bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of TOEIC as a University Exit Test: A Vietnamese Perspective
Authors:   , Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha 
Published: December 2021

<p>The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) has recently become a language exit test in many Vietnamese universities. Despite the high stakes of the test for a large number of Vietnamese students, no robust research has been done to explore its impact on teaching and learning yet. Also, although the powerful influence of tests on teaching and learning has been well documented, the way test impact occurs is very complicated and varied because of a myriad of context-specific factors. Language testers, therefore, have called for more research in different contexts. In response to the needs mentioned above, this study examined the impact of TOEIC on teaching and learning in Vietnamese universities with an emphasis on discovering the variations of the test impact due to school settings. To meet the research objectives, a mixed-methods study was conducted at two different locations in Vietnam. The perspectives from three groups of stakeholders, namely educational policymakers, teachers, and students were sought by means of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and case study. The study was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 aimed at understanding policymakers’ perspectives on the TOEIC-as-exit-test policy and identifying the general patterns of the actual test impact from the teachers’ and students’ perspectives. Phase 2 had the purpose of explaining the patterns found in Phase 1 through a case study. Both the questionnaire and case study participants came from the same three large universities. The study gave interesting insight into the nature of the impact of the TOEIC test in the Vietnamese context. It showed a clear tendency of teaching and learning to the test since its introduction. However, the test impact varied greatly in form and intensity across different groups of participants although, contrary to expectations, school settings did not seem to be a major factor that caused this variability. On the one hand, the findings confirmed the indirect nature of the relationship between a test and its impact found in many other studies. On the other hand, they shed light on specific features of the mechanism of the impact of the TOEIC-as-exit-test, which might be attributed to the socio-cultural and educational context in Vietnam. The study suggested that the test impact on teaching and learning operated differently. While the influence of the TOEIC test on teaching was likely to be first filtered through the course factors, the latter was through students’ abilities. In both cases, beliefs about communicative language teaching and learning and some other person factors only played subservient roles in shaping the test impact. The study also had important implications for stakeholders, especially policymakers. It proved certain values of the TOEIC-as-exit-test policy as well as revealed negative issues associated with it. It suggested measures that need to be taken to modify the policy.</p>
“Even though I am Māori sometimes I feel like a bit of a fraud”: Mixed-Race Māori Identity and The Influence of Legislation and Legal Administration c. 1850-1950
Authors:   , Haze Kiriana 
Published: December 2021

<p>In 1910, Āpirana Ngata stated that both he and the Young Maori Party were proponents for children born from a Māori – Pākehā mix. Ngata believed the children would then have the prime characteristics of each parent. This thesis explores how such rhetoric about mixed-race children was a consequence of the symbiotic influence Pākehā legislation and legal administration had on Māori identity. This influence was relevant to both mixed-race Māori historically, and today. Too often, mixed-race people are questioned for their lack of authenticity. This questioning began the moment Pākehā people first came to New Zealand and courted interracial relations with Māori. Therefore, the period of 1850 to 1950 is where this thesis’ substantive research and analysis lies as here the construction of legislation and legal administration to do with mixed-race Māori was most visible. The themes this timeframe is considered through are ‘marriage and land’, ‘native schools’ and ‘enumeration.’ These themes are the best mechanism to display the ways in which the law has worked and continues to work to maintain a mixed-race dichotomy of privilege and disadvantage. This thesis draws on a wide range of legislative and administrative sources, to demonstrate the mentioned dichotomy crafted into the law. It contextualises these sources through consideration of existing literature, and oral interviews with self-identifying mixed- race Māori today. This work tracks Māori reclamation of the control to self-identify and the recurring indicators of colourism and dehumanisation which contributed to the speed bumps along this journey.</p>
A Radio View of the Bullet Cluster from 100 MHz to 9 GHz
Authors:   , Srinivasan Raghav 
Published: December 2021

<p>We investigate a sample of 10 massive galaxy clusters for diffuse synchrotron emission. The shortlisted clusters are drawn from a sample of clusters observed with the South Pole Telescope (SPT) shown to have high Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) signals.They are analysed for diffuse emission from the results of the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) archival data reduction. The focus then is on the cluster with the most prominent diffuse emission - the Bullet cluster. We used the Murchison Widefield Array Commissioning Survey (MWACS) data in conjunction with the ATCA images to derive the spectral behaviour of the Bullet cluster from 0.118 GHz to 8.896 GHz. In particular, we study the spectral properties of the known radio halo and radio relic. We search for spectral bending of this diffuse emission as seen in other clusters like the Coma cluster, A2256, A521 and A3256. We detect the radio relic at all frequencies in the cluster periphery. Polarised flux is detected for the relic at all frequencies except at 1.344 GHz and as expected the percentage polarisation increases with frequency. Our spectral index values of -1.08 ± 0.02 and -1.74 ± 0.22 for 2 regions of the radio relic agreed with the literature. We detect spectral flattening for a region in the radio relic at 4.532 GHz. This is a common spectral characteristic for a radio galaxy. This suggests that the source could be a recently dead radio galaxy. We discuss a scenario in which a dead radio galaxy supplying seed electrons for reacceleration and a merger process providing the required energy for the diffuse radio relic. We detect the radio halo at all frequencies and we derive a spectral index of -2.11±0.03 using our ATCA flux measurements. Our individual flux measurements at 1.344 and 2.1 GHz agree with the literature. However, we get a steeper ATCA spectral index value for the radio halo as compared to the existing value in the literature. We observe spectral flattening of the radio halo in the Bullet cluster at low frequencies between 0.180 GHz and 1.3 GHz. This is similar to the spectral property of the halo in clusters like the Coma cluster, A521 and A3256.</p>
The Unsettled Landscape: The Core to Coastal Fabrics
Authors:   , Chan Oliver 
Published: December 2021

<p>‘The Unsettled Landscape’ considers an alternative sustainable manner in which communities can settle New Zealand’s coastland. Living at the ocean edge is ingrained in the way many of our urban settlements have formed, and is intricately linked with how we define ourselves. Unfortunately the way these places have manifested in reality has produced ecological barriers to natural cycles paramount to ecosystem health. Sea walls, housing, roads and many other infrastructural typologies resist the natural ‘flux’ of these areas, which results in dysfunctional ecosystems as well as putting residents of these places at risk of numerous threats which occur along these interface sites. Earthquakes, river movement, erosion, sea level rise, flooding and the continual movement of the dunes are just some of the issues coastal settlements face. The conflict forms where the sought after coastal environments are applied to in a permanent manner that is irresponsive of a landscape which functions in a most dynamic way. This thesis looks towards the geomorphological patterns in the coast as an indicator for how a complete shift in infrastructural application might occur responsively. This new fabric distinguishes stable components in this shifting landscape, utilising them as a stable network from which settlement can develop. This network could become the basis of more responsive settlements, stronger communities, and will act as a way to future proof inhabitation of these fragile yet hazardous places. Design research explores the physical as well as intangible aspects of settlement application, and focuses on communities forming the ‘real’ foundation of these temporal environments. Responsive communities arise ‘reactively’ avoiding hazards, and allowing inhabitants to take advantage of what these precious sites offer.</p>
Composing the Chimera Suite: Grafting the Conventions of Extreme Metal onto a Jazz Orchestra Setting
Authors:   , Beernink Chris 
Published: December 2021

<p>The Chimera Suite is a five-movement composition for a modern jazz orchestra augmented with timbres derived from extreme metal. Each movement explores how conventions located in extreme metal can be combined with modern jazz orchestra conventions to create a unique multi-movement suite. While each movement is composed discretely and can stand on its own, the Chimera Suite is intended to be experienced in one continuous sitting, as local and global through-composed forms are used to create thematic unity across the entire suite. Chapter 1 examines the global scenes of jazz and extreme metal, as well as the local Wellington jazz scene through Fabian Holt’s popular genre framework of ‘networks’ and ‘conventions’, and identifies the musical aesthetics that I drew from during the Chimera Suite’s compositional process. In Chapter 2, I analyse extreme metal band Between the Buried and Me’s ‘Silent Flight Parliament’ off their album The Parallax II: Future Sequence, jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan’s ‘The Grid’ and ‘Out of The Grid’, and jazz drummer Dan Weiss’ ‘Annica’. Each of the artists’ works exhibits various musical conventions located in both jazz and extreme metal genres that I observe via the lenses of through-composed form, heaviness, and the dialectic of freedom and control. I analyse my own composition, the Chimera Suite, through the same lenses of through-composed form, heaviness, and the dialectic of freedom and control in Chapter 3, while discussing the ways in which the musical scenes identified in Chapter 1, and the musical inspirations found in Chapter 2, have impact the suite’s conception. Throughout this thesis, I discuss the unique perspectives afforded through this combination of genres that in turn, call into question the defining elements that contribute towards a genre’s identity.</p>
Sindh in Transition: From Mughal Rule to British Annexation, Early Eighteenth Century to 1843
Authors:   , Verma Esha 
Published: December 2021

<p>The eighteenth century in India saw the decline of the Mughal empire and the rise of several regional states. From the mid-1700s, however, the consolidation of regional states was checked by British expansion in the subcontinent. This thesis is a case study of one regional state, the state of Sindh in present day Pakistan. It engages in the historiographical debates about the relative importance of political and economic factors in explanations of Mughal decline during the eighteenth century. It also addresses questions about the motives that impelled British annexation, and the processes through which annexation was achieved. The study analyses Sindh’s transition from being a peripheral region in the twilight days of the Mughal empire to its annexation by the British in 1843. It is based on some Persian sources, along with British archival records and a number of eighteenth and nineteenth century travelogues. The thesis begins with a study of the process of state formation in Sindh by the Sufi Kalhora tribe. Although increasingly independent from 1701, the Sindh state continued to pay tribute to the Mughals until 1739, then to Persia until 1747, and then to the Afghan king until 1783, when the Talpur Meers replaced the Kalhoras as Sindh’s ruler. Under both the Kalhoras and the Talpurs, a significant expansion of trade helped sustain the Sindh state and resulted in the emergence of a strong mercantile class. The thesis critically examines the role of the new commercial class and its relationship with Sindh’s rulers. But the political edifice constructed by the Talpurs was weak. The thesis argues that when the rise of French and Russian imperialism in the Middle East made Sindh strategically and commercially important to the British, the political weakness of the Talpur regime facilitated British encroachment in Sindh. The final annexation of Sindh in 1843, following two battles with the Meers, was the result of a number of developments: it was the culmination of a long-drawn-out weakening of the Sindhi polity; it was connected to European rivalries in Central Asia and also to the East India Company’s new appreciation of the commercial importance of Sindhi trade along the Indus river. More broadly, the annexation in 1843 needs to be understood in the context of the interplay of British, French, Russian, Afghan, Sikh and Persian ambitions since the beginning of the nineteenth century.</p>
Exploring the role of education in a MIRAB economy: Brain drain or brain gain? The case of Wallis and Futuna
Authors:   , Jacobs Alice 
Published: December 2021

<p>Pursuit of higher education overseas is becoming a common pathway for young Wallisians and Futunans. A constructivist grounded theory study demonstrates that education has provided (i) a new exit route for young people, (ii) an opportunity to access employment overseas and (iii) an opportunity to access employment at home. Through Talanoa interviews, it was found that the decisions to settle permanently or to return are influenced by cultural, political, economic and structural factors amplified by the slow amalgamation of two conflicting systems. Many students are steered by the French education system and unable to return due to unsuited qualifications. Others choose not to return as a response to underdeveloped structures that constrain the use of qualifications in Wallis and Futuna. Access to education has seemingly intensified clashes between a ‘modern’ system based on equality of opportunity and a customary hierarchy where everyone has a place in society. Despite the need for qualifications, access to employment in Wallis and Futuna in practice is dependent on class structures and networks as a result of low employment opportunities and high labour availability. Yet, evidence of localisation and changing attitudes towards qualifications has suggested a new dimension of the brain gain. Young determined graduates have demonstrated strategic use of resources overseas and adapted new knowledge to the customary and political context. Access to education has proved to be a key component of the MIRAB society in Wallis and Futuna and a potential catalyst for a new stability, a possible post-MIRAB economy.</p>
Facilitators and inhibitors to visualising information in organisational practice
Authors:   , Ong Cassandra 
Published: December 2021

<p>The benefits of visual artefacts and methodologies have been well documented in the strategy literature. However, this work has concentrated on the ‘how to do’ and ‘why to do’ of visualisation. It remains unclear why, given this widespread promotion, visualisation is not utilised more for communicating and developing strategy. This thesis explores the ‘doing’ of strategy visualisation through a practice lens by examining the processes through which visualisation services are adopted by organisations. Using a qualitative approach, I studied ten organisations in five countries that create visualisations for clients and identified common facilitators and inhibitors of visualisation adoption, discussing its implications for strategy. The study’s findings expand upon the literature on facilitators and inhibitors to visualisation, discovering that these factors are personal and contextual in nature. Personal factors include: - prospective clients’ experience of prior visualisation outcomes; - predispositions for or against visualisation; - prior knowledge about visualisation and associated services; - partiality towards particular visualisation consultants; and - the capability to distinguish specific organisational needs for visualisation. Contextual factors such as organisational culture, and ability to approve the service within an allocated budget, also influence the adoption of visualisation. Based on a greater understanding of these factors, a heuristic framework was developed to relate these facilitators or inhibitors to four process phases: Pre-contact → Contact → Commitment → and Post-purchase Evaluation. My research findings benefit practitioners, by clarifying facilitating and inhibiting factors to visualisation adoption and suggesting interventions based on these. The findings also have implications for methodology and theory development: they indicate the value of studying strategy visualisation through a practice lens; add to our understanding of how visualisation can clarify and support strategy making; and enable insight into the dynamics of visualisation adoption to provide reasons why visualisation is not as widespread a practice as its proponents suggest it should be.</p>
Moisture in New Zealand Bathrooms - Analysing Moisture Events
Authors:   , Stubbe Alister 
Published: December 2021

<p>A literature review was carried out on the impact of moisture in New Zealand homes as well as the role ventilation and occupant behaviour play in controlling this. Bathrooms in residential homes were identified as being especially vulnerable. NZS4303:1990, clause G4 Ventilation of the New Zealand Building Code, and clause E3 of the New Zealand Building Code were summarised to provide context for how New Zealand buildings are designed. Measurements taken in houses throughout New Zealand by BRANZ as part of the House Condition Survey were made available for analysis. This included measurements of relative humidity and temperature. Data from one Dunedin house was thoroughly explored. This involved three objectives. The first step focused on identifying periods of rapid change in the amount of moisture introduced to the indoor environment, measured in absolute humidity. These periods were named 'moisture events'. The second objective was to visually communicate the changes in temperature and absolute humidity taking place on individual days, highlighting moisture events. The third objective was to analyse the identified moisture events, finding the key areas to focus on for the full analysis as well as areas that could be explored in further research. This process was then applied to all remaining houses. Moisture events were grouped into four categories: increases, decreases, episodes, and combinations. Episodes were the focus of the analysis, representing moisture being actively introduced to the indoor environment and then removed. These categories were further filtered, identifying the moisture events were most likely to have had a large impact on the indoor environment. Days were broken into four hour periods, with the filtered moisture events taking place in each period recorded. These were used to identify patterns in moisture events for each house. If a certain pattern of moisture events frequently took place, then days containing that pattern were described as a 'typical day' for that house. The mean and median absolute humidity at the start, peak, and end of the unfiltered episodes from each house were then calculated. The mean and median episode length was also calculated. The results were compared to the Household Energy End-use Project (HEEP) and to the typical days for each house. The results were grouped according to factors such as the number of bathrooms in the house, the floor area, the house location, and the event length. The number of bathrooms present in the house was found to have a large impact on the size and frequency of moisture events. As expected, larger bathrooms recorded lower increases in absolute humidity from the start to the peak of episodes. Rooms with a greater volume would require more moisture to reach the same number of grams of water per cubic metre. However, the smallest bathrooms also recorded low increases in absolute humidity.</p>
N.S.I.E.: Naturally Stimulating Instinctive Exploration
Authors:   , Franklin Izack 
Published: December 2021

<p>My research begins with an investigation into existing public space to reveal its appropriation and determinants to determine if the site is successful or not. These findings will inform the design research through introducing small interventions which create new site qualities. This research aims to find what influences use and appropriation within public space. Observations of the determinants and qualities of different sites, will lead to the identification of key aspects, the discoverings will be analysed to determine what makes a public space successful or unsuccessful. The objective is to use these discoveries to introduce a change in the design process through developing ideas that amplify the surrounding existing environment/ structures. I aim to use designed and non-designed elements that reconfigure the way users manipulate space. I was offered an opportunity to work with a kindergarten (Awatea Kindergarten) as a case study to test my findings. Findings from the design research highlight how the introduction of new elements into a space, can reconfigure the existing area and amplify those existing natural elements into the design.</p>
Development of a Novel Underground Mine Reconnaissance Robot
Authors:   , Thompson Nick 
Published: December 2021

<p>Despite advancements in safety technology, underground mining disasters kill hundreds of people each year. Typically after a disaster, a manned response team will enter the hazardous mine to ascertain its condition and rescue any survivors. A robotic entry platform could significantly reduce the risk to the response teams and the time taken to recover any survivors. However, existing mine search and rescue robots have had limited success in past disasters. Two primary aspects caused the failure of the existing platforms; poor rough terrain ability and lack of ingress protection for the harsh mine environment. HADES, a novel underground mine reconnaissance robot is developed to address these issues. A lightweight yet robust chassis is manufactured from fibreglass. To allow HADES to operate in the potentially explosive atmosphere, the chassis is protected with a positive pressure gas system, designed to meet the ANZ60079.29 standard. This chassis is sealed against the mine environment with a series of O-rings and lip seals. Whegs are used as the primary locomotion method and are driven with a planetary gearbox and a brushless DC motor. To further improve a rough terrain capability of the locomotion system the rear arm of the chassis is mounted on an actuated pivot, increasing the rough terrain capability of HADES. To ensure the operator can successfully assess and navigate the mine, HADES carries a comprehensive set of environmental and navigation sensors. The internal electronics and locomotion systems are powered with six Li-Po batteries that achieve an operating time of six hours and an expected range of 25 km. HADES is 780x800x400 mm and is mostly sealed to the IP68 standard. The locomotion system is robust and can traverse the majority of the terrain expected in an underground mine. Loss of traction is the only problem encountered with the Wheg design. However, this can be easily fixed by changing the tip shape of the Wheg.</p>