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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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2009

Australia

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Articles 1 - 30 of 46

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Homo Floresiensis Controversy, Robert Cribb Dec 2009

The Homo Floresiensis Controversy, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

The 2004 announcement of the discovery of a new species of hominin in the form of sub-fossil remains from Liang Bua cave in Flores aroused immediate excitement and controversy. The discovery attracted sceptical attention from dissenting palaeontologists. The sometimes acrimonious debate addressed the relative importance of apparently archaic and apparently modern features of the remains.


Imbree V Mcneilly: A View From Singapore, Yihan Goh Jul 2009

Imbree V Mcneilly: A View From Singapore, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Imbree v. McNeilly, the High Court of Australia ruled that a learner driver is no longer to be held to the standard of a reasonable but unqualified (and inexperienced) driver in negligence claims. It is the modest aim of this case note to show that Imbree, while a decision on a narrow point, in fact hints at a larger difficulty in the ascertainment of the standard of care in individual cases. It is in this context that it will be suggested that, when the time comes for Singapore courts to consider the applicability of Imbree, this difficulty should be …


Growing Cricket In Tasmania: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, Elizabeth Ann Stanford Jun 2009

Growing Cricket In Tasmania: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, Elizabeth Ann Stanford

Honors Theses

Sports are an integral part of life in societies throughout the world. Cricket is one of Australia’s two major sports and is a significant aspect of its culture, in a fashion similar to baseball being America’s “national pastime.” Despite its isolation, Tasmania, the small island state of Australia, shares the same mania for cricket as mainland Australia. While in Tasmania for ten weeks interning with the Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA), I studied the role of cricket in the day-to-day lives of Tasmanians, from the pervasive television, newspaper, and the radio coverage, to pick-up cricket games as a popular leisure time …


Terra Nullius: The Aborigines In Australia, Ashley M. Foley Apr 2009

Terra Nullius: The Aborigines In Australia, Ashley M. Foley

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This thesis explores the relationship that has developed over the past 200 years between the Aboriginal people and the people of Australia. It looks at the reasons as to why and how Australia remained a “Terra Nullius”, or land belonging to no one, for so long, when in fact it is proven that the Aborigines had been on the land prior to colonization. This paper investigates the Aboriginal people’s struggle for ownership and ties to the land that was taken from them by the British in 1788. It also looks at the lifestyle of the Aboriginal people prior to British …


Well-Being And Its Discontents: A Critique Of Hamilton And Dennis’ Affluenza, Richard Hil, Grant Cairncross Mar 2009

Well-Being And Its Discontents: A Critique Of Hamilton And Dennis’ Affluenza, Richard Hil, Grant Cairncross

Grant Cairncross

This article develops a critique of Hamilton and Dennis's book Affluenza. In recognising many of the strengths of the book in terms of its focus on Australia's consumerist culture, the article nonetheless outlines a range of significant shortcomings in its argument, not least the tendency to overstate the prevalence of consumerist values, the narrow interpretation of what constitutes 'consumerism', the flawed assumptions over marketing, savings and 'downsizing', and the range of culturally loaded assumptions that underpin the text. In asserting that affluence rather than poverty is the main issue in Australia, Hamilton and Dennis tend to sweep aside deep and …


Connecting Diversity: Paradoxes Of Multicultural Australia, Ien Ang, Jeffrey E. Brand, Greg Noble, Jason Sternberg Feb 2009

Connecting Diversity: Paradoxes Of Multicultural Australia, Ien Ang, Jeffrey E. Brand, Greg Noble, Jason Sternberg

Jeffrey Brand

Commissioned by SBS, and published in March 2006, Connecting Diversity: Paradoxes of Multicultural Australia is a follow-up study to SBS’s 2002 report, Living Diversity: Australia’s Multicultural Future. The attitudes of many younger Australians from culturally diverse backgrounds reveal paradoxes about Australian multiculturalism today. This report sheds light on their views, experiences and expectations and the role of media in their lives. Younger, culturally and linguistically diverse Australians are often the subject of mediafanned controversy about disaffection, ‘ethnic gangs’ and cultural isolation. While these controversies tend to be localised – Cronulla, Inala or Bankstown – Connecting Diversity tells a national and …


