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This study undertakes an in-depth investigation of the learning experience of selected visitors to three Australian museums. The research questions guiding the study were: Central Research Question: What is the essence of the learning experience in history museums? Sub-questions: 1. What is the essential structure of the museum learning experience? 2. What are the constituent elements of that essential structure? 3. How is meaning created by the visitor during the museum learning experience? 4. What are the key implications for the management and marketing of museums arising from an understanding of the above? Having established from the literature the importance of learning to the museum experience and emotion to such learning, the methodology assumes an emergent construction progressing through three separate but interrelated qualitative phases. The first two assume a broadly ethnographic approach while the third, in an attempt to achieve a deeper understanding, adopts a hermeneutic phenomenological approach referring in particular to the work of Husserl, Heidegger and Van Manen. The research incorporates a range of investigative methods including preparation of Personal Meaning Maps (Falk, 2002); audio recording of participant visit conversations; and in-depth interviews during a ‘return to the experience’ by individual participants and the researcher immediately subsequent to the visit. The first two stages identifies learning to have occurred by way of a number of principal concepts around which the data is grouped as well as a series of themes by which meaning is evidenced. Emotion is seen to be an influencing factor with respect to both concepts and meaning. The third stage identified the essence of the learning experience as a relationship between the visitor’s emergent interpretation of exhibits and their feelings of interest. From this the essential structure is identified as the interrelationship between such emergent interpretation in narrative form, int

The Australian Government is using many of its Department of Defence capabilities in operations abroad and at home. To achieve this, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has increasingly relied on the capability of the Reserve Forces; in particular the Army Reserve (ARes). While demand for Reservists has increased, the overall force numbers have been decreasing. This creates problems not only in Defence capability but also in the quality of training, morale and attendance. Defence has conducted many surveys of serving Reservists to understand their motivations from a qualitative standpoint. It is the aim of this descriptive empirical phenomenological research, through the lived experience of the participants, to complement that work by understanding the experiences and perspectives of those experiencing military service in two part-time army organisations (Australia and the United Kingdom’s Territorial Army (TA)) in order to better inform Human Resource (HR) policy and practice within the Australian Army Reserve. A descriptive empirical phenomenological study was undertaken to understand the lived experiences of Reservists and Territorial Army members. Nine participants reflected on their motivations to join, their experiences of recruitment, training, and promotion, and some of their most enjoyable and least enjoyable aspects of Reserve service. A human resources (HR) lens was used to focus the literature and research data approaches. The data was analysed using a descriptive empirical phenomenological method. As a result, both the participant and researcher voice is presented. This is then referenced against the data, models and theories presented in the literature to identify consistencies and points of difference between past research and this approach. This study suggests that the psyche of Reservist motivation is unique by being a combination of both volunteer and part-time employee motivation. The conclusions drawn identify that most of the participant Reservis

The increase in human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, has elevated the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and warmed the planet through the greenhouse effect. In addition, approximately 30% of the CO2 produced by human activities has dissolved into the oceans, lowering pH and reducing the abundance, and hence the availability, of carbonate ions (CO3 2-), which are essential for calcium carbonate deposition. Of great concern is the impact to photosynthetic marine calcifiers, elevated CO2 and temperature is expected to have a negative impact on the health and survivorship of calcifying marine organisms. This thesis explores the effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on the microenvironment, photosynthetic efficiency, calcification and biomechanical properties in important sediment producers on coral reefs. The reef-building and sedimentdwelling organisms, Halimeda and symbiont-bearing foraminifera are prominent, coexisting taxa in shallow coral reefs and play a vital role in tropical and subtropical ecosystems as producers of sediment and habitats and food sources for other marine organisms. However, there is limited evidence of the effects of ocean warming and acidification in these two keystone species. Irradiance alone was not found to influence photosynthetic efficiency, photoprotective mechanisms and calcification in Halimeda macroloba, Halimeda cylindracea and Halimeda opuntia (Chapter 2). There is also limited knowledge of foraminiferal biology on coral reefs, especially the symbiotic relationship between the protest host and algal symbionts. Marginopora vertebralis, the dominant tropical foraminifera, shows phototactic behavior, which is a unique mechanism for ensuring symbionts experience an ideal light environment. The diurnal photosynthetic responses of in hospite symbiont photosynthesis was linked to host movement and aided in preventing photoinhibition and bleaching by moving away from over-saturating irradiance, to more optimal

Open Briefings are question-and-answer documents announced on the Australian Securities Exchange. Firms pay Orient Capital, an investor relations consultant, to hold one and are motivated to disclose via Open Briefings to heighten the attention and effectiveness of firm news. Thus, Open Briefings can be considered analogous to hiring an investor relations firm for a single disclosure. I find that Open Briefings are more likely to be used by firms that are loss making, in the resource sector, younger, issue equity, have a greater dispersion of share ownership, make more market announcements and have a higher proportion of director independence. My findings add to the voluntary disclosure literature in that both mature and growth firms use attention-increasing disclosure when they have reasons to do so. In addition, Open Briefings are important market events and since the positive share price reaction does not quickly reverse, evidence is provided that Open Briefings are not merely ‘spin’. As the less negative Open Briefings have a 31-day abnormal buy-and-hold return, there is some support for a medium-term visibility effect from this form of investor relations. Overall, this thesis shows that Open Briefings have economic benefits even when they further disseminate news from a prior announcement.

There is currently limited market penetration for prefabricated timber structural systems in non-residential multi-storey construction in Australia and New Zealand. This limited penetration is caused in part by a fragmented supply chain. There is a need for manufacturers, fabricators and designers to align themselves to better meet the needs and expectations of the non-residential construction environment. There is limited literature available on the impact of the supply chain on other Engineered-To-Order (ETO) products and there is a gap in knowledge on how the supply chain impacts on the performance of prefabricated timber systems. The manufacturer in the prefabricated timber supply chain is the key figure preventing the entire supply chain being structured to better meet the needs of the end user. The prefabricated timber construction supply chain is not structured with the end user in mind, thus decreasing its value. The prefabricated timber supply chain in its entirety should be structured for the non-residential market to better suit the needs of the customer rather than the supplier. Structural contingency theory outlines there should be a fit between the organisational processes and the environment. It states that company models that match the environmental requirements should perform more successfully than those that do not. When applying structural contingency theory to the supply chain the individual dimensions of supply chain should be aligned in order to achieve the best performance. Case studies interviews were undertaken with industry practitioners and senior leaders from organisations along the supply chain for prefabricated timber systems in Australia, New Zealand (NZ), United Kingdom (UK), Austria, Germany and Finland. These were undertaken to establish how and why the supply chain and organisations along it impact on the performance of prefabricated timber systems. These interviews together with current state-or-art of literature formed the basis

In Australia, homebirth has not been a mainstream option for childbirth for many years due to political reasons, societal attitudes towards childbirth, and a lack of services Since the 1990s, publicly-funded homebirth services have developed as a result of a growing demand from women and midwives. These services are few in number, and often embedded within a midwifery group practice in a hospital setting. As a relatively new model of care, these services have had little formal research, and only a few evaluations. The purpose of this study was to explore the influences on women who chose a publicly-funded homebirth. The setting was a publicly-funded homebirth service in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A grounded theory methodology, using a feminist approach was used to collect and analyse the data. Data were collected though semi-structured interviews of 18 women, 5 midwives and 2 partners of the women. Six main categories emerged from the data. These described the influences women had when they chose to have a publicly-funded homebirth. These categories were feeling independent, strong and confident, doing it my way, protection from hospital related activities, having a safety net, selective listening and telling, and engaging support. The core category was having faith in normal. This category linked all the other categories and was an overriding attitude towards themselves as women and the process of childbirth. The basic social process was validating the decision to have a homebirth. This was a dynamic, changeable process and principally a strategy to lessen stress regarding their decision to have a homebirth by reinforcing already-held reasons (for example, their ‘low risk’ status, strength and ability to have a normal birth) and beliefs (for example, their faith in normal, natural processes). The findings establish that women have similar influences to other studies of women when choosing homebirth. However, the women in this study were reassured

Background: There is evidence of high use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by pregnant women. Despite debate and controversy regarding CAM use in pregnancy there has been little research focused upon the factors which drive women’s use of CAM during pregnancy, labour and birth (PLB) and the patterns of CAM use which impacts on labour and birth outcomes. Methods: A cross-sectional sub-study of women from the ‘younger’ cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (aged 31-36 years) (n=8012) who identified as pregnant or recently given birth (n=2445) were recruited for the study. Alongside the women’s demographics and health history, the survey explored women’s consultations with conventional maternity health professionals and CAM practitioners, use of pharmacological pain management techniques (PPMT) and non-pharmacological pain management techniques (NPMT), and incidence of birth outcomes. The statistical analysis included Pearson chi-square tests, and analysis of variance or t-tests to examine bivariate relationships. Multiple logistic regression and backwards stepwise regression was undertaken as needed to more closely examine the relationship between variables. Results: The survey was completed by 1835 women. A substantial number of respondents consulted with a CAM practitioner (49.4%) or used CAM products commonly associated with CAM practice (52.0%) for pregnancy-related health conditions. Differences were seen in the influence of demographics, health service utilisation, health status, use of CAM, and attitudes and beliefs upon consultation with a CAM practitioner and use of intrapartum pain management techniques across all categories of practitioners. Higher educational attainment was strongly associated with consultations with an acupuncturist (RR=4.17-4.53). More than two thirds of women (66.7%) who used NPMT utilised CAM during pregnancy. Women were significantly more likely to use NPMT during birth if they were married (OR=6

A major challenge for groundwater research is to consider the complex relationships amongst groundwater resources, vegetation (function and structure) and climate. Transpiration from vegetation (especially trees when present) is the principal pathway for discharge of water from vegetated landscapes. Whilst it is known that the ability to access groundwater can help plants survive drought conditions and in particular the importance of groundwater in arid and semi-arid areas is well documented, there have been few studies that compare ecophysiological (e.g. leaf water relations), structural (e.g. basal area, leaf area index) and functional (e.g. rates of tree water-use, above-ground net primary productivity; water-use-efficiency) attributes of trees along a naturally occurring gradient in depth-to-groundwater, especially in mesic environments. The aim of this research was to establish whether differences in groundwater depth along a transect influences ecophysiological, functional and structural attributes of remnant woodlands in southeast of Australia growing in a region with relatively high annual rainfall. The study area was located in the Kangaloon bore-field area, NSW, where depth-to-groundwater varies from 2.4 m to 37.5 m. To address this aim; seasonal measurements were made at seven sites at three scales (leaf-, tree- and stand-scales). Structural attributes of woodlands, above-ground productivity were significantly different across sites. The three shallowest sites with 2.4m, 4.3 m and 5.5 m depth-to-groundwater had significantly larger above-ground biomass and productivity than the four deepest sites (sites where depth-to-groundwater was more than 9.8 m). A significant shift occurred in all measured variables when depth-to-groundwater increased from 5.5 m to 9.8 m. This result was found consistently for each structural trait examined (LAI, tree height, BA, ANPP, AGB, stem density). There were no differences in three structural traits (BA, height and LAI) nor

This thesis is concerned with the critical potentials and challenges of a health-orientated community-based organisation within the contemporary socio-political environment. Hepatitis C (HCV) community-based organisations (CBOs) are reported by government to be a fundamental component of Australia’s national response to the HCV epidemic. This is said to be due to a “specific” expertise that mark them distinct from public (health) sector sites. Traditional thinking on what marks civil society organisations like CBOs as distinct is commonly presented in terms of rationalist/utilitarian human service models. This thesis contends that health-orientated CBOs complicate this thinking as people who engage with HCV CBOs do so not only for service access, but also for social and identity reasons to help, and learn from, others to gain answers to questions such as; “who I am?”, “whom am I connected to?” and “who can I hope to become?” as a result of HCV. Drawing from HCV CBO text and interviews with key informants and people affected by HCV, this thesis investigates and links questions of illness experience and distinct expertise of a HCV CBO. Findings are assessed and articulated according to the model developed. Particularly, Victor Turner’s work on liminality, which underpins the model, is used to interpret findings. Liminality, referring to a position or status that is “betwixt and in-between” (Turner, 1969), is applied in two different ways: as a negative effect when viewed in the context of illness identities and productively in terms of CBOs. It is illustrated how HCV lived experience can represent a liminal identity fostered by dominant narratives of HCV that encourage people to adopt medicalised and health consumer identities. The study also explores how a HCV CBO’s relational position in-between state and “community” endows it with a liminal quality that is expressed through the multiple and at times opposing HCV narratives that a HCV CBO (re)produces. Some of these

Financial early warning system aims to warn of the impending critical financial status of an organization. A financial early warning system is more than a classical prediction model and should provide an explanatory analysis to describe the reasons behind the failure; the explanatory ability of a system is as important as its predictive accuracy. In addition, failure prediction is intrinsically a class imbalance problem in which the number of failed cases is much less than the number of survived cases. Also, the vagueness in the value of predictors is an inevitable problem which has emerged in the uncertain environment of the finance industry. Scarcity of training data is another critical problem in finance industry; a new type of financial early warning system, which can be transferred and modified for different domains to transfer knowledge to new prediction domain, is highly desirable in practical applications because it is easy to install and cheap to setup. To achieve the aforementioned properties, this study develops algorithms, methods and approaches in the case of bank failure prediction. First, a novel parametric adaptive inference-based fuzzy neural network approach is devised to predict financial status accurately and generate valuable knowledge for decision making. It handles the imbalance problem and the vagueness in features‘ value using parametric learning and rule generation algorithms. Second, a fuzzy domain adaptation method is developed to transfer knowledge from a related old problem to the problem under consideration and the labels are then predicted with a high level of accuracy. This method handles the data scarcity problem and enables the financial early warning system to be transferrable between prediction domains which are different in data distribution. Third, a fuzzy cross-domain adaptation approach is proposed to make the financial early warning system transferable from different but related domains to the current domain. This approach h

This submission for the Doctor of Creative Arts is in two parts. The first part is a written, analytical discussion of the work of the ambient, minimalist, free improvising Australian trio, The Necks. Despite the emerging interest in the trio on an international scale, few formal academic writings have been compiled. The thesis adopts a research-led practice methodology and framework whereby research has informed both the thesis and creative work. Research methods employed include qualitative interviews with musicians as well as qualitative and quantitative musicological focus when dealing with textual and musical analyses of recorded material. I argue that The Necks’ body of work is an acoustic experiment, situating it in terms of its hybrid nature. Whilst The Necks’ musical tracks are a sonic experiment in their own right, their music does not constitute the totality of the individual members’ output. I will show how the influences from other genres and musical styles when combined with the free improvising approach of The Necks create the acoustic experiment. The link with American minimalists, global and local performers and world music is considered. The theme of landscape, place and location is explored throughout the thesis. The relationship between the environment and The Necks’ performances is significant, and often features in their album titles. Included is a document (Appendix B) that contains transcriptions of their main musical themes relevant to the analyses of The Necks’ body of work. These are specific examples from which various conclusions are derived in order to prove the theory that their work is usefully described as an acoustic experiment. The second part of the Doctor of Creative Arts is the creative component. Chapter 8, ‘Notes on the Creative Project Places CD’, accompanies a compact disc (CD) audio recording which is an original body of work exploring contemporary improvising practices. I have composed and performed a set of piano pieces b

I investigate the information content of gold mining firms’ estimates of contingent and inferred resources. Contingent resources are distinguished from reserves because contingent resources are not economically viable under current conditions. Inferred resources are distinguished from the others in that they are too preliminary for a reliable assessment of their economic viability. Disclosing these two categories is required in Australia and Canada, but prohibited in the USA by SEC Industry Guide 7. I examine the informativeness of resource estimates in two ways: the association with ex post changes in reserve estimates, and the association with market prices. Following the resource reporting framework, I provide evidence that contingent resources are informative when considered together with gold price movements, and inferred resources are informative when considered together with exploration expenditure and the commercial viability of developed resources. I also provide evidence that the decomposition of estimates of mineralised material into contingent and inferred resources is only weakly associated with corporate disclosure allowed by the SEC. My results inform the regulatory debate over the harmonisation of resource reporting codes by highlighting the utility of the prohibited categories. My result also contributes to the literature that has hitherto focused on reserve estimates. It would appear that, while the SEC prohibition is motivated by concerns of investors being ‘misled,’ by distorting the disclosure of useful information, the SEC is increasing investor confusion.

Over the past four decades, public commentary, independent reports and Australian Government enquiries have claimed and shown that the Department of Defence (Defence), the largest and most complex Commonwealth agency, has not managed the use of public monies in its acquisition and procurement activities at an acceptable level, and as a consequence there has been a corresponding loss of public confidence in its conduct. In the period 2000 to 2010, the Defence spent about $26.8 billion (i.e., 2 percent of Australia’s national income) a year of public money. During this period, progress albeit questionable had been achieved in some areas: in military operations, in defence policy, and in initiatives the were reflected in a range of public sector reforms that include the Kinnaird Review, the Mortimer Review, the Strategic Reform Program 2009 Delivering Force 2030, and other more recent Commonwealth Government commissioned Reviews such as the Black Review. Despite these initiatives, the public evidence of the agency’s performance continued to indicate its inability to deliver much needed lifesaving outcomes and outputs to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and that there was a need to restore public confidence in the acquisition and procurement procedures and processes: raising questions about governmentality that focused on accountability, transparency, integrity and stewardship, four of the Principles of the Australian Public Service Governance Principles. The research investigated three major capital acquisition and procurement cases identified in government documents using content analysis to determine whether the theme of accountability had been compromised. The evidence reflected instances of the agency’s failure to adhere to and comply with the Australian Government legislation and APS regulations and rules to implement the programs: the outcomes of which were significant waste of public money and unacceptable reputational costs to the agency, the Commonwealth and

Exotic plant species that become widespread and abundant in their new ranges are a worldwide environmental problem. Such invasive plant species are responsible for a growing number of ecological problems including biodiversity loss, disruptions in ecosystem function and species extinctions. Many exotic plant species introduced to new regions become naturalised, but only a small subset of these species transition from naturalisation to invasion. An important goal of invasion ecology is the identification of plant traits that enable exotic plant species to become invasive within their new ranges. The identification of such traits provides a better understanding of factors contributing to invasion success and contributes to the effective management of invasive plants. In Australia, exotic plant invasion is recognized as a serious and growing threat to native biodiversity. Yet, despite the recognition of the impacts of invasive exotic plant species, there is a paucity of information about the factors contributing to their success in Australia. Thus, identifying plant traits that promote the invasion success of exotic plant species in Australia is a research and management imperative. This research thesis examined relationships between exotic plant species invasiveness and a range of plant life-history traits through the use of a continental-scale, target-area comparative approach. I compared plant traits between invasive and non-invasive species across multiple plant life-history stages, from seed traits in the seed bank to germination characteristics, seedling emergence and growth traits, as well as the attributes of mature plants. I first constructed a database of 468 naturalised exotic plant species in Australia, with data for four plant introduction traits. I found that residence time (the length of time an exotic plant species has been present in the introduced range) was a consistent predictor of invasion success, as was growth form with the introduction of vines

The rate of attrition of apprentices failing to complete their apprenticeship and dropping out of a trade altogether has long been a concern for both industry and government (DEEWR 2008; Knight & Karmel 2011). Attrition amongst commercial cookery apprentices is one of the highest, where more than 60% leave within their first year. Low pay and unsociable hours have often been cited as reasons why many apprentices reassess their career choice (Pratten 2003a; Pratten & O’Leary 2007). However while these conditions are difficult to change, many apprentice chefs leave through poor treatment and the lack of opportunity for learning, rather than the physical demands of the job. The purpose of this study is to investigate learning opportunities for apprentice chefs and their influence on retention. This study further examines the inter-relational dynamics of enriched work practices and learning and its influence on apprentices’ motivation. Apprentices will bring expectations to their apprenticeship from sources external to their workplace and VET. These sources may be from programs on television and the internet (Bonsal 2007), school VET programs (Smith & Wilson 2002a, 2002b) or weekend casual work in local restaurants (Fuller & Unwin 2004; Hodgson & Spours 2001). The origin of these expectations may be an idealised notion of what it means to be a chef but a prevailing motivation to cook for a living. This study examines what motivates apprentices to complete their apprenticeship and qualify in a very challenging industry. Two stages were developed in this investigation where the findings of the first stage informed the progression to the second. Stage one investigates apprentices’ motivation and attrition from a broad spectrum of industry stakeholders where qualitative data was collected in order to gain insight into the viewpoints of key individuals. The Stage One Report Industry and VET was disseminated in order to seek feedback and enrich the data. Conference papers pre

Nostalgia Ti Frega is a photographic exploration of memory, identity, and place focusing on the migrant community of a Sicilian village destroyed by an earthquake 40 years ago. It is a creative photographic project that aims to capture a sense of the virtual space the destroyed village now inhabits within the community, the memories and stories that form this space, and the role of photographs in its construction. The project is designed to depict and engage the community of villagers and their descendants, inviting them to engage and interact with photographs and experience a sense of what ‘the village' is today. Broadly the project consists of over 1200 individual postcard-sized printed photographs, presented in (and across) 5 specially designed, handcrafted wooden boxes; a ‘bespoke’ iPad application showcasing the same photographs within an emergent digital environment, allowing users to discover images playfully and leave comments if desired; and an exegesis that outlines the theoretical and creative framework of the project, including literature of influence during creative development, methodologies employed during research and production, and the project’s contribution to broader creative practice within a hybrid post-digital media context. Conceptually Nostalgia Ti Frega examines notions of memory, identity, and place by tracing a path through the disruption of post-war migration and loss of homeland to current thinking around a ‘reflective nostalgia’ that makes space for hybrid identities and histories. It also examines the evocative potential of objects and touch, both physical and digital, as sources of identity, connection, and belonging. Creatively the project has sought to experiment with storytelling, exploring how non-linear, fragmentary, hybrid story platforms may operate to enhance formation and maintenance of a collective hybrid identity. To that end it positions itself as the inheritor of a creative trajectory beginning with literary experiments

2008, the moment of neoliberalism’s greatest challenge – the crisis that many have described as a “crisis of neoliberalism” – also provides the best vantage-point to understand its nature and resilience. In Australia Rudd Labor’s response to the crisis appeared to break with neoliberalism. In the midst of the crisis Rudd personally authored a lengthy essay calling for a renewed social democracy. In the same month his government launched the major component of a $70 billion 'Keynesian' fiscal program. The $42 billion 'Nation-Building Jobs Plan' stimulus package included a wide range of measures such as the 'Building the Education Revolution' and the 'Homeowners Insulation Program'. This thesis analyses the design and implementation of Labor’s major stimulus measures. It begins by constructing a theoretical approach addressing the origins and development of neoliberalism and then analyses how Labor governments have addressed economic crises in the past, to shed light on the approach taken by the Rudd Government. In this context, the stimulus measures are used as something of a “stress-test” of the government agencies that administered them. Each stimulus program yields rich insights into the extent to which neoliberalised outsourcing practices have transformed the Australian state – from direct provision of public services to the funding of private contractors. The design of the stimulus measures is further interrogated to examine the assumptions of Rudd Labor, and the extent to which neoliberal practice was superseded. On the basis of this investigation the thesis concludes that, in contrast with Rudd’s ideological interventions, Labor ministers accepted neoliberal policy paradigms unquestioningly, and in fact designed new ways of extending and entrenching market-friendly trends.

NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. This thesis contains 3rd party copyright material. The hardcopy may be available for consultation at the UTS Library. ----- This thesis follows a study conducted in 2003 by the author on how two of Sydney’s daily newspapers depicted Arabs and Muslims in the year before and after September 11, 2001. A central finding of the study was the key role played by how ‘the Palestinians’ were represented by journalists in affecting strongly prejudicial attitudes to Arabs and Muslims in general. Effectively, all Palestinians were portrayed as violent, inhuman ‘terrorists’. A historical approach is taken in this thesis to use similar keywords used in the 2000-2002 study and apply them to two earlier peak periods of newspaper coverage involving Palestine and Palestinians. The biggest and longest such ‘peaks’ over the last century were the First World War (when Australian troops fought in Palestine, 1917-1918) and the partition of Palestine in 1947 and the creation of the state of Israel in mid-1948. The thesis takes one newspaper – Sydney ‘quality’ daily, The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) – and examines the text of the journalism, the surrounding institutional politics and the context of the times in Palestine. In doing so, its methodology mirrors that in the 2000-2002 study: usage of both statistical content analysis based on keywords but also by qualitative analysis based on the author’s 30 or more years as a media practitioner in print, radio and television in Australia. The research question at stake was whether the delineation of ‘the Palestinian’ found in 2000-2002 was a simple repetition of earlier coverage by the SMH or whether the representations of Palestinians had changed with different circumstances. It finds both important continuities and discontinuities with contemporary coverage. The discontinuities are contained in the different descriptions of the local people in these two eras and the part they played in the ‘land of Palestine’. At a deep

Females make up half the population, and represent 47% of the digital game player market in Australia, yet women do not have comparative input and influence into the creation of digital games. Women are underrepresented in the digital games industry all over the world. In Australia, women’s level of contribution to game development is much lower than the USA, Canada, and UK. This thesis seeks to establish the factors that influence the low participation of women in this fast-growing industry, and to possibly find ways to reverse this trend. Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature from the areas of computer science, IT, and digital games development was carried out focusing on the impact of social, structural and cultural factors, and how these may influence women choosing a career in the Australian digital games industry. This study is empirical in nature using a Mixed-Method Grounded Theory approach. A database of all known Australian digital game companies was constructed. A census was then carried out with 356 digital game development studios across the country. From there, a separate “Aussie Women Game Developers” survey was conducted with thirty-five women working in the industry. From the survey respondents a subset of ten women participated in a semi-structured, in-depth, one-on-one, open-ended interview.

The contemporary literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate philanthropy, and similar areas related to organisations' involvement with social causes has emphasised the importance of this phenomenon from an organisational perspective. To date, however, knowledge from the 'demand side' or perspective of fans and other stakeholders remains under-researched. The present case study addresses this dimension, examining the case of an Australian professional sport organisation. The findings demonstrate strong agreement among respondents, particularly concerning the organisation's engagement with the community and community orientated causes, and in promoting the sport and the club. Many comments also highlight the need for the club to instil a culture that nurtures future generations of fans. While today the notion of 'giving back to the community' has gained in momentum in different environments, practical and symbolic ways to connect with the community appear to be equally valued as financial or other material contributions.

The provision of workforce training and development (T&D) has the potential to provide benefits to both employers and employees. However, employees in small businesses receive less access to T&D than employees in large businesses. Prior research into reasons for the relatively low levels of employee participation in formal T&D in small businesses has typically involved surveys of owner-manager opinions regarding ‘barriers’ to T&D. This study explored factors influencing employee participation in T&D from the perspective of employees. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 15 employees in small engineering businesses. Consistent with the main aim of exploratory research, the study produced (four) generalisations that are grounded in the interview data. These generalisations help establish the groundwork for future studies.

On March 11 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Northeastern Japan followed shortly after by a powerful tsunami. The disaster caused devastating damage along the Pacific coastline and more than 20,000 people were declared killed, injured or missing. Through this tragedy of the Great East Japan Earthquake (hereafter the 3/11 Earthquake), there are many important lessons on disaster preparedness and relief that can be learned; the implementation of such lessons is an important way to ensure that the victims of the disaster did not lose their lives in vain. In the aftermath of the 3/11 Earthquake, various internal and external actors including governmental organizations, militaries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private companies, and international organizations participated in the disaster relief activities. Yet this disaster was not an isolated event, but occurred amid a spate of recent large-scale calamities in the Asia-Pacific region. These include the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, the Pakistan Earthquake of 2005 and the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008. Relief activities were similarly conducted in response to each of these disasters by various internal and external civil-military actors. However, it became apparent through these relief activities that there were difficulties in coordinating and unifying the efforts of the various actors, which in turn hampered the provision of swift and efficient support to survivors. The effectiveness of the UN Cluster Approach1 is widely acknowledged yet it takes considerable time to activate this approach. Therefore the question of how relief activities can be rapidly and effectively conducted by various civil-military actors in response to a disaster continues to remain a challenge. The members of this research project recognized the necessity for more effective international disaster relief cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region., Prepared in cooperation with the Association for Cooperation between Japan, U.S. and Australia (ACJUA) and Queensland University of Technology.

Cyanobacteria occupy diverse aquatic habitats and their ecological success is expected to increase under predicted future climate scenarios. Managing cyanobacteria abundance in freshwaters is therefore critical for reducing risks to human and animal health. One species that is currently undergoing range expansion from subtropical to temperate habitats is Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii. C. raciborskii is ecologically successful because of its (1) competitive nutrient acquisition and storage mechanisms (e.g. high affinity for phosphorus (P) and ammonium, high P-storage capacity); (2) wide thermal tolerance, superior shade tolerance and buoyancy regulation; (Briand et al. 2002) and (3) resistance to grazing. To date, research to understand the formation of C. raciborskii blooms and toxicity have mostly focused on environmental factors, but the importance of food web interactions in regulating blooms has been little investigated. In particular, there is a need to examine these foodweb interactions in subtropical systems in the Southern Hemisphere because much of the current understanding about zooplankton-cyanobacteria interactions comes from temperate systems dominated by large-bodied cladocerans. Given that warmer subtropical systems are dominated by copepods and smaller-bodied individuals, it is likely that interactions between zooplankton and phytoplankton have different outcomes for cyanobacterial bloom formation. To understand the mechanisms of toxic cyanobacterium C. raciborskii bloom formation in subtropical oligotrophic Australian lakes, a series of investigations were undertaken across multiple spatial and temporal scales to test the hypothesis that C. raciborskii growth is facilitated by meso-zooplankton. Specifically, small-scale laboratory experiments (~100 ml) examined zooplankton grazing and tested whether copepods avoid consumption of C. raciborskii under food saturating conditions (Chapter 2). Both the direct (grazing) and indirect (nutrient regeneratio

This thesis investigates organisational enactment of sustainability. The problematic addressed is that despite strong evidence supporting human induced global ecological damage, organisational practices remain unchanged and continue to degrade ecological systems. The question addressed is what factors contribute to the inertia that inhibits change for ecological sustainability in organisations? The question is addressed from the perspectives of individuals who are stakeholders in organisations. The modern concept of sustainability arose during the 1970s and selected aspects of sustainability discourses, for example the concept of the triple bottom line (TBL), have since been integrated into the organising narratives of organisation and society. Despite such success, indicators such as human induced climate change, biodiversity loss and growing inequalities between rich and poor, suggest that mainstream institutions have not taken up change for sustainability. The proposition of this thesis is that alteration to our social imaginary (ies) is a necessary precursor to enactment of sustainability. The thesis presents findings from three case studies: Landcare, Corcon and Carepoint. These organisations were selected because they represented different sectors and each had initiated a formal sustainability change project: Corcon is an engineering organisation, Carepoint a community services not-for-profit organisation and Landcare an agricultural organisation. Landcare highlights the dialogue that nature has with individuals and organisations and how recognising this dialogue can lead to ecological solutions for sustainability. The Corcon case contributes the importance of boundaries defining inclusion and exclusion as moral constraints and enablers to developing sustainability solutions and the Carepoint case demonstrates that the multiplicity of competing sustainability discourses are understood by individuals who then make decisions based on the context of the dominant

Industrial designers play a pivotal role in the development of consumer products. Consumer products contribute significantly to society’s ecological impact, which needs to be lowered. This thesis examines the role of industrial design practice in developing consumer products with low(er) ecological impacts by (i) expanding the concept of ecodesign and (ii) collecting evidence on its contemporary application in Australia. Ecodesign refers to both the integration of ecological considerations into commercial product development processes and their conversion into product designs. When practicing ecodesign, industrial designers must consider the entire life cycle of products—an approach termed Life Cycle Thinking (LCT). This research proposes that industrial design practice allows two expansions to the traditional notion of ecodesign. Firstly, it can uncover new opportunities for creating value through eco-designed products by applying solution-focused thinking. Solution-focused thinking uses representations of tentative suggestions for product designs to explore responses of the context being designed for. Traditionally, ecodesign only applies problem-focused thinking—deductively analysing the status quo to establish requirements for how value can be created. This can result in a lock-in to incremental product-improvement. Secondly, industrial design practice can widen the range of interventions that convert ecological considerations into product designs towards manipulating how products are perceived and understood by consumers, namely, the meanings attached to products. Traditionally, ecodesign focuses too narrowly on technical aspects of product design and has failed to sufficiently represent influencing product meanings. For this research project multiple-case study research was conducted, investigating the ecodesign practice of Australian industrial design consultancies (IDCs) and their clients. The theoretically developed notion of ecodesign was used to guide and

This research investigates strategies to achieve a broader focus in urban transport development that better integrates environmental, social and economic considerations. In the past, the primary objective of urban transport policy was to facilitate economic growth by expanding capacities for motorised road transport (MRT). However, recent decades have made it apparent that a preoccupation with growth has negative impacts on sustainable urban development. This awareness produced new stakeholder groups who are demanding that social and environmental priorities be included in urban development by promoting active and public transport (APT) policies. Efforts by local governments to implement APT policies are a source of major conflict between the advocates of change and stakeholders who want to maintain the focus on MRT expansion. This is because APT and MRT policies compete for limited public space and funding and so implementing APT policies often compromises the transport-related interests of MRT groups and vice versa. If MRT stakeholders have more resources to influence policy development — more money, more access to people in power, and more know-how in advocacy and mobilising public support — they can create barriers to the implementation of APT policies. This research builds on an empirical case study conducted in Munich, using data from interviews with government and non-government stakeholders. It reveals that a process of collaborative stakeholder dialogue (CSD) was a catalyst for policy solutions which better balance active, public and motorised transport. The collaboration created shifts in the way stakeholders interacted, resulting in cooperation rather than confrontation. It resulted in the adoption of consensus views rather than extreme positions, and in learning based on an integration of stakeholder value and knowledge systems. To demonstrate the practical and theoretical advantages of CSD for facilitating better policy choices, the research systematica

Range expansion during the invasion of a novel environment requires that invading species adapt to geographical variation in climate and maintain positive population growth in the face of environmental heterogeneity. Thus, invasive species are expected to undergo adaptive evolutionary changes as they encounter novel selection pressures. The aim of this thesis was to identify adaptive changes in plant growth and reproductive traits throughout the lifecycle of a model invasive species to determine which traits are vital to the success of invasive species encountering novel environments. The model species used in this study was the widespread European invader, Echium plantagineum, which has invaded over 33 million ha across Australia, causing ~$30 million (AUD) damage per annum. I investigated geographic variation in life-history traits of 34 populations of E. plantagineum across a 1,000 km arid-mesic gradient throughout south-eastern NSW, Australia. Seeds were collected for each population along the arid-mesic gradient, germinated in the laboratory and grown in the glasshouse in a common environment. I found that E. plantagineum has rapidly adapted to environmental selection pressures throughout its range, resulting in two major clines linked to plant flowering time and seed size of progeny. Compared with populations from mesic habitats along the arid-mesic gradient, plant populations from arid environments had significantly higher relative growth rate and leaf production which was associated with much earlier flowering time and reduced time between stem production and flower production. Plants from arid regions also produced significantly larger seeds compared with plants from mesic habitats. Interestingly, seeds from all E. plantagineum populations along the arid-mesic gradient germinated rapidly (within 48 hours of water exposure) allowing them to quickly and opportunistically take advantage of available resources. Considered together, these adaptations allow E. pl

In academic work, the discourses of academic development and learning development tend to focus on technical and transactional dimensions at the expense of the affective. This study presents the work experiences of one academic as instantiations of the operation of these discourses within the cultural context of contemporary Australian higher education. Autoethnographic techniques are utilised to present personal narratives as realisations of cultural-historical and sociocultural possibilities. In addition, restorying, a technique borrowed from White and Epston’s (1990) Narrative Therapy, is appropriated to non-therapeutic ends in this thesis to open up discursive space for subjugated narratives that challenge dominant, canonical accounts of academic work. The foundation chapters of the thesis locate academic work within a set of contextualising relations that provide the meaning making potential for the events and encounters that are described. Key among these contextualising relations are the Australian higher education ecosystem, the echoes of the Humboltian ideal and the impacts of neoliberalisation on the resource arrangements and governance of globalising higher education. Ethical, aesthetical and critical dimensions are explored to denaturalise a number of taken-for-granted aspects of higher education. Three key affective dimensions in academic work are identified to encompass taken-for-granted dimensions of academic work: power, intimacy and desire. The first, power, is explored in relation to an academic development encounter focused on constructive alignment and criterion-referenced assessment. The journal entry presents the lines of flight (Deleuze & Guattari 1983 & 1987) taken by a disciplinary-based lecturer to resist the power dimensions of the academic development encounter. The chapter concludes by restorying this academic development encounter and to recount an encounter with a student to suggest a pedagogy of ambivalence. The second affective dimen

Network marketing organization (NMO) is a growing form of business organization. According to the World Federation of Direct Selling Association (2009), there has been a growth in the number of individuals in network marketing business. The current study focuses on investigating the factors that determine immigrant network marketers’ performance in conducting their network marketing business. This research integrates the literature on Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986), Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), immigrant entrepreneurship (Chaganti & Greene, 2002) and NMO studies (Biggart, 1989; Sparks & Schenk, 2006) to develop a path model. This model is tested with data obtained from a survey of 227 Chinese immigrant network marketers in Australia. Adopting the Partial Least Squares methodology, the model is analysed using SmartPLS (Ringle, Wende & Will, 2005). Results suggest that the model has a good predictive ability and a high level of goodness of fit. The current study made several theoretical and empirical contributions. The first one is the identification of factors (influence of social environment in NMO, motivation, selfefficacy, desire for opportunity, social competence, human capital and actions undertaken) that determine immigrants’ performance in pursuing entrepreneurship in the field setting of network marketing organization. The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and entrepreneurial intention model (Krueger, 1993) suggest that selfefficacy and desire for opportunity are the sources of entrepreneurial intention. The current study identifies that self-efficacy and desire for opportunity are two of the factors that directly resulted in actions being undertaken by immigrant network markets to participate in network marketing activities, which in turn led to determine the performance positively. Evidence from previous studies indicates that social competence is positively related to entrepreneurial performance (Baron and Markman 2003). The c

Scottish-born Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) is acclaimed as one of Australia's greatest modernist artists. A recluse and wanderer, he substantially refused to engage with society and the art world. At the age of sixty he made a potentially suicidal sixteen day crossing of the Timor Sea on a ramshackle raft. On the basis of this journey, and his choice in old age to eschew comfort and live like a hermit, public perceptions have tended to polarise—he is considered either genius or madman. The legend of Fairweather's life can eclipse the importance of his art. The questions addressed in this thesis are: what motivated the artist to go to such lengths of disassociation, and how important was this to his creativity? To determine the factors underpinning Fairweather's philosophy and impulse to self-isolate, his early life and itinerant years in Australia and Asia, his raft journey, and his preference for islands are examined. The problem is the artist left few clues. The body of his known work amounts to some 550 paintings and drawings, one small sculpture, one published book and a few artefacts including letters and an unpublished manuscript. These have already been extensively researched. In aiming to present a new perspective on Fairweather and offer deeper insights into his life choices, this thesis draws the conclusion that despite his itinerant lifestyle Ian Fairweather was a strongly self-directed individual who opted for a life of minimalism based on non-materialist principles. His deeply spiritual work and his facility with Chinese language, culture and calligraphy reveal a man of great complexity who developed an 'island mentality' in order to fully realise his art. Research is based on available literature, news media, the internet and Fairweather's art. Interviews were conducted with key Fairweather researchers Murray Bail and Tony Twigg. Field research was undertaken in Brisbane, Bribie Island and Darwin. The archives of H. S. Ede were accessed at Kettle's Yard

Introduction The main purpose of the thesis is to highlight the important role that radiotherapy has in the treatment of skin cancer. This is critically important in Australia which has the highest burden of skin cancer in the world. Methodology Twenty four projects that led to publication over a ten year period by the candidate were selected. They were selected because they were on the subject of radiotherapy of skin cancer and represented a new advance. An essay was written linking them together so as to highlight the findings of each individual project and to investigate and discover common underlying themes. Results The quality of the projects is high as they have been published in peer reviewed journals with respectable impact factors. A number have been significantly cited in subsequent articles and open access publications have received significant hits. Most have been published in journals on the ERA 2012 Journal List. The specific reasons why each project was investigated included: •the desire for self audit •to find an association •to investigate unexpected findings •to create much needed guidelines •to compare treatments and techniques. The specific reasons for publishing included: •to inform on unexpected results •to inform on expected but never before published results •to suggest new guidelines •to disseminate knowledge on new techniques •to invite collaboration in a specific trial •as part of a controversy. The linking essay comprises six chapters that deals with advances: •on the molecular level •in radiation techniques •in clinical areas •in quality assurance •that suggest new guidelines Significant underlying themes found were: •the need for communication •the need for personalized treatment of skin cancer with radiotherapy •the importance of clinical vigilance. Conclusions This thesis shows that radiotherapy in skin cancer has a real place. It describes specifically how the selected projects led to significant advances in the radiation treatment o

Background: The transition from student to registered midwife is a critical period for a new graduate. The literature suggests that well-designed ‘transition support programs’ (TSPs) assist graduates to successfully take up their roles as registered clinicians. While TSPs for midwives exist in NSW, Australia, there appears to be an adhoc approach to their design, implementation and effectiveness. Aim: To identify the type of support offered to newly graduated midwives during their transition year and to increase knowledge and understanding of new midwives’ expectations and experiences of this support. Method: This descriptive qualitative study was undertaken in three phases. In phase one 14 maternity hospitals within three Sydney Area Health Services (AHS) provided details of their TSPs. In phase two, 31 newly graduated midwives participated in telephone interviews (18 at the beginning of their transition year and 29 at the end). An additional 7 participated in focus groups. In phase three interviews with 16 experienced midwives canvased perceptions of the support their facility offered the new graduates. Latent and manifest content analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: The approach to transition support varied across and within AHSs: some sites offered no program. Whilst differences existed between the TSPs they shared common elements such as clinical rotations and study days. At the beginning of their TSP midwives expected that the opportunities provided to them would consolidate their knowledge and clinical skills. In addition they expected to be supported by colleagues to gain confidence. On completion of their transition period, some midwives’ experiences were at odds with the details of the programs initially outlined by the AHSs. The discrepancy between the expected and actual program resulted in increased stress and anxiety for midwives, especially in birth suite. Midwives were critical of the lack of promised supernumerary time as well as limited

Institutional investors are now the predominant type of investor in global financial markets. Institutional investors now own more than 64% of the equity in the US stock markets (Federal Reserve Board 2011). In Australia, institutional investors own approximately 60% of the stock market. They are also responsible for the majority of the trades (96% of all trades) in US markets. Yet there still remain many unanswered questions about the impact of institutional investors. The most basic and obvious of these questions is whether institutional investors possess superior investments skills. Given that institutional investors controlled trillions of dollars of funds under delegated management, it seems in congruous that there is still no consensus in the literature about whether they possess superior investments skills. The increase in size has also given institutional investors significant influence. This prompts the question of how these large investors choose to utilise their influence. Whether institutional investors’ presence and activities improve the efficiency of the financial markets, and what role institutional investors play in important corporate decisions. Using a unique set of daily institutional ownership data, we present four empirical studies on the Australian stock market that aims to provide greater understanding of the impact of institutional ownership. Study 1 examines the question of whether institutional investors possess superior skills. The empirical findings suggest that institutional trading as measured by institutional ownership flows prove to be a good gauge of stock returns. The firms that experience the greatest inflow in institutional ownership exhibited superior performance throughout the 12-month period. Consistent with literature, we showed that institutional investors exhibited superior judgement in their trading in stocks of particular characteristics including small, large stocks, growth stocks and value stocks. In the second study, w

This thesis investigates the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory of management control conceptualised by Speklé (2001) in the context of wholly owned foreign subsidiary (WOFS) operations controlled by multinational corporation headquarters. Investigating this theory provides the basis of a comprehensive understanding of management control system choices, specifically in the WOFS context where activity traits (uncertainty, asset specificity and expost information asymmetry) are of particular relevance. Mixed methods are applied in this study to rigorously investigate the theory. First, a series of five case studies are conducted and used to comprehensively examine the control archetypes proposed in the theory. The evidence from the case studies suggests headquarters exercise the control archetypes proposed in the theory; however, combinations rather than single and distinct control archetypes are exercised by headquarters. In addition, not all control archetype choices are associated with activity traits as the theory proposes. Second, data was collected through a cross sectional survey questionnaire to test Speklé’s (2001) theory. Factor analysis of the control archetype construct indicators demonstrates that the five control archetypes proposed in the theory are representative of headquarters’ control choices. However, the data indicates headquarters use multiple rather than distinct control archetypes which is inconsistent with Speklé’s (2001) theory, but consistent with the case study suggestions. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression results indicate that the association between activity traits and control archetypes proposed in Speklé’s (2001) theory are supported in some cases, but not in all. In particular, results and action controls are widely exercised by headquarters, inconsistent with Speklé’s (2001) propositions. This thesis contributes to theory through applying the TCE theory of management control in the context of WOFS operations, facilitat

Each of the four codes of professional football played in Australia (i.e., Rugby Union, Rugby League, Australian Rules Football and Soccer) is faced with the dilemma of identifying and developing talented young athletes into elite senior players. One of the key difficulties faced by talent scouts, coaches and selectors is identifying talented young individuals during adolescence. Individual differences in the timing and tempo of the maturation process, which are most visible during puberty, can have a significant impact on all aspects of sporting performance and resultant judgements of talented players. With junior and youth teams organised according to chronological age-groupings, inequalities related to perceptions of playing ability are likely to emerge between individuals based on when in a calendar year they are born. These inequalities have become known as ‘Relative Age Effects’, with young players born earlier in a selection year gaining advantages over their later-born counterparts. These advantages include more playing time, a perception of possessing more talent and a subsequent increase in the probability of gaining selection in elite representative teams. The purpose of the first part of this investigation was to examine whether a relative age effect was present in a cohort of elite junior rugby union players competing at the annual national U16 championships. Individual birth-date data and playing position was recorded for each participant at the championships over a seven-year period (2004 – 2010). Chi-square statistics were used to examine differences between observed and expected birth date distributions in all players and general playing positions (forwards and backs). Comparison of birth date distributions between players in the 1st (top 8 teams) and 2nd division (bottom 4 teams) was also conducted. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were also calculated for both quartile and half-year distributions (H1 and H2). For the OR analyse

Disclosure rules directly affect the availability of information to investors and therefore influence their choices. Australia has a unique disclosure environment whereby firms are required to immediately disclose any information that could have an effect on the price of the firm’s securities. This thesis contributes to the literature on market efficiency and information disclosure by examining three separate questions on the continuous disclosure environment in Australia during the period 2005 – 2009. The first essay (Chapter 2) analyses how disclosure regulation in Australia contributes to the price discovery process. We measure the impact of the frequency of market sensitive announcements (MSAs) on the speed and the accuracy with which prices incorporate new information. We find a favourable impact of disclosure on the speed of price discovery for firms with a disclosure frequency above a minimum threshold. With regards to accuracy, first we find that there is twice as much information contribution on days around market sensitive announcements compared to other days. Secondly, we also provide evidence that the frequency of disclosure contributes to reducing the informativeness of earnings announcements by lowering the level of disagreement among investors and the amount of new information disclosed in the earnings announcement. This last effect highlights the importance of voluntary disclosures in reducing the informativeness of earnings for the smallest firms. The second essay (Chapter 3) tests the investor distraction hypothesis, assessing the impact of concurrent information releases under continuous disclosure requirements (CDRs) in Australia in the market response to firms’ information disclosures. Despite having several attributes to increase investor awareness, the magnitude and the speed of the short term market reaction to MSAs released by firms trading on the ASX are adversely affected by the level of investor distraction measured by the total number of

This thesis presents a detailed description of the research project that provided the basis for the development of a children website and the conceptual framework that was put into place as a basis for the project development. The website is targeted at young children aged four to seven and is intended to facilitate children's learning about the ecology of farm animals, provide an understanding of farm animals' life cycles and to develop in young children an awareness of the role of farm animals in the production of our daily food. The data based on surveys and interviews with children and teachers in two countries, Australia and Taiwan, are analysed on the first chapter and use to inform the project development. This section also includes a critical survey of the relevant literature relating to appropriate pedagogical frameworks, children's computer literacy and a review of current online resources about farm animals targeting young children. The examination of the relevant educational theory is presented as a foundation for the development process and a critical review of currently available children's learning resources about farm animals is also presented in order to establish best practice design principles for the website which is final called ON THE FARM. This thesis traces the development of the project from these theoretical bases through to its implementation and initial evaluation. As well as a detailed description of the development process and the provision of an initial evaluation of the project, this thesis also suggests that the learning model of ON THE FARM can form the basis for the development of high quality applications in the future. The application of this data could be applied to new technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and could include survey results showing the entertainment preferences of young people and a social-constructivist educational framework that was developed for the project. The final product provides a benchmark referen

Aim This research aimed to explore the key elements to improve the quality of postnatal care provided to women in a public hospital postnatal ward in Sydney and to attempt to implement a new model of postnatal care. Background Reports, internationally and nationally, indicate that women are least satisfied with hospital-based postnatal care when compared with antenatal, labour and birth care. Many researchers have identified the components of postnatal care that women find most helpful however, there continues to be barriers to develop and test innovative approaches or models of postnatal care within hospital settings. The focus of this project was to try to move the postnatal ward to a culture that is woman and baby centred rather than illness or institution-centred. The development process drew on Practice Development approaches that would enable midwives to facilitate change in the environment and culture of the postnatal ward with a view to improving postnatal care for women and their families. Method A qualitative descriptive study, using a three phased approach, was adopted for this research. Phase one was to identify the issues and concerns by conducting focus groups with staff. Phase two challenged usual practices and explored new ways of providing care in the postnatal ward. This phase incorporated working with the staff utilising Practice Development approaches. The third phase explored with key stakeholders the outcomes and issues of phase two including the barriers and limitations to enable midwives to implement a new model of postnatal care. Findings There were a number of barriers for change to occur including the current system of maternity care provided to women. This has also been reported by others over the past few decades. Within an acute care hospital environment, the midwives struggled to provide quality midwifery care with a philosophy of care counter to that which had been imbedded over many years. Midwives were caught up managing the day to

Current status of Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus Linn.) biological control in Australia Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus Linn.), an annual herbaceous plant native to the tropical Americas, is a weed of national significance in Australia. A major biological control program against parthenium in Australia commenced in 1977 and since then nine insect species and two rust fungi have been introduced into Australia. The stem-galling weevil, Conotrachelus albocinereus Deejan, the root-feeding clear-wing moth, Carmenta near ithacae, and the summer rust Puccinia xanthii var. parthenii hysterophorae were the last three agents released. All agents established at some localities and seven are now widespread. Only the stem-galling moth Epiblema strenuana (Walker) is both widespread and damaging, occurring in all parthenium-infested areas in Australia at high population levels. In central Queensland the leaf-feeding beetle, Zygogramma bicolorata Pallister and stem-boring weevil, Listronotus setosipennis (Hustache) are also widespread and effective, while C. sp. nr. ithacae is at the early stages of field establishment and dispersal. In northern Queensland, E. strenuana and P. xanthii var. parthenii-hysterophorae are the only prominent agents. The combined impact of these agents has resulted in significant reductions in the abundance and impact of parthenium in most situations and seasons, though serious infestations can still occur. Not all potential agents have been properly investigated, and some additional agents known to be host specific in the native range warrant further investigation.

Preparation for hospitalisation is a right of all children and its practice requires improvement. Preparation benefits children and their families because it provides information and appropriate support known to be crucial for positive outcomes. Optimal preparation practice is both difficult to define and challenging to provide. This thesis reports on an action research study undertaken when the concerns of a group of health care professionals at one major children’s hospital presented me with an opportunity to work with these staff to improve preparation for childhood hospitalisation. Applying critical social theory as a model of change helped the action group to understand how to negotiate the bureaucratic structures that can inhibit but also enable change in a hospital setting. The processes of engaging as a group with a shared goal of improving preparation practice highlighted some important challenges and opportunities in relation to the realities of collaborative action within health care settings. A survey of children and their parent/guardian regarding preparation for childhood hospitalisation and an audit of hospital staff’s preparation practices helped to identify children’s and families’ preparation practice experiences and preparation practices occurring at the hospital. As a way of mobilising collective action for desired change the action group facilitated the reinstatement of an approved preparation for childhood hospitalisation booklet. The most important findings of this study fall into three broad areas: the need for inclusive models of collaboration in complex and dynamic health care settings, the need for transformational approaches to leadership that consistently and explicitly support the engagement of staff in collaborative processes of ongoing practice improvement; and the need for transformational approaches to facilitation, which enable person-centred ways of working together and shared professional power and responsibility. To enable susta

Economic evaluation of healthcare interventions (such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices and technologies) considers both the effect of the intervention on patients, and the costs borne by the government and often the individual themselves. This simultaneous consideration of costs and benefits is now standard practice in reimbursement decisions, both in Australia and elsewhere. This thesis focuses on the assessment of benefits, specifically how we place a value on the health changes patients experience as a result of a health care intervention. There is a well-established framework for how outcomes are valued in health care, but this framework is built on a number of contentious assumptions. For example, health is assumed to be the sole outcome of a healthcare system, and society is assumed to be inequality-neutral. This thesis identifies and explains these assumptions and then focuses on testing two of them in the empirical chapters. The overall aim of the thesis is to explore the extent to which the current framework reflects population preferences, and whether the framework can be adapted to be more reflective of population preferences. The empirical chapters in this thesis consider these issues, using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). For reasons presented in Chapters 3 and 4, this technique offers very attractive properties for answering these types of questions. The standard approach to valuing health outcomes uses the quality-adjusted life year, in which the value of a health profile is the product of quality of life and length of life. For this to be operationalised, we need to be able to describe health states in a way which captures all relevant dimensions of quality of life that are important to people, and then we need to assign values to health states. This thesis argues that the current methods for assigning values to health states are very onerous for survey respondents, and prone to significant bias. Standard valuation techniques require the respo

The theory and practice of software engineering is largely represented in the literature by discrete rational models, methodologies, tools and techniques for producing software and for describing work processes as they ought to be done. There has been little research that characterises software development as it is actually practised every day by professional software developers. This thesis addresses that gap. As the recognition of software development as embodied work is fundamental to this research, a situated approach underpins its exploration of software development as it is performed by real developers in their workplace at the time that it occurs. The initial, guiding research question, “So what do software developers do every day?” was addressed by undertaking a longitudinal ethnographic study, involving two years of fieldwork, of an Australian group of software developers who use an Agile development methodology. A local software development infrastructure, comprising software tools and formal software development policies and procedures, is available to the developers. As the research progressed, it became obvious that they spent an enormous amount of their time and effort dealing with this infrastructure in order to accomplish their daily work. Further, more directed questions about the developers’ daily practice thus became distilled into this one: What significance does their infrastructure have for the developers’ everyday work? The findings challenge two assumptions often implicit in software engineering research interests: firstly, that infrastructure, along with its constituent elements, is a given — a discrete, independent and stable entity — and, secondly, that software development practice can be authentically represented by, and understood in, formal, rational models of software process. The foregrounding of relations between the developers, their infrastructure and their work product forms the crux of this thesis. Its primary contributions are

This thesis evaluates the operation of Continuous Disclosure Regulation (CDR) in Australia and considers whether it is effective in reducing uncertainty about the value of the firm. A feature of the CDR is that it adopts a principles-based approach to prescribing disclosure, and in general terms it requires that listed companies disclose price sensitive information to the market on a timely basis. A consequence of adopting this approach is that firms must exercise considerable discretion in applying the regulation. Those judgments relating to whether information is price sensitive are addressed in chapter 2, while those relating to when the information should be disclosed are addressed in chapter 3. Evidence is provided in Chapter 2 that disclosures made under the regulation are generally associated with a reduction in information asymmetry. Although, there is some evidence that when firms disclose bad news this may actually increase information asymmetry. In chapter 3 there is evidence that disclosures under CDR result in timelier price discovery, with this result strongest for loss firms and firms reporting high returns. Accordingly, this is supportive of the CDR meeting at least some of its objectives. However, there is evidence of cross sectional variation in the application of the regulation which suggests that firm disclosure practices are still influenced by firm characteristics such as size, the nature of the news, and managerial incentives.

Willing Workers on Organic Farms’ (WWOOFing) emerged in the UK in the early 1970s as a means of supporting the organic farming movement and fostering knowledge about its practices, but since that time has steadily become closely entwined with practices of independent global travelling. Current membership is heavily dominated by long term budget travellers and very limited existing research has largely portrayed WWOOFing in terms of farm tourism or the differentiation of more general trends among experience seeking backpackers in search of more ‘authentic’, more intimate encounters with other cultures. While there is certainly utility in such approaches to comprehending WWOOFing, this study endeavours to situate WWOOFing in a more thorough exploration of perspectives or participants. Using surveys, interviews and participant observation of hosts and WWOOFers in Australia, a wide range of data is brought together and interpreted by means of a constructivist grounded theory approach to knowledge generation. The overall aim of this thesis is to understand what WWOOFing is about. By undertaking close analysis and interpretation of the perspectives of those involved, the subject of WWOOFing has been approached in conjunction with, rather than as a subset of the phenomenon of tourism in order to allow for the important perspective for some that WWOOFing is about transcending tourism: being based on interpersonal exchange and normative mechanisms of reciprocity, WWOOFing experiences are commonly perceived as characteristically different from those of ‘tourism’ experiences based upon fee-forservice forms of reciprocity. In terms of host-guest relations particularly, the structure of WWOOFing experiences and the primacy of ‘sincerity’ and ‘existential authenticity’ in WWOOFing encounters are shown to facilitate the creation and occupation of spaces that can directly generate mutually beneficial exchanges for all the selves involved, evoking MacCannell’s ideal ‘Neo-Nomads’ of

Information Technology (IT) is one of the great drivers of organizational change, and initiating projects to apply new technology and systems is the means by which such changes are implemented. Effective learning is an essential focus of the innovative and successful organization of today, and IT projects present a major opportunity to generate important new knowledge for individuals and organizations. The majority of the research and literature that is concerned with workplace learning focuses on a stable and long-term workforce. Projects, however, have a temporary existence and a transitory work team. My research is concerned with understanding the significance of learning within Australian IT projects, and discovering how new knowledge is generated and exploited for the benefit of the individuals and organizations involved. The research methodology selected was phenomenology, and a series of in-depth interviews was conducted with carefully selected participants from a wide and representative range of Australian IT projects. The epistemological assumptions that sustain this approach are that the requisite knowledge exists in tacit form in the minds of those who have experienced the phenomenon of learning in projects. The collected data was subjected to deep hermeneutic interpretation and this enabled the development of a rich understanding of the many different facets of the project learning phenomenon. At the individual level the intensity of the learning experience was found to be influenced by the participant's existing frames of reference and the 1.evel of motivation and confidence to transform them when appropriate. Projects involving a high level of tension, with opportunities for experimentation, presented particularly powerful learning experiences. The research also highlighted evidence of absorptive capacity, where more experienced practitioners were able to learn new skills faster and with less stress than those less practiced. At the team learning level

This thesis explores the challenges and negotiations within the ‘lifestyle migration’ or sea/tree change of working people, to places rich in nature but ‘lean’ in industry. It examines how they overcome social, environmental and economic challenges in the process of negotiating a new life. The research is founded upon an empirical study in conjunction with relevant literature and theoretical analysis. The inquiry stems from the need to address the growing popularity of the lifestyle migration phenomenon, where approximately two thirds of working aged migrants within the study site ‘fail’ within five years, and greater indications of ‘failure’ are found elsewhere in Australia. In this research, lifestyle migration is positioned as a quest for self-actualisation where the contradiction exists of seeking a better life through a pathway of risk in unknown landscapes of apparently limited opportunities, often resulting in the experience of a somewhat more difficult life. In order to reach self-actualisation, lifestyle migrants must undergo the trials of changing environmental, social and economic paradigms in the process. In exposing how the survivors have managed to survive, this study identifies the renegotiation of values with a particular emphasis towards control over one’s own life. It is suggested that for many lifestyle migrants, living a life orchestrated by the power structures of social expectations has failed the individual, who in turn, seeks to empower themselves by choosing a different ideology. However, new measures of status become apparent through lifestyle migration, as found in the research. Control over one’s own life and status issues are two of 30 themes explored in the narrative analysis of the study, where participants stemmed from diverse socio-economic positions and represented both the coastal and hinterland townships within the study site. In order to understand how the survivors managed to survive, the research employs a unique approach in ex

Patients in intensive care units (ICUs) frequently experience sleep disruption. Few recent sleep studies using polysomnography (PSG) conducted in ICU are available. Interventional studies to improve sleep in ICU are rare and PSG is infrequently used to evaluate interventions designed to improve sleep in ICU. The primary aim of the study was to explore ICU patients’ quality and quantity of sleep, using 24-hour PSG recording, patient self-report and nurse nocturnal observation. Secondary aims included an assessment of 24-hour sound and illuminance levels; selfreported sleep quality on the Ward and at home two months after discharge from hospital; patients’ psychological well-being at home two months after discharge from hospital; and the effect of the introduction of a ‘rest and sleep’ guideline. An exploratory approach was taken in this quasi-experimental study. Thirty patients completed 24-hour PSG sleep recording before the introduction of the Guideline and 23 patients after. The Guideline was developed using a consultative approach in which research evidence and suggestions from ICU health care personnel were incorporated. Audits were conducted in the postintervention phase to assess guideline adoption. The sample comprised 70% men and the mean age was 58 years. Diagnoses were mainly nonoperative (66%). Fifty-four percent received mechanical ventilation during PSG recording. Median duration of mechanical ventilation was six days and median length of ICU stay was 12 days. Median total sleep time was five hours. The majority of sleep was stage 1 and 2. There was significant sleep fragmentation (median duration of sleep without waking: 3:15 min:sec). Forty-four per cent of sleep was during the day. There were concerns about the interrater reliability of the PSG data analysis using the Rechtshaffen and Kales criteria (Kappa values: 0.56 and 0.51). Patients’ self-reported sleep in ICU using the Richards Campbell Sleep Questionnaire was poor (mean: 51 mm). Nurses’ estim