bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Phenology, seasonality and trait relationships in a New Zealand forest
Authors:   , Paudel Sharada
Published: December 2021

The phenologies of flowers, fruits and leaves can have profound implications for plant community structure and function. Despite this only a few studies have documented fruit and flower phenologies in New Zealand while there are even fewer studies on leaf production and abscission phenologies. To address this limitation, I measured phenological patterns in leaves, flowers and fruits in 12 common forest plant species in New Zealand over two years. All three phenologies showed significant and consistent seasonality with an increase in growth and reproduction around the onset of favourable climatic conditions; flowering peaked in early spring, leaf production peaked in mid-spring and fruit production peaked in mid-summer coincident with annual peaks in temperature and photoperiodicity. Leaf abscission, however, occurred in late autumn, coincident with the onset of less productive environmental conditions. I also investigated differences in leaf longevities and assessed how seasonal cycles in the timing of leaf production and leaf abscission times might interact with leaf mass per area (LMA) in determining leaf longevity. Leaf longevity was strongly associated with LMA but also with seasonal variation in climate. All 12 species produced leaves in spring and abscised leaves in autumn. Nevertheless, leaf longevity ranged from 6 months to 30 months among species, leading to several distinct leaf longevity categories (i.e. 6-7 months, 15-18 months and 27-30 months). Finally, I examined the relationship of leaf traits with flower and fruit traits and their relation to the global leaf economic spectrum (LES) that describes multivariate correlations between a combinations of key leaf traits. The results resonated with the patterns of leaf economic spectrum for New Zealand species and provided evidence for significant correlations between leaf and fruit traits, indicating that plants with long lived leaves and higher LMA produce fruits that take more time to develop, stay on the plant longer and have larger seed size. This study contributed to bridging the gap in our understanding of the relationship between vegetative and reproductive traits, it has increased our understanding of phenological patterns in New Zealand forests, and when viewed with earlier phenological studies, provides a first step towards understanding how New Zealand forest might respond to global climate change. In addition, the research illustrates how seasonality in climate can constrain the life times of leaves. In the context of global trait research culminating into the whole plant economics spectrum, this study provides clear evidence of leaf and fruit phenological and morphological trait associations. It helps to further our understanding of phenology, seasonality and plant trait relationships for some common tree species in New Zealand and presents some novel findings that provide a basis for future research.
Where the Heck Do I Put the Barbeque? High-Rise Housing for New Zealanders
Authors:   , Ashworth Matthew
Published: December 2021

There is little doubt New Zealand is in the midst of a housing crisis. A growing population and a construction industry unable to meet demand makes housing supply an ongoing issue. The most sustainable way to meet housing demand is to increase density within existing city limits; however, growth in this way is problematic due to the stigma surrounding high-density housing. High-rise apartment living in particular is seen as undesirable to most New Zealanders.   This research investigates how high-rise apartment blocks can be better designed for the New Zealand context – specifically, how the provision of quality outdoor space can better align this typology with New Zealanders’ affinity with the outdoors.   Three innovative high-rise typologies are tested on a central Wellington site. Each is designed for a different user group and provides occupants with private outdoor space that facilitates outdoor activities usually inhibited by high-rise apartment living. Accessways are investigated and reimagined as vibrant common spaces that provide occupants with additional outdoor space.   The design outcome provides residents with a diverse range of outdoor space. From common, semi-private, and fully private, this research demonstrates a range of outdoor spaces can exist in a high-rise setting. The design outcome shifts the high-rise apartment from an imported international model to a typology adapted to the New Zealand locale.
Language and Cognitive Functions in a Neurological Tumour Population: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study
Authors:   , Fowler Katherine
Published: December 2021

Complex cognitive capacities such as language and “executive function” are difficult to evaluate in neuropsychological populations due to their multifactorial nature. The current study takes a cognitively-motivated core-skills approach to their assessment. Across four investigations, these various capacities are decomposed into simpler core skills based on current cognitive theory. An undifferentiated sample of 28 neurological tumour patients is then assessed on these skills.  In the first study, we assessed the “core skills” underpinning language function at three time points: pre-operative (one day prior to surgery), post-operative (within three days of surgery), and at long-term follow-up (at least three months post-surgery). This approach was sensitive at detecting impairment; indeed, almost half of the patients showed persistent long-term language deficits even at long-term follow-up. The decompositional approach also proved effective at predicting long-term outcomes. Overall, these results suggest that the subtle language deficits may be more common and more persistent than previously estimated in tumour populations.  The second study examined the relationship between “core” language skills and sentence-level language processing at long-term follow up. Whilst there were few significant correlations, the results nonetheless suggest that “core skills” measures may be useful predictors of some aspects of sentence-level processing.  The third study isolated and identified “core” skills that are essential for complex cognitive control more generally, and assessed these in our patient sample at long-term follow-up. Results were broadly supportive of this decompositional approach, and again, our assessments proved highly sensitive at detecting deficits in this patient sample.  The fourth study examined the relationship between language processing and complex cognitive control. Specifically, we examined whether there are systems specially dedicated to the control of language, or whether control functions operate across all domains. Overall, our results were broadly consistent with the domain-specific view - that there may be functionally distinct control systems operating on verbal and nonverbal material.  The results, taken together suggest that a core skills approach to neuropsychological assessment has considerable promise, and is worth exploring further in a large patient sample. This approach may also help extend our understanding of the functional organisation of language, and the broader cognitive skills necessary for linguistic operations.
Keeping the tradition alive: An analysis of contemporary Jain religious education for children in India and North America
Authors:   , Bothra Shivani
Published: December 2021

How do Jains, adherents of one of the oldest minority religions in India, maintain their identity and protect their way of life when surrounded by non-Jain religions? Even more striking, how do Jains in the United States, where they constitute a minority within the Indian minority, maintain their traditions amidst a multi-cultural American society? Seeking upward mobility, Jains in post-independence India, have migrated locally, regionally, and internationally and these migrations have disrupted their social, religious, and cultural practices. My thesis looks at the ways in which Jains have addressed these disruptions. I analyse how they have restructured their traditional religious education, transforming it in a variety of ways, producing a range of contemporary Jain religious schools for children, both in India and the United States.  I argue that these new religious schools serve an important function in maintaining ancient Jain traditions, but have, at the same time, initiated significant structural as well as curricular changes that have transformed some of those traditions: widening the gap between Jain children and Jain mendicants, and reallocating authority within the Jain community by enabling laywomen to shape the curriculum and to teach in part-time religious schools, to name a few. The thesis pays attention to these changes, the reasons for the changes, and their consequences.  Using in-depth curriculum analysis and formal interviews, I examine contemporary Jain religious schools for children in the image-worshipping Digambar tradition and the non-image worshipping Shvetambar Terapanth tradition in India, and in mixed traditions in the United States. These Jain schools are growing exponentially in number and popularity within India and America, but have largely remained unexamined. This study aims to fill an important gap by closely analysing the rituals, leadership, and curricula of these new religious schools and their role in shaping modern Jain traditions.
SpaceSheets: Design Experimentation in Latent Space
Authors:   , Loh Bryan
Published: December 2021

Computational design tools enable designers to construct and manipulate representations of design artifacts to arrive at a solution. However, the constraints of deterministic programming impose a high cost of tedium and inflexibility to exploring design alternatives through these models. They require designers to express high-level design intent through sequences of low-level operations. Generative neural networks are able to construct generalised models of images which capture principles implicit within them. The latent spaces of these models can be sampled to create novel images and to perform semantic operations. This presents the opportunity for more meaningful and efficient design experimentation, where designers are able to express design intent through principles inferred by the model, instead of sequences of low-level operations.   A general purpose software prototype has been devised and evaluated to investigate the affordances of such a tool. This software — termed a SpaceSheet — takes the form of a spreadsheet interface and enables users to explore a latent space of fonts. User testing and observation of task-based evaluations revealed that the tool enabled a novel top-down approach to design experimentation. This mode of working required a new set of skills for users to derive meaning and navigate within the model effectively. Despite this, a rudimentary understanding was observed to be sufficient to enable designers and non-designers alike to explore design possibilities more effectively.
Essays on Foreign Direct Investment and Development Economics
Authors:   , Huseynov Ilkin
Published: December 2021

This thesis consists of three empirical essays on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Small Medium Enterprise (SME) access to finance. The first essay examines determinants of Chinese Outward Direct Investment (ODI) in infrastructure sectors. This study focuses on the role of host country institutions, macroeconomic stability and geography on attracting Chinese ODI. Utilizing micro-level project data over the years 2005 to 2016, results show that Chinese infrastructure investments are attracted to countries with a limited fiscal space but strong institutions. We also find that geographic distance, cultural proximity, Free Trade Agreement with China, country size are important factors in attracting Chinese investments. The second essay studies SME access to finance in Asia. We investigate the relative importance of external finance vis-à-vis internal finance for SME and larger firms and examine how SME characteristics associated with the extent of their bank borrowing. Results indicate that bank borrowing and line of credit availability are positively associated with financial audit, managerial experience, export participation, and ISO certificate, while it is negatively associated with foreign ownership and SME status. Our research suggests that access to finance is an important concern in Asia and government intervention targeting improvement in credit guarantee systems, monitoring and credit scoring can help easing the constraints for SME access to external finance. Finally, the third essay examines the role of infrastructure investment deals as a signaling on attracting FDI. Intriguingly, we find that infrastructure deals produce a negative signal to MNEs’ decision making for developing countries. We look for several channels in which the negative signaling effect can pass through. Findings suggest that increase in global risk aversion stemming from global financial crisis and country specific risk level are the main factors behind the negative signalling effect.
Listening to Yourself Listening: The Metaperceptual Approach to Sound Art
Authors:   , Johnston Blake
Published: December 2021

This thesis presents a framework for the creation and analysis of metaperceptual sound artworks. Metaperceptual is a term coined herein to describe a range of works that use the perception of the audience as their artistic materials. They provoke their audiences to direct their attention back upon themselves, inviting audiences to observe the nature of their perception and the subjectivity of their experience.  A core focus of many contemporary works is the experience of the audience. These works act as ‘experience shapers’, guiding the audience through their materials and creating environments in which the audience can explore on their own terms. Metaperceptual works share this focus by drawing the audience’s attention back upon themselves, provoking them to attend to the subjectivity of their own experience. These works reveal facets of our perception that constantly mediate our experience, yet often go overlooked and unexplored.  The framework presents a systematic ordering of different approaches to creating metaperceptual works. Three main categories of works are identified: Deprivation, Perceptual Translation, and Perceptual Hacking.  Deprivation works involve the removal, reduction, or denial of the audience’s perceptual field. They intervene in the audience’s everyday modes of interaction by silencing the din of the world, revealing the facets of experience that often go unnoticed or are masked from our awareness.  Perceptual Translation works directly interface with the audience’s perceptual apparatus by shifting, extending, and rearranging its orientation and organisation. These works offer the allure of experiencing what it is like to be someone or something else. By allowing us to experience the world through an altered lens, these works give us a new perspective on ourselves and the ways in which our perceptual apparatus mediates our experience.  Lastly, Perceptual Hacking works involves a rich variety of perceptual oddities and artefacts. These works creatively misuse facets of the audience’s perceptual apparatus and perceptual processes, and, in doing so, reveal that our perception is not a neutral objective lens through which to perceive the world.  Metaperceptual works employ a diversity of materials and techniques, and traverse a variety of media and styles. While these themes have most extensively been explored in the visual arts, their potential for sonic exploration is a key concern subject of this research. The framework maps the artistic terrain of metaperceptual approaches, and speculates on the potential for new metaperceptual works. To this end, a portfolio of new metaperceptual sound artworks is presented. These works test the metaperceptual framework, enacting the artistic avenues identified during its development. The works span a range of the approaches identified in the metaperceptual framework, and are manifestations of the framework as a creative tool.
Evaluating the sensitivity of the LUCI model to GIS datasets to enable robust farm management decisions in New Zealand
Authors:   , Taylor Alicia I.
Published: December 2021

Degradation of water quality is a major issue in New Zealand, to which the loss of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from agriculture into waterways contributes significantly. To predict and manage diffuse pollution from intensive agriculture it is vital that models are able to spatially map the sources, flows and sinks of nutrients in the landscape and spatially target mitigations. This study investigates the application of one such model, the Land Utilisation Capability Indicator (LUCI). Used in conjunction with OVERSEER, LUCI is a powerful tool to support farm scale land management decision-making.  LUCI includes soil, topography and landcover datasets in its analysis. This thesis examines how the quality and resolution of each dataset affects LUCI’s output. Six different case studies are examined, across a range of New Zealand farming systems. This is the most comprehensive study, to date, of LUCI’s sensitivity to input datasets.  The results suggest that LUCI nutrient loading estimates are primarily sensitive to soil order, and therefore to changes in order classifications. Utilising different soil datasets in the LUCI model resulted in varying nutrient load predictions. This sensitivity is primarily attributed to the differing hydraulic and phosphorus retention capabilities of the respective soil orders. To test the sensitivity of LUCI to digital elevation model (DEM) resolution, multiple DEMs with varying spatial and vertical resolution were tested. These results strongly indicate that particularly fine resolution DEMs are required to accurately model flat landscapes.  It was recognised that LUCI was not using all of the relevant data available in Landcare Research’s S-Map database. LUCI was modified to use more of this information, and alternative methods of incorporating sibling level data in both LUCI and OVERSEER were investigated. Finally, avenues for future development are suggested. Overall, this thesis highlights the potential LUCI has to play a key role in farm scale environmental management.
Applying social identity theory to the social media content strategy of a global brand: The role of brand- and user-generated content in global social identification
Authors:   , Meehan Mikayla
Published: December 2021

The global marketplace is centred around products and brands that reflect certain identities. Social media can act as vehicles of meaning transfer for social identification between brands and social media users with a global social identity. Recognizing the importance of the psychological and sociological needs that draw social media users to build relationships with global brands, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the relevance of the global social identification process to global social media branding strategy. More specifically, this research considers the role and influence of social group membership dynamics to explore how brand-generated and user-generated content are part of the global social identification process. In that, this research aims to fill the gap where social identity theory has not been applied as a lens through which to understand and evaluate the social media content strategy of a global brand. This gap is important to fill due to the global social media arena’s social-centric nature and transparency in displaying social group memberships. An interpretive paradigm was used for this research, with a qualitative case study approach that consisted of interviews with global social media users/global brand representatives and a content analysis of the focal brands social media pages. The study found that the global social identification process on social media consists of two stages, global identity priming and global identity expression. Global identity priming occurs when the psychological and sociological function of global brands is transferred to brand-generated content through a semiotic meaning transfer process. Global identity expression can occur after, as a result of global identity priming, social media users with a global identity categorize the global brand into their in-group. Once in-group categorization takes place, creation and/or sharing of user-generated content with the global brand can be considered an act of identity expression and validation by those with a global identity. This has implications for a global brand’s social media content strategy, as the findings revealed that brand-generated content featuring certain symbolic global values facilitates the global social identification process on social media. Moreover, the findings revealed that user-generated content created by social media users for global identity expression purposes is of considerable value to global brands. Understanding how the global social identification process transpires on social media can guide global brands to consider how their content strategy can prime global social identification and meet the identity expression needs of those with a global identity. This has implications for content strategy design, social media interactions and ongoing global brand-user relationships.
A Model of the Interaction of Health and Healthcare for the Wellbeing of Heterogeneous Individuals
Authors:   , King Anita
Published: December 2021

A model is proposed here to investigate how the relationships between health, production, and wellbeing contribute to the achievement (or otherwise) of potential government objectives. This model uses a basic general equilibrium framework with heterogeneous individuals and two goods (healthcare and other). Public health and publically and privately provided healthcare affect health level, which in turn affects productivity. Several different potential objectives of the government agent are investigated, which determine the distribution of public healthcare. The model is solved numerically to understand the effects of the choices of government objectives including the level of inequality aversion and varying tax rates. For governments with high inequality aversion that maximise social welfare from utility, a non-zero tax rate may be optimal, even with high levels of public health.
Progenitor: An exploration of indigenous values and waterway management through immersive digital landscapes
Authors:   , Tariau Dylan
Published: December 2021

Over the last One hundred years water quality of New Zealand harbours and waterways have diminished due to the unconcern of infrastructural development and poor public waterway and harbour awareness. By exploring the conventional methods traditionally involved with kaitiakitanga and how to digitally map and represent these values through virtual representation, simulation and management, the ultimate aim of this thesis is to establish a kaitiaki approach to restoring a maori holistic world view perspective and the mana tupuna of the indigenous peoples of Porirua.  During the past decade, the Maori indigenous peoples of New Zealand have had land returned from the crown in light of the post treaty settlement. Due to the deforestation and ecocide of many Tribal lands across New Zealand, Tangata Whenua and Ahi Kaa have culturally detached with their lands, and the need to re-establish the Kaitiaki and mana within those areas is highly prioritized. The argument that unfolds now is ‘How to restore and revitalize sacred landscapes that have been exposed to the demise of natural resources and have lost significance value resulting in the disappearance of mana and whakapapa of many tribal lands?’  Through both a landscape architectural lens and an Indigenous lens the aim of this thesis is to research and employ new and alternative methods of resource management by incorporating new and upcoming design software in correlation to Maori Land holdings and collaboration with iwi.  The collateral damage caused by commercial and industrial development has over the past decade has also sabotaged values of Kaitiaki due to the increase of hard surface infrastructure and polluted waterways. Current methods of mapping traditional landscapes are limited when it comes to the ability to encapsulate an environment with cultural values. This research investigates the potential of digital tools and iwi collaboration to enhance the experiential aspect of an environment through an immersive, interactive and open collaborative 3D environment.  By leveraging the potential of photogrammetry to represent a 3D scene of certain areas, the potential to test and simulate current land management will be tested through a 3D model. Equipped with live feeds of data such as climate, tree species, this model’s purpose will be to emulate a cultural landscape and reconnect the loss of kaitiaki between Iwi and their Rohe.  This tool will be designed to enable user interaction and commentary to simulate realistic scenes of their day to day scenery in order to become more aware of the impacts of kaitiaki and whakapapa.  Both Iwi and council have a long-term interest in the design of good landscapes that reflect culturally while enabling methods of traditional kaupapa and kaitiakitanga. My goal is to aid this design process through landscape architecture.
Queer Capital: Transgender Representation in Contemporary American Cinema
Authors:   , Macintosh Paige
Published: December 2021

From The Crying Game’s shocking gender reveal in 1993, to the resounding success of Pose in 2018, trans characters and narratives have become increasingly visible across media platforms. Most significantly, trans characters have become a key part of American Indiewood cinema. Films like Dallas Buyers Club, The Danish Girl, Stonewall, and 3 Generations demonstrate the growing visibility of these roles within the American independent tradition. Moreover, these films’ critical and financial successes, in particular those of Dallas Buyers Club, signal the potential value these characters offer studios as a marker of cultural progressiveness. However, while trans characters in Indiewood films inspire more mainstream conversations about queer identity and community, interrogating these representations reveals how these depictions may reinforce harmful myths about trans identities and experiences. Analysing these representational practices through textual, generic, and industrial analyses, I will demonstrate how trans performances benefit the wider film industry, and question the impact of cis-gender casting on these films’ representational strategies. The purpose of this project is thus to examine performances of transgender identity in contemporary indie and Indiewood films, spotlighting industrial influences on transgender representations. By using Dallas Buyers Club as a case study to explore how queer Indiewood films appeal to mainstream audiences; and using Tangerine to illustrate alternative representational strategies, this thesis demonstrates how contemporary Indiewood cinema excludes most trans writers, directors, and actors, how this process benefits cis-gender industry elites, and how paratexts mitigate the potential threat that trans identities pose to gender categories. More specifically, I pose the questions: how are filmic performances of transgender identity informed by industrial power relations; and, what are the cultural implications of the dynamic between the two.
The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Faith in the Processes of Significant Trauma and Recovery
Authors:   , O'Brien Lynnette
Published: December 2021

For some people, religion, spirituality and faith (RSF) serves an important function, helping them deal with difficult everyday life challenges. This qualitative ethnographic study examines how and in what ways a group of Cantabrians engaged with RSF in dealing with diverse forms of significant trauma – from moments of crisis through to more extended processes of recovery. The research is located within the context of post-earthquake Christchurch, and is based on fieldwork undertaken in 2012–2013. It explores the experiences of respondents representing traditional Christian and non-orthodox, non-Christian faith paths. The thesis draws on data from participant stories to emphasise the subjective experience of RSF and trauma. It argues that in times of crisis, some people draw on RSF to help them address difficult life challenges. The study demonstrates the breadth, diversity and significance of such resourcing, as well as the sometimes surprising, unanticipated forms that this engagement with RSF may take. Contrary to theories that emphasise the marginalisation of religion during times of intense distress, the thesis shows that in varying moments of crisis, people for whom RSF is important, may draw on diverse forms of RSF as a matter of priority to help them.
Growth and Structural Properties of Rare Earth Nitride Thin Films
Authors:   , Chan Jay
Published: December 2021

In this thesis aspects of the growth of rare earth nitride thin films and characterisation of the resulting structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the film are investigated. The rare earth nitrides are a class of materials which combine interesting electronic and magnetic properties with potential applications in novel spintronic device structures.  We study the formation of a preferential orientation in polycrystalline thin films of GdN deposited by electron-beam physical vapour deposition. X-ray diffraction is used to characterise the crystalline structure of films of varying thickness to identify a preference to grow along the [111] crystal direction, understood in terms of an evolutionary selection process. Variations in the film microstructure as a result of growth parameter variation are also correlated to electronic and magnetic properties.  Investigation of the epitaxial growth of SmN on AlN surfaces revealed a novel growth orientation transition, controllable only via the growth temperature. Epitaxial integration of rare earth nitrides with III-nitride surfaces has previously only resulted in (111)-oriented growth on the (0001) surface as is expected from matching of the close-packed planes in the different crystal structures. High growth temperatures (≥800 ℃) induce (001)-oriented growth of SmN on the same (0001) AlN surface. This unexpected cube-on-hexagon geometry is confirmed through ex situ x-ray and in situ electron diffraction, the latter for which a computational simulation tool was developed to model and understand.  The viability of using Sm as a temporary capping layer for rare earth nitride thin film samples is investigated. Capping layers are required to passivate samples due to their high reactivity, limiting the range of ex situ characterisation techniques that can be performed on them. Elemental Sm is relatively volatile raising the possibility of removing a Sm cap in situ using moderate annealing temperatures (400 °C to 600 ℃). The ability to remove the capping layer would allow in situ characterisation techniques to be performed in ultra high vacuum systems not directly connected to the growth system. In situ electron diffraction is used to characterise the growth and thermal annealing of Sm grown on top of epitaxial GdN layers, and the effects of the thermal removal process on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the GdN layer are investigated.
Exploring Family Characteristics, Individual Motivations and Social Norms Regarding Women’s Access to Tertiary Education in Laos
Authors:   , Sounthongdeng Kinnaphone
Published: December 2021

In aiming to graduate from Least Developed Countries status by 2020, and in joining the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, the Government of Laos has been seeking to sustain a high rate of economic growth and to develop a skilled and proficient labour force. As such, economic development has been a focus of the government and developing skilled and proficient labour is important. Education, especially tertiary education, has also been a priority of the Government of Laos. However, the gender gap still exists in every education level with high fees just one barrier for women to get into higher education. Promoting women’s access to tertiary education is important for closing the gender gap and improving women’s livelihoods, as well as contributing to the country’s economic development.  The research explores the main barriers to women’s access to tertiary education, concentrating on family characteristics, individual motivations and social norms. Utilising a feminist lens, qualitative research has been undertaken through semi-structured interviews. Thirty interviews were conducted, including women who were current students in tertiary education institutions and women who were not in any tertiary education institution. Information regarding tertiary education policies and implementation of these policies was also gathered from key information interviews and secondary information.  The research found that family financial status is the main barrier for women to continue their education in higher education. When the family budget is limited, most parents prioritise the education of males. Furthermore, the perception that women have less opportunity to gain a job than men persists widely – and acts as a disincentive for women to access tertiary education.
Role of headquarter attention disparity on expatriate knowledge sharing between assignments
Authors:   , Wanasinghe Sachinie
Published: December 2021

In acknowledgement of ongoing challenges in knowledge sharing, continuous research efforts are required to reflect the ever-changing landscape. Current research does not entirely encapsulate recent conceptualisations of multidirectional knowledge flows within the MNC, specifically from a lateral perspective. Accordingly, the role of expatriates reflect the importance of lateral knowledge sharing yet research has not holistically addressed the complex nature of exploiting such knowledge. Extensive examination of the HQ-expatriate relationship and repatriation process highlights the limited recognition for expatriates still within the expatriation cycle (i.e. moving from subsidiary to subsidiary).  This thesis seeks to add to the existing literature by exploring a potential new antecedent, headquarter attention disparity. The attention-based view of the firm reflects subsidiary level outcomes of unequal distribution of HQ attention. Extending this to explore the role on expatriate knowledge sharing is novel. The research implements a hermeneutical research design using semi-structured interviews. These sought to discover expatriate conceptualisations of lateral knowledge sharing and the related perceptions of HQ attention disparities between subsidiaries. The study draws on the ability-motivation-opportunity framework within a knowledge sender-receiver context. Expatriates coming from high-HQ attention subsidiaries demonstrate their own understanding of the acquired knowledge, influenced by individual context. These same interpretations guide subsidiary willingness to learn and the nature of knowledge sharing interactions. The results illustrate these opinions of perceived benefits to impact the inclination for knowledge sharing. Where perceptions align, there is reduced uncertainty in the expatriate-subsidiary colleague relationship whereas diverging perceptions weaken the propensity to learn and expatriates’ knowledge sharing risks deterioration. These outcomes are further susceptible to external effects. The first being perceived competence-trust in shared functional identity, the second through affect-trust within subsidiary socialisation efforts.
Towards New Forms of Pianistic Improvisation Across Musical Boundaries
Authors:   , Donlon Mark
Published: December 2021

This thesis is practice-based. The main element in which the research outcomes are manifested is the portfolio of creative work. There are three CD albums of original music: Southern Shift, Between Moons, and Tales from the Diaspora. There are also three video recordings including a performance of my piece Saraband (for piano trio), along with my performance of two classical piano pieces by Rachmaninoff: Elegie op 3 no. 1 and Etudetableau op. 33 no. 5. There is a written exegesis which serves to inform the reader how the creative work may be understood or apprehended, as well as placing it in relevant context The creative work centres on contemporary piano improvisation and how diverse musical strands can be drawn together in a coherent improvised musical idiom. Models for contemporary improvised music, that constitute key external sources for my musical practice, include the work of pianists Keith Jarrett, Cecil Taylor, Matt Bourne, John Taylor, Misha Mengelberg, Gabriela Montero and Gwilym Simcock. How these pianists’ work relates to my music will be discussed in the exegetical text.  Several approaches and techniques, to free improvisation and jazz, will be explored through the creative practice and discussed in the exegesis. The ideas of scholars Nicholas Cook and Ed Sarath play a significant part in the concepts behind the music in this portfolio and in my thinking about improvisation in a wider sense. Cook suggests that improvisation represents a wider and more nuanced set of musical functionalities than is commonly understood by the one term ‘improvisation’. This is a key factor in this research.  Extemporaneous Composition is the most salient concept at work in the creative work. The aim is to explore how an improvisation can have elements of a controlled and structured musical argument, as a composed piece would. This connects to the issue of how improvisation and composition are closely linked as creative processes. The issue of how improvisation and the interpretive performance of composed music are linked will be an important topic, as will the relationship between aurality and textuality in creative musicianship. The two research questions are:   • When diverse and divergent aspects of musical practice, from traditions such as Western classical music, jazz and other African-based music are integrated into an improvised musical practice to give voice to a personal, creative musical identity, what can the nature of that music be? What perspectives will emerge about how creative performers operate?   • Textuality and aurality function differently in these musical traditions. Can improvisation, in its wider sense, be re-evaluated to account for the employment of these through a more complex and nuanced set of creative functionalities than is typically understood by the single term improvisation?
The Terror Raids: An analysis of the criminalisation of green activism in Aotearoa
Authors:   , Paish Megan
Published: December 2021

The objective of this thesis is to identify how criminalisation by mainstream media, police, politicians, ‘the public’ and court processes affected green activists, with specific reference to the Terror Raids of October 2007. Drawing on media analysis - covering news articles from 15 October 2007 to 15 November 2007, and 1 January 2017 to 31 July 2018 - and semi-structured interviews with eight participants (all green activists, two of whom were arrested in the Terror Raids), this research explores the issues of colonisation, activism, criminalisation, and resistance to criminalisation in detail.   The research concludes that state agents and mainstream media contributed to a ‘blanket criminalisation’ of activists in the Terror Raids and that this criminalisation had significantly detrimental effects on the activists, whānau , and wider groups. This intense criminalisation was produced as a result of activists being labelled as ‘terrorists’. As a result, the Raids represented an evolution in the criminalisation of green activists in Aotearoa - from inconsistent forms of criminalisation (in which previous criminalising narratives had been joined by narratives relating to democratic freedom and environmental justice) to the application of intense criminalisation by the state and mainstream media of all activists in the Raids. This research demonstrates, therefore, the power of labelling. However, this thesis also identifies the power of green activism and the resilience of campaigners to this intense criminalisation. It emphasises that resistance can survive even when confronted by intense criminalisation and state violence. It concludes by emphasising the significant contributions green activists make to the environmental well-being of Aotearoa and to the international environmental justice movement.
Personalised Prediction of Self-Reported Emotion Responses to Music Stimuli
Authors:   , Christopher Kameron
Published: December 2021

In this thesis I develop a robust system and method for predicting individuals’ emotional responses to musical stimuli. Music has a powerful effect on human emotion, however the factors that create this emotional experience are poorly understood. Some of these factors are characteristics of the music itself, for example musical tempo, mode, harmony, and timbre are known to affect people's emotional responses. However, the same piece of music can produce different emotional responses in different people, so the ability to use music to induce emotion also depends on predicting the effect of individual differences. These individual differences might include factors such as people's moods, personalities, culture, and musical background amongst others. While many of the factors that contribute to emotional experience have been examined, it is understood that the research in this domain is far from both a) identifying and understanding the many factors that affect an individual’s emotional response to music, and b) using this understanding of factors to inform the selection of stimuli for emotion induction. This unfortunately results in wide variance in emotion induction results, inability to replicate emotional studies, and the inability to control for variables in research.  The approach of this thesis is to therefore model the latent variable contributions to an individual’s emotional experience of music through the application of deep learning and modern recommender system techniques. With each study in this work, I iteratively develop a more reliable and effective system for predicting personalised emotion responses to music, while simultaneously adopting and developing strong and standardised methodology for stimulus selection. The work sees the introduction and validation of a) electronic and loop-based music as reliable stimuli for inducing emotional responses, b) modern recommender systems and deep learning as methods of more reliably predicting individuals' emotion responses, and c) novel understandings of how musical features map to individuals' emotional responses.  The culmination of this research is the development of a personalised emotion prediction system that can better predict individuals emotional responses to music, and can select musical stimuli that are better catered to individual difference. This will allow researchers and practitioners to both more reliably and effectively a) select music stimuli for emotion induction, and b) induce and manipulate target emotional responses in individuals.
Strategies of action and marginalised identities in Pop Culture Paganism and Magic
Authors:   , Todd Rebecca
Published: December 2021

In this thesis I will argue that marginalised individuals are highly represented in the Pop Culture Paganism and Magic community, because it is a religious movement which encourages participants to use the cultural symbols that populate the media for religious meaning-making. The availability of media symbols for this purpose is important for marginalised individuals, who do not access the same ‘traditional’ religious resources or symbols as other individuals in society due to the sense of exclusion which arises from their marginality, but still seek religious meaning-making.
Enabling Continuous Commissioning through Building Management Systems
Authors:   , Askew Cara
Published: December 2021

The use and application of energy efficient technologies within new and existing buildings is a growing global trend. However, if they aren’t being commissioned, controlled and operated in an efficient way, are they really making a valid impact on the energy efficiency of our buildings?  Building Management Systems (BMS) are installed within large scale non-residential buildings to control and govern the operation of Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning systems (HVAC). BMS monitor and process large amounts of data during their day-to-day operation, while the potential usefulness of BMS to implement energy optimising strategies is typically left un-utilised. There is a growing need to reduce building energy demand. Continuous Commissioning (CCx) may offer the potential to achieve this reduction through the ongoing or periodical assessment of building HVAC operation. As CCx is a cyclic process, and because BMS already monitor and process data in their day-to-day operations, they offer a potential, low overhead means of running CCx processes in buildings. This thesis reports a research project which explores this opportunity to assess and improve building operating efficiency by identifying what data and functional capabilities are required of a BMS to facilitate Continuous Commissioning.  A systematic assessment of existing research and standards has highlighted a gap in industry knowledge on the specification of data required to implement CCx assessments to HVAC. There was also no definition of what BMS capabilities were important to the Continuous Commissioning process. These research gaps inspired five secondary research questions around which a mixed-method survey was developed and implemented to bridge the gap between BMS and CCx.  The research methodology integrated a standard questionnaire and the Delphi method to explore user perceptions and develop a consensus of BMS requirements. Three survey rounds were distributed to New Zealand based industry experts. Each round informed the following round, with an element of feedback provided through the compilation of the previous round’s responses. This process enabled the industry experts to agree or disagree with the proposed consensus or provide an alternative insight to the questions asked.  The results of the surveys were compiled to establish a definition of the top five CCx assessments applied to typical HVAC systems, data point trending requirements and BMS functions important to facilitating Continuous Commissioning. These findings were used to create a guideline for specifying BMS to facilitate Continuous Commissioning and create a soft landing for assessing HVAC during the operation phase of a building’s life. The outcome of this research bridges the gap between the specification of Building Management Systems and the requirements of the Continuous Commissioning process.