UC Research Repository
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The UC Research Repository collects, stores and makes available original research from postgraduate students, researchers and academics based at the University of Canterbury.
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Recent Submissions
A Potability Risk Model for Drinking Water Self-suppliers In the Waitaha Canterbury Region
(2023) Blake-Manson, Hugh
Access to potable water is a fundamental requirement for maintaining human health. An estimated 13% or 666,000 New Zealanders – classed as Drinking Water Self-suppliers (DWSS) are entirely responsible for their stand-alone drinking water supplies potability, with tacit oversight from national agencies. This research develops an innovative data-driven model to evaluate DWSS relative risk in terms of the drinking water hazards, source exposure and social vulnerability across the 45,300 km2, Waitaha Canterbury region of New Zealand. Over 23,000 individual DWSS sites were identified, supplying c. 62,400 domiciled people. Of these c. 18,000 reside in the higher vulnerability health related demographic cohorts.
In this region, and as a result of geological processes, readily accessible groundwater and surface water is aligned along west-east braided freshwater systems. These natural water systems also support intensive land use practices particularly across 7,500 km2 of low relief ‘plains’ including intensive animal grazing, wastewater disposal and industrial development with DWSS interspersed between. Utilising publicly available data, the first relative risk assessment at a 22km2 grid scale was completed, with the ability to also assess risk at each DWSS site. When considering DWSS, 4,016 or c. 17.4% (10,843) people may consume microbiological contaminants above the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards maximum acceptable value (MAV) and c. 12.1% above organic MAV. 154 DWSS or
c. 0.7% are estimated to consume water above all four of the hazard group MAVs. There are limited DWSS “consumer facing” practical and cost effective point of use (PoU) water quality monitoring solutions. A novel, DWSS centred time-quality-cost framework confirmed that while there are adequate sensor systems available globally, microbiological based technologies still require greater than 8 hours for confirmation of pathogen presence or absence. This is inadequate given ingestion can result in rapid onset of illness and long term negative health impacts such as organ injury. A treatment system with microbial and chemical barriers remains the most effective current solution. There is value in undertaking targeted DWSS site inspections to confirm source water quality and check the water system against sanitary guidelines. DWSS residents’ privacy and security should be prioritised as part of any inspection.
Healthcare technology adoption: a social-organisational perspective
(2024) Watson, Jake Marshall
The medical technology industry, valued at almost a trillion dollars annually, holds significant societal and individual impacts, where advancements are crucial for improving healthcare outcomes. However, the adoption of new healthcare technologies has a success rate of only 30-60%, highlighting a substantial challenge. This is particularly important given the current strain on healthcare because of underfunding, overworking, and an ageing workforce. It is evident from previous research that sufficient healthcare technology plays a pivotal role in addressing this problem. Moreover, previous frameworks pay little attention to socio-organisational factors. Therefore, the current research aims to explore how socio-organisational factors impact healthcare technology adoption. A sequential mixed methods exploratory design constituted of two phases was employed. Firstly, archival data was thematically analysed to explore general barriers and enablers of healthcare technology adoption. Secondly, a quantitative survey was administered to healthcare professionals to which regression and t-test analyses were performed. Data was collected on organisational and social aspects of HCT adoption, including relevant relationships, communication, and innovation culture. Moreover, enablers such as patient outcomes, usability, co-design, and workload accommodations were assessed as well. Results from thematic analysis found seven themes, these were: relationships, the nature of clinical work, the psychology of clinicians, culture, communication, training, and technology characteristics. Qualitative analyses gleaned further insight, proving relationships as a key predictor of technology adoption success. Results also revealed differences in importance between hardware and software regarding communication and training. This thesis highlights the necessity of encompassing socio-organizational factors in HCT adoption studies. For practitioners it demonstrates the importance of considering relationships, co-design, and targeting effective communication and training at specific modalities of technology.
Development and validation of processing algorithms to delineate individual foot reactions from a single-belt instrumented treadmill to generate synchronised acoustic emission and lower-limb biomechanics data
(2023) Sinclair, James Thomas
The human hip joint plays a vital role in daily activities such as walking, standing, and running, contributing significantly to health-related quality of life. The joint's natural structure involves a ball- and-socket connection between the femur and pelvis, allowing for complex movements.
Unfortunately, various factors, including trauma, wear, arthritis, and pathological conditions, can compromise the integrity of the hip joint, leading to conditions like osteoarthritis, developmental dysplasia, Paget's disease, and more.
Hip osteoarthritis, a prevalent cause of debilitating pain, often necessitates primary hip arthroplasty, a surgical procedure replacing the natural joint with an artificial implant. As the aging population undergoes increasing hip arthroplasties, monitoring the prosthetic's condition becomes crucial.
Traditional inspection methods, such as x-ray and CT imaging, have limitations, including radiation exposure and can only capture a single frame.
The research performed explores the use of acoustic emissions (AE) as a non-invasive and continuous monitoring method for prosthetic hips. AE consists of “listening in” to the sound waves generated by the prosthesis during movement. Unlike other conventional imaging methods, AE allows for dynamic inspection of the prosthesis without subjecting the patient to ionising radiation. This research builds on previous work performed at the University of Canterbury by Dr. FitzPatrick, transferring the AE monitoring procedure from an overground gait on a stationary forceplate, to an instrumented treadmill to collect continuous, prolonged recordings with a steady state walking gait.
This study addresses key objectives, including successfully transitioning to an instrumented treadmill while still collecting the same quality of data to what was performed by Dr. FitzPatrick, reliably separating the combined ground reaction force during the double support stage of the walking gait into the left and right foot contributions, and the identification and mitigation of artefacts introduced by the instrumented treadmill. Additionally, modifications were made to the foot delineation methods that improved the accuracy of the delineation calculation, reducing the mean error.
In conclusion, this research advances the application of AE monitoring as a method for inspection of prosthetic hips by facilitating a larger data set to be collected allowing for future researchers to make broader conclusions on the features and trends observed from AE monitoring. These findings contribute to the ongoing efforts to enhance the reliability and longevity of hip prosthetics in an ageing population.
The effect of dosage of citric acid on cough thresholds
(2024) Tan, Gladys Li Yue
Purpose: Citric acid cough reflex testing (CRT) has been used within the clinical swallowing examination to evaluate laryngeal sensation and infer silent aspiration risk. Cough thresholds are defined solely by the concentration of citric acid that evokes coughing. Coughing is evoked by reduction in pH levels in the laryngeal environment, which occurs with higher doses of the same citric acid concentrations, suggesting that the amount of citric acid might be important to factor into threshold definitions. Furthermore, citric acid doses vary across CRT protocols, depending on factors such as the nebuliser and dosimeter used, differences in number of discrete inhalations across protocols, individual variation in respiratory patterns during tidal breathing. This study investigates the effect of citric acid dosage on evoked cough response.
Methods: 16 healthy participants (23-79 years, eight men) attended two sessions spaced exactly a week apart. Citric acid doses of 0.1 to 1.9mol/L were inhaled in 0.2mol/L increments via a mouthpiece attached to a jet nebuliser and dosimeter. Each concentration of acid was inhaled once for the protocol of one session and six times for the protocol of the other session for a six-fold dosage. Both protocols included an initial saline practice dose and four placebo doses at regular intervals. A three-minute break and mandatory sip of water were taken after each step of the protocols. Natural cough threshold (NCT) across two cough threshold definitions (i.e. first C2 and consistent C2) and UTC at these cough thresholds were measured. A paired t-test for first C2 and a permutation t-test for consistent C2 were used to compare results across both protocols.
Results: Cough thresholds were higher in the one-inhalation than the six-inhalation protocol for first C2 (mean difference 0.36mol/L, 95% CI [0.09, 0.63], p = 0.01) and consistent C2 (mean difference 0.55mol/L, 95% CI [0.09, 1], p = 0.02). Participants also displayed other airway protection behaviours throughout both protocols e.g. swallows, throat clears, change of respiratory patterns. There was no difference in UTC rating at cough threshold for first C2 (p = 0.49) and consistent C2 (p = 0.24) across both protocols.
Conclusion: Airway sensitivity was increased with more inhalations of the same concentrations of citric acid. This implies that dosage may influence cough response when aspects of respiration are not controlled. This highlights that current definitions of cough threshold are insufficient to accurately indicate airway sensitivity, signifying the need to include both parameters of concentration and dosage. Until then, comparison of results from CRT protocols that differ in citric acid dosage delivered needs to be made with caution.
More than just results! Leadership actions for effective use of assessment information
(2024) McKenzie, Dean
The New Zealand Ministry of Education expects secondary schools to make effective use of assessment information (Ministry of Education, 2011) to guide student learning and achievement. This expectation is not unique to New Zealand. The quest for more effective data use in schools has been growing in popularity throughout the globe. My study investigates how New Zealand secondary schools are responding to the challenge of using data from the New Zealand Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) to shape their teaching and learning strategies.
A pragmatist paradigm is applied to my study. This includes a mixing of both qualitative and quantitative research methods including a national online survey and semi-structured interviews. This required a form of paradigmatic pluralism, a mixing of both qualitative and quantitative methods, achieved by engaging in an explanatory sequential mixed method research design. This approach enabled a broad view of the landscape of assessment information use across a wide range of New Zealand schools. This is then followed by a narrowing of focus to explore the process of assessment information use in greater detail by focussing on a small number of case study schools.
The findings reveal inconsistent use of NCEA assessment information and considerable frustration and dissatisfaction from school leaders and teachers. Challenges such as data literacy, the tension between accountability and professional development, and capacity to engage with NCEA assessment information are interrogated. The layers of leadership and the impact they have on NCEA assessment information use in New Zealand are also examined.
My study aids in expanding understanding of how the process of NCEA assessment use is complex and multifaceted. NCEA assessment information use is perhaps even more complex than the education sector is currently aware. Recommendations are presented to guide practice, including a model to assist school leaders in New Zealand make effective use of NCEA assessment information. This model is built upon the foundation of the DIKW hierarchy and uses data conversation protocols, along with a visual representation of the contributing factors, to show how NCEA assessment information can be transformed from data to actionable wisdom. Although my study is firmly rooted in a local context, the results have implications for the wider challenges that school leaders face in terms of expectations to leverage nationally collected data for enhancing student learning and achievement.