title: A micromorphological study of pedogenic processes in an evolutionary soil sequence formed on Late Quaternary rhyolitic tephra deposits, North Island, New Zealand

authors: Bakker, L.

abstract: The influence of time as a soil forming factor was studied on an evolutionary sequence of five soils (1850 radiocarbo years BP-ca. 120,000 BP) developed in rhyolitic tephra deposits in New Zealand. New micromorphological observations were combined with existing macromorphological, chemical, textural, and clay mineralogical analyses to assess the extent of polygenesis in the soils. The younger soils (1850 BP to ca. 22,600 BP) are characterised by initial weathering and little secondary mineral formation. This status is expressed by abundant pumice fragments and fresh, easily weatherable minerals, as well as a low clay content with an isotropic character. Comminution and neoformation are the main pedological processes. The older soils (ca. 120,000 BP) are characterised by a high degree of alteration of primary minerals, little or no pumice fragments, clay illuviation, gleying, and a high clay content (>80%) consisting of a range of crystalline clay minerals including halloysite, gibbsite, kaolinite, and vermiculite, plus crystalline iron oxides. Evidence of polygenesis can be observed in the micromorphology of the older soils: (1) the range of secondary minerals is the result of the integration and succession of soil-forming processes through time; (2) the accumulatory character of the tephra deposits has resulted in stronger weathering of the lower horizons than upper horizons because of continuous pedogenesis. Such polygenesis in the older soils supports the view that the older the soil, the more polygenetic it is likely to be.

text: A micromorphological study of pedogenic processes in an evolutionary soil sequence formed on Late Quaternary rhyolitic tephra deposits, North Island, New Zealand The influence of time as a soil forming factor was studied on an evolutionary sequence of five soils (1850 radiocarbo years BP-ca. 120,000 BP) developed in rhyolitic tephra deposits in New Zealand. New micromorphological observations were combined with existing macromorphological, chemical, textural, and clay mineralogical analyses to assess the extent of polygenesis in the soils. The younger soils (1850 BP to ca. 22,600 BP) are characterised by initial weathering and little secondary mineral formation. This status is expressed by abundant pumice fragments and fresh, easily weatherable minerals, as well as a low clay content with an isotropic character. Comminution and neoformation are the main pedological processes. The older soils (ca. 120,000 BP) are characterised by a high degree of alteration of primary minerals, little or no pumice fragments, clay illuviation, gleying, and a high clay content (>80%) consisting of a range of crystalline clay minerals including halloysite, gibbsite, kaolinite, and vermiculite, plus crystalline iron oxides. Evidence of polygenesis can be observed in the micromorphology of the older soils: (1) the range of secondary minerals is the result of the integration and succession of soil-forming processes through time; (2) the accumulatory character of the tephra deposits has resulted in stronger weathering of the lower horizons than upper horizons because of continuous pedogenesis. Such polygenesis in the older soils supports the view that the older the soil, the more polygenetic it is likely to be.

year: 1996

title: Bôcher contractions of conformally superintegrable Laplace equations

authors: Kalnins, Ernie G.

abstract: The explicit solvability of quantum superintegrable systems is due to symmetry, but the symmetry is often “hidden”. The symmetry generators of 2nd order superintegrable systems in 2 dimensions close under commutation to define quadratic algebras, a generalization of Lie algebras. Distinct systems on constant curvature spaces are related by geometric limits, induced by generalized Inönü–Wigner Lie algebra contractions of the symmetry algebras of the underlying spaces. These have physical/geometric implications, such as the Askey scheme for hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials. However, the limits have no satisfactory Lie algebra contraction interpretations for underlying spaces with 1- or 0-dimensional Lie algebras. We show that these systems can be best understood by transforming them to Laplace conformally superintegrable systems, with flat space conformal symmetry group SO(4, ℂ), and using ideas introduced in the 1894 thesis of Bôcher to study separable solutions of the wave equation in terms of roots of quadratic forms. We show that Bôcher’s prescription for coalescing roots of these forms induces contractions of the conformal algebra so(4, ℂ) to itself and yields a mechanism for classifying all Helmholtz superintegrable systems and their limits. In the paperActa Polytechnica, to appear, arXiv:1510.09067], we announced our main findings. This paper provides the proofs and more details.

text: Bôcher contractions of conformally superintegrable Laplace equations The explicit solvability of quantum superintegrable systems is due to symmetry, but the symmetry is often “hidden”. The symmetry generators of 2nd order superintegrable systems in 2 dimensions close under commutation to define quadratic algebras, a generalization of Lie algebras. Distinct systems on constant curvature spaces are related by geometric limits, induced by generalized Inönü–Wigner Lie algebra contractions of the symmetry algebras of the underlying spaces. These have physical/geometric implications, such as the Askey scheme for hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials. However, the limits have no satisfactory Lie algebra contraction interpretations for underlying spaces with 1- or 0-dimensional Lie algebras. We show that these systems can be best understood by transforming them to Laplace conformally superintegrable systems, with flat space conformal symmetry group SO(4, ℂ), and using ideas introduced in the 1894 thesis of Bôcher to study separable solutions of the wave equation in terms of roots of quadratic forms. We show that Bôcher’s prescription for coalescing roots of these forms induces contractions of the conformal algebra so(4, ℂ) to itself and yields a mechanism for classifying all Helmholtz superintegrable systems and their limits. In the paperActa Polytechnica, to appear, arXiv:1510.09067], we announced our main findings. This paper provides the proofs and more details.

year: 2016

title: Possibilities of transformation: discourses of difference in organisational communication

authors: Jones, Deborah Helen

abstract: In this thesis I set out to create an interdisciplinary location from which to address the relationship between gender and communication in an organisational context. I draw on feminist and post-structuralist theory to ask the question: How is ‘difference’ constructed in organisational communication? I use the term ‘difference’ here to indicate that I am interested in how ‘gender’ works in relationship with other kinds of difference, especially in relation to ethnic difference.

My thesis is intended as a contribution to feminist communication theory, and specifically, to the emerging field of feminist organisational communication. Because of the approach I take to ‘communication’, this project addresses broad issues of identity, agency and discourse in organisations. In this sense, I also see the thesis as a contribution to organisational studies, and particularly to the study of organisational discourse, which opens up new relationships between ‘organisation’ and ‘communication’. Interdisciplinarity itself is a key issue in my thesis, as I set out to create connections between disciplinary fields in the service of contesting them, rather than seeking to create new boundaries. A second key focus is the development of theoretical sophistication in the field of gender and communication. I draw on feminist/post-structuralist theory, especially feminist readings of Michel Foucault’s work to generate this development. My third key focus is the issue of agency, which I see as central to theorising organisational transformation, and also as central to re-thinking communication theory.

My writing strategies demonstrate my commitments to reflexivity in developing feminist/post-structuralist research epistemologies, and I experiment with ways of paying attention to issues of authority throughout the thesis. This thesis is divided into two main parts. In Chapters 2 to 6, I set up a theoretical framework for feminist/post-structuralist accounts of gender and ethnicity, and weave this theory through the literatures of ‘gender and communication’, ‘cross-cultural communication’, and ‘organisational communication’. I set out to produce an ‘autocritique’, an opportunity to draw on developments in post-structuralist theory to think differently about feminist ‘organisational communication’, putting it within a broader framework of ‘difference’.

In the second part of the thesis, Chapters 7 to 12, I put issues generated by this theoretical framework in a specific organisational context, asking: How are gender and ethnic differences constructed in the discourses of Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and Biculturalism in New Zealand government organisations? Chapters 7 and 8 introduce my field studies methodology and research subjects, and provide background narratives which frame the historical and cultural context in which they were carried out. In Chapters 9 to 12 I carry out a discourse analysis of interviews with EEO and Biculturalism practitioners, and also analyse published and unpublished documents associated with ‘difference’ in employment policies. These accounts of field studies are intended as a series of experiments with theorising ‘organisational communication’ in different ways. I complete the thesis with a ‘Review’ (Chapter 13) in which I reflect on key theoretical threads, and on further questions that emerged during the project.

text: Possibilities of transformation: discourses of difference in organisational communication In this thesis I set out to create an interdisciplinary location from which to address the relationship between gender and communication in an organisational context. I draw on feminist and post-structuralist theory to ask the question: How is ‘difference’ constructed in organisational communication? I use the term ‘difference’ here to indicate that I am interested in how ‘gender’ works in relationship with other kinds of difference, especially in relation to ethnic difference.

My thesis is intended as a contribution to feminist communication theory, and specifically, to the emerging field of feminist organisational communication. Because of the approach I take to ‘communication’, this project addresses broad issues of identity, agency and discourse in organisations. In this sense, I also see the thesis as a contribution to organisational studies, and particularly to the study of organisational discourse, which opens up new relationships between ‘organisation’ and ‘communication’. Interdisciplinarity itself is a key issue in my thesis, as I set out to create connections between disciplinary fields in the service of contesting them, rather than seeking to create new boundaries. A second key focus is the development of theoretical sophistication in the field of gender and communication. I draw on feminist/post-structuralist theory, especially feminist readings of Michel Foucault’s work to generate this development. My third key focus is the issue of agency, which I see as central to theorising organisational transformation, and also as central to re-thinking communication theory.

My writing strategies demonstrate my commitments to reflexivity in developing feminist/post-structuralist research epistemologies, and I experiment with ways of paying attention to issues of authority throughout the thesis. This thesis is divided into two main parts. In Chapters 2 to 6, I set up a theoretical framework for feminist/post-structuralist accounts of gender and ethnicity, and weave this theory through the literatures of ‘gender and communication’, ‘cross-cultural communication’, and ‘organisational communication’. I set out to produce an ‘autocritique’, an opportunity to draw on developments in post-structuralist theory to think differently about feminist ‘organisational communication’, putting it within a broader framework of ‘difference’.

In the second part of the thesis, Chapters 7 to 12, I put issues generated by this theoretical framework in a specific organisational context, asking: How are gender and ethnic differences constructed in the discourses of Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and Biculturalism in New Zealand government organisations? Chapters 7 and 8 introduce my field studies methodology and research subjects, and provide background narratives which frame the historical and cultural context in which they were carried out. In Chapters 9 to 12 I carry out a discourse analysis of interviews with EEO and Biculturalism practitioners, and also analyse published and unpublished documents associated with ‘difference’ in employment policies. These accounts of field studies are intended as a series of experiments with theorising ‘organisational communication’ in different ways. I complete the thesis with a ‘Review’ (Chapter 13) in which I reflect on key theoretical threads, and on further questions that emerged during the project.

year: 1998