What is the value of meaning created through social learning in informal virtual communities?
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This study asks the question ‘What is the value of meaning created through social learning in informal virtual communities?’. By researching how people learn in two virtual communities of practice, based around forums, it endeavours to explore learning in online environments that are unconnected to workplace or educational institutions. Both communities studied in this project are meeting places for peers who pursue a domain of personal interest, hence neither community defines itself as a learning environment but as a social meeting place for people to share similar pursuits. The rationale of this study was to explore in-depth the plethora of resources that forum-based communities offer researchers of learning outside the academy, in order to understand the intricacies of un-facilitated social learning. A research strategy for this study was developed from Crotty's (1998) platform which defines: research methods; a methodology; a theoretical perspective; and an epistemology. Triangulated research methods of interview, observation, and personal participation form the basis of data collection. Ethnography, which incorporates auto-ethnography, was the chosen methodology, and the study is centred on a constructivist epistemology. This study employs an interpretivist theoretical perspective, relying on the approaches of two theorists to analyse the data. Both communities were explored by developing four specific propositions from an in-depth analysis of the available literature on informal learning, virtual environments and communities, together with the theoretical understandings of Wenger (1998) regarding Communities of Practice, and Candy (1991) relating to autodidactic and constructed learning. Two viewpoints were chosen because whilst there are a number of theoretical perspectives that can be applied to informal learning in a virtual environment, there is no one agreed theory which comprehensively explains the complexities of individual and social learning in virtual communities. Despite recognition of the Internet as a major source of many people’s informal learning, there is still comparatively limited research undertaken on how this happens. This study is intended to assist in the reduction of this gap by examining aspects of learning including: the connection between autonomous learners and virtual communities; the effect of the written format of the communities observed on dispersing meaning; and the impact of the virtuality of the community on the process of learning and creation of meaning. By undertaking an ethnographical examination of the nature of learning in two informal virtual communities based around written asynchronous forums, this study is intended to contribute to understanding the worth of informal learning in virtual communities where learning occurs between peers. This study contributes to knowledge through its exploration of the way learning occurs in un-facilitated environments and the legitimacy of the outcomes of that learning. Through this exploration, it fosters an appreciation of the value of meaning created in these social environments, as well as their role in validation of communal and individual meaning. It is able to do this by circumnavigating the difficulties earlier researchers have had in developing in-depth studies of the topic because it does not rely implicitly on the perspectives of those participating, or limited-time observations. The study concludes that for both communities their virtuality greatly influences the way their practice develops, as well as how this practice shapes the way in which their members learn in informal environments. It also concludes that learning in these environments is a very complex, often sophisticated, and sometimes contradictory process that is governed by many different, and occasionally competing, aims of individuals and communities. This study also resolved that because of the very complexity of this learning, these two communities produce some very deep and meaningful contributions to their respective domains. As individuals connected within these communities in order to explore their interest in their respective domains, the communities became: repositories of ideas and resources; places to engage in negotiating and renegotiating meaning; and places to validate personal meaning through testing against established community understandings and peer views. Thus after extensive ethnographical research on both communities of this study, it is considered that this work advances the knowledge of learning outside the academy by providing evidence that people do learn effectively in informal virtual communities
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This study asks the question ‘What is the value of meaning created through social learning in informal virtual communities?’. By researching how people learn in two virtual communities of practice, based around forums, it endeavours to explore learning in online environments that are unconnected to workplace or educational institutions. Both communities studied in this project are meeting places for peers who pursue a domain of personal interest, hence neither community defines itself as a learning environment but as a social meeting place for people to share similar pursuits. The rationale of this study was to explore in-depth the plethora of resources that forum-based communities offer researchers of learning outside the academy, in order to understand the intricacies of un-facilitated social learning. A research strategy for this study was developed from Crotty's (1998) platform which defines: research methods; a methodology; a theoretical perspective; and an epistemology. Triangulated research methods of interview, observation, and personal participation form the basis of data collection. Ethnography, which incorporates auto-ethnography, was the chosen methodology, and the study is centred on a constructivist epistemology. This study employs an interpretivist theoretical perspective, relying on the approaches of two theorists to analyse the data. Both communities were explored by developing four specific propositions from an in-depth analysis of the available literature on informal learning, virtual environments and communities, together with the theoretical understandings of Wenger (1998) regarding Communities of Practice, and Candy (1991) relating to autodidactic and constructed learning. Two viewpoints were chosen because whilst there are a number of theoretical perspectives that can be applied to informal learning in a virtual environment, there is no one agreed theory which comprehensively explains the complexities of individual and social learning in virtual communities. Despite recognition of the Internet as a major source of many people’s informal learning, there is still comparatively limited research undertaken on how this happens. This study is intended to assist in the reduction of this gap by examining aspects of learning including: the connection between autonomous learners and virtual communities; the effect of the written format of the communities observed on dispersing meaning; and the impact of the virtuality of the community on the process of learning and creation of meaning. By undertaking an ethnographical examination of the nature of learning in two informal virtual communities based around written asynchronous forums, this study is intended to contribute to understanding the worth of informal learning in virtual communities where learning occurs between peers. This study contributes to knowledge through its exploration of the way learning occurs in un-facilitated environments and the legitimacy of the outcomes of that learning. Through this exploration, it fosters an appreciation of the value of meaning created in these social environments, as well as their role in validation of communal and individual meaning. It is able to do this by circumnavigating the difficulties earlier researchers have had in developing in-depth studies of the topic because it does not rely implicitly on the perspectives of those participating, or limited-time observations. The study concludes that for both communities their virtuality greatly influences the way their practice develops, as well as how this practice shapes the way in which their members learn in informal environments. It also concludes that learning in these environments is a very complex, often sophisticated, and sometimes contradictory process that is governed by many different, and occasionally competing, aims of individuals and communities. This study also resolved that because of the very complexity of this learning, these two communities produce some very deep and meaningful contributions to their respective domains. As individuals connected within these communities in order to explore their interest in their respective domains, the communities became: repositories of ideas and resources; places to engage in negotiating and renegotiating meaning; and places to validate personal meaning through testing against established community understandings and peer views. Thus after extensive ethnographical research on both communities of this study, it is considered that this work advances the knowledge of learning outside the academy by providing evidence that people do learn effectively in informal virtual communities
- 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
Ecological practice : Performance making in the age of the anthropocene
- Authors: Snowball, Georgia
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The emerging field of Performance and Ecology addresses approaches to performance and performance making in response to the profound challenges heralded by the age of the Anthropocene. Transdisciplinary artist-scholars within this paradigm bring into question spatiotemporal relationships between all things, through varying artistic and scholarly practices. This practice-led-research project seeks to create work at the open intersections of the human and more-than-human, audience and performer, practice and research. The aim of the project is to disturb these binaries, which contribute to hierarchies of destruction of all multispecies beings and habitats, including humans. Through performance, this work addresses and critiques distinctive ways of being in, listening to, and viewing our shared world. The accompanying exegesis highlights how performance can reveal what otherwise remains hidden in this entangled process. The exegesis documents the development of site-specific performance works over three active modes: Walking, Dancing and Writing. These experiments in performance include both solo works and participatory projects. All works traverse these modes and are influenced by current international and Australian performance practices in site-specific Walking, Dancing and/or Writing. Three main projects are discussed through text, photograph and video. These are Promenade Locale a participatory walking project that took place in Central Victoria, Ends of the Earth and Instability, dance solos performed in Melaka, Malaysia and the practice of Weather Writing, which takes places at my home, also in Central Victoria.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Snowball, Georgia
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The emerging field of Performance and Ecology addresses approaches to performance and performance making in response to the profound challenges heralded by the age of the Anthropocene. Transdisciplinary artist-scholars within this paradigm bring into question spatiotemporal relationships between all things, through varying artistic and scholarly practices. This practice-led-research project seeks to create work at the open intersections of the human and more-than-human, audience and performer, practice and research. The aim of the project is to disturb these binaries, which contribute to hierarchies of destruction of all multispecies beings and habitats, including humans. Through performance, this work addresses and critiques distinctive ways of being in, listening to, and viewing our shared world. The accompanying exegesis highlights how performance can reveal what otherwise remains hidden in this entangled process. The exegesis documents the development of site-specific performance works over three active modes: Walking, Dancing and Writing. These experiments in performance include both solo works and participatory projects. All works traverse these modes and are influenced by current international and Australian performance practices in site-specific Walking, Dancing and/or Writing. Three main projects are discussed through text, photograph and video. These are Promenade Locale a participatory walking project that took place in Central Victoria, Ends of the Earth and Instability, dance solos performed in Melaka, Malaysia and the practice of Weather Writing, which takes places at my home, also in Central Victoria.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Efficacy and understanding of the safety hierarchy of controls
- Authors: Young, Stephen
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This document constitutes the submission of Stephen Young for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Federation University Australia. The submission is offered as a thesis by publication – representing a summary of the candidate’s research based around a number of already-published peer-reviewed papers, supported by additional analysis and commentary. The research project is entitled “Efficacy and Understanding of the Safety Hierarchy of Controls”. The key question posed in this thesis is stated as: “What constrains understanding of the efficacy of the safety hierarchy?” This question was broken down into three sub-questions, each of which is represented within this submission as Part One, Part Two, and Part Three respectively. The three questions are stated as: 1. How may contemporary evidence demonstrate the efficacy of the safety hierarchy? 2. What are the constraints on understanding the hazard vector as it relates to the safety hierarchy? 3. What is the current understanding of hazard mitigation in a selected industry and how may the safety hierarchy be implemented to ameliorate a key hazard? The Introduction indicates the importance of the topic and explains the background to the concept known as the [safety] hierarchy of control, including a distinction between hazard and risk. It then undertakes a brief review of the development of twentieth century safety literature, including a consideration of how safety analysis has been split into the energy damage model and the anthropocentric model – complicated by a persistence of myth and superstition. An update of more recent safety literature in the twenty-first century and literature relating to governance decision making is also included. The intended contribution of this research project is laid out along with an explanation of how the thesis is organised. Part One seeks to use contemporary evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of the safety hierarchy. This is primarily achieved by presenting two case studies predominantly focussed on a New Zealand aluminium smelter. The first paper, “From zero to hero: A case study of industrial injury reduction”, used the candidate’s earlier research documenting that company’s remarkable journey from a worksite with an unenviably high level of injuries to that of one of the safest industrial worksites in the world. It contextualised the research within the contemporary zero accident vision (ZAV) and considered the company’s use of the hierarchy of controls as a primary means of hazard intervention. This paper was published in Safety Science in 2014. A further study was conducted later in 2014 to qualitatively consider the effect on safety of the difficult economic times being experienced by the aluminium industry. This purposive critical case study revisited the New Zealand aluminium smelter to document the observations of safety managers as they sought to continue the company’s exemplary safety record in the face of financial duress. “Safety in hard times: A qualitative analysis of safety concerns in two industrial plants under financial duress” also included parallel observations of safety managers from an Australian aluminium rolling mill as it closed down in response to the same economic factors. The impact of lean management and the ongoing efficacy of hierarchy of controls methodology within both plants was documented and considered. This paper was published in Safety Science in 2018. Insofar as is possible using case studies, both papers demonstrated the efficacy of the hierarchy of control as an intervention methodology for ameliorating hazards in the workplace. Part Two seeks to consider the constraints on understanding the hazard vector as it relates to the hierarchy of controls. A focussed literature review entitled “The root cause fallacy” was conducted to better understand the uses of the word cause in philosophy, law, and science – as well as in the applied science of safety management. This paper highlighted the limitations of the concept of root cause as a safety intervention precept; thereby identifying a significant constraint on understanding the hazard vector and the hierarchy of control. This is followed by a chapter deconstructing the most common version of the hierarchy of controls, pointing out how it could be made easier to understand and proposing a simplified version – more aligned to the underlying hazard vector. This alignment has been successfully presented in a number a conferences including the proceedings of 2014 Australian Systems Safety Conference; and ultimately, to the 15th World Congress on Public Health in 2017. Part Three applies the knowledge gained in Parts One and Two, and presents two studies investigating the fermentation industry to both understand the role of the hierarchy of controls in hazard mitigation and to illustrate how it can be more effectively implemented. The first paper took the potentially catastrophic hazard of asphyxiation from elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and demonstrated how the hierarchy of controls could be applied to more effectively control the hazard. The second paper surveyed the rapidly growing boutique beer industry in Victoria and Tasmania to understand how hazards were being managed, and the degree to which the hierarchy of controls was used to ameliorate the identified hazards. Together, these papers illustrated that application of the hierarchy of controls is largely conspicuous by its absence in the mitigation of hazards in a rapidly growing industry; while also demonstrating an effective hierarchal control that could evade an almost inevitable looming catastrophe. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates the efficacy of the hierarchy of controls in Part One. In Part Two, it considers the linguistic origin of the word cause and consequently reconsiders the hazard vector insofar as it relates to the hierarchy of controls – incorporating these findings into a simpler and more easily understood hierarchy. Part Three provides a demonstration of how the hierarchy of controls can be applied to a difficult hazard in an emerging industry and also highlights the contemporary deficiencies in how that industry currently deals with the hazards they identify. Finally, the key question “What constrains understanding of the efficacy of the safety hierarchy?” is addressed by summarising the three parts of this thesis and concluding: 1. An assiduous application of the hierarchy of controls can prevent occupational injuries. 2. The efficacy of the hierarchy of controls is constrained by the following factors: a. Over-complication of what is a simple concept; b. Misunderstanding of how hazard interventions may be used to prevent injury; c. Misunderstanding of the construct of cause as it relates to the hazard vector. 3. Appropriate recognition of the relative significance of identified hazards is central to the understanding of the safety hierarchy.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Young, Stephen
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This document constitutes the submission of Stephen Young for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Federation University Australia. The submission is offered as a thesis by publication – representing a summary of the candidate’s research based around a number of already-published peer-reviewed papers, supported by additional analysis and commentary. The research project is entitled “Efficacy and Understanding of the Safety Hierarchy of Controls”. The key question posed in this thesis is stated as: “What constrains understanding of the efficacy of the safety hierarchy?” This question was broken down into three sub-questions, each of which is represented within this submission as Part One, Part Two, and Part Three respectively. The three questions are stated as: 1. How may contemporary evidence demonstrate the efficacy of the safety hierarchy? 2. What are the constraints on understanding the hazard vector as it relates to the safety hierarchy? 3. What is the current understanding of hazard mitigation in a selected industry and how may the safety hierarchy be implemented to ameliorate a key hazard? The Introduction indicates the importance of the topic and explains the background to the concept known as the [safety] hierarchy of control, including a distinction between hazard and risk. It then undertakes a brief review of the development of twentieth century safety literature, including a consideration of how safety analysis has been split into the energy damage model and the anthropocentric model – complicated by a persistence of myth and superstition. An update of more recent safety literature in the twenty-first century and literature relating to governance decision making is also included. The intended contribution of this research project is laid out along with an explanation of how the thesis is organised. Part One seeks to use contemporary evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of the safety hierarchy. This is primarily achieved by presenting two case studies predominantly focussed on a New Zealand aluminium smelter. The first paper, “From zero to hero: A case study of industrial injury reduction”, used the candidate’s earlier research documenting that company’s remarkable journey from a worksite with an unenviably high level of injuries to that of one of the safest industrial worksites in the world. It contextualised the research within the contemporary zero accident vision (ZAV) and considered the company’s use of the hierarchy of controls as a primary means of hazard intervention. This paper was published in Safety Science in 2014. A further study was conducted later in 2014 to qualitatively consider the effect on safety of the difficult economic times being experienced by the aluminium industry. This purposive critical case study revisited the New Zealand aluminium smelter to document the observations of safety managers as they sought to continue the company’s exemplary safety record in the face of financial duress. “Safety in hard times: A qualitative analysis of safety concerns in two industrial plants under financial duress” also included parallel observations of safety managers from an Australian aluminium rolling mill as it closed down in response to the same economic factors. The impact of lean management and the ongoing efficacy of hierarchy of controls methodology within both plants was documented and considered. This paper was published in Safety Science in 2018. Insofar as is possible using case studies, both papers demonstrated the efficacy of the hierarchy of control as an intervention methodology for ameliorating hazards in the workplace. Part Two seeks to consider the constraints on understanding the hazard vector as it relates to the hierarchy of controls. A focussed literature review entitled “The root cause fallacy” was conducted to better understand the uses of the word cause in philosophy, law, and science – as well as in the applied science of safety management. This paper highlighted the limitations of the concept of root cause as a safety intervention precept; thereby identifying a significant constraint on understanding the hazard vector and the hierarchy of control. This is followed by a chapter deconstructing the most common version of the hierarchy of controls, pointing out how it could be made easier to understand and proposing a simplified version – more aligned to the underlying hazard vector. This alignment has been successfully presented in a number a conferences including the proceedings of 2014 Australian Systems Safety Conference; and ultimately, to the 15th World Congress on Public Health in 2017. Part Three applies the knowledge gained in Parts One and Two, and presents two studies investigating the fermentation industry to both understand the role of the hierarchy of controls in hazard mitigation and to illustrate how it can be more effectively implemented. The first paper took the potentially catastrophic hazard of asphyxiation from elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and demonstrated how the hierarchy of controls could be applied to more effectively control the hazard. The second paper surveyed the rapidly growing boutique beer industry in Victoria and Tasmania to understand how hazards were being managed, and the degree to which the hierarchy of controls was used to ameliorate the identified hazards. Together, these papers illustrated that application of the hierarchy of controls is largely conspicuous by its absence in the mitigation of hazards in a rapidly growing industry; while also demonstrating an effective hierarchal control that could evade an almost inevitable looming catastrophe. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates the efficacy of the hierarchy of controls in Part One. In Part Two, it considers the linguistic origin of the word cause and consequently reconsiders the hazard vector insofar as it relates to the hierarchy of controls – incorporating these findings into a simpler and more easily understood hierarchy. Part Three provides a demonstration of how the hierarchy of controls can be applied to a difficult hazard in an emerging industry and also highlights the contemporary deficiencies in how that industry currently deals with the hazards they identify. Finally, the key question “What constrains understanding of the efficacy of the safety hierarchy?” is addressed by summarising the three parts of this thesis and concluding: 1. An assiduous application of the hierarchy of controls can prevent occupational injuries. 2. The efficacy of the hierarchy of controls is constrained by the following factors: a. Over-complication of what is a simple concept; b. Misunderstanding of how hazard interventions may be used to prevent injury; c. Misunderstanding of the construct of cause as it relates to the hazard vector. 3. Appropriate recognition of the relative significance of identified hazards is central to the understanding of the safety hierarchy.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Exploring youth perceptions of school (dis)engagement and absence in Hepburn Shire
