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New Zealand Deprivation Index 2018 - TA51: Tasman 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 - TA63: Ashburton 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 - TA73: Southland 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 - TA74: Gore 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 - TA48: Masterton 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/
Daunting dentitions: Relationships and functional morphology of three new Oligocene dolphins with tusk-like teeth from New Zealand
Get PDFThe focus of this thesis is the description of three new species represented by specimens OU 22397, OU 22126 and OU 22262. Specimen OU 22397 has a near-complete skull, uniquely preserved teeth and some post-cranial material which form the basis for the description of a new species and genus of Oligocene dolphin. Through the use of Micro-CT scans, scanning electron microscopy and visual observations the feeding apparatus of this dolphin is studied. The flattened rostrum and laterally-oriented teeth, amongst other features, support the hypothesis that this dolphin fed in a fashion previously undescribed for cetaceans. This involves lateral slashing of prey, as seen in sawfish, followed by raptorial feeding and consumption of the animal much in the way seen in Platanista gangetica.
Specimen OU 22126 also represents a new species and genus of its own which is smaller and more gracile than OU 22397. Though no post-cranial material or mandible is preserved it has several unique characteristics of interest – in particular the crown of its first incisors are not fully erupted from the premaxilla. Though this specimen alone does not provide sufficient evidence to support the hypothesis of sexual dimorphism, the possibility is discussed, and this dolphin provides data for further studies on the topic. The prior classification of OU 22126 as a dalpiazinid is discussed and it is concluded that these animals are more closely related to waipatiids than these Italian dolphins.
Specimen OU 22262 represents a new species belonging to the same genus as OU 22397. It is composed of a heavily damaged skull missing most of its rostrum, a fragment of left mandible, pristine periotics and bullae and a selection of post-cranial axial and limb elements. This post-cranial material allows for further investigation of the locomotion and neck mobility of these dolphins.
A phylogenetic analysis of all three specimens is presented using a matrix of 98 taxa and 284 characters. Both an unweighted and a weighted (K=3) parsimony analysis were carried out. The results suggest that all three specimens belong to a single clade containing them and Ediscetus osbornei. This clade plots well within waipatiids and is near the base of a monophyletic Platanistoidea clade.
Altogether this thesis provides formal descriptions of three new species of dolphin as well as suggesting a new feeding style, previously undescribed in cetaceans. With further study further detail regarding these animals could be discovered and this thesis begins that process
The interplay between a hallmark cultural event, tourism, and commercial activities: A case study of the Songkran Festival in Thailand
Get PDFThis study is grounded in the researcher’s interests in the evolution of a hallmark cultural event, and the uses of the event for tourism and commercial purposes through the transformation of cultural practices. The researcher is a Thai citizen who has experienced the Songkran Festival since childhood and has witnessed changes in how Thai people perform the cultural practices at the festival, for example, the Rod Nam Dam Hua ceremony, the Sand Pagoda Building, and the Water Splashing tradition. The festival celebration has changed into different forms, now reflecting the modernity of Thai society rather than its cultural significance. The festival also became a tourist attraction that encourages many international tourists to visit Thailand.
In light of these changes, this study aims to explore the interplay between a hallmark cultural event, tourism, and commercial activities from the local’s perspective through the transformation of cultural practices namely, the Rod Nam Dam Hua ceremony, the Sand Pagoda Building, and the Water Splashing tradition at the festival. The study seeks, firstly, to understand the historical development of the festival from 1960 to the present day. Secondly, the research will examine the development of tourism and commercial activities in a hallmark cultural event. Lastly, the study strives to investigate the transformation of cultural practices of a hallmark cultural event caused by the interplay between the event, tourism, and commercial activities.
To achieve the study’s aim and objectives, an inductive approach was used. This involved a case study methodology and methodological triangulation technique (document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation) to collect insightful data. The data was thematically analysed and reported according to significant themes that represent the character of each interplay at a hallmark cultural event.
