bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Teacher Standards and Professionalism
Authors:   , Barnes Pauline
Published: December 2021

The focus of this research is teacher professionalism in New Zealand and the possible role of the ‘Standards for the Teaching Profession’ that were released in 2017, in strengthening the quality of teaching. Evidence suggests that the quality of teachers’ work is an important factor in students’ success. So, a challenge for education policy-makers is to create a system that encourages and enables teachers to be high quality and motivated to keep improving. The literature suggests a strategy to enable this is to encourage a mature profession, where teachers take collective responsibility for improvement. Standards for teachers can be a positive influence on improving teacher practice when their use is balanced between regulatory and development functions, so that they are a catalyst for professional development. This research involved 45 teachers in English Medium settings participating in sector specific focus groups for early childhood, primary school and secondary school teachers, a review of policy documents and secondary data from Education Council workshops. The analysis suggests that aspects of organisational professionalism influence the environment, although most teachers did not consciously align themselves to this discourse. There appeared to be some differences between sectors, with those in early childhood aligning more closely to their organisation than other teachers and feeling like they were not accepted as a legitimate part of the teaching profession. Although teachers were generally positive about the new standards, few teachers considered using them for reflection or professional conversations outside of formal appraisal. The aspiration presented in literature of a mature profession that works collaboratively with a mix of stakeholders to combine expertise, ask tough questions to create solutions and grows professional knowledge was not apparent, however teachers identified opportunities to shift the profession towards this discourse.
The time in which nothing happened: A memorial to the Battle of Verdun considered through the theoretical discourse of Paul Virilio and his accusations about the violent phenomena of speed
Authors:   , Dickson Henry
Published: December 2021

Architecture is under attack! Where it could once be understood as a medium of communication which helped society to situate their existential role within society. Today it can be increasingly understood as little more than a spatial device necessitated by humanities inert vulnerability to the exterior landscape. In the face of the post-modern phenomenon of speed, architecture is becoming a tectonic of interference. Cars to pass around it, communications pierce through it and for the people whom exist within it, it increasingly disappears.  While the problems that stem from this remain unclear. Through investigating the work of French intellectual and humanist Paul Virilio, the accidents that this may cause, become slowly exposed. Manifesting themselves beyond just the physical accidents which occur as a direct result of technological progress. But equally as accidental shifts of human consciousness leading to permanent alteration in the ways in which reality is informed. Due to the fact that, perception, which must be understood as filtered and subconsciously reformatted, is a learned response to the otherwise overwhelming stimulation of both physical and virtual speed.  Virilio proposes that what this will lead to is a profound disconnection between the individuals who experience the speed of hypermodernity and the objective world. A world which is informed by both by the unrelenting passing of time but also the historical events which slowly play out over time. The problem with this, Virilio would argue, is that the ability to react appropriately to the events and accidents which make up this contemporary existence, is contingent upon this connection. Therefore it would appear that this problem becomes self-perpetuating. The more speed disconnects individuals from the world around them, the harder it becomes to react to the accidents caused by speed, because these accidents increasingly become perceived, or rather not perceived, as time in which nothing happened.  In direct opposition to this, the fading memory of the battle of Verdun is forced up against this paradigm, providing the necessary groundwork for Virilio’s work to be explored.  Through this dialogue, design conclusions will be reached through the process of designing a memorial architecture, which will be positioned on the site of the battlefield. A process that explores architectures role in returning a collective consciousness back to the battle of Verdun. Whilst simultaneously reconsidering the nature of this responsibility in the contemporary landscape that society has found itself within, only a 100 years after the final shots were fired.
Exploring the side effect profile of 16-Ethynyl Salvinorin A
Authors:   , Mathew Stephen George
Published: December 2021

Introduction: Drug addiction is a chronic and relapsing disorder that has widespread socioeconomic and health consequences. Globally, there are over 29.5 million people who are drug dependent, and New Zealand has one of the highest rates of drug use rates in the developed world. Currently, there are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pharmacotherapies that target psychostimulant addiction. Kappa opioid receptor (KOPr) agonists are being studied as a potential pharmacotherapy as it utilizes the brain’s own mechanism for controlling reward, however, KOPr agonists have unwanted side effects such as dysphoria and sedation. This thesis explores the KOPr agonists Salvinorin A (Sal A), a naturally-occurring, highly potent and short-acting non-nitrogenous KOPr agonist and a structural analogue, 16-Ethynyl Salvinorin A (16-Ethy). KOPr agonists, such as Sal A have known preclinical anti-addictive and anti-reward effects, therefore, this thesis focuses on evaluating Sal A and 16-Ethy in preclinical tests of reward and side effects.  Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in preclinical tests to evaluate common KOPr-mediated side-effects including anxiety (elevated plus maze), depression (forced swim test) sedation (locomotor activity) and aversion (conditioned place aversion). The anti-cocaine effects were also examined using self-administration, dose-response and drug-behavioural sensitisation tests. 16-Ethy was tested at 2 mg/kg in all experiments.  Results: Acute pre-treatment of 16-Ethy induced sedative effects in non-habituated locomotor activity but when rats were habituated prior to administration, no sedation was observed. In contrast, Sal A (2 mg/kg) had sedative effects in habituated, but not in non-habituated locomotor activity (p = 0.0037). Compared to vehicle-treated rats, 16-Ethy and Sal A did not display pro-depressive effects in the forced swim test, show anxiogenic or aversive properties or modulate behavioural sensitisation to cocaine. Cocaine self-administration and dose-response tests were not successfully completed.  Conclusion: At 2 mg/kg, 16-Ethy was found to display sedative effects in non-habituated locomotor activity but not in a habituated paradigm. Compared to vehicle-treated rats, 16-Ethy did not display pro-depressive effects in the forced swim test, or display anxiogenic or aversive properties and did not show significant cocaine sensitisation. Cocaine self-administration and dose-response tests were not successfully completed and will need to be repeated to ascertain the effects of 16-Ethy on them. However, 16-Ethy has shown glimpses of promise as a potential pharmacotherapy against addiction.
Community decision-making and privatised spaces: A case study of suburban shopping malls in the Wellington Region
Authors:   , Mawer Chantal
Published: December 2021

Shopping malls are a widely disparaged urban form, particularly when these have been built in favour of traditional public spaces. Critiques have ranged from their aesthetic to the impact they have on civic life and broader democracy. However, despite being in private ownership, they have been found to play crucial community functions. This is particularly true in suburban communities which often lack alternative forms of community infrastructure. Concurrently, across the globe, a number of malls are in decline and some communities are losing the only form of community space available to them. Moreover, they are often unable to contribute to decision-making regarding these spaces due to their private ownership.   This thesis examines the role that suburban shopping malls, in Aotearoa New Zealand can, and do play as community spaces. It assesses decision-making mechanisms, questioning how communities can participate in the development of what they conceive of as their community spaces. Two cases of declining malls in the Wellington Region– the Johnsonville Shopping Centre and the Wainuiomata Mall were selected and 12 semi-structured interviews and three focus groups were conducted.   This research found that these malls played an important role as spaces where communities were built and members socially engaged in often ad-hoc, but significant ways. However, due to the private nature of these spaces, community members often felt powerless and unable to participate in decisions relating to this space. This thesis demonstrates the ways in which the legal binary of public and private fails to encapsulate the nature of modern spaces, which in reality, typically exist as a socially constructed hybrid of both. It challenges the existing framework of property rights based on this binary, and subsequent wider community exclusion from decision-making. In response, this thesis offers policy recommendations around community decision-making in order to stimulate vital suburban community space into the future.
The Dream of the Dragon: A content analysis of Xi Jinping’s “China Dream”
Authors:   , Osborne-Smith Adam
Published: December 2021

China under Xi Jinping has a story to tell. In recent years, China has devoted more time and energy extending its discursive influence overseas. Aspirational propaganda slogans such as Xi’s “Chinese dream” indicate a potential change from Deng Xiaoping’s “bide your time, hide your strength” towards an outwardly focussed foreign policy of Striving for Achievement as China’s confidence grows. This project conducts a content analysis following the method set out by Klaus Krippendorff of 1907 Xinhua articles from 2013 – 2017 and finds that while this assertion was true shortly after articulation; coverage reverted to an inward focus in subsequent years. Furthermore, the findings show that there is an individualistic aspect to how the dream is portrayed whether it is intended by top government figures or not. Understanding how tifa develop, interrelate – or depart from each other – is vital in understanding contemporary political discourse in China. Lastly, the Chinese dream contains within it the beginnings of a prototype vision of Chinese exceptionalism.
Enabling the potential of Mission-led Research in New Zealand: Conceptualisations, Structures, and Relationships in the National Science Challenges
Authors:   , Brathwaite James
Published: December 2021

