Digital Commons Network^™

Straddling Two Worlds: How Linguistic Backgrounds And Sociocultural Norms Influence The Experiences Of Saudi Female Expats In Australia, Lamia Alhassoun

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This study constructs a collective story of Saudi female expats (SFEs) as they navigate the transition from their conservative society in Saudi Arabia to a new one in Australia. It examines the impact of the SFE’s Arabic background and their English learning experiences in Australia on their lives and explores SFEs perceptions of their self-representation in the social and educational milieu in Australia. Additionally, it sheds light on the intricate relationships between language, culture, gender and self-representation.

The study employs a demographic questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with twenty-two SFEs in Australia. The study adopts lenses from social identity theory (Erikson …

Evaluation Of Renewable Energy Generation And Storage For Industrial Buildings, Craig Pickup

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This research focuses on the financial aspects of the underutilised industrial renewable energy generation and storage market in Australia, where the developed methodology is applied to two distribution warehouses and a large energy consuming manufacturer. Throughout Australia the residential and utility scale renewable energy market is booming, however the industrial market has been lagging behind at a fraction of the residential generation capacity in 2020. This lack of uptake in the industrial market is attributed to perceived costs and lack of industry knowledge. This research simplifies the results of solar PV and energy storage design into key financial metrics that …

Drivers Of Variability Of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide In Australia, Shyno Susan John

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

There remains much uncertainty in estimating and characterising the Southern Hemisphere’s atmospheric composition compared to the better explored Northern Hemisphere. This poses significant challenges for analysing and modelling short-lived tropospheric trace gases, especially carbon monoxide (CO). Due to limited influence from anthropogenic emissions, compared to the Northern Hemisphere, sites studied in the southern hemisphere show that carbon monoxide tends to be affected by a balance of long-range transport, secondary organic production and removal via its primary sink, the hydroxyl radical (OH). This PhD thesis is focused on using a combination of ground-based and satellite-based measurements and chemical transport modelling to …

The Deakin Sisters: Becoming ‘New Women’ In Twentieth-Century Australia, Louise Scott-Deane

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Using the rich and largely unexplored archival records of the Deakin sisters, this thesis presents the first in-depth collective biography of their lives. While they were the daughters of Australian Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin (1856-1919), the Deakin sisters, Ivy (1883-1970), Stella (1886-1976) and Vera (1891-1978), are not the subjects of this historical examination because of their connection to a powerful man. They are instead being studied because of the significant insights they provide into individual (elite) women’s experiences of the new opportunities which emerged for Australian women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Examining their lives reveals the …

Exploring The Nursing Workforce In Australian Small Rural Hospitals, Sarah Smith

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Background: Approximately a third of Australia’s population resides outside major cities, in rural communities. People who live in rural communities have higher morbidity and mortality rates than those living in urban areas. This places great pressure on small rural hospitals which may be the only source of health care available in these communities. Rural hospitals rely heavily on nurses to provide care to the residents of their communities. Nursing workforce shortages in rural areas are an ongoing concern in Australia. Despite their importance, there is a paucity of contemporary research investigating the experiences of nurses working in rural hospitals. To …

The Embodied Dimensions Of Road Cycling And The Formation Of Gendered Cycling Identities, Lance Robert Barrie

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This thesis aims to offer a better understanding as to why road cycling remains one of Australia’s most popular leisure activities, despite a reported 38 road cyclists killed annually and another 12,000 seriously injured (AIHW, 2019). By investigating cycling sensations of the body and cycling, this thesis responds to calls from feminist geographical scholarship to embraced embodied approaches. Building on feminist readings of the work of Deleuze and Guattari (1987), this thesis offers the concepts of the ‘cycling assemblage’ and ‘cycling refrain’ to help rethink the relationship between mobility, subjectivities and place. Two important implications arise. First, attention is drawn …

Developing Methods For The Analysis Of Anthocyanins In Australian Foods, Mamatha Chandra Singh

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Plant-based colourful foods have shown positive impacts on health. Anthocyanins are plant-based polyphenols and are partially responsible for the bright colours in fruit and vegetables, however, from the scientific perspective, it is important we know the amount and type of anthocyanins present in them. Globally, there is a substantial gap in the anthocyanin analytical values in food composition databases (FCD): resources that provide detailed analytical values of the nutritional components of foods. Despite their importance to health, we do not have a consistent analytical method to study anthocyanins. Besides, anthocyanins have several complexities including their complex structures and high sensitivity. …

Finding Sanctuary: Australian Foxes And Dingoes And The Challenges Of Rescue, Charlie Jackson-Martin

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

In Australia the term ‘sanctuary’ is used to define a very broad range of animal/human shared spaces, with no regulation as to who can and can’t use the term ‘sanctuary’ to describe their practices. On one hand the term ‘sanctuary’ is often used in Australia to describe the growing number of refuges for ‘domestic’ and ‘livestock’ animals rescued from agricultural industries. However, there are animal breeding facilities in Australia, (that breed, sell and exhibit animals for money) that also describe themselves as ‘sanctuaries’. For the last decade I have been running the “Sydney Fox and Dingo Rescue” and in this …

People, Pets And Communities In Natural Disasters: A Case For One Health Promotion, Cheryl Anne Travers

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Climate change and extremes in weather can amplify the risk of some natural disasters. Emergency management authorities also face a contemporary challenge of a societal shift toward companion animals (pets) being considered as family members. From a public health perspective, pets are widely regarded as facilitators of social interactions and a sense of community, having a ripple effect which extends beyond their human family to the broader community. Against this backdrop, people may make evacuation decisions based on their pet’s welfare, increasing disaster risk. Pet loss in disasters has detrimental effects on individual and community health post-disaster. My dissertation provides …

Did The End Justify The Means? An Exploration Of How Australian Newspapers Portrayed People With Disability When Reporting On The National Disability Insurance Scheme (Ndis) And What People With Disability Say About The Coverage., Shawn Burns

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This thesis is about media coverage of disability. Specifically, it is concerned with four issues, namely (1) the extent to which Australian newspapers provide people with disability a voice when reporting on issues that directly affect them; (2) the language adopted by journalists and media organisations when reporting on disability; (3) whether that language is traditional or progressive (that is, does it present disability as a significant part of the human condition or fallback on stereotype and negative models of disability); and, most importantly, (4) what people with disability think about their representation in Australian news media.

The thesis uses …

Made In Chinatown: Chinese Furniture Factories In Australia, 1880–1930, Peter Charles Gibson

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This thesis explores Chinese furniture factories operating in Australia over the period from 1880 to 1930, concentrating on Sydney and Melbourne. Established in the wake of the Australian gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s by migrants from the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong and their descendants, these factories became an integral part of Australia’s furniture industry. Owing to a vision of Australia as a bastion of ‘white’ industry and labour, Chinese furniture factories became the focus of numerous racialised political campaigns and legislative restrictions. This thesis is an examination of how Chinese furniture manufacturers and workers navigated these conditions. …

Diversity And Abundance Of Intertidal Zone Sponges On Rocky Shores Of Southern Nsw, Australia: Patterns Of Distribution, Environmental Impacts And Ecological Interactions, Caroline Cordonis Borges Da Silva

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Sponges (Porifera) are among the most diverse and important components of sessile benthic communities. Sponge communities have a global range of distribution occupying a diverse array of aquatic habitats. They also play a range of ecological roles thus contributing to ecosystem functioning. Although the scientific evidence strongly supports the significance and widespread nature of these functional roles, sponges remain underappreciated in marine systems. This is the first study that identifies the sponge assemblage and investigates in detail the patterns of distribution and abundance of sponge taxa on rocky reef habitats of southeastern Australia. It is also one of the few …

Modelling Of Greenhouse Gases In Australia And The Globe On Multiple Scales, Beata Bukosa

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Carbon greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere have grown dramatically over the last 250 years, with resulting impacts for climate and a large potential to affect human health (Stott et al., 2004; Robine et al., 2008). Several of these gases have an atmospheric lifetime from decades to centuries, taking a long time to overcome any perturbation caused by anthropogenic changes (Watson et al., 1990). Quantitative understanding of the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases is essential for predicting greenhouse gas-climate feedback processes, their impacts on climate variability and change, as well to minimise the negative effects that these changes have …

A Mixed Methods Investigation Of The Factors Influencing High Sugar Intake Among Australian Adults, Adyya Gupta

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

High sugar intake is a public health concern globally. Understanding the determinants of high sugar intake is critical for identifying strategies to tackle this problem. Thus, this PhD project intended to explore the determinants of high sugar intake among adults in Australia. The study had two aims: 1) to identify the impact of individuallevel factors, particularly knowledge and attitudes, on sugar intake, and 2) to explore the factors contributing to high sugar intake among Australian adults using mixed methods approach. I conducted four studies - a systematic review, a quantitative study, a qualitative study and a policy study to address …

Nutrition And Food Systems Education For Secondary School Students In Australia And Iran, Sanaz Sadegholvad

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Introduction: The need to improve consumers’ knowledge of nutrition has been raised in literature. However, few studies have encompassed the broad range of important nutrition and food systems (N&FS) issues that affect population health, environmental sustainability and animal welfare. Also not well explored is the most efficient and effective N&FS education strategies.

Objectives: This research project aimed to explore the perspectives of prominent Australian and Iranian food professionals regarding: 1) essential N&FS knowledge issues for secondary school students, 2) gaps in Australian and Iranian school-leavers’ knowledge of N&FS and 3) effective strategies to improve school-leavers’ knowledge of N&FS.

Methods: Semi-structured …

Of Cats And Wogs: ‘Translating’ The Migrant Experience Through 20th Century Crónicas In Spanish- Language Newspapers In Australia, Catherine H. Seaton

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This thesis focuses on a selection of newspaper crónicas published in the Spanish-language migrant press in Australia during the early to mid 1990s. Although published here for decades, crónicas are a form of multicultural writing that remain practically unknown to Australian literary scholarship. Crónicas are frequently written in a humorous style, offering a rich commentary on a variety of aspects of daily life. They voice the experiences and challenges faced by migrants as they adapt to the changed circumstances that accompany relocation.

My dissertation analyses columns by three Hispanic crónica writers, or cronistas: Clara Espinosa, Luis (Lucho) Abarca and …

Marine Environmental Impact Assessment: Considering Cumulative And Synergistic Impacts Within The Australian Legal Framework, Anna Grage

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This thesis examines the shortcomings and challenges for Australian marine environmental impact assessment (EIA) legal frameworks to consider and assess cumulative and synergistic impacts, as distinct impact types, from large-scale marine use and development. The thesis aims to identify how the legal frameworks and requirements can be improved to enable better consideration and assessment of these impact types. Emphasis is given to the legal frameworks for marine environmental assessment: EIA and strategic environmental assessment (SEA). In particular, the thesis examines the different characteristics of cumulative and synergistic impacts, and how they are typically defined to be the same type of …

The Narrative Construction Of Emergent Professioinal Identites Of Skilled Immigrants In Australia, Ekaterina Alferova

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This study addresses the issues of changing identities of highly skilled immigrants from non-English speaking backgrounds, recently arrived in Australia under the “General Skilled Migrant” Program. Taking into account the importance of skilled immigration for the current and future economic development of Australia, the study focusses on aspects of skilled immigration that go beyond its economic constituent, shifting attention to issues of skilled immigrants’ social identities and their sense of self. It is argued that professional participation of skilled immigrants is strongly tied to their social identities and changing self-perceptions.

This study provides an examination and analysis of processes of …

A Multi-Perspective Framework For Modelling And Analysing The Determinants Of Cloud Computing Adoption Among Smes In Australia, Salim Zahir Al Isma'ili

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Cloud Computing (CC) is an emerging technology that can potentially revolutionise the application and delivery of IT. There has been little research, however, into the use of CC in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). With all the promised benefits of cloud computing for cost-cutting, and its perceived advantages to businesses in focusing on their core business activities by outsourcing their IT capabilities to the cloud, the indicators show that CC has been adopted very slowly. Migration to CC has various challenges which go beyond the technology itself. There is also a significant research gap in the investigation of the adoption …

Monsters: Australian Mythology, National Identity And The Design Of Australian Material Culture, Trent Jansen

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

This studio-based thesis develops a speculative theoretical framework to assist in the design of quintessentially Australian objects. Through both project-driven and academic research, the thesis has sought to identify several core signifiers in the discourse of Australian national identity and material culture. The aim was to design furniture pieces inspired by those components of uniquely Australian culture that might resonate with a large percentage of Australians.

Using material culture theory as a foundation, this body of research surveys a broad selection of pre- and post-colonial Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian artefacts, concluding that the most geographically unique examples of material culture …