Browse Theses and Dissertations

This research examined seasonal patterns of growth and development of lucerne crops grown with different levels of crown and taproot reserves in a cool temperate environment. The approach required derivation of explanatory mathematical relationships between crop physiological processes and the main environmental variables of temperature, photoperiod and incoming radiation. To create crops with... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Despite a large number of experimental investigations, it remains difficult to predict, or even interpret, changes in soil structure under different cropping systems. The principal objective of this investigation was to devise and test a conceptual model which could provide a framework for the design and interpretation of experiments concerning the effects of cropping systems on soil structure.... [Thesis or Dissertation]

A method for the extraction of organic phosphate (Po) from soils was developed and used for the examination of samples from two chronosequences of soils. The total Po content of each soil from the Manawatu and Franz Josef chronosequences was obtained and the results compared with those obtained by the ignition method and some other extraction procedures. The danger of hydrolysis of Po to... [Thesis or Dissertation]

In order to ensure that strains of rhizobia that are efficient nitrogen fixers nodulate cultivated legumes in the field, it is important to be able to identify those that can compete effectively with indigenous strains in the fonnation of nodules. To this end, experiments have been conducted to investigate whether the timing of infection of legume plants by rhizobia is related to the ability of... [Thesis or Dissertation]

This thesis describes the design and construction of four synthetic antimicrobial genes, their assembly into binary vectors and the subsequent Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Resulting plants were analysed at the molecular level for expression of the antimicrobial genes, and bioassays were performed to determine whether the synthetic genes conferred a... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Aspects of the seedling physiology of Pinus radiata D. Don, and and Pinus mugo Turra, have been studied following periods in cool storage of up to 18 weeks. Prior to storage the seedlings were subject to different treatments of nurserybed wrenching and date of lifting. Storage caused a marked reduction in the rate of photosynthesis, the level of carbohydrate resources and the capacity for... [Thesis or Dissertation]

From the advent of association rule mining, it has become one of the most researched areas of data exploration schemes. In recent years, implementing association rule mining methods in extracting rules from a continuous flow of voluminous data, known as Data Stream has generated immense interest due to its emerging applications such as network-traffic analysis, sensor-network data analysis. For... [Thesis or Dissertation]

This study investigated understorey management in Canterbury, New Zealand, apple orchards for the enhancement of populations of Dolichogenidea tasmanica (Cameron) (Braconidae) for leafroller (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) biological control. The first objective was to determine the influence of understorey plants on the abundance of D. tasmanica and leafroller parasitism, and to investigate the... [Thesis or Dissertation]

The response of autumn and spring sown crops of Vicia faba cv. 'Maris Bead' to irrigation applied during the vegetative, flowering and pod-filling phases was investigated during the 1981/82 and 1982/83 seasons on a Templeton silt-loam soil in Canterbury. During any phase trickle irrigation was applied weekly in amounts equal to the difference between the estimated potential... [Thesis or Dissertation]

In organic farming systems continued application of phosphorus (P) is necessary to maintain crop and animal production, especially in the long-term, if economically viable returns are to be sustained. The most commonly adopted organic farming systems permit the use of sparingly soluble P fertiliser such as phosphate rock (PR). One possible strategy for improving the availability and utilisation... [Thesis or Dissertation]

This study consisted of two sheep grazed dryland pasture experiments. Experiment l compared sheep production from 3-year-old cocksfoot based pastures grown in combination with white, Caucasian, subterranean or balansa clover with a ryegrass-white clover pasture and a pure lucerne forage. Sheep liveweight gain per head from each pasture treatment and the pure lucerne stand was recorded in the... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Dense subsoil layers in some Canterbury soils often provide mechanical resistance sufficient to prevent root growth into subsoil layers. This can increase crop susceptibility to drought stress, resulting in a reduction in yield potential. It was hypothesised that loosening the subsoil would increase root distribution at depth, and hence increase transpiration by the crop. Provided transpiration... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Interest in sweet lupins as a possible source of high quality protein prompted the studies reported in this thesis. At the time of the inception of these studies several scientific groups in Australia and New Zealand were proceeding with agronomic evaluations of several lupin species, but sowing rates had not been defined. In Canterbury lupins grown for seed have been autumn-sown but with the... [Thesis or Dissertation]

This project is an exploration, through art making processes, of a relationship between the interpretation of symbols and the interpretation of everyday life experiences, with a view to evolving a metaphorical visual language that might translate these experiences. Individuation is a process within Jungian psychology that relates the interpretation of symbols to the interpretation of life... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Obesity is becoming a worldwide concern, with more than 300 million individuals who are obese and a further 750 million who are overweight. This increase is important as obesity has been linked to an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes mellitus, stroke and some cancers. One factor receiving increasing attention to explain variation in obesity prevalence is the... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Rock and debris avalanches result from sudden rock slope failure; they occur in a variety of materials and landscapes, and often have a catastrophic and lasting impact on the society, infrastructure, and landscape of the area. In order to fully understand these events, the factors leading to failure and those influencing the course of the event must be investigated. In recent years, increased... [Thesis or Dissertation]

The purpose of this PhD thesis is to make a contribution to existing knowledge in the field of critical accounting by studying credit mechanisms and their link to income/wealth inequality in Sri Lankan society and the role of accounting technology in facilitating such mechanisms. The literature review revealed that: a) Global inequality is aggravated by the disparity of economic development... [Thesis or Dissertation]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the inheritance of yield per plant and yield components, their responses to single plant selection in F₂, and line selection in F₃ of the two crosses, Hilgendorf x Oroua and Kopara x Oroua. Parents, F₁, F₂ and first generation backcrosses grown in spaced planting were used in the inheritance studies. Scaling tests (Mather and Jinks, 1971),... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Grain legumes have the potential to be high yielding crops in Canterbury. However, like most grain legumes the problem of harvest index (HI) variability in Cicer arietinum, Lens culinaris, Lupinus angustifolius and Pisum sativum hinders the realisation of their full potential yield. In 1998/99, the four species were sown at four populations, viz. lentils cv. Rajah (15, 150, 300 and 600 plants... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Whole document restricted until 03/2011, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.Purpose: To ascertain the quality of life (QOL) in an adolescent population with a high prevalence of obesity, compare findings to previous research, and investigate psychosocial factors that may account for differences in results by use of psychological theory. Rationale: A landmark article by Schwimmer et al. (2003) found that the QOL of severely obese children and adolescents was similar... [Thesis or Dissertation]

This project attempts to translate my experience of the everyday street for the viewer; to reveal my experience of walking and looking through drawing. The everyday is an elusive and slippery subject that has been used for various and sometimes radical agendas by many writers and artists in the last two centuries. It is seen as having potential for finding the authenticity that is lacking in... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Recommender systems are increasingly being used in today’s world. Collaborative filtering, together with association rules mining are probably the most widely used methods to implement recommender systems. In this dissertation we undertake a review of past research conducted in the area of recommender systems with the focus being the use of association rule mining. We propose a novel... [Thesis or Dissertation]

This thesis advances wearable outdoor augmented reality (WOAR) research by proposing novel visualisations, by consolidating previous work, and through several formal user studies. Wearable outdoor augmented reality combines augmented reality (AR) and wearable computing to enable novel applications. AR allows the user to perceive virtual objects as part of their real environment. Using wearable... [Thesis or Dissertation]

Macroalgae are a dominant feature of many rocky intertidal habitats worldwide. An understanding of the processes affecting their growth and survival, especially at early life history stages, is therefore important to an understanding of the structure of rocky intertidal communities. This thesis examines the role that the sediment environment has on habitat-dominating fucoid algae and intertidal... [Thesis or Dissertation]

The effect of the environment (sowing dates and seasons), irrigation and inoculation on the growth, development and yield of pinto beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cv. Othello was investigated in two seasons on a Wakanui silt loam soil in Canterbury, New Zealand. In 1994/95, the pinto beans were sown on 27 October and 24 November under no and full irrigation and three inoculation treatments. In... [Thesis or Dissertation]