UC Research Repository
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The UC Research Repository collects, stores and makes available original research from postgraduate students, researchers and academics based at the University of Canterbury.
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Recent Submissions
The role of minority language-speaking families, community and the majority society in the intergenerational language transmission of the Korean language in New Zealand
(2019) Kim J
This thesis investigates and explores intergenerational transmission of the Korean language in
Korean migrant families and the Korean community in an English-speaking country, New
Zealand. Through the bioecological human development theoretical lens (Bronfenbrenner,
1979, 1999, 2001) Korean migrant families’ language beliefs, practices and consequences are
examined in three contexts: individuals and families, minority language-speaking communities,
and the majority society, and the inter-relationships in each context are discussed.
The New Zealand Chinese Community : finding place in a contested space.
(2025) Jennings, Josiah
The New Zealand Chinese Community (NZCC), one of the largest non-Māori ethnic minority within
New Zealand (NZ), has a complex identity and evolving experience within NZ’s socio-political
landscape. This research explores a topic that has received limited scholarly attention to date. From
historical exclusion to current multiplicity within a rapidly diversifying nation, the community's
heterogeneity highlights the difficulty of classifying the group and thus the challenges of finding
appropriate solutions to meet their needs/interests. Difficulties for the group include earlier migrants
who faced intense systemic exclusion, and post-1987 immigrants, who introduced greater diversity, have
struggled with gaps in the NZ narrative, social infrastructure, and employment market. These all hinder
integration and social cohesion. The NZCC is proportionally the least represented ethnic minority in NZ
parliament, and generally has had low levels of Political Participation to date.
This research seeks to provide an up-to-date snapshot of the NZCC through investigating their
relationship between their sense of Place within NZ (identity, belonging and role), and their low levels of
Political Participation. Using semi-structured interviews and employing three analytical approaches
(preliminary observations, thematic analysis, and quantitative coding), the research answers two
questions: (i) How does the NZCC perceive its Place in NZ’s narrative and political framework? and (ii)
is there a relationship between their sense of Place and their Political Participation? Findings reveal a
clear correlation. Individuals with a strong sense of Place to NZ demonstrate higher levels of Political
Participation. Conversely, those who feel excluded from NZ, exhibit lower Political Participation. An
exploration as to all the nuances and reasons for these are found in the following pages. The research
underscores the need for more intentionality in bridging the gap between NZs bicultural commitments
and its multicultural reality - fostering a more inclusive national identity. The research suggests that
improving one’s belonging to the land will also improve political participation among the NZCC, but
perhaps also all of NZ’s expanding minority multicultural communities.
Medium access control for collision-free flight in UAV formations.
(2025) Samandari, Amelia
The deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in autonomous
formations requires accurate and timely communication of safety
information. To achieve this, there is a need for a communication
protocol that supports the timely and successful transfer of safety
information between UAVs. This thesis focuses on the unacknowledged
local broadcast of safety data that is periodically sent from
each UAV to the other UAVs in close physical proximity. This is
addressed using a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)-type MAC
protocol.
This thesis proposes three TDMA-based MAC protocols for UAVs
in rigid formations, each addressing different network topologies. In
rigid formations, the relative positions of the UAVs do not change
throughout deployment.
The proposed protocol designs in this thesis focus on overcoming
two limitations of traditional TDMA: scalability and a single point of
failure. Scalability refers to the need for each device to be allocated
to a unique time slot. A single point of failure refers to reliance on a
centralized controller.
The first protocol, a centralized spatial reuse scheme, serves as a
benchmark. With spatial reuse, multiple UAVs can be allocated to
the same time slot. This protocol demonstrates the improvements
achieved through utilizing spatial reuse compared to a traditional
TDMA scheme in a specific formation deployment. It addresses the
issue of scalability but is reliant on a centralized controller.
The second protocol, Distributed Assignment and Resolution of Time slots (D-ART), supports allocation without a centralized
controller in single-hop scenarios. This protocol is designed for
a fully-connected UAV formation and provides distributed superframe
adaption and self-allocation for single-hop communication. It
addresses the single-point-of-failure issue but each UAV must be
allocated to a unique time slot.
The final protocol, Distributed Self-allocated Time slot Reuse (DSTR),
extends these capabilities to multi-hop scenarios. It addresses
both the scalability and single-point-of-failure limitations, and can
be used in both single-hop and multi-hop scenarios.
These proposed protocols address the essential task of communicating
safety information in rigid UAV formations with different
network topologies, enabling collision-free deployment of the formation. This is an important step for improving the safety and
practicality of UAV formations in application scenarios that span a
range of industries.
Exploring predictors of work-family spillover in international audiologists : an ecological and resource-based perspective.
(2025) Xie, Yuqi
Introduction: Work-family spillover is a complex and dynamic phenomenon that
profoundly impacts individuals’ professional and personal well-being. This thesis investigates
the predictors of work-family spillover among audiologists, a relatively underexplored
healthcare professional group. Drawing from the Ecological Systems Theory (EST) and the
Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and using a four-dimension spillover model, this
research explores how individual and contextual predictors influence Negative Work-to-
Family Spillover (NWFS), Positive Work-to-Family Spillover (PWFS), Negative Family-to-
Work Spillover (NFWS), and Positive Family-to-Work Spillover (PFWS).
Method: Audiologists registered with audiological societies in high-income countries
were invited to complete an online survey. This survey measured the four dimensions of
spillover experience as dependent variables. Independent variables included individual
predictors and contextual predictors in the work and family domains. Individual predictors
assessed were age, gender, and “Big Five” personality traits. Predictors in the work domain
included work experience, work hours, work flexibility, work support, client group, working
sector, and position. Predictors in the family domain compassed relationship status, parental
status, number of children, the age of the youngest child, childcare responsibilities, and
family support. A series of multiple regression analyses and a t-test were conducted to assess
the impact of these predictors on spillover.
Results: For individual predictors, personality traits played a significant role.
Extraversion and Emotional Stability were associated with lower NWFS; Emotional Stability
and Openness to Experience correlated with higher PFWS; and Conscientiousness related to
increased NWFS. In the work domain, flexible work conditions reduced NWFS, while having
combined roles (management/training) led to more NWFS than working exclusively as an audiologist. Longer work experience was linked to higher PWFS. In the family domain,
parental status was the only significant predictor: parents reported higher NFWS and lower
PFWS than non-parents.
Conclusion: This research underscores the importance of individual dispositions and
contextual factors (work flexibility, position, experience, and parental status) in shaping
work-family spillover experience among audiologists. Recognising these predictors provides
a foundation for more in-depth investigations and the development of targeted supporting
schemes to foster audiologists’ work-life experience.
An investigation into impurity absorption bands in alkali halides
(1951) Johnson, Frederick Alastair
A furnace and control gear have been built up to make large single crystals of the alkali halides.
A spectrophotometer has been built up to measure the ultra-violet absorption spectra of alkali halide crystals containing traces of impurities.
Crystals of sodium chloride containing fluoride, bromide and iodide impurities, and a crystal of sodium bromide containing chloride impurity, have been made, and their ultra-violet absorption spectra have been measured.
New, characteristic absorption bands have been found in the long wave-length tails of the parent crystal.
These new absorption bands are discussed, and, on the evidence available, it would appear that they result from transitions from the ground state of the ion to exciton levels; and these exciton levels can be correlated with the energy levels of the free ions: the absorption spectra becoming modified in the crystal.
The absorption spectra of the free halide ions has to be estimated empirically, and this is discussed in the appendix.
The causes of the shift in the absorption spectrum are discussed and it is shown that this is primarily due to increased overlap interactions. Expressions for calculating these coulombic overlap interactions are given but as they require a knowledge of the radial wave functions of both the ground and excited states of the halide ions, they have not been computed.