title: Modelling external light transmission through to the human fetus

authors: Isaac, Zac

subjects: fetal vision

abstract: Little is known about the visual experience of human fetuses within the womb. For many years, the uterus was assumed to be a dark environment, limited only to illumination under intense radiation. Recent research, however, shows that the human fetus exhibits brain activity when presented with visual stimuli and displays a preference for face-like stimuli presented via laser diode application to the maternal abdominal exterior. Despite growing evidence to support the notion of a visually engaged fetus during gestation, there has been minimal research undertaken to determine the extent to which the human uterus is illuminated by external light sources. Beyond aiding with experimental research in fetal vision, an understanding of uterine illumination begins to reveal the impact of varying environmental conditions on the fetal visual experience, with direct relevance to ongoing research across fields such as fetal vision, photoacoustics, and ectogenesis. This thesis outlines a mathematical model developed for the purposes of simulating the propagation of light sources through maternal tissue to the human fetus, with applications exploring the effect of adipose on transdermal monochromatic stimuli, the degree of uterine illumination imposed by natural light, and an extension to the illumination of a full maternal abdomen via a model that can account for curvature, varying tissue layer thicknesses, and the temporal aspects of pregnancy.

text: Modelling external light transmission through to the human fetus Little is known about the visual experience of human fetuses within the womb. For many years, the uterus was assumed to be a dark environment, limited only to illumination under intense radiation. Recent research, however, shows that the human fetus exhibits brain activity when presented with visual stimuli and displays a preference for face-like stimuli presented via laser diode application to the maternal abdominal exterior. Despite growing evidence to support the notion of a visually engaged fetus during gestation, there has been minimal research undertaken to determine the extent to which the human uterus is illuminated by external light sources. Beyond aiding with experimental research in fetal vision, an understanding of uterine illumination begins to reveal the impact of varying environmental conditions on the fetal visual experience, with direct relevance to ongoing research across fields such as fetal vision, photoacoustics, and ectogenesis. This thesis outlines a mathematical model developed for the purposes of simulating the propagation of light sources through maternal tissue to the human fetus, with applications exploring the effect of adipose on transdermal monochromatic stimuli, the degree of uterine illumination imposed by natural light, and an extension to the illumination of a full maternal abdomen via a model that can account for curvature, varying tissue layer thicknesses, and the temporal aspects of pregnancy.

year: 2024

title: Good mothering in precarity: The societal expectations of solo mothers in Aotearoa - an exploration of the food sourcing, providing and preparing practices or three low-income solo mothers.

authors: McKinnon, Caroline Anne

abstract: This thesis examines the intersection of food insecurity and solo motherhood in Aotearoa New Zealand, focussing on how low-income solo mothers navigate the challenges of food sourcing, preparing, and providing for themselves and their children, with particular attention to the role of the school or ECE lunchbox. Using a qualitative case study methodology, grounded in social and feminist constructionism, this research explores the lived experiences of three solo mothers, Helen, Constance and Melissa, through semi-structured interviews, photo-elicitation, and shop-along interviews.
The findings of this research suggest that food insecurity for solo mothers represents just one layer of broader precarity. In each of the cases, systemic barriers related to welfare, employment and housing significantly shaped their food providing practices. Beyond financial constraints, societal expectations of intensive mothering and the nuclear family unit further compounded their experiences. The pervasive nature of these ideals created conditions of unattainable self-sacrificial parenting that negatively contributed towards the solo mothers’ abilities to thrive.
This research underscores the importance of examining the broader social, cultural and economic contexts of solo mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand when exploring food insecurity and marginalisation for solo mothers.

text: Good mothering in precarity: The societal expectations of solo mothers in Aotearoa - an exploration of the food sourcing, providing and preparing practices or three low-income solo mothers. This thesis examines the intersection of food insecurity and solo motherhood in Aotearoa New Zealand, focussing on how low-income solo mothers navigate the challenges of food sourcing, preparing, and providing for themselves and their children, with particular attention to the role of the school or ECE lunchbox. Using a qualitative case study methodology, grounded in social and feminist constructionism, this research explores the lived experiences of three solo mothers, Helen, Constance and Melissa, through semi-structured interviews, photo-elicitation, and shop-along interviews.
The findings of this research suggest that food insecurity for solo mothers represents just one layer of broader precarity. In each of the cases, systemic barriers related to welfare, employment and housing significantly shaped their food providing practices. Beyond financial constraints, societal expectations of intensive mothering and the nuclear family unit further compounded their experiences. The pervasive nature of these ideals created conditions of unattainable self-sacrificial parenting that negatively contributed towards the solo mothers’ abilities to thrive.
This research underscores the importance of examining the broader social, cultural and economic contexts of solo mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand when exploring food insecurity and marginalisation for solo mothers.

year: 2024

title: Distributed agent-centric system for indigenous data sovereignty

authors: Noovao, Setephano

subjects: holochain

abstract: The sovereignty of indigenous data is a key issue facing indigenous communities. Holochain, a distributed ledger technology, has the potential to address some of the challenges indigenous communities face with respect to data sovereignty. The purpose of this thesis is to critically evaluate the feasibility of using holochain technology to support indigenous data sovereignty. This paper first explores the literature on holochain technology, examining its underlying architecture and features. The research employs a three-phase design science research methodology, conducting an experiment to explore the integration of a decentralized application, holochain, with a prominent cloud service provider. The first phase concentrates on emulating real data-sharing platforms that may utilize data at its disposal, following the principles of indigenous data sovereignty, where a centralized platform could be hosted on a cloud computing service with multiple services in operation. The second phase involves developing a holochain application guided by the principles of indigenous data sovereignty. The final phase seeks to combine the established centralized platform from the first phase with the outcomes of the holochain application from the second phase to experimentally assess whether both technologies can create a data sovereignty solution that aligns with the needs of indigenous data sovereignty. The results of the experiment will provide a solid foundation for understanding the current state of the field and identifying areas where holochain can potentially offer solutions. Furthermore, the results of our research indicate that holochain shows significant promise in tackling the issue of indigenous data sovereignty, although there are considerable limitations that must be addressed and resolved to achieve improved results.

text: Distributed agent-centric system for indigenous data sovereignty The sovereignty of indigenous data is a key issue facing indigenous communities. Holochain, a distributed ledger technology, has the potential to address some of the challenges indigenous communities face with respect to data sovereignty. The purpose of this thesis is to critically evaluate the feasibility of using holochain technology to support indigenous data sovereignty. This paper first explores the literature on holochain technology, examining its underlying architecture and features. The research employs a three-phase design science research methodology, conducting an experiment to explore the integration of a decentralized application, holochain, with a prominent cloud service provider. The first phase concentrates on emulating real data-sharing platforms that may utilize data at its disposal, following the principles of indigenous data sovereignty, where a centralized platform could be hosted on a cloud computing service with multiple services in operation. The second phase involves developing a holochain application guided by the principles of indigenous data sovereignty. The final phase seeks to combine the established centralized platform from the first phase with the outcomes of the holochain application from the second phase to experimentally assess whether both technologies can create a data sovereignty solution that aligns with the needs of indigenous data sovereignty. The results of the experiment will provide a solid foundation for understanding the current state of the field and identifying areas where holochain can potentially offer solutions. Furthermore, the results of our research indicate that holochain shows significant promise in tackling the issue of indigenous data sovereignty, although there are considerable limitations that must be addressed and resolved to achieve improved results.

year: 2024