‘On the influence of the scientific societies of New Zealand on the character of the nation’ - Collecting and identity at the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Institute museum, 1874–1899

This paper explores the collection and collecting activity of the Hawke’s Bay Ph ilosophical Institute of Napier, New Zealand. It examines the development of the Institute’s museum and considers the motivations, intentions and interests of the collectors and their activity within the broader scientific and museum context. The work of two significant collectors is examined in detail: William Colenso, FLS, FRS, missionary, explorer and enthusiastic botanist, who engaged in over fifty years of correspondence and botanical exchange with Sir Joseph Hooker at Kew Gardens; and Augustus Hamilton, the curator of the museum who later became Director of New Zealand’s national collection at the Colonial Museum in Wellington. Through consideration of the Institute’s activities during the period 1874 to 1899, it is proposed that within the collection, the emergence of a distinct local identity can be discerned, during the early colonial period of Hawke’s Bay.

'All intelligent subjects' – Presenting scientific collecting and identity at the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute Museum, 1865-1899

This paper traces a shift in New Zealand’s Scientific Heritage, and the performance and presentation of scientific knowledge and identity through collecting and museum practice – based on a case study of the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Institute Museum, during the period 1865 -1899. Two very well-known figures of New Zealand science, Museums and collecting were central in Hawke’s Bay: William Colenso FLS FRS; and Augustus Hamilton, who later became Director of the Colonial Museum in Wellington. Through them, can be traced how scientific collections and identities evolved, from the work of gentlemen of science to that of a newly professionalised vocation, realised within the spaces of Museums.

Orientation and impact of nonprofit museum web sites

Museums face increasing pressure to attract wider audiences. This requires an understanding of visitor expectations and motivations for visiting the ‘real’ museum. Websites can act as an attracting mechanism for ‘real’ museum visits. However, for the most part, museums have concentrated their efforts on attracting visitors to promotional efforts and collecting statistical data on the demographic profiles of visitors. Museum websites as a means of attracting audiences have been ignored in the research literature. This paper researches the role of museum websites in developing audiences with special attention to the attracting power of the websites for visitors. Content analysis of 40 Australian museum websites was conducted using a structured tool, WebNPattract, designed and tested specifically for the purpose. Content analysis results can be used for the purpose of strategic positioning of the museum and cultural tourism. The paper outlines five aspects of museums—museum offer; corporate governance; finding the museum; characteristics; and governance communication—and two approaches to museum websites: the ‘aesthetic’ and the ‘services’ perspectives. Marketing implications can be deduced from website orientation.

A practical framework for data collection in wireless sensor networks

Optimizing energy consumption for extending the lifetime in wireless sensor networks is of dominant importance. Groups of autonomous robots and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) acting as mobile data collectors are utilized to minimize the energy expenditure of the sensor nodes by approaching the sensors and collecting their buffers via single hop communication, rather than using multihop routing to forward the buffers to the base station. This paper models the sensor network and the mobile collectors as a system-of-systems, and defines all levels and types of interactions. A practical framework that facilitates deploying heterogeneous mobiles without prior knowledge about the sensor network is presented. Realizing the framework is done through simulation experiments and tested against several performance metrics.

Knowing in, through and about : the PhD journey

This study involves an account of the factors leading to the development and evolution of three public art spaces concerned with contemporary art in the 1980s in Melbourne. The three spaces – Heide Park and Art Gallery, 200 Gertrude Street, and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art developed programs that promoted and presented contemporary art throughout the eighties. Prior to the 1980s the National Gallery of Victoria was the major public institution concerned with the promotion and presentation of contemporary art in Melbourne.

The study describes and analyses events leading to the establishment of each new space and investigates the formations and groups who played leading roles. A case study approach has been used which explores the networks and groupings that developed in setting up and maintaining each space. Theoretical perspectives drawn from Bourdieu, Williams and Wolff are employed in order to explore the social and cultural meanings of the networks and groups responsible for developing the three art spaces. These perspectives are used to help account for the motives and ideology employed by individuals and groups, such as artists, academics and politicians.

Each of the three spaces mainly developed from different clusters and groups, although some individuals had involvement in more than one of the spaces. The study concludes with a cultural analysis that identifies several key factors, such as forms of patronage, government policy direction and the power and influence of various sectors and formations. Government funding for art is a complex area of activity that draws upon a wide constituency of individuals and agents that include artists, wealthy business people, collectors, and so on. The study reveals much about government intervention and cultural and social formations promoting art in Melbourne during the 1980s.

Influences of agricultural landuse and seasonal changes in abiotic conditions on invertebrate colonisation of riparian leaf detritus in intermittent streams

The structure and function of agricultural stream reaches with sparse riparian and floodplain vegetation differ from those of forested reaches, but may be ‘reset’ as these streams flow through reaches with forested riparian zones. We investigated whether invertebrate colonisation of River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) leaf packs in lowland intermittent streams was influenced by the adjacent reach-scale landuse (cleared farmland or forested reserve) within an agricultural catchment in Victoria, Australia. Further, we examined the influence of seasonal changes in hydrology and associated changes in abiotic conditions on the colonisation of leaves by repeating experiments over two summers and one spring. Across these experiments, there were no consistent differences in the structure of communities that colonised leaves in farmland and reserve reaches. In both seasons, most leaf colonists were collectors and few were shredders in both farmland and reserve reaches. Relative abundances of gastropod grazers were much higher in summer than in spring. The structure of invertebrate communities colonising leaves in the different reaches converged over time when streams flowed in spring, but diverged over time as the streams dried and abiotic conditions within disconnected pools became increasingly harsh in summer. Thus, patterns of leaf pack colonisation were influenced by the regional climate causing large seasonal changes in hydrology, but not by reach-scale landuse. The large-scale disturbances of agricultural landuse across the catchment and a supra-seasonal drought probably contributed to low diversities of invertebrate communities in the streams.

Colonial museology and the Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka: agency and negotiation in the development of the palm-leaf manuscript collection at the Colombo Museum

The roles of colonial museums in South Asia have been understood in terms of the dissemination of museology within the British Empire. This has often underplayed the participation of local intellectuals in the formation of museum collections, and thus has not recognized their agency in the creation of knowledge and of longstanding cultural assets. This article addresses this in part through an historical case study of the development of the palm-leaf manuscript collection at the Colombo Museum in nineteenth century Ceylon. The article focuses on the relationships between Government aims, local intellectuals and the Buddhist clergy. I argue that colonial museology and collecting activity in Ceylon ought to be understood as a negotiated process and a number of reasons for this are discussed. This article contributes to an area of museological research that is exploring the roles of indigenous actors in colonial collecting and museum practice in South Asia and broader geographical contexts.

Wireless sensor networks for heritage object deformation detection and tracking algorithm

Deformation is the direct cause of heritage object collapse. It is significant to monitor and signal the early warnings of the deformation of heritage objects. However, traditional heritage object monitoring methods only roughly monitor a simple-shaped heritage object as a whole, but cannot monitor complicated heritage objects, which may have a large number of surfaces inside and outside. Wireless sensor networks, comprising many small-sized, low-cost, low-power intelligent sensor nodes, are more useful to detect the deformation of every small part of the heritage objects. Wireless sensor networks need an effective mechanism to reduce both the communication costs and energy consumption in order to monitor the heritage objects in real time. In this paper, we provide an effective heritage object deformation detection and tracking method using wireless sensor networks (EffeHDDT). In EffeHDDT, we discover a connected core set of sensor nodes to reduce the communication cost for transmitting and collecting the data of the sensor networks. Particularly, we propose a heritage object boundary detecting and tracking mechanism. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that our EffeHDDT method outperforms the existing methods in terms of network traffic and the precision of the deformation detection.

Directional fluid transport in thin porous materials and its functional applications

Directional fluid motion driven by the surface property of solid substrate is highly desirable for manipulating microfluidic liquid and collecting water from humid air. Studies on such liquid motion have been confined to dense material surfaces such as flat panels and single filaments. Recently, directional fluid transport through the thickness of thin porous materials has been reported by several research groups. Their studies not only attract fundamental, experimental and theoretical interest but also open novel application opportunities. This review article summarizes research progress in directional fluid transport across thin porous materials. It focuses on the materials preparation, basic properties associated with directional fluid transport in thin porous media, and their application development. The porous substrates, type of transporting fluids, structure-property attributes, and possible directional fluid transport mechanism are discussed. A perspective for future development in this field is proposed.

Characterisation and vascular expression of nitric oxide synthase 3 in amphibians

In mammals, nitric oxide (NO) produced by nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) localised in vascular endothelial cells is an important vasodilator but the presence of NOS3 in the endothelium of amphibians has been concluded to be absent, based on physiological studies. In this study, a nos3 cDNA was sequenced from the toad, Rhinella marina. The open reading frame of R. marina nos3 encoded an 1170 amino acid protein that showed 81 % sequence identity to the recently cloned Xenopus tropicalis nos3. Rhinella marina nos3 mRNA was expressed in a range of tissues and in the dorsal aorta and pulmonary, mesenteric, iliac and gastrocnemius arteries. Furthermore, nos3 mRNA was expressed in the aorta of Xenopus laevis and X. tropicalis. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that removal of the endothelium of the lateral aorta of R. marina significantly reduced the expression of nos3 mRNA compared to control aorta with the endothelium intact. However, in situ hybridisation was not able to detect any nos3 mRNA in the dorsal aorta of R. marina. Immunohistochemistry using a homologous R. marina NOS3 antibody showed immunoreactivity (IR) within the basal region of many endothelial cells of the dorsal aorta and iliac artery. NOS3-IR was also observed in the proximal tubules and collecting ducts of the kidney but not within the capillaries of the glomeruli. This is the first study to demonstrate that vascular endothelial cells of an amphibian express NOS3.

A critical review of habitat use by feral cats and key directions for future research and management

Feral cats (Felis catus) have a wide global distribution and cause significant damage to native fauna. Reducing their impacts requires an understanding of how they use habitat and which parts of the landscape should be the focus of management. We reviewed 27 experimental and observational studies conducted around the world over the last 35 years that aimed to examine habitat use by feral and unowned cats. Our aims were to: (1) summarise the current body of literature on habitat use by feral and unowned cats in the context of applicable ecological theory (i.e. habitat selection, foraging theory); (2) develop testable hypotheses to help fill important knowledge gaps in the current body of knowledge on this topic; and (3) build a conceptual framework that will guide the activities of researchers and managers in reducing feral cat impacts. We found that feral cats exploit a diverse range of habitats including arid deserts, shrublands and grasslands, fragmented agricultural landscapes, urban areas, glacial valleys, equatorial to sub-Antarctic islands and a range of forest and woodland types. Factors invoked to explain habitat use by cats included prey availability, predation/competition, shelter availability and human resource subsidies, but the strength of evidence used to support these assertions was low, with most studies being observational or correlative.Wetherefore provide a list of key directions that will assist conservation managers and researchers in better understanding and ameliorating the impact of feral cats at a scale appropriate for useful management and research. Future studies will benefit from employing an experimental approach and collecting data on the relative abundance and activity of prey and other predators. This might include landscape-scale experiments where the densities of predators, prey or competitors are manipulated and then the response in cat habitat use is measured. Effective management of feral cat populations could target high-use areas, such as linear features and structurally complex habitat. Since our review shows often-divergent outcomes in the use of the same habitat components and vegetation types worldwide, local knowledge and active monitoring of management actions is essential when deciding on control programs.

A trial of nurse practitioner scope of practice

Aims. The aim of this paper is to report a trial to investigate the feasibility of the nurse practitioner role in local health service delivery and to provide information about the educational and legislative requirements for nurse practitioner practice.

Background. Nurse practitioners have been shown to offer a beneficial service and fill a gap in health care provision. However, the lack of publications describing, critiquing, or defending the way that existing nurse practitioner roles have been developed may lead to a lack of clarity in comparing the nurse practitioner scope of practice internationally. In Australia, credible exploratory research is needed to realize the potential of nurse practitioners to bridge the divide of inequitable distribution of health services. A trial of nurse practitioner services in the Australian Capital Territory provided an excellent opportunity to investigate these scope and continuity issues.

Methods. This was an observational analytic study using multiple data sources. Four models of nurse practitioner service were chosen from a competitive field of applications that were evaluated according to efficacy, feasibility, and sustainability across specified selection criteria. Each model in the trial included a clinical support team, with the nurse practitioner candidate 'working-into-the-role' and collecting demographic, clinical practice, patient outcome, and health service and consumer survey data over a 10 month period.

Findings. The trial identified the broad potential of the nurse practitioner role, its breadth and limitations, and its impact on selected health services in the Australian Capital Territory. Data from individual models were compared highlighting generic elements, and formed the basis for the development of the scope of practice for the Australian Capital Territory nurse practitioner models.

Conclusions. This study has validated a research-based, iterative process for initial development of nurse practitioner scope of practice for any Australian specialization. Importantly, the study concluded with the scope of practice as a finding, rather than commencing with it a priori. Although general areas of health care need and under-servicing were identified at the outset, the process tested both the expansion and parameters of the roles.

Solar energy use for energy savings in dairy processing plants

New Zealand is one of the world’s largest producers of dairy products and has a climate with high levels of solar radiation; however, the use of solar energy in the dairy processing industry has received limited attention. An examination of historical records found that the annual peak in New Zealand milk production and processing occurs at a time when solar radiation levels are increasing markedly. An F-Chart analysis was used to simulate the performance of large-area arrays of solar collectors and to determine their suitability for heating and cooling in a dairy processing environment. For the study four types of solar collectors were analysed: glazed flat plates, evacuated tubes, evacuated tubes with CPC reflectors and a building-integrated solar collector under development at the University of Waikato (UoW). It was found that of these echnologies, both flat plate and evacuated tubes with CPC reflectors could make useful heating and cooling contributions. Furthermore, the solar fraction was determined mainly by the collector area to storage volume ratio. Finally, it was found that the UoW building-integrated solar collector could make a significant contribution to energy use in dairies and may be an attractive future technology for the industry.

An evaluation of Sea Search as a citizen science programme in Marine Protected Areas

Citizen science involves collaboration between multi-sector agencies and the public to address a natural resource management issue. The Sea Search citizen science programme involves community groups in monitoring and collecting subtidal rocky reef and intertidal rocky shore data in Victorian Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Australia. In this study we compared volunteer and scientifically collected data and the volunteer motivation for participation in the Sea Search programme. Intertidal rocky shore volunteer-collected data was found to be typically comparable to data collected by scientists for species richness and diversity measures. For subtidal monitoring there was also no significant difference for species richness recorded by scientists and volunteers. However, low statistical power suggest only large changes could be detected due to reduced data replication. Generally volunteers recorded lower species diversity for biological groups compared to scientists, albeit not significant. Species abundance measures for algae species were significantly different between volunteers and scientists. These results suggest difficulty in identification and abundance measurements by volunteers and the need for additional training requirements necessary for surveying algae assemblages. The subtidal monitoring results also highlight the difficulties of collecting data in exposed rocky reef habitats with weather conditions and volunteer diver availability constraining sampling effort. The prime motivation for volunteer participation in Sea Search was to assist with scientific research followed closely by wanting to work close to nature. This study revealed two important themes for volunteer engagement in Sea Search: 1) volunteer training and participation and, 2) usability of volunteer collected data for MPA managers. Volunteer-collected data through the Sea Search citizen science programme has the potential to provide useable data to assist in informed management practices of Victoria’s MPAs, but requires the support and commitment from all partners involved.

A simple motion heuristic for controlling mobile sinks in delay tolerant sensor networks

Optimising energy consumption in wireless sensor networks is of dominant importance. Sink mobility is introduced to deal with this problem by approaching the sensor nodes and collecting their data buffers using the less energy demanding single-hop communication. The sink route is very crucial for the data collection operation performed in the network especially when the collection requests generated by the sensors are revealed dynamically to the sink and not known ahead. This paper presents a practical motion heuristic for constructing the sink route based on the dynamic arrival of the collection requests. Three control schemes are proposed for coordinating the interaction of multiple mobile sinks collectively performing the data collection in the network. The main objective is maximising the data collected by each mobile sink while minimising the sleeping time of each sensor awaiting the collection service. Simulation results show the performance of the mobile sinks under the proposed control schemes and the impact of the motion heuristic on the sensors' sleeping time in the network.