bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Ethics of Treaties: A Humean Account
Authors:   , Riley Steven Guy 
Published: December 2021

<p>This thesis concerns the reasons that states have to comply with their treaty commitments. It aims to answer two questions. Firstly, what reason does signing a treaty give to a state to act in accordance with the treaty? Secondly, assuming that there is such a reason, how does entering into a treaty generate that reason? One answer to these questions is to say that treaties are kinds of promises between states. To enter into a treaty is to make a promise and promises should be kept. But promises are a puzzling way of generating reasons for action. It is not clear how it is possible to create a reason to do something merely by communicating an intention to create a reason. So, to say that treaties are promises seems merely to transpose this puzzle from the relations between individual persons to international affairs and the relations between states. In this thesis I endorse a view of treaty making that understands treaties as promises as the philosopher David Hume understands them. I argue that this provides a plausible account of treaty making. I suggest that the resulting view, which I label ‘Treaty as Humean Promise,’ provides plausible and appealing answers to the two questions mentioned above. Treaty as Humean Promise claims that states entering treaties create self-interested reasons to comply with those treaties. They do this by invoking an independent social convention of treaty making one of the rules of which is that treaties must be kept. Continued access to this social convention is important to states. They jeopardise this continued access by violating their treaties and giving their treaty partners, and potential treaty partners, reason to withdraw future trust in them. I set this out in chapters 1 and 2. In chapter 3 I claim that Treaty as Humean Promise can make sense of the intuition that there are moral reasons to comply with treaties. In chapter 4 I look at what Treaty as Humean Promise has to say about different types of treaty. In chapters 5 and 6 I discuss Hume’s own views on treaty making. I offer a charitable reading of some puzzling remarks by Hume from a section of A Treatise of Human Nature called ‘Of the laws of nations’. In doing so, I defend Hume against a number of his critics. In the final two chapters I discuss a ‘political realist’ account of treaties. I distinguish between ‘act’ and ‘rule’ variants of political realism. Political realists, I suggest, should be rule realists at least about treaties. This means that they should endorse and follow the rule that treaties should be kept all else being equal.</p>
Rainfall in Vietnam
Authors:   , Nguyen Quang Dang 
Published: December 2021

<p>The thesis is a comprehensive analysis of the climate of Vietnam, concentrating on rainfall. Vietnam lies in the tropical northern hemisphere in a region that is influenced by the South Asian, East Asian and Australian monsoons. Rainfall here is associated with several different mechanisms, such as the monsoon, tropical cyclones, topography, and so on. From the initial climatological analysis, monsoon and non-monsoon rainfall is investigated. Non-monsoon rainfall is found to be related to a vortex often found off the coast of Vietnam, a newly-understood extension of the “Borneo vortex”. The thesis begins with a study of the surface climate and the general atmospheric circulation over the Southeast Asian region, which dominates Vietnam’s climate. Trends of surface temperature and rainfall were investigated for a 40 year period (1971-2010), using a newly-extended dataset of 60 stations. Vietnam’s average temperature has increased at a rate of 0.26 ± 0.10°C per decade since the 1970s, approximately twice the rate of global warming over the same period. The increase in temperature is statistically significant in most sub-regions. Trends in rainfall are however mostly insignificant in that period. Temperature and rainfall variability are shown to be linked to ENSO on both a national and sub-regional scale. The rainfall climate of Vietnam has been studied in depth, particularly the characteristics of monsoon rainfall and the variability of the length of wet and dry seasons. That investigation has led to the development of an objective monsoon index, based on regional mean sea level pressure and low level zonal wind. While originally developed to define onset and withdrawal dates for the monsoon in Vietnam and over Southeast Asia, the index is shown to be applicable in all monsoon regions of the globe, the first objective index to have such global utility. The final part of the thesis deals with tropical vortex activity and its associated rainfall. Vortices exist almost year-round, migrating from the coast of Vietnam – Southeast Asian Sea - Philippines in summer to the Borneo Island region in winter. Clear evidence is found for the presence of a semi-permanent vortex near the south coast of Vietnam or the north of the Southeast Asian Sea – Maritime Continent (SEASMC) region. It is this vortex and the tropical cyclones over the SEASMC region that significantly contribute to the Vietnam rainfall, particularly the post-monsoon rainfall in Central Vietnam.</p>
Quinine, Whisky, and Sun Helmets: Amateur Medicine in British East and South-Central Africa, 1890-1939
Authors:   , Wells Julia 
Published: December 2021

<p>Historians have extensively studied colonial doctors in Africa, and the connection between colonial medical services and imperial power. The focus has, however, fallen almost exclusively on medical practice by trained, qualified, and professional doctors and nurses, and neglected amateur treatments carried out by white settlers. This project explores amateur medical treatment in rural parts of British East and South-Central Africa, primarily Kenya and Rhodesia, between 1890 and 1939. It draws upon a range of memoirs, novels, letters, and advice books, most notably the memoirs of white settler women including Karen Blixen, Elspeth Huxley, Hylda Richards, and Alyse Simpson. The time period is characterised by a marked contrast between the emergence of tropical medicine and hygiene on the one hand, and, on the other, a continuation of nineteenth-century medical ideas, techniques, and widespread fears of the tropical climate. During the 1890s, tropical medicine and hygiene developed as specialised professional fields of expertise. Yet despite substantial tropical medical advances during and after the 1890s, the disease environment of East and South-Central Africa remained associated with high mortality and morbidity for white settlers. White bodies continued to be viewed, in the popular mind, as profoundly vulnerable to the African environment. Pre-germ theory etiologies of disease and treatment techniques persisted within white settler communities. This thesis studies the medical skills, ideas, and practices of white settlers in the region. It demonstrates that much of settlers’ medical care was performed by other settlers, positioning amateur treatment as crucial to colonial health. The discussion considers advice produced and disseminated through the flourishing print culture of African guidebooks and tropical medical handbooks; tropical outfitting; the translation of popular medical and hygiene advice into white settler practice; and the amateur treatment techniques (most importantly, quinine, alcohol, and disinfectant) and body protection methods that feature in memoirs and letters. Malaria forms a major theme in amateur treatment and prevention. The thesis also examines white settler women’s amateur medical practice in African communities, and the shifting patterns of agency and colonial hegemony within these intimate medical encounters. It argues that settlers’ medical practice displayed a distinctive set of techniques and ideas that adapted, re-worked, and re-interpreted professional medical advice. It concludes that settlers’ amateur medical practice formed an essential element of colonial medicine and bolstered British authority in the region.</p>
Making Rebels: The New Zealand Socialist Party, 1901-1913
Authors:   , Dunick Mark 
Published: December 2021

<p>The New Zealand Socialist Party (NZSP) was the first radical socialist party in this country. The decade in which it existed was a time of rapid social change. The NZSP began in 1901 as a reaction against the Liberal Party which dominated New Zealand politics at the time. In its first five years the party had two main branches in Wellington and Christchurch, but it grew rapidly after 1907 with the expansion of industrial unionism. The NZSP was overshadowed by the Federation of Labour and never developed a coherent national organisation. As the working class began to organise nationally to challenge the Massey Government, the NZSP failed to adapt to the new political situation and dissolved in 1913. The party began as a group of marginal outsiders, but as society changed and class became an important political factor, the NZSP played an important role in spreading new ideas and educating a generation of socialists. When the NZSP ended in 1913 the ideas it had promoted were widely accepted among New Zealand’s organised working class.</p>
Universal Sanctum: For Anyone from any Religion seeking Spiritual Realisation through Interior Architecture
Authors:   , Nanji Shamal 
Published: December 2021

<p>In the realm of religion, when rituals and prayers become a routine or a default reaction, often prescribed by elders, they lose value and meaning. In the modern era, we have distanced ourselves from the past ideals of religion. Nevertheless, we continue to seek meaning in life beyond material objects. The connection to the inner-self establishes this meaning and purpose. From this understanding, I realised that all religions, despite their subtle differences lead to spirituality and enlightenment. The idea that architecture can provide a universal middle ground between people and which they truly seek, is the context from which my thesis proposal derives from. My thesis question: How can the design of a Universal space of spiritual devotion be realised through exploration and manipulation of spatial qualities within sacred architecture, in a contemporary inner-city context? Thus, this thesis will look into the architectural genre of Sacred Space in a contemporary setting. The objective will be to investigate the significance of sacred architecture and the common qualities between the various religions and their respective places of worship. The focus will be to propose an interior space which can be deemed sacred by any one from any religion seeking spiritual upliftment. In doing so, the space will intend to unify people from different religious and cultural backgrounds, and lead them towards the common goal of connecting with the inner self. The key theory investigated in this research looks at the case of religion for today’s society, interpretation of spirituality in the east and the west, defining sacred architecture and all that it entails, and the need for this typology in the contemporary world. The contextual basis of this thesis will focus on New Zealand and the predominantly contemporary and diverse culture of the country. The rise in various ethnicities and technological advances means that the presence of a universal space of spiritual reflection and gathering is necessary now more than ever. In my observation, there is a noticeable lack of contemporary sacred architecture, in New Zealand. Perhaps this is the result of our predominantly Secular society. My proposal will aspire to see through this absence and attend to the need of spatial experience to mediate between people and which they spiritually seek.</p>
MIRNY. The Prison of Time
Authors:   , Vasilevskyte Eiva 
Published: December 2021

<p>Speculative architecture is sometimes used by speculative architects to enhance our awareness of dystopian elements that thread their way through societies, even when a society is striving for utopian ideals. This contradiction exists because a dystopia to one person may be viewed as a utopia to another – and dystopian conditions can sometimes become so commonplace that they are no longer viewed as out of the ordinary. The site for this design research investigation is Mirny, Yakutia, Siberia, located 450 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle – a city of almost one million people with no access by road, set in permafrost year-round. The city developed around the open pit Mirny diamond mine that once brought wealth to the community; but while the diamonds are now mostly gone, the mine remains – one of the largest, toxic open holes in the world. With the depletion of diamonds, the city became largely forgotten, but the population remained. Yakutia is defined by the enormous pit and its decades-old, never-changing, Soviet-era architecture – lost in time. The utopian ideal from which the city was born is now shrouded in dystopian conditions. But the people, those born in the city who have lived there all their lives, have known nothing else; they remain unaware of the utopian/dystopian contradiction. This thesis looks at how transformations within our evolving built environments can result in contradiction. It challenges speculative architecture to enhance our ability to recognise such contradictions, distinguishing between utopian and dystopian urban conditions when they simultaneously define a city.</p>
Beyond the Tent - The application of a tool based approach to the exploration of aggregate building methodologies
Authors:   , Kent Dave 
Published: December 2021

<p>To the detriment of many, the act of building dwellings has become increasingly prohibitive. Materials costs and the cost of labour makes up a significant part of this expense. While this issue is becoming increasingly paramount in the western world where you have population increase (expected to be doubled by 2050), it is the genuinely vulnerable who are the most affected. This design research thesis explores the logic of aggregate assemblages as a potentially low cost, low skills base, rapid assembly (not construction) system that could assist in providing a solution to both post-disaster housing demands or refugee encampments where there is plentiful raw base clays or concreteous material. Aggregate assemblages require neither additives or fixings to bind together instead of relying solely and efficiently on their geometry to create connections. A 2004 internal UNHCR report suggested the average lifespan of a refugee camp was 17 years. Further, while providing little beyond basic shelter, the average lifecycle of a UN family tent is typically three months, hence requiring constant costly replacement. Additionally, political desires for non-permanent settlement solutions along with the potential for fluctuating landscapes induced by severe weather conditions suggest that space for an agile yet cohesive and robust rapid assembly methodology exists. Thus, this thesis proposes that interlocking aggregate assemblages could provide an alternative solution that would be a valuable addition to the status quo. The research argues for an interlocking aggregate creation, and assembly method that goes beyond the tent to offer a durable, robust internal environment with high degrees of flexibility and customisation with its human end users in mind – through the following criteria: allows the occupant to stand up and move freely inside; Accommodates the preparation and cooking of meals under shelter; Can respond to a variety of site conditions: Can adapt to reflect cultural customary notions of space; Can increase the sense of safety and security.</p>
Ngā Raranga I Makere / Stitches Dropped In Time: An Oral History Study of Māori Community Archiving in Taranaki, 2014-2017.
Authors:   , Hall Claire 
Published: December 2021

<p>Community archiving is a movement with its origins in the grass-roots activities of documenting, recording and exploring community heritage in a way that focuses on community participation and ownership of records. This research was about a Māori archiving community of practice from Taranaki and investigated how the training they received created outcomes for their taonga archives and families. It did this by answering three research questions designed to identify how post-custodial trends in community archiving resonated with, or differed from, the methods employed by 11 former students of Te Pūtē Routiriata o Taranaki community archive in New Plymouth. This research took a qualitative oral history approach to data gathering and used thematic analysis to examine evidence gathered from three generations of whānau archivists. It investigated whether community archiving had enhanced their collections of whānau history passed down from generation to generation and connected the close family groups that were looking after them. This study proposes a concept of whānau-led collection management as a model of practice for flax-roots communities and public heritage institutions that work with taonga Māori. It explains the link between collectively caring for archival collections and positive outcomes for whānau engagement with te reo Māori and other forms of cultural identity building. It draws on international examples to suggest ways that practices of community archiving, such as digitisation and digital archiving, can bridge the gap between community-led and institutional methods of caring for tangible and intangible cultural heritage.</p>
Auditor Provided Tax Services, Income Shifting, And Default Risk
Authors:   , Zudana Arfian 
Published: December 2021

<p>This study investigates two capital markets effects of auditor provided tax services (APTS), a particular form of auditor provided non-audit services (APNAS). Firstly, this study examines the influence of APTS on income shifting by United States of America (U.S.) multinational companies and, secondly, this study examines the impact of APTS on default risk of all U.S. companies. There are two competing hypotheses on the impact of APNAS on the quality of the work of auditors and the empirical evidence is mixed. One strand of literature suggests that APNAS provide knowledge spillover effects and thus improve the quality of the work of the auditor. The other strand of literature suggests that APNAS impair the independence of the auditor and therefore lead to a decrease in the quality of the audit. APNAS may thus increase or decrease the value of audit as a governance mechanism. The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has banned several previously allowed APNAS such as bookkeeping, financial information systems design and implementation, appraisal and valuation, and internal audit. However, the SEC continues to permit auditors to provide tax services. This study extends the literature on APNAS by examining the effect of APTS on income shifting by multinational companies and on default risk. Using a sample of 10,248 firm-year observations on U.S. multinationals over the period 2002 – 2015 and the income shifting measurement model developed by Dyreng and Markle (2016), this study finds that APTS reduce outbound income shifting, which is consistent with knowledge spillover rather than impairment of independence. The result holds after addressing potential endogeneity concern and is robust to excluding observations from the financial crisis periods. Furthermore, the result holds after including firm-specific characteristics as influences on the income shifting parameters. Using a sample of 21,364 firm-year observations on U.S. firms over the period 2003 – 2016, this study finds that APTS have a positive relationship with default risk, consistent with impaired independence of the auditor. The result holds after addressing potential endogeneity concern and is robust to excluding the global financial crisis period. The effects of APTS on income shifting and default risk are therefore opposite in direction. However, the positive relationship between APTS and default risk is weaker for firms with high institutional holdings and a strong information environment, indicating that stronger corporate governance mitigates the impact of APTS on default risk. Furthermore, this study finds that the channel for the effect of APTS on default risk appears to be earnings quality. That is, APTS lower audit quality, thereby lowering earnings quality and increasing default risk. Given the cost of default, this is an important finding. Thus, taking the results on income shifting and default risk in combination, the question of the SEC continuing to permit auditors to provide tax services is left open to question.</p>
The Citizen and the Automated State: Exploring the Implications of Algorithmic Decision-making in the New Zealand Public Sector
Authors:   , Smith David 
Published: December 2021

<p>Algorithms increasingly influence how the state treats its citizens. This thesis examines how the New Zealand public sector’s use of algorithms in decision-making brings benefits, but also invites risks of discrimination, bias, intrusion into privacy and unfair decision-making. This thesis’s central conclusion is that these risks require a new response. New Zealand currently has a patchwork of existing protections which provide some deterrent against poor algorithmic decision-making. The Privacy Act 1993, Official Information Act 1982, New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, Human Rights Act 1993 and applicable administrative law principles can provide remedies and correct agencies’ poor behaviour in certain cases. But important gaps remain. This thesis examines these protections to show that they do not adequately stem cumulative and systemic harms, and suffer from important practical drawbacks. They do not provide the sound preventative framework that is needed; that is, one which ensures good public sector practice. This thesis proposes a new regulatory model for public sector use of algorithms. It argues that a key element of any effective regulatory response is the use of “algorithmic impact assessments”. These assessments would mitigate potential risks, and legitimise proportionate public sector use, of algorithms. It is also proposed that an independent regulator complements these assessments by issuing guidance, undertaking algorithm audits, and ensuring political accountability through annual reporting to Parliament. Agencies would have new obligations to disclose how and when algorithms are used in decision-making. Meanwhile, citizens would gain an enhanced right to reasons for algorithmic decisions affecting them and a right to human review. Together these measures would establish a model which would safeguard responsible and effective use of algorithms in New Zealand’s public sector.</p>