Addressing the Grand Challenges of the world requires a mode of research that can mirror their scale and complexity. Traditional investigator- and industry-led research frameworks, although useful in their own right, fail to capture the collaborative, transdisciplinary approach that can both generate the necessary knowledge and apply research outcomes on the scale needed to resolve the ‘big picture’ problems. Mission-led research provides a framework that attempts to strike that balance of knowledge generation and application; and New Zealand’s National Science Challenges (NSCs) provide a representation of missionled research that may exemplify the relationships and processes needed to enact it. This thesis aims to understand how the relationships and processes designed to facilitate mission-led research in the NSCs impacts their ability to achieve their missions.  Research was undertaken through semi-structured interviews with participants from two NSCs, representing four of the key stakeholder perspectives: Management, Researchers, Industry, and Māori. These interviews sought to understand how different stakeholder groups conceptualised mission-led research itself, the processes within it, and their relationships with other stakeholder groups. The results demonstrated that stakeholders perceived mission-led research in four interdependent ways, driven by a core concept of ‘Big Picture’ problems. These problems were seen to necessitate ‘Transdisciplinarity’ in their resolution, that research would be ‘Long-term/Strategic’, and that research outcomes would have a ‘Collective Benefit’. Alignment between conceptualisations of mission-led research and how closely processes and stakeholder groups adhered to those conceptualisations was central to positive engagement and collaboration.  Alignment between stakeholders was seen to occur through three modes: Conceptual, Structural, and Relational. Conceptual alignment promoted a common understanding of the mission; Structural alignment ensured research practices reflected mission-led values; and Relational alignment improved stakeholder understanding of diverse expectations and motivations amongst other worldviews. Successful NSCs used the three modes of alignment to improve transdisciplinary collaboration while maintaining diversity of worldviews and skillsets, enabling them to more effectively address their missions.
Three essays on the adverse effects of weather extremes on local economic and health outcomes in Indonesia
Authors:   , Kusuma Aditya
Published: December 2021

The weather-economy nexus has long had close attention from scholars and policy makers as weather hazards often have a significant impact on socioeconomic outcomes of populations around the world. A continuous understanding of this relationship is vital for societies to deal well with weather risk. This is particularly important in relation to climate change, which is likely to worsen the consequences of extreme weather as their frequencies and intensities increase. This thesis consists of three essays that demonstrate the adverse effects of extreme weather episodes on the local economy, using publicly available weather data and economic data sources. The essays use Indonesia setting as a case study, but the findings are likely to also be relevant for the situation in other developing countries located in the tropics that face similar socioeconomic challenges dealing with weather risk. The first essay, having identified the robust link between drought and variations of agricultural yield in the last decades, assesses the viability of weather-index insurance (WII) scheme against drought risk for rice farmers. The results suggest WII can play a cost-effective risk reduction role in drought sensitive regions, such as Sulawesi. The timing of drought as an exogenous shock to household economic outcomes is important as indicated in the results of the second essay. The estimated adverse effects to household monthly incomes and expenditures begin in the following year the drought occurs. Besides affecting economic outcomes, extreme weather also drives variations in health-related outcomes of adult individuals. This is empirically identified in the third essay that finds a robust connection between extreme rainfall and health outcomes. The results confirm earlier findings that people face higher probabilities of being affected by diseases during adverse events, especially during dry months. Estimations on coping mechanisms suggest heterogeneous effects with respect to, for example, the role of insurance. Lastly, the third essay finds that extreme weather episodes are negatively associated with non-quantifiable subjective well-being and life satisfaction.
New Zealand nurses use of humour in surgical nursing practice
Authors:   , Van der Krogt Shelley Rose
Published: December 2021

Humour is a tool that can build rapport, establish communication and enable a therapeutic relationship: all of which are essential skills for nurses. For nurses to use humour in their practice they need to know when it is appropriate and when it could be beneficial for patients. However, much of the literature on nursing humour focusses on when not to use humour or provides contradictory messages about the use of humour. This is problematic as with little guidance, nurses may be hesitant to deploy humour with patients, potentially missing important opportunities to deliver more effective care.  The lack of evidence-based guidance about use of humour for nurses was a key driver for this study. Furthermore, with even less research in the surgical care setting, a stressful environment for patients and staff, the need to explore how and when humour is used in surgical nursing practice was important.  A qualitative descriptive methodology was used to explore how registered nursing working in a surgical environment decide when and how to use humour within nurse-patient interactions, and the use of humour during nurse-patient communication is assessed. Data collection was carried out in two surgical wards within a single site tertiary hospital in New Zealand. Nine registered nurses participated in group or individual interviews that were conducted using an interview guide incorporating semi-structured questions. Data were analysed thematically.  Findings demonstrate the humour is a significant feature of practice for surgical nurses with its use being purposeful and undertaken after careful consideration and assessment. Within three themes (assessing openness, building a connection, protection against vulnerability), humour was described as enabling nurses to quickly connect with patients and establish a therapeutic relationship. Humour facilitates communication, even under difficult circumstances, and provides an outlet for the perceived physical and emotional vulnerability experienced by both patients and nurses within the surgical environment.  Humour forms an integral part of surgical nursing practice. This thesis challenges surgical nurses to place an emphasis on raising the profile of humour in practice and develop skills to assess when to use, and when not to use humour. This will require the development of specific educational and professional strategies.
Sulfidation of Zero-valent Iron Nanoparticles for Environmental Remediation
Authors:   , Berger Amanda
Published: December 2021

