13553 research outputs found
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Earnings Quality Using the Long-Run Equilibrium Relation Between Income and Cash Flows
No full textIn this study, we provide evidence confirming the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between comprehensive income and cash flows and that short-run deviations from the long-run equilibrium are regularly corrected. Therefore, we introduce an alternative approach to evaluating the quality of earnings, according to which, the quality of earnings is a function of the magnitudes of these short-run deviations and the speed with which they are corrected. We also develop an earnings quality measure, the Income Quality Index (IQI), to serve that purpose. Finally, we illustrate the application and advantages of this approach to earnings quality.</p
Developing Typologies of Adult Arson in the Aotearoa New Zealand Context
No full textArson causes significant harm to individuals, environments, and communities across the world. Despite the impacts of this behaviour, few theory-driven empirical classification structures exist to guide the investigation and prevention of arson in the socio-cultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand. This thesis aimed to produce person- and crime-scene-centred typologies of adult firesetting uniquely adapted to this cultural context and to test the associations between emergent offender and offence subtypes and repeat firesetting. Researchers coded court files from 328 individuals convicted of arson in Aotearoa New Zealand for demographic, developmental, behavioural, psychological, fire-specific, and crime scene variables. Two typologies, one including offender characteristics and one including behavioural and crime scene characteristics, were developed using multidimensional scaling (MDS). The relationship between the different subtypes and repeat firesetting was also examined. Three subtypes of offender characteristics (Antisocial, Emotionally Expressive, and Mental Health Loneliness) and three subtypes of offence characteristics (Thrill-Seeking, Communicating Distress, and Family Harm) emerged from these analyses. While no offender subtypes were associated with repeat firesetting, the Thrill-Seeking offence subtype showed a significant association with repeat firesetting, and the Family Harm offence subtype demonstrated a significant association with one-time firesetting. The offender typology has practice implications for locating meaningful mental health treatment targets, and the offence typology has practice implications for directing the scope of arson investigations.</p
Diving deep to escape the heat: the importance of mesophotic reefs as thermal refuges for New Zealand coastal fishes
No full textThe oceans are warming, and marine heatwaves are increasing in frequency, extremity, and duration due to anthropogenic climate change. As most fish are ectotherms, temperatures above their optimum have a host of physiological and demographic impacts, which result in a net negative effect on population productivity. However, temperatures decline with depth, which means mesophotic ecosystems, found in the ‘twilight zone’ between approximately 30 and 150 m depth, have the potential to act as thermal refuges. A growing number of studies show fish species not only shift latitudinally poleward but can also deepen their distributions to track their preferred thermal niche, and there is evidence of reef fishes moving from euphotic to adjacent mesophotic reefs during periods of elevated temperatures.In Chapter 2 of this thesis, I analyse temperature differences and the extent to which marine heatwaves are buffered at mesophotic depths at Tawhiti Rahi (the Poor Knights Islands) and Te Mimi o Tū Te Rakiwhānoa (the Fiordland marine area) in Aotearoa, New Zealand. During summer, mesophotic temperatures in both regions are habitually cooler. Marine heatwaves relative to 10 m depth are buffered from 30 m and below at the Poor Knights, while in Fiordland they are buffered from 70 m and below; Fiordland’s hydrological conditions mean the upper limit of the mesophotic is likely much shallower than it typically occurs. Greater depths therefore offer a thermal refuge with respect to temperature. However, while pelagic fishes have flexibility in deepening their distributions, reef fishes are dependent on benthic habitats for structural complexity and food. In temperate ecosystems, this means mesophotic rocky reefs may be of particular value. Many coastal reef fishes feed on lower trophic level organisms such as macroinvertebrates and so in Chapter 3, I analysed variation in the biomass and community composition of mobile benthic macroinvertebrates (“fish food”) between euphotic (10 m) and mesophotic (50 m) reefs. Overall biomass was similar between depths both at the Poor Knights and in Fiordland, indicating there is likely to be sufficient macroinvertebrate prey for reef fishes on mesophotic reefs. Community composition varied by depth at the Poor Knights, however, with taxonomic diversity higher on mesophotic reefs. In Fiordland, community composition and taxonomic diversity varied by site but not by depth. When considering how some of the most common macroinvertebrate prey taxa contributed to community composition, I found that at the Poor Knights, the biomasses of amphipods, copepods, isopods, mysids, polychaetes and tanaids did not vary by depth, and ostracod biomass was higher on mesophotic reefs. In Fiordland, amphipod, copepod, isopod and polychaete biomasses did not vary with depth, but mysid and ostracod biomasses were sometimes lower in the mesophotic, and tanaid biomass was consistently lower. In Chapter 4, I built a temperature-dependent multispecies size-spectrum ecosystem model for the Poor Knights and used it to simulate long-term warming and short-term marine heatwave scenarios in the presence and absence of a mesophotic thermal refuge. In long-term warming scenarios, the ability to move to mesophotic reefs mitigated most fisheries species’ biomass reductions by an average of 17% and productivity reductions by 15%. Kingfish, as well as some non-fisheries functional guilds of herbivores, invertivores, piscivores and planktivores, had biomass and productivity increases with warming, likely due to predator and/or competitive release. In heatwave scenarios, almost all heatwave strengths resulted in biomass and productivity reductions for almost all modelled species, and reductions were reversed, negated or lessened when fish were allowed to move to a mesophotic thermal refuge. The thermal refuge effect reversed fisheries’ species average biomass losses during the moderate heatwave (a 28% average difference in biomass compared to when they were forced to remain on the euphotic reef), negated biomass losses during the strong heatwave (24% difference), and mitigated biomass losses by 21% and 20% during the severe and extreme heatwaves. Under moderate heatwave conditions, productivity was similar to what it was during baseline euphotic temperatures, but under strong, severe and extreme heatwave conditions, there were progressively larger reductions. When allowed to escape to a mesophotic thermal refuge, fisheries species’ average productivity losses were almost negated (5% difference) under strong heatwave conditions, negated (17% difference) under severe conditions, and mitigated by 19% under extreme conditions.Overall, the findings of this thesis suggest that in ecosystems where the upper bound of the mesophotic zone is around the ‘typical’ 30 m, mesophotic reefs are buffered from marine heatwaves, have similar or greater availability of benthic macroinvertebrate prey for coastal fishes, and, if used as a thermal refuge, help to mitigate against – and occasionally reverse or negate – reductions in biomass and productivity for important New Zealand fisheries species. This thermal refuge effect has significant conservation and management implications, warranting the targeted protection of mesophotic reefs where they occur.</p
On Desire: The politics of sex in women's post-#MeToo literature
No full textThis thesis explores the literary work of contemporary women authors in the wake of the #MeToo movement. From its online insurgence in 2017, #MeToo has marked a cultural shift in discourses on women’s sexual injustice, bringing millions of intimate stories and personal narratives on the realities of women’s sexual experiences into the public sphere. Yet #MeToo continues to hold a contested place in contemporary feminist politics, due to its reliance on the carceral system and other punitive efforts to enact social change. While feminists continue to debate what system of consequences serve to redress the sexual exploitation of women, this thesis asks: what becomes of these women’s stories? In the post-#MeToo era, a popular literary landscape that is marked by women authors and their explicit engagement in discourses of women’s sexual desire has emerged. Fuelled by the power of intimate, personal, and individual narratives, contemporary women authors are using literature to explore how women are renegotiating the terms on which they have sex. In an analysis of Three Women (2019) by Lisa Taddeo, Luster (2020) by Raven Leilani, and Acts of Desperation (2021) by Megan Nolan, “On Desire” draws from the feminist sexual politics of Audre Lorde to Amia Srinivasan, to consider how the contemporary literary landscape offers a new form of engagement in the politics of sex in the post-#MeToo era. Each text illustrates the potential of literature to offer richly subjective accounts of women’s sexual experiences, and to add nuance and depth to #MeToo discourses. Paving the way for a new literary contemporary, Taddeo, Leilani, and Nolan write into a rapidly growing interdisciplinary inquiry into #MeToo’s reconsideration of sexual power, agency, pleasure, and consent. Interrogating their stories of individual women’s experiences of sex and sexuality, this thesis considers how literary discourses of desire can remake the political critique of sex in the twenty-first century.</p
Using Spatio-Temporal Species Distribution Models to Explore the Effects of Reef-Forming Coral on Seamount-Associated Fishes in New Zealand
No full textSpecies distribution models (SDMs) are important tools for exploring the complex associations between species and their habitats to support marine conservation and management. In New Zealand, orange roughy and black oreo fisheries are characterised in part by their association with seamounts. New Zealand seamounts are also home to reef-forming corals. However, direct linkages between seamount-associated fishes and reef-forming corals are uncertain; that is, the extent to which coral might provide biogenic structures for shelter, feeding, spawning, or recruitment in New Zealand waters. This research aims to investigate the degree of association between two seamount-associated fish species, orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) and black oreo (Allocyttus niger), and reef-forming corals, using vector autoregressive spatio-temporal (VAST) models fitted to available monitoring data. To achieve this, we characterised the available data and single-species VAST models of data collected by observers onboard commercial bottom trawlers were selected. These models included the probability of encountering reef-forming coral as an environmental covariate. To allow for the inclusion of this environmental covariate, other (binomial) VAST models were developed and cross-validated for reef-forming coral, with alternative methods of addressing spatial bias in the coral data investigated as a secondary objective. Four models (i.e., four fish cases) were developed for orange roughy and black oreo during their spawning and non-spawning seasons. The VAST models for fishes were two-stage delta models that combined spatio-temporal estimations of probability of encounter and positive catch rate to predict fish spatio-temporal density patterns in New Zealand waters. These models accounted for unmeasured (latent) spatial and spatio-temporal variation, random vessel effects, and known environmental covariates. The effect of reef-forming coral on fishes was assessed by: (1) comparing the Akaike information criterion (AIC) of VAST models that did or did not include reef-forming coral as a covariate; (2) computing the percent deviance explained by reef-forming coral; (3) investigating the statistical significance of the reef-forming coral effect on fish probability of encounter and positive catch rate; and (4) analysing the marginal effect plots for the reef-forming coral covariate. Results indicated that AIC decreased for spawning orange roughy and non-spawning black oreo, which suggests that coral improved model parsimony in these two cases. However, the percent deviance explained by reef-forming coral was very small for the four cases considered. Across the four fish cases, reef-forming coral had a consistently significant effect on fish positive catch rates but not on fish probabilities of encounter. Ultimately, linkages between reef-forming coral and orange roughy and black oreo during their spawning and non-spawning seasons remain quite unclear as marginal effects plots often suggested no meaningful relationship and were associated with considerable uncertainty. This is not to say, however, that this dynamic does not exist, but rather that more targeted work is required in New Zealand to understand interactions between key fish species and their habitat.</p
The City as a Home: A Landscape-led Response to the Treatment of Rough Sleepers in Our Urban Environment
No full textHomelessness is a prevailing issue in today’s socio-economic landscape, with over 100,000 New Zealanders suffering with home deprivation as of 2018, and more than 3,000 having no shelter at all. Unhoused citizens rely heavily on public spaces for survival; however, hostile design practices are frequently implemented to exclude them from urban centres. This form of social control instils injustice and inequality within the urban fabric.As landscape architects, we have a duty to uphold and address social issues through the design of spaces that are socially just and equitable. This thesis investigates how design practice can respond to hostile measures and instead envision public spaces designed with and for the unhoused community in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington). It seeks to foreground and test inclusive design approaches, challenging hostile architecture and exploring its broader impacts on the urban environment.The overarching methodology of this thesis is research through design, supported by participatory research (in collaboration with unhoused citizens at Downtown Community Ministry), logical argumentation (positioning and debating within the issue), and activist experimentation (creating activist installations to provoke localised discourse around social issues in design). These strategies drive the development of a final inclusive design brief and guide the design process within a test site in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. The significance of this research lies heavily in the ability to collaborate with the unhoused, whereby fostering an empathetic understanding of the injustices embedded within local urban environments. This thesis explores inclusive design methodologies and how they are applied to enhance the lived experiences of those who are most marginalised.The key data collection driving this thesis will be gathered through in-depth participatory research, including collaborative workshops with the unhoused community. The workshop process utilises map-making to capture the socio-spatial realities and lived experiences of the unhoused. This participatory process is essential in uncovering the critical factors that facilitate survival and belonging for the unhoused within localised urban spaces. The findings from these workshops further translate into a visual protest artifact entitled ‘He Iti Kahurangi Te Whanganui-a-Tara’, presented in an installation to provoke public discourse. This installation served to amplify the voices of the unhoused, raising awareness and generating empathy among viewers while also translating to a brief for design.This thesis highlights the need to humanise rough sleepers and integrate their needs into the design of public space, whilst also demonstrating the positive impact of inclusive and empathetic design practices on the broader community. It underscores the potential of landscape architectural practice to address social justice issues and create more inclusive public spaces through proactive collaboration and activism.</p
Human Trafficking Discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Discourse Analysis of Narratives from Non-Governmental and News Media Organisations.
No full textIn 2016 and 2020, two separate prosecutions of human trafficking in Aotearoa New Zealand drew attention to the fact that human trafficking exists within the country. As local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and news media organisations (NMOs) play an essential role in raising awareness of human trafficking in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is critical to analyse the spatiotemporal contexts and power structures that underpin their narratives to question whether these organisations may be perpetuating norms that negatively impact how human trafficking is understood. Currently, research into human trafficking discourses promoted by NGOs and NMOs is limited. Utilising a post-development lens and a human rights-based approach (HRBA), this thesis deploys a discourse analysis of publicly available website material from six Aotearoa New Zealand-based NGOs and NMOs, published between 2016 and 2022. Specifically, it analyses material related to four key events connected to human trafficking in Aotearoa New Zealand: the convictions of Faroz Ali in 2016 and Joseph Matamata in 2020; the petition for modern slavery legislation in 2020; and the public consultation on modern slavery legislation in 2022. The research identifies prevailing human trafficking discourses from local NGOs and NMOs and examines how these discourses are interwoven within broader national and international narratives and contexts. The findings of this research outline dominant representations across three areas: firstly, the framing of human trafficking as modern slavery and potential implications thereof; secondly, the ways that gendered representations can impact perceptions of people who are trafficked; and finally, how framings of Aotearoa New Zealand’s reputation drive the narrative of human trafficking as a foreign issue. Based on these findings, this research proposes how an HRBA could guide organisations, especially to increase narratives that promote empowerment, non-discrimination, and equality.</p
Review of the thermal efficiency of a tube-type solar air heaters
No full textThere is an urgent need to provide evidence that solar air heaters can be effective for heating and ventilating low-rise buildings. Solar air heaters are devices that can convert solar energy into thermal energy for moderate and low-temperature applications such as space heating, preheating, crop drying, and the food industry. However, its efficiency is low due to the low heat transfer coefficient between the absorber and the flowing air, but they are also simple to construct and operate as there is low-risk leakage of heat transfer liquids. The two main types of solar air heaters are flat plate and tube-type. To date, flat plate solar air heaters have received the most attention in the research literature, but evidence of the efficiency gains from using tube-type solar air heaters is growing. The study aims to provide up-to-date information on tube-type solar air heaters, which will help advance the development and uptake of solar air heaters. The research showed that thermal efficiency gains could be achieved by altering the design of the solar air heater including different artificial roughness geometries inside the tubes, integrating solar thermal energy systems, application of coatings or reflectors inside the solar air heaters, or using evacuated tubes and micro heat pipe array systems. This literature study showed that evacuated tubes and micro heat pipe array systems have higher thermal efficiency than other techniques. Based on the detailed discussion of various techniques for improving the thermal efficiency of solar air heaters, a new roughness geometry was proposed
Democratic education in superdiverse schools in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textNo description supplied</p
Archaeology in Independent Samoa: Negotiating the Cultural Politics of Aganu'u in Palauli, Savai'i.
No full textThis thesis examines how archaeology is employed in the Independent State of Sāmoa (Independent Sāmoa or Sāmoa) as a useful tool for the advancement of contemporary knowledge on Sāmoan prehistory. Archaeology was first introduced to Sāmoa almost a century ago and, for the first eighty years, it existed in an academic vacuum of its own creation. The past two decades, however, have seen archaeology evolve and adapt to the insular culture and society of modern-day Independent Sāmoa, and the discipline is now being engineered to suit the demands, and remain relevant of, Sāmoans.In 2017, a research team from the National University of Sāmoa’s (NUS) Centre for Sāmoan Studies (CSS) re-discovered hundreds of archaeological structures in the inland plantations of the three villages of Palauli district: Vailoa, Vaito’omuli and Fa’aala. CSS then embarked on a project to help the villages preserve the remains through a collaborative tourism venture. These efforts stretched out over several years, in a complicated series of consultations and negotiations that eventually resulted in the successful opening of the Palauli Heritage Trails, as well as serving as the impetus for this doctoral research project. In this thesis, archaeology served as the lens for an examination of how āganu’u Sāmoa (Sāmoan culture practiced collectively by all Sāmoans) is practically applied in the management of Sāmoan cultural heritage. The case studies illustrate that archaeology is subjected to the cultural politics of āganu’u Sāmoa, rigorously weighed, deliberated and negotiated through popular vernacular, language, oral histories, proverbial expressions, historiography, genealogical knowledge and land stewardship, For Sāmoans, the past is constantly revisited, and revised, in the present, and this thesis posits that Sāmoan responses to archaeological heritage management are manifested through the practical applications of āganu’u in the interest of upholding and maintaining cultural sovereignty. Local archaeological negotiation and practice are, from the outset, ‘Sāmoanized’ through āganu’u, connoting the ability, and penchant, of Sāmoans to transform foreign concepts and ideas into viable local versions that can only be practiced and sustained at the behest of, and through consistent collaborations, with Sāmoans. Archaeology in Sāmoa, necessarily, has evolved into a form unlike anywhere else. It is only through this process that archaeology can hope to be of use to Sāmoans as it seeks to help tell the story of Sāmoa’s past in the highly political present, and for the ultimate benefit of Sāmoans in the foreseeable future.</p
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