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New Zealand is frequently cited as the archetypical example of New Public Management (NPM), having gone 'further and faster' than other jurisdictions in radically reforming their public service in the late 1980s. These reforms have been credited with significant gains in efficiency and responsiveness, while introducing new challenges. Successive reforms over the past 30 years tinkered with the model without fundamentally altering the underlying paradigm, such that authors refer to the 'myth of post-NPM in New Zealand'. In 2020, New Zealand repealed and replaced its main public service legislation. By textually analysing government documents, this article explores the different theoretical roots of New Zealand's ongoing administrative reforms and debates the extent of their theoretical coherence. The Act directly dialogues with and draws inspiration from recent academic debates, drawing from a range of sources (such as New Public Governance, Digital Era Governance, and the New Public Service). Points for practitioners: New Zealand has long been regarded as the purest example of New Public Management (NPM). Legislation passed in 2020 saw New Zealand adopt a range of reforms described in the literature as 'post-NPM', while also reaffirming features associated with Traditional Public Administration (TPA). While New Zealand has moved away from a pure NPM model and adopted features associated with Post-NPM, Post-NPM is not a coherent doctrine and it may only be possible to identify administrative doctrines retrospectively. We may be entering a period of 'New Public Complexity', where administrative doctrines are blended and layered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy provides a roadmap for actions to be taken in any task. It plays an important role in successful implementation of any program. Similarly, the presence of policy also plays a key role in implementation of digital preservation program. The organizations having such policy hold an edge for carrying out their digital preservation activities in an organized manner. This paper provides an explicit overview regarding preparedness of libraries and other organizations across the world in terms of availability of policies for digital preservation. The paper also attempts to map the data geographically. The empirical studies were reviewed systematically, and the extracted data was synthesized for producing meaningful insight about this phenomenon. The meta-analysis affirms that libraries and other organizations seem to have realization about importance of policies for implementation of digital preservation program. Although some studies highlight the availability of digital preservation policies in a good number of organizations yet, as a whole, most of the studies point out passive organizational attitude toward the development of such policies. The data mapping affirms that the studies conducted worldwide and North American region show a satisfactory situation in terms of availability of digital preservation policies. However, the studies conducted in European countries, African region, China, and New Zealand identify a gap regarding presence of such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Health of the Nation Outcomes Scales for people with Learning Disabilities (HoNOS-LD) is an 18-item measure which provides a structured and standardized approach to rating various clinical and psychosocial outcomes and has been in use nationally since 2002. Aims: To revise and improve the HoNOS-LD's utility in contemporary intellectual disability (ID) services whilst retaining its original objectives and five-point severity ratings. Method: ID clinicians were invited to complete an online survey, rating each item on the existing measure for being fit for purpose, identifying issues and suggesting improvements based on their experience of using the HoNOS-LD in practice. Scales were then assessed and revised sequentially; survey responses were used to inform discussion and revisions to the HoNOS-LD by the Advisory Board. Results: A total of 75 individuals replied. Respondents had used HoNOS-LD for an average of 8.0 years (S.D. 5.28 years) and 88% found the scale to be useful in their practice. On average, respondents used HoNOS-LD ratings to inform care 42.4% of the time (S.D. 33.5%). For each scale there was a significant negative correlation between the percentage of positive/very positive respondent ratings and the number of changes proposed. Common changes included simplifying terms, reducing ambiguity and replacing anachronistic language. Conclusion: The changes outlined in this paper are based on the advisory group's expert consensus. These changes are intended to improve reliability and validity but now need empirical testing as well as review by service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the legal and policy intersection of property rights and environmental law. Property rights are closely connected to and often in tension with many elements of environmental law and policy. Appropriate controls on the use of property rights and natural resources, and effectively managing the environmental consequences of such use, are critical in addressing the environmental challenges of our time. This paper first reviews the importance of property rights in the context of our legal, social, economic and political systems. It then examines the active use of property rights and mechanisms to address environmental challenges, including the creative and innovative use and development of new forms of property rights that have emerged in recent times. This is followed by a discussion of recent developments in restricting the use of property rights in land use and natural resource development to address environmental issues. The paper concludes with some ideas for future development of the law, and emerging new directions for future research. Throughout the paper, New Zealand will be used as a case study to reflect on the relationship between property rights and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex work has undergone a change, with the rise of the internet economy with more 'middle class' sex workers coming into the industry. In this paper, I explore the social status hierarchy within online direct-contact commercial sex work in New Zealand. I draw on findings from an in-depth qualitative investigation of online sex work, undertaken between 2017 and 2018. I took a participatory approach, working closely with NZPC – Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers' Collective to provide an understanding of two interrelated issues: the role web platforms play in shaping the social status of sex workers who advertise for clients online; and how sex workers brand and market themselves online. The findings suggest that sex workers strive to represent themselves as authentic in their marketing to enhance social status. Furthermore, the web platform on which over 90% of indoor sex workers in New Zealand advertise has embedded a status system among sex workers through the advertising packages they offer. Social status has thus become the most powerful marketing tool indoor direct-contact sex workers have to stand out from their competitors and attract sufficient clients to make