Market valuation of junior natural resources companies
- Authors: Iddon, Casey
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Junior mining companies provide a vital feedstock to the mining sector, which in turn, feeds into the wider economy via manufacturing. The valuation models traditionally used in other sectors of the economy appear to be insufficient, in terms of scope and capacity to handle uncertainty, to provide a rational pricing of junior mining companies. The observation that junior mining firms are valued by some means suggests that either the junior mining markets are inefficient or, more likely, that these markets are able to provide insight, scope, and capacity to the methods of firm valuation. The process by which natural resource companies are valued on equity markets is poorly understood, especially for those companies at an early stage-of-development focussed upon exploration and the development of embryonic natural resources. Thus, the primary research question motivating this research is: How does the market value junior natural resource companies? While a number of studies have contributed to our understanding of market valuation within the junior natural resources sector, the extant research is often siloed in a focus on traditional value-relevant factors that neglects other factors that potentially have even greater value-relevance. A key contribution of this research is to identify, define and subsume potential value-relevant factors into a conceptual framework of junior mining firm valuation. Another key contribution of this research is its empirical analysis of the relevance of accounting information in 2,324 junior mining companies and an empirical event study into 1,526 seasoned equity offerings by junior mining companies. The findings support the value-relevance of commodity prices and reveal that natural resource companies tend to undertake seasoned equity offerings following persistent market outperformance. This research, by conjoining the extant literature with empirical analysis in a mixed methods approach, provides an integrated account of market valuation within the junior natural resource sector.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Iddon, Casey
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Junior mining companies provide a vital feedstock to the mining sector, which in turn, feeds into the wider economy via manufacturing. The valuation models traditionally used in other sectors of the economy appear to be insufficient, in terms of scope and capacity to handle uncertainty, to provide a rational pricing of junior mining companies. The observation that junior mining firms are valued by some means suggests that either the junior mining markets are inefficient or, more likely, that these markets are able to provide insight, scope, and capacity to the methods of firm valuation. The process by which natural resource companies are valued on equity markets is poorly understood, especially for those companies at an early stage-of-development focussed upon exploration and the development of embryonic natural resources. Thus, the primary research question motivating this research is: How does the market value junior natural resource companies? While a number of studies have contributed to our understanding of market valuation within the junior natural resources sector, the extant research is often siloed in a focus on traditional value-relevant factors that neglects other factors that potentially have even greater value-relevance. A key contribution of this research is to identify, define and subsume potential value-relevant factors into a conceptual framework of junior mining firm valuation. Another key contribution of this research is its empirical analysis of the relevance of accounting information in 2,324 junior mining companies and an empirical event study into 1,526 seasoned equity offerings by junior mining companies. The findings support the value-relevance of commodity prices and reveal that natural resource companies tend to undertake seasoned equity offerings following persistent market outperformance. This research, by conjoining the extant literature with empirical analysis in a mixed methods approach, provides an integrated account of market valuation within the junior natural resource 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
A critical study of the production of nampla (Thai fish sauce)
- Authors: Laixuthai, Parichart
- Date: 1997
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: Masters of Applied Science
- Authors: Laixuthai, Parichart
- Date: 1997
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: Masters of Applied Science
A framework for sustainability performance assessment for manufacturing processes
- Authors: Singh, Karmjit
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Sustainable manufacturing methods make it possible to develop products in ways which minimize negative environmental impacts, conserve energy and save natural resources whilst being economically sound. The concepts of sustainability in manufacturing being are still fairly broad, in scope, and need to be more focused and firmly established at the process, machine or factory levels. This project proposes a structure for manufacturing with a main objective to develop a sustainability framework which encompasses various production processes. Structured information models for the seamless flow of information across the design and manufacturing domains, for selected manufacturing processes, are defined. The thesis work identifies key performance indicators (KPIs) for the assessment of manufacturing sustainability and performs analysis of selected unit manufacturing processes and their sub-processes with the aim of proposing a methodology for determining science-based measurements of the manufacturing processes affecting these KPIs. The theoretical foundations established are then used to develop a model that could evaluate sustainability of selected manufacturing processes and their respective process plans providing a basis for inter-process comparison and selection of the most sustainable process plan. The proposed framework is presented in form of a manufacturing planning computer-based package which is designed to to consider different influencing factors such as product information, part geometry, material related physical and processing properties and the manufacturing equipment operating data. The thesis presents a number of case studies which have been published in international journals. The case studies present estimates of the manufacturing sustainability KPIs for a number of production methods. These estimates have been verified with available shop floor data. The work in the thesis makes it possible to establish manufacturing industry equipped to deal the challenges of the future when sustainability will be the major factor up on which the quality of success will be determined.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Singh, Karmjit
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Sustainable manufacturing methods make it possible to develop products in ways which minimize negative environmental impacts, conserve energy and save natural resources whilst being economically sound. The concepts of sustainability in manufacturing being are still fairly broad, in scope, and need to be more focused and firmly established at the process, machine or factory levels. This project proposes a structure for manufacturing with a main objective to develop a sustainability framework which encompasses various production processes. Structured information models for the seamless flow of information across the design and manufacturing domains, for selected manufacturing processes, are defined. The thesis work identifies key performance indicators (KPIs) for the assessment of manufacturing sustainability and performs analysis of selected unit manufacturing processes and their sub-processes with the aim of proposing a methodology for determining science-based measurements of the manufacturing processes affecting these KPIs. The theoretical foundations established are then used to develop a model that could evaluate sustainability of selected manufacturing processes and their respective process plans providing a basis for inter-process comparison and selection of the most sustainable process plan. The proposed framework is presented in form of a manufacturing planning computer-based package which is designed to to consider different influencing factors such as product information, part geometry, material related physical and processing properties and the manufacturing equipment operating data. The thesis presents a number of case studies which have been published in international journals. The case studies present estimates of the manufacturing sustainability KPIs for a number of production methods. These estimates have been verified with available shop floor data. The work in the thesis makes it possible to establish manufacturing industry equipped to deal the challenges of the future when sustainability will be the major factor up on which the quality of success will be determined.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
From gold field to municipality : The establishment of Ballarat West 1855-1857
- Authors: Cartledge, Graeme
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis examines the establishment of the Ballarat West Municipality in the years of 1855 – 1857 and the factors that contributed to the introduction of local self-government in the immediate aftermath of the Eureka Stockade. Underlying the study is the changing administrative requirements necessitated by the transition from a temporary gold field to a permanent city. A central theme explored in relation to this development is that it was a consequence of the emerging culture of modernity of that era precipitating radical political changes in local government that began with the 1835 British Municipal Corporations Act. This theme is expanded to highlight the reform of local government in the Victorian era in response to urbanization and the need for modern and rationalised methods of managing the new towns and growing cities. The difficulty in making and sustaining such progressive changes in Britain is contrasted with the eager adoption of the concept of progress and the new Victorian Municipal Corporations Act of 1854 on the Ballarat goldfields. The question as to why the Municipality was established is answered by exploring the connection between the failure of the Goldfields Commission at the end of 1854 and the belief held by many, that taxes should be accompanied with political representation and should be spent where they were collected. This study exposes the remarkable story of how the first elected councillors, starting from scratch, quickly established administrative systems and brought order to a community emerging out of turmoil. The process of how the municipality was established is uncovered by an extensive survey of the council minutes, the media, council correspondence and public records.
- Description: Masters by Research
- Authors: Cartledge, Graeme
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis examines the establishment of the Ballarat West Municipality in the years of 1855 – 1857 and the factors that contributed to the introduction of local self-government in the immediate aftermath of the Eureka Stockade. Underlying the study is the changing administrative requirements necessitated by the transition from a temporary gold field to a permanent city. A central theme explored in relation to this development is that it was a consequence of the emerging culture of modernity of that era precipitating radical political changes in local government that began with the 1835 British Municipal Corporations Act. This theme is expanded to highlight the reform of local government in the Victorian era in response to urbanization and the need for modern and rationalised methods of managing the new towns and growing cities. The difficulty in making and sustaining such progressive changes in Britain is contrasted with the eager adoption of the concept of progress and the new Victorian Municipal Corporations Act of 1854 on the Ballarat goldfields. The question as to why the Municipality was established is answered by exploring the connection between the failure of the Goldfields Commission at the end of 1854 and the belief held by many, that taxes should be accompanied with political representation and should be spent where they were collected. This study exposes the remarkable story of how the first elected councillors, starting from scratch, quickly established administrative systems and brought order to a community emerging out of turmoil. The process of how the municipality was established is uncovered by an extensive survey of the council minutes, the media, council correspondence and public records.
- Description: Masters by Research
Investigating factors affecting restoration of native grassland in ex-cropland
- Authors: Shakir, Shakir Bahaddin
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Native grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in Australia. Approximately 99% of native grasslands have been disturbed for agriculture and pastoralism. Today, however, many agricultural and grazing lands have been abandoned. Restoring abandoned areas to native grassland is a challenge that must be met if these systems are to persist. This thesis sought to gain a better understanding of the biotic and abiotic barriers to restoring native grasslands in ex-cropping land, and to investigate novel techniques to overcome them in degraded native grassland in the Victorian Volcanic Plains. Firstly, I compared ex-cropland to high-quality remnant grassland, and showed that excropland supports a high number of exotic weeds, a lack of native species propagules, high nutrient levels (especially phosphorus and nitrogen), and an absence of organic carbon—all barriers which must be overcome if native grassland restoration is to succeed. I conducted a replicated field experiment in ex-cropland, to investigate four restoration approaches to overcoming barriers to restoration: (i) adding urban green waste to heat and kill the exotic seed bank (ii) adding sugar and/or mulch to promote microorganism and draw down soil nitrogen, (iii) using a modified clay product called Phoslock to reduce soil phosphorus levels, and (iv) scalping of topsoil 10 cm on ex-cropland site to remove the exotic seed bank and high nutrient soil. After each treatment, native grass seed was added, and the vegetation, seed bank, soil nutrients and microbial activity were monitored over 2.5 years. The hot mulch, scalping and sugar treatments all achieved significantly greater cover of native grasses than the control treatments. The hot waste treatment also effectively eliminated the exotic weed seed bank, but the soil N levels increased dramatically, which is counterproductive to the long-term goals of grassland restoration. Scalping out-performed all other treatments with regard to reducing soil N and P. All treatments suffered from reinvasion by exotic species, suggesting that any grassland restoration technique needs to be coupled with ongoing exotic weed management. Abstract ii High soil phosphorus is a difficult barrier to restoration of native grassland. A possible way to address this is to use plants with high P uptake to help draw down soil P. Native grassland taxa from the genus Ptilotus have been shown to have high P-uptake. I conducted two studies of Ptilotus macrocephalus and Ptilotus polystachyus to investigate their potential in this role. The first of these was an examination of techniques to break their seed dormancy, and to find their optimum germination conditions. I tested their response to smoke water, heating shock, cold stratification and gibberellic acid. The highest germination rates (62% and 38% for P. microcephalus and P. polystachyus, respectively) were achieved when the seeds were pre-treated with GA500 and exposed to a temperature range of (20/18OC) and a 12h dark/12h light regime. Smoke water, heat shock and the removal of floral bracts also improved germination rates, but not at the same magnitude as GA. The second study of Ptilotus was a glasshouse trial that examined the effectiveness of the two taxa at reducing available soil phosphorus. This trial included a third high P-uptake species (Lupinus albus) for comparison, and also investigated if the addition of Phoslock® could bind soil P into insoluble forms. P. macrocephalus and P. polystachyus accumulated high amounts of soil P. Thus, several years of seeding and harvesting of these plants is anticipated to provide a useful option for soil P reduction. Phoslock® reduced soil available P, but only at high concentration of Phoslock 1500 g/m2 and at very high soil P concentrations; it was less effective at levels that typically expect in ex-cropping paddocks. The findings of this thesis have advanced our current knowledge of the restoration of excropland. The research has tested methods to overcome biotic and abiotic barriers to restoration of the Victorian Volcanic Plains grasslands, and has demonstrated some practical approaches to begin the treatment. It was suggested that many of the methods and techniques used in this study could be useful technique in broad areas of grassland restoration within Australia as well as in similar situations in temperate climate conditions across the globe.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Shakir, Shakir Bahaddin
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Native grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in Australia. Approximately 99% of native grasslands have been disturbed for agriculture and pastoralism. Today, however, many agricultural and grazing lands have been abandoned. Restoring abandoned areas to native grassland is a challenge that must be met if these systems are to persist. This thesis sought to gain a better understanding of the biotic and abiotic barriers to restoring native grasslands in ex-cropping land, and to investigate novel techniques to overcome them in degraded native grassland in the Victorian Volcanic Plains. Firstly, I compared ex-cropland to high-quality remnant grassland, and showed that excropland supports a high number of exotic weeds, a lack of native species propagules, high nutrient levels (especially phosphorus and nitrogen), and an absence of organic carbon—all barriers which must be overcome if native grassland restoration is to succeed. I conducted a replicated field experiment in ex-cropland, to investigate four restoration approaches to overcoming barriers to restoration: (i) adding urban green waste to heat and kill the exotic seed bank (ii) adding sugar and/or mulch to promote microorganism and draw down soil nitrogen, (iii) using a modified clay product called Phoslock to reduce soil phosphorus levels, and (iv) scalping of topsoil 10 cm on ex-cropland site to remove the exotic seed bank and high nutrient soil. After each treatment, native grass seed was added, and the vegetation, seed bank, soil nutrients and microbial activity were monitored over 2.5 years. The hot mulch, scalping and sugar treatments all achieved significantly greater cover of native grasses than the control treatments. The hot waste treatment also effectively eliminated the exotic weed seed bank, but the soil N levels increased dramatically, which is counterproductive to the long-term goals of grassland restoration. Scalping out-performed all other treatments with regard to reducing soil N and P. All treatments suffered from reinvasion by exotic species, suggesting that any grassland restoration technique needs to be coupled with ongoing exotic weed management. Abstract ii High soil phosphorus is a difficult barrier to restoration of native grassland. A possible way to address this is to use plants with high P uptake to help draw down soil P. Native grassland taxa from the genus Ptilotus have been shown to have high P-uptake. I conducted two studies of Ptilotus macrocephalus and Ptilotus polystachyus to investigate their potential in this role. The first of these was an examination of techniques to break their seed dormancy, and to find their optimum germination conditions. I tested their response to smoke water, heating shock, cold stratification and gibberellic acid. The highest germination rates (62% and 38% for P. microcephalus and P. polystachyus, respectively) were achieved when the seeds were pre-treated with GA500 and exposed to a temperature range of (20/18OC) and a 12h dark/12h light regime. Smoke water, heat shock and the removal of floral bracts also improved germination rates, but not at the same magnitude as GA. The second study of Ptilotus was a glasshouse trial that examined the effectiveness of the two taxa at reducing available soil phosphorus. This trial included a third high P-uptake species (Lupinus albus) for comparison, and also investigated if the addition of Phoslock® could bind soil P into insoluble forms. P. macrocephalus and P. polystachyus accumulated high amounts of soil P. Thus, several years of seeding and harvesting of these plants is anticipated to provide a useful option for soil P reduction. Phoslock® reduced soil available P, but only at high concentration of Phoslock 1500 g/m2 and at very high soil P concentrations; it was less effective at levels that typically expect in ex-cropping paddocks. The findings of this thesis have advanced our current knowledge of the restoration of excropland. The research has tested methods to overcome biotic and abiotic barriers to restoration of the Victorian Volcanic Plains grasslands, and has demonstrated some practical approaches to begin the treatment. It was suggested that many of the methods and techniques used in this study could be useful technique in broad areas of grassland restoration within Australia as well as in similar situations in temperate climate conditions across the globe.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
New insights into wild deer population genetics, ecology and impacts : implications for management in south eastern Australia
- Authors: Davies, Christopher
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is a compilation of my own work, driven by my interest into the ecology and impacts of introduced deer in Victoria. My interest in deer initially lead me to undertake an honours project, focussed on deer as a vector for parasites that can affect domestic livestock. During my honours year it became apparent that little was known about the ecology of wild deer throughout south east Australia. My PhD study was therefore developed to fill knowledge gaps of deer ecology, with a focus on developing and optimising ecological tools to generate data to improve deer management strategies. There are many methods available which can be used to collect ecological data on invasive species, such as deer. For my study, I chose methods from four quite discrete fields; global positioning systems (GPS) tracking, population genetics, camera trapping and spatial modelling. These methods were chosen as they are commonly used in ecological studies of invasive species. During my candidature significant attempts were made to deploy GPS collars onto sambar deer to investigate their movement patterns. Movement pattern data is extremely useful and can provide insights into habitat preferences, dispersal ability and other information useful for management. Significant time (around 12 months) was spent applying for ethics approval, gaining relevant approvals, permits and licenses to perform this work as well as performing collaring attempts. Unfortunately all attempts were unsuccessful and the investigation of sambar deer movement patterns had to be abandoned. This highlights the difficulties of working with cryptic deer species inhabiting difficult terrain. The other fields of research pursued (population genetics, camera trapping and spatial modelling) were more successful, the results of which are presented and discussed in this thesis. As the three methods employed in this study are taken from very different fields, a number of experts were enlisted to guide the respective data chapters. The population genetic studies (Chapters two and three) were guided by my primary supervisor Dr Fiona Hogan. I conducted all scat collections from across Victoria, including French Island and Mount Cole and performed all DNA isolations (over 300 in total). Population structure analysis for chapter three was undertaken with the assistance of Dr Faye Wedrowicz and Dr Carlo Pacioni. The camera trapping study (Chapter four) involved deploying camera traps in Baw Baw National Park, which I conducted myself. Occupancy and detectability data analysis for chapter four was performed with the assistance of Dr Hugh Davies. Spatial modelling (Chapter five) which focussed on modelling deer-vehicle collision risk across Victoria was directed by Dr Casey Visintin. Chapter’s two to five are written as independent scientific publications, therefore there is some unavoidable repetition within the thesis as a whole. Minor changes have been made to the formatting of the published papers to keep style consistent within the thesis.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Davies, Christopher
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is a compilation of my own work, driven by my interest into the ecology and impacts of introduced deer in Victoria. My interest in deer initially lead me to undertake an honours project, focussed on deer as a vector for parasites that can affect domestic livestock. During my honours year it became apparent that little was known about the ecology of wild deer throughout south east Australia. My PhD study was therefore developed to fill knowledge gaps of deer ecology, with a focus on developing and optimising ecological tools to generate data to improve deer management strategies. There are many methods available which can be used to collect ecological data on invasive species, such as deer. For my study, I chose methods from four quite discrete fields; global positioning systems (GPS) tracking, population genetics, camera trapping and spatial modelling. These methods were chosen as they are commonly used in ecological studies of invasive species. During my candidature significant attempts were made to deploy GPS collars onto sambar deer to investigate their movement patterns. Movement pattern data is extremely useful and can provide insights into habitat preferences, dispersal ability and other information useful for management. Significant time (around 12 months) was spent applying for ethics approval, gaining relevant approvals, permits and licenses to perform this work as well as performing collaring attempts. Unfortunately all attempts were unsuccessful and the investigation of sambar deer movement patterns had to be abandoned. This highlights the difficulties of working with cryptic deer species inhabiting difficult terrain. The other fields of research pursued (population genetics, camera trapping and spatial modelling) were more successful, the results of which are presented and discussed in this thesis. As the three methods employed in this study are taken from very different fields, a number of experts were enlisted to guide the respective data chapters. The population genetic studies (Chapters two and three) were guided by my primary supervisor Dr Fiona Hogan. I conducted all scat collections from across Victoria, including French Island and Mount Cole and performed all DNA isolations (over 300 in total). Population structure analysis for chapter three was undertaken with the assistance of Dr Faye Wedrowicz and Dr Carlo Pacioni. The camera trapping study (Chapter four) involved deploying camera traps in Baw Baw National Park, which I conducted myself. Occupancy and detectability data analysis for chapter four was performed with the assistance of Dr Hugh Davies. Spatial modelling (Chapter five) which focussed on modelling deer-vehicle collision risk across Victoria was directed by Dr Casey Visintin. Chapter’s two to five are written as independent scientific publications, therefore there is some unavoidable repetition within the thesis as a whole. Minor changes have been made to the formatting of the published papers to keep style consistent within the thesis.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Fraud detection for online banking for scalable and distributed data
- Authors: Haq, Ikram
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Online fraud causes billions of dollars in losses for banks. Therefore, online banking fraud detection is an important field of study. However, there are many challenges in conducting research in fraud detection. One of the constraints is due to unavailability of bank datasets for research or the required characteristics of the attributes of the data are not available. Numeric data usually provides better performance for machine learning algorithms. Most transaction data however have categorical, or nominal features as well. Moreover, some platforms such as Apache Spark only recognizes numeric data. So, there is a need to use techniques e.g. One-hot encoding (OHE) to transform categorical features to numerical features, however OHE has challenges including the sparseness of transformed data and that the distinct values of an attribute are not always known in advance. Efficient feature engineering can improve the algorithm’s performance but usually requires detailed domain knowledge to identify correct features. Techniques like Ripple Down Rules (RDR) are suitable for fraud detection because of their low maintenance and incremental learning features. However, high classification accuracy on mixed datasets, especially for scalable data is challenging. Evaluation of RDR on distributed platforms is also challenging as it is not available on these platforms. The thesis proposes the following solutions to these challenges: • We developed a technique Highly Correlated Rule Based Uniformly Distribution (HCRUD) to generate highly correlated rule-based uniformly-distributed synthetic data. • We developed a technique One-hot Encoded Extended Compact (OHE-EC) to transform categorical features to numeric features by compacting sparse-data even if all distinct values are unknown. • We developed a technique Feature Engineering and Compact Unified Expressions (FECUE) to improve model efficiency through feature engineering where the domain of the data is not known in advance. • A Unified Expression RDR fraud deduction technique (UE-RDR) for Big data has been proposed and evaluated on the Spark platform. Empirical tests were executed on multi-node Hadoop cluster using well-known classifiers on bank data, synthetic bank datasets and publicly available datasets from UCI repository. These evaluations demonstrated substantial improvements in terms of classification accuracy, ruleset compactness and execution speed.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Haq, Ikram
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Online fraud causes billions of dollars in losses for banks. Therefore, online banking fraud detection is an important field of study. However, there are many challenges in conducting research in fraud detection. One of the constraints is due to unavailability of bank datasets for research or the required characteristics of the attributes of the data are not available. Numeric data usually provides better performance for machine learning algorithms. Most transaction data however have categorical, or nominal features as well. Moreover, some platforms such as Apache Spark only recognizes numeric data. So, there is a need to use techniques e.g. One-hot encoding (OHE) to transform categorical features to numerical features, however OHE has challenges including the sparseness of transformed data and that the distinct values of an attribute are not always known in advance. Efficient feature engineering can improve the algorithm’s performance but usually requires detailed domain knowledge to identify correct features. Techniques like Ripple Down Rules (RDR) are suitable for fraud detection because of their low maintenance and incremental learning features. However, high classification accuracy on mixed datasets, especially for scalable data is challenging. Evaluation of RDR on distributed platforms is also challenging as it is not available on these platforms. The thesis proposes the following solutions to these challenges: • We developed a technique Highly Correlated Rule Based Uniformly Distribution (HCRUD) to generate highly correlated rule-based uniformly-distributed synthetic data. • We developed a technique One-hot Encoded Extended Compact (OHE-EC) to transform categorical features to numeric features by compacting sparse-data even if all distinct values are unknown. • We developed a technique Feature Engineering and Compact Unified Expressions (FECUE) to improve model efficiency through feature engineering where the domain of the data is not known in advance. • A Unified Expression RDR fraud deduction technique (UE-RDR) for Big data has been proposed and evaluated on the Spark platform. Empirical tests were executed on multi-node Hadoop cluster using well-known classifiers on bank data, synthetic bank datasets and publicly available datasets from UCI repository. These evaluations demonstrated substantial improvements in terms of classification accuracy, ruleset compactness and execution speed.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Partnership rhetoric and risk realities : the implications of risk in government/non-government family services partnerships
- Authors: McDonald, Kelsey
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This empirical study examined risk transfer from the government to the non-government sector within a public/non-profit child and family services delivery partnership. The focus of the investigation was to determine if risk had been transferred from the government to the non-government partner, and how this had impacted on welfare practice, service provision and outcomes for service users. A case study of a 2007 government/non-government child protection and child and family services partnership in the state of Victoria, Australia provided the context for the study. The research framework involved a predominantly qualitative methodology, with the researcher embedded at two Victorian Community Service Organisations (CSOs) for a 12-month period." -- Taken from Abstract.
