bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Extensions of Markov Modulated Poisson Processes and Their Applications to Deep Earthquakes
Authors:   , Lu Shaochuan 
Published: November 2021

<p>The focus of this thesis is on the Markov modulated Poisson process (MMPP) and its extensions, aiming to propose appropriate statistical models for the occurrence patterns of main New Zealand deep earthquakes. Such an attempt might be beyond the scope of the MMPP and its extensions, however we hope its main patterns can be characterized by current models proposed in three parts of the thesis. The first part of the thesis is concerned with introductions and preliminaries of discrete time hidden Markov models (HMMs) and MMPP. The exibility in model formulation and openness in model framework of HMMs are reviewed in this part, suggesting also possible extensions of MMPP. The second part of the thesis is mainly about several extensions of MMPP. One extension of MMPP is by associating each occurrence of MMPP with a mark. Such an extension is potentially useful for spatial-temporal modelling or other point processes with marks. A special case of this type of extension is by allowing the multiple observations of MMPP synchronized together under the same Markov chain. This extension opens the possibility of modelling multiple point process observations with weak dependence. The third extension is motivated by the attempt to describe small scale temporal clustering existing in the deep earthquakes via treating the recognized aftershocks as marks which itself forms a finite point process. The rest of the second part focuses on some information theoretical aspects of MMPPs such as the entropy rate of the underlying Markov chain and observed point process respectively and their mutual information rate. A conjecture on the possible links between mutual information rate of MMPP and the Fisher information of the estimated parameters is suggested. The second part on extensions of MMPP is featured by the derivation of the likelihood and complete likelihood, parameter estimation via EM algorithm, state smoothing estimation and model evaluation through systematic applications of rescaling theory of multivariate point processes and marked point processes. The third part of the thesis includes the applications of these methods to the deep earthquakes in New Zealand. We first evaluate the data coverage, catalogue completeness and explore its descriptive characteristics and empirical properties such as epicentral distributions, depth distributions and magnitude distributions. Clustering behavior is studied via the second order moment analysis of point processes in the chapter 8. We also apply, the stress release models and the ETAS models which are usually used for shallow earthquakes, to the New Zealand deep earthquakes and provide tentative explanations of why they are not satisfactory for the deep earth-quakes. The chapter 9 is on the applications of MMPP and its extensions to the New Zealand deep earthquakes. Conclusions and future studies are presented in chapter 10.</p>
Practice Nurses Educational Needs in Mental Health: a Descriptive Exploratory Survey
Authors:   , Prince Anne Patricia 
Published: November 2021

<p>Background-Large numbers of patients see practice nurses (PNs) daily for their health care. Many of these patients will have a mental illness or a mental health (MH) need. International research suggests that the practice nurses are undertaking mental health assessment and interventions without the requisite skills and knowledge. This thesis reports on a study designed to quantify PNs work in mental health, to determine their education requirements and establish their confidence in the field of mental health. Methods-A postal survey was used to examine the nature of MH problems encountered by PNs, describe the MH interventions currently being used by them and identify the perceived learning needs of PNs in MH. Practice nurses in Hawkes Bay and Tairawhiti regions were surveyed. The questionnaire consisted of 33 open, closed and likert questions. Analysis was by descriptive, correlation and inferential statistics plus content analysis for open questions. Findings-52 respondents completed the questionnaire and the results demonstrate that these PNs are caring for patients with an extensive range of mental health concerns daily. Most common are people with depression and anxiety. The nurses perform a wide range of MH interventions such as counselling and advice on medication and have minimal confidence in their skill level. The nurses expressed learning needs included recognition and management of a wide range of mental health conditions such as suicidal ideation and all types of depression, reflecting the range of conditions met. Other learning requirements included understanding of co-morbidity and how to screen for mental health. The preferred provider of education was community mental health services by means of a short course specifically designed to meet their needs. Discussion-Practice nurses require education and support specifically designed to meet their identified needs in mental health to help then improve the care to patients. This will require collaboration between secondary mental health services, primary mental health nurses and tertiary institutions. With targeted education these nurses should become more confident and competent in their dealings with people who present to their practice with a mental health concern.</p>
Rungs on a Ladder to Empowerment: Transforming End-user Computing Training in Port Vila, Vanuatu
Authors:   , Vetter Gayna 
Published: November 2021

<p>End-user training in ICT is a question that currently lurks on the outskirts of development activity. The focus of ICT in development is on implementation of the 'machinery' but lacks specific attention in the building of human capacity to drive and maintain this 'machinery'. The question of training end-users in computing in Port Vila, Vanuatu, was a driving force of this research. In pursuing the question, however, the participatory process, using focus groups to research local industry needs for training, led to the discovery of links between the participation used in researching this question to its use as pedagogy for end-user training. Using participatory action, we are more likely to encourage initiative in pursuing questions and achieving a more localised approach to endeavours such as training, research and development. This participatory approach is also seen as a method more widely applicable in education as well as development. The process lead to empowerment of the individuals involved in the research through raising critical consciousness and providing a form of agency. It raises the question of how to sustain this empowerment in order to lead to transformation. Actual transformation is seen as a quality that takes more than one attempt at empowerment and a temporary taste of agency. The thesis draws on the analogy of a group of people building a ladder together. They have rough building materials to work with but an abundance of their own ideas and their own ability. The ladder construction is participation, its frame exists but the rungs have yet to be attached. It is the process of interaction, exploration and communication in building the ladder together that becomes important. Transformation is in the process of building of the ladder as well as the finished product. It takes a continual construction effort, building on rungs put in place previously.</p>
Teacher-Student Relationships in Diverse New Zealand Year 10 Mathematics Classrooms: Teacher Care
Authors:   , Averill Robin 
Published: November 2021

<p>Teacher-student relationships are considered influential for academic achievement and motivation, particularly for students of minority and low socio-economic groups. Teacher care is an essential component of effective teacher-student relationships. This study examined factors that contribute to developing and maintaining caring teacher-student relationships in low socio-economic multicultural classrooms (Maori, Pasifika, New Zealand European). Three areas of teacher care were explored: care for students as individuals, their mathematical progress, and for students as culturally located individuals. The sample comprised three urban schools, one class and one teacher in each school for each of two years (six Year 10 mathematics teachers and their classes in total). Three data collection periods were used: the initial four weeks of the school year, and two weeks late in each of school terms 2 and 3. Each data collection period included classroom observations, teacher and student interviews, and teacher and student questionnaires. Within a holistic context of classroom well being, characteristics of caring teacherstudent relationships were found to fit within four dispositional aspects (liking, respecting, and being tolerant of each other, and being able to reflect one's personal identity), and four themes (knowing each other as people, knowing each other as learners, knowing each other's cultures, and enhancing feelings of cultural identity). Specific classroom practices found to be supportive of respectful caring teacher-student relationships included using humour, one-to-one teacher-student interactions, making opportunities for sharing personal identities, and expecting mathematical progress. Mixed results were obtained regarding how deeply students value their heritage cultures, whether or not they believe these are well reflected in their schools and classrooms, and the extent to which they would like them to be reflected in these places. There is evidence that for many Maori, Pasifika, and low socio-economic students, mathematics teachers can enhance students' motivation and mathematical achievement by using explicitly caring practices. Teachers must acknowledge and attend to caring teaching approaches to maximise their students' progress in, and enjoyment of, mathematics.</p>
An Investigation of the Effects of Ethnic Identity on Well-Being of Monoethnic and Multiethnic Children and Adolescents in Malaysia
Authors:   , Lum Ruth Mei Yin 
Published: November 2021

<p>Adolescence is the transition period from childhood into adulthood. During this period, self identity and ethnic identity become more salient. In recent years, intermarriage between different ethnicities has increased and is becoming increasingly common in Malaysia. This current study aims to investigate the relationships of ethnic identity to well-being of children and adolescents in Malaysia who are from monoethnic and multiethnic backgrounds. This study will also look at the implications ethnic identity and ethnic status (monoethnic or multiethnic) have on self-esteem, perceived discrimination, life satisfaction, bullying and antisocial behaviour. There were 261 participants from Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, Malaysia; 106 males, 152 females and 4 did not state their gender. Age ranged from 10 to 16 years old. 178 participants were monoethnic and 83 participants were multiethnic. Children and adolescents showed no differences on ethnic identity when compared by ethnic group and by ethnic state. This study also found positive correlations between ethnic identity and self esteem, self esteem and life satisfaction and perceived discrimination and antisocial behaviour. There were significant negative correlations between perceived discrimination and self esteem, antisocial behaviour and self esteem, and antisocial behaviour and life satisfaction. Those who were bullies were also more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour as compared to nonbullies/nonvictims and victims. The findings gave insight to the ethnic identity of Malaysian children and adolescents who are monoethnic and multiethnic. This research also lends support to past research regarding relationships between self esteem, life satisfaction, bullying, perceived discrimination and antisocial behaviour. All factors that were found to be good correlates of psychological well being were discussed.</p>
Under Construction: National Identity and the Display of Colonial History at the National Museum of Singapore and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Authors:   , Waite Julia 
Published: November 2021

<p>In New Zealand and Singapore, national identity is inextricably linked to the processes of colonisation, decolonisation and the gaining of political independence. Unlike highlytheorized accounts of national identity, this study provides a deeper understanding of the ways in which it is actually developed, materialised and negotiated in 'real world' examples through history exhibitions at Te Papa and the National Museum of Singapore. The research provides a fresh perspective on recent displays of colonial history and how they shape and are shaped by the concerns of present-day nation-building particularly in former British colonies including Asia. It seeks to move beyond the existing literature which has been concerned with deconstructing national identity as a cultural construct to consider the ongoing process of updating, remaking and maintaining identity through museum display. Using a qualitative approach, this dissertation incorporates archival research, interviews, theoretical and historical literature, and visual analysis of exhibitions to contextualise and analyse the similarities and differences in the history exhibitions mounted at these two recently redeveloped museums. The Day 1 history exhibitions at Te Papa, opened in 1998, form the core of this study, while the chapter on Singapore provides an added layer of comparative depth, helping to broaden the picture of national museums and nationalism more generally. This research explores how national museums negotiate, on the one hand, the material and intellectual legacy of previous inherited definitions of 'the nation', while on the other responding to the contemporary expectations which arise from present-day conceptualizations of nations and national identity. My findings suggest that the construction of national identity is not independent from socio-political contexts, and that the political ideals of multiculturalism and biculturalism helped to foster inclusive and politically harmonious visions of national identity in the National Museum of Singapore and Te Papa. The conclusion argues that national museums' participation in the public articulation and definition of a collective idea of 'the nation' is unstable, contradictory and contested but nonetheless worthy of serious academic research.</p>
Female Reproductive Strategies and the Ovarian Cycle in Hamadryas Baboons
Authors:   , Tobler R. E. 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis examines the relationship between sexual behaviour and the ovarian cycle in a group-living primate, Papio h. hamadryas. Of particular interest is whether females modify their ovarian cycle in a manner that is expected increase their reproductive success. The study was conducted on a captive colony where the resident males (RM) had been vasectomised prior to start of the study resulting in all mature females undergoing repeated ovarian cycling throughout the study period. This made the analysis of sexual behaviour relative to fine scale changes in the ovarian cycle possible. One year of ovarian cycle data and 280 hours of behavioural data was collected via observational sampling during the study. RM vasectomisation did not alter the archetypal one male unit social structure nor the typical socio-spatial organisation of wild hamadryas populations. Females were found to be more promiscuous than in wild populations, however, presumably because of the confounding effect that the high number of simultaneously cycling females had on RM herding (Chapter 1). RMs dominated copulations over the optimal conceptive period of the ovarian cycle, while the majority of extra-OMU copulations occurred outside this period and were rarely solicited by females. This pattern supports a dual paternity concentration/paternity confusion strategy, and not female choice or fertility insurance strategies (Chapter 2). Females were not found to synchronise or asynchronise their cycles over the 1 year study period, although a review of the literature on hamadryas breeding patterns suggests that they may be able to do so over shorter periods (Chapter 3). Females did, however, appear to regulate the length of the turgescent phase of their ovarian cycle in a manner that would facilitate a paternity confusion strategy and maximise their expected fitness payoff (Chapter 4). Consequently, this study provides empirical evidence that female hamadryas baboons manipulate their ovarian cycle in a manner that is expected to increase their reproductive success.</p>
Using a Local Network to Support Internationalisation: a Case Study from New Zealand
Authors:   , Kambaran Vickesh 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis explores how collaboration amongst a network of companies can lead to successful internationalisation. Positioned between the network and internationalisation literature, this research used a successful case study where a New Zealand company supported by a network local of companies won a $21 million export contract to supply retail payment terminals to a Malaysian oil company. The research focused on the network formation, structure and evolution over time. In addition, the roles and performance of the network were also examined. The research method focused on a successful case and involved in-depth interviews with senior management of four companies. This was coupled with network analysis based on data extracted from the interview transcripts. Capturing chronological data was made possible by using a historical approach. There are several insights worth noting that surfaced from the results. First, relationally embedded ties appear to have reinforcing network effects. For example, the case shows how relationally embedded ties influence resource acquisition. Second, in examining the evolution of the network over time, the data captured shows how a closed network formed bridges across structural holes, leading to 'structural autonomy.' The third contribution of this research is the identification and integration of internationalisation theories within the case. As such, this thesis has made a series of contributions to the area of network dynamics that supports successful internationalisation.</p>
Regression Results of the Union Impact on Pay Levels in New Zealand Public Service
Authors:   , Feinberg-Danieli Goldie 
Published: November 2021

<p>International studies almost uniformly conclude that union members receive higher wages than their non-union counterparts. This study investigates differences between collective and individual salaries using the New Zealand State Services Commission's Human Resources Capability Survey 2005. It explores the impact of collective bargaining on pay by controlling for a large number of employee and employer characteristics. As very little research has been carried out on the subject in New Zealand, I focused on the international literature in order to identify the major factors that explain the magnitude of union/non-union wage differential. Major industrial changes, which have shaped the NZ public service bargaining structure and its outcomes are identified. A range of statistical tests are used to examine the pay differences between collective and individual agreements in New Zealand public service. I, first, carry out basic comparisons of the average collective and individual wages across gender, employment type, occupations, ethnicity, age, employer size and tenure, followed by numerous multivariate regressions to work out the true contributing factors to the union/non-union wage differential. Finally, I analyze the results in the unique NZ context to allow new ideas and theory to emerge and compare it to international trends. Looking at the basic comparisons, I found that, in the New Zealand public service, employees on individual agreements earn significantly higher wages then those who are covered by collective agreements. However, multivariate analyses have revealed a different picture. The study found that occupational composition is the largest contributor to the variability in collective/individual pay in NZPS. With the exception of the senior, high skilled and specialised employees, no pay differential was found between collective or individual agreements in the New Zealand public service.</p>
The Primacy of Ownership and the Problem of Plunder in Archaic Greece
Authors:   , Brunsting Nelson 
Published: November 2021

<p>The goal of this thesis is to extract from the Homeric and Hesiodic poems Archaic Greek thought on the concept of personal ownership and its interrelation with plunder. As is often the case when working with the Iliad and Odyssey, the discussion is broader in focus than is currently the norm for academic theses. In this instance a wide-ranging scope is necessary, since the purpose is to identify patterns concerning ownership and plunder in the epics. The process of extrapolating the depictions of life in the Homeric epics to the conditions and realities of Archaic Greece is achieved most effectively by ascertaining unified portrayals of concepts as opposed to minutely analyzing singular occurrences in the works...</p>
'...So Yeah, You Do What You Can ...': Exploring the Barriers to Women's Opportunities for Physical Activity
Authors:   , Northcott Marilyn Colleen 
Published: November 2021

<p>This research was prompted by the Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) survey study Obstacles to Action: A study of New Zealanders Physical Activity and Nutrition 2006. The study found a segment of respondents who were too busy and too stressed to take part in physical activity with any regularity, 67% were women. This finding invites closer examination of the kinds of barriers that keep women from having opportunities for physical activity: Why is it difficult for women in the 'Busy and Stressed' segment to be able to participate in physical activity? Many studies of physical activity are conducted from a health perspective examined as a population measure assessed in terms of frequency, intensity and duration, and fail to consider the multiple influences that shape women's physical activity decisions. Missing from the literature so far has been a comprehensive look at the factors affecting women's participation in physical activity from the context of their daily lives. This thesis draws on key literature from feminism, leisure studies and psychology and looks specifically at the social and personal context that lies behind women's decision-making about participating in physical activity. My methodology was based in Feminism and guided by Ecological Theory. Data collected from three focus group discussions centered on personal, social and environmental themes engaged the participants in sharing experiences that influence their opportunities for physical activity. Nineteen women between the ages of 25 and 49 participated in the focus groups. Most of them were in situations where they were juggling partners, work, study, and children and therefore were similar to SPARC's busy and stressed segment, and were not getting the recommended amount of physical activity. Results show that while the women's attitudes and experiences of physical activity were very positive, and they mainly had good levels of support, there was little time or opportunity to be able to participate in physical activity with any regularity. Women continue to be over represented as inactive in physical activity research, however there is less research at present that includes the voices of women about the trade-offs, uncertainties and negotiations involved in their opportunities to be physically active. This study addresses what I see as a significant gap in the research.</p>