title: Terms of empowerment: Gender, ecology, and ICTs for development

authors: Kurian, Priya A.

subjects: technology

abstract: The obsession with technology as a primary tool for development without any regard for the social and cultural needs of society has not done much to help the cause of women or other disempowered groups. The accent on technology for technology’s sake is part of a masculinist worldview characterised by the tendency to equate technical competence with male gender identity (Judy Wajcman 1995). As a counter, a feminist approach to technology looks at ways of dealing with core life-sustaining issues of food, clothing, shelter, education, and a general sense of well being (Debashish Munshi and Priya Kurian 2003). Indeed, as Ingunn Moser (1995: 6) points out, science and technology are not only “social and cultural projects, formed in power structures and coloured by dominating values in the societies and the cultures in which they occur” but are political as well.

text: Terms of empowerment: Gender, ecology, and ICTs for development The obsession with technology as a primary tool for development without any regard for the social and cultural needs of society has not done much to help the cause of women or other disempowered groups. The accent on technology for technology’s sake is part of a masculinist worldview characterised by the tendency to equate technical competence with male gender identity (Judy Wajcman 1995). As a counter, a feminist approach to technology looks at ways of dealing with core life-sustaining issues of food, clothing, shelter, education, and a general sense of well being (Debashish Munshi and Priya Kurian 2003). Indeed, as Ingunn Moser (1995: 6) points out, science and technology are not only “social and cultural projects, formed in power structures and coloured by dominating values in the societies and the cultures in which they occur” but are political as well.

year: 2003

title: Pruning feature extractor stacking for cross-domain few-shot learning

authors: Wang, Hongyu

subjects: computer science

abstract: Combining knowledge from source domains to learn efficiently from a few labelled instances in a target domain is a transfer learning problem known as cross-domain few-shot learning (CDFSL). Feature extractor stacking (FES) is a state-of-the-art CDFSL method that maintains a collection of source domain feature extractors instead of a single universal extractor. FES uses stacked generalisation to build an ensemble from extractor snapshots saved during target domain fine-tuning. It outperforms several contemporary universal model-based CDFSL methods in the Meta-Dataset benchmark. However, it incurs higher storage cost because it saves a snapshot for every fine-tuning iteration for every extractor. In this work, we propose a bidirectional snapshot selection strategy for FES, leveraging its cross-validation process and the ordered nature of its snapshots, and demonstrate that a 95% snapshot reduction can be achieved while retaining the same level of accuracy.

text: Pruning feature extractor stacking for cross-domain few-shot learning Combining knowledge from source domains to learn efficiently from a few labelled instances in a target domain is a transfer learning problem known as cross-domain few-shot learning (CDFSL). Feature extractor stacking (FES) is a state-of-the-art CDFSL method that maintains a collection of source domain feature extractors instead of a single universal extractor. FES uses stacked generalisation to build an ensemble from extractor snapshots saved during target domain fine-tuning. It outperforms several contemporary universal model-based CDFSL methods in the Meta-Dataset benchmark. However, it incurs higher storage cost because it saves a snapshot for every fine-tuning iteration for every extractor. In this work, we propose a bidirectional snapshot selection strategy for FES, leveraging its cross-validation process and the ordered nature of its snapshots, and demonstrate that a 95% snapshot reduction can be achieved while retaining the same level of accuracy.

year: 2025

title: Planning for the protection and enhancement of marine environments' wellbeing

authors: Barnsdall, Aaron

subjects: marine

abstract: The wellbeing of marine environments has a direct relationship with the types of whenua (land, placenta) use and management practices that go from the mountains to the sea. In Aotearoa, activities that are carried out in this land-marine interface, including those related to Nature-based Solutions (NbSs), are regulated by national, regional, and district policies (e.g., New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, regional plans, and district plans). However, due to its novel character, not all current policies account for the realisation of NbSs nor are NbSs’ potential for addressing the wellbeing of our marine environments well understood.

This dissertation focuses on Tauranga Moana (the seas of Tauranga) as the chosen locality for the case study area, to:

i) investigate how the Ngapeke 7 Trust’s community participants in the Ngāti Pūkenga area of Tauranga Moana understand and value NbSs for addressing the wellbeing of their marine systems; and,
ii) review current planning policies and mechanisms to identify barriers, enablers, and gaps that support or hinder the implementation of NbSs in Tauranga Moana, observing through a Kaupapa Māori lens.

Findings emphasize that integrating mātauranga Māori and Māori Ecological Knowledge (MEK) with scientific knowledge offers a holistic approach to environmental management, enhancing decision-making, education, and policy. Key Māori values, including whakapapa, mauri, and kaitiakitanga, are central to this approach.

The research identifies gaps in policies regarding NbS realization and a need for greater understanding of NbS potential and Māori perspectives. Implications include the necessity of integrating MEK into environmental practices and policies, and the value of NbSs for effective and equitable environmental outcomes. Limitations include sample size and scope, which focused on the Ngapeke 7 block. This research contributes valuable insights for environmental planning and management by centring mātauranga Māori and values in NbS implementation for marine health.

text: Planning for the protection and enhancement of marine environments' wellbeing The wellbeing of marine environments has a direct relationship with the types of whenua (land, placenta) use and management practices that go from the mountains to the sea. In Aotearoa, activities that are carried out in this land-marine interface, including those related to Nature-based Solutions (NbSs), are regulated by national, regional, and district policies (e.g., New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, regional plans, and district plans). However, due to its novel character, not all current policies account for the realisation of NbSs nor are NbSs’ potential for addressing the wellbeing of our marine environments well understood.

This dissertation focuses on Tauranga Moana (the seas of Tauranga) as the chosen locality for the case study area, to:

i) investigate how the Ngapeke 7 Trust’s community participants in the Ngāti Pūkenga area of Tauranga Moana understand and value NbSs for addressing the wellbeing of their marine systems; and,
ii) review current planning policies and mechanisms to identify barriers, enablers, and gaps that support or hinder the implementation of NbSs in Tauranga Moana, observing through a Kaupapa Māori lens.

Findings emphasize that integrating mātauranga Māori and Māori Ecological Knowledge (MEK) with scientific knowledge offers a holistic approach to environmental management, enhancing decision-making, education, and policy. Key Māori values, including whakapapa, mauri, and kaitiakitanga, are central to this approach.

The research identifies gaps in policies regarding NbS realization and a need for greater understanding of NbS potential and Māori perspectives. Implications include the necessity of integrating MEK into environmental practices and policies, and the value of NbSs for effective and equitable environmental outcomes. Limitations include sample size and scope, which focused on the Ngapeke 7 block. This research contributes valuable insights for environmental planning and management by centring mātauranga Māori and values in NbS implementation for marine health.

year: 2025-04-16