Tuwhera Research Repository

The Tuwhera Research Repository provides sustainable open access and archiving to a broad range of AUT produced research - theses, research outputs and datasets.

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Access status: Open Access ,
Landscape Variation Influences Trophic Cascades in Dengue Vector Food Webs
(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2018-02-21) Weterings, Robbie; Umponstira, Chanin; Buckley, Hannah L.
The epidemiology of vector-borne diseases is governed by a structured array of correlative and causative factors, including landscape (for example, rural versus urban), abiotic (for example, weather), and biotic (for example, food web) factors. Studies of mosquito-borne diseases rarely address these multiple factors at large spatial scales, which limits insights into how human alterations of landscapes and food webs alter mosquito abundance. We used structural equation modeling to identify the relative magnitude and direction of landscape, abiotic, and food web factors on Aedes larvae and adults across 70 sites in northern Thailand. Food web factors were modeled as mosquito-predator trophic cascades. Landscape context affected mosquito-predator communities in aquatic and terrestrial environments via cascading food web interactions. Several mosquito predators within these food webs showed potential as biocontrol agents in mosquito population control, but their potentials for control were landscape-dependent. In terrestrial food webs, the habitat-sensitive tokay gecko structured mosquito-predator communities, indicating that a conservation approach to vector control could be a useful addition to existing control efforts.
Access status: Open Access ,
Community-level Flammability Declines Over 25 Years of Plant Invasion in Grasslands
(Wiley, 2018-01-16) Padullés Cubino, Josep; Buckley, Hannah; Day, Nicola; Pieper, Robin; Curran, Timothy; Wilson, Scott
Exotic plant invasions can alter fire regimes in plant communities. Invaders often possess traits that differ from native plants in the community, resulting in increases or declines in community-level flammability, changing fire regimes and potentially causing long-term modifications to plant community composition. Although considering traits of multiple invaders and native species together is useful to better understand how invasions change community-level flammability, few studies have done this. We measured morphological and flammability traits of 51 native and exotic plant species common in tussock grasslands in New Zealand's south-eastern South Island to examine relationships between morphology and whole-plant and shoot-level flammability. Plant community data from 103 permanent transects in this region measured over a 25-year period (c. 1982–2007) were used to determine how flammability changed with increasing levels of plant invasion. Invasion by exotic plants has led to reduced community-level flammability due to shifts from native tussock grasses with high flammability and high fuel loads to mat-forming exotic forbs with low flammability and little fuel. These changes will likely lead to considerable alterations to the fire regime, resulting in lower intensity fires that burn more patchily and for shorter amounts of time, potentially causing further changes in floristic composition. We found considerable differences in flammability across the wide range of species and growth forms that we studied, emphasising the importance of quantifying species-level flammability and the need to avoid treating grasslands as homogenous in terms of their flammability. Total biomass, leaf length and leaf area were the traits most positively correlated with flammability in these tussock grasslands. Synthesis. We show how plant invasions over decadal time-scales have reduced the community-level flammability of tussock grasslands and, for the first time, demonstrate how this can be driven by exotic forbs. The total biomass of constituent species is a useful surrogate for community flammability across a wide range of species and growth forms in both temperate grasslands and savanna ecosystems and should be used in dynamic global vegetation models to assess how flammability varies under various global change scenarios.
Access status: Open Access ,
Awareness and Use of Family Planning Methods Among iTaukei Women in Fiji and New Zealand
(Wiley, 2018-01-31) Cammock, Radilaite; Priest, Patricia; Lovell, Sarah; Herbison, Peter
Objective: iTaukei women's awareness and practice of family planning methods was investigated in New Zealand and Fiji to ascertain differences in behaviour within the context of changing developmental settings. Methods: The study was cross-sectional in nature and recruited women aged 18 years and over from three suburbs in Suva, Fiji, and five cities in New Zealand. Results: Overall, 352 women participated in the study, 212 in Fiji and 140 in New Zealand. The study found that living in New Zealand was significantly associated with lower odds of being aware of family planning (OR 0.4, 95%CI 0.2–0.9, p=0.029) and using family planning methods (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.2–0.9, p=0.027). Tertiary education was found to increase the odds of being aware (OR 2.8, 95%CI 1.3–6.2, p=0.009) and of using (OR 3.9, 95%CI 1.9–7.8, p=0.000) family planning. Conclusions: Despite the greater availability of services and higher standards of living experienced in New Zealand compared with Fiji, there was no improvement in awareness and use of family planning among New Zealand participants. Implications for public health: Reduced awareness and use of family planning in New Zealand indicates a need for better targeting of services among minority Pacific ethnic groups.
Access status: Open Access ,
Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers: A Step Toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity
(MDPI, 2022-03-07) Ghodrati, N; Yiu, TW; Wilkinson, S; Poshdar, Mani; Talebi, S; Elghaish, F; Sepasgozar, SME
The construction industry is facing constant pressure to improve its poor safety record and low productivity rate. A significant amount of research has been undertaken to identify the best practices to enhance productivity and safety. Nevertheless, the mainstream research in the field of construction focuses on one of these issues rather than implementing a holistic approach to resolve them. Consequently, the interactions between productivity and safety cannot be fully understood. Recent studies have demonstrated that management strategies and practices for improving labour productivity can trigger a series of unintended consequences that affect safety performance in construction projects. However, the behavioural aspects of these unintended consequences have yet to be investigated. This research addresses the gap by measuring the impacts of seven management strategies for improving labour productivity on the safety behaviour of construction labourers. A total of 191 construction labourers participated in a survey designed based on the Management Strategy Assessment Index (MSAI). The results show that the implemented management strategies for improving labour productivity have a greater impact on shaping safety compliance (SC) behaviours than safety participation (SP) behaviours of labourers. This study took a further step by breaking down the management strategies to their constitutive practices and measuring their impacts on SC and SP, and labour productivity. This paper provides further insight into the complex relationship between the productivity and safety behaviour of construction labourers. The findings can help project managers to improve labour productivity without harming their safety unintentionally.
Access status: Open Access ,
Nurses' Attitudes Towards Hospitalized Older Adults in a Tertiary Care Setting in Ghana
(Wiley Open Access, 2022-05-08) Yakubu, Yakubu H; Fuseini, Abdul-Ganiyu; Holroyd, Eleanor
INTRODUCTION: The increasing population of older adults and rapid increases in co-morbidities globally has necessitated the need for a healthcare delivery system that meets the multifaceted needs of the growing population of older adults. Concurrent with these rising complex health needs is the importance of positive, non-judgmental attitudes of health services providers towards older adults. Moreover, this is particularly important in the nursing profession, given nurses' significant and crucial roles in healthcare settings. AIM: The study aimed to evaluate nurses' attitudes towards older adults in a tertiary hospital in Ghana. DESIGN: It employed a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative design. METHOD: Data were collected from 160 registered adult medical and surgical ward nurses using the Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS). RESULTS: Findings indicated that more than half of the participants had a diploma in general nursing. None of the nurses surveyed specialized in the care of older adults, and the mean age of participants was 30.14 (3.75) (minimum 24 and maximum 42 years). Female nurses had more positive attitudes than their male counterparts. Although the surveyed nurses reported a somewhat positive attitude towards older adults, there was no correlation between nurses' education levels and positive attitudes.