The ability of nano-sized zero-valent iron (nZVI) to remove environmental contaminants, from heavy metals to polyhalogenated hydrocarbons, has been well established. However, the reactivity of nZVI towards contaminants is hampered due to competing for side reactions with oxygen and water. Sulfidemodified nZVI (S-nZVI) has become a viable option as S-nZVI has been shown to reduce organic compounds such as trichloroethylene faster than nZVI while also maintaining an increased resistance to oxidation by water. The Fulton group has established that nZVI supported on a naturally occurring microsilicate (Microsilica600, or “misi”), from a Rotorua geothermal deposit, is capable of removing nitrates from water. This material, or nZVI@misi, minimises the potential bioaccumulation path that nZVI has, and is easier to handle than unsupported nZVI. This research investigated the effect of sulfidation of nZVI@misi (or S-nZVI@misi) on the reactivity towards the degradation of a variety of different potential contaminants.  S-nZVI@misi was synthesised using sodium thiosulfate for sulfidation. Increasing the concentration of the reagent and sulfidation time from 3 hours to 24 hours resulted in high percentages of sulfur-to-iron (S/Fe) for each material. This increase in S/Fe had a significant impact on the removal of cadmium and chromium as with higher the percentage of S/Fe, the faster the removal of these species occurred. Compared to pristine nZVI@misi, S-nZVI@misi was significantly faster at removing both cadmium and chromium. However, sulfidation of nZVI@misi proved to reduce the rate of 4-nitrophenol reduction and prevent nitrate reduction from occurring. Experimental analysis also showed that cadmium removal was faster with S-nZVI supported by FeOOH-coated microsilica, compared to material supported by un-coated microsilica. Therefore, we have synthesised supported S-nZVI that quickly removes cadmium and chromium from solution compared to standard supported nZVI.
The diffusion of renewable electricity technologies in Small Island Developing States: The case of the Maldives
Authors:   , Azwar Ali
Published: December 2021

Globally, the production of electricity has been heavily reliant on non-renewable resources. The situation in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is no exception. Most SIDS, such as the Maldives, are highly dependent on imported oil for electricity production. However, renewable electricity technologies (RETs) have the potential to decrease the cost of electricity, reduce vulnerability to external economic shocks, improve access to electricity in remote areas, increase energy security, and decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  The existing literature fails to explain adequately the mechanisms through which the diffusion of RETs takes place, not least in SIDS. This study aims to improve our understanding of diffusion processes and thus explain why the diffusion of RETs in SIDS, such as the Maldives, has been so slow. The study draws on, and adapts, a systems approach, namely the technological innovation system (TIS) approach, in order to better understand the process of diffusion of RETs in SIDS. This study focuses on the Maldives. It applies a mixed methods approach and draws on qualitative and quantitative data from semi-structured interviews and a self-administered survey questionnaire. A six-step analytical process using the adapted TIS framework was applied to analyse the research findings.  The study reveals five main findings. Firstly, the distinct features of the Maldives impede their capacity for energy transformation. These include the geographical dispersion of islands over a large area, and the limited space available to install some of the mature RETs, such as solar PV and onshore wind turbines. Moreover, the lack of a renewable resource base, also contribute to these challenges. Secondly, the government and international development partners have been the most significant actors driving the diffusion of RETs in the Maldives. Thirdly, it is political and economic factors that mainly contribute to the slow diffusion of RETs in the Maldives, rather than technical constraints. There are too few policy measures in place to support the diffusion of RETs. Fourthly, the lack of information about the economic feasibility of RETs continues to be a barrier to the diffusion of RETs in the Maldives. Fifthly, the study improved the understanding of the dynamics of TIS functions in the Maldives.
A Paradoxical Convergence: National Identity and Gender in 'The Topp Twins' Exhibition and the New Zealand Rugby Museum
Authors:   , Torrance Chelsea
Published: December 2021

