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Contribution: This paper demonstrated on a large scale that explicit articulation of creativity-related learning goals on engineering syllabi is quite limited, and primarily limited to the first year of study. Engineering educators may need to do more to ensure creativity is explicitly addressed as an expected learning outcome within engineering syllabi. Background: Prior studies have shown inclusion of creativity within engineering syllabi and course activities are generally limited. Students may perceive educators do not value creativity, and their studies have limited influence on their creative skills. Studies conflict on whether creativity skills increase over completing an engineering degree. Creativity has been demonstrated to be an important skill for engineering professionals, but one not necessarily appropriately addressed in engineering programs. Few studies have attempted to quantify coverage of creativity material on a nation-wide scale, as opposed to in a single or select few institutions. Research Questions: 1) To what extent do engineering educators explicitly articulate creativity and innovation-related learning goals and material on their course syllabi? and 2) To what extent do engineering educators explicitly articulate exposure to, or instruction in the use of, creativity heuristics within their course syllabi? Methodology: The online publicly accessible course outlines of 1109 compulsory courses from 42 degree programs accredited by two national engineering accreditation bodies were qualitatively analyzed in a two-stage approach using document analysis. Findings: Approximately 2% of compulsory electrical engineering course outlines explicitly articulate creativity-related material; only one course articulated engaging students in using creativity heuristics.

Introduction: We examine doctoral students' awareness of and attitudes to open access forms of publication. Levels of awareness of open access and the concept of institutional repositories, publishing behaviour and perceptions of benefits and risks of open access publishing were explored. Method: Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through interviews with eight doctoral students enrolled in a range of disciplines in a New Zealand university and a self-completion Web survey of 251 students. Analysis: Interview data were analysed thematically, then evaluated against a theoretical framework. The interview data were then used to inform the design of the survey tool. Survey responses were analysed as a single set, then by disciple using SurveyMonkey's online toolkit and Excel. Results: While awareness of open access and repository archiving is still low, the majority of interview and survey respondents were found to be supportive of the concept of open access. The perceived benefits of enhanced exposure and potential for sharing outweigh the perceived risks. The majority of respondents were supportive of an existing mandatory thesis submission policy. Conclusions: Low levels of awareness of the university repository remains an issue, and could be addressed by further investigating the effectiveness of different communication channels for promotion. (Contains 3 tables and 8 figures.)

Explores the ways British and New Zealand children imagined each other's environments and cultures. Illustrates the sources and importance of stereotypical understandings of landscape, people, and patterns of daily life in other nations, and the ways these may be contested through Internet contact. (JPB)

The optimism that accompanies the voyage into social science-related fieldwork is sometimes confronted by the 'unanticipated' of the field, which surges out of a perceived (in)congruence between the researcher and the settings of the site of fieldwork. Using theoretical framings from Pierre Bourdieu, I show how my habitus as a 'Black African Male' was perceived in a field of research that is both racialized and gendered, accounting for the several surprising and awkward moments that marked my fieldwork in Denmark and New Zealand. I begin by showing how the origins of migration studies effected the racialized composition of this field of scholarship, as well as its subsequent gendered turn. I then present my sites of fieldwork and the several encounters of the 'unanticipated' that engendered fieldwork reflexivity, especially as regards the unequal power relations existing in various sites of research engagements. I suggest a few fieldwork navigation strategies for researchers with comparable identities and lastly recommend that fieldwork's awkward moments engendered by stereotypes of race and gender be made productive by way of 'creative confrontations'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Aotearoa New Zealand Māori, wairua (spirit) is an integral aspect of existence and important source of well-being. In this qualitative study, 15 Māori participants discuss their personal experiences of wairua. Inductive thematic analysis revealed a diverse range of highly meaningful spiritual experiences occur for Māori, and align with historical accounts about wairua and existing academic research on anomalous experiences. Within Māori culture socially accepted structures exist to reference anomalous experiences against, which facilitate acceptance and normalcy to such occurrences. Valuing and acknowledging Māori spirituality has tremendous therapeutic potential for addressing issues of mental well-being within Aotearoa New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Mutualisms are often disrupted for plants introduced to new ranges, yet many of these plants have managed to obtain effective mutualistic associations in their new ranges. There are two potential pathways for non‐native plants to reassemble mutualisms: cointroduction (i.e. familiar associations with cointroduced mutualists) or ecological fitting (i.e. forming or adapting novel associations with resident native mutualists). We assessed the importance of each pathway for mutualist reassembly in four Australian Acacia species (A. baileyana, A. dealbata, A. decurrens and A. melanoxylon) and their associated nitrogen‐fixing rhizobial symbionts in two non‐native locations. Location: Native ranges of acacias in south‐eastern Australia and two non‐native ranges in New Zealand and South Africa. Methods: Rhizobia associated with each acacia species in each country were isolated and identified based on DNA sequencing of the housekeeping recA gene and the symbiotic nodA gene. Separate phylogenies were reconstructed for each gene region to infer biogeographic histories of acacia‐associated rhizobia. Selected rhizobial strains for each acacia species by country combination were used as inocula in a glasshouse experiment and early growth kinetics and nitrogen fixation efficiency of acacia seedlings were compared between inoculum treatments to determine symbiotic effectiveness. Results: All isolated rhizobial strains belonged to the genus Bradyrhizobium. Phylogenetic analyses revealed almost no country‐ or species‐specific clusters of these strains for either gene region and indicated that most acacia‐associated bradyrhizobia in New Zealand and South Africa were cointroduced from Australia. These results were supported by little variation in the growth performances of acacia seedlings, irrespective of inoculum treatment. Main conclusions: This study revealed that cointroduction of Australian acacias and their rhizobia may be more prevalent than previously thought. Additionally, a single rhizobium cointroduction event may be sufficient to facilitate the establishment of effective mutualisms in numerous Acacia species, potentially leading to an invasion meltdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The important role that monitoring plays in advancing global health is well established. However, the role of social monitoring as a tool for addressing social determinants of health (SDH) and health equity-focused policies remains under-researched. This paper assesses the extent and ways in which New Zealand's (NZ) Social Reports (SRs) supported a SDH- and health equity-oriented policy programme nationally over the 2000–2008 period by documenting the SRs' history and assessing its impact on policies across sectors in government and civil society. We conducted key-informant interviews with five senior policy-makers and an e-mail survey with 24 government and civil society representatives on SRs' history and policy impact. We identified common themes across these data and classified them accordingly to assess the intensity of the reports' use and their impact on SDH- and health equity-focused policies. Bibliometric analyses of government publications and media items were undertaken to empirically assess SRs' impact on government and civil society. SRs in NZ arose out of the role played by government as the “benevolent social welfare planner” and an understanding of the necessity of economic and social security for “progress”. The SRs were linked to establishing a government-wide programme aimed at reducing inequalities. They have been used moderately to highly in central and local government and in civil society, both within and outside the health sector, but have neither entered public treasury and economic development departments nor the commercial sector. The SRs have not reached the more universal status of economic indicators. However, they have had some success at raising awareness of, and have stimulated isolated action on, SDH. The NZ case suggests that national-level social monitoring provides a valuable tool for raising awareness of SDH across government and civil society. A number of strategies could improve social reports' effectiveness in stimulating action on SDH. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Silvopastoral systems in New Zealand that incorporate trees planted to control soil erosion on hills largely rely on the productivity of the pastoral system for financial returns. The effect on pasture productivity of increasing the tree canopy height by pruning Italian gray alder ( Alnus cordata) was investigated by measuring the response of light, soil moisture, soil temperature, pasture production of major pasture species, and grazing behaviour of sheep. A split-plot design with four replicates was used. The main plot treatments were three levels of shade (81, 23, and 12% of available photosynthetic photon flux (PPF)), created by pruning 11 year old alder grown at the same density. The sub-plot treatments were four pasture mixes: perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne), Yorkshire fog ( Holcus lanatus), and cocksfoot ( Dactylis glomerata), each sown with white clover ( Trifolium repens), and cocksfoot sown with lotus ( Lotus pedunculatus). Soil temperature was highest under light shade. Total herbage yield at 50 mm stubble height from October to May under heavy and medium shade was 60 and 80%, respectively, of the total herbage harvested under light shade. Cocksfoot had the greatest herbage yield, either with lotus or white clover. The tillering of perennial ryegrass was suppressed by shade more than for the other grass species making ryegrass unsuitable for use in this silvopastoral system. More sheep grazed in the light shade than in the heavy shade, but there was no difference in sheep preference for cocksfoot or Yorkshire fog. Lotus was grazed more frequently than white clover. Pruning of alder to increase canopy height has the potential to improve the productivity of the understorey pasture and its acceptability to sheep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship of planning ideals of sharply defining edges between urban density and greenspace and alternative urban greening arrangements as they are manifested in a case study of exurban “lifestyle blocks” on the fringes of Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. Exurban development outside Christchurch''s urban growth boundary – called the “urban fence” – provides an example of tension between municipal attempts to curb sprawl and exurbanites’ desire to live in the dispersed settlements outside of urban boundaries. These struggles play out at different scales and in a range of different metropolitan contexts. This paper reports on the results of an ethnographic study of Christchurch urban fringe residents’ residential land-use narratives and practices. The paper focuses on landscape preferences and concerns of a sample of small-scale productive land users and explores the implications of their versions of urban greening in the context of policy visions for the urban edge. A political ecology interpretation highlights relationships in this case study between competing claims about fringe greening and fringe landscape practices. These contests over the landscapes of the urban edge illustrate ways that municipal and regional planning visions for the urban edge conflict with the ideals and practices of those residents and land use managers who might otherwise be some of the strongest supporters of urban greening initiatives. Competing discourses about the urban edge relate in different ways to concerns about abrupt urban containment and to practices that act on these concerns. I briefly discuss promising examples of edge greening in this case that may provide models for participatory management of contested and multi-use greenspace at the urban–rural fringe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To assess the potential impact of climate changes on pasture production in the North Island, New Zealand, eight climate scenarios of increased temperature and increased (or decreased) rainfall were investigated by integrating a polynomial regression model for pasture production with a Geographic Information System (GIS). The results indicated that the climate change scenarios assuming an increase in temperature by 1-2°C and a rainfall change by -20 to +20% would have a very significant impact on pasture production with a predicted pasture production variation from -46.2 to +51.9% compared with the normal climate from 1961-1990. Increased temperature would generally have a positive effect on pasture production in the south and southeast of the North Island, and increased rainfall would have a positive effect in the central, south and southeast of the North Island and a negative effect in the north of the North Island. The interaction of decreased rainfall and increased temperature would have a negative impact for the whole North Island except some central areas with high rainfall. Relevant management practices for coping with potential climate change are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In New Zealand environmental management is essentially the responsibility of land managers. Management decisions affect both production/productivity and the environment. However, responsibility for ensuring positive environmental outcomes falls on both local (Regional) and Central Government, and both they and international agencies such as the OECD would wish to monitor and report on changes. In terms of policy, strong links have been established via Central and Regional Government to land managers. Consumers in the market place are also, increasingly, requiring responsibility for positive environmental outcomes of those who purchase and process primary products. Strong links for responsibility have been established between our international markets and processing businesses and there is a noticeable strengthening of the links from the processors to the land manager/producer. In New Zealand a range of initiatives has been developed and implemented over recent times, whereby land managers are taking increasing responsibility for accounting for the environmental outcomes of their production activities. The range covers the spectrum from voluntary to compulsory (e.g., in order to meet market requirements) and from those initiated by customers to processor and/or producer initiatives. This paper follows the evolution of the principles that drove the predominant activities of the period and the processes that initiated the changes in environmental management. As the focus of agriculturalists changed from pioneering in a new world, to establishing a production base, to economic reality, and finally to environmental responsibility, the processes of extension adapted to meet the new challenge. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Species membership of plant functional groups and the relationship to soil variables were studied in two paddocks with long-term differentiated management in New Zealand hill country. The microrelief of the paddocks contained three slope classes (low, medium, and high) with contrasting soil variables. Soil variables (unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, volumetric soil moisture, total soil porosity, field volumetric soil moisture, soil compression, soil rebound, and air permeability), botanical composition and herbage mass accumulation were determined. Analysis of variance, cluster analysis, simple correlation analysis and canonical variate analysis were performed on the data. Seven functional plant groups were determined. High fertility grasses and Lolium perenne were strongly affected by changes in the level of soil variables. Low fertility species appeared to be affected indirectly by soil variables, as they were poor competitors when availability of soil resources was high. Some species (e.g., Agrostis capillaris) were indifferent to changes in the levels of available resources due to soil characteristics. Species and functional groups colonised the evaluated sites according to the soil resources. Species and functional groups were shown to have the capability to respond positively to soil resources, adjusting their growth according to the varying circumstances. The relationship between plant functional groups and field condition, a grazing management concept that measures the deviation from some ideal ecological state, was also examined. Results suggested that field condition and plant functional groups are complementary concepts in grassland dynamic analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Decision tree, one of the data mining methods, has been widely used as a modelling approach and has shown better predictive ability than traditional approaches (e.g. regression). However, very little is known from the literature about how the decision tree performs in predicting pasture productivity. In this study, decision tree models were developed to investigate and predict the annual and seasonal productivity of naturalised hill-pasture in the North Island, New Zealand, and were compared with regression models with respect to model fit, validation and predictive accuracy. The results indicated that the decision tree models for annual and seasonal pasture productivity all had a smaller average squared error (ASE) and a higher percentage of correctly predicted cases than the corresponding regression models. The decision tree model for annual pasture productivity had an ASE which was only half of that of the regression model, and correctly predicted 90% of the cases in the model validation which was 10.8 percentage points higher than that of the regression model. Furthermore, the decision tree models for annual and seasonal pasture productivity also clearly revealed the relative importance of environmental and management variables in influencing pasture productivity, and the interaction among these variables. Spring rainfall was the most significant factor influencing annual pasture productivity, while hill slope was the most significant factor influencing spring and winter pasture productivity, and annual P fertiliser input and autumn rainfall were the most significant factors influencing summer and autumn pasture productivity. One limitation of using the decision tree to predict pasture productivity was that it did not generate a continuous prediction, and thus could not detect the influence of small changes in environmental and management variables on pasture productivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of the study was to evaluate the grazing behaviour by sheep in hill country paddocks in New Zealand which had received two long-term fertilization and stocking rate treatments [high fertility–high stocking rate (HH); low fertility–low stocking rate (LL)]. Herbage accumulation and selective grazing were evaluated within low slope (LS), medium slope (MS) and high slope (HS) categories. Transects lines were placed and tillers of Agrostis capillaris and Lolium perenne in the LS category; A. capillaris, Anthoxanthum odoratum and L. perenne in the MS category; and A. capillaris and A. odoratum in the HS category were marked. The leaf length of each marked tiller was measured and used to determine selective grazing over 3 weeks during each season. The highest herbage accumulation rates were during spring and the lowest in summer and winter. The LS category showed the highest herbage accumulation rates and HS the lowest. Except for autumn, the marked tillers were more frequently grazed in the HH than in the LL paddock. During summer, autumn and spring, grazing frequency in the slope categories was in the order LS > MS > HS. During winter sheep did not discriminate between slope category. During summer, autumn and spring, sheep did not selectively graze the species studied but this was not the case during winter. Overall, sheep selectively grazed L. perenne. In all the seasons L. perenne consistently had the longest leaves but within species there was no consistent relationship between leaf length and probability of being grazed. Selective grazing changed through the year according to herbage accumulation rate. Sheep concentrated grazing in the category LS when herbage accumulation rate was high, but they did not discriminate between slope categories in winter when herbage accumulation rate was low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine long-term effects of fertiliser and livestock management and micro-topographical variation on soil physical and chemical characteristics and herbage accumulation on a hill site in the southern North Island of New Zealand. Paddocks subjected to high fertility-high stocking rate (HH) and low fertility-low stocking rate (LL) treatments dating back to 1975 were used. Soil samples were taken from three slope categories (0–12 ° low slope, LS; 13–25 ° medium slope, MS; >25° high slope, HS) from HH and LL and a range of soil chemical and physical features were assessed. Herbage accumulation (green matter and dead matter) was measured over 12 months on each microsite. Greater differences in soil and herbage features, such as unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (Kunsat), bulk density (BD), water holding capacity (VSM), soil compressibility (SC), total soil nitrogen (Total-N), Olsen-P and green dry matter accumulation (GDMA), were measured across slope categories than between management treatments, possibly because slope effects on soils would have operated over longer periods of time than the fertiliser-stocking rate contrasts. Increasing slope decreased GDMA on the site, as well as Total-N, Olsen-P, VSM and SC, but increased Kunsat, BD and soil rebound after compression (SR). Slope, VSM, Kunsat, SC, BD and Total-N were the soil variables with largest influence on differentiation between microsites. Olsen-P and SR were less important. Green dry matter accumulation was strongly influenced by slope, soil VSM and Kunsat, and to a lesser extent by soil Total-N and Olsen-P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pastoral fallow, which involves no defoliation of pasture for a period, generally from spring to autumn, is a management tool that can be used either to reduce plant population density through self-thinning prior to oversowing improved plant germplasm or to encourage natural reseeding in order to increase sward persistence and productivity. Two field experiments were carried out in a hill pasture in New Zealand to quantify the response of the seed population, germinated from soil plugs under glasshouse conditions for over 7 months, to pastoral fallow, as influenced by the timing and duration of the fallow, fertilizer application and aspect, and to identify the germination patterns of different plant species in fallowed and grazed swards. A spring–autumn pastoral fallow increased the germinated seed population of grasses, legumes and weeds by 161%, 51% and 59%, respectively, compared with the grazed control. The variation in germinated seed population during the pastoral fallow showed that seed quantity can be controlled by manipulating the timing and duration of a pastoral fallow. Short duration (2–3 month) pastoral fallows resulted in a significantly lower germinated grass seed population than the full (spring–autumn) fallows. Fertilizer application reduced the germinated grass seed population by 26%. The germinated legume seed population was higher with a shady than a sunny aspect. Regression analysis revealed that the germination patterns of all plant species followed a negative exponential function. Partial differentiation of this function derived a germination rate curve on which a two-pool (ephemeral pool and base pool) model was developed to describe quantitatively the dynamics of germinable seed reserves in the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]