bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Self-Determination along the Austrian Frontier, 1918-1920: Case Studies of German Bohemia, Vorarlberg, and Carinthia
Authors:   , Vink Matthew
Published: November 2021

The First World War led to the collapse of a number of prominent European empires, allowing for the spread of new ideas into Europe. US President Woodrow Wilson’s rhetoric of national self-determination attracted particular symbolic importance because it legitimised popular sovereignty through the use of plebiscites. German-Austrians, like other national groups within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, used self-determination to justify establishing independent successor states after the war. The German-Austrian Republic, founded in 1918, claimed all German-speaking regions of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire on the basis of self-determination. This thesis examines claims to self-determination in three different cases: German Bohemia, Vorarlberg, and Carinthia. Representatives from each region took their case to the Paris Peace Conference, appealing to the Allied delegations to grant international recognition. These representatives faced much opposition, both from local non-German populations and occasionally even from the German-Austrian government itself.  German-Austrian politicians in the Czech lands opposed the incorporation of German-majority lands into Czechoslovakia, and instead sought to establish an autonomous German Bohemian province as part of German-Austria. In Paris, Allied delegations supported the historic frontier of the Czech lands, and therefore opposed local German self-determination outright, refusing demands for a plebiscite in German Bohemia. Vorarlberg representatives sought Vorarlberg’s secession from German-Austria, hoping instead for union with Switzerland. Vorarlbergers held a plebiscite to join Switzerland on their own initiative, initially with some degree of international support, but ultimately the international community, fearful of the disintegration of Austria, refused to allow Vorarlbergers to realise their wishes. Carinthian German representatives opposed Yugoslav claims to sovereignty over the region, seeking to remain part of German-Austria. Disagreements between and within the Allied delegations over Carinthia resulted in a decision to hold a plebiscite, which showed a majority in favour of remaining part of Austria. The thesis suggests that the implementation of self-determination in the Carinthian case resulted in a more successful resolution of border disputes. Unlike in the other two cases, the new Carinthian border mostly reflected the desires of the local population. Despite idealistic rhetoric, the final Austrian frontier suggested that Allied delegations at the Paris Peace Conference routinely favoured strategic justifications over self-determination.
The Slaving Capital in the Era of Abolition: Liverpool's Silent Rejection of the Slave Trade, 1787-1807
Authors:   , Baggett Florence
Published: November 2021

In 1787, when the British abolition movement began, the Liverpool slave trade was the largest in the world. Contemporaries throughout Britain, but especially in the port, viewed the slave trade as the primary source of Liverpool’s growth and prosperity in the eighteenth century. Liverpudlians, therefore, reacted negatively to the abolition movement, which they viewed as a threat to both the local and national economy. By 1788, the immense popular support generated by the abolition campaign left Liverpool isolated in its defence of the slave trade. Liverpudlians, however, were not unanimous in their support of the slave trade’s continuance. In 1787 and 1788, a small group of rational dissenters, known as the Roscoe Circle, anonymously contributed to the abolition campaign from Liverpool. The group’s namesake, William Roscoe, went on to be elected Member of Parliament for Liverpool in 1806, and in March 1807 he voted in favour of abolishing the slave trade along with 282 other MPs, against just sixteen, including Liverpool’s other MP.  This thesis examines reactions in Liverpool to the British abolition movement between the start of the campaign in 1787 and the passage of the Slave Trade Abolition Act in 1807. It highlights the periods 1787-1788 and 1796-1807 to challenge the view of Liverpool as a town almost uniformly averse to abolition throughout the twenty year campaign. Chapters One and Two examine the immediate pro- and anti-abolition responses in Liverpool in 1787 and 1788, respectively focusing on the contributions of Liverpool slaving merchants to the anti-abolition campaign and on the abolitionist activities of the Roscoe Circle. Drawing on Liverpool guidebooks and a series of letters in the Liverpool Chronicle, Chapter Three then traces the gradual change in popular feeling towards abolition that occurred in Liverpool in the last decade of the British slave trade’s existence. Ultimately, this thesis argues that rapidly dwindling Liverpudlian support for the slave trade from the mid-1790s onward has been under-valued. By 1807 Liverpudlians, wanting to re-affirm cultural ties with the rest of Britain, turned their backs on the slave trade, which had by then become a source of unease and embarrassment.
The power of positivity: Do emotions influence attentional breadth?
Authors:   , Derham Crysta
Published: November 2021

