Digital Commons Network^™

Improved Performance Of Ballasted Tracks Under Impact Loading By Recycled Rubber Mats, Ngoc Trung Ngo, Buddhima Indraratna, Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Ballasted tracks at transition locations such as approaches to bridges and road crossings experience increasing degradation and deformation due to dynamic and high impact forces, a key factor that decreases the stability and longevity of railroads. One solution to minimise ballast degradation at the transition zones is using rubber energy absorbing drainage sheets (READS) manufactured from recycled tyres. When placed beneath the ballast layer, READS distributes the load over wider area and attenuate of the load over a longer duration thus decreasing maximum stress, apart from reducing the energy transferred to the ballast and other substructure components. Subsequently, the track …

Assessment Of Radio-Induced Damage In Endothelial Cells Irradiated With 40 Kvp, 220 Kvp, And 4 Mv X-Rays By Means Of Micro And Nanodosimetric Calculations, Nicolas Tang, Marta Bueno, Sylvain Meylan, Yann Perrot, Hoang Tran, Amelie Freneau, Morgane Dos Santos, Aurelie Vaurijoux, Gaetan Gruel, Mario Bernal, Marie Bordage, Dimitris Emfietzoglou, Ziad Francis, Susanna Guatelli, Vladimir Ivanchenko, Mathieu Karamitros, Ioanna Kyriakou, Wook Shin, Sebastien Incerti, Carmen Villagrasa

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The objective of this work was to study the differences in terms of early biological effects that might exist between different X-rays energies by using a mechanistic approach. To this end, radiobiological experiments exposing cell monolayers to three X-ray energies were performed in order to assess the yields of early DNA damage, in particular of double-strand breaks (DSBs). The simulation of these irradiations was set in order to understand the differences in the obtained experimental results. Hence, simulated results in terms of microdosimetric spectra and early DSB induction were analyzed and compared …

An In-Situ Synchrotron Study Of The B2→B19′ Phase Transformation In A Ni-Ti Alloy Subjected To Uniaxial Monotonic Tension, Xiaohui Bian, Ahmed A. Saleh, Peter Lynch, Christopher H. J Davies, Elena V. Pereloma, Azdiar Adil Gazder

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

A cold-drawn and annealed 56Ni-44Ti wt% alloy was subjected to in-situ uniaxial monotonic tension in a synchrotron. Spatially resolved diffraction data was acquired along the gauge length by pausing the loading at five select macroscopic strains within the stress plateau region. This enables tracking localised transformation phenomena by sub-dividing the gauge length into transformation band, untransformed and apparently transformed regions. Within the macroscopic stress plateau region: (i) the highly strained B2 phase within the propagating transformation band and apparently transformed regions produces a relaxation of the B2 phase within the untransformed region. (ii) The newly formed B19′ grain families exhibit …

Implementation Of An Iot Based Radar Sensor Network For Wastewater Management, Adam Drenoyanis, Raad Raad, Ivan Wady, Carmel Krogh

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Critical wastewater events such as sewer main blockages or overflows are often not detected until after the fact. These events can be costly, from both an environmental impact and monetary standpoint. A standalone, portable radar device allowing non-invasive benchmarking of sewer pumping station (SPS) pumps is presented. Further, by configuring and deploying a complete Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), Shoalhaven Water (SW) now has the opportunity to create "Internet of Things" (IoT)-capable devices that offer freedom from the reliance on mobile network providers, whilst avoiding congestion on the existing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) telemetry backbone. This network …

Simulation Of Cosmic Radiation Spectra For Personal Microdosimetry At The International Space Station's Altitude, Stefania Peracchi, Susanna Guatelli, Linh T. Tran, Anatoly B. Rosenfeld

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Latest researches predict the cosmic rays exposure during long space missions outside the Earth's geomagnetic sphere, as to the Moon and Mars, can double the cancer risk. The minimization of risk associated with radiation exposure in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is of great interest for astronauts of the International Space Station (ISS). This risk is due to radiation hazard and can be predicted by measurement of the dose equivalent produced by the radiation environment inside of the spacecraft. Since more than 15 years ago, the Centre For Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP), University of Wollongong, is developing silicon based microdosimeters …

Fibre Optic Dosimetry In Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation Therapy, James Archer, Enbang Li, Anatoly B. Rosenfeld, Michael L. F Lerch

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Synchrotron microbeam radiation therapy is a novel pre-clinical therapy method that uses high brilliance, spatially fractionated, low energy x-rays to deliver a very high dose rate. A conventional spatial fractionation for these beams is 50 μm microbeam width at 400 μm peak-to-peak separation. To perform dosimetry on these beams, a dosimeter with a high spatial resolution is required. We present a plastic scintillator fibre optic dosimeter that has been demonstrated to be able to resolve the microbeam structure. The advantages of such a dosimeter is the water equivalence, passive components exposed to the radiation field, relatively inexpensive components and simple …

Evaluation Of Organ Doses Following High Dose Rate (Hdr) Brachytherapy Of Breast Cancer: A Geant4 Monte Carlo Simulation Study, M Aidil, Nurul Hashikin, Chai-Hong Yeong, Susanna Guatelli, K H. Ng, Alessandra Malaroda, Anatoly B. Rosenfeld, Alan C. Perkins

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This study aimed to evaluate the absorbed doses received by the organs at risk (OARs) following Iridium-192 (192Ir) high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy of the left breast. The MIRD5 adult female anthropomorphic phantom, readily available in the Geant4 Monte Carlo package was used. However, the left breast was modified from 195 to 145 cm3, to represent a breast following lumpectomy. Left breast was chosen due to its higher cancer occurrence than the right breast. The HDR sources were constructed with an outer cylindrical dimension of 4.5 mm (length) x 0.9 mm (diameter). Various influencing parameters were studied, i.e. catheter arrangement …

Behaviour Of Foam Concrete Under Impact Loading Based On Shpb Experiments, Yongliang He, Mingshi Gao, Hongchao Zhao, Yichao Zhao

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents an innovative method for using foam concrete as a typical building material for soft structures in underground coal mines subjected to dynamic loading. To understand the behaviour of foam concrete under impact loading, a total of 30 specimens with a diameter of 50 mm and a height of 50 mm were experimentally tested using a 75 mm diameter split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) device. The key parameters investigated in the present study included the type of foam concrete (fly ash and sand), the density of foam concrete (1000, 1200 and 1400 kg/m3), and the impact velocity (3.0, …

A New Generation Of Magnetorheological Vehicle Suspension System With Tunable Stiffness And Damping Characteristics, Shuaishuai Sun, Xin Tang, Jian Yang, Donghong Ning, Haiping Du, Shiwu Zhang, Weihua Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

As the concept of variable stiffness (VS) and variable damping (VD) has increasingly drawn attention because of its superiority on reducing unwanted vibrations, dampers with property of varying stiffness and damping have been an attractive method to further improve vehicle performance and driver comfort. This paper presents the design, prototyping, modeling, and experimental evaluation of a VS and VD magnetorheological (MR) vehicle suspension system. It was first characterized by an INSTRON machine. Then, a phenomenological model was proposed to capture the characteristics of the damper and TS fuzzy approach was used to model the quarter car system where the proposed …

Leveraging Smote In A Two-Layer Model For Prediction Of Protein-Protein Interactions, Huaming Chen, Lei Wang, Chi-Hung Chi, Jun Shen

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The research of the mechanisms of infectious diseases between host and pathogens remains a hot topic. It takes stock of the interactions data between host and pathogens, including proteins and genomes, to facilitate the discoveries and prediction of underlying mechanisms. However, the incomplete protein-protein interactions data impediment the advances in this exploration and solicit the wet-lab experiments to examine and verify the latent interactions. Although there have been numerous studies trying to leverage the computational models, especially machine learning models, the performances of these models were not good enough to produce high-fidelity candidates of interactions data due to the nature …

Journey To The New Frontier: Staff Experience In A Professional Development Program For Digital Dexterity, Renée C. Grant, Courtney A. Shalavin

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

A digitally literate workforce is no longer a choice but an imperative in this current era as organisations seek to develop and enable innovators and shapers of the new digital reality. However, it is not enough to be just digitally literate. Digital dexterity is the new frontier, extending beyond digital literacy by providing individuals with the ability to leverage media, information and technology. In a higher education environment, a digitally dexterous workforce is vital to facilitate innovation in learning and teaching and to keep pace with digital scholarship and research. Developing digital dexterity can be challenging due to varying levels …

Older, Online And First: Recommendations For Retention And Success, Cathy Stone, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The university student population in Australia contains increasing numbers of older students returning to learning after a significant gap in their educational journey. Many are choosing to enrol online to combine their studies with other time-consuming responsibilities. This article examines the nature of this online student experience with a focus on those aged 25 and over who are the first in their families to embark on university studies. Drawing on interviews conducted with both staff and students operating in this virtual space, as well as other related research and literature, this article offers recommendations to higher education institutions and educators …

Water, Skin And Touch: Migrant Bathing Assemblages, Gordon R. Waitt, Louisa Welland

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper offers a contribution to cultures of urban water research through household ethnographies conducted with 16 participants who migrated from Burma to Sydney, Australia. We draw on a strand of corporeal feminism and offer the concept of bathing assemblages to interpret how watery skin encounters provide clues to how participants washed themselves in their 'home' country may persist, transform or stop. Our analysis maps how dimensions of the self (ethical, gender, class, ethnic, national faith and others) are constituted by, and generative of, the felt intensities of watery encounters through different bathing assemblages. This paper illustrates how bathing practices …

Association Between Breaks In Sitting Time And Adiposity In Australian Toddlers: Results From The Get-Up! Study, Eduarda Manuela De Sousa Rodrigues De Sa, Joao Rafael Rodrigues Pereira, Zhiguang Zhang, Sanne L.C Veldman, Anthony D. Okely, Rute Santos

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: In youth, research on the health benefits of breaking up sitting time is inconsistent. Our aim was to explore the association between the number of breaks in sitting time and adiposity in Australian toddlers. Methods: This study comprised 266 toddlers (52% boys), aged 19.6 ± 4.2 months from the GET-UP! Study, Australia. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and z-scores by age and sex were computed for waist circumference (WC). Participants were classified as overweight according to the WHO criteria for BMI. For WC, participants with a z-score≥1SD were considered overweight. Sitting time was assessed with activPALs during childcare …

Viewpoints: Should Teaching Students Who Fail A Literacy And Numeracy Test Be Barred From Teaching?, Lynn D. Sheridan, Nan Bahr

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Starting this month, teaching students who fail or haven't yet taken the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE) will not be able to teach in Victorian schools. Previously, around one in 20 teachers who had failed the test or hadn't taken it yet received provisional registration. Prospective students who took the test late in 2018 received their results on January 11.

Scaffolding Feedback For Longer Term Knowledge Retention, Skye Playsted

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Coping, Caring And Believing: The Embodied Work Of Disaster Recovery Workers, Christine Eriksen

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the embodied experiences of coping, caring and believing by disaster recovery workers in Australia in the context of the growing frequency and intensity of disasters, especially bushfires. The study draws on three concepts: faith as performative, embodiment, and the 'holding environment' as a system that shapes coping capacity. Faith emerges in the study as having two modalities (introspection and group-communion) that are not synonymous with religious adherence. Instead it is linked to the holding environment, which comprises the strategies that individuals and groups have developed to cope with risks and exposure, through their embodied responses, and the …

Utilising The Social Return On Investment (Sroi) Framework To Gauge Social Value In The Fast Forward Program, Jioji Ravulo, Shannon Said, Jim Micsko, Gayl Purchase

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

A market paradigm shift towards a 'knowledge-based economy' means Australia is moving towards a major skills crisis whereby the workforce will lack skills attainable from higher education. Moreover, those from low socio-economic backgrounds, and who are confronted with disadvantage, still face challenges in gaining entry to university. The Fast Forward Program (FFP) aims to increase attainment of higher education for greater western Sydney high school students in years 9-12, with a focus on dismantling the social barriers preventing attainment. To achieve this aim, the program hosts a range of student and parent in-school workshops and on-campus visits. To capture the …

Subcortical Surface Morphometry In Substance Dependence: An Enigma Addiction Working Group Study, Yann Chye, Scott Mackey, Boris Gutman, Christopher Ching, Albert Batalla, Sara Blaine, Samantha Brooks, Elisabeth Caparelli, Janna Cousijn, Alain Dagher, John Foxe, Anna Goudriaan, Robert Hester, Kent Hutchison, Neda Jahanshad, Anne Kaag, Ozlem Korucuoglu, Chiang-Shan R. Li, Edythe D. London, Valentina Lorenzetti, Maartje Luijten, Rocio Martin-Santos, Shashwath Meda, Reza Momenan, Angelica M. Morales, Catherine Orr, Martin P. Paulus, Godfrey Pearlson, Liesbeth Reneman, Lianne Schmaal, Rajita Sinha, Nadia Solowij, Dan J. Stein, Elliot A. Stein, Deborah Tang, Anne Uhlmann, Ruth Van Holst, Dick Veltman, Antonio Verdejo-Garcia, Reinout Wiers, Murat Yucel, Paul M. Thompson, Patricia Conrod, Hugh Garavan

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

2019 Society for the Study of Addiction While imaging studies have demonstrated volumetric differences in subcortical structures associated with dependence on various abused substances, findings to date have not been wholly consistent. Moreover, most studies have not compared brain morphology across those dependent on different substances of abuse to identify substance-specific and substance-general dependence effects. By pooling large multinational datasets from 33 imaging sites, this study examined subcortical surface morphology in 1628 nondependent controls and 2277 individuals with dependence on alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamine, and/or cannabis. Subcortical structures were defined by FreeSurfer segmentation and converted to a mesh surface to …

Transformational Adaptation On The Farm: Processes Of Change And Persistence In Transitions To 'Climate-Smart' Regenerative Agriculture, Hannah Gosnell, Nicholas J. Gill, Michelle A. Voyer

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Regenerative agriculture, an alternative form of food and fiber production, concerns itself with enhancing and restoring resilient systems supported by functional ecosystem processes and healthy, organic soils capable of producing a full suite of ecosystem services, among them soil carbon sequestration and improved soil water retention. As such, climate change mitigation and adaptation are incidental to a larger enterprise that employs a systems approach to managing landscapes and communities. The transformative potential of regenerative agriculture has seen growing attention in the popular press, but few empirical studies have explored the processes by which farmers enter into, navigate, and, importantly, sustain …

Own A Bike You Never Ride? We Need To Learn How To Fail Better At Active Transport, Glen Fuller, Gordon R. Waitt, Ian M. Buchanan, Tess Lea, Theresa Harada

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Once upon a time when something was simple to do we said: "It's as easy as riding a bike." But switching from driving a car to riding a bike as one's main means of transport is anything but easy. The well-documented obstacles holding people back from cycling include a lack of proper bike lanes, secure parking arrangements, end-of-trip facilities and bike-friendly public transport, as well as lack of convenient storage space. Despite these obstacles, people continue to try to make cycling a central part of their lives, with varying degrees of success. While we know broadly what the impediments are, …

People From Refugee And Asylum Seeking Backgrounds: An Open Access Annotated Bibliography (2nd Edition), Sally Baker, Georgina Ramsay, Megan Rose, Anja Wendt, Prasheela Karan, Priyanka Bose, Neriman Coskun, Skye Playsted, Simon Williams, Anna Xavier, Angela Yang

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This open access annotated bibliography has been curated by a collective of scholars who share an interest in the impacts of forced migration on people from refugee, asylum seeking and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) migrant backgrounds. These resources are intended to be shared with the international community of researchers, students, educators and practitioners who work with, or are interested in, forced migration, education, employment and resettlement.

Maths Anxious Pre-Service Teachers' Perspectives Of "Doing" Mathematics In A Whiteboard Room, Sarah Sanders, Wendy S. Nielsen, Carolyn Mcphail, Patricia A. Forrester

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Mathematics anxiety is common among pre-service primary teachers and many experience higher levels of maths anxiety than other university students. This study asks: What are maths anxious pre-service teachers' perspectives of "doing" mathematics in a whiteboard room? The Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS) was used to identify high, medium and low levels of maths anxiety in a cohort of first-year pre-service teachers (n=196). Semi-structured interviews (n=6) explored perspectives that were analysed through Vygotsky's sociocultural dimensions of the intrapersonal and the interpersonal, as well as the physical environment of the whiteboard room. Results show that doing maths in a whiteboard …

Physical Activity And Screen Time In Out Of School Hours Care: An Observational Study, Carol Maher, Rosa Virgara, Anthony D. Okely, Rebecca M. Stanley, Millie Watson, Lucy Lewis

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

This study aimed to describe, and identify predictors of, physical activity and screen time in children attending out of school hours care (OSHC).

Method

Twenty-three randomly selected OSHC centres (n = 1068 children) participated in this observational, cross-sectional study. Service directors completed interviews regarding policy, training, scheduling and equipment related to physical activity and screen time. Children’s activity behaviours (moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light physical activity, sedentary time and screen time) were measured using standardised direct observation.

Results

Directors’ interviews revealed a lack of formal policy guiding physical activity and screen time. Time spent in activity …

My Children... Think It's Cool That Mum Is A Uni Student: Women With Caring Responsibilities Studying Online, Cathy Stone, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Much has been written about the growing influence and reach of online learning in higher education, including the opportunities that this can offer for improving student equity and widening participation. One area of student equity in which online learning has an influence is that of gender equity, particularly for mature-age students. This article explicitly explores how the dual identities of student and family carer are managed by women studying online. It highlights the largely invisible yet emotional and time-consuming additional load that many women are carrying and discusses the importance of this being recognised and accommodated at an institutional level. …

"A Passion And Enthusiasm To Bring Out The Best In All": Regional Candidate Teacher Motivations, Lynn D. Sheridan

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this study the career motivations and values of regional candidate teachers are investigated using a mixed methodology. Expectancy-value theory (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) supports the understanding of motivations through the use of four key value categories: interest, utility, attainment and cost. A total of 135 pre-service teachers were surveyed using a modified survey instrument. This study addresses a gap in career motivational literature by exploring the motivations of regional teacher candidates. Current research indicates that quality staffing in Australian regional schools remains a significant concern. Findings indicated that candidates' motivations tended to be aspirational, yet there also exist strong …

Cruel Optimism? Socially Critical Perspectives On The Obesity Assemblage, Lisette Burrows, Deana Leahy, Jan Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Socially critical scholars in Health and Physical Education (HPE) have been raising questions about the ethical, moral and social consequences of charging schools with the burden of ameliorating an ‘obesity’ problem for years, yet there is little sign of any substantial shift in the thinking that drives obesity strategies and policies in and around schools. Drawing on exemplars from our own and others’ practice, we interrogate the extent to which socially critical obesity work, and post-structural work, in particular, can contribute to new understandings of the ‘obesity assemblage’. Can our own repetitive aspirations to disrupt dominant discourses be regarded as …

Focusing On An Illusion: Accommodating To Perceived Depth?, Trent Koessler, Harold C. Hill

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Ocular accommodation potentially provides information about depth but there is little evidence that this information is used by the human visual system. We use the hollow-face illusion, an illusion of depth reversal, to investigate whether accommodation is linked to perceived depth. In Experiment 1 accommodation, like vergence, was in front of the physical surface of the mask when the mask was upright and people reported experiencing the illusion. Accommodation to the illusory face did not differ significantly from accommodation to the physically convex back surface of the same mask. Only accommodation to the inverted mask seen as hollow was significantly …

Vection Strength Increases With Simulated Eye-Separation, Stephen Palmisano, Rodney G. Davies, Kevin R. Brooks

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Research has previously shown that adding consistent stereoscopic information to self-motion displays can improve the vection in depth induced in physically stationary observers. In some past studies, the simulated eye-separation was always close to the observer's actual eye-separation, as the aim was to examine vection under ecological viewing conditions that provided consistent binocular and monocular self-motion information. The present study investigated whether large discrepancies between the observer's simulated and physical eye-separations would alter the vection-inducing potential of stereoscopic optic flow (either helping, hindering, or preventing the induction of vection). Our self-motion displays simulated eye-separations of 0 cm (the non-stereoscopic control), …

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Thai Alcohol Policy In Regulating Alcohol Industry's Marketing Strategies And Commercial Activities, Ratchakorn Kaewpramkusol, Kate Senior, Sutham Nanthamongkolchai, Richard D. Chenhall

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction and Aims: The recognition of the association between the use of alcohol and negative health outcomes have led to the endorsement of the World Health Organization's global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. Given the capacities, capabilities and sociocultural contexts of Thailand, this study aims to examine the Thai alcohol policy against the global strategy's recommended policy measures for marketing control and identify areas for further policy development.

Design and Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the stakeholders from three sectors: the government, academia and civil society. Their perceptions of the Thai alcohol policy in …