Bi what means : Paratextual and filmic representations of bisexuality in contemporary cinema
- Authors: Benson, Chloe
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The question of how bisexuality, which is predominantly nonvisual and lacks a coherent cinematic code, can be represented in film remains a consistent concern within bisexual cinema studies. Scholars have tended to approach this problem by concentrating on the ways that the film text itself codes bisexuality or encourages a bisexual reading. This approach can offer important insights into the potential for and problems of screening bisexuality. However, this thesis argues that in order to more fully explore how bisexual meaning is constructed, critical attention must extend beyond the confines of the film text to engage in what Jonathon Gray describes as a form of “off-screen studies” (7). By developing a sustained engagement between paratextual theory and bisexual cinema studies this project develops a new methodological approach to filmic representations of bisexuality. Two samples of bisexual films and the official entryway paratexts - such as posters, trailers, and festival program notes - used to promote them are examined. These samples comprise films screened in the period from 2012-2014 on either the Melbourne general release circuit or at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival that have been identified online by viewers as incorporating bisexual meanings. Considering these texts in relation to their exhibition contexts, the thesis demonstrates that bisexual films can be found in diverse settings. It also establishes the impact that these settings have on the ways the films are framed paratextually. Close textual readings illustrate that paratexts can function as discrete texts that circulate bisexual meanings, as well as framings with the potential to prime viewers’ receptivity to onscreen bisexuality. The thesis reveals that the promotional impetus of paratexts can lead to the amplifying or subduing of bisexual readings across exhibition contexts and argues that an understanding of filmic bisexuality must acknowledge this. In sum, the thesis proposes that paratexts play a formative role in the production and circulation of bisexual meanings both on screen and off, within the niche realm of the queer film festival and on the general release circuit.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Benson, Chloe
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The question of how bisexuality, which is predominantly nonvisual and lacks a coherent cinematic code, can be represented in film remains a consistent concern within bisexual cinema studies. Scholars have tended to approach this problem by concentrating on the ways that the film text itself codes bisexuality or encourages a bisexual reading. This approach can offer important insights into the potential for and problems of screening bisexuality. However, this thesis argues that in order to more fully explore how bisexual meaning is constructed, critical attention must extend beyond the confines of the film text to engage in what Jonathon Gray describes as a form of “off-screen studies” (7). By developing a sustained engagement between paratextual theory and bisexual cinema studies this project develops a new methodological approach to filmic representations of bisexuality. Two samples of bisexual films and the official entryway paratexts - such as posters, trailers, and festival program notes - used to promote them are examined. These samples comprise films screened in the period from 2012-2014 on either the Melbourne general release circuit or at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival that have been identified online by viewers as incorporating bisexual meanings. Considering these texts in relation to their exhibition contexts, the thesis demonstrates that bisexual films can be found in diverse settings. It also establishes the impact that these settings have on the ways the films are framed paratextually. Close textual readings illustrate that paratexts can function as discrete texts that circulate bisexual meanings, as well as framings with the potential to prime viewers’ receptivity to onscreen bisexuality. The thesis reveals that the promotional impetus of paratexts can lead to the amplifying or subduing of bisexual readings across exhibition contexts and argues that an understanding of filmic bisexuality must acknowledge this. In sum, the thesis proposes that paratexts play a formative role in the production and circulation of bisexual meanings both on screen and off, within the niche realm of the queer film festival and on the general release circuit.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Exploring the interior : performing situated responsibility in postcolonising Australia
- Authors: Berger, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Theatre is a powerful way to investigate the operation of borders due to its live, immediate focus on representation and its potential to test a society’s boundaries. This practice-led research incorporates a performance and an exegesis to ask, ‘How can site-specific theatre that investigates the performance of borders and heterotopia enhance understanding of individual responsibility in postcolonising Australia?’ I take the term postcolonising from Aileen Moreton-Robinson, who argues that the beneficiaries of settler-colonialism (such as myself) must accept responsibility for the past before attempting to address its injustices. As an artist, I am inspired by anthropologist, Deborah Bird Rose, who privileges storytelling as a way of breaking boundaries between the past and present. Michel Foucault coined the term heterotopia (other place) to denote a single real space that juxtaposes several sites that are incompatible. This evokes the contemporary Australian situation of contested sovereignty. As Joanne Tompkins argues, heterotopic theatre can enact such a space in order to raise awareness and work towards societal change. My research demonstrates this both theoretically and practically. My exegesis crosses borders to create a heterotopia by juxtaposing past, present and possible futures, stories and theoretical understandings from diverse sources. The performance created at my home, rather than in a theatre, layers family, local, Australian and international histories to highlight the continuum between the personal and political, and to question current structures of power and knowledge. I use site-specific theatre to diminish the boundaries between performer and audience, creating a visceral heterotopia that facilitates a deeper understanding of personal responsibility in the context of postcolonising Australia.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Berger, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Theatre is a powerful way to investigate the operation of borders due to its live, immediate focus on representation and its potential to test a society’s boundaries. This practice-led research incorporates a performance and an exegesis to ask, ‘How can site-specific theatre that investigates the performance of borders and heterotopia enhance understanding of individual responsibility in postcolonising Australia?’ I take the term postcolonising from Aileen Moreton-Robinson, who argues that the beneficiaries of settler-colonialism (such as myself) must accept responsibility for the past before attempting to address its injustices. As an artist, I am inspired by anthropologist, Deborah Bird Rose, who privileges storytelling as a way of breaking boundaries between the past and present. Michel Foucault coined the term heterotopia (other place) to denote a single real space that juxtaposes several sites that are incompatible. This evokes the contemporary Australian situation of contested sovereignty. As Joanne Tompkins argues, heterotopic theatre can enact such a space in order to raise awareness and work towards societal change. My research demonstrates this both theoretically and practically. My exegesis crosses borders to create a heterotopia by juxtaposing past, present and possible futures, stories and theoretical understandings from diverse sources. The performance created at my home, rather than in a theatre, layers family, local, Australian and international histories to highlight the continuum between the personal and political, and to question current structures of power and knowledge. I use site-specific theatre to diminish the boundaries between performer and audience, creating a visceral heterotopia that facilitates a deeper understanding of personal responsibility in the context of postcolonising Australia.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Examining the assessment and development of a fundamental motor skill and the efficacy of peer teaching instructional approaches
- Authors: Beseler, Bradley
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The overall purpose of this dissertation was to examine the process of assessing and developing the Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) of overarm throwing. This dissertation involved two foci: qualitative assessment of FMS and the efficacy of peer teaching approaches. The first focus was to contribute to qualitative assessment of FMS research by examining an assessment system commonly used to assess overarm throwing development. The second focus was to examine the efficacy of peer teaching instructional approaches on improving overarm throwing performance of pre-service physical education (PE) teachers to determine whether these approaches could facilitate pre-service PE teachers to efficiently develop FMS proficiency. PE teachers who can proficiently perform FMS are better equipped to teach these skills; their demonstrations provide the learners a “blueprint” of the skill they are trying to acquire. The research includes four separate studies. The first two studies examined Roberton’s levels (Roberton & Halverson, 1984), a qualitative assessment system used extensively for over four decades to research overarm throwing development, primarily examining the technique of children and older throwers. Study 1 attempted to validate one of the backswing sequences (Haywood et al., 1991) to authenticate it for assessing the backswing component of university-aged throwers. The findings provided preliminary support that the Haywood et al. backswing sequence, previously only validated for assessing the backswing technique of older throwers, was suitable for assessing the backswing of the university-aged throwers. Study 2 examined the impact of the follow-through on throwing velocity. Findings showed the follow-through had the second largest impact on throwing velocity of all the six components, providing preliminary support for the inclusion of the follow-through component to the existing five components of Roberton’s (Roberton & Halverson, 1984) levels, making this system more accurate and comprehensive. Study 3 and 4 both utilised a quasi-experimenal between-subjects pre-test, intervention, post-test, and retention test designs. The participants were allocated to one of three experimental groups: a Video Analysis Group (VAG), a Verbal Group (VG), and a Control Group (CG). During the interventions the VAG and VG worked in pairs in a Reciprocal style of peer teaching (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). The VAG and VG interventions were identical except the VAG had access to video analysis technology and the CG completed unrelated course work. Study 3, a single session intervention, and Study 4, a three-session intervention, attempted to ascertain whether video analysis affects throwing technique of participants working in reciprocal peer teaching settings. The findings indicated the impact of video analysis may be dependent on the number of intervention sessions. In Study 3, video analysis in a single session intervention appeared to accelerate the participants throwing improvement. Study 4 revealed video analysis was not vital over the course of the three sessions. The VAG and VG achieved similar throwing improvements that were superior to the CG who did not experience the peer teaching intervention. The findings from this dissertation have identified scope for the Roberton’s levels (Roberton & Halverson, 1984) to be refined and the two peer teaching instructional approaches examined have been shown to be effective when trying to develop overarm throwing. Furthermore, these findings can inform Physical Education Teacher Education Programs, potentially preparing graduate PE teachers more effectively to develop their students’ FMS, which may increase the involvement of children and adolescents in sport and physical activity because they will have the necessary skills to successfully engage in these activities.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Beseler, Bradley
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The overall purpose of this dissertation was to examine the process of assessing and developing the Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) of overarm throwing. This dissertation involved two foci: qualitative assessment of FMS and the efficacy of peer teaching approaches. The first focus was to contribute to qualitative assessment of FMS research by examining an assessment system commonly used to assess overarm throwing development. The second focus was to examine the efficacy of peer teaching instructional approaches on improving overarm throwing performance of pre-service physical education (PE) teachers to determine whether these approaches could facilitate pre-service PE teachers to efficiently develop FMS proficiency. PE teachers who can proficiently perform FMS are better equipped to teach these skills; their demonstrations provide the learners a “blueprint” of the skill they are trying to acquire. The research includes four separate studies. The first two studies examined Roberton’s levels (Roberton & Halverson, 1984), a qualitative assessment system used extensively for over four decades to research overarm throwing development, primarily examining the technique of children and older throwers. Study 1 attempted to validate one of the backswing sequences (Haywood et al., 1991) to authenticate it for assessing the backswing component of university-aged throwers. The findings provided preliminary support that the Haywood et al. backswing sequence, previously only validated for assessing the backswing technique of older throwers, was suitable for assessing the backswing of the university-aged throwers. Study 2 examined the impact of the follow-through on throwing velocity. Findings showed the follow-through had the second largest impact on throwing velocity of all the six components, providing preliminary support for the inclusion of the follow-through component to the existing five components of Roberton’s (Roberton & Halverson, 1984) levels, making this system more accurate and comprehensive. Study 3 and 4 both utilised a quasi-experimenal between-subjects pre-test, intervention, post-test, and retention test designs. The participants were allocated to one of three experimental groups: a Video Analysis Group (VAG), a Verbal Group (VG), and a Control Group (CG). During the interventions the VAG and VG worked in pairs in a Reciprocal style of peer teaching (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). The VAG and VG interventions were identical except the VAG had access to video analysis technology and the CG completed unrelated course work. Study 3, a single session intervention, and Study 4, a three-session intervention, attempted to ascertain whether video analysis affects throwing technique of participants working in reciprocal peer teaching settings. The findings indicated the impact of video analysis may be dependent on the number of intervention sessions. In Study 3, video analysis in a single session intervention appeared to accelerate the participants throwing improvement. Study 4 revealed video analysis was not vital over the course of the three sessions. The VAG and VG achieved similar throwing improvements that were superior to the CG who did not experience the peer teaching intervention. The findings from this dissertation have identified scope for the Roberton’s levels (Roberton & Halverson, 1984) to be refined and the two peer teaching instructional approaches examined have been shown to be effective when trying to develop overarm throwing. Furthermore, these findings can inform Physical Education Teacher Education Programs, potentially preparing graduate PE teachers more effectively to develop their students’ FMS, which may increase the involvement of children and adolescents in sport and physical activity because they will have the necessary skills to successfully engage in these activities.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Manifestation of token behaviours on corporate boards; a qualitative study
- Authors: Bhardwaj, Sneh
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: As boards are central to organisational performance, an ineffective board functioning has long remained a matter of concern among corporate governance researchers, board practitioners, policy makers and the media not only in India – the context of this study – but also across the regions of Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. An important aspect of boards’ ineffective working concerns directors’ token board behaviours. This debate in corporate governance circles however continuously adheres to a gender/minority-focused approach, attributing token board behaviours to the gender of minority directors on corporate boards (i.e., women directors). The study aims to examine, firstly, the selection process and criteria for corporate board directors’ appointments in India. Secondly, this thesis examines how the quota appointees are being recruited, integrated, and treated by corporate boards in India, to explain the ensuing participation of quota appointees. The third contribution is (from the third and fourth study aims) a more nuanced explanation of token board behaviours of Indian men and women directors (beyond the commonplace explanation of token board behaviours based on the number of minority directors on corporate boards) from an in-depth examination of directors’ board conduct. The research draws on three theories. Firstly, the resource dependence theory (RDT) lens is used to review the literature on board appointments. RDT supports an argument that board composition impacts board processes, dynamics, and culture, and vice versa. Secondly, the token theory, which identifies the inclusion of minority groups as a perfunctory gesture, is used as a putative explanation for effective/ineffective board participation of directors. Thirdly, the institutional theory is applied to examine the findings related to directors’ quota-based board appointments in response to institutional pressures, namely, coercive, normative, and mimetic. An interpretative phenomenological approach informs this study’s research design. I developed four research questions and, to answer these, conducted twenty-seven semi-structured interviews with Indian board directors to obtain first-hand narration of lived experiences in this context. The findings indicate that a majority of directors consider the pre-, during and post-meeting board dis-engagement, impaired board culture, poorly structured board processes, lacunae in director selection including those of the law-supported women directors and board inexperience of directors as determinants of token behaviour on boards, rather than attributing this understanding to the gender of board minorities alone. These results provide an enhanced understanding of token behaviours manifested by board directors. In so doing, new proposals for restructuring directors’ selection processes, quota law’s implementation, directors’ board roles and boards’ internal functioning are offered. The research has implications for regulators, companies, and governments attempting to enhance the corporate governance effectiveness of corporate boards by putting an end to directors’ token behaviours.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Conflict and conservation : sharing the costs and benefits of tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation in communities adjacent to tiger reserves in Nepal
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Human wildlife conflict (HWC) is a highly studied but unresolved aspect of wildlife management. To further knowledge on HWC, this study used a multidisciplinary approach to investigate HWC implications for local people living adjacent to two key tiger conservation reserves in Nepal. The study also assessed the potential to redistribute financial benefits accruing from predator conservation to those bearing costs through associated HWC. Secondary data and anecdotal reports suggest that local people experience significant direct and indirect costs from predator conservation through livestock losses following attacks by common leopards and Bengal tigers, and additionally, crop losses due to their prey species plus two mega herbivores (elephant and one-horned rhinoceros). To investigate this situation, data regarding HWC incidents and costs were sourced through interviews with 422 local households, direct observations, and stakeholder interviews. Collected data included livestock loss (5-year time-period) and crop loss (1-year time-period). Complementary direct observation data collated livestock loss and crop damage for 12 months. Interviews were conducted also with park visitors (N=387) and tourism business owners (N=74). Results showed that tigers are involved in significantly fewer depredation events compared to leopards. Leopards predominantly killed small to medium livestock whereas tigers selected both small to medium and large sized livestock. Livestock depredation events occurred more frequently in livestock corrals relative to forest zones or crop fields. Rates of livestock losses per household per year self-reported during interviews with local people were found higher when compared to those observed by direct measurement. Prey species of tigers and leopards (most often wild boar and chital) were involved in more frequently in crop raiding events, and caused more crop damage, when compared that caused by mega herbivores. Quantities of crops lost per household were lowest in communities where effective physical barriers to wildlife were present. Park visitors and tourism business owners indicated willingness to pay for conservation of tigers and for compensation of farmers for the losses caused by tigers and their prey species. Study findings support several key recommendations proposed to mitigate negative HWC effects in the study area. These include financial support for local communities to build predator proof livestock corrals and establishment of effective physical barriers at the park borders. A dedicated tariff for park visitors and a levy for tourism business owners are also recommended to fund ongoing predator conservation and support financial compensation for local farmers affected by HWC.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Human wildlife conflict (HWC) is a highly studied but unresolved aspect of wildlife management. To further knowledge on HWC, this study used a multidisciplinary approach to investigate HWC implications for local people living adjacent to two key tiger conservation reserves in Nepal. The study also assessed the potential to redistribute financial benefits accruing from predator conservation to those bearing costs through associated HWC. Secondary data and anecdotal reports suggest that local people experience significant direct and indirect costs from predator conservation through livestock losses following attacks by common leopards and Bengal tigers, and additionally, crop losses due to their prey species plus two mega herbivores (elephant and one-horned rhinoceros). To investigate this situation, data regarding HWC incidents and costs were sourced through interviews with 422 local households, direct observations, and stakeholder interviews. Collected data included livestock loss (5-year time-period) and crop loss (1-year time-period). Complementary direct observation data collated livestock loss and crop damage for 12 months. Interviews were conducted also with park visitors (N=387) and tourism business owners (N=74). Results showed that tigers are involved in significantly fewer depredation events compared to leopards. Leopards predominantly killed small to medium livestock whereas tigers selected both small to medium and large sized livestock. Livestock depredation events occurred more frequently in livestock corrals relative to forest zones or crop fields. Rates of livestock losses per household per year self-reported during interviews with local people were found higher when compared to those observed by direct measurement. Prey species of tigers and leopards (most often wild boar and chital) were involved in more frequently in crop raiding events, and caused more crop damage, when compared that caused by mega herbivores. Quantities of crops lost per household were lowest in communities where effective physical barriers to wildlife were present. Park visitors and tourism business owners indicated willingness to pay for conservation of tigers and for compensation of farmers for the losses caused by tigers and their prey species. Study findings support several key recommendations proposed to mitigate negative HWC effects in the study area. These include financial support for local communities to build predator proof livestock corrals and establishment of effective physical barriers at the park borders. A dedicated tariff for park visitors and a levy for tourism business owners are also recommended to fund ongoing predator conservation and support financial compensation for local farmers affected by HWC.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Rule-based interactive assisted reinforcement learning
- Authors: Bignold, Adam
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Reinforcement Learning (RL) has seen increasing interest over the past few years, partially owing to breakthroughs in the digestion and application of external information. The use of external information results in improved learning speeds and solutions to more complex domains. This thesis, a collection of five key contributions, demonstrates that comparable performance gains to existing Interactive Reinforcement Learning methods can be achieved using less data, sourced during operation, and without prior verifcation and validation of the information's integrity. First, this thesis introduces Assisted Reinforcement Learning (ARL), a collective term referring to RL methods that utilise external information to leverage the learning process, and provides a non-exhaustive review of current ARL methods. Second, two advice delivery methods common in ARL, evaluative and informative, are compared through human trials. The comparison highlights how human engagement, accuracy of advice, agent performance, and advice utility differ between the two methods. Third, this thesis introduces simulated users as a methodology for testing and comparing ARL methods. Simulated users enable testing and comparing of ARL systems without costly and time-consuming human trials. While not a replacement for well-designed human trials, simulated users offer a cheap and robust approach to ARL design and comparison. Fourth, the concept of persistence is introduced to Interactive Reinforcement Learning. The retention and reuse of advice maximises utility and can lead to improved performance and reduced human demand. Finally, this thesis presents rule-based interactive RL, an iterative method for providing advice to an agent. Existing interactive RL methods rely on constant human supervision and evaluation, requiring a substantial commitment from the advice-giver. Rule-based advice can be provided proactively and be generalised over the state-space while remaining flexible enough to handle potentially inaccurate or irrelevant information. Ultimately, the thesis contributions are validated empirically and clearly show that rule-based advice signicantly reduces human guidance requirements while improving agent performance.
- Description: Doctor of Pholosophy
- Authors: Bignold, Adam
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Reinforcement Learning (RL) has seen increasing interest over the past few years, partially owing to breakthroughs in the digestion and application of external information. The use of external information results in improved learning speeds and solutions to more complex domains. This thesis, a collection of five key contributions, demonstrates that comparable performance gains to existing Interactive Reinforcement Learning methods can be achieved using less data, sourced during operation, and without prior verifcation and validation of the information's integrity. First, this thesis introduces Assisted Reinforcement Learning (ARL), a collective term referring to RL methods that utilise external information to leverage the learning process, and provides a non-exhaustive review of current ARL methods. Second, two advice delivery methods common in ARL, evaluative and informative, are compared through human trials. The comparison highlights how human engagement, accuracy of advice, agent performance, and advice utility differ between the two methods. Third, this thesis introduces simulated users as a methodology for testing and comparing ARL methods. Simulated users enable testing and comparing of ARL systems without costly and time-consuming human trials. While not a replacement for well-designed human trials, simulated users offer a cheap and robust approach to ARL design and comparison. Fourth, the concept of persistence is introduced to Interactive Reinforcement Learning. The retention and reuse of advice maximises utility and can lead to improved performance and reduced human demand. Finally, this thesis presents rule-based interactive RL, an iterative method for providing advice to an agent. Existing interactive RL methods rely on constant human supervision and evaluation, requiring a substantial commitment from the advice-giver. Rule-based advice can be provided proactively and be generalised over the state-space while remaining flexible enough to handle potentially inaccurate or irrelevant information. Ultimately, the thesis contributions are validated empirically and clearly show that rule-based advice signicantly reduces human guidance requirements while improving agent performance.
- Description: Doctor of Pholosophy
Statistical assessment of Australian bushfire conditions : long-term changes and variability
- Authors: Biswas, Soubhik
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: In the wake of increasing bushfire impacts in recent decades across the Australian landscape, questions arise regarding the role played by weather conditions, climate variability and long-term climate change. This thesis seeks to quantify the following components that can influence fire risk: (1) the effects of weather and mean climate conditions, (2) large-scale drivers of natural climate variability, (3) the influence of extreme weather events and (4) the contribution of long-term anthropogenic climate change. Bushfire risks associated with weather and climate factors in Australia are generally assessed using indices such as the Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI). The FFDI is used in this study, calculated from daily values of rainfall, relative humidity, temperature and wind speed, providing a generalised approach for combining those four weather factors known to influence fire behaviour. This study also aims to fill several knowledge gaps in the literature. For example, a comprehensive study of climatology, variability and trends in Australia's fire weather conditions was never attempted before using a high-resolution and a very long-term fire weather dataset. The fire weather conditions were analysed using a long-term FFDI dataset constructed from 20th Century reanalysis climatic data with bias correction applied because reconstructed weather datasets like 20th Century reanalysis products often show systemic biases. Various statistical bias correction approaches based on quantile-quantile matching were compared, and a spline-based method was selected due to its higher precision in correcting a distribution for the purposes of this study. The relationship of this calibrated FFDI dataset with the climate drivers of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) was analysed. Results are mapped to show the regional and seasonal fluctuations in the severe fire weather across Australia during different combinations of ENSO, IOD, and SAM phases. During the austral spring and summer seasons, the highest frequency of severe fire weather conditions occurred for the combination of positive ENSO (i.e., El Nino), positive IOD and negative SAM. The calibrated FFDI dataset derived from bias-corrected Twentieth Century Reanalysis data was further used to study the long-term climate change trends in Australian fire weather conditions. A general positive trend in the number of extreme FFDI days was reported across Australia, except for New South Wales in Spring where a statistically non-significant negative trend was observed. Temperature and relative humidity were found to be the most critical climatic variables influencing fire weather trends across the country, noting that relative humidity is partly based on temperature. The applications of this work range from being useful for various stakeholders in framing new climate change adaptation policies to being used for seasonal outlooks and planning by fire management teams.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Biswas, Soubhik
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: In the wake of increasing bushfire impacts in recent decades across the Australian landscape, questions arise regarding the role played by weather conditions, climate variability and long-term climate change. This thesis seeks to quantify the following components that can influence fire risk: (1) the effects of weather and mean climate conditions, (2) large-scale drivers of natural climate variability, (3) the influence of extreme weather events and (4) the contribution of long-term anthropogenic climate change. Bushfire risks associated with weather and climate factors in Australia are generally assessed using indices such as the Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI). The FFDI is used in this study, calculated from daily values of rainfall, relative humidity, temperature and wind speed, providing a generalised approach for combining those four weather factors known to influence fire behaviour. This study also aims to fill several knowledge gaps in the literature. For example, a comprehensive study of climatology, variability and trends in Australia's fire weather conditions was never attempted before using a high-resolution and a very long-term fire weather dataset. The fire weather conditions were analysed using a long-term FFDI dataset constructed from 20th Century reanalysis climatic data with bias correction applied because reconstructed weather datasets like 20th Century reanalysis products often show systemic biases. Various statistical bias correction approaches based on quantile-quantile matching were compared, and a spline-based method was selected due to its higher precision in correcting a distribution for the purposes of this study. The relationship of this calibrated FFDI dataset with the climate drivers of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) was analysed. Results are mapped to show the regional and seasonal fluctuations in the severe fire weather across Australia during different combinations of ENSO, IOD, and SAM phases. During the austral spring and summer seasons, the highest frequency of severe fire weather conditions occurred for the combination of positive ENSO (i.e., El Nino), positive IOD and negative SAM. The calibrated FFDI dataset derived from bias-corrected Twentieth Century Reanalysis data was further used to study the long-term climate change trends in Australian fire weather conditions. A general positive trend in the number of extreme FFDI days was reported across Australia, except for New South Wales in Spring where a statistically non-significant negative trend was observed. Temperature and relative humidity were found to be the most critical climatic variables influencing fire weather trends across the country, noting that relative humidity is partly based on temperature. The applications of this work range from being useful for various stakeholders in framing new climate change adaptation policies to being used for seasonal outlooks and planning by fire management teams.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Techniques for the reverse engineering of banking malware
- Authors: Black, Paul
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Malware attacks are a significant and frequently reported problem, adversely affecting the productivity of organisations and governments worldwide. The well-documented consequences of malware attacks include financial loss, data loss, reputation damage, infrastructure damage, theft of intellectual property, compromise of commercial negotiations, and national security risks. Mitiga-tion activities involve a significant amount of manual analysis. Therefore, there is a need for automated techniques for malware analysis to identify malicious behaviours. Research into automated techniques for malware analysis covers a wide range of activities. This thesis consists of a series of studies: an anal-ysis of banking malware families and their common behaviours, an emulated command and control environment for dynamic malware analysis, a technique to identify similar malware functions, and a technique for the detection of ransomware. An analysis of the nature of banking malware, its major malware families, behaviours, variants, and inter-relationships are provided in this thesis. In doing this, this research takes a broad view of malware analysis, starting with the implementation of the malicious behaviours through to detailed analysis using machine learning. The broad approach taken in this thesis differs from some other studies that approach malware research in a more abstract sense. A disadvantage of approaching malware research without domain knowledge, is that important methodology questions may not be considered. Large datasets of historical malware samples are available for countermea-sures research. However, due to the age of these samples, the original malware infrastructure is no longer available, often restricting malware operations to initialisation functions only. To address this absence, an emulated command and control environment is provided. This emulated environment provides full control of the malware, enabling the capabilities of the original in-the-wild operation, while enabling feature extraction for research purposes. A major focus of this thesis has been the development of a machine learn-ing function similarity method with a novel feature encoding that increases feature strength. This research develops techniques to demonstrate that the machine learning model trained on similarity features from one program can find similar functions in another, unrelated program. This finding can lead to the development of generic similar function classifiers that can be packaged and distributed in reverse engineering tools such as IDA Pro and Ghidra. Further, this research examines the use of API call features for the identi-fication of ransomware and shows that a failure to consider malware analysis domain knowledge can lead to weaknesses in experimental design. In this case, we show that existing research has difficulty in discriminating between ransomware and benign cryptographic software. This thesis by publication, has developed techniques to advance the disci-pline of malware reverse engineering, in order to minimize harm due to cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure, government institutions, and industry.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Black, Paul
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Malware attacks are a significant and frequently reported problem, adversely affecting the productivity of organisations and governments worldwide. The well-documented consequences of malware attacks include financial loss, data loss, reputation damage, infrastructure damage, theft of intellectual property, compromise of commercial negotiations, and national security risks. Mitiga-tion activities involve a significant amount of manual analysis. Therefore, there is a need for automated techniques for malware analysis to identify malicious behaviours. Research into automated techniques for malware analysis covers a wide range of activities. This thesis consists of a series of studies: an anal-ysis of banking malware families and their common behaviours, an emulated command and control environment for dynamic malware analysis, a technique to identify similar malware functions, and a technique for the detection of ransomware. An analysis of the nature of banking malware, its major malware families, behaviours, variants, and inter-relationships are provided in this thesis. In doing this, this research takes a broad view of malware analysis, starting with the implementation of the malicious behaviours through to detailed analysis using machine learning. The broad approach taken in this thesis differs from some other studies that approach malware research in a more abstract sense. A disadvantage of approaching malware research without domain knowledge, is that important methodology questions may not be considered. Large datasets of historical malware samples are available for countermea-sures research. However, due to the age of these samples, the original malware infrastructure is no longer available, often restricting malware operations to initialisation functions only. To address this absence, an emulated command and control environment is provided. This emulated environment provides full control of the malware, enabling the capabilities of the original in-the-wild operation, while enabling feature extraction for research purposes. A major focus of this thesis has been the development of a machine learn-ing function similarity method with a novel feature encoding that increases feature strength. This research develops techniques to demonstrate that the machine learning model trained on similarity features from one program can find similar functions in another, unrelated program. This finding can lead to the development of generic similar function classifiers that can be packaged and distributed in reverse engineering tools such as IDA Pro and Ghidra. Further, this research examines the use of API call features for the identi-fication of ransomware and shows that a failure to consider malware analysis domain knowledge can lead to weaknesses in experimental design. In this case, we show that existing research has difficulty in discriminating between ransomware and benign cryptographic software. This thesis by publication, has developed techniques to advance the disci-pline of malware reverse engineering, in order to minimize harm due to cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure, government institutions, and industry.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Giving the laity a voice through fiction : Irish Catholic Ballarat in 1875 as portrayed in The liberator's birthday
- Authors: Blee, Jillian
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This project uses narrative fiction to portray Irish Catholic laity who were part of the population of Ballarat in 1875."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Blee, Jillian
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This project uses narrative fiction to portray Irish Catholic laity who were part of the population of Ballarat in 1875."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Cultural influence on China's household saving
- Authors: Boffa, Zhang-Ming
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The recession following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis highlighted the problem of deficient household saving and imprudent consumer credit. Studies of selected economies reveal that household saving tends to decline as economies move to higher stages of development. Following rapid economic growth, China’s household saving, possibly due to the influence of traditional culture, has remained high by international standards while consumer credit levels are low. This significant phenomenon has prompted the question of what this development trajectory may become as China proceeds to higher income levels. Whereas the economic, social and financial development factors related to household saving and development have been well researched, from the perspective of this investigation, there are missing ‘cultural values’ in the analysis. Consequently, the Institutional Economics concept of ‘culture as a value’ provides the basis for this thesis into the influence of culture on China’s household saving and its effects. By extending Keynes’s General Theory in relation to saving, and incorporating studies from both the Chinese and Western scholarly traditions, five themes are identified as influencing the cultural preferences of China’s household saving. These are: (i) precautionary motives; (ii) habit formation; (iii) children’s education; (iv) consumer credit; and (v) teaching thrift. The holistic approach of this study has allowed a deeper understanding of the role of cultural values on agency and structure in economic events and their subsequent impact on household saving. Results of this investigation indicate that the Confucian value of family ties and ‘Zhong Yong’ – the Golden Mean, which translates essentially as balance, enable Chinese households to save. This development has highlighted a growing tension, in China’s modernity process, between the traditional Confucian value of thrift and the Western cultural influence of stimulating economic growth by consumption. After consideration of current saving practices and the anticipation of economic changes, this research advocates the striking of a balance between household saving and increasing consumption in China in order to avert a future financial crisis and to facilitate economic growth. The implication of this research is that finding a balance between household saving and consumption is crucial to sustainable future development in China as it shifts its development focus from investment and export-led to domestic consumption-driven growth and social development.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Boffa, Zhang-Ming
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The recession following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis highlighted the problem of deficient household saving and imprudent consumer credit. Studies of selected economies reveal that household saving tends to decline as economies move to higher stages of development. Following rapid economic growth, China’s household saving, possibly due to the influence of traditional culture, has remained high by international standards while consumer credit levels are low. This significant phenomenon has prompted the question of what this development trajectory may become as China proceeds to higher income levels. Whereas the economic, social and financial development factors related to household saving and development have been well researched, from the perspective of this investigation, there are missing ‘cultural values’ in the analysis. Consequently, the Institutional Economics concept of ‘culture as a value’ provides the basis for this thesis into the influence of culture on China’s household saving and its effects. By extending Keynes’s General Theory in relation to saving, and incorporating studies from both the Chinese and Western scholarly traditions, five themes are identified as influencing the cultural preferences of China’s household saving. These are: (i) precautionary motives; (ii) habit formation; (iii) children’s education; (iv) consumer credit; and (v) teaching thrift. The holistic approach of this study has allowed a deeper understanding of the role of cultural values on agency and structure in economic events and their subsequent impact on household saving. Results of this investigation indicate that the Confucian value of family ties and ‘Zhong Yong’ – the Golden Mean, which translates essentially as balance, enable Chinese households to save. This development has highlighted a growing tension, in China’s modernity process, between the traditional Confucian value of thrift and the Western cultural influence of stimulating economic growth by consumption. After consideration of current saving practices and the anticipation of economic changes, this research advocates the striking of a balance between household saving and increasing consumption in China in order to avert a future financial crisis and to facilitate economic growth. The implication of this research is that finding a balance between household saving and consumption is crucial to sustainable future development in China as it shifts its development focus from investment and export-led to domestic consumption-driven growth and social development.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Pleasure framed : the potential of constraint in the art process as a means to aesthetic freedom and positive connection to places of past colonialism
- Authors: Bolger, Wendy
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This art based project is a personal exploratory journey through the potential of constraint, to fine aesthetic freedom and positive connection with places of past colonisation - in particular Lake Mungo in New South Wales, and places of my pastoral background in New Zealand." --Abstract.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bolger, Wendy
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This art based project is a personal exploratory journey through the potential of constraint, to fine aesthetic freedom and positive connection with places of past colonisation - in particular Lake Mungo in New South Wales, and places of my pastoral background in New Zealand." --Abstract.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Citizen science: Knowledge, networks and the boundaries of participation
- Authors: Bonney, Patrick
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The water-related challenges facing humanity are complex and urgent. Although solutions are not always clear, involving the public in localised knowledge production and policy development is widely recognised as a critical part of this larger effort. Such public engagement is increasingly achieved through “citizen science”—a practice that involves non-professionals in scientific research and monitoring. Academic literature has recognised that, while citizen science is both important and necessary to strengthen environmental policy, its acceptance and successful implementation is a difficult governance challenge. Researchers agree that overcoming this challenge depends on the ability of volunteers, coordinators, scientists and decision-makers to work together to convert the potential of citizen science into practice. However, little is known about the collaborative relationships or the broader social contexts that shape and define the practice. To address these shortfalls, this thesis advances a conceptual framework for the relational analysis of citizen science that illustrates social networks and the boundaries between expert and community-based knowledge as critical sites of investigation. Through its multi-phase and mixed-methods research design, the findings of this thesis shed light on the contributions of citizen science to key waterway governance objectives, including the social, political and cultural factors that influence its acceptance and uptake in governance contexts. By unpacking the relational dimensions of citizen science, this thesis provides both theoretical and practice-based insights into how actors within and outside citizen science programs work together to achieve collective aims to engender stronger connections between science, society and policy. This thesis will benefit practitioners, policymakers and participatory advocates interested in achieving practical social change in efforts to understand and manage natural resources.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bonney, Patrick
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The water-related challenges facing humanity are complex and urgent. Although solutions are not always clear, involving the public in localised knowledge production and policy development is widely recognised as a critical part of this larger effort. Such public engagement is increasingly achieved through “citizen science”—a practice that involves non-professionals in scientific research and monitoring. Academic literature has recognised that, while citizen science is both important and necessary to strengthen environmental policy, its acceptance and successful implementation is a difficult governance challenge. Researchers agree that overcoming this challenge depends on the ability of volunteers, coordinators, scientists and decision-makers to work together to convert the potential of citizen science into practice. However, little is known about the collaborative relationships or the broader social contexts that shape and define the practice. To address these shortfalls, this thesis advances a conceptual framework for the relational analysis of citizen science that illustrates social networks and the boundaries between expert and community-based knowledge as critical sites of investigation. Through its multi-phase and mixed-methods research design, the findings of this thesis shed light on the contributions of citizen science to key waterway governance objectives, including the social, political and cultural factors that influence its acceptance and uptake in governance contexts. By unpacking the relational dimensions of citizen science, this thesis provides both theoretical and practice-based insights into how actors within and outside citizen science programs work together to achieve collective aims to engender stronger connections between science, society and policy. This thesis will benefit practitioners, policymakers and participatory advocates interested in achieving practical social change in efforts to understand and manage natural resources.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
The role of Telomeres in the development of Cardiac Hypertrophy
- Authors: Booth, Scott
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Description: The overall aim of this thesis was to determine the role of telomeres in the development of cardiac hypertrophy. It was hypothesised that changes in cardiomyocyte telomere length and/or maintenance cause cardiac hypertrophy.
- Authors: Booth, Scott
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Description: The overall aim of this thesis was to determine the role of telomeres in the development of cardiac hypertrophy. It was hypothesised that changes in cardiomyocyte telomere length and/or maintenance cause cardiac hypertrophy.
Exploring risk-awareness as a cultural approach to safety : An ethnographic study of a contract maintenance environment
- Authors: Borys, David
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Safety culture has risen to prominence over the past two decades as a means by which organisations may enhance their safety performance. Safety culture may be conceptualised as an interpretive device that mediates between organisational safety rhetoric and safety programs on the one hand, and local workplace cultures on the other. More recently, risk-awareness has emerged as a cultural approach to safety. Front line workers are encouraged to become risk-aware through programs designed to prompt them to undertake mental or informal risk assessments before commencing work. The problem is that risk-awareness programs have not been the subject of systematic research and the impact of these programs on the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk is unknown. Therefore, this ethnographic study of two sites within a large contract maintenance organisation in Australia explored what impact risk-awareness programs have upon the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk. The researcher spent two months in the field and data was collected through participant observation, semistructured interviews and through a review of organisational documents. This study found that managers focused upon collecting the paperwork associated with the program as proof that workers had a safer workplace, whereas workers preferred to rely upon their common sense rather than the paperwork to keep them safe. As a consequence, the riskawareness program resulted in a culture of paperwork and varying levels of risk reduction because the paperwork associated with the program created an illusion of safety for managers as much as common sense did for workers. The results of this study have implications for safety culture, risk-awareness programs and for organisational learning. They also have implications for organisations wishing to improve their safety culture by encouraging risk-awareness in front-line workers.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Borys, David
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Safety culture has risen to prominence over the past two decades as a means by which organisations may enhance their safety performance. Safety culture may be conceptualised as an interpretive device that mediates between organisational safety rhetoric and safety programs on the one hand, and local workplace cultures on the other. More recently, risk-awareness has emerged as a cultural approach to safety. Front line workers are encouraged to become risk-aware through programs designed to prompt them to undertake mental or informal risk assessments before commencing work. The problem is that risk-awareness programs have not been the subject of systematic research and the impact of these programs on the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk is unknown. Therefore, this ethnographic study of two sites within a large contract maintenance organisation in Australia explored what impact risk-awareness programs have upon the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk. The researcher spent two months in the field and data was collected through participant observation, semistructured interviews and through a review of organisational documents. This study found that managers focused upon collecting the paperwork associated with the program as proof that workers had a safer workplace, whereas workers preferred to rely upon their common sense rather than the paperwork to keep them safe. As a consequence, the riskawareness program resulted in a culture of paperwork and varying levels of risk reduction because the paperwork associated with the program created an illusion of safety for managers as much as common sense did for workers. The results of this study have implications for safety culture, risk-awareness programs and for organisational learning. They also have implications for organisations wishing to improve their safety culture by encouraging risk-awareness in front-line workers.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Undergraduate nursing students’ team communication skills within a simulated emergency setting : a grounded theory study
- Authors: Bourke, Sharon
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Recognising and managing clinical deterioration is considered a high priority in health care with ineffective communication being a significant contributing factor to poor clinical outcomes for patients. Nurses are in a unique position to make a difference in influencing improvements in team communication. In Australia, nurse education has become more complicated and demanding with nursing students focus on behaviour skills, such as communication, becoming more difficult in a saturated curriculum. Simulation-based education has provided an experiential way to learn these complex skills. Although there has been much work in the healthcare literature on clinical teamwork, including communication and its intersection with patient safety, there is still a gap in explaining how individuals within the team contribute to communication. The purpose of this study was to explore and explain how nursing students communicate in simulated emergency settings and how factors, such as culture, language, gender, age and power, affect nursing students’ team communication. This study investigated how transitioning nursing students are prepared with the necessary skills to achieve effective team communication at the point of transition to clinical practice as registered nurses. In order to address the aims of the study, a constructivist grounded theory methodology, informed by Kathy Charmaz (2006), was employed. Using purposive sampling, third year nursing students were recruited from one Australian university, to undertake a structured team simulation experience. Participants worked in teams of three or four to experience the team communication whilst working together to care for a deteriorating patient in the form of a mannequin. Simulations were video recorded after which individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants. In line with a grounded theory approach, data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently until theoretical saturation was achieved. In response to the central problem of how nursing students communicate in simulated emergency settings, a core process was established that explained the factors that affect team communication. This problem is conceptualised as Navigating uncertainty: Explaining communication of nursing students within an emergency setting. This theoretical construct helps to explain nursing students’ actions and insights into factors that influence their communication within emergency teams. The core process is represented in three transitional stages of the theory comprising: Finding a place in the team, Understanding and working out differences and Looking to the future: Developing strategies to improve communication. This process was mediated by contextual conditions of the student, the simulation and the team. The phases are reinforced by the three main categories of Having a place in the team, Knowing yourself, and Transitioning from student to registered nurse. These categories represent the key activities that nursing students were engaged with that led to the development of the core category and process. The generated findings and theory offer valuable insights into factors that influence team communication skills within emergency settings. The theory raises awareness of social processes undertaken by nursing students during team communication, and highlights obstacles that can assist educators and academics to structure team communication education to better meet the needs of nursing students transitioning to practice settings.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bourke, Sharon
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Recognising and managing clinical deterioration is considered a high priority in health care with ineffective communication being a significant contributing factor to poor clinical outcomes for patients. Nurses are in a unique position to make a difference in influencing improvements in team communication. In Australia, nurse education has become more complicated and demanding with nursing students focus on behaviour skills, such as communication, becoming more difficult in a saturated curriculum. Simulation-based education has provided an experiential way to learn these complex skills. Although there has been much work in the healthcare literature on clinical teamwork, including communication and its intersection with patient safety, there is still a gap in explaining how individuals within the team contribute to communication. The purpose of this study was to explore and explain how nursing students communicate in simulated emergency settings and how factors, such as culture, language, gender, age and power, affect nursing students’ team communication. This study investigated how transitioning nursing students are prepared with the necessary skills to achieve effective team communication at the point of transition to clinical practice as registered nurses. In order to address the aims of the study, a constructivist grounded theory methodology, informed by Kathy Charmaz (2006), was employed. Using purposive sampling, third year nursing students were recruited from one Australian university, to undertake a structured team simulation experience. Participants worked in teams of three or four to experience the team communication whilst working together to care for a deteriorating patient in the form of a mannequin. Simulations were video recorded after which individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants. In line with a grounded theory approach, data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently until theoretical saturation was achieved. In response to the central problem of how nursing students communicate in simulated emergency settings, a core process was established that explained the factors that affect team communication. This problem is conceptualised as Navigating uncertainty: Explaining communication of nursing students within an emergency setting. This theoretical construct helps to explain nursing students’ actions and insights into factors that influence their communication within emergency teams. The core process is represented in three transitional stages of the theory comprising: Finding a place in the team, Understanding and working out differences and Looking to the future: Developing strategies to improve communication. This process was mediated by contextual conditions of the student, the simulation and the team. The phases are reinforced by the three main categories of Having a place in the team, Knowing yourself, and Transitioning from student to registered nurse. These categories represent the key activities that nursing students were engaged with that led to the development of the core category and process. The generated findings and theory offer valuable insights into factors that influence team communication skills within emergency settings. The theory raises awareness of social processes undertaken by nursing students during team communication, and highlights obstacles that can assist educators and academics to structure team communication education to better meet the needs of nursing students transitioning to practice settings.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Genomic and flow cytometric studies of Clostridium sporogenes, a non-toxigenic surrogate for Clostridium botulinum
- Authors: Bradbury, Mark
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Clostridium sporogenes and Group I Clostridium botulinum are two bacterial species belonging to the same phylogenetic group, primarily differentiated by the expression of botulinum neurotoxin. Both organisms are of significant commercial importance in regards to the spoilage of and/or disease in thermally processed food products due to their ability to form heat resistant spores. As such, these species are often used as the target organism for the design of thermal inactivation processes, particularly in regards to thermal sterilisation. Two specific aspects pertaining to these organisms were investigated to further enhance knowledge with respect to their use in thermal processing studies: the genetic relationship between C. sporogenes and Group I C. botulinum; and the mechanism of heat resistance in spores of C. sporogenes. The first part of this thesis describes the assembly, annotation and analysis of the draft genome of C. sporogenes PA 3679 (the most widely used surrogate for Group I C. botulinum). These data allowed identification of unique variants genes related to spore germination, analogous toxin regions and mobile elements between species. MLST analysis revealed that phylogeny was an ineffective indicator of toxigenicity in this group and thus prompted a pan-genomic analysis. The pan-genome of C. sporogenes/Group I C. botulinum was found to consist of 8799 coding sequences (CDS’s) and a core genome consisting of 1590 CDS’s. Analysis of this pan-genome revealed the significant role that mobile genetic elements have played in genetic diversity within this group of organisms. The second part of this thesis investigated the heat inactivation of C. sporogenes PA 3679 spores in regards to structural variation and population heterogeneity. A novel flow cytometric approach was developed and utilised to investigate isothermal spore inactivation; and implications of the impact of NaCl on the intrinsic variability throughout this process and during a subsequent recovery period. Based on these approaches a possible mechanistic description for the thermal inactivation of spores was developed. Together, these studies present significant evidence supporting the continued suitability of C. sporogenes as a surrogate for Group I C. botulinum, whilst also enhancing the understanding of clostridial spore inactivation during a moist heat process.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bradbury, Mark
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Clostridium sporogenes and Group I Clostridium botulinum are two bacterial species belonging to the same phylogenetic group, primarily differentiated by the expression of botulinum neurotoxin. Both organisms are of significant commercial importance in regards to the spoilage of and/or disease in thermally processed food products due to their ability to form heat resistant spores. As such, these species are often used as the target organism for the design of thermal inactivation processes, particularly in regards to thermal sterilisation. Two specific aspects pertaining to these organisms were investigated to further enhance knowledge with respect to their use in thermal processing studies: the genetic relationship between C. sporogenes and Group I C. botulinum; and the mechanism of heat resistance in spores of C. sporogenes. The first part of this thesis describes the assembly, annotation and analysis of the draft genome of C. sporogenes PA 3679 (the most widely used surrogate for Group I C. botulinum). These data allowed identification of unique variants genes related to spore germination, analogous toxin regions and mobile elements between species. MLST analysis revealed that phylogeny was an ineffective indicator of toxigenicity in this group and thus prompted a pan-genomic analysis. The pan-genome of C. sporogenes/Group I C. botulinum was found to consist of 8799 coding sequences (CDS’s) and a core genome consisting of 1590 CDS’s. Analysis of this pan-genome revealed the significant role that mobile genetic elements have played in genetic diversity within this group of organisms. The second part of this thesis investigated the heat inactivation of C. sporogenes PA 3679 spores in regards to structural variation and population heterogeneity. A novel flow cytometric approach was developed and utilised to investigate isothermal spore inactivation; and implications of the impact of NaCl on the intrinsic variability throughout this process and during a subsequent recovery period. Based on these approaches a possible mechanistic description for the thermal inactivation of spores was developed. Together, these studies present significant evidence supporting the continued suitability of C. sporogenes as a surrogate for Group I C. botulinum, whilst also enhancing the understanding of clostridial spore inactivation during a moist heat process.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Social exclusion : contested meanings, policy and experience
- Authors: Brass, Kate
- Date: 2009
- Type: Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This thesis takes a critical inquiry approach to the concept of social exclusion, which has become a prevalent feature of the contemporary social policy lexicon ... [the] study takes an innovative methodological approach in that it explores and makes visible the diverse and contradictory meanings that practitioners and community members hold for social exclusion, and gives those meanings equal stature with the views of academic researchers and policy makers, as they are represented in the scholarly research literature and associated policy documents."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Brass, Kate
- Date: 2009
- Type: Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This thesis takes a critical inquiry approach to the concept of social exclusion, which has become a prevalent feature of the contemporary social policy lexicon ... [the] study takes an innovative methodological approach in that it explores and makes visible the diverse and contradictory meanings that practitioners and community members hold for social exclusion, and gives those meanings equal stature with the views of academic researchers and policy makers, as they are represented in the scholarly research literature and associated policy documents."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
.comUnity : A study on the adoption and diffusion of internet technologies in a regional tourism network
- Authors: Braun, Patrice
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis describes the initiation and evolution of an action research project, which investigates the adoption and diffusion of Internet technologies in a regional Australian tourism network. The research evolved out of a portal development consultancy. The aim of the study was two-fold: to investigate the nature of the change process when a collaborative network seeks to adopt e-commerce; and to determine how the change process differed in the face of incremental change (adding some e-commerce solutions to the network), or radical change (changing the overall business model). The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the economic, strategic and social potential of regional business networks in the current techno-economic climate. The study builds on Rogers' (1995) seminal work on the diffusion of innovations and makes a unique contribution to existing diffusion studies by its focus on the nature of the network links as the unit of analysis; and by its application of an action-oriented methodology to untangle the effects of the embedded network structure on diffusion. The study suggests a strong relationship between diffusion and network positioning, both in terms of place (status and position in the network) and space (the geographic make-up of the network). Diffusion further hinged on network cohesion, actors' trust in and engagement with the network. Adoption of e-commerce was obstructed by actors’ worldview; lack of time, reflexive learning, and commitment to change. The incorporation in the study’s diffusion framework of contextual moderators such as network position, worldview, trust, time and commitment considerably extends Rogers’ traditional diffusion framework. Based on its emergent analysis framework, the study introduces a dynamic change model towards sustainable regional network development. It is suggested that both the diffusion framework and the regional innovation model developed in this study may, either jointly or separately, be applicable beyond the tourism and service sector.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Braun, Patrice
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis describes the initiation and evolution of an action research project, which investigates the adoption and diffusion of Internet technologies in a regional Australian tourism network. The research evolved out of a portal development consultancy. The aim of the study was two-fold: to investigate the nature of the change process when a collaborative network seeks to adopt e-commerce; and to determine how the change process differed in the face of incremental change (adding some e-commerce solutions to the network), or radical change (changing the overall business model). The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the economic, strategic and social potential of regional business networks in the current techno-economic climate. The study builds on Rogers' (1995) seminal work on the diffusion of innovations and makes a unique contribution to existing diffusion studies by its focus on the nature of the network links as the unit of analysis; and by its application of an action-oriented methodology to untangle the effects of the embedded network structure on diffusion. The study suggests a strong relationship between diffusion and network positioning, both in terms of place (status and position in the network) and space (the geographic make-up of the network). Diffusion further hinged on network cohesion, actors' trust in and engagement with the network. Adoption of e-commerce was obstructed by actors’ worldview; lack of time, reflexive learning, and commitment to change. The incorporation in the study’s diffusion framework of contextual moderators such as network position, worldview, trust, time and commitment considerably extends Rogers’ traditional diffusion framework. Based on its emergent analysis framework, the study introduces a dynamic change model towards sustainable regional network development. It is suggested that both the diffusion framework and the regional innovation model developed in this study may, either jointly or separately, be applicable beyond the tourism and service sector.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Epidemiology, injury and illness prevention in Olympic combat sports
- Authors: Bromley, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Background: Olympic combat sports are commonly considered dangerous, however injury rates for these sports are not well understood. Isolated studies in combat sports have investigated injury, however these are mainly during competition, and therefore are unlikely to include significant or persistent injury which prevents athletes competing and participating in data collection. This thesis was undertaken as a series of linked studies, to provide further detail into the types, mechanisms and aetiology of injuries in combat sports. Methods: Study 1 was a systematic review that utilised the PRISMA guidelines to investigate the current evidence. Study 2 was a repeated measures study to examine the reliability of training load measures. Study 3 employed a longitudinal study design to assess the feasibility of injury, illness and training load monitoring. Finally, Study 4 was a cross-sectional cohort study that gathered perspectives of combat sport coaches and managers before and after an injury and illness prevention workshop. Results: Study 1 found one high-quality epidemiological study with low risk of bias in Judo. Variation in injury and illness definitions prevented cross-sport comparisons, however the injury incidence was comparable to other sports. In Study 2, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was shown to have good stability across sessions (ICC=0.84), and no significant differences were found between coach (observed) and athlete (experienced) RPE (ordered logistic regression coefficient = 0.47 [1.51–0.57 95%CI]). Study 3 found that athlete engagement with the monitoring system was low, with only 13% of athletes entering data across a 12-week period. Irrespective of low engagement, 62 injuries and illnesses were recorded. In Study 4, combat sport coaches and managers were found to be generally well informed of the risk and seriousness of injury and illness, however, illness risk perceptions changed after the workshop (p=0.048). Discussion and Conclusion: Currently, cross-sport comparisons are not possible due to varying data methodology and study quality. Based upon the results presented in this thesis, RPE can be used as a tool to quantify training load in the sport of judo. Longitudinal surveillance of training load, injury and illness in combat sport is not currently feasible within the Australian system, due to low uptake and engagement. However, the collection of data on a large number of injuries and illnesses indicates that athletes are experiencing multiple, repeated health problems. Coaches and managers are well informed about injury and illness risk and seriousness, indicating that injury and illness prevention education alone may not translate to a decrease in injury and illness incidence in combat sport.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bromley, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Background: Olympic combat sports are commonly considered dangerous, however injury rates for these sports are not well understood. Isolated studies in combat sports have investigated injury, however these are mainly during competition, and therefore are unlikely to include significant or persistent injury which prevents athletes competing and participating in data collection. This thesis was undertaken as a series of linked studies, to provide further detail into the types, mechanisms and aetiology of injuries in combat sports. Methods: Study 1 was a systematic review that utilised the PRISMA guidelines to investigate the current evidence. Study 2 was a repeated measures study to examine the reliability of training load measures. Study 3 employed a longitudinal study design to assess the feasibility of injury, illness and training load monitoring. Finally, Study 4 was a cross-sectional cohort study that gathered perspectives of combat sport coaches and managers before and after an injury and illness prevention workshop. Results: Study 1 found one high-quality epidemiological study with low risk of bias in Judo. Variation in injury and illness definitions prevented cross-sport comparisons, however the injury incidence was comparable to other sports. In Study 2, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was shown to have good stability across sessions (ICC=0.84), and no significant differences were found between coach (observed) and athlete (experienced) RPE (ordered logistic regression coefficient = 0.47 [1.51–0.57 95%CI]). Study 3 found that athlete engagement with the monitoring system was low, with only 13% of athletes entering data across a 12-week period. Irrespective of low engagement, 62 injuries and illnesses were recorded. In Study 4, combat sport coaches and managers were found to be generally well informed of the risk and seriousness of injury and illness, however, illness risk perceptions changed after the workshop (p=0.048). Discussion and Conclusion: Currently, cross-sport comparisons are not possible due to varying data methodology and study quality. Based upon the results presented in this thesis, RPE can be used as a tool to quantify training load in the sport of judo. Longitudinal surveillance of training load, injury and illness in combat sport is not currently feasible within the Australian system, due to low uptake and engagement. However, the collection of data on a large number of injuries and illnesses indicates that athletes are experiencing multiple, repeated health problems. Coaches and managers are well informed about injury and illness risk and seriousness, indicating that injury and illness prevention education alone may not translate to a decrease in injury and illness incidence in combat sport.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
‘Rough and ready’ : Makeshift, abstraction and the Australian patina
- Authors: Brooks, Terri
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Ned Kelly’s armour, the Eureka flag, and the premise that underlies the title of the most famous exhibition in Australian art history; the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1889, are makeshift. This exegesis records the spirit of ‘making do’ or ‘makeshift’ in Australia’s post-settlement history including its manifestation in art. As this history is traced, the role of the harsh Australian landscape, and assertions of cultural convergence in post-settlement history, raised by historians including Russel Ward and Philip Jones are explored. Makeshift maps this country’s history of adversity, and popular bush story tellers, including Henry Lawson, contributed to makeshift flourishing in Australia and developing ‘everyday’ cultural associations.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Brooks, Terri
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Ned Kelly’s armour, the Eureka flag, and the premise that underlies the title of the most famous exhibition in Australian art history; the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1889, are makeshift. This exegesis records the spirit of ‘making do’ or ‘makeshift’ in Australia’s post-settlement history including its manifestation in art. As this history is traced, the role of the harsh Australian landscape, and assertions of cultural convergence in post-settlement history, raised by historians including Russel Ward and Philip Jones are explored. Makeshift maps this country’s history of adversity, and popular bush story tellers, including Henry Lawson, contributed to makeshift flourishing in Australia and developing ‘everyday’ cultural associations.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy