Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'New Zealand House of Representatives'

Question Time is a distinctive daily parliamentary routine. Its aim is to hold Ministers of the State accountable for the actions and decisions of the Government. However, in many Parliaments, including the New Zealand and Australian Federal Houses of Representatives, it is more of a theatrical performance where parties try their best to score political points. As any performance, Question Time is governed by certain rules and regulations outlined in an official document Standing Orders. As there is not much action, Standing Orders mainly describe language norms and specify „unparliamentary language‟. This research looks at and analyses the use of formulaic vocabulary used by MPs in the year preceding general elections in New Zealand and Australia. The formulaic language includes phrasal lexical items and formulae for asking / answering questions, for raising points of order and the Speakers‟ idiolectal phrasal vocabulary for quelling disorder in the Chambers and regulating the work of the House. The framework developed for this research consisted of the following steps: an ethnographic study of Question Time as a communicative performance which included the development of a database containing all the empirical material; a xii linguistic study of Question Time including genrelect study, parliamentary formulae study and disorder analysis before the elections. As a result this research has shown that Question Time is a communicative performance event in New Zealand and Australia with significant cultural, historic and linguistic differences in spite of the common origins of the two Parliaments. It has identified 60 Question Time genre-specific phrasal lexical items that MPs use in the two Parliaments, studied their structure and meaning (where necessary). It has also looked at the strategies the MPs employ for creating disorder in the House, and the ways of quelling disorder by the Speakers of the two Parliaments.

This thesis contributes to the burgeoning field of the history of sexuality in New Zealand and seeks to distill the more theorised and reflexive understanding of the subjectively understood queer male identity since 1948. Emerging from the disciplines of History and English, this project draws from a range of narratological materials: parliamentary debates contained in Hansard, and novels and short stories written by men with publicly avowed queer identities. This thesis explores how both 'normative' identity and the category of 'the homosexual' were constructed and mobilised in the public domain, in this case, the House of Representatives. It shows that members of the House have engaged with an extensive tradition of defining and excluding; a process by which state and public discourses have constructed largely unified, negative and othering narratives of 'the homosexual'. This constitutes an overarching narrative of queer experience which, until the mid-1990s, excluded queer subjects from its construction. At the same time, fictional narratives offer an adjacent body of knowledge and thought for queer men and women. This thesis posits literature's position as an important and productive space for queer resistance and critique. Such texts typically engage with and subvert 'dominant' or 'normative' understandings of sexuality and disturb efforts to apprehend precise or linear histories of 'gay liberation' and 'gay consciousness'. Drawing from the works of Frank Sargeson, James Courage, Bill Pearson, Noel Virtue, Stevan Eldred-Grigg, and Peter Wells, this thesis argues for a revaluing of fictional narratives as active texts from which historians can construct a matrix of cultural experience, while allowing for, and explaining, the determining role such narratives play in the discursively constructed understandings of gender and sexuality in New Zealand.

