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Nature connection in music therapy with neurodiverse high school students: How did I integrate nature as a co-agent in my student music therapy practice with a neurodiverse learning support high school community?
No full textThis exegesis explores the role of nature connection in student music therapy practices with neurodiverse adolescents in a high school learning support community. The study aims to understand how engaging with the natural world can deepen and enrich therapeutic work, drawing on the reciprocal relationship between human well-being and environmental health, as well as Indigenous perspectives on music therapy. The central research question is: How did I incorporate nature as a co-agent in my work as a student music therapist with a neurodiverse learning support community? To answer this, I adopted a post-structural, interpretivist auto-ethnographic case study approach, reflecting on my own subjective experiences within the community. The research draws from multiple data sources, including selected literature, clinical notes, and reflexive journal entries. A thematic analysis identified six key themes: exploring the therapist self, navigating indoor and outdoor spaces, connecting our inner and outer worlds, cycles and seasons, remembering reciprocity, and expanding practice. With influences from community music therapy, ecological music therapy, resource-oriented approaches, and neurodiversity-affirming practices, the findings highlight the potential of nature connection to strengthen therapeutic relationships and promote both individual and collective growth. The study suggests that music therapy practitioners reflect on their own connection to nature and consider how nature-based approaches could enhance therapy for participants. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge in music therapy, encouraging future exploration into the transformative role of nature in therapeutic practice.</p
The DAWn of a New Fusion: Compositional Styles of Pianist/Producers in the Age of Web 2.0
No full textJazz is a syncretic and eclectic art form that began with Black American artists and has expanded to become an international movement, integrating influences from diverse musical styles, cultures, philosophies, and other artistic forms. This combinatorial concept is at the forefront of a new branch of jazz music that has emerged in the early 2010s, one that bridges the gap between hip-hop, various types of electronic dance music (EDM), soul, rhythm and blues (R&B), Web 2.0 culture, and music technology and production.As the development of fusion music in the late 1960s mixed jazz, rock, funk and other styles in a hybridised rejection of genre consolidation, this wave of contemporary jazz music also exemplifies a musical and cultural departure from the gatekeeping and purist attitudes associated with jazz since the shift towards neotraditionalism. Although no formal term yet exists, I will refer to this contemporary form of jazz with the working title Fusion 2.0—not as an attempt to further categorise and hence relegate the music into the reductive processes of taxonomy, but simply as a shorthand reference term for the purposes of this exegesis.The aim of this project is to help formalise and distinguish a current and relevant musical and cultural movement through the research and analysis of Fusion 2.0, and to create a body of original musical works that respond to these findings. The exploration of this topic requires a multi-faceted approach examining contrasting perspectives: formal academic research versus personal experience; using a purely musical versus sociological/historical lens; transcription and analytical methods versus composing original works; and objectively describing a musical movement as a researcher while contributing to it as a composer. Utilising these opposing aspects seems appropriate as an analogy to the many paradoxes inherent in jazz, including the tension between old and new, tradition and innovation, and structure and freedom.A core component of this exegesis is the detailed transcription and analysis of 25 musical case studies from Fusion 2.0 pianist/producers, using both ‘traditional’ jazz analysis methods as well as methods more commonly associated with other types of contemporary music production. These analyses are then summarised on a ‘per-artist level’ to identify features salient to the individual artists, as well as on the ‘multi-artist level’, summarising the overall characteristics that contribute to the Fusion 2.0 idiom.The final component of this exegesis is an album of 12 original tracks, a significant body of work that creatively responds to the findings from the transcription and analysis of the case studies. The compositional processes I utilised when creating these tracks are discussed in the context of the other artists and compared with their own approaches. Through this practice-led approach, I develop my compositional concepts and provide an original contribution to this new musical movement, whilst also respecting past trends, significant progenitors, and the musical evolution and philosophies relevant to Fusion 2.0.</p
The Complexity of Balance in Antarctica: Science and Nature in Antarctica’s Dry Valleys, 1903 to 2022
No full textThis research explores, empirically and theoretically, the concept of balance in Antarctic governance from the perspective of social-ecological systems.The interests of science and nature in Antarctica have been explicitly linked since the adoption of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty in 1991. The relationship between scientific research and ecological protection has been conceptualised primarily in two ways, as ‘scientific gains versus environmental impacts’ (a trade-off between conflicting interests) and as a ‘balance’ (an ideal goal). However, neither relational model has clear governance criteria and their dynamics are unknown.Here, I explore the relationship between indicators of scientific gain and ecological impact across the greater McMurdo Dry Valleys region, Antarctica’s largest ice-free area, between 1903 and 2022. Three new datasets are used as empirical indicators of scientific gain and ecological impact. Spatiotemporal patterns are explored using exploratory spatial data analysis. Dynamics are explored using two agent-based models developed using the Social-Ecological Action Situations framework, theory of planned behaviour, and Python, focussing on 1) processes generating empirical patterns, and 2) the influence of information flow on researchers’ attitudes. The constrained empirical focus on the Dry Valleys is contextualised and theorised using models of balance drawn from literature more broadly.Results show an imbalance between scientific and ecological variables across various levels and dimensions. Overall, indicators are positively correlated (annually) with high variability. Spatially, fieldwork activity is concentrated in ice-free areas. Scientific activity is dominated by the natural sciences and the United States, with disciplinary affinities for land cover type. Key factors affecting process dynamics are properties of the researcher population and research project funding success rates. Increasing researchers’ information flow reduces fieldwork activity overall. However, this is strongly influenced by group norm weighting. I argue that the concept of balance, typically used as a metaphor in governance, is better understood as a singular two-dimensional metamodel in social-ecological systems as it inherently encompasses two key linked governance challenges: equality (a component-level concern) and stability (a system-level concern).This research provides a new spatiotemporal record of human activity for the greater Dry Valleys region and addresses the under-representation of Antarctica in the field of social-ecological systems research. Empirically, it questions the basis of ‘scientific gains versus environmental impacts’ claims. More broadly, it theorises a model of balance in social-ecological systems which seeks clarity of political and ethical settings linked to system stability, which is applicable to governance in global commons. This model of balance has relevance to Antarctic governance where there are concerns of mismatches between stated and embraced values, processes failing to address ongoing challenges, and where institutional legitimacy of the Antarctic Treaty System is questioned.</p
Physioactive Listening in the Auditory Landscape
No full textThis paper introduces and examines the concept of physioactive listening (PL), an embodied form of auditory engagement involving physical movement while exploring soundscapes and audio installations. Distinct from traditional physiopassive listening common in concert halls, PL emerges from experimental practices, including Happenings, soundwalking, and contemporary immersive audio environments. The paper traces PL's emergence through early non-technological approaches and later technology-dependent implementations, with particular focus on work undertaken at IEM (Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, Graz). Building on theories of embodied cognition and enactive perception, PL emphasises the relationship between sound, body, and space. The concept has several creative and technological implications: it contrasts single-point listening to pluriformal sonic experience, highlights the importance of interaction with aural architecture, and necessitates non-teleological structures. The outcome is hybrid practice combining elements of composition, installation, and soundscape. The paper argues that PL facilitates a more perceptually integrated experience of sound than is found in traditional listening contexts and compositional practices
Psilocybin-occasioned Mystical-Type Experiences and Mental Wellness
No full textPsilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in certain mushrooms, has gained increasing attention for its potential therapeutic applications in mental health treatment. While clinical research highlights its efficacy in alleviating mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance use disorders, much remains to be known about the role of acute doses of psilocybin that occasion mystical-type experiences in mental wellness, particularly in non-clinical settings. This study explores the characteristics and therapeutic implications of such experiences in individuals seeking mental wellness in New Zealand. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants who reported transformative psilocybin-induced mystical experiences. The Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis revealed four key themes: (1) the mystical experience itself, characterised by oneness and connectedness, greater emotionality, experience of a higher reality, and perceived access to guidance and knowledge; (2) the change process, which includes perspective transformation and trauma processing; (3) integration of the experience, which includes personal growth and lifestyle changes, enhanced community engagement, and spiritual well-being; and (4) attribution of positive behavioural changes to the mystical-type experience. Findings suggest that psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experiences play a pivotal role in enhancing mental wellness, leading to positive behavioural change, including cessation of harmful habits such as alcohol and nicotine use. These insights contribute to the growing discourse on psychedelic-assisted therapy and highlight the need for further research on the safe and ethical integration of psilocybin within mental health care frameworks in New Zealand.</p
Modelling Dynamic Risk Factors: A Deconstructionist Approach
No full textDynamic risk factors (DRF) are one of the leading theoretical concepts in the field of forensic psychology to date; however, they are not without criticism. The present thesis sought to highlight the shortcomings of DRF within a sexual offending context. Throughout this thesis, I examined DRF and the present literature on their utility, before taking three hypothetical exemplars involving deviant sexual preferences, intimacy deficits and self-regulation issues through the lenses of two different theoretical models, namely the Agent-Action-Context Schema and the Good Lives Model. In doing this, I aimed to illustrate that DRF follow a normative nature, are non-universal and lack specificity, coherence and consensual levels of analyses. My discussion and concluding remarks summarised my thesis, before discussing the benefits of using DRF as signalling devices when conducting forensic case formulations.</p
Hypothesis Testing, Separability, and Classification of Polarimetric SAR Intensity Data with Non-Parametric <i>U</i>-Statistics
No full textNo description supplie
Investigating microglial responses to nalfurafine in pro- and anti-inflammatory conditions
No full textMultiple sclerosis affects approximately 1 in 1000 individuals in Aotearoa New Zealand, leading to debilitating symptoms such as fatigue, coordination loss, paralysis, visual impairments, and chronic pain. While current treatments can dampen immune responses and reduce relapse rates, they do not halt disease progression or promote recovery, underscoring the urgent need for therapies that support remyelination and repair of axonal damage. Previous studies have shown that the selective, centrally-acting kappa opioid receptor agonist, nalfurafine, promotes recovery and remyelination in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model, as well as the cuprizone-mediated demyelination model of multiple sclerosis. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. This study aims to further investigate the mechanism of action of nalfurafine and its effects on key cell types involved in multiple sclerosis. Specifically, microglia are examined due to their central role in the inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes characteristic of the disease.In chronic stages of multiple sclerosis, microglia can adopt a pro-inflammatory phenotype, releasing harmful cytokines and reactive oxygen species that exacerbate myelin and neuronal damage. They also promote the activation of T cells and other immune cells, contributing to the formation and persistence of demyelinating plaques. Chronic activation of microglia leads to sustained neuroinflammation, impairing remyelination and accelerating disease progression. In contrast, microglia play a protective role by promoting tissue repair and remyelination through the secretion of growth factors. They also clear cellular debris and damaged myelin, helping to resolve inflammation. Additionally, microglia can produce anti-inflammatory cytokines that support neuroprotection and limit neurodegeneration.To evaluate nalfurafine’s effects in vitro, adult murine microglia were isolated and exposed to pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory stimuli with or without nalfurafine treatment. Cell surface marker expression, enzyme activity, phagocytosis, and cytokine production were assessed, revealing modest to no effects of nalfurafine treatment on these parameters across microglial phenotypes.Given the autoimmune nature of MS, where reactive CD4+ T cells drive CNS demyelination and axonal damage, we explored the relationship between CD4+ T cells and microglia. The effects of direct contact with microglia or exposure to MG-derived mediators were assessed on CD4+ T cells. While nalfurafine treatment of stimulated microglia had minimal effects on CD4+ T cell responses, it reduced IL-17A production by activated CD4+ T cells when cultured in microglia conditioned medium.Microglial responses to nalfurafine were further examined at peak, recovery, and chronic stages of EAE. While nalfurafine significantly reduced disease severity at the chronic stage, it had no notable effects on microglial responses. Natural recovery, irrespective of treatment, was observed in the spinal cord during the chronic stage, though some pro-inflammatory features persisted. RNA sequencing confirmed no significant changes in microglia-associated gene expression between vehicle- and nalfurafine-treated EAE animals.</p
Describing Punctual Structures
No full textWe uncover connections between punctual abelian group structures and a primitive recursive analogue of limitwise monotonicity. We construct an unbounded torsion abelian group such that all its primitive recursive copies have a primitive recursive inverse function. This was somewhat unexpected as it cannot be done in the case of unbounded abelian p-groups. Latter we provide a method for effectively listing all f.p.r.-isomorphic copies of any algebraic structure exactly once. In this section we also prove several small results concerning the relationship between weakly f.p.r.- categorical structures and f.p.r.-categorical structures.</p
Assessing Childhood Trauma in New Zealand Prisons
No full textChildhood trauma is a key consideration for correctional rehabilitation, with higher rates of abuse and neglect being associated with lower rates of treatment completion. Therefore, trauma assessment tools need to be reliable and appropriate in this context to identify those in need of trauma-specific therapy and to subsequently enhance their engagement in treatment. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) is currently used to screen for childhood trauma within some prison-based rehabilitation programmes in New Zealand (NZ). However, it has not been validated in an NZ correctional context. To address this, the current research used a mixed method approach and comprised two studies. Study One investigated the psychometric properties of the CTQ-SF within a sample of 174 men in NZ recruited from prison-based rehabilitation programmes (n = 75) and the general population (n = 99). While the incarcerated sample reported significantly higher rates of trauma than the general population, confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the proposed five-factor model of the CTQ-SF was an adequate fit for the combined sample. Despite the promising statistical evidence demonstrated in Study One, the qualitative enquiry employed in Study Two revealed potential issues with the questionnaire. Focus groups with ten men in prison-based rehabilitation programmes revealed inconsistent comprehension of the items and response options. Additionally, the men believed the questionnaire failed to capture the complexity of their experiences and, at times, found the process harmful. Consequently, the men expressed the desire for a more collaborative and flexible assessment process designed to facilitate healing and enhance autonomy. The findings from this research provide insights and recommendations for adapting the CTQ-SF for use within correctional contexts to help identify those in need of trauma-specific therapy and enhance engagement in rehabilitation programmes.</p
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