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Genetic Programming for Symbolic Regression with Portable Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for the Prevention of Harm from Adulterated Illicit Drugs at Festivals in New Zealand
No full textIllicit drugs are often mixed with cutting agents and adulterants, which can pose significant risks, either independently or when consumed with the drug itself. Drug checking services play a vital role in reducing these risks by providing information about substance composition and drug harm prevention. A widely adopted model for delivering drug check- ing services is at events and festivals. To effectively reduce drug-related harm in such settings, it is crucial to have rapid, accurate, non-destructive, safe, portable, and user-friendly substance identification methods. Near- infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a well-established technique for identi- fying and quantifying a wide range of substances, including illicit drug mixtures, particularly with high-end bench-top instruments. While using portable NIRS devices for mixture analysis is advantageous, challenges such as low sensitivity, limited wavelength range, and low resolution per- sist. To address these challenges, various artificial intelligence techniques have been applied to analyze portable NIRS data for mixtures. However, evolutionary computation methods, which are known for their robustness in solving complex optimization problems, have not been widely explored in NIRS-based mixture analysis. This thesis proposes a genetic program- ming for symbolic regression (GPSR) approach to develop explainable models for analyzing illicit drug mixtures using portable NIRS. Exper- imental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can accurately model the relationship between a mixture and its components based on NIRS data. Furthermore, the method shows promise in accurately iden- tifying components within a drug sample, with performance comparable to traditional linear models. The potential for implementing this method into an integrated solution for drug checking services at point-of-care sce- narios, such as festivals, is also explored.</p
Patent Law and Indigenous Knowledge: Non-Patentability-Related Grounds for Challenging Filings
No full textScholarship on the interaction between existing patent law and Indigenous knowledge typically focuses on patentability standards—whether there is a patentable invention that is novel and non-obvious. This article focuses on non-patentability-related grounds for challenging patent filings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Namely, it analyses the entitlement to be granted a patent and inventorship, that a patent can be opposed or revoked if obtained by fraud, false suggestion, or a misrepresentation, and that the grant of a patent made contrary to law is invalid. The article concludes that there is scope in Aotearoa New Zealand to interpret such provisions to better meet the interests of Indigenous peoples. Of particular potential is the interpretation of "contrary to law" to include "contrary to tikanga Māori (Māori law)" resulting from a Supreme Court decision that tikanga Māori is part of the common law in Aotearoa New Zealand
From entry to excellence: Exploring relationships between admission pathways, disciplinary areas of study, and EAL international undergraduate students’ academic success in New Zealand
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A nomenclatural issue related to Lopdells’ penguin Archaeospheniscus lopdelli
No full textThis paper renames a species according to the ICZN Code. </p
Cisheteronormativity and the Court: A Queer Criminological Approach
No full textThis article explores the experiences of takatāpui/LGBTQ+/queer people within Aotearoa/New Zealand’s courts, as defendants, victims and lawyers. Within this qualitative study, participants share stories filled with various challenges, including fears about engaging with the justice system, how gender and sexuality can affect a court case, and what support is available to takatāpui/LGBTQ+/queer people accessing justice. Underpinned by a queer criminological perspective, this article interrogates the latent, structural nature of cisheteronormativity as a form of harm, with particular consideration of its implications for access to justice in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Collectively, the findings of this study underscore the challenges faced by takatāpui/LGBTQ+/queer people when navigating the criminal justice system, particularly within the District Court of New Zealand
Exploring Experiences of Māori Youth in Tertiary Education in Aotearoa New Zealand.
No full textMany Indigenous Māori students journey to tertiary education in Aotearoa New Zealand, following diverse journeys with varying degrees of encouragement. How ever, on arrival, they can be faced with the prospect of living simultaneously in two worlds; te ao Māori (the Māori world), which privileges relational connection, and the world of formal education, which tends towards individualization. In this situation, rangatahi (Māori youth) deal with their new context by leveraging relational support, informal and formal. This article discusses the experiences of four rangatahi in one university. Their stories, drawn from oral encounters between rangatahi and the researchers as part of a video project, point to the signifcance of encouragement to attend tertiary study, unnecessary barriers to wellbeing at university, and the importance to flourishing of Māori spaces that support Māori identity within the university. Engaging with rangatahi voices ofers opportunities to understand aspects of university life that tell of strengths within Māori communities but also indicate the depth of relational change required to provide equity in tertiary educational experiences for Māori
Walking as socio-material micro-structures for new parents: Slow mobilities, puddles and the everyday
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Portable NMR for bedside clinical applications
No full textMagnetic Resonance Imaging is a powerful technique for medical diagnosis, providing clinicians and researchers with a wealth of information about the state of the body. However, conventional MRI systems are complex and expensive limiting their accessibility, particularly in rural and lower-income areas. To address this, we propose the use of single-sided NMR relaxometry systems, which measure the same contrast mechanisms used in MRI. These have lower requirements for the strength and homogeneity of the magnetic field, allowing them to be cheaper, smaller and portable.In this thesis, a single-sidedNMRsystem is developed for measurement in the brain. An array of permanent magnets was simulated and optimised to produce a magnetic field with a sweet spot that targets the brain. This allowed NMR signals to be excited and detected from this region, measuring the effect of relaxation and diffusion. Measurements of conventional MRI contrast mechanisms (T1, T2 and ADC) in phantoms were tested, giving results that agreed with conventional NMR/MRI systems. These benchtop experiments provided confidence in the results from the system.Following the phantom experiments, two series of animal experiments were completed to test the feasibility of the system for monitoring or diagnosis in the brain. The first explored measuring changes in T2 during systemic hypoxia. The second series of experiments tested the system in ischemic stroke, a condition where early diagnosis and treatment is critical. Signal changes were observed in both experiments that agreed with the expected change. The results in this thesis show that single-sided NMR systems have the potential to be used for clinical application.</p
A Study of the Development of Ostia's Forum and Urban Street Network Using Space Syntax Methodologies
No full textRome’s first colony, the port city of Ostia, has long been of interest to academics concerned with the Roman urban environment. The streetscape of Ostia has been the subject of a number of studies, including some which utilise space syntax methodologies. Space syntax theory is a theory of spatial relationships which seeks to resolve the contradictions between the academic treatment of buildings as artefacts, and the reality that the primary function of the built environment is to create systems of spaces. Unlike previous studies which have utilised space syntax methodologies, the subject of this thesis is not an analysis of a static snapshot of Ostia’s street network. Instead, I analyse and compare the city’s urban street network as it was at several key stages of development.This thesis therefore has two primary goals. The first goal is to generate insights into the movement economy of Ostia’s urban street network, with a particular focus on the ways that movement was affected by the development of the city’s forum from the time of Augustus to the reign of Hadrian. The second goal is to test the usefulness of space syntax methodologies in undertaking such an analysis in order to provide conclusions for future studies. In relation to the first goal, the results of this study indicate that the developments in Ostia’s forum both reacted to, and reinforced, the preeminent role of the Decumanus Maximus within the city’s street network. In relation to the second, I concluded that space syntax analysis is a useful tool in the study of ancient sites, but that investigations which seek to compare periods of development across a single site face unique challenges which can undermine the validity of generated datasets. In particular, the size and complexity of large sites, like whole urban street networks, can make it almost impossible to establish a comprehensive timeline of development with the level of granularity required to generate sound datasets. As a result, this thesis concludes that in the study of ancient sites, comparative space syntax analysis is best directed at mid-sized spatial networks like defined neighbourhoods or forum, temple, and bath complexes.</p
The Oscillating Logic of the Economic-Security Nexus in New Zealand’s China Policy Discourse
No full textScholars usually assume that the interactions between economics and security (the economic-security nexus) either follow a logic of the “virtuous cycle” where there are positive entanglements between economics and security or a logic of the “vicious cycle” where the entanglements are negative. My thesis starts with the observation that New Zealand’s take on the economic-security nexus in the relationship with China oscillated between the two logics under the Clark, Key-English and Ardern governments from 2008 to 2022.The mainstream international relations (IR) theories do not take seriously the idea that the logic can change over time. Yet, the back-and-forth between the two logics in New Zealand’s China policy discourse shows that the logic does change over time. This thesis accordingly asks two questions: What are New Zealand decision-makers’ logics of the economic-security nexus in the relationship with China from 2008 to 2022? How and why might their logic change from one to another over time? This thesis extends the understanding of two patterns of the economic-security nexus in the context of New Zealand’s relationship with China.Chapter 2 reviews the analytical conception of the economic-security nexus and decision-makers’ perceptions (the logic) of the nexus. I use decision-makers’ depictions as a proxy for perceptions. Chapter 3 develops an inductive two-level framework to examine possible changes in the logic of the nexus. I argue that integrating external factors (threat perceptions from power competition and alliance commitments) and domestic factors (economic and security preferences and societal interest groups) can better explain the logic and its changes.Adopting process-tracing and comparison methods, Chapters 4, 5 and 6 examine New Zealand decision-makers’ depictions of the economic-security nexus in New Zealand’s China policy discourse from 2008 to 2022. I identify and analyse 113 official public policy documents and speeches to explain the logic of the nexus. The primary dataset of New Zealand’s meetings with China, the United States of America (US) and Australia, exercises and cooperation programs in economic and security issues, commentaries, media statements, and academic work provide more evidence of decision-makers’ logic. These primary and secondary sources are also employed to investigate the impacts of the interactions between external and domestic factors on decision-makers’ depictions of the logic.Observing the oscillations in depictions over time, I make three arguments in Chapters 7 and 8. First, I argue that in addition to the virtuous and vicious cycle logics, there are two further logics of the economic-security nexus. Decision-makers adopted a coexisting logic where both the positive and negative impacts of China’s growing economic capabilities on security are recognised. They also used a delinking logic to recognise the positive/negative economic or/and security ties with China but did not indicate the nexus between economics and security. Second, New Zealand decision-makers’ depictions oscillated between the four logics over time. Third, New Zealand decision-makers’ logic is not pre-determined and is not simply driven by external or domestic factors; it results from the interactions between external and domestic factors.Chapter 8 also concludes with three main findings that provide novel insights into New Zealand’s foreign policy changes. First, at the external level, Australia’s China approach is more important than that of the US to New Zealand’s China policy. Even so, New Zealand’s China policy does not mimic the pattern of Australia-China relations. Second, at the domestic level, the adoption of different logics cannot be attributed to the differences between domestic political parties. Third, domestic factors can play a greater role in shaping how decision-makers depict the logic of the economic-security nexus when the external environment is competitive.</p
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