title: The Ogress, The Innocent, And The Madman: Narrative and Gender in Child Homicide Trials in New Zealand, 1870-1925

authors: Powell, Debra

subjects: child homicide

abstract: The murder of a child represents one of the most perplexing and unimaginable of crimes. This thesis, the first legal-historical investigation into child homicide in New Zealand, seeks to uncover some of the ways that people have ‘imagined’ and made sense of this complex crime in the past. The conclusions emerging from this study suggest that nineteenth and early twentieth-century observers of child homicide trials relied heavily on the interpretive power of familiar cultural narratives to convey meaning and achieve composure. Homicides involving children, though often disparate and deeply ambiguous events, were bounded by a narrow yet profoundly influential body of images, characters and representations. This repertoire of narrative conventions was not simply reflective of contemporary attitudes and understandings but worked actively to bolster and crystallise the meanings surrounding disturbing events. 
Utilising quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this study draws on a comprehensive dataset of reported child homicide incidents occurring in New Zealand between 1870 and 1925. Select cases from this database are considered as a set of narrative texts using gender as the primary category of analysis. The popular and legal discourses surrounding these incidents are analysed within a post-structuralist theoretical framework to examine the divergent representations of those who were implicated in the suspicious death of a child. The research includes an investigation of criminal data for evidence of quantitative patterning in criminal typologies and sentencing, as well as analysis of textual evidence such as trial transcripts, coronial inquest reports, parliamentary debates, and newspaper reporting and commentary. The findings of this study demonstrate that the discursive constructions of child homicide in nineteenth and early twentieth-century New Zealand were highly gendered. Ultimately, child murder was imagined as an offence perpetrated by mothers. However, the impact of gender on trial proceedings and outcomes was by no means straightforward or clear cut. Cultural understandings of race, class, morality, madness and criminality all fed into the narrative construction of murder events and were shaped and reformed in relation to each other. In unpacking the stories of child murder, this thesis exposes the highly constructed nature of criminal legal discourse within and beyond the courtroom, and provides a historical basis for a more nuanced critique of understandings of child homicide crime in the present.

text: The Ogress, The Innocent, And The Madman: Narrative and Gender in Child Homicide Trials in New Zealand, 1870-1925 The murder of a child represents one of the most perplexing and unimaginable of crimes. This thesis, the first legal-historical investigation into child homicide in New Zealand, seeks to uncover some of the ways that people have ‘imagined’ and made sense of this complex crime in the past. The conclusions emerging from this study suggest that nineteenth and early twentieth-century observers of child homicide trials relied heavily on the interpretive power of familiar cultural narratives to convey meaning and achieve composure. Homicides involving children, though often disparate and deeply ambiguous events, were bounded by a narrow yet profoundly influential body of images, characters and representations. This repertoire of narrative conventions was not simply reflective of contemporary attitudes and understandings but worked actively to bolster and crystallise the meanings surrounding disturbing events. 
Utilising quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this study draws on a comprehensive dataset of reported child homicide incidents occurring in New Zealand between 1870 and 1925. Select cases from this database are considered as a set of narrative texts using gender as the primary category of analysis. The popular and legal discourses surrounding these incidents are analysed within a post-structuralist theoretical framework to examine the divergent representations of those who were implicated in the suspicious death of a child. The research includes an investigation of criminal data for evidence of quantitative patterning in criminal typologies and sentencing, as well as analysis of textual evidence such as trial transcripts, coronial inquest reports, parliamentary debates, and newspaper reporting and commentary. The findings of this study demonstrate that the discursive constructions of child homicide in nineteenth and early twentieth-century New Zealand were highly gendered. Ultimately, child murder was imagined as an offence perpetrated by mothers. However, the impact of gender on trial proceedings and outcomes was by no means straightforward or clear cut. Cultural understandings of race, class, morality, madness and criminality all fed into the narrative construction of murder events and were shaped and reformed in relation to each other. In unpacking the stories of child murder, this thesis exposes the highly constructed nature of criminal legal discourse within and beyond the courtroom, and provides a historical basis for a more nuanced critique of understandings of child homicide crime in the present.

year: 2013

title: Gene expression underlying ferret hair growth initiation induced by melatonin and modified by steroids

authors: Yu, Zhidong

abstract: Synchronised ferret winter pelage development induced by melatonin was utilised as an in vivo model for studying gene expression associated with the hair growth cycle.
The effects of melatonin and steroids on hair follicle growth initiation in flank skin samples were monitored by histology and immunocytochemistry. Melatonin implantation initiated hair growth within 10 days. Exogenous steroids delivered by slow-release subcutaneous implants had mainly inhibitory effects on spontaneous and melatonin-initiated hair growth, either when given simultaneously or prior to melatonin administration. 17β-oestradiol totally suppressed hair follicle growth in all circumstances, while the inhibitory effects of dexamethasone, testosterone and deoxycorticosterone were weaker and attenuated by melatonin. Progesterone given simultaneously with melatonin inhibited hair growth in males, but did not significantly affect female hair growth initiated by melatonin.

Gene expression underlying ferret hair growth was studied using an optimised differential display technique using two sets of complementary skin samples covering all growth initiation stages. The differential display band patterns for approximately 8% of all skin transcripts suggested that more than a thousand genes are required for hair follicle growth. Of the differentially expressed genes detected in a set of flank skin samples covering all proanagen stages, up to a half are likely to be specifically associated with hair growth.

The 150 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) discovered represented 112 unique sequences. Forty-two of these were aligned by sequence homology to known genes, while the remainder are likely to represent novel genes. Differential expression through the follicle growth cycle or after the treatments was confirmed for 21 out of 23 genes whose mRNAs were detectable by Northern blot hybridisation. Overall, expression alteration for most of these ESTs occurred prior to morphological changes in the skin associated with hair follicle reactivation. All the ESTs whose expression sites were detected by in situ hybridisation were localised to hair follicles. Some were detected only in certain stages of the hair follicle cycle, others in all growth stages, but at different levels. Classification of the identified ESTs suggested that apoptosis as well as fatty acid synthesis and cholesterol metabolism were closely associated with hair growth initiation, while cell interaction and motility were also particular prominent processes in hair follicle regrowth.

Additional DNA sequence information was obtained for ferret hair acidic keratin 8 (fHa8) and ferret cyclin D-interacting myb-like protein 1 (fDMP1). Both of these genes were expressed only in cortical cells in the keratogenous zone from mid-proanagen. fHa8 was expressed only in one side of the cortex, a feature has not previously been reported for other type I intermediate hair keratins. The restricted expression of fDMP1 and its smaller size suggested that it was an alternatively spliced form of the human and mouse homologues with a specialised function in the regulation of cortical cell proliferation and differentiation. Further studies on the expression regulation and function of the genes represented by the ESTs identified in this study promise to considerably advance our understanding of hair follicle growth control.

text: Gene expression underlying ferret hair growth initiation induced by melatonin and modified by steroids Synchronised ferret winter pelage development induced by melatonin was utilised as an in vivo model for studying gene expression associated with the hair growth cycle.
The effects of melatonin and steroids on hair follicle growth initiation in flank skin samples were monitored by histology and immunocytochemistry. Melatonin implantation initiated hair growth within 10 days. Exogenous steroids delivered by slow-release subcutaneous implants had mainly inhibitory effects on spontaneous and melatonin-initiated hair growth, either when given simultaneously or prior to melatonin administration. 17β-oestradiol totally suppressed hair follicle growth in all circumstances, while the inhibitory effects of dexamethasone, testosterone and deoxycorticosterone were weaker and attenuated by melatonin. Progesterone given simultaneously with melatonin inhibited hair growth in males, but did not significantly affect female hair growth initiated by melatonin.

Gene expression underlying ferret hair growth was studied using an optimised differential display technique using two sets of complementary skin samples covering all growth initiation stages. The differential display band patterns for approximately 8% of all skin transcripts suggested that more than a thousand genes are required for hair follicle growth. Of the differentially expressed genes detected in a set of flank skin samples covering all proanagen stages, up to a half are likely to be specifically associated with hair growth.

The 150 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) discovered represented 112 unique sequences. Forty-two of these were aligned by sequence homology to known genes, while the remainder are likely to represent novel genes. Differential expression through the follicle growth cycle or after the treatments was confirmed for 21 out of 23 genes whose mRNAs were detectable by Northern blot hybridisation. Overall, expression alteration for most of these ESTs occurred prior to morphological changes in the skin associated with hair follicle reactivation. All the ESTs whose expression sites were detected by in situ hybridisation were localised to hair follicles. Some were detected only in certain stages of the hair follicle cycle, others in all growth stages, but at different levels. Classification of the identified ESTs suggested that apoptosis as well as fatty acid synthesis and cholesterol metabolism were closely associated with hair growth initiation, while cell interaction and motility were also particular prominent processes in hair follicle regrowth.

Additional DNA sequence information was obtained for ferret hair acidic keratin 8 (fHa8) and ferret cyclin D-interacting myb-like protein 1 (fDMP1). Both of these genes were expressed only in cortical cells in the keratogenous zone from mid-proanagen. fHa8 was expressed only in one side of the cortex, a feature has not previously been reported for other type I intermediate hair keratins. The restricted expression of fDMP1 and its smaller size suggested that it was an alternatively spliced form of the human and mouse homologues with a specialised function in the regulation of cortical cell proliferation and differentiation. Further studies on the expression regulation and function of the genes represented by the ESTs identified in this study promise to considerably advance our understanding of hair follicle growth control.

year: 2001

title: Hapū data sovereignty: Tips for getting started

authors: Clark, Vanessa

abstract: This brief is a part of a series, produced for the Tikanga in Technology (TiNT) research programme, that provides a hapū perspective on data sovereignty, data governance, and data privacy. The purpose is to provide practical advice for individuals, whānau, marae and hapū who are embarking on their own hapū data sovereignty kaupapa, with a particular focus on whakapapa data.

text: Hapū data sovereignty: Tips for getting started This brief is a part of a series, produced for the Tikanga in Technology (TiNT) research programme, that provides a hapū perspective on data sovereignty, data governance, and data privacy. The purpose is to provide practical advice for individuals, whānau, marae and hapū who are embarking on their own hapū data sovereignty kaupapa, with a particular focus on whakapapa data.

year: 2025-02-11