bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Does How We Remember Predict How We Will Feel? A Longitudinal Study of the Influence of Overgeneral Memory on the Development of Depression in Young People
Authors:   , Mansoor Zara
Published: November 2021

An increased tendency towards overgeneral memory (OGM) has been associated with depression in young people. How this may impact the early development of depressive symptoms is unclear. This has been difficult to determine due to the lack of longitudinal research in this area, in particular with young people in the community prior to the development of significant depressive symptoms. The current study aimed to investigate how OGM related to the development of depression in a community sample of 235 young people aged 10- to 15-years at baseline. Measures of depression, OGM, and rumination were obtained at baseline and follow-up, one year later. As predicted, and consistent with past findings, an increased tendency towards OGM at follow-up was associated with greater depressive symptoms. However, despite indications from previous work that OGM may also predict depression prior to the emergence of symptoms, the reverse was found with depression predicting OGM over time. This suggests that among the general population, while OGM may be an associated and possible maintaining feature of depression, it appears to be a consequence of experiencing depressive symptoms rather than a significant early predictive or vulnerability factor. Contrary to evidence that rumination may also increase OGM, rumination was not significantly associated with OGM. Limitations, strengths and future directions based on these findings are discussed.
Reconciling agility and architecture: a theory of agile architecture
Authors:   , Waterman Michael Grant
Published: November 2021

The purpose of agile software development is to enable the software development team to respond to change and learn from change so that it can better deliver value to its customer. If an agile software development team spends too much time planning and designing architecture up-front then the delivery of value to the customer is delayed or otherwise compromised, and responding to change can become extremely difficult. Not doing enough architecture design increases exposure to risk and increases the chance of failure. The balance between architecture and agility is not well understood by agile practitioners or researchers.  This thesis is based on grounded theory research involving 44 participants from 36 organisations, all working in agile software development and who are either experienced in architecture design or are closely involved with architecture. The thesis presents a theory that describes how agile software teams design an agile architecture with reduced up-front design and which is able to respond to change, helping teams find a balance between architecture and agility.  The theory describes six forces that affect the agility of the architecture and up-front design, and five strategies that teams use in response to those forces to determine how much effort they put into up-front design. Understanding these forces and strategies helps agile teams to determine how much up-front design is appropriate in their contexts.
Voicing Rupture: Resisting docility through performances of feminine agency in Arnold Schoenberg’s Das Buch der hängenden Gärten
Authors:   , Thirlwall Imogen
Published: November 2021

My experience of learning and performing Arnold Schoenberg’s song cycle, Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, can be explored through the lens of Foucault’s ‘docile bodies’ theory – that is, bodies that are ‘subjected, used, transformed, improved’. Participating in the disciplinary practice of self-policing, my obedience to the social, cultural and musical orders shaping western art song performance is enforced through self-imposed internalisation of normative practices and values. The singer’s body – my own body – is regulated in the Foucauldian sense; ‘disciplined’ through training and conditioning to align with normative practices, and, simultaneously, I act as ‘discipliner’ through self-imposed policing and monitoring of my body. The compulsive need to engage in the acts and processes of discipline implies inherent deficiency or deviance; the body must be transformed and ‘corrected’ through the processes of discipline that reflect the internalised value systems a body is measured against. In this exegesis, I explore my processes of self-regulation as disciplined and discipliner, investigating an intersection of ideals and tensions in my pursuit of technical command of vocal technique, obedience to the score, and the expectation of emotional abandon that an expressionist song cycle demands. Framed through narratives of ‘service’ and ‘prohibition’, I position the political anatomy of an eroticised, reproductive female body, exploring resistance and ‘rupture’ through the sexual agency of a disobedient and disruptive female singer.
Principles in practice? Ownership in monitoring and evaluation in Vanuatu
Authors:   , Geary Nichol Martha
Published: November 2021

Presently, monitoring and evaluation is an aid practice that does not emphasise Ni-Vanuatu ownership. Despite the current aid agenda’s advocacy for ownership, principles of measuring for results and accountability are given preference in this practice. Eighteen participants working in monitoring and evaluation in NGOs and government departments in Luganville and Port Vila were interviewed for this study in April and May, 2013. Through semi-structured interviews they shared their experiences of the practice. They highlighted issues around capacity, kastom and donors, emphasising monitoring and evaluation’s inability to account for the local context and promote ownership.  It was found that the current approach to monitoring and evaluation follows a universal model, disregarding country specific features of Vanuatu such as kastom, language and land. However, these features embody the identity of Ni-Vanuatu and define Ni-Vanuatu ownership. They should therefore dictate how monitoring and evaluation is carried out. A move for stronger Ni-Vanuatu ownership of aid practices such as monitoring and evaluation will be complicated and messy. However, approaching monitoring and evaluation through a local lens while employing relationship building and flexibility can lead to increased Ni-Vanuatu ownership of the practice.
Why Can't Individuals with Nonfluent Aphasia Produce Sentences? Exploring the Role of Lexical Availability
Authors:   , Creet Ella
Published: November 2021

Nonfluent aphasia is a language disorder characterised by sparse, fragmented speech. Individuals with this disorder often produce single words accurately (for example, they can name pictured objects), but have great difficulty producing sentences. An important research goal is to understand why sentences are so difficult for these individuals. To produce a sentence, a speaker must not only retrieve its lexical elements, but also integrate them into a grammatically well-formed sentence. Indeed, most research to date has focused on this grammatical integration process. However, recent studies suggest that the noun and/or verb content of the sentence can also be an important determinant of success (e.g., Raymer & Kohen, 2006; Speer & Wilshire, 2014). In this thesis, I explore the role of noun availability on sentence production accuracy using an identity priming paradigm. Participants are asked to describe a pictured event using a single sentence (e.g., “The fish is kissing the turtle”). In the critical condition, an auditory prime word is presented just prior to the picture, which is identical to one of the nouns in the target sentence (e.g., fish). The rationale is that the prime will enhance the availability of its counterpart when the person comes to produce the target sentence. Participants were four individuals with mild nonfluent aphasia, two individuals with fluent aphasia, and six older, healthy controls. Consistent with our hypotheses, the nonfluent participants as a group were more accurate at producing sentences when one of its nouns – either the subject or object - was primed in this way. Importantly, in the primed subject noun condition, these results held even when accuracy on the primed element itself was excluded, suggesting it had a broad effect on sentence production accuracy. The primed nouns had no effect on sentence production accuracy for the fluent individuals or the controls. We interpret these findings within models of sentence production that allow for considerable interplay between the processes of lexical content retrieval and sentence structure generation.
Business Development and Marketing Strategy in Early‐stage Technology Start-­up Businesses: The Importance of Understanding the Customer
Authors:   , Walsh Ian
Published: November 2021

The author sets out to explore the role of a marketer and the importance of the customer in an early-stage technology start‐up business when exploring the commercial options for a new technology or product. The author sets learning objectives around the use of an academic model to explore the development of the enterprise and the role of a marketer within a start-up team. In order to reach these aims, the author compares three strategic marketing models and draws on insights from academic and practice-­based literature to justify the use of Kotler and Armstrong’s Marketing Process Model. The author then implements Kotler’s model, detailing the practical elements of his role as the marketing and business development lead across three different projects, exploring the commercial potential for three different technologies/or products. The author recommends the use of Kotler and Armstrong’s Marketing Process Model for early-­stage start-up business teams that are exploring commercial options for a new technology or a product. He recommends a customer-­led approach to marketing within a technology start-­up team. The author recognizes the importance of a marketer’s role in establishing, maintaining and nurturing relationships with potential customers in order to drive and inform product development.
The diffusion of norms, rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards and the resolution of disputes in the Asia-Pacific, in particular among signatory countries of the TPP
Authors:   , Pham Lan Thi Thu
Published: November 2021

People are central to economic development. Workers are relatively vulnerable compared to the other factors of the economy, including governments and employers. Because violations of workers’ rights and poor working conditions are prevalent, especially in developing countries, the diffusion of internationally recognized labor standards is now emerging as a critical process in the world. This is a process by which internationally recognized labor rights are transferred between countries by various means with the expectation of improving labor conditions world-wide. For this process to be successful, it is important that not only labor standards but also rules and mechanisms for their enforcement be diffused. The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) is currently under negotiation. The TPP is expected to be the first “high-quality, twenty-first-century agreement” in the world. Norm entrepreneurs have chosen the TPP to be a channel for the diffusion of labor standards in the Asia-Pacific. How is the TPP likely to diffuse the norms, rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards and dispute resolution? Will it be by means of goodwill, cooperation and consensus or through material conditionality? Labor rights are human rights which must be upheld and promoted. The answer to the above empirical question is very important to the policy-makers of signatory countries of the TPP, given that labor standards are considered to be a sensitive issue in many Asian countries. Their concerns are grounded in history. The Government of Poland and the communist system in Eastern Europe were brought down as a result of the implementation of labor rights in the 1980s¹. How to implement these rights without causing social and political disorder is a complex question for policy-makers in the TPP countries. The thesis reviews the literature on theoretical norm diffusion and labor standards as well as provides the empirical evidence of past diffusion of labor standards in order to identify which mechanisms of diffusion are likely to prevail in the field of labor standards in the Asia-Pacific region. It answers who are the drivers of diffusion. It draws on the record of all signed FTAs in the region to provide an empirical foundation for its projection about the likely content of the TPP in terms of rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards.  ¹ After the rights to organize freely and to strike was recognized by the Government of Poland, the Solidarity Unions was formed and after many ups and downs of its evolution, finally it had led successfully the overthrow of the communist Government of Poland and “played a central role in the demise of communism across the Soviet bloc, changing forever the course of history in Europe”. Read more at http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060898.html, and http://future.state.gov/when/timeline/1969_detente/fall_of_communism.html
Dust Eruptions
Authors:   , Singh Harpreet
Published: November 2021

We present a new model for the fragmentation of dust beds in laboratory shock tube experiments. The model successfully explains the formation of layers in the bed using mass and momentum conservation. Our model includes the effect of wall friction, inherent cohesion, and gravitational overburden. We find that the pressure changes caused by the expansion wave take time to penetrate into the bed, while simultaneously increasing in magnitude. By the time the pressure difference is large enough to overcome wall friction, the overburden and the intrinsic cohesion of the bed, it has penetrated ~8-15 bead diameters into the bed, thus causing a layer of dust to be lifted off. We have found the dependence of layer size upon bead diameter and found a good match to experiment. We have also predicted the dependence of layer size and fragmentation time on bead density.
Serenity: 3D Animation to Simulate Chinese Ink Painting
Authors:   , Shen Lili
Published: November 2021

Serenity is a computer generated ink-wash animated short in which the traditional aesthetics meets the new media. I combined theoretical research and physical experiment to convey a peaceful pleasant feeling with subtle movement.  The focus of this thesis is to assess the possibility and capability of digital instruments in simulating the traditional Chinese ink painting and further transplant to three-dimensional (3D) platform. This thesis presents a new approach to practice Chinese painting and to compose an animation by using 3D techniques and non-photorealistic rendering (NPR). The aim for the composition portion of this project is to produce a refreshing animated visual style and to introduce the traditional methods of Chinese painting not only to the west, but also to the new Chinese generation who usually devote their time and energy to the subjects that might guarantee a better university or job.  My research draws on the previous ink-wash animations and the visual reference on Chinese painting, and takes advantage of my personal experience in both traditional training and digital media design to exploit a potential path for ink-wash animation in the competitive commercial market. Expanding traditional ink painting into the digital field provides an opportunity for the archaic art form to be communicated and shared widely and efficiently worldwide.
The Relational Newsroom: An Appreciative Inquiry into how Leadership Empowers Learning in Newsrooms
Authors:   , Whelan Bernard
Published: November 2021

The field of journalism in New Zealand has gone through significant changes in the last few years, with the onset of digital technologies, their impact on the funding of journalism and on readership, and in turn on the way journalism is performed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand how leadership empowers learning in newsrooms and, in turn, contributes to the training and development of journalists. The intent here is to contribute to the constantly evolving field of journalism as it deals with the digital changes driving what is arguably the most concentrated period of change in its history. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) has typically been used in organisations to manifest positive change for people. However, for this study I have creatively adapted and applied the Appreciative Inquiry framework to situate qualitative research methods inside three newsrooms in New Zealand. Focus groups in each newsroom were comprised of individuals from different hierarchical levels of the workplace. As the lead researcher I led the groups who operated as co-researchers following the AI process of four phases comprising Discover, Dream, Design and Destiny seeking to understand how leadership empowers learning in newsrooms. The findings were initially drawn from an analysis of the themes which arose in the discussions. From the findings I use AI theory and adapt the AI process to propose a Relational Newsroom framework for use in newsrooms. By embedding newsroom groups constantly using the 4-D cycle of AI and involving the public in live interaction process with newsroom decision-making, the framework would generate practices of communication, trust, personal leadership and structure identified in the findings. This study concludes with proposals in the form of action statements for use in both news media and journalism school newsrooms to have journalists engaged and involved in creating the future of the field.
Living together in a religious plural society: Indonesian teachers' and student's perceptions on citizenship, identity & religious tolerance
Authors:   , Laksana Ben K.C.
Published: November 2021

This study investigates Indonesian secondary school teachers’ and students’ perceptions of citizenship, religion and religious tolerance. It explores how participants negotiate their citizenship and religious identities, and looks at how religious tolerance is understood and defined. The study involves religious education and citizenship teachers (n=8) and students (n=20) from three different schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. The schools were purposely selected to represent a range of philosophical approaches to religion and included a Madrasah, a private school and a public school. This study discovered that both teachers and students intertwined their religious and citizenship identities to produce a form of ‘religious citizenship’. The study also found that both teachers and students generally saw religious tolerance as a necessity to manage inter-religious relations. Many of the strategies teachers employed, which were also supported by curriculum documents, overlooked the complexity of inter-religious identities and in particular, the equality of minority religious groups. Most teachers perceived religious tolerance through an exclusivist view whereby religious tolerance was limited to social tolerance, while many student participants provided more progressive and inclusive definitions of religious tolerance that often reflected their lived experiences of engaging in inter-religious relations. In conclusion, the study argues that both teachers and students constantly negotiate their citizenship and religious identities in order to find ways to live together in a religiously plural society such as Indonesia. While students and teachers in this study agreed that finding ways to promote and sustain inter-religious harmony in Indonesia was a high priority, many challenges relating to the teaching and practice of religious tolerance in Indonesia still remain.
The first move: A home for asylum seekers on the far side of paradise
Authors:   , Strange Thomas
Published: November 2021

Since the turn of the twenty-first century Australia and New Zealand have become an increasingly popular destination for asylum seekers and refugees in search of a better life. Many of these people do not reach this new life so easily, with thousands trapped both literally and metaphorically somewhere between their homeland and their future home, but belonging to neither. Nauru, an isolated island in the Central Pacific, is host to a prison-like Australian offshore processing centre that currently detains people in inhumane conditions. Amnesty International cites the Regional Processing Centre situation as: “...a toxic mix of uncertainty, unlawful detention and inhumane conditions...the facility totally inappropriate and ill-equipped, with 387 men cramped into 5 rows of leaking tents, suffering from physical and mental ailments.” This thesis is centred on the following research question: How can architecture be perceived as a temporary ‘home’ to asylum seekers from disparate backgrounds all brought together in one place for an unknown period of time? The aim of this design-led research is to critically consider how architecture can play a significant role in remediating the authoritarian, prison-like conditions of processing centres while assisting the transition for asylum seekers to their future home. This thesis proposes a sense of worth and belonging can be established through developing an architecture that is connected intrinsically to the landscape and cultural context in which it sits. The objectives of this thesis are to investigate how the architectural design of a large asylum seeker processing facility can: 1) provide a sense of place to a wide range of asylum seekers from differing ethnicities, cultures, and social backgrounds; 2) improve their sense of individuality, self-worth, belonging, and community; 3)prepare them for entering a new Western culture where they can more readily assimilate; 4) mitigate the appearance of power and authority in a large processing facility; 5) provide a sense of human-scale, order and orientation within a large processing facility; 6) and engage with, and contribute to, the local host indigenous community. This thesis also argues that through architecture, an asylum seeker’s temporary home can be symbolically interpreted as a gateway or threshold to their future home, providing a sense of place, belonging and hope.
Youth Mainstreaming in Pacific Development: Challenges and Opportunities
Authors:   , Baba Kesaya
Published: November 2021

Development outcomes are poor for young people in the Pacific and show little hope of improving without a concerted, collaborative effort. This research seeks to explore the concept and practice of youth mainstreaming (YM) and the challenges and opportunities for it in New Zealand-based development agencies as a means to achieve these better outcomes. Currently there is little scholarly literature about YM, particularly in the Pacific. This research employs a mixed methods methodology comprising four methods: a literature review, interviews with regional stakeholders based in the Pacific, an exploratory multi-case study of three New Zealand (NZ) development agencies and a questionnaire. The findings suggest that while youth are accounted for in the work of many NZ development agencies working in the Pacific, mainstreaming of youth perspectives is limited, often to youth-specific projects. Challenges to YM include a lack of staff knowledge and skills in YM, a lack of knowledge about youth development and limited resources. However, despite these challenges, there is willingness among New Zealand development agencies to learn about youth development and cooperate with each other. This is likely driven by the fact that youth development fits with a number of mandates, be they rights-based, community-based or focused on economic growth. This thesis provides some recommendations to NZ development agencies about how to mainstream youth in their operations. Ultimately, the aim of this thesis is to develop industry knowledge and dialogue about youth development in the Pacific and encourage greater inclusion of youth in development initiatives in the region.
Cement / rock interaction in geothermal wells
Authors:   , Marques Conde da Silva João Ricardo
Published: November 2021

One of the main issues associated with the exploitation of geothermal energy is the durability of the cement that is used downhole to cement the steel casing to the formation. Cement durability can have a major impact on the lifetime of geothermal wells, which do not usually last as long as desirable. The cement formulations used in the construction of geothermal wells are designed to provide mechanical support to the metallic well casings and protect them against the downhole harsh environment, which often leads to corrosion. This research is focused on the way that these formulations interact with the surrounding rock formation in geothermal environments, and aims to understand whether these are likely to affect the cement durability and, consequently, the geothermal well lifetime. The experimental work in this thesis consists of examining the changes in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) that forms between geothermal cements and the volcanic rocks, after hydrothermal treatment. Holes were drilled in blocks of volcanic rocks and cement slurries with distinct formulations were poured into the cavities. The assemblages were autoclaved under typical geothermal conditions. The main variables under study were the cement formulation, the temperature of curing (150°C and 290°C), the presence of drilling mud, CO₂ exposure and the type of rock. The results show that with all the Portland cement based systems a series of chemical reactions occur at the interface between the cement and the rock, the ITZ, where migration of Ca²⁺ and OH⁻ ions occurs from the cement into the rock pores. These reactions are ongoing, which occur faster during the first days/few weeks of curing, mostly driven by physical process of cement movement into the rock, followed by a slower second stage, controlled mostly by chemical driving forces. This work highlights the interdependence between the chemical and physical interactions between geothermal cements and volcanic rocks which are complex. Variables such as temperature and time of curing and silica addition affect the cement phases that form, while the amount of amorphous silica and rock permeability dictate the extent of rock interaction. The presence of carbon dioxide influences the extent of rock/cement interaction and this can be controlled by the rock permeability and cement formulation. Consequently, most of the above mentioned variables were found to have an impact on the geothermal cement durability, which depends on the way these factors are combined.
Selective interference: Emergent complexity informed by programmatic, social and performative criteria
Authors:   , Welch Christopher David
Published: November 2021

Parametric design tools and visual programming languages are fast becoming an important part of the architects design process. A review of current literature notes that the barrier to entry into the medium is lowering while the power of the tools available is increasing. The purpose of this research is to use these emerging tools to explore complex architectural issues related to space planning and massing. This research aims to bring these aspects of the design process together to generate an architecture where programme and aesthetic are derived in equal measure by the architect and the computer. The project began with a series of technical studies focusing primarily on space planning, massing, site analysis and circulation with the purpose of using an amalgamation of these techniques to develop into a final generative algorithm. These ideas are explored through an open ended design process of iterative research and testing, self and peer review, development and critical reflection. The viability of the algorithm is then tested through the generation a number of test buildings, across variety of sites. In order to provide a direction and author a degree of creative friction within the research process, the projects are framed around the development of a mid-size, urban sited secondary school. The final algorithm provides constraints in such a way that the architecture evolves in a natural, predictable way that can still surprise and inform, as well as consistently producing viable, interesting iterations of buildings. This process, described as an “open box” structure, produced a wide variety of working concepts and provided a high level of control as a designer.
Paradise lost: A critique of lost urban sites as didactic testing grounds for landscape architecture
Authors:   , Sullivan David Rory John
Published: November 2021

The traditional approach within landscape architecture to rejuvenate a distressed ‘lost’ urban site is to cap the problem with a more desirable landscape. This thesis argues that such an approach simply creates a ‘green bandage’ to the problem without actually resolving the real issues behind the disfunction of the space: that is, the social and identity issues of the site and how to reconcile them with a physical space. Elements of urban ruin and degeneration can become active participants in an urban narrative that engages the history of the site and its place within the evolution of the urban context. Time plays a significant role in the understanding of such sites to create methods of developing landscapes as a system which is never static, and is always reflective of the layers of history beneath its transient surface. The proposed site for this thesis design research investigation is the Clifton Street Car Park, situated in the inner urban spaces of Wellington, New Zealand. It is a site that represents a multitude of identities, none of which actually engages with the reality of the history and actuality of the site. The site is a direct response to the overlaying of the standardised urban grid to the east, suburban grids to the west and a rift caused by the government’s failure to complete the motorway extension. It is a site that should be important to the functioning of a city; however, it acts as, and is therefore perceived as, a lost site, a placeless place. The principal objective of this research thesis is to challenge why these in-between spaces so often remain tinged with placelessness and challenge how to deal with the space in a way which will enable the city to actually benefit from such sites through their ability to deliver spatial narrative in the urban context and to facilitate a new typology of design.
The Professional Development of Primary School Teachers with Leadership Responsibilities in a New Zealand Context
Authors:   , Hesketh Margaret Emily
Published: November 2021

Middle and senior leaders in primary schools have an important role with significant accountability and responsibility. They are teaching practitioners who have a large influence on the quality of learning that takes place within a school. Middle and senior leaders carry out the majority of the significant conversations about teaching and learning within a school with the teachers they lead. In 2012 the New Zealand Ministry of Education produced a publication reiterating the importance of middle and senior leaders within schools. As part of that publication they identified the need for ongoing professional development and learning for middle and senior leaders to strengthen their effectiveness as leaders. However no suggestions were made in this document as to what this may look like. The purposes of this multiple case study were to explore what professional development and learning were provided to senior and middle leaders primary schools within the greater Wellington area, how effective the principals and senior middle leaders considered the professional development and learning to be, and to identify which factors enabled effective professional development and learning within a school. To answer the research questions data was collected through an online survey, focus groups and individual interviews. The findings indicated that there were two categories of organisation of professional development and learning provided within different schools; unsystematic and systematic. The more effective systematic system involved the identification of the learning needs of the middle and senior leaders through discussion or co-construction of their job descriptions, leading to a mixture of professional development and learning structures that combined sharing, collaboration and reflection to enhance leadership capabilities. In addition regular mentoring allowed for more effective leadership learning. An important factor determining the success of the professional development and learning was the deliberate actions that were carried out by the principal.
CCD Time-Series Photometry of White Dwarf Stars
Authors:   , Chote Paul Robin Brian
Published: November 2021

This thesis describes a practical programme that focused on CCD photometry of pulsating white dwarf (WD) stars. The first part of this thesis describes the development of two high-speed CCD photometer instruments and their data reduction pipeline, while the remainder describes the observation and analysis of several pulsating WDs and other targets. The two photometers (Puoko-nui North and South) share a common hardware design that is optimized for acquiring efficient photometry with integration periods of milliseconds through to minutes. The design integrates a commercial CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) camera and GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver with custom timing electronics and control software. The reduction and visualization software developed for these instruments provide detailed real-time information to the observer, and a streamlined data reduction pipeline. EC04207-4748 is a pulsating helium atmosphere WD that shows significant non-sinusoidal intensity variations. We show that the pulsation spectrum of this WD can be described by four independent pulsation eigenmodes plus linear combinations that arise from non-linear energy transport through a sub-surface convection layer. Our results are consistent with similar analyses that have been made for similar stars, and add an additional data point to the growing catalogue of these convection measurements. We argue that the convection layer depth may form a useful substitute for the effective temperatures of these WDs. GWLibrae is the class prototype of the accreting WD pulsators. These stars exist in cataclysmic variable (CV) systems, and show a mix of CV and pulsating WD-related phenomena. Our observations of GW Librae four - six years after its 2007 outburst show signs of quasi-stable intensity modulations that we believe may be caused by non-radial pulsations, but these are not convincingly explained by existing WD or CV models. L19-2 is a hydrogen atmosphere WD pulsator that shows extremely stable pulsation behaviour. We combine new observations with archival observations dating back to the mid 1970's, and derive a preliminary estimate of the period rate of change Ṗ for two of the pulsation modes in this target. We show a clear result for the main 192 s pulsation mode Ṗf₂ ≾ 10⁻¹⁴ s s-¹, and discuss the improvements that we plan to make in order to convincingly improve this constraint by an additional order of magnitude. Observations of other rapidly variable targets include two extremely low mass (ELM) WDs, which exhibit variability due to their orbital motion (J0751) as well as non-radial pulsations (J1518); the 33 ms optical period of the Crab Pulsar; the helium atmosphere WD pulsators EC05221-4725 and EC20058-5234; the stable hydrogen atmosphere pulsator G117–B15A; and the eclipsing sdB binary system PG1336-018.
Comparison of intestinal APC subsets from homeostatic and immunostimulatory environments
Authors:   , Hilligan Kerry
Published: November 2021

Antigen presenting cells (APC) including dendritic cells (DC) play a key role in the initiation and direction of adaptive immune responses. Acting as sentinels in the tissue, DC sample antigen and traffic to the local lymph node where they present antigen to naïve T cells. The signals DC provide to naïve T cells determines the functional fate of the T cell and therefore, the type of immune response generated. At mucosal sites, such as the intestine, immune responses need to be carefully regulated due to the high antigenic load. For this reason, intestinal immune cells are highly specialised to prevent immune activation to innocuous antigens while still holding the capacity to induce potent responses to pathogenic microbes and helminths. Oral administration of antigen is associated with tolerance and the generation of FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs). Specialised lamina propria (LP) resident APC are required for the initiation of Treg differentiation in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) through production of chemical mediators such as retinoic acid (RA). Ablation of these populations or restricted trafficking prevents the development of Tregs in mouse models thus supporting the essential role of APC in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. During infection, APC promote the induction of adaptive immune responses which neutralise threats. However, the APC subsets involved in this are not well defined. Pathologies such as food allergy and inflammatory bowel disease are thought to arise due to the development of aberrant immune responses. Food allergy can be modelled in mice using the mucosal adjuvant cholera toxin (CT) which has been shown to drive immunity to co-delivered antigens and is associated with the generation of IL-4 producing T helper 2 cells. Understanding the APC subsets involved in the initiation of intestinal immune responses could help in the development of targeted therapies for inflammatory bowel conditions. In this thesis, I show that oral administration of CT is followed by the appearance of a novel phenotype of DC in the intestinal LP and MLN. These DC differ functionally from DC at steady-state and may contribute to the generation of IL-4 producing T cells observed in the LP, MLN and spleen following oral administration of CT.
On Maximum-Sized Golden-Mean Matroids
Authors:   , Welsh Michael
Published: November 2021

A rank-r simple matroid is maximum-sized in a class if it has the largest number of elements out of all simple rank-r matroids in that class. Maximum-sized matroids have been classified for various classes of matroids: regular (Heller, 1957); dyadic (Kung and Oxley, 1988-90); k-regular (Semple, 1998); near-regular and sixth-root-of-unity (Oxley, Vertigan, and Whittle, 1998). Golden-mean matroids are matroids that are representable over the golden-mean partial field. Equivalently, a golden-mean matroid is a matroid that is representable over GF(4) and GF(5). Archer conjectured that there are three families of maximum-sized golden-mean matroids. This means that a proof of Archer’s conjecture is likely to be significantly more complex than the proofs of existing maximum-sized characterisations, as they all have only one family. In this thesis, we consider the four following subclasses of golden-mean matroids: those that are lifts of regular matroids, those that are lifts of nearregular matroids, those that are golden-mean-graphic, and those that have a spanning clique. We close each of these classes under minors, and prove that Archer’s conjecture holds in each of them. It is anticipated that the last of our theorems will lead to a proof of Archer’s conjecture for golden-mean matroids of sufficiently high rank.
Activating the edge: Investigating landscape architectures potential to utilise transport infrastructures public life generating ability
Authors:   , Kuiti Jordan
Published: November 2021

Transport infrastructure is a key aspect of any city. The ability to move large groups of people into and through the city can positively or negatively affect the public life associated with that city. With this in mind transport infrastructure is often designed in a very technical manner, which seeks to move maximum numbers of people around the system as fast as possible for the least amount of money. There seems to be a lack of embrace of other aspects associated with transport infrastructure. These other aspects include public life, place making, enjoyment, and what is the transport adding to the city? With the population of New Zealand’s cities increasing, more money is being allocated to transport infrastructure projects. With a change in approach these projects could work functionally but also offer other benefits, such as public life, new development, enhanced identity, and importantly a more liveable city for the inhabitants. Instead of the functional aspects of transport infrastructure being the only driver, a more holistic approach should be utilised which takes into account the social and public life generating potential. Wellington City has been chosen as a test site as it is an example of a city currently going through transport infrastructure upgrades whilst also struggling with future transport issues. Situated in a unique harbour setting the waterfront is split from the CBD with a traffic heavy six-lane road. The harbour offers a transport resource that is not being utilised. Ferry transport offers a new approach to transport in Wellington that offers greater benefits than just moving people around the system. This thesis proposes a fresh look at transport infrastructure in Wellington with the development of a ferry network designed to service the entire Wellington Harbour. Through researching the development potentials offered by transport networks this thesis argues that a holistic approach to transport infrastructure can have wider reaching benefits that just moving people around the system efficiently.
Living Memory and the Travelling Mountain Narrative of Taranaki
Authors:   , Ngāwhare-Pounamu Dennis
Published: November 2021

The Travelling Mountain Narrative is the origin myth of Taranaki maunga and the foundation on which Taranaki tribal tradition and identity is constructed. The story pattern of the Travelling Mountain Narrative relates the journey of Taranaki maunga and Te Toka a Rauhoto to Te Tai Hauāuru. This thesis establishes that the origin myth was sourced in the historical migration account of the ancestor Rua Taranaki and mythologised over multiple generations. Te Toka a Rauhoto is the tangible connection between the past and the present and is represented by the sacred stone located at Puniho Pā. Informed by mātauranga Māori paradigms, a literature and qualitative mixed method research framework collated a wide variety of information about the Travelling Mountain Narrative and the tūpuna of the Kāhui Maunga, the early inhabitants of the Taranaki region. Exploring the way myth and history intersects with the lived reality of a contemporary tribal community this thesis contributes to the critical analysis of these tribal traditions. This thesis also highlights how participating and contributing to the pā, hapū and the iwi throughout the duration of PhD research also offered insider insights into the modern retention of ancient knowledge.
Molecular characterization of bacterial diversity in New Zealand groundwater
Authors:   , Sirisena Katugampalage Kosala Ayantha
Published: November 2021

Groundwater is a globally important natural resource and an integral part of the water supply in New Zealand. Due to high demand, the quality and availability of groundwater are both extensively monitored in New Zealand and globally, under State-of-the-Environment (SOE) monitoring programmes. SOE groundwater monitoring in New Zealand mainly evaluates hydrochemistry and until this thesis has largely overlooked the biotic component. Microbes including bacteria play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning by mediating biogeochemical processes in subsurface environments. Therefore, analysis of microbiological content will enable better evaluation of the health of groundwater ecosystems that is not fully reflected by chemical data alone. This project characterizes the bacterial diversity in New Zealand groundwater at national and regional scales using molecular methods and explores the underlying factors that shape the bacterial community structure. A simple molecular profiling tool, Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) was used to determine community structure at local and national scales. The results revealed considerable diversity that was driven by groundwater chemistry. Roche 454-pyrosequencing was then used to obtain a deeper insight into New Zealand groundwater ecosystems, and showed that bacterial communities have many low abundance taxa and relatively few highly abundant species. In addition, microbial diversity is mainly related to the redox potential of the groundwater. But, despite this relationship, Pseudomonas spp. were the dominant genus at many sites even those with diverse chemistries and environmental factors. The final phase of the project set the platform to test whether these Pseudomonas spp. have acquired genetic material from other species via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) enabling them to adapt into a diverse range of habitats. A whole-genome sequencing approach (Illumina MiSeq platform) was used to develop six metagenomic databases as a resource to test this hypothesis. Initial results show some evidence for HGT and further investigations are underway. Overall, the knowledge generated across all phases of this project provides novel insights into New Zealand groundwater ecosystems and creates a scientific basis for the future inclusion of microbial status assessment criteria into regional and national groundwater monitoring programmes and related policies in New Zealand.
City of Flux: Liberating the Concrete Terrain
Authors:   , Carden Tara-Lee
Published: November 2021

In recent decades the world has increasingly become aware of our role in the continual degradation of our planet’s natural environment. One of the most influential and controversial issues of the Twenty First Century is climate change and a subsequent rise in global sea-levels. The implications of the most recent scientific predictions will play out over the following century and beyond, significantly affecting millions of people and thousands of coastal cities around the world. Accelerated sea-level rise globally will demand urban, landscape and architectural solutions for low-lying regions to respond over the coming decades to the extensive changes that will occur.  New Zealand has a vast coastline and therefore will be particularly vulnerable to the predicted one-half, to two meter rise in sea-level during the following century (Evans, Milfont, and Lawrence 3). As occupants of an island nation, New Zealanders’ share a strong affinity to water. The earliest Maori settlements to the most recent developments in New Zealand have occurred predominantly in coastal regions, taking advantage of both land and marine resources. In order to envision a vital future for New Zealand’s coastal cities, the temporality of the relationship between these urban centres and the sea forces us to confront the transitory quality of our place within it. Simultaneously, the design proposal presented in this thesis recognises that Wellington has historically reclaimed large areas of land to form the majority of the central city seen today, and that in order to flourish in the coming century of climate change will require urban design more responsive than we know today.  The imminent threat of the encroaching ocean within the high value precinct of Wellington’s central business district provides an opportunity to engage with the dynamic transition from land based activities to those functions that engage with incremental flooding. Using a critical transect of Wellington’s central city this thesis proposes a system of intervention to modify a section of the existing urban fabric to accommodate, prepare and adapt for flooding. The aim of this design investigation will be to place the programme as a hinge between land and sea.