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Biopsychosocial Data Analytics and Modeling

  • Authors: Santhanagopalan, Meena
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: Sustained customisation of digital health intervention (DHI) programs, in the context of community health engagement, requires strong integration of multi-sourced interdisciplinary biopsychosocial health data. The biopsychosocial model is built upon the idea that biological, psychological and social processes are integrally and interactively involved in physical health and illness. One of the longstanding challenges of dealing with healthcare data is the wide variety of data generated from different sources and the increasing need to learn actionable insights that drive performance improvement. The growth of information and communication technology has led to the increased use of DHI programs. These programs use an observational methodology that helps researchers to study the everyday behaviour of participants during the course of the program by analysing data generated from digital tools such as wearables, online surveys and ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Combined with data reported from biological and psychological tests, this provides rich and unique biopsychosocial data. There is a strong need to review and apply novel approaches to combining biopsychosocial data from a methodological perspective. Although some studies have used data analytics in research on clinical trial data generated from digital interventions, data analytics on biopsychosocial data generated from DHI programs is limited. The study in this thesis develops and implements innovative approaches for analysing the existing unique and rich biopsychosocial data generated from the wellness study, a DHI program conducted by the School of Science, Psychology and Sport at Federation University. The characteristics of variety, value and veracity that usually describe big data are also relevant to the biopsychosocial data handled in this thesis. These historical, retrospective real-life biopsychosocial data provide fertile ground for research through the use of data analytics to discover patterns hidden in the data and to obtain new knowledge. This thesis presents the studies carried out on three aspects of biopsychosocial research. First, we present the salient traits of the three components - biological, psychological and social - of biopsychosocial research. Next, we investigate the challenges of pre-processing biopsychosocial data, placing special emphasis on the time-series data generated from wearable sensor devices. Finally, we present the application of statistical and machine learning (ML) tools to integrate variables from the biopsychosocial disciplines to build a predictive model. The first chapter presents the salient features of the biopsychosocial data for each discipline. The second chapter presents the challenges of pre-processing biopsychosocial data, focusing on the time-series data generated from wearable sensor devices. The third chapter uses statistical and ML tools to integrate variables from the biopsychosocial disciplines to build a predictive model. Among its other important analyses and results, the key contributions of the research described in this thesis include the following: 1. using gamma distribution to model neurocognitive reaction time data that presents interesting properties (skewness and kurtosis for the data distribution) 2. using novel ‘peak heart-rate’ count metric to quantify ‘biological’ stress 3. using the ML approach to evaluate DHIs 4. using a recurrent neural network (RNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) data prediction model to predict Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and primary emotion (PE) using wearable sensor data.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Open data and interoperability standards : opportunities for animal welfare in extensive livestock systems

  • Authors: Bahlo, Christiane
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: Extensive livestock farming constitutes a sizeable portion of agriculture, not only in relation to land use, but in contribution to feeding a growing human population. In addition to meat, it contributes other economically valuable commodities such as wool, hides and other products. The livestock industries are adopting technologies under the banner of Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) to help meet higher production and efficiency targets as well as help to manage the multiple challenges impacting the industries, such as climate change, environmental concerns, globalisation of markets, increasing rules of governance and societal scrutiny especially in relation to animal welfare. PLF is particularly dependent on the acquisition and management of data and metadata and on the interoperability standards that allow data discovery and federation. A review of interoperability standards and PLF adoption in extensive livestock farming systems identified a lack of domain specific standards and raised questions related to the amount and quality of public data which has potential to inform livestock farming. A systematic review of public datasets, which included an assessment based on the principles that data must be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) was developed. Custom software scripts were used to conduct a dataset search to determine the quantity and quality of domain specific datasets yielded 419 unique Australian datasets directly related to extensive livestock farming. A FAIR assessment of these datasets using a set of non-domain specific, general metrics showed a moderate level of compliance. The results suggest that domain specific FAIR metrics may need to be developed to provide a more accurate data quality assessment, but also that the level of interoperability and reusability is not particularly high which has implications if public data is to be included in decision support tools. To test the usefulness of available public datasets in informing decision support in relation to livestock welfare, a case study was designed and farm animal welfare elements were extracted from Australian welfare standards to guide a dataset search. It was found that with few exceptions, these elements could be supported with public data, although there were gaps in temporal and spatial coverage. The development of a geospatial animal welfare portal including these datasets further explored and confirmed the potential for using public data to enhance livestock welfare.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

AI and IoT-Enabled smart exoskeleton system for rehabilitation of paralyzed people in connected communities

  • Authors: Jacob, Sunil , Alagirisamy, Mukil , Xi, Chen , Balasubramanian, Venki , Srinivasan, Ram
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Access Vol. 9, no. (2021), p. 80340-80350
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  • Description: In recent years, the number of cases of spinal cord injuries, stroke and other nervous impairments have led to an increase in the number of paralyzed patients worldwide. Rehabilitation that can aid and enhance the lives of such patients is the need of the hour. Exoskeletons have been found as one of the popular means of rehabilitation. The existing exoskeletons use techniques that impose limitations on adaptability, instant response and continuous control. Also most of them are expensive, bulky, and requires high level of training. To overcome all the above limitations, this paper introduces an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Smart and light weight Exoskeleton System (AI-IoT-SES) which receives data from various sensors, classifies them intelligently and generates the desired commands via Internet of Things (IoT) for rendering rehabilitation and support with the help of caretakers for paralyzed patients in smart and connected communities. In the proposed system, the signals collected from the exoskeleton sensors are processed using AI-assisted navigation module, and helps the caretakers in guiding, communicating and controlling the movements of the exoskeleton integrated to the patients. The navigation module uses AI and IoT enabled Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The casualties of a paralyzed person are reduced by commissioning the IoT platform to exchange data from the intelligent sensors with the remote location of the caretaker to monitor the real time movement and navigation of the exoskeleton. The automated exoskeleton detects and take decisions on navigation thereby improving the life conditions of such patients. The experimental results simulated using MATLAB shows that the proposed system is the ideal method for rendering rehabilitation and support for paralyzed patients in smart communities. © 2013 IEEE. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Venki Balasubramanian” is provided in this record**

How to re-engage older adults in community sport? Reasons for drop-out and re-engagement

  • Authors: Jenkin, C. , Eime, Rochelle , van Uffelen, J. , Westerbeek, H.
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Leisure Studies Vol. 40, no. 4 (2021), p. 441-453
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  • Description: Internationally, many sport policies articulate a desire for lifelong participation in sport. However, participation often fluctuates throughout the lifespan and most people drop-out at some stage. Most research on drop-out of sport focuses on children and adolescents, with little attention towards other age groups. The aim of this study was to investigate why adults aged 50+ years dropped out of sport during their life, and how and why they may re-engage later in life. Eight focus groups (n = 49) were conducted, with Australian National Sporting Organisations; adults aged 50+ years, who were either currently involved in sport (e.g. player/volunteer/coach) or not currently involved. The Socio-Ecological Model was used to frame the interview questions, and Leisure Constraints Theory was used to analyse the results. The main themes on drop-out included lack of appropriate playing opportunities; competing priorities; and low priority from sporting organisations. The main themes for re-engagement in sport at an older age included improving physical health; social opportunities, especially with family/friends; and having more leisure time. It is recommended that to re-engage adults aged 50+ years in active sport participation, organisations should focus on providing age appropriate playing opportunities, whilst ensuring that social interaction is an integral focus. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Depression, Internet Gaming Disorder, and the moderating effect of the gamer-avatar relationship : An exploratory longitudinal study

  • Authors: Burleigh, Tyrone , Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Liew, Lucas , Adams, Baxter , Griffiths, Mark
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Vol. 16, no. 1 (2018), p. 102-124
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  • Description: Research into Internet gaming disorder (IGD) literature largely uses cross-sectional designs and seldom examines gaming context-related factors. Therefore, the present study combined a cross-sectional and longitudinal design to examine depression and the gameravatar relationship (GAR) as risk factors in the development of IGD among emerging adults. IGD behaviors of 125 gamers (64 online gamers, Mage = 23.3 years, SD = 3.4; 61 offline gamers, Mage = 23.0 years, SD = 3.4) were assessed using the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale Short Form (IGDS-SF9; Pontes and Griffiths Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento, 7, 102–118, 2015a; Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 137–143, 2015b). The Self-Presence Scale (Ratan and Dawson Communication Research, 2015) and the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al. 1996) were also used to assess gamers’ levels of GAR and depressive symptoms, respectively. Regression and moderation analyses revealed that depression and the GAR act as individual risk factors in the development of IGD over time. Furthermore, the GAR exacerbates the IGD risk effect of depression.

Accounting professionalisation and occupational context: The role of the public accounting profession in China

  • Authors: Yee, Helen , West, Brian
  • Date: 2010
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: 6th Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference: Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting (APIRA 2010) p. 1-28
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  • Description: While applied broadly within the setting of accounting and some other occupations, ‘profession’ is a particularly Western concept with peculiarly British origins. However, the significance of such status and the process by which it is acquired has defied precise explication. Examination of the sociology of the accounting occupation within non- Western locations can contribute to exposing and clarifying these problematic and contingent aspects of occupational stratification, as well as assist in redressing the bias towards English-speaking and European countries within the accounting history literature. Proceeding from these theoretical premises, a historical study of the accounting occupation within China is undertaken. Integrating episodes from this country into the broader historical narrative of the professionalisation of accounting reinforces – often vividly – that accountants’ work status is not bound to an innate and predetermined trajectory. Rather, the variety of localised and time-specific variables which constitute the occupational context are shown to exert a dominating influence.

The safety of international students in a regional area of Australia : perceptions and experiences

  • Authors: Lê, Quynh , Auckland, Stuart , Nguyen, Hoang , Terry, Daniel
  • Date: 2013
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association Vol. , no. 42 (2013), p. 15-24
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  • Description: In Australia, international students have not only made an enormous economic contribution to the educational sector, but also enriched the cultural diversity of Australian institutions and societies. When international students become a part of the Australian community, issues related to their personal safety are significant, not only to relevant authorities but also to the broader community. This study aimed to investigate the safety of international students at a regional campus and surrounding environment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 international students aimed at exploring the current concerns and needs regarding their safety on and off campus. In addition, a focus group discussion was conducted with five stakeholders to investigate ways to improve the safety of international students in the current context. Four main themes emerged from the data, including safety concerns, safety risks, preventative safety strategies, and safety needs. One of the most frequent suggestions was to increase the reach of surveillance, greater support from the responsible authorities, particularly as related to environments beyond the confines of the university campus. The findings of this study have offered practical implications associated with the enhancement of the safety of international students in regional Australia.

Change in dominance determines herbivore effects on plant biodiversity

Timeless principles of taxpayer protection: how they adapt to digital disruption

  • Authors: Bentley, Duncan
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: eJournal of Tax Research Vol. 16, no. 3 (2019), p. 679-713
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  • Description: Digital transformation will pose growing challenges to tax revenues and systems of taxation that were designed for another century. The tax rules may hasten slowly, but the record of response to the challenges of electronic commerce, and of base erosion and profit shifting, shows that tax administration is more adaptable. This article identifies the detailed nature of technological changes in electronics and systems; big data, automation and artificial intelligence; and security, including blockchain; as those changes affect tax administration. It highlights the critical taxpayer rights issues and applies accepted taxpayer rights frameworks. The article concludes that taxpayer rights principles are both highly adaptable to a digital world, and provide useful guidance to where urgent action and further research are required. © 2019 UNSW Business School™.

Financial development and economic growth : Evidence from a panel study on South Asian countries

  • Authors: Hasan Rana, Rezwanul , Barua, Suborna
  • Date: 2015
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Asian Economic and Financial Review Vol. 5, no. 10 (2015), p. 1159-1173
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  • Description: The paper examines the relationship between financial development and economic growth using panel data for five emerging South Asian countries - Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The heterogeneous panel data is collected from the World Bank for the period of 1974 to 2012. Economic Growth is represented by GDP growth rate, and for Financial Development, five major variables have been used: (i) Domestic Credit Provided by Financial Sector, (ii) Total Debt Services, (iii) Gross Domestic Savings, (iv) Broad Money, and (v) Trade Balance. Fixed Effect Panel regression model has been used and Time Fixed Effect, Cross Sectional Dependence, Heteroskedasticity, Serial Correlation and Cointegration have been tested for model fitness. The results indicate that growth of total debt services and domestic savings have significant impact on economic development of these countries. Interestingly, broad money, trade balance and domestic credit have no considerable influence on fostering economic growth which is generally unexpected. The paper places several arguments to explain these results. The study appears to be a first hand examination on the South Asian countries and adds new insight into the existing literature. The findings and discussions presented would be valuable in designing long term financial and macroeconomic policies by these countries.

Peer learning a pedagogical approach to enhance online learning: A qualitative exploration

  • Authors: Raymond, Anita , Jacob, Elisabeth , Jacob, Darren , Lyons, Judith
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Nurse Education Today Vol. 44, no. (2016), p. 165-159
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  • Description: Abstract Background Flexible online programs are becoming increasingly popular method of education for students, allowing them to complete programs in their own time and cater for lifestyle differences. A mixture of delivery modes is one way which allows for enhanced learning. Peer learning is another method of learning which is shown to foster collaboration and prepare healthcare students for their future careers. This paper reports on a project to combine peer and online learning to teach pharmacology to nursing students. Objectives To explore undergraduate nursing student opinions of working in peer groups for online learning sessions in a pharmacology course. Design A qualitative study utilising a self-reported questionnaire. Setting A rural campus of an Australian university. Participants Second year nursing students enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing Program. Methods A hard copy questionnaire was distributed to all students who attended the final semester lecture for the course. Content analysis of open-ended survey questions was used to identify themes in the written data. Results Of the 61 students enrolled in the nursing subject, 35 students chose to complete the survey (57%). Students reported a mixed view of the benefits and disadvantages of peer online learning. Sixty 6% (66%) of students liked peer online learning, whilst 29% disliked it and 6% were undecided. Convenience and ease of completion were reported as the most common reason to like peer online learning, whilst Information Technology issues, communication and non-preferred learning method were reasons for not liking peer online learning. Conclusion Peer online learning groups’ acted as one further method to facilitate student learning experiences. Blending peer online learning with traditional face-to-face learning increases the variety of learning methods available to students to enhance their overall learning experience.

May measurement month 2017 : an analysis of blood pressure screening results worldwide

  • Authors: Beaney, Thomas , Schutte, Aletta , Tomaszewski, Maciej , Ariti, Cono , Burrell, Louise , Castillo, Rafael , Charchar, Fadi , Damasceno, Albertino , Kruger, Ruan , Lackland, Daniel , Nilsson, Peter , Prabhakaran, Dorairaj , Ramirez, Agustin , Schlaich, Markus , Wang, Jiguang , Weber, Michael , Poulter, Neil
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: The Lancet Global Health Vol. 6, no. 7 (2018), p. e736-e743
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  • Description: Background: Increased blood pressure is the biggest contributor to the global burden of disease and mortality. Data suggest that less than half of the population with hypertension is aware of it. May Measurement Month was initiated to raise awareness of the importance of blood pressure and as a pragmatic interim solution to the shortfall in screening programmes. Methods: This cross-sectional survey included volunteer adults (≥18 years) who ideally had not had their blood pressures measured in the past year. Each participant had their blood pressure measured three times and received a a questionnaire about demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. The primary objective was to raise awareness of blood pressure, measured by number of countries involved, number of people screened, and number of people who have untreated or inadequately treated hypertension (defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg, or both, or on the basis of receiving antihypertensive medication). Multiple imputation was used to estimate the mean of the second and third blood pressure readings if these were not recorded. Measures of association were analysed using linear mixed models. Findings: Data were collected from 1 201 570 individuals in 80 countries. After imputation, of the 1 128 635 individuals for whom a mean of the second and third readings was available, 393 924 (34·9%) individuals had hypertension. 153 905 (17·3%) of 888 616 individuals who were not receiving antihypertensive treatment were hypertensive, and 105 456 (46·3%) of the 227 721 individuals receiving treatment did not have controlled blood pressure. Significant differences in adjusted blood pressures and hypertension prevalence were apparent between regions. Adjusted blood pressure was higher in association with antihypertensive medication, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Blood pressure was higher when measured on the right arm than on the left arm, and blood pressure was highest on Saturdays. Interpretation: Inexpensive global screening of blood pressure is achievable using volunteers and convenience sampling. Pending the set-up of systematic surveillance systems worldwide, MMM will be repeated annually to raise awareness of blood pressure. Funding: International Society of Hypertension, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Servier Pharmaceutical Co.

Classification under streaming emerging new classes : A solution using completely-random trees

  • Authors: Mu, Xin , Ting, Kaiming , Zhou, Zhi-Hua
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering Vol. 29, no. 8 (2017), p. 1605-1618
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  • Description: This paper investigates an important problem in stream mining, i.e., classification under streaming emerging new classes or SENC. The SENC problem can be decomposed into three subproblems: detecting emerging new classes, classifying known classes, and updating models to integrate each new class as part of known classes. The common approach is to treat it as a classification problem and solve it using either a supervised learner or a semi-supervised learner. We propose an alternative approach by using unsupervised learning as the basis to solve this problem. The proposed method employs completely-random trees which have been shown to work well in unsupervised learning and supervised learning independently in the literature. The completely-random trees are used as a single common core to solve all three subproblems: unsupervised learning, supervised learning, and model update on data streams. We show that the proposed unsupervised-learning-focused method often achieves significantly better outcomes than existing classification-focused methods.

The potential of lime and grand granulated blast furnace slag (ggbfs) mixture for stabilisation of desert silty sands

  • Authors: Rabbani, Parham , Daghigh, Younes , Atrechian, Mohammad Reza , Karimi, Masoud , Tolooiyan, Ali
  • Date: 2012
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Civil Engineering Research Vol. 2, no. 6 (2012), p. 108-119
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  • Description: This study describes experimental results achieved on the use of Grand Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Lime in stabilising desert silty sand for possible use in geotechnical engineering applications, especially for roadways and railways constructions. The GGBFS and lime were added in percentages of 5, 10 and 15% and 1, 3, and 5% respectively, by dry weight of sand. Different laboratory tests such as mechanical aggregation test, hydrometer analysis, liquid-plastic limit, pH value test, compaction, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), California bearing ratio test CBR , were performed on samples to understand the engineering characteristic of soil and influences of mixtures on the silty sand soil. The study results demonstrate significant improvements in unconfined compressive strength and California bearing ratio strength. Moreover the swelling behaviour of mixtures was decreased effectively. Thus mixture of GGBFS and lime can be suggested to improve engineering characteristic of desert silty sands.

Public perception of medical errors : experiences and risks shared in Australia

  • Authors: Kim, Jeong-ah , Terry, Daniel , Jang, Sunny , Nguyen, Hoang , Gilbert, Julia , Cruickshank, Mary
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Universal Journal of Public Health Vol. 8, no. 1 (2020), p. 35-41
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  • Description: Background: Research into patient safety has largely focused on healthcare organisations bureaucratic routines, with little research available regarding the impact of patient perceptions on clinical practice. Acknowledging and openly discussing patient perceptions of medical errors may result in improved quality of healthcare. The research study aimed to gain a better understanding of the public's perception of medical errors to drive a structured approach to improve healthcare outcomes. Methods: In this study, we examined the public experiences of medical errors using an anonymous on-line survey to collect empirical data from April to December 2018. A total of 407 responses were obtained with 303 participants meeting the criteria for inclusion in the study. Results: The majority (74.9%) of these participants identified that they had experienced a medical error during receiving healthcare in Australia and 73% of these confirmed that they were harmed as a result of these errors. Conclusion: Findings from this study indicate that many participants have experienced medical errors when accessing healthcare in Australia. These findings provide information and a deeper understanding of patient experiences and perceptions of healthcare service delivery which can be used by healthcare organisations to improve healthcare services and promote patient participation in their care. Copyright©2020 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License

Malware variant identification using incremental clustering

Social Phobia symptoms across the adult lifespan

  • Authors: Miloyan, Beyon , Bulley, Adam , Pachana, Nancy , Byrne, Gerard
  • Date: 2014
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Affective Disorders Vol. 168, no. (2014), p. 86-90
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  • Description: Background This study investigated symptom patterns that might distinguish between individuals with and without a diagnosis of Social Phobia (SP) across the adult lifespan. Methods A sample of 5411 self-reported social worriers was derived from Wave 1 (2001 and 2002) of the U.S. National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). Participants were stratified into four age groups (18-29 years, 30-44 years, 45-64 years, 65-96 years), and further divided into two diagnostic groups (self-reported social worriers with and without a SP diagnosis). Results Binary logistic regression analyses revealed that a core set of symptoms was associated with SP across the adult lifespan. There were also successive reductions in the number of symptoms associated with SP in each age group, such that older adults endorsed numerically fewer SP symptoms. Limitations Though our sample size is smaller than ideal for the nature of our analyses, the NESARC represents one of the largest existing clinical datasets we know of. Conclusions Despite age-related reductions in symptom frequency, a core set of SP symptoms consistently distinguished between diagnostic groups, irrespective of age.

Physical Educators' Efficacy in Utilising Paraprofessionals in an Inclusive Setting

  • Authors: Pedersen, Scott , Cooley, Dean , Rottier, Clint
  • Date: 2014
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: The Australian journal of teacher education Vol. 39, no. 10 (2014), p. 1-15
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  • Description: Abstract: Inclusion of students with disabilities (SwD) in Australian health and physical education (HPE) classes is on the rise. Reasonable adjustment to assist inclusive practice is often accomplished through the use of teaching assistants, or paraprofessionals. While this practice is commonly understood within the classroom, this approach remains obscure in the HPE setting. The purpose of this study was to explore how Australian HPE teachers utilise paraprofessionals when teaching SwD in inclusive environments. HPE teachers (N=14) completed an online questionnaire inquiring how paraprofessionals are being used and the strategies they are using to develop working relationships with paraprofessionals. The HPE teachers in our sample generally had a favourable attitudes towards the paraprofessionals they have worked with, however a lack of appropriate training and HPE curriculum knowledge were highlighted as deficient areas that may have an adverse effect on the overall HPE environment. Strategies to foster this collaborative working relationship were also investigated, and the primary finding dealt with adequate reciprocal communication.

Illuminating the exegesis : A discussion of the exegesis component of the creative thesis in Australian research higher degrees

  • Authors: Mann, Allan , Fletcher, Julie
  • Date: 2003
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: International Conference on Arts and Humanities, January 12-15, 2003, Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii. USA January 12-15, 2003
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  • Description: Within the Australian context of research higher degrees being undertaken as ‘thesis only’ programs, the “creative thesis” model has become well established as the usual model for research higher degrees in the Visual and Creative Arts disciplines, offered by Australian Universities. The “creative thesis” model originated within Visual Arts Masters programs, and has been more recently taken up in Visual Arts PhDs, and within Masters and PhD programs in other Creative Arts areas, for example, in Performing Arts and Creative Writing programs. This model requires a research undertaking that results in the submission of a substantial and original body of creative work (for example: a public exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculptures, a novel or collection of poetry or stories of publishable quality, a play or musical performance piece, etc) accompanied by an exegesis: a scholarly commentary that supports, contextualises, and elucidates the creative research. This thesis model, of creative work plus exegesis, has emerged against a background of debate and contestation regarding art and research. The inevitable tension between ideas of 'art as research' and 'art as professional practice' has given rise to a range of debates regarding the status of art practice as research, the recognition of art practice as 'publication' equivalent, and even the appropriateness of research higher degrees in the Creative Arts. These issues have been debated throughout the 1990s, and in some areas are still being debated. In spite of this, Creative Arts research higher degrees are firmly up and running, and the 'creative thesis' is a reality. While these debates may appear to have been resolved by university policy developments that have established the 'creative work plus exegesis' model within many institutions, this paper will explore the extent to which these debates not only provide the context or background of this thesis model, but also remain reflected in the range of ways the creative thesis is handled by institutions, and in the levels of uncertainty that continue to surround the exegesis. This paper then will explore and discuss a range of practices and debates surrounding the roles, purposes and expectations of the exegesis component of the creative thesis in Australian Universities, in particular as these relate to Visual Arts higher degrees. Beyond this, however, it will attempt to negotiate a path through these diverging practices and debates, in order to demystify, clarify and illuminate the exegesis.
  • Description: 2003007057

The effects of norepinephrine on the proliferation, lipid-uptake and mRNA expression of inflammatory markers in vascular smooth muscle cells

  • Authors: Anesi, Jack
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Thesis , Master of Applied Science
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  • Description: Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading, global cause of death. Elevated levels of norepinephrine (NE) are associated with CVDs such as coronary heart disease with atherosclerosis as the underlying mechanism. Oxidised low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) has been shown to play an integral role in the formation of atherosclerosis within the vasculature. Previous studies suggest a decrease in NE by renal denervation is associated with enhanced atherosclerosis in mice and NE has anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, we hypothesised that NE may protect against atherosclerosis. This study aimed to investigate the effects of NE on cellular proliferation, OxLDL uptake and mRNA expression of inflammatory markers in mouse aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), a key cell type involved in atherosclerosis. Methods: Mouse aortic VSMCs were cultured and treated with NE for three consecutive days. Cell proliferation was measured using the trypan blue exclusion and MTS proliferation assays. VSMCs were exposed to fluorescence-labelled OxLDL in the presence or absence of NE for 24 hours. Cellular uptake of fluorescence-labelled OxLDL was visualised by confocal microscopy and analysed for mean fluorescence intensity using ImageJ. To investigate the involvement of NE receptors, the
  • Description: Masters