Information measures may be used to estimate the amount of information emitted by discrete information sources. Network streams are an example for such discrete information sources. This thesis investigates the use of information measures for the detection of events in network streams. Starting with the fundamental entropy and complexity measures proposed by Shannon and Kolmogorov, it reviews a range of candidate information measures for network event detection, including algorithms from the Lempel-Ziv family and a relative newcomer, the T-entropy. Using network trace data from the University of Auckland, the thesis demonstrates experimentally that these measures are in principle suitable for the detection of a wide range of network events. Several key parameters influence the detectability of network events with information measures. These include the amount of data considered in each traffic sample and the choice of observables. Among others, a study of the entropy behaviour of individual observables in event and non-event scenarios investigates the optimisation of these parameters. The thesis also examines the impact of some of the detected events on different information measures. This motivates a discussion on the sensitivity of various measures. A set of experiments demonstrating multi-dimensional network event classification with multiple observables and multiple information measures concludes the thesis.

Every so often, education is marked by critical events that invoke profound changes in both teachers and students. This study proposes that the “Boscars” -Brockton Oscars- a local presentation of student film and dance is a critical event for those involved. In contrast to conventional routine processes and accumulation of learning, these events represent a flashpoint in our educational lives. Critical events pertain to deep personal meaning and agency. This research investigates the Boscars. This retrospective study is one of interactive ethnography which has strong affinity with symbolic interactionism using a range of qualitative techniques on an event in the recent past. The work was collaborative. Teachers, pupils and other critical agents worked with the researcher to reconstruct and analyse the event with the general purpose of informing and improving local educational practice. It is a celebratory account focused on expressive outcomes, drawing in large measure on teacher and pupil articulations. Respondent validation was important within the context of other tests of validity. One of these tests is the ability of the research to strengthen the participants in their work and to influence other practitioners – in other words for the research to share the criticality of the event. These criteria apply to the extent to which the account facilitates the drawing of inferences that may have application in other contexts or situations. For the student and teacher authors in this research it is an exercise in writing historical memory.

Information measures may be used to estimate the amount of information emitted by discrete information sources. Network streams are an example for such discrete information sources. This thesis investigates the use of information measures for the detection of events in network streams. Starting with the fundamental entropy and complexity measures proposed by Shannon and Kolmogorov, it reviews a range of candidate information measures for network event detection, including algorithms from the Lempel-Ziv family and a relative newcomer, the T-entropy. Using network trace data from the University of Auckland, the thesis demonstrates experimentally that these measures are in principle suitable for the detection of a wide range of network events. Several key parameters influence the detectability of network events with information measures. These include the amount of data considered in each traffic sample and the choice of observables. Among others, a study of the entropy behaviour of individual observables in event and non-event scenarios investigates the optimisation of these parameters. The thesis also examines the impact of some of the detected events on different information measures. This motivates a discussion on the sensitivity of various measures. A set of experiments demonstrating multi-dimensional network event classification with multiple observables and multiple information measures concludes the thesis.

Information measures may be used to estimate the amount of information emitted by discrete information sources. Network streams are an example for such discrete information sources. This thesis investigates the use of information measures for the detection of events in network streams. Starting with the fundamental entropy and complexity measures proposed by Shannon and Kolmogorov, it reviews a range of candidate information measures for network event detection, including algorithms from the Lempel-Ziv family and a relative newcomer, the T-entropy. Using network trace data from the University of Auckland, the thesis demonstrates experimentally that these measures are in principle suitable for the detection of a wide range of network events. Several key parameters influence the detectability of network events with information measures. These include the amount of data considered in each traffic sample and the choice of observables. Among others, a study of the entropy behaviour of individual observables in event and non-event scenarios investigates the optimisation of these parameters. The thesis also examines the impact of some of the detected events on different information measures. This motivates a discussion on the sensitivity of various measures. A set of experiments demonstrating multi-dimensional network event classification with multiple observables and multiple information measures concludes the thesis.

