bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Seismic Anisotropy at the Rotokawa and Ngatamariki Geothermal Fields in the Taupo Volcanic Zone
Authors:   , Mroczek Stefan 
Published: December 2021

<p>In order to investigate the cracks/fractures in the geothermal fields of Rotokawa and Ngatamariki, we measure seismic anisotropy across both fields and interpret the results in the context of stress aligned microcracks. Cracks aligned perpendicular to the direction of maximum horizontal stress close and their fluid is forced into cracks aligned with maximum horizontal stress (SHmax). Seismic anisotropy is the directional dependence of a seismic wave's velocity and provides a measure of crack orientation and density. To measure seismic anisotropy we conduct shear wave splitting measurements on 52,000 station-earthquake pairs across both Rotokawa and Ngatamariki from earthquakes recorded during 2015. Both fields are the subject of other geophysical and geological studies. Thus they are excellent subjects for studying seismic anisotropy. We cluster our measurements by their station-event path and fit the parameters from these clusters to those from theoretical crack planes. We also apply 2-D tomography to shear wave splitting time delays (𝛿t) and spatial averaging to shear wave splitting fast polarisations (∅). In addition, we compare time delays with P-wave to S-wave velocity ratios (νP / vS). Local measurements of stress within Rotokawa and regional measures of stress within the Taupo Volcanic Zone provide a comparison for the shear wave splitting measurements. We measure ∅ which agrees with the NE-SW regional direction of SHmax across Ngatamariki and parts of Rotokawa. Within Rotokawa, we observe a rotation of ∅ away from NE-SW toward N-S that agrees with borehole measurements of direction of SHmax of 023° and 030°. Spatial averaging of ∅ reveals mean orientations close to the strike of nearby active faults. The theoretical crack planes, that fit best to the shear wave splitting measurements, correspond to aligned cracks striking 045° outside of both fields, 035° within Ngatamariki, and 035° through to 0° within Rotokawa. The average percent anisotropy for the full dataset, approximately 4%, is close to the upper bound for an intact rock. Delay time tomography shows regions of higher delay time per kilometre of path length (s=km) within both fields and possibly associated with the production field fault in Rotokawa. vP =vS shows a wide range of normally distributed values, from 1.1 through to 2.4 with a mean of 1.6, indicating a mixture of gas filled and saturated cracks. A positive correlation between delay time per kilometre (𝛿tpkm) and νP /νS indicates that the majority of the cracks are saturated.</p>
Unpredictable Verticality: Paradigm of a Vertical City
Authors:   , Lai Siaw Kwan Joel 
Published: December 2021

<p>With the densification of urban cities, our urban concrete jungles are populated by self-supporting and monolithic building blocks such as high rises and skyscrapers, connected only by the ground plan that they sit on. Although the buildings of today’s cities are getting taller, the architecture of today’s cities is still being developed on a two-dimensional template, where ground is the base plane and tall buildings remain independent to one another. This has created a segregation between the claimed internal spaces of our built environment and the public domain of architecture within the vertical realm of our urban fabric. This thesis speculates what vertical architecture of the future could be like if we challenge the conventional perception of our claimed vertical space, proposing an alternative while exploring the idea of a three-dimensional urban fabric. The research also encapsulates exploration of future technologies that may aid in the feasibility of this type of vertical architecture. Utilizing a design-led research approach, design experiments were employed to explore different ideologies surrounding futuristic alternatives in approaching vertical architecture. The research explores the proposition through design experiments of three different scales, namely, an installation exploring connectivity through abstraction, a ‘mid-scale’ vertical residence and a vertical city at a public scale. This research was predominantly influenced by the theoretical works of Yona Friedman, Nat Chard, Lebbeus Woods and Cedric Price. Their works were analyzed and merged to generate a hybrid concept for an alternate utilization of vertical space.</p>
Informing Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management from an Indigenous Perspective: The Mōtū Kahawai Fishery
Authors:   , Maxwell Kimberley 
Published: December 2021

<p>Despite agencies striving to manage fisheries sustainably, focusing on large-scale commercial interests and ignoring target species and their wider ecosystem interactions, has depleted or collapsed fisheries globally. Indigenous community well-being, practices, knowledge, and food supplies have also diminished as a result. Fisheries managers are now developing a more combined approach to decision-making, which recognises the social and ecological relationships of fisheries. The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries encourages fisheries scientists and managers to engage with each other, and with the wider community, and to include information on the wider social and ecological components of fisheries systems in decision-making. This thesis explores an Indigenous fishery by demonstrating how to appropriately gather information from a wide range of sources to inform its management. We focus on a case study fishery for kahawai (Arripis trutta), from the perspective of Te Whānau-a-Hikarukutai/Ngāti Horomoana (TWAH/NH). This Hapū (sub-tribe) is part of the larger Te Whānau-a-Apanui Iwi (tribe) of New Zealand (NZ), who have strong cultural connections to, and a unique system for managing, the Mōtū kahawai fishery. This fishery is a small-scale, land-based, hand-line fishery for a medium-sized pelagic teleost fish based at the Mōtū river mouth, located at Maraenui in the eastern Bay of Plenty, NZ. This research demonstrates holistic ecosystem-based fisheries research as a template for future fisheries research activities. A transdisciplinary research approach, grounded in kaupapa Māori research principles and Māori research ethics, was taken. A strategy was developed to direct engagement with Māori for fisheries research. The existing NZ fisheries management system was defined, and Independent fishery forum plans were identified as the most proactive way to inform the system. A plan can also be used to inform fisheries through other mechanisms; therefore, it is a valuable resource to create. Information on the history, background and value of the fishery was gathered and the Mōtū kahawai fishery identified as a cultural keystone species for TWAH/NH. Kahawai trophic and ecosystem interactions were described from ecology and mātauranga studies. This information was collated in a Hapū plan to inform management of the Mōtū kahawai fishery. This fishery has existed for ca. 600 years and the Hapū wish for it to thrive indefinitely. The Hapū plan will inform wider fisheries management, of Hapū values, practices, and knowledge, to be recognised by the wider community, and to support Hapū rangatiratanga (sovereignty) over the fishery.</p>
Do firms develop dynamic capabilities differently? The case of professional services firms in New Zealand
Authors:   , Dickens Andrea 
Published: December 2021

<p>Differences in dynamic capabilities (DCs) help explain firms’ abilities to change. DCs research has explored what DCs might be and generic categorisations of them after they have emerged, but little light has been thrown on the specific practices that enable or inhibit their emergence. This study explores how DCs emerge and why firms might develop DCs differently under the same market conditions. This thesis sought to understand these questions and respond to calls for longitudinal empirical studies to extend DC theory by studying the paths of four professional services firms in New Zealand over three decades. Using a multi-case study design and thematic analysis, this research applied Teece’s (2007) framework of sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities to identify the presence of DCs within each case, before attempting to identify the enablers and inhibitors influencing the development of such capabilities. While elements of each generic class of DC were evident in each case, the findings suggest that in order to utilise DCs to adapt effectively to environmental changes, a firm must deploy all three classes of capabilities at the same time. This research contributes to the DC literature by proposing a prioritised typology of antecedents that may help stimulate Teece’s sensing, seizing and transforming DCs, while identifying the rigidities that could inhibit their development. The empirical results reported on in this thesis suggest that similar firms’ development of DCs may be different because of idiosyncratic leadership and culture that can limit a firm’s ability to perceive the importance of DCs. Other characteristics that inhibit the development of DCs include centralised, non-participative cultures and high internal (or inward looking) orientation. These results extend current theory about triggers for developing DCs by identifying that the strongest triggers may be either serious macro-economic events or internally driven by firm-defined goals or strategies.</p>
From Callas To Netrebko: Diva power, vocality, and the mediatisation of the operatic voice
Authors:   , Wollerman Jennifer 
Published: December 2021

<p>Maria Callas’s fame as an opera star in the 1950s is still recognised today, and, for many, her name is synonymous with the modern concept of the opera ‘diva’. The increasing diversity of mediatised forms of operatic performances since her time has altered the way audiences engage with the art form. This has implications for singers in terms of values around vocality, authorship and power, and, in particular, the agency of singers in creating the meaningful, affective, and distinctively personal vocal tone that opera calls for. I suggest that for “divas” as defined by twentieth- and twenty-first century global stardom, power is amassed at least in part through particular ways in which they make use of their vocality or vocal timbre, and the way they manage their voices’ presentation in the mediatised versions of their performances. The recent turn towards a performative focus in musicology encourages the investigation of such aspects of performance. While authorship remains central in the consideration of performance, the contribution of the singer to the authorial and creative process has tended to be ignored, and at times the singer’s work has been regarded as servile to the point of nullification. A critical examination of scholarly writings around operatic performance, with reference to those of diva, voice, and stardom studies, forms the foundation of my study. In case studies of Callas and two later divas, Kiri Te Kanawa and Anna Netrebko, I examine the individual vocality of each singer, their interaction with the forms of mediatisation of their time, their position in the continuum of vocal fashion and influence, and the function of all of these factors in relation to perceptions of creative agency. My study investigates these issues from the standpoint of a singer, and it provides insights into the singer’s processes around the creation of vocality. It offers a new perspective through a fine-tuned analysis of vocal production, which reconnects perceptions of specific timbres with explicitly defined techniques for their production. Through this dissertation I show how signature vocality works: how it is created and managed by these divas, and how the mediatisation of vocality affects perceptions of their power as performers.</p>
State estimation for dynamic weighing using Kalman filter
Authors:   , Pitawala Sunethra 
Published: December 2021

<p>Dynamic weighing has become an essential requirement in a diverse range of industries. Dynamic weighing is different from static weighing in that static weighing involves determining the weight while the product being weighed is stationary whereas dynamic weighing weighs the products while they are moving. Force sensors are commonly used in these weighing systems. In static weighing, the weighed object is placed stationary on the platform and the steady state of the sensor signal is used to assess the weight. However, in dynamic weighing the sensor signal may not reach the steady state during the brief time of weighing, hence the weight is assessed for example, by averaging the tail end of the signal after it has been through a low-pass filter. The resulting mass estimates can be inaccurate for faster heavier items. It is useful to consider better ways of estimating the true weight, in high speed weighing applications. The proposed method is to employ the 1-D Kalman filter algorithm to estimate the optimal state of the signal. The improved steady state signal is then used in weight estimation. The proposed method has been tested using data collected from a loadcell when different masses pass over the loadcell. The results show a significant improvement in the filtered signal quality which is then used to improve the weight assessment.</p>
Trap or Treasure: An economic history of primary production in Hawke's Bay province, 1945-2010
Authors:   , Davie Malcolm 
Published: December 2021

<p>Comprised of a broad range of primary activities, Hawke’s Bay is one of New Zealand’s foremost agricultural provinces. Consequently, the province provides an excellent template by which to assess New Zealand agriculture and test differing perspectives of staples-led development. Importantly, the province provides a positive example of staples-led growth and this thesis argues that adjustment within, rather than abandonment of, existing primary production structures has been a rational response to changed economic, social and political circumstances since 1945. Most particularly, two essential adjustment mechanisms existed. First, a dynamic process of land use inter-changeability provided the flexibility required for diversification and delivered strong relative investment returns. Second, levels of corporatisation and internationalisation increased significantly as participants sought productivity enhancements, greater scale and additional capital. Crucially, although aspects of classical staples theory are evident in Hawke’s Bay after 1945, the development of the province’s primary sector does not support interpretations of classical theory as a ‘staples trap.’ Therefore, Hawke’s Bay’s multi-polar model of staples-led economic development challenges the notion, typified by Sutch, that primary sector led economic development is undesirable. It is similarly significant that scholars have not previously considered staples theory within a dynamic system of land use change. The history of the Hawke’s Bay primary sector since 1945 enables the consideration of broader issues in New Zealand’s economic history. Tariffs, regulation, deregulation and agricultural subsidies played a prominent role in the province after World War Two, the impact of which permits one to locate the Hawke’s Bay story in the wider history of the New Zealand economy. But most importantly, Hawke’s Bay illustrates the distortions of productivism, a concept backed in the first instance by New Zealand farmers and later pursued by the New Zealand government as a remedy for declining agricultural commodity prices and farm profitability. Historical evidence from Hawke’s Bay suggests that productivism and its policy offspring, most notably Supplementary Minimum Prices, rendered the task of structural adjustment to declining commodity prices and changed market conditions substantially more difficult.</p>
The characterisation and application of bacterial nitroreductase enzymes
Authors:   , Condon Sarah 
Published: December 2021

<p>Cancer is an increasing global concern, with the number of people diagnosed growing rapidly each year. Gene directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) is emerging as a front-runner of new technologies that seek to combat the growing number of cases. One developing approach to GDEPT involves the use of bacterial nitroreductase enzymes to reduce prodrug substrates, which, upon reduction to their active form, are toxic to cancer cells through DNA crosslinking. Nitroreductases have the ability to activate a variety of nitro-quenched compounds, not only anti-cancer prodrugs, but also nil bystander antibiotics and masked fluorophores, through the reduction of strongly electron-withdrawing nitro substituents on aromatic rings. My research initially sought to exploit this capability by partnering nitroreductases with nil bystander antibiotics for targeted cell ablation, as a component of a larger gene directed enzyme prodrug therapy project. This has potential to provide important safety features for removal of viral and bacterial vectors following anti-cancer gene therapy. From this, the main focus evolved into utilising nitroreductase enzymes for targeted cell ablation for applications in developmental and regenerative biology. This exploited the ability of nitroreductases to activate nil bystander antibiotics in partnership with masked fluorophores for imaging purposes. It has previously been shown that antibiotics can be applied to a nitroreductase under control of a tissue-specific promoter in a transgenic model organism, enabling controlled ablation of that tissue at precise stages of development. However, direct imaging of the nitroreductase location and activity, by application of masked fluorophore probes prior to ablation, has not previously been explored. During the course of this work, several promising combinations of nitroreductases that exhibit opposing specificities for certain combinations of masked fluorophores and nil-bystander antibiotics were identified through screening in bacterial systems. In general, these results were found to translate effectively into eukaryotic cell lines. Pairs of nitroreductases that have opposite specificities for two different antibiotic substrates offer potential for the multiplexed ablation of either (or both) of two different labelled tissues in the same transgenic model organism, according to the substrate(s) administered to that organism. Throughout this screening process, a nitroaromatic substrate (niclosamide) was identified that is, uniquely, initially toxic to Escherichia coli but becomes non-toxic upon reduction of the nitro substituent. Using niclosamide, a novel strategy with potential for identification of new nitroreductases, as well as selection-based directed evolution to improve desired activities, was explored.</p>
Implementing a Managed Print Solution for Tainui NZ Ltd
Authors:   , Cao Liang 
Published: December 2021

<p>Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the failure of implementing a managed print solution to control costs and reduce waste associated with outsourcing practices in a complex and legacy environment. Design/methodology/approach – Project documentation and literature reviews versus interview results by key stakeholders of the project. Findings – It is found that there are critical successful factors would directly affect the result of a project implementation. Multi-party collaboration is quite challenging to each party, especially the product owner. It needs a strong leader to indicate each party’s responsibility and make sure communication can go through smoothly. Practical implications – Organizations who have more complex infrastructure and legacy systems would need to take extra care when integrating new systems. Originality/value – This paper can be used by Tainui or other organization leaders and project managers to be more effectively achieve future project success. Keywords - Print management, Printers, Waste, Cost saving, IT project, CSF, Multi-party collaboration, Outsourcing Paper type - Case study</p>
Modelling the Generation of the Cochlear Microphonic
Authors:   , Ayat Mohammad 
Published: December 2021

<p>The human ear is a remarkable sensory organ. A normal healthy human ear is able to process sounds covering a wide range of frequencies and intensities, while distinguishing between different components of complex sounds such as a musical chord. In the last four decades, knowledge about the cochlea and the mechanisms involved in its operation has greatly increased, but many details about these mechanisms remain unresolved and disputed. The cochlea has a vulnerable structure. Consequently, measuring and monitoring its mechanical and electrical activities even with contemporary devices is very difficult. Modelling can be used to fill gaps between those measurements that are feasible and actual cochlear function. Modelling techniques can also help to simplify complex cochlear operation to a tractable and comprehensible level while still reproducing certain behaviours of interest. Modelling therefore can play an essential role in developing a better understanding of the cochlea. The Cochlear Microphonic (CM) is an electrical signal generated inside the cochlea in response to sound. This electrical signal reflects mechanical activity in the cochlea and the excitation processes involved in its generation. However, the difficulty of obtaining this signal and the simplicity of other methods such as otoacoustic emissions have discouraged the use of the cochlear microphonic as a tool for studying cochlear functions. In this thesis, amodel of the cochlea is presented which integrates bothmechanical and electrical aspects, enabling the interaction between them to be investigated. The resulting model is then used to observe the effect of the cochlear amplifier on the CM. The results indicate that while the cochlear amplifier significantly amplifies the basilar membrane displacement, the effect on the CM is less significant. Both of these indications agree with previous physiological findings. A novel modelling approach is used to investigate the tuning discrepancy between basilar membrane and CMtuning curves. The results suggest that this discrepancy is primarily due to transversal phase cancellation in the outer hair cell rather than longitudinal phase cancellation along the basilar membrane. In addition, the results of the model suggest that spontaneous cochlear microphonic should exist in the cochlea. The existence of this spontaneous electrical signal has not yet been reported.</p>