13553 research outputs found
Sort by
Max Ernst in 1929: Collage and the Politics of the Outmoded
No full textIn 1929, Max Ernst returned to collage with La Femme 100 têtes, a cycle of 147 collages with brief captions. Although collage had been central to Ernst's early work, he shifted to frottage after the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto. This paper explores Ernst’s return to collage amid a critical moment of division within the surrealist movement, polarized by debates over surrealism's revolutionary role, collective creativity, and its relationship to political action. In this context, La Femme 100 têtes exemplifies how collage, with its use of ambiguity and refashioning of outdated materials, navigated the cultural and political impasse surrealism faced. The work challenged the modernist avant-garde’s aesthetic project, adopting a position beyond art but before politics. However, collage’s subversive potential was ultimately absorbed into art history as a new cultural form
Digital Religion in Aotearoa: Minority Theologies of Flourishing
No full textThis work sits at the intersection of digital religion, critical theory, and minority studies. The project traces the discourses of digital theologies and everyday ethics by minority Christians in Aotearoa New Zealand. The digital world both extends and enacts new technological forms of hegemony, exerting tendrils of control, oppression, and power in diffuse and diverse ways contingent on social, cultural, and relational configurations. By exploring the experiences of minority populations, one gains a clearer image of the structures of power inherent in digitality. I employ Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of ‘becoming minor’ to frame the relationship between the hegemonic, normative major and the ‘minor’ theologies that emerge in response to conditions of digitality. This thesis narrates the ways that three groups of minority Christians—queer, Indigenous Māori, and migrant Samoans—speak back to majority formations in an ongoing negotiation. These minor theologies are formed in reaction, subversion, and conciliation to the promises and perils of digitality. I argue that the themes and stories that emerged in response to questions of navigating the digital world form what I call minoritarian theologies of flourishing. These articulations do not call for retreat; nor do they aim to become the normative, new major. Rather, these theologies attend to visions of human flourishing in the here and now that are diverse and dynamic. My notion of minoritarian theologies of flourishing affords new understandings in contextual theology, enriching the field of digital religion and the wide umbrella of minority studies, adding new dimensions of analysis to the academic conversation.</p
Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Amino Acids for Carbohydrate Conjugation
No full textGlycosylation is a common eukaryotic post-translational modification of peptides and proteins. However, elucidating the relationship between carbohydrate structure and glycoprotein function is challenging. Contributing significantly to this challenge is the arduousness of glycoprotein synthesis, making the preparation of glycoform libraries for biological evaluation impractical.This thesis investigated proposed new methodologies of preparing O- and N-glycosylated peptides and proteins by preparing and evaluating novel amino acid derivatives. Firstly, it was investigated whether native O-glycosylation can be achieved by utilising O-substituted aminooxy serine derivatives, envisioned to react with reducing carbohydrates and then cyclise to form oxazolidines. To this end, aminooxy serine derivatives were synthesised in six steps from ᴅ-serine and overall yields of 9-26%. With the aminooxy serine derivatives prepared, reactions of the oxyamines with N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) were attempted. However, there was no product formation observed under the reaction conditions used. In addition, the aminooxy serine derivatives were found to degrade under the mildly acidic reaction conditions. In contrast, alcohol or thiol functionalised oxyamines, which lacked ester groups, did react with GlcNAc to give β-pyranosides or thioaminals, respectively. These results highlighted that the aminooxy serine derivatives may be challenging to use for glycan conjugation.The second part of this thesis explores new methodology for the synthesis of N-glycosylated peptides and proteins based on amide formation by reacting acylsilanes with oxyamines. For this purpose, an asymmetric organocatalysed Mannich-type reaction was developed to prepare a protected acylsilane functionalised amino acid. The novel acylsilane functionalised amino acid was successfully reacted with a simple diethylcarbamoyl oxyamine, forming the expected amide. Mosher amide analysis of the amide derivative of the acylsilane demonstrated that the asymmetric Mannich-type reaction had led to the formation of the desired enantiomer with an e.e. of 86%. Finally, experiments were undertaken to assess whether this acylsilane functionalised amino acid derivative could be employed to form amides with oxime derivatives of GlcNAc.</p
Drawn into Dialogue: A Comics Exploration of Young People's Responses to Climate Change in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textThis research explores how comics can be used as a medium to communicate young people’s responses to the climate crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand. As the effects of anthropogenic climate change are felt more frequently and violently, younger generations must navigate hope and fear while taking on the responsibility of positioning themselves at the forefront of the climate debate. This project serves as documentation and creative examination of the lived realities of six young Aotearoa New Zealanders as they grapple with their feelings about the climate crisis in the spring and summer of late 2023 and early 2024. This research is driven by two primary objectives: firstly, to analyse young people’s responses to the complex challenges posed by climate change, and, secondly, to examine and demonstrate how graphic storytelling can communicate these narratives. The outcome of this research is a Master’s thesis, which details the breadth of the research, and an accompanying creative output in the form of a 62-page comic titled 'True Leaves'. This research aims to critically reflect on what life in a climate changing world is like for young people in Aotearoa New Zealand and how comics can be used to communicate and draw meaning from these findings. The methods applied in this research include the identification and analysis of relevant literature as well as a review of cartoons and comics with a focus on climate change. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with six young Aotearoa New Zealanders between the ages of 20 and 30 to develop an understanding of their emotional and physical responses to climate change. These interviews formed the basis for the creative generation of a comic. The content of the comic harnessed both the interviews and personal, creative reflection and was produced as the result of an iterative process within a research through design framework. This research culminates in the telling of a story that warrants diverse modes of communication. It shines a light on the words and work of young people in their local context of Aotearoa New Zealand, and does so through a medium that can illustrate climate-changing realities in nuanced, accessible and engaging ways.</p
Asymptotic distribution of the statistical complexity under the multinomial law
No full textNo description supplie
How Body Image and Physical Self-Perception Influences the Lived Experience of Pacific Adolescent Girls in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textDominant social constructs of ideal body image for adolescent girls are often shaped by an Eurocentric lens that emphasises Western aesthetics. While much of the existing research has focused on Western females, there is limited understanding of the lived experiences of Pacific adolescent girls regarding body image. This research investigates Pacific perspectives on body image, explores into the holistic lived experiences of Pacific girls, and examines the cultural and social factors that shape their perceptions. The research was anchored in the Samoan Fa’afaletui approach, a culturally grounded methodology that captures and values the knowledge and lived experiences of the participants. A total of eleven Pacific girls from the Auckland region contributed their insights to this study. Key findings highlighted social relationships—particularly those with family, friends, and exposure to media—play a pivotal role in shaping Pacific girls’ understanding of body image. These relationships significantly influence their perceptions through appearance-based comparisons and the internalisation of the thin ideal. Additionally, the research revealed that the girls' experiences of being part of a marginalised minority group amplified societal pressures to conform to Western beauty standards, which they perceived as necessary for achieving both self-acceptance and social belonging.</p
Centering Pacific knowledge of time, space, and relationality in community-based translanguaging research: An engaged and fluid temporal methodology: Submission to special issue of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics
No full textIn Western perspectives, space and place are often viewed as distinct concepts. Place refers to a specific physical location, whereas space describes the interactions that take place within that location. Time is typically understood as a fixed moment or the interval between moments. In contrast, Pacific perspectives see time, space, and place as interconnected with each other and with individuals. In this worldview, a space or place continues to resonate even after one leaves it, and time is seen as circular rather than linear, linking the past, present, and future. This interconnectedness is embodied in the concept of 'va', which emphasizes the importance of understanding relationships and responsibilities within the community involved in research (cf. Airini et al., 2010). This article argues for the importance of recognizing Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies as valid in their own right, which in this case means recognizing the importance of va in Pacific research. We also present our theorization of an Engaged and Fluid Temporal Methodology, which outlines via five principles how Pacific understandings guided our work with Pacific communities. We then walk through each of the five principles as a methodological guide for community-based research, providing illustrative examples from the Wellington Translanguaging Project. By focusing on principles to research that are imbued with respective Pacific understandings of time, space, and relationships (e.g. va), we argue that this supports the research to remain in and for the communities with which we worked, a core component of Indigenous research methodology
Complex Perceptual-Motor Learning in Virtual Reality: Investigating the Generalization of Complex Motor Sequences
No full textAbstract Learning motor skills that involve repetitive action sequences, such as driving, is essential. An important question is whether these skills are generalizable, or in other words, whether learning one sequence transfers to new sequences or environments, or whether they are sequence-specific and do not transfer. Many of these skills rely heavily on perception to guide effective movements and are defined as perceptual-motor skills in this study. Much of the existing research focuses on simple motor skills, which do not reflect the complexity of real-world motor tasks. This thesis developed a new paradigm to test complex perceptual- motor learning and generalizability using the off-the-shelf Virtual Reality (VR) game Beat Saber.Beat Saber requires players to slice coloured blocks using two lightsabres controlled by VR hand controllers. Participants played a particular song on a specific difficulty (a particular perceptual-motor sequence) for four consecutive days. On the fifth day, participants played the same song once more, followed by a new song of equal difficulty, representing a new perceptual-motor sequence. This paradigm enabled significant learning across three performance metrics: the proportion of blocks hit, and left- and right-hand accuracy scores, which measured the precision of slicing. As expected, participants’ performance dropped when transitioning to the new song on the fifth day. From this performance drop, we calculated that 65.7% of the learning from the first song was general skill learning, meaning the remaining 34.3% of the learning was tied to the initial sequence and did not transfer to the new song. This paradigm offers a valuable tool for further exploring complex perceptual motor learning and generalizability.</p
Constraining earthquake rates at the Auckland Volcanic Field 2011-2022
No full textThe Auckland Volcanic Field (AVF) is an active monogenetic basaltic volcanic field underlying New Zealand's most populous city. An eruption of the AVF is unlikely on human time scales but even a small eruption presents a major hazard to Auckland's 1.6 million inhabitants. Seismicity is expected to be the first indication of volcanic unrest in the AVF and accurate event locations will be a key factor in narrowing down the probable event location, a piece of information vital to reducing human causalities. The current GeoNet catalogue has been generated with inconsistent methods and is insufficient to estimate and look at what normal background seismicity looks like for the AVF and hence detect deviations from this that might indicate unrest.In this thesis I have used EQTransformer, a machine learning picker, to detect seismic events and pick both P and S phases over an 11 year period. These phases were associated into 19,806 events of which 3,564 were located using a 3D velocity model. Located events were manually verified to remove false detections on regional/distant earthquakes and classed as earthquakes (n=368 within the study region) or quarry blasts (n=1,258 within the study region). The catalogue has generally low event rates with occasional swarms indicating that increased seismicity rates alone may not be enough to characterise volcanic unrest. Nevertheless, the workflow I have developed can be adapted for use in ongoing monitoring of the AVF and/or for use in a potential unrest/ eruption scenario.</p
Kappa Opioid Receptor Expression and Function in Glial Cells: Implications for Nalfurafine as a Therapeutic Agent in Demyelinating Diseases
No full textMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating autoimmune disease that affects 2.9 million people worldwide. Characterised by demyelination and neuroinflammation, MS involves autoreactive immune cells attacking the myelin sheath surrounding nerve cells, impairing saltatory conduction, and resulting in axonal degradation. The inflammatory process is further exacerbated by the pro-inflammatory activation of microglia and astrocytes, which contribute to ongoing tissue damage. A key factor in MS progression is the failure of remyelination, primarily due to the failure of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) to proliferate and differentiate into mature myelinating oligodendrocytes (OLs). There is no cure for MS, and current treatments do not promote recovery or repair. The progressive nature of MS and its profound impact on patient’s quality of life underscores the importance of developing new pharmacotherapies that not only halt disease progression but also promote remyelination and repair of damaged neural tissue.Recent research identified the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) as a promising target for promoting remyelination in the central nervous system (CNS). While traditional KOR agonists, like U50,488 have shown potential, their clinical use is limited due to side effects, including dysphoria, sedation, and anxiety. Nalfurafine, a selective KOR agonist, has emerged as a promising alternative. This compound has demonstrated clinical safety and is known to promote the differentiation of OPCs into mature, myelinating OLs. However, the impact of nalfurafine on other glial cells in the CNS, particularly microglia and astrocytes, remains largely unexplored. Previous studies have reported that both glial cells express KOR, and that KOR agonism can promote a phenotypic shift in microglia towards a more restorative state. Given these findings, this thesis aims to elucidate the mechanism of action of nalfurafine on glial cells in the CNS, with a particular focus on the potential therapeutic effects elicited via microglia. This research seeks to expand our understanding of nalfurafine’s broader impact on the CNS environment and its potential as a treatment for demyelinating diseases such as MS.To investigate KOR expression on microglia and astrocytes, this study employed fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in conjunction with immunohistochemistry (IHC) in a 70-day cuprizone model of demyelination using C57BL/6J mice. FISH was used to label the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) of Oprk1, the gene encoding KOR, allowing us to analyse its expression patterns in microglia and astrocytes. To evaluate Oprk1 expression throughout both white and grey matter regions of the brain, we implemented whole brain mapping confocal microscopy. Our results showed astrocytes express consistently low levels of Oprk1, and nalfurafine treatment reduced astrogliosis. Conversely, microglia exhibited significantly higher levels of Oprk1 mRNA, with variation observed across different brain regions. However, treatment with nalfurafine did not result in a reduction of microgliosis. The differential pattern of Oprk1 expression suggests a potential direct role of nalfurafine specifically on microglial cells and provided a foundation for further investigation into the cell-specific mechanisms of nalfurafine in the context of demyelination.To further elucidate the specific effects of nalfurafine on microglia, we employed the chronic cuprizone and rapamycin model of demyelination. This model allowed us to investigate the expression of pro-inflammatory cluster of differentiation 74 (CD74) and cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), as well as the anti-inflammatory marker cluster of differentiation 206 (CD206) on microglia throughout demyelination and subsequent nalfurafine treatment. Our findings revealed that nalfurafine treatment reduced CD74 and CD68 expression while concurrently increasing CD206 expression in microglia. In addition, the persistent nalfurafine-dependent reduction in astrogliosis observed in this chronic model suggests that nalfurafine exerted an indirect effect on astrocytes while more directly promoting a beneficial and restorative phenotype in microglia.To confirm the potential direct role of nalfurafine on microglia, we utilised Cre-Lox technology to generate a conditional knockout mouse model, selectively knocking down Oprk1 expression on C-X3-C chemokine receptor 1 (Cx3cr1) positive cells in the cuprizone and rapamycin model of demyelination. The knockout was confirmed through dual FISH and IHC, demonstrating a significant reduction in Oprk1 expression on microglia. Importantly, this selective knockout of Oprk1 on microglia attenuated the anti-inflammatory properties observed with nalfurafine treatment, as evidenced by sustained expression of pro-inflammatory CD74 and CD68. Furthermore, remyelination in the lateral corpus callosum (CC), as measured by Black Gold II staining, was impaired in these knockout mice, highlighting the critical role of microglial KOR in the remyelination process.This study provided the first evidence that Oprk1 expression on glial cells is region-dependent, with microglia expressing higher levels of Oprk1 than astrocytes. We demonstrated that nalfurafine alleviated astrogliosis in two preclinical models of demyelination and played a direct role in modulating microglial phenotype following demyelination, contributing to an anti-inflammatory environment conducive to remyelination. Furthermore, this research advances our understanding of nalfurafine’s mechanism of action and its promising applications in treating CNS disorders characterised by demyelination and neuroinflammation, such as MS.</p
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Victoria University of Wellington? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!