The Role of the Media in the Introduction of the Crime (Serious and Repeat Offenders) Sentencing Act 1992

During 1990 and 1991, community anxiety about juvenile crime increased. These concerns were mainly concentrated on the levels of car theft and the accidents, including several fatalities which had resulted from police high speed pursuits of stolen cars driven by juveniles. Certain sections of the community demanded longer and mandatory sentences to detention for young car thieves. In line with modern criminological research, the policies of the Western Australian government were directed towards seeking alternative strategies to strict detention as sanctions for young offenders. Therefore inspite of the populist community pressure throughout 1991, the government refused to accede to these demands. Based on an analysis of media content during 1991 and juvenile crime statistics, this thesis argues that the mass media played an active part in increasing the anxieties of the public by its extensive, sensational and emotive coverage of the events which occured in 1991. The reporting of juvenile crime in the West Australian did not correlate with the numbers of offences committed. Although coverage increased substantially in the second half of 1991, juvenile crime rates decreased in that period compared with the first six months. The public therefore received a distorted perception that juvenile crime was increasing, and out of control. In addition to newspaper coverage, juvenile crime was discussed extensively on the Sattler File radio talk-back programme. From an examination of tapes and transcripts of this programme, it can be deduced that the presenter encouraged the views that heavy penalties were the solution, and with his active assistance, a Rally for Justice was organised which was attended by 30,000 people. Populist community demands for harsher sentences were resisted by the government, but the forces for change became irresistible when the deaths of Margaret and Shane Blurton and the subsequent emotional Candlelight Vigil acted as catalysts to influence public sentiments further. Events which again, were sensationalized by the media. Despite of considerable opposition based on Legal and Social justice principles, the government introduced and passed the Crime (Serious and Repeat Offenders) Sentencing Act, 1992, a piece of Legislation which directly contradicted the stated aims of the government to reduce the number of juveniles being sentenced to detention and to provide a justice system which would be fair to all sections of the community

Indigenising the screen: Screenplay and critical analysis for The Prophet

This thesis tests the hypothesis that it is possible to both decolonise and indigenise the New Zealand cinema screen. Secondary research reveals how those discourses that promoted roles and expectations for Māori within the New Zealand film industry were based principally upon historical colonial ideologies imposed by various means upon the native populous, and subsequently reproduced. These discourses of race, gender and religion perpetuate negative belief systems about Māori and contribute to the reproduction of stereotypical images of Māori, such as the irrational, naive, simpleminded and warlike Māori man, or the domesticated, lustful and sexually available Māori woman. Research by creative practice advances the project of decolonising the New Zealand screen through the writing of a feature length screenplay based on careful research and intimate cultural knowledge, and by working according to an appropriate kaupapa Māori framework. The resulting screenplay, The Prophet, brings to life the multitude of forces that coalesced to shape the life of 19th century Māori warrior and prophet, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki. In his death, as in his life, he remains an enigmatic figure. In written accounts and in Pākehā memories he appears as a violent rebel, mass murderer and religious fanatic. This epic re-telling focuses on the character of Te Kooti, showing him to be a man who accomplished great feats in the face of injustice, adversity and hardship. A critical analysis of the screenplay reveals how I adopted a unique cross cultural writing approach drawing upon both the 'classic' western narrative structure as well as kaupapa Māori pūrākau oral tradition. I argue that this approach combines effectively to materialise strong anti-colonial perspectives aimed specifically at subverting long-held and dominant colonial discourses. Such an approach to scriptwriting rejects the tradition of being defined, constructed and represented through discourses that serve to promote the interests of the Pākehā majority and, in doing so, urges the utilisation of Māori philosophies, concepts and practices in the scriptwriting/film production process

Segregation of alloying elements to intrinsic and extrinsic stacking faults in γ'-Ni3Al via first principles calculations

First principles calculations are used to investigate the segregation behaviour of Co, Cr, Re, Mo and W to intrinsic and extrinsic stacking faults in c0-Ni3Al. It is shown that the change in stacking fault energy depends on local alloying concentration and is related to subtle changes in the electronic structure of the alloying elements and adjacent nickel atoms. The results are consistent with observed stacking fault segregation in commercial superalloys and in particular the behaviour of Co and Cr.Support for this work was provided by the EPSRC/ Rolls-Royce Strategic Partnership. The calculations were per- formed using the high performance computing facilities at the University of Cambridge and the UK national facility ARCHER. Access to the latter was obtained via the UKCP con- sortium and funded by EPSRC grant EP/K014560/1.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359646215000743

How the COVID-19 pandemic changed patterns of green infrastructure use: A scoping review

The use of green infrastructure (GI) has been established as a way to alleviate stress and the COVID-19 pandemic has placed a new emphasis on the importance of GI as both a coping mechanism and a source of recreation. This scoping review seeks to address whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected the use of GI, specifically the ways in which the pandemic altered visitation patterns and the frequency of the use of GI. This review identifies studies that explore the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and GI use and assesses whether the pandemic has altered the use of GI, including whether GI use increased, decreased, or remained the same and examines po-tential changes in visitation structure as well as other effects studied. This review also discusses how future planning for GI can consider the lessons learned from the pandemic. Key findings suggest that GI use increased, as did visitors\u27 appreciation for GI and its benefits. The use of local GI to one\u27s home also increased in impor-tance. Decreases in visitation were typically a result of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and fear of viral transmission within GI

Hybrid density functional calculations of the defect properties of ZnO:Rh and ZnO:Ir

We report density functional calculations of the atomic and electronic structure of the spinel phases ZnRh2O4 and ZnIr2O4 as well as crystalline ZnO lightly doped (1 at.%) with Rh and Ir ions using the B3LYP hybrid functional. Calculations for the spinels show band gaps (∼3 eV) and lattice parameters (∼2% difference) in reasonable agreement with experimental data. Incorporation of the transition metals into ZnO induces local distortions in the lattice and the appearance of metal d levels in the low gap region and near the conduction band minimum, with a d-d splitting larger than 2 eV, which helps maintain transparency in the material. Addition of a hole to the simulation cell of both spinels and doped ZnO leads to charge localization in the neighbourhood of Rh/Ir accompanied by local lattice deformations to form a small polaron which may lead to low hole mobility. We calculate polaron diffusion barriers in the spinels and obtain values around 0.02-0.03 eV. These very low barrier energies suggest that at high Rh/Ir concentration hole conduction occurs mainly by the band conduction mechanism at room temperature. We also develop models of the amorphous spinels by means of classical molecular dynamics simulations, and observe a marked reduction in the coordination number of Rh/Ir, from 6 to 4, in the amorphous phase, which may reduce transparency in these materials.Financial support for this work is provided by the European Commission through contract No. NMP3-LA-2010-246334 (ORAMA).This is the originally submitted version of the article, and does not include any of the changes arising from peer-review. The final, peer-reviewed and edited version of the article is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040609013013059

Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Properties of a Perovskite-Related Bismuth Phase, (NH4)3Bi2I9

Organic-inorganic halide perovskites, especially methylammonium lead halide, have recently led to a remarkable breakthrough in photovoltaic devices. However, due to the environmental and stability concerns of the heavy metal, lead, in these perovskite based solar cells, research in the non-lead perovskite structures have been attracting increasing attention. In this study, a layered perovskite-like architecture, (NH4)3Bi2I9, was prepared in solution and the structure was solved by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The results from DFT calculations showed the significant lone pair effect of the bismuth ion and the band gap was measured as around 2.04 eV, which is lower than the band gap of CH3NH3PbBr3. Conductivity measurement was also performed to examine the potential in the applications as an alternative to the lead containing perovskites

Impact of amorphization on the electronic properties of Zn-Ir-O systems.

We analyze the geometry and electronic structure of a series of amorphous Zn-Ir-O systems using classical molecular dynamics followed by density functional theory taking into account two different charge states of Ir (+3 and  +4). The structures obtained consist of a matrix of interconnected metal-oxygen polyhedra, with Zn adopting preferentially a coordination of 4 and Ir a mixture of coordinations between 4 and 6 that depend on the charge state of Ir and its concentration. The amorphous phases display reduced band gaps compared to crystalline ZnIr2O4 and exhibit localized states near the band edges, which harm their transparency and hole mobility. Increasing amounts of Ir in the Ir(4+) phases decrease the band gap further while not altering it significantly in the Ir(3+) phases. The results are consistent with recent transmittance and resistivity measurements.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from IOP Science via https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/28/34/34550