title: Politics or pedagogy? The development of middle schools in New Zealand

authors: Hinchco, Brian J.

abstract: The development of eight New Zealand middle schools during the 1990s was both a continuation of a long held educational tradition and a move in a new innovative direction. The extent to which this development however, was pedagogically driven or politically motivated deserves investigation. 
New Zealand's educational community, since the very beginning of a national education system in 1877, has been predisposed to meeting the needs of emerging adolescents in stand-alone institutions. The development of such educational institutions as; central schools, junior high schools, intermediate schools and latterly middle schools, tend to the conclusion that students in their middle years require a school structure that best caters for their specific needs as emerging adolescents. 
The reform years of the 1990s also provided a political environment conducive to educational change. The policies derived from the introduction of Tomorrows Schools and the concepts of parental choice and school competition provided apolitical environment open to educational innovation. Research evidence gathered from those principals who remain as leaders of the first middle schools made particular mention of the entrepreneurial opportunities provided in the 1990s. 
This was also a decade where policy importation, particularly from the American educational community, was both encouraged and made easier by developments in communication and international travel. The junior high school reform movement and the development of American middle schools supported by such associations as the National Middle Schools Association (NMSA) provided a conduit for research articles, practices and experiences to permeate the New Zealand intermediate school environment. 
This political environment was further supported by the growth in research literature on adolescence, and in particular the development of a concept of "the emerging adolescent." Research from the biological, psychological and sociological disciplines each supported the concept of specific educational programmes delivered in age-specific institutions that could best cater for the needs of this specific age-group. In particular sociological research findings suggested the development of age-appropriate school structures would have beneficial effect on student achievement. 
The development then of a uniquely New Zealand middle school structure, created in a political and pedagogical climate conducive to meeting the needs of the emerging adolescent, led to prolonged debate concerning the ideal structure for such an institution. In particular the debate concerned whether the middle school should evolve from its intermediate school heritage or should be part of a Form 1 to 7 school structure. This debate, and the related interest in middle schools compared with junior high schools, was undertaken by a number of New Zealand educationists and researchers. The research of a single middle school case study, that of Sunset Junior High School, in this thesis enabled a full investigation of the various tensions that existed concerning middle school development. This case study could be considered to be a microcosm of the national community. 
The implications of this study therefore suggest that as with the development of most educational structures the reality is one of cost effectiveness. The declining demographics of New Zealand's school-aged population and the current school network discussions (previously called Educational Development Initiatives (EDI)) suggest that the cost effective reality for New Zealand will be the development of separate Form 1 to 4 and Form 5 to 8 schools on one school site. How the management of these two schools on a single site will be created will, of itself, be in the nature of a trial and a further evolution of the middle school philosophy.

text: Politics or pedagogy? The development of middle schools in New Zealand The development of eight New Zealand middle schools during the 1990s was both a continuation of a long held educational tradition and a move in a new innovative direction. The extent to which this development however, was pedagogically driven or politically motivated deserves investigation. 
New Zealand's educational community, since the very beginning of a national education system in 1877, has been predisposed to meeting the needs of emerging adolescents in stand-alone institutions. The development of such educational institutions as; central schools, junior high schools, intermediate schools and latterly middle schools, tend to the conclusion that students in their middle years require a school structure that best caters for their specific needs as emerging adolescents. 
The reform years of the 1990s also provided a political environment conducive to educational change. The policies derived from the introduction of Tomorrows Schools and the concepts of parental choice and school competition provided apolitical environment open to educational innovation. Research evidence gathered from those principals who remain as leaders of the first middle schools made particular mention of the entrepreneurial opportunities provided in the 1990s. 
This was also a decade where policy importation, particularly from the American educational community, was both encouraged and made easier by developments in communication and international travel. The junior high school reform movement and the development of American middle schools supported by such associations as the National Middle Schools Association (NMSA) provided a conduit for research articles, practices and experiences to permeate the New Zealand intermediate school environment. 
This political environment was further supported by the growth in research literature on adolescence, and in particular the development of a concept of "the emerging adolescent." Research from the biological, psychological and sociological disciplines each supported the concept of specific educational programmes delivered in age-specific institutions that could best cater for the needs of this specific age-group. In particular sociological research findings suggested the development of age-appropriate school structures would have beneficial effect on student achievement. 
The development then of a uniquely New Zealand middle school structure, created in a political and pedagogical climate conducive to meeting the needs of the emerging adolescent, led to prolonged debate concerning the ideal structure for such an institution. In particular the debate concerned whether the middle school should evolve from its intermediate school heritage or should be part of a Form 1 to 7 school structure. This debate, and the related interest in middle schools compared with junior high schools, was undertaken by a number of New Zealand educationists and researchers. The research of a single middle school case study, that of Sunset Junior High School, in this thesis enabled a full investigation of the various tensions that existed concerning middle school development. This case study could be considered to be a microcosm of the national community. 
The implications of this study therefore suggest that as with the development of most educational structures the reality is one of cost effectiveness. The declining demographics of New Zealand's school-aged population and the current school network discussions (previously called Educational Development Initiatives (EDI)) suggest that the cost effective reality for New Zealand will be the development of separate Form 1 to 4 and Form 5 to 8 schools on one school site. How the management of these two schools on a single site will be created will, of itself, be in the nature of a trial and a further evolution of the middle school philosophy.

year: 2004

title: Machine learning approaches for malware classification based on hybrid artefacts

authors: Chanajitt, Rajchada

subjects: Static

abstract: Malware could be developed and transformed into various forms to deceive users and evade antivirus and security endpoint detection. Furthermore, if one machine in the network is compromised, it could be used for lateral movement--when malware spreads stealthily without sending an alarm to monitoring systems. Malware attacks pose security threats to modern enterprises and can cause massive financial, reputation, and data loss to major enterprises. Therefore, it is important to detect these attacks effectively to reduce the loss to the minimum level. The current research uses different approaches, including static and dynamic analysis, to detect and analyze malware categories using distinct feature sets, such as imported modules, opcodes, and API calls, which can improve performance in binary and multi-class classification problems.

This thesis proposes a method for identifying and analyzing malware samples via static and dynamic approaches, including memory analysis and consecutive application operation sequences performed on the Windows 10 virtual environment. Standard classifiers and frequently used sequence models are utilized to expose the malware characteristics and benefit predictive capabilities. The features used in these algorithms are extracted from the static and dynamic analysis of malware samples, such as the rich header feature, debug information, temporary files, prefetch files, and event logs. The measurement of the classifiers and the degree of correctness are calculated using the accuracy, f1-score, Mean Absolute Error (MAE), confusion matrix, and Area under the ROC Curve (AUC). Combining two feature sets can provide the best classification performance on static file properties and dynamic analysis results, regardless of whether applying feature selection or not, achieving the accuracy and f1_score at 97% for integrating two datasets. For consecutive sequences, concatenating the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and Transformers model can yield the highest accuracy at 97% for Noriben operations, while GRU can achieve the maximum accuracy for Opcode sequences at 89%.

text: Machine learning approaches for malware classification based on hybrid artefacts Malware could be developed and transformed into various forms to deceive users and evade antivirus and security endpoint detection. Furthermore, if one machine in the network is compromised, it could be used for lateral movement--when malware spreads stealthily without sending an alarm to monitoring systems. Malware attacks pose security threats to modern enterprises and can cause massive financial, reputation, and data loss to major enterprises. Therefore, it is important to detect these attacks effectively to reduce the loss to the minimum level. The current research uses different approaches, including static and dynamic analysis, to detect and analyze malware categories using distinct feature sets, such as imported modules, opcodes, and API calls, which can improve performance in binary and multi-class classification problems.

This thesis proposes a method for identifying and analyzing malware samples via static and dynamic approaches, including memory analysis and consecutive application operation sequences performed on the Windows 10 virtual environment. Standard classifiers and frequently used sequence models are utilized to expose the malware characteristics and benefit predictive capabilities. The features used in these algorithms are extracted from the static and dynamic analysis of malware samples, such as the rich header feature, debug information, temporary files, prefetch files, and event logs. The measurement of the classifiers and the degree of correctness are calculated using the accuracy, f1-score, Mean Absolute Error (MAE), confusion matrix, and Area under the ROC Curve (AUC). Combining two feature sets can provide the best classification performance on static file properties and dynamic analysis results, regardless of whether applying feature selection or not, achieving the accuracy and f1_score at 97% for integrating two datasets. For consecutive sequences, concatenating the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and Transformers model can yield the highest accuracy at 97% for Noriben operations, while GRU can achieve the maximum accuracy for Opcode sequences at 89%.

year: 2023

title: Anō, ko te Riu ō Tāne Mahuta Possibilities and Challenges in a Ngāti Rangiwewehi Curriculum

authors: Mahuika, Rangimarie

subjects: Curriculum

abstract: This thesis considers how a curriculum might form a useful tool in meeting the needs and aspirations of Ngāti Rangiwewehi, a small, but dynamic tribe, who occupy specific territory from the north western shores of Lake Rotorua into the eastern Bay of Plenty of the North Island of New Zealand. In contemplating the potential benefits of a curriculum, this study begins by examining the epistemological frames of reference crucial to understanding how the tribe views the world around them, and their positioning within it. The thesis goes on to explore the pedagogical approaches specific to the iwi, and concludes by assessing the extent to which a curriculum is a viable means of maintaining and empowering Rangiwewehi mātauranga, and their underlying ambitions, and goals. Whether ‘curriculum’ is an appropriate framework to describe the way Ngāti Rangiwewehi view our educational processes, is an issue addressed in this study. To this extent, Rangiwewehi perspectives are intentionally privileged allowing appropriate representation of our understandings and aspirations. Eighteen people were interviewed as part of this study, yet many other voices included here were recorded during a tribal wānanga held in late 2010. Their accounts provide the core ideas and positions at work in this thesis, and are invaluable for the depth and texture they offer. An emphasis on the qualitative data collected here is important in allowing their words to take centre stage. In conveying their views and stories, three major themes emerged: these were people, place, and survival. Woven through the body of the thesis, these themes work to illustrate the key designs and patterns that were seen as fundamental to a Rangiwewehi way of viewing the world. Place and people, for instance, were affirmed as crucial to both the pedagogical and epistemological beliefs and practices maintained across generations. Similarly, the theme of survival was deemed a significant thread in comprehending the struggle and self-determination inherent in the tribe’s sense of identity and knowing. These themes reflect convictions shared across the iwi, highlighting the importance of understanding Ngāti Rangiwewehi by first listening to what they have to say about themselves and their curriculum.

text: Anō, ko te Riu ō Tāne Mahuta Possibilities and Challenges in a Ngāti Rangiwewehi Curriculum This thesis considers how a curriculum might form a useful tool in meeting the needs and aspirations of Ngāti Rangiwewehi, a small, but dynamic tribe, who occupy specific territory from the north western shores of Lake Rotorua into the eastern Bay of Plenty of the North Island of New Zealand. In contemplating the potential benefits of a curriculum, this study begins by examining the epistemological frames of reference crucial to understanding how the tribe views the world around them, and their positioning within it. The thesis goes on to explore the pedagogical approaches specific to the iwi, and concludes by assessing the extent to which a curriculum is a viable means of maintaining and empowering Rangiwewehi mātauranga, and their underlying ambitions, and goals. Whether ‘curriculum’ is an appropriate framework to describe the way Ngāti Rangiwewehi view our educational processes, is an issue addressed in this study. To this extent, Rangiwewehi perspectives are intentionally privileged allowing appropriate representation of our understandings and aspirations. Eighteen people were interviewed as part of this study, yet many other voices included here were recorded during a tribal wānanga held in late 2010. Their accounts provide the core ideas and positions at work in this thesis, and are invaluable for the depth and texture they offer. An emphasis on the qualitative data collected here is important in allowing their words to take centre stage. In conveying their views and stories, three major themes emerged: these were people, place, and survival. Woven through the body of the thesis, these themes work to illustrate the key designs and patterns that were seen as fundamental to a Rangiwewehi way of viewing the world. Place and people, for instance, were affirmed as crucial to both the pedagogical and epistemological beliefs and practices maintained across generations. Similarly, the theme of survival was deemed a significant thread in comprehending the struggle and self-determination inherent in the tribe’s sense of identity and knowing. These themes reflect convictions shared across the iwi, highlighting the importance of understanding Ngāti Rangiwewehi by first listening to what they have to say about themselves and their curriculum.

year: 2011