The soils of the southeastern sector of Egmont National Park

The soils of the southeastern slopes of Egmont National Park, Taranaki, are youthful in absolute age and also in soil development. They are classed as recent soils on a parent material basis: andesitic tephras, alluvium, and peat with interbedded tephra. Of these groups the former covers the greatest part of the surveyed area and was studied in the most detail. The recent soils from andesitic tephra have a profile form dominated by buried soil horizons and little weathered tephra layers, the youngest of which was erupted 210 years ago. Characteristic features are the very weak weathering of minerals in the upper soil layers, the variable depth of melanisation, the extremely leached state of the soil profile and lastly the marked similarity of the soil chemical parameters despite appreciably different biotic regimes and a range in slope and altitude. It is concluded that the extremely high rainfall, in excess of 150 inches per annum, so controls soil processes that the variables of site and vegetation are not expressed in the measured soil parameters

Contorted stratification with clay lobes in volcanic ash beds, Raglan-Hamilton region, New Zealand

Contorted stratification in basal volcanic ash beds of the Pleistocene Hamilton Ash Formation incorporates halloysitic clay lobes which project upward into a bed of predominantly allophanic material. The forms produced are similar to convolute laminations described in other marine and non-marine sedimentary sequences. The halloysitic clay lobes have been described previously as concretions and as the products of differential weathering processes. A third hypothesis is proposed to explain the formation of the clay lobes and associated contorted stratification of these basal ash beds, namely, that the beds were deformed by plastic flowage of halloysitic clay into a sensitive allophanic bed. This deformation was possibly a result of water-saturated beds rapidly losing strength as a result of cyclic reversals of stress and strain produced by earthquake shock waves

“Reds Driven Off”: the US Media’s Propaganda During the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

In 2008, the Annenburg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania conducted a poll to determine just how informed voters were following that year’s presidential election. One of the most shocking things they found was that 46.4% of those polled still believed that Saddam Hussein played a role in the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11th, 2001. No evidence had ever emerged linking him to it after 5 years of war in Iraq, but that did not matter, as “voters, once deceived, tend to stay that way despite all evidence.” Botched initial reporting can permanently entrench false information into the public’s mind and influence them to come to faulty conclusions as a result. This power of first impressions gives journalists an immense and solemn responsibility when conveying events. A misleading headline or an unsubstantiated report can sway the public towards similarly flawed conclusions with disastrous results

Vietnam’s north-south gap in historical perspective: the economies of Cochinchina and Tonkin, 1900-1940

Recent estimates of Vietnamese GDP during the colonial era show a large gap between Tonkin and Cochinchina: per capita GDP in Tonkin was less than half the per capita GDP in Cochinchina from 1900 to 1940. The aim of this thesis is to understand this gap: its origins, nature and impact. Although most scholars of Vietnamese economic history acknowledged this gap, it has never been studied and only a few suggestions for its origin exist. In this thesis, we revisit these suggestions. Firstly, we establish that demographic differences certainly had an impact on the economic performance of the country, not only through an impact on potential yields but also through an impact on land and labour utilisation. Secondly, we show that the colonial policy did not explain the origin of the economic gap, but that it may have perpetuated circumstances that led to it. Next, we evaluate the nature of this gap: how did the productive sectors (agrarian, industrial and commercial) of the economies of Tonkin and Cochinchina differ? We find that production patterns differed markedly between Tonkin and Cochinchina. In Tonkin, diversification and production for the home market defined its production possibilities and its economic performance. In Cochinchina, specialisation and engagement with the international economy defined its production possibilities and economic performance. The regions' different production patterns were responsible for their different engagement with the international economy. Finally, we investigate the way in which the economic gap between the two regions affected the living standards of their populations. We find that despite a large GDP per capita gap, the living standards of the rural populations of Tonkin and Cochinchina differed only marginally. Even in the urban sectors where there was a significant gap between the two regions, it was only a fraction of the one suggested by GDP estimates

The Ethics of the Vietnam War

Although the Vietnam Conflict was not conducted in an entirely ethical manner, the war provided a tangible example of the extent of Kennan’s containment theory and its effect on the United States in the twentieth century

Review of Angela Carter and Decadence: Critical Fictions/Fictional Critiques by Maggie Tonkin

Review of Angela Carter and Decadence: Critical Fictions/Fictional Critiques by Maggie Tonki

Clinician-targeted interventions to reduce antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections in primary care:An overview of systematic reviews

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To systematically review the literature and appraise the existing evidence from systematic reviews regarding the effects of interventions, aimed at changing clinician behaviour, to reduce antibiotic prescribing for ARIs in primary care

Obituary − Emeritus Professor Dr John Davidson McCraw (1925−2014) MBE, MSc NZ, DSc Well, CRSNZ, FNZSSS.

John McCraw was an Earth scientist who began working as a pedologist with Soil Bureau, DSIR, then became the Foundation Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, inspiring a new generation to study and work in Earth sciences . In retirement, John McCraw was an author and historian with a special emphasis on Central Otago as well as the Waikato region. Throughout his career, marked especially by exemplary leadership, accomplished administration, and commitment to his staff and students at the University of Waikato, John McCraw also contributed to the communities in which he lived through public service organizations and as a public speaker. He received a number of awards including an MBE, fellowship, and companionship, and, uniquely, is commemorated also with a glacier, a fossil, and a museum-based research room named for him. Emeritus Professor John McCraw passed away on the 14th of December, 2014. An obituary, entitled “Dedicated to earth science and his students”, was published in the Waikato Times on the 10th of January, 2015