13553 research outputs found
Sort by
Platforming positivity: Young people's negotiations of sex and body positivity in digital and everyday life
No full textSex positivity has roots in liberatory, feminist sexual politics and the movement has gained cultural momentum in recent years. In the context of #MeToo, the re-popularisation of feminism, a rise in overt misogyny, and the tremendous presence of body positivity on social media, sex positivity has re-emerged as people seek to understand what it means to be a sexual subject in this turbulent socio-political context. Sex positivity has flourished on online, and research suggests it disrupts heteronormative representations of sexuality, women’s bodies, and centers the pursuit of pleasure. Overall, scholarly understandings of sex and body positivity have shifted in relation to contemporary feminist values, affective norms, and emergent youth sexual cultures. Further, although sex and body positivity share common political origins, they have largely been considered as separate movements, and our understandings of how they overlap are limited. For young women and gender diverse people, social media platforms are a key site for negotiating norms and practices to do with sex, bodies, and gender. And, as everyday life and digital worlds become increasingly convergent it is important to understand how sex, bodies, and sex positivity are constructed on Instagram, and how young people consume and interact with this content.In this thesis, I use multimodal and feminist critical discourse analysis to extend current understandings of how sex, bodies, and sexuality are constructed on social media and in everyday life. Chapter 5 examines content posted to one body positivity and three sex positivity Instagram accounts. My analysis of advertorials posted by these creators shows how sex and body positivity take shape in relation to Instagram’s aesthetic and monetisation affordances, and the predominance of postfeminist logics on the platform.Consequently, the movements become depoliticised, presenting the ideal sex and body positive subject positions as attainable through consumption, psychic transformation, body-work, and embracing an empowered, confident femininity. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 present analyses drawn from interviews with nine young women and three gender diverse people, exploring how these participants made sense of sex and body positivity—both on social media, and in their everyday lives. Young people made sense of sex positivity in terms of five imperatives: to be pro-sex, to be open, to be autonomous, to engage authentically, and to be body and sexually confident. The imperatives cohere into a discourse of sex positivity and produce a particular kind of ideal sex positive subject who knows their own mind, accepts diversity, and engages positively, openly, and confidently in sexual situations. This creates conditions of everyday, disruptive possibility—enabling young people to straightforwardly accept asexuality, talk openly about sex, feel confident and sexy, and entitled to make decisions about their bodies. However, tensions and complications emerged as participants negotiated intersections between sex positivity and dominant discourses of heterosex, compulsory sexuality, normative beauty-ideals, and postfeminist notions of sexual subjectivity. Sex positivity’s imperatives may also create conditions of social coercion, requiring young people to be adventurous and confident sexual subjects in ways that reinforce victim-blaming narratives. Analysis of young people’s responses to Instagram prompts provided during interviews demonstrate how the platform’s visibility and aesthetic affordances tend to reproduce broader cultural dictates around sex, bodies, and gender which shape—and often limit—the transgressive potential of sex and body positivity.Overall, my findings demonstrate how the liberatory promise of the sex positivity movement is negotiated on platforms and in practice. The multiple and conflicting demands placed upon young people usher them into spaces of impossibility where getting confidence, autonomy, or authenticity right is virtually unattainable. By inculcating young people in the individual pursuit of empowerment, choice, and bodily confidence, contemporary sex positivity operates to divert attention from the oppressive systems of power that sustain gendered inequities in everyday life.</p
Kinetic Isotope Effects and Transition State Analysis of the Carbapenem-Hydrolysing β-Lactamase KPC-2
No full textThe β-lactamase enzymes are the main cause of bacterial resistance towards the most efficient and widely used antibiotics. There is currently a pressing need for discovering novel and potent drugs to counteract this resistance. This thesis represents the first application of the Kinetic Isotope Effects (KIEs) technique to unravel the Transition State (TS) structure of a clinically relevant β-lactamase enzyme. The structural and mechanistic details of the TS provide valuable insight into the development of new β-lactamase inhibitors to combat antibiotic resistance. Measuring KIEs is an effective and powerful way to access details of an enzymatic TS. By capturing the electronic and structural details of an enzymatic TS in the form of a stable structure (TS analogue), some of the most potent enzyme inhibitors to date have been developed. The implementation of the TS analysis technique for the most clinically relevant β-lactamases then represents a promising lead. This thesis first focuses on characterising three of the most prevalent βlactamases which have the ability to hydrolyse the “last-resort” carbapenem antibiotics, to assess their viability as targets for the measurement of KIEs. Then, the technical challenges to implement and carry out the competitive dual-label KIE technique for the KPC-2 β-lactamase are addressed. Lastly, the experimental KIEs are determined and used in combination with quantum-mechanical (QM) electronic structure calculations to derive a computational model of the likely TS. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the KPC-2, OXA-48 and NDM-1 carbapenem-hydrolysing β-lactamases. It also presents the experimental results pertaining the heterologous expression and kinetic characterisation of these β-lactamases with benzylpenicillin. The kinetic data for the hydrolysis reaction of these enzymes was used to assess their suitability as targets for the measurement of KIEs and to find the most optimal reaction conditions for their determination. Chapter 3 describes the experimental requirements for carrying out the KIE experiments for KPC-2 using benzylpenicillin as substrate. This work involved a methodology for quenching the enzymatic reaction and a chromatographic purification method to isolate the substrate and product from the reaction mixture. Benzylpenicillin substrates carrying heavier stable isotopes in reaction-sensitive positions and remote radioactive labels were prepared following a chemoenzymatic synthetic route. The internal competition of the substrates with the heavier versions during the enzymatic reaction allowed for the expression and calculation of the intrinsic KIEs. Chapter 4 provides an analysis of the KPC-2 mechanism, highlighting the significance of the intrinsic KIE values in elucidating the details of the TS structure. Additionally, it showcases the computational modelling efforts, integrating QM calculations with the intrinsic KIEs to derive the TS structure. Finally, a TS model in alignment with the majority of the experimental KIEs was located. This structure represents a late TS occurring during the acylation step of the mechanism, featuring a fully formed acyl bond, a tetrahedral carbon geometry, and an extended β-lactam amide bond. Chapter 5 then discusses how these findings make a significant contribution to the understanding of the enzymatic hydrolysis mechanism of benzylpenicillin by KPC-2. Furthermore, an example is given on how the TS structure can be used as a blueprint for the design of TS analogue structures with potential as inhibitors of this enzyme.</p
Healing through design: The intersection of landscape architecture, mental health, and digital technology
No full textNo description supplie
Robust SAR Change Detection Using Hierarchical Clustering With Adaptive Parameter Tuning
No full textNo description supplie
Applying a Critical Lens to Parihaka Collection Materials from a Kaupapa Māori Perspective
No full textNo description supplie
An Auction-Based Caching Decision Algorithm for IoT Traffic with Popular and Fresh Content
No full textThe exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices introduces significant challenges to data transmission efficiency, including network congestion, data retrieval latency, and maintaining content freshness. Named Data Networking (NDN), a key architecture within Information-Centric Networking (ICN), has emerged as a promising solution by leveraging in-network caching. However, IoT data traffic poses unique challenges due to its highly dynamic content popularity and stringent freshness requirements. Efficient caching strategies must balance these factors, as frequently requested content can quickly lose relevance, and fresh content is often only valid for short periods.To address these challenges, this research proposes the Auction-Based Caching Decision (ABCD) algorithm, a novel caching and replacement strategy tailored for IoT data. The ABCD algorithm integrates content popularity and freshness into an auction-based decision-making framework, where content dynamically bids for caching resources. A recency-frequency model combined with a freshness-aware metric is used to calculate bid values, enabling the algorithm to prioritize high-demand and time-sensitive content. When the cache is full, ABCD replaces the least competitive cached content based on its bid value, ensuring an optimal balance between retaining popular items and accommodating fresh content.Extensive simulations using NDNsim validate the performance of the ABCD algorithm. Compared to benchmark strategies such as LCE, LCD, ProbCache, and CFPC, the proposed algorithm achieves significant improvements in cache hit ratio, data retrieval latency, and content freshness. These results highlight the potential of the ABCD algorithm to enhance the efficiency of in-network caching and replacement mechanisms in dynamic, resource-constrained IoT environments.</p
Echoes in Synaesthesia: Kinetic Responses to Environmental Sound in Architectural Space
No full textEchoes in Synaesthesia investigates the concept of architectural synaesthesia, where environmental noise is translated into dynamic architectural forms, challenging visual dominance in architectural practice. Drawing on theories from Luigi Russolo, Iannis Xenakis, and Güvenç Özel, it explores noise as a generative force, employing stochastic methodologies and interactive design principles to create multi-sensory spatial experiences.Research is guided by the question: How can ‘noise’ be extracted from inhabited spaces to critique multi-dimensional metaphysical environments? A mixed-method approach integrates computational tools, including vvvv, Houdini, and Grasshopper, with physical prototyping to develop sound-responsive spaces. The digital experiments use audio processing approaches like Fast Fourier Transform to generate 2D and 3D visualisations. These informed the creation of physical prototypes: Hodós, a kinetic wall, and Anodos, a kinetic ceiling. Both prototypes respond to auditory stimuli through servo-driven actuators, transforming sound into spatial and kinetic phenomena.This work places noise as a material for architectural expression, demonstrating its capacity to shape energetic and interactive environments. The findings highlight the importance of scale, dimensionality, and material selection in creating effective sensory experiences. While limitations in real-time responsiveness and scalability were identified, the research establishes a foundation for future exploration in sound-responsive architecture. By embracing the unpredictable and stochastic qualities of noise, this thesis proposes a shift towards dynamic, multi-sensory design methodologies, developing deeper connections between architecture, environment, and human perception.</p
Mental Health Is Community Health: The Clubhouse Model in the Context of Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textThe Clubhouse model is a psychosocial model of rehabilitation and mental health recovery. It is non-clinical, voluntary and inclusive. The Clubhouse model, which is situated within the community-centred mental health recovery approaches, can mitigate access and cost barriers that arise in some other services. It offers a holistic approach to mental health recovery by looking at well-being from several dimensions. In my research, I explored how Crossroads Clubhouse in Auckland – the only Clubhouse in Aotearoa* – might act as a third place in the mental health recovery of individuals in Aotearoa. This research employs a Critical Realist Ethnographic methodology. The data was collected through participant and non-participant observations along with photo-elicitation interviews. Inductive Thematic Analysis was used to organise data. Dimensions of Well-Being and Seamon’s Homeness of a Place were used as frameworks for data analysis. The results show a core overarching theme of holistic health which includes feeling a sense of belonging and care, along with feeling at home and having one’s well-being catered for. This core theme was enabled by key elements namely Places and Spaces (which discusses physical space and structures within the Clubhouse); Material Resources and Support (which outlines the tangible benefits, and various support channels members received from the Clubhouse); and Practices and Activities (which involves the multiple tasks and activities members and staff collaborate on). Finally, results highlight how the Clubhouse space can be a third place for members – a place distinct from home and work, where one can just be. It provides an empowering environment where members can learn new skills, and lead a life based on their strengths. Together with Seamon’s characteristics of homeness, along with the key tenets from the findings of this research, a new model for community mental health recovery is proposed in this thesis. Further research can be conducted on how Clubhouses can become essential tools for the mental health recovery journey of individuals in Aotearoa and the application of the proposed new framework to other community mental health programmes and mental health promotion.</p
Constructing Māori deaf identity in New Zealand Sign Language
No full textAbstract
How do Māori deaf people use and perceive variable features of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) to invoke ethnolinguistic identity? Previous research has documented motivation among Māori deaf people to signal ethnic identity linguistically within and outside the NZSL community (McKee, McKee, Smiler, & Pointon 2007), but how this plays out in situated language practices has not been explored. This study proceeds from Eckert's (2012:98) contention that local ideologies which imbue linguistic variants with social meaning ‘are part of the active—stylistic—production of social differentiation’. With a focus on social meaning, this study combines micro-analysis of two features (pronominal pointing variants, and mouthing with signs) with consideration of metapragmatic data to explore how these features are believed to index ‘Māori deaf’ identity. Usage data and signers’ metalinguistic accounts suggest that these features are deployed to construct Māori identity in particular interactional contexts and roles, rather than indicating ethnicity as a macro-social category in NZSL. (New Zealand Sign Language, Māori deaf, ethnicity, identity, variation)*</p
The Effects of Callous-Unemotional Traits, Anxiety and Conduct Problems on Children's Emotional Responding.
No full textTheories of primary and secondary callous-unemotional (CU) traits suggest emotional responding is a key explanatory mechanism in the development of such traits. However, evidence regarding the relationship between primary and secondary CU traits and emotional responding is inconsistent. This is potentially due to widespread heterogeneity in distinguishing subgroups of CU traits, methods of eliciting emotion, and the measurement of emotional responses. The current study expands on previous research which has investigated emotional responding in variants of CU traits identified by levels of CU traits, conduct problems (CP) and anxiety. We expected primary variants of CU traits (characterised by high CU traits, high CP, and low anxiety) to show reduced arousal to negative affective stimuli, whereas secondary variants of CU traits (characterised by high CU traits, CP and anxiety) to show heightened emotional sensitivity. We did not anticipate differences in emotional responses to positive or neutral affective stimuli. Participants were 213 children recruited from the German community (Mage = 8.5 years, SD = 1.19 years). Galvanic skin response (GSR), pupil dilation and self-reported arousal in response to positive, neutral and negative affective movie clips were recorded to measure emotional responding. Findings suggest heightened emotional reactivity in primary variants of CU traits and reduced emotional reactivity in secondary variants for positive and negative affective stimuli. However, arousal to negative affective stimuli was dependent on level of CP. Findings varied between measures of GSR, pupil dilation and self-reported arousal. These findings align with evidence of divergent patterns of emotional responding to negative affective stimuli in primary and secondary variants of CU traits, and suggests this may also be the case for positive stimuli. They also provide support for the inclusion of CP when subtyping CU traits, as well as evidence that measures of emotional responding may not be interchangeable.</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!