title: Sea-level change: Living with uncertainty

authors: de Lange, Willem P.

abstract: Sea level change is a naturally occurring process. Since the last glacial maximum, some 18,000 years ago, de-glaciation has taken place and this natural global warming has led to sea-level rise of on average 120 m or so. At some times, pulses of melt water coming from large peri-glacial lakes led to rates of sea-level rise as high as 3 m per century. The rate slowed down some 7000 years ago and since then has been naturally fluctuating by only a few meters. The remaining global sea-level rise has been about 20 cm in the 20th century. Has this led to global disasters? The answer is no. If the projected rise over the 21st century is double what was seen in the 20th, is it likely that it will result in global disasters? Again, the answer is most likely no; human ingenuity, innovation and engineering, and the proper material and financial resources should solve local problems if and when they arrive, as they have in the 20th century (see the Dutch example). 
In this short and accessible monograph, Willem de Lange and Robert Carter describe and explain sea-level change, including the many remaining uncertainties in our full understanding of what exactly drives this change, and discuss the implications, mainly regarding coastal management. The monograph is intended for policy makers, but it should be informative for any educated reader. De Lange and Carter analyse the causes of sea-level change, and describe how it has been measured – with tide gauges over the past 100 to 150 years and from satellites over the past 30 years. Their key message is to recall that sea-level change is a local phenomenon, with high variability and multiple causes. In the 20th century, for a global average rise of 20 cm, there has been sea-level rise of up to twice that value in some places, but in others a drop of the same amount! Because of the melting of a large former ice cap over the Baltic area, the Earth’s viscous mantle is slowly deforming and as a result sea-level is decreasing in the North of the British Isles at the same time as it is rising on the south coast. Moreover, we have known since Darwin and understood since the plate tectonics revolution that atolls in the Pacific form over slowly subsiding volcanoes and will eventually drown (but at a slower ‘geological’ rate, due to thermal subsidence of the lithosphere on which they stand). In any case, the global average has no practical value in local or regional coastal management.

text: Sea-level change: Living with uncertainty Sea level change is a naturally occurring process. Since the last glacial maximum, some 18,000 years ago, de-glaciation has taken place and this natural global warming has led to sea-level rise of on average 120 m or so. At some times, pulses of melt water coming from large peri-glacial lakes led to rates of sea-level rise as high as 3 m per century. The rate slowed down some 7000 years ago and since then has been naturally fluctuating by only a few meters. The remaining global sea-level rise has been about 20 cm in the 20th century. Has this led to global disasters? The answer is no. If the projected rise over the 21st century is double what was seen in the 20th, is it likely that it will result in global disasters? Again, the answer is most likely no; human ingenuity, innovation and engineering, and the proper material and financial resources should solve local problems if and when they arrive, as they have in the 20th century (see the Dutch example). 
In this short and accessible monograph, Willem de Lange and Robert Carter describe and explain sea-level change, including the many remaining uncertainties in our full understanding of what exactly drives this change, and discuss the implications, mainly regarding coastal management. The monograph is intended for policy makers, but it should be informative for any educated reader. De Lange and Carter analyse the causes of sea-level change, and describe how it has been measured – with tide gauges over the past 100 to 150 years and from satellites over the past 30 years. Their key message is to recall that sea-level change is a local phenomenon, with high variability and multiple causes. In the 20th century, for a global average rise of 20 cm, there has been sea-level rise of up to twice that value in some places, but in others a drop of the same amount! Because of the melting of a large former ice cap over the Baltic area, the Earth’s viscous mantle is slowly deforming and as a result sea-level is decreasing in the North of the British Isles at the same time as it is rising on the south coast. Moreover, we have known since Darwin and understood since the plate tectonics revolution that atolls in the Pacific form over slowly subsiding volcanoes and will eventually drown (but at a slower ‘geological’ rate, due to thermal subsidence of the lithosphere on which they stand). In any case, the global average has no practical value in local or regional coastal management.

year: 2014-01-15

title: Identification and manipulation of lily bulbs for an automated lily bulb planting system

authors: Venter, Gerhard Meyer

subjects: Agriculture Automation

abstract: Automation in agriculture is growing year by year. The goal of automating processes is to provide inexpensive and more effective solutions for everyday problems present in the industry. Automation in agriculture adds value to the product and in turn, to the farmer's infrastructure. This automation also aims to provide higher skill labour for workers that the automation processes substitute.  Using machine vision as a means of automating processes is very common in factory environments and is being adapted for the external agriculture environments (i.e. automated detection for produce harvesting).

Machine vision and manipulation techniques for a lily bulb plantation were presented. The techniques were investigated to determine the feasibility of using an autonomous, machine vision based approach to manipulate and plant lily bulbs from a provided source, to pre-augered holes produced by a pre-defined autonomous platform.

The machine vision approach involved taking a top down image of the bulbs and identifying the head positions and what orientation they were facing relative to their root structures. This was achieved using various standard machine vision techniques like segmenting using global thresholding and identification of heads using the Hough circular transform. The investigated manipulation method involved applying the above mentioned vision system to a standard ABB IRB-120 universal manipulator with a three bellow suction gripper to pick up the detected bulbs and manipulate the bulbs in the orientation perceived by the vision system.

It was found that the machine vision algorithm provided a 75 per cent success rate when providing an optimal region of interest within the bulbs head. The success rate is a considerably successful result as the detection algorithm not only needed to detect the location of the bulbs, but the centroid of its head and also determine the approximate orientation relative to each samples individual root structure. The manipulation results showed that the engagement of the suction gripper was a significant component of failure during testing. The observed success rate was at 41 per cent. This high failure rate means that further improvements should be made before a successful end effector and manipulation pair would be achieved. Improving suction rate or developing a specialized gripper for the specific amorphous bulbs would have to be investigated further before there is confirmation of a satisfactory solution for the Automated Lily Planter. Further work could be done to improve the algorithm and fine-tune the output provided. Improvements could be made to optimise the detection algorithm like improved lighting and better contrast between the bulbs colour gradient and that of the platform's background. Further development on the manipulators approach should also be conducted for validation.

text: Identification and manipulation of lily bulbs for an automated lily bulb planting system Automation in agriculture is growing year by year. The goal of automating processes is to provide inexpensive and more effective solutions for everyday problems present in the industry. Automation in agriculture adds value to the product and in turn, to the farmer's infrastructure. This automation also aims to provide higher skill labour for workers that the automation processes substitute.  Using machine vision as a means of automating processes is very common in factory environments and is being adapted for the external agriculture environments (i.e. automated detection for produce harvesting).

Machine vision and manipulation techniques for a lily bulb plantation were presented. The techniques were investigated to determine the feasibility of using an autonomous, machine vision based approach to manipulate and plant lily bulbs from a provided source, to pre-augered holes produced by a pre-defined autonomous platform.

The machine vision approach involved taking a top down image of the bulbs and identifying the head positions and what orientation they were facing relative to their root structures. This was achieved using various standard machine vision techniques like segmenting using global thresholding and identification of heads using the Hough circular transform. The investigated manipulation method involved applying the above mentioned vision system to a standard ABB IRB-120 universal manipulator with a three bellow suction gripper to pick up the detected bulbs and manipulate the bulbs in the orientation perceived by the vision system.

It was found that the machine vision algorithm provided a 75 per cent success rate when providing an optimal region of interest within the bulbs head. The success rate is a considerably successful result as the detection algorithm not only needed to detect the location of the bulbs, but the centroid of its head and also determine the approximate orientation relative to each samples individual root structure. The manipulation results showed that the engagement of the suction gripper was a significant component of failure during testing. The observed success rate was at 41 per cent. This high failure rate means that further improvements should be made before a successful end effector and manipulation pair would be achieved. Improving suction rate or developing a specialized gripper for the specific amorphous bulbs would have to be investigated further before there is confirmation of a satisfactory solution for the Automated Lily Planter. Further work could be done to improve the algorithm and fine-tune the output provided. Improvements could be made to optimise the detection algorithm like improved lighting and better contrast between the bulbs colour gradient and that of the platform's background. Further development on the manipulators approach should also be conducted for validation.

year: 2019

title: River Co-management and Planning in the Waikato: An Analysis of Regional and District Plans and Regional Policy Statement Compliance, and a New Approach to Plan Preparation

authors: den Ouden, Hester

subjects: co-management

abstract: The Waikato River is one of New Zealand most significant rivers.  It is an ancestor to one Iwi, significant to four other Iwi generates most of the country’s hydroelectricity and provides large amount of potable water to municipalities.
In 2010 and 2012 three Acts of parliament established the framework for the restoration and protection of the Waikato River Catchment.  It did so in three ways.  The River Co-Management Legislation (RCML) has significantly added to the policy framework under the Resource Management Act 1991 for the Waikato Regional and six Districts.  It introduced the requirement for co-management of decision-making at policy and regulatory approvals, and established the Waikato River Authority which manages a $270 million Clean-Up fund.
This research outlines the provisions of the three statutes that comprise the RCML, how legislation changed the hierarchy of the planning framework, and identifies areas where improvements could be made.  
The RCML introduces a ‘Vision and Strategy’ as a National Policy Statement for the area of the region within the Waikato River Catchment.  The ‘Vision and Strategy’ comprises 13 statements that are the Vision and 12 statements that are the strategy, collectively referred to as stratagems.  The research assesses each plan and policy statement within the Waikato River catchment to determine the nature and level of incorporation of the 25 stratagems of ‘Vision and Strategy’.
A new approach in planning is the requirement for the use of Maatauranga Maaori along with western science, the Māori and western science worldviews.  These worldviews are discussed.  Three Models that use Maatauranga Maaori principles are described.  The purpose of this has been to begin a discussion on the basis of another perspective in future plan and policy making that included better provisions based on the Maatauranga Maaori worldview.
The Planning Under a Co-operative Mandate (PUCM) project assisted in identify criteria against which to assess the regional and district plans and regional policy statement, their quality, comprehensiveness of inclusion of the ‘Vision and Strategy’ stratagems, and the required cascading nature of Objective policies and methods that are contain in the plans and regional policy statement.   
Key findings were that the provisions or inclusion of the ‘Vision and Strategy’ Stratagems was mixed, high in the case of scientifically quantifiable matters and poor and non-existent where matters to be included were less able to be quantified and qualified in a western science worldview.  The strengths and weakness of including the ‘Vision and Strategy’ Stratagems varied and the strength of that inclusion was identified.
A consequential finding was the overall quality of the plans themselves.  The first PUCM report to government in 2001 on plan quality, scored all six districts and regional plans below 50%.  Using PUCM project criteria to assess the degree to which the Stratagems were included in the plans in 2016 showed a similar result.  The consequential findings also found confusion over the nature of good objective, policy and method drafting.  It also found significant lack of cascading from objectives through policies to methods.

text: River Co-management and Planning in the Waikato: An Analysis of Regional and District Plans and Regional Policy Statement Compliance, and a New Approach to Plan Preparation The Waikato River is one of New Zealand most significant rivers.  It is an ancestor to one Iwi, significant to four other Iwi generates most of the country’s hydroelectricity and provides large amount of potable water to municipalities.
In 2010 and 2012 three Acts of parliament established the framework for the restoration and protection of the Waikato River Catchment.  It did so in three ways.  The River Co-Management Legislation (RCML) has significantly added to the policy framework under the Resource Management Act 1991 for the Waikato Regional and six Districts.  It introduced the requirement for co-management of decision-making at policy and regulatory approvals, and established the Waikato River Authority which manages a $270 million Clean-Up fund.
This research outlines the provisions of the three statutes that comprise the RCML, how legislation changed the hierarchy of the planning framework, and identifies areas where improvements could be made.  
The RCML introduces a ‘Vision and Strategy’ as a National Policy Statement for the area of the region within the Waikato River Catchment.  The ‘Vision and Strategy’ comprises 13 statements that are the Vision and 12 statements that are the strategy, collectively referred to as stratagems.  The research assesses each plan and policy statement within the Waikato River catchment to determine the nature and level of incorporation of the 25 stratagems of ‘Vision and Strategy’.
A new approach in planning is the requirement for the use of Maatauranga Maaori along with western science, the Māori and western science worldviews.  These worldviews are discussed.  Three Models that use Maatauranga Maaori principles are described.  The purpose of this has been to begin a discussion on the basis of another perspective in future plan and policy making that included better provisions based on the Maatauranga Maaori worldview.
The Planning Under a Co-operative Mandate (PUCM) project assisted in identify criteria against which to assess the regional and district plans and regional policy statement, their quality, comprehensiveness of inclusion of the ‘Vision and Strategy’ stratagems, and the required cascading nature of Objective policies and methods that are contain in the plans and regional policy statement.   
Key findings were that the provisions or inclusion of the ‘Vision and Strategy’ Stratagems was mixed, high in the case of scientifically quantifiable matters and poor and non-existent where matters to be included were less able to be quantified and qualified in a western science worldview.  The strengths and weakness of including the ‘Vision and Strategy’ Stratagems varied and the strength of that inclusion was identified.
A consequential finding was the overall quality of the plans themselves.  The first PUCM report to government in 2001 on plan quality, scored all six districts and regional plans below 50%.  Using PUCM project criteria to assess the degree to which the Stratagems were included in the plans in 2016 showed a similar result.  The consequential findings also found confusion over the nature of good objective, policy and method drafting.  It also found significant lack of cascading from objectives through policies to methods.

year: 2017