Ireland’s Origin Green sustainability brand: Relevance for New Zealand’s beef industry

This article reports on a study by the author on Ireland’s Origin Green sustainability brand. It looks at what it is, how it is implemented in the Irish beef industry and its relevance to New Zealand. Compared to Ireland, the study found the New Zealand beef industry has been slow to implement important programmes such as the measurement of farm-level carbon footprints, traceability and consistent quality assurance standards

Maximising export returns (MER): Communicating New Zealand's credence attributes to international consumers

This research used semi-structured key informant interviews with twenty-one European gatekeepers and twelve New Zealand exporters. Gatekeepers were defined as manufacturers, importers, distributors or retail customers who controlled the flow of product and information through the supply chain to the final consumer. The research indicated that the credence attributes of New Zealand food products were important to consumers but they were frequently filtered out through the distribution channel where products get further processed, repackaged and rebranded, or became an ingredient in another food product. As a result, a large percentage of New Zealand food exports arrived at the consumer unbranded and not identified with their New Zealand origin so they did not have New Zealand-specific credence attributes associated with them. The majority of New Zealand’s beef and dairy exports were unbranded commodities that entered the manufacturing sector as raw materials or ingredients for processed products. Likewise, significant proportions of lamb and venison exports entered the food service sector and were delivered to hotels, restaurants and institutions where they were, frequently, not identified to the consumer as being of New Zealand origin. The main products that were consistently branded and reached consumers with identification of New Zealand origin were kiwifruit, apples and wine

Clinical review: Goal-directed therapy in high risk surgical patients

A small group of patients account for the majority of peri-operative morbidity and mortality. These 'high-risk' patients have a poor outcome due to their inability to meet the oxygen transport demands imposed on them by the nature of the surgical response during the peri-operative period. It has been shown that by targeting specific haemodynamic and oxygen transport goals at any point during the peri-operative period, the outcomes of these patients can be improved. This goal directed therapy includes the use of fluid loading and inotropes, in order to optimize the preload, contractility and afterload of the heart whilst maintaining an adequate coronary perfusion pressure. Despite the benefits seen, it remains a challenge to implement this management due to difficulties in identifying these patients, scepticism and lack of critical care resources

The endurance of the G77 in international relations: South–South ideology and voting at the United Nations 1970–2015

Abstract The voting record of states of the global South at the United Nations General Assembly indicates they are dissatisfied with the US-led liberal international order. Against existing interpretations, this article challenges the notion that states belonging to the Group of 77 (G77) express discontent because they are illiberal and undemocratic. Instead, the article argues that the G77 is composed of a diverse group of states influenced by a common South–South ideology. This foreign policy ideology has a distinct intellectual history and conceptual morphology, grounded in common experience of colonial domination and international peripheralisation. These arguments are tested using a series of multiple regression models, controlling for illiberal characteristics of states and examining the reciprocal influence between G77 membership and voting stance at the United Nations. Disaggregation of General Assembly resolutions and analysis of the text of General Debate speeches corroborates the argument that a coherent set of shared ideas shape how global issues are conceptualised and framed by members of the G77. The results are consistent with the argument that states of the G77 have socialised one another into a shared South–South ideology and that domestic illiberalism is insufficient to explain why they express dissatisfaction with the US-led international order. Ideologies of foreign policy originating in the global South, therefore, should not be overlooked as an influence on world politics.</jats:p

Drawing and Fabrication: an exploration of transition between two and three dimensions.

This project originated in an investigation into the hybridisation of digital and handcraft processes in the generation of form. It quickly departed from that, when I realised that the underlying issue was that of relationship and transition between two and three dimensions. It became clear that this was a lens through which my previous practice in both vessel making and sculpture could be usefully viewed and understood and thus it presented rich potential for further research. The initial investigation gave me some useful insight into the value of CAD software for the rigorous language of its menus as guides in analysing the handmade, and also the limitations of its output in delivering the nuance of materiality. It continues to inform my method and thinking about process. I am exploring the potential for a cyclical and reciprocal relationship between drawing and making, line and form, plane and solid. This embraces exploration of methods for generating a three dimensional solid from a two dimensional image, and then revealing formal or aesthetic qualities of that solid through a two dimensional intervention or analysis, such as that derived from cross section, silhouette or shadow. Consideration of cast shadows as an example of a three to two dimensional transition have led me to focus on the penumbra, the boundary between light and shade. I am doing this by attempting to realise its material equivalent, the boundary between matter and space. The use of cross section as a method of construction of and intervention in form is a key method in the physical manifestation of this phenomenon. The boundary of clay, the difference between its presence and absence, is finite and abrupt. The boundary between the light and shade, however, appears infinite in its gradation and thus is inherently indistinct. Thus the notion of transition from the project title becomes crucial. Through exploring transitions between dimensions and between presence and absence I aim to capture ephemeral and fugitive visual qualities in the material object

The Irish Origin Green sustainability brand: An evaluation of the relevance for New Zealand

This project uses the Irish beef industry as a case study to evaluate the Irish Origin Green programme, its sustainability branding and the relevance of this to New Zealand. The study of the Irish Origin Green programme provides valuable lessons for the New Zealand beef industry's and its efforts to verify and communicate its sustainability credentials. It also has relevance to the wider New Zealand food industry. Through the work of Bord Bia and the Origin Green sustainability programme, the Irish beef industry has been proactive in developing traceability, quality assurance standards, measuring greenhouse gas emissions and promoting its sustainability brand. Origin Green has enabled the Irish beef industry to demonstrate that it is actively engaged in addressing issues of sustainability. It also provides data to verify Ireland's "green" credentials and has delivered what the beef industries large customers require to meet their own sustainability agenda. The New Zealand beef industry has lagged well behind Ireland in developing some key aspects of the Origin Green programme. For example, New Zealand has only recently developed a single quality assurance scheme for the red meat sector. Furthermore, New Zealand's National Animal Identification and Traceability scheme (NAIT) has been shown to have significant weaknesses and to have been poorly implemented. These issues are only now being addressed as a result of the recent outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis. Ireland has also led New Zealand with the measurement of farm-level carbon footprints and other sustainability measures. These have been available to Irish farmers since 2011. In contrast, the New Zealand beef industry currently has no comprehensive farm-level carbon footprint measurement system. This means it is not possible to give feedback to individual farmers on how their management practices affect their carbon footprint or to demonstrate progress. Furthermore, it limits the ability for the data to be aggregated to the industry level. This prevents the beef industry from validating its sustainability credentials and demonstrating progress in reducing on-farm emissions. The Environmental Strategy put out by Beef + Lamb New Zealand has set the target of reporting individual farm carbon footprints on all farms by 2022

Optimum take-off angle in the long jump

In this study, we found that the optimum take-off angle for a long jumper may be predicted by combining the equation for the range of a projectile in free flight with the measured relations between take-off speed, take-off height and take-off angle for the athlete. The prediction method was evaluated using video measurements of three experienced male long jumpers who performed maximum-effort jumps over a wide range of take-off angles. To produce low take-off angles the athletes used a long and fast run-up, whereas higher take-off angles were produced using a progressively shorter and slower run-up. For all three athletes, the take-off speed decreased and the take-off height increased as the athlete jumped with a higher take-off angle. The calculated optimum take-off angles were in good agreement with the athletes' competition take-off angles

EPR crystallography : studies of defect centres in single crystals

This thesis presents the results of precise X-band electron paramagnetic resonance studies of zircon (ZrSiO4) and α-quartz (SiO2) single crystals at temperatures between 15 and 100 K, and the synthesis of the zircon crystals studied. Zircon crystals have been grown using the flux-growth technique, producing well-shaped crystals up to 4 mm in length. The technique was used to grow both doped and nominally undoped crystals. Dopants successfully incorporated into the zircon crystals were titanium, chromium, yttrium, aluminium and boron. Analysis of Ti4+ /Y3+ -doped zircon crystals revealed four defect centres new to the Canterbury research group. Two oxygenic hole centres have been analysed, one compensated by yttrium ([SiO4/Y]0), and the other by an unknown ion ([SiO4/M]n). A crystal-field spin-orbit coupling analysis of hole centres with a range of g values has shown that their anisotropy may be directly related to crystal-field splittings of orbital energy levels. A Ti3+ electron centre, Si(Ti3+), has been shown to be located in a silicon lattice position in contrast to an earlier-discovered Ti3+ centre in a zirconium lattice position, Zr(Ti3+). Another electron centre labelled H (g∥ = 1.9875, g⊥ = 1.9550) has been measured,but is not yet understood. A previously observed electron centre (Z) with effective g values of 1.9991 and 3.9118 has been shown to be a chromium ion in a silicon lattice position. A +3 oxidation state, and a large zero-field splitting has been inferred from an analysis of the effective g values. Two closely related boron centres have been observed in zircon crystals with relatively high boron doping, and have been interpreted as impurity electron centres in a zirconium lattice site. Both have almost identical g values gx = 1.969, gy = 1.981, gz = 1.969. One of the centres has the unusual point-group symmetry for defects in zircon of mm2 (C2v), which is explained by two adjacent ions along one of the zircon fourfold rotation-inversion axes. Two centres in a-quartz have been measured and analysed. One has been interpreted as a silicon-vacancy oxygenic-hole centre, [HLi2O4]0, compensated by one hydrogen and two lithium ions. The hyperfine matrices have been analysed with some success using three different methods to ascertain the locations of the compensating nuclei. The second centre is a previously reported hydrogen-compensated iron centre in a silicon lattice site, [FeO4/H]0α. A pseudo cube analysis has been carried out in order to confirm the location of the iron ion, but the results have been found inconclusive

Dual mode microwave microfluidic sensor for temperature variant liquid characterization

A dual mode, microstrip, microfluidic sensor was designed, built, and tested, which has the ability to measure a liquid's permittivity at 2.5 GHz and, simultaneously, compensate for temperature variations. The active liquid volume is small, only around 4.5 μL. The sensor comprises two quarter ring microstrip resonators, which are excited in parallel. The first of these is a microfluidic sensor whose resonant frequency and quality factor depend on the dielectric properties of a liquid sample. The second is used as a reference to adjust for changes in the ambient temperature. To validate this method, two liquids (water and chloroform) have been tested over a temperature range from 23 °C to 35 °C, with excellent compensation results