Trading Places : integrating Indigenous Australian knowledge into the modern economy
- Authors: Newkirk, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Australia has a 30-billion-dollar knowledge industry, yet this industry barely recognises Indigenous Australian knowledge developed for over 50,000 years. This knowledge is important to understanding life on this planet. A 2012 regional Aboriginal education report noted “These ways of thinking and planning are our great gift to a world that desperately needs solutions...Unfortunately, this gift has not been accepted yet, or even noticed” (NSW Department of Education and Communities). Through continued denial of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experience, their knowledge is largely hidden from mainstream Australia and to the rest of the world. This study examines what inhibits appreciation of Indigenous Australian knowledge through two sequential interviews with 26 non-Indigenous senior managers in business, finance and economics. The constructivism research paradigm frames the use of Causal Layered Analysis as a research method to investigate the interview data. A paradox arises between the aspirational discourse for an integrated nation with recognition of Indigenous knowledge as valuable, and ingrained images that erroneously position Indigenous knowledge as only representative of early human development on a linear trajectory toward 21st Century Western thought. From the findings, a spectrum of mainstream Australian society emerges with clear gradation from strong ignorance of Indigenous knowledge to reasonably high awareness. Evident from this spectrum is that for Australian society to embrace Indigenous knowledge, a transition is required to move non-Indigenous individuals significantly to higher awareness. This thesis argues that this transition could be progressed by supportive non-Indigenous individuals taking the next step to improve their understanding of Indigenous knowledge through learning. Thus, Australian society could establish that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge is managed by its custodians, valued and in demand more broadly, is not compromised in the market, and is able to contribute to the management of Homo sapiens on Mother Earth.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Newkirk, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Australia has a 30-billion-dollar knowledge industry, yet this industry barely recognises Indigenous Australian knowledge developed for over 50,000 years. This knowledge is important to understanding life on this planet. A 2012 regional Aboriginal education report noted “These ways of thinking and planning are our great gift to a world that desperately needs solutions...Unfortunately, this gift has not been accepted yet, or even noticed” (NSW Department of Education and Communities). Through continued denial of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experience, their knowledge is largely hidden from mainstream Australia and to the rest of the world. This study examines what inhibits appreciation of Indigenous Australian knowledge through two sequential interviews with 26 non-Indigenous senior managers in business, finance and economics. The constructivism research paradigm frames the use of Causal Layered Analysis as a research method to investigate the interview data. A paradox arises between the aspirational discourse for an integrated nation with recognition of Indigenous knowledge as valuable, and ingrained images that erroneously position Indigenous knowledge as only representative of early human development on a linear trajectory toward 21st Century Western thought. From the findings, a spectrum of mainstream Australian society emerges with clear gradation from strong ignorance of Indigenous knowledge to reasonably high awareness. Evident from this spectrum is that for Australian society to embrace Indigenous knowledge, a transition is required to move non-Indigenous individuals significantly to higher awareness. This thesis argues that this transition could be progressed by supportive non-Indigenous individuals taking the next step to improve their understanding of Indigenous knowledge through learning. Thus, Australian society could establish that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge is managed by its custodians, valued and in demand more broadly, is not compromised in the market, and is able to contribute to the management of Homo sapiens on Mother Earth.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
A continuous flow elevator to lift ore vertically for deep mine haulage using a cable disc elevator
- Authors: Webb, Colin
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Vertical continuous ore haulage with elevators in mining for deep haulage is virtually non-existent. In this, research investigations concentrated on a cable disc elevator. The problem of using a cable disc elevator is the friction between the elevator fixed tube and the moving ore on the disc. This research establishes the friction forces existing as the elevator cable and discs are elevated up a stationary tube. Then the focus is to find a way to eliminate that friction. The method involved developing three test rigs: Test Rig 1 measures static friction with the ore placed on a disc in a tube mounted on load cells to measure the resistance with the ore on the disc lifted by a counterweight. This is relevant for an elevator that has stopped under load. Test Rig 2 measures the dynamic friction in an operational 5-inch elevator with the tube on the lifting side held stationary by load cells when the cable discs are lifting the ore. Test Rig 3 eliminates friction in the lifting tube by using a pipe conveyor that travels vertically at the same speed as the cable disc elevator to contain the ore on the cable disc elevator. The cable disc elevator does all the ore lifting. The research generated results for static and dynamic friction for gravel, granite and coal. Cable tension required for ore lift of 1000 metres and the maximum hoisting distance for some existing cables are calculated. Implications of this research are that the cable disc elevator has the potential to haul from depths greater than existing elevators, has a small footprint in a mine, and with some further development could eliminate the need for truck haulage in open cut and underground mining from the mine.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Webb, Colin
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Vertical continuous ore haulage with elevators in mining for deep haulage is virtually non-existent. In this, research investigations concentrated on a cable disc elevator. The problem of using a cable disc elevator is the friction between the elevator fixed tube and the moving ore on the disc. This research establishes the friction forces existing as the elevator cable and discs are elevated up a stationary tube. Then the focus is to find a way to eliminate that friction. The method involved developing three test rigs: Test Rig 1 measures static friction with the ore placed on a disc in a tube mounted on load cells to measure the resistance with the ore on the disc lifted by a counterweight. This is relevant for an elevator that has stopped under load. Test Rig 2 measures the dynamic friction in an operational 5-inch elevator with the tube on the lifting side held stationary by load cells when the cable discs are lifting the ore. Test Rig 3 eliminates friction in the lifting tube by using a pipe conveyor that travels vertically at the same speed as the cable disc elevator to contain the ore on the cable disc elevator. The cable disc elevator does all the ore lifting. The research generated results for static and dynamic friction for gravel, granite and coal. Cable tension required for ore lift of 1000 metres and the maximum hoisting distance for some existing cables are calculated. Implications of this research are that the cable disc elevator has the potential to haul from depths greater than existing elevators, has a small footprint in a mine, and with some further development could eliminate the need for truck haulage in open cut and underground mining from the mine.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
The role of primary care mental health nurse practitioners in Australia
- McKinnon, Brett, Cross, Wendy
- Authors: McKinnon, Brett , Cross, Wendy
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Technical report
- Full Text:
- Description: The Tristar Medical Group use Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (MHNPs) to both provide and co-ordinate care. Completion rates of entire 90-day cycles of care and review of GPMHCPs sits at approximately 70%, which is significantly better than the National average of 42% since the introduction of the MBS 2712 billing item. This item itself is integral in demonstrating effectiveness in reviewing planned care. The role of the MHNP has been vital to achieving excellent patient care outcomes in this domain. MHNPs value add into Primary Care and General Practice by: • Advanced assessment and diagnosis of Mental Health Issues • Monitoring physical health, • Ordering and analysing tests • Prescribing medications, • Providing psychoeducation for medication adherence • Psychotherapy / Psychological Interventions • Monitoring and reporting all aspects of care to the Treating Team Participants in this evaluation believe that Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (MHNP) provide the maximum value for clinical care across the entire biopsychosocial Model. Clients receiving treatment and support by MHNPs experienced improved outcomes through increased continuity of care- including through home visits, follow up and care co-ordination, access to support and greater compliance with their treatment plans. Care provided by MHNPs demonstrated evidence of an overall reduction in hospital admission rates and lengths of stay in hospital where admission occurred; increased levels of employment; improved family and community connections; and positive impacts on GP workloads. Evidence of effectiveness of the MHNP model of service delivery whereby MHNs were actively providing clinical interventions and co-ordinating care for patients is well supported by the results of this evaluation. If the business model and funding changed, more MHNPs could be recruited, especially given the scarcity of other mental health clinical discipline in rural communities. Current funding for MHNPs has been restricted to those who receive PHN subsidy under the stepped care model. This limits the opportunity to provide the full range of care that MHNPs are capable of delivering compared to other clinical disciplines. Submissions to government to facilitate greater access to MBS items for their services is recommended.