Living Diversity: Australia’S Multicultural Future, Ien Ang, Jeffrey E. Brand, Greg Noble, Derek Wilding Feb 2009

Living Diversity: Australia’S Multicultural Future, Ien Ang, Jeffrey E. Brand, Greg Noble, Derek Wilding

Jeffrey Brand

In 2002, SBS commissioned research into trends in multicultural Australia. This study gives us a glimpse of the ‘diversity within diversity’of Australians’engagement with multiculturalism, their senses of identity and belonging, the ways in which they engage with others of different backgrounds, and their uses of media in a multicultural society. The overall picture is one of a fluid, plural and complex society, with a majority of the population positively accepting of the cultural diversity that is an increasingly routine part of Australian life, although a third is still uncertain or ambivalent about cultural diversity. In practice, most Australians, from whatever …


An Exploration Of Automobile Insurance Fraud, Robyn Lincoln, Helene Wells, Wayne Petherick Feb 2009

An Exploration Of Automobile Insurance Fraud, Robyn Lincoln, Helene Wells, Wayne Petherick

Robyn Lincoln

This exploratory study analyses claiming behaviour within the automobile insurance industry. A local insurance company provided 32 automobile insurance claims thus permitting qualitative and quantitative analysis. This study enunciates non-fraudulent claiming behaviour as the sample included only a low number of suspected fraud cases. Variables contained within each of the claim files were analysed, as were the statements of the insured individuals. Each claimant is required to provide two written statements to the local insurance company and these statements were analysed for consistency and detail. The overall findings revealed that claimants were generally employed, middle-aged males who were sober at …


Deborah’S Law: The Effects Of Naming And Shaming On Sex Offenders In Australia, Carol Ronken, Robyn Lincoln Feb 2009

Deborah’S Law: The Effects Of Naming And Shaming On Sex Offenders In Australia, Carol Ronken, Robyn Lincoln

Robyn Lincoln

Community notification laws for sex offenders are now widespread in the USA and there is considerable interest in introducing them in Australia. Along with these public moves to name and shame, there has been a parallel increase in private forms of naming and shaming through ‘outing’ of sex offenders. This article examines both public and private notification to conclude from the few studies available that they fail to achieve their goals and lead to significant unintended consequences. The article analyses The Australian Paedophile and Sex Offender Index (Coddington, 1997), a prime exemplar of the private domain of notification, to explore …


Pleistocene Human Footprints From The Willandra Lakes, Southeastern Australia, Steve Webb, Matthew L. Cupper, Richard Robins Feb 2009

Pleistocene Human Footprints From The Willandra Lakes, Southeastern Australia, Steve Webb, Matthew L. Cupper, Richard Robins

Steve Webb

Human and other hominid fossil footprints provide rare but important insights into anatomy and behaviour. Here we report recently discovered fossil trackways of human footprints from the Willandra Lakes region of western New South Wales, Australia. Optically dated to between 19-23 ka and consisting of at least 124 prints, the trackways form the largest collection of Pleistocene human footprints in the world. The prints were made by adults, adolescents, and children traversing the moist surface of an ephemeral soak. This site offers a unique glimpse of humans living in the arid inland of Australia at the height of the last …


Football Barriers – Aboriginal Under‐Representation And Disconnection From The ‘World Game’, John Maynard Jan 2009

Football Barriers – Aboriginal Under‐Representation And Disconnection From The ‘World Game’, John Maynard

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Indigenous Australians have had some great successes in Australian football and rugby. However, this success has not been mirrored in the ‘world game’, soccer. This study examines the reasons for such under-representation in Australia. The barriers to access to soccer were a combination of racist government policy which restricted the movement of Aboriginal people, and thus their opportunities to engage with a game that was not located near the isolated reserves in which they were held. The most successful Aboriginal players were fortunate that their circumstances placed them in close proximity to locales that were soccer strongholds. Moreover, the multicultural …


