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Microdosing Psychedelics for Cognitive Enhancement: A Naturalistic Exploration of User Experiences
No full textPsychedelics have recently grown in scientific interest, among this, there have been promising findings regarding its potential to treat a range of health problems (such as depression, anxiety, PTSD). Despite the growing research interest in psychedelics, there is little research investigating the effects of microdoses: tiny doses that produce sub-hallucinogenic effects. Additionally, there is little research investigating the ability of psychedelics in improving cognitive functioning. Cognitive difficulties are becoming an increasing problem worldwide with deficits arising alongside a variety of internal and external factors (e.g., psychiatric disorders, neurological damage, and general aging). Our study addresses the limitations in current research by focusing specifically on cognitive functioning and its potential mediating effects. Our study investigated the effects of psychedelic microdosing on cognitive functioning and co-occurring factors that may be mediating these effects. We hypothesised that changes in cognition will be mediated by other factors common to the psychedelic experience such as changes in mood and lifestyle. A quantitative content analysis was performed of Reddit posts collected from the r/microdosing subreddit. An exploratory survey was also distributed to collect further insight that may have been missed from the Reddit data. Results from both data sources highlight that improvements in cognition are frequently reported following microdosing. In addition, both data sources highlight prominent improvements in other domains of microdosing such as mood, social, and lifestyle changes. The findings from this study suggest microdosing acts as a cognitive catalyst within a web of personal factors, challenging the standardised approach to psychedelic medicine in favour of a personalised therapeutic design.</p
Youth Justice Professionals and the Youth Court
No full textThe current Aotearoa New Zealand Youth Justice System (NZYJS) was developed to be more responsive to the needs of rangatahi. However, subsequent research has demonstrated that rangatahi still have a limited understanding of court proceedings. Limited research has investigated Youth Justice Professionals' (YJP) perspectives of rangatahi participation in the Youth Court (YC). This qualitative research conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 YJP working in the YC throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Interviews were transcribed, and Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to identify key ideas. Five themes were developed in relation to professionals’ perspectives and experiences in the YC: Who are rangatahi? Challenges in court, Resourcing, Facilitators in court and Where to next. The findings of this research highlighted the characteristics of the rangatahi that come in contact with the YC and how these differences shape their experiences and ability to participate. YJP identified several barriers to rangatahi participation, including the physical layout of the court, the process with which the YC follows, communication difficulties and relational challenges. While YJP acknowledged the challenges mentioned above, they also highlighted several factors that are working well in the YC. This included the professionals themselves, the level of responsivity and the implementation of effective communication.The findings from this research highlighted the need for a holistic approach to reform the current NZYJS and adequately address the multiple interconnected factors mentioned above.The current study contributes to the youth justice field, with limited research investigating YJP experiences and perspectives of rangatahi participation in court. These findings aim to increase our knowledge and understanding of rangatahi ability to actively and meaningfully participate in the YC. It highlights the need for more research investigating how YJP, rangatahi and whānau can be supported in the YC while highlighting practical implications to make the current YC process rangatahi-centred.</p
'Beyond the binary: Time for a broader approach to employment status
No full textWhen the National, ACT New Zealand and New Zealand First coalition government came to power they inherited a series of policy and legislative challenges regarding the status and protections for workers labelled as contractors. This involves defining which workers are employees, with the rights and protections that involves, and the potential that some workers may be misclassified as
contractors. Alongside this are workers in a ‘grey area’ between contractor and employee classifications. These people are not truly self-employed in the sense of being independent entrepreneurs, but instead are constrained in a variety of ways, including being economically dependent on one employer or constrained in the way their contracts function.
This article critically evaluates the government’s proposed amendment to the test of employment status in s6 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA) and argues that the amendment is unsatisfactory on several grounds. While it is important that workers are not exploited and are able
to live decent lives, there are industries which are not configured in a way which easily lends itself to the imposition of standard employment relationships. There are also workers who do not want to work under the traditional employment relations model.
The article concludes that a more nuanced approach – beyond the current employee versus independent contractor binary – is needed. It highlights the potential of commercial law to offer improved protections for workers in contracting arrangements as a promising avenue for future development
Multi-Object Tracking of Dense and Uniform Targets for NZ Mussel Farms Using Computer Vision and Genetic Programming Techniques
No full textNew Zealand’s aquaculture sector, particularly mussel farming, plays an important role in the country’s economy and export industry. However, its growth and expansion is impeded by operational challenges in the monitoring of mussel farming equipment, particularly the buoyancy devices known as mussel floats/buoys. Their primary function is to provide flotation for the submerged longlines from which mussels are suspended as they grow. Conventional manual inspections are costly and inefficient, making automated tracking solutions increasingly attractive. This thesis addresses the site-specific challenges by developing a new multi-object tracking (MOT) framework tailored for tracking mussel floats in mussel farm images. The research explores the integration of traditional computer vision and Genetic Programming (GP) techniques to facilitate robust and reliable tracking in dynamic and unpredictable aquafarm environments where deep learning methods often underperform.This research delivers three major contributions. Firstly, a new training-free MOT pipeline based exclusively on traditional computer vision methods was established to provide a robust performance benchmark for mussel float tracking. Secondly, this thesis introduces a GP-based multi-object detection approach to identifying mussel floats in images, featuring a new hierarchical 3-Tree GP program representation that significantly improves detection accuracy and reduces false positives. Lastly, this thesis introduces a GP-based multi-object matching approach to reliably matching large numbers of visually similar mussel floats across frames.The findings demonstrate that GP can effectively enhance both multi-object detection and matching performance in MOT, outperforming conventional and deep learning-based methods. The proposed automated MOT approaches reduce the need for manual inspections, enhance operational efficiency, and lay the groundwork for future research into scalable aquaculture monitoring systems. Through the application of artificial intelligence, this thesis provides a practical solution that supports the advancement of aquaculture in New Zealand, with positive implications for both the economy and the environment.</p
Temporal patterns in avian ecology and behaviour – a multi-scale approach
No full textTime is a fundamental aspect of nature that shapes life on Earth. Organisms have evolved biological rhythms to synchronize their behaviour and physiology with cyclical environmental fluctuations. Temporal ecological patterns are especially pronounced in birds, influencing key behaviours such as migration, breeding, foraging, and daily activity patterns. However, anthropogenic disturbances, such as species introductions, increased commercial aviation, and urbanization, disrupt the timing of cyclical natural events. In this thesis, I examined temporal patterns in avian ecology and behaviour in the context of natural and human-induced environmental variation across different ecological scales.Bird collisions with aircraft are a serious and increasing threat to human safety worldwide. In chapter 2, I investigated the biogeographical patterns in the seasonality of bird strikes. Strikes were generally higher in late-autumn and summer seasons on both hemispheres. Seasonal trends were not symmetrical between the hemispheres, as bird strikes in the Northern Hemisphere were more seasonally concentrated. Results suggested periods of peak bird strikes may coincide with the fledging season, while hemispherical asymmetry in the seasonality of bird strikes may correspond with the latitudinal differences in avian migration. These findings bridge a gap between aviation safety and macroecology, providing insights that could inform future wildlife hazard management strategies at airports.In New Zealand, conservation initiatives have successfully restored threatened bird populations, enabling detailed studies of local ecological processes. In chapter 3, I analysed seasonal patterns in bird-plant interactions using a long-term dataset of a restored forest bird community in a mainland sanctuary. Flower and fruit visitation peaked at opposite times of the year, in spring and autumn, respectively. Flowers were available to birds for approximately half the year and fruits for the other half. Dietary diversity of birds was higher for fruits than for flowers. Seasonality in flower and fruit visitation was generally unrelated to peak periods in the consumption of individual plant species. Future use of this and other long-term datasets could be essential to evaluate the biodiversity outcomes of conservation strategies such as fenced sanctuaries through time.The introduction of non-native plant species alters plant communities worldwide, requiring native animals to adapt their foraging behaviour to include novel food resources. In chapter 4, I examined seasonal foraging patterns of the New Zealand kākā (Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis) on native food resources, and on an exotic conifer with year-round canopy seed storage. Foraging frequency and dietary niche breadth of kākā were higher at certain times of year. Kākā exhibited seasonal shifts in their diet, sequentially switching between flowers, tree sap, fruits, and ground-foraged seeds, while consuming wood-boring invertebrates year-round. Additionally, kākā fed on radiata pine (Pinus radiata) seeds throughout the year, demonstrating dietary opportunism. As kākā disperse further into urban areas, understanding their dietary plasticity for novel resources may be essential for future conservation management.In chapter 5, I investigated the nocturnal behaviour of wild kākā, which are typically considered to be diurnal birds. I compared the occurrences of different behaviours and vocalizations between night and day. Results demonstrate what is, to my knowledge, the first account of partial nocturnality in a parrot species. Approximately one in five kākā encounters occurred at night. Kākā engaged in a variety of behaviours and vocalizations during both day and night, with higher foraging observed during the day, and higher movement observed at night. These findings serve as a potential starting point for further studies on the effects of demographic factors such as age and sex, and other external factors such as level of urbanization, on this behaviour.Together, these studies contribute to our understanding of temporal variation in avian ecology through a multi-scale approach, emphasizing the interconnectedness of natural and anthropogenic environments. The thesis provides novel insights into avian temporal trends, from global patterns in bird strikes to the daily activity of an endemic parrot. As disturbances like climate change and habitat modification continue to alter the timing of natural events, understanding their impact on avian behaviour and ecological interactions becomes increasingly crucial.</p
Consolidating a Māori Legal Theory: Opportunities for our own legal theorising and jurisprudence in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textThis thesis consolidates both the case for a Māori legal theory and the jurisprudential work that already gives it form. It shows that Māori legal theory does not need to be invented, it is already operating across academic, community, and legal domains. What remains is to recognise, refine, and articulate it on its own terms. At its core is the affirmation that tikanga Māori is not merely cultural practice or historical custom, but within itself contains a principled and reasoned system of law: diverse in form, grounded in relationships, and capable of guiding both constitutional transformation and everyday legal reasoning. Set against the constitutional foundations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the evolving treatment of tikanga within the state legal system, the thesis examines how Māori law has been interpreted, recognised, and at times distorted by frameworks such as legal pluralism, and how alternatives like Indigenous Legal Theory offer support towards the development of our own Māori legal theory. In response, the thesis draws together the jurisprudential contributions of key Māori scholars, the structured legal methods emerging from within tikanga, and visionary models of constitutional change, particularly Matike Mai. Together, these demonstrate that a Māori legal theory, grounded in Māori forms of reasoning and authority, is already in motion. What this thesis offers is a consolidation: a weaving together of the intellectual, legal, and constitutional strands that not only create a platform for further development, but demonstrate how much of the work is already being done. In doing so, it affirms that Māori legal thought is not peripheral to New Zealand’s legal landscape, it is central to imagining its future.</p
Whaddarya - Individual versus Community?
No full textThere is a particular approach to policy-making that is very common in countries like NZ: this is the market-based approach. In using this approach, policy makers assume that individual humans will usually do whatever serves their own individual interests, so they try to achieve their policy outcomes (e.g. economic growth) by harnessing selfish motives.The focus on individual interests can be seen in the reforms associated with Regan, Thatcher, and Douglas, but it's still the underlying framework influencing government policy decisions today.I will argue that the assumption that humans usually act in their own individual self-interests, is at best only partly true and substantially misconstrues the most important drivers of our behaviour. That is, I will argue that our social relationships and cooperation are central to how we lead our lives, and our ability to achieve our life goals.If we are fundamentally cooperators and value being a part of communities, rather than self-interest maximisers, then the role of government and how its actions impact on those factors should be a central feature of our theory of government and government behaviour. This thesis also seeks to explore how government policies and actions could improve outcomes in this space</p
In-Between: An investigation of sustainable ways to alter and improve domestic dwellings with a focus of materiality and interiority of in-between and linking spaces
No full textPositive effects on health and well-being can stem from a healthy home. Aotearoa, New Zealand, has a substantial number of older dwellings that are cold, damp, and unheated. These homes are often smaller, which leads to overcrowding and multi-generational households sharing spaces to afford living expenses. Evidence has shown that in both private and state homes, Māori and Pasifika communities are more likely to live in overcrowded homes.While there are limited and straightforward solutions for extending homes, options include adding an additional dwelling onto the land or extending the house itself. These approaches overlook factors such as topography, aesthetics, and adaptation of repurposed materials. This research explores affordable and sustainable ways to add an “in-between” space that connects the home, the people, and the land. This research examines how each architectural intervention makes these spaces feel memorable and integrated. The goal is to achieve this by identifying the key issues in these existing homes and considering the modifications needed to support the adapted way of living.This research examines three different homes from various decades and topographies, offering a range of design paths using preloved materials available on the market. However, these materials are subject to availability. By exploring multiple variations of home extensions, this research can benefit a larger demographic by considering a less costly extension method and providing a potential solution to improve the health and well-being of these homes.</p
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