a liveable income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colonised indigenous minorities around the world are constantly navigating the complex space between their heritage culture and mainstream society. In this paper, we explore how embeddedness in heritage cultural values, beliefs, and practises influence the behaviours of indigenous minorities, particularly during intercultural contact with the post-colonial majority where values, beliefs, and practises often clash. To support our theorising, we introduce the concept of cultural embeddedness, relating to enculturation in one's heritage cultural values, beliefs, and practises. We then introduce the Dual-Pathways Model of Embeddedness to Culturally Valued Behaviours for Indigenous Minorities (DPM), which seeks to outline the two separate but interrelated pathways through which cultural embeddedness leads to culturally valued behaviours. The dual pathways include an implicit pathway, which begins with cultural values, and an explicit pathway, which begins with cultural practises. We use an indigenous approach, drawing on the first author's experiences as an indigenous Māori in New Zealand to illustrate the concepts of the DPM. The model attempts to integrate the various ways in which cultural identity has been defined by indigenous authors into a single theory. We invite future qualitative and quantitative research, especially by indigenous scholars, to challenge and/or validate the DPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeless library customers often face barriers to equitable library use. This study examined homeless library customers' perspectives on general and targeted public library services, and social inclusion. Findings presented in the paper come from a qualitative phenomenological study comprising semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven self-identified regular library users of a public library in Christchurch, New Zealand, who were experiencing homelessness at the time of the study. Findings report on a diverse range of information needs and motivations for visiting a public library. Participants viewed the public library as a safe, warm, and quiet place in which to relax and escape difficulties related to experiencing homelessness. The results reflect changes in the role of public libraries and in the expectations of customers, and discuss a need for targeted library services in the form of specialist gatekeeper roles such as that of a community liaison. This study evaluated the effectiveness of general and targeted library services from users' points of view, providing insights which could be used to inform the design of relevant information policies and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores why and how migrants use social media in different phases of the migration process, how they manage personal information on social media during migration, and whether they use libraries' social media in any of the migration phases. An anonymous questionnaire was used to collect opinions and investigate the activities of migrant communities in New Zealand in the three above mentioned areas. The paper presents the results of a descriptive statistical analysis performed on the data. These results were categorized and presented under the following themes: demographic data, use of social media during migration, personal information management practices on social media, use of library social media during migration, issues arising from the use of social media during migration and positive impact of social media during migration. The main findings of our research showed that in the transitioning phase migrants use social media mostly for making the decision to move. In the settling phase, social media help them to cushion the anxieties associated with a move and also help them to make an informed decision in the new country. In the settled phase, participants used social media to stay connected with family and friends in the home country. Language barriers can restrict the use of social media during the moving process. Personal information on social media is not recognized as important and is not managed in any particular way. Libraries are present in the life of migrants but more as physical spaces and services than through their social media presence. Findings from this study can be of interest to libraries and other information providers developing services for migrants in physical and digital environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implementation process and impacts of an Early Intervention System (EIS) introduced into the New Zealand Police in 2013. The system was associated with large reductions in complaints of 72.5% against target employees (N = 526), but without this clearly translating into reductions in the overall number of complaints. The New Zealand case also highlighted the issue of the different potential uses of early intervention. Should the priority be officer welfare or the more usual aim of improving officer conduct, police-citizen relations and public confidence in police? The authors argue that the traditional focus on reducing adverse incidents between police and citizens, with public complaints as a major guide and measure, should have at least equal weight in an EIS that is part of a comprehensive state-of-the-art police integrity management system. The paper also highlights the need for detailed publicly accessible data to ensure accountability of investments in integrity strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vulnerability has been a guiding narrative to state interventions towards children and their families in New Zealand. This article shows how this progressive notion has been systematically managed to fit pre-established political and policy priorities. These processes have emphasised: (i) categorisations of risk to those who demonstrate vulnerabilities; (ii) pre-emptive, multi-agency involvement in the lives of those deemed potentially 'vulnerable'; and (iii) a responsibilising expectation that children and families will avoid vulnerable situations and comply with interventions. This individualising logic of vulnerability has solidified policy interventions towards Māori, and re-emphasised colonial practices of viewing Māori children and young people as deficit-laden risks to be managed. With a late 2017 change in government, the political dalliance with vulnerability appears to be in decline. A new progressive policy discourse – of child 'well-being' and 'best interests' – is being engaged. Yet, the emphasis on risk, and its corresponding elements of pre-emption and responsibility, persist. These discursive and institutional arrangements will ensure that Māori remain perilously entrenched in welfare and justice systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses notices related to legal proceedings from across the world. The New Zealand Criminal Justice Act 1985, subsection 138-141, has authorized the court to ban public interference and limit publication of information in criminal cases. The Irish Law Reform Commission has released a publication paper related to the confirmation of electronic and documentary testimony in both civil and criminal proceedings and electronic recording of police interviews introduced in the U.S.

