Victoria University of Wellington

We have irradiated YBa $_{2}$ Cu $_{3}$ O $_{6+x}$ (YBCO) films without artificial pinning sites with Ag $^+$ ions with energies of 75 MeV and 150 MeV and fluences between 2–8 $\cdot 10^{11}$ ions/cm $^{2}$ in order to create as controlled nanorod pinning sites as possible. The structural and superconducting properties were determined before and after the irradiation with x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurement. After the irradiation also transport and transmission electron microscopy measurements were made. It was noted that the ion tracks are all parallel to the YBCO c -axis of the sample and those done with 150 MeV ions formed continuous 5 nm diameter tracks, whereas with 75 MeV ions, the tracks were not continuous through the sample. The $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ and $J_{\mathrm{c}}$ $(0 \mathrm{\,T})$ decreased with the irradiation, but the in-field $J_{\mathrm{c}}$ increased. The maximum increase was obtained with the 150MeV and 4 $\cdot 10^{11}$ ions/cm $^{2}$ sample with continuous rods, where the distance between the rods was closest to the diameter of the rods. Thus, the previous theoretical models predicting optimal pinning when the pinning site diameter is approximately equal to the distance between the pinning sites, are experimentally verified for these very pure samples, with no other external pinning sites.

High energy ionizing radiation can pose a significant risk to crew and payload of any space mission especially outside lower earth orbits. To investigate efficient radiation protection, in this paper we propose the design of a CubeSat spacecraft equipped with a high temperature superconductor (HTS) coil for radiation shielding. The HTS coil in the proposed design is positioned at a certain distance from the radiation protected volume. The coil is pointed towards the main source of charged particle showers, e.g., the Sun, to provide directional radiation protection due to magnetic deviation of charged particles. A suite of sensors is deployed in the wake of the charged particles to showcase the effectiveness of such a directional magnetic shielding concept. In this paper we introduce the complete design for such a demonstration project including the HTS coil powered by a superconducting power supply (flux-pump) and the cryogenic system design with cryocooler and thermal shielding. We further present simulation results on the magnetic shielding effect of the HTS-coil together with a preliminary coil parameter optimization process to increase the shielding effectiveness. The coil for this demonstration is made of non-insulated pancakes of 4 mm wide HTS tape. We further discuss the overall thermal budget and cooling as well as the electrical power budget for the CubeSat system.

The management of protected areas is often portrayed as an enterprise guided by objective knowledge and technical criteria, a claim that situates conservation practitioners in positions of power relative to other actors in these spaces. Challenging these claims of objectivity by exploring conservation practitioners' subjective views is vital to facilitate more equitable conservation management. Through a critical analysis of online interviews with conservation practitioners, archival material and participants' photographs, and of my experience as a conservation practitioner, I explore how detrimental elements of wilderness ideology continue to affect these experts' subjectivities. My analysis is grounded in the case of the Manu National Park in the Peruvian Amazon, a conservation space regarded as legendary and mythical by biodiversity enthusiasts despite its problematic relations with Indigenous communities. I show that conservation practitioners' subjectivities can reproduce shared notions of sacredness and belonging that discursively appropriate spaces and contribute to the discursive and material displacement of Indigenous peoples. Exceptions to this pattern reveal that conservation practitioners can develop inclusive emotional and relational connections with conservation spaces and with the Indigenous communities that inhabit them. This, however, is the result of practitioners having meaningful long‐term interactions with local Indigenous communities in Indigenous spaces, instead of interacting mostly with other conservation practitioners. Synthesis and applications. Considering these results, the processes of reflexivity that conservation practitioners need to engage with to drive transformational change in conservation practice could be facilitated by collective experiences outside of social environments where conservation principles are dominant. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Background Ghana became the first nation in Sub-Saharan Africa to receive the coronavirus vaccine; however, as of December 2023, only 44.3% of Ghanaians had received at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with vaccine hesitancy reported at 52.2%. This research aimed to explore the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among farmers in Northern Ghana. Methods The study adopted a concurrent embedded mixed methods design, which simultaneously collects qualitative and quantitative data. Participants were purposively sampled from five farmer-based organizations. Twenty-four participants were interviewed for 30–45 min. The transcripts were imported into NVivo version 14 and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. Results The farmers’ interviews revealed five themes related to vaccine hesitancy: availability and access, misconceptions about the COVID-19 virus, preference for a single-dose vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine safety concerns, and belief in the non-existence of COVID-19 in Northern Ghana. Farmers’ perspectives on the COVID-19 vaccine varied in the quantitative findings. Approximately 37.5% (n = 9) would postpone and 16.7% (n = 4) would decline the COVID-19 vaccination. About 12.5% (n = 3) expressed some degree of positivity toward the vaccines, while 58.3% (n = 14) stated that COVID-19 was currently unimportant. Vaccine uptake in Northern Ghana among farmers most likely stalled due to a lack of information and the belief that the virus no longer exists. Conclusion The findings highlight the intersecting reasons for vaccine hesitancy from logistical barriers to social and cultural beliefs. To address this, it is crucial to make single-dose vaccines more available, conduct ongoing public health campaigns, and prioritize farmers as a vulnerable population during health emergencies.

