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Item Portfolio's weighted political risk and mutual fund performance: A text-based approach(Elsevier Inc, 2024-08) Nguyen HG; Hoang K; Nguyen QMP; Do HX; Nguyen DKUsing text-based measures of firm-level political risk, we find a negative impact of the portfolio's weighted political risk on U.S. mutual fund performance. This relationship is robust to a wide range of topic-specific political risks at the firm level. We, however, find that national geopolitical risk, the U.S. state-level economic policy uncertainty, and Brexit-induced risk do not affect mutual fund performance. Our results suggest that even though mutual funds are immune from political risk at the macro level, they are significantly exposed to idiosyncratic political risk. We also demonstrate that partisanship matters to mutual fund performance.Item Asset allocation of Australian superannuation funds: a markov regime switching approach(Springer Nature, 2023-11-01) Bissoondoyal-Bheenick E; Brooks R; Do HWe extend an observable Markov Regime Switching framework to assess the switching behaviour of asset classes of Australian superannuation funds across different fund sizes. We identify the most prominent asset class which contributes to the performance of the investment options and what factors trigger funds’ decisions on rebalancing their portfolio. We find that smaller funds tend to be more active in switching to aggressive options and the larger funds are more conservative. However, in periods of volatility, the large funds are the risk seekers and tend to switch their asset classes and hence their investment strategies. The asset classes whose values add to the performance of the investment options are equity markets and bond markets with the domestic equity market having better performance than international equity market. The switch for the larger funds is driven by volatility of the equity market.Item A cross-country analysis on diversification, Sukuk investment, and the performance of Islamic banking systems under the COVID-19 pandemic(Elsevier Ltd, 2022-03-18) Le TDQ; Ho TH; Nguyen DT; Ngo TThis study investigates the relationship between diversification and Islamic banking systems' performance under the impact of the COVID-19 turmoil using a sample of 24 countries from 2013Q4 and 2020Q4. The findings indicate that the performance of Islamic banking systems is positively associated with sectoral diversification of Shari'ah-compliant financing and income diversification. Although this study confirms a negative impact of the COVID-19 shock, income diversification is found to mitigate the adverse effect of this health crisis on the performance of the Islamic banking systems. In which, Sukuk investment is considered an essential channel for pursuing this diversification strategy. Therefore, this research has important implications for policymakers, managers, and academics.Item Do E2 and P4 contribute to the explained variance in core temperature response for trained women during exertional heat stress when metabolic rates are very high?(Springer Nature, 2022-10) Zheng H; Badenhorst CE; Lei T-H; Che Muhamed AM; Liao Y-H; Fujii N; Kondo N; Mündel TPurpose Women remain underrepresented in the exercise thermoregulation literature despite their participation in leisure-time and occupational physical activity in heat-stressful environments continuing to increase. Here, we determined the relative contribution of the primary ovarian hormones (estrogen [E2] and progesterone [P4]) alongside other morphological (e.g., body mass), physiological (e.g., sweat rates), functional (e.g., aerobic fitness) and environmental (e.g., vapor pressure) factors in explaining the individual variation in core temperature responses for trained women working at very high metabolic rates, specifically peak core temperature (Tpeak) and work output (mean power output). Methods Thirty-six trained women (32 ± 9 year, 53 ± 9 ml·kg−1·min−1), distinguished by intra-participant (early follicular and mid-luteal phases) or inter-participant (ovulatory vs. anovulatory vs. oral contraceptive pill user) differences in their endogenous E2 and P4 concentrations, completed a self-paced 30-min cycling work trial in warm–dry (2.2 ± 0.2 kPa, 34.1 ± 0.2 °C, 41.4 ± 3.4% RH) and/or warm–humid (3.4 ± 0.1 kPa, 30.2 ± 1.2 °C, 79.8 ± 3.7% RH) conditions that yielded 115 separate trials. Stepwise linear regression was used to explain the variance of the dependent variables. Results Models were able to account for 60% of the variance in Tpeak (𝑅⎯⎯⎯⎯2: 41% core temperature at the start of work trial, 𝑅⎯⎯⎯⎯2: 15% power output, 𝑅⎯⎯⎯⎯2: 4% [E2]) and 44% of the variance in mean power output (𝑅⎯⎯⎯⎯2: 35% peak aerobic power, 𝑅⎯⎯⎯⎯2: 9% perceived exertion). Conclusion E2 contributes a small amount toward the core temperature response in trained women, whereby starting core temperature and peak aerobic power explain the greatest variance in Tpeak and work output, respectively.Item Violins, venues and vortexes : interrogating pre-reflective relationality in orchestral work : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Manawatū Campus, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2022) Gilling, DavidThis thesis explores the social structures of organising through an analysis of pre-reflective relationality in orchestral performance across three exemplary settings. These are: the opening stanza of a performance by the orchestra in which I play; a highly regarded performance by a well-known orchestra and conductor; and a concert performed under the shadow of COVID-19. Within these contexts, the player’s relationship with instrument and score, the role of the conductor, relations