bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Serenity: 3D Animation to Simulate Chinese Ink Painting
Authors:   , Shen Lili 
Published: November 2021

<p>Serenity is a computer generated ink-wash animated short in which the traditional aesthetics meets the new media. I combined theoretical research and physical experiment to convey a peaceful pleasant feeling with subtle movement. The focus of this thesis is to assess the possibility and capability of digital instruments in simulating the traditional Chinese ink painting and further transplant to three-dimensional (3D) platform. This thesis presents a new approach to practice Chinese painting and to compose an animation by using 3D techniques and non-photorealistic rendering (NPR). The aim for the composition portion of this project is to produce a refreshing animated visual style and to introduce the traditional methods of Chinese painting not only to the west, but also to the new Chinese generation who usually devote their time and energy to the subjects that might guarantee a better university or job. My research draws on the previous ink-wash animations and the visual reference on Chinese painting, and takes advantage of my personal experience in both traditional training and digital media design to exploit a potential path for ink-wash animation in the competitive commercial market. Expanding traditional ink painting into the digital field provides an opportunity for the archaic art form to be communicated and shared widely and efficiently worldwide.</p>
The Relational Newsroom: An Appreciative Inquiry into how Leadership Empowers Learning in Newsrooms
Authors:   , Whelan Bernard 
Published: November 2021

<p>The field of journalism in New Zealand has gone through significant changes in the last few years, with the onset of digital technologies, their impact on the funding of journalism and on readership, and in turn on the way journalism is performed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand how leadership empowers learning in newsrooms and, in turn, contributes to the training and development of journalists. The intent here is to contribute to the constantly evolving field of journalism as it deals with the digital changes driving what is arguably the most concentrated period of change in its history. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) has typically been used in organisations to manifest positive change for people. However, for this study I have creatively adapted and applied the Appreciative Inquiry framework to situate qualitative research methods inside three newsrooms in New Zealand. Focus groups in each newsroom were comprised of individuals from different hierarchical levels of the workplace. As the lead researcher I led the groups who operated as co-researchers following the AI process of four phases comprising Discover, Dream, Design and Destiny seeking to understand how leadership empowers learning in newsrooms. The findings were initially drawn from an analysis of the themes which arose in the discussions. From the findings I use AI theory and adapt the AI process to propose a Relational Newsroom framework for use in newsrooms. By embedding newsroom groups constantly using the 4-D cycle of AI and involving the public in live interaction process with newsroom decision-making, the framework would generate practices of communication, trust, personal leadership and structure identified in the findings. This study concludes with proposals in the form of action statements for use in both news media and journalism school newsrooms to have journalists engaged and involved in creating the future of the field.</p>
Living together in a religious plural society: Indonesian teachers' and student's perceptions on citizenship, identity & religious tolerance
Authors:   , Laksana Ben K.C. 
Published: November 2021

<p>This study investigates Indonesian secondary school teachers’ and students’ perceptions of citizenship, religion and religious tolerance. It explores how participants negotiate their citizenship and religious identities, and looks at how religious tolerance is understood and defined. The study involves religious education and citizenship teachers (n=8) and students (n=20) from three different schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. The schools were purposely selected to represent a range of philosophical approaches to religion and included a Madrasah, a private school and a public school. This study discovered that both teachers and students intertwined their religious and citizenship identities to produce a form of ‘religious citizenship’. The study also found that both teachers and students generally saw religious tolerance as a necessity to manage inter-religious relations. Many of the strategies teachers employed, which were also supported by curriculum documents, overlooked the complexity of inter-religious identities and in particular, the equality of minority religious groups. Most teachers perceived religious tolerance through an exclusivist view whereby religious tolerance was limited to social tolerance, while many student participants provided more progressive and inclusive definitions of religious tolerance that often reflected their lived experiences of engaging in inter-religious relations. In conclusion, the study argues that both teachers and students constantly negotiate their citizenship and religious identities in order to find ways to live together in a religiously plural society such as Indonesia. While students and teachers in this study agreed that finding ways to promote and sustain inter-religious harmony in Indonesia was a high priority, many challenges relating to the teaching and practice of religious tolerance in Indonesia still remain.</p>
The first move: A home for asylum seekers on the far side of paradise
Authors:   , Strange Thomas 
Published: November 2021

<p>Since the turn of the twenty-first century Australia and New Zealand have become an increasingly popular destination for asylum seekers and refugees in search of a better life. Many of these people do not reach this new life so easily, with thousands trapped both literally and metaphorically somewhere between their homeland and their future home, but belonging to neither. Nauru, an isolated island in the Central Pacific, is host to a prison-like Australian offshore processing centre that currently detains people in inhumane conditions. Amnesty International cites the Regional Processing Centre situation as: “...a toxic mix of uncertainty, unlawful detention and inhumane conditions...the facility totally inappropriate and ill-equipped, with 387 men cramped into 5 rows of leaking tents, suffering from physical and mental ailments.” This thesis is centred on the following research question: How can architecture be perceived as a temporary ‘home’ to asylum seekers from disparate backgrounds all brought together in one place for an unknown period of time? The aim of this design-led research is to critically consider how architecture can play a significant role in remediating the authoritarian, prison-like conditions of processing centres while assisting the transition for asylum seekers to their future home. This thesis proposes a sense of worth and belonging can be established through developing an architecture that is connected intrinsically to the landscape and cultural context in which it sits. The objectives of this thesis are to investigate how the architectural design of a large asylum seeker processing facility can: 1) provide a sense of place to a wide range of asylum seekers from differing ethnicities, cultures, and social backgrounds; 2) improve their sense of individuality, self-worth, belonging, and community; 3)prepare them for entering a new Western culture where they can more readily assimilate; 4) mitigate the appearance of power and authority in a large processing facility; 5) provide a sense of human-scale, order and orientation within a large processing facility; 6) and engage with, and contribute to, the local host indigenous community. This thesis also argues that through architecture, an asylum seeker’s temporary home can be symbolically interpreted as a gateway or threshold to their future home, providing a sense of place, belonging and hope.</p>
Youth Mainstreaming in Pacific Development: Challenges and Opportunities
Authors:   , Baba Kesaya 
Published: November 2021

<p>Development outcomes are poor for young people in the Pacific and show little hope of improving without a concerted, collaborative effort. This research seeks to explore the concept and practice of youth mainstreaming (YM) and the challenges and opportunities for it in New Zealand-based development agencies as a means to achieve these better outcomes. Currently there is little scholarly literature about YM, particularly in the Pacific. This research employs a mixed methods methodology comprising four methods: a literature review, interviews with regional stakeholders based in the Pacific, an exploratory multi-case study of three New Zealand (NZ) development agencies and a questionnaire. The findings suggest that while youth are accounted for in the work of many NZ development agencies working in the Pacific, mainstreaming of youth perspectives is limited, often to youth-specific projects. Challenges to YM include a lack of staff knowledge and skills in YM, a lack of knowledge about youth development and limited resources. However, despite these challenges, there is willingness among New Zealand development agencies to learn about youth development and cooperate with each other. This is likely driven by the fact that youth development fits with a number of mandates, be they rights-based, community-based or focused on economic growth. This thesis provides some recommendations to NZ development agencies about how to mainstream youth in their operations. Ultimately, the aim of this thesis is to develop industry knowledge and dialogue about youth development in the Pacific and encourage greater inclusion of youth in development initiatives in the region.</p>
Cement / rock interaction in geothermal wells
Authors:   , Marques Conde da Silva João Ricardo 
Published: November 2021

<p>One of the main issues associated with the exploitation of geothermal energy is the durability of the cement that is used downhole to cement the steel casing to the formation. Cement durability can have a major impact on the lifetime of geothermal wells, which do not usually last as long as desirable. The cement formulations used in the construction of geothermal wells are designed to provide mechanical support to the metallic well casings and protect them against the downhole harsh environment, which often leads to corrosion. This research is focused on the way that these formulations interact with the surrounding rock formation in geothermal environments, and aims to understand whether these are likely to affect the cement durability and, consequently, the geothermal well lifetime. The experimental work in this thesis consists of examining the changes in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) that forms between geothermal cements and the volcanic rocks, after hydrothermal treatment. Holes were drilled in blocks of volcanic rocks and cement slurries with distinct formulations were poured into the cavities. The assemblages were autoclaved under typical geothermal conditions. The main variables under study were the cement formulation, the temperature of curing (150°C and 290°C), the presence of drilling mud, CO₂ exposure and the type of rock. The results show that with all the Portland cement based systems a series of chemical reactions occur at the interface between the cement and the rock, the ITZ, where migration of Ca²⁺ and OH⁻ ions occurs from the cement into the rock pores. These reactions are ongoing, which occur faster during the first days/few weeks of curing, mostly driven by physical process of cement movement into the rock, followed by a slower second stage, controlled mostly by chemical driving forces. This work highlights the interdependence between the chemical and physical interactions between geothermal cements and volcanic rocks which are complex. Variables such as temperature and time of curing and silica addition affect the cement phases that form, while the amount of amorphous silica and rock permeability dictate the extent of rock interaction. The presence of carbon dioxide influences the extent of rock/cement interaction and this can be controlled by the rock permeability and cement formulation. Consequently, most of the above mentioned variables were found to have an impact on the geothermal cement durability, which depends on the way these factors are combined.</p>
Selective interference: Emergent complexity informed by programmatic, social and performative criteria
Authors:   , Welch Christopher David 
Published: November 2021

<p>Parametric design tools and visual programming languages are fast becoming an important part of the architects design process. A review of current literature notes that the barrier to entry into the medium is lowering while the power of the tools available is increasing. The purpose of this research is to use these emerging tools to explore complex architectural issues related to space planning and massing. This research aims to bring these aspects of the design process together to generate an architecture where programme and aesthetic are derived in equal measure by the architect and the computer. The project began with a series of technical studies focusing primarily on space planning, massing, site analysis and circulation with the purpose of using an amalgamation of these techniques to develop into a final generative algorithm. These ideas are explored through an open ended design process of iterative research and testing, self and peer review, development and critical reflection. The viability of the algorithm is then tested through the generation a number of test buildings, across variety of sites. In order to provide a direction and author a degree of creative friction within the research process, the projects are framed around the development of a mid-size, urban sited secondary school. The final algorithm provides constraints in such a way that the architecture evolves in a natural, predictable way that can still surprise and inform, as well as consistently producing viable, interesting iterations of buildings. This process, described as an “open box” structure, produced a wide variety of working concepts and provided a high level of control as a designer.</p>
Paradise lost: A critique of lost urban sites as didactic testing grounds for landscape architecture
Authors:   , Sullivan David Rory John 
Published: November 2021

<p>The traditional approach within landscape architecture to rejuvenate a distressed ‘lost’ urban site is to cap the problem with a more desirable landscape. This thesis argues that such an approach simply creates a ‘green bandage’ to the problem without actually resolving the real issues behind the disfunction of the space: that is, the social and identity issues of the site and how to reconcile them with a physical space. Elements of urban ruin and degeneration can become active participants in an urban narrative that engages the history of the site and its place within the evolution of the urban context. Time plays a significant role in the understanding of such sites to create methods of developing landscapes as a system which is never static, and is always reflective of the layers of history beneath its transient surface. The proposed site for this thesis design research investigation is the Clifton Street Car Park, situated in the inner urban spaces of Wellington, New Zealand. It is a site that represents a multitude of identities, none of which actually engages with the reality of the history and actuality of the site. The site is a direct response to the overlaying of the standardised urban grid to the east, suburban grids to the west and a rift caused by the government’s failure to complete the motorway extension. It is a site that should be important to the functioning of a city; however, it acts as, and is therefore perceived as, a lost site, a placeless place. The principal objective of this research thesis is to challenge why these in-between spaces so often remain tinged with placelessness and challenge how to deal with the space in a way which will enable the city to actually benefit from such sites through their ability to deliver spatial narrative in the urban context and to facilitate a new typology of design.</p>
CCD Time-Series Photometry of White Dwarf Stars
Authors:   , Chote Paul Robin Brian 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis describes a practical programme that focused on CCD photometry of pulsating white dwarf (WD) stars. The first part of this thesis describes the development of two high-speed CCD photometer instruments and their data reduction pipeline, while the remainder describes the observation and analysis of several pulsating WDs and other targets. The two photometers (Puoko-nui North and South) share a common hardware design that is optimized for acquiring efficient photometry with integration periods of milliseconds through to minutes. The design integrates a commercial CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) camera and GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver with custom timing electronics and control software. The reduction and visualization software developed for these instruments provide detailed real-time information to the observer, and a streamlined data reduction pipeline. EC04207-4748 is a pulsating helium atmosphere WD that shows significant non-sinusoidal intensity variations. We show that the pulsation spectrum of this WD can be described by four independent pulsation eigenmodes plus linear combinations that arise from non-linear energy transport through a sub-surface convection layer. Our results are consistent with similar analyses that have been made for similar stars, and add an additional data point to the growing catalogue of these convection measurements. We argue that the convection layer depth may form a useful substitute for the effective temperatures of these WDs. GWLibrae is the class prototype of the accreting WD pulsators. These stars exist in cataclysmic variable (CV) systems, and show a mix of CV and pulsating WD-related phenomena. Our observations of GW Librae four - six years after its 2007 outburst show signs of quasi-stable intensity modulations that we believe may be caused by non-radial pulsations, but these are not convincingly explained by existing WD or CV models. L19-2 is a hydrogen atmosphere WD pulsator that shows extremely stable pulsation behaviour. We combine new observations with archival observations dating back to the mid 1970's, and derive a preliminary estimate of the period rate of change Ṗ for two of the pulsation modes in this target. We show a clear result for the main 192 s pulsation mode Ṗf₂ ≾ 10⁻¹⁴ s s-¹, and discuss the improvements that we plan to make in order to convincingly improve this constraint by an additional order of magnitude. Observations of other rapidly variable targets include two extremely low mass (ELM) WDs, which exhibit variability due to their orbital motion (J0751) as well as non-radial pulsations (J1518); the 33 ms optical period of the Crab Pulsar; the helium atmosphere WD pulsators EC05221-4725 and EC20058-5234; the stable hydrogen atmosphere pulsator G117–B15A; and the eclipsing sdB binary system PG1336-018.</p>
Comparison of intestinal APC subsets from homeostatic and immunostimulatory environments
Authors:   , Hilligan Kerry 
Published: November 2021

<p>Antigen presenting cells (APC) including dendritic cells (DC) play a key role in the initiation and direction of adaptive immune responses. Acting as sentinels in the tissue, DC sample antigen and traffic to the local lymph node where they present antigen to naïve T cells. The signals DC provide to naïve T cells determines the functional fate of the T cell and therefore, the type of immune response generated. At mucosal sites, such as the intestine, immune responses need to be carefully regulated due to the high antigenic load. For this reason, intestinal immune cells are highly specialised to prevent immune activation to innocuous antigens while still holding the capacity to induce potent responses to pathogenic microbes and helminths. Oral administration of antigen is associated with tolerance and the generation of FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs). Specialised lamina propria (LP) resident APC are required for the initiation of Treg differentiation in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) through production of chemical mediators such as retinoic acid (RA). Ablation of these populations or restricted trafficking prevents the development of Tregs in mouse models thus supporting the essential role of APC in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. During infection, APC promote the induction of adaptive immune responses which neutralise threats. However, the APC subsets involved in this are not well defined. Pathologies such as food allergy and inflammatory bowel disease are thought to arise due to the development of aberrant immune responses. Food allergy can be modelled in mice using the mucosal adjuvant cholera toxin (CT) which has been shown to drive immunity to co-delivered antigens and is associated with the generation of IL-4 producing T helper 2 cells. Understanding the APC subsets involved in the initiation of intestinal immune responses could help in the development of targeted therapies for inflammatory bowel conditions. In this thesis, I show that oral administration of CT is followed by the appearance of a novel phenotype of DC in the intestinal LP and MLN. These DC differ functionally from DC at steady-state and may contribute to the generation of IL-4 producing T cells observed in the LP, MLN and spleen following oral administration of CT.</p>
On Maximum-Sized Golden-Mean Matroids
Authors:   , Welsh Michael 
Published: November 2021

<p>A rank-r simple matroid is maximum-sized in a class if it has the largest number of elements out of all simple rank-r matroids in that class. Maximum-sized matroids have been classified for various classes of matroids: regular (Heller, 1957); dyadic (Kung and Oxley, 1988-90); k-regular (Semple, 1998); near-regular and sixth-root-of-unity (Oxley, Vertigan, and Whittle, 1998). Golden-mean matroids are matroids that are representable over the golden-mean partial field. Equivalently, a golden-mean matroid is a matroid that is representable over GF(4) and GF(5). Archer conjectured that there are three families of maximum-sized golden-mean matroids. This means that a proof of Archer’s conjecture is likely to be significantly more complex than the proofs of existing maximum-sized characterisations, as they all have only one family. In this thesis, we consider the four following subclasses of golden-mean matroids: those that are lifts of regular matroids, those that are lifts of nearregular matroids, those that are golden-mean-graphic, and those that have a spanning clique. We close each of these classes under minors, and prove that Archer’s conjecture holds in each of them. It is anticipated that the last of our theorems will lead to a proof of Archer’s conjecture for golden-mean matroids of sufficiently high rank.</p>