bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Posteriori Reconstruction and Denoising for Path Tracing
Authors:   , Liu Ping 
Published: December 2021

<p>Path tracing is a well-established technique for photo-realistic rendering to simulate light path transport. This method has been widely adopted in visual effects industries to generate high quality synthetic images requiring a large number of samples and a long computation time. Due to the high cost to produce the final output, intermediate previsualization of path tracing is in high demand from production artists to detect errors in the early stage of rendering. But visualizing intermediate results of path tracing is also challenging since the synthesized image with limited samples or improper sampling usually suffers from distracting noise. The ideal solution would be to provide a highly plausible intermediate result in the early stages of rendering, using a small fraction of samples, and apply a posteriori manner to approximate the ground truth. In this thesis, this issue is addressed by providing several efficient posteriori reconstructions and denoising technique for previsualization of pa-th tracing. Firstly, we address the problem for the recovery of the missing values to construct low rank matrices for incomplete images including missing pixel, missing sub-pixel, and multi-frame scenarios. A novel approach utilizing a convolutional neural network which provides fast precompletion for initializing missing values, and subsequent weighted nuclear norm minimization with a parameter adjustment strategy efficiently recovers missing values even in high frequency details. The result shows better visual quality compared to the recent methods including compressed sensing based reconstruction. Furthermore, to mitigate the computation budgets of our new approac-h, we extend our method by applying a block Toeplitz structure forming a low-rank matrix for pixel recovery, and tensor structure for multi-frame recovery. In this manner, the reconstruction time can be significantly reduced. Besides that, by exploiting temporal coherence of multi-frame with a tensor structure, we demonstrate an improvement in the overall recovery quality compared to our previous approach. Our recovery methods provide satisfying solution but still require plen-ty of rendering time at prior stage compared with denoising solutions. Finally, we introduce a novel filter for denoising based on convolutional neural network, to address the problem as conventional denoising approach for rendered images. Unlike a plain CNN that applies fixed kernel size in each layer, we propose a multi-scale residual network with various auxiliary scene features to leverage a new efficient denoising filter for path tracing. Our experimental results show on par or better denoising quality compare to state-of-the-art path tracing denoiser.</p>
A Multi-Framing Approach to Analysing the Effectiveness of the PhD Application Process at the Victoria Business School
Authors:   , Cooper Peter 
Published: December 2021

<p>In the eight years from 2007 to 2015, Victoria Business School has seen over a 500% increase in the number of annual submissions of PhD applications. The increase in the number of applications is straining the scarce resources allocated to the process and raising concerns about time pressures among some of the PhD Directors. This research looks to uncover whether the PhD application process in its current form serves the university in achieving its strategic goals and how the process might be improved. Interviewing multiple stakeholders within the Victoria Business School in an semi-structured interview, generated information on different aspects of the process as the stakeholders see it. The interview data was examined using a multi-framing methodology, analysing the data using the three frames of Business Process Modelling & Notation, Theory of Constraints, and Qualitative Systems Thinking, to draw out different insights and aspects of the problems impacting the PhD application process. In conclusion, it was found the current PhD application process was not effectively supporting the achievement of the university’s strategic goals. The issues brought out by the application of multi-framing show the PhD application process is not effectively helping the university to achieve its strategic goals. Furthermore, the identification of different issues from each different frame analysis demonstrates the benefits of adopting a multi-framing approach to problem-solving. Recommendations were made as to how the problems can be addressed, negated or mitigated for the benefit of all stakeholders, while at the same time demonstrating the benefits of adopting a multi-framing approach to problem-solving. In the end recommendations were made to address all the issues brought out by the different frames. The issues fell into two categories, process issues or university issues, and affected different stakeholders.</p>
The role of discourse in establishing an enabling context for organizational knowledge creation: An ethnographic study
Authors:   , Fletcher Jeanette Rae 
Published: December 2021

<p>The field of knowledge creation within organizational studies has pointed to the importance of an organization establishing an enabling context for fostering innovation and knowledge production. Factors identified as critical for enabling include the existence of structures and practices that foster solid collegial relations and enact a climate of care. Based on ethnographic research, this thesis adopts a broadly sociolinguistic approach to an exploration of interpersonal relations within a New Zealand IT company, in order to identify the ways in which a knowledge enabling context is instantiated. Using, in particular, the rapport management framework developed by Helen Spencer-Oatey (2000, 2008) and highlighting the variable of participant relations, the study analyses the discourse of the organization as both language and action, to provide a more extensive account than has so far been achieved in the knowledge enabling literature, as well as extending the sociolinguistic work on language in the workplace into new domains of discourse. The study shows that facilitation of and support for collegial relations occurs at all levels of the selected organization, from the spatial configuration and connectivity of the organization as a whole, through its component social structures, to the management of relations across levels of hierarchy. At the level of the organization as a whole, one organizational activity - the weekly company meeting - through its frequency, regularity, inclusiveness and management, facilitates and sustains collegial relations in multiple and distinctive ways. Two distinct kinds of organizational community are identified: the widely recognized community of practice (CofP); and a different kind of community, referred to in knowledge creation literature as a micro-community of knowledge. As well as identifying distinctive characteristics of these two communities, the analyses show that rapport is managed differently in each, while shedding new light on the productive interdependence of these two types of community. An interactional ethos characterized by care is reflected in the communication style at all levels of the organization. Despite substantial differences in power and status, the study finds that associative expressiveness, low distance and generally positive affect dominate interaction throughout. In closing, this thesis discusses the implications for future research into knowledge creation. It suggests, in particular, that including considerations of spatiality in the analytical framework has potential to contribute further to the field of language in the workplace through its influence as a vector of interaction.</p>
East Antarctic Ice Sheet and Southern Ocean Response to Orbital Forcing from Late Miocene to Early Pliocene, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica
Authors:   , Turton Nikita Anne 
Published: December 2021

<p>Geological and ice sheet models indicate that marine-based sectors of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) were unstable during periods of moderate climatic warmth in the past. While geological records from the Middle to Late Pliocene indicate a dynamic ice sheet, records of ice sheet variability from the comparatively warmer Late Miocene to Early Pliocene are sparse, and there are few direct records of Antarctic ice sheet variability during this time period. Sediment recovered in Integrated Ocean Drilling Program U1361 drill core from the Wilkes Land margin provides a distal but continuous glacially-influenced record of the behaviour of Antarctic Ice Sheets. This thesis presents marine sedimentological and x-ray fluorescence geochemical datasets in order to assess changes in the dynamic response of the EAIS and Southern Ocean productivity in the Wilkes Land sector during Late Miocene and Early Pliocene to climatic warming and orbital forcing between 6.2 and 4.4 Ma. Two primary lithofacies are identified which can be directly related to glacial–interglacial cycles; enhanced sedimentation during glacials is represented by low-density turbidity flows that occurred in unison with low marine productivity and reduced iceberg rafted debris. Interglacial sediments contain diatomaceous muds with short-lived, large fluxes of iceberg rafted debris preceding a more prolonged phase of enhanced marine productivity. Interglacial sediments coincide with a more mafic source of terrigenous sediment, interfered to be associated with an inland retreat of the ice margin resulting in erosion of lithologies that are currently located beneath the grounded EAIS. Poleward invigoration of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current during glacial–interglacial transitions is proposed to have intensified upwelling, enhancing nutrient availability for marine productivity, and increasing oceanic heat flux at the ice margin acting to erode marine ice sheet grounding lines and triggering retreat. Spectral analysis of the datasets indicated orbital frequencies are present in the iceberg rafted debris mass accumulation rates at all three Milankovitch frequencies, with a dominant 100 kyr eccentricity driven ice discharge. Prolonged intervals of marine productivity correlate to 100 kyr cyclicity occurring at peaks in obliquity. The response of both ice sheet and biological systems to 100 kyr cyclicity may indicate eccentricity-modulated sea ice extent controls the influx of warm water onto the continental shelf.</p>
Trace metal accumulation in decapods and its use in monitoring the marine environment
Authors:   , Graham Annie 
Published: December 2021

<p>Coastal habitats are susceptible to severe contamination due to their exposure to both marine and terrestrial inputs, many of which contain toxic heavy metals. Trace metals in the marine environment can have severe impacts on the health of coastal ecosystems, as even those with essential functions can be toxic at high concentrations, and non-essential elements can cause impairment of biological functions even at low levels. It is important to understand the chemistry of New Zealand’s marine environment, in order to successfully monitor any changes to the chemical profile of the environment from anthropogenic pollutants. Biological indicators are a useful tool for monitoring ecosystem health, and the impact of human activity on the environment. Crustaceans fulfil all the criteria of being good environmental indicators, as well as having a range of feeding strategies, and being present at multiple trophic levels. The aim of this research was to 1) investigate spatial variation and the effect of urbanisation in trace metal concentration in two native decapod species, Heterozius rotundifrons and Petrolisthes elongatus, which co-occur but feed at different trophic levels; and 2) examine how essential and non-essential trace metals are accumulated into different body tissues of the decapod Jasus edwardsii, a significant cultural and fishery species. To assess spatial variation and trophic level differences between decapods, baseline data of the concentrations of thirty trace metals was collected and analysed from both species at three sites in the Wellington region. Little variation was found between the sites, despite their differences in proximity to urban development, but significant differences were found between species, with the consumer H. rotundifrons having higher concentrations of most trace metals than the filter feeder P. elongatus. To assess trace metal accumulation into tissues of J. edwardsii, an experiment was run exposing juveniles to water doped with an elevated copper and neodymium treatment. Copper was preferentially accumulated into the organ tissue, as was expected for an essential element. Neodymium was accumulated differentially into organ and exoskeleton tissue depending on the treatment, with specimens in the elevated treatment taking it up into the shell rather than the organs. A second experiment was also run to investigate whether moulted exoskeletons would passively absorb copper from their environment, which was shown to be the case. This research aids in understanding the importance of multiple species monitoring, as trace element accumulation was shown to be highly variable depending on species and metals, and contributes valuable geochemical data on native New Zealand species, which have been little studied in this context.</p>
An exploratory design science study on theory testing using crowdsourcing
Authors:   , Ushaka Ijay 
Published: December 2021

<p>Theory in Information Systems (IS) is very important to the development of the field. Theory building, and theory testing seeks to accumulate knowledge about the relationships between people and technology. Testing theory can be difficult to accomplish, especially when it involves humans, a diversity of methods and sources, multiple experiments, large data sets, and careful tuning of conditions and instruments. Crowdsourcing is a strategy supporting the distribution of activities to crowd workers, which suggests that it may be used to support theory testing. This exploratory study seeks to analyse the adoption of crowdsourcing in theory testing, and to develop guidance for researchers to instantiate the strategy in their research projects. The study adopts the design science research paradigm to explore incorporating the crowdsourcing strategy in theory testing, and to evaluate its viability and utility. According to the principles of design science research, the study is structured around the construction of several interconnected IS artefacts: 1) a conceptual framework articulating the main principles of theory testing; 2) a pattern model of theory testing, which codifies existing research approaches to theory testing; and 3) a decision tool, which codifies guidelines for researchers making decisions on which research activities to crowdsource. In order to build the conceptual framework and pattern model, the study conducts a systematic review of theory testing in the IS domain. Both the conceptual framework and pattern model are then operationalized in the decision tool. The utility of the various artefacts is then assessed with the participation of research practitioners. This study is relevant because it synthesizes knowledge about theory testing, builds innovative artefacts supporting the adoption of crowdsourcing in theory testing, helps academic researchers understanding the theory testing process, and enables them to adopt crowdsourcing for theory testing.</p>
‘Strengthening community from the inside out’: Transformative possibility for climate change resilience and adaptation in Te Awa Kairangi-Hutt City
Authors:   , Simon Kaitlyn 
Published: December 2021

<p>How do we organise society and adjust our human relationships with the natural environment to adapt to a changing climate? How do we decide to make these adjustments? These questions shape Aotearoa-New Zealand climate change discourse across adaptation research and central and local government policy. A resilience approach to adaptation is one conceptual response that has gained popularity over the past decade. However, some critical geographers argue that the dominant typologies of resilience have been normalised as neoliberal capitalist strategies and positioned as ‘neutral processes’, and that these strategies can perpetuate inequity and unsustainability. Critical geographers therefore suggest focusing on addressing the root causes of inequity and unsustainability through transformative resilience and adaptation. This research builds on critical geography work by exploring how Common Unity Project Aotearoa (CUPA), a charitable trust located in Te Awa Kairangi-Hutt City, is fostering a community that understands and performs transformative possibilities for resilience and adaptation. For community members of CUPA, ethical actions of a community economy, a process of collective learning and an ability to make sustainability accessible contribute to transformative adaptation and resilience. Exploration of these themes provides a grounded example of how communities can adapt to climate change in ways that also seek to transform inequitable and unsustainable capitalist relations with one another and with the natural environment. CUPA’s transformative work poses implications for councils and decision-makers seeking to build resilience and the capacity to adapt in community, offering alternate possibility for discourse, decision-making, participation and engagement. I approach this project as a scholar-activist in recognition that research is a performative, political act. Through a scholar-activist methodology I use participant observation and interviews to gather insight and information. I ground my critical geography lens in care in order to contribute to a knowledge-making around climate change based in possibility and multiplicity, rather than of authority and judgement.</p>
Making Things for People: An Iterative Design Procedure Informed by Human Behaviour
Authors:   , Wang Brandon 
Published: December 2021

<p>Technology inevitably evolves and develops rapidly in the modern era, industries and professions continue to strive in integrating, adapting and utilising these advancements to improve, optimise and improve the process of design to manufacture to the user experience. Although disruptive at first causing a reluctance of technological adoption within a workplace and ultimately progression of an industry, the eventual impact and benefits noticeably outweigh the initial time and cost within industry adoption, adaptation and development. Architecture and design is not immune to this phenomenon; from computational 2D and 3D modeling, BIM and cloud based data to physical prototyping with 3D printing, laser cutting and automated CNC routing, these are a few select examples that has forced the industry of design to rethink processes, possibilities and realistic opportunities where none existed prior. One such system that fits into this category is the advent of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. The numerous possibilities to which these visually and spatially immersive systems opportune for immense innovation often lacks direction or an ultimate goal thus rendering this piece of software to often be little more than a visualisation tool. This thesis recognises the unique position that VR allows and seeks to interrogate and deconstruct current, traditional design processes to better utilise VR in aiding and reinforcing the idea of partial testing of ideas and concepts throughout the design cycle. Different sciences such as psychology, processes and automation from computational design and considerations within software development will be employed and injected into the broader architectural context in which this research presides. In addition to the VR headset, external hardware that better capture human metrics such as EEG, eye tracking, GSR will be considered to developed a seamless tool and workflow that allows us, as designers to better interrogate clients behaviour within our designed digital representations which leads to validations, evaluations and criticisms of our actions within the architectural realm.</p>
Island and Field
Authors:   , Wilson Cameron 
Published: December 2021

<p>We build transport infrastructure to move about the city efficiently. However, in New Zealand, it is often one-dimensional and disconnected from the urban fabric. This is the case in Hataitai, where State Highway 1 imposes a boundary between the nearby village and the Town Belt that could be bridged when new work on the Mt Victoria Tunnel takes place. What could be the nature of a pedestrian bridge that connects these disparate urban territories? I explored this question with two distinct methods. The first used ‘fast and loose’ hand drawing and physical modelling to explore a ubiquitous mesh structure, replacing the ground plane of the site. This Field accommodated a variety of programmed elements and crossings. The second experiment replaced the mesh with an autonomous loop between the park, village and tunnel. This Island required more precise digital modelling tools and a more measured design process. The two methods offer vastly different approaches to urban design. The ubiquitous mesh replaces the existing ground by extending it. The Loop structure is an autonomous figure over the existing and messy ground of the urban junction below. The research demonstrates the tensions between these two approaches to urban intervention and how they can offer alluring moments in the everyday life of the city.</p>
Aesthetics of Home. Continuity and Variation in New Zealand Medium Density Housing
Authors:   , Barclay Abigail 
Published: December 2021

<p>In New Zealand, most people do not find Medium Density housing (MDH) visually appealing. In October 2017, BRANZ carried out a survey on the different attitudes New Zealanders have towards MDH. This study concluded that the visual aesthetics is one of the top issues in shifting the acceptance of MDH within New Zealand. (BRANZ, 2017. p.2) Additionally in an attempt to house many people quickly, there have been growing concerns around the quality of the aesthetic output. (Howden-Chapman, 2015. p.80) This negative attitude towards MDH has fuelled the ever growing housing crisis. This thesis proposes that improved aesthetic qualities can be achieved within a high density multiple housing project. It argues that identifying and analysing the current aesthetic issues connected with existing MDH in New Zealand, will create a starting point for further design-led research. From this critique, this thesis aims to design a viable alternative to the current New Zealand approach to MDH. This design will aim to model varied aesthetic qualities and to identify key strategies for potential application in other projects. Research will occur through an extended series of different design-led research projects. Initially a quick fire design exercise in parallel with initial background research around the field of MDH and aesthetics will form the basis to begin from. Self and peer reflection will follow to inform the iterative research, extracting the key issues emerging from the research. Both research for design (theories and precedents), and researching through a series of iterative design projects occur. These two integrated research methods will be repeated in cycles throughout the year to keep the research current throughout the process and develop its depth.</p>