title: Time-evolving data science and artificial intelligence for Advanced Open Environmental Science (TAIAO) programme

authors: Koh, Yun Sing

subjects: computer science

abstract: New Zealand's unique ecosystems face increasing threats from climate change, impacting biodiversity and posing challenges to safety, livelihoods, and well-being. To tackle these complex issues,  advanced data science and artificial intelligence techniques can provide unique solutions. Currently, in its fourth year of a seven-year program, TAIAO focuses on methods for analyzing environmental datasets. Recognizing this urgency, the open-source TAIAO platform was developed. This platform enables new artificial intelligence research for environmental data and offers an open-access repository to enhance reproducibility in the field. This paper will showcase four environmental case studies, artificial intelligence research, platform implementation details, and future development plans.

text: Time-evolving data science and artificial intelligence for Advanced Open Environmental Science (TAIAO) programme New Zealand's unique ecosystems face increasing threats from climate change, impacting biodiversity and posing challenges to safety, livelihoods, and well-being. To tackle these complex issues,  advanced data science and artificial intelligence techniques can provide unique solutions. Currently, in its fourth year of a seven-year program, TAIAO focuses on methods for analyzing environmental datasets. Recognizing this urgency, the open-source TAIAO platform was developed. This platform enables new artificial intelligence research for environmental data and offers an open-access repository to enhance reproducibility in the field. This paper will showcase four environmental case studies, artificial intelligence research, platform implementation details, and future development plans.

year: 2024

title: The Queen Bee in New Zealand: The role of group commitment in group-distancing behaviour

authors: van Lieshout, Courteney

abstract: Considering the plethora of barriers that women face in the pursuit of leadership and success as leaders, it is valuable to gain an in-depth understanding of each specific obstacle that women leaders face. In this vein, the present research strives to investigate the Queen Bee (QB) phenomenon—a term assigned to women leaders who distance themselves from their female subordinates and juniors, rather than helping them achieve leadership themselves. More specifically, this research aims to investigate the relationship between Queen Bee behaviours and an individual’s connection and commitment to their gender group—a concept termed Gender Identification (GID) here. As a secondary aim, this study also endeavours to explore the relationship between several measures used to assess QB attitudes.
Participants were recruited from the University of Waikato’s Practical Research Experience in Psychology (PREP) program, with 39 participants providing valid responses on all measures. Participants were mostly young (71.1% under 20 years old) psychology students, and mostly female (76%). They undertook an experimental in-person 1-hour session replicated from a previous study which consisted of a simulated management scenario where participants were tasked with helping a subordinate (either the male or female candidate) gain promotion. This measure indexed a behavioural assessment of QB group- distancing behaviour, and a self-report questionnaire was also included to measure participants’ explicit QB distancing attitudes.
Regression analysis revealed that, contrary to hypotheses, stronger GID predicted the favouring of the same-gender candidate and distancing from the candidate of opposite gender in both male and female participants, although this relationship did not reach statistical significance. Further, correlation analysis revealed, as expected, no correlation between the implicit (behavioural) and explicit (self-report) measures of QB distancing. The results suggest that the relationship between GID and QB distancing, in both men and women, is more nuanced than reported in previous research. Specifically, low gender-group connection and commitment may result in a nothing-to-lose mentality, sparking more engagement in radical collective action (such as favouring women over men at work), whereas strong GID may result in concerns of how such collective action will reflect poorly on the gender group. Further, the results indicate that explicit and implicit measures of QB distancing may relate poorly to each other, suggesting caution be taken when using these different types of measures interchangeably or comparing data across studies. The research highlights that further studies of a replicative nature are necessary in psychology, and that further research concerning the QB phenomenon in New Zealand women is necessary to understand the engagement with these distancing behaviours among our women leaders.

text: The Queen Bee in New Zealand: The role of group commitment in group-distancing behaviour Considering the plethora of barriers that women face in the pursuit of leadership and success as leaders, it is valuable to gain an in-depth understanding of each specific obstacle that women leaders face. In this vein, the present research strives to investigate the Queen Bee (QB) phenomenon—a term assigned to women leaders who distance themselves from their female subordinates and juniors, rather than helping them achieve leadership themselves. More specifically, this research aims to investigate the relationship between Queen Bee behaviours and an individual’s connection and commitment to their gender group—a concept termed Gender Identification (GID) here. As a secondary aim, this study also endeavours to explore the relationship between several measures used to assess QB attitudes.
Participants were recruited from the University of Waikato’s Practical Research Experience in Psychology (PREP) program, with 39 participants providing valid responses on all measures. Participants were mostly young (71.1% under 20 years old) psychology students, and mostly female (76%). They undertook an experimental in-person 1-hour session replicated from a previous study which consisted of a simulated management scenario where participants were tasked with helping a subordinate (either the male or female candidate) gain promotion. This measure indexed a behavioural assessment of QB group- distancing behaviour, and a self-report questionnaire was also included to measure participants’ explicit QB distancing attitudes.
Regression analysis revealed that, contrary to hypotheses, stronger GID predicted the favouring of the same-gender candidate and distancing from the candidate of opposite gender in both male and female participants, although this relationship did not reach statistical significance. Further, correlation analysis revealed, as expected, no correlation between the implicit (behavioural) and explicit (self-report) measures of QB distancing. The results suggest that the relationship between GID and QB distancing, in both men and women, is more nuanced than reported in previous research. Specifically, low gender-group connection and commitment may result in a nothing-to-lose mentality, sparking more engagement in radical collective action (such as favouring women over men at work), whereas strong GID may result in concerns of how such collective action will reflect poorly on the gender group. Further, the results indicate that explicit and implicit measures of QB distancing may relate poorly to each other, suggesting caution be taken when using these different types of measures interchangeably or comparing data across studies. The research highlights that further studies of a replicative nature are necessary in psychology, and that further research concerning the QB phenomenon in New Zealand women is necessary to understand the engagement with these distancing behaviours among our women leaders.

year: 2019

title: Who owns native nature? Discourses of rights to land, culture, and knowledge in New Zealand

authors: Goldsmith, Michael

subjects: indigenous cultures

abstract: Michael Brown famously asked ‘Who owns native culture?’ This paper revisits that question by analyzing what happens to culture when the culturally defined boundary between it and nature becomes salient in the context of disputes between indigenous and settler populations. My case study is the dispute between the New Zealand government and Maori tribal groupings concerning ownership of the foreshore and seabed. Having been granted the right to test their claims in court in 2003, Maori groups were enraged when the government legislated the right out of existence in 2004. Though the reasons for doing so were clearly political, contrasting cultural assumptions appeared to set Maori and Pakeha (New Zealanders of European origin) at odds. While couching ownership of part of nature as an IPR issue may seem counter-intuitive, I argue that as soon as a property claim destabilizes the nature/culture boundary, IPR discourse becomes pertinent.

text: Who owns native nature? Discourses of rights to land, culture, and knowledge in New Zealand Michael Brown famously asked ‘Who owns native culture?’ This paper revisits that question by analyzing what happens to culture when the culturally defined boundary between it and nature becomes salient in the context of disputes between indigenous and settler populations. My case study is the dispute between the New Zealand government and Maori tribal groupings concerning ownership of the foreshore and seabed. Having been granted the right to test their claims in court in 2003, Maori groups were enraged when the government legislated the right out of existence in 2004. Though the reasons for doing so were clearly political, contrasting cultural assumptions appeared to set Maori and Pakeha (New Zealanders of European origin) at odds. While couching ownership of part of nature as an IPR issue may seem counter-intuitive, I argue that as soon as a property claim destabilizes the nature/culture boundary, IPR discourse becomes pertinent.

year: 2009