- Authors: McKinnon, Brett , Cross, Wendy
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Technical report
- Full Text:
- Description: The Tristar Medical Group use Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (MHNPs) to both provide and co-ordinate care. Completion rates of entire 90-day cycles of care and review of GPMHCPs sits at approximately 70%, which is significantly better than the National average of 42% since the introduction of the MBS 2712 billing item. This item itself is integral in demonstrating effectiveness in reviewing planned care. The role of the MHNP has been vital to achieving excellent patient care outcomes in this domain. MHNPs value add into Primary Care and General Practice by: • Advanced assessment and diagnosis of Mental Health Issues • Monitoring physical health, • Ordering and analysing tests • Prescribing medications, • Providing psychoeducation for medication adherence • Psychotherapy / Psychological Interventions • Monitoring and reporting all aspects of care to the Treating Team Participants in this evaluation believe that Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (MHNP) provide the maximum value for clinical care across the entire biopsychosocial Model. Clients receiving treatment and support by MHNPs experienced improved outcomes through increased continuity of care- including through home visits, follow up and care co-ordination, access to support and greater compliance with their treatment plans. Care provided by MHNPs demonstrated evidence of an overall reduction in hospital admission rates and lengths of stay in hospital where admission occurred; increased levels of employment; improved family and community connections; and positive impacts on GP workloads. Evidence of effectiveness of the MHNP model of service delivery whereby MHNs were actively providing clinical interventions and co-ordinating care for patients is well supported by the results of this evaluation. If the business model and funding changed, more MHNPs could be recruited, especially given the scarcity of other mental health clinical discipline in rural communities. Current funding for MHNPs has been restricted to those who receive PHN subsidy under the stepped care model. This limits the opportunity to provide the full range of care that MHNPs are capable of delivering compared to other clinical disciplines. Submissions to government to facilitate greater access to MBS items for their services is recommended.
Supplemental Conference Proceedings for the Short Papers (Non-peer reviewed) of IEEE CIBCB 2021
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Relation: IEEE CIBCB 2021, Melbourne ; 13th to 15th October 2021
- Full Text:
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Relation: IEEE CIBCB 2021, Melbourne ; 13th to 15th October 2021
- Full Text:
'I am ready' partnership : program evaluation report 1 February 2019-30 June 2020
- Porter, Joanne, Barbagallo, Michael, Bur, Jennifer, James, Michaelle, Prokopiv, Val, Federation University. Gippsland Collaborative Evaluation Unit
- Authors: Porter, Joanne , Barbagallo, Michael , Bur, Jennifer , James, Michaelle , Prokopiv, Val , Federation University. Gippsland Collaborative Evaluation Unit
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Technical report
- Full Text:
- Description: The ‘I Am Ready’ Program was an innovative approach to engaging secondary school students with learning barriers, to think, plan and actively move towards employment and or further education and training. This summary has been divided into five sections which demonstrates the triangulation of the evaluation findings, highlights the key findings and includes; Reach of the program, Lessons learnt, Breaking down barriers, Building confidence and Bright future for participants and the Program.
- Authors: Porter, Joanne , Barbagallo, Michael , Bur, Jennifer , James, Michaelle , Prokopiv, Val , Federation University. Gippsland Collaborative Evaluation Unit
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Technical report
- Full Text:
- Description: The ‘I Am Ready’ Program was an innovative approach to engaging secondary school students with learning barriers, to think, plan and actively move towards employment and or further education and training. This summary has been divided into five sections which demonstrates the triangulation of the evaluation findings, highlights the key findings and includes; Reach of the program, Lessons learnt, Breaking down barriers, Building confidence and Bright future for participants and the Program.
Citizen science: Knowledge, networks and the boundaries of participation
- Authors: Bonney, Patrick
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The water-related challenges facing humanity are complex and urgent. Although solutions are not always clear, involving the public in localised knowledge production and policy development is widely recognised as a critical part of this larger effort. Such public engagement is increasingly achieved through “citizen science”—a practice that involves non-professionals in scientific research and monitoring. Academic literature has recognised that, while citizen science is both important and necessary to strengthen environmental policy, its acceptance and successful implementation is a difficult governance challenge. Researchers agree that overcoming this challenge depends on the ability of volunteers, coordinators, scientists and decision-makers to work together to convert the potential of citizen science into practice. However, little is known about the collaborative relationships or the broader social contexts that shape and define the practice. To address these shortfalls, this thesis advances a conceptual framework for the relational analysis of citizen science that illustrates social networks and the boundaries between expert and community-based knowledge as critical sites of investigation. Through its multi-phase and mixed-methods research design, the findings of this thesis shed light on the contributions of citizen science to key waterway governance objectives, including the social, political and cultural factors that influence its acceptance and uptake in governance contexts. By unpacking the relational dimensions of citizen science, this thesis provides both theoretical and practice-based insights into how actors within and outside citizen science programs work together to achieve collective aims to engender stronger connections between science, society and policy. This thesis will benefit practitioners, policymakers and participatory advocates interested in achieving practical social change in efforts to understand and manage natural resources.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bonney, Patrick
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The water-related challenges facing humanity are complex and urgent. Although solutions are not always clear, involving the public in localised knowledge production and policy development is widely recognised as a critical part of this larger effort. Such public engagement is increasingly achieved through “citizen science”—a practice that involves non-professionals in scientific research and monitoring. Academic literature has recognised that, while citizen science is both important and necessary to strengthen environmental policy, its acceptance and successful implementation is a difficult governance challenge. Researchers agree that overcoming this challenge depends on the ability of volunteers, coordinators, scientists and decision-makers to work together to convert the potential of citizen science into practice. However, little is known about the collaborative relationships or the broader social contexts that shape and define the practice. To address these shortfalls, this thesis advances a conceptual framework for the relational analysis of citizen science that illustrates social networks and the boundaries between expert and community-based knowledge as critical sites of investigation. Through its multi-phase and mixed-methods research design, the findings of this thesis shed light on the contributions of citizen science to key waterway governance objectives, including the social, political and cultural factors that influence its acceptance and uptake in governance contexts. By unpacking the relational dimensions of citizen science, this thesis provides both theoretical and practice-based insights into how actors within and outside citizen science programs work together to achieve collective aims to engender stronger connections between science, society and policy. This thesis will benefit practitioners, policymakers and participatory advocates interested in achieving practical social change in efforts to understand and manage natural resources.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Creative activation of the past: Mechanics' Institutes, GLAM, heritage, and creativity in the twenty-first century
- Authors: Tsilemanis, Amy
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This is an interdisciplinary, mixed-method thesis that explores contemporary curation as a means to creatively activate heritage collections and places. The central case study is Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute (BMI), in Ballarat, Australia, where practice and action-led research was undertaken by the curator over the three-year period 2016–2019. Creative connections between five interlinked areas are critically examined: heritage; curatorial practice, by which heritage sites, collections and experiences are managed; historic cultural organisations; their city contexts; and the ways in which such cultural work is valued. The framework for analysis encompasses museology, critical heritage, and approaches to cultural value. Contemporary urban Mechanics’ Institutes (MIs) are placed in the museum context both through historic parallels and their contemporary positioning in the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) industry sector. This is in order to ask how heritage collections, and the organisations that house and present them, can creatively connect with the publics they serve with greater connectivity and relevance. Exhibitions and events held at BMI within Ballarat city are treated as case studies. Together with qualitative interviews with staff in the Ballarat GLAM sector and urban MIs, insights derived illuminate the role and challenges of such cultural organisations in the twenty-first century. It is argued that, when employing the practice and energy of the curator, creative activations have the potential to open new points of entry to, and provide alternative perspectives upon, heritage places and collections. This is achieved through arts practice, organisational thinking, and bringing to life the links between past, present and future. In this process, new and dynamic measures of value can be explored and create dialogic encounters between people, heritage and ideas.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Tsilemanis, Amy
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This is an interdisciplinary, mixed-method thesis that explores contemporary curation as a means to creatively activate heritage collections and places. The central case study is Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute (BMI), in Ballarat, Australia, where practice and action-led research was undertaken by the curator over the three-year period 2016–2019. Creative connections between five interlinked areas are critically examined: heritage; curatorial practice, by which heritage sites, collections and experiences are managed; historic cultural organisations; their city contexts; and the ways in which such cultural work is valued. The framework for analysis encompasses museology, critical heritage, and approaches to cultural value. Contemporary urban Mechanics’ Institutes (MIs) are placed in the museum context both through historic parallels and their contemporary positioning in the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) industry sector. This is in order to ask how heritage collections, and the organisations that house and present them, can creatively connect with the publics they serve with greater connectivity and relevance. Exhibitions and events held at BMI within Ballarat city are treated as case studies. Together with qualitative interviews with staff in the Ballarat GLAM sector and urban MIs, insights derived illuminate the role and challenges of such cultural organisations in the twenty-first century. It is argued that, when employing the practice and energy of the curator, creative activations have the potential to open new points of entry to, and provide alternative perspectives upon, heritage places and collections. This is achieved through arts practice, organisational thinking, and bringing to life the links between past, present and future. In this process, new and dynamic measures of value can be explored and create dialogic encounters between people, heritage and ideas.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Enhancing deep transfer learning for image classification
- Authors: Shermin, Tasfia
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Though deep learning models require a large amount of labelled training data for yielding high performance, they are applied to accomplish many computer vision tasks such as image classification. Current models also do not perform well across different domain settings such as illumination, camera angle and real-to-synthetic. Thus the models are more likely to misclassify unknown classes as known classes. These issues challenge the supervised learning paradigm of the models and encourage the study of transfer learning approaches. Transfer learning allows us to utilise the knowledge acquired from related domains to improve performance on a target domain. Existing transfer learning approaches lack proper high-level source domain feature analyses and are prone to negative transfers for not exploring proper discriminative information across domains. Current approaches also lack at discovering necessary visual-semantic linkage and has a bias towards the source domain. In this thesis, to address these issues and improve image classification performance, we make several contributions to three different deep transfer learning scenarios, i.e., the target domain has i) labelled data; no labelled data; and no visual data. Firstly, for improving inductive transfer learning for the first scenario, we analyse the importance of high-level deep features and propose utilising them in sequential transfer learning approaches and investigating the suitable conditions for optimal performance. Secondly, to improve image classification across different domains in an open set setting by reducing negative transfers (second scenario), we propose two novel architectures. The first model has an adaptive weighting module based on underlying domain distinctive information, and the second model has an information-theoretic weighting module to reduce negative transfers. Thirdly, to learn visual classifiers when no visual data is available (third scenario) and reduce source domain bias, we propose two novel models. One model has a new two-step dense attention mechanism to discover semantic attribute-guided local visual features and mutual learning loss. The other model utilises bidirectional mapping and adversarial supervision to learn the joint distribution of source-target domains simultaneously. We propose a new pointwise mutual information dependant loss in the first model and a distance-based loss in the second one for handling source domain bias. We perform extensive evaluations on benchmark datasets and demonstrate the proposed models outperform contemporary works.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Shermin, Tasfia
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Though deep learning models require a large amount of labelled training data for yielding high performance, they are applied to accomplish many computer vision tasks such as image classification. Current models also do not perform well across different domain settings such as illumination, camera angle and real-to-synthetic. Thus the models are more likely to misclassify unknown classes as known classes. These issues challenge the supervised learning paradigm of the models and encourage the study of transfer learning approaches. Transfer learning allows us to utilise the knowledge acquired from related domains to improve performance on a target domain. Existing transfer learning approaches lack proper high-level source domain feature analyses and are prone to negative transfers for not exploring proper discriminative information across domains. Current approaches also lack at discovering necessary visual-semantic linkage and has a bias towards the source domain. In this thesis, to address these issues and improve image classification performance, we make several contributions to three different deep transfer learning scenarios, i.e., the target domain has i) labelled data; no labelled data; and no visual data. Firstly, for improving inductive transfer learning for the first scenario, we analyse the importance of high-level deep features and propose utilising them in sequential transfer learning approaches and investigating the suitable conditions for optimal performance. Secondly, to improve image classification across different domains in an open set setting by reducing negative transfers (second scenario), we propose two novel architectures. The first model has an adaptive weighting module based on underlying domain distinctive information, and the second model has an information-theoretic weighting module to reduce negative transfers. Thirdly, to learn visual classifiers when no visual data is available (third scenario) and reduce source domain bias, we propose two novel models. One model has a new two-step dense attention mechanism to discover semantic attribute-guided local visual features and mutual learning loss. The other model utilises bidirectional mapping and adversarial supervision to learn the joint distribution of source-target domains simultaneously. We propose a new pointwise mutual information dependant loss in the first model and a distance-based loss in the second one for handling source domain bias. We perform extensive evaluations on benchmark datasets and demonstrate the proposed models outperform contemporary works.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Mapping Australia felix : maps, myths and mitchell
- Authors: Coleridge, Edward
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This investigation into the oeuvre of Thomas Mitchell, the Surveyor-General of New South Wales from 1827 to 1855, intends to reveal the remarkable opus of work he produced and enquire how he achieved it. The feat that won him fame was his discovery of the rich pasturelands and picturesque landscapes in an area that is now western Victoria, which he called Australia Felix. He matched this enthusiastic name with a finely illustrated and densely detailed two-volume journal of his three exploratory journeys - ostensibly to find where the River Darling met the Murray River. Mitchell learnt his trade as a surveyor and mapmaker in Wellington’s army fighting the French in Spain and Portugal, that theatre of the Napoleonic Wars termed the Peninsular War. The objective of this thesis is twofold. The first is the exposition of a rare and remarkable atlas of battlefield plans he was commissioned to survey at the conclusion of the war, a task which took him five years in the field, but was only completed and published 25 years later. There are only two known copies of this immense tome in Australian public libraries. The parallel plan is to relate it to the wealth of imagery with which he illustrated the journal of his expedition in 1836 that discovered Australia Felix. By the artifice of fusing the magnificent maps and landscapes in the atlas with the illustrations in the journals, together with his unpublished artwork, and commissioned structures, a metaphorical map of the new Promised Land can be attempted. Set in a period of revolution and European expansion, it is a study encompassing histories of nationalism, exploration, cartography, colonisation, indigenous relations, warfare, art, and theories of landscape art, architecture, neoclassicism and romanticism, and the aesthetics of the sublime, the beautiful and the picturesque.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Coleridge, Edward
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This investigation into the oeuvre of Thomas Mitchell, the Surveyor-General of New South Wales from 1827 to 1855, intends to reveal the remarkable opus of work he produced and enquire how he achieved it. The feat that won him fame was his discovery of the rich pasturelands and picturesque landscapes in an area that is now western Victoria, which he called Australia Felix. He matched this enthusiastic name with a finely illustrated and densely detailed two-volume journal of his three exploratory journeys - ostensibly to find where the River Darling met the Murray River. Mitchell learnt his trade as a surveyor and mapmaker in Wellington’s army fighting the French in Spain and Portugal, that theatre of the Napoleonic Wars termed the Peninsular War. The objective of this thesis is twofold. The first is the exposition of a rare and remarkable atlas of battlefield plans he was commissioned to survey at the conclusion of the war, a task which took him five years in the field, but was only completed and published 25 years later. There are only two known copies of this immense tome in Australian public libraries. The parallel plan is to relate it to the wealth of imagery with which he illustrated the journal of his expedition in 1836 that discovered Australia Felix. By the artifice of fusing the magnificent maps and landscapes in the atlas with the illustrations in the journals, together with his unpublished artwork, and commissioned structures, a metaphorical map of the new Promised Land can be attempted. Set in a period of revolution and European expansion, it is a study encompassing histories of nationalism, exploration, cartography, colonisation, indigenous relations, warfare, art, and theories of landscape art, architecture, neoclassicism and romanticism, and the aesthetics of the sublime, the beautiful and the picturesque.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Giving the laity a voice through fiction : Irish Catholic Ballarat in 1875 as portrayed in The liberator's birthday
- Authors: Blee, Jillian
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This project uses narrative fiction to portray Irish Catholic laity who were part of the population of Ballarat in 1875."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Blee, Jillian
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This project uses narrative fiction to portray Irish Catholic laity who were part of the population of Ballarat in 1875."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Early intervention to reduce young peoples’ contact with the criminal justice system : local knowledge to inform practice
- Authors: Lancefield, Kay
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The involvement of youth in justice systems generates high social and economic costs for individuals, their families and communities. Although Victorian crime statistics indicate a decline in youth offending there remains a subgroup who persist, resulting in adverse outcomes. Despite considerable scholarly attention on the factors that contribute to youth contact with justice systems, the application of this knowledge in some instances has failed to reduce such contact and deliver the desired outcomes. This thesis asserts that the factors relat ing to youth contact with justice systems are best understood within the theoretical frameworks of social ecological theory and developmental criminology. A social ecological perspective broadens the understanding of factors associated with youth contact with justice systems and potential intervention opportunities. It is argued that the integration of developmental criminology and social ecological theory within a place based framework will guide understanding and enh ance the efficacy of early intervention strategies. This thesis highlight s the need to consider multiple interacting factors, the value of incorporating developmental data to augment police records and the importance of implementing practice wisdom in the formulation and delivery of developmental prevention strategies. An individual’s exposure to adverse childhood experiences is demonstrated as a critical element associated with the risk of future offending. Findings relating to early contact with police as potentially protective and not necessarily predictive of an ongoing offending trajectory provide new insight. It is argued that a place based approach that incorporat es practice partnerships is critical to delivering effective prevention efforts. This research project was supported through a universityearch project was supported through a university––service system research service system research collaboration within the Inner Gippsland region of Victoria. The study has generated ‘local collaboration within the Inner Gippsland region of Victoria. The study has generated ‘local solutions to local problems’ and bridged the practicesolutions to local problems’ and bridged the practice––research gap research gap by generating by generating conceptualconceptually sound, evidencely sound, evidence--based interventions based interventions that are that are responsive to the Inner responsive to the Inner Gippsland community.Gippsland community.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Lancefield, Kay
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The involvement of youth in justice systems generates high social and economic costs for individuals, their families and communities. Although Victorian crime statistics indicate a decline in youth offending there remains a subgroup who persist, resulting in adverse outcomes. Despite considerable scholarly attention on the factors that contribute to youth contact with justice systems, the application of this knowledge in some instances has failed to reduce such contact and deliver the desired outcomes. This thesis asserts that the factors relat ing to youth contact with justice systems are best understood within the theoretical frameworks of social ecological theory and developmental criminology. A social ecological perspective broadens the understanding of factors associated with youth contact with justice systems and potential intervention opportunities. It is argued that the integration of developmental criminology and social ecological theory within a place based framework will guide understanding and enh ance the efficacy of early intervention strategies. This thesis highlight s the need to consider multiple interacting factors, the value of incorporating developmental data to augment police records and the importance of implementing practice wisdom in the formulation and delivery of developmental prevention strategies. An individual’s exposure to adverse childhood experiences is demonstrated as a critical element associated with the risk of future offending. Findings relating to early contact with police as potentially protective and not necessarily predictive of an ongoing offending trajectory provide new insight. It is argued that a place based approach that incorporat es practice partnerships is critical to delivering effective prevention efforts. This research project was supported through a universityearch project was supported through a university––service system research service system research collaboration within the Inner Gippsland region of Victoria. The study has generated ‘local collaboration within the Inner Gippsland region of Victoria. The study has generated ‘local solutions to local problems’ and bridged the practicesolutions to local problems’ and bridged the practice––research gap research gap by generating by generating conceptualconceptually sound, evidencely sound, evidence--based interventions based interventions that are that are responsive to the Inner responsive to the Inner Gippsland community.Gippsland community.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Patients’ experiences of acute deterioration and Medical Emergency Team (MET) encounter : a grounded theory study
- Authors: Chung, Catherine
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Globally, considerable effort has been made to ensure hospital patients whose clinical condition deteriorates receive timely and appropriate care. Research suggests that hospitals have increasing numbers of patients who are more likely to become seriously ill during their admission due to complex problems. Recently, patient experience has been recognised as a means of assessing healthcare delivery with healthcare services across the world gathering patient experience or satisfaction data. Acute deterioration is unique and complex for all involved. However, little is known about this experience from the patient’s perspective. The purpose of this study was to generate theory about processes patients engage in when experiencing acute deterioration and MET encounter. Also, the research aimed to recognise and explain the factors that mediate patients’ experiences. The findings of this study contribute to a growing body of knowledge that will improve patient care and practice guidelines for healthcare professionals. Underpinned by the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, grounded theory was employed for this study. From it ontological, epistemological, and methodological underpinnings, constructivist grounded theory was considered the most suitable approach. Using purposive sampling, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 patients across three Australian healthcare services. Data were collected over a 12-month period, between May 2018 – May 2019 and analysed using constant comparative analysis. The theoretical model ‘Unravelling a complex experience: contextualising patients’ experiences of acute clinical deterioration and Medical Emergency Team (MET) encounter’ emerged, offering a possible explanation of patients’ actions and processes. Most patients began their journeys feeling something was wrong which triggered emotional changes (experiencing changes-before the encounter). Patient experience was influenced by a combination of physical and psychological changes and a MET response (perceiving the reality - the encounter). After the MET encounter, some patients searched for deeper understandings about their illnesses and the events that occurred, whereas others managed without further reflection (reflecting on the event-after the encounter). Contextual conditions emerged influencing patients’ experiences with three broad mediating factors identified. Some participants identified that their acute deterioration and subsequent MET encounter was unexpected, and they perceived the nature of their illness (before their acute deterioration) as stable, based on what they had been told by medical staff (expectations and illness perception). Many participants acknowledged that their experience was dependent on the health care professionals who were caring for them at the time (relationship with the MET). Past experiences of illness and hospitalisation played an important role in participants’ abilities to conceptualise their experiences of acute deterioration and MET encounter (past experiences). These factors exerted a significant influence on participants’ experiences and helps to explain the differences between them. Unravelling a complex experience: Conceptualising patients’ experiences of acute deterioration and MET encounter offers a possible explanation of patients’ meanings, actions and processes when experiencing acute deterioration and MET encounter. The theory leads to recommendations that healthcare organisations gather data about patients’ experiences of acute deterioration and MET encounters, as these provide insights and opportunity to identify challenges that can be addressed.. Findings provide an explanatory framework for similar phenomena and increase awareness of patients’ experiences to ultimately inform health policy and improve patient care. The findings highlight the need for healthcare services to instigate strategies that support patients who have experienced acute deterioration. Further research could evaluate the effectiveness of implemented strategies.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Chung, Catherine
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Globally, considerable effort has been made to ensure hospital patients whose clinical condition deteriorates receive timely and appropriate care. Research suggests that hospitals have increasing numbers of patients who are more likely to become seriously ill during their admission due to complex problems. Recently, patient experience has been recognised as a means of assessing healthcare delivery with healthcare services across the world gathering patient experience or satisfaction data. Acute deterioration is unique and complex for all involved. However, little is known about this experience from the patient’s perspective. The purpose of this study was to generate theory about processes patients engage in when experiencing acute deterioration and MET encounter. Also, the research aimed to recognise and explain the factors that mediate patients’ experiences. The findings of this study contribute to a growing body of knowledge that will improve patient care and practice guidelines for healthcare professionals. Underpinned by the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, grounded theory was employed for this study. From it ontological, epistemological, and methodological underpinnings, constructivist grounded theory was considered the most suitable approach. Using purposive sampling, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 patients across three Australian healthcare services. Data were collected over a 12-month period, between May 2018 – May 2019 and analysed using constant comparative analysis. The theoretical model ‘Unravelling a complex experience: contextualising patients’ experiences of acute clinical deterioration and Medical Emergency Team (MET) encounter’ emerged, offering a possible explanation of patients’ actions and processes. Most patients began their journeys feeling something was wrong which triggered emotional changes (experiencing changes-before the encounter). Patient experience was influenced by a combination of physical and psychological changes and a MET response (perceiving the reality - the encounter). After the MET encounter, some patients searched for deeper understandings about their illnesses and the events that occurred, whereas others managed without further reflection (reflecting on the event-after the encounter). Contextual conditions emerged influencing patients’ experiences with three broad mediating factors identified. Some participants identified that their acute deterioration and subsequent MET encounter was unexpected, and they perceived the nature of their illness (before their acute deterioration) as stable, based on what they had been told by medical staff (expectations and illness perception). Many participants acknowledged that their experience was dependent on the health care professionals who were caring for them at the time (relationship with the MET). Past experiences of illness and hospitalisation played an important role in participants’ abilities to conceptualise their experiences of acute deterioration and MET encounter (past experiences). These factors exerted a significant influence on participants’ experiences and helps to explain the differences between them. Unravelling a complex experience: Conceptualising patients’ experiences of acute deterioration and MET encounter offers a possible explanation of patients’ meanings, actions and processes when experiencing acute deterioration and MET encounter. The theory leads to recommendations that healthcare organisations gather data about patients’ experiences of acute deterioration and MET encounters, as these provide insights and opportunity to identify challenges that can be addressed.. Findings provide an explanatory framework for similar phenomena and increase awareness of patients’ experiences to ultimately inform health policy and improve patient care. The findings highlight the need for healthcare services to instigate strategies that support patients who have experienced acute deterioration. Further research could evaluate the effectiveness of implemented strategies.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Stress resilience : meaning, measurement, and the effects of physical activity
- Authors: O’Donohue, Josephine
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: In rodent models of human behaviour, physical activity builds stress resilience. In contrast, human studies physical activity and stress resilience have been limited, and when investigated, provided mixed results. These inconsistencies may be due to the ambiguous use of the term stress resilience in human studies, making it difficult to quantify. Therefore, I aimed to assess the effect of physical activity on stress resilience in humans, after first evaluating operational definitions of stress resilience. Initially, I evaluated the use of stress resilience across the literature to provide a definition that is consistent with the research base (Chapter 2). I subsequently defined stress resilience as an active process of adapting to unpredictable and uncontrollable stimuli. In Chapter 3, I systematically reviewed measures previously used to capture stress resilience in humans, including trait-based questionnaires, as well as affective and cardiorespiratory responses to stressful conditions. In Study 1 (Chapter 4) of this dissertation, I then assessed the convergent validity of these stress resilience measures , including the Brief Resilience Scale and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, as well as various responses (i.e., affective balance, systolic blood pressure, rate pressure product, and multiple indices of heart rate variability) to three stressor conditions (i.e., no stress, auditory startles, and stressful video clips). Results of Study 1 indicated that no measure captured all elements of stress resilience, although some indices of heart rate variability were related to changes in affective balance and systolic blood pressure was related to the Brief Resilience Scale. Across two studies, I then evaluated the effect of physical activity on stress resilience using the measures from Study 1. Through a cross-sectional study (Study 2, Chapter 5), I found no difference between active participants (n = 16) and less active participants (n = 14) across stress resilience measures. Additionally, in Study 3 (Chapter 6), I found that an 8-week moderate physical activity intervention had no effect on these stress resilience measures in 14 participants from desk-based occupations. I did, however, find an increase in mood and reduction in systolic blood pressure post-intervention, compared to pre-intervention scores. I also discussed the feasibility of various recruitment techniques, intervention purity and adherence, as well as stress resilience measurement protocols for future intervention studies. Overall, this dissertation has provided a critical evaluation of the use and measurement of stress resilience, with findings indicating that physical activity may not enhance stress resilience in humans. I discuss differences in my findings, compared to rodent research, including the potential effects of environment enrichment and increased severity of measurement protocols in animal models. I also discuss limitations of stress resilience conceptualisation and provide suggestions for future research to navigate these challenges.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: O’Donohue, Josephine
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: In rodent models of human behaviour, physical activity builds stress resilience. In contrast, human studies physical activity and stress resilience have been limited, and when investigated, provided mixed results. These inconsistencies may be due to the ambiguous use of the term stress resilience in human studies, making it difficult to quantify. Therefore, I aimed to assess the effect of physical activity on stress resilience in humans, after first evaluating operational definitions of stress resilience. Initially, I evaluated the use of stress resilience across the literature to provide a definition that is consistent with the research base (Chapter 2). I subsequently defined stress resilience as an active process of adapting to unpredictable and uncontrollable stimuli. In Chapter 3, I systematically reviewed measures previously used to capture stress resilience in humans, including trait-based questionnaires, as well as affective and cardiorespiratory responses to stressful conditions. In Study 1 (Chapter 4) of this dissertation, I then assessed the convergent validity of these stress resilience measures , including the Brief Resilience Scale and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, as well as various responses (i.e., affective balance, systolic blood pressure, rate pressure product, and multiple indices of heart rate variability) to three stressor conditions (i.e., no stress, auditory startles, and stressful video clips). Results of Study 1 indicated that no measure captured all elements of stress resilience, although some indices of heart rate variability were related to changes in affective balance and systolic blood pressure was related to the Brief Resilience Scale. Across two studies, I then evaluated the effect of physical activity on stress resilience using the measures from Study 1. Through a cross-sectional study (Study 2, Chapter 5), I found no difference between active participants (n = 16) and less active participants (n = 14) across stress resilience measures. Additionally, in Study 3 (Chapter 6), I found that an 8-week moderate physical activity intervention had no effect on these stress resilience measures in 14 participants from desk-based occupations. I did, however, find an increase in mood and reduction in systolic blood pressure post-intervention, compared to pre-intervention scores. I also discussed the feasibility of various recruitment techniques, intervention purity and adherence, as well as stress resilience measurement protocols for future intervention studies. Overall, this dissertation has provided a critical evaluation of the use and measurement of stress resilience, with findings indicating that physical activity may not enhance stress resilience in humans. I discuss differences in my findings, compared to rodent research, including the potential effects of environment enrichment and increased severity of measurement protocols in animal models. I also discuss limitations of stress resilience conceptualisation and provide suggestions for future research to navigate these challenges.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Genetic and epigenetic changes associated with polygenic left ventricular hypertrophy
- Authors: Prestes, Priscilla
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Cardiac hypertrophy (CH) is the thickening of heart muscles reducing functionality and increasing risk of cardiac disease. Commonly, pathological CH is presented as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and genetic factors are known to be involved but their contribution is still poorly understood. I used the hypertrophic heart rat (HHR), a unique normotensive polygenic model of LVH, and its control strain, the normal heart rat (NHR) to investigate genetic and epigenetic contributions to LVH independent of high blood pressure. To address this study, I used a systematic approach. Firstly, I sequenced the whole genome of HHR and NHR to identify genes related to LVH, focusing on quantitative trait locus Cm22. I found the gene for tripartite motif-containing 55 (Trim55) was significantly downregulated and also presented decreased protein expression with the presence of one exonic missense mutation that altered the protein structure. Interestingly, Trim55 mRNA expression was reduced in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathic hearts. Secondly, I selected 42 genes previously described in monogenic forms of human cardiomyopathies and studied DNA variants, mRNA and micro RNA (miRNA) expression to determine their involvement in this polygenic model of LVH at five ages. This comprehensive approach identified the differential expression of 29 genes in at least one age group and two miRNAs in validated miRNA-mRNA interactions. These two miRNAs have binding sites for five of the genes studied. Lastly, I found circular RNA (circRNA) Hrcr was upregulated in the hypertrophic heart. I then silenced Hrcr expression in human primary cardiomyocytes to investigate its miRNA downstream targets and elucidate possible regulatory mechanisms. I described four miRNAs (miR-1-3p, miR-330, miR-27a-5p, miR-299-5p) as novel targets for HRCR and predicted 359 mRNA targets in the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory axis. In silico analysis identified 206 enriched gene ontology based on the predicted mRNA target list, including cardiomyocyte differentiation and ventricular cardiac muscle cell differentiation. The findings in this thesis suggest that 1) Trim55 is a novel functional candidate gene for polygenic LVH; 2) genes implicated in monogenic forms of cardiomyopathy may be involved in this condition and 3) circRNA expression is associated with changes in hypertrophic hearts and deserve further attention.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Prestes, Priscilla
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Cardiac hypertrophy (CH) is the thickening of heart muscles reducing functionality and increasing risk of cardiac disease. Commonly, pathological CH is presented as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and genetic factors are known to be involved but their contribution is still poorly understood. I used the hypertrophic heart rat (HHR), a unique normotensive polygenic model of LVH, and its control strain, the normal heart rat (NHR) to investigate genetic and epigenetic contributions to LVH independent of high blood pressure. To address this study, I used a systematic approach. Firstly, I sequenced the whole genome of HHR and NHR to identify genes related to LVH, focusing on quantitative trait locus Cm22. I found the gene for tripartite motif-containing 55 (Trim55) was significantly downregulated and also presented decreased protein expression with the presence of one exonic missense mutation that altered the protein structure. Interestingly, Trim55 mRNA expression was reduced in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathic hearts. Secondly, I selected 42 genes previously described in monogenic forms of human cardiomyopathies and studied DNA variants, mRNA and micro RNA (miRNA) expression to determine their involvement in this polygenic model of LVH at five ages. This comprehensive approach identified the differential expression of 29 genes in at least one age group and two miRNAs in validated miRNA-mRNA interactions. These two miRNAs have binding sites for five of the genes studied. Lastly, I found circular RNA (circRNA) Hrcr was upregulated in the hypertrophic heart. I then silenced Hrcr expression in human primary cardiomyocytes to investigate its miRNA downstream targets and elucidate possible regulatory mechanisms. I described four miRNAs (miR-1-3p, miR-330, miR-27a-5p, miR-299-5p) as novel targets for HRCR and predicted 359 mRNA targets in the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory axis. In silico analysis identified 206 enriched gene ontology based on the predicted mRNA target list, including cardiomyocyte differentiation and ventricular cardiac muscle cell differentiation. The findings in this thesis suggest that 1) Trim55 is a novel functional candidate gene for polygenic LVH; 2) genes implicated in monogenic forms of cardiomyopathy may be involved in this condition and 3) circRNA expression is associated with changes in hypertrophic hearts and deserve further attention.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Exploring the development of thinking in senior secondary mathematics : a focus on probability
