Digital Commons Network^™

Deficiencies In Australia’S Current Merger Regime: The Call To Combat Creeping Acquisitions, Ashleigh Cavagnino

Theses

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) does not have adequate tools to prevent creeping acquisitions under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA).

Section 50 of the CCA prohibits a corporation from acquiring shares or assets if the acquisition would have the effect, or be likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition in any market. The expression ‘creeping acquisitions’ refers to a number of small individual mergers or acquisitions that, when considered in isolation, do not have a sufficient impact on competition to breach s 50, but when considered together, have a cumulative effect of substantially …

Resilience And Coping In Survivors Of Unwanted Sexual Contact: Do Gender And Service Utilization Make A Difference?, Madeleine Frankford

Theses

While rates of sexual assault vary widely across studies, strong evidence exists that women, as well as men, face a risk of being sexually victimized during their college years (Artime & Buchholz, 2016; Krebs et al., 2007; Moors & Webber, 2013). The goal of the current study was to examine the association between gender and service utilization on measures of resilience and coping in victims of unwanted sexual contact. As part of a larger campus climate survey, college students who identified as having experienced an incident of unwanted sexual contact since becoming a student at the university were asked a …

Improving Methods To Estimate Time Of Death From Body Temperature, Carly Berdan

Theses

By protocol, ambient and body temperatures are collected at every investigated death scene. These data has been used since 1839 to estimate the time of death, a crucial factor when it comes to cases of unnatural deaths and homicides. The Glaister Equation and Henssge's nomogram, commonly used to calculate estimated time of death, are inconsistent and often do not agree with each other. Therefore, my objective was to evaluate and improve them.

I collected data in the field and consistently measured temperature data. Furthermore, I was granted access to a database of every death in New Jersey and published data. …

Macroeconomic Risk Factors Of Australian Mining Companies, Mohammed Kamruzzaman

Theses

This thesis identifies the priced macroeconomic risk factors for the Australian mining industry from January, 2004 to December, 2013, and the macroeconomic variables that have had an impact on stock returns. A rapid growth in the stock returns of the mining industry in Australia occurred during this period. This phenomenon is studied using a multifactor model and arbitrage pricing theory. The method involves analysis of two samples: the top ten mining firms and the aggregate mining industry. Firstly, unbalanced panel data containing 1550 yearly observations of 155 mining companies is selected for the aggregate industrial analysis. Secondly, data from the …

Sustainability Of Sprinkler- Irrigated Horticulture On Sandy Soils At Binningup - Swan Coastal Plain, W.A., Eric Law

Theses

The sustainability of sprinkler-irrigated vegetable crops in the Binningup–Myalup area of south-western Australia was investigated. The main crops are carrots, potatoes and onions. The crops are grown throughout the year in sandy soils and require large volumes of sprinkler irrigation during the summer growing period and little during winter. The irrigation water is extracted from the underlying superficial aquifer.

The combination of water with a relatively high salt content, evaporation between the sprinkler and the ground, and subsequent high evapotranspiration, leads to escalating soil water salinity during summer. At Binningup, the necessary horticultural practice of daily watering in summer to …

World Youth Day: An Australian Perspective, Anthony Cleary

Theses

World Youth Day has become the largest regular gathering of young people in the world, attracting hundreds of thousands, and on occasions, millions of participants. The size and scale of this Catholic religious event, and its generation of tourism and mass media coverage, help define the gathering as a mega-event with international significance.

Since its inception, Australians have participated in each of the international World Youth Days, and this participation has grown and diversified. Perhaps the most significant factor in this period, described by some as a ‘watershed moment’, was the influence and impact of an Australian city hosting World …

Exploring Organisations’ Awareness Of The Costs Associated With Millennial Employee Turnover., Ray Cronin

Theses

There has been much commentary in recent years regarding younger people, particularly Millennials, and that discussion has focused on whether they change employment more than previous generations. Additionally there has been debate regarding whether the Millennial generation show less loyalty to employers today. Loyalty, for the purposes of this study, is considered not m terms of dedication, commitment or dependability, but rather in terms of medium to long term allegiance, tenure and faithfulness to the existing employer. The counter argument to this theory is that tenure has more to do with life stage and nothing to do with being Millennial …

Optimisation Of Ion Exchange Chromatography Purification Protocols For A Staphylococcal Peptidoglycan Degrading Hydrolase Enzyme, Fiona Maher

Theses

Bacteriophage (phage) are the most abundant biological entities on earth and were first discovered by d’Herelle in 1917. They are found wherever their hosts live and, like all viruses they do not have the ability to make their own protein. Therefore, in order to reproduce, phage must invade and infect bacterial cells. This project focused on the optimisation of Ion Exchange Chromatography purification protocols for a staphylococcal peptidoglycan degrading hydrolase enzyme (CHAPk). The project objective was to obtain the greatest yield of enzyme from the growth of the E.coU XL 1-Blue expression system into which the vector pQE60 was previously …

Paid Parental Leave: An Investigation And Analysis Of Australian Paid Parental Leave Frameworks With Reference To Selected European Oecd Countries, Greg Lynn

Theses

xiii ABSTRACT In 2010, the Australian federal government introduced a national scheme of taxpayer-funded paid parental leave. This legislation was introduced only after much political debate and came after more than 100 years of reform to Australian industrial law to make employment laws work better for employees with families. These reforms occurred on the back of a long history of relatively slow female legal emancipation in Australia and the concept of employment rights for women having children is a relatively new legal concept. Australian employment law has traditionally been conceptualised in terms of the paradigm of ‘the male breadwinner,’ supported …

The Changing Face Of Australia: From Secular To Post-Secular Identity, Saskia Ebejer

Theses

The secularisation thesis, originally developed in the 1960s and touted as a seminal sociological theory, has over the last few decades been called into question. In particular, claims regarding the displacement of religion in the public square and, ultimately, the waning or disappearance tout court of religion from the lives of individuals have come under scrutiny. The advent of the secular paradigm has no doubt had lasting effects, both publicly and privately, but, far from consisting merely in the extinction of religion, theorists have been drawing attention to the recent proliferation, spawned by the crisis of or dissatisfaction with the …

An Investigation Into The Impact Of High-Stakes Testing, Through The Naplan Assessment, On The Teaching And Learning Of Mathematics In One Primary School, Linda Cranley

Theses

In 2008, the implementation of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) commenced in all schools across Australia. This assessment of mathematical and literacy standards across Australia raised questions about the impact which high-stakes testing has on teaching and learning. This research specifically focused on the effect NAPLAN has had on the teaching and learning of mathematics. The study explored perspectives about NAPLAN from key participants; students, teachers and parents at one Western Australian Primary School. These perspectives included the potential anxiety experienced by students and how this affected their performance in NAPLAN. According to recent research on …

Modelling Spatial Heterogeneity In The Haemodynamic Response With Implications For Neuroimaging, Russell Gore

Theses

Background: A foundational assumption of neuroimaging is the central volume principle (CVP): the mean transit time of oxygen particles in the brain equals the ratio of blood vessel volume to blood flow. Changes in mean transit time are expected to cause detectable changes in images produced by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The CVP assumes a uniform distribution of transit times, but in fact blood vessel volumes are spatially heterogeneous. This thesis examines the implications of spatial heterogeneity for fMRI research.

Methods: An amended form of the CVP that accounts for spatial heterogeneity is developed and parameterised using empirical data. …

Initial Teacher Education Students’ Literacy: Factors That Impact On Literacy Achievement Of Prospective Pre-Service Teachers, Elizabeth O'Sullivan

Theses

Strong literacy skills are a prerequisite for teachers. There is much contention about a perceived erosion of literacy skills in new teachers and how initial teacher education providers can ensure graduate teachers possess the literacy skills required for their teaching careers. This research investigated the factors that impact on prospective pre-service teachers’ literacy achievement. A mixed methods approach was used to examine the relationship between student entry pathway, Post Entrance Literacy Assessment (PELA) score, perceptions of self-efficacy, and previous literacy experiences in a first year literacy unit for prospective primary and early childhood initial teacher education students.

Initially, in phase …

Exergy Analysis Of The Environmental Control And Life Support System, Raymond Chow

Theses

An exergy based analysis of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) aboard the International Space Station is conducted. Exergy is chosen as a measure of performance because it enables performance assessment with respect to the First Law and Second Law of Thermodynamics. Exergy destruction incurred during ECLSS operation is quantified through steady state exergy balances, and exergy efficiencies are estimated for the ECLSS, key subsystems, and their constituent components. Exergy balances derived for the ECLSS, its subsystems, and their components are implemented through a MATLAB code. The results of the exergy analysis are presented in this thesis. In …

Using High-Order Prior Belief Predictions In Hierarchical Temporal Memory For Streaming Anomaly Detection, Brody Kutt

Theses

Autonomous streaming anomaly detection can have a significant impact in any domain where continuous, real-time data is common. Often in these domains, datasets are too large or complex to hand label. Algorithms that require expensive global training procedures and large training datasets impose strict demands on data and are accordingly not fit to scale to real-time applications that are noisy and dynamic. Unsupervised algorithms that learn continuously like humans therefore boast increased applicability to these real-world scenarios.

Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) is a biologically constrained theory of machine intelligence inspired by the structure, activity, organization and interaction of pyramidal neurons …

Altered Myelination As A Proposed Mechanism For Neurocognitive Dysfunction Observed In Mice With Tyrosinemia Type 1, Marissa E. Moore

Theses

The exact mechanism behind the recent reports of impaired neurocognitive function in individuals with the rare genetic disorder Hereditary Tyrosinemia Type I (HT1) has yet to be determined. This disorder stems from lack of expression of the gene fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH), which is responsible for tyrosine catabolism. This subsequently leads to a buildup of tyrosine and associated harmful metabolites that will cause sever liver dysfunction and cancer if treatment is not provided. The drug 2-[2-nitro-4-(trifluoromethylbenzoyl) cyclohexane-1,3-dione (NTBC) has proven to be effective in stopping the negative consequences on the liver and kidneys by inhibiting an enzyme upstream in the metabolic …

Significant News Detection, Diwas Sharma

Theses

Social media platforms nowadays have a large number of fake or false news which have been misleading and negatively impacting viewers. In order to combat the problem, being able to differentiate important news stories which need to be verified from unimportant news stories which need not, would be a decent starting point. In this thesis, we introduce “significant news” and define it as news that affects a large number of people, changes the routines of daily life, and needs verification on the information presented. This thesis then explores if it is possible to construct a classifier for detecting the significant …

Nobody Wanted To Speak On The True Disposition Of The World : Challenging American Historical Narratives In The Underground Railroad, Tia J. Smith

Theses

The Underground Railroad borrows from the logic of science fiction, the epic, and the historical novel to both critique American post racialism and to upend the nation’s incomplete historical narrative of social progress. This thesis begins with approaching sf using the novel’s racial influences to contemplate science fiction criticism. It then examines the text’s adoption of the genre’s critical apparatus as a method to explore contemporary American racial politics. I analyze the novel’s structure, use of primary sources, and reenactments of historical events, interpreting them as tools to illustrate the novel’s view of the United States as an institution mired …

Characterization Of Direct Metal Deposition (Dmd) Bimetallic Interfaces, Ryan Anderson

Theses

Direct metal deposition (DMD), also known as free-form additive manufacturing (AM), is a process using either a blown powder or wire-feedstock and generally based on a robotic arm or CNC platform. These AM methods provide the crucial advantage of having the ability to build outside of a box, allowing for larger builds, and the capability to use multiple metals to produce bimetallic builds. In this study, the abilities of both wire-fed and blown powder DMD to produce bimetallic components were investigated focusing on the interface formed between copper (Cu) alloy C18150 and DMD AM deposited nickel (Ni) based superalloy Inconel …

Comparative Analysis Of The Dissolution Performance Of Aspirin Tablets In The Usp Apparatus 2 And In A Minivessel Dissolution System, Annmarie C. Walker

Theses

Dissolution testing is a critical component of quality control procedures in the pharmaceutical industry in order to ensure that the final solid dosage forms have consistent dissolution properties. Dissolution tests are also routinely conducted to evaluate the in-vitro performance of solid dosage forms during pharmaceutical development, to aid in the behavior of formulations, and to optimize drug release from dosage forms.

The use of compendial dissolution test apparatus and techniques, such as the USP 2 (Paddle), to characterize the dissolution performance of oral drug delivery system is an established area of pharmaceutical science. However, this method is not always appropriate, …

Formulation Of Uv Curable Resins Utilized In Vat Photo Polymerization For The Additive Manufacturing Of Gun Propulsion Charge In 3d Printers, David T. Bird

Theses

Formulating resins for Additive Manufacturing (AM), utilizing UV laser stereolithography, is a new technique that makes it possible for the fabrication of complex geometries with high dimensional resolution. This layer by layer photopolymerization approach spans various industrial sectors from adhesives, inks and optical fibers to nanotechnology and biomaterials. UV curable resins such as epoxides, vinyl ethers and other acrylates are important monomers that offer effective mediums for energetic materials, and the potential exists to develop environmentally friendly formulations with suspended energetic materials at various solids loading levels.

Developing techniques for UV curing formulations of highly loaded energetic suspensions is a …

Looping Predictive Method To Improve Accuracy Of A Machine Learning Model, Subramanyam Reddy Pogili

Theses

The topic of this project is an analysis of drug-related tweets. The goal is to build a Machine Learning Model that can distinguish between tweets that indicate drug abuse and other tweets that also contain the name of a drug but do not describe abuse. Drugs can be illegal, such as heroin, or legal drugs with a potential of abuse, such as painkillers. However, building a good Machine Learning Model requires a large amount of training data. For each training tweet, a human expert has determined whether it indicates drug abuse or not. This is difficult work for humans. …

Instagram Influencers: The Effects Of Sponsorship On Follower Engagement With Fitness Instagram Celebrities, Morgan Neal

Theses

Instagram influencer marketing is one of the fastest growing trends in advertising. Part of what makes influencers so powerful is their ability to foster parasocial relationships with their followers. But does this relationship change when an influencer becomes affiliated with brands? This study assessed how brand promotions affect follower engagement with influencer posts through the lens of source credibility theory. A quantitative content analysis was performed on 100 fitness influencer posts and their comments (N = 7,716) to determine if followers interact differently with sponsored and organic posts. Significant differences in follower engagement and sentiments were found between sponsored and …

Stuck, Whitney Walters

Theses

Stuck is six-minutes and five seconds in duration. The film starts in an artist’s studio, a blob creature gingerly applies paint to a canvas. The goopy creature is exhausted and slumps onto their canvas. It rests its head there, but is startled by an alarm and remembers something. The blob panics and seizes its portfolio before rushing off.

The blob sits in an office while a bored man flips through the portfolio and hands back the book. Rejected, the blob melts and flows out the door into a hallway of parody movie posters and a display case of ‘mockquettes.’ The …

A Right To Record: An Analysis Of The Legal Issues Surrounding Cell Phone Videos Of Police Violence, Katherine E. Milburn

Theses

Smartphones have become ubiquitous in modern society, increasing the likelihood of being caught on camera. On July 17th, 2014, a cell phone video of Staten Island police officers wrongfully killing Eric Garner reignited a national controversy on the nature of police violence, and set off a wave of citizen-surveillance through cell phones. By reviewing prior 1st and 4th Amendment court cases, I argue that citizens do indeed have a right to record on-duty police officers, and police do not have the right to conduct a warrantless search or seizure of a phone. Although a case involving citizen-surveillance of law enforcement …

Inside And Outside, Dan Xue

Theses

In this thesis, I will focus on sculptural ceramic vessels. I regard the vessel not only as a physical object but also a container carrying memories, imaginations, and emotions. I use the vessel as a metaphor to relate to one person, one object, and one phenomenon, the way I see it.

The thesis aims to explore the connections between what has happened in the past and what is happening now for a fuller understanding of self. Memory is an important subject matter for me. I believe life is not chronological, while the memory of what happened in the past and …

Moodboard: A Digital Solution For The Work-Life Balance In An Advertising Agency, Shalaka Shantaram Haldankar

Theses

The long working hours prevalent in the advertising industry is a well-known fact. It has become a common practice in agencies for quite a while now, leading to work-life imbalance for employees. The advertising agencies follow this practice, not because of its effectiveness, but because that’s what everyone else does. They completely ignore the fact that short breaks from work can increase productivity. A common belief of the industry is that the more nights/weekends you spend at work, the more productive you are. Research proves such work stress affects your personal life and health.

The goal of this thesis is …

Pixel: Building A Dyslexic Child's Mind, Aparna Natraj

Theses

One in five students, or 15-20% of the population, has a language based learning disability. Dyslexia is the most common of the language based learning disabilities. Dyslexia is mainly a problem with reading accurately and fluently — Accuracy being identified as Letter Recognition and Fluency as Word Recognition.

This thesis looked into various educational applications that help dyslexic children and identified that they rely heavily on intensive instruction in phonetic code and the learning method employed by these applications do not create a lasting impact. The proposed solution integrated the symbol mastery method of learning to create a new digital …

Food Watch: Helping People To Live A Healthy Life, Jiaqi Yang

Theses

Food is one of the great pleasures of life. However, due to cultural backgrounds and physical conditions, the same food is not suitable for all consumers. Peanuts, dairy products, and wheat can be deadly for people with food allergies. These consumers must carefully check the ingredients of all of their food.

This article outlines a system that combines product labeling and mobile technology to help those with food allergies and food intolerances easily manage their diet and protect their health.

With this new system, a user with dietary restrictions only needs to scan a label barcode with a mobile phone …

American College Students' Perceptions Of Saudi Arabia As A Travel Destination, Majed Hader

Theses

Destination image is a critical factor for customers making a travel decision. The recent fluctuation in oil prices has forced the Government of Saudi Arabia to focus on tourism to revive its economy. The terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, affected the image of Saudi Arabia in the minds of people in other countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate American college students’ perceptions of Saudi Arabia as a travel destination and to provide information to help Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority to develop marketing strategies that will attract potential tourists.