We present cathodic protection (CP) monitoring data from the New Zealand gas pipeline network during the Gannon Storm of May 2024. At some locations potentials between the pipe and a Cu/CuSO4 reference cell and between an installed metal coupon and the reference cell both underwent large variations ‐ changes which took the pipeline outside the desired potential range for CP. At these locations both potentials became positive for significant lengths of time, which, in the event of defects in the pipe coating, can lead to corrosion of the pipe. Highly negative pipe to reference cell potentials, which can lead to detachment of the coating from the pipe, were also observed. Pipe to reference cell potentials and coupon to reference cell potentials are both indicators of the level of CP. The observed relationship between them when the rectifier is turned off is seen to have a complex form. Whilst the relationship is linear over a reasonably wide range of pipe to reference cell potentials, coupon‐off potentials at some sites approach an asymptotic limit at highly negative pipe potentials, but rise sharply and become scattered at larger, including positive, pipe potentials. At locations where pipe to reference cell potentials are not routinely monitored, measurements of the potential between the anode bed and the pipe may be used to assess the level of CP. Assessment of the effects of the Gannon Storm allow the development of methods of predicting the effect of extreme storms on the network, which we put forward here.

Power emerges from the relational dynamics between two people, but it is often studied as a feature of the individual. The current studies apply a dyadic perspective to show that core relational beliefs not only shape actors’ relationship power but also generate behaviors that constrain their partner’s power. Across five studies with Israeli, German, and New Zealand couples (total 1,256 dyads), greater attachment avoidance and anxiety were associated with lower actor power. Revealing novel dyadic effects, greater attachment avoidance was associated with partner’s experiencing lower power. Studies 4 and 5 showed that actors higher in avoidance enacted greater withdrawal during conflict and daily life as perceived by partners and observed by independent coders. Actors’ withdrawal, in turn, predicted partners experiencing lower power. These findings advance power and relationship theories and research by highlighting how relational characteristics and behaviors (withdrawal) likely shape the experience of both actors’ and partners’ power in social relationships.

Existing methods to predict the effects of Coulomb drag on satellite orbits often rely on models of the plasma sheath in which it is described by a single species of ions. While these techniques have been used successfully to study plasma sheaths around stationary probes, the high relative speed between orbiting bodies and the plasma environment motivates the reevaluation of these assumptions. In this study, self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations are used to investigate the effects of mixed species interactions on Coulomb drag in two distinct sheath regimes. In both cases, the mixing of ions is shown to impact the sheath formation and resulting ion trajectories. This effect is most prominent in thin-sheath flows with comparable mass densities of O+ and H+ ions in which the sheath formed by the H+ ions greatly limits the collection and the resulting drag contribution of the O+ component of the flow.

An expanding scholarship on interracial intimacy in colonial contexts has generally focused on cases of administrative disputes or judicial conflicts that brought “mixed couples,” “mixed-race families,” or “ métis ” to the attention of colonial authorities. But what of the lives and experiences of those who did not contest their legal status, remaining under the administrative radar and thus virtually invisible in the archives of the colonial state? This article tackles these issues in the context of the French colony of New Caledonia by analyzing the trajectory of a household established out of official sight, made up of a French settler, a Kanak woman, and their descendants. The goal here is to understand what this phenomenon of relative social invisibility reveals about the scope and limits of colonial domination “at ground level.” Combining ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, the article traces the conditions under which this family configuration was able to emerge and then endure for over fifty years. It finally disappeared after the death of the French settler, when each of the wider family groups—European and Kanak—to varying degrees sought to efface this awkward past within their respective social worlds.

Using the development of motorised transport, the chapter explores how wealth accumulation for a few has affected the environment of the many and continues to do so, both in terms of energy exploitation and the physical infrastructure required. It looks at who pays for roads and who benefits, variables not currently considered in both SDG 9 and SDG 11 that share a common interest in sustainable transport and infrastructure under the premise that economic growth will improve accessibility. Through the development and impact of Henry Ford’s cars on the built environment, this chapter shows how the link between SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry Innovation and Infrastructure), assumed positive in the SDGs can, in turn, be found to be negative if the impact of wealth accumulation is taken into account.

This chapter continues the case study of the education of architects. The aim here is to show that if we want to combat climate change and achieve a more equitable and sustainable society, then viewing architecture and the creation of the built environment through the lens of wealth has to change, and doing this could have a significant effect on the education of future architects. This chapter examines how some famous architects procured their first jobs. The relevance to SDG 4 (Quality Education) is that although education may guarantee a better standard of living than not having education, it does not guarantee wealth. This is very true in the case of architecture as shown in this chapter. The real issue for the SDGs lies in what architects as a profession value and how this affects the built environment. Does what is valued lead to climate action (SDG 13), gender equality (SDG 5) or reduced inequalities (SDG 10)?

The chapter argues that wealth, especially its unequal distribution, is a problem for meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It discusses cities as the places of wealth generation but without the means of considering how that wealth might be distributed to create a fairer and more equal society for all. The chapter focuses on mapping the SDGs to gain a closer look at their structure, the nature of their goals, and their relationship to economic, political, environmental or technological concerns. The analysis of the SDGs highlights that the fulfilment of many of them seems to rely on wealth creation without the fundamental concomitant of wealth redistribution. The chapter concludes by discussing how developing a sustainable built environment means thinking beyond the iconic buildings created by wealth that often only serve the few, to what can benefit everyone. The built environment forms the case study for discussing wealth for the remainder of the book.

Throughout the book’s first part, the link between architecture and wealth has been established as a far-reaching factor whose impact transcends buildings. To reach the SDG goals, perhaps a redefinition of architecture is required. The chapter deals with the issue of how views on architecture affect what the profession of architecture is all about, what the profession designs and how members of the profession are educated. The modern library definition of architecture is examined in terms of how it is catalogued. How architecture has been placed in trees of knowledge is explored, showing that until the Age of Enlightenment, architecture was not viewed as a fine art but very much as a hands-on craft. This chapter, through multiple examples, shows how architectural views tend to favour the expensive and extraordinary, which contradicts the reality of climate change and the demands on the built environment.

The architecture of wealth and its ideology have become deeply embedded in architectural education and the professional practice of architecture. This is also mirrored in the associated professions responsible for the appearance of the built environment. Ethics matters because it involves contemplating what benefits everyone, which by default includes caring for the environment. However, what benefits everyone is strongly opposed to what constitutes the architecture of wealth. There is a parallel here with the SDGs, as achieving economic growth in the SDGs can only be done at the expense of sacrificing other SDGs, like the environment or reducing inequality. This chapter explores the ethical dilemmas that designers face in a climate change crisis era and how this affects the built environment, especially architecture.

Using the examples of cathedrals, sports stadia and military installations from the distant past and the more recent present, the chapter explores who paid for these buildings and how the money was raised. It argues that, in the main, it is ordinary people who pay for monuments in the built environment whether they want to or not. The chapter also discusses housing ownership and its relationship to wealth. The chapter raises the issue of how public money should be spent and how the built environment reflects spending priorities. Considering the lack of affordability of housing and the diminished resources of the government to provide, any large public building should always raise the question of whether this is the best use of the available money, especially when that money is raised through taxes.

This chapter looks at how architects have been educated both now and previously, what this has cost and the types of building most architects produce. It looks at how practices earn money and why some architects become rich, but most do not. It questions the role of architects by looking at architecture as an interconnected process that stems from nature: the role of architects as saviours of the environment. This role calls architects to become, once again, problem solvers, a fundamental aim for the teaching of sustainability in architecture. This chapter concludes with a discussion about vernacular buildings. Special emphasis is placed on the role that repetition and tradition play in generating differences, challenging the pre-conception that SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) will result from the emphasis on innovation in SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).

The relationship between wealth and the idea of luxury is explored. The chapter looks at luxury brands and their effect on buildings and architecture. It examines the modern understanding of luxury items, showing that luxury is a relative term that depends on what is perceived as being wealthy. The main focus of the chapter is on the link between luxury, wealth and sustainability. The collaboration between luxury brands and architects, especially how luxury affects buildings, is analysed through multiple case studies. This also leads to thinking of sustainability as a relative concept since it is not a priority for luxury consumers. There is also an examination of how the media are selling the idea of luxury in buildings. Given that SDG 12 is to secure sustainable consumption and production patterns, luxurious goods and buildings have to be considered a key subject in any debate about the path toward a more sustainable future.

This chapter raises the argument that architects, as designers of the built environment, are reluctant to embrace the design of a truly sustainable built environment because what currently passes for good architecture is bound up with attitudes to wealth. It looks at the types of buildings seen as “good” architecture and their links to wealth. It discusses different architectural practice types, highlighting differences between big architectural firms and everyday architectural practices. It also briefly examines who the wealthy architects are and their perception of sustainable design and buildings. Another issue discussed is the role of innovation as a pre-requisite of expensive buildings and how they tend to overrun their budgets to look different. The chapter concludes with a critical reflection on wealthy firms and architects and how going hand-in-hand with buildings with increased environmental impact and unmanageable budgets means moving away from, rather than towards, more sustainable human settlements.