The evolution of ideas and practice concerning the provision of children's playspace (with a special reference to New Zealand and Palmerston North) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Science at Massey University

This thesis seeks to explore the historical processes underlying the allocation and use of public space for children's play in nineteenth and twentieth century industrial society and examine how the processes have influenced the New Zealand situation. The form of publicly provided playspace in New Zealand borrows extensively from overseas ideas and practices. The origins of playspace were a response to the conditions existing as a result of industrialisation in the late nineteenth century. The convergence of two streams of thought; the first the use of play as a tool for social integration of migrant children in the United States; and secondly the development of an urban parks system to alleviate the industrial blight of the cityscape in the United Kingdom; led to the establishment of recreation standards for the provision of children's playspace. The transportable nature of these ideas and practices resulted in children's playgrounds developing in New Zealand between 1920 and 1970 in a largely similar way. During this same period ideas concerning child constructed playgrounds and safety were evolving overseas. Such ideas when adopted in New Zealand have influenced the appearance and internal design of New Zealand playgrounds. However, in terms of function and form these changes have only been superficial. Within New Zealand the social mechanisms for determining the allocation and design of playgrounds has constrained the use of playgrounds often to the disadvantage of different societal groups. The thesis concludes with a review of this issue

Coplanar back contacts for thin silicon solar cells

The type of coplanar back contact solar cell described was constructed with interdigitated n(+) and p(+) type regions on the back of the cell, such that both contacts are made on the back with no metallization grid on the front. This cell construction has several potential advantages over conventional cells for space use namely, convenience of interconnects, lower operating temperatures and higher efficiency due to the elimination of grid shadowing. However, the processing is more complex, and the cell is inherently more radiation sensitive. The latter problem can be reduced substantially by making the cells very thin (approximately 50 micrometers). Two types of interdigitated back contact cells are possible, the types being dependent on the character of the front surface. The front surface field cell has a front surface region that is of the same conductivity type as the bulk but is more heavily doped. This creates an electric field at the surface which repels the minority carriers. The tandem junction cell has a front surface region of a conductivity type that is opposite to that of the bulk. The junction thus created floats to open circuit voltage on illumination and injects carriers into the bulk which then can be collected at the rear junction. For space use, the front surface field cell is potentially more radiation resistant than the tandem junction cell because the flow of minority carriers (electrons) into the bulk will be less sensitive to the production of recombination centers, particularly in the space charge region at the front surface

A randomised trial evaluating Bevacizumab as adjuvant therapy following resection of AJCC stage IIB, IIC and III cutaneous melanoma : an update

At present, there are no standard therapies for the adjuvant treatment of malignant melanoma. Patients with primary tumours with a high-Breslow thickness (stages IIB and IIC) or with resected loco-regional nodal disease (stage III) are at high risk of developing metastasis and subsequent disease-related death. Given this, it is important that novel therapies are investigated in the adjuvant melanoma setting. Since angiogenesis is essential for primary tumour growth and the development of metastasis, anti-angiogenic agents are attractive potential therapeutic candidates for clinical trials in the adjuvant setting. Therefore, we initiated a phase II trial in resected high-risk cutaneous melanoma, assessing the efficacy of bevacizumab versus observation. In the interim safety data analysis, we demonstrate that bevacizumab is a safe therapy in the adjuvant melanoma setting with no apparent increase in the surgical complication rate after either primary tumour resection and/or loco-regional lymphadenectomy

Nowhere to Hide: Radio-faint AGN in the GOODS-N field. I. Initial catalogue and radio properties

(Abridged) Conventional radio surveys of deep fields ordinarily have arc-second scale resolutions often insufficient to reliably separate radio emission in distant galaxies originating from star-formation and AGN-related activity. Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) can offer a solution by identifying only the most compact radio emitting regions in galaxies at cosmological distances where the high brightness temperatures (in excess of $10^5$ K) can only be reliably attributed to AGN activity. We present the first in a series of papers exploring the faint compact radio population using a new wide-field VLBI survey of the GOODS-N field. The unparalleled sensitivity of the European VLBI Network (EVN) will probe a luminosity range rarely seen in deep wide-field VLBI observations, thus providing insights into the role of AGN to radio luminosities of the order $10^{22}~\mathrm{W\,Hz^{-1}}$ across cosmic time. The newest VLBI techniques are used to completely cover an entire 7'.5 radius area to milliarcsecond resolutions, while bright radio sources ($S > 0.1$ mJy) are targeted up to 25 arcmin from the pointing centre. Multi-source self-calibration, and a primary beam model for the EVN array are used to correct for residual phase errors and primary beam attenuation respectively. This paper presents the largest catalogue of VLBI detected sources in GOODS-N comprising of 31 compact radio sources across a redshift range of 0.11-3.44, almost three times more than previous VLBI surveys in this field. We provide a machine-readable catalogue and introduce the radio properties of the detected sources using complementary data from the e-MERLIN Galaxy Evolution survey (eMERGE).Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted in A&A. Machine-readable table available upon reques

Australian wheat varieties released recently

Established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Progra

EFFECTS OF ANKLE STABILlZATION ON PUSH-OFF MECHANICS FROM A THREE-POINT STANCE IN FOOTBALL

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of taping and bracing on push-off mechanics from a three-point football stance. Nineteen males were tested under three ankle stabilization conditions: braced, taped, and control. Participants performed five trials in each condition. Two 250Hz video cameras and a forceplate were used to collect data. A MANOVA with repeated measures revealed a significant main effect for condition. Post hoc analysis indicated that bracing and taping resulted in reduced minimum and maximum ankle angles and maximum angular velocity compared to the control. The horizontal velocity of the center of mass at takeofffor the tape condition was significantly lower than the control. Bracing and taping can have a negative effect on push-off mechanics

Observations of shallow groundwater contamination due to leakage of dairy effluent ponds on the Swan Coastal Plain, WA

In response to the risk of pollution of surface water from farm runoff, dairy farmers have been encouraged to install effluent storage ponds. Previous research has indicated that leachate from these storages can contribute to groundwater contamination. This project assessed the performance of storages at eight sites on the Swan Coastal Plain (SCP), WA. Groundwater conditions were monitored for over three years to study the influence of soil type, water table depth and waste water characteristics