Digital Commons Network^™

The Women's Voluntary Services, A Study Of War And Volunteering In Camden, 1939-1945, Ian C. Willis

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Camden is a country town whose history and development has been influenced by war. The town was part of Australias homefront war effort, and from the time of the Boer War the most important part of this for Camden was volunteering. The Second World War was no exception, and the most influential voluntary organisation that contributed to the town�s war effort was the Womens Voluntary Services [WVS]. The Camden WVS was part of the close cultural and emotional links that existed between Camden and Great Britain that began with the Macarthur family in the early nineteenth century. Camden saw itself …

On Rights, Duties And Vulnerability: Assessing The Role Of Human Rights In The Care And Protection Of Vulnerable People, Tony S. Jones

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

When we are confronted with vulnerable people, with those groups and individuals who are impaired with respect to their ability to function as the rational, autonomous and moral agents that we typically take humans to be, we are encouraged to invoke notions of rights, and in particular notions of human rights, in order to secure their care and protection. Such an approach seeks not simply to reinforce the view that vulnerable people are the moral equivalents of us all and thus are entitled to an equal moral consideration, but also this approach recognises that to be vulnerable is often to …

Measurement And Meaning Of Core Relationship Theme Changes During Psychotherapy, Lisa Parker

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Through the investigation of two related Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) methodologies, this study continued to contest the notion the field of psychoanalysis is bereft of empirical ventures. The Quantitative Assessment of Interpersonal Themes (QUAINT) and Core Conflictual Relationship Theme - Leipzig/Ulm (CCRT-LU) systems were applied to psychotherapy transcripts from the treatment of seventeen patients who had attended multiple sessions per week of longterm psychoanalysis. The thematic profiles of each method were modified to facilitate a direct comparison of the methodological structures, including the coding system. The investigation reported on the strengths and weaknesses of each system. The QUAINT and …

Beyond The P300: Target And Non-Target Erp Components In Schizophrenia, Kerri J. Brown

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

The P300 component of the auditory ERP elicited to target stimuli has been extensively investigated as a potential psychophysiological marker in schizophrenia. Theoretical and empirical evidence is presented, suggesting the earlier components (N100, P200) to both target and non-target stimuli may better capture information processing deficits currently proposed to be central to schizophrenia. The thesis comprises 4 studies. Study 1 demonstrated deficits to non-target (reduced N100 amplitude, earlier P200 latency), in addition to target stimuli (reduced and earlier N100 amplitude, increased P200 amplitude), in schizophrenia (n = 40) compared with matched normal controls. The schizophrenia group was also characterised by …

Sarah Dawes And The Coal Lumpers: Absence And Presence On The Sydney Waterfront 1900-1917, Margo Beasley

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This thesis is, primarily, a feminist account of meaning and significance in working class households on the early twentieth century Sydney waterfront. Initially, the raison detre of the thesis was to redress the patent absence of women and their domestic labour in my earlier work on the history of the Waterside Workers Federation of Australia (WWF). However, in response to feminist epistemological arguments - about forces that determine historical absence and presence, and the symbolic nature of concepts of masculinity and femininity - the concerns of the thesis broadened. It now encompasses all members of waterfront households - men and …

Mudrooroo: A Likely Story, Identity And Belonging In Postcolonial Australia, Maureen Clark

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

In this study, postcolonial, postmodern and feminist critical theories are used as analytical tools to examine the life and work of black Australian author and long-time advocate of Aboriginal rights, Colin Johnson/Mudrooroo Nyoongah. The project acknowledges the broad scope and vigour of the authors literary production, but concentrates on his ten works of fiction. Readings of the novels proceed on the basis that the meaning of who Johnson is and what he once represented has changed. In the years leading up to the new millennium, the legitimacy of the authors claim to Aboriginality was publicly questioned. As a consequence, neither …

Sex Differences In Spatial Cognition: An Evolutionary Approach, James Neilson

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This thesis is concerned with investigating causal explanations for the observed patterns of sex differences in spatial cognition. Researchers in this area have traditionally reported a male advantage in many spatial tasks, particularly mental rotation. However, a number of more recent results suggest that the pattern of sex differences in spatial ability is more complicated: females show a spatial memory advantage on some tasks involving large arrays of objects, and navigational tasks seem to reveal sex differences in attentional bias toward different types of spatial information. After reviewing three main types of causal explanations, it is concluded that the evolutionary …

Using An Adaptive Web-Based Learning Environment To Develop Conceptual And Procedural Knowledge, I. Gede Pramudya Ananta

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Researchers report that learners find the flexibility of hypermedia learning systems both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand hypermedia learning systems allow learners to work at their own pace and allow a great deal of control of the learning paths they take. For some learners this is a blessing, but others feel overwhelmed by the large number of available options and suffer from information overload. One approach to this problem is to provide learners with an adaptive learning system that initially limits the choices they can make until they have mastered key concepts. The system analyses learner …

The Contemporary Workplace And Its Influence On Individualised And Collective Social Relationships In The Public And Private Spheres, G. Vogl

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Globally, in the last few decades, there have been massive cultural and structural changes in the workplace. These changes that have occurred to the labour process have been complex and varied. However, some general trends can be identified with regard to a neo liberal Australian workplace. This thesis is an exploration of the types of sociality that have arisen due to the present relationship between capital and labour. Through in depth semi-structured interviews with forty-seven people working in middle and working class occupations situated in a range of public and private sector workplaces, this study focuses on workers own interpretations …

The Silence Of The Void: Exploring The Visual Language Of The Void From The East And The West, Chien-Yu Sun

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This study investigates the visual language embodied in the idea of the void in the creation of works of visual art. Through the exploration of ancient Chinese ink painting such as literati painting and Chan (Zen) ink painting (Kao: 1992, Zong: 1981), western geometrical abstract painting of the early twentieth century (Harrison and Wood: 1992, Malevich: 1968), and the abstract paintings of contemporary Taiwanese artists, such as Hsiao Chin, Liu Ku-Sung and Lo Jui-lin (Hsiao: 1991, Yip: 1987) the research examines the representative meaning of the void and its visual characteristics in different eras and cultures. The energy of the …

Characteristics Of 3d Environments And Potential Contributions To Spatial Learning, Barney John Dalgarno

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Three dimensional (3D) technologies have revolutionised computer games to the extent that virtually all new games are based upon 3D graphics. Some might claim that it is only a matter of time before 3D environments become the norm for other types of software, such as business systems, desktop computer task managers and online learning resources. On the surface it would appear that 3D environments have great potential in educational contexts as they provide the possibility of rich learner engagement and allow learners to explore, construct and manipulate virtual objects, structures and metaphorical representations of ideas. This thesis argues that the …

Can Lower Limb Muscles Be Retrained To Decrease The Risk Of Acl Injury?, Elizabeth Jane Cowling

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee joint frequently occurs in sports that require the athlete to land or change direction suddenly. The structural integrity of this ligament during such maneuvers is heavily dependent upon coordinated quadriceps and hamstring muscle activation. Therefore, strategies used to recruit these muscles have a pivotal role in equipping the knee to withstand the high forces experienced during dynamic landing to reduce the risk of ACL injury. Despite extensive research pertaining to the ACL, no research has examined whether athletes can change the way they recruit their lower limb muscles to better …

From Paradise Lost To Promised Land: Christianity And The Rise Of West Papuan Nationalism, Susanna Grazia Rizzo

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

In 1953 Aarne Koskinens book, The Missionary Influence as a Political Factor in the Pacific Islands, appeared on the shelves of the academic world, adding further fuel to the longstanding debate in anthropological and historical studies regarding the role and effects of missionary activity in colonial settings. Koskinens finding supported the general view amongst anthropologists and historians that missionary activity had a negative impact on non-Western populations, wiping away their cultural templates and disrupting their socio-economic and political systems. This attitude towards mission activity assumes that the contemporary non-Western world is the product of the West, and that what the …

Young Women's Meanings Of Health And Physical Activity: The Body, Schooling, And The Discursive Constitution Of Gendered And Classed Subjectivities, Gabrielle O'Flynn

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This thesis examines, from a Foucauldian perspective, the complex ways fourteen young women managed their subject positions and subjectivities in relation to health and physical activity discourses. It also explores how the young womens different school contexts impacted on this process. Foucauldian, post-structural conceptualisations of the self, as constituted through power/knowledge relations, and, in particular, Foucaults analytics of the technologies of the self, provided a useful tool for examining the complex ways the young women were actively involved in their own self-formation. Epidemiological research, and other physical activity participation literature, predominately characterise young womens physical activity participation in terms of …

Inpatient Mental Health Professionals' Perceptions Of The Discharge Planning Process, Victoria Dawn Biro

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This study investigated perceptions of the discharge planning process by mental health professionals in a regional inpatient mental health service. The burden of mental illness in Australia is growing, with a corresponding increase in demand for services. Continuity of care and effective discharge planning for people with serious and enduring mental illness is considered a complex and multifaceted process. The aims of this study were to identify actual and ideal stakeholder involvement in the discharge planning process; timing and commencement of discharge planning; frequency of discharge activities; and barriers to efficient discharge planning in the inpatient mental health care setting. …

