Digital Commons Network^™

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Their Preparedness For Supporting Struggling Literacy Learners In Secondary English Classrooms, Margaret K. Merga, Sayidi Mat Roni, Shannon Mason

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The initial and ongoing professional education of teachers to prepare them to support students’ literacy development warrants research attention. The importance of meeting the needs of struggling literacy learners in secondary school does not diminish as students move through the years of schooling. This paper reports on data from the 2019 Supporting Struggling Secondary Literacy Learners mixed-methods project, which sought to explore the challenges of meeting the needs of struggling literacy learners in Australian secondary schooling, from the perspectives of teachers of mainstream English classrooms. …

Does Mathematics Training Lead To Better Logical Thinking And Reasoning? A Cross-Sectional Assessment From Students To Professors, Clio Cresswell, Craig P. Speelman

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 Cresswell, Speelman. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Mathematics is often promoted as endowing those who study it with transferable skills such as an ability to think logically and critically or to have improved investigative skills, resourcefulness and creativity in problem solving. However, there is scant evidence to back up such claims. This project tested participants with increasing levels of mathematics training on 11 well-studied rational and logical reasoning tasks …

Systematic Review Protocol For Assessing Central Auditory Functions Of Alzheimer's Disease And Its Preclinical Stages, Dona M.P. Jayakody, Hadeel Y. Tarawneh, Holly K. Menegola, Jessica M. Yiannos, Peter L. Friedland, Wayne J. Wilson, Ralph N. Martins, Hamid R. Sohrabi

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Introduction A number of studies have reported an association between peripheral hearing impairment, central auditory processing and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its preclinical stages. Both peripheral hearing impairment and central auditory processing disorders are observed many years prior to the clinical manifestation of AD symptoms, hence, providing a long window of opportunity to investigate potential interventions against neurodegenerative processes. This paper outlines the protocol for a systematic review of studies examining the central auditory processing functions in AD and …

Identifying Who Improves Or Maintains Their Food Literacy Behaviours After Completing An Adult Program, Andrea Begley, Ellen Paynter, Lucy Butcher

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Food Sensations for Adults is a free four-week nutrition and cooking program that teaches low- to middle-income individuals food literacy. This research aimed to compare demographic characteristics of participants who completed the program’s follow-up questionnaire three months after program completion and assess whether food literacy and dietary behaviour changes were improved or maintained. Statistical analysis methods used factor scores of the plan and manage, selection, and preparation domains to examine mean self-reported changes in food literacy. Tertile stratification methods calculated changes in participants who had low, middle, and high end-of-program food literacy scores, and multivariable regression analysis explored the associations. …

Review Of Coast And Marine Ecosystems In Temperate Australia Demonstrates A Wealth Of Ecosystem Services, Sam Gaylard, Michelle Waycott, Paul Lavery

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© Copyright © 2020 Gaylard, Waycott and Lavery. Temperate Australia has extensive and diverse coast and marine habitats throughout its inshore and offshore waters. The region includes the southernmost extent of mangroves, over 500 estuaries and coastal embayments, home to extensive meadows of seagrasses and tidal saltmarsh. In areas of hard substrate, rocky reefs are abundant and productive with large forests of macroalgae. Coastal regions can be densely populated by humans and often habitats can be degraded, polluted or lost, while some remain relatively isolated and pristine. These habitats provide services to society including provision of food, regulate our climate …

Prevention Of Sports Injuries In Sri Lanka: What Do We Know About Injuries In Our Athletes?, Prasanna J. Gamage, Alex Kountouris, Caroline F. Finch, Lauren V. Fortington

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In terms of safeguarding the health and well-being of athletes in Sri Lanka, a primary focus has always been toward the treatment of injuries after they have occurred and promoting rehabilitation back into sport. There has been little attention towards the primary prevention of injuries in Sri Lankan sports. As a developing sporting nation, the benefits of injury prevention are immense: from a public health and financial perspective, through to individual benefits for athletes’ physical, psychological and social health. Understanding the reasons behind the lack of motive towards sports injury prevention in the country, and challenges in developing and implementing …

Resisting Marginalisation And Reconstituting Space Through Lgbtqi+ Events, Oscar Vorobjovas-Pinta, Anne Hardy

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The field of event studies has attracted a breadth of research on the triple-bottom line of economic efficiency, environmental integrity and social equity. The focus of many studies related to event tourism, however, has fallen upon the economic and environmental dimensions of events with far less attention on “social equity.” The potential of events tourism to facilitate justice and equity for marginalised and minority groups has been especially overlooked. LGBTQI+ communities utilise gay events, such as pride parades, as mediums to communicate their identities and seek support from broader society. This paper examines a unique festival space where LGBTQI+ communities …

The Changing Nature Of Graduate Roles And The Value Of The Degree, Denise Jackson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study explores industry perspectives on the changing nature of graduate roles and the importance of the undergraduate degree, and any impact these have on traditional non-graduate roles in different sectors and industries. Amid declining labour markets, it is critical to consider graduate pathways to employment and the implications of increasing numbers entering non-graduate roles on expectations and turnover. Ongoing disequilibrium in many areas of the graduate labour market points to developing our understanding of alternative pathways into professional roles beyond the undergraduate degree. Interviews were conducted with twenty-one industry members involved in recruiting and/or supervising new graduates. Findings affirmed …

Alterations In Adiponectin, Leptin, Resistin, Testosterone, And Cortisol Across Eleven Weeks Of Training Among Division One Collegiate Throwers: A Preliminary Study, W. Guy Hornsby, G. Gregory Haff, Dylan G. Suarez, Michael W. Ramsey, N. Travis Triplett, Justin P. Hardee, Margaret E. Stone, Michael H. Stone

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cytokine and hormone concentrations can be linked to the manipulation of training variables and to subsequent alterations in performance. Subjects: Nine D-1 collegiate throwers and 4 control subjects participated in this preliminary and exploratory report. Methods: Hormone (testosterone (T) and cortisol (C)) and adipokine (adiponectin, leptin, and resistin) measurements were taken at weeks 1, 7, and 11 for the throwers and weeks 1 and 11 for the control group. …

Behind The Therapy Door: What Is “Usual Care” Aphasia Therapy In Acute Stroke Management?, Emily Brogan, Erin Godecke, Natalie Ciccone

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

Usual care is the term used to describe everyday practice in the management of a client within a profession. The knowledge of the tasks used in therapy and key therapeutic processes used within these treatments, provides critical information about if and how the therapy works. The Very Early Rehabilitation in SpEech Randomised Controlled Trial (VERSE RCT) had three arms with therapists within the intensive Usual Care-Plus arm (UC-Plus) providing daily direct aphasia therapy at their discretion for 20 sessions.

Aims:

To describe usual care aphasia treatment provided in the Usual Care-Plus arm of VERSE RCT.

Methods and Procedures:

One …

Gauging The Development Of Innovative Capabilities In Accounting And Finance Students: Can They Drive The National Innovation Agenda?, Denise Jackson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

As automation catalyses the shift from number-crunching to more complex roles spanning risk management and strategic decision-making, it is important that higher education is developing the capabilities for Accounting and Finance graduates to successfully contribute to innovation. The study gauges the development of innovative capabilities among students and new graduates using national data from 2012 to 2015. It identifies gaps in the development of certain capabilities, discusses the implications of these and presents strategies for improvement. Findings will inform stakeholders how to better prepare these graduates to contribute to innovation and, ultimately, improve economic growth and global competitiveness in Australia.

Regional Small Businesses’ Personal And Inter-Firm Networks, Jalleh Sharafizad, Kerry Brown

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personal and inter-firm networks and the elements that contribute to the formation and management of these networks for regional small businesses. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 small business owners located in regional areas. Findings: The findings highlight key characteristics of regional small business owners’ networks. Findings indicated that participants relied strongly on their personal networks for business purposes. This study shows that while personal networks adapted and changed into informal inter-firm networks, weak-tie relations within inter-firm networks were unlikely to develop …

Structuring The Debate About Research Ethics In The Psychology And Law Field: An International Perspective, Alfred Allan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Forensic psychologists’ role is well established, and they are rightly well regulated because their decisions and behaviour can have a significant impact on people’s rights and interests. Their ethical integrity, however, partly hinges on the psycholegal research products (data, methods and instruments) that they and others use. The ethical regulation of researchers who produce products and their research processes is, however, fragmented, limited and narrow and largely focuses on domestic research. Relatively few scholars have examined the regulation of psycholegal research or commented on the ethical implications of recent court decisions. The purpose of this paper is to start a …

Measuring The ‘Dose’ Of Person-Centred Care In Aged Care: Development Of Staff And Family Questionnaires, Davina Porock, Junxin Li, Yu-Ping Chang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Aims: To develop a theoretically and psychometrically sound instrument to measure the ‘dose’ of person-centred care practice in long-term care.

Background: Although person-centred care has been adopted for long-term care across the world, there is a lack of theory-based instruments to measure its impact. Two questionnaires were developed to measure person-centred care from the perspectives of staff and family based on current person-centred care frameworks: Kitwood, Nolan, and Eden Alternative.

Methods: Phase I: literature review and focus groups identified potential items for the questionnaires. Phase II: academic experts, local staff, and family members of residents assessed content validity. Phase III: …

“Blessing In Disguise”: The Impact Of The Wenchuan Earthquake On Inbound Tourist Arrivals In Sichuan, China, Li Huang, Xin Yin, Yang Yang, Mingzhi Luo, Songshan (Sam) Huang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

By analysing the long-term effect of the Wenchuan earthquake on inbound tourist arrivals in Sichuan, this study probes the long-term recovery of inbound tourist arrivals in disaster areas. Empirical evidence reveals the existence of a “Blessing in Disguise” effect, as the growth of overall inbound tourist arrivals to Sichuan after the earthquake has significantly increased. Moreover, we show that this “blessing in disguise” effect is a specific phenomenon, contrasting with China's overall inbound tourism during the same period. This study contributes to the overall knowledge of post-disaster tourism recovery. Managerial implications for post-disaster tourism destinations are discussed.

A Comparison Between The Conceptions Of Research Of Candidates Enrolled For Standard Phd And Integrated Phd Programmes, Hairong Shan, Natasha Ayers, Margaret Kiley

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Conceptions of research, which lead to approaches to research, provide useful insights into how candidates think about research. In terms of doctoral candidate development, understanding and appreciating these various conceptions can assist in supporting candidate learning. This study evaluated differences in conceptions of research between PhD candidates commencing at an Australian university in the standard PhD programme, and those in a new structured programme termed the Integrated PhD. An online survey was distributed to both cohorts and as the findings showed, respondents’ conceptions of research were not significantly different for most categories, except Research as testing by data/experiment. Other key …

Barriers To Occupational Heat Stress Risk Adaptation Of Mining Workers In Ghana, Victor Fannam Nunfam, Kwadwo Adusei-Asante, Kwasi Frimpong, Eddie John Van Etten, Jacques Oosthuizen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Increasing temperature and climate warming impacts are aggravating the vulnerability of workers to occupational heat stress. Adaptation and social protection strategies have become crucial to enhance workers’ health, safety, productive capacity and social lives. However, the effective implementation of work-related heat stress adaptation mechanisms appears to be receiving little attention. This study assessed the barriers to occupational heat stress adaptation and social protection strategies of mining workers in Ghana. Based on a mixed methods approach, focus group discussions and questionnaires were used to elicit data from 320 mining workers. Workers’ adaptation strategies (water intake, wearing loose and light-coloured clothing, participating …

The Weave Of Youth Writing: Refiguring Authorship And Self-Representation In Michaela Deprince’S Collaborative Archive Of Life Narrative Texts, Alberta Natasia Adji

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Young people have to struggle in navigating the complex cultural and socio-political frameworks of production if they would like to reclaim agency and legitimacy to voice their aspirations. This article focuses on questions of authorship and self-representation in both the traditional and digital life writing texts created by and produced for Sierra-Leonean-American ballet dancer Michaela DePrince, which turns out to be highly mediated by her Jewish Caucasian adoptive mother Elaine DePrince. I argue that the manners of Michaela’s collaborative archive of life narrative projects–which bring about issues of authorship–have conformed her self-representation to particular identity frames in terms of race, …

Opportunities To Participate In Formal And Informal Vocational Learning Activities And Work-Related Outcomes In Small Professional Services Businesses, Alan Coetzer, Pattanee Susomrith, Emmanuel Twumasi Ampofo

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Small businesses are characterised by resources constraints; therefore, their managers need to know the exact nature of additional benefits, beyond knowledge and skill acquisition, that might accrue from employee participation in different types of learning activities. However, research that simultaneously examines the attitudinal and behavioural outcomes of opportunities to participate in formal and informal learning activities is sparse, especially in small businesses. The present study addresses this area of neglect by exploring associative relationships between opportunities for employees to participate in (1) formal learning activities and (2) informal learning activities and three important work-related outcomes: affective commitment, innovative behaviours, and …

The Clash Of Empires: Regulating Technological Threats To Civil Society, Tracey Leigh Dowdeswell, Nachshon Goltz

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper examines the regulation of technology platform companies providing a platform for user-generated media content while playing an increasingly dominant role in the global flow of news and information. In doing so, platform companies play a crucial role in modern civic life, by deciding which content will reach users, engage the public's attention, and be deemed credible. It is therefore crucial that we choose means of regulation that foster democratic values and robust civic engagement. In this paper we focus on the regulation of ‘computational propaganda', including misinformation and ‘fake news', the rise of synthetic media and so-called ‘deep …

Setting Policy And Student Agency In Physical Education: Students As Policy Actors, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In turning a spotlight on students in physical education, this paper seeks to extend applications of policy enactment theory, and particularly, the policy actor framework. Following the lead of Stephen Ball and colleagues, the research that this paper draws on examined the various dimensions of context shaping policy enactment in different schools. The focus of the research was policy associated with ability grouping, and setting particularly, in physical education. The research involved case study work in three mixed-gender secondary schools in England, with 15 physical education teachers participating in semi-structured interviews and 63 students participating in semi-structured focus groups. This …

The Relationship Between Strategic Information Systems Planning (Sisp) And Facilitators To Achieve Successful Business Outcomes In South Korean Organizations, Jungho Yang, Nelson K. Y. Leung, Bill Young

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) is an important process in the implementation and use of IT systems in today’s dynamic and increasingly digitalized organizations. However, SISP is not a straightforward task, it is a process that covers simultaneous multiple planning issues often in changing environmental and organizational climates. Although SISP has been widely studied, and evaluating the SISP process has matured, theory on SISP facilitators that enable successful outcomes remain sparse. The main objective of this paper is to explore such facilitators and to investigate their relationshipand contribution in achieving SISP success. By postal surveying a random sample of managers …

Applying Academic Selection Criterion To Work-Integrated Learning Programmes: Risk Management Or Perpetuating Inequality?, Denise Jackson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study explores whether academic selection criterion should be imposed on students wishing to participate in work-integrated learning (WIL) during their degree studies. Its conceptual framework addresses the limitations of human capital theory and draws on theories about social and cultural capital to understand the role of WIL in developing individual employability. It explores whether WIL should be open to all students, particularly given those who perform less well academically may be of lower socio-economic status with fewer networks and less developed cultural capital. The relationship between academic course average and workplace performance during WIL was examined, rated by 2012 …

Student And Teacher Attitudes Towards Overtraining And Recovery In Vocational Dance Training, Peta Blevins, Shona Erskine, Gene Moyle, Luke Hopper

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Elite performance in dance is the result of many years of training, during which dancers face high physical and emotional demands. There is little empirical evidence addressing dancer training behaviours in the context of overtraining and in response to training demands; however, underlying dancer attitudes that affect training behaviours must first be understood to truly determine the drivers of dance training behaviour. This study explored the attitudes held by vocational dance students and their teachers in relation to stress and recovery during vocational dance training. Using Q methodology with a sample of 86 students and teachers, six viewpoints were identified …

A Concept Analysis Of Psychological Distress In Parents Related To Diabetes Management In Children And Adolescents, Diana Arabiat, Mohammad Al Jabery, Lisa Whitehead

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose: To report a concept analysis of parents' psychological distress in the context of diabetes management among children and adolescents. A clear understanding of the possible impact of diabetes management on parents will help to inform how nurses can work with parents to support glycaemic control in children and adolescents.

Design and Method: Concept analysis using Walker and Avant's eight-stage approach was used as a guiding framework. PubMed, OVID (CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo), the Cochrane library and the Joanna Briggs library were searched for the past 50 years.

Results: Thirty-three studies provided data for the concept analysis. Attributes included difficulty coping, …

The Role Of Relative Deprivation In Majority-Culture Support For Multiculturalism, Zoe Leviston, Justine Dandy, Jolanda Jetten, Iain Walker

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In this paper, we investigate majority-culture attitudes to multicultural policy in Australia. Drawing on relative deprivation (RD) theory, we explore whether resistance to multicultural policies and initiatives is related to individual and/or group-based grievance claims of discrimination. To assess RD, we asked 517 Australian-born people who identified as White Australians to rate (a) levels of discrimination toward their own group, toward themselves personally as a consequence of their group membership, and toward immigrants to Australia, and (b) feelings of injustice and anger associated with such discrimination. Our findings show that, while perceptions of discrimination toward majority-culture Australians are commonplace, perceptions …

Investigating The Relationship Between Career Planning, Proactivity And Employability Perceptions Among Higher Education Students In Uncertain Labour Market Conditions, Denise Jackson, Michael Tomlinson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper addresses the limited empirical analysis of higher education students’ perceptions of contemporary labour market demands. It explores their perspectives on the health of the graduate labour market, what factors determine these and how their perceptions relate to self-perceived employability, career proactivity, career control and efforts to develop positional advantage. Further, the study examines determinants of students’ career planning, all in the context of a challenging graduate labour market and higher education systems that have become more market-driven. The paper draws on evidence from a survey among Australian and UK students (N = 433), from two institutions and across …

The Pepe The Frog Meme: An Examination Of Social, Political, And Cultural Implications Through The Tradition Of The Darwinian Absurd, Laura Glitsos, James Hall

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article offers an examination of the meme known as Pepe the Frog. In 2015, the Pepe the Frog meme was crowned ‘biggest meme of the year’ by Tumblr. However, only one year later, the Pepe character was branded as a hate symbol by the U.S. Anti-Defamation League. Having begun as an innocuous joke, the Pepe meme took on a range of other complex characteristics. One of the most important was its incorporation into alt-right politics. We discuss this incorporation, especially as it relates to Donald Trump’s deployment of the meme. We propose that the Pepe meme became such a …

Aletheia: The Orphic Ouroboros, Glen Mcknight

Theses : Honours

This thesis shows how The Orphic Hymns function as a katábasis, a descent to the underworld, representing a process of becoming and psychological rebirth. I begin with the Greek concept of sparagmόs, a dismemberment or deconstruction, as a necessary precursor in that it emphasises at once both primordial unity and yet also the incipient tensions within the Orphic initiates on this path to katabasis. The argument herein extends beyond literary explication to consider how the Orphics sought to enact this process in Greek society itself.

The thesis then establishes the connections between the Hymns and the thinking of …

Using Velocity To Predict The Maximum Dynamic Strength In The Power Clean, G. Gregory Haff, Amador Garcia-Ramos, Lachlan P. James

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The primary aim of the present study was to examine the commonly performed training exercise for athlete preparation. Twenty-two recreationally trained males (age: 26.3 ± 4.1 y, height: 1.80 ± 0.07 m; body mass (BM): 87.01 ± 13.75 kg, 1-repetitoon maximum(1-RM)/BM: 0.90 ± 0.19 kg) participated in the present study. All subjects had their 1-RM power clean tested with standard procedures. On a separate testing day, subjects performed three repetitions at 30% and 45%, and two repetitions at 70% and 80% of their 1-RM power clean. During all trials during both sessions, peak velocity (PV) and mean velocity (MV) were …