Bicultural perspectives on Māori legal research

Increasingly, legal research projects undertaken at law school or in practice will involve Māori custom law and/or tikanga Māori.' The role of both Māori custom law and tikanga Māori is most evident in the work of the Māori Land Court in the interpretation and application of legislation relating to Māori land. Increasingly, general statutes incorporate Māori principles and values, such as those to be found in the Resource Management Act 1991, or make explicit reference to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The statutory interpretation function of the Courts in relation to these, and less obvious examples, requires knowledge of tikanga Māori and/or Māori custom law. For any analysis of the work of the Courts or of the legislature, knowledge of tikanga Māori and/or custom law is required. Both Māori custom law and tikanga Māori are preserved by and accessed through the oral tradition. In addition to its role in the Courts and in relation to legislation, the most significant role played by the oral tradition is in the work of the Waitangi Tribunal. The oral tradition also plays an increasingly important part in other areas requiring research. What follows is an introduction to the oral tradition and its role in the legal system of Aotearoa/New Zealand. An understanding of the oral tradition is essential to the construction of a research path that is both ethical and effective

Quantum Interference and Inelastic Scattering in a Model Which-Way Device

A which-way device is one which is designed to detect which of 2 paths is taken by a quantum particle, whether Schr\"odinger's cat is dead or alive. One possible such device is represented by an Aharonov-Bohm ring with a quantum dot on one branch. A charged cantilever or spring is brought close to the dot as a detector of the presence of an electron. The conventional view of such a device is that any change in the state of the cantilever implies a change in the electron state which will in turn destroy the interference effects. In this paper we show that it is in fact possible to change the state of the oscillator while preserving the quantum interference phenomenon.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, Localisation 2002 Toky

VHF Boundary Layer Radar and RASS

This thesis describes the refinements, modifications and additions to a prototype Very High Frequency (VHF) Boundary Layer (BL) Spaced Antenna (SA) radar initially installed at the University of Adelaide's Buckland Park field site in 1997. Previous radar observations of the lowest few kilometres of the atmosphere, in particular the Atmospheric Boundary Layer, have used Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) radars. Unlike VHF radars, UHF radars are extremely sensitive to hydro-meteors and have difficulty in distinguishing clear-air echoes from precipitation returns. The advantages and requirements of using a VHF radar to observe the lowest heights is discussed in conjunction with some of the limitations. The successful operation of the system over long periods has enabled in-depth investigation of the performance of the system in a variety of conditions and locations. Observations were made from as low as 300m and as high as 8 km, dependent upon conditions. Comparisons between the radar and alternative wind measuring devices were carried out and examined. The antenna system of the radar is a critical component which was analysed in depth and subsequently re-designed. Through the use of numerical models and mea- surements, evaluation of different designs was accomplished. Further calibration of the remaining components of the full system has enabled estimations of the absolute received power. Additional parameters which can be derived with a calibrated radar were compared with values obtained by other authors, giving favourable results. Full Correlation Analysis (FCA) is the predominant technique used in this work. A brief discussion of the background theory and parameters which can be measured is described. A simple one-dimensional model was developed and combined with a 'radar backscatter model' to investigate potential sources of errors in the parameters determined using FCA with the VHF Boundary Layer Radar. In particular, underes- timations in the wind velocity were examined. The integration of a Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) to obtain tempera- ture profiles is discussed. The theory of RASS measurements including the limitations and considerations which are required for the VHF BL radar are given. The difficulties encountered trying to implement such a system and the subsequent success using a Stratospheric Tropospheric (ST) Profiler in place of the BL radar is presented. Taken as a whole this thesis shows the success of the VHF BL to obtain mea- surements from as low as 300m. The validation of this prototype radar provides an alternative and, in certain situations, a superior device with which to study the lower troposphere.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics, 2001

Estimating the size of the cosmic-ray halo using particle distribution moments

Context: Particle transport in many astrophysical problems can be described either by the Fokker–Planck equation or by an equivalent system of stochastic differential equations. Aims: It is shown that the latter method can be applied to the problem of defining the size of the cosmic-ray galactic halo. Methods: Analytical expressions for the leading moments of the pitch-angle distribution of relativistic particles are determined. Particle scattering and escape are analyzed in terms of the moments. Results: In the case of an anisotropic distribution, the first moment leads to an expression for the halo size, identified with the particle escape from the region of strong scattering. Previous studies are generalized by analyzing the case of a strictly isotropic initial distribution. A new expression for the variance of the distribution is derived, which illustrates the anisotropization of the distribution. Conclusions: Stochastic calculus tools allow one to analyze physically motivated forms for the scattering rate, so that a detailed realistic model can be developed