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 ,
Accounting for Global Carbon Dioxide Production From Human Metabolism Between 1985 and 2015: A Modelling Study
(Elsevier, 2026-10-26) Gonzalez, JT; Lolli, L; Spellanzon, B; Atkinson, G; Maunder, Ed; Moreno-Cabañas, A; Buniam, J; Thompson, D; Betts, J; Ainslie, PN; Alemán-Mateo, H; Bandini, L; Blaak, EE; Bouten, CVC; Bovet, P; Brage, S; Casper, R; Dabare, P; Fudge, BW; Gillingham, M; Goris, AH; Gurven, M; Haisma, H; Hoos, MB; Joonas, N; Katzmarzyk, P; Kimura, M; Das, SK; Lanerolle, P; Larsson, CL; Löf, M; Must, A; Neuhouser, M; Nicklas, TA; Ojiambo, RM; Pietilainen, KH; Racette, SB; Ravussin, E; Redman, LM; Reilly, JJ; Roberts, S; Sardinha, LB; Silva, AM; Sinha, S; Sjödin, AM; Stice, E; Urlacher, SS; Van Mil, EA; Verbunt, JA; Wells, JCK; Yoshida, T; Zhang, X; Murphy-Alford, A; Loechl, CU; Luke, A; Ravelli, MN; Pontzer, H; Rood, J; Sagayama, H; Schoeller, DA; Westerterp, KR; Wong, WW; Yamada, Y; Speakman, J
Background: Human activity is a dominant driver of global carbon emissions, yet one universal source–human metabolism–has never been quantified using free-living measurements of carbon dioxide (CO₂) production at scale. We aimed to describe the contribution of human metabolism to global CO₂ emissions between 1985 and 2015. Methods: In this modelling study, we used the largest available database of doubly labelled water (DLW) measurements from 1986 to 2019. The other data sources comprised WHO Global Health Observatory, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Non-communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We first allometrically modelled human CO₂ production (kg per year) using measurements available for 4479 female and 2277 male participants from the International Atomic Energy Agency DLW database to derive predicted estimates of human CO₂ production adjusted for differences in body mass and sex. Second, by combining predicted estimates based on allometric scaling of CO₂ production for body mass with available population demographic information, generalised additive models were used to describe the 30-year progression of human body mass and per capita and global CO₂ production. We used the time-series country-specific measurements from 1985 to 2015 with population-level global human metabolic CO₂ production summarised as cumulative sum for the progression analyses. Findings: Data were collected between 1986 and 2019. Mean ± SD (range) participant age was 40 ± 26 (0 to 101) and body mass was 63.3 ± 27.8 (2.4 to 101.9). 9006 measurements from 6756 participants (4479 women and 2277 men) from the DLW database were used to derive estimates of human CO₂ production adjusted for differences in body mass and sex.We observed that human metabolic CO₂ production approximately doubled over a 30-year period, from 1·18 Gt per year to 2·05 Gt per year. This increase was driven mostly by population growth (>60%) with a minor contribution from increases in body mass. Per capita sex differences equalised at the population level, and continental differences reflect population shifts rather than physiological differences, with Asia accounting for the majority of human metabolic CO₂ production among all continents. Interpretation: Our findings suggest that human metabolism is a quantitatively important component of the fast carbon cycle and should be accounted for in carbon system modelling to enhance precision and fidelity. With a projected peak global population in the mid-to-late 21st century, metabolic CO₂ production will increasingly contribute to global carbon fluxes. Funding: The the DLW database was funded by The International Atomic Energy Agency, Taiyo Nippon Sanso, and SERCON.
Access status: Open Access ,
Mesomeric Tuning of Merocyanine Photoacids
(Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2026-10-26) Yadav, Bharti; Cherif, Saif Eddine; Contena, Stefano; Cera, Gianpiero; Rancan, Marzio; Fresch, Barbara ; Chen, Jack; Pezzato, Cristian
We synthesized a library of methoxy-substituted merocyanine photoacids to systematically investigate how mesomeric effects influence their hydrolytic stability and photoacid properties. Our results demonstrate that multiple methoxy groups directly conjugated to the ene-iminium core exert a cumulative electron-donating effect, with the bis-substituted derivative 4 exhibiting a nearly three-fold longer half-life than either of the mono-substituted analogues 2 or 3 (3.5 vs. 1.3 days), which in turn are nearly three times more hydrolytically stable than unsubstituted compound 1 (1.3 vs. 0.5 days). Compound 4 displays an acidity constant close to neutrality (pK<inf>a</inf><sup>GS</sup> = 7.1), which decreases by more than 3 pK units (pK<inf>a</inf><sup>MS</sup> = 3.9) upon 500 nm light irradiation, as determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometric titrations under dark conditions and in the photostationary state, respectively. These properties enabled the preparation of visible light-switchable buffer solutions featuring basic-to-acidic pH jumps of 3.2 units that can be reversibly triggered over at least two consecutive days with minimal loss, highlighting the potential of MCH 4 in solar energy harvesting applications.
Access status: Open Access ,
Working With Bad Men: TA Approaches to the Discursively Constructed Criminal Self
(Tuwhera Open Access Books, 2025-12-16) Manning, Seán; Nicholls, David; Day, Elizabeth
This paper is based on experience working with criminal men, a population of whom it is said, with some justification, that ‘nothing works’ (Newbold, 2008, p. 385). Yet over and over, we see people change, and we wonder what makes this happen. The conclusions presented here are based on over three decades of group and individual psychotherapy in prison, in a therapeutic community, and in a community-based Stopping Violence programme.
Access status: Open Access ,
Somewhere, Anywhere, Elsewhere: Painting Femininity that Wanders and Lingers
(Auckland University of Technology, 2026) Knox, Natalia; Shin, Jeena; Hooper, Julian; O'Hara, Emily
This practice-led research, Somewhere, Anywhere, Elsewhere: Painting Femininity that Wander and Lingers, explores feminine subjectivity as wandering, unsettled, and resistant to visual containment within painted narratives and material construction. Through image sourcing, collage, drawing, and painting, masculine-coded imagery is reworked by positioning female figures within it, and enacting moments of rest or care. Inspired by cinematic stories, withheld episodic narratives, diptychs and stalled cars are used to suspend narrative progression and disrupt linear storytelling structures that rely on resolution and coherent chronological sequencing. Translucent substrates and exposed stretcher frames further disrupt traditional viewing experiences tied to the male gaze by revealing the painting's material construction and creating a threshold between visibility and obscurity. Through these methods, this project unsettles masculine-coded aesthetics and frameworks by engaging painting as an unstable site where feminine becoming can remain continually in process and unresolved.
Access status: Open Access ,
Telerehabilitation in Aotearoa
(AUT Person-Centred Rehabilitation Research Centre, 2025) Kayes, Nicola; Rolleston, Anna
Telerehabilitation is a niche area of telehealth, where people are engaged over a prolonged period. Research and guidelines commonly position telerehabilitation as an alternative to in-person care and focus on efficacy and modifying interventions for remote delivery. The more nuanced aspects of practice (e.g. engagement, culturally responsive practice, therapeutic relationship) have not been addressed, despite being critical to outcome. Further, while telerehabilitation can enhance service access for some, it has the potential to exacerbate (or introduce) inequities for others. Our aim is to explore the experiences and perspectives of people, whānau, and providers and work with them to co-produce tools to optimise the provision of telerehabilitation. We will draw on He Awa Whiria, a model for integrating kaupapa Māori and Western Science to ensure knowledge equity in our research process and findings and inform the implementation of equity-oriented and culturally-responsive telerehabilitation practice and policy that is unique to Aotearoa. This project is a collaboration between Manawaora – The Centre for Health, Habit Rehabilitation, Good Health Design and the AUT Person-Centred Rehabilitation Research Centre. More resources and information at https://cpcr.aut.ac.nz/our-research/telerehabilitation-in-aotearoa