- Authors: Ernst, Heather
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Higher order thinking skills have been identified as desirable although elusive outcomes of many educational curricula. Through a qualitative case study, the alignment between the three levels of the curriculum: intended, implemented, and attained, was examined to determine the tensions and possibilities in the development of mathematical and thinking skills in senior secondary students in Gippsland, a large regional area of Victoria, Australia. Probability was the mathematical content area of focus. Data from document analysis of the intended curriculum, textbooks as the implemented curriculum, and assessments as the attained curriculum, was combined with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with twenty students and fourteen senior secondary mathematics teachers. These diverse data sources scaffolded each other to identify tensions and possibilities influencing development of student thinking in senior secondary mathematics. This research demonstrated that the flow of content via the intended-implemented-attained curriculum was not adequate to describe all the influences on student learning. The lens of Activity Theory (Engeström, 2001) came closer to capturing the related complexities whereby the textbooks, calculators, bound reference books and assessments, combined with the balance of agency demonstrated by the teachers and students, were found to both support and cause tensions within the activity system. Probability was found to be a valuable topic to study in relation to the development of thinking skills due to its relevance in decision making, how it linked many areas of mathematics and the uniqueness of the classic, experimental, and subjective views of probability. This study is significant in the contribution it makes to understanding the tensions and possibilities associated with the development of mathematical thinking relating to probability through the lens of Activity Theory. While the intended curriculum encouraged a range of thinking skills, this intended curriculum could be implemented in a way that promotes memorisation rather than the intended higher order thinking. This study concludes with recommendations for the curriculum designers, textbook publishers, teachers, and students which may support the development of mathematical and thinking skills.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Ernst, Heather
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Higher order thinking skills have been identified as desirable although elusive outcomes of many educational curricula. Through a qualitative case study, the alignment between the three levels of the curriculum: intended, implemented, and attained, was examined to determine the tensions and possibilities in the development of mathematical and thinking skills in senior secondary students in Gippsland, a large regional area of Victoria, Australia. Probability was the mathematical content area of focus. Data from document analysis of the intended curriculum, textbooks as the implemented curriculum, and assessments as the attained curriculum, was combined with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with twenty students and fourteen senior secondary mathematics teachers. These diverse data sources scaffolded each other to identify tensions and possibilities influencing development of student thinking in senior secondary mathematics. This research demonstrated that the flow of content via the intended-implemented-attained curriculum was not adequate to describe all the influences on student learning. The lens of Activity Theory (Engeström, 2001) came closer to capturing the related complexities whereby the textbooks, calculators, bound reference books and assessments, combined with the balance of agency demonstrated by the teachers and students, were found to both support and cause tensions within the activity system. Probability was found to be a valuable topic to study in relation to the development of thinking skills due to its relevance in decision making, how it linked many areas of mathematics and the uniqueness of the classic, experimental, and subjective views of probability. This study is significant in the contribution it makes to understanding the tensions and possibilities associated with the development of mathematical thinking relating to probability through the lens of Activity Theory. While the intended curriculum encouraged a range of thinking skills, this intended curriculum could be implemented in a way that promotes memorisation rather than the intended higher order thinking. This study concludes with recommendations for the curriculum designers, textbook publishers, teachers, and students which may support the development of mathematical and thinking skills.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Australian home care quality : a political tango
- Authors: Mee, Jenny
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The performance of Australian home care and how it is enacted has been significantly impacted by the economic and political challenges since the announcement of the Aged Care Reforms in July 2012 and the launch of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in July 2013. As a result, the home care business arena has changed, and the effects are being felt as the marketplace shifts, and businesses adapt to new policy directions. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the social context of Australian home care, and to collect information regarding how home care (under the various auspices of government funded and privately funded) service provision is enacted in terms of quality during this time of change. The qualitative research process for this study involved critical reflexive practice and face-to-face semi-structured interviews of 10 home care business leaders from the states of Queensland and Victoria. In listening to the voices of the participants, this research study sought to develop new discursive approaches in order to understand the practice of caring for the Australian community’s most vulnerable people – those who are frail, aged, and for those who have ill-health or a disability. The analytical framework adopted for this study used a post-structural discourse analysis, which was informed by the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault and other contemporary theorists. The philosophical framework of governmentality and discourse analysis helped to situate the voice of the participants at a time when new ideas and the ways of conducting the business of home care are emerging. In using this approach to analyse the data, it became apparent that the discursive practices that had been instituted by government in the home care sector had been constructed to remove progressive inclusionary policies that were contrary to the democratic principles of governing. The research study’s findings reveal the problematic changes that impact on business but more so for consumers as the rules are interpreted. By using the metaphor of ice dancing, the study problematized the leadership of government and the challenges participants faced in maintaining quality service provision in the home care arena. What emerged was the dance of a political tango. These leaders in the arena revealed the importance of knowing when to lead and when to push back. Like the different genres of tango, there are different ways of viewing the world of home care and performing in its different spaces, and there are other ways of viewing quality in caring service provisions. By participating in the research, the participants highlighted the need of being inclusive to hearing and seeing all performers in the arena of home care regardless of social or geographical positioning. This research concludes that hearing and acting on the voices from the wider home care arena continues to be necessary in order to inform future policy direction for quality performance improvements for Australia’s consumers of home care and to move away from home care traditions of governing and ruling. The research additionally advocates for more inclusive governing approaches through more even distribution of power in consultative processes, research, oversight in the marketplace and access to resources for all groups. This thesis is a contribution to creating a new political dance in the space of Australia’s home care politics.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Mee, Jenny
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The performance of Australian home care and how it is enacted has been significantly impacted by the economic and political challenges since the announcement of the Aged Care Reforms in July 2012 and the launch of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in July 2013. As a result, the home care business arena has changed, and the effects are being felt as the marketplace shifts, and businesses adapt to new policy directions. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the social context of Australian home care, and to collect information regarding how home care (under the various auspices of government funded and privately funded) service provision is enacted in terms of quality during this time of change. The qualitative research process for this study involved critical reflexive practice and face-to-face semi-structured interviews of 10 home care business leaders from the states of Queensland and Victoria. In listening to the voices of the participants, this research study sought to develop new discursive approaches in order to understand the practice of caring for the Australian community’s most vulnerable people – those who are frail, aged, and for those who have ill-health or a disability. The analytical framework adopted for this study used a post-structural discourse analysis, which was informed by the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault and other contemporary theorists. The philosophical framework of governmentality and discourse analysis helped to situate the voice of the participants at a time when new ideas and the ways of conducting the business of home care are emerging. In using this approach to analyse the data, it became apparent that the discursive practices that had been instituted by government in the home care sector had been constructed to remove progressive inclusionary policies that were contrary to the democratic principles of governing. The research study’s findings reveal the problematic changes that impact on business but more so for consumers as the rules are interpreted. By using the metaphor of ice dancing, the study problematized the leadership of government and the challenges participants faced in maintaining quality service provision in the home care arena. What emerged was the dance of a political tango. These leaders in the arena revealed the importance of knowing when to lead and when to push back. Like the different genres of tango, there are different ways of viewing the world of home care and performing in its different spaces, and there are other ways of viewing quality in caring service provisions. By participating in the research, the participants highlighted the need of being inclusive to hearing and seeing all performers in the arena of home care regardless of social or geographical positioning. This research concludes that hearing and acting on the voices from the wider home care arena continues to be necessary in order to inform future policy direction for quality performance improvements for Australia’s consumers of home care and to move away from home care traditions of governing and ruling. The research additionally advocates for more inclusive governing approaches through more even distribution of power in consultative processes, research, oversight in the marketplace and access to resources for all groups. This thesis is a contribution to creating a new political dance in the space of Australia’s home care politics.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
The role of Zn2+ in insulin signalling and muscle atrophy
- Authors: Maier, Michelle
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Zn2+ is a broadly utilised ion in biology that has important catalytic, structural and regulatory roles within the cell. Zn2+ distribution in cells is maintained by zinc transporters, Zips and ZnTs, and disruptions in levels of Zn2+ have been associated with insulin resistance and muscle atrophy disorders. Zn2+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) interact through inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatases and ROS-mediated oxidation of the metal-binding metallothioneins (Mts) causing release of bound Zn2+, however the precise mechanisms are unclear. In the first study of this thesis addition of inhibitors of ROS-generating enzymes, superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) and NADPH oxidase 1 (NOX1) showed that only SOD1 inhibition increased short-term insulin-mediated Zn2+ release and increased the expression of Mt1 and 2. These results may suggest that ROS, in particular O2- accumulation through inhibition of SOD1, plays a role in insulin-mediated Zn2+ release. Inhibiting SOD1 prevents the conversion of O2- to H2O2 causing an accumulation of O2- in the cell which oxidises Mts to release Zn2+, thereby increasing Zn2+ levels within the cell. Manipulation of the expression of the zinc transporter Zip-7 has previously been shown to modulate cell signalling and glucose metabolism in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells, warranting further investigation into the role of Zn2+ within insulin signalling. Reducing Zip-7 expression when NOX1 was inhibited caused a decrease in Mt2 expression in response to insulin suggesting an interaction between insulin, Zip-7 and NOX1 activity but this requires further investigation. Skeletal muscle atrophy is a clinical symptom of insulin resistance and diabetes. Muscle atrophy is associated with increases in circulating glucocorticoid levels and accumulation of Zn2+ in muscle. This study investigates if Zn2+ homeostasis is disrupted in glucocorticoid-induced atrophy using C2C12 skeletal muscle cells treated with Dexamethasone (DEX) and iv insulin. Results demonstrate DEX-induced atrophy significantly increased the gene expression of the Mt1&2 and decreased glycogen accumulation when treated with insulin. Both confocal microscopy and flow cytometry showed significant increases in free cellular Zn2+ after DEX treatment. Notably, free Zn2+ levels observed with confocal microscopy increased after insulin treatment in control cells but decreased in DEX treated cells. Total cellular Zn2+ was increased by DEX treatment. This demonstrates that DEX causes Zn2+ accumulation in muscle cells and disrupts both Zn2+ homeostasis through blocking insulin-induced Zn2+ release, and insulin-induced glycogen synthesis. This raised the question of whether the same effects of atrophy on Zn2+ homeostasis apply to other cell systems. To investigate this, we examined adipose cells given that these too are involved in insulin resistance and muscle atrophy disorders. In this study we found similar increases in mRNA abundance of Mt1 & 2. Confocal microscopy revealed that DEX treatment caused changes in the distribution of free Zn2+ within peri-nuclear and cytosolic regions of the cell upon stimulation with insulin. Furthermore, investigation into morphometric changes using Oil Red O staining and particle analysis through Coherent Anti-Stokes Ramen Spectrophotometry (CARS) microscopy showed changes in cell and lipid droplet size consistent with reduced lipid turnover in DEX treated cells. These results highlight a potential mechanistic role for Zn2+ in the development of atrophy in 3T3-L1 adipocytes where increased free Zn2+ and its redistribution in cells may inhibit lipid metabolism downstream of insulin signalling. These findings show that insulin-induced Zn2+ release is disrupted by glucocorticoids and this is associated with insulin resistance. Restoring control of Zn2+ homeostasis, possibly through controlling oxidation or manipulating Zn2+ levels directly, may prove beneficial in metabolic disease states such as diabetes.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Maier, Michelle
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Zn2+ is a broadly utilised ion in biology that has important catalytic, structural and regulatory roles within the cell. Zn2+ distribution in cells is maintained by zinc transporters, Zips and ZnTs, and disruptions in levels of Zn2+ have been associated with insulin resistance and muscle atrophy disorders. Zn2+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) interact through inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatases and ROS-mediated oxidation of the metal-binding metallothioneins (Mts) causing release of bound Zn2+, however the precise mechanisms are unclear. In the first study of this thesis addition of inhibitors of ROS-generating enzymes, superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) and NADPH oxidase 1 (NOX1) showed that only SOD1 inhibition increased short-term insulin-mediated Zn2+ release and increased the expression of Mt1 and 2. These results may suggest that ROS, in particular O2- accumulation through inhibition of SOD1, plays a role in insulin-mediated Zn2+ release. Inhibiting SOD1 prevents the conversion of O2- to H2O2 causing an accumulation of O2- in the cell which oxidises Mts to release Zn2+, thereby increasing Zn2+ levels within the cell. Manipulation of the expression of the zinc transporter Zip-7 has previously been shown to modulate cell signalling and glucose metabolism in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells, warranting further investigation into the role of Zn2+ within insulin signalling. Reducing Zip-7 expression when NOX1 was inhibited caused a decrease in Mt2 expression in response to insulin suggesting an interaction between insulin, Zip-7 and NOX1 activity but this requires further investigation. Skeletal muscle atrophy is a clinical symptom of insulin resistance and diabetes. Muscle atrophy is associated with increases in circulating glucocorticoid levels and accumulation of Zn2+ in muscle. This study investigates if Zn2+ homeostasis is disrupted in glucocorticoid-induced atrophy using C2C12 skeletal muscle cells treated with Dexamethasone (DEX) and iv insulin. Results demonstrate DEX-induced atrophy significantly increased the gene expression of the Mt1&2 and decreased glycogen accumulation when treated with insulin. Both confocal microscopy and flow cytometry showed significant increases in free cellular Zn2+ after DEX treatment. Notably, free Zn2+ levels observed with confocal microscopy increased after insulin treatment in control cells but decreased in DEX treated cells. Total cellular Zn2+ was increased by DEX treatment. This demonstrates that DEX causes Zn2+ accumulation in muscle cells and disrupts both Zn2+ homeostasis through blocking insulin-induced Zn2+ release, and insulin-induced glycogen synthesis. This raised the question of whether the same effects of atrophy on Zn2+ homeostasis apply to other cell systems. To investigate this, we examined adipose cells given that these too are involved in insulin resistance and muscle atrophy disorders. In this study we found similar increases in mRNA abundance of Mt1 & 2. Confocal microscopy revealed that DEX treatment caused changes in the distribution of free Zn2+ within peri-nuclear and cytosolic regions of the cell upon stimulation with insulin. Furthermore, investigation into morphometric changes using Oil Red O staining and particle analysis through Coherent Anti-Stokes Ramen Spectrophotometry (CARS) microscopy showed changes in cell and lipid droplet size consistent with reduced lipid turnover in DEX treated cells. These results highlight a potential mechanistic role for Zn2+ in the development of atrophy in 3T3-L1 adipocytes where increased free Zn2+ and its redistribution in cells may inhibit lipid metabolism downstream of insulin signalling. These findings show that insulin-induced Zn2+ release is disrupted by glucocorticoids and this is associated with insulin resistance. Restoring control of Zn2+ homeostasis, possibly through controlling oxidation or manipulating Zn2+ levels directly, may prove beneficial in metabolic disease states such as diabetes.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Three-dimensional numerical study on the batter instability mechanism of Maddingley Brown Coal Open Pit, Victoria, Australia using PLAXIS 3D
- Authors: Zhao, Lei
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: With the increased size of excavation due to long-term open cut mining, batter instability has become a major geo-hazard in Victorian Brown Coal Open Pits where facilitate some largest brown coal mining operations in the world. Block failure is a unique failure mode in Victorian brown coal mines, which is often associated with cracks and rainfall. Maddingley Brown Coal Mine (MBC) is located in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia. Slope instability has also been a major geo-problem since the open pit mining commenced in MBC in 1940s. Making clear the cracking mechanism and the correlations between rainfall and batter instability have important implications in better understanding and predicting batter failures in Victorian brown coal mines. In this research, three-dimensional geologic models were developed to investigate the mechanism of brown coal batter instability. The finite element program encoded in Plaxis 3D was employed to conduct the complex two-phase (fluid-solid) coupled numerical simulations. The results revealed the cracking mechanism of coal batter and the effects of rainfall on batter stability. It was found that the brown coal batter with overburden tends to lead a circular critical path while the batter after overburden removal shows a trend of block sliding as interpreted by the shear and tensile strains simulated. The existence of joints and the hydrostatic water pressure in the joints could adversely affect the stability of brown coal batter towards block failure. Precipitation can increase the deformation, excess pore pressure, total pore pressure, active pressure and decrease the matric suction, and thereby decrease the shear strength, effective stress, and batter stability. The results from the three-dimensional hydro-mechanically coupled finite element study were well agreed with the field monitored data, theoretical calculations, and Victorian brown coal mining experience.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Zhao, Lei
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: With the increased size of excavation due to long-term open cut mining, batter instability has become a major geo-hazard in Victorian Brown Coal Open Pits where facilitate some largest brown coal mining operations in the world. Block failure is a unique failure mode in Victorian brown coal mines, which is often associated with cracks and rainfall. Maddingley Brown Coal Mine (MBC) is located in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia. Slope instability has also been a major geo-problem since the open pit mining commenced in MBC in 1940s. Making clear the cracking mechanism and the correlations between rainfall and batter instability have important implications in better understanding and predicting batter failures in Victorian brown coal mines. In this research, three-dimensional geologic models were developed to investigate the mechanism of brown coal batter instability. The finite element program encoded in Plaxis 3D was employed to conduct the complex two-phase (fluid-solid) coupled numerical simulations. The results revealed the cracking mechanism of coal batter and the effects of rainfall on batter stability. It was found that the brown coal batter with overburden tends to lead a circular critical path while the batter after overburden removal shows a trend of block sliding as interpreted by the shear and tensile strains simulated. The existence of joints and the hydrostatic water pressure in the joints could adversely affect the stability of brown coal batter towards block failure. Precipitation can increase the deformation, excess pore pressure, total pore pressure, active pressure and decrease the matric suction, and thereby decrease the shear strength, effective stress, and batter stability. The results from the three-dimensional hydro-mechanically coupled finite element study were well agreed with the field monitored data, theoretical calculations, and Victorian brown coal mining experience.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
“I’ve got something to say and I need you to listen” : a photovoice study with women who have experienced family violence
- Authors: Hunt, Michelle
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Family violence is recognised as a significant social issue in Australia that is predominantly perpetrated by men against women in intimate partner relationships. Once only of concern to women and feminist activists, family violence is now part of mainstream public policy and community service provision. This research was conducted within an industry, community and university partnership to improve services for women and children who have experienced family violence in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. This research study used photovoice, a feminist participatory research method, to gather the insights and knowledge of some of these women from this region. The participants produced, selected and contextualised photographs to share their vision of “strong families, safe children” as well as providing their insights on what services needed to do to support this vision. Ten women participated in the study and collectively contributed 42 photographs and attended 15 individual interviews and four group workshops over a six-month period. Through their photographs and narratives, the participants detailed their experiences of services, including the systemic abuse of power and coercion that undermined their relationships with their children. The participants described feeling blamed and further victimised when their interactions with services replicated the coercive control that they had experienced in their intimate partner relationships. Systemic racial discrimination and violence further compounded service encounters described by the Aboriginal women who participated in the study. The participants advocated for the transformation of family violence policy and practice from one reliant on patriarchal and colonial knowledge to one grounded in feminist epistemologies and women’s experiential knowledge. Consistent with feminist epistemologies, this research study highlights the importance of relational understandings of family violence, a position that acknowledges the significance of women’s social context and family networks, as well as the interconnectedness of women’s and children’s safety and wellbeing. This research study has implications for the family violence service system grappling with the inclusion of lived experience as being more than voice but encompassing the positioning of women’s experiential knowledge (with all its emotion, complexity and subjectivity) at the heart of policy and practice.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Hunt, Michelle
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Family violence is recognised as a significant social issue in Australia that is predominantly perpetrated by men against women in intimate partner relationships. Once only of concern to women and feminist activists, family violence is now part of mainstream public policy and community service provision. This research was conducted within an industry, community and university partnership to improve services for women and children who have experienced family violence in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. This research study used photovoice, a feminist participatory research method, to gather the insights and knowledge of some of these women from this region. The participants produced, selected and contextualised photographs to share their vision of “strong families, safe children” as well as providing their insights on what services needed to do to support this vision. Ten women participated in the study and collectively contributed 42 photographs and attended 15 individual interviews and four group workshops over a six-month period. Through their photographs and narratives, the participants detailed their experiences of services, including the systemic abuse of power and coercion that undermined their relationships with their children. The participants described feeling blamed and further victimised when their interactions with services replicated the coercive control that they had experienced in their intimate partner relationships. Systemic racial discrimination and violence further compounded service encounters described by the Aboriginal women who participated in the study. The participants advocated for the transformation of family violence policy and practice from one reliant on patriarchal and colonial knowledge to one grounded in feminist epistemologies and women’s experiential knowledge. Consistent with feminist epistemologies, this research study highlights the importance of relational understandings of family violence, a position that acknowledges the significance of women’s social context and family networks, as well as the interconnectedness of women’s and children’s safety and wellbeing. This research study has implications for the family violence service system grappling with the inclusion of lived experience as being more than voice but encompassing the positioning of women’s experiential knowledge (with all its emotion, complexity and subjectivity) at the heart of policy and practice.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
An examination of physical exercise as an adjunct treatment for depressive symptoms in adults aged 65 years and older
- Authors: Miller, Kyle
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: In light of impending demographic shifts and projected strain on healthcare systems, this thesis set out to progress our putative understanding of the benefits of physical exercise on mental health in older adults aged 65 years and over. Herein, four studies of divergent research design interrogated the current knowledge base relating to the potential benefits of exercise in older adults with depressive symptomology. Study 1 set out to establish preliminary experimental evidence that four years of unsupervised aerobic exercise can improve cardiorespiratory function (determined by VO2max) and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in lifelong sedentary ageing men compared with lifelong exercising athletes. Results demonstrated preliminary proof of concept for exercise-induced benefits on cardiorespiratory function and HRQL in ageing men. Study 2 surveyed community-dwelling older adults (n = 586) to establish a hierarchy of exercise-associated factors to predict depressive symptomology. Contrary to expectation, exercise behaviour did not confer additional antidepressant effect, but was substantially predicted by exercise-induced mood, exercise self-efficacy, and social support (f2 = 0.993). Study 3 pooled evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to quantitatively compare the treatment effectiveness from aerobic, resistance and mind-body exercise training in older adults with pre-existing clinical depression, whereas Study 4 followed the same methodology in apparently health older adults without pre-existing clinical depression. Using network meta-analytical techniques, both clinical depressed (g = -0.41 to -1.38) and apparently healthy (g = -0.27 to -0.51) older adults demonstrated equivalent effectiveness for aerobic, resistance, and mind-body exercise interventions, with encouraging levels of study compliance. Taken together, these findings encourage personal exercise preference when prescribing either aerobic, resistance, or mind-body exercise as a treatment adjunct for clinical depression and older adults with symptoms thereof. The sum of works herein provide new knowledge to guide exercise prescription for stakeholders in mental health and older adults over 65 years.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Miller, Kyle
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: In light of impending demographic shifts and projected strain on healthcare systems, this thesis set out to progress our putative understanding of the benefits of physical exercise on mental health in older adults aged 65 years and over. Herein, four studies of divergent research design interrogated the current knowledge base relating to the potential benefits of exercise in older adults with depressive symptomology. Study 1 set out to establish preliminary experimental evidence that four years of unsupervised aerobic exercise can improve cardiorespiratory function (determined by VO2max) and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in lifelong sedentary ageing men compared with lifelong exercising athletes. Results demonstrated preliminary proof of concept for exercise-induced benefits on cardiorespiratory function and HRQL in ageing men. Study 2 surveyed community-dwelling older adults (n = 586) to establish a hierarchy of exercise-associated factors to predict depressive symptomology. Contrary to expectation, exercise behaviour did not confer additional antidepressant effect, but was substantially predicted by exercise-induced mood, exercise self-efficacy, and social support (f2 = 0.993). Study 3 pooled evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to quantitatively compare the treatment effectiveness from aerobic, resistance and mind-body exercise training in older adults with pre-existing clinical depression, whereas Study 4 followed the same methodology in apparently health older adults without pre-existing clinical depression. Using network meta-analytical techniques, both clinical depressed (g = -0.41 to -1.38) and apparently healthy (g = -0.27 to -0.51) older adults demonstrated equivalent effectiveness for aerobic, resistance, and mind-body exercise interventions, with encouraging levels of study compliance. Taken together, these findings encourage personal exercise preference when prescribing either aerobic, resistance, or mind-body exercise as a treatment adjunct for clinical depression and older adults with symptoms thereof. The sum of works herein provide new knowledge to guide exercise prescription for stakeholders in mental health and older adults over 65 years.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy