The Helpless Protecting the Vulnerable? Defending Coerced Mothers Charged with Failure to Protect

In a number of jurisdictions failure to protect a child from violence renders a person liable if a duty is owed to the child. This duty presumes the defendant has the capacity to act positively to protect the victim, which has implications for defendants who are also subjected to violence or coercion. In the understandable haste to prosecute and prevent child abuse, there is a risk of neglecting the realities of other vulnerable people. Consequently the criminal justice system ought to reject a binary approach to victims and offenders, recognising that defendants may also be victims and that mothers, due to the coercive control exerted by intimate partners, may also be vulnerable. In New Zealand there are no statutory or common law defences that operate to exculpate a mother charged with failing to protect her child from the violence of another. This article argues for the creation of an affirmative defence that takes into account the totality of a coerced mother's circumstances in considering whether she has, in fact, failed her child

Phosphonate-anchored ligands for upconversion imaging nanoprobes

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are a lanthanide-doped inorganic nanomaterial which absorb near-infrared radiation and emit visible light. For the last 20 years, researchers have been interested in using UCNPs as biomedical imaging agents. Their unique optical properties make them suitable for imaging within tissue, with UCNPs exhibiting resistance to photobleaching and having long luminescence lifetimes. In this work, novel UCNP-ligand systems were synthesised. Phosphonate ligands were designed and synthesised with the aim of achieving particular physical or photophysical properties. Work in this thesis begins with studying the interaction between the upconversion nanomaterial NaYF4:Yb,Er and the bound surface ligands. The stability of the nanoparticle-ligand interaction in an imaging agent in vivo determines the resistance to aggregation. The results presented in this work show bisphosphonic acids bind more strongly to the surface of UCNPs than carboxylic acids and this was determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy and by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Analyte sensing in vivo has the potential to provide information about biological systems in both healthy and disease environments. Phosphonate functionalised, pH-sensitive rhodamine ligands were synthesised and appended to the surface of UCNPs to create UCNP-based pH nanosensors. The nanoprobes were phase transferred using water soluble PEG-bisphosphonate ligands. It was found that poor emission intensity of UCNPs in aqueous systems was a common issue. To mitigate this, sensitizing cyanine ligands were synthesised. Nanosystems of NaYF4:Yb,Er UCNPs functionalised with cyanines were assembled and emission enhancement in these systems was achieved. In the past few years, there has been increasing interest in the synthesis of multimodal imaging agents. Finally, MR functionality was introduced to the nanoparticle imaging agents. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) were synthesised and various attempts were made at synthesising dual-modal MR/optical imaging agents by creating core-shell SPIONs-UCNP imaging agents.Open Acces

Vision saver: The evaluation of a software tool designed to relieve computer related eyestrain by prompting frequent rest breaks

As computer use has skyrocketed, visual symptoms related to their use have surfaced. These have been given the name Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). We postulated that frequent short breaks would reduce the frequency and severity of these symptoms. To investigate the effects of frequent short breaks on CVS, heavy computer users were recruited to participate in this study. Participants completed an initial survey, then used a special computer program to enforce frequent short breaks, and completed a second survey at the end of two weeks of use. The use of the program was then discontinued for two weeks and a third survey was completed. The data were then analyzed to assess the predicted reduction in CVS symptoms. Although the small numbers in the study prevented drawing a definite conclusion regarding any individual symptom, a statistically significant reduction in the overall symptom index was shown. The discussion concludes that although there are some preliminary indications that frequent short breaks may lead to reduction in CVS symptoms, further study with control groups and larger sample sizes is necessary to more accurately assess this hypothesis

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement For Undergraduate Degree in Economics

This article investigates the effects of concentrated ownership, management ownership, affiliated supervisory board on firm performance which modelled by comparing the performance (PER & ROE) between firms with those governance characteristics and firms without such characteristics, to find out whether there is significant difference among the groups. Statistical differences among the means of the groups are considered as indications of possible differences of the effects of the governance variables. Independent samples t-test are performed to seek for the performance differences

Why did they do it? Moral sensibilities, motivating reasons, and degrees of moral blame in culpable homicide

Humans have a long evolutionary history of violence. The psychological mechanisms underlying aggression can be viewed as “solutions” (albeit undesirable solutions) to any one of a number of adaptive problems that exist in social life. Sometimes that aggression takes the form of the killing of one person by another – in legal parlance this is homicide. This thesis contends that these adaptive “solutions” might explain why people commit homicide in certain circumstances. In this sense, these explanations broadly align with “motives” for certain types of homicide. In some cases, such motives might constitute justifications or excuses; in others, aggravating features. The criminal justice system in New Zealand is underpinned by an assumption of rationality which is not always supported in individual cases. As a result, the legal mechanisms for apportioning blame in cases of culpable homicide are insufficient to recognise the different degrees of moral blame which can exist when one individual kills another. Therefore, the current regime for determining moral blame leads to inconsistent outcomes for factually similar cases, contrary to the rule of law which requires equality before the law. This thesis considers whether changing the definitions of murder and manslaughter will allow courts to legitimately recognise all relevant mitigating (and aggravating) circumstances in determining guilt. It will also consider whether there are other options for reform that might better deliver justice in the round. If law is to be relevant, it must reflect current knowledge about why people act in the ways that they do. If the law does not reflect science, it moves too far away from the realities of the community. Looking at homicide through a “brain sciences” lens can give us a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms involved in homicide, and allow for the formulation of an evidence-based approach which leads to a better appreciation of the degree of moral blame involved in particular killings. From this it follows that the criminal justice system will be better placed to appropriately respond to those degrees of moral blame. Three types of cases, in particular, illustrate that presently not all defendants charged with homicide are treated consistently: young defendants who kill; victims of violence who kill their abuser; and defendants who kill children. Defendants within these categories might demonstrate the same degree of moral blame, but the outcomes in case disposition differ wildly; or outcomes may be the same for very different degrees of moral blame. Inconsistency of outcomes means that a fundamental requirement of the rule of law is absent – the requirement of equality before the law. When elements of the rule of law are not upheld, justice is not delivered. This thesis argues that if our legal system recognises, in its application, different degrees of moral blameworthiness, then it would be as well to be upfront about them: the court’s “commiseration [should be] actually codified in the law’. The thesis therefore recommends a series of statutory amendments to the law of culpable homicide, including the creation of a “degrees of culpable homicide” regime with attendant defences, as well as a range of lesser offences

Effect of Zn Concentration on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al-Mg-Si-Zn Alloys Processed by Gravity Die Casting

The microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-8.1Mg-2.6Si-(0.08 to 4.62)Zn alloys (in wt pct) have been investigated by the permanent mold casting process. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the τ-Mg 32 (Al, Zn) 49 phase forms when the Zn content is 1.01 wt pct. With higher Zn contents of 2.37 and 3.59 wt pct, the η-MgZn 2 and τ-Mg 32 (Al, Zn) 49 phases precipitate in the microstructure, and the η-MgZn 2 phase forms when the Zn content is 4.62 wt pct. Metallurgical analysis shows that the η-MgZn 2 and τ-Mg 32 (Al, Zn) 49 phases strengthen the Al-8.1Mg-2.6Si-(0.08 to 4.62)Zn alloys. After solutionizing at 510 °C for 180 minutes and aging at 180 °C for 90 minutes, the η′-MgZn 2 phase precipitates in the α-Al matrix, which significantly enhances the mechanical properties. Addition of 3.59 wt pct Zn to the Al-8.1Mg-2.6Si alloy with heat treatment increases the yield strength from 96 to 280 MPa, increases the ultimate tensile strength from 267 to 310 MPa, and decreases the elongation from 9.97 to 1.74 pct.EPSR