Postharvest characteristics of cut flowers of selected members of the family Myrtaceae : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University, New Zealand

Stages of floral development were described for Eucalyptus ficifolia and Metrosideros collina 'Tahiti' flowers (Myrtaceae) attached and detached from plants. Vase solution treatments were applied to promote bud opening of cut flowers and to prevent postharvest stamen wilting and abscission in both species. Water uptake and mass of harvested flowers in both species declined rapidly when the pedicels were placed in water (control). Some flower buds did not open after harvest. The decline in water uptake and flower mass was greatly reduced by a vase solution treatment containing 2% sucrose, and 200 ppm hydroxyquinoline citrate (HQC) adjusted to pH 4 using citrate buffer. Vase solutions containing higher sucrose concentrations (more than 6%) and of greater acidity (pH<4) were not beneficial for vase life of both species. Cut flowers of both species held in the standard solution (2% sucrose, 200 ppm HQC adjusted to pH 4 using citrate buffer) were treated with ethephon (0-10,000 ppm) following pre-treatment with silver thiosulphate (STS) (0-2.0 mM). Ethephon treatments significantly induced stamen wilting, but had no effect on stamen or petal abscission in both species. Pre-treatment with 2 mM STS had no effect on the rate of stamen wilting, but significantly reduced stamen or petal abscission in both species. Cut flowers of M. collina 'Tahiti' held in the standard solution were treated with ethylene (0-5 ppm). Exogenous ethylene significantly promoted abscission of stamens and petals in M. collina 'Tahiti'. Treatment with 0.5 and 5 ppm ethylene also induced flower abscission. Ethylene emanation from untreated cut flowers from plants grown in two environments (greenhouse and outside) was also measured. Untreated cut flowers harvested from plants grown outside produced more endogenous ethylene than those from plants grown in the greenhouse. The abscission of M. collina 'Tahiti' probably results from a relatively high sensitivity to ethylene

A heuristic tool for exposure reduction in indoor wireless networks

A heuristic indoor network planner for exposure calculation and optimization in wireless networks is developed. The model for the electric-field strength in the vicinity of an access point is presented and the WiFi networks are optimized in order not to exceed a maximal electric-field strength at a certain separation from the access points. The influence of the maximally allowed field strength and the assumed minimal separation between the access point and the human is assessed for a typical office building

Mining and development : examining the effectiveness of mining company community development intervention in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

This thesis explores the effectiveness of mining company contributions to development within the gold mining communities of Lihir and Simberi islands, in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). More specifically, it analyses the extent to which forms of community development intervention undertaken on Lihir Island by Newcrest Mining Ltd, and on Simberi Island by St Barbara Ltd, actually support meaningful forms of development. This has been achieved through the use of development ethics (Goulet 1995) as a conceptual research framework, which when applied in research practice, gives priority to the wellbeing of those whose realities may be ignored, misread or marginalised within the neoliberal realm of development. This research is based on a total of four months of fieldwork undertaken on Lihir and Simberi islands. It draws on community narratives to frame the relevance of human wellbeing, human rights and inclusive development as development ethics within the research context. This development ethics research lens facilitates discussion about the meaningfulness of development intervention from a morally-informed community development perspective. Underpinned by a locally contextualised appreciation of what human wellbeing and meaningful development means on Lihir and Simberi islands (which results in the exposition of a set of local Community Wellbeing and Development Rights), a critical review of the practice and governance of development intervention within each Island community is then detailed. The analysis of development interventions then proceeds using firstly an evaluation of practices within a human rights lens, and secondly consideration of inclusive development outcomes relative to Newcrest's and St Barbara’s development related rhetoric. The resulting account of mining company community development intervention is critical, but ultimately hopeful. This hopefulness reflects the hope of customary landowners that mining will one day lead to meaningful development benefits. The analysis from this development ethics lens reveals insights into the promotion of social justice through the delivery of mining company development interventions. It is argued that mining companies have the opportunity to enhance a set of locally significant and internationally recognised human rights that are important to the wellbeing and development of customary landowners. Although, in some instances, mining company performance is falling short with respect to the enhancement of these human rights, it is argued that the enhancement of Community Wellbeing and Development Rights exists as a potential means for mining companies to add value to host communities. However, if such a development programme is to be meaningful to customary landowners, it must also advance equity and fairness. If mining companies fail to navigate such complexities, this thesis contends that mining, and forms of mining company community development intervention, will likely do more harm to communities than good

Quantitative genetics of maize (Zea mays L.) during seedling establishment under cool conditions : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Plant Science at Massey University

Two experiments were conducted to study cool tolerance in maize (Zea mays L.). The first experiment was carried out under controlled environment to evaluate several genotypes from five synthetic populations which are currently being used to develop hybrid maize for better adaptation to New Zealand climate and to study the qualitative inheritance of maize seedling growth under cool conditions. In this study, diurnal temperature of 16 °C day/6 °C night was used and characters related to seedling growth were examined. The second experiment conducted to study the effect of temperature on maize during its early growth and to examine whether the initial seed constitution and germination characteristics could be used as selection criteria for improvement of the subsequent seedling growth. Eleven physical, chemical, and morphological characters were measured. The growth was studied in germinators under two temperature regimes of 25/20 and 16/6 °C. The genotypic variation was highly significant for all nine characters examined in the first experiment. For the three repeatedly measured characters (i.e. chlorophyll content, shoot and root dry masses), the genotype x time interaction effect was significant. In the second experiment, the variation due to genotypic difference was highly significant only for the initial seed constitution characters and the amount of ion leakage during the early hours of germination process. It was non significant for the time to germinate, seedling growth rates, and seedling growth functions. The variation due to the difference of temperature regimes was significant for the time to germinate and seedling growth but not the growth functions. The genotypes of synthetic line NZS3 showed the best performance for general combining ability (GCA) for almost all characters studied in the first experiment. From all genotypes evaluated, however, only few of them consistently showed good GCA over the characters. Four of the characters studied in the first experiment had moderate to high narrow sense heritabilities, namely total leaves at 50 days after planting (82 %), chlorophyll content (46 %), anthocyanin (69%), and leaf area (62 %). In the second experiment, the estimated broad sense heritabilities observed ranged from very low to very high over all characters. The high broad sense heritabilities were recorded on most of the initial seed constitution characters, the conductivity of ion leakage, and the growth rates of root (length) and shoot (dry mass). Both the phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients between pairs are in good agreement and followed the same direction. Amongst the characters examined in the first experiment only time to achieve second mature leaf, total leaf number at 50 day after planting, chlorophyll content, leaf area had considerable correlations to the dry masses. In the second experiment a good correlation with growth rate was observed for the seed weight, nitrogen and maltose contents