between conductor and player, and the player’s relations with audience, artifact and colleague are discussed. The study draws on autoethnography and the descriptive phenomenological method of Giorgi (2012). This framework allows work practices that are specialized, tacit, and entrenched to be interrogated through the theoretical lens of Merleau-Ponty’s (1968) late ontology as represented by the constructs of reversibility, écart, and Flesh. The research contributes to organisational knowledge on three dimensions. The contribution to theory is made through the interrogation of the pre-reflective relational bonds in symphony orchestras, first between individuals and artifacts, and then between individuals and colleagues, which shape the inter-collegial ‘between space’ (Ladkin, 2013) where the organizing of performance – the music-making itself – happens. The contribution to method is made in the exploration of specialized personal experience for research purposes through Giorgi’s framework and Merleau-Ponty’s constructs, while the contribution to practice builds on this foundation by using Merleau-Ponty’s ideas to acknowledge the inanimate alongside the human and so offer a fresh starting point for the understanding of organizational relationality. This approach also allows orchestral performance to emerge as a primordially interwoven, inherently reversible meshwork of relational connectivity harnessed in pursuit of a collective purpose. As organizations look beyond COVID-19 to a world where the virtual and hybrid must be accommodated alongside the longstanding and traditional, holistic approaches such as the one offered here will resonate with researchers and managers alike as they come to terms with relational structures and organizational contexts transformed by the combined effects of pandemic-related disruption and technological change.Item Flow in New Zealand high-performance athletes and their intentions to use regulated breathing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Barrett, Jay AndrewFlow, or being “in the zone” (Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p. 12), is associated with athletes’ best-perceived performance (Jackson, Thomas, Marsh, & Smethurst, 2001). Practising regulated breathing could be associated with experiencing flow; the current research sought to identify this potential relationship with New Zealand high-performance adult athletes. New Zealand high-performance adult athletes’ intentions to use regulated breathing in two behaviours (‘practising regulated breathing in a training routine’ or ‘using regulated breathing as a mental skills tool during competition’) along with the components of an individual’s intentions (instrumental and experiential attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms and capacity and autonomy; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) were also researched. A cross-sectional survey was used to gather data. A t-test showed there was no statistically significant difference in the frequency flow was experienced between participants currently practising regulated breathing against those that were not, t(40) = 0.96, p = .342. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVAs showed the majority of the sample responded that they intended to practice regulated breathing in a training routine (64%) and use regulated breathing as a mental skills tool during competition in the future (76%) with no significant difference across the competition level competing at, F(2,87) = 0.26, p = .774 and F(2,87) = 0.56, p = .575, respectively. Finally, multiple linear regression models showed instrumental attitudes were the only significant predictor of intentions to perform regulated breathing in a training routine (Beta = .68, p < .001) or during competition as a mental skills tool (Beta = .82, p < .001). Participants’ components (instrumental and experiential attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms and capacity and autonomy) estimated 67% of the variation in their intentions to practice regulated breathing in a training routine and 70% of the variation in their intentions to use regulated breathing as a mental skills tool during competition. Further evidence is needed to confirm the relationship between practising regulated breathing and how frequently flow is experienced. However, regulated breathing interventions could be appealing to New Zealand high-performance athletes.Item Comparative analysis of the productivity levels achieved through the use of panelised prefabrication technology with those of traditional building system : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Construction, School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2016) Shahzad, WajihaSeveral studies have documented benefits of prefabricated building system compared to the traditional approach. Despite the acknowledged benefits of refabrication, its application is generally low in the New Zealand construction industry. This low uptake is largely attributed to the fact that the documented benefits of prefabrication technology are anecdotal, or based on investigations of isolated case studies. This study aims to contribute to filling this knowledge gap by analysing cost savings, time savings, and productivity improvement achievable by the use of panelised prefabrication in place of the traditional building system. A two-phased mixed method of research was adopted for the study. The first phase involved the use of case study-based archival research to obtain qualitative data from records of 151 completed building projects in three cities of New Zealand – Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The second phase involved the