title: Shifting Selves: Home beyond the House - A Study of Ageing, Housing and Wellbeing of Older Chinese Migrants to New Zealand

authors: Li, Wendy Wen

subjects: Self

abstract: Older Chinese immigrants are one of the largest ethnic ageing groups in New Zealand. However, people‘s everyday experiences of settling in a new and unfamiliar environment have been largely overlooked, particularly for older adults. This research explores the biographies, identities and everyday experiences of filial piety among older Chinese immigrants. Particular consideration is given to the role of filial piety in participants‘ housing and ageing experiences. This research is one of the first explorations of Chinese immigrant ageing in place, which also considers changing enactments of filial piety. The research is informed by a hybrid narrative approach that draws on episodic, go-along and fangtan interview techniques used with 32 older Chinese immigrants in Auckland and Hamilton. Findings support the importance of exploring positive experiences of migration and ageing. Older Chinese immigrants do often experience biographical disruptions and status-discrepancies when they move from China to New Zealand. However, in response, the participants engage in positive activities such as gardening and art as a means of cultivating a new sense of self and place in a new land that is compatible with their existing identities as older Chinese adults. The analysis explores the material-mediated basis for participant adjustment and acculturation. Through adaptive acculturation, older Chinese immigrants‘ abilities for both integrating into the host culture and maintaining their ethnic identities are realised. The analysis also demonstrates that traditional Chinese aged care models of family support with high level of intergenerational co-residence are evolving to encompass practices of filial piety at a distance and to encompass more pluralistic familial living arrangements. The analysis also demonstrates the importance of considering how ageing occurs beyond physical spaces and within cultural, social, relational and imagined landscapes. The analysis shifts away from the focus in existing literature on how older Chinese immigrants are passively transformed into minority subjects to how they are transforming themselves through migration and their efforts to age well in New Zealand.

text: Shifting Selves: Home beyond the House - A Study of Ageing, Housing and Wellbeing of Older Chinese Migrants to New Zealand Older Chinese immigrants are one of the largest ethnic ageing groups in New Zealand. However, people‘s everyday experiences of settling in a new and unfamiliar environment have been largely overlooked, particularly for older adults. This research explores the biographies, identities and everyday experiences of filial piety among older Chinese immigrants. Particular consideration is given to the role of filial piety in participants‘ housing and ageing experiences. This research is one of the first explorations of Chinese immigrant ageing in place, which also considers changing enactments of filial piety. The research is informed by a hybrid narrative approach that draws on episodic, go-along and fangtan interview techniques used with 32 older Chinese immigrants in Auckland and Hamilton. Findings support the importance of exploring positive experiences of migration and ageing. Older Chinese immigrants do often experience biographical disruptions and status-discrepancies when they move from China to New Zealand. However, in response, the participants engage in positive activities such as gardening and art as a means of cultivating a new sense of self and place in a new land that is compatible with their existing identities as older Chinese adults. The analysis explores the material-mediated basis for participant adjustment and acculturation. Through adaptive acculturation, older Chinese immigrants‘ abilities for both integrating into the host culture and maintaining their ethnic identities are realised. The analysis also demonstrates that traditional Chinese aged care models of family support with high level of intergenerational co-residence are evolving to encompass practices of filial piety at a distance and to encompass more pluralistic familial living arrangements. The analysis also demonstrates the importance of considering how ageing occurs beyond physical spaces and within cultural, social, relational and imagined landscapes. The analysis shifts away from the focus in existing literature on how older Chinese immigrants are passively transformed into minority subjects to how they are transforming themselves through migration and their efforts to age well in New Zealand.

year: 2011

title: Lake Rotorua sediment survey

authors: Özkundakci, Deniz

abstract: Water quality in Lake Rotorua has improved over recent years, with reductions of nitrogen, phosphorus and chloropyll a concentrations, and increased water clarity. These changes coincide with alum dosing of the Utuhina and Puarenga inflows, commenced in 2007 and 2010 respectively. The aim of inflow alum dosing is to reduce external phosphorus load by binding (inactivation of) phosphorus flowing into the lake, however, it has been hypothesised that dosing these streams has had subsidiary beneficial effects on the water quality in the lake itself. Namely, the hypothesised effects relate to adsorption of P in the water column and the settling of alum flocs onto bottom sediments, which in turn could reduce sediment release of phosphorus into the overlying water column (internal loading). This report was commissioned by Bay of Plenty Regional Council to investigate the possibility of stream-dosed alum improving water quality in Lake Rotorua. The objective of this study was to assess how much of the dosed alum, if any, could have been deposited onto the bottom sediments of Lake Rotorua where it could reduce internal phosphorus loading. This objective was achieved by two approaches: (i) a field survey of Lake Rotorua bottom sediments in order to observe any changes in sediment aluminium and phosphorus concentrations following the alum dosing of Utuhina and Puarenga streams and (ii) an aluminium mass balance for the inflows and lake, to explore the potential amount of alum settling out of the water column and onto the bottom sediment, taking into account the potential phosphorus uptake rate of alum.
In comparison with sediment samples collected in 2006, sediment Al concentrations in 2012 were lower in the main basin of the lake. Phosphorus concentrations in the sediments were reduced at four sites located near to the discharges of the Utuhina and Puarenga Streams, but sites further from the stream (i.e. deep basin and close to the Ohau Channel outlet) showed increased concentrations of phosphorus in the sediment. 
The aluminium mass balance for Lake Rotorua provided insights into the potential amount of alum reaching the lake and sediments after some proportion of the aluminium had bound phosphorus in the preceding ‘reactor’, including the inflows. There was a low probability that a large proportion of the dosed Al would have reached the sediments in Lake Rotorua. Only in the years 2010 and 2011, when alum dose rate to the streams was comparably high, some of the dosed alum was likely to have reached the lake sediments. There was a high probability that a large fraction of the Al reached the lake water column with the potential to reduce in-lake water column P concentrations.
Scenarios in the aluminium mass balance were developed to ascertain the conditions needed to achieve a given target for percentage uptake of lake water column P, with respect to the parameters for the fraction of TP available for uptake by alum and the effective Al: P ratio. Only when simulating a 90% reduction of water column P concentrations was the range of possible parameter values for achieving such a reduction relatively constrained. In simulated scenarios where a substantial reduction of internal P loading was the target, parameter values in both the inflows and water column were considerably constrained, indicating that phosphorus uptake by aluminium was likely to be considerable in the inflow and water column. Even with constraint of the parameter values in the inflows and water column, it appeared unlikely that an amount of alum could reach the sediment sufficient to significantly reduce internal P loading.
Changes in sediment P concentrations observed in this study are suggested to have occurred through the synergistic effects of changes in external nutrient loading, sediment focusing and changes in duration and severity of anoxic events in the hypolimnion of the lake driven by unusual climatic events during that time which may have reduced water column stability. The alum mass balance results suggest that although it is possible that some alum reached the bottom sediments in Lake Rotorua, any effect on internal loading was likely to be minor, even in the years 2010 and 2011 when the alum dose rates were comparably high. The conditions under which a substantial reduction of internal P loading would have been possible (with respect to the fraction of the P pool available for uptake and the effective Al:P ratio), are considered highly optimistic (i.e. Al:P ratio ~ 3.5) when compared to literature values of Al:P ratios in other alum-dosed eutrophic lakes.
This study suggests that the amount of Al dosed to the streams is unlikely to explain completely the recent improvement of water quality in Lake Rotorua. Any claim otherwise, should be viewed with caution and can be regarded as optimistic.

text: Lake Rotorua sediment survey Water quality in Lake Rotorua has improved over recent years, with reductions of nitrogen, phosphorus and chloropyll a concentrations, and increased water clarity. These changes coincide with alum dosing of the Utuhina and Puarenga inflows, commenced in 2007 and 2010 respectively. The aim of inflow alum dosing is to reduce external phosphorus load by binding (inactivation of) phosphorus flowing into the lake, however, it has been hypothesised that dosing these streams has had subsidiary beneficial effects on the water quality in the lake itself. Namely, the hypothesised effects relate to adsorption of P in the water column and the settling of alum flocs onto bottom sediments, which in turn could reduce sediment release of phosphorus into the overlying water column (internal loading). This report was commissioned by Bay of Plenty Regional Council to investigate the possibility of stream-dosed alum improving water quality in Lake Rotorua. The objective of this study was to assess how much of the dosed alum, if any, could have been deposited onto the bottom sediments of Lake Rotorua where it could reduce internal phosphorus loading. This objective was achieved by two approaches: (i) a field survey of Lake Rotorua bottom sediments in order to observe any changes in sediment aluminium and phosphorus concentrations following the alum dosing of Utuhina and Puarenga streams and (ii) an aluminium mass balance for the inflows and lake, to explore the potential amount of alum settling out of the water column and onto the bottom sediment, taking into account the potential phosphorus uptake rate of alum.
In comparison with sediment samples collected in 2006, sediment Al concentrations in 2012 were lower in the main basin of the lake. Phosphorus concentrations in the sediments were reduced at four sites located near to the discharges of the Utuhina and Puarenga Streams, but sites further from the stream (i.e. deep basin and close to the Ohau Channel outlet) showed increased concentrations of phosphorus in the sediment. 
The aluminium mass balance for Lake Rotorua provided insights into the potential amount of alum reaching the lake and sediments after some proportion of the aluminium had bound phosphorus in the preceding ‘reactor’, including the inflows. There was a low probability that a large proportion of the dosed Al would have reached the sediments in Lake Rotorua. Only in the years 2010 and 2011, when alum dose rate to the streams was comparably high, some of the dosed alum was likely to have reached the lake sediments. There was a high probability that a large fraction of the Al reached the lake water column with the potential to reduce in-lake water column P concentrations.
Scenarios in the aluminium mass balance were developed to ascertain the conditions needed to achieve a given target for percentage uptake of lake water column P, with respect to the parameters for the fraction of TP available for uptake by alum and the effective Al: P ratio. Only when simulating a 90% reduction of water column P concentrations was the range of possible parameter values for achieving such a reduction relatively constrained. In simulated scenarios where a substantial reduction of internal P loading was the target, parameter values in both the inflows and water column were considerably constrained, indicating that phosphorus uptake by aluminium was likely to be considerable in the inflow and water column. Even with constraint of the parameter values in the inflows and water column, it appeared unlikely that an amount of alum could reach the sediment sufficient to significantly reduce internal P loading.
Changes in sediment P concentrations observed in this study are suggested to have occurred through the synergistic effects of changes in external nutrient loading, sediment focusing and changes in duration and severity of anoxic events in the hypolimnion of the lake driven by unusual climatic events during that time which may have reduced water column stability. The alum mass balance results suggest that although it is possible that some alum reached the bottom sediments in Lake Rotorua, any effect on internal loading was likely to be minor, even in the years 2010 and 2011 when the alum dose rates were comparably high. The conditions under which a substantial reduction of internal P loading would have been possible (with respect to the fraction of the P pool available for uptake and the effective Al:P ratio), are considered highly optimistic (i.e. Al:P ratio ~ 3.5) when compared to literature values of Al:P ratios in other alum-dosed eutrophic lakes.
This study suggests that the amount of Al dosed to the streams is unlikely to explain completely the recent improvement of water quality in Lake Rotorua. Any claim otherwise, should be viewed with caution and can be regarded as optimistic.

year: 2014

title: Te Arawa– Kaitaki of Te Arawa Lakes

authors: Curtis, Sir Toby

abstract: The Te Arawa Lakes Trust has embarked on a project to develop a Te Arawa Cultural Values Framework, in regard to the 14 lakes located in our tribal region. There are a host of positives that we believe can accrue as an outcome of this exercise. Already the calibre of people acknowledged for their cultural expertise have added a lot by their attendance. Their presence and contribution injected a level of enthusiasm and confidence in the compilation of the final draft. It is hoped that distribution among the wider community will elicit constructive feedback.

text: Te Arawa– Kaitaki of Te Arawa Lakes The Te Arawa Lakes Trust has embarked on a project to develop a Te Arawa Cultural Values Framework, in regard to the 14 lakes located in our tribal region. There are a host of positives that we believe can accrue as an outcome of this exercise. Already the calibre of people acknowledged for their cultural expertise have added a lot by their attendance. Their presence and contribution injected a level of enthusiasm and confidence in the compilation of the final draft. It is hoped that distribution among the wider community will elicit constructive feedback.

year: 2015