The cross-entropy method is an established technique for solving difficult estimation, simulation, and optimisation problems. The method has its origins in an adaptive importance sampling procedure for rare-event estimation published by R. Y. Rubinstein in 1997. In that publication, the adaptive procedure produces a parametric probability density function whose parameters minimise the variance of the associated likelihood ratio estimator. This variance minimisation can also be viewed as minimising a measure of divergence to the minimum-variance importance sampling density over all members of the parametric family in question. Soon thereafter it was realised that the same adaptive importance sampling procedure could be used to solve combinatorial optimisation problems by viewing the set of solutions to the optimisation problem as a rare-event. This realisation led to the debut of the cross-entropy method in 1999, where it was introduced as a modification to the existing adaptive importance sampling procedure, with a different choice of directed divergence measure, in particular, the Kullback-Leibler cross-entropy. The contributions of this thesis are threefold. Firstly, in a review capacity, it provides an up-to-date consolidation of material on the cross-entropy method and its generalisations, as well as a collation of background material on importance sampling and Monte Carlo methods. The reviews are elucidated with original commentary and examples. Secondly, two new major applications of the cross-entropy methodology to optimisation problems are presented, advancing the boundary of knowledge on cross-entropy in the applied arena. Thirdly, two contributions to the methodological front are (a) an original extension of the generalised cross-entropy framework which enables one to construct state- and time-dependent importance sampling algorithms, and (b) a new algorithm for counting solutions to difficult binary-encoded problems.

Information measures may be used to estimate the amount of information emitted by discrete information sources. Network streams are an example for such discrete information sources. This thesis investigates the use of information measures for the detection of events in network streams. Starting with the fundamental entropy and complexity measures proposed by Shannon and Kolmogorov, it reviews a range of candidate information measures for network event detection, including algorithms from the Lempel-Ziv family and a relative newcomer, the T-entropy. Using network trace data from the University of Auckland, the thesis demonstrates experimentally that these measures are in principle suitable for the detection of a wide range of network events. Several key parameters influence the detectability of network events with information measures. These include the amount of data considered in each traffic sample and the choice of observables. Among others, a study of the entropy behaviour of individual observables in event and non-event scenarios investigates the optimisation of these parameters. The thesis also examines the impact of some of the detected events on different information measures. This motivates a discussion on the sensitivity of various measures. A set of experiments demonstrating multi-dimensional network event classification with multiple observables and multiple information measures concludes the thesis.

Increasingly, communities in regional areas are turning to sports events of a small scale to bring new money into their local economy, provide employment, and provide intangible benefits such as increased community pride. Sports events held on an irregular basis can attract visitors from outside a host community, thus resulting in an increase in business during slow periods and possibly promote the host region as a tourist destination after an event has been staged.In many instances, sponsorship has proven to be the financial lifeblood of sport tourism events held in regional areas, and often provides a majority of the revenue necessary to sustain the successful staging of such events. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) frequently provide the sponsorship necessary to stage such events, owing to the fact that large businesses are sparse in regional areas.The academic community has paid little attention to the sponsorship nexus between SMEs and regional sport tourism events, which this study aimed to address. Grounded in the interpretivist social sciences paradigm, this qualitative study examined five case studies through interviewing five SME owner/managers and five managers of regional sport tourism events. Areas examined included perceptions of sponsorship, reasons why SMEs provided sponsorship to regional sport tourism events, sponsorship leveraging, evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness, and how sponsorships were initiated between SMEs and regional sport tourism events.The results of this research found that the event managers and SME sponsors shared differing perceptions of what constitutes ‘sponsorship’. Volunteer event managers tended to view sponsorship in a somewhat philanthropic manner, while professional event managers were well aware of the importance of reciprocating a return on investment to their sponsors. Sponsorships in this context were initiated either through formal request or networks of personal contacts between SMEs and event organising committees. The sponsorships studied were found to be highly informal in nature and bound by gentlemen’s agreements, as opposed to legally binding contracts.The primary reasons driving SMEs to sponsor such events were related to supporting their local community and to be seen as socially responsible. Engaging in sponsorship to achieve bottom-line objectives were secondary to community involvement, which confirmed findings from similar studies conducted previously.The results also indicated that sponsorship leveraging and evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness did occur, albeit with varying degrees of success. Both sponsors and event managers tended to exhibit low levels of proficiency in being able to carry out effective sponsorship leveraging and evaluations, and as such leveraging and evaluation techniques employed in these sponsorships tended to be unsophisticated and inexpensive to execute. Only one of the five events studied provided any written post-event feedback to their sponsors.

In New Zealand the development and promotion of sporting events is becoming increasingly popular, due in part to the role of sport in building the nation's identity, the economic benefits, and a growing awareness of the importance of health and fitness within the community. Given this increased popularity it is important that the impacts of these events upon the local 'host' communities be understood. Social impacts have been given more and more attention in recent years by event researchers, due to the recognition that the long term sustainability of such events can only be achieved with the approval and participation of residents. This research addresses these issues in the context of Taupo, New Zealand using the case of Ironman New Zealand.This thesis adopts a mixed method approach using interviews (n=7), participant observation, and a web-survey (n=111). The findings confirm that it is vital to investigate and understand impacts of events on host communities. The findings are also consistent with theories identified in the literature in terms of the nature of social impacts on host communities. The overall results indicate that residents are aware of both the positive and negative impacts of Ironman New Zealand. Respondents highlight positive impacts such as economic benefits, exposure of Taupo, community togetherness, and the encouragement of sports, yet they also recognize negative impacts such as inconvenience from traffic congestion, and road closures. Accordingly, the community was grouped into three distinct clusters with positive, negative and ambivalent perceptions, and were labelled 'Lovers', 'Pessimists' and 'Realists'. The findings further suggest that the use of web-surveying for community research is still in its infancy and needs further development enabling it to be used as an effective tool. Finally it is proposed that small to medium scale sporting event hosted in regional communities may contribute to a sense of community and to the creation of social capital. Further research is needed to confirm this proposition.

Increasingly, communities in regional areas are turning to sports events of a small scale to bring new money into their local economy, provide employment, and provide intangible benefits such as increased community pride. Sports events held on an irregular basis can attract visitors from outside a host community, thus resulting in an increase in business during slow periods and possibly promote the host region as a tourist destination after an event has been staged.In many instances, sponsorship has proven to be the financial lifeblood of sport tourism events held in regional areas, and often provides a majority of the revenue necessary to sustain the successful staging of such events. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) frequently provide the sponsorship necessary to stage such events, owing to the fact that large businesses are sparse in regional areas.The academic community has paid little attention to the sponsorship nexus between SMEs and regional sport tourism events, which this study aimed to address. Grounded in the interpretivist social sciences paradigm, this qualitative study examined five case studies through interviewing five SME owner/managers and five managers of regional sport tourism events. Areas examined included perceptions of sponsorship, reasons why SMEs provided sponsorship to regional sport tourism events, sponsorship leveraging, evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness, and how sponsorships were initiated between SMEs and regional sport tourism events.The results of this research found that the event managers and SME sponsors shared differing perceptions of what constitutes ‘sponsorship’. Volunteer event managers tended to view sponsorship in a somewhat philanthropic manner, while professional event managers were well aware of the importance of reciprocating a return on investment to their sponsors. Sponsorships in this context were initiated either through formal request or networks of personal contacts between SMEs and event organising committees. The sponsorships studied were found to be highly informal in nature and bound by gentlemen’s agreements, as opposed to legally binding contracts.The primary reasons driving SMEs to sponsor such events were related to supporting their local community and to be seen as socially responsible. Engaging in sponsorship to achieve bottom-line objectives were secondary to community involvement, which confirmed findings from similar studies conducted previously.The results also indicated that sponsorship leveraging and evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness did occur, albeit with varying degrees of success. Both sponsors and event managers tended to exhibit low levels of proficiency in being able to carry out effective sponsorship leveraging and evaluations, and as such leveraging and evaluation techniques employed in these sponsorships tended to be unsophisticated and inexpensive to execute. Only one of the five events studied provided any written post-event feedback to their sponsors.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD), / Until recently, Northwestern Australia was thought to be relatively free of serious fruit fly pests. Although a noxious strain, present in Darwin since 1985, was widely believed to be an infestation of the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, from the East coast, the fruit flies present outside this area were believed to be the benign endemic species, B. aquilonis. However, during the year 2000, infestations of fruit flies were discovered on major commercial crops in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It was not known whether these outbreaks were due to an invasion of the major pest species, Bactrocera tryoni, a change in the behaviour of B. aquilonis, or a hybridisation event between the two species. Finding the source of these outbreaks has been complicated by the fact that, since B. tryoni and B. aquilonis are virtually indistinguishable morphologically, it was not known which species are present in the region. Traditionally any tryoni complex fly caught in the Northwest was called B. aquilonis based solely on location. In order to get a good population profile of the region, an extensive trapping program was set up to include flies from urban areas, commercial crops and natural areas where the benign strain is thought to remain. Tests of genetic differentiation and clustering analyses revealed a high degree of homogeneity in the Northwest samples, suggesting that just one species is present in the region. The Northwest samples were genetically differentiated from the Queensland samples but only to a small degree (FST =0.0153). MtDNA sequencing results also showed a small degree of differentiation between these regions. A morphological study of wing shape indicated that there are some minor identifiable morphological differences between East coast and Northwest laboratory reared flies. This difference was greater than that seen between B. jarvisi populations across the same geographic range. The results suggest that the flies caught in the Northwest are a separate population of B. tryoni. Soon after pest flies were discovered in Darwin, a population became established in Alice Springs. This population had a low genetic diversity compared with Queensland and Darwin populations, and showed evidence of being heavily founded. In 2000, an outbreak was discovered in the nearby town of Ti Tree. Due to the geographic and genetic similarity of these populations, Alice Springs was determined to be the source of the Ti Tree outbreak. To investigate the founding of these populations, a program was developed to estimate the propagule size. Using a simulation method seven different statistics were tested for estimating the propagule size of an outbreak population. For outbreaks originating from populations with high genetic diversity, the number of alleles was a good estimator of propagule size. When, however, the genetic diversity of the source population was already reduced, allele frequency measures, particularly the likelihood of obtaining the outbreak population from the source population, gave more accurate estimates. Applying this information to the Alice Springs samples, it was estimated that just five flies were needed to found the major population in and around Alice Springs. For Ti Tree, the propagule size was estimated to be 27 flies (minimum 10). In 2000, a much larger outbreak occurred in the developing horticultural region of Kununurra in northern Western Australia. An important question for the management of the problem is whether there is an established fly population or the flies are reinvading each year. This population was found to have a large amount of gene flow from the Northern Territory. Within the Kununurra samples, one group of flies was genetically differentiated from all the other samples. This group came from a small geographic area on the periphery of Kununurra and appeared to be the result of an invasion into this area at the time when the population was building up following the dry season. A further threat to the Northwest horticultural regions comes from B. jarvisi. A recent increase in the host range of this species has lead to speculation that it may become a greater pest in Northwestern Australia. At the present time, protocols for the population monitoring and disinfestation of this species are not in place. Here it is shown that B. jarvisi eggs are more heat tolerant than B. tryoni eggs and that monitoring of B. jarvisi populations is possible using cue lure traps placed according to fruiting time and location of their favoured host, Planchonia careya.