Dissertations / Theses: 'UWS'

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Oka, Gusti Made. "Factors affecting the management of Muntjac Deer (Muntiacus muntjak) in Bali Barat National Park, Indonesia." Thesis, Richmond, N.S.W. : Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:176.

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The principal aim of the study which was conducted between May 1995 and May 1997 was to collect and analyze information that would be considered vital to any future management actions that may be applied to the deer living in the wild in the Bali Barat National Park ecosystem in Indonesia. The systems approach used sought to analyze the complex interactions between the soil, plant, animal and human activity subsystems. In particular, interaction between Rusa deer and Muntjac deer was compared where possible, although the principal focus of the study was on the population of Muntjac deer. The soils in habitats frequented by deer in Bali Barat National Park were found to be of relatively low fertility status. Chemical analysis of the soil revealed that all of the mineral element contents considered in this study were in the lowest range for soils, in general. During this study the population of Muntjac deer in the Bali Barat National Park was submitted to phylogenetic analysis to determine whether the Bali population is distinct. Preliminary results indicate that these deer are apart of a diverse, but monophyletic group of Muntiacus Muntjac. The potential unique status of Muntjac deer in Bali Barat National Park, and the need to preserve them as part of the natural resource base that constitutes the Indonesian archipelago increased the importance of this study of the ecosystem and social system surrounding Bali Barat National Park.

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Hickman, Louise D. "Patients, carers and nurses : collaborators in development of a new model of nursing care for older persons in the acute care setting." Thesis, View thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:48031.

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Globally the population is ageing and as a consequence people are living longer with multiple chronic conditions. A range of factors, including decreased lengths of hospital stay and a greater focus on community based care, has led to an increasing acuity of patients admitted to acute care settings, many with complex care needs. To date, models of nursing care in acute settings have been configured to focus on acute, procedural care and do not meet the unique needs of the older person. In order to ensure optimal health outcomes of older hospitalised people, nursing care needs to be responsive to the priorities and needs of patients and their families. This study sought to collaboratively develop a model of nursing care with nurse clinicians to improve the care of older people in the acute care setting. Model development was driven by an action research framework, using evidence-based principles and a comprehensive needs assessment. A three phased, mixed method design was embedded within the overarching conceptual and philosophical framework of action research. The first phase of the study comprised a needs assessment and allowed appraisal of the needs of patients as perceived by patients, carer’s and nurses, this was performed using the Caring Activity Scale [CAS]. Qualitative data and semi-structured interviews added depth to the survey data and qualified responses by confirming that patients thought that nurses did the best they could within a culture of busyness, while patients strived to maintain and sustain their own independence. Managing the discharge process and carer burden arose mainly from the carer semi-structured interviews only. Data revealed significant differences between patients, carer’s and nurses in relation to priority and satisfaction with care. Patients did not place a large importance on discharge care which contrasted with the focus of nursing initiatives. During the subsequent phases of the study a collaborative approach, using action research principles, was used to develop and implement a model of nursing care. A key feature of this model was the introduction of a team structure with a focus on patient centred care. Significant differences were identified in the pre model and post model patient groups in relation to satisfaction with care, with the post model group more satisfied than the pre group model group. Further, improvements in functional status and medication knowledge were demonstrated among patients cared for under the new model. This study has demonstrated that developing a model of care appropriate to the needs of patients, carer’s and nurses can be achieved through the use of action research principles. Study data illustrates the importance of collaboration, empowerment and change management principles in driving clinical improvement and patient satisfaction with care. The findings also underscore the importance of promoting and educating patients and carers as well as nurses about the importance of discharge planning to optimise post-discharge health outcomes.

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Billah, Mamun. "Staff perception on the impact of management control system changes in altering operating behaviour to align with strategic imperatives : a university case study." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:38840.

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The thesis explored the attempts of management to respond to stakeholder pressures through selection of strategies supported by revised management control systems. Particular emphasis was on understanding the implementation of the management control system in its organisational context. As part of that, the study examined the effectiveness of these efforts to realigning staff behaviour to match the strategic goals. Over the past three decades the rapid changes in political and economic environmental (external and internal) factors put pressures on the universities to adopt strategies, policies and performance measurement systems similar to any business organisation and this was also reflected in the change in leadership (management) positions within the organisation. The replication of the private sector performance measurement systems in the newly adopted MCS has significantly changed the reporting structures, responsibility and accountability measures of universities by replacing the traditional collegial-based model with a much more centralised management-imposed style. However, it is not known whether staff equally perceived the same pressures as legitimate enough for the implementation of the dramatic reconstitution and there is very little understanding of staff perceptions on how many of these factors were responsible for strategic changes in the higher education sectors. The motivation for the research therefore originated from curiosity to understand whether/how the staff at different levels perceived the impact of those strategic changes and whether they have significantly changed operational behaviours. An element of this case study was to identify, from staff perceptions, the major external and internal factors responsible for strategic changes of a university and their consequential impact on the Management Control Systems (MCS). It also addressed whether and/or how the change in the MCS has changed the operational behaviour of staff to achieve the University’s strategic goals. The study is based on a social constructionist approach and has utilised the intellectual merits of Institutional Theory and Resource Dependence Theory to understand the legitimacy and resource dependency aspects of the change process. The two main theories have been complemented with the use of Silence Theory to understand the changes in staff operational behaviours. It is expected the in-depth understanding provided by the study would help in future strategy development and the implementation process with a stronger focus on the behavioural aspects of change. The major findings of the study show that the three groups of interviewees displayed a mix of attitudes towards identifying the major influential factors. The Government influence was identified as the strongest external factor that regulated the University’s responses to the remaining influential factors. It was identified that staff attitudes towards any external factor was not influenced by the merit of that factor but rather the way the University implemented the changes within the organisation. Some staff at both the mid-level and the operational level displayed negative attitudes towards how the strategic changes were implemented. The study identified perception gaps among the three levels of staff on the impact of the Management Control Systems on staff operational behaviours. It was identified that the overall impact of the MCS changes tended to show the behaviour of the operating level group was often goal incongruent although the formal reporting indicators showed the opposite. The internal resource allocation process had been used as the major lever of control. Tone of communication had also been used by the top management as a control tactic. Decoupling behaviours emerged from the major external pressure (government) and was adopted by different levels of individuals in different ways. These differences created confusion and contributed to the perception gap between the top management and operating level staff. One of the most important findings of the study is the level of covert resistance among operating level staff. A significant number of them adopted the ‘silent treatment’ as a resistance strategy that had affected achievement of strategic goals; a behaviour that was overlooked and/or neglected by the management. The study also found that the strategy implementation based on the new business model approach adopted by the University was not accepted by staff as it conflicted with their traditional values. In this case it was found that the emphasis placed on the technical aspects of the MCS was inadequate in addressing the behavioural elements of achieving goal congruence.

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Assiri, Ahmad. "The use of metaphors in political feature articles translated form English into Arabic : a contrastive-critical discourse analysis." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:44664.

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Metaphors constitute a key element of political discourse in just about any language. That being said, little has been done to investigate the use of metaphors in political-feature articles translated from English into Arabic. Therefore, with the aim of analysing how metaphors are employed in such political-feature articles, a set of three feature articles: (1) authentic Arabic feature articles, (2) authentic English feature articles, (3) and the translations of the English feature articles into Arabic, was examined to investigate how writers employ metaphors in each of those datasets. The authentic texts, written in both Arabic and English, involve Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in which texts are analysed in order to examine how writers in both languages employ metaphors in the original texts. The translated texts from English into Arabic involve CDA and Contrastive Analysis (CA) wherein texts are analysed before being compared and contrasted with the authentic texts. The results of the study show a significant level of reliance on metaphors for communicating political messages with the target audiences in the STs. This, in turn, requires an adequate translation from English into Arabic so as to preserve the intended messages. In other words, the present study shows the critical importance of accurately translating political metaphors from English into Arabic, which could be further justified from the perspective of conveying the most appropriate and accurate message to the target audience.

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Peel, Nicole. "Young people in foster care and their leisure : tools for living independently." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:52999.

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This thesis utilises a case study method with a small cohort of young people in foster care to generate an explanation of how leisure can be used beneficially to move to and through their transition from care to independent living at 18 years of age. The foster care environment, as a sub-set of Out-of-Home Care (OOHC), has been described as complex, regulated and one in which those in care have at times little or no control over important aspects of their lives. Indeed, it has been reported that young people in foster care are sometimes told by those in authority such as teachers that they need not concern themselves with ambition or aspiration because their life choices are already limited by their situation and their environment. Nevertheless, there are two sides to foster care and the second side involves supportive birth families, foster families, teachers, counsellors, case workers and friendships. As well, there is an inherent optimism among those in care reported by some authors. This inherent optimism, frequently expressed through leisure, was found to be well established in the great majority of the twelve case studies undertaken. This optimism is evident in the study as an underpinning of the willingness of participants to look to the future, to plan, to understand their leisure environment, to actively apply personally held cognitive skills and to generate outcomes and experiences that were useful to them. A number of interesting factors relevant to the use of leisure by young people in foster care have been articulated in the study. It is noted, for example, that the participants were using a range of cognitive resources to date unreported in the literature on foster care or OOHC and only reported as a limited allied concept in the leisure literature. However, the small amount of work in the leisure literature was not undertaken in regards to foster care. The use of personal cognitive resources was found to be widespread and multifaceted within the cohort studied. These resources were not leisure specific and while their application was, it does not need be. In effect then, participants were using, or creating and using, and practicing the use of sets of cognitive resources applicable to independent living after transition from care at the age of 18.

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Zhao, Chenchen. "A conserved chloroplast retrograde signal regulates stomatal closure for drought tolerance in plants." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:51886.

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Stomata are the pores on leaves that are responsible for transpiration and exchange of gases with the surrounding atmosphere. In agriculture, about 90% of transpirational water loss is via these tiny pores of various crops. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms involved in stomatal closure will potentially provide important clues for breeding crops with high water use efficiency and drought tolerance. This thesis aimed to understand mechanisms from both physiological and molecular aspects of a chloroplast retrograde signal [3’-phosphoadenosine-5’-phosphate (PAP) and 3’,5’- bisphosphate nucleotidase 1 (SAL1)] that enhances plant drought tolerance by regulating stomatal closure.

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Nikesitch, Nicholas. "The roles of the unfolded protein response (UPR) and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) in the pathogenesis and treatment of multiple myeloma." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:47352.

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Multiple myeloma (MM) remains as a predominantly incurable malignancy despite high-dose chemotherapy, autologous stem cell transplant and novel agents. MM is a genetically heterogeneous disease with increasing genetic complexity as the disease progresses to a more aggressive stage. The disease is characterised by the proliferation of plasma cell clone/s, and the continual production of immunoglobulin fragments, known as paraprotein. The malignancy most commonly affects an aged population with approximately 1200 new cases diagnosed in Australia each year. The introduction of proteasome inhibitors (PIs), such as bortezomib (Bz), has improved the life expectancy of MM patients significantly. However, not all MM patients respond to Bz. The response rate to Bz and dexamethasome in newly diagnosed MM is about 40-80%, while only 30% in relapsed/refractory MM. Therefore, relapsed refractory MM, in particular those who are refractory to proteasome inhibitors, remain the biggest hurdle in treating the disease. Myeloma cells are highly dependent upon the unfolded protein response (UPR) to modulate ER stress levels and restore cellular proteostasis. The excessive levels of paraprotein produced by myeloma cells surpass the ERs protein folding ability, leading to proteotoxicity and ER stress. The removal of protein levels by proteasomal degradation is one way in which the UPR in myeloma cells reduces ER stress levels, whilst also orchestrating the reduction of gene transcription and protein translation. The activation of the UPR is regulated through three endoplasmic reticulum transmembrane proteins: IRE- 1 (inositol-requiring enzyme-1), PERK (double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR) - like endoplasmic reticulum kinase) and ATF6 (activating transcription factor 6). One of the most important regulators of this pathway, downstream of IRE1, is XBP-1 (X-box Binding Protein 1). XBP-1 is not only critical in the activation and regulation of the UPR, but is also important in secretory cells, as well as being necessary in plasma cell differentiation. During UPR activation, XBP-1 is activated through the splicing of a 26bp intron from XBP-1 mRNA into its active isoform. This is facilitated by IRE1, but can also be achieved by ATF6. The expression of XBP-1 is able to predict PI sensitivity in MM patients. The mRNA expression of both the total amount and spliced (active) isoform of XBP-1 are substantially reduced under increasing Bz resistance in MM, although XBP-1 is not a direct target of Bz. Its expression is possibly a surrogate marker for dependence on the UPR in MM. Therefore, an alternative stress mechanism is likely to be compensating reduced UPR activity and alleviating ER stress in Bz resistance. It is possible that chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is compensating the UPR in Bz resistance. CMA is a highly specific degradation pathway responsible for the removal of damaged and unwanted soluble cytosolic proteins. The CMA pathway is already known to be important in modulating oxidative stress, nutrient starvation, and eliminating damaged proteins. The activity of CMA is directly proportional to the expression of LAMP2A, as LAMP2A is the rate-limiting factor in CMA activity. The expression of LAMP2A is known to be upregulated in a variety of tumours relative to untransformed cells, and also promotes tumour proliferation. LAMP2A protein expression is also significantly higher in a number of tumour tissues relative to their surrounding untransformed healthy tissue, thereby establishing the importance of CMA in tumour biology. The purpose of this project was to improve the existing understanding surrounding the role of the UPR in Bz sensitivity in MM. The project further aimed to determine the importance of CMA in Bz resistance, and whether CMA compensated the UPR in Bz resistant myeloma cells, conferring resistance. We hypothesised that reduced dependence on the UPR mediates Bz resistance in MM. We further hypothesised that CMA would be upregulated in Bz resistant cells, which subsequently would compensate the UPR in alleviating ER stress. Therefore, the inhibition of CMA in Bz resistant cells was hypothesised to result in cell death, providing a novel therapeutic target in treating Bz resistance in MM.

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Moran, Frances. "Perceived barriers, facilitators and patterns of physical activity of older old adults living in assisted retirement accommodation." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:36883.