Labourism And The Commodification Of Work And Social Life, David Humphries

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

The thesis explores concepts of alienation and commodification in relation to public and private themes of identity, in contemporary Australia. It is argued that as labour conditions have intensified and the social safety net has eroded the emphasis on private themes of identity have increased. These themes emphasise sexuality and gender, and down-grade the issue of work and labour. The Australian Labor Party helped create the conditions for postmodernist identity politics weakening their commitment to working class improvement in favour of emphasising hypercapitalism and hyperliberal gender discourses. This approach favours the inclusion of marginal groups that have been traditionally outside …

The Silence And Fantasy Of Women And Work, Vicki Denese Crinis

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This thesis examines the discursive representation of working-class women and work in the development of the Malay Peninsula during the colonial and post-colonial periods. It questions the selective appearance of womens labour in official records, and traces representations of women and work in the colonial discourses of the 1900s through to those that supported Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamads vision for a modern Malaysia in order to analyse the continuities and discontinuities in Malaysian concepts about women and work. My research reveals that in the colonial period women were engaged in many types of waged work in the Federated …

Writing Civilisation: The Historical Novel In The Colombian National Project, Marta Jimena Cabrera

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This analysis of four selected Colombian historical novels of the nineteenth-century explores textual modes of self-fashioning in the process of nation building (individual and collective fashioning). To do this a methodology has been employed which entwines literary, political history and cultural studies.

Based mainly on textual discourse analysis, it includes applications of literary theory (the role of the historical novel, Angel Ramas notion of the lettered city, the New Historicist notion of self-fashioning and Mikhail Bakhtins concept of classical and grotesque bodies). It also works with sociology of culture (Norbert Elias notion of civilisation process and Pierre Bourdieus distinction), history …

Reform Of Indonesian Law In The Post-Soeharto Era (1998-1999), Nadirsyah Hosen

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

The thesis focuses on law reform in Indonesia during 1998-1999 when BJ Habibie took over the presidency from Soeharto who was forced to step down by the students� movement. I examine seven laws signed by Habibie: three political laws, human rights and press laws, and two anti-corruption laws. The thesis takes the position that since good governance and the rule of law had been absent during the thirty-two years of Soeharto presidency, law reform in the post Soeharto era should fulfil the characteristics of good governance and promote the rule of law. Therefore, the main question addressed here is: did …

Australian Girl Readers, Femininities And Feminism In The Second World War (1939-1945): A Study Of Subjectivity And Agency, Rosemary Ferguson Webb

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

The thesis argues that in the unique society of second world war Australia girls had agency and used this agency so that the meaning of both the idea of girl and the idea of young femininity were altered. They did this in ways which made their experience of girlhood and young womanhood more satisfying. Furthermore, their agency created a notion of youthful femininity which would subsequently form a foundation for the emergence of second wave feminism in Australia in the early second half of the twentieth century. Using Foucauldian notions of the way power works in modern western societies, the …

Do The Characteristics Of High Support Accommodation Predict The Needs Of Mental Health Consumers?, Adele Freeman

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Objective The primary aim of this study was to explore the relationship between key accommodation and support characteristics and the needs of mental health consumers in high support accommodation. The second aim was to ascertain whether consumers in these settings had levels of need and functioning commensurate with the high levels of support being provided. Method A sample of consumers accessing high support, very high support and residential rehabilitation services (as defined by NSW Health, 2002) were identified. Interviews were conducted using the Camberwell Assessment of Need to assess consumer perceptions of need and satisfaction with the type and amount …

The Role Of Small Business Strategic Alliances In The Adoption Of E-Commerce In Small-Medium Enterprises (Smes), R. Macgregor

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

his thesis describes the examination of the role of small business strategic alliances in the adoption of E-commerce by regional small-medium enterprises (SMEs). Two locations were investigated, Karlstad in Sweden and Wollongong in Australia. Comparisons of the level of applicability of adoption factors (barriers to adoption, criteria for adoption, benefits of adoption or disadvantages of adoption) of E-commerce were made between respondents that were members of a small business strategic alliance and respondents that were not. The results showed that while there were some differences between respondents that were members of a small business strategic alliance and respondents that were …

Writing Counter-Histories Of The Americas: Leslie Marmon Silko's Almanac Of The Dead, Glenda Moylan-Brouff

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This thesis stages a critical interrogation of the colonial politics that have shaped and continue to shape representations of Native Americans in a North American context. This critical interrogation is based on a reading of Leslie Marmon Silko's landmark text Almanac Of The Dead. I argue that Silko's deployment of Native American counter-discourses of history and story-telling contests Eurocentric epistemologies and ideologies and their entrenched colonial relations of power/knowledge. In the course of this thesis, I focus on the complex representational economies that constitute Silko's text in order to draw attention to Native American histories of resistance to material and …

Short-Term Effects Of Altering The Dietary Carbohydrate To Fat Ratio On Circulating Leptin And Satiety In Women, Michelle A. Gordon

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions and appetite control may be important for its clinical management. Leptin is a plasma protein secreted from adipose tissue that is involved in body weight regulation. The role of leptin in regulating human appetite is not well established. Human feeding studies report that an increased dietary carbohydrate to fat ratio is associated with increased circulating leptin concentrations compared to a decreased dietary carbohydrate to fat ratio. These investigations have generally used diets with extreme variations in macronutrient intake that do not represent normal patterns of consumption. Whether less extreme variations in macronutrient intake …

More Than A Calling: The Experiences Of New Principals In Christian Schools In New South Wales, Gary Gannell

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

The appointment of a person to the position of Principal is a momentous time in the life of a school. It is also a significant time for the individual appointed to that position, and all the more so if it is that persons first appointment to a principalship. The new Principal has to learn a new task and, in many cases, a new school culture. New Principals in Christian schools face the challenge of learning to be a Principal within a unique school culture. The Christian school is a faith community, where the students, parents and staff expect to see …

Fear Of Faces: A Psychophysiological Investigation Of Facial Affect Processing In Social Phobia, R. Kaye Horley

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Social phobia (SP) is a common anxiety disorder that has received little research attention, particularly from a psychophysiological perspective. SP is characterised by a fear of evaluation by others in social contexts. Theoretically, this condition has been considered in terms of selective information processing biases towards threat-related social cues. Yet, the mechanisms underlying processing disturbances remain unclear. This thesis explored central and autonomic nervous system functioning in SP for the first time. The studies employed psychophysiological measures with realistic face stimuli pertinent to the evaluative fears of SP. Study 1 employed an objective marker of visual attention (the visual scanpath) …

Protection Of Women's Rights In Bangladesh : A Legal Study In An International And Comparative Perspective, Afroza Begum

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Women’s legal rights are one of the most significant determinants of their status. In Bangladesh, a series of laws ensuring women’s rights have proven largely ineffective in promoting their positions. The prime reasons for this are: the shortcomings and ineffectiveness of laws, women’s inability to access legal proceedings, the traditional and cultural negative views about women’s rights, the absence of an accountable and transparent government, the expensive and time consuming judicial process, the lack of an efficient judiciary, and other socio-ecomic reasons. The core theme of the thesis concentrates on the shortcomings and ineffectiveness of laws, although viewing them within …

Mangrove And Saltmarsh Surface Elevation Dynamics In Relation To Environmental Variables In Southeastern Australia|, Kerrylee Rogers

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Research has demonstrated that at many sites in Southeastern Australia, there have been changes in the extent of mangrove and saltmarsh communities over the past five decades. In particular, this has been characterised by encroachment of saltmarsh by mangrove. Changes in the relationship between marsh elevation and water levels, facilitated either by altered tidal regimes, eustatic sea-level rise or marsh subsidence/autocompaction, have been hypothesised as the driver of these community-scale changes. In addition, the evidence for future sea-level rise is compelling and abundant. However, our understanding of marsh sedimentary and elevation dynamics in relation to sea-level and the impacts of …

An Exploratory Study Of Mental Health Problems And Types Of Treatment Used In Papua New Guinea, Betty E. Koka

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is culturally diverse with an estimated 800 distinct languages and a population of 5 million people. These diverse cultures and languages influence help-seeking behaviour, expressions of illness, presentation of symptoms, diagnosis and treatment decisions. In addition to the complex influence of culturallinguistic factors on mental health and illness, inadequate resources limit PNG’s specialist mental health services. PNG has one psychiatrist per million people and one registered psychiatric nurse for every 70,000 people. As a result, the bulk of mental health care is provided by general health workers in various types of health care facilities in the …

Gatekeeper Training For Mental Health Issues: An Evaluation Of Youth Workers' Personal Help-Seeking And Referral Practice, Tania Cartmill

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Gatekeeper training programs that promote help-seeking have been recommended as key mental health and suicide intervention strategies for adults who work with young people. Extensive research suggests that young people do not seek the help they need for mental health issues, and may be reliant on adult gatekeepers to facilitate help-seeking. Further, some research suggests that gatekeepers may not be positively predisposed to seek professional help themselves, and may even have the same barriers as young people to seeking help for mental health issues. This study investigated the personal help-seeking practice of 73 youth workers who attended gatekeeper workshops that …