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Degrees of points on varieties over Henselian fields.
No full textLet W/K be a nonempty scheme over the field of fractions of a Henselian
local ring R. A result of Gabber, Liu and Lorenzini shows that the GCD of the
set of degrees of closed points on W (which is called the index of W/K) can
be computed from data pertaining only to the special fiber of a proper regular
model of W over R. We show that the entire set of degrees of closed points
on W can be computed from data pertaining only to the special fiber, provided
the special fiber is a strict normal crossings divisor.
As a consequence we obtain an algorithm to compute the degree set of any
smooth curve over a Henselian field with finite or algebraically closed residue
field. Using this we show that degree sets of curves over such fields can be
dramatically different than degree sets of curves over finitely generated
fields. For example, while the degree set of a curve over a finitely generated
field contains all sufficiently large multiples of the index, there are curves
over p-adic fields with index 1 whose degree set excludes all integers that
are coprime to 6
Preventative treatment for adolescents with paedophilic attractions: identifying characteristics and risk factors in a systematic review
No full textChild sexual abuse remains a global public health crisis with significant long-term psychological, physical, and social consequences for survivors. Adolescents with paedophilic attractions represent a critical cohort for intervention, yet they are underrepresented in research and therapeutic frameworks. Using a systematic review and thematic analysis, the present study identified existing treatments for adolescents who have sexually offended against children. The findings reveal a scarcity of adolescent-specific programmes, with only three treatment studies meeting eligibility criteria. These programmes, primarily cognitive-behavioural and group therapies, demonstrated moderate success in reducing recidivism, but challenges such as denial, resistance, and the influence of external environments persisted.
Additionally, 29 studies were identified looking at key characteristics and risk factors among adolescents who had sexually offended against children. Such characteristics included familial instability, educational struggles, social isolation, deviant sexual interests, and psychopathology. Notably, deficits in sexual knowledge and age-appropriate social skills were prevalent, emphasising the need for tailored preventive strategies. Drawing on these insights, the review provides recommendations for adapting the adult-focused Stand Strong Walk Tall (SSWT) preventive programme to meet adolescents' unique developmental needs. However, the provided recommendations remain relevant for ant current of future preventative treatment efforts. Key adaptations include integrating family dynamics, addressing sexual knowledge deficits, and incorporating social skills training. Noting that these results are best viewed in conjunction with broader research on treatment modalities for adolescents as a broader population. This research underscores the urgent need for evidence-based, age-appropriate preventive interventions to address paedophilic attractions in adolescents and mitigate risks before harmful behaviours emerge
How to build industrially scalable value creation from timber construction by-products in New Zealand.
No full textGlobal economies seek solutions for a circular economy and climate change mitigation. Forest biomass and sawn timber processing by-products offer several value-added components to replace unrenewable carbon-intensive materials. Generally, sawn goods utilize only approximately half of the harvested timber volume. When aiming for circular and zero waste construction, it is not enough to use local wood sources for timber construction unless all the wood streams- are fully utilized. Projects worldwide are developing biomass-based biorefineries, but the upscaling of these technologies require cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary partnerships. In this paper, we propose a plan for a holistic approach to analyse and visualise value-creation possibilities in the New Zealand (NZ) context, targeting locally sourced, underevaluated and undervalued wood species that can be used in construction and finishing. The focus is on finding solutions that are economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable. Additionally, with benchmarking to Finland, we present examples of industrial value-chains and by-products, to provide a baseline understanding on the scale-up potential with techno-economic feasibility
Asynchronous Video-Based Scaffolding of English Academic Writing Skills for Distance Tertiary Students: An Innovative Approach to Supporting Postgraduate Students in Hybrid Courses
No full textAcademic writing support for students in hybrid programmes can be troublesome. With
academic writing support mostly offered face-to-face on campuses, distance students face a
‘sink or swim’ mentality. The COVID-19 pandemic ‘forced’ many universities to move
teaching online at short notice, which provided the impetus to re-think how current academic
literacy support could be employed in a completely digital learning environment if pandemics
such as COVID-19 were to persist. This paper offers insights into how a postgraduate
programme sought to support distance students’ English academic writing skills. Purposefully
crafted webinars were created to explicitly scaffold students through multiple aspects of
academic essay preparation, thus ensuring English academic writing practices were available
to students asynchronously. Data findings suggest a positive upward trend in students’ writing
skills, and convergence towards a higher academic writing outcome with a narrower dispersion
amongst students. Put differently, even academically weaker students have an equal
opportunity to improve their writing abilities through the use of video-based scaffolding
Intellectual disability and harmful sexual behaviour : comparisons across referrals to community-based treatment in New Zealand.
No full textIndividuals with intellectual disabilities who have perpetrated harmful sexual behaviour may
be seen as ‘riskier’ than those without intellectual capacity deficits who have committed
similar behaviour, sometimes despite insufficient evidence to support such an assumption.
This study examined 61 referrals through the IDCCR (Intellectual Disability Compulsory
Care and Rehabilitation Act of 2003) to community-based harmful sexual behaviour services
in New Zealand, and compared these to referrals without intellectual disability presentations.
Data was obtained from three partner organisations that represented the nationwide New
Zealand community-based harmful sexual behaviour sector, from referrals received between
2013 and 2016. Clinical and demographic features, risk and protective factor ratings,
treatment outcomes and criminogenic and responsivity needs were analysed and compared.
Results showed the majority of IDCCR referrals involved male, New Zealand
European/Pākehā clients with trauma histories, some intrinsic motivation for treatment, less
than ideal support networks, and diverse offending types. Most did not show evidence of
psychological disorder, but did demonstrate on average higher levels of pro-offending
attitudes, social and intimacy deficits, and poor self and emotional management than the
comparative mainstream sample. Despite higher rates of treatment completion, referrals
through the IDCCR Act tended to have been assigned lower protective factor scores and
higher risk scores than the comparative sample. A significant difference in risk ratings
between groups was found, suggesting referrals with intellectual disability presentations were
considered ‘riskier.’ The implication of potential bias toward clients with intellectual
disability was discussed. Study findings added to the literature of intellectual disability and
harmful sexual behaviour
Investigating gene expression changes in a human brain cell line in response to e-cigarette liquid condensate.
No full textE-cigarette use has become exponentially popular within recent years, especially among youth users. Although there is an increasing interest in conducting research into e-cigarettes and their effect on the health of users, there is not yet enough for the populace to be fully informed of the risks involved in vaping. Previous research has found that e-cigarettes are highly addictive, that the solvents used in the e-liquid can thermally decompose into dangerous carcinogens, and that e-cigarette use can change expression patterns of certain genes and/or their protein products. In particular, disruptions were noted in the processes of oxidative stress reduction, glutamate homeostasis, and cholinergic signalling. This study uses A-172 cell culture to replicate the conditions of developing human brains, and uses nicotine-free e-liquids in various flavours to test the effects of solvents and flavouring agents on cell mortality and gene expression. We observed that the flavoured e-liquids had higher rates of cell mortality at lower concentrations than the unflavoured e-liquid control, however these results were only significant at the highest concentrations tested. We also observed downregulation in gene expression of GRM1 across all flavour treatments compared to untreated control cells, and up- or down-regulated gene expression across flavourings for SOD1 and CHRNA4. We suggest that these changes in gene expression may represent some of the ways in which e-cigarette use may disrupt brain health and functioning. Additionally, our research suggests that nicotine may not be the only addictive agent in e-liquids, and that solvents and flavouring agents may also have a role to play
Exploratory study of the diet and distribution of little owls (Athene noctua) in Ōtautahi.
No full textBiodiversity conservation is a priority in New Zealand ecology. The effects of mammalian
predators are well known, but those of avian predators are not. The little owl (Athene noctua)
is the only avian predator to be intentionally introduced to New Zealand in the early 1900s;
however, their occupancy and diet are poorly described. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to explore the factors that may predict the presence of little owls and to describe their
broader diet.
Firstly, I used playback surveys to determine the presence of little owls in 38 public parks across Christchurch. I calculated the canopy and determined the patch type of each site to test whether either could predict the presence of little owls. I found playback surveys a useful method for detecting little owls, and detected them in 14 sites. The probability of little owl presence increased with canopy cover, up to 50%.
Secondly, I used passive acoustic monitoring and call recognition software alongside my
playback surveys and determined which method was more effective. I experienced a lot of
technical failures, but overall found the detection accuracy comparable to playback surveys.
Finally, I analysed the diet of little owls using pellets from 6 sites in Christchurch. Birds and
mammals were common prey items in all sites and represented a high proportion of the dietary biomass. I was also able to estimate avian species using bone length comparisons and feather identification
Deterministic and deep-learning approaches to speckle-based X-ray phase-contrast and dark-field image reconstruction.
No full textTraditional X-ray imaging methods use the difference in attenuation between different
tissues to form an image. The image contrast may be poor if the attenuation difference
is small. An alternative approach is to use X-ray phase-contrast and dark-field imaging.
X-ray phase-contrast uses the phase variations of the X-ray wave induced by different
tissues to form image contrast, and dark-field imaging uses the scattering of the X-ray
wave to detect sub-resolution features of the tissues. This allows contrast to be formed
between previously invisible features in soft tissues. Speckle-based X-ray imaging (SBXI)
is an experimentally simple X-ray phase-contrast and dark-field imaging method that uses
a speckle-generating mask to reveal variations of the X-ray wave caused by attenuation,
phase-shift, and scattering in the object. From this information, the attenuation, phasecontrast,
and dark-field images can be reconstructed using a reconstruction algorithm.
This thesis focuses on the development of reconstruction algorithms for SBXI.
A new approach (‘Gradient-Flow’ MIST or GF-MIST) to a class of SBXI reconstruction
algorithms named Multimodal Intrinsic Speckle-Tracking (MIST) was developed in this
thesis. MIST uses the X-ray Fokker-Planck equation to reconstruct the attenuation, phasecontrast,
and dark-field images. GF-MIST considers the flow of X-ray energy density to
be a gradient-flow. As a result, GF-MIST reduces the minimum number of speckle image
pairs required for the most recently published MIST algorithm from four to two, while
maintaining the full generality of the diffusion term in the X-ray Fokker-Planck equation.
The smaller number of speckle image pairs required also reduces experimental complexity
and image acquisition time. However, GF-MIST assumes no attenuation in the sample
and that the X-rays are scattered isotropically. Therefore, two additional modifications of
GF-MIST were developed to address these limitations.
The use of a deep-learning model to reconstruct attenuation, phase-contrast and darkfield
images from SBXI data was also explored. Deep-learning-based methods circumvent
the need to use deterministic models (such as the X-ray Fokker-Planck equation), and
instead, the model is learned directly from data. A deep-learning model, trained on simulated
samples, was able to reconstruct attenuation, phase-contrast and dark-field images
from previously unseen simulated data. This result indicates that AI can potentially be
used as an alternative to deterministic methods for SBXI reconstruction.
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GREEN ON SCREEN, VALUE IN WALLET: HOW INSTAGRAM DRIVES SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR
No full textSocial media serves as an important marketing tool in shaping consumer perceptions of sustainable product quality. This study aims to analyze how factors in social media marketing efforts—namely entertainment, interaction, customization, and electronic Word of Mouth—affect Green Perceived Quality and its impact on Willingness to Pay Premium Price. This research focuses on @thebodyshopindo Instagram account, which actively and transparently educates consumers about sustainability and environmentally friendly products. This research model develops five main hypotheses. H1, H2, H3, H4 examined the influence of each variable of social media marketing—entertainment, interaction, customization, and electronic Word of Mouth—on Green Perceived Quality. Furthermore, H5 evaluates whether Green Perceived Quality has a significant effect on Willingness to Pay Price Premium. The research method uses a quantitative approach (survey) that targets Body Shop product customers in Surabaya and have purchased the products. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22. The findings of this study are expected to provide insight into the effectiveness of social media marketing, especially entertainment, interaction, and customization, moreover electronic Word of Mouth in shaping green perceived quality and encouraging willingness to pay premium price
LEVERAGING INITIAL CAPITAL AND INCOME THROUGH HR-DRIVEN INNOVATION: STRENGTHENING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS IN MSMES
No full textThis study explores how initial capital, when strategically utilized through HR-driven innovation, enhances the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Drawing on data from 155 MSMEs and using multiple regression analysis, the findings reveal that both initial capital and HR-driven innovation significantly influence HRM effectiveness, particularly in areas such as talent development, employee motivation, and organizational adaptability. The interaction between initial capital and innovation indicates that financial readiness, when aligned with innovative HR practices, amplifies the capacity of MSMEs to manage and retain human capital effectively. Meanwhile, other variables such as age, number of dependents, working hours, business duration, monthly capital, monthly personal expenditure, education, marital status, and domicile showed no significant impact. These results underscore the importance of integrating financial strategy with human resource innovation to promote sustainable business growth