- Description: Doctorate of Philosopy
- Authors: McDonald, Kelsey
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This empirical study examined risk transfer from the government to the non-government sector within a public/non-profit child and family services delivery partnership. The focus of the investigation was to determine if risk had been transferred from the government to the non-government partner, and how this had impacted on welfare practice, service provision and outcomes for service users. A case study of a 2007 government/non-government child protection and child and family services partnership in the state of Victoria, Australia provided the context for the study. The research framework involved a predominantly qualitative methodology, with the researcher embedded at two Victorian Community Service Organisations (CSOs) for a 12-month period." -- Taken from Abstract.
- Description: Doctorate of Philosopy
The Melbourne art scene and the Victorian artists’ society 1870-2020
- Authors: Williams, Graeme
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is a socio-cultural history, utilising the Victorian Artists’ Society as a longitudinal case study to look at the extent to which it has serviced the professional needs of artists. The Victorian Artists’ Society, formed in 1870, is the oldest organisation representing the visual arts in Victoria and, as such, is an appropriate vehicle to examine the discourse between history and the construction of cultural values in the visual arts in Melbourne. The Melbourne ‘art scene’ has existed since Victoria’s proclamation as a separate colony in 1851. During the greater part of this time, the Victorian Artists’ Society functioned as a meeting and an exhibition space for visual artists. Although it is Australia’s second oldest continuous organisation representing visual artists, the Society has been uncontroversial and largely ignored by academics as a focus of research in its own right. Notwithstanding, the two groups subject of the most academic attention and research, namely the Australian Academy of Art and the Contemporary Art Society, were announced and formed within its walls, with many of their key proponents members of the Society. Researching extensive archival records, this thesis explores the relationship that existed between the Society and Melbourne’s art community throughout its 150-year history. It historically interrogates to what extent the Society has been a harbinger for change. Through a study of organisations and events impacting the Melbourne art scene, the thesis argues the relevance of the Society to professional and amateur artists today. It reviews how societies, and clubs in general, once servicing the needs of all artists, have evolved into a more general function, and what role the emergence of the commercial gallery system played as the main platform for the success of the artist. Finally, it examines what sustains, inspires, and informs contemporary professional artists working in Melbourne today.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Williams, Graeme
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is a socio-cultural history, utilising the Victorian Artists’ Society as a longitudinal case study to look at the extent to which it has serviced the professional needs of artists. The Victorian Artists’ Society, formed in 1870, is the oldest organisation representing the visual arts in Victoria and, as such, is an appropriate vehicle to examine the discourse between history and the construction of cultural values in the visual arts in Melbourne. The Melbourne ‘art scene’ has existed since Victoria’s proclamation as a separate colony in 1851. During the greater part of this time, the Victorian Artists’ Society functioned as a meeting and an exhibition space for visual artists. Although it is Australia’s second oldest continuous organisation representing visual artists, the Society has been uncontroversial and largely ignored by academics as a focus of research in its own right. Notwithstanding, the two groups subject of the most academic attention and research, namely the Australian Academy of Art and the Contemporary Art Society, were announced and formed within its walls, with many of their key proponents members of the Society. Researching extensive archival records, this thesis explores the relationship that existed between the Society and Melbourne’s art community throughout its 150-year history. It historically interrogates to what extent the Society has been a harbinger for change. Through a study of organisations and events impacting the Melbourne art scene, the thesis argues the relevance of the Society to professional and amateur artists today. It reviews how societies, and clubs in general, once servicing the needs of all artists, have evolved into a more general function, and what role the emergence of the commercial gallery system played as the main platform for the success of the artist. Finally, it examines what sustains, inspires, and informs contemporary professional artists working in Melbourne today.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Advocates or corporates : constructions of clinical nursing practice in Australia with regards to the idealisation of advocacy and autonomy
- Authors: Cole, Clare
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Although the idealisation of nurses as advocates is popularised in nursing literature and supported within nursing frameworks, codes and standards, there has been little critical examination of these ideas within contemporary Australian healthcare settings and nursing practice. The Australian Healthcare system is a complicated system of interacting service providers and consumers. Institutions that regulate healthcare professionals and organisations normalise understandings of nursing and nursing practice, including conceptualisations of the importance of autonomy and advocacy and how each is to be supported and/or practised. This study used the perceptions of practising Registered Nurses (RNs) to examine the actualities of advocacy and support for autonomy as they are carried out within clinical practice, and to highlight, problematise and then analyse differences between the rhetoric and realities of practice. Firstly, a phenomenological lens, including an ethnographic model of observation, was used to thematically map and examine the RNs’ lived experience of their practice, paying particular attention to their conceptions of and responsibilities toward advocacy and autonomy. This thematic analysis brought to the fore a range of assumptions that, although clearly normative within nursing practice, are in evident tension with one other. These were then re-examined using a range of Michel Foucault’s concepts concerning the construction and maintenance of regimes of truth. Designed to unpack the operations of power and knowledge, and to make visible the techniques of disciplinarity and governmentality that inform and support them, an engagement of these concepts has allowed this thesis to critically examine the normative constructions and enactments of nursing practice with regards to ideas and practices concerning advocacy and autonomy. What this thesis provides is a detailed examination of the contrasting constructions of power and knowledge within nursing practice in relation to advocacy and autonomy, how and why these concepts have been operationalised within nursing practice, and how they could be re-visioned into the future.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Cole, Clare
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Although the idealisation of nurses as advocates is popularised in nursing literature and supported within nursing frameworks, codes and standards, there has been little critical examination of these ideas within contemporary Australian healthcare settings and nursing practice. The Australian Healthcare system is a complicated system of interacting service providers and consumers. Institutions that regulate healthcare professionals and organisations normalise understandings of nursing and nursing practice, including conceptualisations of the importance of autonomy and advocacy and how each is to be supported and/or practised. This study used the perceptions of practising Registered Nurses (RNs) to examine the actualities of advocacy and support for autonomy as they are carried out within clinical practice, and to highlight, problematise and then analyse differences between the rhetoric and realities of practice. Firstly, a phenomenological lens, including an ethnographic model of observation, was used to thematically map and examine the RNs’ lived experience of their practice, paying particular attention to their conceptions of and responsibilities toward advocacy and autonomy. This thematic analysis brought to the fore a range of assumptions that, although clearly normative within nursing practice, are in evident tension with one other. These were then re-examined using a range of Michel Foucault’s concepts concerning the construction and maintenance of regimes of truth. Designed to unpack the operations of power and knowledge, and to make visible the techniques of disciplinarity and governmentality that inform and support them, an engagement of these concepts has allowed this thesis to critically examine the normative constructions and enactments of nursing practice with regards to ideas and practices concerning advocacy and autonomy. What this thesis provides is a detailed examination of the contrasting constructions of power and knowledge within nursing practice in relation to advocacy and autonomy, how and why these concepts have been operationalised within nursing practice, and how they could be re-visioned into the future.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Biomechanical assessment of elderly amputees after gait re-education
- Authors: Hubbard, Wendy
- Date: 1992
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: Length of stay in hospital post-amputation for elderly amputees gait trained using the whole method of re-education at the Queen Elizabeth Geriatric Centre is shorted than is usual in other parts of Australia. There was a need to investigate the gait quality and functional ability of these amputees to asses the adequacy of their post-rebhabilation gait, and to establish a benchmark against which to measure alternative treatment outcomes.
- Authors: Hubbard, Wendy
- Date: 1992
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: Length of stay in hospital post-amputation for elderly amputees gait trained using the whole method of re-education at the Queen Elizabeth Geriatric Centre is shorted than is usual in other parts of Australia. There was a need to investigate the gait quality and functional ability of these amputees to asses the adequacy of their post-rebhabilation gait, and to establish a benchmark against which to measure alternative treatment outcomes.