Kevin07, Web 2.0 And Young Voters At The 2007 Australian Federal Election, Dylan Kissane Jan 2009

Kevin07, Web 2.0 And Young Voters At The 2007 Australian Federal Election, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

While Australian political parties have maintained official websites for some years, the 2007 Australian Federal election saw the first significant integration of Web 2.0 technologies into a national election campaign. The two major parties – the conservative Liberal Party and the socialist Labor Party – both embraced blogs, flash animation, online video and popular social networking sites in an attempt to win votes, particularly in the 18 to 35 year-old demographic. The Labor Party was far more successful in using Web 2.0 and their online efforts were judged to have played a large role in winning the absolute majority of …


Attitudes To Rankings: Comparing German, Australian And Japanese Experiences, Ellen Hazelkorn Jan 2009

Attitudes To Rankings: Comparing German, Australian And Japanese Experiences, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

Drawing on an international survey of HE leaders during 2006, and interviews with HE leaders and stakeholders in Germany, Australia and Japan during 2008, it describes and compares the reaction and response to rankings by HEIs in Germany, Australia and Japan, with particular attention to institutional strategy and planning, benchmarking and quality assurance, student admissions and faculty recruitment and morale. The chapter argues cross-national comparisons/global rankings are an inevitable feature of globalisation, the international battle for talent, and strategies for national competitiveness.


Sharing Quality Resources For Teaching And Learning: A Peer Review Model For The Altc Exchange In Australia, Geraldine Lefoe, Robyn Philip, Meg O'Reilly, Dominique Parrish Jan 2009

Sharing Quality Resources For Teaching And Learning: A Peer Review Model For The Altc Exchange In Australia, Geraldine Lefoe, Robyn Philip, Meg O'Reilly, Dominique Parrish

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The ALTC Exchange (formerly the Carrick Exchange), is a national repository and networking service for Australian higher education. The Exchange was designed to provide access to a repository of shared learning and teaching resources, work spaces for team members engaged in collaborative projects, and communication and networking services. The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) established the Exchange for those who teach, manage and lead learning and teaching in higher education. As part of the research conducted to inform the development of the Exchange, models for peer review of educational resources were evaluated. For this, a design based research approach …


Ranking And Clustering Of The Faculties Of Commerce Research Performance In Australia, Simon Ville, Abbas Valadkhani Jan 2009

Ranking And Clustering Of The Faculties Of Commerce Research Performance In Australia, Simon Ville, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There is a growing policy focus in Australian higher education on quantitative research performance assessment. However, most of the analysis has addressed aggregate performance at the institutional level, an approach inconsistent with recent policy emphasis on diversity among universities and one that ignores performance variations across disciplines. Using averaged and all available data for 2000-2004, cluster analysis is used to classify Australian Commerce Faculties into groups that exhibit similar research performance, measured by publication, PhD completion and secured competitive research grant funding. We also use factor analysis to generate full-multidimensional rankings within the resulting two or three clusters. It is …


Queer-Friendly Neighbourhoods: Interrogating Social Cohesion Across Sexual Difference In Two Australia Neighbourhoods, Andrew W. Gorman-Murray, Gordon R. Waitt Jan 2009

Queer-Friendly Neighbourhoods: Interrogating Social Cohesion Across Sexual Difference In Two Australia Neighbourhoods, Andrew W. Gorman-Murray, Gordon R. Waitt

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.


Planning At The Urban Periphery In Australia: Issues Relating To Private Residential Back And Front Yards, Andrew H. Kelly Jan 2009

Planning At The Urban Periphery In Australia: Issues Relating To Private Residential Back And Front Yards, Andrew H. Kelly

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

This narrative focuses on three planning issues affecting the suburban residential periphery in Sydney, Australia: (i) amenity, (ii) biodiversity conservation and (iii) bushfire potential. All relate to private front and back yards, which provide key elements of the residential landscape. Embedded in the paper is the complexity of the planning system and the subsequent inconsistency between dealing with the three issues. Considerable attention is paid to local government and its changing legislative terrain. In particular, several local statutory planning instruments are investigated to illustrate this. The conclusion calls for further research while stressing more action is warranted within and outside …


Sepioloidea Magna Sp. Nov.: A New Bottletail Squid (Cephalopoda : Sepiadariidae) From Northern Australia, Amanda Reid Jan 2009

Sepioloidea Magna Sp. Nov.: A New Bottletail Squid (Cephalopoda : Sepiadariidae) From Northern Australia, Amanda Reid

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.


Prediction Of The Probability Of Large Fires In The Sydney Region Of South-Eastern Australia Using Components Of Fire Weather., R A. Bradstock, J S. Cohn, A M. Gill, M Bedward, C Lucas Jan 2009

Prediction Of The Probability Of Large Fires In The Sydney Region Of South-Eastern Australia Using Components Of Fire Weather., R A. Bradstock, J S. Cohn, A M. Gill, M Bedward, C Lucas

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The probability of large-fire (>= 1000 ha) ignition days, in the Sydney region, was examined using historical records. Relative influences of the ambient and drought components of the Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) on large fire ignition probability were explored using Bayesian logistic regression. The preferred models for two areas (Blue Mountains and Central Coast) were composed of the sum of FFDI (Drought Factor, DF = 1) (ambient component) and DF as predictors. Both drought and ambient weather positively affected the chance of large fire ignitions, with large fires more probable on the Central Coast than in the Blue …


Aboriginal Settlement During The Lgm At Brockman, Pilbara Region, Western Australia, Michael Slack, Melanie Fillios, Richard L. Fullagar Jan 2009

Aboriginal Settlement During The Lgm At Brockman, Pilbara Region, Western Australia, Michael Slack, Melanie Fillios, Richard L. Fullagar

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes the results and implications of recent excavations on the Hamersley Iron Brockman 4 tenement, near Torn Price, Western Australia. Results concentrate on two rock shelters with Aboriginal occupation starting at least 32,000 years ago and extending throughout the Last Glacial period. Preliminary observations are proposed concerning the nature of Aboriginal foraging patterns as displayed in the flaked stone and faunal records for the Brockman region.


Understanding The Propensity Of Chinese University Students For Leisure Travel Within Australia, Yun Zhang, Lois Burgess, Gregory M. Kerr Jan 2009

Understanding The Propensity Of Chinese University Students For Leisure Travel Within Australia, Yun Zhang, Lois Burgess, Gregory M. Kerr

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The provision of education to international students in Australia is increasingly important tothe higher education sector as well as other industry sectors including tourism. Althoughprevious studies have identified the contributions of international students to tourism, thereare limited studies investigating leisure travel behaviour based on student nationality andsegments within nationalities. As the first stage of a broader study, this research by way ofopen-ended interviews, investigates the propensity of Chinese university students to travelwithin Australia. By way of qualitative data analysis the findings reveal a number ofparadoxes which need to be addressed in further research to better understand the attitudesand behaviours of …


Reconstructing Annual Inflows To The Headwater Catchments Of The Murray River, Australia, Using The Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Hamish A. Mcgowan, Samuel K. Marx, John Denholm, Joshua Soderholm, Balz S. Kamber Jan 2009

Reconstructing Annual Inflows To The Headwater Catchments Of The Murray River, Australia, Using The Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Hamish A. Mcgowan, Samuel K. Marx, John Denholm, Joshua Soderholm, Balz S. Kamber

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a major forcing of inter-decadal to quasi-centennial variability of the hydroclimatology of the Pacific Basin. Its effects are most pronounced in the extra-tropical regions, while it modulates the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the largest forcing of global inter-annual climate variability. PalaeoPDO indices are now available for at least the past 500 years. Here we show that the >500 year PDO index of Shen et al. (2006) is highly correlated with inflows to the headwaters of Australia's longest river system, the Murray-Darling. We then use the PDO to reconstruct annual inflows to the Murray …


Reward, Risk And Response In Australian Cooperative Research Centres, T. Turpin, Samuel Garrett-Jones Jan 2009

Reward, Risk And Response In Australian Cooperative Research Centres, T. Turpin, Samuel Garrett-Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Cooperative research centres are a well-established organizational embodiment of the ‘triple helix’. As complex inter-organizational structures they are subject to diverse management strategies. The imperatives that drive their strategic plans and their impact on partner organizations and the careers of the scientists who work within them are not well understood. We examine 370 participants’ experience in Australian Cooperative Research Centres and consider their effect on personnel and organizations in the public research system. We propose that a necessary part of management strategies is the negotiation and reconciliation of risk and reward for partner organizations and careers of participating scientists. Achieving …


Modelling Australian Domestic Tourism Demand : A Panel Data Approach, David E. Allen, Ghialy Yap Jan 2009

Modelling Australian Domestic Tourism Demand : A Panel Data Approach, David E. Allen, Ghialy Yap

Research outputs pre 2011

This study estimates the income and tourism price elasticities of demand for Australian domestic tourism using a panel data approach. Given that about 76% of total tourism revenue in Australia is generated by domestic tourism, it is worthwhile examining whether changes in Australian households’ income and the prices of domestic travel can influence the demand for domestic travel. The research employs a panel data approach. This method has been widely employed in the literature on international tourism demand, but thus far, has not appeared in the context of the domestic tourism demand literature. The model used for this study is …


Late Neoproterozoic Passive Margin Of East Gondwana: Geochemical Constraints From The Anakie Inlier, Central Queensland, Australia, Christopher L. Fergusson, R Offler, T Green Jan 2009

Late Neoproterozoic Passive Margin Of East Gondwana: Geochemical Constraints From The Anakie Inlier, Central Queensland, Australia, Christopher L. Fergusson, R Offler, T Green

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Development of the East Gondwana passive margin and when it occurred are constrained by the composition of low grade mafic schists and U-Pb ages of detrital zircons in psammitic schists from the Bathampton Metamorphics in the Anakie Inlier of central Queensland. These rocks show considerable variation in light lithophile elements due to post-magmatic processes. They have flat heavy rare earth element patterns, low-TiO2 (<2 wt%) contents and their immobile element Ti, V, Y, La, Nb, Th and Zr values, indicate that they have an NMORB- like magmatic affinity. However, they differ from N-MORB in that they show light rare earth depleted patterns and lower incompatible trace element contents. Their relative low abundance and association with metasediments suggest they formed in a magma-poor rifted margin setting. They are associated with psammitic rocks with detrital zircon ages indicating probable deposition in the late Neoproterozoic at ca 600 Ma. A magma-poor rifted margin in northeastern Australia differs from the volcanic passive setting that occurred in southeastern Australia at this time. These findings support development of the East Gondwana margin at 600 Ma that may have been related to rifting of a microcontinent off East Gondwana well after the breakup of Rodinia at ca 750 Ma.


Molecular And Morphological Description Of A Hepatozoon Species In Reptiles And Their Ticks In The Northern Territory, Australia, Inger-Marie E. Vilcins, Beata Ujvari, Julie M. Old, Elizabeth Deane Jan 2009

Molecular And Morphological Description Of A Hepatozoon Species In Reptiles And Their Ticks In The Northern Territory, Australia, Inger-Marie E. Vilcins, Beata Ujvari, Julie M. Old, Elizabeth Deane

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Ticks, representing 3 species of Amblyomma, were collected from the water python (Liasis fuscus) and 3 additional reptile species in the Northern Territory, Australia, and tested for the presence of Hepatozoon sp., the most common blood parasites of snakes. In addition, blood smears were collected from 5 reptiles, including the water python, and examined for the presence of the parasite. Hepatozoon sp. DNA was detected in all tick and reptile species, with 57.7% of tick samples (n = 187) and 35.6% of blood smears (n = 35) showing evidence of infection. Phylogenetic analysis of the 18S rRNA gene demonstrated that …


Climate Change In The Dead Heart Of Australia, Joshua Larsen, Gerald C. Nanson, Timothy J. Cohen, Brian G. Jones, John D. Jansen, Jan-Hendrik May Jan 2009

Climate Change In The Dead Heart Of Australia, Joshua Larsen, Gerald C. Nanson, Timothy J. Cohen, Brian G. Jones, John D. Jansen, Jan-Hendrik May

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Despite the absence of large-scale glaciation, the Australian continent has experienced substantial environmental change throughout the Quaternary period. This is especially pronounced in central Australia, where one seventh of the continent is drained internally to the depocentre, and lowest point in Australia, Lake Eyre (Figure 1). Research has shown that at one time, large sandy braided and meandering rivers carried water through dunefields to a large freshwater lake system. Today, the rivers are hostage to the dunefield, and floodwaters might only reach Lake Eyre once every ten years or so. In order to understand the development of this arid desert …


Fruit Availability And Utilisation By Grey-Headed Flying Foxes (Pteropodidae: Pteropus Poliocephalus) In A Human-Modified Environment On The South Coast Of New South Wales, Australia, Kerryn Parry-Jones, Kristine O. French, Emily Schmelitschek Jan 2009

Fruit Availability And Utilisation By Grey-Headed Flying Foxes (Pteropodidae: Pteropus Poliocephalus) In A Human-Modified Environment On The South Coast Of New South Wales, Australia, Kerryn Parry-Jones, Kristine O. French, Emily Schmelitschek

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Context. Extensive clearing and modi. cation of habitat is likely to change many facets of the environment including climate and regional food resources. Such changes may result in changes in behaviour in highly mobile fauna, such as flying foxes. Aims. The availability of fruit resources was examined to determine whether grey-headed flying foxes ( Pteropus poliocephalus) have feeding preferences related to habitat or dietary items, and whether human usage of the land around the colony site has affected the resources available. Methods. Fruit availability around a colony was monitored from December 2004 to March 2005. Night surveys and faecal analyses …


Spatial Ecology Of Hatchling Water Pythons (Liasis Fuscus) In Tropical Australia, Richard Shine, Thomas R. Madsen, Ligia Pizzatto, Gregory P. Brown Jan 2009

Spatial Ecology Of Hatchling Water Pythons (Liasis Fuscus) In Tropical Australia, Richard Shine, Thomas R. Madsen, Ligia Pizzatto, Gregory P. Brown

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Young snakes are rarely seen in the field and little is known about their habits. mostly because they are too small for radio-telemetry (the primary method for Studying snake spatial ecology). However, the offspring or some larger species can be fitted with transmitters and we investigated the spatial ecology and habitat use of ten hatchling water pythons (Liasis fuscus: Pythonidae) in the floodplain of the Adelaide River, tropical Australia. Patterns of habitat use in the late wet season and during the dry season were similar to those of adults tracked in the same vicinity in an earlier study. Soon after …


Predicting Avian Distributions To Evaluate Spatiotemporal Overlap With Locust Control Operations In Eastern Australia, Judit K. Szabo, Pamela J. Davy, Michael Hooper, Lee Astheimer Jan 2009

Predicting Avian Distributions To Evaluate Spatiotemporal Overlap With Locust Control Operations In Eastern Australia, Judit K. Szabo, Pamela J. Davy, Michael Hooper, Lee Astheimer

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Locusts and grasshoppers cause considerable economic damage to agriculture worldwide. The Australian Plague Locust Commission uses multiple pesticides to control locusts in eastern Australia. Avian exposure to agricultural pesticides is of conservation concern, especially in the case of rare and threatened species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the probability of pesticide exposure of native avian species during operational locust control based on knowledge of species occurrence in areas and times of application. Using presence-absence data provided by the Birds Australia Atlas for 1998 to 2002, we developed a series of generalized linear models to predict avian occurrences …