bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Increasing the potency of dendritic cell based vaccines for the treatment of cancer
Authors:   , Sika-Paotonu Dianne 
Published: December 2021

<p>Tumours can be eradicated by T cells that recognise unique tumour-associated antigens. These T cells are initially stimulated by dendritic cells (DCs) that have acquired antigens from tumour tissue. Vaccination strategies that increase the frequencies of tumour-specific T cells by enhancing the activity of DCs are being evaluated in the clinic as novel cancer therapies. Our hypothesis is that existing DC-based vaccination strategies can be improved by stimulating toll-like receptor (TLR) signalling in the DCs, and also by encouraging interactions with iNKT cells, as these two activities are known to enhance DC function. It was also hypothesised that superior T cell responses could be induced by combining these two activities together. We used the TLR 4 agonist monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) alone and in combination with other TLR agonists to achieve effective activation of bone marrow-derived DCs (BM-DCs) cultured in-vitro, which was characterised by upregulated expression of maturation markers on the cell surface, and enhanced release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Some TLR agonist combinations provided significantly enhanced activities in this regard, notably the combination of MPL with either the TLR 2 agonist Pam3Cys, or the TLR 7/8 agonist Resiquimod. Although in-vitro activated BM-DCs were unable to induce stronger antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses after intravenous injection when compared to BMDCs without TLR stimulation, enhanced CD8+ T cell responses were achieved in-vivo with the co-administration of TLR ligands, implying that TLR stimulation needed to act on cells of the host. Further studies identified the langerin-expressing CD8ɑ+ splenic DC subset in the spleen as recipients of antigen that was transferred from injected cells, and that these recipients were participants in the cross-presentation and T cell priming activities driving the CD8+ T cell response after vaccination. Antigen-loaded BM-DCs carrying the NKT cell ligand ɑ-galactosylceramide (ɑ-GalCer) were found to consistently increase antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses in-vivo, and also cytotoxic responses as seen in cytotoxic killing assays. Again, langerin-expressing CD8ɑ+ splenic DCs were shown to be involved in this response by acquiring antigen and ɑ-GalCer from the injected vaccine BM-DCs. Finally, it was possible to achieve even greater CD8+ T cell responses in-vivo by injecting BM-DCs carrying antigen and ɑ-GalCer, together with timely co-administration of the TLR agonist. These results suggest a reassessment of the activities of DC-based vaccines to include the important role of “courier” to DCs already resident in the host that can be exploited to improve vaccination outcomes.</p>
The Interface of Copyright and Human Rights: Access to Copyright Works for the Visually Impaired
Authors:   , Ayoubi Lida 
Published: December 2021

<p>Reproduction of copyright protected material in formats that are accessible to the blind and visually impaired persons constitutes a copyright infringement unless there are specific limitations and exceptions in place. Most countries do not have copyright limitations and exceptions for the benefit of the visually impaired in their copyright laws. This has contributed to the issue of book famine, meaning the unsatisfactory access to copyright protected material for the blind and visually impaired. This thesis examines the claims of the visually impaired for improved access to copyright protected works in the context of the interface of human rights and intellectual property rights. This research demonstrates that insufficient access to copyright protected material is discriminatory against the visually impaired and negatively affects their human rights such as the right to education, information, health, employment, culture, and science. Moreover, the thesis analyses the international and domestic copyright law’s impact on the needs of the visually impaired. In analysing the international copyright law, the thesis evaluates the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities. Highlighting the insufficient consideration for the rights of the visually impaired in domestic and international copyright laws including the Marrakesh Treaty, the thesis proposes adoption of a human rights framework for copyright law to the extent that it affects the human rights of the visually impaired. Such framework requires copyright law to accommodate those human rights of the visually impaired that are dependent on access to copyright protected material. The thesis offers two categories of measures for creation of a human rights framework for copyright to the extent that it affects the human rights of the visually impaired. The measures include optimisation of already available options and adoption of new mechanisms. The first category discusses minimum mandatory copyright limitations and exceptions and the possibility to harmonise them. The second category covers extra measures such as clarifying the implications of different human rights and copyrights in the context of the book famine; ensuring compatibility of human rights and copyright when adopting policy and law; and, regular monitoring of the impact of copyright law on human rights.</p>
Alone together: Cinematic (re)presentations of masculinity, friendship, and grief
Authors:   , Thrasyvoulou Costas 
Published: December 2021

<p>This project examines the links between masculinity, friendship, and grief in a combination of creative work and critical analysis. The creative component consists of a thirteen-minute short dramatic film entitled 'Brothers' (2014). This film explores the different ways in which three young men react to the death of a close male friend. The film contains no dialogue and emphasises the importance of gestures, actions, and other forms of behaviour. The thesis is comprised of three main sections. The first situates masculine experiences of grief and friendship in a critical context by drawing on discourses from sociology and psychology. I argue that the feelings of individual men in relation to traumatic events such as bereavement are often hidden or repressed because of the need to present a stoic exterior, even during grieving rituals such as funerals. This kind of behaviour preserves the invulnerability often associated with dominant or idealised versions of masculinity. However, this tendency arguably inhibits male emotional intimacy and friendship, particularly during times of crisis. The second part of the thesis considers how these interrelated issues are represented cinematically through a close reading of the John Cassavetes film 'Husbands' (1970). 'Husbands' is concerned with the dissolute behaviour of three male friends in the aftermath of the death of a friend. Although the men are garrulous, they struggle to articulate their feelings. I employ research on performance in cinema, as well as criticism of Cassavetes’ work to interpret the slips in their masculine bravado. The final section engages in an exegesis of 'Brothers'. I reflect on the influence of Husbands on my project. I also discuss the ways in which 'Brothers' can be understood in terms of the critical frameworks established in the previous chapters. A Note About 'Brothers': The creative component of this project, the film 'Brothers', is included alongside this thesis on a DVD. The film can also be accessed online at https://vimeo.com/99519967 using the password 'masterscut'. A copy of the final shooting script is also included in the thesis as an appendix.</p>
Understanding the urban livelihoods and wellbeing of migrant women working in garment factories in Vientiane, Laos
Authors:   , Homesana Chanmala 
Published: December 2021

<p>Rural-urban migrants are the major contributions to the labour force that drives the manufacturing sector in Laos. Migrants, particularly young women, contribute abundant cheap labour to garment industries. Despite their hard work and contribution, the living and working conditions for migrants are often overlooked. This thesis explores the migration, livelihoods and wellbeing of migrant women working in the garment factories in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. This thesis focuses particularly on how working in the factories and living in the city affects the wellbeing of women. The field research was conducted in three garment factories in Vientiane where most garment factories are located. The data was obtained mainly from ten individual interviews and four focus group sessions with women workers. Additionally, ten officials from public and private sector were interviewed to bring additional perspectives into this research. The theoretical framework of the study derives from the sustainable livelihood framework to explore the main aspects of women’s livelihoods. Also, Marxist, radical and post-structural feminist theories are incorporated into the framework to analyse the issues facing migrant women. This research pays attention to how women are oppressed as a subordinated class and gender, as well as to how women individually and collectively use their agency to improve their conditions. This thesis claims that working in the factory and living in the city have both positive and negative consequences for women workers. It has increased the human, social and financial capital of women workers. However, women were oppressed in many forms by their capitalist employers as well as by men inside and outside the factory. However, although women workers experience exploitation and oppression, they are able to construct their new identities and develop strategies to cope in their everyday lives.</p>
Temporal Development and Regeneration Dynamics of Restored Urban Forests
Authors:   , De Silva Katherine 
Published: December 2021

<p>Urban forest restoration programmes are a key tool used to initiate, re-create or accelerate the succession of forest species; improving ecosystem services, function, resilience and biodiversity. Succession is a temporal shift in species dominance driven by abiotic and biotic influences, but over decadal timescales the trajectory and success of restoration plantings in degraded urban environments can be hindered. To facilitate the successful reconstruction of forest ecosystems from scratch, an understanding of the temporal patterns in planted forest development, dynamics of seedling regeneration and dominant drivers of seedling diversity is required. Using a chronosequence approach, permanent plots were established at 44 restored urban forests aged 5 to 59 years since initial plantings took place, across five New Zealand cities between Wellington and Invercargill. Vegetation surveys were undertaken and data on micro-climate were collected. This study examined the 1) temporal dynamics of restored urban forest development and seedling regeneration and 2) dominant drivers of seedling regeneration. Data were analysed using linear regression models, breakpoint analysis and mixed-effects modelling. Early forest development (<20 years) exhibited the most changes in canopy composition and structure, forest floor dynamics, seedling community and microclimate. This period saw significant increases in canopy stem abundance, height, basal area and leaf litter cover. Significant declines occurred for light transmittance, herbaceous cover and daily soil and air temperature range within the same timeframe. Dominant traits amongst the seedling community included early successional species, tree species, shade and drought tolerant species, insect-pollinated species and frugivory dispersed species. Seedlings with these traits had higher species richness levels across the whole chronosequence. Collectively, five biotic drivers representing forest composition, structure and landscape factors strongly influenced seedling diversity. Seedling diversity increased with the proportion of surrounding natural landcover, sapling diversity, basal area, canopy diversity and herbaceous cover. The influence of these predictors of seedling diversity, was more significant when modelled as a set, than when viewed independently. Geographic location (city) was indicated as a stronger predictor for similarities in canopy and seedling community composition than the age of the restoration planting. This was shown by stronger clustering of sites according to their city, more so than forest planting age, in a non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis. Our results provide valuable insight to restoration practitioners on the outcomes of urban restoration programmes implemented across much of New Zealand and helps close the gap between the science of restoration ecology and the practice of ecological restoration.</p>
Algorithmic Toolmaking: Parameter Thinking in Landscape Architecture
Authors:   , Hegglun Kadin 
Published: December 2021

<p>This thesis interrogates the contentious integration of digital technologies into the field of landscape architecture. Identifying that an application of computational technique is largely unknown, the research delves into the scripting of geometry relationships with the use of the tool ‘Grasshopper’ in the context of landscape architecture. The discourse surrounding the appropriation of digital technology in assistance to landscape architecture is seemingly controversial with an apparent resistance in favour of traditional methodologies of site design. It is commonly stated that, digital software tends to be ‘too architectural’ and therefore less tailored to the open systems that landscape architects contend with. The tendency of contemporary software is to mimic the analogue process and while useful in representation and drawing production - these programs are scale-less and detached from reality. It is affirmed by academics such as Bradley Cantrell and Caroline Westort that landscape architecture needs more algorithmic attention. Stressing the construction of relationships between design-move and site condition. Parameter thinking infers a method of rule setting and dedication to the settling of boundaries in which the potentials of site intervention has room to shift. Geometries, points, curves and planes provide such palette. Abstraction is a primary conceptual driver of any drawing convention yet Grasshopper offers a more dynamic and animated process of conceptual development. The abstraction of site into such geometries grants a dynamic, shifting and generative paradigm to design and toolmaking. This thesis is to unfold the paradigm of operating within such a toolset adopting the use of Grasshopper almost exclusively as a way of engaging with conceptual development. Such an interface allows this thesis to note the performance of an algorithmic toolset and adopt an algorithmic mind set.</p>
'Ni Una Menos': A women's social movement contesting gender-based violence in Arequipa, Peru
Authors:   , Infantes Abril Nadia Yris 
Published: December 2021

<p>Ni Una Menos (NUM) is a social movement that since 2015 has spread through Latin America as a response to continuing problems of femicides and gender-based violence. NUM challenges gender power relations embedded in the machista culture, which top-down approaches within mainstream gender and development approaches (GAD) have overlooked. To date, most studies of NUM have focused on the movement in Argentina, and its major public actions. Few studies have sought a holistic understanding of how the movement contests Gender Based Violence (GBV) on a day-to-day basis. This research involved a case study of the NUM movement in Arequipa, Peru. I undertook a mixed methods approach, placing this in context of GAD and social movement theories. I worked with NUM Arequipa activists to understand the movement and its strategies in the local context; and with students to explore their knowledge about, and response to, NUM Arequipa’s strategies. NUM Arequipa practised two forms of activism. The first - ‘traditional’ activism’, raised awareness and challenged machista sociocultural structures through media, public campaigns and education. These strategies complemented international GAD practice by challenging unequal gender relationships and incorporating male participation. The second - ‘quiet’ or ‘everyday’ activism - focused on providing support and advocacy for victims of GBV, and a commitment to empathy, care and justice. For both types of strategies, social media and connections to local organisations were important. However, NUM Arequipa, with its non-feminist public identity and quiet activism, found challenges distinguishing itself from other ‘loud’ feminist NUM groups. This confusion meant that students had limited awareness of NUM Arequipa’s specific activities and achievements. The thesis concludes that grassroots movements like NUM Arequipa, alongside more explicitly feminist and confrontational forms of social movements, are essential to eradicating GBV because they can work through relationships to make short-term change in people’s lives while also challenging patriarchal and machista structures in ways that are sensitive to the sociocultural context.</p>
Spatializing the Image
Authors:   , Batchelor Joseph 
Published: December 2021

<p>Modern society has become ocular-centric as a result of technological development making the production and distribution of images easier than ever before. This ocular bias extends to architecture. Rather than resisting the increasingly ocular-centric nature of our social-media driven culture, this research aims to find new methods for designing space which incorporate a tactile process. This process simultaneously focuses on the creation of marketable perspectives. Through this research I advocate for tactility in the design process to evoke spatial awareness of the image. This research portfolio operates through a design-led research methodology where knowledge is uncovered by designing. Hundreds of models were produced and critically reflected upon in terms of both their process and outcome. The research culminates with the development of a design process centred on using architectural models as design tools. Referred to as devices, these models are spatial systems that are able to be manipulated by hand to alter the composition of a perspective view. Although focusing on the image, the physicality of the devices implicate spatial awareness in the design process ensuring the design is considered in both two and three dimensions. A design for the proposed Kapiti Island Biosecurity Gateway Centre formed an architectual testing ground which was used to evalute the design process developed in this research. Influenced by the design process the architecture itself also became an optical device. The resulting design controls and composes views through concealing, revealing, superimposing, aligning and framing particular elements. The final outcome provides visitors with a choreographed journey of highly considered perspective compositions</p>
inhabiting blue
Authors:   , Shim Chiara 
Published: December 2021

<p>Architects by in large employ physical materials to generate and define space. Materials such as timber, stone, bricks, and mortar envelop and contain. Yet when described in a purely scientific sense, the visible world can be defined by light, or the absence of light and variations in between. Seminal author and investigator of the senses, Juhani Pallasmaa writes, ‘The experiences of matter, space and light are inseparable ... there is no true architectural experience without light’ (2016, p. 7). Extending this statement, the use of light generates space, creating an architectural experience. The research proposition becomes: Using a reductivist approach, and employing only hue, saturation, and brightness to replace physical materials, this creative body of work explores how colour can be used to evoke a response in mixed realities. The research methodology is Design-Led research, following similar beliefs to Peter Dowton, that by doing, knowing is enhancing knowledge. Literature reviews indicated that there are two main approaches to colour psychology and therapy. From this, the research aims to bridge the gap between popular culture claims and heavily scientific or psychology-based research, to explore the effects of colour through architectural design. Following this, colour theory was researched, followed by a feasibility study of design tests. In the sketch design phase, light at the wavelength frequency of blue was tapped into, and its effects researched. Unique blues were created from nature: flora and fauna were sourced and boiled into pigments. The final outcome is mixed media; Virtual Realities, physical works, and a unique experience. Throughout this project, tests were executed including reviews to gain an indication of whether a response was evoked. The results of this architectural portfolio, which leans into the artistic vein of architecture, show that various saturations and brightness of hues in the blue range can indeed evoke responses.</p>
Comparison of Methamphetamine and MDMA Extended Access Self-administration: Acquisition, Maintenance, and Response Patterns
Authors:   , Maan Alex 
Published: December 2021

<p>Rationale. 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine are two amphetamine derivatives with contrasting pharmacological profiles. Therefore, self- administration profiles might be expected to reflect these differences. Objectives. This study compared the latency and proportion to acquire self-administration, maintenance of self-administration, and within-session response patterns. Methods. Rats were given extended access (8-hour daily sessions) to either methamphetamine, MDMA or vehicle self-administration over a period of 10 consecutive days. A criterion based on the performance of the vehicle control group was used to determine acquisition of reliable MDMA and methamphetamine self-administration. In conjunction, for MDMA self-administration the infusion dose was halved for each rat that achieved a total of 85mg/kg for the remaining sessions. Temporal patterns of responding were assessed using hourly data of the first day of self-administration, the day following acquisition, and the final day of self-administration. Results. A greater proportion of rats in the methamphetamine group acquired self- administration and self-administration was acquired with a shorter latency compared to the MDMA group. Responding maintained by methamphetamine on day one was high. By the third day a pattern developed that was maintained throughout testing. The greatest proportion of responding occurring within the first hour of each daily test session. A progressive escalation of intake was also observed within the methamphetamine group. Responding maintained by MDMA was low on the first day, but by day 5 responding had increased with most of the responding within the session occurring during the first three hours. On day 10 the greatest amount of responding occurred during the first hour. No escalation of intake as a function of test day was observed for MDMA self-administration.</p>