The collaborative designer : An investigation into the lived experience of co-design practice
- Authors: Smith, Chrissie
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This enquiry is motivated by a growing recognition of citizen participation by design disciplines and other disciplines outside of design (such as social science, science and business) in solving complex problems across society. Co-design is the approach that this research focuses on in particular. Codesign is a new field of collaborative practice that has emerged from the Scandinavian tradition of Participatory Design. Integral to the philosophy of both these practices is the decentralisation of the individual expert designer and the empowering of the end user as an active participant. Despite many studies that have provided useful frameworks and insights into the practice of co-design, conceptualisations and discussions around implications for participation and design deployment rarely include the voice of the co-design practitioner. This study uses a descriptive phenomenological approach to explore the experience of practitioners, some trained in design and some not, facilitating co-design practice. Aligned with this approach, detailed interviews were conducted with six practitioners from Australia and New Zealand to understand what is unique or contingent to them personally, situated within their practices. Through a process of detailed and analytic exploration of these six individual descriptions of the phenomenon under investigation, the core constituents of the experience of co-design practice were distinguished for each participant. From these constituents, general structures representing the essences, or invariants common to all experiences under investigation were identified. Based on the careful analysis of the narrative descriptions from the interviewed practitioners, the core aspects of their practice in collaboration with end-user groups and other stakeholders are described. A visual framework is proposed that capture the complexity of their lived experiences of co-design practice.
- Description: Masters by Research
- Authors: Smith, Chrissie
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This enquiry is motivated by a growing recognition of citizen participation by design disciplines and other disciplines outside of design (such as social science, science and business) in solving complex problems across society. Co-design is the approach that this research focuses on in particular. Codesign is a new field of collaborative practice that has emerged from the Scandinavian tradition of Participatory Design. Integral to the philosophy of both these practices is the decentralisation of the individual expert designer and the empowering of the end user as an active participant. Despite many studies that have provided useful frameworks and insights into the practice of co-design, conceptualisations and discussions around implications for participation and design deployment rarely include the voice of the co-design practitioner. This study uses a descriptive phenomenological approach to explore the experience of practitioners, some trained in design and some not, facilitating co-design practice. Aligned with this approach, detailed interviews were conducted with six practitioners from Australia and New Zealand to understand what is unique or contingent to them personally, situated within their practices. Through a process of detailed and analytic exploration of these six individual descriptions of the phenomenon under investigation, the core constituents of the experience of co-design practice were distinguished for each participant. From these constituents, general structures representing the essences, or invariants common to all experiences under investigation were identified. Based on the careful analysis of the narrative descriptions from the interviewed practitioners, the core aspects of their practice in collaboration with end-user groups and other stakeholders are described. A visual framework is proposed that capture the complexity of their lived experiences of co-design practice.
- Description: Masters by Research
The contribution of poker machines to reduced community wellbeing : A pre and post study
- Authors: Bell, Diana
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis reports on a study of the impacts of poker machines on community wellbeing, using a pre and post survey method. The study used a variety of indicators to test community wellbeing and gambling attitudes and behaviours before and after a hotel venue with 40 poker machines opened in a new suburb in the designated growth area of Melbourne’s northern fringe. There was a higher proportion of respondents who met the criteria for ‘problem gambling’ after the poker machines were installed, compared to before, particularly when considered as a proportion of people who gambled on poker machines (5.3% compared to 3.6%). A proportion of respondents reported reduced levels of personal happiness, contentment and wellbeing as a result of the introduction of poker machines (16.5%, 12.3% and 16.1% respectively) and 41.5% reported there had been a detrimental impact on the community, in terms of social character. Mean scores on sense of community indexes and social cohesion showed a small decline in the post sample on every measure. Overall, the community reported reduced wellbeing on all measures after the introduction of poker machines. The significance of this study is that measures of community wellbeing and attitudes towards poker machines were measured before their introduction so that this baseline data could be compared with reported wellbeing 18 months after their installation within the suburban area. The substantial proportion of respondents who reported detrimental impact on social character, along with many negatively expressed opinions of poker machines, and a higher rate of problem gambling provide support for the notion that the introduction of poker machines at least contributed to the reduction in community wellbeing. This research provides some suggestions for the use of indicators for measuring the impact of poker machines on community wellbeing.
- Description: Masters by Research
- Authors: Bell, Diana
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis reports on a study of the impacts of poker machines on community wellbeing, using a pre and post survey method. The study used a variety of indicators to test community wellbeing and gambling attitudes and behaviours before and after a hotel venue with 40 poker machines opened in a new suburb in the designated growth area of Melbourne’s northern fringe. There was a higher proportion of respondents who met the criteria for ‘problem gambling’ after the poker machines were installed, compared to before, particularly when considered as a proportion of people who gambled on poker machines (5.3% compared to 3.6%). A proportion of respondents reported reduced levels of personal happiness, contentment and wellbeing as a result of the introduction of poker machines (16.5%, 12.3% and 16.1% respectively) and 41.5% reported there had been a detrimental impact on the community, in terms of social character. Mean scores on sense of community indexes and social cohesion showed a small decline in the post sample on every measure. Overall, the community reported reduced wellbeing on all measures after the introduction of poker machines. The significance of this study is that measures of community wellbeing and attitudes towards poker machines were measured before their introduction so that this baseline data could be compared with reported wellbeing 18 months after their installation within the suburban area. The substantial proportion of respondents who reported detrimental impact on social character, along with many negatively expressed opinions of poker machines, and a higher rate of problem gambling provide support for the notion that the introduction of poker machines at least contributed to the reduction in community wellbeing. This research provides some suggestions for the use of indicators for measuring the impact of poker machines on community wellbeing.
- Description: Masters by Research
The contribution of silverfish (insecta: zygentoma) to Australian invertebrate biodiversity and endemism
- Authors: Smith, Graeme
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Silverfish (Order Zygentoma) are quite abundant in Australia but have been largely overlooked. This thesis examines the biodiversity of the Australian fauna at the level of genus, describing at least one representative species from each named genus and some new genera. The endemism of the fauna is evaluated and likely zoogeographic origins proposed. Over 4000 specimens were examined, either collected by the author, borrowed from or examined within museum collections or supplied by organisations and individuals conducting fauna surveys. Twenty- seven new native species are described and two redescribed, bringing the number of named species recorded in Australia to 74. Five new genera are described and four additional genera recorded in Australia for the first time including autochthonous representatives of three subfamilies previously unrecognised as native to Australia (Acrotelsatinae, Lepismatinae and Coletiniinae). No representatives of the families Maindroniidae, Tricholepidiidae and Protrinemuridae were found. The subfamily Acrotelsatinae was redefined following a revision of the enigmatic genus Anisolepisma Paclt, 1967 with the unique structure of the thoracic sterna identified as diagnostic for the subfamily. Contrary to existing opinion, it is suggested that this is a fundamentally different and plesiomorphic character, rather than an apomorphic reduction of the free thoracic sterna. A monograph of the Australian Zygentoma is presented, including a summary of the biology of the order, a key to and diagnoses of the genera, as well as information on the known habitat and distribution of each genus and a discussion of their zoogeography. At the suprageneric level the fauna is less diverse than seen in other zoogeographic regions but appears to be rich in the number of species. The fauna displays a high degree of endemism with 91% of described species and 52% of the genera known only from Australia. Some genera appear to be ancient and probably represent a Pangean element in the Australian fauna. Others appear to have emerged in the late Jurassic when Africa was still joined to Gondwana, while some may have appeared in the Cretaceous or Palaeocene when Australia and South America were connected to Gondwana. More recent links with the Asian fauna are limited and there appears to be no widespread highly mobile global species other than the six introduced anthropophilic species. Maps of the worldwide distribution records extracted from the taxonomic literature are used to discuss the zoogeography of the subfamilies and tribes present in Australia. Molecular data using two mitochondrial genes (16S and COI) as well as a nuclear gene (28S) were compared with detailed morphological and morphometric analysis to examine populations initially determined as Heterolepisma sclerophylla or close to it. Distances of 0.9– 1.8% or greater in 28S, and 7.2–14% in COI were associated with morphologically distinct species. A southern Queensland population was found to be genetically, morphometrically and morphologically very distinct from those collected in NSW and was described as new (Heterolepisma sp. B). Six well-defined barcode clusters (“lineages”) were identified within the NSW populations, each with >4% divergence in COI sequences and each geographically restricted. Intracluster divergences are also large, and despite the well-supported phylogeny no clear “barcode gap” (distinction between intracluster and intercluster distances) was found for three of the six NSW populations. The 28S data distinguished only four of the six COI clusters from NSW with essentially no variation within each cluster. The 28S data generally aligned well with morphological evidence, clearly identifying Heterolepisma sp. B as a distinct species, and supporting also the description of Heterolepisma sp. A even though it only appears to differ from H. sclerophylla in the number of styli. Similar genetic distances are observed in 28S data for H. sclerophylla populations from North Nowra, Glenbrook/Burralow/Nattai and Megalong, however the Broulee and Wellington populations have identical 28S sequences. The low levels of variation in 28S sequences between NSW populations accord with the lack of unambiguous morphological differences.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Smith, Graeme
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Silverfish (Order Zygentoma) are quite abundant in Australia but have been largely overlooked. This thesis examines the biodiversity of the Australian fauna at the level of genus, describing at least one representative species from each named genus and some new genera. The endemism of the fauna is evaluated and likely zoogeographic origins proposed. Over 4000 specimens were examined, either collected by the author, borrowed from or examined within museum collections or supplied by organisations and individuals conducting fauna surveys. Twenty- seven new native species are described and two redescribed, bringing the number of named species recorded in Australia to 74. Five new genera are described and four additional genera recorded in Australia for the first time including autochthonous representatives of three subfamilies previously unrecognised as native to Australia (Acrotelsatinae, Lepismatinae and Coletiniinae). No representatives of the families Maindroniidae, Tricholepidiidae and Protrinemuridae were found. The subfamily Acrotelsatinae was redefined following a revision of the enigmatic genus Anisolepisma Paclt, 1967 with the unique structure of the thoracic sterna identified as diagnostic for the subfamily. Contrary to existing opinion, it is suggested that this is a fundamentally different and plesiomorphic character, rather than an apomorphic reduction of the free thoracic sterna. A monograph of the Australian Zygentoma is presented, including a summary of the biology of the order, a key to and diagnoses of the genera, as well as information on the known habitat and distribution of each genus and a discussion of their zoogeography. At the suprageneric level the fauna is less diverse than seen in other zoogeographic regions but appears to be rich in the number of species. The fauna displays a high degree of endemism with 91% of described species and 52% of the genera known only from Australia. Some genera appear to be ancient and probably represent a Pangean element in the Australian fauna. Others appear to have emerged in the late Jurassic when Africa was still joined to Gondwana, while some may have appeared in the Cretaceous or Palaeocene when Australia and South America were connected to Gondwana. More recent links with the Asian fauna are limited and there appears to be no widespread highly mobile global species other than the six introduced anthropophilic species. Maps of the worldwide distribution records extracted from the taxonomic literature are used to discuss the zoogeography of the subfamilies and tribes present in Australia. Molecular data using two mitochondrial genes (16S and COI) as well as a nuclear gene (28S) were compared with detailed morphological and morphometric analysis to examine populations initially determined as Heterolepisma sclerophylla or close to it. Distances of 0.9– 1.8% or greater in 28S, and 7.2–14% in COI were associated with morphologically distinct species. A southern Queensland population was found to be genetically, morphometrically and morphologically very distinct from those collected in NSW and was described as new (Heterolepisma sp. B). Six well-defined barcode clusters (“lineages”) were identified within the NSW populations, each with >4% divergence in COI sequences and each geographically restricted. Intracluster divergences are also large, and despite the well-supported phylogeny no clear “barcode gap” (distinction between intracluster and intercluster distances) was found for three of the six NSW populations. The 28S data distinguished only four of the six COI clusters from NSW with essentially no variation within each cluster. The 28S data generally aligned well with morphological evidence, clearly identifying Heterolepisma sp. B as a distinct species, and supporting also the description of Heterolepisma sp. A even though it only appears to differ from H. sclerophylla in the number of styli. Similar genetic distances are observed in 28S data for H. sclerophylla populations from North Nowra, Glenbrook/Burralow/Nattai and Megalong, however the Broulee and Wellington populations have identical 28S sequences. The low levels of variation in 28S sequences between NSW populations accord with the lack of unambiguous morphological differences.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
The influence of controlled fire on the mobilization of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE) in a mined landscape : Implications for land management and environmental health
- Authors: Abraham, Joji
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Controlled fires conducted in fire prone areas are an efficient and economic option to reduce the frequency and intensity of wild fires that result in damage to human property, infrastructure and ecosystems. However, in a similar way to wild fires, controlled fires affect many of the physical and bio-geochemical properties of the forest soil, and may remobilize Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE) from vegetation and soil organic matter. The objective of this study is to investigate the mobilization of PTEs in a mined landscape after a controlled fire and to describe their temporal variations in concentrations. Soil samples were collected two days before and two days after the controlled fire, at the end of each season, and after a major rainfall in September 2016, from a legacy mine site in Maldon, Central Victoria, Australia, and analysed for PTE concentrations. The results revealed PTE mobility after the controlled fire, and most of the PTEs (As, Cd, Cu, Mn, and Zn) evidenced an increase in concentration (1.2, 1.5, 1.1, 2.9, and 1.7 times respectively) and other PTEs (Hg, Cr and Pb) shown a decrease (1.4, 1.1 and 1.1 times respectively) immediately after the fire. The increase in PTE concentration immediately after the fire is postulated to be associated with the addition of PTE enriched ash to the soil and the reduction is due to the volatilization of elements during fire. The PTEs, which increased their concentrations immediately after the fire show a temporal decrease in concentration in the post-fire soil environment due to the removal of ash and surface soil by rainfall runoff, leaching and wind activity. However, Hg shows an increase in concentration after the major rainfall event. Although, median concentrations of As, Hg, Pb, Cu and Zn exceeded the Australian and Victorian top soil averages, only As and Hg are considered to be a risk to human and aquatic ecosystems health due to their elevated concentration and toxicity. Climate change and the resulting projection for increased forest fire frequency illustrates a growing concern given the expected concomitant increase in PTE mobilization. Preparing appropriate land and water management strategies, and addressing environmental health practice and policy, specifically at the legacy mining areas require a review. This study highlights the significant risk these sites pose.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Abraham, Joji
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Controlled fires conducted in fire prone areas are an efficient and economic option to reduce the frequency and intensity of wild fires that result in damage to human property, infrastructure and ecosystems. However, in a similar way to wild fires, controlled fires affect many of the physical and bio-geochemical properties of the forest soil, and may remobilize Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE) from vegetation and soil organic matter. The objective of this study is to investigate the mobilization of PTEs in a mined landscape after a controlled fire and to describe their temporal variations in concentrations. Soil samples were collected two days before and two days after the controlled fire, at the end of each season, and after a major rainfall in September 2016, from a legacy mine site in Maldon, Central Victoria, Australia, and analysed for PTE concentrations. The results revealed PTE mobility after the controlled fire, and most of the PTEs (As, Cd, Cu, Mn, and Zn) evidenced an increase in concentration (1.2, 1.5, 1.1, 2.9, and 1.7 times respectively) and other PTEs (Hg, Cr and Pb) shown a decrease (1.4, 1.1 and 1.1 times respectively) immediately after the fire. The increase in PTE concentration immediately after the fire is postulated to be associated with the addition of PTE enriched ash to the soil and the reduction is due to the volatilization of elements during fire. The PTEs, which increased their concentrations immediately after the fire show a temporal decrease in concentration in the post-fire soil environment due to the removal of ash and surface soil by rainfall runoff, leaching and wind activity. However, Hg shows an increase in concentration after the major rainfall event. Although, median concentrations of As, Hg, Pb, Cu and Zn exceeded the Australian and Victorian top soil averages, only As and Hg are considered to be a risk to human and aquatic ecosystems health due to their elevated concentration and toxicity. Climate change and the resulting projection for increased forest fire frequency illustrates a growing concern given the expected concomitant increase in PTE mobilization. Preparing appropriate land and water management strategies, and addressing environmental health practice and policy, specifically at the legacy mining areas require a review. This study highlights the significant risk these sites pose.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Unnatural alliances : Immanent reading and the speculative sensations of life
- Authors: Williams, Dominic
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Doctor of Philosophy
- Full Text:
- Description: It is my claim that Gilles Deleuze’s expressionism allows for a new theory and praxis of reading called Immanent Reading, different from both his own Schizoanalytic praxis and the referential and ontological theories informing Literary Theory. Immanent reading, I propose, following Colebrook’s readings of Deleuze, offers an ethics of reading emphasising the pure immediacy of relations, including those expressed by life. It is upon this primary vector that this thesis progresses: the broad articulation and creation of a theory of Immanent Reading. To achieve this, I claim that the expressionist metaphysics exposed by Deleuze in Spinoza and Leibniz is altered by Deleuze in his own conceptual creations (as with becoming and immanence) and persists as a properly Deleuzian expressionism. The degrees of expression I propose belong to immanent reading are, without necessary order, the written-body, the reader-body, and a milieu of becoming that composes them together and transforms their affective and perceptive compositions. The written-body distinguishes itself as a creation of percepts and affects in writing, the reader-body through its involvement of pliable perceptions and affections, and becoming through its transformative capacity on these affective and perceptive complexes. The concept of immanence subtends this expressive composition, drawing reading into pure immediacy while articulating it as a process of unnatural encounters for “a Life”. To avoid representations of life in demonstrating the praxis, this thesis engages with speculative literature. Deleuze has made use of speculative writers, such as Lovecraft and Asimov, to create his (with and without Guattari and Parnet) concept of becoming. Here I engage with Le Guin, McCarthy, and Stanley Robinson amongst others. The consequence of composing an encounter with speculative literature for immanent reading is multi-fold, with this thesis theorising an expressionist logic in the creation of speculative sensations and the becomings they herald.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Williams, Dominic
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Doctor of Philosophy
- Full Text:
- Description: It is my claim that Gilles Deleuze’s expressionism allows for a new theory and praxis of reading called Immanent Reading, different from both his own Schizoanalytic praxis and the referential and ontological theories informing Literary Theory. Immanent reading, I propose, following Colebrook’s readings of Deleuze, offers an ethics of reading emphasising the pure immediacy of relations, including those expressed by life. It is upon this primary vector that this thesis progresses: the broad articulation and creation of a theory of Immanent Reading. To achieve this, I claim that the expressionist metaphysics exposed by Deleuze in Spinoza and Leibniz is altered by Deleuze in his own conceptual creations (as with becoming and immanence) and persists as a properly Deleuzian expressionism. The degrees of expression I propose belong to immanent reading are, without necessary order, the written-body, the reader-body, and a milieu of becoming that composes them together and transforms their affective and perceptive compositions. The written-body distinguishes itself as a creation of percepts and affects in writing, the reader-body through its involvement of pliable perceptions and affections, and becoming through its transformative capacity on these affective and perceptive complexes. The concept of immanence subtends this expressive composition, drawing reading into pure immediacy while articulating it as a process of unnatural encounters for “a Life”. To avoid representations of life in demonstrating the praxis, this thesis engages with speculative literature. Deleuze has made use of speculative writers, such as Lovecraft and Asimov, to create his (with and without Guattari and Parnet) concept of becoming. Here I engage with Le Guin, McCarthy, and Stanley Robinson amongst others. The consequence of composing an encounter with speculative literature for immanent reading is multi-fold, with this thesis theorising an expressionist logic in the creation of speculative sensations and the becomings they herald.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel in Australia : An examination of the role of VFR hosts
- Authors: Yousuf, Mohammad
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel is a significant form of travel in terms of global travel numbers. However, research on VFR travel is small relative to its size. In particular, research regarding the role of hosts of VFR travellers in shaping their trips including travel decisions and activities has been examined by few researchers. No previous research explored the differences in hosting between immigrant and non-immigrant local residents despite VFR travel being commonly associated with migration in existing literature. Before this research, the differences between hosting friends and relatives had been neglected, resulting in VFR hosts being treated as one homogenous group. Previous research also failed to empirically test the influence of destination on the hosting of VFRs. Thus, this is the first study examining the hosting of VFRs through combining how migration, relationship types, and destination types, impact VFR travel experiences for hosts. Given that VFR travel is a significant component of Australia’s visitor numbers, and that it comprises a large immigrant population, Australia is a suitable setting for this study. Considering the multi-dimensional elements in the study, the “VFR Whole Tourism Systems Model” was used as the conceptual model for this study. Quantitative research was conducted nationally with 331 residents, collected through an online survey, assessing the differences and similarities in hosting behaviours. Qualitative research was undertaken through in-depth interviews with 34 local residents in three contrasting destinations in Victoria understanding the social interactions between VFR hosts and their visiting friends/relatives. Significant differences were found between immigrants and nonimmigrants regarding attracting VFRs and hosting experiences. Differences were also noted between hosting friends versus hosting relatives, and it was also determined that the destination types impact VFR hosting. Such findings have provided valuable insights regarding the economic and social benefits of promoting local marketing campaign targeting local residents.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Yousuf, Mohammad
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel is a significant form of travel in terms of global travel numbers. However, research on VFR travel is small relative to its size. In particular, research regarding the role of hosts of VFR travellers in shaping their trips including travel decisions and activities has been examined by few researchers. No previous research explored the differences in hosting between immigrant and non-immigrant local residents despite VFR travel being commonly associated with migration in existing literature. Before this research, the differences between hosting friends and relatives had been neglected, resulting in VFR hosts being treated as one homogenous group. Previous research also failed to empirically test the influence of destination on the hosting of VFRs. Thus, this is the first study examining the hosting of VFRs through combining how migration, relationship types, and destination types, impact VFR travel experiences for hosts. Given that VFR travel is a significant component of Australia’s visitor numbers, and that it comprises a large immigrant population, Australia is a suitable setting for this study. Considering the multi-dimensional elements in the study, the “VFR Whole Tourism Systems Model” was used as the conceptual model for this study. Quantitative research was conducted nationally with 331 residents, collected through an online survey, assessing the differences and similarities in hosting behaviours. Qualitative research was undertaken through in-depth interviews with 34 local residents in three contrasting destinations in Victoria understanding the social interactions between VFR hosts and their visiting friends/relatives. Significant differences were found between immigrants and nonimmigrants regarding attracting VFRs and hosting experiences. Differences were also noted between hosting friends versus hosting relatives, and it was also determined that the destination types impact VFR hosting. Such findings have provided valuable insights regarding the economic and social benefits of promoting local marketing campaign targeting local residents.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Voices from the margins : A critical ethnography of conflict in female friendship in a regional Australian school
- Authors: Pappaluca, Kimberly
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The way that interpersonal conflict is displayed and navigated is informed by broader discourses about the nature of gender roles, gender expectations, and understandings of what it means to be a girl in regional Australia. This research explores the role of conflict in everyday school interactions for the female students of one regional secondary school in the state of Victoria, Australia. For these female students, the nature of their interpersonal conflict was either widely discussed and scrutinised by teachers, adults and other students, or ignored and silenced by the same groups. For the young women of Rural Valley, their experience of conflict is intrinsically tied to the cultural spaces and places they occupy. In this thesis, young women’s voices and experiences of conflict in a regional secondary school are considered through a critical perspective situated within critical theory. A critical ethnography has been conducted drawing upon the notion of horizontal violence to develop understandings of the nature of conflict as experienced by young women from regional Australia. In order to illuminate the lived experiences of conflict for young women, narrative portraiture is used as a representational method to deconstruct traditional views of ethnographic writing. In doing so, this research provides a counter-narrative to dominant discourses about how young women experience and manage conflict and how they navigate their relationships when conflict arises. This research is significant because it challenges stereotypical notions of what conflict means to young girls in a regional secondary school context. The findings of this study highlight that young women use group-specific strategies to negotiate friendships and confront structural inequalities of a hegemonic education system. This research ultimately advocates for understandings of conflict that move away from deficit discourses to advance discussions concerned with the gendered nature of violence within Australian society.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Pappaluca, Kimberly
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The way that interpersonal conflict is displayed and navigated is informed by broader discourses about the nature of gender roles, gender expectations, and understandings of what it means to be a girl in regional Australia. This research explores the role of conflict in everyday school interactions for the female students of one regional secondary school in the state of Victoria, Australia. For these female students, the nature of their interpersonal conflict was either widely discussed and scrutinised by teachers, adults and other students, or ignored and silenced by the same groups. For the young women of Rural Valley, their experience of conflict is intrinsically tied to the cultural spaces and places they occupy. In this thesis, young women’s voices and experiences of conflict in a regional secondary school are considered through a critical perspective situated within critical theory. A critical ethnography has been conducted drawing upon the notion of horizontal violence to develop understandings of the nature of conflict as experienced by young women from regional Australia. In order to illuminate the lived experiences of conflict for young women, narrative portraiture is used as a representational method to deconstruct traditional views of ethnographic writing. In doing so, this research provides a counter-narrative to dominant discourses about how young women experience and manage conflict and how they navigate their relationships when conflict arises. This research is significant because it challenges stereotypical notions of what conflict means to young girls in a regional secondary school context. The findings of this study highlight that young women use group-specific strategies to negotiate friendships and confront structural inequalities of a hegemonic education system. This research ultimately advocates for understandings of conflict that move away from deficit discourses to advance discussions concerned with the gendered nature of violence within Australian society.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
What is the perceived effectiveness of fully on-the-job training for carpentry apprenticeships?
- Authors: Wright, Barry
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This study examined the training experiences of apprentices and employers who were involved in fully on-the-job training in the building and construction trades, specifically in carpentry. Fully on-the-job training, in apprenticeship, means that all training is delivered at the workplace rather than in an institution or training centre and must include structured training arrangements. The apprentice acquires competence through the performance of normal work duties, with some self-managed or facilitated training, as well as receiving support from the appointed Registered Training Organisation (RTO) trainer or trainers, which is all undertaken on the worksite. In the building and construction trades, carpentry apprentices in Australia must gain skills and knowledge over an extensive range of competencies to achieve their qualification. Traditional construction trade jobs have become more specialised over the past 20 years, which could limit the learning activities in terms of tasks and knowledge, resulting in a restricted range of skills. The project investigates this issue and other possible challenges of this delivery model. This qualitative research project involved individual apprentice and employer interviews together with key stakeholder focus group sessions. The research question was: What is the perceived effectiveness of fully on-the-job training for carpentry apprenticeships? Findings included people’s views regarding the advantages, disadvantages, the learning impacts and the outcomes of fully on-the-job training and ways of compensating for limited job roles.
- Description: Masters by Research
- Authors: Wright, Barry
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This study examined the training experiences of apprentices and employers who were involved in fully on-the-job training in the building and construction trades, specifically in carpentry. Fully on-the-job training, in apprenticeship, means that all training is delivered at the workplace rather than in an institution or training centre and must include structured training arrangements. The apprentice acquires competence through the performance of normal work duties, with some self-managed or facilitated training, as well as receiving support from the appointed Registered Training Organisation (RTO) trainer or trainers, which is all undertaken on the worksite. In the building and construction trades, carpentry apprentices in Australia must gain skills and knowledge over an extensive range of competencies to achieve their qualification. Traditional construction trade jobs have become more specialised over the past 20 years, which could limit the learning activities in terms of tasks and knowledge, resulting in a restricted range of skills. The project investigates this issue and other possible challenges of this delivery model. This qualitative research project involved individual apprentice and employer interviews together with key stakeholder focus group sessions. The research question was: What is the perceived effectiveness of fully on-the-job training for carpentry apprenticeships? Findings included people’s views regarding the advantages, disadvantages, the learning impacts and the outcomes of fully on-the-job training and ways of compensating for limited job roles.
- Description: Masters by Research
Wild deer as potential reservoirs of economically important gastrointestinal parasites in South Eastern Australia
- Authors: Panozzo, Jacqueline
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Gastrointestinal (GI) parasite infection of ruminant livestock can be a source of significant economic loss for farmers. Appropriate animal management and drug treatments can reduce the transmission and subsequent effect of GI parasite infections on ruminant livestock productivity. However, transmission of infection from outside sources, such as wildlife, can make GI parasite control measures in livestock ineffective. In Australia, particularly Victoria, the large population of wild deer now represents a significant biosecurity risk due to the potential ability of economically important GI parasites of livestock to infect deer. This thesis aimed to investigate the presence of GI parasites in three species of Victorian wild deer (fallow, hog and sambar) by screening deer faecal samples through the traditional parasitology technique of faecal egg count (FEC) and through DNA-based molecular techniques of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Screening wild deer faecal samples for strongyle parasites via FEC resulted in 15.1% positive samples. DNA based techniques were significantly more sensitive than FEC, with 60.0% deer faecal samples positive for strongyles. NGS detected DNA of eleven different strongyle species in wild deer faecal samples, including the economically important parasite species of livestock of O. ostertagi, O. leptospicularis, Haemonchus spp., O. radiatum, Trichostrongylus spp. and C. oncophora. Infection with the economically important trematode parasite of livestock, Fasciola hepatica, was also confirmed by worm recovery in hog deer. The same economically important strongyle species were also detected in faecal samples from wild deer co-grazing with cattle. Collectively, this study has indicated that wild deer in Victoria may be significant reservoirs of parasitic diseases of livestock and warrants further investigation.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Panozzo, Jacqueline
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Gastrointestinal (GI) parasite infection of ruminant livestock can be a source of significant economic loss for farmers. Appropriate animal management and drug treatments can reduce the transmission and subsequent effect of GI parasite infections on ruminant livestock productivity. However, transmission of infection from outside sources, such as wildlife, can make GI parasite control measures in livestock ineffective. In Australia, particularly Victoria, the large population of wild deer now represents a significant biosecurity risk due to the potential ability of economically important GI parasites of livestock to infect deer. This thesis aimed to investigate the presence of GI parasites in three species of Victorian wild deer (fallow, hog and sambar) by screening deer faecal samples through the traditional parasitology technique of faecal egg count (FEC) and through DNA-based molecular techniques of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Screening wild deer faecal samples for strongyle parasites via FEC resulted in 15.1% positive samples. DNA based techniques were significantly more sensitive than FEC, with 60.0% deer faecal samples positive for strongyles. NGS detected DNA of eleven different strongyle species in wild deer faecal samples, including the economically important parasite species of livestock of O. ostertagi, O. leptospicularis, Haemonchus spp., O. radiatum, Trichostrongylus spp. and C. oncophora. Infection with the economically important trematode parasite of livestock, Fasciola hepatica, was also confirmed by worm recovery in hog deer. The same economically important strongyle species were also detected in faecal samples from wild deer co-grazing with cattle. Collectively, this study has indicated that wild deer in Victoria may be significant reservoirs of parasitic diseases of livestock and warrants further investigation.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
10 Days in 2009 : An auto-ethnographical study of "Communical Resistance" taken by international students in Australia
- Authors: Saunders, Owen
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The early millennium saw the rise of an educational system in Australia where unchartered private educational provider institutions teach degree courses via contractual arrangements with parent universities. This study examines an incident where students at several such institutions collectively declined to submit a required online assessment piece to the possible detriment of the successful completion of their degrees. The research questions that arose from this incident were; what went wrong; how can we understand what happened here; and, what does this mean for me personally? Students’ perceptions of an online assessment piece are examined in the study of this incident. The study covers identical units offered at six private providers in three different Australian cities and the parent university. The students at the private institutions were all international students; those at the parent were a mix of international and domestic students. The assessment piece, a mandatory requirement for completion of the degree, was given to a collective cohort of approximately 400 students. The majority of students from four of the private institutions declined to submit the assessment piece. Initial research indicated that the students were uncomfortable with the format of a new blended-learning delivery introduced that year (2009). Upon deeper investigation, it was revealed that the declination to submit was, in fact, a complex situation involving conflicts, cultural clashes, social upheaval, and legislative misunderstandings that combined to create an environment where the students felt they had no option but to openly protest against perceived injustices. The author of this work is also the educator at the centre of this event, thus the thesis has been written in an auto-ethnographical method, viewed through the educator’s lens. To protect sensitive information, pseudonyms have been used and identifying details removed. The parent university at the centre of the event, named Newgarth University, is fictitious. Auto-ethnography has been used to present the empirical data (quantitative and qualitative), and the reader will be taken through a “detective story” that reveals various characters, plots, and protest. The study documents a previously unrecorded incident in the international student education industry in Australia. The study offers explanations as to why this incident occurred and adds to the cumulative knowledge of the international student education industry in Australia by offering suggestions to prevent such incidents occurring again. The study demonstrates that when a group of students are placed in an unfamiliar uncomfortable environment with little or no access to pastoral care or welfare services, they will create support groups of allegiance to protect their interests. These allegiance groups will employ tried and tested methods of communal resistance practised by the dominant culture of that field of endeavour.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Saunders, Owen
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The early millennium saw the rise of an educational system in Australia where unchartered private educational provider institutions teach degree courses via contractual arrangements with parent universities. This study examines an incident where students at several such institutions collectively declined to submit a required online assessment piece to the possible detriment of the successful completion of their degrees. The research questions that arose from this incident were; what went wrong; how can we understand what happened here; and, what does this mean for me personally? Students’ perceptions of an online assessment piece are examined in the study of this incident. The study covers identical units offered at six private providers in three different Australian cities and the parent university. The students at the private institutions were all international students; those at the parent were a mix of international and domestic students. The assessment piece, a mandatory requirement for completion of the degree, was given to a collective cohort of approximately 400 students. The majority of students from four of the private institutions declined to submit the assessment piece. Initial research indicated that the students were uncomfortable with the format of a new blended-learning delivery introduced that year (2009). Upon deeper investigation, it was revealed that the declination to submit was, in fact, a complex situation involving conflicts, cultural clashes, social upheaval, and legislative misunderstandings that combined to create an environment where the students felt they had no option but to openly protest against perceived injustices. The author of this work is also the educator at the centre of this event, thus the thesis has been written in an auto-ethnographical method, viewed through the educator’s lens. To protect sensitive information, pseudonyms have been used and identifying details removed. The parent university at the centre of the event, named Newgarth University, is fictitious. Auto-ethnography has been used to present the empirical data (quantitative and qualitative), and the reader will be taken through a “detective story” that reveals various characters, plots, and protest. The study documents a previously unrecorded incident in the international student education industry in Australia. The study offers explanations as to why this incident occurred and adds to the cumulative knowledge of the international student education industry in Australia by offering suggestions to prevent such incidents occurring again. The study demonstrates that when a group of students are placed in an unfamiliar uncomfortable environment with little or no access to pastoral care or welfare services, they will create support groups of allegiance to protect their interests. These allegiance groups will employ tried and tested methods of communal resistance practised by the dominant culture of that field of endeavour.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
A financial stress index to model and forecast financial stress in Australia
- Authors: Mukulu, Sandra
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The series of financial crises that cascaded through and rocked much of the world over the past decade created opportunities to draw meaning from the pattern of countries succumbing to crisis and those who appear to be wholly or partially immune. This thesis examines the case of Australia, a developed country that has seldom experienced an endogenous crisis in the last few decades, but has experienced crisis by contagion. This study designs a financial stress index to measure and forecast the health of the Australian economy and proposes a custom-made stress index to: Gauge the potential for a crisis; and Signal when a timely intervention may minimise fear and contagion losses in the Australian financial market. Financial and economic data is used to design indicators for stress in the banking sector and equity, currency and bond markets. Further, this study explores how movements in equity markets of key trading partners of Australia can be used to predict movements in the Australian equity market. The variance-equal weights (VEW) and principal components approach (PCA) are used to subsume 22 stress indicators into a composite stress index. The VEW and PCA stress indexes were examined to determine monitoring and their forecasting capabilities. It was found that the VEW stress index performed better than the PCA stress index, because it provided more consistent estimates for the level of Australian financial stress. Although, both models show some promise, each model fell short of giving adequate forecasts in financial stress especially at the peak time of the 2007-2009 GFC. Thus, more research is needed to understand the complex nature of financial crisis, how crises develop and the techniques that can be used to predict the onset of financial crises.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Mukulu, Sandra
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The series of financial crises that cascaded through and rocked much of the world over the past decade created opportunities to draw meaning from the pattern of countries succumbing to crisis and those who appear to be wholly or partially immune. This thesis examines the case of Australia, a developed country that has seldom experienced an endogenous crisis in the last few decades, but has experienced crisis by contagion. This study designs a financial stress index to measure and forecast the health of the Australian economy and proposes a custom-made stress index to: Gauge the potential for a crisis; and Signal when a timely intervention may minimise fear and contagion losses in the Australian financial market. Financial and economic data is used to design indicators for stress in the banking sector and equity, currency and bond markets. Further, this study explores how movements in equity markets of key trading partners of Australia can be used to predict movements in the Australian equity market. The variance-equal weights (VEW) and principal components approach (PCA) are used to subsume 22 stress indicators into a composite stress index. The VEW and PCA stress indexes were examined to determine monitoring and their forecasting capabilities. It was found that the VEW stress index performed better than the PCA stress index, because it provided more consistent estimates for the level of Australian financial stress. Although, both models show some promise, each model fell short of giving adequate forecasts in financial stress especially at the peak time of the 2007-2009 GFC. Thus, more research is needed to understand the complex nature of financial crisis, how crises develop and the techniques that can be used to predict the onset of financial crises.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
A kinship of creatures : Exploring the mutuality of lived experience
- Authors: Ní Shíocháin, Máirín
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: This practice-led research explores questions of interspecies empathy, mutuality and kinship within the context of visual art. The study is situated broadly within the cross-disciplinary field of Animal Studies and espouses an animal advocacy stance within contemporary arts practice. It addresses concerns about the role of animals in contemporary art and proposes that creating art should not subordinate the ethical treatment of animals. The parameters of this investigation are defined by empathy theory, or Einfühlung. This was deemed an appropriate foundation to underpin the research given its historical association with aesthetic perceptions of works of art as well as empathic responses to other living entities including non-humans. Einfühlung and other contributing conceptual frameworks, including compassionate conservation and animal individuality are thoroughly evaluated in a review of relevant literature. Current arts practice in which the ‘animal’ plays a role is critically examined. The consequences for animals in contemporary art are more often malign than benign and this contrasts with progressive thinking about animal sentience in other areas of philosophical research. In a distillation of the above theoretical concepts, the research further references issues relating to selective application of care for non-human animals, in which the level of consideration is often dependent on human perceptions of the creatures’ status, for example native or introduced animals. The results of the research were revealed through a body of practical work including sculpture, collage, prints and artists’ books which depict a variety of animals and birds, both native and non-native, encountered as part of everyday experience; a visual exploration in which human-perspective classification of animals does not play a part.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Accurate and efficient clustering algorithms for very large data sets
- Authors: Quddus, Syed
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The ability to mine and extract useful information from large data sets is a common concern for organizations. Data over the internet is rapidly increasing and the importance of development of new approaches to collect, store and mine large amounts of data is significantly increasing. Clustering is one of the main tasks in data mining. Many clustering algorithms have been proposed but there are still clustering problems that have not been addressed in depth especially the clustering problems in large data sets. Clustering in large data sets is important in many applications and such applications include network intrusion detection systems, fraud detection in banking systems, air traffic control, web logs, sensor networks, social networks and bioinformatics. Data sets in these applications contain from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of data points and they may contain hundreds or thousands of attributes. Recent developments in computer hardware allows to store in random access memory and repeatedly read data sets with hundreds of thousands and even millions of data points. This makes possible the use of existing clustering algorithms in such data sets. However, these algorithms require a prohibitively large CPU time and fail to produce an accurate solution. Therefore, it is important to develop clustering algorithms which are accurate and can provide real time clustering in such data sets. This is especially important in a big data era. The aim of this PhD study is to develop accurate and real time algorithms for clustering in very large data sets containing hundreds of thousands and millions of data points. Such algorithms are developed based on the combination of heuristic algorithms with the incremental approach. These algorithms also involve a special procedure to identify dense areas in a data set and compute a subset most informative representative data points in order to decrease the size of a data set. It is the aim of this PhD study to develop the center-based clustering algorithms. The success of these algorithms strongly depends on the choice of starting cluster centers. Different procedures are proposed to generate such centers. Special procedures are designed to identify the most promising starting cluster centers and to restrict their number. New clustering algorithms are evaluated using large data sets available in public domains. Their results will be compared with those obtained using several existing center-based clustering algorithms.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Quddus, Syed
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The ability to mine and extract useful information from large data sets is a common concern for organizations. Data over the internet is rapidly increasing and the importance of development of new approaches to collect, store and mine large amounts of data is significantly increasing. Clustering is one of the main tasks in data mining. Many clustering algorithms have been proposed but there are still clustering problems that have not been addressed in depth especially the clustering problems in large data sets. Clustering in large data sets is important in many applications and such applications include network intrusion detection systems, fraud detection in banking systems, air traffic control, web logs, sensor networks, social networks and bioinformatics. Data sets in these applications contain from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of data points and they may contain hundreds or thousands of attributes. Recent developments in computer hardware allows to store in random access memory and repeatedly read data sets with hundreds of thousands and even millions of data points. This makes possible the use of existing clustering algorithms in such data sets. However, these algorithms require a prohibitively large CPU time and fail to produce an accurate solution. Therefore, it is important to develop clustering algorithms which are accurate and can provide real time clustering in such data sets. This is especially important in a big data era. The aim of this PhD study is to develop accurate and real time algorithms for clustering in very large data sets containing hundreds of thousands and millions of data points. Such algorithms are developed based on the combination of heuristic algorithms with the incremental approach. These algorithms also involve a special procedure to identify dense areas in a data set and compute a subset most informative representative data points in order to decrease the size of a data set. It is the aim of this PhD study to develop the center-based clustering algorithms. The success of these algorithms strongly depends on the choice of starting cluster centers. Different procedures are proposed to generate such centers. Special procedures are designed to identify the most promising starting cluster centers and to restrict their number. New clustering algorithms are evaluated using large data sets available in public domains. Their results will be compared with those obtained using several existing center-based clustering algorithms.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Algae-based models to configure consumptive flows for ecological benefit in the highly regulated MacKenzie River, south-east Australia
- Authors: Atazadeh, Ehsan
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Many river ecosystems, especially those in arid and semi-arid, are experiencing severe stress due to the increasing demands on the ecosystem services they provide, coupled with anthropogenic catchment impacts and factors associated with climate change and weather extremes. The flow regime of the Mackenzie River was substantially modified since the construction of a water supply reservoir on its upper reach in 1887. Water is now regulated at several locations downstream of the reservoir, creating a substantially modified flow regime, impacting key environmental values of the river. The river receives an environmental flow allocation and the river channel is used to transfer water dedicated for consumptive use. Water Quality and algal monitoring formed the basis of models that were developed evaluate the ecological condition of this working river under base flow and before, during and after freshes that deliver water to users. Samples of diatoms, soft algae and measurements of water quality were analysed at ten sampling sites for three years (between February 2012 and November 2014) along the MacKenzie River in different seasons and under different flow regimes to understand the spatial and temporal variation in the relationship between algal communities and water quality, and so stream condition. Baseline information on algal communities and water quality was collected during base flow conditions, while experiments on the effect of water releases on algal communities were based on flow regime variations (manipulated flow regimes), specifically on the algae community structure, water quality and ecosystem function. These comprised cease to flow (0 ML/day), low flows (10-15 ML/day), freshes (35-40 ML/day) and high flow (55ML/day) conditions. Physical and chemical characteristics of water, including pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen, phosphorus and cations and anions were measured. Biological properties of the algal periphyton communities, including dry mass, ash-free dry mass, chlorophyll-a concentration and species composition, were also measured. Furthermore, the DSIAR (Diatom Species Index for Australian Rivers) score was calculated to classify the condition of the waterway. The results showed the algal species composition changed under different flow regimes along the river. The sensitivity of diatoms to changes in water quality and flow rates deemed them useful indicators of river condition. The results indicated that flows tended to improve DSIAR scores and diatoms versus green algae and cyanobacteria biomass measures in the mid and lower reaches. The biological properties of the algal periphyton communities, and the species composition, varied between sites under different flow regimes. The accumulation of dry mass (not ash-free) decreased downstream during freshes, however the accumulation of AFDM (ash-free dry mass) gradually increased downstream. The results showed that the concentration of chlorophyll-a decreased downstream under water release events. The Pearson’s correlation matrix revealed flow regimes had a significant influence on the water chemistry characteristics and biological properties. The principal component analysis (PCA) illustrated that upstream species of algae were associated with low pH and temperature and higher DO. In contrast downstream species were associated with higher turbidity, TSS, conductivity, TN, and TDS. The correspondence analysis (CA) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) showed a split between algal assemblages during water release events in comparison with before and after water release. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) identified five significant environmental variables including pH, TSS, Turbidity, TN and TP explaining algal assemblage and structure along the river. The collected data were used to develop ecological response models based on algae communities living under different flow regimes in the MacKenzie River. The algae-based models across a hydraulic gradient may be useful in water management efforts to find sustainable solutions in the river by balancing environmental and human values. The empirical data and models showed the lower reaches of the river to be in poor condition under low flows, but this condition improved under flows of 35 ML/day, as indicated by the reduction in green algae and cyanobacteria and improvement in DSIAR scores. The results are presented to tailor discharge and duration of the river flows by amalgamation of consumptive and environmental flows to improve the condition of the stream thereby supplementing the flows dedicated to environmental outcomes. Ultimately the findings can be used by management to configure consumptive flows to enhance the for ecological condition of the MacKenzie River.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Atazadeh, Ehsan
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Many river ecosystems, especially those in arid and semi-arid, are experiencing severe stress due to the increasing demands on the ecosystem services they provide, coupled with anthropogenic catchment impacts and factors associated with climate change and weather extremes. The flow regime of the Mackenzie River was substantially modified since the construction of a water supply reservoir on its upper reach in 1887. Water is now regulated at several locations downstream of the reservoir, creating a substantially modified flow regime, impacting key environmental values of the river. The river receives an environmental flow allocation and the river channel is used to transfer water dedicated for consumptive use. Water Quality and algal monitoring formed the basis of models that were developed evaluate the ecological condition of this working river under base flow and before, during and after freshes that deliver water to users. Samples of diatoms, soft algae and measurements of water quality were analysed at ten sampling sites for three years (between February 2012 and November 2014) along the MacKenzie River in different seasons and under different flow regimes to understand the spatial and temporal variation in the relationship between algal communities and water quality, and so stream condition. Baseline information on algal communities and water quality was collected during base flow conditions, while experiments on the effect of water releases on algal communities were based on flow regime variations (manipulated flow regimes), specifically on the algae community structure, water quality and ecosystem function. These comprised cease to flow (0 ML/day), low flows (10-15 ML/day), freshes (35-40 ML/day) and high flow (55ML/day) conditions. Physical and chemical characteristics of water, including pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen, phosphorus and cations and anions were measured. Biological properties of the algal periphyton communities, including dry mass, ash-free dry mass, chlorophyll-a concentration and species composition, were also measured. Furthermore, the DSIAR (Diatom Species Index for Australian Rivers) score was calculated to classify the condition of the waterway. The results showed the algal species composition changed under different flow regimes along the river. The sensitivity of diatoms to changes in water quality and flow rates deemed them useful indicators of river condition. The results indicated that flows tended to improve DSIAR scores and diatoms versus green algae and cyanobacteria biomass measures in the mid and lower reaches. The biological properties of the algal periphyton communities, and the species composition, varied between sites under different flow regimes. The accumulation of dry mass (not ash-free) decreased downstream during freshes, however the accumulation of AFDM (ash-free dry mass) gradually increased downstream. The results showed that the concentration of chlorophyll-a decreased downstream under water release events. The Pearson’s correlation matrix revealed flow regimes had a significant influence on the water chemistry characteristics and biological properties. The principal component analysis (PCA) illustrated that upstream species of algae were associated with low pH and temperature and higher DO. In contrast downstream species were associated with higher turbidity, TSS, conductivity, TN, and TDS. The correspondence analysis (CA) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) showed a split between algal assemblages during water release events in comparison with before and after water release. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) identified five significant environmental variables including pH, TSS, Turbidity, TN and TP explaining algal assemblage and structure along the river. The collected data were used to develop ecological response models based on algae communities living under different flow regimes in the MacKenzie River. The algae-based models across a hydraulic gradient may be useful in water management efforts to find sustainable solutions in the river by balancing environmental and human values. The empirical data and models showed the lower reaches of the river to be in poor condition under low flows, but this condition improved under flows of 35 ML/day, as indicated by the reduction in green algae and cyanobacteria and improvement in DSIAR scores. The results are presented to tailor discharge and duration of the river flows by amalgamation of consumptive and environmental flows to improve the condition of the stream thereby supplementing the flows dedicated to environmental outcomes. Ultimately the findings can be used by management to configure consumptive flows to enhance the for ecological condition of the MacKenzie River.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Analysis of mobile banking malware on the Android operating system
- Xu, Dan
- Authors: Xu, Dan
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: The Android platform is the fastest growing smartphone operating system to date. Consequently, malware on Android OS has been increasing at an alarming rate. Similar to Windows-based malware, Android malware also have different families which are responsible for different malicious activities. In this thesis, we focused on one particular group of Android malware which is designed to target banks and financial institutions. These banking malware use different techniques to attack bank clients and banking servers. A coherent framework to analyse the behaviour of these malware needs to be developed, so the impact of theirs attacks could be minimised. This thesis investigates a systematic analysis to understand these malware’s behaviour and distribution method. From public and private sources, 37 samples of banking malware have been collected which represent eight major Android Banking malware families. In addition, we also analysed malware source code by reverse engineering all malware samples. As a result of analysis, a clear overview and better understanding of mobile banking malware on Android OS was established. The results indicated that Android banking malware is evolving in technique and will become more difficult to analyse in the future.
- Description: Masters by Research
- Authors: Xu, Dan
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: The Android platform is the fastest growing smartphone operating system to date. Consequently, malware on Android OS has been increasing at an alarming rate. Similar to Windows-based malware, Android malware also have different families which are responsible for different malicious activities. In this thesis, we focused on one particular group of Android malware which is designed to target banks and financial institutions. These banking malware use different techniques to attack bank clients and banking servers. A coherent framework to analyse the behaviour of these malware needs to be developed, so the impact of theirs attacks could be minimised. This thesis investigates a systematic analysis to understand these malware’s behaviour and distribution method. From public and private sources, 37 samples of banking malware have been collected which represent eight major Android Banking malware families. In addition, we also analysed malware source code by reverse engineering all malware samples. As a result of analysis, a clear overview and better understanding of mobile banking malware on Android OS was established. The results indicated that Android banking malware is evolving in technique and will become more difficult to analyse in the future.
- Description: Masters by Research
Cardiovascular data analytics for real time patient monitoring
- Authors: Allami, Ragheed
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Improvements in wearable sensor devices make it possible to constantly monitor physiological parameters such as electrocardiograph (ECG) signals for long periods. Remote patient monitoring with wearable sensors has an important role to play in health care, particularly given the prevalence of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease (CVD)—one of the prominent causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Approximately 4.2 million Australians suffer from long-term CVD with approximately one death every 12 minutes. The assessment of ECG features, especially heart rate variability (HRV), represents a non-invasive technique which provides an indication of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) function. Conditions such as sudden cardiac death, hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, ischaemia, and coronary heart disease can be detected from HRV analysis. In addition, the analysis of ECG features can also be used to diagnose many types of life-threatening arrhythmias, including ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Non-cardiac conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, irritable bowel syndrome, dyspepsia, anorexia nervosa, anxiety, and major depressive disorder have also been shown to be associated with HRV. The analysis of ECG features from real time ECG signals generated from wearable sensors provides distinctive challenges. The sensors that receive and process the signals have limited power, storage and processing capacity. Consequently, algorithms that process ECG signals need to be lightweight, use minimal storage resources and accurately detect abnormalities so that alarms can be raised. The existing literature details only a few algorithms which operate within the constraints of wearable sensor networks. This research presents four novel techniques that enable ECG signals to be processed within the limitations of resource constraints on devices to detect some key abnormalities in heart function. - The first technique is a novel real-time ECG data reduction algorithm, which detects and transmits only those key points that are critical for the generation of ECG features for diagnoses. - The second technique accurately predicts the five-minute HRV measure using only three minutes of data with an algorithm that executes in real-time using minimal computational resources. - The third technique introduces a real-time ECG feature recognition system that can be applied to diagnose life threatening conditions such as premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). - The fourth technique advances a classification algorithm to enhance the performance of automated ECG classification to determine arrhythmic heart beats based on noisy ECG signals. The four novel techniques are evaluated in comparison with benchmark algorithms for each task on the standard MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database and with data generated from patients in a major hospital using Shimmer3 wearable ECG sensors. The four techniques are integrated to demonstrate that remote patient monitoring of ECG using HRV and ECG features is feasible in real time using minimal computational resources. The evaluation show that the ECG reduction algorithm is significantly better than existing algorithms that can be applied within sensor nodes, such as time-domain methods, transformation methods and compressed sensing methods. Furthermore, the proposed ECG reduction is found to be computationally less complex for resource constrained sensors and achieves higher compression ratios than existing algorithms. The prediction of a common HRV measure, the five-minute standard deviation of inter-beat variations (SDNN) and the accurate detection of PVC beats was achieved using a Count Data Model, combined with a Poisson-generated function from three-minute ECG recordings. This was achieved with minimal computational resources and was well suited to remote patient monitoring with wearable sensors. The PVC beats detection was implemented using the same count data model together with knowledge-based rules derived from clinical knowledge. A real-time cardiac patient monitoring system was implemented using an ECG sensor and smartphone to detect PVC beats within a few seconds using artificial neural networks (ANN), and it was proven to provide highly accurate results. The automated detection and classification were implemented using a new wrapper-based hybrid approach that utilized t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding (t-SNE) in combination with self-organizing maps (SOM) to improve classification performance. The t-SNE-SOM hybrid resulted in improved sensitivity, specificity and accuracy compared to most common hybrid methods in the presence of noise. It also provided a better, more accurate identification for the presence of many types of arrhythmias from the ECG recordings, leading to a more timely diagnosis and treatment outcome.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Allami, Ragheed
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Improvements in wearable sensor devices make it possible to constantly monitor physiological parameters such as electrocardiograph (ECG) signals for long periods. Remote patient monitoring with wearable sensors has an important role to play in health care, particularly given the prevalence of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease (CVD)—one of the prominent causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Approximately 4.2 million Australians suffer from long-term CVD with approximately one death every 12 minutes. The assessment of ECG features, especially heart rate variability (HRV), represents a non-invasive technique which provides an indication of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) function. Conditions such as sudden cardiac death, hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, ischaemia, and coronary heart disease can be detected from HRV analysis. In addition, the analysis of ECG features can also be used to diagnose many types of life-threatening arrhythmias, including ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Non-cardiac conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, irritable bowel syndrome, dyspepsia, anorexia nervosa, anxiety, and major depressive disorder have also been shown to be associated with HRV. The analysis of ECG features from real time ECG signals generated from wearable sensors provides distinctive challenges. The sensors that receive and process the signals have limited power, storage and processing capacity. Consequently, algorithms that process ECG signals need to be lightweight, use minimal storage resources and accurately detect abnormalities so that alarms can be raised. The existing literature details only a few algorithms which operate within the constraints of wearable sensor networks. This research presents four novel techniques that enable ECG signals to be processed within the limitations of resource constraints on devices to detect some key abnormalities in heart function. - The first technique is a novel real-time ECG data reduction algorithm, which detects and transmits only those key points that are critical for the generation of ECG features for diagnoses. - The second technique accurately predicts the five-minute HRV measure using only three minutes of data with an algorithm that executes in real-time using minimal computational resources. - The third technique introduces a real-time ECG feature recognition system that can be applied to diagnose life threatening conditions such as premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). - The fourth technique advances a classification algorithm to enhance the performance of automated ECG classification to determine arrhythmic heart beats based on noisy ECG signals. The four novel techniques are evaluated in comparison with benchmark algorithms for each task on the standard MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database and with data generated from patients in a major hospital using Shimmer3 wearable ECG sensors. The four techniques are integrated to demonstrate that remote patient monitoring of ECG using HRV and ECG features is feasible in real time using minimal computational resources. The evaluation show that the ECG reduction algorithm is significantly better than existing algorithms that can be applied within sensor nodes, such as time-domain methods, transformation methods and compressed sensing methods. Furthermore, the proposed ECG reduction is found to be computationally less complex for resource constrained sensors and achieves higher compression ratios than existing algorithms. The prediction of a common HRV measure, the five-minute standard deviation of inter-beat variations (SDNN) and the accurate detection of PVC beats was achieved using a Count Data Model, combined with a Poisson-generated function from three-minute ECG recordings. This was achieved with minimal computational resources and was well suited to remote patient monitoring with wearable sensors. The PVC beats detection was implemented using the same count data model together with knowledge-based rules derived from clinical knowledge. A real-time cardiac patient monitoring system was implemented using an ECG sensor and smartphone to detect PVC beats within a few seconds using artificial neural networks (ANN), and it was proven to provide highly accurate results. The automated detection and classification were implemented using a new wrapper-based hybrid approach that utilized t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding (t-SNE) in combination with self-organizing maps (SOM) to improve classification performance. The t-SNE-SOM hybrid resulted in improved sensitivity, specificity and accuracy compared to most common hybrid methods in the presence of noise. It also provided a better, more accurate identification for the presence of many types of arrhythmias from the ECG recordings, leading to a more timely diagnosis and treatment outcome.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Contemporary applications of Fresco : The narrative of the artist
- Authors: Chappell, Annette
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Fresco is a vehicle for powerful and enduring forms of cultural storytelling; it references universal narrative themes. The research objective of this project is to achieve a contemporary application of fresco through exploration and transgression of traditional material, pictorial forms and functions. In this transgression, the artist locates a personal narrative, through the immersive methods of autoethnographic inquiry and from the epistemological position of material thinking and production. The contemporary application of fresco is arrived at by interrogating the traditional methods, materials and intentions of fresco as recorded in fifteenth-century Europe and with reference to what other contemporary practitioners in this field have achieved. Materials knowledge and methods gained through on-site material conservation of lime plaster fresco is an impetus to this project and has engendered a focus on re-purposing and re-imagining the media in contemporary and personal expressions. The narrative of the artist is arrived at through materials thinking in fresco methodology, and through an interpretive autoethnographic analysis of a personal archive or studio text consisting of visual and textual material. The studio text is regarded as a unique ethnographic artefact of personal significance. The new term of ‘studio text’ for practice-led research is proposed to differentiate practice-led language and forms from the sociological or positivist terminology of ‘fieldwork notes’ or ‘data’. Autoethnographic methodology is disrupted to incorporate the indwelling practices of material thinking and immersive writing (ekphrasis) and drawing (enstasis). Through the integration of these methodologies, interpretations of the studio text are enacted concurrently with material production. Materials and motifs are selected for personal significance and resonance, and constructed as part or full frescoes. The material outcomes of this integration of methodologies are described as Visual Diaries and publicly exhibited. The documentation of integrated methodology in this project may contribute to emergent thinking in practice-led research.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Chappell, Annette
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Fresco is a vehicle for powerful and enduring forms of cultural storytelling; it references universal narrative themes. The research objective of this project is to achieve a contemporary application of fresco through exploration and transgression of traditional material, pictorial forms and functions. In this transgression, the artist locates a personal narrative, through the immersive methods of autoethnographic inquiry and from the epistemological position of material thinking and production. The contemporary application of fresco is arrived at by interrogating the traditional methods, materials and intentions of fresco as recorded in fifteenth-century Europe and with reference to what other contemporary practitioners in this field have achieved. Materials knowledge and methods gained through on-site material conservation of lime plaster fresco is an impetus to this project and has engendered a focus on re-purposing and re-imagining the media in contemporary and personal expressions. The narrative of the artist is arrived at through materials thinking in fresco methodology, and through an interpretive autoethnographic analysis of a personal archive or studio text consisting of visual and textual material. The studio text is regarded as a unique ethnographic artefact of personal significance. The new term of ‘studio text’ for practice-led research is proposed to differentiate practice-led language and forms from the sociological or positivist terminology of ‘fieldwork notes’ or ‘data’. Autoethnographic methodology is disrupted to incorporate the indwelling practices of material thinking and immersive writing (ekphrasis) and drawing (enstasis). Through the integration of these methodologies, interpretations of the studio text are enacted concurrently with material production. Materials and motifs are selected for personal significance and resonance, and constructed as part or full frescoes. The material outcomes of this integration of methodologies are described as Visual Diaries and publicly exhibited. The documentation of integrated methodology in this project may contribute to emergent thinking in practice-led research.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Create, curate, cooperate : Exploring the process of sport safety resource development
- Authors: Bekker, Sheree
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Sports injuries are a significant public health burden both in Australia, and worldwide. Preventing injuries in sports settings is thus an important public health goal. It is now generally accepted that sports injuries are, like other unintentional injuries, largely preventable. Yet intractable problems remain. Complexity theory is harnessed in this research as a means of understanding such problems. To provide new insights into the complexity of sports safety promotion, this research consisted of a qualitative case study design underpinned by constructivist assumptions. Study A documented sports injury prevention and safety promotion resources available from the websites of key sporting organisations. A thematic document analysis approach was used to identify and describe how many, and what types of, resources were available, as well as the sports injury prevention and safety promotion issues addressed. The findings of Study A suggest that sport settings have access to a proliferation of rival resources, which reflects a potentially inefficient and ineffective manner in which to influence policy/practice. Study B determined the process that key intermediary organisations used to develop and disseminate the resources identified in Study A. Interviews with key participants about organisational processes of knowledge translation were undertaken, and a qualitative description approach was used to examine their accounts. The findings of Study B suggest that intermediary organisations can, and do, take on knowledge translation roles in order to make research knowledge more relevant (timely, salient, actionable), accessible (formatted and available), and legitimate (credible) for end-users. A complexity approach was applied to this study to assist in recognising that open systems (stratification and fluidity), non-linearity (emergent properties and feedback loops), and improbability (demi-regularities and the ability to evolve, learn, and adapt) underscore sports safety. This study explicates and examines key insights and implications of adopting a complexity approach to the prevention of injury in sport settings.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bekker, Sheree
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Sports injuries are a significant public health burden both in Australia, and worldwide. Preventing injuries in sports settings is thus an important public health goal. It is now generally accepted that sports injuries are, like other unintentional injuries, largely preventable. Yet intractable problems remain. Complexity theory is harnessed in this research as a means of understanding such problems. To provide new insights into the complexity of sports safety promotion, this research consisted of a qualitative case study design underpinned by constructivist assumptions. Study A documented sports injury prevention and safety promotion resources available from the websites of key sporting organisations. A thematic document analysis approach was used to identify and describe how many, and what types of, resources were available, as well as the sports injury prevention and safety promotion issues addressed. The findings of Study A suggest that sport settings have access to a proliferation of rival resources, which reflects a potentially inefficient and ineffective manner in which to influence policy/practice. Study B determined the process that key intermediary organisations used to develop and disseminate the resources identified in Study A. Interviews with key participants about organisational processes of knowledge translation were undertaken, and a qualitative description approach was used to examine their accounts. The findings of Study B suggest that intermediary organisations can, and do, take on knowledge translation roles in order to make research knowledge more relevant (timely, salient, actionable), accessible (formatted and available), and legitimate (credible) for end-users. A complexity approach was applied to this study to assist in recognising that open systems (stratification and fluidity), non-linearity (emergent properties and feedback loops), and improbability (demi-regularities and the ability to evolve, learn, and adapt) underscore sports safety. This study explicates and examines key insights and implications of adopting a complexity approach to the prevention of injury in sport settings.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Design and modelling of the limaçon positive displacement gas expander
- Authors: Phung, Truong
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The limaçon positive displacement technology has been featured in a number of patents over the last 100 years. The technology offers a two-lobe rotor that slides and rotates in a rounded cavity so as to create a pair of variable-volume chambers suited for fluid processing. As such, it can be employed to manufacture gas expanders to extract work from low-grade heat or other heat resources. Positive displacement gas expanders are applied to small-scale power generation plants which can be used for a number of applications such as to improve the energy efficiency of existing thermal processes. This thesis features work undertaken to develop models to inform and enhance the design process such that an optimised limaçon machine is produced. The models developed in the thesis efficiently predict and characterise the performance of the limaçon gas expander irrespective of the working fluid used or the phase transformation that takes place during the working of the expander. The models developed are multiphysics in nature as they incorporate the vibration analysis of the apex seals with the thermodynamical differential description of the working medium together with the dynamical characterisation of an electro-mechanical control valve fitted to regulate the amount of fluid allowed into the working chamber. Chapter 1 starts with a problem statement that addresses the questions which the author aims to answer upon the completion of this project. The chapter offers a detailed background on the limaçon technology and where it falls in relation to other fluid processing machines. Chapter 1 is also a literature review which spans such aspects as:
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Phung, Truong
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The limaçon positive displacement technology has been featured in a number of patents over the last 100 years. The technology offers a two-lobe rotor that slides and rotates in a rounded cavity so as to create a pair of variable-volume chambers suited for fluid processing. As such, it can be employed to manufacture gas expanders to extract work from low-grade heat or other heat resources. Positive displacement gas expanders are applied to small-scale power generation plants which can be used for a number of applications such as to improve the energy efficiency of existing thermal processes. This thesis features work undertaken to develop models to inform and enhance the design process such that an optimised limaçon machine is produced. The models developed in the thesis efficiently predict and characterise the performance of the limaçon gas expander irrespective of the working fluid used or the phase transformation that takes place during the working of the expander. The models developed are multiphysics in nature as they incorporate the vibration analysis of the apex seals with the thermodynamical differential description of the working medium together with the dynamical characterisation of an electro-mechanical control valve fitted to regulate the amount of fluid allowed into the working chamber. Chapter 1 starts with a problem statement that addresses the questions which the author aims to answer upon the completion of this project. The chapter offers a detailed background on the limaçon technology and where it falls in relation to other fluid processing machines. Chapter 1 is also a literature review which spans such aspects as:
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Dr James Stewart : Irish doctor and philanthropist on the Ballarat goldfields
- Authors: Cousen, Nicola
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is the first in-depth biography of Dr James Stewart (1829-1906), an Ulster Presbyterian doctor who spent his prime years in Victoria between 1852 and 1869. It answers the question of who James Stewart was and why such an important actor in the history of Ballarat and colonial Victoria has been almost completely ignored by the historical record. The thesis explores the themes of identity and class by revealing the elements that shaped who Stewart was as well as his contributions to Ballarat and the colony through his medical work, civic duty, philanthropy and capitalist investment. Beginning with his early life in rural Ulster and medical education in Dublin, insight is provided into his emigration as a ship’s surgeon to the Ballarat goldfields in the context of the Irish diaspora. New light is thrown on the formative experience of ships’ surgeons and their role in the development of colonial medicine and civic duty; medical care available on the goldfields and during the events of the Eureka Stockade; and the professionalisation of medicine in colonial Victoria. In pursuing the biographical method advocated by Robert Rotberg, in the absence of personal records, it makes extensive use of newspapers and the archives of the institutions to which he contributed significantly. Interpretative and speculative methods are employed to carefully analyse his detailed will and obituaries. This study finds that Stewart’s flexible identity facilitated his involvement with a variety of community, class and social groups. Examination of his religious influences provides new understanding of Ulster Presbyterians and the Anglo-Irish in Victoria and challenges Patrick O’Farrell’s claim that the Anglo-Irish in Australia were right-wing conservatives. A major contributor to the development of Ballarat, a visionary and generous benefactor, James Stewart’s legacy continues to have an impact more than a century after his death.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Cousen, Nicola
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is the first in-depth biography of Dr James Stewart (1829-1906), an Ulster Presbyterian doctor who spent his prime years in Victoria between 1852 and 1869. It answers the question of who James Stewart was and why such an important actor in the history of Ballarat and colonial Victoria has been almost completely ignored by the historical record. The thesis explores the themes of identity and class by revealing the elements that shaped who Stewart was as well as his contributions to Ballarat and the colony through his medical work, civic duty, philanthropy and capitalist investment. Beginning with his early life in rural Ulster and medical education in Dublin, insight is provided into his emigration as a ship’s surgeon to the Ballarat goldfields in the context of the Irish diaspora. New light is thrown on the formative experience of ships’ surgeons and their role in the development of colonial medicine and civic duty; medical care available on the goldfields and during the events of the Eureka Stockade; and the professionalisation of medicine in colonial Victoria. In pursuing the biographical method advocated by Robert Rotberg, in the absence of personal records, it makes extensive use of newspapers and the archives of the institutions to which he contributed significantly. Interpretative and speculative methods are employed to carefully analyse his detailed will and obituaries. This study finds that Stewart’s flexible identity facilitated his involvement with a variety of community, class and social groups. Examination of his religious influences provides new understanding of Ulster Presbyterians and the Anglo-Irish in Victoria and challenges Patrick O’Farrell’s claim that the Anglo-Irish in Australia were right-wing conservatives. A major contributor to the development of Ballarat, a visionary and generous benefactor, James Stewart’s legacy continues to have an impact more than a century after his death.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy