title: An explorative study of the encoding/decoding model in respect to television news in Papua New Guinea

authors: Lagdom, Nancy

subjects: Papua New Guinea Media

abstract: Television in Papua New Guinea strives to exist in a pluralistic society characterised by diverse local cultures and traditions that blend with Western influences. It is important to understand the role of television and its influence on such a pluralistic country as it continues to go through the process of nation building. Global advances in media and technology that will one day penetrate deep into such societies will need to be understood; however, this may not be possible without first setting the context for television, which is tied into the country’s post-colonial history. 
This study looks at television news producers and audiences in regard to the encoding/decoding model, in order to understand the role television has played in Papua New Guinea in terms of nation building. There is, however, very little literature on television news producers and audiences in PNG. As such, an explorative approach was taken to look into the encoding and decoding of EMTV news by journalists and student audiences.
The main questions addressed in this thesis are: Why do journalists make/report/produce news? How do journalist make/report/produce news? Why do student audiences watch news? How do student audiences watch news? What meanings are encoded by journalists onto the news discourse? What implications can be drawn from the news discourse? What meanings do student audiences decode from the news discourse?
The theoretical frameworks that inform this research include the “encoding/decoding” model of active audiences and the De-Westernizing Media model. A mixed method approach was taken, where four research methods were employed to look into encoding and decoding of EMTV news throughout its circuit of communication. In-depth interviews were carried out with four journalists, to understand their encoding roles, their personal motivations for the job, their perception of newsworthiness and the meanings they encode onto the news discourse. A total of 135 questionnaires were completed by student audiences, and a focus group was held with eight students. These were to understand audience encoding roles and experiences, their personal motivations for watching, their perception of newsworthiness, the meanings they decode and their overall perception of EMTV news. To further understand meanings within news discourse, a discourse analysis was carried out on a representative news sample to identify the implications embedded in the representative news bulletin.
By the end of the research, and after collating and analysing the data it was concluded that EMTV news has contributed negatively to nation building because of its focus on Western news values. Through its coverage of bad news or negative stories, it has created a negative image of the country and its people. EMTV news reports are biased in their choice of cultural representation, rather than blending the country’s rich and diverse cultures into creating a unified hegemonic identity. As a result, provincial identities emerge among student audiences, rather than a national identity.

text: An explorative study of the encoding/decoding model in respect to television news in Papua New Guinea Television in Papua New Guinea strives to exist in a pluralistic society characterised by diverse local cultures and traditions that blend with Western influences. It is important to understand the role of television and its influence on such a pluralistic country as it continues to go through the process of nation building. Global advances in media and technology that will one day penetrate deep into such societies will need to be understood; however, this may not be possible without first setting the context for television, which is tied into the country’s post-colonial history. 
This study looks at television news producers and audiences in regard to the encoding/decoding model, in order to understand the role television has played in Papua New Guinea in terms of nation building. There is, however, very little literature on television news producers and audiences in PNG. As such, an explorative approach was taken to look into the encoding and decoding of EMTV news by journalists and student audiences.
The main questions addressed in this thesis are: Why do journalists make/report/produce news? How do journalist make/report/produce news? Why do student audiences watch news? How do student audiences watch news? What meanings are encoded by journalists onto the news discourse? What implications can be drawn from the news discourse? What meanings do student audiences decode from the news discourse?
The theoretical frameworks that inform this research include the “encoding/decoding” model of active audiences and the De-Westernizing Media model. A mixed method approach was taken, where four research methods were employed to look into encoding and decoding of EMTV news throughout its circuit of communication. In-depth interviews were carried out with four journalists, to understand their encoding roles, their personal motivations for the job, their perception of newsworthiness and the meanings they encode onto the news discourse. A total of 135 questionnaires were completed by student audiences, and a focus group was held with eight students. These were to understand audience encoding roles and experiences, their personal motivations for watching, their perception of newsworthiness, the meanings they decode and their overall perception of EMTV news. To further understand meanings within news discourse, a discourse analysis was carried out on a representative news sample to identify the implications embedded in the representative news bulletin.
By the end of the research, and after collating and analysing the data it was concluded that EMTV news has contributed negatively to nation building because of its focus on Western news values. Through its coverage of bad news or negative stories, it has created a negative image of the country and its people. EMTV news reports are biased in their choice of cultural representation, rather than blending the country’s rich and diverse cultures into creating a unified hegemonic identity. As a result, provincial identities emerge among student audiences, rather than a national identity.

year: 2014

title: Work distribution of multiple Cartesian robot arms for kiwifruit harvesting

authors: Barnett, Josh

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Employing multiple robot arms for kiwifruit harvesting can raise the efficiency since the task completion time is shortened. However, task partitioning and reachability are two major concerns. It is found that the task completion time is minimized if task partitions for robot arms are uniform. However, the partition uniformity is influenced by the fruit indivisibility and fruit cluster growing style. It is also constrained by the fruit distribution across the canopy and the robot arm positions which affect the fruit reachability. This article investigates how to partition the tasks of kiwifruit harvesting so that the harvesting can be completed by multiple robot arms in the minimum time with an assumption that the fruits can be harvested by any robot arm. A parameter termed work distribution is introduced to measure how the task partitioning is different from the optimum. A research platform with two robot arms is implemented to show how to approximate the assumption. Ten field experiments of kiwifruit harvesting had been run by the research platform in two kiwifruit orchards in New Zealand with satisfactory outcomes.

text: Work distribution of multiple Cartesian robot arms for kiwifruit harvesting Employing multiple robot arms for kiwifruit harvesting can raise the efficiency since the task completion time is shortened. However, task partitioning and reachability are two major concerns. It is found that the task completion time is minimized if task partitions for robot arms are uniform. However, the partition uniformity is influenced by the fruit indivisibility and fruit cluster growing style. It is also constrained by the fruit distribution across the canopy and the robot arm positions which affect the fruit reachability. This article investigates how to partition the tasks of kiwifruit harvesting so that the harvesting can be completed by multiple robot arms in the minimum time with an assumption that the fruits can be harvested by any robot arm. A parameter termed work distribution is introduced to measure how the task partitioning is different from the optimum. A research platform with two robot arms is implemented to show how to approximate the assumption. Ten field experiments of kiwifruit harvesting had been run by the research platform in two kiwifruit orchards in New Zealand with satisfactory outcomes.

year: 2020-02-01

title: Investigation of in vitro diabetic inflammation and  treatment with Piper excelsum tea extract

authors: Harvey, Savannah

subjects: Piper excelsum

abstract: Induction of inflammation through hyperglycaemia and adiposity has been shown to contribute to the pathogenicity of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) was the first cytokine found to bridge the connection between the immune system and T2D. This was found due to its increased production in the disease state. TNF-α has specifically been linked to the onset of insulin resistance in T2D models. Evidence has shown that heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) may also play a role as a danger signal for the immune system as it can result in the induction of inflammation. Currently, there are no pharmaceutical options for T2D patients which target inflammation. Tea made from the leaves of kawakawa (Piper excelsum) has been used for many generations by Māori as a traditional rākau rongoā (traditional medicine) to treat a range of ailments including inflammation. The aim of this project was to investigate the modulation of inflammation using a commercially available kawakawa tea in human cancer cells in vitro. 

This project involved measuring the growth rate, cytotoxicity, TNF-α production and HSP60 expression upon exposure to three treatments: high glucose, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or kawakawa tea extract (KTE).

This study showed that a high concentration of KTE (1000 µg/mL) inhibited cell growth in both HEPG2 and HeLa cell lines. Cells treated with this concentration also showed typical morphological signs of apoptosis. Cytotoxicity testing confirmed that there was a significant (p <0.05) decrease in mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity for this treatment which confirmed the cells were likely dying through apoptosis. Over a course of 24-hours three LPS treatments were found to be cytotoxic. These were the 10 ng/mL, 10 µg/mL, and 100 µg/mL concentrations of LPS. After 48-hours all treatments apart from 100 µg/mL KTE treatment were also found to be cytotoxic. The cytotoxicity for these treatments was either due to a reduction in mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity (infers mitochondrial stress) or increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release from cells (infers necrotic cell death). These cytotoxicity experiments allowed for identification of which concentrations should be selected or removed for future experiments. 

Cytotoxicity levels were taken into consideration and experiments were run investigating the induction of TNF-α using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Issues regarding negative readings from samples arose which resulted in protocol changes and extensive trouble shooting. It was found that extended exposure times were required to attenuate a positive result from the positive control, LPS. 

HSP60 expression was also measured for human cells exposed to high glucose and KTE treatments. No change in HSP60 expression was detected. However, 24-hour LPS exposure resulted in a significant increase in HSP60 expression compared to the control for the 100 ng/mL LPS treatment. Two concentrations were investigated; 100 ng/mL LPS and 100 µg/mL LPS which resulted in 1.4- and 2.1-fold increases compared to the control, respectively.

Overall, no conclusion could be drawn regarding the modulation of inflammation by KTE. However, this study was able to identify the effect the tea has on human cancer cell growth and the nature of cytotoxicity the tea poses to the cells. It is recommended to continue this research exploring different kawakawa tea blends and using alternative in vitro cell lines and whole animal models.

text: Investigation of in vitro diabetic inflammation and  treatment with Piper excelsum tea extract Induction of inflammation through hyperglycaemia and adiposity has been shown to contribute to the pathogenicity of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) was the first cytokine found to bridge the connection between the immune system and T2D. This was found due to its increased production in the disease state. TNF-α has specifically been linked to the onset of insulin resistance in T2D models. Evidence has shown that heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) may also play a role as a danger signal for the immune system as it can result in the induction of inflammation. Currently, there are no pharmaceutical options for T2D patients which target inflammation. Tea made from the leaves of kawakawa (Piper excelsum) has been used for many generations by Māori as a traditional rākau rongoā (traditional medicine) to treat a range of ailments including inflammation. The aim of this project was to investigate the modulation of inflammation using a commercially available kawakawa tea in human cancer cells in vitro. 

This project involved measuring the growth rate, cytotoxicity, TNF-α production and HSP60 expression upon exposure to three treatments: high glucose, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or kawakawa tea extract (KTE).

This study showed that a high concentration of KTE (1000 µg/mL) inhibited cell growth in both HEPG2 and HeLa cell lines. Cells treated with this concentration also showed typical morphological signs of apoptosis. Cytotoxicity testing confirmed that there was a significant (p <0.05) decrease in mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity for this treatment which confirmed the cells were likely dying through apoptosis. Over a course of 24-hours three LPS treatments were found to be cytotoxic. These were the 10 ng/mL, 10 µg/mL, and 100 µg/mL concentrations of LPS. After 48-hours all treatments apart from 100 µg/mL KTE treatment were also found to be cytotoxic. The cytotoxicity for these treatments was either due to a reduction in mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity (infers mitochondrial stress) or increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release from cells (infers necrotic cell death). These cytotoxicity experiments allowed for identification of which concentrations should be selected or removed for future experiments. 

Cytotoxicity levels were taken into consideration and experiments were run investigating the induction of TNF-α using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Issues regarding negative readings from samples arose which resulted in protocol changes and extensive trouble shooting. It was found that extended exposure times were required to attenuate a positive result from the positive control, LPS. 

HSP60 expression was also measured for human cells exposed to high glucose and KTE treatments. No change in HSP60 expression was detected. However, 24-hour LPS exposure resulted in a significant increase in HSP60 expression compared to the control for the 100 ng/mL LPS treatment. Two concentrations were investigated; 100 ng/mL LPS and 100 µg/mL LPS which resulted in 1.4- and 2.1-fold increases compared to the control, respectively.

Overall, no conclusion could be drawn regarding the modulation of inflammation by KTE. However, this study was able to identify the effect the tea has on human cancer cell growth and the nature of cytotoxicity the tea poses to the cells. It is recommended to continue this research exploring different kawakawa tea blends and using alternative in vitro cell lines and whole animal models.

year: 2021