Objectives: The study aimed to explore how people with complex, established co-morbidities experience long-term condition care in New Zealand. Despite the original conception as appropriate for people with early stage disease, in New Zealand the self-management approach dominates the care provided to people at all stages of diagnosis with long-term conditions, something reinforced through particular funding mechanisms. Methods: A multiple case study followed the lives of 16 people with several long-term conditions. Data collection comprised two interviews, four weekly contacts with patients over an 18-month period and an interview with their primary health care clinicians. Results: This paper reveals a cohort of tired, distracted patients struggling to manage their lives in the face of multiple conflicting challenges, with insufficient energy for the level of personal agency required to deal with the self-management approach. Discussion: Participants described aspects of care received, which does meet their needs but sit outside the self-management approach, that resonate with the ideas behind current approaches to palliative care. The potential of an approach to care built upon these ideas is explored as a more compassionate, effective way of meeting the needs of people with advanced, multiple long-term conditions. Further research is warranted to explore the acceptability of such an approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Māori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. European colonisation had a devastating effect on their communities and their way of life. While there is some evidence of a renaissance of Māori culture in recent years, like other indigenous people across the world, they continue to be massively overrepresented in their country's figures for poor mental and physical health. In this paper, we briefly review the literature on the Movement for Global Mental Health and review the case that has been made for the use of indigenous psychologies in place of approaches based on Western psychiatry and psychology. We present two case histories where an intervention based on an indigenous Māori approach to negotiating emotional conflicts and dealing with mental health problems was used. This approach, called Mahi a Atua, was developed by two of the authors over a number of years. We conclude that indigenous approaches to mental health offer not just an adjunct to, but a real alternative to, the interventions of Western psychiatry. They provide a framework through which individuals and families can negotiate their journeys through mental health crises and difficulties. However, such approaches can also work on a socio-cultural level to promote a positive identity for indigenous communities by celebrating the power of indigenous deities, narratives, and healing practices that were marginalised and suppressed by the forces of colonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Association of Social Workers has campaigned for many years for the registration of social workers in Australia, but with little success to date. This paper critically examines the key arguments for and against registration with reference to academic and government policy literature from international jurisdictions (primarily New Zealand and England) where government regulation of social work already exists. This review of existing literature found that arguments in favour of registration broadly centre on two main assumptions. They are improved protection of clients and amplification of professional standing. The findings indicate that there is only limited empirical evidence as to whether registration does in fact lift the professional standing of social workers or protect consumers from substandard practice. We conclude that further research is required to examine whether registration of social workers is justified in Australia, and particularly to ascertain whether the regulation of social workers generally or in specific practice areas such as child protection can realistically take place independently of the large number of human service practitioners who are not social work trained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author deals with the papers presented at the Second Australia-New Zealand Health Services Research and Policy Conference that are published within the issue. The author welcomes the decision of the Health Services Association of Australia and New Zealand to adopt the "Journal of Health Services Research & Policy" as its official journal. The papers published within the issue focused on health services research and health service policy analysis.

This paper begins by outlining the concept of multi-level environmental governance, as it will be used for the purpose of considering the three potential responses available to central government. This is followed by a brief discussion of the constitutional context within which this conflict over GMO regulation is occurring. The specific factual and legal background is then introduced. This provides the basis for discussion of three possible responses available to central government. In respect of each of these responses, this paper considers what they reveal about the current state of multi-level environmental governance in New Zealand. This paper concludes by making some general observations about sustainable development in New Zealand which, it is suggested, underpin central government's approach to GMOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature, which has emerged largely from Europe and Britain, suggests that the concepts of social exclusion and inclusion are fundamentally limited when accounting for 'difference'. This paper extends this literature by considering the way in which a social exclusion/inclusion discourse has played out in a 'white settler' society where the 'difference' embodied by the highly 'excluded' indigenous population is a central concern for social policy. The paper argues that the goal of an 'inclusive society', which has framed New Zealand social policy since 1999, promotes an equal opportunity approach that sits in tension with the specific needs and rights of Maori as indigenous peoples and partners in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. The ambiguous consequences of this goal highlight the need for settler societies to develop policy that reflects their own socio-political circumstances, rather than simply adopt policy discourses that are popular internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mast seeding – the pronounced inter-annual variability and synchrony in seed production – can have profound local ecological impacts. We explore the potential for generating long (centuries to millennia) proxy records of tree mast seeding, from pollen deposited in lake sediments. This proxy record uses pollen recovered from annually-banded (varved) sediments from a core collected from Lake Ohau, South Island, New Zealand to reconstruct masting events for two genera of Southern Beech, Fuscospora spp. and Lophozonia spp. We find average mast frequencies inferred from Fuscospora pollen from a 43-year sediment core collected from Lake Ohau comparable to seed fall expected for the catchment using a differential-temperature (ΔT) statistical model for the period 1974–2016. In contrast, Lophozonia pollen mast frequency in the 1974–2016 timeseries was consistently lower than that predicted by the ΔT model, although the patterns of variability were broadly similar. We explore this approach in a second 32-year pollen timeseries from Lake Ohau, spanning the pre-instrumental period 1833–1864. During this interval, average air temperature was ~1°C cooler than the late 20th century, and interannual variability of air temperature was subdued, such that mast frequency predicted by the Δ T model is the lowest in 200 years. We find mast frequency in our pollen records reflects this pattern for Fuscospora, with a minima of mast frequency from 1850, compared to the 1974–2016 record, but not for Lophozonia. This paper demonstrates that a centuries-long pollen record from the Lake Ohau sedimentary sequence has the potential to form a valuable proxy for Fuscospora masting that would supplement existing seedfall records. Long records of this type could significantly enhance our understanding of the environmental drivers of mast seeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work aspires to empowerment ideals, including taking a 'non-expert' position of professional curiosity, and validating the perspectives of people in contact with services. Yet in child protection, social workers are involved in practice that refutes the views and opinions of people and are positioned by their role as an identifier of abuse and risk manager. Social workers and people who are subject to child protection services can be locked into meaning battles regarding the effect of parental behaviour and the representation of risks to children. These negotiations over meanings are especially difficult in the pre and perinatal period, where who controls the representation of the baby's voice or best interests is fundamental to decision outcomes. Using Fricker's concept of 'testimonial injustice' as an analytical lens, this article draws on studies in two different contexts: Aotearoa New Zealand and Scotland, to examine the implications of the intense mediation of meanings that affect child protection practice. We find that concepts relating to the importance of mothering, love for children, and extended family relationships were sources of mother's disagreements with professional views of risk, but that through qualified agreement or advocacy from community workers, a shared risk narrative could be constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research in psycholinguistics, corpus linguistics, and sociolinguistics shows that we have a strong tendency to repeat linguistic material that we have recently produced, seen, or heard. The present paper investigates whether priming effects manifest in continuous phonetic variation the way it has been reported in phonological, morphological, and syntactic variation. We analyzed nearly 60,000 tokens of vowels involved in the New Zealand English short front vowel shift (SFVS), a change in progress in which trap / dress move in the opposite direction to kit, from a topic-controlled corpus of monologues (166 speakers), to test for effects that are characteristic of priming phenomena: repetition, decay, and lexical boost. Our analysis found evidence for all three effects. Tokens that were relatively high and front tended to be followed by tokens that were also high and front; the repetition effect weakened with greater time between the prime and target; and the repetition effect was stronger if the prime and target belonged to (different tokens of) the same word. Contrary to our expectations, however, the cross-vowel effects suggest that the repetition effect responded not to the direction of vowel changes within the SFVS, but rather the peripherality of the tokens. We also found an interaction between priming behavior and gender, with stronger repetition effects among men than women. While these findings both indicate that priming manifests in continuous phonetic variation and provide further evidence that priming is among the factors providing structure to intraspeaker variation, they also challenge unitary accounts of priming phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The White Paper on Vulnerable Children before the Aotearoa/New Zealand parliament proposes changes that will significantly reconstruct the child welfare systems in this country, including the use of a predictive risk model (PRM). This article explores the ethics of this strategy in a child welfare context. Tensions exist, including significant ethical problems such as use of information without consent, breaches of privacy and stigmatisation, without clear evidence of the benefits outweighing these costs. Broader implicit assumptions about the causes of child abuse and risk and their intersections with wider discursive, political and systems design contexts are discussed. Drawing on Houston et al. (2010) this paper highlights the potential for a PRM to contribute to a neo-liberal agenda that individualises social problems, reifies risk and abuse, and narrowly prescribes service provision. However, with reference to child welfare and child protection orientations, the paper suggests more ethical ways of using the model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A scan of social research about rural New Zealand from the 1980s reveals power divisions which have muted the voices of 'others'. Listening to these voices could transform how we manage the economy, sustain the environment and promote social well-being in future. Rural sociological attention in New Zealand has focused on the people and communities associated with land and resource-based assets, with little attention to the rural majority not engaged in primary production. Indigenous voices are also missing. As Jessica Hutchings argues, decisions on economic development, the environment and social services continue to uphold colonial hegemony as the dominant worldview in Aotearoa New Zealand. By being open to the perspectives of people normally ignored and particularly engaging with indigenous approaches, application of capital and power in development can be rethought and structural inequalities addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers updates on the Australia and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA). A panel session on Communications Research in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand will be hosted by ANZCA. ANZCA has just completed and introduced its website which is accessible at www.anzca.net. The president of ANZCA will be attending the symposium "The State of the Art of the Communication Discipline in the (non-US) World.

Hair removal amongst Western women is ubiquitous, and research continues to highlight the ongoing conformity of almost all women with hair removal practices. Often women are presented as either cultural dupes, following the expectations of the Western hairless ideal without question, or highly engaged participants in the rigours of aesthetic labour, using it for their own agentic purposes. This paper seeks to explore the various ways that younger women (18-35) made sense of their own and others' hair removal practices. We report on a thematic analysis of data generated from an online (mostly) qualitative survey with 299 female-identified respondents. Four themes were constructed: (1) women should do what they want with their body hair, (2) removing hair is socially shaped, (3) begrudging complicity, and (4) resistance to hair removal norms takes a particular kind of woman. We discuss the ways in which women described their practices and thinking where they seemed simultaneously complicit with and resistant to idealised notions of feminine embodiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health disparity and under-utilization of health services is prevalent among Asian refugees and migrants in Western countries and can profoundly impact health outcomes. Cambodians who survived extreme physical and emotional trauma during the genocides enacted by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970's are particularly vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes decades later. Understanding the experiences of help-seeking and service use by displaced Cambodians in Western countries may help to design more effective and culturally safe healthcare services. Aims: To identify characteristics or factors associated with help seeking behaviours and service utilization of displaced Cambodians with mental health issues living in Western countries. Methods: This review followed the Arksey & O'Malley methodological framework for scoping reviews. Articles for review were identified through searches of nine electronic databases and manual searches. Relevant articles were selected, and data was extracted and synthesized into key themes. Results: This review included 15 articles. Most of the studies were conducted in the USA (n = 13) with one each conducted in Canada and New Zealand. Seven studies used qualitative interviews, five used a cross-sectional survey approach, two used a mixed-methods approach and one was a narrative review and case series. Key findings highlighted the impact of Cambodian cultural beliefs about mental health (guilt, shame and help-seeking stigma) on service utilization and the disconnect between Western models of service provision and preferred Cambodian ways of receiving support. Conclusion: Mental health services in Western countries are likely to be under-utilized by Cambodians due to a mismatch between health beliefs and Western models of care. Further investigation of the association between health beliefs and barriers to service utilization among adult Cambodian refugees is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introductory psychology courses have a broad reach; their textbooks are instrumental in disseminating information about mental distress. In this study, we present the theoretical implications of a Foucauldian discourse analysis of constructions of schizophrenia in six introductory psychology textbooks assigned in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia. We identify three interconnected discursive constructions within the textbooks: object-for-study, social problem, and unrecoverable illness. These constructions converge to position people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (PWDS) as sites for biomedical intervention and generate biomedical treatment as necessary but non-curative. Notably, the voices of PWDS are absent from the texts. We contend that amplifying counter discourses and the voices of PWDS is essential to provide the context, meaning, and hope that is missing from these textbooks, and broader society. We work with Mad Studies to present potential ways of theorising otherwise around these experiences—and leveraging this theory in textbook writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research initiated in 1909 by G. Leslie Adkin (1888–1964) suggested that the central Tararua Range on the North Island, New Zealand, was subjected to only limited alpine-style glaciation during the Late Pleistocene. This was based on the ‘U-shaped’ cross-profiles in the uppermost parts of several valleys, and cirque basins. Findings were published in Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, but were not met with universal acceptance by luminaries such as Charles Cotton. Adkin’s work remained the only published glacial research undertaken on the North Island’s axial ranges until the latter part of the 20th century. Adkin holds a special position in New Zealand science, because although he worked full-time as a farmer he published nearly 40 articles in scientific journals on topics as varied as Māori archaeology and geoscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers news briefs on the field of development evaluation as of October 2011. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is inviting to submit papers for a workshop on development evaluation. The 10th European Evaluation Society Biennial Conference will be held in Helsinki, Finland in October 2012. The Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association held its annual conference in Wellington in August 2011.

Hill’s one-dimensional three-element model has often been used for formulating a three-dimensional skeletal muscle constitutive model, which generally involves several material parameters. However, only few of these parameters have physical meanings and can be experimentally determined. In this paper, a parametric study of a Hill-type hyperelastic skeletal muscle model is performed. First, the Hill-type hyperelastic skeletal muscle model is formulated, containing 13 material parameters. The values or value ranges of these parameters are discussed. The muscle model is then used to predict the behaviour of New Zealand white rabbit hind leg muscle tibialis anterior and a sensitivity study of several parameters is performed. Results show that some parameters in the muscle model can be experimentally determined, some parameters have their own value ranges and the muscle model can predict the experimental data by tuning the parameters within their value ranges. The results from the sensitivity study can help understand how some parameters influence the total muscle stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research provides evidence that individuals shift in their perception of variants depending on social characteristics attributed to the speaker. This paper reports on a speech perception experiment designed to test the degree to which the age attributed to a speaker influences the perception of vowels undergoing a chain shift. As a result of the shift, speakers from different generations produce different variants from one another. Results from the experiment indicate that a speaker’s perceived age can influence vowel categorization in the expected direction. However, only older participants are influenced by perceived speaker age. This suggests that social characteristics attributed to a speaker affect speech perception differently depending on the salience of the relationship between the variant and the characteristic. The results also provide evidence of an unexpected interaction between the sex of the participant and the sex of the stimulus. The interaction is interpreted as an effect of the participants’ previous exposure with male and female speakers.The results are analyzed under an exemplar model of speech production and perception where social information is indexed to acoustic information and the weight of the connection varies depending on the perceived salience of sociophonetic trends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores issues in relation to the contribution and importance of mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) in re-energizing and motivating the information profession. Set within the context of developing our understanding of the concept of ‘professionalism’ for the contemporary information profession, the mandatory schemes offered by professional associations in the UK and New Zealand are compared and contrasted, and an assessment made of their pros and cons in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines a controversial research programme aimed at the production of transgenic cows in New Zealand. It emphasizes the contested representation of the research, in its promotion, in its governance, and in the opposition sparked amongst environmental/anti-genetic modification groups and within the Māori community. The paper contends that the case of New Zealand’s genetically modified cows certainly reveals some unique features of the prevailing economic, geographical and cultural context, but nonetheless has salience for the broader understanding of the promotion, public reception and governance of genetic modification. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The goal of this paper is to examine the incentives to vote insincerely, other than those created by rounding, faced by voters in systems of proportional representation (PR). We rigorously investigate two models of voter behaviour. The first model assumes that the voter is primarily interested in the distribution of seats in the post-election parliament (seat maximizer) while the second considers a voter who is concerned with the distribution of power in it (power maximizer). We show that under pure PR, seat maximizers do not have any incentives to manipulate, which justifies the Bowler and Lanoue (1992) claim, and that such incentives for seat maximizers appears with the introduction of a threshold. We show that, even in the absence of a threshold, there will always exist circumstances where a power maximizer would have an incentive to vote insincerely. We demonstrate that her incentives to make an insincere vote depends on her attitude toward uncertainty. The introduction of a threshold creates new and stronger opportunities for strategic voters regardless of their attitude toward uncertainty. Finally we discuss the overshooting/undershooting phenomenon, when either too many or too few like-minded voters attempt to manipulate. We use the two models to explain voters' behaviour at the 2005 New Zealand general election and demonstrate that rounding creates not only incentives but also disincentives for strategic voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of activism have inspired geographers for many years, but most of this work has focused on relatively short time-frames, events and struggles. This paper suggests that there is much to be gained from a greater engagement with issues of time and time--spaces. It outlines and applies the contrasting conceptions of chrono/chora and kairo/topos notions of time--space as potentially useful ways to interrogate geographies of activism. The paper focuses on two specific forms of activism--an Australian women's 'Heritage Project' and a New Zealand 'Fishbowl' evaluation of a community development programme--to show how politics is contingent on diverse temporal as well as spatial conditions. It reveals the complex navigations that are made as these politics are negotiated via both mutual learning processes and the forging of new activist--state relations. It is concluded that these 'timely partnerships' have involved moving beyond adversarial conceptions of 'state' and 'activist', but at the risk of reconstituting activism as 'social capital.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A feminist school based sexuality education needs to be both gender-focused and critical. In this paper, we investigate the (im)possibilities of feminist sexuality education by exploring instances of its practice in New Zealand. Using a poststructuralist discursive framework, we use the theoretical concepts of 'doing' and 'undoing' gender to examine how students (aged 13-16) responded to progressive and liberal ideas presented by sexuality educators. Our findings paint a complicated picture. On some occasions, participants used traditional discourses of sexuality to counter educators' use of progressive notions. At other times liberal and feminist ideas were embraced by participants and resourced awareness of possibilities for positive female sexuality. Our work shows traditional sexuality discourses are a continuing limitation to incorporating a discourse of pleasure in sexuality education even in the presence of feminist content. Nevertheless feminist discourses were present and enabled students to think about female sexuality in new and encouraging ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of disagreement strategies used by Japanese learners of English (JLEs) studying at language schools in New Zealand. The study stemmed from an observation that JLEs were unwilling to express disagreements in exchanges with high-power (+P) interlocutors, possibly due to the threat of face-loss and the consequences of offending a +P interlocutor. Two questions were considered: (1) How did the JLEs perceive power distance between themselves and native speakers (NSs), and how did this affect their selection of disagreement strategies with NS interlocutors? (2) How might their perception of power distance affect how they learned disagreement strategies? Data was collected from 12 JLEs using a discourse completion task, a series of role-plays and a weekly task sheet. The data revealed that, though the participants were capable of disagreeing with power-equals, they were reluctant to disagree with +P interlocutors. In symmetrical exchanges they employed extended, relatively complex disagreeing strategies, but in power-unequal exchanges they often used short, previously-internalized strategies. The JLEs regarded teachers as power-unequal interlocutors, and consequently they often avoided classroom disagreements, potentially reducing their opportunities to learn and rehearse approaches to disagreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions the argument that strong and early reliance on 'regressive' taxes (consumption and payroll taxes) made it politically easier to build and maintain a large welfare state. It develops an alternative perspective which differs in two respects. First, a crucial 'advantage' of regressive taxes is that they imply moderate capital taxation, but this can also be achieved within income tax. Second, the direction of causality moves largely from high revenue needs to strong reliance on at least one of the two major regressive taxes, rather than the other way round. The paper aims to show that this alternative argument provides a better explanation of quantitative data patterns as well as the cases of Denmark, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Policy implications are also discussed: policymakers have good reason to defend the progressivity and revenue-raising potential of the income tax, and in so doing may require greater European tax coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a discussion of tourist icons as pull factors of a destination and problems associated with icons. According to interviews held with major wholesalers in Australia and inbound tour operators in New Zealand, tourist icons vary in importance to different segments of the market, with coach tourists placing more importance on icons than free independent travellers. Moreover, the need to base overseas marketing on icons depends on the maturity of the targeted market. A tourist survey in New Zealand revealed that Milford Sound and Rotorua were indeed the most commonly known attractions, but that in addition to these two key icons, tourists were attracted to natural features in general, such as mountains and glaciers. This paper argues that an overemphasis on tourist icons potentially leads to unsustainable tourism development, for the following reasons: tourists travel large distances to visit the spatially very dispersed tourist icons, and this results in considerable amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, even if they visit New Zealand for a short period of time; the high visitation levels at popular sites result in infrastructural bottlenecks, reaching carrying capacity, which results in potentially significant environmental and social impacts; and the uneven geographical distribution of tourism spending is a missed opportunity for much-needed regional development. The current '100% Pure' campaign by Tourism New Zealand potentially contributes to a more holistic promotion of New Zealand as an attractive 'natural landscape' destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper presents preliminary evaluative findings from research on key areas of concern to Māori and forms part of a wider project on the 2001 health system reforms in New Zealand. The paper reports on the development and implementation of the Māori Health Strategy, representation in decision making at governance level in District Health Boards, the inclusion of the Treaty of Waitangi in legislation and workforce issues. Methods: Key informant interviews with 35 Māori and non-Māori respondents, in addition to data from five case study districts, were thematically analysed to gain an understanding of views on the health system reforms to date. Results: The development of a Māori Health Strategy and the mandatory inclusion of Māori in governance and consultation processes have had a positive effect on Māori participation in the public health sector. Whereas previously Māori participation was concentrated in health service provision, the inclusion of specific provisions in the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 has resulted in greater Māori inclusion in governance, planning and decision-making roles. However, there are concerns over strategy implementation, sustainability and workforce development. Conclusions: Overall, the findings at this stage indicate that there is support for the post-2000 model. Māori and non-Māori alike have identified positive features of the model that could go some way towards contributing to improved Māori health. However challenges still remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing a destination brand presents many challenges, and this paper opens by briefly reviewing the destination brand management context. It focuses particularly on the political processes involved in successful brand management and on the vital role of public and private sector stakeholders. Critical to the creation of a durable destination brand is the identification of the brand's values, the translation of those into a suitably emotionally appealing personality and the targeted and efficient delivery of that message. While this is difficult to achieve in destination marketing, it is not impossible and, having reviewed some of the hey issues in brand management, the paper explores the context and creation of the New Zealand brand. It identifies the stakeholders crucial to the delivery of this destination brand and examines the positioning process and the creation of its largely web-driven strategy. The paper suggests that through stakeholder partnerships and the harnessing of non-traditional media, Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) has been able to create a powerful travel destination brand, positioned as an appealing niche player in the global tourism industry. Finally, the paper concludes by suggesting an agenda for future research on destination brand management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pubic hair removal, now common among women in Anglo/western cultures, has been theorised as a disciplinary practice. As many other feminine bodily practices, it is characterised by removal or alteration of aspects of women's material body (i.e., pubic hair) considered unattractive but otherwise “natural.” Emerging against this theorisation is a discourse of personal agency and choice, wherein women assert autonomy and self-mastery of their own bodies and body practices. In this paper, we use a thematic analysis to examine the interview talk about pubic hair from 11 sexually and ethnically diverse young women in New Zealand. One overarching theme – pubic hair is undesirable; its removal is desirable – encapsulates four themes we discuss in depth, which illustrate the personal, interpersonal and sociocultural influences intersecting the practice: (a) pubic hair removal is a personal choice; (b) media promote pubic hair removal; (c) friends and family influence pubic hair removal; and (d) the (imagined) intimate influences pubic hair removal. Despite minor variations among queer women, a perceived norm of genital hairlessness was compelling among the participants. Despite the articulated freedom to practise pubic hair removal, any freedom from participating in this practice appeared limited, rendering the suggestion that it is just a “choice” problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptualisations of employment in the New Zealand telecommunications industry are no longer shaped by the notion of a social partnership between union and employer in a national labour market. Rather they are constituted through managerialist discourses in which individual and enterprise are linked in the pursuit of international competitiveness. One consequence of this shift is that workers are more directly exposed to the mechanisms of the market. Drawing from the neo- Foucauldian literature on governmentality, the paper traces qualitative shifts in the discourses and practices governing the employment of workers in the New Zealand telecommunications industry, thereby elucidating the contested processes through which the re-commodification of labour was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In anglophone countries, there have been increasing efforts to vaccinate the total population. A number of strategies have been employed in order to achieve this goal, including compulsory vaccination before children can attend school (USA); financial incentives to general practitioners and other vaccinators to achieve vaccination targets (UK); and, in New Zealand, a system known as mandatory choice. The New Zealand system involves education centres being co-opted into the medical domain to encourage parents to vaccinate their children. In order to promulgate such strategies, 'vaccinepreventable' diseases, vaccines, parents of unvaccinated children, and the children themselves are represented in particular ways. This paper examines the last three 'epidemics' of measles in New Zealand and the way in which the campaigns to prevent these epidemics represented the disease and other agents. Drawing on Foucault's concepts of governmentality and bio-power, the paper explores the linkages between disease representations and the state. In anglophone countries, there have been increasing efforts to vaccinate the total population. A number of strategies have been employed in order to achieve this goal, including compulsory vaccination before children can attend school (USA); financial incentives to general practitioners and other vaccinators to achieve vaccination targets (UK); and, in New Zealand, a system known as mandatory choice. The New Zealand system involves education centres being co-opted into the medical domain to encourage parents to vaccinate their children. In order to promulgate such strategies, 'vaccinepreventable' diseases, vaccines, parents of unvaccinated children, and the children themselves are represented in particular ways. This paper examines the last three 'epidemics' of measles in New Zealand and the way in which the campaigns to prevent these epidemics represented the disease and other agents. Drawing on Foucault's concepts of governmentality and... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in science policy are taking place in industrialized democracies throughout the world. This paper is concerned with the implications of these changes for the content and conduct of publicly-funded science and research. We start from the view that science policy changes are related to wider changes in the role of government, and in the structure, organization and management of the public sector. New Zealand has attracted international attention in this context because of its commitment to a radical programme of public sector reforms. While this reflects similar developments and concerns elsewhere, the New Zealand experience is especially interesting because of the rigour with which policy has been implemented, the radical nature of the changes made, and the relatively short time-span involved. Thus, in focusing on New Zealand, we hope to present material of interest both there and to a wider audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings from interviews with 18 writers and artists in New Zealand, whose lives and work have potential heritage value. The objective was to investigate the perceived value of participants' personal collections, the relevant management practices and challenges, and their potential effects on preservation and (re)use. The findings provide a characterisation of the personal information management (PIM) practices of writers and artists, revealed challenges common to organising personal collections across time and devices as well as those caused or increased by the nature of writers' and artists' work, and produce insights into the impact of perceived collection value and PIM practices on future access, preservation and (re)use of such collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musical Futures (MF) is an internationally recognised approach to music teaching aimed at developing high levels of student engagement through practical music making. Set up in the UK in 2003 Musical Futures is typical of approaches to education aimed at increasing levels of student autonomy through a strong emphasis on student-led discovery learning. A study was undertaken in 2020 to 2021 in New Zealand which investigated how a small number of teachers understand and utilise Musical Futures as an approach for classroom music teaching. The data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with teachers in New Zealand and leaders of the Musical Futures International team in Australia who offer training in New Zealand. Green's original conceptualisation of informal learning was used as the main theoretical bench-mark against which teacher practices were compared and the findings reveal a shift away from the original idea of a discovery approach into the deep end, to more systemised learning. Bernstein's concept of recontextualisation is used to make sense of this process of adaptation and change in the curriculum making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in many nations, New Zealand's (NZ) government has sought to implement workplace policies in public service agencies, including equity initiatives to accelerate diversity and inclusion. However, these processes have been disrupted by the labour market and wider effects of Covid-19 and austerity policies. This is significant for NZ-based Pacific women workers, who often face pronounced workplace inequities though scant knowledge exists about the role of Pacific employee networks in progressing equity. This study examined such networks in three NZ public service agencies, focussing on the 'ambition' of, and influences on progress with, their equity pursuits. Seventy-two semi-structured interviews with sector experts, agency managers and staff, including Pacific women and men whose voices are often muted in the formulation of workplace responses (Maiava-Zajkowski, 2021) were conducted throughout 2020 and early 2021. Thematic content analysis revealed that agency networks vary in size, whom they support, their activities, and environmental dynamics. Using an equity approach typology, less ambitious equity goals were found to prevail, reflecting the networks' fledgling status. Yet, despite facing austerity policies and pandemic challenges, the networks mitigated curbs on workplace equity activity by harnessing the agency of members, with the potential to push for intersectional and culturally informed equity initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affirmative sexual subjectivity and agency are fostered by positive understandings of sexual desire and pleasure. Yet, research shows that print media circulate problematic discourses, including constructing women's desire as passive, linked to objectification, or as a form of (postfeminist) empowerment enacted through pleasing men. Developing this work with a specific focus on digital media and the subject positions offered there, a Foucauldian-informed discourse analysis was performed on 75 online articles, identified through a systematic search intending to replicate the information young women are exposed to during everyday internet use. The analysis produced three subject positions: the "Made through the male gaze" woman whose experience of sexual desire was contingent on men's desire; the "Working on it woman" who employed self-help methods to improve her libido and match a socially acceptable male standard; and the "Sexual connoisseur," a postfeminist subject position who is sexually knowledgeable and confident yet still prioritises men's pleasure. The analysis demonstrates a hetero-gendered discursive framework operating within mainstream media accounts, wherein men's sexual agency and desire are prioritised over women's even in apparently sex-positive and feminist-oriented articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA). The author says that ANZCA aims to be an organization that provides collaboration and exchange of research and a valuable network to develop and support future post graduate researchers. He adds that ANZCA will be having its 2011 ANZCA conference titled "Communication on the Edge: Shifting Boundaries and Identities" on July 6-8, 2011 in New Zealand.

This paper explores the representations of non-expert ‘lay’ roles in selected media reporting of the 2011 synthetic cannabis debate in New Zealand. It uses a critical discourse analysis to explore these representations, using van Leeuwen’s work on the transitivity of clauses. It identifies a number of roles present in reporting and argues that media reporting denies lay roles agency and limits the space available for their members to give their account of events. Instead lay groups are constructed as the passive recipients of actions by authoritative groups. The one exception to this is the construction of parents who, because of a combination of a moral authority granted to them by being parents, and the media’s alignment to the ‘concerned parent’ position, are granted agency and space to explicate their positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]