http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:80 The ResearchSpace digital repository system captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material. Sun, 21 Jan 2018 11:29:10 GMT 2018-01-21T11:29:10Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36861 Quantifying Black Carbon Emissions from Residential Wood Burning by a Combination of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approaches Crimmins, Paul Black carbon (BC) is an air pollutant of emerging concern as more is understood regarding its multiple adverse impacts onto human health, global climate change and local visibility. While residential wood burning (RWB) for home heating is a significant contributor to global BC emissions, research into its impacts is limited by a lack of accurate emissions data. Typically, the estimation of regional emissions of air pollutants is carried out by measuring emissions from individual pollution sources. However, because of the highly-variable nature of BC emissions from RWB, this traditional ‘bottom-up’ methodology results in poor emission estimates on a regional scale. An alternative quantification method is the ‘top-down’ estimation of source contributions to measured ambient pollutant concentrations by source apportionment modelling. This study combines the results of a bottom-up emission inventory with top-down source apportionment data compiled by Davy et al. (2016) to better quantify BC emissions from RWB. The study focusses on BC emissions and the resulting concentrations observed within Auckland, and includes the first emission inventory constructed for BC within a New Zealand setting. Results of this study suggest that RWB is a significant source of BC emissions in Auckland, the second highest next to on-road diesel vehicles. From a combination of bottom-up and top-down BC quantification methodologies, it is determined that 145 tonnes of BC were emitted into the air within the Auckland Region in 2013 from approximately 100,000 residential wood burners, 30% of the region’s total estimated BC emissions. This equates to a weighted-average emission factor of 0.97 g of BC emitted per kg of wood burnt for residential wood burners in use across Auckland. Concentrations of BC vary widely across Auckland and are generally found to be decreasing as diesel vehicle emissions controls improve. However, BC concentrations associated with RWB remained static between 2006 and 2013, despite decreased RWB activity. This lack of improvement, coupled with increased concentrations of BC from RWB in early winter, suggests that the inefficient operation of wood burners may be a key driver of BC concentrations. Given the significant effects on both human health and climate, it is vital to advance programmes to help to reduce BC emissions from RWB. Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36861 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36860 Heka Vaka (going on a boat) Sefesi, M Tongan culture holds many values, customs and traditions and being born in New Zealand these values and traditions were taught and embedded into me growing up. I am a New Zealand born Tongan, but that does not ensure that I know everything about my culture nor does it mean I do not know things. This essay could be a metaphor for an ocean, I am just navigating through certain concepts or ideas within the Tongan culture. This essay discusses different aspects of Tongan traditional dance culture and the ways in which I choose to use those aspects within my practice. I will briefly look into Tongan dance (Tongan faiva) which will be explored in this essay shortly. Within faiva are concepts such as mafana and hierarchy. I will define what mafana is and the relation it has to Tongan faiva. The concept of hierarchy will also be explored within a faiva context and then, within the eiki/tu’a system which will be discussed later on in this essay. Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36860 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36859 Statistical Shape Modelling (SSM) of the Human Pharyngeal Airway Gunasekaran, Ramkumar The main objective of this project is to develop a statistical shape model using principal component analysis (PCA) that could be used for analyzing the shape of the human airway. The ultimate goal of this project is to identify geometric risk factors for diagnosis and management of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA). Anonymous CBCT scans of 25 individuals were obtained from the Otago Radiology Group. The airways were segmented between the hard-palate and the aryepiglottic fold using snake active contour segmentation. The point data cloud of the segmented images were then fitted with a bi-cubic mesh and pseudo landmarks were placed to perform PCA on the segmented airway to analyze the shape of the airway and to find the relationship between the shape and OSA risk factors. From the PCA results, the first four modes of variation were found to be significant. Mode 1 was interpreted to be the overall length of the airway, Mode 2 was related to the anteriorposterior width of the retroglossal region, Mode 3 was related to the lateral dimension of the oropharyngeal region and Mode 4 was related to the anterior-posterior width of the oropharyngeal region. All these regions are subjected to the risk factors of OSA. Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36859 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36858 Seeking, thinking and citing through paint Worn, Vivienne Paint and canvas are simply materials, utilized by humans to interact with the social world for a variety of reasons, yet paint still has the ability to incite notions around its use based on a long Western history of who is and who isn’t supposed to wield the brush. This essay explores one among many of these historical notions of omission, that of gender. The essay is divided into three sections with the first looking at what it means to paint as a woman, particularly within abstract painting. The section starts with an account of what gender means as seen by Judith Butler, before examining the work of past women who have used differing tactics to navigate the masculine worlds of paint they occupied. Linda Nochlin’s famous critique of the feminine within art is then utilized to argue my own beliefs before looking to recent theories of feminist materialisms as a way to think through a contemporary position around the conflation of bodies and paint. The second section shifts from form to content as the archive is discussed, seeing this as having a kind of materiality of it’s own that has been put to use within art throughout time. Henri Bergson’s philosophy where the past acts as an infinite ground to the present is followed by Hal Foster’s description of artists who employ the archive as material. The work of Sherrie Levine is then touched on to think through the differences between how the recent artistic turn to history differs from that of appropriation artists of postmodernism. Returning to paint, the work of Marlene Dumas is then offered as a possible way forward to bridge the gaps between painting and its critique. Finally painting is seen within the context of politics. Jacques Rancière’s ‘Distribution of the Sensible’ is discussed in terms of the meta-­‐politics of art in relation to gender inequalities within art galleries and museums. Against continuing inequalities my own tactic is introduced as one that cites small moments within the work of women artists such as Lavinia Fontana. This tactic is one that proposes a painting method that sits between abstraction and figuration, arguing for the possibility to obliquely layer an active response via a conceptual painting practice, thus calling out to the past, leaning back to assist the present in order to help imagine a new future. Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36858 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36857 Enhancement of Post-Stroke Recovery via Delayed Pharmacological Intervention Using a Mouse Model of Stroke Chen, Siyi With an aging population there is increasing demand in the discovery of therapeutic interventions to enhance functional recovery in surviving stroke patients. Inflammation is an ongoing pathophysiological mechanism that may be modulated to enhance functional recovery post-stroke. Anecdotal evidence showed that medications used in management of post-stroke complications such as citalopram for depression and varenicline for smoking cessation may be beneficial for functional recovery via anti-inflammation. I conducted long-term pre-clinical studies to investigate whether delayed administration of the 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist varenicline and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram can reduce brain inflammation and whether this effect extends to structural changes in white matter (WM) structure, neuroplasticity, and functional performances poststroke. To optimize our C57Bl/6j and CSF-1R-EGFP mice models of stroke, I implemented clinically relevant endpoints, including diffusion tensor imaging, cytokine analysis, skilled motor function testing, sensorimotor function testing, and spontaneous motor function testing. Delayed administration of citalopram starting at 3 days post-stroke improved skilled motor function, suppressed chronic inflammation, and preserved WM structure integrity post-stroke in CSF-1R-EGFP mice. Further investigation on varenicline treatment starting at 3 days post-stroke showed worsened sensorimotor function, enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokines expression, and impaired the structural integrity of WM structures following stroke in C57Bl/6j mice. Quantitative analyses of DTI imaging in the mouse brain highlighted significant impairment in the structural integrity of corpus callosum and internal capsules in varenicline treated animals. Analytical evaluation of structural connectomes also identified varenicline treated induced changes in local efficiency and nodal degree at 2 weeks after washout. Implementation of ex vivo DTI in my experimental model of stroke successfully identified drug induced structural changes in the mouse neural network, which was associated with changes in sensorimotor function through the study. Designed to be administered in the sub-acute phase (days) after stroke, my results showed that an extended therapeutic window exists for the management of inflammation and neuroplasticity in the sub-acute and chronic phases of stroke and would be available to the large number of stroke patients who are unsuitable for thrombolytic therapy. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36857 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36856 The Importance of Procedure Mustard, Kendal In my work it is important to start off with a system, an algorithm or set of rules because it creates the conditions for something new to happen, it creates a field in which something can materialize. I’ve been playing tennis since I was five, I come from a tennis family, my father was a professional tennis player, tennis is in my DNA. In tennis there is a field called a court, which is rectangular and is reminiscent of the pages I draw on. In a game of tennis players engage in a game defined by a set of rules, responding to each other’s moves reacting in a back and forth motion, having control and losing control. It’s how their character and identity come out as they play within the rules, sometimes pushing the limits and the boundaries of the rules which makes the game interesting. The set of rules in my practice enables me to start my work and creates the entry point to playing the game. There are three important stages of my practice in which a shift of control happens, and the work starts to grow. The use of a system is where the work begins, an entry point and place free of choice or artistic intention or taste, this rule lets me perform a task with a very clear outline and a specific standard defined. During the second phase of the drawing process is where chance intervenes and the inaccuracy of the human hand begins to perform and take place. The drawing starts to live, the “absent author” as Isabelle Graw refers to, begins to draw, the emergence of my opponent in the game. The loss of control, the slip of the ruler, the spill of the pens inks, the inconsistency of the hand. In the third step there is another shift. It is where the artist acts, the artist takes control removing and correcting the glitches performed in the second step. Finally, this process concludes with the satisfaction that all visible imperfections have been hidden. This is a process that relies on itself for production using my personal ‘failures’ and chance interventions as a means to form growth and direction in the completed work. I go through the experience of having control, losing control and once again re-gaining control. Step 1. The rule Step 2. The failure to execute that rule Step 3. The fixing the failure of that rule Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36856 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36855 A Geomorphic Analysis of River Change for Five Rivers in the Wellington Region: Implications for ‘Space to Move’ River Management Interventions Norris, Phillipa River management has progressively shifted from hard engineering methods towards processbased restoration initiatives that focus on physical and ecological processes. This hydrogeomorphic approach entails a more hands-off approach to flood protection and ecosystem management through endeavours such as ‘space to move’ or ‘freedom space’ initiatives where channels self-adjust on the valley floor, thereby consuming their own energy and retaining their natural diversity. Geomorphic analysis of five rivers in the Wellington region shows they have undergone long histories of geomorphic change where their active channel zone have reduced in area in response to external pressures within their catchments. Channel migration across the valley floor has been severely restricted as a result of set channel boundaries. Reduction of active channel areas varies between the studied river reaches as follows: Otaki 49.0%, Waikanae 42.2%, Hutt (lower) 52.5%, Hutt (upper) 56.1%, Waiohine 24.9% and Waingawa 39.0%. Channel confinement as a result of land-use and flood management practices (stop banks, rock walls and riparian vegetation buffer zones) has induced transitions to less sinuous, single channelled, gravel bed rivers. Changes to the pattern and assemblages of instream geomorphic unit assemblages has reduced the geomorphic diversity of these rivers. Features such as point bars, mid-channel, bars and localized braiding are less common, as the rivers are now dominated by sequences of alternating bars. Analysis of changes in river behaviour and the resulting morphologies, framed in context of catchmentscale considerations, is used to outline possible future trajectories of river adjustment and allow an evaluation of ‘how much space’ is required for these river types to be managed within the ‘space to move’ framework. Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36855 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36854 Investigating the optimum conditions to induce self-folding of protein films Agnieray, Heiana In recent decades, extensive research has been conducted on creating origami-based structures and devices in various materials that result in self-folding under the influence external stimuli. These self-folding structures have been proposed for useful tools in the fields of biomedical applications, food packaging and robotics. Throughout this thesis, we investigate the optimum conditions to induce self-folding in protein films for future applications in biomedical technology. Few studies have investigated the use of protein films in self-folding origami structures. Gelatin and silk fibroins were studied due to their ease of forming thin films and their biocompatibility, which make them prime candidates for future applications in the field of surgery and medicine. The effect of different solvents, including ethanol, dichloromethane and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at varying pH levels, and their ability to induce self-folding in gelatin and silk fibroin films were shown. Ethanol was identified as the optimum solvent to induce self-folding in both silk fibroin and gelatin films, showing significantly increased folding probability (100% and 90% for silk fibroin and gelatin films respectively) and quality. Having identified the optimum solvent to induce self-folding, laser patterning of the films to induce surface defects to guide the folding process was studied. Laser patterning of the films was conducted using a femtosecond (λ = 800 nm, Rep. Rate. = 1 kHz, τ = 110 fs) and nanosecond (λ = 248 nm, Rep. Rate. = 500 Hz, τ = 5 ns) pulsed lasers to induce score lines with varying depths and increasing levels of pattern complexity. Results show that both femtosecond and nanosecond laser patterning of the films showed similar trends in both gelatin and silk films. Meanwhile, silk films demonstrated higher quality folding at shallower score depths compared to gelatin films that showed higher quality folding at deeper score depths. These results suggested that silk films did not require laser patterning to induce folding and alternate methods for controlled deposition of solvents were investigated. Further studies were conducted to identify the optimum technique for the application of solvents. Three different methods (dipping, spraying and pipette application) were studied. Out of the three methods trialled, direct application using a pipette along the laser patterned line resulted in the highest quality folding behaviour. This suggested that accurate and controlled application of the solvent to the fold area would yield the best results. Using a custom-built inkjet printer, controlled folding of silk fibroin films was observed upon the deposition of ethanol. The quality and probability of folding was significantly improved compared to previously investigated methods. Results showed a relationship between folding angle and the amount of solvent applied to the film. The highest volume of ethanol used showed complete folding of silk fibroin films, resulting in a folding angle of 180o demonstrated in one case. Until this point, self-folding of protein films has not been investigated or achieved. This study shows successful and controlled folding of silk fibroin films upon the deposition of ethanol via inkjet printing. This preliminary investigation successfully demonstrates the use of protein films for self-folding and sets the stage for a platform of further research and future applications in a variety of fields. Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36854 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36853 Interventions Pre-conception and During Pregnancy to Improve Glucose Tolerance and Prevent Gestational Diabetes: Investigation in Mouse Models Plows, Jasmine Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a serious pregnancy complication, in which women without previously diagnosed diabetes develop chronic hyperglycaemia during gestation. This hyperglycaemia usually manifests itself through impaired glucose tolerance due to insulin resistance. Gestational diabetes affects approximately 10% of New Zealand pregnancies, and the number of women diagnosed is set to further increase with the obesity epidemic. For this reason, an easily adhered to, effective intervention that could be taken both before and during pregnancy, could be beneficial. Aim: This thesis aimed to investigate a combination of insulin sensitising agents, vitamins and a probiotic in the prevention of GDM in mice. The potential for a treatment that targets inflammation in cases of GDM was also investigated, using interleukin-1-receptor-1 knock-out mice (IL1R1-/-). Method: The work detailed in this thesis covers four studies: (1) The impact of supplementation of myo-inositol (MI) and vitamins B2, B6, B12 and D were investigated in a genetic mouse model of GDM (pregnant db/+ dams). (2) Upon discovering that the db/+ mice in the aforementioned study did not demonstrate GDM as expected, the cause of the loss of phenotype was investigated. (3) The effects of supplementation with MI and probiotics was examined in a high fat diet (HFD)-induced GDM mouse model. (4) The impact of IL1R1-/- was explored in a HFD-induced GDM mouse model. Results: In contrast to previous studies, db/+ mice did not display glucose intolerance compared with control mice during pregnancy. However, C57BL/6J fed HFD for one week prior to and throughout pregnancy were an effective model of GDM. MI generally improved glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. Vitamins B2, B6, B12, and D reduced markers of adipose tissue inflammation. Probiotic supplementation reduced gestational weight gain and ectopic fat deposition in the liver. IL1R1-/- did not improve maternal glucose tolerance and surprisingly worsened some indicators of GDM. Conclusion: These studies provide novel contributions to the field of GDM prevention and treatment, especially with respect to the effects of vitamin B2, the mechanisms underlying MI and probiotic supplementation, and the counterintuitive impact of modified inflammatory signalling. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36853 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36852 “Of Giants” Priddle, Natasha This essay investigates several philosophical and psychoanalytical theories concerning the divide; as paradox, as bias, as causation, as a means of engaging with the global environmental crisis, and as a provocation for contemporary art. Critically, the artist strives to understand how humanity can be at once - embedded in the biosphere, whilst equipped with the power to manipulate and destroy it.1 Section One of this essay contemplates the magnitude and intangibility of the ecological crisis, through a comparative reading of Timothy Morton’s “Hyper-objects” and Jeffery Cohen’s histography of Giant folk-lore. Section Two investigates how we perceive the world (phenomenally), and think about the world (analytically), contemplating the concept of the divide - as natural – or as metaphysically universal. Concepts of duality and gestalt, are also examined as formative structures of relativity, through the writing of Gail Weiss and Ted Toadvine. Section Three recognises contemporary arts involvement in wider socio-ecological issues. Timothy Morton and Quanta Gauld investigate the trauma of dislocation, recognising the capacity of the arts to facilitate change. Gauld identifies interactive art as a means of restoring cultures connection to place, through empathetic engagement. Section Four re-considers cultures innate tendency toward change - as a force for good - through the writing of Alexandra Maryanski. Culture’s constant pursuit of novelty, reflecting the phenomenal body’s search for complex contingencies. These theories inspire the artist to re-frame sensory engagement, innovating ways to “read” climate, intuit “change”, and inspire “thought”. Section Five turns to the field of psychoacoustics, reading from Mary Brazier, Murray Schafer and Bob Snyder. This section explores three key relationships: sound and mind, sound and place, and gestalt and memory. Section Six introduces two inspiring sound artists who have translated environmental experiences into sound, Athanasius Kircher and Bernard Krause. Section Seven considers the influence of technology on culture, before describing two key technological processes used in the exhibition “Of Giants”. Section Eight presents an interior perspective of the exhibited works, discussing each of the four figures in relation to conceptual and technological development. It also elaborates on the inclusion of schematic wall drawings, to signify withdrawn aspects of climate. Available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36852 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z