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There is little data on the physical activity and perceived barriers and facilitators of physical activity of the older old living in assisted care. Physical activity is known to play a key role in healthy ageing and people aged 85 years and older are the largest growing proportion of the population. This study aims to: Identify perceived barriers and facilitators to participating in physical activity for the older old living in assisted care accommodation compared to independent living; assess the relationship of place of residence (assisted care versus independent living) to self-reported and objectively measured physical activity levels and functional indicators (strength and balance); and to assess the value of self-reported physical activity measures in this population, specifically the convergent validity between self-reported and objectively measured physical activity and association with functional indicators. A cross sectional study was undertaken using qualitative and quantitative methods. Focus groups, physical activity and functional indicator measures were conducted with a convenience sample (n=40) of non-demented residents currently living in assisted care (mean age=89.2years) and independent living (mean age =78.9 years) in a southern metropolitan Sydney retirement village. Barrier and facilitator themes were derived from thematic analysis of focus groups’ transcripts. Physical activity measures included average steps per day, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light intensity physical activity (LIPA) and sitting behaviour measured by Sense Wear accelerometry and self-reported physical activity measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short-form; IPAQ). Health concerns, fear of injury and motivation were overarching themes of barriers to participation; however, the frequency of these themes differed by place of residence. People living independently more often identified fear of injury and lack of motivation as barriers to physical activity. People living in assisted care more often identified health concerns as barriers to participating in physical activity. The social and physical environments were found to be key facilitators of physical activity. Social support as a facilitator was important for both genders. Staff involvement was identified as a key facilitator of physical activity for people living in assisted care. Whereas people living independently identified other residents or companions as important in facilitating physical activity. Aspects of the physical environment that were reported to increase participation in physical activity for independent living participants were short walking distances to facilities such as the gym, shops and parks. For the assisted living group, aspects of the physical environment that were reported to increase participation in physical activity accessibility of paths and the strategic placement of seats (seating situated with short distances between them). Both groups identified pleasant scenery as an important facilitator of physical activity. This pilot investigation suggests that to keep older old adults physically active, social support and staff involvement are important facilitators for physical activity participation. Attention should be directed to making the physical environment safe and conducive to physical activity participation. This may involve having level paths for walking and strategically placed seating to allow for rest periods. In the older old it appears that increased hours of sitting are related to functional limitations. Therefore, attention should be directed to encouraging older old adults to sit for fewer hours during the day and participate in some form of physical activity. Significant differences in age-adjusted balance and strength capacity were noted between people living in assisted care and independent living accommodation. People living independently had greater leg strength and better balance than people living in assisted care. By contrast, the only differences in age-adjusted physical activity patterns were greater average steps per day for the independent living group. The agreement between MVPA, steps per day and functional indicators (strength and balance) was low. No associations were found between steps per day or MVPA and measures of functional indicators. Sitting behaviour was inversely associated with functional indicators. That is, more hours spent sitting was correlated with decreased measures of strength and balance. Comparison between IPAQ (self-report) and SenseWear (objective) measures indicated a clear pattern of error in overestimating moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with the IPAQ. The assisted living group overestimated physical activity levels on the IPAQ to a greater degree than the independently living group. There was, however, greater agreement between the IPAQ and SenseWear when measuring sitting behaviour. The participants were able to recall more accurately the amount of time they spent sitting compared to the objective sitting measures. In this study, self –reported data of physical activity should be taken with great caution in the older old population, especially in assisted care, as they overestimated physical activity levels using the IPAQ a greater degree than those living independently. This study found poor convergent validity between self-reported physical activity measures (IPAQ) and objectively measured (SenseWear) physical activity levels. Functional indicators appear unrelated to measures of physical activity such as MVPA and steps per day highlighting the inability of these aerobic dimensions to influence strength and balance. Strength and balance have been found to be key factors in healthy ageing and preventing falls, hence, it is important to include in questionnaires for older adults, specific questions on strength and balance activities in this population.

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Cowie, Erin. "The inﬂuence of iron concentration on the production of pyoverdine by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in mono and mixed bioﬁlm cultures". Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:52076.

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Most species of bacteria have the ability to form biofilms, communities of bacterial cells that aggregate in a self-made matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), that allow them to adhere to inert and organic substances (Banin, Vasil and Greenberg, 2005; Lin et al., 2012). The biofilm is perceived to be the dominant form of bacterial life in the environment (Donlan and Costerton, 2002) and in comparison to planktonic or free swimming cells, sessile or biofilm cells often have a higher tolerance to antibiotics and host defense mechanisms, alluding to their importance in human health and disease (Hentzer, Eberl and Givskov, 2005). One of the many factors regulating biofilm growth and formation is the presence or absence of iron (Lin et al., 2012). Iron is an essential nutrient for growth, in order to acquire iron many bacteria produce siderophores to sequester iron from host proteins and the environment (Rédly and Poole, 2003). Pyoverdine (PVD) is one of two hydroxamate classed siderophores produced by P. aeruginosa (Meyer et al., 1997; Schalk et al., 2001) and regulated in part by Fur (Imperi, Banin). While iron concentration, pyoverdine production and biofilm formation have been studied in relation to P. aeruginosa, studies of this complex relationship has not yet been conducted in relation to mixed cultures. The aim of this research was to study the influence of iron concentration on the production of pyoverdine by Psuedomonas aeruginosa in mono and mixed biofilm cultures with Staphylococcus aureus Newman strain. An iron assay kit determined the concentration of iron in 1% TSB to be 1.62μM. Pyoverdine levels in P. aeruginosa biofilms were higher in 0.1% TSB biofilms than 1% TSB biofilms. In planktonic growth, pyoverdine concentration was higher in 1% TSB. Crystal violet assays were used to determine the biofilm forming capabilities of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus Newman in differing iron conditions. P. aeruginosa formed more biofilm in 1% TSB, and formed more biofilm than S. aureus Newman in both media. S. aureus, surprisingly, formed more biofilm in 1% TSB as opposed to 0.1%TSB regardless of the fact that S. aureus Newman was been proven to promote biofilm formation only in low iron environments (Johnson, Cockayne and Morrissey, 2008; Lin et al., 2012). The amount of CFU of bacteria in mixed cultures was determined through sonicating biofilm cells into buffer and spread plating. P. aeruginosa dominated the biofilm growth in all 0.1% TSB mixed biofilms, however in 1% TSB mixed culture, S. aureus Newman produced more biofilm than P. aeruginosa when inoculated first. Due to interference within the co-cultures, the pyoverdine levels within the mixed culture biofilms were not established. Further investigation of pyoverdine concentrations in mixed culture biofilms of different iron concentrations would allow for a better understanding of the complex interrelationship between pyoverdine production, biofilm formation and iron concentration. Three factors that contribute significantly to the bacteria’s ability to cause infection and mortality.

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Korotta-Gamage, Shashika M. "Improvement of chlorine stability by natural organic matter removal using a combination of biologically activated carbon with coagulation in drinking water treatment." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:51708.

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This study focuses on the feasibility of biologically activated carbon (BAC) to enhance natural organic matter (NOM) removal by subsequent coagulation. This will reduce chlorine demand and it is expected that the removal would also reduce disinfection by-products (DBP). The NOM is a heterogeneous mixture of complex organic materials abundantly occurs in all natural water sources. These organic matters are the potential precursors for the formation of carcinogenic DBP and cause several other water quality problems. Aimed mainly at removing particles in the water, the coagulation process, the major conventional water treatment method, removes only a small amount of higher molecular weight (MW) fractions of NOM. To remove a higher amount of organic matter, larger doses of coagulant, such as ferric or aluminium salts, need to be added. In a normal water treatment plant, coagulation tank is followed by flocculation tank and sedimentation basin to remove the flocs formed. With the requirement to process water quickly, especially in the treatment of low turbidity water the sedimentation tank is avoided and only smaller doses of coagulant are applied and subjected to direct filtration, such as in treatment plants of Sydney Water. Hence, the challenge is to remove more NOM effectively and increase the chlorine stability without increasing the coagulant dose. The BAC process is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly water treatment method for removing biodegradable organic matters (BOM). It is used as a polishing step followed by coagulation or ozonation. It is well known that BAC removes NOM of hydrophilic nature and smaller MW which is less amenable to removal by the coagulation and many toxic and endocrine compounds which are not otherwise removed. In addition, it is known the biological activities increase soluble microbial products (SMP) which in turn helped in aiding the NOM removal by subsequent coagulation in recycled wastewater. The study, for the first time, explores the feasibility of using BAC as a pre-treatment of surface water to traditional coagulation process, equipped with direct filtration.

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Lazar, Noor. "Sustainability reporting and practice in the Australian forestry industry : an environmental NGO approach." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:41012.

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Sustainability reporting has often been examined from the corporate perspective (Higgins, Milne & van-Gamberg, 2014; Mikkila & Toppinen, 2008; Milne & Patten, 2002). However, a review of the literature indicates that, when assessing sustainability reports, limited attention has been given to the views of stakeholders, particularly those of environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) (Deegan & Blomquist, 2006; Joensuu, Koskela & Onkila, 2015; Tilt, 2007). This study uncovers the ENGO perspective on sustainability disclosure and practice in the case of the Australian forestry industry, and identifies the multiple strategies ENGOs use to influence corporate reporting, as well as the sustainability practices. The Australian forestry industry is represented by the five forestry corporations listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). The environmental stakeholder perspectives are taken from the six forestry-focused ENGOs operating nationally in Australia, and the perspectives of eight third-party commentators are also included to shed light on the relationships between the forestry corporations and the ENGOs. The commentators who participated in the study included academics, journalists and sustainability consultants. This is a qualitative study and draws on a range of different sources including web-based materials by and about the forestry corporations, as well as, transcripts of interviews with representatives of the ENGOs and third-party commentators. Data was also sourced from a reflective journal maintained by the researcher throughout the study. The web-based materials were analysed using sustainability tests found in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic approach and the data from the reflective journal was used to add context and colour to the interpretation of the secondary and primary data. The findings suggest that sustainability reports were understood by ENGOs to operate as a key tactic by forestry corporations to legitimise their activities. There were discrepancies between the sustainability reports of these corporations and their sustainability practices, and this led to the ENGOs adopting a range of different strategies in their interactions and engagement with the corporations. The ENGOs adopted collaborative strategies when a corporation was open to seeking ENGOs input about its sustainability reporting. But the ENGOs more frequently adopted confrontational approaches when a corporation did not respond to their sustainability concerns. In these cases, the corporation often avoided engaging with the ENGO when it raised concerns about the corporation’s activities, for example, logging native forests. The findings suggest that the ENGOs’ concerns were not limited to the forestry corporations’ reporting; they were also interested in influencing their sustainability practices. The study makes two contributions to knowledge. First, it provides a framework for environmental groups to use when seeking to influence sustainability reporting and sustainability practice. Each ENGO has a specific objective, some may want to influence the reporting of a corporation and others are more concerned with the business’s sustainability practices, or both reporting and practices. The framework is designed to allow environmental groups to understand the strategies that could enable them to meet their sustainability objective(s) in the forestry industry. Second, the thesis proposes a specific forestry industry supplement for the GRI guidelines on sustainability reporting. The supplement support a corporation to produce more balanced sustainability information and appreciate the need for greater stakeholder engagement in the reporting process. By addressing the qualitative characteristics of “balance” and “stakeholder engagement” in accordance to the GRI guidelines would ensure closer alignment between a forestry corporation’s reporting and its practices. The sector supplement can also act as a diagnostic tool to enhance the transparency of the quality and content dimensions of forestry corporations’ sustainability reports.

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Naz, Sabrina. "Household air pollution and under-five mortality in South Asia : epidemiology and policies for prevention." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:48488.

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Household air pollution (HAP), predominantly from cooking fuel, is a major public health hazard and one of the leading causes of respiratory illness and death among young children under-five years of age. Approximately, 3 billion people still rely on solid fuels (e.g. wood, crop residue, coal, animal dung etc.) for their everyday cooking and heating. Exposure to HAP resulting from indoor smoke from solid fuels is a substantial cause of respiratory illness and death among young children in low and middle-income countries, and globally, more than 2.9 million annual deaths have been attributed to HAP. Very few studies in the South Asian region have addressed HAP related child mortality outcomes, which is an ongoing public health concern. Most of the studies in this region have mainly focused on HAP related morbidity outcomes among young children. This thesis examined the association between HAP from cooking fuel and under-five mortality in South Asia by using nationally representative surveys. Specifically, a series of studies for Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal were conducted in this thesis to investigate the following: (1) to establish the strength of the association between HAP from use of cooking fuel and under-five mortality in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal; (2) to investigate trends in HAP and its impact on under-five mortality over time in South Asia; (3) to identify the role of key environmental and behavioral factors (for example, breastfeeding status, place of residence and location of kitchen) that might affect the level of HAP exposure from use of cooking fuel associated with under-five mortality within South Asian countries; (4) to assess the attributable risk associated with HAP from use of cooking fuel and under-five mortality, and to examine theoretical scenarios assessing the potential impact of interventions to reduce HAP exposure. A series of nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets for Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal were used to address these specific objectives.

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Yuan, Gege. "Development of activity-based language learning of Chinese for a primary school in western Sydney : a participatory action research study." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:57130.

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This study explores the use of activity-based learning in the Chinese as a Foreign Language classroom, for young learners in the western Sydney region. The research takes account of current opportunities and the challenges arising from language policy in the Australian context. Activity-based learning is the focus of this research, with hands-on experiments and various classroom activities used rather than having students passively listening to the teacher. In this study, to engage students and to improve their Chinese learning, a wide range of activities, using music, drama games and visual arts, were implemented in the classroom. This thesis aims to answer the following three research questions: How can activity-based learning be used to teach Chinese language to learners who do not have a Chinese language background, in a western Sydney primary school? What factors influence the implementation of an activity-based approach of this kind? What evidence of learning, in relation to outcomes listed in the NSW Chinese K-10 syllabus for Stage 2 students, can be ascertained following the implementation of an activity- based approach to learning Chinese language? This study applied a qualitative methodology using action research with a teacher-as-researcher. The action research involved planning, acting, observing, reflecting and re-planning in a spiral cycle. The teacher-researcher, also a beginning teacher, fostered her own professional learning through reflection, on a weekly basis, on her own teaching practice and used the action research mode to improve the teaching activities. Two cycles of data were collected from a variety of sources, including: feedback from the classroom teacher obtained through observation and interviews; the teacher-researcher’s weekly reflective journal: student focus groups; and checklists completed by students at the end of each cycle. This research shows that the use of an activity-based learning approach for young learners in western Sydney has a significant impact on their Chinese language learning. Such approaches can engage students emotionally, behaviourally and cognitively through a variety of classroom activities. By using various activities such as simple drama games, Chinese songs and visual arts activities, students have achieved the outcomes outlined in the Chinese syllabus, in a relaxing and productive learning environment. Different classroom activities, incorporating various art forms, make Chinese easier to learn and remember, which helps to keep students emotionally engaged and to maintain their interest in learning Chinese. Hence, it is an effective way to motivate students to continue studying Chinese at the next stage. In the meantime, the teacher-researcher’ s professional learning has been enhanced in the process of conducting this research with the help of the teacher-as-researcher mode of action research.

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Wesumperuma, Ashini. "Multi-dimensional business process optimisation for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission management." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:36927.

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Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission from activities conducted within business organisations is a major contributor to climate change. A business process is a set of tasks and activities. At business process level, business objectives such as cost of production and time to market are managed and optimised by organisational middle level managers. At present, GHG emission related information is not available to facilitate decision making at process level to achieve GHG related objectives. For organisations to remain sustainable and decision making to be effective, managers need a holistic approach to manage and optimise GHG emissions together with other business objectives. Therefore, this research addresses the overarching knowledge gap in business process level GHG emission modelling, calculation, reporting, and optimising. The purpose of this thesis is to undertake a qualitative and quantitative examination of managing GHG emissions to achieve multi-dimensional business process optimisation while considering other process level objectives like cost and time, to support and empower organisational middle level managers in decision making. In the pursuit of finding a solution to this problem the researcher has created an artefact, “Green Multi-Objective Process Optimisation (Green MOPO) Framework”. This framework extends the boundaries of human and organisational capabilities to solve the real world research problem. The framework consists of four major stages, each sub-divided into steps. Each step provided guidance to compute relevant parameters to assist in achieving GHG emission related objectives alongside other process level objectives. The researcher investigated theories relating to each step and discovered gaps in knowledge that has to be addressed to complete each stage. By addressing these gaps six constituent artefacts were produced. o Current emission measuring tools and guidelines are not aimed at measuring emissions of organisational processes. Constituent Artefact-I assists to identify a business process and its different abstraction levels as activity, sub-process, process, and to apportion shared or overhead emissions, e.g. lighting and heating. o Constituent Artefact-II is a tool and a methodology named Green Activity Based Management (ABM) that allows GHG, time, cost modelling and further analysis, calculation, and reporting at different process levels. o Constituent Artefact-III is a set of formulas that allows GHG emissions to be calculated and consolidated at different business process abstraction levels identified by the first artefact. o Current reporting tools only offer top-down organisational level reporting summaries and are not adequately detailed for middle management to manage GHG emissions. Constituent Artefact-IV is an international standards based reporting tool that allows bottom-up reporting of GHG emissions, to provide a bird’s eye view of emissions and their sources. o Currently, there is no proper methodology to perform optimisation simultaneously for several dimensions including GHGs. To introduce such optimisation, possible process level changes need to be captured. The study first develops a taxonomy of business process element changes which then helps to derive a multi-objective mathematical model/formula that captures these changes. Constituent Artefact-V proposes selection criteria for an optimisation technique that can optimise the derived formula. The artefact compares and contrasts a set of multi-objective optimisation techniques to select one that best suits the application context. o Constituent Artefact-VI solves the multi-objective formula by applying the optimisation technique against the derived formula. This optimisation resulted in a set of optimal solutions. Using computer based simulation, the artefact relates the optimal solutions back to the business domain, and specifies what the optimisation parameters and their values are in a manner that is clearer and concise to business managers. This research employs the Design Science Research paradigm. In design science research, knowledge and understanding of the design problem and its solution is gained while building an artefact and during the application of that artefact. The research evaluates the main artefact, Green MOPO Framework against real-life business processes in the Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) package manufacturing sector. This type of manufacturing processes consumes a large quantity of energy and hence greatly contributes to GHG emissions. The thesis showcases that the main artefact is useful for the specific purpose it was built for and relates the performance to the intended use of the artefact. The thesis clearly pin points the contributions to the knowledgebase and to practice from the main artefact and its constituent artefacts. It shows how these artefacts add extensions to existing theories and provide new and innovative solutions. The study identified and demonstrated the implications of understanding GHG emission management at a business process level, which paves the way to continuous business process improvement and achievement of multi-dimensional business process optimisation and organisational sustainability. The threat from climate change is serious, growing and urgent. Hence, any contributions from this research will help the present generation to better respond to this major global challenge that shows no boundaries. Further, alongside contributions to research and practice, the limitations of this study opens up many important future research avenues.

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Parajuli, Nawadita. "Towards electrodeless EMG linear envelope signal recording for myo-activated prostheses control." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:56643.

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After amputation, the residual muscles of the limb may function in a normal way, enabling the electromyogram (EMG) signals recorded from them to be used to drive a replacement limb. These replacement limbs are called myoelectric prosthesis. The prostheses that use EMG have always been the first choice for both clinicians and engineers. Unfortunately, due to the many drawbacks of EMG (e.g. skin preparation, electromagnetic interferences, high sample rate, etc.); researchers have aspired to find suitable alternatives. One proposes the dry-contact, low-cost sensor based on a force-sensitive resistor (FSR) as a valid alternative which instead of detecting electrical events, detects mechanical events of muscle. FSR sensor is placed on the skin through a hard, circular base to sense the muscle contraction and to acquire the signal. Similarly, to reduce the output drift (resistance) caused by FSR edges (creep) and to maintain the FSR sensitivity over a wide input force range, signal conditioning (Voltage output proportional to force) is implemented. This FSR signal acquired using FSR sensor can be used directly to replace the EMG linear envelope (an important control signal in prosthetics applications). To find the best FSR position(s) to replace a single EMG lead, the simultaneous recording of EMG and FSR output is performed. Three FSRs are placed directly over the EMG electrodes, in the middle of the targeted muscle and then the individual (FSR1, FSR2 and FSR3) and combination of FSR (e.g. FSR1+FSR2, FSR2-FSR3) is evaluated. The experiment is performed on a small sample of five volunteer subjects. The result shows a high correlation (up to 0.94) between FSR output and EMG linear envelope. Consequently, the usage of the best FSR sensor position shows the ability of electrode less FSR-LE to proportionally control the prosthesis (3-D claw). Furthermore, FSR can be used to develop a universal programmable muscle signal sensor that can be suitable to control the myo-activated prosthesis.

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Alqarni, Saad. "A sociolinguistic investigation of compliments and compliment responses among young Saudis." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:43036.

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This research investigates, from a sociolinguistic perspective, the speech acts of compliments and compliment responses as realized by eighty Saudi students who study English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The speech acts were investigated in the student’s use of English as their second language. It aims to identify the semantic and structural formulas used by the participants to express compliments in English and to respond to compliments. The study also examines the roles of the topic of conversation in the realization of compliments. Furthermore, the study investigates gender differences with regard to the use of compliments and compliment responses. A discourse completion test (DCT) consisting of twelve situations was used to collect data from the participants. The analysis of the responses found that the dominant form of compliments used was unbound semantic formulas that were not influenced by the social relationship between the participants. Topics that are socially delicate result in the use of more implicit compliments than explicit compliments. The religious norms require politeness in the interactions between people, and this is reflected in the prevalence of implicit compliments. There is a wide range of compliments used with no fixed pattern of usage. Compliments tend to be given using adjectives rather than verbs. Gender did not appear to affect the nature of usage of compliments and responses. The research suggests that the cultural influences of the English language and western culture may be influencing how young Saudis use compliments.

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Watson, Karen. "Lavandula Angustifolia and Melissa Officinalis for agitation management in older adults : a mixed method study." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:44603.

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Purpose: This study was completed to provide evidence of effect for Lavender Angustifolia (Lavender) and Melissa Officinalis (Lemon Balm) essential oils as agitation managements for older people with and without a dementia diagnosis living in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs). This research further sought to explore nurse understanding of agitation management and the viability for nurse administered essential oils for behaviour management in residents living in RACFs. Method: The research was a three-phase sequential design consisting of two phases of semi-structured nurse interviews and a single blind randomised controlled trial [RCT]. Phase I involved semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 nurse participants, focusing on their understanding of agitation management, including the use of essential oils, and their understanding of and attitudes toward the conduct of research in the RACF environment. Findings influenced pre-trial nurse education, timing of intervention and data collection procedures of the Phase II RCT to best support the nurse and the success of the research. Phase II consisted of a 2x3 factorial design single blind RCT that investigated 49 residents with a history of agitation. Participants were allocated to group 1 residents with a dementia diagnosis or group 2 residents without dementia, as determined by their MMSE score or dementia diagnosis. Each resident was randomised within the group to a treatment sequence of Lavender, Lemon Balm or placebo Sunflower oil using a computerised random number generator. All residents received all treatments and as such acted as their own control. The trial was conducted over a 10-week period with residents receiving two drops of the assigned treatment oil daily for two weeks followed by a two-week washout period before commencing the consecutive treatment. Post trial, Phase III, involved semi structured interviews conducted with 10 nurses to identify perceived changes in agitation identified on their ward and influencing factors that effecting the conduct of this research conducted in the RACF. Behavioural and quality of life data were collected using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) and the Quality of Life-Alzheimer’s Disease (QoL-AD) (Finkel et al. 1992; Smart, Hermann, & Lanctot, 2011; Thorgrimsen et al., 2014a). Content analysis used word and phrase frequency to organise qualitative data into key concepts and themes in Phases I and III. While SPSS statistical software version 23 (IBM Corp, 2015) was used to conduct within group and a between groups ANOVA in Phase II. Results: This research identified differences in essential oils effect on agitation in residents with dementia and without dementia. Further this study provided evidence for the factors that influence nurse compliance to research as well as the practicality for nurse administration of essential oils as agitation managements for residents in the RACF environment. Phase I: Nurse’s identified various approaches to managing agitation in RACFs, the most frequently identified interventions being distraction (91%), providing space (64%) and medication (45%). More than two-thirds of nurses acknowledged agitation was managed differently in residents with and without a dementia diagnosis due to impaired communication (55%) or comprehension (55%). Nurses (50%) were supportive of research with barriers to compliance identified as demanding workload (50%), fear of reprisal (30%) and insufficient education on the research (20%). The provision of pre-trial nurse education (70%) was considered to facilitate compliance to research. Phase II: Despite reductions in agitation behaviours, Lavender or Lemon Balm did not significantly reduce agitation when compared independently to placebo. However, clinically significant difference was shown when Lavender and Lemon Balm treatments were compared in the effect difference between the with and without dementia groups on the NPI P=0.04, DF47 F(1, 4.39) Fc=4.05 and CMAI P=0.05 DF46.72 F(1,4.19) Fc=4.05. This significantly opposing difference is supported in the CMAI domain of physical aggressive behaviours P=0.02 DF47 F(1, 5.46) Fc=4.05 and NPI irritability P=0.02 DF37.56 F(1,5.65) Fc=4.11. A post hoc analyses demonstrates Lemon Balm to reduce NPI total agitation score P=0.02 DF35 T(1,5.61) Tc=2.03 and physical non-aggressive behaviours P=0.02 DF27 F(1,5.84) Tc=2.05 in residents without dementia when compared to Lavender and placebo. Lavender reduced physical non-aggressive behaviour in residents with dementia when compared to Lavender and placebo on post hoc analysis P=0.4 DF114 F(1,5.84) Tc=2.05. Lemon Balm was significantly less effective in reducing irritability in residents with dementia when compared to Lavender and placebo on post hoc analysis P=0.01 DF113 (1,7.75) Tc=1.98. Further a clinically significant reduction of physical non aggressive behaviour on the CMAI was demonstrated when the Lavender and Lemon Balm scores were combined in comparison to the placebo P=0.02 DF47 F(1,6.38) Fc=4.5. A clinically significant lower quality of life was reported in residents without dementia when compared to those with dementia independent of essential oil treatment QoL-AD P=0.03 DF34.23 F(1, 5.07) Fc=4.13. Phase III: The majority of nurses (90%) perceived essential oils had been effective in reducing agitation in the residents despite results of the single blind RCT revealing no significant effect. Half the nurses (50%) reported the oils were effective for some residents. This phase of the study also asked nurses to reflect on the process used to conduct this research project. The majority considered research process to be unobtrusive (60%), routinely timed (60%) with effective communication (40%) between researcher and nurses as positively support the research process in RACFs. Conclusion: These findings support a clinically significant opposing effect of the essential oils Lavender when compared to Lemon Balm in residents with dementia and without dementia. These results indicate that Lemon Balm may be effective in reducing agitation in residents without dementia and less effective in reducing irritability in residents with dementia. Further Lavender may be effective in reducing physical non-aggressive behaviours. Despite a reduction in the resident behaviour with treatment there was no clinically significant decline in agitation when Lavender or Lemon Balm was independently compared to placebo. Nurses maintained strong belief throughout the trial in the ability of the essential oils to reduce agitation in some residents. Facilitators of nurse compliance to research were identified as projects that provided research education were unobtrusive in the RACF environment, routinely timed with effective communication between researchers and nurses.

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Loomes, Steven. "Thinking across music learning contexts : developing a new research methodology framework by which to retrospectively examine musicians’ cumulative learning strategies." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:56547.

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Musicians often learn music from combinations of available music learning contexts (MLCs). Little is understood about how musicians relate content from one MLC to content from another/others to form cohesive understandings of musical concepts. Research into the ways in which we combine learning from multiple MLCs is required, but first, groundwork to develop an appropriate methodology to investigate musicians’ cumulative learning strategies is necessary. This propaedeutic study, framed by cumulative learning theory, implements constructivist grounded theory to refine a research framework for the retrospective investigation of music learning across contexts. Central to this framework is the use of mind maps and interviews as key forms of data collection. This study seeks the optimal combination of these two data sources to provide insights into the ways in which musicians relate content from one MLC to content from another/others. The research framework developed may be useful for application across a wide range of disciplines and, in music, understanding the learning strategies of musicians may facilitate further work into how to improve formal institutions’ curricula as well as teaching strategies employed in various MLCs.

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Feng, Mengyao. "A study on teaching Chinese vocabulary using a multimodal approach at a Western Sydney primary school." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:57948.

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This study explores multimodal pedagogy in teaching Chinese vocabulary at a Western Sydney primary school. It is designed as two cycled teacher’s action research. Data were collected from documents, observation, reflection journals and students’ focus groups. Through the teacher’s application of a series of designed multimodal activities in students’ vocabulary learning, this research found that multimodal pedagogy helped students’ comprehension and memorisation; improved their pronunciation accuracy and lowered anxiety over pronouncing vocabulary; and increased students’ willingness to write Chinese characters. The research findings suggest that multimodal teaching is effective in teaching Chinese as a foreign language class. However, some key factors need to be considered with the application. Firstly of all, the teacher should consider time management for multimodal activities, preparation of technical equipment and effective instruction on the rules of the multimodal activities at the beginning of a lesson. During the lesson, the teacher should consider appropriate scaffolding, competition element to be built in the activities and carefully monitoring student’s understanding. In addition, when assessing students’ learning, the teacher should consider proper feedback on students’ performance.

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Abtahi, Pouya. "Energy dissipating facade systems designed to reduce structural response during earthquakes." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:46780.

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Strong earthquakes cause severe shaking, mostly lateral, of the ground over a large area which imparts strong excitation to building structures. These earthquakes are extreme actions, from which buildings may not survive unless being properly designed in advance. In recent years, many new devices such as energy-absorber or isolation systems have been introduced. But, most of them have some disadvantages such as complexity of design and requirement of large spaces for installation and significant cost. To date the engineering community has seen structural facade systems as non-structural elements with a high aesthetic value and a barrier between the outdoor and indoor environments. As an integral part of buildings, they are susceptible to potential failure when subjected to severe environmental forces such as earthquake and high wind in case they are not designed properly. Seismic loads can potentially impose significant in-plane loading on the facade system and may lead to damage and breakage in the case of insufficient connection detailing and big inter-storey drifts. The role of facades in reducing energy use in a building has also been recognized and the industry is witnessing the emergence of many energy efficient facade systems. Despite these advancements, the facade has been rarely considered or designed as a potential earthquake-induced vibration absorber for structural buildings. Development and implementation of advanced facade systems for enhancing the seismic response of building structures have been a topic of debate for structural and architectural engineers for some time. The main idea here is to design and implement a seismic control method using a novel façade system, as an energy-absorbing device, to decrease the level of energy imparted to the main structure during seismic activities and hence reliance structural ductility to dissipate seismic energy. Various configurations and specifications of the proposed system are suggested in this thesis. Multiple design variations were evaluated as well. To prove the concept and find the optimum value of façade damper properties, a series of non-linear structural analysis and finite element modelling was conducted using SAP2000 and ANSYS program respectively. First, conventional façade brackets were replaced by the so-called sacrificial elements, which can have back and forth movements during earthquake excitations. Predefined plastic hinge behaviour is suggested for the façade bracket elements in a double skin façade system. Second, façade bracket properties in terms of stiffness and damping of the proposed system were optimized to obtain the desired response. Third, the potential of utilizing a movable exterior skin in a double-skin facade was investigated and it was found that with optimal allowance of façade in-plane movement and appropriate bracket stiffness, a substantial portion of earthquake-induced vibration energy can be dissipated, which could lead to avoiding expensive seismic designs. A series of dynamic time history analyses were carried out to determine the behaviour and response of the proposed system on typical concrete frame structures under different intensity earthquakes. SAP2000 and ANSYS programs were used for the numerical analyses in all phases of the feasibility study. The initial works demonstrated that the seismic response for low- and mid-rise structural buildings subjected to moderate to severe earthquakes can substantially be reduced by the introduction of a smart design of a double skin system. Application of flexible connections in façade systems can, if properly designed, reduce the inelastic deformation of structural models in comparison with the case without flexible connections.

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Hussain, Ashna. "Politics, poetry and pluralism : Bulleh Shah in the late Mughal Empire." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:51410.

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The Mughal Empire ruled the Indian sub-continent over the course of three centuries in a history defined by its religious and ethnic diversity. As part of their state-building project, the Mughals employed narratives of identity and belonging wherein different social, cultural and, to an extent, religious identities blended together. This thesis will focus on the historical importance of poetry as a socio-political tool through the work of a Punjabi poet, Bulleh Shah (1680-1757), in order to demonstrate the interconnections between the political, religious and cultural facets of the empire. Such an approach will highlight the relationship between the social and political dynamic of power to allow for a better understanding of the region. To this day, the legacy of Bulleh Shah remains of cultural relevance and importance, with his poetry serving as a cultural bridge between the religio-political divide of the Partition of India and Pakistan.

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Li, Ling. "Exploring the association memory method to make Chinese learnable for beginning learners in Australian schools : a novice Mandarin teacher's collaborative action research." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:37933.

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Improving learning efficiency of Chinese and making Chinese learning easier have been two of the most difficult issues in front of every Chinese language teacher around the world in years. In this case, the research aimed at applying association memory methods into Chinese teaching, which is to associate students’ prior knowledge with Chinese phonetic, semantic and cultural parts to increase their impression on newly learnt Chinese knowledge and maximize their learning efficiency. In this collaborative action research, the teacher-researcher observed students’ performance at two participant schools during her teaching period and wrote reflection journal every week to record students’ behavior as well as her professional teaching skills. In the meantime, she interviewed the classroom teacher in each school and received their feedback about association memory methods to verify her research. Based on her four terms’ study, association memory methods have been proved as a valid teaching method in Chinese language teaching through the analysis of the data and effectively improves students’ learning efficiency during teaching process, which also can be implemented into other language teaching fields.

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Beadle, Julianne M. "Contributions of visual speech, visual distractors, and cognition to speech perception in noise for younger and older adults." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:55879.

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Older adults report that understanding speech in noisy situations (e.g., a restaurant) is difficult. Repeated experiences of frustration in noisy situations may cause older adults to withdraw socially, increasing their susceptibility to mental and physical illness. Understanding the factors that contribute to older adults’ difficulty in noise, and in turn, what might be able to alleviate this difficulty, is therefore an important area of research. The experiments in this thesis investigated how sensory and cognitive factors, in particular attention, affect older and younger adults’ ability to understand speech in noise. First, the performance of older as well as younger adults on a standardised speech perception in noise task and on a series of cognitive and hearing tasks was assessed. A correlational analysis indicated that there was no reliable association between pure-tone audiometry and speech perception in noise performance but that there was some evidence of an association between auditory attention and speech perception in noise performance for older adults. Next, a series of experiments were conducted that aimed to investigate the role of attention in gaining a visual speech benefit in noise. These auditory-visual experiments were largely motivated by the idea that as the visual speech benefit is the largest benefit available to listeners in noisy situations, any reduction in this benefit, particularly for older adults, could exacerbate difficulties understanding speech in noise. For the first auditory-visual experiments, whether increasing the number of visual distractors displayed affected the visual speech benefit in noise for younger and older adults when the SNR was -6dB (Experiment 1) and when the SNR was -1dB (Experiment 2) was tested. For both SNRs, the magnitude of older adults’ visual speech benefit reduced by approximately 50% each time an additional visual distractor was presented. Younger adults showed the same pattern when the SNR was - 6dB, but unlike older adults, were able to get a full visual speech benefit when one distractor was presented and the SNR was -1dB. As discussed in Chapter 3, a possible interpretation of these results is that combining auditory and visual speech requires attentional resources. To follow up the finding that visual distractors had a detrimental impact on the visual speech benefit, particularly for older adults, the experiment in Chapter 4 tested whether presenting a salient visual cue that indicated the location of the target talker would help older adults get a visual speech benefit. The results showed that older adults did not benefit from the cue, whereas younger adults did. As older adults should have had sufficient time to switch their gaze and/or attention to the location of the target talker, the failure to find a cueing effect suggests that age related declines in inhibition likely affected older adults’ ability to ignore the visual distractor. The final experiment tested whether the visual speech benefit and the visual distraction effect found for older adults in Chapter 4 transferred to a conversationcomprehension style task (i.e., The Question-and-Answer Task). The results showed that younger and older adults’ performance improved on an auditory-visual condition in comparison to an auditory-only condition and that this benefit did not reduce when a visual distractor was presented. To explain the absence of a distraction effect, several properties of the visual distractor presented were discussed. Together, the experiments in this thesis suggest that the roles of attention and visual distraction should be considered when trying to understand the communication difficulties that older adults experience in noisy situations.

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Okour, Saif A. "Classification of common basic activities of daily living using a rule-based system." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:36587.

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Aged people who live independently require continuous monitoring of their health and activities of daily living in order to be supported by different health services and maintain their health status. This need can be addressed in the home setting, by providing a “health smart home” living environment for them. Using a health smart home approach has many advantages, such as, reducing the cost of health services by minimizing visits to hospitals, improving the quality of life for aged people recovering from illness at home instead of hospital, providing a secure and safe place for aged people who live independently, and routinely monitoring health status and daily activities to assist in improving health life of aged people. To provide such solution, it is required to classify the activities of daily living by using an activity recognition system. The development of sensing technologies that are cheap in price and provide an appropriate level of accuracy has opened the door for a wide range of research in the field of human activity recognition, including health applications. Different types of sensing technologies, modelling approaches and computational methods have been proposed for use in activity recognition systems, some of which are very complex. However, no one system solution has been widely accepted as optimal, providing scope for more investigations and improvements in this very rapidly growing area. The aim of this thesis is to develop a rule-based system to classify the activities of daily living in different hierarchical levels by using a cheap and sufficiently accurate ultrasonic location system (Hexamite19). Moreover, using a simple classification method based on initial application of activity distinguishing rules and then improving these results using finite state machine methods that can provide a high level of accuracy similar or better to previous research. In addition, a comparison of the system performance with existing classification methods is desirable, and in this case a decision-tree method (implemented in Sipina software) was used. To achieve the aims of the thesis, a systematic approach was followed, that included defining the research questions, setting up the experimental facility, selecting wearable sensor technology, collection of data on typical daily activities, development of methods for pre-processing of data followed by windowing, feature extracting, classification and finally the analysis of the rule-based system performance and accuracy. The rule-based system deployed three classification methods (range-based method, backward range-based method and symmetric range-based method). Range-based method deploys only rules, where backward range-based method and symmetric range-based method deploy rules and finite state machine extensions. The difference between backward range-based method and symmetric range-based method is the improvement of classification for undefined activity. System testing accuracy was used to assess the accuracy values of the different hierarchical levels. The rule-based system performance and accuracy was improved by using the finite state machine and the best method was symmetric range-based method for all hierarchical levels, except for the second hierarchical level where the accuracy of the three classification methods was equal. Moreover, it was found that the accuracy range of rule-based system was 83.4%-100%. By comparing the accuracy range of rule-based system with previous research and decision-tree method of Sipina software, it was found that the performance and accuracy of rule-based system were comparable with previous research and better in some cases. By using the decision-tree method of Sipina software, the accuracy range was 74.4%-99.3%. By comparing the accuracy range of rule-based system and decision-tree method of Sipina software, it is obvious that the rule-based system performance and accuracy was better, except for the activities sleep, walk straight and walk curvy. In conclusion, based on the analysis it was found that the rule-based system succeeded in classifying the activities of daily living into hierarchical levels; the finite state machine improved the accuracy of the rule-based system and the rule-based system accuracy was comparable with previous research and better than the decision-tree method of Sipina software (for all activities except for sleep, walk straight and walk curvy). It is therefore claimed that the deployed rule-based system has fulfilled the objectives of providing a robust and computationally inexpensive solution for common home-based activity recognition.

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Singh, Gursharan K. "Access and referral to palliative care for individuals with chronic heart failure." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:58320.

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Background: Chronic heart failure is associated with poor survival rates and high symptom burden. Despite recommendations for palliative care to improve symptoms and quality of life for individuals with chronic heart failure, palliative care remains underutilised by individuals with chronic heart failure. Purpose: This thesis examines patient, provider and system factors influencing access and referral to palliative care for individuals with chronic heart failure. Methods: This was a mixed-methods study encompassing a survey, a meta-synthesis and qualitative semi-structured interviews. Results: Patient: The qualitative semi-structured interviews demonstrated that patients had their own expectations of what palliative care entailed, interpreting it to be impending death or care for the dying. Each patient with chronic heart failure was unique, with their own set of comorbidities and symptom needs that led to variation in palliative care referral. Provider: The survey findings revealed that the majority of healthcare professionals would refer the patient later in the illness trajectory or as the patient reaches an advanced stage of their illness. System: Access and referral to palliative care for individuals with chronic heart failure is influenced by the perception that palliative care is a limited, finite resource that would not accept referrals for individuals with chronic heart failure. Recommendations: 1. Healthcare professionals require enhanced communication skills. 2. Collaboration between primary care, cardiology and palliative care can streamline referrals and further research on needs-based tools are required. 3. Healthcare professionals would benefit from restorative clinical supervision. 4. Referral to palliative care should be based on the patient’s needs and not prognosis. 5. Patient, family and community awareness of palliative care should be improved to facilitate uptake. Shifting the name to supportive care may facilitate access if based on patient need. 6. Interprofessional education between palliative care and cardiology is needed to improve palliative care access. 7. The impact of healthcare professionals' attitudes towards end of life care on palliative care referral requires further research. 8. Policy and funding models encompassing early access is required to meet the palliative needs of individuals with chronic heart failure. 9. Further research is needed on which palliative care model and method of delivery is best for individuals with chronic heart failure.

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Chavan, Sachin G. "Responses of wheat photosynthesis and yield to elevated CO2 under heat and water stress." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:47829.

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Climate change involves rising CO2 and temperature, varying rainfall patterns as well as increased frequency and duration of heat stress (HS) and water stress (WS). It is important to assess the impact of climate change, including extreme events on crop productivity to manage future food security challenges. Elevated CO2 (eCO2) boosts leaf photosynthesis and plant productivity, however plant responses to eCO2 depend on environmental conditions. The response of wheat to eCO2 has been investigated in enclosures and in field studies; however, studies accounting for eCO2 interactions with HS or WS are limited. My PhD project addresses this knowledge gap. The broad aim of this thesis was to investigate the response of two commercial wheat cultivars with contrasting agronomical traits to future climate with eCO2 and more extreme events, in order to develop a mechanistic approach that can potentially be incorporated in current crop models, which, so far, fail to predict accurate yields under stressful conditions. Consequently, I investigated the interactive effects of eCO2 with either heat HS or WS on photosynthesis, crop growth and grain yield of the two wheat cultivars Scout and Yitpi grown either in the glasshouse or in a dryland field. In the first glasshouse experiment, the two cultivars were grown at current ambient (450 ppm) and future elevated (650 ppm) CO2 concentrations, 22/14oC day/night temperature, supplied with non-limiting water and nutrients and exposed to 3-day moderate HS cycles at the vegetative (38/14oC) and flowering stage (33/14oC). At aCO2, both wheat lines showed similar photosynthetic temperature responses; while larger and greater-tillering Yitpi produced slightly more grain yield than early-maturing Scout. Elevated CO2 stimulated wheat photosynthesis and reduced stomatal conductance despite causing mild photosynthetic acclimation, while moderate HS did not inhibit photosynthesis at 25oC but slightly reduced photosynthesis at 35oC in aCO2-grown plants. Elevated CO2 similarly stimulated final biomass and grain yield of the two wheat cultivars not exposed to moderate HS by variably affecting grain size and number. The main distinct outcomes of this chapter were the insignificant effect of moderate HS on wheat yield and the reduced grain nutrient quality of high tillering Yitpi at eCO2. In the second glasshouse experiment, a single cultivar Scout was grown at current ambient (419 ppm) and future elevated (654 ppm) CO2 concentrations, 22/14oC day/night temperature, supplied with non-limiting water and nutrients and exposed to 5-day severe HS cycle at the flowering stage (39/23oC). Growth at eCO2 led to downregulation of photosynthetic capacity in Scout measured at common CO2 and leaf temperature in control plants not exposed to severe HS. Severe HS reduced light saturated CO2 assimilation rates (Asat) in aCO2 but not in eCO2 grown plants. Growth stimulation by eCO2 protected plants by increasing electron transport capacity under severe HS, ultimately avoiding the damage to maximum efficiency of photosystem II. Elevated CO2 stimulated biomass and grain yield, while severe HS equally reduced grain yield at both aCO2 and eCO2 but had no effect on biomass at final harvest due to stimulated tillering. In conclusion, eCO2 protected wheat photosynthesis and biomass against severe HS damage at the flowering stage via increased maximal rate of RuBP regeneration (Jmax), indicating an important interaction between the two components of climate change, however grain yield was reduced by severe HS in both CO2 treatments due to grain abortion. The field experiment investigated the interactive effects of eCO2 and WS on two wheat cultivars Scout and Yitpi grown under dryland field conditions using free air CO2 enrichment (FACE). Plants were grown at two CO2 concentrations (400 and 550 ppm) under rainfed or irrigated conditions over two growing seasons during 2014 and 2015. Irrigation in dryland field conditions created contrasting soil water conditions under aCO2 and eCO2. Elevated CO2 and WS responses of biomass and grain yield differed in the two growing seasons. Elevated CO2 stimulated photosynthesis, biomass and grain yield, but reduced photosynthetic capacity evident from lower maximal rate of RuBP carboxylation (Vcmax) and flag leaf N only in 2015. Water stress reduced above-ground biomass and grain yield in both cultivars and CO2 treatment more strongly in 2014 relative to 2015. However, marginal growth stimulation by eCO2 did not protect plants from WS. Biomass, grain yield and grain quality were antagonistically affected by eCO2 and WS. When all data were considered together, I observed that Scout and Yitpi responded differently to growth conditions in the glasshouse and responded similarly in the field. Under well-watered conditions, Scout and Yitpi slightly benefited from moderate HS but were adversely impacted by severe HS. At the flowering stage, severe HS caused grain abortion decreasing grain yield in both CO2 treatments. Elevated CO2 alleviated photosynthetic inhibition but did not stop grain yield damage caused by severe HS. Water stress reduced net photosynthesis, biomass and grain yield in both CO2 treatments and no interaction between eCO2 and WS was observed for any of the measured parameters. Grain yield was stimulated by eCO2 more in the glasshouse than in the field. Grain nutrient quality was reduced by eCO2 and unaffected by either HS or WS (in both season average).

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Westcott, Rachel. "Advancing public health in the context of natural hazards : normalising preparedness within a framework of adapted protection motivation theory." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:49051.

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This research sought to discover and recommend proactive strategies to strengthen and improve human safety and well-being in a changing climate of natural hazards. This thesis documents the rationale, process and outcomes of that research. People’s ability to navigate their daily lives within an environment of worsening natural hazards is an adaptive public health and safety priority - given the predicted global increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events. There is an urgent need to strengthen and normalise people’s preparedness behaviour, and to connect it with an unequivocal understanding of the benefits of such changes. Enhancing people's adaptive responses will help to avoid, or at least minimise, associated human trauma and tragedy. That is the aim of this research. Achieving positive, adaptive change requires proactive medium to longer term public policy planning and implementation of strategies leading to considered, appropriate response choices and desired protective behaviour as social norms. Demands upon individuals, families, communities and workplaces are high in the complexity of 21st century life: adapting to narrow the bushfire (or other natural hazard) awareness-preparedness gap – to become fire-fit – requires a re-ordering of priorities so that fire-fitness becomes a societal-wide, integrated routine – as routine as buying groceries or fuelling a car. This predominantly pragmatic qualitative research used the socio-cognitive Protection Motivation Theory (described by Rogers in 1975) in the context of bushfire natural hazards with the ultimate aim of reducing human morbidity and mortality, and concurrently promoting positive physical and psychological capacity. The study considered data across and within two demographic groups – emergency responders and the owners of any kind and any number of animals. It sought to 1. determine and discover how casualties to life, property and the environment, including the physical and psychological health of people, their microclimates and livelihoods, can be reduced and minimised while building a culture of preparedness as an integral part of daily life, and 2. help negate wider perceptions of preparedness as a difficult, time-consuming task which although on nearly everyone’s ‘to do’ list is frequently not prioritised. The major qualitative phase (phase 1) was followed by a minor quantitative phase (phase 2) in the form of a pilot survey (discussed in Chapter 7) that investigated farmers’ bushfire experiences and management strategies. The pilot survey was conducted with a view to determining topics requiring further research, as well as identifying knowledge and learning translatable to novice landowners. This thesis is presented as a series of six papers – four published (P1-P4), two submitted (SP1, SP2). Each paper addresses particular research questions, noted in the box at the beginning of each chapter, and each published paper is followed by a connecting narrative designed to convey the momentum, flow and logic of the research progression. The order of the papers presented in the thesis follows the chronology of the research. Paper 1 critically explores the literature and investigates Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) as a framework. Paper 2 provides an overview of the qualitative data and identifies the focus for the next stage of analysis. Paper 3 discusses public policy and leads in to Paper 4 which proposes a number of innovative and practical strategies to help improve fire-fitness for individuals and across communities. The following two papers supplement and complement the four published papers. SP1 contains more detail concerning public policy initiatives. SP2 is essentially P1 in practice and demonstrates how PMT can be usefully applied to achieve the aim of the research - to reduce human morbidity and mortality in natural hazard events. Thus, the reader is encouraged to read SP1 following P3, and SP2 following P4. Readers’ attention is drawn particularly to the Results, Interpretative Analysis and Discussion sections in SP1 and SP2, where additional information on policy and how PMT was expanded and applied may be found. Journal selection for the published papers was actively – and flexibly - considered from the beginning of the project with the selection of suitable journals narrowing as the focus of the research itself became more specific. Table 1, Journal selection and chronology of publication, details this process. The research results indicate desired outcomes are indeed achievable by engaging a bold, innovative willingness to move beyond standard conservatism in the sector, and demonstrating a commitment to trial and evaluate recommendations. The wellbeing and safety of people in natural hazards is increasingly a public health issue. This thesis proposes proactive initiatives that affirmatively and assertively respond to meeting the parallel escalation of the inherent danger of natural hazards in a changing climate without alienating public sentiment. It also identifies the need for further research to fill a gaping omission in the literature regarding cropland fires - with respect to crop types and placement, how different crops ‘carry’ a fire, and if firebreaks can be better utilised as a fire management tool. A summary of the strategies developed from the results of this research is presented in Table 4, Strategies to help achieve fire-fitness. These are described in more detail in papers P3, P4, SP1 and SP2. In reconstructing the ‘costs’ and ‘rewards’ described in an expanded Protection Motivation Theory to favour an overall net gain, and by providing ways to establish fire-fitness as a desirable and attainable social norm, this research makes a practical and timely contribution to future public policy decision-making in the global ‘new reality’ of natural hazards.

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Hedges, Kevin. "Assessment and control of respirable crystalline silica in quarries and dimension stone mines." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:36593.

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The health risk of breathing very fine particles of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust, resulting in poor lung health is not well defined in Australia, even though many hundreds of thousands of workers are exposed to uncontrolled dusty activities daily. It is now clear from international studies that lung health of workers continues to be affected at relatively low exposures to RCS, even at occupational exposure limits (OEL) including the current Safe Work Australia Exposure Standard (SWA-ES). This has prompted the United States to reduce their permissible exposure limit (PEL) to one half of the Australian SWA-ES, to 0.05 mg/m3, and challenges the adequacy of the current Australian SWA-ES, which is 0.1 mg/m3. In terms of numbers of workers affected, the mining industry employs approximately 267,000 workers, which is 2.3 percent of the total workforce, and accounts for about 10.2 % of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Approximately 55,000 workers are employed in Queensland mining, many of whom work in quarries and dimension stone mines where exposure to RCS is known to be elevated. A recent assessment estimated that about 440,000 deaths from cancer attributable to RCS exposure will occur throughout Europe from 2010 to 2069. Unless exposure to RCS is well controlled, many hundreds of thousands of lives will also be cut short from silicosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). As the weight of evidence grows in Australia, the disease risks attributable to RCS will increasingly become more obvious. This study evaluated the health risk from exposure to RCS for 47 quarry and dimension stone mine workers throughout Queensland, Australia. Personal exposures to RCS were measured across a range of exposures, and lung function testing was carried out in parallel. Findings revealed that about one in four workers were exposed to RCS above the SWA-ES, and more than one in ten were being exposed at a concentration of more than twice this limit. A major finding for those workers exposed to RCS at the SWA-ES was loss of lung function greater than 20%. The increased loss of lung function was positively correlated with jobs associated with increased RCS exposure. When similar exposure groups were combined into three RCS exposure ranges categorised as high (≥ 0.09 - ≤ 0.20 mg/m3), medium (≥ 0.04 - ≤ 0.08 mg/m3) and low (< 0.04 mg/m3), analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the loss of lung function below the lower limit of normal (LLN) at the current SWA-ES, is significant (p < 0.05). Abnormal lung function patterns were also more pronounced for smokers who were exposed to RCS ≥ 0.04 mg/m3 and not as obvious for smokers exposed to RCS < 0.04 mg/m3. This demonstrated that both smoking and RCS had a combined impact resulting in poor lung health. In this study, vehicles fitted with standard heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems (HVAC) were tested for ingress of respirable dust into the operator’s cabin, and compared with more recent technology. Evaluation of the effectiveness of newer technology, a RESPA® pre-cleaner, filter and pressurization (PFP) unit, demonstrated up to a four-fold reduction in RCS entering the cabin, when compared with standard air-conditioning systems. Electron microscopy (EM) was used to describe the physical characteristics of respirable silica and dust particles collected on respirable sample filters previously analysed for silica by infrared spectroscopy. Data revealed that silica particles were generally less than 5 μm in physical diameter and many particles were elongated. These smaller particles are known to be most hazardous to lung health. Findings also demonstrated that larger length elongated particles were collected by the cyclone sampler, which influenced the particle size distribution curve. There was a good fit between the physical cumulative silica particle size distribution, representing particle counts for selected workplace samples, when plotted against the theoretical AS2985-2009 (density dependent) Equivalent Aerodynamic Diameter (EAD) sampling efficiency curve. This means that density is not the only factor for particle capture in the cyclone sampler. These silica particles do not behave as perfect spheres, which is the premise underpinning the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 7708-1995, sampling efficiency curve and AS2985-2009, adopted by the Australian Standard for sampling respirable dust. The science for these standards is based on information that is at least twenty years old, and results from the current study confirmed that particle shape must be considered in the sampling efficiency curve and lung health risk assessment. An unexpected finding from analysis of RCS dust by EM was the identification of fibrous mineral particles in several samples, with both morphology and elemental composition similar to erionite. Erionite is known to cause mesothelioma, which is typically associated with asbestos when inhaled at high enough concentrations. Further investigation and characterization of respirable dusts at mining sites where erionite is a potential contaminant is recommended. Confirmation of the presence and extent of erionite, and further characterization of exposure will assist in determining the extent of health risk to quarry and dimension stone mine workers in Queensland and elsewhere. Overall, the findings from this study challenge the adequacy of RCS health risk assessment standards in Australia. In addition, typical operator cabin air-conditioning technology will not reduce exposure to RCS where silica is present in dusty workplaces. The study also demonstrates the importance of health surveillance, to identify gaps, raise awareness about primary prevention, and drive timely intervention.

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Panagiotaros, Chris V. "Establishing environmental social work : investigating the pragmatic application of an under-developed subfield in New South Wales." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:51870.

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Climate change is already having a major impact on the global ecosystem, and the consequences are predicted to become increasingly severe in coming decades. These consequences are not just environmental but socio-environmental. Social work as a profession has both an opportunity and a duty to respond to this contemporary crisis. Current social work literature acknowledges this responsibility. Despite this, the specific subfield of environmental social work remains heavily under-explored in terms of both theorisation and its pragmatic application. This project addresses this gap, which is both academic and professional. Thus, the present research audited the current pragmatic application of environmental social work in New South Wales (NSW) utilising a concurrent web-based survey. It aimed to identify the number of environmental social workers practising in NSW between April and August of 2018. Only four social workers meet the criteria for inclusion in this study. This demonstrates there is a discrepancy between the current social work literature and what is occurring in the field. Consequently, the research was altered to investigate why there were so few environmental social workers in the field. The amendment included semi-structured, in-depth interviews with three environmental social work practitioners. Critically, the research found there were social workers practicing but not identifying with the term, and there were barriers inhibiting practise. Additionally, the research highlighted the need for a professional paradigm shift constituting a change in values, education, and research. This entails a change from the human-centric and modernist paradigm to one that recognises the connection between humans and nature and acts in accordance with promoting biodiversity. The research suggests that this paradigm shift has to be entrenched in the practical application of environmental social work. Moreover, the research provides important evidence to progress this paradigm shift and strengthen future research and practice within the subfield.

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Loudon, Fiona K. "Influence of temperature on the life history of turtles : an exploration of the embryonic and maternal adaptations to incubation temperature." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:36546.

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This study explores the role of temperature on the early life history traits of Murray River short-necked turtles, Emydura macquarii. Firstly, I investigate the role of incubation temperature in inducing adaptive behavioural and physiological strategies within the nest. Secondly, I explore the interaction between genes, developmental conditions and the post-hatching environment to determine long-term effects on growth and survival of turtles. Lastly, I review the impact of climate change and habitat modifications on Murray River turtles. Investigation of heart rates of embryonic turtles incubated at constant temperatures (26oC and 30oC) revealed that heart rates experience circadian rhythms independent to time of day and the peak heart rate varies throughout the day between individuals. Heart rate patterns were consistent throughout the individuals monitored in that the peak heart rate and the minimal heart rate were observed 12 h apart, and intermediate heart rates occurred 6 h before and after these extremes. Heart beats per minute varied between individuals, but embryos showed 15-20% difference in heart rate throughout at 24 h period. This provides evidence of flexibility in metabolic activity independent of temperature. Examination of the differences in heart rates of embryonic turtles incubated in either a group environment or individually, at a constant 30oC, and in darkness, showed that mortality rates were not affected but embryos incubated in the group environment had significantly shorter incubation duration. Heart rates were significantly higher in the embryos incubated individually during the middle of incubation, but were similar for the final two weeks of incubation. The mean heart rate variability was significantly higher in embryos incubated individually during the final two weeks of incubation. There was no significant difference between the two treatments in either neuromuscular ability or morphology. Changes in heart rates within a nest environment may be important for coordinating development and hatching between individuals in a nest. Analysing the order of oviposition in relation to incubation temperature in embryonic turtles incubated in fluctuating regimes indicated that eggs may be differentially suited for a particular temperature environment. Control eggs had shorter incubation duration when incubated with respect to oviposition order under two fluctuating temperature regimes (both equivalent to a constant 26 oC) reflecting temperatures experiences at the top and at the bottom of a nest. Bottom nest incubation temperatures fluctuated between 23oC and 29 oC and top of nest incubation temperatures fluctuated between 19 oC and 33 oC over a 24 h period. That is, if an embryo was oviposited early, it would incubate at the bottom of the nest and be exposed to slight fluctuations in temperature, and if an embryo was oviposited late it would be exposed to high fluctuation in temperature at the top of a nest. Order of oviposition also affected egg mass, with eggs oviposited early being heavier than those oviposited last, but this was not reflected in hatchling mass. There was no significant difference in neuromuscular ability between the treatment groups. Embryonic heart rates in the high fluctuating treatment group maintained significantly higher heart rates at the intermediate temperature of 26oC in the second last week of incubation, but in the final week of incubation the embryos in the control group had significantly higher heart rates at both an intermediate temperature (26oC) and a low temperature (19oC). In the slight fluctuating temperature regime, the embryos in the control group had significantly higher heart rates in the final week of incubation during the hotter temperature period (29oC). This study indicates turtle embryos are optimised for an incubation environment that their oviposition order, and subsequent position within a nest, would dictate. Studying the interaction between genotype, incubation temperature, and post-hatching environment (population density or temperature) on growth in hatchling turtles indicated effects of genotype and incubation temperature was still evident 11 months after hatching. Hotter post-hatching environments encouraged higher feeding rates in turtles and had significant effects on growth 11 months after hatching. The effect of higher population densities on growth was evident one month after hatching but not at 5 or 11 months after hatching. Oviposition order also affected growth, whereby late oviposited hatchings incubated at a hotter temperature (30oC) and reared in a warmer post-hatching environment, grew faster than turtles from the same clutch oviposited earlier. Long-term effects of genotype, oviposition order, incubation temperature, and post-hatching environment are evident in turtles. The results from this thesis identify areas of plasticity in embryonic and hatchling turtles at different life stages. Long-lasting environmental effects exist and a narrow range of thermal optima has been identified as being advantageous to hatchling turtles when they are at their most vulnerable.

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Devlin, Desmond T. "Early Sydney punk : methods in visual ethnography." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:34973.

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This thesis explores the recollections of participants who were part of a cohort associated with a small punk venue known as the Grand Hotel, which operated at Railway Square, Sydney, between 1977 and 1979. While Australia’s first-wave moment has been increasingly recognised within a growing body of literature on punk, it has been considered almost exclusively in a music context. This study emphasises the sociality of punk subculture which has been largely absent from the record. The thesis comprises a creative component based on a series of video-recorded interviews, and a written exegesis. The video production, titled Distorted: Reflections on early Sydney punk, was developed through methods drawn from ethnography and other qualitative methodologies. The work presents discussion on a range of social, personal and political concerns of late 1970s Sydney through the reflections of participants. As such, it is a visual ethnography with a research focus on the past and on memory as articulated in a present setting. The written component of the thesis discusses aspects of cultural studies and subcultural theory in relation to punk as experienced in a post-colonial space, which is framed within an analysis of anthropologically-oriented ethnography. The text then discusses in detail the methodological underpinnings of the research. It is here that I advance an approach to audiovisual production which utilises computer assisted data analysis software within an analytical and conceptual framework drawn from grounded theory and narrative analysis.

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Kaur, Anupreet. "Isolation and characterisation of polysaccharides from traditionally known Chinese medicinal mushrooms." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:57261.

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Medicinal mushrooms are known for their traditional use for the treatment of various diseases including diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Mushrooms have been traditionally used for curing numerous life-threatening diseases such as cancer, Tuberculosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and finding better therapeutics to treat this disease is an urgent need. Literature demonstrates the potential of mushroom polysaccharides for their therapeutic value with significant immunostimulatory and anticancer activities with least side effects. A few polysaccharides from medicinal mushrooms (e.g. Polysaccharide Krestin, Polysaccharopeptide) are already in clinical use to treat cancer. This research therefore aims to isolate polysaccharides with immunomodulatory, prebiotic and anticancer properties from traditionally known medicinal mushrooms Ganoderma lucidum, Cordyceps sinensis and Trametes versicolor. The objectives of this research are to study the biological activities relevant to anticancer therapy and to evaluate the structure- function relationship of mushroom polysaccharides. It is therefore expected that these mushrooms have tremendous potential for the discovery of polysaccharides with immune enhancing, prebiotic and anti-cancer properties and hence chosen for this study. A total of six polysaccharides have been identified in this thesis from two medicinal mushrooms (G. lucidum and C. sinensis). Four of these fractions (GLP-1, GLP-2, GLP-3, CSP-1) have displayed significant radical scavenging activities. These activities correlated well with molecular masses and structural elements. GLP-1 and GLP-3 displayed highly significant immunostimulatory activities with respect to both cytokines and are extremely important candidate for immunotherapeutic applications. CSPs and GLPs have also displayed significant prebiotic activities that are highly significant. Overall, the results presented in this thesis strongly suggest immune enhancing, prebiotic and direct anticancer activities of polysaccharides from G. lucidum and C. sinensis (GLPs and CSPs). It is therefore concluded that these polysaccharides form potential candidates for combination “immuno-chemotherapy”. It is therefore suggested that, pre-treatment of cancer patients with immunostimulatory and prebiotic mushroom polysaccharides identified in this research to activate cancer microenvironment and to improve gut microbiota, followed by therapy with suitable immune checkpoint inhibitors is expected to produce enhanced outcomes for cancer patients. It is in this context that the immune enhancing and prebiotic mushroom polysaccharides discovered in this research have great potential in the treatment of cancer.

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Midgley, Alan. "Ecology of the Australian bass in tributaries of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:41086.

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The Australian bass Macquaria novemaculeata, belonging to the family Percichthyidae, is a carnivorous fish endemic to Australia. Its distribution extends throughout Eastern-Australian streams from the Mary River (Queensland) to Lakes Entrance (Victoria). The focus of this study was to determine the ecological attributes of M. novemaculeata in open and obstacle strewn tributaries within the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Catchment; two unique habitats that M. novemaculeata commonly inhabit. Specifically, this study focused on the demography, diet, and migratory patterns of M. novemaculeata between open and obstacle-strewn tributary reaches. In addition, the attitudes and behaviours of recreational fisherman who target M. novemaculeata in their natural environment on the east coast of Australia were also investigated. Recreational fishing pressure on M. novemaculeata in their natural environment was obtained via a survey of recreational anglers by contacting fishing clubs and affiliates. The survey included angler gender, age class, State of residence, fishing effort specifically for M. novemaculeata, including years spent targeting the species, size of angling group, areas fished and watercraft used, how fishing sites were selected, the average size of M. novemaculeata caught, and the level of catch-release employed by anglers. In order to investigate demography data, diet and migratory patterns, overall 120 M. novemaculeata were caught by hand-held rod with lure in obstacle-strewn and open tributaries and euthanised. This provided a sample to collect data on length, weight, condition, age, growth, sex ratio, density, and in-stream habitat selection. Stomach contents of euthanised fish were analysed for diet. Otoliths of these fish were removed to determine age and migratory movement using a micro-chemical procedure, involving a laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (LA-ICPMS). The average angler who targeted M. novemaculeata was male, between the ages of 25 and 34, had fished for this species for less than five years and typically fished with one companion. Those that target this species generally devote considerable fishing effort to their sport, identifying fishing spots commonly through online methods, releasing at least a portion of their catch and utilising watercraft to gain greater access to fishing grounds. Smaller fish were consistently captured in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River than other water bodies examined, likely as a result of the removal of larger fish. The few anglers that did take fish for consumption were more likely to fish in readily accessible areas. Despite the habitat differences evident between tributary types, parameters measured - fish length, weight, condition, age, growth, sex ratio, sex and growth, density and habitat selection - were not significantly different between open and obstacle-strewn tributaries. In both tributary types females were larger and more likely to be caught than males, and smaller fish were more likely to frequent habitat away from structure (e.g., coarse woody debris) than adult fish although, overall, fish of all sizes preferred habitat near structure. Such structure is, therefore, preferred habitat for this species. A comparison of fish length between tributaries and the riverine channel determined that longer fish typically occupied tributaries. This correlated to the female sex bias in the tributaries as this sex was observed to grow to a larger length than males. The study re-confirmed that M. novemaculeata is a generalist carnivore, opportunistically feeding on prey from a variety of taxonomic groups from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The tributary types studied offered dissimilar habitats for prey, which influenced the dietary consumption of M. novemaculeata. Diversity and abundance of prey was higher in the stomachs of fish from obstacle-strewn tributaries than open tributaries. Despite the variation in diet between habitats, however, this did not appear to affect this species ability to live and thrive in either habitat. This was evidenced by the lack of difference in the length, weight, condition and stomach fullness of fish. Although previous studies have shown that natural barriers to movement may result in fish assemblage changes between stream reaches, this does not appear to be the situation for M. novemaculeata in tributary habitat. There was no indication that individuals were impeded in their movement to the estuary to spawn from either obstacle-strewn or open tributaries. The reason for not moving to the estuary annually may, therefore, be related to other factors associated with the ecology of this species. This study found that the impacts of recreational fishing on M. novemaculeata are more likely to occur in easy to access areas, and this may have catchment-wide implications. Since entering the fishery almost half of respondents had switched to a more sporting focus when targeting this species. However, regardless of motivation, catch-and-release angling, coupled with the high survivorship of this species after angling release is likely to play a key role in management of this species. Maintaining tributary populations of M. novemaculeata is desirable for the species sustainability as it is apparently preferred habitat for females based on the observation that they are in greater abundance in tributaries. Tributary habitat thus would serve to maximise M. novemaculeata recruitment. The apparent importance of the riparian zone to primary and secondary production and subsequently fish diet, highlights the complexities in managing M. novemaculeata habitat for the species long-term sustainability. Degradation of the riparian zone at the aquatic/terrestrial interface is likely to result in reduction in the availability of terrestrial prey, and also indirectly aquatic prey, through a loss of allochthonous input. The observation that Macquaria novemaculeata from the different tributary types made equivalent numbers of estuarine visits, indicated that any fish taken by anglers is unlikely to differentially impact on populations in the two tributary habitat types studied.

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Pham, Hoa H. "Lingering phantoms : haunted literature and counter memories from the Vietnam/American War." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:37331.

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Ghosts feature prominently in the imaginary of the Vietnam/American war for all sides. These spectres form counter memories that are maintained by ancestor worship or Buddhist conceptions of the hungry ghost, and they run against the rhetoric of the Vietnamese and American nation states. This exegesis will explore the presence of ghosts in published works in English after the Vietnam/American war. Maxine Hong Kingston’s renditions of American war veterans’ stories have emerged from workshops which she has run for veterans. These workshops have been informed by engaged Buddhism, as practised by Thich Nhat Hanh The Sorrow of War sees Kien, a Vietnamese war veteran turned writer, become like a ghost himself after his experiences. In Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge, Mai is haunted by her mother’s grief and eventual suicide in America. Nam Le writes a short story about his father, who resembles a hungry ghost unable to receive his son’s love. Vu uses the gothic retelling of the Buddhist myth of Anguli Ma to reveal the hungry ghost that dwells inside Dao, his landlady. Vu’s story, A Psychic Guide to Vietnam obscures more than explains Vietnam to the reader with a text using silences and omissions. These works are ‘counter memories’ to the dominant Hollywood depictions of the war. The novel that accompanies the exegesis, titled The Lady of the Realm, retells the parable of Quan Am and is a historical fiction featuring Lien and her decades of stories, and Kim, a young psychic employed by the present-day Vietnamese government to reunite the war dead with their descendants. Ghosts literally feature in the text, and the work is polyphoniclike the nature of truths. These works together present a diverse range of voices and heterogeneous representations of the war, and it is hoped that in telling their stories, some ghosts will be put to rest.

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Lu, Yaojie. "Optimal and competitive stomatal behaviour." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:41301.

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Stomatal conductance links plant water use and carbon uptake. Its responses to environmental conditions play a key role in determining global water and carbon cycles and their coupling. Empirical and mechanistic models based on observational studies and physiological experiments are helpful in describing how plants regulate stomata while theoretical models aim to give a top-down explanation on why stomata are regulated in such a way. In this thesis, I focused on stomatal response to drought and optimised it based on theoretical modelling. Stochastic rainfall is a major component of this modelling study as it is an important determinant in the dynamics of soil water content in nature. In Chapter 2, I hypothesized that plants should adapt to the local rainfall regime, in the sense that they regulate stomata to maximise their long-term average net carbon gain in the given rainfall regime. Then, I derived the optimal stomatal strategy analytically based on mathematical optimisation. In Chapter 3, I further studied the impacts of water competition on stomatal regulation under the assumption that all water is shared among every plant. Following the theory of evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), I identified the ESS stomatal strategy, which, if adopted by the dominant resident species in any given rainfall regime, cannot be invaded by any invader species with alternative strategy. The first main achievement of this study is that I successfully derived the optimal and the ESS functional relationships between stomatal conductance and soil water content. It is worth mentioning that there was no presumed functional form for either of them. Also, to account for the stochasticity of rainfall, these two optimal functions result from long-term optimisation (actually, they were optimised over an infinite period of time), which should be in sharp contrast with the short-term optima presented in the previous theoretical studies. The second main achievement is that I clearly illustrated in Chapter 3 that the optimisation and the competition models of stomatal regulation stem from fundamentally different logics but are of equal theoretical importance. In addition, in a model considering plant gas exchange only, I Proved that water competition should drive plants to use water as quickly as possible–a typical example of ‘the tragedy of the commons’. Then, to restrict plant water use, I introduced xylem cavitation and refilling into the model and showed the great impact of the assumptions on xylem refilling on the resulting ESS stomatal strategy. Finally, based on the optimal or the ESS stomatal strategy, I derived various predictions on plant mean annual productivity, water use, plant hydraulic strategies, and so on. As shown in Chapter 2 to 4, these predictions are in reasonable agreement with many observational studies, which should help to justify my models.

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Radzieta, Michael. "The novel anti-infective BDM-I : clinical utility and mechanism of action." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:54518.

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Since the introduction of antibiotics into clinical use, bacteria have continued to evolve and acquire mechanisms of resistance. In a relatively short time period, this has rapidly escalated into a serious health crisis recognised by major governing/scientific bodies worldwide. The rate at which antibiotic resistance spreads now outpaces our current ability to discover and manufacture new antibiotics. Steps taken to combat antibiotic resistance have had little impact in preventing the spread of relevant pathogens, especially within hospital settings. The current state of antibiotic development has only exacerbated these issues by severely limiting the arsenal of therapeutics available to treat problematic infections. Without sufficient incentives, large pharmaceutical companies have focused on developing financially ‘safe’ drugs to treat non-infectious related conditions, leaving the bulk of antibiotic research to smaller biotechnology companies and academia, often in collaboration together. In this study, we have examined the clinical utility and mechanism of action (MoA) of BDM-I, which is a small synthetic molecule currently being developed by the Australian biotechnology company Opal Biosciences Limited. Importantly, BDM-I (3,4- methylenedioxy-β-nitropropene) appears to be a novel antimicrobial compound and has shown promising activity in vitro against clinically relevant pathogens, such as MRSA and VRE. In this regard, previous studies have shown that BDM-I does not inhibit common antimicrobial targets, and proposed that it binds to bacterial tyrosine phosphatases. While an antibiotic inhibiting a novel cellular target(s) is desirable, in this case the specific MoA (of BDM-I) and its physiological effect on bacterial cells is not known, thus limiting the potential for further development. Therefore, due to this knowledge gap, we attempted to gain insight into the BDM-I MoA (including its binding partner) using an omics approach (i.e. whole genome sequencing and proteomics). Additionally, we also aimed to study the activity of BDM-I against the clinically relevant ESKAPE pathogens.

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Tarr, Amrita. "Difference and recognition : subverting the Australian colonial paradigm." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:45670.

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The 1938-1940 Report of the Aborigines Protection Board, and the hearings and minutes of evidence that led up to it, discussed a dual track policy for the state approach to Aboriginal people.1 First, to “preserve” “full blood” Aboriginal people by relocating and isolating the residents of a number of reserves onto a single “giant reserve,” under the supervision of one white man. Second, was “assimilation of the [non-reserve] aborigines into the general community.”2 The giant reserve was never created, but there were mergers between reserves which entailed the forcible relocation of entire Aboriginal communities from one location to another. Commenting on these relocations in 2005, co-founder of Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service and one-time resident of Angledool Reserve, George Rose, wrote: The moving of Angledool – it was deeper than what people thought. It was the first step to destroying our Aboriginal culture… even I could see that, as a 13 year old. I could see that by combining the three tribes they were destroying the cultures.3 So, thirteen-year-old George Rose recognized that the mergers were an existential threat to Aboriginal cultures: that “preservation” brought destruction. And the Aborigines Protection Board recognized that there was something to preserve in Aboriginal culture, but failed to understand what and how. What did George Rose recognize? What is a culture? What was wrong with the colonial “preservation” policy and why did it destroy that which it nominally sought to protect? What, in short, sustains colonialism? There is a significant body of excellent anthropological, sociological, and historical scholarship on this topic, but less in the way of philosophical discourse. From a philosophical perspective, we can begin to identify and unpack what is at the core of these questions. From a philosophical perspective, they become questions of the what it means to be human in relation to other humans, and to be humans-in-relation in a colonial context. We can ask what it means to be differently, and what the possibilities of relation with others are. George Rose was a Yawaalaraay man, born on a reserve. He and his mother, Linda Fernando, were both forcibly removed from their families during their youth and sent to boarding houses.4 They, among many others, were subjected to a colonial attempt at erasing their identity, their difference from the colonial concept of being a modern human. George Rose’s life of activism can be read as a response to this colonial imposition, an attempt to make others recognize what he recognized at thirteen. Using a philosophical lens, we can ask the question at the heart of this thesis: what is the relation between recognition and colonialism?

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Rahman, Kazi A. "Application of chromium doped titanium dioxide in solar-to-chemical energy conversion." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:50300.

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The thesis postulates that the photocatalytic performance of semiconducting materials based on nonstoichiometric compounds, such as TiO2-based solid solutions, is determined by point defects. Therefore, the performance of the studied solid solutions in solar energy conversion may be considered in terms of defect-related properties. The present research project aimed at verification of the postulate of the thesis. The ultimate aim was to understand the effect of chromium on defect disorder of TiO2 and its defect-related properties, such as photocatalytic properties. The research involved the determination of the effect of processing conditions of Cr-doped TiO2 on chromium segregation and the related concentration gradients of defects within the surface layer that is active photo-catalytically. The strategic aim of the research is to develop a new technology of the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy. Such technology may lead to the reduction of the costs of water processing and elimination of the use for this purpose of the electrical energy produced from fossil fuels. Ultimately, the technology could reduce global warming and climate change.

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Dhami, Namraj. "Environmental and developmental regulation of carotenoid metabolism in Arabidopsis leaves." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:53174.

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The regulation of carotenogenesis during the leaf maturation, before the onset of senescence, remains poorly explored. In this thesis, I demonstrated that young leaves of Arabidopsis, which have a high chloroplast density because of the high density of actively dividing and expanding mesophyll cells, can accumulate nearly 60 % higher amounts of both carotenoids and chlorophylls compared to the older leaves. Analysis of a range of mutants and gene overexpression genotypes revealed that age-related decline in carotenoids in older leaves was not associated with biosynthesis or degradation pathways of carotenoids neither with the developmental phase identities of leaves. I also discovered younger leaves were highly plastic in decreasing the level of both carotenoids and chlorophylls rapidly in response to short-term (24-hours) exposure to darkness, low temperature (7 oC), and norflurazon (a bleaching herbicide) treatment while the elevated level of atmospheric CO2 increased the level of both pigments in younger leaves. The level of carotenoids and chlorophylls was unaffected in older leaves regardless of the perpetual increase in atmospheric CO2 and short-term environmental and norflurazon treatments. Pigment accumulation in younger leaves demonstrated rapid responsiveness to environmental conditions and norflurazon, arguably, due to the higher rate of plastid biogenesis and division in the rapidly dividing and expanding cells. Collectively, the state of chloroplast development and chloroplast density can be the primary determinants of the photosynthetic pigment content in leaves. Young leaves, thus, can provide better in-planta model systems to decipher how developmental and environmental signals affect plastid development, signalling, and carotenoid biosynthesis during Arabidopsis leaf development.

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Hocking, Jennifer J. "Managing connection and disconnection : relationships as the centre of lactation consultant care for breastfeeding women and their babies." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:58350.

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Background: Breastfeeding is known to confer lifelong health benefits to mothers and their babies, but many women stop breastfeeding as a result of difficulties. Getting appropriate and timely support may help women to overcome problems and continue to breastfeed according to their own goals. Lactation consultants are a relatively new professional group that offer breastfeeding support. Today there are over 30,000 International Board-Certified Lactation Consultants practising globally, 2000 of whom are in Australia. While there has been extensive research into breastfeeding support, little is known about the role and practice of lactation consultants and whether, or how, their work makes a difference to breastfeeding outcomes. Aim: This research aimed to examine the role and practice of lactation consultants in Melbourne, Australia. Methods: A focused ethnography was conducted. Data consisted of 176 hours of participant observation of lactation consultant practice and in-depth interviews with 14 lactation consultants practising in Melbourne, Australia across a range of settings. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Merleau-Ponty’s theory of embodiment and feminist theories of care and relational care informed the analysis. Findings: Three major findings emerged from the analysis. 1. Lactation consultants prioritised the relationships they developed with women which enabled them to provide holistic care. 2. Lactation consultant care was focused on and through the mother- baby relationship. 3. Lactation consultants negotiated structural constraints in the service system that affected the way women initially learned to breastfeed and how they received ongoing breastfeeding support. To enact their role, the lactation consultants prioritised building a relationship with mothers by warmly welcoming them to the space where care was provided, listening attentively to the woman, demonstrating empathy and being gentle, kind and calm in their interactions. The lactation consultants were also observed using their own bodies in particular ways when engaging with mothers by positioning themselves at the woman’s level, and often in very close proximity to mother and baby. They used their body to create private spaces in busy practice environments that were not under their control. Lactation consultants were conscious that others perceived their role as one of primarily ‘fixing’ problems, but they resisted this view of their practice. Rather, the lactation consultants used various strategies when supporting women, including ‘doing nothing’, letting time pass, pacing interventions and, at times, letting go of breastfeeding. Even in situations with highly complex medical issues for mother or infant, lactation consultants maintained a focus on the mother- baby dyad and a relational approach to supporting them. The work of participants occurred in the context of the healthcare system and in interaction with other health professionals, especially midwives and maternal and child health nurses. The lactation consultants identified numerous barriers to breastfeeding and breastfeeding support in the healthcare system in which care was provided. These barriers included time-pressured environments, task- focused and prescriptive practices as well as problematic fragmentation between hospital-based and community services that often led to delays in accessing breastfeeding support. Models of care and modifications to practice that enabled lactation consultants and other health professionals to effectively support women to breastfeed were also identified. Discussion: Relational care was at the centre of lactation consultant practice. The lactation consultants prioritised their relationships with mothers and their infants to create an environment of care in which trust and genuine support was provided. In part, the lactation consultant’s role was facilitated through a focused and defined role within the healthcare system, but their practice was also constrained by issues in this system. Lactation consultants need to advocate for structures and service models that value these relational care values, which are highly effective in breastfeeding. This could help lactation consultants bring health facilities and other health professionals into a sustainable and highly effective model of relational breastfeeding support for women who wish to breastfeed their babies.

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Yew, Miranda. "A multi-frequency study of the Milky Way-like spiral galaxy NGC6744." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:44648.

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I present a multi-frequency study of the intermediate spiral SAB(r)bc type galaxy NGC6744. I used available data from the ACIS instrument on the X-Ray telescope, Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA)and Murchison Wide_eld Array (MWA) radio-continuum and WISE Infrared (IR) observations. I present an analysis identifying 117 X-ray sources and 280 radio sources. Of these, I found 10 sources in common between the X-ray and radio catalogues with one of these sources being the faint supermassive black hole (SMBH) with bolometric radio luminosity similar to the Milky Way's SMBH. Also, I classi_ed 7 objects as Supernova Remnant (SNR) candidates, 16 Hii regions and the remaining 256 radio sources categorised as background objects. Using WISE images, I found the star-formation rate (SFR) of NGC6744 to be in the range 2.8-4.7 Mʘ yr-1. This shows that the growth of NGC6744 is larger than late-type spirals, such as the Milky Way, but less than starburst galaxies, and is still actively building.

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Kasi, Patrick K. "Bayesian decoding of tactile afferents responsible for sensorimotor control." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:43931.

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In daily activities, humans manipulate objects and do so with great precision. Empirical studies have demonstrated that signals encoded by mechanoreceptors facilitate the precise object manipulation in humans, however, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Models used in literature to analyze tactile afferent data range from advanced—for example some models account for skin tissue properties—to simple regression fit. These models, however, do not systematically account for factors that influence tactile afferent activity. For instance, it is not yet clear whether the first derivative of force influences the observed tactile afferent spike train patterns. In this study, I use the technique of microneurography—with the help of Dr. Birznieks—to record tactile afferent data from humans. I then implement spike sorting algorithms to identify spike occurrences that pertain to a single cell. For further analyses of the resulting spike trains, I use a Bayesian decoding framework to investigate tactile afferent mechanisms that are responsible for sensorimotor control in humans. The Bayesian decoding framework I implement is a two stage process where in a first stage (encoding model) the relationships between the administered stimuli and the recorded tactile afferent signals is established, and a second stage uses results based on the first stage to make predictions. The goal of encoding model is to increase our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie dexterous object manipulation and, from an engineering perspective, guide the design of algorithms for inferring stimulus from previously unseen tactile afferent data, a process referred to as decoding. Specifically, the objective of the study was to devise quantitative methods that would provide insight into some mechanisms that underlie touch, as well as provide strategies through which real-time biomedical devices can be realized. Tactile afferent data from eight subjects (18 - 30 years) with no known form of neurological disorders were recorded by inserting a needle electrode in the median nerve at the wrist. I was involved in designing experimental protocols, designing mechanisms that were put in place for safety measures, designing and building electronic components as needed, experimental setup, subject recruitment, and data acquisition. Dr. Ingvars Birznieks (performed the actual microneurography procedure by inserting a needle electrode into the nerve and identifying afferent types) and Dr. Heba Khamis provided assistance with the data acquisition and experimental design. The study took place at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA). Once the data were acquired, I analyzed the data recorded from slowly adapting type I tactile afferents (SA-I). The initial stages of data analysis involved writing software routines to spike sort the data (identify action potential waveforms that pertain to individual cells). I analyzed SA-I tactile afferents because they were more numerous (it was difficult to target other types of afferents during experiments). In addition, SA-I tactile afferents respond during both the dynamic and the static phase of a force stimulus. Since they respond during both the dynamic and static phases of the force stimulus, it seemed reasonable to hypothesize that SA-I’s alone could provide sufficient information for predicting the force profile, given spike data. In the first stage, I used an inhomogeneous Poisson process encoding model through which I assessed the relative importance of aspects of the stimuli to observed spike data. In addition I estimated the likelihood for SA-I data given the inhomogeneous Poisson model, which was used during the second stage. The likelihood is formulated by deriving the joint distribution of the data, as a function of the model parameters with the data fixed. In the second stage, I used a recursive nonlinear Bayesian filter to reconstruct the force profile, given the SA-I spike patterns. Moreover, the decoding method implemented in this thesis is feasible for real-time applications such as interfacing with prostheses because it can be realized with readily available electronic components. I also implemented a renewal point process encoding model—as a generalization of the Poisson process encoding model—which can account for some history dependence properties of neural data. I discovered that under my encoding model, the relative contributions of the force and its derivative are 1.26 and 1.02, respectively. This suggests that the force derivative contributes significantly to the spiking behavior of SA-I tactile afferents. This is a novel contribution because it provides a quantitative result to the long standing question of whether the force derivative contributes towards SA-I tactile afferent spiking behavior. As a result, I incorporated the first derivative of force, along with the force, in the encoding models I implemented in this thesis. The decoding model shows that SA-I fibers provide sufficient information for an approximation of the force profile. Furthermore, including fast adapting tactile afferents would provide better information about the first moment of contact and last moment of contact, and thus improved decoding results. Finally I show that a renewal point process encoding model captures interspike time and stimulus features better than an inhomogeneous Poisson point process encoding model. This is useful because it is now possible to generate synthetic data with statistical structure that is similar to real SA-I data: This would enable further investigations of mechanisms that underlie SA-I tactile afferents.

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Maan, Chetna. "Acceptance of ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies among older Australians : a review of barriers in user experience." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:47719.

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One of the great challenges facing Australian society is that of an ageing population. Amongst the issues involved in this drastic demographic change, the most significant aspect is the demand for older Australians to live independently at home. The development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies aims to address this issue. The advancement of AAL applications have been done to support the users with their daily-life activities and health concerns by providing increased mobility, security, safety in emergencies, health-monitoring, improved lifestyle, and fall-detection through the use of sensors. However, the optimum uptake of these technologies among the end-users (the elderly Australians) still remains a big concern. Thus, there is an elevated need to understand the needs and preferences of the seniors in order to improve the acceptance of AAL applications. The aim of this study is to investigate the barriers and perceptions in the use of AAL applications amongst older Australians. Focus groups and quantitative surveys have been conducted to provide a detailed analysis of these impediments. The results show that there are different factors that restrict the use of these technologies along with the fact that elderly people have certain preferences when using them. An understanding of these factors has been gained and suggestions have been made to increase the acceptance of AAL devices. This work gives useful insights towards the design of AAL solutions according to user needs.

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Zhang, Lin. "Biological activities and structural characterisation of anticancer herbal polysaccharides." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:45024.