- Authors: O'Loughlan, Courtney
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis examines the educational experiences of some young people living in the Hepburn Shire, a Local Government Area (LGA) in the Central Highlands of Victoria. These young people were in various stages of disengaging from the mainstream education on offer in the shire. The research came about via consultation between the secondary school and Federation University in response to data from the Department of Education and Training (DET) showing that the Hepburn area had the lowest school attendance figures of the eleven LGA’s in the Grampians region. The school was interested in the reasons behind the lower figures and sought to gather some further information which might shed light on the experiences of young people who had difficulty in connecting, or staying connected to, school. It was hoped that the resultant findings would inform the approach taken by the schools in offering appropriate programs to support people to re-engage with school. Thus, the research question underpinning this research is: What are the key reasons that school attendance has been identified as being lower in the Hepburn Shire Local Government Area than in other parts of the Grampians region? A critical ethnographic study was undertaken comprised of participant observation, facilitated by the researcher being situated within the school, and a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with young people (of secondary school age), families, teachers, Principals, support staff including welfare providers and a selection of other professionals working with youth and their families in the Hepburn Shire. The study revealed a complexity within the Hepburn community, where a rich diversity of views about child-raising and education was present. Such views spanned philosophies about ‘unschooling’, the benefits of home-schooling, and a sense of permissiveness about not attending school each day. Further, there seemed to be a tendency within the school (both by teachers and other professionals working with youth) to talk about disengaged students and families of nonattending students in terms of deficit: there was something lacking with them, parenting skills, work ethic, behavioural or emotional regulation, that was viewed as contributing to the students’ poor attendance. Finally, the centrality of the teacher-student relationship to both student engagement and disengagement was evident in the conversations with young people and their families. Building respectful, reciprocal relationships with at least one key member of staff seems to be a major protective factor against disengagement. And further, seems to be a pre-requisite for those students who are entering the school for the first time, or who are re-entering after a significant absence.
- Description: Masters by Research
- Authors: O'Loughlan, Courtney
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis examines the educational experiences of some young people living in the Hepburn Shire, a Local Government Area (LGA) in the Central Highlands of Victoria. These young people were in various stages of disengaging from the mainstream education on offer in the shire. The research came about via consultation between the secondary school and Federation University in response to data from the Department of Education and Training (DET) showing that the Hepburn area had the lowest school attendance figures of the eleven LGA’s in the Grampians region. The school was interested in the reasons behind the lower figures and sought to gather some further information which might shed light on the experiences of young people who had difficulty in connecting, or staying connected to, school. It was hoped that the resultant findings would inform the approach taken by the schools in offering appropriate programs to support people to re-engage with school. Thus, the research question underpinning this research is: What are the key reasons that school attendance has been identified as being lower in the Hepburn Shire Local Government Area than in other parts of the Grampians region? A critical ethnographic study was undertaken comprised of participant observation, facilitated by the researcher being situated within the school, and a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with young people (of secondary school age), families, teachers, Principals, support staff including welfare providers and a selection of other professionals working with youth and their families in the Hepburn Shire. The study revealed a complexity within the Hepburn community, where a rich diversity of views about child-raising and education was present. Such views spanned philosophies about ‘unschooling’, the benefits of home-schooling, and a sense of permissiveness about not attending school each day. Further, there seemed to be a tendency within the school (both by teachers and other professionals working with youth) to talk about disengaged students and families of nonattending students in terms of deficit: there was something lacking with them, parenting skills, work ethic, behavioural or emotional regulation, that was viewed as contributing to the students’ poor attendance. Finally, the centrality of the teacher-student relationship to both student engagement and disengagement was evident in the conversations with young people and their families. Building respectful, reciprocal relationships with at least one key member of staff seems to be a major protective factor against disengagement. And further, seems to be a pre-requisite for those students who are entering the school for the first time, or who are re-entering after a significant absence.
- Description: Masters by Research
Historical mine sites as modern-day sources of contamination : Measurement and characterisation of arsenic in historical gold mine wastes to identify the potential for mobility and human exposure
- Authors: Martin, Rachael
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Centuries of metalliferous mining activities have resulted in a legacy of contamination throughout the world. Unremediated mine wastes and tailings, as well as contaminated soils, water and sediments, represent ongoing sources of environmental degradation and human exposure, long after mine closure and abandonment. Despite global concern over these contaminant sources, there remain uncertainties surrounding the nature of human exposure to mine wastes and their toxicologically relevant characteristics. As urbanisation expands into areas proximal to abandoned mine sites, an understanding of the human-contaminant interface at this boundary is critical for assessing the potential health risks. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap by investigating the importance of particle size as a factor governing the distribution of metals and metalloids in historical gold mine wastes in regional Victoria, Australia, with an emphasis on arsenic as a contaminant of potential concern. By characterising those particle size fractions that are relevant to dust mobilisation and human exposure, this thesis examines the human-contaminant interface using a multi-pathway approach. In particular, this thesis focuses on the potential for exposure via inhalation of mine waste particulates. The outcomes of the studies presented in this body of work demonstrate that historical gold mine wastes in regional Victoria represent a source of readily ingestible and inhalable particulates characterised by extremely elevated levels of arsenic (and other contaminants) well above their bulk (in situ) concentrations. Although lung bioaccessibility testing and mineralogical analyses revealed that most of the arsenic in inhalable dust has been naturally immobilised, the lung-soluble fraction should be considered when undertaking risk assessments for chronic exposure. This thesis provides a framework for the development of targeted management strategies for unremediated historical gold mining wastes in regional Victoria. The findings suggest there is a need for environmental regulations to shift from generic guideline values to exposure-specific guidelines that more accurately reflect the human health risks posed by historical mine sites. This thesis has emphasised the notion that in order for remedial action to accurately match the level of risk, the sourcepathway- receptor linkage must be evaluated using a systematic size-resolved approach.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Martin, Rachael
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Centuries of metalliferous mining activities have resulted in a legacy of contamination throughout the world. Unremediated mine wastes and tailings, as well as contaminated soils, water and sediments, represent ongoing sources of environmental degradation and human exposure, long after mine closure and abandonment. Despite global concern over these contaminant sources, there remain uncertainties surrounding the nature of human exposure to mine wastes and their toxicologically relevant characteristics. As urbanisation expands into areas proximal to abandoned mine sites, an understanding of the human-contaminant interface at this boundary is critical for assessing the potential health risks. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap by investigating the importance of particle size as a factor governing the distribution of metals and metalloids in historical gold mine wastes in regional Victoria, Australia, with an emphasis on arsenic as a contaminant of potential concern. By characterising those particle size fractions that are relevant to dust mobilisation and human exposure, this thesis examines the human-contaminant interface using a multi-pathway approach. In particular, this thesis focuses on the potential for exposure via inhalation of mine waste particulates. The outcomes of the studies presented in this body of work demonstrate that historical gold mine wastes in regional Victoria represent a source of readily ingestible and inhalable particulates characterised by extremely elevated levels of arsenic (and other contaminants) well above their bulk (in situ) concentrations. Although lung bioaccessibility testing and mineralogical analyses revealed that most of the arsenic in inhalable dust has been naturally immobilised, the lung-soluble fraction should be considered when undertaking risk assessments for chronic exposure. This thesis provides a framework for the development of targeted management strategies for unremediated historical gold mining wastes in regional Victoria. The findings suggest there is a need for environmental regulations to shift from generic guideline values to exposure-specific guidelines that more accurately reflect the human health risks posed by historical mine sites. This thesis has emphasised the notion that in order for remedial action to accurately match the level of risk, the sourcepathway- receptor linkage must be evaluated using a systematic size-resolved approach.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Innate-like T cells in patients with cancer
- Authors: Minoda, Yosuke
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Innate-like T cells, including invariant natural killer T (NKT), mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells or g T cells are associated with regulation of anti-tumour responses in humans and mice, although their exact role remains controversial. We have studied innate-like T cells from tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILS), peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and bone marrow (BM) derived cells from patients undergoing treatment for cancer and compared their characteristics to cells from healthy donors. We identifed that the overall frequency of innate-like T cells was variably deficient in patients with blood or solid cancers. Interestingly, the deficiency of innate-like T cells appeared to be more severe than that of other T cells suggesting a specific impact. An increased proportion of activated g T cells and MAIT cells suggested they could have a functional role in responses to cancer cells. Despite the deficiency of these subsets in patient tissue samples, we showed that anti-tumour capacity of innate-like T cells was intact as innate-like T cells in most patient groups had a similar cytokine response to stimulation as cells from healthy donors. Finally, we also showed that innate-like T cells appeared not to broadly recognize cancer cells, as no direct impact was identified in their overall frequency or cytokine expression when exposed to autologous tumour cells, cancer lysates or lipids extracted from patient tumours, or colorectal cancer cell lines. This project was aimed at providing an overview of potential defects in innate-like T cells based on my analysis of a wide range of samples in the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute (FECRI) Tissue Bank. As a result of my studies, we have established a clear understanding of innate cells in cancer, which provides a basis for future studies. Our novel findings include analysis of frequency distribution and functional capacity of MAIT cells in solid tumours other than colorectal cancer and in patients with blood cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), multiple myeloma (MM) or other haematological malignancies, something not previously reported. Taken together, we showed that a deficiency of innate-like T cells is common in patient groups with cancer and could be a risk factor for disease and possibly a target for immunotherapies, but the functional capacity was intact for cytokine responses.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Description: Innate-like T cells, including invariant natural killer T (NKT), mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells or
- Authors: Minoda, Yosuke
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Innate-like T cells, including invariant natural killer T (NKT), mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells or g T cells are associated with regulation of anti-tumour responses in humans and mice, although their exact role remains controversial. We have studied innate-like T cells from tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILS), peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and bone marrow (BM) derived cells from patients undergoing treatment for cancer and compared their characteristics to cells from healthy donors. We identifed that the overall frequency of innate-like T cells was variably deficient in patients with blood or solid cancers. Interestingly, the deficiency of innate-like T cells appeared to be more severe than that of other T cells suggesting a specific impact. An increased proportion of activated g T cells and MAIT cells suggested they could have a functional role in responses to cancer cells. Despite the deficiency of these subsets in patient tissue samples, we showed that anti-tumour capacity of innate-like T cells was intact as innate-like T cells in most patient groups had a similar cytokine response to stimulation as cells from healthy donors. Finally, we also showed that innate-like T cells appeared not to broadly recognize cancer cells, as no direct impact was identified in their overall frequency or cytokine expression when exposed to autologous tumour cells, cancer lysates or lipids extracted from patient tumours, or colorectal cancer cell lines. This project was aimed at providing an overview of potential defects in innate-like T cells based on my analysis of a wide range of samples in the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute (FECRI) Tissue Bank. As a result of my studies, we have established a clear understanding of innate cells in cancer, which provides a basis for future studies. Our novel findings include analysis of frequency distribution and functional capacity of MAIT cells in solid tumours other than colorectal cancer and in patients with blood cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), multiple myeloma (MM) or other haematological malignancies, something not previously reported. Taken together, we showed that a deficiency of innate-like T cells is common in patient groups with cancer and could be a risk factor for disease and possibly a target for immunotherapies, but the functional capacity was intact for cytokine responses.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Description: Innate-like T cells, including invariant natural killer T (NKT), mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells or
