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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Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Effects of Edible Insect Enrichment of Meat-Based and Meat Analogue Products on the Nutritional Composition, Techno-Functional Properties, and Acceptability to Consumers: A Systematic Review
(MDPI AG, 2026-07-01) Amoah, Isaac; Lombardo, Mauro; Diako, Charles; Adjei-Boamah, Comfort; Adu Sarpong, Vanessa; Rush, Elaine
BACKGROUND: Meat-based and meat analogue products are commonly consumed foods for protein nourishment across the globe. These food products are promising carrier media that can be targeted for the delivery of edible insect products as a strategy to overcome food neophobia. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effect of edible insect enrichment on the nutritional, physicochemical, techno-functional, and acceptability of meat-based and meat analogue products for consumers. METHODS: A systematic search for relevant articles was conducted on the databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus on 5 November 2025. A total of 25 papers were included. RESULTS: Edible insects and larvae from mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers, silkworm pupae, and superworms were commonly used to enrich meat-based and meat analogue products. Commonly reported meat products were sausages from pork and beef, pork patties, meat emulsion, and frankfurters. Soya flour was commonly used for meat analogue formulation. CONCLUSIONS: Acceptable edible insect incorporation is matrix-dependent, with conventional meat products generally tolerating low substitution levels (≈2.5-10%) before sensory and structural quality declines, whereas meat analogue systems can accommodate substantially higher inclusion (≈10-40% and, in some cases, up to ~60%). However, heterogeneity in formulations and sensory evaluation methods restricts direct comparison across studies.
Access status: Open Access ,
Targeting Bakery Products for Dysphagia, Sarcopenia and Protein Malnutrition Management in Older Adults: A Systematic Review
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2026-07-06) Amoah, Isaac; Adu Sarpong, Vanessa; Adjei-Boamah, Comfort; Tawiah, Phyllis; Lombardo, Mauro; Rush, Elaine
Bakery products including bread, cookies, biscuits and cake are commonly consumed staples across the life course. They can therefore be targeted for enrichment with protein-rich ingredients which may enhance their textural properties and address age-related nutritional challenges such as dysphagia, sarcopenia, and protein malnutrition in older adults. This systematic review aimed to highlight current advances in the use of bakery products formulated with protein and texture-modulating ingredients as potential vehicles to deliver protein and address age-related nutritional challenges in older adults. A systematic search for relevant articles was conducted on the databases PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect and Cochrane Library up to October 01, 2025. Fourteen papers (n = 14) investigated the ease of chew and swallow in older adults. The most frequently reported vehicle was bread (n = 9). Commonly used ingredients for enrichment of the bakery products included soy protein isolate, whey protein isolate, soybean soluble polysaccharide, drum-dried pumpkin flour, inulin, sacha inchi seed cake and chicken protein powder. Most enriching ingredients were good sources of protein. Incorporation into the bakery products resulted in reduction of hardness and improved the subjective ease of chew and swallow. Enriching bread with protein-rich ingredients resulted in a significant increase in the protein intake of older adults. Recipe reformulation, through controlled inclusion of protein isolates, hydrocolloids, vegetable flours, or dietary fibers, can enhance the nutritional value, improve the textural properties and ingestion of bakery products and could address protein malnutrition in older adults. Future studies should explore the use of other underutilized protein-rich ingredients for bakery product reformulation.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Upside of Mess: Conceptualising (Dis)order as a Dynamic Family Resource
(Elsevier, 2026-10-16) Abarashi, Jamal; Edirisingha, Prabash; Errmann, Amy
This study examines how domestic (dis)order emerges as shifting states shaped by everyday socio-material interactions. Drawing on assemblage theory and photo-elicitation interviews with 22 households, we show how (dis)order develops through dynamic relations among family members, objects, spaces, and temporal rhythms. We identify three assemblage capacities—transient, functional, and conducive—that shape how disorder materialises and is understood, along with three corresponding management strategies: restoring, tolerating, and concealing. Beyond the home, these capacities extend assemblage theory by providing a transferable framework for theorising how assemblages generate distinct emergent states across consumer and marketplace contexts. Reconceptualising (dis)order as an emergent assemblage property rather than an individual shortcoming, the study reveals conditions under which mess serves as a productive resource supporting household flow, functional efficiency, and relational harmony. The study also offers practical implications for flexible storage design, functional mess zone identification, and organisation solutions that support family wellbeing.
Access status: Open Access ,
TinyML for Real-Time Crop Disease Detection in Precision Agriculture: A Proof-of-Concept Study on Maize Leaf Disease Detection
(Auckland University of Technology, 2026) Nag, Prama; Alam, Fakhrul
Traditional machine learning approaches for crop disease detection often require substantial computational resources, energy consumption, and net-work connectivity. Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) addresses these limita-tions by enabling machine learning inference directly on resource-constrained edge devices, like microcontrollers. It is therefore well-suited for remote field applications with limited or nonexistent internet connectivity and cloud infrastructure. This study proposes a TinyML-based framework for real-time crop disease detection, demonstrated through a proof-of-concept study on binary maize leaf disease detection. Three lightweight deep learning models, namely a custom CNN, a custom MobileViT model, and a transfer learning-based MobileNetV1 model, were developed and evaluated on two publicly available maize leaf image datasets. To ensure a robust performance assessment, five-fold cross-validation was used, and model performance was evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, false positives, and false negatives. The trained models were subsequently opti-mised and converted to TensorFlow Lite format for deployment on Arduino Portenta H7. The comparative analysis showed that while MobileNetV1 demonstrated superior deployment efficiency with a latency of 71 ms and RAM of 125 KB, custom CNN and transformer-based MobileViT models achieved mean classification accuracy of 91.90% and 96.07%, comparable to, and in some cases exceeding, that of the transfer learning-based MobileNetV1 model. The results also demonstrate the trade-off between disease detection performance and deployment feasibility, highlighting the need to balance predictive accuracy with computational efficiency in TinyML applications. Using binary maize leaf disease detection as a proof-of-concept, this study demonstrates the feasibility of deploying lightweight deep learning models on resource-constrained edge devices for real-time crop disease detection in precision agriculture.
Access status: Open Access ,
Influence of Lubrication on High‐Strength Friction Grip Bolts: Bolt Tightening
(Wiley, 2026-09-14) Tran, Thu Ha; Ramhormozian, Shahab; Yan, Zhenduo; Clifton, George Charles; MacRae, Gregory Anthony
High‐Strength Friction Grip (HSFG) bolts of grade 8.8 are widely used in structural steel connections due to their high strength and ability to achieve significant clamping force through pre‐tensioning. However, the performance of these bolts is dependent on the tightening process. Among the key influencing factors, the type of lubricant used, and the method of its application play a role in the installation process. At present, New Zealand, European, and several other international standards do not provide explicit guidance on the selection of lubricants or on standardized lubrication procedures for HSFG bolts. In practice, contractors often adopt different lubrication approaches depending on project‐specific conditions, leading to inconsistencies in bolting quality control before and during installation. This study presents an experimental investigation into the influence of lubrication on the behaviour of grade 8.8 HSFG bolts tightened using the part‐turn method specified in NZS 3404. Three categories of lubricants were examined: factory‐applied lubricants, site‐applied lubricants, and other commonly used lubricants. In addition, three lubrication regimes were considered: nut‐only lubrication, thread‐only lubrication, and full lubrication covering both nut and thread. Based on the experimental results, this study identifies lubricants that are more consistent tightening behaviour and reduced torque scatter and proposes a practical lubrication procedure to improve bolting quality control during installation.