use of questionnaire survey to obtain feedback from industry stakeholders. Results showed that the use of panelised prefabrication in place of traditional building system contributed to 21 percent cost saving, 47 percent time saving and 10 percent average improvement in the productivity outcomes in the building projects. Results further showed that 17 factors could significantly influence the levels of benefits achievable with the use of prefabrication technology. ‘Building type’ and ‘location’ were the factors having the most significant influence on the benefits achievable by the use of panelised prefabrication in place of the traditional building systems. Other factors that influence the benefits of prefabrication included (in diminishing order of influence): logistics, type of prefabrication, scale/repeatability, standardisation, contractor’s level of innovation, environmental impact, project leadership, type of procurement, whole of life quality, site conditions, site layout and client’s nature.Item Effect of caffeine ingestion on aspects of endurance performance and cognition in CYP1A2 hetrozygous A/C male recreational athletes : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the requirements of a Master of Science in Sport and Exercise Science at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2016) Southward, KyleBackground: Globally, caffeine is the most widely accessible psychoactive drug and has been shown to improve endurance performance as well as aspects of cognition, mood and perceptual responses during exercise. However, the ergogenic effects of caffeine between individuals are variable, and the cause of this variability is unknown. The CYP1A2 gene is known to mediate caffeine metabolism and has been suggested as a contributor to the variability of the ergogenic effects of caffeine. Purpose: To investigate the effects of CYP1A2 genotype on exercise performance (10 km time trial), sleep, mood, cognition and perceptual responses following caffeine ingestion in adult male recreational athletes. Methods: 16 recreationally trained athletes (age = 26.9 ± 7.93 y; weight = 77.00 ± 9.04 kg) volunteered for this study. Participants completed a familiarisation session at least one week before the first trial and a saliva sample was collected for testing of the participants’ CYP1A2 genotype. Participants completed two trials one week apart in a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over design. Participants were asked to abstain from caffeine ingestion and keep a food diary for 24 h prior to the trial. Participants wore an actigraph, and completed a sleep diary and Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire (LSEQ) every day for the two week duration of the trials starting 3 days before the first trial and ending 3 days after the second trial. The main trial consisted of a set of pre- and post-ingestion measures which included leg power by vertical jump height (squat jump – SJ; countermovement jump – CMJ), leg strength by maximal voluntary concentric and eccentric contraction of the knee extensors (isokinetic dynamometer), perceptual (feeling scale – FS; felt arousal scale – FAS), mood (profile of mood states – POMS), cognition (digit vigilance – DV; Corsi blocks – CB; rapid visual information processing – RVIP) and heart rate. Pre- and post-ingestion urine, saliva and blood samples were also collected for analysis of caffeine metabolism and genotype. Following completion of pre-ingestion measures, participants consumed a capsule containing either anhydrous caffeine (6 mg∙kg-1) or placebo (maltodextrin) and were instructed to rest quietly for 50 min. Following post-ingestion measures, participants completed a 10-km time trial run. Perceptual measures (FS and FAS) including ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded every 2.5 km and heart rate was recorded every 1 km. A venous blood sample and saliva sample was collected at 5 km and 10 km. At completion of the 10-km time trial all post-ingestion measures were repeated, followed by another 50 min rest period. After the second 50 min rest period the participants completed the perceptual, mood and cognitive measures and further blood, urine and saliva samples were collected. Participants returned 24 and 48 h post-ingestion to repeat all post-ingestion measures and another blood, urine and saliva sample was collected. This protocol was then repeated 1 week later for the alternate treatment (placebo or caffeine). The effect of treatment (caffeine, placebo) and the interaction effect of treatment x time were assessed using a repeated measures ANOVA. A student’s t-test was used to measure differences between Leeds sleep evaluation questionnaire (LSEQ) and actigraph data. Results: Fourteen of sixteen participants were heterozygous A/C CYP1A2 for the CYP1A2 genotype and therefore results based on genotypes could not be compared as originally intended. Plasma caffeine, paraxanthine and theophylline concentrations were all elevated following caffeine ingestion (P < 0.05) peaking at 10-km, 1 hour after the 10-km run and 24 hours post caffeine ingestion respectively. Caffeine did not significantly improve 10-km run times. Eccentric leg strength but not concentric leg strength was improved following caffeine ingestion (P < 0.05). Squat jump height but not countermovement jump height was improved following caffeine ingestion (P < 0.05). Digit vigilance reaction times were decreased significantly following caffeine ingestion (P < 0.05) and a trend of decreased rapid visual information processing (RVIP) reaction times were seen (P < 0.1), however, no improvements in the accuracy during cognitive tests were seen following caffeine ingestion. A trend of increased heart rate (P < 0.1) during exercise was observed following caffeine ingestion, but no significant differences in heart rate before and after exercise were observed. Conclusions: While no overall, significant improvements in run time occurred following caffeine ingestion, 11 of 14 participants had a faster run time following caffeine ingestion compared to placebo. Caffeine, rather than the metabolites of caffeine, is likely the main cause of any observed ergogenic effects following caffeine ingestion as the improvements in reaction times, mood and endurance performance occurred when plasma caffeine concentration was elevated but plasma caffeine metabolite concentrations were low. It was found that caffeine ingestion improves endurance performance and reaction times during cognitive tasks. Taken together, the pharmacokinetics of the caffeine and caffeine metabolite peaks suggest that for athletes with the A/C CYP1A2 genotype ingestion of caffeine 1.5 – 2 h prior to an event may be more beneficial for endurance performance compared to the usual recommendations of taking caffeine 1 h prior to exercise. Keywords: caffeine, endurance exercise, CYP1A2, performance, geneticsItem Transgressive gestures : women and violin performance in eighteenth-century Europe : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in Musicology at Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand School of Music(Massey University, 2016) Bell Jordan, HesterStudies concerning eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women musicians abound within recent musicological scholarship, but the focus on singers and keyboard players – whose musical activities are understood to have “affirmed” their femininity – has had the effect of obscuring players of less typical instruments. Violin-playing, frequently cast as a man’s activity and imbued with indecent associations, was a case in point. Yet despite the connotations of the instrument, a small but significant group of women did play the violin: it is these violinists that this thesis takes as its central focus. Looking first at the complex reasons behind objections to women’s violin performance, a number of factors that restricted women’s access to the violin – including the influence of the male gaze and limits placed on women’s physical movement – are revealed. Particular conditions nevertheless enabled certain women to play the violin, namely the personal, educational, and economic support available from diverse sources such as family members, patrons, and institutions like convents and the Venetian ospedali. In addition to placing women violinists in their historical context, this thesis centres on an analysis of a violin concerto by one of the most well-known female violinists of the era, the Italian virtuoso Regina Strinasacchi. The analysis of Strinasacchi’s Violin Concerto in B flat major is strongly performance based and focuses on the issue of gender and physical movement (performance gesture), topics which were of much interest to eighteenth-century commentators who witnessed women violinists performing. As such the analysis engages with concepts from “embodied” musicology. In exploring Strinasacchi’s concerto we see that female violinists could experiment with a variety of gendered roles through violin performance, embodying both masculinity and femininity through their transgressive gestures. By taking a closer look at women’s violin performance and experiences, this thesis aims to show that these violinists were not as peripheral to the workings of the wider musical community as is sometimes implied. Furthermore, it aims to put women violinists more firmly at the centre of their own stories, challenging the tendency to treat female violinists as novel anomalies.Item Conversational skins : heirloom 'pelts' that emerge and evolve : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2015) Menzies, GretaFabric garments augment and transform the body as a second skin. This project is a poetic, heuristic inquiry that investigates taking this ‘second skin’ through multiple forms, transitioning between flat fabric, garment form, flat fabric, garment form etc. In this cyclical long-term relationship, the surface of the textile-skin is inscribed and augmented as cuts are made, and ‘healed’ through various textile processes. The scars write a story on the surface. There is a ceremonial sensation to removing and the ‘flattening’ the skin, which evokes the collection of a pelt. Using a phenomenological methodology the ‘flat’ and ‘form’ iterations are performed and photographed, growing a catalogue of the fabric’s evolution. Returning a garment to ‘flat’ offers erasure of form; it can become a level plane for a new construction. This action is achieved by utilising the method of ‘zero waste’ design, in which no fabric is removed in the construction of a garment. This enables the form to be unpicked, reassembled and sewn back to a flat-fabric state. The flat/ form/flat/form cycle is played out as a conversation with the cloth, responding to the flow and tendencies of each textile. The central proposition is that the flat-form-flat cycle provides a channel to engage in the transformative performance of dress, while enacting a use practice that diverges from problematic consumption models. In doing this, a unique surface pattern is inscribed on the cloth. The process asks: ‘what might be allowed to develop?’ The outcome demonstrates a collection of nine textile ‘pelts’ with documented progression; liminal pieces that are detailed artefacts in themselves, yet invite further interaction. Key Words: Textile Design, Speculative, Zero-waste, Shapeshift, Fashion, Skin, Transformation, Performance.