bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The intraovarian cellular origins of GDF9 and BMP15 in the mouse and aspects of their biological properties
Authors:   , Mester Brigitta 
Published: November 2021

<p>Bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) and growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) are both members of the TGF-ß protein superfamily and are known to be essential for normal follicular development in mammals. Several studies have highlighted the species-specific effects of BMP15 and GDF9, which could be attributed, at least in part to the differences in the follicular expression patterns and to different forms of the secreted proteins. In the mouse, GDF9 is required for follicular development, whereas BMP15 appears to be only required near ovulation with contradictory reports as to the timing of BMP15 expression. However, mouse BMP15 and GDF9 are known to have the capability of acting together synergistically. The aims of this thesis were to characterise in the mouse ovary, the expression patterns (localisation and levels) of Bmp15 and Gdf9 mRNA throughout follicular development, and to determine the peri-ovulatory expression of the corresponding proteins. In situ hybridisation and quantitative PCR analyses of ovarian samples and follicular cells collected from control and superovulated mice confirmed that Gdf9 and Bmp15 mRNA are expressed exclusively in oocytes from primary and early secondary stage follicles respectively. qPCR analysis of denuded oocytes (DO) revealed a tight correlation, and therefore co-regulation, between the expression levels of Bmp15 and Gdf9 irrespective of follicular developmental stage, with steady expression until the preovulatory LH surge when down-regulation of Bmp15 and Gdf9 occurred. Throughout the follicular developmental stages examined, Gdf9 was expressed in greater abundance relative to Bmp15, with a Bmp15:Gdf9 mRNA ratio of 1:4.12. [...] In conclusion, oocyte-derived Bmp15 and Gdf9 mRNA expression is co-regulated throughout follicular development in mice, with Gdf9 being more abundant than Bmp15, which might be an important factor in determining high ovulation quota. The expression of the target genes is down-regulated as the oocyte reaches developmental competence following the preovulatory LH surge. Protein expression data provided evidence that in vivo the immature mouse oocyte is capable of secreting all BMP15 protein forms previously detected in vitro. After the preovulatory LH surge, all visible protein forms are associated with the somatic follicular cells, in particular with the expanded cumulus mass. Of particular interest is the presence of the large protein complexes in the cumulus cell lysates, which suggests a storage and activation process involving ECM proteins, similar to the mechanism reported for other TGF-ß superfamily members, such as TGF-ß1 and myostatin. The finding that the BMP15 precursor protein is biologically active with a different activity to that of the processed mature protein form suggests that the full-length precursor protein may regulate or provide at least a portion of the biological activity of BMP15 in mice.</p>
The question of survival: understanding the impact of liberalisation and development on indigenous peoples in Mindanao, Philippines
Authors:   , Pueblos Adora Penaco 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis aims to study the impact of mineral resource development on the indigenous peoples in the Philippines, focussing primarily on the consequential effect of the destruction of their ancestral domains and loss of access to their sacred spaces as it relates to their survival. Further, it seeks to bring to the widest attention possible their little known struggles against the invading and destructive forces of development, particularly large-scale mining, in their traditional areas. Most of all, this research ambitions to (1) debunk the prevailing research trend of dismissing emotions as irrational, illogical and useless in research because it is unquantifiable, and therefore, unscientific; and (2) critique Western-influenced paradigms on development by shedding light on the limitations of Eurocentric commitment to orthodox discourses that valorise resource development as supreme over cultural meanings and view environment as something completely detached from humans. In this study is presented the conflicting sides found at the heart of this age-old problem: the opposing views of government/mining companies on one hand, and those of the indigenous peoples on the other, their differing perceptions and stance on the issue of exploitation and control of natural resources found in ancestral domains. This research explored the deep emotional connections of indigenous peoples to their ancestral domains and how these are inexorably linked to their cultural identity. The data illustrate their profound sufferings in the hands of development agents and, paradoxically, the Philippine government itself through its open-arms policy on foreign investments and liberalised mining laws, heavily compounded by the unwarranted deployment of the military to ensure a smooth transition in approved mining areas. Using de-colonising methodologies and research approaches to tackle the issue, empirical data gathered are drawn from participant observation, semi-structured interviews and informal indigenous communities, and later organised according to themes evident upon collation of data. The findings are linked to a wider theoretical context and complemented with analyses of academic literature orientated to post-structural political ecology, emotional geographies and indigenous geographies that support the arguments in this study. As well as highlighting potential areas for future studies on indigenous peoples, this research points to the root cause of the problem to a people’s fundamental loss of power that denies them their control over their emotional spaces, resources and destiny. Accordingly, this fundamental relation needs to be given greater consideration in policy formulation and implementation of regulations that govern environment, natural resources and ancestral domains.</p>
The Use and Ease of Access of EBooks in Public Libraries
Authors:   , Ross Nichola 
Published: November 2021

<p>Research Problem: The purpose of this research project is to examine how patrons are using the eBook collection at a New Zealand public library. Specifically the research examines the relationship between print and eBooks and how this relationship affects borrowing habits. It also explores how the eBook borrowing process for affects usage of the collection. There is little information on this topic from a library patron perspective, and even less research conducted in a New Zealand context. Methodology: Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this research. Self-completion questionnaires with a combination of quantitative and qualitative questions were offered to members of Christchurch City Libraries. A semi-structured interview was also conducted with two library staff members. Results: It can be observed that print is still the most borrowed and the favoured format. There are a number of reasons for this but the most prominent was that eBooks cannot offer the same sensations and reading experience that a print book gives. Most users were happy with using only print books though the ones that were open to trying eBooks were unable to do so as they did not own eReaders. The incompatibility of Amazon Kindles was also a reason some patrons were borrowing print books as they were unable to get the titles they wanted for their eReaders. The small size of the eBook collection was a deterrent for some users but the library is aware of this and is working towards building a larger collection with a wider selection.</p>
Investigation into the efficacy of text modification: What type of text do learners of Japanese authenticate?
Authors:   , Sandom Mitsue 
Published: November 2021

<p>The dissertation is a study of the efficacy of reading materials for learners of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). It discusses the merits of 'authentic' materials written primarily for native speaker-readers compared to 'modified' texts adapted in some way for learners. Further, it compares various sorts of modifications: simplification, elaboration, marginal glosses and the use of onscreen computer pop-ups. More broadly, it locates the study within the wider discourse of pedagogy concerning reading materials for second language learners, especially JFL learners. Reading in Japanese as a second language is generally thought to be more demanding than reading in some other second languages. The study therefore argues that the authenticity debate and efficacy of text modification must be addressed specifically in the JFL reading pedagogy. In the context of the authenticity debate, there are, broadly, two opposing views. One favours the predominant use of unmodified texts while the other promotes the efficacy of modified texts. While there have been numerous theoretical discussions and empirical findings in the reading pedagogy of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL), the JFL reading pedagogy is currently lacking such academic endeavours. Hence, the present study seeks to fill the gap. The study is mixed methods research, consisting of three projects in which both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed. This approach investigates equally the effects of text modification on participating learners' cognitive changes (reading comprehension) and affective changes (motivation and perception). The results indicate that learners of Japanese comprehend modified texts statistically significantly better than they do unmodified texts. Findings include that modified texts for Japanese are more efficacious than they are in the ESL/EFL context. However, modified texts that are insufficiently challenging fail to enhance learners' motivation. Advanced learners especially were found to have a negative attitude toward reading modified Japanese texts.</p>
"The Art of the Achievable": An Examination of Heritage Assessment Practice at the Department of Conservation
Authors:   , Wilson Kayla 
Published: November 2021

<p>This dissertation examines heritage assessment at the New Zealand Department of Conservation. It explores the heritage assessment process through two central research questions: ‘What is the state of current heritage assessment at the Department of Conservation?’ and ‘What place and form could heritage assessments have and take in future practice at the Department of Conservation?’ Responding to a gap in the literature and lack of critical analysis of the heritage assessment procedure in the New Zealand context, the research considers the ways in which heritage assessment is carried out and examines heritage assessment as a tool through which heritage is understood and assigned value and significance. The timeliness of this work is highlighted by the currently few existing evaluations providing a critical analysis of the heritage assessment procedure in New Zealand. This research employs an interdisciplinary theoretical framework developed from the literature of heritage studies and its related fields, in particular history and archaeology. This study is framed with reference to the postmodern theoretical paradigm of ‘authorised heritage discourse’ and critical realism, and employs a mixed method approach to the research, and employs documentary analysis and interviews with current staff working with historic heritage at the Department of Conservation. The main finding emerging from this research is that heritage assessment is an essential, if not pivotal, but under-utilised element of heritage management, and that appropriate outcomes for heritage can only be reached through a more effective heritage assessment framework. The dissertation concludes that currently the Department of Conservation heritage assessment framework fails to achieve this to a suitable standard, makes several recommendations for change, and argues that it is only by addressing the situation DOC will be able to deliver maximum outcomes for heritage in an increasingly resource-constrained environment – and continue to accomplish sustainable heritage management, what one respondent called ‘the art of the achievable’.</p>
Comparing Tangible Symbols, Picture Exchange and a Direct Selection Response when Teaching Requesting to Two Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors:   , Roche Laura Kathleen 
Published: November 2021

<p>Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who fail to develop functional speech are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. One of the primary intentions of AAC is to provide an alternative method of communicating in the absence of speech (Mirenda, 2003). In order to select the most beneficial AAC system for a user, in regards to the ease of acquisition and successfully communicating with AAC systems, it is considered important to undertake research comparing various AAC systems and to assess users’ preferences for using one system over another. Empirical evidence from previous studies comparing AAC indicates that users often learn to use AAC systems with varying degrees of proficiency and at various acquisition rates. Additionally, assessing users’ preferences for different AAC systems has been shown to influence acquisition rates and long term maintenance of AAC systems and is suggested to be an important component when carrying out AAC intervention. In the present study a tangible symbol (TS) communication system was compared, in terms of acquisition rates and preference, with Picture Exchange (PE) and an additional direct selection (DS) method of gaining access to desired stimuli in two young boys with ASD. Two male participants diagnosed with ASD were taught via systematic instructional procedures to request/gain access to the continuation of preferred cartoon movies by using TS, PE, and DS. Additionally, preference assessments were implemented during intervention and follow-up phases to determine whether the participants showed a preference for using one of these three requesting/access methods over the other two, and whether any such preferences remained stable throughout follow-up sessions. Results indicated that both participants successfully learned to request each of the six cartoon movies using each of the three methods. Specifically, acquisition rates for TS and PE were comparable across both participants, and overall both participants preferred to request using the TS. During intervention sessions, one participant preferred to use DS, however this preference changed during follow-up where he chose to use TS more overall. These data suggest that TS is a viable AAC option for children with ASD who do not speak, and can be learned to a high proficiency after receiving systematic teaching procedures as used in the present study.</p>
Illusions of Liveness: Producer as Composer
Authors:   , Logan Sam 
Published: November 2021

<p>The practise of creating music for the recorded medium has been a fluid and constantly changing enterprise since its inception. Emergences of new studio technologies over the last fifty years have spurred new cultures, philosophies and approaches to music production and composition, ultimately seeing a merging of the once disparate roles of producer and composer. It is this contemporary, technology-informed new role of producer-composer that brings with it discussion - for much of which there is no general consensus - over issues pertaining to perceived liveness, the producer-composer’s control over the resulting sound, and most contentiously the use of music technology itself: its transparency and its legitimacy as substitutions for real instruments. These are all fluid and complex issues and this paper does not attempt to provide answers for, nor take a definitive stance on them other than in the sharing of opinions formed from my own experiences in applying production as composition to the creative aspect of this project. In this paper I seek to share some of the current discussion regarding production-as-composition, in light of my own compositional experiment, which strives to create a simulation of real-performance via almost entirely artificial means within an idealised, hyper-musical sonic environment. By bringing together real musicians and virtual instruments within a recorded track and edited via music production technology, the experiment aimed to produce an illusion of liveness.</p>
"Neither staunch friends nor confirmed foes": New Zealand's defence diplomacy in Asia
Authors:   , Fris Justin 
Published: November 2021

<p>Read a recent Defence White Paper of any number of countries or look at the range of foreign relations one country has with others in the contemporary age, and one is likely to come across the term 'defence diplomacy'. The traditional function of armed forces has been to prepare for and undertake the use of force. As part of this role, armed forces have cooperated with those of other nations to enhance security by countering or deterring potential enemies. In the post-Cold War era however, a new form of defence relations has emerged; in contrast to, yet supplementing their traditional role, armed forces have been employed in building cooperative relationships between former and potential future foes. This shift is explained by the concept of defence diplomacy; the concept identified by Andrew Cottey and Anthony Forster that armed forces have a peacetime role in pursuit of broader foreign and security policy goals. Recognising that defence cooperation activities have a long history, Cottey and Forster differentiated defence diplomacy between 'old', meaning those traditional defence cooperation activities aimed at allies and friendly states, and 'new', meaning defence cooperation aimed at potential or former enemies. New Zealand, like many other countries, has used the term since the 1990s to describe those aspects of the diplomatic relationship, specifically peacetime cooperative activities, performed by the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force with the armed forces of other nations. This thesis explores the origins of defence diplomacy and the adoption of the concept by New Zealand. It looks at the way in which New Zealand has developed and managed its 'old' defence diplomacy in Asia through examining the example of the Five Power Defence Arrangements. It then explores New Zealand’s 'new' defence diplomacy with what are considered here as “non-like-minded” states such as China, Viet Nam and Indonesia. Through these three case studies, the thesis examines key dilemmas and problems of defence diplomacy that have arisen in the development of these key relationships. The thesis then concludes with an analysis of New Zealand’s defence diplomacy according to the framework established by Cottey and Forster.</p>
Assessment of a snow storage gradient across a maritime mountain environment: a ground penetrating radar investigation
Authors:   , Kees Lawrence J. 
Published: November 2021

<p>The Southern Alps of New Zealand experience some of the highest precipitation rates globally, and dramatic west to east climatic gradients. Our current knowledge of this precipitation distribution is based on weather station data and river discharge measurements, but there is a clear data gap in the high elevation, central Southern Alps. Here, estimates of precipitation strongly diverge. This problem exists because of the difficulties of quantifying the depth and distribution of snow in a remote, high-altitude mountainous region. In order to improve our knowledge of snow distribution within this data-poor region, snow depths of (< 10m) were assessed parallel to the prevailing westerly wind direction at five locations across the mountain range, between the névé of Franz Josef Glacier, Waiho catchment, to the west and Jollie Valley, Pukaki catchment, in the east. The geophysical method of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was used because of its ability to image the deep snow packs experienced in the study region. Comparison of measurement techniques over the (< 3km) surveyed transects showed that ground-based GPR gave the best sample size (41000 samples) and accuracy due to the high spatial resolution. Airborne GPR (8571 samples) overestimated snow depth by 8 % in low-gradient homogenous terrain, and 24% in steep heterogeneous terrain. The difference is ascribed to the larger view area of the GPR in the airborne survey. Direct probing of snow depth also performed poorly in comparison to ground-based GPR when generalising snow distribution over an area. Across-mountain precipitation peaked ~5 km west of the main divide, between 1700 and 2000 m a.s.l, providing the first empirical support to existing estimates of the location of peak precipitation. Results show decreasing precipitation from 12 ma-1 at Franz Josef Glacier, in the Waiho catchment, to 1.8 ma-1 at Jollie River valley, in the Lake Pukaki catchment, 25 km to the south-east. Internal reflection horizons in snow-pack radargrams allowed snowfall events to be tracked, and a relationship lowland and mountain precipitation to be established. Snowfall accumulation 'factors' were derived for different atmospheric circulation indices, and these will enable improved accuracy in modelling of snow accumulation processes. Further research is required to refine the relationship between synoptic-classed accumulation rates and inter-annual variations in climatic circulation. These refinements of measurement techniques and quantification of and snow distribution and depth allow for better estimation of river discharge and timing estimates for, hydroelectric power generation, and glacier mass balance.</p>
Books as social currency: Robert Coupland Harding and the field of book collecting in New Zealand 1880-1920
Authors:   , Hughes M.A. 
Published: November 2021

<p>“Here, indeed, lies the whole miracle of collecting,” Jean Baudrillard asserted, “it is invariably oneself that one collects” (“Systems of Collecting” 12). If Baudrillard's premise that a collection is itself a representation of the collector, then how can we read a person through his/her private library? There have been several large and important studies produced on the three preeminent figures in New Zealand book collecting: Sir George Grey, Dr Thomas Hocken and Alexander Turnbull. However, to understand book collecting as a whole during the highly active period at the turn of the twentieth century, it is vital that we investigate 'minor' book collectors alongside our esteemed 'major three'. This thesis explores the private library of Robert Coupland Harding (1849-1916), an internationally recognised expert on printing and typography, whose trade journal Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review (1887-1897) was celebrated as a remarkable achievement. Very little documentation of Harding's life exists. However, one tantalising artefact discovered in a Wellington antiquarian bookshop is the basis for this research: the auction catalogue of Harding's extensive private library. Focusing on the New Zealand-related section of the catalogue, this thesis examines the book collecting field in New Zealand 1880-1920. Applying Bourdieu's theories of capital, habitus and the field of cultural production, the thesis examines the social practice of book collecting during this period. Three case studies from Harding's library illustrate some key trends in the book collecting market, and help to build a picture of Harding's social networks and the influence this had on his collecting habits. The thesis also describes the collecting identity of Robert Coupland Harding, placing him in his circle of fellow book collectors. Describing a model of book collecting practise and presenting a method for categorising book collectors, this thesis argues for the recognition of lesser known book collectors and the contribution that they made to the field of New Zealand book collecting.</p>