2,287 results for The University of Auckland Library, Doctoral
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Kāinga tahi, kāinga rua : ka mate kāinga tahi, ka ora kāinga rua
Graham, Brett, 1967- (2004)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryMy research and three subsequent exhibitions have focused on biculturalism. I examine European perceptions of Maori and the Pacific, Maori perceptions of European colonization, and also whether New Zealand’s position on biculturalism has impacted on its relationships with other Pacific nations
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The Spirit of Christ and the postmodern city: Transformative revival among Auckland's Evangelicals and Pentecostals (New Zealand)
Grigg, Vivian Lawrence (2006)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThis study develops a missional theology for both process and goals of 'Citywide Transformative Revival.' This has been grounded in the local realities of Auckland as a representative modern/postmodern city. Global discussion among urban missions strategists and theologians have provoked the question: 'What is the relationship of the Spirit of Christ to the transformation of a postmodern city?' This has been examined in a limited manner, using two local indicators: the New Zealand revival (for the work of the Holy Spirit) and Auckland city (for emergent modern/postmodern megacities). This has resulted in an exploration of revival theology and its limitations among Auckland's Pentecostals and Evangelicals and a proposal for a theology of transformative revival that engages the postmodern city. To accomplish this, a research framework is proposed within an evangelical perspective, a postmodern hermeneutic of 'transformational conversations ', an interfacing of faith community conversations and urban conversations. This is used to develop a new theory of 'citywide transformative revival' as an expansion of revival theories, a field within pneumatology. Citywide transformative revival is a concept of synergistic revivals in multiple sectors of a mega-city. This results in long-term change of urban vision and values towards the principles of the Kingdom of God. A theology of transformative process is developed from apostolic and prophetic themes. These are outcomes of gifts released in revival. Transformative revival results in new transformative apostolic and prophetic structures that engage the postmodern city soul. Transformation implies goals. The results of revival, the transformative visions for the city, are developed from themes of the City of God and the Kingdom of God. I expand largely 'spiritual' Western formulations of the Kingdom to a holistic Kingdom vision of the spiritual, communal and material aspects of the postmodern city. These enable conversation spaces with modern urbanism and postmodernism.
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Language matters: The politics of teaching immigrant adolescents school English (New Zealand)
Kepa, Tangiwai Mere Appleton (2002)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThe purpose of this thesis is to reflect upon the complex process of educating the sons and daughters of immigrant parents from diverse cultural communities. The study stresses the importance of valuing the language and culture of students in Aotearoa-New Zealand for whom English is another language. It is argued that the discourse of what shall be called ‘technocratic pedagogy’ falls short of meeting this goal. What is needed is more expansive and inclusive programmes that apprehend the social, economic, and political contexts of learning. This is necessary if the students are to continue their education not simply to absorb prescribed information and ideas but to actively understand, question, challenge, and change the school and the classroom. The thesis is written from the perspective of an indigenous Maori teacher trained in technocratic approaches of practice looking to aspects of her intimate culture, Tongan and Samoan ways of representing the world, and Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy to transform contemporary education that tends to exclude the adolescents from learning in school. This thesis is not simply another contribution to the ways in which teachers of school English in general think about methodologies and approaches to learning; rather, it is addressed more specifically to those Maori, Tongan, and Samoan teachers in this country who work with and alongside communities who are from the Kingdom of Tonga and the islands of Samoa. Thus, there is great value placed on educational experience with indigenous Tongan and Samoan teachers and students in an educational project referred to in the thesis as a ‘School-within-a-school’. The School-within-a-school refers to a site of education for teaching school English to immigrant adolescents within a large, state, secondary school in the city of Auckland. Particular attention is also paid to educational experience with indigenous teachers in a Curriculum Committee and Maori and Tongan grassroots organisations located within the same school. A fresh approach to teaching English accepts culture as the ground on which to begin to reflect on a practice within a specific context. The teachers who have a dynamic relationship with students argue that culture is a primary site for contradictions and that a revolutionary challenge to technocratic pedagogy is necessary, but not sufficient, to value and actively include the students in school. Since the English language and its attendant practices, values, traditions, and aspirations are the grounds for the students' marginalisation, immediate, consciously organised changes in the teaching beliefs, contents of education, and society at large in Aotearoa are necessary parts of any reintegrative pedagogy. On this account, the belief is that pedagogy is vitally important since it can enable the students to understand the technocratic discourse and draw upon the personal and collective experiences to counter the tendency that denies them full participation in school and the classroom.
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Literary and empirical readings of the books of Esther
Fountain, Allison Kay (1999)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThis project involved a close literary analysis of the three texts of Esther. The results of the literary analysis indicated that the texts displayed different textual tendencies and also represented God, the four main characters, and some minor characters, differently. The texts were then presented to real readers for an empirical study of their perceptions of the characters. The empirical data indicate some support for the difference in perception expected from the literary analysis. Readers of the AT considered the king to be more just, Mordecai to be more just and moral, and less dominant, and Esther to be more moral, than in the other two texts. Readers of the BT considered Mordecai more dominant than in the other two texts. For the justice of the king and the justice and morality of Mordecai they rated the BT between the AT and the MT. Readers of the MT considered the king to be less just and Mordecai to be less just and moral than in the other texts. However, for the dominance trait they rated Mordecai between the AT and BT. They also rated Esther between the AT and BT on the morality trait. Some of these effects, however, were modified by the factors of gender and religious affiliation. The literary analysis also suggested that there is a difference in the moral reasoning level between the three texts. This was indirectly supported by the empirical study. The fact that all except one of the differences in perception were related to the character traits of justice and morality indicates that the character traits which are most obviously related to the ethics involved in the text were the ones for which real readers perceived differences.
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The Function of Reciprocity in the Histories of Herodotus
Paterson, Daphne (2002)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThis thesis is an inquiry into the function of reciprocity in the Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus. It examines the complex ways in which the historian weaves reciprocity into his stories of kings and tyrants, citizens and slaves, city-states and empires, men and gods. It investigates the way he records relationships of personal, political and religious reciprocity, positive, negative and retaliatory reciprocity to illustrate his themes, explain the cause of events and characterise individuals and city-states. And it explores how he uses language to emphasise the significance of the obligation of reciprocity in his Histories. Herodotus explains the cause of events in terms of the personal obligation of reciprocity. He moves his narrative forward through interlinking chains of reciprocal action and reaction to show that the obligation to take revenge and repay favours is a catalyst for historical action. Herodotus uses reciprocity for the purpose of characterisation. He characterises individuals through his stories of their observance or transgression of the obligation of reciprocity, he contrasts good men with bad by recording their actions of reciprocity, and he characterises city-states through his accounts of the reciprocal actions of their people. Through this use of reciprocity, Herodotus imposes upon his audience a picture, either positive or negative, of the men, women, and city-states whose stories he tells in his Histories. This thesis is an examination of reciprocity in literature. It is a study of reciprocity as it is presented by a master story-teller whose literary representation of reciprocity is more complex and more interesting than reciprocity as it is presented in the writings of behavioural scientists. It is an investigation into the way reciprocity functions in the work of a man whose stories have entertained and charmed his readers for centuries.
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The Order Hadromerida (Porifera: Demospongiae), taxonomy and relationships of the major families
Kelly-Borges, Michelle (1991)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryDespite advances of recent years no stable higher order classification of the Porifera has yet emerged. To address this problem, relationships at various taxonomic levels within the Order Hadromerida have been evaluated. Descriptions of new species of. Tethya, Aaptos and Polymastia from northern New Zealand are given in conjunction with a review and redefinition of specific diagnostic characters for these genera. A range of species, genera and families within the Hadromerida have been subjected to 18S rRNA sequencing. Using morphological and molecular sequence data together in phylogenetic analysis, the existing familial groups of the Hadromerida are confirmed and some rearrangement of genera is indicated following sequence alignment and comparison. These data serve as a baseline for molecular approaches to resolving relationships between other sponge groups.
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Mountain beech forest on Mount Ruapehu: dynamics, disturbance, and dieback
Steel, Marion Gaynor (1989)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThe role of, and response to, disturbance, in the dynamics of the mountain beech forest at western Mt Ruapehu, was examined, using palynology, dendrochronology, and vegetation survey. The pollen record indicates that, two thousand years ago, the west Ruapehu forest was dominated by Nothofagus solandri. About 1800 years B.P., the eruption of Lake Taupo devastated the forest. Though Halocarpus spp. and Phyllocladus asplenifolius were important early colonizers, Nothofagus solandri re-established itself close to its present limits after the eruption. Fire, from about 650 years ago onwards, did not affect the beech forest, but did affect the coniferous vegetation on the ring plain near the mountain. The age structure of the forest shows that there was a large disturbance event shortly before 1740. A dieback occurring about 1969 appears to have been the largest episode of mortality since 1740, larger than the dieback episode described by Cockayne at the beginning of this century. Dieback occurred as a short peak-period of Nothofagus solandri death about 1969. It was the large trees of the mature cohort which tended to be killed by dieback rather than the smaller individuals. Tree-ring analysis, showed that narrow tree-rings occurred in beech in the 1960's. Extreme rainfall years in the early 1960's may have put the beech trees under stress, making them susceptible to dieback. The drought in 1969 may have precipitated extensive mortality. The characteristics of N. solandri rings from Ruapehu are similar to ring characteristics of that species from South Island studies. The 1982 cyclone had a noticeable impact on the forest, affecting some areas severely. However, the impact was relatively minor compared to the influence of dieback. The mean density of trees >= 10cm dbh was 520 stems/ha., of which 220 stems/ha. were Nothofagus solandri. The mean basal area was 22m2 /ha., of which 11m2 /ha. was N. solandri. The basal area is very low compared to that in other N.Z. forests. N. solandri, Griselinia littoralis, Phyllocladus asplenifolius, Podocarpus hallii, and Libocedrus bidwillii, made up 35, 22, 16, 9, and 8 percent, respectively, of the total density. Basal area, density, and species composition varied as much within sites, as between them. The shrub layer formed a large part of the vegetation at west Ruapehu. Coprosma species were particularly abundant. There is sufficient regeneration to indicate that a new cohort of N. solandri is becoming established in most areas. Some areas will probably remain in shrubland for many decades. The result of dieback and windthrow has been to virtually eliminate the canopy of large old beech trees, and to increase the heterogeneity of stand structure. N. solandri seedling densities are not as high as those found in many South Island beech forests. Nothofagus solandri is growing faster than are most of the co-existing tree species, and it appears likely that it will continue as the dominant tree species. Implications for forest management are discussed.
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The utilisation of cyclopropyl compounds in the synthesis of troponoids
Gravatt, Gary Lance (1987)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThe fully regio-controlled synthesis of C1a-C12a mono-seco colchicine 133, as well as a number of structurally interesting analogues, has been achieved. The key feature employed in our approach to troponoid compounds of this type has been the incorporation of synthetic equivalents for α-tropolone anions 84 and 87 via dehydrobrominative ring expansion of C7-substituted7-bromobicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-2,3- and -3,4-diones respectively. The hydroxyl functionality present in tropolone 143 has been found to be a suitable progenitor for the C7-acetamido group in mono-seco colchicine 133. Studies directed towards the enantio-controlled introduction of the C7-acetamide moiety via asymmetric reduction of the prochiral ketone 152 are discussed. Various strategies to effect B-ring closure in mono-seco colchicine 133 and its congeners are presented. The novel preparation and dehydrogenative dimerisation of desacetamido mono-seco colchicine 174 is reported. An efficient synthesis of the naturally occurring tropone nezukone (16) has been accomplished via the novel rearrangement of bicyclic methylene cyclopropane 209. Evidence for the intermediacy of heptafulvenes in this conversion is described.
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The Politics of insects: discipline and resistance in the cinema of David Cronenberg
Wilson, Scott Alexander (2008)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThis dissertation examines the films of David Cronenberg which all conduct a consistently thorough examination of the relationship between the ideologically constituted Cartesian subject and the disciplinary structures that surround, control and limit this subject. Cinema, because of the presence of both film form and narrative content, functions as a double articulation of this disciplinary activity. Each film’s narrative disciplines, on screen, the bodies contained within the plot, even as each film’s form disciplines both the way in which these cinematic bodies are delivered to an audience, and the way the audience’s own viewing practices are controlled and composed. Thus it becomes vital to explore the mechanisms implicated in these processes, and to gain an understanding of how Cronenberg’s cinema works to highlight and critique them. The primary assertion of this thesis is that Cronenberg’s work functions as a particular style of resistance to hegemony that Slavoj Žižek labels‘heresy’. For Žižek,heresy occurs not when one disobeys one’s ideological requirements, but when one over-fulfills them, thereby extending these ideological demands and disciplinary discursive structures out to a site of logical absurdity. In assessing and charting this territory, the thesis is constructed in the following manner. The first chapter,which outlines my methodology, applies itself to a brief examination of Cronenberg’s least discussed commercial feature (Fast Company). Chapter Two is concerned with charting the disciplines applied to the body in Shivers, Rabid and The Fly, while Chapter Three continues a focus on Cronenberg’s movement and play with framing devices as a means of subverting a stable spectatorial position, utilising eXistenZ, Spider and The Dead Zone as examples. Chapter Four explores the manner with which heretical adherence to a single ideological construction pushes the protagonists towards large-scale disciplinary violations, as detailed in Crash, M. Butterfly and Dead Ringers while the fifth chapter examines notions of discipline and recuperation is focused on Naked Lunch, Scanners and The Brood. A final sixth chapter compares Cronenberg’s most recent film, A History of Violence, with Videodrome in order to explore the changing face of his disciplinary ambivalence and its relationship to a broader cinematic industry.
