bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Te Reo Tātaki o te Ringa: Māori Narratives and Contemporary Technology
Authors:   , Hakaraia David
Published: November 2021

This research explores how Māori tradition and narratives along with modern fabrication techniques can be used to make contemporary Māori design. The aim of this thesis is to document my work history and findings; and to add to the continuation of contemporary Māori design discourse. Part of the documentation process was interviewing leading Māori artists and craftspeople. This helped me to develop and reflect upon my tikanga (correct procedure), which in turn allowed me to create a body of physical works that fulfilled the compositional component of this thesis. There are two dominating components to my work: the engagement of narratives which I have a personal interest in and my use of new technologies to generate these works. The narratives used predominantly relate to my Māori cultural heritage and background. These stories have captured my imagination and I have enjoyed expressing them in a way that departs from the customary tribal style and creates a personal contemporary design approach that is distinctly my own.
Knowledge Translation in Action: An Evaluation of the Implementation of Customised Birthweight Centiles at One New Zealand District Health Board
Authors:   , Lardelli Malia Noelani
Published: November 2021

Identifying small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA) babies is important, because these babies may be at increased risk of hypoglycaemia at birth. It is proposed that customised birthweight centiles (CBWC) can more accurately identify these babies by taking into account several physiological variables of the pregnancy affecting birthweight. These variables are: maternal height and booking weight, ethnicity, parity, the baby's gender and gestation. CBWC for a New Zealand (NZ) population were developed by McCowan, Stewart, Francis and Gardosi (2004), and can be downloaded for free from www.gestation.net. Using CBWC is not in common practice in NZ, even though its use was discussed in a 2007 Health and Disability Commissioner report in relation to neonatal hypoglycaemia. The setting for the study was a NZ District Health Board (DHB) that calculates a CBWC for each birth. The research question asked how the evidence behind CBWC was put into practice and what outcomes resulted from translating this knowledge into action. This was a mixed methods evaluation which included interviews, focus groups, an audit and document analysis. The knowledge-to-action (KTA) framework (Straus, Tetroe, & Graham, 2009) was used as a theoretical template to describe the implementation process that occurred. The results revealed that maternity care providers were initially challenged by the evidence. But over time, guideline compliance improved as practitioners experienced the benefit of using CBWC in practice. All agreed that the CBWC calculator was user-friendly. However, the audit demonstrated it was easy to make a mistake or manipulate results when using the calculator. CBWC can help identify babies at risk of hypoglycaemia who otherwise would have been missed. But it is unknown what difference it had made in improving neonatal morbidity and mortality, due to insufficient data. But anecdotally, stakeholders felt it had made a difference. The findings demonstrated that knowledge translation is a complex process which is difficult to capture within a one-dimensional framework. However, using such a framework can identify what stages are needed to complete an implementation process.
Ownership and Sense of Belonging for the Displaced: Integrating Somali Refugees into Wellington City
Authors:   , Ibrahim Ida
Published: November 2021

Having a sense of belonging to a place is important for everyone adapting to a new environment but especially more so for displaced refugees. This is important for raising confidence and self worth which gives refugees a better chance to understand and connect to the surrounding culture and immediate environment. Somali refugees first arrived in New Zealand as asylum seekers. They are discussed specifically in this thesis with relation to the issue of discrimination, methods of integration and its issues such as social depravation. As an ethnic group, the Somali refugees are very distinct in their culture and religious belief thus facing more challenges in the process of integration compared to other refugee communities. This situation is not further aided as they live on the peripheries of the city, in this case, central Wellington city and its outskirts, which impedes the chance of exchange between their culture and other cultures that inform this multi-cultural city. The central city represents a central cultural hub where culture is exchanged through a variety of trade predominantly through food and the arts and crafts. This research explores the importance of providing spaces within the commercial centre for the social and economic value for the Somali refugees that could play a big part in their integration process. The thesis discusses the history of the Somalis, methods of integration and social depravation, precedents of successful spaces for cultural expression, concluding with the final design proposal discussions and conclusion. As the thesis explores the prospect of giving ownership to the Somali refugees in Wellington city the design component of the thesis focuses on architectural interventions that would facilitate and support cultural integration. The study explores the personalisation of an existing inner city built space and the use for functional needs as a first step for the Somalis to partake in economic and cultural exchange, understanding and eventually through such means develop a sense of belonging.
Toitū te Mana Rangatahi: Marae-Based Youth Courts: Negotiating Pathways for Rangatahi Offending
Authors:   , Waititi Haimona Hone Hiki-Tia-Te-Rangi
Published: November 2021

The Aotearoa/New Zealand Government has a disposition to spend tax payer's money on prisons. The way in which our current legal system is structured, subsequent Governments are going to have to do the same. Māori make up a disproportionate number of those in prison. Recent times have seen the establishment of an initiative aimed at reducing youth crime rates such as Restorative Justice and Marae-Based Youth Courts (MBYC). This study explores how well these new initiatives offered by the youth justice system provide for the needs of youth and community. The specific aim of this study is to analyse the MBYC from the perspective of rangatahi, lay advocates and Kaumātua (honoured elders). The purpose of this is to better understand the processes that rangatahi (Māori youth) went through when they came into contact with the criminal justice system and how cultural philosophies may better inform this process, so that improved outcomes may be achieved for these rangatahi. This research was conducted under a Kaupapa Māori methodology. A series of 3 individual interviews and 3 focus group interviews were conducted (participant total 11) with the three demographic groups. Interviews were later transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Four major themes were identified from the analysis. These were; Tā te ture ki te Rangatahi (law as it pertains to the rangatahi), whakamā, Te Wairuatanga o te Marae (the spirituality of the Marae) and Potentiality of the Lay Advocate Role. All four major themes had a set of subordinate themes directly related to them. It was found that the adversarial nature of the youth justice system was having a negative impact on rangatahi and was inhibiting their ability to experience the feelings of remorse and accountability that the process is designed to induce. The restorative justice parts of the system showed more promise but were also falling short of the outcomes they set for themselves. Encouraging results were seen in relation to the MBYC. However, the transplanting of the adversarial court system on to the marae warranted concerns over the domination of this institution over the marae.
Effective Strategies for Teaching Young Children Critical Thinking Through Picture Book Reading: A Case Study in the New Zealand Context
Authors:   , Law Shu Yen
Published: November 2021

Critical thinking is a life skill that empowers people to participate fully in everyday life and to make reasonable judgments and inferences on important issues. Critical thinking is not viewed as an individual, fixed entity, but is instead malleable and influenced by the social and cultural contexts of the learner. This study explored the strategies used by primary school teachers to promote young children's critical thinking, and their rationales for those strategies. It also investigated children's responses to picture book reading, including their opinions and behaviours. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate the development of critical thinking skills during picture book reading lessons with junior primary children. Four teachers in two schools and 22 children aged five to six years participated in this study. Methods included observations of picture book reading lessons, individual interviews with teachers, paired interviews with children, and collection of documents. These methods were used to collect data about teaching strategies, and to obtain an insider's view of the teachers and children. Data were analysed within and across reading lessons using a content analysis approach, and the children's responses were analysed against the Four Resources Model (Luke & Freebody, 1999a) framework. Six teaching strategies were found to be effective in promoting critical thinking in children. These strategies reflected a sociocultural approach to teaching and learning. The children's reading of picture books showed that the majority of these young children engaged in the practices of breaking the code of texts, of participating in the meanings of texts, and of using texts functionally, with a minority engaged in the practice of critically analysing and transforming texts. This study suggests that to foster critical thinking there is a need for teaching practices to focus on nurturing children to be text analysts and encouraging children to be active questioners.
At Home with a View: Exploring Notions of Landscape
Authors:   , Borren Hester Blyth
Published: November 2021

The aim of this thesis is to gain an understanding of the role and value of a view of landscape with respect to the interior of New Zealand houses. It explores the all-or-nothing manner in which contemporary architecture presents surrounding scenery. Through a translation of New Zealand landscape paintings, it presents alternative approaches for connecting the interior and exterior of a house in such a way that can enhance both the experience of a view and a house. In doing so this thesis contends that artistic themes and techniques can enrich views of landscapes, especially of nature, through the architecture of New Zealand houses. This thesis employs three research approaches to achieve its aim. The first research section, a literature review, provides an examination of historical and contemporary western attitudes towards a view. This confirms that much of western society has learnt to appreciate and benefit from, a view, and that the nature of people's response is deeply ingrained. The second section focuses on domestic views in both international and Wellington houses. Each study is analysed to gain understanding of the design strategies in respect to architectural presentations of a view. The last section pursues a more integrated designresearch approach, separated in two parts. Firstly, it explores a possible connection between the artistic treatment of landscape paintings and architectural treatments of houses. Four spaces are presented as studio residences for artists, focusing on four very different characteristics of land. Secondly, two further house designs are developed which employ techniques produced from the first design part as well as research from the previous sections. It aims to present two opposite spatial approaches to a depiction of surrounding landscape in an architectural design, one that presents a single view to look at and one that presents a series of views to engage with. This final design section explores the above contention. It presents how a connection between landscape art and architecture can offer guidance to the way in which a view is experienced from New Zealand homes. This is achieved on a theoretical as well as practical level, generating a range of techniques for further exploration.
The House of Marie Shannon
Authors:   , Apthorp Sally Margaret
Published: November 2021

This thesis creatively explores the architectural implications present in the photographs by New Zealand photographer Marie Shannon. The result of this exploration is a house for Shannon. The focus is seven of Shannon's interior panoramas from 1985-1987 in which architectural space is presented as a domestic stage. In these photograph's furniture and objects are the props and Shannon is an actress. This performance, with Shannon both behind and in front of her camera, creates a double insight into her world; architecture as a stage to domestic life, and a photographers view of domestic architecture. Shannon's view on the world enables a greater understanding to our ordinary, domestic lives. Photography is a revealing process that teaches us to see more richly in terms of detail, shading, texture, light and shadow. Through an engagement with photographs and understanding architectural space through a photographer's eye, the hidden, secret or unnoticed aspects to Shannon's reality will be revealed. This insight into another's reality may in turn enable a deeper understanding of our own. The methodology was a revealing process that involved experimenting with Shannon's panoramic photographs. Models and drawing, through photographic techniques, lead to insights both formally in three dimensions and at surface level in two dimensions. These techniques and insights were applied to the site through the framework of a camera obscura. Shannon's new home is created by looking at her photographs with an architect's 'eye'. Externally the home acts as a closed vessel, a camera obscura. But internally rich and intriguing forms, surfaces, textures and shadings are created. Just as the camera obscura projects an exterior scene onto the interior, so does the home. Shannon will inhabit this projection of the shadows which oppose 30 O'Neill Street, Ponsonby, Auckland; her past home and site of her photographs. Photographers, and in particular Shannon, look at the architectural world with fresh eyes, free from an architectural tradition. Photography and the camera enable an improved power of sight. More is revealed to the camera. Beauty is seen in the ordinary, with detail, tone, texture, light and dark fully revealed. As a suspended moment, a deeper understanding and opportunity is created to observe and appreciate this beauty. Through designing with a photographer's eye greater insight is gained into Shannon's 'reality'. This 'revealing' process acts as a means of teaching us how to see pictorial beauty that is inherent in our ordinary lives. This is the beauty that is often hidden in secret, due to our unseeing eyes. This project converts the photographs beauty back into three dimensional architecture.
WithDrawing: An Investigation into How the Iterative Process of Hand Drawing Can Influence the Design of Buildable Architectural Spaces That Are Responsive to the Contemporary Blurring of Traditional Programs, Typologies, and Contextual Conditions
Authors:   , Snow Amanda
Published: November 2021

In the early 21st century environmental, social and cultural changes are confronting the traditional relationship one has with technology, space and subsequently architecture. More specifically the tools of design are becoming integrated, whereby the clarity of tradition is becoming overlapped, becoming blurred. With this in mind the research investigates the opportunities of an iterative hand drawing process to develop architectural responses to movement, time and transformation. Highlighting a future which is inevitably changing, it is important to assess the inherent qualities of our design tools, as they too influence the connection and formation of architectural space. The research explores hand drawing through a design process which firstly, challenges drawn representation techniques and secondly, emphasises movement and transformation as key architectural drivers within the 21st century. Due to the continual developments within technology, construction practices and design materials, there is an opportunity to question and reflect our changing built environment and hence, the role of movement in architecture. With reference to the theorists Catherine Ingraham and Robin Evans, the research develops the position that the practice of architecture has become restricted by linear ordering systems. This is reflective in the orthographic representation of architecture alongside the built edges and boundaries of architectural spaces. Therefore, today's transforming conditions are used to validate and further articulate Ingraham's and Evans's theories, outlining a design response, using Wellington as a case study, built upon overlaying environmental, social and cultural relationships. The architectural outcome connects rather than dissociates itself to transforming conditions, creating multiple rather than singular boundary conditions through architectural blurring. Traditional relationships to spatial boundaries and edges are critiqued through the ambiguities and layers of working within an iterative hand drawing process. The influence of hand drawn qualities has provided a way to insert motion into a construct which is perceptually static, hence introducing a means to negotiate and work within a period of transition.
Involving Family Members of People with Dementia in the Music Therapy Process at a Residential Care Facility
Authors:   , Dennis Patrice
Published: November 2021

The therapeutic use of music with older adults with dementia is widely documented, and family involvement is encouraged in both music therapy practice and dementia care services. This qualitative study explores and describes the experience of a student music therapist involving the family members of people with dementia in the music therapy process in a residential care facility. Grounded theory methodology informed analysis of the data sources. Secondary data was analysed and a theoretical perspective regarding family involvement in the music therapy process in this setting was developed. The findings are presented in main categories consisting of: building relationships, sharing information, unplanned family involvement in music therapy sessions, flexibility, spontaneity, joy and humour, and negotiation of the music therapist role in the community of the facility. The emergent theoretical perspective suggests that involving family members in the music therapy process in residential care facility is valuable in fostering and strengthening a sense of community between residents, family members and care staff.
The Adaptable Dwelling: A Response to Cultural Diversity
Authors:   , Holmes Celia
Published: November 2021

Traditionally, dwellings have evolved in response to social and cultural needs, and changed simultaneously with the development of society. The dwelling is associated primarily with the concept of culture and identity of its occupants. This is challenged through migration to a new and unfamiliar context. In 2010, immigrants granted residency in New Zealand came from increasingly diverse cultural backgrounds (Department of Labour, 2009). These varied cultural backgrounds present greater challenges and complex settlement barriers. A house that is able to cater to diverse cultural needs in terms of function, privacy, and adaptability is crucial for today's growing multicultural society. Immigrants are often placed in council housing that was designed for New Zealand's Pakeha culture which does not provide for the requirements of non-Pakeha cultures. Immigrants are often required to make significant cultural changes through the immigration process and many attributes of their cultures are lost because dwellings are inappropriate. This thesis argues that architecture has a vital role to play in the mediation and integration of immigrants. The dwelling is an important medium through which immigrants can maintain a sense of cultural identity and can develop positive interactions with the wider community. It proposes a generic solution to public housing that is not spatially restrictive nor culturally inhibitive. The research navigates multi-disciplinary boundaries, through both an individual and community lens. It enables a holistic view of culture, immigrants and the importance of the dwelling. The research looks at recent immigration to New Zealand, the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of immigrants and the general challenges immigrants face. Furthermore, it explores historic and contemporary architectural theories on flexibility and adaptability. The design phase brings together research findings of cultural research on immigrants' cultures in the design of a dwelling. It focuses on flexibility as an architectural solution. The design responds to the differing spatial needs of immigrant groups moving to New Zealand. It enables reflection of their identity in their transition to the new culture of New Zealand. The design phase is split into three sections: first, the creation of a generic solution that remains site-less, second, the generic solution is tested against the requirements of an Islamic family, and third, the outcomes of part one are tested in a higher density situation. This thesis concludes by reviewing how the proposal has taken into account the diverse needs of particular cultures and specific living requirements of the immigrant groups studied. Through the concept of flexible design, the changing cultural needs of occupants are addressed. Immigrants moving to New Zealand will have a housing typology that can be adapted to their lifestyles and accommodate diverse cultural requirements.
The Unavoidable Metaphor of Memorial Architecture: The Boundaries and Event-Space of Chernobyl Reactor No. 4
Authors:   , van der Veen Christopher Ian
Published: November 2021

In the design of memorial architecture, there is encountered an overuse of literal metaphor in order to translate difficult concepts into the built form. These metaphors are explored in contemporary examples of memorial and hybrid-memorial typologies. Within Chernobyl, there is a set of criteria that enable these metaphorical interpretations to operate on a more complex level, and allow the act of memorialising a truer response. The unique conditions contained within the reactor allow for a reinterpretation of architectural process, which is already realised by the existing Sarcophagus - a reactive memorial itself, designed to entomb the burnt core and its radioactive properties. As such, the reactor and its attached site can no longer be re-used in any functional capacity; the proposed memorial embraces these criteria, exploiting phenomenological thought in order to locate a set of boundary conditions. This creates an event-space -  that being the location of inhabitable architecture within the reactor. Event-space exists between the boundaries established, which is a conceptual entity that is able exist in reality, and enable flashes of the past events to surface, which are interpreted by the memorial inhabitants. The memorial uses this event-space, within the sites absence of function, to locate the actual event of the disaster in the past. This fragile undertaking is achieved by placing greater responsibility on architecture to mediate the design of memorial, and remove external influences that halt this process.
Reducing Metabolic Syndrome in Patients with a Severe Mental Illness in a Forensic Unit in New Zealand: Perceived Barriers for Registered Nurses
Authors:   , Guthrie Sarah Jane
Published: November 2021

The New Zealand Health Strategy in 2000 highlighted significant health inequalities and the need to improve the health status of individuals with severe mental illness (Ministry of Health, 2000). Mental health users die at 2.5 to 4.3 times the rate of the general population, even when suicide is factored out (Handiside, 2004). It is estimated that one quarter of the world's population have Metabolic Syndrome and that they are twice as likely to die from and have a five-fold greater risk of developing type two diabetes mellitus (International Diabetes Federation, 2009). The time has long past when Registered Nurses can only afford to focus on a patient's mental health and to do so would negatively impact on a patient's quality of life. A patient's quality of life encompasses their physical, functional, emotional, spiritual and social well-being (Cella, 1994). This study highlights that Registered Nurses working in inpatient psychiatric units are well positioned to detect, prevent and manage Metabolic Syndrome in patients with severe mental illness as they spend the greatest amount of time in close patient contact. An exploratory qualitative descriptive approach was used for the study to describe the perceived barriers that Registered Nurses encounter in their practice in the reduction of Metabolic Syndrome in patients with severe mental illness. The study was conducted on a forensic psychiatric unit at one DHB in New Zealand. A sample of five Registered Nurses consented to participate in a focus group interview, which was the main data collection tool used for this study. Thematic analysis was used to establish the major themes that emerged from the focus group interview. The findings of this study revealed that there are significant barriers that Registered Nurses have in helping to reduce Metabolic Syndrome in this patient group. These barriers include a patient's mental illness, knowledge of patients and staff, staff provision of care, diet and insufficient resources on the forensic unit. The focus group interview also encouraged Registered Nurses to suggest possible solutions to these barriers and these are reflected upon in this study.
The Science of Stories: Human History and the Narrative Philosophy of Science
Authors:   , Hurley Robert Alexander
Published: November 2021

There is a pronounced tendency within contemporary philosophy of history to think of historical knowledge as something apart from the kind of knowledge generated in the sciences. This has given rise to a myriad of epistemological issues. For if historical knowledge is not related to the scientific, then what is it? By what logic does it proceed? How are historical conclusions justified? Although almost the entirety of contemporary philosophy of history has been dedicated to such questions, there has been little real and agreed upon progress. Rather than fire yet another salvo in this rhetorical war, however, this thesis wishes instead to examine what lies beneath the basic presumption of separatism which animates it. Part One examines several paradigmatic examples of twentieth century philosophy of history in order to identify the grounds by which their authors considered history fundamentally different in kind from the sciences. It is concluded that, in each case, the case for separatism fows from the pervasive assumption that any body of knowledge which might rightly be called a science can be recognised by its search for general laws of nature. As history does not seem to share this aim, it is therefore considered to be knowledge of a fundamentally different kind. This thesis terms this the "nomothetic assumption." Part Two argues that such nomothetic assumptions are not an accurate representation of either scientific theory or practice and therefore that any assumption of separatism based upon them is unsound. To do this, examples of acknowledged scientific problems from the biological and geological sciences which do not involve the use of general laws are examined, with the aim of discovering how these historical disciplines are able to do the work of explanation in their absence. They do so, it is concluded, through a mechanism of epistemic (as opposed to literary) narrative. Having thus identified how historical sciences proceed without making direct use of laws, Part Two then generalises this model of scientific narrative and shows how it can be used to model existing practices in human history. This conclusion has far-reaching consequences, for it brings a single definition, method, and logic of confirmation to all studies of the past – whether traditionally acknowledged as scientific or historical. Thus all historical enquiries proceed by a common logic and by a common method. This effectively and definitively places human history among the sciences, without the need for the kind of radical transformation past attempts to do this have required.
Digital Archiving Practices in Audiovisual Archives: An Exploration of the Use of Media Asset Management Systems in Television Broadcasting Organizations
Authors:   , Eagle Kathleen
Published: November 2021

Research Problem: Over the last decade television audiovisual archives have undergone major changes in response to the introduction of digital media and digital production systems, particularly in relation to television news. While there is significant research into how the use of digital technology affects other user groups within the television broadcasting sector, such as journalists, there is very little that focuses on the work of audiovisual archivists. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experiences of television audiovisual archivists who have been involved with the implementation and use of digital media management systems. Questions focused on three main areas: selection and appraisal, cataloguing, and search and retrieval. Results: Interview data provided detailed descriptions of the processes and actions that audiovisual archivists employ in the course of their daily work. Qualitative analysis of the data is used to identify the problems that audiovisual archivists experience and the methods they use to address these problems. It also provides insight into the ways archivists incorporate media management tasks into their routines. Implications: Television archives are very much still in a transition phase which is characterized by the use of multiple systems that enable access to both analogue and digital content. One area that remains problematic for some archivists is the lack of ability to incorporate quality and authority control into descriptive metadata that is created using digital media management systems. Archivists are taking on more media management responsibilities and working closer with production staff in a number of ways.
Bishop Hobhouse: the Nelson episcopate (1859-1865) of the Rt. Rev Edmund Hobhouse D.D., first bishop of Nelson, New Zealand
Authors:   , Clarke Timothy Peter
Published: November 2021

In 1841 New Zealand became a diocese of the United Church of England and Ireland and the Rev. George Augustus Selwyn, a former student and tutor of Eton, was consecrated as its bishop. Throughout the colony's earliest years Selwyn laboured alone to create for it a comprehensive episcopal system of ecclesiastical organisation. In 1856 he was joined by an old friend, the Rev. Henry John Chitty Harper who accepted the new bishopric centred on J.R. Godley's Church of England settlement in Canterbury. Further division of Selwyn's over-large diocese in 1858 created new dioceses in what had been the New Zealand Company's settlements at Wellington and Nelson and the Ven. Charles Abraham and the Rev. Edmund Hobhouse were appointed as their bishops. At the same time the volcanic plateau and east coast of the North Island became the missionary diocese of Waiapu with the Ven. William Williams as its bishop.
Kinetic Monte Carlo Modelling of Dissolution and Passive Film Formation in Fe-Cr Alloys
Authors:   , Parker Amanda Jeanne
Published: November 2021

Stainless steels differ from iron in that chromium content allows for the formation of a passive iron-chromium oxide film which is only nanometres in thickness, offering protection from the environment. While the composition of this oxide layer has been established, the mechanism of its formation is not well understood. In particular, the threshold level of chromium for oxide formation is significantly lower then the chromium content of the alloy itself. We present a Cahn Hilliard type analytical model that relates the onset of passivation to an instability which leads to a phase segregating current above 17% Cr in a bulk alloy. Proposing that this current could lead to Cr enrichment at a surface, we compare atomistic simulations with and without a surface driven Cr current. We implemented a kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm with extensions to allow for vacancy assisted nearest neighbour migration in a body centered cubic alloy, tracking a surface, dissolution and surface passivation. We compare the time evolution of Fe dissolution rates, Cr surface enrichment and the threshold for passive film formation and find that the Cr current has a significant impact on each of these properties.
Degradative Studies in the Picrotoxinin Series
Authors:   , Carman Raymond Maurice
Published: November 2021

PICROTOXIN is a bitter principle of the berries of the species Mensiperum coculus and Anamirata coculus, creepers which are indigenous to the East Indies. It was first isolated in 1812, and subsequent elementary analysis showed that it contained only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Because of its potent poisonous nature and its physiological action, together with its high oxygen content, picrotoxin has often been referred to as an “oxygen alkaloid”. It is a central nervous system stimulant and a powerful convulsant drug. It is used in medicine as an antidote to barbiturate poisoning, being still preferred for this purpose over many other drugs. It has also been used in cases of alcoholic intoxication, and as a fish poison.
Intersectionality and the Struggle for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: An Analysis of UN Discursive Patterns
Authors:   , Ritchie Amie
Published: November 2021

This thesis makes the normative argument that intersectionality should be taken seriously by the United Nations in their efforts to address Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). This work suggests that, in spite of widespread recognition of the value of intersectionality for approaching issues of SRHR, the UN has insufficiently adopted the theory into its policy and practice. At the international policy level, intersectionality is nearly absent as a paradigm, yet its central components are dominant within mainstream development discourse. These components include discourses of women's empowerment, human rights, and men's involvement. Drawing on critical feminist and race theory, I argue that a narrow gender vision of SRHR is not sufficient and that intersectionality should be recognized both in discourse and practice by UN agencies. This argument is examined along the parallel tracks of the population movement within the UN system and the evolution of the global women's movement (GWM). This study shows that the UN system has traditionally adopted the approaches and discourses of the global women's movement, as analysed over four decades of UN population movement discourse. However, a shift occurring at the new millennium, as well as significant political barriers barring a discussion of race and racism, have led to a break in this relationship, damaging the take-up of GWM discourse. The conclusion drawn from this argument is that SRHR is an intersectional issue and the new and emerging intersectional paradigm must be adopted by the UN in order to effectively address SRHR on a local and global scale.
Sisters Walking Together: A Case Study of the CASA Model of Professional Midwifery Training
Authors:   , Woodley Higgins Jenny
Published: November 2021

Over the past three years there has been an increased focus on reducing global maternal mortality in developing countries. While substantial progress has been made, improvement remains slow in some areas. Making formal maternal healthcare services more acceptable, affordable and accessible to rural communities where the majority of maternal deaths occur, remains a considerable challenge. This study looks at the model of professional midwifery training employed at La Escuela de Partería Profesional de CASA [the CASA School of Professional Midwifery] in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, whose aim is to train professional midwives who will provide culturally acceptable services in rural communities. It examines how the school's model reflects the development concept of community participation. This study adopted a single case study methodology to examine community participation at the CASA School of Professional Midwifery. Data collection techniques included the use of Semi-structured interviews, Focus Groups, Participant Observation and Document analysis. The study found that the CASA School included elements of participation within its model and highlights the different ways in which outsiders and insiders may arrive at implementing community participation-type processes in development initiatives. The study also finds that because of differences between the biomedical and development paradigms, the reality for many communities is that they are only permitted to participate in the maternal healthcare paradigms and models sanctioned by the state. The conclusion was that the CASA model of professional midwifery offers a new way to think about the relationship between maternal health professionals and the community, and of integrating communities back into the maternal health discourse.
Government Communication in New Zealand : Changing Roles and Conventions
Authors:   , Urlich Judith May
Published: November 2021

A brief study of democratic theory as it relates to public participation and government communications within a New Zealand context. A literature review identifies the traditional communications conventions pre-state sector reform and a survey of state sector communications managers reveals the conflict between this traditional approach as it is articulated, and actual practice in the post-state sector reform environment. A new convention is presented based on three divisions within the core public service: primarily policy; primarily operational; and mixed objective. Communications conventions for state-owned enterprises, Crown entities and Crown research institutes are also identified.
The Origins of Statutory Producer Control Legislation in New Zealand Agriculture 1914-1925
Authors:   , Simpson Todd Erl
Published: November 2021

This thesis investigates the origins of statutory producer control that emerged out of the Board of Trade (Wool Industry) Regulations 1921, The Meat Export Control Act, 1921-22 and The Dairy Produce Export Control Act, 1923. Most histories have traced the formation of statutory producer organisations to the economic conditions that prevailed during the British Government's 1915-1921 bulk purchase agreement with New Zealand known as the 'Imperial Commandeer' and the commodity price slump that marked the Commandeer's conclusion. Analysis of agricultural income series and output data suggest that the popular view of a 'boom' and 'slump' cycle is overplayed. This thesis argues that net real farm incomes remained relatively static during the Commandeer while output contracted. The slump cycle beginning in 1920/21 was particularly severe given the interaction of key demand and supply variables. The contemporary argument for statutory intervention may have been based on misconceptions in some cases, yet when the economic arguments are evaluated a strong case emerges. The central role played by W.F. Massey and his Reform Party Government is also important to an understanding of how this legislation came about.
Explorations in Parallel Linear Genetic Programming
Authors:   , Downey Carlton
Published: November 2021

Linear Genetic Programming (LGP) is a powerful problem-solving technique, but one with several significant weaknesses. LGP programs consist of a linear sequence of instructions, where each instruction may reuse previously computed results. This structure makes LGP programs compact and powerful, however it also introduces the problem of instruction dependencies. The notion of instruction dependencies expresses the concept that certain instructions rely on other instructions. Instruction dependencies are often disrupted during crossover or mutation when one or more instructions undergo modification. This disruption can cause disproportionately large changes in program output resulting in non-viable offspring and poor algorithm performance. Motivated by biological inspiration and the issue of code disruption, we develop a new form of LGP called Parallel LGP (PLGP). PLGP programs consist of n lists of instructions. These lists are executed in parallel, and the resulting vectors are summed to produce the overall program output. PLGP limits the disruptive effects of crossover and mutation, which allows PLGP to significantly outperform regular LGP. We examine the PLGP architecture and determine that large PLGP programs can be slow to converge. To improve the convergence time of large PLGP programs we develop a new form of PLGP called Cooperative Coevolution PLGP (CC PLGP). CC PLGP adapts the concept of cooperative coevolution to the PLGP architecture. CC PLGP optimizes all program components in parallel, allowing CC PLGP to converge significantly faster than conventional PLGP. We examine the CC PLGP architecture and determine that performance
Existential Thought in American Psycho and Fight Club
Authors:   , Wenley Stephen
Published: November 2021

Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho (1991) and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club (1996) demonstrate a strong basis in existential thought. Both novels reference the philosophical and literary works of Sartre and Camus—two French intellectuals associated with the midtwentieth- century movement existentialism—as well as existentialism’s nineteenth-century antecedents Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche. More importantly, American Psycho and Fight Club also modify the philosophy and its expression, incorporating postmodern satire, graphically violent content, and the Gothic conventions of "the double" and "the unspeakable", in order to update existential thought to suit the contemporary milieu in which these texts were produced. This new expression of existential thought is interlaced with the social critique American Psycho and Fight Club advance, particularly their satirical accounts of the vacuous banality of modern consumer culture and their disturbing representations of the repression and violent excesses ensuing from the crisis of masculinity. The engagement with existentialism in these novels also serves a playful function, as Ellis and Palahniuk frequently subvert the philosophy, keeping its idealism secondary to their experiments with its implications within the realm of fiction, emphasising the symptoms of existential crisis, rather than the resolution of the ontological quest for meaning. While these two novels can be considered existential in relation to the tradition of classic existentialist texts, they also represent a distinctive development of existential fiction—one that explores the existential condition of the postmodern subject at the end of the twentieth century.
Pigeons and People: Resource Ecology and Human Dimensions of Urban Wildlife
Authors:   , Krimowa Symone
Published: November 2021

Urban areas and human populations are growing. Cities provide highly modified habitat for species that can adapt their feeding and other behaviours. The growth of urban landscapes and human populations may result in an increase in human-wildlife conflict. Businesses which prepare and sell food (food establishments) may be more likely to encounter conflict with urban wildlife, which may lead to negative attitudes towards urban wildlife. Negative attitudes towards wildlife could create polarised communities and possibly affect the success of environmental initiatives. This study sought to understand (1) how feral pigeons use urban environments and the resources key to their distribution and congregation; (2) whether feral pigeons are food limited in Wellington City; and (3) how the interactions of owners and managers of food establishments with feral pigeons influence their attitudes to feral pigeons. I used 8 transects through the central City which covered a representative sample of urban habitats, including the central business district, green space, and waterfront to estimate resource selection. Bird capture and banding were used to determine feral pigeon condition at a range of sites across the City and included a mix of high, medium and low anthropogenic fed sites. A written survey of owners and managers of food establishments in Wellington was conducted to evaluate attitudes to feral pigeons (n = 62). Feral pigeon resource selection is mainly influenced by people and where they choose to eat (∆AIC ≤ W = 0.999), such as sites with outdoor seating where people may directly feed feral pigeons. However, once a site has been selected, areas with tertiary vegetation and disposed food (W = 0.324 and W = 0.297) are the most likely to attract larger flocks of feral pigeons (although a number of other variables also influence flock size, such as availability of freshwater). Feral pigeons do not appear to be food limited in Wellington as condition was not significantly different between sites (n=48, body condition, (body mass/tarsus length) Kruskal-Wallis = 2.06, p = 0.36; keel condition, Kruskal-Wallis = 0.7283, p = 0.6948; feather condition Kruskal-Wallis = 2.7943, p = 0.2473). Attitudes of food establishment owners and managers towards feral pigeons are most influenced by how often they see feral pigeons (∆AICc ≤ W = 0:465). Therefore, direct experience rather than knowledge, engagement, action or socio-demographics has the most influence on attitudes of owners and managers of food establishments. These results suggest that feral pigeon populations are largely dependent on the availability of anthropogenic foods. Reducing the food provided by people may limit feral pigeon populations. Reductions in pigeon populations are also likely to change attitudes of business owners and reduce conflict because they will be less likely to encounter pigeons. Limiting feeding and access to food waste is probably the most effective way of managing pigeon populations.