bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Inorganic Polymers (Geopolymers) as Potential Bioactive Materials
Authors:   , Rahner Nils 
Published: November 2021

<p>The primary aim of this project was to synthesise potassium activated geopolymer composites with bioactivity, and this was realised by adding 10wt% of calcium hydroxide, nano-structured calcium silicate or calcium phosphate to the geopolymer matrix. The synthesised samples were cured at 40'C then heated to 550'C and 600'C to reduce their alkalinity. Tensile strength was measured by diametral compression. The effect of exposure to simulated body fluid (SBF) was determined by x-ray diffractometry (XRD), 27Al, 29Si and 43Ca nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with magic angle spinning (MAS NMR), pH measurements, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDS). XRD, 27Al and 29Si MAS NMR confirmed that all the samples retained their structural characteristics of a true aluminosilicate geopolymer, even after heating and exposure to SBF. EDS examination of the calcium-containing geopolymer composites showed that the calcium distribution was generally homogeneous. Exposure of the geopolymer composites to SBF at body temperature, was used to simulate the behaviour of the geopolymer composites in blood plasma. XRD and SEM/ EDS analysis showed that the geopolymers containing calcium hydroxide and calcium silicate formed hydroxyl apatite (HA) and carbonate hydroxyl apatite (HCA) after their exposure to SBF, indicating a degree of bioactivity. The absorption of calcium and phosphorus from the SBF and the observation of nano crystals rich in these elements provide some evidence of bioactive phases in the composite containing calcium phosphate and the reference geopolymer. The reference and the calcium phosphate geopolymer (both heated to 600XC) produced the lowest pH (ca.8) in the SBF. ICP analysis of the SBF after exposure shows that most of the aluminium remains in the geopolymer structure. The greatest release of aluminium (< 2.7 ppm after 168 hours) was found for the calcium hydroxide geopolymer (heated to 600'C). Diametral compression testing showed that the strength of the calcium phosphate-containing geopolymer heated to 550'C (4.17 MPa) is comparable with that of Bioglass(R)(5.56 MPa), currently used as a bio-material. Although none of the composites are ideal in all respects, they show sufficient promise to suggest that with further refinement, geopolymer materials may well be become candidates as bioactive ceramics.</p>
Modelling Pn Wave Speeds Beneath the Central North Island, New Zealand
Authors:   , Seward Anya Mira 
Published: November 2021

<p>A new method of modelling Pn-wave speeds is created. The method allows the predominant wavelength features of P-wave speeds in the uppermost mantle to be modelled, as well as estimating values of mantle anisotropy and irregularities in the crust beneath stations, using least-square collocation. A combination of National Network seismometers, local volcanic seismic monitoring networks and temporary deployments are used to collect arrival times from local events, during the period of 1990-2006. The dataset consists of approximately 11200 Pn observations from 3000 local earthquakes at 91 seismograph sites. The resulting model shows distinct variations in uppermost mantle Pn velocities. Velocities of less than 7.5 km/s are found beneath the back-arc extension region of the Central Volcanic Region, and under the Taranaki Volcanic Region, indicating the presence of water and partial melt. The region to the east shows extremely high velocities of 8.3-8.5 km/s, where the P-waves are traveling within the subducting Pacific slab. Slightly lower than normal mantle velocities of 7.8-8.1 km/s are found in the western North Island, suggesting a soft mantle. Pn anisotropy estimates throughout the North Island show predominately trench parallel fast directions, ceasing to nulls in the west. Anisotropy measurements indicate the strain history of the mantle. For the observed upper mantle Pn velocity of 7.3 km/s is one of the lowest seen in the world. Ray-tracing modelling indicate that this region extends to depths of at least 65 km, suggesting an area of elevated heat (700 - 1100 degrees C) at Moho depth. Elevated temperatures can be caused by the presence partial melt (0.4 % to 2.1 % depending on the amount of water present). Beneath the western North Island, the observed slower than normal mantle velocities, indicate a material of lowered shear modulus, susceptible to strain deformation. However, anisotropy estimations in this region, show no significant anisotropy, suggesting that this is a region of young mantle that hasn't had time to take up the signature of deformation. These observations can be explained by a detachment of the mantle lithosphere through a Rayleigh-Taylor instability more than 5 Ma.</p>
Riding the Biotechnology Wave: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Malaysia's Emerging Biotechnology Industry
Authors:   , Loh Melvyn Wei Ming 
Published: November 2021

<p>Building a sustainable bioeconomy requires strategic alliances, intellectual property,funding and talent. The research focus of this empirical study was to assess Malaysian biotechnology companies regarding their opinions on priorities and capabilities necessary to establish a thriving bioeconomy. The research questions that form the basis of this paper explore the extent to which initial factor endowments affect the trajectory of biotechnology industry development and how Malaysia should prioritise, mobilise and coordinate resources to build a bioeconomy. A mixed methods approach using qualitative interviews and case studies, as well as a quantitative survey, indicated that respondents advocated a resource-based-view in terms of resource allocation and agglomeration towards building Malaysia's bioecnomy. That is, there was strong support to leverage Malaysia's existing capabilities in agriculture and biofuels to derive value-added products towards gaining leadership positions in these respective biotechnology sectors globally. Access to funding and talent emerged as the highest priority capabilities necessary for commercialising discoveries, conducting research and development and accelerating innovation. Respondents perceived the government as having a 'very important' role in building and accelerating the Malaysian biotechnology industry. The gap between required capabilities and strategic priorities provides a framework within which the government may play a central role in coordinate, accelerating and resourcing Malaysia's nascent bioeconomy.</p>
The Impact of Anthropogenic Land-Use Change on Soil Organic Carbon, Oporae Valley, Lake Tutira, New Zealand
Authors:   , Boys Roderick Charles James 
Published: November 2021

<p>During the anthropocene land use change has exacerbated erosion of the Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) rich topsoil in the Oporae Valley. As well as reducing the SOC content of the contemporary topsoil, the large scale redistribution of sediment has created a quantifiable long-term SOC sink in paleosols. Using contemporary native forest soils as a proxy, pasture covered topsoils contain ~40% less SOC (a loss of 5,338 T/[square kilometer] SOC). The pre-human paleosol at ~200 cm, an average 32 cm thickness, contains 9180 T/[square kilometer]. Significantly more SOC buried at depth than what currently exists in the contemporary topsoil indicates the relative importance of paleosols as C stores and the role of land use change on SOC. The preservation characteristics of a paleosol in the Oporae Valley are determined by slope angle and the relative position they hold in relation to the inter-fingering of the alluvial toeslope with the colluvial footslope. Groupings of [radioisotope carbon-14] ages in and above the pre-human paleosol allow for calculation of terrestrial sedimentation rates. At ~0.9 mm yr^-1 the terrestrial pre-human sedimentation rate averaged over the valley floor is approximately half (0.53) of the corresponding pre-human lake rate of ~1.7 mm yr^-1. As a proportion of the lake's anthropogenic sedimentation rate at ~4.8 mm yr^-1, the terrestrial anthropogenic sedimentation rate has slightly increased to ~2.8 mm yr^-1 (0.58 of the lake sedimentation rate). These initial findings demonstrate the potential for further research in this area, so that ongoing land-use change can be accurately incorporated into terrestrial carbon accounting.</p>
Toward Marketing as a Discursive Practice: Rethinking the Discipline's Philosophical Foundations
Authors:   , Stewart David Murray 
Published: November 2021

<p>It has been claimed that marketing needs to create a new 'paradigm'. Following a critical analysis of marketing' s philosophical foundations the thesis argues that the discipline should instead seek to build upon the 'linguistic' or 'postmodern' turns in the philosophy of science: a turn that has already been embraced by seemingly related disciplines like sociology, history and anthropology, for example. By connecting to this development, and the approaches that it has engendered such as narrative theory, neo-pragmatism and the notion of a discursive practice, marketing will be better able to develop more useful knowledge or practical wisdom ('phronesis'). A new approach to the generation of marketing knowledge based on praxis will enable three problems that have become apparent in the field over the past decade to be overcome. First, the debate whether marketing is an art or a science can be resolved. Second, the gap between the marketing discipline and practitioners can be closed. Third, the stagnant state of marketing theory can be invigorated. An exemplary case study, which explores the launch of Air New Zealand's 'Domestic Express' service, demonstrates how such an approach to marketing might be operationalised and the added value that it could provide, both to marketing theorists and marketing practitioners.</p>
Community Involvement and Participation in Tourism Development in Tanzania: A Case Study of Local Communities in Barabarani Village, Mto wa Mbu, Arusha-Tanzania
Authors:   , Michael Muganda 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis discusses the involvement and participation of local communities in tourism development in Tanzania using a case study of local communities in Barabarani village, Mto wa Mbu, Arusha. To explore this research topic, the thesis examines three key concepts: community participation in the tourism development decision-making process; community participation in the sharing of tourism benefits; and the contribution of tourism development to poverty alleviation. To achieve these systematically, the research is guided by five inter-related research questions: (1) what are the views of local people towards community involvement in tourism development; (2) what are appropriate roles of local people in tourism development; (3) to what extent do local people participate in the tourism development decision-making process; (4) to what extent have tourism businesses developed benefit-sharing schemes; and (5) what are the views of the local people on the contribution of tourism development towards poverty reduction. To gain a rich understanding of the context of the research, the thesis employs a case study approach, which enables: investigation at the community level to bring together perspectives from the grass-root level, where little research on this topic has been done; involvement of multiple stakeholders that explores perspectives from a range of stakeholders (ordinary members of the community, decision-makers within the community, tourism professionals, tourism businesses and NGOs); and the use of multiple methods (household survey, interviews, field observations, document analysis, and informal discussions). Such an approach improves the validity of the findings and successfully addresses the central research questions. Both quantitative and qualitative data generated from these techniques are analysed, integrated and compared, and are used to complement each other. Based on the findings obtained from multiple methods, this research concludes that local people wish to play a role in the tourism development decision-making process. In general, local people want to see decisions about tourism development in their area made jointly by government officials and local leaders in consultation with the local community. They also want to be involved in the sharing of tourism benefits. Tourism businesses have developed benefit-sharing schemes that favour local people to access tourism benefits. These schemes include local employment, local capacity building, and sharing tourism profits with the wider community. Tourism development is contributing positively towards poverty alleviation, and has made improvement on accessibility, prices of goods and services, employment, entrepreneurial training, income-generating projects, household incomes and general quality of life though the extent of contribution vary from one aspect to another.</p>
Embodying Disney Dreams: the Representation of Femininity and Whiteness in Recent Disney Animated Films
Authors:   , Maplesden Allison 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis proposes to critically examine the ways in which whiteness and femininity are represented in recent Disney animated films. It will be contended that the Disney text is an influential part of the popular cultural discourse on femininity and whiteness but this is often obscured or made invisible by the ways in which the films work to naturalise these constructions. The work of this thesis will be to unpack the constructions of femininity and whiteness through an analysis of the figuration of the Disney heroine. This thesis will argue that idealized whiteness and femininity are discursively embodied in these Disney heroines in complex and contradictory ways, and that Disney works on and through these bodies to fix and contain the ideological constructions of gender, race, and sexuality.</p>
Structural and Hydrothermal Inferences from a Magnetotelluric Survey across Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand
Authors:   , Dravitzki Stacey Maree 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis explains the electrical conductivity structure of Mt. Ruapehu. To identify hydrothermal or volcanic components of the volcano, data from 25 magnetotelluric sites are analyzed. Data collected are first analyzed in the time domain prior to conversion into the frequency domain. Here, data are remote referenced, and the impedance tensors, tippers, apparent resistivity and phase values are calculated. These components are then analyzed to identify major features within the data. The new phase tensor ellipse method is applied to identify influential features and determine the dimensionality of data. This analysis indicates where it is appropriate to apply 1 or 2 dimensional inversion schemes. Dimensionality analysis led to 1-D modelling of the determinant impedance at each site; and limited 2-D profiles across the Tongariro Volcanic Centre boundaries. These models are used to create a simple 3-D structural model of the volcano that is then forward modelled. The results of the 3-D forward modelling indicate that the dominating features of the volcano's electrical structure have been identified in the previous models. Crater Lake is the only possible hydrothermal system on Mt. Ruapehu identified in this study. It is also very unlikely that any large coherent bodies of magma exist in the near surface. However, a second thin conductor laying somewhere between 10 and 30 km deep beneath the eastern flank may contain 13% melt and is the probable driving heat force beneath the volcano. The structure of Mt. Ruapehu can be split into seven layers. A resistive surface layer (100 ohm m) of young volcanic debris within the Tongariro Volcanic Centre that is up to 500 m thick near the crater. A conductive layer (10 - 30 ohm m) of wet, fractured and altered volcanic debris underlaying the younger debris throughout the Tongariro Volcanic Centre. A layer of Tertiary sediment under the Tongariro Volcanic Centre that extends to the south and west. This layer is electrically indistinguishable from the previous layer and extends to approximately sea level. A resistive layer (400 ohm m), and consistent with greywacke basement covers the entire field area. A second conductive layer (20 ohm m) is identified under the eastern flank of the volcano somewhere between the depths of 10 and 30 km. This layer is likely to be the heat and magma source driving the volcanic activity. A surrounding resistive layer extends beyond and below the second conductive layer mentioned above. This surrounding layer is electrically similar to the greywacke above. A very high resistivity layer (7000 ohm m) is identified below 80 km deep, and may be associated with the land/sea boundary or subduction zone to the east.</p>
Mechanisms in Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering
Authors:   , Meyer Matthias 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis focusses on a number of topics in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The aim of the undertaken research was to deepen the general understanding of the SERS effect and, thereby, to clarify some of the disputed issues, among them: What is the origin of the enhancement? What is the physical or chemical effect of 'salt activation' in SERS systems? Can we observe single-molecules using SERS? Can we determine the absorbate's orientation on the surface? In part one (chapters 1-3), as a general introduction, I start with a short overview of the Raman effect and its relation to other molecular spectroscopic effects (such as fluorescence, Rayleigh scattering, etc... ). Following these basic remarks, the surface enhancementmechanisms underlying SERS are explained (as a largely electromagnetic field enhancement) and are investigated theoretically on the canonicalmodel of a nanoscopic dimer of silver spheres. The second part (chapter 4) reports on the experimental investigation (electron microscopy, in-situ Raman measurements) of a typical real SERS system: Lee & Meisel silver colloids. An emphasis is put on the self-limiting aggregation kinetics which is observed in such systems after salt addition. This is also investigated and rationalised by means of Monte-Carlo simulations which are footed on empiric theoretical considerations for the interaction potential. Part three (chapter 5) contains a discussion of the early attempts on singlemolecule SERS and points out the shortcomings of the previously used ultra-lowconcentration approach. In response, an improved andmore rigorous approach is presented: Bi-Analyte SERS. Examplary applications of the technique are discussed. Within these experiments the capability of the technique to prove/disprove (with statistical soundness) single-molecule sensitivity in any SERS system is demonstrated, and single-molecule enhancement factors are derived. The last part (chapter 6) presents computational studies based on densityfunctional theory and its use in the context of Raman spectroscopy and SERS. Of particular interest here were the Raman tensors, their visual representation appropriate in the SERS case, their relation to the relative intensities of Raman peaks, and their modification when the photon energy approaches the electronic resonance of the molecule. Last, but not least, a conclusion chapter is presented, where I highlight what has contributed by the thesis to the general understanding of the SERS effect.</p>
Blended Action Learning: Supporting Leadership Learning in the New Zealand ECE Sector
Authors:   , Thornton Kathryn Ruth 
Published: November 2021

<p>The purpose of this research study was to explore the use of information communication technology (ICT) to support leadership development in the New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) sector. There is currently a lack of policy and provision supporting leadership development in this sector. Previous research has identified the value of leadership development programmes that encourage reflective practice, peer collaboration, and a focus on problemsolving in reallife situations. ICT has the potential to support leadership learning using action learning, a process that involves groups of learners working on issues or problems that they face in their professional contexts with the support of a facilitator. Although action learning groups most often meet facetoface, ICT is increasingly being used to support or in some cases replace traditional meetings. This research study, which took the form of interpretive case research, involved the establishment of two blended action learning groups facilitated by the researcher. The participants in this study both met facetoface in facilitated workshops and interacted online while back at their respective workplaces for ongoing reflection, discussion and the sharing of knowledge and resources. The open source software Moodle was the enabling technology used in this study and the ICTs employed included email, online reflective journals, forum discussions and chat sessions. A model of leadership learning using ICT was developed through the analysis of data from this study. This model illustrates the leadership journeys taken by participants who increased their awareness of leadership through a process of recognising, reflecting, realising and responding. This led to increased confidence in their leadership practice and in some cases resulted in a greater distribution of leadership. Four key factors contributing to the leadership learning process were identified to be the blended action learning process, the blended action learning groups, the ICT tools used and the role of the blended action learning facilitator who acted as both an enabler of learning and a trusted inquisitor. This study contributes to our understanding of the process of leadership development using ICT, in particular the role of the blended action learning facilitator and the process of leadership learning.</p>
Local Visual Processing in High Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Scorers.
Authors:   , McLean Lisa Mae 
Published: November 2021

<p>Reaction times for big and small letters (global and local levels) were compared and examined to see whether differences would occur between a low scoring and high scoring Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder (OCD) group. OCD patients have been shown to notice and pay more attention to small details (local bias) compared to most other populations (Shapiro, 1965; Yovel et al. 2006; Caberea et al., 2001). Although there is research supporting a local bias in OCD patients, it is unclear whether the bias occurs in the early stages of visual processing or in a later memory stage (Moritz & Wendt, 2006; Hermans et al, 2008). The study specifically examined a potential local bias for high OCD scorers in the early visual stage by manipulating perceptual and attentional mechanisms in two hierarchical letter tasks (Navon, 1977; Miller, 1981a, Plaisted et al. 1999). In Experiment 1, participants were told which level (the big or small letter) to respond to, results showed that high OCD scorers responded faster to local letters, showing support for a local processing advantage. Conversely, the low OCD group responded quicker to the global level. The finding of a local advantage in Experiment 1 suggests that the local advantage may be due to perceptual mechanisms as attention was already directed to the relevant level. However, in Experiment 2 where attention was not directed and the image quality was manipulated, local and global advantage effects were not replicated for the high and low OCD groups respectively. This showed that attentional and perceptual mechanisms did not make one level easier to process over the other. Therefore, it is possible that any local bias for OCD patients occurs in a later processing stage.</p>