bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Retaining the Knowledge of Older Experts in an Organisational Context and the Role of ICT
Authors:   , Joe Carmel 
Published: November 2021

<p>The oldest members of the post-World War 2 baby boomer generation — born between 1945 and 1963 — are soon nearing retirement, reducing or reviewing the extent of their participation in the workforce in the future. This has significant implications, especially for organisations relying on knowledge workers‘ expertise and experience, as within this cohort resides knowledge that is valuable to organisations. In New Zealand, the problem is twofold. First, Generation X — born between 1964 and 1981 — is numerically only 75% of the size of the baby boomer cohort. The workforce as a whole is predicted to grow at a slower rate after 2016 than it has between 1991 and 2006. Second, organisations will lose valuable knowledge if they do not act to remedy the potential impacts of this demographic phenomenon. The research topic is relevant at a time when few organisations have given serious consideration to the loss of expertise. There is extensive literature on the baby boomer generation, and on the information and communications technologies that exist to support knowledge-related activities such as capture and storage, facilitating access, and sharing and dissemination. However, less specific information was found on the infrastructure or processes for successfully retaining the knowledge of older experts. Do organisations know who the experts are and how their expertise may be retained? This action research study using qualitative methods explores how two organisations define the types of knowledge they will lose when experts leave. An in-depth study of one organisation‘s infrastructure and processes for retaining the knowledge of a specific expert in a key business setting, reveals that his expertise was valued but less understood. The study identified similarities between some characteristics of the expert‘s expertise and elements of wisdom. The findings are presented with reference to an existing research framework pertaining to wisdom as a type of expert knowledge. The framework was adaptable as a representation of the older expert‘s knowledge, and could also be related to the organisation‘s knowledge retention process. The study‘s contribution is a model that integrates knowledge retention with the knowledge framework of an older expert. This research study complements a rise in practitioner efforts to address knowledge loss concerns overseas — by extending our understanding of the nature of the knowledge that organisations value, how this knowledge can be retained, and how ICT can support the knowledge retention imperative</p>
Rothko on Speed-Dial: Explorations of the Metaphysical Spatiality, Aura, and Mechanical Reproduction of Architecture
Authors:   , Aui Jansen 
Published: November 2021

<p>This research explores the relationship between architectural space and the abstract expressionist art of Mark Rothko. Rothko’s large format, post-1950’s paintings employing his signature ‘color-field’ style instigated much discourse relating the works to ideas of spatiality: particularly those of atmosphere, emotional intensity, and the abstract presentation of space. This thesis begins with the observation that there is a certain ‘authenticity’ lacking in reproductions of Rothko’s art, where the full effect of the ‘original’ is lost or betrayed in the process of its reproduction. From this premise within art, it finds an analogical relationship between architecture and its reproduction, particularly in photographed space and in the conventions of architectural representation. In both these cases, the full effect of the ‘space’ they describe (their ‘original’) is argued to be in some way lost. To explore this analogy, this thesis firstly develops a relationship between the artist and space: that ‘within’ the artwork, and that between this art and physical spaces (the artist’s studios and spaces of exhibition). Secondly, this thesis develops a shift of the artist’s spatial thinking toward architecture, with particular reference to Walter Benjamin’s concept of the ‘Aura’ of the original work of art. As read through his essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction [1936], the Aura is interpreted as the essential ‘authenticity’ of the Original work that is lost within the act of reproduction. The argument concerning Rothko and spatiality is therefore furthered through specifically focussed readings of how this Aura might manifest metaphysically (i.e. experientially, as opposed to physically), through a parallel discussion of Rothko’s art and several ‘thematically’ related architectural case studies. In doing so, it explores the way Auratic architectural experiences can be invoked within the perception of an embodied presence. In both the applied aspect of this research by design thesis, and in its conclusion, there is a relationship highlighted between architectural convention (as reproduction), abstraction, and the immediacy, authenticity or Aura of a spatial encounter. It is concluded that from this singular study of an abstract painter, architects can learn something of the direct exchange or translation between the users of architecture and the transcendental realm of the ideas of architecture or space.</p>
Porosity and Play: Sustaining Public Life in New Zealand's Suburban Shopping Centres
Authors:   , Moreno Michael 
Published: November 2021

<p>Throughout history, public plazas and town squares have provided the public realm for people to meet and "people watch". However the privatisation of public space has resulted in the demise of these traditional exterior public domains. These have been replaced by strictly controlled interior shopping malls, which place limitations on public behaviour. The concepts of 'play' and 'porosity' are possible remedies to the limitations. The purpose of this research is therefore to discover how the concepts of ‘play’ and ‘porosity’ can guide the redevelopment of New Zealand’s suburban shopping malls so as to enhance the quality of public space without detracting from the malls' commercial performance. In essence, 'play' is the spontaneous interaction which enriches public life and space, and is an encapsulation of the ideas of Jan Gehl, Elizabeth Farrelly and Quentin Stevens. 'Porosity', a concept coined by Nan Ellin, involves mixing views, programmes, ecology and paths within the same space. This revealed itself to be a method by which a space might be manipulated to support play. The 'boundary' is considered by both Stevens and Gehl to be an ideal space for play to occur, as it provides people with something to work against. Consequently, the boundary is investigated as the space where play and porosity interact. The investigation of play, porosity and the boundary includes an examination of international mall precedents and New Zealand case studies. The findings from these studies and a review of relevant literature are eventually tested in a design case study. This involves a redevelopment of Pakuranga Mall in Auckland, and includes a detailed investigation of a single boundary at an architectural scale. The design successfully proves that that a specific type of play can interact with porosity at a boundary in order to locally enhance the quality of public space. However the design also raises further questions about the concepts of porosity and play. Porosity was achieved in both the master plan and the design of the single boundary and was therefore developed at both the macro and micro scales. However the concept of play was successfully introduced only at the micro level of architectural development at the boundary. Therefore, the conclusion to this thesis discusses whether the interaction of play and porosity is limited to the boundary, or if the two concepts can be developed further to interact at a macro scale beyond the confines of a single boundary.</p>
Dwelling through Multiple Places: Landscape, Identity and Transitory Dwellings in New Zealand
Authors:   , Muir Dawn 
Published: November 2021

<p>In light of various mechanisms of globalization, the increased mobility of life today has led to an increased ability to dwell in multiple places. Second homes or transitory dwellings are the result of this movement and exemplify our desire to dwell in multiple places. An essential motive to use and purchase a transitory dwelling is the landscape. Thus this thesis examines the importance of transitory dwellings, primarily investigating their relationship with the New Zealand landscape. The first section explores the place of home in the landscape. Also explored in this section is the relationship between the primary home and transitory dwellings. Discovered here is importance of transitory dwellings for concepts of identity and sense of place. The second section considers the importance of the landscape, both within the discipline of architecture and within a New Zealand context. The significance of the New Zealand landscape is discussed as it has become a symbol of our culture. The third section consists of case study analysis based of representations of traditional and contemporary transitory dwellings in New Zealand. The case studies illustrate the significance of place or site as playing an equal part in defining the importance of transitory dwellings. Within the final section the focus shifts accordingly to my own design work which has been driven by the research objective to examine the strong connection between landscape and transitory dwelling within a New Zealand context. What resulted was a design that interacts with the landscape in several ways. The design enters into the land, hovers slightly above, and appears to dramatically release itself from it. The construction of the platform, either by subtracting or adding, creates new solid grounds in continuation of the natural topography. Thus the new architecture claims territory over the landscape while still working in harmony with it.</p>
High Frequency Ultrasonic Wave Propagation in Anisotropic Materials
Authors:   , Dawson Andrew Paul 
Published: November 2021

<p>The influence of highly regular, anisotropic, microstructured materials on high frequency ultrasonic wave propagation was investigated in this work. Microstructure, often only treated as a source of scattering, significantly influences high frequency ultrasonic waves, resulting in unexpected guided wave modes. Tissues, such as skin or muscle, are treated as homogeneous by current medical ultrasound systems, but actually consist of highly anisotropic micron-sized fibres. As these systems increase towards 100 MHz, these fibres will significantly influence propagating waves leading to guided wave modes. The effect of these modes on image quality must be considered. However, before studies can be undertaken on fibrous tissues, wave propagation in more ideal structures must be first understood. After the construction of a suitable high frequency ultrasound experimental system, finite element modelling and experimental characterisation of high frequency (20-200 MHz) ultrasonic waves in ideal, collinear, nanostructured alumina was carried out. These results revealed interesting waveguiding phenomena, and also identified the potential and significant advantages of using a microstructured material as an alternative acoustic matching layer in ultrasonic transducer design. Tailorable acoustic impedances were achieved from 4-17 MRayl, covering the impedance range of 7-12 MRayl most commonly required by transducer matching layers. Attenuation coefficients as low as 3.5 dBmm-1 were measured at 100 MHz, which is excellent when compared with 500 dBmm-1 that was measured for a state of the art loaded epoxy matching layer at the same frequency. Reception of ultrasound without the restriction of critical angles was also achieved, and no dispersion was observed in these structures (unlike current matching layers) until at least 200 MHz. In addition, to make a significant step forward towards high frequency tissue characterisation, novel microstructured poly(vinyl alcohol) tissue-mimicking phantoms were also developed. These phantoms possessed acoustic and microstructural properties representative of fibrous tissues, much more realistic than currently used homogeneous phantoms. The attenuation coefficient measured along the direction of PVA alignment in an example phantom was 8 dBmm-1 at 30 MHz, in excellent agreement with healthy human myocardium. This method will allow the fabrication of more realistic and repeatable phantoms for future high frequency tissue characterisation studies.</p>
Pre-CAD-Frication: Re-establishing Automotive Paradigms to a Manufactured Architecture
Authors:   , Anderson Shaun Anthony 
Published: November 2021

<p>Through the late Twentieth Century, leading vehicle manufacturers increasingly eschewed the drive from mass production and instead focused upon lean production, where output has been determined according to demand. Automotive manufacturers no longer stockpile parts, but vehicles are now made to order, and in doing so the automotive industry has attained flexibility within production; a factor that has historically been unattainable with the simplistic rationalities of mass-production. Automotive manufacturers are now guided with digital design tools, and have further addressed the complexities of flexible production and the modular composition of the 21st Century automobile. Through the utilisation of digital design tools, digital collaboration, organisational capabilities and product technologies the 21st century automobile has successfully shown the world that highly complex products can be produced both efficiently and effectively, with versatility and high craft. The building industry has not been so swift to exploit the opportunities offered by digital lean production; often still constructing in the same laborious manner it has done so for hundreds of years. Digital lean production offers strategies for exerting efficient, sustainable design within contemporary architecture. Through the design of a flexible dwelling, this thesis establishes how the principles of digital, lean production can be utilised within Building Information Modeling to address the issues of speed and precision within the design and manufacture of contemporary architecture.</p>
Towards a New Pacific Theatre: Practice‐Led Enquiry into a Model of Theatre Making that Relates to the Geography, Cultures and Spiritual Values of Aotearoa/New Zealand
Authors:   , Van Dijk Bert 
Published: November 2021

<p>This practice‐led research enquiry sets out to develop and test a model of theatre practice that relates to the unique geographic, cultural and spiritual dimensions of Aotearoa/New Zealand. In this practice, actors are connected with their body and the earth (they have feet), archetypal qualities inherent in nature and culture are incorporated into training and performance (return of the gods), a sense of adventure and risk‐taking is emphasized, and the practice relates to the multiple cultures and communities of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Presence, defined as the ability to be sensorially alive in the moment, and site‐specific performance, a creative response to locality, emerged as two of the key strategies to connect with self, other and the environment. By investigating selected principles, strategies and values from the indigenous, pre‐European, Māori performing arts (whare tapere), devised theatre, the Michael Chekhov technique, and Japanese Noh theatre, an intercultural approach to site specific theatre evolved that interweaves the four pathways of collaboration, connection, exploration and transformation and their corresponding values. After considering the political and ethical issues of intercultural performance a number of principles to guide the process of intercultural exchange were formulated and tested. A vital component of this study was the creative development and performance of Ex_isle of Strangers – a site‐specific work developed in response to the tangible and intangible dimensions of Matiu/Somes Island. The research generated moments of practice that investigated the creative potential of residential devising processes and the transformative value of audience mobility in performances that involve physical and metaphorical journeying. These moments provided the participants (performers and spectators) time, space and opportunity to interact with one another and with the site they occupied, thus significantly increasing their level of physical and mental engagement with the work.</p>
Development of a Compact, Configurable, Real-Time Range Imaging System
Authors:   , Jongenelen Adrian Peter Paul 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis documents the development of a time-of-flight (ToF) camera suitable for autonomous mobile robotics applications. By measuring the round trip time of emitted light to and from objects in the scene, the system is capable of simultaneous full-field range imaging. This is achieved by projecting amplitude modulated continuous wave (AMCW) light onto the scene, and recording the reflection using an image sensor array with a high-speed shutter amplitude modulated at the same frequency (of the order of tens of MHz). The effect is to encode the phase delay of the reflected light as a change in pixel intensity, which is then interpreted as distance. A full field range imaging system has been constructed based on the PMD Technologies PMD19k image sensor, where the high-speed shuttering mechanism is builtin to the integrated circuit. This produces a system that is considerably more compact and power efficient than previous iterations that employed an image intensifier to provide sensor modulation. The new system has comparable performance to commercially available systems in terms of distance measurement precision and accuracy, but is much more flexible with regards to its operating parameters. All of the operating parameters, including the image integration time, sensor modulation phase offset and modulation frequency can be changed in realtime either manually or automatically through software. This highly configurable system serves as an excellent platform for research into novel range imaging techniques. One promising technique is the utilisation of measurements using multiple modulation frequencies in order to maximise precision over an extended operating range. Each measurement gives an independent estimate of the distance with limited range depending on the modulation frequency. These are combined to give a measurement with extended maximum range using a novel algorithm based on the New Chinese Remainder Theorem. A theoretical model for the measurement precision and accuracy of the new algorithm is presented and verified with experimental results. All distance image processing is performed on a per-pixel basis in real-time using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). An efficient hardware implementation of the phase determination algorithm for calculating distance is investigated. The limiting resource for such an implementation is random access memory (RAM), and a detailed analysis of the trade-off between this resource and measurement precision is also presented.</p>
Language AND Content? How do Curriculum Teachers of Year 12 English Language Learners Combine Two Disciplines?
Authors:   , Gleeson Margaret 
Published: November 2021

<p>The provision of language instruction in secondary schools for students who speak English as an additional language (EAL) is moving from the domain of the English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classroom where it traditionally lay. Increasingly, curriculum teachers are urged to take responsibility for language learning within their subject areas. How are curriculum teachers responding? Has this affected their professional relationships with ESOL teachers? What is the nature of the professional engagement between language and content specialists? This qualitative investigation uses an exploratory case study approach to examine the beliefs and teaching approaches identified by secondary school curriculum teachers as beneficial to learning for EAL students in their classes. Data were gathered using a questionnaire, interviews, and classroom observations for seven participant teachers, then analysed thematically using a conceptual framework derived from content-based language teaching principles. The findings were that these teachers’ approaches to teaching language appear to be shaped by their disciplinary beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge. Their openness to applying a systematic language focus to their teaching seemed to relate to whether their curriculum area was characterised as ‘hard’ or ‘soft’. They struggled to differentiate between language and literacy learning and largely assumed language to mean vocabulary. This indicates that many language challenges facing EAL learners may be invisible to their teachers. Curriculum teachers’ unfamiliarity with research-based language teaching has implications for teacher education and professional development. This study suggests the urgency for compulsory pre-service teaching courses to illustrate how disciplinary meaning is shaped by specific language forms. It also indicates that curriculum teachers with specialist qualifications in teaching EAL learners may provide a powerful link between ESOL and subject expertise.</p>
An Investigation of the Factors that Influence User Acceptance of Mobile information Systems in the Workplace
Authors:   , Scornavacca Eusebio 
Published: November 2021

<p>Mobile information systems (IS) such as field force automation and mobile office applications are rapidly being adopted by a large number of organizations. Despite its popularity and widespread adoption, the body of knowledge regarding user acceptance of mobile information systems in the workplace still is largely anecdotal. The purpose of this study was to develop and rigorously test a model of the factors that influence user acceptance of mobile information systems in the workplace. A thorough review of relevant literature in electronic business, mobile business, user acceptance of technology and user acceptance of mobile technology provided the basis for the development of the conceptual model that guided this research. The model hypothesized that temporal, spatial and structural characteristics of the portfolio of tasks performed by users of mobile information systems in the workplace (namely, temporal requirements of job, spatial dispersion of job, spatial dependence of job, job structuredness and job interdependence) would influence their perceived individual need for mobile information systems (PINMIS). It also suggested that the perceived individual need for mobile IS would influence the performance expectancy as well as intention to use mobile IS. In addition, the model posed that system portability would influence effort expectancy and intention to use mobile IS. In order to develop a research instrument, construct domains were specified and an initial set of items was generated. This was followed by an extensive purification process which consisted of card sorting and expert review rounds, survey pre-tests as well as a pilot study with 234 respondents from a large telecommunications company in New Zealand. The results obtained in this stage helped to refine the measurements and provided the foundations for the main study. The main study was based on a survey with 309 respondents from a wide range of organizations in New Zealand. Using Partial-Least-Squares (PLS) the data collected in the main study was used to test the model. The model was successfully validated and statistically significant evidence was provided that temporal requirements of job, spatial dispersion of job, spatial freedom of job and job interdependence positively influenced PINMIS. On the other hand, job structuredness did not significantly influence PINMIS. It was also found that PINMIS significantly influences performance expectancy and that system portability has a positive effect over effort expectancy as well as intentions to use mobile IS.</p>