Digital Commons Network^™

Novel Methods For Assessing Pulmonary And Cardio-Vascular Limitations To Aerobic Performance In Older And Younger Populations, Toni Haddad

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Around the world, life expectancy is increasing, the ageing population is growing, and maintaining quality of life at an older age currently represents a major global challenge. While ‘successful ageing’ relies on a variety of factors, aerobic performance and exercise capacity are key determinants and attenuating their decline is of the utmost importance. The decrease in maximal oxygen consumption is often considered as a major determinant explaining the age[1]related decline in aerobic performance. Yet, multiple physiological systems are impaired with ageing and their contribution to aerobic limitation in older individuals is unclear. Understanding how the limitations to aerobic performance may …

An Immersive Study Of The Artistry Of Gilbert Biberian —Guitarist, Composer, And Pedagogue— And Creative Responses From A Musical Apprenticeship, Stephanie J. Darcey

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This project examines the music of Istanbul-born British classical guitarist and composer Gilbert Biberian (1944-2023) and the potential of this music to stimulate original composition using an intuitive approach. Biberian is recognized as one of the most original and creative guitar composers from the second half of the twentieth century. His musical language embraces and integrates traditional tonality, jazz, post-tonal idioms, and the music of the Middle East. There are three strands to this project: an overview of Biberian’s life, philosophy, and music; a musical apprenticeship with Biberian on technique and musicianship; and also on my compositions. There will be …

The Legal Framework For The Protection Of Victims Of The Worst Forms Of Child Labour In Agriculture In Ghana: A Human Rights Based Approach, Ruby Akua Aglagoh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Child labour is prevalent in Ghana, especially in the agriculture industry where children engage in work that is harmful to their health, morals, and safety. Such harmful work has been defined by the ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999 as constituting the worst forms of child labour. These children have human rights stated in the laws of Ghana but have become victims of human rights violations because they cannot access the protections provided for under the international conventions and national laws of Ghana.

Using doctrinal legal research, this thesis reviews the legal framework of …

Physiological Plateaus During Childbirth: A Constructivist Grounded Theory And Novel Definition, Marina J. Weckend

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: During childbirth, one of the most common diagnoses of pathology is ‘failure to progress,’ frequently resulting in labour augmentation and intervention cascades. However, ‘failure to progress’ is poorly defined and some evidence suggests that plateauing labour (slowing, stalling and pausing of labour processes) may represent a typical and physiological occurrence during normal childbirth. Therefore, this study aimed to explore what exactly midwives define as ‘physiological plateaus’ and which significance such plateaus may have for the labour trajectory and birth outcome.

Methods: This study followed a constructivist grounded theory approach, assuming a position of ontological critical realism combined with epistemological …

Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomic Analysis To Characterise Barley Breeding Lines, Mahya Bahmani

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Barley is a key ingredient in the malting and brewing industry, and it is the fourth most important crop being cultivated worldwide. The protein content of the barley grain is one of the main components determining the quality and nutritive value of the food and beverages prepared from barley. Mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis is a valuable tool that can guide and inform plant breeding strategies and crop improvement programs. Understanding the proteome changes in barley grain under different growing locations, the impact of different environmental conditions and its relationship with malting characteristics have the potential to inform breeding programs to …

Content And Frames Of ©Wechat And Chinese State Media - A Critical Literacy Reflection Of The Narratives During The Early Stage Of Covid-19 Pandemic, Zhe Jing

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Governments back disruptive politics on the Internet platforms to influence people. During the global health crisis, because of the popularity and demographic penetration, ©WeChat is said to be one of these platforms. The influential dynamics, the circulated contents relevant to diasporic audiences and the app’s global users are yet to be contextually understood through the educational lens of critical literacy. This study is underpinned by a critical literacy reflective framework which synthesises components from several critical literacy practices: content and frame analysis, critical pedagogies, and specific literacy domain practices to provide guideline for the investigation. The findings demonstrate how state …

Comparing Western Australia And South Australia Public High School’S Cyberbullying Policies – Is There A Need For A Legislative Change, Vanessa Tay

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The internet provides some of the most effective means of communication. Cyberbullying occurs when the internet is used to bully another person. Along with the positive aspects of the internet, cyberbullying is certainly one of the most negative aspects, especially with regard to school students. Victims of cyberbullying may be able to obtain legal sanctions, however, this usually occurs after the harm is done. In Australia, some states such as South Australia have recognised the need for preventive strategies by requiring schools to have an anti-bullying plan in place. Other countries, like Ontario, Canada have implemented similar preventative strategies in …

Mining For Sleep Data: An Investigation Into The Sleep Of Fly-In Fly-Out Shift Workers In The Mining Industry And Potential Solutions, Gemma Maisey

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Shift work in the mining industry is a risk factor for sleep loss leading to impaired alertness, which may adversely impact health and safety risks. This risk is being increasingly recognised by leaders and shift workers in the mining industry, however, there is limited knowledge available on the extent of sleep loss and other potential contributing factors. Furthermore, knowledge of the efficacy of individual interventions to assist shift workers to improve their sleep, and the management of risk at an organisational level is scarce. This PhD thesis involved three studies. The first two studies involved the recruitment of 88 shift …

Fagotte Forgotten? The Bassoon In The Early Symphonies Of Mozart, Haydn And Contemporaries In The 1760s And 1770s, Katherine J. Walpole

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project investigates the role of the bassoon in the basso of the early symphonies of Mozart, Haydn and Contemporaries in the 1760s and 1770s. It draws on surviving primary source material pertaining to bassoonists and orchestral practices across Europe before 1780. Autograph scores of Haydn, Mozart and his contemporaries usually scored early Classical symphonies for pairs of oboes, horns, two violin sections, viola and basso. Modern scholars have described these compositions as symphonies for pairs of oboes, pairs of horns and strings, and have translated basso to mean cellos and basses. Eliminating the eighteenth-century term basso has also …

Explaining Organisational Business Process Adoption Mechanisms - A Critical Realist Perspective On Social Reflexivity And Process Affordances, Andreas Brönnimann

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The implementation of new business processes can be problematic for organisations. Employees tend towards reluctant behaviour when confronted with organisational change that requires adoption of new workflows and work tasks. The crucial importance of people affected by change has been highlighted in past research. While the adoption of new processes is beneficial to the organisation, deviations from or rejections of new processes can lead to increased risks, missed process goals, increased waste leading to lost revenue, and other unforeseeable outcomes.

However, the adoption of proposed processes by individuals only is less desirable, because the collective nature of processes requires choreographed …

Woman-Centred Ethics: A Feminist Participatory Action Research, Katherine A. Buchanan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: The maternity system has a complexity of everyday ethical issues. The bioethical principles: non maleficence, beneficence justice and autonomy, that govern health care practice have been criticised as abstract, patriarchal and even rhetorical in maternity care practice (MacLellan, 2014) and consequently may be insufficient in guiding care of childbearing women. Midwifery-led care is guided by the International Confederation of Midwives International Code of Ethics, which considers more than the bioethical principles, such as the importance of relationship. Care ethics is a relational based feminist ethics first described by Gilligan (1983) and has been theorised as an alternate paradigm for …

Performance And Interpretation: Beethoven's Opus 110, Izaac J. Masters

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Within the context of professional music making, an increasing number of pianists use both modern and historical pianos as a matter of course. Yet, not infrequently, it seems that there is little awareness of how the inherent acoustic characteristics of each instrument may be used to inform interpretation, and the instrument-specific pianistic techniques that are needed if interpretation is to be optimised. This study explores issues of interpretation and performance as applied to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in Ab major, op. 110. Three different performative interpretations of the sonata are constructed, each relating to a specific grand piano––made by, respectively, Conrad …

The Cartographies Of Place: Approaches To Audio-Visual Composition Incorporating Aspects Of Place, Wing S. Tsang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Incorporating aural and visual elements of a place in a composition serves as a powerful way of exploring the intersection of time, history and geography associated with a location. The combination of these elements acts as an invitation for deeper engagement by offering multiple perspectives of place. One way of exploring these intersections is through incorporating aspects of place—in the form of field recordings, field footage and cartographical information—into audio and audio-visual work, where spatial and physical information can be situated as a way of representing an individual’s surroundings and subjective realities of place. This practice-led exegesis aims to explore …

Experimental Investigation Of The Interface And Wetting Characteristics Of Rock-H2-Brine Systems For H2 Geological Storage, Mirhasan Hosseini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The projected rise in demand for hydrogen (H2) production is a response to several factors, including greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, depletion of fossil fuel reserves, and their uneven distribution around the earth. Thus, increased requirement for large-scale hydrogen storage solutions is anticipated to overcome imbalance between energy demand and supply. Deep underground formations such as salt caverns and porous reservoir rocks (e.g., depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and deep saline aquifers) are necessary to achieve such volumes in practice. This process is known as underground hydrogen storage (UHS) which is technically very similar to underground natural gas storage. …

An Overview Of Blood-Based Biomarkers In Ad, Steve Pedrini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly whose main neuropathological features are the presence of extracellular senile plaques in the brain and the intracellular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau filaments. However, a relatively cheap and non-invasive method for the diagnosis of AD remains elusive. Recent studies have indicated that cerebral biochemical changes take place decades before the clinical onset of the disease, but current methodologies, brain scan (PET amyloid imaging) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis, are unsuited for community-wide screening. Brain scanning methods non-invasively assess amyloid load but are extremely expensive and cannot be used …

Exploring Demographic, Clinical And Exercise Prescription Moderators Of Resistance Exercise Effects On Objectively Measured And Patient-Reported Outcomes In Men With Prostate Cancer, Pedro Lopez Da Cruz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Information on specific prognostic factors such as the association of body composition with survival and tailored strategies considering demographic and clinical factors as well as the influence of exercise tolerance and compliance are required to establish targeted exercise prescription in men with prostate cancer. As a result, the purpose of this doctoral research is to: (i) investigate the role of body composition on overall survival in men with prostate cancer; (ii) determine which type of exercise/physical activity and/or dietary intervention is most effective for improving body composition outcomes in this population; (iii) examine the demographic and clinical characteristics of resistance …

Psycho-Spiritual Counselling To Enhance Resiliency As Transformative Education: An Auto/Ethnographic Inquiry Of The Interface Between Spirituality And Positive Psychology, Dominic Savio

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis attempts to capture my lived experiences of psychospiritual counselling and to describe how my research journey has shaped me personally and professionally. As a priest engaged in psychospiritual counselling internationally for nearly three decades in diverse settings, I attempt to seek further clarity and make sense of my rich experiences in this research. Therefore, I endeavoured to investigate if and how building resiliency through psychospiritual counselling can be comprehended as transformative education.

Experientially speaking, as a priest and psychospiritual counsellor, I recognised that people leaned on their moral vulnerabilities and were blinded to spirituality as a source of …

Towards Establishing A Fit-For-Purpose Regulatory Framework For Radiation Protection In Western Australia's Mining Industry: Evaluating Mine Worker Exposures To Naturally Occurring Radionuclides, Martin I. Ralph

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Mining in the state of Western Australia (WA) formally commenced in the 1840s, and over the ensuing 180 years has evolved to be the epicentre of the Australian mining industry and a significant contributor to the national economy. The lithology of WA is replete with mineralisation that hosts uranium and “critical minerals” required for the global renewable energy sector. The state’s first uranium mine is under development, and high levels of activity are occurring in the state’s nascent critical minerals sector, with 168 WA-based companies pursuing rare earths-bearing minerals, 51 of which are actively drilling on their tenements.

WA’s mineral …

Investigation And Development Of Titanium Nitride Solid-State Potentiometric Ph Sensor, Shimrith Paul Shylendra

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The measurement of pH value is crucial parameter in various fields like, drinking water monitoring, food preparation, biomedical and environmental applications. The most common device for pH sensing is the conventional pH glass electrode. While glass electrodes have several advantages, such as Nernstian sensitivity, superior ion selectivity, excellent stability, and extensive operating range, they have several key disadvantages. pH glass electrodes need to be stored in buffer solutions, they are fragile and have limited size and shape, making them impractical for some applications, such as being potentially used as miniature pH sensors for capsule endoscopy and ambulatory esophageal pH monitoring. …

A Critical Control Approach To Preventing Fatalities In Construction, Roberta J. Selleck

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Workplace fatalities continue to occur within the Australian construction industry at an unacceptably high rate. Most fatalities can be attributed to worker exposure to fatal energies while conducting high risk tasks in a dynamic work environment. Construction fatalities are usually single fatality events related to occupational safety hazards which are either not recognised by workers or not consistently controlled through existing safety practices. By comparison other resources industries have lower fatality rates because of their focus on identifying the controls and verification activities needed to address Major Accident Events (MAEs) and Principal Hazards in a manner that prevents fatalities.

The …

Who Is Leading The Early Years? An Investigation Of Early Childhood Pedagogical Leadership In School Settings, Amie L. Fabry

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The early years of primary school in Western Australian is a complex space fraught with confusion and challenge as teachers experience competing demands on their pedagogical practice. In the early years, Kindergarten (starting at 3 1/2 years) through to Year 2 are mandated to use the Principles and Practices of the Early Years Learning Framework and are school audited on a modified form of the National Quality Standard. However, Kindergarten and Pre-primary teachers report concerns about the pushed down curriculum and the impact that pressure for academic achievement and formal learning is having on their pedagogy. Early childhood pedagogical leadership …

Plant-Herbivore Interactions In A Changing Climate And Implications For Seagrass Resilience, Caitlyn M. O'Dea

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Climate change is affecting herbivore distributions and abundance, resulting in intensified grazing pressure on foundation species such as seagrasses. This, coupled with other, rapid changes in estuarine ecosystems, may threaten the resilience of seagrass. While the overall resilience of seagrasses is generally well-studied, the timeframes of recovery have received comparatively little attention, particularly in temperate estuaries. This study investigated the recovery time of two colonising seagrasses (Halophila ovalis and Ruppia megacarpa) following various intensities of simulated grazing in two southwestern Australian estuaries. Simulated grazing treatments (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% removal from 1 m2 plots) were applied in field experiments …

Carbon Geosequestration And Enhanced Oil Recovery In Geological Formations: Multi-Scale Analysis, Auby Baban

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Carbon geosequestration (CGS) has been recognized as a strategic solution to prevent/counter the catastrophic consequences of climate change. However, despite recent cutting-edge technical research, predicting quantitative CO2 trapping in geological formations via capillary trapping is currently scarce. Moreover, several aspects of multiphase flow characteristics of CO2/brine/rock systems, that greatly impact carbon capture and containment security, require further investigations. Furthermore, combining carbon geosequestration with Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is an efficient and economically attractive technology to reduce global warming caused by emissions of anthropologic CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels, whereby it offsets some of the costs of CO2 extraction. …

An Examination Of Kinanthropometric And Physical Injury Risk Factors In Elite Australian Football, Callum J. Mccaskie

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Kinanthropometric assessment is an integral part of understanding an athlete’s physical profile and readiness for competition. This typically includes a variety of different assessments which serve to quantify body shape, proportion, and composition in a bid to understand human physiology. Common assessments include stature, body mass, limb ratios, body circumferences, body mass index, skinfold testing, body composition testing, and musculoskeletal morphological evaluations. Specifically, kinanthropometric evaluations have involved the characterisation of athletes according to sport, sex, competition level and playing position. While this has provided researchers and practitioners with greater insight into athletic phenotypes, more purposeful kinanthropometric assessments which focus on …

Quantifying And Managing The Impact Of Electric Vehicles On Power Distribution Assets, Pravakar Pradhan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Concern over the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which make up around 23% of all energy-related CO2 emissions, has grown in recent years. The widespread use of electric vehicles will be the primary strategy for tackling this issue. About 30% of the world’s passenger vehicle fleet is anticipated to be electrified by the year 2040. Moreover, the existing power distribution assets are already operating near their nominal capacities, and most of them have been in service for more than 25 years. Replacement of these assets will be very costly and disruptive to the power distribution network. Ergo, the main …

A Privacy Preserving Online Learning Framework For Medical Diagnosis Applications, Trang Pham Ngoc Nguyen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Electronic Health records are an important part of a digital healthcare system. Due to their significance, electronic health records have become a major target for hackers, and hospitals/clinics prefer to keep the records at local sites protected by adequate security measures. This introduces challenges in sharing health records. Sharing health records however, is critical in building an accurate online diagnosis framework. Most local sites have small data sets, and machine learning models developed locally based on small data sets, do not have knowledge about other data sets and learning models used at other sites.

The work in this thesis utilizes …

The 'Marimba-Vibe' Double Keyboard: An Explorative Investigation Of A Nascent Solo Percussion Idiom, Paul Tanner

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The development of the concert marimba and invention of the vibraphone in the twentieth century was accompanied by a concomitant growth in repertoire for each instrument. Both belong to the core instrumentation of many new music groups, and percussionists are at times required to perform the instruments simultaneously, combining their distinct timbral personalities. However, the number of solos for the ‘marimba-vibe’ (the term I use to describe a marimba and vibraphone arranged in close proximity to each other in order to be performed by one player) without additional percussion instruments, is minimal. This gap in keyboard percussion repertoire and research …

Aliwa! A Reimagined Journey: A Stage Play And Exploring A Nyoongar Theatre Text With Pre-Service Teachers: An Exegesis, Elisa M. Williams

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Australia is home to one of the oldest continuous living cultures in the world. Now, more so than ever before, government and educational bodies are recognising the importance of integrating Indigenous cultures in education as a means of promoting intercultural understanding and improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students. The Australian Curriculum has advocated that Indigenous histories and cultures be embedded into every subject rather than taught separately. Drama is a curriculum area that provides many opportunities to integrate learning about Indigenous perspectives by exploring historically and culturally rich Indigenous theatre texts. Research is showing that non-Indigenous teachers are avoiding this …

Preparing Providers For Advanced Life Support In The Prehospital Environment, David N. Reid

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death and Ambulance Victoria estimated over 30,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospital each year in Australia (1, 2). When an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest occurs, first responders, paramedics or other clinicians attached to ambulance, industrial or aeromedical services are often the first providers on scene with the skills and equipment to implement advanced life support (ALS). Despite the essential role of prehospital advanced emergency care in the treatment of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, at the time this research was commenced, ALS training courses had been designed for those responding to cardiac arrests in …

Computer Vision Based Classification Of Fruits And Vegetables For Self-Checkout At Supermarkets, Khurram Hameed

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The field of machine learning, and, in particular, methods to improve the capability of machines to perform a wider variety of generalised tasks are among the most rapidly growing research areas in today’s world. The current applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence can be divided into many significant fields namely computer vision, data sciences, real time analytics and Natural Language Processing (NLP). All these applications are being used to help computer based systems to operate more usefully in everyday contexts. Computer vision research is currently active in a wide range of areas such as the development of autonomous vehicles, …