bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Recycling as a Crisis of Meaning
Authors: Liboiron Max 
Published: November 2021

In laymen’s terms, recycling is “good for the environment.” It involves “doing your bit” to help “save the Earth.” Yet, recycling requires high expenditures of energy and virgin materials, and produces pollutants, greenhouse gases and waste; it creates products that are “down-cycled” because they are not as robust as their predecessors, nor are such products usually recyclable themselves. Of the fifteen to thirty percent of recyclables that are retrieved from the waste stream, “almost half” are buried or burned due to contamination or market fluctuations that devalue recyclables over virgin materials (McDonough and Braungart, 56-60; Rogers, 176-179; Luke, 115-135; Rathje, 203-7;MacBride; Ackerman; EPA; Grassroots Recycling Network, Taxpayers for CommonSense, Materials Efficiency Project and Friends of the Earth). Furthermore, recycling infrastructure creates a framework where disposables become naturalized commodities instead of allowing practices of waste redesign, reduction or elimination. How is the schism between the popular perception of recycling as “good for the environment” and its less environmentally sound industrial processes maintained? By critiquing the visual culture of recycling campaigns, I argue that the meaning of recycling has been decontextualized, narrowed, and naturalized, thus functioning as a commodity sign.That is, recycling has been “abstracted from [its] context and then reframed in terms of the assumptions and interpretive rules of the advertising framework” through which it is promoted (Goldman, 5). I identify three main characteristics of the recycling commodity-sign. First, the individual, rather than government or industry, is represented as the primary unit of social change. Secondly, recycling is depicted as an act that ends at the blue bins, cutting out the industrial side of the cycle. Finally, recycling is symbolized as something that benefits the environment “in general” rather than as a specific form of waste management. Overall, I argue that recycling, instead of being a solution to environmental or waste crises, in fact constitutes a crisis of meaning that allows environmental degradation and derisory waste practices to continue.
On the Trail of Paediatric Liver Transplant in South Africa: Social Challenges to Equitable Distribution in Organ Transplantation
Authors: Sideris Tina C. , Fabian June 
Published: November 2021

This paper tracks the journey of a family from a remote rural area in South Africa – a 2 year old child born with a life threatening liver disease, and his unemployed mother – who, by a series of contingencies, are sent on the trail of organ transplantation to land at the door of a private organ transplant centre. This case brings into focus the dilemmas that social factors present for equitable distribution of organ transplantation. The paper focuses on two interconnected issues: the link between socio-economic status and access to treatment, and existing practices of rationing. The uncritical conjunction of socio-economic status and organ transplantation disadvantages vulnerable sectors of the population. Yet, social circumstances impact the management of specialized medical treatment, which in itself imposes burdens on those with limited resources. Similarly, although this paper poses questions about indiscriminate practices, it accepts the inevitable rationing of health care.
Aid, Sanctions and Civil Society: An Analysis of the Impacts of Targeted Sanctions on Fiji’s Non-Government Organisations
Authors:   , Hanks Morgan Franciska 
Published: November 2021

<p>In dealing with contested regimes, international aid donors must decide whether to suspend or continue to provide development assistance to a regime considered illegitimate. Since the 1990s a general consensus has existed that conventional sanctions are largely ineffective and essentially violate human rights. Responding to this realisation, targeted or ‘smart’ sanctions emerged with the aim of minimising the impacts of sanctions on civilians, while still targeting the ruling elite. This thesis investigates smart sanctions utilised in a Pacific Island country: Fiji. Following the coups of 1987, 2000 and 2006 three of Fiji’s major aid donors, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union, imposed various levels of smart sanctions including targeted travel bans and sanctioning their aid programmes. In particular, the donors focused on redirecting funding through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Fiji. Within the sanctions literature a particular gap exists regarding assessment of the impacts on local NGOs. What research does exists has shown that in several cases in Africa, Asia and South America when donors have chosen to channel aid through civil society in response to lagging political reforms, this has at times done more harm than good for local NGOs. Since the imposition of smart sanctions in Fiji there has been no evaluation of how rechanneling aid through NGOs has changed the local development landscape. This research evaluates both the explicit and implicit impacts that smart sanctions imposed on Fiji have had on local NGOs.</p>
Leadership as Communicative Practice: The Discursive Construction of Leadership and Team Identity in a New Zealand Rugby Team
Authors:   , Wilson Nicholas Andrew 
Published: November 2021

<p>In sports teams, the way in which leaders such as coaches and captains communicate with players is vital to the success of the team. However, despite extensive psychological and sociological research on sport, it has rarely been a site of linguistic research. Like many sports, rugby has many traditions and ideologies that influence the way in which teams form identities. This thesis explores the way in which leadership is enacted and group identity forged through communicative practice in a New Zealand rugby team. Using authentic interactions collected using an ethnographic methodology, an analysis is presented of how discourse strategies are negotiated within the team, establishing practices that signify membership of communities of practice (CofPs) and creating identities for individuals as leaders. Leadership discourse is itself viewed as a sociolinguistic practice and defines one of the CofPs within the team. Using the concepts of front and back-stage (Goffman 1959; Richards 2006) to describe different conceptual spaces in which interactions occur, I suggest that discourse in the rugby team is a spatialised practice; the performance of a particular style of leadership constructs the space in which it takes place as public or private, with each contributing to an effective leadership performance. The construction of leadership identity is analysed in terms of stance and indexicality, linking locally constructed identities and discourse strategies to macro identity categories and socio-cultural ideologies. One of the ways in which this is examined is through the role of ritual and formulaic language in the team, showing that while communicative practice is negotiated in the back stage, in the front stage its performance serves to construct team identity while aiming to motivate the players. Furthermore, the structural nature of the game of rugby (i.e. players’ positional requirements) is examined in relation to the different communicative strategies adopted by positionally segregated groups. It is suggested that these groups, although institutionally defined, create meaning for themselves as CofPs by negotiating a shared way of communicating in enacting their role in the team. In sum, this research uses CofP theory to examine how leaders emerge through their linguistic practices. Furthermore, it locates leadership as a spatialised practice and examines how leaders influence the discursive construction of group identity. Finally, the analysis also makes a valuable contribution to the field of sociolinguistic research on sport, a small yet growing area.</p>
Online Communities, Gen Y and Civic Engagement: An Investigation of Youth Leadership Development Potential in the Context of Social and Democratic Issues
Authors:   , Maloiy Lanoi 
Published: November 2021

<p>Leadership is an extensively discussed and researched concept in scholarship. A vast amount of literature focuses on adult leadership, especially in a political and organizational context. Adult leadership places emphasis on the role of individual leaders, whilst youth leadership takes a participatory approach. Leadership scholars indicate that this participatory approach to youth leadership, involves young people addressing community concerns and at a civic level, engaging in planning and decision-making. Social participation traits and civic identity are developed during adolescence yet very little research has been undertaken in this area since the 1960s. This suggests that youth leadership is an overlooked research stream. Current studies on Gen Y indicate that this demographic are technologically proficient especially with regard to Web 2.0 tools, but also disengaged from their community. This research project examines the use of online communities to influence the leadership skills of a Gen Y cohort in the context of social participation and civic engagement. In this study a focus group and an online wiki were used to investigate how Gen Y teenagers in Wellington, New Zealand used online communities to develop and exercise their leadership skills through civic and social action endeavours. Results from the study indicate that youth leadership, in an online context, centres on the role of organisers who foster civic participation through online community networks. Thus youth leadership is strengthened through participation in civic and community issues using online communities. Adult perceptions of youth and the low credibility of online communities, as perceived by youth, were found to act as barriers to online youth leadership. The findings highlight the importance of adults acknowledging youth in social participation and civic endeavours. This study extends research in the youth leadership stream and enhances our understanding of Gen Y and their use of online communities.</p>
A Post Implementation Review of the Success of an e-Government Portal Project
Authors:   , Gombodorj Enkhzul 
Published: November 2021

<p>The government of Mongolia wants to improve and expand e-Government initiatives. The Government believes that the introduction of e-Government can significantly: improve transparency and efficiency in administration; increase participation of citizens in the government decision-making process; improve national competitiveness; upgrade capacity of the national ICT infrastructure; enhance the quality of civil services (Sambuu, Tudevdagva, & Erdene, 2008). The use of information communication technology in the public sector requires a clear vision, to deliver open and transparent government, along with improved integrated information and service delivery. With democratic government only emerging in Mongolia in the past twenty years, there is little or no historical precedent for any type of e-Government projects, although foundations for the concept were laid in 2005, with the formation of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), with its focus on ICT policy and project implementation. Measuring the performance of e-government initiatives in the country would be important for helping the government and public to understand what progress is being made with the development of those initiatives, and in explaining any obstacles to progress. This study focused on illustrating success factors of the e-government initiative in the country in the case of PMIS (Public Management Information System) in Mongolia. A government portal is one of the key priority e-government initiatives in every country to achieve its e-government goals, whereas the government of Mongolia started its own e-government portal in 1997. The IS Success Model (Delone & McLean, 1992) and the 3D Model of IS Success (Ballantine et al, 1996) were used to investigate the possible factors for the success of the PMIS portal initiative. Distance semi-structured interviews of five participants from public agencies were conducted. The result suggests a positive perception of ten success factors, which may help to increase the benefit and consequence of e-government uptake.</p>
Motivation, Empowerment, and Cognitive Style in a Community of Practice
Authors:   , Tegg Simon 
Published: November 2021

<p>Social work and Participatory GIS researchers have focused on the social empowerment of disadvantaged groups while neglecting psychological aspects of empowerment. Social empowerment generally refers to an increase in political or economic power for the disadvantaged. Psychological empowerment generally refers to internal , motivational processes. Community development projects must often balance the two, and the diverse needs, interests, and ideologies of practitioners and participants. It is proposed that two psychological theories can explain how psychological empowerment occurs and varies. These theories are the Empathiser-Sytemiser theory of cognitive style (Baron-Cohen et al., 2005), and Self-Determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 2000). The links between these theories and the implications for empowerment are explored through a case study of a community gardening group and community mapping in Wellington, New Zealand. The thesis argues that empowerment-oriented efforts are especially valuable during economic decline and transition.</p>
Implicit Cultures: Towards a Psychosocial Theory of ‘Intuitive Religious Beliefs’
Authors:   , McVicar Timothy J. 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis defines and resolves some persistent criticisms of Justin Barrett and Jessie Bering’s shared contention that religious beliefs are compelled by ‘default’ cognitive systems. I contend that the source of these criticisms is correctly the ‘naturalness of religious belief’ metathesis. This metathesis justifies the methodological reductions that both use to account for ‘intuitive religious beliefs.’ Through a review of the critical literature sourced from various methodologies including anthropology, hermeneutics, and social neuroscience, I uncover a recurrent set of criticisms that I contend theories of ‘intuitive religion’ need to confront in order to strengthen the theoretical, and by inference, empirical validity of their theories. Yet I also discuss why it is that Bering and Barrett fail to incorporate insights relative to persistent criticisms of their research, emphasising that it is because they fail to see the experimental plausibility of alternative methodologies and theories. Somewhat proactively, I argue that Mathew Day’s proposal for a psychosocial theory of religion offers a step in the right direction. Day’s psychosocial theory rejects the ‘naturalness of religion’ metathesis. My own revision and application of psychosocial theory allows for the reinterpretation of Bering and Barrett’s findings from the vantage point of cultural psychology. I close by offering a developmental theory of ‘intuitive religious beliefs’ that includes the numerous theoretical perspectives addressed throughout this thesis and, crucially, is empirically grounded in research from cultural psychology. I propose a tentative empirical test to trial my claims.</p>
Using an Experimental Online Digital Collection with Interactive Features to Investigate Attitudes Towards Archives 2.0
Authors:   , Perkins George Reid 
Published: November 2021

<p>Research Problem: The concept of Archives 2.0 is currently generating much interest within academic and professional discourse in the cultural heritage sector. As yet, however, little research has been done in New Zealand on what potential users and implementers of Archives 2.0 perceive as being the advantages or disadvantages with this idea. Methodology: This study used a two stage approach. In the first stage an experimental prototype of an Archives 2.0 website was constructed using local cultural heritage resources. This was intended to served as a reference point for discussions about the practical possibility and value of sites of this kind. In the second stage nine qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners and others having a professional interest in cultural heritage collections. They were asked about their perceptions of the practices associated with Archives 2.0 and the current situation in New Zealand Results: This study found considerable interest in the possibilities represented by Archives 2.0. However, there was also concern about the extra burden on staff resources it was seen to entail. Given this it was generally felt that major projects of this kind would not be feasible within the current economic climate. Implications: This study suggests that the Archives 2.0 concept does have potential for development within the New Zealand cultural heritage sector. However ways will have to be found around concerns over resource constraints before further progress is made.</p>
The Emergence of the Arms Trade Treaty as a Global Norm Cluster
Authors:   , Gardner Belinda Kay 
Published: November 2021

<p>The Arms Trade Treaty brings together a number of small arms control norms into one instrument and is a new initiative, which was instigated by state and NGO norm entrepreneurs. This thesis attempts to understand what has led to the emergence of these norms in the Arms Trade Treaty, in what will be termed a ‘cluster’ of small arms norms. Examining the small arms norms associated with the Arms Trade Treaty will explain their development and their likelihood of successfully being incorporated into this instrument. Analysis of the development of the norms related to the Arms Trade Treaty will explore the relationship between norms, their promoters and their opponents. This thesis will do this by providing detailed analysis of the development of specific norms in a series of case studies: control over arms brokering, transfers to non-state actors and civilian possession. It will place this development within the broader context of the ATT instrument and the international society in which it is emerging into. This thesis finds that power and powerful states have a significant role to play in the emergence of norms, in some cases despite the efforts of norm promoters. Norms were not able to emerge in their original form due to the influence of powerful states, which resulted in norms evolving in different directions or not emerging at all.</p>
Building Digital Bridges: Improving Digital Collaboration through the Principles of Hyperlinked Practice
Authors:   , Harrison David Henry 
Published: November 2021

<p>Effective collaboration requires access to timely and relevant information, but this is difficult given the complexity of the architectural design process and the segmentation of the architecture, engineering and construction industry. Effective collaboration is further complicated by the quantity and density of the digital information generated within a project, and the irregular adoption of technology by different team members. Consolidating project information within Building Information Models has improved its management, but the technology’s complexity limits who can contribute to it. This is a problem, because team members are capable of collaborating more effectively when they can record and reflect upon a comprehensive record of the project’s design process. The aim of research was to identify how information technology can assist architectural project teams to collaborate by more inclusively and comprehensively recording and reflecting upon the design process. To address this problem, this research proposes that the industry adopt Hyperlinked Practice, which is the creation of a distributed cloud of interconnected information describing an architectural project’s events, activities and digital artefacts. A set of fundamental principles were identified that would be used to guide the design and deployment of digital collaboration tools capable of facilitating Hyperlinked Practice. To ensure a flexible and inclusive environment, the principles were derived from concepts proven within the World Wide Web. To validate these principles, their collaboration influence, potential, and industry applicability was tested within a software prototype utilised in a university architecture course and two thought experiments. The results from testing the software prototype suggest that the principles are capable of influencing collaboration in a manner that promotes the recording of the design process, and reflection upon it. The thought experiments demonstrated that the principles provided an excellent framework for evaluating a digital collaboration tool’s ability to facilitate Hyperlinked Practice. Based on these results, the research concluded the identified principles of Hyperlinked Practice were capable of facilitating a collaboration environment that would allow the design process to be comprehensively recorded and reflected upon.</p>
Vindicatory Damages in the Child Welfare Tort Cases
Authors:   , Neild David 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis argues that vindicatory damages should be available in the child welfare tort cases against public authorities. These are cases in which the plaintiffs sue public authorities either for not protecting them from harm when they were children, or where it is alleged that the authority’s employees abused the children while in its care. Vindicatory damages would be intended to mark the wrong to the plaintiff, rather than attempting to compensate the consequences. This thesis argues in support of the availability of a separate head of vindicatory damages in tort law, including negligence, and explores some of the liability issues which arise in these cases, including vicarious liability, liability for omissions and liability in negligence for the way in which a statutory power is exercised or for a breach of a statutory duty. New Zealand's accident compensation scheme is also discussed: it is argued that vindicatory damages in tort law should not be barred by the scheme.</p>