title: Guest editors’ introduction

authors: Ulatowski, Joseph W.

abstract: Introducing the value of truth in the Age of Post-Truth, Sher on Post-Truth, the Invited Commentaries, and the Open Peer Commentaries.

text: Guest editors’ introduction Introducing the value of truth in the Age of Post-Truth, Sher on Post-Truth, the Invited Commentaries, and the Open Peer Commentaries.

year: 2025

title: Understanding cognitive functions related to driving following kava (Piper methysticum) use at traditional consumption volumes

authors: Aporosa, S. 'Apo'

abstract: Introduction: Kava (Piper methysticum), a traditional and culturally significant Pacific Island beverage, produces soporific relaxant effects similar to Benzodiazepine (Sarris et al, 2012, Journal of Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental, 27:262-9). Traditional users consume this drink at volumes 32 times greater than pharmacologically recommended doses (Aporosa et al, 2014, Anthropologica, 56:163-75), with reports suggesting 70% of users frequently drive following kava use (Maneze et al, 2008, Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Public Health, 32:314-6). Prompted by concerns regarding driver impairment post kava use, this seminal research investigated the effects of kava on two cognitive functions related to driving. Research was based on a traditionally influenced kava session. Methods: Kava consumers (n=20 [18 male/2 females], mean age = 35.35) attended a six hour kava session, each drinking an average 3.52 litres (SD = 0.713 litres) of kava. Also present were a non-kava consuming control group (n=20 [18 male/2 females], mean age = 35.1). At baseline all participants completed computerised tests (Vienna Test System: Traffic WAFA Alertness and WAFG Divided Attention) to assess reaction time, perception and attention. Re-testing was conducted hourly over the six hour period. Pre/post analysis was conducted comparing within person and between group change. Statistical modelling is based on ANOVA and independent t-tests. Results: Data analysis indicated no statistically significant (p<0.05) difference between reaction time [F=(13,264), 0.582, p=0.868] and divided attention [F=(13,264), 0.834, p=0.624] both within person and between groups at any measurement point over the six hour testing period. Mean reaction time and divided attention at baseline was 249.95msec (SD=37.57) and 583.58msec (SD=226.62) respectively. The control and active group mean reaction times at the final test were 256.70msec (SD=36.86) and 271.8msec (SD=46.32) respectively. The mean divided attention times for the control and active groups at the final test were 499.75msec (SD=167.62) and 568.32msec (SD=217.71). Conclusions: Kava at traditional consumption volumes was not correlated to response latency or impairment on perception and attention tasks. Further research beyond the assessment of these two cognitive functions is required to better understand if kava has any effect on driver ability. Sponsorship: The study is funded by the New Zealand Health Research Council (16/462) and the test battery was generously donated by Vienna Tests Systems, Germany.

text: Understanding cognitive functions related to driving following kava (Piper methysticum) use at traditional consumption volumes Introduction: Kava (Piper methysticum), a traditional and culturally significant Pacific Island beverage, produces soporific relaxant effects similar to Benzodiazepine (Sarris et al, 2012, Journal of Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental, 27:262-9). Traditional users consume this drink at volumes 32 times greater than pharmacologically recommended doses (Aporosa et al, 2014, Anthropologica, 56:163-75), with reports suggesting 70% of users frequently drive following kava use (Maneze et al, 2008, Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Public Health, 32:314-6). Prompted by concerns regarding driver impairment post kava use, this seminal research investigated the effects of kava on two cognitive functions related to driving. Research was based on a traditionally influenced kava session. Methods: Kava consumers (n=20 [18 male/2 females], mean age = 35.35) attended a six hour kava session, each drinking an average 3.52 litres (SD = 0.713 litres) of kava. Also present were a non-kava consuming control group (n=20 [18 male/2 females], mean age = 35.1). At baseline all participants completed computerised tests (Vienna Test System: Traffic WAFA Alertness and WAFG Divided Attention) to assess reaction time, perception and attention. Re-testing was conducted hourly over the six hour period. Pre/post analysis was conducted comparing within person and between group change. Statistical modelling is based on ANOVA and independent t-tests. Results: Data analysis indicated no statistically significant (p<0.05) difference between reaction time [F=(13,264), 0.582, p=0.868] and divided attention [F=(13,264), 0.834, p=0.624] both within person and between groups at any measurement point over the six hour testing period. Mean reaction time and divided attention at baseline was 249.95msec (SD=37.57) and 583.58msec (SD=226.62) respectively. The control and active group mean reaction times at the final test were 256.70msec (SD=36.86) and 271.8msec (SD=46.32) respectively. The mean divided attention times for the control and active groups at the final test were 499.75msec (SD=167.62) and 568.32msec (SD=217.71). Conclusions: Kava at traditional consumption volumes was not correlated to response latency or impairment on perception and attention tasks. Further research beyond the assessment of these two cognitive functions is required to better understand if kava has any effect on driver ability. Sponsorship: The study is funded by the New Zealand Health Research Council (16/462) and the test battery was generously donated by Vienna Tests Systems, Germany.

year: 2017

title: “On and On It Goes”: Representations of the New Zealand Wars in novels, film, and theatre

authors: Sheridan, Brendan Daniel

subjects: History

abstract: This thesis considers fictional representations of the New Zealand Wars. Through the media of novels, feature films, and drama with links to Shakespeare, it explores common features between representations. It examines how these representations change in tone or style over time and how different representations negotiate the complex issues of race, gender, and colonialism.
	I examine key representations ranging from 1861 to 2017 in terms of genre. I begin with the nineteenth-century novel as many of the key tropes used in representations of the New Zealand Wars emerge in this period. I then look at the twentieth-century novel, before concentrating specifically on Maurice Shadbolt and Witi Ihimaera. My discussion then turns to the genres of film and theatre. In all of these diverse representations there are recurring tropes and motifs. Many of the fictions feature stock characters such as the European traveller, the imperial official, and the Māori maiden and bear the imprint of historical romance conventions, popularised by Sir Walter Scott’s Waverly and James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans. The vast majority of stories take place in the North Island between 1860 and 1870. Variations in the depiction of historical events are shaped by the historical scholarship and dominant ideologies of the time, such as the post-colonial tonal shift that emerges following the publication of work by James Belich and Ranginui Walker. I contextualise representations with their point in history, and how they treat the New Zealand Wars in terms of events, characters, and historical figures. 
	Through this approach, my thesis argues that representations of the New Zealand Wars do not form themselves in isolation and do not occur in isolated clusters. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that representations of the New Zealand Wars occur on a steady continuum. Representations of the conflict exist in parallel to one another (intentional or not) and are affected by the social climate, dominant ideologies, and published histories available to the author at the time of writing. The variety of representations—novel, feature film, stage play—share many core tropes. Even so, chronologically this continuum also features shifts in tone, ideologies, and sympathies. A novel of the 1980s has a very different perspective regarding settlers compared to a novel from the 1860s. In the same manner, a play staged in the 2000s shows a different attitude towards the conflict compared to a film from the 1940s. This thesis demonstrates that while representations of the New Zealand Wars share a common subject, how they approach the material is constantly evolving.

text: “On and On It Goes”: Representations of the New Zealand Wars in novels, film, and theatre This thesis considers fictional representations of the New Zealand Wars. Through the media of novels, feature films, and drama with links to Shakespeare, it explores common features between representations. It examines how these representations change in tone or style over time and how different representations negotiate the complex issues of race, gender, and colonialism.
	I examine key representations ranging from 1861 to 2017 in terms of genre. I begin with the nineteenth-century novel as many of the key tropes used in representations of the New Zealand Wars emerge in this period. I then look at the twentieth-century novel, before concentrating specifically on Maurice Shadbolt and Witi Ihimaera. My discussion then turns to the genres of film and theatre. In all of these diverse representations there are recurring tropes and motifs. Many of the fictions feature stock characters such as the European traveller, the imperial official, and the Māori maiden and bear the imprint of historical romance conventions, popularised by Sir Walter Scott’s Waverly and James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans. The vast majority of stories take place in the North Island between 1860 and 1870. Variations in the depiction of historical events are shaped by the historical scholarship and dominant ideologies of the time, such as the post-colonial tonal shift that emerges following the publication of work by James Belich and Ranginui Walker. I contextualise representations with their point in history, and how they treat the New Zealand Wars in terms of events, characters, and historical figures. 
	Through this approach, my thesis argues that representations of the New Zealand Wars do not form themselves in isolation and do not occur in isolated clusters. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that representations of the New Zealand Wars occur on a steady continuum. Representations of the conflict exist in parallel to one another (intentional or not) and are affected by the social climate, dominant ideologies, and published histories available to the author at the time of writing. The variety of representations—novel, feature film, stage play—share many core tropes. Even so, chronologically this continuum also features shifts in tone, ideologies, and sympathies. A novel of the 1980s has a very different perspective regarding settlers compared to a novel from the 1860s. In the same manner, a play staged in the 2000s shows a different attitude towards the conflict compared to a film from the 1940s. This thesis demonstrates that while representations of the New Zealand Wars share a common subject, how they approach the material is constantly evolving.

year: 2019