Being 16+: completing school, getting a job and overcoming disadvantage

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:55:35 AEST

This paper outlines research to assist strategic policy development for post-compulsory education. The aim is to explore the function of vocational education for providing secondary school matriculation outcomes that assist disadvantaged students complete school, gain employment and/or move to further study. This reform process was instigated by the white paper "Securing Their Future" (1997), which provided scope for restructuring educational opportunities available to 16+ students to become more equitably distributed. The planned curriculum changes are expected to impact on groups of students in a distinct manner as many use current vocational education options for various purposes: as an option to more academic courses and for selecting a pathway to further study and/or employment. Most research energy over the last few decades has gone to mainstream education in secondary schools or VET beyond secondary school, leaving our knowledge about education, social justice and the school leavers welfare trap highly inadequate if we want to bring about change.

Policy adhocery or creating sustainable practice?

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:55:35 AEST

Professionalism and change: teachers' work versus teacher education?

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:55:33 AEST

From kindergarten to 2010

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:55:30 AEST

Salivary IgA levels and infection risk in elite swimmers

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:54:53 AEST

The effects of exercise on the immune system has been shown to be dependent on the level of fitness of the subjects, the degree of intensity, and the duration of the exercise. A reduction in salivary IgA levels occurs after individual sessions of exercise. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between changes in salivary IgA and training volume, psychological stress, and infection rates in a cohort of 26 elite swimmers over a 7-month training period and to compare the changes with a group of 12 moderately exercising controls. METHODS: Salivary IgA concentrations were measured by an electroimmunodiffusion. Exercise gradings were assessed by a standardized aerobic-anaerobic rating system. Psychological stress/anxiety was evaluated by the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Infections were physician-verified. RESULTS: Salivary IgA levels showed an inverse correlation with the number of infections in both elite swimmers and moderately exercising control subjects. The pretraining salivary IgA levels in swimmers were 4.1% lower for each additional month of training and 5.8% lower for each additional infection. The posttraining salivary IgA levels in swimmers were not significantly correlated with infection rates but were 8.5% lower for each additional 1 km swum in a training session and 7.0% lower for each additional month of training. The number of infections observed in the elite swimmers was predicted from regression models by the preseason (P = 0.05) and the mean pretraining salivary IgA levels (P = 0.006). The trends in pretraining salivary IgA levels over the 7-month season, calculated as individual slopes of pretraining IgA levels over time, were also predictive of the number of infections (P = 0.03) in the swimmers. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that measurement of salivary IgA levels over a training season may be predictive for athletes at risk of infection.

Digital photogrammetry and microscope photographs

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:53:08 AEST

The feasibility of applying commercial digital photogrammetric software to the measurement of small objects photographed through an optical microscope has been examined. The objects, about 20 mm across, were photographed using a 35 mm film camera (at the lowest magnification setting of the Olympus microscope) giving photographs at a scale of 2:1. The photographs were then scanned before processing with the VirtuoZo digital photogrammetric system. Various problems needed to be overcome, some due to the limited options available with the highly automated digital system which was not designed for such measurement tasks. The unusual image scales, the uncommon pixel sizes and the unconventional and uncertain imaging geometry, all impeded immediate photogrammetric implementation. Photographic problems with the microscope were also faced, as with all microscope photogrammetry. Creating control points and independently assessing the accuracy of results at these scales were also difficult operations, but an analytical plotter was utilized for both these purposes and to verify the imaging geometry. Once such problems were overcome, image matching proceeded well and an accurate DTM could be created successfully, provided that a suitably textured object was chosen.

School effectiveness for whom? (book review)

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:52:45 AEST

'E-ducation': electronic, emotionless and efficient

Wed 24 Jul 2013 22:50:39 AEST

Life is now a matter of selling oneself to slave-work, building roads or labouring in quarries or mines or on the railways, purposeless, meaningless, real slave-work, each integer doing his [and/ or her] mere labour, and all for no purpose, except to have money, and to get away from the old system. (. . .) It is as if the whole social form were breaking down, and the human element swarmed within the disintegration, like maggots in cheese. The roads, the railways are built, the mines and quarries are excavated, but the whole organism of life, the social organism, is slowly crumbling and caving in, in a kind of process of dry rot, most terrifying to see. (D. H. Lawrence, Twilight in Italy , 1997, Penguin Edition: 223/4).

An EM algorithm for dynamic SPECT

Wed 11 Apr 2018 18:37:58 AEST

In this paper we present two variants of the EM algorithm for dynamic SPECT imaging. A version based on compartmental modeling which fits a sum of exponentials and a more general approach allowing for arbitrary decaying activities. The underlying probabilistic models are discussed and the incomplete and complete data spaces are shown to be physically meaningful. We indicate that the second method, leading to a convex program in the M step, is easier to treat numerically and we present a possible numerical approach. Some preliminary numerical tests indicating the feasibility of the method are included.

Decision support for fetal gestation age estimation

Wed 11 Apr 2018 17:19:12 AEST

An inherent difficulty associated with the neonatal care domain is the uncertainty of the figure established for the chronological development (Gestational Age) of the fetus. This leads to difficulties when trying to match fetal subject parameters against established population metrics for standard fetal development. The Gestation Age (GA) metric can be grossly inaccurate, depending upon when in the pregnancy it is considered, and by what means of certainty it is established. The Gestation Age System is intended to provide a support tool for estimating Gestation Age and to establish accuracy indicators that will provide tolerances for its later use in growth and health evaluation. It provides to clinicians the ability to incorporate accuracy levels for the gestation age estimate and also to update the actual age estimate. This paper describes the Gestation Age System, outlining the Decision Support factors influencing its design.

Alfred

Wed 11 Apr 2018 17:08:07 AEST

Addendum and correction to "Optimal phases for a family of quadriphase CDMA sequences"

Wed 11 Apr 2018 16:58:31 AEST

This correspondence presents several corrections and an addendum to the original article by Feng-Wen Sun and H. Leib (see ibid., vol.43, no.4, p.1205-17, July 1997).

Health literacy, rationality and pregnancy: decisions in the making

Wed 11 Apr 2018 16:52:28 AEST

This article analyses a particular strategy of Australian main stream health promotion policy, that is, the encouragement of individuals to actively seek out and use health literature in order to become health literate. It analyses the definition of health literacy as understood by main stream health promoters. The paper considers the way in which main stream health promotion is constituted and limited by rational scientific, economic, middle class and managerial approaches to health. Through interviews, it explores how women consider themselves knowledgeable about health in ways that both use and disrupt the boundaries of narrow understandings of health literacy. Examples and suggestions will be made about how main stream health promotion might acknowledge the uncertainty and "every day reality" of women's lives.

The fundamental role of general orthonormal bases in system identification

Wed 11 Apr 2018 16:45:03 AEST

The purpose of this paper is threefold. Firstly, it is to establish that contrary to what might be expected, the accuracy of well-known and frequently used asymptotic variance results can depend on choices of fixed poles or zeros in the model structure. Secondly, it is to derive new variance expressions that can provide greatly improved accuracy while also making explicit the influence of any fixed poles or zeros. This is achieved by employing certain new results on generalized Fourier series and the asymptotic properties of Toeplitz-like matrices in such a way that the new variance expressions presented here encompass pre-existing ones as special cases. Via this latter analysis a new perspective emerges on recent work pertaining to the use of orthonormal basis structures in system identification. Namely, that orthonormal bases are much more than an implementational option offering improved numerical properties. In fact, they are an intrinsic part of estimation since, as shown here, orthonormal bases quantify the asymptotic variability of the estimates whether or not they are actually employed in calculating them.

Book review: Sex and Suffering: Women's Health in a Women's Hospital - the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, 1856-1996

Wed 11 Apr 2018 16:42:18 AEST

Review of: Sex and Suffering: Women's Health in a Women's Hospital - the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, 1856-1996 by Janet McCalman. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0522849024.

A day at the coast: gender, work and holiday making on the NSW Central Coast

Wed 11 Apr 2018 16:30:09 AEST

This article provides an introduction to an issue of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies which brings together edited papers from the Sixth Newcastle Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Conference, held on 4 June 1999 at the Central Coast Campus of the University of Newcastle. It also places the conference in the wider context of the local, Central Coast tradition of holiday making. Since the late 1800s, residents of Sydney have traveled to the Central Coast to enjoy the seaside environment, often staying in family-run guest houses largely conducted by women owners and employees. As with the theme of the conference, gender can be seen to be central to the business of holiday making. The article argues that women were active instigators of Central Coast holidays and found ways to experience then: work as leisure. Like the conference goers of 1999, early twentieth century holiday makers enjoyed their change of scene and returned home reinvigorated.

Digital hardware implementation of a current controller for IMvariable-speed drives

Wed 11 Apr 2018 16:03:41 AEST

This paper presents the design of an induction machine current controller that is entirely implemented in digital hardware. A hardware current controller allows high switching frequencies with only modest processing power, as well as simplified controller hardware and software. The paper briefly presents the concepts of the algorithm implemented, and then outlines the changes that are made to make the digital implementation even more efficient. It then discusses the architecture used for the hardware design. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the algorithm's performance

Never too late: older people's perceptions of physical activity

Wed 11 Apr 2018 15:52:00 AEST

ISSUE ADDRESSED: A series of focus groups was conducted to explore older people's attitudes to, practices, and perceptions of physical activity, in order to inform the development of appropriate strategies to encourage participation among this population group. METHODS: Thirty five men and 46 women aged over 60, recruited through the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, seniors' organizations and personal contacts in urban and rural areas of the Hunter Valley, participated in 11 focus groups. A semi-structured group interview explored relevant issues including current patterns of activity and understanding of the terms used in activity promotion, motivations and barriers, and appropriateness of current promotion strategies, including the 'Active Australia' campaign. RESULTS: The participants described a wide range of current activities. The most common were walking, gardening and housework. Participants were unsure what constituted 'adequate' activity but showed good understanding of the terms vigorous, moderate and light activity. Health, social support, doing something useful, environmental factors and avoiding the negative stereotypes of ageing were the main motivations for activity. Barriers included poor health; no-one to exercise with; inappropriate or unsafe environments and facilities; and lack of interest. Participants found existing media messages confusing, but supported the idea of campaigns encouraging older people to be active. CONCLUSIONS: These older people were interested in a wide range of physical activities, but suggested that lack of social support, poor facilities and concerns about safety were the major barriers to participation. SO WHAT?: This project identified factors which are pertinent to the promotion of physical activity among older people. The issues identified - the desire to maintain good health, a sense of social connectedness, and an ability to contribute, as well as the need for safe environments and appropriately trained exercise leaders - suggest strategies for the development of physical activity promotion campaigns for this group.

Private men, public anger: the men's rights movement in Australia

Wed 11 Apr 2018 15:50:58 AEST

The men's rights movement has an increasing presence in Australia's cultural and political landscape. This paper provides a feminist analysis of the processes of men's rights collective identity, focussing on constructions of masculinity and fatherhood, and the ways in which these constructions circulate between the public and private spheres. These processes also involve the re-figuring of discourses of power and equality and a rejection of the notion of patriarchy, thus allowing men's rights men to identify as part of a collectivity and, in some cases, become politically active.

Off-line testing of reluctance machines

Wed 11 Apr 2018 15:46:24 AEST

Experimental techniques for determining the machine parameters and results demonstrating their performance on an axially-laminated synchronous reluctance motor are presented. A new software implementation of the control algorithm for conducting an instantaneous flux-linkage test is developed. A low frequency AC test allowing better estimation accuracy compared to a standard 50-Hz test is proposed. Effects of stator slotting on the quality of DC torque test estimates are examined.

Class struggle and the "community of families": the 1992 dispute at Associated Pulp and Paper Mills

Wed 11 Apr 2018 15:42:26 AEST

The 1992 dispute at Associated Pulp and Paper Mills in Burnie, Tasmania, provides a useful case study of how the spouses of a predominantly male workforce can become heavily involved in class struggle. Women in unpaid work played an important and creative role in organising peaceful picketing and in securing a high degree of morale between and within families. This study also examines an obscure kind of involvement by the spouses of men in class struggle: the mobilisation against domestic violence. It considers why this apparently unique form of class and gender action took place and reflects on the implications for union strategies in periods of industrial conflict.

An LMI Approach to sub-optimal guaranteed cost control for uncertain time-delay systems

Wed 11 Apr 2018 15:33:51 AEST

Results on the design of robust memoryless state feedback controllers for uncertain time-delay systems with norm bounded uncertainty are presented. It is proved that the feasibility of a linear matrix inequality (LMI) problem is necessary and sufficient for the quadratic stabilisation of an uncertain time-delay system. A robust state feedback controller can be constructed using the corresponding feasible solution of the LMI problem. A procedure is given to select a suitable state feedback controller that is also suboptimal in the sense of minimising a bound on a quadratic performance index.

Book review: Unmasking the Masculine: 'Men' and 'Identity' in a Sceptical Age

Wed 11 Apr 2018 15:11:51 AEST

Review of: Unmasking the Masculine: 'Men' and 'Identity' in a Sceptical Age by Alan Petersen. Thousand Oaks : Sage, 1998. ISBN: 0761950133.

Aspects of linear estimation in H∞

Wed 11 Apr 2018 15:07:41 AEST

A recent but rapidly maturing field in the area of system identification has been that of estimation in H∞. Greatly influencing this work has been the phenomenon that no linear in the data algorithm exists which is robustly convergent. This paper conducts a study of the nature of this issue by combining specific new analysis together with existing results from the mathematics literature on the topic of polynomial approximation theory. Particular attention is paid in this paper to the role of model order, and this leads to the consideration of model order selection from a deterministic worst case perspective.

The politics of women's time

Wed 11 Apr 2018 14:53:19 AEST

This article draws on phenomenological perspectives of time to develop a temporal perspective on mothering. It argues that feminist politics, whether organised around women's "sameness" or "difference" to men, has tended to re-inforce dominant conceptions of time as an already formulated category that can be divided up into natural or social components. This way of conceiving tune obscures the need for time to be constituted as a socially meaningful category through maternal subjectivity. The phenomenological perspective developed highlights the reflexive nature of this process of engendering time, focusing on the way in which the child's developing sense of self in relation to others is shaped by a process of mutual recognition made possible by maternal reflexivity. It then considers the possible consequences of transforming the temporal structures of the workplace to gain greater "workplace flexibility," on these temporal processes of mothering, and the implications for feminist politics.

Book review: Women's health: psychological and social perspectives

Wed 11 Apr 2018 14:35:51 AEST

Review of: Women's Health : Psychological and Social Perspectives by Christina Lee. Thousand Oaks : Sage, 1998. ISBN: 0761957294.

Limiting zeros of decouplable MIMO systems

Wed 11 Apr 2018 14:31:04 AEST

For sufficiently rapid zero-order hold (ZOH) sampling, it is known that the zeros of single-input/single-output discrete-time systems expressed in the forward shift operator converge to values determined only by the degrees of the finite and infinite zeros of the underlying continuous-time system. In this paper, it is shown how this result can be generalized to multi-input/multi-output (MIMO) systems decouplable by static-state feedback (equivalently, having a diagonal interactor matrix). In the fast sampling limit, the authors show how invariant and infinite zero structure is mapped under ZOH sampling for discrete-time systems expressed in either the delta (forward difference) or forward shift operators.

Book review: Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Purity and the New Thought Movement 1875-1920

Wed 11 Apr 2018 14:23:13 AEST

Review of: Each Mind A Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Purity and the New Thought Movement 1875-1920 by Beryl Satter. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1999. ISBN: 0520229274.

Blind system identification and channel equalisation of IIR systems without statistical information

Wed 11 Apr 2018 14:19:22 AEST

A novel approach is proposed to blindly identify an unknown IIR system. The approach is based on faster sampling at the system output and requires neither a priori statistical information on the unknown input nor training signals. The methods presented are linear in the parameters of the unknown system so that many standard recursive algorithms can be readily applied. It is also shown in the paper that under a generic condition, any finite-order IIR system is identifiable, provided the oversampling ratio is appropriately chosen.

Book review: Ever since Adam and Eve

Wed 11 Apr 2018 14:17:30 AEST

Review of: Ever Since Adam and Eve by Malcolm Potts and Roger Short. Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0521644046.

Book review: Leisure and Feminist Theory

Wed 11 Apr 2018 14:09:01 AEST

Review of: Leisure and Feminist Theory by Betsy Wearing. Thousand Oaks : Sage, 1998. ISBN: 0803975376.

Performance limitations in the feedback control of a class of resonant systems

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:46:06 AEST

There has been a large literature on the feedback control of flexible and resonant systems. Such systems arise naturally when system weight and or response speed issues push designers toward lighter, faster structures for a range of mechanical systems. Feedback control of such systems is often proposed to ameliorate the effects of the resonance. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which the dynamic structure of a simple class of resonant systems limits the achievable feedback control performance for such systems. It turns out that in the class of systems considered, there is a trade off between three common control objectives, namely: (i)good initial transient response (that is the absence of large overshoot or undershoot in the initial rise time), (ii) fast response, (iii) good settling behaviour (that is, the absence of very slow modes in the step response).

I can hardly wait till Monday: women teachers talk about what works for them and their boys

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:43:42 AEST

The majority of teachers of boys are women. Experienced women teachers talk about enjoying and using boys' energy in the classroom, tuning in to the ways that boys communicate, and varying lessons to suit all learning styles. Involving fathers and working with male colleagues are also covered. Teaching teams of women and men use the different interests and experiences of boys and girls to enhance the learning of both. Boys in school are not just learning subject matter. They are also processing important messages about being a learner, being male, and about relationships with each other and with girls. These case studies from around Australia show how women and men teachers are working together to assist them to become fine young men who do well in school and in life.

"Lady Cassidy's war": gender and class in the Duly and Hansford strike, Marrickville, N.S.W., 1943

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:26:27 AEST

In mid-1943 munitions workers went on strike at the Duly and Hansford factory in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville. Most of the employees were working class women conscripted by the Manpower Commission. Their wages were set by the Women's Employment Board largely on the basis of union strength within the enterprise. Exploitative working conditions had led to increasing political consciousness and class solidarity among the women workers who went on strike when ten middle class volunteers, led by Gwen Cassidy, undermined their cause by refusing to join a union. Through her employee "voluntarism" Cassidy's conservative industrial activism during the strike revealed important cleavages of class and gender, as she and the factory owners shared in an anti-worker's rights, anti-union and anti-Labour political campaign.

Feedback limitations in nonlinear systems: from Bode integrals to cheap control

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:23:40 AEST

Feedback limitations of nonlinear systems are investigated using the cheap control approach. The main result is that in the limit, when the control effort is free, the smallest achievable L₂ norm of the output is equal to the least amount of control energy (L₂ norm) needed to stabilize the unstable zero dynamics. This nonlinear result is structurally similar to an earlier linear result by Qiu and Davison (1993), which, in turn, is connected with a Bode-type integral derived by Middleton (1991).

Emerging tools for experimental mathematics

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:12:07 AEST

Using mostly elementary examples, Borwein and Corless discuss the use of some recent and emerging tools for experimental mathematics. The tools discussed included so-called "inverse symbolic computation," using lattice reduction algorithms, and Sloane and Plouffe's integer sequence lookup program.

Heron quadrilaterals with sides in arithmetic or geometric progression

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:10:12 AEST

We study triangles and cyclic quadrilaterals which have rational area and whose sides form geometric or arithmetic progressions. A complete characterization is given for the infinite family of triangles with sides in arithmetic progression. We show that there are no triangles with sides in geometric progression. We also show that apart from the square there are no cyclic quadrilaterals whose sides form either a geometric or an arithmetic progression. The solution of both quadrilateral cases involves searching for rational points on certain elliptic curves.

Subgradient representation of multifunctions

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:02:14 AEST

We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for a minimal upper semicontinuous multifunction defined on a separable Banach space to be the subdifferential mapping of a Lipschitz function.

Book review: Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories

Wed 11 Apr 2018 13:00:21 AEST

Review of: Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories by Wang Zheng. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1999. ISBN: 0520213505.

Book review: Inside the Citadel: Men and the Emancipation of Women, 1850-1920

Wed 11 Apr 2018 12:43:58 AEST

Review of: Inside the Citadel: Men and the Emancipation of Women, 1850-1920 by Richard Symonds. Basingstoke : Macmillan, 1999. ISBN: 0312222025.

Book review: Different Voices: Gender and Politics in Australia

Wed 11 Apr 2018 12:39:11 AEST

Review of: Different Voices: Gender and Politics in Australia by Elizabeth van Acker. Melbourne : Macmillan, 1999. ISBN: 0732953952.

Benchmarking and best practice, tools or tripwires for improving schools?

Wed 11 Apr 2018 12:35:32 AEST

For those who work in schools, it is difficult to regard the term 'benchmarking' as anything other than the behavior of a Year Nine class on Friday afternoons. After all, our business is stimulating hearts and minds to strive towards personal and social- and, for us, spiritual good. The 'bottom line' is the quality of the thoughts or to influence there actions, what right have we to be in business? But what is the business of education, what is meant by 'best practice', and what is 'benchmarking'?

Effects of uncompensated vector control on synchronous reluctance motor performance

Wed 11 Apr 2018 12:22:36 AEST

The performance of a synchronous reluctance motor digital controller based on a saturated dq model without compensation for slotting and iron loss influences is investigated. The model predictions for the machine torque characteristics at various speeds including standstill, and the effects of using simplified control strategies are verified by experimental results. Issues related to the low cost software implementation of the control algorithm are discussed. Quality speed control of an axially-laminated machine has been achieved

Book review: Differences that Matter: Feminist Theory and Postmodernism

Wed 11 Apr 2018 12:20:23 AEST

Review of: Differences That Matter: Feminist Theory and Postmodernism by Sarah Ahmed. Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0521597617.

Orthonormal basis functions for continuous-time systems and Lp convergence

Wed 11 Apr 2018 12:15:33 AEST

In this paper, model sets for linear-time-invariant continuous-time systems that are spanned by fixed pole orthonormal bases are investigated. These bases generalize the well-known Laguerre and two-parameter Kautz cases. It is shown that the obtained model sets are everywhere dense in the Hardy space H 1(Π) under the same condition as previously derived by the authors for the denseness in the (Π is the open right half plane) Hardy spaces H p(Π), 1

Book review: Contemporary Australian Feminism 2

Wed 11 Apr 2018 12:01:18 AEST

Review of: Contemporary Australian Feminism 2 edited by Kate Pritchard Hughes. Melbourne : Longman, 1997. ISBN: 0582808715.

Social work and the new social service professions in South Africa

Wed 11 Apr 2018 11:42:58 AEST

This paper examines the effects of the adoption of a social development paradigm on human resource planning within the welfare sector, focusing particularly on the consequences for social work and the rise of the social service professions. Social work, both in South Africa and in the Western world, evolved out of a political process which gave it legitimate sanction to offer social welfare services. In fact, in South Africa, the development of social work as a profession was intimately tied to the development of government social welfare provision. Thus, for forty years social work enjoyed government support and played a dominant role in the provision of organised welfare services, both government and private. Within the apartheid welfare system, private or voluntary welfare organisations were subsidised by government as recognised partners in welfare provision. In keeping with apartheid policy, their focus was mainly, though not exclusively, on white urban populations. Through the struggle years of the 1980s non-governmental organisations, outside the established welfare sector, gained prominence. Foreign funding to support the struggle against apartheid and to address the needs of the neglected majority, increasingly became channelled through this anti-establishment sector. With the advent of the first democratic government in South Africa in 1994 the non-government sector was bound to exert a great deal of influence on future policies and practices within the welfare and development arenas. The African National Congress (ANC 1994) formulated its policy in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), which laid the foundations for reconstruction and development in South Africa. RDP policy provided a blueprint for social development, which like most social development frameworks, was practically unworkable and pie-in-the-sky (Gray 1998b1 Midgley 1997). The RDP soon gave way to Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) as the dominant economic paradigm. However, its principles remained highly influential in the formation of policy within specific sectors. especially within welfare (McKendrick 1998a). Crucial to this examination of the effects of the social development paradigm on human resource planning within welfare is my view of the process leading up to the formation of the Council for Social Service Professions. It provides a backdrop to the discussion which follows. While realising that others might take a different view, my interpretation of recent events is offered in the spirit of healthy academic debate and, hopefully, it will be seen in that light. There is much that needs open discussion and debate if we are to progress successfully along the path which has been mapped out for us.

Book review: The living goddesses

Wed 11 Apr 2018 11:28:25 AEST

Review of: The Living Goddesses by Marija Gimbutas. Edited and Supplemented by Miriam Robbins Dexter. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1999. ISBN: 0520213939.

Secondary education: where are we going?

Wed 11 Apr 2018 11:11:17 AEST

Inform asked four people to project secondary education into the next decade and consider what should change in our schools and system.

Patriarchal exploitation, poverty and struggle: the paradoxes of women's working lives in Britain, 1850-1939

Wed 11 Apr 2018 10:54:57 AEST

This article examines the everyday working lives of women, most particularly women of the urban poor, in Britain in the period 1850-1939. The specific focus is upon the way in which these women negotiated the institutions and structures of patriarchy. The issue of whether or not the women were exploited within the context of a patriarchal mode of production is explored. The evidence for the existence of this mode of production appears to be unequivocal. It is stressed, however, that the existence of exploitation should not blind us to the richly textured nature of these women's lives and, most importantly, it should not blind us to the women's ability to actively construct a world in which their lives had meaning and power.

Rigorous plasticity solutions for the bearing capacity of two-layered clays

Wed 11 Apr 2018 10:29:27 AEST

This paper applies numerical limit analysis to evaluate the undrained bearing capacity of a rigid surface footing resting on a two-layer clay deposit. Rigorous bounds on the ultimate bearing capacity are obtained by employing finite elements in conjunction with the upper and lower bound limit theorems of classical plasticity. Both methods assume a perfectly plastic soil model with a Tresca yield criterion and generate large linear programming problems. The solution to the lower bound linear programming problem is obtained by modelling a statically admissible stress field, whereas the upper bound problem is solved through modelling a kinematically admissible velocity field. Results from the limit theorems typically bracket the true collapse load to within approximately 12%, and have been presented in the form of bearing capacity factors based on various layer properties and geometries. A comparison is made between existing limit analysis, empirical and semi-empirical solutions. This indicates that the latter can overestimate or underestimate the bearing capacity by as much as 20% for certain problem geometries

Eve as a Shirley Temple Look-Alike

Wed 11 Apr 2018 10:26:59 AEST

Crime prevention in schools: a multi-disciplinary intervention research project

Wed 11 Apr 2018 10:17:16 AEST

Youths are both perpetrators and victims of crime. However they are involved, society as a whole has to assume responsibility for breaking the cycle of crime and violence. Literature and evidence from existing programmes indicate that crime prevention should begin with children and young people and that the school is the ideal locus for such programmes. This paper describes a Crime Prevention in Schools Project which aims to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of academics and researchers to develop and implement an intervention research model for crime prevention in schools. The academics are drawn from a newly formed faculty at the University of Natal in Durban called the Faculty of Community and Development Disciplines (CADD). The faculty comprises professional and academic disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, social work, architecture, town planning, adult education, nursing and development studies. The research project forms part of a broader initiative to introduce service learning into the university curriculum. Through direct services, organisational networking, policy advocacy and research, the aim is to develop a comprehensive integrated, multi-disciplinary intervention research programme aimed at crime prevention in schools.

Western feminists, reproductive rights and contraception in Bangladesh

Wed 11 Apr 2018 10:07:09 AEST

Family planning has been a major preoccupation of development agencies in South Asia for several decades now. However, the way family planning programs have been implemented and are still being aggressively promoted in different parts of South Asia causes problems for, rather than furthering, women's reproductive rights and women's health. The priorities of development agencies reflect Western obsessions with limiting population rather than the actual needs of local women. These issues have been taken up and promoted by local groups such as UBINIO in Bangladesh, as well as by international feminist organizations such as FINRRAGE (Feminist International Network of Resistance to Reproductive and Genetic Engineering), allied to the growing international concern with medical abuse of women's bodies. There are however problems with the strategies of these movements. While their opposition to the forms of contraception which are currently being promoted is entirely justified, they have little to offer in their place. Their mostly educated, middle-class memberships tend to have little empathy with, or understanding of, the situation of village women. In examining the problematic relationships between urban feminist groups in developing countries, Western feminist organizations, and the rural populations whom they seek to aid, this paper hopes to contribute towards a feminist politics more attuned to the reality of rural women in South Asia and similar contexts.

The woman in the boy: the feminine ideal in the fictional Australian public schoolboy and its removal, 1875-1920

Wed 11 Apr 2018 10:06:14 AEST

Juvenile literature is an important resource for considering constructions of masculinity. The closeness with which society monitors what it tells its children and the pedagogical intent of children's books dictate that they reflect society's ideals particularly clearly. Changing constructions of manliness are evident in the changing fictional depiction of the idealised Australian public schoolboy between the 1870s and the 1910s. Robert Richardson's stories, written in the 1870s, attempted to counter the allegedly brutalising influences of masculinity by constructing an effeminate and religious manliness through academic and pious male heroes open to feminine influence. By the 1910s, however, Mary Grant Bruce and Lillian Pyke, responding to new national mythologies, needs and dangers, constructed heroes who were muscular, athletic and patriotic, and placed little emphasis upon religion and academic achievement. They also removed feminine influences from the boy. An effeminate construct in the 1870s, the ideal public schoolboy of the 1910s was a much more masculine and anti-feminine creation.

Masculinity as masquerade: "gay" macho in the novels of Jean Genet

Wed 11 Apr 2018 09:47:33 AEST

This paper examines the representation of macho masculinity found in Jean Genet's novels through the framework of theories of gender performativity. While Genet's novels have been condemned by contemporary gay critics for representing homosexuality as an abject or failed masculinity, it is argued that emphasis on this aspect of his work has tended to overshadow the importance of the virile, phallic man to his work. Genet's homoeroticisation of machismo provides a focus for analysis of his representation of masculinity as a whole, and especially of the relationship between heterosexual and homosexual men found in his novels. Rather than reading Genet's representation of macho as a specifically "gay" macho that confirms the heterocentric privileging of heterosexual masculinity, this paper argues that, in Genet's novels, all macho is represented as inherently performative in a way that questions the logic of heterocentric privilege.

Ethics education: reactions and rejoinders

Wed 11 Apr 2018 09:42:53 AEST

At the end of it all I think Mark d' Arbon and I agree more than we disagree, although I am more hesitant to make such generalised claims, having read of Mark's concern for the particularist rather than the 'absolutist', and his eschewing of 'unjustified assumptions'. While particularism is very much in fashion, it is easier to render it lip service than real service, as Mark himself has no doubt reflected after some of his own sweeping assumptions.

Lone fathers and the scales of justice: renegotiating masculinity after divorce

Wed 11 Apr 2018 09:38:32 AEST

Surveys of lone fathers in the region of Newcastle (New South Wales) revealed views of hegemonic masculinity constructed within the urban-industrial environment and fostered by participation in the Lone Fathers Association. This view of masculinity was contested in the public terrain of the Australian Family Court. Lone fathers' defence of masculine privilege involved a derogatory "common-sense" discourse about women, who were constructed as either "tramps" or "gold-diggers." The breakdown of marriage brought about changes in expectations of lone fathers and others, leading to the forging of new identities in the continual process of the re-creation and re-negotiation of masculinities.

A novel approach to systematic switching control design for a class of hybrid systems

Wed 11 Apr 2018 09:27:01 AEST

In this paper we propose and investigate a new systematic switching control design method applicable to a class of nonlinear discrete time hybrid systems.

Optimal torque controller for synchronous reluctance motors

Wed 11 Apr 2018 09:24:44 AEST

A low cost software implementation of an angular velocity observer based control scheme for a space vector PWM inverter fed synchronous reluctance motor is presented. A standard saturated machine d-q model neglecting iron losses is used for torque control. Excellent performance using the maximum torque per ampere strategy is confirmed by simulation and experimental results on an axially-laminated machine.

IT experts and teamwork, the role of management: a case study for naive mangers in understanding employment relations

Wed 11 Apr 2018 09:16:53 AEST

While it has been argued that information technologies have been used to deskill workers, little empirical evidence has been gathered on the impact of IT on managers. This paper examines how IT workers can use their skills and position to displace managers, a process we refer to as disintermediation. To be successful in this process of disintermediation, workers need to be both skilled and politically aware. They are helped, we argue, by the naivety of managers who in attempting to engender a team-based culture lose sight of the real activities of team members. This paper argues that while mangers may be working in the best interest of the business team, members are working in their own interest. The implications for managers are that they must understand the political and social nature, and context of teams if they are to manage them effectively. Mangers also need to be aware that to exercise prerogatives as mangers they need to be able to exert control over team members and act as political gatekeepers when members circumvent the manager's position. This paper will examine some of the literature on deskilling and then describe a case study in a large public utility. The paper will explain how the manger was marginalised, failing to recognise the actions ofteam members. Finally we explain how mangers can recognise the process of disintermediation and take steps to counteract it.

On triangles with rational altitudes, angle bisectors or medians

Wed 07 Feb 2024 14:32:53 AEDT

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Powder morphology and loading effects on the properties of an engineering ceramic

Wed 05 Oct 2016 12:44:09 AEDT

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Secretory carcinoma of the breast in a nine year old boy

Tue 19 Mar 2019 11:49:31 AEDT

Carcinoma of the breast is very rare in childhood and is exceedingly rare in boys. Secretory carcinoma, a distinctive and rare variant of breast carcinoma is for some unknown reason the commonest type seen in children. To our knowledge there have been only four previous reports in boys under ten years old. We report the first case in Australia of this unusual tumor in a nine year old boy. The child presented with a subareolar nodule 12mm in its greatest dimension. High resolution sonography showed a well defined hypoechoic nodule. Histology revealed classical features of secretory carcinoma with circumscribed, pushing margins, except for one site of invasion. The tumor displayed the typical cribriform and microcystic pattern with PAS positive, diastase resistant secretions, and lack of pleomorphism and mitotic activity. Tumor cells showed positive staining with S100 and polyclonal CEA and negative staining for estrogen and progesterone receptors. Although, because of its rarity, the natural history of this tumor is not well documented and optimal management is uncertain, prognosis happens to be excellent as these tumors behave in an indolent manner, both in children and in adults.

Three-dimensional lower bound limit analysis using nonlinear programming

Tue 10 Nov 2020 15:26:59 AEDT

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Measurements of the heats of coal devolatilisation

Thu 22 Sep 2016 11:23:41 AEST

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Provisional disclosures: a genealogical reconceptualisation of the shift from differential to equitable provision in Australian educational discourses since the 1970s

Thu 22 Sep 2016 11:02:45 AEST

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Beginning to teach: explorations of context through lived experience

Thu 22 Sep 2016 11:02:41 AEST

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The effect of lyophilised garlic on pharmacologically modifiable cardiovascular risk factors

Thu 22 Sep 2016 10:55:42 AEST

Please select.. - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Quaternary sequence stratigraphy of the Lower Hunter River Valley

Thu 17 Feb 2022 09:31:16 AEDT

Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)

The modelling of corrosion and fatigue in cast iron water mains buried beneath roadways

Thu 08 Jun 2017 10:48:09 AEST

Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)

Mechanisms of interfacial heat transfer and nucleation of liquid steel on metallic substrates

Thu 08 Jun 2017 09:45:06 AEST

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Catullus, C. 37 and the theme of magna bella

Sat 24 Mar 2018 11:12:18 AEDT

Scholars have tended to focus on the obscenity of Catullus' C. 37 for obvious reasons. This infamous indictment of Lesbia and her sexual partners was, not surprisingly, placed among C. J. Fordyce's collection of scurrilous verse unfit for classicists' consumption. In more recent times it has received attention of a more enlightened and productive kind. Despite the insights offered in these later treatments, I aim here to explore further the interpretative possibilities of C. 37.

Contaminant transport through an unsaturated soil linear beneath a landfill

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:32:11 AEDT

Contaminant transport through soil is often modelled mathematically by means of the dispersion-advection equation. When investigating contaminant migration beneath a landfill, a common assumption is that the soil is saturated; however, it is well known that the soil beneath many landfills is only partially saturated. In this paper, steady-state unsaturated moisture distributions are employed in the dispersion-advection equation to find transient contaminant distributions beneath a landfill. A finite layer formulation is used to simplify the contaminant mass transport equation and account for heterogeneous soil profiles. Various assumptions concerning the flow regime beneath the landfill and the functional relation between volumetric water content and the diffusion coefficient in the transport equation are made to highlight differences between contaminant transport through saturated and unsaturated soils. It is found that diffusive contaminant mass transfer through a partially saturated soil liner is comparatively insensitive to variation of the volumetric moisture content at the top of the soil liner alone. However, accounting for the dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the volumetric moisture content of the soil does have a significant effect on diffusive mass transfer through a partially saturated soil liner. Though it is difficult to measure the dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the volumetric moisture content of the soil experimentally, this information appears necessary for a rational analysis of contaminant transport through partially saturated soils.

Acrosome formation during sperm transit through the epididymis in two marsupials, the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) and the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:32:09 AEDT

In certain Australian marsupials including the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) and the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), formation of the acrosome is not completed in the testis but during a complex differentiation process as spermatozoa pass through the epididymis. Using transmission and scanning electron microscopy this paper defined the process of acrosome formation in the epididymis, providing temporal and spatial information on the striking reorganisation of the acrosomal membranes and matrix and of the overlying sperm surface involved. On leaving the testis wallaby and possum spermatozoa had elongated ‘scoop’-shaped acrosomes projecting from the dorsal surface of the head. During passage down the epididymis, this structure condensed into the compact button-like organelle found on ejaculated spermatozoa. This condensation was achieved by a complex process of infolding and fusion of the lateral projections of the ‘scoop’. In the head of the epididymis the rims of the lateral scoop projections became shorter and thickened and folded inwards, to eventually meet midway along the longitudinal axis of the acrosome. As spermatozoa passed through the body of the epididymis the lateral projections fused together. Evidence of this fusion of the immature outer acrosomal membrane is the presence of vesicles within the acrosomal matrix which persist even in ejaculated spermatozoa. When spermatozoa have reached the tail of the epididymis the acrosome condenses into its mature form, as a small button-like structure contained within the depression on the anterior end of the nucleus. During the infolding process, the membranes associated with the immature acrosome are either engulfed into the acrosomal matrix (outer acrosomal membrane), or eliminated from the sperm head as tubular membrane elements (cytoplasmic membrane). Thus the surface and organelles of the testicular sperm head are transient structures in those marsupials with posttesticular acrosome formation and this must be taken into consideration in attempts to dissect the cell and molecular biology of fertilisation.

Citizenship and geography education: the role of NSW geography syllabuses since World War II

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:30:18 AEDT

This article traces aspects of citizenship education in the junior and senior geography syllabuses in NSW. Its purpose is to inform current debate on the need for an increased role for citizenship education in our curriculum and, in that context, on the ways in which one subject, geography, has proved capable of embodying several quite different approaches to citizenship education. Three traditions of citizenship education, as propounded by Barr, Barth and Shermis, will be used to aid the analysis.

Sustainable use of renewable resources and conservation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden: issues, needs and strategic actions

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:30:17 AEDT

The coastal and marine environments and resources of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are globally significant and generally in a healthy state. Current regional issues include localized destruction of coral reefs, seagrass and mangroves; declines in some fisheries; exploitation of some endangered species; pollution from the development and transport of petroleum; and disposal of industrial and municipal wastes. The underlying causes of these issues are the natural vulnerability of the Red Sea due to its semi-enclosed nature; economic reliance on the petroleum industry; significant navigation risks; a rapidly increasing coastal population and associated developments; lack of fisheries information, surveillance and management; poor coastal zone planning; and limited technical expertise. Strategic actions addressing these issues will need to be implemented regionally and focus on coastal zone management that integrates environmental planning, environmental assessment and review; training and institutional development; public awareness and participation; information gathering especially fisheries statistics; reducing navigation risks; and the development of resource management and conservation strategies.

Halothane attentuates myogenicity in the rabbit ear artery

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:29:16 AEDT

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that halothane interferes with the myogenic response to an increase in intraluminal pressure. Myogenic responsiveness refers to the intrinsic property of vascular smooth muscle to dilate and then constrict in response to an increase in intraluminal pressure, in an attempt to maintain vessel diameter. Vessel segments taken from the rabbit central ear artery were cannulated, pressurized to 60 mm Hg, and perfused with and suspended in Krebs solution. After exposure to extraluminal l-norepinephrine, vessels contracted to an initial diameter (Di) and were subjected to intraluminal pressure increases to 100 mm Hg. Myogenic reactivity was assessed by measurement of the extent of dilatation after the pressure increase from Di to a maximal diameter (Dm) and then the constriction and recovery (against the pressure increase) to a final (Df) diameter. Myogenicity was further assessed by determining the rate of return of the vessel diameter (angle of recovery) and vessel recovery (defined as Dm - Df/Dm - Di) and expressed as a percentage. Myogenicity was determined before and after exposure to halothane in concentrations of between 1–5%. Halothane significantly attenuated the myogenic response at all concentrations studied. The effect of halothane was maximal at a concentration of 5% where there was virtual abolition of the myogenic response with recovery assessed at 6 ± 2.7% (SEM), compared with control (98 ± 2.5%, P < 0.05). The angle of recovery was likewise attenuated. These data suggest that halothane, in a dose-dependent manner, attenuates myogenicity in the isolated rabbit ear artery preparation.

Imagine the Genii and the Historians: The Legacy of Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:28:52 AEDT

Historians are not magicians though their insights when truly insightful have a touch of the magical or remarkable about them. With regard to Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre this remains the case. Through the course of this essay the writings of Febvre will be deployed as gadfly and partner to those of Bloch.

Venous hydrostatic indifference point as a marker of postnatal adaptation to orthostasis in swine

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:28:25 AEDT

The postulate that venous adaptation assists postural baroreflex regulation by shifting the hydrostatic indifference point (HIP) toward the heart was investigated in eight midazolam-sedated newborn piglets. Whole body head-up (+15, +30, and +45°) and head-down (-15 and -30°) tilt provided a physiological range of orthostatic strain. HIP for all positive tilts shifted toward the heart (P < 0.05), +45° HIP shifted most [6.7 ± 0.3, 5.9 ± 0.5, and 3.6 ± 0.3 (SE) cm caudal to right atrium on days 1, 3, and 6, respectively]. HIP for negative tilts (3.0 ± 0.2 cm caudal to right atrium) did not shift with postnatal age. Euthanasia on day 6 caused 2.1 ± 0.3-cm caudal displacement of HIP for positive and negative tilts (P < 0.05). HIP proximity to right atrium was not altered by α-, β-adrenoceptor and cholinoceptor blockade on day 5. It is concluded that early HIP migration reflects enhancement of venous pressure control to head-up orthostatic strain. The effect is independent of baroreflex-mediated adrenoceptor and cholinoceptor mechanisms.

Dynamics strain measurements from the blade of a small wind turbine

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:28:24 AEDT

This paper presents and discusses the results of detailed strain gauge measurements taken from the surface of a composite blade on a small horizontal-axis wind turbine. We believe that these are the first such measurements to be taken on a small wind turbine. The two-bladed upwind machine is located adjacent to Fort Scratchley, a historic seaside landmark in Newcastle, and has a nominal rated output of 5 kW at a wind and rotor speed of 10 m/s and 400 RPM respectively. A series of field experiments were undertaken where the aeroelastic response of the blade was measured with 26 surface mounted strain gauges, along with the wind speed and direction, turbine speed and direction and turbine power output. The results show a periodic fluctuation in both the blade flapping and lead-lag directions with a once per revolution period.

Elevated plasma levels of F₂α-isoprostane in cystic fibrosis

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:28:24 AEDT

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is associated with chronic lung infection, inflammation, and elevated indices of oxidative stress. Recently, isoprostanes were shown to be a reliable in vivo marker of oxidant injury with 8-iso-PGF₂α, shown to cause airflow obstruction and plasma exudation in guinea pig lung. The present study was designed to examine the relationship between 8-iso-PGF₂α levels, plasma antioxidants, and clinical status in CF. We hypothesized that plasma 8-iso-PGF₂a levels would be higher in subjects with CF compared to healthy controls. Plasma 8-iso-PGF₂α levels were prospectively measured in 22 subjects with CF and nine healthy controls using an 8-isoprostane enzyme immunoassay kit along with plasma vitamins A, E, and β-carotene. Plasma 8-iso-PGF₂α levels were shown to be significantly elevated in the CF subjects compared to controls (319.6±52.6 vs. 145.0±21.0 pg/ml, P=0.005). Plasma levels of antioxidants were significantly lower for the CF subjects compared to the controls (vitamin A, P<0.003; vitamin E, P<0.001; and β-carotene, P<0.01). This study confirns significantly elevated lipid peroxidation in CF using 8-iso-PGF₂α levels.

Lessons learned from the Hunter Region Health Promoting Schools Project in NSW, Australia

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:28:24 AEDT

This paper describes development, over a five-year period, of the Hunter Region Health Promoting Schools Project in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The project implemented the principles and philosophy of the Health Promoting Schools concept and evaluated its effectiveness using a randomized controlled trial involving 22 public secondary schools. An overview of the preliminary intervention model based on the health promoting schools philosophy and trialed in a pilot study is provided. The authors also outline barriers to, and difficulties in, implementing the philosophically based intervention model in the secondary school setting. The current intervention approach, which evolved over five years, is described in relation to the roles played by project team members and school communities. In addition, the authors outline guiding principles arising from the new approach which facilitated adoption of health promotion strategies in secondary school settings.

Robust hybrid control incorporating over-saturation

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:28:24 AEDT

A switching controller aimed at dealing with a class of uncertain systems subject to input saturation is presented. The switching strategy is such that a pre-specified level of over-saturation is allowed, forcing the input deliberately into saturation. The goal of this method is to use the full authority of the available control. The proposed scheme allows for, up to, 100% over-saturation. Under these conditions, robust stability of the hybrid scheme is established.

Normal growth in cystic fibrosis associated with a specialised centre

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:18:29 AEDT

Objective: To assess the impact of lifetime continuous care within the John Hunter Hospital cystic fibrosis (CF) clinics on growth and lung function. Design: A cross sectional survey of variables affecting nutritional status in CF was undertaken for 1993 and 1997. Data were retrieved from medical records and grouped into 5 year age bands. Main outcome measures: Change in height z-score, weight centile, and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) between patient cohorts receiving specialised care for different lengths of time. Results: Improved mean height z-score (−0.880 v −0.047) and weight centile (28.3% v 48.1%) for the 10–15 year age group in 1997, who had received continuous lifetime care within the clinic, compared with the same age group in 1993, for whom continuous medical care started at an older age. There was no corresponding improvement in FEV₁, as an indicator of lung function, in this group (81.6% predicted v 89.5% predicted). Conclusions: This study suggests that lifetime continuous care within a specialised CF centre is associated with improved growth but not improved lung function.

Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy in cystic fibrosis: Australian guidelines

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:18:29 AEDT

Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) is a major factor associated with achieving optimum growth and nutritional status in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with pancreatic insufficiency and consequent malabsorption. Currently in Australian CF clinics policies for the usage of PERT vary considerably. This paper highlights the current issues related to fat absorption and use of PERT in CF. It also provides evidence to support the recommendation of a PERT dose based on a standard ratio of lipase units per gram of dietary fat consumed for individual patients. A consistent approach to PERT doses will facilitate identification of patients whose PERT intake increases their risk of fibrosing colonopathy and for whom gastroenterological review is warranted. Recent reports indicate that PERT intake can be reduced with a secondary improvement in growth and nutrition status as a consequence of increased dietetic input. These Australian guidelines for the judicious use of PERT in CF should lead not only to a refinement in nutritional management of patients with CF but should also facilitate an improvement in compliance with therapy due to sophistication in patient education materials. The Australian guidelines for the use of PERT in CF if correctly applied, will also provide patients and their families with a better understanding of the relationship between PERT and nutritional status.

A survey of subdifferential calculus with applications

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:16:32 AEDT

This survey is an account of the current status of subdifferential research. It is intended to serve as an entry point for researchers and graduate students in a wide variety of pure and applied analysis areas who might profitably use subdifferentials as tools.

Strong conical hull intersection property, bounded linear regularity, Jameson's property (G), and error bounds in convex optimization

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:16:32 AEDT

The strong conical hull intersection property and bounded linear regularity are properties of a collection of finitely many closed convex intersecting sets in Euclidean space. These fundamental notions occur in various branches of convex optimization (constrained approximation, convex feasibility problems, linear inequalities, for instance). It is shown that the standard constraint qualification from convex analysis implies bounded linear regularity, which in turn yields the strong conical hull intersection property. Jameson’s duality for two cones, which relates bounded linear regularity to property (G), is re-derived and refined. For polyhedral cones, a statement dual to Hoffman’s error bound result is obtained. A sharpening of a result on error bounds for convex inequalities by Auslender and Crouzeix is presented. Finally, for two subspaces, property (G) is quantified by the angle between the subspaces.

Partially smooth variational principles and applications

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:15:41 AEDT

Smooth variational analysis has been highly successful in providing tools for the study of non-smooth analysis and optimization problems, especially when married to viscosity concepts. Outside of smoothable Banach spaces (thus, notably in L1 spaces) general constructions such as those of Ioffe require a largely nonconstructive intersection over smooth or finite-dimensional subspaces. Equally, outside of Asplund or Frechet spaces the most puissant results fail. Nonetheless, many problems inevitably lie in large (nonsmooth or non-Frechet) spaces, X . In such settings the `target' set may be significantly smaller and so lie in a much more richly renormable space, Y . For example, in most contexts existence results in control will require some measure of weak compactness of an associated lower level set, S. This set perforce lies in a weakly compactly generated and so smoothable subspace Y , and it is often the case that only variations in that subspace need be examined. Our intention in this paper is to provide variational tools in such settings and to present some of the possible applications. The organization of the paper is as follows. In the next section we define the underlying concept of partial viscosity subdifferentials that allows us to derive the variational results alluded to above. Then in Section 3 we study sufficient conditions ensuring the existence of the appropriately "nice" renorms of the underlying space. In Section 4 we give a version of the Borwein-Preiss smooth variational principle in a Banach spaces with a partially smooth equivalent norm: this is the basis for our variational arguments. Section 5 is devoted to a non-local fuzzy sum rule extending the result in for smooth Banach spaces. This non-local fuzzy sum rule marries the smooth variational principle with a decoupling technique of Crandall and Lions. We then use this rule to deduce and extend several other important results in nonsmooth analysis: (i) the local fuzzy sum rule in Section 6, (ii) Zagrodny's approximate mean value theorem in Section 7, (iii) the Clarke-Ledyaev mean value inequality in Section 8 and the Kruger-Mordukhovich extremal principle in Section 9. In Section 10 we discuss the relationship between the partial viscosity subdifferential and other frequently used subdifferential concepts. A brief application to distance functions and best approximations in Section 11 concludes the paper.

Maximal monotonicity of dense type, local maximal monotonicity, and monotonicity of the conjugate are all the same for continuous linear operators

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:15:40 AEDT

The concept of a monotone operator — which covers both linear positive semi-definite operators and subdifferentials of convex functions — is fundamental in various branches of mathematics. Over the last few decades, several stronger notions of monotonicity have been introduced: Gossez’s maximal monotonicity of dense type, Fitzpatrick and Phelps’s local maximal monotonicity, and Simons’s monotonicity of type (NI). While these monotonicities are automatic for maximal monotone operators in reflexive Banach spaces and for subdifferentials of convex functions, their precise relationship is largely unknown. Here, it is shown — within the beautiful framework of Convex Analysis — that for continuous linear monotone operators, all these notions coincide and are equivalent to the monotonicity of the conjugate operator. This condition is further analyzed and illustrated by examples.

On the equivalence of some basic principles in variational analysis

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:15:40 AEDT

The primary goal of this paper is to study relationships between certain basic principles of variational analysis and its applications to nonsmooth calculus and optimization. Considering a broad class of Banach spaces admitting smooth renorms with respect to some bornology, we establish an equivalence between useful versions of a smooth variational principle for lower semicontinuous functions, an extremal principle for nonconvex sets, and an enhanced fuzzy sum rule formulated in terms of viscosity normals and subgradients with controlled ranks. Further refinements of the equivalence result are obtained in the case of a Fr´echet differentiable norm. Based on the new enhanced sum rule, we provide a simplified proof for the refined sequential description of approximate normals and subgradients in smooth spaces.

Patterns of physical conditioning in Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 pilots and the implications for +Gz tolerance

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:13:10 AEDT

Background: The role of physical conditioning in tolerance to +Gz remains the subject of debate, particularly in relation to the relative merits of aerobic vs. anaerobic conditioning. The purpose of this study was to document the patterns of physical conditioning in Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter pilots and to relate these findings to the question of +Gz tolerance. Methods: A questionnaire was used to determine the physical conditioning activities of RAAF F/A-18 pilots. Aerobic fitness levels (Vo₂_max) were determined in a sample of eight pilots using a progressive cycle ergometer protocol. Results: Of the 42 F/A-18 pilots who completed the questionnaire, 86% reported regular physical conditioning, mostly three times per week. Aerobic activities were the most common (83%), with running the most popular activity (55%). Anaerobic activities were reported by 26% of respondents. Most respondents reported doing more than one activity, with an average weekly training volume of 129 ± 77 min. The ergometer test results revealed a mean Vo₂_max of 50 ± 6 ml 0₂ ·kg· min⁻¹ Condusion: The high rates of participation in regular physical activity suggest that physical fitness is perceived as important by the fighter pilot operating in the high +Gz environment. The fighter pilots in this study participated in aerobic activities at a much higher rate than anaerobic activities. The aerobic fitness levels measured suggest that the pilots have good but not exceptionally high levels of aerobic power that are unlikely to influence +Gz tolerance.

Perceiving and responding to multiply categorizable individuals: cognitive processes and affective intergroup bias

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:10:27 AEDT

Any given individual presents multiple possibilities for categorization. For example, a person may simultaneously be black, American, female, a doctor, a mother, and an athlete. Each category membership may provide a useful basis for categorization in that it can be used as a gtJide for one's own behavior toward the target and a standard against which their behavior can be interpreted. The questions of interest are (1) which categories become activated, and hence are used as a basis of categorization, and (2) what are the consequences of category activation. Initial interest in the issue of multiple categorization stemmed from anthropological observations of reduced conflict in cultures containing crossedsocietal structures. For example, intergroup conflict between villages was reduced when individuals in different villages shared family ancestry; in other words, individuals were simultaneously ingroup members on one dimension and outgroup members on another. Creating an analogous experimental intergroup situation, crossed-categorization researchers (e.g., Deschamps and Doise, 1978) have compared patterns of intergroup bias in situations involving a single categorization dimension (e.g., gender, called simple categorization conditions) and crossed conditions. In crossed conditions two categorization dimensions (e.g., race and gender) are orthogonally arrayed such that individuals can be classified according to four-subgroupings (e.g., black females, black males, white females, white males). The relationship between various individuals in crossed contexts differs, such that individuals either (1) share ingroup status on both categorization dimensions (i.e., double ingroups), (2) share ingroup status according to one dimension but not the other (i.e., partial outgroups), or (3) do not share ingroup status (i.e., douple outgroups).

Using multiple response true-false multiple choice questions

Sat 24 Mar 2018 08:10:21 AEDT

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Board of Examiners, having agreed to replace Type K with Type X multiple choice questions (MCQ), undertook a study to determine the most appropriate method of scoring the latter. Retrospective scoring of candidates’ responses in a previous examination, using six reported scoring techniques for Type X items, showed that the Middlesex technique yielded a mean score closest to the mean score of the Type K items which were being replaced. However, as candidates’ responses are affected by instructions, and the latter could not be controlled, a prospective study was carried out on three examinations, in each of which the nature of Part C varied among the three papers, while Parts A and B were similar. Paper 1 contained Type K items in Part C, Paper 2 contained Type X items with instructions appropriate for the Middlesex technique, and Paper 3 contained Type X items scored +1 if correct, –1 if incorrect and 0 if omitted. Items sampling the same content areas were randomly distributed among the three papers. The results indicated that the two Type X systems yielded significantly lower mean scores than Type K, probably due to combinations characteristic of the latter, enabling candidates with partial knowledge to obtain a maximum score. The difference in mean scores between the two Type X systems was not significant. A significantly higher mean percentage score in reused Type X (Middlesex system) items over that of the same items when they were previously used as Type K items was attributed to the combined effects of credit for partial knowledge, practice on reused items and differences in mean candidate ability across years. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients between pairs of Part C mean percentage scores at each examination were positive and significant. The Board decided to replace Type K with Type X items, and the +1, 0, –1 system of scoring was adopted as it was considered more efficient than the Middlesex system, which did not give credit for identifying false statements as false.

The soluble sperm factor that causes Ca²⁺ release from sea-urchin (Lytechinus pictus) egg homogenates also triggers Ca²⁺ oscillations after injection into mouse eggs

Sat 24 Mar 2018 07:49:17 AEDT

Cytosolic extracts of boar sperm contain a soluble phospholipase C (PLC) activity that induces Ca²⁺ release in sea-urchin (Lytechinus pictus) egg homogenates and an uncharacterized protein factor that causes Ca²⁺ oscillations when injected into mammalian eggs. In the present study we fractionated boar sperm extracts on three different FPLC chromatographic columns and found that the fractions that caused maximal Ca²⁺ release in sea-urchin egg homogenates were also the ones that triggered Ca²⁺ oscillations in mouse eggs. Our data suggests that the sperm factor which triggers Ca²⁺ oscillations in eggs contains a PLC and not the 33 kDa glucosamine deaminase previously suggested to be one its components.

A fantastic symphony: the life of Henri Verbrugghen

Mon 22 Aug 2022 15:53:33 AEST

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Geography, history and the social sciences: the evolution of secondary school syllabuses in New South Wales 1967-1989

Mon 03 May 2021 16:29:56 AEST

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Dissociating Automatic and Intentional Processes in Children’s Eyewitness Suggestibility

Fri 23 Mar 2018 18:33:27 AEDT

The chief aim of this dissertation was to establish the respective contributions of automatic and intentional memory processes to misinformation effects in 5-, 8-, and 9-year-old children. In the first two experiments children were presented with a picture story followed by misleading post-event details that were either read to participants, or were self-generated in response to semantic and perceptual hints. Children were then presented with original and suggested items and given a yes / no recognition test under inclusion or exclusion instructions. The application of Jacoby’s (1991) process dissociation procedure to children’s recognition performance revealed that the contribution of intentional processing to misinformation acceptance increased following the self-generation of suggestions. Automatic processing made a strong contribution to misinformation effects regardless of the way that misinformation was encoded. Experiment 3 extended this general pattern of results to a forced choice recognition paradigm. Experiment 4 examined the role of social demand factors in children’s suggestibility using Belli’s (1989) yes / no retrieval paradigm. Little evidence of an influence of social demand on children’s suggestible responses was found with automatic processes again the predominant factor determining suggestibility. In the final experiment, the temporal order of the original and post-event phases was reversed such that 5-year-olds were initially presented with a post-event summary containing misinformation, followed by a witnessed event. The results of this study confirmed that children’s suggestions were unlikely to be the result of trace alteration or social demand. The implications of the findings for theoretical accounts of the misinformation effect in children’s recognition and for children’s eyewitness testimony are discussed.

Sequential Second Language Acquisition For Speech Production: Implicit Learning Processes And Knowledge Bases And Instructional Exemplifications For German

Fri 23 Mar 2018 18:22:28 AEDT

This thesis is placed in the context of the ongoing debate on the issue whether second language acquisition occurs on the basis of innate language-specific learning mechanisms or general learning mechanisms. The author shares the view of scholars who propose that an innate knowledge base underlying first language acquisition does not extend to second language acquisition due to the lack of uniform success in the acquisition of native speaker competence, the possibility of fossilisation and the facilitative potential of form-focused instruction. It is, thus, assumed that the sequential second language acquisition process can be accounted for by general learning mechanisms. The key to these learning mechanisms is, firstly, the investigation of the nature of the knowledge underlying the grammatical encoding procedures for speech production in the context of M. Pienemann’s (1998a) Processability Theory and, secondly, the investigation of the nature of its acquisition process. Pienemann’s Processability Theory explains and predicts the sequential acquisition process of a second language as the result of the hierarchically ordered development of the processing procedures of the grammatical processor to grammatically encode conceptual information. It shares with Levelt’s (1989) theory of speech production the assumptions concerning the nature of the knowledge underlying the grammatical encoding procedures, which require further investigations for verification. Since the Processability Theory does not specify how the assumed knowledge underlying grammatical encoding is acquired, an investigation of the nature of its acquisition process is necessary. This investigation highlights the interdependence between the nature of the knowledge to be acquired and the nature of its acquisition process by demonstrating that the knowledge underlying grammatical encoding is predominantly implicit and, consequently, determines the implicit nature of its acquisition process. Such implicit knowledge is dissociated from explicit knowledge, which determines the explicit nature of its acquisition process. This investigation also demonstrates that explicit grammar teaching and practice in the context of the manipulation of the learners’ attentional orientation mediated by alertness may contribute to the implicit learning process under certain conditions. In conjunction with the provision of guidance by the Processability Theory in regard to the achievement of instructional focus and the independent finding that comprehensible input is needed in order for second language acquisition to occur, these results constitute the basis for the formulation of detailed instructional measures for the effective organisation of the sequential second language acquisition process. These measures are exemplified by their implementation for the initial stages of the acquisition of German as a second language.

Broadcasting Policy in Australia: Political Influences and the Federal Goverment's Role in the Establishment and Development of Public/Community Broadcasting in Australia - A History 1939 to 1992

Fri 23 Mar 2018 16:47:46 AEDT

Utilizing published and unpublished sources and working with interviews of a number of participants this thesis examines the evolution of the political influences that stimulated the Australian federal government's policy decisions on public broadcasting. The background to the federal government's original involvement in broadcasting in the early years of the twentieth century is investigated to put later developments into a broader perspective. Comparisons are also drawn with progress in other comparable Western countries to highlight the unique nature of the Australian model. Since broadcasting was never an issue, like health and education, which could capture votes from the electorate as a whole, government policy was driven by pressure from particular special interest groups as their influence waxed and waned and calls from individual electorates, when the interest was strong and the seat was marginal. The government decisions that resulted from this situation were ad hoc and expedient and no really coherent policy was ever implemented. This thesis examines the forces that led to the restriction in the expansion of broadcasting services after World War 2 and to the change in the influence of pressure groups in the 1960s which led to the establishment of FM and public broadcasting in the 1970s. A detailed exploration of particular interests, such as the Public Broadcasting Association of Australia, educational broadcasters and ethnic broadcasters shows how the influence of different groups changed over time. Once public broadcasting was established the main concern of both broadcasters and government was to keep the sector economically viable. A detailed analysis is provided of how the funding arrangements altered as the sector grew. There were always some idealists who saw public broadcasting as a vehicle for putting forward their own point of view. But, this thesis concludes that, by the early 1990s, apart from its role as regulator, which was the same for commercial broadcasting, government policy on public broadcasting was largely driven by the fact that minimal funding for the sector enabled government to ensure that essential non-commercially viable broadcasting services that would be far more expensive for the government to provide itself, were able to continue.