James Curtis and spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century Ballarat
- Authors: Young, Gregory
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is about the origins, growth, and decline of spiritualism in nineteenth- century Ballarat. It gives special attention to Rustlings in the Golden City, the religious confessions of James Curtis, a notable Ballarat pioneer and the city’s most active and prominent spiritualist believer and evangelist. In Ballarat, spiritualism was commonly regarded as little more than entertaining humbug, usually derided by the press as delusive nonsense. Though clerics occasionally condemned it as heretical and dangerous, few people took spiritualist ideas and practice seriously. Even so, Ballarat had its small core of devout believers. For these, spiritualism provided a route to direct, intuitive, knowledge of the destiny of the spiritual self, comparable to gnostic liberating self-discovery. Rustlings in the Golden City stands as a classic statement of Victorian-era spiritualism and James Curtis has claim to be regarded as Australia’s greatest nineteenth-century spiritualist. While the commitment of many prominent Australian spiritualists of the period was compromised by credulity, bad faith, and self-interest, James Curtis was guileless and sincere. His writings open a window on a neglected area of nineteenth-century Australian social and religious history. The historiography of the thesis is realist and empiricist, with the predominant methodology critical text-analysis. Its chief source is contemporary newspapers and journals and the publications of spiritualists and their opponents and critics.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Young, Gregory
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is about the origins, growth, and decline of spiritualism in nineteenth- century Ballarat. It gives special attention to Rustlings in the Golden City, the religious confessions of James Curtis, a notable Ballarat pioneer and the city’s most active and prominent spiritualist believer and evangelist. In Ballarat, spiritualism was commonly regarded as little more than entertaining humbug, usually derided by the press as delusive nonsense. Though clerics occasionally condemned it as heretical and dangerous, few people took spiritualist ideas and practice seriously. Even so, Ballarat had its small core of devout believers. For these, spiritualism provided a route to direct, intuitive, knowledge of the destiny of the spiritual self, comparable to gnostic liberating self-discovery. Rustlings in the Golden City stands as a classic statement of Victorian-era spiritualism and James Curtis has claim to be regarded as Australia’s greatest nineteenth-century spiritualist. While the commitment of many prominent Australian spiritualists of the period was compromised by credulity, bad faith, and self-interest, James Curtis was guileless and sincere. His writings open a window on a neglected area of nineteenth-century Australian social and religious history. The historiography of the thesis is realist and empiricist, with the predominant methodology critical text-analysis. Its chief source is contemporary newspapers and journals and the publications of spiritualists and their opponents and critics.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Learning a trade in New Zealand : On and off the job learning in engineering trades
- Authors: Cannan, James
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The engineering trades selected for this study were specifically in the automotive and refrigeration/air-conditioning/electrical disciplines, as they are typical of the engineering discipline trade groups studying at institutes of technology and workplaces as apprentices. This research focused on two trade occupations within the engineering industry and investigated differences between pre-apprentice and apprentice experiences in skills and knowledge acquisition and assessment whilst learning on and off the job; that is, studying vocational education at institutes of technology and engaging in practical activities at the workplace. New Zealand has faced dramatic changes in tertiary education over the past 20 years, particularly in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. As a result of these changes there has been a substantial increase in participation in education and training. There is now a far wider range of courses to cater for the needs of learners in the vocational sector as the New Zealand population grows, along with the engineering trade opportunities that are currently available in the workplace. A qualitative research approach was used including interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. The project consisted of case studies based around cohorts of apprentices and pre-apprentices. Lecturers and employers were also included. The findings of the study will inform discussions on the ways in which learning prior to and in the workplace might be more effectively facilitated and managed in the future. It also raises questions about the effectiveness and quality of current training and assessment of engineering trade programs of study within New Zealand, as well as issues in apprenticeships and attrition within specific trades.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Cannan, James
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The engineering trades selected for this study were specifically in the automotive and refrigeration/air-conditioning/electrical disciplines, as they are typical of the engineering discipline trade groups studying at institutes of technology and workplaces as apprentices. This research focused on two trade occupations within the engineering industry and investigated differences between pre-apprentice and apprentice experiences in skills and knowledge acquisition and assessment whilst learning on and off the job; that is, studying vocational education at institutes of technology and engaging in practical activities at the workplace. New Zealand has faced dramatic changes in tertiary education over the past 20 years, particularly in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. As a result of these changes there has been a substantial increase in participation in education and training. There is now a far wider range of courses to cater for the needs of learners in the vocational sector as the New Zealand population grows, along with the engineering trade opportunities that are currently available in the workplace. A qualitative research approach was used including interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. The project consisted of case studies based around cohorts of apprentices and pre-apprentices. Lecturers and employers were also included. The findings of the study will inform discussions on the ways in which learning prior to and in the workplace might be more effectively facilitated and managed in the future. It also raises questions about the effectiveness and quality of current training and assessment of engineering trade programs of study within New Zealand, as well as issues in apprenticeships and attrition within specific trades.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Manipulating a conditioning activity to enhance potentiation and its application to jumping and sprinting performance
- Authors: O'Grady, Mathew
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is the phenomenon where contractile history of a muscle may acutely increase voluntary performance of future contractions that are biomechanically similar (72). In order to exploit the PAP phenomenon, a conditioning activity (CA) is performed to enhance the performance of a subsequent skill. Throughout the literature, a common example of a CA is sets of heavy-loaded squats in order to potentiate subsequent jumping (31,33,39,57,83,116,151,163) or sprinting performance (15,28,39,99). Post-activation potentiation can be used either in a warm-up to acutely enhance performance for competition, or used within a resistance training session to enhance speed-strength, with the intention of producing a greater training stimulus for chronic adaptations. The major issue with the PAP literature is the inconsistent results from study to study. There are many examples within the research that show the positive effects of PAP (44,54,57,62,83,102,133,163), whilst many others have failed to find any increase in performance (42,47,56,81,112,123,141). The results have been inconsistent as the methodology between studies has varied dramatically. These differences include the warm-up used prior to testing sessions, changes in the type of CA (30,54,163), the intensity or load of the CA (19,21,33) and the rest period allocated between the CA and the performance of the skill. Furthermore, it seems that certain individuals respond better to a CA, with most of the literature suggesting that participant strength has a positive correlation with a potentiating response (15,31,44,116,128,129,163). Due to the vast differences in methodologies used throughout the potentiation literature, it is hard for coaches to identify the best practice in order to elicit a positive potentiating effect. Therefore, four studies were designed to address these current gaps within the potentiation literature in order to establish the best methodology to elicit a potentiating response. The first study sought to investigate whether a heavy half-squat CA could further improve jumping after an individualised optimal warm-up. As many of the warm-ups used prior to the baseline measurement in the potentiation research have been insufficient (30,44,69,71,88,102,111,115,140,143,158), it is plausible to suggest that improvements after a CA could be due to general mechanisms of a warm-up, rather than PAP. To investigate this, participants performed six different volumes of warm-ups on six separate days, followed by CMJ and DJ testing. After each participant completed the six warm-ups, their individual optimum warm-up was identified as the warm-up that produced the greatest CMJ relative peak power (RPP). On two separate sessions, a CA of four half-squats at a 5RM load was then added to each individual’s optimum warm-up and a sub-optimum warm-up. Countermovement jump tests were performed before the CA (pre) and then four and eight minutes after the CA. Drop jump testing was performed before the CA (pre) and then six and 10 minutes after the CA. When examining each post-test separately, no improvements in CMJ performance were identified. Furthermore, for both the optimum and sub-optimum warm-up conditions, DJ performance significantly decreased at all post-tests (p < 0.05). When each individuals best recovery period was considered (post-best), both the maximum and mean CMJ jump height significantly increased above baseline measures for the optimum warm-up condition. No other CMJ or DJ variable displayed any significant change after the addition of the CA for either condition. As significant increases in CMJ jump height were identified, the four half-squat CA with a 5RM load was used in the next investigation. Although each individual’s optimum warm-up volume varied, the moderate warm-up volume produced sufficient CMJ performance for all individuals. Considering the time required identifying each individuals optimum warm-up, the moderate warm-up was deemed sufficient and was used for the following studies. The second study of this thesis investigated the acute response of two different CA strategies. Both CAs included four half squats at a 5RM load, however, in one condition participants were instructed to perform the squat in a controlled manner, whilst in the second condition, they were instructed to lift the bar as fast as possible without losing contact with the ground. At any post-time (including post-best), no significant improvement were identified for any CMJ variable in either condition. Furthermore, DJ performance significantly decreased at all post-tests for the explosive CA condition. Although no significant improvements were identified, when each individual’s optimum recovery period was considered, CMJ jump height increased by 2.6% in the explosive CA condition, as opposed to 0.9% in the controlled CA condition. Because of this difference within the means of each condition, for the future studies throughout this thesis, participants were instructed to lift the bar as fast as possible during a heavy half-squat CA. The third study of this thesis compared different volumes of plyometric CAs (rebound jumps) to a CA involving heavy half-squats and assessed the effect each had on potentiating CMJ and sprinting performance. Past research had often used small amounts of plyometric contacts to potentiate future contractions (23,30,143,146,151), however, due to their short duration; they were often not successful in improving performance. For one condition, this study increased the repetitions of plyometric contacts in the CA, so that its duration matched the time under tension exhibited by the four half-squats with a 5RM load. Furthermore, two other plyometric CA conditions were included; one that matched half of the time under tension of the half-squats and one that involved only four repetitions of the rebound jump (match the amount of repetitions of the half-squat). No CA (plyometric or half-squat) displayed statistical significant improvements in CMJ or sprint performance at any post-test interval. For CMJ performance, although it did not significantly improve performance, generally the heavy half-squat CA had smaller decrements in performance than the plyometric CAs, hence the final investigation of this thesis focussed upon different heavy dynamic CAs in order to potentiate CMJ performance. The final study of this thesis firstly aimed to investigate the effect of three different types of half-squat CAs had on potentiating CMJ performance. This study also aimed to explore why certain individuals respond positively to a CA, whilst others respond in a negative manner. At the beginning of this study, participants completed a number of fitness performance tests, to assess each individual’s performance. Participants then assessed the effect of three different CAs on CMJ performance. These CAs included three repetitions of the half-squat with a 3RM load (3 @ 3RM), four repetitions with a 5RM load (4 @ 5RM) and then five repetitions with a 5RM load (5 @ 5RM). In terms of the entire population of the study, after each of the CAs, post-CMJ performance typically decreased across all rest periods, whilst any improvement in particular CMJ variables were considered to only be trivial in terms of effect size magnitudes. Despite this, multiple statistically significant positive correlations were evident between particular fitness qualities (absolute strength, CMJ RPP and aerobic capacity) and the change scores between pre and post-best CMJ performance after certain CAs. Therefore, the participants were median split in terms of each of the following fitness qualities to assess the relationship each quality has on potentiating CMJ performance. When the population was split in terms of absolute strength, the stronger participants significantly improved CMJ performance at their best recovery period after the performance of the 5 @ 5RM CA (three out of the four CMJ variables assessed significantly improved), whilst the weaker individuals showed no significant improvements. A similar trend was exhibited when the population was split in terms of CMJ RPP, with the more powerful individuals improving by small to moderate effect size magnitudes after the 5 @ 5RM CA, whilst the less powerful group did not. From the studies presented in the thesis, it can be concluded that certain recreationally resistance trained males can acutely enhance CMJ performance with the use of a heavy dynamic CA, even after pre-test performance has been optimised by a general warm-up. The optimum recovery period for the individual does need to be considered, as individuals require different amounts of rest to allow for an improvement in performance. Furthermore, the individual needs to have sufficient strength of the lower limbs in order to improve future contractions via the use of the heavy dynamic CA, as individuals with less strength do not improve post-CMJ performance after a CA. In terms of the type of CA used, heavy half-squat seem to be more effective than rebound jumps in order to potentiate CMJ performance. Furthermore, five repetitions with a 5RM load seems more effective than heavier CAs (3 @ 3RM) or ones that have less repetitions (4 @ 5RM) for this particular population.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: O'Grady, Mathew
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is the phenomenon where contractile history of a muscle may acutely increase voluntary performance of future contractions that are biomechanically similar (72). In order to exploit the PAP phenomenon, a conditioning activity (CA) is performed to enhance the performance of a subsequent skill. Throughout the literature, a common example of a CA is sets of heavy-loaded squats in order to potentiate subsequent jumping (31,33,39,57,83,116,151,163) or sprinting performance (15,28,39,99). Post-activation potentiation can be used either in a warm-up to acutely enhance performance for competition, or used within a resistance training session to enhance speed-strength, with the intention of producing a greater training stimulus for chronic adaptations. The major issue with the PAP literature is the inconsistent results from study to study. There are many examples within the research that show the positive effects of PAP (44,54,57,62,83,102,133,163), whilst many others have failed to find any increase in performance (42,47,56,81,112,123,141). The results have been inconsistent as the methodology between studies has varied dramatically. These differences include the warm-up used prior to testing sessions, changes in the type of CA (30,54,163), the intensity or load of the CA (19,21,33) and the rest period allocated between the CA and the performance of the skill. Furthermore, it seems that certain individuals respond better to a CA, with most of the literature suggesting that participant strength has a positive correlation with a potentiating response (15,31,44,116,128,129,163). Due to the vast differences in methodologies used throughout the potentiation literature, it is hard for coaches to identify the best practice in order to elicit a positive potentiating effect. Therefore, four studies were designed to address these current gaps within the potentiation literature in order to establish the best methodology to elicit a potentiating response. The first study sought to investigate whether a heavy half-squat CA could further improve jumping after an individualised optimal warm-up. As many of the warm-ups used prior to the baseline measurement in the potentiation research have been insufficient (30,44,69,71,88,102,111,115,140,143,158), it is plausible to suggest that improvements after a CA could be due to general mechanisms of a warm-up, rather than PAP. To investigate this, participants performed six different volumes of warm-ups on six separate days, followed by CMJ and DJ testing. After each participant completed the six warm-ups, their individual optimum warm-up was identified as the warm-up that produced the greatest CMJ relative peak power (RPP). On two separate sessions, a CA of four half-squats at a 5RM load was then added to each individual’s optimum warm-up and a sub-optimum warm-up. Countermovement jump tests were performed before the CA (pre) and then four and eight minutes after the CA. Drop jump testing was performed before the CA (pre) and then six and 10 minutes after the CA. When examining each post-test separately, no improvements in CMJ performance were identified. Furthermore, for both the optimum and sub-optimum warm-up conditions, DJ performance significantly decreased at all post-tests (p < 0.05). When each individuals best recovery period was considered (post-best), both the maximum and mean CMJ jump height significantly increased above baseline measures for the optimum warm-up condition. No other CMJ or DJ variable displayed any significant change after the addition of the CA for either condition. As significant increases in CMJ jump height were identified, the four half-squat CA with a 5RM load was used in the next investigation. Although each individual’s optimum warm-up volume varied, the moderate warm-up volume produced sufficient CMJ performance for all individuals. Considering the time required identifying each individuals optimum warm-up, the moderate warm-up was deemed sufficient and was used for the following studies. The second study of this thesis investigated the acute response of two different CA strategies. Both CAs included four half squats at a 5RM load, however, in one condition participants were instructed to perform the squat in a controlled manner, whilst in the second condition, they were instructed to lift the bar as fast as possible without losing contact with the ground. At any post-time (including post-best), no significant improvement were identified for any CMJ variable in either condition. Furthermore, DJ performance significantly decreased at all post-tests for the explosive CA condition. Although no significant improvements were identified, when each individual’s optimum recovery period was considered, CMJ jump height increased by 2.6% in the explosive CA condition, as opposed to 0.9% in the controlled CA condition. Because of this difference within the means of each condition, for the future studies throughout this thesis, participants were instructed to lift the bar as fast as possible during a heavy half-squat CA. The third study of this thesis compared different volumes of plyometric CAs (rebound jumps) to a CA involving heavy half-squats and assessed the effect each had on potentiating CMJ and sprinting performance. Past research had often used small amounts of plyometric contacts to potentiate future contractions (23,30,143,146,151), however, due to their short duration; they were often not successful in improving performance. For one condition, this study increased the repetitions of plyometric contacts in the CA, so that its duration matched the time under tension exhibited by the four half-squats with a 5RM load. Furthermore, two other plyometric CA conditions were included; one that matched half of the time under tension of the half-squats and one that involved only four repetitions of the rebound jump (match the amount of repetitions of the half-squat). No CA (plyometric or half-squat) displayed statistical significant improvements in CMJ or sprint performance at any post-test interval. For CMJ performance, although it did not significantly improve performance, generally the heavy half-squat CA had smaller decrements in performance than the plyometric CAs, hence the final investigation of this thesis focussed upon different heavy dynamic CAs in order to potentiate CMJ performance. The final study of this thesis firstly aimed to investigate the effect of three different types of half-squat CAs had on potentiating CMJ performance. This study also aimed to explore why certain individuals respond positively to a CA, whilst others respond in a negative manner. At the beginning of this study, participants completed a number of fitness performance tests, to assess each individual’s performance. Participants then assessed the effect of three different CAs on CMJ performance. These CAs included three repetitions of the half-squat with a 3RM load (3 @ 3RM), four repetitions with a 5RM load (4 @ 5RM) and then five repetitions with a 5RM load (5 @ 5RM). In terms of the entire population of the study, after each of the CAs, post-CMJ performance typically decreased across all rest periods, whilst any improvement in particular CMJ variables were considered to only be trivial in terms of effect size magnitudes. Despite this, multiple statistically significant positive correlations were evident between particular fitness qualities (absolute strength, CMJ RPP and aerobic capacity) and the change scores between pre and post-best CMJ performance after certain CAs. Therefore, the participants were median split in terms of each of the following fitness qualities to assess the relationship each quality has on potentiating CMJ performance. When the population was split in terms of absolute strength, the stronger participants significantly improved CMJ performance at their best recovery period after the performance of the 5 @ 5RM CA (three out of the four CMJ variables assessed significantly improved), whilst the weaker individuals showed no significant improvements. A similar trend was exhibited when the population was split in terms of CMJ RPP, with the more powerful individuals improving by small to moderate effect size magnitudes after the 5 @ 5RM CA, whilst the less powerful group did not. From the studies presented in the thesis, it can be concluded that certain recreationally resistance trained males can acutely enhance CMJ performance with the use of a heavy dynamic CA, even after pre-test performance has been optimised by a general warm-up. The optimum recovery period for the individual does need to be considered, as individuals require different amounts of rest to allow for an improvement in performance. Furthermore, the individual needs to have sufficient strength of the lower limbs in order to improve future contractions via the use of the heavy dynamic CA, as individuals with less strength do not improve post-CMJ performance after a CA. In terms of the type of CA used, heavy half-squat seem to be more effective than rebound jumps in order to potentiate CMJ performance. Furthermore, five repetitions with a 5RM load seems more effective than heavier CAs (3 @ 3RM) or ones that have less repetitions (4 @ 5RM) for this particular population.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy