The adventures of Miranda in the brave new world: learning in a Web 2.0 millennium

This paper looks at the implications of Web 2.0 technologies for university teaching and learning. The latest generation of undergraduates already live in a Web 2.0 world. They have new service expectations and are increasingly dissatisfied with teacher‐centred pedagogies. To attract and retain these students, universities will need to rethink their operations. New social technologies mean that universities have the chance to create a new generation of student‐centred learning environments, to realize the idea of a University 2.0. The following discussion draws upon a fictional character in order to capture the possible futures of such a brave new world

Modelling low pathogenic avian influenza introduction into the commercial poultry industry

Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry flocks are rare but highly disruptive to the industry. There is evidence that low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) can transfer from wild birds to domestic flocks, where it may mutate to HPAI, and the industry is concerned that an increasing demand for free-range produce may affect the risk of LPAI and HPAI outbreaks. In this paper we focus on LPAI introduction and establishment, and formulate a branching process model to compare risk between sectors and their contribution to overall industry-level risk. Our aim is to determine how heterogeneity in avian influenza viruses and the distinct population structures of each sector - caged, barn and free-range, meat and layer - interact with a continuous risk of virus introduction to affect outbreak probabilities. We show that free-range access is the most influential driver of LPAI outbreaks, with production cycle length having relatively little effect. We demonstrate that variation in virus transmission rates is particularly important when modelling avian influenza introduction to domestic poultry. Virus-free status is of interest for biosecurity and we distinguish how it differs from the usual probability of extinction, and discuss how production cycle length affects this difference. We also use the nonlinear relationship between shed size and risk to identify conditions for which shed size is most influential.This project wassupported financially by the Poultry CRC

A model integrating patch dynamics, competing species and the intermediate disturbance hypothesis

Barnes and Roderick [Barnes, B., Roderick, M., 2004. An ecological framework linking scales across space and time based on self-thinning. Theor. Population Biol. 66, 113-118] developed a mathematical model of patch dynamics, based on a time-dependent self-thinning mechanism. In this paper, we consider the ramifications of their modelling approach, in terms of its agreement with the concepts of competing species and the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. When considering more than one species we show that a form of the competing species model emerges as a natural consequence of the mathematics, with our model differing from traditional competition models in its derivation and nonlinear, time-dependent per capita growth rate. Further, we show that when disturbance is included in the formulation, the general predictions are in agreement with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis

Intentional use of te reo Māori in New Zealand newspapers in 2007

The study aimed to measure the intentional use of words in te reo Māori in a representative sample of newspaper news items about Māori issues.While te reo Māori was made an official language in 1987, it remains endangered and New Zealand remains one of the most monolingual countries in the world. The news items analysed were about Māori issues, and thus more likely to include Māori words. Only words with an alternative in English were counted, and the origin of articles was analysed. Forty-five percent of items included no Māori words. Only words with an alternative in English were counted, and the origin of articles was analysed. forty-five percent of items included no Māori words with an alternative in English, and the average across the sample was 2.4. More than half the Māori words counted described social culture. Use of te reo varied widely among newspapers. No regular Māori language promotion items appeared in the sample, and it provides little evidence of support for New Zealand's endangered indigenous official language.&nbsp

Anti-Māori themes in New Zealand journalism—toward alternative practice

Negative mass media representations of Māori are of major concern, impacting on Māori/Pakeha relations, how Māori see themselves, on collective health and wellbeing, and ultimately undermining the fundamentals of equity and justice in our society. In this article, we outline a number of important patterns that constitute the contextual discursive resources of such depictions identified in representative media samples and other sources and provide a set of alternative framings for each pattern. Our purpose is to challenge what Deuze (2004) has referred to as an ‘occupational ideology’ of journalism and ultimately to change Pakeha newsmaking practices that routinely undermine efforts to approach and attain social justice in the field of Māori/Pakeha relations in Aotearoa

Suburban Newspapers’ reporting of Māori news

ENNY RANKINE, ANGELA MOEWAKA BARNES, BELINDA BORELL, TIMOTHY McCREANOR, RAYMOND NAIRN and AMANDA GREGORY (Te Rōpu Whariki Research Group, Massey University, Auckland) A content analysis of editorial items about Māori issues and the Treaty of Waitangi in 14 Suburban Newspaper publications in Auckland and Northland found a low proportion of articles about these issues, despite high proportions of Māori resident in several areas served by these publications. Stories included a higher proportion of apparent news releases compared to a national sample of non-daily papers. Māori perspectives came largely from sources representing pan-Māori non-government organisations; Suburban Newspapers used a low proportion of iwi and hapū sources compared with other community papers. Use of te reo Māori was low, and there were no signs of attempts to support readers in learning or increasing their understanding of te reo Māori. This article concludes that Māori and non-Māori readers are poorly served by the poverty of Suburban Newspapers’ reporting of Treaty and Māori issues

Benthic biodiversity, carbon storage and the potential for increasing negative feedbacks on climate change in shallow waters of the Antarctic Peninsula

Seafloor biodiversity provides a key ecosystem service, as an efficient route for carbon to be removed from the atmosphere to become buried (long-term) in marine sediment. Protecting near intact ecosystems, particularly those that are hotspots of biodiversity, with high numbers of unique species (endemics), is increasingly being recognised as the best route to protect existing blue carbon. This study measured globally significant stocks of blue carbon held within both rocky (17.5 tonnes carbon km−2) and soft (4.1 t C km−2) substrata shallow (20 m) seafloor communities along the Antarctic Peninsula. Along the 7998 km of seasonally ice-free shoreline, 59% of known dive sites were classified as rocky and 12% as soft substratum. This gave estimates of 253k t C in animals and plants found at 20 m depth, with a potential sequestration of 4.5k t C year−1. More carbon was stored in assemblages with greater functional groups. Of the Antarctic Peninsula shore, 54% is still permanently ice covered, and so blue carbon ecosystem services are expected to more than double with continued climate warming. As one of the few increasing negative feedbacks against climate change, protecting seafloor communities around the Antarctic is expected to help tackle both the biodiversity and climate crises

Content and source analysis of newspaper items about Māori issues: Silencing the ‘natives’ in Aotearoa?

This article reports on a content analysis of newspaper items from Aotearoa/New Zealand about Māori issues, focusing on level of coverage, topics and sources. Results from analysis of a representative sample of news items from six months over 2007-2008 were compared with two previous pilot studies in 2004 and early 2007. The study found that the mass media covered Māori stories at very low rates, worked a narrow range of topics and prioritised Pākehā sources over Māori, even in articles specifically about Māori issues. The authors sketch an indigenous theory of media news processes and relate these findings to already published thematic and discourse analyses of the materials from the same database to illustrate the roles of mass media coverage in the dynamics of national life in Aotearoa

Behaviour change and attitudes in the Scottish agricultural sector – a rapid evidence assessment

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture as part of Scotland’s target to reach net-zero emissions by 2045. To meet this very challenging target, the sector and Government are likely to have to take steps to ensure uptake of all available emission-reduction technologies and practices, by all farmers. Understanding behavioural change and attitudes will therefore be critical in order to develop policies and work with industry to deliver this goal. This study explores the evidence for factors behind adoption of climate-friendly agricultural practices. It examines interventions to encourage practice change, and the key factors that influence successful adoption