title: Valuing biodiversity: Decision support for biosecurity response

authors: Bell, Brian Albert

subjects: Biosecurity

abstract: This thesis develops a Decision Support System (DSS) to improve biosecurity response decisions affecting indigenous biodiversity. The key elements of the DSS are a synthesis of three components of non-market valuation: choice modelling, a systematic database of values and benefit transfer, with risk simulation to account for uncertainty. The innovative framework is demonstrated in a manual developed for Biosecurity New Zealand analysts for use during the early days of an incursion when time is severely constrained and uncertainty abounds. Theoretical approaches to decision making for environmental resource allocation decisions are reviewed with particular reference to decision support tools including non-market valuation, stated preference techniques, database development and benefit transfer. More complex and time consuming tools such as deliberative support and mediated modelling are also discussed. A framework is developed to quantify biodiversity values for use in Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). The framework incorporates advanced choice modelling techniques demonstrated through four case studies, a systematic database of biodiversity values and transfer of these values using univariate benefit transfer with theoretical adjustment. The uncertainty in the values captured in the panel version of the Random Parameters Logit (RPL) model is integrated into CBA using risk simulation which utilises the means, standard deviations and correlation coefficients of risky variables to quantify the probability of achieving a positive Net Present Value of different response options. The DSS developed in this thesis has wider application in routine management of pests and diseases and in other resource allocation decisions by public agencies which impact on indigenous biodiversity.

text: Valuing biodiversity: Decision support for biosecurity response This thesis develops a Decision Support System (DSS) to improve biosecurity response decisions affecting indigenous biodiversity. The key elements of the DSS are a synthesis of three components of non-market valuation: choice modelling, a systematic database of values and benefit transfer, with risk simulation to account for uncertainty. The innovative framework is demonstrated in a manual developed for Biosecurity New Zealand analysts for use during the early days of an incursion when time is severely constrained and uncertainty abounds. Theoretical approaches to decision making for environmental resource allocation decisions are reviewed with particular reference to decision support tools including non-market valuation, stated preference techniques, database development and benefit transfer. More complex and time consuming tools such as deliberative support and mediated modelling are also discussed. A framework is developed to quantify biodiversity values for use in Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). The framework incorporates advanced choice modelling techniques demonstrated through four case studies, a systematic database of biodiversity values and transfer of these values using univariate benefit transfer with theoretical adjustment. The uncertainty in the values captured in the panel version of the Random Parameters Logit (RPL) model is integrated into CBA using risk simulation which utilises the means, standard deviations and correlation coefficients of risky variables to quantify the probability of achieving a positive Net Present Value of different response options. The DSS developed in this thesis has wider application in routine management of pests and diseases and in other resource allocation decisions by public agencies which impact on indigenous biodiversity.

year: 2011

title: Virtual teleportation of a theatre audience onto the stage: VR as an assistive technology

authors: Srinivasan, Saikrishna

abstract: For more than a decade, virtual reality (VR) has been employed to enrich and heighten media experiences. Despite the recognized potential and promise of VR, and ample investment, it has yet to fully transform or replace existing screen-based experiences (e.g. film or gaming). This research forms a part of a larger project to shift VR applications beyond otherwise apparent areas of screen-based media, in order to enhance audience access and propinquity to a live performance. This study is being conducted in the field of theatre, a dramatic medium in which audience are traditionally static and where an individual’s seating position determines their perceptual experience (distance, angle, lights, obstructed vs clear view). This paper introduces the broader project and its experimentation with VR as an assistive technology. The project seeks to utilize VR as a means of converting an otherwise static experience to provide collective moments of visual teleportation, onto stage, into props and on actors. VR offers a non-invasive means of introducing variance in viewer proximity or position relative to performance. This paper reports on the early development and use of a three-dimensional theatre prototyping in order to explore the technical requirements for application to a VR theatre experience.

text: Virtual teleportation of a theatre audience onto the stage: VR as an assistive technology For more than a decade, virtual reality (VR) has been employed to enrich and heighten media experiences. Despite the recognized potential and promise of VR, and ample investment, it has yet to fully transform or replace existing screen-based experiences (e.g. film or gaming). This research forms a part of a larger project to shift VR applications beyond otherwise apparent areas of screen-based media, in order to enhance audience access and propinquity to a live performance. This study is being conducted in the field of theatre, a dramatic medium in which audience are traditionally static and where an individual’s seating position determines their perceptual experience (distance, angle, lights, obstructed vs clear view). This paper introduces the broader project and its experimentation with VR as an assistive technology. The project seeks to utilize VR as a means of converting an otherwise static experience to provide collective moments of visual teleportation, onto stage, into props and on actors. VR offers a non-invasive means of introducing variance in viewer proximity or position relative to performance. This paper reports on the early development and use of a three-dimensional theatre prototyping in order to explore the technical requirements for application to a VR theatre experience.

year: 2020

title: Nā Wai Koe? Our tūpuna call us home: Maremare whānau thinking about connections to whenua tupuna

authors: Sampson, Jasmine

subjects: Whenua Tūpuna

abstract: This research focuses on the Maremare whānau from Tiniwaitara Marae, Turakina, in order to explore the importance of our relationship with our whenua tupuna and the related concept of returning home. 

Although many academics have carefully attended to the concept of ‘disconnection’ from whenua tupuna in order to describe the effects of Māori mobility, this term unfortunately reinforces the colonial attempt to detach our people from the things that provide us with our sense of belonging. I argue that thinking about relationship with whenua tupuna through terms like ‘disconnection’ and ‘reconnection’ are unhelpful and problematic; instead, when we understand this relationship in Māori terms, our connection to our whenua tupuna is an everlasting relationship that is woven into the fabric of our whakapapa.

The research combines interviews with three generations of the Maremare whānau, including people with diverse experiences of relationships with Turakina, with critical reflection on relevant concepts from Te Ao Māori. Specifically, mobilising a Kaupapa Māori Theory approach, the thesis draws on an oriori, ‘He Oriori mō Wharaurangi’ as the methodology and foundation of this thesis. In this way, the thesis both argues and demonstrates the value of researchers, and in particular kairangahau Māori, look to mātauranga Māori to guide us in our research about Māori topics. This oriori is iwi specific, it holds kōrero tuku iho that pertains to my whakapapa as an uri of Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa and it is very relevant to both my kaupapa and the people participating in the rangahau.

Ultimately, whakapapa rests at the core of connection to whenua tupuna. It is the foundation in which we stand and it connects us as a people to the land that birthed us. This thesis looks at the different ways that our tūpuna call us home, the different ‘returning home’ experiences within the Maremare whānau and how people within the whānau view their connection with our whenua tupuna in Turakina. Nā wai koe? Our tūpuna call us home.

text: Nā Wai Koe? Our tūpuna call us home: Maremare whānau thinking about connections to whenua tupuna This research focuses on the Maremare whānau from Tiniwaitara Marae, Turakina, in order to explore the importance of our relationship with our whenua tupuna and the related concept of returning home. 

Although many academics have carefully attended to the concept of ‘disconnection’ from whenua tupuna in order to describe the effects of Māori mobility, this term unfortunately reinforces the colonial attempt to detach our people from the things that provide us with our sense of belonging. I argue that thinking about relationship with whenua tupuna through terms like ‘disconnection’ and ‘reconnection’ are unhelpful and problematic; instead, when we understand this relationship in Māori terms, our connection to our whenua tupuna is an everlasting relationship that is woven into the fabric of our whakapapa.

The research combines interviews with three generations of the Maremare whānau, including people with diverse experiences of relationships with Turakina, with critical reflection on relevant concepts from Te Ao Māori. Specifically, mobilising a Kaupapa Māori Theory approach, the thesis draws on an oriori, ‘He Oriori mō Wharaurangi’ as the methodology and foundation of this thesis. In this way, the thesis both argues and demonstrates the value of researchers, and in particular kairangahau Māori, look to mātauranga Māori to guide us in our research about Māori topics. This oriori is iwi specific, it holds kōrero tuku iho that pertains to my whakapapa as an uri of Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa and it is very relevant to both my kaupapa and the people participating in the rangahau.

Ultimately, whakapapa rests at the core of connection to whenua tupuna. It is the foundation in which we stand and it connects us as a people to the land that birthed us. This thesis looks at the different ways that our tūpuna call us home, the different ‘returning home’ experiences within the Maremare whānau and how people within the whānau view their connection with our whenua tupuna in Turakina. Nā wai koe? Our tūpuna call us home.

year: 2021