bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rainfall in Vietnam
Authors:   , Nguyen Quang Dang
Published: December 2021

The thesis is a comprehensive analysis of the climate of Vietnam, concentrating on rainfall. Vietnam lies in the tropical northern hemisphere in a region that is influenced by the South Asian, East Asian and Australian monsoons. Rainfall here is associated with several different mechanisms, such as the monsoon, tropical cyclones, topography, and so on. From the initial climatological analysis, monsoon and non-monsoon rainfall is investigated. Non-monsoon rainfall is found to be related to a vortex often found off the coast of Vietnam, a newly-understood extension of the “Borneo vortex”.  The thesis begins with a study of the surface climate and the general atmospheric circulation over the Southeast Asian region, which dominates Vietnam’s climate. Trends of surface temperature and rainfall were investigated for a 40 year period (1971-2010), using a newly-extended dataset of 60 stations. Vietnam’s average temperature has increased at a rate of 0.26 ± 0.10°C per decade since the 1970s, approximately twice the rate of global warming over the same period. The increase in temperature is statistically significant in most sub-regions. Trends in rainfall are however mostly insignificant in that period. Temperature and rainfall variability are shown to be linked to ENSO on both a national and sub-regional scale. The rainfall climate of Vietnam has been studied in depth, particularly the characteristics of monsoon rainfall and the variability of the length of wet and dry seasons. That investigation has led to the development of an objective monsoon index, based on regional mean sea level pressure and low level zonal wind. While originally developed to define onset and withdrawal dates for the monsoon in Vietnam and over Southeast Asia, the index is shown to be applicable in all monsoon regions of the globe, the first objective index to have such global utility. The final part of the thesis deals with tropical vortex activity and its associated rainfall. Vortices exist almost year-round, migrating from the coast of Vietnam – Southeast Asian Sea - Philippines in summer to the Borneo Island region in winter. Clear evidence is found for the presence of a semi-permanent vortex near the south coast of Vietnam or the north of the Southeast Asian Sea – Maritime Continent (SEASMC) region. It is this vortex and the tropical cyclones over the SEASMC region that significantly contribute to the Vietnam rainfall, particularly the post-monsoon rainfall in Central Vietnam.
The Politics of Social Discourses about Youth in New Zealand 1950-1965 and 1990-2005
Authors:   , Somers Jean-Christopher
Published: December 2021

This thesis explores the politics of changing discourses around the youth question in New Zealand’s postwar (1950-1965) and near-contemporary history (1990-2005). Building on a modified Foucaultian framework, it examines for both periods anxieties over young people’s relationships with home, school and the wider society. It also contrasts the two periods to illustrate the ideological shift from the welfare state to neoliberalism, as it was played out through youth-related discourses. This thesis goes beyond the moral panic approach, especially regarding the postwar period. It will demonstrate that rethinking what is conventionally condensed and marginalised as ‘context’ is key to understanding the politics of youth discourses. Postwar debates about young people, because youth were conceived as being in social crisis, served to expose ideological differences that the welfare state had ostensibly overcome. That in turn destabilized the apparent moral consensus and opened up opportunities for resistance and subversion. By contrast, the liberal and emancipatory discourse of society in the 1990s and early 2000s served to insulate neoliberal politics from volatile public concerns. This in turn paradoxically provides a stronger and more efficient foundation for social control over youth.
The Digital Athena: Contemporary commentaries and Greek mythology explored through 3D printing
Authors:   , Lastovicka Rose
Published: December 2021

Greek myth and art acted as tools to think with, and a lens through which to explore complex topics, like a form of social media. In particular, coins were a form of propaganda to communicate the wealth and power of the city-states they originated from as they circulated from person to person. Using these media as a starting point, how can the application of 3D printing technologies explore the infusion of ancient forms with contemporary commentaries to promote discussion? The digital reconstruction of artifacts is a topic that has been researched by various groups all over the globe. The exploration of Greek myth through objects infused with contemporary issues is currently unexplored in this medium. Using the Stratasys J750 3D printer - a multi-material, full-colour 3D printer - a series of coins inspired by ancient Greek currency and myth was created to present commentaries on the adversities surrounding individuals in the LGBT+ community. Using the J750 as the medium for expression allows for complete control and precision of the models to create complex, high-resolution iconography. A hard, translucent material was used to print the coins, with coloured 3D visuals embedded into the coins for viewing in close contact by the audience. These coins as commentaries present an avenue for broader understanding by drawing perspectives not only from sources concerned with the contemporary LGBT+ community but also from sources exploring ancient homosexuality and the perception and regulation of it in antiquity. By displaying what are usually points of contention between anti- and pro-LGBT+ parties, this visual medium opens up a discussion to both parties, suggesting heritage can play a vital interpretative role in the contemporary world.
Quinine, Whisky, and Sun Helmets: Amateur Medicine in British East and South-Central Africa, 1890-1939
Authors:   , Wells Julia
Published: December 2021

Historians have extensively studied colonial doctors in Africa, and the connection between colonial medical services and imperial power. The focus has, however, fallen almost exclusively on medical practice by trained, qualified, and professional doctors and nurses, and neglected amateur treatments carried out by white settlers. This project explores amateur medical treatment in rural parts of British East and South-Central Africa, primarily Kenya and Rhodesia, between 1890 and 1939. It draws upon a range of memoirs, novels, letters, and advice books, most notably the memoirs of white settler women including Karen Blixen, Elspeth Huxley, Hylda Richards, and Alyse Simpson.   The time period is characterised by a marked contrast between the emergence of tropical medicine and hygiene on the one hand, and, on the other, a continuation of nineteenth-century medical ideas, techniques, and widespread fears of the tropical climate. During the 1890s, tropical medicine and hygiene developed as specialised professional fields of expertise. Yet despite substantial tropical medical advances during and after the 1890s, the disease environment of East and South-Central Africa remained associated with high mortality and morbidity for white settlers. White bodies continued to be viewed, in the popular mind, as profoundly vulnerable to the African environment. Pre-germ theory etiologies of disease and treatment techniques persisted within white settler communities.  This thesis studies the medical skills, ideas, and practices of white settlers in the region. It demonstrates that much of settlers’ medical care was performed by other settlers, positioning amateur treatment as crucial to colonial health. The discussion considers advice produced and disseminated through the flourishing print culture of African guidebooks and tropical medical handbooks; tropical outfitting; the translation of popular medical and hygiene advice into white settler practice; and the amateur treatment techniques (most importantly, quinine, alcohol, and disinfectant) and body protection methods that feature in memoirs and letters. Malaria forms a major theme in amateur treatment and prevention. The thesis also examines white settler women’s amateur medical practice in African communities, and the shifting patterns of agency and colonial hegemony within these intimate medical encounters. It argues that settlers’ medical practice displayed a distinctive set of techniques and ideas that adapted, re-worked, and re-interpreted professional medical advice. It concludes that settlers’ amateur medical practice formed an essential element of colonial medicine and bolstered British authority in the region.
Making Rebels: The New Zealand Socialist Party, 1901-1913
Authors:   , Dunick Mark
Published: December 2021

The New Zealand Socialist Party (NZSP) was the first radical socialist party in this country. The decade in which it existed was a time of rapid social change. The NZSP began in 1901 as a reaction against the Liberal Party which dominated New Zealand politics at the time. In its first five years the party had two main branches in Wellington and Christchurch, but it grew rapidly after 1907 with the expansion of industrial unionism. The NZSP was overshadowed by the Federation of Labour and never developed a coherent national organisation. As the working class began to organise nationally to challenge the Massey Government, the NZSP failed to adapt to the new political situation and dissolved in 1913.  The party began as a group of marginal outsiders, but as society changed and class became an important political factor, the NZSP played an important role in spreading new ideas and educating a generation of socialists. When the NZSP ended in 1913 the ideas it had promoted were widely accepted among New Zealand’s organised working class.
Universal Sanctum: For Anyone from any Religion seeking Spiritual Realisation through Interior Architecture
Authors:   , Nanji Shamal
Published: December 2021

In the realm of religion, when rituals and prayers become a routine or a default reaction, often prescribed by elders, they lose value and meaning. In the modern era, we have distanced ourselves from the past ideals of religion. Nevertheless, we continue to seek meaning in life beyond material objects. The connection to the inner-self establishes this meaning and purpose. From this understanding, I realised that all religions, despite their subtle differences lead to spirituality and enlightenment. The idea that architecture can provide a universal middle ground between people and which they truly seek, is the context from which my thesis proposal derives from.  My thesis question:  How can the design of a Universal space of spiritual devotion be realised through exploration and manipulation of spatial qualities within sacred architecture, in a contemporary inner-city context?  Thus, this thesis will look into the architectural genre of Sacred Space in a contemporary setting. The objective will be to investigate the significance of sacred architecture and the common qualities between the various religions and their respective places of worship. The focus will be to propose an interior space which can be deemed sacred by any one from any religion seeking spiritual upliftment.  In doing so, the space will intend to unify people from different religious and cultural backgrounds, and lead them towards the common goal of connecting with the inner self.  The key theory investigated in this research looks at the case of religion for today’s society, interpretation of spirituality in the east and the west, defining sacred architecture and all that it entails, and the need for this typology in the contemporary world.  The contextual basis of this thesis will focus on New Zealand and the predominantly contemporary and diverse culture of the country. The rise in various ethnicities and technological advances means that the presence of a universal space of spiritual reflection and gathering is necessary now more than ever. In my observation, there is a noticeable lack of contemporary sacred architecture, in New Zealand. Perhaps this is the result of our predominantly Secular society. My proposal will aspire to see through this absence and attend to the need of spatial experience to mediate between people and which they spiritually seek.
MIRNY. The Prison of Time
Authors:   , Vasilevskyte Eiva
Published: December 2021

Speculative architecture is sometimes used by speculative architects to enhance our awareness of dystopian elements that thread their way through societies, even when a society is striving for utopian ideals. This contradiction exists because a dystopia to one person may be viewed as a utopia to another – and dystopian conditions can sometimes become so commonplace that they are no longer viewed as out of the ordinary.  The site for this design research investigation is Mirny, Yakutia, Siberia, located 450 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle – a city of almost one million people with no access by road, set in permafrost year-round. The city developed around the open pit Mirny diamond mine that once brought wealth to the community; but while the diamonds are now mostly gone, the mine remains – one of the largest, toxic open holes in the world. With the depletion of diamonds, the city became largely forgotten, but the population remained. Yakutia is defined by the enormous pit and its decades-old, never-changing, Soviet-era architecture – lost in time. The utopian ideal from which the city was born is now shrouded in dystopian conditions. But the people, those born in the city who have lived there all their lives, have known nothing else; they remain unaware of the utopian/dystopian contradiction.  This thesis looks at how transformations within our evolving built environments can result in contradiction. It challenges speculative architecture to enhance our ability to recognise such contradictions, distinguishing between utopian and dystopian urban conditions when they simultaneously define a city.
Beyond the Tent - The application of a tool based approach to the exploration of aggregate building methodologies
Authors:   , Kent Dave
Published: December 2021

To the detriment of many, the act of building dwellings has become increasingly prohibitive. Materials costs and the cost of labour makes up a significant part of this expense. While this issue is becoming increasingly paramount in the western world where you have population increase (expected to be doubled by 2050), it is the genuinely vulnerable who are the most affected. This design research thesis explores the logic of aggregate assemblages as a potentially low cost, low skills base, rapid assembly (not construction) system that could assist in providing a solution to both post-disaster housing demands or refugee encampments where there is plentiful raw base clays or concreteous material. Aggregate assemblages require neither additives or fixings to bind together instead of relying solely and efficiently on their geometry to create connections. A 2004 internal UNHCR report suggested the average lifespan of a refugee camp was 17 years. Further, while providing little beyond basic shelter, the average lifecycle of a UN family tent is typically three months, hence requiring constant costly replacement. Additionally, political desires for non-permanent settlement solutions along with the potential for fluctuating landscapes induced by severe weather conditions suggest that space for an agile yet cohesive and robust rapid assembly methodology exists. Thus, this thesis proposes that interlocking aggregate assemblages could provide an alternative solution that would be a valuable addition to the status quo.  The research argues for an interlocking aggregate creation, and assembly method that goes beyond the tent to offer a durable, robust internal environment with high degrees of flexibility and customisation with its human end users in mind – through the following criteria: allows the occupant to stand up and move freely inside; Accommodates the preparation and cooking of meals under shelter; Can respond to a variety of site conditions: Can adapt to reflect cultural customary notions of space; Can increase the sense of safety and security.
Beyond the Aural: Towards an Intermodal Framework for the Creation and Analysis of Performed Music
Authors:   , Vaughan Elliot
Published: December 2021

A music performance is an environment inhabited by an ecology of modalities, and music composed for performance should be discussed in terms of the various modalities and their interdependencies. Composition and analysis have traditionally prioritised the aural and the formal and tended to ignore performance space politics, corporeality, architecture, the objecthood of instruments and the subjecthood of instrumentalists, and other non-aural elements which contribute to the concert experience. This exegesis outlines a framework for the intermodal discussion of multimodal music for performance: Post-Aural Music. In Post-Aural Music the hierarchy of elements becomes fluid, the ‘aural’ no longer being the assumed authority. The framework is modelled after Hans-Thies Lehmann’s Postdramatic Theatre, an examination of modern theatre tendencies resulting from the dethroning of ‘drama’. It looks to Matthias Rebstock and David Roesner’s book Composed Theatre, an observation on how ‘compositional thinking’ is being applied to these other disciplines; and is illustrated by an analysis of Helmut Lachenmann’s Pression from the Post-Aural perspective. I reflect on the process and presentation of my own performance event Fish in Pink Gelatine, a ‘performed installation and staged concert’, as the creative project this exegesis supports.
How to Become a Mushroom: A New Nature Ethnography of Fungi in Aotearoa
Authors:   , Nicholls Alice
Published: December 2021

This thesis proposes that the moment of interaction between a person and a fungus is transformative of both subjects. Using new nature writing techniques in tandem with multispecies ethnography, this thesis seeks to present a rich, autoethnographic account of my encounters with fungi in the native forests of the West Coast of Aotearoa. Drawing on five days of ethnographic fieldwork spent at the Fungal Network of New Zealand (FUNNZ) annual Fungal Foray in the township of Moana, I explore the affective, emotional, sensory, intellectual, and corporeal experiences of interacting with fungi. Using new nature writing as an ethnographic medium, I suggest that narratives that pertain to the researcher’s experiences can render new understandings of nonhuman subjects. In doing so, I explore both the transformative potential of multispecies encounters for the researcher and the researched, and the literary potential of multispecies ethnography to illustrate the encounters themselves.
Identification of a meningococcal adhesin that inhibits epithelial cell migration
Authors:   , Greig Gabrielle
Published: December 2021

Neisseria meningitidis virulence is polygenic, therefore comparing many genomes may not yield strictly disease-associated virulence factors. An alternative approach is comparing closely related isolates, such as those from household contacts. Disease isolates have been shown to inhibit epithelial cell wound repair, while many carriage isolates do not. In this study, bacteria collected from disease patients and healthy household contacts were compared to identify the meningococcal factor responsible for wound repair inhibition and investigate how it contributes to invasive disease. Host cell wound repair inhibition was compared between disease-associated meningococcal isolate, NZ97/052, and isolates NZCM111 and NZCM112, from asymptomatic household contacts. Migrating bronchial airway cells were infected with meningococcal isolates and wound closure was evaluated by microscopy. NZ97/052 and NZCM111 both inhibited wound repair, whereas NZCM112 did not. To investigate if this was due to bacterial consumption of an important nutrient, infected cells were supplemented with nutrients known to be important for meningococcal growth and cell migration. Iron supplementation resulted in carriage associated isolates gaining the ability to inhibit wound repair. Genome and transcriptome comparisons were completed between NZ97/052 and NZCM112, which differ in wound repair inhibition. This analysis identified a frameshift mutation in NZCM112 in the haptoglobin-haemoglobin utilization gene, hpuA, which caused complete loss of expression. The hpuA gene was deleted by allelic replacement from NZ97/052, nullifying its ability to inhibit host cell migration. Furthermore, bacterial association and fluorescence microscopy assays suggested that HpuA contributes to meningococcal attachment to bronchial epithelial cells, as the hpuA mutant had significantly lower cell association. Heterologous expression of HpuA in E. coli resulted in higher levels of cell association, indicating that HpuA is sufficient to mediate bacterial adhesion to human bronchial epithelial cells. This work reveals novel roles for HpuA as a meningococcal adhesin and a bacterial factor that inhibits host cell migration.
Beyond dynamic risk factors: Towards a comprehensive explanation of offending
Authors:   , Heffernan Roxanne
Published: December 2021

The current conceptualisation of dynamic risk factors (DRF) for criminal offending is problematic. There have been significant conceptual issues highlighted in this domain, however, until recently addressing these has not been a priority for researchers. Instead, research has predominantly focused on the success of DRF in predicting reoffending and the effectiveness of treatment programmes that target these factors. DRF are typically defined as aspects of individuals and their environments that are associated with an increased likelihood of reoffending, and they are widely considered ‘plausible causes’ of criminal behaviour. It is acknowledged that this definition encompasses a wide range of individual characteristics, social processes, behaviours, and environmental features, and that these vary in their ability to explain and predict offending. The more recent interest in features that reduce risk has prompted similar discussions about the concept of protective factors (PF). Given the frequent use of, and interest in, these foundational concepts it is timely to investigate them in depth, and to address two key issues. First, both DRF and PF are broad category labels that encompass a diverse (and largely unspecified) range of psychological and contextual features and processes. Second, without a clear understanding of what exactly these constructs are, it is difficult to effectively link them to correctional research and practice. I will begin this thesis by setting out the problems with the reliance on DRF to explain offending. I will do this by exploring recent empirical findings concerning their relationship with recidivism and outlining numerous conceptual problems which make DRF poor candidates for causal explanation. I will then suggest a shift in focus, from these crime correlates to human nature and agency, and argue that this perspective is essential in explaining any behaviour. I will present a preliminary model based on agency and demonstrate the utility of this perspective in reconceptualising DRF as aspects of goal-directed behaviour. Next, I will develop a framework for continuing this theoretical research and adding depth to theories of agency. Finally, I will discuss the implications of agency theories for forensic interventions, including their integration with widely used rehabilitation models. I will conclude with an evaluation of the approaches developed throughout this thesis and make some suggestions for future research. This research holds promise in directing the field away from the otherwise inevitable theoretical ‘dead end’.
Fear Deciding Fate: How Fear Influences Moral Decision-Making
Authors:   , Strojny Sophia
Published: December 2021

Moral dilemmas require individuals to make a life-altering choice. Due to the severity of the choice, we argue that there is a degree of fear in moral decision-making. We aimed to see how prevailing fears in each individual predicts moral decision-making habits. We looked into the emotional and physical divisions of fear to deem which dimension of fear is more dominant in each participant. Then analysed these results against reported deontological or utilitarian moral inclinations to see if higher reports of fear impact moral decision-making. Additionally, we included two secondary variables that are most prevalent in fear research (gender and thinking styles) as well as the impact of burden on moral choice. We found that our research was supported; fear tendencies are linked to individual behaviours and burden of moral decisions was influenced by what we fear and affected moral choices.
Ngā Raranga I Makere / Stitches Dropped In Time: An Oral History Study of Māori Community Archiving in Taranaki, 2014-2017.
Authors:   , Hall Claire
Published: December 2021

Community archiving is a movement with its origins in the grass-roots activities of documenting, recording and exploring community heritage in a way that focuses on community participation and ownership of records. This research was about a Māori archiving community of practice from Taranaki and investigated how the training they received created outcomes for their taonga archives and families. It did this by answering three research questions designed to identify how post-custodial trends in community archiving resonated with, or differed from, the methods employed by 11 former students of Te Pūtē Routiriata o Taranaki community archive in New Plymouth. This research took a qualitative oral history approach to data gathering and used thematic analysis to examine evidence gathered from three generations of whānau archivists. It investigated whether community archiving had enhanced their collections of whānau history passed down from generation to generation and connected the close family groups that were looking after them. This study proposes a concept of whānau-led collection management as a model of practice for flax-roots communities and public heritage institutions that work with taonga Māori. It explains the link between collectively caring for archival collections and positive outcomes for whānau engagement with te reo Māori and other forms of cultural identity building. It draws on international examples to suggest ways that practices of community archiving, such as digitisation and digital archiving, can bridge the gap between community-led and institutional methods of caring for tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Auditor Provided Tax Services, Income Shifting, And Default Risk
Authors:   , Zudana Arfian
Published: December 2021

This study investigates two capital markets effects of auditor provided tax services (APTS), a particular form of auditor provided non-audit services (APNAS). Firstly, this study examines the influence of APTS on income shifting by United States of America (U.S.) multinational companies and, secondly, this study examines the impact of APTS on default risk of all U.S. companies. There are two competing hypotheses on the impact of APNAS on the quality of the work of auditors and the empirical evidence is mixed. One strand of literature suggests that APNAS provide knowledge spillover effects and thus improve the quality of the work of the auditor. The other strand of literature suggests that APNAS impair the independence of the auditor and therefore lead to a decrease in the quality of the audit. APNAS may thus increase or decrease the value of audit as a governance mechanism. The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has banned several previously allowed APNAS such as bookkeeping, financial information systems design and implementation, appraisal and valuation, and internal audit. However, the SEC continues to permit auditors to provide tax services. This study extends the literature on APNAS by examining the effect of APTS on income shifting by multinational companies and on default risk. Using a sample of 10,248 firm-year observations on U.S. multinationals over the period 2002 – 2015 and the income shifting measurement model developed by Dyreng and Markle (2016), this study finds that APTS reduce outbound income shifting, which is consistent with knowledge spillover rather than impairment of independence. The result holds after addressing potential endogeneity concern and is robust to excluding observations from the financial crisis periods. Furthermore, the result holds after including firm-specific characteristics as influences on the income shifting parameters. Using a sample of 21,364 firm-year observations on U.S. firms over the period 2003 – 2016, this study finds that APTS have a positive relationship with default risk, consistent with impaired independence of the auditor. The result holds after addressing potential endogeneity concern and is robust to excluding the global financial crisis period. The effects of APTS on income shifting and default risk are therefore opposite in direction. However, the positive relationship between APTS and default risk is weaker for firms with high institutional holdings and a strong information environment, indicating that stronger corporate governance mitigates the impact of APTS on default risk. Furthermore, this study finds that the channel for the effect of APTS on default risk appears to be earnings quality. That is, APTS lower audit quality, thereby lowering earnings quality and increasing default risk. Given the cost of default, this is an important finding. Thus, taking the results on income shifting and default risk in combination, the question of the SEC continuing to permit auditors to provide tax services is left open to question.
The Citizen and the Automated State: Exploring the Implications of Algorithmic Decision-making in the New Zealand Public Sector
Authors:   , Smith David
Published: December 2021

Algorithms increasingly influence how the state treats its citizens. This thesis examines how the New Zealand public sector’s use of algorithms in decision-making brings benefits, but also invites risks of discrimination, bias, intrusion into privacy and unfair decision-making.  This thesis’s central conclusion is that these risks require a new response. New Zealand currently has a patchwork of existing protections which provide some deterrent against poor algorithmic decision-making. The Privacy Act 1993, Official Information Act 1982, New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, Human Rights Act 1993 and applicable administrative law principles can provide remedies and correct agencies’ poor behaviour in certain cases. But important gaps remain. This thesis examines these protections to show that they do not adequately stem cumulative and systemic harms, and suffer from important practical drawbacks. They do not provide the sound preventative framework that is needed; that is, one which ensures good public sector practice.  This thesis proposes a new regulatory model for public sector use of algorithms. It argues that a key element of any effective regulatory response is the use of “algorithmic impact assessments”. These assessments would mitigate potential risks, and legitimise proportionate public sector use, of algorithms. It is also proposed that an independent regulator complements these assessments by issuing guidance, undertaking algorithm audits, and ensuring political accountability through annual reporting to Parliament. Agencies would have new obligations to disclose how and when algorithms are used in decision-making. Meanwhile, citizens would gain an enhanced right to reasons for algorithmic decisions affecting them and a right to human review. Together these measures would establish a model which would safeguard responsible and effective use of algorithms in New Zealand’s public sector.
New Zealand Aid and Dairy Development in Sri Lanka
Authors:   , Edwards Jasmine
Published: December 2021

New Zealand’s aid investment in dairy development is seen, on the one hand, as a means to improve economic, health and food security issues in developing countries. Dairy development, further, is linked to New Zealand’s trade interests and supports industry expansion strategies that target the market potential in developing countries. On the other hand, it is argued that dairy consumption and production should be reduced to respond to climate change and potential negative health impacts in countries with traditionally low dairy consumption. The potential impacts of dairy development on sustainable development are complex, interconnected and contradictory. Moreover, local and gendered understandings of the impacts of dairy development are underrepresented in literature.   Drawing on a sustainable livelihood approach and gender lens as a theoretical framework, this research explores smallholder farmers’ views through a case study of a New Zealand-funded aid project in Sri Lanka, the Wanni Dairy Project, which is increasing dairy production to improve rural livelihoods. In doing so, this thesis considers the multiple impacts of dairy development on sustainable livelihoods. In particular, it explores understandings of social, gender and environmental factors. Data was collected during five weeks of qualitative, case study research (using interviews, photovoice and observation methods) with female, conflict-affected farmers in Sri Lanka and stakeholders in dairy development.   This thesis contends that better understandings of the impacts of dairy development and aid can be valuably informed by local perspectives. It highlights the inherent connectivity between social, environmental and economic factors of the Wanni Dairy Project, and areas of dissonance between local understandings of the impacts of dairy development and global discourse on sustainable development. Specifically, this thesis draws attention to the diverse impacts of increasing income, health factors, and cultural and religious factors; it highlights women’s independence, empowerment and agency, and ongoing inequities; and it addresses environmental impacts, climate change, and the implications of scale. This research, therefore, contributes to the information upon which development policy-makers and practitioners – government, development organisations and private sector actors – can base effective and sustainable development policy and practice.
Structural, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of GaMnN, MnN and Rare-Earth Nitride Thin Films
Authors:   , Granville Simon
Published: December 2021

Materials that combine the useful properties of magnetic and semiconducting behaviours are sought for new and developing applications in electronics. In this thesis experimental studies of the properties of disordered thin films of several potentially magnetic semiconducting materials are presented. Previous research on the diluted magnetic semiconductor GaMnN is reviewed as an introduction to a study of GaMnN thin films grown with an ion-assisted deposition technique. Several complementary compositional and structural analysis techniques are used to determine that films can be grown with as much as 18 at. % Mn content and that contain no impurity phases, as are often detected in single crystalline GaMnN preparations with high Mn concentrations. The effects of varying Mn contents on the resistive, optical and magnetic properties of the thin films are investigated. The structural, electronic and magnetic properties of thin films of the potential impurity phase MnN have also been investigated and compared with band structure calculations. Recent predictions that the rare earth nitrides may have extremely useful electronic properties have been almost untested in the literature. A procedure for growing rare earth nitride thin films and capping them to protect from reaction with water vapour allows their resistivity, structural and magnetic properties to be established. The results on GdN, SmN, ErN and DyN support the recent predictions, and a more thorough study on GdN reveals that this material is a ferromagnetic semiconductor below 69 K.
Role of Ambivalent Sexism on Approval of Violence and Intention to Intervene in Media Campaigns Designed to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence
Authors:   , Heine Nathan
Published: December 2021

This study aimed to investigate the effect of manipulating actor gender and relationship status in violence prevention campaign posters upon the relationship between ambivalent sexism and 1) approval of intimate partner violence (IPV), 2) intention to intervene as a bystander, and 3) understanding of IPV. The bystander literature was used to inform the design of the posters. The study employed a between-subjects design where participants (N=421) completed an online survey where they had to view one of four different poster conditions which displayed a victim telling two friends about how they were assaulted the previous night. Poster conditions were varied on the gender of the victim and perpetrator (male or female) and on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (stranger or intimate partner). The participants completed the Conflict Tactics Scale – 2 and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory before viewing the posters. After viewing the posters participants then completed the Bystander Attitudes Scale, Beliefs about Relationship Aggression Scale and an Understanding of IPV scale. Structural Equation Modelling was employed to analyse the data. The analysis revealed that there were no significant moderating roles of relationship status, victim gender, or participant gender on the relationship between ambivalent sexism and approval of violence, intention to intervene, or understanding of IPV. The study concluded that a multifaceted approach is needed to reduce IPV effectively beyond the use of media campaign posters alone.
Closing the Loop - Recycling Plastic Waste
Authors:   , Bruce Caitlin
Published: December 2021

New Zealand is ranked among the top nations in waste production, including a million tonnes of plastic waste. Currently, there are methods for recycling plastic within New Zealand but these methods can be expensive and time-consuming, resulting in most of the plastic being thrown into the landfill. Because plastic does not fully degrade, it ends up in the ocean and other waterways, poisoning the water with toxins. The purpose of this research is to provide a solution to reducing plastic waste by creating an alternative method of recycling that utilises new technologies such as additive manufacturing, to create a building material that fits into the concept of the circular economy. The findings of this research explored the recycling of plastic by collecting plastic waste such as PLA (Polylactic Acid) from old 3D printed models. The plastic was recycled into filament for additive manufacturing (AM) and used to print building tile, establishing an initial proof of concept for the use of recycled plastic as a potential building material.
Classifying Intimate Partner Violence: A Functional Typology
Authors:   , Wride Annabelle
Published: December 2021

A neglect of theoretical development has impaired psychological explanations for intimate partner violence (IPV), which in turn has hindered effective interventions for people who perpetrate IPV. This thesis addresses this problem by applying recent perspectives on classification to examine whether typologies of IPV facilitate useful explanations of these behaviours, and proposes an alternative strategy for classifying IPV. First, the role of classification is discussed, in terms of the theoretical requirements typologies should fulfil, and with specific reference to the classification of offending behaviour. Second, two of the most influential typologies of IPV – Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart’s (1994), and Johnson’s (1995, 2006) typologies – are critically analysed according to their conceptual problems. Third, a preliminary alternative approach to classifying IPV is proposed, in response to recent theoretical developments that suggest a focus on the function of IPV behaviours is required. This Motivational Systems Typology classifies individuals who have perpetrated IPV based on their motivations, and its capacity for facilitating explanations of IPV is demonstrated through an exemplar. Finally, the implications of this typology for understandings of IPV and classification are discussed.
Investigation of the Biological Effect of eIF4A Reduction and Inhibition
Authors:   , Little Richard
Published: December 2021

Translation initiation has been identified as a therapeutic target for many diseases including cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, viral infections and cachexia. One protein involved in this process is the eukaryotic initiation factor 4A (eIF4A), an RNA helicase that is integral for cap-dependent translation initiation. Multiple drugs that inhibit the normal function of eIF4A have been identified, with one currently entering clinical trials. Recent investigations into the effects of eIF4A inhibitor treatment, however, have used concentrations that significantly hinder cell proliferation and survival. However, applications in Alzheimer’s disease, viral infections and cachexia require much lower inhibitor concentrations. Current evidence shows that under these conditions, inhibition of eIF4A leads to disruption of translation of individual transcripts in a manner that is dependent on their sequence and structure. However, the cell-wide effects of eIF4A inhibition at these low concentrations is still not known, and so the mechanisms through which treatments for these diseases will function are not fully elucidated.  Using an expression-based analysis, we investigated the effects of mild perturbation of eIF4A through gene deletion mutations in yeast and low doses of the eIF4A inhibitor pateamine on human cells. With both these approaches we identify a range of expression changes in proteins throughout the proteostatic network, relating to processes such as translation, amino acid production, ribosome biogenesis, protein folding and protein degradation. Processes further removed from translation initiation were also found to be affected but differed between yeast and human cell line models, with energy metabolism being affected in yeast, and telomere maintenance and mRNA metabolism being affected in human cells. We also identified an mRNA 5′ untranslated region sequence that appears to confer a disproportionate reduction in expression only seen in pateamine treatment conditions. Through this approach we identify the key cellular effects of altered eIF4A function and demonstrate differences between reduced eIF4A function and pateamine inhibition.
Automatic detection of Atrial Fibrillation
Authors:   , Hayes Greg
Published: December 2021

Atrial Fibrillation is an abnormal arrhythmia of the heart and is a growingconcern in the health sector affecting 1% of the population. The incidenceof atrial fibrillation increases with age and has been found to be more detri-mental to long term cardiac health than previously thought. Sufferers arefive times more likely to experience a stroke than others. Often, atrial fib-rillation is asymptomatic and is frequently discovered only when a patient visits a hospital for other reasons. The detection of paroxysmal atrial fib-rillation can be difficult. Holter monitors are used to record the ECG overlong periods of time, but the resulting recording still needs to be analysed.This can be a time consuming task and one prone to errors. If a miniature,low-power, wearable device could be designed to detect and record whena heart experiences atrial fibrillation, then health professionals would havemore timely information to carry out better, more cost effective courses of treatment. This thesis presents progress towards development of such a device. Atrial fibrillation is characterised by random RR interval, missing Pwave and presence of atrial activity. The detection of the P wave and atrialactivity can be unreliable due to low signal levels and differences in wave-form morphology between subjects. The random RR interval appears tobe a more reliable method of detection. By analysing the ECG signal inboth the frequency and time domains, feature sets can be extracted for thedetection process. In this research, the Discrete Wavelet Transform is used to generate several sub-bands for analysing wave form morphology, and anumber of RR interval metrics are created for analysing the rhythm. All features are further processed and presented to a support vector machine classification stage for the ultimate detection of atrial fibrillation. Forty eight files from the MITDB database of the PhysioNet online ECG reposi-tory were downloaded and processed to form separate training and test-ing data sets. Overall classification accuracy for normal sinus rhythm was93% sensitivity and 95% specificity, and for atrial fibrillation, 95% sensitiv-ity and 93% specificity. These results were found to be sensitive to the ECG morphology of the individual subjects. This means that the system either needs to be trained on a greater number of ECG morphologies or perhaps trained on the morphology of the individual under investigation. Putting this issue aside, the research to date shows that it is reasonable to expect a small, low powered, wearable device, to be capable of automatically detecting whena heart experiences atrial fibrillation.
Under what circumstances does autobiographical memory enhance self-control?
Authors:   , Duff Nicola
Published: December 2021

Self-control is an important skill because it helps us regulate many of our behaviours, such as how much we eat and drink. Limiting our intake of food and drink is sometimes difficult to do, however. One explanation for why self-control can be difficult is because the value for good health is discounted because it’s delayed, whereas the reward of food and drink are immediate. This is known as delay discounting: larger, future rewards (e.g. saving for a future holiday) decrease in value with the increase in delay and thus people sometimes pick a smaller, sooner reward instead (e.g. needless shopping now). Using a delay discounting paradigm, this study examined whether autobiographical memories can enhance self-control. Study 1 was a replication study and found that cuing participants to retrieve positive, episodic memories enhanced self-control. This effect was only evident in one out of two delay discounting measures used, however. Building on these findings, Study 2 and 3 investigated whether the amount of episodic detail in specific autobiographical memories and a positive self-concept contribute to the effect of autobiographical memory enhancing self-control. The amount of episodic detail recalled was not related to self-control and results about a positive self-concept were inconclusive. Unexpectedly Study 3 also yielded a non-significant result for positive, episodic memory enhancing self-control. Participants in Study 3 were, however, significantly more tired than participants in Study 1, raising the possibility that they were less engaged in the task. This pattern of findings suggests that the effect of autobiographical memory on self-control is fragile, and is possibly influenced by factors such as participant fatigue. Potential reasons for the fragile effect and inconclusive results, and a potential way forward are also discussed.