bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cretaceous and Cenozoic Basin Evolution Based on Decompacted Sediment Thickness from Petroleum Wells around New Zealand
Authors:   , Christie Louise Jane
Published: November 2021

Decompacted sedimentary data from 33 New Zealand exploration wells is used to investigate basin evolution and tectonics from around New Zealand. This analysis is directed to both a comparison of basin behaviour and a search for common subsidence signatures. Common to almost all New Zealand basin subsidence curves is a sedimentary signature associated with rifting of the Gondwana super-continent (80-65 Ma). In the Great South Basin a second rifting event is inferred at 51 [plus or minus] 2 Ma, illustrated by a rapid increase in subsidence rates (with a maximum rate of 190 m.Myr-1 at Pakaha-1). Coinciding with the cessation of Tasman Sea rifting ([approximately] 53 Ma), and with the onset of rifting in the Emerald Basin ([approximately] 50 Ma), it is assumed that the event is related to the tectonic plate reorganization. An increase in sedimentation is noted at [approximately] 20 Ma in most South Island wells. Convergence on the Alpine Fault, leading to increased erosion is cited as a mechanism for this period of basin growth, consistent with the Cande and Stock (2004) model of plate motions. A second increase in sedimentation occurs at [approximately] 6 Ma in almost all wells around New Zealand. Climate-driven erosion resulting in isostatic uplift is thought to contribute to this event. Hiatuses in the sedimentary record for the Canterbury, Great South and Western Southland Basins during the late Oligocene are interpreted as the Marshall Paraconformity. It appears that the break in sedimentation located within a regional transgressional mega-sequence was caused by mid Oligocene glacio-eustatic fall and related oceanic current processes. Loading by the Northland Allochthon, in conjunction with paleobathymetry and subsidence data, is used to demonstrate the mechanical properties of the lithosphere. A lithospheric rigidity of 1.5 x [10 to the power of 22] Nm is estimated, with an elastic thickness of 12 km. Considerably lower than elastic thickness values previously calculated for the Plio-Pleistocene loading of the Taranaki Platform. It is noted that the Northland value represents a younger, hotter crust at the time of load emplacment. With the exception of the central Taranaki and Great South Basins, stretching factors ([Beta]) for the sedimentary basins surrounding New Zealand are below 2. This suggests crustal thickness prior to rifting was between 35 and 50 km, consistent with data from conjugate margins of Australia and Antarctica. An increase in water depth in the Taranaki Basin at 25 [plus or minus] 3 Ma is confirmed by this study. This coincides with a similar signature on the West Coast of the South Island at 26 [plus or minus] 2 Ma. It is suggested that a mantle flow caused by the initiation of the subduction zone at [approximately] 25 Ma extends over a broader region (>750 km) than previously thought.
Chromosome Banding and Heterochromatin in Vicia Faba
Authors:   , Rowland Roland Elliston
Published: November 2021

This study documents the distribution of bands in Vicia faba root-tip chromosomes as shown by acid treatment, quinacrine mustard fluorescence, various forms of Giemsa banding and orcein banding methods, and demonstrates the coincidence of these bands with the position of heterochromatin as shown by cold treatment and late replication. Heterochromatin in the large metacentric M chromosome is located in two areas: (a) around the centromere and (b) adjacent to the secondary constriction. The latter is not late-replicating but is judged to represent classical nucleolus-associated heterochromatin. Heterochromatin in the smaller sub-telocentric S chromosomes is located in the intercalary and proximal areas of their long arms and in the short arm of two chromosomes. The variable expression of particular chromosome segments with different banding techniques testifies to certain differences between heterochromatic regions and emphasizes the existence of several classes of heterochromatin. In situ molecular hybridization of labelled complementary RNA to chromosomal DNA indicates the presence of repetitive DNA in both euchromatin and heterochromatin of the V. faba genome.
Action Research: Improving My Music Therapy Practice with Hospitalised Adolescents through Building Relationships and Meeting their Developmental Needs
Authors:   , Wang Tzu-ya
Published: November 2021

This study examines the researcher's music therapy intervention with hospitalised adolescents within a paediatric hospital The hospital is located in a New Zealand city serving a broad multicultural population of mainly Pakeha, Maori and Pacific Island people. There is a large body of literature showing that experiences of hospitalisation are often unpleasant and that the challenges adolescents encounter during hospitalisation can also be detrimental to their development. The researcher employed an action research model of cycles of planning, action and reflection to explore the potential for practice improvement in meeting the needs of hospitalised adolescents. In addition, young people's feedback on the sessions and input from supervisors also contributed to the researcher's planning. Personal goals in clinical practice and specific planning for the needs of individual participants were the starting points of each cycle. Subsequently, each cycle had a learning analysis to relate planning to action and to collect the knowledge for the next cycle or future practice. The researcher found that through scrutiny of her clinical work she was able to improve her professional practice. The findings also showed that relationship-building through music therapy was able to support the developmental needs of hospitalised adolescents.
Systematics of Scleranthus (Caryophyllaceae)
Authors:   , Smissen Robin David
Published: November 2021

Scleranthus is a genus of about 12 species of herbaceous flowering plants or small shrubs with a disjunct Eurasian/Australasian distribution. Monophyly of the genus is supported by the close similarity of gynoecial development of all species and consistent with nuclear ITS DNA sequence analysis. Traditionally the genus had been divided into two sections, section Scleranthus and section Mniarum. Section Mniarum is exclusively Australasian while section Scleranthus has been circumscribed to contain exclusively European species or a combination of European and Australasian species. Pollen and floral characters align the species into Australasian and Eurasian groups also supported by nuclear ITS DNA sequence analysis. Section Scleranthus as more broadly defined (i.e., sensu West and Garnock-Jones, 1986) is therefore at least paraphyletic or at worst polypyhyletic. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on morphological characters differ from those based on ITS sequences in supporting different relationships within the Australasian species of Scleranthus. Hybridisation and introgression within the genus are discussed and suggested as the cause of discordance between morphology and DNA sequence based trees. Low sequence divergence among Scleranthus ITS sequences suggests that the European and Australasian clades within the genus diverged within the last l0 million years. Biogeographic implications of these dating and competing hypotheses explaining the disjunct North-South distribution of the genus are discussed. Nuclear ITS and chloroplast ndhF DNA sequences both suggest that Scleranthus belongs to a clade within the family Caryophyllaceae consisting of members of subfamilies Alsinoideae and Caryophylloideae. Phylogenetic relationships between genera belonging to the three subfamilies of Caryophyllaceae (Alsinoideae, Caryophyloideae, and Paronychioideae) are addressed in this thesis through ndhF sequence analysis, which provides no support for the monophyly of traditionally recognised groups. Morphological character data sets are likely to always encompass multiple incongruent data partitions (sensu Bull et al. 1993). It may therefore be appropriate to combine data from DNA sequence and morphology for parsimony analysis even where the two are significantly incongruent.
Piezoreflectance and Electronic Structure of Alloys of Copper with Polyvalent Solutes
Authors:   , Staines Michael Philip
Published: November 2021

Piezoreflectance and other optical measurements have been made on other optical measurements have been made on a phase alloys of Cu with Zn Ga, Al, In and Ge. The samples were evaporated films deposited on the face of a resonant oscillator assembly. The application of this type of strain transducer to piezoref-reflectance alleviates systematic errors and allows the response to pure shear strains to be distinguished, even in amorphous materials, using the polarisation dependence of the results. The energies of the d band -> Fermi level threshold, the interconduction band threshold, and the L2' -> L1 critical point transition were determined for the alloys. Previous optical studies using more conventional methods either have not been able to resolve these features or have not located them with accuracy comparable with piezoreflectance. With increasing alloy concentration the d band threshold is found to shift slowly to higher energies, the inter-conduction band transitions more rapidly to lower energies. Zn impurities produced much smaller shifts than the others, indicating the importance of interactions between impurity d states and the d and conduction states of the host. Significant differences were found between the isovalent solutes Ga and A1. In concentrated alloys with Zn, Ga and Al the interconduction band threshold tended to a common value of about 2.5 eV. This lack of simple dependence on e/a, the electron per atom density in the alloy, is relevant to the understanding of the electronic structure of the Hume-Rothery alloys and the regularity of the [alpha] phase boundary.
Recognising Scientific Entrepreneurship in New Zealand
Authors:   , Menzies Malcolm Bruce
Published: November 2021

To increase wealth and well-being, New Zealand needs to both increase the productivity of its traditional economic base and grow new economic sectors in a competitive global marketplace. Innovation underpins both of these objectives and the combination of Research, Science and Technology (RS&T) and entrepreneurship has the potential to make a particularly potent contribution since it can create new, knowledge-based sectors with sustainable competitive advantage. However, a review of the literature and documentary analysis of aspects of the New Zealand RS&T system shows that commercialisation tends to be based on mental models which conceptualise RS&T and entrepreneurship as separate realms and are more appropriate for existing economic sectors than for new ones. The origins of these existing mental models are explained and they are critiqued from a human capital perspective. A subset of human capital theory is used to derive an alternative, competency-based model of scientific entrepreneurship. The competency-based model is included in a methodological framework for interviewing key respondents engaged in the commercialisation of products and services arising from scientific research. Using a grounded theory approach to analysis, an expanded metacompetency model of scientific entrepreneurship is developed and it is argued that adoption of this model will better enable recognition of scientific entrepreneurship, leading to its increased incidence and consequently higher levels of innovation in the New Zealand economy. The implications of these findings for national innovation policy and the management of RS&T are discussed. Conclusions are also drawn on the efficacy of the methodology used, both for the purposes of the current research and for other public policy questions. Finally, suggestions are made as to further avenues of research indicated by the findings.
Cascade Approaches Towards the Synthesis of Daphnioldhanin A Alkaloid
Authors:   , Khan Ashna Ashneen
Published: November 2021

Daphnioldhanin A 1.6 is a recent alkaloid obtained from Daphyniphyllum plants. The core structure as shown consists of a 5,5,7 tricyclic ring system, which is a challenging ring system and to date has not been reported in any other natural product. This project focussed on using two cascade approaches in forming this ring system, namely radical addition and cyclisation cascade and carbene cycloaddition cyclisation cascade CCCC. Using the radical approach would require a 5-endo trig cyclisation, which is disfavoured by Baldwin's rules, but has been reported in systems which have an hetereoatom (carbonyl, nitrogen or sulfur) incorporated in the ring. In our case, the 5-endo trig cyclisation is needed in an all carbon containing ring, and preliminary modelling studies have shown that the energy for the 4-exo trig cyclisation product is higher than that of the 5-endo trig cyclisation product. Therefore, the radical approach if successful will eventuate in a novel 5-endo trig cyclisation in an all carbon system. However, due to stability issues with the radical precursors this method had to be abandoned and attention focused on the CCCC approach. For the CCCC approach, rhodium catalysed cascade cyclisation is intended on diazo compound 1.22. The presence of the intramolecular double bond enhances the second cyclisation to occur which will form the 5 and 7-membered ring simultaneously along with oxo-bridge resulting in the functionalised pentacyclic ring system which would be very similar to the proposed 5,5,7 core of Daphnioldhanin A. The desired diazo compound could not synthesised due to failure in forming the anhydride for the acid and future work would be focussed on forming acid derivatives in order to form the diazo compound 1.22 before using rhodium catalysed cyclisation to form the functionalised pentacyclic compound.
A Contextual Model for Planning Continuing Education Programmes for University Library Practitioners in Vietnam
Authors:   , Nguyen Hong Sinh
Published: November 2021

Continuing education (CE) for library and information management (LIM) practitioners is an ongoing issue in the profession. In  particular, due to the current significant changes in library and information services in the Vietnamese context, especially in university libraries, CE is a priority for enhancing the ability of practitioners and upgrading the capability of libraries to meet the demands of higher education as well as to meet the demands of socio-economic development of the country. The purpose of this study is to provide a contextual model for CE that will assist providers and university libraries in designing and implementing more effective learning programmes for the practitioners. The study focuses on determining the factors affecting CE, and on identifying and prioritising key learning needs among university library practitioners in Vietnam. The study employed a preliminary model for CE based on the literature and developed specifically for the Vietnamese context as a framework to gather data. Ten individual interviews with university library managers, and 17 focus group interviews with operational staff were conducted. In addition, related documentary evidence from participating university libraries, relevant ministries and the central government were gathered and examined. Based on the obtained data the model was assessed and revised, and the learning needs for Vietnamese university library practitioners were identified and prioritised. The study found five main factors significantly affect CE: social factors, professional factors, organisational factors, individual factors, and the nexus between the individual practitioner's and his or her organisation's needs. These factors also particularly affect triage, the process of identifying and prioritising learning needs for university library practitioners. In regard to learning needs, in this study specific areas of professional knowledge and skills are identified as the first priority and generic skills as the second priority for library operational staff while management knowledge and skills are identified as the first priority and professional knowledge and skills as the second priority for library managers. These findings are useful for (1) government and professional organisations, university libraries and library managers in establishing relevant policies and activities to facilitate the CE of library practitioners, (2) CE providers in designing and implementing effective CE programmes, (3) practitioners in enhancing their learning pursuits.
The Ageing and Rejuvenation of Soft, Glassy Complex Fluids
Authors:   , Rogers Simon Andrew
Published: November 2021

Suspensions of multiarm star polymers are studied as models for soft colloidal interactionsin colloidal glasses. Establishing a pre-shearing protocol which ensures a reproducible initial state (the "rejuvenation" of the system), we report here the stress evolution from startup for two different concentrations for a range of shear rates using conventional rheological techniques. We show the existence of critical shear rateswhich are functions of the concentration. When the suspensions are sheared at rates below the critical rates, the stress rises to a common value which is also a function of the concentration. The system thus evolves into a yield stress-like fluid. This behavior manifests itself as an evolution from a monotonic, slightly shear-thinning flow curve to a flow curve dominated by a stress plateau. Complementary to the controlled-rate measurements, stress-controlled measurementsshow that for a stress below the critical stress, the rate at which strain is acquired drops several orders of magnitude, providing evidence of a lower branch of the flow curve. In stress-controlled ageing experiments, the material recovers an increasing fraction of the strain acquired under stress with waiting time upon cessation of the (less than critical) stress. The freshly rejuvenated suspension recovers a mere 2%of the acquired strain, while for a waiting time of 104 s the material recovers 97% of the acquired strain. The material thus appears to evolve from a nearly ideal fluid to a nearly ideal solid. We relate this bulk evolution to spatially and temporally resolved Rheo-NMR velocity profiles which clearly show an evolution to a strongly shear-banded state. The velocity of the suspension in the lower shear band is below the uncertainty of the experiment. The growth of the (assumed) zero-shear band is well described by a Gompertz relation. The effects of shear-rate, temperature and waiting time on the Gompertzparameters are investigated. Phenomenological understanding is provided through a scalar model that describes the stress-dependent free-energy landscape. Using a dual-minimum free-energy landscape, the model is able to replicate the behaviour of the stress after startup in shearratecontrolled experiments, the flow curve and the velocity profiles across the gap of a Couette geometry. The Large-Amplitude-Oscillatory-Shear (LAOS) response is reported along with discussions of current LAOS analysis techniques. The stress response to LAOS of the star suspensions is well described in a Cox-Merz manner by a modified Cross model. The modified Cross model highlights an asymmetry in the LAOS response. This constitutes the first ever report of asymmetric LAOS responses. The asymmetry is followed as a function of time using two complementary scalar variables. A speculativeinterpretation is given to account for the evolution of the asymmetry.
Control of a Hierarchical Team of Robots for Urban Search and Rescue
Authors:   , Roehr Thomas Mirko
Published: November 2021

Research teams worldwide are researching the application of robots for Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) operations and some are using teams of robots. The Mechatronics Research Group of Victoria University of Wellington is developing a low cost architecture of a team of USAR robots that is hierarchically structured and can operate autonomously. The objective of this thesis is to design the autonomous control system for the proposed architecture. The overall system design and combination of hardware and software solutions needs to be evaluated in a realistic environment. The project could not perform tests in a real environment and developed a realistic simulation environment instead to allow the evaluation of hardware and software constraints. This project successfully developed an incremental mapping algorithm which served as foundation for distributed path planning, and modified an existing navigation approach to cope with the main challenges of 3D operation environments. In order to deal with multiple robots, this thesis applied a centralised control mechanism and a combination of a global and local exploration strategy. This thesis contributes software solutions to operate the low cost robot architecture and identified weaknesses in the design of the middle tier of robots. The individual algorithms, and their combination in a major control system proved to be effective, but not without limitations. Consequently, this thesis suggests solutions to overcome some of these limitations.
Design and Construction Features that Cause New Houses in New Zealand to Overheat
Authors:   , French Lisa
Published: November 2021

Analysis of indoor temperature measurements taken in 397 randomly selected houses has revealed that New Zealand houses are becoming warmer in summer. Houses built at the end of the 20th century are during the daytime (9 am to 5 pm), on average, 2.5 degrees C warmer during summer months (December to February) than houses built at the start. For example, in houses built during the 1990s, temperatures above 25 degrees C are found 40% of the time during the summer early evening (4 pm to 6 pm) - temperatures that could be considered as uncomfortably warm in a temperate climate. Since 2006 there has been a rapid uptake of heat pumps in New Zealand, and a survey provides evidence of a growing number of households actively cooling, when traditionally very little cooling has been done. The ability for occupants to cool during the warm summer early evening has the potential to create an additional peak load on the electricity network. The trend towards increasing indoor summer temperatures could be due to a range of features, including house design, construction and operation. These have been explored through analysis of the temperature data and thermal modelling using SUNREL with validated models of five houses. Although the monitored sample was sizable, the variation in occupant behaviour means it was not possible to explore all potential drivers or eliminate other influences. The use of thermal modelling permitted parametric investigation of the role of different features to be explored. The analysis of monitoring data and the thermal modelling showed that the main causes of increasing temperatures are: increasing glazing area; lower ventilation rates; reduction of external shading through reduced eave size; and to a lesser extent increased levels of thermal insulation. These findings have been used to provide guidance for new house designers as well as suggestions for modifications of existing houses.
Negotiating the Political Ecology of Aboriginal Resource Management: How Mi'kmaq Manage Their Moose and Lobster Harvest in Unama'ki, Nova Scotia, Canada
Authors:   , Huber Bernard
Published: November 2021

Since the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the fishing and hunting rights of the Mi'kmaq nation in 1985 and 1990, the government has failed to accommodate these in appropriate and effective resource management frameworks. In Unama'ki/Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the subsistence harvest of lobster and moose by Mi'kmaq has therefore caused cross-cultural conflict and ecological concerns. Since 2006, the Lobster Management Plan (Unama'kik Jakejue'ka'timk) and the Moose Management Plan are being developed under Mi'kmaq leadership to manage the Mi'kmaq harvest communally. These innovative management initiatives will serve as case studies for this thesis to explore how Mi'kmaq negotiate the political ecology of co-management in Nova Scotia and effectively assert Mi'kmaq rights to resource harvest and selfgovernance. Most notably, the management plans employ cultural principles of sustainability and pro-active approaches to cross-cultural communication. This research shows how Mi'kmaq communities have developed resource management capacities and frameworks that can also inspire the self-government aspirations of other aboriginal nations in Canada. Mi'kmaq strategies and experience suggests that aboriginal leadership and cultural principles are integral to the meaningful implementation of aboriginal resource rights. Semi-structured interviews with Mi'kmaq and governmental resource managers illustrated diverse discourses of aboriginal resource rights, ecological knowledge and sustainability. Aiming to represent research insights appropriately, this thesis follows the decolonization agenda of aboriginal methodologies and features reflective discussions of the author's positionality within the Mi'kmaq research community. This also allows for a review of how the author came to terms with conflicting discourses and aboriginal ontologies of ecological knowledge, as well as the requirements for decolonizing research. Supporting reflective insights, a framework of anthropological political ecology and poststructuralist arguments for ontological diversity explain the validity of aboriginal perspectives on ecological knowledge and resource rights, which is the premise of decolonization paradigms. A review of engaging with aboriginal culture both in theory and practice concludes that the practical experience is essential for an appreciation of aboriginal perspectives and thus integral to cross-cultural communication and co-management relationships.
Professional Culture Compatibility and Performance in International Joint Ventures: A Chinese Experience
Authors:   , Gan Xiangfu
Published: November 2021

This research was influenced by Sirmon & Lane's (2004) model of cultural differences and international alliance performance. Sirmon & Lane's model introduced the concept and importance of partners' professional culture compatibility in international alliances. However, to date, their model lacks empirical testing. This research therefore took the study further by empirically investigating the influence of professional culture compatibility between partners and international alliance performance by using a selected sample of Sino-Foreign joint ventures in China. The findings overall support Sirmon & Lane's (2004) model that (1) Partners from similar national cultures experience lesser differences in their professional cultures as opposed to partners from diverse cultures; and, (2) Professional culture differences between partners negatively influence the overall performance of international joint ventures. However, this research also argues that the relationships shown in Sirmon & Lane's (2004) model are not as straightforward as was previously proposed, and the findings suggest several additional factors that contribute to the relationship between partner professional culture compatibility and international alliance performance.
Verifying Privacy Preserving Combinatorial Auctions
Authors:   , Palmer Ben
Published: November 2021

Suppose you are competing in an online sealed bid auction for some goods. How do you know the auction result can be trusted? The auction site could be performing actions that support its own commercial interests by blocking certain bidders or even reporting incorrect winning prices. This problem is magnified when the auctioneer is an unknown party and the auctions are for high value items. The incentive for the auctioneer to cheat can be high as they could stand to make a significant profit by inflating winning prices or by being paid by a certain bidder to announce them the winner. Verification of auction results provides confidence in the auction result by making it computationally infeasible for an auction participant to cheat and not get caught. This thesis examines the construction of verifiable privacy preserving combinatorial auction protocols. Two verifiable privacy preserving combinatorial auction protocols are produced by extending existing auction protocols.
The Leadership Processes of Pacific Public Servants in Aotearoa, New Zealand
Authors:   , Paea Mele Katea
Published: November 2021

This dissertation presents research focused on leadership processes among Pacific public servants at multiple levels in the New Zealand Public Service. The current study was guided by this research question: What are the leadership processes currently employed by Pacific public servants in the New Zealand Public Service? This study also explored participants' views on the effect of Pacific cultural backgrounds and organisational contexts on their current experience of leadership processes. The exploration of the topic was developed within a post-positivist research paradigm, using phenomenological methodology to examine the leadership processes of Pacific public servants. It employs qualitative case studies of two New Zealand Public Service organisations in the Wellington region. I employed two data collection tools in these case studies. The first was the use of in-depth interviews, and the second was an analysis of relevant organisational documents. A total of sixteen Pacific public servants participated in my study, eight from each case organisation. The findings indicated that the Pacific participants understood leadership as a social process of collective influence within a context. Participants perceived participating, networking and relationship building, learning about leadership from cultural contexts, and practising the Pacific value of va as important leadership processes for their performance in the organisations in which they were working. This study also found that the organisations' key roles and leadership values, which are embedded in Pacific cultures, shaped participants' experiences of the leadership processes. The findings also highlight some factors that contribute to and constrain the Pacific public servants' leadership processes. This emphasises the need for diverse policies to encompass leadership development. This study also highlights the need for leadership support for Pacific public servants at all levels in their New Zealand organisations. Practical and future research recommendations gained from the findings are discussed. The study contributes to the field of leadership research on Pacific public servants in New Zealand, and provides a different perspective on leadership processes in general leadership theory.
The Nursing Presence in General Practice: Revealing Dimensions of Day-to-day Experience of Practice Nurses in New Zealand
Authors:   , Fyers Katrina
Published: November 2021

This study makes visible and gives value to the day-to-day experience of practice nurses who work in New Zealand general practices. Nursing leaders internationally and locally have highlighted the importance of the Primary Health Care nurse to improving health outcomes, addressing inequalities and implementing new models of care. As one of the largest groups of Primary Health Care nurses, practice nurses have a significant part to play. There is however, no consensus and limited research related to the day-to-day experience of practice nurses. Therefore, the nature, extent, and contribution of nursing in general practice may be overlooked or misunderstood. Furthermore as an autonomous self-regulating profession, nursing has a responsibility to the public to provide understanding of nursing in the present and in the future, particularly when this relates to the care of families and the structure of health systems. Located within the qualitative research paradigm and utilising a narrative inquiry methodology, this study applies a 'supportive voice' to highlight the experience of five practice nurses, and in the process makes visible the dimensions of nursing work in New Zealand general practices. The five constructed narratives particularly draw attention to the complex nature of nursing work that practice nurses engage in daily, the importance of nurse-patient relationships and continuity of care and the significance of autonomous and specialty aspects of nursing practice. Ultimately, the value of the practice nurse in the day-to-day operation of general practice is brought to the fore.
Iterative Approach on Redesigning and Construction of a Pipe Inspection Robot
Authors:   , Ristic Aleksandar
Published: November 2021

A pipe inspection robot is a device that is inserted into pipes to check for obstructions or damage. These robots are traditionally manufactured offshore, are extremely expensive, and are often not adequately supported in the event of malfunction. This had resulted in Associated Environmental Services Limited, a New Zealand utiliser of this equipment, facing significant periods of down-time as they wait for their robots to be repaired. Recently, they were informed that several of their robots were no longer supported. At their instigation, this project was conceived to redesign the electronics and control system of one of these pipe inspection robots, utilising the existing mechanical platform. Requirements for the robot were that it must operate reliably in confined, dark and wet environments, and provide a human user with a digital video feed of the internal status of the pipes. This robot should, as much as possible, incorporate off-the-shelf components, facilitating cheap, and potentially on-site repair. This project details the redesign and construction of such a robot. It employs three electronic boards integrated with the mechanical components and provides video feedback via a custom graphical user interface. Although at the prototype stage, the electronic redesign has been successful, with a cost of less than a tenth of the original robot purchase price.
Irish Maritime Trade in the Eighteenth Century: a Study in Patterns of Trade, Market Structures, and Merchant Communities
Authors:   , Cheer Karen A
Published: November 2021

Ireland has a centuries-long history of maritime and economic interaction with Great Britain and other more distant communities on the Atlantic rim. In the last forty years of academic writing on the main themes of Ireland's economic history, very few historians have examined the  late-eighteenth century maritime trade data. The original Customs logs or port books are lost but other sources of information remain. This thesis uses a new source of information, Richard Eaton's A Daily and Alphabetical Arrangement of all Imports and Exports at the Port of Dublin, in the Quarter ending the 25th March, 1785, as well as the shipping reports contained in the daily newspapers of the time to create a micro-history of the maritime and mercantile interaction between Ireland and her trading partners. Eaton's "List" not only gives us a complete tally of the goods exported from, and imported into Dublin in the first three months of 1785 but the customs official also recorded the names of each merchant or firm operating in Dublin at that time. This is the first time that such detailed information has been available to scholars and it is unavailable from any other source. The focus is on Dublin in 1785 and a comparison is made with another Irish port city -- Belfast. Change over time is measured by using data for the same focal cities in 1770. Ireland's key market is England and Liverpool is the increasingly popular destination for goods leaving Dublin and the port of lading for goods arriving in Dublin. Using the databases created for the purpose, this thesis analyses the relationship between Dublin/Belfast and Liverpool and discusses the patterns of trade and market structures. Although every export/import sector had a group of leading merchants, no single merchant or small group of merchants were able to wield sufficient market power to exclude competitors. All sectors of the merchant communities of Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool -- regardless of whether they dealt in primary produce, linen products or merchants' goods -- were general merchants, with little evidence of specialisation.
Targeting Antigen Presenting Cells to Treat Autoimmune Inflammation
Authors:   , Toker Aras
Published: November 2021

Glatiramer acetate (GA) is approved for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), and can suppress experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine model of human MS. GA treatment is associated with the induction of anti-inflammatory TH2 responses and with the antigen specific expansion of regulatory T cells that counteract or inhibit pathogenic events in MS and EAE. These T cell mediated mechanisms of protection are considered to be a result of modulation of antigen presenting cells (APCs) by GA, rather than direct effects on T cells. However, it is unknown if GA preferentially targets a specific APC subset or can act through multiple APCs in vivo. In addition, GA-modulated innate cells may also exhibit direct antigen non-specific suppression of autoreactive cells. One objective of this study was to identify the in vivo target cell population of GA and to assess the potential of the target cells to antigen non-specifically suppress immune responses. Fluorophor-labelled GA bound to monocytes after intravenous injections, suggesting that monocytes may be the primary target of GA in vivo. In addition, intravenous GA treatment enhanced the intrinsic ability of monocytes to suppress T cell proliferation, both in vitro and in vivo. The findings of this study therefore suggest that GA-induced monocytes may contribute to GA therapy through direct mechanisms of antigen non-specific T cell immunosuppression. A further objective of this work was to investigate the potential of an in vivo drug targeting approach. This approach was hypothesised to increase the uptake of GA by the target cells and substantially improve GA treatment through antigen specific mechanisms such as induction of TH2 or regulatory T cells. Targeting antigens to professional APCs with an anti-MHC class II antibody resulted in significantly enhanced T cell proliferation in vitro. However, no EAE suppression occurred when GA was targeted to MHC class II in vivo. In addition, targeting GA specifically to monocytes also failed to suppress EAE. These findings suggest that GA treatment may selectively modulate monocytes to enhance their ability to inhibit autoreactive T cells, which could be part of the mechanism by which GA ameliorates MS. Targeting GA to a specific cell type may not be a powerful approach to improve treatment, because increased proliferation of GA specific T cells is not sufficient for disease suppression, and conjugation to antibodies may functionally reduce GA to a mere antigen devoid of immunomodulatory capacity.
Psychological Distress and Work Engagement among The Faculty Members on University of Batangas: Basis for the Formulation of a Program Involving Mental Health
Authors: Lipat Diane D , Bugtong- Diez Mahjalin , Deleniana Daniel , Perez Berlinda , Orig Anna Marie
Published: November 2021

This is a descriptive-comparative study which aimed to measure the level of work engagement and psychological distress of faculty members. Just as students need support to continue learning, teachers need support to continue teaching. With teachers engaging in a multitude of tasks and their responsibilities not limited to preparing and discussing lessons alone, they are becoming more prone to experiencing higher levels of psychological distress. This can then impact their work engagement and their ability to function effectively. In consideration of this, this study attempted to assess the psychological distress and work engagement of selected faculty members at the University of Batangas (UB) Main Campus. Specifically, this study measured gender differences in terms of psychological distress and work engagement. In addition, the focus of this study also included determining whether a significant relationship exists between teachers' psychological distress and work engagement through the adapted and self-constructed questionnaire. Results showed that selected teachers from the UB exhibited mild forms of psychological distress but high levels of work engagement. No significant differences in psychological distress and work engagement were found between male and female teachers. A mental health program was also proposed as an output of the study to help combat psychological distress and improve work engagement among teachers.
La metaforización en el aprendizaje de lenguas. El papel de la cultura en la competencia metafórica
Authors: López Castillo Luis Antonio , Saldívar Arreola Rafael , Lázaro Hernández Jorge Adrián , Alvarado Martínez Elizabeth
Published: November 2021

El aprendizaje de lenguas se caracteriza por coadyuvar a los alumnos en el desarrollo de la competencia lingüística. Así, el alumno interactúa y es capaz de comunicarse de forma eficiente en situaciones reales. No obstante, el apartado metafórico en el aprendizaje es poco explorado por los profesores de lenguas, en muchos casos. Actualmente, estudios, como los de Acquaroni (2008), Lamartí (2011) y Domínguez (2020), evidencian que la metáfora juega un papel más significativo del que se tiene contemplado. Aunado a esto, el papel de la cultura en la metáfora y los procesos cognitivos son elementos relevantes y cruciales que deberían incluirse en la enseñanza de lenguas. De ahí, la importancia de este trabajo en donde se analiza el papel de la cultura y la sociedad en los procesos metafóricos y el aprendizaje del idioma inglés. Esta investigación con enfoque cualitativo y con alcance descriptivo muestra resultados que sustentan la hipótesis de que existen elementos socioculturales en la L1 que generan, o inhiben, la interferencia lingüística, y se evidencian en el desarrollo de la competencia metafórica en L2. Los cambios en los contextos sociolingüísticos, las nuevas técnicas de enseñanza, así como sus enfoques, y el acercamiento que los alumnos tienen con distintos elementos lingüísticos ajenos a su propia lengua, predicen el surgimiento de fenómenos cognitivos que pueden dar pie a nuevas estrategias en el uso de las metáforas y, según Lakoff y Johnson (2003), muchas de las actividades diarias (discutir, resolver problemas, organizar el tiempo, etcétera) son metáforas en su naturaleza.
Solid intracystic papillary carcinomain male breast: case report
Authors: Geron Vanessa , Queiroz Evelyn Borges , Lopes Fernanda Santos , Dair Elisabete Lilian , Carloni Marcelo Ballaben
Published: November 2021

The intracystic papillary carcinoma (IPC) is one of the rarest types of breast cancer, mainly in men, representing less than 1% of the malignant diseases in the male sex. It is frequently associated with the ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), but there are also other forms such as the pure and the invasive ones. The male population breast cancer diagnosis is late and, therefore, it has a worse prognosis. The diagnosis is given by imaging tests and anatomopathological studies. The treatment consists of excisional tumor therapy, which can be carried out conservatively or through mastectomy, with or without adjuvant therapy.
Pathogenic variants inBRCA1/2genes among patientswith triple-negative breast cancer: a case series
Authors: Costa Rafael Everton Assunção Ribeiro da , Oliveira Fergus Tomás Rocha de , Araújo Ana Lúcia Nascimento , Vieira Sabas Carlos
Published: November 2021

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an uncommon molecular subtype (representing 15%–20% of breast cancers) characterized by the non-expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth receptor factor 2. More aggressive and lethal, TNBC is often associated with pathogenic variants in BRCA1/2 genes. This study aimed to describe a series of seven cases of patients with TNBC and pathogenic variants in BRCA1/2 genes. All patients were female and under 50 years of age at diagnosis. Four of them presented a family history of breast cancer and/or other neoplasms. The predominant clinical stage was IIB, and the main anatomopathological stage was pT2pN0M0. The mean tumor size in the series was 2.5 cm (1.0 to 3.2 cm). Ki-67 was > 30% in all patients. Three cases (43%) had pathological complete response, and only one presented extensive residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Six patients showed pathogenic variants in BRCA1 (86%) and one in BRCA2+ (14%). After a mean follow-up of 38 months (19 to 68 months), five patients were alive and without neoplastic disease, and two progressed to metastasis.
Evaluación cuantitativa de la germinación de Quercus variabilis Blume en tres tamaños de semilla
Authors: Flores García Andrés , Jorge Méndez González Jorge
Published: November 2021

Quercus variabilis es un taxón de amplia distribución en el este de Asia y sus bosques tienen un rol importante en la conservación y mejoramiento del agua y el suelo; no obstante, los problemas ecológicos (pérdida de diversidad, reducción de áreas naturales), el cambio climático, y la erosión del suelo han propiciado la destrucción de sus poblaciones. Conocer el proceso de germinación de las especies contribuye a incrementar la supervivencia de las plántulas en los proyectos de reforestación. Para determinar seis parámetros germinativos de Q. variabilis se trabajó con información de tres tamaños de semillas (pequeña: 2.88 ± 0.09 g, mediana: 4.18 ±0.10 g y grande: 5.52 ±0.27 g), recolectada de 20 individuos en Jiaozuo, provincia de Henan, China, en 2013. El análisis determinó que las semillas grandes y medianas presentaron alto porcentaje de germinación final (GF= 96 y 93 %, respectivamente) pero sin diferencia significativa (ρ=0.9983), menor tiempo promedio de germinación (TPG= 20 días) y mayor índice de tasa de germinación (ITG= 5.4 y 5.1 % día-1, respectivamente) que las semillas pequeñas (GF=39 %, TPG=24 días, ITG = 1.8 % día-1); asimismo, las semillas grandes y medianas tuvieron valores altos de tasa media de germinación (TMG= 0.05 dia-1) y coeficiente de velocidad de germinación (CVG= 5.0 y 4.9 %) que las pequeñas (TMG=0.04 día-1 y CVG=4.2 %). Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que los parámetros germinativos varían con el tamaño de la semilla, lo que es necesario considerar durante la producción de planta en vivero.
Modelos para estimar el volumen comercial de Bursera simaruba (L.) Sarg. y de Metopium brownei (Jacq.) Urb. en Quintana Roo, México
Authors: Hernández Ramos Jonathan , Tamarit-Urias JUAN CARLOS , RAMOS ADRIAN HERNANDEZ , García-Cuevas XAVIER , Buendía-Rodríguez ENRIQUE
Published: November 2021

El estado de Quintana Roo ocupa el segundo lugar nacional en producción maderable de especies latifoliadas; de ellas, Bursera simaruba y Metopium brownei son de relevancia forestal debido al valor de su madera y amplia distribución en la entidad. Para elaborar programas de manejo forestal, las funciones que estiman el volumen fustal y comercial, además del ahusamiento y la razón de volumen son importantes. El objetivo del presente estudio fue ajustar una función no-lineal que estime el volumen comercial para dos taxa en el centro y sur de Quintana Roo, México. Con información dasométrica de 188 y 133 árboles, respectivamente que abarcaron todas las categorías diamétricas observadas en estos ecosistemas forestales; se ajustó un modelo de volumen comercial con efectos aleatorios a nivel de árbol, y se eligieron las mejores combinaciones de inclusión de los efectos aleatorios según la máxima verosimilitud. Las ecuaciones propuestas tienen un sesgo, en promedio, al estimar el volumen comercial para los dos taxones de 0.0045 m3 y una explicación mayor a 90 % de la variabilidad muestral. Las ecuaciones resultantes podrán emplearse en la estimación maderable en los programas de manejo forestal sustentable de los bosques tropicales ubicados en el centro y sur del estado