Fredrickson's (2001) broaden and build theory describes how experiencing positive emotions, such as happiness, broadens our 'thought-action repertoire' leading us to be more likely to go out and act on our positive emotions. This results in the building of new relationships, resources and skills, which we can draw on in times of need throughout life. In contrast, the experience of negative emotion is thought to narrow our 'thought-action repertoire', leading to specific actions to aid in survival (Fredrickson, 2001). The current experiments aimed to explore the effect of briefly presented schematic faces (happy, sad, and neutral) on attentional scope using the flanker task. Based on the broaden and build theory it was hypothesised that there would be an increase in reaction time in trials primed with a happy face due to a broadening of attention, leading to increased flanker interference. A decrease in reaction time was predicted for trials primed with a sad face, due to a narrowing of attention leading to less flanker interference. Results lend partial support to the broaden and build hypothesis, with reaction times being slower following happy primes in incongruent flanker trials in Experiment 1. Recent research is discussed in regards to potential mediators of the relationship between emotion and attention.
Valuing Education: The role of soft power in Chinese engagement with Tonga
Authors:   , Gibbons Regan Priestley
Published: November 2021

The bilateral relationship between China and Tonga has existed for almost fifteen years, expanding from an initially limited scope to encompass trade, education, tourism, culture and defence. While China has rapidly expanded its official relationship with Tonga, this expansion has created tensions within Tongan society generated by fears of Chinese immigrants taking jobs and businesses. These tensions boiled over in 2006, as Tongans rioted in the capital Nuku’alofa against Chinese shopkeepers over perceived unfair competition. The aftermath of the Nuku’alofa riots has seen an increasing awareness from China of the need to educate Tongans to its presence in their country, and its goals on the world stage. This new awareness has resulted in China adopting a number of approaches to educate Tongans as part of its expanding engagement. Education has become a central plank of this new-found education campaign, with China introducing several programmes to expose Tongan students to its culture and values, including scholarships for tertiary students to study within China. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the correlation between China’s increasing political and economic engagement with Tonga, and the increasing use of education programmes such as scholarships to educate Tongans about China and its culture and values. To accomplish this, the political and economic ties between China and Tonga will be analysed, as will the soft power initiatives that China has undertaken. These will then be analysed to test whether or not the increase in soft power initiatives is due to the expansion of political and economic ties between the two countries. This will allow the use of soft power by China in Tonga to be compared to the trends evident in other South Pacific states, to determine whether Tonga is a unique case or whether China is undertaking these policies across the region.
Adoption of digital technology in the New Zealand motion picture industry
Authors:   , McInnes Rachel Gwendoline
Published: November 2021

This research applies Frambach's integrated model of the adoption and diffusion of innovations to the adoption of digital technology in the New Zealand motion picture industry. Previous models concerning innovation adoption have typically focused on adopter side variables. The model employed here integrates supply-side variables with the adopter-side variables focused on in traditional research. This research extends Frambach's model to consider the time and extent of adoption. The model is tested through a mail-out survey. Tests of associations between dependent and independent variables are carried out through four measures of association in a bivariate fashion. The results show that supply-side and adopter-side variables are both important influencers of the extent of adoption of digital technology in the motion picture industry. However supply-side factors do not appear to be important determinants of the time of adoption of digital technology in this industry.
Families and the 1951 New Zealand waterfront lockout
Authors:   , Millar Grace
Published: November 2021

From February to July 1951, 8,000 New Zealand watersider workers were locked-out and 7,000 miners, seamen and freezing workers went on strike in support. These workers and those who were dependent on their income, had to survive without wages for five months. The dispute was a family event as well as an industrial event. The men were fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, and their lack of wages affected the family that they lived with and their wider kin networks. The thesis examines families in order to write a gendered social history of the 1951 waterfront dispute.  The discussion starts by exploring the relationship between waterfront work and watersiders' families before the lockout. Then it turns to examine the material support that families received and the survival strategies used during the dispute. It examines the decisions union branches made about relief and other activities through the lens of gender and explores the implications of those decisions for family members. The subsequent chapters examine the dispute's end and long-term costs on families. The study draws on a mixture of union material, state archives and oral sources. The defeat of the union has meant that union material has largely survived in personal collections, but the state's active involvement in the dispute generated significant records. The oral history of 1951 is rich; this thesis draws on over fifty existing oral history interviews with people involved in the dispute, and twenty interviews completed for this project.  The thesis both complicates and confirms existing understandings of 1950s New Zealand. It complicates the idea of a prosperous conformist society, while confirming and deepening our understanding of the role of the family and gender relationships in the period. It argues that union branches put considerable effort into maintaining the gender order during the dispute and set up relief as a simulacrum of the breadwinner wage. Centring workers' families opens the dispute outwards to the communities they were part of. Compared to previous historical accounts, the thesis describes a messier and less contained 1951 waterfront dispute. This study shows that homes were a site of the dispute. The domestic work of ensuring that a family managed without wages was largely women's and was as much part of the dispute as collective union work, which was often organised to exclude women. The thesis argues that homes and families were the sharp edges of the 1951 waterfront dispute, the site of both its costs and crises.
Characterising Radio Emissions in Cosmic Filaments
Authors:   , Miller Rowan
Published: November 2021

A growing number of radio studies probe galaxy clusters into the low-power regime in which star formation is the dominant source of radio emission. However, at the time of writing no comparably deep observations have focused exclusively on the radio populations of cosmic filaments. This thesis describes the ATCA 2.1 GHz observations and subsequent analysis of two such regions - labelled Zone 1 (between clusters A3158 and A3125/A3128) and Zone 2 (between A3135 and A3145) - in the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster (HRS). Source count profiles of both populations are discussed and a radio luminosity function for Zone 1 is generated. While the source counts of Zone 2 appear to be consistent with expected values, Zone 1 exhibits an excess of counts across a wide flux range (1 mJy
New Zealand Public Television, Public Service and Everything in Between: The Success and Struggles of New Zealand on Air and Public Television
Authors:   , McLeod Jonathan
Published: November 2021

This thesis explores the contemporary situation of 'public television' in New Zealand. As this country’s longest-standing, most significant facilitator of the diverse range of locally-produced programmes that pursue the 'cultural identity' objectives that are regarded as centrally important to 'public television', the focus of this thesis will be on the role and contributions of public broadcast funding agency, New Zealand on Air. This focus has three main functions in this thesis, allowing it to: first, investigate the necessity of facilitating and producing 'public television'; second, to explore the successful ways in which this element of television has been delivered to viewers; and third, to examine the limitations posed by a highly commercial broadcast television environment on the pursuit of 'public television' objectives.  This undertaking is important because 'public television' faces a number of significant challenges in New Zealand, the most significant of which is inadequate public investment. Other challenges can be sourced to the intense competition and inadequate regulation of New Zealand television, which is a consequence of the deregulation and restructuring that it was subjected to in 1988-89. In the decades since, the broader environmental conditions encouraged by these changes have never been redressed. Presently, despite 'public television' fulfilling vital cultural functions, its situation has reached a crisis point, emphatically in regard to provisions for 'mainstream' broadcast audiences. For this reason, there needs to be an in-depth exploration of the issues and potentials in 'public television', to which this thesis aims to contribute.  The exploration that this thesis offers is structured in three chapters. The first examines the establishment and role of New Zealand on Air. The second addresses the ways in which 'public television' programmes are successfully facilitated through the considerations and funding allocations of NZoA. The third considers the limitations of New Zealand’s television environment on the pursuit of 'public television' and argues the necessity for enhanced resources to be provided in order to improve the current situation.
"Directors' duties" imposed below board level
Authors:   , Barber Fran
Published: November 2021

Recently, the High Court of Australia considered the scope of the term “officer” in a case concerning the breach of a statutory duty under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The equivalent duties prescribed by the New Zealand Companies Act 1993 are owed by an ostensibly narrower class. In considering how New Zealand law would apply to the same facts, this essay discusses the extent to which directors’ duties are, or should be owed by those below directorship level. It concludes that an expansive interpretation of the “director” definition is unnecessary and undesirable, and that explicitly extending directors’ duties to encompass certain senior managers would merely create uncertainties for courts and corporate leaders.
To punish or not punish: a comparative analysis of the legislative treatment of exemplary damages in Commonwealth jurisdictions
Authors:   , Boolieris Eva
Published: November 2021

Exemplary damages are an exceptional and controversial civil remedy.1 Though private litigation generally falls under the radar, exemplary damages often draw public interest due to the highly charged nature of the cases that concern this award.2 This paper outlines the different legislative approaches that the Commonwealth jurisdictions of New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom take to exemplary damages in the areas of personal injury, property, intellectual property, trade and commerce, media, employment and miscellaneous areas. This paper does not address the availability of exemplary damages in procedural legislation. The research process involved finding legislative references to exemplary damages in these jurisdictions and categorising these references. Relevant parliamentary materials and commentary have also been included. This paper concludes that exemplary damages should be awarded in New Zealand and that New Zealand’s current generous approach towards awarding exemplary damages in legislation is appropriate.
Review of arbitral awards for breach of natural justice: an internationalist approach
Authors:   , Brady Daniel
Published: November 2021

While international commercial arbitration is widely regarded as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism to litigation in national courts, those courts are frequently engaged in the review arbitral awards in the context of annulment as well as recognition and enforcement. A key purpose of this review is to ensure that the arbitral procedure is consistent with the fundamental principles of natural justice. These principles find their origin in the general principles of law common to civilised nations, and their application is mandated by both the New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law. This paper argues that the content of these principles should be ‘internationalised’. That is, it is both appropriate and desirable that domestic courts, irrespective of the jurisdiction in which they happen to be sitting, apply the basic rules of natural justice in uniform way. It is submitted that this would not only result in a consistent and therefore reliable recognition and enforcement regime, but would also contribute to the success and increased adoption of international arbitration as a key alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
The arbitrability of investor-state taxation disputes in international commercial arbitration
Authors:   , Brazier Lauren Waveney
Published: November 2021

Despite the expanding scope of arbitrability in recent times, the arbitrability of tax disputes remains an unsettled issue. While it has been a hotly discussed topic in the field of international investment arbitration, it also warrants attention in the context of international commercial arbitration. In particular, the arbitrability of investor-state taxation disputes in this area raises a number of challenging issues. Accordingly, this article provides an in depth examination of the arbitrability of investor-state taxation disputes in international commercial arbitration. It concludes that traditional concerns regarding the arbitrability of tax disputes do not, in principle, support the inarbitrability of all tax disputes. Rather, there is a logical distinction to be drawn between taxation disputes that directly implicate the sovereignty of states, and disputes as to taxation that are merely contractual in nature, and only involve taxation indirectly. In reaching this conclusion, this article also yields some insights into both the question of which law should govern arbitrability and also into the nature of arbitrability more generally, in the light of the developments that have occurred in this area.
A comparative study of the fa'afafine of Samoa and the whakawahine of Aotearoa/New Zealand
Authors:   , McFall Ashleigh
Published: November 2021

This study explores the meaning of the fa’afafine of Samoa and the whakawahine of Aotearoa/New Zealand. I compare and contrast the experiences of six fa’afafine and four whakawahine. I also examine the historical evidence for the existence of fa’afafine in Samoa and whakawahine in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The theoretical approaches underlying this research incorporate feminist, indigenous, and queer aspects but oral history is the primary theory and method used. As a fa’afafine who researched her own identity and whakawahine, the complexities of insider and outsider are explored.  This thesis discusses how narrators understand and/or make meaning of western categories of identification such as gay, transgender, drag queen and/or transsexual. These categories are largely rejected; preference for the culturally specific terms fa’afafine (Samoan) and whakawahine (Maori) are demonstrated. Narrators take issue with western researchers’ focus on sexual aspects of fa’afafine and whakawahine. For them, gender role, specifically feminine dress, behaviour and activities more accurately characterise their identities.  This thesis argues that fa’afafine and whakawahine are fluid identities. How one behaves as a woman varies, but narrators insist that fa’afafine and whakawahine are born not made that way, and ‘feel’ like women. The meaning of fa’afafine and whakawahine is not static; westernisation, colonization and the availability of gender reassignment treatment have all impacted on how each narrator defines her identity.  By focusing on the experiences of fa’afafine, most of whom live outside of Samoa, and whakawahine this thesis adds to the body of knowledge about gender variation.
Investigating the Effect of Kappa Opioid Receptor Agonists on Serotonin Transporter Function in HEK-293 Cells
Authors:   , Catherwood Victoria
Published: November 2021

The serotonin (5-HT) transporter (SERT) and the kappa opioid receptor (KOPr) are important brain proteins. Currently, it is known that KOPr modulates 5-HT concentrations but the biochemical mechanisms responsible remain enigmatic. The 5-HT and KOPr relationship is thought to involve SERT because both SERT and KOPr co-localise in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), a brain region involved in drug addiction, affective disorders, and stress homeostasis. Thus, elucidating the KOPr and SERT relationship will clarify biomedical targets for these disorders. To investigate this relationship the effect of KOPr activation on SERT function was examined in HEK-293 cells co-expressing myc-rKOPr and eGFP-tagged hSERT. We found the KOPr agonists U50,488H, Salvinorin A (Sal A) and DS-3-240 had no acute (5 min) effect on SERT function as measured by rotating disc electrode voltammetry (RDEV) incubated with 1’-diethyl-2,2’-cyanine iodide (D-22; 1.5 mM) and by confocal microscopy. Interestingly, SERT function significantly decreased with chronic (30 min) exposure to U50,488H (**p<0.01) and Sal A (**p<0.01) as measured with a novel high-throughput assay; this decrease was also attenuated with 5 min pre-treatment of the SERT inhibitor, fluoxitene (***p<0.001). Furthermore, this novel high-throughput assay also replicated our laboratories recent finding that chronic (30 min) exposure to U50,488H (**p<0.01) and Sal A (**p<0.01) significantly increase dopamine transporter (DAT) function in HEK-293 cells co-expressing myc-rKOPr and eYFP-tagged DAT. Collectively, these findings suggest in this cell model that chronic (30 min) KOPr activation by U50,488H and Sal A decreases SERT function.
Takamore v Clarke: Tikanga and Merits-Based Resolution of Burial Disputes, a Just Outcome?
Authors:   , Webb Matthew
Published: November 2021

Burial disputes are something of a novelty in New Zealand. Most are resolved amicably by those with ties to the deceased. The exception to has been the long-running case of Takamore v Clarke, the matter finally being resolved by the Supreme Court this year. Burial disputes raise fundamental issues of religious and cultural identity (including tikanga Māori), personhood, and the meaning of family. Despite their rarity in New Zealand, the response of the law in resolving such disputes should “fit the fuss”, having regard to the context in which they arise. This essay begins by discussing the form of resolution advocated for by the majority and minority in Takamore. Their respective approaches are essentially the same, especially with regards to tikanga Māori. This is one of Court intervention coupled with a merits-based assessment of the dispute. However the Court failed to apprehend there was no pressing need for burial, prior to creating a solution of general application. The experience of comparable jurisdictions, where speedy resolution has been necessary (such as Australia) demonstrates that the role of the Court applying such a test in burial disputes is misconceived. Rather than providing “justice” for the parties concerned, merits-based resolution produces unfair and unconvincing outcomes. The more just response is to ensure the parties never get to Court, via mediation. Insofar as agreement is not possible, the role of the Court should be supervisory in the application of a prescriptive test emphasising expediency and ensuring the dispute is resolved out of Court.
Excluding Undeserving Claimants: New Zealand's Interpretation of Art 1F(c) Refugee Convention
Authors:   , Ward Abby
Published: November 2021

This paper reviews New Zealand judicial interpretation of the “acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations” as stated in art 1F(c) Refugee Convention, in the light of subsequent foreign jurisprudence. Article 1F excludes claimants from gaining refugee status under the Convention if there are “serious reasons for considering” they have committed a proscribed act. The ambiguous ambit of art 1F(c) had attracted little jurisprudence before the New Zealand authority’s 1995 decision in Refugee Appeal 2338/94. However, art 1F(c) jurisprudence has significantly increased in the face of new global issues such as terrorism, and an expanding United Nations mandate. This paper aims to aid future New Zealand courts in art 1F(c) cases, by assessing Refugee Appeal 2338/94 in light of the Canadian Supreme Court decision in Pushpanathan v Canada and the United Kingdom Supreme Court decision in Al Sirri and DD v Secretary of State for the Home Department.
At home with New Zealand in the 1960s
Authors:   , Thomson Richard
Published: November 2021

Published by A H & A W Reed to immediate success late in 1961, New Zealand in Colour was the first of many large-format books of colour photographs of New Zealand. While they belonged to a tradition of scenic reproduction as old as European settlement, technological changes and the social and economic disruptions of the Second World War intensified the importance of the image in print culture. Drawing on recent historiographic approaches that seek to decentre New Zealand across transnational and city-hinterland relationships, this thesis argues that reproduction, through photography but also as a cultural practice, was intrinsic to a Pakeha conception of place. Looking at scenery was an activity thought to be peculiarly suited to New Zealand, but it was also a prime form of tourist consumption and was therefore essential to New Zealanders’ successful participation in modernity, which required ‘seeing ourselves’ but also awareness of recognition from other moderns. During the decades after the Second World War, modernity took on a more international character with greater mobility of people and goods and a strengthening consumer culture. The complex kinds of looking involved in being modern were increasingly expressed as a tension between modern and anti-modern impulses. The colour pictorial displayed New Zealand as a cultural landscape of cameras, cars, and holidays, but also as a refuge from modernity. The ‘coffee table book’ was a luxury consumer object of advanced technology, but the gift was the preferred method for its circulation. To be at home with this New Zealand may require a move to the suburbs, but it offers a view of nation and nationalism in which mobility, leisure, and consumption have become the chief explanatory tools.
The Harmonisation of Transfer Pricing: the Obstacles, the Arm's Length Principle and the OECD Guidelines
Authors:   , Timms Duran
Published: November 2021

This essay argues that the complete harmonisation of transfer pricing rules with the arm’s length principle is unattainable for three reasons. First, states are not under a legal obligation to apply the principle outside of treaty or domestic law. Second, the theoretical shortcomings of the principle are creating a divergence from the OECD guidelines on how the principle should be applied. Third, the perception held by states that multinational enterprises are not paying a fair share of tax is also creating a divergence from the OECD guidelines on the principle. The resultant divergence is a significant obstacle to transfer pricing harmonisation.
Intercultural Relations in a Multicultural Society: Predicting Tongans' Attitudes toward Maori and New Zealand Europeans/Palangi Groups
Authors:   , Tatafu Malia Alisi
Published: November 2021

Contemporary intergroup relations and perceptions research has largely focused on majorities' perspectives while neglecting the perspectives of minorities. However, for a multicultural society to be successful, mutually positive intergroup attitudes are important, and multiple perspectives need to be considered.  This research drew on Ward and Masgoret's (2006) Integrative Model (IM) of attitudes toward immigrants to examine contact, threat (realistic and symbolic), and intergroup emotions (anger and fear) as predictors of Tongans' attitudes toward New Zealand Europeans/Palangi people and Maori. It also tested: 1) the effects of perceived discrimination to determine if this explained additional variance in out-group attitudes beyond that accounted for by contact, threat and emotions; and 2) target group (Palangi/Maori) as a moderator of the predictor variables.  Two hundred and forty-four Tongans (age range 15-83 years) resident in New Zealand participated in the study. In line with the hypotheses, hierarchical regression analysis controlling for age, gender, educational level, English language proficiency and employment status indicated that greater contact and lower levels of symbolic threat predicted positive out-group attitudes and fear predicted negative attitudes. Furthermore, the addition of perceived discrimination to the regression model significantly accounted for additional variance in out-group attitudes and appeared to mediate the effect of fear, which was no longer significant. Contrary to expectations, however, these effects were not moderated by out-group (Palangi/Maori) target.  The findings are discussed in relation to New Zealand's social, economic and political context. In addition, the contributions offered by a minority perspective on intergroup relations are elaborated, and the applications of the findings are described along with recommendations for future research. In the end, understanding minorities' perspectives is crucial for promoting positive intergroup relations in New Zealand as well as in other multicultural societies particularly those with long histories of cultural plurality and prolonged intercultural conflicts.
Dirichlet Methods for Bayesian Source Detection in Radio Astronomy Images
Authors:   , Friedlander Anna
Published: November 2021

The sheer volume of data to be produced by the next generation of radio telescopes—exabytes of data on hundreds of millions of objects—makes automated methods for the detection of astronomical objects ("sources") essential. Of particular importance are low surface brightness objects, which are not well found by current automated methods.  This thesis explores Bayesian methods for source detection that use Dirichlet or multinomial models for pixel intensity distributions in discretised radio astronomy images. A novel image discretisation method that incorporates uncertainty about how the image should be discretised is developed. Latent Dirichlet allocation — a method originally developed for inferring latent topics in document collections — is used to estimate source and background distributions in radio astronomy images. A new Dirichlet-multinomial ratio, indicating how well a region conforms to a well-specified model of background versus a loosely-specified model of foreground, is derived. Finally, latent Dirichlet allocation and the Dirichlet-multinomial ratio are combined for source detection in astronomical images.   The methods developed in this thesis perform source detection well in comparison to two widely-used source detection packages and, importantly, find dim sources not well found by other algorithms.
"Walking the Talk"? An Ethnography of Biculturalism at Te Papa
Authors:   , Schubert-McArthur Tanja
Published: November 2021

This thesis examines the implications of a bicultural framework for the everyday interactions of Māori and non-Māori staff at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (TP thereafter). The research addresses gaps in the New Zealand literature on biculturalism, which has not hitherto explored the internal dynamics of cultural organisations in depth,as well as issues in the international literature of anthropology, museum studies and related fields to do with museums, indigenous people and cultural identity. The central research question is: how does biculturalism work in practice at TP? The approach is qualitative using mixed-methods, based on twelve months intensive fieldwork behind the scenes at New Zealand’s national museum. Drawing on 68 interviews and participant observations with 18 different teams across the organisation, the thesis explores how biculturalism is enacted, negotiated, practised and envisioned on different stages within the complex social institution that is the museum.  Rather than seeing TP as a single bicultural entity, my analysis suggests that TP is a convoluted amalgam of several stages encompassing ‘contact zones’ where Māori and non-Māori engage to varying degrees. I propose that TP’s marae is the centre stage for Māori activities and rituals that serve a number of functions: to position people through mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, display power, facilitate intercultural dialogue, empower Māori, and transform non-Māori through meaningful experiences. Throughout the thesis, I argue that biculturalism is neither an innocent aspiration nor a means to an end, but an ongoing struggle and negotiation process.  The importance of ethnography to the anthropological enterprise and museum studies research is reaffirmed through this study; not only does this ethnographic study provide insights into museum practices, but also the complex processes of ‘grappling with biculturalism’, interactions between diverse museum staff as well as positioning of indigenous peoples in settler societies.
Indonesian junior secondary school teachers' conceptions of assessment: A mixed methods study
Authors:   , Azis Astuti
Published: November 2021

Understanding teachers’ conceptions of assessment is important because of their influence on teachers’ assessment practices. Despite numerous quantitative studies on teachers’ conceptions and practices of assessment, little research exists regarding the unique assessment environment of Indonesia. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to examine how Indonesian junior high school teachers understand assessment, how their conceptions of assessment relate to their assessment practices, and what factors contribute to their conceptions and practices of assessment.  This mixed methods study adopted a participant selection model in which quantitative data was analysed to select participants for the qualitative phase. A validated measure of teacher conceptions of assessment was adapted for use in the quantitative phase to explore teacher (N=107) conceptions of whether they thought assessment was for improvement, accountability or whether it was irrelevant. These three criteria were used to select twelve Indonesian teachers for semi-structured interviews and to contribute documents for analysis in the qualitative phase.  The Indonesian teachers believed that the purpose of assessment was to improve teaching and learning and also to demonstrate the accountability of students and school. They tended to disagree with the view that assessment is irrelevant. Further analysis of the data revealed that teachers’ conceptions of assessment were conflicted. They were keen to use assessment practices to improve their classroom teaching, but felt that the state-wide examination policy requirements constrained their efforts. These distinctive and conflicting conceptions of assessment held by Indonesian teachers appeared to arise from the interplay of socio-ecological factors including culture and the Indonesian education system.  Conceptions of assessment are unique to every setting. These findings highlight that valid measurement of teacher conceptions is likely to require national and regional accommodations based on contextual factors. Furthermore, government, policy makers, and curriculum developers must work to build a strong synergy among themselves in order to share consistent goals with teachers. If cultural expectations of school assessment and government policy were aligned, Indonesian teachers may be better able to resolve conflict between their beliefs and assessment practices.
Making sense of the everyday women rugby player
Authors:   , Tovia Katerina
Published: November 2021

This thesis examines the cultural and social significance of women’s rugby. It attempts to make sense of the experience of the everyday women rugby player at a grass roots level and is an area that has received limited attention in sociology. The purpose of this thesis was to document, explore and reflect upon personal stories and experiences of women rugby players by using qualitative research methods. The participants in the research were 12 women rugby players from different rugby clubs. They were arranged in small focus groups that ran over a period of four weeks where personal stories and experiences were shared and critical reflection of the narratives took place. Common themes identified throughout the research process included the current structure and organisation of women’s rugby that still results in women’s rugby being less valued on and off the field. The stories and experiences revealed the fine line that woman rugby players tread as they try to manage the tension of playing to the ideal image of a rugby player on the field and maintaining their femininity after the game. The findings suggest that the pleasures of rugby found in physicality, roughness, drinking, and associated with masculine culture, are equally pleasurable for these women rugby players. These findings provided insights into the lived experiences of the everyday women’s rugby player at a grass root level. They also suggest that the various experiences of women rugby players, both positive and negative, need to be recognised so that women can be better valued as rugby players rather than as women who just play rugby.
Visual Regimes & Virtual Becomings: The Production of (Augmented) Space in the 'New Berlin'
Authors:   , Wheatley Kim
Published: November 2021

This thesis is grounded in the belief that the city is a key site of contestation in an ongoing theoretical debate concerning the nature of the relationship between new media and society. It is guided by a desire to engage with two distinct, but related, theoretical frameworks for making sense of this relationship, the ‘virtual city,’ as informed by the work of Paul Virilio, Jean Baudrillard, and cyberpunk author William Gibson, and the ‘augmented city,’ derived from Lev Manovich’s “The Poetics of Augmented Space.” After providing an overview of these two paradigms of knowledge, it attempts to address the limitations of both frameworks, which the author claims are reductionist as the former tends towards a binary distinction between the material (urban space) and the immaterial (virtual space), while the latter is underpinned by a narrow, Euclidean understanding of space that limits its efficacy in an urban context. In order to address these concerns, the author proposes a methodology for understanding the city as a virtual space that is distinct from the ‘virtual city’ paradigm of 1990s cyber-theory by attempting to open up a dialogue between the work of Deleuzian philosopher Pierre Lévy, and the Marxist dialectician Henri Lefebvre.  Using Berlin as a case study, this framework is deployed in an attempt to generate an understanding of how the city functions as a mediated landscape whose space is produced socially as a result of a dialectical process involving the accretion and entanglement of an ongoing series of representations, political decisions, and social experiences. As a mediated space, the city is understood as being produced and reproduced through acts of representation in both cinema and new media, as well as through the distinctive visual regimes that emerge out of them, which in turn structure the way the city is experienced. It also reads the city as a discursive space and draws connections between the discourses of the ‘New Berlin’—the space that emerged after the city’s reunification in 1989—and the promise of the new inherent in the discourses of new media technologies. Finally, the study argues that the discourses and visual regimes of augmented space in Berlin are not merely informed by virtual processes, but that the virtual and the distinctive social space of the city out of which augmented space emerges work in conjunction to actively structure the ways in which augmentation should be understood as both techno-cultural formation, and as (urban) spatial practice.
Tax avoidance in New Zealand: in search of principles
Authors:   , Bush Harriet
Published: November 2021

This paper analyses the judicial application of New Zealand’s general anti-tax avoidance rule contained in s BG 1 of the Income Tax Act 2007 in the light of three 20th Century jurisprudential theories of legal reasoning. It focuses specifically on the role of moral principles in the process of judicial decision-making and explores whether existing case law on the avoidance provision can be seen as supporting the hypothesis that judges apply moral principles when reaching decisions. Following the test laid down for tax avoidance in the Supreme Court’s decision in Ben Nevis Ventures Ltd & Others v Commissioner of Inland Revenue, the paper concludes that judges have the ability, in some cases, to reach their decision about whether there has been tax avoidance by applying the moral principle that tax should apply uniformly to all cases that are economically similar.
Strict liability within the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011
Authors:   , Carter James
Published: November 2021

This paper examines strict liability within the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing Amendment Act 2011. Prior to the act, enforcing copyright infringement by file sharing was unrealistic due to detection, evidentiary and authorisation problems. The Act resolved these problems by imposing strict liability in the form of vicarious liability and evidentiary presumptions. First, it explores the decision to hold account holders vicariously liable for end user infringements in relation to policy considerations and fact patterns arising in Copyright Tribunal decisions. In doing so, it highlights ways in which injustice may be avoided. Second, it explores the evidentiary presumptions, the underlying policy rationale for their inclusion and the Copyright Tribunal’s application of them. Ultimately, it argues that there is good reason to remove the evidentiary presumptions.
The resolution of international watercourse disputes: how should states approach the matter?
Authors:   , Chote Alice
Published: November 2021

Disputes concerning international watercourses have been resolved in a variety of ways in the past. This paper builds upon the dispute resolution framework put forward in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and state practice to develop a dispute resolution framework which will bring more efficient results for riparian states. This process emphasises the important role that fact finding can have in this context. Using this investigative process at an early stage in the dispute resolution process helps to reduce the areas of conflict between the states and provides a platform to encourage negotiations. The framework outlined also allows for recourse to negotiations, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or arbitration if a resolution cannot be found. Recourse to the ICJ and arbitral tribunals has been left to the final stage of the framework to reflect state practice in the area. If this style of dispute resolution framework is adopted by states it should allow for disputes to be resolved efficiently. In turn this is likely to increase the awareness and support for fact finding as an alternative means of dispute resolution in international relations more broadly.
Defining the Relationship between Domestic General Anti-Avoidance Rules and Double Tax Agreements
Authors:   , Cooper Alexandra
Published: November 2021

Double taxation agreements pose a particular analytical problem. While they provide a coherent structure that encourages cross-border investment, the agreements also provide opportunities for taxpayers to avoid their domestic tax obligations. To prevent tax avoidance, some countries enact domestic general anti-avoidance rules to protect their domestic interests. These rules raise questions as to what the relationship between the domestic law and the double tax agreement is. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs provides Commentary on the Organisation for Cooperation and Economic Development Model Double Tax Agreement. This Commentary sets out an analytical framework from which this relationship is to be evaluated. This paper argues that the framework is of little practical significance. The paper concludes that the weight and usefulness of the Commentary lies in a guiding principle set out in the Commentary. Consequently, the wider interpretative approaches do not practically add to the analysis and should be given little weight.
Criminal Stain on a White Collar: A Critical Analysis of Proposed Changes to Directors’ Liabilities
Authors:   , Cranney Stephen
Published: November 2021

The recent finance company collapses have highlighted the need for improved director accountability. However where is the appropriate point to draw the line, which if crossed, imposes criminal liability? The Financial Markets Conduct Bill and the Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment Bill both attempt to redefine when criminal liability will attach to directors. By assessing the proposed changes in the light of two recent cases, it can be seen that under the proposed changes, directors have the potential to be found criminally liable for less than dishonest behaviour. This raises the issue of whether criminal liability is appropriate in regards to directors’ actions, or whether a civil liability scheme would be more appropriate. This paper looks at the current law and the proposed changes to directors’ liability, and by considering the situations of two failed finance companies, attempts to draw conclusions as to the effects of such changes.
Unnecessay awkwardness and the "no loss" argument in Altimarloch
Authors:   , Curin Brown Silvia
Published: November 2021

This paper discusses the “no loss” argument raised in Marlborough District Council v Altimarloch. Assessing the conventional principles relevant to assessing loss in negligence, it suggests that no extension of the principles should be made to include a third party claim for damages in the calculation of loss. The principle in The Liverpool (No 2), and the principles of mitigation are also discussed.