Three subspecies of house mice of different geographic origins have reached New Zealand; M. m. domesticus (10 haplotypes), M. m. musculus (1 haplotype) both from Europe, and M. m. castaneus (3 haplotypes) from Asia. Identifying the sources of the multiple historical introductions of the house mouse is a complex issue, particularly during the peak colonisation period of 1830-1880. The early European settlers came with many bags, crates, plants, seed and livestock, which provided ample travel opportunities for stowaway rats and mice. With the assistance of volunteers, I have collected mice from various locations throughout the New Zealand region, to confirm the previously recorded haplotypes and to look for evidence of hybridisation between the colonising subspecies. Morphological characteristics traditionally used for identification of subspecies were compared with genetic characters, to establish whether the use of morphology is still a viable method of identifying subspecific distinctions between mice in New Zealand. While no M. m. musculus haplotypes were found among these samples, some mice still had the coat colouration typical of M. m. musculus. Data from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) markers revealed some surprising results. I have found six new M. m. domesticus haplotypes, and three new M. m. castaneus haplotypes. The data have also revealed extensive hybridisation, particularly between M. m. domesticus and M. m. castaneus. The finding of the new haplotypes supports the previous assumption that there were multiple introductions of mice into New Zealand, but the finding of M. m. castaneus in inland towns and cities does not support the associated assumption that European mice were initially the only mice present in New Zealand. Rather, the wide distribution of M. m. castaneus suggests that this subspecies probably arrived during the early nineteenth century. The house mouse has long been recognised as an ideal organism for hybridisation studies, and the finding of a hybrid zone within New Zealand would provide an excellent opportunity to extend our knowledge of hybridisation and gene transfer. Previous studies found M. m. domesticus in Napier, and a M. m. musculus/M. m. castaneus hybrids in Wellington. A systematic sampling programme was undertaken between Wellington and Napier following State Highway 2 (SH2), in an attempt to locate a hybrid zone. Analysis of mtDNA and nDNA showed that, M. m. castaneus was found as far North as Dannevirke, and M. m. domesticus as far South as Featherston. There was also extensive evidence of integration of M. m. domesticus nDNA markers into mice with M. m. castaneus mtDNA. There was no clear support for a hybrid zone, but this does not mean that one has not existed in the past and that it has since been overrun by movement of mice with humans and their goods. Identification of subspecies by morphological characteristics, while used with confidence in other countries, is of little use in New Zealand. Extensive hybridisation/and or introgression between the subspecies has long since blurred any morphological distinctions the colonising mice may have had. I propose that these physical characters should be used in support of genetic analysis of the subspecies. The official classification of the New Zealand house mouse currently stands as M. m. musculus, however, data collected does not support this and it is proposed that the official classification should be changed to M. m. domesticus.

This project aimed to reanalyse two large historical data sets from two different locations in New Zealand (Fiordland in the South Island and Pureora Forest Park in the North Island). The data describe populations of mice (Mus musculus), rats (Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus), and stoats (Mustela erminea) collected using standard monitoring techniques from five distinct types of forest habitat. The new analysis methods selected were an index of patchiness and Site Occupancy analysis. The objectives of the analysis were (1) to evaluate whether the patchiness index and Site Occupancy analysis methods might contribute to improved protocols for monitoring small mammal populations in the future, and (2) to use formal tests of five hypotheses to evaluate two of the assumptions made by the conventional density index often used in small mammal studies. I describe the results of the analyses for each species, including any problems encountered (such as the inability of the Site Occupancy method to analyse very sparse data sets). I also describe the results pooled from each of the two study locations and potential consequences for small mammal monitoring and control. This analysis has suggested that in most cases the density index is not a rigorous measure of small mammal populations. However, both the index of patchiness and Site Occupancy analysis provided useful, new information about these populations of rodents and stoats, despite the fact that these historical data sets were not designed for use with modern methods of analysis. Please note: some figures and tables were printed separately and added to the thesis as unnumbered pages. These can be found in the file 03Plates_and_Tables.pdf.

