bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Personalised Prediction of Self-Reported Emotion Responses to Music Stimuli
Authors:   , Christopher Kameron 
Published: December 2021

<p>In this thesis I develop a robust system and method for predicting individuals’ emotional responses to musical stimuli. Music has a powerful effect on human emotion, however the factors that create this emotional experience are poorly understood. Some of these factors are characteristics of the music itself, for example musical tempo, mode, harmony, and timbre are known to affect people's emotional responses. However, the same piece of music can produce different emotional responses in different people, so the ability to use music to induce emotion also depends on predicting the effect of individual differences. These individual differences might include factors such as people's moods, personalities, culture, and musical background amongst others. While many of the factors that contribute to emotional experience have been examined, it is understood that the research in this domain is far from both a) identifying and understanding the many factors that affect an individual’s emotional response to music, and b) using this understanding of factors to inform the selection of stimuli for emotion induction. This unfortunately results in wide variance in emotion induction results, inability to replicate emotional studies, and the inability to control for variables in research. The approach of this thesis is to therefore model the latent variable contributions to an individual’s emotional experience of music through the application of deep learning and modern recommender system techniques. With each study in this work, I iteratively develop a more reliable and effective system for predicting personalised emotion responses to music, while simultaneously adopting and developing strong and standardised methodology for stimulus selection. The work sees the introduction and validation of a) electronic and loop-based music as reliable stimuli for inducing emotional responses, b) modern recommender systems and deep learning as methods of more reliably predicting individuals' emotion responses, and c) novel understandings of how musical features map to individuals' emotional responses. The culmination of this research is the development of a personalised emotion prediction system that can better predict individuals emotional responses to music, and can select musical stimuli that are better catered to individual difference. This will allow researchers and practitioners to both more reliably and effectively a) select music stimuli for emotion induction, and b) induce and manipulate target emotional responses in individuals.</p>
Enabling Continuous Commissioning through Building Management Systems
Authors:   , Askew Cara 
Published: December 2021

<p>The use and application of energy efficient technologies within new and existing buildings is a growing global trend. However, if they aren’t being commissioned, controlled and operated in an efficient way, are they really making a valid impact on the energy efficiency of our buildings? Building Management Systems (BMS) are installed within large scale non-residential buildings to control and govern the operation of Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning systems (HVAC). BMS monitor and process large amounts of data during their day-to-day operation, while the potential usefulness of BMS to implement energy optimising strategies is typically left un-utilised. There is a growing need to reduce building energy demand. Continuous Commissioning (CCx) may offer the potential to achieve this reduction through the ongoing or periodical assessment of building HVAC operation. As CCx is a cyclic process, and because BMS already monitor and process data in their day-to-day operations, they offer a potential, low overhead means of running CCx processes in buildings. This thesis reports a research project which explores this opportunity to assess and improve building operating efficiency by identifying what data and functional capabilities are required of a BMS to facilitate Continuous Commissioning. A systematic assessment of existing research and standards has highlighted a gap in industry knowledge on the specification of data required to implement CCx assessments to HVAC. There was also no definition of what BMS capabilities were important to the Continuous Commissioning process. These research gaps inspired five secondary research questions around which a mixed-method survey was developed and implemented to bridge the gap between BMS and CCx. The research methodology integrated a standard questionnaire and the Delphi method to explore user perceptions and develop a consensus of BMS requirements. Three survey rounds were distributed to New Zealand based industry experts. Each round informed the following round, with an element of feedback provided through the compilation of the previous round’s responses. This process enabled the industry experts to agree or disagree with the proposed consensus or provide an alternative insight to the questions asked. The results of the surveys were compiled to establish a definition of the top five CCx assessments applied to typical HVAC systems, data point trending requirements and BMS functions important to facilitating Continuous Commissioning. These findings were used to create a guideline for specifying BMS to facilitate Continuous Commissioning and create a soft landing for assessing HVAC during the operation phase of a building’s life. The outcome of this research bridges the gap between the specification of Building Management Systems and the requirements of the Continuous Commissioning process.</p>
"Facci Lei!": Subtitling Humour in 'Fantozzi' (1975)
Authors:   , McKenzie Rory 
Published: December 2021

<p>Subtitling provides scholars and translators alike with the challenge of negotiating meaning across languages and cultures in an extremely limited space. The subtitler faces many restrictions than can severely affect a translation. However, subtitles are central to making films more widely and easily accessible. These difficulties are challenging at the best of times and are compounded by the specific difficulties of translating comedy. Humour is both universal and at the same time culturally specific. Anthropologists, sociologists, literary theorists and scholars have amply demonstrated how deeply intertwined humour, culture, and language are. It is for this reason that the current project will expand on the literature of subtitling humour, applying the relevant theories associated with both subtitling and translating humour to the Italian film classic Fantozzi (1975). The character Ugo Fantozzi has been a cult figure in Italian culture and society since his appearance in Italian cinema and literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the films in particular he has come to represent the average Italian of the post-economic miracle, whose life does not quite match the dreams of wealth and prosperity emphasized by the media. Fantozzi epitomises the average, and while his character has received little academic attention to date more credible academic studies are emerging since the death of his creator, Paolo Villaggio, in 2017. Fantozzi, therefore, provides the perfect cultural product for a discussion of what it means to translate Italian culture and humour, combining this with considerations about the emerging field of translation studies of subtitling. By providing a complete translation of Fantozzi in English, accompanied by a critical commentary, in this thesis I attempt to show how, despite all the restrictions imposed by the field of subtitling, as well as the difficulties of translating humour, a subtitler can still produce well thought out and reliable subtitles that convey the cultural and comedic aspects of film, and more specifically of this beloved Italian icon.</p>
Building Stories: Oral History, Built Heritage & Numinous Fabric
Authors:   , Williamson Miranda 
Published: December 2021

<p>Carman and Sørensen’s book Heritage Studies: Methods and Approaches challenges us to reconsider and extend methodologies in heritage studies. This thesis takes inspiration from their book to ask how and why heritage practitioners and academics researching built heritage should use oral history as a useful qualitative tool in their research process. In the New Zealand context, researchers find it difficult to find information for the period that spans the Second World War to the present, due to the common practice of restricting access to recent official records and government documents, in most cases due to sensitivities about privacy, and the cessation of the Papers Past newspaper resource. This thesis asks if researchers could fill this gap by drawing on tools from the fields of public history and oral history and by doing this extend and refine the theory and practice of heritage studies and heritage management. To test this approach, I have undertaken a case study of the historic building, Ngaroma, in Wellington’s Lyall Bay. The methodology I have followed involved first delving into the building’s history through library and archival sources; I then conducted nine interviews with people who have had a connection to the building. The data I have gathered about both the physical and social fabric of Ngaroma and its history has built up a picture of life in the building. Memory, senses and emotion have emerged as important aspects of my findings. In analysing the results, I have extended the established binary understanding of the physical and social fabrics of the building and developed the concept of ‘numinous fabric’. In doing so I argue that we can identify the overlap between physical fabric and social fabric which can guide and inspire the way we can go about interviewing people by linking extant fabric with intangible things such as memories. This thesis finds that oral history can be used to tap into a rich source of material that adds depth and dimension to our understanding of the built heritage around us. It encourages all academics and heritage professionals researching historic buildings to undertake oral interviews as a central qualitative methodology and in doing so to bring together heritage theory and heritage management practice.</p>
The implementation of task-based language teaching in EFL primary school classrooms: A case study in Vietnam
Authors:   , Bui Trang 
Published: December 2021

<p>Research into the introduction of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in Asian primary school classrooms is rare, despite curriculum initiatives in many Asian countries promoting communicative and task-based teaching and learning. This study addresses this gap by investigating the implementation of TBLT in EFL classrooms in primary schools in Vietnam, a context hitherto under-research from a TBLT perspective. The research was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 was a multiple case study which used classroom observations, stimulated recall and in-depth interviews to investigate how seven Vietnamese EFL primary school teachers implemented speaking lessons and how they viewed the lessons. The results showed that all teachers followed the presentation-practice-production (PPP) sequence specified in the textbooks, but that they independently incorporated communicative activities into the lessons. The teachers’ view of the PPP lessons varied but they shared a concern about the mechanical nature of the PPP lessons. Phase 2 investigated the implementation of two task-based lessons redesigned from PPP speaking lessons in a textbook by three teachers who participated in Phase 1 of the study. The data were collected from classroom observations, stimulated recall and in-depth interviews with the teachers, interviews with pupils, and recordings of task performances by nine pairs of learners. The results showed that all three teachers successfully carried out the two task-based lessons and reported a higher level of learner engagement and communication in their classes. Analysis of pupil interview data reveals evidence to support the teachers’ views. All pupils expressed interest in the task-based lessons with stronger pupils affirming the scaffolding role of the pre-tasks and communicative value of the main tasks. Weaker pupils reported challenges of completing the main tasks due to lack of pre-teaching of the target structural patterns. Analysis of task interaction data showed that all dyads worked consistently towards completing the main tasks in the task-based lessons, although the achieved outcomes varied slightly. They were able to assist each other to co-construct their utterances, correct their own errors and help correct each other’s errors, negotiate for meaning to overcome comprehension difficulties and use L1 to foster task completion. All of these strategies were found to facilitate task completion and provided a fruitful context for language development. In sum, the results point to the viability of TBLT in the Vietnamese EFL primary school context. They contribute to an understanding of the implementation of TBLT in authentic classrooms and the nature of task interaction among EFL primary school pupils.</p>
Are community music therapy principles relevant to my work with large groups of older adults in a residential care facility?
Authors:   , Barrett Hazel 
Published: December 2021

<p>This research focuses on my student practicum placement at a residential care home offering rest home, hospital and specialist dementia care for older people. A significant part of my work at the home was facilitating large, open groups, as ensuring the maximum number of residents could participate in music therapy each week was a priority for the facility. Due to my background in community music, which included work in care homes, I was interested in whether community music therapy principles would have relevance in this context. I wanted to improve my practice and add value to my work and in doing so I also hoped to contribute to the wider conversation around the distinction between community music and community music therapy, and how these two disciplines can enhance and support each other. Using an interpretivist framework I engaged in action research, an orientation towards the research process which focuses on real-world change. I conducted three action cycles, collecting data for each cycle over a period of approximately six weeks. I then used thematic analysis to examine this data. My main data source was my practice notes, which included reflections and ideas for improvement. I also drew on the community music therapy literature to develop my practice. Based on emerging themes, I generated actions I could take in the next cycle to advance and improve my practice. I found that large group music therapy sessions can provide the opportunity for participants, both staff and residents, to experience a shared social space which enables moments of connection and promotes inclusion, creativity, self-determination, and expanded identities. This suggests that the groups had therapeutic value for the participants. I discuss identified differences between my community music and music therapy practice, including the possibilities for individual work and use of music therapy theory. I believe that community music therapy principles were relevant to this work and in particular taking an ecological perspective was significant. Further research into community music therapy in residential care settings is recommended.</p>
Nanostructured Inorganic Metal Halide Perovskites for Optoelectronic Applications
Authors:   , Vashishtha Parth 
Published: December 2021

<p>Semiconductor quantumdots have proven to be promising materials for optoelectronic devices, such as light emitting devices (LEDs) and solar cells, due to their thin linewidth of emission, high photoluminescence quantum yield and high absorption coefficient. Over the last decade, perovskite crystals have gained significant attention due to their extraordinary optoelectronic properties. Therefore, perovskite nanocrystals combine the advantage of both crystalline perovskite and quantum dots. Here, we synthesised high quantum yield (50 - 80 %) monodispersed CsPbX₃ (X= Cl, Br, I) quantum dots, with tuneable emission spectra over the entire visible region, by a colloidal synthesis method. We have then successfully processed them to produce thin films as the emitting layer in an organic LED-type device architecture. Most importantly, we demonstrated field induced halide separation in mixed halide CsPb(Br/I)₃ NCs which is the reason color instability in these LEDs. Perovskite nanocrystal LEDs were found to have low external quantum efficiency (EQE) due to their bulky ligands. As a result, Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) phase layered perovskite was investigated to increase the EQE over perovskite QD LEDs. As a result, we constructed RP perovskite phase CsPbX₃ LEDs with emission through the entire visible spectrum (460-700 nm). Colour tuning was achieved by taking advantage of both quantum confinement effect and halide mixing. The EQE of these LEDs outperformed the literature values in the blue and blue-green spectral regions, with relatively long life time. We also invented a novel perovskite nanocrystals made from thalliumlead halide by replacing caesium with thallium. These materials are potential candidates for various optoelectronic applications. Size-, shape-, and composition- tuning in these nanocrystals were performed by varying the reaction conditions andmixing the halide composition. A weak confinementwas observed in these NCs. Additionally, we have shown the application of TlPbI₃ nanowires as photoconductors. Collectively, this thesis includes the synthesis of various types of inorganic metal halide perovskite nanostructures followed by their implementation into working optoelectronic devices, specifically LEDs.</p>
Localise It
Authors:   , Sobye Anna 
Published: December 2021

<p>Wellington is located on a fault line which will inevitably, one day be impacted by a big earthquake. Due to where this fault line geographically sits, the central city and southern suburbs may be cut off from the rest of the region, effectively making these areas an ‘island’. This issue has absorbed a lot of attention, in particular at a large scale by many different fields: civil engineering, architecture, infrastructure planning & design, policymaking. Due to heightened awareness, and evolved school of practice, contemporary landscape architects deal with post-disaster design – Christchurch, NZ has seen this. A number of landscape architects work with nature, following increased application of ecological urbanism, and natural systems thinking, most notably at larger scales. To create parks that are designed to flood, or implement projects to protect shorelines. A form of resilience less often considered is how design for the small scale - people’s 1:1 relationship with their immediate context in exterior space - can be influential in forming a resilient response to the catastrophe of a major earthquake. This thesis intends to provide a response to address the shift of scales, as a paradigm for preparation and recovery. After a large-scale earthquake, state and civic policies and agencies may or subsequentially not go into action. The most important thinking and acting will be what happens in the minds, and the immediate needs, of each and every person; and how they act communally. This is considered in general social terms in state and civic education programmes of civil defence, for example, but much less considered in how the physical design of the actual spaces we inhabit day-to-day can educate us to be mentally prepared to help each other survive a catastrophe. Specifically, the identification of design of typologies can provide these educative functions. Typology inherently a physical form or manipulation of a generic and substantial prototype applicable in contexts is something that exists in the mind. Working with the physical and social appearance and experience of typologies can also/will change people’s minds. Socially, and economically driven, the community-building power of community gardening is well-proven and documented, and a noticeably large part of contemporary landscape architecture. The designs of this thesis will focus on community gardening specifically to form typologies of resilience preparation and response to disaster. The foundation will remain at the small scale of the local community. The specific question this thesis poses: Can we design local typologies in landscape architecture to integrate community gardens, with public space by preparing for and acting as recovery from a disaster?</p>
Conflict and satisfaction in distribution channels: Hotel operators' perspectives in Cambodia
Authors:   , Eng Sarik 
Published: December 2021

<p>This study examines hoteliers’ perceptions of the level of satisfaction and sources of conflict with both traditional and online intermediaries (TI and OI) in Cambodia. It unveils the overall level of satisfaction of hoteliers with intermediaries in Cambodia, discusses the sources of conflict, and assesses whether there are differences in terms of the levels of satisfaction as well as sources of conflict between TI and OI. This study is focussed on the supply side, which is hoteliers. A mixed methods approach is used for this study and 42 hoteliers in Cambodia were interviewed in three different regions in Cambodia: Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, and Sihanoukville. The study found that the overall level of satisfaction of hoteliers with intermediaries is very positive. The overall level of satisfaction of hoteliers with TI such as travel agencies and tour operators is perceived as satisfactory between "Somewhat good" and "Extremely good". Similarly, the overall level of satisfaction of hoteliers with OI such as Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, and Ctrip is also perceived as satisfactory ranging from "Somewhat good" to "Extremely good". The results also reveal that the most common sources of conflict with TI are price level-related conflict, payment-related conflict, and price-quality ratio-related conflict. The least common sources of conflict for TI were booking details-related conflict, commission-related conflict, and overbooking-related conflict. Likewise, the most frequent sources of conflict with OI are price level-related conflict, overbooking-related conflict, and complaint handling-related conflict and commission-related conflict, booking details-related conflict, and fulfillment of contract conditions-related conflict were the least frequent sources of conflict. Some differences were found for the level of satisfaction and sources of conflict in terms of hotel attributes and respondents' backgrounds. Regarding the level of satisfaction, differences were found in the case of hotel size and hotel age with TI. Concerning the sources of conflict, differences were found in terms of respondents’ nationalities, hotel category, hotel size, and hotel age. It is surprising to note that no statistical differences were found in the case of hotel location, ownership, and respondents’ job titles.</p>