title: Coming home through football: A geographic exploration of long-distance fandom

authors: Baker, Tegan Alexandra

subjects: geography

abstract: This thesis focuses on the relationship between long-distance football fandom and home. It examines how the act of supporting non-domestic football clubs is a symbolic and material connection to multiple scales of home for 32 long-distance football fans, aged between 17–65, who live in Aotearoa New Zealand. I argue that football fans and homes are mutually constituted and continually reproduced through football fandom practices. Examining fan practice from the scale of the body through to the globe demonstrates how multiple homes interplay with fan practice. Literature on home and literature on sport have not yet been combined by scholars. Drawing these two bodies of work together offers the opportunity to unpack fans’ relationships to ‘things’, between ‘people’ and to ‘places’, providing a window into critical geographies of identities.
Social, cultural, feminist and emotional geographies of home and qualitative research methods frame this research. A range of methods are combined to create a holistic view of the complex and messy relationships which construct fan identities and homes. Semi-structured interviews with 27 men and five women participants along with self-directed photography, ‘going-alongs’, participant sensings and textual data analysis were used to examine participants experiences of football fandom and home. 
Findings are organised into three intersecting themes: things; people; and, places. The first theme focuses on how connections to a club are established and maintained through material cultures of home. Material objects construct home not only through a physical presence but also through becoming infused with emotions and memory. Unpacking the relationships between ‘people’ which shape fan identities is the second theme. Fans and their homes are gendered, raced and classed through the act of supporting a club. The relationship to ‘place’ is the third theme, where I examine the multiple places which influence fan identities. Here fan ‘homes’ are imagined as multi-scalar and I highlight the ways in which connections to a club are key to fluid notions of home and identity. 
This research demonstrates that football fandom offers a unique opportunity to geographers. Fandom spaces are under-researched and worthy of further scrutiny. Examining the relationships between home and fandom sheds light on the workings of power across a range of scales from the body, to the nation and the globe. Football fans’ homes are messy, complex, varied lived and felt.

text: Coming home through football: A geographic exploration of long-distance fandom This thesis focuses on the relationship between long-distance football fandom and home. It examines how the act of supporting non-domestic football clubs is a symbolic and material connection to multiple scales of home for 32 long-distance football fans, aged between 17–65, who live in Aotearoa New Zealand. I argue that football fans and homes are mutually constituted and continually reproduced through football fandom practices. Examining fan practice from the scale of the body through to the globe demonstrates how multiple homes interplay with fan practice. Literature on home and literature on sport have not yet been combined by scholars. Drawing these two bodies of work together offers the opportunity to unpack fans’ relationships to ‘things’, between ‘people’ and to ‘places’, providing a window into critical geographies of identities.
Social, cultural, feminist and emotional geographies of home and qualitative research methods frame this research. A range of methods are combined to create a holistic view of the complex and messy relationships which construct fan identities and homes. Semi-structured interviews with 27 men and five women participants along with self-directed photography, ‘going-alongs’, participant sensings and textual data analysis were used to examine participants experiences of football fandom and home. 
Findings are organised into three intersecting themes: things; people; and, places. The first theme focuses on how connections to a club are established and maintained through material cultures of home. Material objects construct home not only through a physical presence but also through becoming infused with emotions and memory. Unpacking the relationships between ‘people’ which shape fan identities is the second theme. Fans and their homes are gendered, raced and classed through the act of supporting a club. The relationship to ‘place’ is the third theme, where I examine the multiple places which influence fan identities. Here fan ‘homes’ are imagined as multi-scalar and I highlight the ways in which connections to a club are key to fluid notions of home and identity. 
This research demonstrates that football fandom offers a unique opportunity to geographers. Fandom spaces are under-researched and worthy of further scrutiny. Examining the relationships between home and fandom sheds light on the workings of power across a range of scales from the body, to the nation and the globe. Football fans’ homes are messy, complex, varied lived and felt.

year: 2018

title: Adapting the bidirectional Kalman filter for use in multi-frequency Time-of-flight range imaging

authors: Alqassab, Ali

subjects: Time-of-flight

abstract: Time-of-flight range imaging cameras obtain range by producing amplitude modulated light and measuring the time taken for light to travel to the scene and back to the camera. Time-of-flight cameras require at least three raw measurements to calculate range. Raw frames are captured sequentially, and as such, motion in scenes during capture leads to inconsistent raw frame measurements and erroneous range calculations. Motion error constrains Time-of-flight cameras to non-dynamic scenes and limits their potential applications. The Time-of-flight bidirectional Kalman filter method is a state-of-the-art method known to reduce error due to transverse motion in cameras operating with a single modulation frequency. The method works by treating raw frames as a noisy time series and running the Kalman filter on it to produce a range estimation at every raw frame. The Kalman filter is then reapplied to the data in reverse to produce another set of range estimations, and a composite range is selected from the two set of range estimations. A number of commercial timeof-flight cameras, such as the Microsoft Kinect V2, use multiple modulation frequencies. In this thesis, we adapt the bidirectional Kalman filter method to multi-frequency operated cameras by having the prediction component of the Kalman filter take into account the change in amplitude and phase shift caused by the change in frequency. The amplitude component of the prediction is performed linearly by multiplication, while the phase shift component of the prediction is performed using the ratio of the modulation frequencies. The phase shift prediction across modulation frequencies requires the phase to be unwrapped. The unwrapping is performed between modulation frequencies by selecting the number of phase wraps that best predicts the two following raw frames. Finally, to ensure correct composite phase selection, an alternative method for selecting the composite phase is proposed for the adapted bidirectional Kalman filter. We perform quantitative and qualitative experiments to test the proposed method. In the quantitative experiment, the proposed method produces less error than the classical Discrete Fourier Transform approach in 70% of tested instances. The qualitative experiment shows that the proposed method significantly reduces motion blur.

text: Adapting the bidirectional Kalman filter for use in multi-frequency Time-of-flight range imaging Time-of-flight range imaging cameras obtain range by producing amplitude modulated light and measuring the time taken for light to travel to the scene and back to the camera. Time-of-flight cameras require at least three raw measurements to calculate range. Raw frames are captured sequentially, and as such, motion in scenes during capture leads to inconsistent raw frame measurements and erroneous range calculations. Motion error constrains Time-of-flight cameras to non-dynamic scenes and limits their potential applications. The Time-of-flight bidirectional Kalman filter method is a state-of-the-art method known to reduce error due to transverse motion in cameras operating with a single modulation frequency. The method works by treating raw frames as a noisy time series and running the Kalman filter on it to produce a range estimation at every raw frame. The Kalman filter is then reapplied to the data in reverse to produce another set of range estimations, and a composite range is selected from the two set of range estimations. A number of commercial timeof-flight cameras, such as the Microsoft Kinect V2, use multiple modulation frequencies. In this thesis, we adapt the bidirectional Kalman filter method to multi-frequency operated cameras by having the prediction component of the Kalman filter take into account the change in amplitude and phase shift caused by the change in frequency. The amplitude component of the prediction is performed linearly by multiplication, while the phase shift component of the prediction is performed using the ratio of the modulation frequencies. The phase shift prediction across modulation frequencies requires the phase to be unwrapped. The unwrapping is performed between modulation frequencies by selecting the number of phase wraps that best predicts the two following raw frames. Finally, to ensure correct composite phase selection, an alternative method for selecting the composite phase is proposed for the adapted bidirectional Kalman filter. We perform quantitative and qualitative experiments to test the proposed method. In the quantitative experiment, the proposed method produces less error than the classical Discrete Fourier Transform approach in 70% of tested instances. The qualitative experiment shows that the proposed method significantly reduces motion blur.

year: 2020

title: Local values and the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services in Aotearoa-New Zealand: a case study of Tauranga’s planning regime

authors: Peat, Helen Ann

subjects: Environmental planning

abstract: Aligning wetlands restoration planning mechanisms with public perceptions and values can help gain support for and assistance with restoration. Using Tauranga as a case study, this thesis is an exploratory study that applies the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) framework to examine the extent to which New Zealand's planning regime incorporates local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services.

This thesis used multiple qualitative research methods in a two-pronged process. A narrative literature review and systematic statutory analysis in phase one helped identify values associated with wetland ecosystem services and how New Zealand’s, and more specifically Tauranga’s, resource management system promotes and enables the restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. A case study approach with analysis of primary and secondary data in phase two helped identify what Tauranga local residents value as important wetland ecosystem services and the extent to which the local policy mechanisms reflect these values. 

Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and summaries of submissions, this thesis identifies six dimensions that represent values towards wetland ecosystem services and their restoration in Tauranga. Other than one dimension that consists of a single value on education from the cultural services category of the MEA framework, the remaining five dimensions comprise services from within and between the framework categories. These dimensions are wetlands as nutrient- and mineral-rich areas that support biodiversity and provide habitat; that regulate water, act as natural flood plains and sequester carbon to help protect against climate change and natural hazards; that maintain Māori cultural practices; that remove nutrients and contaminants in water; and provide recreational and aesthetic experiences. Therefore, identified dimensions could form the basis of educational programmes and toolkits that promote wetlands restoration.

The systematic policy analysis and cross-comparison with the results of the thematic analysis found that Tauranga’s planning regime partially provides for each of the six dimensions. However, the nuances and complexities of the values, including the interconnected nature of wetlands values and services, are not captured. This means Tauranga’s planning regime does not fully incorporate local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. Bridging the gap between wetlands restoration provisions and wetland ecosystem service values is likely to be supported by enacting the current resource management reforms. Enacting the reforms would help reduce the number of policies and plans, implement regional spatial planning, and develop outcomes-based policy mechanisms that encompass ecological, social, cultural and spiritual values, including those associated with wetlands.

text: Local values and the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services in Aotearoa-New Zealand: a case study of Tauranga’s planning regime Aligning wetlands restoration planning mechanisms with public perceptions and values can help gain support for and assistance with restoration. Using Tauranga as a case study, this thesis is an exploratory study that applies the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) framework to examine the extent to which New Zealand's planning regime incorporates local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services.

This thesis used multiple qualitative research methods in a two-pronged process. A narrative literature review and systematic statutory analysis in phase one helped identify values associated with wetland ecosystem services and how New Zealand’s, and more specifically Tauranga’s, resource management system promotes and enables the restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. A case study approach with analysis of primary and secondary data in phase two helped identify what Tauranga local residents value as important wetland ecosystem services and the extent to which the local policy mechanisms reflect these values. 

Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and summaries of submissions, this thesis identifies six dimensions that represent values towards wetland ecosystem services and their restoration in Tauranga. Other than one dimension that consists of a single value on education from the cultural services category of the MEA framework, the remaining five dimensions comprise services from within and between the framework categories. These dimensions are wetlands as nutrient- and mineral-rich areas that support biodiversity and provide habitat; that regulate water, act as natural flood plains and sequester carbon to help protect against climate change and natural hazards; that maintain Māori cultural practices; that remove nutrients and contaminants in water; and provide recreational and aesthetic experiences. Therefore, identified dimensions could form the basis of educational programmes and toolkits that promote wetlands restoration.

The systematic policy analysis and cross-comparison with the results of the thematic analysis found that Tauranga’s planning regime partially provides for each of the six dimensions. However, the nuances and complexities of the values, including the interconnected nature of wetlands values and services, are not captured. This means Tauranga’s planning regime does not fully incorporate local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. Bridging the gap between wetlands restoration provisions and wetland ecosystem service values is likely to be supported by enacting the current resource management reforms. Enacting the reforms would help reduce the number of policies and plans, implement regional spatial planning, and develop outcomes-based policy mechanisms that encompass ecological, social, cultural and spiritual values, including those associated with wetlands.

year: 2022