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Compounding the Abuse: Family Violence, Damages and the Tenancy Tribunal
Get PDFIn cases where family violence has caused damage to a rented home, a tenant-victim is often found to be liable for that damage. This article considers the interpretation of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) that leads to that result and proposes an alternative interpretation for the family violence context that would achieve fairer outcomes without the need for legislative change. The drafting of the RTA allows space for an interpretation that both takes into account the context of family violence and the policy attempts to prevent family violence. Such a reading acknowledges that not everyone has the physical and social power to control who comes into their home and what they do once admitted. Interpreting the RTA to recognise the realities of family violence would ensure that tenancy law and practice supports the strategy of keeping victims of family violence safe.Peer Reviewe
Musicking in Chinese early childhood education: An ecological study of children’s music education in select Shandong kindergartens
No full textThis research investigates musicking in Chinese early childhood education. Musicking is defined as the action and process of music activity and its meaning. An ecological approach is applied to children’s music education in selected Shandong kindergartens, focusing on the following key questions: (i) How does musicking occur throughout the day in kindergartens? (ii) What factors influence musicking in these kindergartens? (iii) What are the differences in musicking between public and private kindergartens? This project was carried out in twelve kindergartens, of which six were public and six were private. Three data collection methods were utilised: participant and non-participant observation of all activities; semi-structured interviews with teachers; and questionnaires with children’s parents. The results of the study are reviewed within the framework of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system, examining musicking of both teachers and children in kindergartens from micro to macro and chrono perspectives. The research demonstrates that music occurs in kindergartens within three categories: (i) organised music sessions; (ii) socially functional musicking; and (iii) background music. The study also reveals influencing factors on this music including teachers’ spaces, children’s families, and policy, culture, and digital technology. The overall findings show that there is no significant difference in children’s music education between public kindergartens, but there is much more diversity between private kindergartens. The implications of the research findings reveal that there are some challenges in Chinese early childhood music education, and the thesis suggests changes that could be made to make improvements
Motion measurement algorithms for MARS imaging
Get PDFThe goal of the MARS molecular imaging team is to advance medicine by researching, developing, and commercialising spectral CT systems. This thesis presents the work I performed to facilitate live imaging with MARS scanners. This aim was achieved by developing a gating algorithm, designing and developing a mouse holder, and creating a motorised motion phantom. My gating algorithms will contribute to improving the image quality of human data obtained by human-scale MARS scanners.
I contributed to the design and development of a mouse holder with a temperature regulating system that is compatible with MARS scanners for the purpose of live animal imaging. This holder design provides simple animal handling, secure positioning, anaesthesia delivery, regulated temperature control, and physiological monitoring.
I developed a post-acquisition automatic gating method based on the acquired scan data over time. This method is capable of identifying various movement phases to sort the acquired exposure images into temporal bins. To reduce the undersampling noise due to gating, a weight-based reconstruction algorithm was introduced and implemented. Instead of binning the data, this method employed all images for the reconstruction of specific time points by assigning a weight to each. The result of applying this method showed that it can improve the undersampling artefacts compared to the temporal binning method.
To evaluate the gating method, a motorised motion phantom was designed and manufactured. The motion phantom could be programmed to produce periodic signals with a similar frequency and amplitude to that of a mouse or human breathing. The quantitative measurements showed that gating can reduce motion artefacts and blurring by 50% with a 1mm amplitude and 26% for a 5mm amplitude.
The effect of motion on the material decomposition process in MARS imaging systems was investigated. Known contrast agents were added to the motion phantom and then scanned with movements with the amplitude of 1 to 5 mm. No clear trend between the motion amplitude and the material decomposition accuracy was observed. The gated images had lower SNR compared to the non-gated data, resulting in more misidentified voxels. This suggests that noise properties are more important than motion blur.
In summary, the research documented in this thesis facilitates live imaging in MARS scanners in the future
Working together to improve experiences of teaching and learning Sexual and Gender Minority health at Otago Medical School
No full textThis document outlines the justification and processes for a Participatory Action Research (PAR) initiative. The project is aimed at evaluating and improving the educational climate relating to Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) health learning at Otago Medical School (OMS) amongst medical students and academic and professional staff involved in the MB ChB program. Included is a synopsis of the background literature, the aims and proposed methods
Scapular dyskinesis and subacromial shoulder pain
Get PDFAbstract
Background: Subacromial shoulder pain is a common cause of pain in patients with shoulder complaints. Changes in scapular rotations, termed scapular dyskinesis, have been hypothesized to contribute to the etiology and maintenance of subacromial shoulder pain. The overall aim of this thesis was to add towards understanding of the potential role of scapular dyskinesis in the recovery of subacromial shoulder pain. For this purpose, we assessed: 1) the changes in pain and function scores over time in patients with subacromial shoulder pain; 2) the association between changes in pain or function scores and changes in scapular dyskinesis; and 3) the feasibility of conducting a randomized control trial (RCT) to compare the efficacy of tailored training program with standardized exercise program on improving pain, function and scapular dyskinesis in patients with subacromial shoulder pain.
Methods and results: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Study 1) was conducted to assess the clinical course of pain and function in patients with subacromial shoulder pain who received ‘no intervention’ and ‘usual care’. The results showed patients with ‘no intervention’ reported no changes in pain and function scores over 3 months (maximum follow-up was to 3 months) and patients receiving ‘usual care’ reported an average 30 scores improvement (score ranging from 0 to 100) in pain and function at 12 months with 40% of that improvement occurring in the first 6 weeks from the study entry (maximum follow-up was to 12 months).
Next, the association between changes in pain or function scores was assessed with changes in scapular dyskinesis. For conducting this, first, a laboratory-based study assessed the intra-rater between-day reliability of scapular locator for measuring scapular rotations during scapular plane arm elevation in asymptomatic individuals (Study 2). Findings suggested that the scapular locator has a good to excellent reliability for measuring scapular upward/downward rotation and anterior/posterior tilt (ICC ranging from 0.73 to 0.93) of arm at 60, 90 and 120 arm elevation and a poor reliability for measuring scapular internal/external rotation (ICC ranging 0.37 to 0.62). The results also indicated a poor reliability for measuring all scapular rotations at 30 of arm elevation (ICC = 0.10 to 0.40). The findings of this study supported the use of the scapular locator for measuring scapular upward/downward rotation and anterior/posterior tilt in the subsequent observational study. The observational study assessed the association between changes in pain or function scores with changes in scapular rotations (measured with scapular locator and scapular dyskinesis test) in patients with subacromial shoulder pain, over an 8-week period (Study 3). The results showed changes in pain or function scores are not associated with changes in scapular rotations.
Finally, a feasibility RCT (Study 4) assessed the feasibility of conducting a full RCT to investigate the efficacy of a tailored training program compared with a standardized exercise program in participants with subacromial shoulder pain. Twenty-eight participants with subacromial shoulder pain (aged 18-65 years) were recruited during 41 weeks and were randomly allocated to tailored training (N=13) or standardized exercise (N=15) programs for 8 weeks. Participants in each group were assessed for pain, function and scapular dyskinesis at week 4 and 8 from baseline. The findings showed that it is feasible to conduct a full RCT with the recruitment rate of 3 participants per month, the proportion of eligible participants per participants screened was 23%. The adherence rate was 86.6% for physiotherapist-delivered interventions and 93.1% for home-based exercises. The drop-out rate was 14% (4 participants out of 28 enrolled). The preliminary analysis suggested significant improvements in pain, function in both groups and significant improvement in scapular dyskinesis in the tailored training group. No between-group differences were observed in above outcome measures at 4 and 8 weeks. Based on between-group mean differences in pain and considering a 20% drop-out rate, a total of 88 participants (44 participants in each group) are required for conducting a full RCT.
Conclusion This thesis provided a summary of expected changes in pain and function over time for patients receiving ‘no intervention’ or ‘usual care’. These findings could be used as a reference for future researchers when designing new studies or by clinicians when managing patients. Our findings on the association between changes in pain or function with scapular rotations did not support the contributing role of scapular dyskinesis in subacromial shoulder pain. However, further studies are required to confirm our findings given challenges with scapular measurements. We also suggest assessing whether other factors (e.g., age, shoulder pain duration, physical functioning, and comorbidity) may be confounding variables when assessing the association between scapular dyskinesis and subacromial shoulder pain. Findings from the feasibility RCT suggested it is possible to conduct a full RCT. The full RCT will explore whether a tailored training program leads to better clinical outcomes (e.g. pain, function and scapular dyskinesis) when compared with a standardized exercise program
There is always a reason: Cognitive and experiential impacts on reasoned attitudes
Get PDFWhile the pervasive notion that reasoning leads to optimal judgments seems commonsensical, some research has shown that reasoning sometimes causes suboptimal outcomes, suggesting that the relationship between reasons and judgment is more complicated than classically assumed. While cognitive theories ascribe the mechanisms of reasoned judgment to the reason content (e.g., quality and number), “ease of retrieval” research reveals an important role of reasoning experience; however, neither provides a complete account, hinting at missing links among cognitive and experiential factors. In this thesis, I report eight studies examining the relationships between reason quality and reasoning difficulty, and the conditions under which they predict attitudes and decisional satisfaction. Chapter 2 reports three studies showing that reasoning difficulty and perceived reason quality covary in the ease of retrieval paradigm: increasing numbers of reasons get increasingly difficult to generate, but also decrease in perceived quality, and it is quality rather than difficulty that uniquely predicts attitudes. Chapters 3 and 4 consider the causal relationship between difficulty and quality, and their downstream effect on attitude change. The results of four studies are most consistent with an interference hypothesis, such that experienced effort disrupts participants’ ability to cognitively elaborate on reasons, causing strong reasons to be judged as less persuasive, and weak reasons as more persuasive. The disrupting effects on perceived quality and attitude change are mitigated when people are highly motivated. Finally, Chapter 5 applies these insights to the issue of choice satisfaction, showing higher satisfaction after reasoning with ease, but adding more reasons neither increases nor decreases it. In sum, the findings show how the impacts of reasoning involve a complicated interplay among cognitive and experiential factors, ability and motivation to reason, and the contexts in which they are applied. Implications and applications of the findings, e.g., in advertising and deceptive message, limitations and future research venues are discussed
New Zealand Deprivation Index 2018 - TA52: Nelson City
No full textFor further information about data sources, interpretation of the graphs, and cautions, please see the separate Introduction Chapter
All data relating to the 2018 census is provided by Stats NZ, https://www.stats.govt.nz/
New Zealand Deprivation Index 2018 - TA54: Kaikoura District
No full textFor further information about data sources, interpretation of the graphs, and cautions, please see the separate Introduction Chapter
All data relating to the 2018 census is provided by Stats NZ, https://www.stats.govt.nz/
New Zealand Deprivation Index 2018 - TA42: Horowhenua District
No full textFor further information about data sources, interpretation of the graphs, and cautions, please see the separate Introduction Chapter
All data relating to the 2018 census is provided by Stats NZ, https://www.stats.govt.nz/
New Zealand Deprivation Index 2018 - TA60: Christchurch City
No full textFor further information about data sources, interpretation of the graphs, and cautions, please see the separate Introduction Chapter
All data relating to the 2018 census is provided by Stats NZ, https://www.stats.govt.nz/