Showing items 12581 - 12600 of 17085

Influence of power clean ability and training age on adaptations to weightlifting-style training

- James, Lachlan, Comfort, Paul, Suchomel, Timothy, Kelly, Vincent, Beckman, Emma, Haff, Gregory

  • Authors: James, Lachlan , Comfort, Paul , Suchomel, Timothy , Kelly, Vincent , Beckman, Emma , Haff, Gregory
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Vol. 33, no. 11 (Nov 2019), p. 2936-2944
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  • Description: The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether weightlifting actions are a viable method for improving athletic performance among weaker, inexperienced lifters when compared with individuals with a greater power clean (PC) result, and hence weightlifting ability and experience. Two groups of males with distinctly different PC performances (higher performance [HP]: N = 8; body mass [BM] = 78.1 +/- 4.0 kg; 1 repetition maximum [1RM] PC = 1.08 +/- 0.09 kg.BM-1; lower performance [LP]: N = 8; BM = 82.6 +/- 14.0 kg; 1RM PC = 0.78 +/- 0.1 kg.BM-1) and resistance training age (HP: resistance training experience = 3.5 +/- 1.2 years; LP: resistance training experience = 1.44 +/- 1.50 years) undertook 10 weeks of training involving weightlifting derivatives, in addition to supplemental ballistic and plyometric exercises. Testing of athletic performance (represented by measures derived from the countermovement jump) occurred at baseline, after 5 weeks of training, and after 10 weeks of training. Both groups significantly improved across the majority of outcome variables after training (Hedges' g = 0.98-2.55, p <= 0.01-0.05). Only the HP participants experienced significant changes at midtest (g = 0.99-1.27, p <= 0.01-0.05), whereas no significant changes were revealed between midtest and posttest in this group. In contrast to this, the LP participants displayed a significant improvement in relative impulse (g = 1.39, p < 0.01) and rate of force development (g = 1.91, p < 0.01) during this final period (p < 0.01). As weaker, inexperienced lifters underwent a significant and meaningful enhancement in maximal neuromuscular measures after weightlifting derivative-focused training, practitioners should consider early implementation of such exercises. However, it is important for coaches to note that a delayed training effect might be present in weaker, less experienced lifters.

Influence of selected environmental factors on seed germination and seedling emergence of Dinebra panicea var. brachiata (Steud.)

- Weller, Sandra, Florentine, Singarayer, Chauhan, Bhagirath

  • Authors: Weller, Sandra , Florentine, Singarayer , Chauhan, Bhagirath
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Crop Protection Vol. 117, no. (2019), p. 121-127
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  • Description: Dinebra panicea var. brachiata (Steud.) is related to genus Leptochloa., some species of which are significant rice crop weeds. However, little is known about how D. panicea responds to various environmental cues. This study investigates the effects of temperature, light, salt stress, moisture stress, pH, heat shock, smoke, and burial depth on seeds collected in successive years (2015 and 2016) from Queensland, Australia. Seed germination was higher overall for older seeds (2015) compared to younger (2016) at 30/20 °C and 25/15 °C, but there was less difference between light treatments (12 L/D, 24D) in both temperature ranges for older seeds compared to younger. Increasing moisture and salt stress gradually reduced germination, germination was high over the pH range from pH 4 to pH 10, short term (three minutes) heat exposure to 80 °C or less did not inhibit germination, but there was no significant difference between years for any of these environmental cues. Germination was greatly reduced at 100 °C and eliminated at 120 °C. Smoke significantly inhibited germination. Seeds from both years germinated on the soil surface and emerged from 0.2 cm, with no emergence from deeper than 0.5 cm. The data collected from this study may assist land managers to manage infestations of this weed.

Influence of soil moisture regimes on growth, photosynthetic capacity, leaf biochemistry and reproductive capabilities of the invasive agronomic weed; Lactuca serriola

- Chadha, Aakansha, Florentine, Singarayer, Chauhan, Bhagirath, Long, Benjamin, Jayasundera, Mithila

  • Authors: Chadha, Aakansha , Florentine, Singarayer , Chauhan, Bhagirath , Long, Benjamin , Jayasundera, Mithila
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PLoS ONE Vol. 14, no. 6 (2019), p. 1-17
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  • Description: Global temperatures are predicted to increase by 1.5–5.9C during this century, and this change is likely to impact average rainfall, with predictions that water deficit will perhaps be the most severe threat to sustainable agriculture. In this respect, invasive weeds, which have traits better adapted to drought stress than crops, add to concerns regarding crop sustainability. Lactuca serriola, an aggressive agronomic weed is thought to be a successful weed because of its ability to maintain high water use efficiency under drought conditions. In this study, experiments were conducted to examine the influence of different soil moisture regimes (100%, 75%, 50% and 25% water holding capacity (WHC)) on growth, photosynthetic capacity, leaf biochemistry and reproduction of this species. Soil moisture significantly affected plant’s height, stem diameter, number of leaves and biomass. The highest plant height (115.14 cm ± 11.64), shoot diameter (9.4 mm ± 0.18), leaf area (1206.5 mm2 ± 73.29), plant fresh weight (83.1 ± 3.98) and dry weight (22.38 ± 1.24) were recorded at 75% soil moisture content. A fundamental adaptation to drought was observed as plants in the 25% WHC treatment had the highest root: shoot ratio. Soluble sugars and total phenolic content were highest in the 25% WHC treatment and significantly different to 100% WHC which was a response to soil moisture stress to ameliorate the damaging effects of reactive oxygen species produced under stress conditions. Results also indicate that L. serriola can survive and produce seeds under water stress as more than 6000 seeds were produced per plant in all WHC treatments. In this study, there was no significant difference in the seed weight, number of seeds produced and their germination ability. This can have a huge impact on agricultural systems as the species can survive both under low and high soil moisture conditions. We therefore suggest that the demonstrated ability of L. serriola to complete its life cycle and produce biomass and seeds under water stressed conditions leads to the introduction of strategies that minimize weed survival while maximizing irrigation efficiency for the crop. A clear understanding of the ecological and biological characteristics of this weed will help land managers take appropriate control measures to mitigate the effect of this species on economic crop productivity.

Information security: Definitions, threats and management in Dubai hospitals context

- Bakkar, Mahmoud, Alazab, Ammar

  • Authors: Bakkar, Mahmoud , Alazab, Ammar
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Conference proceedings
  • Relation: 2019 Cybersecurity and Cyberforensics Conference CCC 2019;Melbourne, VIC, Australia; 8-9 May 2019 p. 152-159
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  • Description: Information technology and high-tech systems used daily in hospitals increase the demand for measuring information security threats in the healthcare industry. The impact of complexity of using new healthcare information and communications technology (ICT) devices places more pressure on the healthcare community to perceive different information systems (IS) security threats as they involve different IS management models. This research study focused on measuring the healthcare community perceptions and on the following issues to include definition of information security perception of information security threats perception of information security management and perception of information security in the context of another healthcare community. To assess to plan, design and implement a national information security strategy for their healthcare sector. A survey was developed and interviewed 60 healthcare employees from three hospitals based in Dubai. The research results assist in creating awareness for easy access to hands-on guidelines for the healthcare community, thereby increasing the awareness levels of information security in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These results assist the UAE government to further adapt the training and education programs for the healthcare community to increase their effectiveness and efficiency levels of IT and subsequent IS development. A discussion of the current status of Dubai hospitals privacy, confidentiality and security challenge is presented.

Information sharing and willingness-to-pay for CBPP vaccine in rural Kenya

- Iles, Richard, Gatumu, Haniel, Kagundu, Samuel, Draheim, Christopher

  • Authors: Iles, Richard , Gatumu, Haniel , Kagundu, Samuel , Draheim, Christopher
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Vaccine Vol. 37, no. 12 (2019), p. 1659-1666
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  • Description: •Improved sharing of CBPP risk information increases CBPP vaccine up-take.•Demand increases by 1.5 and 2.3 per cent for improved access and information.•WTP for a 1 h reduction in travel duration is KES 54 (USD 0.52) per vaccine.•WTP for receipt of CBPP risk information is KES 52 (USD 0.67) per vaccine.•Controlling for attribute non-attendance improves model fit and estimates. The study estimates cattle owners' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) vaccine in Samburu county, Kenya. Of particular policy relevance, the study presents findings on WTP for i) improved access to vaccines and ii) timely access to disease-risk information. The mean price for a CBPP vaccine was estimated at KES 66 (USD 0.64). This price relates to a CBPP vaccine that requires a 1.8 h commute, cattle owners' receipt of timely information that the CBPP disease risk is low-moderate and the vaccine lowers the risk of either tail-drop or post-vaccine abortion. The conditional WTP for mean travel duration and high-risk information are similar at KES 53.9 and KES 51.5. The marginal effect on demand for a 1 h additional travel duration and provision of CBPP disease risk information was estimated as a 1.5 per cent reduction and 2.3 increase. The results of this study indicate that cattle owners value greater levels of knowledge concerning the changing risk profile of CBPP in their community and improved access to CBPP vaccination services. Enhanced engagement with cattle owners concerning CBPP would likely result in a greater utilisation of available CBPP vaccines, conditional on the perceived CBPP disease risk.

Informing the development midwifery standards for practice : A literature review for policy development

- Nagle, Cate, McDonald, Susan, Morrow, Jane, Kruger, Gina, Cramer, Rhian, Couch, Sara, Hartney, Nicole, Bryce, Julianne, Birks, Melanie, Heartfield, Marie

  • Authors: Nagle, Cate , McDonald, Susan , Morrow, Jane , Kruger, Gina , Cramer, Rhian , Couch, Sara , Hartney, Nicole , Bryce, Julianne , Birks, Melanie , Heartfield, Marie
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: Midwifery Vol. 76, no. (2019), p. 8-20
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  • Description: Aim: To critically appraise and synthesise the literature regarding the role and scope of midwifery practice, specifically to inform the evidence based development of standards for practice for all midwives in Australia. Design: A structured scoping review of the literature Data sources: CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE Complete and Cochrane Libraries databases, online and grey literature databases Review methods: Comprehensive searches of databases used key words and controlled vocabulary for each database to search for publications 2006-2016. Studies were not restricted by research method. Findings: There is no substantive body of literature on midwifery competency standards or standards for practice. From 1648 papers screened, twenty-eight papers were identified to inform this review. Eight studies including systematic reviews were annotated with three research papers further assessed as having direct application to this review. To inform the development of Midwife standards for practice, the comprehensive role of the midwife across multiple settings was seen to include: woman centred and primary health care; safe supportive and collaborative practice; clinical knowledge and skills with interpersonal and cultural competence. Key conclusions: Midwifery practice is not restricted to the provision of direct clinical care and extends to any role where the midwife uses midwifery skills and knowledge. This practice includes working in clinical and non-clinical relationships with the woman and other clients as well as working in management, administration, education, research, advisory, regulatory, and policy development roles. Implications for practice: This review articulates the definition, role and scope of midwifery practice to inform the development of contemporary standards for practice for the Australian midwife. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Instruction cognitive one-shot malware outbreak detection

- Park, Sean, Gondal, Iqbal, Kamruzzaman, Joarder, Oliver, Jon

  • Authors: Park, Sean , Gondal, Iqbal , Kamruzzaman, Joarder , Oliver, Jon
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: 26th International Conference on Neural Information Processing [ICONIP 2019] December 12-15 2019, Proceedings, Part IV Vol. 1142, p. 769-778
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  • Description: New malware outbreaks cannot provide thousands of training samples which are required to counter malware campaigns. In some cases, there could be just one sample. So, the defense system at the firing line must be able to quickly detect many automatically generated variants using a single malware instance observed from the initial outbreak by tatically inspecting the binary executables. As previous research works show, statistical features such as term frequency-inverse document frequency and n-gram are significantly vulnerable to attacks by mutation through reinforcement learning. Recent studies focus on raw binary executable as a base feature which contains instructions describing the core logic of the sample. However, many approaches using image-matching neural networks are insufficient due to the malware mutation technique that generates a large number of samples with high entropy data. Deriving instruction cognitive representation that disambiguates legitimate instructions from the context is necessary for accurate detection over raw binary executables. In this paper, we present a novel method of detecting semantically similar malware variants within a campaign using a single raw binary malware executable. We utilize Discrete Fourier Transform of instruction cognitive representation extracted from self-attention transformer network. The experiments were conducted with in-the-wild malware samples from ransomware and banking Trojan campaigns. The proposed method outperforms several state of the art binary classification models.
  • Description: E1

Integrating biological heuristics and gene expression data for gene regulatory network inference

- Zarnegar, Armita, Jelinek, Herbert, Vamplew, Peter, Stranieri, Andrew

  • Authors: Zarnegar, Armita , Jelinek, Herbert , Vamplew, Peter , Stranieri, Andrew
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
  • Relation: 2019 Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2019; Sydney, Australia; 29th-31st January 2019 p. 1-10
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  • Description: Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) offer enhanced insight into the biological functions and biochemical pathways of cells associated with gene regulatory mechanisms. However, obtaining accurate GRNs that explain gene expressions and functional associations remains a difficult task. Only a few studies have incorporated heuristics into a GRN discovery process. Doing so has the potential to improve accuracy and reduce the search space and computational time. A technique for GRN discovery that integrates heuristic information into the discovery process is advanced. The approach incorporates three elements: 1) a novel 2D visualized coexpression function that measures the association between genes; 2) a post-processing step that improves detection of up, down and self-regulation and 3) the application of heuristics to generate a Hub network as the backbone of the GRN. Using available microarray and next generation sequencing data from Escherichia coli, six synthetic benchmark GRN datasets were generated with the neighborhood addition and cluster addition methods available in SynTReN. Results of the novel 2D-visualization co-expression function were compared with results obtained using Pearson's correlation and mutual information. The performance of the biological genetics-based heuristics consisting of the 2D-Visualized Co-expression function, post-processing and Hub network was then evaluated by comparing the performance to the GRNs obtained by ARACNe and CLR. The 2D-Visualized Co-expression function significantly improved gene-gene association matching compared to Pearson's correlation coefficient (t = 3.46, df = 5, p = 0.02) and Mutual Information (t = 4.42, df = 5, p = 0.007). The heuristics model gave a 60% improvement against ARACNe (p = 0.02) and CLR (p = 0.019). Analysis of Escherichia coli data suggests that the GRN discovery technique proposed is capable of identifying significant transcriptional regulatory interactions and the corresponding regulatory networks.

Intelligent sewer blockage detection system using Internet of Things

- Buurman, Benjamin

  • Authors: Buurman, Benjamin
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
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  • Description: Despite being a common issue in both developed and developing countries, wastewater blockages have severe potential consequences. Blockages can be located at sewer mains or individual properties and can also be classified as partial or full. Full blockages completely obstruct a wastewater asset, and partial blockages will often develop into full blockages if left unattended. Currently, blockages are managed by routine manual inspections to wastewater assets on a round-robin schedule. This is highly inefficient and costly, as blockages that form between these inspections and progress to effluent breaches will go undetected. In this thesis we present an Internet of Things (IoT) solution capable of simultaneously monitoring an entire wastewater infrastructure for blockages while still remaining inexpensive, reliable, and practical. Wireless motes use float switch sensors to detect blockages and transmit this to a central system using either LoRa or Wi-Fi communications. Making both LoRa and Wi-Fi available ensures the system can be adapted in any situation across a variety of geographic and economic restrictions. The central system determines whether a surcharge is caused by a blockage or simply the result of regular activity not requiring intervention. Detection of false positives is critical, as deployment of field technicians is an expensive process that moves resources from other skilled work. If a surcharge is determined to be caused by a blockage, the central system will classify it as full or partial before estimating the property or length of main between properties it is located at. Following this, relevant parties will be notified so field technicians can be deployed to resolve the blockage. We performed both practical laboratory testing and simulation modelling on our proposed system, and confirmed it is indeed capable of detecting, classifying, and locating blockages across a wide urban area. Our choice of hardware, software and network equipment ensures that the proposed IoT-based solution is inexpensive, workable, and easily deployable.
  • Description: Masters by Research

Interactive effects of land use, grazing and environment on frogs in an agricultural landscape

- Pulsford, Stephanie, Barton, Philip, Driscoll, Don, Lindenmayer, David

  • Authors: Pulsford, Stephanie , Barton, Philip , Driscoll, Don , Lindenmayer, David
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment Vol. 281, no. (2019), p. 25-34
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  • Description: Improved management of human-modified landscapes must be part of global efforts to combat biodiversity loss. We aimed to identify which land management types and environmental factors influenced the use of grazing landscapes by frogs. We surveyed frog assemblages in remnant vegetation, four different paddock types (pasture, linear planting, coarse woody debris addition and fence), and two grazing regimes (continuous and rotational). Frogs were surveyed using pitfall and funnel traps in twelve grazing farms in south-eastern Australia. We found that grazed agricultural landscapes provide important habitats for a variety of species of frogs and that frog assemblages were influenced by both farm management type and environmental variables, and their interactions. Total frog abundance increased with proximity to water more strongly in remnants compared to paddocks. This difference in response may be due to different traits and behaviours of frogs in remnants compared to frogs in open paddocks. Rare frog species richness and abundance of a common species (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis) increased with taller ground cover in remnants but no such relationship occurred in paddocks. Different types of predation risk in remnants compared to paddocks may result in greater ground cover shelter requirements in remnants, as vegetation structure can strongly influence predation. Total frog species richness increased more rapidly with higher rainfall in continuously grazed versus rotationally grazed farms. Higher rainfall was associated with taller ground cover. Continuously grazed farms had shorter average ground cover than rotationally grazed farms and the increased ground cover height associated with more rain may bring ground cover to a height better able to provide shelter and reduce desiccation risk for frogs. Our study highlights the importance of both land management practices and environmental conditions and their interaction in shaping frog assemblages. Improved frog biodiversity conservation may be achieved in grazing landscapes by retaining patches of remnant vegetation, maintaining water bodies such as farm dams, and maintaining tall ground cover within vegetation remnants. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Intermediary organizations in apprenticeship systems

- Smith, Erica

  • Authors: Smith, Erica
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Report
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  • Description: Intermediary organizations in apprenticeships are those which act on behalf of, link, or mediate between the main parties - apprentices and employers. An intermediary organization in apprenticeship systems is thus one that undertakes one or more of the following activities: employs apprentices as a third-party employer; trains apprentices as part of a specific arrangement with groups of employers; or undertakes other apprentice support activities on behalf of an employer or a specified group of employers. This discussion paper highlights different ways of classifying intermediary organizations, provides examples of different types of intermediary organisations and examines the different roles they can play to support the effective operation of apprenticeship systems. In particular, the report includes brief case studies of intermediary organisations in Australia, India, England.

International connections in actor training in Australia : Tracing Stanislayski's system and Brechtian politics

- Tait, Peta, Beddie, Melanie

  • Authors: Tait, Peta , Beddie, Melanie
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Stanislavski Studies Vol. 7, no. 2 (2019), p. 159-175
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  • Description: This article traces the approaches to actor training offered in Australia based on the training backgrounds of influential teachers. The research for this article finds international connections that reveal strong links to approaches originating with Konstantin Stanislayski and Bertolt Brecht. It seeks to understand with whom a teacher studied to explain what was probably learnt and therefore the type of training knowledge that the teacher is likely to pass on to students. The research confirms that international approaches are fundamental to performance training in tertiary conservatorium courses, and the profiles of nine teachers are presented in detail to encapsulate patterns of training and to show the complex nexus of influences and international approaches. The profiles indicate an increasing influence of American approaches in the second half of the twentieth century alongside British ones, but that British influences remain important for European approaches and for political theatre in particular into the twenty-first century. We argue that even where there was a synthesis happening in the teaching of performance in Australia, the influences of major international approaches are identifiable through the training backgrounds of teachers. In this way, it is possible to locate teachers in Australia within actor training internationally.

Introduction

- Sultan, Ibrahim, Phung, Truong

Introduction

- Reeves, Keir

  • Authors: Reeves, Keir
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Before/Now : Journal of the collaborative Research Centre in Australian History (CRCAH) Vol. Vol.1 , no. 1 (2019), p. 3-4
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  • Description: The start of a new academic journal is always an exciting initiative for all involved and it is with great pleasure I am able to introduce Before/Now. In doing so it is important or me to formally acknowledge the tireless work of the founding editorial collective who have been working on this new scholarly publication for almost two years at Federation University Australia. Can I also acknowledge the support of the School of Arts in en­abling this initiative. Before/Now is a welcome addition to the postgraduate journal landscape in Australia where postgraduate history journals have enjoyed something of a recent revival against broader trends in publishing

Introduction

- Muyeen, S., Islam, Syed, Blaabjerg, Frede

Introduction to transformative climates and accountable governance

- Edmonson, Beth, Levy, Stuart

  • Authors: Edmonson, Beth , Levy, Stuart
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Transformative climates and accountable governance Chapter 1 p.
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  • Description: This book engages with a pressing question: How does global climate change increase the need for accountable governance? It examines interdisciplinary approaches to consider how accountable climate governance mechanisms can meet the complex challenges of environmental changes impacting natural systems and the global distributions of species, water, arable and habitable land. Integrated approaches that take heed of ecological and biological systems are identified as enabling better understandings of accountable climate governance systems, human and environmental interfaces, political and economic sectoral interplay and scalable solutions. It argues that achieving accountable climate governance mechanisms will enable states to meet the expectations of informed citizens and provide better environmental outcomes.

Invertebrate scavenging communities

- Anderson, Gail, Barton, Philip, Archer, Melanie, Wallace, John

  • Authors: Anderson, Gail , Barton, Philip , Archer, Melanie , Wallace, John
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Carrion Ecology and Management p. 45-69
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  • Description: Invertebrate scavengers of terrestrial and aquatic carrion include a broad and enormously diverse grouping of various arthropods, nematodes, and molluscs. By far the most functionally important in terrestrial ecosystems are insects, especially the flies, with crustaceans performing this role in marine ecosystems, although a multi-trophic foodweb of numerous invertebrate taxa can be found at most carcasses in most environments. The occurrence of different taxa, and the dynamics of their colonization and various competitive interactions varies across terrestrial and aquatic realms, and is greatly influenced by geographic region, climate, habitat, season, and other biotic factors. This sub-chapter focuses on the invertebrate use of carrion in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and highlights the role of different groups of invertebrates, and the biotic and abiotic factors that influence their occurrence and succession at decaying carcasses.

Investigating factors affecting restoration of native grassland in ex-cropland

- Shakir, Shakir Bahaddin

  • Authors: Shakir, Shakir Bahaddin
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • 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

Is nursing student personality important for considering a rural career?

- Terry, Daniel, Peck, Blake, Smith, Andrew, Stevenson, Tyrin, Baker, Ed

  • Authors: Terry, Daniel , Peck, Blake , Smith, Andrew , Stevenson, Tyrin , Baker, Ed
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Health Organization and Management Vol. 33, no. 5 (2019), p. 617-634
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  • Description: Purpose: Identifying and measuring personality traits assists to understanding professional career choices, however, what impact personality traits have on nursing student rural career choice remains absent. The purpose of this paper is to identify personality traits among nursing students that may be predictive of pursuing a rural career. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional design was used to examine the importance Bachelor of Nursing students place on undertaking rural careers. All nursing students (n=1,982) studying a three-year bachelor’s degree were invited to complete a questionnaire examining personality traits and rural practice intentions. Findings: Students who saw themselves working rurally after graduation had higher levels of conscientiousness than those who wanted metropolitan careers. Students with higher levels of agreeableness or open-mindedness were more likely to consider rural practice when individual community factors were carefully considered. Finally, students with higher levels of neuroticism were less likely to consider rural practice as a future career pathway. Research limitations/implications: The cohort had high numbers of student from rural and regional settings, which may limit the ability to generalise the findings. In addition, student respondents of the survey may not be representative of the whole student cohort given the low response rate. Originality/value: Key personality traits are identifying factors that contribute to nursing student decision making regarding rural practice. Students who displayed higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness and open-mindedness have traits that are most likely to impact the consideration of rural practice across their nursing career, which gives additional insight into targeted recruitment strategies. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Is sports science answering the call for interdisciplinary research? A systematic review

- Piggott, Ben, Müller, Sean, Chivers, Paola, Papaluca, Carmen, Hoyne, Gerard

  • Authors: Piggott, Ben , Müller, Sean , Chivers, Paola , Papaluca, Carmen , Hoyne, Gerard
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: European Journal of Sport Science Vol. 19, no. 3 (2019), p. 267-286
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  • Description: Sports science research is traditionally monodisciplinary despite calls for an interdisciplinary focus. The primary purpose of this systematic review was to identify studies on talent identification, talent selection and competition performance to determine whether interdisciplinary research is being conducted. Thirty-six studies met the selection criteria. These studies were critiqued relative to sport, skill level, sport science sub-disciplines included, and whether the research was multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary. The secondary purpose of the review was to critique the level of analysis and level of representative task design in performance tests used in the studies. Twenty-five studies were categorised as interdisciplinary, with 11 categorised as multidisciplinary. Thirteen sports were represented with soccer the most frequent followed by field hockey, Australian Rules football, handball and rugby league. Thirty-two studies completed their analysis at a group level and four at an individual level. A total of 337 performance tests were rated for representative task design with 64 categorised as low, 123 as medium and 150 as high. The results pertaining to interdisciplinary studies and individual analyses are discussed in relation to constraints theory, which predicts that interacting variables can explain sport performance. Sports science research is beginning to fulfil the call for interdisciplinary research. Future research, however, needs to consider individual analyses and representative task design of tests to progress sports science knowledge. © 2018, © 2018 European College of Sport Science.