Advance - Spring 2010

Advance

u n i t e c

r e s e a r c h

m a g a z i n e

S P R I N G

2 0 1 0

Zero energy homes the role of new technologies and approaches to ‘greening’ our houses – p7

Sharing the power how health informatics is altering the nursing profession – p10

Encouraging adults to achieve effective community pathways into tertiary study – p12

In the limelight Library director Peter hughes shares his passion for letterpress printing – p14

EdItorIal

editor Jade reidy sub-editor Claudia mischke design Brigitte Smits cover image grant Southam printing norcross group of Companies advance is published by unitec institute of technology issn 1176-7391 phone 0800 10 95 10 web www.unitec.ac.nz address Carrington Rd, Mt Albert, Private Bag 92025, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

disclaimer unitec has used reasonable care to ensure that the information in this publication is accurate at the time of publication. however, to the extent permitted by law, unitec is not liable for, and makes no warranties or representations as to such accuracy and may change or correct any such information without prior notice.

pEtEr fraSEr anImal hEalth and wElfarE graduatE

In previous issues I commented on our work towards a new research strategy for Unitec. This 2010-2015 Research Strategy has now been released. A key element of the strategy is the focus on impact. This means that we seek to prioritise research that leads to positive change and benefits for the groups and region that we serve.

Government policy envisages research as playing a key role in New Zealand’s economic and social development.

One of the core roles of Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics is applied research that supports vocational learning and technology transfer.

Unitec’s strengths in terms of an applied and practical focus, its mixture of programmes involving research at postgraduate and undergraduate levels, and strong relationships with the community and industry mean that it is well placed to respond to the Government’s challenge.

This issue covers excellent examples of contemporary research with impact. Our social practice researchers are focusing on engaging more West Auckland adults in tertiary education, and more fathers in early childhood education.

Readers of Advance will appreciate how far New Zealand has to go in terms of reaching top international standards in domestic energy management. So it is not surprising that this is a promising area for researchers from a number of discipline areas. Sasha Hendry’s thesis involves applying Germany’s energy efficient Passivhaus principles to the New Zealand context. Robert Tait and his team of researchers address the same issue from a completely different perspective. Utilising a test house, built by students at Unitec, they examine the accuracy of computer models designed to predict the performance of buildings. In this issue the risks for the construction industry in not keeping pace with developments in technology are also demonstrated.

Making boats go faster and more efficiently has long been a preoccupation of New Zealanders, and Aucklanders in particular. Richard Wilson’s research on innovative hull designs continues a fine tradition. By taking his project out onto the Waitemata, rather than into a hightech lab, Richard shows how significant research can be done on a relatively modest budget.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Advance.

As always, I welcome any comment or feedback you may have.

ContaCt associate professor Simon peel dean, research Email: speel@unitec.ac.nz

rESEarChfEaturE In BrIEf

flat plane hulls more energy efficient Powerboats designed for the open water traditionally have a v-shaped hull but a Unitec team of marine technologists and designers is setting out to prove than an innovative flat bottom planing hull can have several cost and energy efficiency advantages, more dynamic lift at slower speed and improved form stability.

In fact, both of these performance aspects could be improved on, says Department of Marine Technology lecturer Richard Wilson, because a flat planing bottom surface can still present v hull sections to the waves.

This more efficient flat hull form would require less propulsion power, therefore less fuel to operate. A flat-decked trailer, rather than a purpose-built one, can also be used for road transport. The reduction

in overall purchase and running costs should lead to such powerboats taking an increased market share.

The team intends to build two ¼ size models, one with a v-shaped hull and the other with a planing hull, and test both on the Waitemata Harbour, rather than employ the more traditional tank testing method. They’ll be using a GPS and a data logger to record the power required to achieve a particular speed by two different hull shapes.

ContaCt richard wilson lecturer dept of marine technology faculty of technology & Built Environment Email: rwilson@unitec.ac.nz

Setting goals in music therapy practice The ability to respond to sound and music is an inborn quality in all human beings. The Raukatauri Music Therapy centre is New Zealand’s first centre dedicated to delivering music therapy to children with special needs. Based in Grey Lynn, Auckland, the centre sees about 100 children each week and has begun its first formal research project on setting goals, in partnership with Unitec Associate Professor Eileen Piggot-Irvine.

lizards on a living waitakere roof In 2007, monitoring of the first commercial native living roof in New Zealand began at Waitakere City Council. Renee Davies, Unitec’s Head of Landscape Architecture and a council employee at the time, led a biodiversity research project that indicated the roof might have sufficient insect diversity to support native lizard species.

Unitec industrial design students and researchers within the Design and Visual Arts Department will be designing built objects, or habitat features, that can be retrofitted on the roof to enhance the lizards’ survival before any are released.

This Action Research project will investigate and improve the process of goal setting and review. Music therapy can play a unique role in developing new skills, says Claire Molyneux, head of Clinical Services at Raukatauri. These include communication, relationships with others and physical coordination.

Given the wide range of disabilities and needs that music therapists work with, individual goal setting is an integral part of clinical practice, and yet little has been written about how to include the voices and opinions of the client, parents/carers and other professionals in this process.

Since 2004, local councils in the Auckland region have applied consent conditions for rescuing and relocating urban lizards, generating numerous skinks and geckos in need of a new home. Renee is now furthering her initial study, again with Landcare Research and a co-researcher with herpetological expertise, to see whether the council’s living roof might sustain a world-first relocation of lizards to such a habitat, whilst also improving and maintaining the aesthetic properties of the roof.

Living roofs, Renee says, have benefits for endangered species. They are not walked on by people and are unlikely to contain predators. They have a particular advantage in retaining local taonga in local places. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2011.

ContaCt renee davies head, dept of landscape architecture faculty of Creative Industries & Business Email: rdavies@unitec.ac.nz

The project is being funded by a research grant from the Lottery Community Sector Research Committee and seeks to identify effective ways of working collaboratively to ensure that goal setting and reviewing is meaningful and relevant to all those involved.

ContaCt associate professor Eileen piggot-Irvine director, nZ action research and review Centre dept of Education faculty of Social & health Sciences Email: epiggotirvine@unitec.ac.nz

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rESEarCh In BrIEf

Knowledge centres Chasing the australasian harrier in developing The Australasian the public. Several roosting and nesting Harrier is most sites have already been found within countries frequently observed the city’s constraints, suggesting that Before gaining an NZAID scholarship to undertake a Master of Social Practice at Unitec, Rosabel Githinji was involved with a development agency that established a community knowledge centre in Nguruman, Kenya in 2003. Such centres are increasingly common throughout the developing world, offering local communities public access to digital information.

Now back in Nguruman to do field work, Rosabel is determining the impact information and communication technologies (ICTs) have on a rural community in a developing country.

Nguruman is more than 100 miles from Nairobi and linked to the nearest township by one dusty road. The knowledge centre houses solar panels, a public telephone, computers, library services and a barber shop – all powered by solar energy. The centre, says Rosabel, has become a vital focal point for sharing information and has become the most successful of three such centres initiated by a development agency in the district of Magadi.

in open country or farmland, however this bird species is adapting to human modification of the land and becoming seen more regularly within urban areas.

harrier are indeed widespread.

Unitec fellow Maria Galbraith is spending 2010 focused on the ecology of this native raptor within urban Auckland.

This area of study is a first for New Zealand and so Maria has spent the majority of her time carrying out field observations, gaining baseline data to use in comparison studies later in the year. Maria also accepts any detailed sightings of harrier from members of

More information on the harrier project, including data collection boundaries, is at http://chasingharriers.blogspot.com

A primary teacher, Maria is on leave from Summerland Primary in Henderson, through the Awarded Teacher Fellowship Scheme administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand. She is one of four fellows being hosted by Unitec’s Department of Natural Sciences this year. The scheme allows primary and secondary teachers from around the country to research a project of their choosing, in order to gain real-world knowledge and application of their study discipline and take this knowledge back with them into the classroom.

ContaCt maria galbraith fellow dept of natural Sciences faculty of Social & health Sciences Email: mgalbraith2@unitec.ac.nz

Engaging fathers in early childhood education Social practice lecturer Dr Geoff Bridgman is chair of Violence Free Waitakere, which has been running a Focus on Fathering programme for the past three years. Where fathers are highly engaged with their children’s development in the pre-school years, these children have major advantages in lowered levels of family violence, aggression and divorce, better educational achievement, and higher levels of social competence.

Rosabel is using an innovative methodology, applying participatory techniques and ethnographic approaches to her information gathering that have the potential to feed into action research. The aim is to contribute to a theoretical model that supports effective ICT initiatives in rural areas of other developing countries.

ContaCt dr helene Connor Supervisor dept of Social practice faculty of Social & health Sciences Email: hconnor@unitec.ac.nz

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Only one percent of early childhood educators in New Zealand are male.

Unitec offers an early childhood degree that serves Waitakere City and Geoff is now collaborating on a new research study looking at how the early childhood education (ECE) sector can better engage with male caregivers and to devise proactive ‘father friendly’ interventions and then evaluate their effectiveness. A postgraduate student in the Master of Social Practice will act as a research assistant.

There are over 140 ECE services in Waitakere covering kindergartens, crèches, playcentres, playgroups and

home-based services. They include kohanga reo and Pacific language nests.

Five of these services, encompassing around 180 families, will be involved in the intervention stage and a longer-term aim of the project is to promote a father friendly certification and toolkit for ECE services that will be trialled in Waitakere and made available nationwide.

ContaCt dr geoff Bridgman lecturer dept of Social practice faculty of Social & health Sciences Email: gbridgman@unitec.ac.nz

fEaturE tranSport tEChnology

a simple way to silence vehicle exhausts our world is getting noisier but, when it comes to vehicles, there is some pressure in built-up areas to reverse that trend. unitec lecturer niranjan Singh is revving up on research to test a simple yet effective solution. to find the correct-sized marbles to fit securely into a line exhaust system during vehicle production. Tests conducted in an open space measured noise emission levels with a decibel metre and found a significant reduction.

The project went no further until this year when Professor Congyun Zhu arrived at the Department of Transport Technology on a staff exchange from Zhongyuan University of Technology in Zhengzhou City, China. Professor Zhu lectures in Mechanical Systems Design and his research expertise is in the field of noise, vibration and damping. The marbles still sitting in Niranjan’s office piqued his curiosity.

unitec programme leader niranjan singh (right) with Professor congyun zhu of zhongyuan university of technology.

Back in 2002, Niranjan Singh was sitting in his office feeling distracted by the din of machinery.

“I could hear a bulldozer engine running in Oakley Creek, which was irritating me,” says Niranjan, “and I began musing over how to mitigate this noise without increasing the backpressure on the vehicle’s engine.”

pollution pressures and, in this country, a focus on boy racers.”

Even before the issue of decibel levels began in 2004 to threaten the home of speedway racing at suburban Western Springs in Auckland, Niranjan approached the organisers to gauge their support for a silencing system.

He came up with an idea for a simple yet potentially useful design modification that wouldn’t impede the free flow of air: put a marble in the muffler.

“They were definitely interested,” says Niranjan. The speedway is still under threat, with the council having set what organisers consider to be an unrealistic boundary noise level of 85 dBA.

nEEd for ChangE

tEStIng In ChIna

There have long been practical and economic challenges to more effective silencing of vehicles, to the extent that little progress has been made since patents adopted in the 1960s.

After-market silencers have so far undermined both vehicle performance and fuel efficiency. Amateur fixes such as stuffing the muffler with steel wool or using muffler putty are all extremely short-term because of the heat emitted by the engine’s exhaust and its location at the exterior rear of the vehicle.

Along with an automotive student, Niranjan began a series of small tests

“International research in recent years on vehicle silencing has focused on applying CAD/CAE technology to muffler design,” he says. “The advanced muffler Niranjan and I are proposing has not been researched.”

A literature survey carried out this year

by Niranjan failed to find any similar design worldwide. Zhongyuan University has the testing facilities required to take the prototype to the next level and, with Professor Zhu now back in China, a partnership agreement is being negotiated to undertake that work.

ContaCt niranjan Singh programme leader dept of transport technology faculty of technology & Built Environment Email: nsingh@unitec.ac.nz

“The automotive industry has traditionally paid scant attention to noise levels,” says Niranjan, “which may account for the lack of research into better design but that attitude is undergoing change due to

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ConStruCtIon

Computers’ place in construction the construction industry worldwide is shifting towards greater integration throughout the design and construction process but attitudes towards use of It in construction are holding back new Zealand’s performance, according to results from a unitec survey of almost 2,000 companies.

With Building Information Modelling (BIM) now widely available, the focus for many international organisations has moved on to Integrated Design and Delivery Solutions (IDDS), but the construction industry in New Zealand is often seen as behind the play, says Unitec Department of Construction lecturer Kathryn Davies.

“Improving the productivity of the construction sector is widely touted as way to boost the performance of the country as a whole,” she says, “and international research points to more advanced use of IT as an important means to making productivity gains.”

In particular, she says, complete prototyping of new buildings in a simulated system, before construction begins, can reduce design faults and construction errors. The use

of IT use so that appropriate investment, development and education can support the process.

Using an international survey format called the Construction IT Barometer, Kathryn carried out a survey of almost 2,000 construction companies across New Zealand, investigating the availability and usage of hardware, software and training and support, the perceived impacts the use of IT has on the way the company functions, and attitudes of users towards IT. The first stage included architects (architectural designers and draughtspersons), technical consultants (engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers), contractors and subcontractors, property owners and managers and the materials industry (manufacturers and suppliers). Given that

advanced capabilities such as project webs and data interchange systems. IT training is also at a low level, hindering the growth in a culture of change. The proliferation of computer applications in use for construction-specific tasks is a barrier to interoperability between New Zealand companies, says Kathryn, but this barrier is perhaps better addressed by software developers producing the advanced IT systems, rather than by reducing the availability of relevant applications.

“Industry organisations could contribute by providing more information about appropriate software to support particular construction processes, which would reduce the level of in-house or ad-hoc development that we currently see.”

rESIStanCE to ChangE Small companies risk becoming marginalised because their use of computers falls well behind industry norms, with low investment in IT and a number of companies not using computers at all.

“Comments from some of those surveyed suggested an element of hostility about the increasing influence of computers on business in general,” says Kathryn, “and a strong denial that computers have a place in the construction industry. It wasn’t uncommon to hear, ‘Computers can’t complete physical labour; we’re a construction company,’ or ‘Haven’t heard of a computer that can stand up frames, pour concrete or nail a nail in.’”

of these systems also improves communication and information exchange between the participants in the construction process.

over 80 percent of construction companies employ fewer than 10 people, the second stage focused on small construction companies, predominantly builders.

InduStry SurVEy

KEy fIndIngS

To help the New Zealand construction industry grasp the opportunities presented by these new approaches to building, the decision makers need better information on the current state

The construction industry overall appeared to be well placed to gain from the international shift towards BIM and IDDS. Specific gaps to address are that few companies are making use of

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The study was funded by Unitec, BRANZ, New Zealand’s independent building industry resource group and CBANZ, the Certified Builders Association of New Zealand. Kathryn is presenting a paper on her work at the Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB W78) conference in Cairo, Egypt in November.

ContaCt Kathryn davies lecturer dept of Construction faculty of technology & Built Environment Email: kdavies@unitec.ac.nz

BuIldIng tEChnology

Improving house energy efficiency as many as one million homes in new Zealand are underperforming on health and energy measures. Each year unitec carpentry students build standard houses on campus. one of these houses is being tested with new technology that may enhance efforts to bring residential housing up to international standards for warmth and energy efficiency.

New research into better performing homes1 has found that more than a million of the 1.6 million residential houses in New Zealand are not adequately insulated and more than 410,000 homes could be making their occupants sick, some seriously. Our houses perform poorly in terms of energy and water use, warmth, comfort and indoor environment quality. The energy required to heat and cool them is this country’s largest drain on energy, a big contributor to CO2 release into the environment, and the main barrier to sustainability.

modEllIng EffICIEnCy Around 20,000 new homes are being constructed each year, and new technologies may prove pivotal in meeting New Zealand’s energy efficiency and conservation strategy for cost-effective new homes that are self-sufficient in terms of net energy production, otherwise known as zero energy homes.

New computer modelling technologies are expected to transform the construction industry, and are already having a significant impact on architecture and engineering design processes in other countries. One of these technologies is called Ecotect.

A recent addition to the Building Information Management tools currently available, Ecotect uses a 3D computer model of a building (created in Revit) to enable buildings to be environmentally evaluated early on in the design process.

thE modEl In praCtICE Robert Tait, Unitec lecturer in the Department of Building Technology is leading a group of Unitec researchers in a project whose first stages this year are to review Ecotect for best practice, and use the tool to model potential improvements to sustainability and internal environmental quality of a standard Unitec house.

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“The New Zealand Building Code permits the use of modelling tools to validate the adoption of non-standard design solutions,” says Robert, “but there’s been no review as yet of how well Ecotect models conditions in the New Zealand environment, or how the modelled performance compares with the actual building performance.”

By the end of the year, carpentry students will have completed two houses on campus and the computer model will be put through its paces. The houses will be fitted with monitoring and data logging equipment. One house will remain unmodified while the other will have a number of modifications.

Over the summer and winter periods of 2011 they’ll be monitored then analysed against the model’s projected outcomes to identify any weaknesses in the simulation process and optimise a range of design options to obtain best results over the building’s life cycle.

The project is being funded by a Unitec research grant.

ContaCt robert tait lecturer dept of Building technology faculty of technology & Built Environment Email: rtait@unitec.ac.nz

The cost of cold houses • 45 percent of our houses suffer from moisture problems.

• Each day 780 people are not turning up to work because of respiratory health problems caused by their homes and 50 people go to hospital, costing $3,000 a day.

• More than one in four New Zealanders say the home they live in has contributed to their sickness (ShapeNZ Survey).

• Enveloping homes with insulation and double glazing could save 2.5 billion kWh of energy or $475 million annually.

The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development’s two-year long $300,000 research project on how to deliver “Improving house performance levels”.

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arChItECturE

Sustainable design upends tradition a double degree in architecture from unitec and a german university allowed Sasha hendry to examine how germany’s energy-efficient passivhaus principles could be applied in the new Zealand context and push the boundaries on how we think about inner city living.

In Germany and Scandinavia, some architecture now generates more energy than it consumes. New Zealand lags up to 40 years behind northern European technology and standards1, with residential housing in particular undermining our reputation as an ecologically advanced nation.

Master of Architecture graduate Sasha Hendry took the principles inherent in the Passivhaus, Europe’s most developed energy regulations, and compared them with the New Zealand

to rate commercial buildings on their environmental attributes and performance. While various initiatives for residential homes, such as the Healthy Housing Index and the Home Energy Rating System are being trialled, their impact has been slow. A single rating tool for residential housing is now being developed, tailored for New Zealand conditions.2 One of the reasons we have fallen so far behind international practice, says Sasha, is we have yet to make

“At present, there are few, if any, built examples in New Zealand of energy architecture that strictly regulates the kilowatts per hour that the building consumes,” says Sasha. “The German Passivhaus standards use highly insulated facades to eliminate the need for heating and cooling.”

puShIng thE EnVElopE The efficient methodologies of the Passivhaus have eliminated some traditional building techniques that contribute to regional variances and architectural flair, says Sasha, “but I believe highly efficient architecture can also incorporate style and flair. It can retain some qualities of the traditional Kiwi quarter-acre lifestyle.”

Sasha set out to achieve the same energy benchmarks as a Passivhaus, but using simpler technologies and more passive strategies, in designing a development for mixed-use retail and student accommodation. Mixed-use development is one element of the city’s growth strategy. Her design also responds to an international shift in emphasis away from individual buildings to integrated urban systems encompassing transport, water, wastewater, mixed-use and the economy.

Kita “Wellenreiter” Kindergarten in Wismar, with its many atriums and curved roofs, meets the same energy benchmarks set in the Passivhaus standard.

Green Star standards to see if those principles could be adapted for this country’s climate and our cultural preferences. She then put her ideas to the test by designing a mixed use development for urban Auckland.

EnErgy arChItECturE The six-point Green Star standards were developed by the New Zealand Green Building Council in 2005

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the distinction between ‘sustainable’ and ‘energy’ architecture. In Germany the word ‘sustainable’ or ‘nachhaltig’ centres on the triple ideas of renew, reuse and recycle; designing buildings with renewable resources and passive energy processes. Energie architecture draws on new technologies that eliminate the need to use nonrenewable energy for cooling, heating, lighting etc.

Eason C. and Vale R. Critical Analysis of Sustainable Development: Buildings and neighbourhoods in New Zealand. www.pce.govt.nz/projects/housing.pdf A joint venture between the NZ Green Building Council, BRANZ and Beacon Pathway

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The transparency of Sasha’s design on the corner of Karangahape Road and Gundry Road in Auckland challenged the city’s traditional built corner structure, by opening up the site to the street.

Central to that shift was a landscaped atrium that fulfilled two purposes. As the main source of passive solar heating the atrium provided the envelope within which people would live and shop. As a collective social space for students, who would rent the above-ground apartments, it also addressed the oftvoiced complaint that the inner city has a poor sense of community. Despite its clear advantages, Sasha found her design running into obstacles.

“It took people a while to warm up to the atrium idea,” she says. “They weren’t used to being enclosed within a green space and were resistant to it. The greenery was intended to enhance the space but in New Zealand people want to open windows, to live outside.”

arChItECturE

sasha’s elevation model of an energy efficient, mixed-use building on the corner of Karangahape road and gundry street.

thE BESt of Both The blend of strengths from both the Passivhaus and Green Star methods won over her three supervisors and earned Sasha an A+ grade mark.

Associate Professor Dushko Bogunovich was convinced that her design is at the leading edge in both collective living and environmental architecture.

“Our rather waffly definition of sustainable development, ‘to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’, doesn’t help designers,” he says, “but the more precise definition of a green building and the tools used for Green Star ratings are definitely having an effect on our built environment.

Mainstream practice in property development and design is shifting, despite the optional nature of most energy efficiencies. Attitudes about energy use will probably only change when pricing makes squandering it unaffordable.”

Sasha agrees. “Our expectations of energy efficiency are still very low and there’s a big need for new ways of living,” says Sasha. “But that’s going to take a while. Besides government regulations, the mindset within the architecture and building industries and of the general public has to change.

Until all three of those elements come together there won’t be any fundamental shift.”

dESIgn Into praCtICE On completing her degree, Sasha returned to work part-time at Hochschule Wismar University, and now has an internship in Amsterdam with de Architekten Cie. Around 17,500 passive houses have been built worldwide

since the inception of the Passivhaus in 1988, when the first designs required 90 percent less space heating than standard new buildings at the time.

Earlier this year, Christchurch’s new Civic Buildings were given the highest Green Star six star rating.

“Passivhaus – A New Zealand Adaptation: An evaluation of New Zealand’s potential to adopt German energy saving standards for residential architecture” was supervised by Associate Professor Dushko Bogunovich and Dr Christoph Schnoor at Unitec and

by Professor Wollensak at Hochschule Wismar. The thesis can be accessed from Unitec’s Research Bank at http://unitec.researchbank.ac.nz ContaCt dr Christoph Schnoor programme leader master of architecture (professional) faculty of Creative Industries & Business Email: cschnoor@unitec.ac.nz Passivhaus design principles •

Compact form and good insulation

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Orientation towards the sun

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Energy efficient window glazing and frames

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Building envelope air tightness

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Passive pre-heating of fresh air

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Highly efficient heat recovery from exhaust air using air-toair heat exchanger

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Hot water supply using regenerative energy sources.

“Understanding the environmental performance of a building should be as easy as understanding the performance of your vehicle via its Warrant of Fitness.”

Jane Henley, Chief Executive, NZ Green Building Council

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nursing

Assessing elearning nursing resources When medical and scientific publishing giant Elsevier was looking for an educational setting to test its student-focused online databases, unitec’s Department of nursing leapt at the opportunity. Three years into the project, the findings are providing Elsevier with a clear pathway for further development.

Elsevier publishes the original work of more than 500,000 authors every year.

Much of that information is being made progressively available online as health nursing medical teaching resources.

In 2008, Unitec’s undergraduate nursing programme became the first in the world to integrate two nursingspecific databases, Mosby Nursing Skills and Mosby Nursing Consult, into the curriculum. The aim of this pilot research was to provide Elsevier with student and staff feedback on which to further develop the databases.

HEAlTH inFOrMATiCs Unitec has an active elearning strategy that supports the blending of elearning into curricula rather than having it running alongside on-site courses. The Department of Nursing has a reputation for advanced research in health informatics. The nursing simulation labs have 40” plasma screens and laptops on wheels by bedsides so students can access information during an actual simulation. lecturer Tina Mullard has a strong background in the subject and the department has attracted adjunct professors who also specialise in the intersection of information and computer science, and health care.

“Technology is a requirement of nursing competency,” says Tina. “Yet very little research has been done on computer literacy skills and nursing here in New Zealand and Australia.

Most nursing programmes don’t have competency levels in IT skills as a prerequisite for entry.”

pharmacology and news, while Mosby Nursing Skills contains clinical skills, demonstrations, self-testing and text downloads.

“If you were competent at information handling skills, these e-resources would support your nursing studies,” says Tina. “By getting students familiarised with using the resources well within the first month of their studies, then over the next three years they should be fully utilising them.

That was the theory. What about the practice? Results of questionnaires given to 120 first and second-year students showed a good uptake of the materials, especially when they were integrated into the curriculum. While not universally popular, the only significant barrier turned out to be terminology.

Most of the materials are produced in the USA and unfamiliar terms for familiar tasks put students off.

“The fact that the skills may be carried out differently isn’t an issue,” says Tina.

“It’s the language used to describe tasks. For example, hand hygiene instead of hand washing.”

The common perception of age being a barrier to technology use did not hold true.

“There was no significant difference in skill levels between younger and mature students,” says Carol. “The only difference was in their perception of their skills.”

HOW sTuDEnTs rEsPOnD

BOOsTing COnFiDEnCE

Tina has been managing the pilot research study of the two Elsevier e-resources in partnership with Dr Carol Bond of Bournemouth University.

The more academically oriented Mosby Nursing Consult contains journals, textbooks, evidence-based practice,

A particular challenge for nurses may lie in the results of a study undertaken in the UK by one of Carol Bond’s colleagues, suggesting that nurses feel more challenged and less comfortable working with informed patients than did those in other healthcare professions.

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A similar New Zealand study found that only a tiny proportion of pre-registration nurses (3 percent) have assisted patients to evaluate the information they found.

“To meet patient needs, nurses need to develop their information skills,” says Carol. “The computer is so central to this that being confident, competent, and able to identify gaps in knowledge is essential.”

AusTrAlAsiAn COnTEnT Carol holds a doctorate in the use of technology and nursing. As such, she has taken the role of lead researcher while Tina manages the project. With only one year left to complete of the four-year study, the two researchers are starting to see a clear picture emerging of what needs changing.

Content specific to the Pacific Rim could be a future direction for Elsevier.

The company’s national manager in Australia, Carolyn Crowther, sees Unitec as well positioned to partner such a development.

“The partnership Elsevier has with Unitec is exciting,” she says. “It gives us a clear view of the future. We see more and more resources and the learning environment moving online, and it’s Unitec that leads the way in this region. And they are a long way in front.

The nursing programme integrates a number of our key online resources in a way not yet achieved by other schools.

We certainly appreciate having such a forwardthinking team to work with and share insights.”

COnTACT Tina Mullard lecturer Dept of nursing Faculty of social & Health sciences Email: tmullard@unitec.ac.nz

nursing

Nursing in the 21st century In 2010, Dr Carol Bond was appointed as an adjunct professor at Unitec in the Department of Nursing. Carol gave her inaugural address in May to a packed out lecture theatre at the Waitakere campus.

Patients and professionals have different ideas about what constitutes essential information, she says.

“Some professionals are concerned about patients self-diagnosing and treating but research is showing that patients are using the internet to decide if they need to see a professional, and to support their interactions with professionals. The information they access is complementary. They’re not using it to self-diagnose.”

RELIABLE INFORMATION The potential for inaccurate information to be harmful is overstated, she says, a view backed by a Pew Institute research study, with 60 percent of patients reporting they, or someone they knew, had been helped by medical information on the internet. Only three percent had been harmed. Research has also found that, as with Wikipedia, errors in information posted on a health discussion board are quickly corrected by other members.

Tina Mullard and Dr Carol Bond, prior to Carol’s inaugural adjunct professorial address at Unitec in May this year.

Two out of three adults in New Zealand have been diagnosed with at least one long-term physical or mental health condition.

Focusing on patient information and the role of the nurse in the 21st century, Carol’s address identified ways that technology could support a more socially affordable relationship between patients and health professionals.

Two out of three adults in New Zealand have been diagnosed with at least one long-term physical or mental health condition, according to 2008 Ministry of Health figures. To ease the burden of care on the health system, patients are being encouraged to enter an active partnership with their health practitioners rather than look to them as the holder of all expert knowledge.

“Power is becoming more shared and patients are learning to meet their own information needs through the internet,” says Carol. “The internet is an excellent information source, and one that patients are happily adopting.”

“People who are influenced by dodgy information will be influenced no matter where it comes from,” says Carol. “The internet is no more dangerous than the high street.”

Health informatics is ultimately not about databases or nurses, but is focused on improving patient care.

Integrating computers into the hospital setting, says Carol, has a number of potential benefits for patients. All test results can be shared on screen, the internet can be instantly accessed to provide more information about the test results and choices of treatment.

Patient safety is improved by nurses recording information at the point of care, i.e. the bedside, rather than taking a sheaf of notes back to a nursing station, where time lags and potential errors occur.

Carol Bond is a senior lecturer in health informatics at Bournemouth University’s Centre for Wellbeing and Quality of Life.

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SoCIal praCtICE

Empowering adults into tertiary study west auckland has one of the lowest levels in metropolitan new Zealand of residents with a formal educational qualification. Carol walden has graduated from unitec with a master of Social practice that investigated the underlying causes and potential solutions to getting more people into tertiary study.

EXpandIng tE wharIKI Unitec Master of Social Practice graduate Carol Walden began her career in primary teaching.

“As a primary teacher I’ve seen how the Te Whariki model, based in Ma¯ori pedagogy, is a coherent document that’s well liked,” Carol says. “It’s been easy to use. I was interested in taking the strands and principles in Te Whariki – such as empowerment and communication – and seeing how they linked with the positive outcomes experienced by adults returning to a high school setting to learn new skills.”

carol Walden, whose masters thesis explores community pathways into tertiary study.

Approximately 21 percent of Waitakere students do not gain any formal qualifications. This compares with 17 percent nationwide.

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When Unitec set up a campus in Henderson in 2006 it became the first major tertiary provider in west Auckland, an area identified as having lower decile schools and underachievement in education. The aim of positioning a tertiary institution in west Auckland was to make ongoing learning more accessible, both physically and perceptually.

Active partnerships with local high schools such as Henderson and Massey have been one way to bridge the gap. Now, research with adults completing a certificate run by Unitec within Massey’s adult education programme has highlighted the blocks mature students face to study. The thesis has offered an opportunity to test how effectively the Te Whariki bicultural national curriculum statement for early childhood education could be extended across the entire educational sector as a solution to those blocks.

Unitec has twice run a Certificate in Community Skills at Massey High School and also at Henderson High.

This free programme offers five standalone courses that help people develop the personal, social, academic and practical skills and knowledge needed to be effective in the community, in paid or voluntary roles. Carol’s research involved 40 participants. Many had not completed any high school qualifications but despite their negative experiences of schooling, they still felt more comfortable in the high school setting because it was familiar. They perceived Unitec as intimidating.

“These students were able to reflect from an adult perspective on what had been missing for them as teenagers,” says Carol. “The issues they had back then with self-doubt, low self-esteem and fear of participating still exist today when they begin to re-engage with learning.”

BrIdgIng thE gapS The factors in their present experience that have created a lift towards attainment are feeling supported by small class sizes and tutors and empowered by learning new inter- and intra-personal skills.

“They gain the skills to step back from patterned responses, to investigate their own identity and learn new approaches to old problems,” says Carol.

social practice

All 18 of the adults who enrolled in the first year of Massey’s Certificate in Community Skills completed it – unusual in itself for a free community course – and 15 transitioned to study at Unitec. Social Practice lecturer Dr Geoff Bridgman co-supervised Carol’s thesis with Linda Davies. He is seeing a remarkable flow-on effect into enrolments in the first year of the Bachelor of Social Practice, rising from 80 to 120 in 2010.

“Effective bridging programmes equate content with methods of teaching,” he says. “By teaching people with low self-esteem to empower themselves, using methods that incorporate esteem building, a shift in attitude towards study occurs. We’ve taken away the idea that study is punishing and critical of them as individuals. As a result, there have been significant shifts in participants’ work and home lives.”

Deputy principal of Massey High, John Tinling, agrees. “Each time I dropped into that class those 18 adults were absolutely engaged,’ he says.

“Most of the participants were mums and their kids got on board by doing the dishes at home and sharing homework time. It has helped to break the inter-generational pattern of disinterest in study.

“A number of international models have been developed to help students to bridge the gap and ease into tertiary education,” Geoff says. “What we’ve been looking to create is a community development model in west Auckland that uses the strengths of both institutions – Unitec and secondary schools – to move people into supported adult education. A mentoring approach, if you like.”

That’s an ethos John agrees with.

“I have been impressed with Unitec’s organisation and the outstanding tutor.

We would like to see the relationship with Unitec continue to develop and provide further opportunity for our students and community.”

researcH For cHaNGe

“It can identify the issues and critically assess pragmatic solutions,” she says. “It also brings to light issues from a different perspective. To my knowledge, my thesis is the most explicit investigation of how Te Whariki can be implemented right across the education sector, reaching even as far as community skills.”

Carol’s thesis, “Minor Fall and Major Lift: Raising educational capacity through community partnerships”, can be read at the Unitec Library. coNtact Dr Geoff Bridgman lecturer Dept of social practice Faculty of social & Health sciences email: gbridgman@unitec.ac.nz

Since graduating, Carol has moved into social policy work with the Salvation Army. Her postgraduate study at Unitec has confirmed that research can be a powerful agent of change.

“Another pleasing outcome has been the establishment of positive connections between the participating parents and the school, which in one or two cases has allowed us to work collaboratively and successfully in supporting their children.”

coMMUNitY partNersHip Massey High School, like other schools around the country offering adult education, lost its government funding last year and is no longer able to provide the advertising budget that included promoting the free Certificate in Community Skills. The certificate has been offered at Unitec in 2010, with enrolments continuing to grow through word-of-mouth. The intention is to return to Massey in 2011.

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In thE lImElIght

Behind the scenes of the printer writers, librarians and printers share a common passion for words but what differentiates printers is their devotion to how words look on paper. unitec library director peter hughes has been documenting the output of some of new Zealand’s most prolific letterpress printers.

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face”: Library Director Peter hughes.

With the invention of movable type in the 15th century by Johannes Gutenberg, letterpress machines began to dominate print production for the next 500 years.

They worked by inking a reversed, raised surface, which was pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive image that could be read from left to right. By the mid 20th century letterpress was being superseded by the flatter, cheaper offset printing method and now by digital printing.

Unitec Library Director Peter Hughes has a passion for collecting rare New Zealand small press publications, produced using high-quality letterpress.

He has been engaged in painstaking research to piece together the works and lives of the colourful characters who produced them. Currently he is writing a biography of Ron Holloway and completing a bibliography of the letterpress of Alan Loney.

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thE gEnIuS of gutEnBErg “Letterpress was the medium until the 1950s,” says Peter. “Nowadays, it’s favoured by only a few who value its distinctive results. Certainly, it’s no longer an economical way to print or publish.”

New Zealand, says Peter, has a great tradition of printing and publishing letterpress, from the earliest works of William Colenso in the 1840s, to Denis Glover at the Caxton Press and Bob Lowry with his many presses from the 1930s, through to Alan Loney and Tara McLeod today.

Bob Lowry, more than anyone, was responsible for Here & Now from 1949–1957, the most influential independent magazine of the day.

“It was called Now & Then by friends, an indication of Lowry’s working methods,” says Peter, who has written

about Lowry’s many ventures, notably Pelorus and Pilgrim presses.

While at the University of Auckland Library, he organised Lowry’s manuscripts collection and assisted poet and critic Kendrick Smithyman in preparing a Book Council exhibition on small presses.

pamphlEtS aS protESt During his time at the Alexander Turnbull Library, Peter discovered the wealth of New Zealand’s 19th century pamphlet literature and wrote about it.

“In terms of their form as ‘print-objects’, pamphlets provide important evidence about our printing history and practices as well as evidence of contemporary discourse, particularly of dissent — religion, politics and economics,” says Peter. “As well, many small volumes of poetry were published in pamphlet form.

nEwS

Edward Tregear’s Southern Parables was typical of what A.R.D. Fairburn later called our ‘moral feebles’.”

hallowEd holloway He is now completing a biography on Ron Holloway, who began printing alongside Lowry in the 1930s.

“Ron Holloway’s contribution is pretty much unknown, although his printing career spanned 60 years,” says Peter.

“He was a most singular man, a traditionalist in everything he believed in and did. His strong Catholic faith and fascination with medievalism influenced what he chose to print. For example, he loved printing elements of the Catholic liturgy in Latin – what Glover described as his ‘flapdoodle’.”

Holloway particularly admired Eric Gill, the English stone engraver, type designer, essayist and proselytising Catholic, even naming a daughter after one of Gill’s typefaces. Although Holloway favoured Garamond, Elsevir,

To fill in the background for the biography he compiled a bibliography containing more than 130 items, which will be published in print and electronic formats.

from lonEy to lEttErS Peter’s work on Alan Loney evolved from his writing about Loney’s production of The Love Songs of Ibykos, 22 fragments by the Greek poet Ibykos.

“Alan had worked on this project off and on for 20 years. It seemed a perfect example of what print historian Professor Don McKenzie called ‘the sociology of texts … that look at the human motives and interactions that texts involve at every stage of their production, transmission and consumption’. This made me want to understand how Alan’s ideas about design, printing and publishing found expression in each of his 50-plus books and I thought a descriptive bibliography would be the best way of recording this.”

Letterpress printer ron holloway

Caslon, Cloister and Tudor Black, like most small-scale printers he had to make do with whatever font styles were on hand, even if this meant purloining material from his daytime employers.

“Recreating Holloway’s output has been time-consuming and meant a great deal of detective work scouring archives and library shelves,” says Peter, “because he printed many titles with variant covers or slightly changed contents and in small editions, reprinting only on demand.”

Beginning in 1975, Loney has been printing and publishing for over 30 years. A prolific and considered writer about the craft of printing, his The Printing of a Masterpiece is required reading for understanding the motivations and processes of printing letterpress. In the bibliography Peter has painted a picture of how each book has been made, and how it looks, to which Loney has added commentaries.

ContaCt peter hughes unitec library director Email: phughes@unitec.ac.nz

Want to find out more about research projects featured in Advance magazine? unitec’s new research Bank is an openaccess online resource that provides a free portal for browsing the range of research being carried out. content is presently focused on postgraduate theses and is intended to extend to staff research. the research Bank is managed by the unitec Library and includes images, video and audio as well as books, journal articles and other electronic documents. see http://unitec.researchbank.ac.nz, or contact researchbank@unitec.ac.nz.

cornell university has invited unitec master of social Practice graduate Jane Bruning (featured in Advance summer 2009) to contribute a chapter to a book on the global impact of hiV and aiDs on women. the chapter has offered Jane, and her thesis supervisors Dr helene connor and Dr Ksenija napan, the opportunity to present new zealand’s historical, political, social and economic context for responding to the aiDs epidemic and specific policies that have impacted on women. Jane was also awarded a scholarship to present her thesis at an emerging researchers conference in Wellington and has been invited to speak at the nz sexual health conference in september.

a collaborative project, te arapiki ako, is under way across unitec to create and pilot a kete of resources for improving reading levels amongst ma¯ori and Pacific students studying at unitec. Project funding of $21,000 has been granted by the tertiary education commission for a team of eight lecturers and senior managers from the maia ma¯ori Development centre, the centre for Pacific Development and support, the te Puna ako Literacy team and the research Office and Postgraduate centre to investigate ma¯ori and Pacific pedagogies. using the framework of ‘know the learner, know the demands and know what to do’, te arapiki ako will provide resources and activities that respond to the third aspect of the framework.

this year’s Learning, teaching and research symposium will take place at unitec on monday 27 and tuesday 28 september. research will be the focus of day two of the symposium, showcasing the diversity of research taking place at unitec. some of this year’s themes include industry and community-focused research and collaborative projects. see www.ltrsymposium.unitec.ac.nz for more details.

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phone +64 9 815 2945 freephone 0800 10 95 10 web www.unitec.ac.nz address Private Bag 92025, auckland mail centre, auckland 1142, new zealand Mt Albert campus 139 carrington rd, mt albert, auckland, new zealand Newmarket campus 277 Broadway, newmarket, auckland, new zealand North Shore campus 132 hurstmere rd, takapuna, auckland, new zealand Waitakere campus 5-7 ratanui st, henderson, auckland, new zealand