The Canterbury earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 caused significant damage to the Christchurch building stock. However, it is an opportunity to build more comfortable and energy efficient buildings. Previous research suggests a tendency to both under heat and spot heat, meaning that New Zealand dwellings are partly heated and winter indoor temperatures do not always meet the recommendations of the World Health Organization. Those issues are likely to be explained by design deficiency, poor thermal envelope, and limitations of heating systems. In that context, the thesis investigates the feasibility of building an energy efficient and cost-competitive house in Christchurch. Although capital costs for an energy efficient house are inevitably higher, they are balanced with lower operating costs and improved thermal comfort. The work is supported by a residential building project using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels. This atypical project is compared with a typical New Zealand house (reference building), regarding both energy efficiency and costs. The current design of the CLT building is discussed according to passive design strategies, and a range of improvements for the building design is proposed. This final design proposal is determined by prioritizing investments in design options having the greatest effect on the building overall energy consumption. Building design features include windows efficiencies, insulation levels, optimized thermal mass, lighting fixture, as well as HVAC and domestic hot water systems options. The improved case for the CLT building is simulated having a total energy consumption of 4,860kWh/year, which corresponds to a remarkable 60% energy savings over the baseline. The construction cost per floor area is slightly higher for the CLT building, about 2,900$/m² against 2,500$/m² for the timber framed house. But a life cycle cost analysis shows that decreased operating costs makes the CLT house cost-competitive over its lifetime. The thesis suggests that the life cycle cost of the CLT house is 14% less than that of the reference building, while the improved CLT design reaches about 22% costs savings.
Canterbury jordskalv under 2010 och 2011 orsakade betydande skador på Christchurch byggnadsbeståndet. Det är dock en möjlighet att bygga mer bekväma och energieffektiva byggnader. Tidigare forskning tyder på en tendens att både under värme och plats värme, vilket innebär att Nya Zeeland bostäder är delvis uppvärmda och vinter inomhustemperaturer inte alltid uppfyller rekommendationerna från Världshälsoorganisationen. Dessa frågor kommer sannolikt förklaras av konstruktion brist, dålig värme kuvert, och begränsningar av värmesystem. I detta sammanhang undersöker avhandlingen möjligheterna att bygga en energieffektiv och kostnadseffektiv hus i Christchurch. Även kapitalkostnaderna för ett energieffektivt hus är oundvikligen högre, de är balanserade med lägre driftskostnader och förbättrad termisk komfort. Arbetet stöds av ett bostadshus projekt med Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) paneler. Denna atypiska projekt jämförs med en typisk Nya Zeeland hus (referensbyggnad), både vad gäller energieffektivitet och kostnader. Den nuvarande utformningen av CLT byggnaden diskuteras enligt passiva designstrategier, och en rad förbättringar för byggande föreslås. Denna slutliga designförslag bestäms genom att prioritera investeringar i designalternativ som har störst effekt på byggnaden den totala energiförbrukningen. Byggnadsdesign funktioner inkluderar fönster effektivitet, isolationsnivåer, optimerad termisk massa, armatur, samt VVS och tappvarmvattensystem alternativ. Den förbättrade fallet för CLT byggnaden simuleras med en total energiförbrukning 4,860kWh/år, vilket motsvarar en anmärkningsvärd 60% energibesparing över baslinjen. Byggkostnaden per golvyta är något högre för CLT byggnaden, ca 2900$/m² mot 2500$/m² för timmer inramade hus. Men en livscykelkostnadsanalys visar att minskade driftskostnader gör CLT hus kostnadseffektiv under sin livstid. Avhandlingen visar att livscykelkostnaden för CLT huset är 14% lägre än för referensbyggnaden, medan den förbättrade CLT designen når ca 22% kostnadsbesparingar.

This thesis aims to identify the motivating factors driving consumers home purchase decisions from the consumer's point of view. Although there is an abundance of past real estate research, dating back as far as the 1920's, the factors shaping consumers home choice have not been fully explored. Past research has tended to assume that homebuyers arrive at a decision following a logical and rational decision making process. These studies have also tended to focus on utilitarian or economic factors shaping home choice. Although past research has unquestionably added to the understanding of home purchase behaviour, the focus on utilitarian and economic factors does not explain decisions that are underpinned by deep-seated motives. The present thesis extends past research by exploring the less tangible, non-economic aspects of home choice in order to provide a fuller story of why and how people consume homes. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the unsolicited motives underlying consumers' home choices, therefore, a qualitative technique known as ZMET was employed. Based on the notion of unconscious thoughts, ZMET uses visual images gathered and/or generated by consumers to elicit and probe the metaphors that represent their thoughts and feelings. For the present study, 14 consumers who had recently placed an offer on a home took part in the ZMET interview. The present methodology extends past property research which has predominantly taken a quantitative approach. The findings of the study provide a rich insight into the motivations behind consumer home choice. Firstly, it reveals that the pre-purchase checklists used by many homebuyers and real estate agents are inaccurate representation of consumer home choice, and explains why this is so. Secondly, it demonstrates the influence of twenty four motives, including three central constructs (space, nature and views) on consumer home choice and highlights the fact that autobiographical memories underpins many of the motives to impact on choice. Thirdly, it provides a model mapping out the interaction between utilitarian and hedonic motives, which evokes a network of feelings, sensations and emotions that shape consumer home choice. In doing so, the research provides theoretical insight into the link between the rational information-processing model and the experiential view of hedonic consumption in home purchases. This study has shown that a specific set of utilitarian and deep-seated hedonic factors interrelate to culminate upon one's home choice. The findings in this study maintain that while utilitarian factors are significant determinants of home choice, in themselves, they do not always tell the whole story. This new knowledge of how and why homebuyers chose what they did is valuable to practitioners in predicting accurate property demands and value. Real estate agents can-sell more effectively by matching a property to a homebuyer's hedonic needs. The information in this study also helps homebuyers understand that their home choice is guided by internal images and deep-seated motives derived from many years of past experience but more importantly, they can decide if these motives justify the price they pay for the property. Finally, the model gives future researchers a new framework to access meanings necessary for understanding homebuyer choice and allows a closer examination of the mechanics of these influences on the housing market and its demands.

An extensive literature examines how distributive (i.e., “pork barrel”) spending is allocated among congressional districts. Much of this research finds evidence that intra-chamber factors like ideology, party, and committee membership are the primary determinants of various forms of distributive spending. However, we know much less about how extra-chamber factors such as district-level demand and the economy impact the distribution of federal outlays. In this study, I find that district-level demand and variation in economic factors, in particular, income and unemployment, significantly predict the distribution of new bureaucratic awards in the 110th Congress. The results support the contention that districts get what they need, and this raises questions about the ability of members of powerful committees to steer awards selectively to their districts. It also provides evidence for the economic “law of increasing state activity,” by which districts with higher income levels receive a larger share of federal assistance.

This thesis examines the relationships between fictional narratives and material objects through writing and sculptural practice. Its purpose is to explore how fiction assists in an understanding of the world we inhabit and, conversely, how our experiences of the world and its real and physically accessible contents (or objects) prevent fiction from transgressing into nonsense. It is anticipated that the combination of material practice and textual fiction will not be an easy marriage: it may be the objects which ultimately give presence to our voices, voices which historically have often attempted to claim and own of things through utterance. The sculptural component of the project addresses the tactility of objects and examines the space where so many tales are told – the home. In so doing, the project explores issues of isolation and connection through objects and materials which harbour a narrative of ostensible comfort. Objects may simultaneously project conflicting accounts of comfort and unease, connection and isolation, contributing to an articulated consciousness of the home.

