The mongrel mob or head hunters? The association between neighbourhood-level factors on different types of gang membership in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Previous research has shown that gang members typically emerge from more socially disorganised neighbourhoods. What is less known however is whether members of different types of gangs emerge from the same types of neighbourhoods. In this study, we use the social disorganisation theory as a framework to examine the spatial risk factors associated with two different types of gangs in New Zealand: Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and New Zealand Adult Gangs. Overall, we found some consistency in spatial risk factors associated with gang membership by type in New Zealand; however, certain variables were significantly predictive of one type of gang membership but not of the other. The overall performance of our models also differed marginally depending on the type of gang being examined. In fact, our findings suggest some non-uniformity in the extent to which the various social disorganisation factors impact gang membership rates by type. The implications of this finding are discussed in the context of an ever-changing gang landscape in the country.https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ANJhj2023Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

Host Phylogeny Determines Viral Persistence and Replication in Novel Hosts

Pathogens switching to new hosts can result in the emergence of new infectious diseases, and determining which species are likely to be sources of such host shifts is essential to understanding disease threats to both humans and wildlife. However, the factors that determine whether a pathogen can infect a novel host are poorly understood. We have examined the ability of three host-specific RNA-viruses (Drosophila sigma viruses from the family Rhabdoviridae) to persist and replicate in 51 different species of Drosophilidae. Using a novel analytical approach we found that the host phylogeny could explain most of the variation in viral replication and persistence between different host species. This effect is partly driven by viruses reaching a higher titre in those novel hosts most closely related to the original host. However, there is also a strong effect of host phylogeny that is independent of the distance from the original host, with viral titres being similar in groups of related hosts. Most of this effect could be explained by variation in general susceptibility to all three sigma viruses, as there is a strong phylogenetic correlation in the titres of the three viruses. These results suggest that the source of new emerging diseases may often be predictable from the host phylogeny, but that the effect may be more complex than simply causing most host shifts to occur between closely related hosts

Another Shipment of Six Short-Period Giant Planets from TESS

We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) -- TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), & TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9 <G< 11.8, 7.7 <K< 10.1). Using a combination of time-series photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations from the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group, we have determined that the planets are Jovian-sized (R$_{P}$ = 1.00-1.45 R$_{J}$), have masses ranging from 0.92 to 5.35 M$_{J}$, and orbit F, G, and K stars (4753 $<$ T$_{eff}$ $<$ 7360 K). We detect a significant orbital eccentricity for the three longest-period systems in our sample: TOI-2025 b (P = 8.872 days, $e$ = $0.220\pm0.053$), TOI-2145 b (P = 10.261 days, $e$ = $0.182^{+0.039}_{-0.049}$), and TOI-2497 b (P = 10.656 days, $e$ = $0.196^{+0.059}_{-0.053}$). TOI-2145 b and TOI-2497 b both orbit subgiant host stars (3.8 $<$ $\log$ g $<$4.0), but these planets show no sign of inflation despite very high levels of irradiation. The lack of inflation may be explained by the high mass of the planets; $5.35^{+0.32}_{-0.35}$ M$_{\rm J}$ (TOI-2145 b) and $5.21\pm0.52$ M$_{\rm J}$ (TOI-2497 b). These six new discoveries contribute to the larger community effort to use {\it TESS} to create a magnitude-complete, self-consistent sample of giant planets with well-determined parameters for future detailed studies.Comment: 20 Pages, 6 Figures, 8 Tables, Accepted by MNRA

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The rise and development of gangs in New Zealand

Although gang behaviour was in evidence in early colonial New Zealand, the advent of modern gangs can be seen to have occurred in the post World War II period. Since this time, gangs have been heralded as a significant and often severe social problem, particularly as they pertain to issues of law and order. Initially, concerns regarding gangs were focused on their anti social activities and the occasional violent episode, but as many of the gangs became more established this focus broadened to include organised criminal activity. Whether it is images and stories of violent brawls, murders and rapes or, as has been more prominent in recent times, reports of profit driven crime, gang activity receives considerable media attention and thus gangs are afforded a high public profile. Given this profile, it is not surprising that gangs have been an important target for politicians and governments who have introduced various laws in an effort to counter them. Despite the attention paid to them, however, gangs have not been subjected to significant research in this country. Using a wide range of historical documents, ethnographic research and formal interviews, this thesis seeks to examine the rise of gangs in New Zealand and track their evolutionary development. It also focuses on how the community has responded to the issue of gangs, and how, in turn, the gangs have responded to that attention. The findings of this thesis will undoubtedly be surprising to many; despite gangs having a high profile, commonly held ‘knowledge’ of them has most often been learned by sensational media or political rhetoric and is consequently often removed from reality. Informed by many of the understandings gained from the plethora of international research, this thesis attempts to outline and give meaning to a hitherto untold story

The history of gangs in New Zealand

This seminar looks at the problems of researching gangs, but also the problems encountered when research findings clash with popular and official understandings

Shaved heads and sonnenrads: comparing white supremacist skinheads and the alt-right in New Zealand

This article looks at two periods in the history of white supremacy in New Zealand: the short-lived explosion of skinhead groups in the 1990s, and the contemporary rise of the internet-driven alt-right. It looks at the similarities and differences between the two groups, looking at style, symbols, ideology, and behaviour. It looks at the history of these two movements in New Zealand and compares the economic and social factors that contributed to their rise, in particular how the different social class of members produced groups with near-identical ideology but radically different presentation and modes of action

Gang membership and gang crime in New Zealand : a national study identifying spatial risk factors

In this exploratory study, we identify the spatial risk factors associated with gang membership and gang crime in New Zealand using social disorganization as a theoretical framework. Gang membership data from the Gang Intelligence Center and gang crime data from New Zealand Police are included in spatial regression models to identify risk factors. Overall marginal support was found for the use of social disorganization constructs to explain gang membership and gang crime in New Zealand. Higher deprivation and higher diversity were both found to be associated with gang membership and gang crime, respectively. Some similarities and notable differences were observed between our results and the mainly U.S.-centric results of past spatial gang research. This study allows for a greater understanding of the generalizability of the social disorganization theory to explain gang membership and gang crime in areas with markedly different cultural perspectives and ethnocentricities to the United States.https://journals.sagepub.com/home/cjbhj2022Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog