bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Authors: Kristi Juliana , Dewi Renny Sari
Published: December 2021

Prediction of software business and costs needs to be done carefully and clearly measured so that the success of a software development project can be achieved. There are 2 methods that are commonly used to estimate software development efforts and costs, such Function Points (FP) and Use Case Points. There were 4 stages of the research carried out: literature study, needs analysis, design, and implementation (application development to testing). Analysis and application design using the Signavio tools. Meanwhile, the author uses open source rapid application development (RAD), called Kodular. The trial phase is carried out by verifying manual calculations whose projects have been completed. The result of this research is the creation of an Android-based application that can be used to accelerate business players in the software development sector in the process of estimating product prices. This research has limitation is not tested the validity of the soft development project which is still in the planning stage.
Authors: Satila Selani , Caesaron Dino , Hadiyanto Soemedi , Haynes Erin
Published: December 2021

This study discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic affects all industrial sectors in Bangka Belitung, especially Small and Medium Industry (IKM) actors. The prolonged pandemic condition has forced IKM Bangka Belitung players to lose up to 70% of their income due to the decline in people's purchasing power. Further analysis is needed regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on IKM Bangka Belitung, considering that this sector contributes 99% of all industrial sectors of the total business units totaling 20,403 units, with a workforce absorption of 45,351 people. The sampling method was by distributing questionnaires to 437 IKM actors in Bangka Belitung. The questionnaire was distributed to get the level of importance as primary data which was processed using descriptive statistics, pearson correlation and linear regression to see the contribution of each variable that could affect the performance of SMEs. The findings from this study can be used as material for targeted and measurable policy making for the IKM Bangka Belitung Trustees agency, to formulate strategic steps in empowering IKM during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Criterios y métodos para seleccionar la ubicación de los rellenos sanitarios
Authors: Canelo Dávila Carlos Alberto
Published: December 2021

La selección del lugar en que se construirá un relleno sanitario es un proceso complejo, que requiere la asistencia de expertos en la disposición final de residuos y analistas de datos, la inclusion de los actores sociales y politicos así como el uso de métodos de apoyo a la toma de decisiones. El objetivo del presente artículo es responder a la pregunta: ¿Qué criterios y métodos se pueden emplear para la selección de un sitio de ubicación en el que se construya un relleno sanitario? Como respuesta se ha sistematizado los criterios de análisis según los factores socio-económicos, ambientales, físicos y técnicos. También se ha realizado una clasificación de los métodos MCDM más importantes que pueden ser empleados por los analistas para el apoyo a las decisiones que adopten los decisores. Se hizo una revisión de los estudios más representativos y se estableció orientaciones conceptuales para una mejor comprensión de la diversidad de herramientas matemáticas, estadísticas y aplicativos informáticos disponibles y de mayor uso. El lector podrá acudir a las citas bibliográficas que han sido cuidadosamente seleccionadas para que puedan profundizar en los detalles técnicos. Consideramos que la presente publicación será de interés de los profesionales desarrolladores de proyectos de infraestructuras de disposición final y de los gestores públicos y privados que requieran una orientación preliminar sobre los tipos de modelos de toma de decisiones.
Metodología de muestreo de suelos con fines de análisis químico para la detección de metales pesados
Authors: Astonitas Carrasco Liz Jhoana , Pariente Elí , Milla Pino Manuel Emilio
Published: December 2021

Una metodología adecuada de muestreo es crucial para determinar si un sitio está contamina­do o no, y si la magnitud de la contaminación requiere una intervención para proteger la salud humana y la integridad de los ecosistemas. Por lo tanto, las muestras recolectadas para los análisis deben ser relevantes y verdaderamente representativas, siendo el aspecto más crítico de un programa de muestreo. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo establecer una metodología de muestreo de suelos agrícolas para el análisis de metales. Esta propuesta metodológica de muestreo consta de cinco etapas: Muestreo preliminar del área de estudio, cuya finalidad es detectar homogeneidad o heterogeneidad en sus características fisicoquímicas del suelo; muestreo definitivo del área de estudio, el mismo que consta de una segmentación, estratificación del área de estudio y distribución de puntos de muestreo; Plan de muestreo; recolección de muestras y análisis de las muestras. 
A negação nas línguas sinalizadas
Authors: Almeida Luiz Gustavo Paulino de , Xavier André Nogueira
Published: December 2021

A apresentação realizada pelo Prof. Roland Pfau objetivou mostrar um estudo tipológico sobre a negação nas línguas sinalizadas. Sua fala foi organizada em quatro grandes momentos. O primeiro foi dedicado a apresentar um panorama sobre variações tipológicas na expressão de negação. Esse panorama abrangeu, inicialmente, dois padrões: línguas sinalizadas com dominância manual e com dominância não-manual. Em um segundo momento, foram-nos mostradas ocorrências de línguas que apresentam outros padrões para expressar negação. No terceiro, o Prof. Pfau se dedicou a abordar outras estratégias para se negar nas línguas sinalizadas, podendo ser (i) orações com perguntas e respostas, (ii) concordância negativa e (iii) alçamento da negação. No quarto e último momento, o professor apresenta algumas especulações sobre o ciclo de Jespersen aplicado às línguas de sinais. Sua palestra trouxe contribuições bastante significativas para o estudo sobre a negação em línguas sinalizadas e se destaca pela vasta literatura citada
FIRST DATA ON CADDISFLIES (TRICHOPTERA) FROM THE MOUNTAINOUS SHORIA IN WESTERN SIBERIA
Authors:   Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Frunze str. 11, Novosibirsk, 630091, Russia, Baturina N. S. , Efstifeeva S. S. ,   Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Published: December 2021

An annotated list of 29 species from 18 genera and 10 families of Trichoptera inhabiting rivers and streams of the Mountainous Shoria is given. All species are recorded from this region for the first time. Two species, Dicosmoecus obscuripennis Banks, 1938 and Rhyacophila lata Martynov, 1918, are new for Western Siberia. Moreover, Mountainous Shoria is the westernmost locality for Rhyacophila narvae Navas, 1926, Neophylax ussuriensis (Martynov, 1914), and Stenopsyche griseipennis (McLachlan, 1866) distribution.
Technical and economic performance of the dithionite-assisted organosolv fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass
Authors: Brienza Filippo , Van Aelst Korneel , Devred François , Magnin Delphine , Tschulkow Maxim , Nimmegeers Philippe , Van Passel Steven , Sels Bert F. , Gerin Patrick , Debecker Damien , Cybulska Iwona
Published: December 2021

The development of biomass pretreatment approaches that, next to (hemi)cellulose valorization, aim at the conversion of lignin to chemicals is essential for the long-term success of a biorefinery. Herein, we discuss a dithionite-assisted organosolv fractionation (DAOF) of lignocellulose in n-butanol and water to produce cellulosic pulp and mono-/oligo-aromatics. The present study frames the technicalities of this biorefinery process and relates them to the features of the obtained product streams. Via the extensive characterization of the solid pulp (by acid hydrolysis-HPLC, ATR-FTIR, XRD, SEM and enzymatic hydrolysis-HPLC), of lignin derivatives (by GPC, GC-MS/FID, 1H-13C HSQC NMR, and ICP-AES) and of carbohydrate derivatives (by HPLC) we comprehensively identify and quantify the different products of interest. These results were used for inspecting the economic feasibility of DAOF. The adoption of a dithionite loading of 16.7% w/wbiomass and of an equivolumetric mixture of n-butanol and water, which led to a high yield of monophenolics (~20%, based on acid insoluble lignin, for the treatment of birch sawdust), was identified as the most profitable process configuration. Furthermore, the treatment of various lignocellulosic feedstocks was explored, which showed that DAOF is particularly effective for processing hardwood and herbaceous biomass. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive view of the development of an effective dithionite-assisted organosolv fractionation method for the sustainable upgrading of lignocellulosic biomass.
Role of Central Atom on the Pressure Response of 2D Perovskites Containing a Long Alkyl Chain (Decylammonium, DA): DA2PbI4 and DA2GeI4
Authors: Malavasi Lorenzo , Morana Marta , Joseph Boby , Coduri Mauro , Tuissi Ausonio , Shiell Thomas B. , Strobel Timothy A. , Accorsi Gianluca , Chiara Rossella
Published: December 2021

The application of an external pressure on Metal Halide Perovskite (MHPs) has become a fascinating way of tuning their optical properties, achieving also novel features. Here, the pressure response of 2D MHPs including a long alkyl chain made of ten carbon atoms, namely decylammonium (DA), has been investigated as a function of the central atom in DA2PbI4 and DA2GeI4. The two systems share a common trend in the phase stability, displaying a transition from an orthorhombic to a monoclinic phase around 2 GPa, followed by a phase separation in two monoclinic phases characterized by different c-axis. The optical properties show rather different behavior due to the presence of Pb or Ge. DA2PbI4 shows a progressive red shift of the band gap from 2.28 eV at ambient conditions, to 1.64 eV at 11.5 GPa, with a narrow PL emission composed by two components, with the second one appearing in concomitance with the phase separation and significantly shifted to lower energy. On the other hand, DA2GeI4, changes from a non-PL system at ambient pressure, to a clear broadband emitter centered around 730 nm (FWHM ~ 170 nm), with a large stoke shift, and an intensity maximum at about 3.7 GPa. This work sheds light on the structural stability of 2D perovskites characterized by extended alkyl chains, to date limited to four carbon atoms, and shows the pressure-induced emergence of broad emission in a novel lead-free perovskite, DA2GeI4. The evidence of wide emission by a moderate pressure in a germanium-based 2D MHP represents a novel result which may open the design, by chemical pressure, of efficient wide or even white lead-free emitters.
Binding Reactions at Finite Systems
Authors: Zangi Ronen
Published: December 2021

A perpetual yearn exists among computational scientists to scale-down the size of physical systems, a desire shared as well with experimentalists able to track single molecules. A question then arises whether averages observed at small systems are the same as those observed at large, or macroscopic, systems. Utilizing statistical-mechanics formulations in ensembles in which the total numbers of particles are fixed, we demonstrate that system's properties of binding reactions are not homogeneous functions. That means averages of intensive properties, such as the concentration of the bound-state, at finite-systems are different than those at large-systems. The discrepancy increases with decreasing numbers of particles, temperature, and volume. As perplexing as it may sound, despite these variations in average quantities, extracting the equilibrium constant from systems of different sizes does yield the same value. The reason is that correlations in reactants' concentrations are ought be accounted for in the expression of the equilibrium constant, being negligible at large-scale but significant at small-scale. Similar arguments pertain to the calculations of the reaction rate-constants, more specifically, the bimolecular rate of the forward reaction is related to the average of the product (and not to the product of the averages) of the reactants' concentrations. Furthermore, we derive relations aiming to predict the composition of the system only from the value of the equilibrium constant. All predictions are validated by Monte-Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. An important significance of these findings is that the expression of the equilibrium constant at finite systems is not dictated solely by the chemical equation but requires knowledge of the elementary processes involved.
Characterization of DNA nanostructure stability by size exclusion chromatography
Authors: Langlois Nicole , Clark Heather
Published: December 2021

DNA-based nanostructures (DNs) are advantageous for the design of functional materials for biology and medicine due to the nanoscale control provided by their predictable self-assembly. However, the use of DNs in vivo has been limited due to structural instability in biofluids. As the stability of a particular DN sets the scope of its potential biological applications, efficient methods to characterize stability are required. Here, we apply size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to study the stability of a tetrahedron DNA nanostructure (TDN) and demonstrate the analytical capabilities of our method in characterizing degradation by enzymes and a diluted human serum matrix. We show that SEC analysis can reliably assay TDN degradation by a nuclease through direct injection and peak integration. Furthermore, data analysis using a ratio chromatogram technique enables TDN peak deconvolution from the matrix of serum proteins. Using our method, we found that TDNs exhibit half-lives of 23.9 hours and 10.1 hours in 20% and 50% diluted human serum, respectively, which is consistent with reported stability studies in 10% fetal bovine serum. We anticipate that this method could be broadly applicable to characterize a variety of DNs and serve as an efficient technique toward analysis of the stability of new DN designs in complex biological matrixes.
Alkali metal cations can inhibit non-covalent catalysis
Authors: Rad Nazar , Sashuk Volodymyr
Published: December 2021

The study concerns the effect of inorganic salts on supramolecular catalysis. The model reaction is the acid hydrolysis of the ammonium phenyl acetate derivative promoted by cucurbit[7]uril macrocycle. When salt is absent, the macrocycle is insensitive to the ionic strength of the solution, and the reaction rate linearly depends on the concentration of hydronium ions (H3O+). After the addition of inorganic salts, in particular, Na+ and K+ ions, the catalytic effect of the macrocycle is suppressed. The kinetic and binding data collected by us evidence the formation of the ternary complexes between the cations, macrocycle, and substrate, which are less prone to H3O+ attack. This type of inhibition corresponds to a rare uncompetitive model in contrast to a more common competitive one that relies on the displacement of the substrate. This study shows that special care must be taken when studying catalysis in solutions that contain metal cations, such as regular water and inorganic buffers.
Na-β-Al2O3 stabilized Fe2O3 oxygen carriers for chemical looping water splitting: correlating structure with redox stability
Authors: Yüzbasi Nur Sena , Armutlulu Andac , Huthwelker Thomas , Abdala Paula , Müller Christoph
Published: December 2021

Chemical looping is an emerging technology to produce high purity hydrogen from fossil fuels or biomass with the simultaneous capture of the CO2 produced at the distributed scale. This process requires the availability of stable Fe2O3-based oxygen carriers. Fe2O3-Al2O3 based oxygen carriers exhibit a decay in the H2 yield with cycle number due to the formation of FeAl2O4 that cannot be re-oxidized. In this study, the addition of sodium (via a sodium salt) in the synthesis of Fe2O3-Al2O3 oxygen carriers was assessed as a means to counteract the cyclic deactivation of the oxygen carrier. Detailed insight into the oxygen carrier’s structure was gained by combined X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Al, Na and Fe K-edges and scanning transmission electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM/EDX) analyses. The addition of sodium prevented the formation of FeAl2O4 and stabilized the oxygen carrier via the formation of a layered structure, Na-β-Al2O3 phase. The resulting material, Na-β-Al2O3 stabilized Fe2O3, showed a very high H2 yield of ca. 13.3 mmol/g during 15 cycles.
Mitos pada Iklan Thailand “Vizer Cctv: Homeless Blind Truth”
Authors: Mahamu Suhila , Indira Dian , Soemantri Ypsi Soeria , Ardiati Riza Lupi
Published: December 2021

Iklan berbahasa Thailand “Vizer CCTV: Homeless Blind Truth” sarat berisi pesan moral, yang disebut oleh tokoh semiotik Roland Barthes dengan mitos. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji makna denotasi, konotasi dan mitos yang terkandung dalam iklan“VizerCCTV: Homeless Blind Truth”. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian pustaka dan  metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif deskriptif. Adapun metode penyediaan data yang digunakan peneliti adalah metode simak dengan mengakses data dari Youtub. Berdasarkan teori semiotik Barthes, dikaji makna denotasi, konotasi, kemudian mitos yang terkandung dalam iklan “VizerCCTV: Homeless Blind Truth”. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian,iklan “VizerCCTV: Homeless Blind Truth” terdapat 9 adegan yang terkandung makna denotasi dan konotasi yang berbentuk tertampil gambar dan audio. Mitos yang terkandung dalam iklan agar kita tidak mudah berprasangka buruk kepada orang lain.
Neuroprotective effects of adipose‐derived stem cells on ferrous sulfate‐induced neurotoxicity
Authors: Wu Qian , Pan Chao , Hu Yang , Li Gaigai , Chen Shiling , Jing Jie , Yang Jingfei , Tang Zhouping
Published: December 2021

Background:

Ferrous ion, a degradation product of hematomas, induces inflammatory reactions and other secondary injuries after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Our study aimed to investigate the specific neuroprotective mechanism of adipose‐derived stem cells (ADSCs) on ferrous ion‐induced neural injury in vitro.

Methods:

ADSCs were co‐cultured with primary cortical neurons in a transwell system treated with ferrous sulfate to generate an in vitro ICH model. ADSCs and cortical neurons were cultured in the upper and lower chambers, respectively. Neuron apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry. The levels of insulin‐like growth factor‐1 (IGF‐1), malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in neuron culture medium were detected with commercial kits. In neurons, protein expression in phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway, nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) signaling pathway and apoptosis‐related proteins were detected by western blot.

Results:

ADSCs attenuated neural apoptosis, reduced MDA levels and NOS activity induced by ferrous sulfate. In neurons, IGF‐1 was increased, as were p‐PI3K, p‐Akt, Nrf2, HO‐1, and Bcl‐2 while cleaved caspase 3 was down‐regulated.

Conclusions:

ADSCs exert neuroprotective effects against ferrous iron‐induced neuronal damage by secreting IGF‐1 and increasing the levels of Akt‐dependent Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway.
Advances in the study of nervous system infections in COVID‐19
Authors: He Chao , He Ling , Chen Lin , Wang Wei
Published: December 2021

Shortly after its outbreak, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has very rapidly spread to become a global epidemic. Early clinical findings mainly included typical symptoms such as fever and cough with a very high transmission rate. Recent findings have demonstrated neurological manifestations of atypical symptoms, which is associated with poor prognosis. In this paper, we describe the neurological aspects of COVID‐19 pneumonia in terms of relevant neurons, virus‐associated receptors, and olfactory and neurological clinical manifestations and offer insights on treatment.
Exploring the Livelihoods of Internally Displaced Persons in Kachin State, Myanmar
Authors:   , Lazum Htu Tawng
Published: December 2021

The issue of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is a global crisis yet little research has been focused on the issue of the livelihoods of IDPs. Providing short-term emergency assistance is not enough when the period of displacement becomes permanent or longer than expected. IDPs need long-term solutions in order to resume a normal life. Pursuing appropriate livelihoods in urban areas is a big challenge yet constructing potential livelihoods is fundamental to achieving decent living not only for short-term situations but also for the long run. The lack of access to livelihoods is one of the most serious obstacles to durable solutions for IDPs, and long-term livelihood strategies are needed to lay the foundation for future development.  This study explores Kachin IDPs in Myanmar and their livelihood strategies and activities in urban camps by applying qualitative methods, the study focuses on how IDPs have been building their livelihoods during their displacement and who has been involved in supporting their livelihoods. This research also seeks insight into the effectiveness and sustainability of those livelihood activities and other potential strategies.   Results show that most livelihood activities are supported by both local and international humanitarian and development agencies and are mainly undertaken through local organisations. Agriculture and livestock rearing are preferred livelihoods of IDPs although getting appropriate land is challenging in urban areas. Income-generating programmes such as food processing, carpentry and bamboo handicrafts are also popular and successful activities. Moreover, tailoring, brick making, and pig rearing are also effective and helpful livelihoods for individuals. Those who are involved in livelihood support activities receive benefits and advantages for their family and daily needs while the majority of IDPs are working in day labouring. Respondents believe current livelihood activities can become sustainable as long as they maintain the quality of the products. Some IDPs have adapted to the city environment quite well by applying their capacity and the skills they learnt from humanitarian organisations. Supporting livelihood strategies may not resolve the problems of IDPs, however, it is an effective partial solution.
The Pacific Reset: A Retroliberal Analysis
Authors:   , McDowall Thomas
Published: December 2021

The interaction and relationships between stakeholders, international trends, history and politics, inform the shape and sequencing of development policy. The Pacific Reset policy initiative of the Sixth Labour Government is an example of how such interactions not only impact, but contribute to understandings on development policy. Despite being a recent policy announcement, the Pacific Reset was understood as being informed by the factors listed above and is a geopolitically motivated statement of capability in the region.   The last decade of development thinking has shifted towards a model of economic growth, defined by ‘shared prosperity’ and development tied to national interest. Marking a distinct aid regime, retroliberalism offers the theoretical rigour to this research. In analysing the understandings of the Pacific Reset through such a lens, the Pacific Reset loosely aligns with the tenets of retroliberalism. Although it was found that rhetoric surrounding the Pacific Reset marks New Zealand’s divergence from typical retroliberal, and current global development discourses.  Using critical discourse analysis of rhetoric surrounding the announcement, and early stages of the Pacific Reset, together with a thematic analysis of eight interviews, this thesis examines the understandings of the Pacific Reset as communicated by members of the New Zealand development community. It assesses the factors involved in the policy’s formation, and its impact on Pacific-focused development activities, before discussing the extent retroliberalism can interpret the Pacific Reset.   This research found the Pacific Reset to be an amalgam of policies, modalities, and structures of earlier New Zealand development policy. Historical patterns of development assistance, personalities and style of engagement, and path dependence in policy were found to impact the Pacific Reset. Participants understood the policy as merely a shift in rhetoric and a geopolitical statement of renewed engagement in the Pacific. This thesis collates these responses to analyse the understandings on, and the impact of the Pacific Reset on New Zealand development activities, and to offer an empirical base for further research on the policy.
Assembled
Authors:   , Kang Young Woo
Published: December 2021

Profound innovations in assembly process of construction have been absent since the dawn of 2d planimetric drawing. However with advancements in augmented reality (AR) technology and computational tools, the process of assembly has the potential to significantly change. As architectural firms become more adept with 3d modelling and computational design there is a drive to support that work through the manifestation of the built form. By using methods of computational design, advanced fabrication techniques, and AR in assembly processes, a pure digital methodology is achieved that can seamlessly transfer data from one stage to the next. The digital workflow results in a connection from conceptual design to finished product. Researching methods into the process of assembly with AR is a way of advancing architecture into the future and completing the digital continuum, from conception to on site building.
Lifbak spinal load reduction exoskeleton commercialisation project report
Authors:   , Dowd Paul
Published: December 2021

This research investigates the product and market development requirements forbuilding a medical device intended to assist patients rehabilitating from back injuries. It looks at the competitive landscape, potential customers segments, path to market, research and development requirements, and funding requirements. This document provides background research for the included business case which will be presented to my project partner, Lifbak. Lifbak is developing a device for customers seeking to accelerate their rehabilitation from a back injury.
Water Supply for Tongatapu; Past, Present and Future.
Authors:   , Tufui Lopeti
Published: December 2021

This thesis presents an investigation of the sustainability of the freshwater aquifer (groundwater) at Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga. Water balance modelling is applied to meteorological data to estimate freshwater recharge at a daily resolution for the period 1980-2018. These results demonstrate a very close coupling between recharge and precipitation but also the critical role played by the ENSO cycle in modulating the supply of freshwater on Tongatapu. They also show that previous water balance modelling for the island, conducted at a monthly resolution, has tended to underestimate the rate of recharge by ~8%.   Historical groundwater extraction rates for Tongatapu are also calculated by compiling monitoring data from operational pumping stations across the island. This shows that extraction rates have increased progressively over the past 50 years and approximately doubled in the last 10 years, as a consequence of increased demand from agriculture, tourism and population growth. Although the freshwater resource appears to be sustainable overall at current rates of supply and demand, there have been sustained periods of zero recharge, notably during strong El Nino events in winter (the dry season).   Climate model projections of future rainfall show that Tonga is situated in a region of great uncertainty, due to shortcomings in our knowledge of how the inability of the models to capture the ENSO cycle will respond to anthropogenic warming, and but moreover, climate models are currently unable to simulate the precise correct positioning of the South Pacific Convergence Zone which strongly influences the amount and seasonal distribution of regional rainfall. Nevertheless, this study also conducted predictive water balance modelling for Tongatapu for the end of the 21st century using the current CMIP5 climate projections for the region under a medium (scenarios RCP4.5) and high (RCP8.5) emissions scenario, in both cases showing substantial reductions in freshwater recharge rates compared to the present. These results raise serious concerns for the future sustainability of Tonga’s freshwater resource, especially if extraction rates continue to increase and salination of the aquifer increases as is highly likely due to sea level rise.   Although Tonga can do little to influence the global climate change mitigation effort, this research highlights the importance of addressing currently resolvable infrastructural problems in water supply and reticulation.
ElasticWISP: Energy-Proportional WISP Backhaul Networks
Authors:   , Cameron Duncan
Published: December 2021

The provision of rural broadband infrastructure is a challenge for network operators across the globe, irrespective of their size. Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) have shown that the small-scale deployment of wireless broadband infrastructure is a viable alternative to relying on cellular network providers for remote coverage. However, WISPs must often resort to using off-grid renewable energy sources such as solar energy for powering network sites, often resulting in undesirable, low-performance backhaul radios being used between sites out of concern for excessive energy consumption.  The challenges of managing performant wireless backhaul networks in respect to energy constraints at remote, off-grid sites informs the need for energy-proportional design. Backhaul radios typically used by WISPs are not energy-proportional, meaning they use a consistent amount of energy, irrespective of wireless link utilisation. Using data from a real WISP network, diurnal traffic patterns show that WISP networks could benefit from energy-proportional design, without having to sacrifice performance.  To encourage the development of high-performance, energy-proportional WISP backhaul networks, ElasticWISP, an optimisation architecture that reduces network-wide backhaul energy consumption while satisfying the user-demand for traffic, is introduced. ElasticWISP dynamically controls the configuration of backhaul radios based on bandwidth demands and the network-wide energy consumption of these radios. Through simulations driven by real WISP topology and data traffic, results show that ElasticWISP can offer energy savings of approximately 65% when WISP operators follow the proposed backhaul design methodology.  Finally, a lightweight Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based traffic engineering scheme, based on Segment Routing, is proposed. The implementation, named Segment Routing over MPLS (SR-MPLS), keeps traffic engineering path-state within each packet, meaning per-flow state is only held at SR-MPLS ingress routers. The lightweight approach of SR-MPLS also eliminates the otherwise necessary network-wide label flooding of traditional Segment Routing, making it ideal for bandwidth-sensitive wireless backhaul networks. Evaluation of SR-MPLS shows that it can perform as well as – and sometimes better than – competitor schemes.
Mapping Memory: Myth, History, and Liminality in Harlem and the Bronx
Authors:   , Laidler David
Published: December 2021

The relationship between notions of ‘history’ and ‘myth’ is a familiar dilemma within the field of historiography. As this thesis will seek to demonstrate, myth – defined here as evaluative representations of the past to suit demands of the present – is virtually indistinguishable from history, insofar as both are constructed from the same raw materials: subjective remembrances. Through an examination of mythical representations of physical places, this thesis will present a model to explain how myth is constructed, thereby emphasising the intimate and problematic relationship between the aforementioned categories.    In short, myth making occurs when memories travel through liminal space from one individual to the next, with said liminal points allowing for degradation and transmutation. The further along one is in the chain, the more one is dependent on myth. Through electing to focus on two such locales that have been of particular interest to me – Harlem during the jazz age and The Bronx during the origins of hip hop – I was able to adopt an auto-ethnographic perspective, gaining insight into the extent to which my understanding was dependent on a series of compounding representations. Further, these areas also draw attention to how such representation can broaden or localise, depending on the myth and the purpose of its invocation. In different contexts and different historical narratives, different areas within New York City have been subjected to the same process, which can account for the pervasive idea of ‘New York’ that continues to circulate.
From syndromes to symptoms: Advancing our understanding of mental disorders
Authors:   , Clack Samuel
Published: December 2021

Traditionally, psychiatric syndromes have formed the primary target of explanation in psychopathology research. However, these syndromes have been significantly criticised for their conceptual weakness and lack of validity. Ultimately, this limits our ability to create valid explanations of these categories; if the target is invalid then our explanations will suffer as a consequence. Using depression as extended example, this doctoral thesis explores the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with classifying and explaining mental disorders, and develops an alternative explanatory approach and associated methodology for advancing our understanding of mental disorders – the Phenomena Detection Method (PDM; Clack & Ward, 2020; Ward & Clack, 2019).   This theoretical thesis begins by evaluating the current approaches to defining, classifying, and explaining mental disorders like depression, and explores the methodological and theoretical challenges with building theories of them. Next, in moving forward, I argue that the explanatory target in psychopathology research should shift from arbitrary syndromes to the central symptoms and signs of mental disorders. By conceptualising the symptoms of a disorder as clinical phenomena, and by adopting epistemic model pluralism as an explanatory strategy, we can build multi-faceted explanations of the processes and factors that constitute a disorder’s core symptoms. This core theoretical and methodological work is then followed by the development of the PDM. Unique in the field of psychopathology, the PDM links different phases of the inquiry process to provide a methodology for conceptualising the symptoms of psychopathology and for constructing multi-level models of the pathological processes that comprise them. Next, I apply the PDM to the two core symptoms of depression – ¬anhedonia and depressed mood – as an illustrative example of the advantages of this approach. This includes providing a more secure relationship between the pathology of depression and its phenotypic presentation, as well as greater insight into the relationship between underlying biological and psychological processes, and behavioural dysfunction. Next, I evaluate the PDM in comparison to existing metatheoretical approaches in the field and make some suggestions for future development. Finally, I conclude with a summary of the main contributions of this thesis.   Considering the issues with current diagnostic categories, simply continuing to build explanations of syndromes is not a fruitful way forward. Rather, the complexity of mental disorders suggests we need to represent their key psychopathological phenomena or symptoms at different levels or aspects using multiple models. This thesis provides the metatheoretical and methodological foundations for this to successfully occur.
Wāhine: antologia annotata di poetesse neozelandesi contemporanee in traduzione italiana
Authors:   , Benocci Francesca
Published: December 2021

This thesis is a case study in literary translation. It consists of a creative component (60%) — an anthology of contemporary New Zealand women poetry translated into Italian — and a critical component (40%) — an interdisciplinary commentary outlining the historical, linguistic, cultural, literary and translational aspects underpinning my work as editor, literary translator and scholar. My interest in New Zealand literature began with my Master’s thesis, when reading Keri Hulme’s 1985 Booker Prize winning novel the bone people exposed me to the linguistic and cultural specificities of literary works produced in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This interest was further ignited by reading Marinella Rocca Longo’s pioneering study of New Zealand poetry, La poesia neozelandese dalle origini inglesi ai contemporanei, published in 1977. To this day, Hulme’s novel remains untranslated in Italian and Rocca Longo’s monograph is the only comprehensive study about New Zealand poetry for an Italian-speaking readership, one with which I have engaged constructively and critically in the course of my studies. This doctoral thesis thus combines translation and poetry. More specifically, it asks itself what it means to translate contemporary New Zealand women poets into Italian. This choice is motivated by three aims, which complement the wider ambition to make New Zealand writing better known to Italian readers: to better reflect the ethnic richness of New Zealand literature; to highlight the major role played by women in developing and expanding New Zealand poetry; to discuss translation theory from a post-colonial and feminist viewpoint. These factors are reflected in the structure and contents of this thesis. A historical overview of New Zealand literature in general and of New Zealand poetry in particular as an example of post-colonial literature is followed by a discussion on which theories and practices of translation are ethically as well as aesthetically the most appropriate for the translation of post-colonial poetry written by women. The comprehensive anthology I have compiled and the commentary that accompanies it bring this discussion to life, celebrating not only the creative and scholarly contribution of the translator as an intercultural negotiator, but also the ethical responsibility underscoring this task. The opportunity to undertake this research in Aotearoa/New Zealand has made this study particularly intense as well as personal, as I negotiated and renegotiated the space between theory and practice, pushing myself to expand and deepen the choices a translator is called to make as a reader, as an interpreter, as a critic, and as a writer. I hope that this goal has been achieved in the negotiation between the theoretical, scholarly and creative parts of this project that are embodied in the outcome of this thesis.
Seeds of hope, seeds of resistance: Cultivating food justice and community economies through urban agriculture
Authors:   , Sánchez-Bolívar Isabella
Published: December 2021

Grounded on the experiences and discourses of volunteers and members of Southern Garden located in the Southern suburbs of Wellington and Wesley Community Action in Cannons Creek, I explore the work these community projects to contest the current corporate agrifood system using ethnographic and participatory approaches. This thesis is an attempt to show the often unrecognised and underestimated revolutionary work community activist are doing through UA. This research seeks to advance the discussions around food justice, and community economies in UA in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand since the literature around these topics is limited. The main aim of this thesis is to open spaces for these conversations to happen both in academia and among grassroots groups in order to push forward for a more just system.  Using food sovereignty, food justice, community economies and the right to the city as my theoretical framework, I highlight the power of everyday politics to change and challenge the status quo without being complacent and uncritical about the limitations and contradictions of such work. Both projects open spaces of possibility and freedom where we can all build better futures to come. I have tried in this thesis to make justice to their work and to help move forward in search of more radical spaces of transformation.
Community, Forest Carbon & Indigeneity: A Case Study of the Loru Project in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
Authors:   , Payne Bridget
Published: December 2021

Forest carbon farming offers customary landowners an alternative livelihood to socially and environmentally unsustainable logging, through the sale of carbon offset credits. REDD+, the global forest carbon scheme to address deforestation in developing countries, has attracted scholarly criticism for the risks it poses to communities. Critics warn that REDD+: (1) benefits may be captured by elites, (2) threatens forest-dependent livelihoods, (3) reduces local forest governance, and (4) a results-based payments mechanism can undermine conservation. Community-owned forest carbon farming may mitigate these risks by empowering communities to manage forest resources locally. The Loru project in Vanuatu is the first of its kind, and Indigenous landowners legally own the carbon rights and manage the carbon project. This thesis examines the community ownership and the social impact of the Loru project on its Indigenous project owners, the ni-Vanuatu Ser clan. The thesis uses a ‘semi’-mixed-methods approach, based primarily on interviews conducted in in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu with Indigenous landowners and supplemented with quantitative data from a monitoring exercise conducted by the author. Grounded in social constructivism, the thesis makes a genuine attempt to decolonize the research process, adopting a self-reflexive approach. The research finds that the project is leading to positive social and economic impacts at the community level. Further, the Loru project is legitimately community-owned and driven, meaning it adapts effectively to the local context. Overall, the findings suggest that implementing REDD+ through a multi-scalar institutional network and building local capacity could mitigate the risks of REDD+ to forest communities.
Lightweight Caching and Load Balancing for Efficient Content Delivery in Information-Centric IoT
Authors:   , Pfender Jakob
Published: December 2021

In recent years, Information-Centric Networking (ICN) has emerged as a promising candidate for a future Internet architecture. While originally designed with the traditional Internet in mind, it has also been identified as a potential replacement for current Internet of Things (IoT) networking solutions. However, applications in the IoT face a number of unique challenges due to the constrained nature of the hardware. One of these challenges is that available memory is often extremely limited.  This thesis aims to evaluate the feasibility of using ICN in-network caching on IoT devices in order to achieve efficient content delivery. It evaluates the performance of existing approaches on constrained hardware and explores how the technology can be improved and tailored towards that environment. Existing strategies are found to be lacking in key aspects, particularly the fact that the effects of network topology are often not considered when making caching decisions. It is shown that approaches based on network centrality are promising, but existing implementations are not suited for constrained hardware. Therefore, a lightweight in-network caching strategy called Approximate Betweenness Centrality (ABC) is proposed that takes the specific requirements of IoT into consideration and allows for efficient cache placement regardless of network topology. Then, a modular solution for load balancing through off-path caching is presented to address potential shortcomings of the centrality-based caching approach. It allows the network to make more efficient use of available caching resources without introducing additional overhead. Furthermore, solutions for ensuring Quality of Service (QoS) are discussed. The expanded role of caching strategies under such QoS constraints is explored and their performance is evaluated.  This thesis shows that it is possible to design and deploy lightweight, low-overhead solutions on constrained hardware. Using a realistic deployment of physical IoT devices, it is demonstrated that these approaches can reach satisfactory levels of performance.
Teacher-Implemented Self-Regulated Strategy Development Instruction for Story Writing with Year Two Students in New Zealand
Authors:   , Finlayson Kristen
Published: December 2021

Writing is a complex skill and many students struggle to learn to write. Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) for writing is an intervention strategy that can increase students’ writing performance. However, there is limited research on the use of this intervention with younger primary-school students and most of the existing research has been implemented by researchers or research assistants, rather than by actual classrooms teachers, which therefore limits the ecological validity of the research. The two studies included in this thesis investigated teacher-implemented SRSD writing instruction. Study 1 evaluated a 5-week intervention programme consisting of 19 lessons. Study 2 evaluated a 17-week intervention with 61 lessons. Studies 1 and 2 both used a mixed-methods design to investigate the effectiveness and social validity of the teacher-implemented Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) program on the story-writing performance with Year 2 students (6- to -7-year-old children) in New Zealand. In the quantitative strand, I conducted a quasi-experiment in which students either received SRSD writing instruction or their regular writing instruction. I collected student writing samples before and after the intervention and teachers completed a questionnaire on the social validity of the intervention. A mixed-model ANOVA with SRSD instruction as the between-subjects variable and time as the within-subjects variable indicated that students in the treatment condition had larger improvements relative to students in the comparison condition on measures of holistic quality, number and quality of story elements, and length of composition. In the qualitative strand, I conducted interviews with the classroom teachers to ascertain their perceptions of intervention. Results suggested that the intervention was beneficial for the students. In addition, teachers perceived the intervention as appropriate and reported that they enjoyed implementing the intervention. These results suggest that teacher-implemented SRSD interventions can be effective at improving early primary students’ writing performance and is socially valid for use by teachers in Year 2 classroom settings.