Application of psycholinguistic features to authorship profiling for first language, gender and age group
- Authors: Torney, Rosemary
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Much of the fraud committed in cyberspace involves the misrepresentation of the demographic data of the perpetrator via the medium of seemly anonymous text messages. One way to address this issue is to apply techniques from the field of authorship characterisation or profiling which is the analysis of text to determine the demographic profile of the author. Most of the previous research into authorship characterisation has used counts and ratios of lexicographically based features that include words, parts of words and Parts Of Speech (POS) contained within the text. This study examines the effectiveness of classifying the first language, gender and age group of an author using a set of features developed in the psycholinguistic field (the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count - LIWC), both as a single type feature set and in combination with the lexicographically based features used in previous studies (function words, character bigrams and POS unigrams and bigrams). This study also searched for the smallest, most effective subset of each feature set that was practical, by ranking the features using three feature selection algorithms and systematically reducing the number used. In addition, the study explored the effective lower word limit for accurate classification by reducing the text size by regular increments. LIWC was found to be more effective than a similar number of any of the lexicographic feature types, and to add insight rather than noise when combined with these feature types. This held to be true for both the full and reduced text sizes for all three demographic classes examined. In addition it was found that the size of feature sets could be greatly reduced while still maintaining effective levels of classification accuracy.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Torney, Rosemary
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Much of the fraud committed in cyberspace involves the misrepresentation of the demographic data of the perpetrator via the medium of seemly anonymous text messages. One way to address this issue is to apply techniques from the field of authorship characterisation or profiling which is the analysis of text to determine the demographic profile of the author. Most of the previous research into authorship characterisation has used counts and ratios of lexicographically based features that include words, parts of words and Parts Of Speech (POS) contained within the text. This study examines the effectiveness of classifying the first language, gender and age group of an author using a set of features developed in the psycholinguistic field (the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count - LIWC), both as a single type feature set and in combination with the lexicographically based features used in previous studies (function words, character bigrams and POS unigrams and bigrams). This study also searched for the smallest, most effective subset of each feature set that was practical, by ranking the features using three feature selection algorithms and systematically reducing the number used. In addition, the study explored the effective lower word limit for accurate classification by reducing the text size by regular increments. LIWC was found to be more effective than a similar number of any of the lexicographic feature types, and to add insight rather than noise when combined with these feature types. This held to be true for both the full and reduced text sizes for all three demographic classes examined. In addition it was found that the size of feature sets could be greatly reduced while still maintaining effective levels of classification accuracy.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Challenges faced by early-career researchers in the sciences in Australia and the consequent effect of those challenges on their careers : a mixed methods project
- Authors: Christian, Katherine
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The purpose of the study was to explore the challenges faced by early-career researchers (ECRs) in the sciences in Australia and the consequent effect of those challenges on their careers. Using a realist/postpositivist paradigm, an evaluative approach, and a framework of job satisfaction, this project has explored and compared the views of ECRs to evaluate the factors which shape the ECR experience and contribute to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction and intention to leave, and to define the features which are necessary to keep an ECR in research. Data collection for this mixed methods study entailed a national survey of researchers working in universities and research institutes (n=658), a focus group discussion and semistructured in-depth interviews with eight women from a variety of scientific disciplines who had recently left academic research workplaces. I focussed particularly on the difficulties consequent to job insecurity: the constant need to attracting funding and a permanent position, lack of work-life balance and associated stress; and evidence of workplace difficulties such as bullying, harassment or inequity and support – or lack of it – offered by the research institutions. I examined the factors which contribute to and barriers which prevent job satisfaction of this population, and the consequent intention (if any) for ECRs to leave research or change their career path. I found an interesting situation whereby the satisfaction derived from a “love of science” was counterbalanced by stress and poor working conditions which are a consequence of lack of job security, typified by poor supervision, bullying or harassment, inequitable hiring practices, a concerning rate of impact from “questionable research practices” (impacting 34%-41% of respondents) and evidence of very high (80%) intention of ECRs to leave their position. The most significant predictor of intention to leave is time as a postdoctoral scientist: eventually the job insecurity and its associated stresses become too much and the ECRs leave their chosen career for work elsewhere. This decision, too, provides interesting findings as many of the ECRs have difficulty planning what to do next. They feel ill-prepared for an alternate career and suffer from a sense of failure as a result of having to leave academia. While addressing the shortage of funding is outside the scope of this study, in addition to offering my findings I put forward a range of recommendations which could lead to ar change of culture and benefit the wellbeing of ECRs in STEMM without incurring significant cost. The Australian Government, higher education institutions and the research community need to improve job security and workplace conditions and take better care of our people in STEMM disciplines or we will not have the scientists we need to deliver the “innovative Australia” planned for 2030 (Department of Industry Innovation and Science, 2018)
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Christian, Katherine
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The purpose of the study was to explore the challenges faced by early-career researchers (ECRs) in the sciences in Australia and the consequent effect of those challenges on their careers. Using a realist/postpositivist paradigm, an evaluative approach, and a framework of job satisfaction, this project has explored and compared the views of ECRs to evaluate the factors which shape the ECR experience and contribute to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction and intention to leave, and to define the features which are necessary to keep an ECR in research. Data collection for this mixed methods study entailed a national survey of researchers working in universities and research institutes (n=658), a focus group discussion and semistructured in-depth interviews with eight women from a variety of scientific disciplines who had recently left academic research workplaces. I focussed particularly on the difficulties consequent to job insecurity: the constant need to attracting funding and a permanent position, lack of work-life balance and associated stress; and evidence of workplace difficulties such as bullying, harassment or inequity and support – or lack of it – offered by the research institutions. I examined the factors which contribute to and barriers which prevent job satisfaction of this population, and the consequent intention (if any) for ECRs to leave research or change their career path. I found an interesting situation whereby the satisfaction derived from a “love of science” was counterbalanced by stress and poor working conditions which are a consequence of lack of job security, typified by poor supervision, bullying or harassment, inequitable hiring practices, a concerning rate of impact from “questionable research practices” (impacting 34%-41% of respondents) and evidence of very high (80%) intention of ECRs to leave their position. The most significant predictor of intention to leave is time as a postdoctoral scientist: eventually the job insecurity and its associated stresses become too much and the ECRs leave their chosen career for work elsewhere. This decision, too, provides interesting findings as many of the ECRs have difficulty planning what to do next. They feel ill-prepared for an alternate career and suffer from a sense of failure as a result of having to leave academia. While addressing the shortage of funding is outside the scope of this study, in addition to offering my findings I put forward a range of recommendations which could lead to ar change of culture and benefit the wellbeing of ECRs in STEMM without incurring significant cost. The Australian Government, higher education institutions and the research community need to improve job security and workplace conditions and take better care of our people in STEMM disciplines or we will not have the scientists we need to deliver the “innovative Australia” planned for 2030 (Department of Industry Innovation and Science, 2018)
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Herbicide application strategies for wild radish management in Imidazolinone tolerant faba bean
- Authors: Welgama, Amali
