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

ItemOpen Access
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.
ItemOpen Access
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.
ItemOpen Access
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.
ItemOpen Access
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.
ItemOpen Access
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.