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Suspension Near-Field Electrospinning: A Nanofabrication Method Of Polymer Nanoarray Architectures For Tissue Engineering, Alexander R. Nagle

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Chapter 1. This chapter is divided into six sections. The first will discuss the issue of nerve tissue loss, and the strategies of therapy (1.1). The second describes the role of nanofabrication in tissue engineering (1.2). The third section details the theoretical background of electrospinning in terms of solution and process parameters (1.3). The fourth section introduces near-field electrospinning (NFES), recent advances in this field and the principles of NFES techniques (1.4). The fifth section details objectives for a tissue engineered construct for neural cell therapy, and presents possible viable solutions (1.5). The sixth summarizes the aims and structure of …

Case Study On Factors And Conditions Leading To Success In The Merger And Acquisition Of Two Major Steel Manufacturing Companies In India, Naser Al Bustami

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) occur across developed and developing economies and are likely to change the economic and social landscapes due to the faster movement of capital and technological growth. However, research has shown that 83% of all M&A deals have failed to deliver shareholder value, and that this failure could be attributed to the lack of effective post-merger integration between the merging companies. Due to the importance of the post-M&A integration process in M&A performance, researchers have called for more studies of post-merger integration to explore how process dynamics influence M&A outcomes. The specific aim of this study is …

The Silenced Manifesto An Autoethnography Of Living With Schizoaffective Disorder, Rachael Mcmahon

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

I have been living with schizoaffective disorder for over twenty years. In that time, I have had periods of relative wellness and relative illness. I fight each battle as it comes. I am trying to win my latest battle through my Doctor of Philosophy studies. This thesis takes the form of an anthropological study of mental health. Specifically, an autoethnography of living with schizoaffective disorder, looking at the ways I have been labelled as a lesser human, and understanding that labelling is part of the culture which encompasses it. While the thesis devolves from my unique viewpoint, the autoethnographic methodology …

The Privacy Paradox: An Investigation Of Smart Applications, Social Relations And Privacy, Joanne K. Mcquilty

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Privacy on the internet has increasingly become an issue of grave importance to citizens, businesses and governments alike evidenced in the recent breaches involving Facebook, WhatsApp and WikiLeaks, where large amounts of data have been disseminated to corporate and government entities. The aim of this research is to investigate applications operating through ‘smart’ software that can be specifically referred to as privacy applications and the implications the use of these applications has for user social relations on the internet and beyond. The thesis applies a case study methodology that incorporates a theoretical synergy based on the key components from the …

Analysis And Design Of Steel Storage Racks Subjected To Rocking, James R. Maguire

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Selective storage racks are used worldwide as a lightweight structure for both temporary and long term storage of palletised goods. These structures are routinely designed for earthquake actions using the equivalent static method, which relies on the fundamental period of vibration to calculate design loads. Selective racks can uplift and rock in the cross-aisle direction during earthquake loading, however, leading to a period of vibration that is longer than the fundamental mode used in conventional design methods. This thesis investigates the uplift and rocking behaviour of selective storage racks and proposes a method to determine the effective period of vibration …

Investigations On Novel Cathode Materials For Sodium-Based Storage System, Zichao Yan

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Since the development of various forms of renewable energy such as solar, wind and tidal energy, burning scarce fossil fuel is no longer the only option for electricity. Manufacturing inexpensive and efficient energy storage systems on a massive scale is fundamentally important for our society due to the intermittency of the renewable energy. Recently, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been considered as a promising alternative to their lithium-ion battery counterparts for next-generation energy storage because of the abundant and cost-effective nature of sodium resources. Based on the success of commercial layered oxide cathodes in LIBs, NaxTMO2 (with TM representing Ni, Co, …

Institutional Investors, Controlling Shareholders And Corporate Activities : Evidence From China, Dan Zhang

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Institutional investors have been evolving significantly in China since 1997 when they were formally introduced to China’s market. The influence of institutional investors on firm policies has been studied extensively (Hartzell and Starks, 2003; Koh, 2007; Yuan et al., 2008; Crane et al., 2016; Firth et al., 2016; Dyck et al., 2019). These studies mainly focus on the level of ownership by institutional investors, however they do not consider the influence of the controlling shareholders. In China’s firms, ownership is highly concentrated, and the controlling shareholders usually dominate the decision-making in firm policies. Therefore, the behaviours of institutional investors could …

Exploring Advanced Electrode Materials For Sodium-Ion Batteries, Nana Wang

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Sodium-ion and sodium metal batteries are the most promising candidates for largescale energy storage systems, on account of sodium’s superiority of low cost and large abundance. To develop suitable electrode materials is the main scientific challenge for their practical application. This thesis project aims to fabricate a series of electrode materials with advantages of economic benefits, environmental friendliness, nontoxicity and structural stability, such as carbon-based and titanium-based materials for sodium-ion batteries, as well as sulfur-based cathode materials for sodium metal batteries.

An Innovative Approach To Intraoperative Quality Assurance For Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy, Masoud Jalayer

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

BrachyView is a novel in-body imaging system, aimed to accurately localise brachytherapy sources using high-resolution pixelated silicon detectors and a pinhole collimator. In the recent years, many research projects have studied the different possibilities for real-time, intra-operative, dynamic dose treatment planning to increase the quality of brachytherapy implants. The capabilities of this pinhole camera were tested through a proof of concept study using four active seeds. A more clinically realistic scenario, using twenty active seeds implanted in a PMMA phantom, was the clear next step. To further imitate a clinical scenario, 20 seeds were implanted and imaged using a single …

Investigations On The Correlation Between Microstructure Evolution And Properties Improvement Of Wire Arc Additive Manufactured Intermetallic Alloys, Jun Wang

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Titanium aluminide (TiAl) and nickel-titanium (NiTi) intermetallic alloys have attracted widespread attention owing to their outstanding properties, which are widely applied in aerospace and automobile engineering areas. Whereas, the weak points of poor ambient temperature plasticity and formability made TiAl alloys difficult to be machined into complex components, narrowing their practical application. Besides, it is also a hard task to fabricate NiTi parts because of the high reactivity and high ductility of the alloy which results in difficulties in the processing and machining, which altogether limited the starting form of NiTi devices to simple geometries. In recent years, additive manufacturing …

The Privacy Paradox: An Investigation Of Smart Applications, Social Relations And Privacy, Joanne K. Mcquilty

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Privacy on the internet has increasingly become an issue of grave importance to citizens, businesses and governments alike evidenced in the recent breaches involving Facebook, WhatsApp and WikiLeaks, where large amounts of data have been disseminated to corporate and government entities. The aim of this research is to investigate applications operating through ‘smart’ software that can be specifically referred to as privacy applications and the implications the use of these applications has for user social relations on the internet and beyond. The thesis applies a case study methodology that incorporates a theoretical synergy based on the key components from the …

The Potential Of “Let’S Go Shopping” Storybook To Influence Selection Of Healthy Food And Beverages In The Supermarket, Sameeha Binti Mohd Jamil

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Background: Poor dietary habits are one of the determinants for mortality, Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and non-communicable diseases globally. Children’s dietary behaviours and food preferences are multifactorial and as children grow, other factors such as the retail food environment impacts children’s eating behaviours and food preferences. Children’s exposure to food marketing cues such as the supermarket layout, product displays and in-store promotions increases their awareness of, desire for and intention to buy promoted products. This leads to disruptive request behaviour (or ‘pester power’). Food requests from children are predominantly unhealthy, and often result in conflict between parent and child. Studies …

Dynamic Scene Recognition, Xiaoming Peng

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Many applications need to deal with a scene that evolves over time. This thesis addresses the dynamic scene recognition problem. Video-based dynamic scene recognition methods and mid-level representations are comprehensively reviewed, followed by several proposed methods. First, a part-based approach for dynamic scene recognition is presented. In this approach, representative parts are located by clustering local convolutional features extracted using a pre-trained Fast RCNN model. A set cover problem is then formulated to select the discriminative parts, which are subsequently refined. Local features from a video segment can be extracted and aggregated. Extensive experiments show that this approach is very …

A Study On Aluminium-Copper Composite In Micro Deep Drawing, Fanghui Jia

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Among microforming technologies, micro deep drawing (MDD) process has the potential application in industry because of its advantages of high productivity, low production cost, high product quality and less pollution. Considering the promising application of composite material, aluminium (Al)-copper (Cu) composite is selected to conduct MDD tests because of the multifunctional applications in industry and good plasticity of Al and Cu. In this study, the formability of Al-Cu composite thin foil in MDD process is explored with both experimental and simulation methods.

Assessment Of Bio-Geochemical Clogging In Permeable Reactive Barriers In Acid Sulphate Soil, Samarakoon Jayasekara Mudiyanselage Subhani Kanchanamala Medawela

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) can successfully treat acidic groundwater generated in acid sulphate soil terrains, but the bio-geochemical clogging of reactive granular assembly hinders their effectiveness. The chemical clogging of the porous media has been analysed extensively in previous studies, but they did not include the component of biological clogging. This doctoral study offers comprehensive research into the coupled chemical and biological clogging of a PRB. Laboratory experiments, field investigations, a novel mathematical model and a numerical model were used to simulate the combined effect of geochemistry, microbiology, and geo-hydraulics in PRBs installed in acidic terrains.

Computational Vibrational Spectroscopic Studies For Condensed Phase Systems, Venkatasaisandeep (Sandeep) Inakollu

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is an invaluable tool for the determination of molecular structures, identification of intermediates, and monitoring of chemical reaction in chemistry and biology. However, without any prior chemical insights of the molecule, interpretation of the IR spectra can become complicated by the size of systems and electrostatic interactions in condensed phase. Often, computational vibrational spectroscopy serves as an essential tool in the interpretation of experimental IR spectra.

In Chapter 2, we present a systematic benchmarking study of DFTB3 with two different computational vibrational spectroscopic methods, based on normal mode analysis (NMA) and Fourier transform of the dipole …

The Influence Of Dietary Carotenoids On The Performance Of Captive Southern Corroboree Frogs (Pseudophryne Corroboree): Implications For Conservation, Emma Mcinerney

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Conservation breeding programs (CBPs) are considered essential for the recovery of threatened species. However, due in part to poor nutritional conditions experienced by individuals in captivity, CBPs often report poor success. In response, there has been a push to investigate how supplementation of captive diets with micronutrients may improve the success of CBPs. Dietary carotenoids in particular, are one group of micronutrients expected to improve the viability of captive individuals. This is largely owing to their antioxidant capacity, which allows them to limit the harmful effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the effectiveness of dietary carotenoids in improving fitness-determining …

The Development Of Novel Fluorescent And Radiopharmaceutical Probes For Imaging Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hendris Wongso

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Recent scientific advances in imaging technology mean the development of fluorescent and radiopharmaceutical probes have great potential for the measurement of pathological processes involved in various diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. This thesis describes the design, synthesis, and biological studies of fluorescent and radiopharmaceutical (tau ligands) probes for imaging neurodegenerative diseases.

Love At First Flight: An Investigation Of The Chemical And Visual Cues That Mediate Mate Recognition In Blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Nathan Butterworth

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Sex is widespread throughout the animal kingdom and has undoubtedly played a crucial role in shaping the exceptional diversity of life on Earth. This must be particularly true in the insects, which are the most diverse group of animals and exhibit an astounding array of sexual adaptations. Despite this, sexual behaviour has been studied in less than 1% of species, and our understanding of the role that sexual selection has played in insect speciation is limited.

Giant Me Effect In The Me Composite And Its Applications In Sensing And Energy Harvesting, Yun Lu

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

In recent decades, the interest has increased in the use of magneto-electric (ME) composites for various applications in magnetic energy harvesting and magnetic field sensing. This dissertation investigates two approaches to achieve giant ME effect in piezoelectric based ME composites, and investigate its applications in (i) magnetic energy harvesting; (ii) weak magnetic field sensing and positioning. One general approach through the entire dissertation is to theoretically analyse the piezoelectric based ME composite system, optimization of the structure and to develop fabrication and measurement for the energy harvesting and sensing applications.

Grain Advantage: Exploring Dietary Intake Of Whole Grains In Comparison To Cereal Fibre In The Context Of Cardiovascular Health, Eden Monique Barrett

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major health burden globally, and is the single leading cause of death within Australia. It is well-recognised that a diet high in whole grains is protective against CVD. Whole grains are rich in many vitamins, minerals and bioactive constituents, all of which may contribute in part to these effects. However, it is the dietary fibre of the whole grains (cereal fibre), located primarily within the bran component, which has been hypothesised to contribute most significantly to cardiovascular health through improvement of CVD risk factors. To date, it is not entirely clear to what extent cereal …

Dosimetry And 4d Modelling For Advanced Radiotherapy Treatments: Towards Mri-Guided Lung Sbrt, Natalia F. Roberts

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

A major problem for radiation therapy of lung cancer is respiration-induced motion, which causes both the tumour and surrounding normal tissue to move during treatment. This motion often results in inadequate target coverage and increases the likelihood of additional healthy tissue exposure; therefore detracting from the therapeutic benefits and increasing the risk of radiation induced toxicity. Some motion-management techniques include additional treatment margins to encompass the range of tumour motion, monitoring the respiratory cycle and treating only when in a particular phase i.e. respiratory gating, or imaging the tumour during treatment and adapting the radiation beam aperture to follow the …

Effects Of Constitutive Model On The Stability Analysis Of Roadway Tunnels Of Coal Mines, Marzieh Rajabi

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Thorough analysis of geotechnical data is prerequisite to managing stability of underground excavations and the whole mine for sound and effective mining environment. Ground control issues can be cost-effectively managed by understanding the controlling geotechnical factors such as rock mass condition and in situ stress state through geotechnical investigations. Then the geotechnical engineers use these parameters to assess the stability and design an effective and optimised support system particularly in deep mines. The in-situ stress prior to the mining is generated by weight of the overlaying rocks and the tectonic movements. Deeper the mine, higher the magnitude of the in-situ …

Developing High-Performance Aqueous Zn-Based Batteries With Mild Electrolyte, Junnan Hao

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) with the mild electrolyte, as a highly promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for the grid application, have gained a considerable attention in recent ten years. Nevertheless, state-of-the-art ZIB technique is far from satisfactory. To date, numerous strategies have been proposed to develop the advanced ZIBs, including the exploring of high-performance cathode candidates and their working mechanism, developing new functional electrolytes, and designing advanced Zn metal electrodes, which is reviewed in this thesis. My doctoral work main focuses on enhancing the performance of aqueous Zn-based batteries by optimizing the Zn electrode, including introducing electrolyte additive, ex-situ …

Living Longer Living Better Reforms: The (D)Evolution Of Accountability In The Aged Care Sector, Linda Lorkovic

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

The Australian federal government has been experiencing increasing cost pressures from Australian society to continue to fund the costs relating to elderly care. However, due to the decline in the ratio of working people to elderly Australians, there is an increasing risk that there will be insufficient funds to support the elderly population by 2050. Consequently, there is a continuous change in the balance of funding the aged care sector as the Australian government’s policy evolves to shift accountability to elderly citizens by requiring them to contribute more towards the financial costs of their care.

The Influence Of Employee Wellbeing On Citizenship Behaviour Towards Individuals And The Organization, Indrani Mukherjee

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Purpose: This thesis addresses a gap in the current literature by investigating the relationship between, and the influence of employee wellbeing (EWB) variables, i.e. subjective, psychological, and workplace wellbeing on organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Specifically, it looks at the citizenship behaviours of nurses, and allied health professionals towards their clients, teammates, and organization. OCB of health- care professionals is important because it influences job satisfaction, reduces burnout, and turnover; and influences unit level consequences such as quality of care, patient satisfaction, and patient loyalty. Further, this study proposes a modified, and expanded conceptual framework of EWB, which involves both the …

Coaxial Hydrogel Structures For Drug Delivery To Tumors, Sepehr Talebian

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Biopolymer-based hydrogels have emerged as promising platforms for drug delivery systems (DDSs) due to their inherent biocompatibility, tunable physical properties and controllable degradability. Yet, drug release in majority of these systems is solely contingent on diffusion of drug molecules through the hydrogel, which often leads to burst release of drugs from these systems. As a result, the main aim of this thesis was to develop suitable hydrogel platforms that allow sustained release of anti-cancer drugs, to be ultimately used as implants for local delivery of drugs to tumors. To this end, inspired by the chemistry of mussel adhesive proteins, a …

Application Of Organic-Inorganic Hybrids And Their Derivatives In Energy Conversion And Storage, Ningyan Cheng

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Organic-inorganic hybrids, which contain organic and inorganic moieties within a single structure, offer a wide set of various structures and properties. Therefore, organic-inorganic hybrids and their derivatives are considered as promising candidates for applications in extremely diverse fields such as catalysis, energy conversion/storage, health, micro-electronics, and so on. Herein, organic-inorganic hybrids and derivatives of typical organic-inorganic hybrids, which are zeolite imidazole frameworks (ZIFs) and metal organic frameworks (MOFs), were prepared and used for improving the energy conversion/storage efficiency.

Last Interglacial (Mis 5e) Sea Levels, Palaeoenvironments, And Palaeogeography Of Yorke Peninsula, Southern Australia, Tsun-You Pan

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Australia is arguably situated within one of the most remote far-field regions, which are influenced mainly by hydro-isostatic effects but limited glacio-isostatic effects due to being remote from previous ice sheets of the Northern Hemispheres (Dutton & Lambeck 2012; Conrad 2013). Thus, the last interglacial sea-level records along the Australian coastline potentially reflect the palaeosea-level that is closer to approximate ice-equivalent sea level during the Last Interglacial Maximum (MIS 5e).

A detailed description of the last interglacial Glanville Formation and its sedimentary facies evolution, in response to relative sea-level changes, along the coastline of Yorke Peninsula, southern Australia, is presented …

A Computational Framework For Host-Pathogen Protein-Protein Interactions, Huaming Chen

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Infectious diseases cause millions of illnesses and deaths every year, and raise great health concerns world widely. How to monitor and cure the infectious diseases has become a prevalent and intractable problem. Since the host-pathogen interactions are considered as the key infection processes at the molecular level for infectious diseases, there have been a large amount of researches focusing on the host-pathogen interactions towards the understanding of infection mechanisms and the development of novel therapeutic solutions. For years, the continuously development of technologies in biology has benefitted the wet lab-based experiments, such as small-scale biochemical, biophysical and genetic experiments and …