In May 2017, there was a strange convergence inside Palmerston North’s Te Manawa museum. As visitors arrived on the first floor, they were left with two options. Turn left for the New Zealand Rugby Museum, or turn right for an exhibition on Jools and Lynda Topp. Left for masculinist rugby history. Right for radical activist lesbians. While both exhibitions have very different subject matter, themes of gender and national identity are prevalent within them both. Using this convergence as an entry point, this thesis considers the ways national identity and gender are put on display within the permanent exhibition at the New Zealand Rugby Museum and The Topp Twins exhibition.  Using data from interviews with key people involved with the two exhibitions, documentary research, and analysis of the two exhibitions, this thesis asks how New Zealand national identity and gender are narrated and displayed within The Topp Twins and the New Zealand Rugby Museum, and considers what this means for museum practice. In so doing, the thesis begins with an overview of key literature looking at nation, discourse and gender in museum and heritage scholarship. It also considers literature of New Zealand identity formation and gender. The intellectual foundation of this thesis resides in the idea that gender, nation and museums are intimately bound.  In the second part of the thesis, an investigation into the historical and contemporary context of the two exhibitions is conducted. This section provides an overview of the content and design of the exhibits. In combining both the context and content of the exhibitions, the thesis is able to consider intentions as well as the outcomes of the two. The final part of the thesis considers the ways national identity and gender have been presented within The Topp Twins exhibition and the New Zealand Rugby Museum. This chapter shows that while gender is presented in very different ways, the museums have a very similar narrative about ‘New Zealandness’.
Regenerational Residence
Authors:   , Mackie Ben
Published: December 2021

New Zealand has an ageing population whose dwelling options for retirement are largely inappropriate. Retirement homes and villages are increasing throughout the country yet these often cause a decline in functional ability. Accordingly, demands on public healthcare have increased, necessitating a shift in recommendations towards homecare and ‘ageing in place.’ Ideally, aged-care should take place within extended families, yet this requires specific accommodation. Historically, standalone housing such as ‘granny flats’ or moving in with the extended family has been the solution. However, these have drawbacks such as inefficiency and distance from the wider community. There remains potential for a denser, economic housing solution within walking distance to local amenities. There is also a growing interest in developing medium-density housing (MDH) in New Zealand. However, this typology has shortfalls when it comes to multigenerational families such as small living rooms and limited outdoor areas. Further, the multi-storey nature of MDH promotes stairs, being particularly restrictive for ageing residents. Is it possible for MDH to be designed to accommodate ageing in place effectively within New Zealand?  The needs associated with ageing are important to consider for long-term living. For effective aged-care, the literature advocates designing for both health improvements and accommodating dysfunctions. These two needs are addressed respectively in architecture through regenerative and intergenerational design. A personal and relational lens further investigates both of these terms. Regenerative elements involve personal wellness and relational reciprocity, whereas intergenerational elements include personal autonomy and relational interconnectivity. For each of these elements, the design methods draw qualitatively from existing precedents, indicating potential generators to inform an iterative, site-specific model. A suitable site and program provide relative design parameters. The chosen context is Nelson because the ageing population is straining healthcare while there is also significant potential for MDH. The generators and parameters drove the preliminary design process, ultimately integrating these drivers within a developed design proposal. This exegesis proposes that MDH can effectively accommodate ageing in place by overlapping such drivers through iterative modelling to create specific design principles.
Characterizing microseismicity at the Rotokawa and Ngatamariki geothermal fields
Authors:   , Hopp Chet
Published: December 2021

In this thesis, we construct a four-year (2012–2015) catalog of microearthquakes for the Ngatamariki and Rotokawa geothermal fields in the Taupō Volcanic Zone of New Zealand, and use these data to improve the knowledge of reservoir behavior. These microearthquakes occur frequently, often every few seconds, and therefore provide a tool that we use to assess reservoir properties with dense spatial and temporal resolution as well as to illuminate the underlying processes of seismogenesis. Using a matched-filter detection technique we detect and precisely relocate nearly 9000 events, from which we calculate 982 focal mechanisms.  At Ngatamariki, these results constitute the first detailed analysis of seismicity at a newly-developed resource. It has been commonly assumed that induced shear on fractures increases reservoir permeability by offsetting asperities on either fracture wall, thereby propping the fracture open. During stimulation treatments of two boreholes (NM08 and NM09), borehole permeability experiences logarithmic growth. At NM08, this growth occurs for eight days in the absence of seismicity, while at NM09 only nine microearthquakes are observed during the one-month treatment. This suggests that hydro-shear, the process of inducing seismicity through increased pore pressure at critically-stressed fractures, is not the dominant mechanism of permeability increase at many geothermal wells. Instead, aseismic processes, likely thermal and overpressure induced fracture opening, dominate well stimulation in high-temperature geothermal settings.  At Rotokawa, the earthquake frequency-magnitude distribution (b-value) is positively correlated with both proximity to major injection wells and depth. In an inferred pressure compartment near injection well RK23, b is ~1.18, but is <1.0 elsewhere, suggesting a connection between increased pore-fluid pressure and small-magnitude events. In addition, throughout the reservoir b increases from a value of ~1.0 at injection depth to almost 1.5 two kilometers below the reservoir, consistent with observations at volcanic areas elsewhere, but opposing the conventional wisdom that b-value is inversely proportional to differential stress.  Finally, the 982 focal mechanism observations that we invert for stress show a normal faulting regime throughout both reservoirs. At Rotokawa, a lowering stress ratio, v, after reintroduction of injection well RK23 (v drops from 0.9 to 0.2 over six months) indicates that anisotropic reservoir cooling affects the reservoir stress state through a process of preferential stress reduction.
G. E. Sukhareva's place in the history of autism research: Context, reception, translation
Authors:   , Simmonds Charlotte
Published: December 2021

Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva was a Soviet child psychiatrist and neurologist who described an autism-like condition closely resembling Asperger’s syndrome about 20 years before Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner published their descriptions of autistic psychopathy and early infantile autism, first naming it schizoid psychopathy (1925), later renaming it autistic psychopathy (1959). While autistic-like syndromes were repeatedly described independently in many countries in the first half of the 20th century, Sukhareva seems to have been the only person to give a detailed description of the syndrome’s presentation in girls and its sex differences. Considered the founder of child psychiatry in Russia, she is little known elsewhere, despite a significant portion of her work being written in German. Awareness of Sukhareva and her work has been slowly making its way into autistic history, largely as a result of the 1996 publication of Sula Wolff’s translation of the 1926 case studies on schizoid psychopathy in boys, but the large majority of her work remains untranslated from German and/or Russian and inaccessible to many people. Her 1927 paper of case studies on girls, describing sex differences similar to those being described now, are virtually unknown even in German texts.  Including the translation of Sukhareva’s German-language paper on schizoid psychopathy in girls, summaries of her Russian-language texts on the syndrome, and what is hoped is a comprehensive bibliography of her published work, this thesis seeks to place Sukhareva’s work and its reception within the wider context of research into autistic-like syndromes in Anglo-European medical literature, and to understand the impact of domestic and international politics of the 20th century on child psychiatry and the international exchange of scientific knowledge. The thesis also corrects misinformation found in some recent popular histories of autism.
Enter the Matrix: An Examination of Patrick Pound's The Great Exhibition
Authors:   , Mitchell-Anyon Milly
Published: December 2021

This thesis considers the practice of New Zealand-born artist, Patrick Pound (b. 1962) through an analysis of his survey show, Patrick Pound: The Great Exhibition, which was staged at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne between 31 March and 30 July 2017. The Great Exhibition demonstrates the complexity and multiplicity of Pound’s practice, exemplifying the interconnectedness of his thinking and his use of an algorithmic approach to collecting, curating and categorisation. His depth of art-historical knowledge plays out as an intricate puzzle. The scope of The Great Exhibition is vast and, while it might appear to mostly involve the arrangement of more than 4,000 vernacular photographs and found objects, alongside 300 items from the NGV’s collection, the methodologies of collecting and curation employed by Pound are multifaceted.  I consider the constancy of Pound’s interrogation of authorship and meaning throughout his practice, which is integrally related to his use of vernacular photographs and found objects within The Great Exhibition. I examine our relationship with vernacular photography and how this is exposed in The Great Exhibition. The practices of artists such as Erik Kessels, Joachim Schmid and Marcel Duchamp provide context here. Chapter Three asks how The Great Exhibition fits within a wider context of exhibitions by artist-as-curators such as Fred Wilson’s Mining the Museum and Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man. This chapter also examines how computer algorithms can be applied as a framework for understanding The Great Exhibition’s curatorial logic. Pound’s complex system of sorting and categorising into matrices and intersections is considered in relation to writer Georges Perec and his understanding of Alan Turing’s conceptualisation of the ‘Automatic’ and ‘Oracle’ machines. My conclusion reflects on what can and cannot be learned from Patrick Pound’s The Great Exhibition.
The island rule and its application to multiple plant traits
Authors:   , Hendriks Annemieke
Published: December 2021

The Island Rule refers to a continuum of body size changes where large mainland species evolve to become smaller and small species evolve to become larger on islands. Previous work focuses almost solely on animals, with virtually no previous tests of its predictions on plants. I tested for (1) reduced floral size diversity on islands, a logical corollary of the island rule and (2) evidence of the Island Rule in plant stature, leaf size and petiole length. Endemic island plants originated from small islands surrounding New Zealand; Antipodes, Auckland, Bounty, Campbell, Chatham, Kermadec, Lord Howe, Macquarie, Norfolk, Snares, Stewart and the Three Kings. I compared the morphology of 65 island endemics and their closest ‘mainland’ relative. Species pairs were identified. Differences between archipelagos located at various latitudes were also assessed. Floral sizes were reduced on islands relative to the ‘mainland’, consistent with predictions of the Island Rule. Plant stature, leaf size and petiole length conformed to the Island Rule, with smaller plants increasing in size, and larger plants decreasing in size. Results indicate that the conceptual umbrella of the Island Rule can be expanded to plants, accelerating understanding of how plant traits evolve on isolated islands.
Between Moments - Using virtual reality with participatory processes to design healthcare waiting places
Authors:   , Harkness Robyn
Published: December 2021

Within healthcare architecture, there is a void of attention directed towards the non-medical spaces; the waiting rooms, hallways and all ‘between moments’ where many people spend extended periods of time under acute stress. Nowhere is this more prevalent that in the emergency departments where patients seek care and treatment for real or perceived, serious injuries or illnesses. While waiting for medical attention, exposure to high levels of harsh lighting, sterile furnishings, chaotic activity and cavernous rooms with others in distress can cause and increase anxiety, delirium and high blood pressure. The emotional experience of such spaces changes based upon a user’s unique sensory conditions and therefore their individual perception of space.  The architectural design tools and devices to explore these highly charged sensory spaces have been historically limited to technical plans and sections and rendered marketing perspectival images, which do not fully communicate the immersive experience of these spaces when in use. Virtual reality is emerging as a powerful three-dimensional visualisation tool, offering designers the opportunity to comprehend proposed designs more clearly during the planning and design phases, thus enabling a greater influence on design decision making.  This research explores the use of VR in a healthcare perspective, adopting a participatory design approach to simulate sensory conditions of blindness, deafness and autism and the emotions associated with these conditions within space. This approach diverges from a purely visual method of design towards an understanding of the haptic, exploring the critical phenomenology behind these non-medical spaces. The research finds significant potential for the use of virtual reality as a design tool to simulate the experience of these spaces in early design stages.
Eocene to Miocene tectonostratigraphic evolution of northwest New Zealand
Authors:   , Orr Damian
Published: December 2021

Reinga Basin is located northwest of New Zealand, along strike structurally from Northland and has a surface area of ~150,000 km². The basin contains deformed Cretaceous and Cenozoic strata, flat unconformities interpreted as sea level-modulated erosion surfaces and is intruded by volcanics. Persistent submarine conditions and moderate water depths has led to preservation of fossil-rich bathyal sedimentary records. This thesis presents the first seismic-stratigraphic analysis tied to dredged rock samples and recent International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) drilling. The Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Reinga Basin comprises four main phases. (1) Folding and uplift from lower bathyal water depths occurred at 56-43 Ma along West Norfolk Ridge to produce wave ravinement surfaces. This phase of deformation in Reinga Basin pre-dates tectonic events onshore New Zealand. (2) Basin-wide 39-34 Ma compression and reverse faulting exposed early to middle Eocene strata at the seabed. This phase of deformation is also observed farther south in Taranaki. (3) Oligocene uplift is recorded by late Oligocene shallow-water fauna at Site U1508, and led to a 6 Myr hiatus (34-28 Ma) associated with flat wave ravinement surfaces nearby. The unconformity is temporally associated with: normal faulting near West Norfolk Ridge that created topography of Wanganella Ridge; onset of Reinga Basin volcanism; and emplacement of South Maria Allochthon. Thin-skinned deformation and volcanism post-date thick-skinned reverse faulting and folding. The end of reverse faulting near South Maria Ridge is determined from undeformed Oligocene strata that have subsided 1500-2000 m since 36-30 Ma. (4) During the final phase of Reinga Basin deformation, South Maria Ridge subsided ~900-1900 m from middle shelf to bathyal depths from 23-19 Ma. Deformation migrated southeastwards, culminating in Northland Allochthon emplacement (23-20 Ma) and onshore arc volcanism at 23-12 Ma. Eocene onset of tectonic activity in northern New Zealand is shown to be older than previously recognised and it was broadly synchronous with other events related to subduction initiation and plate motion change elsewhere in the western Pacific.
I'm Different Online: An Account of Differences between Face-to-Face and Online Testimony
Authors:   , Enright Sophia
Published: December 2021