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The extensive and continual use of herbicides in cropping situations has inevitably led to the phenomenon of "herbicide-resistance" in weeds and this has become one of the most challenging issues in modern agriculture. Herbicide-tolerant crops (HTC) were introduced to diversify weed management practices, but the lack of integrated weed management strategies, along with the continuous use of the same herbicide mode of action (MOA) demanded by the HTC has continued to impose selection pressure on weeds to evolve with herbicide resistance. Consequently, this thesis has been focused on the introduction of herbicide MOA combinations into HTC systems in an attempt to reduce the rate of herbicide resistance evolution in weeds. Raphanus raphanistrum is the number one broadleaf weed in Australia, and for this case study, the newly released ALS-inhibiting imidazolinone tolerant faba bean cultivar PBA Bendoc with its conventional cultivar, PBA Samira, were selected as the study species. ALS-inhibiting (imazamox + imazapyr and imazethapyr) and PSII-inhibiting (metribuzin) herbicides were used as the two herbicide MOAs. The herbicide sensitivity of R. raphanistrum was initially evaluated at different growth stages, in glasshouse studies using herbicide-resistant and susceptible biotypes to ALS-inhibiting herbicides. The highest susceptibility was observed at the earliest growth stage regardless of the biotype and Imazamox + imazapyr proved to be more effective in controlling both biotypes compared to imazethapyr. The same two herbicides were tested on faba bean cultivars at different growth stages to assess crop tolerance and identify the herbicide application window. The field trials conducted in 2018 and 2019 showed increased ALS-inhibiting herbicide tolerance in PBA Bendoc compared to PBA Samira even at the most advanced growth stage. Both faba bean cultivars were then evaluated for their tolerance to metribuzin in-crop application at different herbicide rates. Both cultivars responded similarly, showing progressive herbicide damage with increasing application rates. However, the reduced pod number, even at the lowest rate used, flagged the possible yield penalties that may result in using in-crop metribuzin applications. It is thus suggested that metribuzin must be used post sowing pre-emergent (PSPE) respecting the label recommendations. The potential herbicide combinations were then tested on herbicide-resistant R. raphanistrum and PBA Bendoc to evaluate their efficacies. Metribuzin was initially used as PSPE in all combinations, and was to be followed by imazamox + imazapyr applications at the same growth stages of the weed and the crop as in previous experiments. However, 100% control of R. raphanistrum was achieved using metribuzin alone, and thus no second herbicide was required. All the assessed herbicide combinations were tolerated by PBA Bendoc, proving the suitability of these herbicide combinations for incorporation into the PBA Bendoc cropping system. These results led to two potential herbicide combination strategies: (i) herbicide rotations, with metribuzin as PSPE in one year along with another potential herbicide MOA in the following year, (ii) herbicide sequential application, with metribuzin applied at PSPE and imazamox + imazapyr applied at the 2-4 leaf stage if R. raphanistrum plants survived the metribuzin treatment. A seed germination study was conducted under different temperature/photoperiods, pH levels, osmotic potentials, salinity and burial depths to identify the optimal germination conditions for R. raphanistrum. The optimum germination conditions for both herbicide-resistant and susceptible biotypes of R. raphanistrum were found to be 25ºC/15ºC temperature range under 24 hours complete dark. However, the significant interaction between photoperiod and temperature indicated that the seed germination under higher temperatures is less favoured by 24 hours dark conditions regardless of the biotype. An increased moisture stress tolerance in herbicide-resistant seeds was observed, whilst both biotypes reacted similarly to different pH levels and burial depths. In summary, this thesis has elucidated the effectiveness of two herbicide MOAs in controlling R. raphanistrum while addressing the crop tolerance to these herbicide MOA combinations. These findings will help in setting up stewardship guidelines to be used with the PBA Bendoc faba bean cultivar to mitigate the misuse of herbicides, thus ensuring their sustainable application. In addition, the demonstration of differential seed germination requirements of resistant and susceptible R. raphanistrum seeds has provided further information to help with its systematic management. Overall, this study can be used as a case study to investigate herbicide options that can be used in different HT crop cultivars to control a range of weed species.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Welgama, Amali
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The extensive and continual use of herbicides in cropping situations has inevitably led to the phenomenon of "herbicide-resistance" in weeds and this has become one of the most challenging issues in modern agriculture. Herbicide-tolerant crops (HTC) were introduced to diversify weed management practices, but the lack of integrated weed management strategies, along with the continuous use of the same herbicide mode of action (MOA) demanded by the HTC has continued to impose selection pressure on weeds to evolve with herbicide resistance. Consequently, this thesis has been focused on the introduction of herbicide MOA combinations into HTC systems in an attempt to reduce the rate of herbicide resistance evolution in weeds. Raphanus raphanistrum is the number one broadleaf weed in Australia, and for this case study, the newly released ALS-inhibiting imidazolinone tolerant faba bean cultivar PBA Bendoc with its conventional cultivar, PBA Samira, were selected as the study species. ALS-inhibiting (imazamox + imazapyr and imazethapyr) and PSII-inhibiting (metribuzin) herbicides were used as the two herbicide MOAs. The herbicide sensitivity of R. raphanistrum was initially evaluated at different growth stages, in glasshouse studies using herbicide-resistant and susceptible biotypes to ALS-inhibiting herbicides. The highest susceptibility was observed at the earliest growth stage regardless of the biotype and Imazamox + imazapyr proved to be more effective in controlling both biotypes compared to imazethapyr. The same two herbicides were tested on faba bean cultivars at different growth stages to assess crop tolerance and identify the herbicide application window. The field trials conducted in 2018 and 2019 showed increased ALS-inhibiting herbicide tolerance in PBA Bendoc compared to PBA Samira even at the most advanced growth stage. Both faba bean cultivars were then evaluated for their tolerance to metribuzin in-crop application at different herbicide rates. Both cultivars responded similarly, showing progressive herbicide damage with increasing application rates. However, the reduced pod number, even at the lowest rate used, flagged the possible yield penalties that may result in using in-crop metribuzin applications. It is thus suggested that metribuzin must be used post sowing pre-emergent (PSPE) respecting the label recommendations. The potential herbicide combinations were then tested on herbicide-resistant R. raphanistrum and PBA Bendoc to evaluate their efficacies. Metribuzin was initially used as PSPE in all combinations, and was to be followed by imazamox + imazapyr applications at the same growth stages of the weed and the crop as in previous experiments. However, 100% control of R. raphanistrum was achieved using metribuzin alone, and thus no second herbicide was required. All the assessed herbicide combinations were tolerated by PBA Bendoc, proving the suitability of these herbicide combinations for incorporation into the PBA Bendoc cropping system. These results led to two potential herbicide combination strategies: (i) herbicide rotations, with metribuzin as PSPE in one year along with another potential herbicide MOA in the following year, (ii) herbicide sequential application, with metribuzin applied at PSPE and imazamox + imazapyr applied at the 2-4 leaf stage if R. raphanistrum plants survived the metribuzin treatment. A seed germination study was conducted under different temperature/photoperiods, pH levels, osmotic potentials, salinity and burial depths to identify the optimal germination conditions for R. raphanistrum. The optimum germination conditions for both herbicide-resistant and susceptible biotypes of R. raphanistrum were found to be 25ºC/15ºC temperature range under 24 hours complete dark. However, the significant interaction between photoperiod and temperature indicated that the seed germination under higher temperatures is less favoured by 24 hours dark conditions regardless of the biotype. An increased moisture stress tolerance in herbicide-resistant seeds was observed, whilst both biotypes reacted similarly to different pH levels and burial depths. In summary, this thesis has elucidated the effectiveness of two herbicide MOAs in controlling R. raphanistrum while addressing the crop tolerance to these herbicide MOA combinations. These findings will help in setting up stewardship guidelines to be used with the PBA Bendoc faba bean cultivar to mitigate the misuse of herbicides, thus ensuring their sustainable application. In addition, the demonstration of differential seed germination requirements of resistant and susceptible R. raphanistrum seeds has provided further information to help with its systematic management. Overall, this study can be used as a case study to investigate herbicide options that can be used in different HT crop cultivars to control a range of weed species.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Interactions between a gall–inducing wasp Trichilogaster acaciaelongifoliae (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) and its host plant Acacia longifolia (Fabaceae)
- Authors: Islam, Md Rashedul
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Sallow Wattle (Acacia longifolia subsp. longifolia) is a native Australian shrub which is an invasive weed in some parts of Australia, and internationally. A gall-forming wasp (Trichilogaster acaciaelongifoliae), also native to Australia, causes abnormal growth of tissues (galls) in Sallow Wattle. This wasp is used outside of Australia to control invasive populations of this plant species. However, in Australia, the wasp is not effective in managing the spread of Sallow Wattle. This study investigates various aspects of the relationship between the wasp and its host plant in Australian ecosystems to better understand the physiological and ecological processes involved. The study shows that this wasp is host-specific on Sallow Wattle. The feeding action of the larval wasps increase secondary plant compounds in gall tissue, which may assist the plant to defend itself chemically against other insects and microorganisms. The growth of the galls redirects resources which are otherwise used by the plant for growth and reproduction. A second insect species was found within the galls and was identified as Megastigmus sp. This second species is likely to be a parasitoid, killing the larvae of the gall-former and occupying the gall. The presence of Megastigmus sp. in Australian ecosystems may be a key factor affecting the ability of T. acaciaelongifoliae to control Sallow Wattle in its native range. The structure of galls formed by each type of gall-inducing insects is unique and the process of gall induction also varies across species. The present study has specifically examined the initiation and development of galls formed by T. acaciaelongifoliae on A. l. longifolia. Unlike other hymenopteran groups, which induce galls during oviposition, T. acaciaelongifoliae appears to form galls on A. l. longifolia via the larval feeding process. Three major stages of gall development were identified and described: induction of gall, growth and maturation of gall, and shrinking and desiccation of gall. These findings have significantly extended our current knowledge of gall induction and development by the hymenopteran group of insects. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total phenol (TP), and total anthocyanin (TA) were measured in galls formed by T. acaciaelongifoliae at different growth stages of galls and in other plant tissue samples of A. l. longifolia to understand the effect of gall formation on plant phytochemistry. The results indicated differences in the amounts of phytochemicals in tissue samples from galls of different growth stages of galls and between gall tissue samples and other plant samples of A. l. longifolia. The highest amount of total antioxidant capacity, total phenols and total anthocyanin were recorded in samples of early stages galls, whereas the minimum amounts of phytochemicals were in stems of A. l. longifolia. Amounts of antioxidant capacity, phenols and anthocyanin gradually declined as galls developed and larvae became less active in their feeding activity prior to pupation. It is assumed that the active feeding action of the larvae results in increased amounts of these chemicals in the early growth stages of the galls. The effect of galls formed by the wasp, T. acaciaelongifoliae on the growth and reproduction of A. l. longifolia was investigated in the native home range of both species, where the plant is invasive. Differences in the average number of phyllodes per sub-branch were found between galled and ungalled plants. Galls were also shown to affect the growth rate of branches. The number of galls correlated positively with twig mortality; and negatively with the number of seedpods per sub-branch. While galls formed by T. acaciaelongifoliae have impacts on the growth and reproduction of A. l. longifolia plants, the plant continues to invade Australian ecosystems. An experiment was conducted to investigate the host plant preference of T. acaciaelongifoliae. Ten different native host plant species (co-occurring with A. l. longifolia in the study locations) were tested in two set of experiments; a ‘free choice test’ and ‘no choice test’. The results showed that T. acaciaelongifoliae is highly host-specific on A. l. longifolia plants. Thus, it was concluded that the presence of other plant species does not explain the continued invasiveness of A. l. longifolia in Australia. A second insect species was found in the galls developed by T. acaciaelongifoliae on A. l. longifolia. The insect species has been identified as another hymenopteran from the genus Megastigmus. Since no T. acaciaelongifoliae emerged from the galls occupied by Megastigmus sp, it is proposed that Megastigmus sp. may feed upon T. acaciaelongifoliae larvae and kill them inside the galls. This might be a key factor affecting the performance of the wasp, T. acaciaelongifoliae in controlling A. l. longifolia in its native distribution. Parasitism rates of Megastigmus sp. should be investigated in future experiments.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Islam, Md Rashedul
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Sallow Wattle (Acacia longifolia subsp. longifolia) is a native Australian shrub which is an invasive weed in some parts of Australia, and internationally. A gall-forming wasp (Trichilogaster acaciaelongifoliae), also native to Australia, causes abnormal growth of tissues (galls) in Sallow Wattle. This wasp is used outside of Australia to control invasive populations of this plant species. However, in Australia, the wasp is not effective in managing the spread of Sallow Wattle. This study investigates various aspects of the relationship between the wasp and its host plant in Australian ecosystems to better understand the physiological and ecological processes involved. The study shows that this wasp is host-specific on Sallow Wattle. The feeding action of the larval wasps increase secondary plant compounds in gall tissue, which may assist the plant to defend itself chemically against other insects and microorganisms. The growth of the galls redirects resources which are otherwise used by the plant for growth and reproduction. A second insect species was found within the galls and was identified as Megastigmus sp. This second species is likely to be a parasitoid, killing the larvae of the gall-former and occupying the gall. The presence of Megastigmus sp. in Australian ecosystems may be a key factor affecting the ability of T. acaciaelongifoliae to control Sallow Wattle in its native range. The structure of galls formed by each type of gall-inducing insects is unique and the process of gall induction also varies across species. The present study has specifically examined the initiation and development of galls formed by T. acaciaelongifoliae on A. l. longifolia. Unlike other hymenopteran groups, which induce galls during oviposition, T. acaciaelongifoliae appears to form galls on A. l. longifolia via the larval feeding process. Three major stages of gall development were identified and described: induction of gall, growth and maturation of gall, and shrinking and desiccation of gall. These findings have significantly extended our current knowledge of gall induction and development by the hymenopteran group of insects. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total phenol (TP), and total anthocyanin (TA) were measured in galls formed by T. acaciaelongifoliae at different growth stages of galls and in other plant tissue samples of A. l. longifolia to understand the effect of gall formation on plant phytochemistry. The results indicated differences in the amounts of phytochemicals in tissue samples from galls of different growth stages of galls and between gall tissue samples and other plant samples of A. l. longifolia. The highest amount of total antioxidant capacity, total phenols and total anthocyanin were recorded in samples of early stages galls, whereas the minimum amounts of phytochemicals were in stems of A. l. longifolia. Amounts of antioxidant capacity, phenols and anthocyanin gradually declined as galls developed and larvae became less active in their feeding activity prior to pupation. It is assumed that the active feeding action of the larvae results in increased amounts of these chemicals in the early growth stages of the galls. The effect of galls formed by the wasp, T. acaciaelongifoliae on the growth and reproduction of A. l. longifolia was investigated in the native home range of both species, where the plant is invasive. Differences in the average number of phyllodes per sub-branch were found between galled and ungalled plants. Galls were also shown to affect the growth rate of branches. The number of galls correlated positively with twig mortality; and negatively with the number of seedpods per sub-branch. While galls formed by T. acaciaelongifoliae have impacts on the growth and reproduction of A. l. longifolia plants, the plant continues to invade Australian ecosystems. An experiment was conducted to investigate the host plant preference of T. acaciaelongifoliae. Ten different native host plant species (co-occurring with A. l. longifolia in the study locations) were tested in two set of experiments; a ‘free choice test’ and ‘no choice test’. The results showed that T. acaciaelongifoliae is highly host-specific on A. l. longifolia plants. Thus, it was concluded that the presence of other plant species does not explain the continued invasiveness of A. l. longifolia in Australia. A second insect species was found in the galls developed by T. acaciaelongifoliae on A. l. longifolia. The insect species has been identified as another hymenopteran from the genus Megastigmus. Since no T. acaciaelongifoliae emerged from the galls occupied by Megastigmus sp, it is proposed that Megastigmus sp. may feed upon T. acaciaelongifoliae larvae and kill them inside the galls. This might be a key factor affecting the performance of the wasp, T. acaciaelongifoliae in controlling A. l. longifolia in its native distribution. Parasitism rates of Megastigmus sp. should be investigated in future experiments.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Stay or go? Young people’s agency and mobility in and out of small towns
- Authors: Parkin, Ember
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This doctoral thesis examines young people’s place attachments in two small Victorian towns. This qualitative ethnographic study uses auto-driven photo-elicitation to understand young people’s sense of place and futures in their home towns of Castlemaine and Maryborough. These case study towns are of a similar size, geography and heritage fabric. However, they are home to starkly different social indicators and economic policy contexts. The study seeks to understand how the cultural features of small towns affect young people’s place attachment and also how place relationships might subsequently affect young people’s sense of futures through their desired and intended locations and aspirations. To achieve this, the thesis explores young people’s social constructions of place. The photoelicitation method enables close attention to be paid to young people’s engagement with their home towns. This thesis argues that agency or lack of agency is a significant factor in strengthening or diminishing young people’s place attachments. Previous research suggests that one result of place attachment is that people will seek to remain being in a place. For young people in this study there appears to be an inverse relationship. Young people who had a broad and holistic sense of place engagement and attachment also had a broad sense of future possibilities and thus, intended to leave their home towns in pursuit of personal growth and education. Whereas young people who had a more limited sense of attachment or engagement had a narrower sense of future possibilities and were less likely to desire to leave their home town. The study contributes to knowledge about the ways in which place engagement can affect young people’s social and physical mobility.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Parkin, Ember
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This doctoral thesis examines young people’s place attachments in two small Victorian towns. This qualitative ethnographic study uses auto-driven photo-elicitation to understand young people’s sense of place and futures in their home towns of Castlemaine and Maryborough. These case study towns are of a similar size, geography and heritage fabric. However, they are home to starkly different social indicators and economic policy contexts. The study seeks to understand how the cultural features of small towns affect young people’s place attachment and also how place relationships might subsequently affect young people’s sense of futures through their desired and intended locations and aspirations. To achieve this, the thesis explores young people’s social constructions of place. The photoelicitation method enables close attention to be paid to young people’s engagement with their home towns. This thesis argues that agency or lack of agency is a significant factor in strengthening or diminishing young people’s place attachments. Previous research suggests that one result of place attachment is that people will seek to remain being in a place. For young people in this study there appears to be an inverse relationship. Young people who had a broad and holistic sense of place engagement and attachment also had a broad sense of future possibilities and thus, intended to leave their home towns in pursuit of personal growth and education. Whereas young people who had a more limited sense of attachment or engagement had a narrower sense of future possibilities and were less likely to desire to leave their home town. The study contributes to knowledge about the ways in which place engagement can affect young people’s social and physical mobility.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Training and testing of 1v1 agility in Australian football
- Authors: Rayner, Russell
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Little is known of how agility events occur in the sport of Australian football (AF). As a result, appropriate training and testing methods are unknown. This thesis investigated 1v1 agility in AF to evaluate alternative methods for training and testing agility. The thesis was undertaken in three studies. Study one investigated if training and testing practices used in elite AF align with the demands of competition. A notational analysis revealed substantial variation in movement patterns used by, and the cognitive demands of, athletes in agility events. A survey of high-performance managers in the AFL revealed that a mixture of open and closed training methods are used in elite AF, and that subjective agility assessment is preferred to formal testing. Study two assessed the reliability and ecological validity of a field-based test of attacking and defending agility for AF. The text exhibited excellent inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, as well as moderate test-retest reliability. Characteristics of the test were compared to the notational analysis to assess the ecological validity of the test. While the test did not fully replicate the agility demands of AF, the test improved ecological validity when compared to previous tests described in the literature. Study three evaluated the effectiveness of a four-week 1v1 training intervention for improving attacking and defending agility in Australian footballers. In addition, the study assessed the crossover of attacking training to defending agility and defending training to attacking agility. Improvements in attacking agility were found which were greater for attacking-trained athletes. However, no improvements in defending agility were realised. This thesis indicates that 1v1 training and testing is suitable for assessing and developing agility in Australian footballers. However, 1v1 training may be more suitable for improving attacking agility. Further, agility is context-specific, and testing and training should consider the role of the athlete.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Rayner, Russell
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Little is known of how agility events occur in the sport of Australian football (AF). As a result, appropriate training and testing methods are unknown. This thesis investigated 1v1 agility in AF to evaluate alternative methods for training and testing agility. The thesis was undertaken in three studies. Study one investigated if training and testing practices used in elite AF align with the demands of competition. A notational analysis revealed substantial variation in movement patterns used by, and the cognitive demands of, athletes in agility events. A survey of high-performance managers in the AFL revealed that a mixture of open and closed training methods are used in elite AF, and that subjective agility assessment is preferred to formal testing. Study two assessed the reliability and ecological validity of a field-based test of attacking and defending agility for AF. The text exhibited excellent inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, as well as moderate test-retest reliability. Characteristics of the test were compared to the notational analysis to assess the ecological validity of the test. While the test did not fully replicate the agility demands of AF, the test improved ecological validity when compared to previous tests described in the literature. Study three evaluated the effectiveness of a four-week 1v1 training intervention for improving attacking and defending agility in Australian footballers. In addition, the study assessed the crossover of attacking training to defending agility and defending training to attacking agility. Improvements in attacking agility were found which were greater for attacking-trained athletes. However, no improvements in defending agility were realised. This thesis indicates that 1v1 training and testing is suitable for assessing and developing agility in Australian footballers. However, 1v1 training may be more suitable for improving attacking agility. Further, agility is context-specific, and testing and training should consider the role of the athlete.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
‘You can’t hear a child you don’t see’ : Frontline workers’ perspectives on engaging young people in out-of-home care in the decisions affecting their lives.
- Authors: McRae, Lynda
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Traditionally, young people in out-of-home care have been marginalised from the most important decision-making processes that affect their lives. A compelling, contemporary evidence base confirms that this dilemma persists despite the ratification of young people’s participation rights in legislation and policy, which has grave implications for young people’s wellbeing, the quality of decisions and subsequent interventions. This place-based, participatory action research drew on the perspectives of case and program managers at the frontline of out-of-home care service delivery in Inner Gippsland to provide unique insights into the barriers and opportunities to increased inclusion of young people in the decisions being made about them. The study was supported through a university–industry research collaboration within the Inner Gippsland Children and Youth Area Partnership. This thesis contends that a confluence of factors in response to unprecedented demand on the Inner Gippsland child welfare service system has significantly eroded the time and opportunity for face-to-face practice between workers and young people, which is fundamental to the facilitation of young people’s engagement in decision-making. The research process was underpinned by a blend of critical theory and the capability approach. New insights were developed to advocate for diverse, context-specific interventions and broader system reforms to expand the capacity for workers to engage in face-to-face practice with young people. An authorising environment that legitimises participatory practice is required to support connections between workers and young people. This thesis argues that the alignment of rights-based participation principles with critical components of the system—policy, performance management regimes, compliance and administrative practices and professionalisation strategies—could transform decision-making processes for young people. This is especially vital for a growing cohort of young people who live in out-of-home care. Keywords: participation, decision-making processes, face-to-face practice, children, young people, critical theory, capability approach, action research, out-of-home care research
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: McRae, Lynda
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Traditionally, young people in out-of-home care have been marginalised from the most important decision-making processes that affect their lives. A compelling, contemporary evidence base confirms that this dilemma persists despite the ratification of young people’s participation rights in legislation and policy, which has grave implications for young people’s wellbeing, the quality of decisions and subsequent interventions. This place-based, participatory action research drew on the perspectives of case and program managers at the frontline of out-of-home care service delivery in Inner Gippsland to provide unique insights into the barriers and opportunities to increased inclusion of young people in the decisions being made about them. The study was supported through a university–industry research collaboration within the Inner Gippsland Children and Youth Area Partnership. This thesis contends that a confluence of factors in response to unprecedented demand on the Inner Gippsland child welfare service system has significantly eroded the time and opportunity for face-to-face practice between workers and young people, which is fundamental to the facilitation of young people’s engagement in decision-making. The research process was underpinned by a blend of critical theory and the capability approach. New insights were developed to advocate for diverse, context-specific interventions and broader system reforms to expand the capacity for workers to engage in face-to-face practice with young people. An authorising environment that legitimises participatory practice is required to support connections between workers and young people. This thesis argues that the alignment of rights-based participation principles with critical components of the system—policy, performance management regimes, compliance and administrative practices and professionalisation strategies—could transform decision-making processes for young people. This is especially vital for a growing cohort of young people who live in out-of-home care. Keywords: participation, decision-making processes, face-to-face practice, children, young people, critical theory, capability approach, action research, out-of-home care research
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Being a parent, but not : the role of foster and kinship carers in supporting children and young people
- Authors: Cooper, Kimberlea
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Home-based carers play an important role in the lives of children and young people. In Victoria, Australia, home-based care is now the most common form of alternative care, reflecting national and international trends. However, home-based care does currently face some challenges, such as shortages of carers. Therefore, strengthening this form of care through the training and support of foster and kinship carers is a key priority of Victoria’s reforms of child and family services. In the context of a university-industry collaboration, the current research drew upon the expertise of sixteen foster and kinship carers in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. Using constructivist grounded theory, the research sought to understand how carers support children and young people and how they see their role. In addition, the research sought carers’ perspectives on their interactions with the Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) system, including what they find supportive and challenging. The research revealed that home-based carers see some elements of their role as parenting, and others as going beyond parenting. The carers utilise principles of trauma-informed care to support children and young people, but do not experience trauma-informed support from the OOHC system. This discrepancy suggests that the implementation of trauma-informed care has the potential to increase pressure on home-based carers if it is only encouraged at the interpersonal level between carers and children and does not incorporate associated systems-level change. Therefore, this research proposes that whilst micro-level support and training for carers is necessary and useful, it is crucial to move beyond such initiatives to make macro-level reform. This research also raises doubts regarding the capacity of home-based care to become fully trauma-informed due to potential incompatibilities with the current risk-averse and deficit-oriented paradigm of the child protection system.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Cooper, Kimberlea
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Home-based carers play an important role in the lives of children and young people. In Victoria, Australia, home-based care is now the most common form of alternative care, reflecting national and international trends. However, home-based care does currently face some challenges, such as shortages of carers. Therefore, strengthening this form of care through the training and support of foster and kinship carers is a key priority of Victoria’s reforms of child and family services. In the context of a university-industry collaboration, the current research drew upon the expertise of sixteen foster and kinship carers in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. Using constructivist grounded theory, the research sought to understand how carers support children and young people and how they see their role. In addition, the research sought carers’ perspectives on their interactions with the Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) system, including what they find supportive and challenging. The research revealed that home-based carers see some elements of their role as parenting, and others as going beyond parenting. The carers utilise principles of trauma-informed care to support children and young people, but do not experience trauma-informed support from the OOHC system. This discrepancy suggests that the implementation of trauma-informed care has the potential to increase pressure on home-based carers if it is only encouraged at the interpersonal level between carers and children and does not incorporate associated systems-level change. Therefore, this research proposes that whilst micro-level support and training for carers is necessary and useful, it is crucial to move beyond such initiatives to make macro-level reform. This research also raises doubts regarding the capacity of home-based care to become fully trauma-informed due to potential incompatibilities with the current risk-averse and deficit-oriented paradigm of the child protection system.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy