13553 research outputs found
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Agile Working
No full textLow-income households often struggle with accessing essential resources like housing, healthcare, and education. Overcoming these challenges requires innovative solutions. While many low-income individuals’ own vehicles, the potential of these vehicles as functional spaces remains largely unexplored. This thesis initially centered on how refugees could generate income using car interiors. However, the research direction shifted to harness the broader potential of car interiors as versatile, mobile workstations.The study’s core aim is to determine the feasibility of multi-functional, foldable furniture in transforming a vehicle into a mobile office for a wider demographic. This transition shifted the project’s focus from specific furniture designs to the multifunctionality of the entire car space, emphasizing innovative interior architecture solutions.The overarching research question is: How can the interior redesign of a car serve as a feasible workplace for low-income families? Through design-centric investigation and a case study analysis, this research offers insights and solutions for those relying on their cars as primary resources, aiming for both functionality and accessibility.</p
Balai 105
No full textThis thesis presents an in-depth investigation into the challenges faced by urban slums, with a specific focus on the distinctive slum community of Barangay 105 in Manila, known for its exceptional circumstances of residing in a dumpsite. The research aims to tackle these challenges by advocating for the development of identity, belonging, and sustainable communities through a comprehensive theoretical framework and case studies. By analysing the cultural and climate-driven aspects of social architecture, the study offers valuable insights into addressing persistent slum issues and the limitations of standardised social housing in the context of the Philippines.</p
No longer optional: The Infusion of Digital Technology in Praxical Secondary School Music Education
No full textIn the last 30 years, digital technology has changed music making. These changes have been studied in the context of music education. The majority of the research predates the major technological shifts that have occurred in the last five years (e.g. browser-based Digital Audio Workstations) and the impact of online teaching through the Covid-19 pandemic. Studies have focused on the relationships between teacher beliefs at the introductory or integration phase of digital technology. It has not been determined how secondary school classroom music teachers in New Zealand conceptualize music education in light of the country's unique curriculum and assessment framework. Neither is there any recent empirical research internationally that provides insights into the relationship and influence of teacher beliefs with their experience and practice of digital technologies in the classroom. Additionally, previous empirical studies with digital technology have been limited by being narrow in their sample size, only sampling advanced users of digital technology or with pre-service teachers.This thesis explores the landscape of music education in the digital age, focusing on the examining of the experience, practices, and beliefs of secondary school music teachers in New Zealand with the goal of attaining the essence of their experience as a combined cohort. The methodological approach uses a transcendental phenomenology lens, drawing on Husserlian phenomenology. The two-part mixed methods study includes the administering of a new Music Education Digital Technology (MEDT) survey tool nationwide to an estimated 40% of the secondary school music teaching cohort followed by six case studies. The research outcomes reveal three key findings that contribute to the understanding of the experience of secondary school music teachers with digital technology into music education.The first research outcome highlights that the participating teachers are praxicalists, the most recent iteration of the education theory of praxialism, as developed by Regelski. Contrary to expectations of curriculum incoherence, the findings illustrate a coherent approach through the interconnected pillars of praxicalism, namely techné, poiesis, phronēsis, and theoria. The study identifies the flexibility of the national curriculum (NZC) and assessment framework (NCEA) in New Zealand in providing autonomy for teachers in their curriculum decisions. The second research outcome emphasizes how the classroom reflects current music praxis. In making their curriculum decisions, the music teachers strive to incorporate a pluralistic approach to what music genres are included, challenging the dichotomy between Western Art Music (WAM) and popular/contemporary or electronic music that is present in previous studies. Within the context of how genres are included, the study reveals that teachers are informed by how musicians create music, and seek to primarily draw from students' experiences, minimizing the boundary between in-school and out-of-school music. This approach addresses the longstanding problem of a mismatch between school music and external music praxis. Additionally, the study highlights the significance of recognizing students as already knowledgeable contributors to music praxes outside the classroom.The third research outcome identifies teachers as teaching experts rather than knowledge or digital technology experts. The participating teachers, despite lacking expertise in specific musical genres or digital technology, confidently integrate diverse music praxes into their curricula. The interaction between techné and phronesis underpins their decision-making, enabling a student-centred curriculum design.Overarching across these three outcomes, is how digital technology is infused in music, and this requires a different way of thinking about music education. The identification of infusion of digital technology in music making is a major finding not currently present in the empirical research internationally.The study proposes six areas for future research, including future use of the MEDT survey tool in New Zealand and overseas, exploration of the impact of ongoing curriculum and assessment changes, investigation into teachers' perceptions of negative effects of digital technology, examination of the relationship between self-efficacy and mindset, consideration of students' perspectives, and a global perspective on the study findings.While acknowledging limitations such as a small sample size and geographical context, this study has implications for both music teachers and policymakers. It advocates for a student-centred approach, emphasizing the importance of strong curriculum-making skills and maintaining trust and autonomy for teachers in the digital age. The study's implications extend beyond New Zealand, offering insights for policymakers in other nations undergoing curriculum and assessment revisions.</p
Evaluation of a Cognitive Behavioural Coaching Programme for Secondary School Students
No full textAbstract Background: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a widely used therapeutic approach which aims to help individuals resolve dysfunctional thoughts and feelings. One variation of CBT that may have applicability for use in secondary schools is Cognitive Behavioural Coaching (CBC). CBC programmes may be useful for helping students set and achieve personal and academic goals and cope with the stresses and pressures associated the secondary school environment. Objective: The aim of this thesis research was to evaluate a CBC programme for supporting secondary school students. The specific objectives were to assess the effects of a school-based CBC programme on (a) attendance, (b) achievement of personal and academic goals, (c) self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, (d) self-reported levels of well-being and motivation, and (e) students’ and coaches’ perceived benefits and acceptability of the programme. Method: Fifteen school staff volunteered to be trained as coaches following the ABCDEF Coaching Model manual developed by Palmer (2009). After training, these coaches delivered 20 CBC sessions to a total of 19 students. Coaching sessions focused on solutions-based approach for helping students with setting and achieving goals using various problem-solving techniques, such as using effective questioning and listening skills. Pre-coaching and post-coaching measures were collected within a two group comparison design on (a) student attendance, (b) achievement of personal and academic goals, (c) self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, and (d) self-reported well-being, and motivation. Coaches’ fidelity of implementation was rated to assess the extent to which the training they received was effective for enabling them to function as coaches. Evaluations of treatment acceptability were also conducted with both the coaches and students. Results: All students achieved their personal goals. There were no significant pre-post differences for attendance, academic achievement, depression, anxiety, stress, and motivation. With respect to the measure of wellness, there was only one significant pre-post difference. Specifically, students in the treatment cohort 2 group showed an increase in self-reported positive affect from the pre-test to the post-test. No negative effects were reported. The coaches were observed to implement the CBC programme with a high degree of fidelity (95-97%). Coaches and students also reported that they enjoyed being involved in the coaching process and found it generally beneficial and acceptable. Conclusion: The results suggest that the approach to the training of coaches was effective in enabling the coaches to implement the 20-session CBC programme with fidelity. Their use of the CBC programme appeared to be helpful for enabling students to set and achieve personal goals. Based on these results, a 20-session CBC programme seems to be both promising and feasible for implementation in secondary schools. The research on the use of CBC in secondary schools would be improved by the recruitment of a larger sample size, extending the initial screening process for participants, and the introduction of a vetting process for coaches. Future research should also focus on exploring modifications that might lead to significant positive changes in academic outcomes for the participating students.</p
Through an Understanding of Luxury
No full textThere is a lack of richness in our suburbs and domestic architecture. I believe this is largely due to the nature of profit-oriented design in developer suburbs. This thesis seeks to improve the richness of our built domestic fabric through a personal understanding of the notions of luxury. The research aims to both understand the intangible qualities of architecture that allow us to luxuriate, and to explore through a series of visual experiments how we can create emotional and enriching spaces through design. In doing this, the research is also enabling me to discover and refine my own architectural values through the evaluation of these design explorations. The notion of luxury is explored through design-led research. A highly personal approach initially explores concepts pertaining to luxury through the creation and analysis of visual media. Tangible and intangible criteria is formed and then explored through three dimensional objects. The qualities associated with these visual explorations are tested through the design of a pavilion for luxuriating during a single act. This is then critically reflected upon, and the possibilities of these ideas are explored in the design of a two-person dwelling. The outcome of this thesis is a body of work that explores criteria for luxury and the distinctly personal act of luxuriating. The immensely personal evaluation of the criteria and outcomes allows me to explore my own values of design and luxury in depth - and this thesis could provide a flexible framework for another individual to do the same.</p
De novo Molecular Design using Deep Learning
No full textCurrently, the growth of data science, computer science, and artificial intelligence has transformed traditional drug discovery. The era of information has opened numerous opportunities for various research fields. The introduction of computer-aided stages (e.g., molecule generation, property prediction, virtual screening, etc.) into the drug discovery pipeline has immensely enhanced the success rate of finding promising molecules. Despite initial accomplishments, computer-aided drug discovery still needs to be significantly improved. Among the well-known topics in computer-aided drug discovery, 'de novo molecular design' is a highly focused topic that attracts a large number of researchers. De novo molecular design aims to excavate novel molecules from the huge chemical space that has not been fully exploited. Although there are various deep learning architectures proposed for molecule generation, each approach has certain limitations that need to be addressed. Additionally, since molecule generation is a random and non-directional process, finding drug candidates with desired properties from billions of molecules is almost infeasible. To tackle this problem, several optimization techniques were utilized to direct the generative model to produce `molecule of interest'. However, the property-optimized process restricts the 'creativity' of the generative model. Furthermore, it is a fact that not every desired property can be optimized because of insufficient data, and optimization-driving generation is computationally expensive. In such cases, using Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) models is an alternative solution for identifying molecules with desired properties.The overall goal of this thesis is to develop a generative model and a series of QSAR models for drug discovery. The generative model is used to produce novel molecules, while the QSAR models are used to virtually filter the molecules with desired properties. To achieve this goal, a range of computational techniques and interdisciplinary knowledge are employed in this thesis. First, we conducted a critical review of existing molecular representations, generative models, and property prediction models. The review is highly essential to providing readers with a fundamental understanding of de novo molecular design. The review analyzes the pros and cons of each molecular representation and summarizes the present development and challenges of molecular generation and property prediction tasks. Second, we investigated a novel deep learning architecture for de novo molecular design. The architecture is designed to process graph-structure data. The generative model developed using the proposed architecture can produce hypothetical molecules with high novelty and diversity. Experimental results indicated that our generative model can create drug-like molecules varying in size, scaffold, and properties.Third, we proposed two novel deep learning architectures for molecular property prediction. These two architectures, including the Residual Graph Attention (ResGAT) Network and the Graph Convolution-Attention Network (GCoAtNet), are designed to process graph-structure data. Our findings demonstrated that ResGAT achieved competitive performance while GCoAtNet achieved higher performance compared to state-of-the-art architectures. Our models were benchmarked against these state-of-the-art models on nine molecular datasets. Finally, we used these proposed architectures to construct a generative model and two QSAR models. The generative model was driven to produce a large number of hypothetical molecules. Subsequently, these molecules were virtually screened to eliminate those with drug-induced liver injury (property 1}) and Cytochrome-P450-inhibitory (property 2) activities. For each property, we developed two QSAR models that can independently identify molecules with desired properties. The intersection set of molecules suggested by these two models was considered a short list of potential drug candidates. These shortlisted molecules can be sent to the chemistry lab for further investigation, i.e., structural optimization and modification, synthesis, and evaluation. The results demonstrated that these computer-designed molecules are synthesizable and suitable for further research.</p
The Effect of Instructed Intercultural Pragmatics on the Metapragmatic Awareness and Interactional Competence of Tertiary Indonesian EAL Learners
No full textIntercultural communicative competence (ICC) is a widely recognised goal for learners of English as an additional language (EAL). An important aspect of ICC is understanding how communication is shaped by cultural expectations (i.e., metapragmatic awareness). However, in some teaching contexts, such as the university in which the current study was based, there is little focus on raising metapragmatic awareness beyond native-speaker norms. This approach may limit the opportunities available to learners to develop ICC. This situation led me to design a novel pedagogic intervention named instructed intercultural pragmatics (IIP), which draws from McConachy’s (2018) view of metapragmatic awareness and task-based language teaching. This approach aimed to foster the metapragmatic awareness and interactional competence of the Indonesian EAL learners in the study. The research was situated in an English conversation course at a private Indonesian university and was conducted in two phases. Phase 1, a situation analysis, examined the learners’ interactional needs and whether the existing instructional approach was congruent with these needs. The curriculum was analysed, and two program directors, four teachers, four learners, and three graduates were interviewed. Analysis of the syllabus, textbook materials, and teacher interviews showed an emphasis on learning pragmatic rules and memorising expressions from monolingual native-speaker discourse. In contrast, analysis of learner and graduate interviews showed their perceived need for pluricultural competence. These findings suggest that the instructional approach insufficiently addressed the learners’ interactional and intercultural needs. Drawing on these findings, Phase 2 investigated the impact of an IIP intervention on intercultural learning outcomes (metapragmatic awareness and interactional competence) using a quasi-experimental design. Three intact classes were assigned to one of three conditions: an IIP treatment emphasising reflexive metapragmatic discussion (n = 20), reflective metapragmatic discussion (n = 23), or a comparison group which followed the conventional teaching approach (n = 20). Data were triangulated from multiple sources: an appropriateness judgment questionnaire, exit slips, roleplays, and stimulated recalls. The questionnaire measured perceptions towards pragmatic utterances ranging in politeness and indirectness before and after the intervention. Results showed that the reflective group’s perceptions moved significantly closer to an English monolingual group, whereas no significant change was observed in the other groups. Results from the 190 exit slips, which gathered perceptions towards the lessons, showed that the reflexive and reflective groups made more frequent references to cultural aspects of the lessons when compared to the comparison group. Roleplays and stimulated recalls captured interactional competence before and after the intervention. A comparison of the pre- and post-data showed that the reflexive and reflective groups used a wider range of indirect conversation strategies after the intervention, while the comparison groups remained focused on following pragmatic rules. These findings cohere to suggest that an IIP intervention had a positive impact on learners’ metapragmatic awareness and interactional competence. Pedagogically, this study showed how a novel instructional intervention (IIP) was developed and implemented in two modes (reflexive and reflective). While the results showed positive learning outcomes for both reflexive and reflective modes, there were clear differences in the specific learning outcomes. The reflexive class became more aware of how culture informed their personal pragmatic practice, whereas the reflective class expanded their pragmatic repertoire. These findings provide guidance for teachers wishing to develop different aspects of intercultural communicative competence. Further, these results add to the growing empirical evidence supporting theoretical claims advocating for an intercultural stance in instruction on L2 pragmatics.</p
Centering dialog and care in digital Indigenous knowledge stewardship: Of relationality, responsibility, and respect
No full textThe question of how to appropriately care for and share Indigenous knowledges is central to cultural heritage documentation and, contemporary archival praxes and discourses. Transforming the standards of Indigenous knowledge management (IKM) necessitates confronting the legacies of colonial control and Indigenous expurgation that settler colonial galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) have contributed to (intentionally or not). Writing of and within the Māori context in New Zealand, we argue that a renewed orientation toward dialogic collaboration between institutions and Indigenous communities is crucial for revitalizing archival practices and partnerships in ways that center Indigenous values. Moreover, we purport that aligning institutional practices with Indigenous values is insufficient if Indigenous communities are neither made to feel welcome within archival spaces nor empowered to utilize them. As such, we identify the notions of relationality, responsibility, and respect as vital in supporting this ethical transformation of Indigenous knowledge stewardship both in New Zealand and in other Indigenous contexts. We propose that current efforts to reshape IKM praxes in culturally responsible and responsive ways can be meaningfully expanded through dialogic engagement, and an ethics of care
Magnetic Devices Using Rare-Earth Nitrides
No full textThis thesis uses (Gd,Sm)N as the ferromagnetic layers in a thin film tri-layer magnetic memory element. The relative alignment of the (Gd,Sm)N layers were written with an applied magnetic field. The non-magnetic metallic blocking layers between the (Gd,Sm)N layers of silver and aluminium were chosen for low-Impedance read-out, however both formed interface layers when (Gd,Sm)N was grown on top of the metal. The structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial and polycrystalline (GdxSm1−x)N were found to be suitable for the tri-layer structure. The switching layers were either epitaxial GdN or polycrystalline Gd-rich (Gd,Sm)N and the fixed layer as polycrystalline Sm-rich (Gd,Sm)N.The tri-layers had contrasting aligned and anti-aligned state remanent moments, which can be altered by the chosen structure and switching fields. The states are re-writeable with moderate magnetic fields (in order 0.1 T) and stable in no applied field over 16.5 hours. The tri-layers were formed into islands using two methods. The post-growth milling method on an existing tri-layer film demonstrated the magnetic properties were retained for 30 μm islands. The pre-patterned photo-resist method showed characteristic tri-layer magnetic behaviour of 5 μm islands.These measurements demonstrate that a (Gd,Sm)N based thin film tri- layer island could be used with fringe-field sensing device as a cryogenic memory element. Further optimisation of the chosen (Gd,Sm)N layers and writing methods is required for development into a fully functioning cryogenic memory.</p
Repository of code used in the thesis "Developing an Insect Odorant Receptor Bioelectronic Nose for Vapour-Phase Detection"
No full textThis repository collects all the code used when examining the behaviour of an insect odorant receptor-based "bioelectronic nose", as described in the thesis "Developing an Insect Odorant Receptor Bioelectronic Nose for Vapour-Phase Detection" by E. O. Perkins Treacher.</p
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