title: Hamilton City long-tailed bat survey: Annual monitoring report, 2022

authors: Caskey, Laura

abstract: Deforestation, urbanisation and the introduction of mammalian predators has resulted in a significant decline of New Zealand’s long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus or pekapeka-tou-roa), which is currently classified as threatened, nationally critical. Hamilton City is one of three urban areas with confirmed long-tailed bat populations. Since 2016, annual city-wide surveys have been conducted by Project Echo, a multi-agency advocacy group for Hamilton City bats. The purpose of the annual surveys is to monitor for changes in bat activity and habitat use throughout Hamilton City, this report presents findings from the 2022 survey.

A total of 72 automatic bat monitors (ABMs) were deployed across 20 historically monitored sites and 52 spatially distributed sites, as specified by a Master Sample design. Acoustic bat monitors (Model AR4) were deployed for approximately 3 weeks, however, only 14 ABMs remained operational for the full 3-weeks, with 30 units failing to operate for more than 4 days. ABM failure was ascribed to the use of older rechargeable batteries. Despite this, a total of 6,734 bat passes were detected from 19 sites, compared to detections at 18 sites from 64 deployments in the 2021 city survey. Similar to previous years, most bat activity was recorded in the south of the city, in close association with the Waikato River and the Mangakotukutuku gully system. There were also six passes recorded in the central city (Site 67, Tristram Street) along with multiple detections in the Hillcrest, Fairfield and Melville residential areas. This data supports the continued use of the Master Sample survey design for the selection of survey sites. While it is advantageous to retain a proportion of previously monitored sites (~25%) for continuity of data, the Master Sample design has improved the proportion of habitats surveyed with greater coverage of residential areas and the inclusion of commercial and industrial areas which have rarely been surveyed.

The reduced number of operational ABM nights is likely to have substantially reduced the sensitivity of the survey to identify locations of low bat activity, as well as the magnitude of detections in high activity areas. Therefore, it is recommended that the data be treated with caution if making comparisons to previous or similar surveys. On-going annual city-wide bat surveys will help identify key habitat areas for conservation and enhancement, in addition to helping understand the effects of urban development and intensification. This is of particular importance given the ongoing and proposed future development in the south of the city, which raises concerns for the preservation of current bat habitats and their connectivity to the city.

text: Hamilton City long-tailed bat survey: Annual monitoring report, 2022 Deforestation, urbanisation and the introduction of mammalian predators has resulted in a significant decline of New Zealand’s long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus or pekapeka-tou-roa), which is currently classified as threatened, nationally critical. Hamilton City is one of three urban areas with confirmed long-tailed bat populations. Since 2016, annual city-wide surveys have been conducted by Project Echo, a multi-agency advocacy group for Hamilton City bats. The purpose of the annual surveys is to monitor for changes in bat activity and habitat use throughout Hamilton City, this report presents findings from the 2022 survey.

A total of 72 automatic bat monitors (ABMs) were deployed across 20 historically monitored sites and 52 spatially distributed sites, as specified by a Master Sample design. Acoustic bat monitors (Model AR4) were deployed for approximately 3 weeks, however, only 14 ABMs remained operational for the full 3-weeks, with 30 units failing to operate for more than 4 days. ABM failure was ascribed to the use of older rechargeable batteries. Despite this, a total of 6,734 bat passes were detected from 19 sites, compared to detections at 18 sites from 64 deployments in the 2021 city survey. Similar to previous years, most bat activity was recorded in the south of the city, in close association with the Waikato River and the Mangakotukutuku gully system. There were also six passes recorded in the central city (Site 67, Tristram Street) along with multiple detections in the Hillcrest, Fairfield and Melville residential areas. This data supports the continued use of the Master Sample survey design for the selection of survey sites. While it is advantageous to retain a proportion of previously monitored sites (~25%) for continuity of data, the Master Sample design has improved the proportion of habitats surveyed with greater coverage of residential areas and the inclusion of commercial and industrial areas which have rarely been surveyed.

The reduced number of operational ABM nights is likely to have substantially reduced the sensitivity of the survey to identify locations of low bat activity, as well as the magnitude of detections in high activity areas. Therefore, it is recommended that the data be treated with caution if making comparisons to previous or similar surveys. On-going annual city-wide bat surveys will help identify key habitat areas for conservation and enhancement, in addition to helping understand the effects of urban development and intensification. This is of particular importance given the ongoing and proposed future development in the south of the city, which raises concerns for the preservation of current bat habitats and their connectivity to the city.

year: 2022

title: Detecting replay attacks in audiovisual identity verification

authors: Bredin, Herve

subjects: computer science

abstract: We describe an algorithm that detects a lack of correspondence between speech and lip motion by detecting and monitoring the degree of synchrony between live audio and visual signals. It is simple, effective, and computationally inexpensive; providing a useful degree of robustness against basic replay attacks and against speech or image forgeries. The method is based on a cross-correlation analysis between two streams of features, one from the audio signal and the other from the image sequence. We argue that such an algorithm forms an effective first barrier against several kinds of replay attack that would defeat existing verification systems based on standard multimodal fusion techniques. In order to provide an evaluation mechanism for the new technique we have augmented the protocols that accompany the BANCA multimedia corpus by defining new scenarios. We obtain 0% equal-error rate (EER) on the simplest scenario and 35% on a more challenging one.

text: Detecting replay attacks in audiovisual identity verification We describe an algorithm that detects a lack of correspondence between speech and lip motion by detecting and monitoring the degree of synchrony between live audio and visual signals. It is simple, effective, and computationally inexpensive; providing a useful degree of robustness against basic replay attacks and against speech or image forgeries. The method is based on a cross-correlation analysis between two streams of features, one from the audio signal and the other from the image sequence. We argue that such an algorithm forms an effective first barrier against several kinds of replay attack that would defeat existing verification systems based on standard multimodal fusion techniques. In order to provide an evaluation mechanism for the new technique we have augmented the protocols that accompany the BANCA multimedia corpus by defining new scenarios. We obtain 0% equal-error rate (EER) on the simplest scenario and 35% on a more challenging one.

year: 2006

title: A survey of psychologists’ opinions and behaviours on aspects of Maori mental health

authors: Sawrey, Richard

subjects: Maori

abstract: In the majority of settings where psychologists work, particularly in State health and justice settings, Maori people are substantially over represented relative to their numbers in the general population (Durie, 1987). This situation has raised serious questions about the adequacy of both mental health services and professionals in their provision of appropriate services for Maori people. (Hui Whakaoranga, 1984; Durie, 1985). Recommendations have been given to address these deficiencies. Te Hui Whakaoranga (l984) recommended a recruitment programme for Maori into health professions and training for health workers in Maori culture. The Committee of Inquiry into Procedures used in Psychiatric Hospitals (1988) pointed out that health professionals are rarely educated in taha Maori or the application of taha Maori to the service they provide. They stated that many current training programmes create a barrier to Maori people entering the health professions. They recommended that changes occur in both the in - service and basic training of health professionals.

text: A survey of psychologists’ opinions and behaviours on aspects of Maori mental health In the majority of settings where psychologists work, particularly in State health and justice settings, Maori people are substantially over represented relative to their numbers in the general population (Durie, 1987). This situation has raised serious questions about the adequacy of both mental health services and professionals in their provision of appropriate services for Maori people. (Hui Whakaoranga, 1984; Durie, 1985). Recommendations have been given to address these deficiencies. Te Hui Whakaoranga (l984) recommended a recruitment programme for Maori into health professions and training for health workers in Maori culture. The Committee of Inquiry into Procedures used in Psychiatric Hospitals (1988) pointed out that health professionals are rarely educated in taha Maori or the application of taha Maori to the service they provide. They stated that many current training programmes create a barrier to Maori people entering the health professions. They recommended that changes occur in both the in - service and basic training of health professionals.

year: 1993