[Dis]Abled justice: Why reports of sexual assault made by adults with cognitive impairment fail to proceed through the justice system
- Authors: Camilleri, Marg
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Description: This study considers why, despite increased prevalence of sexual assault perpetrated against adults with cognitive impairment, reports of sexual assault made by adults in this cohort to the police seldom progress beyond the investigation stage. The study is informed by a triangulation of theoretical perspectives consisting of radical feminist theory, symbolic interactionism and the social model of disability. A combined qualitative and quantitative methodological approach is underpinned by the social constructionist epistemology. Data was gathered through 13 focus group discussions conducted with Victoria Police members, including members of the Sex Offences and Child Abuse Unit, Criminal Investigation Unit and Sex Crimes Squad, as well as with staff from the Office of Public Prosecutions and advocates consisting of disability and victim support workers. The other main sources of data were 76 police case file narratives and a case study involving an adult victim whose report of sexual assault was successfully prosecuted. Qualitative data from focus group interviews and file narratives were subjected to thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis. Basic frequencies and correlations of the case file data were analysed using SPSS and the case study was analysed utilising Yin’s (2003) explanatory case study framework. The research indicates that there are seven points in the course of police investigations at which decisions are made about sexual assault reports. Discretion is applied by police at all stages of decision making. Decisions are informed by an influence cycle consisting of social forces, the justice system, the police organisation, and the culture of the police unit. Police decisions are therefore subject to a range of influences, which perpetuate negative patriarchal and ableist stereotypes and disabling generalised assumptions about adults with cognitive impairment. The primary assumption is they are not credible. The result is that opportunities for people with cognitive impairment to access justice are extinguished prematurely.
Ageing under the rainbow : The interrelations between age, sense of belonging, and mental health among Australian gay men
- Authors: Morris, Simon
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This research investigated the interrelations between gay men’s age, sense of belonging (to the general community, the broader gay community, gay groups and with gay friends) and mental health by testing four models: direct, mediation, additive and moderation.
- Description: Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)
An investigation of middle secondary students’ mathematical conceptions of rate
- Authors: Herbert, Sandra
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This qualitative study investigated Year 10 students’ understandings of the important mathematical concept of 'rate'. Results identified educationally critical aspects including teaching through a range of contexts and representations.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Rapid identification of rootkit infections using data mining
- Authors: Lobo, Desmond
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: "The main part of this thesis presents a new approach to the topic of conjugation, with applications to various optimization problems. It does so by introducing (what we call) G-coupling functions."
- Description: Doctor of Philsophy
The interplay between the experience of doctoral education and familial relationships for mid and late-career academics employed in Australian universities
- Authors: Webb, Janis
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This investigation explored how family relationships are affected when adults with significant cross-generation responsibilities undertake doctoral study. How family commitments impact on these students’ study and work was also considered.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Unwrapping packages: Power politics and place in the delivery of community aged care
- Authors: Brown, Katrina
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The thesis analyses the delivery of the Community Aged Care Packages Program, revealing the flaws in the program’s design and the consequences of this programmatic design for service providers in rural Victoria
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
'What's in a name?' : place and toponymic attachment, identity and dependence : a case study of the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park name restoration process
- Authors: Kostanski, Laura
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The ultimate intention of this thesis is to propose the meta-theory of toponymic attachment, which is comprised of toponymic identity and dependence, and to explore ways in which it is related to , but distinct from, existing widely-published theories on place attachment.
- Description: Doctorate of Philosophy
A great leap forward : EFL curriculum, globalization and reconstructionism - a case study in North East China
- Authors: Zhang, Xiaohong
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: I have used the name, The Great Leap Forward in relation to my study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform as I have linked economic, political and social developments of the late 20th and early 21st centuries in China with education developments that have occurred at the same time as the reform has been implemented.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
A methodology for the analysis of interactive narrative environments : a four-factor framework
- Authors: Macfadyen, Alyx
- Date: 2009
- Type: Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Stories have been engaging humans for thousands of years, but in interactive narrative environments, the narrative is perceived to diminish as the source of engagement. One reason for this apparent diminution, is that in interactive environments there has been difficulty in understanding the relationship between design of the unfolding story, and the ability of a user within the story to alter the course of events. As yet there are no standard or accepted evaluative methods to understand interaction at a granular level, and to understand how stories and narratives flow across the expanse of technologies and mixed realities that characterise the way people communicate, share knowledge and are entertained. This thesis presents a novel methodology called the Four-Factor Framework, that takes as its premise that there are four fundamental elements in interactive stories and narratives that can be observed.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
AOP and HLA : A new aspect on distributed simulation development
- Authors: Pokorny, Timothy
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis develops a method for combining AOP and HLA, leveraging the separation-of-concerns approach used by AOP to allow the creation of core models, free from simulation distribution semantics. Through the use of automated tools, these models are then woven with a generic-HLA aspect, producing an HLA-enabled simulation component. Using AOP in this manner removes the need for model developers to have an in-depth understanding of the HLA, helping to remove the prime factor restricitng a broader uptake of distributed simulation technologies: development complexity.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Barley non-starch polysaccharide content and its relationship with kernel hardness and water uptake
- Authors: Gamlath, Jayantha
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: Harder kernels in barley are thought to be a factor affecting the modification of the endosperm during malting by restricting water and enzyme movement within the endosperm. The traditional method used in the malting industry to determine barley endosperm vitreousness is by visual assessment. Since this method is subjective, laborious and requires training, an alternative method is needed. Similarly, the causes and factors influencing kernel hardness are uncertain. The prime objectives of this study were: to identify an appropriate method to quantify kernel hardness; investigate the relationship between kernel hardness and endosperm composition; and to investigate the relationship between barley variety and environmental influences on endosperm composition in relation to the kernel hardness of malting barley.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Beyond start-up : Regional small to medium enterprises (SMEs) transitioning to growth
- Authors: Henson, Sam
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: Reports on a qualitative, case-based study of the practices that contribute to the growth of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The research engaged with growing SMEs located in regional areas of Australia, and with the entrepreneurs and owner-managers who lead them.
Controlling Lachnagrostis filiformis (Fairy grass) on dry lake beds in western Victoria, Australia
- Authors: Warnock, Andrew
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The indigenous grass Lachnagrostis filiformis (Fairy grass) has colonised extensive areas of dry lakebeds in western Victoria, Australia during the current (1997-) drought. Large numbers of the plants' detached seed heads disperse in the wind and lodge against housing, fences, railway lines and other obstacles ... In this study, late season application of Glyphosate based herbicide, slashing, seed broadcasting of Atriplex australasica and Puccinellia perlaxa, grazing and burning were examined ... The results highlight how weed management aimed at achieving short-term goals, without controlling the ecological processes that promote weeds establishment and persistence, can be counter productive in the long-term.
- Description: Doctorate of Philosophy
Corporate reputation in the Australian mining industry : A stakeholder perspective
- Authors: Tuck, Jacqueline
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: This study contributes to corporate reputation theory through the identification of stakeholder specific reputations in the mining industry and further understanding of the complex reputation formation processes. It provides a framework for understanding the formation of reputation at stakeholder level, including the stakeholder network effects and the industry effects in the reputation formation processes for stakeholder groups
- Description: Doctorate of Philosophy
Derivative free algorithms for nonsmooth and global optimization with application in cluster analysis
- Authors: Ganjehlou, Asef Nazari
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis is devoted to the development of algorithms for solving nonsmooth nonconvex problems. Some of these algorithms are derivative free methods.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Enabling play : Insider accounts of disabled children's playworlds in accessible playgrounds
- Authors: Burke, Jenene
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis investigates accessible playgrounds as spaces that offer children with impairments the opportunity to be included in play with children who do not have impairments. It presents an examination of play on the Swanmere Accessible Community Playground and several other children's playground sites.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Enhancing factoid question answering using frame semantic-based approaches
- Authors: Ofoghi, Bahadorreza
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: FrameNet is used to enhance the performance of semantic QA systems. FrameNet is a linguistic resource that encapsulates Frame Semantics and provides scenario-based generalizations over lexical items that share similar semantic backgrounds.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Evoking the sacred : the artist as shaman
- Authors: Whitehand, Dawn
- Date: 2009
- Type: Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis examines, via a feminist theoretical framework, the systems in existence that permit the ongoing exploitation of the environment; and the appropriateness of ceramics as a medium to reinvigorate dormant insights. I argue that the organic nuances expressed through clay; the earthy, phenomenological and historic ritual connotations of clay; and the tactile textured surfaces and undulating form, allows ceramics to conjure responses within the viewer that reinvigorates a sense of embedment in the Earth.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
G-coupling functions and properties of strongly star-shaped cones
- Authors: Morales-Silva, Daniel
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The main part of this thesis presents a new approach to the topic of conjugation, with applications to various optimization problems. It does so by introducing (what we call) G-coupling functions.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Humour and laughter in children with autism spectrum disorders
- Authors: Jones, Errin
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Studying humour and laughter in children with ASDs can provide unique insights into their socio-communicative impairments, and aid in the development of effective interventions. The current study investigated humour and laughter in 16 school-aged children with autism and Asperger Syndrome (AS).
- Description: Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)