title: Adapting and implementing the Sunny Start DANCE programme in New Zealand: A pilot study

authors: Herberg, Kim

abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of the Sunny Starts DANCE parent training programme in the New Zealand context. Sunny Start’s primary focus is to enhance the quality of social interactions between parents and their toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Parent training involved teaching parents basic interaction methods to increase their child’s skills through play-based interactions in face-to-face sessions and during the child’s bedtime and morning routines. This training aimed to provide the child with learning opportunities, increase their access to reinforcement, and, in turn, enhance the quality of parent-child interactions. Participants included one parent-child dyad, wherein the child, while not formally diagnosed with ASD, displayed some skill deficits consistent with this disorder. Multiple probe designs across parent and child behaviours and settings were used to evaluate parent and child responses, harmonious engagement, and indices of happiness. Results indicate that some measures increased during face-to-face sessions, whilst little to no improvement occurred during routine sessions. Strengths, limitations, social validity, the validity of findings, generalisation, research implications, clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

text: Adapting and implementing the Sunny Start DANCE programme in New Zealand: A pilot study This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of the Sunny Starts DANCE parent training programme in the New Zealand context. Sunny Start’s primary focus is to enhance the quality of social interactions between parents and their toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Parent training involved teaching parents basic interaction methods to increase their child’s skills through play-based interactions in face-to-face sessions and during the child’s bedtime and morning routines. This training aimed to provide the child with learning opportunities, increase their access to reinforcement, and, in turn, enhance the quality of parent-child interactions. Participants included one parent-child dyad, wherein the child, while not formally diagnosed with ASD, displayed some skill deficits consistent with this disorder. Multiple probe designs across parent and child behaviours and settings were used to evaluate parent and child responses, harmonious engagement, and indices of happiness. Results indicate that some measures increased during face-to-face sessions, whilst little to no improvement occurred during routine sessions. Strengths, limitations, social validity, the validity of findings, generalisation, research implications, clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

year: 2024

title: Accumulation of soil organic C and change in C:N ratio after establishment of pastures on reverted scrubland in New Zealand

authors: Schipper, Louis A.

subjects: soil organic C

abstract: Rates of organic carbon accumulation and changes in C:N ratio are reported for 10 New Zealand soils converted to pastures from scrub. The data were derived from archive papers originally published in 1964, but which did not report on changes in the C contents of the soils. The soils had been sampled to 0–7.5, 7.5–15, and 15–30 cm depths and chronosequences of up to 66 years obtained by selecting sites with differing times since pasture establishment. We calculated changes in the mass of C and N in the 0–7.5 cm depth and compared that to the mass in the 0–30 cm depth of soil. The shortest time over which organic matter change was assessed was 18 years and the longest was 66 years. Nine of the ten soils showed increases in the C contents of the 0–7.5 cm depth soil, and a natural logarithmic curve generally gave a better fit to the time course data than a linear fit. However, when the full 0–30 cm depth was considered, only two soils showed a significant increase in total C, changes in the C contents of other soils were non-significant, and two soils showed a decline in total C. The rates of change in the C contents were averaged over 0–5 years, 5–25 years and 25–50 years. Across all 10 soils, the mean rates of accumulation of C in the 0–7.5 cm depth were 1.07 (between 0 and 5 years), 0.27 (between 5 and 25 years) and 0.09 Mg C ha−1 year−1 (between 25 and 50 years) and significantly (P < 0.05) greater than zero. Very similar rates were obtained for the 0–30 cm depth of soil with mean rates across all soils 1.01 (0–5 years), 0.25 (5–25 years) and 0.09 Mg C ha−1 year −1 (25–50 years), respectively. In the 0–7.5 cm depth of soil, total Kjeldahl N (TKN) increased significantly in seven of the 10 soils. When expressed for the 0–30 cm depth of soil, only five soils still showed significant increases in TKN contents over time. Using the data for the 0–7.5 cm depth, the predicted time (mean and standard error) for the soils to reach a C:N ratio of <10 was 46 ± 17 years. The soils were originally sampled over 44 years ago, suggesting that currently (2009), very few of them could be expected to have capacity for further N storage in organic matter in the surface soil unless there was an increase in soil C. Changes in soil C and N in the shallow upper soil layers are easily masked by the relatively small changes in C and N contents and much greater masses of soil at lower depths.

text: Accumulation of soil organic C and change in C:N ratio after establishment of pastures on reverted scrubland in New Zealand Rates of organic carbon accumulation and changes in C:N ratio are reported for 10 New Zealand soils converted to pastures from scrub. The data were derived from archive papers originally published in 1964, but which did not report on changes in the C contents of the soils. The soils had been sampled to 0–7.5, 7.5–15, and 15–30 cm depths and chronosequences of up to 66 years obtained by selecting sites with differing times since pasture establishment. We calculated changes in the mass of C and N in the 0–7.5 cm depth and compared that to the mass in the 0–30 cm depth of soil. The shortest time over which organic matter change was assessed was 18 years and the longest was 66 years. Nine of the ten soils showed increases in the C contents of the 0–7.5 cm depth soil, and a natural logarithmic curve generally gave a better fit to the time course data than a linear fit. However, when the full 0–30 cm depth was considered, only two soils showed a significant increase in total C, changes in the C contents of other soils were non-significant, and two soils showed a decline in total C. The rates of change in the C contents were averaged over 0–5 years, 5–25 years and 25–50 years. Across all 10 soils, the mean rates of accumulation of C in the 0–7.5 cm depth were 1.07 (between 0 and 5 years), 0.27 (between 5 and 25 years) and 0.09 Mg C ha−1 year−1 (between 25 and 50 years) and significantly (P < 0.05) greater than zero. Very similar rates were obtained for the 0–30 cm depth of soil with mean rates across all soils 1.01 (0–5 years), 0.25 (5–25 years) and 0.09 Mg C ha−1 year −1 (25–50 years), respectively. In the 0–7.5 cm depth of soil, total Kjeldahl N (TKN) increased significantly in seven of the 10 soils. When expressed for the 0–30 cm depth of soil, only five soils still showed significant increases in TKN contents over time. Using the data for the 0–7.5 cm depth, the predicted time (mean and standard error) for the soils to reach a C:N ratio of <10 was 46 ± 17 years. The soils were originally sampled over 44 years ago, suggesting that currently (2009), very few of them could be expected to have capacity for further N storage in organic matter in the surface soil unless there was an increase in soil C. Changes in soil C and N in the shallow upper soil layers are easily masked by the relatively small changes in C and N contents and much greater masses of soil at lower depths.

year: 2010

title: In your face: wearing Moko - Maori facial marking in today's world

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: Moko

abstract: The early voyagers, missionaries, settlers all reacted to the pukanohi, to the marked
faces of the Maori people during the period of first contact, and the century following
it. Their accounts are vivid, judgemental, revealing, telling us as much about them, as
it does about the people they described. Curiosity and horror are mixed with a
genuine fascination; where sternly evangelizing words failed, armed confrontation
occurred; and we now live with the results, te ao hou, a new world.
In this world, today, wahine mau kauae, tangata mau moko, pukanohi - wearers - are
speaking for themselves, about themselves, and commenting on how others view
them. Unanimously, they insist the decision to take the marking is about continuity,
affirmation, identity, and commitment. It is also about wearing those ancestors,
carrying them into the future; as their moko become a companion, a salient being with
its own life force, its own integrity and power, beyond the face.

text: In your face: wearing Moko - Maori facial marking in today's world The early voyagers, missionaries, settlers all reacted to the pukanohi, to the marked
faces of the Maori people during the period of first contact, and the century following
it. Their accounts are vivid, judgemental, revealing, telling us as much about them, as
it does about the people they described. Curiosity and horror are mixed with a
genuine fascination; where sternly evangelizing words failed, armed confrontation
occurred; and we now live with the results, te ao hou, a new world.
In this world, today, wahine mau kauae, tangata mau moko, pukanohi - wearers - are
speaking for themselves, about themselves, and commenting on how others view
them. Unanimously, they insist the decision to take the marking is about continuity,
affirmation, identity, and commitment. It is also about wearing those ancestors,
carrying them into the future; as their moko become a companion, a salient being with
its own life force, its own integrity and power, beyond the face.

year: 2003-08-01