A biodiversity jigsaw: A review of current New Zealand legislation and initiatives

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the current legislation and initiatives surrounding biodiversity management, protection and sustainable use related to the New Zealand local government sector. Design/methodology/approach: This paper takes the form of an archival review of the academic databases, legislation and biodiversity related websites to ascertain the current legislation and initiatives in place in New Zealand surrounding biodiversity. Findings: The paper found biodiversity to be managed through a combination of legislation, national policies, strategies, trusts and contestable funds. The majority of biodiversity protection on private land is the responsibility of the 78 local authorities that comprise the local government sector through their administration of the Resource Management Act 1991. Despite the legislative requirement to protect and manage biodiversity the paper confirmed that no statutory framework currently exists to guide biodiversity reporting. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited to New Zealand biodiversity related legislation and initiatives. As such it may not necessarily be applicable to any other jurisdictions. Practical implications:This review illustrates the difficulty that exists in navigating the disjointed legislation and other initiatives relating to biodiversity. This currently hinders the development of framework for reporting on biodiversity by local government. However the development of such a framework is crucial to the conservation and sustainable use of New Zealand’s unique biodiversity for the benefit of current and future generations. Originality/value: This paper adds to the limited literature in the field of biodiversity reporting and extends it to the local government sector in New Zealand

Alternatives for the substitution of synthetic vitamin B2 or vitamin B2 produced from GMOs

Today in conventional food and feed production added vitamin B2 is produced almost exclusively from a GMO,1 namely the genetically modified Bacillus subtilis. Vitamin B2 applied in certified organic food and feed productions is an exception, as it is still synthesized conventionally. In fall 2007 and also recently, there has been a lack of non-GMO derived vitamin B2 on the European market, which has caused temporary supply problems for organic producers. This event triggered the political will to conduct new research in order to find alternative solutions for the substitution of synthetic vitamin B2 in organic agriculture

Incorporating indigenous values in corporate social responsibility reports

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to show how a major state-owned enterprise in New Zealand uses its annual report to promote the image of an organisation concerned with the local community including Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, Māori values and their relationship with the environment. Design/methodology/approach – This longitudinal single case study of Mighty River Power Limited spans the period 2000 to 2009. It involves detailed examination of the narrative disclosures contained in the annual reports, including photographs, over the period of the study to determine whether Mighty River Power used the annual report to present a favourable image to the organisation’s stakeholders. Indigenous partnerships between the organisation and Māori trusts were also investigated to determine how these contributed to the corporate identity promoted in the annual reports. Findings – The analysis found that annual report was used to promote the image of an organisation upholding the Māori value of kaitiakitanga as part of its social responsibility to the local community and environment. Māori partnerships and community environmental group sponsorship were featured extensively in the images and narratives, with specific reference to indigenous values. Originality/value – This paper builds upon previous literature in the field of corporate social responsibility in annual reports and extends it to the state-owned enterprise sector in New Zealand, focusing specifically on the relationship between the entity and the indigenous community in which it operates

Trimerization of NaC2N3 to Na3C6N9 in the Solid

Sodium dicyanamide NaC2N3 was found to undergo two phase transitions. According to thermal analysis and temperature-dependent X-ray powder diffractometry, the transition of α-NaC2N3 (1a) to β-NaC2N3 (1b) occurs at 33°C and is displacive. 1a crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group P21/n (no. 14), with a = 647.7(1), b = 1494.8(3), c = 357.25(7) pm, β = 93.496(1)°, and Z = 4. The structure was solved from powder diffraction data (Cu Kα1, T = 22°C) using direct methods and it was refined by the Rietveld method. The final agreement factors were wRp = 0.072, Rp = 0.053, and RF = 0.074. 1b crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, space group Pbnm (no. 62), with a = 650.15(5), b = 1495.1(2), c = 360.50(3) pm, and Z = 4. The structure was refined by the Rietveld method using the atomic coordinates of 1a as starting values (Mo Kα1, T = 150°C). The final agreement factors were wRp = 0.044, Rp = 0.034, RF = 0.140. The crystal structures of both polymorphs contain sheets of Na+ and N(CN)2- ions which are in 1a nearly and in 1b exactly coplanar. Above 340°C, 1b trimerizes in the solid to Na3C6N9 (2). 2 crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group P21/n (no. 14), with a = 1104.82(1), b = 2338.06(3), c = 351.616(3) pm, β = 97.9132(9)°, and Z = 4. The structure was solved from synchrotron powder diffraction data (λ = 59.733 pm) using direct methods and it was refined by the Rietveld method. The final agreement factors were wRp = 0.080, Rp = 0.059, and RF = 0.080. The compound contains Na+ and the planar tricyanomelaminate C6N93-. The phase transition from 1b to 2 is reconstructive. It occurs in the solid-state without involvement of other phases or intermediates. The crystal structures of 1b and 2 indicate that there is no preorientation of the N(CN)2- in the solid before their trimerization to C6N93-

Time Use and Population Representation in the Sloan Study of Adolescents

Do studies of time use interfere too much in the lives of the subjects? As a result are those who agree to participate a biased sample of the population? We examine the characteristics of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) adolescent sample from the Alfred P. Sloan Study of Youth and Social Development in order to detect and quantify instances of sampling and nonresponse bias. According to available proxies for time use and standard demographic variables, the Sloan ESM sample is nearly representative in terms of teen employment rates, parental employment rates, a student's grade point average, and TV watching. Work hours are slightly undercounted in the study because of slightly higher nonresponse rates by teenagers working long hours. The sample is less representative in terms of the time of week and gender; nonresponse is relatively common on school nights and (to a lesser extent) on weekends, and among boys. We offer some suggestions regarding general implications of our findings for the measurement of time use.

Non-response and population representation in studies of adolescent time use

Researchers have debated which methods are most valid and reliable for studying time use. One key instrument for measuring time use is the time diary, which has unique analytic properties that, if not adjusted for, can bias estimates. To assess sampling and non-response bias and potential under- or overreports of various activities, we use three different datasets to compare adolescents’ time use. Results of these comparisons are used to show how investigators can statistically adjust time use data to obtain more accurate estimates of time spent in various activities.Methodology for collecting, estimating, and organizing microeconomic data, correcting for sampling and non-response bias, comparing survey and ESM measures of time use

Using Narrative to Build Community and Create Knowledge in the Interdisciplinary Classroom

This paper tells two stories about interdisciplinarity: one is a practical story about interdisciplinary teaching in an acoustics course for students from both music and engineering; the other is a theoretical story about how Walter Fisher's ideas about narrative can be combined with principles of participative inquiry to provide a conceptual framework for the interdisciplinary classroom. We call on Fisher's idea that all forms of human communication are narrative at heart to advocate the use of storytelling in the classroom. The use of narrative makes it possible to initiate students from different disciplines into abstract knowledge in a field of study, create a classroom community that encourages the participation of all students, and produce new interdisciplinary knowledge that is unique to the members of that class