The study elucidates the concealed interplays between a hallmark cultural event, tourism, and commercial activities, which expands the anthropological knowledge of event studies (cultural; commodification vs. authenticity). Additionally, the key findings highlight the uses of spatial and temporal dimensions in managing the interactions between cultural practices, tourism, and commercial activities to preserve cultural significance. Finally, the study encourages cultural event stakeholders to consider the consequences of the interplays between their collaborations when planning the long-term development of cultural events, placing importance on serving different expectations while also ensuring that any loss of cultural significance can be minimised
The Nature of Ceramic Production at Unai Bapot, House of Taga and Ritidian at 3,500 cal BP
No full textThis thesis presents the results of a chemical analysis on pottery to investigate the nature of
mobility and interaction from three Mariana Islands sites from 3,500 cal BP to 300 cal BP.
These sites were: House of Taga on Tinian, Unai Bapot on Saipan, and Ritidian on Guam.
Pottery was an important part of the pre-contract period of Chamoru culture and one of the
most common types of material culture found in these sites. The study of their pottery helps
unravel the past on these peoples to understand the nature of their pottery production and in
turn the state of mobility and interaction as a society. This archaeological signature is a
technology which can be traced back to Austronesian ancestors and cultural routes
somewhere in ISEA and connects them culturally with other island groups in Micronesia and
the wider Pacific.
This study focused on the pottery production techniques of the potters for each of the three
sites to discover how they sourced the materials to make their pots. To aid in this,
methodologies developed through the study of Lapita pottery were employed to answer these
questions. Summerhayes (2000a) models were applied to the chemical analysis results
generated from the scanning electron microscope to understand the pottery production
strategies of the potters, but also predict their level of mobility as a society. These factors
were observed through their sourcing of clay and sand, and how these changed as a result of
greater cultural trends such as the initial settlement of the islands, and the Latte Period.
This study was not the first of its kind in this region but was the first to employ the models by
Summerhayes (2000a). Through this analysis, it is argued that the pottery production
strategies and the state of mobility of each of these three sites in the Mariana Islands mirrored
common trends observed in other parts of the Pacific. That with first colonisation of islands,
they practiced an exploratory phase of material experimentation to make their pots drawing
from many different areas for their clay and sands. This reflects a highly mobile society early
on with shared cultural trends across sites. Overtime as the colonisation phase ends and
populations grow this exploratory phase ends and the variation of clay and sand samples
drops in numbers as potters use favoured local materials for their pots. This reflects a more
sedentary society, which still had interaction ties between different islands through shared
cultural traditions but becoming regionalised over time. All three sites show these trends with
evidence of variation between them
Towards an understanding of injury epidemiology amongst CrossFit® participants
Get PDFCrossFit® is a fitness program characterised by founder Greg Glassman as “constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement” and is typically coupled with other lifestyle recommendations, most prominently those related to diet and nutrition. The overarching aim of this thesis was to advance the scientific understanding of injury epidemiology associated with CrossFit participation. To address this aim, a thesis consisting of ten chapters is presented. Following the introductory material of Chapter 1, the thesis commences with a scoping review of studies investigating injury and CrossFit participation. The scoping review (Chapter 2) provides a broad perspective of the research ‘landscape’ and locates the intersection points between rank in an evidence-hierarchy and step/s of the Translating Research into Injury Prevention Practice framework (TRIPP). A key finding of the scoping review was identification of a discrete subgroup of studies reporting the epidemiology of injury associated with CrossFit participation. In order to systematically review these studies, an appropriate tool to assess risk-of-bias in cross-sectional surveys of self-reported injury was required. Chapter 3 reports the development of an appraisal tool consisting of previously published items modified for the intended context of CrossFit. The new appraisal tool, labelled the ‘Risk-of-bias Appraisal Tool for Cross-sectional studies (‘RIBAT-C’), was subsequently deployed within a systematic review of studies reporting injury epidemiology in CrossFit participants (Chapter 4). A best-evidence synthesis of six studies identified an injury incidence within the range 0.27 to 3.3 injuries per 1000 h of exposure but this apparently low value must be interpreted cautiously and in light of the high risk-of-bias evident in these studies. Taken together, the conclusions of the scoping review (Chapter 2) and systematic review (Chapter 4) indicate a need to better understand injury epidemiology in CrossFit participants (TRIPP step 1) including consideration of aetiological factors (TRIPP step 2). In preparation for a prospective observational cohort study, Chapter 5 presents a narrative review of selected methodological issues involved in conducting an observational study including the role of workload, movement quality, and previous injury on subsequent injury risk. Movement quality is a putative risk factor for musculoskeletal injury that has been evaluated by clinicians using various assessment tools, including, most prominently, the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). Two systematic reviews, the first of inter- and intra-rater reliability of FMS scores (Chapter 6), and the second investigating the strength of association between FMS scores and subsequent injury (Chapter 7) were undertaken to investigate the FMS. The findings of all previous chapters then converge on a prospective observational cohort study designed to address the aim of investigating injury epidemiology (particularly injury incidence), and identifying potential risk factors that may be associated with injury aetiology in CrossFit participants. Chapter 8 reports the findings of pilot work undertaken to consider the feasibility of community-based data collection before Chapter 9 reports a prospective observational cohort study of 30 adult recreational CrossFit participants monitored over a 26-week period. The key findings of Chapter 9 were: a) within the CrossFit population, measures of injury severity incorporating reduction in participation, rather than time-loss, are likely to be important, b) the average weekly prevalence for both gradual and acute onset injuries of substantial severity was ~ 3.6% (95%CI 0 to 10.2), c) the incidence of gradual onset injuries of substantial severity was 3.1 per 1000 h exposure (95%CI 1.1 to 5.1); and the incidence of acute onset injuries of substantial severity was 2.7 per 1000 h exposure (95%CI 1.2 to 4.2), d) participants in this study demonstrated low variance in acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) with the mean for all participants approximating 1.1 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.14), e) the stability of ACWR observed in this sample is attributable to three determinants, firstly, the uniformity of session intensity which was, on average, 6.4 out of 10 (95%CI 6.1 to 6.7), aligning with a Borg descriptor between “hard” (6 out of 10) and “very hard” (7 out of 10); secondly, the near uniform duration of 60 min for each workout session (consistent with typical CrossFit affiliate practices for group classes); and finally, in this sample, the low variation in number of weekly sessions (95%CI 3.7 to 4 sessions per week). If the stability of these parameters is typical of recreational CrossFit participants generally, it suggests that ACWR may not be a viable injury risk factor in this population. The magnitude of effect for association between the strongest of the movement quality indices and subsequent injury risk was ‘small to moderate’, with the lower and upper limit of the confidence interval ranging between ‘trivial’ and ‘large’. Notwithstanding the limited precision associated with the small sample, the magnitude of effect observed here is arguably insufficient to justify use of the movement quality indices investigated here as isolated indicators of injury risk. Finally, Chapter 10 provides an overview of findings arising from the thesis including recommendations for advancing scholarship in the area of injury prevention research specific to CrossFit and analogous forms of exercise activity
Development of Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida parapsilosis lanosterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51) as drug targets
No full textFungal infections afflict the well-being of a broad cross-section of the human population.
These infections can be either superficial or invasive. While superficial infections may be
readily treated, invasive fungal infections (IFIs) can be lethal. Cryptococcus neoformans and
Candida parapsilosis are two emerging opportunistic fungal pathogens that cause IFIs in
humans, especially in individuals with immunocompromised disease such as AIDS or have
undergone surgical condition such as organ transplantation. C. neoformans causes lifethreatening
cryptococcal meningitis in HIV infected patients while C. parapsilosis is a
commensal and causes candidiasis by transmission through the hands of health workers in
hospital environment.
Azole antifungals are usually the first line drugs of choice for such infections. This class of
drugs act by inhibiting lanosterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51), a rate limiting enzyme essential
for the synthesis of the fungal-specific sterol ergosterol. Azole prophylaxis and/or long-term
use of azole drugs have however led to the acquisition of azole resistance among these
pathogens. Discovery of new drugs to combat the azole resistance is of utmost importance.
The redox partner of CYP51 is NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR), which provides
electrons for CYP51 activity. As a part of an approach to structure-directed drug discovery,
this project aims to assess the function, azole susceptibility, biochemistry and structural
features of CYP51s from the fungal pathogens C. neoformans and C. parapsilosis and the
impact of their cognate CPR by using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae host system.
Recombinant full-length, codon optimised and C-terminal hexa-histidine tagged CYP51s of
C. neoformans (CnCYP51), C. parapsilosis (CpCYP51) and the CpCYP51 Y132F mutant
were constitutively overexpressed from the PDR5 locus of a S. cerevisiae host strain deleted
of 7 drug efflux pumps and with the promoter of the native CYP51 gene replaced by a
galactose-regulated promoter (GAL1). A cognate NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR)
was constitutively co-expressed from the PDR15 locus of the CYP51 expressing recombinant
strains. Agarose diffusion assays and measurement of minimum inhibitory concentrations
(MIC80) in liquid microdilution assays were used to evaluate the susceptibility of the S.
cerevisiae host and recombinant strains to various short-tailed (fluconazole, voriconazole)
and long-tailed (itraconazole, posaconazole) triazoles, medium-tailed tetrazoles (VT-1161,VT-1129) and an experimental tetrazole MCC-8186, during growth on complex synthetic medium containing glucose. The glucan synthase inhibitor micafungin and the polyene amphotericin B were used as control drugs. Crude membranes of CnCYP51-6 His,
CpCYP51-6 His and CpCYP51-6 His Y132F expressing recombinant strains were used to
analyse the expression levels of these proteins by SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis. The
recombinant proteins were solubilised from the crude membranes using the detergent n-decyl-
β-D-maltoside followed by purification by nickel affinity and size exclusion
chromatography. Purified proteins were used to study the Type I binding of their substrates
(lanosterol and eburicol) and Type II binding of azoles (posaconazole and voriconazole) to
these proteins. Affinity purified CPRs from co-expressing strains were used to assess their
function by the cytochrome c reduction activity. Crystallisation of the proteins with the
triazoles posaconazole and voriconazole was attempted using the hanging-drop vapour diffusion
method.
CnCYP51, CpCYP51 and CpCYP51 Y132F expressed from the PDR5 locus supported
growth in the presence of either galactose or glucose (native ScCYP51 suppressed) and
showed functional activity that was inhibited by azole drugs in tests using agarose diffusion
assays and microdilution assays. In case of CnCYP51 expressing strains, co-overexpression
of the cognate reductase CnCPR showed reduced susceptibility to the short-tailed azoles
fluconazole and voriconazole by 2 to 4-fold, respectively, but not to the long-tailed triazoles
or tetrazoles. A slight reduction in susceptibility to amphotericin B was also induced by
CnCPR co-expression. For the C. parapsilosis CYP51 expressing strains, constitutive
expression in yeast of CpCYP51 Y132F conferred a 10 to 12-fold resistance to fluconazole
and voriconazole, ~6-fold resistance to VT-1161 and VT-1129, and reduced to a 3-fold
resistance to MCC-8186, but did not confer resistance to the long-tailed triazoles. Coexpression
of CpCPR did not cause any change in the susceptibility of recombinant strains
expressing CpCYP51 or its Y132F mutant to the azole drugs.Each of the purified proteins showed spectral characteristics typical of CYP51s. Type I binding assays revealed that the purified CnCYP51 bound preferentially eburicol compared
to lanosterol, while CpCYP51 bound both. Both voriconazole and posaconazole bound to the
purified CnCYP51 producing the characteristic Type II binding spectra. Cytochrome c
reduction activity of the CPRs was detected as a 550 nm peak.Protein crystals were obtained for only the wild type CpCYP51 in complex with posaconazole at pH 8.2 and 8.3 with 44% PEG 400 in 100 mM glycine-NaOH buffer, but
these did not diffract under X-ray exposure.
Structural and functional analysis of recombinant CYP51s from the fungal pathogens C.
neoformans and C. parapsilosis has improved the understanding of their susceptibility to
azole drugs and will help advance structure-directed antifungal discovery