In this thesis I address the research question: 'How has the Internet delivered pluralism by promoting structural diversity and/or content diversity in Australia's newspaper industry?' Structural diversity is defined here as diversity in newspaper ownership and content diversity as the diversity of views published by individual newspapers. Central to the thesis is the notion of pluralism, the belief that the news media should provide a range of views and opinions, contradictory as well as complementary, to allow informed citizens to effectively take part in the democratic process. The newspaper industry in this country, however, is controlled by a powerful press oligopoly across a range of markets, a situation believed to greatly limit pluralism. A review of newspaper ownership and circulation from 1986 to 2002 shows that, as at 2002, four newspaper owners are the sole occupants of Australia's national and capital city newspaper market. Seven owners are predominant in Australia's regional daily newspaper market, although just three owners controlled 69 per cent of the market's circulation in 2002. Two owners controlled 69 per cent of Australia's suburban newspaper market in 2002. Similar trends were seen in the country's Saturday newspaper and Sunday newspaper markets. In all markets except the regional daily newspaper market, News Limited is the dominant newspaper owner. Australian Provincial News and Media is the dominant owner in the regional daily newspaper market with a 27 per cent share of circulation in 2002. Australia's concentrated newspaper ownership structure has led to a number of formal inquiries into diversity in the industry since 1980. In this thesis I review two of these inquiries, the 1991-92 House of Representatives Select Committee on the Print Media (the Print Media Inquiry) and the 2000 Productivity Commission Inquiry into Broadcasting, to determine (among other things) the nature of and the relationship between structural and content diversity as they apply to Australia's newspapers. (By virtue of major media groups' involvement in the Productivity Commission's inquiry - particularly News Limited, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and, to a lesser extent, Rural Press - this inquiry, although broadcast-oriented, considered Australia's newspaper industry at length.) This review shows both inquiries were clear on how they saw this relationship - structural diversity is necessary for content diversity. However, the Print Media Inquiry suggested it was almost impossible to guarantee structural diversity in the nation's newspaper industry. The Productivity Commission, meanwhile, said that while it accepted content diversity was not inconsistent with media ownership concentration, it was more likely to be achieved where there was diverse ownership. With the relationship between structural and content diversity in mind, and the Print Media Inquiry's and the Productivity Commission's beliefs that new entrants in the newspaper industry were unlikely in the short term, I examine the suggestion that the Internet has the potential to increase structural diversity in Australia's newspaper industry by allowing new players to efficiently enter the industry via the World Wide Web. The extent to which this might occur is determined by a study of 18 Australian newspaper websites with one argument being that if established newspapers find the transition online relatively easy, then independent online-only news sites might be similarly established. Mings and White's four online news business models - a subscription model, advertising model, e commerce-based transactional model and partnership-based model - are used as a framework to examine the study's results. The study shows Australia's experience mirrors international experience in terms of the growth of newspapers online and in terms of their lack of profitability. It shows that 28 per cent of the newspapers surveyed maintained their circulation while offering free online news content, while a further 33 per cent registered circulation increases. Advertising revenue increased for seven of the nine newspaper websites containing advertising, suggesting that, for some Australian newspapers at least, gaining online advertising (as opposed to gaining overall profitability) has proved successful. And while the survey shows little evidence of Australian newspapers using the transactional model in any real sense, it does show that Australian newspapers are forming local online partnerships with other media and non-media businesses to facilitate their online activities. The study's key finding is that of the 18 newspapers surveyed, just two websites were profitable. This finding is consistent with literature that highlights a lack of commercially viable independent online news ventures both in Australia and internationally. While considerable hopes were held that the Internet would introduce more structural diversity into Australia's newspaper industry, I argue that the Internet's commercial imperatives, as they apply to newspapers, have to a large extent precluded it from adding structural diversity in the industry. In these circumstances, it may be that the only viable way of increasing content diversity in the nation's newspaper industry is to increase the availability of diverse information sources to journalists. I propose that one way to do this is via the Internet. The extent to which this is occurring is determined by a survey of Australian journalists' Internet use, the survey results showing that 97.4 per cent of the journalists who responded now use the Internet regularly, including 97.5 per cent of newspaper journalists. But most journalists who responded use the Internet as a preliminary research tool and as a way to check facts rather than as a means of accessing diverse news sources. The respondents' top five Internet uses, for example, are to e-mail work colleagues, to undertake preliminary research, to access media releases from websites, to verify facts and to search other news organisations' websites. They access major news organisation websites most frequently, followed by government websites, university/research institution websites and corporate/company websites. The least frequently accessed websites are those that could conceivably provide the alternate views demanded by pluralism: online news and current affairs discussion groups and websites set up by private individuals. The survey shows the types of websites Australian journalists most frequently access are linked to the credibility they give to information contained on those websites. Major news organisation websites are seen as providing the most credible information, followed by university/research institution websites and government websites. Websites perceived as providing the least credible information were those that host online news and current affairs discussion groups and websites set up by private individuals. The survey also shows Australian journalists have not embraced online reader interaction to any extent, lessening the likelihood that readers will be able to provide journalists with more diverse news sources. Less than 20 per cent of journalists interact with readers via the Internet and less than 10 per cent use this interaction to create or follow up news stories. The survey does provide results that support source diversity, however. It shows that almost a third of Australian journalists have obtained additional news sources via the Internet. The Internet has also allowed more than 40 per cent of journalists to access individuals or groups that they would not otherwise have accessed. The survey also shows that journalists who have had experience working in the online media environment consistently use the Internet more productively, in terms of diversity, than other journalists. It is these journalists that interact online with readers more, that participate in online discussion groups more and that appear more willing to seek online information from non-traditional sources such as independent news websites and the websites of private individuals or groups. Journalists with online media experience also represent the group that has most sought training in online journalism and online media practice and that most believes the Internet will play an increasingly important role for journalists and news consumers in the future. At present, the survey suggests, journalists with this online media experience comprise just 19 per cent of Australian journalists. But as the number of journalists with online media experience increases in the workforce, these journalists' greater acceptance of the Internet may then assist in greater source diversity leading to greater content diversity in Australia's news media. The studies of newspaper websites and journalists' Internet use suggest and support differing diversity models. In this thesis I propose two models for diversity, the first drawn from views espoused by the Print Media Inquiry and the Productivity Commission's Inquiry into Broadcasting. This model (below) sees a one-to-one correspondence between structural and content diversity and assumes that to increase the diversity of views available to the public, the number of media outlets must similarly be increased. The argument that the Internet can provide media pluralism by permitting new players to enter the media market relatively easily, an argument tested by my study of Australian newspaper websites, is commensurate with this model. The second model is based on my inquiries into journalists' Internet use and proposes a method of increasing content diversity within a fixed media ownership structure. This model (below) acknowledges that journalists produce content mostly via traditional news sources, but proposes this content can be increased and/or changed, with an emphasis on more diverse information, via non-traditional news sources obtained via the Internet. The success of this model, however, is predicated on journalists' acceptance of online information as a viable news source. The implication for journalism is that established journalistic norms and practices, which can limit online-supported content diversity, need to be overcome. Overall, the results of my inquiries suggest the answer to the research question is that the Internet has so far delivered little in terms of structural and content diversity in Australia's newspaper industry. However, the Internet's potential to do so remains, particularly if independent online-based media ventures find ways to become commercially viable and if journalists adopt the technology as a means of finding more diverse news sources.

In this thesis I outline the contribution Community-based theatre has made to New Zealand theatre. This involves a defining of theatre production as a material practice. Community-based theatre was a tendency from the 1930s, a promise of the left theatre movement and, I argue, was being searched for as a form of practice by the avant-garde, experimental practitioners of the 1970s. At the same time, early Māori theatre began as a Community-based practice before moving into the mainstream. With the arrival of neo-liberalism to Aotearoa in 1984, community groups and Community-based theatre could become official providers within the political system. This led to a flowering of practices, which I describe, together with the tensions that arise from being a part of that system. However, neo-liberalism introduced managerial practices into state contracting and patronage policy, which effectively denied this flowering the sustenance deserved. At the same time, these policies commodified mainstream theatre production. In conclusion, I argue that in the current situation of global crisis, Community-based theatre practice has a continuing role to play in giving voice to the multitude and by being a practice of the Common.

The potential for prefabrication has been sidelined by the process of the design>build>do-it-yourself model of building, maintaining and updating houses in New Zealand. Working from an industrial design perspective this research charts the possibility of a shift in home construction from site building towards factory-manufacture. Mindful of New Zealand’s creative, do-it-yourself heritage and personal rituals of homemaking, this study explores domestic ritual and the iterative nature of amateur home alterations. Just as we have the right to alter our own body’s surfaces so too should the homeowner have the ability to alter the surfaces and services they own and with which they interact. Flanked by the design-to-manufacture model promoted by industrial design and the emphasis on inhabiting and rearranging the home from spatial design a hybrid notion of housing design and production is put forward. Suggesting a product that deals affordably with the home’s surfaces and services, within the customs of daily and seasonal acts of maintenance in the home, offers an area of prefabrication that seems attainable for New Zealand interior.

Developing timely and reliable house price indices is of interest worldwide, because these measures influence consumer behaviour, inflation targeting, and spot and futures markets. Several techniques for constructing a constant quality price index are available in the literature, but these methods are difficult to apply in localities where market transaction data is limited. Since house price movements are a local phenomena, improving the timeliness of a quality controlled price index at local housing market levels in small countries like New Zealand is a challenge. This thesis comprises three essays that focused on improving the timeliness of reported house price indices at the local market levels. The timeliness issue examined in this thesis has not previously been rigorously investigated and this makes the results of this thesis both important and unique for the benefit of both academic research and practical application. Essay One reviews the sale price appraisal ratio (SPAR) method, which has been applied since the 1960s for producing local house price indices at a semi-annual and quarterly basis in New Zealand. Utilizing a variety of statistical tests and comparing this index with the repeat sales and median price index result in the study highlighting the potential of, as well as the problems associated with, a price index produced by the SPAR method at a monthly level. In the following two essays, monthly price indices are tested using empirical real estate research methods in order to examine their usefulness in exploring the research questions as well as revealing the statistical differences between them. Essay Two studies the relationship between sale price and trading volume, and the ripple effect of local house price comovements. The results show that the trading volume generally leads the sale price in the long-run and the ripple effect is most likely constrained within regions. In Essay Two, the monthly SPAR index produces similar statistical results to those estimated by the repeat sales index for large cities. Essay Three is a study on the market efficiency of housing markets. It is found the local housing market is neither weak-form nor semi-strong form efficient. Local house price movements are strongly correlated and are mean reverting towards their long-run equilibrium. It is further concluded that monthly price indices for small cities are problematic due to the problem of small sample size. Overall, the findings in this thesis show monthly house price indices can be generated by using the SPAR method at local market levels. However, this potential is limited to large cities. Further research can focus on improving the quality of monthly price indices for large cities.