Why is Testimony important?  The field of testimony is a sub-discipline of the study of epistemology, the study of how we come to know things. Existing literature on testimony mainly focuses on face-to-face interactions. However, online communications have become an integral part of our daily discourse. The purpose of this thesis is to develop an account of testimonial injustices in the context of online testimony. First I will examine cases of face-to-face epistemic injustice which result from failures of knowledge transmission in communicative acts. I will then outline cases of online epistemic injustice. This showcases differences between the kinds of epistemic injustices that can arise in online and in face-to-face contexts. My intention is to identify epistemic issues unique to online environments, with the overall objective to hold agents accountable for acts of epistemic harm, such as intentional misinformation or trolling. I will then be in a position to introduce key features of online testimony, and explain the significance of distinguishing online testimony as a space for shared knowledge from face-to-face testimony. Finally, I propose a viable framework for successful online testimony which holds agents accountable for epistemic harms.
Revisiting marine bioprospecting of tropical Indonesian macroalgae from West Timor
Authors:   , Turupadang Wem
Published: December 2021

Marine algae are an important and historically rich source of new marine-based natural products. This thesis describes the screening of 40 Indonesian macroalgal samples using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based molecular networking, and the subsequent nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-guided isolation and structural elucidation of a 6-deoxy-6-aminoglycoglyrecolipid (60). Molecular networking was performed using LC-MS/MS data through the online Global Natural Product Social Molecular Networking (GNPS) platform directly from crude extracts. NMR spectroscopy-guided screening was also employed targeting unique peaks detected by 1H NMR to validate any hits from GNPS. Out of 40 macroalgae specimens collected from West Timor waters, six samples were prioritised by the molecular networking screening. Proton NMR revealed three specimens with significantly interesting peaks but only one specimen, Laurencia snackeyi was purified further, which yielded compound 60.
A Constraint-Based Approach to Manipulator Kinematics and Singularities
Authors:   , Amirinezhad Seyedvahid
Published: December 2021

In this thesis, a differential-geometric approach to the kinematics of multibody mechanisms is introduced that enables analysis of singularities of both serial and parallel manipulators in a flexible and complete way. Existing approaches such as those of Gosselin and Angeles [1], Zlatanov et al. [2] and Park and Kim [3] make use of a combination of joint freedoms and constraints and so build in assumptions. In contrast, this new approach is solely constraint-based, avoiding some of the shortcomings of these earlier theories.  The proposed representation has two core ingredients. First, it avoids direct reference to the choice of inputs and their associated joint freedoms and instead focuses on a kinematic constraint map (KCM), defined by the constraints imposed by all joints and not requiring consideration of closure conditions arising from closed loops in the design. The KCM is expressed in terms of pose (i.e. position and orientation) variables, which are the coordinates of all the manipulator’s links with respect to a reference frame. The kinematics of a given manipulator can be described by means of this representation, locally and globally. Also, for a family of manipulators defined by a specific architecture, the KCM will tell us how the choice of design parameters (e.g. link lengths) affects these kinematic properties within the family.  At a global level, the KCM determines a subset in the space of all pose variables, known as the configuration space (C-space) of the manipulator, whose topology may vary across the set of design parameters. The Jacobian (matrix of first-order partial derivatives) of the KCM may become singular at some specific choices of pose variables. These conditions express a subset called the singular set of the C-space. It is shown that if a family of manipulators, parametrised by a manifold Rd of design parameters, is “well-behaved” then the pose variables can be eliminated from the KCM equations together with the conditions for singularities, to give conditions in terms of design parameters, that define a hypersurface in Rd of manipulators in the class that exhibit C-space singularities. These are referred to as Grashof-type conditions, as they generalise classically known inequalities classifying planar 4-bar mechanisms due to Grashof [4].  Secondly, we develop the theory to incorporate actuator space (A-space) and workspace (W-space), based on a choice of actuated joints or inputs and on the manipulator’s end-effector workspace or outputs. This will facilitate us with a framework for analysing singularities for forward and inverse kinematics via input and output mappings defined on the manipulator’s C-space. This provides new insight into the structure of the forward and inverse kinematics, especially for parallel manipulators.  The theory is illustrated by a number of applications, some of which recapitulate classical or known results and some of which are new.
Adsorption of dye molecules on metallic nanoparticles: Unraveling the origins of the modified spectral absorption
Authors:   , Chen Xiaohan
Published: December 2021

The enhanced optical response of molecules in the vicinity of metallic nanoparticle is the basis for many surface enhanced spectroscopies and of interest to the field of plasmonics. However, the mechanisms behind the enhancement are still a matter of debate because of the interplay between electromagnetic and chemical effects, which complicates the interpretation of spectral changes. Our ability to measure the surface absorption of dyes from very low coverage to high coverage allows us to identify the con- tribution of each effect (dye-dye interaction and dye-particle interaction) to the spectral modifications. In the course of this investigation, we also measured the adsorption isotherms of dyes in the presence of halide ions, which provides a detailed insight into the adsorption process on silver colloids.