The great sport myth: Children's nonelite sport in New Zealand

Drawing on a larger study of coaches, parents, and children involved in nonelite sport in New Zealand, this chapter examines Jay Coakley's (2021) concept of the “Great Sport Myth” (GSM), whereby a strong belief in the innate purity and goodness of sport produces a reluctance to criticize it. This chapter emphasizes the developmental outcomes that parents and children believe are gained through sport and demonstrates the ways that parents relinquish control to coaches and reinforce the dominance of the coach as the decision-maker through their belief in the strength of the GSM. These findings are significant, given the large number of abuse cases that have come to light in sport in recent decades where the absence of parental intervention is marked. Not only are children socialized by their time in sport, but so too are parents, who are taught that they are “good” parents if they trust the work of the coach. The findings are also at odds with a prevailing neoliberal emphasis on individualization, especially in education policy and practice, where parents are more likely to intervene to assert the individualized needs of their children. This study is unique in addressing the relatively neglected experiences of those who play at the competitive, but not serious or elite, end of sport

“There’s only so many loaves and dog walks you can do”: Challenges for accompanying partners engaged in international relocation

While the global mobility of employees is escalating, spouse and family continue to impact on the success of these international appointments. The recent rise of dual career couples (DCC) has intensified the challenges of international relocation. This paper examines the career strategies of accompanying partners who relocated to Aotearoa New Zealand for their partners’ job. This small-scale qualitative research involved in-depth interviews with 21 accompanying male and female partners of professionals and managers who relocated in the last eight years. While most of those interviewed modified their own career goals on relocation, a small number could continue in their previous jobs and work remotely. Only two participants found employment in the company that initiated their partners’ relocation. Others were unable to find a job, or only find work that was unpaid, poorly paid, not fulfilling, or only part-time. Women experienced challenges that were gender-specific. Those who were not fluent in English struggled most and their professional qualifications were often not recognised. This paper highlights the implications for DCCs of increasing international mobility, and the different ways in which accompanying partners and couples organize their interlinked working lives during transition to life in a new country. Challenges in accessing relevant employment and social connections can contribute to the isolation of accompanying partners and disrupt their career identities. The rich and detailed narratives of transition highlight issues and agendas for researchers in this field and HRM practitioners beyond the specific context of Aotearoa New Zealand

Role of existing industrial land in providing supplemental flood mitigation for low-lying coastal cities in a context of climate change : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University

Flooding in low-lying coastal cities is projected to worsen with climate change. Planners are concerned about the inadequacy of their current flood protection capacity and the risks associated with under- or over-investment in expensive grey infrastructures under climate change uncertainty. Implementing green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) on strategically located developed land, particularly industrial land, maybe a lower-risk alternative; however, little is known about its potential for providing substantial catchment flood mitigation over time. In addition, there is no effective methodology for determining its potential in the context of climate change. In this research, a novel Hydrology-based Land Capability Assessment and Classification (HLCA+C) methodology is proposed and used to evaluate the flood mitigation capability (FMC) of strategic land use, having large properties over the long term (80 to 100-year period) with climate change. The methodology was then applied to a case study (the City of Christchurch) to determine the potential of industrial land for providing substantial flood mitigation. The results indicated industrial land has substantial flood mitigation capability in four of its six catchments, capturing both on-site and off-site runoff volumes. While their increased runoff volumes associated with climate change in two catchments can be reduced to a manageable level within the mid-term period (2031-2050), industrial land in the other two catchments had this capability up to the long-term period (2081-2100) and under much larger storm events, though not for all climate change scenarios. The methodology was also applied to one Christchurch catchment to evaluate the FMC of individual industrial properties further. The highly capable properties within the catchment were prioritised to be included in adaptative flood mitigation pathways. Considering the most appropriate implementation approach associated with properties’ FMC and timing for implementation (whether through a retrofit only, retrofit and transfer, redesign or relocation), their flood mitigation capabilities can be maximised in response to increased climate change impacts through time. This would result in flood mitigation just shy of that associated with the high emission scenario up to the end of this century. The findings of this research indicated that the size of drainage area controlled by GSI networks is dominantly responsible for enhancing FMC in the long term if the high groundwater level of industrial land was deeper than 2 m below the surface. Therefore, policies encouraging off-site runoff collection in large private properties, where capable, are deemed necessary to utilise the maximum GSI capability. The research demonstrates the effectiveness of this novel methodology over existing methods for helping planners develop adaptive flood mitigation plans through time with climate change. These outputs can facilitate planners in developing flood mitigation policies and strategies for the long-term protection of their communities. The findings from the application of this methodology demonstrate that implementing such GSI networks on capable industrial land can provide effective low-risk supplemental flood mitigation to ensure communities in low-lying cities are protected from climate change–induced flooding in the long term. It will also allow costly investments in flood mitigation structures, such as barriers and levees, to be safely delayed until their cost-effectiveness has been confirmed under increased climate certainty. To maximise the FMC of existing industrial land, the research recommends that planners designate strategic stormwater management zones in city plans. These can be used in support of implementing policies to encourage on-site and off-site runoff collection and the establishment of new governing bodies to regulate the uses of land for implementing GSI networks and ensure long-term flood mitigation

The value of green and blue space: Livability, walkability and house prices

Urban green and blue spaces are important amenities within highly urbanised areas which offer social, economic and ecological benefits and provide a number of valuable direct and indirect ecosystem of services to surrounding land uses and urban households. Existing research has revealed that green (and blue) space is not a uniform environmental amenity but rather a set of distinct aesthetic and hydromorphological characteristics which impact upon house prices in different ways. Moreover, the different utility-bearing preferences for green or blue space has been shown to be related to income and education levels and inequalities driven by socioeconomic differences, hence, the relationship between housing prices and these amenities might vary considerably across a wide metropolitan area. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the heterogeneity of green and blue space using 4,985 sales transactions applying quantile regression to investigate the proximity effects of diverse types of blue spaces on property prices across different conditional distributions

Effects of elastic taping on kyphosis and body balance in the elderly: A randomized crossover study

Kyphosis produces abnormal posture and reduced body balance in the elderly. Elastic tape may be useful at improving kyphotic posture and body balance. This study aims to evaluate the effects of elastic taping on kyphosis and body balance in the elderly. Ten elderly participants with degenerative kyphotic posture were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups (back taped with stretched elastic tape for 15 min and back taped with non-stretched elastic tape for 15 min). After a 1-h washout period, the groups were swapped over to receive the other intervention. The outcomes measured after each taping technique were Cobb’s angle measurement by inclinometer, perceived pain, and balance measurements by single leg stance test, time up and go test, center of gravity alignment (COG) and modified clinical test of sensory interaction on balance test (mCTSIB). There was a significant reduction in kyphotic angle and back pain in both the stretched and non-stretched taping groups (p < 0.05). We also found both taping techniques significantly reduced sway velocity on a foam surface with eyes closed and open (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between taping groups for kyphotic angle, pain reduction or balance. The application of 15 min of stretched and non-stretched elastic tape in the elderly reduced kyphotic angle, back pain, and sway velocity while standing on foam surface in the mCTSIB test. If these changes persist over the long term (days and weeks) taping may be a useful intervention for elderly patients with kyphosis

Bayesian modelling of phosphorus content in wheat grain using hyperspectral reflectance data

Background: As a result of the technological progress, the use of sensors for crop survey has substantially increased, generating valuable information for modelling agricultural data. Plant spectroscopy jointly with statistical modeling can potentially help to assess certain chemical components of interest present in plants, which may be laborious and expensive to obtain by direct measurements. In this research, the phosphorus content in wheat grain is modeled using reflectance information measured by a hyperspectral sensor at different wavelengths. A Bayesian procedure for selecting variables was used to identify the set of the most important spectral bands. Additionally, three different models were evaluated: the first model assumes that the observations are independent, the other two models assume that the observations are spatially correlated: one of the proposed models, assumes spatial dependence using a Conditionally Autoregressive Model (CAR), and the other through an exponential correlogram. The goodness of fit of the models was evaluated by means of the Deviance Information Criterion, and the predictive power is evaluated using cross validation. Results: We have found that CAR was the model that best fits and predicts the data. Additionally, the selection variable procedure in the CAR model reveals which wavelengths in the range of 500–690 nm are the most important. Comparing the vegetative indices with the CAR model, it was observed that the average correlation of the CAR model exceeded that of the vegetative indices by 23.26%, − 1.2% and 22.78% for the year 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively; therefore, the use of the proposed methodology outperformed the vegetative indices in prediction. Conclusions: The proposal to predict the phosphorus content in wheat grain using Bayesian approach, reflect with the results as a good alternative

Flow analysis and hydraulic performance of denitrifying bioreactors under different carbon dosing treatments

Denitrifying bioreactors are an effective approach for removing nitrate from a variety of non-point wastewater sources, including agricultural tile drainage. However, compared to alternate mitigation approaches such as constructed wetlands, nitrate removal in bioreactors may decline with time and low temperature, resulting in poor long-term nitrate removal rates. To address the low nitrate removal rates in bioreactors, the addition of an external carbon source has been found to be an effective method for enhancing and maintaining nitrate removal rates. While carbon dosing has led to a significant improvement in nitrate removal, some of the possible adverse effects of carbon dosing, such as clogging and reduction in hydraulic efficiency, remain unknown and need to be investigated. Using observations from both field and mesocosm trials, we compared the hydraulic performance of bioreactors with and without carbon dosing. The pilot-scale field bioreactor (58 m³ total woodchip volume, 25 m³ saturated volume, referred to as field bioreactor in this work) treated drainage water from a paddock of a dairy farm. The bioreactor received an exogenous carbon dose of 8% methanol (v/v) at 10 mL min¯¹ and 5 mL min¯¹ in the 2020 and 2021 drainage seasons, respectively. The field bioreactor had a statistically higher hydraulic conductivity in 2018 when not carbon-dosed of 4601 m day¯¹ , reducing to 1600 m day¯¹ in 2021 which was the second year of carbon dosing. Field observations could not establish whether the addition of liquid carbon could affect the bioreactor's internal hydraulics performance, such as actual hydraulic retention time (AHRT), despite a significant decline in hydraulic conductivity in the field bioreactor. Separate experiments on replicated bioreactor mesocosms were conducted to investigate the effects of carbon dosing on the internal hydraulic parameters of bioreactors. These mesocosm bioreactors had previously been used to study the long-term effects of methanol dosing on bioreactor performance, such as nitrate removal under steady-state conditions. The mesocosm and field bioreactors shared some characteristics, such as the use of methanol as an external carbon source, but the mesocosm experiments were hydrologically controlled contrary to the field bioreactor's transient operating conditions. We found that methanol dosing in either carbon or nitrate limiting conditions had no significant effects (p-value >0.05) on internal hydraulic parameters (e.g., effective utilization of media) when compared to control bioreactors. The present study offers insight into the long-term hydraulic performance of bioreactors and may help develop small-footprint bioreactors that incorporate external carbon dosing

Associations between physical activity and stress levels in medical doctors working in New Zealand and Australia during initial COVID-19 restrictions

In 2020, the world was gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic which put an unprecedented strain on health care workers. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of the Australian and New Zealand lockdowns on physical activity, depression, and anxiety in medical doctors. We hypothesized that during stressful times such as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, physical activity would have a positive effect on the mental health of medical doctors. Convenience sampling (using mass emailing via professional networks including medical associations) and snowball sampling were used during the early period of COVID-19 government mandated restrictions (25 March to 27 April 2020) in New Zealand and Australia. All registered medical doctors working in New Zealand and Australia were eligible to participate in the survey. The short survey collected information demographics, levels of physical activity and mental health using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire: Short Form and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-42. Of 469 participants who completed the survey, over 81% met the recommended physical activity levels (150 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity/week). Physically inactive New Zealand and Australian medical doctors reported significantly higher depression (p = 0.006), anxiety (p = 0.008) and stress (p = 0.002) scores compared to their active counterparts. This study demonstrated that less physical activity was associated with higher anxiety and depression in medical doctors. A key recommendation from this study is to incorporate greater access to physical activity in healthcare settings for medical doctors

A cross-sectional investigation of preadolescent cardiometabolic health: Associations with fitness, physical activity, sedentary behavior, nutrition, and sleep

Background: Cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk often begins early in life. Healthy lifestyle behaviors can mitigate risk, but the optimal combination of behaviors has not been determined. This cross-sectional study simultaneously examined the associations between lifestyle factors (fitness, activity behaviors, and dietary patterns) and CMD risk in preadolescent children. Methods: 1480 New Zealand children aged 8–10 years were recruited. Participants included 316 preadolescents (50% female, age: 9.5 ± 1.1 years, BMI: 17.9 ± 3.3 kg/m²). Fitness (cardiorespiratory fitness [CRF], muscular fitness), activity behaviors (physical activity, sedentary, sleep), and dietary patterns were measured. Factor analysis was used to derive a CMD risk score from 13 variables (adiposity, peripheral and central hemodynamics, glycemic control, and blood lipids). Results: Only CRF (β = −0.45, p < 0.001) and sedentary time (β = 0.12, p = 0.019) were associated with the CMD risk score in the adjusted multivariable analysis. CRF was found to be nonlinear (VO₂ max ≤ ≈42 mL/kg/min associated with higher CMD risk score), and thus a CRF polynomial term was added, which was also associated (β = 0.19, p < 0.001) with the CMD risk score. Significant associations were not found with sleep or dietary variables. Conclusion: The findings indicate that increasing CRF and decreasing sedentary behavior may be important public health targets in preadolescent children