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In recent years, medicinal plants have become popular for the treatment of several diseases due to their efficacy and cost effectiveness. Plant derived therapeutic agents are increasingly sought out as pharmaceuticals for the treatment of life-threatening illnesses. Important contributions have already been made in the recent years to the drug market by the compounds isolated from natural sources or from their derivatives. There is no doubt that, novel lifesaving drugs could be discovered by a systematic evaluation of ethno medicinal information using modern scientific tools. This thesis attempts to systematically combine ethnomedicinal knowledge together with the contemporary scientific methods to evaluate immunomodulatory and anticancer properties of sixteen traditional medicinal herbs with an aim to discover anticancer formulations. The major objective of this project is to isolate and characterise potent anticancer polysaccharides from Traditional Chinese Medicinal (TCM) herbs. In order to achieve these objectives, sixteen Chinese Medicinal herbs have been successfully screened for their antioxidant, immunomodulatory and anticancer activities. Based on their immunomodulatory and anticancer activities, three traditional anticancer TCM herbs, namely, Amauroderma rugosum, Lobelia chinensis and Artemisia annua have been selected for further studies. Isolation and characterisation of polysaccharides from these three medicinal herbs has been carried out. The structural characterization employing FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy has been carried out and presented in Chapters 5 to 7. A total of eight potent immuno-therepuritic polysaccharides have been discovered for the first time from the three important anticancer TCM herbs (A. annua, L. chinensis and A. rugosum). The structure of three of them have been determined. The MRI contrast potentials of Gd(III) complexes of three of the herbal polysaccharides have also been studied. Low molecular weight polysacchro-proteins were found to be T1 agents and high molecular weight polysacchro-proteins were T2 agents. Findings of this thesis have contributed significant scientific knowledge that has offered some suggestions for designing new immuno-therepeutic formulations based on the eight polysaccharides discovered in this thesis. However, further research is required in order to design such formulations.

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Ward, Rebekah. "Publishing for children : Angus & Robertson and the development of Australian children’s publishing, 1897-1933." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:51862.

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Publishing for Children explores how Angus & Robertson, a prominent Australian publisher, contributed to the development of Australian children’s literature in the early twentieth-century. Grounded in the interdisciplinary field of book history and adopting a mixed-methods approach, it initiates a conversation about this previously neglected aspect of Australian literary history. Drawing on historical bibliometric data, it seeks to establish a chronology of the firm’s initial involvement in Australian children’s publishing under the leadership of George Robertson from 1897 to 1933. It moves beyond close readings of canonical texts to identify and appraise all seventy-one Australian children’s books produced by the firm in this period, contextualised within histories of Angus & Robertson and Australian children’s literature. This chronology includes a consideration of the under-researched Cornstalk imprint (operating 1924-1929). This thesis also seeks to foreground the business practices behind the publication and promotion of this corpus. The commercial aspects of book production are significant but are often neglected in children’s literature studies. To examine these practices, Publishing for Children incorporates close qualitative and distant quantitative analysis of historical materials in the Angus & Robertson Archive, an extensive repository of records held by the State Library of New South Wales. Notably, it involves statistical analysis of a collection of 4000 contemporary book reviews that have been routinely underutilised in previous scholarship. In this way, Publishing for Children presents Angus & Robertson as both a cultural and commercial actor. It acknowledges the national importance of their activities as they produced notable Australian children’s books and successfully pioneered a broader tradition of domestic children’s publishing despite the significant economic obstacles of the period. However, it also foregrounds the distinctly commercial motivations that underpinned their business decisions, challenging the dominant image of Angus & Robertson as a nationalistic, beneficent firm.

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Nguyen, Ngoc Que Tran. "The relationship between internal market orientation, external market orientation, employee commitment and job satisfaction in Vietnamese joint-stock commercial banks." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:41083.

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This thesis examines the relationship between internal market orientations, external market orientations, employee commitment, and job satisfaction in Vietnamese joint-stock commercial banks. This quantitative research examined six research questions: • What is the relationship between internal market orientation and external market orientation? • What is the relationship between internal market orientation and employee attitudes? • What is the relationship between employee attitudes and external market orientation? • What is the relationship between different employee attitudes? • How are different employee attitudes related to external market orientation? • Are there any differences in employee attitudes and external market orientation across the four banks? The first phase of the research conducted three pilot tests to verify and confirm the clarity and consistency of the questionnaires. Following the pilot study, 29 managers and directors, and 256 staff from four leading joint-stock commercial banks were surveyed. The collected data were analyzed and hypotheses were tested using simple linear regression, multiple regression and one- way ANOVA. The primary contribution to marketing theory arising from this study is the integration of job satisfaction, employee commitment, and external market orientation in a single research model. This approach enabled the study to provide insights into how employee commitment, job satisfaction, and external market orientation are related. It suggests that if banking employees are committed, they are likely to be more willing and more able to implement and/or adopt an external market orientation. From a managerial perspective, an external market oriented bank has to respond rapidly to the future needs and preferences of its customers. This could result in high levels of commitment to the service process and in doing so, provide Vietnamese joint-stock commercial banks with a competitive advantage. The finding is important for the banking service sector in general and the Vietnamese banking industry in particular.

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Johnson, Adam J. "The role of protein kinase CK2 in metal ion toxicity." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:49851.

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Protein Kinase CK2 is an enzyme discovered in the 1950s. Since then we have gained knowledge in many aspects of its biological function, such as cell proliferation and anti-apoptosis. This study, by means of gene deletion mutants and unbiased genome-wide screening of the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has uncovered a new dimension of CK2’s functionality, i.e. its role in regulating metal toxicity. This discovery is then further extended to mammalian cells. The findings described in Chapter 3, by using the deletion mutants of CK2 subunits (CKA1, CKA2, CKB1 and CKB2) in S. cerevisiae, revealed that deletion of CKA2, the yeast orthologue of mammalian CK2α’, leads to a pronounced resistant phenotype against Zn2+ and Al3+, whilst deletion of CKB1 or CKB2 results in tolerance to Cr6+ and As3+. These data demonstrate that CK2 is involved in regulating metal toxicity, and individual CK2 subunits have distinct roles in this regulation. Furthermore, the results add to the growing evidence that show monomeric CK2 subunits can function discretely, apart from the tetrameric holoenzyme, which contains both catalytic and regulatory subunits. Further investigation using double deletion mutants and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) uncovered the basis for the resistant phenotype of cka2Δ in response to the exposure to Al3+ or Zn2+. Double deletion of CKA2 with either CKB1 or CKB2 and the inhibition of CK2 function by TBB (4,5,6,7-Tetrabromo-2-azabenzimidazole) in cka2Δ revealed that the resistant phenotype of cka2Δ under Al3+ exposure was not affected, suggesting that CKA2 is the solely responsible CK2 gene for Al3+ toxicity. ICP-MS analysis demonstrated that deletion of CKA2 resulted in 52% reduction in Al3+ content compared to the wildtype at 4 h, 85% reduction at 8 h and a 65% reduction at 12 and 16 h post treatment. This clearly shows that Cka2p is involved in Al3+ uptake in a manner independent of the other CK2 subunits present in the cell. In contrast to this finding, the resistant phenotype of cka2Δ under Zn2+ exposure was found to be related to the function of the remaining CK2 subunits (Cka1p, Ckb1p and Ckb2p). The resistant growth phenotype was markedly reduced when CKA2 was deleted together with either of the regulatory subunits (CKB1 or CKB2). Further, the resistant phenotype of cka2Δ was completely abolished when CK2 function was inhibited by TBB. ICP-MS quantification showed that the level of Zn2+ found in cka2Δ was very similar to the wildtype at all time-points tested, indicating that, rather than conferring resistance by excluding Zn2+ from the cell, the remaining CK2 subunits were participating in intracellular sequestration of Zn2+, possibly by interacting with vacuolar Zn2+ transport proteins Zrc1p and Cot1p. The monomeric regulatory subunits of CK2 are involved in As3+ toxicity. While deletion of CKB1 or CKB2 conferred resistance to As3+, deletion of both these genes resulted in sensitivity. This decrease in viability under As3+ treatment when both regulatory subunits are deleted indicates that the regulatory subunits have functions outside the tetramer. The genome-wide deletion screen data shown in Chapter 4 reveal the molecular mechanisms related to As3+ toxicity, uptake and detoxification by identification of tolerant and sensitive genes. Of the genes identified in the screen, their deletion coupled with the deletion of CK2 genes showed that Ckb1p or Ckb2p likely interacts with the genes in the Hog1 (MAPK) pathway. ICP-MS validated that deletion of CKB1 and CKB2 resulted in lower intracellular levels of As3+. Similarly, deletion of CKB1 or CKB2 leads to resistance against Cr6+ due to the reduced intracellular level of the metal ion. The genome wide screen demonstrates oxidative stress as a major cause for Cr6+ toxicity. The increased growth of CKB1 and CKB2 deletion mutants under Cr6+ exposure was found to also be correlated with reduced oxidative stress. Finally, the experimental findings in mammalian neuronal cells with the CK2 inhibitor TBB demonstrated that CK2 activity under the exposure of metal ions such as Al3+ and Zn2+ is disadvantageous to the cell’s viability. Further analysis with specific siRNA against the individual CK2 subunits reveals that such negative effect of CK2 to the cell’s viability under metal stress is largely a result of the CK2α’ subunit. The viability of both Neuro2a and SH-SY5Y cells, when exposed to IC25 and IC50 doses of Zn2+ or Al3+, was significantly increased when Ck2α’ expression was knocked down (p < 0.001). This finding demonstrates CK2 is involved in the regulation of metal toxicity in mammalian cells, just like what is described previously in S. cerevisiae. Overall, the work contained in this thesis establishes a new role for protein kinase CK2 in metal ion toxicity and demonstrates that individual subunits of CK2 have discrete functions. The findings, which have already been published in peer-reviewed journals, have enhanced our knowledge and understanding of CK2’s biological roles, and have provided useful data which have been used to update the yeast genomic functionality in Saccharomyces Genome Database (https://www.yeastgenome.org/). Due to the links between metals, neurodegenerative diseases and cancers, the discovery of the linkage of CK2 with metal toxicity here opens an exciting vista for tackling major health problems such as cancers and neurodegenerative disorders.

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Richards, Harriette. "Fashioning melancholia : sartorial aesthetics and cultural identity in Aotearoa New Zealand." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:49158.

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This thesis presents the first comprehensive research on fashion and melancholia. It is a theoretical and interdisciplinary project that explores the cultural history of place through the representation of dress and the fashioning of sartorial aesthetics. Focusing on Aotearoa New Zealand, this thesis establishes the fundamental relationship between fashion and melancholia and demonstrates the heuristic capacity of melancholia as a device through which to consider the construction of national cultural and aesthetic identity. The concept of melancholia, determined by a deep ambivalence and a profound sense of loss, is positioned as a constitutive feature of sartorial fashion in Aotearoa New Zealand and as an indicative analytical apparatus. Employing the concept of melancholia in this way affords the research both a unique perspective and a distinctive historical depth. In presenting a cultural history of Aotearoa New Zealand, this research does not examine the history of fashion per se. Rather, it is concerned with the ways in which fashion, represented in different forms of cultural production, informs the construction of particular narratives of place, history and aesthetic identity. Both fashion and melancholia, this thesis argues, are characterised by contrast and loss. As such, they are both afforded the capacity to show different versions of the same story, different iterations of the same narrative. Considering the two in conjunction offers an illuminating lens through which to consider the cultural history of place. By engaging with the concept of melancholia in relation to sartorial aesthetics and cultural identity, this thesis presents an original approach to the study of culture and history in Aotearoa New Zealand. Examining sartorial aesthetics within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, this thesis illustrates how cultural history contributes to the production of aesthetic identity, and how the fashioning of a particular aesthetic contributes to the construction of cultural identity. It examines cultural artefacts through melancholia to explore the ways in which sartorial aesthetics function in the fashioning of place and cultural identity and, in so doing, determines the significance of melancholia as a concept of great contemporary relevance and affective application in the study of fashion and cultural history.

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49

Priddis, Steven. "Embracing determinism : the benefits of rejecting free will belief." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:45991.

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Abstract:

Affirmation is the positive response to determinism; the belief that determinism is a boon, and an improvement over having free will. In this thesis, I will argue that the loss of free will, and the rejection of its illusion, can provide us with myriad benefits. Typically, one hears that internalizing the truth of determinism would make us lethargic and immoral, as society breaks down around us. Those threats are greatly overstated, whilst the positive aspects of belief in determinism are often ignored. These benefits include being more accepting, less judgemental, leading a better emotional life, expecting less, and understanding oneself. My thesis makes some baseline assumptions. The first of these is that determinism is true. I’m not concerned with providing a defence of this assumption, as this has been done admirably elsewhere. It may well be the case the determinism is not strictly true, in the case of quantum randomness. To that, I would say that we are sufficiently determined that any minute level of randomness appears inconsequential, and certainly does not provide us a backdoor to free will. Second, I assume that we lack free will as it is typically understood. That is, the incompatibilist is correct and the libertarian is incorrect. I borrow from Honderich in arguing that the free will of the libertarian and the free will of the compatibilist are both separate and important. The positive aspects of determinism require the loss of libertarian free will, however, which is what determines denies us.

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50

Zhang, Changchang. "Non-background Chinese learners' pronunciation acquisition through language transfer : an action research in a Sydney public school." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:55770.

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Abstract:

This research focuses on the exploration of a language transfer teaching approach to make Chinese (Mandarin) learnable for young beginning learners. A qualitative action research methodology was chosen as most relevant to improve the teacher researcher’s teaching practice in a primary school in Australia over three school terms/ three research Cycles. The aim of this research was to find a suitable language transfer-based teaching approach to make Chinese learnable to non-background Chinese learners. The overarching research question was: How can students’ L1 (English) be employed to facilitate the pronunciation acquisition in their L2 (Chinese) learning? Ringbom’s (2007) contention that there are three cross-linguistic similarity relations between languages: “similarity relation”, “contrast relation”, and “zero relation” was implemented to explore the research question. Grounded in the outcomes of Cycle 1 teaching and learning the teacher researcher refined Ringbom’s (2007) three categories into two – “Similar Relation” and “Non-relation” and continued to implement this framework in Cycles 2 and 3. Based on the data analysis and informed by a review of the literature, this action research found that Mandarin and English do share various phonetic similarities of vowels and consonants. In addition, identification and application of such phonetic similarities (language transfer) between Mandarin and English helped young beginning learners to engage in Mandarin pronunciation lessons more effectively and confidently. This research also explored the tensions for teaching and learning pronunciation when no similarities could be identified in the Mandarin vocabulary to be taught. Various supplementary teaching approaches were developed and implemented to assist the young learners’ Mandarin pronunciation when “Non-relation” between the languages was identified. This thesis has concluded with an in-depth discussion of the findings in relation to the research question and its contributory questions. This has resulted in a list of teaching strategies being offered for other like-minded teacher researchers to trial.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'UWS'

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