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Vessel source pollution and key international conventions: a case for change
Gray, J.A. (John Andrew) (2002)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryPollution from vessels cannot be controlled effectively without the involvement of flag States. They have the primary responsibility for ensuring that the vessels which fly their flags comply with all applicable international rules and standards relating to vessel source pollution. Compliance with such rules and standards involves additional operating costs for ship-owners. Thus, in the highly competitive international maritime transport industry, there are many incentives for flag States not to prejudice their pursuit of comparative advantage by ensuring that their flag vessels comply with the applicable rules and standards. Enforcing their flag vessels to comply is not a rational choice. Accordingly, flag States must be given reasons to ensure that their flag vessels do comply with pollution control rules and standards if the problem of vessel source pollution is to be resolved. Neither of the two international Conventions which regulate the control of vessel source pollution, namely MARPOL and UNCLOS III, gives flag States reasons to ensure the compliant operation of their flag vessels. For that reason, neither Convention can claim to be an effective means for controlling pollution from vessels. There is, however, emerging evidence of flag State commitment to the control of vessel source pollution in response to the application of regional Port State Control measures. From the perspective of flag States, one aspect of the application of the concept of Port State Control is of concern - that is the legal basis of the control measures which are being taken against their flag vessels for violations of MARPOL's rules and standards.
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S'anéantir ou s'épanouir: avatars d'ascétisme anorexique dans la littérature française du XIXe au XXIe siècle
Wrigley-Brown, Lynette (2008)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryIntrigued by a striking resemblance between certain behaviour, characteristics and preoccupations in characters from French literary texts, on the one hand, and in modern-day anorexics on the other, we have undertaken a study of representations of abnegation. In reading female ascetic piety, particularly in an extreme and sterile form known as “scrupulosity,” as it is seen in Madame Gervaisais, by the Goncourt Brothers, and in the representation of adolescence in L’Histoire de ma vie, by George Sand, I aim to explore similarities and differences between these two “conditions.” Next, certain texts by Zola, Vincent van Gogh and Simone de Beauvoir allow me to study a wide range of responses to the same questions as those which motivate anorexia nervosa and scrupulosity: questions of balance between the spiritual and the material, of perfectionism, of excessive obedience, of refusal of pleasure, and of a capacity for self-destruction. Paradoxically, all the “characters” studied here (including those “characters” created by means of autobiography or letter writing) are represented as possessing tendencies which define these two “conditions,” tendencies which are capable of leading either to extraordinary fulfilment, an unheard of creativity, or to self-destruction motivated by a desire for perfect virtue. Reading these texts in the light of anorexia nervosa allows new insights into them, in turn offering a new perspective on anorexia nervosa, suggesting its long involvement in the cultural history of Europe.
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The role of insulin-like growth factors in the fetus
Oliver, Mark Hope (1994)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryFetal substrate supply is important in the regulation of fetal growth. The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), insulin and placental lactogen (PL) may be important mediators in fetal growth regulation. However, nutritional regulation of circulating concentrations of IGFs, their binding proteins (IGFBPs) and PL during fetal life is poorly understood. The objective of this thesis is to characterise the influence of nutrition on the regulation of these hormones in the fetal circulation. Pregnant ewes were starved for 72 h and then refed for 48 h. After 48 h starvation fetuses were infused with glucose, amino acids or insulin while maternal starvation continued. Other fetuses of fed mothers were infused with recombinant oPL or IGF-I for 24 h. Fetal blood glucose, plasma IGF-I, IGF-II and insulin concentrations all fell on maternal starvation. Fetal plasma IGF-I and insulin concentrations returned to near control values on fetal infusion of glucose or insulin but not amino acids suggesting glucose had a more important role than amino acids in plasma IGF-I regulation and that insulin may have mediated the effect of glucose. Fetal plasma IGF-II concentrations returned to control values on fetal infusion of glucose, but not insulin. Thus fetal plasma IGF-I and IGF-II concentrations appear to be regulated differently by fetal glucose and insulin. Fetal plasma IGFBP-1 and Bp-2 levels increased, while fetal plasma IGFBP-3 and type 2 receptor levels decreased, on maternal starvation. Fetal infusion of glucose or insulin returned fetal plasma IGFBP-1 to near control levels. All fetal plasma IGFBPs were near control levels after maternal refeeding. Fetal plasma IGFBPs and type 2 IGF receptor levels were influenced by nutrition but IGFBP-2, Bp-3 and the circulating type 2 IGF receptor appear to be at least partly regulated by factors other than glucose and insulin. In a separate experiment fetal plasma IGF-I concentrations increased on IGF-I infusion to fetuses whose mothers were on a low plane of nutrition but did not increase in fetuses whose mothers were on a high plane of nutrition suggesting that increases in fetal plasma IGFBP concentrations on maternal starvation or undernutrition may increase fetal plasma IGF-carrying capacity. Plasma concentrations of PL in fetuses whose mothers had been on a high plane of nutrition was higher during starvation than in fetuses whose mothers had been on a low plane of nutrition. Fetal plasma PL concentrations increased 3-fold on maternal infusion of glucose at the end of starvation but was unaffected by fetal infusion of glucose at a lower rate. Fetal plasma PL responses to starvation were influenced by prior nutritional status. The rate of glucose infusion appears to determine the occurrence of a fetal plasma PL response. Fetal blood amino acid nitrogen (AN) concentrations fell on fetal infusion of oPL but fetal blood glucose, plasma IGF-I, IGF-II and insulin concentrations were unaffected. PL does not appear to have a role in the endocrine regulation of the IGFs in fetal sheep but may influence fetal amino acid metabolism. In these studies the fetal plasma concentrations of the IGFs, insulin, PL and plasma levels of IGFBP-1 to -4 have been demonstrated to be regulated by fetal substrate supply. These experiments provide further evidence that these hormones may be mediators in the regulation of fetal growth by fetal substrate supply.
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Conceptualising boys (and) video gaming: "Communities of Practice"?
Robertson, Jennifer D. (2008)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThe present investigation aimed to apply Wenger’s (1998) conceptualisation of the ‘communities of practice’ concept (being one concept within the broader framework of social learning theory) to video gaming, based on Gee’s (2003) suggestion that video gaming could be viewed as a ‘community of practice’. In addition, Paechter’s (2003a) recommendation that masculinities (after Connell, 1995, and inclusive of a Foucaultian notion of knowledge/power relations), could be additionally conceptualised as ‘communities of masculinities practice’ was explored in relation to video gaming. The choice of ‘communities of practice’ as the unifying concept for this study was favoured due to the application of the concept to a number of New Zealand, Ministry of Education initiatives. The research project aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the ‘communities of practice’ concept for application to boys (and) video gaming as a model for how the concept might be applied to a range of education-related social learning environments. A total of 284 Year 9 boys (13-14 years old), from five New Zealand schools were surveyed about their video gaming behaviours and understandings, and further 42 boys from a selection of these same schools took part in ‘lessons’ to discuss in detail aspects of their video gaming. Evidence supported that; video gaming in itself cannot be conceptualised as a ‘community of practice’ because there is no sense of mutual engagement in a joint enterprise in the playing of video games, (that was, there is no evidence to support the conceptual understanding of ‘community’ or ‘practice’); and in addition, that while masculinities can be convincingly conceptualised as ‘communities of practice’, it is only when the activity of video gaming is seen as a resource within the shared repertoire of the ‘communities of masculinities practice’, in which masculinities, both hegemonic and less hegemonic are performed and reproduced, that video gaming can be linked with the ‘communities of practice’ concept. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to where the conceptual and analytical lens offered by the ‘communities of practice’ concept, appear to be more applicable to the world of boys and video gaming. Also reiterated is that romanticised notions of ‘community’, applied to the likes of an educational environment but devoid of conceptual foundation, can be little more than rhetoric when not carefully considered and supported by empirical evidence.
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Multiple-schedule performance in closed economies
Elliffe, Douglas Mark (1990)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryExperimental preparations may be divided into two categories, called open and closed economies. In an open economy, the extent to which the subject is deprived of the scheduled reinforcer, most commonly food, is controlled by the experimenter. This is usually done by manipulating the amount of free food given to the subject after each experimental session. Consumption of the reinforcer is thus independent of behaviour during the session. By contrast, in a closed economy, no alternative source of the reinforcer is available outside the session. Consumption of the reinforcer is thus completely determined by the subject’s interaction with the experimental environment. This may be done by having the subject live permanently within the experiment and receive all its food as reinforcers for responding on continuously available schedules. Most research in the experimental analysis of behaviour has been carried out within open economies, but it can be argued that the natural environment, as a whole, is better represented by a closed economy. Several experimental findings obtained within open economies have been shown not to be replicable within closed economies. In the present series of experiments, three pigeons received their total daily intake of food as reinforcers for responding on continuously available multiple variable-interval schedules. The relation between the allocation of responding between components of a multiple schedule and the distribution of reinforcers can be conveniently described by the generalised matching law, which states that the ratio of component response rates is a power function of the ratio of component reinforcer rates. In an open economy, the power, called sensitivity, is typically less than 1.0. This is called undermatching. Experiment 1 of the present series found sensitivity values substantially greater than 1.0.This is called overmatching. One procedural variable known to control sensitivity in open economies is level of deprivation. Experiments 2 to 5 examined the effect of deprivation in a closed economy. In Experiments 2 and 3, increasing deprivation by means of decreasing session duration produced decreases in sensitivity. In Experiment 4, increasing deprivation by decreasing overall reinforcer rate in continuous sessions had no effect on sensitivity. In Experiment 5, deprivation was held constant by changing session duration and overall reinforcer rate in opposite directions. Sensitivity increased with increasing session duration and decreasing overall reinforcer rate. Taken together, these results suggest that multiple-schedule sensitivity increases with decreasing deprivation, with decreasing overall reinforcer rate, and as the economy for reinforcers other than those arranged by the experimenter (extraneous reinforcers) becomes more closed. A quantitative model of multiple-schedule performance, elaborated from that of McLean and White (1983), was developed to account for these effects. In this model, response allocation is governed by the concurrent choice between scheduled-and extraneous-reinforcer rates within each component. The total rate of extraneous reinforcement is affected by both deprivation and economy, and the distribution of extraneous reinforcers between components depends inversely on the distribution of scheduled reinforcers. Unlike other published models, this model predicts overmatching in the present experiments. Quantitatively, the model accounts for both the present closed-economy data and published data from open-economy multiple schedules as well as does the generalised matching law, and better than does its most influential competitor, Herrnstein’s (1970) equation. Finally, it is proposed that, while the economy for scheduled reinforcers is important to understanding total response output on multiple schedules, the economy for extraneous reinforcers has much more influence on the allocation of that responding between components.
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High frequency power transistor model
Egan, Brian (1976)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThe development of a large-signal power transistor model applicable at radio frequencies is described. This model which has its basis in the classical large-signal models is valid for cut-off and active region operation but does not include saturation operation. The model is intended primarily for use in broadband linear radio frequency amplifier applications and is useful up to frequencies of the order of 1/15 f┬. The model is described by two first order nonlinear differential equations and a number of algebraic equations. Equation coefficients are determined from measurements made on the devices under study. Two methods are described for the solution of the model equations. The first and principal method is an iterative one requiring computer assistance whilst the second is analytical and depends upon piecewise linearisation of the device transfer characteristic. This analytical method whilst in some respects inadequate, e.g. distortion level predictions, is easy to implement and despite its limitations affords useful insight into output power capability and frequency limitations of specific devices. The model contains all transistor nonlinearities and parasitic elements of significance and an important feature is the inclusion of device temperature as a model variable, resulting in good accuracy over a wide range of operating conditions. A simplified input impedance representation is evolved and it is demonstrated that input impedance measurements provide a useful window on model structure and aid in the evaluation of parameter values.
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Accessing the in between: The conditions of possibility emerging from interactions with information and communications technologies in Auckland, New Zealand
Mitchell, Phillipa Marlis (2009)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThe complex interactions between individuals, institutions and information and communications technologies (ICTs) have generated a growing body of research that seeks greater knowledge of the processes at work and their consequences. Situated firmly within this area, this thesis challenges the dominance of the generalised and largely technologically deterministic narratives within the field by seeking to constitute such knowledge in a different way. Geography provides a useful standpoint from which to challenge these narratives owing to its enduring engagement with time and space, concepts implicit in any discussion of ICTs effects. Emerging work on code space, transurbanism and timespace are specifically used to negate the persistent dualistic treatment of time and space which is argued to be hampering geographic research in this field. Methodologically drawing from a non representational style this thesis uses these emerging understandings to access the in between, a mental space of performance; which involves the process of drawing from tacit knowledge, cognitive perceptions of the spatial and temporal environment and emotions, in order to explore the conditions of possibility that individuals are becoming aware of through their interactions with ICTs. Four empirical interventions are used to ground these emerging understandings into the reality of everyday encounters with ICTs in Auckland, New Zealand. The first focuses on the role of local government in the development of Auckland’s ICT infrastructure, a complex and contingent process. The second concentrates on the provision of a Real Time Passenger Information System at Auckland bus stops, exposing individuals to new timespaces while waiting for the bus. The third considers students opinions of the e-learning mechanisms used in two first year geography courses. The final intervention examines the role ICTs play in South Africans and South Koreans imagining, negotiation and mediation of the migration process to Auckland. In conclusion, this thesis contributes to how geography constitutes knowledge about ICTs at three different levels. Empirically, the four interventions contribute grounded findings to the debates in the geographic literature over interactions with ICTs. Methodologically, the conditions of possibility institutional and individual actors are beginning to perceive through their encounters with ICTs are revealed as are the timespaces that may eventuate from these. Theoretically, to understand how the interactions between individuals and ICTs are performed this thesis demonstrates the need to interrogate the in between as a process, not just a gap or blank.
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"At school I’ve got a chance...": social reproduction in a New Zealand secondary school
Jones, Alison (1986)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryThis study contributes to the contemporary debate within Western radical sociology of education regarding the relationship between the social order and the processes of schooling. It is theoretically well-established in this field that schooling is central to the maintenance of existing social relations of dominance and subordination. Focusing on the commonsense knowledge and classroom practices of two groups of fifth form adolescent girls in an inner-city all-girls Grammar school in New Zealand, the study sets out to analyse and illustrate in concrete detail some of the ideological and pedagogical processes through which schooling contributes to social reproduction. The data and discussion provide insights into the thoughts and everyday school experiences of some middle class Pakeha (European) and working class Pacific Island girls as they seriously attempt to 'get school knowledge' and, thus, the credentials which they believe the school offers the motivated and able. It also shows how teachers unwittingly recruit the active participation of students from 'race' and class groups in pedagogical interactions which often preclude the working class Pacific Island girls from acquiring the school credentials they seek. This process, and that of the school's 'provision' of the middle class Pakeha girls' academic achievement, is then 'misrecognised' by the students as the natural and fair outcome of differential talent and motivation. The theoretical framework of the thesis centres around the major contemporary questions in social theory regarding the agency-structure relationship and how social and cultural life is to be conceptualised as the dialectical product of human agents producing and produced by the social structure within which they exist.
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Analysis of Stem Cells and Wound Healing in the Human Cornea
Chang, Chuan-Yuan Ally (2009)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryPURPOSE:The limbus of the cornea is said to be the niche for limbal stem cells (LSCs) and the primary source of corneal epithelial maintenance. In this model, adult corneal epithelial cells are maintained by LSCs that cycle slowly and give rise to transient amplifying (TA) cells. These migrate centripetally, differentiate outwards to the surface, and are then lost by desquamation. This study set out to investigate the stem cell properties of human corneal epithelium and their contribution towards corneal epithelial regeneration after wounding. METHODS: Frozen sections of human corneal tissues were labelled with a number of putative stem cell markers. Human central and limbal corneal epithelial cells were isolated for holoclone formation assay and FACS isolation. Side population (SP) cells were separated based upon cell size and Hoechst dye efflux ability. A human corneal organotypic culture model was used to assess corneal healing in vitro. Injured corneas were analysed using cytokine antibody arrays and immunohistochemical markers for cell proliferation and stem cells. RESULTS: The expression of putative stem cell markers ΔNp63α and ABCG2 was clearly evident in the suprabasal and basal layers of the limbus, but was also observed in central epithelium. Human limbal and central corneal epithelial cells were both capable of forming holoclones in 2:1 ratio respectively. In FACS, central SP and limbal SP cells showed no significant difference based upon size and dye efflux. After wounding, the capacity for epithelial cell proliferation and migration appears to be as active in the central cornea as in the periphery/limbus. Central and peripheral epithelial recovery remains equal even after ablation of the limbus. CONCLUSION: Cells from the central human corneal epithelium have many putative stem cell properties. These results raise questions not only about the distribution and substance of stem cells in the cornea, but also the role of the limbus itself. The central epithelium is able to heal independently of the limbus.
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Prodrug studies on the rat selective toxicant norbormide
Laita, Olivia Simoa (2009)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryPresent day rodenticides, in the form of sub-chronic, acute and anticoagulant poisons, are used to control the ever-increasing rat problem worldwide. However, most share the common disadvantage of being non-specific broad-spectrum rodenticides leading to the increased risk of secondary poisoning. Norbormide NRB [5-(α - hydroxy-α-2-pyridylbenzyl)-7-(α-2-pyridylbenzylidene)-5-norbornene- 2,3-dicarboximide], discovered in 1964 by Roszkowski et. al, was found to be uniquely species-specific towards rats and relatively harmless to all other species. NRB displays constrictor activity in rat peripheral arteries and elicits vasodilation of rat aorta and extravascular smooth muscle, whereas in all other species studied, NRB exhibits vasorelaxant properties only. However, one major drawback of NRB as a viable rodenticide relates to an evolutionary aversion developed by the rat leading to sub-lethal dosing due to either the unpleasant 'taste' or the rapid onset of effects. To date, efforts to mask this acute response in the form of microencapsulation have failed. Successful attempts at synthesizing prodrugs of NRB have been made within this research, with particular focus on the derivatization of the dicarboximide moiety in the form of N-(α- acyloxymethyl)imide esters of NRB. In vitro studies revealed a selection of non-vasoconstricting prodrugs. The discovery of alcohol 114, an analogue of NRB, exhibiting levels of efficacy as a vasoconstrictor of rat peripheral artery equal to that of NRB, was also made. Prodrug Families of both NRB and alcohol 114 were prepared and evaluated for their vasoconstrictory activity pre-cleavage, with those devoid of such effects undergoing in-house in vitro stability studies against rat blood and liver enzymes. The most promising candidates were subsequently assessed in vivo. NRB prodrug 83 was found to be devoid of all vasoconstrictory activity pre-cleavage, stable to oral administration and adequately susceptible to hydrolysis upon entering blood-circulation, releasing NRB at levels sufficient to elicit rapid death in rats. N-(2-hydroxyethyl)imide prodrug 159 provides an example of a para-substituted cinnamate with the capacity to elicit NRB-like death upon oral administration, with a lag time in the region of 1 hour. Extended rat feeding trials featuring 83 and 159 are to be undertaken in the future.
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Bullying in Year 10 Girls' Friendship Groups: "I would so not go through that again."
Lange, Ro (2010)
Doctoral thesis
The University of Auckland LibraryOne of the most common concerns presented to school counsellors by Year 10 girls is friendship problems, some of which have been identified as bullying. A three-stage study including focus groups, a survey questionnaire and individual interviews, undertook to describe the nature and experiences of Year 10 (early middle adolescent) girls 'bullying within their friendship groups, according to girls' points of view. The study also sought to discover what girls themselves had found to be helpful in reducing or preventing such bullying. Bullying was found to occur in the majority of friendship groups, but girls often failed to recognise or name it as bullying. Two distinct types of friendship group bullying, large group bullying and triadic group bullying, were found. The majority of observers and helpers were found to experience negative effects from witnessing bullying, while victims experienced significant loss and grief concerns. The findings suggest that the developmental changes in girls which create increased friendship conflict may also contribute to increased levels of bullying as girls learn to manage more highly-developed friendships, and indicate that satisfactory resolution of the bullying is important for girls' developmental well-being. Differences were also found in the recognition of bullying among girls from coeducational and single-sex schools of different decile levels, with girls from middle and high decile coeducational schools recognising all types of bullying more than did girls from single-sex schools of similar decile levels.
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