bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Indoor Air Quality in New Zealand Office Buildings: Studies of Airborne Bacteria and Fungi
Authors:   , Fouad Hany George
Published: November 2021

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the levels of indoor airborne bacteria and fungi in fully sealed mechanically ventilated offices in New Zealand. One of the main objectives was to examine the indoor airborne bacterial and fungal levels in Auckland and Wellington offices and to compare the quality of indoor air in offices in both cities. Examining the differences in indoor airborne bacterial and fungal levels between complaint and non-complaint offices as well as comparing those levels with those of similar indoor environments overseas was also one of the main objectives of this thesis. Indoor and outdoor air data used in this thesis were recorded during commercial investigation of 235 offices in Auckland and Wellington by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and Advanced Building Services (ABS). This data included measurements of indoor microclimatic parameters (temperature and relative humidity), indoor and outdoor airborne bacterial and fungal concentrations and indoor carbon dioxide levels. Statistical analyses showed the indoor bacterial levels in Auckland offices were significantly higher than those of Wellington offices. Indoor fungal levels in Auckland offices, on the other hand, were significantly below those of Wellington offices despite the fact that outdoor fungal levels in Auckland were at least three times higher than those of Wellington. No significant differences have been observed between airborne bacterial and fungal levels in complaint and non-complaint offices. Indoor airborne bacterial and fungal levels in New Zealand offices appeared also to be within the levels of those of overseas offices. However, as the bacterial and fungal sampling techniques used by ESR and ABS were different from those used in overseas studies and this can affect airborne bacterial and fungal absolute counts significantly, care is needed in making such comparisons. Finally, an evaluation tool has been developed to overcome the difficulties associated with comparison between indoor airborne fungal levels obtained using different measurements techniques. This tool can be used to establish whether elevated fungal problems exist in an office environment and the likely causes of these problems.
Constructing the Identities of Place: An Exploration of Māori and Archaeological Heritage Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand
Authors:   , Pishief Elizabeth Dale
Published: November 2021

This thesis examines a problem in current heritage practice, namely, the statutory management of archaeological sites separately from other heritage places with the consequent loss of many sites of importance to Māori. It explores places and the different meanings and practices of heritage constructed around them by archaeologists and Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand where such questions have not been critically examined in great depth. The study responds to this gap in the literature by setting out to develop a theory of heritage practice that enables the effective translation of peoples' heritage aspirations into a workable model of heritage management in place of the current framework. The research has used an interdisciplinary theoretical framework developed from the literature of heritage studies and related fields, which builds on Laurajane Smith's work on archaeology and the authorised heritage discourse, but also includes writing on governmentality, phenomenology, kinaesthesia, agency, and material culture. The research design employed a qualitative, interpretivist methodology. Discourse analysis of the evidence gathered from secondary sources, including legislation and policy; and an ethnography of current professional practice in the form of interviews and participant observation, all produced rich findings about heritage, place and practice that are fundamental to understanding the complex issues examined in this study. The main finding that emerges from the research is a refined theory of heritage. I argue that heritage is comprised of three tangible elements: person, performance and place, which create what Māori respondents refer to as the 'Connect', a contemporary Māori heritage practice related to customary concepts. Heritage is the Connect. The research has led to the formulation of a more appropriate trans-cultural, bi-national governance model of heritage. As one of the first sustained pieces of critical analysis of heritage management in New Zealand, this thesis thereby makes a significant academic contribution to critical heritage studies and the history, theory and practice of heritage management in this, and other post-settler nations.
André Brink, Dissenter
Authors:   , Dixon Shelley May
Published: November 2021

This thesis provides a survey of the novels written in English by Afrikaans author, André Brink. It contextualises these texts in terms of the political and social issues of the era in which each was written. Specifically, it examines the ways in which the novels stand as a dissenting body of work against a particularly prescriptive and preclusive environment, challenging the racially prejudiced practices of apartheid South Africa and, later, challenging other forms of oppression in the post-apartheid nation. One of the most interesting aspects of Brink's work, I argue, is that his challenge comes from within the Afrikaner community. Discussion of the novels is concerned not merely with the literary treatment of a range of themes, but also with the worldly implications of this treatment, the ways in which Brink considers his questions about, and challenges to, authoritarianism. I argue that the oeuvre demonstrates Brink's developing social and political conscience, a series of 'rebirths' in which the artist is prompted to reconsider his role as an artist. I examine Brink's works from a number of perspectives and in relation to a number of central themes. My approach in looking at the oeuvre from different angles is highly suggestive of the problem as it plays out for Brink: he is unable to straightforwardly resolve the themes he treats, but refuses to concede defeat or retreat from the central issues. This, I suggest, is one of the most significant aspects of Brink's work - his willingness to continually reassess his environment and his response to it. He returns to favourite themes and considers the same issues from new perspectives and with new knowledge. The irresolution which defines his treatment allows the possibility for future investigation, a further dialectic interrogation of the issues in a new context. The works also trace the author's 'cultural conversation', a dialogue which both records and challenges the prescriptive and preclusive environment of apartheid South Africa. I extend this examination to include the post-apartheid novels, discussing the situation of the dissenting artist for whom the most obvious forms of authoritarianism have become defunct. Essentially, the thesis investigates the politics of writing as dissident politics and considers whether Brink's dissident project is a success and, indeed, whether dissent itself is viable.
Seismic Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Buildings in the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake
Authors:   , Van de Vorstenbosch Geert
Published: November 2021

This thesis examines current earthquake engineering theory and practice regarding Earthquake Risk Buildings to determine if the seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings is currently underestimated. The types of structural systems investigated are: Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls Unreinforced Brick Masonry (URM) Infill Frames Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frames Buildings with the above systems that survived the February 3 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake and are still in existence are the set of buildings studied. As much structural information as possible was found for a total of 25 buildings which are analysed in two orthogonal directions. The calculated probable shear and bending strength of each structural member (at ground floor) is compared with the actual estimated seismic shear force and bending moment applied during the earthquake. The restoring moments of structural walls are compared to the calculated overturning moments. The results are expressed as ratios of the above forces and moments of each member. The thesis shows that current theory expects most buildings to fail during both the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake and the Code design earthquake but most performed very well with no structural damage. The thesis examines the possible causes of underestimation of seismic performance by current earthquake engineering theory and practice, and makes recommendations for refining and improving practice. Recommendations are also made for further research to establish a simple assessment method for analysing other similar buildings based on the plan area of reinforced concrete structural elements alone.
From Risk to Resilience: Adult Survivors of Childhood Violence Talk About Their Experiences
Authors:   , Douglas Judith
Published: November 2021

The main focus of research into family violence has been around the ideas of intergenerational transmission of learned behaviours. We know a good deal about what constitutes risk for children, the outcomes of that risk and the processes that work to translate difficult childhoods into difficult adulthoods - for some children. We also all know children who seem to have 'weathered' the most appalling childhoods and to have emerged strong and resilient and who do not repeat the patterns of relating they experienced as children in their adult lives. It is this group that is the focus of the study. A purposively selected sample of eight, seven women and one man, with a range of backgrounds, was interviewed in depth using qualitative research methods informed by feminist standpoint theory. All of the eight had identified as having experienced significant violence as children, mainly in their families of origin. They also stated that they did not currently relate to their partners or children in violent ways, nor were they the victims of violent relationships. They consequently fell into the category of those who have "broken the cycle" of intergenerational abuse. Each person identified the things that helped them through their experiences and their reflections were then examined in more detail in the context of other studies on resilience. The interviews yielded an interesting array of findings which were consistent with literature which identifies certain attributes of the person and of their environment as protective. Findings are discussed with a view to their relevance to social work practice and policy. The list of protective factors may serve as an 'inventory' of potential resources for those working in the field of family violence. This study supports earlier work which challenges the idea of the inevitability of the intergenerational transmission of abuse, working instead from a paradigm which suggests that there are a multiplicity of 'resilience factors,' both integral to the individual and environmental, which interact in complex ways to enable many people to survive abuse and to relate in healthy ways in their adult lives.
Dairying in the Wairarapa: A Socio-Economic Survey Interpreted in Terms of Historical Small Farm Settlement
Authors:   , Hambly Raymond Ernest
Published: November 2021

The term "Wairarapa" is often used today to define all the area east of the North Island axis ranges, from Woodville southwards to Palliser Bay, but this is not the historical context in which the name is used in this essay. Being in large measure an historical interpretation of dairying in terms of small farm settlement, the present work refers to the Wairarapa as that area in which small farm settlements had been established prior to 1873 and which was known at the time as the Wairarapa. On this basis the Wairarapa is defined as that area east of the Tararua and Rimutaka Ranges from Mauriceville south. Since most dairying within this delimited zone has traditionally been located on the "Wairarapa Lowland", the unity of the survey area is established by all except the northernmost portion of the "Mauriceville Settlement", being within the catchment of the Ruamahunga River. The Mauriceville Settlement has been included because, although one of the "Forty Mile Bush" Settlements, its historical associations have traditionally been with the Wairarapa Lowland rather than with the other "Bush Settlements" further to the north.
Playing Rugby: The Emergence of Talent During the Primary and Secondary School Years
Authors:   , Hawkins Helen Mary
Published: November 2021

This explorative study examines the lives of six young men with a talent for playing rugby in order to understand how that talent emerges. The young men involved in this study had all played rugby for a secondary school first XV team and were members of the Wellington Red Tickets Rugby Academy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain information about the young men's general involvement in sport and their perception of the support they had received during their early years, middle childhood years and adolescent years playing rugby. A small group of people comprising secondary school teachers and a parent were also interviewed to provide further insights into how talent is developed within the secondary school rugby system. The young men all discovered they had an aptitude for playing rugby at an early age and in most cases were encouraged to pursue rugby as a main sport by at least one parent and by others in their extended families. The middle childhood years and early secondary school years were characterised by an increasing degree of specialisation, visits to commercial gyms and an array of injuries. The research participants were very determined in their efforts to represent their college at the highest level and by their late adolescent years most in the group were entertaining ideas about becoming a professional rugby player. Stories told by the participants showed that they possessed, to varying degrees, six characteristics that greatly helped their success to date. These characteristics were: (1) awareness that rugby can be a career for only a select few, (2) responsiveness to coaching, (3) ability to set and work towards a long-term goal or goals, (4) decisiveness and an ability to prioritise, (5) valuing the input of others and (6) attractiveness. To date there has been very little research about where an ability to play rugby at the sub-elite or elite level actually comes from. This study about the processes involved in making it into a secondary school first XV team helps to alleviate this situation and has significance to those, like the New Zealand Rugby Union, who have an interest in building up the player base. It also adds to an existing pool of understanding about excellence in sport and has application to those wishing to attain success in any number of other endeavours.
An Historical Study of Newspapers and Public Opinion About Education
Authors:   , Roulston Dorothy Ella
Published: November 2021

The aim of this thesis was to survey educational trends as reported in five daily newspapers from 1901 to 1905 and from 1978 to 1982. As a basis for evaluating those trends, writings from historians in the earlier period were used, while academic writings from Delta journals were used in the latter period. The role of the newspaper in reporting issues differs in two inter-related ways from academic and historic writings. First, newspapers must "serve" the public so as to achieve their second function, viability. This is achieved by a process of "gate keeping" whereby articles are selected for publishing suitability. A significant mismatch was found in the earlier period between issues identified by historians and those reported in the newspapers. In that period, the public and newspapers alike were too pre-occupied with "balancing the traditional principle against the geographical principle", which was further reinforced by local jealousies, to notice the important changes that were taking place. In the latter period, the issues were generally found to be shared by academic writings and newspaper articles alike. However, as with the earlier period, good investigative reporting on serious philosophical and ethical issues was omitted. In neither period of time did the public appear to be seriously interested in educational trends.
Mechanistic Investigation of 1,5-Anti Stereoinduction in Aldol Reactions
Authors:   , Liu Xuyu
Published: November 2021

Peloruside A (+)-1 is a novel secondary metabolite isolated from a New Zealand marine sponge (Mycale hentscheli) by Northcote and West of Victoria University. Because it has a polyketide backbone, aldol reactions have been widely employed for its total synthesis. Aldol reactions displaying 1,5-anti stereoinduction mediated by the C₁₅ stereocenter (according to peloruside A numbering) have proven useful for the synthesis of the C₁₁–C₁₂ bond of peloruside A and analogues. This project is the continuation of Stocker's and Turner's studies on the excellent stereoinduction of 2 in boron-mediated aldol reactions. The relative stereochemistry of the corresponding aldol product is consistence with the expectations of Kishi's C database for a 1,5-anti product. Furthermore, the diphenylsilyl acetal tethered eight-membered ring of 2 has proven to be essential for its stereoinduction, while the homoallylic oxygen does not appear to play a significant role.  Although 1,5-anti aldol reactions have been used frequently in the syntheses of polyketidederived natural products, the underlying mechanism for the 1,5-anti-stereoinduction remains inconclusive. Three models have been proposed, including Hoberg's π-stacking model, Goodman's hydrogen-bonding model, and a modification of Abiko's diborylated model. The underlying mechanism for the stereoinduction of 2 was investigated using variable temperature NMR, 1D NOESY and 1D ROESY experiments. It was found that Hoberg's and Abiko's models are not able to explain the stereoinduction of 2 and that Goodman's model used for explaining the transition states of the aldol reaction of β-trimethylsilyloxy methyl ketones is also not suitable.  A modification of Goodman's model has been proposed to explain the excellent 1,5-anti stereoinduction of 2. While attempts to couple 2 and 3 to a variety of bulky aldehydes bearing groups with different steric and electronic factors in boron-mediated aldol reactions were unsuccessful, the reaction of 3 with 4-bromobenzaldehyde using TiCl₄ and DIPEA afforded an excellent yield (>99%) of the aldol product. This revealed the six-membered ring in the TS of the boron-mediated aldol reaction is too compact for 2 and 3. However, it was found that 2 is incompatible with TiCl₄. Key questions regarding the 1,5-anti-stereoinduction of 2 have been answered and a modified procedure for the NMR investigation of an aldol reaction is described in this thesis.
Anonymously Establishing Digital Provenance in Reseller Chains
Authors:   , Palmer Benjamin Philip
Published: November 2021

An increasing number of products are exclusively digital items, such as media files, licenses, services, or subscriptions. In many cases customers do not purchase these items directly from the originator of the product but through a reseller instead. Examples of some well known resellers include GoDaddy, the iTunes music store, and Amazon. This thesis considers the concept of provenance of digital items in reseller chains. Provenance is defined as the origin and ownership history of an item. In the context of digital items, the origin of the item refers to the supplier that created it and the ownership history establishes a chain of ownership from the supplier to the customer. While customers and suppliers are concerned with the provenance of the digital items, resellers will not want the details of the transactions they have taken part in made public. Resellers will require the provenance information to be anonymous and unlinkable to prevent third parties building up large amounts of information on the transactions of resellers. This thesis develops security mechanisms that provide customers and suppliers with assurances about the provenance of a digital item, even when the reseller is untrusted, while providing anonymity and unlinkability for resellers . The main contribution of this thesis is the design, development, and analysis of the tagged transaction protocol. A formal description of the problem and the security properties for anonymously providing provenance for digital items in reseller chains are defined. A thorough security analysis using proofs by contradiction shows the protocol fulfils the security requirements. This security analysis is supported by modelling the protocol and security requirements using Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) and the Failures Divergences Refinement (FDR) model checker. An extended version of the tagged transaction protocol is also presented that provides revocable anonymity for resellers that try to conduct a cloning attack on the protocol. As well as an analysis of the security of the tagged transaction protocol, a performance analysis is conducted providing complexity results as well as empirical results from an implementation of the protocol.
The Responsible Business: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Recession
Authors:   , Rodgers Isaac Jordan
Published: November 2021

The 2008 financial crisis and recession crippled some of the largest businesses in the world and caused severe recession across the world. However, prior to the focus on economic recovery, social responsibility and sustainability were major themes in the business world and debate centred on the role of business in society. The key question and area for research was how the financial crisis affected this debate. This thesis uses the financial crisis to explore the role and responsibilities of business. This research is located firmly within the literature on business and society, where the key debates centre on the role of business and the scope of business responsibilities. The literature on social responsibility has a notable gap in the fact that it does not address the impact of economic context on social responsibilities. The methodology of this paper uses a set of twenty-one interviews. These interviews consisted of three sets of seven interviews with different participant groups for each set. The participant groups consisted of consumers, policy managers and business managers. These interviews were analysed for themes through the data analysis method of coding. The findings of this paper suggest that the role of business in society should be focused on the generation of profit and that the recession or other economic influences do not change this role. These findings also suggest that although businesses are responsible only for complying with the law, they should also satisfy their customers, engage in activities beneficial to their long term interest and avoid actions which cause harm to others or undermine the long term viability of the business. The findings also imply that neither economic context nor profit, changes these responsibilities. These findings make important theoretical and practical contributions. The theoretical contributions support the literature arguing for a limited scope on the role of business. They also argue in favour of social responsibilities being voluntary. The finding that economic context and profitability have no impact on responsibility is important in its own right, but also suggests that business responsibilities are static. This paper makes another contribution through models which are based on the findings. These models combine social responsibility with corporate strategy to show the concept of a responsible business and the difference between voluntary, compulsory and strategic responsibilities.
I Am that I Am: Subjectivity and World View in the Science Fictions of Philip K. Dick
Authors:   , Rose Bradley
Published: November 2021

In this account of American science fiction writer Philip K. Dick's work, the aim has been to describe the involvement of assumptions inherited from philosophical and scientific discourse in both the understanding and experience of subjectivity. It is argued that Dick's representations of identity both picture the tensions engendered by the prevalent reality standard with which he had to deal and, in their development, come to articulate a path beyond the impasse this standard presents. The fundamental insufficiency of the world view Dick's fiction both encounters and embodies is epitomised by the twin questions with which he characterised his work: 'what is human?' and 'what is real?' In coming to terms with the significance of these questions the work of the Austrian philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner has been engaged as a critical foil to Dick's fictionalising. Special attention is given to the epistemological basis of Steiner's anthroposophy and its account of the world and our peculiar situation in it that, far from asserting any external and unvarying standard of truth, describes a process essentially evolutionary and unfixed. It is claimed that in Steiner, as in Dick, the human contribution to both identity and reality constitutes the validity of each, a matrix of subject and object from which one's self is delivered, in each instance a new beginning.
The Time-Course of Induced Interpretive Biases in Healthy Individuals Varying in Depressive Symptoms
Authors:   , Bryson Frances Marie
Published: November 2021

Cognitive theories of depression posit that after a negative event or mood state, those vulnerable to the disorder automatically impose negative interpretations on ambiguous information. However, empirical research on depression-linked interpretive biases has yielded mixed results, likely due to flawed experimental paradigms and statistical techniques that do not adequately control for anxiety. Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) is an innovative research paradigm that involves inducing interpretive biases in an experimentally controlled manner. The current study is the first to assess whether cognitive bias modification influences interpretation differently according to vulnerability to depression. Individuals scoring lower and higher on a depression inventory judged the relatedness of either neutrally valenced (e.g. book-read) or negatively valenced (e.g. sick-vomit) word-pairs. They then made judgements about homophone word-pairs, in which the first word could be interpreted as either neutral in meaning (e.g. dye-ink) or negative in meaning (e.g. die-death). At the later stages of processing all individuals, regardless of depression scores, resolved ambiguous word-pairs in a training-congruent manner, consistent with previous CBM-I studies. However, in the early stages of processing, those scoring higher, but not lower in the depression inventory, were uniquely receptive to negative context training, such that they were more likely to interpret ambiguous word-pairs in a negative as opposed to neutral manner. This finding is crucially important, as it helps to clarify theoretical debate in the literature.
Glaciotectonic Processes Associated with the Central Alpine Fault: A Gravity Study of the Central West Coast, South Island, New Zealand
Authors:   , Davy Richard
Published: November 2021

The rugged topographic relief of the central West Coast reflects ongoing interplay between active tectonic and climatic processes. Major geomorphological features have formed in response to convergence between the Pacific and Australian continental plates, and the principal locus of this collision is the transpressive Alpine Fault. This thesis describes a gravity study of glaciotectonic structures in the footwall of the central Alpine Fault and the processes responsible for their formation. During this study 361 new gravity observations were collected in the Wanganui, Whataroa, Waiho, and Fox river flood plains on the western (footwall) side of the Alpine Fault. When combined with existing gravity observations, the available database comprises 932 measurements over the four catchments. These gravity data are used to produce detailed gravity maps and 2-3/4D gravity models of the subsurface structure below the flood plains. Models reveal extensive glacial erosion focused within the flood plains, with individual glacial channels reaching depths of ~ 800 m. Based on fault-perpendicular models, it is proposed that the South Westland Fault is a transition between a thrust-driven monocline structure in South Westland and the steeply dipping Hohonu reverse fault in North Westland. Using gravity data, dextral off sets on the Alpine Fault since the Last Glacial Maximum have been determined by examining the structure and geomorphology of deeply incised glacial erosional channels. By studying how the lower reaches of the Wanganui, Whataroa, and Fox rivers have been translated with respect to their channels on the eastern (hanging wall) side of the Alpine Fault, horizontal fault displacements have been determined in three of the four catchments. Fault offsets of 383 ± 388 m, 372 ± 88 m, and 450 ± 99 m are estimated for the Wanganui, Whataroa, and Fox River valleys respectively. A range of possible channel formation ages are used to estimate dextral strike-slip movement rates, with the preferred formation age of 19 ± 1 ka yielding rates of 20.2 ± 24.0 mm/yr, 19.6 ± 6.0 mm/yr and 23.7 ± 8.5 mm/yr for the Wanganui, Whataroa, and Fox river valleys respectively.
Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of a Ferrous / Ascorbate Complex
Authors:   , Dickson Margaret Lockhart
Published: November 2021

The importance of trace metal ions in biological processes has been known for some time, but the role of chelating molecules in the human body is a comparatively new and interesting field of research Schubert, j., 1966, Scientific American, 214, no. 5, 40. Among the important complexes occuring in the body are haemoglobin, containing iron, and vitamin B-12, containing cobalt, both essential to human health. Other well-known naturally occuring complexes include cytochrome oxidase, containing both iron and copper, and chlorophyll, containing magnesium. The transition metal ions of the First Transition Series are well-known for their ability to form complexes with suitable ligands, and in particular with chelate ligands which can seize the metal ion like a claw (chele means claw in Greek). Many of these complexes have been characterized experimentally, and their properties interpreted by theoretical calculations. However, the complexes arising from biological systems are much more difficult to study, partly because of their greater size and special properties.
Reinventing the Squeal: Young New Zealand Women Negotiating Space in the Current Sexual Culture
Authors:   , Wright Lesley
Published: November 2021

The sexual behaviour of young emergent adult women in New Zealand has become a target of media attention and commentary. Moralising language is prevalent in the public discourse, describing young women negatively with respect to character and psychology. Research investigating the increase of cultural artefacts such as hooking up or casual sex is often risk-focused, concentrating predominantly on detrimental impacts such as STIs, rape-risks, and depression. Some feminist analyses describe behaviour as postfeminist or as examples of false consciousness. Despite these positions, young New Zealand women are engaging in these and other non-relationship sexual activities in growing numbers, suggesting that current approaches are failing to capture salient explanatory information. Due to the negative impacts of social constraints such as the sexual double standard, traditional femininity and moralising social commentary on young women it is important to present a more holistic image of their behaviour so as to provide a deeper explanatory view which better accounts for young women’s experiences and motivations. In this study I utilise a mixed method research design to access a wide range of participants on a sensitive research topic. A self-selecting sample of 163 young women aged between 18 and 30, recruited from various university campuses around New Zealand, completed an online survey. From this group 18 heterosexually-identifying young women were selected to participate in instant messaging, email and face to face interviews, and an online discussion group. To analyse the material they provided I use a Third Wave feminist theoretical lens in order to give primacy not only to their voices but also their claims to agency and the importance of subjective positionality. I use Sexual Script Theory as a framework to illuminate the impact of cultural dialogues on individuals, and space was conceptualised as a way to illustrate performances and agency. Results suggest that young New Zealand women are strongly affected by risk-focused and moralising dialogues to the effect that they have internalised a risk-focused cultural script that guides their sexual interactions and behaviours within socio-sexual culture in constrained and avoidant ways. Other performed scripts such as ‘good girl’ femininity, traditional masculinity, and the normative performance of heterosex also presented as barriers to subjective sexual experience/development. However, many young women in this study were resistant to some of these scripts, as evidenced in their attempts to occupy traditionally masculine and/or social spaces where non-normative behaviours are (partially) permitted. Their behaviour suggests critical engagement with their socio-sexual environment and some awareness of script elements that dictate acceptable feminine behaviour, and how these constraints can be (at least temporarily) resisted as a means to not only developing sexual subjectivity but also to refashioning modern femininity.
Education Support Worker's Perspectives on Their Work with Children with Disabilities in New Zealand Kindergarten Settings
Authors:   , Backhouse Pamela Jean
Published: November 2021

International literature has focused on paraprofessionals working with students with disabilities in schools and similarly there is some investigative research on teacher aides working with children with disabilities in New Zealand schools. However there is little enquiry into Education Support Workers (ESWs) perspectives of working with children with disabilities in New Zealand Early Childhood Education settings. This study is intended to contribute to addressing this important gap in the literature. ESWs are allocated as primary supports for children with disabilities who need extra learning support and require intervention. This qualitative and quantitative research study is positioned within a sociocultural framework of the Te Whāriki (1996) Early Childhood curriculum which promotes inclusive practices for all children. One-hundred and three ESW respondents from the kindergarten sector completed and returned a questionnaire. Data collection included the role and proximity of an ESW, the child’s interactions with others, and the ESW’s relationship with the child with disabilities. The results revealed ESWs have a wide range of roles and responsibilities in their work with children with disabilities. They work in collaboration with teachers in determining their work with a child and integrate a child into the environment. The development of social skills and involving everyone in the child’s learning was a top priority. Also included was the building of relationships between the child, peers, teachers, and parents. In this study ESWs used a combination of positions such as working alongside, hovering, opposite, and behind and at the same time the child primarily interacted with the ESW, teachers, and peers. Even though there were some ESWs who worked exclusively with a child, the child still interacted in combination with the ESW, teachers, and peers. This result showed inclusion of others irrespective of the ESW’s close proximity. The ESW’s relationship with a child was reported as warm, caring, and positive and also described as very close, perhaps due to the nature of support for some children. This study explored ESWs’ perspectives on their work with children with disabilities and used self report. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed in the context of the ECE curriculum. Although some insight has been generated by ESWs’ participation in this study, there is still an urgent need for future research to ensure Ministry of Education policy and practice line up for children with disabilities and their families, in order for them to receive an equitable fair education as valued members of our community.
Complexities and Context: Women's Peace-Building in Conflict and Post-Conflict Bougainville
Authors:   , Page Dylan
Published: November 2021

The potential role of women in conflict and post-conflict environments has been the subject of much debate in the field of peace and conflict studies. In 2000 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1325, which called for a greater involvement of women and acknowledgement of gender issues in conflict and post-conflict environments, and this has led to further discussion about what this might mean and how it might be implemented. Despite this women are continually under-represented in nearly all peace processes and there is no universally agreed upon way to ensure this situation does not come about. The barriers women face range from cultural to logistical and economic, and surmounting them can be hard to achieve.  One case where women have been involved at all levels in the peace process with substantial success is the Pacific island of Bougainville, where a conflict over mining issues and secession from Papua New Guinea was waged from 1988-1997. Women were active in attempts to bring all parties to negotiations during the conflict and have also been heavily involved in the continuing reconciliation and healing processes. For cultural reasons Bougainvillean women were well placed to perform the role of peace-builders but that is not to say that they did not face challenges and barriers to their involvement. This thesis examines the involvement of women in both the immediate peace negotiations and the longer-term aspects of the peace process in Bougainville in order explain how and why they enjoyed these successes and what lessons can be learnt from this case in regards to the potential roles of women in other post-conflict environments. Four factors will be identified as key to women's involvement in the peace process: the history of Bougainville up to and including the conflict; the grassroots mobilisation and organisation of women; the traditional cultural roles of women in Bougainville; and the identification of women with motherhood and its associated traits.  These factors indicate that the involvement of women in peace processes is highly context-specific and although there are policies which can be pursued to encourage their participation the potential barriers to this are imposing.
Water-Shed: Architectural Opportunity in Infrastructure
Authors:   , Stevens Benjamin L
Published: November 2021

The current systems of infrastructure that comprise water supply are incapable of recognising value in water's urban place in anything other than in empirical terms. The 'Water-Shed' scheme transforms this utility into a rarely considered design opportunity that reinvigorates the relationship between the borough of Petone and its water supply at Waiwhetu aquifer. With a framework compiled from history, art, landscape and architecture practice, it entails the re-appropriation of the systems and technologies of contemporary water extraction. The outcome is an architecture that recovers meaning within this amenity and re-confirms waters central value to life. Light in conjunction with material manipulation are used directly and incidentally to reveal water's character. The scheme also conceives of nature in constructed terms, opening the possibility for infrastructures like Water-Shed to negotiate non-oppositional relationships between city and environment. The result is the maturation of industrial landscape the reinforcement of the hydrological and civic identities of Petone. No longer is water amenity simply reduced to productive issues of cost, efficiency and reliability. Debate regarding the access and availability of drinking water will be one of the defining issues of the 21st century. Water-Shed contributes to this discussion by asking how we can re-think the buildings and sites that form parts of the city's water distribution network.
Teachers' Beliefs and Practices Regarding Young Children's Leadership: A Comparison Between New Zealand and Honduras
Authors:   , Cerrato Corrales Maria Auxiliadora
Published: November 2021

The main purpose of this comparative study was to explore how teachers of four to five year old children in New Zealand and Honduras translate their beliefs regarding children’s leadership into practice. This study has the potential to increase our understanding of beliefs and practices that will assist teachers in supporting children’s leadership. The study used a comparative case-study design in order to look at similarities and differences between the two cases, focusing on two early childhood centres from low socio-economic areas in the capital cities of each country. Two teachers from each centre were asked to be participants in the study. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and documentation. The findings suggest that both New Zealand and Honduran teachers translate their beliefs regarding children’s leadership into practice. However, the findings showed significant differences between New Zealand teachers’ child-directed and Honduran teachers’ teacher-directed beliefs and practices. The teachers in the New Zealand settings encourage leadership by empowering the children to deliberately take a leadership role, while the teachers in the Honduran settings encourage leadership by allocating opportunities for the children to take a leadership role. In addition, the teachers in New Zealand highlighted their belief and practice concerning children sharing leadership, while the concept of sharing leadership was not emphasized by the Honduran teachers. This study suggests the importance of teachers reflecting on their beliefs regarding children’s leadership and how these guide their teaching practice in order to support children’s leadership.
The Politics of Labour Migration and Demographic Change in Contemporary Japan
Authors:   , Bishop Andrew
Published: November 2021

Japan currently faces a demographic crisis resulting from declines in fertility rates and rapid expansion of Japan’s elderly population. Public pensions will come under immense strain as shrinking numbers of working age people are forced to support ever more retirees. At the same time, declines in fertility and falling population figures threaten Japan’s future economic growth and vitality. This thesis investigates the relationship between the demographic crisis and Japan’s strict immigration policies. Policymakers continue to refuse to allow migration to Japan in order to offset declines in Japan’s own working age population. The thesis aims to explain why Japan remains so reluctant to accept migrant workers from abroad, even though this may offer a solution to the problems of demographic decline and depopulation. I contend that conventional analyses of Japan’s immigration policies do not provide adequate explanations for why Japan continues to exclude foreign labourers. Rather, I argue that Japan’s attitude must be understood in connection with a binary, “us-and-them” mindset toward foreign countries and communities collectively that exists in Japan’s governing and bureaucratic institutions. This mindset is evident in Japan’s practical labour policy implementation, and has important cultural and political implications for Japan’s public discourses of national identity and interests. The thesis argues that Japan remains unwilling to accept migrant labourers because of an immigration policy structure that resolutely adheres to an outdated view of migrants as mere units of labour. This overlooks changed global models of migration that prioritise human rights, proactive social integration and strategic selection of migrants. While Japan could ease the effects of depopulation and demographic decline by revising core policy assumptions in order to effectively integrate migrants into the dwindling national workforce, it has so far failed to engage with newer models of migration. My analysis locates Japan’s crisis within a wider context of global demographic change and transnational population movement in the twenty-first century.
The Rise of the State: Broadband Policy in New Zealand 2000-2011
Authors:   , Carter Jordan Tracy
Published: November 2021

Between 2000 and 2011, changes in government policy significantly increased the role of the state in telecommunications markets in New Zealand. In both regulatory and investment activities, the historic approach of liberal market regulation was transformed into active intervention. This changed approach aimed at speeding access to high-speed broadband services. There was a remarkable lack of political debate between the major political parties as to the objective being sought, or direction of policy towards greater intervention in order to achieve it. This research outlines in broad terms the background to the debates underpinning policy change, and the history of New Zealand’s approach. It outlines in detail the key policy changes made. In the regulatory domain, four key changes are discussed. These are: the implementation of sector-specific legislation (Telecommunications Act 2001); the decision not to unbundle the copper local loop (2004); amendments to the Telecommunications Act strengthening the regulator and imposing ‘operational separation’ of Telecom (2006); and the ‘structural separation’ of Telecom and the debate on regulatory forbearance (2011). By the end of the case period, these changes meant that generic competition law had been replaced by sector-specific legislation, a specialist regulator with broad powers to monitor and regulate the industry, and a leading solution to discrimination issues with the complete ownership separation of network and services in copper and fibre-optic telecommunications networks. In the investment domain, five key stages are discussed. These are: Project PROBE (2001-4), the Broadband Challenge (2005), the Broadband Investment Fund (2008), the Ultra-Fast Broadband Initiative (2009) and the Rural Broadband Initiative (2009). Together these saw public spending on telecommunications infrastructure rise from nothing in 2000, to a combined package in the two final (and current) initiatives of around $1.6bn of public funds. This money combines with private investment to deliver fibre-optic broadband infrastructure to three-quarters of homes, and significant improvements to the availability of higher-speed broadband in rural and remote parts of New Zealand. Increasing levels of government intervention in these markets was an opportunity for considerable political contest. Instead the case period 2000-2011 is characterised by similarities rather than differences between National and Labour. The thesis suggests that an explanation for this similarity arose from the perceived importance of high-speed broadband infrastructure for New Zealand’s economic prospects, and a shared analysis by Labour and National that market provision would not suffice. This imperative defeated temptations to politicise the project.