopulation of Fiordland bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and migratory humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) within Tamatea/Dusky Sound, Fiordland Marine Area (FMA). Hydrophones were deployed between February 2022 and November 2023 at three recording sites to collect soundscape data within Dusky Sound. The internal coastline of Five Fingers Peninsula, inside Taumoana Marine Reserve, was identified as a previously unrecognised area of significant usage for Fiordland bottlenose dolphins. Detected humpback whale presence coincided with peaks in migration, and though identified by previous visual surveying efforts, the extent of their presence in the area during their northward migration was previously unreported. Humpback whale presence was significantly higher in June compared with other months, which is consistent with their described increased vocalisation behaviour during the northward migration. 

Vessel presence detected by passive acoustic monitoring was primarily dictated by usage patterns of tourism and recreational vessels and was greatest in the channel south of Anchor Island, a highly utilised access into Dusky Sound from the outer coast. Monthly equivalent continuous sound levels (LEqs), produced using Automatic Identification System vessel records and sound propagation modelling, illustrated that sound exposure levels regularly reached ~150 dB re 1 µPa2.s within the study area. Cruise ship transits were the major contributor to these high levels, with noise levels exceeding the recommended behavioural exposure threshold for continuous sound in much of the area during the late spring and summer months. Proactive management strategies including vessel limits, speed restrictions (slowdowns) and exclusion zones (dolphin protection zones) are likely required in the future to protect these species before the potential impacts from increased tourism is seen in Tamatea/Dusky Sound.

year: 2024

title: The timing of the human discovery and colonization of New Zealand

authors: Sutton, Douglas G.

abstract: In discriminating between the proposed Long, Short and Intermediate Chronologies for New Zealand prehistory, archaeologists have recently voted by a narrow majority that the human commensal, Rattus exulans, was present in New Zealand up to 2000 years BP, although the preferred date of ‘first settlement’ by people was ca 800 years BP. A recalibration of New Zealand chronometric data has resulted in reinterpretations of the date and duration of occupation on critical archaeological sites. A remodelling of the ages of the putatively earliest sites in New Zealand has shown these to indicate only a broadly defined period when settlement occurred rather than the date when New Zealand was discovered (as the Short Chronology advocates have insisted). Finally, comparisons with archaeological research on islands elsewhere in the world have brought with them recognition that the discovery, exploration, initial settlement and colonization of New Zealand by Polynesian voyagers were broadly consecutive processes. This paper reviews a range of current evidence in the context of its current theorization and affirms the Long Chronology, recognizing it as the most plausible hypothesis.

text: The timing of the human discovery and colonization of New Zealand In discriminating between the proposed Long, Short and Intermediate Chronologies for New Zealand prehistory, archaeologists have recently voted by a narrow majority that the human commensal, Rattus exulans, was present in New Zealand up to 2000 years BP, although the preferred date of ‘first settlement’ by people was ca 800 years BP. A recalibration of New Zealand chronometric data has resulted in reinterpretations of the date and duration of occupation on critical archaeological sites. A remodelling of the ages of the putatively earliest sites in New Zealand has shown these to indicate only a broadly defined period when settlement occurred rather than the date when New Zealand was discovered (as the Short Chronology advocates have insisted). Finally, comparisons with archaeological research on islands elsewhere in the world have brought with them recognition that the discovery, exploration, initial settlement and colonization of New Zealand by Polynesian voyagers were broadly consecutive processes. This paper reviews a range of current evidence in the context of its current theorization and affirms the Long Chronology, recognizing it as the most plausible hypothesis.

year: 2008