This thesis aims to contribute to the current academic debate on contemporary polarization in the U.S. Congress. The paper provides a brief overview of the relevenat existing literature and schools of thought on the issue. As part of the thought direction which steers away from definining roots and causes of polarization among the general public but rather sees them as issues of the political elite, this thesis highlights the need to focus on individual Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs) in the House of Representatives and their connection to polarization. By applying an existing dataset accepted among political science scholars as the key tool for measuring polarization, the thesis seeks to affirm the presumed ideological differences among the individual CMOs (or caucuses). The main part of this thesis which adds value to further discussion is the case study of all roll call votes of the 114th House of Representatives examining voting cohesion of the studied caucuses. The aim of this study is to show to what extent the CMOs are in fact consistent voting blocs and how influential they can potentially be within the political elites in the House of Representatives and to what level they may be contributing to the contemporary polarization.

How support workers enable, regulate or constrain the sexual expression of intellectually disabled people who live in service agency group homes is the subject of this thesis. A general literature search of what intellectually disabled people currently experience in their lives, including their experiences in the area of sexuality and intimacy, begins this investigation. Secondly, an extensive literature review of the support role, incorporating an appraisal of past and current issues related to the support position in general and to the area of sexuality support in particular, was completed. What intellectually disabled people themselves would like in relation to sexuality and intimacy support was included in this section. Thirdly, a review of research studies focussing on the operation of the support position within service agency systems was undertaken. These explorations revealed a high degree of reluctance on the part of workers to provide assistance in the sexuality area, despite a proven necessity for support to be made available to the intellectually disabled people they worked with. Review research studies suggested a variety of causal factors in explanation of this reluctance. These suggestions link to two meta-reason positions. Failure to prove support either stemmed from individual worker’s inactions due to ignorance and/or incompetence, or from wider systemic failures on the part of agency services to positively value and support this key service role in this area. However, little if any analysis of the possible influence of the broader social, emotional and cultural contexts, in which the concepts ‘sexuality’ and ‘(intellectual) disability’ are located, could be found in the studies reviewed. Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with front-line support workers about their sexuality support practice. Preliminary readings of the interview texts revealed a similar reluctance on the part of the workers concerned to assist those they worked with in this area. Interview texts were then subjected to a post-modernist inspired, interpretive discursive analysis. This analysis uncovered and tracked how key power/knowledge effects inherent in the terms ‘(intellectual) disability’, ‘sexuality’, ‘gender’ and ‘desire’ inhering in the concept of an ‘ideal (sexual) couple’ interweave to shape the ‘no support necessary’ practice responses held in worker’s interview talk. From this exploration it is suggested that research studies of workers’ practices as an aspect of the promotion of change in support outcomes in the sexuality support area need to go beyond the parameters of recommendations that stem from considerations of either individual or systemic limitation alone. It remains a convincing point to suggest that poorly performing workers need retraining in this area and the overall value of the support role within service organizations needs reshaping. However, future research recommendations also need to engage more directly and effectively with the effects of the wider social and emotional “ideal (sexual) couple” ambiguities that also influence worker’s lack of assistance in this complex and sensitive support area. The use of a post-modern perspective as a helpful conceptual tool in unpacking the power these ambiguities hold within the support position is offered as a productive way forward for future research and practice development.